Debt Ceiling Fight Pushed to Spring, Florida Messes with Massages, the Mafia Loves Renewable Energy: P.M. Links

• The House has passed the temporary debt ceiling suspension bill over the objections of many Congressional Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says there's enough votes in the Senate to pass as well.

• Moralistic Florida legislation would ban massage parlors from operating between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. As is the case when legislators go into a sex panic these days, "human trafficking" and "sexual exploitation" are raised as justifications.
• In Italy, the Mafia has found the heavily subsidized wind power industry to be a useful tool for laundering money.
• In the wake of some terrifying rape cases, a committee in India has put together a 650-plus page report recommending changes to the nation's sexual assault laws.
• A former New York City prosecutor has been indicted for selling marijuana to an undercover officer.
• Google is reporting a steady increase in government requests for data about its users, primarily from the United States.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

A former New York City prosecutor has been indicted for selling marijuana to an undercover officer.

No charges for the guy buying it?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

HAH

Miguel Bloombito
?@ElBloombito
Los subwayos estan mucho delayedo por que el trai?o que esta got froze?o a los trackos.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Miguel Bloombito ?@ElBloombito
Por favor no licko el lamposto. El FD?Y y Paramedicos esta busy y won't vamos to helpo tu. Que get stucko!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Google is reporting a steady increase in government requests for data about its users, primarily from the United States.

Agents of the state have a different definition of the phrase "google it".

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Michael Jackson gets mad at Slash

[Warty]

Your music's bad and you should feel bad!

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Cat teaches dog: No means no!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

You make it very difficult to get my rage on for liberals, socialists, communists, and fascists when you post adorable cat videos. Stop it.

[JW]

HULK SQUEEEEE!

[Hyperion]

You can just shorten all of that to proglodytes, it's the summary term for all that is evil in this world, saves typing.

[Anonymous Coward]

One paw on the chest means "chill, bro. Chill."

[Generic Stranger]

Yeah...usually when cats are teaching "No means no" it involves bared claws and swipes at the nose.

[Brett L]

NCAA considers giving itself the 'Death Penalty' after finding serious problems with one of its investigations.

The NCAA has found what it calls "a very severe issue of improper conduct" committed by former members of its own enforcement program during the Miami investigation, and will not deliver the long-awaited notice of allegations against the Hurricanes until an external review is completed.

[generic Brand]

Hopefully this is the action needed to spur Congress into acting. NATIONALIZE COLLEGE SPORTS!!!

[A Serious Man]

So far Salon has the edge for most hysterical spin of the Hillary Clinton Benghazi hearings: Hillary faces down angry men.

[iggy]

I love how misogynistic the left becomes when it suits them. Hillary Clinton is a former senator who has been Secretary of State for four years. Acting like this poor little darling is being mistreated by mean old men downplays her accomplishments while playing up the fact that she has a vagina.

But we all know progressives aren't misogynists. That's something only conservatives can ever be.

[Hyperion]

Most of them are misandrist instead.

[NeonCat]

Don't read the comments. Gush, gush, gush, she's so wonderful.

Bleh.

[Anonymous Coward]

WAR ON WIMMINZ!

Speaking of which, how many WIMMINZ does Barry have left in Cabinet-level posts? Oops, my bad, it's not sexism when the Anointed One does it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Moralistic Florida legislation would ban massage parlors from operating between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Vice cops need their sleep.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Oh, it's how to cook FOR forty jews!

[$park?]

Q: How many Jews can you fit in a Volkswagen?

A: 1,000,004. 4 in the seats and 1,000,000 in the ashtray.

[Guy Incognito]

Poor taste. I had a great-uncle who died in the concentration camps. It was a real shame, too. If he hadn't been so drunk he never would have fell off the rifle tower.

[Enough About Palin]

+ 1 bar of soap

[Sevo]

I had one who died there too; locked the door from the inside.

[sloopyinca]

Albert Speer was my great-grandfather's cousin. No bullshit. The family changed our last name upon arrival at Ellis Island (way before he became famous).

[Killazontherun]

Related to Frank James four steps down on the maternal side.

[Brett L]

For IFH: Priest bites off colleague's ear in row over parking space down under.

[db]

"Witnesses say the fight turned violent when Rev Sanders allegedly called Father Tyson 'chicken.'"

[Guy Incognito]

ahh... a student of the McFly School of Just War Theory.

[Agammamon]

Forget the wildlife - In austria, even the *priests* are trying to kill you.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

austria, huh?
Put another shrimp on the barbie!

[Killazontherun]

Funny, seems like I remember that story from several months ago.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

This appears to be a followup on the court hearing

[Ted S.]

You're stealing my shtick! 😉

[generic Brand]

As is the case when legislators go into a sex panic these days, "human trafficking" and "sexual exploitation" are raised as justifications.

No cooking the books here, no-sirree-bob.

[Brett L]

Florida, its full of apes. Seriously, the St. Pete monkey had better people skills.

Deputies in Fort Meyers say they Tasered and then arrested a naked Florida man who broke into a home to steal a television but then masturbated and defecated after the homeowner pulled a gun.

[Episiarch]

Bath salts.

[nicole]

You laugh, but that's exactly what Jezebel said. Before all their commenters started freaking out about how "the real story" here is that the family keeps its guns in the son's bedroom. Even though the story had no information about how old the son was, or whether he was grown and moved out of the house.

[Brett L]

Huh. The way I read the story, the burglar ended up in the son's room and the father got a shotgun from somewhere and trained it on the dude while he jerked it. The mother came from somewhere with a .38, but I guess I just assumed that "getting near the guns" meant the bedrooms were close together.

[nicole]

It was not super clear. Just dug up the link I had earlier:

Bruni then headed toward the couple's son's bedroom, where several guns were stored, so the man's wife fired three warning shots from a .38 revolver.

That's actually quoted from an NBC story, FWIW. And for the comments!

What??? If this is true to the story, let me guess... these people think they're "responsible gun owners."
...
I see something more odd here than a rampaging naked masturbator.....
...
Why the FUCK were several guns stored in the couple's SON's room?! Unless the son is, like, 21 and/or away at college, this is where the real story is at.

Etc etc, plus lots of really stupid talk about the legality of warning shots.

[Episiarch]

Watch as the BAN BONERS shrivel! Marvel as they try to keep them up with ever-more reaching stupidity!

[db]

Sounds like a lot of the same kind of idle speculation and finger pointing we saw here when a certain white Hispanic got his name in the news.

[R C Dean]

What's with the warning shots?

And three? Geez.

[Killazontherun]

Dad kept his gun case in my room. I never considered screwing with them given he started taking me out to target practice at around eight years of age so I had few illusions. However, I liked to take the spent casings out of the bottom drawer and play army men with them.

[lap83]

Agreed, it's not odd at all. I had male cousins whose dad kept guns in their room (albeit mounted high and locked)

Although no one would say Jezebel readers have a realistic understanding of what is normal. They probably believe all men are seconds from violating strangers with random acts of masturbating and pooping and their website is the only thing keeping it at bay.

[generic Brand]

I was about to get offended, but then I read the italicized excerpt and agreed that is pretty standard fare for a Floridian.

[generic Brand]

Also, *Ft. Myers

[Brett L]

[sic] I just quotes 'em.

[Brett L]

Shitting yourself after being shot at, I get. But jerking off? What?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Froner. Fright + boner. It's a thing.

[db]

I would have assumed a "froner" is what you get when you style your pubes very carefully.

[R C Dean]

Not gonna google "froner." Nuh-uh. No way.

[gaijin]

cause the feds might be asking google about you?

[db]

"The Froner is also cursed."

[Restoras]

Kinda sorta like autoeroticasphyxiation or whatever those crazy kids are doin' these days? Only weirder because its Florida?

[Groovus Maximus]

Private Cowboy: "Tough break for Hand Job. He was all set to get shipped out on a medical."
Private Joker: "What was the matter with him?"

Private Cowboy: "He was jerkin' off ten times a day."

Private Eightball: "No shit. At least ten times a day."

Private Cowboy: "Last week he was sent down to Da Nang to see the Navy head shrinker, and the crazy fucker starts jerking off in the waiting room. Instant Section Eight. He was just waiting for his papers to clear division."

[Fist of Etiquette]

In Italy, the Mafia has found the heavily subsidized wind power industry to be a useful tool for laundering money.

Instead of wetting their beaks, they whet their beaks. (On the wind turbine blades. Get it?)

[Brandon]

That was bad and you should feel bad.

[DJF]

"""""Panetta opens combat roles to women

Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military's ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war.""""

http://news.yahoo.com/ap-sourc.....itics.html

Does this mean we soon will be able to draft Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Condoleezza Rice and the rest of the War Witches for combat duty?

[Bam!]

War on women?

[gaijin]

War 'n Women

[John]

Women in infantry units, what could possibly go wrong? Other than sexual assault, lowering standards and destroyed moral.

[Brett L]

On the upside, Starship Troopers

[A Serious Man]

Wrong. Starship Troopers had Denise Richards.

We should hope for Aliens instead.

[Brett L]

I was thinking Dina Meyer.

[sloopyinca]

I was thinking Dina Meyer.

That shower scene was disappointing. I've called her Pancake Tits" since watching it the first time.

[Francisco d Anconia]

She can eat crackers in my bed anytime.

More than a mouthful is a complete waste.

[Heroic Mulatto]

More than a mouthful is a complete waste.

No, you just need to increase your usage rates.

[sloopyinca]

Pancakes, dude.

[Drake]

You read the book instead.

[Guy Incognito]

Way too late for that, buddy. At least we've got Gay Pride Month at the Pentagon! Can't really schedule a Recent US Military Victory Month just yet, 'cuz...you know...we suck and all. Kardashian!

[Stormy Dragon]

Yes, I'm sure DADT repeal was the only thing between us and successfully turning the middle east into Eagleland.

[Guy Incognito]

Quite a leap from a DADT repeal (and frankly DADT was a perfectly fine policy--the military is for fighting wars not for sexual behavior affirmation) to the Pentagon officially celebrating Gay Pride Month and plopping women in on the front lines of combat. I'm a veteran and I know exactly how some of these "in-the-name-of-equality" policies wind up being anything but.

But you're probably right. Generals who could actually win wars--y'know, sexist meanie "homophobes" like MacArthur and Patton--would be proud of today's military and were the same caliber of leader as Rock Star Generals like Petraeus and Allen. All this bullshit PC social engineering stuff is totally unrelated to our sick joke of a foreign policy and unrelenting military mission FAILURES.

[Stormy Dragon]

MacAuthur and Patton wouldn't have won in Afghanistan and Iraq either. The problem with those wars is that they were unwinnable and we should have attempted occupying either country to begin with, not that we were too nice to homosexuals while we were doing it.

[Stormy Dragon]

"and we never should have attempted", even.

[Guy Incognito]

"Too nice to homosexuals?" Asking soldiers not to broadcast the fact that they like to bone other dudes in the ass while in the field of battle is being "not nice?" Fuck you and your politically correct idiocy.

I think Iraq was a bullshit war, and Afghanistan has become a military boondoggle as well. But you can't tell me that rules of engagement don't have an effect on our success or failure. And you can't convince me that rules of engagement are not impacted by the same bullshit PC mentality that says it's just as important that we make women and homosexuals feel "nice" and welcome in a fucking warzone as it is to actually win the fucking war.

No, we shouldn't have gone there in the first place. But having gone there, we should be focused on winning the war and not making our military look like the fucking Burger King Kids Club.

[Stormy Dragon]

Suppose tomorrow the Pentagon issued an order that Christians were banned from being in the military. This would be enforced by discharging any Christian who's religious identity became known to any other member of the military. Do you think the inevitable complaints from religious service members whould be "politically correct idiocy". After all, "asking soldiers not to broadcast their Christianity while in the field of battle" is just being nice.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

DADT. If you joined the military to proselytize, you're a fuckwit anyway.

[Audrey the Liberal]

Face it Stormy, some Hit & Republicans just hates 'um some queers, and, well, any port in a storm.

[Brandon]

We could just stop invading other countries...

[Enough About Palin]

Why do you hate the womens, John?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Women in infantry units, what could possibly go wrong? Other than sexual assault, lowering standards and destroyed moral.

Yes, because we all know the Israeli army is an unprofessional mess of under-trained, low morale soldiers with rampant rape of their female soldiers.

[Guy Incognito]

Yeah but those are all Jewish broads.

[A Serious Man]

For a small country Israel does produce a fair share of supermodels and attractive women in general. Must be all the mixing of European and Middle Eastern men and women.

[Heroic Mulatto]

For a small country Israel does produce a fair share of supermodels and attractive women in general. Must be all the mixing of European and Middle Eastern men and women.

Indeed. Lebanon and Syria continue the trend of hotness.

[Enough About Palin]

Oh yes! There was a Lebanese woman who worked at a Middle-Eastern Deli I frequented for yours. Stunning woman.

[Guy Incognito]

It's just crazy and sexy enough that it might work. Maybe Qadaffi was on to something with his cadre of smokin' hot bodyguard chicks. Sampson, too.

"Yes...Cuban B!"

[Drake]

Women do not serve in Israeli ground combat forces. They can be MP's and border guards but not Infantry or Tankers.

They had bad experiences with mixed gender units in '48. And, assuming their standards are as high as American and Canadian units, they would still have to weed out 99% of those tough Israeli women. (We've had bad experiences too, but it's politically incorrect to mention them.)

http://www.wnd.com/2001/08/10269/

[Heroic Mulatto]

That's not true. The article you linked to was published in 2001. Israel began to allow women on the front lines in 2002. Female Israeli soldiers were involved in combat on the Egyptian border in 2012.

[Guy Incognito]

2002, eh? And pan-Arabic fury turns up the military heat on Israel just nine short years later....and who finally pushed Mohammed Bouazizi over the edge? A pants-suit-wearin' FEMALE State Thug....Coincidence? I think not!

[Drake]

They are glorified border guards.

Sorry, but very few women can make it through an actual Infantry school. The Canadians found that less than 1% could pass their course (and I bet the real Israeli Infantry is tougher).

http://www.heretical.com/miscella/frcombat.html

[Sy]

"Sorry, but very few women can make it through an actual Infantry school. "

Much less get comparable scores on physical fitness tests.

[Sy]

*AFAIK, the standards haven't changed in the USMC, although I've heard they're about to. When I was in, a "perfect score" for a 3-mile run was 18:00 for min, 21:00 for women.

[Drake]

When I was in the Marines, the women didn't run as far. 2 miles I think, or maybe 1.5. They also did a timed "hang" from the chin up bar instead of actual chin-ups.

[Chris Mallory]

The IDF pulled females out of combat units after they found that the men would protect the women at the expense of the mission.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Again, that was true from 1948-2001. From 2002 on women have served on Israel's front lines, and it seems without much incident.

[Hyperion]

Nothing at all, it will be just like in the movies.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Women in infantry units, what could possibly go wrong? Other than sexual assault, lowering standards and destroyed moral.

Yeah, because grown men won't be able to stop themselves frum rapin' teh wyminz.

[Killazontherun]

Being a dude didn't help T. E. Lawrence out in the least in avoiding a sound raping.

I don't see female combat troops working well in a traditional military structure, but if we privatized our military services, women could find ways to get around those obstacles (chemical treatment, gene therapy, cybernetics) for themselves and bid on the same contracts.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Being a dude didn't help T. E. Lawrence out in the least in avoiding a sound raping.

Considering the dude seemed to have enjoyed it, I'm not sure it counts.

[Chris Mallory]

I guess you haven't seen the recent stats on rape in the military.

[Drake]

You mean women soldiers can't beat up guys like the movies?

[Audrey the Liberal]

Women in infantry units, what could possibly go wrong? Other than sexual assault, lowering standards and destroyed moral.Seriously, John, you need help.

[Drake]

It just means that after firing as many competent Generals as possible, they are going to finish fucking up the military.

[Hyperion]

Let's just send a couple battalions of all women into the Mali desert to fight our newest war of aggression. that should go really well.

[Restoras]

Fine by me. They want to be treated equally, so let them wander around getting shot at and blown up like the men do.

Live by the sword, die by the sword...amiright??

[HellsBells]

I am a woman and I approve this message ^

[Drake]

After a couple weeks in a non-combat mixed gender unit, you do start treating them equally. Because you get sick of carrying your gear and theirs, of setting up the tents, maintaining the vehicles, and doing every other damn thing while they sit in the office drinking coffee.

When you go home, you have to make a conscious effort to stop treating women like shit (if you are straight).

[Coeus]

When you go home, you have to make a conscious effort to stop treating women like shit (if you are straight).

You a fan of self-imposed celibacy?

[Killazontherun]

Given whom women tend to pick as mates, especially early on, I see no evident correlation between treating women like shit and not getting laid.

[Drake]

Agreed - but I try to live my life as an asshole.

[Drake]

I meant to say "not". But now we will train our soldiers to be assholes for life.

[Killazontherun]

You've got the right attitude. I don't recommend being an asshole, just noting a fact of life. Guys who ask me for advice get this, 'be courteous to women, be polite, but be indifferent until you know she is interested. Lunch date, no expectations, if it isn't awkward, then it might actually have a chance. If that simple step doesn't work out, no other one after it will either. Time to move on then.'

Where nice guys screw up is in the clingy and needy department and there exist no smooth way to exhibit those traits so don't. Keep your emotional expectations in check, and you wont fumble.

[Coeus]

You've got the right attitude. I don't recommend being an asshole, just noting a fact of life.

The key is being able to turn it off when you leave the bar. That way everyone's happy. You get to know you aren't actually an asshole, and you get to keep friends who aren't either. And the women (who are biting) get exactly the thrill they're looking for.

[C. Anacreon]

So on the news tonight, the story about women on the front lines was followed immediately afterwards by a new effort to increase penalties for violence against women. So I'm perplexed -- they are equals on the battlefield, but get extra protection back home?

[ant1sthenes]

One less threat for our masters to worry about. And who needs the unreliable and sometimes honorable military when you have your own army of paramilitary bullies in the alphabet soup agencies?

[Audrey the Liberal]

Now women can be cogs in Obama's endless war machine.

[Brett L]

Shockingly, FL cops misuse databases for their own personal ends.

Florida's driver-and-vehicle database, the system that can help law enforcement identify victims of fatal crashes and decipher the identity of a suspect, can be a useful tool for cops.

But the system ? known as D.A.V.I.D., for Driving and Vehicle Information Database ? can also be easily abused.

Data obtained by the Orlando Sentinel show the number of Florida law-enforcement officers suspected of misusing D.A.V.I.D. skyrocketed last year.

[generic Brand]

Man, fuck this system. I think this is the same system that my university accessed to put a hold on my account because of a campus parking ticket, when I wasn't even in the country at the time it was issued!

I wouldn't be surprised if it's also the same or a similar system to the shitty red-light cameras going up EVERYWHERE.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Philadelphia is famous for issuing parking tickets throughout the commonwealth at random. I got one, and my auto has never been to that stinkhole.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't know how you hand that tool out and not explain in no uncertain terms the consequence of its improper use. Unless there wasn't strict audit reviews until that lawsuit from the lady state trooper who pulled over the Miami copper and got harassed for it.

Also, it could have been used as a tool of HR. Don't make it clear that violations will be prosecuted so that officers will misuse it, and then when they want to get rid of someone for some other reason, just pull out the audit and presto. Fired.

[Restoras]

What, no S.C.M.O.D.S.??

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Changing the world, one glass of juice at a time

[Brett L]

Jack Lalanne call your office. Oh wait, he's dead now.

[generic Brand]

Drinking only juice would also mean you miss the social aspect of enjoying meals with family and friends.

Some may say that's what makes the all-juice diet more appealing.

[Xenocles]

I don't get it. You can't drink juice at the table with other people?

[mr simple]

Not in this house, you can't.

[Stormy Dragon]

No he can't, do you think I want to listen to some guy yammering on about juice while I'm trying to enjoy my steak?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The House has passed the temporary debt ceiling suspension bill over the objections of many Congressional Democrats.

This is how it's done.

[db]

I can see it now:

"The Republicans are recklessly gambling away America's future with their irresponsible refusal to face up to the nation's financial obligations."

[rac3rx]

It also allegedly includes the provision Congresscritters don't get paid if they fail to pass a budget by 15 April.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-th.....limit-vote

[Brandon]

Big deal. Now if they put a provision barring accepting bribes and insider trading until they pass a budget, then I'll be impressed.

[A Serious Man]

This is what 1,230 days of explicit market support by the Federal Reserve looks like.

[JW]

It's not working! Print harder!

[VG Zaytsev]

Sadly, what the chart above shows, is that of the 51 months starting with November 2008 - the birthdate of the first QE, there have been a total of 9 (nine) months in which the market has been intervention free. Incidentally, the same months that have seen it plunge.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Thief steals pizza instead of cash.

But Papa Johns?

[Brett L]

The guy was obviously on the edge of starvation.

[DJF]

It could have been worse, he could have stolen a pizza from Dominoes. But he probably did not want to be charged with possession of a deadly weapon.

[Raston Bot]

Would giardia qualify as a chemical weapon?

[Groovus Maximus]

Biological weapon.

[Sudden]

Even though I fully realize this is like arguing who's better, Hitler or Stalin, I should add in earnest:

Dominos Papa John's.

[Sudden]

Wait, WTF?!?!?!? I thought we got the greater than sign back? Fuck it.

[gaijin]

He was probably boycotting Dominoes because, you know the owner is prolife or something.

[Thane of Whiterun]

But Papa John is anti-Obamacare!

Tastier of two evils?

[Stormy Dragon]

Tom Monaghan hasn't owned Domino's for 15 years now. It's a publically traded corporation.

[Stormy Dragon]

Dominoes is actually pretty good since they redid all their recipes last year.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's Montana, I don't think he has much of a choice. It's not like Big Sky Country is a hotbed of Italian cuisine.

[Ted S.]

Ahem. There are two Olive Gardens in Montana. 🙂

[A Serious Man]

What happens when left-wing paranoia over rich plutocrats and their love for the Nanny State collides with the minority rights groups? You get this piece of cognitive dissonance from Gawker..

[Episiarch]

It's a normal state of being for them, dude.

[Thane of Whiterun]

This reminds me of the derp when the NAACP came out against T-SPLOST (a proposed transportation levy in Atlanta).

[nicole]

two large nonprofits ostensibly dedicated to advancing the rights of minorities. In this case, they are advancing the interests of their own corporate backers at the expense of the people they are supposed to serve.

We will tell you when your consciousness is false. But it's not like we have a special line on that because of our privilege or anything!!!

[A Serious Man]

It's not racist when a white guy tells minorities when to shut up and submit to the master if he has their best interests at heart.

[Groovus Maximus]

"...Morris Dees...Morris Dees...Please pick up the white courtesy phone..."

[Coeus]

Just as environmental groups can be enlisted for corporate "greenwashing," so can civil rights be enlisted for corporate blackwashing. They are relatively cheap line items in a PR budget. For a donation, companies can officially place themselves on the side of civil rights and justice, even if they don't belong there.

Quit supporting stuff we say is important. It makes it harder to paint you as villain.

[iggy]

If black people disagree with us, it's because they've been bought off by corporations! Get back on the plantation!

[Thane of Whiterun]

"Blackwashing"?

I definitely would never be called racist for saying that.

[Suthenboy]

Wow. That article completely misses the point. Holy crap, they would wouldnt they.

[Thane of Whiterun]

So does this mean they're against the disparate impact doctrine? That would be great.

[MJGreen]

Conjuring an objection to a health program out of the flimsiest of fabric, in order to try to undermine a program that would help to address a problem plaguing the very communities that these groups are supposed to serve.

By Bloomberg's own admission, it's a meaningless regulation. But it does come with real costs to bodegas and delis, compared to grocery chains.

Got to love how this racist idiot turns it around, though. They know how to get you dark folk into shape, and if it means the more industrious and independent among you make less money, that's the cost they're willing to make you pay.

[Brandon]

Gawker has the same comment-section abomination as Jezebel?

[Virginian]

http://minx.cc/?post=336837

Liberals: Smarter than you. Just listen to them tell it.

[John]

http://theothermccain.com/2013.....ccurately/

Evil right wingers try to destroy Hillary Clinton by accurately quoting her.

[Brett L]

I was going to post the Kate Upton Mercedes ad, but the Internet is right. It sucks.

[Raston Bot]

Yep, overhyped.

[db]

+100 for the Harry Chapin reference.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Disgusting.

Heather Mallick is Propping up dead babies for political gain

[Warty]

If Americans knew what bullets did to human flesh, they'd support gun control.

Ahem, what? Does she think all of us have never shot an animal before?

[generic Brand]

Animals aren't humans, you monster! Unless of course they are, in which case you can't eat them, because cannibalism!

[Brett L]

I do know what they do to human flesh. That's why I practice all four rules and, pace Tulpa, make sure that the first thing I do when handling a weapon is clear the chamber.

[iggy]

Here's what's truly staggering about that quote. The people who are most pro-gun tend to be people who hunt and understand firearms. The people who want gun control tend to think guns are mystic murder gods that wander the streets and seek to quench their boundless thirst with the blood of innocents.

The more you understand guns and what they can do, the more pro-gun rights you tend to be. It's actually the opposite of what she claims.

[R C Dean]

I thought it was the other way around:

The Americans who have a pretty fair idea what bullets do to human flesh are the ones that oppose gun control.

That's why we want guns. Because. They. Work.

[Suthenboy]

I am highly skeptical that those descriptions of the damage are accurate.
I have seen a lot of bullet wounds. I have never seen pistols do that kind of damage, especially FMJ round noses. Even hollow points, which are more hype than anything else, cut a round hole going in. break bones but not the skin, then leave a ragged hole going out, usually 2 or 3 x the diameter of the bullet.

What is described there sounds like the damage done by small hyper-velocity rifle bullets.

[Sernylan]

"If Americans knew what bullets did to human flesh, they'd support gun control."

Well,..many of our returning vets have a keen and intricate understanding of bullet vs. flesh, yet remain pro 2A. On the other hand.......

If Americans military men and women knew what bullets political machinations did to human flesh, they'd support gun politician control.

[generic Brand]

Also this gem:

Till, a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago, was hideously murdered in 1955 while visiting relatives in Mississippi. Allegedly, he had whistled at a white woman. Till was kidnapped, beaten, had one of his eyes gouged out, was shot in the head and his corpse tied with barbed wire to a 70-pound weight and dumped in a river.

His mother asked for an open coffin. "I want the world to see what they did to my baby," she said.

The photo was reproduced and Till's death became a huge news story. Three months later, Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus and the civil rights movement took a leap forward.

I think the context of both events are a biiiiiiiit different.

[Enough About Palin]

" "I want the world to see what they did to my baby," "

Who the fuck is this "they" this bitch is referencing? I only recall a single shooter.

I sorry your kid is dead (it's well know that I love kids) but you need to shut your fucking mouth.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That was a quote from Till's mother, who was talking about the lynch mob.

[Enough About Palin]

Thanks for the reading lesson, HM.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's what they pay me for.

[SIV]

Emmit Till was murdered. There was no lynch mob.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You're right in that it might be a stretch to call it a "mob" as only 2 men murdered him. but based on the motive and the violence done to the body, I'd still call it a lynching.

[SIV]

I wouldn't. Lynching is a more formal extra-judicial killing that is usually done in retaliation for a crime that would merit a death penalty. I would make a distinction between murder,mob violence in a race riot and lynching. Many who would participate or approve in the latter case would actively try to stop or at least strongly disapprove of the first two.

[R C Dean]

Obviously, though, the real atrocity here wasn't the beating, the eye gouging, being tied with barbed wire to a weight and dumped in a river.

No.

It was being shot in the head.

[MJGreen]

He coulda lived a great life, if only the gun was taken out of the equation.

[ant1sthenes]

Maybe he had Rasputin genes, or something.

[rac3rx]

And yet, I'm guessing that if someone plopped an aborted fetus on her desk it would not change her opinion one bit on the abortion issue.

What a cunt.

[SIV]

Racer-X

[a better weapon]

Astute comparison. delicate clapping

[Anonymous Coward]

Heather Mallick gets her rocks off looking at crime scene photos? Does she have a photobook of the contents of Jeffrey Dahmer's freezer?

[A Serious Man]

Texas lawsuit seeks to address so-called revenge porn, which is when people post sexually explicit photos of women on porn sites without their consent.

I don't know, I would imagine that if you give someone nude photos or allow them to take nude photos of yourself, you should not expect to get them back.

[Brett L]

Assuming that the pics/vids were consensual at the time they were made, I believe the distribution is entirely in the hands of the person who physically owns the device storing the information. You'd still be an asshole to upload them without the participant(s)' consent, but being an asshole shouldn't be illegal.

[A Serious Man]

Yeah, I'm not condoning that at all, but I don't see how any law can adequately wade through such a murky area of consent when intimacy often creates a reasonable impression of consent.

[iggy]

It's actually pretty easy to understand how consent works in this case. You shouldn't be allowed to post sexually explicit pictures of someone without some sort of contract. You shouldn't be able to post an explicit picture of someone without their permission. I don't know why this is controversial.

[A Serious Man]

Really? But if you agree to let someone take an explicit photo, then unless you've contracted otherwise shouldn't that photo belong to the person with the camera? In that case he can do with it whatever he wants unless his taking the photo was conditional upon him not posting it online without permission.

[generic Brand]

Young Money's Tyga said it best:

She pose like it's for posters and I poke like I'm supposed to
Take this photo if you for me, she said don't you ever show this
I'm too loyal and too focused, to be losing and be hopeless
When I spoke this, she rejoiced it
Said your words get me open, so I closed it
Where your clothes is, I'm only loving for the moment

[Michael S. Langston]

What sexually explicit pictures of someone taken while they were in public?

Still same rules?

Or... What if it was a tasteful nude? Is that still "sexually explicit"? Who decides?

What about sexually explicit pictures of someone who is now dead (not photos taken while they were dead)?

Same rules?

What about sexually explicit pictures of a married congress-member who upholds bans on prostitution but photoed with a prostitute? A Sheriff who arrests people?

Same rules?

As it seems "you shouldn't be allowed to post explicit pictures of someone without some sort of a contract" is pretty absolute?

Oh & what others said about ownership being 9 tenths of the law....

[Episiarch]

being an asshole shouldn't be illegal

(breathes sigh of relief)

[Brett L]

Its a central tenant of my libertarianism. Pure, rational self interest.

[T]

Damn skippy. They ever pass that law, I'm done for.

[Sudden]

However, in your case Epi, we're thinking a bill of attainder might not be such a bad idea.

[robc]

In the meantime, what women like Toups and Taschinger can do more easily is go to court to get a subpoena to force a site like Texxan to disclose the identify of users who posted the privacy-invading photos, and then sue that user.

If you dont know who took that specific nude photo of you, you have a bigger problem.

[nicole]

Well, knowing who took it might not translate to knowing who uploaded it.

[robc]

Well, it may not tell you who specifically uploaded it to that site, but you should know who released the photo into the wild.

[Enough About Palin]

Google Image teaches us that Toups has a nice set.

[Enough About Palin]

We Can Now Make Snow From Poop. But Should We?

[db]

Yeah, I can't see anything dangerous about skiing through an aerated cloud of wastewater that has been filtered by a system that certainly couldn't ever fail, ever.

[Stormy Dragon]

I hate to break it to you, but a signifcant portion of your drinking water is likely similarly treated effluent.

[db]

Nope. #1, I have a well at home. #2, I have worked in water treatment, so I know exactly where my water comes from.

Frankly, I don't have a problem with gray water re-use; but in the case of snowmaking, its treatment likely to get less attention than if it were going toilet-to-tap.

[Stormy Dragon]

And where does the water in the well come from? The magical water fairies? Ultimately, you're either drinking drinking recycled sewage or recycled sewage we dumped into the drainage system so that all the animals got a chance to crap in it too.

[HellsBells]

Ugh. I am suddenly really grateful for my whole house water filtration.

[db]

You don't really know much about wells, do you? Mine is 265 feet deep, and I have a record of every rock stratum through which the water filters. Plus, I built my own water filtration system. Because I used to engineer municipal water systems for a living.

[Stormy Dragon]

If your filtration system is enough to filter water for your well, wouldn't the same system be enough to filter water for snow generation?

[db]

You also seem to be a strong believer in homeopathy. You might want to fix that.

[Stormy Dragon]

Quite the opposite. But I'm not the one arguing that once water has been sewage it may never be used for snow again, regardless of how treated first, because it now irevocably bears to taint of sewageness.

[db]

You missed a very important part of what I wrote. Go back and re-read it.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Nummy! And I'm headed to VT on Saturday!

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Our national nightmare is over: Beyonce didn't lip synch

[Gladstone]

Epi would hit this:

http://images.wikia.com/memory....._Lumba.jpg

[Fist of Etiquette]

Remember the 83rd Rule of Acquisition: No oo-mox between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

[A Serious Man]

I wish Epi would remember the 31st Rule of Acquisition: Never insult a Ferengi's mother, insult something he cares about instead.

[Episiarch]

I'm not gonna have sex with your mom, dude.

[nicole]

Your mom would.

[John]

Oh Nicole out of the shadows with the BURN!!

[nicole]

Woohoo!

[John]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-25.....y-hate-me/

CBS News douche bag writes column cheering Obama to make war and destroy all Republicans and then is shocked when said Republicans don't like him and send him nasty emails. They just didn't read it in the spirit it was written.

[John]

He said this

Obama's only remaining option is to pulverize. Whether he succeeds in passing legislation or not, given his ambitions, his goal should be to delegitimize his opponents. Through a series of clarifying fights over controversial issues, he can force Republicans to either side with their coalition's most extreme elements or cause a rift in the party that will leave it, at least temporarily, in disarray.

This theory of political transformation rests on the weaponization (and slight bastardization) of the work by Yale political scientist Stephen Skowronek. Skowronek has written extensively about what distinguishes transformational presidents from caretaker presidents. In order for a president to be transformational, the old order has to fall as the orthodoxies that kept it in power exhaust themselves.

[Warty]

I love shit like this. In what way, please tell, is Obama anything but orthodox?

[Gladstone]

They must voluntarily vaporize themselves like in that episode of Star Trek.

[John]

Now he claims he was just commenting on what he thinks Obama will do, not endorsing it. Really?

[A Serious Man]

"Look I'm not saying he should, I'm just sayin..."

He's employed by Slate, what do you expect?

[JW]

What a massive pussy, walking it back. Whiny little shit, too.

[Brett L]

Our kulturny superiors at The Atlantic think fat shaming is okay if done "tastefully".

Callahan makes a case for himself not being that radical: he's only calling for "mild coercion" on the part of the government, in the form of Bloomberg-style bans and taxes, supplemented by what he calls "stigmatization lite." This low-cal, low-hatred version of stigmatization is edgy, just crazy enough to work -- so long as it doesn't lead to outright discrimination. It entails forcing overweight people to confront themselves in the mirror

[John]

In fairness to the hack at Atlantic, she ends the piece by linking to an article of her own talking about how dumb this is. She is being sarcastic I think.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Henry Lundqvist should focus on playing goal and not acting. but this ad is funny

[Brett L]

I stop for that one every time I see it.

[John]

As bad as ESPN can be, those Sports Center commercials are great.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I loved the LeBron throne commercial.

[Mr. FIFY]

Fuck you, Phil Mickelson. You're a goddamn coward for walking back your perfectly-good argument against living in California.

[A Serious Man]

Yeah, and then I looked it up and found out he's not really left-handed, the lying bastard!

[robc]

Tiger said taxes is why he left CA for FL.

That and more skanks (although he didnt say that).

[Mr. FIFY]

So, has Tiger gotten death threats or IRS audits? [the latter in Mickelson's near future, no doubt]

[robc]

So, has Tiger gotten death threats

Does a 9 iron upside his head count?

[Mr. FIFY]

Depends on if it's wielded by a cop or an IRS agent.

[Suthenboy]

Cut Mickelson a little slack. There is a price for speaking out against a thugocracy. The man has a family.

[Brandon]

I agree with this. He has laid the groundwork, now if he actually moves out of California everyone will know why. I can't really blame him for walking his comments back, I am just happy he made them in the first place.

[A Serious Man]

Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow: Obama's speech points out the essential truth that goverment needs to be as big as it needs to be to run the economy and society.

Of course 'needs' is determined by Top Men who must have absolute discretion over how much liberty they should grant us. The Framers would agree if they were alive today.

[PapayaSF]

And if everything doesn't get fixed, MOAR GOVERNMENT!!

[Michael S. Langston]

Yep - with an infinite supply of TopMen, and an infinite number of things which will only be done "right" when controlled by the government, then by definition the size of the government must also be infinite.

Recall, ~232 years, the argument was how to make government so small and restrained as to not be able to intrude on personal freedoms, yet just big enough to be able to protect itself.

The argument now is only how fast to expand... evidenced by this article, but also things like calling decreasing the rate of a budget increase a "cut" and other such doublespeak nonsense.

How much longer until this generation of "leaders" retires?

And is the next generation looking any better?

[SIV]

Is that Newsmax widget supposed to be there on the right side of the page?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

I think it's a new component to the Reason Experience

[SIV]

Just making sure I don't have some sort of adware. I was wondering where it came from.

[Thane of Whiterun]

Reason had better be getting paid for that.

Or maybe the webmaster is getting kickbacks.

Consumer Lifestyles FTW!

[A Serious Man]

No big deal, we were getting ads for Elizabeth Warren during the election. It costs the advertiser money, not Reason so click away at them.

[Thane of Whiterun]

Well, I don't mind that, I just hated the popups.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I'm in Tampa till Friday. Where should I get sloshed in the downtown area?

[generic Brand]

Somewhere near Mons Venus, and then go in Mons Venus. (Or Odyssey)

[Apatheist ?_??]

To clarify non strip clubs. Not my bag.

[Brandon]

Male strip clubs?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I haven't been to Tampa since I was a kid. But I searched on Yelp, and found this for you. Thank me later.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/adobe-.....query:dive bar dirty

[Apatheist ?_??]

Already used yelp was looking for personal advice.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Sorry. I searched Yelp for "Dive Bar Dirty" and went with the worst rated listing.

Seriously though, when I'm in a new town, looking for some fun, or to meet new people, I go to the local Christian Science Reading Room. Here is a Google map: http://goo.gl/maps/VkEVH

Thank me later.

[Apatheist ?_??]

You're full of good advice!

[Pro Libertate]

I'm out of the sloshing community, so I'm not sure.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Ok a good cocktail place or beer bar with large selection?

[generic Brand]

I don't have extensive knowledge of the drinking areas in Tampa, but I think Cigar City Brewery is in Ybor City, and I have been pretty impressed with their offerings. That being said, since it is a local beer you could probably find it at most bars and don't have to visit the brewery.

[BakedPenguin]

Barbarella is/was in Ybor, but I think it closed. If you go to Ybor, leave prior to closing time.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Looked at Ybor. Seemed a lot like 6th street in Austin.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Looked at Ybor. Seemed a lot like 6th street in Austin.

[Sernylan]

"I'm in Tampa till Friday. Where should I get sloshed in the downtown area?"

Anywhere on Floribraska Don't,...you'll most defiantly come to in a tub of ice, minus a kidney. Anywhere in Lutz/L.O.L is good, and Zolfo springs is sooo worth the ride...wear a pride ribbon

[Warty]

Check out my newest illusion.

[db]

But still--where did the hand come from?!

[Matrix]

Obama wants military leaders who are willing to fire on US citizens

I hope this is not true.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I, and Smedley Butler, would bet good money it is.

[T]

Smed's dead, baby.

[Virginian]

I've heard that there are a cople questions on one of the tests for becoming a Green Beret that, if they're really there, are scary as hell.

"If ordered to do so, would you confiscate weapons from American citizens?"

"If ordered to do so, would you fire on American citizens?"

[Hyperion]

We know that is what he wants. He just can't come right out and say it.

And of course he's not talking about, you know, normal citizens. He's talking about those potential terrorists who post on libertarian blogs and who refuse to pledge their loyalty to the all powerful state.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Dr. Garrow said the man who told him this is a military hero who is known by everybody in the country.

Assuming it's somebody recently in the military, that certainly narrows it down. There aren't many senior military leader "heroes" from IRQ and AFG.

"I have just been informed by a former senior military leader that Obama is using a new 'litmus test' in determining who will stay and who must go in his military leaders. Get ready to explode folks," he wrote.

"The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not," the unnamed military officer reportedly said. Dr. Garrow also wrote that those who do not meet this litmus test are being removed.

Well, technically I would expect military to fire on US citizens engaged in hostilities against us abroad (eg John Walker Lindh). But that's probably not what he means.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Dr. Garrow told Examiner that there are people in the administration who are paid to "attack those who raise doubts" about anyone who criticizes the Obama administration.

Either they're missing a word there somewhere or the Obama administration is even more incoherent and incompetent than I thought.

[Thane of Whiterun]

So somebody linked to the Carleton U derpfest over the free speech wall this morning...

First, the dumbass's full name is Ar?n S?amus Surinder Smith. Yeah.

Second, at least he's not being inconsistent, he wrote this on November 6:

Again with this "free speech" nonsense. When you allow people to speak freely without restriction inside of complex systems of oppression, the collective of their speech inevitably will reflect those same systems of oppression. As such, part of breaking down those systems is by creating inclusive speech and participatory dialogue, where marginalize people feel welcome to speak not just their minds, but their experiences. This cannot happen in environments where dominant groups are able to either monopolize the space or say things that prevent marginalize people(s) from speaking.

I really wish people would think critically as opposed to aspiring to un(der)defined, liberal platitudes. Getting a failing or near-failing grade here should be worn as a badge of honour.

Collective! Participatory!

[Archduke Pantsfan]

someone said the opposite of diversity is university !

[Warty]

We will oppress the oppression until we have oppressed all the oppression away.

[Episiarch]

Help! Help! I'm bein' oppressed!

[Brandon]

Bloody peasant.

[generic Brand]

Getting a failing or near-failing grade here should be worn as a badge of honour.

I'm starting to see why he's in his 7th year as a human rights studies major... dude can't even spell "honor".

[Thane of Whiterun]

His original screed about the speech wall incident is great too.

And the comments are fantastic. I particularly like the very-intelligent Woohoo!!! Students for Liberty sounds like some heinous shit, way to go!!! Solidarity and love and hugs forever!!!.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yes, how dare that heinous Students of Liberty hang up a large piece of butcher paper and supply markers for people to write stuff on it!

[MJGreen]

Can't let them monopolize the space or marginalize people from speaking, that's why you need to destroy the free speech wall.

[Coeus]

Stronger Gun Laws: The Next Women's Issue?

The Washington Post/ABC poll reveals women are more likely than men to say Newtown has made them more supportive of stronger gun laws (58 percent among women, 45 percent among men). But this gender gap existed pre-Newtown. Since 1991 Gallup has consistently found a double-digit gender gap in support for "more strict" gun laws. Similarly, Pew data in recent years shows majorities of women prioritize "controlling gun ownership" while majorities of men prioritize "protecting the right of Americans to own a gun."

Can't we just treat this like all the other women's issues, and give them free bullets or something?

[Thane of Whiterun]

Can't we avoid making everything about identity politics?

Probably not.

[A Serious Man]

Stronger Gun Laws: The Next Women's Issue?

To eventually be followed up with:
Asteroid on collision course with Earth; Women hit Hardest

Can't we just treat this like all the other women's issues, and give them free bullets or something?

To make it fair we can establish affirmative action quotas for gun range membership and gun ownership in general.

[Guy Incognito]

Rifle Envy, plain and simple.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I haven't been to Tampa since I was a kid. But I searched on Yelp, and found this for you. Thank me later.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/adobe-.....query:dive bar dirty

[generic Brand]

According to their actual website, they don't have a Tampa location anymore. But they do have an Orlando one now, so thank you!

[Thane of Whiterun]

My Dream College Won't Accept Me Because I'm a Woman

Though I have to acknowledge that it probably did suck for her to be told they were opening up to women and then have that reversed because of those darned silly contractual obligations.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Based on the college's website, it sounds more like a cult to me. But hey, whatever floats your boat!

[Thane of Whiterun]

A friend of mine went to Evergreen State, where "faculty issue narrative evaluations of students' work rather than grades".

[T]

Oh, so it's just like my performance evaluation at work. Good practice, I guess.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I have to do both, actually. Both a written evaluation and grades. As an Educationist, I don't see anything inherently wrong with solely using written evaluations as an assessment, as long as there is academic rigor in the curriculum and the rubric for the evaluation (be it quantitative or qualitative) is explicit and clear.

[Thane of Whiterun]

True, though I think the point with Evergreen is more that they're a bunch of dirty hippies in Washington state.

[T]

Aren't they the home of the Rachel Corrie Memorial Pancake Breakfast & Fundraier, since she was an alum and all?

[nicole]

It's not a cult, though it's definitely interesting. My boyfriend's grandfather taught there for a while ages and ages ago. I've known some people who have gone. On the cultishness level it seems close to going somewhere like Simon's Rock--just a tiny school.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's not a cult, though it's definitely interesting.

Yeah, yeah. We all know that your boyfriend's grandfather's initials are L.R.H. You aren't fooling anyone!

[T]

Call baby girl a wahhhmbulance. Think it's unfair? Work your ass off and make enough money to start the all-women Deep Springs. But that's like work and shit, and you won't get your pony, will you?

[Coeus]

Agreed. But this:

Joseph Liburt, Kinch Hoekstra's attorney, told the website Inside Higher Ed that "The case is about asking the court 'to uphold the value of diversity in higher education,' so that those male and female students who want single-sex education can find it." This argument troubles me.

The fact of the matter is that young women face a lack of diversity in their higher education. Young men do not pine over all-women schools like Bryn Mawr or Scripps because there are reasonably similar co-educational programs. However, there is not a school like Deep Springs that is available to young women.

Total bullshit.

[nicole]

The fact of the matter is that young women face a lack of diversity in their higher education. Young men do not pine over all-women schools like Bryn Mawr or Scripps because there are reasonably similar co-educational programs.

That's just absurd. I'm sure there are tons of guys who wish they were the only man in an all-woman school.

[Brandon]

Yep. They can't all be lesbians, right?

[nicole]

I definitely felt out of place in the Kierkegaard-quoting, Art of War-toting applicant pool, but I was eager to apply and see what happened. Besides, if rejected from the first round, my plan was to pester the applications committee with emails until they accepted me out of sheer annoyance.

Um, so why in the hell was this her "dream school" again?

[Coeus]

Um, so why in the hell was this her "dream school" again?

Surrounded an massively outnumbered by manly, corn-fed ranchers in their teens and early 20's? I have no idea why that would be her dream school.

[Brandon]

Besides, if rejected from the first round, my plan was to pester the applications committee with emails until they accepted me out of sheer annoyance.

She sounds like she would be just wonderful to spend 2 years with during which you could not avoid her.

[Michael S. Langston]

Yeah, when I read that part I thought only this:

How does she know the rest of the applicants were inclined to even have read Kierkegaard and/or Art-of-War?

Also a quick search shows there are a total of 5 male only colleges (secular ones).

Shown here there are 4,495 degree granting institutions and 2,247 non-degree granting institutions in secondary education.

Making her lack of being able to find an alternate to her "dream school" much more disturbing than any of her complaints.

When did everyone become entitled to their "dreams" anyway? Dream school?

Here I am only wishing to be left alone. That's my dream. & to achieve it, I'm willing to promise to everyone else that I will never force them to subsidize my choices.

I mean with this logic - What's next? A Dream job? With a dream paycheck?

How does that whole choice & competing priorities thing work again?

[benji]

Joe Biden 'intoxicated' by 2016 run

Joe Biden summoned more than 200 Democratic insiders to the vice presidential residence Sunday night to chat about the 2012 triumph ? but many walked away convinced his rising 2016 ambitions were the real intent of the long, intimate night.

...

Biden has expressed a clear sense of urgency, convinced the Democratic field will be defined quickly ? and that it might very well come down to a private chat with Hillary Clinton about who should finish what Barack Obama started.

"He's intoxicated by the idea, and it's impossible not to be intoxicated by the idea," said a Democrat close to the White House. And the intoxication is hardly new. Officials working on the Obama-Biden campaign last year were struck by how the vice president always seemed to have one eye on a run, including aggressively courting the president's donors. Obama aides at times had to actively steer Biden to places where he was needed ? like Pennsylvania ? because he kept asking to be deployed to Iowa, New Hampshire and other early states.

"He wasn't just doing fundraising the campaign assigned to him," said a campaign adviser. "He was inviting people to the mansion to hang out and have dinner." Biden was way more into the donors than Obama was.

[benji]

"Obama would rather be succeeded by a Biden type than a Clinton type," a prominent Democrat told us. But the same Democrat went on to say that if Hillary Clinton were running, she would be running on the Obama legacy, not her husband's.

Biden, in many ways, is better positioned than anyone to carry out the liberal manifesto Obama detailed in his speech Monday. It was Biden who ticked off White House officials by blurting out support for gay marriage before Obama did ? and Biden who put the gun control package together after the killings in Connecticut.

"Primary voters look at this administration and say Biden has been leading from behind," said one Democratic adviser. "On gay marriage, and whatever success they have with guns, he has carried the liberal agenda, in some ways, more forcefully than the president has. And that matters to primary voters."

The adviser added: "When he speaks to gay audiences, he's seen as the hero. And he only becomes more heroic as the president embraces what they give Biden credit for pushing the president toward."

[Killazontherun]

Biden, in many ways, is better positioned than anyone to carry out the liberal manifesto Obama detailed in his speech Monday.

The speech was the greatest manifesto since Marx, and it is now their mission to see it carried out throughout the next several election cycles.

That is what they believe.

Proglodytes live in a bubble formed from the ethers of pure, distilled stupidity.

[The Late P Brooks]

I caught a little bit of the Chrissie Matthews show. Chrissie, Joan Walsh, and some other idiot were oohing and aahing over Hillary's totally awesome performance. She like totally made all those mean old white men look stupid, dude.

Chrissie says Hillary has a beautiful voice, and he could listen to her for hours (kinda like Fidel Castro, I guess). And Rand Paul lives in a cave.

So there. Take that, Rethuglitardos.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That performance, as reported, can simply not have helped her in presidential aspirations. As much as I hate congressional hearings - they're platforms for grandstanding - she dodged responsibility and became hysterical like a soft, silly woman.

[Ted S.]

The constitution allows for hearing grilling the executive branch. The big problem is the hearings where the people being grilled are from the private sector, like every time they have professional sports people there.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Calgary police investigated for apparent Tim Hortons drag race

[db]

Well, if Calgarian police were going to race in drag, where else?

[Thane of Whiterun]

So I dove the nightmarish depths of HampersandR to find out what the hell was with the STEVE SMITH meme (from my years of lurking I knew he used to comment around here, but I didn't know how we knew he was a degenerate).

So I found this mansplanation from Sug:

Steve Smith was a minor liberal troll with a canned response to the Obama poster and slobbering love of FDR. Matt Welch asked us to go easy on him, insuring that we would debone him like a chicken every time he showed up. I started the shaved Bigfoot; Warty started the omni-rapist.

I can cite all these threads, but I keep getting my messages kicked back as spam.

[Episiarch]

Here is his website.

[Warty]

NOOOOOOOO OH GOD IT'S HIDEOUS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Episiarch]

Remember: he chose those pictures.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Sugar Free is not the best source for an unbiased explanation of a phenomenon, or anything for that matter.

Smith and Welch are actually good friends, and another Steve Smith did write an official article for Reason a few times.

[Thane of Whiterun]

Probably, but trollish (in the good[-ish] way) as he is, I more or less trust him wrt why the hell we have the STEVE SMITH meme. Plus he has cites a few comments down.

[SugarFree]

Nothing you cited disproves anything in my explanation whatsoever, Tulpa.

Your arrogance is always undercut by your abject ignorance.

[Hyperion]

Apparently, in addition to protecting us from guitars with the wrong type of wood, and acting like pissy face little goons when we come back from trips abroad, the latest responsibility of DHS is to tell us how to shovel snow properly.

Big Sis Butcheys Snow Advice

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's a better use of her time.

[Hyperion]

A better use of her time would be standing behind a cash register and... oh no, wait, people would have to see her face, that's not right. Ok, a better use of her time would be scrubbing restroom floors of fast food establishments at night, when no one would have to see her face, and the skill level would be a more comfortable fit.

[Ted S.]

Meanwhile, in Finland, the president-elect shovels his own driveway the day after being elected.

[The Late P Brooks]

Retards.

A broad reduction in the equipment tax long reviled by business groups, who argue it is unfair and impedes investment in the state, was a staple of Republican campaigns during election season.

Bullock's proposal would seek to raise the tax-free threshold on business equipment from $20,000 to $100,000, and cost about $6 million per year. He argues that would focus the benefit on the state's smaller employers by eliminating it altogether for 11,000 businesses, and keep it in place for large corporations that can afford it.

Those crazy kkkorporations, they just shit money.

[Suthenboy]

"...raise the tax-free threshold on business equipment from $20,000 to $100,000, and cost about $6 million per year."

Tax reductions are a 'cost'. Right.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

The family of former San Diego Chargers star Junior Seau, who killed himself last year, sued the National Football League on Wednesday, claiming that his suicide resulted from brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head during his football career.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Yeah, because the NFL didn't already pay him a zillion dollars in exchange for his accepting that risk.....

[The Late P Brooks]

That performance, as reported, can simply not have helped her in presidential aspirations.

Wait, what? Joan Walsh as much as said she should start planning her inauguration gala immediately.

[The Late P Brooks]

his suicide resulted from brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head during his football career.

And, as we all know, Junior was kidnapped and forced to work in the NFL under conditions closely analogous to slavery.

[Coeus]

Something tells me that this isn't gonna go the way they think it will.

We love Leigh Alexander's proposal that Feb 1st should be "Objectify a Man in Tech Day," meaning "whenever you tweet an article, quote, comment or video from a man, add a comment about their appearance or attractiveness."

IT nerds getting recognized by the opposite sex? Oh yeah, that's sure to make them realize the error of their ways.

[HellsBells]

Did you read the comments where one girl suggested only ugly women engage in this so as to make the men feel uncomfortable? Doesn't that defeat the whole point of protesting judging women by their appearance?

[Coeus]

Yeah, I saw that.

A) yes it does

and

B) also would not get them the effect they want. As a general rule, men are not offended by women they think "are beneath them" giving them compliments. That's mostly a women thing. And it's yet another reason why they're having such a hard time understanding how much this is gonna backfire.

[Killazontherun]

^this. It simply isn't about status with men but instead getting laid and the emotional high of the moment from getting recognition. So, being put off by an unattractive woman complimenting you is not a put off, at least, not until your arm is stuck under her head the morning after.

[HazelMeade]

A little noted event:
http://articles.chicagotribune.....eals-court

Appeals court upholds Wisconsin union law, overturning a lower courts decision that prevented it from going into effect.

[waaminn]

Well you know what they say, you can please some of the people, some of the time!

http://www.Anon-dits.tk

[Coeus]

You have never seen so much intentional obtuseness on display before. Fark thread on Benghazi.

A sample:

Weaver95: um, what FBI report and again I'll ask you - what is this alleged lie you keep referring to...? I think i'm more confused now than ever before.

vygramul
2013-01-23 01:58:03 PM

You pretend like this is the climax of "A Few Good Men". Except, if the answer was, "the 14th", so what? One of the obstacles to people caring about this is the inability to come up with any reason why the lie matters beyond the assertion that it was a lie. The motive offered seems too stupid to believe, like the conspiracy theory that Bush let 9/11 happen on purpose so he could invade Iraq.

incendi
2013-01-23 02:14:45 PM
halfof33: 1. there was no protest outside the Consulate before the attack.
2. the administration continued to tell the false story that the attack spontaneously arose from a protest the 12th to the 25th.
3. the FBI interviewed the survivors in Germany by the 14th.
4. The survivors told the FBI that there was no protest outside of the consulate on that day.

Giving you the rather generous presumption that all of those are absolutely true, that still doesn't mean the administration lied.