Ron Paul Speaks Out Against Police Behavior After Boston Marathon Bombing, Texas Court Says Mints Can Be Evidence of DUI, Obama Tweaks Position on Chemical Weapons: P.M. Links

Credit: Pete Souza

• Former Congressman Ron Paul has said that the police response to the Boston Marathon bombing was more scary than the actual attack. 

• A Texas Court of Appeals ruling says that breath mints can be considered evidence that someone is driving while intoxicated. 

• Obama, who had said that Syrian forces using chemical weapons would constitute a "red line," has said that the systematic use of such weapons will not be permitted.

• A woman who was attacked by a police dog has been awarded $6.5k by the city of Sioux City, Iowa. 

• The Supreme Court has ruled that states may limit the use of FOIA requests to residents. 

• Marijuana legalization has created opportunities for security firms who are fine with pot being legal. ADT, the country's largest security provider, will not sell its products to businesses involved in the legal pot industry because marijuana is still illegal under federal law. 

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Former Congressman Ron Paul has said that the police response to the Boston Marathon bombing was more scary than the actual attack.

And this guy thought he could be president.

[Irish]

DAMMIT! I had a link all cocked and ready to go, and you still beat me. How do you do this?

[Alack]

He's seen the code. He knows kung-fu.

[evie778]

Start working at home with Google! It's by-far the best job Ive had. Last Tuesday I bought a gorgeous Lancia Straton from earning $4331 this - 5 weeks past. I began this 7-months ago and right away started to earn at least $69, per-hr. I use this website,,
http://goo.gl/4z9pn

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm a member of the reason staff. Try to guess which one. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Brett L]

Hi, Lucy!

[generic Brand]

damnit brett!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Brett got skillz!

[Episiarch]

Dude, if FoE is anyone, he's Weigel.

[Fist of Etiquette]

No, I don't all pissy quick enough.

[Episiarch]

O Rly?

Plus, you listen to Hawkwind and Peter Gabriel-era Genesis every Friday. Oh shit, wait, that's me. Am I Weigel?!?

[Mad Scientist]

Right amount of pissy. Wrong amount of implying everything the left does is just peachy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

We are all Weigel now.

[generic Brand]

So that's why you don't post anymore articles, Lucy? You're too busy trying to be the first commenter on every other author's post?

[Fluffy]

I think climate change got Lucy, sadly.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If I was one of the lady contributors I would be spending all day touching my own boobs and wouldn't have time to post any of my wonderful comments. Pull your head out of your ass.

[Banjos]

This is the reason why I am not on here as often as I should be...well that and having a baby...and an extremely needy husband.

[Brett L]

I finally win one!

[Jerry on the boat]

Tim?

[Brett L]

Nah, he obviously posts under "Some call me Tim?"

[Irish]

So, we are all Reason contributors, correct? I'm Gillespie, and just wanted to make sure.

[Brett L]

Yeah. Its all contributors and sock puppets.

[Old Man With Candy]

I'm Postrel.

[BuSab Agent]

Dammit I wanted to be Postrel.

[Old Man With Candy]

Drink!

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm the only commenter here with only one kidney so if anyone's Postrel...

[Some call me Tim?]

Yes, Tim Cavanaugh is really that lazy.

[db]

Special Staff Member for Increasing Hit Counts Twice a Day?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Try to guess which one.

Um, the one in charge of uploading the stories?

[Fist of Etiquette]

No. An algorithm does that.

[Irish]

Democrats claim climate change will force women into prostitution.

What can't climate change do? It's like voodoo.

[$park?]

You sonofabitch! That was mine!

[Irish]

Well, I guess we're both going to go home disappointed, like Epi's girlfriend or something.

[Episiarch]

You mean your mom? By the way, here's your lunch money. I wasn't going to give it to you but after what I did to her I feel bad.

[tarran]

It's both a floor cleaner and a dessert topping.

[NeonCat]

If it doesn't make mounds and mounds of julienne fries for me and all my friends I don't want it.

[OldMexican]

Democrats claim climate change will force women into prostitution.

I thought it was the plot for the second part to the novel "The Road."

[Coeus]

Add it to the list.

[Cowboy]

So, thanks to SodaHead polls, I've come to realize that somewhere between 8-20% of people who self identify as libertarian actually have no idea what libertarianism actually is.

[CE]

Combine AGW with the sequester, and we'll all be selling our bodies for bread.

[sticks]

Sounds good to me. Why do they they hate the sex workers?

[Irish]

The tendency for liberals to hate sex workers pretty much belies every claim they make about what the believe.

'Your body your choice! (Unless you're a sex worker)'

'People should not be attacked based on their sex lives! (Unless they choose to have sex for money, in which case fuck those broads, they have it coming.)'

[sticks]

That or you get something like: well there is nothing wrong with sex work per se but most sex workers are "forced" into it. Force meaning they had bills to pay, kids to feed etc.

[sam the man]

It's because sex workers have the evil PROFIT MOTIVE

[Some call me Tim?]

Sex work is only ok when done for the love of sex.

If you have sex for ONLY the money, than that is as demeaning as having being as cleaning toilets for only the money.

People need freedom, freedom to follow their passions.

[Coeus]

Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to recognize that climate change is hurting women more than men,

World Ends!!! Women and Minorities hit hardest!!!

[Alack]

A Texas Court of Appeals ruling says that breath mints can be considered evidence that someone is driving while intoxicated.

Know who wants good breath? People trying to find someone to hook up with. Know what else such people want? Drinks, for themselves and their targets.

QED

[$park?]

People trying to find someone to hook up with.

Prostitution! Now you've got two options.

[Pro Libertate]

I chew on mints much more often than I drink. And, come to think of it, I drink mint tea most mornings at work.

[$park?]

Does your wife know you're gay? NTTAWWT.

[Pro Libertate]

What's gay about tea?

Speaking of the gay, I have a question: Do gay men buy flowers for their partners?

[Episiarch]

Don't be absurd, ProL. Flowers are for chicks. Their soft human brains get overloaded by the flowers and then you can take advantage of them.

[Pro Libertate]

I tend to agree, but is it true?

[Episiarch]

Everything I say is true, ProL.

[Pro Libertate]

Don't make me Norman your ass.

[jesse.in.mb]

I dislike receiving flowers, it feels girly. I have never given flowers because I feel weird getting them and nobody has expressed specific interest in them (I also cook for romantic partners, which is a direct enough line into their pants that flowers would be overkill). I haven't paid enough attention to my friends' purchasing habits to make a more general answer.

This reminds me of this SMBC comic though, which makes me happy.

[Pro Libertate]

Okay, so there's one vote for "No fucking flowers."

[Live Free or Diet]

I also cook for romantic partners, which is a direct enough line into their pants

I have to agree I've gotten more from cooking than from flowers. That said, the by far best looking girl I ever got anywhere with was after showing up with flowers unexpectedly at her college recital her family couldn't come to.

[Old Man With Candy]

You like cock, doesn't that seem a bit... girly?

[jesse.in.mb]

You like cock, doesn't that seem a bit... girly?

I'd like to see you argue that to the Sacred Band of Thebes.

I suppose it'd be better for me to argue that I'm not a mushy romantic rather than argue that I find giving flowers particularly girly.

It doesn't help that flowers are a depressing image to associate with a relationship in that they're most vibrant at first and then fade until they must be tossed away. Give me a potted fern with moss covered rocks any day.

[Old Man With Candy]

No mushy romantic. Yes, better.

Cooking was also my particular form of roofies- I had a nearly 100% track record when I could cook dinner (though with girls, NTTAWWT).

[Tonio]

The tea is teh geh, PL. Sorry, dude.

Anyway, about the flowers - I've only done this for one partner.

Kidding about the tea. [Punches ProL on upper arm]

[jesse.in.mb]

Peppermint or spearmint Pro L?

From the NIH abstract on a study of androgens in Turkish women:

It was demonstrated and confirmed that spearmint has antiandrogen

[Zeb]

Everyone knows that spearmint is the wussy mint.

[Pro Libertate]

Both, I guess. It's a "mint medley."

I tried some loose leaf variety, but it was more trouble than it was worth.

[Zeb]

But when the cop came to school to scare us all about drinking and driving, he said that mints won't cover the smell of alcohol. He wasn't lying to us, was he?

[Pro Libertate]

Back off, man, I'm a lawyer. The word you're looking for is "entrapment."

[Fist of Etiquette]

...has said that the systematic use of such weapons will not be permitted.

"Let me be clear... I have said um from the beginning that uh the use of such weapons on successive weekends uh would not be permitted."

[NeonCat]

Obama is putting the Syrian government under double secret probation.

[Pro Libertate]

Do I need to quote Mrs. Dean Wormer again?

[Matrix]

Mass stabbing in New Mexico

[NeonCat]

Man, miss a few high notes and everybody's a critic!

[db]

I'd make a joke about knife control but that would just be preaching to the choir.

[BuSab Agent]

Fake preacher!

[Matrix]

And the mother of the year award goes to...
American mom jailed in UK for forcing 14 year old daughter to get pregnant
Wow...

[Virginian]

That totally happened on Law and Order SVU.

[Brett L]

To be fair, she only started trying to get the girl to impregnate herself at 14. Also, I did not know that you could buy viable sperm on the internet. I must figure out how to become a provider.

[Matrix]

probably not worth the risk. You could be on the hook for child support

[Brett L]

But its the only thing of possible value that I can produce in volume necessary to make money. (I think. Unless shipping eats up my margin.)

[Virginian]

That one artist canned his shit once, made a bunch of money off that.

Or you could piss on a Christian symbol. I think the National Endowment for the Arts is all about that.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...I did not know that you could buy viable sperm on the internet. I must figure out how to become a provider.

It takes a special kind of keyboard.

[Brett L]

I broke my collar-bone the week after I got a programming job. I have past experience with typing one handed!

[Auric Demonocles]

The mother had isolated the family, home-schooling her children.

Uh oh...

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, now!

[Auric Demonocles]

Don't you homeschool? Is your wife trying to force your daughter to get pregnant? You monsters!

And from a syringe? Come on man, you know I would have stepped up to help her in a more natural, organic way. And think of all the libertarian engineer genes you could bank on.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm calling the Nunavut Mounties on you, you sicko.

[Auric Demonocles]

They'll never be able to survive the heat this far south.

You should really be calling my girlfriend on me.

[alittlesense]

I saw them open for Pink FLoyd back in the day.......

[Matrix]

Jeremy spoke in class today

[$park?]

"a student produced a gun inside one of the classrooms and shot himself, and we're dealing with that now,"

Copspeak is so weird. I don't think the kid produced the gun.

[Matrix]

3D printers - now in our schools!

[Restoras]

Dude, come on. If the Mouth of Cop said "The student drew a gun..." the brainiacs on the force would think the student "drew" a gun with pencil and paper and is that really against the law, or (more importantly) endanger officer safety?

[Fluffy]

And the dead lay
In pools of maroon below

[Andrew S.]

I was in 10th grade when the video for that song came out. A teacher of mine once used part of the video to tell the class: "You're all a bunch of little Nazis". Good times, good times.

Bonus fact: This was a private school
Bonus bonus fact: It was a religious private school
Bonus bonus bonus fact: It was a Jewish private school.

[Matrix]

I wonder if there would have been a national news outcry if that were done today.

[Andrew S.]

I was thinking of that. I'm not sure. I know a lot of the students were pissed, but it being 1992, we didn't exactly have much of an outlet for that except to complain amongst ourselves. Nowadays, it would've gone to Twitter and Facebook, and... I don't know.

[generic Brand]

A Texas Court of Appeals ruling says that breath mints can be considered evidence that someone is driving while intoxicated.

More likely they just gave road head.

[Zeb]

While driving?

[generic Brand]

I figured it just meant "the presence of breath mints", which if anything would be used following the application of road head.

[Episiarch]

A Texas Court of Appeals ruling says that breath mints can be considered evidence that someone is driving while intoxicated.

Next we'll learn that driving is evidence someone is driving while intoxicated. There's nothing more important, including dismantling the 4th and 5th amendments, than stopping people driving with a .085 BAC!

[Zeb]

I thought driving already was probable cause, if not evidence. How else can they take your license if you refuse a breathalyser?

[NeonCat]

I wonder if Altoids filed an amicus curiae brief, and if it was curiously strong?

Not strong enough, apparently.

[Coeus]

More about the austerity boogeyman:

Reality 1, Austerity 0

Here is the U.S., the first quarter numbers were lousy. The economy grew at a rate of just 2.5 percent, less than forecasters projected, and not enough to improve the unemployment rate or raise wages. Analysts across the spectrum correctly blamed the slowdown on the sequester, which cut the budget by $85 billion this year, on top of the January deal that raised taxes, mostly on workers, by another $200 billion.

Gee, which do you think had more effect?

[Virginian]

He says, in his OWN FUCKING ARTICLE, that the tax hike was more then twice as large as the sequester. The fact that people still swallow this stuff proves once and for all that PT Barnum was right.

[Coeus]

Not to mention that most of the sequester has yet to go into effect. Fuck these disingenuous cunts.

[Adam]

.....AND not to also mention that real interest rates are below zero....and have been for some time now. We should be in the middle of another asset bubble by now. Not that I want one, but if slow growth and high unemployment are still a problem after three years of QE how in the hell is that caused by a recent round of "cuts"....that mostly haven't taken effect?

Yet, it certainly isn't the recent tax hikes.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Get real, +2.5% is not bad - just kind of slightly less than normal.

Both Bush presidential periods and the Ford years experienced growth of barely more than 2.0%.

http://currencythoughts.com/20.....sidencies/

[John]

Of course the 2.5% is measured using the new improved method which counts all sorts of shit that was never counted in the past. So the numbers from before this quarter are not comparable to the one from this quarter.

But don't let that stop you since you are retarded and try to make up for it by being completely mendacious.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Get real, +2.5% is not bad - just kind of slightly less than normal.

This far after the recession supposedly "ended", it's horrible, and the growth is still being built on deficit spending.

[Some call me Tim?]

You're a moron. The recovery period of a cycle should produce better than 3% growth.

We have yet to see that.

[Fist of Etiquette]

ADT, the country's largest security provider, will not sell its products to businesses involved in the legal pot industry because marijuana is still illegal under federal law.

THERE SHOULD BE A LAW FORCING THEM TO DO BUSINESS WITH EVERYONE. Actually, at this point, I'm kind of surprised there isn't.

[Mad Scientist]

Crap! If ADT won't sell alarms to pot growers, who's gonna call them and tell them how they're leaving their families unprotected from rapists all day long?

[Virginian]

I never understood the purpose of the alarm system call. Now, a perimeter warning so I can roll out of bed and grab a gun, that's great. But in commercials I always see concerned ADT staffers talking to frightened homeowners.

"Omigod omigod hes in the house"
"The police are on the way!"
"Thank you thank you thank you!"

[John]

Other than telling you the guy is there a bit quicker, how is this any different than calling 9-11? And aren't you probably going to hear the guy kicking in the door or breaking the window anyway?

[Virginian]

Some people are really sound sleepers.

One day I'll have a compound with IR cameras and lasers and pressure pads and shit. Until I turn the system off because deer and coyote keep waking me up.

[John]

Or get a couple of dogs. People misunderstand what dogs are for. They are not there to take down the intruder. They are there to alert you of the intruder so you can get your gun.

[Zakalwe]

This is why mini dachshunds make the best home defense dogs.

Episiarch misunderstood this and has a false sense of security because he heard something about how great it was to own a small wiener.

[Episiarch]

IT'S A GHERKIN

[Too_Big_to_Fail]

This exactly.

[NeonCat]

That's what the auto-tracking machine guns are for, duh.

[Raston Bot]

The mutant, albino apes in Congo proved they don't work.

[a better weapon]

Yeah, its a bad example. I never set my alarm on when I'm in the home. I have a hound and a berretta. I set the alarm for when I'm not home so no one steals my shit or kills my dogs (just gotta pray I get back before the cops get there!).

[Mad Scientist]

The police will be there in 45 minutes to an hour! Try not to get raped or stabbed before they arrive!

[robc]

Can they be sued in Washington like the florist who wont sell flowers for gay weddings?

[Brett L]

Fuck these guys.

Columbus, Ga.-based SGTi's technology uses relatively simple fingerprint recognition through an infrared reader. The biometrics reader enables three other physical mechanisms that control the trigger, the firing pin and the gun hammer. ...
"Our motto is ... if we save the life of one child, it's a miracle to that child and everyone that child touches."

Cram that shit up your ass, you've just alienated a potential customer with your authority cock sucking.

[Virginian]

I remember when a Reason regular said smart guns were a great idea. Oh how much laughing I did.

[Brett L]

I don't particularly care about the product. Its the standing on the bodies of children to pimp their product that turns me off.

[Virginian]

Eh, in principle it's no different from someone selling locks for the cleaning supplies cabinet, or fencing around the pool. Or baby monitors.

[John]

And if you actually need the weapon to defend yourself, having some complex biometric system overlaid on top of it is just such a great idea. Nothing could ever go wrong there. The system I am sure would never fail leaving you standing there with a club.

[Brett L]

"Resetting in 5...4..."

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"DNA Not Recognized."

[Some call me Tim?]

"PC LOAD LETTER? What the fuck does that mean?"

[Irish]

Eh. If people want to buy it, that's cool. The government will obviously try to make it the law that you have to have this, but all that means is the Democrats get to get killed on the gun issue again.

[Generic Stranger]

At least one US state - I think New Jersey - already has a law that will basically outlaw all other pistols the minute a "smart" gun hits the market. Them bringing it to market while that law is still on the books is basically going to ream a lot of people.

[Virginian]

I've never heard of that. Gotta link somewhere?

[Generic Stranger]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73763,00.html

[Virginian]

I think that might be the dumbest gun control law of all time.

[Generic Stranger]

Not sure it's the dumbest, but it's certainly a contender.

[db]

This is true.

[Irish]

Well then, that's the fault of New Jersey politicians. I hardly think the blame lies with the guys making a product.

[Zeb]

I thought it was California.

[Generic Stranger]

No, that's microstamping.

[Zeb]

Oh, yeah. I knew there was some sort of wacky scheme. I imagine that would make revolvers a lot more popular among criminals.

[db]

Why revolvers? the cases recoil back against the breech face in them and can be microstamped there too.

[Zeb]

Easier to find and keep all of your empty cases that have been stamped with a revolver.

[Generic Stranger]

Revolvers are actually exempted, specifically because they do not eject the case on firing.

There are TONS of ways to get around microstamping. I think I listed 20 once just off the top of my head. It's nothing more than a scheme to enrich one particular company that holds all the patents on microstamping.

[John]

Fuck them. Maybe retarded people who are too stupid to handle a weapon need to buy this or people who are so ignorant and superstitious that they thing weapons just "go off" can buy them. But not me.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

The appeal to emotion is pretty vapid, but if they can produce a product that people actually want to buy, more power to them.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Not every technological development is a positive one.

[Agammamon]

I remember when I got a fingerprint reader enabled Ipaq PDA. I thought it was the neatest thing in the world - for about 5 minutes and then I disabled the reader.

*Maybe* this might be useful for your range guns but I wouldn't want it on a gun I use for hunting and definitely not on one for self-defense.

[Virginian]

I mean, even on your range toys it's stupid because your range toys, by definition, are not going to be left lying around.

[Zeb]

"if we save the life of one child, it's a miracle to that child"

No it fucking isn't. That hypothetical child cannot possibly know he was saved by the magic gun, so it can't be a miracle to anyone.

[generic Brand]

It's the "not knowing" that makes something a miracle, I think. Do YOU know how Jesus turned regular old H2O into wine? Of course not! It's a miracle!

[Zeb]

No, but I do know that that is supposedly what happened.

[gaijin]

it's a miracle to that child and everyone that child touches."

And what if the child turns out to be another Jeffrey Dhamer?

[Zeb]

Then it's a really unpleasant miracle? DO miracles have to be good?

[Bam!]

2013 Miss Korea contestants. Each frame is a different girl.

[Brett L]

Wow. Are you sure?

[Episiarch]

Plastic surgery towards a similar look is very common in South Korea.

[jesse.in.mb]

My friend's Korean gf always joked that the reason the members of any given k-pop girl band looked the same is that the whole group will go to the same surgeon. I don't think she was kidding.

[Virginian]

It's like...three on a loop. It's not particularly strange for three girls from a culturally and ethnically homogeneous country's beauty pageant to be uncannily similar looking.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

So in Korea, she has a nice personality means something positive.

[A Serious Man]

That looks like a typical day for me.

[#HOLO YOLO]

Where do you live?

[A Serious Man]

Currently Irvine, but grew up in Cerritos, CA. Lots of Koreans.

[#HOLO YOLO]

I can't decide whether after I graduate it'll be worth putting up with the fascism of CA, or if it would be better to settle for someplace like Houston.

Then again, it's tricky, because AFAICT when there are *so* many of one nationality in one place they tend to self-segregate.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

California isn't worth putting up with no matter how nice the weather is. Even the liberals hate it there so much they leave the first chance they get.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They do the same gif with our beauty queens.

[generic Brand]

I would think when the black chick from Georgia goes up against the hispanic chick from Texas goes up against the white chick from California that ours would look a little different.

[Idle Hands]

They all look the same to me.

[Matrix]

lacist!

[#HOLO YOLO]

http://kotaku.com/blame-photos.....-482285894

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The one on the lower left is smoking hot.

[#HOLO YOLO]

Lower-left of what picture?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Hell, all of them.

[#HOLO YOLO]

#17 looks a bit meh, but I suspect that she could just be contorting her face in an ugly manner.

[Agammamon]

That's not Miss Korea.

http://kotaku.com/blame-photos.....-482285894

I can't believe Kotaku has better gouge on this than Snopes.

[#HOLO YOLO]

HEY

[Matrix]

Coolest photobomb ever

[Virginian]

I'd throw my balls against the side of her head.

[John]

Way cool and with the added bonus of her being a lovely blond.

[Brett L]

I'm sorry, I seem unable to find the photobomb, too busy making plans to drive to the next Rays home game. ProL, I may require your legal services.

[generic Brand]

Your girlfriend would probably love to go to a game to take her mind off the pregnancy.

[Episiarch]

Oh my. Someone is adorable.

[Irish]

Oh my. Someone is adorable.

I know I am. Thanks for noticing!

[Episiarch]

I was talking about Hugh, asshole!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

My wife and I were at the Cubs v. Rangers game two weeks ago, sitting about 15 rows up, just past 3rd base. Soriano cracked a foul ball that was coming in hard and fast. I jumped up to catch it, but pulled my hand down at the last second. It bounced off the seats behind it and my wife snagged it. She was so cute. Two pitches later Soriano crushed a homer to left field.

Bottom line: when at the ballpark, pay attention and watch the fucking game!

[Episiarch]

But I'm too busy drinking beer and eating sushi!

[Virginian]

I thought that strong fishy smell was just the Mariners.

[Episiarch]

Oh, it is. Without Ichiro, it's not even worth going any more. I remember seeing a game against the Tigers on the TV while getting lunch last week (?) and it was 0-0 in the 7th. Snore. God, the Mariners suck.

[Brett L]

At least you apparently have some pitching and your team has spent enough time in the majors not to swing at every fucking breaking ball like the Lastros.

[Virginian]

Well, at least you got a whole team for the price of one A-Rod.

[Apatheist ?_??]

The Lastros are 4-2 against the Mariners. Beating them will be the only bright spot of the season.

[C. Anacreon]

Just think, your wife could have been Steve Bartman!

[A Serious Man]

Japan and Russia want to finally end WWII.

[NeonCat]

Quitters.

[Zakalwe]

What difference, at this point, does it make?

[Archduke Pantsfan]

The earth has gotten warmer!
Earth's core far hotter than thought

[Brett L]

Interesting implications for the energy balances when the delta T is so much larger than originally thought.

[NeonCat]

"Gaia is angry at our fracking!"

[Libertarian Book Club]

Too much chili, pickled eggs, and beer? That's what heats up *my* core!

[Whahappan?]

Al Gore was right!!!

[lap83]

http://www.economist.com/news/.....rce=buffer

Kind of interesting article on employee data patterns
Like...
Criminals make good customer service reps

and my favorite quote from the article...

"A study of 20,000 workers showed that more honest people tend to perform better and stay at the job longer. For some reason, however, they make less effective salespeople."

lol

[$park?]

Gee, I ... wonder why.

[Virginian]

Yeah I worked for Best Buy for a bit, and I had a nasty habit of helping customers really get the best value for the dollar, instead of mercilessly fleecing older people who didn't know anything about electronics.

[A Serious Man]

Barack Obama defends funding for the social sciences before National Academy of Sciences..

Obama spoke of the need to "promote the integrity of the scientific process" in Washington budget debates. He singled out social science, the study of human nature and society, as deserving support along with medical and physical sciences. "In all of the sciences, we have to make sure we are supporting the idea that they are not subject to politics, that they are not skewed by an agenda."

Sure he believes that. The man's also an accomplished statistician with his ability to accurate state that 90% of the American people support his gun control policies.

[Irish]

"In all of the sciences, we have to make sure we are supporting the idea that they are not subject to politics, that they are not skewed by an agenda."

Clearly giving social scientists public money won't make them biased in favor of public money.

[Fluffy]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....latestnews

Am I the only one who thinks the brother did this?

[John]

No. I find difficult to believe even the biggest wierdo would just randomly break in and stab an 8 year old girl to death. Kidnap and rape her and then kill her to prevent her from identifying him, sure. But just stab he in her own home for no reason? No way. Someone in that house did that.

[Virginian]

It's certainly possible. The only thing worse then that would be if he's innocent, and the cops can't find the intruder, and decide to make the case against the brother.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Unless I just missed it, I don't see how old he is, but that was my first thought.

[Fluffy]

He's 12, and his story is that he found an intruder stabbing his sister, and the guy ran away.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

He did it.

[John]

Yeah. And the police put the whole community on edge for that story? No fucking way. He did it. If someone is a big enough lunatic to break in and stab the girl to death, he would have stabbed him to death as well. That kind of lunatic kills the whole family. He doesn't run away from the 12 year old.

[Zakalwe]

How believable is is that a 12 year old covered up the evidence of a stabbing enough that your typical dimwit cop didn't immediately see through his story?

Well, when I put it that way...

[John]

You really know how to convict the kid Zakalwe.

[JW]

I hope for the family's sake that it isn't the brother. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of grief the parents are feeling right now, and to compound it with another one of your kids doing the deed?

That's when I would check out for a couple years.

[John]

Oh God. Losing one kid wold be horrible enough. But having one kid kill the other? Fuck it. I have no idea what I would do. I am not sure there are enough drugs and hookers in the world to check out of that nightmare.

[JW]

I am not sure there are enough drugs and hookers in the world to check out of that nightmare.

That would require one legend making self-destructive spiral, assuming that there aren't more kids depending on you.

I simply have no idea how parents move on after losing a child, especially to a violent and grotesque murder.

[OldMexican]

Obama, who had said that Syrian forces using chemical weapons would constitute a "red line," has said that the systematic use of such weapons will not be permitted.

"Ok, ok, if you say that my mother is a fat whore in a systematic way, then I will punch you in the face!"

[Coeus]

Feminists against free speech. So what else is new?

Admittedly, this guy is not very sympathetic, but you'd think they'd learn after their bullshit codes were used against them at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

But if the could learn shit, they wouldn't be feminists.

[John]

He is a piece of shit. But I am not seeing how a sign that says "you deserve rape" is any worse than posting the names of every male student under the heading "potential rapist", which is what a feminist group did a few years ago. The WBC and the campus feminists deserve each other.

[Matrix]

well, we do know that only men are rapists, ever

[Virginian]

That guy is trolling hard in the paint.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Better believe it. The SWPLs have gamely tried to neuter him by mocking his signs and doing some mass blocking, but he knows just the right way to dig at the intellectual foundation of the academic complex, which is open contempt.

That he's an asshole is hardly relevant, because I guarantee there's several hundred or even thousand students on that campus who proudly claim to be "assholes" when they're pissing off their political or social targets of choice.

[Virginian]

Yeah, I find open contempt and mockery more effective. This stuff is prima facie insane. It doesn't deserve serious attention.

[Gladstone]

What does SWPL stand for?

Stuff White People Like?

Socialist Workers Party League?

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

The former

[Redmanfms]

Stuffy Whiny Pretentious Lesbians?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I'd love to see them make a dedicated effort to sexual assault prevention: Increase funding to women's organizations, host sexual assault awareness events and workshops targeted at male students, require that all fraternities host trainings about combating sexual assault, etc etc.

What a bunch of horseshit. Unless the "etc etc." has something really good in there, there's nothing in that list that will prevent sexual assault. No one who has raped a woman says, "Well gosh, I had no idea that this would be an uncomfortable experience for the woman! I sure wish someone had educated me on that topic." That's not the mentality of a rapist.

How stupid do you have to be to think that it's a matter of educating males at the college level about what rape is? FFS

[The Immaculate Trouser]

From the comments:

I would be very surprised if absolutely no rapes occur because of this sign. Hopefully, I am wrong.

[Zeb]

Stupid enough to believe that any sex while the least bit intoxicated is rape. Stupid enough to buy the idea that simple consent is not adequate, but "enthusiatic consent" is required for each new bit of sexual contact. Stuff like that.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

That's ridiculous. By that rubric, my wife and I have raped each other hundreds of times over by not having to sign contracts in triplicate before doing something spontaneous or unexpected.

[Virginian]

Seriously. I mean, every time a girl has woken me up with a blowjob I thought she was being awesome. Turns out, she's a filthy rapist.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

If that qualifies as rape, then maybe the troll with the sign is right: I do deserve to be raped, early and often!

[Zeb]

Exactly. But that is the sort of education about rape that male college students are subjected to (or were about 15 years ago anyway). They think that the education will work because they have expanded the definition of rape beyond the sort of thing that any non-fucked person would consider a horrible thing to do to someone.

[Zeb]

In case there was any confusion, I did mean to say that those things are actually stupid.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The guy's name is Dean Saxton.

The Dean of You Know You Want It?

[Brett L]

One of my friends, who works setting up domestic violence hotlines, was bitching of FB that her Prius took a shit and it came out that (a) the fuel gauge fails to "full", which seems like a bad idea and (b) the failure was in some way related to her batteries which were not warrantied and its going to cost her $1500. She is shocked and outraged and indignant.

I am laughing my ass off.

[John]

Hybrids are so stupid. If you want an efficient car, go buy a high efficiency diesel or a Honda Civic. All hybrids do is add a whole layer of weight and various shit to break for a very small marginal gain in millage.

[Brett L]

Yeah. When fuel economy becomes a priority, I'll buy a 5 year old VW turbo diesel. Pretty much the best bang for your buck as far as TCO.

[Virginian]

All hybrids do is add a whole layer of weight

Yep. I was pissed because the libs in VA were all "WHY WOULD THEIR BE AN EXTRA TAX ON HYBRIDS!!!"

Because your fucking smugmobile causes wear and tear on the roads. Now pay your fair share you piece of shit. Don't you want everyone to pay their fair share?

[John]

I am also told that when one of those smugmobiles crashes and the battery gets punctured, which is pretty common, they have to call the hazmat team out.

[Stormy Dragon]

I have a hybrid Mercury Mariner (Mercury version of the Ford Escape). It get's significantly better mileage than the gas only Mariner did at the same gets out, and even beats the 2013 Escape, despite the 2013 model being redesigned to be significantly smaller.

The gas I've saved has long since paid for the price difference. The real problem is that hybrid technology has focused almost entirely on the small car market where the MPG is already so high that you get diminished returns from additional increases, when they should be putting them in SUVs and pickups where small increases in fuel efficiency can mean big savings.

That is, to save the amount of gas you get from an SUV going from 20 to 28mpg, you have to get a car getting 40 up to 90mpg.

[VG Zaytsev]

Huh?

28 is 40% more than 20.

90 is 125% more than 40.

[Stormy Dragon]

Same amount, not percent. I drive around 250 miles a week.

At 20 mpg that takes 12.5 gallons; at 28 mpg, that takes 9 gallons, a savings of 3.5 gallons.

At 40 mpg that takes 6.25 gallons; at 90 mpg that takes 2.75 gallons, a savings of 3.5 gallons.

In terms of ROI, you save far more money making marginal improvements to cars that are low efficiency like SUVs and trucks than you do making significant improvements to cars that are already very efficient.

[Whahappan?]

Uh, the new Escape is 178 in. long with a 106 in. wheelbase and weighs 3500 lbs. in base trim. Your Mariner is 175 in. long with a 103 in. wheelbase. Of course, it's over 3600 lbs., but that's because of the extra weight of the batteries. The non-hybrid Mariner was 3350 lbs. Not disputing the gas savings, just wanted to set the record straight.

[Stormy Dragon]

Huh, when I saw the 2013 Escape in the showroom, it looked way smaller to me than my car. Looking at that stats, the only real difference is the height is four inches lower, so maybe I just perceived it as smaller because of the height difference rather than because it actually was much smaller.

[JW]

If you want an efficient car, go buy a high efficiency diesel

That's my plan. The new Mazda 6 turbo-diesel is looking pretty sweet.

[Libertarian Book Club]

Yeah, but she's saving the environment like crazy.

[Pro Libertate]

The batteries aren't covered by warranty at all, or she was out of warranty?

Besides the cars costing too much, I've also had some concern about the lifespan of the hybrid. An I/C from Toyota or Honda will last until the heat death of the universe.

[Brett L]

Not covered according to her. Now, I don't know if that means they are prorated or warrantied on a shorter timescale than the rest of the car or what.

[Stormy Dragon]

Don't know what Honda's warranty is, but the batteries and electrical systems on Ford Hybrids are warrantied for 6 years/100,000 miles.

[John]

The batteries last around five years with heavy use. And they run in the thousands to replace. Prius' really are smugmobiles. It makes absolutely no economic sense to buy one. It is a way for you to show the world that you care about the planet and can't do basic math.

[Pro Libertate]

Whoa. Well, that pretty much kills the last vestige of a possibility that they could make any economic sense, doesn't it?

[John]

Yeah. I have neighbors who have an 04 Prius and its original batteries are still working. But it is very low mileage. Many Prius are. People drive them for show a lot.

I have a friend from high school who lives in LA. She was telling me that you will see celebrities going to pick up their kids at school driving their Prius with the nanny following in an Escolade or Range Rover.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

How Mordor's economy works.

[A Serious Man]

Thus for Mordor's economy to work, constant wars would be needed to keep up the demand for weapons, so that Mordor could trade them for food. This raises the question of how moral it would be for Sauron not to start wars. Due to the requirements of smithing and smelting, about 7% of orcs would be involved in 'civilian' roles. When considering firewood, building, and particularly mining, this figure would become much higher.

This is a lot of swords being made per year. Perhaps instead of weapons, Mordor could make farming equipment in its forges. Then to trade it would need a farming people, living quiet lives, who make lots of food but would never go down a mine or do something so unexpected as become a blacksmith.

I love how this shows how idiotic militant Keynesianism is. But Sauron created jobs!

[Zeb]

Well, that all falsely assumes that Mordor produces no food. Sure the north is a grim wasteland, but it is made quite clear that there are large agricultural regions in southern Mordor in the book. And anyway, I doubt Sauron has any compunction against letting a bunch or orc starve to death when he has no further need for them.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I always assumed that Orcs had a high breeding rate, and that Nurn and Dol Guldor (place is surrounded by a vibrant forest) produced enough food to allow for a moderate population increase.

[Pro Libertate]

I could be remembering this wrong, but I don't know that it was southern Mordor so much as south of Mordor.

[Zeb]

Don't try to out-Tolkien-dork me.

[Pro Libertate]

I just re-read the books a few months ago, so it's a little fresher than usual for me.

[Pro Libertate]

It's absurd that they think Sauron's control is anything less than total.

[A Serious Man]

He does promote that Morgoth-worshiping death cult.

[Pro Libertate]

Look, you either support religious freedom or you don't.

[Alack]

I thought he prayed to the Aqua Buddha?

[A Serious Man]

ESPN columnist Chris Broussard: Jason Collins is in open rebellion against God for being gay.

It takes balls to say that on TV so I actually admire him for being that candid. But isn't it nice to be reminded about how anti-gay a lot of blacks are? Amazing how the Dems keep them in the same tent.

[John]

It is almost like the black community is not very accepting of gays or something.

[#HOLO YOLO]

The True Origins of Pizza

Real pizza, that is.

[Episiarch]

I can't watch that at work, but I don't need to watch such blasphemy anyway. You're on the list, now, by the way. Say hello to ProL.

[Pro Libertate]

Nah, that's clearly more of Chiun's insane pro-Korean slant.

[Episiarch]

(puts ProL on the list again)

[Pro Libertate]

I'll hear nothing bad about The Destroyer series. Nothing.

[#HOLO YOLO]

I thought you were a thin-cruster?

[Episiarch]

I am, but any implication that thin crust pizza originated in Korea is clearly absurd. Everyone knows thin crust pizza was invented when Kirk and the Enterprise went back in time to have sex with Teri Garr.

[Pro Libertate]

As you know, that episode was an attempt to make a spin-off series with Gary Seven, who was having sex with the cat-woman and Teri Garr, which is pretty good for the 60s.

So, what I'm saying, is that they should make that series now. Fifty years late. On HBO, of course. With the closest analogues available to the late Robert Lansing and Teri Garr.

[#HOLO YOLO]

I guess I'd probably be on the list regardless, for not knowing what the hell you're talking about beyond that it relates to a JJ Abrams movie.

[Pro Libertate]

That's a good way to get on my list. I dunno what happens to people who are on both my list and Episiarch's list. The one guy I know who is on both won a Nobel Peace Prize.

[Coeus]

Three Big Myths About Dating Plus-Sized Women

Myth #1. Plus size women are desperate for dates.

Here's the thing. Just because I wear a size 22 doesn't mean every random man has a shot with me. There is a belief that those who are deemed unattractive in society (this includes being big) have no right to have standards.

Myth #2. Plus size women are lonely & sexless.

I've been dating since I was 15 and I have barely been single since. The only reason I'm single now is because I haven't chosen anyone to be with. This doesn't mean there haven't been any offers. Men do approach me a lot. Big girls are having sex. Lots of sex. Just know that. Quiet as its kept, some plus sized women have more going on in that department than their smaller friends.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

What is it with feminists and "plus-sized women"?

[Brett L]

Thin women become sideline reporters for baseball teams and spend all their time fending off the type of man who can afford to be down on the field before and after games. Fat women have to attempt to guilt people into giving them power.

[Coeus]

I just find these first two humorous. The only reason people think that is because it works that way for most men.

[NeonCat]

Does anyone refer to women of less than normal weight as "minus-sized"?

[Coeus]

Does anyone refer to women of less than normal weight as "minus-sized"?

Well, If they're short as well, we call 'em "spinners".

[A Serious Man]

Size 22?

[Pro Libertate]

Holy sweet Jesus. Now that's someone who wants to be the centerfold for the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

[John]

The health effects of weight are generally overrated. But still. You are pretty much asking to die before 60 if you are that big.

[Zeb]

Maybe she's tall.

[John]

Women's sizes don't work that way. A woman can be six feet tall and still be a size 2.

[Zeb]

Tall and fat, I was thinking. Then size 22 might not necessarily be completely morbidly obese.

Women's sizes are fucking stupid. Who decided that one number is sufficient to describe the size of a piece of clothing? Seems like you at least need a waist size and inseam to get anything right. Even with skirts, how do you know how long it should be without some idea of the height or leg length of the person who is going to wear it?

Maybe that's why women have to try on everything.

[John]

I am sure Nikki and Dagny and Kristen and the other women on here would give you an amen to that.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Maybe that's why women have to try on everything.

That among other reasons.

Lots of places do have "tall" or "short" pants, and petite sizing as well, but yeah.

[BuSab Agent]

My husband noticed that most of my jeans were really old and raggedy--which makes sense since I'm still wearing some of the same jeans I wore in high school with maybe a new pair every couple of years since then. So he gets all noble and decides to buy me new jeans and being a sensible man he asks me what size jeans I wear.
"I don't know."
He is dumbfounded until I show him the tags...all fit approximately the same but the sizes range from 0 to 9R. So yeah, that's why we have to try on clothes.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

One of a few cases of actual market failure.

[BuSab Agent]

It's not market failure. Women lie to themselves all the time about how fat they are, so if you make the sizes roomier while keeping the size number then the shopper gets to feel all happy that even though she's gained X lbs she's still the same size. They're doing this on men's sizes now too.

[Coeus]

They're doing this on men's sizes now too.

Yep. All of my 34 inch waist pants that I buy are actually 36. It's absolutely ridiculous to be doing this with actual numerical measurements.

[BuSab Agent]

Even though the size numbers keep getting smaller for me I'm not actually shrinking. I believe the 9R was bought in the early 80's and the 0 was in the last couple of years. The scariest thing was my very latest shopping trip (admittedly at Walmart), I couldn't find anything small enough until I went to the girls section. I am now the proud owner of girls size 14T pants (and still the same damn size).

[Pro Libertate]

Maybe she's a man.

[Bam!]

Manatee Grey

[John]

Some fat women make up for their insecurity by being total bitches. The propensity of a woman to be a stuck up bitch really isn't correlated with their attractiveness. Some drop dead gorgeous women are quite humble and nice. And some fat homely women have enormous egos as a coping mechanism for their insecurity.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

And some fat homely women have enormous egos as a coping mechanism for their insecurity.

See--Roseanne Barr, Lindy West, Jennifer Hepler, Rebel Wilson, etc.

[#HOLO YOLO]

Has anybody posted TiTP on here before?

[Brett L]

Oh man, that is some tasty fucking whining.

[NeonCat]

Tasty?! You thinist bastard.

[Warty]

Thin privilege is
?being able to be a stripper.

I know a lot of strippers are intelligent women who are earning money to pay off their student loans or take care of their children. They have found one of the few jobs where women can make decent money and become financially independent.

If this is real...mmmmm. Delicious.

[Virginian]

I love her fantasy world view of a stripper. I mean, I am friends with one stripper. She actually is doing it to pay for school. But her coworkers are all idiots, most have bastard kids, most have big drug habits. Yeah, the classy intelligent sex worker is fun to write about, and is an interesting character, which is why you see them in a lot of books, movies, and TV shows. But in real life, those are pretty rare, IMO.

[John]

I have known my share of strippers. Some of them really are working to get ahead. A few are a bit older and have a decent head on their shoulders and end up marrying high end working class men and getting out of it; think guys who own Harley Shops or run car repair businesses and such. But most of them are total dopes pissing away all of their money partying. They are not headed for a good fate once their looks fade, which will come sooner than it should.

[Irish]

They are not headed for a good fate once their looks fade, which will come sooner than it should.

I went to a sketchy as shit strip club in a local college town, and half of the strippers were clearly doing loads of cocaine in a back room.

That's all well and good when you're 23. By the time they're 30, the people who spent their entire 20's snorting coke every night are going to be in rough straits.

[Episiarch]

Are you saying I can't still make money stripping? I've still got what it takes! I could go right back into The Manhole or The White Swallow and get the tips like the old days!

[John]

What you lack in beauty, you can make up for in effort. In some clubs, there really is sex in the champagne room.

[Coeus]

In some clubs most clubs I've been to, there really is sex in the champagne room.

FIFM

[John]

Coeus,

There is almost never sex in the champagne room. That is the oldest stripper scam in the book.

[Warty]

What are we calling sex? If a stripper pawing your dong through your pants is sex, then there's sex at all clubs. If you mean coitus, then I assume that's rarer.

[Zakalwe]

When I was in a law school a buddy and his married friend agreed to pay $500 each for a handjob ten minutes before closing in the VIP area. I laughed in her face when one of the girls suggested that deal to me.

Anywho, they failed to reach completion before closing, and my buddy spent nearly twenty minutes calling everyone in there, up to and including the bouncers, a douchebag until finally signing his nearly $2k credit card bill. Then we left, got in a cab driven by an obviously Muslim and very bearded cabbie, who my buddy treated to a soliloquy on douchebag strippers.

The next day that dude called in his credit card stolen. And six years later that cabbie blew up the Boston Marathon.

[Zakalwe]

One of the things in this story isn't true.

[Irish]

Oh. I'm going to assume the last part then.

[Warty]

You have a penis?

[Irish]

Did this seriously happen?

[Episiarch]

I have known people who have paid insane, what-the-fuck-were-you-thinking sums for an hour or two at a bunny ranch in Nevada. I don't get it. Just insane amounts of money.

[Irish]

I have known people who have paid insane, what-the-fuck-were-you-thinking sums for an hour or two at a bunny ranch in Nevada. I don't get it. Just insane amounts of money.

That's pretty pathetic considering that it's probably way cheaper to get a call girl or something. You're in Nevada, I'm sure there's cheaper sex to be had in Vegas.

I know prostitution is illegal in Vegas, but if you're in Las Vegas and aren't breaking at least one law, you're doing it wrong.

[Virginian]

500 dollars for a handjob? That's pathetic.

[Coeus]

500 dollars for a handjob? That's pathetic.

It's supposed to be a negotiation. A friend of mine who does it regularly got quoted $500 for a fuck, and talked her down to $75 (it helps to have classic good looks for this part).

[Coeus]

Coeus,

There is almost never sex in the champagne room. That is the oldest stripper scam in the book.

I have several friends who regularly partake. I find it stupid, since they're severely time limited, and way overpriced compared to a call-up service. That's not to say I've never encountered one where it wasn't for sale. But IME that's rarer than the other.

Could also be my location. Several clubs in Houston get busted every year for it. Dallas too. Texas FTW.

[Zakalwe]

Yeah, my thing happened in Houston in I think 2004.

[Coeus]

Yeah, my thing happened in Houston in I think 2004.

Sounded like Treasures. For some reason, they love to start negotiations at $500 dollars, regardless of the service.

[Zakalwe]

Sounded like Treasures.

I believe it was. Only time I ever went there.

Also, it was late on New Year's Day after the last bowl game. Apparently absolutely no one goes to strip clubs on New Year's Day.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Someone should probably explain to me the popularity of strip clubs.

Getting to look at the menu without ordering anything off of it sounds more like an Enlightenment-era concept of hell than like something I'd want to pay for.

[Zakalwe]

I trust I don't need to explain the popularity of this.

http://www.stiletto.net.au/

[Warty]

I got a tip for you. Shut up and get back to work.

Also, are there gay strip clubs? And are they as delightfully gross as straight ones? I need an answer. JESSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEE

[John]

For many years there was a lesbian strip club in DC known as the Hung Jury. I never went. But I am told the dancers were cute. But interestingly enough, every woman I have ever met who went, was straight as an arrow. I am not sure many lesbians actually went to the place.

[Irish]

The one I'm talking about wasn't even delightfully gross. It was hick ass, backwoods, creepy fat dudes with comb overs hanging around.

There were some surprisingly decent looking girls there though, which proves that even in places where the diet consists of beer, cheeseballs, bacon fat and methamphetamine, 25 year olds can still be attractive. I wouldn't want to see the devastation that would occur to those girls over the next few years living in a town like that, but in the short term they were surprisingly good looking.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Also, are there gay strip clubs? And are they as delightfully gross as straight ones? I need an answer. JESSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEE

Oh yes. And OH YES.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'd assume yes, but I haven't been to one. I've also never been to a straight one though. I've only been to one in Thailand called HotMale (I also ended up in a straight brothel in Bangkok because we were trying to get my straight, British companion laid [he got us thrown out by trying to haggle them down to rural Chinese prices]). HotMale was clean, I was visually the least creepy person in there and had a conversation with a lovely pair of performers who were having sex while going through the classic "Is this your first time in Thailand/ how long are you here for/ are you liking it here?" conversation you have with everyone in Thailand. There were gymnastics rings involved at some point. I did not partake of the prostitution portion of it.

There do tend to be go-go boys at dance clubs who fill the gay stripper niche.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Got that, Warty? Next time you have a gay strip club question, just remember I have been to infinitely more of them than Jesse. You otherer.

[Warty]

So did you cure any of the homos with your sluttiness?

[Warty]

I'm friends with a former stripper. Not terribly smart, not terribly classy, not terribly good impulse control.

[John]

For whatever reason, women just seem to have an issue with taking their clothes off and being pawed on by strange men. The ones who have other options to that, generally take those options.

[Fluffy]

The meaning of the word "privilege" has been defined down until it now means "advantage".

"Privilege" used to mean a benefit you received without earning it. Like being born into an aristocratic family was "privilege".

But thin and attractive women having more opportunity to be strippers can't be "privilege", because thin and attractive women actually provide a service of value when they strip, and fat and hideous women don't. So the advantage thin and attractive women have in that area is earned by the difference in value they create. Calling that privilege is like saying that bacon is "privileged" over dog shit because people like to eat bacon and don't like to eat dog shit. Uh, duh.

"Nuh, uh! You could just learn to LIKE eating dog shit if you weren't such a Baconarchical OPPRESSOR!"

[Zeb]

Yes, good point. Privilege is something imposed on or granted to people. Simple facts cannot be privilege. That more people want to see thin women naked than fat women is just a fact about people's preferences, not a privilege for thin people.

[Warty]

But let's have a laugh that someone who wanted to wear a prom dress couldn't easily find one, while thin people can find ones without thinking about it.

Fat girls want to go to prom now? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Seriously, though, fatness is an outward manifestation of a poorly-functioning metabolic system. If you are seriously fat, four-chins-a-waddle-and-a-gunt fat, you are ipso facto unhealthy. Humans naturally shun the unhealthy, because diseasos are fucking gross. If you want to not be shunned, don't be a shambling mess of current and future chronic diseases, all right?

What's more, it's incredibly easy to not be fat. By being fat, you are advertising to the world that you have spent a lifetime being lazy and weak-willed. You have spent your entire life doing what feels good instead of what you know you should be doing. Why should decent people want anything to do with you? Fuck you.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Not that I disagree with you, Warty, but what of the cultures where fatness is seen as sexy, like Mauritania? And I'm not talking zoftig, I'm talking Jabba the Hutt listening to Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo Band fat.

[Warty]

Who cares what Mauritanians think? I have a monthly tire fire in my backyard specifically to drown them a little faster.

[Warty]

But seriously though, if being diabetic is sexy to them, then that is a problem that will solve itself.

[Irish]

Mauritania also bases their love of fat people on the fact that they see it as a sign of wealth.

They simply value people with wealth symbols more than they value the unhealthy aspects of being that obese.

[John]

The same is true in Samoa isn't it?

[Warty]

I've read that on these kinds of islands, the ancestral diet consisted pretty much of fish and coconuts, which is pretty much impossible to get very fat on. The kind of food that would get you fat was expensive, and therefore getting disgustingly fat was an extremely potent symbol of wealth. It makes sense, but I still bet you these fat guys preferred to fuck young, relatively skinny girls.

[Episiarch]

You're pretty judgmental for a meathead. And you look kinda fat.

[Warty]

I'm not fat! I'm just in a bulking phase right now! *runs to bathroom sobbing, sticks finger down throat*

[Episiarch]

Translation: he's always in a bulking phase. You're hideous!

[Warty]

330 pounds is ideal at 5'4", you idiot.

[BuSab Agent]

You know my mother's weight and height?!

[#HOLO YOLO]

Having gone from fat to normal to fat again myself, it's actually not that easy depending on the circumstances.

However, I don't go around bitching about how healthy people are oppressing me (and yes, I am unhealthy) or that anybody who finds me unattractive is evil and should be seeing my "inner beauty".

[Irish]

I see you inner beauty, Yolo. I see it.

[#HOLO YOLO]

That's Thane to you, peasant.

[Coeus]

Having gone from fat to normal to fat again myself, it's actually not that easy depending on the circumstances.

Every year or two, (since I first lost all the weight, about six years)I end up undergoing a major surgery. Then I get fat while in recovery. Every time, it's harder to get back to where I was. Pretty sure it's age.

[Warty]

Here's fatty #1. Not even really that fat. Sugarpie, do yourself a favor and lose the weight while your boobs still have some elasticity.

Hey, a real-time privilege check! Thanks for the apology. As a woman in the hard sciences I constantly deal with the assumption of scientific superiority by men in my classes and the presumption on behalf of many women (socialized by the patriarchy) that they are inferior in the sciences. I'm in mathematics, physics, and computer science, and there's a really special kind of mansplaining in these areas IMHO, which are traditionally seen as the sciences only men can do well ("women can do life sciences and stats but not physical sciences and pure math", etc etc).

Yeah, I'm sure it's just patriarchy keeping you down. No, scientists don't hate being shrieked at about privilege or anything.

[John]

Speaking of hard sciences, my wife works for a med school. I was at an event with her and was talking to one of the post doc researchers. This was a very attractive tall thin brunette. Not drop dead gorgeous but definitely a solid seven and someone you would be happy to pick up at a bar. She is even married with a couple of kids and still has a great body. So she is telling me about how she got her PHD and then had kids and now is going back in the field. So I was a bit drunk and said "you must have been the bell of the ball getting a PHD in hard sciences". And the immediate outraged explanation about how there are so many women in the hard sciences and they are starting to dominate the field followed.

[Warty]

Exactly how hard of a science are we talking about here?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Hard sciences require hard men.

It is known.

[John]

She is a PHD researcher in a major cancer lab if that is what you mean. If you mean otherwise, I would say she is very hard science. She was cutie.

[Warty]

Having known a lot of PhDs, let me tell you that it's pretty easy to slip through the cracks without knowing your shit, especially if you're a woman. It's as political a game as anything else.

[John]

That doesn't surprise me. And I would imagine being smoking hot didn't hurt either. If she looks this good in her mid 30s with two kids, I bet she was something else in her 20s before the kids came.

[Brandon]

Did you link to the wrong picture? Because the one in that link is that fat.

[Andrew S.]

As I've said before on TiA: I'm convinced that This is Thin Privilege is a troll blog. It has to be. I can't imagine a world where it isn't.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Has anybody posted TiTP on here before?

Seriously, one of the worst things about the proliferation of the internet in conjunction withthe growth of the "STOP BULLYING" hysteria is that it's allowed the most emotionally crippled people with an avenue to validate and subsequently exacerbate their emotionally crippled behavior and views. Just look at the Bronies, for example, in addition to these sad sacks.

Normally, these folks would have at least had the emotional deviancy beaten out of them a little bit in high school, and they could have gone about leading relatively normal and healthy lives. But in this day of politically correct pussification, endless efforts at self-esteem building, and a network where they can find hugboxes of people just as broken as themselves, they actually believe they're not hopeless losers despite all evidence to the contrary.

[John]

The bully whining by adults is particularly pathetic. It used to be that people who were raped by their step father were allowed to whine about their childhoods. Now anyone who was ever called a fat ass or had their lunch money stolen is allowed to claim the same status.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yep--there's a big difference between someone who's being genuinely terrorized (which does happen occasionally), and someone who's just made to feel bad once in a while for not fitting in, trying to act cool and totally failing, or being a crybaby or whatever.

A lot of these internet nerds in particular make it very clear in their pointless train-of-thought piddlings that they went out of their way to not fit in with their peers, and laughingly still harbor resentment that their peers took them at their word and made them feel as uncomfortable as possible. Humans aren't that much more sophisticated socially than ordinary animals, and deviants in any closed social system like schools have to figure out a way to adapt or be singled out from the pack.

[Irish]

Thin privilege is not freaking out when a significantly "smaller" sex partner asks you to get on top. Thin privilege is being confident and not assuming that a hot guy wants to sleep with you simply because he's "just THAT desperate". Thin privilege is considering yourself an option not an easy fix.

So this woman gets laid often enough that freaking out when a significantly smaller sex partner asks her to get on top is a major issue. Furthermore, she apparently gets laid by 'hot guys' often enough that this merits a mention.

SHE STILL BITCHES.

[Fluffy]

Man, I read more of that blog, and it just keeps getting funnier.

I should start a spoof blog called This is Smart Privilege.

"Smart privilege is...not putting your new kitten in the microwave by mistake."

"Smart privilege is...not buying unicorn eggs on the internet."

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Oh man you should. But you should call it intelligence privilege. That makes it sound more "real."

[BuSab Agent]

Ya, because like everyone knows you have to get your unicorn eggs from an Authorized Dealer. Duh!

[Coeus]

Valentine doubles down on the Jill Abramson politico article.

Here's the thing. I understand not giving a ton of weight to the opinion of randoms on the Internet, I really do. But when your peers, writers who specialize in gender issues and Pulitzer Prize?winning journalists are all telling you the same thing, perhaps you should momentarily take you fingers out of your ears. And maybe, just maybe, these people are better judges of what is sexist than someone who seems to have a penchant for writing questionable pieces on prominent women.

I imagine that like me, the other women who criticized Byers's piece are exhausted by all of this. We spend so much time explaining over and over to people why something is sexist that we barely have time to actually fight said sexism. So to all the well-meaning men out there, please consider giving women the benefit of the doubt. We know sexism when we see it better than you do. Do us a favor and trust us.

Dammit, stop making us prove things. It's hard.

[#HOLO YOLO]

Feminists put up with... stereotypes about Birkenstocks.

Huh?

Critics pointed out that a similar piece would probably not have been written about a male editor, given that the qualities described as problematic in Abramson are almost always seen as a positive or unremarkable in men

If for the sake of argument one concedes that a female boss will be derided for qualities that would be praised in a male boss (and personally, I agree to an extent -- though I would say those traits are tolerated, not praised), sure, that would potentially indicate that the employees who want her out are sexist. But how does that make the article sexist?

If I report that the KKK want's to oust Obama, does that make me racist?

[Fluffy]

Dumbass, the part where you successfully convince me that a given piece of content is sexism IS HOW YOU FIGHT said sexism.

I don't see you charging hills with bayonets, bitch. Talking and writing is what you fucking DO.

[Coeus]

But I'm so tired!!! And it's so hard!!!

[John]

Like no male manager has ever been accused of being uncaring and cold and alienating their employees. It is so pathetic and stupid. Feminism really is about giving women a license to be horrible people without anyone being able to complain about it.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

We know sexism when we see it better than you do. Do us a favor and trust us.

Yeah, and I know a drama queen when I see one. Have fun living with your 50 cats, unless you can find a man whose mother sufficiently neutered him enough to fill your "life partner" role.

[A Serious Man]

Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) promises Congress will act on guns again before 2014.

They sure are gluttons for punishment, aren't they? I'm sure her rural colleagues in the Democratic Party are thrilled.

[John]

Yes they are. They are convinced they can never lose another election and the way to win is to get the progrard base riled up.

[Pro Libertate]

I think they're in for a rude awakening.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Gee, Carolyn, thanks for showing that Bill the Butcher may have had it right after all.

[A Serious Man]

Swedish high school opens gender-neutral changing room for students who do not want to identify with a gender.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, please, God, send us benevolent superaliens to rule over us. We're too stupid and weird to do it ourselves any longer.

[NeonCat]

Obama isn't a benevolent superalien?!

[Pro Libertate]

I hate to break it to you, but no. Benevolent superaliens are competent and, well, benevolent.

[NeonCat]

"So you admit he's still super" is what I'd say if I were a weaselly leftist.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, he's super all right. Super douchey.

[Auric Demonocles]

Lawyered.

[Pro Libertate]

He's super most things bad.

[John]

We just encourage mental illness. Study after study has shown people who get sex changes after a short period of happiness end up just as unhappy and maladjusted as they were to begin with. The desire to change sex is a manifestation of deeper problems.

[Auric Demonocles]

This is probably not a very popular opinion, but I would say that transgenders have a mental illness. If you want to be the other gender, that's messed up, but not crazy. However, if you try to argue that you are the other gender you are denying reality.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I'm still looking for a surgeon who can restore my appearance. I mean, since I'm Napoleon, I should look like him, but someone messed with my face and physique so as to make people think I'm not Napoleon, if you can imagine.

[Auric Demonocles]

Pretty much my thought process.

[C. Anacreon]

We see plenty of transgenders, both pre- and post-op, on involuntary psychiatric holds in the ER. Nuff said.

[Gladstone]

This reminds me of a headline I read in the Toronto Star about some person not wanting to be known as he or she but as they. I suppose it was too othering or something.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"From now on, I want you to call me Loretta!"

[Kaptious Kristen]

Mississippi (that bastion of criminal justice, oft covered by Balko) is set to execute a man without testing any physical evidence.

Here's a contact form, from The Innocence Project, to send to the governor.

[Gladstone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o70yKzzOvAQ

Interesting documentary that suggests that one of the supposedly debunked WWI atrocity stories may have been true after all. I can't say that this is conclusive proof for me by the way. The details seem too contradictory. Oh and it shows that apparently the German did indeed bayonet a Belgian baby. It seems the German had their own myth about the Belgian civilians as well.

[Warty]

the German

Are you Emmitt Smith?

[Gladstone]

I prefer rugger as it's the sport for monocle wearing men.

[Pro Libertate]

Don't mention the war!

[Coeus]

Episode 5,428 of: Feminists vs the market economy

While it's admirable (and deeply necessary) for women in porn to assert their individual interest and make their own decisions, this is not a real solution to the systematic problems that plague the industry. Because this type of relationship serves as a continuation of the belief that women exist to act out men's fantasies, it's not liberatory. Furthermore, it doesn't really provide women with financial freedom: it merely provides them with another source of income that's centered around male desire.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

Some of the commenters are pretty reasonable (drink!). Here's one coming to Jesus after a comment that asks why cam girls are any different from people working at a spa: "I didn't really think about the fact that an aesthetician probably doesn't really want to wax hair off your bumhole but does it anyways b/c it's what pays the bills."

[Irish]

it's not liberatory.

Why would you use the word 'liberatory' when a perfectly good word like 'liberating' is much more natural and means the same thing in this context?

What is it about feminists that makes them such terrible writers?

[Coeus]

Proof we live in a murder culture.

I mean, the title is "Ten types of shitty coworkers and how not to murder them".

Now, in a society that doesn't condone murder, this would in no way be considered appropriate. This article is proof of our murder culture.

[Ray]

Cato chairman provides a "libertarian case" (curiously devoid of libertarianism but using lots of words like "reasonable" and "common sense") for Dems' gun control bill in the NYT. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04.....html?_r=1&

IRL example of the D.C. cocktail party thesis, anyone?

[Tejicano]

From the linked article : "It would explicitly prohibit the creation of a national gun registry, and make it a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, to misuse records from the national database used for background checks."

Yeah, right. I am not so foolish to believe, in the light of the total and utter side-stepping, white-washing, and stone-walling following F&F, that WHEN (not "if") the database gets started nobody would be convicted under this law. No, this is no consolation.

The CoB at Cato is a statist cocksucker.

Molon Labe, motherfuckers!

[Eduard van Haalen]

Members of the Irish D?il (lower house of Parliament), secretly recorded by a citizen, admit the supposedly moderate abortion bill they're touting is only the entering wedge in legalizing abortion UK style:

"O'Riordain, who did not know his comments were being recorded, said the current bill legislating on the X Case is just "a starting point". "Once you get that," he said, "then you can move."

"He added that deceiving the public on the government's real intentions is part of the plan. "Of course if I'm on the radio and somebody says to me, 'It's a starting point for abortion on demand,' I'm gonna say, 'No, of course it isn't ? it is what it is.'""

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ne.....-real-goal

("TD"="Teachta D?la," member of the D?il - Wikipedia)

[Indiana Patent Attorney]

I definitely enjoying every bit of article I have bookmarked this website to check out new stuff you post everytime...

[Brett L]

Ron-Ron is my favorite pro-sports nutcase.