A.M. Links: Lethal Fertilizer Plant Blast in Texas, Dem Senator Calls Obamacare a 'Train Wreck,' President Got His Vote But He's Still Not Happy

• 

  U.S. Congress

  Between five and 15 people died, and at least 140 were injured, in an explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas.

• President Obama's signature health care plan is headed for a "train wreck," warns Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who helped write the horrible thing.
• Obama got the vote he wanted on gun control. Then he got all pissy because it didn't go his way.
• Letters that tested positive for the poison ricin and disrupted life in the nation's capital have been traced to Kenneth Curtis of Tupelo, Mississippi, who is in a bit of hot water.
• New York's new gun restrictions were passed for ideological reasons, not to make anybody safer, says a letter sent to the governor by the Albany Police Officers Union. The letter goes on to blast the law as morally wrong.
• Medical marijuana won a nod from the Illinois House, which voted for a four-year pilot program permitting the stuff. Don't get your hopes up — it's still Illinois.
• Taking blood samples from DUI suspects requires a warrant, says the U.S. Supreme Court. So police across the country will have to find another excuse for jabbing motorists with sharp sticks.

Spice up your blog or Website with Reason 24/7news and Reason articles! You can easily add a widget here.

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]

President Obama's signature health care plan is headed for a "train wreck," warns Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, who helped write the horrible thing.

Looking to rewrite history, not the bad law.

[Counterfly]

That is so insensitive to train wreck victims everywhere.

[Ted S.]

Except the ones in Atlas Shrugged, who deserved to die.

[mr simple]

C'mon, spoiler alert, please!

[Doktor Kapitalism]

+1

[Drake]

Looking to get reelected in Montana somehow.

[sarcasmic]

Kate Hudson or Liz Hurley?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....g-all.html

[Archduke Pantsfan]

YES

[Counterfly]

They both have a horrible history, so I will stick with Selena Gomez.

[$park?]

She's been Biebered.

[Counterfly]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[sarcasmic]

You want to go where Bieber has been? No thanks.

[Counterfly]

OK, first, I don't think he has. And second, that would make it better.

[Cdr Lytton]

Speaking of that little shit... drove by the rock in downtown this morning that has Anne Frank's "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart" quote on it. Fuck you Bieber. She was twice the person you'll ever be.

[jesse.in.mb]

You really are a deviant. I approve.

[LTC(ret) John]

Yes.

[Restoras]

Liz for me, hands down. Kate still reeks of A-Rod.

[John]

Hurley all day and twice on Sunday. First, Hudson has been married to that dirty hippie from the Black Crowes, which reduces her attractiveness. And Hudson is incredibly flat chested.

[sarcasmic]

And Hudson is incredibly flat chested.

Not so much since her boob job.

http://brucejennerplasticsurge.....ore-after/

[John]

I didn't know she had one. I still would take Hurley. I have always really liked her. Hudson is fine. But Hurley always really worked for me.

[sarcasmic]

I'd have to flip a coin and hope it balances on its side.

[$park?]

Edge?

[sarcasmic]

Leave U2 out of this.

[Enough About Palin]

Kate Hudson is as big a piece of shit as her mother.

[Lord Humungus]

This is IMPORTANT!

Has anyone ever been killed by a falling piano or anvil?
http://www.straightdope.com/co.....o-or-anvil

[Counterfly]

Does anyone know where I can get a hold of two anvils and some black powder?

[Generic Stranger]

Your nearest country store?

[LTC(ret) John]

"ACME"

[Austrian Anarchy]

No wonder the Warner Brother's stores went out of business. They just gave me puzzled expressions when I asked for dynamite and then for an anvil.

[Elspeth Flashman]

You should've asked for the flying suit. It might work for only 5 seconds, but it looks cool while you're doing it.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Already have one. Thanks.

[Ptah-Hotep]

You could ask these guys.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2048750/

[sarcasmic]

The Ke$ha creature lost some weight.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....ation.html

[Archduke Pantsfan]

NO

[RBS]

She almost looks hot in the third picture.

[Counterfly]

Well, considering her beverage of choice, it's not surprising.

Also yes. All night long.

[Virginian]

Ughhhh....

Sorry, I don't have super high standards. But she looks like ten miles of bad road.

[Matrix]

if you're into the white trash sort of thing

[sarcasmic]

Trial begins for Californian woman who screamed 'You deserve it' as she severed her husband's penis with a 10-inch kitchen knife before throwing it in the garbage disposal

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....knife.html
It says she drugged his tofu. Well, that's what he gets for eating tofu.

[LTC(ret) John]

So he wasn't using it anyway?

[Drake]

He was married, so no.

[An0nB0t]

Double jeopardy?

[Counterfly]

If my penis is ever in a sentence along with the phrase '10-inch' I do hope that kitchen knife is not in that sentence.

[Ted S.]

Isn't 10 inches short?

[Counterfly]

It depends on how close to the speed of light you are travelling.

[Bobarian]

So something like "... if you measured it five times, it would..."?

[Ted S.]

There's a Russian proverb roughly equivalent to "look before you leap" that says, "Measure seven times, cut once."

[Restoras]

I thought all Russian Proverbs began with "In Soviet Russia..."

[$park?]

In Soviet Russia, cut measures you!

Hmm, doesn't really sing.

[Numeromancer]

"I've cut it seven times, and it's still too short!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Taking blood samples from DUI suspects requires a warrant, says the U.S. Supreme Court

Judges with rubber stamps are going to get a lot of on-call pay.

[Counterfly]

What if a guy is some how bleeding, like after he tried to headbutt my nightstick a bunch of times. And then that blood drips on the ground or something, I can test it then without a warrant, right?

[Cdr Lytton]

Totally! Abandoned property, bitchez.

Also, don't forget to add the follow on charges of assault with bodily fluids, littering, and property damage. And start the paper work to have the guy billed for the sanitizing and clean up work by the public works folks.

[Flatulent Monkey]

Double don't forget disorderly conduct. Getting in the path of that nightstick was totally out of line.

[T]

They have judges on call in Harris County on big weekends. Basically, you're going to get stuck on a holiday weekend if you get popped for a DUI.

[Cdr Lytton]

So on-call judges for DUI arrests but no on-call judges for appearances and releases? Gotcha.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

John assured me yesterday that blood draw warrants would not be any more "rubber stamp" than any other search warrant.

[Gray Ghost]

What I am curious about is whether these midnight magistrates ever turn down a warrant request.

[T]

I'll bet not. But I bet gathering statistics on it would be difficult, because everybody involved would obstruct you.

I also bet that every statement from the cops to the judge will be remarkably similar.

[Lord Humungus]

Proceed with Caution toward the Self-Driving Car
Completely autonomous vehicles will remain a fantasy for years. Until they're here, we need technology that enhances human drivers' abilities rather than making those abilities increasingly obsolete.
http://www.technologyreview.co.....iving-car/

[sarcasmic]

Boy, 16, charged with assault for urinating in school staffroom coffee pot after teachers report strange 'chemical taste'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....taste.html
Now who hasn't wanted to do that at some point in their life?

[Doktor Kapitalism]

Strangely, that never occurred to me. The easiest target (who had a coffee pot in his room) was one of my better teachers, though.

[Counterfly]

Really. Their cars used to be such easier targets. Of course now a days, the teacher's lounge may be the only place that doesn't have CCTV in it.

[Doktor Kapitalism]

Teacher's parking lot was visible from about 8 or 9 class rooms, plus some offices, so yeah, not exactly recommendable at my high school.

[NoVAHockey]

the teachers lot and IIRC student government types was behind a fence with a gate. my brother got a huge chain and locked it. so no harm, but a huge pain in the ass.

[Generic Stranger]

Worst I saw were the classrooms that were out in trailers had wooden staircases that weren't attached to anything, so someone went to the school late one night and heaved the staircases onto the roofs of the trailers.

[Doktor Kapitalism]

Sounds like my mother's elementary school. Was this in Wichita?

[Generic Stranger]

If you were talkin to me, Dok, then no; I grew up in Nevada.

[sloopyinca]

I was accused of urinating in the milk cooler in high school. According to the kid that ratted me out, I did it on a $20 bet and whipped it out during lunch period while waiting in line. The principal told me he was inclined to believe the other kid because "he's retarded and they don't lie".

I told him we were playing two huge games that weekend (one against our biggest rival) and that suspension wasn't a good idea for the starting point guard. I was not suspended because nobody would corroborate his story.

P.S.: I pissed in the milk cooler.

[$park?]

You could have gotten away with rape and all you did was piss in a milk cooler? I am disappoint.

[sloopyinca]

Funny addendum: the "retarded kid" got caught a few weeks later finger-banging a disabled girl in her wheelchair in a corner of the gym that was hidden by bleachers. He wasn't suspended either, but her parents went ballistic.

So there was a rapist in the story after all.

[Auric Demonocles]

Are you saying all fingerbanging is rape?

[Lord Humungus]

where I come from, that's only first base.

[sloopyinca]

When the girl getting banged is in a catatonic state in a wheelchair and can't even talk?

[Auric Demonocles]

So that's a distinction that probably should have been made from just "disabled girl in her wheelchair".

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, I guess so. But technically, those are disabilities.

[Proprietist]

When the girl getting banged is in a catatonic state in a wheelchair and can't even talk?

That's definitely a foul ball.

[Restoras]

First base?!?! Wholly crap that was Third Base where (and when) I gree up!

[Lord Humungus]

it's a joke!

[sarcasmic]

Obligatory South Park.

http://www.southparkstudios.co.....fingerbang

[D.D. Driver]

Not to be a prude, but I'm not sure that is "funny."

[sloopyinca]

Funny as in ironic funny, not ha-ha funny.

[Ted S.]

And we're supposed to fuck Michigan?

[Auric Demonocles]

I told him we were playing two huge games that weekend (one against our biggest rival) and that suspension wasn't a good idea for the starting point guard

I really wish you had gotten suspended.

[$park?]

Also this. Kinda funny to hear of sloopy pulling the "don't you know who I am" card.

[sloopyinca]

We won both games and ended up winning the conference championship.

I was suspended later in the year for my physics project, so I eventually got what was coming to me. Although, now that I think about it, the suspension was rescinded after about half a day.

[Gray Ghost]

I was suspended later in the year for my physics project,

Go on... Did it have to do with novel ways of exploding USPS property?

[sloopyinca]

We had to make a car out of a Pepsi can. Let's just say my project used half of a Leggs pantyhose egg, two very large rear wheels and two tiny front wheels, some flesh-colored paint and the moniker "Holmes II".

It was voted most popular by the other students and all of the cars were put in a display case in the library. My basketball coach asked the teacher what she thought of my car a few days later and she said she didn't understand why everybody thought it was so neat. He told her, "because it's a dick".

She called my father, who last saw the car before it's phallic transformation, and explained to him how embarrassing it all was for her and the other kids who worked so hard because I made my car "resemble a male penis". My father calmly asked her "what other kind of penis is there?" She did not see the humor and said she was giving me a zero on the project, which would have caused me to get a C for the semester. He asked her if she as giving me a zero because I didn't meet the project requirements or if it was because I embarrassed her. She said she would give me the lowest possible passing grade and report it to the school superintendent, whose name happened to be Don Dyck. He gave me in-school suspension for five days but cancelled it after half a day because it meant I wouldn't be able to run in the district track meet, and I was the top 800 and mile runner in the district.

[Gray Ghost]

This is hilarious. Thanks for telling the story. I vaguely remember you talking here about something like this before, but didn't have all of the details.

How could this woman not realize it was a dick? Not to mention, what in the hell does making a model car have anything to do with physics? What ever happened to the egg drop or balsa wood bridge (hated that fucker) challenges?

[sloopyinca]

Well, it was supposed to have something to do with gravity, aerodynamics, drag and bearing properties. A few kids took it seriously and built these elaborate wheel systems. The kid whose went the fastest and farthest on the ramp won a trip to some science fair thingy at Ohio State but was later found out to have used a rubber band as a drive system and got in trouble for that.

We had done the egg drop and balsa wood bridge thing earlier in the year.

[Restoras]

So sloop, did you father go through the motions of scolding you, all the while holding back tears of pride and joy?

[sloopyinca]

Oh, he tore me a new one. I was trying to get into West Point at the time and he said I was gonna end up costing myself a chance by doing shit like that. We'll never know if he was right, because we moved out of my Congressional district after nominations (which I got) but before appointments (which I could no longer get due to the move), and all the Presidential and Vice-Presidential appointments had been given.

I would have never made it at West Point, though, so I was done a favor.

[Mickey Rat]

"My father calmly asked her "what other kind of penis is there?" "

Well, nowadays your father would be a heteronormative bigot monster for that gem.

I take it by your getting away with murder because of your jock status that you peaked in high school?

[sloopyinca]

I take it by your getting away with murder because of your jock status that you peaked in high school?

Just because I was entitled in high school doesn't mean I wasn't warranted. I was the starting PG on the best basketball team that ever went to my school. And I still hold the 800, 1600, 3200 and cross country records there.*

Athletically, I guess I did peak in high school, unless you consider running a 2:50 marathon at 38 years of age. Socially and emotionally, I was pretty stunted in high school and have since matured. For instance, I have evolved from smashing astronauts' mailboxes and pissing in milk coolers to recording cops.

*I actually hold the 800 record at 2 high schools because we moved late in my senior year and I ran track at my new school since the season at both was still going.

[BakedPenguin]

More like remotely destroying NASA mailboxes.

[sloopyinca]

That was about the same time, but I was never caught or implicated in those juvenile transgressions.

[VG Zaytsev]

P.S.: I pissed in the milk cooler.

So you're verifying that "retards don't lie"?

[sloopyinca]

In this case, I suppose it was true.

Funny addendum: I still deny it to this day at family gatherings where one of my siblings inevitably brings it up in the "Airing of Grievances" portion of the meal. It usually follows with a full ratting-out of childhood wrongdoings, protestations of innocence and my mother leaving the table with the words "it's another Merry Fucking Christmas/Happy Fucking Thanksgiving/Happy Fucking Easter in the Spicer house."

Good times.

[SugarFree]

My mother has spent the last 40 years reminding everyone that I bit my saintly grandmother when I was 3. Grandma doesn't care at all, and mom keeps throwing it in my face whenever possible.

"I have a dental appointment Tuesday."

"You remember that time you bit Grandma?"

[Troy muy grande boner]

So your grandma got a tetnis shot?

[sloopyinca]

Your dad should have Old Yeller'd you. Just to be sure.

[db]

I knew a guy who took a dump on a teacher's desk once. He's a lawyer kow.

[Elspeth Flashman]

We had a mad pooper in my HS, before my time. Every day, there was a pile of poop on the auditorium stage.

[Doktor Kapitalism]

"Headteacher Melody Smith described the incident as repulsive"

Project much?

[robc]

Happy R&R HoF Induction Day! Fight the Power!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmrz0_oqe4A

[Generic Stranger]

Neil Peart stands alone.

[Counterfly]

I encourage everyone to respond to the trolls today. But please, keep it tasteless, shameless and full of gleeful gloating.

And Archer quotes.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

3Malory: Have I made myself clear?
Sterling: You're looking for the word yes.
Malory: Yes.
Sterling: Then, yes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wait, I had something for this...

[PS]

You are like the Pel? of something.

[$park?]

In a Venn diagram, does the Archer circle fall completely inside the Family Guy circle or is it the other way around?

[Virginian]

The difference between Archer and Family Guy is that Archer is funny.

[Andrew S.]

Family Guy was funny in its first run. Then it had that hiatus, and it stopped being funny. They shouldn't have brought it back.

Archer, however, is the funniest show on television. And I'm sad now that I have to wait another year before I get more episodes.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I prefer Venture Brothers over Archer, but Archer makes me laugh every once in awhile.

[sloopyinca]

Archer, however, is the funniest show on television.

Workaholics would like to have a word with you.

[AuH20]

What, so it can get the shit beaten out of it by the vastly funnier Archer?

Workaholics is good, but it ain't even at the level of Community, son (which, if it had managed to make a season that went from Mixology Certification to the holiday episode of S3, would have given it the title of best comedy on TV for a season).

[Proprietist]

Meh, I'm done with Community. Used to love it, now I'm very tired of their contrived schtick.

[Proprietist]

Well, It's Always Sunny would like to have a word with all of you after banging your moms.

[Zeb]

I think they are both funny. Though I haven't seen a new Family Guy in years.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I hate Family Guy & have never watched Arthur. TV channels? Not in my house. Netflix only.

[Brett L]

First 3 seasons of Archer are on Netflix.

[Proprietist]

As are Family Guy.

[Drake]

Don't worry your pretty empty head Elspeth, men are talking.

[Lord Humungus]

I shall fight for her honor.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Hm? Sorry I was picturing Whore Island.

[AuH20]

The Isle of Man? Oh my god, is that like whore island for women?

[Kaptious Kristen]

This comes from the Isle of Man. Rawr. Too bad all the HGH and EPO has likely shrunk his weiner to the size of a light switch.

[John]

You disappoint me Kristen. I thought for sure that was going to be some bad ass picture from the Isle of Man TT rather than some cyclist.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Some cyclist?!?! That's Mark Cavendouche, the Manx Missile! Sheesh! Screw those candy-ass motorcyclists.

[Ptah-Hotep]

Cavendouche

Aren't most cyclists "caven douches"?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Cyclists are among the most douchey athletes (up there with soccer players and F1 drivers). Mark is a special level of douche, in that he lets it openly show in the media.

I still think he's hot and an amazing sprinter, though.

[Generic Stranger]

Every single noun and verb in that sentence totally arouses me.

[D.D. Driver]

I've got an El Camino full of rampage.

[sarcasmic]

Three men deported from Saudi Arabia for being 'too irresistible to women'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....women.html
I never knew you could be arrested for being too handsome. Not that that's anything I'd ever have to worry about, but still.

[Brett L]

Guess I should stay out of Saudi Arabia.

[LTC(ret) John]

Well, I will be sure to stay away from the Kingdom then!

/egoist

[RBS]

The kavorka!

[Counterfly]

It might be pheromones, rather than them being handsome.

Swarthy is a scent, right?

[sarcasmic]

Wrong.

Try google. It's your friend.

[Counterfly]

I have no friends. Thanks for reminding me, jerkwad.

[sarcasmic]

Loser.

[LTC(ret) John]

Eau de UAE?

[Teenage Girl]

Eewwwy!!

[jesse.in.mb]

You can't have an article about three men being irresistible to women and then not have pictures. dailymail makes me sad.

[Fist of Etiquette]

New York's new gun restrictions were passed for ideological reasons, not to make anybody safer, says a letter sent to the governor by the Albany Police Officers Union.

"Oh, they finally put in an exemption for police? Never mind then."

[Restoras]

Yeah, I think the cops are against this in part becasue when they retire and become just ordinary citizens again, they still want to keep thier guns.

[thom]

Ordinary citizens with special privileges are not ordinary citizens.

[sarcasmic]

Did this magical little crystal help the Vikings rape and pillage across the world?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....world.html
Seriously cool. A stone that gives the location of the sun when behind clouds to allow for navigation in bad weather, five hundred years before GPS.

[LTC(ret) John]

GPS = Granite Positioning System?

Rockin'!

[$park?]

Et tu, John?

[LTC(ret) John]

Yes, Dollar-park-Yen, I have surrendered, I have given in...no longer will I glare at those making miserable pun like jokes...I AM FREE!!!!

[$park?]

You used to be the rock in the storm-swept sea. That bit of stability that everyone could count on to not give in. As if you had roots deep in the Earth. Sanity was never more than a stone's throw away with you. But now, like so much obsidian, you have been ejected from the Earth and glassed over. All shall mark this day and mourn.

[Doktor Kapitalism]

The rare semi-intellectual article from Daily Mail.

[some guy]

Yeah, except they de-railed themselves with the third word in the title. It isn't "magical" if it can readily be explained by a physicist. And even if it can't be explained by a physicist, it's still almost certainly not "magical".

[Doktor Kapitalism]

That's expecting a little too much of them.

[generic Brand]

Don't they use navigation crystals for their flying vessels in the Shannara book series? Or are the crystals used more for powering the ships, like Shipstones in Heinlein's universe?

[Counterfly]

That crystal will also divide you into two people and send you back in time to the Tunguska event.

[some guy]

This isn't Warehouse 13.

[Doktor Kapitalism]

Must be Lost.

[PS]

Obama got the vote he wanted on gun control. Then he got all pissy because it didn't go his way.

He deserves another Nobel Peace Prize just for the effort.

[mad libertarian guy]

Obama got the vote he wanted on gun control. Then he got all pissy because it didn't go his way.

And my cup runneth over with the sweet, sweet tasting salty ham tears of liberal America.

[Rich]

He deserves another Nobel Peace Prize just for the effort.

At least a commendation from the United Nations. 8-(

[Auric Demonocles]

A national conversation isn't supposed to include a second side!

[phandaal]

It's really more like a national lecture, as are all of his speeches.

[sarcasmic]

The Florida county where police post 'sexual predator' road signs outside homes of convicted rapists and child molesters

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....sters.html
I'm sure there will be no unintended consequences for this. None at all.

[Bardas Phocas]

There's probably a 'law enforcement exemption' to that.

[Ted S.]

Foreseeable consequences are not unintended.

[generic Brand]

I can't believe (I can totally believe it, unfortunately) that the cops are smiling in those pictures. This is one of the most disgraceful things about our criminal "justice" system. Don't release the guys back into society if they are going to have these ridiculous charges floating around them all their life. Either keep them locked up or let them be truly exonerated.

Not to mention the fact that not one of the signs says a damn thing about what the person did, just "Sexual Predator lives here". It could be for public indecency if they couldn't wait til they got to a restroom to take a piss; God knows that's happened to me a number of times (minus the getting caught part, fortunately)

[sarcasmic]

Either keep them locked up or let them be truly exonerated.

I agree.

[Zeb]

Yes. If these people are so dangerous they can't be allowed just to get on with their lives, keep them locked up. Otherwise, let them live their lives. And why can't we just call rapists rapists and molesters molesters and stop lumping a whole range of different crimes together as "sex offenders". There's a huge difference between some dude who gets his dick sucked in a public bathroom and someone who rapes a child, but they all get lumped together.

[Cdr Lytton]

Oregon makes pimps and those convicted of promoting prostitution register as sex offenders.

And it's getting more fucked up. Out of state convictions that would require registration if convicted in Oregon, are required to register currently but now the Legislature is in the process of expanding it so that out of state offenders that are required to register in their conviction jurisdiction will be required to register, even if the conviction isn't a crime in Oregon or isn't a crime that requires registration in Oregon.

[Lord Humungus]

We Try Fried Piranha, Even Dead and Cooked It's Pretty Dangerous
http://en.rocketnews24.com/201.....rous-fish/

Nara Kenko Land is a well-known spa here in Japan which offers pools, baths, massages, and exercise equipment.

However, for a limited time they are holding the "Big Amazon Mysterious Fish Exhibit" giving us a rare chance to eat the South American river's fish, including the deadly piranha.

worth it for the teeth-baring Piranha on a plate picture.

[generic Brand]

worth it for the teeth-baring Piranha on a plate picture.

Second.

/Scruffy (the janitor)

[Counterfly]

I was really sad to find out that the original James Cameron Piranha movie was intended as a comedy-horror. Because it scared the crap out of me when I was a little kid.

Also that is a cool picture/dish, and I would have to try it.

[Lord Humungus]

heh - same site:

Cursed Japanese Model Thought to Be Responsible for Boeing 787 Troubles
http://en.rocketnews24.com/201.....-troubles/

When Japanese TV personality and model Aki Higashihara blogs, bad things happen.

Higashihara's blog has been dubbed "Death Blog" by the Japanese internet, a reference to Death Note, a popular manga about a supernatural notebook that possess the power to kill whoever's name is written in it. Similar to the fictional "Death Note", internet legend has it that whatever Higashihara writes about in her "Death Blog" is destined to meet an unfortunate fate.

[Mickey Rat]

But we are all destined to meet an unfortunate fate.

[sarcasmic]

Married woman, 42, 'had sex with two boys, ages 13 and 17, after plying them with cake-flavored vodka as three other teens watched'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....tched.html

[Virginian]

*shudder*

I ain't never been that hard up.

[sarcasmic]

I know it. Not enough vodka in the world.

[General Butt Naked]

Yeah, even when I was underage you'd never catch me drinking cake-flavored vodka.

Jesus.

[John]

For once, I think that 17 year old boy was abused. That is some sick shit.

[Auric Demonocles]

Her face is pretty bad, but her body looks pretty good in the two non-mugshots. When you're that young and horny, doggy style or a bag would probably be worth it.

[mr simple]

This is why we need to ban flavored vodka. Clearly they're just targeting underage drinkers. It's for the children.

[sarcasmic]

Speech at gun rights rally goes viral.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/R.....detailpage

[Rich]

More on Dan Bongino

He'll need all the help he can get to be governor of "The Free State".

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The fertilizer plant wasn't in Waco, FFS.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Don't go into any federal buildings tomorrow.

[Ptah-Hotep]

Don't go into any federal buildings tomorrow.

This is good advice on any day.

[Zeb]

Did someone say it was in Waco?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The original comments for the link did, but it was stealth edited.

[Lord Humungus]

Bitcoin Isn't the Only Cryptocurrency in Town
Currencies designed to fix perceived flaws in Bitcoin could lead to competition that makes the idea of digital "cryptocurrency" stick.

http://www.technologyreview.co.....y-in-town/

[Ptah-Hotep]

Have you read this? I know John was in a tither the other day on this.

http://mises.org/daily/6411/The-Bitcoin-Money-Myth

[phandaal]

Sad to see Krugman-level economic arguments on Mises.org.

They must not be aware that many people don't even bother carrying cash around anymore now that debit and credit cards can be used almost everywhere. What difference does it make if my virtual electronic money is in dollars or bitcoin? The only difference is that one is accepted in more places right now.

[Proprietist]

The comments are pretty much unanimously ripping him a new one though.

[$park?]

Between five and 15 people died, and at least 140 were injured, in an explosion at a fertilizer plant in Waco, Texas.

That's bound to happen at a factor that makes bomb-making materials.

[$park?]

dammit, *factory

[Brett L]

I'm pretty amazed that this could happen, having talked to the guys at the gunpowder plant within 20 miles of my house.

[John]

There are a lot of fertilizer plants out there. And fertilizer, while explosive, is not that explosive. It takes a lot to get it to explode. Grain dust is more explosive. This must have been the mother of all fuck ups.

[Brett L]

Well, once the fire started, there should have been huge amounts of water dumped on the AN. Reports of loss of the fire-fighting team indicate that there must have been a super hot fire by the time they got on-scene.

[Restoras]

Not that explosive? Seriously? That shit is used for excavation!

[John]

It is explosive, but it is hard to detonate. It is a lot harder to build a fertilizer bomb than just lighting some of it on fire. To get it to explode, things have to be just right.

[mad libertarian guy]

McVeigh filled up some barrels with diesel and fertilizer and threw them in the back of a moving truck.

It doesn't need to be perfect.

[John]

He did more than that. McVeigh and Nichols spent months building bombs that wouldn't explode before they got it right.

[Bobarian]

Roger that. They mixed in nitromethane, tovex, aluminum powder and other ingredients to get what they wanted.

[Gray Ghost]

Not to mention the gelignite sausages that McVeigh stole, to be able to set the whole thing off.

I would have thought there would have been a bigger hue and cry over a theft of, IIRC, a hundred pounds of high explosive from a quarry, but whatever.

[Brett L]

It is the diesel in that that slows the burning AN down enough to be explosive. In this case it was probably enough AN reaching its flashpoint at the same time to make a boom.

[Gray Ghost]

Thermal runaway. As Oppau and Texas City could tell you.

There's a cell phone video of a guy and his daughter who got a bit too close to this West, TX explosion. I'm surprised it didn't break his windshield. IIRC, the rule of thumb for fires like this (thinking of BLEVEs) is that if you can't cover the tank or fire with your thumb at arm's length, you're too close.

[Austrian Anarchy]

If McVeigh read Motorcycle Diaries instead of Turner Diaries, and wore Che t-shirts, he would be a professor today.

[Spoonman.]

Chemical plants, like planes, are one of those anti-fragile things Reason interviewed the economist about in the last issue. Every fuckup teaches you how not to fuck up in the future. (I picked up a book called Process Plant Disasters for 60 cents at Goodwill which really impresses on you how intense these places are.)

So when something horrible happens it probably means that a combination of probably 30 fuckups and 5 things nobody saw coming happened.

Of course it's also possible that the company that ran this plant was a bunch of idiots.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Or they don't care. Like the peanut plant in Georgia that literally did not care that salmonella was piling up.

[mad libertarian guy]

Who farted?

[SIV]

The multitude of state and federal inspectors told them they were in "compliance" so they didn't have to worry about the salmonella. I bet all their government paperwork was in perfect order.

[Brett L]

Chem E Unit Ops at FSU spent a whole semester making us review chemical plant disasters. You are exactly right. I expect you will find the warehouse was over capacity or something was being used outside of spec.

[db]

At Penn State we had a chemical process design course with a big segment on disasters and their root causes. It started me on my morbid hobby of reading RC analyses for major disasters and accidents.

[Gray Ghost]

From my ex-wife's ChemE courses, it does seem to be the way that y'all learn 'how not to do that again.'

I want to say I remember one of those texts that covered safety factors in engineering and had a illustration of an airplane flying into the WTC. The purpose being to illustrate a large KE event (fully loaded 747 on climb-out from Idlewild/Kennedy, IIRC) and how the Tower was designed to handle a load 4-5X that size.

Obviously this was some time ago.

[generic Brand]

Of course it's also possible that the company that ran this plant was a bunch of idiots.

"Let me just ignore every other word in your comment except for the highlighted sentence above and suggest that we MUST NATIONALIZE THESE PLANTS. For the children, or something."

- random politician

[Bobarian]

John, I think your mixing up volatility vs. explosiveness.

Grain dust is a lot more dangerous because static electricity can set it off. Aammonium nitrate has a significantly higher amount of explosive energy stored in it, however it is relatively stable.

[John]

Yes I am. Fertilizer is not that volatile. You are not going to get it to explode by dropping a lit cigarette but.

[Brett L]

AN must be confined to be explosive. There is a deflagration to detonation transition that has to occur. Basically, it can only do so when it can't transfer heat fast enough to the environment. Basically, ANFO is explosive in any amount with any confinement, AN by itself is only explosive under specific conditions.

[Zeb]

From what I have heard, it was tanks of pure ammonia that exploded.

[db]

Anhydrous ammonia won't explode unless it's in a relatively narrow range of concentrations in air, but it is toxic as hell. You don't want to be within the affected zone of a ruptured anhydrous ammonia tank.

[Gray Ghost]

An old O. Chem prof of mine told our class of the day he nearly got asphyxiated by an ammonia tank when he was a grad student. As he told it, he opened the spigot a little too far, got a big whiff of the fumes, and damned near passed out. The tank was in open air, on the roof of his chem building.

There are quite a lot of things in chemistry/CheE that will kill you quickly. Some of the stuff they work with in semiconductor processing is toxic as hell. I'm told it's really disconcerting doing some work in the lab, and watching some dude roll in with full PPE, SCBA, the works, changing out some tank of arsine or the equivalent, while you sit there in your bunny suit wondering if you should get the hell out or not.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The over/under fatality count is a lot higher than 15.

[Chloe]

Just waiting for the baseless speculation from MSNBC that this was all an act of, "right-wing extremist," because it happened near Waco.

[sloopyinca]

If you're afraid you're gonna have to wait, just head over to HuffPo. They're already blaming it on everything from deregulation to Reaganomics. And they're also saying it's not that bad because it happened to Texans instead of real people, like those killed in Sandy Hook and Boston.

I shit you not.

[Joe M]

The Levee Was Bri
No, your micro-bio is empty!
237 Fans Become a fan
8 minutes ago (10:41 AM)
Following the libertarian line of logic, government can only act against a company after an incident like this one. Regulators have no business taking a preemptive steps to require that a company is running in a safe and complient manner so that horrors like this are less likely.

Remember folks, Rand Paul in 2016 - because privitization and an impotent government will insure profitability for all*.

*By all I mean the wealthiest few.

Disgusting.

[Zeb]

Well, obviously, absent government force, there is no incentive at all to avoid having this sort of thing happen.

[Proprietist]

Absent state limited liability, chemical plants will naturally either invest in better infrastructure or pay more for liability insurance.

[Trespassers W]

Are they claiming that the company wasn't already subject to such regulation, which is almost certainly false, or are they admitting that such regulation didn't prevent the problem, which is almost certainly not what they meant to point out?

[Proprietist]

Duh. The sequester forced the federal oversight commission monitoring chemical plant safety to cut jobs.

[Zeb]

For fuck's sake, why can't people just accept that accidents happen sometimes. Everything has to mean something and be a lesson. Sometimes shit just happens.

There were probably some safety fuckups at the plant. Hopefully other ammonium nitrate plants will learn to be more careful, but that's all that needs to happen here.

[some guy]

In light of recent disasters and terrorist attacks I think it only prudent that we institute full background checks for all purchases of fertilizer, limit bag sizes to 8 pounds, and completely outlaw the simultaneous possession of fertilizer and ignition sources. This is the only way to guarantee the safety of our citizens going forward.

[Zeb]

Didn't they already to that after the OK City bomb?

[Brett L]

Yeah. To buy pure AN in bulk requires you to get a permit.

[Generic Stranger]

I just want to know who the fuck thought that "right in town across from the middle school and a quarter mile from the hospital" was a good place for a fertilizer plant. The town I grew up in had one, and it was five miles out of town just for that reason. Granted, the one in my town made AN specifically for ANFO explosives (most of what they made was used by the local minds), but still.

[Zeb]

And it's not as if there haven't been massive explosions at that type of plant before. I'd agree that the location was just dumb.

[Generic Stranger]

Or this, for that matter, which also happened in Texas.

[Generic Stranger]

minds = mines

EDIT BUTTON!

[Gray Ghost]

I just want to know who the fuck thought that "right in town across from the middle school and a quarter mile from the hospital" was a good place for a fertilizer plant.

This was my first thought too. It's not like West lacks for room. Or good kolaches, for that matter.

[Brett L]

That's where I remember West, Texas from!

[Gray Ghost]

I've never made it out there, but West Fest is supposed to be a lot of fun too.

[Proprietist]

I stop in West every time I drive down to Austin from Dallas. Charming little town, so very sad to see this.

[Jack the Reaper]

A lot of times, the town grows around the plant. I was talking to a guy in Texas who works at one of these places. When they built the plant, they were a long way from anything. Over the years, people moved closer.

[Gray Ghost]

Would a large berm have helped? To help deflect the blast upwards, if nothing else. It just seems crazy to build houses next to a chemical plant. See Manchester, Houston, Texas.

[LY]

Well...actually, the town built up around the plant, granted it wasn't that far away to begin with. And it's not really hospital. They can barely handle a scrape.

[Mickey Rat]

So, the question becomes: Who thought it was a good idea to build a school and a hospital next to a fertilizer plant? Politicians, of course.

[Bee Tagger]

New York's new gun restrictions were passed for ideological reasons, not to make anybody safer, says a letter sent to the governor by the Albany Police Officers Union.

These police have acted stupidly.

[Restoras]

They just want to keep their guns after they retire. Fine by me as long as, you know, everyone else can keep them too.

[Virginian]

http://www.politico.com/story/.....Page3.html

"Bribery isn't what it once was," said an official with one of the major gun-control groups. "The government has no money. Once upon a time you would throw somebody a post office or a research facility in times like this. Frankly, there's not a lot of leverage."

More mask slipping.

[Virginian]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/.....s/2090793/

Mike Lee gets it:

The Toomey-Manchin amendment admirably attempted to carve out certain protections for gun owners, but today's carve-outs are tomorrow's loopholes. The current "gun show loophole" was itself once considered a legitimate carve-out that protected certain private sales.

[John]

but today's carve-outs are tomorrow's loopholes.

Exactly. And it wouldn't have solved anything. It would have just set the ground work for more "compromise" after the next high profile shooting.

[Palin's Buttplug]

"Lumpy", from Leave it to Beaver dead.

http://www.denverpost.com/brea.....source=rss

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Dude, Lumpy is not the preferred nomenclature. Clarence, please.

[Rich]

That's a *lovely* group photo, Mrs. Cleaver!

[Karl Hungus]

"Ward, I think you were a little rough on the Beaver last night."

[Bobarian]

A little known fact: Hugh Billingsley was a closeted pedophile who would never go near June, so the filthiest phrase on TV was actually--

"June, I'm going to help the boys pack some fudge."

[H/T to National Lampoon Magazine]

[Bobarian]

Oops - Hugh Beaumont

Barbra Billingsly

Tony Dowd

and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver.

[sloopyinca]

Little known fact there, Norm, but the guy that played Eddie Haskell went on to become an officer with the LAPD, where he was shot three times while chasing a car thief. He was placed on disability and retired in 1988.

[Virginian]

http://twitchy.com/2013/04/17/.....gn=twitter

Butthurt celebrities!

[RBS]

Delicious. I only read a few of them but holy shit are they pathetic. I especially love the ones that blame Senators for voting how their constituents want them to vote because the system is broken. Learn a little bit about our government first assholes.

[Virginian]

They've seized on that bullshit 90% number. They repeat it like a prayer.

[RBS]

Yes, the left's attachment to talking points is something to behold.

[John]

IT makes them feel better. They just know they are retaking the Congress because of this.

[General Butt Naked]

Bette midler upped the ante and went with 91%.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

I don't even think 90% of Americans agree that water is wet.

[Restoras]

Yummmmmm...more sweet, sweet ham tears.

[$park?]

Where did that 90% figure come from? Everyone is spouting it but this is the first time I've heard it.

[Virginian]

Some bullshit push poll I guess.

They straight up lied about this, I have explained to like ten people what a Form 4473 is in the last few months. The left and the media (but I repeat myself) is deliberately trying to give people the impression that background checks do not already exist.

[Bardas Phocas]

90% of americans want the sale of machine guns and bazookas from vending machines to be made illegal.

The other 10% already know that they are illegal and as such, are slated for the camps.

[John]

Basically it was a poll that 90% of the responders said they thought background checks were a good idea. What they don't mention is the poll didn't tell you how many of that 90% are willing to change their vote based on that belief. Gun owners are willing to vote on that issue. Everyone else, not so much.

[Virginian]

I mean, most gun owners think background checks are a good idea. Good thing they already exist.

I mean that's the thing: they're advocating something that already exists.

[John]

Yes. And not every background check is the same. Just because they support some kind of background check doesn't mean they supported this particular bill.

[sloopyinca]

There is no poll that I can find. And the commentators over at HuffPo that kept throwing it around can't find it when I ask for a citation either. The closest I came to someone providing me one was this response:

You want a citation? Try EVERY SINGLE POLL EVER TAKEN ON THE MATTER YOU IDIOT!!!!!

[Zeb]

Looks like this is probably where it comes from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/....._10030.xml

The question was about gun shows, though, not all transfers of guns. And I bet that most people think that the gun show purchases are from dealers, not between private parties at the shows.

[$park?]

So then they are adding up the 15%, 22%, 27%, and 26% from various polls? I guess that's one way to get to 90%.

[mr simple]

Quinnipiac poll.

The demographics skew urban democrat. It doesn't say where they got their respondents .

[robc]

Tawny Kitaen spells about as well as I would expect.

[Rich]

Is a "Tawny Kitaen" something Warty would be knowledgeable about?

[sloopyinca]

Is it bad-bad or are we talking John-bad?

/:-0

[Ted S.]

What the fuck is up with that red-orange background?

[Ted S.]

All I know is I had to reload the page to get rid of that background, and still the page was an even worse memory hog than H&R -- scrolling up and down the page was extremely sluggish.

[generic Brand]

I don't know who Albert Brooks is, but damn it if he isn't an idiot:

NRA to now devote attention to first amendment. Trying to make it okay to yell fire in a crowded theater.?
Albert Brooks (@AlbertBrooks) April 17, 2013

[RBS]

They literally know 5 or 6 talking points and stick to them no matter how little sense they make.

[mad libertarian guy]

Being that that case was overturned by SCOTUS over 40 years ago, I'd say it is okay already.

[Pro Libertate]

I know this--his birth name was Albert Einstein, and I'm not kidding.

Also, one of his brothers is Super Dave Osborne.

[NeonCat]

He used to be funny a long, long time ago.

[Kaptious Kristen]

He's not worth knowing. He played an angst-ridden, insecure, whiny urbanite in pretty much everything he was in. Poor man's Woody Allen.

[AuH20]

Really, Kristen? You like the most overrated comedic film maker of all time, Woody Allen?

He is somewhat funny. He is not that funny. And he is overrated by a principle I call The Woody Allen Effect: Woody Allen is a neurotic, New York Jew who grew up with a love of film and in particular the great leading men of the 40s like Boggart or Gable. A shit ton of film critics also come out of New York, are neurotic, some are Jewish, and all are film buffs. And, when Allen was starting in the 70s, film buffs were obsessed with 30s and 40s movies featuring the same leading men Woody Allen idolized for their masculinity.

And this actually explains why Allen's films aren't doing as well and film critics now fap to Tarantino: Tatartino does the 70s, which is where film buffs now look to nostalgically, not the 40s.

Basically, I believe Woody Allen is a good and funny film maker who gets elevated to great and transcendent by film critics because he is writing movies that speak very deeply to film critics because that is what he would have been in another life.

To use it in a sentence, "Lena Dunham's success is totally a product of the Woody Allen Effect." IE she grew up with the right background and speaks to the right audience so she gets more praise than she deserves.

[AuH20]

Really? You don't know who Albert Brooks, one of the funniest human beings alive, is?

I may hate his politics, but he is an amazing comedy writer.

[generic Brand]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

A MUST READ op-Ed from Gabby Giffords in the wake of the Senate vote.
She's a voice that must be heard.

nytimes.com/2013/04/18/opi??
Debra Messing (@DebraMessing) April 18, 2013

By Gabby Giffords? I think we're giving her a little too much credit unless the op-Ed said nothing more than "Guns are baaaaaaaddddddddddddd........"

[Drake]

Maybe they time traveled back to when she had a fully functioning brain (and was pro-gun).

[Pro Libertate]

I could swear I heard she was good on gun rights before the shooting. I could see that changing after getting shot, of course, but it's hard not to suspect that she's being taken advantage of in her reduced capacity.

[Drake]

If they shoved a pole up her ass and waved her like a sign it would be slightly more obvious.

[generic Brand]

Threats of violence from the tolerant left??? That's UNpossible!

i would like to smack Rand Paul dead in his mouth.?
Terry McMillan (@MsTerryMcMillan) April 18, 2013

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I'd like to throw Terry McMillan in front of a speeding semi-truck.

[Drake]

I have no idea who Terry McMillian is. I thought you were talking about Kelly McMillian of McMillian Rifles.

http://www.mcmfamily.com/mcmillan-rifles.php

[Rhywun]

I wonder how many of them have armed bodyguards.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

When the Day of the Rope comes, celebrities should be the first ones up the tree.

[Virginian]

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....n_newsreel

The War on Women continues.

[Troy muy grande boner]

A feminist who gets bitten by predictable unintended consequences of feminism.

But no blood, death, or torture. Plus she was affected only in the third person.

I give this a Schadenfreude Boner Rating? of 4.2

[Numeromancer]

I give this a Schadenfreude Boner Rating? of 4.2

This is why I read this blog.

But it would be hard to rate it today; there's so much sexy butthurt around, the meter's at constant max.

[Virginian]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/201.....ng/4636162

US deploying troops to Jordan. I've seen this movie before.

[LTC(ret) John]

That might be just openly acknowledging something that has been going on for many years - I'm just sayin'.

[Gray Ghost]

I'd think it really depends on what kind of troops they are. If 'crazy guys' wearing green hats, then that's not that unusual---they go and advise pretty much everywhere that isn't North Korea. (And I wouldn't be surprised if an A-Team or two hasn't paid them a visit sometime in the last 40 years.)

If instead it's guys in charge of setting up logistical bases or SAM sites, or tactical air controllers, then that is a bit different.

Why is Syria our problem again?

[Lord Humungus]

A Slow-Motion Sausage Factory
Regular order for the House GOP.
http://www.nationalreview.com/.....ge-factory

In Beltway-speak, this meant that, from then on, Boehner would chiefly use the committees to craft legislation. Lawmaking, in almost every sense, would be slowed down. Instead of being the subject of haggling in the Oval Office over Merlot and Nicorette, bills would be amended and fleshed out through committee hearings, the way they have been since time immemorial.

It was a critical moment, and ever since, "regular order" has limited Obama.

using government to defeat government?

[LTC(ret) John]

Oft evil will shall evil mar.

[NoVAHockey]

regular order!

it's designed that way for a reason.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Obama got the vote he wanted on gun control. Then he got all pissy because it didn't go his way.

He knew it wasn't going to go his way. He probably thought this is something he can use for the midterms, but gun control is not high on anyone but politicians' list of priorities.

[Virginian]

http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4711

Apparently forcing students to sign a loyalty pledge was just a little too much heat on the ol' frog.

[CampingInYourPark]

"24 IRS workers in TN accused of theft
Feds say they stole jobless benefits, welfare, more"

http://www.tennessean.com/arti.....used-theft

[LTC(ret) John]

Our betters. TOP. MEN.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Well, they helped steal our money first.

[CampingInYourPark]

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, allaying fears of a major setback in the labor market recovery."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....10124.html

Because that number going up is great news, allaying all fears

[John]

They can't say everything happened "unexpectedly".

[LTC(ret) John]

Maybe they just have "unexpectedly" fatigue?

[mr simple]

Yeah, I think they just don't know what allaying means.

[The Late P Brooks]

Wow

With all due respect to Congresswoman Giffords (and that is a ton of respect), I found this to be more of the same rhetoric that's failed for generations in the effort to reduce gun violence.

Same old formula. We mock gun control opponents by saying that they're weak people who are scared of a lobbying group, when in fact they are the very members of that lobbying group. Then we make a case for gun control that mostly involves dancing on the graves of victims of a high-profile tragedy. Yes, I said it. Why does every single piece on this issue have to include imagery of Sandy Hook? Its insulting to the intelligence of those we are trying to convince.
Instead of reaching out to the other side, we just write them off as ignorant or dumb.

First comment on Giffords' NYT preachitorial.

[RBS]

That person is about to get the Two Minutes Hate.

[Restoras]

Heres another good comment:
If Obama thinks that firearm background checks are so valuable why is it that his Dept of Justice under Holder in 2010 only prosecuted 44 people out of the over than 80,000 who failed firearm background checks. It is a crime to attempt to purchase a firearm if you are restricted from doing so.

Moreover, Obama calls it politics, well, what in the world is it then when he flys the families of Sandy Hook victims to DC on his jet for the purpose of lobbying Congress? Are some people's politics more valuable than others?

While Obama and others like to blame the NRA, the NRA did not make a single person call their legislator. And, while the NRA has about 5 million members, there are over a 100 million gun owners who also obviously called their legislators. Finally, every state has dozens of firearm owner association, hunting and fishing clubs, rifle and pistol competition groups...and, again, obviously, they called their legislators as well.

Obama, rather than put forth meaningful firearm legislation that would have protected schools and provided mental health solutions chose to j go with a background check which he isn't enforcing anyway. The data on firearm acquisitions by criminal overwhelming indicates they obtain guns from other criminals not retailer dealers or firearm shows.

Shame on Obama for creating a false expectation that increased background checks would prevent future Sandy Hooks...

[Atanarjuat]

Damn. I am really not used to my political opponents making reasonable (or often, even sane) arguments.

[mad libertarian guy]

While Obama and others like to blame the NRA, the NRA did not make a single person call their legislator. And, while the NRA has about 5 million members, there are over a 100 million gun owners who also obviously called their legislators. Finally, every state has dozens of firearm owner association, hunting and fishing clubs, rifle and pistol competition groups...and, again, obviously, they called their legislators as well.

I'm pretty sure I know why it happened, but how the fuck did the NRA become the organization which controls all gun owners? I own multiple guns. But I'm not a member of the NRA and generally don't like them that much (I'm a 2AF kind of guy). I don't subscribe to any of their literature, take any of their classes, or have any affiliation with the NRA in any capacity, yet it's somehow the NRA's fault that gun owners don't want t have their rights trampled.

[John]

Damn. There actually are sentient liberals out there.

[Auric Demonocles]

All joking aside, I am amazed at this level of self reflection from someone who seems to be antigun.

[General Butt Naked]

Might be bit of backtracking, because they know this battle has been lost.

[General Butt Naked]

@LPB

That shit is dangerous. Fuck them being all reasonable and reaching out, that's how you accomplish things, and we want them to accomplish nothing.

Of course any voices like that will be drowned out by a billion vapid celebrity tweets.

[Mike M.]

Winter Storm Yogi to bring 6-12 inches of snow to the upper midwest.

And oh, by the way, it's April 18; we're almost a full month into spring.

[Lord Humungus]

we're getting buckets of rain here.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Oh for fuck's sake. Don't humor the Weather Channel with their stupid naming of storms!

[sarcasmic]

What she said.

[mad libertarian guy]

Oh for fuck's sake. Don't humor the Weather Channel with their stupid naming of storms!

Please!!

The new-found naming of winter storms is a ploy by TWC to legitimize climate change. Don't give them what they want. It's a fucking snow storm like many others before and many others to come.

[John]

They are covering some guy snow mobiling to the North Pole. They had a clip on him in which he was described as "committed to fighting climate change". At this point, whenever I see someone described that way I just think "moron" and change the channel.

[Kaptious Kristen]

snow mobiling to the North Pole. They had a clip on him in which he was described as "committed to fighting climate change".

If only these douchebags would just admit they just thought it would be really fun to snowmobile to the north pole/bike across the country/canoe across the Atlantic, etc., we'd all be much better off.

[John]

Yes. Have fun. More power to you. But not everything you do has to be a part of some greater cause. You are allowed to just do something because you like it.

[T]

If you claim it's part of a greater cause, you can get suckers to pay for it. Duh. You can get 'sponsors' and ask for 'donations'.

Man, it's like you're not cynical enough.

[Elspeth Flashman]

No, it has to be about sending a message, all the damn time. No humor, that's the true characteristic of that ilk of people.

[John]

It is a very religious mindset Elspeth.

[Rhywun]

Does he think he's going to find climate change at the North Pole and beat it up...?

[John]

LOL

[VG Zaytsev]

What better way to fight climate change than spewing CO2 from a recreational vehicle for publicity.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

And what a fantastic way to be "committed to fighting climate change" by taking a pointless trip on a fossil fuel burning vehicle through pristine wilderness. Yes, that makes perfect sense.

[Brett L]

Remember the guys who were sailing to the North Pole for climate change who ended up ice-bound? Good times.

[Enough About Palin]

How much CO2 does that snowmobile emit?

[phandaal]

This x1000. It's a goddamned air mass.

[The Late P Brooks]

Also, from the same comment:

We need to recognize that the NRA, as offensive as it is in so many ways, represents people. It has money and influence because it has many members. It does not hijack the democratic process any more than the teachers unions or the Sierra Club.

Some wacko from Texas.

[Virginian]

Well except for the teacher's unions being funded by everyone's tax dollars, including people like me who hate them.

[John]

But gun owners aren't real people Brooks.

[An0nB0t]

There's also the small fact that a civil rights group whose sole purpose is to protect rights explicitly spelled out in the Constitution (which enumerates and limits the powers of the state rather than the rights of the people, making the 2A theoretically unnecessary to begin with) is on a whole other plane than the fucking Sierra Club.

For the benefit of confused reporters, lobbying groups generally want the government to act, while Civil Rights orgs want the government to stop acting.

[Elspeth Flashman]

My sister harangued me recently about the NRA being merchants of death. I opined that they had the right to be an organization, etc. But her lefty eyes were rolling up in her head as she espoused her cause.

[Rich]

So, will Obama trot out the victims of the fertilizer plant blast like he did the Newtown folks?

[John]

Only if they are somehow the victims of Republicans.

[Rich]

Oh, and why does anyone *need* fertilizer?

[Auric Demonocles]

Natural, organic, American made cow manure in 7 pound bags is sufficient for all home gardening projects.

[An0nB0t]

This never would've happened if "we" had outlawed chemical fertilizers and heeded Bittman's suggestions re: mandatory household composting.

[Virginian]

This is easy guys, come on:

"The sequester, irresponsibly forced upon the country by the Republicans, led to a crucial safety inspection being missed. This explosion is the result."

[Rich]

Bingo.

"Thank God it wasn't terrorism!"

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/167240/

Interesting quote from best of the web about liberal feelings of superiority. It got me to thinking about white supremacy in this country. You can't be white supremacist in this country and be taken seriously anywhere but the worst fever swamps. A hundred years ago of course you could. You could write for serious publications and say in so many words that blacks or Italians or Jews were inferior. That kind of stuff thankfully has ended. But the desires behind it didn't. Racism is self interest as well as hatred. It allows you to feel superior. I think what has happened is liberals still have that desire but can't express it in terms of old fashioned white supremacy. So what they have done is transferred it over to animus against lower and middle class, religious and right wing white people. Think about the things liberal writers and thinkers and other liberals say about such groups. That they are emotional, evil, unfit for positions of responsibility, stupid, in short all of the things they used to say about blacks but can no longer do. What really tips it off is how so many liberals refuse to date or marry any white person from the wrong classes. Gee, where else was intermarriage and dating frowned upon?

[RBS]

I used to date the daughter of a LA County superior court judge (father) and a prominent SoCal liberal philanthropist/activist/whatever else you call it (mother) They absolutely hated the fact that I was born and raised in South Carolina by a middle class single mother.

[John]

Their reaction to you was no different than the reaction of a WASP family in 1920 to their daughter bringing home a Jewish b/f or a white 1950s family to their daughter having a black boyfriend. It is the same mentality and thinking just transferred to a new group.

[RBS]

Pretty much. These same people sent all of their children to private k-12 then, of course, Ivies for undergrad then law school. But school choice for everyone else is a terrible idea.

[sarcasmic]

I dated a Jewish girl for a while. When her mother discovered that her daughter's boyfriend shared his name with one of the first four books from the New Testament, she was not pleased. Not pleased at all.

[John]

I did that a few times to mixed results. They tend to be more forgiving about women dating gentiles than men. If their daughter marries a nonJew they figured the children will still be raised Jewish since it is usually the views of the mother that drives that sort of thing.

[Zeb]

And Jewishness is passed through the maternal line, so the kids will be universally accepted as Jews, which is not the case when a Jewish man marries a gentile woman. I guess the mitochondria are Jewish or something.

[sarcasmic]

It is passed through the maternal line because you know for sure who the mother is. Kind of assumes that women cheat.

[SugarFree]

In pre-DNA times paternity was guesswork, but every child a women gives birth to is 100% her child.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Not in this day and age (see my post about Indian surrogates).

[Restoras]

Yeah I love that arguement. Hilariously stupid. I also love the idiotic one of not giving your kid the same name as a living relative.

[Brett L]

Your real name is Deuteronomy?

[sarcasmic]

Your real name is Deuteronomy?

I did not realize that that Deuteronomy was one of the first four books. Thanks for the update.

[John]

New Testament. Deuteronomy is his middle name.

[Brett L]

Whoops. Reading fail. Mostly because something like 40% of American males are a Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

[sarcasmic]

Her mother would have preferred Aaron or Eli.

[generic Brand]

Her mother would have preferred Aaron or Eli.

Is she hot? and still single?

[sarcasmic]

Is she hot?
Not by any stretch of the imagination.

and still single?
Last I knew.

[Enough About Palin]

It's also book 5 in the OT, not one of the first 4.

[wareagle]

it's sad no one names their kids Leviticus anymore. What? Wrong testament?

[Restoras]

Tolerance! I bet she was a lefty too!

[sarcasmic]

Very much. I avoided political discussions because my rational approach was rage inducing to her family.

[Restoras]

I love baiting my in laws with rational arguements. The lulz are fucking delicious. They get really mad when they realize I'm not taking the other side of an aruguemnt becasue I beleive in it, but becasue I like poking holes in thier assumptions and lack of knowledge about the things they desperately want to beleive in.

[Andrew S.]

Jewish family. I married a Protestant girl, my brother is dating/engaged to a Catholic girl. Family don't care.

(except for my sister that is, but she's a completely different story)

[Zeb]

Weren't those books all named for Jewish guys?

[NeonCat]

And Luke was a doctor! Matthew had a government job!

[Kaptious Kristen]

A friend and her hubby are trying to have a baby via surrogate in India. My friend couldn't wait to tell her uber-liberal elitist feminist mother-in-law about it, because she was anticipating the MIL to go off on "exploitation" and shit. She was really disappointed when that didn't happen. I guess the prospect of a grandchild overcame the MIL's principles.

[John]

I assume the surrogate is being really well paid. We should all be so exploited.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Yep. Way more $$ than the average Indian sees in a lifetime. Also, free top-notch medical care and a stay in a resort-like setting for 9 months. Many women there do this to make money and to get away from their families.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The average Indian is moving up in the world. They will soon be hiring American women to incubate *their* babies.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Not when Obamacare begins!

[Palin's Buttplug]

There goes John again. Always stoking the class warfare embers.

[Enough About Palin]

Just STFU already, okay?

[$park?]

"So never trust someone who is inclined to punish or who speaks of justice.

And when they call themselves the good and the just, do not forget that they would be pharisees, if only they had ? power."

[John]

+100

[NoVAHockey]

"liberals refuse to date or marry any white person from the wrong classes"

I was in Murphy's in Old Town (which is a favorite for military types) once and this girl joined our group said she'd only date officers. I told her to leave my table and stop drinking from my pitcher.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Then he got all pissy because it didn't go his way.

I brewed my coffee this morning with the delicious free flowing tears of millions of butthurt lefties. The salted taste goes great with a bit of caramel drizzle.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm getting a new pair of speakers: B&W Matrix 805s

detailed overview here: http://kenrockwell.com/audio/b-w/matrix-805.htm

[SweatingGin]

well, I'll be spending the rest of the morning coveting.

[SIV]

I reserve my coveting for the JBL Paragon.

[Lord Humungus]

I already own my "covet" speakers - UREI 813As - but they're too damn big for my new house.

[dave b.]

I'm a Martin Logan freak, but if I was forced at gunpoint to give up electrostats, then B&W would be my first choice.

I find it very telling that Dolby's own home theater speaker guide is illustrated with B&W speakers.

[Lord Humungus]

love 'stats - it was Quad ESL-63s that got me into this hobby.

[Zeb]

Sweet.

Have you ever heard of this guy: http://www.humanspeakers.com ?

I really want to build some speakers with his drivers.

[mad libertarian guy]

I rock, and love, my Mordaunt Short.

[The Late P Brooks]

I felt compelled to watch a little bit of Morning Joke. Mika looks like she was up crying all night. She is PISSED. And more than a little disappointed in her lords and masters.

Scareburrow gave an impassioned explanation of why he's a political genius and a man of the people. Is there a Senate seat coming open in Florida? It sounded like a trial balloon for his Bloombrgian No Labulz NO MORE ICKY GUNZ FOR PLEBS Vote For MEEEEEEEE platform.

Did you know? Ninety nine percent of the American people want to live in a world completely free from risk or danger, so anybody who voted against those sensible gun safety laws is a murderer.

[Palin's Buttplug]

You like to work up your hate for Moaning Joe, don't you?

(Like I do with PigBoy)

[mad libertarian guy]

Who farted?

[robc]

As I said the other day, I consider Myers-Briggs to be one step above astrology, but it does have some interesting aspects to it.

The gun control debate and the constant bringing up of Sandy Hook and etc, made me look for some numbers. First, a breakdown of T v F in words:

Thinking types desire objective truth and logical principles and are natural at deductive reasoning. Feeling types place an emphasis on issues and causes that can be personalized while they consider other people's motives.

Sandy Hook is obviously an appeal to "Feeling" types.

And the numbers:
Male: 56.5% T, 43.5% F.
Female: 24.5% %, 75.5% F.

The other 3 pairs have negligible differences by sex.

THIS is why there are no female libertarians.

[John]

I have taken that test numerous times over the years as various employers have decided to give to the offices where I worked. I tend to vary on the E v I part and the J v P parts. But I am always and forever thankfully a very strong NT. God, I would hate to be a feeler.

[robc]

MB is on my mind because of a comment from a friend last week. I was driving him home and he said "Youre an N on MB arent you?" "Yeah." "You drive intuitively."

I dont think it was meant as a compliment.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I took it twice in recent years, and got different results. I think the first time I was INTP. The P changed to J by the next time I took it. Perhaps this just proves I'm schizophrenic.

[John]

I think it depends on your mood. I had a psychologist swear up and down your results should never vary. Bullshit. My results vary. Not a lot. But they vary.

[Auric Demonocles]

Personally, my results have never varied from INTJ and I've probably taken it 5 times.

[John]

Maybe Elspeth and I really are schizophrenic.

[Auric Demonocles]

I also happen to be very stubborn so maybe I'm the anomaly.

[Elspeth Flashman]

actually now that I think of it the "I" was an "E," the first time I took it. So yeah, schizophrenia.

Actually I hate these kind of tests, I think they are cracked, and wanted to "game" the test both times I took it.

Also I think the Meyers Briggs is outdated.

[T]

INTP, like clockwork. I won't bother taking it anymore.

[robc]

INTP, like clockwork. I won't bother taking it anymore.

Ditto. I am a stereotypical INTP. Scarily stereotypical.

The funny thing is, Im borderline I/E, but anyone who knows me thinks that is crazy.

[Brett L]

So, libertarians are almost all NTs and mostly Is and Ps. I think I know why we have a hard ceiling on membership now.

[AuH20]

INTP unite!

[robc]

As I said a few years ago in a thread on here: First against the wall.

INTJs are clearly heretics.

[Rights-Minimalist Autocrat]

Oh, I am surely a heretic and proud of it.

[NeonCat]

INFP, barely on the F part. Maybe I can be the rare feeling libertarian.

[mr simple]

I think I got a J once, but I every other time I am INTP.

[Doktor Kapitalism]

Most of the people in the MBTI community I've met have said that results *should* vary, though your type probably won't too much.

[robc]

Its part of the reason its considered bullshit.

People change in short periods of time, which shouldnt happen if the underlying theory was sound.

[Gray Ghost]

The in-depth explanations for each of the 16 types are so broadly written---like horoscopes, now that I think about it---that you can pretty much substitute one for another and carry on.

It is kind of amusing though, and I suppose that in all of the pig shit of the type descriptions, there are a few kernels of corn.

[robc]

Like I said, one step above astrology.

I think some of the stuff on learning styles might have some validity, or maybe its just saying that people learn differently.

[Brett L]

The communications stuff works for me. Knowing that I have to translate thinking words into feeling words with the gf, and that she values being asked "how do you feel" more than "what do you think" is valuable.

[Enough About Palin]

I'm reminded of a poster I saw years ago. You picked out your favorite color and it supposedly said something about you. Things like "you are thoughtful" and whatnot. Funny thing was no matter what color you chose it always showed something good. It would have been more believable if when you picked a color there was a chance it said you were an asshole.

[AuH20]

Eh,I do believe in some distinctions, especially the thinking vs. feeling one.

[Virginian]

Oh yeah. I've found that when someone says "I think" in a discussion or class or whatever, I'm much more likely to get along with them.

And on the flip side...I took a con law class, and this stupid liberal girl would always loudly argue with me about the material. She never once used the words "I think", it was always "I feel". "But I feel like things have changed, and we can't just use the same old Constitution."

Oh, plus the whole "we" thing. Really grinds my gears.

[Virginian]

Uh oh rob. You know everyone is an individual and we can never make general statements comparing two groups. It's not allowed.

Especially you're not allowed to say that women, in general, place a higher value on security over liberty, and are more likely to respond to emotional over rational arguments.

[AuH20]

Well to an extent I think some of it is cultural. We as a society expect women to be more emotional. A guy crying on the subway would be way more shocking etc. So i do wobder if our culture expected women to not show emption etc. As we do with men, it may be different

[Virginian]

There is a cultural factor for sure. But I think primarily it's hardwired. There's a reason that "for the children!" is used so much: it has the effect of suppressing the rational portion of the brain in most women, and a lot of men.

[John]

I think it is too. I think it goes to child rearing. You have to be more emotional and feeling to deal with children. Children don't have fully developed rational thinking or communication skills adults do. So to be effective in dealing with them, you have to be better at feeling and empathy than you do in dealing with adults. Since women have traditionally been the primary care givers to children, they over time became more feelers than thinkers.

[Enough About Palin]

Children don't have fully developed rational thinking or communication skills that only a handful of adults do.

FIFY

[Auric Demonocles]

I would be very shocked to see a girl crying on the subway.

[Rhywun]

I've seen it a few times.

[Auric Demonocles]

What did you do?

[Rhywun]

Nothing. I'm not crazy.

[Repairman Jack]

As I boarded the subway car, I noticed a girl sobbing loudly in the back. As I approached, her head down, she was unaware of my presence. I reached out and gently wiped away the tears and mucous streaming down her face. With my other hand I quickly unzipped my pants and took out my penis which I began masturbating with my newly lubed hand. The girl, who had ceased her cries, looked up and with mouth agape said, "What the hell are you doing?" I replied, "I was trying to help you to stop crying. It looks like it worked." A smile began to appear on her face and a thanks sheepishly escaped from between lips. Suddenly I came furiously and as it splashed across her face, I triumphantly said, "No thanks necessary, It was my privilege."

[Zeb]

I hope that I really don't need to point this out, but I will anyway.
The fact that you can make accurate generalizations about any group does not tell you anything about any particular member of that group.

[AuH20]

Jesus males, balance it out

[The Late P Brooks]

Apparently, Jon Tester, junior Senator from Montana, stood firm with the President (as is his bounden duty as a member of the Democrat Party) against the scourge of an armed citizenry.

I might have to go poke a few people with my sharp stick, later today.

[Ted S.]

He's not up for election until 2018, right?

[Andrew S.]

We need sharp stick control to protect us from people like you.

[0x90]

When you're walking home tonight and some homicidal maniac comes after you with a bunch of loganberries, don't come crying to me!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Ricin Suspect Described As Conspiracist & Elvis Impersonator

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetw.....personator

[Fatty Bolger]

So I wonder, did they find this guy so fast because the FBI was already keeping tabs on him?

[SIV]

Suspect is a Christfag AND a Democrat

Someone pointed out last night he is also a Radley Balko fan.

[Auric Demonocles]

Slumbrew, you around this morning?

[0x90]

Virginian| 4.18.13 @ 9:05AM |#

Butthurt celebrities!

The funniest part is how the legislation was so, like, totally not even a big deal, while at the same time, being, like, totally such a big deal.

Make up your minds, geniuses.

[John]

Yeah. This legislation hardly did anything you paranoid wingnuts. But now you have killed it and thousands of children are going to die because we couldn't pass it.

Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds 0x90.

[Tim]

They'll just wait for the next tragedy.

[AuH20]

A foolish consistency.

I know you are using it sarcastically, but the misquoting of that really changes its meaning and pisses me off.

[Trespassers W]

Tony was spouting that same line yesterday.

[Gray Ghost]

Haven't seen it elsewhere at HnR, so apologies if already posted.

Pictures of two guys suspected of leaving the Boston Marathon Bombs.

Not very angry white guy looking.

[John]

No. They look very gulf arabish.

[Tim]

They're too skinny to be Americans.

[Fatty Bolger]

It's funny, I had exactly the same thought, looking at the picture.

[Auric Demonocles]

They are at a running event.

[Tim]

Apparently they were bombing a running event.

[Gray Ghost]

Getting the fuck away from a homemade bomb, with an uncertain timer, that you've just planted, strikes me as a running event.

[Auric Demonocles]

It was in the brickbat, but this gets a lot more attention.

Unfortunately, I cannot help with identifying those two guys.

[0x90]

"Also, cops cleared a Brooklyn Heights bank over a report of a suspicious package, which turned out to be a cup of coffee. "

Also, a box of donuts was arrested; its current whereabouts are unknown.

[Fatty Bolger]

It's deep in the bowels of the NYPD, no doubt.

[Rhywun]

Just search every cop car.

[Apple]

The guy in the white hat is the guy Reddit had identified yesterday with the bulging backpack that was later missing.

[Jerry on the boat]

4chan also had the pictures.

[robc]

reddit took it from 4chan, Im sure.

[Apple]

Until yesterday, West, Texas always meant kolaches from the Czech Stop on the way south to Austin. I wish they'd stop saying Waco.

[John]

Yup. The Czech Stop is awesome. There really isn't much of anything on I35 between Waco and Dallas except the Czech Stop. I hope it wasn't damaged.

[Gray Ghost]

That stretch of the drive from Hillsboro to Waco is excruciatingly boring. The kolaches are pretty tasty though.

My understanding is that half of West has been damaged and evacuated, and with the cold front coming through---and the accompanying wind shift---the other half might have to be evacuated to avoid ammonia leaks.

What a terrible mess.

[John]

I lived in Killeen for three years and my parents lived in Kansas. I have done that drive so many times either going to Kansas or going to DFW to catch an airplane. There is just nothing there. But at least you can generally make good time. Once you hit Temple going South the traffic sucks all the way to San Antonio.

[Gray Ghost]

I have not tried the new toll road that bypasses much of Austin (SR 130) but when I drive over it, it looks fairly empty. Speed limits should be higher on it too. If they enforce them like they do on the Belt in Houston (SR-8), then 20+ over the limit should still be good.

Austin is a beautiful place, but it wouldn't kill them to build another highway or three there.

[John]

Yeah. The fucking hippies took it over. And they actually hurt the environment. They refused to build any highways into Austin. So companies just moved out to Georgetown and Round Rock and produced all of this sprawl the hippies claim to hate. Gee, if you would build a few roads maybe more people would live and work in Austin.

[Brett L]

Austin is a beautiful place, but it wouldn't kill them to build another highway or three there.

They're working on it. My favorite is the 290 tollway that bypasses the 4 stoplights between Manor and I-35.

[Gray Ghost]

Have it bypass the Elgin speed trap too, and I'm all for it. Still less of a PITA than dodging DPS in Fayette County on 71. Of late, I've been coming into Austin via San Marcos (outlet shopping). That this also puts me a short distance from Luling and Lockhart BBQ is my definition of Win-Win.

[Brett L]

Have it bypass the Elgin speed trap too

I got pulled over between Brenham and Giddings for going 81 in a 75. (As mentioned here, the DPS guy was awesome, except for pulling me over.) He mentioned that the limit has just gone up to 75, so I kinda wondered, since I got off with a warning, if he just forgot when he turned the flashers on that it wasn't 65 or 70 anymore.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

130 is awesome. 80mph limit, which means 88 on the cruise control.

[Scooby]

The speed limits on 130 are 80 or 85 (highest allowable), but there are a shitload of feral hogs that love to cross that road in packs. You definitely don't want to outrun your headlights on that road.

[Karl Hungus]

Pilot, 91, lands his plane safely after reporting landing gear trouble:

[The Late P Brooks]

"Obama to go to Boston, later."

Oh, look, more dead bodies to stand on.

Fuel up Air Force One, and make sure the bar is stocked.

[John]

You die. He'll fly.

[Auric Demonocles]

As someone in the Boston area, possibly the most annoying thing about the bombing coverage is the frequency in which Obama is mentioned.

[John]

My dad was telling me that when CNN first broke the story the first thing out of their mouths after "there has been a bombing in Boston" was "the President is safe". What are these people going to do when the Messiah leaves office? How will they cope?

[NoVAHockey]

visiting various shrines.

"obama crapped here once."

[John]

60 minutes did an interview with the black Jesus after the election. The reporter said at the beginning of the story, "The President GRANTED US 30 minutes to speak with him". He granted you an audience did he? What is he the fucking Pope or something?

[Tim]

He's going to be a major pain in the ass ex-president, even for Democrats.

[Zeb]

Well, technically he is the US version of the Pope.

[Eduard van Haalen]

...except unlike the Pope, he's humble enough to acknowledge his own awesomeness.

[Auric Demonocles]

Every third sentence on the topic is "Obama didn't say terrorist in his speech hundreds of miles away from the explosion", "Obama did say terrorist in his new speech, hundreds of miles away from the explosion", "Obama says the people responsible will faith justice", "Obama is going to an interfaith prayer server in 2 days", "Obama is going to an interfaith prayer service in 1.5 days".

-The interfaith prayer service was literally mentioned on the sports radio station I am listening to while I was typing the previous sentence about it being mentioned so much.

[John]

ESPN has been nauseating. Give it a break. It is not a sports story.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, it is somewhat a sports story since it happened during one of Boston's biggest sporting events of the year. But that doesn't mean that it is the only thing that needs to be talked about. Or that Obama has anything to do with it.

[Pro Libertate]

The sports news keeps talking about the Boston teams, like that's somehow relevant to anything. Hearing about "Sweet Caroline" once was enough, thanks.

I think people in Boston have other concerns at the moment.

[Jordan]

Still no word from Piers Morgan on whether or not he'll honor is promise to leave the country since the gun control bills failed.

[Atanarjuat]

Leaving the country if [x] occurs is one of those "promises" no one ever keeps.

[The Late P Brooks]

If a sitting President (any sitting President, not just this fucking vampire) showed up at the funeral of one of my family members, I'd beat him bloody with a shovel. Or at least give it an honest full throttle try.

[John]

No shit. But if fairness that is the media. They just fucking love having a big daddy around. When Bush was in office, he used to send hand written notes to the families of very soldier who died in combat. But that wasn't enough for the media. They excoriated him because he never went up to Dover to visit the families there to pick up the bodies of their loved ones. Yeah, you going to Dover to pick up your dead son or daughter, you so want the fucking President there to meet you.

[Auric Demonocles]

I think it would be a lot more reasonable for the president to reach out to the families of fallen soldiers, seeing as he is partially responsible for their deaths. When it's the victims of a domestic crime that happened hundreds of miles away from you, what the fuck do you have to do with anything?

[John]

Nothing. But any President who actually did that would be totally excoriated for "not showing he cares enough" for "being detached and remote".

[Zeb]

Damnit, I want the president to be detached and remote.

[John]

Me too

[Lord Humungus]

I can't imagine Calvin Coolidge going in for the PR hug.

[Zeb]

I never want any president anywhere fucking near me. The security and bullshit is just too much. This is why I think that the president should never be allowed out of the Whitehouse. With modern communication technology, there is no reason he ever has to go anywhere. It just costs too much and is too much of a hassle for everyone else.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Agreed. Such a publicity grab.

[AuH20]

I should never be allowed to meet the President, because the first words out of my mouth will be, "So, how good of a job do you think your doing for me?"

I would then remind them, in no uncertain terms, that they are my employee (I pay part of their salary) and, as such, I am entitled to conduct a performance review.

[sloopyinca]

The first rule of Fight Tazer Club is you do not talk about let someone video Tazer Club.

http://www.wlos.com/shared/new.....1241.shtml

[The Late P Brooks]

Also, a box of donuts was arrested; its current whereabouts are unknown.

Taken into custody, being held in a secure location.

[The Late P Brooks]

A large sinkhole swallowed three vehicles Thursday in the South Deering neighborhood on the South Side.

Alert the President!

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....rive-thru/

Thugs.

[John]

He told them three times he wanted them to hold the mayo. What does a man have to do to get a proper cheeseburger?

[SIV]

He sticks his gun in the faces of the young men in the car in line in front of him.

[Auric Demonocles]

I double dare you motherfucker, say what one more Goddamn time!

[John]

The man wanted his big kuhuna burger.

[SIV]

I posted this yesterday.The cop is employed by my county police.

[Brett L]

"One liter of cola. Do we have liters of cola?"

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Has Sears been placed on a watchlist yet for selling Pressure Cookers without background checks?

[The Late P Brooks]

-The interfaith prayer service was literally mentioned on the sports radio station I am listening to while I was typing the previous sentence about it being mentioned so much.

The dipshits on Bloomberg are pimping like mad: "Stay with us. At 11:00 the President will be speaking live from Boston."

I hope he uses this time to productively browbeat all those disobedient rat bastards who had the audacity to not prostrate themselves before the altar of his munificence and mercy.

[Auric Demonocles]

You know who I would actually be interested in hearing talk live from Boston? The police commissioner, or the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, or the governor. But let's not talk about those guys at all.

[Rhywun]

Oh fuck. Is that idiot going to cut into Price Is Right again?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Still no new posts this morning? Nothing about bombs or guns or gay marriages? Nothing about weed or food trucks or drone warfare? What's going on with reason these days? It's feast or famine. We'll see nothing for the longest time and then a sudden orgasm of new posts. COMPLAINT DULY FILED.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Never mind. New post.

[Doktor Kapitalism]

Schrodinger's Post

[Sevo]

Goldman hands out the annual luddite awards. Example:
"Jonathan Deal led a successful campaign against fracking in South Africa to protect the Karoo, a semi-desert region treasured for its agriculture, beauty and wildlife."
Those natives are sooooo colorful when they're poverty-stricken!
http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipients/current

[Fatty Bolger]

Pretty sad. This seems to be the only recipient who attempted something truly worthwhile:

ASIA
Azzam Alwash | Iraq

Giving up a comfortable living and family life in California, Azzam Alwash returned to war-torn Iraq to lead local communities in restoring the once-lush marshes that were turned to dust bowls during Saddam Hussein's rule.

[Sevo]

Stopped clocks.

[SugarFree]

Lindy West desperately changes profile pic again

[John]

She is going for the quirky, I once did roller derby look.

[Atanarjuat]

Or the "wiping splooge off her face" look.

[John]

The fact that pretty girls don't have to do that is just proof of the patriarchy.

[Bobarian]

Or the "prepare for the 'dirty sanchez'" look?

[Auric Demonocles]

I am debating trying to run the Marathon next year (via the charity route, I'll never be close to fast enough to qualify via time). Though I'm not sure if a year is enough time to train to run that damn far when I'm starting from 2-3 mile runs.

[John]

A year is plenty of time if you are dedicated. Look on the internet. You can find training programs that take you from not being able to run a hundred yards to running a marathon in six months. You just have to be dedicated.

[NoVAHockey]

what's a good time for a novice?

i do crossfit and play hockey. I had the same thought of trying it.

[John]

Anything under 4:30 is averaging close to a ten minute mile for 26 miles. A ten minute mile is a slow jog. If you do it in under 4:30 you suck, but you ran the thing and didn't walk it. Anything under 3:30 and you are talking about running 8 minute miles for 26 straight miles. At that point you are a stud. So realistically the 4 hour range is a good goal.

[Brett L]

Yeah, I don't know abuot "sucking" at 4:30. Lots of people run 16 8:30s and 10 11 minute miles. Once the wheels come off, any finish is a good one. That's one of the challenges of the marathon format. Lots of people who can and have run a four hour marathon can run a 4:30 in the same shape depending on outside temperature and stupid things like whether your feet get wet early on and you raise a blister.

[John]

Anyone who actually runs it and finishes it doesn't suck. It is all relative. But a 4:30 is respectable. No one can claim you sucked wind and just walked it. You have to run it to get done in that time.

And the other thing is the course. If you are a beginner, run a nice flat course. I always thought if I was ever going to do one, I would do the Amsterdam marathon. It happens in October, so it is always cool and a bit wet, which is my favorite weather to run in, and there are few cities on earth as flat as Amsterdam.

[robc]

Running flat sucks. I prefer rolling hills. I also refuse to do anything longer than 10k.

[Auric Demonocles]

I know the runners finishing around the 4 hour mark were largely charity runners. That's like 6.5 mph ( or a bit over 9 minute miles). Which still seems really fast for such a long distance.

[Brett L]

And old guys. I think the qualifying time is under 3:30 (sometimes WAY under) for males under 50. So you'd have to have a bad day to qualify at 3:20 and run a 4:10 on race day.

[Auric Demonocles]

The qualifying time for males under 35 was 3:05 this year. That's 8.5 mph for 3 hours straight.

[sloopyinca]

I ran 3:50 in the ATL Marathon 6 years ago on my first attempt. I trained for 6 months, but it was intense training. Having done crossfit and playing hockey, you'll have a good baseline in your legs and core, so you should be fine to be ready in under a year.

But I'd try to qualify on time if I were you. Too many people, celebrities, politicians and other assholes, are gonna be going the charity route next year. Your chances of winning a place are pretty slim unless you glom onto some person that will bring more to the event (think: Hollywood asshole that's never run a race in his life).

[sloopyinca]

Dammit, 2:50. I qualified for Boston but moved to California and switched to doing triathlons.

[John]

You ran a 2:50? Damn. My respects sloopy. My respects.

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, my first and only time. I'll never do it again either.

[John]

I think 10Ks are fun. One of these days I need to get off my ass and register and do the Army 10 miler. But really marathons are just too much. Unless you are a compete fanatic, you just end up injuring yourself or being so burned out physically and mentally you don't want to train for weeks afterwards. Other than to say I did it, what is the point? If you want to push yourself, work on running a shorter race faster or do a triathlon where you don't put so much strain on your body doing one type of exercise to the extreme.

[sloopyinca]

I wanted to break 3:20 and just started at 6:30 miles for the first 10 miles (should have been at a 7:30/mile pace) and decided to just keep it up. I never even really hit a wall and was literally in tears when I crossed the finish line from the excitement of doing something I never thought I could accomplish. It was an absolutely incredible experience followed by a couple of weeks of extreme pain.

Now that I'm remarried and have a life, I can't make the commitment to doing anything longer than an olympic distance triathlon. My dreams of the Ironman in Hawai'i are long-dead.

[Gray Ghost]

Lance Armstrong couldn't do that in his first try. I don't think he ran track in HS, but still... 2:50 is impressive.

[Knutsack]

Nice work, Sloopy. I ran a 2:46 my first one, and I'm going to stick to running because I'm not comfortable wearing some of the tri-gear that shows just how small my penis is.

I'm going to try to qualify for Boston next year, too. I never wanted to do it, but after this year's race, I've decided I might as well go for it.

Auric, a year is plenty of time to be able to finish the distance. However, as sloopy suggests, you'd be better off trying to qualify on time to get in. I'm sure there is going to be record numbers trying to get in next year. Of course, that means you'd have to run two marathons in that year--one to qualify and Boston. If I were you, I'd find a plan (or coach) somewhere and make an attempt on time. If that doesn't work, fall back on the charity angle.

[NoVAHockey]

ok .. thanks all for the this. very helpful

[Auric Demonocles]

Do you have a connection to Boston?

[NoVAHockey]

some family in the area.

[NoVAHockey]

but I was thinking a marathon .. not necessarily Boston

[Brett L]

You've got time. just run one more mile than last week for 26 weeks. That isnt too intense. Hal Higdon is a good resource. You'll probably want to get yourself to being able to run for 90 minutes or so (don't worry about mileage) by September 1. Then you'll almost certainly make it if you start a training plan then (which is 7.5 months from BoMar)

[generic Brand]

The key is in the second part of Brett L's comment, or so I've read.

You really DON'T want to run a full marathon too many times prior to the real thing because you will risk blowing out your knees, ankles, etc. But being able to consistently run about 90-120 minutes (maybe once or twice a week) and then regular running the other times should be enough.

[Knutsack]

You risk blowing out knees and ankles, if you don't do it right. Take it slow and train smart, and you'll be fine.

[Lord Humungus]

Running sucks - lift weights.

[Auric Demonocles]

Of course running sucks. But no dickbags have recently blew up people at a weightlifting event in my city.

[Matrix]

Brittney Griner comes out

OMG NO WAI!

[Virginian]

Yeah this is not a shock at all.

[mr simple]

There are lesbians in sports?

[sloopyinca]

There are lesbians women in sports?

FIFY!

[Enough About Palin]

She'd kick your ass on the court, Sloop.

[AuH20]

The suit she wore to the draft was kind of a giveaway. And now that she's in Chicago, it's not like she can't have women lining up around the block for a ride on what I'm sure are rather large hands.

[mr simple]

Popular dating site reports rise in number of female students seeking 'sugar daddies' at Columbia, Cornell Universities

[Auric Demonocles]

No wonder I had so little luck while I was in grad school! Good damn rich guys were taking all the girls.

...It couldn't possibly have had anything to do with the tiny number of girls I interacted with, the insane hours I spent working, the crappy shape I got into via take out and not hitting the gym, or my shithole apartment.

[Warty]

OMG SLOTHS AND KITTIES OMG OMG

And because the song in that video is annoying, listen to this instead while you watch that.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

"New York's new gun restrictions were passed for ideological reasons, not to make anybody safer, says a letter sent to the governor by the Albany Police Officers Union. The letter goes on to blast the law as morally wrong."

Nice. REAL salty street cops. Not cop-o-crat police chiefs (iow the IACP etc.) keeping it real.

[Enough About Palin]

Who farted?

[Dunphy (the real one)]

"NRA to now devote attention to first amendment. Trying to make it okay to yell fire in a crowded theater.?
Albert Brooks (@AlbertBrooks) April 17, 2013"

It's good citizenship to yell "fire" in a crowded theatre. It's bad to do it WHEN THERE IS NO FIRE.

Regardless, libs ALWAYS try to use the fire/theater analogy with shit like this, not realizing that the fire/theater analogy was used by the scotus to justify the prosecution of a person who was protesting WWII. Iow his protest of WWII (iow free speech_) was criminalized because it was viewed as tantamount to FALSELY yelling fire in a crowded theatre. Noted that at the time, people HAD died in stampede's in (largely wooden) theatres, in trying to escape when there was a fire.

Regardless, that case (schenck) isn't even the law of the land (tm) anymore. It was superseded by brandenburg.

But it's so wholly NOT relevant to this debate. The reason why falsely yelling fire is wrong is because it creates the immediate risk of death and serious injury. The NRA's position and the vote here does not create an imminent risk of stampeding death/injury. It's a ridiculous, unthinking leftwing meme that needs to be stamped out.

DU trots it out CONSTANTLY in such debates.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

My other favorite is their wanking over how we need to the fairness doctrine to overcome "faux news" etc. and their propaganda. A thread read "i support the 1st amendment BUT" (no you don't) and then went on to say how fox news etc. should not be allowed to influence vulnerable ignorant americans (being defined as americans who don't agree with them) and that a fairness doctrine is fine to protect OUR airwaves, not recognizing that cable doesn't use the airwaves.

It's the same bullshit over and over.

[The Dan]

plus the fact that we don't gag people in advance of going into a movie theatre on the chance they may yell fire.

[WomSom]

That sounds like a crazy idea to me dude. Wow.

http://www.AnonHit.tk

[forestgombosi39]

If you think Carrie`s story is unbelievable,, 5 weeks ago my cousins boyfriend easily made $6762 putting in a thirteen hour week from there apartment and the're co-worker's mother-in-law`s neighbour done this for 7-months and actually earned over $6762 part time from a laptop. apply the guidelines at this site http://www.wow65.com
(Go to site and open "Home" for details)

[Karl Hungus]

Both.

Have you seen this one, about the 97-year-old pilot from the Doolittle raid flying a B-25 yesterday?

http://news.yahoo.com/famed-wo.....07724.html

[Tim]

He thought he was driving his 71 Buick Skylark.

[Karl Hungus]

I doubt it, a '71 Skylark is bigger than any airplane ever made.

[Karl Hungus]

I know, I love stories like this. It's amazing and wonderful to me that this guy, at the age of 97 and after nearly 70 years, can still fly a large airplane so proficiently.

[John]

I love the scene in The Right Stuff where the civilian pilot is demanding a million dollars to fly the X1 and Chuck Yeager jokes "how much you got" when asked what it would take for him to do it, only to say "the Air Force already pays me". That is actually pretty close to what actually happened. I feel unworthy to walk the earth with such people.