A.M. Links: White House Using Children to Push Gun Control, Aurora Victims Consider Suing James Holmes' Psychiatrist, U.S. Recognizes Somali Government

• The White House's use of children as political tools for gun control continues, with a video released today showing children reading letters about guns.

• Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vowed to hunt down the militants responsible for a deadly raid on and ongoing hostage situation at a BP oil field in Algeria.
• The push back against legalization in Colorado continues; one county's commission voted to ban marijuana stores and farms in unincorporated portions of the county.
• More handguns and pistol permits were stolen based on the newspaper list of registered gun owners on parts of Long Island.
• More Republican legislators in states won by Democrats in recent presidential elections want electoral votes to be distributed proportionally to the popular vote rather than in the winner-take-all format prevalent now.
• Victims of the Aurora theater shooting are considering suing the alleged shooter James Holmes' psychiatrist, for negligence.
• The U.S. has officially recognized a government in Somalia for the first time in more than 20 years, even though it has been dealing with this government before.

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Comments

[Cdr Lytton]

Seahawks won't let off duty cops carry at stadium. Cops whine about being treated like the proles.

"The reality is you can have all the uniformed officers you want, but the criminals will be able to identify them and avoid the areas where they are"

Yes.

http://www.komonews.com/news/l.....48841.html

[generic Brand]

That move isn't sitting well with many officers, who say bringing their weapons to events while off duty is part of their job to protect and serve, even as spectators.

And if one of the vendors doesn't want to throw in an extra beer or hotdog on the house, well, he can have a little chat with Mr. Gun.

[Whiterun Guard]

...hotdog...

"IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!!!"

*BANG BANG BANG BANG*

[hamilton]

Oh, if it's because of their innate sense of duty then by all means, do go on.

[mr simple]

Why are they worried? The criminals aren't allowed to carry guns, either.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Maybe the Seahawks are thinking of switching to a Bulldog as a mascot, and don't want it to get shot.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

You think they won't shoot pet birds? I think you misunderestimate our boys in blue.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The White House's use of children as political tools for gun control continues, with a video released today showing children reading letters about guns.

They'll never make it through Senate confirmation.

[Whiterun Guard]

Overqualified, and not corrupt enough?

[generic Brand]

Where were you yesterday around 2:45 PM, John? Which of your girlfriends "are more obsessed with the 49ers than [you] even care about the whole sport"? Huh? WHO ARE THEY???

You're a lying liar, John, and I think I speak for all of the commentariat when I say we want a divorce.

[John]

WTF?

[generic Brand]

It was supposed to link directly to the comment by "John" at 2:45 PM, but Salon's pages are so overrun with ads that it doesn't load correctly. Here is the comment, which sounds EXACTLY like you, hence the ridiculous accusation:

John
Thursday, Jan 17, 2013 02:45 PM EST

That is a pretty bold statement Colleen. So you are saying Liberals and/or Women do not watch Football? Some of my girlfriends are more obsessed with the 49ers than I even care about the whole sport. And more and more broadcasts have scantily clad women parading up and down the field to interview everyone. So spare me the liberal bias that you have.

[Whiterun Guard]

Ew, john, you date a niner's fan?

That's low. Even for you.

[John]

Worse. I married a Red Sox fan.

[RBS]

Dear lord...

[John]

At least she hates the Patriots despite being from Boston.

[RBS]

I guess that sort cancels out the Red Sox fandom.

[Matrix]

Well, she could be a Yankees fan. That's the lowest of the low

[Restoras]

That's why John and his wife are perfect for each other since he is a Yankees fan.

[Ska]

I feast on your hate.

[John]

Ah I appreciate your obsession with me. Everyone needs a stalker. But sorry, that wasn't me.

[Tim]

And you said I was bad. Sheesh.

[mr simple]

I can't believe you made me read those comments. That's a 5-minute major.

[Lord Humungus]

LaPierre the Lawyer
The NRA doesn't protect the public. It protects the gun rights of accused criminals.
http://www.slate.com/articles/....._drug.html

The National Rifle Association says it's tough on crime. It wants to "keep guns out of the hands of people who are potential killers," according to NRA president David Keene. Yesterday, after President Obama issued a list of gun-control proposals in response to the Sandy Hook massacre, the NRA charged that under Obama's plan, "Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected." The better course, said the organization, was "prosecuting violent criminals to the fullest extent of the law."

But the NRA doesn't help the government prosecute accused criminals. It defends them. The NRA is a civil liberties organization, like the ACLU. It focuses not on protecting the public, but on the rights of those who are arrested, accused, or prosecuted. Except that the NRA, unlike the ACLU, doesn't concern itself with the rights of suspects in general. It focuses entirely on preserving their access to guns.

[John]

That is like saying the NAACP is not a civil rights organization because it only concerns itself with the equal rights of blacks. That is stupid even for slate.

And you have to love how liberals immediately abandon any pretense of due process as soon as the defendant is one of the dreaded "other".

[Whiterun Guard]

You and I both know that whites don't need protection, they need prosecution.

Minorities need protection because they are incapable of defending themselves.

[Drake]

The NAACP doesn't want EQUAL rights for blacks. They want more than equal rights. Same with the feminist groups, AARP, etc...

[John]

In practice, yes. But my point is that no one would ever say they are not a civil rights group because they only look out for one set of people.

[wareagle]

they're looking out for the right people, the oppressed peoples who have been under your thumb.

/slate derpster

[Brandon]

Narrative Uber Alles!

[Ted S.]

The accused deserve to have somebody stand up for them.

One can't care about the children if one does not care about the rule of law.

[Lord Humungus]

States Will Be Given Extra Time to Set Up Health Insurance Exchanges
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/us/.....html?_r=1&

Under the law, the secretary of health and human services was supposed to determine "on or before Jan. 1, 2013," whether states were prepared to operate the online markets, known as insurance exchanges.

But the secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, working with the White House, said she would waive or extend the deadline for any states that expressed interest in creating their own exchanges or regulating insurance sold through a federal exchange.

[gaijin]

So the budget savings will kick in sooner, right?

[CampingInYourPark]

"Under the law..."

"But the secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, working with the White House, said she would waive or extend the deadline"

Laws are not meant for cabinet secretaries and can be amended or ignored at their discretion.

[Alack]

Thank God we did away with that whole "Rule of Law" thing. It's much more convenient just letting our elected officials alter legislation as needed after it's passed.

[Rich]

Ah, but the *legislation* allows/mandates officials -- elected or not -- making up the rules. Therefore, we *do have* "Rule of Law". Just read some of the recent monstrosities. 8-(

[Mike M.]

The government of Malaysia says that if your son likes wearing V-neck sweaters, he might be gay. Can't make this kind of stuff up.

[DJF]

Since Malaysia is very near the equator, wearing any kind of sweater there would seem to indicate some sort of problem.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Not that it necessarily applies to Malaysia, but it can get pretty chilly at altitude at the equator.

[Whiterun Guard]

True, but if you're in Ecuador, we already know you're gay.

[BakedPenguin]

No, You are gay is a different South American country.

[Whiterun Guard]

+ uno

[Jerry on the road]

I think they have a point.

[mr simple]

Who wears crew neck sweaters? What, are we frat boys in college?

[Enough About Palin]

"Also, "teenagers who wear tight, light colored clothes" over a "chiseled physique" tend to be gay as well, according to officials."

One thing is for certain, the official who made that statement is gay as fuck.

[Brett L]

He's just been doing extensive research. For his job!

[Whiterun Guard]

Victims of the Aurora theater shooting are considering suing the alleged shooter James Holmes' psychiatrist, for negligence.

Can they sue him in an Eye-talian court?

[LTC(ret) John]

Sue nothing...imprison.

[DJF]

Only if the psychiatrist was on a government panel and then issued a statement that James Holmes was not a danger and people should have no problem being near him.

[Whiterun Guard]

Well...he's a health professional and Obamacare is somewhat in effect.

And I'd say not issuing a statement that Holmes was a danger is tantamount to issuing a statement that he's not a danger.

[Rich]

I'd say not issuing a statement that Holmes was a danger is tantamount to issuing a statement that he's not a danger.

I'd say Mr. Commerce Clause agrees with you.

[Numeromancer]

I officially declare that everyone is dangerous.

There. Ass covered.

[Lord Humungus]

Woman's eBay Auction Goes Viral After She Accidentally Includes Naked Photo of Herself in Post (NSFW)
http://gawker.com/5976145/woma.....-post-nsfw

[John]

I saw that. Nice dress and it looks even better off of her than it probably did on her.

[Ted S.]

We discussed this one several days ago. :-p

[Lord Humungus]

once again, H&R is on the bleeding edge.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Every time I see a repeat, I wait for Ted to point it out.

[Lord Humungus]

Ted has to be Ted.

[Ted S.]

If I can't be first, at least I can mock all the people who are second/third/fourth etc. 🙂

[sarcasmic]

Warty's penis is not a foot long. Oh, wait. That's Subway. Never mind.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....nches.html

[LTC(ret) John]

You are a far braver man than I if you were considering approaching Warty with a ruler and asking to, uh, measure him.

[Rich]

How about asking if he'd "like to make it a meal"?

[LTC(ret) John]

That is tantamount to suicide.

[Whiterun Guard]

Would you like American cheese, Swiss, or ALL NATURAL WARTY BABY.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Eww! /teenage girl.

[generic Brand]

We already decided yesterday that Joe measures himself with Subway sandwiches laid end to end, so this news makes him even shorter now 🙁

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Where is Ted on this one!?

[Ted S.]

Pay me to police the fora and I'd be on it.

Of course, I'd probably shoot some dogs, too. 🙁

[Certified Public Asskicker]

If you're referring to Tony, Shrike, Joe, and Mary, we're ok with that.

[Delroy]

You know who else claimed 12 inches, but only had 11?

[LTC(ret) John]

(Mostly) Long Dong Silver?

[BakedPenguin]

Nigel Tufnell?

[invisible furry hand]

DEREK SMALLS!!

[Elspeth Flashman]

+1. lols.

[Whiterun Guard]

Snow?

[sarcasmic]

CVS shop owner chokes shoplifter to death. Cops do nothing. I assume he's got friends on the force.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....rmacy.html

[Whiterun Guard]

Get some third graders to make some videos saying how dangerous hands are, stat.

[Whiterun Guard]

Also, if he was shoplifting from a CVS, it was probably a mercy killing.

[LTC(ret) John]

WIN. Flat out. mother f'in WIN.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama's Gun Curbs Face a Slog in Congress
Divisions Among Democrats, Opposition by House GOP Pose Hurdles to Many Proposals; NRA Sees Areas for Cooperation
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....NewsSecond

President Barack Obama's package of gun-control measures immediately reignited longstanding divisions between liberal members of his own party eager to identify with a clampdown on guns and more-centrist Democrats who pride themselves on defending gun rights, underscoring the fraught path ahead.

Girding for resistance, the president in his Wednesday address called for people across the country to lobby their lawmakers to overcome certain opposition from the National Rifle Association, the nation's largest gun-rights group, and its supporters. "I will put everything I've got into this," Mr. Obama said. "But I tell you, the only way we can change is if the American people demand it."

I don't think the American people are demanding it - but I could be wrong.

[mr simple]

Obama's Gun Curbs Face a Slog in Congress

I thought the WSJ was an American paper?

[mad libertarian guy]

Nope.

We've had that "national conversation" and it appears the general consensus is "keep your hands off my guns."

[CJR]

The American people are demanding guns and ammo in large quantities. As of last week, Magpul had *one million* AR-15 magazines on backorder. Stag Arms, a well-known AR manufacturer, is backordered for *two years.* You can't buy common rifle or pistol ammo for love nor money.

This whole push for gun control, post-Sandy Hook, was never a grassroots movement. It was a carefully pre-planned PR campaign, sparkplugged by a small number of wealthy and influential individuals. The American people, on the other hand, have been voting with their wallets...

[C. Anacreon]

They had a gun buy-back in San Jose on the TV news last night, with a lot of self-congratulation by politicians and vox pop clips from those turning in said guns for money. All those turning in said perfect quotes like "I'm doing my part to stop the violence."

I was wishing so hard one of them would have said "I've had this thing for years and it doesn't work at all anymore. I was going to just chuck it out but these fools give me good money for it! I'm heading downtown with this money to buy some ammo, maybe even a new gun."

[NeonCat]

If someone did say that, it would get lost in editing.

[sarcasmic]

Man pays $14,000 property tax bill with change.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....HANGE.html

[Mike M.]

Fourteen grand in property taxes? Move out of California, Larry!

[Drake]

Don't bother moving to NY or NJ.

[LTC(ret) John]

Or IL.

[gaijin]

How long until some local leo's show up to "check out" his property?

[carol]

Why did he show up at the bank, though? What did those poor underpaid tellers ever do to him? He should have take the coin to the tax collector's office and dumped them on the overpaid "civil" servants.

[sarcasmic]

He should have take the coin to the tax collector's office and dumped them on the overpaid "civil" servants.

They would have told him to come back with a check, and called the cops if he refused.

[carol]

If the guy was pissed off enough to pay with $14,000 in coin (any idea what that weighs!!!?) he should be pissed off enough to sue the county for having him arrested for trying to pay his bill with legal tender.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Victims of the Aurora theater shooting are considering suing the alleged shooter James Holmes' psychiatrist, for negligence.

The mental health profession is really taking it on the chin recently.

[John]

That will help. Lets make psychiatrists hair triggered to commit people. That will certainly encourage people with mental problems to seek help.

[sarcasmic]

Seven year old takes unloaded handgun to school! If only we had more laws, this never would have happened!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....chool.html

[sarcasmic]

Cleavage! (safe for work)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....pride.html

[John]

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!

[generic Brand]

See? These are the stories ESPN should be focusing on! Who gives a crap about Manti Te'o's alleged girlfriend?

[Brett L]

Speaking of... Round up of Teo's gf jokes.

[Enough About Palin]

These Te'o jokes are all very funny but let's all try and remember that a person who never existed is dead.

[Enough About Palin]

Musburger: "Oh, you middle linebackers, you get all the imaginary women!"

[LTC(ret) John]

Oh man...sometime I wish I had been in academia.

[Drake]

I wish I was the star linebacker with a fake girlfriend - who gets lots of side.

[wareagle]

isn't Manti claming 'virgin mormon' status? Maybe he should see Holmes' psychiatrist to find out why someone would willingly endanger a future NFL contract.

[invisible furry hand]

Mormon virginity is clearly a handicap which prevents people from fully functioning in society. Can't Obamacare cover this? Why isn't there a fundraiser for the cure? WHAT HAVE ANY OF YOU DONE TO CURE THIS CONDITION?

[Whiterun Guard]

Well you can still help to put them through college...

[Brett L]

I hope this catches on in Southern schools. I look forward to rooting for FSU.

[invisible furry hand]

"rooting" in Australia means "fucking". But you probably didn't mean that

[RBS]

What? Like when someone is "rooting" around the trash?

[Whiterun Guard]

"Root hog or die" takes on a whole new meaning.

Or I guess maybe not.

[Brett L]

Current gf is a FSU graduate, I bet she'd be okay with that. She's a pretty hardcore fan. Not sure how it helps the school, but just to be safe...

[invisible furry hand]

You have a girlfriend? Our smelly little mama's boy is all growsed up *sniff*

[Brett L]

She had her sense of smell destroyed in an accident. And she's taken over dressing me. I'm much more fashionable now. She dresses me like that Britpop boy band in the Pepsi commercials.

[Groovus Maximus]

Jedward?????

[Brett L]

Maybe. Although having a full beard which she insists I keep kinda messes up the whole flow.

[invisible furry hand]

the story about the coder who outsourced his own job isn't really over until the Guardian writes something stupid about it

[Groovus Maximus]

It's not called The UK Fraudian for nothing.

Described as a "family man" and "quiet and inoffensive", Bob is a tech-wizard Bartleby for an age of "flexible" labour markets. Bartleby the scrivener, in Herman Melville's much-loved short story, is the patron saint of all employee resistance: he manages to hang on to his boring clerical job without ever doing anything. When someone suggests he perform a task, he just replies, gently: "I would prefer not to."

Hmmm, no doubt this man would be denied gun ownership by the Gun Grabbers. Or given a raise if he was a USA Fedgov employee...

[crazyfingers]

wait, is this kind of thing frowned upon?

reading hit and run is my full time job, most of my assignments get outsourced to elace.com

[LTC(ret) John]

"Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vowed to hunt down the militants responsible for a deadly raid on and ongoing hostage situation at a BP oil field in Algeria."

Right after he gets those Benghazi perps....right?

[Whiterun Guard]

Why didn't he just get the French Foreign Legion to go rescue them?

[LTC(ret) John]

Or the Algerian Army.

[mr simple]

Ben what now?

[sarcasmic]

Robin Wright doesn't look good in a butch cut.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....ening.html

[John]

If you had been married to Sean Penn, you wouldn't age well either.

[John]

Nice side boob though.

[Rasilio]

Yeah and we all know what size the bra is.....

It's a Buttercup

[Groovus Maximus]

"You know, there is a shortage of perfect bosoms in this world; it would be a shame to damage yours..."

[Restoras]

Ed, New City is in Rockland County, NY, not on Long Island. Also, the Journal News published an interactive map of gun permits in Rockland and Westchester County, where the burglaries have taken place, both of whcih are also not on Long Island.

[Lord Humungus]

Escaped grizzly cub: How did "Booboo" escape?
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/L.....boo-escape

Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission have been looking for the 125-pound grizzly cub after it escaped from a facility Tuesday afternoon in Golden Gate Estates. Wildlife officials asked residents to report any sightings.

yeah, BooBoo - more like STEVE SMITH!

[LTC(ret) John]

Well, don't jump to conclusions - there have not been any uptick in furry rapes in the area...yet.

[generic Brand]

Oh I thought it was "Honey Booboo", in which case I would be more than happy to trade up from the tranq gun for something a bit stronger.

[Brett L]

We've solved the python problem.

[LTC(ret) John]

Noooo! I thought they were supplying the Crackers chain?!

[generic Brand]

+1 free appetizer

[Brett L]

No worries. Grizzly/Black bear hybrid bacon and ham will be appearing on the menu in lieu.

[Lord Humungus]

The euro crisis: Not everyone can be Germany
http://www.economist.com/blogs.....o-crisis-0

Let's recall what the euro area is trying to do here. The single-currency area developed a big balance-of-payments problem during the pre-crisis era; capital flooded from north to south to take advantage of higher returns in the fast growing periphery. When crisis struck the capital flooded back, leaving overextended borrowers and overpriced, undercompetitive labour. To service its debts, the periphery needed to flip to running surpluses. Typically, this process would have been facilitated by a big devaluation, but the single currency prevented that. And so instead the euro area has opted for "internal devaluation": a long period of stagnant to falling wages pushed forward by prolonged high unemployment.

[sarcasmic]

'Sister Wives' challenges Utah's bigamy laws.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-laws.html

[LTC(ret) John]

Heh. I can't wait to watch the court's contortions on this.

[John]

Two wives your allowed in the Army
But one's too many for me.

[Enough About Palin]

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.

- Oscar Wild

[sarcasmic]

I'm not sure that a gay man would be the best authority on the merits of having a wife.

[Groovus Maximus]

Ever heard of a "Marriage of convenience"? People still do those for a variety of reasons...

[invisible furry hand]

i prefer the term mariage blanc

[Groovus Maximus]

Is that a proposal?-D

[invisible furry hand]

I would not dare tread on Dr PG's turf - even if she didn't mind her dad would

[Groovus Maximus]

Just teasing ya, lass!-) Your impeccable character and morality would preclude such behaviour as it is beneath you. (And yeah, she is proficient with a scalpel and other medieval tools.-)

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.nbcnews.com/busines.....ica-756544

The most, and least, safe states in America

1. Maine

Violent crimes (excluding murder) per 100,000: 120.2 (the least)
Murders per 100,000: 1.8 (tied for seventh least)
Incarceration rate per 100,000: 148 (the least)
Police per 100,000: 213.9 (the least)
Basic access: 84.0 (16th highest)
Total cost of violence: $801 million

Maine is the most peaceful state in the country, as it has been since 2000. The state has the lowest rate of violent crime excluding murder. It averages 120 violent crimes per 100,000, while Nevada, the state with the most crimes, averages 654. It also has the lowest incarceration rate, effectively eight times lower than Louisiana's, or the least peaceful state. In addition, Maine has the lowest rate of police employees among its population -- over half that of New Jersey.

[Res Publica Americana]

3. New Hampshire

Violent crimes (excluding murder) per 100,000: 166.0 (third least)
Murders per 100,000: 1.0 (the least)
Incarceration rate per 100,000: 209 (fifth least)
Police per 100,000: 288.6 (16th least)
Basic access: 85.4 (fifth highest)
Total cost of violence: $952 million

New Hampshire's high level of peace may be the result of its sound economic conditions. Only 8.1 percent of state residents are living in poverty -- the lowest rate in the country. It also has one of the lowest rates of income inequality. Additionally, New Hampshire has the lowest rate of homicide in the country, the third-lowest rate of other violent crimes and the fifth-lowest incarceration rate. New Hampshire also has a 91.5 percent high school graduation rate -- the fourth-highest -- and the lowest rate of births among teenagers.

[generic Brand]

What does "Basic access" mean?

[Res Publica Americana]

It's safe to assume the article's written by a progressive, which makes it even juicier, considering how counter to their retarded philosophies the laws in states like New Hampshire tend to be.

[wareagle]

What does "Basic access" mean

taxpayer funded?

[Enough About Palin]

4. Minnesota
Violent crimes (excl. murder) per 100,000: 234.2 (9th least)
Murders per 100,000: 1.8 (9th least)
Incarceration rate per 100,000: 185 (2nd least)
Police per 100,000: 258.8 (7th least)
Basic access: 86.6 (2nd highest)
Total cost of violence: $4.68 billion

Minnesota has the second-lowest rate of incarceration in the country, with just 185 out of every 100,000 residents in a state prison. The state has a graduation rate of 91.8% and the second-highest labor participation rate in the country. According to Gallup, the state provides its residents with the second-best access to all basic necessities among all states. Minnesota also has the second-highest life expectancy in the country, as well as the second-lowest teen death rate.

[Res Publica Americana]

So the most peaceful states are ones that have the fewest cops and really lax gun laws? WHAT?@@?@?@?@?@@

[sarcasmic]

An armed society is a polite society.

[Res Publica Americana]

What the hell's the matter with you? Do you want the gay black to die in the streets due to gun proliferation?!?

[hamilton]

What would the numbers look like for Nevada ex Las Vegas?

[Res Publica Americana]

Much lower than they are, which, if I recall correctly, would put Nevada just about in the middle of the rankings. I'll try to dig up the article.

[Restoras]

Also, like NOBODY lives there. Except Sarcasmic, and I can't move there because we'll have to knife fight over the A and B-cup women.

[Res Publica Americana]

Big cities in some of the western states, interestingly, are a great deal safer than big cities in pinko shitholes. I wonder why.

[Restoras]

I hear ya, I was just looking to poke fun.

[Res Publica Americana]

Yeah, but my feelings are already hurt. Report to Obama's reeducation camps at once.

[sarcasmic]

Knife fight? Nah. Roman candles and twenty paces.

[Restoras]

Sounds good. Question: Does the loser of this duel get the A-cup women or the B-cup women?

[sarcasmic]

I'm stuck with my wife either way.

[wareagle]

so, what are inquiring minds to make of your use of "stuck", sarcman?

[sarcasmic]

so, what are inquiring minds to make of your use of "stuck", sarcman?

Think of things that are sticky...

[Ted S.]

You need a kinkier wife.

[Drake]

They are also sparsely populated states without major cities. The northern half of both states are still populated by actual Yankees who tend to be self-sufficient and mind their own business.

[Zeb]

If NH could just give Manchester and Nashua to Mass. we'd be the most peaceful by far.

[sarcasmic]

I don't know where you get your information, but the northern half of Maine is populated by inbred pill-popping rednecks on welfare.

[Drake]

I know northern Maine all too well (my ex's family lived way the fuck up there). They grew pot, popped pills, shot deer whenever they felt like it, and generally lived like northern hillbillies.

But they rarely hurt each other and there were no cops around to worry about the victimless stuff.

[Res Publica Americana]

Debatable point. Utah, Minnesota, and Washington are also on the list, and they have major cities.

[Brett L]

Hmm. You know what else those 5 states don't have much of, relative to other places? Black males, who make up 54% of the murder victims in the US.

[Res Publica Americana]

Too bad progressives and prohibitionists don't give a fuck. Drug wars and welfare cultures are more important!

[Alack]

Pretty sure that statistic is racist.

[Enough About Palin]

Right, there are no blacks in the ghettos of Minneapolis. Our street gangs are Scandinavian, so there's that whole Norwegian / Swede feud thing going on.

[Brett L]

"Relative to other places". I'm sure its a veritable Watts down there.

[NeonCat]

Do they both agree to hate the Danes?

[Drake]

All those are fairly cold places. Maybe people just commit less crime when it's too cold to go outside.

[Zeb]

Being relatively homogenous culturally and sparsely populated probably helps too, but still good counterexamples to claims that more police or fewer guns are the answer to crime problems.

[Res Publica Americana]

They also have really low murder rates, by the way.

[BakedPenguin]

Maine has the lowest rate of police employees among its population...

So that's why sarcasmic lives there.

[sarcasmic]

It's not why I moved here, but it is a factor in why I haven't moved away.

[KPres]

Let me know when you guys are willing to admit the real reason these states have low violent crime rates...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.....population

[sarcasmic]

Maine is the whitest state in the nation.

[invisible furry hand]

German criminal police who used hidden cameras for 18 months to try to find a toilet paper thief in their own office were probably breaking the law

[Whiterun Guard]

They didn't know about the three seashells...

[mr lizard]

Das Shit Tickets

[sarcasmic]

Jennifer Lawrence tells Letterman: 'It's not my butt'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....riere.html

[generic Brand]

Winter's Bone!

[Rich]

Nice.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Be honest Sarcasmic, is she what you consider a "John girl" after that picture?

[sarcasmic]

John. Likes. Big. Butts and he cannot lie!

[John]

If liking her ass is wrong, I don't want to be right.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I'm with you.

[Lord Humungus]

somebody needs to do some squats.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. has officially recognized a government in Somalia for the first time in more than 20 years...

I felt as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in libertarian terror and were suddenly silenced.

[invisible furry hand]

at least they'll get some roads now

[LTC(ret) John]

Stimulus!

[sarcasmic]

DC police officer found guilty of killing mistress then leaving their baby in hot car to 'bake and cook until she was dead'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-dead.html

[Matrix]

Yup, these are the only people who should have guns.

[Lord Humungus]

Harsanyi: On guns, an abuse of power
http://www.humanevents.com/201.....-of-power/

If you fail to see the picture as clearly as the president, you may be an extremist or, more than likely, you're too feeble-minded to withstand the Jedi mind tricks employed by gun merchants or radio talk show hosts or the National Rifle Association or all those folks "ginning up fear" on the issue, according to a president who trots out 7-year-olds to shield him from debate.

Now, the 23 executive orders Barack Obama signed that are aimed at "reducing gun violence" could be considered, at worst, cynically political or, at best, completely useless. But the way Obama treats the process, children, the debate, the Constitution and the American people is another story. Sen. Rand Paul recently remarked that "someone who wants to bypass the Constitution, bypass Congress ? that's someone who wants to act like a king or a monarch." That may be a bit hyperbolic, but it is also a bit true.

[Res Publica Americana]

How is it hyperbolic? It's exactly monarchic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...electoral votes to be distributed proportionally to the popular vote rather than in the winner-take-all format prevalent now.

There are no red states or blue states, only purple states. (I don't know what color libertarian is.)

[Lord Humungus]

Orange!

[Restoras]

Yes, orange. It's my new favorite color. I hope this doens't mean I have to be a Mets and/or Giants fan, though I guess I can be ok with that.

[generic Brand]

Worse. You have to be a Browns fan.

[Clich? Bandit]

uhhhh ever heard of the Broncos?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Orange ya glad I didn't ask the color of the Pirate Party?

[invisible furry hand]

The color is black, the material is leather, the seduction is beauty, the justification is honesty, the aim is ecstasy, the fantasy is death.

[hamilton]

The point is taken, the elk is dead, the beast stops at Swindon, Chabrol stops at nothing, I'm having treatment and La Fontaine can get knotted.

[Ted S.]

Gold, of course.

[BakedPenguin]

Exactly. I thought this would be obvious.

[Elspeth Flashman]

pearly white.

[Lord Humungus]

you know what else is pearly white?

...certainly not my teeth

[Elspeth Flashman]

Well, it's the color of my top hat & cane.

[KMA Too]

The shark's pretty teeth?

[Whiterun Guard]

Monocle.

[Lord Humungus]

I want this wall painted, Jeeves. A nice monocle color will do.

[Whiterun Guard]

I like this car, does it come in monocle?

[Rich]

As for the privacy of gun owners who could be tracked with the GPS chips in their guns, Cochran said, "safety is ? a much more important issue than is privacy."

That's Chicago alderman Willie Cochran; and a Massachusetts state senator has been pushing a similar measure.

[Res Publica Americana]

Despotic, calamitous fuckwads proposing to track certain classes of people as if they were livestock is just fine, apparently.

Fuck them all.

[Rich]

Yep. These clowns should have GPS trackers embedded in their skulls to enable the public to know where they are at all times.

[Ted S.]

You can't be safe if you can't be private.

[Zeb]

"safety is ? a much more important issue than is privacy."

Just because you say something doesn't mean it is true. Also, how would GPS chips improve safety (unless, of course, the plan is to confiscate guns)?

[Whiterun Guard]

Well, we'd know when they came within X feet of a child (which is also tracked via GPS chip).

[a better weapon]

Its important to note that the "..." isn't an edit. He pauses and stutters during his remarks. A state apologist buddy of mine tried to claim I was taking him out of context. He was shocked to find out there is a recording of Cochran's remarks in that article.

[wareagle]

wasn't a huge impetus behind the Roe case privacy? Please don't tell me that we have authoritarian hypocrisy at work again. I would shocked, just shocked.

[DesigNate]

Why don't they just cut the bullshit and put up a bill to chip each individual. That's their ultimate goal anyways.

[highnumber]

More handguns and pistol permits were stolen based on the newspaper list of registered gun owners on parts of Long Island.

This is not supported in the linked article:

Clarkstown police said they had no evidence the burglary was connected to the controversial map.

http://newyork.newsday.com/new.....-1.4463741

[Restoras]

Once or twice may be a coincidence. What about events number three, four, five...

[highnumber]

So far, one other home on the list has been broken into. In that case, a home in White Plains, thieves did not make off with any guns or pistol permits according to the reports I've seen. To assume the thieves used the list to choose the house simply because they tried to break into the safe seems like a hell of an assumption.

[Restoras]

Yes. Hence my comment. In the instance of the house in White Plains it is my understanding that the burglars didn't acutally get into the house and hence didn't make off with the firearms purported to held inside.

Once or twice, sure, perhaps and maybe even probably a coincidence. Anything after that I'm not so sure. It's not like criminals are stupid. They have a map that shows them where the easily fencible and most valuable items on the black market are - do you really think they aren't going to make use of it?

[T]

It's not like criminals are stupid.

Actually, most available evidence points to just that.

[sarcasmic]

The ones who get caught are stupid. Plenty of crime goes unsolved.

[highnumber]

Do you know how many other break-ins there were in the area in the same time frame? (I couldn't quickly find a list of police reports)

Also, by gun owner logic, shouldn't thieves be less likely to choose a target where there could be an armed homeowner? And wouldn't guns be more troublesome to fence, compared to electronics and jewelry?

[sarcasmic]

Also, by gun owner logic, shouldn't thieves be less likely to choose a target where there could be an armed homeowner?

If the house is empty the thief need not worry about the owner.

And wouldn't guns be more troublesome to fence, compared to electronics and jewelry?

I would think the thief's drug dealer would be more interested in guns than electronics or jewelery.

[highnumber]

But if they're mistaken and the owners are home...

Do burglars go straight to a drug dealer with their haul? Is that how it works? And would this drug dealer, this businessman (outside the law but still a businessman) want a gun that came directly from a break-in? I'd think that the drug dealer preferred to take cash from his customers and buy the tools of his trade as they may be from sources that allowed him to further removed from the crimes that he was not involved in. Then again, I'm just talking out my ass now, just like you are.

[Restoras]

I do not have those stats about other break-ins.

Gunowners are not always home. Also, they can be older and thus susceptible to a forcible entry. To your point about a gun household be less of a target - generally speaking yes unless the thieves know that you are not at home, at which point your home becomes more of a target.

Guns are NOT more troublesome to fence. Other criminals are very eager to get their hands on guns.

Again, once or twice may be a coincidence. Three, four, and five times, if that is the case, is pointing towards a trend. Would be interesting see see what the incidence of break-ins/robbery attempts at gun-owner homes was in the 12 month period before the publication of the map, versus what it ends up being at the end of the 12 months after the publication.

[highnumber]

Based on this limited data it seems rather pointless to speculate unless one is trying to sensationalize and/or propagandize.

[Restoras]

Limited data? Sure. In fact I acknowledged that twice. Speculation? You mean, ignore until it's a big problem, instead of monitor closely? Doesn't sound very wise, or prudent, unless you believe that law abiding citizens shouldn't 2A rights and these robberies are a feature and not a bug of the Journal News' hit job.

Troll alert.

[highnumber]

Let's see what we have:
No hints yet found to connect these burglaries to the gun list apart from the fact that these two addresses were on that published list. (How many other burglaries of homes that were not on the list? We have no idea.)
No guns even stolen in one of the burglaries.
But someone has tenuously connected these incidents and the drum is being beaten! We must join the chorus!

Troll alert? Nuts to you, kid. I got my bona fides.

[Restoras]

You are cleary a troll.

I ACKNOWLEDGED TWICE that one or two incidences is not necessarily indicative of a trend.

I joined no such chorus. Go see Newsday or the Journal News for the chorus of sensationalism. Thinking that a potential trend is worth monitoring makes me curious. If you think that counts as sensationalism I suggest you consult Websters, assuming you know how to use one.

The only bona fide you have here is a bona fide troll boner.

[highnumber]

Right. You're "just asking questions." Never mind that it's rank speculation that's being used to rally the troops.

I shouldn't point out that you've also shifted to all caps at times and tossed off insults while calling me a troll. I shouldn't point that out but, well, here we are, with you doing all that and me pointing it out.

[Restoras]

I do not have those stats about other break-ins.

Gunowners are not always home. Also, they can be older and thus susceptible to a forcible entry. To your point about a gun household be less of a target - generally speaking yes unless the thieves know that you are not at home, at which point your home becomes more of a target.

Guns are NOT more troublesome to fence. Other criminals are very eager to get their hands on guns.

Again, once or twice may be a coincidence. Three, four, and five times, if that is the case, is pointing towards a trend. Would be interesting see see what the incidence of break-ins/robbery attempts at gun-owner homes was in the 12 month period before the publication of the map, versus what it ends up being at the end of the 12 months after the publication.

[Lord Humungus]

OT: my book on Amazon is now #8 in the free sci-fi category. yay for me.

my wife is finally graduating from school. She will now be more educated than me and with the possibility of a much higher pay. I just hope she remembers to pay me off in tube gear, muscle cars, and strippers.

[Groovus Maximus]

I'm glad to hear this, My Liege. I hope all is well now in the Wasteland.-)

[Res Publica Americana]

Gde tvoy avtomat?

[Groovus Maximus]

Zdes', pochemu?

[Res Publica Americana]

Para strelyat' v Radu.

[Groovus Maximus]

Oj ladno, ladno.

[Res Publica Americana]

Za mnoy, tavarish, unechtozhim socialism!

[generic Brand]

Oh jeez... where's IFH to translate this gobbledy gook?

[invisible furry hand]

they're plotting some sort of coup, swapping recipes, reminiscing about the gulag...

[Lord Humungus]

those winters in the gulag; snuggling under the corpses of children to stay warm while munching on a crust of bread. You just can't take those precious memories away.

[BakedPenguin]

Yob tvayu predcyedatel!

[Res Publica Americana]

Shto za khuynya?

[Groovus Maximus]

Yob tvayu predcyedatel!

Kotorij odni? Ja-Putin's-bitch ili "His Pestilency"?

[Brett L]

Yob tvayu predcyedatel

Finally, I know one!

[T]

I have a predicate?

[invisible furry hand]

do you also have a subject? Then you can add it to a dope beat

[Lord Humungus]

well enough... or should I say better than before?

[Groovus Maximus]

Good!-D Mrs. LH will no doubt be pleased.

[gaijin]

downloaded your book last night and started it...so far, so good!

[Brett L]

I read "lube gear". Where is my mind?

[Lord Humungus]

down in the gutter. That's where I live.

[Tim]

When you're famous I hope you remember the little people who were here at the start.

[hamilton]

And us more important people who downloaded your book as a sign of gracious condescension.

[Lord Humungus]

couldn't live without H&R.

but I expect my hopes of fame and glory to be dashed upon the rocks of reality. I've seen the freebie giveaway give great numbers before, but once you expect people to pay cash, forget about it.

[invisible furry hand]

tell me about it - I'm still waiting to be paid to download your book

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

I think it's OK to link whore it again.

[T]

Every other post seems to be about the right ratio.

[Lord Humungus]

I've kept my whoring to a minimum. Since I know how %@%!$ annoying it is when other people do it.

[mr simple]

Funny, with higher being in the sentence below, I first read that as "my wife is finally graduating high school."

[Groovus Maximus]

In former Soviet Ukraine, fitness works out YOU!

[John]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/il.....tastrophe/

Egypt turning into Haiti. Remember when we were all told how the Muslim Brotherhood were really just good guys?

[Mike M.]

At least nobody here at Reason bought into all that "Arab Spring" crap!

[Zeb]

"Remember when we were all told how the Muslim Brotherhood were really just good guys?"

Not really, no.

[robc]

Getting rid of Mubarak was a good thing.

Replacing him with the MB was a bad thing.

But you cant win if you dont try.

[wareagle]

Replacing him with the MB was a bad thing.

but anyone paying attention and watching Obama channel his inner Lombardi, most suspected that the MB was also the only thing.

[hamilton]

Actually I think the US Govt not trying so much would be a win.

[Tim]

"Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vowed to hunt down the militants responsible for a deadly raid on and ongoing hostage situation at a BP oil field in Algeria."

Will assault weapons be involved?

[Res Publica Americana]

Leon Panetta's a bureaucrat whose duties do not extend to battlefields. He obviously doesn't need to be protected with assault rifles.

[John]

Just like they hunted down the people who killed the ambassador in Libya?

[Res Publica Americana]

Give me a break. These incompetent pussies couldn't hunt down reefer in a college dorm.

[LTC(ret) John]

Drones.

[Tim]

I want to see Leon strap on some bandoliers and an M60 and HALO out of a C-130 over the Sahara. Get some payback or don't come back.

[BakedPenguin]

Panetta is a pretty cool guy. eh kills aleins and doesnt afraid of anything.

[T]

eh kills aleins and doesnt afraid of anything.

The wake n' bake is doing you no favors.

[BakedPenguin]

Know your meme.

[JW]

Know your memes.

[JW]

Stupid lack of refresh.

[BakedPenguin]

PWND

[Karl Hungus]

"Hi, I'm Robert Wagner. Did you kill your wife and dump her body in the ocean off Catalina Island? Then a reverse mortgage might be right for you."

[Lord Humungus]

Robert Wagner is a total jerk
only second to Tommy Kirk /MST3K

[Elspeth Flashman]

Creepy girl.
. . . could you find it in your heart to love a bot like me?

[BakedPenguin]

The last person who had my office left me a gumball dispenser. I can't look at it without thinking I have the decapitated head of Tom Servo on my desk.

[Brett L]

If this had played out better, I'd be in favor of SWATting.

The only ones home were Cruise's security team and personal chef, all of whom had no idea what was going on when the crew of police and SWAT officers appeared.

[BakedPenguin]

It would have been funnier if they'd claimed several naked men were being held in chains in the house.

[Brett L]

NY rushes emergency legislation to exempt cops from new magazine restrictions. Right now, every cop is a criminal. Oh, wait...

[Rich]

"We never claimed it was a perfect law."

Top. Men.

[Cdr Lytton]

NY cops are falling over themselves in fits of autoarrestism in the meantime, right?

'No one needs a magazine with more than 7 rounds'

/cuomo

[Tim]

"The Patrolman's Benevolent Association President released a statement saying, "The PBA is actively working to enact changes to this law that will provide the appropriate exemptions from the law for active and retired law enforcement officers."

Retired?

[LTC(ret) John]

Its a Patent of Nobility thing.

[Cdr Lytton]

Of course! Once special, always special!

Besides, someone they arrested thirty years ago could spot them at the market and BAM. They need protection for life, just like the President-King.

[Groovus Maximus]

BANG UKRAINE! -- Your handy, dandy guide to love in Ukraine*.

*Protip: Learn how to dance classically, and The Carlton, Cabbage Patch, and Roger Rabbit ain't gonna cut it, gents. These gals like a strong, masculine lead...

[Brett L]

Pics or GTFO

[Groovus Maximus]

Did I fail to mention that UKR wimminz also like literate men, not just drooling meatheads easily impressed with fotos?

Also, Patchouli is a deal-breaker...

[Brett L]

I thought my doctor-patient confidentiality was international. Damnation. I guess I'll just have to start that home for wayward Estonian girls.

[Groovus Maximus]

Go with Albanian, they aren't very bright. Or so I've heard. Poor Albanians, every country makes fun of them.

[Brett L]

So they're the Arkansas of Europe?

[tarran]

And apparently, the right wing in Ukraine is interested in linguistic programming to create an elite that can think faster and more logically than the proles. And they think a language invented by a supervisor in the California DMV is just the ticket.

"Natural languages are adequate, but that doesn't mean they're optimal," John Quijada, a ... former employee of the California State Department of Motor Vehicles, told me. In 2004, he published a monograph on the Internet... Written like a linguistics textbook, the fourteen-page Web site ran to almost a hundred and sixty thousand words. It documented the grammar, syntax, and lexicon of a language that Quijada had spent three decades inventing in his spare time. Ithkuil had never been spoken by anyone other than Quijada, and he assumed that it never would be.

...

I glanced over at Quijada, who seemed to be amazed at how well the presenters grasped the fundamentals of his language, and yet increasingly flustered by their weirdness. The group had gathered to discuss linguistic transparency, and yet the more the psychoneticists described their interest in Quijada's language the more opaque it all seemed.
...
Near the end of his speech, the translator stopped speaking. The color had fled his cheeks. "Do you realize who this guy is?" he whispered to me. "This guy is, like, the No. 2 terrorist in Ukraine."

[Groovus Maximus]

The "right wing" (if you can call them that) is The Party of Regions and has support from Svobodna (Freedom), who are quite both racist (Anti-Semitic) and homophobic, which is a little odd, as UKR wimminz take it a really personally if a cute guy is gay, and dudes only care if you are a weak, pussified fella, sexuality takes less precedence. Lesbianism, meh, no one really cares.

[tarran]

Well, it is a New Yorker article where 'left wing' = "well-meaning if somewhat unrealistic" and 'right wing' = "evil people bent on world domination who will rape your 11 year old daughter and deny her an abortion".

[Groovus Maximus]

It has linguistics involved in that project, so no doubt Heroic Mulatto is involved somehow.-)

Because LIBERTARIANS!

Seriously though, you don't fuck around with the zealous Nationalists nor the Mafia types, as that Venn diagram overlaps some.

[KMA Too]

'Other Ukrainian cities, which Roosh calls "shitholes,"'

Love the quotation marks!

[John]

I think Manti Teo is my favorite sports figure. He basically trolled the entire sports media complex. If they hadn't long since lost any interest in the actual sports they are supposed to cover and instead obsessed about "human interest" bullshit no one cares about, they wouldn't have been so willing to believe or even cared about his fake and dead girlfriend. He made them all look like the complete fools they are.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

When I heard about "Teoing" I rolled my eyes.

But then I saw a picture, and I did laugh.

[highnumber]

So somebody lied and the media believed the lies and that makes the liar awesome and goes to show you...something...about how...the media are too cynical?

[Ted S.]

Sports reporters deserve to be hated. I find them to be some of the most bigoted PC hypocrites out there.

[Zeb]

Not cynical enough, I think.

[invisible furry hand]

What if Star Wars were an 80s teen movie?

[Brett L]

You mean ROTJ wasn't?

[nicole]

Brett, you've now fully explained why ROTJ is my favorite of the movies.

[Whiterun Guard]

I can't go, I got to take the Donger to Tosche Station.

[Brett L]

Space whortels take the next step.

A SpaceX rocket would carry the first Bigelow Expendable Activity Module (BEAM) to the station in 2015, where it would provide an extra 330 cubic meters of volume to the station, Space.com reports, and could support six astronauts. The BEAM would travel uninflated to the ISS; crews would attach it to an air lock and blow it up with pressurized air from the station. This will be a test mission; NASA hasn't decided how its people will use their new inflatable space.

[Pro Libertate]

Excellent. Whoretels will drive man into space.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Update: CBS Agrees with NBC, NFL is indeed, racist:

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/b.....hing-hires

[RBS]

Speaking of CBSSports, my local sportstalk station switched from four letter radio to cbs on Jan 1. They somehow managed to put together a worse morning show than Mike & Mike. It's basically Tiki Barber and Dana Jacobson clutching their pearls for 3 hours a day.

[Ted S.]

And Jim Rome in the afternoon. [pukes]

[Cdr Lytton]

How's the audio? My local station did the switch too and it went from FM stereo studio sound to tinny distorted AM radio sounding crap.

[Drake]

I hope they will do the right thing and stop airing games.

[Ted S.]

As I said in response to the NBC bitchfest, there weren't any openly gay head coaches hired, either.

[John]

Jim Harbaugh??

[robc]

You stealing my joke?

My response the previous time was: Chuck Knoll?

[John]

No. Answering a question. And isn't Knoll dead?

[robc]

Probably.

I was answering the question of first openly gay coach in the NFL. And I figure anyone connected to the 1970s Steelers is gay, therefore....

[Ted S.]

No; Noll is in his early 80s.

(And I didn't get the joke, to be honest.)

[Ted S.]

Now that I see robc's comment, which wasn't there when I was composing my response, I see there wasn't much of a joke to get.

[robc]

Lame ass cheap shots at the manhead of teams you dont like is the highest form of comedy.

Or maybe that is the pun.

[Cdr Lytton]

Chip Kelly?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Or women. Does someone have a Jezebel article to post?

[Tim]

No Sugarfree, no Jezebel.

[Enough About Palin]

"Update: CBS Agrees with NBC, NFL is indeed, racist:"

Are 13% of the coaches black? If so, then STFU.

[a better weapon]

Currently, there are only 3 by my count (Marvin Lewis, Tomlin, and Frazier) so that is about 9.3%. The NFL just needs one more to get to the approximate US demographic mix, or 12.5%. Probably should hire 2 more just to be on the safe side though.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012.....-violence/

"Rick Moran writes that we should ban the Second Amendment if we truly want gun control:

The only real solution is to repeal the Second Amendment, make most guns illegal, and give anyone who commits a crime with a gun a life sentence if convicted. Banning the sale, distribution, and ownership of handguns, assault weapons, large clip handguns, etc. plus locking away the criminal element that uses guns would put a big dent in violent crime ? maybe.

Let's assume Rick's talking somewhat tongue in cheek on this, because here's the facts. Australia and Britain banned guns in 1997. Violent crime skyrocketed over the next 10 years. The leading crime category was rape of women. Meanwhile, rape has been declining here in America, where a law-abiding woman can buy a handgun in order to participate in her civil right of self-defense. British women get raped twice as often, and Australian women thrice as often, as American women. I document this all in my book 400 Years of Gun Control.

So what gun banners want is to sacrifice women for the sake of feeling good that we did something about "gun violence." Curious that those most stridently promoting civilian disarmament usually pretend that they care about women's rights."

Feministing explodes.

[Brett L]

Oh please, God. Please, please, please get some idiots in Congress behind this. Better yet, go nucular and get a Constitutional convention.

[Tim]

I thought Canada was Earth's rape capital?

[sarcasmic]

Gun banners consider self defense to be vigilante justice.

They would rather a woman submit to rape and then call the police than to take the law into her own hands and fight off the rapist.

[Whiterun Guard]

I think the decline in rape for American women is more attributable to the Obesity epidemic.

[John]

RPA,

Rape only lasts a few minutes, a gun death lasts a lifetime.

[sloopyinca]

Australia and Britain banned guns in 1997. Violent crime skyrocketed over the next 10 years. The leading crime category was rape of women.

Correlation =/= causality. IMO, it had more to do with the wider acceptance of decent dentistry, which up till the 90's was considered a form of witchcraft in the UK.

[John]

People joke about that. But the reason for it is socialized medicine. When the Brits were given the miracle of socialized medicine in the 1950s, the bureaucrats decided Novocain and NOX were two things they could skimp on in the new socialist paradise. So kids went to the dentist and had work done with little or no pain killer or numbing. So as a result most British people who grew up post war developed a horrible fear of the dentist. When you see a Brit with bad teeth, know it is the mark of socialized medicine.

[invisible furry hand]

I call bullshit. Australia wasn't heavily armed before the gun buyback, and you can forget concealed carry, so just on a commonsense level the idea that the buyback would have a huge impact doesn't really work.

But let's consider the stats. This bloke offers no source for his assertion with respect to the Australian crime stats, and perhaps he has some great, solid gold figures. Since he didn't share them, I googled. According to the AIC, which is the main body collecting this stats, the rate per 100,000 went from 76 in 1998 to 79 in 2011. That's skyrocketing?

There's a lot to be said about the incidence of crime and gun ownership, but based on this excerpt, he isn't the guy to say it

[robc]

Considering how crime has gone down in the US, I think staying flat probably does qualify as "skyrocketing".

[invisible furry hand]

Woman pretends to be ghost to get free parking. It works.

[C. Anacreon]

Wow gang, it looks like we have a groovy mystery to solve! Rooby-roo!

[Groovus Maximus]

Thomas "Chinaman" Friedman must be so disappointed:

"There's just not enough money," said Liu Jiongda, 35, a manager at a Shanghai logistics company who earns just over 11,000 yuan ($1500) per month, more than half of which goes straight into a mortgage on a property he bought in 2009.

"If the government wants a so-called consumer culture, they have to cut the amount of tax I have to pay. That is simple. If I have more money then I'll be willing to spend more."

Investment meanwhile, at 50.4 percent, has picked up as the new leadership has looked to underpin a recovery with spending on infrastructure - a tried and tested method.

From Rueters via Kiev Rost.

[Rich]

Holder asks federal court to indefinitely delay lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch

Again with the indefinite detention!

Seriously, WTF is he covering up?

[Mike M.]

The fact that this lowlife piece of shit is pretty much the one guy in the cabinet who is staying on tells you everything you need to know about Obama.

[John]

Doing the dirty work for allied arab thugocracy and detaining dissidents? Just a guess.

[BakedPenguin]

He can't find the documents because he's spending so much time on Biden's gun control panel.

[OldMexican]

Those That Believe They Want To Tak Your Guns: You're Right.

Gun owners who fear the agenda of creeping confiscation are soundly justified. "What we can when we can" is no empty slogan. It was part of the strategy that resulted in the full-scale gun bans that were recently overturned by the United States Supreme Court. When gun owners objected in the 1970s that Washington, D.C.'s gun registration program was never supposed to be used to confiscate guns, they were rebuffed by the bureaucratic response, that "someone else made that promise we didn't say that".

Sure, the Supreme Court has said there is a right to keep and bear arms. But that was a 5-4 decision, and members of the Court, Justice Ginsburg, notably, have openly hoped that a "future wiser court" will reconsider the question.

My starting premise was that the President is very smart. It is certainly true that one can be smart but still ignorant about many things. But that is not the case here for the President. He has been close enough to this issue for long enough that he must appreciate the basic logic of supply controls that Howard Metzenbaum acknowledged 30 years ago.

[Slithery D]

GI Joe, Drone Operator.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....lp00000003

Crockett Keller, Texas Gun Store Owner, Offers Teachers Discount After Newtown Shooting

One outspoken Texas gun store owner is offering local teachers a 10 percent discount to attend his concealed carry handgun classes in light of the Newtown, Conn., tragedy.

"I was stunned, but not necessarily shocked, when I heard what happened [in Newtown]," said Crockett Keller, who owns Keller's Riverside Store in Mason, Texas. "I thought, 'There we go again, another gun-free zone.' What would have happened had there been a teacher with a handgun or a principal with some sort of defense training?"

[Brett L]

Crockett Keller. Only in fuckin' Texas. Now if he was out of Cut N Shoot (real town), it would be perfect.

[KMA Too]

Yeah, I had to read those names a few times before I realized they didn't apply to either Crockett or Keller, TX.

However, I will say that, "Crockett Keller, Texas Gun Store Owner" is a cool Western book/film title.

[Gray Ghost]

Or Gun Barrel City, Texas.

[OldMexican]

NRA Gun "Lobby" More Popular Than Violence Peddlers In Hollywood

As Washington prepares for a political battle over the Obama White House's proposals to curb gun violence after the Newtown, Conn., shootings, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that the National Rifle Association is more popular than the entertainment industry.

Forty-one percent of adults see the NRA -- the nation's top gun lobby -- in a positive light, while 34 percent view it in a negative light.

By comparison, just 24 percent have positive feelings about the entertainment industry, and 39 percent have negative ones.

The NRA's fav/unfav score is virtually unchanged from its 41 percent-to-29 percent rating in the Jan. 2011 NBC/WSJ poll, nearly two years before the Newtown shootings.

"That seems to me to be a pretty remarkably stable figure," says GOP pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart.

Ya think, Bill????

[wareagle]

why do pollsters always believe the public is stupid? Most folks get that the NRA is pretty consistent in its belief system. By contrast, they see Hollywood's bipolarism in making high-violence movies accompanied by the stars doing PSAs about how violence is bad.

[John]

There is a term for that, Pauline Kael syndrome. No one they know likes the evil NRA.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....john-fund#

The Facts about Mass Shootings

A few things you won't hear about from the saturation coverage of the Newtown, Conn., school massacre:

Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past decades, despite the impression given by the media.

In fact, the high point for mass killings in the U.S. was 1929, according to criminologist Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

Incidents of mass murder in the U.S. declined from 42 in the 1990s to 26 in the first decade of this century.

The chances of being killed in a mass shooting are about what they are for being struck by lightning.

Until the Newtown horror, the three worst K?12 school shootings ever had taken place in either Britain or Germany.

Almost all of the public-policy discussion about Newtown has focused on a debate over the need for more gun control. In reality, gun control in a country that already has 200 million privately owned firearms is likely to do little to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals. We would be better off debating two taboo subjects ? the laws that make it difficult to control people with mental illness and the growing body of evidence that "gun-free" zones, which ban the carrying of firearms by law-abiding individuals, don't work.

[Alack]

So what you're saying is that we should ban lightning, right? I'm for it!

[Alack]

So what you're saying is that we should ban lightning, right? I'm for it!

[Alack]

A comment so nice, I said it twice.

[Brett L]

NASA lases the moon. Take that other nations! Oh, wait. They just used it as an internet connection.

Call it the ultimate in high art: Using a well-timed laser, NASA scientists have beamed a picture of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, to a powerful spacecraft orbiting the moon, marking a first in laser communication.

[Delroy]

Did they call it "The Alan Parsons Project"?

[invisible furry hand]

Michael K. Williams unveils his ODB, movie to follow

[Res Publica Americana]

Constitutionalist military and police group offers teachers free gun training

http://www.examiner.com/articl.....n-training

Educators who wish to avail themselves of it will be provided free self-defense and firearms training, a national organization representing active duty and retired military and law enforcement personnel announced Sunday on its website. Oath Keepers, a group of service personnel and emergency responders who promote that their oath to support and defend the Constitution takes precedence over all other considerations, offered the resources of its 20,000 members nationwide to educators as a response to Friday's school shooting in Connecticut.

"The organization pledges to keep their identity confidential, but will also offer group lessons or to come to the school to teach the staff on-site," the announcement promised.

[Res Publica Americana]

Nice picture:

http://www.gunssavelife.com/wp.....2/jpfo.jpg

[John]

http://www.wtop.com/1220/31974.....ate-planes

Clear the runways. Big Daddy is getting inaugurated!! Go Big Daddy Go!!

[waaminn]

lol, gotta love those bought and paid for politicians!

http://www.Anon-vc.tk

[Lord Humungus]

we do, anonobot, we do.

[John]

A separate but truly dazzling display of ignorance about the basic parameters of the gun crime problem is evident in the media reports of the addresses of gun carry permit holders and the threat to publish a full list of owners. One of the TV talking heads justified it on the basis that we report sex offenders so we should report gun owners. This approach I guess makes sense to people who have the illusion that no one they know owns guns. But on average 40% of households have guns. So these maps will be an education and will make the "investigative reporting" look silly. Unfortunately the implications go beyond silliness into the realm of clear hazard.

If you listen just to media reports, you would think that guns used in crimes come mainly from straw sales or the "gun show loophole". But these sources account for only a small fraction of the illegal gun supply. Most crime guns come from a black market that is supplied by theft. On average about 500,000 guns are stolen each year. So publication of gun owners' addresses is a wonderful public service ?. to gun thieves.

http://www.libertylawsite.org/.....sophistry/

[Fatty Bolger]

Scientists provide evidence for something most of us had figured out in Junior High

Women: do you have a man? If you do, better beware. Chances are that some lone female has her eye on him.

A new study provides evidence for what many have long suspected: that single women are much keener on pursuing a man who's already taken than a singleton.

[John]

So women are all homewreckers? Sexist!!

[Lord Humungus]

In my brief toe-dipping into this, I haven't had much luck. I get the "aren't you married?" comment.

Of course the metal mask doesn't help too much.

[robc]

I "scientifically" verified this back in the mid 90s.

A friend of mine from HS was never a big hit with the ladies. He gets married and every time we went out somewhere after that, he would get hit on by some chick.

We joked about me borrowing his ring for the evening some time, but we never did it. Probably would have made it even more scientific.

[OldMexican]

Women: do you have a man? If you do, better beware. Chances are that some lone female has her eye on him.

Yep, that's my burden - I'm too desirable.

[JW]

My own experience is that this rule is so much urban myth.

[John]

Finding someone attractive is different than acting on it. The study tested how attractive women found men and found that attached men were generally found to be more attractive. Well so what? Just because a woman may day dream or think about a married guy doesn't mean she is going to actually go over and hit on him.

[JW]

Good point. My own experience was that wearing a ring did jack and squat for getting hit on by the wimminz.

[Groovus Maximus]

One thing I did find that was a bona fide chick magnet: BABIES!

I had the chance to babysit for an afternoon for my neighbors a few years back and I took the baby to the store to do some shopping, and holy shit! Single guy with a baby carriage, yikes. That worked better than scrubs drawing in wimminz! (Too bad I refused to claim the baby as my own and milk some "recently widowed" angle.)

[NeonCat]

It would have been awkward when the nice young lady wondered where your child was. You'd have to have done a Te'o or something.

[JW]

Puppies will work too.

[BakedPenguin]

Perhaps they have causality backward? I think it's possible that more attractive men are more likely to be in a relationship. Just saying.

[Elspeth Flashman]

^^this.

[Fatty Bolger]

The study accounted for that - the "matched" candidate and their marriage status was fictional.

[Elspeth Flashman]

and knowing that someone has had a successful relationship, which shows a bit of their track record, means they are a better match than someone with no track record.
But of course women should realize that some women have woefully low standards . . .
Just thinking of a gf who's married to a total loser, thinks about divorcing him every few years, and stays with him. He's a total loser, but has been with more women, etc. etc. So yeah, he's married, but why women want him, who knows.

[Groovus Maximus]

So yeah, he's married, but why women want him, who knows.

Women. Love. Assholes.

Seriously, look at most of the consistent posters on this board. They're married, and most report happily so. So much for the myth of The Typical Libertarian always being some sleazy commitment-phobe.

[Groovus Maximus]

A new study provides evidence for what many have long suspected: that single women are much keener on pursuing a man who's already taken than a singleton.

This is absolutely true, and I daresay the same goes for women, too.

As the saying goes, "All the good ones are taken!" (Including me! YAY!)

[JW]

As the saying goes, "All the good ones are taken!" (Including me! YAY!)

If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.

[Groovus Maximus]

I see you have met my possible future FIL.-)))

[JW]

So, I'm killing you. OK.

Seriously though, Congrats Doc!

[Cdr Lytton]

Congrats Doc!

[LTC(ret) John]

(Including me! YAY!)

Something official to tell us?!

[robc]

It was official a while back, he just hadnt clued in yet.

[robc]

What's the going rate for a bride in the UKR?

How many goats do you owe her father?

[Groovus Maximus]

Assuming you're joking, as many as he wants.-))))

[Rasilio]

Not that this will be any surprise to anyone in here (except maybe Tony)...

http://www.economist.com/blogs.....ebt-crisis

MORGAN STANLEY has an interesting (but, alas, privately distributed) research note on the debt crisis arguing that most developed governments are effectively insolvent. It draws up a stylised balance sheet for a government: its assets are the ability to tax (the discounted value of future tax revenues), plus real assets (buildings, equipment), equity stakes and cash. On the liabilities side, there are the market debts (bonds and bills) and the net present value of future "primary" expenditure (items such as pensions and health care). Now, one could surely push tax revenues up a bit in some countries (where they are lower than average) and bring down spending on the health and pensions items. But Morgan Stanley reckons the shortfalls are so large (between 800% and 1,000% of GDP in the US and UK) that the situation is hopeless.

I'd love to get my hands on the original document to see the data but really can anyone argue with the basic premise?

[John]

If it wasn't so sad and dangerous, it would be funny watching Big Daddy up there in the White House dreaming of transforming the country into a socialist paradise while the whole damn edifice burns down with his dreams.

[Lord Humungus]

yessir, the Dems are building a shaky edifice with much printed cash, hoping it will last when things get "better".

[John]

We still have checks in the checkbook. And sure the goose has stopped moving, but it will lay again sometime.

[Rasilio]

Yes but the worst part of it is this...

As Morgan Stanley points out, financial repression was associated with quite benign outcomes after the second world war. The economy steadily grew its way out of the debt. But the big difference with today is that although post-1945 governments were burdened by war debts, the private sector was relatively unlevered; now both sectors carry high debt. This makes it much more difficult to grow your way out of the crisis. As Japan shows, you can hold rates near zero for ages without prompting companies or consumers to borrow

If the private sector were not so heavily leveraged then there could be some hope that we could fix the problem by increasing taxes (either directly or indirectly through inflation). However when you look at the total debt load of the US including All debts public and private as well as all unfunded liabilities you come up with a number somewhere in the $190 Trillion range, more than three times the net assests of the entire country (estimated to be around $60 trillion).

[robc]

There is a reason the media didnt cover the attempts to do a GAAP accounting of the US government.

[robc]

From last May

http://www.theblaze.com/storie.....reporting/

[John]

http://www.libertylawsite.org/.....sophistry/

BuzzFeed's Michael Hastings has come out with some explosive allegations against Chicago Mayor (and former White House chief-of-staff) Rahm Emanuel. The reporter is claiming that the politician physically assaulted him during an interview, grabbing his arm and attempting to intimidate him "with a threat of physical violence.

Emanuel is a five foot tall ballerina. I am not kidding. I once stood in the same small room with him. If he physically assaulted me I would have to stop laughing before I fought back. How big of a pencil necked douche do you have to be not to have kicked his ass?

[BakedPenguin]

Emanuel also has Chicago cops at his command, and if you beat his ass, they would almost certainly take in for "questioning".

[John]

True. He really is nothing but a little thug. What a sad pathetic and evil little bastard.

[LTC(ret) John]

take in? Try "kill on the spot".

[John]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ead_module

This is too sickening even for Sloopy.

[nicole]

'I'm embarrassed to think that a poor girl like this would have been so callously treated by members of the Chicago Police Department,' Alderman Edward Burke said, according to CBS/Chicago.

That same motherfucker is now calling for a ban on selling energy drinks in the city.

[John]

We have to worry about the important things Nicole. Keeping bi polar women from freaking out in jail and getting gang raped is just a low priority.

[Gray Ghost]

Considering the ringleader of the gangrape is already out of prison for it, (~6 years served of a 12-year kidnapping sentence; they threw out the rape and whatever charges apply to chucking her out a 7-story window) Chicago's crime problem seems a little easier to understand.

What a disgusting, fucking cesspool.

[The Late P Brooks]

There is a reason the media didnt cover the attempts to do a GAAP accounting of the US government.

Some swindlers are more equal than others.

[Sevo]

Deregulation results in prices that people willingly pay! Lefties aghast!
"AT&T rates skyrocket since deregulation"
"Even flat-rate prices for the LifeLine Program basic service, discounted for California's low-income households, have risen 28 percent." (over 7 years)
Most of it is in premium services and this idiot simply presumes *he* knows how much something should cost.
http://www.sfgate.com/technolo.....204388.php

[John]

According to some new research, all of our effort (men and women both!) to remain hairless down there has put crabs on the endangered species list. That's right! Pubic lice is on the verge of extinction.

"Pubic grooming has led to a severe depletion of crab louse populations," reports Ian F. Burgess, a Cambridge medical entomologist. "Add to that other aspects of body hair depilation, and you can see an environmental disaster in the making for this species."

http://www.thefrisky.com/2013-.....ni-waxing/

How long before the EPA steps in to regulate waxes? It is an endangered species.

[mr lizard]

Good thing I already bought my semi-auto Wahl assault clippers.

[BakedPenguin]

The U.S. has officially recognized a government in Somalia...

Finally, some proof that it's not libertarian.