Feds May Keep Targeting Motel, High-Speed Rail Fight in England, Minimum Wage Increase Mulled in New Jersey: P.M. Links

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  • Why hasn't the Internet made a meme out of Ortiz yet?

    U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz is considering appealing a judge's ruling that the federal government can't seize Motel Caswell in Tewksbury, Mass., just because customers engaged in illegal behavior there. She's got time to spare since one of her other cases ended prematurely due to the defendant committing suicide.

  • Destructive high-speed rail proposals: Not just for California. Tories in England are opposing a "rushed" train plan there that would carve through the British countryside.
  • Gov. Chris Christie is proposing a $1 increase in the minimum wage in New Jersey, phased in over three years. He vetoed legislation for a larger increase that also tied future increases to the Consumer Price Index.
  • In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, FEMA introduced new maps that added 35,000 properties to flood zones, double the number in the area affected.
  • An Arizona county attorney wants to push their medical marijuana law all the way up to the state Supreme Court for a ruling on its legality. He, of course, is trying to block its implementation.
  • Iran launched a monkey into space. Uncooperative journalists are probably next.
  • Police have arrested three in the deadly weekend Brazil club fire that killed more than 200.

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  1. She’s got time to spare since one of her other cases ended prematurely due to the defendant committing suicide.

    Certainly this disqualifies her as being electable to the governorship.

    1. $park?

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

      Good one.

    2. I still really don’t care about Aaron Swartz.

      1. RBS

        +1

      2. wareagle

        he was wrong and knew it. Still, Ortiz’ zeal was over the top.

        1. Not really. He had a deal in hand for four months’ of prison time. If her “zeal” was so over-the-top, why would she reduce the possible sentence by over 99%?

          1. RBS

            I thought the complaint about her “zeal” was the fact she went after him at all?

          2. Funny, his attorney has not confirmed this claim by Ortiz. As a matter of fact, nobody has confirmed it but the press are repeating it like it’s the gospel truth.

            1. Funny, his attorney has not confirmed this claim by Ortiz.

              You’re right, he didn’t confirm the four-months one.

              He confirmed the six-months one. Clear as crystal:

              Peters said prosecutors made it clear their position had not changed: they wanted Swartz to plead to 13 counts and the government would seek six months of prison time or some “slightly lesser” amount of time.

              One representative link, but it’s all over the internet and in print.

              1. I stand corrected, I guess.

          3. The 35 year sentence never actually would have been handed down, even if he’d went to trial.

            1. Free Society

              In federal cases where a defendant doesn’t plea out, maximum sentences are common.

      3. Enough About Palin

        I still really don’t care about Aaron Swartz

        Me either.

  2. db

    Feds target everything. Motels, terrorists, citizens…when are they going to stop using violent rhetoric?

  3. Iran launched a monkey into space.

    Next up: Vietnam, muscle cars and malaise.

    1. db

      WTF would Iran’s Vietnam be? Chile?

      1. Generic Stranger

        Perhaps they’ll try to take over Iraq. Or maybe Afghanistan, once we leave.

        The only reason that neither of those were exact repeats of Vietnam (at least in terms of casualties to our side) was because our technology is so damn much more advanced. Iran is still working with 1970s technology, for the most part.

        1. VG Zaytsev

          Well that and a lack of $50bn a year in military aid from the Commies.

      2. PapayaSF

        Syria could be Iran’s Vietnam.

    2. Rich

      Ha! I’d like to *us* launch Vietnam into space!

      1. Rich

        “to see”

    3. JW

      And Nixon! Don’t forget about Nixon.

  4. Re-post from Friday night:

    Also OT:

    Remember the condom study (pdf) from the other day? I read it and…

    …it has no control group. All of the reports are from condom users (and is even largely replete of responses from “men who use condoms less frequently”).

    Derp.

    1. Brandon

      SF’ed?

      1. SF’d.

    2. generic Brand

      So all the talk of it being funded by a company owned by Trojan (or that owns Trojan, I don’t remember which way the relationship went) is untrue, then?

      1. It mentions the condoms being provided to the investigators for free.

        1. Actually, looking again, I can’t find it mentioned.

          But anyway, IIRC the third author told the press so.

    3. Rights-Minimalist Autocrat

      Yeah, of all the respondents, only about 25% used condoms at all. No one bothered to ask why the other 75% didn’t, although one “expert” suggested it was a power play by the men.

  5. A Serious Man

    Sex and the City star and LGBT activist Cynthia Nixon declines to endorse lesbian NYC mayoral candidate Christine Quinn, citing that she doesn’t get hung up on ‘identity politics’.

    1. that is refreshing.

      however, she’s endorsing de Blasio…

      De Blasio, the New York City Public Advocate, backed a bill requiring minimum paid sick time, while City Council Speaker Quinn said it could kill jobs in the struggling economy.

      1. A Serious Man

        Yeah. I find it comical that the consensus among New York liberals is that Quinn is just assuming her lesbianism will get her LGBT votes.

        Rookie mistake Quinn, you need to be pro-LGBT and promise free shit to women and minorities.

        1. Rookie mistake Quinn, you need to be pro-LGBT and promise free shit to women and minorities.

          Well in their defense, they are the most affected.

    2. Brett L

      Jesus. The NYer had an 8 page article on Quinn, who sounds like a fun chick to have a beer with, but with her nose firmly buried in Nurse Bloomberg’s ass. Of course, I come from loud, brash, and Irish NYers, so I may be biased.

  6. Matrix

    Disney canning 3D re-releases of Star Wars

    I’m not much for non-native 3D movies being converted to 3D. It’s like playing a non-native game in 3D… just doesn’t always translate well. If you’re going to do it, it has to be natively shot in 3D.

    but nothing can save the Anakin trilogy.

    1. db

      “It’s too late for me, Son. Save the sequels.”

    2. A Serious Man

      It’s nothing more than a cheap money making scheme.

      Hopefully Disney does for Star Wars what Paramount did for Star Trek: The Original Series and that is digitally remaster them so that once crappy 60s special effects look damn good and greatly enhance the quality of the show.

      And of course they learned to not change shit like making the Gorn shoot first.

      1. Brett L

        Fuck that. I swore a holy oath that I wasn’t ever paying shit to see Eps IV-VI in a new format. Again.

        1. I swore the same thing.

          Twice.

      2. It’s nothing more than a cheap money making scheme.

        As if Disney would never engage in a cheap money-making scheme.

        1. Drake

          As a Disney stockholder, I say it damn well better be.

      3. Mad Scientist

        It’s nothing more than a cheap money making scheme.

        People actually PAY to see movies in 3D?!

    3. Killazontherun

      It can be done. You would just have to commit a CGI budget as large as you would spend on a new release to get good results.

    4. generic Brand

      Is it time for a remake of Episodes 4-6 already? I think Colin Hanks is available for the role of Han Solo.

      1. Rights-Minimalist Autocrat

        Nathan Fillion already replayed the role.

        1. Generic Stranger

          And he was better at it, too.

          1. Generic Stranger

            On that note, they need to bring back Firefly, but they should make sure Joss Whedon has no creative control. Give it to the guy who was responsible for giving the show its anti-statist flavor.

            1. geoff_27

              Tim Minear.

    5. JeremyR

      Exactly – 3D movies should be designed to have tacky 3D effects constantly thrown in your faces, like objects constantly thrown at you.

      1. Like going to the monkey house at the zoo.

      2. Drake

        And unrestrained boobies.

        1. “Coming this fall! More offensive than Mandingo. More shocking than Behind The Green Door. More erotic than Deep Throat. You will cream your jeans when you see Catholic High School Girls In Trouble in 3D! A Samuel L. Bronkowitz Production.”

          1. Zombie Jimbo

            My eight year old son just asked me to buy him tickets. He views the Catholic girl’s high school as a wolf pup might view a pasture of sheep.

  7. Tories in England are opposing a “rushed” train plan there that would carve through the British countryside.

    They want to draw the project out?

    1. db

      I saw what a rushed train project looked like outside of Shanghai. Little ex-villages 50 yards from the railroad right-of-way that looked like someone simply drove a bulldozer through each house to prevent squatters or the rightful owners from returning.

      1. EDG reppin' LBC

        Houses = eggs
        HSR track = omelette

      2. Heroic Mulatto

        China actually knocked down some of the goddamn Great Wall to make room for a factory.

        1. db

          We drove through remains of the Great Wall in Ningxia–the folks we were with showed us where to look so see it…just a grass covered heap of stones on either side of the road.

  8. Clich? Bandit

    I just want to say, since I ma always to late to the party, that the “Judgy” comments were the funniest thing I have read here in a long time. Also:
    SF – Your sad devotion to that tired religion of bookshelism has not helped you conjure up the stolen battle plans?just sayin’.

    1. SugarFree

      [choking you with my mind. and hand gestures]

      1. Clich? Bandit

        [aaackkkk!!!]

        1. SugarFree

          Now I’m off to spend the afternoon torturing my own daughter, who I do not know despite my vast array of mystical powers.

          1. NeonCat

            You’d think a regime based on having a monopoly on the Force would include doing a midichlorian count as part of their standard prisoner processing but it’s as if the whole midichlorian thing was made up later by a hack director/writer.

  9. How the fuck this crime didn’t result in a day in jail is beyond me. (Just kidding. I know exactly why it didn’t result in any time behind bars.)

    Now the fucker wants his license back and has yet to even say he is sorry for the deaths of his two victims.

    1. Auric Demonocles

      has yet to even say he is sorry for the deaths of his two victims.

      What, you want him to lie now?

    2. $park?

      “This is great. Maybe next we can let Charles Manson have a driver’s license. Or let Mark David Chapman and John Wayne Gacy out on good behavior,” said Thomas Q. Keefe, who represented the Uhl’s parents in a civil suit. “None of that is any less outrageous than giving back a license to this man who has already demonstrated that he will turn it into a deadly weapon.”

      That’s great. I didn’t think they allowed sarcasm in the court.

      1. I have sarcasm and invective. Those are kinds of evidence.

      2. NeonCat

        Gacy’s dead, his behavior is as good as it’s ever gonna get.

    3. Rich

      Mitchell maintained that he was cut off by a white car, causing him to leave the roadway and lose control of his squad car.

      Was it a white *Bronco*, by any chance?

      1. EDG reppin' LBC

        He was *this* close to catching the real killer!

      2. PapayaSF

        He was emailing and talking on the phone while doing 126 mph, but it was someone else’s fault that he lost control. Right.

    4. Bill Foster

      If you find a report from when it happened he didn’t have lights or sirens.

      So even if he was “cut off”, what’s the closing time between 126 and 65 from just a spot in the rear view mirror to impact.

  10. Gov. Chris Christie is proposing a $1 increase in the minimum wage in New Jersey, phased in over three years.

    Don’t let this guy slip through your fingers, GOP.

    1. Brandon

      Have you seen Christie? Dude ain’t slipping through anything.

      1. $park?

        Come on, the dude probably sweats butter.

    2. Jerry on the boat

      Standing by his man: GOP millionaire Foster Friess wants Santorum in 2016:

      I think the smartest thing the Republican party can do is stick to the principles that Republicans stand for — limited government, respect for the constitution and free markets,” says Friess. “If you stick with that, there’s no way we’re not going to win.

      So we’re stuck with sticky Santorum.

      1. generic Brand

        A single millionaire does not a campaign make. I still maintain that Santorum WILL NOT be the candidate, or even one of the frontrunners, in 2016 because his biggest problem last year was the money. He was in 2nd place in many polls and won some primaries and he still couldn’t get any funding.

        People may like to talk like fundies, but the people who can afford to fund a fundie don’t want one in the presidency.

      2. Heroic Mulatto

        limited government, respect for the constitution and free markets,” says Friess. “If you stick with that, there’s no way we’re not going to win.

        *sigh*

        If only….if only….

      3. VG Zaytsev

        I think the smartest thing the Republican party can do is stick to the principles that Republicans stand for — limited government, respect for the constitution and free markets,” says Friess. “If you stick with that, there’s no way we’re not going to win.

        Sounds like a condemnation of Santorum, not an endorsement.

        1. Free Society

          I thought the same.

  11. Clich? Bandit

    ohh and with that alt-text i think Scott invoked rule-34…we are all doomed.

  12. A Serious Man

    Sundance Film Festival featured a surprising number of documentaries critical of Obama from liberal filmmakers.

    Of course I doubt this will be a growing trend since this comment from the article sums up the liberal mentality:

    I’m centrist to left-of-center. I’m old enough to remember LBJ and all the purists on the left who drove him out of office over the war. Vietnam was a big deal and the war was a blot on LBJ’s otherwise epic accomplishments. However, all Left’s sanctimony got us was Nixon and a generation of republicans nursing their rage over the lost cause. There’s much to criticize Obama about but many of the alternatives on the right are far worse and their acceptable alternates on the left are unelectable.

    1. Episiarch

      You can’t let the other TEAM win. Nothing–nothing–is more important.

      1. Gladstone

        Yeah the fact that they can forgive LBJ for Vietnam is clear proof of that. Hell they don’t seem to find any dissonance with loving LBJ and believing that he was part of the “right-wing” assassination of JFK.

    2. iggy

      LBJ’s epic accomplishments like obliterating inner city America with bloated war on poverty programs that breed dependency and largely resulted in the disintegration of black families.

      I also like that she calls the war in Vietnam a ‘blot.’ People in Vietnam are still being born with serious birth defects because of our use of Agent Orange. Even if the War on Poverty wasn’t a miserable failure, LBJ deserves a special place in hell for the chemical warfare he instituted in Vietnam.

      1. Killazontherun

        He deserves to spend half of eternity up to his nose in a lake of shit for that, and the other half scorching in an iron casket for The War On Poverty.

      2. Drake

        I despise LBJ and everything he did. Chemical warfare, however, isn’t one of the many sins he has to answer for.

        I served with enough Vietnam Vets to here the real story. In typical stupid government fashion, the people spreading the stuff around assumed it was free and used it at 10 times the recommended concentrations.

    3. RBS

      For some reason I’m imagining this guy has like 30 bumper stickers all over his Prius.

      1. Ask him how he jibes his “Obama” bumper sticker with his “Coexist” one. Then ask him if he’s ever heard of a drone.

      2. C. Anacreon

        And he never ever uses a turn signal (though I’m not sure if Priuses even come with turn signals)

  13. Brett L

    San Diego police chief says something wildly stupid.

    San Diego Police Chief, William Lansdowne said in an interview that the implementation of new gun laws could allow for the disarming of Americans within a generation.

    1. Yeah, and he didn’t say it as a warning. Someone get him a copy of the Constitution.

    2. iggy

      Don’t you guys know that only our superiors should have firearms? It’s important that only police officers have weapons, so that no one will ever be able to contest their rule.

    3. Killazontherun

      And wildly delusional:

      “We broke the NRA,” Lansdowne said off-camera.

      They think they won. Holy shit.

      From what basis? A consensus arrived at amongst the grabbers that ‘something must be done!‘?

  14. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, FEMA introduced new maps that added 35,000 properties to flood zones, double the number in the area affected.

    They just got done watching The Day After Tomorrow and Deep Impact. The sequels to both those movies would show just how FEMA can shine.

    1. Enough About Palin

      In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, FEMA introduced new maps that added 35,000 properties to flood zones, doubleing the number in the area affected. of people mandated by the Feds to pay flood insurance premiums.

      1. Bam!

        Isn’t flood insurance subsidized by the government?

  15. Fresno cop (local story!) comes up with a pretty creative explanation for his perjury and other criminal behavior.

    Unfortunately for him, there is video of his “interaction” with his victim.

    1. He’s a cop. Therefore it’s not perjury.

  16. rts

    A Barrie police officer who was caught on video punching and kneeing a man while he was pinned face down on the ground testified he had to use force because he feared for his life, a court heard, Thursday.

    Initially, Stern was charged with assaulting a police officer.

    “I was terrified. I’ve never been in trouble before,” he testified.

    Faced with a lengthy prison sentence, Stern and his parents hired a lawyer who subpoenaed the mall to get the video, which the Crown never knew existed, court heard.

    Once the lawyer brought the video to the Crown, the charges against Stern were dropped.

    The officer was then charged with assault causing bodily harm. He was also charged with fabricating his evidence against Stern; his notes state he only hit Stern twice while the video shows over a dozen kicks and punches.

    1. I felt a little hopeful when I read the cop was actually charged.

      Then I realized it was Canada.

    2. At least someone bothered to investigate the incident, eh?

      1. EDG reppin' LBC

        Back bacon, indeed!

  17. Brett L

    Trenton gives gun owners $200K for new guns that work.

    Mercer County residents received $25 to $250 for each firearm depending on type, condition and legality.

    About $100,000 was budgeted but because of the huge turnout, the amount spent is expected to be well over double that. Some participants were given vouchers after money ran out Saturday.

  18. Archduke Pantsfan

    HA!
    FOX News commentators who look like Kids in the Hall characters

    1. Episiarch

      Why don’t they have O’Reilly up there? He looks just like the Chicken Lady.

      “Hi. Can I drink out of your toilet?”

      1. SugarFree

        “I’m maaaaaaaaaaassserbating.”

      2. Mother: You want me to give you a quarter so you can masturbate in front of my son?
        Chicken Lady: YEEEAAAAHHH!
        Mother: I’m calling the police.

  19. Brett L

    Global Warming pushback

    “The Earth’s mean temperature rose sharply during the 1990s,” said Terje Berntsen, a professor at the University of Oslo who worked on the study. “This may have caused us to overestimate climate sensitivity.”

    1. Brandon

      Is that pushback, or ass-covering?

      1. Brett L

        Who cares as long as scientists are being honest that their dataset, or manipulation thereof, may have caused them to overestimate the actual effects of the “variables”*.

        *Since they can’t really hold any of the conditions steady while varying others, I’m scare quoting. It is possible to analyze such a system, but only if you’ve identified all the things that can change.

  20. Auric Demonocles

    What’s up with the rush of articles right at 4:31? Does Reason hate the PM Links? You can’t keep us down!

  21. Brett L

    Secret Service member jumps to death rather than work the Biden detail one more day.

    A Secret Service dog fell to its death off a New Orleans parking garage while conducting a security sweep for Vice President Biden.

    1. Rich

      Why would anyone need a Secret Service monkey?

      1. Brett L

        He translates Secret Service instructions into a language Joe can understand.

  22. Can you say, “ticking time bomb“?

    God bless the union! It does nothing but good, right?

  23. Rich

    homes and businesses inside … New York City are being added to flood zones under new preliminary federal maps

    Check out (I’m not making this up) “floodsmart.gov” for NYC’s nonexistent flood maps.

    They may or may not have ’em for *your* area.

  24. U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz

    Wise Latina. Above criticism.

    1. white Hispanic U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz

      Problem solved.

      Funny thing about Zimmerman is that when I saw his picture I was sure he was Hispanic.

      Well, I guess not funny, as one would expect as much when adding “white” to his ethnicity was pure obfuscation.

  25. Heroic Mulatto

    Eric Holder stared into the deep brown eyes of the pinned girl under him, his large hand holding her two small wrists easily and tightly above her head. His lean yet muscled arms straining against the confines of his jet black sport jacket, his white dressshirt underneath and red tie were in disarray. His khaki pants were opened at the waist, just hanging below his round firm ass, he was giving his thick long erect black donkey cock space to move. It was already shiny and slick with the girl’s juices. His hair was wild from the girld’s attempts to free herself from him. His brown eyes narrowed lustily, as he licked his full lips.

    Her red blazer was in disarray, one small pert breast spilling out of the top. He grinned salaciously as he watched her wiggle, her breasts wobbling wildly, in delight under him. He wasn’t fooled by the angry look on her face. She always played the victim when he caught her during her rounds at the Department of Justice.

    The thick white ruffles of her blouse were at her waist. Her long white thigh-high stocking still in place; though her small white bikini panties were stained with her honey and dangled around her left ankle, her black patent Mary Jane pumps glinted in the sunlight streaming in from his office window.

    1. Heroic Mulatto

      “Mr. Holder, please I have to get to work.” The Attorney Carmen Ortiz hoped the randy cabinet member wouldn’t take her seriously no matter the scowl on her face. He never did any other time so why would today be different. Her breath caught as his hand slid up her thigh and he sunk down on to her. He licked the curve of her neck as he pushed her legs open and slid inside her again, pistoning in and out.

      He looked up at his watch; he had another good ten minutes before his next meting to enjoy her.

      1. Brandon

        WTF, HM? Some of us go to lunch late!

        1. Heroic Mulatto

          Don’t worry, by the time I post the rest, you’ll be finished with your lunch break.

          1. db

            Please find a way to work in those obviously fake choppers she’s sporting.

      2. Jeff

        What the fuck.

        1. geneparmesano

          Don’t stop…

      3. Dude!?!?

      4. Ska

        +1 for thick long erect black donkey cock

        What’s the opposite of poetic? And I don’t mean prosaic.

        1. Heroic Mulatto

          What’s the opposite of poetic?

          Doggerel?

          1. Ska

            Damn man, nailed it.

        2. What’s the opposite of poetic?

          Tulpaic? Dunphyic?

      5. SugarFree

        Finally, my work has born vicious fruit.

  26. A Serious Man

    Former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon shows signs of brain activity after being in seven year coma.

    1. He had brain activity before being in the coma?

    2. db

      And what rough beast,its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

      Sounds like a great premise for a movie.

    3. Drake

      I assumed he died years ago.

  27. I swear somebody needs to train these officers that it’s not OK to steal money that someone finds in a purse. Otherwise, they might expect to be held responsible.

    1. It’s not stealing. It’s asset forfeiture.

  28. Krugman is confused by the propaganda.

    What strikes me, however, isn’t just the way the right is trying to turn a reasonable development into some kind of outrage; it’s the political tone-deafness.

    I mean, when Reagan ranted about welfare queens driving Cadillacs, he was inventing a fake problem ? but his rant resonated with angry white voters, who understood perfectly well who Reagan was targeting. But Americans on disability as moochers? That isn’t, as far as I can tell, an especially nonwhite group ? and it’s a group that is surely as likely to elicit sympathy as disdain. There’s just no way it can serve the kind of political purpose the old welfare-kicking rhetoric used to perform.

    1. iggy

      Classic Krugman. Let’s hit all the Krugman check marks.

      1. Wild proclamation without evidence, as shown by the fact that he offered no citation or evidence that Reagan was ‘inventing a fake problem’ and no evidence that he ever ranted.

      2. Uses rhetoric to obfuscate the issue. Calling them ‘disabled’ makes people think that you’re talking about people in wheelchairs or the blind. The problem conservatives have is that disability covers people on drugs and alcoholics, so long as they’re in treatment.

      3. Claims his opponents are ‘angry white voters’ whereas Krugman himself is a philosopher king, striding the earth like an intellectual colossus.

      4. Assumes opponents are just racist and is confused by the fact that they aren’t targeting black people.

      It’s Krugtacular!

    2. Killazontherun

      Those built-in assumptions are rattling around in his head like half way loose pinball machine flappers.

  29. A Serious Man

    Queen of the Netherlands to abdicate in favor of her son, who will become first King of the Netherlands in 100 years.

    Two things: one, this must piss Prince Charles off something awful, and two, doesn’t Queen Beatrix know about the global War on Women? Why is she surrendering to the Patriarchy?

    1. I believe Wilhelmina and Juliana also abdicated when they reached a suitably advanced age.

      1. Brett L

        Good ol’ Liz will hang on if she has to be rebuilt as a cyborg until Chuck kicks it. Or have him strangled and thrown into a separate tomb upon her death.

        1. Killazontherun

          The Tower of London would be a suitable locale for his forced exile. None of the pretty parts. Just the dungeon.

          1. Brett L

            Traditionally, a family member with a lesser claim would have to put him there after her death.

            1. Clich? Bandit

              i’d say prince Harry but he isn’t part of the royal family.

        2. Homple

          If I were Prince Charles I would want to be immediately informed of any delivery of a butt of Malmsey to the palace wine cellar.

      2. db

        Queens just wanna have fun.

  30. JW

    An online petition asking President Obama to remove from office Ortiz — a politically ambitious prosecutor who was talked about as Massachusetts’ next governor as recently as last month.

    1. JW

      WTF squirrels?

      At this point, preemptively nuking Massholechusetts isn’t out of the question.

  31. Woman tries to posion a man with her hoo-ha.

    A woman is being sued by her husband for allegedly trying to kill him by putting poison in her genitals and then asking him to perform oral sex.

    The Brazilian wife is accused of planting a toxic substance on her genitals before luring her husband to bed.

    Reports in the South American country suggest he was ready and willing, and only escaped death because he noticed a strange smell.

    The curious husband then took his wife to hospital in Sao Jose do Rito Preto to find out the cause of the unusual odour.

    The alleged attempt on his life was exposed when tests on his wife discovered traces of a poisonous substance down below.

    1. A Serious Man

      Reports in the South American country suggest he was ready and willing, and only escaped death because he noticed a strange smell.

      That’s hilarious.

      1. It’s serious.

    2. Rich

      he was ready and willing, and only escaped death because he noticed a strange smell.

      The curious husband then took his wife to hospital … to find out the cause of the unusual odour.

      Uh, huh. Uh, huh.

    3. First, I find it hard to believe this is true.

      Second, wouldn’t the poison be absorbed through her skin?

      1. Brett L

        Almost certainly.

        1. I dunno, I find it extremely plausible that in spite of the vodka tampons epidemic, some women might not realize that they’d absorb the poison.

          Not to say that I don’t have my doubts about the story.

          1. He may have put it there in the first place. And when she didn’t die, he had to scramble.

            1. Brilliant, dastardly scheme:

              1. Convince girlfriend/wife/mistress that vodka tampon-ing is just plain awesome.

              2. Poison the vodka!

              1. Rich

                “I would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for Unusual Brazilian Jungle Odor!”

    4. db

      Give it up for Poison Hooha with special guest, Unusual Brazilian Jungle Odor!

  32. Feminism is about choice. Don’t make the wrong one.

    Our analysis of the culture of new maternalism and its legal consequences comes from a deep appreciation of the enormous value and satisfactions of parenting; new maternalism has such appeal precisely because it correctly embraces what is meaningful about family care. Its error, we contend, lies in the tacit exclusion of men, whether willing or reluctant, from engaged parenting’s benefits and responsibilities. We conclude that equality outside the home requires equality inside it, which is why we come out against the new maternalism.

    1. Heroic Mulatto

      But..but…popular media tell me that due to my penis, I am automatically rendered incompetent in all domestic tasks. I AM SO CONFUSED!

      1. The popular media are in bed with the new maternalists.

        1. Dagny T.

          HA. I only just now read it as “maternalism.” I thought they were making some specious connection between materialism and gender roles. Which makes about as much sense.

          1. EDG reppin' LBC

            I was right there with ya’ Dagny. Reading is hard.

    2. Dagny T.

      Long live the new materialism!

      Sometimes I am really confused by these types of complaints. I didn’t RTFA but it is about who does various household chores? Aren’t grownups with their own households and families capable of deciding that amongst themselves? I mean, I guess if you want to be a useless academic you have to find something to write articles on, but who folds the laundry is pretty weak sauce even for a Gender Studies paper.

      1. No, they’re down on people who celebrate women staying home to raise their kids. They feel it shouldn’t be seen as a valid choice, much less lauded.

      2. It never ceases to amaze me how savings is evil and the only way we’re supposed to get ourselves out of the recession is through spurring consumption.

        But materialism, which is the result of that consumption — because the consumption has to be consumed somewhere — is also evil.

        1. Spoonman.

          We’re talking about maternalism here,
          Ted.

    3. Spoonman.

      Anecdote: my mom is a housewife who did laundry and cooked, but because I work from home while my wife commutes, I do laundry and dishes, and I usually cook dinner too.

      It turns out adults are fully capable of doing what makes the most sense.

      1. SugarFree

        I do all the cooking. Left up to my wife we’d have granola bars and tap water for dinner every night.

        1. T

          My wife, if cooking for herself, eats like a six year-old. Anything that can be eaten from the container or go in
          the toaster oven.

          I do most of the cooking.

      2. A Serious Man

        My dad has been cooking dinners at home for over 20 years because my mom would work nights and he would work mornings.

      3. wareagle

        heresy!

        /emasculated liberal man (which may be redundant)

  33. Karl Hungus

    Pennsylvania woman sues real estate agent for failing to disclose the murder-suicide that took place in the master bedroom the year before she moved in.

    1. Rich

      “having a horrific event occur within a property can be just as damaging and troubling to a future homeowner as a physical defect, or perhaps even more so.”

      OTOH, it can be a great selling point for future homeowners, especially if they need a ghost-room.

    2. Jordan

      I’ve never understood this kind of superstitious idiocy. Who gives a fuck if somebody died there?* I hope I find a cheap murder house when I start looking for houses.

      *Does not apply in the case of murderous houses, murderous current neighbors, or nearby Union Carbide plants.

      1. Karl Hungus

        I’ve never understood this kind of superstitious idiocy. Who gives a fuck if somebody died there?* I hope I find a cheap murder house when I start looking for houses.

        Sure, you say that now, but when the disembodied screams, bleeding from the walls, and specter of a woman with half her head missing start happening on a regular basis, you’ll be singing a different tune.

        1. Jordan

          I think my “no murderous houses” clause covers that. Murder house? Totally cool. Murderous house? Fuck that.

      2. Question: would you buy a house that sat between those of two police officers from the K-9 unit that had been on the force for less than 5 years and had shaved heads? Would you at 20% under market value?

        1. Jordan

          Nope. Covered under the “murderous current neighbors” clause.

      3. Matrix

        Because that superstitious idiocy can affect housing prices. If I buy the house without knowing that information and try to sell it years later, that information may surface, and the value of my house may significantly drop as a result. It also could just be too difficult to sell, unless someone 1) doesn’t give a shit, or 2) is into the macabre.

        1. Jordan

          I know that’s why realtors are supposed to disclose things like that. I’m just saying it wouldn’t affect prices and they wouldn’t need to disclose it if people weren’t retards.

          1. NeonCat

            If people weren’t retards, what would we have to talk about here at Reason H’n’R all day?

            1. Heroic Mulatto

              what would we have to talk about here at Reason H’n’R all day?

              Ass ‘n Titties.

          2. T

            if people weren’t retards.

            So many of life’s little issues would vanish, but alas…

      4. JW

        I’ve never understood this kind of superstitious idiocy. Who gives a fuck if somebody died there?* I hope I find a cheap murder house when I start looking for houses.

        You say that now, but do you have the nerve to buy the Homicide House? It’s pretty fucked up how 3 people were killed in that house, including a kid, in 2 different murders within a few years.

        But, they changed the address, so it’s all good now.

      5. db

        I have a friend who bought a starter home many years ago for practically nothing. I was sworn to secrecy never to tell his wife that the previous occupant (an old retired professor) had died and was eaten by his dogs on the living room floor.

        1. Karl Hungus

          I was sworn to secrecy never to tell his wife that the previous occupant (an old retired professor) had died and was eaten by his dogs on the living room floor.

          I’ve only slept once in a house where someone had died (at least that I know of). And while I’ve never experienced anything “supernatural” in my life, once the light was out, every Stephen King book I’ve ever read came rushing to the forefront.

          1. Generic Stranger

            My dorm in college was built on a pioneer graveyard, and was only a 100 or so yards from a modern graveyard. It was supposedly haunted, but I never saw or heard anything to confirm that.

            They found 100+ year old bodies in the basement of the nearby administrative building during a renovation my senior year. Apparently they weren’t able to remove all the bodies during the original construction. The workers couldn’t move them for several months until DNA tests determined whether or not they were Native Americans (oh, did I not mention that the site was possibly an Indian graveyard before it was a pioneer one? Yeah…). Never did hear what the DNA results were on that.

  34. HazelMeade

    Gov. Chris Christie is proposing a $1 increase in the minimum wage in New Jersey, phased in over three years. He vetoed legislation for a larger increase that also tied future increases to the Consumer Price Index.

    Given the way the government jukes the CPI stats, using the CPI as an index might actually be BETTER than periodically increasing it by political whim.

    1. Xenocles

      1) Minimum wage goes up.
      2) Producers pass the extra cost to consumers.
      3) Prices rise.
      4) The CPI surveyors notice the rise in prices and adjust CPI up.
      5) Minimum wage goes up with CPI.

      The only thing I’m not sure of is whether the function is exponential or logarithmic.

  35. A Serious Man

    Oh Salon, it’s so cute when you go full-retard authoritarian and collectivist on healthcare:

    Okay, champions of life, liberty and the pursuit of Big Gulps, we can talk about personal freedom forever ? but a whole hell of a lot of us are dying from it. And in the meantime, that whole sacred individuality argument is exactly the same one used to justify the “Why should my insurance premiums go to fixing your vice-induced diseases, oh, foul sinner?” one.

    Yeah, no shit. That’s what most people want, only politicians and the bootlickers in the media frame it so that people think that they can get free shit with no consequence or cost to them personally.

    1. iggy

      HAHAHAHHA! A lot of us are dying from personal freedom. The people at Salon must be incapable of tying their shoes without tripping and giving themselves concussions because they seem so childlike and pathetic that I have a hard time believing they’re actually adults.

    2. Last week, the Associated Press warned ominously that starting next January, “Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Barack Obama’s health-care law.” For insurance companies that opt to enforce the full amount, the change could mean as much as a $5,000 premium spike per year for older smokers. That change would have a serious impact on low-income individuals, who “would depend [more] on the new federal health-care law” ? and who account for a far higher proportion of the one in five Americans who smoke.

      Guess none of those smokers liked their plan.

      1. Dagny T.

        And here we have yet another point in favor of: Lie To Your Doctor. Lie, lie, lie. The list of people you need to lie to (about everything, no matter how mundane) is growing all the time.

        1. NeonCat

          Where do we live?

          We live in Occupied America.

      2. Shouldn’t all of those people just pull a Slick Willy?

        Doc: Are you currently a smoker?

        Patient: No, I am not currently smoking.

        1. A Serious Man

          “Yes, but I didn’t inhale” is also a good rejoinder.

    3. Brett L

      we can talk about personal freedom forever ? but a whole hell of a lot of us are dying from it.

      Really? Because if I just add up the Big 3 from last century on government authority, I come up with something over 100M dying from that in just China, Russia, and Nazi occupied Europe, excluding war casualties. I don’t think “personal freedom” is nearly the same scale threat to humanity.

      1. iggy

        If I count the number of people killed by United States government policy (be it the War on Drugs or actual military adventurism) I’m pretty sure the U.S. government destroys more lives in the average year than 20 oz. coke does.

      2. NeonCat

        If we all ate right, exercised and voted the straight Democratic ticket, none of us would ever die.

        Death is just a right-wing plot.

        1. VG Zaytsev

          By goddamn greedy kkkorporashuns.

    4. I wouldn’t even provide Salon with the page views.

      1. A Serious Man

        I can’t help it, I honestly try to stick with real news events or funny stories, but there is just too much stupid on political websites to be ignored.

        1. RBS

          I understand. I’m the same way with espn.com comments. It’s how know I’m still sane.

    5. ant1sthenes

      A whole lot of you are dying from it? Bet your life there’s something killing you, as a great American once said.

  36. we can talk about personal freedom forever ? but a whole hell of a lot of us are dying from it

    no, whoever this “us” consists of are dying from too-stupid-to-breathe syndrome

    1. Dunphy (the real one)

      no, more personal freedom = more opportunity to engage in dangerous behavior

      so what?

      that’s what it’s about … tradeoffs.

      the freedom to surf big waves vs. having the lifeguards blackball the beach when they get too big

      the freedom to skydive, rockclimb, basejump, etc.

      it IS true that personal freedom has costs/tradeoffs.

      it’s just that libertarians ACCEPT those tradeoffs as WORTH it.

  37. Destructive high-speed rail proposals: Not just for California. Tories in England are opposing a “rushed” train plan there that would carve through the British countryside.

    Environmentalism: In the back seat when a train’s involved.

  38. A Serious Man

    Well it didn’t take me long to find a female writer more retarded than the author of that Salon piece. Ladies and gentlemen Amanda Marcotte:
    The NRA wants to sell your kid an AR-15.

    1. An ad for a 1911 in a magazine not put out by the NRA?

      1. NYT:

        The pages of Junior Shooters, an industry-supported magazine that seeks to get children involved in the recreational use of firearms, once featured a smiling 15-year-old girl clutching a semiautomatic rifle.

        I knew several girls (non-rednecks even) in high school who would’ve loved to shoot an AR-15.

        And on FB I spotted one of them, a particularly hot Asian too boot, poo-pooing a plan to go to a shooting range that rented out 9mm Glocks because she thought they were too wimpy, during her freshman year at college..

        For people who claim to be big on diversity many of these writers seem to know no one but white urbanites.

    2. Killazontherun

      Give us the money quotes! I’m not giving those degenerate soul suckers my clicks.

      1. A Serious Man

        The findings of the NYT investigation are, needless to say, troubling. The gun industry has invested a lot of money and time into researching child-centered marketing, while also pitching the idea to their already existing customer base that getting your kids to start playing with guns at a young age imparts important life lessons. And yes, “playing” is the operative word here. When it comes to marketing guns to kids, gun industry spokesmen don’t just shy away from reminding potential customers that guns are weapons, but sometimes outright deny it, as did Andy Fink, the editor of Junior Shooters magazine…

        Of course, in the real world, tools have designated uses. Cars are for transportation and baseball bats for hitting baseballs. Guns were inarguably designed as weapons, even if they’re often marketed as toys whose purchase presumably annoys liberals and temporarily quiets concerns about emasculation…

        She’s a bit more subtle here, but basically, you know, evil corporations and brainwashing and false consciousness and such as it the subtext of her concern.

        1. Sure, guns were designed as weapons. But weapons are still tools. You can use these tools to start Buchenwald…or to stop it. you can use it to perpetrate a rape…or to stop one.

        2. Heroic Mulatto

          Cars are for transportation and baseball bats for hitting baseballs. Guns were inarguably designed as weapons

          And all three have killed people. So what’s your point, Marcunt?

          1. And all three have killed people. So what’s your point, Marcunt?

            Her point is that you are the reason there aren’t more female libertarians.

            1. Heroic Mulatto

              Kathryn DeLong is all the woman we need in libertarian land.

              1. Lovely

                1. Eduard van Haalen

                  Here’s some more:

                  http://blog.idnes.cz/blog/14527/304223/KD.jpg

                  1. Generic Stranger

                    Too bad the gun is an airsoft…

                    1. Eduard van Haalen

                      I bet you noticed the text, too.

                    2. Generic Stranger

                      I noticed the girl, the gun, and the flag, in that order.

                      There was text?

                    3. Eduard van Haalen

                      Of course not, at least not that I noticed. I was having you on.

        3. Of course, in the real world, tools have designated uses. Cars are for transportation and baseball bats for hitting baseballs. Guns were inarguably designed as weapons, even if they’re often marketed as toys whose purchase presumably annoys liberals and temporarily quiets concerns about emasculation…

          Cars are for transportation. That is why there is only one make and model of car. Not a single soul out there has ever had a vehicle just to have fun with.
          Baseball bats are designed to do more than hit baseballs. They’ve been used for self-defense and mailbox-bashing (sorry, Neil) for over a century.
          Ditto guns, which have been used for sport since their inception.

          People have been adapting products for a number of other uses since man invented the wheel. Too bad Ms Marcotte is too fucking stoopid to realize that.

          1. Generic Stranger

            The baseball bat is a club. Clubs were originally used to bash the brains in of people and animals long before they were used in sport. Ergo, the baseball bat was designed as a weapon of war. Outlaw baseball bats!

        4. GILMORE

          What an enormous crock of shit = the ‘gun industry’ (e.g. SWHC, RGR, Freedom Group, Glock, et al) doesnt fucking *market* to kids…what – are they running ads during after school cartoons? putting toy guns in cracker jack boxes?

          Its the goddam TV, Movie, and Video Game business that creates a child’s gun-fetish… but I’m sure they aren’t even mentioned

          1. Heroic Mulatto

            TV, Movie, and Video Game business that creates a child’s gun-fetish

            Little boys and some little girls have wanted to shoot guns since before the days of the printing press. And before that, they wanted to sling swords. Archaeological digs have uncovered the fact that Roman children used to play with gladiator dolls action figures with moving arms and legs.

    3. Heroic Mulatto

      I’m a Cubmaster of a Cub Scout pack. Last week, we had some one from the council come and give a demonstration about Cub Scout summer camp. When she got to the activities, the loudest roars occurred when she mentioned BB Guns. All 15 boys in attendance simultaneously went wild. When the 2 5th graders learnt that during the summer they would be eligible for Boy Scout camp, which has .22s, they went over the moon.

      That’s why I fight for the 2nd. The kids.

      1. Virginian

        Damn right. First time I ever shot a gun was at Scout Camp. Last summer, I visited and discovered that the Marine vet who had taught me to shoot was still there, 12 years later, teaching more young men the art of the rifle.

        1. Heroic Mulatto

          First time I ever shot a gun was at Scout Camp.

          Same here. My daughter also shot for the first time during a Family Camping week at the local Scout Camp.

          1. Virginian

            I wonder when they’ll add a Modern Sporting Rifle merit badge?

          2. Xenocles

            Me too. Rifle and shotgun.

    4. Xenocles

      I wish AR-15s were cheap enough for kids to buy.

    5. Drake

      My son already wants an AR-15, or something better like a Sig. He does one of those youth shooting programs with .22 rifles that scares Slate so.

      If my daughter saw an AR like this one, I would be out a thousand bucks.
      http://www.michaelzwilliamson……ds-an-ar15

      1. this

        1. Drake

          Damn – the flowery mag makes it extra awesome.

    6. PapayaSF

      Amanda Marcotte isn’t always bad. She called shenanigans on a stupid anti-rape graphic a few weeks ago. I sent one feminist friend-of-a-friend on Facebook into a froth by criticizing the graphic and linking to Marcotte to back me up. Apparently Marcotte and I don’t take our “rape culture” seriously enough.

      1. Amanda Marcotte isn’t always bad. She called shenanigans

        Damage control. She left out 90% of the criticism.

  39. np

    Image of the Snorg Tees ad I just saw here

    Mmmm… Krystal Lynn

    1. Snorg girl needs a sammich and a tanning appointment. I actually had to lower the brightness on my computer for fear the screen would burn my eyes.

    2. A Serious Man

      Wow, she looks a lot like this girl I’m going out with next week…I’ll be in my bunk.

  40. GILMORE

    Has everyone seen David Mamet’s piece on supporting the second amendment?

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/n…..mamet.html

    He’s a slamming writer. As expected, Gawker/Wonkette make snarky insults about it. David no tow the lion.

    Also interesting = its dated January 29th, 2013. Is my watch fucked up?

    1. Dunphy (the real one)

      mamet’s always been an iconoclast in hollywood. good to see him standing behind the 2nd.

    2. A Serious Man

      Ugh, the comments are a cesspool of stupid.

      Do they censor? Because I’m tempted to make an account and just post lines from Alec Baldwin’s speech from Glengarry Glen Ross, starting with:

      “Fuck you, that’s my name!”

      1. GILMORE

        the piece is as usual erudite and provocative, clearly deserving of serious consideration and discussion..

        …which is why all the progtards are like, “WHY THIS SO LONG I DONT LIKE THE BIG WORDS AND HE SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT AFFIRNATIVE ACTION WHICH I DONT UNDERSTAND SO HE MUST BE TEH RACISTS”

    3. Kirsten Powers (House Lib on Fox and also at The Daily Beast) has a series of pissed-off tweets about Obama blaming Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the Republicans exclusively for the nation’s problems.

  41. This might be the most awesome gun control story you will read all week.

    FTA: The Seattle Police’s gun buyback event yesterday turned into an ad hoc, unregulated flea market for weapons, with a Stinger missile launcher as the headliner.

    The event, paid for by private donations, drew such a crowd that the buyback line stretched for hours. That made the private gun buyers, hanging out at the edges, a more attractive option for some, including the guy who sold the non-functioning missile launcher to a private collector.

    Fucking Seattle.

    1. Xenocles

      I’m not seeing the problem here.

      1. Neither am I.

        But the author of the piece sure did.

        Also FTA: That’s not explicitly illegal. Washington state law does not require background checks for private sales, a provision commonly known as the “gun-show loophole.” No background checks mean anyone – felons, the severely mentally ill – could saunter up, cash in hand, and buy a gun they’d be prohibited from buying from a federally licensed dealer.

        Actually, it’s not explicitly, implicitly or otherwise illegal in any way, shape or form, dumbass. It’s perfectly in accordance with Washington State law.

        -and-

        Another buyback is already being planned. As I noted a few weeks ago, these aren’t very effective at reducing gun violence.

        But at least let’s not let it turn into another flea market.

        So the writer acknowledges these aren’t effective at reducing gun violence, but wants them happening anyway. Just more proof that this isn’t about safety as much as it’s about control.

        1. Xenocles

          Forget it, sloopy, it’s the Times.

    2. JeremyR

      Why is it that when a non-functional weapon gets brought to a gun buyback, it’s headline news?

      They’re non-functional! Like doing a story about how VFW has a tank in front of it…

  42. The Late P Brooks

    The event, paid for by private donations, drew such a crowd that the buyback line stretched for hours. That made the private gun buyers, hanging out at the edges, a more attractive option for some, including the guy who sold the non-functioning missile launcher to a private collector.

    That’s not explicitly illegal. Washington state law does not require background checks for private sales, a provision commonly known as the “gun-show loophole.” No background checks mean anyone – felons, the severely mentally ill – could saunter up, cash in hand, and buy a gun they’d be prohibited from buying from a federally licensed dealer.

    All those deranged murderous psychopaths, circumventing the laws by acting legally.

    The HORROR.

    1. Dunphy (the real one)

      what is the reasonoid approved position on private access to background checks for private gun sales?

      personally, i would support individuals being given access for purpose of gun sales.

      iirc, NRA does as well

      1. Private gun sales are a matter between the two parties. If one wants to have a background check done, he is free to do so with the second party’s written consent. If he chooses not to do so, that’s his prerogative.

        Remember: a gun cannot commit a crime. But a criminal can commit a crime with or without a gun.

        1. Generic Stranger

          Pretty much this. I’d also add that the background check should not include any information about the gun at all. In fact, it should be open for all purposes, including checking whether your babysitter has a record, and the system should not record the reason for the check at all.

          This will prevent backdoor registration from occurring, since there is no way of knowing that a person who has been checked through the system owns a gun.

          1. PapayaSF

            Speaking of backdoor registration, I keep thinking of Swiftian proposal of mine. Since, in the US, AIDS kills roughly as many people as guns, shouldn’t we have some sort of HIV registry so that people can find out if their sex partner is HIV+?

            I want to hear anti-gun types explain how people have the right to privacy regarding a contagious, incurable, deadly disease, but owning a gun is ENTIRELY DIFFERENT.

      2. Xenocles

        It’s a measure I could live with if implemented properly. What I expect to be offered is something that will just dramatically chill private sales by unreasonably adding to the cost or difficulty of the transaction.

        1. Dunphy (the real one)

          yes. i would support it if it was free and simple… just a phone call, so it wouldn’t restrict commerce

          1. t might not restrict commerce, but it would restrict free association and liberty.

            Any “background check” between two parties selling a weapon should be 100% voluntary for both parties.

            1. Xenocles

              It should be, but I guess in my mind it’s just a balance between ideals.

      3. The Dan

        I will sell to a person with a carry permit without requiring a background check. If they don’t have a carry permit, I would want to go through the local FFL to run the check. They do it for about $25

  43. The Late P Brooks

    I mean, seriously, epi’s MOM could be out there right now, buying the impedimenta of genocide, and no one can stop her!

    1. Don’t worry. She’s over here with me.

  44. The Late P Brooks

    personally, i would support individuals being given access for purpose of gun sales.

    Personally, I think everybody pushing universal background checks can fuck off.

    And if you want to make an appeal to authority, try to find somebody better than the fucking NRA.

    1. Dunphy (the real one)

      imn not making an appeal to authority

      that would be “support it because the NRA does”

      i simply said iirc the NRA does

      i do. not because the NRA does, but because it makes sense to me

      ymmv

  45. Revenge porn.

    I’m OK with chilling some speech if that’s what it takes to kill off the trolls protect women from the consequenzes of their actions.

    Fixed it for the stupid bint.

    1. Xenocles

      I doubt the victims of this form of revenge chose to be porn stars. I’d bet nearly anything that the consent given to shoot these videos – if given at all – was conditioned on the idea that it was for the partner’s eyes only.

      I’m not sure it’s reasonable to make a civil action against people who post these videos – it might just be a matter of “you fucked up, you trusted me” – but I’d likewise have a hard time finding for the plaintiff if his car were to suddenly be brutally vandalized. Sauce for the gander and whatnot.

      1. I dunno if the site itself should be liable or not, but GoDaddy certainly shouldn’t (even if they are a shit company).

        1. Xenocles

          Oh yeah, no question there.

        2. IMO, they can’t be. It would be like YouTube being liable for posting the video of a Philly cop beating the shit out of someone without the person recording getting his consent.

          1. Xenocles

            The venue should not be liable for user-posted content, though they ought to patrol their content (obviously not 100%, that would be impossible for things like YouTube) just as a good business practice.

            On a case-by-case basis and within reasonable limits (both of which would follow the Potter test), I’d turn a blind eye to a certain amount of extralegal revenge by the woman.

            1. The venue should not be liable for user-posted content, though they ought to patrol their content (obviously not 100%, that would be impossible for things like YouTube) just as a good business practice.

              Could patrolling the site and not deleting certain files create a liability issue? If I were hosting a user-posting website, I’d make sure not to patrol it for fear I’d miss something and end up in front of a civil jury trying to defend myself against a legitimately aggrieved (but not by me) party.

              The best bet is to publish your TOS and only delete videos that have been flagged as violating it.

              1. Xenocles

                In our society anything could become a liability issue, but I suppose an analogy might be the lack of liability of rescue workers who fail despite a good-faith effort. But I’m just trying to say what I think a responsible business should do on its own, with the standard libertarian disclaimer.

                1. You’re right, of course, from an ethical point of view. Unfortunately we live in such a litigious society that those often play second chair to liability concerns…especially with the idiocy civil juries display on a regular basis.

      2. but I’d likewise have a hard time finding for the plaintiff if his car were to suddenly be brutally vandalized. Sauce for the gander and whatnot.

        That’s cool, but she wants to throw out the safe harbor protections.

        1. Xenocles

          Not on board with that. Guess I’m just saying the law doesn’t have to be a remedy for everything.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    I have one particular handgun which I don’t especially want to keep (need does not enter into it). I am really starting to think I should sell it to the first random guy I can find who wants it more than I do. And then buy another gun with the proceeds. Just because.

    1. Whadda ya got, Brooksie? I’m in the market for a new handgun. I’ll send you cash and my FedEx account #.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    It’s a Smith & Wesson copy of a Glock. I forget what they call it. I’ll stick with the 1911.

    And OF COURSE I’ll just FedEx a handgun with a fourteen(?) round mag to a private buyer in California. Why wouldn’t I?

    1. And OF COURSE I’ll just FedEx a handgun with a fourteen(?) round mag to a private buyer in California. Why wouldn’t I?

      In a country that valued liberty, you’d be able to.

    2. Generic Stranger

      M&P series, I believe. Also, how do you own a gun and not know what it’s called?

      Just wondering; first thing I do when I get a gun is do a shit ton of internet research on it.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    In a country that valued liberty, you’d be able to.

    When I get settled in that far-off mythical land, I’ll be sure to drop you a line gun.

  49. Media matters fact checks “misleading claims” from the NRA. How? By misleading, of course.

    Gun Free Areas Do Not Lead To Increased Gun Violence

    In his remarks, LaPierre suggested that politicians who favor gun free schools were responsible for telling “every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.”

    How do we protect our children right now, starting today, in a way that we know works?

    The only way to answer that question is to face the truth. Politicians pass laws for gun free school zones, they issue press releases bragging about them. They post signs advertising them. And, in doing so, they tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk.

    In fact, primary and secondary schools — where firearms are typically prohibited — are much safer environments for young people than the surrounding communities, even taking into account horrific school shootings. Since the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics began recording homicides at schools in the 1992-3 school year, the proportion of youth homicides that occurred at school has never exceeded 2 percent of total youth homicides. Suicide was also much more likely to occur away from school:

    ugh.

    1. How do we protect our children right now, starting today, in a way that we know works?

      We keep them away from all but approved adults by putting them in concentration camps. It’s the Keep Offspring Riskless Even More As They Stay United Act.

      1. +1 Internment camp

  50. The Late P Brooks

    even taking into account horrific school shootings.

    But I thought somebody was shooting up a classroom every ten seconds!

    Are they trying to make me think these events are incredibly rare?

    1. PapayaSF

      Exactly.

  51. The Late P Brooks

    Also, how do you own a gun and not know what it’s called?

    I inherited it. As I said, it’s an imitation Glock; pretty much all I need to know. I have cleaned it, but never fired it. I’m not a Glock fan.

    I did research it a little bit; apparently it was such a good copy, S&W lost the patent infringement suit.

    1. Drake

      Not an M&P then.

    2. GILMORE

      The Late P Brooks| 1.28.13 @ 6:54PM |#

      It’s a Smith & Wesson copy of a Glock. I forget what they call it

      erm. the S&W Sigma i think. discontinued (i think). still popular.

  52. waaminn

    Dude can we jsut roll with the punches or what? Wpow.

    http://www.ImaAnon.tk

  53. The Late P Brooks

    Not an M&P then.

    Sigma, maybe; I’m not sure how broad that “Sigma” designation is.

  54. The Late P Brooks

    I could dig the thing out and look at it, but that would be too much work.

    1. GILMORE

      der Sigma

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F….._SW9VE.JPG

  55. The Late P Brooks

    That looks like him; fortunately, mine has a blued slide.

  56. Mississippi considers Nullification:

    http://www.cdispatch.com/news/…..781&TRID=1

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