A.M. Links: Hacking Drones, Dope Busts Kids Out of College, Asset Forfeiture for Everything

• 

  Antonio Zugaldia

  Drones aren't just creepy and homicide-y; the Government Accountability Office frets that they're vulnerable to crashes and to being taken over by hackers.

• Combine federal dominance of financial aid for college with federal phobia of all things drug-related, and you have a body of students effectively barred from higher education.
• The Supreme Court agreed to hear another challenge to campaign finance laws, potentially further expanding protections for free speech within the world of politics.
• The federal government spent more, salary-wise, on public officials doing union work on the clock in 2011 than during any year since at least 2002.
• The New York Times is shrinking, shrinking, shrinking … and putting the Boston Globe up for sale.
• Google Glasses promise to be powerful, innovative — and butt ugly. A few will use them, while the rest of us have to look at them. But, will that make a difference in a world in which pajamas are worn to the supermarket?
• Hawaii is considering imposing asset forfeiture for petty misdemeanors because— Oh, c'mon. They're not even pretending to be anything other than thieves anymore.

Have a news tip for us? Send it to: [e-mail].

Follow Reason 24/7 on Twitter: @reason247

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hawaii is considerig imposing asset forfeiture for petty misdemeanors because-

It’s a blue state that needs money. Book em, Dano.

[Counterfly Guard]

Miss, I’m going to have to charge you with being too sexy to be outside.

And I’m afraid I’m going to have to seize your bikini for the department.

[Zombie Jimbo]

I’ll bid $20 for the bikini.

[Way Of The Crane]

Auctioneer: She had nine STDs.
Jimbo: 15 bucks.
Auctioneer: And when we caught her she wet herself.
Jimbo: 20 bucks.

[Ted S.]

Miss, I’m going to have to charge you with being too sexy to be outside.

Is she too sexy for Milan, New York, and Japan?

[$park?]

She shakes her little tush on the catwalk.

[NeonCat]

http://www.myspace.com/video/s…../106769408

[Ted S.]

Somebody needs to tell Mr. Tucksilly it’s OK to write, “Because fuck you, that’s why”.

[sloopyinca]

Tell him? You just showed him!

[Brett L]

Don’t piss him off. He’ll write a whole post just to mock you.

[Brandon]

Notice that the evil, selfish libertarians at the Institute for Justice covered this, while it did not elicit a peep from the caring, selfless MSM.

[Fist of Etiquette]

But, will that make a difference in a world in which pajamas are worn to the supermarket?

THANK YOU.

[Counterfly Guard]

SLEEP SHOPPING IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM.

[LTC(ret) John]

I see J.D. has been to the Aldi location near my home.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

They aren’t pajamas, they are chef’s pants. You jerks.

[Way Of The Crane]

Working as a line cook at Applebee’s does not make you a chef.

[generic Brand]

They have Aldi’s in Chicago? Good to know, should I choose to go there for school this fall. Although I’m going to need some reusable bags…

[Trespassers W]

Just curious, but do you say “Walmart’s” too? I wonder if this is a regional thing.

[LTC(ret) John]

Jewels.

Pronounced “Joooooolsssss”

[Kaptious Kristen]

I know, right? I see these frat boys in ratty t-shirts and flannel PJ bottoms and greasy hair pretty much every time I’m in the grocery!

[C. Anacreon]

Must be tough to keep your hands off them, yes?

[Rich]

There’s even a $25 sales fee on bicycles worth $500 or more that would raise $1 million over 10 years, a nod to motorists who complain that bicyclists don’t pay their fair share.

Hey, what are *pedestrians*, chopped liver?

[Professional Target]

The Tennies Tax!

[Citizen Nothing]

George Harrison anticipated your proposal.

[Counterfly Guard]

They are if I see ’em.

[Way Of The Crane]

Liberals aren’t complaining about how such a sales fee on bikes will discourage people from using a greener mode of transportation because, hell, it’s the opportunity to tax more people.

[sarcasmic]

How could that tax discourage greener transportation? It’s not the intention.

Taxes only discourage behavior when they are intended to. It’s not like a general rule or principle or anything.

[mad libertarian guy]

Liberals aren’t complaining about how such a sales fee on bikes will discourage people from using a greener mode of transportation because, hell, it’s the opportunity to tax more people.

Exactly right.

[Drake]

No, it’s an opportunity to invigorate Oregon bicycle shops. I’m reminded of how Congress obliterated the American yacht industry with a tax.

[Lord Humungus]

How ‘The Karate Kid’ Ruined The Modern World
http://www.cracked.com/article…..world.html

You know what I’m talking about; the main character is very bad at something, then there is a sequence in the middle of the film set to upbeat music that shows him practicing. When it’s done, he’s an expert.

..snip…

We have a vague idea in our head of the “price” of certain accomplishments, how difficult it should be to get a degree, or succeed at a job, or stay in shape, or raise a kid, or build a house. And that vague idea is almost always catastrophically wrong.

Accomplishing worthwhile things isn’t just a little harder than people think; it’s 10 or 20 times harder. Like losing weight. You make yourself miserable for six months and find yourself down a whopping four pounds. Let yourself go at a single all-you-can-eat buffet and you’ve gained it all back.

[Cheradenine Zakalwe]

This idea has lessons for Fist and would be Firsters. Sure, you want to comment first on a HampersandR post, but do you want to pay the psychological and olfactory price he pays?

[Counterfly Guard]

If it’d been ‘Next’ I’d have bought it.

Or the re-make of.

[Fist of Etiquette]

SWEEP THE LEG.

[PS]

That’s why we need a montage.

[C. Anacreon]

A sports action montage.

[Way Of The Crane]

OK… this is my chance to vent on how pissed I am about the remake of the Karate Kid starring Jayden Smith and Jackie Chan. Karate is the form of martial arts developed by the Japanese, specifically the people of the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa). Jackie Chan’s character taught Smith’s character Kung Fu in China. Why the fuck was this movie called the Karate Kid?

[$park?]

They all look the same to me.

[Ted S.]

In fact, everybody was kung fu fighting.

[Counterfly Guard]

They wanted to sucker in DC Comics fans.

[generic Brand]

I’m with you on this one WotC. A remake of the basic premise would have been perfect, and I think the movie was cast pretty well. But they definitely should’ve gone with Kung Fu Kid. I guess they couldn’t buy into the automatic marketing a remake of the same name would have gotten them. But damn.

[mr simple]

I heard they were going to call it Kung Fu Kid but it didn’t focus group as well or something. They wanted the name recognition of the franchise.

[generic Brand]

Get some, get some!
generic Brand| 2.21.13 @ 9:29AM

[Jordan]

Like losing weight. You make yourself miserable for six months and find yourself down a whopping four pounds. Let yourself go at a single all-you-can-eat buffet and you’ve gained it all back.

Only if you buy into the government’s high-carb bullshit.

[generic Brand]

If you don’t believe in it high carbs don’t exist?

[Trespassers W]

No kidding. I dropped 10+ pounds in a month without making myself particularly miserable, by pretty much doing the opposite of what the government recommends.

[db]

I’d like to see the training montage that produced [HERCULES TRIATHLON SAVAINEN] from a regular third rate troll.

[Citizen Nothing]

DITTO

[Bobarian]

Somehow, I suspect the montage would be longer and more mentally exhausting than going through the actual training program.

[mr simple]

First of all, The Karate Kid was no where near the first movie with a montage sequence. Secondly, Daniel had been studying karate prior to the events that took place in the movie. He wasn’t very bad at it, it just wasn’t the fight caliber karate that the Cobra Kai’s had been practicing. Third, he had a great teacher and practiced a lot. That’s what the montage was supposed to convey, that he practiced all day every day for as long as he could, not that he just practiced a couple times. Wong just needed something to bitch about.

[Rasilio]

Doesn’t matter, he is correct. Daniel’s entire training time would have amounted to maybe 800 hours at most, however many classes he had before he moved to California plus after school and on weekends for the couple of months between when Miagi agreed to train him and the competition.

Given that all of the Kobra Kai’s were already competition trained black belt Karate Students it is a safe bet to say that the weakest one of them had more than 2x the training time that Daniel had and Johnny was probably well up over 5x the training Daniel had

[Counterfly Guard]

Ah, but YOU forget, that if done correctly, no can defense.

[Brett L]

Yeah, but they had bullshit Karate. Mr. Myagi’s was pure.

[mr simple]

But that’s the point of the movie: the Cobra Kai kids were not practicing true karate. They were being taught all force with the karate coming from a place of anger. Miyagi-karate was about balance and peace. It was the style that won out. Also, it’s not like Daniel didn’t have trouble with some of the opponents and it’s not like they were in an all out fight.
There was also the scene when Miyagi told Daniel he had to be all in on the karate lessons (“You do karate guess so, squish, just like grape.”). That scene contradicts what Wong is saying about the movie.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I’ve read that before. It’s a prime example of the unfunny David Wong jeremiad.

[Trespassers W]

THANK YOU. I thought it was just me who finds him profoundly unfunny, even anti-funny. “Jeremiad” is the bon mot.

[Brandon]

I don’t know. I read “John Dies at the End,” and there were two parts that I actually laughed at. Other than that, thoroughly mediocre, but I don’t know that I would go so far as “profoundly unfunny.”

[PS]

Drones aren’t just creepy and homicide-y; the Government Accountability Office frets that they’re vulnerable to crashes and to being taken over by hackers.

Unpossible! If there’s anyone I trust to understand and deploy technology properly it’s a government employee.

[Professional Target]

vulnerable to crashes and to being taken over by hackers.

What a fabulous idea. Next up… WikiDrone!

[Counterfly Guard]

If they can get to the Burger King twitter account, they can get into NORAD.

[Way Of The Crane]

Is password to NORAD’s twitter account still Password123?

[Counterfly Guard]

No one knows, they lost the post-it that it was written on.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

NO, the password is 12345

It’s the same one T O N Y has on his luggage.

[Rasilio]

No, everybody knows it is Joshua

[sloopyinca]

+a nice game of chess

[Gray Ghost]

It’s probably still 00000000

[Cheradenine Zakalwe]

But, will that make a difference in a world in which pajamas are worn to the supermarket?I look forward to People of Walmart, Google Glasses Edition.

[Ted S.]

It would have to be People of Starbucks or something like that. The class of people who would wear Google Glasses wouldn’t be seen dead in Walmart.

[BakedPenguin]

Google Glasses were intentionally designed to be ugly so the would steal the hipster market from Apple.

[Zombie Jimbo]

Or if they went to my local Walmart, they’d be seen dead in the back of the parking lot.

[Fist of Etiquette]

…and you have a body of students effectively barred from higher education.

The education president wouldn’t stand for kids being made truant from the 13th grade.

[Lord Humungus]

Lowry: The great sequester panic
http://www.politico.com/story/…..87880.html

Prepare for the end of food safety as we have known it. For a breakdown in public order. For little children languishing in ignorance. If only Edward Gibbon were here to chronicle the devastation. On March 1, the fabric of our civilization begins to unwind.

That’s when the economy begins to stall and we turn our back on our values, all because the federal government will have to begin to cut a few tens of billions of dollars from the largest budget the world has ever known.

This is the lurid fairy tale spun by President Barack Obama.

[Counterfly Guard]

If only we could tax sarcasm.

[Lord Humungus]

H&R would be filled with poverty.

[Mike M.]

You have to hand it to this motherfucker; he’s the all time world champion at blaming others.

[Rich]

A woman cooking herself a snack has been wounded after the bullets her roommate left inside the oven exploded and sprayed her with shrapnel.

Yet another reason to ban high-capacity magazines.

[Counterfly Guard]

And high-capacity ovens.

[LTC(ret) John]

Damn your speedy fingers!

[Professional Target]

Yeah, I’m there.

[Counterfly Guard]

High-capacity assault fingers.

[LTC(ret) John]

Nobody needs fingers that can type at that speed!

[Francisco d Anconia]

Are the nails painted black?

[Counterfly Guard]

Just one.

[Rich]

Police determined that Mr Sandy, who works at WalMart, had committed no crime. He was not charged.

I’m sure some legislators are working feverishly to close this loophole.

[Ted S.]

What difference does it make to the story where Mr. Superstorm Sandy works?

[Rich]

It’s the “human interest” angle.

[LTC(ret) John]

Surely you mean high capacity ovens!

[Professional Target]

We need to ban high-capacity assault ovens.

I hate when I forget and leave the bullets in the oven.

[Ted S.]

Serves her right for not using an Easy-Bake Oven.

[db]

A forty-watt WOOOOMB!

[db]

This has to be bullshit. When cartridges go off from fire or heat, they simply push the brass away from the bullet. The cartridge does not “explode” or create shrapnel.

[NeonCat]

I don’t know. Cartridges held by a magazine might possibly have a pipe bomb like effect. I’m not saying that it does, only that it might be worth investigating.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You should have said high capacity ov- dammit!

[Thane of Whiterun]

Aalaya and Javarski sound like redneck bitter clingers to me.

[Matrix]

Sony Announces the Playstation 4… still don’t know what it looks like

And it looks like they are blatantly ripping off the competition… AGAIN. You can use your Vita as a remote screen just like the Wii U gamepad.

Seriously Sony, at least Microsoft tries to be creative when they copy their competition. You just blatantly rip them off!

[$park?]

So the Vita, which is a standalone handheld device, is just like the gamepad for the Wii U which isn’t? I’m no fanboi of one or the other, but I don’t see what the big deal is.

[Matrix]

The Move is essential a rip-off of the Wii Remote. At least Microsoft made the kinect for their motion controls.

Then Sony uses the Vita as it’s second screen so you could play your PS4 games on the Vita instead of on the TV, which the Wii U did with it’s Gamepad.

So yes, a blatant rip-off.

Yes, the idea is great. Play your console games on a hand held screen so you don’t hog the TV. Nothing wrong with that, but be honest about it. “Yeah, we totally ripped off Nintendo’s idea”.

[SugarFree]

You could remotely play console games on your PSP with the PS3 years ago, even over wifi. It was a bit of a pain to make them handshake, but I made it work.

[Way Of The Crane]

Seriously Sony, at least Microsoft tries to be creative when they copy their competition. You just blatantly rip them off!

This might work for them as a business model if they passed R&D savings on to the consumer, but since they wind up charging the same price or higher for their system, what’s the point?

[Matrix]

Well, Nintendo includes the Wii U gamepad with the purchase of a console. If you want the same functionality with the PS4, you have to buy a Vita.

[$park?]

Because the Wii U gamepad doesn’t do anything unless you have a Wii U. The Vita is the new PSP platform.

[Matrix]

with virtually no games

[$park?]

Just like the Wii U.

[Jordan]

After the PS3, I’m done with Sony. Those clowns were storing PSN passwords in plain text, and of course they got hacked. And the PS3’s wifi was the worst of any device I’ve ever used.

[Matrix]

I have a feeling they are the reason my debit card number was stolen and used in Spain.

[KDN]

I said “I’m done with Sony” after I had to replace my PS2 literally 7 times (that extended warranty was probably the best thing I ever purchased). Sony generally sucks.

[Teaching Student]

They do have MLB The Show though…. damn them…

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I’ve never had any kind of issue with my PS2 (lasted four years of nearly every-day use before the fan motor finally gave out), nor my PS3.

I doubt I’ll get the PS4, though. Most of my free time isn’t taken up with games anymore, and I don’t need to spend over $500 for a Blu-Ray player. I guess I’ve finally gotten old.

[generic Brand]

Playstation still has by far the most ergonomic controller since the N64 though. XBOX’s controller outlay is retarded, and the Wii-mote isn’t comfortable unless you’re playing a more interactive game like Wii Sports or Zelda.

[Fatty Bolger]

When was the last time Sony turned a profit, or even had a hit product?

[sloopyinca]

I’d say the PS2 was a huge hit.

Of course, none of them will ever match the success of the Walkman.

[Thane of Whiterun]

Nor that lovely minidisc player I had, loaded with ATRAC3-encoded music.

In all seriousness, it had great, cheap storage for its time.

[Brett L]

I had a minidisc player in the late 90s. It was awesome. And doomed.

[Fatty Bolger]

Of course it was – 13 years ago. Maybe there is one, but I really can’t think of any hit products in the last 5 years or so.

[MJGreen]

The PS2 still sells really well, I think. I believe there are some months where it outsold the modern consoles.

[SIV]

a body of students effectively barred from higher education.

If it saves even one child from wracking up huge debt in an attempt to secure a Liberal Arts degree…

[Marshall Gill]

Young people convicted of drug charges are at higher risk of never attending college at all, thanks in part to a law blocking federal financial aid following a drug conviction,

Blocking federal aid for any reason is a good reason.

[lap83]

Agree. Am I supposed to feel sad that my taxes aren’t going to pay for the financial aid of kids who probably aren’t going to graduate?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Isn’t “union work” an oxymoron?

[LTC(ret) John]

Whooze askin’? You? Over by dere?!

/Chicago Teamster

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Hey man, stalking people and punching reporters IS hard work.

[Counterfly Guard]

But very fulfilling.

[Eduard van Haalen]

And legally exempt from anti-stalking laws!

[Zeb]

They work plenty hard on the union. Their actual jobs are another matter.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama: Mastering the Art of Manipulating the Media
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/…..aspx#page1

The White House press corps is sick and tired of not being taken seriously by this White House. That’s why they’re proud to announce the hiring of a comedian to host a dinner with Barack Obama. That makes sense to those who may have marinated in the Beltway environment a little too long ? and so perhaps to reporters as well.

The White House found itself in the middle of a media imbroglio this week, thanks to two events that highlighted just how thoroughly the Obama administration has manipulated the political press. The long-complacent White House Correspondents Association went ballistic this weekend when excluded from a Barack Obama trip and kept away from his activities. Was this a sensitive diplomatic mission? Did Obama travel to meet world leaders to bring a new plan for universal peace and harmony?

[wareagle]

hard to expect others to take you seriously when you don’t take yourself seriously. Note to media: take the Obama cock out of your collective mouths and the seriousness you crave becomes more possible.

[Ted S.]

It doesn’t take much to be a master when you’ve got a media that wants to be manipulated.

[DJF]

Please, please, Mr President, tell us again how wonderful you are!!!!!

[mad libertarian guy]

It doesn’t take much to be a master when you’ve got a media that wants to be manipulated.

The only thing worse than a state sponsored media, is one who willingly and openly fawns over the King.

[sarcasmic]

Morrissey has convinced a Los Angeles concert venue to not sell meat at concessions during his performance next month.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..-show.html
Fuck Morrissey. Seriously. I always detested his “music” but this is ridiculous.

[LTC(ret) John]

I’d roll a hot dog cart right outside the door of the venue – I can only imagine the sales going through the proverbial roof.

[sarcasmic]

Good luck getting a permit. Remember that you’re living in a free country where no economic activity may legally occur without first asking permission and then taking orders.

[LTC(ret) John]

Ah, yes, my mistake….its LA, CA.

[Counterfly Guard]

Have you seen many Morrissey fans? I doubt you’d sell many.

Hell, you can’t even sell them to their parents since most of them are dead.

[sloopyinca]

It depends. If he’s rolling a “hot dog cart,” I would imagine many Morrissey fans would be willing to take one in. NTTAWWT.

[thom]

Yes, mutually agreed on contracts such as this are so ridiculous.

Staples Center should have just remained empty that evening instead of agreeing to do certain things asked for by a performer as a condition of the contract.

[LTC(ret) John]

Nobody says they shouldn’t honor the contract – it just comes across as pretentious.

[thom]

Why? Isn’t he an outspoken advocate of vegetarianism?

Would the Staples Center agree to stop alcohol sales if they were rented out by Mormons? Almost certainly.

I don’t really see any difference.

[sarcasmic]

Fuck Morrissey, fuck vegetarians, and fuck you.

[Way Of The Crane]

Why can’t you just let people hate Morrissey? I know you miss the Smiths, but the man is just ripe for ridicule.

[sarcasmic]

Fuck the Smiths as well.

[Lord Humungus]

boooo

[sarcasmic]

I’ve pretended to like them in order to get laid, but I seriously cannot stand Morrissey’s singing in any form.

[C. Anacreon]

And if a double-decker bus, killed the both of us…..

[mr simple]

Hey, Morrisey’s human and he needs to be loved. Just like everybody else does.

[Citizen Nothing]

This is why nobody takes libertarians seriously.

[sloopyinca]

Wrong. Nobody takes libertarians seriously because we left Col John’s “hot dog cart” remark alone for almost 45 minutes.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

A convention of Mormons wouldn’t be an issue as none of them are supposed to drink alcohol due to their religion.

Morrissey comes off as pretentious because he’s forcing his view on other people in the name of enlightenment or some crap.

If those are his terms for playing a concert, so be it. People can decide for themselves if they want to go to his meatless concert or not. Don’t pretend it’s not a pretentious asshat thing to do, though.

[thom]

He’s not forcing his view on anybody. This is a completely voluntary event. If one of your fundamental beliefs is that it’s immoral to eat meat, then you’re not being pretentious when you ask for meat sales to be stopped at your concerts, just consistent.

[Citizen Nothing]

The beauty of Libertaria is that there, everyone has the right to be a pretentious, no-talent asshole if they so choose.

[Francisco d Anconia]

The beauty of Libertaria is that there, everyone has the right to be a pretentious, no-talent asshole if they so choose.

Eggzactly!

AND it’s perfectly acceptable to point out the fact they are a pretentious, no-talent asshole.

[mad libertarian guy]

If one of your fundamental beliefs is that it’s immoral to eat meat . . .

Then you are an idiot with nothing but 1st World Problems. Try telling a starving African that he shouldn’t eat meat because it’s immoral.

[thom]

Then you are an idiot with nothing but 1st World Problems. Try telling a starving African that he shouldn’t eat meat because it’s immoral.

Then I guess I’m an idiot with 1st World Problems, but I would never tell a starving African (or a well fed American, for that matter) that they shouldn’t do something, as I also have a moral problem with telling people what they should and should not do, as long as they are leaving me alone.

[Francisco d Anconia]

If only Morrissey shared your values.

[Enough About Palin]

What if Mooissey really believed in vintage chamber pots? Would the Staples Center lock the restrooms?

[Tonio]

MLG, there are millions of buddhists in east and southeast asia who are vegetarians for religious reasons. They’d like a word with you about their alleged first world problems.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Yeah, I covered the voluntary event thing in my post. I didn’t say he wasn’t entitled to his own views, nor did I say he shouldn’t be allowed to. Simply that it is a pretentious asshat thing to do. I hate Bono for being a pretentious asshat too.

I was mostly responding to your assertion that it’s no different than a Mormon convention banning alcohol.

Mormons, by church law, don’t drink alcohol. They are voluntarily (theoretically) part of the Mormon church and have accepted the rules that govern them.

Morrissey fans are NOT, by any rule, vegetarian.

Look, I’m not a morrissey fan, nor am I a vegetarian. I wouldn’t go to a morrissey concert, and I doubt a meat ban would prevent me from going to someone I DID like. I would still think they were being a pretentious asshat though.

[Joe M]

I agree. This is exactly the way it should be done. He didn’t go out and find an idiot scumbag politician to somehow regulate away the meat.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I’m guessing McDonald’s had a contract as well. Will they be reimbursed for their losses?

[thom]

Probably. If there is a McDonalds contract that stipulates that they be allowed to sell meat products at Staples Center, then I’m sure it probably contains provisions for compensation should they not be able to sell meat products, and I’m sure that they would demand such compensation.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I’m guessing the McD’s in the Staples Center is a franchise, wholly owned by AEG (owner of Staples Center).

[Zeb]

I love The Smiths, but Morrissey is a twit.

[Way Of The Crane]

^^This^^ 100%

[sarcasmic]

Goldfish in Lake Tahoe
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..riums.html

[RBS]

I wonder what fried Goldfish would taste like?

[Counterfly Guard]

Victory.

[Ted S.]

Why don’t you try to fry some Goldfish and let us know how they turn out?

[Zeb]

A lot like carp.

[sarcasmic]

Bones.

[Way Of The Crane]

I know where I’m going fishing this summer.

[sarcasmic]

Bobcat stare-down in front yard.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..-feud.html

[Counterfly Guard]

Oh man, now that it’s on the net, the losing one is never going to live that down.

[generic Brand]

Homeowners cower in fear as dueling bobcats are spotted in ‘a stare down’ on Texas lawn

So terrifying that they were standing 15 yards away snapping pictures?

[sarcasmic]

One time I saw our two dogs, an Aussie and a Malamute / White German Shepard mix (big fucking dog), all happy at the base of a tree.
Upon a closer look I saw that they had treed a bobcat. After a while the bobcat got tired of being in the tree and decided to climb down. Head first. The dogs quieted down and backed up. The bobcat then casually strolled out into the woods without looking back. Only time I’ve ever seen one of those things, and damn they’re big.

[mad libertarian guy]

They’re huge, and will fuck up any dog except perhaps those trained to fight.

[RickC]

For those unfamiliar with southern humor I’ll take this opportunity to recommend Jerry Clower’s coon hunt story. Hell, any of his stuff about growing up in southern Mississppi and the characters he talks about. For those of us who grew up during that period in the south it’s funny because it rings so true.

[Counterfly Guard]

+2 hot steel balls.

[John]

Jerry Clower is or was (is still with us?) a comic genius.

[RickC]

I believe he died back in the 90s. For those curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AX9QoFhEhI – about 7-1/2 minutes.

There is also a follow up story that ties up the aftermath of the hunt.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Wow, now I know the Bobcat word for “meow.” Impressive.

[$park?]

I’m offended that people are easily offended.

A legal battle between the state and an Iraq war veteran over his personalized license plate is not over.

Sean Bujno’s plate reads: “ICUHAJI,” which can be read to state: “I See You, Haji.” Some Arab-Americans object to that phrase.

The DMV revoked the license plate in 2011, saying it could be interpreted as socially, racially or ethically offensive or disparaging.

[Rich]

Judge John W. Brown ruled last November that the DMV couldn’t deny the Chesapeake man’s license plate on the basis that it denigrated individuals of a particular nationality.

“Denigrated”? I thought we were talking *Arabs* here!

[LTC(ret) John]

Ah, you did something there. And I saw it.

[Bobarian]

Ahh, I did not see it until you pointed at it…

Then there was a snot bubble.

[Way Of The Crane]

Doesn’t Haji just refer to someone making the pilgrimage to Mecca? How is that racist?

[Way Of The Crane]

Yes; yes it does.

Hajji is an honorific title given to a Muslim person who has successfully completed the Hajj to Mecca,[1] and is often used to refer to an elder, since it can take time to accumulate the wealth to fund the travel.

[mad libertarian guy]

It’s also the way US soldiers used to “other” Arabs in Iraq, just the same as Vietnamese were called gooks and Japanese were called nips.

[Way Of The Crane]

just the same as Vietnamese were called gooks and Japanese were called nips.

I’m only playing devil’s advocate. I don’t seriously doubt that his use of the word is derogatory. But in all fairness, it’s not just the same… Gook and Nip had no other meaning.

[Marshall Gill]

Incorrect. Nip is simply short for Nipponese, which is a term for those ethnic Japanese that do not live in Japan.

[Ice Nine]

just the same as Vietnamese were called gooks

We called them “dinks”; much more common. Pretty sure that “gook” is Korean War vintage.

[mauricegirodias]

Yep, and “Guk” is actually the Korean word for country/people. So, Mi, which is beautiful, and Guk, combine to form Miguk, “Beautiful Country”–their term for America. They themselves are Hanguk. (Han is sorrowful…)

Really want to piss off a Korean, talk about M.A.S.H., which they hate because it showed their country as a poor nation, not the rich one it is today.

[Cheradenine Zakalwe]

Soldiers and Marines also use it as these wars’ version of “Charlie” and “Ivan.”

[Way Of The Crane]

True Story: I’m a Vietnamese American. My parents met during the war (still married). My father named me after himself: Charles. And yes, all my friends call me Charlie.

[Citizen Nothing]

Please tell me you don’t surf.

[Way Of The Crane]

My father is of Irish decent; I have his pale complexion. If I so much as thought of going to the beach I’m pretty sure I’d burst into flames. I have my mother’s asian eyes and hair but my father’s red beard and freckles. Try to process that image in your head for a few minutes.

[$park?]

So, a little bit like this guy?

[Thane of Whiterun]

How is Scotch-Korean a “contradiction”? Maybe I’m missing something.

[Way Of The Crane]

So, a little bit like this guy?

It’s bad enough that you people (yes I said “you people”) can’t tell the difference between the Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Koreans, but now you’re confusing the Scots with the Irish? This is why the rest of the world hates Americans!

Well that and all the drone killing and stuff.

[$park?]

It’s bad enough that you people (yes I said “you people”) can’t tell the difference between the Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Koreans, but now you’re confusing the Scots with the Irish? This is why the rest of the world hates Americans!

Meh, it’s all just some Anglo-Asian mix anyway.

[sloopyinca]

the difference between the Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Koreans,

The Japanese are tall and brown.
The Chinese are short and yellow.
The Vietnamese look like somebody hit them in the back of the head with a frying pan.
The Koreans have huge bucketheads but otherwise look like the Japanese.

[mad libertarian guy]

McGook!

[Way Of The Crane]

Another True Story: I love Haggis with Kim-Chi and rice.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit

[LTC(ret) John]

Are you out there, waiting, growing stronger.

[Way Of The Crane]

Yes, and soon I will be coming through the “wire” in order to better optimize your websites and improve your SERP ranking.

[Also Ran]

I always thought they were referring to the sidekick on Jonny Quest, which is at least a little racially insulting considering that Hadji was Indian.

[Tonio]

There are plenty of Muslims in India. Hadji wore a sikh-style turban.

[Also Ran]

I doubt the artists who drew Hadji even knew what Sikh is, they likely drew him based on racial/ethnic stereotypes(like the police sketches at the end of Harold & Kumar).

[sarcasmic]

Baby whale swims next to boat to be pet.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..-back.html
I’m surprised no charges have been filed.

[LTC(ret) John]

“I’m surprised no charges have been filed.”

Yet. Give it time.

[Way Of The Crane]

I’m surprised no charges have been filed.

We’re on it!

[Jordan]

I like how one of the dumbass Brit commenters says that humanity is a virus. The sooner that place descends completely into totalitarian hell, the better.

[Zeb]

If humans are a virus, aren’t whales just a less successful virus?

[NeonCat]

Goddamn aquatic virii, messing up the water for other species. (sobbing) How many innocent krill will die today?!?

[sarcasmic]

Fuck you Matt Bellamy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..party.html

[Suthenboy]

Fuck the commenters there. Jesus.

[Lord Humungus]

Jonah Goldberg: Rand Paul’s Interesting Advantage
http://www.nationalreview.com/…..h-goldberg

But I digress. Back to Rand Paul. He’s obviously moderating his image ? successfully. He seems reasonable, calm and thoughtful. But he leaves room for the suspicion that there’s a more aggressive agenda behind the facade. But that agenda is less scary. Whereas the typical Republican often talks in a way that fuels (unwarranted) fears of theocracy and the Handmaid’s Tale, there’s something about the way Rand Paul talks that fuels the suspicion he’d actually be much more libertarian than he lets on.

…snip…

Because his rise fuels a narrative the media loves ? civil war on the right ? Paul’s libertarianism will be treated as charming and harmless for a while more. The fact that the left likes his foreign policy dovishness and the “neocons” don’t also makes him a useful foil for some liberals. But you can be sure that if he got real power and influence within the party or if he were the actual GOP nominee, his charming libertarianism would instantaneously terrify a lot of people. But for now, it all works for him.

[PS]

I can’t believe Goldberg used the word neocon!!! He’s obviously a fucking idiot!!!!

[Alack]

Ah, but he put it in scare quotes!

[PS]

In that case, he can go suck his own “dick”.

[Marshall Gill]

Wouldn’t you have to take it out of your mouth, first?

[PS]

Are we talking about Goldberg’s dick or your mom’s?

[Counterfly Guard]

I wish, but Goldberg is wrong on this one. The media will not treat him as charming or harmless, they will pre-emptively nuke and ignore(as has already been seen) because they can’t risk him becoming popular enough to be a threat OR his ideology being seen as successful by voters or votees.

[SIV]

Aqua Buddha
Repeal the CRA of 1964
No abortions even in case of rape and incest
SOMALIA!!1!-style domestic policy
Eric Dondero becomes a paid analyst on the MSM as an insider spilling the beans on WHO REALLY WROTE The Ron Paul Newsletters.

[robc]

Aqua Buddha

Any voter who went to college knows that if that is the worst thing he did, then he doesnt have a problem.

Did you see how much Aqua Buddha affected his KY senate race?

[BakedPenguin]

Especially after President Choom. It’s not exactly like Paul is calling for stiff pot penalties.

[sarcasmic]

‘The water did taste funny’: Los Angeles hotel guests drank and bathed in water from tank where dead Canadian tourist decomposed for nearly three weeks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..weeks.html

[Lord Humungus]

artisinal!

[Alack]

It’s not “polluted”, it’s “infused”!

[LTC(ret) John]

Right – wasn’t there that flavored water “Clearly Canadian”? Is that still around?

[Counterfly Guard]

No but you could have gone with Canada Dry.

[LTC(ret) John]

Canada Decay?

[Lord Humungus]

preferred by 9/10 zombies

[Counterfly Guard]

Still rather drink that than Yoohoo.

[Lord Humungus]

Crab Juice!

[Brandon]

WTF? Yoohoo is delicious.

[Teenage Girl]

Eewww!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

…the Government Accountability Office frets that they’re vulnerable to crashes and to being taken over by hackers.

“If you can read this GAO report, you are the resistance.”

[sarcasmic]

Victoria’s Secret swimsuit model without makeup or airbrushing…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..e-LAX.html

[Counterfly Guard]

Now can someone femsplain if she is brave or not?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

You couldn’t swing a dead cat at any mall in Texas without hitting double digits of women at least that attractive… and she is very attractive. Maybe she looks better in a swimsuit than they would. Still, how do some women become models when there are much more attractive women with the same body shapes who’d surely love the money. Is it just luck?

[sarcasmic]

It’s who you know and who you blow.

[SIV]

Height,weight, proportions (limb, neck, trunk length etc.), and facial features will disqualify a lot of otherwise very hot chicks.

[BakedPenguin]

Necks are really important. You will never see a fashion model with a short neck. Exhibit A.

[Rasilio]

There is also confidence and desire, most women, even very hot ones don’t realize just how beautiful they are and even among those who do know it, or at least suspect it they just don’t have any particular desire to pursue a career in fashion. Then there is also skill level, even for those with the looks and desire to pursue it there is actually some level of skill required to be a successful model, nothing compared to the skill required to be a brain surgeon or anything but the ability to evoke an emotion or feeling through pose and facial expression on demand whether you particularly feel that way or not is just not a skill that everyone possesses.

[mnarayan]

Either you’re full of shit, or I’m moving to Texas ASAP. Like tomorrow. Maybe later today.

[Brett L]

He’s not full of shit.

[Brandon]

You couldn’t swing a dead cat at any mall in Texas without hitting double digits of women at least that attractive

But those women are all wearing pounds of makeup. She looks that good before the makeup.

[Rasilio]

Funny, while she’s a bit too skinny causing her neck to look way too long for her body she looks a hell of a lot better in the airport shots with the casual clothes and no makeup than she does in the made up glamor shot down below.

[Libertymike]

No question about it.

[sarcasmic]

aye

[Thane of Whiterun]

She looks pretty good, even for a blonde.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Significantly more attractive sans makeup.

[robc]

Im not convinced she is entirely sans makeup there.

Obviously much more subtle than during a photo shoot.

[sarcasmic]

Ke$ha is still a fucking weirdo.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..-York.html

[Zombie Jimbo]

Well, my daughter has that cat sweatshirt, but she is 12.

[sarcasmic]

My daughter has some cute hats with ears on them. She’s three.

[$park?]

OPEN FIRE! All weapons!

An elderly Pennsylvania woman was reportedly killed in a shootout between police and a “highly intoxicated” Bucks County man.

The Allentown Morning Call reports that Marie Zienkewicz, 89, was in her apartment Tuesday night when she was hit by crossfire, according to Warminster police.

Zienkewicz lived in the apartment below the man who was shooting at police, authorities said. Police and the Bucks County district attorney’s office did not say who shot Zienkewicz. An investigation is ongoing.

[Spoonman.]

Almost like they should have evacuated the complex before launching broadsides against it.

Warminster is a pretty nice place.

[Spoonman.]

Also, she wasn’t killed “in the crossfire”; it’s very difficult to imagine a scenario in which the bullet she was killed by wasn’t fired by police.

[sarcasmic]

It will still be the dude’s fault. He forced the cops to shoot her.

[LTC(ret) John]

Ahem! “forced bullets to be fired”.

We are now using the new 8th edition of Copspeak.

[Joe M]

The guy was clearly holding a dark ceremony with voodoo bullets in his apartment. Or maybe he had a bullet charmer playing a flute.

[Rich]

Ban assault booze! Why does anyone need more than a six-pack?

[T]

Because I read the comments at PoliceOne.

[Drake]

Spoonman, I like the way you think.

I wonder if Glock and Ford could collaborate on a new shoot-out cruiser. It would have belt-fed Glocks mounted along one side. Just park it with that side pointed in the direction of a perp – and let it fire thousands of rounds randomly in his general direction.

[LTC(ret) John]

The Ford “Spray & Pray”?

[Joe M]

Police and the Bucks County district attorney’s office did not say who shot Zienkewicz.

Hmmmm… the people shooting at the building or the guy shooting out of it??

Unless he was shooting down into the floor instead of at the cops. Which I’m sure they’ll find a way to claim was the case.

[Francisco d Anconia]

As a cop, how do you miss an entire floor? 8-10 feet?

“No sir, I wasn’t randomly firing in the direction of the building.”

[Gray Ghost]

Reno 911 may as well be a documentary at this point. Or the scene in Idiocracy where the cops annihilate that car.

Sure sounds like reckless firearm use to me. But we already know what will happen, don’t we?

[Ted S.]

That’s not crossfire unless the non-cop was shooting straight down.

[Marshall Gill]

The bullets obviously came from the guys oven. Where else?

[LTC(ret) John]

Nicely tied together.

[Lord Humungus]

Preschool debate obscures core problem
http://www.usatoday.com/story/…..n/1934361/

In the eyes of many parents and most educators, starting a child’s schooling before kindergarten is an indisputable virtue. Your kid acquires learning and social skills that give him or her an advantage.

So it’s hardly surprising that President Obama used his State of the Union Address to call for extending that middle- and upper-class habit to all children, at government expense.

But before the checks go out, it would be wise to consider a broader question: Can the middle-class experience be replicated that easily? The evidence says universal preschool alone won’t get the job done.

[DJF]

In Lake Wobegon all kids are above average if they attend government school since the age of 1.

[Marshall Gill]

There is no question that teaching children earlier is better. They are information sponges in the early years. The problem with attempting to “educate” them in socialist schools is discipline. You simply can not teach 20 4 year olds shit, unless you can discipline them. Socialist schools do not discipline any children so of course this is nothing but a jobs program for piece of shit socialist school teachers.

[mad libertarian guy]

of course this is nothing but a jobs program for piece of shit socialist school teachers.

Better not let Welch read this comment or you might get fired from HnR.

[Rasilio]

Actually there is a VERY large question as to whether there is any benefit to teaching kids earlier.

While it is true that kids are an information sponge at young ages they also tend to forget anything they do not use in their day to day lives VERY quickly. This is why the first quarter of every school year at the elementary levels is spent reteaching everything they learned in the prior year.

So sure, get your kids into preschool and they’ll learn to read before kids who don’t go to school until kindergarden, then in the summer they forget everything they learned and by the end November in 1st grade the kids who did not go to preschool are academically equal to the ones who did (and studies bear this fact out).

In fact your sponge analogy is quite apt. Yes they soakup information very rapidly but they are only able to retain a tiny fraction of what they soaked up, the rest drips out rapidly once they are removed from the water.

[Counterfly Guard]

So you’re saying we should turn kids into Shamwows.

[NeonCat]

Safer than turning them into Slap Chops.

[Citizen Nothing]

You gettin’ this, camera guy?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Jesus H Christ! Can’t we just let kids be kids? Do they really need to go to school at 3 and spend 9 hours a day, 6 days a week with no summer break until they ship out to Harvard, in order to be competitive?

No wonder they flip out and start shooting.

[C. Anacreon]

You know, if they passed a new law forcing every college to be named “Harvard”, that might end all this tiger mom crap. Everyone will have a Harvard education!

[Stormy Dragon]

No, the law should force every college to be named Taco Bell

[Rasilio]

Realistically we could just worry about teaching the kids basic numerical litteracy and reading and not even worry about putting them into an educational environment till they were 10, then with a few hours a day of instruction year round (no summer breaks needed) teach them the basics of science, critical thought, actual mathematics for the next 3 years and finish up with a more typical school environment for the last 3 years of High School and end up with 18 year olds who are just as academically capable as those we have today.

[Brandon]

at government expense.

There is no such thing. Even when they dare to question the mighty O, they have to throw in this kind of bullshit.

[The Late P Brooks]

Hawaii is considerig imposing asset forfeiture for petty misdemeanors

Bud: If there’s just some way to find out how much… the motherfuckers owe, and making them pay.
Otto: Jesus Christ, Bud. They’re winos. They don’t have any money. You think they’d be bums if they did?

[BakedPenguin]

Think they pay their bills in Russia?

[db]

I said do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia!!

[Slammer]

Huh huh huuh, you said “meat” inspector

[CampingInYourPark]

“Weekly Jobless Claims Rise More Than Expected”

http://www.foxbusiness.com/eco…..-expected/

[Rich]

This “expected” bullshit is one of my pet peeves. If I ruled the world, the headline would be something like “Economists Exhibit Incompetence Yet Again”.

[DJF]

I don’t even begin to believe any ones predictions unless they are willing to bet their own money on them.

[$park?]

Elections have consequences.

Brian Wildermuth, an attorney for the company president, said in a statement that Kunkle was laid off for economic reasons — “nothing more.”

“I am sure you and your readers are familiar with the ongoing uncertainties regarding defense spending, and thus the economic environment confronting defense contractors,” he said. “The allegation that Q-Mark discharged Ms. Kunkle because of her vote is simply false.”

[Palin's Buttplug]

The CEO had no business asking employees how they voted.

It goes both ways though. I have long suspected that creative and high-tech companies (like Google) shun conservatives due to their lack of imagination.

[$park?]

Speaking of lack of imagination:

Palin’s Buttplug| 2.14.13 @ 4:07PM |#

I agree with Obama since I deny that the phony concept of “natural rights” even exist.

So our rights are defined by law and if healthcare someday becomes a right then so be it.

But currently free state provided healthcare is not a right.

SHOULD h/c be a right? That is a different discussion.

Palin’s Buttplug| 2.19.13 @ 9:42AM |#

Markets eventually set a perfect price but are prone to distortion until then. This is the version of the central theme of the great capitalist George Soros.

I know, in Wingnuttopia Soros came straight from the Kremlin because he is not GOP (saved you time Ltc John).

Palin’s Buttplug| 2.19.13 @ 10:11AM |#

Because I deny that healthcare is a right? It most certainly isn’t.

We are governed by social contract and our rights are decided by popular vote. See Prohibition (then and now).

[generic Brand]

Damn, Palin’s BP is really gunning for you (no violent rhetoric) (Ret)LTCJohn.

[LTC(ret) John]

I only held return fire (violent rightwingbushpig rhetoric!) because I thought we were supposed to ignore trolls on Thursday!

[tarran]

Why are you talking to the crazy homeless guy who screaams Bushpic and Christfag over and over again at the wall while scratching the drying pungent urine stains in his pants?

[Kaptious Kristen]

That’s an insult to homeless guys

*bows head for JsubD

[John]

Golf Clap Sparky. Golf Clap. Well done.

[Virginian]

Yeah Burt Rutan has a lack of imagination.

[crashland]

Why not? She was too stupid to not answer or lie, so to dumb to work for him.

[$park?]

My guess is she was one of those pretentious assholes who rubs their voting choice in everyone’s faces.

[Don Mynack]

HAR.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

You might have actually won some redemption points if you would have put “lack of imagination” in scare quotes.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Tea Party Patriots send out fundraising email with Karl Rove dressed as a NAZI.

http://livewire.talkingpointsm…..ng?ref=fpb

[PS]

Albino Rhino beer is a human rights violation.

http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/563565/563565/

[Alack]

I too am offended by rhyming names. It’s a cheap way to look clever, and we should not tolerate it.

[Counterfly Guard]

It’s better than pot references.

[Rich]

“It would be like saying, let’s put in some Alzheimer appetizers, Down syndrome daiquiris or cerebral palsy cocktails,” he said. “That would offend anyone’s sensibilities.”

Not as much as that “Suffering Bastard” concoction!

[Way Of The Crane]

Does “Fat Bastard” wine offend overweight people or fatherless men more?

[Resto Druid FTW]

Great wine @ ten bucks a pop.

[Zeb]

Why the fuck would anyone be offended by any of that? There is no negative connotation. It’s not “Albinos suck Rhino”

[Marshall Gill]

Clearly, the cunt who complained does suck Rhino.

[Brandon]

If I ever make a beer, it will be called “Perpetually Indignant.”

[JW]

I’m offended by the actions of these pasty and freakishly intolerant cunts. Can we have them banned?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Of course, the other option would be to tell the neurotic, unpigmented, red eyed bitch to pound sand.

[Brett L]

My next brew would be called “Albinos Left in the Sun” and taste burnt.

[Jerry on the boat]

Lead Oscar Pistorius investigator himself facing attempted murder charges:

South African police say the lead investigator in the case against double-amputee Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius faces attempted murder charges in an October 2011 shooting.

Police Brig. Neville Malila said Thursday that detective Hilton Botha is scheduled to appear in court in May on seven counts of attempted murder.

[LTC(ret) John]

Set a thief to catch a thief, yada yada…

[Virginian]

He beclowned himself on the stand, Pistorious’s lawyer took him apart.

[sloopyinca]

Its good to know the double-standard is alive and well around the world.

Cop allegedly tries to murder 7 people and he has a hearing scheduled 19 months later and is allowed to keep working. Non-cop allegedly murders one person and he’s locked up and before a judge in two days.

But I bet this is only the case because South Africa doesn’t have an Equal Protection Clause in their Constitution. Right?

[Ted S.]

[Lights the dunphy signal]

[Don Mynack]

Sounds like a regular Konstabel Els.

//Tom Sharpe’d

[Brett L]

Is Botha a popular Afrikaans name? Or is he related to the former Premier?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Whoa Mister Botha
Free up South Africa
Freedom!
Freedom!

[Lord Humungus]

Pakistan accuses ambassador to U.S. of blasphemy
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/pakis…..13305.html

Pakistani police accused the country’s ambassador to the United States on Thursday of blasphemy, a crime that carries the death penalty, in connection with a 2010 TV talk show, they said.

The accusation against Ambassador Sherry Rehman is the latest in a string of controversial blasphemy cases in Pakistan, a largely Muslim nation whose name translates as Land of the Pure.

[Counterfly Guard]

I wonder if he’ll go back home to defend himself.

[db]

She’s a she.

[mad libertarian guy]

Don’t worry. Hillary Clinton will show up any minute so that she can provide cover for Obama in the event that something goes awry.

[Kaptious Kristen]

It’s the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, not the other way around. Hillary Clinton would not be involved.

[Lord Humungus]

A Hairy Situation: Is the Brazilian Wax Over?
http://shine.yahoo.com/beauty/…..00768.html

“Most of my clients still request full Brazilians, although we are seeing more people doing ‘landing strips’ of various shapes and sizes. We’ve started to adjust the width, length, and even shape of the landing strip so that it, believe or not, looks more flattering. For example, a landing strip in the form of an elongated triangle (with the tip pointing downwards) can have a slimming effect. A tiny triangle can also be cute and playful.”

[Night Elf Mohawk]

For example, a landing strip in the form of an elongated triangle (with the tip pointing downwards) can have a slimming effect.

By the time this is relevant, the person has already been deemed sufficiently slim, it seems to me.

[Counterfly Guard]

You might still want it for that visit to a nude beach, nudist colony, or if you were planning to go through the Newark TSA anytime soon.

[mad libertarian guy]

The problem with both nudist beaches and colonies is that only infrequently is seeing anyone there worth it.

[Brett L]

Wat? Strippers have been doing this for over a decade.

[Brandon]

Of course, if a majority supports it, Tony is absolutely in favor of killing people for a poorly-defined theocratic crime and thinks she should drag her sorry ass home immediately and bow to the will of the people!

[Auric Demonocles]

Life update:

Broke up with the girl and things went fairly smoothly. Going to Europe for 3 weeks starting Saturday. Please continue to pester people for more alt-text in my absence.

[LTC(ret) John]

Thy will be done…

FOR ALT-TEXT!

[Ice Nine]

Was there a recent EMP attack in Europe that I haven’t heard about?

[Counterfly Guard]

So she dumped you, eh?

[Auric Demonocles]

I take it you’ve didn’t see the discussion this was an update to.

[Counterfly Guard]

I did not.

But I still would have said it because I’m a jerk.

[Auric Demonocles]

The question I raised was “Am I a jerk for considering breaking up with my girlfriend for having too little sex?”

[Counterfly Guard]

Was the consenus:

1. Yes.
2. Do it anyway.

[Auric Demonocles]

It was more:

Sexual compatibility is important. Break up, but make sure it’s not a medical thing first.

[Brandon]

So i take it it wasn’t a medical thing? Good luck with the European sluts.

[generic Brand]

More power to you, man. I’m in the same boat (maybe not the sex thing, but relationship-wise) because I don’t see 100% myself marrying the girl I’m with. There are so many variables over the next few years that it’s hard to say, “Yes, we’ll get married.” So I don’t know if we just keep dating because we have fun together or we end it because of uncertainty in the future.

I need to mull over it a bit more.

[Auric Demonocles]

I need to mull over it a bit more.

Took me about a month to finally decide. I think it’s going to be the best decision long term, it will just suck some right now.

[LTC(ret) John]

“it will just suck some right now”

To show what a nice guy I can be, I am going to pass that straight line up, tempting as it is…

[Brett L]

Remember to act Canadian in Europe and you’ll have all the tail you can handle. Get one of those little Maple Leaf flags for your backpack.

[Auric Demonocles]

I am basically Canadian. According to Google maps I was born 4 miles from the border.

[Brett L]

I am basically Canadian, eh?

Jeez. Its like you’re not even trying.

[Auric Demonocles]

In fact, I’m not trying to seduce you.

[jesse.in.mb]

That’s just Western Europe, we blanketed Eastern Europe with enough propaganda during the cold war that they love Americans (except the Serbs)

[The Late P Brooks]

Marie Zienkewicz, 89, was in her apartment Tuesday night when she was hit by crossfire panic fire

[crashland]

The police couldn’t even hit the right floor?

Fight gun violence disarm the police.

[RickC]

The only indoor range in my town banned the local PD because of constant safety violations. They now have to drive way out into the next county where I go cause the outdoor range there is cheap. I started noticing bullet holes in the roof covering the shooting positions shortly after the local PD started showing up. Just saying.

[Mr Whipple]

Hawaii is considerig imposing asset forfeiture for petty misdemeanors because? Oh, c’mon. They’re not even pretending to be anything other than thieves anymore.

I’m pretty sure that in Philly, if you are caught in a “drug area”, the police can seize your car without even charging you with a crime. Not sure if they still do that.

[Rich]

if you are caught in a “drug area”, the police can seize your car

Citation needed.

“But, Officer, I’m walking through my front door!”

[Mr Whipple]

Can’t give you a citation. Going from memory. I live in the area. If the cops see you driving around looking for drugs, they can take your car. In Camden, NJ, you can get a ticket for “Loitering in a Drug Zone”, which carries a maximum of 18 months in jail, but is usually a $750 fine.

[Matrix]

Every penny is sacred, every penny is great. If a penny is not wasted, Obama gets quite irate

I’m sure this will be posted on the main site soon.

[Brandon]

This seems familiar…

[The Late P Brooks]

The federal government spent more, salary-wise, on public officials doing union work on the clock in 2011 than during any year since at least 2002.

NLRB FTW!

[Counterfly Guard]

Well hey, you get what you pay for.

[BakedPenguin]

North Korea still bizarre, but at least their propaganda videos now include Obama in flames.

[Matrix]

NFL logos getting “british” treatment

they look libertarian to me…

[Virginian]

I laughed at Skins one.

So if they surrender to political correctness and change the name of my team, then I’m going to need a new one.

[John]

Redskin is at least arguably a racial slur. The worst is how they made colleges who had mascots named after Indian tribes out of respect change their names. Somehow even so much as mentioning an Indian tribe became racist.

[Counterfly Guard]

Which colleges actually caved?

Also I still think the apex of idiocy was the Washington Bullets changing because bullets are too violent.

[John]

The directional Michigan schools used to all be named after Indian tribes but not anymore.

Then some of them caved on really stupid stuff. Marquette was the “warriors” but we can’t have that.

[wareagle]

St Johns used to be the Redman, now it’s Red Storm.
Stanford went from Indians to Cardinal.
Marquette from Warriors to something else.
Been a battle in ND over Sioux.
There must be others.

[LTC(ret) John]

Dartmouth, I think.

U of IL sent their mascot – Chief Illiniwek (who was kitted out by actual Oglala Sioux) away because the NCAA deemed it racist. The Sioux were a bit befuddled. Oh, and the Illini are long extinct – they were destroyed by their living in harmony with nature and each other fellow indiginies.

[Way Of The Crane]

The Seminoles indians still love FSU.

[Brett L]

Free tuition for any member of the Tribe. (And I think a piece of the merch income.)

[Virginian]

I know every few years FSU has to wheel out the chief of the Seminole tribe to make the PC police go away.

[John]

And they have the most bad ass mascot in all of sports. The dude on the beautiful appaloosa horse throwing the spear down on the field makes you wish you were an Indian. Liberals really do live to be butt hurt.

[Citizen Nothing]

I prefer Notre Dame’s drunken mick leprechaun.

[John]

It is okay to make fun of white people.

[Citizen Nothing]

White people,sure, but we’re talking about the Irish.

[Brett L]

Yep.

[Libertymike]

Hail to the Native Americans!

Hail, Victory!

[John]

They wouldn’t even be that cool. They would choose some gay ass name like The Wizards or The Supremes.

[Matrix]

the pelicans

[Counterfly Guard]

Obamas.

[DJF]

Now don’t be blasphemous.

[Eduard van Haalen]

So wizards are gay now? Gandalf and his fire-shooting staff would like a word with you.

Maybe I should rephrase that…

[Andrew S.]

I say that the NFL needs to crack down on the Redskins if they won’t change their name. Commissioner Gooddell clearly needs to warn them that if their name isn’t changed immediately, their salary cap room is cut in half and they have to trade RG3 to their nearest NFC East neighbors to the north in exchange for a 7th round pick.

And this has nothing to do with me being a depressed Eagles fan.

[John]

So what do you think of Andy Reid? I am a Chiefs fan and am not sure what to think. I know it ended badly. And I hate how he refuses to run the ball and can’t manage the clock. But at the same time he is replacing the worst GM and one of the worst head coaches in the history of the NFL. So he has a pretty easy act to follow.

[Andrew S.]

I think that both parties needed a change.

Coach Reid just did so many good things for Philly. Look at the team in the 90s versus the 00s. You could complain about his inabilty to win the big one, and goodness knows I did, but it was certainly nice getting there every year.

He drafted very smartly until about 2004. I’m not sure what happened after that. The clock management is and was a joke. There’s no reason for him not to have learned that in 14 years. The refusal to run the ball was probably as much a reflection of an unending devotion to his coaches, especially Marty Mornhinweg, than anything else.

He needs a very strong defensive coach to back him up. When he had Jim Johnson in Philly, things were great. After that, not so much.

I’m rooting for him in KC. I think he’ll do fine. At least you guys couldn’t do any worse.

[John]

I look at him as like a redo of the Schottenheimer hire. Like Schottenheimer, Reid is a true professional who consistently wins. I will take that over the idiot sons of New England any day even if it doesn’t result in a Super Bowl. And beyond that, Reid is at least a likable guy. I can’t describe to you just how unlikable Peoli was. He was just a complete cock sucker. The kind of guy you would barely tolerate if he won Super Bowls.

[alittlesense]

And, to add insult to injury, Da Iggles are raising the ticket prices.

[generic Brand]

I’m feeling really good about the Jolly Good Biters’ chances next season!

[Matrix]

The “myth” of Tax relocation

Affordable housing? I don’t think California offers such a thing.

[John]

Liberals in this issue once again show they are too stupid to understand marginal decision making. Just because every business doesn’t move doesn’t mean there is no effect.

[Auric Demonocles]

Look, if we raise the minimum wage to $20 an hour, and no one at my high tech software company gets let go, clearly no companies anywhere are going to think an employee isn’t worth that much.

[Don Mynack]

That was one of the dumbest pieces I have ever read. Unlike Kay Bell, I have refused multiple opportunities in California due to the taxes there – and I am a native of the state! I’ve stayed in Texas.

Based on a study from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. Nice try, libs.

[John]

That is just because you are evil and don’t want to pay your fair share just like Phil Mickelson. How dare you not willingly and lovingly pay taxes.

[Counterfly Guard]

Paying taxes is a privelage!

[Auric Demonocles]

I listen to sports radio all day, and one of the hosts went off about Mickelson when that happened. Apparently if you have a lot of money you aren’t allowed to complain about taxes, and if you don’t like what your state is doing you should just move instead of saying anything.

[John]

The sports media is made up almost entirely of brain dead lefty white guys.

[Auric Demonocles]

That does describe this guy pretty accurately but he doesn’t seem to be entirely brain dead, as he is pretty good at doing math in his head.

[wareagle]

if radio was made for people too ugly for tv, sports talk was made for people too stupid to engage in news talk.

Both are fun but sports talk has a much lower bar of engagement.

[John]

When I was in college my best friend from high school and I tried to sell the college radio station on letting us do a sports talk radio show. We did an audition tape and everything. The program director said he thought it was pretty good, but that we would have to dumb it way down before he would even consider putting us on the air.

[robc]

Actually, I think the news bar is even lower.

And I think you have the sports bar in the correct place.

[Bobarian]

“[While] low taxes decrease the cost of living, they might also prevent states from preserving or improving valued public services”

Obviously, someone has never lived in California, because high taxes definitely don’t do anything to improve or preserve VALUED public services…

[Brandon]

This is just blind power worship wrapped in a “Study.” IOW, she must have gone to journalism school.

[Brandon]

It may come as a shock to hardcore anti-tax advocates, but a state’s tax rate isn’t the biggest mobility motivator.

No one said it was the biggest, you lying cunt. That doesn’t make it a “Myth” by any stretch of the imagination.

[John]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/…..le/2522132

Difficult to imagine how big of a scandal this would be if it were Republicans. Remember when how a few US attorneys were hired was big deal? How whether and when Dick Cheney may have met with oil execs to talk about policies that (gasp) affected them was a big scandal?

[The Late P Brooks]

Everything’s free in Russia.

[Counterfly Guard]

Except Pussy Riot.

[BakedPenguin]

Bud: Free, my ass. What are you, a fuckin’ Commie?
Otto Maddox: No, I ain’t no Commie!
Bud: I don’t want no Commies in my car!… No Christians, either!

[Auric Demonocles]

Anyone seen any of The Americans? I watched an episode last night and it seemed pretty good.

[sarcasmic]

Missed the first, watched the next two, last night’s recorded. Like it so far.

[John]

I watched the History Channel Men Who Built America thing on DVD last week. It was surprisingly good and even handed. I was expecting Marxist pablum. But it wasn’t that at all.

[Spoonman.]

I watched the first segment of the first episode and it seemed to not make much sense.

Of course I cannot remember faces so with people putting on wigs and so forth I can’t follow who they are at all.

[Auric Demonocles]

Last night I had a little trouble following who everyone was, but I chalked that up to starting several episodes in and being a growler in.

[wareagle]

when in doubt, Justified. No trouble separating Raylin from Boyd.

[PowerBottom]

Yes. One of the best shows out there right now. Really good capture of life in the 80’s. Husband has creeping doubts about the USSR, wife will give her life for the motherland. Really entertaining.

[Auric Demonocles]

I didn’t realize it was set in the 80’s before I started watching and I thought “why is everyone’s hair so fucking weird”?

[robc]

The pilot was by far the best episode, but I liked last nights and last weeks too.

The 2nd one was pretty weak, IMO.

The Russians freaking out over Reagan being shot/Haig’s comment was great, and probably pretty accurate.

[The Late P Brooks]

In fact, according the Center’s analysis, low taxes can backfire.

Without enough revenue, amenities such as high-quality public services that potential new residents value suffer.*

What kind of insane teafucking ratbagger would want to live in a place where the garbagemen are not unionized municipal employees?

Or on some mountain on an unpaved private road with no sidewalks or fire hydrants? And no streetlights!!!!!11111!

Oh, the humanity!

*This is the sort of unrelenting singleminded ultraconservative antigovernment propaganda which Fox News exclusively spouts.

[Virginian]

Don’t worry, they can always move to a state like Colorado and vote to put Democrats in power in order to fund the public services that are needed.

Seriously, the number one thing I hate about leftists is they fuck up a state, then they move and keep voting for the same policies that fucked up the last state.

[John]

And they have been doing it for 70 years. People associate that with Colorado. But it actually started with New Yorkers moving to New Jersey. New Jersey was once one of the lowest tax freest states in the country. They didn’t have an income tax.

[Citizen Nothing]

It’s like a gigantic Unfree State Project.

[sarcasmic]

Look what the Massholes are doing to New Hampshire.

[John]

Haven’t they pretty much fucked it up beyond all recognition?

[Citizen Nothing]

They still don’t have an income or sales tax, no? You gotta draw a line in the sand somewhere, why not New Hampshire? I love the Portsmouth area. If I ever buy a “vacation” home (read, legal domicile of record) it could be in NH. I wish the Free Staters all the best.

[sarcasmic]

Property taxes in NH are insane.

[Whahappan?]

Can’t be worse than Jersey. In addition to 7% sales tax and income tax.

[John]

I need a vacation home. I was seriously thinking about the Cape. I love the Cape. But I refuse to associate myself with Massachusetts. Maybe I should look at New Hampshire or Maine.

[NoVAHockey]

i’m thinking West VA mountains. but that’s a different product. but it’s not too far for a long weekend.

[$park?]

My parents bought a cabin way up north where they spend most of their summer now. I don’t remember them having any particular difficulties with it. Most likely because it’s a good distance away from civilization.

[John]

I need a rental near a beach or a lake. I can’t afford to just own one sadly.

[$park?]

I need a rental near a beach or a lake. I can’t afford to just own one sadly.

My parents’ cabin is on a large pond in prime fishing territory. They managed to buy it on their retirement income.

[Virginian]

Yeah, and VA is halfway through the transition.

“God the schools and crime and taxes in Maryland sucks. Why don’t we move to Virginia and vote for leftists there instead?”

[John]

The older I get the more I think the Heinlein quote about “bad luck” and poverty is probably the sharpest paragraph written in the 20th Century. It is just bad luck Maryland is going to hell. Lets move to Virginia where the luck is better.

[Virginian]

I used to think we had a solid chance because we don’t have that one big city that fucks up states like IL, MD, LA, even MA to an extent.

But everything north of Fredericksburg is just going to be a vast sea of government workers and contractors. Which will serve the same purpose.

[John]

What is funny is that most of them work for the defense industry. And they all went and voted for Obama even though that is the one place he actually will cut. They are too stupid to even steal properly.

[Brett L]

Autinfornia is nearly complete, and Rick Perry’s doing everything he can to finish it.

[WTF]

But it actually started with New Yorkers moving to New Jersey. New Jersey was once one of the lowest tax freest states in the country. They didn’t have an income tax.

This true. In fact, New Jersey, now one of the bluest states, actually went for Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.

[Auric Demonocles]

Where I grew up, which while boring, wasn’t Somalia:

where the garbagemen are not unionized municipal employees?

Check. That’s what the dumpster that you pay a company to come pick up every 2 weeks is for.

Or on some mountain

Check.

on an unpaved

Paved as a kid, but the house they moved to now has unpaved. Partial check.

private road

Check.

with no sidewalks

Check. That’s what the edge of the road is for. For a while living in the city I didn’t realize that you weren’t supposed to bike on the sidewalk.

or fire hydrants?

Check. That’s what the pond is for.

And no streetlights!!!!!11111!

Check. That’s what your headlights are for.

[NeonCat]

Little potential terrorist in a wheelchair doesn’t like TSA screening.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..ead_module

[sarcasmic]

This is why I will never again fly. Someone did that to my kid and I’d land my ass in prison.

[SugarFree]

Oh, boy! The Nebula Nominees are out!

Oh. Four fantasy novels and some watermelon tripe. Yay.

[John]

The future is always socialist Sugar Free. Didn’t you know that?

[Virginian]

Larry Correia is trying to win a Hugo, and the main theme of his campaign is “Stick it to the snooty literati.”

His books are excellent, if you haven’t read them.

[SugarFree]

I’ve read the first Monster Hunter book. Didn’t hate it, but it also didn’t drive me to read the rest.

Of course, I don’t think Correia should win a Hugo either. Because he’s a fantasy writer and there are plenty of fantasy awards to seek.

[Virginian]

The second MH book was good, and the third in the mainline series was decent. But MH:Alpha is a book about Earl. Which makes it great.

I really like the Grimnoir series. You should check that one out.

[SugarFree]

If you haven’t, try John Dies At The End, which is a bit like the Monster Hunter books if Correia wrote them high on ‘srooms and smoking the odd bowl of crack.

[$park?]

The Wheel of Time series is finally complete. Now I need to find something new to start on.

[Auric Demonocles]

Is it? I guess it’s time for me to catch up on the Sanderson ones.

[$park?]

I gotta say, I was happy that he brought the stories back in line and the action back. The last book seemed like a bit of a mashup because I think he was trying to preserve the bits that Jordan did manage to write.

[Warty]

DID RAND EVER FIND THAT MAGIC BOWL???

[SugarFree]

NO SPOILERS! I MIGHT HATE MYSELF ENOUGH TO READ IT ONE DAY!

[Auric Demonocles]

If you had to read it or eat a candy bar, what would you do?

[SugarFree]

Eat a candy bar. I can take more insulin, but forgetting is hard.

[$park?]

*SPOILER ALERT*

The good guys win!

[SugarFree]

Was the sword really cursed or was it only looking for its rightful owner? Did the poor farmer boy turn out to be the son of the king? Did the bitchy female sidekick learn to love the taciturn and deadly protagonist? Was there an elf? Did anyone fuck the elf? Was there a lively tavern where vast reams of exposition reeled out?

[$park?]

Note to self: Wheel of Time not enjoyed by psychotic HR managers and diabetics.

[Trespassers W]

Dresden Files. They’re addictive and you can tear through one in a weekend, which might be a nice change of pace after WoT. The first one’s the weakest, unfortunately.

[Brett L]

Yes. Also, The Laundry novels of Charlie Stross.

[jesse.in.mb]

I watched the show, but haven’t read the books. Amazon is pushing them since I’ve read (and enjoyed) all of Ben Aaronovitch’s magical detective novels starting with Midnight Riot.

[Not a Libertarian]

Excepting the films, the only work that I’ve even heard of is 2312.

But as I have successfully avoided all Robinson until now….

Mr. SugarFree, what did you think of Blue Remembered Earth?

[SugarFree]

It was OK. I find almost everything Reynolds does outside the Revelation Space universe to be either just OK (BRE, House of Suns) or embarrassingly bad (Century Rain, Pushing Ice).

I’ve been pretty done with Robinson after the Mars trilogy. It’s a shame his best work is the doctoral thesis he did on Philip K. Dick and it’s the thing almost no one has ever read.

[John]

I don’t read much SciFi. But I have read some of the Revelation Space stuff and found them to be pretty good.

[robc]

But as I have successfully avoided all Robinson until now….

Good job, I read 2.5 of his Mars books. You have chosen wisely.

[Brett L]

I hate Ken Liu’s writing. With a bright and fiery passion.

[SugarFree]

Ken Liu is the Margaret Cho of science fiction.

[The Late P Brooks]

they can always move to a state like Colorado and vote to put Democrats in power in order to fund the public services that are needed.

And install Democrats who will “improve” their gun laws by making them more like California’s. It used to be that the urban migratory Democrats on the Front Range were pretty much restricted to fucking things up on a local level, but apparently times have changed. There was a time when I would have considered moving back to Colorado, if I could find someplace good on the Western Slope, but not now. They’re fucked.

[The Late P Brooks]

some watermelon tripe.

Vegan haggis?

Sounds yummy.

[The Late P Brooks]

I watched the History Channel Men Who Built America thing on DVD last week. It was surprisingly good and even handed. I was expecting Marxist pablum. But it wasn’t that at all.

Seriously?

I found it to be completely unwatchable. Both for basic shitty writing and production values (whatever that means) and idiotic bullshit.

The world was a MUCH better place before Rockefeller invented oil, and all those stupid trains started hauling people and freight all over Creation.

[John]

The world was a MUCH better place before Rockefeller invented oil, and all those stupid trains started hauling people and freight all over Creation.

I didn’t get that message at all. I got the message that Rockefeller was a hard working genius.

[Not a Libertarian]

Being Daily Mail Thursday…

Parents’ fury as TSA agents detain their crying wheelchair-bound daughter, THREE, and confiscate her stuffed animal

I cannot make myself look at the accompanying video. The pictures of the little girl in tears are distressing enough.

[John]

And people wonder how Nazis put people in ovens or think that there was something especially evil about Germans. Nope. If you will take a stuffed animal from a crying three year old in a wheelchair, you will do about anything. Sticking her in an oven is just a short step away.

[Auric Demonocles]

John, I hate the TSA, but I think there might be a bit of a distinction there.

[John]

Less than you think. Once you have conditioned yourself to do things that you would ordinarily consider to be immoral, you have crossed a line and it gets easier and easier to do worse and worse things.

[WTF]

John is right. Everyone wonders how the Germans could do what they did in the 1930s and 1940s. Well, it didn’t happen overnight, it was a gradual process that proceeded to get worse and worse as the majority of people looked the other way or made excuses for what was going on.
For example,Here are some comments from the article:

“If the child is frightened, did the parents ever consider that they didn’t prepare her and explain what would be going on? Sometimes TSA agents can be insensitive thugs doing a thankless job, but, come on, complaining about taking a stuffed animal away is ridiculous”
– zosui
“TSA is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Sounds like the parents made the situation worse by their reaction”
– kerlos
“Looks like the Tsa were respectful and kind to the family and to the little girl. They have an important job to do. Let them do it.”
– CJ, Preston, United Kingdom, 20/2/2013 13:50
Useful idiots.

[Virginian]

That is truly disgusting.

[robc]

Ive got to agree with John.

There is a difference, but its merely a matter of degree. Its not to long of a trip to that next level.

[PowerBottom]

Yeah, the girl keeps crying that she doesn’t even want to go to Disneyland anymore while the parents try to console her. One agent says it’s illegal to film them, lady says I film anyone who touches my kid, etc, etc. Just fucken sad. And we line up like cattle with no objection.

[Virginian]

There aren’t enough Carl Dregas in the world.

[Sevo]

Who ARE the good guys?
“SAfrica police names new Pistorius investigator”
“The decision came after it emerged the initial investigator, Hilton Botha, was facing attempted murder charges.”

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/cri…..z2LY4F4EVy

[Enough About Palin]

The President is a grad-A piece of dog shit.

“Obama Website Invites Victims to Share Gun Violence Stories”

http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-…..ce-stories

[John]

Bring us your dead children. They make us happy.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

I’m not dead yet.

[WTF]

It would be awesome if gun owners inundated the site with stories of how they defended themselves, their family, their property, etc. with a gun.

[Virginian]

That’s probably what they will do.

[Not a Libertarian]

Happy Birthday You Drunk Old Queen! via the NYT

A gay man of a (un)certain age is celebrating a year of sobriety as well as an upcoming “milestone” birthday. His past birthday parties were the proverbial “big gay drunken bashes” and he does not know how to now celebrate his birthday in his new found sobriety.

As always, the comments of the New York Times are a “delight”.

[Oh and this was the second highest recommended story for me as chosen by a NYTimes algorithm. So, Go to Hell NYTimes, I ain’t that old]

[John]

How desperate is the NYT for circulation if they are writing stories aimed at the gay recovering alcoholic demographic?

[Not a Libertarian]

Now, to be fair, this was a question that was sent to a times “manners” columnist. Not a feature article.

Steven Petrow, the author of “Steven Petrow’s Complete Gay & Lesbian Manners” (Workman, 2011), addresses questions about gay and straight etiquette for a boomer-age audience

Without a doubt there is a large enough gay and lesbian audience within the larger NYTimes.com readership.

Granted a manners column in and of itself is more than a bit precious

[Brett L]

Who else reads the NYT?

[The Late P Brooks]

“Obama Website Invites Victims to Share Gun Violence Stories”

Speaking of which:

As if anybody needed further proof that he’s a dumb cunt, David Frum has a CNN piece up (find it yourself, IF YOU DARE) about what the Campaigner-in-Chief needs to do about guns. Aside from the “obvious” need for universal registration, et c, etc, blah blah blah, we need to fund research from the Center for Disease Control (why not the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Dave? They could always use a big check from the government.) to prove the public health crisis which private gun ownership obviously is. Because there are other studies out there which contradict Frum’s biases. And THOSE studies are all based on anecdotal evidence of self-defense uses of firearms. In order to prove how completely bogus those studies are, Frum offers up (ta-daaah!) a couple of tearjerking anecdotes, and a lot of “everybody knows” windbaggery.

[John]

I linked to that the other day. My favorite line is how Frum doesn’t understand why they can’t manufacture a gun that doesn’t go off when dropped, because you know anytime you drop a weapon it just “goes off”.

It is hard to tell if Frum is that stupid or just so desperate for a paycheck he will say anything to troll the Right or both.

[The Late P Brooks]

Oh, right, and they also need an “indicator light” so you know if there’s a round in the chamber.

And the totally commonsense and completely costless and technically feasible thingy which stamps a unique identifier on the case when the weapon is fired. And on the bullet, too, I suppose. And with universal registration, all the cops will have to do is fish the lead out of your victim, cross-reference the markings with the ones on file, and run over to your house to slap the bracelets on you.

Murder is ended, praise be!

[John]

Sure Murder will be ended. Right after we go house to house and confiscate every single one of those evil old guns that don’t measure up to the modern technological standard. And don’t think for a moment, that Frum wouldn’t love such an idea.

[Brett L]

Oh, right, and they also need an “indicator light” so you know if there’s a round in the chamber.

Sigh. Because that way when my battery failed, I’d just assume the chamber was clear. That seems like a poor failure mode. Why not just teach people to keep their fingers off the trigger until they personally visually confirm the status of the chamber as clear or loaded?

[Tonio]

In proggietopia the gun wouldn’t function if the battery for the “safety” system was dead.

[JurisCani]

Ruger has a loaded chamber indicator which I don’t mind as it is mechanical in nature. I don’t want them mandated but I have no problem with them being an option. But an electronic one would be just so unreliable as to be stoooopid.

[Stormy Dragon]

Limitations on direct campaign donations is the one form of campaign finance limit I think is constitutional. As long as the general public is allowed to make arbitrarily large independent expenditures, their ability to get their message out isn’t affected. And frankly, I have no problem with making it harder for candidates to enrich themselves by using their position to extort protection money out of the general public.

[John]

The problem with that is that limitations have entrenched a perminant political class. If you can only raise money in thousand dollar chunks, the only people who can run for office, especially statewide offices or the Senate are people who are politically connected enough to a fund raising network wide enough to raise a ton of thousand dollar chunks. That prevents pretty much anyone who is not a professional politician, the child of one, or who is independently wealthy and doesn’t have to raise money, from running for such office.

This is the reason why so many of our national politicians are idiot sons and daughters of other politicians. This didn’t used to be the case. But it is now because there are so few people who actually have the fund raising connections to run for state wide or national office.

In the old days, a few rich guys could get behind a guy and make his candidacy. That gave us real insurgent candidates like Eugene McCarthy and Ronald Reagan, when he first ran for governor. We don’t get that anymore. And the quality of our political class has greatly suffered for it.

By supporting that limitation, you are supporting the creation of a permanent and generational political class.

[Stormy Dragon]

As I said, arbitrarily large independent expenditures. A few rich guys could still get behind a guy and make his candidacy. They’d just have to do it by spending the money on actual advertising and what not, as opposed to just giving the guy a huge slushfund.

[John]

A few rich guys could still get behind a guy and make his candidacy. They’d just have to do it by spending the money on actual advertising

No they can’t. Every individual is limited to a thousand dollars per campaign. And that includes in kind contributions.

[Stormy Dragon]

No, Sheldon Adelson, for example, was perfectly free to spend $20 million trying to get Newt Gingrich elected. He just isn’t allowed to give $20 million to Newt.

I don’t have a problem with that.

[John]

No he couldn’t. He may have ran advertisements, but they couldn’t mention Newt by name. That is the whole point of the thousand dollar limitation. You can run “issue ads” but you can’t run ads saying “vote for this guy”.

[Stormy Dragon]

No, Citizens United allows express advocacy. The only thing they can’t do is coordinate with the candidate.

[John]

The only thing they can’t do is coordinate with the candidate.

And that is a distinction that there is

1. any hope at all of enforcing, and

2. would make any difference if it could be?

[Stormy Dragon]

So if the current system, by limiting only coordination, doesn’t make any meaningful difference, why does it need to change?

[John]

So if the current system, by limiting only coordination, doesn’t make any meaningful difference, why does it need to change?

Because it makes it very hard for those without huge fund raising connections to run for office.

[John]

And campaign money is not a slush fund. You can’t use it for personal purposes. That is what Jessee Jackson Jr. is going to jail for.

[Stormy Dragon]

No, he’s going to jail for being stupid. If a candidate wants to use donations for political purposes, there’s plenty of perfectly legal ways to get access to the money. They can, ala Ron Paul, hire family members as campaign staff and pay them exorbitant weekly salaries. They can, ala Newt Gingrich, hire their own consulting company to do analysis. They can, ala nearly every major politician, charge their own campaign millions of dollars to buy access to their own donor database.

[John]

And rich guys who create pacs to support their favorite candidates can’t do the same things?

Limiting the donations does nothing to eliminate corruption. But it does a whole lot to make it well neigh impossible to ever change the political class.

[Stormy Dragon]

And rich guys who create pacs to support their favorite candidates can’t do the same things?

No, because then they’d be coordinating with the candidate.

[John]

No, because then they’d be coordinating with the candidate.

So you on the one hand admit that politicians subvert the existing law and make these funds into personal slush fund. But on the other hand claim that they would never subvert the rule against “coordinating with the candidate” whatever that means. Do you really not think the White House wasn’t coordinating with the various Dem Pacs during the 2012 campaign? Are you that naive or do you think I am?

You making absolutely no sense here. And if you are worried about corruption, why would a politician be any less beholden to the rich guy who built a pac that got him elected?

[Stormy Dragon]

There’s a big difference between a debt of gratitude and being beholden to someone because you need to keep their checks coming to continue financing your lavish lifestyle.

[John]

There’s a big difference between a debt of gratitude and being beholden to someone because you need to keep their checks coming to continue financing your lavish lifestyle.

Because none of that money from that pac would ever find its way into the hands of the politician. And no politician ever worries about re-election and thus feels the need to please his campaign supporters to ensure that.

Come on.

[Stormy Dragon]

Some murders go unsolved to. That doesn’t mean we should legalize it and let the murderers we can stop get away with it.

Once you have the ability to spend as much money as you want saying whatever you want, your right to free speech has been protected.

If the only way you can get your message is shoveling lots of dollars to a specific public official, it seems to me your issue is not speech, but quid pro quo.

[Virginian]

It doesn’t matter. A human being has the right to give his property to another. It is solely the business of the two parties involved. Campaign finance laws are simply immoral.

I get where you’re coming from with corruption and all, but we already have corruption. The cause of corruption is statism.

[Stormy Dragon]

A human being has the right to give his property to another

Yes they should. But does a public official have the right to accept it?

[Stormy Dragon]

So I guess there is one change I’d make: keep the individual limit, but instead of the donor getting punished for the crime, punish the politician.

[Stormy Dragon]

Alternately, should it be legal for politicians to accept bribes? That is, if I have a right to give Senator So-and-so my property for whatever reasons I like, why can I not give him $1 million to vote for the “Stormy Dragon Relief Act”?

[Francisco d Anconia]

I have an idea that makes this discussion irrelevant. How about we cut the crap and just eliminate the career politician.

A single (slightly more lengthy) term with intervening votes of confidence.

End this bullshit for good. I’m sick of people attempting to fix this nonsense by limiting the rights of the people. To fix it, you limit the government.

[The Late P Brooks]

It would be awesome if gun owners inundated the site with stories of how they defended themselves, their family, their property, etc. with a gun.

Pffft- those are just anecdotes. You8 can’t base policy on anecdotes.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Ya know, I just argued about that with someone on Facebook. I posted a link to a story about a University of Nevada student that was raped 50 feet from the police office (they were closed for the night!). She was a concealed carry permit holder who couldn’t bring their gun on campus. I was told that the anecdotal evidence wasn’t valid because she still might have been raped… So, having a 0% chance of defending herself apparently is better than having a chance at all.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Post this.

Page 14 starts the discussion of defensive gun use.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

The link has a semicolon before the .pdf, but I figured it out. Thanks. I’ll give it a read.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Interesting. I copied it right off the address line. Must be a Reason thing as when I pasted it in an email it was fine.

[Raston Bot]

So the list of proprietary hops you can’t find/buy rhizomes and grow yourself include:

summit
citra
simcoe
amarillo

Did I miss any?

[Joe M]

Summit, Simcoe, and Amarillo are three of my favorite varieties!

[Raston Bot]

There will be a manufactured shortage of those varieties later in the year.

[The Late P Brooks]

Why not just teach people to keep their fingers off the trigger until they personally visually confirm the status of the chamber as clear or loaded?

Maybe I’m just some sort of namby pamby worry wart, but EVERY SINGLE TIME I pick up one of my guns, even if I know without any doubt it is not loaded, I CHECK IT.

[Brett L]

Yep. And every so often, especially with deer rifles, a bullet somehow snuck into the chamber.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

See, now there you go making sense and being responsible. How dare you use your brain. If the government didn’t TELL you the gun wasn’t loaded, how could you possibly know? /sarc

[EDG reppin' LBC]

How’s that working out for you?

Pretty well, I suspect.

[Stormy Dragon]

I remember one time I was with a couple of friends at a gun ship and was looking at one of the 1911s. The guy behind the counter picks the gun up, racks the slide to make sure it was unloaded and then hands it to me. I racked the slide again to make sure it was still unloaded before examining it. I then handed it to the one friend to get their opinion, at which point he checked it was unloaded a third time. At this point the other friend said, “Okay, I think we’ve established the gun is unloaded.” To which I said, “Well then you don’t have to check it when it’s your turn if you don’t want to.”

When he got the gun, he stared it for several second before finally going, “Damn it!” and racked the slide again.