A.M. Links: Christopher Dorner Charged with Murder, May Already be in Mexico, TSA Considers Sending Body Scanners to Government Buildings, North Korea Confirms Detonating Nuke

• 

  flickr/pironimo

  The Riverside DA has charged former LAPD cop Christopher Dorner, who may already be in Mexico, with murder, saying "every law-enforcement officer in Southern California is in danger of being shot or killed." And anyone that might look like Dorner, or even not.

• Chuck Hagel may get a vote on his nomination to Secretary of Defense today.
• Senator Dianne Feinstein claims civilian casualties in drone strikes by the U.S. number in the single digits annually.
• Senator Joe Manchin says new restrictions on gun ownership are not necessary to reduce mass shootings.
• The TSA is considering transferring backscatter x-ray machines currently being removed from airport security checkpoints to government buildings. At about $160,000 a pop, the agency is looking for somewhere to deploy the machines.
• The manufacture of solar panels produces millions of pounds of sludge and contaminated water every year. Use of wind power, meanwhile, increased by 20 percent last year.
• North Korea confirms seismic activity detected in the country was the result of a nuclear test. President Obama called the test a "highly provocative act."
• Pope Benedict XVI says he won't interfere in the process to choose his successor.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Senator Dianne Feinstein claims civilian casualties in drone strikes by the U.S. number in the single digits annually.

As long as she gets to define civilian.

[Whiterun Guard]

The first nine that die are civilians, obviously. Quotas need to be met.

[invisible furry hand]

And here was I thinking the only single digit involved was the one being flipped to the notion of individual rights

[Way Of The Crane]

Where is her "if it saves one innocent life, we have an obligation to do so" rhetoric now?

[gaijin]

[gaijin]

Where is her "if it saves one innocent life, we have an obligation to do so" rhetoric now?

Locked away in a closet, saved for white children...in blue states.

[fish]

Hey...those are single shot drones...okay maybe two at most for balance....not the 30 Hellfire missile assault drones that you right wingers think everybody should own!

[BigT]

Feinstein means one significant figure, followed by several '0's. Math is hard.

[Pro Libertate]

Let me see if I understand this correctly. We shouldn't have any guns, but she should. We shouldn't kill innocent people, but the government should.

[Another David]

She's counting in base-7000.

[invisible furry hand]

Richard Dawkins is 666/1 to become next Pope. Which are shorter odds than Bono's

[Whiterun Guard]

Pope Tebow will scourge the earth of Dawkins and the Denver Broncos.

[fish]

I think they should just promote the phony pope...you know the one with the high top sneakers and incredibly foul mouth!

[Gene]

Sinead O'Conner?

[Pro Libertate]

Tebow would be a great pope. And the Vatican team will be great, bringing back deadly power running with the occasional play-action pass from His Holiness.

[Generic Stranger]

Since Dawkins is an athiest, and only Catholics can become popes, wouldn't he have basically 0 chance to become pope?

[Auric Demonocles]

This seems like a pretty obvious bet to make against. The return must be so low even the interest in your bank account over this time frame is better.

[robc]

only Catholics can become popes

[Citation Needed]

I dont think there is any limitation on who the College of Cardinals pick. Obviously, they are going to pick a catholic, but I dont think its technically a requirement.

I would question whether ALL the popes have even been Christian.

[Pro Libertate]

Nominally? Sure. Really? No way.

Like the great Jose Conseco said, we should all have a vote, and it's time for an American pope.

[#]

By the rules it has to be a catholic male under the age of 80. In practice it has been a cardinal since the 1300s.

[Auric Demonocles]

Hmmm, I do fit the rules then...

[robc]

Huh, interesting that they actually put that in the rules. I would have guessed they wouldnt have needed to.

[Don Mynack]

Is Dawkins Catholic? Cause Bono isn't.

[Pro Libertate]

He isn't? I always thought he was. Huh.

[SusanM]

Pity George Carlin isn't around anymore. I'd imagine his odds would be better.

[Stormy Dragon]

Father Guido Sarducci for pope!

[Apatheist ?_??]

I'm hoping for Cardinal DiNardo so I can say I met the pope.

And why so serious about the 666/1 bet?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Use of wind power, meanwhile, increased by 20 percent last year.

But that wind came primarily from the presidential campaigns.

[Bee Tagger]

I'm glad that writing for Mark Russell hasn't made you stingy with your wit.

[Longtorso]

1974 Shock News : Global Cooling To Kill One Billion People

[WTF]

Climate change!!11!!!!

[H. Reardon]

Climate change has saved 1,000,000,000 people!

[Ted S.]

Created or saved.

[gaijin]

so these would be blow jobs created or saved?

[gaijin]

crap. I've mashed FOE and Longstorso's posts together and commented as if they were one and the same. F me.

[invisible furry hand]

Great. Thanks for that. Like we needed a FistyTorso mutant to haunt our dreams

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's not like Longtorso isn't one of my various sockpuppets anyway.

[LTC(ret) John]

Sockpuppet or meat puppet?

[$park?]

Meat bicycle?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Don't be crass on the internet of all places.

[fish]

Hey Fist...looks like your zombie prediction from a few days back is actually happening. Sure they're trying to cover it up with the "hacker" story but I just wanted to offer up an "atta boy" on your prediction!

http://tinyurl.com/montana-zombiess

[db]

Negative. I am a meat popsicle.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I wish, although I suppose it wouldn't have been the exact same one billion people I have named on my list anyway.

[Fatty Bolger]

And it's still a more likely prediction than the global warming panic, though there are already new technologies that could help mitigate it (GMO crops designed for short growing seasons and cold & low light conditions, for one). Still, we really should put more effort into figuring out how to identify the start of another glacial period, how quickly its effects will spread. All of the solid science says it WILL happen eventually, even though we don't know why. (Which makes the AGW certainty pretty stupid, when you realize that we don't even know what caused the inter-glacial period we are currently in.)

[Stormy Dragon]

Still, we really should put more effort into figuring out how to identify the start of another glacial period

The giant glaciers overruning everything maybe?

[sarcasmic]

Man kills neighbor's 12lb toy poodle. Claims he felt threatened.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z2Kb0W52lI
Sorry, dude. That defense only works for cops.

[Whiterun Guard]

Perhaps it came at him like a spider monkey.

[Raston Bot]

maybe he was wearing a tuxedo t-shirt b/c it's formal but he likes to party.

[$park?]

No, he didn't kill the dog.

The dog, named 'Globsis' since its paws look like small gloves, had to be put to sleep due to the extent of his injuries.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

What?

[$park?]

He didn't actually kill the dog, he smashed it a bunch of times with a brick. A vet killed the dog.

I hope you don't think I'm defending what the worthless piece of shit did to a tiny dog.

[fish]

He didn't actually kill the dog, he smashed it a bunch of times with a brick. A vet killed the dog.

Dude that response is T o n y like in it's pristine unvarnished mendaciousness!

[Citizen Nothing]

Obviously the company that made the brick killed the dog. Deep pockets and all that.

[SugarFree]

I don't think anyone needs to own assault masonry.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Was the particular brick equipped with a folding stock, pistol grip or flash suppressor? If not, it was NOT an assault brick. Simply a hunting brick.

[wareagle]

therefore, we must ban bricks because no individual has any legitimate use for them.

[gaijin]

Noone is here to take away your bricks! We are only interested in sensible actions...like simply limiting each homeowner to no more than 10 bricks...and ensuring that they are registered to law abiding individuals.

[Fatty Bolger]

Homeowners should be allowed a single brick for dog defense, as long as they keep it locked away for safety. However, we must stop the scourge of assault bricks. The founders never imagined that such advanced bricks would one day be available.

[SusanM]

What does Peter Noone want our bricks for?

[fish]

Obviously the company that made the brick killed the dog. Deep pockets and all that.

INSERT OBLIGATORY:

They didn't make that.....brick

[Night Elf Mohawk]

He didn't actually kill the dog, he smashed it a bunch of times with a brick. A vet killed the dog.

So Kelly Thomas' parents and his doctor conspired to kill him when they removed his life support after the cops beat him into a coma?

[kinnath]

This discussion was held at great length some time ago.

[$park?]

Dude that response is T o n y like in it's pristine unvarnished mendaciousness!

Cry me a river, it's not mendacious when it's the truth.

So Kelly Thomas' parents and his doctor conspired to kill him when they removed his life support after the cops beat him into a coma?

Conspired? They pulled his life support, I don't see any conspiracy there. The cops beat him into a coma.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The parents and doctor decided, together, to pull the plug and the doctor did it. How is that not a conspiracy?

[$park?]

Sorry, I wasn't aware of definition 5 of conspiracy. So technically they did conspire.

That being said, in terms of the law, conspiracy is an agreement between multiple people to commit a wrongful act.

[R C Dean]

Its not a conspiracy if its not illegal to pull the plug.

[fish]

Cry me a river, it's not mendacious when it's the truth.

Dude...poorly phrased on my part!

[Fist of Etiquette]

In court, Montano-Topete told jurors he saw the poodle having sex with his Chihuahua and that prompted him to hurl a brick at it...

We have multiple property rights issues here.

[RBS]

I guess the garden hose doesn't work anymore?

[a better weapon]

How could Montano possibly know how long into the act that poodle already was? Do you know how long it takes to unwind a garden hose, start the flow of water, and aim? Do you really want to risk a half dozen Chihuahua-Poodles being brought into this world? They would probably be a drain on taxpayers anyways. If seconds count, I'll go for the brick too.

[$park?]

Where is Night Elf Mohawk on this issue? The guy who believes is just fine to kill a person for breaking into your house? If the dog was on his property against his wishes doesn't he have the right to do something about it?

[T]

Sparky, how many people here do you think take the side of "shoot him if he breaks into your house"? Just give me a quick breakdown of the percentage on your side and on NEM's side. I'm curious as to your take of the audience.

[$park?]

Honestly, I think less than 10% of people here would shoot someone who broke in. I mention NEM because he's acting butthurt over the fact that I said the guy didn't kill the dog.

[BigT]

He didn't kill the dog, but he caused its death. Ultimate not proximate cause. He is responsible. That's the issue.

[R C Dean]

No, still proximate cause, which goes to the foreseeability and likelihood of death resulting from BEATING A 12 POUND DOG WITH A BRICK!

Sorry for shouting. This pisses me off.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

If you want to parse the difference between "killed the dog" and "is responsible for the death of the dog," that's fine. The moral and legal outcomes are the same either way.

Or are you saying this guy isn't responsible for the death of the dog, either?

[Gbob]

Oh, I'm sure that's not correct. I think most people here would believe they have the right to defend themselves from an intruder. $park?, are you seriously suggesting that we don't? You might be the first Libertarian I've met who feels this way.

[$park?]

$park?, are you seriously suggesting that we don't? You might be the first Libertarian I've met who feels this way.

First, I am not a Libertarian and have never claimed to be.

Second, if someone broke into my house I would not shoot the second he broke through the door. If I had a gun, I would draw and aim and do my best to detain him until the police arrived. If he did anything other than run away or stay still, then I would shoot. There are some here who would probably argue that you have the right to shoot someone as soon as they set foot on your property uninvited. I don't agree.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

And, really, when did disagreeing automatically become the same as butthurt?

[$park?]

Bringing Kelly Thomas up in a thread about a dog, to me, displays a certain level of butthurt. If you're not, you're not and we'll just disagree.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I thought it was comparable in that the actions taken by the medical personnel do not relieve the attackers of responsibility for the deaths.

[SIV]

It is perfectly fine, legally and morally, to use deadly force against someone who breaks into your house.

[$park?]

That's fine that you believe that, but not everyone agrees with you.

[LTC(ret) John]

Wait until he hurts you or rapes someone, then shoot?

Verbal warning first, then shoot?

Never shoot?

Shoot if he steals something?

[$park?]

Verbal warning then shoot if he does anything threatening. I wouldn't consider theft punishable by death.

[R C Dean]

Verbal warning, then shoot. By breaking into my house, he's already threatening me.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

What does the verbal warning do other than let him know where you are, if he didn't already?

[$park?]

Verbal warning, then shoot. By breaking into my house, he's already threatening me.

Then why bother with a verbal warning? What do you say, "Dude I'm gonna shoot your ass for breaking in?" *BLAM BLAM*

[R C Dean]

Why warn?

Because I don't really want to shoot him, and the odds are he is going to flee once he's on notice.

Why don't I really want to shoot him? Well, aside from the hassle of getting the bloodstains out, and the damage to my property value on resale, there's the paperwork.

[$park?]

Because I don't really want to shoot him, and the odds are he is going to flee once he's on notice.

I guess your initial post made me think you'd warn then fire immediately. I would give the guy the chance to either freeze or run away also. Anything other sudden moves (what I called threatening) would involve pulling the trigger.

[SIV]

Verbal warnings are for people who walk in in the daytime through an unlocked door knocking and saying "hello!"

[Francisco d Anconia]

Yep, shoot the fucker. Twice.

[sarcasmic]

Obnoxious dude from Storage Wars offs himself after getting arrested for drugs.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z2Kb0W52lI

[Slammer]

Fuck man, I thought it might have been Barry before I clicked. Whew

[Ted S.]

Are there any unobnoxious people from "reality" shows?

[sarcasmic]

I'm thinking Barry's drug days are long past. That Balelo dude though immediately struck me as someone who powders his nose a lot.

[Whiterun Guard]

If Megan Fox ever makes an appearance on Storage Wars, sarcasmic's head will implode.

[sarcasmic]

Then I'd have to put it on mute. No thanks.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I don't even recognize that dude, and I've watched more than my fair share of episodes. Thank fuck it wasn't Barry.

[Rasilio]

Yeah Barry and Brandi are the ones who make that show watchable

[invisible furry hand]

Drinking 2.6 gallons of Coke a day is OK because if it weren't there would be warning labels

http://www.smh.com.au/world/to.....2eab8.html

[Whiterun Guard]

Freaking scientists. First they tell you to drink at least 2.6 gallons of Coke a day, and then they change their mind and tell you it's bad for you.

[$park?]

A good day when another useless junkie bites the dust.

[Ted S.]

And of course the coroner immediately thinks, "We need another law! More control over the people!"

[$park?]

Coke execs would probably be sad over all the lost revenue when they stop shipping to Australia.

[Ted S.]

I thought the deceased was a Kiwi.

[T]

Like we can keep track of antipodean islands. We're Americans, dude. We don't do geography unless we're shooting the locals.

[$park?]

Doh. I see invisible furry hand and just assume Australia. In any case, what T said.

[jesse.in.mb]

To be fair, we don't do geography even then.

[Alack]

Moron Dies From Terminal Stupidity, Society Blames Corporation

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ms Harris drank up to 10 litres of Coke every day ? equal to more than twice the recommended safe daily limit of caffeine and almost 1 kilogram of sugar.

Litres? Kilograms? She died because no one could figure out what those weird measurements were.

[Way Of The Crane]

Fuckers can't even spell made up words like liter properly.

[Agammamon]

Liter is french for give me my fucking cola before I break vous lip!

[fish]

Drinking 2.6 gallons of Coke a day is OK because if it weren't there would be warning labels

It's only dangerous if you try and drink it from a single serving cup....which is exactly why Mayor Bloomberg had beverage cups this size banned last year!

[gaijin]

so it was a suicide!

[SugarFree]

1120 grams of carbs a day FTW! 3600 delicious calories.

[fish]

I can see where this would be a difficult topic for you to address! Well done stout fellow!

[Rasilio]

Wait seriously?

I drink a lot and I'd have a hard time managing to hit 2.6 gallons of all fluids consumed in any one day, forget EVERY friggin day.

I mean if I specifically set out to do it I certainly could and on a hot summer day if I was working outside a lot I might get there by accident, but to drink that much of anything on a regular basis, no friggin way.

[sarcasmic]

Father charged with murder after 'shooting dead drunk driver moments after he crashed into his truck killing his two young sons'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z2Kb0W52lI
I hope he doesn't let the prosecutor bully him into copping a plea, and takes this to a jury.

[Drake]

I would have done the same thing.

[Juice]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Plauche

Father shot the guy who abducted and sexually abused his son. He got 5 years probation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi3Hyxuf5AE

[Whiterun Guard]

I thought if you shot a dead drunk driver the charge would be attempted murder. Unless you knew he was dead, in which case it'd be corpse desecration or something.

I'm pretty sure I learned that from Soul Man or Runaway Jury.

[H. Reardon]

How does one get charged w/ murder for shooting a dead man?

[H. Reardon]

Damn you WG. I thought I was so witty.

[Ted S.]

Noe of the rest of us thought you were witty. :-p

[Citizen Nothing]

Which one of us is Noe?

[Ted S.]

I don't know what I hit my wrist against, but I've got a swollen wrist that's making typing a bit of a pain and leading to lots of typos.

I'm sure Brandon can diagonse my problem from WebMD or something.

[Whiterun Guard]

It keeps saying Dengue Fever.

I wouldn't worry about it.

[Way Of The Crane]

I'm sure Brandon can diagonse my problem from WebMD or something.

According to the quack I saw last week, all of mankind's health problems stem from a gluten intolerance.

[Francisco d Anconia]

What's a gluten?

Racist!

[Enough About Palin]

That's rich. I, my ex-wife and my mother all happened to see the same doctor within a 2-week period. He told each of us it was due to consumption of dairy products. Turns out the ex-wife had asthma, I had eczema and my mom had ovarian cancer. Never went to that dude again.

[db]

I once had a friend in high school who went to a chiropractor for some neck pain and twitches. The guy kept stringing him along long past the point where it was obvious he couldn't fix it. My friend eventually had a seizure that shut down the right side of his body. Turned out he had some form of epilepsy.

[Zeb]

I don't think revenge should ever be a defense to murder, but it sounds like a good case for a temporary insanity defense.

[$park?]

It damn near impossible to think any person who just saw their two kids killed by a drunk stumbling out of his car wouldn't do the same thing.

[sarcasmic]

This is why liberals want to ban guns. They'd rather the drunk guy have been bludgeoned to death with a tire iron.

[Virginian]

You're joking, but there is a comment from some neutered "Englishman" tsking over American gun culture. Because that's the real issue here.

[fish]

That Piers Morgan comment everywhere doesn't he!

[jesse.in.mb]

Because shiving each other with screwdrivers is just so much more civilized.

[Francisco d Anconia]

They'd rather the drunk guy have been bludgeoned to death with a tire iron.

Or an assault brick.

[SIV]

I don't think revenge should ever be a defense to murder

I'd say it is the second best one right after self defense.

[Zeb]

Well, self defense is really the only justification. Revenge is terrible. It only makes things worse. It should never be a legal defense to anything.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Revenge is terrible. It only makes things worse.

[Citation Required]

[$park?]

Would you take revenge? I thought you strictly followed the NAP. How do the two square?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Doesn't revenge necessarily imply that someone has aggressed against you or yours in some way?

[$park?]

Does it to a sufficient level that the NAP could still be claimed?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I'd say running over my two children is a sufficient level of aggression.

[$park?]

I'd say running over my two children is a sufficient level of aggression.

This is where the NAP gets murky in my mind. I agree with your statement. My question is how far out from yourself can you extend the force? Killing someone who killed your children is not self-defense. How far out can you go before you start violating the NAP?

[Francisco d Anconia]

This is where the NAP gets murky in my mind. I agree with your statement. My question is how far out from yourself can you extend the force? Killing someone who killed your children is not self-defense. How far out can you go before you start violating the NAP?

Haven't given that a lot of thought, so this is off the top of my cranium.

I submit that it's NOT about who the transgression is committed against but that the transgression is committed at all.

For instance. Bad guy (BG) steals person 1's car. It's not the fact that person 1 was wronged that demands justice, but the fact that BG committed the act. SO, it would be perfectly acceptable under the NAP for person 2 to bring BG to justice. This would cover the scenarios discussed the other day and answers your question.

Feel free to shoot holes in that (anyone) as I haven't thought it all the way through.

[$park?]

For instance. Bad guy (BG) steals person 1's car. It's not the fact that person 1 was wronged that demands justice, but the fact that BG committed the act. SO, it would be perfectly acceptable under the NAP for person 2 to bring BG to justice. This would cover the scenarios discussed the other day and answers your question.

Here's where I see that being extended out to. Iran commits an act of violence against Israel. The US is now free to punish Iran not because Iran attacked the US, but because Iran attacked anyone. I can see that leading to a lot of global entanglement. If you're for that, then that seems consistent.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Good point. Need to think more about it.

Again, off the top of my head, this may lead me back to why I'm not an anarchist. Proper roll of government is to protect the rights of the individual. Having a government do that for me eliminates the need to draw the distinction of when the transgression is no longer my business?????

The Iran example would be beyond the governments jurisdiction?????

Fuck you Sparky, now I'm going to need to think about this all day!

[$park?]

Fuck you Sparky, now I'm going to need to think about this all day!

You're welcome.

[$park?]

Having a government do that for me eliminates the need to draw the distinction of when the transgression is no longer my business?????

Now you have to abide by the whim of the government which may not always agree with you. Also, you have to be willing to accept punishment if you go beyond what the government allows.

The Iran example would be beyond the governments jurisdiction?????

Given what you originally said, it doesn't. Party A committed a wrong against Party B which demands justice. Your initial statement made it clear that any other party can dispense that justice.

[Francisco d Anconia]

What?

*said with exasperated intonation and look of bewilderment

Pretty sure, for it to be considered revenge, my rights had to be violated first.

Regardless, my comment was meant to be thought provoking and ironical. While I don't necessarily condone revenge, I think saying it's always wrong or that it makes things worse is a false assumption.

[$park?]

Pretty sure, for it to be considered revenge, my rights had to be violated first.

OK, I just wanted to get your take on it. Just as reference to the discussion from last week.

While I don't necessarily condone revenge, I think saying it's always wrong or that it makes things worse is a false assumption.

OK, OK, don't get in a huff. While I don't necessarily totally agree with the NAP, I think saying it's the only source of morality is a false assumption.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Obviously, you are entitled to your opinion, but I'm still waiting for you to provide me an equal or better alternative. 😉

[$park?]

I'm still waiting for you to provide me an equal or better alternative.

I'm working on it, but it's a real bitch to get straight. Morality is such a convoluted mess because every person has their own views.

[Zeb]

"[Citation Required]"

Seems pretty damn obvious. Can you name anything good that can possibly come from revenge?
Here are some bad things that can happen: The people (family, etc.) associated with the person you took revenge on decide to take revenge on you. The death of your children was actually caused by an honest mistake, and your perceptions of what had happened were inaccurate. And you have now just killed someone who posed no immediate threat to you. Especially in a case like this where there was probably no malicious intent, there is no need to kill that person and no benefit to be gained from doing so. He is not about to go and kill someone else. You are not protecting yourself or anyone else. So it is murder.

Is that a good start on why revenge is not a good thing?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Is that a good start on why revenge is not a good thing?

No, it is not.

Seems pretty damn obvious. Can you name anything good that can possibly come from revenge?

In certain instances, justice may be served where it otherwise may not be.

My problem with your statement isn't that it's not generally correct. It's that it's not always correct. It certainly isn't obvious.

[R C Dean]

Can you name anything good that can possibly come from revenge?

Umm, revenge?

[$park?]

I'm not taking you guys seriously anymore when you start calling people bloodthirsty.

[Elphie]

Revenge is a dish best served cold. A dish served best cold is terrible. Ergo, revenge is terrible.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Ice cream is laughing at your syllogism.

[Elphie]

Cold ice cream hurts my teeth. 🙁

[Rasilio]

While I can certainly sympathize with the dude and might even vote to acquit depending on what I heard at the trial I don't think there is any question that his actions qualify as premeditated murder under current law

[$park?]

Really? He did it right when it happened, I thought premeditated had to be something planned for more than a minute or two. No?

[Way Of The Crane]

Apparently a few seconds is all you need for malice aforethought.

[SIV]

That Oklahoma pharmacist was convicted for shooting seconds after "the threat was removed".

[Virginian]

Different circumstances from a moral point of view. The pharmacist shot one, chased the other out, came back in and executed the first one. No one else was hurt.

This guy watched his sons killed before his eyes. There's no question of mistaken identity or any kind of ambiguity. The deceased slammed a truck into children. He got exactly what he deserved.

[sarcasmic]

Like I said, I hope this one goes to a jury. I'd find it difficult to punish the guy.

[Virginian]

It's Texas. I think "he needed killin'" is still a valid defense.

[Zeb]

Except in this case he didn't need killing. "Needed killing" means that a person presents such a danger that he can't be allowed to continue. Some irresponsible drunk is almost certainly not intending to kill anyone's children and after the event, poses no additional danger.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Some irresponsible drunk is almost certainly not intending to kill anyone's children and after the event, poses no additional danger.

The amount of recidivism among drunk drivers of this scale seems to weigh against your conclusion.

[Matrix]

I sided with Gerard Butler's character in Law Abiding Citizen, and hoped he would kill everyone involved in the case against those who murdered his family.

[a better weapon]

SPOILER ALERT AHEAD:

I was really hoping that movie would have an alternate ending in the DVD release. Such a shame.

[bendover]

"He got exactly what he deserved."

Really Virginian? You sure it wasn't a bad drug interaction or some other healthcare problem that caused the accident?

[Rasilio]

"
Brazoria County sheriff's investigator Dominick Sanders said Monday that witnesses told authorities they saw Barajas, right after the crash, walk to his home and then return a few minutes later and approach Banda's vehicle.

He did not draw a gun he had on his person and shoot in the immediate aftermath, he walked into his home, retrieved a gun, came back out to the scene of the crash and shot the guy in the head.

And yes, that few minutes to go into the house, retrieve the gun, and return clearly makes it premediatated under current law.

That said, he certainly is a sympathetic figure and could certainly qualify for a temporary insanity defense and if I was on the jury I might very well vote to acquit unless I heard something that made me believe that the guy turned to violence or vengence to resolve problems as a first option.

[$park?]

Ah, OK. I didn't read this article but I saw the story a few weeks ago and it didn't mention that.

[BuSab Agent]

This is righteous. I support the idea of the death penalty. I just never want the state doing it because there's no way even in a perfectly functioning justice system the state can be 100% sure. Our current injustice system is so rife with perverse incentives that I'm not even sure it hits the 50% mark. But this father knew absolutely who murdered his sons.

[sarcasmic]

Mila Kunis has looked better.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....z2Kb0W52lI

[Rasilio]

The 60's called, they want their hairdoo back

[sarcasmic]

Pron 4 John!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....z2Kb0W52lI

[RBS]

That's after she lost weight?

[Drake]

How do her ankles support it all?

[Drax the Destroyer]

And this is the comment that warned me away from clicking that link.

[Generic Stranger]

You chose....wisely.

[a better weapon]

It looks like she's being moved about by two relatively small, but powerful tornadoes.

[Way Of The Crane]

Thank God she's drinking Diet Coke.

[invisible furry hand]

"Ironically", according to the Fail. Damn hipsters get everywhere

[SKFD!]

FTA: "She returned to Australian TV last year on another weight loss show called Excess Baggage, where she beat off Kevin Federline to take the title."

THAT is how you win reality shows down under?

[Enough About Palin]

I have passed people like that on the street and actually say to them, "Put some fucking clothes on."

[invisible furry hand]

The Guardian spasms with joy as Bhutan announces it will become the first organic nation (whether its farmers want to or not

BTW the Guardian loves Bhutan's happiness index. Let's see how that's working out for them with some random stats:

Bhutan

Infant mortality rate: total: 42.17 deaths/1,000 live births (2012)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 12% (2008)

US

Infant mortality rate: total: 5.98 deaths/1,000 live births (2012)
Children under the age of 5 years underweight: 1.3% (2002)

Source: CIA World Factbook

Bhutan

STATUS
Partly Free
FREEDOM RATING
4.5
CIVIL LIBERTIES
5
POLITICAL RIGHTS
4

US

STATUS
Free
FREEDOM RATING
1.0
CIVIL LIBERTIES
1
POLITICAL RIGHTS
1

Source: freedomhouse.org

[tarran]

Bhutan is a hell-hole.

A couple of years back I researched the GHP they were touting. The think I noticed was that:

1) The different proponents all had subjective and contradictory ways of calculating it.

2) The different proponents all were members of the nobility.

Basically, the aristocrats look at the shit that makes them feel good, define it as a happiness index, and sell the BS to credulous greenies, luddites, socialists and progressives.

[tarran]

BTW, the king owns all the trees. No farmer is allowed to grow an orchard and keep the fruit.

Yeah, I'm sure the serfs are real happy.

[Whiterun Guard]

It's the Guardian. They're totally cool with that.

[John]

BTW, the king owns all the trees. No farmer is allowed to grow an orchard and keep the fruit.

So you are saying it is The Nature Conservancy Paradise? Good to know they have an ideal to work towards.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Let's not forget the oppression that the ethnic Bhutanese engage in against their Nepalese minority for the audacity of being non-Bhutanese and Hindu instead of Buddhist.

[Generic Stranger]

And a new famine begins in 5...4...3...2...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Senator Joe Manchin says new restrictions on gun ownership are not necessary to reduce mass shootings.

Locking everyone in their houses, outlawing assemblies, amputating everyone's arms... there are so many other things the government can do.

[Longtorso]

"Rad" them? Did Digby put a typo in the very post where he bragged about his Superior Intellect?

The SOTU of our dreams
Bill Moyers asked a bunch of smart people what they would like to see the President say in the State of the Union address this year. Their answers are all good and I urge you to rad them. if we could put them all together it would make a hell of a speech. ...

[Palin's Buttplug]

Norma Cheren was scheduled to have an operation on her hip this week.

Instead, the 79-year-old southeast Atlanta woman sits in the Fulton County jail after police say they discovered more than 9 pounds of marijuana in her home last week.

"I can't believe that she's over 60," neighbor Jennifer Brown told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. "Let alone that she (might be) doing that kind of stuff. This is too much."

The arrest warrant states that Cheren was spotted Thursday evening selling more than 8 ounces of pot ? a felony ? in Buckhead.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/c.....ell/nWL8M/

[Raston Bot]

Jennifer Brown sounds like a cunt.

[a better weapon]

At first I thought it said she lived in Buckethead! That'd be a rockin town if it was though amirite?

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama called the test a "highly provocative act."

How does he know that Kim wasn't retaliating against the mole people?

[DJF]

"""North Korea confirms seismic activity""'

Or it could be 24 million hungry North Koreans stomachs rumbling

[Whiterun Guard]

Or Gangnam Style just made it across the border.

[John]

If he doesn't, I am sure Henry Waxman is going to tell him. He has family over there.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Waxman certainly needs to wax those tunnels to hell he calls nostrils.

[RBS]

http://news.yahoo.com/ioc-drop.....--oly.html

Yet they are adding golf, which isn't even a sport. (SLD re: Olympics)

[invisible furry hand]

My favourite-ever athlete's name was the wrestler from Switzerland called Urs Burgler

[Whiterun Guard]

Hrm, I'll see that and raise with the 1994 Luge medallers:

Hockl, Prock and Schmidt.

[John]

I always like former Eagle offensive lineman Brian Balldinger.

[invisible furry hand]

you don't think a guy who pins blokes down and has a name that sounds a lot like a derogatory term for a gay man wins the name contest?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Urs Burgler is clearly the winner.

[mr simple]

So we've all forgotten 2000 women's 200m butterfly gold medalist, USA's own Misty Hyman? It was reported that year that she had a brother named Rusty.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Jesus. Why don't they eliminate the Marathon, add Mixed-Doubles Squat Tag, and just get it over with.

[Generic Stranger]

Ok, wrestling is pretty gay (NTTAWWT), but how the fuck can you call it "The Olympics" without it?

[robc]

Exactly.

It was in the original and the other original (Greek and 1st modern).

[Raston Bot]

wrasslin is one of the few events in which America consistently gets its ass kicked.

Wrestling was voted out from a final group that also included modern pentathlon, taekwondo and field hockey

but they're keeping takemydough?

[Agammamon]

That's because they don't allow you to take folding chairs into the ring in the olympics.

[sarcasmic]

Helena Bonham Carter to play Elizabeth Taylor. That could be interesting.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-film.html

[Matrix]

is Tim Burton directing the film?

[Drax the Destroyer]

is Tim Burton directingruining the film?

FTFY

[Whiterun Guard]

HBC I guess could play her, I guess. But shouldn't they get someone younger? By the time Liz was the age that HBC could realistically portray, her life was pretty boring. Already doing Lifetime movies, hawking her perfume and picking up jersey boy toys.

Needs more Lohan for the younger and more interesting part of the story.

[PowerBottom]

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy implored the press Monday to stop characterizing the city as being strict on guns.
"One of the things that I would like to again try to clear up, and I ask you to please stop adopting the rhetoric of the gun advocates," Mr. McCarthy said. "CHICAGO DOES NOT HAVE STRICT GUN LAWS." (emphasis mine)
"The state of Illinois does not have strict gun laws," he continued.

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....-gun-laws/

[invisible furry hand]

Black is white. Up is down.

[Whiterun Guard]

"Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack."

[Alack]

Everything you thought was just so important doesn't matter.

[Matrix]

well, I guess unless summary execution of anyone within 10 yards of a gun is the law, then this police superintendent doesn't believe that gun laws are strict.

[WTF]

They say this as though they think no one can actually check up on the actual facts and see that they're lying. Or maybe they're just employing the big lie strategy: say it loud enough and often enough and the majority of people will perceive it as the truth.

[mad libertarian guy]

To fucks like these, anything short of a total ban qualifies as loose. If the yoke isn't fully tightened around the neck, freedom abounds.

[Invisible Finger]

If the police chief implored the press to do something, a REAL press wouldn't even bother reporting it.

[mr simple]

In other news, Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy's pants are on fire.

[Robert S]

Somebody call 9-1-1!

[Jerry on the boat]

Italian ex-spy chief gets 10 years in CIA case:

Italy's former military intelligence chief was sentenced to 10 years in jail on Tuesday for his role in the kidnapping of an Egyptian Muslim cleric in an operation organized by the United States.

[John]

Madia said Pollari had not been able to defend himself properly because successive Italian governments had declared the case to be covered by state secrecy laws.

Good thing the guineas gave him a fair trial.

[tarran]

The allegations against the Italian intelligence agents, if true, do warrant jail time for kidnapping.

However, the Italian legal system is about as 'just' as the Taliban's. It moves more slowly and the participants wear fancier clothes, and nobody gets shot or stoned or have bits of them cut off at the end, but that's about it.

[Whiterun Guard]

His actual role in the kidnapping was 'bumbling foil for the serious agents'.

[Drake]

I do like the plan to give all government employees terminal cancer with the a daily dose of radiation from the backscatter x-ray machines.

It is an interesting way to cut government payroll spending.

[Whiterun Guard]

You forget that their healthcare is publicly funded.

[Drake]

If the cancer is widespread and aggressive enough, it will only cost a few weeks of hospice. Those death panels will come in handy.

[Drax the Destroyer]

It certainly will save on those pensions which currently have to be stolen from the good people of dimension X in order to keep the mewling sheep back here in dimension SHIT from getting uppity. Poor dimension X. Soon the rock people will come for their gold and we will know the true meaning of war.

[fish]

Do you we think we could get Krugman to take one if we painted it in bright and festive colors and told him it was a beach cabana?

[Stormy Dragon]

See if you still like the plan when you get called for federal grand jury duty and have to go through them repeatedly for three months.

[John]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/l.....8a529.html

Keeney, 55, said a man forced his way into her apartment in Highland, threw her to the floor and then put her sister, Donna Carlyle, 47, in a choke hold. He demanded money as Carlyle gasped for air.

"All I could see was Donna's face going blue, like her life was being choked out of her," said Keeney.

The alleged intruder, 33, was being treated at a hospital Sunday for two gunshot wounds and was listed in critical condition, police said. They have not released his name.

But there is no need for anyone to own a gun for personal protection. That woman and her sister should have called the cops or handled it without using a gun.

[Matrix]

it is better for those women to die and rid the world of the scourge of guns than for them to shoot an intruder bent on killing them.

[John]

Its their job to die for the collective good.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Not to mention, if they die, the chance of them producing more people is 0. Win-Win for the technocrats!

...Actually if they believed more guns really did kill more people AND they wanted to reduce the population...wouldn't they be handing out AK-47s on every street corner?

Something stinks here and it ain't the shitplug.

[Matrix]

perhaps they feel that governments are more efficient at murdering their citizens than average citizens are. So if the citizens are armed, it makes it easier to commit mass murder... er population reductions.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I see you forgot to cite the 20th century as evidence.

[Restoras]

And don't forget being raped first.

[Whiterun Guard]

There were two of them, they had him outnumbered. Why aren't they already indicted for murder?!

[WTF]

"All the stastistics show a gun in your house is more likely to harm you and your family than an actual intruder!11!!!"
/lefty derp

[PowerBottom]

Ah, the inherent equality of guns. I wonder why this isn't explored more. Guns are one of the greatest equalizers between male and females, yet in progressive bizzaro world, they are abhorred.

[John]

It is not explored more because progs are ignoramuses who know nothing about history. The world before guns was a very dark place.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I think part of it is that to them rape doesn't matter as long as abortions are available. That's right, these fucks don't care about rape. I said it.

[John]

See Menendez, Robert.

[Zeb]

Let's not get carried away,now.

[Restoras]

Dark and unfree. Very unfree.

[Way Of The Crane]

The world before guns was a very dark place.

At least today we are free from the scourge of pointy sticks and catapults.

[PowerBottom]

True. I imagine that since equality is always the supposed goal they are driving for, one would think that having an equal way to defend yourself would be among the values they preach. Ah well, my mistake was to think first.

[PowerBottom]

Also, my sister took one of those self defense classes after she got mugged in her early twenties, but walked out after the instructor explained that during a rape, she should piss and shit herself in an attempt to make her undesirable to the rapist. She walked right the hell out and the next weekend went and bought a gun.

[invisible furry hand]

Good on her!

[Whiterun Guard]

The weekend after that she shot up a kindergarten.

[invisible furry hand]

well they were going to grow up to be rapists. Probably.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Guns are one of the greatest equalizers between male and females...

How did this become about women in combat?

[Alack]

They're abhorred because they products of our violent culture. It doesn't matter that having one in said culture will reduce your chances of victimization, because the culture is in and of itself unjust. The culture must be changed so that no one has to have a gun to feel safe, and anything that impedes the goal of massive culture change? including being armed? must be stopped.

It's the same attitude that says that women shouldn't take self-defense classes because, in a just world, they wouldn't need self-defense and, ergo, it is not their responsibility to respond to the actions of bad and violent people.

[Matrix]

Tech companies ORDERED to explain high prices in Australia

I wonder if "fuck you, that's why!" will be an acceptable answer.

[Whiterun Guard]

"Because we have to go to the ass end of the world, dodge deadly sharks, spiders, ants and snakes, just to sell to a bunch of hooligan criminals who will probably steal more than they buy anyway."

[invisible furry hand]

Software is so expensive here even law enforcement pirates it

[Generic Stranger]

Could excessive taxation have anything to do with it? Naw, couldn't be that...

[PowerBottom]

Because we aren't going to sit back and let ourselves get hosed by governmental burden and naturally pass on our higher expenses to the consumer in the form of higher prices?

[invisible furry hand]

Regulatory issues have a fair bit to do with the sale price of physical objects (but it's not the whole story), but not downloaded content. IP address recognition means we get offered downloadable software or media at sometimes significantly higher prices (eg iTunes songs are about 50% higher than US prices).

And even the physical object price differences are a bit insane. An extreme example is Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate - it costs $5,975 more in Australia than the US. It's cheaper to fly to LA and buy it in person.

And if you try to buy online, Amazon won't ship software or hardware to Australian addresses. Hence the burgeoning business of buying a US shipping sddress via a redirection service.

[Agammamon]

Actually, those same regualtory issue affect downloaded content - local IP laws means licensing software in different jurisdictions have different costs.

Taking video games for example - australia has *far* stricter censorship rules than any western country (except for a couple in europe) as such special versions of these games must often be made and are the only versions it legal to sell in that region.

Another onerous requirement is keeping track of who owes tax to who.

Movies have different licensing costs from region to region also.

[Drake]

I hope they are sarcastic as hell and hand them some economics and cost accounting text books.

[robc]

Just fax them an image of Econ 101 Supply/Demand curve.

The very basic first one.

[Scooby]

After I skimmed the article, I was going to say "duh, exchange rate", since it was about A$1.50 to US$1 last time I gave a rat's ass. I didn't realize that it's now A$0.98 to US$1 now.

I guess they haven't been putting the printing presses into overdrive down under like in the US and Europe.

[invisible furry hand]

Not sure where you're getting your rates from. Don't think it ever hit Aus$1.50:US$1. For most of the last 20 years it's been roughly Aus$0.75:US$1. It's currently approx Aus$1:US$1.03 (so we're better than parity, but only just).

But no, we haven't needed QE etc. We have low unemployment and a strong dollar, but are grappling with a two-speed economy and a Government that spends like a drunken sailor

[Scooby]

I can't find a chart that goes back before around 2008, but it must have been sometime between 1998 and 2008

In the two decades that followed, its highest value relative to the US dollar was $0.881 in December 1988. The lowest ever value of the Australian dollar after it was floated was 47.75 US cents in April 2001.[16] It returned to above 96 US cents in June 2008,

The last time I recall checking was around 2003-2004 when I was contemplating a trip there. The google chart reveals that it was around there then. The chart I can get easily doesn't go back to April 2001 when it was more than A$2 to US$1.

[invisible furry hand]

duh, you're right and I misstyped. And misread. My excuse, as ever, is it's late.

I still suspect that the price differentials are in part down to good old-fashioned gouging - it isn't all regulatory burdens and the tyranny of distance

[Scooby]

*I can't find a chart that goes back before 2004*

[Ken Shultz]

"North Korea confirms seismic activity detected in the country was the result of a nuclear test. President Obama called the test a "highly provocative act."

When something dangerous like this happens in the world, it's nice to know that we have a president in the White House, who we can be confident will respond to such threats with a press release and give a speech that represents...mostly a bunch of bullshit.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yeah, a $1 trillion ground war is just so 2000ish.

[Ken Shultz]

Obviously, those are the only alternatives.

[PowerBottom]

I would prefer we publicly ignore it. No one's going to do jack or shit about it anyway. Just make the dumb bastards look silly.

[Ken Shultz]

China might be able to do something about it--and they probably would if we cut a deal with them on Taiwan.

If you don't want to go to war over South Korea, why would you want to go to war over Taiwan anyway?

Meanwhile, the South Koreans might just relish the prospect of handling this themselves. I think we've got some leverage there, too. South Korea's relationship with the U.S. doesn't make South Korea belligerent to the North. South Korea's relationship with the U.S. has mostly kept South Korea from invading the North.

If negotiations are won by the adversary with the most leverage (and they are), then as mighty and frightening as Obama's press releases are, we do have other leverage that really hasn't been brought to bear--and we should probably start thinking about doing that.

Because as much as I'd like to think a nuclear North Korea with the missile capability to hit the continental U.S. is something that might go away if we just ignore it? I don't think it's going to go away just becasue we ignore it.

[PowerBottom]

Hence, 'Publicly ignore'. I realize nuclear weapons in NK's hands represent danger, but we shouldn't publicly give them the attention they desperately seek.

[Ken Shultz]

"Senator Dianne Feinstein claims civilian casualties in drone strikes by the U.S. number in the single digits annually."

She just doesn't want to have to admit that Barack Obama has killed more children than Adam Lanza.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The ratfucker in the Menendez "story" has disappeared.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi.....ipster.php

[John]

It couldn't be because he was paid off or anything. Oh that is right, there is no reason to pay him off since pedophilia is okay as long as it is practiced by Democratic Senators.

[Mike M.]

Anyone else think that the vermin might possibly be Dave Weigel's sockpuppet? He was pretty fond of the "ratfucker" term also.

[John]

Interesting theory.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I wonder if he partied with Rush Limbaugh on one of his many drug-fueled trips to the DR.

[John]

RUSH!!!! BOOOSH!!!!

DERP

[tarran]

Someone says Obama, Shriek screams Bush.

[Jordan]

Tu quoque is all he knows.

[fish]

Big moves in the market these days eh Shreeky.......UP....DOWN.....UP....DOWN....hey does moms basement still smell like dirty washcloths?

[Zeb]

Was he a pedophile, or did he just fuck a prostitute who was under the age of 18? I think that is an important distinction.

[John]

If the allegations were true, he asked for the youngest hookers they had and went for 13 and 14 year old girls. I think that makes him a pedophile. He didn't just like young women and get unlucky with a 17 year old.

[Rasilio]

While it would make him a creep technically for him to be a pedophile they would have had to have been in the 10 and under range

[John]

There is a word for people who are attracted to early adolescents. Hebeophile or something like that.

[T]

I thought was people who like Jews.

The word you're looking for ephebeophile, BTW.

[tarran]

Ephebophile.

[mr simple]

No, he's right.

In research environments, specific terms are used for chronophilias: for instance, ephebophilia to refer to the sexual preference for mid-to-late adolescents,[1] hebephilia to refer to the sexual preference for earlier pubescent individuals, and pedophilia to refer to the sexual preference for prepubescent children.

From Wikipedia.

[KDN]

Why in God's name is Menendez so close to your heart? I get that you're just a Team Blue shill, but surely there's more hay to be made defending someone that isn't so nakedly corrupt. What has he ever done that makes him worthy of any spirited defense? Hell, I live in this state and get his official newsletter, he does nothing of consequence. Literally the only noteworthy thing about him is his corruption.

Hell, even if the prostitution aspect isn't true (50/50 shot IMO), this little scandal has uncovered a heavy bit of graft on his part. The man is fully worthy of the scorn he receives.

[Jordan]

He's a progressive shill. Case closed.

[Drake]

I live in NJ too. I have never heard of legislation sponsored by Menendez that he wasn't paid to support. He is completely worthless.

[WTF]

I have never heard of legislation sponsored by Menendez that he wasn't paid to support. He is completely worthless.

And of course he was re-elected by a healthy majority.

[Palin's Buttplug]

He's not.

John convicted Menendez here based on an anonymous Yahoo email account. I support due process.

Odds are that Menendez IS corrupt as he is in Congress. Indict him on corruption - fine with me. He is at least guilty of some improprieties.

[John]

Go fuck yourself sock puppet. It wasn't an anonymous email. it was actual hookers from the DR who said the guy was a sicko. Why do you think he was flying to the DR all of the time? Because he liked the beach.

[KDN]

He's not.

Oh, bullshit. Even before this particular story broke you'd leap to his defense when and start an argument whenever anybody dared claim he was at least as corrupt as Republican peers.

There was a thread a couple of months ago where a few of the posters questioned CREW's leaving him off (and including Paul) and you got your panties in a Windsor knot about the accusation.

[SugarFree]

Why in God's name is Menendez so close to your heart?

It isn't. shriek doesn't give a shit about Menendez. Menendez is just another thing it can troll the board about.

It can't be reasoned with or is capable of engaging in argument or conversation. It wants one thing, to disrupt and annoy the board for its own pleasure.

[Mike M.]

Exactly. It's a vermin that wants to be fed with attention. Everyone should stop feeding it.

[KDN]

Meh, I've a decent bit of work I don't want to do and it's not Thursday. Leave me to my perversions.

[BakedPenguin]

Dude, shriek is 14 years old. You like getting troll from someone that young?

Sicko.

[John]

I am I the only one who doesn't give a fuck that the NORKS tested a nuclear weapon? So what? We know they have them. Call me when they test one over Seoul.

[PowerBottom]

^^Bingo. Gotta rattle those sabres!

[Restoras]

I don't care either.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I certainly don't. But I also don't piss my pants when other nefarious characters acquire the damn things.

[$park?]

+1

[Ken Shultz]

"Am I the only one who doesn't give a fuck that the NORKS tested a nuclear weapon? So what? We know they have them. Call me when they test one over Seoul."

Partial Repost:

As much as I'd like to think a nuclear North Korea with the missile capability to hit the continental U.S. is something that might go away if we just ignore it? I don't think it's going to go away just becasue we ignore it.

I'll say this: a nuclear North Korea with the ability to hit the continental U.S. with a missile is a much bigger threat to American security than Al Qaeda ever was.

[John]

Sure it is a threat. That is why we need missile defense. But them testing one doesn't make a damn bit of difference one way or another.

[Ken Shultz]

Well they've tested nukes, what, twice before?

I suppose what they learn from the missile tests is scarier since that's new technology they didn't have before--while they've been testing nukes for years.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't bother dealing with this until they drop one on Seoul. The first one they fire may not be aimed at Seoul--the first target may be Los Angeles.

[John]

I would love to deal with North Korea too. But I don't see any way to do that that doesn't involve killing a million or more South Koreans. All we can do is ignore them, work on getting China to shut off their money supply and hope for the best.

[Ken Shultz]

I made some suggestions above, and I've got more than that, too.

It's just not a high priority for the Obama Administration.

Obama's in remaking the American economy in his image of a giant welfare state. He just isn't that into American security right now.

[Way Of The Crane]

The first one they fire may not be aimed at Seoul--the first target may be Los Angeles.

I'm failing to see the problem here.

[jesse.in.mb]

Hey now we're just getting used to breathable air.

To be fair if you wanted to kill Koreans, Los Angeles would be just as good a target as any.

[Chris Mallory]

Because the North Korea leaders want to have all of their kidnapped Japanese sex slaves, NK farm slaves, and their supply of booze vaporized in the US counterattack.

The NKs are just trying to look tough so they can get a few more concessions.

[Rasilio]

No, not the only one by far.

The first thing I thought when I read Obama calling it a provocative act is "How the fuck is that provocative"?

We know they have nukes, they have tested them before, and they tested this one underground like a good little nuclear power so they didn't foul up the atmosphere. That's hardly provocative.

I mean if they wanted to provoke us they could have mounted the nuke on a missile and fired it off into the open ocean just outside of US territorial waters.

[AlmightyJB]

Brilliant strategy by Makers Mark.

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....l-content/

[John]

Since few people drink bourbon neat, I am not seeing how it makes a lot of difference.

[AlmightyJB]

And here I thought you were an American. *shakes head*

[John]

Few people do. Most people put it on water or ice. And for the record I do. But in the past few years I have turned into a heathen poser scotch drinker. I prefer bourbon in a mixed drink like an old fashioned.

[Restoras]

I keep Makers Mark around for whiskey sours and egg nog. I drink my single malt scotch on ice.

And I don't care if this flies in the face of tradition.

[robc]

Anything cheaper than Makers isnt bourbon anyway, its a mixer, so those dont count.

And while I do often drink my bourbon on the rocks, that isnt the same as mixing it, at least not at the start of the drink. I do if for temperature, not water reasons. I like the single big cube that doesnt significantly melt.

And when Im drinking really high end, I absolutely go neat.

[SugarFree]

I have one of those molds that make giant ice spheres, but it you need them in bulk, use a muffin tin. They aren't perfectly round or square, of course, but it's a lot easier.

[robc]

I have one of those molds too, MM sent it to me a few years ago.

It generally sucks, because the ice doesnt want to come out easily.

[invisible furry hand]

what do you think of metal cubes?

[robc]

Metal seems weird, I would worry about off flavors. There are plastic ones that probably work better.

[SugarFree]

The granite ones taste better. I got my b-i-l a set a few years ago and I can't detect any off flavors.

robc, my 2nd set of ice sphere molds work better that a Japan set I had.

It's a pain in the ass, but the best way to use them is too fill them, put them on the lowest shelf of the fridge overnight, then put them in the freezer. The faster the water reaches freezing seems to keep them from cracking and makes getting them out much easier.

[a better weapon]

Be careful with the chilled granite or stone cubes. They could chip a tooth if you knock the last of it back too quick.

[Citizen Nothing]

...if you knock the last of it back too quick.

Or any time after the fourth glass.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I got these for the Squeeze's upcoming birthday/warehouse warming.

[invisible furry hand]

he's already got one of these then?

[robc]

Send your kid to school with a gun shaped fried egg and he gets suspended.

[Citizen Nothing]

This is the most offensive thing John has ever posted.

[John]

Jesus the bourbon mafia is worse than the Rush mafia. I guess if someone posted that Neal Peart drinks Crown Royal and coke it would be a five thousand post thread.

[Citizen Nothing]

You didn't just mistake Crown Royal with bourbon, did you. DID YOU? This is why nobody takes libertarians seriously.

[gaijin]

Neil, with an 'i'. Neil Peart. Heathen.

[Citizen Nothing]

Piece of (real) advice, John. Don't pay Maker's Mark prices for your bourbon-and-coke when any whisky that meets the definition of "straight" bourbon is gonna do the job. Really. Buy Old Crow for the mixing.

[John]

I don't buy Makers Mark as a general rule. Honestly I think the whole "bourbon" thing is, like Champagne versus "sparkling wine" vastly overrated. It is all whiskey.

Yes I fall on the Jack Daniels side of things. For the money, it is just great. Quality whiskey that is good enough to be drank neat, but not so expensive you don't want to mix it. And don't even get me started on that God damned hipster Van Winkle stuff or whatever it is called.

[Citizen Nothing]

Hipsters aren't hip enough for the Pappy. True story.

[Citizen Nothing]

You're a scotch drinker and you're gonna call out bourbon drinker's pretentions?
Hahahahahah!

[John]

Damn straight I will. Scotch really does taste different. I could tell the difference between something from Islay and something from the highlands just by the smell. I wouldn't even half to taste it.

[RBS]

John wins.

[Zeb]

That's a nice thing about Scotch, the tremendous variation. If someone who likes any whiskey says they don't like Scotch, they just haven't tried the right one.

[Way Of The Crane]

I only drink rubbing alcohol and Sailor Jerry

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Jack Daniels is Tennessee whiskey. It's a decent beverage. But really, Kentucky bourbon is what the discussion is about. I spent about an hour last week at my local bar sampling some new bourbons with sales reps from Jim Beam. They are starting to push six new bourbons, and are probably just re-positioning Makers Mark. They definitely went about it awkwardly, though.

[Citizen Nothing]

Does Beam make another wheated bourbon besides Maker's?

[Citizen Nothing]

And technically, Jack Daniels is a straight bourbon, as only a pedantic asshole would point out.

[RBS]

Rebel Yell

[Generic Stranger]

Jack Daniels is how I learned what the term "rot gut whiskey" truly meant.

[John]

There is nothing rot gut about Jack. Jim Beam is rot gut.

[Citizen Nothing]

Now we see the violence inherent in the system.

[John]

Now we see the violence inherent in the system.

+100

[Zeb]

Jim Beam is a fine product. I have encountered very few whiskeys that have no redeeming value.

[invisible furry hand]

Since few people drink bourbon neat

Apart from babies in Kentucky, of course

[Citizen Nothing]

I got bourbon and bluegrass music from my mother's side. And for that (and the fact that her family moved from the godforsaken hellhole known as Kentucky) I'm eternally grateful.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I drink bourbon in cocktails, but I refuse to pay the same price for 84 proof. It's principle. I'd rather drink Ten High.

[Citizen Nothing]

Not Ten High! NO!!!!!!!!!
(It's not really bourbon -- it's a blend. If you care about that sort of thing.)

[RBS]

Ah, Ten High brings back some hazy memories from undergrad.

[Kaptious Kristen]

It's just a demonstration of the principle of not paying Maker's Mark the same money for a lesser product. I will probably just seek out another high- to mid-shelf whiskey (I'm not married to bourbon per se, I like other American whiskeys also).

[robc]

Since few people drink bourbon neat,

???

We hand with entirely different crowds apparently.

[LTC(ret) John]

"We hand with entirely different crowds apparently."

What you do with your crowd is your own business...but I prefer to hang with 'em, myself.

[Drake]

I bet robc is more popular with his crowd.

[Citizen Nothing]

Stupidest marketing decision since New Coke. Perhaps the taste will be the same. But what you're paying for with a premium liquor -- especially in bourbon, where even the cheap stuff is still good -- is perception and the "story" of the product. Maker's Mark story just became "watered down."
I went out last night and bought a case of the stuff. I figure that there'll be guys who'll pay a premium for the "Old Maker's". Probably the same guys who prefer vinyl to digital music. (And worse case scenario -- I'll have to drink it myself!)

[SugarFree]

But what you're paying for with a premium liquor

Maker's is just acknowledging what most Kentuckians have known forever: Marker's Mark is not a premium liquor.

[Citizen Nothing]

Well, it's no Pappy Van Winkle 20 year. But then, neither is Pappy Van Winkle 20 year.

[SugarFree]

I'd rather drink Rowan's Creek or Noah's Mill anyway.

[Citizen Nothing]

You're one 'o them pretentious bourbon-drinkin' bastard hipsters that the scotch drinkers are on to, aren't you?

[John]

Oh come on CN. When you only make a certain number of cases that only available in just the right stores and you get a ten minutes tongue bath from Tony Bourdaine, your bourbon is "hipster".

[Citizen Nothing]

Perhaps you're right, John. But it pisses me off that hipsters seem to be adopting all my drinks of choice.
My grandpappy drank good bourbon, and PBR by the case. True story. Maybe the hipsters secretly want to be hillbillies.

[John]

Hipsters ruin everything they touch CN. And while I have never had it, I have not doubt Pappy Van Winkle is good bourbon. I just doubt it is quite as good as hipsters make it out to be.

[Zeb]

I think that the word "hipster" is starting to lose meaning.

Some premium products are necessarily in short supply. Especially things like whiskey where it takes 3-12 years to ramp up supply.

Anyway, I though hipsters pretended to be poor and drank PBR and stuff.

[robc]

The problem was that back in the 80s their was a huge bourbon glut.

With all the extra supply, the distillers put some away to age. They ended up with these nice old bourbons. That then boomed in popularity. But guess what? They had cut back on production so hadnt been putting away enough to age 18 or 21 or whatever years.

So now there is a shortage of good, aged bourbon.

Its a weird industry, having to play 20 years in advance.

[robc]

s/play/plan/

[SugarFree]

I like scotch too, nice peaty Islay ones.

It's mostly that I don't drink that much, so if I'm going to fool with it I want it to be a peak experience.

[John]

I don't drink hard alcohol that much. Most go for wine or beer.

[robc]

Same here.

Also Evan Williams Single Barrel, Elijah Craig 18 year, and Woodford Reserve (which the Liquor Fairy brings me for free).

[Zeb]

I've never been terribly impressed with Makers Mark. I'd just as soon have some Jim Beam.

[robc]

Beam isnt bourbon, its a mixer.

[Zeb]

The longer aged ones aren't bad. And Jim Beam Rye is very good.

[Citizen Nothing]

Put Beam next to Woodford, and 9 out of 10 bourbon drinkers won't be able to tell a difference. (That said, Woodford is my neat bourbon of choice.)

[LTC(ret) John]

You have made a wise decision, I think.

[robc]

Jack did this about 5-6 years ago for same reason. The difference? Makers announced it.

[Mike M.]

Why don't they just have two or three different labels? Hell, Jim Beam has like ten. I'm a neat 86 proof man myself.

[Scooby]

Got that message on Sunday from MM- I guess it's a good opportunity to try some of the dozens of other small batch bourbons that are on the market now.

[H. Reardon]

More evidence that cops should be disarmed:
Baldwin Borough officer shot by colleague during domestic call

Three officers from Baldwin Borough and one from Whitehall went to the house. Sgt. Miller and another Baldwin officer knocked and the man answered the door with a milk jug in one hand, but the other hand wasn't visible.

Officers repeatedly asked the man to show his other hand, and then two shots were fired, apparently by an officer or officers.

One bullet hit Sgt. Miller in the back, between the bottom of his protective vest and his belt, Superintendent Moffatt said.
Then another officer fired a shot into the side of the house before police took the man into custody. Police said he was not armed and the shotgun was later found on the ground outside the home.

The standard 'shot were fired' prose. And the side of a house is a legitimate target that requires no further explanation.

I especially like how the offending officer is not named in the article.

[Whiterun Guard]

They named an entire Borough after Animal Mother?!

[Alack]

+1 Hero of Canton

[Kaptious Kristen]

It's been a while...

[AlmightyJB]

"the agency is looking for somewhere to deploy the machines."

They're scanning security footage to see where the hottest babes work.

[John]

http://weaselzippers.us/2013/0.....-policies/

Poll: majority of Americans disapprove of Obama's gun policies. It really is a blessing that moron has decided to die on this hill.

[AlmightyJB]

Well the majority of Americans disapproved of Obamacare as well but they rammed it down our throats anyway.

[John]

But they had big majorities in both Houses of Congress and had gone insane.

[Drax the Destroyer]

and had gone are insane.

FTFY

[Tim]

There's going to be a push in the speech tonight, along with obligatory victims in the stands.
Do they get coached to sit there and look pathetic?

[NeonCat]

"Most people don't know how truly destructive and dangerous these assault weapons can be." (Obama reaches under podium, pulls out an M-16, the audience gasps) "Let me demonstrate" (Obama turns around, shoots Boehner in the chest several times. Boehner slumps in his chair, eyes wide, dying. Obama, blood splattered, turns back around and puts the M-16 back under the podium.) "Clearly this should not be in civilian hands."

[Matrix]

BUT HE HAD A MANDATE!!!

[Rasilio]

Hey don't talk about that special time Obama and Reid spent together at camp david like that

[Warty]

65% disapprove of him on the deficit, 60% on the economy, and 57% on taxes. Mitt Romney ought to have died of embarrassment by now.

[John]

Maybe. Or maybe people just really wanted to vote for the black guy again. I don't know a single Obama voter who can give a coherent set of reasons why the voted for the guy.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Romney wanted to kill the Obama spending cuts and start a ground war in Iran, you ignoramus.

[John]

DERP!!!

You are so fucking retarded the only proper response beyond pity is laughing.

[wareagle]

there no "Obama spending cuts" and you fucking know it. There was the ridiculous sequestration thing the genius Repubs went with because they were so sure of a white house win. Ain't gonna be no ground war with Iran, either, but you know that as well.

[Drake]

I thought about buying a new Porsche last week - then decided not to.

$80,000 spending cut!

[Way Of The Crane]

You should have opted out of the Lamborghini; you would have had a much larger spending cut.

[John]

I am currently programed to purchase a Aston Martin Vanquish in FY 2016. In the age of austerity, I am considering the deep spending cuts necessary to cancel it.

[John]

And shreek proves once more that no one had any rational reasons for voting for Obama, though most Obama voters I know did for reasons other than the voices in their head.

[Rich]

I don't know a single Obama voter who can give a coherent set of reasons why the voted for the guy.

What you and I call "reason" is a foreign concept to these folks. They truly base their actions by emotion and (purported) intention.

[wareagle]

it's more people like the notion of 'change' in the abstract, but when they realize that it affects them, too, they are content to stick with the devil they know.

It's not just Obama; the House and Senate both stayed largely unchanged. People make a pretense of railing against DC, then re-elect the same people with the expectation of a differnet outcome. If only there was a word for that.

[WTF]

If only there was a word for that.

Fucktardedness?

[LTC(ret) John]

CORRECT!

[Rasilio]

Eh it all boils down to team identity.

90% of the guys in office are in districts belonging solidly to one team or the other and obviously the most important thing in the world is to not loose a seat to the other team. Therefore the incumbent must not be unseated or even really challenged in the primary and then reelecting him/her is the most important thing in the world or the other side gains power in Washington.

This is more than enough to keep 50% of the electorate voting for someone they probably don't even like forget agree with.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Senator Joe Manchin says new restrictions on gun ownership are not necessary to reduce mass shootings. furiously backpedals after realizing he is the Senator from West Virginia.

[Warty]

West Virginia don't take kindly.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Yeah this is the thing that kills me when it comes to gun-grabbing rape-approving progs: if their fevered dreams of gun abolishment are realized, are they ready to see the thousands (millions?) of corpses produced as a result? My guess is ...yes.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Ok ok...I'll rephrase that...rape-ignoring.

[Ken Shultz]

"Pope Benedict XVI says he won't interfere in the process to choose his successor."

I don't know, in a tricky golden handshake/leadership transition, seems like maybe they could put some of that infallibility of his to good use.

Is he still infallible, by the way?

He should go out and get himself certified as a CPA or somethin'. Can you imagine the premiums people would pay to have their taxes prepared by an infallible CPA?

[Whiterun Guard]

He's only infallible in regards to interpretation of the scripture and in Star Wars trivia.

Seriously, it's like that guy has instant access to every movie, book, and video game in his head! Even the non-canon stuff.

[LTC(ret) John]

I think the Pope is considered infallible just like the SCOTUS - infallible because they are final, not final because they are infallible.

[Eduard van Haalen]

That quote comes from Justice Jackson in a concurrence, and Justice Jackson thought his colleagues were too soft on the church.

[SugarFree]

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, the repackaging of the infantilism fetishism. And maybe a little Rule 34 with a potato chip bag.

We open with a close-up of a young woman's face, shot from below. She gazes downward into the camera, her light brown hair hanging so low as to almost touch the lens. Her eyes are wide with what seems a kind of maternal solicitousness. When she speaks, she does so very quietly and softly, with a mild European accent that is difficult to place. "Hey, sweetie," she says. "Do you feel a little bit better?" She touches the lens?the viewer's face, your face?with a gentle finger. "Yeah, you're having a fever, hun. I just have a little bit of a wet towel. I'll just put it on your cheeks a little bit, and your forehead, okay? Yeah? OK, sweetie?" She turns away from you for a moment, and when she turns back, she has a blue facecloth in her hand; with this she sets about gently dabbing and wiping your poor, fevered little brow. It is no fun being sick, she tells you. But she wants you to know that you, her sweetheart, are going to be okay. For a further 13 minutes or so, these moistly whispered reassurances continue, until finally the screen goes black, and the whispering fades to silence.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I shall suspend judgement until I get a chance to attempt to masturbate to it.

[$park?]

Hey, this is great. Pretty soon people will no longer have any reason to ever leave their house. All semblance of human contact can be provided over the Internet. How long before videos of someone shooting a camera start making their rounds and scaring people to death?

[fish]

I can't wait for the hacks, spoofs and twists on those videos.

And the image.....looks like what you see every time your girlfriend climbed on top!

[Rich]

Hey, any Mac user know how to return to the same place in the comments after clicking on a link in the comments? (H&R seems to be the only site that exhibits the goofy behavior of going to the top upon return.)

[wakeup]

most mac users send links to new tabs

[Auric Demonocles]

Why aren't you opening the link in a new tab?

[PowerBottom]

I hope you are at work, since there is no excuse to be on a Mac otherwise.

[Rich]

I'm playing with a Mac as an experiment.

[Rich]

P.S. Now I see that putting in a comment results in a return to the middle. WTF? Is there some setting that produces reasonable behavior on a Mac?

[Agammamon]

Look, this site is all screwed up anyway - I'm using a pc and whenever I comment, most of the time I end up returning to a spot a dozen comments above where I posted - other times it just reloads at the top of the page.

[Zeb]

You could click on the comment link "#" before leaving the page.

[PS]

Kind of late, but from Overlawyered.

Great moments in blame-shifting: In Dade City, Fla., an ex-con with cocaine and other drugs in his system tried to outrun the cops in a high speed chase, then veered into a farm neighborhood where he smashed his car into two trees on a one-lane dead-end private road, instantly killing himself and a passenger. Now the estate of his passenger (who was also on drugs) is suing 21 local residents who jointly maintain the private road, saying they should have kept it clear of trees and did not provide adequate signage.

[Matrix]

This better get tossed.

[PS]

Even if it does, the farmers are out lawyer fees and time and stress of dealing with a bullshit case, unless they can counter-sue.

[Drax the Destroyer]

The loser needs to pay. And if they can't afford it the coke-fueled ivy-educated shyster of a lawyer should take the risk. If that was the case, this shit wouldn't happen so often.

[John]

Having the loser pay would help deserving plaintiffs. If you knew you had to pay the other guy's attorney's fees, you would be more likely to quickly pay legitimate claims rather than drag them out hoping to get the plaintiff desperate and settle for less than he is owed.

[R C Dean]

Typically, in my experience, a winning plaintiff gets attorney's fees, either because its a contingent fee case or because they claim the fees as damages.

Winning defendants never get attorneys fees, outside of contract cases where the contract calls for loser pays.

[John]

Sure they get attorney's fees, at the expense of their clients. The payout by the defendant is the same, just that some of it goes to the attorney.

You are a defense guy so you don't see this. But insurance companies are assholes. They intentionally drag out legitimate claims knowing that longer it goes the more willing the plaintiff will be to settle. The only people they ever willingly pay are insureds and that is only because bad faith lawsuits are a bitch, and a bitch that in most states results in the losing company paying attorney's fees.

[Juice]

I was on a message board and the topic of loser pays came up. I wondered who would think it was a bad idea or worse than what we have now. All sorts of people came out of the woodwork to rail against it as a corporate republican plot to end all lawsuits against rich corporations. Whu?

[John]

The fucking nerve of people.

[Rich]

The total estate of the passenger should be given to the farmers for the labor in providing adequate signage.

[Juice]

It's a private fucking road. It's not a public road. It's a dead end, sounds like a driveway basically. No signage needed. Sheesh.

[John]

http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.....se/272894/

It is now illegal to jail break your cell phone. See thanks to Hollywood and Silicon valley, you don't actually own your property. You rent it from the people who made it.

[Stormy Dragon]

Unlocking != jail breaking

Unlocking, changing the radio firmware to work with a different carrier, is now illegal, to prevent people from getting the subsidized phone from one carrier and then immediately jumping ship to another carrier. If you want an unlocked phone, you can get one by paying full price.

Jail-breaking, replacing the installed operating system with another one, is still perfectly legal on all phones.

[Agammamon]

Uh, no. Jailbreaking is simply breaking the DRM restrictions on a device to allow you to do whatever you want with it - that includes changing the OS but also includes being able to run third party software of your choice and allowing you to use the phone on a different carrier.

iPhones, for example, were jailbroken by users almost instantly to allow the installation of third party apps - no-one changed the OS.

[Stormy Dragon]

From the actual rule in the federal register:

B. Wireless telephone handsets ? software interoperability

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute lawfully obtained software applications, where
circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications with computer programs on the telephone handset.

...

C. Wireless telephone handsets ? interoperability with alternative
networks

Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable a wireless telephone handset originally acquired from the operator of a wireless telecommunications network or retailer no later than ninety days after the effective date of this exemption to connect to a different wireless telecommunications network...

Again, the law distinguishes between jailbreaking or rooting your phone to install new software (which is still legal) and unlocking the phone to take it to another carrier without permission (which isn't).

[Enough About Palin]

"Horse meat found in British stores 'may be donkey'"

http://www.independent.co.uk/n.....89030.html

Donkey. It's what's for dinner.

[Drax the Destroyer]

....So put a donkey label on it?

[$park?]

FFS, beef may contain horse and now horse may contain donkey. What's next, a study that finds that donkey may contain dog?

[LTC(ret) John]

And dog contains monkey?

[$park?]

Starting to sound like the old lady that swallowed a fly here.

[John]

Turns out shockingly the media got it wrong about the Navy sniper who was murdered. He wasn't doing PTSD therapy at the range.

http://www.theatlantic.com/hea.....le/273030/

[Drax the Destroyer]

The media was wrong about something? Shocked, I am! (Monocle pops out and shatters on desk made from ivory, bald eagle beaks,and orphan children's tears).

[John]

It is almost as if they say whatever they think fits the narrative.

[tarran]

John, I think you misread the article.

It doesn't say what they were doing at the range, just that if the sniper took the guy to the range, it wouldn't have been a proper form of treatment.

And analogy would be if I tried to do an appendectomy on someone using a grenade and a funnel. A doctor saying "a grenade and a funnel? that's not an appendectomy" in no way means I wasn't attempting inappropriate surgery.

[John]

True.

[T]

It wouldn't have been a guild-approved form of treatment, you mean. From what I know of treating PTSD, none of the approved methodologies work very well. I know they had some success using MDMA in trials but I also know that went nowhere because drugs are bad, mmkay.

Some guy that's been through it thinks he has a handle on how to treat it? Let him take a swing at it. The guild isn't producing stellar results on their own.

[tarran]

Honestly, I think taking Eddie Ray Routh near a weapon was a very bad idea. Everything I've read about this guy screams scarily unstable.

Again, it's really wise to withhold judgement until all the facts come out. Kelly is dead. We have little idea why he decided to interact with Routh. And, pretty much everything everyone has said on the matter is mostly rank speculation (glares at Ron Paul's twitter spokesman).

[Stormy Dragon]

From what I know of treating PTSD, none of the approved methodologies work very well.

Just because the current best practices aren't very good doesn't mean any crazy idea someone comes up with is now a good idea.

[wakeup]

Murdoch May End Topless 'Page 3' Girls In The Sun

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com.....z2KhLgiPjp

[Eduard van Haalen]

The punch line better be that he's moving them to page 2.

[Jordan]

That son of a bitch!

[BakedPenguin]

If he does, I hope someone hacks into his cell phone and makes threatening calls to various politicians.

[playa manhattan]

"In 1986, Clare Short raised the issue in the House of Commons, which led to support from many but also to the headline: "Fat, jealous Clare brands Page 3 porn".

[John]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z2KhNK2bFQ

Yet another example of why I would never take a cheap cruise.

[John]

Carnival Cruise Lines president and CEO, Gerry Cahill, said: 'All guests on the current Carnival Triumph voyage will receive a full refund for the cruise, along with transportation expenses.

'In addition, they will receive a future cruise credit equal to the amount paid for this voyage, as well as reimbursement of all shipboard purchases during the voyage, with the exception of gift shop and casino charges.

[Citizen Nothing]

I suppose I understand the appeal of cruising for some, but I would never choose to take one myself unless I was being paid for it(which has happened).

[tarran]

I would do it if they let me hang out on the bridge. Without the pleasure of ship-driving, what's the point?

[Citizen Nothing]

I got a tour of the bridge of Allure of the Sea (biggest cruise ship extant) on her maiden passenger voyage. It was like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, only with a lot more room and softer chairs. (And the captain has an Argentinian accent.)

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Ah've inflated the currency all I could, cap'n, it can't take nae mair!"

"Damn it, Scotty, we must inflate some more!"

[Citizen Nothing]

"Damn eeet, Sco-tee, we moost eenflate zum more!"

[John]

If I were really wealthy and could take like the Queen Mary II on a transatlantic crossing, I would do that. There are a couple of other super high end ones that would be fun. But no way in hell would I pay to take one of the cheap ones.

[Rasilio]

Yeah I don't get it either.

I mean you cram 5000 or more humans from all over the place into a tiny confined space with limited at best exposure to fresh air and leave them there for a week or more.

I fail to see how it is possible that there is anyone on the ship who is not suffering from some form of viral infection (cold, stomach bug, etc.) after day 3, and that is assuming they don't all get lucky and come down with legionaires disease or something similar.

Combine that with the fact that there is nothing you could do on the ship that you couldn't do on a land based resort and I just don't see the allure.

[mad libertarian guy]

Cruising is fucking great, but you have to go on a respectable line.

Best trip I ever had was a 12 night cruise in the Norwegian Fjords. Great shit.

[Auric Demonocles]

Yeah, it's basically an all inclusive resort, except you don't need to fly to the Caribbean and you get to visit a couple different places.

[#]

The coast line cruises are different. Like i could see doing an Alaskan cruise cause the scenery sounds amazing. Doing the Caribbean cruises though, hows that different then just going to one of the islands?

[robc]

Email discussion of potential vacations with some friends. Cruise was discussed, I just contributed that link to the discussion.

I was already anti-cruise.

[Drake]

I've been on 2 free cruises. One courtesy of the USMC, one a prize from my wife's job.

That is sufficient cruising for this lifetime.

[Stormy Dragon]

Some of the 4,200 people on board reported that cabin carpets are soaked in urine, passengers are sleeping in tents on deck and scarce food supplies has reduced them to eating cold onion sandwiches.

What the hell is wrong with people? Oh no, the toilet's not working! Quick, lets pee on the carpet!

[R C Dean]

The Riverside DA has charged former LAPD cop Christopher Dorner, who may already be in Mexico, with murder,

Proving that he can charge somebody on pretty short notice.

Raising the question of why the cops who have been shooting up random cars haven't been charged.

[R C Dean]

LAPD pwned and likely trolled by Dorner. Grotesque overreaction has crippled the department:

Hundreds of officers are working on the Dorner case, not just responding to every credible sighting, but also protecting at least 50 families connected to the angry manifesto Dorner allegedly wrote, saying he would kill police.

Manifesto may well be a very sophisticated ploy to confuse, distract, and disperse police resources.

One small example of what happens when trust is gone is represented by the murderous rampage of former LAPD cop Chris Dorner, now hunted throughout Southern California. Dorner's online manifesto may by now have been read by millions. It has been described by the media as "rambling" yet though it may be the work of a deranged mind, it is clearly the product of an intelligent one. There is a method to his madness and he is probably using the manifesto itself to misdirect his hunters and to throw a smokescreen on his real plans.

http://pjmedia.com/richardfern.....manifesto/

[John]

He knows how the cops think and how they would handle a search like this. And they mindlessly went off just as he knew they would. They will eventually get him. But it is probably going to be a while. Meanwhile, America's second largest city goes without a police force while these retards shoot up every pickup truck they see in search for justice for their fallen brother. Pathetic.

[Juice]

Revenge does not equal justice.

[Killazontherun]

Christopher Dorner, who may already be in Mexico/i

He's not just some spoiled little rich girl.

He's not going to be anyone's million dollar baby.