A.M. Links: Sanford Wins in SC Special House Election, Internet Down in Syria, Women Held Captive in Ohio Speak to Investigators

Credit: Congressional Pictoral Directory / Foter.com / Public domain

• Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has beaten Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the special election for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District. 

• Assad's regime is being blamed by some for the internet shut down across Syria. The Syrian government is blaming the lack of internet access on terrorists. 

• The three women who were held captive in a house in Cleveland, Ohio for about a decade have begun speaking to investigators about their ordeal. 

• Chinese cyberattacks on the U.S. government are not helping relations between the two countries. 

• According to the Pentagon unreported incidents of sexual assault in the military have increased 35 percent over two years. 

• Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has fixed his widely mocked signature. 

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has fixed his widely mocked signature.

No more Jack Lewpz?

[Ptah-Hotep]

President Barack Obama had joked that at least one letter had to be readable "in order not to debase our currency".

Yea, cause that is what would do it. Jug-eared fucker.

[Palin's Buttplug]

had joked

You wingnuts never let up. Keep working on this fake Benghazi scandal though.

[$park?]

Shreek, you live in a different world it seems. Maybe you just don't understand humans because you haven't been among them long enough yet.

[DJF]

Yeah, we caught the film maker who was responsible, its time to move on.

[deified]

Heroic Mulatto posted this OT in the legalization thread.

I think it's important.

http://thelead.blogs.cnn.com/2.....?hpt=hp_c4

[VG Zaytsev]

I'm sure the media will trot her out to keep the story alive, just like they've done with Sandy Hook-gun grabbing.

[Ptah-Hotep]

PB,

Can you find ANY reference to Benghazi in my post? If not, then maybe you should STFU.

[Lord Humungus]

it's the voices in his head.

[Ken Shultz]

But he is a jug-eared fucker, though, isn't he, Shrike.

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

"Jug-eared fucker."

Are you referring to Obama or Palin's Buttplug? I guess that's really a distinction without a difference.

[hamilton]

To be fair, it is not like the Federal Reserve Notes he is signing are deserving of any more serious of a John Hancock.

[mad libertarian guy]

His loopy signature is naught but a reflection of the loopy policy which is currently debasing our currency.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Except the USD has gained strength every year since Jan 09.

[Virginian]

Compared to what?

[mad libertarian guy]

No.

Other currencies have lost strength against the USD because the economy of the entire world is in the shitter right now, not just that of the US. In other words, it doesn't mean dick that the USD compares better to the Euro now than 6 years ago, because the Euro is in such bad shape that even the architect of the Euro says they should pull out of it with all haste.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....gden-utah/

Is it cynical of me to think that this will not be a big story in the MSM?

[$park?]

Is Fox News not part of the MSM?

[LTC(ret) John]

No they are teabaggerz in the evul employ of RUPPERT MURDOCH!1!!!!

Or something.

[Virginian]

Kinda sorta.

I mean, if someone firebombed a mosque, it would be a front page NYT story, talking heads would wring their hands over it for a week, it would be blamed on Rand Paul, etc.

I mean, don't get me wrong, the proper response to these losers is not to give them national media attention.

[$park?]

I know that Fox News doesn't consider themselves part of mainstream media, right after they finish calling themselves the most powerful name in news. Seriously, it doesn't get more mainstream than that.

[mad libertarian guy]

If viewing numbers are what designated one as mainstream, I might agree. But they are nothing but the foil of the mainstream media.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

This always makes me laugh when Hannity rips on the MSM yet he has a TV show on one of the big news networks and has a nationally syndicated radio show. I don't know how you can get any more MSM than that.

[Ken Shultz]

I'd feel like they were more of the MSM if the rest of the people working in the MSM didn't treat Fox News like a pariah.

The rest of the MSM treats Fox News the way Fox News treats Al Jazeera.

[$park?]

How other media outlets treat has nothing to do with the fact that they are part of the MSM.

[Ken Shultz]

Honestly, I'm not sure how mainstream they are anymore.

[Ted S.]

Does it involve any women John and/or Sarcasmic would like to fuck?

[Bobarian]

It is my understanding that those are two distinct sets with no intersection.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why would it be? It has zero elements that journalists find sexy. And the wrong kind of people were wronged.

[Zeb]

" the remains of the failed weapon "

How do you make a Molotov cocktail that fails?

"The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are getting involved because the target was a church."

So are they the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives and Churches now? I would have thought they got involved because an explosive (sort of) was used.

[UnCivilServant]

How do you make a Molotov cocktail that fails?

I doesn't ignite.

[Ted S.]

I for one am glad you doesn't ignite.

[Rich]

Sheesh, even Bill Clinton *ignited*.

[LTC(ret) John]

But he didn't inhale.

[wareagle]

and he introduced the human humidor.

[VG Zaytsev]

How do you make a Molotov cocktail that fails?

1) you use a heavy bottle that doesn't shatter on impact

2) the wick falls out or goes out when it's thrown

[T]

Leave it the Russian guy to know about this...

[Zeb]

I guess I shouldn't assume any competence in people who want to firebomb churches.

[Brett L]

On the plus side, LDS gathering places are now recognized as churches by the Rethuglican fundie teabaggers.

[Bee Tagger]

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has fixed his widely mocked signature.

A handwriting specialist might say that this reveals he may be self-conscious.

[deified]

Wow, the signature still sucks. I would close whatever bullshit elementary school let him graduate.

[T]

At one point I had to sign my name roughly 20 times a day for a month. By the end of that, my signature had degenerated into a scrawl, where it still remains. Don't necessarily blame the school.

[robc]

At the rate they are printing, having to sign every bill must get very tiring too.

[Rich]

Would that actually signing each bill were the reality.

[Ptah-Hotep]

^^This^^

[rac3rx]

And yet, it still looks like the top of a Hostess cupcake...

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....-michigan/

Anyone have more details on this?

[InlineSkate]

Living in Michigan all my life i've never heard of the guy until now.

[Geoff Nathan]

There's a similar article in today's Free Press
http://www.freep.com/article/2.....ing-wanted

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Energy pundits sing natural gas' praises, but Bill Powers, author of "Cold, Hungry and in the Dark: Exploding the Natural Gas Supply Myth," isn't buying it. He sees serious flaws in how reserves are reported, and his own research shows steep, across-the-board production declines in the near future. Nonetheless, he expects a multiyear bull run for the resource, and recommends investors get positioned before scarcity hits?just five to seven years from now.

Here

[Ted S.]

How long has it been five to seven years until we run out of oil?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

5-7 years I bet.

We are always on the verge of running out of everything, didn't you know?

[$park?]

Well technically...

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Nah, progressives are like cockroaches, squash one and 100 emerge from your walls to tell you you are a insensitive rethuglican teabagger... we're never running out of those.

[$park?]

Economics is devoted to dealing with things that there aren't an unlimited supply of. Sure it's retarded to say we're going to run out of resource X in 5-7 years, but it's not retarded to better manage that resource.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I don't think I have ever said it is retarded to manage resources responsibly.

[$park?]

Didn't say you did, just expanding on my original thought.

[Enough About Palin]

Don't hurt yourself.

[Tim]

Things we seem to have always been running out of:

1. Ozone
2. Oil
3. Gas
4. Cropland
5. Fresh Water
6. Ice and Glaciers
7. High School graduates
8. Antibiotics
9. Rainforests
10. Pandas

Add your own

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

10 can just be: Every mammalian/reptilian/fish species at some point in the last 50 years.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's always 5-7 years.
You'd think that fear mongers would mix the timeline up a bit, but no it's always 5-7 years to apocalypse.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Close enough to be "serious" and "require" action, far enough away to be forgotten when it doesn't happen.

[mad libertarian guy]

And despite the apocalypse not happening, they continue to believe. How are these stupid fuckers any different than the religious nutbags who continuously predict the coming apocalypse that never materializes? How are either group given an audience whatsoever?

[Bill Dalasio]

"How are these stupid fuckers any different than the religious nutbags who continuously predict the coming apocalypse that never materializes?"

Well, they generally wear nicer suits. And have better pedigrees. And hang out in cooler neighborhoods. Aside from that....

[PS]

10 years to run out of oil, but only 20 years to fusion power.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Fusion is the best example. It has been 20-30 years to fusion for the last 50 years. It is still that far away and nobody is close to making it work outside of in the core of a hydrogen bomb.

Fission is like putting on a flat green. Fusion is like putting to a hole that is at the very top of a steep hill.

[Virginian]

Nice moose bro.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....y-warship/

[Lord Humungus]

Santa Fe teacher allegedly locked student in classroom before raping him
Married high school teacher Jennifer Vigil, 31, allegedly pounced on her now 18-year-old victim at Pojoaque Valley High School and refused to let him leave until he agreed to let her perform oral sex.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.1335989

[VG Zaytsev]

More evidence that we're raising a generation of pussies.

Seriously, when I was in HS, that was one of every boys fantasies.

[thom]

Doesn't matter. She abused her position of authority. People wouldn't make these kinds of comments if she had been a cop, or if the genders had been reversed. I don't know why mildly attractive female public school teachers around the country are insistent on abusing their positions of authority to have sex with their teenage students, but I don't think it's something that we should tolerate just because we all had a teacher we wanted to fuck back in high school.

[Ken Shultz]

I guess she hadn't had any complaints before? And, honestly, how many 18 year old complains about something like that?

I'm sure it was very traumatic for him, but I've had dates that ended--where she locked me into her apartment.

Worse things have happened to me.

Now I guess he'll need counseling.

P.S. 18 isn't under age, right? And that may be sexual assault, but it isn't rape.

[Pro Libertate]

Who believes this kid? Seriously. He got caught or screwed up and bragged about it and got caught. Now he's blaming everyone but him. Typical.

[Ken Shultz]

Yeah, you can color me skeptical.

The explanation that his mom found out after he bragged about it, and then he made up a story is a lot more plausible than the explanation that a decent looking teacher wanted to blow him, and he fought like hell to get out of it--but she just wouldn't let him.

[Pro Libertate]

While I think the teacher has to be fucked in the head to go after a kid in the first place, she'd have to be totally insane to do this with a kid who wasn't 100% willing. Good-bye job and career, hello jail time.

[Sy]

The fact that he ratted is proof our public schools are failing.

[Pro Libertate]

He was caught, dude. I've got kids and have interacted with their friends. Accountability is not a virtue in their culture except for the rare exception.

[Matrix]

Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying was arrested for soliciting the murder of his wife
Now that's hardcore

[LTC(ret) John]

So he wanted to make it "As She Lay Dying"?

[a better weapon]

I have the Shadows are Security album in my car. Looks like I'll be listening to that on the drive home.

[Sy]

One of my all-time favs. Awakened is some pretty good shit, too.

[Ted S.]

Why name your band after a shitty Faulkner novel?

(Yeah, I know Faulkner named it after a line from Homer. But the Faulkner title would be better-known than the Homer line.)

[T]

"My mother is a fish."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Chinese cyberattacks on the U.S. government are not helping relations between the two countries.

They own it, they can do whatever they want.

[Virginian]

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

Anyone have more details on this case? Did Reason do an article?

[sarcasmic]

Blake Lively still has nice legs. Very nice legs.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....shoot.html
Her only real claim to fame is being dumped by Leonardo DiCaprio, but still. Nice legs.

[a better weapon]

Her only real claim to fame is being dumped by Leonardo DiCaprio

I dunno, Gossip Girl was a pretty popular show

Source: my wife

[sarcasmic]

Source: my wife
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure...

[a better weapon]

*thumb moves frantically up and down below fist to simulate yelling at Sarcasmic*

You tell em, baby!

[mad libertarian guy]

It's more than just nice legs. She's incredibly sexy.

[Brett L]

2 Please. Sure, they're taped together and up in the dress at the bottom, but I'd like to do a manual test for alteration.

[Matrix]

M&Ms; are deadly, at least the peanut ones to Liam Gallagher of Oasis
"I've done some stuff over the years but never, never did I think a fucking blue M&M would be the thing that could have killed me."

[Brett L]

Proof that God hates us and wants us to suffer.

[sarcasmic]

One armed surfer girl is pretty hot.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ttack.html

[Virginian]

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

That's not gonna end well.

[sarcasmic]

Megan Fox on a trampoline. *drool*
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....s-set.html

[Rich]

No *video*?!

I am disappoint, sarcasmic.

[a better weapon]

Ankle weights on a trampoline?

[Restoras]

Is it me or is she getting skankier every year? Not that I'm complaining...

[sarcasmic]

It's not just you, and I'm not complaining either.

[Redmanfms]

Toe thumbs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Assad's regime is being blamed by some for the internet shut down across Syria.

404 liberty not found.

[Bee Tagger]

"Things my GPS tells me when I try to navigate downtown Pittsburgh." - Carnac the Magnificent

[db]

Nice.

[NoVAHockey]

I wonder if the GPS could map out an effective defensive zone breakout.

[db]

Nah, it just keeps saying "rerouting" so the Pens can't figure out how not to pass the puck through the densest concentrations of Islanders players.

[NoVAHockey]

I still think Pens take the series. but damn.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's dahn-tahn.

[LTC(ret) John]

You want to talk about a blue screen of death...

[DJF]

Does this mean we will no longer get web reports from Syrian lesbian who are actually married men in Britain?

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....-attacker/

Should this be admissible?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Why not?

[a better weapon]

I'd have to see the video. INAL, but I imagine there'd need to be a bunch of test questions performed to prove the validity of the 1-2 blink communication and the cognition of the victim.

[Zeb]

If they ask him a bunch of other questions to confirm that his blinking does signify what they think it does, absolutely. I think it should be easy enough to confirm if it is a legit means of communicating.

[Stormy Dragon]

Even if the blinking was legitimate communication, it should still be inadmissable, as studies have shown that showing someone one photo and asking "is this the guy that did it?" produces wildly invalid eye witness identifications.

[sarcasmic]

Who is that vaguely familiar person? I don't recognize her with a forehead.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....ringe.html

[Matrix]

damn... didn't realize how nearly unrecognizable she is without her bangs

[Ted S.]

I wouldn't recognize her with her bangs.

[Matrix]

she's such a cutie. You better not say anything bad about her.

[Art Vandelay]

Her fat ass is still recognizable, though.

[Matrix]

your death shall be slow and painful

[a better weapon]

She resembles January Jones a little without the fringe bangs.

Just her face though, the rest is ALL January.

[$park?]

She looks more like her sister.

[Zeb]

Much better. Never been a fan of bangs.

[Ted S.]

What do you have against bangs?

[Rich]

This?

[Zeb]

Cut it out. I can't watch videos in the morning.

[Lord Humungus]

America's Famous Serial Killers
http://www.dirjournal.com/info.....l-killers/

In our original look at some of America's famous serial killers, we looked at thirteen of the most notorious serial killers in American history. But those murderers are far from the only serial killers our nation has seen.

Now let's add five more names to the list ? more American serial killers you might (or might not) have heard about.

how fun... ugh.

[#HOLO YOLO]

how fun... ugh.

I was reading about serial killers last night, actually.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....-city-lot/

Puppy survives!

[Matrix]

Text trolling strangers
Some hilarious stuff

[sarcasmic]

Maker of online 'gun porn' keeps his name secret for fear of retaliation from the preachers of tolerance and inclusiveness.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ereal.html

[sarcasmic]

Gun companies target women with pink firearms at NRA convention

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ntion.html
What an insensitive headline. They could be targeting queers, not women.

[Rich]

Not to mention the inflammatory use of "target".

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Target acquired for termination.

[a better weapon]

I'd never let my wife have a pink gun (and not that she would ever want one herself). The goal is to not have to use it and I'd imagine a criminal might be a little more ballsy if he had what looked like a toy pointed at him.

[mad libertarian guy]

My wife thinks pink guns are cute. As in novelty. Something that would sit on a shelf for her firends to say, "look at that cute little gun."

But when given the opportunity, she declined a pink gun in favor of this one.

[Ptah-Hotep]

But when given the opportunity, she declined a pink gun in favor of this one.

Very nice MLG. My own wife carries one of these.

[mad libertarian guy]

Gotta love a woman who not only can handle, but actively chooses a 45.

I don't carry. I've simply never felt the need.* But were I to carry, I'd carry my Kimber Super Carry Pro. My favorite pistol right now, however, is my FN FNX-45 Tactical with the Trijicon RM 05 holographic sight.

[mad libertarian guy]

*Once when picking up a car trailer in arguably the worst neighborhood in Miami, I open carried my Glock because everything I owned was in the rental truck we were driving. I was letting everyone know I am armed, don't fuck with me.

[Warty]

I've been intrigued by the FNX for a while.

[mad libertarian guy]

It's the real deal. Comfy. Handles recoil extremely well. Accurate. Threaded barrel. Milled for holo-sight. Massive magazine for a 45 (15 rounds). It's a truly modern 45 that can handle anything you throw at it.

[Brett L]

Eh. I think the Ruger 10/22 in pink is a perfect gun for daddy-daughter shoots when she's 8. Which is totally off-topic.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Related: One more reason to despise Kris Jenner

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....event.html

[sarcasmic]

Who?

[Rich]

Sanford has beaten Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch

"Now, off to 'the Appalachian Trail' for a celebratory 'hike'!"

[LTC(ret) John]

Uh, BUUUUUSCH?

[db]

"Head for the mountains"

[LTC(ret) John]

For the mountains, head?

[a better weapon]

This nomination of Stephen Colbert's sister is the first nominee in years that made me think "The democrat party is really lost right now." It really seemed desperate and my guess is a lot of the better nominees will sit 2014 out and wait until the gun control issue has passed by.

[a better weapon]

And by better, I mean better funded and more "electable." This will probably be the first in a long line of clown nominees for team Blue. They'll be indistinguishable from the idiots team Red puts out there on a regular basis.

[LTC(ret) John]

I only have one thing to say ... Senator Al Franken.

[DJF]

First in a line of clowns? They already have Al Franken in the Senate.

[a better weapon]

That's true. You think we can just discount Minnesota though? I mean, they did elect Jesse Ventura as governor.

[robc]

Ive seen no evidence that Ventura was significantly better or worse than most other governors.

I dont know why him being governor is so silly.

[Raven Nation]

You could argue that the Dems are reading the electorate reasonably well & going for "celebrity" politics. Obama won in 2008 as pretty much a media figure. As others have pointed out you have Franken and Colbert & Jon Stewart are regular seen as serious political commentators. Ashley Judd. And I think any Kennedy who runs for office is doing so as a celebrity.

So, maybe the Dems are just reflecting the culture. Kind of like Republicans used to nominate military heroes.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

So, maybe the Dems are just reflecting the culture. Kind of like Republicans used to nominate military heroes.

That, and the fact that liberal politicians and Hollywood are essentially indistinguishable these days. They all run in the same social circles and attend the same functions. It's hardly surprising that Team Blue is increasingly going the Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho route.

[Pro Libertate]

Of course he won. His opponent was never ever, not once described as anything other than "Stephen Colbert's sister." Even actual celebrities that run for office run on something besides their fame. She must be particularly dim.

[mad libertarian guy]

And I wouldn't argue that being Colbert's sister is any real claim to fame.

[Pro Libertate]

No, it's not. Which makes it all the weaker.

There's nothing wrong per se in being known for a relation like that, it's just that it was so obsessively focused on.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....-for-days/

Old man survives!

[Matrix]

I may want to live forever, but I really don't look forward to getting old.

[Lord Humungus]

U.S. Is Weighing Wide Overhaul of Wiretap Laws
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05.....users.html

The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.

[hamilton]

"Overhaul" never, ever seems to mean "we realize this is fucked up and we are going to try to un-fuck it", does it?

[Matrix]

more like, "we don't believe we are fucking you hard enough, so we are going to try to do so now."

[Jordan]

Most transparent(ly authoritarian) administration ever!

[Rich]

I certainly hope that their overhaul changes that obsolete term "wiretap" to something more 21st Century.

[$park?]

Pervasive monitoring system.

[Palin's Buttplug]

IP tapping was made legal in 2008 and Bush/telcos were given immunity from prosecution for past illegalities in the same bill. Of course, Senator Obama voted for that bill so who really thought that the 4A would ever be the same?

[mad libertarian guy]

BOOOOOOOOOOSCH!

[Bill Dalasio]

This is one of the more idiotic arguments I've heard on this argument. Here's a hint, shriek, telling the telecoms they've either got to defy the government or risk lawsuits, is a bullshit way of managing government policy. It's a sop to the trial lawyers to pretend that you care about protecting privacy. Pass a law forbidding the government from requesting the data. Period. Done.

[sarcasmic]

Setback for gun control lobby as figures reveal homicides have FALLEN over past 30 years

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....tions.html
When a British paper acknowledges this, you know that the liberal agenda is sunk.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

This has been common knowledge to anyone who looked at the data. Why is it just now becoming a set back for these pricks?

[sarcasmic]

Now that it is actually being reported in the mainstream media, "these pricks" can no longer get away with lying about it.

[Teaching Student]

http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....693.story?

"It's unclear whether media coverage is driving the misconception that such violence is up."

.... Right....

[mad libertarian guy]

I'm not sure that this explains it as the media and "these pricks" are the same people.

[deified]

Texas judge spills the beans

[LTC(ret) John]

Commence with the devastatin'!

[a better weapon]

Damn. That looks like the comment of a straw man impersonation that would be written on these comment boards, but lo and behold, a judge is actually saying that shit!

[T]

We don't need to straw man and parody our opponents. They say enough ridiculous shit without our help.

[Ted S.]

Roll that beautiful bean footage.

[mad libertarian guy]

But did he roll that beautiful bean footage?

[Matrix]

talk about rent seeking.

[Jerryskids]

Let's not forget the Colorado legislator who argued in favor of higher taxes on marijuana because if they couldn't raise more revenue, what was the point of legalizing marijuana?

[sarcasmic]

Dutch company starts accepting applications for one-way trip to Mars. 78,000 apply in just two weeks.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....ntest.html

[Tim]

Can I fill one out for you?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Group suicide by kool-aid is so 90's.

[a better weapon]

But only 2 will go on to completely regret it.

[Heedless]

The other 77,998 will use this as a pickup line, so I say net improvement of human welfare.

[Ted S.]

78,000 people who want to get away from their mother-in-law.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....erry-call/

Eh, I can't get too worked up about this. My first thought would have been that it was a hoax too. It's just too weird.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

The interview with the guy who found her is comedy gold.

I knew something was wrong when you have a little pretty white girl running into a black man's arms...something is wrong here. Dead give away, deaddd give away.

[LTC(ret) John]

I heard that on the radio driving home from work yesterday - that was fun. Dude had the whole camera crew and bystander crowd cracking up.

[a better weapon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZcRU0Op5P4

Maybe too soon, maybe inappropriate, but damn this is some funny shit!

[VG Zaytsev]

The dispatcher was being a total dick to the black neighbor that first called 911.

Somehow, the media's buried that part of the call.

[a better weapon]

Didn't catch that at all, obviously since its being buried, what'd the dispatcher say to the neighbor?

[VG Zaytsev]

He was being extremely rude, obviously skeptical that it was legitimate call at all. I would've been sorely tempted to hang up on the fucker, it was that bad.

[Lord Humungus]

Rand Paul Compares Marco Rubio's Immigration Plan To Obamacare
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ran.....at-up-but/

Paul said his aim is to make the bill "strong enough that conservatives, myself included" as well as "conservative Republicans in the House" will vote for it. But, he said, he has some "concerns" based on the language of the bill itself. Summing up the legislation, he said, "you have to have a plan to build a fence. But, you don't have to build a fence. If you don't have a plan to build a fence, then you get a commission. I don't know what happens if the commission doesn't do anything. That's the story of Washington around here."

"To me," Paul continued, "it's a little bit like Obamacare. I hate to bring that up, but 1,800 references to 'the secretary shall at a later date decide things.' We don't write bills around here. We should write the bill. We should write the plan. We should too these things to secure the border whether it be fence, entry, exit, we should write it?not delegate it."

[Joe M]

Paul vs Rubio is the important divide in politics right now.

[a better weapon]

Hill-dawg yesterday and Rubio today. He is really getting into the 2016 field early, isn't he?

[mad libertarian guy]

We don't write bills around here. We should write the bill. We should write the plan. We should too these things to secure the border whether it be fence, entry, exit, we should write it?not delegate it.

Only a rat bagging tea fucker racist would maintain that Congress shouldn't delegate its one fucking job to career bureaucrats.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....pet-hotel/

Mother of the week!

[Brett L]

What? The kids were fine, but they can't be trusted with the dog.

[deified]

President Obama appoints a billionaire tax-cheat to head his Commerce Department.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/.....-part-two#

I guess it's one of those important people who "treat him like a dog."

[LTC(ret) John]

Hey, if it gets a Pritzker out of this state, I am in favor of it.

[Jordan]

Is there anyone in his cabinet who hasn't cheated on his taxes?

[Bobarian]

I don't believe Biden would be capable of cheating on his taxes.

[The Late P Brooks]

refused to let him leave until he agreed to let her perform oral sex.

The horror.

The HORROR.

[sarcasmic]

Here's something you never hear a guy say: "Stop sucking my dick, or I'll call the police!"
-George Carlin

[Tim]

Van Halen is laughing at him.

[Lord Humungus]

Why 3D-Printed Untraceable Guns Could Be Good For America
http://www.forbes.com/sites/pa.....r-america/

Wilson's innovation could thus spark a much-needed re-examination of American gun laws, including the current paradigm of imposing ever-increasing restrictions on millions of honest gun owners in an attempt to stop relatively fewer bad guys from committing gun crimes. By making it harder (if not nearly impossible) for the government to regulate gun possession and transfers, his development could move the government to instead (properly) focus its efforts on punishing gun misuse.

That is why I'm encouraged by the development of 3D-printed guns. Not because I want bad guys committing more gun crimes. But because I hope it sparks some vigorous discussions on deeper themes such as "innocent until proven guilty" and the proper scope of government. If enough people start debating these questions, Cody Wilson will have done America a real service.

[Ted S.]

The problem is that too many people in government want to ban guns outright, 2A be damned.

[Virginian]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....g-payment/

Teachers and cops. Fuck 'em.

[Restoras]

This applies to all Agents of the State.

[Bee Tagger]

Assad's regime is being blamed by some for the internet shut down across Syria. The Syrian government is blaming the lack of internet access on terrorists.

So goes every conversation with my cable provider.

[LTC(ret) John]

Comcast?

[Heedless]

Definitely terrorists.

[Tim]

From 24/7:
The Air Force stripped an unprecedented 17 officers of their authority to control ? and, if necessary, launch ? nuclear missiles after a string of unpublicized failings, including a remarkably dim review of their unit's launch skills. The group's deputy commander said it is suffering "rot" within its ranks.

Not reassuring.

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, no launching nukes, okay?

[John]

The wages of putting PC over bottom line quality.

[Brett L]

Eh. I can see where its hard to take your job seriously at a certain point when there's been no real threat in the duration of your professional career.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has beaten Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the special election for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District.

So Colbert Busch isn't going to better know that district.

[Auric Demonocles]

Colbert has already "Better Known a Governor" with Sanford.

[Virginian]

http://www.timesdispatch.com/n.....08553.html

The Cooch is slashing taxes all over Virginia.

[Lord Humungus]

Words that last
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....that-last/

You, hear me! Give this fire to that old man. Pull the black worm off the bark and give it to the mother. And no spitting in the ashes!

It's an odd little speech. But if you went back 15,000 years and spoke these words to hunter-gatherers in Asia in any one of hundreds of modern languages, there is a chance they would understand at least some of what you were saying.

[Lord Humungus]

Cato: School Funding System Not Broken? It Just Doesn't Work
http://www.cato.org/blog/schoo.....oesnt-work

Last November, the British government "published" a study of its state school system that it had commissioned from the accounting firm Deloitte. Maybe "published" is too strong a word, since there was apparently no press release, no news conference, no effort of any kind to make the public or the media aware of its existence. Perhaps that's because the study found no correlation between spending and achievement in Britain's state schools, and the current government's policy is to increase spending on state schools in an effort to be seen to be doing something.

The sad thing is, the same fundamentally flawed funding systems and dysfunctional political incentives exist in the United States, too? and with much the same effect.

[Matrix]

There's no problem that can't be solved by throwing government money at it.

/progtard

[a better weapon]

We do not claim that the school funding system? is fundamentally flawed, only that there is no correlation at all between the level of per pupil funding and educational outcomes. ?Deloitte

Hahahahaha! Ha! Haha! Haaaaaah. Okay. Now a little context.

Now that's how you begin an article!

[Rich]

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has fixed his widely mocked signature.

Time to start mocking his new signature. Maybe he'll go all the way to block printing or using an "X".

[Ted S.]

They should just put his name on the money in Comic Sans.

[nilecroc]

Why is it people callborganizations like Al-Queada terrorists, but not the U.S. gov, or Syrian, terrorists when tgey perform far more heanous acts.

[LTC(ret) John]

Soemtimes you jsut have to roll with it?

[$park?]

We're the good guys. Terrorists are bad guys, therefore we can't be terrorists.

[nilecroc]

*they

[Alack]

*call organizations

*Al-Qaeda

*heinous

[Bill Dalasio]

Well, you might want to consider the issue of who's targeted. I know equivalency is all the rage. But, we generally don't target our heinous acts at civilians.

[Fool]

http://news.yahoo.com/macho-me.....08826.html

So there's a new study out on people displaying standard masculine features (broad faces, larger bodies, higher aggression) and their chances of surviving a modern war. It turns out that they may no longer have one, as technology has led to a paradigm shift from "biggest melee fighter wins" to "pick the right weapons and take cover," thus allowing other men to survive combat at equal rates.

Wait, does this sound like something?

[Jordan]

Wait, does this sound like something?

Common sense?

[Fool]

Explanations are the bane of dry humor, but it should probably have been clearer: it's the whole "Sam Colt made men equal thing." If ban addicts could be made to agree to the validity of this study and the reasoning behind the conclusion, then they could be asked about guns and women/ weak men. I'm not saying they would be convinced, but the cognitive dissonance would be fun to watch.

[John]

^^THIS^^ Before the invention of firearms the world was ruled by a class of men rich enough and physically gifted enough to spend their lives in martial training. No matter how many fair tails they tell themselves about "shield maidens", a world without firearms is ruled by the most physically gifted with money enough for training and arms.

[Jordan]

Yeah, nobody ever accused gun grabbers of possessing common sense.

[lap83]

-1 Cairo swordsman

[$park?]

You see them warriors from Cairo? They've got curved swords! Curved! Swords!

[Jerryskids]

Call of Duty 4?

[$park?]

The shotgun blast, or spray and pray, approach seems to be catching on.

[Lord Humungus]

some more IAMX - off of his third album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REiODrXaGfM

[a better weapon]

Put some of these videos on my FB. Didn't find any takers. Ideally, I wanted people to thank me for showing them this band just so I could say "Dont thank me, thank Lord Humungus" and then never give an explanation.

Didn't happen. BTW Spit it Out is my favorite so far.

[Lord Humungus]

yeah, I rarely get any takers for the music I post on FB. Of course most of my er, "friends" still listen to the same old punk bands they did 10-15yrs ago.

[T]

Most people step off the merry-go-round by their mid 20s and don't listen to anything new after that except incidental music.

[Lord Humungus]

true that... I honestly find it hard to listen to new music, but I still do, otherwise I would get bored with my current stock.

[mad libertarian guy]

It's a sad state.

I'm constantly looking for new music, so much so that some of what I do find falls between the proverbial cracks where I might not give a particular album/artist the attention it deserves because I'm always flush with something new.

And I'm talking new underground metal.

[robc]

Most people step off the merry-go-round by their mid 20s and don't listen to anything new after that except incidental music.

Its true for me. I mostly listen to the same stuff I was listening to in the mid 90s.

I didnt want it to be that way, but, eh, it happened.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Meh. It's not my cup of tea. Both the music and vocals are overwrought. Your stuff is better Lord Humungus.

[Rich]

John Bolton: Benghazi could bring down Obama administration

Committee staffers have hinted that the witnesses' statements are going to prove "devastating," especially for then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Good thing Hillary's not part of the Obama administration, eh?

[db]

If it gets too bad, it'll come out that Obama really fired her, but for the sake of discretion she was allowed to gracefully resign. Because he was very disappointed and takes full responsibility.

[Rich]

Too late.

Hillary already took responsibility.

[John]

"What difference does it make?" is an odd way of taking responsibility. And has she taken responsibility for intimidating and hiding witnesses and lying to Congress?

[Stilgar]

@John - inhaling faux news and bolton are we? Perhaps read her whole statement so it is in context.

This is going to be another Rebumblican sideshow which does nothing more than remind people why they should not relect them.

Where were these secret witnesses before? Why were they not in front of cameras clamoring to speak during the original investigation?

And what of the testimony of former darling General P? Guess the R's can conveniently sweep the former DCI under the rug too.

And what is still a mystery is why the Ambassador went there in the first place. For that you need declassification, unless you believe he was lured in by his gay lover, another Republican talking point.

[Rich]

C+.

[Enough About Palin]

You grade on a generous curve, Rich.

[John]

I see the sockpuppets have been given their talking points.

The witnesses were not there because the DOS hide them and told them not to talk.

And Petereus g/f said in a speech right after Bengazi that there was a CIA prison there. Now where would she have gotten that idea?

And yeah, I would like to know why the Ambassador was there too. And yes, the Administration is using the shield of classification to cover up something very embarrassing here. No kidding.

And you need to be sure to mention "Faux News" at least twice in every sock puppet post. Didn't you read the memo this morning?

[wareagle]

Where were these secret witnesses before? Why were they not in front of cameras clamoring to speak during the original investigation?

gee, I don't know. Could it be that these career civil servants were warned about potential fallout from testimony?

If you are the new tony, I am highly disappointed in the low caliber troll we're getting around here.

[Pro Libertate]

And, of course, they knew they had to lawyer up.

Career bureaucrats don't casually end their careers. With multiple ones coming forward, there's clearly a real scandal. It's pathetic of partisans to try to spin out of this one, since people may be dead because of the actions of senior administration officials, probably including the president himself. And it stinks to high heaven of a cover-up, too.

I don't care whether it's a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian, whatever. If they do wrong, they've got to go. It would ever so nice if people would impose even the most minimal standards on politicians, even on their team. Morals, ethics, competence--what are those again?

[T]

Truthfully, ProL, I'd settle for competence right now. I'd rather a competent scumbag than than incompetent fools, bumblers, and jackanapes we have now.

And while I'm wishing, I want a pony and a million dollars.

[Pro Libertate]

The problem with competence without morals and ethics is that that competence isn't used for our benefit. Nor is DC set up to make things work when politicians pursue their own self-interest, which is one of the reasons we're becoming more and more like a banana republic.

[John]

What Pro said. Here is the thing. An American ambassador and three other Americans died at the hands of foreign insurgents. Yet, here we are nine months later and we have no idea who did it, why they did it, or any kind of assessment of why it happened and what if anything could have been done to prevent it and what lessons should be learned going forward.

That is not partisan. That is part and parcel to clean, honest, government. Sorry, but when one of your ambassadors is killed, you owe the American public an explanation of what happened, who if anyone was responsible, and what you plan to do to prevent it in the future.

[Enough About Palin]

"Sorry, but when one of your ambassadors is killed, you owe the American public an explanation of what happened, who if anyone was responsible, and what you plan to do to prevent it in the future."

It was a spontaneous riot over a YouTube video. The FILMMAKER is responsible, and he was arrested and jailed. We can prevent future incidents by preemptively locking up all filmmakers.

[a better weapon]

Biden is going to devastate her in a 2016 primary debate when he perfectly inserts that line into a back and forth between them.

I'm looking forward to the soundbite.

Hillary: It's important for the American people to know how that their president won't [insert Biden F-up here] like you did when you were VP.

Biden: What difference, at this point, does it make! *Biiiiig fucking smirk*

Hillary:......

[John]

That is the thing, it is not just Republicans who have a reason to whack Hillary. There are other Democrats like Biden and Cuomo who think they have a shot at the nomination in 2016. And they have every reason to want Hillary to take the blame and go down.

[VG Zaytsev]

Everyone seems to have forgotten that lots of elected democrats hate Hillary and plenty of D voters don't like her either.

There's a reason why a one term Senator stole her coronation in 08.

[Brett L]

Surely that's the day when she kicks his fucking teeth down his throat on national TV and wins the Presidency.

[Matrix]

Libs won't care. They will still give her solid support in 2016.

[Rich]

I do *so* look forward to the GOP ads repeating "What difference ...?"

[Tim]

"That's an old story. WHy bring it up now?"

[wareagle]

all together now: at this point, what difference does it make?

[Rich]

Perhaps Hillary will counter with an ad saying "What difference, at this point, does saying 'What difference, at this point, does it make?' make?"

[John]

That line is going to haunt her forever. There is nothing worse in politics than a short pithy line that sums up the case against you. Right after she said it liberals tried to spin it as this great line. Talk about delusional.

[Rich]

Yep. Her legacy.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

But '"What difference, at this point, does saying "What difference, at this point does saying 'What difference, at this point, does it make?' make?" make?"'

[JW]

If they had only called her at 3 AM, with the information of the imminent terrorist attack, all of this could have been avoided.

[NoVAHockey]

Gerry Connolly was on the radio this morning. what an asshole. I think he used "witch-hunt" about 10 times.

[Bill Dalasio]

Does that make Hilary a witch?

[Ice Nine]

Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has beaten Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the special election for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District.

Wonder what her brother is going to do now with all the unfunny snark jokes he had ready for when she won?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Fall back on his unlimited supply of unfunny snark jokes on other topics.

[John]

Jon Stewart when he is not being a hack can actually be funny. I have yet to see a single instance of Colbert ever being funny.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Right, and who is that lone conservative comedian you do find funny?

Dennis Miller? Is he the one? Yeah, what a comedian.

[John]

What are you even talking about dipshit?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Name a comedian you like, you whackjob. 99% of them are liberal.

[John]

So what? Colbert doesn't suck because he is liberal, he sucks because he is not funny.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Shriek mad! Shriek like Colbert. Nobody insult Shriek's Colbert!!!!

[Zeb]

I think he's funny. Though I've only seen the show a few times and I imagine it could get old if you aren't a total team blue partisan.

[John]

Maybe I haven't watched enough of it. Stewart can be funny. There is no denying that. But I have never seen Colbert do anything that was funny. But I admittedly have a small sample.

[Zeb]

You're probably not missing too much. I think he does a very clever parody of an over the top Bill O'Reilly type TV gasbag. It does get old when you figure out that it is just reflexive parody of anything perceived as conservative or Republican, though. If everything weren't so idiotically partisan and they complemented Colbert with a similar parody of some MSNBC host or something it would be better.

[John]

That is what I thought. After the 08 election, Colbert should have switched and become an over the top parody of the Obama media. But doing that would have meant that he was actually interested in making fun of the powerful and ridiculing the worst tendencies of the media rather than just shilling for his team.

[Palin's Buttplug]

John lacks aesthetic distance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesthetic_distance

That is why he doesn't get Colbert.

[John]

Yeah, Shreek, I don't get Colbert, from the guy who thinks that Colbert is actually "attacking Obama". Wow.

[Stormy Dragon]

I find Colbert way funnier than Stewart myself. My favorite Colbert bits tend to be his "long con" jokes that take months to fully unfurl, like the time he ended up getting his portrait in the Smithsonian. I also thought the whole "Colbert Superpac" saga was hilarious, although not for the reasons Colbert likely intended (instead of showing why we need more campaign finance, I thought it demonstrating how arbitrary and silly attempts to distinguish "legitimate" and "non-legitimate" politcal speech end up being, while at the same time demonstrating how vacuous most political campaigning ends up being.)

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Colbert has times that he is funny, but I much preferred him when he was on the DS. A half hour of him is too much.

[Pro Libertate]

Good political humor is about attacking power, not wallowing in it.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Colbert attacks Obama on each show. He even questions his legitimacy as POTUS.

[John]

Colbert attacks Obama on each show. He even questions his legitimacy as POTUS.

And Shreek shows that he is totally incapable of understanding irony. He doesn't mean those words literally Shreek. He is playing a part and saying them as a way of presenting a straw man and to discredit Obama's critics.

Oh never mind.

[db]

You realize, John, that you just described Shriek itself to a tee.

[Jerryskids]

You might be surprised at the number of people who think Colbert seriously is a conservative.

I haven't watched Stewart in a while since he became so reflexively liberal and so obviously incapable of criticizing Obama from the right, but Stewart seemed to take the top stories of the day and find a way to make a witty comment on them whereas Colbert seemed to take a funny comment and find a story to make it fit. IOW - Stewart was more interested in the story than being funny and Colbert was the opposite.

[Azathoth!!]

Colbert attacks Obama on each show. He even questions his legitimacy as POTUS.

It is just so incredibly creepy that PB doesn't appear to realize that this is the joke. You start to wonder, maybe there's some brain damage, maybe we should find out who his caregiver is and make sure he's alright--because there's just no way that a person with this level of cluelessness can't be a danger to himself if left unsupervised.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Colbert and Will Ferrell are a lot alike as comedians. Their stuff is pretty amusing in small doses, but they're such one-trick ponies that their act gets tedious once they're onscreen for more than 10 minutes.

[John]

That is a good description of Ferrell. On SNL, he could be very funny. He is very funny when he does small almost cameo parts in movies like he did in Starsky and Hutch. But a whole movie of him is tough to take.

[$park?]

Tell them anyway.

[robc]

So after reports of naked women on leashes, the police knock on the door and go away.

But report that you saw a plant that kinda sorta looks like marijuana, and they go full SWAT.

[robc]

Castro owes $2,501.01 in back taxes and last paid real estate taxes in 2010.

The two-story house with a basement is valued at $36,100

What is the freakin property tax rate in Cleveland?

[Dr. Frankenstein]

I find wealth taxes stupid enough (sorry Georgists) but taxing wealth when it doesn't really exist is even dumber.

[robc]

Georgists dont believe in taxing wealth, George was very specific in believing production shouldnt be taxed.

That is why he favored a Single Land Tax over Property taxes and any other tax.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

When you are taxing the land someone owns it is a form of wealth tax even if it is a flat wealth tax.

[Stormy Dragon]

IIRC, they aren't taxing the land; they're charging a fee for the service of protecting your land for you.

[ant1sthenes]

Do they believe in land ownership, morally? I thought they were treating ownership as a utilitarian institution (like some people do with IP) that prevented the tragedy of the commons, but since no one actually has a better claim on land than anyone else, the taxes were paying off everyone who didn't get the land despite having just as much right to it.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well that might be related to a kinky sex life, and the only place that we should keep government from is the bedroom.

[CE]

Cleveland's finest somehow missed this:

http://news.yahoo.com/police-a.....19324.html

[mad libertarian guy]

Ah yaaaa yaaaaa ya ya yaaaa . . .

A little bit of everything. Heavy death growls and raging guitars to sensitive acoustic strumming, "Ghost of Perdition" is the perfect opening track to their 7th studio album Ghost Reveries from 2005. It runs the gamut of what Opeth has to offer. It helps to create the kind of listener it wants for the remainder of the album by exposing them to the extremes of what they play and giving them a glimpse of what the rest of the album will entail. Unfortunately, it is the last of their great albums, but great it is.

[John]

If the Dems can't win in places like South Carolina 1, they are not taking back the House. So how is that gun control bender working out for ya?

[Virginian]

Eh, SC-1 is not exactly a swing district. It's pretty solid red.

I don't think the special election has any broader message. One joke candidate beat another joke candidate.

[John]

It is not a swing district, but it was only 52-48 in 2008. It is the district that the Dems can be competitive in in years they take the House.

[Virginian]

2008 was a Dem wave year, and they still didn't take it.

SC-1 is not the reddest district in the country, but it would take a Dem wave year plus a weak GOP candidate and a strong Dem to take it.

This is a safe GOP seat.

[0x90]

There's an article I really want to read, but I don't dare, because if I do it's highly likely the police will arrest me and try to have me imprisoned.

[...]

Yet even reading Inspire with the sole motivation of learning about the mindset and idiocy of Islamists is punishable by imprisonment, as Ruksana Begum discovered last year.

This London-based 22-year-old qualified accountant was jailed for 12 months for having two issues of Inspire on the memory card in her phone, even though the court accepted that "she was not involved in terrorism", that "she is of good behaviour", and that she only downloaded Inspire to "explore and understand" what drives young Muslim men, including two of her brothers, to embrace the jihadi way of life.

That is, she was jailed for one year for reading a magazine. In Britain. In the 21st century.

Link

[John]

This is sad but unsurprising. When you think about it, how is this conceptually any different than child pornography possession?

[0x90]

It's quite different; the analog would be more along the lines of being convicted not of possession of child porn, but of instructions on how to operate a camera.

[John]

No it is a perfect analogy. Making the child pornography is the harm just like blowing shit up is the harm in terrorism. IN both cases, someone is arrested for having material that indicates the thought crime of supporting such harm.

[0x90]

I understand the thoughtcrime aspect; the point is that with porn, the materials are inherently related to the crime. The language of this statute contains no such requirement, specifically stating that the materials need only be "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism."

That is a very big difference.

[John]

That makes it more analogous. The crime is the thought of supporting terrorism just like the crime of possessing CP is the thought of thinking lustfully about children.

[0x90]

No, the crime is not your thought of supporting terrorism; it is, as the law states, the possession of materials likely to be useful to a person supporting terrorism.

Download this.

Congratulations: depending solely upon the state's opinion, you have just brought yourself under suspicion.

[John]

it is, as the law states, the possession of materials likely to be useful to a person supporting terrorism.

But why is that a crime? You haven't acted on it? It is the thought crime of having it and thinking those thoughts.

[0x90]

It is the thought crime of having it and thinking those thoughts.

[John]

It is the thought crime of having it. Just like having child porn is the thought crime of having it. They don't have to prove you bought it or even used it for lustful purposes. Possession for any reason is enough.

[Heedless]

Also, are they planning to arrest everyone who ever takes an organic chemistry course?

[0x90]

You don't use such tools to arrest everyone, you use them to arrest anyone.

[Matrix]

Well, having Inspire is not like CP at all.

Making illegal the possession of CP is like possession of drugs. Authorities believe that if you get rid of the demand by jailing those who possess it, it will eliminate the trade of those who produce it. It is completely faulty logic, but it helps them sleep better at night.

As far as imprisoning people who read Inspire. It would be like imprisoning someone in WWII America for possessing Mein Kampf.

[John]

Authorities also believe that looking at the CP re-victimizes the child. It is not just about killing demand. If it was, it matter if you bought the stuff or not. Finding it on the side of the road and keeping it is just as much of a crime as buying it. So the "get rid of demand" is not totally what is going on.

The theory is that possessing and looking at the stuff is victimizing the child in it. It is the same thing here. Having that magazine makes you, by virtue of your thoughts part of this deviant group.

[oncogenesis]

Shut the fuck up.

[Ice Nine]

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has fixed his widely mocked signature.

I think it would be fitting if he kept his coil signature on currency notes and progressively stretched it out about every six months.

[Rich]

Seconded.

Also, if he hasn't "fixed" his signature everywhere, I trust he will busted for forgery.

[Rich]

*be*

Out.

[Stormy Dragon]

Why? Nothing says you can't have more than one signature. It's only forgery if you try to make someone else's signature.

[mad libertarian guy]

Summer is miles and miles away . . .

Hailing from Sweden, the idea of summer being "miles and miles away" is a very depressing thought as one sits in the darkness of a far north winter.

[Marshall Gill]

The three women who were held captive in a house in Cleveland, Ohio for about a decade have begun speaking to investigators about their ordeal.

They will never take Warty alive!!

[Arnold Rimmer]

Jesus Christ, Warty has two brothers.

[John]

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....crock-pot/

I am seeing less and less reasonable case for late term abortions not being infanticide. Plan B, first trimester, sure. But late term?

[Palin's Buttplug]

They ARE infanticide. Legal, of course. They are not murder though.

[John]

Infanticide is murder.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Like all homicides are murder? Aren't you a legal intern of some type?

[lap83]

infanticide is illegal.

[Palin's Buttplug]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anencephaly

Such infants are routinely euthanized. That is infanticide.

[Azathoth!!]

Not one word about euthanization in the entire piece.

[wareagle]

i'm pretty sure when you add the -cide suffix onto anything, it means deliberate killing. That's why the pro-choice community does backflips trying to rationalize and justify late term.

[lap83]

I am pretty sure they would rationalize toddlercide if it helped the feminism movement.

[Enough About Palin]

If feminists could get pregnant, late-term abortion would be a sacrament.

[Zeb]

Homicide includes unintentional killing. It just means killing another person. Involuntary manslaughter and justifiable killing are homicide too.

[Rasilio]

Yes but deliberate killing is not necessarily murder as murder is defined as illegal killing.

So infanticide is only murder when it is proscribed by law.

[John]

http://www.americanthinker.com.....ament.html

Really interesting article on Phillip K. Dick. In addition to pointing out that Dick, not his mainstream sci fi author contemporaries, actually saw the future and impact technology would have on the human race, it contains this interesting tidbit

In the early70s, he had a religious epiphany in which he was enveloped by a light of overwhelming intensity (he compared it to "a pink laser beam"), that imprinted a vast amount of information on his brain. Very druggie, and very California. ...except for the fact that much of information, dealing with things he could not have known, such as details about his publishers bilking him and his agent jerking him around, proved to be completely correct. Utilizing this supernormal windfall, Dick got himself straightened out and got his career back on track.

[Lord Humungus]

I posted this a few days ago... not that I mind since I'm a PKD fan.

[John]

I am not a sci fi guy really. So, I am very much a late comer to Dick. But the more I read him the more I think he is by far the most underrated author of the 20th Century I know of and might be the best American author period.

[sarcasmic]

I am very much a late comer to Dick.

You don't say!

[John]

I thought this was a libertarian site. We can't be honest here? 😉

[db]

Sounds like all the signs were there and his unconscious was trying to point them out to him. Perhaps he was too dense to see he was being cheated until it "came to him in a dream."

[Ken Shultz]

The way things are goin' the Pens are gonna be eliminated by the Islanders!

It was just last season that Nabokov and others were refusing to report after they were picked up on waivers--because they were so bad!

Not taking anything away from the Islanders' offense, but the real story here is Pittsburgh's defense. It's practically non-existent.

And it isn't Fleury's fault, either. He's not getting any support from his defenders. The Islanders are built for the playoffs (who'd a thunk it?), and the Pens just aren't!) The Islanders are doing in the East what the Blues are doing in the West. The playoffs are always about special teams and defense.

P.S. Special teams and defense.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm sure "The Great" Sidney Crosby can have a good little cry.

[Auric Demonocles]

Ignla too. Fuck that guy.

[NoVAHockey]

If the Pens decide to play as a team and Malkin and Letang get their head of their asses they'll win. If they don't. they won't. and Fleury will make a great, tough stop and then shit the bed.

[db]

The Islanders have them off their game. How, I don't know, but they have managed to break down the Pens' ability to clear the zone while being superior at defense themselves. I don't know if it's just that they have great matchups or a strategy that allows them to use their assets better. Plus they have managed to draw plenty of stupid penalties while getting called very little tgenselves. They're frustrating the Pens to death.

[NoVAHockey]

they shouldn't be frustrated. they've scored 5, 3, 4, and 4. that's enough to win. that's enough to be up 3-1 in the series.

[db]

That's what I told Dr. Girlfriend last night when she was sulking after the Pens loss. Four goals is plenty. The Pens' defense needs to solve the Islanders' rapid offense.

I would not be surprused at all to see Vokoun in net on Thursday after some of the softies Fleury let in last night though.

[NoVAHockey]

Vokoun should start. Fluery looked shell-shocked last night. what's the worse Vokoun could do? give up 6?

[John]

http://www.gallup.com/poll/162.....SQ.twitter

Americans really don't give a shit about immigration reform or gun control and would prefer to worry about the economy. Progs and open boarders libertarians shocked at the lack of love shown to their sacred cows.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, we don't care enough about it not to reelect a total economic incompetent to office.

[Auric Demonocles]

But dude, why do you want women in rape camps with no access to birth control and the requirement to pay for their own forced maternity care?

[Pro Libertate]

It amazes me that people see this economy and vote for anything other than someone besides those who helped usher it in.

[Auric Demonocles]

Why are you looking at the economy when there are rape camps and women forced into arranged marriages and forbidden from working because of their gender?

[Pro Libertate]

The reality-based community wins again!

[Auric Demonocles]

You should be sent to Kahncentration Kamp.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm still working through Episode 10, "The Khanstitution," where Kirk tries to explain the concept of limited government to Khan.

[Auric Demonocles]

Superior governments don't have these pathetic limitations.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, exactly. Kirk just can't get past that with Khan. It's all resolved when, after Kirk has given up, Khan sees the old "School House Rock" bits on government. Then he understands that it's a system for the genetically inferior.

[John]

+1000 It does seem a bit late doesn't it?

[Stormy Dragon]

Most Americans don't care about high taxes on the rich, government surveillance, indefinite detention without trial, or drug legalization either. Why should we limit our political concerns to what statist sheep care about?

[Virginian]

http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/f.....omen-lose/

The butthurt is strong.

[Auric Demonocles]

"Male ED rates skyrocket; women and minorities hardest hit."

[db]

Rigidly construed, your comment makes no sense.

[John]

The bitching about Sanford leaving his wife drives me crazy. I thought liberals wanted the government out of your bedroom? Since when is it anyone's business who Sanford wants to be married to?

[CE]

When Team Blue cheats, they're living their lives as free adults. When Team Red cheats, they're being hypocrites.

[Hyperion]

Philandering Rethuglican gets South American chick and congressional win.

Hypocritical proglodytes tear out own hair, whine about family values(LMAO!), and cry delicious proggie tears.

Bwaahhahahhhaa!

That made my morning coffee taste twice as good, it's much better with proglodyte tears.

[Virginian]

http://tinyurl.com/brhefud
Burn.

[Warty]

Shouldn't she be showing us her tits again? Shut up, fat girl, you're good for one thing.

[Warty]

Remember how the Cleveland hero is a goofy black guy, who has fucked-up teeth and obviously has hit a crack pipe or two? Remember how you laughed at his incredible 911 call ("Check this out, bro! I go to McDonalds! I'm eatin' my McDonalds!") and his equally great interviews? Well, you're racist.

[John]

You are always a racist Warty. You just think because you can view a black man as a human being and appreciate both his foibles and his nobility as a human being that means you are not a racist. Well that is just your white privilege talking. How dare you relate to a black man as anything but a victim, a noble suffering black man or a race traitor.

Got that. You racist monster.

[Pro Libertate]

Wait, what?

What I'd like to see is a Charlie Murphy story about him and this guy, who is fucking awesome.

[John]

It is guys like him that are why I generally get along with black people on a casual basis than white people. White people are too damned uptight. And black people are friendlier usually.

[Warty]

I hang out with a lot of black dudes, and you are right. White people are boring and uncoordinated. Black people aren't as afraid to be as goofy as they want to be, and plus, they're way more agile. Even if they are dirty and inarticulate most of the time, right?

[sarcasmic]

Q: What's the longest word in a black dude's vocabulary?

A: Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-it!

Q: What's the shortest word in a black dude's vocabulary?

A: Mufucker!

[Joe M]

They really are.

[John]

Here is the thing, I would rather have my car break down and need help in the worst black neighborhood than a good white neighborhood. In a black neighborhood someone will come out and help you every time. In a white neighborhood people will rarely help you and they are often so paranoid they are liable to call the cops, even on a respectable looking white person like me.

I think part of it is that black people are many times just a couple of generations removed from the rural South. The great migration was only 80 years ago. And as a result, they retain a lot of the friendliness and gentility that northern whites just don't have.

[Joe M]

That's probably more of a north/south thing than a black/white thing. When I visited NYC years ago I hated it because: 1) the city literally stinks and 2) everyone is rude.

[John]

I find the black people in New York to be very friendly. It is the white people who suck. The people in Harlem are a hell of a lot nicer than the assholes pushing prams on the upper east side.

[sarcasmic]

That's a New England thing. White people in the Mid West are much nicer and helpful than snobby New Englanders.

[John]

True. And it is also a suburban thing. White suburbanites can be paranoid and cold.

[lap83]

Yeah, I was gonna say..no one's car stays stranded in the midwest for very long, if for no other reason than at least half of male bonding that occurs here involves talking about cars.

[Ken Shultz]

I found that sometimes, when I thought New Yorkers were being rude to me, it turned out that I was being rude to them and didn't realize it.

I didn't realize there was a left and right pedestrian lanes on the sidewalk, and I was walking on the wrong side.

Don't get in line at the deli if you don't know what you want. There are people in line behind you, and they don't have time to wait for you. The people working the deli don't have time to talk to you about your decision either.

Don't set stuff down next to you on the escalator. You're taking up a space, and people need that space to stand.

People yelled at me, gave me elbows, etc., and I thought they were being rude--turned out I was the jackass.

[Hyperion]

Here is the thing, I would rather have my car break down and need help in the worst black neighborhood than a good white neighborhood

I dunno about that John. When I am driving through bad neighborhoods in Balmer, I'm almost afraid to stop at traffic lights, fuck the thought of breaking down. I guess it has something to do with menacing looking bands of hoodie wearing thugs walking into the road and screaming obscenities at passing traffic.

But I agree about whitey. Unless you are in the south, if you break down in a predominately white neighborhood, no one would stop to help if you were bleeding to death in the middle of the road, more like they would run over you.

[sarcasmic]

I think of some of the black neighborhoods I knew in Denver, and no way would I want to break down there. There worse things than being ignored.

[Gbob]

After playing on a city golf course a number of years back, and put with a group of black golfers, I decided I'm never going play golf with white people ever again.

City courses suck, but I have the best god damn time with the company I hang around with. Screw those uptight suburbanites. Golf in the city is a million times better and friendlier.

[Joe M]

"I have a feeling half the ppl who say 'Oooh I love watching him on the internet!' would turn away if they saw him on the street," the writer Sarah Kendzior tweeted.

Yeah, but I do that with everyone.

[Warty]

He has fucked-up teeth and he looks like he smells bad. You would run screaming if you came within 50 yards of him, Sarah Kendizor.

[Auric Demonocles]

I love watching him on TV because he is crazy, not because I want to be friends with him.

[Joe M]

Don't get too excited yet, but Rand Paul has a huge lead in Iowa in early polling.

Among voters who said they usually took part in the Republican presidential caucuses, 39 percent said they would vote for Paul if the caucuses were held today. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was in a distant second place with 20 percent. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was at 11 percent, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was at 10 percent, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was tied with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at three percent.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'll be in my bunk, as meaningless as this is.

[Hyperion]

Yeah, but I would love to see Rand get the nomination.

Why? So we could watch McCain whine and cry and come out to endorse the Dem candidate. When he does that, hopefully that will finally be what it takes to get his ass primaried and sent out to pasture where he belongs.

That would be a huge win for all of us.

[CE]

If Rand Paul is nominated, the same thing will happen that would have happened if Ron Paul had been nominated: the neocons who warned everyone about wasting their vote if Ron Paul accepted a third party nomination will put together a Bloomberg/McCain/Giuliani-type "maverick" authoritarian power mad neocon candidate with very little in the way of conservative credentials as their own independent candidate, while Hannity/Limbaugh/Beck etc. will rally the base behind the new "responsible" savior of the right.

[Joe M]

I'm not so sure about that. Beck, at least, would be very sympathetic to a Rand Paul candidacy. Limbaugh was supportive of the filibuster. Hannity is a moron, so who knows with him.

[CE]

So Iowa and New Hampshire are in the bag. Good luck in South Carolina and Florida though.

[Enough About Palin]

Had to re-install Chrome. Where do I go to download Reasonable? I always forget.

[Joe M]

Click the top right drop down button, go to settings, click extensions on the left bar, then get more extensions, search for reasonable.

[#HOLO YOLO]

That works, but it's more straightforward to open a new tab and click "Chrome Web Store"

[Rasilio]

"According to the Pentagon unreported incidents of sexual assault in the military have increased 35 percent over two years."

So how the hell would they know this?

I mean if the rapes are unreported that means they have no metrics or have to be using some form of proxy metric but I see no mention of what those metrics could be nor any evaluation as to why they would be accurate.

[John]

Those reports drive me nuts. They also assume every reported sex crime actually happened. They will write something like "only X% of allegations of sex assaults results in prosecution" implying that the military is ignoring these cases when the reality is that only a small percentage of cases are both true and can be proven in a court of law. Basically, these people will not be satisfied by anything short of immediately sending any man accused of a sex assault to jail on the basis of the allegation alone.

[Hyperion]

these people will not be satisfied by anything short of immediately sending any man accused of a sex assault to jail on the basis of the allegation alone

It's for the children, John. Why do you hate the children?

[Stormy Dragon]

Rumsfeld put billions of dollars into a program to measure unknown unknowns.

[wingnutx]

We *know* that the military is full of rapists, so if there are not enough reported rapes to support this knowledge then they must be unreported.

Voila!

[Joe M]

Someone posted a link to some nonsensical blatherings yesterday about the third abducted Cleveland girl, Michele Knight, saying she wasn't being talked about because she was probably black. She's white.

[Joe M]

Ah, found it. It was Coeus, of course, linking to this at Jezebel.

[Stormy Dragon]

In reality it's because she disappeared as an adult instead of as a child, was suffering from a mental disorder and had just lost a child custody case, so it wasn't clear that she hadn't just left rather than being kidnapped.

[cavalier973]

The effects of war.

[Bruce Majors]

I'm getting gay married and then cheating on my husband with Ricky Martin before I run for Congress again.

Though since I'm running as a Libertarian I guess everyone will just expect that.

[Ken Shultz]

"Playoff hockey is the best"

It's like a totally different sport than the regular season.

[John]

It really is. That is both good and bad. It is good in the sense that the hockey playoffs are always interesting and unpredictable, unlike the NBA playoffs where upsets almost never happen. The bad is that NHL regular season is by far the most meaningless exercise in professional sports.

[John]

I did too. Who watches hockey in November when football is hitting its peak? They would be better off to start the season the week after Christmas with the New Year's Day outdoor games as the showcase to start the season. then have a two and half month compressed season and get on to the playoffs.

[Auric Demonocles]

This year in particular. There are 48 games this year, but up to 28 in the playoffs.

[Ken Shultz]

"The bad is that NHL regular season is by far the most meaningless exercise in professional sports."

At least in Hockey, there's usually some question as to who's in or out of the playoffs right up until the last week of the regular season.

The other thing that makes hockey fun to watch all season long is that in hockey, the players that don't care whether they win? Are very few.

I have a hard time watching basketball and baseball because a lot of the time, the players don't care if they win. I stopped watching basketball completely after that year Kobe refused to pass the ball to Shaq in the final game of the championship--they stopped covering Shaq in the paint once they realized Kobe refused to pass to him!

Why am I supposed to care if my team wins--if the players themselves don't care if they win? That I understand.

There are a few people like that in the NHL, but they're the exception, and they usually don't last very long.

But, hell, I'll go watch junior league hockey. I used to watch the Long Beach Ice Dogs, and I've gone to see the Sin City Wranglers, too. I don't know if it's the Canadian outlook on life or what it is. But those guys play all the time like...

In the West, I used to always root for Shane Done like that, even when he was playing against the Kings (my second/West coast team). That guy's been bringin' it every play in every game in Phoenix for years--and he's only played a handful of meaningful games in his career.

[Auric Demonocles]

I heard that this may have been a factor in dragging on the lockout. Owners, especially southern owners, weren't losing much revenue the first couple of months while football (both NFL and college) were going.

[John]

And the answer to my question is of course Canadians. The NHL I am sure makes big money in Canada in November.

[Auric Demonocles]

Oh, for sure. But that doesn't help the teams in Florida or Texas much.

[NoVAHockey]

Doesn't the NHL rely more on ticket/concession sales than other sports?

[Ken Shultz]

Shane Doan

[Auric Demonocles]

One of the great things about the NFL's 16 game schedule is that the last game is always meaningful to a bunch of teams.

[John]

The NHL's biggest asset is its players. They are a hundred times easier to relate to than most NFL or NBA or MLB players. If the NHL were smart, they would be doing more shows like the HBO 24/7 on the Caps and Pens a couple of years ago. And they would have them on regular not pay cable. I can't imagine anyone watching those 24/7 shows and not being more of an NHL fan afterwards.

But of course the NHL, being the world's dumbest professional sports league, ensured the shows were on HBO and were not widely seen.

[John]

In the minor leagues there are some guys who have NHL level skating and puck handling skills. They are just usually guys who are too small to make the NHL. In minor league hockey you will see a lot of guys who you think "man if that guy were only five inches taller and bigger, he would be making millions".

[Ken Shultz]

Well, in the junior leagues is where you learn to play hockey.

There are lots of hot prospects that never make it out of the juniors, and plenty of people who don't make it out for years and years

It usually takes three years to learn how to play defense. When you look through the defenders in the NHL, you'll see that a lot of them started in the NHL when they were 27, 28 years old. They got picked up by a team when they were 18 or 19--so it took them eight or nine years to learn how to play defense and then get good enough to make it into the NHL.

That might partially explain whey NHL players play like every shift matters--because the minor system is so extensive, and there are hundreds of prospects out there waiting to take your place. But I think it's more than that because I see guys who have no reason to worry about someone taking their place getting physical in games that don't matter.

It's typical--even on teams that are completely out of the playoffs--that when a team goes three goals up on them, somebody on the team, usually more than one of them, suddenly drops the gloves on that goal. As if they're saying, you may have beat me on the scoreboard, but I'd hate for people to think I was somebody who doesn't care! So, here--have a knuckle sandwich.

Anyway, it's not like I don't watch basketball just because of the homos.