American Embassy in Ankara Attacked, Senate Ethics Committee Investigating Sen. Menendez, Syrian Regime and Rebels Trying to Use Israeli Strike to Their Advantage, White House Confident Hagel Will Be Confirmed as Secretary of Defense: P.M. Links

• An outlawed left-wing group is being blamed for the suicide bombing of the American embassy in Ankara.
• A British woman who was jailed for running a brothel has written to Prime Minister David Cameron asking him to decriminalize prostitution. 
• The Senate Ethics Committee is reviewing whether Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) took money from a donor being investigated by federal officials. 
• Both the Assad regime and Syrian rebels are trying to take advantage of an Israeli strike in Syria near the Lebanese border. 
• The White House is confident that Obama's Secretary of Defense nominee, former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, will be confirmed by the Senate. 
• Three Islamic militants who were captured by Malian forces claim that they have been tortured. 

Follow Reason 24/7 on Twitter!

Follow Reason on Twitter too, and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here.

Have a news tip? Send it to us!

**The updated Reason app for Apple and Android now includes Reason 24/7!
**

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

An outlawed left-wing group is being blamed for the suicide bombing of the American embassy in Ankara.

As long as it wasn't Carmen Ortiz.

[Rich]

A *left-wing* "terrorist attack"?

Can we still call it "The War on Terror"?

[Mike M.]

"What difference does it make?"

[Rich]

Thanks, Mike. I don't know why I keep forgetting that!

[GILMORE]

Friday's attack is the work of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C

aw christ? DHKPC?? i thought id invested in a mutual fund and instead i was funding a turkish marxist terrorist group. It does explain their 'prospectus' thought, which really used the word 'dialectical' a lot, and had a lot pictures of fists and proletariats. i thought they were overweight industrials.

[Clich? Bandit]

I thought it was the People's Liberation Revolutionary Front?

[Brandon]

Splitters!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, will be confirmed by the Senate.

How bad does a former colleague have to be not to get a nod from Congress?

[Pro Libertate]

Well, I suppose if one of their ex-members were in the middle of being on the lam as a terrorist traitor and physically unavailable for service, they might pass on him. Maybe. Oh, and maybe if he were dead.

[NeonCat]

He could still vote though, right?

[Pro Libertate]

I was talking about ex-members of Congress. None of what I said applies to sitting members.

[NeonCat]

I was actually trying for a "dead IL voter" joke. My apologies.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, sure, they vote all the time. People think it's scandalous, but who are we to deny the dead the vote? There are more of them than of us.

[Brandon]

There are more of them than of us.

Ooh, this could get good...

[Pro Libertate]

What, you oppose the rights of the majority? The underrepresented majority? Tell me, exactly how many dead people are in Congress?

And don't get me started about dead presidents. The ones that have died in office are always immediately replaced by a conveniently living man.

[Brandon]

Aw, I was hoping someone would come in with the old "there are more people alive now than have died in history" trope.

[Pro Libertate]

That's not even close to true. I think I've seen estimates of the dead population as high as 100 billion. All voting age, since you can't get any older than dead.

[generic Brand]

I missed what exactly was the problem with Hagel during his hearings. Is he just a clueless idiot?

[wareagle]

from what I have seen, he is both clueless and idiot. And apparently a pretty fair liar but as a former member of Congress, he already had the card for that.

[Chris Mallory]

His statement that he was a "United States Senator, not an Israeli Senator".

[DJF]

So he is a traitor.

[Apatheist ?_??]

How so?

[DJF]

He is a traitor to everyone who thinks that he should be an Israeli Senator.

[T]

I'd rather he was in the Knesset than SecDef. Does that count?

[DJF]

He would have more freedom to be critical of Israel in the Knesset then he does as SecDef.

[Killazontherun]

From the standpoint of someone who doesn't care one way or the other if he gets the job he looked ill prepared. He was asked about strong opinions he has held in the past and he could not have come across as more wishy washy and equivocating if he had borrowed the spine of James Earl Carter. He should have owned up to them, boned up on whatever factual material he could gather that would support them and charged ahead.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

He saw Kerry get confirmed and thought flip flopping was the way to go.

[VG Zaytsev]

Yep, I think that's it.

He was expecting a love fest like Kerry and Clinton got. Instead, the Senate committee that questioned him decided to actually do their job, probably because he's a cantankerous asshole that no likes.

Either that or he was set up by Obama so that the next pick, his real choice, will sail through. Sounds conspiratorial, but it is what happened with Rice and Kerry for SecState.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Ron Paul would never be confirmed for anything by the Senate..

[RyanXXX]

A mark in his favor, no?

[Brandon]

Ron Paul would never be nominated for anything by the quid pro quo scumbag in the white house.

[Ted S.]

John Tower?

[A Serious Man]

A British woman who was jailed for running a brothel has written to Prime Minister David Cameron asking him to decriminalize prostitution.

I'm sure you could make a lot of money with a Victorian-themed bordello.

[Pro Libertate]

"We are not aroused."

[Fatty Bolger]

"Lie back and think of Inland Revenue."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Cameron has to consider all her victims, past and future, in weighing his decision.

[A Serious Man]

I thought the madam who runs the brothel doesn't actually engage in prostitution herself if she doesn't want to.

I'm sure any decent looking girl (by British standards) would look good compared to her.

[Ice Nine]

So what does Rita get for a trick - a couple quid?

[Rich]

A British woman who was jailed for running a brothel has written to Prime Minister David Cameron asking him to decriminalize prostitution.

Try the White House petition route for good measure.

[CE]

Have they allowed Texas to secede yet?

[Rich]

Well, no. But I'm pretty sure Texas has bordellos.

[T]

Not officially.

[Generic Stranger]

Well, there's that shack outside La Grange...

[Mickey Rat]

We know what you're talkin' about.

[C. Anacreon]

They gotta lotta nice girls there.

[A Serious Man]

Alabama hostage crisis enters fourth day.

That is just heartbreaking and I hope someone shoots this crazy fucker before he hurts that poor kid.

[Pro Libertate]

We seem to have no deficit in psychos.

[Episiarch]

Just look to our political class for proof of that.

[Pro Libertate]

Who ordered more psychosis for America? Is it aliens with psycho rays?

[Episiarch]

Your mo...Lex Luthor?

[Pro Libertate]

Lex has no tolerance for irrationality, so I think not. My mom lacks the means.

[Episiarch]

Lex Luthor is your mom? Weird.

[Pro Libertate]

Are you medicating early? Because if my mom were Lex, the one thing I couldn't possibly say about her is that she lacked the means. The one thing Lex has is means.

[Episiarch]

Is pork teriyaki medication? If so, then yes.

[Pro Libertate]

Then yes.

[Rich]

How do you know the guy is insane?

[generic Brand]

Alabama hostage crisis enters fourth day.

And yet this is the first I've heard of it. The hostage taker must not fit the typical description of media sensationalism.

[generic Brand]

The chief confirmed that Dykes held anti-government views, as described by multiple neighbors: "He's against the government -- starting with Obama on down."

It's been nice knowing all of my fellow libertarians. I think this is the part where we are rounded up and thrown in camps for having "dangerous ideas".

[Rich]

One of my colleagues warned me about fifteen years ago about displaying a libertarian bumpersticker.

[NeonCat]

You just know the Proggies are going to call the concentration camp "Somalia", then giggle about it.

[Xenocles]

GB, please. "Dykes" is so insensitive. The preferred term is "Lesbians"

[CE]

We libertarians ain't gettin' on no stinkin' trains.

[RyanXXX]

Poor bus driver too. Sounds like he may have lived had he meekly cooperated, but he refused to let the sick fuck take one of the kids. Of course, his resistance was futile, but he died like a man

[Apatheist ?_??]

The more housework you do the less sex you get.

[Professor Booty]

Girls are less turned on by men who perform traditionally feminine roles? Who could have ever guess?

[Professor Booty]

I swear, there was an "ed" attached to the end of that "guess".

[Rich]

Don't worry, PB. *Many* men have a problem with "ed".

[Rich]

"display of gender is important for creation of sexual desire and performance of sexual activity"

That's why I do the housework *in the nude*.

[johnl]

Tell me about it.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Causation? Correlation? I'm the guy with the gun academic study.

There are any number of alternate explanations. Maybe guys who aren't getting any are trying to bribe their wives by doing work for them. Maybe wives who withhold sex also demand that their husbands do housework. Maybe there are guys who enjoy housework and aren't as interested in sex.

Certainly guys whose wives travel and work a lot are going to have to do housework and have less sex.

[RyanXXX]

Also because guys whose wives travel and work a lot are guys whose wives are cheating.

[Virginian]

So true.

[tarran]

Yet another argument for banning assault knives:

'Vicious and random' mass Vancouver stabbing sends six to the hospital, as police arrest suspect

Six people were taken to hospital, including one in critical condition, after what police call a vicious and random stabbing inside a Vancouver apartment building Thursday evening.

A seventh stabbing victim, and a police officer who was hurt during the arrest of the suspect, were also recovering from injuries, said police.

The incident occurred at about 6:45 p.m. in the 1200 block of Barclay St. in the city's West End, and when police arrived on scene, they found the seven victims suffering various stabbing wounds.

[Episiarch]

We need to start having a serious national discussion about blade control!

[Rich]

Except for gay blades, of course.

[Coeus]

Britian beat us to it.

[Professor Booty]

Well, I'll still have my tomahawk.

[Zeb]

Shut up. You're just giving them ideas.

[Ed]

You laugh but in China steak knives became highly regulated after a series of knife attacks

[Francisco d Anconia]

Ban assault knives.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Sorry tarran, don't know how I missed your first line.

[CE]

But only if they have three or more of six common assault knife features. Camo handle? Notches on the back of the blade? Combat grip? Glare-free metal? A bayonet lug attachment point? Dental indentation for holding it in your teeth while swimming/wading?

[Ted S.]

You mean blade violence. Or is it blade safety?

[rts]

If you want the full stupid, you need to head over to the CBC for the reader comments:

Another good example of why Canada is a much more desirable country to live in than the U.S.A. Her in America the nut would have been armed with an AR15 assault rifle and there would have been 30 people dead instead of seven treatable injuries. Thank you Canada for banning the ownership of assault type weapons.

"Assault type weapons" are not banned in Canada. And it never occurs to these people that maybe if someone were suitably armed, it would have been just been 0, 1 or 2 people stabbed, instead of 7.

[wareagle]

they just can't let go of the "assault rifle" terminology.

[BakedPenguin]

It's a verbal McGuffin that expresses something fearful (oh noes! ASSAULT) about an object they don't like, without such problematic things as definitions, or even a basic understanding of their objects of hatred.

[Fatty Bolger]

That, and it's a trick to make people think that the issue is about automatic weapons. Unfortunately, the trick works.

[CE]

But automatic weapons should be legal too. The second amendment was meant to prevent the government from infringing on the rights of the common man to bear arms of military usefulness.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

maybe if someone were suitably armed, it would have been just been 0, 1 or 2 people stabbed, instead of 7.

Like at the Safeway in Tucson?

[rts]

Link?

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

That's where the Giffords shooting happened -- a constitutional carry state with no gun-free zone sign. (as if anybody gives a shit about such signs when the only punishment is being kicked out, as in the Aurora theater)

[Virginian]

That's the only mass shooting in America that has happened at a place where it was lawful to carry a gun. Fun fact there.

I think I remember hearing there was a guy there who drew his weapon, but held fire because he had innocents behind the threat and so didn't have a clear shot.

[Number 2]

C'mon Tulpa! Everyone knows that the Tucson shooting was caused by inflamed political rhetoric from Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin -- not the lack of gun laws!

Can't you keep your left-wing talking points straight? I expected better from you.

[Pi Guy]

So does my knife with a bayonet lug count as an assault knife?

[Brandon]

Does it have an adjustable stock?

[$park?]

What would you expect out of filthy animal criminals?

"I think we did something that any good person would do. You see three helpless kids in a river, you help. That's what you do," Fowler told KPTV.

"Just cause we're incarcerated, doesn't mean we're bad people, " he later added. "We made some bad choices in our lives, but we're still, we're just like everybody else. We're just paying our debt for what we did wrong."

Prison staff tells KPTV the members of the work crew are serving sentences for non-violent crimes.

Any bets they're drug related?

[tarran]

From England, which is no longer violent now that police own all the guns:

Aamir Siddiqi: Hitmen Jason Richards and Ben Hope guilty

Aamir had run down the stairs to answer the door expecting to see his imam, who was due to give him a Koran lesson. Instead, he opened the front door in Ninian Road, Roath, to two masked killers high on heroin.

Hope and Richards wielded daggers over their heads and howled as they set upon the helpless A-level student.

Aamir's father likened the attackers' howling to the sort of noise made in martial arts when an attacker wants to terrify the victim.

The teenager desperately tried to run back into the house, but they chased him and repeatedly lashed out.

The execution of the bungled contract killing was described by the prosecution as an act of "staggering incompetence".

Aamir's parents frantically tried to help their only son. His mother, Parveen, leapt on the back of one of the attackers as he pursued Aamir in the dining room of their home.

His father, 68-year-old Sheikh Iqbal Ahmad, tried to pin the other against a wall using his head. Both were stabbed in the process.

Mr Ahmad later recalled the terror which unfolded that Sunday and said he could not say how many times they had stabbed Aamir.

[Juice]

How the hell could two guys high on heroin do anything that physical?

[Brandon]

Don't you dare question the narrative!!

[A Serious Man]

Is there anything 3D printing can't potentially do? Scientists and engineers look into possibility of using 3D printing construct a base on the Moon.

[NeonCat]

Can the base look exactly like an AR-15 lower and/or/with large magazine?

[Mickey Rat]

That'll be the footprint of the railgun used to bombar..., er, launch cargo back to Earth, of course.

[BuSab Agent]

+1 Harsh Mistress

[generic Brand]

Ignignokt and Err might have something to say about that.

[Episiarch]

Ignignokt: Some would say that the Earth is our moon.

Err: We're the moon.

Ignignokt: But that would belittle the name of our moon, which is: The Moon.

[Pro Libertate]

There's been some research into using similar technology to build houses on Earth. So why not the Moon?

[AuH2O]

Damn fist. I refreshed at 2:30 and still.

As punishment, I give you an Eldritch Horror not even a thousand Lovecrafts working on a thousand type writers could match...

Jezzies recount their first time!

My first time was with a guy who I was kinda dating, but who I had no long-term romantic plans with (he was still getting over his ex, who he had been with all of his undergrad years). I was curious & legally an adult, ready to exercise my newfound freedom and figure out who I was as a person - which included what the hell the big deal was about this sex stuff - and he was willing to go at whatever pace I deemed acceptable, and it was overall a very satisfying experience. Since then, I've had no real issues with my sexuality or how I lost my (abstract concept) virginity, despite other long-term scars bothering me from a childhood being raised with fundie Southern Baptist beliefs, though I certainly wouldn't discuss such things with my parents since they made me swear soooo often as a kid to "save myself for marriage". (Ugh.)

Some people consider me a terrorist, I think of myself as a teacher.

[Episiarch]

I think of you as a nincompoop.

That story isn't so bad. If you want to be a terrorist, get us some really horrific ones.

[AuH2O]

You know what's kinda weird and gross? My college boyfriend, who was horrible for a few reasons, was overly fascinated with the concept of losing one's virginity as a defining life moment. He recounted his virginity-losing story to friends (and to me) with a combination of affected seriousness and literary flourish. He liked hearing other people's virginity-losing stories, as if they revealed something profound about the human condition. I don't know. He really liked D.H. Lawrence and Tom Robbins-- I feel like that is relevant here.

Response:

My ex was obsessed with period-having as a sign of a woman growing up or something. I have a very distinct memory of playing a game online like The Sims and having a female character and he asked how old she was and she was like 7 or something, and he said "oh, so she hasn't bled yet?" and I was just thinking WHY ARE YOU ASKING THAT????

[Episiarch]

Better. But I'm not horrified yet.

[nicole]

How's this:

Humans and dolphins are the only animals on this planet who have sex for pleasure. Other animals only have sex in order to breed. You do not need sex in order to have a satisfying life. Judging from nature's example, you only need sex to create the next generation. Therefore I'm staying a virgin until if and when I choose to have children. Even then, I might go with artificial insemination and remain a virgin for life.

[Episiarch]

That's not horrifying, it's just sad and pathetic. Way to miss the point, nicole.

[nicole]

Honestly the most horrifying thing is how many of them were in their 20s.

[Episiarch]

Not everyone can be a total slut like you or me, nicole.

"Jackpot! I knew there was something special about you, and I'm not just saying that 'cause you're a whore, but...you are a total whore."

[Rich]

It's horrifying that the excerpt doesn't list bonobos.

[nicole]

Someone responded to her about bonobos.

[Killazontherun]

Dogs look pretty happy licking their balls. That doesn't count?

[Zeb]

How the fuck are humans and Dolphins (and the various other species who are documented having sex for apparently non-procreational reasons) not part of nature's example? She thinks that you should do what other species do rather than what other humans typically do?

Some people are just not all that sexual, and that's fine, but don't pretend that that is somehow the "right" way to be.

[KPres]

Maybe she feels like a dolphin trapped in a girl's body?

[Enough About Palin]

"Humans and dolphins are the only animals on this planet who have sex for pleasure"

The bonobos disagree.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Actually we don't really know the bonobos' internal mental purpose for sex, just that they are extremely promiscuous, including incestual copulation, and females have sex when they're not fertile, which is fairly unusual in the animal kingdom. It's been postulated to be a means of conflict avoidance/resolution and tribal bonding.

Plus I'm sure that every animal with a nervous system capable of experiencing pleasure has sex for pleasure. It's highly unlikely the orgasm first arose in humans.

[Dallas H.]

^THIS

The original poster has it completely backwards. All animals reproduce because sex is pleasurable and that's why they do it!

Insanity abounds.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I don't know. He really liked D.H. Lawrence and Tom Robbins-- I feel like that is relevant here.

Um?

[nicole]

He really liked D.H. Lawrence and Tom Robbins-- I feel like that is relevant here.

It's really the combo of the two of them that makes this awesome.

[AuH2O]

Better:

My story sucks. I have daddy issues and at 15, while visiting my father, I ended up sleeping with one of his friends (32). I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but in hindsight it was a pretty obvious cry for attention from a father who abandoned me and bore very little responsibility for my upbringing.

When I returned from my trip I ended up having sex with a boy I had liked for a long time. For many, many, many years I told people that encounter was how I lost my virginity. I didn't even tell anyone at all about the first guy until I was nearing 30.

On another note, I had a very significant relationship that started on February 19 and another one that ended on February 19. What is it about that day??

[Episiarch]

That's not horrifying, it's fantastic.

[generic Brand]

That one has got to be a spoof. A jezzie openly admits to having "daddy issues"?

[nicole]

I like this one:

I lost mine to a male cheerleader. Unfortunately, not the most embarrassing fact about that night.

[Episiarch]

I MUST KNOW

[nicole]

Investigating fucking ruined it. He went down on her while she had her period.

[Episiarch]

It's like how the best horror doesn't describe something terrible to you in any detail, so that your mind makes up something way worse instead. Damn it.

[nicole]

Of course, it could be horrifying that they think that is a big deal. We're obviously just too whorified to be horrified.

[T]

Never show the monster, Epi. Let the audience do your work for you.

In the Mouth of Madness is a great example. Ruined by the shot of the rubber monsters.

[Episiarch]

Ringu is one of the best examples of doing this correctly that I've seen.

[Trespassers W]

Yeah, that's what ruined In the Mouth of Madness.

/sarc

[Teenage Girl]

Eewww!!

[Killazontherun]

Lying whore. She was seventeen at the time, and merely a few weeks from her eighteenth birthday.

[Brandon]

You know what's kinda weird and gross? My college boyfriend, who was horrible for a few reasons...

Did this clause not bother anyone else?

[A Serious Man]

Meh, I just feel sorry for people that have such a high degree of self-loathing.

[Apatheist ?_??]

*barf* and no way I'm following that link.

[BakedPenguin]

I give you an Eldritch Horror...

"The geometry of the Jezebelle's vagina was squamous and non-Euclidean."

[Professor Booty]

I lol-ed.

[Trespassers W]

Squamous and rugose.

[generic Brand]

I feel like you would have posted this regardless of being first poster today.

[AuH2O]

You'll never prove it in a court of commenting threads!

[AuH2O]

I grew up with abstinence only catholic education, lost my virginity to a boyfriend who I loved at 17 then peed orange the next day! I thought he gave me an STD but I just had mono that made me ill enough to miss 4 weeks of school, lose 25lbs, miss out on getting my scholarships and almost caused me to fail calculus and not graduate. So although the sex part was fine, it will always be connected to a really shitty time in my life.

Losing my virginity was great, it was him cheating on me and giving me crabs 4 months later that scarred me.

I wonder how often there is force and coercion involved. That might maybe kinda make a huge difference.

Regarding the title "It Really, Really Doesn't Matter How You Lost Your Virginity": it would indeed matter - if you had been raped, or, as a child, you had been sexually molested.

When I was a little girl, I had been sexually abused by an adult male family member; that, coupled with the constant verbal abuse I received from my mother (yelling at me almost every day, and calling me names such as "bitch", "whore", and "stupid") influenced me into living a life of wild sexual promiscuity, some drug usage, and prostitution out on the streets. It has taken many years of counseling in order to heal myself. But I have overcome a great deal - and I now have a loving boyfriend, who is very supportive.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I fail to see how her catholic education was relevant there.

[AuH2O]

Because somehow you become ignorant about orange colored pee?

Those three are the best of the remaining ones I found, at any rate.

[nicole]

I guess you could think anything was an STD if you were super clueless, but yeah. These stories really suck.

[AuH2O]

C'mon nicole! I could easily get the last one made as a Lifetime Original Movie!

[GILMORE]

Apatheist ?_??| 2.1.13 @ 5:11PM |#

I fail to see how her catholic education was relevant there

dude. Catholic School Girls are sluts. duh.

http://videosift.com/video/Cat.....in-Trouble

someone else can link to zappa

also, talking dirty in Latin is hot

[GILMORE]

meh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSZ77SkAbI8

'ey, she gave me VD!'

[Francisco d Anconia]

Is it somehow a requirement that ALL women be emotionally scarred? Does it ever occur to them that, while an experience may be so bad that you remember it, it doesn't have to dictate the outcome of your life?

[A Serious Man]

Just say Yes: Oxford ethicist suggests you take ecstasy and other drugs to enhance your love life and ease the pains of breakups.

[AuH2O]

Serious question: If taking a drug makes me act as a better human being, aren't I morally obligated to take it?

Like, if drinking a little bit or smoking some bud every so often makes you more likely to give to charity, shouldn't you do that?

[$park?]

Only if you think you have some kind of moral obligation to society.

[AuH2O]

Well, by the logic of prohibitionists, I do have a moral obligation to society- drug taking reduces productivity, as they always point out.

By the whole "moral obligation to society" logic that they themselves employed, some people shouldn't be banned from drugs- they should have to do mountains of coke.

[$park?]

Well, by the logic of prohibitionists, I do have a moral obligation to society

If you're going to believe what someone else tells you to believe then you might as well just act like the brain-dead idiot they take you for.

Morality doesn't exist at the individual level so when creating your own set of rules that you choose to live by only you can decide what is right. As Epi said below, what does it even mean to be a "better" human being? That is so completely subjective that you couldn't even begin to fit it into any kind of moral framework. You, as a rational being, have no moral obligation to anyone that is not you. Participating in society doesn't even obligate you to follow the moral rules that that society holds to.

[Brandon]

what does it even mean to be a "better" human being?

It means being more like Brandon, obviously.

[Guy Incognito]

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Episiarch]

Absolutely not. Why are you obligated to be a "better" human being? What does that even mean?

[AuH2O]

It means I'm not going to jail for this bag of weed, bitches!

[Coeus]

Why are you obligated to be a "better" human being?

Obligated to those you care about. I had to quit toking for an extended period for job at one point. My parents had an sit-down intervention with me and told me to "stop doing whatever I was doing that had changed me".

[Francisco d Anconia]

They intervened AFTER you quit?

[Coeus]

Yup. Turns out, I'm naturally an asshole...

I know many of you here are shocked.

[Francisco d Anconia]

That is hilarious. Did you tell them?

[Coeus]

I have now. Just not at the time, as I was under their roof.

[AuH2O]

On a more serious note- what about conditions that while not currently manifesting as violent could do so?

Like, if you have paranoid schizophrenia or any number of other conditions that could cause you to commit violence... does that become a consideration?

I mean, obviously your life and not for society to impose, but I think it may at a point become a moral obligation.

[NeonCat]

Didn't that jackass in Arizona Loughner go on his shooting/killing spree after he stopped drinking and smoking weed?

Swear I heard that somewhere.

Maybe NORML should put their two cents into our "national conversation" and say stoned people don't go on killing sprees.

[Episiarch]

That's a personal decision. If you felt that for you you should take the medication, fine. But you don't get to decide that for anyone else.

[$park?]

^This.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

That tickles libertarian ears, but if you're actually unable to control your violent impulses and respect the rights of others, you're an animal and should be treated as such.

[Episiarch]

Way to spectacularly miss the point, Tulpy-Poo.

[$park?]

That tickles libertarian ears, but if you're actually unable to control your violent impulses and respect the rights of others, you're an animal and should be treated as such.

So, locked in a cage or just put down for the safety of all?

[AuH2O]

Anyone else excited for the US version of House of Cards premiering on Netflix tonight?

On the one hand, I just don't see how it translates to US TV (I mean, we don't have party leadership contests determine who runs our government. It looks like they are going to make Spacey's character Speaker of the House, meaning he is third in line, so I think that's how it will play out). On the other, some insanely talented people are in on this, including David Fincher and Kevin Spacey, so I'll try at least one episode.

[kinnath]

No. I ain't a netflix subscriber.

[Fatty Bolger]

I watched the preview. Was surprisingly underwhelmed, but with that cast I think I'll give it a shot anyway.

[MJGreen]

I will, eventually. I'm not a fan of the "release the season at once" strategy, but then it also means there's no pressure to start it this week. I have three shows from last night alone to catch up on this weekend.

[Trespassers W]

For a second I thought you meant House of Games and I got excited. I don't think Netflix carries it.

[Ted S.]

House of Strangers, on the other had, is on DVD.

[Clich? Bandit]

"You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment."

[Coeus]

Pay no attention to actual spending, here's a few numbers that look good.

Most analysts are, rightly, shrugging off the surprise report of an actual decline in 4th quarter GDP. It will probably be revised away, and in any case it's the result of one-off factors: a drop in inventories and a quirky sharp decline in defense spending.

Still, the report does highlight the role that shrinking government purchases of goods and services are playing in holding the economy back. And yes, I mean shrinking, not just growing more slowly than I'd like. Transfer payments like Medicare and Social Security are rising (although unemployment benefits are falling), but government purchases of stuff ? mostly at the state and local level, where the stuff in question includes hiring schoolteachers ? has been in fairly rapid decline.

Krugnuts strikes again.

[Coeus]

Oops, left out the best part:

By this measure, the era since the Great Recession began has been marked by unprecedented fiscal austerity.

How big a deal is this? Government consumption and investment is about $3 trillion; if it had grown as fast this time as it did in the Bush years, it would be 12 percent, or $360 billion, higher. Given a multiplier of more than one, which is what the IMF among others now thinks reasonable under current conditions, that ends up meaning GDP something like $450 billion higher, which is 3 percent ? and an unemployment rate 1.5 points lower.

So fiscal austerity is the difference between where we are now and an unemployment rate not much above 6 percent. It's a policy disaster.

That's why stimulus didn't work. We've actually been practicing austerity this whole time. Of course! Brilliant!

[MJGreen]

Spending didn't rise as quickly as it did before! Austerity!

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

about $3 trillion

more than one, which is what the IMF among others now thinks reasonable under current conditions

something like $450 billion

not much above 6 percent

That is one hell of a string of unwarranted assumptions and favorable roundings. And nobody thinks the multiplier is as high as 1.3, which is what he's using.

There has been "austerity" at the state govt level, though, because most have to *gasp* balance their budgets.

[KPres]

I don't see any negative feedbacks in his calculations, so why stop at $360B? Why not $1 Trillion? Or $10 Trillion? We could have negative unemployment if not for Krugman's austerity!

[A Serious Man]

I'll raise you (but only by 4'10) Robert Reich's screed against 'austerity'.

[Coeus]

Obviously we all expected this, but my god. It's as bad as when people talk about "free marked failure" in an industry which has thousands of pages of compliance regulations.

[Brandon]

Jesus Christ:

56 Fans Become a fan
49 minutes ago ( 6:01 PM)
To answer your question Robert,
We now have government by and for the multinational corporations, who by their very nature cares not for public well being, except in cases of creating good PR.
Eventually, we will have our American spring, that will make occupy look like tame rallies. Unlike 1932, we have communication with everybody

What a horrible combination of stupid, lazy and violent this asshole is.

[Virginian]

HAHAHHAAHAHAHAHA

There is nothing, literally nothing, funnier then tuff gai leftwing Internet posturing.

Squadistri, Sturmabteilung, Red Guards, hell even the Black Panthers could be intimidating. But a mob of angry OWS activists, even armed, would just be a target rich environment.

[Brandon]

http://news.investors.com/ibd-.....a-myth.htm

Krugman is getting further from reality by the day.

[tarran]

Empirical data continues to falsify the religious superstitious of the CAGW cult. They decide to ignore it.

The paper I refer to as a "small private opinion poll" is of course the Zickfeld et al PNAS paper. The list of pollees in the Zickfeld paper are largely the self-same people responsible for the largely bogus analyses that I've criticised over recent years, and which even if they were valid then, are certainly outdated now. Interestingly, one of them stated quite openly in a meeting I attended a few years ago that he deliberately lied in these sort of elicitation exercises (i.e. exaggerating the probability of high sensitivity) in order to help motivate political action. Of course, there may be others who lie in the other direction, which is why it seems bizarre that the IPCC appeared to rely so heavily on this paper to justify their choice, rather than relying on published quantitative analyses of observational data. Since the IPCC can no longer defend their old analyses in any meaningful manner, it seems they have to resort to an unsupported "this is what we think, because we asked our pals". It's essentially the Lindzen strategy in reverse: having firmly wedded themselves to their politically convenient long tail of high values, their response to new evidence is little more than sticking their fingers in their ears and singing "la la la I can't hear you".

[gaijin]

I afraid the CAGW folks have succeeded in making AGW an 'everybody knows that' idea. When the EPA effectively outlaws/outprices carbon, maybe people will question it en masse. Until then, every super duper storm or 65 degree day in January will just be used to reinforce the AGWarmist's position.

[Karl Hungus]

Guy at the center of the Manti Te'o hoax says he was molested:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/m.....ncaaf.html

[AuH2O]

The only way out of this for Manti Te'o is if he's gay. Or if he is just willing to pretend to be gay and chug cock for the next 40 years, he could also get out of this.

If he does come out... holy shit are there going to be endorsement deals.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I'm betting he gets drafted and makes a lot of money either way. Are NFL teams gonna give a shit about this in the long run?

[Karl Hungus]

Are NFL teams gonna give a shit about this in the long run?

As long as he can stuff the run and get to the quarterback, that's all the NFL is going to care about. And unless he's committed some sort of crime, that's all they should care about.

[A Serious Man]

As long as he can stuff the run and get to the quarterback, that's all the NFL is going to care about.

Hey, phrasing!

[AuH2O]

M. As in MANCY!

[Pro Libertate]

You mean like he did against Alabama?

[Karl Hungus]

I admire the entreprenurial spirit here. Chris Rock's advice to those who've been corn-holed by an uncle is to just "walk it off." But this guy went and parlayed it into his 15 minutes. Talk about lemons -- lemonade!

[Fatty Bolger]

I don't know if he's gay, but his denial was not convincing. Faaaaarrrr from it.

[Jordan]

Creed makes Nickelback look good

They've been flooded with online complaints and even issued an apology for their notoriously poor performance in December at the Allstate Arena, but now the members of the rock band Creed are facing a class-action lawsuit over the gig.

Filed by four fans Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, the lawsuit alleges that lead singer Scott Stapp was so "intoxicated and/or medicated" that he was unable to sing the lyrics to the band's songs.

[Professor Booty]

About ten years late to that party, aren't you?

[generic Brand]

Creed would probably take at least 7 minutes to sell out the Garden, whereas everyone knows the 'Back could do it in 5.

[A Serious Man]

Iranian space monkey possibly a fraud.

We've been had!

[Enough About Palin]

Mayor Bloomberg: Imma break dat ass!

Mayor Denies Commenting on Woman's Derri?re

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02......html?_r=0

[A Serious Man]

Awesome: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar engages in point-by-point take down of HBO's 'Girls'.

Last season the show was criticized for being too white. Watching a full season could leave a viewer snow blind. This season that white ghetto was breached by a black character who is introduced as some jungle fever lover, with just enough screen time to have sex and mutter a couple of lines about wanting more of a relationship. A black dildo would have sufficed and cost less.

LOL

[Apatheist ?_??]

Rachel Bieber

I'm sorry, but I totally disagree with this assessment of the show. This is the first time I've seen an honest representation of ME on the screen... a middle class raised Jewish girl who was sold a bill of goods from the older generation with no support on how to overcome the flaws of my upbringing.

Wow that's pathetic.

[Professor Booty]

I thought the characters on Girls were supposed to be revolting. Weird.

[MJGreen]

To quote a far superior HBO show: "Poor you!"

[Mickey Rat]

It may be true, but why would anyone admit such a thing in a public forum?

[AuH2O]

I fucking love Kareem, especially how open he is and was about how stupid he finds the sports based media.

And the guy just comes across as really bright. I don't know- he seems like a cool dude to be friends with.

[A Serious Man]

And he's also gifted with comedic timing.

[tarran]

Dude learned Kung Fu from Bruce Lee. He's had an awesome life.

[Enough About Palin]

I just thank G-d I am old enough to have seen him play ball on a regular basis. The man could fucking fly.

[Guy Incognito]

The first live NBA game I ever saw was during his last season, playing against the Trailblazers. He hooked it in for a last-minute, one-point win. Pretty cool.

[Episiarch]

He also fought Bruce in one of Bruce's movies (can't remember which one right now).

[Professor Booty]

Game of Death, bro.

[Guy Incognito]

My mom assisted with an EEG on him at UCLA back when he was Lew Alcindor. Back then there was some serious 'fro to wade through to get to his scalp.

[John]

he is pretty open about his use of pot too. I like him too even though I am a certified Laker hater

[Pro Libertate]

I don't care for the Lakers now, but I sure liked them back then. Great team.

[Episiarch]

DON'T TALK SHIT ABOUT DONALD GLOVER

The abruptness with which he disappeared was...strange.

[AuH2O]

His good friend the Inspector showed up to whisk him away back to the apartment that they also share with Genvieve.

Watch the Bank Holiday Specials, for god's sake! Next thing you know, Epi, you're going to be asking what a quantum spanner is!

[Episiarch]

"That doesn't make sense! Ketchup is a condiment!"

[AuH2O]

Even though they have lost a lot of writing room talent, I am still super excited about the premiere of Community next week.

Mostly so I can crow, "Take that, Arrested Development!"

[Episiarch]

We'll see what happens. I'm neither optimistic nor pessimistic.

[Pro Libertate]

You're nomistic?

[Episiarch]

Nominally.

[MJGreen]

Ketchup is a vegetable!

(Man is evil)

[Pro Libertate]

Technically, it's a fruit.

[Jordan]

It just occurred to me the other day that since Lanza killed 26 people at Newtown, and it took 20 minutes for the police to show up, it really didn't matter what kind of weapon he had. He had free reign of a shooting gallery for almost half an hour. I guess it's obvious, but it really should be pointed out everytime this subject comes up.

[BakedPenguin]

Why? They already admit that any legislative changes they would make would not have stopped Lanza. It's all symbolic politics. Reality is irrelevant.

[NeonCat]

"A muzzle-loading rifle like your PRECIOUS FOUNDERS used could only have been loaded and fired six or seven times in that time span! Don't you CARE about the DEAD CHILDREN?!?"

[A Serious Man]

Actually a decent soldier could fire 2-3 aimed shots in a minute. An expert could do as many as 5-6.

And come to think of it: why would any colonist need a Long Rifle? Rifles with rifling that give it a longer effective range are clearly only intended to shoot His Majesty's soldiers from farther away!

[AuH2O]

Which era gun are we talking about?

Civil War era could definitely do 5-6 under an expert... but was that also true of revolutionary flintlock (especially as loads were becoming more standard by the time of the Civil War)?

I mean, either way, a Civil War era musket would be legal, and those were damn good guns.

[Anonymous Coward]

When seconds count, the police are minutes away.

[John]

If it takes 20 minutes for the cops to show up at the scene of a guy mowing down first graders, how long do you think it will take them to show up at your little break in? Yeah you probably want to own some sort of a gun.

[KPres]

Maybe the people at Sandy Hook should have told them there was a homeless guy lurking around.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

It wasn't 20 minutes.

9:35:53 a.m.- Dispatch: "Sandy Hook School, Caller's indicated she thinks someone is shooting in the building."

9:38:10 a.m.: Dispatch: "The shooting appears to have stopped. The school is in lock down."

9:40:30 a.m.: Dispatch: "Shooter's apparently still shooting in office area. Dickerson Drive."

943:45 a.m.: Dispatch: "We have one female in Room 1 who has gunshot wound to the foot."

9:46:20 a.m.: Dispatch: "We've got an injured person in Room 9 with numerous gunshot wounds."

9:53:25 a.m.: Dispatch: "Newtown's reporting one suspect down. The building has now been cleared."

17.5 minutes between the initial call and the building being cleared. Nowhere near half an hour.

[John]

NOTHING in that indicates the cops had arrived. The school officials could have cleared the building. I think you are confused here.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Yeah, the unarmed school officials cleared the building with a shooter inside. Sure, I can see that.

Plus I thought it was accepted that he shot himself because he heard the police arriving.

[GILMORE]

Jordan| 2.1.13 @ 5:02PM |#

It just occurred to me the other day that since Lanza killed 26 people at Newtown, and it took 20 minutes for the police to show up, it really didn't matter what kind of weapon he had.

dude, he locked himself in a room with nursery school students. he could have used a golf club to similar effect.

[A Serious Man]

RIP Barney Bush, former First Dog.

[Juice]

NOOOOOOOO!

[Enough About Palin]

Say hello to Heather for me, Barney.

[John]

very sad Barny was a noble terrier and a true Scottsman

[Karl Hungus]

RIP Barney Bush, former First Dog.

For the tiniest fraction of a second, I thought it said, "RIP Barney Frank."

[Entropy Void]

If wishes were bank bailouts ...

[Karl Hungus]

Texas man faces up to ten years in prison for operating an underground dental practice, even though he's not a licensed dentist:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lo.....-container

I can't find any mention of where he claimed he was a licensed dentist, so there's no fraud angle to this case.

[A Serious Man]

He had the gall to try and make a living without the permission of the state.

[Karl Hungus]

He had the gall to try and make a living without the permission of the state.

That's it in a nutshell: he failed to pay for permission to engage in commerce with consenting adults.

When I said as much in the comments section of the article, another commenter responded:

"Karl, you missed the part where people in the US who do business pay taxes!!!! Did this loser "dentist" pay taxes? Oh that's right, he charged his patients cash! Wake up, you're not that smart!"

[Brandon]

Ah, the old "volume in lieu of reason" technique. Classic.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Right, and at no time did he promise not to fuck up people's jaws or unlawfully detain them against their will.

Delao's secret unraveled in mid-January when a woman complained to police about a $75 molar repair that had left her unable to open her mouth and caused a clicking sound in her ear for several days.

The woman, who had gone to Delao on the recommendation of a church friend, also told officers the man kept her from leaving his makeshift clinic once she arrived.

"Jose S. Delao refused to let her leave after he had her in the dental chair," a detective wrote in a police warrant. "She raised her hand to indicate she was feeling pain and Jose Delao pushed her hand back down and told her to stop complaining."

Yeah, this is the kind of poster child Reason has been pushing. He fits in with the woman who tried to poison a romantic competitor and the guy who broke into private property to steal digital access.

[RyanXXX]

What a trend-bucker you are

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

If noting the facts of the case which disrupt the narrative of EEEEEEEEEVIL state going after poor entrepreneurs serving the community makes me a trend-bucker... what the hell does that say about the trend.

[Karl Hungus]

If he fucked up the woman's jaw, then she should go after him in civil court. I still don't think she should be awarded anything, given that she sought out a non-dentist to have dental work done. As for this supposed assault, if she can prove that, then sure, put him on trial for that. But unless that's proven, or it's shown that he tried to pass himself off as a licensed dentist, then no crime has been committed here.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

she should go after him in civil court

Yeah, I'm sure this guy can pay for her medical expenses and pain and suffering.

That's what license requirements are *supposed* to be for ... preventing situations where civil court remedies don't solve the problem. Govt gets carried away, as always, and starts licensing occupations where there's little risk of permanent bodily harm or severe property damage, but that doesn't delegitimize all licensing regimes.

Again, I know this doesn't comport with libertarian ideology, but for those of us who want to apply things toward the real world, it's the way to go.

[Karl Hungus]

Yeah, I'm sure this guy can pay for her medical expenses and pain and suffering.

I'm sure he can't either, but she should've thought about that before she chose to have this guy go digging around in her mouth. Caveat emptor, and whatnot.

Rather than having the government engage in the illegitmate practice of requiring a license to engage in commerce with other consenting adults, simply let the ADA certify legitimate dentists so that people know the person they're going to for dental work is trained and competent. And should they still choose to go for a back-alley root canal, then they reap what they sow.

Problem solved.

[KPres]

Tulpa, you're being an obtuse idiot.

Licensing creates shortages at the low end, so low-income people turn to the black market where shit is even worse.

Worried about civil litigation? Force dentists to carry insurance. If that drives the price too high, allow consumers to waive some or all of their rights.

Whatever the case, restricting supply through licensing is the WORST way to handle it.

[Brandon]

Seems like that's what insurance requirements would be for, Tulp.

[KPres]

Uhhh...the licensing restrictions means that only the most shady characters are going to do it at a price these people can afford.

It's like pointing out that drug-dealers tend to be criminals shit-stains that rip people off and much worse. It only happens because it's been driven into the black market.

Same with this guy.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Not the best analogy since dentistry isn't illegal.

This is possibly a case of getting what you pay for, complicated by the fact that what she paid for was not a car that broke down once a week, but severe bodily harm and unlawful detention, things I thought libertarians considered bee on the pail.

[KPres]

Uh....unlicensed dentistry most certainly is illegal.

[iggy]

It actually is a pretty good analogy, since dentistry without a license is illegal. Therefore, just as is the case with drug dealers, most of the people who would willingly break that law are going to be scum. That doesn't tell you what would happen if the law was not in place.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

There's a huge difference between a licensing regime and a total ban. Compare the alcohol situation today in a heavily regulated state (like PA) to Prohibition... no comparison.

[KPres]

There's a huge difference between a licensing regime and a total ban.

Not at the low-end of the market.

[iggy]

Yes, there is a difference between a licensing regime and a total ban, but not in regards to the initial point. The point was, when something is banned, the only people who sell that item are going to be outside the law scumbags. As a result, the majority of people selling drugs are incredibly sketchy, as are the majority of people providing unlicensed medical care. In that regard, a ban and a licensing arrangement are very similar.

[KPres]

"but severe bodily harm and unlawful detention, things I thought libertarians considered bee on the pail."

It is, and removing of the licensing restrictions would reduce the number of times it happens.

[KPres]

Think about it this way: The woman got $75 dental work right? Well, it was actually $10 dental work with a $65 fee added on for "threat of prosecution".

What do you expect from $10 dental work?

All we want to do is get rid of the $65 fee.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Tulpa: Because no emptor should ever have to caveat.

[Stormy Dragon]

Should fraud be legal too? If you got defrauded, you just weren't emptoring enough.

[Brandon]

Did he tell her he was a licensed dentist? No? At least you didn't go full "WELL WHY NOT JUST LEGALIZE MURDER!!!!!" Yet.

[The Late P Brooks]

As we all know, licensed medical providers have never ever been accused of malpractice or wrongdoing.

That's what professional licensing is: a magic spell of perfection. A guarantee that nothing will ever go wrong.

Definitely not proof of authorized membership in a cartel. Not that at all.

[The Late P Brooks]

If a member of the Cartel was half way through working on somebody's tooth, and the client suddenly wanted to leave, it's possible the licensed dentist might try to get him to stay to the completion of the job.

But that would be different.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Strawman complete!

If a real dentist did what this douche did, he should be prosecuted too.

Next time you're going to tell people what my position is, ask me first.

[KPres]

Minus the treat of prison, the woman might have found a real dentist to do this for her.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

A real dentist wouldn't have gone to prison for doing dental work.

[KPres]

He would if he wasn't licensed.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

If he's a real dentist, why didn't he get licensed?

[KPres]

Because the restrictions are too strenuous.

[Coeus]

Why are feminist so angry.

Come for the conflation of free shit and freedom in the article, stay for the idiocy in the comments:

sandy oestreich
yes, Yes and YES! Write me and my 300 000 who are putting our anger to constructive work for the ERA! ERA would make the War on Women a VIOLATION OF THE US CONSTITUTION in many cases!

[e-mail]

Half a dozen like that. Could someone please explain to me how treating men and women equally would possibly work in the feminist's advantage in any of the issues identified as the "War on Women"? The only thing that would happen would be free condoms and financial abortion.

[KPres]

Life expectancy...

Men: 79
Women: 82

Equality? Euthanizing some 300,000 feminazi's should just about close that gap, eh?

[iggy]

Forget it, Coeus. It's the Nation.

[Brandon]

ERA?

[Coeus]

Equal rights amendment

[The Late P Brooks]

So what is your position, asshole?

Other than contradiction for its own sake?

And please clarify the object of your disdain; reason has taken no official position of which I am aware.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Of course they haven't taken a position on this, I'm just noting that it would fit in with their previous poster children.

My position is that licensing regimes are legit when Caveat Emptor and civil suits are going to be insufficient to remedy the problems that are likely to arise. Such as a permanently damaged jaw, having the wrong leg amputated, etc.

[KPres]

Then you're creating incidents like this.

Hope that makes you happy.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Here's a good one:

Rabbi proselytizes to Jewish students in Long Island during their high school lunch hour - even offering them lunch. Principal flips out, but apparently will still let students leave the campus during lunch time.

http://www.volokh.com/2013/02/.....qus_thread

[Moridin]

So what does everyone here at reason actually think of Ron Paul??

I only ask in this manner because reason doesn't have forums. /shrug

[Generic Stranger]

...I take it you're new here?

Aside from the contrarians, sockpuppets, trolls, and TEAM BLUE/TEAM RED cheerleaders, most here generally approve of him.

[Moridin]

Ha. Fancy this.

http://www.examiner.com/articl.....ng-tyranny