Edward Snowden Gives Another Interview, Clapper in the Crosshairs, Medical Marijuana Closer in D.C.: P.M. Links

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  Credit: Medill DC / Foter.com / CC BY

  PRISM leaker Edward Snowden has given an interview with the South China Morning Post, saying he would like to remain in Hong Kong if the citizens there will allow it and added, "People who think I made a mistake in picking Hong Kong as a location misunderstand my intentions. I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality." He also claims the United States has been targeting China and Hong Kong with cyberattacks.

• Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) has called for the resignation of James Clapper, director of national intelligence, for making false statements under oath to Congress about the extent that the National Security Agency was collecting data about Americans.  For now, it appears President Barack Obama's administration is standing behind him.
• Washington, D.C., is inching closer to opening medical marijuana dispensaries. Residents may now apply for medical marijuana cards for certain illinesses.
• Thanks to fracking, the United States has seen its largest single-year increase in oil production it has ever recorded.
• We guess some folks do actually miss him: George W. Bush's approval rating has turned positive for the first time since 2005.
• An Ohio animal control officer responded to a family's call about feral cats living in their yard by shooting five kittens on the spot, while children watched.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Washington, D.C., is inching closer to opening medical marijuana dispensaries.

It's. A. Trap.

[Let Me Ride]

I don't know if you realize this, Fistula, but libertarianism and feudalism are the same thing.

Consider yourself enlightened, you Snowden-worshipping twat.

[Tonio]

"Fistula." Heh.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why the hell do you think this land owner supports libertarianism? Rebranding is the only hope to return to those glorious days.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Also, no hop-ons.

[Dagny T.]

You're gonna get some hop-ons.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

+1 stair car

[fish]

Yeah...from a site proposing the next "New Deal"....with supporting statements like "EJ Dionne agrees." ....wow...! Really? E.J. Dionne?

Color me unconvinced.

[Enough About Palin]

E.J. Dionne? Color me?

RACIST!!!

[fish]

Off white...okay light gray is racist now? This is as bad as the terrorism level warning color chart.

Are we still at Threat Level Boehner?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I'm sure the author doesn't consider the irony of a massive, overextended, overscaled, culturally decadent empire devolving into separate regions dominated by warlords to be any sort of comparison to this day and age.

[CE]

So? Serfs in feudal societies paid lower taxes and had more civil liberties than we do now.

[New West Republic]

This is different from property rights in specific things. Picture yourself as a person with a basic right to association, who also owns a wooden stick. You can sell your stick, or break it, or set it on fire. Your rights over the stick are alienable - you don't have the stick anymore once you've done those things. Your rights to the stick are also not fundamental. Given justification, the public could regulate its use (say if it were a big stick turned into a bridge, it may need to meet safety requirements), in a way that the liberal state couldn't regulate freedom of association.

There's so much stupid in just this one paragraph that I couldn't force myself to continue.

[ant1sthenes]

Weird, I think the same thing about progressivism.

[mad libertarian guy]

Perhaps not.

The feds rely heavily on state and local authorities to d their evil deeds outside of the District. They won't have that advantage in DC.

[Matrix]

Fourth Amendment? What Fourth Amendment?
New Jersey law will allow cops to demand your cellphone in a car crash so they can see if you were texting or what-not before the crash.

[Matrix]

ESPN killing 3D broadcast by the end of the year
Not like they had much on there but rebroadcast after rebroadcast. They invested a lot of money to give us a subpar experience and few games worth watching.

[Tonio]

*cough* Novelty *cough*

[DJF]

But hopefully they will still keep smell-o-vision.

[db]

You say that now, but just wait until they tape a smellomitter under Zdeno Chara's pads.

[Fist of Etiquette]

ESPN doesn't know who Zdeno Chara is.

[Episiarch]

They just need to put Hypnotoad back on the air.

[Matrix]

ALL GLORY TO HYPNOTOAD!

[db]

Meh. It kind of fell apart after Season 3.

[Auric Demonocles]

We guess some folks do actually miss him: George W. Bush's approval rating has turned positive for the first time since 2005.

I blame Bush.

[Bobarian]

It's not so much that we miss him, but kind of got schooled on appreciating what you got.

Kind of like missing your ex wife after the new one tries to poison you.

[Brandon]

Kind of like missing your ex wife after the new one tries to poison murder you with a drone-launched Hellfire missile.

[Killazontherun]

You don't miss your water until the well runs dry. And you stop vomiting and shitting yourself from the poison you ingested.

[DJF]

Or are the standards by which we judge presidents just going down?

[fish]

An unbroken downward trend since George Washington.

[DJF]

The more power presidents get the more they use it badly.

[Brett L]

Silent Cal was pretty good.

[Killazontherun]

A Grover man myself, but Harding and Coolidge were good eggs for prezzies.

[fish]

Meh...statistical outliers!

[Let Me Ride]

Grover Cleveland = Greatest. President?. EVAR!

[CE]

Nah, Jefferson was an uptick from Adams, and Jackson from whoever was before him.

[Mickey Rat]

Unless you were a Cherokee.

[Matrix]

Pigs fed GMO grains suffered stomach inflammation at a higher rate than those fed conventional grain

[gaijin]

So what? They aren't being raised for their intact intestinal tracs.

[Tonio]

Pain and suffering matter, Matrix. I don't know how much this increases that. I also hate to throw a bone to the anti-gmo people, but if we ignore evidence we're just as bad as the Team players.

[Zeb]

Indeed. There is no reason to believe that GMO crops could never have any negative effects that were not expected or found in early testing. I just want to see some actual, repeatable evidence of it if I'm going to believe it.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yes and GMO feed strains are different than those designed for human consumption and less rigorously tested. Unless this does damage to the final product I fail to see what the problem is. If it does do damage to the product the pig farmers will be interested in paying for better GMO strains.

[Sy]

I see you ain't had no chitlins befoe'

[Some call me Tim?]

So GMO grains are the debil, and if they are bad for pigs then thy are bad for US!!!111

[Bobarian]

'intact intestinal tracs' are used for sausage and hotdogs, so maybe a little, but unless GMOs are causing them to burst into flames...

Yeah, so what?

[Enough About Palin]

"They aren't being raised for their intact intestinal tracs"

I guess you don't make sausage from scratch.

[rts]

Some criticisms of that study

[gaijin]

Money quote: "there was no statistical difference in stomach inflammation between the pigs fed the two different diets. "

[Apatheist ?_??]

Rofl. And of course maybe the saying this GM feed versus non-GM feed is retarded. It was really one strain of GM feed versus one strain of non-gm feed.

[Brandon]

Fox News Lives Up To Liberal Caricature.

[OldMexican]

Re: Matrix,

Pigs fed GMO grains suffered stomach inflammation at a higher rate than those fed conventional grain

But is the bacon tastier?

[Sam Grove]

I have to wonder about the people doing this study.

Journal of Organic Systems by researchers from Australia

Lead researcher Judy Carman is an epidemiologist and biochemist and director of the Institute of Health and Environmental Research in Adelaide, Australia.

I wonder if they have any bias against GMO food?

I wonder where they found unmodified foods, as just about all are crops have been modified in some way.

[Matrix]

Search is on for naked teen on spiritual quest in Washington State forest
I'm sure there are folks on here who will volunteer.

[NeonCat]

Another victim of gamboling?

[playa manhattan]

19? That's not really a "teen".

[gaijin]

so 19 is actually spelled twenty? or are you confusing 'teen' with jailbait?

[Matrix]

he's probably thinking 13 and 14... those are the only teens for him. Everyone else is probably too old for his tastes.

[Killazontherun]

I blame Earth's gravity. Now if this were Luna, those tits would not start to sag until around 22 or so.

[Brandon]

Actually, most good pairs (Except on the types of women John is rumored to like) stay perky well into the mid-30's if they don't get kids latched onto them.

[Killazontherun]

Wife has a good rack still, but then again, they are kind of on the small side.

[Let Me Ride]

Pics or GTFO

[Killazontherun]

I'm not going down that road again.

[Art Vandelay]

AGAIN!?:!?!?!?!?!?

/Killaz' wife

[playa manhattan]

While I do love a good jailbait joke here and there, the person who is missing is an adult, and to call her a teen is a bit misleading...

[Killazontherun]

Still a teen, dude. Nineteen. Ask her who the Queen of Soul is, and I doubt she could even tell you.

[Brett L]

Does anyone under 30 get Steely Dan references?

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Yes. (I love that song!)

[Killazontherun]

Just hit them up with some tequila and cocaine if you can't make conversation with them; it's all good.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

No one who doesn't get the reference deserves that fine Colombian, Killaz.

[Killazontherun]

For Warty, I take back what I said months ago about whatever a musician has put down in lyrics some poet down the road did better. Steely Dan's lines are just damn excellent as verse or lyric.

[Episiarch]

How many people over 30 get Steely Dan references?

You've been telling me you were a genius since you were 17, Brett, and all the time I've known you I still don't know what you mean.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

"You know what I realized? I'm not meant to be a cop. I am not meant to be a magician's assistant. I was not meant to go to college. I was not meant to donate blood. I am a Babylon Sister, and I was meant to shake it with Steely Dan, motherfuckers!"

[Xenocles]

The Dan's sort of big on this board.

[Killazontherun]

BTW, did you notice my Byrds reference above?

[Killazontherun]

No, no one cares about the Byrds, Clarence.

[CE]

Steely what?

[PapayaSF]

It's the name of a dildo in a Burroughs novel. And some sort of musical group.

[Mickey Rat]

We've seen the last of good King George, raise up your glass to good King Barack!

[Apatheist ?_??]

What age do you think the women in "Teen Porn" are?

[Zeb]

Teen doesn't mean not-adult. It means the age number ends in "teen". That's all it means.

[Virginian]

Exactly. There are many, many, many films available in the back room of your local video store which can attest to this.

[generic Brand]

And even more available in the front room of a Tokyo video store which would back up playa manhattan's point. Not that I would know or anything.

[Dibbler]

As if video rental joints still exist.

[Dagny T.]

You know who else goes on naked "spiritual quests" in Washington State forests??

[Matrix]

OMG! You're right!!! We better find her fast before STEVE SMITH finds her!!

[Brett L]

If she meets STEVE SMITH, it will certainly be a spiritual experience.

[Enough About Palin]

*giggles*

[Bobarian]

STEVE SMITH ON SPIRITUAL QUEST FOR HOT 19 YO.

[Suthenboy]

She was seeking a spiritual state. She probably found it.

Sad.

[Episiarch]

For now, it appears President Barack Obama's administration is standing behind him

Of course they are...for now.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, he does have their phone records and emails.

[Suthenboy]

Yeah, what a shocking development that is.

[CE]

"Cowering" is the verb you're looking for.

[Harlequin]

As the ever-great "Yes, Minister" says, you have to get behind someone before you can stab him in the back...

[Matrix]

Witness who refused to testify because of attacks against him and his family may face life in prison for contempt and obstruction

[Brandon]

Fuck prosecutors. You can't protect your witness, but you want to throw him in prison for refusing to be murdered for his testimony? Worthless assholes, even when they are trying to enforce legitimate laws.

[CE]

Since when is being compelled to testify a legitimate law? What if you don't want to talk?

[Brandon]

Um, I was talking about the child sex-trafficking law, the reason they wanted him to testify in the first place. Compelled testimony is kinda bullshit.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Wouldn't a perjury charge carry a less severe penalty? Just agree to testify, then say you don't remember.

[BigT]

It's been done. See Clinton, Hillary

[Fist of Etiquette]

An Ohio animal control officer responded to a family's call about feral cats living in their yard by shooting five kittens on the spot, while children watched.

That's one hard core animal copper. I wish I was allowed to fire my gun in a residential area.

[Episiarch]

I'm not quite sure what to make of shooting kittens. I mean...kittens? Sure, maybe you shoot Church from Pet Sematary, but...kittens?

[Fist of Etiquette]

What would you do? Drown them in a bucket, you sick bastard?

[Episiarch]

Put them in a sack and throw them in the river. That's the old-fashioned way.

[jesse.in.mb]

Put them in a sack and throw them in the river. That's the old-fashioned way.

A man after my own heart.

[Tonio]

That was unneccessary, Epi. And traditionally done when they were newborn.

[Paul.]

That was unneccessary, Epi. And traditionally done when they were newborn.

This. That way it's more like abortion. Kind of a morning after the morning after thing.

[fish]

That was unneccessary, Epi.

Nonsense....he's in training.....Epi you're going to eaat lightning and crap thunder.....!

But what are you doing to that chicken?

[BigT]

Don't forget the rock, kittens float.

[CE]

You know who else killed cats?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Erwin Schr?dinger.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Maybe.

[PapayaSF]

+1

[Bobarian]

Not if you don't open the box

[Killazontherun]

Just read that book with a cat in heat and sounding oddly human at your window like I did when I was fifteen. Oh, shit, I can still get the shakes thinking about that. still, the odd things that happened a when reading Phillip Dick a few years after that incident. Well, I'm not even prepared to talk about that yet.

[Tonio]

Whatever gives them the quickest and most painless death. Most vets use a sodium pentothal overdose when euthanizing animals, but that may be more expensive than a bullet.

I have mixed emotions about this. She called animal control and they made sure she was aware of the consequences of her actions. And her kids, too. So the state is being brutally honest about its functions and methods.

OTOH, it was kind of a dick move but the kittens probably suffered less than had they ridden around in the truck for hours before being shot back at HQ.

[Fist of Etiquette]

From what I read it wasn't actually in sight of the kids; they just heard the gunshots.

[Paul.]

And the bullets whizzing past them as they were petting the kittens.

[Bobarian]

Just wait until their Mom calls social services about Grandma.

"Really! shes on a farm running and frolicking with the other seniors!"

[fish]

Well my computer display is really messy now...and I don't mean from semen.

[Generic Stranger]

And just what kind of backstop did they have?

Unless it's a life-or-death situation (or at a well designed shooting range), discharging a firearm in a populated area is a bad idea.

[alittlesense]

The animal control officer is a reckless asshole, and you are not much better for siding with him. G-d asshole gives not a crap about the poor kids. What's next? he will probably become a serial killer before he is done, but you just go right on applauding him.

[Matrix]

Cisco plans to double the speed of the Internet
Good. With 4K coming down the line, we'll need it soon. But with increased speeds, we need much higher allotments on data usage.

[Some call me Tim?]

Sounds like a plan by Big Telecom to gouge us on data plans.

[fish]

But with increased speeds, we need much higher allotments on data usage...

And much higher budgets!

/NSA

[Mad Scientist]

Cisco plans to double the speed of the Internet

Teenage girls will retaliate by doubling the number of kitten photos they upload.

[Brett L]

Teenage girls upload selfies. Kitten pix are done by the 25-45 demographic of both sexes.

[Mad Scientist]

Damn, it turns out I AM out of touch with teenage girls.

[Bobarian]

Brett, you sound like the voice of experience.

Do you upload Kittie Pics or stalk teenage girls?

[Hollywood]

Brett is a teenage girl.

[Paul.]

Cisco plans to double the speed of the Internet
Good. With 4K coming down the line, we'll need it soon. But with increased speeds, we need much higher allotments on data usage.

That internet doesn't spy on itself, you know.

[CE]

As if Cisco plans anything.

[gaijin]

for making false statements under oath to Congress

They weren't false statements. The were statements that were not entirely untruthful. See the difference?

[Let Me Ride]

House committee looks into IRS seizure of 60 million medical records

[Tonio]

"the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"

No way around that.

[gaijin]

No way around that.

unless you are a member of the administration apparently.

[BigT]

You can't handle the not entirely untruthful statement!!

[Matrix]

Dad almost goes Liam Neeson in Taken on underage prostitution ring to rescue daughter

Not sure he had a particular set of skills. Just kept looking at Backpage until he could find her. Then sent a friend in to verify it was her before calling the police... I think beating them up or shooting them would have been much more fun.

[Brandon]

How many witnesses will prosecutors jail in this case?

[Generic Stranger]

He missed the chance for an epic rampage.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...George W. Bush's approval rating has turned positive for the first time since 2005.

"Relatively speaking" is the great legacy booster.

[Brandon]

Being Barack Obama's predecessor is the great legacy booster.

[Matrix]

Humans will eventually have "anime eyes" in 100,000 years

[Brandon]

Creepy.

[generic Brand]

So by the time something is completely irrelevant, humans will resemble it. Sure gives a lot of hope for libertarianism, right?

[VG Zaytsev]

In 20,000 years, in a world where genetic engineering is commonplace and humans have established colonies in space, human knowledge of the universe will increase and as such, the size of the brain will increase, Dr. Alan Kwan theorizes. As a result, the human head will have to become larger to accommodate the larger brain size.

Alrighty then.

[Coeus]

Bondage is racist!!! Love the logic here. It's like she thinks slavery started in the 1700s.

[Brett L]

Send up the signal flare! People may be enjoying themselves! Feminist, puritan, call yourself whatever you want.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

It's like she thinks slavery started in the 1700s.

OT, but this just reminded me of some quite nasty arguments I witnessed in high school between Greek-Americans (a lot of them where I grew up) and black people when the Greeks would complain that blacks acted like no one had ever been enslaved before.

[Tonio]

The only thing worse than denying your own atrocities is denying atrocities committed upon others to maintain your own victim status.

[Tonio]

Well, the only sort of slavery which matters to them, anyway (and, yes, I know that slavery came to the future US in the 1600's). You never hear them going on about arabs who were slave traders in Africa, or egyptians enslaving israelites, or israelites enslaving whoever, or vikings enslaving saxons and celts...

[Brett L]

In their defense, it was only once the Pope outlawed white (technically Christian) slavery that slavery became an essentially permanent, heritable, and inescapable sentence. So in that sense sub-Saharan African slavery in the Europe and her colonies was significantly different than previous iterations of slavery that had existed throughout the world.

[Tonio]

It still sucked. Everywhere. Every time.

[Brett L]

Epictetus had it okay.

Not that I'm an apologist, but the difference is, IMO, important between a slaver society in which a slave can buy his or her freedom through a number of channels and a society that assumes any person of a certain look is a slave.

[Xenocles]

If you want to go to the Stoics, we're all slaves.

[ant1sthenes]

But slaves could buy their freedom in the U.S., at least for a while.

[Tonio]

And more to the point, the proggies are fixated on American chattel slavery because there were written records, because they love wealth redistribution (reparations!), and the patiarchy.

[John]

IN fairness, they are Americans and slavery in America is important to America. But what is interesting is that they are fixated but they really don't know much. You would think abolitionists would be American heroes instead of the footnotes they are. There are surprisingly few good histories of slavery in America. I would say there hasn't been a significant popular history of slavery since That Peculiar Institution. And that was written in 1956.

It is like they don't want to know the truth out of fear it might contradict the fairy tale they tell themselves.

[Suthenboy]

"It is like they don't want to know the truth out of fear it might contradict the fairy tale they tell themselves."

Yeah, it is almost like that.

[PapayaSF]

They also tend to ignore the inconvenient facts that there were also white slaves and black slaveowners. Doesn't fit the narrative.

[John]

And the Arabs were worse than even the Brazilians. The middle passage was a picknic compared to being marched over the Sahara, which is what happened to you if the Arabs got a hold of you.

And also, don't forget that in the 15th and 16th Centuries, the Ottomans raided the coasts of Italy, France and Spain for slaves so much some areas actually became depopulated.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Also worth noting that the Balkans and the Caucasus were a source for many of the slave-soldiers employed by many Islamic dynasties and brutalized to become little more than tools for the state.

Think a milder version of the Unsullied in Game of Thrones.

[John]

They were called Janissarys. The Turks were total assholes.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

There were also the Ghilman and a fairly sizeable cadre of eunuch slave-advisors, a system which persisted until the 19th century.

Ottomans were huge dicks who deserved every bit of empire crumbling that transpired after WWI.

[John]

And you know who their biggest allies were? The fucking French. Ottoman Gallies filled with Christan slaves often docked at Toulon in the 16th Century.

[CE]

Daenerys Targaryn, the Mother of Dragons, Daenerys Stormborn, the Unburnt, the Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, the Breaker of Chains, and the rightful Queen of the Seven Kingdoms freed the slaves.

You know who else freed the slaves?

[PapayaSF]

The words "slave" and Slav" are related.

[Suthenboy]

You also dont hear much about the thriving chattel slavery being practiced today in much of africa and the middle east and asia.

[Heroic Mulatto]

OUR FRIENDS THE SAUDIS

[CE]

Or always involved people of different races.

[SeaCaptain(Yokeltarian)]

From the Washington Post Comments:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ctab=all_&

ChicagoTRS
4:16 PM EDT
He is not telling the Chinese anything that they did not already know.
He did not tell terrorists anything they did not already know.
He did tell the American people some things that apparently we did not know.

[Let Me Ride]

Slow clap.

[DJF]

So he is a traitor because he told the American people what the American government was doing.

[Marc F Cheney]

That's from the WaPo comments? How is that... possible?

[CE]

If the NSA data grab was legal, the government should be okay with someone leaking the details, if the government "had nothing to hide".

[Fist of Etiquette]

I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality.

The criminals have the power to rendition your ass.

[mad libertarian guy]

Kentucky stands alone. Just not in a good way.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's recent move to automatically restore voting rights to ex-felons after incarceration leaves Kentucky as the last state that permanently disenfranchises convicted felons even after they have served probation and parole ? an antiquated injustice firmly enshrined in the state constitution.

Noting that "America is a land of opportunity and second chances," McDonnell courageously advocated the restitution of rights for those convicted of nonviolent crimes "who have fully paid their debt for their crimes."

The cause of felons' rights, usually championed by liberals, has been refreshingly taken up by a Republican governor concerned with the democratic vitality of his state.

In Kentucky, however, both attempts in this year's legislative session to restore voting rights failed in committee, leaving felons who have served their due time no recourse but an onerous and slow-moving application to the governor for the restoration of their civil rights.

The considerable losses to democracy ? 180,000 Kentuckians are barred from voting ? disproportionately affect minority communities.

Even one of the bright spots for personal liberty in the country needs lots of work.

[Matrix]

so, will they be getting their right to possess a firearm back?

[2ndClassProle]

Can't the governor just pardon them, and make it clean?

[Brett L]

Meh. The problem isn't that felons don't get their rights back, its that too many people who don't deserve to be in the felon class have been placed there by "law'n'order" politicians bent on making their careers by being tough on crime.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Yup.

[Generic Stranger]

It's a bit of both, IMO.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Personally, I have no problem with depriving felons of the right to vote, provided that the felony in question is violent or deprived another person of property. The franchise has already become nearly as devalued as our money; I see no reason to continue the despoiling of the franchise by allowing people who are verified rights-violators to have input on how to use the most violent institution of them all.

On that topic, I wonder what will come first: expanding the franchise to include 16-18, or making it easier for immigrants to vote?

[Xenocles]

Yeah, for felons who are actually worthy of the title I have no problem with permanent disenfranchisement; they have demonstrated gross unworthiness of the raw power over others that the franchise represents.

The problem, of course, is the sheer volume of mala prohibida felonies we have today...

[Mickey Rat]

The irony that in the effort to make more and more things a serious crime they are now debasing a felony into a less serious class of crime. Soon the left is gong to decide something they despise, like rape, is going to need to be classified above felony.

[Mickey Rat]

"The cause of felons' rights, usually championed by liberals,..."

I am not saying all liberals are felons but all felons are liberals.

[Matrix]

Man suing Oklahoma over "rain god" license plate

[jesse.in.mb]

Eh we had some stuff a few years ago about the CA state seal showing Minerva.

And the Los Angeles seal for having both the goddess Pomona, and a cross. It was replaced in 2004 and removed the cross and Pomona which infuriated everyone too.

[John]

What a dick. But in fairness, if they put a cross on it, some other asshole would be suing. It would be nice if people would stop being dicks and suing over stupid shit like license plates.

[Let Me Ride]

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has cancelled its purchase order for surveillance equipment, which had included coffee trays with hidden cameras and cameras that could be hidden in plants.

[John]

Wow.

[PapayaSF]

I guess the publicity is causing them to cut back a bit on their audits of Tea Party and Christian groups.

[mad libertarian guy]

So I'm assumming the money that was set aside for said purchases will be returned to taxpayers via a check in the mail, right?

[Bobarian]

Let me set you straight, the money that was set aside for said purchases will be returned to taxpayers via anal insertion, one nickel at a time.

[Zakalwe]

Uh, that's Legolas.

[rts]

CBC correspondents detained in Turkey

[Matrix]

'Dr. No' of the Senate defends NSA over latest scandal

[Let Me Ride]

And here I though Coburn was one of the good guys. This is depressing.

[Matrix]

me too. He is right on a lot of things, but the things he gets wrong are completely fucked... such as this and voting for TARP.

[MJGreen]

To sarcasmic and probably many others: Olivia Wilde shows the girls in an upcoming movie. Thought you'd appreciate the heads up.

[2ndClassProle]

She about did in the Change Up.. that Ryan Reynolds is lucky bastard.

[Let Me Ride]

PRISM Class-Action Lawsuit Filed: $20B, Injunction Sought Against 'Complicit' Companies and Officials

[NeonCat]

NSA has seen Olivia Wilde's breasts?

[CE]

No, but they have the metadata about them.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Remember that crazy car chase shooting biz in Cleveland last year? One head has rolled. Other than the civilians', I mean.

Cleveland police fired a sergeant and meted out demotions and suspensions Tuesday for a car chase last year that involved five dozen cruisers, 137 rounds of ammunition fired by 13 officers, and the death of two people who, it turned out, were probably unarmed.
A captain and lieutenant were demoted, and nine sergeants got suspensions ranging from one day to 30 days. They and the fired sergeant will appeal their punishment, according to Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8, which represents police supervisors.

[John]

I guess they watched the final scene in the Blues Brothers once too often.

[Zeb]

Jailhouse Rock?

I can't remember which movie surpassed it, but until very recently, Blues Brothers still had the record for the most cars destroyed while filming a movie.

[Mike M.]

"The use of unnecessary force in the apprehension of Jake and Elwood Blues is approved."

[mad libertarian guy]

They and the fired sergeant will appeal their punishment, according to Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8, which represents police supervisors.

Anyone wanna place bets as to how long until they're reinstated?

[John]

The New York Times writes an entire feature article explaining how the world would be so much better off if the child in the article were dead or better yet had never existed. Can you imagine being this poor kid in a few years and reading that article the Times did about you and your mom? What would it be like to read an entire feature article explaining how your entire existence was an obscenity?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06.....d=pl-share

I read this and think two things. First, considering the NYT's track record for faking stories, I give it 50/50 that the entire thing is a fabrication. The part about her not having money for birth control and her ex b/f showing up and her conceiving after just one night of sex is a bit too good to be true. And the second thing is I really can't see the reporter being in the least bit bothered if the government decided to have this child murdered for the good of the mother.

[tarran]

"I don't really know what sorry means
I've been sorry all my life
I'm sorry I was born, that's what my mother told me"

Charles Manson

[John]

I really don't understand why someone would write an article like that.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I despise people who justify abortion on these grounds. It's one thing to have a legitimate difference of opinion on when "personhood" (a nebulous term to begin with) begins and when rights need to be protected, but to argue for the murder of a person "for their own good" is akin to arguing for slavery as an institution that helps those being enslaved.

[Zeb]

I agree. And I completely favor legal abortion.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

to argue for the murder of a person "for their own good" is akin to arguing for slavery as an institution that helps those being enslaved

I don't see anywhere the article talks about that at all. The study is about outcomes for mothers vs. nonmothers.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

On page 3:

David reported that the children born of unwanted pregnancies had significant disadvantages. They were breast-fed for shorter periods; were slightly but consistently overweight; had more instances of acute illness and lower grades in Czech. They seemed less capable in socially demanding situations; they were less popular among peers and teachers and even, if sons, with their own mothers. David concluded that "the child of a woman denied abortion appears to be born into a potentially handicapping situation." After David published his first round of data, Czechoslovakia made first-trimester abortion available on demand.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The rest of the article after that page talks about child outcomes as well as mental health of the mother.

Quite an odious piece, really.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Yeah, that's the only part, and it's a different study than the one the article is actually focused on. It's just the closest thing anyone else had done.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

But why would child development later in life be relevant from a rights-respecting perspective? Either a fetus is not a person and should be treated as the property of the mother, or it is and should have its rights respected. The only way it is relevant is if one is of the belief that the success of a child later in life should have any bearing on the legality and justification for abortion.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

It's not relevant from that perspective, but it's probably relevant to women who are considering having an abortion.

[Mickey Rat]

People who make that argument believe in the concept of "life unworthy of life".

[CE]

But they are actually born.

[Heroic Mulatto]

but to argue for the murder of a person "for their own good"

Granted, some folks just need killin'; however, none of them are children.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Maybe, but even in the case of the folks who "just need killin' ", no one argues you're doing the person being killed a favor -- merely that the person is a rotten apple that the rest of the world shouldn't have to bear with.

[trshmnstr]

wasn't that the exact argument behind the legalized euthanasia debate?

[Gbob]

Jesus. I'm pro choice but an article like this makes me reconsider.

So her problem is that she thought she was three months pregnant, but really she was five months along. Right away my level of sympathy is limited.

I know it will offend the feminists, but even women have to be able to to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions from time to time.

I didn't even bother reading after page two. I assume there's a reason she didn't give the kid up for adoption.

Point is, abortion is legal. Abortion is safe, and sadly most of us have to pay for it. If you want anything more, I can't offer it to you.

[John]

And birth control is cheap and available. Close your fucking legs if you are too lazy to take the pill every day. And if you have a kid, be an adult and do the right thing.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Her real problem is that she didn't even take a pregnancy test for that long. Smart women who don't want to have babies make sure they don't accidentally get anywhere close to the line of late-term illegality. It's too risky.

[mad libertarian guy]

And surely even dumb women notice when they miss 5 FUCKING PERIODS!

Leaving room aside for those with highly irregular periods, how the fuck can one not notice not having your period for 5 months?

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Well, this woman said she had spotting for that amount of time.

As someone who does have highly irregular periods, I can say that if you do and you aren't taking tests regularly to make sure, you are a fucking idiot.

[John]

Or a liar. She knew she was pregnant. She just decided to keep the kid only to find out a baby is really hard. And now she has taken in some dimwitted NYT reporter. But I repeat myself. That whole article is complete bullshit.

[mad libertarian guy]

Do you not find relief of some sort in the pill? Not to pry too much or anything, or imply that you wouldn't know that the pill can help such things. 🙂

I've only known one who who (admittedly) had highly irregular periods. She might have 1 in a year until she got on the pill. Then she was (reportedly) as regular as the atomic clock.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Well, I wouldn't say I need "relief" -- the pill that I'm on means I basically never get a period at all unless something weird is going on (high stress, illness, etc.). It's super awesome. I just like to make sure I'm not getting it for the right reason.

[Suthenboy]

I am gonna go with fake. They pour it on just a little bit too thick there. Ok, maybe more than a little bit.

[Virginian]

It feels true damn it you right wing hater.

[General Butt Naked]

Yeah. the 5 part-time jobs and not eating for weeks at a time seem completely made up. For the poor, birth control is basically free, so the choice of eating or birth control is a false one.

[Heroic Mulatto]

For the poor, birth control is basically free,

For everyone, birth control is free. Don't have sex and there is no possible way you can have a child. I don't see what's so hard about grasping this concept.

[Virginian]

Yeah the "five part time jobs" is bullshit. I have three, and I work about 65 hours a week. I mean I suppose she could have five jobs that only give her ten hours a piece....but that doesn't sound very likely.

[PapayaSF]

Gads, I am so sick of hearing about people who "can't afford" birth control. Bullshit. Condoms are cheap, and around San Francisco at least, are handed out like Halloween candy. Or do some sort of sex that won't result in pregnancy. But STFU about how you got pregnant because you didn't have the money to avoid it.

[Eduard van Haalen]

What the f'ing f?

This article is basically an extended op-ed. No interviews with prolifers, just with this (financially) poor woman.

The Planned Parenthood people gave her information about adoption, but the article just says she "never seriously considered" it and moves on without explanation. The author could have looked at the high demand by childless couples for adoption - a demand so high that they go to China and Guatemala to get babies. But no, it's basically taken as a given not only that women have unprotected sex and get knocked up, but that they become single mothers without even thinking about giving the child a stable family. Then going on about researchers who find that these single mothers are in challenging circumstances. Therefore abortion rights!

[Eduard van Haalen]

I won't even go into the "ethicist" who they quoted that it basically doesn't matter that women who end up having the baby don't regret it.

Or the fact that the single mother being profiled in the article - the one who stopped her birth control and then had a one night stand with her ex - was some kind of sex-ed peer educator in high school. Imagine if she'd gone through an abstinence curriculum, the reporter would have gone on at great length about those horrible fundies.

[NeonCat]

William Binney, 30+ year veteran of the NSA, on people who have "nothing to hide":

"The problem is, if they think they not doing anything that's wrong, they don't get to define that. The central government does [retroactively]. The central government defines what is right and wrong, and whether or not they target you."

From http://www.youtube.com/watch?f.....uET0kpHoyM

[John]

Yup. In the day and age of five felonies a day, everyone has something to hide.

[Raston Bot]

Is it 5 now? Felony inflation!

[John]

Congress prints laws like Barnarke prints money.

[Brett L]

Peak Retard in FL?

Jamie Lee Wambles, 32, was also convicted of a fourth count of mailing threatening communications to a federal agent, involving the potential bombing of the Federal Courthouse in Tallahassee.

Evidence presented at trial revealed that on December 17, 2012, Wambles wrote his first threatening letter from a Jackson County jail facility to the Clerk's Office at the Federal Courthouse in Tallahassee claiming it contained anthrax. This letter was received at the courthouse by court security officers. On December 18, 2012, Wambles wrote a second threatening letter to the Clerk's Office at the same address with a white powder claiming it was anthrax. It turned out to be finely crushed Tylenol pills, officials wrote. He wrote a third threatening letter on December 20, 2012, to the same Federal Courthouse, this time claiming he would bomb the building unless his demands were met.

[mad libertarian guy]

That's pretty fucking stupid.

[PapayaSF]

You expected someone named "Jamie Lee Wambles" to be bright?

[Harlequin]

Well, I'm assuming Wimbledon Common is looking somewhat scruffier with her now in jail.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Someone is confused about libertarianism and feudalism, which are apparently the same thing.

Michael Lind had a column in Salon in which he asked, "[i]f libertarians are correct in claiming that they understand how best to organize a modern society, how is it that not a single country in the world in the early twenty-first century is organized along libertarian lines?" EJ Dionne agrees. Several libertarians argue that the present is no guide, because the (seasteading?) future belongs to libertarians.

I'd actually go in a different direction and say the past belonged to libertarians. We tried libertarianism for a long time; it was called feudalism. That modern-day libertarianism of the Nozick-Rand-Rothbard variety resembles feudalism, rather than some variety of modern liberalism, is a great point made by Samuel Freeman in his paper "Illiberal Libertarians: Why Libertarianism Is Not a Liberal View." Let's walk through it.

Haven't read the original paper, only the walkthrough. It is...bad.

[John]

Nothing says freedom like people being tied to the land as slaves. I will say this again, the media are completely ignorant. They really don't know anything. They all have third grade educations. They have credentials. But they do not have educations.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

To be fair, I have read some academic libertarians justify debt peonage (effectively, serfdom as practiced in Poland and Muscovy) as an alternative to bankruptcy.

Some libertarians ain't that smart.

[John]

And I bet they are working in the media.

[widget]

Our progeny will become debt slaves unless Paul Krugman is right, in which case he would become a libertarian hero.

[Episiarch]

Maybe you should read upthread and see how you got beaten like a rented mule on this story. God, you're the worst.

[fish]

God, you're the worst.

See this is what I was talking about one thread over......again too much restraint.....you never tell anyone what you think.

[Episiarch]

You're right, I should have been harsher with her. Way to remind me to do that after I comment, jerkbag.

[fish]

Excellent.... feel the hate flow through you.......

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Yeah. By four minutes. I feel terrible!

[Episiarch]

Dude, four minutes in the PM Links is like a lifetime. You should feel terrible! But, being the worst, maybe you already feel terrible enough. Nah, you should feel more terrible.

[jesse.in.mb]

Epi's work here is done!

[Coeus]

That modern-day libertarianism of the Nozick-Rand-Rothbard variety resembles feudalism, rather than some variety of modern liberalism, is a great point made by Samuel Freeman in his paper "Illiberal Libertarians: Why Libertarianism Is Not a Liberal View."

Was this piece of shit actually peer reviewed?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

What libertarian doesn't love a system that forces people to give someone born to a better family a large percentage of the fruits of their labor, as well as (potentially) their lives in the even that the lord decides to go to war?

Aren't these the same people that argue that libertarians are heartless capitalists? How can we be heartless capitalists and feudalists? It's almost as if they don't know what they're talking about.

[Brandon]

That is the longest straw man I've ever seen.

[CE]

But medieval serfs paid lower taxes than we do, and the feudal lord didn't invade their homes without good reason.

[Calidissident]

Really?

[mad libertarian guy]

Everyone has a say. Except for the property owner, of course.

We know it's not sexy; no one will be wearing a T-shirt at the Board of Adjustment meeting today promoting the glories of zoning restrictions.

But that is the process that has protected Fayette County's rural areas from sprawl, raw sewage and other visual and environmental degradation.

And for that reason, it's the right ? if unpopular ? thing for the Board of Adjustment to deny Boone Creek Adventures' appeal of a notice to stop operating an unauthorized canopy tour.

That administrative ruling, however, does not mean the city should then take immediate steps to shut the business down. That's because proposed changes to the city's zoning laws introduced this week, if enacted, would allow a canopy tour as a conditional use on Boone Creek's land.

However, even if the city allows the tours to operate, it must impose strong penalties on owner Burgess Carey for knowingly, willingly violating current zoning laws.

The public debate on this case often has been cast as a David vs. Goliath tale of one man fighting a rigid bureaucracy; of an equally rigid, entitled wealthy class trying to maintain the rural area as its own private preserve.

Zoning laws are some of the most evil tools in the government's shed. Fuck zoning laws.

[Brett L]

George Wallace was a Republican. In the non-evil Spock timeline he was a Democrat. Which is great, because if I can only get back to the good-Spock timeline, all of this government overreach will be gone, right?

[Brandon]

Just a reminder: Both sides of the TEAM coin suck.

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....c-mccarthy

[Coeus]

How is this not considered a clear-cut case of racism? Wouldn't invoking someone's race in order to invalidate their opinion of a non-racial question be an obvious example of racism?

[PapayaSF]

Haven't you gotten the word? Only whites can be racist, according to current progthink. What looks like racism to you is actually "pointing out white privilege" or something.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

If you're looking for something not-super-libertarian-y to link people to to let them know why we all have something to hide, that's not a bad choice.

[db]

Your new -new handle reads "Nikkis enthusiastic dissent". I suggest "Nikkis enthusuastically dissent." It's slightly easier to read, and implies there may be more than one of you, which would admittedly be HAWT.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

We should lobby H&R for more characters. I would have been "enthusiastically dissents" if I could have.

[Let Me Ride]

By my calculations, Snowden is $188 away from TOTAL VICTORY.

[PapayaSF]

Why all the new handles? I can't imagine you keep getting banned, so is this just an "I need a new outfit" sort of thing?

[Banjos]

I prefer the simpler:

"If you got nothin' to hide, exhibitionist, then I await seeing a video on facebook of you taking a dump."

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

No, you have to ask for sex tapes!

[Brett L]

""It turns out that killing people is an effective way to elicit the attention of many women:"

This is why nice guys sleep alone!

[widget]

The homeowner said the feral cats were causing a flea problem in her house and that she wanted them removed for the health of her family.

So the homeowner calls the government to help. Be that a lesson for the bairn to ken.

[mad libertarian guy]

The homeowner said the feral cats were causing a flea problem in her house and that she wanted them removed for the health of her family.

She can't pick up a group of kittens and bring them to the fucking shelter herself?

[DJF]

She did not have a gun.

[Archduke Pantsfan]

Well, let me tell you something, funny boy. Y'know that little stamp, the one that says "Guelph University Library"? Well that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole hell of a lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I've seen your type before: Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What's this guy making such a big stink about old library books? Well, let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me. Maybe. Sure, we're too old to change the world, but what about that kid, sitting down, opening a book, right now, in a branch at the local library and finding drawings of pee-pees and wee-wees on the Cat in the Hat and the Five Chinese Brothers? Doesn't HE deserve better? Look. If you think this is about overdue fines and missing books, you'd better think again. This is about that kid's right to read a book without getting his mind warped! Or: maybe that turns you on, Seinfeld; maybe that's how y'get your kicks. You and your good-time buddies. Well I got a flash for ya, joy-boy: Party time is over. Y'got seven days, Seinfeld. That is one week!

[Brett L]

Always makes me think of the molesty short story by King about the Library cop.

[Coeus]

I should not have read that at 9, when I was in my "read everything Stephen King ever wrote without your parents finding out" phase. Thankfully, I was already mentally scarred from flipping the channel onto Deliverance during the squeal like a pig scene a few months earlier.

[Dagny T.]

Flying bicycle in Prague.

[tarran]

Oh yes, battery powered flight - *that's* safe!

[Episiarch]

tarran thinks that only Chitty Chitty Bang Bang type flight is safe.

[CE]

You know who else flew on a bicycle?

[Generic Stranger]

Hitler?

[Apatheist ?_??]

Huffington Post decides to change the subject back to gun control.

[John]

They had a single day of really angry stories about Obama. Obama knows they are not happy about all of this. Now they need to get back to making sure that Obama gets whatever he wants and the Dems win in 2014.

[db]

Hey, what better time to destroy a constitutional amendment in the BoR when they're all under attack.

[mad libertarian guy]

It sure would make it easier.

"Look! The 1st and 4th Amendments are currently under attack. Let's try and sneak in and get at the 2A while we can!"

[General Butt Naked]

I saw a clip of Bill Maher saying that exact same thing the other day.

[OldMexican]

Talk about grasping at straws.

[Generic Stranger]

Has HuffPo been secretly taken over by conservative hackers? Because I can't think of a better way to get Democrats slaughtered in the next couple of elections than by continuing to beat on the gun control drum.

[PapayaSF]

Sort of like the Republicans pushing for amnesty. Major party politics seems to have entered a suicidal phase.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Just heard a story on NPR (which apparently isn't on their Web site yet): A gay guy has produced an opera now showing in San Francisco. His original and creative idea is to make the opera about how Mary Magdalene was, like, Jesus' best disciple, and they, like, got married, and I bet that blows your mind, right? Except that the producer, while admitting that the local Catholics haven't protested yet, he is still pre-emptively outraged that any traditional-minded Christians would be offended by his portrayal of their religion.

It's a great racket - courageously make some art which challenges traditional religious beliefs, then get all upset at the possibility that the people whose beliefs you are challenging might potentially be offended!

I bet he got the same response from his opera about how Mohammed was a gay-basher who married a 9-year-old girl. Right?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Can't help but feel that this is played out even for the usual crowd of anti-religionists. It's pretty much all been done before: gay Jesus for shock value, evil Jesus, etc. There's nothing shocking about it anymore: it's just bad fan-fic, at this point.

[John]

I am not sure what is more pathetic, that he thinks this is some kind of a subversive or new idea or that he thinks he is courageous for doing it in San Fransisco.

I really don't care if this guy wants to be a conformist moron. It is his life not mine. But I do mind his smugness and conceit that he is somehow subversive or different.

[John]

When he writes a play about that about Muhammad, come talk to me. At this point, if Catholics are offended by this, my advice is for them to cut his head off and put the film on youtube. That seems to be the only thing that gets any respect these days.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"He's not the Seal of the Prophets, he's a very naughty boy!"

[John]

Of course if he made such a play, I doubt any American Muslims would care, but I am thinking the President would be very interested in it. I am sure there is some scandal or misfortune this guy could be blamed for.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"The enemies of Islam have given us a national debt which threatens the very foundations of the etc."

[Eduard van Haalen]

In case you think I was exaggerating, here's a review of the opera:

"[Director David]Gockley...acknowledged when announcing "Magdalene" last year that there would be some risk to the undertaking. "It's a toughie," he admitted at the time. "But I think it's a story worth telling. She is a character worth redeeming. And after what the Catholic Church has done to her over the years, she deserves a good turn.""

http://www.mercurynews.com/ent.....-francisco

[Brandon]

No one who uses the word "toughie" has ever done anything tough.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it is the height of courage to hate the same things everyone else in your circle hates.

Doubly so in a country that has protections against government interference with speech and expression.

[mad libertarian guy]

Triply so in a city that prides itself on being secular.

[Dagny T.]

I was trying to figure out how this was a clever pun on Tripoli, and then I realized I probably just woke up too early this morning. It kind of works, though.

[OldMexican]

Re: Edward van Haalen,

His original and creative idea is to make the opera about how Mary Magdalene was, like, Jesus' best disciple, and they, like, got married, and I bet that blows your mind, right?

That is what is supposed to be original? That sounds a lot like part of the plot of "The Last Temptation of Christ."

[...] he is still pre-emptively outraged that any traditional-minded Christians would be offended by his portrayal of their religion.

What an extraordinary thing to say. Makes me think that the whole point of making the opera was to make a few Christians be red with outrage and not so much to make good theather and good music. But one has to remember that this is San Francisco we're talking about; the people there are not precisely the loggione nor its opera house anything resembling La Scala.

[Mickey Rat]

And "The Da Vinci Code", and some History Channel documentaries on so-called "lost gospels".

[Zeb]

That's hardly a new idea. It was teh basis for a comedy movie, for fuck;s sake.

[Brandon]

He made a musical version of the fucking Da Vinci Code.

[OldMexican]

Thanks to fracking, the United States has seen its largest single-year increase in oil production it has ever recorded.

Liberal twit: "You can thank president Obama for that!"
Libertarian: "You mean for being so incompetent that he can't even stop oil producers from producing MORE oil?"
Liberal twit: "Huh... fuck, yeah!"

[mad libertarian guy]

That "Liberal twit" you refer to, OM, has a name. It's fucking SHREEK, goddammit. I know because he has tried to make this exact argument numerous times.

[Virginian]

http://www.examiner.com/articl.....of-twitter

Secret Service interrogates citizen regarding Twitter feed.

I don't know how reliable the source is, but if it is...holy shit....I think we're past that awkward stage.

[Killazontherun]

The nail that sticks out gets the hammer.

[OldMexican]

An Ohio animal control officer responded to a family's call about feral cats living in their yard by shooting five kittens on the spot, while children watched.

But... that's what they were called for, weren't they?

Also, why is it that when people kill kittens everybody goes "Ahhhhhhh! How could you?" but when mice are killed with traps or poison everybody goes "Yeah, that'll show them, t'little buggers!"

[Heroic Mulatto]

Because mice are seen as carriers of disease; whereas cats aren't.

[OldMexican]

Re: Heroic Mulatto,

Because mice are seen as carriers of disease; whereas cats aren't.

Not seen as carriers of disease by whom? Cat lovers? Fuck them! Ok, I'm married to one; but the rest can go fuck themselves!

I'm particularly partial to goldfish, which means I will never call animal control over feral goldfish any time soon.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Not seen as carriers of disease by whom?

*shrugs* Rightly or wrongly, most of American culture. Though, with zombie chic, more people are becoming aware of toxoplasmosis.

[fish]

Yeah! It would be a shame to put a bullet hole in a perfectly serviceable fish tank.

[Killazontherun]

They carry the disease of cuteness.

[Generic Stranger]

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

[Mickey Rat]

Thanks to Nugent, guys think cat scratch fever is a good thing.

[Coeus]

Ok, ran across this article in the comments of a different dumb criminal article. Un-fucking believable. Cops have better excuses than this piece of shit.

[Mike M.]

Thanks to fracking, the United States has seen its largest single-year increase in oil production it has ever recorded.

Meanwhile, we're still waiting on the Keystone Pipeline, which Block Yomomma is still stalling as long as he can. All that new oil is going to need an infrastructure to handle and move it.

[fish]

All that new oil is going to need an infrastructure to handle and move it.

That's part of next years jobs program. They're going to bucket brigade the oil to wherever it's needed.

[PapayaSF]

I am not seeing the wisdom of stalling. He's either going to tick off the greenies if he approves it, or the unions and much of the rest of the country if he doesn't. Why wait until close to the 2014 midterms? Or is he going to try to stall beyond until afterwards?

[Coeus]

Behold: Farkers plum unheard depths of depravity in an attempt to defend Al Franken.

vygramul
2013-06-12 12:25:00 PM

Franken was about as much an outsider and a progressive as one gets. His opinion should cause careful consideration, not knee-jerk reaction.

Biological Ali
2013-06-12 12:44:12 PM

It does seem as though everybody who's actually been briefed on the relevant details comes around to thinking that it's not so bad.

Surool
2013-06-12 12:45:47 PM
Damn it Al Franken! You aren't sticking to republican talking points!

Oh, right.

[Irish]

Damn it Al Franken! You aren't sticking to republican talking points!

This is wonderful. I just got through watching Fox News explain to me that Edward Snowden should be hanged, yet these Farking idiots think that being against the NSA is the Republican talking point.

Unbelievable.

[Episiarch]

These idiots think that the TEAM RED talking points are the polar opposite of the TEAM BLUE talking points; the actual "talking points" don't matter for shit. This is how in their feeble partisan brains, libertarians are for everything libertarians are actually against.

They're extremely, fundamentally stupid. You have to keep that in mind when reading anything they write or say. Expectations of anything other than the stupidest thing you've ever heard are very optimistic.

[Mr. Weebles]

Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) has called for the resignation of James Clapper, director of national intelligence, for making false statements under oath to Congress about the extent that the National Security Agency was collecting data about Americans. For now, it appears President Barack Obama's administration is standing behind him,

Of course the administration is standing behind him. Never admit wrongdoing. Deflect, deflect, deflect.

And then blame Bush.

[Sevo]

"He also claims the United States has been targeting China and Hong Kong with cyberattacks."
Yeah, well spooks are sposed to spy on other countries, not the citizens of their own.

[cavalier973]

Cop sexually assaults a woman, then arrests her when she protests to the judge. The judge won't even look at her, but she will play with the woman's daughter.

Daughter: "Sir, don't take my Momma."

[cavalier973]

The story is three months old, apparently. Still relevant, says I.