Jobless Claims Jump, FBI Wants More Snooping Power, Evolution May Be Random: P.M. Links

• 
  

  

  Mbailey

  Unemployment claims are up in the United States Apparently, this was … unexpected.

• Afraid of being left behind in this fast-moving world of ours, the FBI wants the power to monitor online communications in real time. So don't forget to tweet frequently about sleeping with feebs' spouses.
• States are competing for the honor of being used as drone test sites. You first.
• Defense Distributed's Cody Wilson claims the group is on-track to develop a fully 3D-printable gun by the end of April. When's Feinstein's birthday?
• Los Angeles wants to start licensing valet attendants — those folks who park cars outside fancy restaurants. Hey, how else do you know they've properly learned how to screw up your radio station settings? Oddly, the city is no longer a destination for migration.
• What's a little border incursion among friends, says Pakistan's foreign minister to his annoyed counterpart in Afghanistan.
• Evolution may have less to do with survival of the fittest than with survival of whatever nature's dice may roll, say scientists. Which explains the denizens of Wal-Mart at midnight.

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]

Unemployment claims are up in the United States Apparently, this was … unexpected.

NO ONE EXPECTS THE DOWNWARD TURN DURING A DEMOCRAT ADMINISTRATION!

[Rich]

“We’re not making progress the way we’d like to,” said Robert Brusca, president of Fact & Opinion Economics in New York

Ha! Bob’s company is FOENY!

[John Thacker]

Well, except when those evil Republicans, being such mad laissez faire fans of Herbert Spencer and Ayn Rand, engage in cruel austerity and sequester all the great ideas of Our President.

That will be, of course, what anything is blamed on.

Frankly, I think people hoping to restrain spending should be both declaring victory regarding the sequester and hoping that the economy does well, not poorly.

[CE]

To paraphrase Krugman, the sequester only failed because it wasn’t big enough.

[hamilton]

Our chief weapon is STIMULUS. Stimulus and Taxes… our TWO chief weapons are stimulus, taxes, and a mindless devotion to the Executive… among our weapons are such diverse elements as stimulus, taxes, a mindless devotion to the executive, and hipster sunglasses… I’ll start again.

[Rich]

+16.7 trillion

[Loki]

DAMMIT!

[Loki]

NO ONE EXPECTS THE DOWNWARD TURN DURING A DEMOCRAT ADMINISTRATION!

Or main weapon is taxes, taxes and spending.
Our two main weapons are taxes and spending, and extreme inefficiency.
Our three main weapons are taxes, spending, and extreme inefficiency, and a fanatical devotion to Keynesianism.
Our four main weapons are… I’ll come in again…

[A Serious Man]

What’s a little border incursion among friends, says Pakistan’s foreign minister to his annoyed counterpart in Afghanistan.

Last time I used that argument I got slapped.

[SweatingGin]

Just the tip…

[Pi Guy]

Just the shaft.

/Jesse

[jesse.in.mb]

I was going to say something, but Sloopy was displeased last time I mentioned it.

[CampingInYourPark]

“What’s a little border incursion among friends”

Am I admitting anything if I misread that as “boner incursion” at first glance?

[$park?]

Safe sex just got more awesome.

Just when you though the bacon fad was fizzling out, J&D’s Foods –the same Seattle-based company that brought us the bacon coffin and bacon mayonnaise (all real products) — now has introduced Bacon Condoms that claims to “make your meat look like meat.”

As an added bonus, each condom is coated with its very own J&D’s baconlube.

[A Serious Man]

I’d rather not have my penis look and taste edible. Some girls are crazy, right?

[Rich]

Watch out for the ones wearing “Eat Me I’m Bacon!” T-shirts.

[Restoras]

If by some you mean all, then yes.

[Tim]

I’d be more worried about the dog.

[$park?]

Most people use peanut butter with the dog. So I’ve heard.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I understand people are fucked up, but I cannot quite comprehend how fucked up one must be to do this.

[Apatheist ?_??]

It’s alright when its your own dog.

[Fist of Etiquette]

States are competing for the honor of being used as drone test sites.

Kentucky one of them?

[DJF]

Few days old, probably posted already but still outrageous.

“””$1 million bus stop opens in Arlington””‘

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..id=wp_ipad

Yeah that is right a million dollar bus stop, not bus station, bus stop.

$575,000 for construction and fabrication and $440,000 for construction management and inspections. 18 months to build

Has a roof that won’t even keep the rain off you and stainless steel benches which will probably burn your ass in summer and freeze it in winter

Don’t worry, the next 23 they will build will only cost $900,000 each.

[CampingInYourPark]

“$575,000 for construction and fabrication and $440,000”

Almost identical to a night in Paris and London. Cheap!

[Andrew S.]

“$440,000 for construction management and inspections”

aka payola? I can’t think of another explanation for that money, since “construction” is already in the $575k.

[some guy]

Some rich libertarian should write down the specs of this bus stop, go build his own, identical bus stop on private property, then publish the costs he incurred.

[CampingInYourPark]

Here’s a $210,000 bill for writing all those specs down.

/gov’t contractor

[CE]

But who wants a bus stopping on their estate? Unless it’s for your minions.

[CE]

Hey, I’ll inspect it for for only 100 grand. Do I win the contract?

[PapayaSF]

There’s probably at least $150,000 in there for the environmental impact statement.

[Matrix]

Time to ban assault bows!
Third grader struck by mystery arrow while on field trip

The National Bow Hunters Association cares more about corporate profits than people!!

[Slammer]

Damn that Daryl Dixon!

[rts]

Longfellow wanted for questioning.

[Rich]

The leading assertion at the moment is that it likely came from one of the hills in the area after being released by a small-game hunter or a reckless hobbyist.

Or a drone.

[Fist of Etiquette]

[$park?]

[Slammer]

Don’t feed it!!

[some guy]

[some guy]

Hm. Never thought it would be that easy…

[$park?]

[waffles]

[Matrix]

wow, I never thought about it like that!

[A Serious Man]

Well said Fist, well said.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I CRY CENSORSHIP.

[Brandon]

Did you try to post a bunch of ampersands again?

[Joe M]

Makes sense when you think about it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

…dude. LOL

[Archduke Pantsfan]

[redacted] asked [redacted] why [redacted]. [redacted] said it would cost [redacted].

[Fist of Etiquette]

What difference, at this point, does it make what my comment said?

[hamilton]

We need to approve your comment in order to know what’s in it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Defense Distributed’s Cody Wilson claims the group is on-track to develop a fully 3D-printable gun by the end of April. When’s Feinstein’s birthday?

DiFi’s 2D printer is still on track to print out tons of bullshit legislation (and not many copies of constitutional amendments).

[CE]

That’s okay, she has the constitutional amendments committed to memory.

[A Serious Man]

Phil Jackson joins Twitter and wins internet with very first tweet.

[Xenocles]

Even as a Celtics fan* I have to respect that.

*Bandwagon only.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Evolution may have less to do with survival of the fittest than with survival of whatever nature’s dice may roll, say scientists.

Gambler’s Design shouldn’t be taught in schools, though.

[Pro Libertate]

Evolution is random? That makes no sense. Mutations in the short term are, but in the long term, I don’t see how random works, since random bad should generally lose to random good.

[CampingInYourPark]

“Evolution is random? That makes no sense. Mutations in the short term are, but in the long term, I don’t see how random works, since random bad should generally lose to random good.”

Because the random things that don’t work die, and the random things that do work, continue.

[some guy]

It makes sense. DNA is complicated. Most changes likely result in no benefit or detriment, or at least not enough to impact survivability in a chaotic environment. These changes still contribute to biodiversity, though.

[heller]

Because the random things that don’t work die, and the random things that do work, continue.

That is natural selection though. What they mean by random is that most mutations don’t actually play into increasing or decreasing fitness, so diversity is increased without natural selection.

[Pro Libertate]

But that’s a non-random result.

[Jerry on the boat]

I think evolution is more like Schr?dinger’s cat.

[Bobarian]

evolution is a magic 8-ball.

[hamilton]

Signs point to Yes

[NeonCat]

Reply hazy, try again.

[CE]

My other quantum-entangled magic 8 ball has the opposite answer.

[Agammamon]

Uh, *random* mutation – the selection for survival traits is not random but determined by the environment.

That’s why evolution is random mutation *and* natural selection.

[Xenocles]

Isn’t the environment often affected in big ways by random events? The impact that killed the dinosaurs seems more or less random to me. Likewise certain sex-selected traits.

[Pro Libertate]

It’s not random. That’s a direct attack that came from the Oort Cloud.

[wakeup]

Planet X.

[CE]

And just in the nick of time, too. Those velociraptors were only a few thousand generations away from tool usage.

[Pro Libertate]

They were like chicken-sized. The movie raptors were total fiction.

[alittlesense]

Colonel Sanders Kentucky-fries velociraptor?

[Sidd Finch]

It sounds like they have a model suggesting genetic drift is more important than previously thought.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I think they are straw-manning the definition of “fitness”. “Fitness” in this context is tautological, but I don’t think they know that. Sounds dumb.

[Sidd Finch]

That’s probably the writer’s fault more than the ecologists.

[ant1sthenes]

I don’t think they claimed that, just that evolution favored diversity. Which intuitively makes sense to me — competition can be beneficial for all parties.

[CampingInYourPark]

My favorite quote:

“‘Our work shows that evolution wants to be diverse,’ said Yaneer Bar-Yam, president of the New England Complex Systems Institute.”

I wonder if evolution wants gay marriage or an assault weapons ban. Tell us, oh evolution, what doest thou desire.

[SweatingGin]

Evolution wants to be anthropomorphized.

[Jerry on the boat]

Evolution may have less to do with survival of the fittest than with survival of whatever nature’s dice may roll, say scientists.

Scientists really don’t have anything more to say about evolution than joe sixpack. But scientists do get the grant money.

[Eduard van Haalen]

That’s because it’s inefficient to deliver grants in the form of six-packs.

[Slammer]

It’s also funny to me how they say, “Something ‘may be’ something.”
Yeah, it “may be”…or it “may not be.”

[CE]

A may be A. Waters it down a little…

[Rich]

Give evolution enough time and space, they say, and new species can just happen.

Like monkeys typing Shakespeare?

[CampingInYourPark]

Been reading T O N Y too long haven’t you.

[Rich]

Y E S ! !

[Art Vandelay]

“It was the best of times. It was the blurst of times.”

[Rich]

“Wa…it for it …. Wait … for … it.”

[Eduard van Haalen]

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It’s Juliet, and she brought bananas!

[Xenocles]

What people constantly misunderstand about the phrase “survival of the fittest” is that “fitness” is defined roughly as making and sustaining the most babies.

Of course random events are going to affect the outcome.

[Sidd Finch]

Whenever I try to explain why homosexuality almost certainly isn’t genetically determined, someone always mentions the buff gay dudes at the gym.

[ant1sthenes]

Really, it isn’t even about most, it’s just about survival of those that can survive. Because death is inevitable eventually (and planned obsolescence is probably even useful, from an evolutionary point of view), making babies is necessary, and the higher the mortality rate, the more babies are needed to stay ahead. But there’s a reason that humans can get by with having singles instead of litters, and a reason that humans tend to have fewer babies as they get more physically and materially secure.

[heller]

People tend to forget that random mutations without selection pressure is still evolution. Biologists have known for a while that random mutations are common while pressures strong enough to force diversity in a certain direction is relatively rare. But because most people think of evolution as equivalent to natural selection, the common knowledge is that “evolution isn’t random.” I’ve had to point out why this is wrong in every discussion of evolution with non-biologists I’ve ever had.

[Xenocles]

Aren’t most mutations fatal, thereby providing their own selection pressure?

[Sidd Finch]

If most mutations were fatal, we’d all be dead. The vast majority are harmful or neutral though.

[Xenocles]

If most mutations were fatal, we’d all be dead.

That… needs more work shown. For me, at least.

[Sidd Finch]

Mutations are common. We all have a lot of them.

[heller]

It’s true. The human genome’s mutation rate is ~2.5E?8 per base per generation. There are about 3 billion base pairs in the genome. So each generation brings about 75 mutations to every genome.

[Xenocles]

I guess that as a layman I was thinking more of mutations that had a discernible effect, but even with that limitation I guess I have to defer to you. Thanks.

[heller]

Certainly, most mutations that have a discernible effect are harmful (because there are many more ways for our bodies to go wrong then there are for them to be improved), but still not fatal. A mutation on one base pair will probably have no discernible effect at all because it could be silent (meaning the mutation results in the same amino acid as the original), and if it isn’t silent, it only results in one amino acid being different in a protein that on average is made up of 300 amino acids. This of course is only for substitution mutations. Mutations that add or delete base pairs change the reading frame, so they can drastically alter a protein. But this is balanced out by the fact that the chance of such a mutation landing on an essential coding section is very low.

[Sidd Finch]

There’s a lot of discernible mutations that are shitty but not fatal: organic retardation, schizophrenia, deafness, six digits, etc.

[Xenocles]

It’s really my own fault for using imprecise and incorrect language. I just lumped “significantly disadvantaging” in with fatal since you expect it on balance to prevent (significant) reproduction. But that’s a whole other ball of wax and it’s probably best for me to withdraw and soak up the amassed knowledge.

[heller]

Also, read this: http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/mutations.html#Q1

[Flemur]

AKA “Genetic Load”

[CE]

How else to explain the X-Men?

[Cavpitalist]

I may be crazy, and I sure as shit have no long or short term memory, but it seems like we learned in AnthroBio that evolution includes things likes species being displaced by natural phenomena, and a whole host of other factors that have nothing to do with natural selection. Reason being, evolution isn’t about any one characteristic, but simply about the frequency of characteristics in a population.

If I learned that as a college freshman many years ago, I don’t see how the whole “random” thing is new.

[wakeup]

PHANTOM POOPER TERRORIZES CAMPUS

[Tim]

Who gives a shit?

[Joe M]

Who poops the poopers?

[Rich]

“It comes down to what the motive is” [said the security manager].

Um, to make a fucking mess?

[$park?]

You idiot, it can’t be that simple!

[Rich]

“The perpetrator probably had feces smeared on him as an infant.”

[Eduard van Haalen]

It was a monkey trying to crap out the complete works of Stephenie Meyer.

[Matrix]

Buffalo Wild Wings sorry after gun fearing waitress refuses to serve cops

What about a gun wearing law abiding citizen that was not a cop? Afraid of them, too?

But seriously, I had a lib friend that I was debating gun control with. She says anytime she sees a gun, it makes her scared and she wants to get away as soon as possible. I wonder if she feels the same way about seeing police officers with guns.

Anyway, her fear of guns stems from the fact that she suffers severe depression, and is afraid of what she might do if she had a gun. So her fear of what she might do to herself equals no one should have one, I guess.

[Irish]

Projection is the lifeblood of the progressive movement.

[$park?]

Clay also issued a press release that identified the managers on duty and blamed the incident on “political stupidness.”

“This was an insult, a slap in the face to those detectives and to all of the men and women who proudly wear the uniform or badge and serve in law enforcement,” Clay wrote.

Good! Worthless piece of shit.

[Slammer]

Headline: Pigs cry over chicken

[Rich]

her fear of guns stems from the fact that she suffers severe depression, and is afraid of what she might do if she had a gun.

Damn, man. Does she wear clothing? I understand that stuff can be used to hang oneself.

[Irish]

Or shave her legs? I hear if you take one of the blades out of a razor, it can do some real damage.

[Slammer]

She should have said she loves dogs and is afraid of cops

[jesse.in.mb]

Remember Irish, down the road, not across the tracks. It’s a rooky mistake.

[Irish]

Dammit. This is why I haven’t even been able to end my life properly.

My mom was right. I am a failure at everything I try.

[jesse.in.mb]

This is why you come to reason Irish, for the constructive criticism.

[hamilton]

Wait, I came here to pick up chicks. You get constructive criticism too?

[jesse.in.mb]

Sure hamilton, go ask Virginian or Willard (was that his name?). Put on a nice asbestos coat first.

[hamilton]

I’d be worried about getting slapped. I might be too sigma, or upsilon, or nu or something.

[NeonCat]

If you’re a failure at everything you try, try being a failure.

[NeonCat]

“R?sum?
Razors pain you,
Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you,
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful,
Nooses give,
Gas smells awful.
You might as well live.”
? Dorothy Parker, Enough Rope

[$park?]

I’m not sure what’s wrong in this story. The girl was uncomfortable around armed people and refused to serve them. Is that not allowed now? Does a private business not have the right to conducts its business how it chooses?

[Matrix]

Well, if the company feels that way, it’s their business. She should probably find another job if the company wants her to serve them, but she doesn’t want to

[Jordan]

Criticism of an action != believing you shouldn’t be free to undertake an action.

The girl’s a dumbass, but good for her for pissing off the cops.

[Irish]

Plus, she doesn’t own Buffalo Wild Wings. This is a situation where an employee, who is supposed to be an agent of her employer, refused to serve a potential customer.

Of course I don’t really care, but I’d fire her if I was the manager.

[$park?]

She asked them if they could put their guns out of sight. It’s a shitty story on details but it doesn’t look like she went into hysterics or anything. The Denny’s story at the bottom is a little better anyway.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If the property owners want to only turn away armed customers who don’t have badges, then they should have instructed their employees better.

[ant1sthenes]

So she’s a hoplophobe.

[alittlesense]

She doesn’t like rabbits?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Los Angeles wants to start licensing valet attendants ? those folks who park cars outside fancy restaurants.

If they’re driving cars, aren’t they already licensed?

[Pro Libertate]

Not that kind of license, silly. A medical license, I guess. In case they run over someone?

[some guy]

These people are expected to operate dozens, if not hundreds of different types of vehicles with thousands of different features. It takes months of training and thousands of dollars of coursework to properly prepare for such a career. Plus you need yearly refresher training to keep up with industry standards. It’s a miracle LA isn’t already strewn with the bodies of hapless, unlicensed valets and the mangled ruins of the cars they were parking.

[jesse.in.mb]

It’s a miracle LA isn’t already strewn with the bodies of hapless, unlicensed valets and the mangled ruins of the cars they were parking.

Clearly you haven’t visited in a while…

[Pi Guy]

“Can you put this in a good spot? Because all this shit happened last time I parked here.”

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Be your own Gummy bear

[Knutsack]

“In Japan, women give men gifts on Valentines Day. The men get the chance to reciprocate on White Day, which falls on March 14.”

What could men give women on “White” day? On March 14th. The same as steak and bj day here.

[Jordan]

What could men give women on “White” day?

I think your username goes well with this.

[Brett L]

So it appears self-incorporation is more than just a sci-fi plot device.

[Rich]

the FBI’s efforts to address what it calls the “going dark” problem?how the rise in popularity of email and social networks has stifled its ability to monitor communications as they are being transmitted.

*** rising intonation ***

What about unconditional security?

[A Serious Man]

Dr. Ben Carson: the good, he told off MSNBC’s Toure for calling him an Uncle Tom.

The bad: Hannity asked him his opinion on gay marriage.

[Matrix]

If you listen to a lot of average black folks, a lot of them are against gay marriage too. A lot of Dems are against gay marriage. They are just being silent at the present moment.

[Tulpa (LAOL-PA)]

Gay marriage isn’t even a liberty issue, on either side. It’s an argument over words. One side wants the govt pat on the head that the word represents, and the other side doesn’t want to let them have it. Yawn…except a lot of liberty devotees have fooled themselves into thinking ssm is just as important as property rights.

[Matrix]

It’s one of those “both sides are wrong” things. Neither should be getting special privileges from the government.

[jesse.in.mb]

HANNITY: And you know, it’s interesting, Justice Sotomayor brought up the issue of polygamy and incest. Where does the definition stop and I guess, we’ll be debating it for weeks and months to come.

Wait, women can own property now. Stick a fork in it, the definition is done!

[Irish]

I’ve now begun telling liberal friends of mine that I’m in favor of legalized polygamist marriage, since grown adults should be allowed to do what they want, without interference from the state.

They always act like that’s crazy, thus proving that progressives are hypocrites and have no actual principles beyond what is currently cool in their circle of friends.

[jesse.in.mb]

I’ve been doing the same with first cousin marriage (which is already legal in CA anyway) liberal or conservative they’re grossed out (I have a fairly large group of unaligned friends who just say “heh, kinky” and move on), but don’t seem inclined to legislate against it. I should feel them out on poly marriage.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

That’s because people with principles are inflexible haters!

[GILMORE]

if i’m Bi, can i marry both? splitting bills 3 ways is helpful in these tough times

[Joe M]

Haha, hilarious, I’ve been doing the same thing with siblings. Pissed off at least one prog friend who said it was illegal because of the health problems associated with siblings’ having children. I was like, since when was marriage about procreation?

[jesse.in.mb]

I convinced a group of people that lesbian twin porn wasn’t particularly dirty because the twins wouldn’t be able to procreate, which is the only reason to proscribe that behavior. They were excited until someone decided that the taboo-ness was what made it hot and I’d effectively messed that up.

[PapayaSF]

Yeah, it’s not as if there are any health problems associated with gay males, right?

[Irish]

AP ‘reports’ Va. GOP pushed voter ID bill after ‘more modest’ law didnt stop Obama victory.

Unbiased media!

[A Serious Man]

Your iPhone…kills jobs and creates an underclass of exploited workers!.

*cue screaming goat*

[SweatingGin]

Two paragraphs in, and it’s certainly the dumbest thing I’ve read today, and aiming for all time.

[Art Vandelay]

Stay on Salon for a while. I’m sure you’ll find something else even more retarded.

[heller]

Isn’t that the correct response to anything in Salon?

[Joe M]

Article sucked, comments were worse.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That’s why I have an Android. The only thing it kills is phone connections. And apps. And batteries.

[PapayaSF]

LOL

[Irish]

You should never buy anything that makes your life easier, since someone will have lost a job because of it.

I mean, when you buy a washing machine, think of all the women who would have been hired as washer ladies in the middle ages. Now they’re just out of a job, you heartless monster.

[Matrix]

all those poor blacksmiths out of work. Oh and the milk man. SMH

they, of course, starved to death, because there was nothing left for them to do. It’s completely impossible to find another job when yours has been eliminated.

[Irish]

Also, it’s possible for an advance to be good for consumers but bad for workers. This is because workers don’t consume anything, and therefore don’t benefit from lower prices.

[edcoast]

Had a similar discussion with my SIL one day. Basically asked her if she had an iPhone. Yes. And you have an assistant. Yes, but he is shared. And you make a pretty good living. Well, yeah. Imagine how many more assistants your company could hire and how much more equitable your pay and theirs would be if none of you had iPhones. Silence.

[SweatingGin]

I’ve been enjoying watching modern progressives become full-on Luddites. “Your Loom kills jobs!”

Also been fun to bitch about Luddites to progressive friends, just waiting for them to catch on.

[PapayaSF]

Think of the water carriers out of work because of pipes!

[Brandon]

Glad I have a Droid. Guilt-free Angry Birds!

[Brandon]

And comments:

Capitalism exploits all technology, including our beloved, if not venerated, high tech, to its ends. That means, of course, to maximize profits and to impoverish labor. Apparently, Jobs (I heard he dies…pity) & successors are banking on transfer payments to underwrite their US consumers purchases of Apple gadgets, if they haven’t written off the US market entirely in favor of China and the rest of the BRICs.

Uh…what?

[CampingInYourPark]

“AFP – Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest surviving bank and Italy’s third biggest, on Thursday reported a net loss for 2012 of 3.17 billion euros ($4.06 billion).”

http://www.france24.com/en/201…..euros-2012

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Who has the best cleavage? The Sun is there!

[Coeus]

Rewriting our rape laws.

Legally, this would mean clarifying the meaning of “consent” in our penal codes to make clear that the question isn’t whether a woman voiced her lack of consent, but whether the sex was mutually consensual. In practical terms, that will probably mean that if a defendant uses consent as a defence to a sexual assault charge, he would shoulder the burden of demonstrating that the defendant affirmatively and meaningfully consented – not that she just didn’t say no, or that she was competent enough to say no if she wanted to.

Guilty until proven innocent. Dammit, AlJazeera, you used to be cool.

[A Serious Man]

How do you prove ‘meaningful consent’ if it’s just your word against hers?

[Jordan]

You don’t. But that’s okay, because we all know that rape accusations are never false.

[kinnath]

You’re not supposed to be able to.

A video tape of the woman in question saying she wants it will just be proof of coercion.

[NeonCat]

Consent forms in triplicate, notarized by a FEMALE notary, who will also provide the woman with a stop sign to indicate consent is no longer given.

[Coeus]

who will also provide the woman with a stop sign to indicate consent is no longer given.

Still not getting it. Why should the woman be required to hold up a sign if she wants to stop? She gets a “go” sign, and it’s up to the man to determine if her enthusiastic waving of the sign slackens. If it does, even the slightest bit, he must immediately stop, beg for forgiveness and give her a foot rub.

[NeonCat]

It’s because men are mindless animals, but fortunately because of driver’s training will USUALLY stop for a stop sign. And if not, she can hit him with it.

And a foot rub? Do you not see the giant door you’re opening up for foot fetishists to have crappy sex with a woman so she’ll complain, thus enabling him to touch her feet, getting off without getting her off?

[Coeus]

It’s because men are mindless animals, but fortunately because of driver’s training will USUALLY stop for a stop sign. And if not, she can hit him with it

Saying no would be just as effective. The issue is that they believe that a woman shouldn’t have to. They’d never go for the stop sigh plan.

And a foot rub? Do you not see the giant door you’re opening up for foot fetishists to have crappy sex with a woman so she’ll complain, thus enabling him to touch her feet, getting off without getting her off?

Touche. OK, replace that with flowers and cleaning the bathroom.

[NeonCat]

Do you not see the giant door you have opened for fetishistic Obsessive-Compulsives?

[Coeus]

Dammit. Got me again. You’d think that I, of all people, would take fetishes into account. How about compose a 32 point bulleted list of everything that’s special and wonderful about her?

[Paul.]

Legally, this would mean clarifying the meaning of “consent” in our penal codes

I see what they did there…

[Coeus]

Discussion about the article on the writer’s own blog.

Some of the logical contortions in the comments are astounding.

[Eduard van Haalen]

“Dammit, AlJazeera, you used to be cool.”

I thought they want the woman to bring four corroborating witnesses to prove rape, otherwise she’s an adulteress and must be stoned.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Nana Mouskouri called, she wants her glasses back

[Joe M]

The Sun is a poor man’s Daily Mail.

[Jordan]

Except for glorious page 3. Dem tittays.

[kinnath]

A hand on the ass does not justify a broken nose.

And I suspect the “punched” would be more accurate than “slapped”.

[Paul.]

Who’s the eleven year old girl in the pics?

[A Serious Man]

The global War on Women: Swedish woman convicted of assault after slapping man who grabbed her ass.

[albo]

Which explains the denizens of Wal-Mart at midnight.

Or the average convenience store near a highway on a Friday night. I went in to pick up a gallon of milk and it was like a walked onto the set of a Road Warrior sequel directed by John Waters.

[CampingInYourPark]

“PARIS (AP) — President Francois Hollande says that companies that pay their employees more than 1 million euros ($1.3 million) will see their tax bill on those salaries rise to 75 percent.”

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s…..8-16-14-08

[hamilton]

Looks like the Titan CEO’s prediction about Michelin will be coming true any day now.

[GILMORE]

what to do?

erm. pay them the lower bracket equivilent of 1m EU*75% (250k) and give them 750K in equity options (or deferred comp plan like a deferred annuity contribution.

i predict Hollande’s policy will quickly result in laffer-fest, reduced revenues, and subsequent blaming of wreckers and kulaks

[CampingInYourPark]

“TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Health officials said Thursday that thousands of patients of an Oklahoma dentist should undergo testing for HIV and hepatitis after officials investigating the source of a patient’s disease discovered instruments weren’t being cleaned properly.”

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s…..8-16-59-41

[Jordan]

One sad thing is that this would qualify as a Keynesian stimulus. Think of all the blood tests and medications people will need to buy now!

[Xenocles]

Also the stimulus from when the guy’s settlement gets spent.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

More Warty Facts

[Capt Ace Rimmer]

that Voice! it’s like a creepy Morgan Freeman?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

The Saga of the Phoenix Coyotes continues

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Vettel & Webber: Best frenemies again!

[NeonCat]

Multi-use Titanium Dioxide claimed to be the next wonder material.

http://www.gizmag.com/multi-us…..ide/26756/

FTA, it can treat wastewater and separates salt out at the same time. Exposed to sunlight it can separate hydrogen from wastewater. It can also be used to make flexible solar cells, improve the capacity of Lithium ion batteries and could make anti-microbial bandages.

[Pro Libertate]

But wait. . .there’s more!

[wakeup]

It’s both a floor wax and a dessert topping!

[General Butt Naked]

Just set it…

and forget it!

[wakeup]

order now and you’ll receive this State of Kansas Jell-O mold!

[A Serious Man]

And it tastes like candy too!

[GILMORE]

IT SLICES, IT DICES, AND IF YOU ACT NOW, WE’LL INCLUDE THIS SET OF PARING KNIVES, A $ 39.99 VALUE

[Paul.]

If you call within the next 15 minutes…

[Pro Libertate]

Not available in stores!

[Brandon]

Does it come in a spray can?

[wakeup]

just as the finest cheeses do.

[Pro Libertate]

You know, someone should come up with a spray cheese that’s actually made of high-end cheese.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Brie Whiz? Gouda-Nuff?

[Pro Libertate]

Sure, all sorts of nice, aged cheeses.

And this gets better: Spray wine. Wine, bound in an aerosol matrix, delivered in spray form.

[wakeup]

It’s pesticides killing all the bees.

[NeonCat]

You’re in the pay of Big Hive, aren’t you?

[wakeup]

without bees the flowers die.

[GILMORE]

and without flowers, the children cry

[Capt Ace Rimmer]

and when children cry, drug legalization can’t fly

[jesse.in.mb]

Are these flowers opium poppies or something?

[GILMORE]

NO YOU IDIOT – THE NEXT LINE IS:

“and if children cry, so will i
therefore we should all get high
there is no better reason to say why
because eventually more bees will fly”

and then we drink a beer to cheer ourselves in a time of dear concern.

poetry = how does it work??

[Paul.]

Wasn’t it decided that the hive collapse was caused by austerity a parasite? Now they’re going back to low level pesticides and cell phone towers?

[Paul.]

So don’t forget to tweet frequently about sleeping with feebs’ spouses.

Tip: Tweets are already public. Other people can see them…now.

[Anger]

I’m at the mall. Thought I’d catch up on the news at my tqo favorite websites. And here’s what I get:

Content blocked by your organization

Reason: This Websense category is filtered: Sex.

URL: http://heartiste.wordpress.com/

I go to my other favorite website. I get the same thing.

Content blocked by your organization

Reason: This Websense category is filtered: Hate.

URL: http://amren.com/

[General Butt Naked]

Reason: This Websense category is filtered: Sex.

Don’t they know this is a libertarian sight?

There’s no sex going on here.

[Coeus]

Yes, proggies have been known to abuse the ability of users to submit requests for categorization of websites to the filter companies. Though heartiste isn’t exactly work friendly. Sex is a good categorization. Jezebel is classified the same way by most companies. If they had labeled it “hate”, there’d be a problem. As for amren, a quick perusal shows nothing really objectionable there, but if anyone else wants to dig a little deeper, I’m open to changing my opinion. From what I saw it just looks like a white version of “colorlines”.

[Irish]

AR is pretty goddamn racist.

From the site:

George McDaniel describes the career of the distinguished white activist Madison Grant. Our movement has deep roots among the best men of America’s past.

Madison Grant, among the best men of America’s past. He was a eugenicist who helped write anti-miscegnation laws.

The people who write for AmRen are all part of the ‘intellectual’ wing of white supremacy, which means that they’re smart enough not to flat out call anyone ‘nigger.’

There’s an article I just looked at that contained a section subtitled: A Program to Maintain the White Majority.

[Coeus]

Gotcha. Opinion changed.

And this:

A Program to Maintain the White Majority.

Why the hell would you need a program? Both the Dems and Repubs are committed to doing that (for different but similar reasons). They just add another group whenever the demographics shift. First Irish, then Italian, and coming soon to a town near you, Hispanics.

[Sidd Finch]

When and where were Irish and Italians considered non-white?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Really?

Read a fucking history book, Sidd.

[Sidd Finch]

Perhaps you could quote the relevant sections of said history book.

[Heroic Mulatto]

How The Irish Became White, is just one book on the subject.

[Sidd Finch]

1) The description of that book doesn’t even assert that the Irish were considered non-white.

2) From the author’s wiki page: ” He is best known for his work on race and social class, and for his call to “abolish” the white race, which he defines as “white privilege and race identity.” Ignatiev is the co-founder and co-editor of the journal Race Traitor and the New Abolitionist Society.”

[Heroic Mulatto]

So? Who the author is doesn’t change historical fact.

Anti-Irish racism in Victorian Britain and 19th century United States included the stereotyping of the Irish as alcoholics, and implications that they monopolised certain (usually low-paying) job markets.[citation needed] They were often called “white Negroes.” Throughout Britain and the U.S., newspaper illustrations and hand drawings depicted a prehistoric “ape-like image” of Irish faces to bolster evolutionary racist claims that the Irish people were an “inferior race” as compared to Anglo-Saxons.

[Sidd Finch]

They were often called “white Negroes.”

This is evidence that they were considered non-white?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, yeah. I’m not saying that early WASP Americans thought Irish people were actually dark-skinned.

[Sidd Finch]

I’m not denying that Americans didn’t like Irish and Italian immigrants. I’m asking for evidence, and getting the opposite, that they were widely considered non-white.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I’m asking for evidence, and getting the opposite, that they were widely considered non-white.

No. You’re insisting on a 20th-century definition of the term “White”. The Anglo-Saxon Americans didn’t deny that Irish and Italians were Europeans, which is how we commonly define “White” nowadays; however, they did deny that all Europeans were of the same “race”. In the late 18th century and the early 19th century people talked of the Anglo-Saxon “race” just as they talked about the Celtic race, the Latin race, etc.

Here’s a cartoon from Harper’s Weekly from 1876 which purports to explain how the Irish are a mix of Iberian (which was considered an “African” race, e.g. Hannibal and his Carthaginians) and Celtic. The Irish profile is contrasted with the Anglo-Teutonic profile and compared with the Negro profile.

Did Irish blood ever count as one-drop for Jim Crow? No. At a certain point in history were the Irish considered by many to be an inferior race to Anglo-Saxon Americans? Absolutely. The answer is they weren’t “White” but they weren’t “Black” either.

[Sidd Finch]

They were “white” for the purposes of the Naturalization Act of 1790.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That’s true. However, don’t forget a huge number of indentured servants were Irish, and thus not eligible for citizenship at the time. Indeed, some called indentured servitude “Irish slavery”.

[Heroic Mulatto]

As an aside, in Elizabethan England, Irish were sold as slaves to work on plantations in the Caribbean.

[Sidd Finch]

Well, duh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QHYFXDGf4Y

[GILMORE]

IF WE HAD NEVER LET THESE IRISH MONKEYS IN OUR COUNTRY WE’D BE SO MUCH BETTER OFF.

DERP

i think mexicans are getting a raw deal. they are only suffering half the stupid shit the rest of us had to put up with over the 20th century. yet we will occasionally speak in their favor and be treated as traitors. Fuck all you nativist idiots. you appreciate the ground you walk on 1 20th as much as those as who have come here to be free.

[Ska]

Late 19th century in America, yes.

[Sidd Finch]

examples? labor unions? housing covenants? marriages?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Wait, you really don’t know this? I apologize, I thought you were just being contrarian.

[Heroic Mulatto]

examples? labor unions? housing covenants? marriages?

All of the above. When, in America, “White” was reserved for Protestant Anglo-Saxons or Germanics, Catholic Celtics, like the Irish would have had a problem inter-marrying with a “White”. The entire history of Boston is basically housing discrimination against the Irish, and labor unions owe a lot to Irish rabble-rousers who were consistently discriminated against in vertical movement within the company (and as a way to protect their jobs from other miniorities).

[Sidd Finch]

When, in America, “White” was reserved for Protestant Anglo-Saxons or Germanics

Absurd. That’s who the racialist term “Nordic” was for.

The entire history of Boston is basically housing discrimination against the Irish

OK. But is that because they were Irish, or because they were widely considered non-white.

[Heroic Mulatto]

When, in America, “White” was reserved for Protestant Anglo-Saxons or Germanics

Absurd. That’s who the racialist term “Nordic” was for.

We’re arguing about two different times in history. “Nordic” as a term to describe a race didn’t come into vogue in the English speaking world until the late 19th century with the Aryanism movement in anthropology and linguistics. I’m talking about the early 19th century.

[Sidd Finch]

I’m talking about the early 19th century.

okay. Ska specifically mentioned “Late 19th century.”

But I still don’t see any evidence that were considered non-white stupid drunks.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Oh, I found this little fun editorial cartoon by Thomas Nast, the guy who invented the elephant as the mascot for the GOP, it depicts a Black guy and an Irish guy on a scale. I think you can get the message.

[Sidd Finch]

website doesn’t allow hotlinks

[Sidd Finch]

One wonders why those “No Irish Need Apply” signs didn’t just say “Whites Only.”

Or why Andrew Jackson wasn’t considered the first non-white President.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Scotch-Irish didn’t count. They were good Protestant folk who were the descendants of British colonists in Ulster.

[Coeus]

Scotch-Irish didn’t count. They were good Protestant folk who were the descendants of British colonists in Ulster.

I was quite disappointed to learn that that term didn’t mean “blend” but instead meant some of my ancestors were elitists.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I was quite disappointed to learn that that term didn’t mean “blend” but instead meant some of my ancestors were elitists.

Heh, quite different than my paternal Anglo-Indian ancestors, though it originally had a similar connotation. 😉

[Coeus]

This is a good place to start.

It will give you an idea of the thought processes of the time.

[jesse.in.mb]

Hey Sidd, I’ve been watching the convo, and I don’t have any evidence off the top of my head but the way that immigrant groups have been integrated is often seen as “whitening.” Where whitening is the willingness of the group that’s already white to overlook differences from that which is “American” and accentuate similarities. Another example would be the transition of Asians from “Orientals” to the “model minority”.

[Sidd Finch]

Jesse, I’m aware of that, but I’m not talking about integration or social acceptance. The comment I was responding to was about government classification. I want examples of Irish and Italians being legally considered non-white. For example, Mexicans could often marry whites or blacks under anti-miscegenation laws. That’s a clear example of Mexicans being considered something else. Could the Irish do the same, ever? NOt AFAICT

[jesse.in.mb]

A creature manifestly between the Gorilla and the Negro is to be met with in some of the lowest districts of London and Liverpool by adventurous explorers. It comes from Ireland, whence it has contrived to migrate; it belongs in fact to a tribe of Irish savages: the lowest species of Irish Yahoo.

—Punch, 1862

[jesse.in.mb]

Thaddeus Russell covers the topic in chapter 6 of A Renegade History. It’s an interesting if imperfect book.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The comment I was responding to was about government classification. I want examples of Irish and Italians being legally considered non-white.

Ah, I see. You are correct. The U.S. Government never classified the Irish as non-white.

[Sidd Finch]

I’m not just talking about the USG. If some Irish were at a “whites only” swimming hole, would a judge convict them? Were they ineligible to buy a “whites only” house? I’ve heard anecdotes, but never any evidence that it was widespread.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well it’s hard to say, as those Know-Nothings who infiltrated the government were pledge to say they “knew nothing”. I would put good money that in the Boston of the 1850’s all the above did happen though.

[Coeus]

The comment I was responding to was about government classification. I want examples of Irish and Italians being legally considered non-white.

Where? You are the one who started using “government”. No one else said it.

[Sidd Finch]

Both the Dems and Repubs are committed to doing that (for different but similar reasons). They just add another group whenever the demographics shift.

Are you suggesting the Dems and Reps will write influential articles for the American Sociological Review?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Actually, getting back to Coeus’s original post…

President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoted a “good neighbor” policy that sought better relations with Mexico. In 1935 a federal judge ruled that three Mexican immigrants were ineligible for citizenship because they were not white, as required by federal law. Mexico protested, and Roosevelt decided to circumvent the decision and make sure the federal government treated Hispanics as white. The State Department, the Census Bureau, the Labor Department, and other government agencies therefore made sure to uniformly classify people of Mexican descent as white. This policy encouraged the League of United Latin American Citizens in its quest to minimize discrimination by asserting their whiteness

[Irish]

^ As a result of that, Hispanics were classified as either ‘black’ or ‘white’ until the 1980s depending on their skin tone. This is why people who claim that “83 percent of Americans were white in 1980 and now it’s only 70%” are actually wrong because tons of Hispanics were being classified as white in 1980.

[Coeus]

Are you suggesting the Dems and Reps will write influential articles for the American Sociological Review?

Political parties are not the government. Do you deny that the democrats subscribe to the “war on women” meme because there’s no law on the books that states it exists?

[Calidissident]

In California at least, Mexicans could marry whites, but not blacks. Perez v. Sharp, the California Supreme Court case that resulted in the end of California’s anti-miscegenation laws, involved a Mexican woman who wanted to marry a black man.

[Sidd Finch]

In California at least, Mexicans could marry whites, but not blacks.

From what I’ve read, well before Perez v Sharpe, it was basically the clerks call. All the permutations were somewhat common, because there was no consensus on what Mexicans were.

[Coeus]

here’s a list of resources to peruse.

Social definition

President Abraham Lincoln was descended from Samuel Lincoln, and was of English and Welsh ancestry.

Actress Raquel Welch of Spanish (via Bolivia) and English ancestry back to the Mayflower.[15]
In the United States, essentially anyone of European descent is considered white. Although both Jewish Americans[16] and Arab-Americans are included in the white category in the census, some might not consider themselves white, and might not be considered white by others.[17][18][19]
The cultural boundaries separating white Americans from other racial or ethnic categories have changed significantly over the course of American history. Even among Europeans, those not considered white at some time in American history include Southern Europeans (Spaniards, Greeks, Italians etc.), Irish Catholics, Eastern Europeans and Germans.[20][21] Early on in the United States, white generally referred to those of British Isles or northwestern European descent.[22]
David R. Roediger argues that the construction of the white race in the United States was an effort to mentally distance slave owners from slaves.[23] The process of officially being defined as white by law often came about in court disputes over pursuit of citizenship.[24]

[Heroic Mulatto]

Hmm…works for me.

Try this link.

[Warty]

He is understood to call himself Billy The Fridge

[Slammer]

Damn, you saw those titties?

[jesse.in.mb]

Rob Cutler, from Topeka, Kansas, where the church is based, said: ‘I was amazed, first I see David run out of a motor home and the next thing I know he’s been sat on by this giant naked man who is screaming “who’s your daddy now Davey?”‘

Yes.

[Joe M]

STEVE SMITH finally captured on video.

[Coeus]

EU may run out of money this year.

How is that possible? Krugman told us that they’re cutting spending to the bone over there.

[PapayaSF]

And can’t they always just print more? That’s what we’re doing.

[prolefeed]

Evolution may have less to do with survival of the fittest than with survival of whatever nature’s dice may roll, say scientists.

Ummm, long term, the best at adapting to changes IS survival of the fittest.

“Survival of the survivors” is a more accurate phrase, albeit banal sounding.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yeah, I understand it’s a pop-science article, but I don’t see what’s so new about the concept. I’m not a biologist but for at least 15 years, I’ve been familiar with the concept that random mutation increases genetic diversity, which can then provide evolutionary advantages somewhere down the road.

[Heroic Mulatto]

An interesting story from Mexico (IMO)….

What say you reasonoids?

[jesse.in.mb]

When the revolution comes there’ll be even better Mexican food in LA.

[Jordan]

Well, we discussed this in the morning links 🙂

Anyway, I think it’s a positive development. I certainly don’t agree with all of their actions, but they can’t be worse than the Mexican cops.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, we discussed this in the morning links 🙂

Aw man!

Anyway, I’m inclined to agree. It does provide evidence against the assertion that without government anarchy will just be a 24-hour festival of rape and murder.

[Warty]

Unpredictable times call for a reliable friend.

[PapayaSF]

Thank heavens Mexico has strict gun control.

[Flemur]

“Evolution may have less to do with survival of the fittest than with survival of whatever nature’s dice may roll, say scientists.”

Yeah, it’s called “Genetic Drift” and isn’t a new idea.