Brickbat: In the Back of the Bus

greg westfall. / photo on flickr

Police have charged a 10-year-old student from Virginia's Douglas MacArthur Elementary School with brandishing a weapon. The boy showed an orange-tipped toy gun to another student while riding the bus home. The next day offiicals searched the boy's bag, found the toy and called police, who took him into custody.

Comments

[Counterfly Guard]

Hey zero tolerance means zero tolerance for a reason. Am I the ONLY person who remembers how Te'o's girlfriend died?!?

[Ted S.]

Radiation poisoning?

[Jerryskids]

Yes, zero tolerance does exist for a reason. If it were left to the teachers' discretion, one teacher might decide that a child who brings a toy to school should be told not to bring toys to school and have his toy taken away for the day while a second teacher might decide that bringing even a toy gun to school calls for some disciplinary action.

And if that first teacher is dealing with a white child while the second teacher is dealing with a non-white child, what do you think the story is going to be?

[Rich]

That's why the entire justice system has no discretion in law enforcement.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Well, in this very case the NAACP is intervening - the kid who got suspended is black. Oops.

[Almanian!]

In the end, no one wins. Therefore, perfect from the Police State perspective.

[Jerryskids]

Well, there you go - that proves my point. Would the NAACP get involved in this case if it were a white kid? I doubt it, the NAACP is probably using their discretion as to which cases they choose to pursue and that's not faaaaaaiiiirrrr! (You gotta supply the whiny intonation yourself.)

My point was that this zero-tolerance crap wasn't just thought up on a whim, just as the sentencing guidelines were not, it was a 'solution' to the problem of inequality and unfairness in the distribution of justice that perhaps created more problems than it solved.

So are school districts likely to abandon zero-tolerance and go back to allowing grown-ass teachers to use some freaking common sense? HAH! No, they're going to add some layer of highly-paid administrators to over-see the over-seers of the district policies to ensure equality and fairness.

Equality almost never means making everybody equally well-off, it means making everybody equally miserable. Hasn't zero-tolerance accomplished that?

[Jerryskids]

(And on a more personal note - the other day my 6-year old niece was playing a Curious George game on PBSKids that is supposed to help teach her counting. The game involves distributing snacks to dogs and making sure each dog has the same number of snacks. Except that the game didn't refer to this as making sure each dog had an 'equal' number of snacks - it constantly refers to it as a 'fair' number of snacks.

I made her turn that shit off and tried to explain to her that taking snacks from dogs who have more in order to give them to dogs who have less is not necessarily 'fair'. If one dog worked harder to get more snacks than another dog it is the height of *un*fairness to take his snacks away and give them to the lazy dog who didn't work for his snacks.

My point is that equality and fairness are not the same thing, but apparently there are at least some educators who are doing their damnedest to teach kids that they are. Zero-tolerance is all about equality and some people think that means fairness.)

[Almanian!]

Ugh - I'm so glad my kids are grown so I didn't have to witness this shit any more.

I still remember when my older daughter was 10 or 11 or something. I come home one day and mention I'm bringing my dad's guns home from my mom's place - so I'm buying a safe. Daughter #1 burst out crying.

"What's the matter??!!" "Guns...." My instant reaction. "WHERE WERE YOU TOLD GUNS ARE BAD." "School....." Fortunately, we were able to undo the programming (one trip to the gun range - or as we refer to it, "the FUN range").

But godDAMN the indoctrination is real, and sometimes subtle/sometimes not...but it's there. Fuckers.

[AlmightyJB]

I remember my kid coming home from elementry school. It was after Exxon Valdez but not right after. She comes home with a picture she made with an oil tanker leaking and the message to stop polluting the ocean. As if Exxons purpose was to go around spilling their oil everywhere on purpose cause they were evil. Freakin BS.

[SIV]

it constantly refers to it as a 'fair' number of snacks.

Is Will Wilkinson working for PBSKids now?

[Paul.]

Story doesn't say he was black. It says he was African-American.

He could be Dutch.

But on a serious note, I have postulated before, and I'll say it again, this country's government is solving its racism problem by merely mistreating everyone equally.

I guess luckily, we have some old dinosaur institutions such as the NAACP which will shine the light on these abuses when the abused are black... I guess...

[Professional Target]

Story doesn't say he was black. It says he was African-American.
He could be Dutch.

I have an old friend who had to go to court in the late '70s to get universities to accept him as African-American. His parents are naturalized U.S. citizens who were Boers.

[Bill Foster]

Similar situation, a friend of mine was born and raised in South Africa but looks Scandinavian.

He applied to college as African-American, but didn't have the $$$ to pursue a case after being denied racial status.

[Loyce-Meyers]

my neighbor's aunt makes $79 hourly on the computer. She has been out of a job for nine months but last month her paycheck was $12494 just working on the computer for a few hours. Read more on this site... http://www.ace60.com

[Question of Auban]

Meanwhile Obama is murding innocent people with REAL weapons and is not being charged.

[John Galt]

Being King has it's privileges.

[Ted S.]

Yes, being King has it is privileges.

[Sy]

Yes, being a grammar fag has its privileges.

[Ted S.]

Yes, being a humorless bastard has its privileges.

[Jerryskids]

Irregardless, this kind of stuff literally makes my head assplode.

[Almanian!]

That literally made me pee myself. I laughed so hard my sides split, too. Literally.

[Pi Guy]

When I was a kid, I remember using sticks as guns. I wonder what the over/under is on some poor kid's being rung up on charges of "brandishing a weapon" for playing cops and robbers or army on the playground for pointing a branch at another kid?

[Bee Tagger]

Careful, I don't know what the statute of limitations is on brandishing a fake weapon.

[Heroic Mulatto]

FAKE? Why you could bludgeon someone to death with that stick!

[SugarFree]

Boy, 7, suspended for throwing imaginary grenade

Who cares about branch control when the threat of imaginary grenades is quite real?

[Grenator Bole]

This is what happens when emasculated, liberal gay-wads run the world.

"Gay-wads" is hyphenated isn't it?

[Almanian!]

Yes its.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Okay. Suspended. The school is withing their right to suspend a child for not obeying their rule, however retarded their rule may be. The kid in the article was arrested.

Arrested for what? Who passed a law that toys were illegal when I wasn't looking?

[Francisco d Anconia]

*within

[Paul.]

That's not the question. The question is, who are the cops who show up to the call, let alone put cuffs on a 7 yr old for playing games on playground?

The stupid is everywhere in government. All the way from the executive down to the petty clerk.

[JW]

Look. The ARM only has our best interests at heart. Man's violent tendencies need to be suppressed.

A couple of sessions in a prototype autodoc ought to correct those incorrect thoughts.

[Brandybuck]

This news story has got me paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?

[sarcasmic]

Sticks?

http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/.....inger-gun/

Try making an L and rotating it 90 degrees.

[Jimbo]

Like this?

*
*
*******

[Jimbo]

That is not how I typed it! Damned varmints.

[VG Zaytsev]

I wonder what the over/under is on some poor kid's being rung up on charges of "brandishing a weapon"..

Happens all the time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....81423.html

The new over under is how long till one of the heroes fears for his life and has to put down a 7yo waiving a gun shaped pizza slice.

[Almanian!]

Oh sure, be glib. Have you seen what an assault peanut butter and jelly sammich can do in the hands of a trained terrorist kid?

I hope YOU don't have to confront one someday. BANG BANG!

[mad libertarian guy]

There was already a kid who was disciplined for throwing a make believe grenade in to a make believe box that had make believe evil powers as he saved the world in a make believe game.

[Bones]

Let's also remember to support the troops as we send this kid home. I'm offended that you don't have your yellow ribbon proudly displayed, mlg!

[db]

I had a teacher in HS who I maintained contact with for a few years after graduating. He had a young son and he and his wife had decided their kid would grow up a pacifist with no 'violent' toys, no cap guns, nerf guns, etc. He told me later that hey realized this was a fools errand when the son resorted to using sticks as guns for games. You can't control kids to such a degree unless you want unthinking, completely dependent morons as a result.

[mad libertarian guy]

You can't control kids to such a degree unless you want unthinking, completely dependent morons as a result.

To the statists in the Industrial Educational Complex, this is a feature, not a bug. It's EXACTLY what they want.

[AlmightyJB]

Did you play "smear the queer"? I wonder if that game still exist?

[Fist of Etiquette]

If they end up trying that kid as an adult, imagine how stupid he's going to feel telling all the other convicts what he's in for. What a dumbass.

[Counterfly Guard]

What, attempted murder isn't so bad. Just means you're dumb but your heart is in the right place.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Attempted? You're dumb. If you want to off someone, you don't put your cards on the table. Don't pull out your gat first, giving everyone time to act reasonably to stop you. If it was me, that other dude would have had a pretend bullet in his head before he knew what didn't really hit him, and that gun would have been wiped clean of prints and be floating at the top of a very deep lake because it's fucking plastic and plastic floats.

[Counterfly Guard]

If it was you, you'd have been arrested for being a creepy old guy on a bus full of ten year olds.

Again.

[Old Man With Candy]

That's my shtick. And it's copyrighted.

[Almanian!]

"shtick" ....heh heh

[PS]

AND creating a nuisance!

[Cyto]

Ok, you can come back down with the other fellows on the group W bench...

[bomb everyone]

"He was suspended 10 days with a recommendation for expulsion. Gilbert said school officials have said a video recording made inside the bus showed no flashing of the toy gun or alarmed reactions from other students, though at one point it appears a group of students is looking at something."

To be guilty of "brandishing a weapon," you need to a) have an actual weapon, and b) brandish it, not simply let someone see it. California Penal Code: http://www.wklaw.com/brandishi.....ia-pc-417/

[bomb everyone]

Looks like VA includes "objects similar in appearance (to a firearm)," but stipulates that reasonable fear of being shot or injured is induced.

They should sue for wrongful arrest.

[Ted S.]

The problem is that the pigs are always in fear of being shot, and the courts accept this at face value.

[Counterfly Guard]

Hey, the article failed to mention that the gun also turned into a dangerous assault robot.

[BlueBook]

What if you don't have a gun, but you make gun noises? And is there a stiffer penalty for the manly "bang bang" than for the sissy "pew pew"?

[Counterfly Guard]

We'll see who's a sissy when you're crying for your mommy after my plasma caster takes off your feet!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Pew pew means a silencer or perhaps surpressor. It doesn't add to the charges now, but if Feinstein's bill goes through...

[BlueBook]

Valid points, but now I'm thinking the law might extend even to the loading/chambering sounds, ie "snik, chit-chik" for a semi auto pistol, or "chunk-chunk" for pump action shotgun.

In any event, from now on I'm saving one imaginary round for myself; I ain't goin back to imaginary prison again!

[Rich]

"Your Honor, I swear I was just saying 'Tsk, tsk'!"

[Clich? Bandit]

pew pew means nothing of the sort. Pew pew is for a nondescript weapon with photons or charged particles as the projectiles. Silencer...I am dealing with neophytes here. Silencers go "pfft pfft".

C'MON, I am literally going to die over here.

[sarcasmic]

What if he makes sprinkler noises?

"Spic spic spic spic spic spic CHINK nigga nigga nigga nigga..."

[Almanian!]

Mighty white of you to note that.

[Francisco d Anconia]

RACIST!

[Paul.]

"pew pew" means it's some kind of high tech plasma rifle. Moar dangerous!

[Suthenboy]

"Police have charged..."

Uh...the police dont charge, the DA does.

[Counterfly Guard]

It takes too long to type out The Law Enforcement Industrial Complex every time.

[Jimbo]

Simply type LEIC (pronounced LEAK...as in "I'm taking a leak on your hear OR I'm pissing all over you, you little shit!)

[Jimbo]

on your "hear?" That's head!

[Paul.]

That was the Old America, this is the New America.

[Longtorso]

He was being a boy. That is a crime.

[Counterfly Guard]

Lucky it wasn't in Iceland, they'd have put him to death for that crime.

[PS]

Naw, doncha know they've got pills to fix that nowadays?

[crashland]

Penises look like guns and even shoot stuff. Therefore zero tolerance requires that all of the boys undergo a simple procedure to turn their offending genitalia outside in.

[buybuydandavis]

" with brandishing a weapon. "

A toy gun is not a weapon. A toy gun with an orange tip cannot be mistaken for a weapon.

I must be getting old. This stuff if just too wacky to be believed, but somehow adults (all adults in primary authority positions of government, no less), can prosecute a 10 year old for having a toy gun, and then assign him a probation officer.

The final touch of idiocy was having his suspension reduced because he has ADD. ADD is now officially a cure for being a threat to others.

[Cyto]

His mom kinda buys in on the stupid. She defends her boy saying,"he didn't know he was doing anything wrong." Well, I still don't know that he was doing anything wrong. Neither does anyone with a lick of common sense.

[sarcasmic]

Common Sense is dead.

Here's a link to the eulogy.

http://www.aprillorier.com/200.....sense.html

[VG Zaytsev]

A toy gun with an orange tip cannot be mistaken for a weapon.

Clearly, you're not a cop.

[Almanian!]

Hey, they have pink real guns. How long before some enterprising criminal paints an orange ring on the end of his assault clipazine death cannon Glockenspiel? HUH! HOW LONGG?:!!!123re

[Francisco d Anconia]

Brandishing an orange tipped toy gun anywhere near an officer of the law will, almost certainly, get your dog shot.

[jesse.in.mb]

There are so few guns in Korea that they don't bother. One of the expats where I lived organized a pellet gun assassin game. It involved a bunch of foreigners hunting each other over the period of about a month per year. The locals were concerned, but there was never any police involvement.

[jesse.in.mb]

*don't bother with orange tips

The caffeine still hasn't hit.

[PS]

When we went to Greece a few months ago, my kid took a large toy pistol in his Spongebob backpack without my knowing. Fortunately, no one gave a shit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And now look at the situation the Greeks are in.

[Counterfly Guard]

Should have said position.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I PURPOSELY DIDN'T.

[Counterfly Guard]

I don't even know who you are anymore.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I WANT ALL THE JOKES FOR MYSELF.

ALSO I THINK THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY CAPS LOCK.

[PS]

It's not broken if you are thinking in shouts.

[BlueBook]

And if he were thinking in Russian, it would be in Cyrillic all caps.

[Almanian!]

If he were less of a statist fuck, it'd be printing in An Caps...

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, it was Greece. Your kid was just being prudent.

Even the dogs don't give a fuck.

[PS]

Well, we got on the plane in Prague.

[fish_remote]

It's a good thing that dog doesn't have a toy gun with an orange plastic tip!

[Cyto]

The article is pretty scant on details of the police/prosecutor's actions. It quotes his mom as saying he stood accused of brandishing a weapon, but not that this is the criminal charge. Could be disorderly conduct or some such nonsense.

The idea that an elementary school kid bringing a toy, any toy, to school is somehow a criminal offense is so over-the-top ridiculous that it is hard to comprehend. Even if he had hit another kid over the head with the stupid plastic gun it shouldn't ever become a matter for the police.

Everyone involved in this case from the bottom to the top should be terminated immediately for criminal stupidity. And you know what? This is one case where "for the kids" actually applies. Get rid of all the idiot bureaucrats who think it is OK to treat a 10 year old like a criminal for having a plastic toy gun in his backpack for the kids.

[Ted S.]

Could be disorderly conduct or some such nonsense.

I get this horrible image of the police beating him while he's already on the ground, with them screaming STOP RESISTING!!

[gaijin]

STOP RESISTING!!

Imagine if cops were electrical engineers!

[Pi Guy]

Inductance is futile.

[fish_remote]

Yeah....capacitance just doesn't have the same ring to it!

[DrAwkward]

They are in the wrong field to be conducting themselves this way.

[buybuydandavis]

"Could be disorderly conduct or some such nonsense."

Yes, a 10 year old boy on a school bus engaging in "disorderly conduct". Who would believe it?

Call the SWAT team! For the Children!

[PS]

One of the things that changed my thinking a long, long time back was an essay I read in an economics class. Best class I ever took. The class examined issues, like criminal justice, war on drugs, etc, and presented essays from opposite sides then discussed them.

Anyway, the one about the criminal justice system discussed the fact that jails are filled with "rabble". Police rarely, basically never catch real criminals. They mostly catch really stupid people with low impulse control and that wears on them after a while. This is why they begin to treat ordinary citizens who commit small infractions like actual criminals they never get to catch. Arresting a 10-year-old is just an extreme example of this.

[sarcasmic]

yep

[John]

All true. I know a fair number of criminal defense attorneys. They will to a man tell you their clients can be broken down into three categories. The first is about 20% of them and these are basically good people who made some kind of a mistake. They got desperate and wrote a bunch of hot checks or got drunk and got into an accident. These people pay their debt and never get in trouble again.

The second type is also about 20%. These people are actual no shit sociopaths criminals. Some are violent. All have absolutely no conscience or interest in living a lawful life or working for a living. These are the kinds of people who would rather steal a dollar than work for it or even have it given to them. These are the people that prisons are actually made for.

The other 60% are the stupid people you describe above. And as the criminal justice state has increased, more and more of these people are caught up in it. Fifty years ago they would have been screwups but generally staid out of trouble. Now, thanks to t he explosion of laws and police, they spend their lives in and out of the criminal justice system.

[sarcasmic]

All have absolutely no conscience or interest in living a lawful life or working for a living. These are the kinds of people who would rather steal a dollar than work for it or even have it given to them. These are the people that prisons are actually made for.

Politicians?

[John]

Shreek, only less retarded.

[sarcasmic]

No society can exist unless the laws are respected to a certain degree. The safest way to make laws respected is to make them respectable. When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law. These two evils are of equal consequence, and it would be difficult for a person to choose between them.
-Bastiat

The purpose of arbitrary rules such as these is to identify those who choose their moral sense over the law. In the mind of those with authoritah, those who do not blindly obey are criminals.

[VG Zaytsev]

There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted ? and you create a nation of law-breakers ?

[mad libertarian guy]

The purpose of arbitrary rules such as these is to identify those who choose their moral sense over the law. In the mind of those with authoritah, those who do not blindly obey are criminals.

It's a way for statists to force others to adopt their sense of morality, or else go to jail.

It's fucking sick.

[Brandybuck]

I've got a friend on facebook trying to defend the school and police over this. I'm sorry, but there is no rational sane defense for this behavior. The child did not point the toy at anyone, he did not "brandish" it at anyone, he did not hurt anyone's feelings with it, he didn't even engage in any patriarchal competitive ritual with it, all he did was show it to someone else.

And as for that whiny little girl who turned him in because she was scared, isn't it time we revoked her mom and dad/mom/partner's parenting license?

[John]

How can your friend defend them calling the cops and having him arrested? Take the thing away from him. Tell him never to bring it back. That would be stupid. But at least it wouldn't be sadistic and cruel.

[sarcasmic]

If he was arrested then he is a criminal. Criminals are not human. So it's OK to be sadistic and cruel.

[Brandybuck]

The kid was also black. Imagine the future employment prospects of having a rap sheet at the age of ten.

[Francisco d Anconia]

This is definitely going on his "permanent record."

[Jimbo]

double secret probation too!

[Suthenboy]

You and I have different definitions for the word 'friend'.

I would never treat such a person with anything but contempt.

[Brandybuck]

He is an okay person so long as he doesn't open his mouth about politics. Actually, he's not much different than most people in that regard.

[Nuked]

I pretty much characterize most of my friends this way. Love the guys but their views on politics are something of the exact opposite to mine. That's Canada for you though.

It is tough finding youngins (20-30 year old) that believe in liberty up here. Most young people completely and unwaveringly trust government as long as the libs are in charge up here.

[neoteny]

Today's Vancouver Sun says differently: the highest level of "trust" in politicians (Justin Trudeau being on top) doesn't reach 40% in British Columbia. Apparently it is quite different in Toronto.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Prediction: No A.M. Links. Thanks a lot, President Douchebags.

[Counterfly Guard]

Don't blame me, I voted for Obama.

[PS]

We will all pretend you were first anyway.

[SIV]

Inside the Beltway it is the most holy day of the year.

[Ted S.]

I celebrate Calvin Coolidge and William Henry Harrison, the latter because he had no time to screw the people since he died only a month into office.

[John]

What kind of a cruel sick person wants to see a ten your old kid get arrested? These people are just sadistic.

[Rich]

They just want to keep him from going down the wrong path, John. Some day he'll *thank* them.

[John]

I am sure the shock of being arrested and thrown into juvenile hall with older, actual criminal kids will set him on the right path.

[sarcasmic]

The kid is already a lost cause. He showed that he has his own sense of right and wrong, as opposed to blindly obeying authority. He's just a criminal, and it's only a matter of time before he is sentenced to life in prison. I mean, he disobeyed. What else is there to say?

[Cyto]

They just want to keep him from going down the wrong path, John. Some day he'll *thank* them.

This was the exact excuse that prosecutor used when pressing charges of manufacturing child pornography against that 12 year old girl for "sexting" pictures of herself. He said he had to protect her. No crap, he really said that. And the amazing thing? He went to work the next day. No public tar-and-feathering. No ridicule in the stockade. Just right back to work.

So, who's fault is it now? (hint: who didn't toss these types out on their ear?)

[PS]

Well on a more positive note, a VA school that caught a lot of flack for making a newly purchased by PTA playground off limits relented and removed the police tape and armed guards.

[John]

http://www.ocregister.com/opin.....banks.html

Interesting article. It makes points that have been made before but can't be made enough. Basically the protards are just beards for Bernanke to loot the country for selected cronies.

[Palin's Buttplug]

You sound like a sniveling little Liz Warren with your "prosecute the banks!" populism.

The law is clear and the subprime economy was destined for failure.

[John]

Shut up retard. You are fascist little monkey and part of a fascist movement that is looting the country.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Go back to your little Occupy Wall Street pals and all your "bankster" protests.

[John]

That is right skreek, stealing for Wall Street and assassinating American teenagers. It is who you are.

[fish_remote]

Shreek....don't you have "HIGH FINANCE" to participate in today.......and when you're done could you drag those piles of old newspapers out to the curb??

[John]

Why don't go explain how banging 13 year old whores is perfectly okay provided a Democrat does it, you sick little retard.

[fish_remote]

He'll just reply that some dumbshit senator wore a diaper once....

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know who else didn't post A.M. Links on Presidents Day?

[PS]

Matthew Feeney?

[Counterfly Guard]

Jimmy Dean?

[DJF]

Sniveling Statests who follow the commands of government to take the day off?

[Pi Guy]

Statists gonna state

[Ted S.]

Adolphe Menjou?

[fish_remote]

I always thought he was the guy who invented vermouth.

[sarcasmic]

My mom?

[Mongo]

I have a good Krauthammer drone-fellatio column to post.

[Fist of Etiquette]

But you didn't, making you just like Hitler and sarc's mom.

[Ice Nine]

Washington and Lincoln?

[Almanian!]

Every person before the advent of Teh Innertoobs?

[Mike M.]

Nobody, since there's no such thing as "Presidents Day".

[Rich]

P.M. Dawn?

[sarcasmic]

P.M. Dawn - You Got Me Floating (Tribute to Jimi Hendrix)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bKmZ9zi154

[Rich]

Nice. Clapton on the same album.

[db]

Is that what it is? Cripes, who actually gets this off as a holiday?

[DJF]

I am surprised they did not suspend him for going to Douglas MacArthur Elementary School.

I mean, Douglas MacArthur, he used guns didn't he? They should suspend the whole school.

[Slammer]

99% of the school staff and parents don't even know who MacArthur is

[Mongo]

One of my anti-war, leftist friend's middle name is MacArthur -- it really bugs the shit out of him.

[Suthenboy]

"One of my anti-war, leftist friend's middle name is MacArthur -- it really bugs the shit out of him."

I respect you Mongo, but I am calling bullshit here. No such person could dress themselves or breath on their own.

[db]

If it really bothered him he would have it changed. What he really wants is and excuse to bitch and complain and show off how super liberal-sensitive he is. The name is just a prop.

[Ted S.]

MacArthur's school is melting in the dark
All that sweet green icing flowing down....

[Brandybuck]

+1 obscure cultural reference

[Palin's Buttplug]

The resurrection of Knut: Model of celebrity polar bear, made using his actual fur goes on display two years after he died a heart attack

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z2LGI00BBK

[generic Brand]

Fame fix: Knut loved the public as much as they loved him, something which became an addiction and led to him being branded 'psycho bear' by experts

So it's the "bear" who's psycho and not the MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE OBSESSED WITH A FUCKING BEAR????

[nicole, dirty poet laureate]

I think the psycho is the one who doesn't think baby polar bear was the cutest thing ever.

Isn't that a sign of being a future serial killer or something?

[jesse.in.mb]

Is "the children especially loved him, which made him a pedobear" too obvious?

[nicole, dirty poet laureate]

Du bist mein Sonnenschein...

HALLO KNUT

Seriously though that's gross. Poor Knut.

[db]

I think they should have made him into a quadrotor polar drone bear like that one guy did with his cat. They could fly him around the zoo to be adored by all the people. Come to think of it, someone ought to do that with Lenin's corpse, too.

[SIV]

Meanwhile, all three deputies remain on regular duty.

[Mongo]

An anti-authoritarian with Down Syndrome -- that's pretty bad-ass.

[John]

We have an authoritarian with Down Syndrome, Shreek

[mad libertarian guy]

Don't insult those with down syndrome like that, John. That's fucking cruel.

[mr simple]

A police spokesperson said Saylor died after resisting arrest by three deputies at a the Regal Cinemas Westview Stadium 16 in Frederick.

Resisting arrest is a main cause of death now.

[Almanian!]

Then STOP RESISTING! Duh!

[fish_remote]

Hey Dunphy? Would you care to regale us about how agencies modern, scientific hiring practices have done such a phenomenal job of weeding out the retards and psychopaths again!

You can get someone out of a theater by just turning off the projector and all the lights. I wonder if the extra five minutes saved by not doing this and killing the kid makes up for the years of CYA paperwork?

[Suthenboy]

Sarcasmic - "The purpose of arbitrary rules such as these is to identify those who choose their moral sense over the law. In the mind of those with authoritah, those who do not blindly obey are criminals."

That is it in a nutshell.

I know a person who blindly obeys, supports Obama, and defends this kind of nonsense. I also know from the things she has actually done in the past that she has no moral compass.

[sarcasmic]

This is why I do not believe that drug laws at the federal level will ever change.
With a simple urine test you can identify someone as a person who does not blindly obey authority, and then treat them accordingly.
That is the sole purpose of drug laws.

[Libertymike]

Not the sole purpose-are you overlooking money and chicks?

[sarcasmic]

You confuse drug laws with performing music.

[Not a Libertarian]

Ah ha, hush that fuss
Everybody move to the back of the bus
Do you wanna bump and slump with us
We the type of people make the club get crunk

[Jerryskids]

Is this the morning links?

Pacman is a greedy, unpatriotic bastard.

[fish_remote]

Somewhere T o n y S o c k p u p p e t quietly weeps.

[Almanian!]

One of my guitars gently weeps. I never play that one since it started.

[fish_remote]

Give it time. I eventually stop crying even on those days with no a.m. links.

[Bones]

He's Filipino, so I don't think he has any need to be patriotic to the US that takes 39.6% of his money without taking any of Marquez's punches for him.

Hell, I am American and I got mad when Turbo Tax told me my effective tax rates was 1.63%. If they took 39.6%, I'd probably start shooting those responsible.

[SugarFree]

No morning links, no peace!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Time to dust off the Occupy Reason t-shirt, ball cap and coffee mug I bought at cafepress.com.

[Sevo]

"No morning links!"
The hell, you say!

Newspaper surprised people don't want to buy something they can't drive more than 5 feet!
"Electric cars battle for hearts, wallets"
Yes, marvel at the amount of tax money being used to subsidize these worthless toys! Laugh at those who have 'done the math', figuring they're getting 'free stuff'!
Weep at the stupidity of the entire program...
http://www.sfgate.com/news/art.....286781.php

[mad libertarian guy]

FTA:

Elizabeth Ferber just leased her first Leaf for her commute from her home in Albany to her job in San Francisco.
"It takes off like a Porsche," Ferber said.

Sounds to me like A) someone has never driven a Porsche, or B) someone is full of shit.

But with all of the subsidies and giveaways from the state, a new Leaf can cost as little as just $18,800! Let's absolutely subsidize more well off people so that they can feel better about their use of energy. It sounds like a great idea that just can't have any unintended consequences.

[Almanian!]

I don't know about a Leaf, but some electric vehicles do launch like a motherfucker, cause electric motors have ALL their torque available right from 0 RPM, unlike an internal combustion engine.

So even a relatively weak electric motor sometimes seems pretty strong right off launch.

OTOH, Porsche? I don't think so. Come on - she's a chick.

[Apatheist ?_??]

How do these people think their electricity is produced?

[mad libertarian guy]

Unicorn farts.

I have a friend who is sympathetic to some environmentalist concerns, but is also a realist in that he understands that alternative energies are, for now, a pie in the sky until the market deems that we should move in that direction.

His biggest objection to electric cars are that THEY ARE POWERED BY FUCKING COAL, which, if you go along with AGW, you understand is the dirtiest and most harmful of all of the fossil fuels. So what you're doing by driving an electric car is replacing burning a reasonably bad FF (gas) with using the worst FF possible (coal) in order to supply your car with the energy it needs.

[db]

If these assholes were honest about wanting to prevent global warming they would stop driving and doing things that burn fossil fuels. But they're not, so they want everyone else to join them along the path to poverty rather than demonstrate the truth of the matter, which is that higher energy usage is necessary to support better standards of living. Are we as efficient as we can possibly be? No. Are we as efficient as it currently make economic sense to be? Pretty close. Fuck with those market signals by implementing mandatory energy use and efficiency standards and everything becomes a lot less efficient, and more unfair.

[crashland]

The earth's climate changes. It's awesome that humans are able to adapt that environment to meet our needs.

I'll believe that climate change is an emergency worth impoverishing the world when those banging the alarm bell move into huts powered solely by renewable energy. When they no longer fly or drive or connect in anyway to the power grid which derives most electricity from coal. Nah, I'll just laugh at them as they live in filth, I'll still not give a shit about climate change.

[sarcasmic]

J.C. is taking the day off I see. Pussy.

[Almanian!]

Hey, even Jesus needs a break once in a while.

[Libertymike]

Yeah, what did he do between 12 and 30?

[Almanian!]

ARRRRRRRRRMY training, sir!!!

[Ted S.]

Get your JC fix

[Eduard van Haalen]

The Obama Justice Department wants to send some homeschooling parents back to Germany, denying their claims of political asylum, despite the fact that the face persecution for teaching their kids at home. The Obama administration says that anti-homeschooling laws help teach tolerance and multiculteralism.

http://reason.com/archives/201.....nt_3554972

[SugarFree]

Goddamn, Lindy West. Hating on Ladies' Night by pretending you get hit on is just pathetic. No one non-imaginary wants you fuck you. You smell like fried chicken in the worst possible way imaginable.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Maybe she had the good fortune to be in a bar on a night the local frat "went-a-hoggin'"?

[mr simple]

She's upset because they're always "at capacity" when she shows up.

[fish_remote]

She's upset because they're always "at capacity" when she shows up.

All by herself...

[Almanian!]

Uh oh! Someone's gonna get kicked outta the club with talk like this:

A. Everyone knows this and

B. The thing that you're missing about Ladies Night is that as a single girl, I do like knowing that on Ladies Night the guys there are actually looking for ladies...if there's anyplace I don't get offended to be hit on it's a club. And I don't feel the implied contract, either- Ladies Night or no, I still exercise my right not to go home with some guy just because he paid attention to me. It's a two way street, and not every woman feels that way. This sounds like a plain hatred of clubs issue, because the conduct is exactly the same even on a regular night...

lulz! god bless Jezebel

[Apatheist ?_??]

The problem lies in coercion, and coercion can be subtle.

When women enter a space like Ladies' Night, in high heels and in possession of breasts, the implied contract is that they are willing to be picked up in exchange for minor discounts.

Free drinks and no cover is coercion apparently. She has a very low opinion of women's decision making. So sexist.

[fish_remote]

When women enter a space like Ladies' Night, in high heels and in possession of breasts, the implied contract is that they are willing to be picked up in exchange for minor discounts.

Goddamn you stupid fat cow you're just figuring this out now?

You shouldn't go to clubs. You probably shouldn't be out of the house without the other tard minders on your multi person tether!

[Almanian!]

Self-professed feminists are uniquely able to divine "Women?" in the collectivist sense as both awesome superiors to men who are completely independent...and yet utterly at the mercy of teh paternalizzm!!11! and institutional sexiszzzm!!111!

And - no - this does not cause them Cognitive Dissonance. "Uniquely able", as noted above.

[Art Vandelay]

"You smell like fried chicken in the worst possible way imaginable."

I can't imagine a bad fried chicken smell.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Where Spanx-less gals can congregate and drink and gab and not worry about wandering fingers penetrating us on the dance floor because we were silly enough to leave the house with hair and legs on?

Puberty was just Phase One of my long-con to acquire 2-3 watery gin & tonics and a finger in my buttcrack!

Well apparently men are constantly putting their fingers in her buttcrack. I imagine that sniffing your fingers afterwards would be a bad fried chicken smell.

[mad libertarian guy]

FTA:

In case it isn't clear, because this argument comes up every time women dare object to being objectified, there is nothing wrong with men and women having casual sex. There is nothing wrong with men hitting on women, if it's done respectfully. There is nothing wrong with objectification, even, if it's consensual. The problem lies in coercion, and coercion can be subtle.

When women enter a space like Ladies' Night, in high heels and in possession of breasts, the implied contract is that they are willing to be picked up in exchange for minor discounts.

Uh, these things are not alike. If women are freely entering in to this space, they AREN'T BEING FUCKING COERCED, YOU DUMB FUCKING BITCH.

If you don't like the concept of ladies night, DON'T FUCKING GO. If you;re intent on having a space that is "safe" for ladies, open a ladies only bar. Except that you can't because of LAWS YOU FULLY FUCKING SUPPORT. So fuck the fuck off bitch. If you had any respect whatsoever for property rights, you'd have the ability to have all the Fat and Ugly Bitches Only establishment you want. But you don't, so you can't. So shut the fuck up.

[db]

There have to be legitimate ways to open a ladies-only bar by making anyone else feel very uncomfortable being there. Lots of places do that sort of thing.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"There is nothing wrong with men hitting on women, if it's done respectfully."

This I'd like to see.

"Good evening, ma'am, I have been studying the works of Simone de Beauvoir, but as a man I cannot understand the profundity of what she is saying. Perhaps a wise woman like yourself can explain these things to me? We can go to my pad, which has the necessary study facilities."

[Pope Jimbo]

Please, please, please, don't tell her that we outlawed Ladies Night here in MN. (and actually have our dept. of Human rights cracking down on scofflaws)

Any bets on whether she (even after correctly figuring out that there ain't no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to bar specials) still thinks that free government contraceptive goodies are free?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Remember how Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs were portrayed as innocent victims of American injustice until revisionist historians, of liberal sympathy, provided convincing evidence that Hiss and the Rosenbergs were actually guilty?

Now the same thing is happening with the anarchists convicted in the Haymarket bombings in the 1880s. Seems that these anarchists may have been murderers just as the jury said, despite historical "consensus" that they were framed by hysterical capitalists.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Forgot the link

[SIV]

built a scale-model diorama in his basement. Cardboard cutouts represented buildings. Plastic green soldiers stood in for police and protesters.

This will get you a "C" in 4th grade history but it is what tenured professors actually do in their ivy-covered Ivory Towers.

[juris imprudent]

Damn, Jezebel and NatRev links from the restless commentariat.

Its going to be a long Monday.

[Caleb Turberville]

OT: http://www.avclub.com/articles.....oln,92618/

But, for some reason, this reviewer hates the Tea Party, and he wants to share it with you in this completely unrelated review.

[Acosmist]

It's the avclub. They are political idiots and have to remind you all the time that they have Approved Values.

[Caleb Turberville]

There's some things I like about their site, but they are a completely different political breed compared to their more sophisticated sister The Onion.

[The Late P Brooks]

"Electric cars battle for hearts, wallets"

"I'm so rich and cool, I never actually have to be anywhere on time."

[The Late P Brooks]

You smell like fried chicken in the worst possible way imaginable.

Happy hour = free buffalo wings. She's got that orange sauce all over her face, and half way up to her elbows. It take a heap o' scrubbin' to get that off.

[Almanian!]

Why would you want that off her? It's her most redeeming feature.

"Mmmm....you smell like chicken wings again. You know how Ilike that, since it covers up yo stank...mmmmmm...."

[The Late P Brooks]

Ladies' night, happy hour, same thing.

[Almanian!]

A friend and I worked for a company based in Butler, PA back in the late 80's. There was a bar there we used to frequent - forget the name - they had "Happy Hour" drink specials at the same time they offered....FREE TACO BAR!

We could never figure that out - why were they at the same time? Most places offered the free munchies at a different time than Happy Hour. And usually not right after work (i.e. dinner time) like this place.

We'd have drank twice as much if the specials were split up. But the way it was, we got dinner, had a couple beers and shot some pool, and went home. For less than 1/2 price. And we never visited the bar at any other time of the day.

Dumb - but wonderful while it lasted.

[db]

There was a place in Cranberry Township (south of Butler) that used to have a coinciding Happy Hour and Free Pizza hour on Fridays. I think the idea was to get people to stick around longer.

[jesse.in.mb]

Oh there's a place near us that has (or possibly had, I haven't checked recently) 1/2 off drinks and appetizers on Friday nights. It's a ladies night because there's a male belly dancer in addition to the female one they have other nights. The food is pretty tasty and the drinks are strong. It's a great time.

[db]

Follow Meeee!"

[Almanian!]

To paraphrase Uncle Ted, his face looks like a mid-sixties T-Bird, a mid-sixties T-Bird, a mid-sixties T-Bird...

[Shocked]

So I guess it is also now no longer OK for kids to emulate our everyday heros, the cops. Since cops carry guns, acting like a cop in anyway would only show that you are, at least, implying that you have some sort of gun.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

these policies and the school officials/police connection can get incredibly petty.

i had a school official call the police (me) because some kid ignited a modified lighter at a darkened assembly in the gym. basically, the kid modified the lighter, so it would make a flame about 2" long.

big whoop

and he lit it in the darkened assembly causing a few ooh's and aah's, but no risk of stampede death a la schenck.

he wanted the kid charged with... wait for it... ARSON.

not only was it legally insufficient. it was ridiculous. i told the school to handle it internally, that the police would not be taking a report. but he seriously wanted a report and an ARREST

otoh, they don't call on most first offense mj cases. they just document and handle it internally, which is nice. despite legalized mj, it's still illegal for teens to possess it

and when i explained the legal insufficiency of the case for arson, the VP was insistent that maybe i could charge the kid with some sort of reckless burning or disorderly or some such kludge. he REALLY wanted the kid arrested, which just boggles my mind. for igniting a modified lighter at an assembly.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

fortunately, at least around here, they don't call for airsofts (which look JUST like real guns) or red tipped guns, but do call for actual guns.

charging a 10 yr old is problematic anyway. in many jurisdictions, that is below the age where they are presumed capable of forming criminal intent, and thus can only be charged if that hurdle is overcome (iow not likely). i had a 10 yr old go apeshit and punch a teacher in the face and he wasn't charged for that reason. the criminal justice system is really not the place for a 10 yr old

[Paul.]

Alexandria school officials defended the actions at the elementary school, saying they were following local policies and state laws.

No comment necessary.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

and we get people crying for MORE of these stupid laws and policies. just look at some of the idiotic, overbroad and unconstitutional tripe we see under the umbrella of "anti-bullying' laws.

[WenkDenk]

Sometimes you jsut gotta throw your hands up in the air, like you jsut dont caRE!

http://www.AnonPlanet.da.bz

[LTC(ret) John]

It is bitching all the way down.

[sarcasmic]

They're in hibernation. Soon as there is a Republican in the White House they will emerge from their long sleep and resume their mating display.

[LTC(ret) John]

They are in dormant phase right now - watch for emergence, possibly in late 2016.

[mad libertarian guy]

"...anti-war, leftist..."

Do these still exist?

They never existed to begin with. They're simply TEAM players who show up to bitch about something when Team RED is in charge.

[Almanian!]

Bitching all the way down has it is privileges for all intensive purposes. It's a doggy dog world, and flustrating, after all.

[Ice Nine]

I would of said that if I could of thought of it.

[jettblackpope]

hold me closer, Tony Danza

[Francisco d Anconia]

You, my friend, need to start towing the lion.

[Clich? Bandit]

does towing the lion have privileges?

[AlmightyJB]

He can't becausd he's wrapped up like a douch in the middle of the night.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Just like membership.

[fish_remote]

.....resume their mating display.

Yes! How I've missed the constant display of red, swollen hindquarters!