A.M. Links: FDA Appeals Plan B Ruling, FBI Seek Three in Benghazi, Larry Flynt Endorses Mark Sanford

• 

  Credit: Princeton

  The FDA, after approving the morning-after pill to be sold without a prescription to girls and women over the age of 15, is appealing the court order to make it available to all females of reproductive age.

• The FBI is seeking information about three men who were seen at the Benghazi consulate when it was attacked. They have provided images.
• A U.S.-based institute believes that North Korea is close to completing a nuclear reactor intended to produce electricity. The institute believes it will be operational by 2014.
• Mark Sanford has earned the support of Hustler's Larry Flynt in his run for Congress in South Carolina on the basis of his sexual adventures. Is that a better or worse endorsement than Donald Trump?
• Protesters and police clashed at the May Day rally in Seattle yesterday, as they tend to do.
• California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill funding a state program to take guns back from those who aren't legally supposed to have them. Given how perfect bureaucracy is, there is absolutely no chance an innocent person will have his or her guns taken away, right?
• Chris Kelly, of the one-hit-wonder rap group Kriss Kross, is dead at the age of 34.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The FBI is seeking information about three men who were seen at the Benghazi consulate when it was attacked.

So shut up, GOP.

[Virginian]

http://www.nbcwashington.com/n.....53811.html

Diplomatic immunity Mr Riggs!

[BakedPenguin]

That was GBH's best song. And from what I've heard, their only good one.

[Loki]

It's just been revoked! *BLAM*

[Fist of Etiquette]

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill funding a state program to take guns back from those who aren't legally supposed to have them.

The last I checked, the Second Amendment contained no exceptions.

[$park?]

You gotta read it again, but with your glasses on this time.

[some guy]

What part of "shall not be infringed" don't they understand?

[sarcasmic]

The word "not" is silent.

[sulphurbottom]

Isn't that how Waco started?

[Matrix]

Is it wrong for me to hope that those who try to enforce this will get clipped?

[$park?]

Yes.

[Rich]

Anyway, you mean "magazined". 😉

[generic Brand]

No. They are the aggressors.

[sarcasmic]

I don't think there is anything wrong with hoping that people who plan to rob citizens of their property find themselves on the receiving end of deadly force.

[Zeb]

"Take guns back"

So, the state gave them the guns in the first place?

[$park?]

Not taking = giving, so yes.

[sarcasmic]

All property belongs to the state. What you "own" is just what they allow you to keep.

[mad libertarian guy]

So, the state gave them the guns in the first place?

It's the NRA's fault.

[Joe M]

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

[thom]

It's not an exception it's just a tax. There, issue resolved.

[Lord Humungus]

DroneShield: A simple device that alerts you to nearby drones
http://droneshield.org/

clever.

[Rich]

But it's as widely illegal as radar detectors, though, right?

[BigT]

Needs surface-to-air strike capability to interest me.

[Lord Humungus]

that's the Premium model.

[sarcasmic]

Liberal student activist threatened herself with rape in Facebook hoax to frame conservatives

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....tives.html
Probably because no one (except John of course) would want to fuck her anyway.

[Virginian]

She's married. Oh why....why in the hell would you do that?

[sarcasmic]

Look at him. He's obviously a dork. She's probably the first female other than his mom to give him the time of day.

[mad libertarian guy]

She's probably the first female other than his mom to give him the time of day.

"You ain't had snatch since snatch had you!"

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I don't know--I think Joe Don Baker's looking pretty good for his age.

[WTF]

Because the guy is a disgusting mangina?

[Zeb]

Takes all kinds to make the world go 'round.

[Matrix]

Even if that post was real, it was not even threatening rape. Or maybe some feminists need to explain to me why it is a rape threat.

[wareagle]

it's a rape threat because the "victim" said so. What kind of insensitive manclod are you?

[Zeb]

They clearly misunderstand "hate fucking" (oddly, since she apparently was the one who used it). Mutual hatred and consent are required in my mind.

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

What's up with the husband? I mean, he's no Brad Pitt, but he could do a lot better than that stupid, feminist cow. Yeesh! An inflatable Lindsey Lohan doll (showing Lindsey passed out at a party) would be better than this Meg chick.

[sarcasmic]

He's obviously a spineless worm who needs a strong woman to run his life for him.

[invisible furry hand]

To be precise, she wrote "hate fuck", and her saddo husband thinks that means rape.

[Bobarian]

To be fair, he hates fucking her and feels like he's being raped every time he has to do it.

So, easily confused?

[sarcasmic]

Maybe he's a closet homo who married her because she likes it in the ass.

[WTF]

He's probably more of a catcher.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

*barf*

[Loki]

Unpossible. Women never lie about rape and all heterosexual men are rapists.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

'I will tell you, I believe Meg is innocent of this outrage,' Kandt told the Laramie Boomerang, adding she believes the citation issued by police is a 'classic case of blaming the victim.'
'I mean, my God, who would do this to herself?' she added.

Because she's a left-wing sociopath with severe daddy issues, was looking for manufactured sympathy, and didn't think that her IP address could be traced?

[Kurt]

I can't believe that wedding photo was taken in 2011, and not 1974.

[Lord Humungus]

Festival-Goers Consume 110 Pounds of Testicles
http://www.arlnow.com/2012/05/.....testicles/

[$park?]

They got a lotta balls.

[LTC(ret) John]

That is nothing. Try the Turkey Testicle Festival instead! Half a ton or more.

http://www.parksidepubhuntley.com/ttf/

[Ted S.]

110-lb testicles sound painful.

[Loki]

Ask his guy. He'd know for sure.

[Live Free or Diet]

Ow.
Just ow.

[Rhywun]

No way I am clicking on that.

[sarcasmic]

Melanie Griffith. Yikes.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....store.html

[Lord Humungus]

I never thought Melanie was all that - but I did like her in Body Double, one of those films that my wife despises but I love.

[WTF]

Damn! I'm not sure if that is the result of hitting the old-age wall, or some unfortunate plastic surgery. Maybe both.

[sarcasmic]

Kate Beckinsale. Yum.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-tome.html

[Mike M.]

Historic snowstorm potential from Omaha to Minneapolis today and tomorrow.

So how's that "global warming" working out for everyone?

[some guy]

What's global warming? This is clear evidence of climate change, though.

/sarc

[some guy]

Or is it Weather Weirding, now? I can't keep up.

[sarcasmic]

Wrong planet.

[LTC(ret) John]

Even his forecast is a killing word!

[KMA Too]

+10 Kwisatz Haderach

[WTF]

Climate Instability. Because we are raping Mother Gaia.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Climate PTSD

[Rasilio]

More like climate PMS

[$park?]

It's Mother Gaia getting all pissy about how we'll just never understand.

[Matrix]

libs are saying this is proof of man-made climate change.

Unless it is 75 degrees and a light breeze everyday, everywhere, then somehow man is to blame for it being anything else.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Unless it is 75 degrees and a light breeze everyday, everywhere, then somehow man is to blame for it being anything else.

I was talking about how one time in Cleveland it had been 75 one day and there was a foot of snow on the ground by morning. A few of the hippies I worked with immediately started in about how that shows how screwed up our weather is becoming due to climate change.

I just laughed at them and told them, nope, that's just northeast Ohio weather. We get all 4 seasons in a single day sometimes.

[AuH20]

Cleavland and Colorado have the same climate? Weird.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Yeah, it's all about wind patterns. Both Cleveland and Colorado have drastically different weather depending on which way the wind is blowing.

Cleveland, in particular, gets winds coming from the north pulling all that arctic air over the lake which causes all sorts of fun weather patterns. Winds from the west usually bring warmer air, so slight shifts in the wind change the weather drastically.

Colorado, I'm not as sure of the patterns, but it has mountains that brings in all the cold air and can drop tons of snow right after a heat wave.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Also, when I tried explaining the strange weather patterns in Cleveland to those hippies, they just looked at me stupidly like they couldn't figure out why I WASN'T attributing it to climate change.

[wareagle]

any weather event with the word "historic" attached is, by definition, evidence of AGW

[UnCivilServant]

Everything that happens is 'historic' because it happened. Being noteworthy is a different matter.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Thank you for linking to Accuweather and not those Weather Channel fuckers and their named storms. For fuck's sake.

[Mike M.]

This one is called Achilles, by the way. 🙂

[mad libertarian guy]

You and I share the same pet peeve.

Having lived through a storm worthy of a name (Andrew), looking at something like SUPERSTORM SANDY!!!!! (and the media coverage with it) makes me want to fucking puke.

[UnCivilServant]

Agreed, Sandy didn't seserve a 'superstorm' label, it was just a low-grade hurricane. Sure it ruined my travel plans, but it didn't do enough damage to count as 'super' anything.

[Drake]

I know some people on the Shore who would disagree. Super Shitty is probably how they would describe it.

[Live Free or Diet]

Yeah, try riding out three category 3 hurricanes in 75 days, then get back to me on Baby Sandy.

Dennis (July 11, 2005)
Katrina (August 29, 2005)
Rita (September 24, 2005)

[mad libertarian guy]

I (literally) waded in a fucking pool for 4 hours walking around a baby pygmy sperm whale and its very sick mother trying to rehabilitate it during a Cat 1 storm which had higher winds than Sandy.

Later that night I canoed down my street.

[Ptah-Hotep]

Left before Wilma (October 2005) did you?

[mad libertarian guy]

Yes. I left in 03 to go to grad school. Ended up staying because of the combination of loving Kentucky, and hating South Florida.

[Isaac Bartram]

Central Florida 2004; three in six weeks.

Charley - August 14.

Frances - September 5.

Jeanne - September 25.

Mind you that far inland they tend to have lost a lot of their strength but they still did a lot of damage.

Of course, this was cited as evidence that global warming was causing more frequent and more intense tropical cyclones in spite of the fact that everyone who actually studied hurricanes said that the historical record did not support such claims.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....nd-during/

Pigs gonna pig.

[Rhywun]

A deputy was injured while trying to rescue Jack

So they ruined the kid's life. That sounds about fair.

[thom]

So the police found contraband in an abandoned car that belonged to the lost hiker? I can think of a million different ways that the meth might have gotten in the vehicle without his involvement.

[sarcasmic]

'Sexy swimsuits are not only for Sports Illustrated models': 'Fatkini' blogger debuts stylish beachwear for sizes ten to 24

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....10-24.html
Be careful. Some things cannot be unseen.

[a better weapon]

I'm staying away from this one.

[WTF]

Okay, how did you manage to post that without taking a shot at John?

[LTC(ret) John]

Res ipsa loquitur?

[sarcasmic]

Figured the above rape one was enough.

[LTC(ret) John]

Thanks for the warning - I shan't take the risk of a sanity roll.

[BuSab Agent]

Wise man.I took the risk. It's a sanity roll you would likely have failed.It's world class ewwwww!

[LTC(ret) John]

I hear there is a professor at Miskatonic U that can help you.

[WTF]

'Sexy swimsuits are not only for Sports Illustrated models'

After looking at that link, I'd have to disagree.

[T]

There's an 'adult' store near me that advertises on the awning "Lingerie up to 6X".

I've so far avoided the temptation to step in and see just how big that is.

[Lord Humungus]

Secondary use: camping

[Restoras]

I bet the teddies have special compartments just for the gunt.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I feel ill

[db]

Guntswaddle?

[invisible furry hand]

i googled. Not as large as you'd think

[Live Free or Diet]

Men's 6X pants have a 64-inch waist. No, I never got that big.

[BuSab Agent]

The awning IS the 6X lingerie.

[LTC(ret) John]

OK, that is damned funny.

[Zeb]

Well, I'll give them one thing. They look a lot better than when fat people try to cram themselves into bathing suits that aren't designed for their body type. I think it's a win for everyone. Fat people are going to go to the beach. Better that they have suits designed for their body type.

[sarcasmic]

You've got a point. Those suits are better than them wearing something five sizes too small with all that muffin hanging out all over the place.

[Not a Libertarian]

As a gay man, my opinion is worth little here but...

I am not certain that the pictures of the young women rise to the level of "some things cannot be unseen".

The suits, while still bikinis, were suitably modest.

The models were pretty faced and of course, had large breasts. Don't men like large tits? Their thighs are larger than is generally accepted but large numbers of men still like that.

Overall their figures were Raphaelesque, rather than grotesque.

Although, ten years from now and a couple of children later....

For "Some Things Cannot Be Unseen", I give you this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvdv-bkfFYw

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Sorry, those girls are too big for Raphael.

[wareagle]

maybe Rubin then?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Don't men like large tits?

I see you haven't met sarc and Thane yet.

[Lord Humungus]

they like little girls that look like little boys.

[#HOLO YOLO]

Isn't Heroic married to an 85-pounder?

[sarcasmic]

Mick Jagger's daughter really needs to get those teeth fixed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-Gala.html

[WTF]

No shit. As pretty as she is, when she smiles all I can see are those choppers.

[Virginian]

http://www.miamiherald.com/201.....um=twitter

Rick Scott stays on the plantation.

[Ted S.]

FL goveernor vetoes bill to end permanent HTML?

(I hate it when you can't figure out from the link what the article is about.)

[T]

He's going to force people to uopgrade their sites to HTML5! The horror, the horror...

[OldMexican]

Ok, it's decided: I won't get married in Florida. Ever!

[Lord Humungus]

Back online after a year without the internet
http://www.theverge.com/2013/5.....e-internet

One year ago I left the internet. I thought it was making me unproductive. I thought it lacked meaning. I thought it was "corrupting my soul."

It's a been a year now since I "surfed the web" or "checked my email" or "liked" anything with a figurative rather than literal thumbs up. I've managed to stay disconnected, just like I planned. I'm internet free.

And now I'm supposed to tell you how it solved all my problems. I'm supposed to be enlightened. I'm supposed to be more "real," now. More perfect.

[alittlesense]

And he is still a navel-gazing, self-involved jerk. At least he learned that his problems were more of his own making than the internet, something all those Orthodox rabbis apparently haven't figured out.

[$park?]

The balancing point is obviously in different places for different people. Was this guy expecting something else?

[gaijin]

to summarize: Dude turns off internet. A year later, realizes that friends' and familys' lives go on. Claims to have discovered deep insight about himself. Remains self-centered, lonely dude.

[generic Brand]

Eh, I thought Thoreau was stupid in Walden's Pond and I think this guy is stupid now.

[$park?]

Mark Sanford has earned the support of Hustler's Larry Flynt in his run for Congress in South Carolina on the basis of his sexual adventures.

That's one way to make sure the guy won't win.

[Not a Libertarian]

I have not read the endorsement, but can we assume that Flynt was trolling?

[Virginian]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ingtonpost

We beat the French in wine, now we'll beat the Germans in beer.

[NoVAHockey]

Franziskaner is one of my favorites ... but I can see how it would get boring

[Restoras]

We've already beat them - can we partition the country now?

[robc]

My favorite bit of real life trolling is a Vienna brewpub named 1516, after the year the Reinheitsgebot went into effect. They specialize in making American-style beer, with special emphasis on using ingredients outside yeast/water/barley/hops.

[robc]

American-style craft beer, not Bud clones. Just to be clear.

[a better weapon]

I dunno, High Life does have a little zest to it.

[robc]

Interesting factoid:

The difference between High Life and MGD?

High Life is pasteurized, MGD is filtered.

That is it. They are literally the same beer until that point.

[kinnath]

I am going to start a batch of English Pale Ale this weekend. What would you recommend for hops robc?

[robc]

Well, the obvious choice is EKG.

But I like Target and Challenger a lot.

Target for bittering. If you want to use EKG, use them for flavor/aroma.

[robc]

Ive got a Target/EKG mild going now, well keg it tomorrow, shake and bake it to get it carbed before saturday, then serving at a derby party.

Should end up about 3.5% abv, which is perfect for an all day party.

[Raston Bot]

Green Flash is opening a massive brewery in Virginia Beach.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....nia-beach/

I wonder how they're financing all the construction lately in CA and now VA. I'm guessing the owners don't have much equity left... but who knows. They could've been independently wealthy before all the expansion.

[kinnath]

I have Target, Challenger, and EKG at home. How much hops is normal for an English Pale Ale?

[robc]

bjcp says 30-50 IBUS, sounds reasonable to me. From a quick calculation, the last one I made came in at 40 IBUs.

I used a mix of Target and Challenger at 60 min and Challenger at 15 min.

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style08.php#1c

[robc]

I havent made it since last June (although I recently made an 1896 AK recipe which wasnt that different) so about time to do it again.

Next up for me is a saison.

[kinnath]

thanks

I used an online IBU calculator and came up with about 40 IBUs. And I am familiar with the BJCP style sheets. I have been consulting them as I was planning the project.

[Raston Bot]

Is this that kit you won?

[kinnath]

yes.

I started a metheglin 3 weeks ago. It is bubbling away nicely. I plan to keg it around Memorial Day.

I am starting the ale this weekend and plan to keg it at the same time.

I am going to use a combination of Target for bittering and Challenger and EKG for flavoring. I have the amounts and times at home, but the end goal is about 40 IBUs.

I intend to use Windsor ale yeast, which I have used in the past with good success.

[mad libertarian guy]

I hope your party is inside, because Saturday is going to be a wet one in Louisville.

[robc]

Mixed.

There is a barn and a house, but mostly outside.

Its an annual event and it has rained before. We will all pack ourselves in the barn.

[robc]

According to the National Weather Service in Louisville, Ky., 46% of the 138 Derby Days have featured at least some rain during the day.

Nothing new.

2010 was a sloppy track. It rained A LOT early that day but stopped before race time. It was a barn party that year too.

[Matrix]

It's gonna be hard to beat the Canadians in Whisky.

Forty Creek is the best thing ever!

[T]

Nice trolling, but the bourbon gods will strike you down for your blasphemy. Watch out for empty bottles falling from the sky.

[robc]

This.

My gift from the liquor fairy is going away far too fast.

[LTC(ret) John]

Scotland laughs at you.

[Pro Libertate]

Fuck that shit. Bourbon.

[WTF]

Have we started a new Deep Dish v. Pizza controversy?

[LTC(ret) John]

Kirk drank Scotch, right after eating a Rigelian Deep Dish Pizza!

[Loki]

right after eating a Rigelian Deep Dish Pizza!

Is this a euphamism? Is this what Rigelian women call their lady parts?

[Ska]

If we are going to, chalk up another bourbon drinker.

[Heroic Mulatto]

When I was in Thailand, I introduced my Scottish friend to bourbon.

He's still thanking me.

[kinnath]

Might as well throw in a huzza for the orginal whiskey (Irish).

[Bobarian]

'It's gonna be hard to beat the Canadians in Whisky.'

If your using for cleaning poutine stains or sterilizing bear bites.

[Bobarian]

YOU'RE

using IT for...

[thom]

Canada doesn't make whisky, they make brown vodka.

[Raston Bot]

"We feel as if we're teaching a lot of Germans things about their own beer culture that they've forgotten."

Unless the lesson is that their culture's beer purity law stifled innovation, then he might actually be teaching them a little English and American beer culture.

[Raston Bot]

"The German beer industry has to reinvent itself in a hurry, or it's going to be a small fraction of what it is now," said Eric Ottaway, the general manager of Brooklyn Brewery, which has been expanding in Europe and has been exporting its beer to Germany through Braufactum, which sells a 12-ounce bottle of Brooklyn Lager in upscale grocery stores for the equivalent of $4.20 ? almost three times its typical American price.

Gotta hand it to those guys for exporting into the Euro market. I imagine a lot of that $4.20 is shipping.

The most I've paid (by volume) was for a Maine Brewing Company small batch hoppy amber. That was $7 for 17oz.

[Kaptious Kristen]

All this talk about beer has me missing The Shed and its burgers and Amber Ale. Goddammit.

[Rhywun]

If a good beer gets "boring", you're not drinking it right.

[Lord Humungus]

Guantanamo Attorney Found Dead in Apparent Suicide
http://www.truth-out.org/news/.....nt-suicide

An attorney who represented prisoners detained at Guantanamo Bay was found dead last week in what sources said was a suicide.

Andy P. Hart, 38, a federal public defender in Toledo, Ohio, apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Hart left behind a suicide note and a thumb drive, believed to contain his case files. It is unknown where Hart died, what the suicide note said or whether an autopsy was performed.

[Restoras]

If only that asshat in the White House had closed Gitmo like he said he would I am sure this would not have happened.

[Mike M.]

BOOOOOOOSH!

[Palin's Buttplug]

The asshat in the White House is apparently not the Unitary Executive the Bushpig was.

[$park?]

Sure he is, just not about things he's cool with.

[a better weapon]

That's pretty rich.

[Jordan]

You realize that Obama didn't even intend to close Gitmo, he wanted to move it to fucking Illinois, right?

You also realize that he blocked the repatriation of Yemeni prisoners, after Yemen agreed to take them back, and after the military said they're not believed to be terrorists, right?

[Palin's Buttplug]

You missed the point. A true Unitary Executive would have just moved them to Illinois without seeking Congressional approval.

[Jordan]

You know what a non-unitary executive does? Makes recess appointments when Congress is not in recess. And creates and maintains a kill list.

[Pro Libertate]

Or attacks countries without Congressional authorization.

[mad libertarian guy]

You mean like Libya?

[Restoras]

Oh right, I forgot that asshat's party didn't have control of Congress when he was elected president.

Noice try - you own Gitmo now so just go suck it.

[Ted S.]

It is unknown where Hart died,

If it's a self-inflicted gunshot wound, then presumably he died where he was found.

[robc]

If so, he died where the FIRST person found him.

[The Last American Hero]

Who ordered the code red?

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

I'm shocked that he owned (or had access to) a gun.

My liberal heroes continue to let me down.

[mad libertarian guy]

Liberals are perfectly fine with other liberals having (access) to guns, so long as they keep it out of the public eye.

It's those icky, Walmart shopping people from flyover country they don't like having guns.

[Restoras]

Exactly. If he didn't have access to a gun there is no way he could have killed himself.

No. Way.

[Jerryskids]

Why would you assume that somebody representing Gitmo detainees is that sort of liberal? Somebody that intimately familiar with the way the US government works I suspect would be at least as likely to have guns. Lots and lots of guns.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is that a better or worse endorsement than Donald Trump?

In the internet age, there are few things less relevant than skin mags.

[PS]

In the internet age, true relevance is posting first on morning links.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That sentence you would spit out with venomous envy, I say in earnest.

[LTC(ret) John]

I would say it with a resigned sigh.

[Fist of Etiquette]

ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DISPAIR.

[Fist of Etiquette]

ALSO I DON'T KNOW WHY I SPELT IT THAT WAY.

[gaijin]

because he who spelt it that way felt it that way.

[LTC(ret) John]

I thought you were exhorting us to love you, and get divorced/separated/break up? Or split a pair of tens, maybe?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Dis pair or dat pair.

[a better weapon]

Worse. Trump will at least throw a little money behind you. I'd prefer neither, but if you gotta have one, then make sure it comes with some greenbacks.

[Lord Humungus]

North Korea sentences American to 15 years' labor
http://news.yahoo.com/north-ko.....31247.html

A Korean American detained for six months in North Korea has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state, the North's media said Thursday ? a move that could trigger a visit by a high-profile American if history is any guide.

Kenneth Bae, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

[WTF]

Who the fuck would want to be a tour operator in North Korea?

[Lord Humungus]

it would make a good comedy flick.

[generic Brand]

I'd like to hope that he was smuggling North Koreans out of the country. Anything less of that is sheer stupidity. Maybe he's that "hate-fuck" recipient's husband's cousin or something... that would explain being a dumbass.

[mad libertarian guy]

I'd like to hope that he was smuggling North Koreans out of the country. Anything less of that is sheer stupidity.

The only other option that makes any sense is to be a smuggler of goods in to the country.

[Teaching Student]

Actually, there is a segment of, at least, the Christian Northwest Population who do a lot of that kind of stuff, Bible Smuggling, etc. I knew 3 who worked with groups smuggling bibles into Vietnam, China, and a couple other countries.

[T]

Billy Jeff I can work with. Give him a cigar and point out the nearest strip club and he's off your case until the flight back.

But if you threatened me with Jimmy Carter, I 'd agree to a lot just to prevent him showing up and talking at me.

[Loki]

*Sigh* You know, part of me almost hopes that instead of taking the bait and being blackmailed into sending some high profile negotiator, we just send in SEAL Team 6 on a rescue operation.

Of course I realize that such an action would be highly dangerous and risky, and could easily set off a war, which is why it will never happen. But still, the constant black mail attempts are getting old.

[Virginian]

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....parenthood

Low information voters.....

[a better weapon]

55 percent of those polled did not know that Planned Parenthood performs abortions

I couldn't be a pollster. Day in and day out you'd be asked to look stupidity in the eye and not blink. Nope, couldn't do it.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

I'd be curious as to how many people live in areas where PP is the easiest source of cheap pap smears and doesn't perform abortions. Like the one up the street.

[mad libertarian guy]

The PP in Miami that my wife went to years ago didn't perform abortions.

But thanks to you dupes, she was able to get her annual for cheap, and BC pills for virtually free.

[Virginian]

I'd be curious as to how many people live in areas where PP is the easiest source of cheap pap smears and doesn't perform abortions. Like the one up the street.

That's irrelevant. I've never laid eyes on an execution room, but I know that the State executes people.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

It's not completely irrelevant; it's like the difference between being "low info" and "insane."

[Virginian]

If you don't know that Planned Parenthood performs abortions, you're an idiot and you shouldn't be voting.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

If you don't know that the FDA is unconstitutional, you're an idiot and shouldn't be voting.

If you don't know pi to 10 digits, you're an idiot and shouldn't be voting.

If you can't solve a quadratic equation, you're an idiot and shouldn't be voting.

If you think voting matters, you're an idiot and shouldn't be voting.

I mean, obviously could do this all day. So I don't see what the point of PP being so different from anything else is, other than that there are probably many people who have direct experiences of it that have nothing to do with abortion.

[Virginian]

It's not about PP, not really. It's just as ignorant to not know that the NRA does, or what the ACLU does.

Plus the obvious media malpractice.

[robc]

I only know the first 6 digits of pie (counting the 3. as one). I have a calculator if I need to know more than that.

[robc]

pi even.

[Bobarian]

Pie R round.

Cornbread R square.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Cornbread are cooked in a round, cast-iron pan. Yankee.

[$park?]

If you think voting matters, you're an idiot and shouldn't be voting.

Sometimes I think I love you, Nikki.

[Bee Tagger]

Chris Kelly, of the one-hit-wonder rap group Kriss Kross, is dead at the age of 34.

Sad news.

One of the greatest days of my entire 6th grade year was coming to school after Kriss Kross appeared on In Living Color and talking to my friends about how awesome that song "Jump" was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9TXkdb97ks

[Ted S.]

I was studying in Russia in the spring of '92, so I thankfully missed the popularity of "Jump". Kris Kross, they made me puke, puke, uh-huh uh-huh.

I thankfully missed a good portion of the horrible "Be Like Mike" Gatorade campaign.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Jump wasn't big in Russia? It was huge in Turkey in '93 when I was studying there.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Sometimes I dream
That he is me
You got to see that's how I dream to be
I dream I move
I dream I groove
Like Warty
If I could be like Warty

[robc]

Was he Mac Daddy or Daddy Mac?

I guess I could read the article, but Im not gonna.

[a better weapon]

They even went on to release their own video game titled "Kris Kross: Make My Video" for the Sega CD console.

So that's where he got enough money for drugs.

[mad libertarian guy]

Kriss Kross'll make you . . .

[Warty]

I'm about the same age as you, and holy shit, I hated that song. Of course, at the time, I was busy wearing out my brother's cassette of Metallica's black album at the time, which has not really aged very well either. AND I DUB THEE UNFORGIVVVVEENNNNN

[Kaptious Kristen]

That was was also huge among the metal heads in Turkey in '93 (yes, there are metal heads in Turkey). Ahhhh, memories.

[Warty]

Of course there are metalheads in Turkey. Metal is huge in the Middle East. My favorite band from the region is Israeli, though.

[mad libertarian guy]

I saw Orphaned Land a couple of years ago in Louisville. They (along with Swallowed by the Sun) opened for Katatonia at a dive bar with about 100 people in attendance. One of the best shows I've been to: top 3 certainly.

[invisible furry hand]

It's OK if it fucks over Gary Johnson

A federal appeals court has no problem with a Michigan law that bars a presidential candidate from running in the general election after losing in the primary for another political party.

[T]

In general, the feds are fine with the states fucking over 3rd parties.

[mad libertarian guy]

We have a 2 party system, dammit! We can't allow people to upset the narrative!

[Stormy Dragon]

Even as a GJ voter, I can somewhat see the point here, even if I don't think it's something that should be legally enforced. GJ was happy to be a Republican right up to the moment they didn't vote for him. There's a bit of "well, if I can't get the party's nomination, I'll just make sabotage whoever does out of spite" aspect to running as an independent after you ran in a primary.

[Lord Humungus]

Occupy May Day
On International Workers' Day, the remnants of OWS are true believers of the hard Left.
http://www.nationalreview.com/.....py-may-day

Ah, remember when OWS coverage was wall-to-wall? Back when every other Reason article was about OWS? Good days.. Good days.

[a better weapon]

Wonder what those ragamuffins are up to these days?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Artisinal mayo.

[AlexInCT]

Hand made?

[Virginian]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....hands.html

Now obviously this guy is guilty of fraud. But how did his devices never get tested? Who is the real culprit here: the con man or the governments that fell for it?

[WTF]

Because actual testing wasn't included in the government procurement specs.

[a better weapon]

No demonstration was ever done? Shady way to make a buck, but there are a lot more people culpable here than McCormick. It took them 10 years to figure out they didn't actually detect bombs?

[Virginian]

Well the article is kind of unclear, but it looks like he was selling to the Iraqi government, the UN, and to the Hong Kong prisons service.

Of those three, I think HK might be minimally corrupt. I'm sure the Iraqi contract went to the guy who put up the biggest bribe, and the UN contract probably went the same way.

[Jerryskids]

But we are still agreed that drug-sniffing dogs can detect microscopic particles of drugs from long-gone packages of drugs with 100% accuracy, right? Somebody like a Supreme Court justice certainly wouldn't be gullible enough to swallow this sort of nonsense.

[invisible furry hand]

Pupils at ?14,000-a-year primary school are BANNED from having a best friend because headteacher doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings

more

[gaijin]

no more 'b' in bff?

[PS]

Protesters and police clashed at the May Day rally in Seattle yesterday, as they tend to do.

International Workers Day (Den pr?ce) is a national holiday here in Czechia and in many other European countries. Which I find rather ironic since it's based on an event in America and isn't a holiday there.

[Rasilio]

What event in America is May Day based on?

I always assumed it was a left over remnant of the European pre Christian Beltane celebrations.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The Haymarket Riots.

[LTC(ret) John]

Anarchists! Riots! Cops! People getting shot! Bombz!!1!

What is not to love?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Does UNICEF still do a fund raiser on May Day? God, my Pa hated that shit. I think that's when he realized he would have to spend part of every day deprogramming me form the teachings of the public school system.

[Matrix]

Should it be illegal to exploit a video poker bug?

[robc]

It seems the casinos all have a valid lawsuit against the manufacturer.

[Jerryskids]

Wouldn't this be similar to a story from a while back about the casino that refused to pay out winnings to players who had realized the cards coming out of the shoe had not been shuffled? The casino buys pre-shuffled decks of cards and apparently there was a slip-up at the card company. Is that the players' fault that the casino made a mistake in trusting somebody else not to have made a mistake?

[Stormy Dragon]

I think there's a distinction between taking advantage of an error in the casino's play (as in the unshuffled cards case) and deliberately acting to cause the machine to behave in away counter to the stated function.

[Stormy Dragon]

That is, if it had been something like him noticing a pattern in the random number generator that allowed him to guess which hands he would win before hand and to bet more on those hands, that's perfectly fine.

But if you look at the details, he figured out a win a hand an then trick the machine to pay out twice for the same jackpot. That I don't think is fine because you're getting the casino to pay out more than it agreed to bet on the outcome of the hand.

[a better weapon]

The answer always seems obvious, but I recall a few times someone had their jackpot taken away because of "machine error."

[Matrix]

Player: What do you mean "machine error"?
Casino: You can't win. The House ALWAYS wins.

[Rasilio]

That's not true, the house wants some people to win and a very small number to win big, if gives the rest of the dupes just enough hope that they could be next that they keep coming back.

If the house really always won then people would wise up to the fact that the game was rigged against them and stop playing.

[T]

Yeah, and IIRC the odds can be set on a lot of the video slots (or regular slots). This lets the casino advertise "loosest slots in Vegas" and similar shit.

Your odds still suck. It's the difference between losing 99% and 98.7% of the time. (Number pulled out of thin air for illustrative purposes)

[Jerryskids]

Your odds still suck. It's the difference between losing 99% and 98.7% of the time.

You're thinking of the state-run, government-approved 'gambling' known as the lottery. Casinos actually operate on a pretty thin margin - but it's a mathematical margin, and math is the most stubborn of stubborn facts.

[BakedPenguin]

Yeah, but were they arrested?

[Stormy Dragon]

If I discover a bug in the ATM machine that allows me to withdraw money from your account without permission, does that I'm not stealing from you because I didn't have to modify the machine in someway?

[invisible furry hand]

Police won't name officer on ?113,000 theft charge: Force changes policy to keep identity of suspects facing trial a secret

more

[generic Brand]

I'm torn on this issue. While the public has a right to know who is arrested to some extent (and certainly if it's a public official), there also seems to be a lot of "Trial by Media" that could interfere with the actual court trial, e.g. George Zimmerman and Casey Anthony.

Ultimately, I guess I would side with the right of the public to know, but also let me say that I hate Nancy Grace and Jane Velez-Mitchell and their ilk.

[The Late P Brooks]

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill funding a state program to take guns back from those who aren't legally supposed to have them.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Rich]

"This bipartisan bill makes our communities safer by giving law enforcement the resources they need to get guns out of the hands of potentially dangerous individuals," said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the governor.

Emphasis added. Somehow the article neglected to note that both Westrup and the governor are potentially sheep fuckers.

[Lord Humungus]

How Boxers and Briefs Got Into Men's Pants
http://www.collectorsweekly.co.....ens-pants/

Some of the earliest examples are the loin cloth type of undergarment worn by ?tzi, the frozen man found in the Swiss Alps, as well as the loin cloths found in Tutankhamen's tomb. And if you look at medieval and Renaissance paintings, you can often see a layer of clothing underneath the outer layer.

By the mid-19th century, we had started to develop a commercial industry creating underwear. But the standardization of underwear didn't happen until the late 19th century, when it became common for men from all levels of society to wear undergarments. At the time, underwear tended to be sold through retailers that were also selling other garments, such as shirts, which were regarded as a form of underwear until the early 1920s.

so - boxers or briefs?

[invisible furry hand]

all true libertarians go commando

[Ted S.]

Ooh, IFH going without underwear!

[Rich]

Pics or ... Never mind.

[Restoras]

Boxer-briefs! Very comfy.

[LTC(ret) John]

Seconded.

[a better weapon]

The only TRUE libertarian position on undergarments.

[mad libertarian guy]

Best invention for men in the last century.

[Zeb]

I never got the point of those. Seems like they just combine all the worst features of both boxers and briefs.

[Restoras]

Try 'em Zeb. I was sceptical until I bought my first pair. After wearing them I immediately tossed all my boxers and filled my underwear drawer with boxer-briefs.

[Lord Humungus]

boxers can suffer from the ride-up factor, but have a little more ball freedom than briefs.

Boxer briefs do suffer from the tight leg syndrome - especially if you have big Dutch farmer thighs.

[Zeb]

It's the clingy leg thing that ruins them for me (and I'm the skinniest person in the world).

[Bobarian]

Some experimenting with brands is called for. I found one line of Hanes to combine the worst of both boxers an briefs, and the soft collar ones to be excellent.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I tried them for about a year and gave up. They feel great first thing in the morning, but by the end of the work day they were always riding up my ass.

Like Kramer, my boys need a house.

[Virginian]

I have over the last year amassed a nice quantity of the Ex Officio Give and Go. Very comfortable, lightweight, durable.

[mad libertarian guy]

Yes. Especially for doing anything active.

Their only problem is that they cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 a pair.

[Virginian]

16-18 bucks on Amazon. Plus they wash up real easy, five minutes in a sink with soap and hot water, hang em on the shower curtain rod to dry.

[mad libertarian guy]

I think I'm talking about a different line within ex-officio.

[$park?]

Briefs at work, boxers at home.

[generic Brand]

Boxers only at home?

[$park?]

Yeah, I just don't like my boys bouncing around when I'm out about town.

[Rasilio]

I've always done boxers but next time I get around to buying new ones I plan on trying out boxer briefs

[mad libertarian guy]

You will regret having waited this long.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Larry Flynt is a legendary freedom fighter. I know, he doesn't like Republicans so the Peanut Gallery here are no fans but the man has done more to fight tyranny than any native citizen alive.

[$park?]

You get more and more delusional every day it seems. Why is that?

[Lord Humungus]

The meds aren't working... duh.

[Palin's Buttplug]

What exactly do you dispute?

Let's see if you can articulate an argument.

[$park?]

I dispute your grasp of reality. You seem to be absolutely positive that everyone here, except you, is a Team Red hack. The reason you believe this is that you're so far to the left that everyone is to the right of you. The fact that you call yourself a libertarian doesn't change your actual position.

[Jordan]

Who here hates Larry Flynt? Produce quotes.

[Palin's Buttplug]

John and Sevo (both Free Republic types) supported Jerry Falwell over Flynt in their SCOTUS dustup.

[$park?]

So your proof of "he doesn't like Republicans so the Peanut Gallery here are no fans but the man" is John and Sevo said so once?

[Palin's Buttplug]

All famous people who tend to support D's over R's are ruthlessly attacked here even if they are self-proclaimed libertarians.

[Rasilio]

As are most who tend to support R's over D's

[$park?]

So now it's famous people who support D's that are being attacked? How far, exactly, are you going to carry those goalposts? Are you just going to pick them up and keep running with them?

[LTC(ret) John]

Flynt makes me sad - he struggles to stay relevant like a younger, fatter, wheelchair bound version of Hugh Heffner.

Larry, Hugh ... the world has moved on.

[UnCivilServant]

Larry Flynt is a dispicable human being - who also won some very important court battles.

[wareagle]

and yet no one here has said a single discouraging word about Flynt. Needz moar christfag? At least moar peanutz.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Any native citizen alive? Is that your way of exempting the president from that proclamation? You stealth birther.

[Palin's Buttplug]

No. While I was typing it I thought of the billions Soros was pumping into libertarian anti-socialist and anti-fascist causes.

[$park?]

You see? Failed grasp of reality.

[Palin's Buttplug]

What part of that fact do you dispute?

[Marshall Gill]

the billions Soros was pumping into libertarian anti-socialist and anti-fascist causes.

Why don't you supply us with a link so we can also praise Soros the Libertarian?

[Don Mynack]

He also shows a lot of pink in those photos.

[Jerryskids]

You mean Nat Hentoff is dead?

[Virginian]

http://www.aurorasentinel.com/.....t-the-nra/

Editorial: NRA members are terrorists and should be sent to Gitmo.

Bring it on bitch. Molon Labe.

[wareagle]

I like the way the writer uses snippets of editorials from places that may be Red but forgets that Team Media is almost exclusively Blue.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Plus, Dallas and Orlando both have Democrat mayors. KC hasn't had a Republican mayor in 20 years and is the home of he infamous "Kansas City Schools Experiment." They're not exactly bastions of RETHUGLICANS DERP.

[Zeb]

Good god, it would take hours to take apart all of the bullshit in that editorial. And where does the "kidnapping" come from in the headline?

[OldMexican]

Re: Virginian,

The comments in the comment section are quite revealing, mostly negative towards the editorial.

[Virginian]

Yeah, that's because the side of the angels won this issue, even if we've lost every other fight.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I lived in Aurora for several years during high school and college, and was stationed at Buckley AFB during the previous decade.

You'd think this bootlicking sack of shit would be calling for an end to the drug war instead, given all the gang activity that takes place north of Hampden Avenue.

[Warty]

Just another liberal rag in a liberal wasteland toeing the liberal line? No, that was the Dallas Morning News.

DMN? Not liberal? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Jordan]

A pretty shocking article from Glenn Greenwald, demonstrating just how far we've sunk. The Chinese Communist Party sometimes shows more respect for human rights than the Obama Admin.

The soft, weak Chinese cite concerns for international law and due process

Beijing considers but rejects drone-killing an elusive foreign killer hiding in the jungle claiming sovereignty issues and the need for a trial

[a better weapon]

Communist China says a lot of things

[Marshall Gill]

The Chinese are Libertarians! Shrieking Idiot told me so!!

[ant1sthenes]

They seem to be getting better. We seem to be getting worse. It's not unreasonable to expect that one they might be the more ethical state.

[Lord Humungus]

Two removed from Saudi diplomatic mansion in McLean after human trafficking accusations
http://wtop.com/149/3306965/Su.....at-mansion

Two domestic workers have been removed from a diplomatic mansion in McLean following accusations they were being held like slaves.

The gated compound on Orris Street is owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Armed Forces Office, according to real estate records.

[The Last American Hero]

I was hoping they would be removed by a man with a very particular set of skills.

[WTF]

He also would have shot a few Saudis.

[PS]

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's Armed Forces Office

SA is ranked 7th in the world in military spending and 2nd as a percentage of GDP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.....penditures

[LTC(ret) John]

And from my few contacts with the KSA's Army.... not that high in quality.

[BakedPenguin]

Why do they need to be? They know their "white slave" army will bail them out.

[LTC(ret) John]

USMC = United States Mameluk Corps? Heh.

[Heroic Mulatto]

*sigh*

How far we have fallen from "millions for defense; not one cent for tribute!"

[UnCivilServant]

I think it tipped when we started buying off the Egyptians to keep them from re-invading Israel. It went downhill from there.

[PS]

I'd be very surprised if they were.

[Matrix]

Wait! KSA spends more as a percentage of their GPA on military than the US does? Well, that obviously means we need to spend MOAR!!!!

[wareagle]

OT: wonder if there was an Epi siting: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-20.....s-violent/

[Virginian]

You know, no one ever tries to do the whole "SMASH CAPITALISM!" window breaking in Texas.

[Ted S.]

I presume Dunphy was committing the violence?

[LTC(ret) John]

STOP RESISTING, CIVILIAN! CAN'T YOU SEE HOW MANY MEDALS I HAVE!

[JW]

DON'T FORCE ME TO COMMIT A SURGICAL ERROR ON YOU!

[Jordan]

So, Black Jesus's FDA is fighting against making Plan B universally available. I'm sure we can expect Shriek to come here and denounce him anyday. Any. Day.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Well, like usual he is straddling the fence. No outright ban like the GOP favors but not universal either. Again, just marginally better than Republicans.

[wareagle]

the measure thinks it's cool for 15 year olds to go into the local CVS and buy plan-B like it's a candy bar. Yup, nothing says responsible society quite like that.

[$park?]

Always a better option to have 15-year-olds having babies.

[Rich]

Serious question: How does a 15yo prove its age?

[$park?]

Beats me, but I suspect a good number would answer truthfully when the important looking man in the lab coat asks.

[Auric Demonocles]

In some states you would have a learner's permit by then...

[mad libertarian guy]

I could have had one, but I never got one.

[Bobarian]

There's a learner's permit for fucking?

Who knew?

[itsnotmeitsyou]

There's a learner's permit for fucking?

WTF? My sex ed class wasn't nearly that in depth. Man that would have helped during the first few awkward times. I feel cheated.

[Also Ran]

My sex ed class wasn't nearly that in depth.

Ha, reminds me of the sex ed scene in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.

[Rasilio]

Well you can get a state issued ID at any age but that would be about it.

[Auric Demonocles]

VOTER SUPPRESSION!

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Passport.

[Lord Humungus]

IT'S BABIES HAVING BABIES!

/80s flashback

[wareagle]

too much to suggest that 15 year olds shouldn't be having sex. And no, they don't all do it anyway. I'm not against preventing teen births, but this measure smacks of a chemical mulligan. Actions never mean consequenes, so no one is ever deterred from risky behavior.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

The consequence is that you take Plan B and then get really sick.

[wareagle]

and you hope that really sick is all you get. My objection remains re: 15-year olds, not the drug itself. What grownups do is on them.

[Nikki makes the sign of a tsp]

I understand. I just don't understand not considering 15-year-olds grownups. But I'm a kid libber.

[Jordan]

Is that like a kid diddler?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I just don't understand not considering 15-year-olds grownups. But I'm a kid libber.

I don't understand how lines are chosen but, realistically, brains and bodies are still developing well after turning 15, so 15 seems like a bad line for "grown up."

[SugarFree]

Just make it illegal for 15-year-olds to have sex. Then none of them will ever have sex again. Problem solved.

[Rasilio]

Bad argument since bodies continue to develop until well into your mid 20's and your brain into your 30's

Are you going to argue that 22 year olds should not be considered adults because their brains and bodies are still developing?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Why is that any less arbitrary than "18" or "21"?

[$park?]

People used to get married and start families around 15 or 16 in years past. Nature drives people who are capable of reproduction to try to reproduce. Why is it the end of the world now if teenagers have sex?

[Jordan]

Given how strong teenage hormones are, I really don't see a teenager's decision on whether or not to have sex hinging on the availability of Plan B. Yeah, there might be a few cases on the margins.

SLD: Plan B should be available without a prescription for anyone.

[John]

Given how strong people's desire to have sex is Jordan, I doubt anyone makes the decision based on the availability of anything beyond a willing and attractive partner. Liberals really must be the most boring people in the sack imaginable. They really seem to think that everyone has sex out of some cold calculated planning process.

[Rasilio]

"too much to suggest that 15 year olds shouldn't be having sex."

Um yes it really is.

You are correct, not all 15 year olds have sex, in reality it is somewhere around 35% however it is not now and at no point in history has it ever been abnormal for a 15 year old to be having sex. The fact is some humans are ready for sex prior to their 16th birthday and expecting them to hold off and wait because the idea of it violates your sensibilities is called tyranny.

Further, you are right actions have consequences, problem is the consequence of having sex is not becoming a parent, it is a risk of becoming pregnant (for the girl) and a risk of picking up a disease. Saying we should bar anyone from having access to the Plan B pill to responsibly deal with a potential pregnancy is identical to saying we should bar antibiotics to anyone who gets an STD so that they have to face the consequences of their actions.

[John]

You are correct, not all 15 year olds have sex, in reality it is somewhere around 35%

Just me, but it my peer group and the people I knew, I knew almost no one who lost their virginity before they were 16 or 17 and at least half of them didn't until they were in college. I find that 35% figure to be way high unless you are counting blowjobs as sex.

To most teenagers, especially girls, actually having sex is kind of a big step. I don't think they all or even most of them necessarily go out and hump like rabbits from the time they are 15. Now, once they get a little older and get in college, sure. But not at 15.

[$park?]

Now, once they get a little older and get in college, sure. But not at 15.

I think you'd be surprised.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

John, you've got blinders on if you think the 35% is low or that 15 years olds aren't humping like rabbits.

Personally, I wasn't in that group of 35% and would probably agree with you based on immediate personal experience. However, my little sister was not such a goody two shoes as I, and hung out with the popular crowd. They all were having sex at 15.

[Rasilio]

Yes and amongst my peer group I waited the longest, till I was 17 and even then it was mostly the lack of a willing partner and not any moral conviction.

Everyone else lost their virginity between ages 11 and 16, and all of this was well before Bill Clinton came along so actual sex was far more common than blow jobs

Finally the 35% figure I used is an estimate based on the pretty well established that the age for first intercourse has bounced around 16.5 to 17.5 years for quite a while now. So if the average is 17 then one would expect that something like 30 - 35% would have had sex prior to their 16th birthday and about half again that many would have sex during their 16th year.

I suppose the actual number could be as low as 25% but it's not going to be any lower than that.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Maybe I'm a bit naive...but eleven?????

[Rasilio]

Yes eleven. The youngest I am personally aware of is 10 and it was a 10 and 11 year old together and entirely consentual so there was no rape involved.

I only knew a couple of people who started that young but the average among my friends was well short of 15.

As far as our demographics, we were all white and ranged from lower middle to middle class with most having been on public assistance of some sort at some point in their lives and living in a welfare city (Lowell Ma, and no I don't know Joe so far as I know)

[Heroic Mulatto]

Ah, Lowell.

Say no more.

[John]

Rasiliio,

My sample is from the white middle class. I would imagine it is much lower than say the black lower class. So maybe 25% to 35% is about right for the overall number now that I think about it.

And I am with HM. 11? Where the fuck did you go to school?

[Fate]

I was 11. I developed early. At 11, I was about 5'10", and around 80kg. Yes, I'm a big bastard.

[John]

Who the hell were you sleeping with? I am sure there are plenty of 11 year old boys who could screw. But who is screwing them?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Because a 15 year old being able to buy Plan-B but not a decent decongestant or a beer makes perfect sense.

[$park?]

If you're responding to me, I guess I should have put a /sarc tag in.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yeah, there's a lot of age limits that need to be lowered.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I can't think of many. Just because a body is mature enough to produce children doesn't mean the brain is mature enough to make good decisions in a lot of circumstances.

[SugarFree]

Just because a body is mature enough to produce children doesn't mean the brain is mature enough to make good decisions in a lot of circumstances.

Which is why the state should ensure that she brings an accidental pregnancy to term. Because her brain isn't mature.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Because if a 15 year old doesn't make the decision on her own, it can't be made, right?

Other than the fact that I didn't mention the state ensuring anything at all, your comment is very cogent and on point.

[SugarFree]

Other than the fact that I didn't mention the state ensuring anything at all

You're pro-abortion?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

You're pro-abortion?

I am in favor of abortion being available until higher brain function begins in the fetus. Up to that point, I think the mother's rights are superior. After that point, she's dealing with enough of another individual that she shouldn't be allowed to kill it.

[SugarFree]

So before that it's her decision or her parents? If they don't want her to take Plan B or have an abortion, where's her autonomy in this. What if she tells them and wants to keep the kid and they make her take Plan B or have an abortion. Is that their decision as well?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

So before that it's her decision or her parents?

I suppose the absolute bottom line is that it is her choice. That doesn't mean it is necessarily wise for her to make, or being allowed to make, the decision without the parents' being involved at all. She can't get a fucking tattoo without their approval and involvement, as things stand now.

Do you think the parents should be allowed to say, "Sure, have the kid. We won't pay another penny for your, or the kid's support. Take care."

[Apatheist ?_??]

A lot of people of all ages are bad at making good decisions. It is not the government's job to fix that. At a minimum no age limit should be above 18 and parents should always be able to give consent for it to be lower.

[a better weapon]

Cease-fire against womenz?

[generic Brand]

Wouldn't it make more sense to make non-medication contraceptives available to all ages first? Like allow 13-17 year olds to buy condoms? And if that doesn't work, then maybe we can explore the possibility of letting any underage person anywhere buy OTC morning after pills.

[Rasilio]

Are condoms actually restricted by age? I've never heard of any such thing.

Sure if a 13 year old tried to buy condoms they might get looked at wierd and maybe even a scolding by a store employee who individually might refuse to sell to them but in todays day and age even that is not a concern anymore, just walk into your local grocery store and use the self checkout lane

[generic Brand]

Decepticons Attack Downtown ORLANDOOOOOOOO!! (Fuck Lake Eola)

Marketing campaign for the new Universal Studios Transformers ride. Worth checking out the pictures of the crash scene that was only a few blocks from my office.

[Lord Humungus]

Skeleton of teenage girl confirms cannibalism at Jamestown colony
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

That cannibalism occurred during the colony's "starving time" was never in much doubt. At least a half-dozen accounts, by people who lived through the period or spoke to colonists who did, describe occasional acts of cannibalism that winter. They include reports of corpses being exhumed and eaten, a husband killing his wife and salting her flesh (for which he was executed), and the mysterious disappearance of foraging colonists.

The proof comes in the form of fragments of a skeleton of a girl, about age 14, found in a cellar full of debris in the fort on the James River that sheltered the starving colonists. The skull, lower jaw and leg bone ? all that remain ? have the telltale marks of an ax or cleaver and a knife.

[T]

Sorry, but cut marks aren't dispositive of cannibalism. It's indicative of dismemberment, but who here can't think of numerous reasons to dismember a body? Show me bite marks on the bones and I'm in, though.

[a better weapon]

but who here can't think of numerous reasons to dismember a body?

Oh god, just so many reasons. Where do I start? Ok, just spit balling here, right off the top of my head...

[PS]

Maybe she just needed to be "corrected". She was probably a very willful girl. A rather naughty girl, if I may be so bold.

[The Late P Brooks]

The Bloombergers' pussies are all aflutter at the thought of Chicago businesswoman heiress becoming the new Secty of Commerce.

This administration will greatly benefit from the voice of another billionaire Democrat in the Inner Circle.

[Palin's Buttplug]

She has made an enemy of Big Labor. Once again the wingnut depiction of Obama is dead wrong and the "true progressive" moonbats are pissed off.

[wareagle]

Obama's willing to pick and choose among moonbats. He has chosen the enviros over big labor because doing so fits with anything that harms the country, in the Keystone case a project that might actually lead to some hirings. Harder to be dependent on Big Nanny when you have a job.

[mad libertarian guy]

For your listening pleasure . . .

Got Chops?

Ihsahn is the ex-guitarist/singer of the legendary Norwegian Black Metal band Emperor. Though members of the band have been involved in some of the sinister events which put Norwegian Black Metal on the proverbial map (church burnings and murders and such), Ihsahn managed to steer clear of criminal activity (at least he was never implicated in anything - evidence suggests that he, indeed, never understood the realistic effect that such blatant actions of terror had in the demise of Christianity and never took part in them despite being heavily involved with all of the major actors in what is known as the Norwegian Black Circle. Since their breakup many years ago, he's gone on to create some of the more interesting avant-garde black metal incorporating aspects of metal, free form jazz, and about anything else he could manage to throw in his music. Enjoy!

[T]

On that note, did anybody here know that Varg Vikernes got out of jail a year or two ago?

[invisible furry hand]

the useless fuck has been out for a few years

[mad libertarian guy]

Yep.

I've recently red a book on the Norwegian Black Metal scene about the rise of the 2nd wave of black metal. The story concerning Dead, the singer of Mayhem who slit his wrists then blew off his head with a shotgun (using shells given to him by Vikernes as a Christmas present!) was, to me, the most interesting. His suicide note is hilarious. It reads simply: "Apologies for all the blood. Cheers.").

Varg was a common teenaged idiot who didn't have that filter that should tell a normal person that burning down a thousand year old church isn't a good idea. After nearly 20 years in prison for killing Euronymous (he should have been immediately killed for burning the Fantoft Stave Church), he's turned in to a old god worshipping, NS idiot who believes that Scandinavians are descended from a superior alien species.

[John]

Wasn't the Norwegian Black Metal Scene basically filled with people who wanted to go back to the Pagan Viking Life up to and including blood feuds and such?

[mad libertarian guy]

It was a lash back at socialism (the fall of communism was a huge impetus), and a lashing out against Christianity. At the time it was described as satanic, but that was a misnomer. It was dumb kids who were lashing against Christianity (and their view of Christianity as having co-opted their native, Scandinavian culture a thousand year prior - hence the symbolic act of burning medieval churches) which was interpreted as satanism because they weren't sophisticated enough to express anti-Christianity in any other way than through what they saw as Christianity's opposite: satanism.

But many later on of those in the black metal scene did turn pagan. No real idea of blood feuds or anything, but they see paganism as a connection to their past that has been obliterated by a 1000 years Christianity.

[John]

As I recall the wooden churches of Norway, are in some cases a thousand years old and some of the most beautiful and well crafted wooden buildings on earth.

They should have just hung a couple of the little shits so maybe the rest of them would have found a more constructive way to lash out against Christianity.

[mad libertarian guy]

Yes.

The stave churches in Norway are stunning. I visited the Urnes Stave Church last year, and though it's small (it can hold about 100 parishioners) it was perfect.

The stave church allegedly burned by Vikernes (he was charged but acquitted in that crime) was the Fantoft Stave Church which was perhaps the most stunning of them all. That fucker even used a pic of its smoldering frame as the cover for his EP, Aske (ashes). I'd link it, but URL limits.

[mad libertarian guy]

Link to Urnes Stave Church.

Link to Aske EP.

[Tonio]

So, John advocates the death penalty for simple arson. The mask has slipped completely as I knew it someday would.

So, John, DP for any act of arson, or only arson on significant historical buildings (please include definition), or only for arson of historic churches (again, definition requested)?

[invisible furry hand]

what's the book? I've got Lords of Chaos, so wouldn't mind reading about the second wave

[mad libertarian guy]

It is Lords of Chaos, which is a GREAT book, even if you're not in to metal at all. It's extremely well written and well researched. I recommend it for anyone who's interested in movements. It doesn't help that, in hindsight, the violence and overall rebellion in the second wave is, by and large, a lash-back at the hive mind socialists in Norway. Their big mistake was mistaking individualism with Nihilism.

The first wave of black metal was their immediate predecessors. Bathory, Hellhammer, Venom, Celtic Frost, etc. Others might call it proto-black metal.

The second wave was during the early-mid nneties which includes Burzum, Mayhem, Emperor, etc.

[invisible furry hand]

sorry, i read that as second wave of Norwegian black metal, not black metal in general. Must go get some sleep.

Also, Ulver is awesome. Except for the covers album, maybe.

[Restoras]

Cool, thanks for this.

I've been discovering some of the metal bands in Europe lately thanks to Pandora. I don't like a lot of it, especially anything with frenetic drumming and guttural vocals, but I do like Tyr and Hammerfall. Great stuff.

[T]

My all time favorite European metal that Pandora played at me lately was Celtic Frost covering Mexican Radio. I must own that track.

[mad libertarian guy]

Not all of his songs are that frenzied. Most are far more subdued, actually. But this song has mega-man level drumming, and is awesome, so I chose it.

[mad libertarian guy]

If you like the avant-garde stuff, but don't like the furor that usually comes with black metal, check out Andy Winter. Very imaginative stuff. Mostly slower, but it definitely has that metal "feel." You'll dig it.

[Warty]

I saw Tyr a while back. You could tell they were having a blast. "We are a hammer band!" Plus, Viking chants.

[Warty]

I've always enjoyed Ihsahn, although I found his last album a little boring compared to his other work.

[mad libertarian guy]

Eremita is terrible in comparison to angL and After. Awful. But he is working on a new album, and another project with Devin Townsend (which ought to be rip-roaring fun).

[The Late P Brooks]

Editorial: NRA members are terrorists and should be sent to Gitmo.

Very impressive. That guy should just go ahead and claim the NRA turned him into a newt.

[wareagle]

out of curiosity, did the same editorial writer(s) agree with a certain candidate's judgment that Gitmo should be closed?

[John]

That is a classic fascist tactic. If you lose an argument, have your opponent declared and enemy of the state. I really think those one the right need to start taking back both the word "liberal" and the word "fascist". These people are not liberals. They are dictionary definition fascist.

[Warty]

I'm starting to agree with you. These people are astoundingly hateful. I wonder if and when we'll start to see actual calls for mob violence.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That would be delicious!

Hey guys without guns! Let's attack those guys armed with guns! Nah, I know what I'm doing, brah!

[itsnotmeitsyou]

HA! Could you imagine the butthurt over the outcome if an angry mob did something like tried to storm a gun shop or a gun show.

Of course, if they did storm a gun shop and got shot, the lefty media would just spin it to say something like "peaceful protesters massacred by crazed gun store employee" and completely leave out the part about the mob throwing shit through the windows and charging the store.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Your Dailyfail WTF:

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

[Virginian]

Rage....building....

[LTC(ret) John]

Helped along by this little gem?

'The parish council did not give anyone permission to do anything.'

[robc]

Based on the before/after pictures, the kid is a genius, as the memorial was blurry before and now is in focus.

[robc]

Singer Phil Collins owns a house in the village.

Irrelevant detail is irrelevant.

[invisible furry hand]

if only they'd used it for a pun. Phil Collins sent an angry fax to one of his wives to tell her the marriage was over. The Sun's front page was Phil: I'm faxing furious

[Stormy Dragon]

They just wanted to make it clear that it wasn't David Bryne's, in case you were asking yourself, what is that beautiful house?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

He committed the cardinal sin of not requesting permission from his betters. there's nothing a bureaucrat hates more than feeling irrelevant.

[John]

No he committed the cardinal sin of taking initiative instead of leaving everything to the government. The government is everything to these people. So anything the government doesn't do, must by definition be something that shouldn't be done. Therefore, an individual has no right to do it. If the individual wants it done, he should petition the government to do it not just do it on his own.

[wareagle]

isn't that what scruffy said?

[John]

No. It is worse than what scruffy said. It is not that they want to feel useful. It is that in their view everything in society is encompassed by the state. They are not bored bureaucrats. They are totalitarians.

[sarcasmic]

Taking work away from unionized labor.

[Warty]

Dersingham has a population of 4,500. Singer Phil Collins owns a house in the village.

"Wait a minute...Phil Collins sucks!"

[Auric Demonocles]

Chris Kelly isn't dead. He beat up a Canadian last night!

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, he's Estonian, but lives in Canada. So he's a Canadian commie, even more worthy of being put in his place.

[Warty]

Excuse me, are you calling Estonians commies? Watch out, they'll come over and fucking sing you to death.

[Virginian]

http://www.mindingthecampus.co.....ivers.html

[John]

http://news.investors.com/ibd-.....macare.htm

How ignorant is Obama about Obamacare? No question Obama not particularly bright and very dishonest. But in this case I bet it is more ignorance than dishonesty. I would imagine he understands very little about the law that bears his name.

[Restoras]

Community organizers have no knowledge of what they actually end up being responsible for. For asshat's like Obama, the only thing he knows how to do is get others to do the heavy lifting by applying pressure from the outside. That is what a community organizer does. After that, it's someone else's problem and they've moved onto the next action.

[John]

Did you read best of the web a couple of days ago about the problems of using community organizer tactics when you are in authority? It was very astute. Community organizers use the mob to create problems to force those in authority to give in because it is the only responsible option. Taranto give the example of Saul Alinsky's planned "shit in" at O'Hare airport. The plan was to occupy all of the toilets at all times so the airport couldn't run. The authority's only responsible choice then was to give in and get the airport running. Well, the problem is that when you are in authority, you are the one who is supposed to be responsible. You can't use sequester to afflict harm on the country because you are the person responsible for making sure things run well. It would be like the managers of O"hare shutting down the toilets to get what they want. It just gets them blame not what they want.

[Tonio]

No question Obama not particularly bright and very dishonest.

This is going in my album of John's greatest moments of unconscious self-parody.

[Virginian]

http://freebeacon.com/overhauling-the-vote/

Dems move to consolidate their control of Colorado.

[John]

But their intentions are pure with regard to amnesty. It wouldn't be because they want a huge new supply of illegal voters.

[Auric Demonocles]

It's not like they are evil Republicans asking voters to prove they are the voter they claim to be in an attempt to racistly suppress minority voters.

[John]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/a.....story.html

Interesting article on the deficiencies in the peer review process and how one guy was able to fake his research for years. Honestly, even with an honest system, I don't see how a cargo cult like "social psychology" could ever have a proper peer review process. Basically if you tell people a story that they want to believe, they are likely to believe it even if it is a complete fraud.

[The Late P Brooks]

NYT maternalists are concerned

Various studies have estimated that as many as 35 percent of college students illicitly take these stimulants to provide jolts of focus and drive during finals and other periods of heavy stress. Many do not know that it is a federal crime to possess the pills without a prescription and that abuse can lead to anxiety, depression and, occasionally, psychosis.

Although few experts dispute that stimulant medications can be safe and successful treatments for many people with a proper A.D.H.D. diagnosis, the growing concern about overuse has led some universities, as one student health director put it, "to get out of the A.D.H.D. business."

Oh, no. Kids possibly seeking pills which might improve academic performance. If that's not "abuse" what is?

[John]

What is ADD? Who doesn't have it to one degree or another? If this stuff makes you feel better and less anxious and more focused, then why wouldn't you take it? Clearly this stuff isn't making these kids feel worse or they wouldn't take them.

[Zeb]

The stuff really works for just about everyone. And there have been some studies released recently that show that long term use is generally pretty unproblematic at an appropriate dose.

[John]

And it would go a long ways to solving our obesity problem and not just because it is speed and is an appetite suppressant, although that helps. Most people who are over weight are that way because they are anxious and depressed and use food as a coping mechanism. Take away the anxiety and depression and they are then able to get a handle on their eating.

[Matrix]

so can they have their grades taken away for using performance enhancing substances?

[Auric Demonocles]

I was in school very recently. The kids who were taking this stuff without prescriptions were all aware that it was illegal. They just didn't care about that as much as they cared about grades.

[invisible furry hand]

I was in school very recently

use e-Harmony, for God's sake

[John]

But all of the women on there are like over 19. Come on IFH, AD has standards.

[sarcasmic]

I remember how excited I was to turn 20. It meant I could finally date high school girls!

[Auric Demonocles]

That took me a while to figure out.

[mad libertarian guy]

A stimulant would never have worked for me.

When I was in grad school, I discovered that some things, like writing dense research papers on Anglo-Saxon philology over 18-20 hour periods, are simply not possible without piles and piles of weed.

[Auric Demonocles]

I had one exam during grad school that was a one day take home which took me 26 hours to finish. That was powered by Papa John's and beer.

[Bill Dalasio]

Maybe I'm a bit off base here, but why exactly should we hold Mr. Sanford's affair against him as some sort of major disqualifier. It's not like the center of his political platform was traditional values. Mostly, if I recall correctly, he was a big supporter of fiscal restraint and limited government. The left is always telling us that politicians' private lives should play no role in our public support or disapproval of them as political figures. Why shouldn't this same standard apply to Mr. Sanford? And, honestly, from what I can tell, he carried on his affair with the woman in question because he really was head-over-heels for her. Really, that seems a lot more morally tolerable than carrying on an affair just because he wanted to get a little nookie on the side.

[Elspeth Flashman]

b/c he's not on the side of the left, and they only apply their moral values to themselves. It's not about tolerance, it's about tolerance for their own kind.

[sarcasmic]

He's a Republican. He's expected to have morals. If he was a Democrat it wouldn't matter since they're not expected to have any sense of morality.

[generic Brand]

Well said Bill. And I think you answered your own question:

The left is always telling us that politicians' private lives should play no role in our public support or disapproval of them as political figures. Why shouldn't this same standard apply to Mr. Sanford?

with this line:

Mostly, if I recall correctly, he was a big supporter of fiscal restraint and limited government.

[OldMexican]

Re: Bill Dalasio,

but why exactly should we hold Mr. Sanford's affair against him as some sort of major disqualifier.

I wouldn't. I expect all politicians to cheat, so diqualifying him outright for that would make me look like a hypocrite.

[John]

Stanford did nothing but have a normal affair during a failing marriage. In contrast Anthony Weiner was out stalking young women on twitter sending them pictures of his junk.

But Stanford's career is supposed to be over and Weiner is good to go as the next mayor of New York City.

[Bill Dalasio]

Actually, I might be inclined to give it a little more benefit of the doubt than calling it a "normal affair during a failing marriage". Hell, they guy's engaged to the woman in question.

[John]

Exactly. He fell in love with another person and left his spouse. That happens all of the time.

[Tonio]

John, I recall that you have been less than willing to excuse those lapses for people who were not on your team. Hypocrite much?

[sgs]

Isn't this the guy who vanished for several days while running the state?

That's kind of a thing...

And honestly, my primary objection. He had an affair, fine, but he basically walked out on his job to chase tail.

Not fine.

[Stormy Dragon]

Plus he was embezzling tax dollars to finance the affair.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Somewhat OT: Working on a case to get names removed from the Central Registry for CPS.

Administrative law is whacked . . .
The parents had no case against them, dismissed at preliminary NA hearing, but were placed on the list b/c of failure to comply, which gets them listed for "Improper Supervision" of their kiddos.
Essentially the mom didn't feel it was necessary to get a psyche eval of herself, nor a bone scan of the kid. So this, plus the prior "case" (which was dismissed!) allows a "mandatory override" to happen and they are listed.

[John]

Administrative law is horrible. As long as they don't send you to jail, the government can do all sorts of nasty things to you with little or no due process or available appeal. It is what I like to call the "Administrative Screw Job". If you don't have enough evidence to convict someone in court, just give them an administrative screw job. Good luck.

[Elspeth Flashman]

We're arguing against the AG's office here, which is trying to have its cake and eat it too. If the CPS doesn't have authority to use the mandatory override, then the ALJ has authority to list them either way (as neglecters or for improper supervision), is the gist of the argument.
. . . Even though the CPS's multiple reports shows children always fed, properly clothed, never bruised, development proper, not afraid, etc.

[John]

Fuck you, we don't care that we couldn't find any evidence. We are going to list you anyway out of an abundance of caution. Assholes.

[The Late P Brooks]

I wonder if going to the school nurse to get Adderall could affect your ability to get permission to own a firearm, down the road.

Pretty unlikely, right?

[John]

Never happen. Just like no school or university would ever take you expression of unapproved or subversive views in a school paper as an excuse to determine you are "potentially dangerous" and thus shouldn't own a gun.

[Auric Demonocles]

That's silly. Everyone at schools are potentially dangerous and that's why no one can have guns there.

[Zeb]

That's what online pharmacies are for (assuming there are some that are not scams).

[John]

I have heard many of them are and the drugs they send not exactly of high quality or even drugs in some cases.

But I would imagine silk road has a good supply of that sort of stuff.

[Rich]

"Good kid" expelled, faces felony charges for "science project gone bad"

Oops.

[generic Brand]

Was the "Oops" because you realized Jesse Walker wrote about this yesterday? 😉

[sarcasmic]

Not everyone is so without a life that they memorize every story on Reason.

[generic Brand]

Just Ted S. and myself apparently.

[$park?]

Not everyone, some people just have decent memories.

[Matrix]

she's a terrist, and needs to go to Gitmo immediately!

[John]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrew.....washington

The time Terry Mccauliffe left his wife in the delivery room for a Washington party. Wow. Other than violent criminals, is there a worse human being on earth than Maccauliffe?

[John]

I really wonder if these stories won't do real damage to Mccaulfiffe's political career. Forget the stealing and the cronyism. Women are nuts about this kind of stuff. A husband leaving his pregnant wife in the delivery room? Yeah, he pretty much just lost the vote of every married women out there.

[sarcasmic]

Depends. Let me look the guy up. Democrat. Nope. No expectations of morality here. His career is fine.

[John]

For the true believers sure. But married moms are kind of swing votes. The type of woman who writes on Jezebel and can't get laid much less pregnant won't care. Your Fairfax country soccer mom, however, probably will.

[sarcasmic]

Your Fairfax country soccer mom, however, probably will.

Care enough to abandon their TEAM? Doubtful.

[John]

They will and have. Remember they all voted for George W. when they were convinced that their little snowflakes might be in danger from terrorists. Make no mistake, they are a malevolent force in politics. But they are not mindless team Blue partisans.

[Virginian]

That's why I think Obama pushed gun control so hard. People are mostly dug in on the issue, and there are pro-gun Dems who will still vote Dems.

But I bet their internals show that gun control moves the needle with suburban middle class women.

[John]

That is probably a very good guess Virginian. One of the reasons why they are facing such a tough battle retaking the House is that down ticket Dems have been getting killed in the suburbs.

[NoVAHockey]

they'll dismiss it.

"yeah, he was a jerk ... but Ken Cuccinelli is teh crazy!"

[Kaptious Kristen]

I hope they use this to Macaca him right out of the goober-natorial race.

[John]

Me too. Politics aside, he is just an epic asshole. Is there anyone who can say one good thing about him beyond "I like his politics"?

[NoVAHockey]

he gives political hacks a bad name.

[John]

The only thing that is missing is a story of him kicking his kids' dog.

[Kaptious Kristen]

The only thing that is missing is a story of him kicking his kids' dog.

Sounds like something James P. Moran would do

[Jerryskids]

The FBI is seeking information about three men who were seen at the Benghazi consulate when it was attacked.

Have they tried talking to the survivors of the attack? I've heard rumors there were survivors.

[John]

It happened in September. Now the following May they have decided to get right on those leads. I am sure they had much more important things to do like entrapping dumb people into bomb plots and making sure no one paid any attention to the tips on the Boston Marathon bombers.

[The Late P Brooks]

FAIRNESS We wantsss it.

Lawmakers have raised the issue for years, to no avail, and, in the meantime, many brick-and-mortar stores have gone out of business. The willingness to act now is driven in part by the fact that Amazon, which fought hard to preserve the exemption, recently gave up the fight. That's not because the company suddenly developed a belief in sales taxes. Its business model ? especially its emphasis on same-day delivery ? is changing in ways that would soon cause it to lose the exemption anyway.

Main Street needs a level playing field to compete with the exploding online industry. So do large retailers, like Best Buy, that have cut jobs as shoppers have increasingly tested electronics at local stores and then gone home to buy them online without paying sales tax. Equally important, states need the revenue to help recover from the recession. Noncollection of sales tax on online purchases costs states an estimated $11 billion a year. Another $11 billion goes uncollected on mail-order catalog sales, which would also be covered under pending bills.

Evil Rethuglitards, impoverishing noble, hardworking state and local governments.

[T]

So do large retailers, like Best Buy, that have cut jobs as shoppers have increasingly tested electronics at local stores and then gone home to buy them online without paying sales tax

Best Buy's problems are entirely of their own making. Online competition is minor compared to the shit show that is Best Buy's customer service and overall policies.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Best Buy's problems are entirely of their own making

This! I worked for Circuit City a few years before they crashed and burned. I say the management decisions being made and got the hell out of Dodge.

I have been watching Best Buy do similarly idiotic things, watched them destroy the Geek Squad brand, alienate customers, get rid of their best employees, etc.

Best Buy is going down hard, and Amazon is not to blame. Upper management is.

[John]

One of my wife's cousins is a bankruptcy attorney. His biggest client is in the business of buying bankrupt businesses at a low price and then selling off the real estate and other assets for a profit. His clients made a killing off of Circuit City going down. Last summer I saw him at a family wedding. He told me his client has been circling Best Buy like a hungry vulture for a couple of years.

The consensus in the industry is that Best Buy is dead man walking.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Yeah, I had several friends that worked for Best Buy/GeekSquad until recently. They've pretty much all jumped ship because they see it coming. The only people I know that still work for BBY are either district managers and above, or are in love with the company.

They all delusionally insist that Best Buy will be around forever and this is just a "rough spot". It's like my BiL that works for the SSA and insists that there will be plenty of money for when we all get older. Or like an abused wife who says "he just got mad, he won't hit me again"

[John]

Weren't big box retailers the "devil" just a few years ago? I seem to recall liberals hating them because middle class white people shopped at them.

[T]

Straight up money grab, John. Can't fund your progtard fansaties if the state's broke.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'm in a Dick Dale kinda mood.

[Warty]

I saw him once about 5 years ago, in a little shithole venue that held maybe 200 people. It was every bit as awesome as you'd expect.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I see him every year at the Birchmere in Alexandria (about 10 times now). He's a fucking genius.

[Kaptious Kristen]

An A.M. link about Seattle po-po and not a single Dunphy troll. Not even one line of fan fic. I am disappoint.

[SugarFree]

He's sleeping it off. A long night of fighting crime while weight-surfing with Morgan Fairchild and the Norwegian Olympic all-hooker bobsled team will really wear a superhuman out.

[$park?]

More likely the fact that he spent all night trying to catch a naked, oiled-up Epi running all around the city.

[T]

So, it was his night off?

[Sevo]

Special interest lobbying group says fracking competes for water!
"Nearly half of fracking happens in places short on water"
http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/.....-on-water/

[The Late P Brooks]

I see him every year at the Birchmere in Alexandria

I hate to admit it, but I thought Dick Dale was dead.

[Matrix]

Today's "Pot Calling the Kettle Black" story:

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is disgusted by GOP politicizing of Newtown families

wow... just... wow.

[Jerryskids]

Apropos of nothing whatsoever - remember, God wants you to wear a hat.

[Jerryskids]

Apropos of nothing whatsoever - remember, God wants you to wear a hat.

[Warty]

Because I hate you all, a happy baby gorilla.

[invisible furry hand]

damn you to hell

[Elspeth Flashman]

Do you mean why did administrative law get out of control? Why do 24 year old social workers have so much power over parent's lives? Why is the "rating" that parents get evaluated by ratchet things up to higher categories (that require intervention/ petitions filed by the CPS department?)