A.M. Links: Edward Snowden Seeking Asylum in Ecuador, Obama Plans To Bypass Congress on Climate Change, Syria Warns Western Countries Not To Arm Rebels

Credit: The Guardian

• NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden left Hong Kong and flew to Moscow over the weekend and has asked Ecuador for asylum. Russian officials have said that the U.S. has no legal authority to detain Snowden. Back in the U.S., liberal activists booed Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after she said Snowden broke the law and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said, "Mr. Clapper lied in Congress in defiance of the law in the name of security. Mr. Snowden told the truth in the name of privacy."

• Obama is planning to bypass Congress and implement changes to climate change policy by using executive orders.

• Syria's foreign minister has said that western countries arming rebels will only prolong the war.

• Lawmakers in Texas have given preliminary approval to some of the country's toughest abortion restrictions.

• Israel has responded to rocket attacks from Gaza by carrying out air strikes.

• Nelson Mandela is in critical condition in hospital. The former president of South Africa has been hospitalized four times since December.

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Comments

[Matrix]

Everyone! Relax! Everything will be all right once more
Twinkies return in July 15th

[Marshall Gill]

FTA, 15,000 union employees fired when Hostess went under!

[JW]

Which means that 7.500 non-union workers got new jobs.

[Dakotian]

The union at Hostess was the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers' International Union. This is the same union that told the Crystal Sugar workers up here not to sign their new contract in Aug '11. This caused a 16 lockout of Union employees. The Union members finally signed a contract that was worse than the original one offered in 2011.
Go BCTW! Go Union.

[Dakotian]

16 month lockout

[Dakotian]

there should be a /sarc tag for that last line

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hong Kong, Ecuador, Russia... ALL TRAITORS!

[robc]

Isnt the Sacajawea dollar the official currency in Ecuador? Or was that somewhere else in SA?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Dollars are, but not necessarily coins.

[robc]

Yeah, but I think we sent them the Sacs, since no one here would use them and they would.

[SugarFree]

My wife said they were all over the place. A cab driver would take you anywhere in Quito for one.

[Ted S.]

And the next most common form of currency there is the $2 bill?

[SugarFree]

The next most common form of currency in Ecuador is your mom.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Whom any cab driver will take to ecstasy for a Sacajawea dollar.

[Lord Humungus]

provided the content is all on one page - no slideshows!

[JW]

A cab driver would take you anywhere in Quito for one.

Meh. Everyone knows that the true exchange rate is blowjobs-to-dollars.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The only ones I saw there were the ones I took because I had them on hand since a bulk ice machine close to me gives them as change. Still, no one even looked at them twice, so they were more familiar with them than stores here.

[Rich]

I find that comment disappointing.

[sarcasmic]

Company comes out with new pork-laced ammunition they believe will keep Muslims from going to heaven

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....eaven.html
Will it come with a side of pork soda?

[some guy]

The tolerant in me thinks that's disgusting. The atheist in me thinks it's hilarious. How long until the US government starts buying these as a "deterrent"?

[Ted S.]

The US government is going to be insensitive to Muslims?

[mad libertarian guy]

I'd say they have been "insensitive" to Muslims for decades. Unless you don't count droning weddings as somehow insensitive.

[Azathoth!!]

Yes, because the US was droning weddings "decades" ago.

[Don Mynack]

Similar to the origin of the Sepoy Mutiny.

"However the flashpoint was reached when the soldiers were asked to bite off the paper cartridges for their rifles which they believed were greased with animal fat, namely beef and pork. This was, and is, against the religious beliefs of Hindus and Muslims, respectively."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.....on_of_1857

Learned that from a Flashman novel, of course.

[Brett L]

Learned that from a Flashman novel, of course.

There are far worse ways to learn huge chunks of truth about the 19th Century.

[JW]

Remember, Pork Blossom delivers only one massive volley at close range... theoretically.

[sloopyinca]

Remember, Pork Blossom delivers only one massive volley at close range... theoretically.

The Last Starfighter? Someone's been trolling the $5 Blu-ray bin for material.

[JW]

You leave Lance Guest and his inescapable paper bag alone!

[Evan from Evansville]

Aha!

[Evan from Evansville]

Damn fool!

Fool! And damn!

[Ted S.]

Did you have a point? 😉

[Lord Humungus]

Fluffy cows: Old beauty practice gains attention
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/.....610591.php

Grooming cows so they look like unusually large poodles is a well-known beautification practice in the show cattle industry.

But although it may be decades old, it's just now getting attention on the Internet.

[LTC(ret) John]

STEVE SMITH FAMILIAR WITH PRACTICE....AND APPROVES.

[Matrix]

Gizmodo offers tips to avoid the NSA, for all you terrists that have something to hide

[MP]

Traitors!

[PS]

Nelson Mandela is in critical condition in hospital. The former president of South Africa has been hospitalized four times since December.

And it's been on the front page of the BBC since then.

[JW]

"Former President Nelson Mandela is still dead."

[sarcasmic]

The boy who didn't exist: 19-year-old whose father raised him 'off the grid' had no birth certificate or social security number and didn't attend school until the county seized his family's farm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ay-19.html

Noah's father, Brian Boyce, refused to pay property taxes on the land and said he was no longer a citizen of the United States.
'Nobody should pay to live on their own land,' he told the newspaper in 2011.

That's because it's not your land. It's the king's land. You only rent it.

[Matrix]

NYT thinks that gun companies should have to pay "blood money"
They're right. But let's not stop with guns. Any company who has made a product that has ever killed anyone should also have to pay... so silverware and plasticware makers, car makers, razor makers, hairdryer makers, toaster makers... People have died from a lot of manmade products.

[Spoonman.]

Damn screwdriver manufacturers.

[John]

Pool manufacturers.

[mr lizard]

Any company that manufactures stretched swing arms and neon lighting for Suzuki Hyabusas

[Kaptious Kristen]

Every restaurant and grocery store, too!

[Rich]

Guns, of course, are not essential for public health.

So the NYT proposes that the police stop using them?

[John]

In New York neither is effective rat and bedbug control essential for public health.

[mad libertarian guy]

In New York neither is effective rat [. . .] control essential for public health.

But the mandated separation of food scraps in to separate bins for storage in one's home and the street awaiting pickup will be!

[Slammer]

I knew a guy who knew a guy who got run over by a NYT delivery truck

[some guy]

Well, people kill people all the time. Maybe all people should have to pay blood money... oh wait, we call that "taxes", don't we?

[KPres]

"Those guns that are most often used to kill or maim the largest number of people could be taxed at a higher rate, while guns used primarily for hunting or sport that are much less often involved in fatalities or injuries would be taxed at a lower rate."

Then "assault rifles" would have little or no tax, since they're used in less shootings than any other.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

My guns have yet to maim or kill anyone. Do I get a 0% tax rate?

[Drake]

That's what I'll be paying.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Remember their definition of "involved in fatalities or injuries." That student in Calgary who got in trouble for saving another student from a knife-wielding bully was "involved in an incident."

[Eduard van Haalen]

(Not saying he had a gun, I was focusing on the broad definition of "involved" to mean than any connection, even a positive connection, with a bad incident is ritually impure)

[mad libertarian guy]

Yes, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev was involved in gun violence.

[JW]

I wonder how many people that NYT editorials have killed?

[DJF]

How about all the people who have been killed due to the government following the policies that NYT advocates?

[Atanarjuat]

Too many to count (IIRC, they were Soviet apologists). How about we just charge them as an accomplice whenever some guy kills hookers from their classified ads?

[VG Zaytsev]

Voting machine manufacturers.

[Mr. Weebles]

Guns, of course, are not essential for public health.

Says who? My guns are essential to my health.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Obama is planning to bypass Congress and implement changes to climate change policy by using executive orders.

Unilateral action will slow the rise of the oceans and make the planet begin to heal. The economy? Not so much.

[Palin's Buttplug]

SCOTUS did back up this endeavor - so it is not really "unilateral".

[Acosmist]

No they didn't.

[Palin's Buttplug]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.....ion_Agency

[Acosmist]

Nope; that case had to do with the EPA's implementation of the Clean Air Act. Since the CAA has already been passed by Congress, the EPA can go ahead and implement that without any new legislation. What has Congress got to do with it?

[Palin's Buttplug]

That IS the point. Whatever EO Obama issues is to comply with existing law.

[Acosmist]

OK, so if Congress fails to act (wait, it already did by passing the CAA), Obama will issue the orders.

Cool story.

[Marshall Gill]

You reply to it as if it has ever argued in good faith. It doesn't. How could it?

[Acosmist]

I can try to shame it by pointing out it has no idea how administrative law works; Mass. v. EPA was about a law Congress had already passed, so the ball is entirely in the EPA's (i.e., the Obama administration's) court. No need to threaten Congress, since Congress passed the CAA decades ago. Your move, Barack.

[Marshall Gill]

Much like it doesn't think, it also does not feel shame for being blatantly ignorant and dishonest.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Stupid fucks.

You keep repeating what I implied.

Obama will enforce existing law.

[Acosmist]

Awesome, so why is he talking about Congress at all? In fact, why wait? Mass v EPA said the EPA HAD TO regulate carbon, so why wait for Congress?

Because Obama wants to duck the issue? Nah. Couldn't be.

[KPres]

"You keep repeating what I implied."

No, that's what you said. What you implied is that you're OK with it.

[VG Zaytsev]

It is correct.

Obama will issue blatantly unconstitutional EOs with a some specious justification and when the case gets to SCOTUS a few justices will be shown NSA transcripts revealing soe of their 'indelicacies'. After which, the EOs are ruled constitutional in a surprise 6-3 ruling.

Welcome to democratic fascism, v3.0.

[KPres]

5-4. Wanna guess how the court split?

[Acosmist]

And that case isn't even relevant. If that's all Obama were doing, then he could do it RIGHT AWAY. Of course he doesn't want to do that - he wants to act like Congress has to do something or he'll step in as the hero, because then when the EPA regs destroy an already crippled economy, he can say "If only Congress had taken responsibility in time, we might have been able to implement common-sense regulation."

[KPres]

An executive order that runs up in 3 years would have basically zero effect on carbon emissions. That's how you know this is more about dishing out kickbacks to prominent backers and special interests then it is about climate change.

[Dakotian]

Also, Obama has been losing the support of his base. This is an easy way to get it back by showing how much he CARES.

[sarcasmic]

'Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever'? New Hostess owners say Twinkies will be back on shelves starting July 15

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ly-15.html
Hip hip hooray!

[robc]

Did they go back to using sugar instead of corn?

If not, they havent returned.

[Matrix]

beat you!

[sarcasmic]

Oh yeah? Well my link came from a British tabloid, while yours is from FOUX News! Yours can't possibly be true because of the source, while mine is true for the same reason! Therefore Twinkies are simultaneously not returning and returning!

[LTC(ret) John]

Schrodinger's Twinkie Box?

[sarcasmic]

Exactly!

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Schroedinger's Twinkie?

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Doh, that's what I get for reading through the comments before posting.

[Ted S.]

I think there's a word missing in your post.

[LTC(ret) John]

That comment was both there and not there, so no worries.

[Ted S.]

Hat tip Matrix.

[Lord Humungus]

The other hacking scandal: Suppressed report reveals that law firms, telecoms giants and insurance companies routinely hire criminals to steal rivals' information
http://www.independent.co.uk/n.....69148.html

Some of Britain's most respected industries routinely employ criminals to hack, blag and steal personal information on business rivals and members of the public, according to a secret report leaked to The Independent.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) knew six years ago that law firms, telecoms giants and insurance were hiring private investigators to break the law and further their commercial interests, the report reveals, yet the agency did next to nothing to disrupt the unlawful trade.

[robc]

Crimson Permanent Assurance?

[John]

I am told that there really isn't much of an open hacking culture left. Everyone who was any good went to work for an intelligence agency or a corporation. People talk about Anonymous. But they are just baboons who launch DNS attacks. They don't have any real hacking skills.

[Rasilio]

Shadowrun, it's not just a game, it's a documentary

[Brett L]

And coming back to Computers July 25! Another worthy Kickstarter project.

[T]

I just chumped off for 7th edition Call of Cthlhu on Kickstarter. I need to stay away from Kickstarter around payday.

[Brett L]

I need to stay away from Kickstarter around payday.

This is no shit.

[Matrix]

Nontroversy stirred up over a game controller that looks like an automatic rifle

[Bee Tagger]

Without reading the link, I'm going to assume someone discovered Duck Hunt for the original Nintendo.

[Matrix]

Well, this controller was designed to look like the G36

[a better weapon]

C'mon ABC, just put up a damn picture of the gun. I refuse to sit around and watch some shitty video to find out.

[sarcasmic]

Special education teacher has been accused of having sex with 'multiple teenage' students who stayed on after class

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....dents.html
I'm gonna go with guilty on this one, though John would disagree.

[PS]

I always assume anyone with a name like 'Summer' erred on the side of stupidity.

[Lord Humungus]

heh - I had a college friend who was dating a girl named Angel. She was no angel.

[PS]

Before or after Rockford?

[Astra]

Or as Mae West said, "I'm no angel but I've spread my wings a lot."

[Ted S.]

What the fuck are the sneer quotes doing there?

[Brett L]

Give her fair chance to defend herself, and if that is the case it's going to be a shame,' another parent, Khoi Pham, said.

Damn immigrants with their tolerance and faith in the criminal justice system!

[Rasilio]

"Parents have been told to talk to their children to see if they had any unwarranted contact with the married 31 year old at Centennial High School in Corona, California."

Note, they said unwarranted, not unwanted, it's like they know that hey, just maybe these kids aren't victims but fully willing participants

[Rich]

And, in other climate news ...

Higher levels of air pollution reduced the frequency of North Atlantic hurricanes and other tropical storms for most of the 20th century

[Matrix]

They say we're having more, and blame it on us.

Then they say we're having fewer, and still blame it on us.

Heads they win, tails we lose.

[KPres]

And the reality is that the frequency is unchanged.

[PapayaSF]

There is also some evidence that some of the warming in the '70s-'90s was due to cleaner air.

[Lord Humungus]

Reefer Madness:

'Weed' guy stabs 'Beer' guy in Times Square as Broadway shows let out
Panhandler holding an 'I Need Money for Weed' sign goes after his rival holding an 'I Need Beer' sign. Predator and Alien were questioned about the incident.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.1379660

[Matrix]

wow... you can't make up anything funnier than this.

[Rich]

Whatcha talkin bout Willis?

[sarcasmic]

Shopping channel QVC considers dropping disgraced chef Paula Deen as it emerges she allowed a relative to refer to one of her black employees as 'my little monkey'
Paula Deen admits to using 'N-word' and wanting black men dressed as slaves
Uploaded several heavily-edited, grovelling video-apologies rambling about her mistakes
The Food Network announce Deen's contract won't be renewed at the end of the month
Net worth of $17million from TV series, restaurants, cookbooks, kitchenware, cooking magazine and flavored butters

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-star.html
A white woman who grew up in the South before civil rights has used politically incorrect language about black people?
Oh!
My!
God!
Kill her career!
Close her restaurants!
Put her in prison for fuck's sake!
She used prohibited words and phrases against members of a protected class!
Aaaaaaaauuuuuugggggghhhhh! Oh! Ohhhhhhhhhh!

[robc]

I would like to point out that using the phrase "N-word" is literally no different that typing it out.

The letters igger have no magic power.

[PS]

The letters igger have no magic power.

It takes all six letters to by used together for the magic power to happen. Do you think you can just fake magic with a cough?

[Ted S.]

Kindly turn your head when you cough.

[Marshall Gill]

Ted, you are not a doctor so PS turning his head doesn't make your holding his junk not gay. Don't worry, though, we are ambivalent about personal relationships.

[Rich]

That's why I always say "Sup, igger?"

[T]

I can't take seriously any sort of public discourse in which the acceptability of using a word is determined by some's skin color.

I understand completely why it's offensive and all that, but if it's not okay, it's not okay. Once you start trying to parse who can use a word based on their ethnicity, you lose me completely.

[Old Man With Candy]

Hmmm, sounds familiar...

Many years ago, I tried to get a vanity plate in California with my last name on it. There's a couple of syllables that apparently resemble "nigger," so it was turned down. I talked to someone at DMV about it, pointing out that it was an accurate spelling of my name. She responded, "I know that, you know that, but other people seeing your plate won't know that."

This was, of course, before Schvarzenigger was governor.

[PS]

Apparently she hates Republicans more than she hates dem negros.

[Matrix]

they must have forgotten about her being a Democrat. They need to immediately reinstate her and say the whole thing was a big misunderstanding. Perhaps, she used the word to be ironic.

[PS]

Depends on how artisanal she makes her mayo...

[Matrix]

Mayo is an abomination and should be blotted out of existence.

[Ted S.]

So you use Miracle Whip instead? Eeeewwww.

[Matrix]

They are the same thing. Both should be destroyed!

[Night Elf Mohawk]

WTF do you put on BLTs?

[Matrix]

I don't eat pork, NEM

[KMA Too]

Isn't that...pretty self-explanatory?

I mean, there's no "M" in the title. Nor "MW", for that matter.

[WTF]

And I'll just bet you also think Pizza and 'deep dish' are the same thing.

[LTC(ret) John]

Stop. Now. Just walk away before there is Gino's East flying all over the room.

[sarcasmic]

Has anyone tried the new Domino's pan pizza? It's pretty good.

*ducks and runs*

[Old Man With Candy]

Pus is pus.

[WTF]

She may be a democrat, but she's also southern, which automatically makes her an ignorant racist and trumps everything else on the grievance scale.

[mad libertarian guy]

She may be a democrat, but she's also southern, which automatically makes her an ignorant racist and trumps everything else on the grievance scale.

She couldn't escape successfully.

[Zakalwe]

This picture of her supporters is hilarious.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I see fat people

[Marshall Gill]

"If you want to look thin, hang out with fat people"

[Suthenboy]

That did make me laugh.

[WTF]

People who eat at Paula Deen's restaurant are fat.

There's a shocker.

[some guy]

Yeah, declaring that word to be automatically always offensive was just a way to turn every Southerner born pre-WWII into a racist. Actions be damned, your vocabulary defines you!

[sarcasmic]

Principals trump principles. She said certain things and that makes her a bad person. Therefore her recipes, merchandise, restaurants and programs are terrible because she is a bad person.

[KPres]

"A white woman who grew up in the South before civil rights has used politically incorrect language about black people?"

Really? "my little monkey" is just politically incorrect?

[JW]

Obligatory #2.

[sarcasmic]

Dicing with death on the grandest of scales: Tightrope master Nik Wallenda crosses the Grand Canyon with NO safety harness... and even manages to RUN the final few feet

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....rness.html
I'm quite honestly shocked that that is legal in this free country of ours.

He is planning a tightrope walk between the Empire State building and Chrysler building in New York

I'm SERIOUSLY shocked that that is legal in this free country of ours.

[Ted S.]

How many people were rooting for him to fall to his death on live TV?

(I wasn't watching at all.)

[Suthenboy]

Wallenda makes increasingly risky daredevil tightrope walks.

We have seen this before, it doesnt end well.

[T]

You aren't free unless you're free to be wrong. Or a pavement smear. Whatever.

[Brett L]

I want to fall to my death at 73 doing something incredibly brazen.

[a better weapon]

I'm SERIOUSLY shocked that that is legal in this free country of ours.

Didn't Robbie Knievel jump the same are of the Grand Canyon? IIRC, he was only allowed to do it because he was given permission from the Navajo's to make the jump on their part of the land because the Federal government wouldn't allow it on any other part.

I'm assuming Wallenda used the same Navajo loophole.

[sarcasmic]

The Navajo loophole will allow him to walk from building to building in NYC?

[some guy]

I don't think the NYC thing is solid yet. But last year he walked across Niagara Falls. That probably involved two federal governments, yet he said it was his network partner that forced him to wear a safety harness.

I think the point is that Wallenda is famous enough now that he can get whatever waivers he needs. Remember, laws are for the little folk. Waivers are for the connected.

[Don Mynack]

Note: The canyon he walked over was in the Navajo nation, not the National Park. So, he probably smoothed the legal implications that way. Also, the Navajos know that white people be crazy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Israel has responded to rocket attacks from Gaza by carrying out air strikes.

I heard they responded by drinking more blood of Palestinian children.

[John]

What do you think fuels the planes?

[T]

I've tried running engines on blood. Unless those Palestinian children have more alcohol than blood in their veins, it just doesn't work. The Necronomicon must mean something else when it speaks of "blood-fueled engines of destruction".

[Bee Tagger]

Obama is planning to bypass Congress and implement changes to climate change policy by using executive orders.

Does his autopen come with an eraser? He could maybe use that to erase some coal plants.

[Tim]

Time to drop pretences and rule by decree.

[Suthenboy]

What pretenses?

[Tim]

Don't pretend you don't understance.

[AlmightyJB]

I don't understand why he just doesn't heal the planet with the wave of his arms.

[some guy]

Republicans, dude.

[VG Zaytsev]

Those damn tea baggers won't let him.

[Lord Humungus]

'Sheep-eating' plant blooms in the U.K.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/si.....44839.html

A towering South American plant that is believed to kill animals with its spikes and use their decaying bodies as fertilizer is about to bloom in England.

Day of the Triffids!

[AlmightyJB]

I want to plant those right in front of my windows. That's a nice first line of defense.

[sarcasmic]

Rocking like it's 1994: Courtney Love puffs on a cigarette as her dress falls down during Philadelphia concert

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

She recently revealed to Philadelphia Weekly that she'll soon star in a network reality series.
'I'm gonna go sell out and do a TV show,' Love told the newspaper.
'Listen, your mind's gonna boggle even more when they announce it. It's tasteful. You know, it took them 15 years to convince me to do this s**t, and I finally said yes. I will tell

you this: It's hilarious. That's all I can tell you. I'm not looking for love. Let's put it that way. It'll be good.'

I think I'll be missing that one.

[Ted S.]

you this: It's hilarious. That's all I can tell you.

I'm sure they can do an excellent job making you the butt of the joke.

[John]

It will be like the old Anna Nicole Smith show only if Anna had been 15 years older and 100 times more of a skank.

[sarcasmic]

I dunno. I think those two are much closer in the skank department than that.

[John]

Not that Anna wasn't a skank. But Love is an epic skank. I am not sure anyone is close to her. Be honest, if Smith were still alive and it was sleep with one of them or die, you would have to take Smith.

[Ted S.]

Ooh! John and Sarcasmic arguing over skankiness!

[sarcasmic]

Speaking of which, how's your mom?

[SugarFree]

Ted S.'s mom is really taking it on the chin today. Which is strange because there are usually testicles resting there.

[sarcasmic]

Resting?

[WTF]

So you're saying she's a chin-ball wizard?

[BakedPenguin]

There has to be a twist.

[SugarFree]

She's got such a supple wrist.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Not clicking that

[AlmightyJB]

Janet Jackson exposes covered nipple, world goes apeshit. Courtney Love's dress falls off, world says 'meh'.

[T]

Racism, straight up.

[sarcasmic]

Woman gets shock of her life after hunting and killing a 'bobcat' that had been attacking cats and dogs... and it turns out to be a LEOPARD
A couple in Indiana though they were protecting their pets from bobcats, but it turned out to be a leopard
Officials believe the 9-month-old animal had been kept illegally by someone as a pet

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....OPARD.html
Here kitty kitty!

[Matrix]

the comments... dear lord, people are so stupid. they are talking about how horrible it was for her to kill a leopard. I guess it's better for the damned thing to eat their pets and children than to kill it to spare those lives.

[mr lizard]

"I told you they had a cat"

"You didn't tell me they had a muthafuckin fur cannon!!!!"

[Brett L]

"Seriously, we've gotta stop and get him some toys or something. Its like Meowshwitz in here."

[mr lizard]

"They said you're endangered which just means you're extra awesome"

[Dweebston]

He's crepuscular! Get 'im, boys!

[sarcasmic]

No wonder he's smitten! Nina Agdal shows off her amazing bikini body as she plays ball with new boyfriend Adam Levine in Mexico

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....exico.html
I'll be in my bunk.

[LTC(ret) John]

I'd have the same dopey smile as he does, were I with her.

[Lord Humungus]

Naked man in police parking lot charged with indecent exposure
http://www.ocala.com/article/2.....29991/1455

A naked man was arrested late Wednesday when an officer reportedly found him after walking around the parking lot of the Ocala Police Department.

[Lord Humungus]

Merkel's conservatives say Turkey would overburden EU
http://www.reuters.com/article.....HS20130618

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have rejected Turkish membership in the European Union in their German election program, saying the country would "overburden" the bloc because of its size and economy.

[mad libertarian guy]

But how is that possible. Hasn't the EU successfully suspended economics?

[The Late P Brooks]

JUSTICE!

A transgendered first-grader who was born a boy but identifies as a girl has won the right to use the girls' restroom at her Colorado school.

The Colorado Rights Division ruled in favor of Coy Mathis in her fight against the Fountain-Fort Carson School District.

Coy's parents had taken her case to the commission after the district said she could no longer use the girls' bathroom at Eagleside Elementary.

In issuing its decision, the state's rights division said keeping the ban in place "creates an environment that is objectively and subjectively hostile, intimidating or offensive."

Coy's mother, Kathryn Mathis, said she's thrilled that Coy can return to school and put this behind her.

Bring on the pure cleansing fire.

Please.

[Rich]

It's because s/he is named "Coy".

[John]

That is so sad. That kid has serious issues. And instead of helping him, his sick fuck parents are enabling him.

[Matrix]

John,

You are required to report to your nearest concentration camp reeducation center for sensitivity training NLT 1000 hrs on Wednesday.

Sincerely,
Progtard Bureaucrat

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I wonder how much they are only enabling him and how much they are the source of the issue.

[John]

I bet they are a lot of the source of the issue. What do you want to bet they are both radical feminist "there is no gender difference" types. The kids grows up hearing about how evil men are every day and being told to play with dolls and act as feminine as possible and amazingly enough he decides he really is a girl. That would be my bet is the source of his issues.

[KPres]

If gender is a social construct, how is it possible to be transgender? By definition, that implies there are two genders that are intrinsically different. What sense does it make to say "I'm a girl born into a boy's body" if gender isn't real?

[John]

That is a good point and one that feminists and the transgendered don't like to hear or deal with. There is no way to resolve the two positions. If people can be "born a woman in a man's body", then gender is not a social construct and pretty much all of feminist thought goes out the window. That issue is to the feminist community what the observation problem is to physics; a topic so disturbing they don't let themselves think about it.

[AuH20]

They try to dodge around it by separating gender, which can be male, female, or other, from sex, which is boy or girl parts and if you feel you want to change it, the government should pay for it.

[AlmightyJB]

In a world of school choice this doesn't happen. Cause when little cunt boy is the only kid left at tge school and all those union teaching jobs start to disappear, little cunt boys getting thrown under the bus.

[KPres]

But why would you feel you want to change it if there's no such thing as gender? Keep in mind, they don't describe transgender as some kind of petty preference (which would be sufficient, in my eyes, btw). No, they say that their bodies, as born, are wrong in some fundamental way. That it doesn't fit with what's going on in their brain. So, again, what is it that's going on in the brain if gender is a social construct?

[PapayaSF]

A very good point, but you are looking for logic in a topic where it is often lacking. Ages ago I wondered about the whole "men and women are really the same except for society" thing: Since we know that different hormones influence behavior, and that men and women have different mixes of hormones, isn't it obvious that things like "men tend to be more aggressive" aren't just determined by society?

[Auric Demonocles]

Isn't the environment where you let a boy into the girls' bathroom the one that is generally considered offensive?

[AlmightyJB]

I believe this is the same kid who was looking over the stall walls at the girls. Which is why the school reversed it's earlier decision to let him use the girl's bathroom. I'm guessing he'll probably join the girl wrestling team too. What a con. These officials are imbeciles.

[Auric Demonocles]

Wrestling team? Nah, try and find a volleyball team.

[KPres]

My hippie grandparents used their kids as outlets for their psychotic delusional ideology, and all three of them we're fucked up in the head for years. A fact I was reminded of when reading this:

"In issuing its decision, the state's rights division said keeping the ban in place "creates an environment that is objectively and subjectively hostile, intimidating or offensive."

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Because obviously first graders think about personal sexual identification issues on a daily basis. This has got to be parents projecting onto the poor kid. What happens ten or fifteen years from now when the child is actually mature enough to make its own decisions about its sexuality?

[T]

It starts a queercore band and sings about gender identity issues?

[LTC(ret) John]

CORRECT!

[Eduard van Haalen]

"It's symbolic of our struggle against oppression!"

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality."

[Auric Demonocles]

Reality has a well known oppressive bias.

[a better weapon]

Coy's passport and state-issued identification recognize her as female.

What? How?

[Eduard van Haalen]

They mau-maued the state the way they mau-maued the school, I imagine. As for the Hillary/Kerry State Dept, I really can't say I'm surprised.

[Azathoth!!]

And then there's this--

For most of the past year, Coy has dressed as a girl.

Most? of a single year? That's a pretty flimsy thread to hang this whole thing on, no?

[Bee Tagger]

"Mr. Clapper lied in Congress in defiance of the law in the name of security. Mr. Snowden told the truth in the name of privacy."

Mr. Paul, don't you know that if the citizenry has something to hide it has something to worry about, but if the government has something to hide the citizenry has nothing to worry about?

[Lord Humungus]

Five myths about the National Security Agency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....print.html

1. The NSA is allowed to spy on everyone, everywhere.
2. The courts make sure that what the NSA does is legal.
3. Congress has a lot of oversight over the NSA.
4. NSA agents break into foreign locations to steal codes and plant bugs.
5. Snowden could have aired his concerns internally rather than leaking the documents.

more details in the link.

[Raston Bot]

I'm surprised the bootlicking cocksucking WaPo listed that fifth one.

[T]

I'm going to say number 1 isn't really a myth. They may not be authorized to do so, but they damn sure have the capability and they certainly don't have any oversight to stop them.

[The Late P Brooks]

The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund praised the ruling that was filled under Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act.

"It is a victory for Coy and a triumph for fairness," said Michael Silverman, the group's executive director. "This ruling sends a loud and clear message that transgender students may not be targeted for discrimination and that they must be treated equally in school."

Yay!

[DJF]

But they were treated equally, all the kids with the boys parts went to the boys bathroom and all the kids with girl parts went to the girls bathroom.

[Auric Demonocles]

Yeah, this actually seems to send a message that you don't have to be treated equally if you whine enough.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Until we all sit down to piss, there is a portion of society that will not be satisfied.

[Old Johmnie Goggabie]

That argument didn't fly against gay marriage, either. These days, everything is equal, even when it's not, you troglodyte, you.

[Auric Demonocles]

Are they trying to say that all boys should be allowed into the girls bathroom? Because if they aren't, they don't think it's an equality issue.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I identify as Napoleon Bonaparte - where's *my* bathroom?

[T]

St. Helena. It's a long walk, so start now if yoiu think you'll need to pee today.

[AlmightyJB]

I thought it was the water loo.

[Eduard van Haalen]

No more calls, please, we have a winner - the worst pun in the history of the universe!

[LTC(ret) John]

You...I mean...gah!

[Eduard van Haalen]

I suspect that many of the same people who cheer when a "trans" kid gets exempt from the rules will fuss and fume whenever a religious kid gets an exemption - whether it be a Christian kid excused from sex ed or a Sikh boy who wants to carry his ceremonial dagger. "OMG why do these religious nuts want to be exempt from the rules which apply to everyone else?"

[Lord Humungus]

Bank robbery suspect wants NSA phone records for his defense
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ne.....4900.story

Local lawyers said they anticipate there will be many more requests for this kind of information now that defense attorneys know the information may have been preserved.

"If the government is spying on our phone calls, it can't then claim in the same breath that it won't provide those calls when it helps the defense. What's good for the goose, is good for the gander," said David Oscar Markus, a defense lawyer who blogs about the federal justice system in South Florida and first wrote about the unusual request.

[John]

Expect more and more of these types of claims. The government is required to turn over exculpatory evidence it has in its possession. There isn't an NSA exception to Brady. Indeed, fear of having to turn over classified evidence has lead to many a plea deal in espionage cases. The government is willing to deal even though they have an air tight case because they know a trial will result in them having to turn over classified information to the defense. These claims are more serious than people think.

[mr lizard]

There isn't an exception to Brady yet...
It will be like all the retro active immunity for the telcoms

[John]

They are going to have to kill Brady. There is no way you can write an "NSA" exception that won't immediately get expanded to cover all kinds of other things. Thanks to all of this shit, we are now going to no longer be able to demand that the government show us all of the evidence against us in a criminal trial.

[Suthenboy]

And no one ever saw this coming. They have been taking baby steps in this direction forever.

I forsee a day, not far away, when all courts will operate like FISA.

I wonder what all of the people who supported this kind of shit will be saying when they or their family members are 'dissappeared' by this government.

[VG Zaytsev]

"I support it because it keeps me safe" and / or "I had no idea a member of my family was a terrorists"

[Somalian Road Corporation]

As someone who's read quite a lot of Soviet history, a good number will be writing letters to Kalinin in their cells with the expectation that the glorious and faultless machinery of state will grind out justice and free them any moment now.

[mr lizard]

Well it adds to the whole Snowden is actually a decoy conspiracy. Evicerating Brady seems like a feature.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Lawmakers in Texas have given preliminary approval to some of the country's toughest abortion restrictions.

Let's compromise on the phrasing. How about "enacting the country's strongest fetal civil liberties while escalating a wanton war on women"?

[Lord Humungus]

This Sunday I went to a (gah!) public beach. Dear public: lose some weight and stop with the bad tattoos.

[Fluffy]

The tattoo craze for everyone born 5 years after me and later is really setting us up for some pretty fucking ugly years as a people as these folks age out.

[John]

The milleniels are going to make the ugliest old people in human history.

[sarcasmic]

Old people with tattoos and body piercings listening to emo.

I'm glad I'll be dead and gone.

[John]

Me too. Or if we hit the singularity and I am still alive, hopefully drugs will be safe legal and very affordable.

[Brett L]

All of them are going to look like the old people at Bike Week.

[John]

It is interesting how older generations seem to have aged better. An old guy or woman in a suit or dress or otherwise dressed up a bit looks distinguished even though they are not young and attractive anymore. An older person dressing like a college student is always a disaster even if the older person has somewhat kept their looks.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

That is kind of the case regardless of age, though.

[John]

Yes. My wife is the queen of dressing well and in flattering ways. I see women who are younger and who should be more attractive than her but are not because they are dressed in outfits that really only a 17 year old girl could look good in. And even those outfits are not that great. The clothes only look good on an attractive 17 year old girl because attractive 17 year old girls look good in anything.

[JW]

I regularly see blobby, muffin-topped, 20-something women, wearing something that highlights every single fold of fat on their torso. And not at Wal-Mart. Oooooo, sexy.

I suppose that it's a good time to be a chubby-chaser.

[mad libertarian guy]

The clothes only look good on an attractive 17 year old girl because attractive 17 year old girls look good in anything.

I see a new entry in to the sex offender registries. Burn him!!!

[Lord Humungus]

I went out to the bar of Friday where I met up with a number of my friends associates to see some local punk rock bands. It was like an old-school reunion from our "glory days". A number of the gals there were pushing 40 and had 1-2 kids. A few of them were still looking very good, but they knew how to maximize what they had with good clothing decisions and properly applied makeup (no whore setting on the makeup gun).

[PapayaSF]

+1 for the Simpsons reference.

[Rasilio]

Nah, cause tattoos aren't permanent anymore.

Hell the local radio station I listen to just had a bad tattoo contest where the winners got their choice of a free tattoo removal or a professional tattoo coverup (where an artist goes and overlays a new tattoo over the bad one turning it into something that looks much better)

[John]

Doesn't the removal leave a bit of a scar? It doesn't ever look right again.

[Rasilio]

No clue, I personally think tattoo's are stupid so I never got one that I'd need to have removed, I just know that they can remove them.

However based on these pictures here...

http://www.trlaser.com/photos.php

I'd say it can be pretty successfully done

[Suthenboy]

I like the one where the woman had 'Kirk's Girl' tattooed on her chest.

I wonder why she wanted that removed?

[T]

Because she watched TNG and realized Picard was the man?

[a better weapon]

Doesn't the removal leave a bit of a scar? It doesn't ever look right again.

My brother's fiance went for a consult to have her stupid ankle tattoo removed. They said that it would leave scarring. From what she told me about the conversation, it can go from raised, burn-type scarring, to red/bltchy, to nothing. It depends on your skin sensitivity and the area.

[JW]

Obligatory.

[BakedPenguin]

Tatoos, then and now.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Back in the U.S., liberal activists booed Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after she said Snowden broke...

But she quickly returned them to sheep-mode with some mindless claptrap.

[John]

Obama is now going after global warming. Because apparently his economic record as President just wasn't dismal enough.

Lets see if liberals are going to happy with him setting up a police state as long as they get their global warming pony in return.

[JW]

HEY! LOOK OVER THERE!

[The Late P Brooks]

Apparently, Secretary of State Kerry has threatened Russia with consequences (details to follow) if they do not put a hood over Snowden and ship him to Washington.

How will poor Vlad sleep with that hanging over his head?

[John]

I said this this weekend. The Snowden case proves that Obama is everything the liberals pretended George Bush was, a complete buffoon held in contempt and disregard by pretty much everyone. The Russians and the Chinese would have used Snowden to get something in return from Bush. But no way would they have just laughed in Bush's face the way they have Obama's.

[Marginal]

AFAIK, the Bush critics and the Obama critics are both correct.

[John]

The world never disregarded Bush. They may have disliked him. But they feared him a bit too much to just write him off.

[Brett L]

No, they aren't that stupid are they? Tell me they aren't that stupid. I would not have believed that you could burn down ALL of the US foreign policy credibility in 7 years. Especially post-Bush, who, although I pretty much disagree with everything he decided, did in fact act with enough consistency to build credibility.

[John]

Yes, they are that stupid. And Bush was feared even though he wasn't liked. No one fears Obama and no one seems to like him either.

[Brett L]

Its like watching the Three Stooges reinact The Prince, only real, so not at all funny.

[Don Mynack]

The Benghazi incident made us look like a bunch of pussies with the real players. Do you really think the Russians would have just let that go?

[Brett L]

Sure. After they destroyed all of Benghazi and salted the Earth for 100 miles around with radioactive material.

[Lord Humungus]

OT: a bunch of random pictures from the 70s/80s
http://internetkhole.blogspot......968ba33db8

a rare few are NSFW.

[SugarFree]

"I shall guard the realms of The Chess King!"

[Brett L]

Is that Marky Mark?

[SugarFree]

No everyone with bad hair is Marky Mark, you Supercuts bigot.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+1 Powell-Peralta

[robc]

Something I wanted to post on other fora, but there are people I actually care about who would be offended (I dont have that problem here, interpret that whichever way you want):

Just because you have a handicapped placard for your car doesnt grant you permission to drive like a retard.

Thanks, needed to say that.

[Acosmist]

There is a remarkable correlation between really bad driving and those PD license plates.

Also, strangely, the D.A.R.E. plates.

[thom]

They drive like shit because they are free from the consequences. Also, 90% of those PD license plates are on cars that cost $50K+, at least where I live.

[Kaptious Kristen]

western countries arming rebels will only prolong the war.

No shit, Sherlock.

Now someone tell Himself and Himself's Congress that.

[John]

At this point, who cares if Assad wins and stays in power? They have basically leveled the country. Assad is now an international outcast. It is hard to see him ever being a threat to anyone outside of Syria for a long time. A weakened Assad in Syria sounds better than a group of Islamist nutcases.

[Tim]

His Majaesty King Shit of Turd Mountain.

[Lord Humungus]

but the views are spectacular!

[tarran]

At this point, who cares if Assad wins and stays in power?

I do; I want to see more Vanity Fair articles slobbering pathetically over his wife's well turned out Prada pumps.

[John]

The idiot who wrote that article's response was classic. Assad's wife had everything it took to be in Vogue, she was thin and stylish. That is all that mattered.

Sure, she is the wife of a mass murderer. But it is not like she was fat or something.

[tarran]

I haven't decided whether the author's or editor Anna Wintour's defense was the more hilariously shallow and inappropriate one.

They both were, however, comedy gold.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Wintour edits Vogue.

[tarran]

Yep, and they published the fawning profile of her.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Sorry, I was confused since both Vogue and Vanity Fair were mentioned, couldn't remember which had profiled her. Both?

[LTC(ret) John]

In Assad's Syria, Vogue edits you!

[Kaptious Kristen]

I hear ol' Anna is taking an Ambassadorship somewheres. Anna Wintour + Diplomacy = Hilarity. I have a hard time thinking of someone less subtle and diplomatic than she.

[John]

She wanted to be Ambassador to the UK. She thought raising all of the money for Obama would get her that. But as soon as they floated the idea the laughter was so loud they had to take it back. Anna being subjected to confirmation hearings in the Senate would have been comedy gold.

[tarran]

I actually used to view Assad the younger as a bit of a tragic figure.

20 years ago, he was an optometrist in London. According to Huggy Bear, he had told his dad he had no interest in politics. Until his brother's death, everyone assumed he was a non-player in Syria's future.

I'd assumed that he'd been made an offer he couldn't refuse to get him to change course so thoroughly. But I don't know. Because if he really wanted to, I think he could have remained a prosperous optometrist in London.

[Sevo]

"But it is not like she was fat or something."

Hey, John, she moves the merch.

[PS]

Fighting proxy wars stops countries like America and Russia from fighting real wars, hence makes the world a much safer place.

At least when the guy I voted for is in charge. Otherwise, all wars are awful.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Apparently this gem hasn't made the rounds today. A combination of a little humor with some extreme derp.

US Seemingly Unaware of Irony in Accusing Snowden of Spying

FTA:
"These charges send a clear message," the spokesman said. "In the United States, you can't spy on people."

[John]

That is the "we destroyed the village to save it" phrase of the 21st Century.

[robc]

There was too much irony in that article for it to be real. The NSA spokesman was having fun with it.

I refuse to believe otherwise.

[robc]

What Im saying is, the NSA guy was specifically saying "Fuck You, Thats Why" and wanted to be clear about it.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

I think that's precisely what's going on here. The unnamed spokesperson was told, "go defend the charges and talk shit about Snowden" So, unable to actually come up with a defense, he just decided to go with the craziest thing he could think of and hope people's brains would break.

[Brett L]

Its the Baghdad Bob Strategy.

[Matrix]

Snowden is a spy because he told the US people that the government is spying on them.

[Brett L]

Secret photos of IFH's Antipodean lair.

[NoVAHockey]

great weekend. took my kid to his first ballgame. grilled out Saturday night.
and to top it off, a candidate for state delegate was making the rounds sunday night. he was talking about "making the world a better place" and had no answer for "then why would you run for office instead of, you know, working to make the world a better place. there are lots of was to improve your community. running for office just isn't one of them." the look on his face was priceless.

[Brett L]

Nice.

[PS]

I want to make the world a better place through self-aggrandizement.

[T]

He wants to make the world a better place for himself. A better place for you? He could care less.

[Raston Bot]

Nice.

[Suthenboy]

I am guessing the look was puzzlement.

The kinds of people who understand that the world is what we make it dont run for office. The kinds of people who do just see the world as being what it is and they are here to take advantage in any way they can do. They mouth the words 'make the world a better place' but they have no understanding of what that means.

[Matrix]

NSA: If your data is encrypted, you might be a terrorist, so we'll hang onto it just to be sure

Going to hold onto it until they crack it and find out.

If you encrypt it, it's evidence that you might be a terrorist, so they need to crack the encryption to make sure.
If it's not encrypted, you obviously don't care about privacy, so you should have no problem with them snooping.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

How is that meaningfully distinguishable from "if you plead the 5th you might be guilty, so we'll hold on to you just to be sure"?

[Rich]

The magenta kitty will eat five pomegranates at midnight Saturn time.

[mr lizard]

I've seen that clip on fapdu

[Lord Humungus]

why do I have the urge to create a few dummy email addresses and then send gigabytes of faux encrypted data back and forth.

[neoteny]

Actually, that's a fascinating idea. One could send pi, e or the square root of any of the primes -- calculated to a few billion bits -- then watch the NSA trying to find meaning in them.

[tarran]

All this went on in the first few weeks before we got everything straightened out. Anyway, one day I'm piddling around with the computing machine, and I notice something very peculiar. If you take 1 divided by 243 you get .004115226337... It's quite cute: It goes a little cockeyed after 559 when you're carrying but it soon straightens itself out and repeats itself nicely. I thought it was kind of amusing.
Well, I put that in the mail, and it comes back to me. It doesn't go through, and there's a little note: "Look at Paragraph 17B." I look at Paragraph 17B. It says, "Letters are to be written only in English, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin, German, and so forth. Permission to use any other language must be obtained in writing." And then it said, "No codes."
So I wrote back to the censor a little note included in my letter which said that I feel that of course this cannot be a code, because if you actually do divide 1 by 243, you do, in fact, get all that, and therefore there's no more information in the number .004115226337... than there is in the number 243 -- which is hardly any information at all. And so forth. I therefore asked for permission to use Arabic numerals in my letters. So I got that through all right

-Richard Feynman Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

[tarran]

There was always some kind of difficulty with the letters going back and forth. For example, my wife kept mentioning the fact that she felt uncomfortable writing with the feeling that the censor is looking over her shoulder. Now, as a rule, we aren't supposed to mention censorship. We aren't, but how can they tell her? So they keep sending me a note: "Your wife mentioned censorship." Certainly, my wife mentioned censorship. So finally they sent me a note that said, "Please inform your wife not to mention censorship in her letters." So I start my letter: "I have been instructed to inform you not to mention censorship in your letters." Phoom, phoooom, it comes right back! So I write, "I have been instructed to inform my wife not to mention censorship. How in the heck am I going to do it? Furthermore, why do I have to instruct her not to mention censorship? You keeping something from me?"
It is very interesting that the censor himself has to tell me to tell my wife not to tell me that she's... But they had an answer. They said, yes, that they are worried about mail being intercepted on the way from Albuquerque, and that someone might find out that there was censorship if they looked in the mail, and would she please act much more normal.

[tarran]

So I went down the next time to Albuquerque, and I talked to her and I said, "Now, look, let's not mention censorship." But we had had so much trouble that we at last worked out a code, something illegal. If I would put a dot at the end of my signature, it meant I had had trouble again, and she would move on to the next of the moves that she had concocted. She would sit there all day long, because she was ill, and she would think of things to do. The last thing she did was to send me an advertisement which she found perfectly legitimately. It said, "Send your boyfriend a letter on a jigsaw puzzle. We sell you the blank, you write the letter on it, take it all apart, put it in a little sack, and mail it." I received that one with a note saying, "We do not have time to play games. Please instruct your wife to confine herself to ordinary letters."

[tarran]

Well, we were ready with the one more dot, but they straightened out just in time and we didn't have to use it. The thing we had ready for the next one was that the letter would start, "I hope you remembered to open this letter carefully because I have included the Pepto-Bismol powder for your stomach as we arranged." It would be a letter full of powder. In the office we expected they would open it quickly, the powder would go all over the floor, and they would get all upset because you are not supposed to upset anything. They'd have to gather up all this Pepto-Bismol... But we didn't have to use that one.
As a result of all these experiences with the censor, I knew exactly what could get through and what could not get through. Nobody else knew as well as I. And so I made a little money out of all of this by making bets.

[The Late P Brooks]

there are lots of was to improve your community. running for office just isn't one of them.

What are you, some kind of COMMIE? If it wasn't for the government, there would be no freedom!

[John]

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

Bob Menendez in new sex scandal. Well, at least he is not screwing children this time. But how much influence did that toad have to sell to get an consenting adult to sleep with him? I am thinking that woman was pretty much the senior senator from New Jersey.

[The Late P Brooks]

If you encrypt it, it's evidence that you might be a terrorist, so they need to crack the encryption to make sure.

This makes me want to learn enough about encryption to bombard the intertoobs with encrypted "Obama is a limp dick mama's boy who wears frilly underpants" messages.

[John]

Doesn't that really make encryption an act of civil disobedience? I don't have any reason to encrypt my stuff. But if I do, that is just more information they have to pour over making it harder for them to spy on the rest of the public. If everyone or even a few million people started encrypting everything, they would be fucked.

[thom]

Download a copy of Truecrypt and read the tutorial. You should be up an running in 15 minutes or so.

[mr lizard]

I would just stream an encrypted Rick Roll

[Jordan]

Looks like Fluffy's hope of a Bourne-like disappearance is being realized:

NSA leaker Edward Snowden slipped back under the radar on Monday, failing to show up on the Cuba-bound flight he was expected to board from Moscow and befuddling the media who have been tracking the international fugitive's every move.

[NoVAHockey]

Too funny -- the first thing that came to my mind is "He's got a two day head start on you, which is more than he needs. Brody's got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan, he speaks a dozen languages, knows every local custom, he'll blend in, disappear, you'll never see him again."

[John]

A lot of people don't like the US. Giving Snowden shelter is a great way to stick it to the US. Normally, fear of the US takes a lot of the fun out of doing that. But no one fears Obama. No one cares what he thinks about anything. So helping Snowden is like a free kick at the great Satan.

[Outlaw]

The next time someone calls Snowden a traitor, throw this in their face:

"He can only be a traitor if the enemy that received comfort is the American people."

And maybe a fist too, depending on how ornery you're feeling.

[John]

Someone on PJ media made a great point. In order for him to be guilty of "espionage", he had to have given information to an enemy. All he did was give information to the American people, who apparently are now the enemy.

Charging him with espionage rather than ordinary breach of the national security laws is really the most disturbing thing to come out of this.

[Outlaw]

Is that the legal definition of espionage?

And do we know specifically what laws they've charged him with violating?

Haven't had a chance to check this morning.

[John]

Espionage is providing information to an enemy. There has to be a foreign power involved. If I just start leaking classified information, I have violated the national security laws. But I have not engaged in "espionage" unless you can show that I was doing so in order to provide the information to a hostile power.

[robc]

And how does the knowing the fact that the NSA is tracking every phone call and reading everything on facebook help a foreign power anyway?

[John]

It doesn't. The only "hostile power" here is the American people. That they charged him with Espionage says all you need to know about who they think the enemy is.

[Brett L]

I prefer to point out that he is upholding the highest traditions of the signers of the Declaration of Independence:

And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Everyone else can go hang.

[AuH20]

A movie about fraternities isn't about women?! Shocking!

Rival frats. I am not kidding. That's what this movie is about. So here on Reel Girl, I don't have to even analyze or point out how or why this narrative is sexist. After watching it, I've got to conclude that in spite of the token "Brave," Disney/ Pixar really doesn't give a shit about including females in its narratives in a significant way.

[Matrix]

It's too early to get my blood pressure up.

[John]

Even making a movie about men is sexist. All movies must be about women. Men are not a subject worthy of artistic examination. It is amazing how horrible and totalitarian feminists are.

[Auric Demonocles]

And what if they include a superfluous love interest if the movie, whose only job is to be a girl the lead wants to bang? Is that more or less sexist?

[KMA Too]

Did she have to buy an extra ticket at the theater for the chip on her shoulder?

[mad libertarian guy]

Wolves in the Throne Room

Good, American black metal.

[MP]

Wow. On my Amazon wish list now. Thx.

[mad libertarian guy]

Glad to be of service.

[AuH20]

Ladies don't care about the NSA because TEH MALE GAIZE!!!

Not that the cold slap of Hey, baby is ever so far away as to keep women truly unaware of the public dynamic surrounding gender. In urban areas (and plenty of non-urban areas too), we deal with street harassment so frequently that it begins to feel difficult to overestimate just how much we're actually being observed by passersby. The triumphant joke of the tinfoil-hat crowd rings frightfully true in the light of the NSA activities?just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after you?is yesterday's news to women. Am I actually being looked at?specifically by men, and specifically as a woman?every time I leave my house? Probably not. But the expectation or possibility of being seen has been there as long as I can remember. And the minute I think I've slipped out of the observation zone?by wearing a dowdy outfit that conceals my body, or simply by being in my own world for a moment?there's a catcall there to remind me that even if I'm not paranoid, that doesn't mean they're?not afterme (I hope!). But there, watching.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

And last time I checked they objected seriously to creepshots. So what is their point?

[SugarFree]

It read like "What Obama is doing is no big deal because patriarchy."

[John]

If you don't want men to look at you, wear super conservative clothes. Amish, Muslim or Orthadox Jewish women don't have that problem. Indeed, I have known several Muslim women who told me they liked wearing a head scarf and dressing conservatively because it kept men from hitting on them or bothering them. They would often go out dressed "western" when they wanted such things to happen. It is not that hard.

[Lord Humungus]

I like the headscarf.

[John]

I don't mind them. I find it hysterical to go to Europe and see these young Turkish girls dressed to the nines with makeup and cute outfits and then the color coordinated head scarf. Their parents and relatives honestly think that because they go their daughter to wear a headscarf they are not embracing Western ways. Yeah, not exactly.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Stupid person is stupid, film at 11.

[Kaptious Kristen]

In urban areas (and plenty of non-urban areas too), we deal with street harassment so frequently

Bull. Fucking. Shit.

[Fluffy]

Yup.

I've read a couple of blogs where women claim that they are routinely - as in, weekly, harassed by men while riding public transportation.

I've been in and out of Boston for work for the last year, and when I'm there I ride the T. And I have never seen one incident of harassment. Not one. I have never seen any man speak to any woman he didn't board the train with. Not one.

If the average attractive woman is harassed on public transportation at least once a week, it would be impossible for me to not see it several times a day.

And I have never seen it once.

Not once.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Weekly? I thought the complaint was daily at this point.

[tarran]

This puts me in mind of a very funny incident riding the T in Boston. I was commuting on the Red Line. It was very crowded and I was standing up pressed in all sides by other people standing as well. My knees were pressed against a woman in her mid 40's who was sitting. It was a cold snowy winter day, so I had my hat and gloves with me. Because the train was so packed with human bodies, it was oppressively hot, so I had tucked my hat and gloves under my arm.

I suddenly realized I was going to sneeze and it was going to be a wet one. Thanks to the press of the crowd locking my backpack in place, I physically couldn't bury my nose into my upper arm. I was going to be sneezing out in front and it was going to be nasty.

As the sneeze started erupting I threw my free hand up and sneezed into the crook of my arm.

Simultaneously, my hat and gloves, released from their confinement flew into the face of the woman sitting in front of me.

The look of "what the hell?!?" she shot at me was very funny.

The good news was that she not only accepted my apologies but agreed that getting a hat and gloves thrown in her face was preferable to being sneezed on.

That sneeze incidentally was the first blast of what became a nasty two-week long head cold from hell.

[KPres]

"I've been in and out of Boston for work for the last year, and when I'm there I ride the T. And I have never seen one incident of harassment. Not one."

She must be confusing reality with Japanese porn.

[MJGreen]

I think, in 5 years of riding the NYC MTA almost daily, I've only seen one instance of a guy acting like a creep. And in that, I think it was only a passing comment that made me rolled my eyes, not some big scene. I've heard a story about a crazy guy taking his dick out, but I've seen/heard about fights between guys far more often than women being abused.

And then there are stories of gropers getting caught and having the shit kicked out of them.

[Kaptious Kristen]

All I can think is these women - if you can call them that - are walking around all hunched and downcast, looking meek and scared. I have never once seen a women who presents herself with confidence and energy be harassed on the street.

Not to mention, if you are catcalled or whatever, your reaction is everything. Something tells me these chicks meekly put their heads down and run away. That's the worst reaction. I have personally put a few catcallers in their place over the years with a beaming smile, followed by a condescending comment. Puts 'em out of balance as they have come to expect women (like the ones from the article above) to run away from the big, skawy man.

[John]

Kristen,

I worked many a working class job when I was young. I have spent my adult life in Army towns and big cities. I have never once seen a woman catcalled in public. Not once. I have seen lots of odd things. I have seen people shooting heroin. I have seen street walking prostitutes and their johns. I have seen fist fights and all sorts of crazy things over the years. But never once seen a woman catcalled. And I have never met a woman who had that happen to her.

Maybe my experience is out of the ordinary. But I think these women are lying. I don't think they have ever had it happen to them. I think they make the whole thing up to further their point.

[tarran]

I've seen it happen.

Boston in the 1980's at a construction site. It looked something like this. Except for the bending a bar in rage and smashing things with it part.

Haven't seen anything like that since.

[John]

So between two adults who have lived a combined 70 or more years in this society, we have one incident that happened nearly 30 years ago. I am still skeptical of these women's claims.

[KPres]

The catcalling thing is a legit complaint, and it's rude as shit. But I'm with you. I'm a contractor and I never see it. A poke and a peek? Sure. But nobody over the age of 20 is catcalling or whistling or anything like that. Maybe it happens in the Northeast, where people are ruder in general.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I've had it happen to me a handful of times here in DC. Maybe 5 times. Always immigrants - always. But when I approach them as I described above, they back down very quickly. They're not used to women sassing them.

[KPres]

If I don't look at you, how do I know if you're attractive? Oh, I forgot, feminism isn't about equality or anything like that anymore, it's just a dumping ground for asexual women. I'm sure all the regular women will be hopping on board in no time.

[Fluffy]

Basically this is saying that if men look at you when you are in a public place, that is as great a violation as the NSA hacking into your communications without a warrant.

Because you should be entitled to walk through public places without having to worry that the lower orders are daring to raise their bowed heads to violate you with their subhuman eyes.

[Locke]

Obama plans to bypass Congress

The fucking Constitution, how does that work?

[sarcasmic]

It doesn't.

[KPres]

Yeah, it would be better without it. That way, we could be like the UK, banning guns and arresting people for words they post on facebook.

[sarcasmic]

Remember that the Supremes have inserted the word "reasonable" into the 1A and 2A, so it's only a matter of time.

[The Late P Brooks]

After watching it, I've got to conclude that in spite of the token "Brave," Disney/ Pixar really doesn't give a shit about including females in its narratives in a significant way.

I certain she is at this very moment busily scribbling storyboards and raising money in order to right this grievous injustice.

[Don Mynack]

The Atlantic goes full retard: http://www.theatlantic.com/bus.....ay/276943/

This is really what lefties believe. It's really eye-opening.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The only way that could have been dumber would be to have been longer.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm from a poor family and I've gotten ahead.

But wait, I'm a white male, so I don't think I count.

[Brett L]

Here's a tip: With the exception of engineering and the hard sciences, college is a club for rich people to get to know each other. If you are poor and smart, go be an engineer or a pharmacist. Then let your kids get arts degrees. Otherwise, go be a plumber or electrician and make $65k/yr at age 22.

[robc]

If you are poor and smart, go be an engineer or a pharmacist. Then let your kids get arts degrees. Otherwise, go be a plumber or electrician and make $65k/yr at age 22.

This.

[John]

What Brett said. I have any number of friends who went to Ivy League schools. And it didn't do them a damn bit of good. They made it about as far as I did. Everyone says you go to those schools for connections. Bullshit. People with connections go to those schools and then use their connections later in life. If you are middle class, you are likely never going to get the connections the rich kids already have. Just because you both go to Harvard, doesn't mean you and Mitt Romney or Al Gore or George W. Bush are all going to graduate with the same connections.

[Auric Demonocles]

I did go to an Ivy, and I went as a (generously) lower-middle class student. There were a lot of rich and connected people there. They didn't want to mingle much.

So far the only thing my 'connections' from it have gotten me is a bunch of requests to pass along resumes for people and an opening line for my girlfriend who happened to be wearing a college hoodie the first time I saw her.

Though the school's name is what got me into the door for my first job interview.

[John]

It doesn't hurt you for sure. But it isn't what it is cracked up to be either. You don't immediately become part of the elite because you went there. Sadly, the actual elite is way too inbreed for average people to be let in just because they went to an Ivy.

[Auric Demonocles]

It's an interesting culture shock.

[Libertymike]

If there are two people interviewing for a position and one is an Ivy grad and the other is not, one is best served by choosing the other, ceteris paribus.

The basis of my opinion? Life experiences.

[JW]

Though the school's name is what got me into the door for my first job interview.

BOOM. That is all what college you go to is worth. Everything after that is what you did in your jobs.

[John]

Here you have a leftist dealing with the harsh reality that culture matters. If you value marriage and your kid grows up in a two parent household where both parents give a shit, your kid is much more likely to do well than a kid born to a single mother raised by their extended family and a serious of b/fs and people who generally don't give a shit.

Leftists have been telling themselves for a century that marriage and family and values are just bourgeois concepts that oppress women, minorities and small furry animals. That of course is complete horse shit and even leftists as dumb as this guy can't deny it.

But they can never admit that. So their solution is to design a society where everyone does equally badly no matter what. That way life is fair.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

You can always tell that these articles were not written by a first-generation college graduate.

[KPres]

"This chart is a bit hard to follow, but the message isn't: it's hard to rise, and harder to fall in our "meritocratic" society."

Um, no. The strongest correlate to income is IQ, which is about 85% hereditary. It's not that it's "hard to rise, and harder to fall", it's that most of the rising and falling has already happened.

[KPres]

As the Brookings Institution has pointed out, America has turned into a place Horatio Alger would scarcely recognize: we have more inequality and less mobility than once-stratified Europe, particularly the Nordic countries.

This statement is false (though not surprising...all these people do is propagate misinformation...like the claim wages have stagnated while ignoring the rise in benefit packages).

The US has higher income mobility than those European countries when you measure in absolute dollars. It's only when you measure across quintiles that it doesn't (because our quintiles are larger). But nobody cares about which quintile they're in. Would you rather get a $20,000 raise that pushes you into the next quintile, or a $30,000 raise that doesn't?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Hey - any of you assholes lovely people have experience correcting display problems in IE7? Because apparently that's the browser that Himself's staff uses (and the default browser where I work, though we have Chrome as a secondary) so I have to fix a coupla issues. Mainly getting my horizontal nav bar to stop wrapping on smaller screens.

[Auric Demonocles]

My only experience with that is how to switch to a browser that's not from Bush Sr's term.

[Kaptious Kristen]

When Colin Powell came in in '01, only the Public Affairs bureau had web browsing access here. Everyone else had email, but no browser. That is fucked up.

[KPres]

I recently requested some documents from the IRS. She wanted to fax them to me. I asked if she could email them instead. Her answer:

"Oh, we don't have email yet."

[Auric Demonocles]

Maybe that's why it takes them over a year to send me a notice that (they think) I owe more taxes, as well as a year's worth of interest on it.

[KPres]

Maybe it's a security thing. They don't want your tax records falling into the hands of people who would use them against you. Like IRS employees.

[LTC(ret) John]

Zing!

[Locke]

I can do you one better: In 2011 I got a notice that I owed a failure to pay on time penalty from 2007. The penalty was something like 220 bucks. The interest? over 500..

Let's not even talk about my pending court case for 2010- I got a notice of deficiency from the IRS saying I owed a grand in taxes because I didn't put my capital gains on my tax return (I didn't file that year because I had no net income, was living on savings (officially, unofficially I was working as an illegal immigrant in a Caribbean country), hence why I cashed out my stocks)

They charged me tax on the 16,000 I sold my stocks for. The PROCEEDS. The GAINS were only something like 400 dollars. They are truly fucking Criminals. Either that, or The examiner whose job it is to file fucking tax returns doesn't know what Capital gains is.

They're probably just messing with me because I donated to Ron Paul and Reason back in the day.

[Don Mynack]

It's usually CSS related. Start commenting out classes/ids, try to isolate that way.

If you use firebug for jQuery, you can start overriding stuff to see what happens. About the only option with IE, since there is no developer version (other than Visual Studio).

[Kaptious Kristen]

Yeah, I'm using Chrome to see where the issue might be. It may be a width or a float, but this fucking site has eleventy billion stylsheets and I of course have to make the change before I can see it in IE.

[Brett L]

Sorry, my Googlefu on this is weak.

[sarcasmic]

Mainly getting my horizontal nav bar to stop wrapping on smaller screens.

google up "style overflow"

[robc]

There should be an Iron Law for this:

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.....ences.html