The NSA's Latest Slide Show, Hackers Hacked off at Feds, Prohibition Still Around in Chicago: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: Uncalno / Foter / CC BY

  A newly released slide from the National Security Agency appears to confirm a surveillance method observers have long believed had been taking place – the ability to access communications from fiber optic cables as the data flows through it without having to access it directly from online service providers.

• Hackers at the annual Def Con convention in Las Vegas are asking the feds to stay away this year due to discomfort over the revelations of surveillance being brought forth by Edward Snowden. I attended the conference once many moons ago (so long ago that one of the displays in the conference hall was somebody noodling around on a private hacked Everquest server).  They made a game essentially out of people trying to figure out who there was actually federal agent of some sort. It seemed like it was mostly in good fun, but I bet the mood has changed since then.
• In Chicago, a lawyer is suing the city for allowing a wine shop to open in a community that voted more than 30 years ago to ban booze and be "dry."
• Cory Booker has raised $4.6 million in three months in New Jersey in his chase for Frank Lautenberg's old Senate seat.
• Mass protests continue in Egypt, but now it's due to supporters of evicted President Mohammad Morsi, who want him back in power.
• The White House has threatened to veto the farm bill if it omits food stamps. Republicans have proposed stripping the food stamp funding out and dealing with it separately.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

In Chicago, a lawyer is suing the city for allowing a wine shop to open in a community that voted more than 30 years ago to ban booze and be "dry."

I want everyone involved in this one to lose somehow.

[Tonio]

Ooooo...meta.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Who hates wine? Srsly.

[anon]

I want everyone involved in this one to lose somehow.

Rest easy; they live in Chicago. They already lost.

[A Serious Man]

In Chicago, a lawyer is suing the city for allowing a wine shop to open in a community that voted more than 30 years ago to ban booze and be "dry."

Nice to see that in Chicago it's not just the politicians that are nanny assholes.

[John]

The US has been tapping fiber optic cables since the cold war. Do civil libertarian observers just not ever read?

[Pro Libertate]

See, the government knows that the best way to hide something is to never reveal it exists. I'm convinced that there is data held by various agencies that is totally unknown by the public, even in principle. However acquired.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Encrypt your data.

[John]

That too.

[Pro Libertate]

Encrypt your metadata.

[PapayaSF]

Haha, not possible AFAIK. Not with email or phone calls, at least. Someone or some thing always has to know where the packets are going.

[Pro Libertate]

I was kidding, of course. Otherwise, I'd encrypt my handle and my comments here.

[Tim]

No shit, we even built a sub for doing that.

[John]

We did it to Russian cables in the 70s, these people didn't think we continued to do that?

[jesse.in.mb]

Were they using fiber optics in the '70s? I'd imagine it's a different process intercepting light pulses than EM ones.

[John]

Yeah but intercepting a cable is intercepting a cable.

[Tonio]

Yes and yes. And the undersea bit only adds complexity.

[robc]

I wonder what inalienable means and who it applies to?

I guess its possible the creator only gave rights to American citizens on American soil, but seems unlikely.

[robc]

or unalienable, for that matter.

[Dweebston]

I find a lot of you terribly alienating, so clearly, I'm being disenfranchised.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Mass protests continue in Egypt, but now it's due to supporters of evicted President Mohammad Morsi, who want him back in power.

When will the apathetic have their say?

[Eduard van Haalen]

"What do we want?"

"Oh, whatever."

"When do we want it?"

"Sooner or later."

[Auric Demonocles]

Sorry, not with that attitude.

[mad libertarian guy]

When will the apathetic have their say?

It really is a sad state affairs that those with the loudest mouths are those who drive our political agenda.

People, listen close. Shut. The. Fuck. Up. I'm not exactly sure why it is that everyone is supposed to have something to say about everything, but it isn't fucking necessary that I know your opinion about, well, anything at all. If I want to know it, I will seek it out (which is exactly why it's becoming increasingly more and more clear to me that my internet experience is little more than HyR, and links that are taken from HyR. Those links in Twitter or email also apply.

But rarely do I simply browse anymore because there are just too many idiots saying too many idiotic things.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

but now it's due to supporters of evicted President Mohammad Morsi

nothing worse than fans of The Smiths

[John]

This is one case where excessive force is probably justified.

[Zeb]

Suck my balls, the Smiths are awesome. Morrisey is a silly twat, granted, but his lyrics are clever and the rest of the band is quite good.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Smiths really got me through that rough patch in college when my girlfriend was in a coma.

[Mad Scientist]

Was it serious?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Really serious.

[mad libertarian guy]

Was she hit by a double decker bus?

[Restoras]

Or maybe the Knight Bus?

[Somalian Road Corporation]

England is mine - it owes me a living
But ask me why, and I'll spit in your eye
Oh, ask me why, and I'll spit in your eye

[Joe M]

The Smiths were the perfect band for me when I was sixteen, clumsy, and shy.

[SugarFree]

I'm glad to see you survived London.

[Brett L]

"Pothole Robin Hood" steals asphalt from the city and patches pot holes with it. Fucking anti-government monster!

[Mad Scientist]

He took government jerbs!

[Tonio]

Harry Tuttle...

[A Serious Man]

What the? But I was told that only government is smart enough to put asphalt on the ground!

[anon]

A man dubbed the "pothole Robin Hood" is under police investigation for taking asphalt from the city of Jackson, Miss., and filling in potholes on city streets.

Wait, they're actually paying some jackass to investigate someone doing the state's job for them?

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Tonio]

The actual beef is that he showed up the state.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Great minds think alike, heh.

[robc]

I hope they arrest him and press charges. I would like to see if they can find 12 Jacksonians to convict him.

[PapayaSF]

Plus, they need to pay some government workers overtime to remove these unauthorized repairs. They are probably a danger to the public.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Embarrassing the powers-that-be is the greatest crime of all.

[John]

Let them veto the farm bill. That ought to help out red state dems next year.

[robc]

But I will have to give Obama the credit for doing the right thing.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

WalMart employee fired for calling cops on dog locked in hot car

[anon]

What she gets for not minding her own business, really.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

KORPORASHUNS

[John]

People's desire to have the fucking lights continue to stay on has nothing to do with it. They are just brainwashed by the corporations!!1

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Too many CAPS and BOLDS

[Suthenboy]

I half expected to see the authors name as Tony something.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The White House has threatened to veto the farm bill if it omits food stamps.

Yes, please.

[Andrew S.]

Oh, if only I had any hope that this would mean we wouldn't have to deal with a farm subsidy bill passing...

[anon]

Now that, my friends, sounds like a win-win there.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

VICTORY Lululemon says see-through pants being worn too small

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Good job SugarFree.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

RATS

[The DerpRider]

Clicked and disappointed.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

How does one link to a boring yoga pants story? Somehow, Archduke Trouserenthusiast did it. I say we demote him to Marquis Caprilover.

[NeonCat]

And if he does it again, Baronet Culottesfan.

[Mad Scientist]

In Chicago, a lawyer is suing the city for allowing a wine shop to open in a community that voted more than 30 years ago to ban booze and be "dry."

Don't they have public hearings where nimby assholes like this guy can show up and voice his concerns about his neighbors' sinful ways?

[The DerpRider]

How to get the NSA to come knocking. Briefcase DIY Drone.

[anon]

Dude, combine that with the DIY Sentry gun, and we have a winner.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hackers at the annual Def Con convention in Las Vegas are asking the feds to stay away this year...

They'll be there in spirit. Also in person.

[John]

I have a lot of friends in the IT security field. I am told that the quality of actual free range hackers is pretty sorry. Everyone who can actually hack is working for a corporation or a government plying their trade.

[some guy]

If you have a high-demand skill and aren't profiting from it, then you're either very principled or very lazy.

[Tejicano]

"either very principled or very lazy."

Or possibly have other mad skills that pay even better.

A buddy of mine was part of a group running a small hedge fund which had just invested in a plant that burns encripted CDs with their own proprietary code. He was sent to oversee management of the operation. During the introduction at the plant the management was bragging about their encription code. My buddy agreed, saying "i ttook me two days to crack your encription - pretty tricky". He proceeded to explain where the major faults were.

As mad as his IT skills are he makes better money in finance.

[Pro Libertate]

Except for those working in Russia.

[John]

They are either in prison or on the government payroll or both.

[Pro Libertate]

I went to an ID-theft prevention seminar a couple of years ago, and they said the industry is so big in Russia that people go to an office, work 9-5, and act pretty much like corporate employees anywhere. . .except that it's all tied to identity theft and fraud.

[John]

Wow. I am told a lot of the overseas online pharmacies in addition to being pharmacies are fronts for identity theft.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm rather surprised we haven't gone to broader use of biometrics and strong encryption.

[The DerpRider]

The Shadow knows! Oops. Wrong con.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

How to wear Lego

[Pro Libertate]

Just wait until I can cheaply print my own bricks. Then Lego is well and truly screwed. Their prices are insane.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Let's see you print the right bricks to construct Jar Jar Binks.

[Pro Libertate]

I was thinking about that. There's just generic bricks, which could be printed pretty easily, then there's getting the diagrams for set designs, like the life-sized Jar Jar Binks. I expect the Internet to solve this problem.

[MJGreen]

There's already CAD programs for LEGO bricks. Go through the catalogue and choose the sizes and colors you want, or import your own 3D model. And people share their creations, and even make instructions for people to make them with real bricks.

[Pro Libertate]

I meant me, personally. I don't have a 3-D printer just yet.

[John]

http://kfor.com/2013/07/09/cdc.....cing-salt/

Top men admit that reducing salt consumption has no health benefits. But we totally should believe everything else they say.

[Mad Scientist]

I think that's Tony's motto.

[Zeb]

That is a remarkably poorly written article. The first sentence doesn't even make sense:

"A recent report from the CDC reviewed the health benefits of reducing salt and say that, even though Americans consume too much salt, major reductions is no longer considered a substantial health hazard."

[John]

It makes perfect sense. It just makes the CDC look like buffoons. This isn't a health hazard but you consume too much of it.

[anon]

That's basically how I read it. "It won't hurt you, but it'll make us look *really* bad if we just said we're all idiots."

[Zeb]

So they actually meant to say that major reductions in salt consumption is no longer considered dangerous? Which is then contradicted in the next paragraph.

I guess it makes sense in that case. Still amazingly bad writing.

[Episiarch]

It's religious talk. The public health religion long ago established that too much salt is bad. Even if it's not bad, it's bad. See? Same for shellfish and eggs (cholesterol), coffee, chocolate, etc.

[anon]

Does anyone actually listen to that bullshit anyways?

[Episiarch]

Considering that the "studies" contradict each other every six months or so, I would imagine most people tune them out. Except for people like my mother, who actually changes her behavior as each "study" comes out. Sigh.

[Zeb]

The salt thing seems especially dumb to me. As far as I can tell, it has been pretty well established for a long time that people with high blood pressure increase risk of mortality with high salt intake, but for most people it doesn't matter, and for some people significant reductions are actually quite dangerous.

[C. Anacreon]

Shh! What if Bloomberg hears you?

[Ted S.]

Think of it as saying, "So what if the studies say what we want to do doesn't work? We're still going to bully people over their dietary choices."

[mad libertarian guy]

So what if the studies say what we want to do doesn't work? We're still going to get thugs with guns and the power to imprison bully people over their dietary choices under the color of law.

FIFY.

These public health fucks are too cowardly to actually bully people themselves; they get government to do their dirty work.

[Enough About Palin]

"The first sentence doesn't even make sense:"

Just a single misplaced "s"?

"A recent report from the CDC reviewed the health benefits of reducing salt and says that, even though Americans consume too much salt, major reductions is no longer considered a substantial health hazard."

[Zeb]

It still doesn't seem like that is what they meant to say. Maybe I need a nap.

[Joe M]

No, the sentence literally doesn't make sense, and has piss poor grammar to boot:

"A recent report... say that"
"major reductions is"

And finally, major reductions were not originally "considered a substantial health hazard", so how could they now not be? Excessive salt intake was the supposed health hazard. Matter of fact, extreme reductions are actually unsafe, but the CDC never thought that to be the case.

[some guy]

Thank fucking God. This is one of those things that never made sense and still took decades to die.

[Rich]

even though Americans consume too much salt, major reductions is no longer considered a substantial health hazard.

Now, *that* is good journalism.

[Brett L]

Awesome. Dude spends the equivalent of $9000 on a spaceship in EVE Online, and is immediately ambushed and destroyed. I here his handle was GM Tarkin.

One player of the long-running online game EVE Online experienced that horror Sunday, when an ambush destroyed his supercarrier valued at a whopping $9,000.

The massive world of EVE Online is all about buying, piloting and blowing up spaceships. It's not for the faint at heart, in part because its in-game currency, called ISK (Interstellar Kredits), carries a real-world value. The Revenant -- one of only three ships that big in existence -- carries a value of 309 billion ISK, making it among the priciest bits of code in the game.

[John]

What a dork. Do you know how many hookers you could hire for $9000?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

One good one.

[paranoid android]

Wendell: [into phone] Yeah, hey I'd like a $9,000 prostitute, please. Oh, do you have nine $1,000 ones? Yeah, good, and if you got an albino, send her up too.

[Suthenboy]

That greatly depends on the quality of those hookers.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

How much did Spitzer's chick cost?

[Marc F Cheney]

Guys like that are already swimming in pussy.

[ant1sthenes]

Fuckin' hotshot pilots.

[tarran]

I sense an opportunity to sell insurance....

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I wouldn't spend $9K on a vacation. Much less a bit of code that is little more than a penis substitute.

[Auric Demonocles]

Was this the game where some massive fight between thousands of players broke out because somebody hit the wrong key?

[Restoras]

Heard an interesting story about this game.

Several, or maybe just a few, years ago, a group of Swedish players, not very large in number, were stymying a significantly larger group of Russian players (sound familiar?) that was trying to overrun them. This was extremely vexing to the Russian players - and very interesting to the developer/operator of the game, CCP. How could a seemingly smaller force hold off the larger force for so long?

Turns out the smaller Swedish force was being bankrolled behind the scenes by a large group of American players.

[MJGreen]

EVE has some crazy stories behind it. I particularly like the one about a 'spy' bringing down one of the largest in-game groups. They either got a guy to infiltrate, or turned someone already there, who was the group's Treasurer. Emptied out the accounts, disbanded everything, destroyed the ships, etc.

[SweatingGin]

Never played, but I feel this is appropriate: Learning curves of online games

[Raston Bot]

The ambush played out with plenty of intrigue. Players in the Pandemic Legion received an SOS and assumed it was a player in distress. It turns out the player they had put in charge of leading their fleet was actually a spy for an opposing group, who led them directly into a bunch of dreadnaughts and supercarriers. The owner of the Revenant, a player named TSID, could do little to stop the virtual bloodbath, and the rest is EVE Online history.

OUTRIDERS! dumbass.

[robc]

Players in the Pandemic Legion received an SOS

Sounds like the Kobayashi Maru.

[rts]

Pot advocate Marc Emery approved for return to Canada

B.C.'s 'Prince of Pot' Marc Emery has been approved for transfer back to Canada by the U.S. government, according to his wife Jodie, and it is now up the Canadian government to approve his return.

[db]

Didn't Canada extradite him? "Oh, great, thanks, Canada. My homeland, the true land of the free. Fucking jerks."

[mad libertarian guy]

This is good. I was at his shop the day he was arrested, and attended a pot rally in his name. Donated a few bucks too. American.

But seriously, being able to smoke weed without any fear of being arrested, even in an open park or on the side of the street in full view of cops, is pretty goddamn liberating.

[rts]

DOOOOOOM

The world is currently on course to exploit all its remaining fossil fuel resources, a prospect that would produce a "different, practically uninhabitable planet" by triggering a "low-end runaway greenhouse effect." This is the conclusion of a new scientific paper by Prof James Hansen, the former head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the world's best known climate scientist.

...

"Four degrees of warming would be enough to melt all the ice... you would have a tremendously chaotic situation as you moved away from our current climate towards another one. That's a different planet. You wouldn't recognise it... We are on the verge of creating climate chaos if we don't begin to reduce emissions rapidly."

[John]

I think Hansen needs to start writing all of his papers in parables. It would be so much more appropriate.

[Pro Libertate]

"With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness."

[John]

A son left his fathers farm and traveled to the arctic to see the ice. But when he got there the ice was gone because of the people's wicked ways. So he decided this was no way to live and returned home only to find his father's farm flooded.

[Pro Libertate]

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

[tarran]

Well, he predicted that in 17 years Manhattan would be under water.

I hope he lives long enough to see his prediction fail miserably.

[John]

He won't care. Erlich lived long enough to see everyone of his predictions proven miserably wrong. It doesn't seem to bother him and it won't bother Hansen.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

No, see, their warnings are what *prevent* catastrophe. Therefore, we need to heed everything they say.

[rts]

Honest Injun, he said 40 years.

[Tejicano]

When will the inconvenient truth that floating ice (the Arctic) displaces exactly the same volume of water that it becomes when it melts get through to these fools. When/if the Arctic melts the oceans will not rise one inch.

The ice on Greenland might have some effect on sea levels.

The temperatures at the Antarctic have not risen - at no time is the average temp above 32F.

[some guy]

He could put his works cited at the beginning and throw in a bunch of 'begets'.

[Rich]

"you would have a tremendously chaotic situation as you moved away from our current climate towards another one. That's a different planet. You wouldn't recognise it."

Sure I would, Jim. It'd look like this.

[Pro Libertate]

Here's what I think these AGW fanatics should do. Push for a massive manned expedition to Mars. Why? To prove that Martian civilization collapsed due to environmental abuse.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

"We already have conclusive evidence for this -- get with the consensus!"

[Pro Libertate]

Mars is proof. If only people were there to uncover it.

[The Last American Hero]

Get your ass to Mars!

[some guy]

"The temperature of the planet's atmosphere is a scorching 1,000C, and it rains glass, sideways, in howling 7,000km-per-hour winds."

It's gonna take a lotta CO2 to get to that state.

[Pro Libertate]

Maybe we could import it from Venus?

[anon]

I'll do what I can. I'll drive my ess you vee tomorrow. Might take a few million years though, so some help would be appreciated.

[Zeb]

You'd have to get rid of those pesky plants too.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Real Wymyn of Genius...

Repackaging plain, old-fashioned sexism as if it's somehow brave and insightful is Slate's schtick, and they do it because it flatters the sensibilities of people who know, deep down inside, that they're not rebels, not interesting, and basically reactionary.

Amanda Marcotte, current Slate columnist

[John]

But it would be sexist for Slate to fire her ass. I mean seriously. She just called her employer sexist. In liberal circles that is, next to racism, about as no true Scottsman as it gets. Slate either needs to apologize and admit she is right or fire her skinny ass.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Well, this happened before she was employed at Slate. It just tickles me that, according to Amanduh, she is now working for the enemy.

Also, I strongly suspect that the HR manager at Slate hung himself in the bathroom when he got to Matty Y's letter of interest and was thus unable to research whether a prospective employee had ever accused its prospective employer of being a bunch of fascist reactionaries.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Marcotte is a retard. This is one of her finer gems:

Maybe then the real question is: Why is it so hard for so many people to hold together relationships in modern America? It's not feminism, and it's not gay marriage?maybe it's a lack of sleep! With this study in hand, we can say with far more certainty that it's a contributing factor to relationship strife. Americans are overworked, underpaid, and stressed out all the time(emphasis added).

I'm sure most sub-Saharan Africans would agree with her.

[Mad Scientist]

Americans are overworked, underpaid, and stressed out all the time.

Sounds like our favorite troll has been whispering about gamboling in Marcotte's ear.

[Thane-kin]

gamboling in Marcotte's ear

Damn, she must have big ears.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Remember, privation and destitution only exist when it serves the post-modern narrative and our grand "Theory." Otherwise, there is only the United States and Europe -- and considering how much longer they have been around, we surely have a great deal to learn from them.

[mad libertarian guy]

and considering how much longer they have been around, we surely have a great deal to learn from them.

We did learn from them.

And we decided to sail across a big fucking ocean in order to get away from them.

[Ted S.]

Real Wymyn of Genius...

It's too bad Budweiser felt the need to rename the ad campaign to "Real Men of Genius" after September 11. 🙁

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Real Wymyn of Genius...

"Here's to you, Mz. Humorless Man-Hating Feminist."

Mz. Humorless Man-Hating FEM-I-NIST!"

[ant1sthenes]

Well, yeah. I mean, the whole "enthusiastic consent" and "social pressure = coercion" things are basically saying that there is a spectrum of capacity to consent, with men on one side, children and the mentally retarded on the other, and women somewhere in the middle. When you think about it, Jezetard-style feminism is just the rediscovery of male chauvinism by particularly stupid women.

Oh, but that's probably not what she was talking about, was it?

[Palin's Buttplug]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A small bipartisan group of senators on Thursday introduced legislation that would break up Wall Street's megabanks by separating traditional banking activity from riskier financial services.

The bill, called the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act, has an uncertain future, but it shows some lawmakers' frustration that banks have only continued to grow since the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....34734.html

[some guy]

Wait, I have it on good authority that Frank-Dodd already ended "too big to fail". Wouldn't this be redundant?

[Restoras]

You know, when I mocked this clown on AM Links for daytrading in his mother's basement using Yahoo! Finance I had no idea how close to the mark I actually was.

[PapayaSF]

it shows some lawmakers' frustration that banks have only continued to grow since the 2007-2009 financial crisis

How dare they grow! Especially after a crisis that destoyed or shrank some of them! Don't they know how bad it is for businesses to grow? Something Must Be Done to stop this!

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

It's raining glass

[Rich]

HEY!!

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Sam Mendes to direct next James Bond film

[A Serious Man]

I do like Ralph Fiennes as M so there's that, but Craig and Naomie Harris had zero chemistry. It's a shame they can't find someone that can create the same spark as Connery and Lois Maxwell.

[Gray Ghost]

Great. American Bondy was so much fun... We've already covered the aging spy/mid-life crisis thing, what'll be next? Bond suffers impotence? At least it'll be a great product placement op for Cialis.

[A Serious Man]

Should you boycott Ender's Game over Orson Scott Card's anti-gay views?

Some people's work is deliberately constructed around ideas of themselves and their character - Paula Deen, to take a now-notorious example - which means that anything objectionable about the person also impacts everything about their work.

However, a person who has bigoted views will not always create work that is itself necessarily bigoted (or, importantly, vice versa). Writers do not have complete control over the meanings and interpretations of their work, in their own age or those that follow, and themes that are unintentionally misogynist, racist - or pro-lesbian, pro-choice for that matter - might still emerge as clearly advocated in a text despite the personal politics of the author.

Perhaps the best thing is always to be aware that every cultural product you consume contains subtexts and interpretations beyond what the author might intend (but that also sometimes might be intentional) - and if you're reading a book by someone whose views about a particular percentage of the population you know to be controversial, be hypervigilant to see if and when their prejudice might be showing.

Can't we just enjoy the movie without poisoning everything with politics?

[John]

Not if you are a liberal you can't. They are totalitarians. That means everything is about politics. That is what it means to be a totalitarian.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm no Card fan, but I do think Ender's Game is a good book. I don't recall anything overtly political or anti-gay in the book, though I've only read it a couple of times.

[Episiarch]

The book is highly overrated but not terrible. I have a feeling the movie is going to be pretty bad, but because of KULTUR WAR there will be a lot of TEAM RED going to see it in "support", and even if TEAM BLUE boycotts it, it'll make decent money.

[Pro Libertate]

Hold on, I agree with everything you said. Who are you?

[Episiarch]

I'm you, but with a goatee.

[Pro Libertate]

This explains so much.

[some guy]

There was nothing political in it at all. But Card has been willing to spout off in other forums. As far as I can tell he'd probably be happy if liberals ignored him and his movie.

[A Serious Man]

Card is pretty out there in his views, even by Mormon standards.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Isn't he a stalwart proponent of a comically high minimum wage? (That isn't a rhetorical question -- I honestly don't have confidence in my recollection here.) That might fuck with the Narrative just a little, although that never seems to change anyone's mind about anything...

[The Immaculate Trouser]

He is a registered Democrat, and it's certainly not because he agrees with them on social or foreign policy.

I suspect you're correct.

[jesse.in.mb]

He also strongly supports government funding for alternative energy, but not because of AGW. He just thinks once the oil is gone we'll never be able to get to outer space (because there's no such thing as nuclear propulsion).

[PapayaSF]

As far as I can tell, Card gets called "anti-gay" because he has a traditional Christian view of homosexuality (he thinks it's immoral), and doesn't believe in same-sex marriage. It's not as if he advocates herding them into camps or anything.

I note that the same people calling for a boycott would probably never boycott a movie written by a Muslim, though his views on homosexuality would be similar or worse, and his views on women would be far worse.

[jesse.in.mb]

He's a board member of the National Organization for Marriage.

Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society. -1990

THE FIRST AND greatest threat from court decisions in California and Massachusetts, giving legal recognition to "gay marriage," is that it marks the end of democracy in America.
[snip]
Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn. --2008

I'm usually sympathetic to the first half of his arguments, but then he starts talking about how the government should actively enforce his moral preferences and I get annoyed.

[jesse.in.mb]

Also, a little libertarian bait for you all from that 2008 link:

Marriage is, if anything, more vital, more central, than property.

And just for funsies, because he's a Mormon and they were cool with the polygyny until 1890:

Wives need to have the whole society agree that when they marry, their husband is off limits to all other females. All of his protection and earning power will be devoted to her and her children, and will not be divided with other women and their children.

These two premises are so basic that they preexist any known government.

[Coeus]

Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down,

Yeah, that's a fucked-up hill to die on.

[jesse.in.mb]

It's interesting because he makes really strident statements about the topic and then as the winds shift he handwaves them away.

In his notes on the 1990 statement he claims he's not a homophobe because the law was overturned and he didn't really mean "used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society."

now that the law has changed (the decision was overturned in 2003) I have no interest in criminalizing homosexual acts and would never call for such a thing, any more than I wanted such laws enforced back when they were still on the books.

[Stormy Dragon]

Card is called "anti-gay" because he's anti-gay:

Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.

The goal of the polity is not to put homosexuals in jail. The goal is to discourage people from engaging in homosexual practices in the first place, and, when they nevertheless proceed in their homosexual behavior, to encourage them to do so discreetly, so as not to shake the confidence of the community in the polity's ability to provide rules for safe, stable, dependable marriage and family relationships.

[NeonCat]

NO! EVERYTHING IS POLITICS!

In the glorious future to come everyone will have a list of their positions on every issue and hand that out instead of business cards. If you fail to list a position on some obscure topic, you will have to check your privilege (and hang your head in shame) as your inquirer/inquisitor raises your consciousness. Businesses will have to post their corporate and majority stockholders' views by the entrance. That way you will know that you are not supporting anything you find reprehensible, which should be everything.

[anon]

Seriously don't remember anything about got hating fags in Ender's Game.

[Restoras]

Card may have those views, I have no idea, but he didn't put them in the book as far as I can recall.

But, that doesn't matter. To retarded liberals if you don't adhere to their strict dogma you are an "other" and all of your accomplishments are tainted.

This is why they hate the Founders. Some of them owned slaves. Some of them were grubby merchants. Some of them represented mercenaries in a court of law.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

I actually wish this were literally true, because then "liberals" would be completely incapable of coalition building. Alas, their own psychological contortions allow them to somehow achieve something like Hegelian synthesis in matters philosophical, ethical, political, etc....

[SugarFree]

What was the name of the enemy aliens that represented an all-consuming evil?

Oh, yeah: Buggers

How long has "bugger" been used as slang for anal sex? Since at least 1555.

[ant1sthenes]

Huh. I never made that connection.

But anyway, didn't EW come to regret what he did and make up with the last alien hive? It's been a long time since I read any of that.

[Ted S.]

Orson Scott Card should have raped a girl like Roman Polanksi did, and then all of Hollywood would love him.

(Elia Kazan should have raped a girl instead of naming communists, too.)

[John]

That is right. Drudging and forcibly ass fucking a 13 year old girl is no big deal. Nothing like saying gays shouldn't get married.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm more annoyed that his plea for tolerance implied that not spending my money on his movie was intolerant. I was unaware that I was required to spend my money on someone to show that I tolerate their viewpoint.

[Enough About Palin]

Watched Lethal Weapon II a cople of nights ago. It's funny to hear Riggs demean the South Africans for hating Jews.

[Restoras]

Only thing I remember about that movie was the hot South African blond.

[PapayaSF]

Ah, Patsy Kensit. If you want to hear her sing, look up the band Eighth Wonder.

[PapayaSF]

It's also strange seeing those movies knowing that Danny Glover is a heavy-duty pinko.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The irony is that this movie probably would have tanked regardless of whether there was a boycott of it.

The whole plot line is about a bullied prodigy that uses video games to save the world. Outside of the dorks who thought "Scott Pilgrim" was high cinema, very few people would have gone to see this anyway. Now the box office is probably going to be boosted, albeit minisculy, by people who are going to see it just to give a giant "fuck you" to these histrionic sad sacks.

[PapayaSF]

The book is hugely popular, and the movie has Harrison Ford in it. I think it'll do fine.

[ant1sthenes]

Sure, if you don't mind risking crimethink, comrade.

[Jordan]

Another junk science myth busted.

A recent report commissioned by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reviewed the health benefits of reducing salt intake and the take-home message is that salt, in the quantities consumed by most Americans, is no longer considered a substantial health hazard.

More evidence of how the public health industry is nothing but politicized garbage. I can't imagine why nobody trusts the CDC to track gun crime.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

New Jersey Devils star Ilya Kovalchuk, who has 12 years remaining on a massive contract, announced his retirement Thursday

[KDN]

Niedermayer, Rafalski, Parise, Clarkson, Kovalchuk. All of our stars are homesick pussies.

SKA Saint Petersburg announced Kovalchuk would be playing for them within an hour of the announcement. Couldn't even wait a day. What a dick.

[NeonCat]

Cool fireworks/crackers available in China.

Would have been nice to see the $20 super package without the night vision.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Q: Why is Slate paying Amanda to write about broccoli?

That's because, despite your protestations, the president is right. Broccoli tastes good. People like it. Sarah Kliff brought some chart-heavy sense to the pages of the Washington Post, demonstrating that per capita broccoli consumption has tripled in the U.S. since 1980, so that your average American eats 5.6 pounds of broccoli a year. Of course, common sense would tell you that people love broccoli. I've never understood why they don't just make vegetable dip platters half broccoli, since it disappears by far the fastest, leaving cauliflower and carrots to simply sit there looking lost and unwanted.

For that matter, Matt Yglesias wrote about broccoli just yesterday. Why are all of the Mongoloid writers on the left writing about broccoli, all of the sudden? Did they mix up their talking points with their Weight Watchers improvement sheets?

[Jordan]

Laying the groundwork for a broccoli mandate.

Oh, and fuck broccoli.

[A Serious Man]

The subject came up because recently Obama actually told a kid that broccoli was his favorite food. It's an easily mockable statement but it really isn't that big a deal.

But nooooo, the Slatesters wont' tolerate any mockery of Obama so she's lashing out at the people who were making fun of him.

[Episiarch]

They really do follow their marching orders, don't they. They don't even need to be told them, they just know what they are supposed to do. They're like a hive or something. It's extremely creepy.

[John]

Creepy is the word for it. They really do get marching orders and write about shit because the White House tells them to.

I wonder if the people in the White House ever just fuck with them. "Hey let's call Yglesias up and tell him to start writing about Bronies this week."

[Gozer the Gozerian]

One day, I expect to read their various positive reactions to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMSQhTMrZs

[Mad Scientist]

Bush hated broccoli, so there's that.

[NeonCat]

Bush the Elder, to be clear. Did W express an opinion on the matter?

[A Serious Man]

I was born the year after he said that so I had a bib as a baby that said "Read My Lips: No Broccoli"

[Auric Demonocles]

Cauliflower is way better.

[Rich]

Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. -- Attr. Mark Twain

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Journolist 2.0, of course. You think people who intentionally coordinated like that before--including coordination on knowingly false smears of racism--wouldn't do it again?

[Enough About Palin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR6y71x3tSY

[MJGreen]

I like broccoli. Occasionally, I think it's delicious.

But favorite food? Fuckin please.

[ant1sthenes]

My kids like broccoli well enough. I do too, though I like it better raw. I'd like it a lot less if someone was trying to pressure me into eating it.

[A Serious Man]

George R. R. Martin on his blog: HBO got the look of the Iron Throne wrong.

The HBO throne has become iconic. And well it might. It's a terrific design, and it has served the show very well. There are replicas and paperweights of it in three different sizes. Everyone knows it. I love it. I have all those replicas right here, sitting on my shelves.

And yet, and yet... it's still not right. It's not the Iron Throne I see when I'm working on THE WINDS OF WINTER. It's not the Iron Throne I want my readers to see. The way the throne is described in the books... HUGE, hulking, black and twisted, with the steep iron stairs in front, the high seat from which the king looks DOWN on everyone in the court... my throne is a hunched beast looming over the throne room, ugly and assymetric...

The HBO throne is none of those things. It's big, yes, but not nearly as big as the one described in the novels. And for good reason. We have a huge throne room set in Belfast, but not nearly huge enough to hold the Iron Throne as I painted it. For that we'd need something much bigger, more like the interior of St. Paul's Cathedral or Westminster Abbey, and no set has that much room. The Book Version of the Iron Throne would not even fit through the doors of the Paint Hall.

That picture does look pretty awesome.

[Auric Demonocles]

Are those people standing next to it?

[robc]

Yes.

If you zoom in (its a low res picture) you can see a blurry guy sitting on it too.

[Fist of Etiquette]

NO SPOILERS.

[A Serious Man]

He also says how it will end: everyone in the throne room is dead, at which point Rickon Stark rides into the room on Shaggy Dog and claims the throne for himself.

[NeonCat]

Then the dog goes mad, tears out his throat and becomes King of the Dogs.

[Restoras]

Ruh-Roh!

[Res Publica Americana]

http://thechive.files.wordpres.....ica-71.jpg

LET FREEDOM RING!

[Rich]

No tents and shelters

No dogs or pets

"Ossifer, the sign clearly indicates that non-tent shelters are allowed. And this raccoon is definitely *not* a pet!"

[Res Publica Americana]

Fuck the park's management all the way to Satan's personal rape dungeon.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Conservative mothers want "Naked and Afraid" off cable.

While the Discovery Channel's new reality show "Naked and Afraid" might bring to mind scenes from the Book of Genesis with its male-female pairing of contestants fending for survival in the wild with no clothes on, conservative family organization One Million Moms wants none of it and has demanded that the network cancel the "offensive" and "inappropriate" show it believes is comparable to pornography.

http://www.christianpost.com/n.....orn-99696/

[Jerry on the boat]

At least there are no male-male pairings...

[mad libertarian guy]

I'm actually pissed off at DC's airing of the show too, but because it would seem to me that a show called Naked and Afraid should actually show some nakedness.

And fuck those Conservatve Ninnies.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Q: Why is Slate paying Amanda to write about sleep?

This is kind of a "no duh," but in addition to solidifying for people what they already know, these findings can actually have policy implications. After all, there's been a lot of public chatter and political campaigns built around conservative anxieties about the rising rates of single motherhood and serial monogamy outside of marriage.

[...]

Maybe then the real question is: Why is it so hard for so many people to hold together relationships in modern America? It's not feminism, and it's not gay marriage?maybe it's a lack of sleep! With this study in hand, we can say with far more certainty that it's a contributing factor to relationship strife[...] We know what kind of policy solutions help fix that problem?raising taxes on the rich is an excellent starting point?so if you're really serious about making sure people have fewer overall sex partners, I mean, more stable relationships, then stop bellyaching about wedding rings and start working for a more progressive tax structure and better institutional supports for all different kinds of families.

*cough*bullshit*cough*

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Link: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_.....fight.html

[Auric Demonocles]

I am confused, is all this money they have too uncomfortable for them to fall asleep on?

[NeonCat]

Stick with crumpled greenbacks, not rolled gold coins.

Silly rich people?

[Coeus]

jesus-tittyfuckin-christ.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

1. Get more sleep.

2. ???? Tax the rich.

3. PROFIT !!!

[mad libertarian guy]

To the learned of the left, there is no social ill that cannot be tackled by wealth re-distribution.

[Res Publica Americana]

Northern Colorado wants to secede from Colorado

Will North Colorado become America's 51st state?

That's what some residents in the Centennial State are pushing for. Representatives from eight northern counties convened Monday, CBS Denver reports, to "begin mapping the boundaries for the new state they say will represent the interests of rural Colorado."

The secession movement stems from "a growing urban-rural divide," with state lawmakers in Denver passing sweeping gun control legislation and calling for more renewable energy and less oil and gas production?a big part of northern Colorado's economy.

"Northern and Northeastern Colorado and our voices are being ignored in the legislative process this year, and our very way of life is under attack," Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway told Coloradoan.com.

"This is not a stunt. This is a very serious deliberative discussion that's going on," Conway told CBS Denver. "There's a real feeling that a lot of folks who come from the urban areas don't appreciate the contribution that many Coloradans contribute."

Officials from Weld, Morgan, Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Washington, Yuma and Kit Carson counties were involved in the discussions, Conway said, adding that two counties in Nebraska are interested in joining the new state.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ne.....32609.html

[Pro Libertate]

More power to them. We need more action like this.

[Res Publica Americana]

If I were one of the secessionists, I'd propose a radically different flag and name for the new state, too. "North Colorado" just sounds like CO's little brother.

[anon]

Yeah, but "Somalia" is already taken....

[Res Publica Americana]

Rofl. Nice. I was thinking something patriotic, like, eh, Columbia, or something.

[Restoras]

New Somolia!

[JEP]

Galt's Gulch

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yet they all want to send their offspring to Boulder for some learnin'.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yet they all want to send their offspring to Boulder for some learnin'.

Not really--most kids from that part of the state go to UNC, CSU, or Wyoming.

[paranoid android]

Shh, don't let reality spoil his smug self-satisfaction, it'll only make him all fussy.

[JEP]

Uh, no they don't. All the offspring want to go to Boulder for frat parties and pot.

- boulder resident

[Pro Libertate]

How about North Florida?

[A Serious Man]

Helldorado.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, let's think this through. Colorado is, of course, Spanish for "the color red." Since the seceding state has as much right to the name as the remaining state does, I suggest they keep the name, but say it in French: Couleurouge. Better yet, in German: Farberot.

[Ice Nine]

It is therefore most appropriate for the remaining state to keep it and for the seceding state to be named "Coloazul".

[Pro Libertate]

What is that, some sort of tribute to Zuul? Will the capital be called Vinz Clortho?

[Joe M]

They need to go with Morado. Similar, yet the cold temps in the northern part of the state would chill the red, see?

[Pro Libertate]

How about back to what I suggested before, something to make people think of warm weather? Florado?

[Gozer the Gozerian]

...But I wanted them to be the Northern Colorado Republic (NCR), with a two-headed Pac-Man flag!

[C. Anacreon]

Why don't they just join Wyoming? Sounds like they'd just be another version of that state. This way they wouldn't have to build a capitol.

[Pro Libertate]

Who needs a capitol? Just rent out a convention center for a few weeks.

[Warrren]

Verde

[anon]

Read this story a while ago, still think it's a stunt, contrary to their statements.

[Res Publica Americana]

Ye of little faith! 🙁

[Fist of Etiquette]

Fuck that shit. I'm not replacing my flags. It took me forever to find ones that don't itch when I'm wrapped in them.

[robc]

Can we just merge them into Wyoming? Seems more sensible.

[C. Anacreon]

great minds, both 90 minutes after the links came out??

[mad libertarian guy]

There's a real feeling that a lot of folks who come from the urban areas don't appreciate the contribution that many Coloradans contribute.

It's because urbanites don't appreciate anything that isn't part of their small little urban world.

[The Last American Hero]

Wait, isn't Galt's Gulch in Northern Colorado?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Q: Why is Slate paying Amanda to write about Manic Pixie Girls?

Penny is only 26, so she hasn't quite gotten to the age when the opportunity to front like a Manic Pixie Dream Girl will leave you even if you don't want to leave it. (Playing songs about kittens on your ukulele is attractive right up until you are watching yourself play ukulele in the mirror and notice you have some gray hairs, just like your kitten.)

One suspects that she speaks from experience...

[Palin's Buttplug]

Damn, the Peanut Gallery is obsessed with Slate.

[John]

You think? Damn that last sentence was a cry from the heart.

[Auric Demonocles]

Playing songs about kittens on your ukulele is attractive

Huh?

[John]

Check your privilege buddy. How dare you enforce you ideas of what is attractive on Amanda.

[Warrren]

How do I get a privilege buddy?

[Coeus]

Sure, they overreacted to Adam Kokesh, but if he'd been black, it would have been worse.

Are these grievance mongers even trying anymore?

[John]

Since some black guy somewhere may have it worse, it is totally okay that they abused Kokesh.

[Coeus]

The fact that he was able to do what he did?right out there in the open in the middle of some random afternoon?wasn't shocking.

Nope, that's life.

Rage Face wasn't even aware of his privilege?hell, he was probably pissed that he wasn't getting arrested or charged up or even noticed by anyone other than the news crew filming his triumphant return to the scene of the crime.

And that's life too.

No, they are saying, with absolute certainty, that if Kokesh was black it would have been worse.

[Coeus]

And the piece de resistance:

In a country where some can load a shotgun two blocks from the Capitol without comment while others get shot for the crime of walking home after buying snacks.

[John]

It is like a perfect vortex of stupid. That may be the dumbest statement of 2013 so far.

[anon]

Wait, do you have snacks?

/archer

[Red Rocks Rockin]

HAIL ST. SKITTLES!

[Res Publica Americana]

George Zimmerman's Prosecutors Want To Charge Him With Child Abuse, And His Lawyer Is Freaking Out

Defense counsel Don West (L) angrily addresses assistant state attorney John Guy in frustration after a late night court session in the George Zimmerman trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Florida, late July 9, 2013.
George Zimmerman's prosecutors want to add lesser charges for the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, including manslaughter and third-degree murder, possibly because they're worried he'll be acquitted.

Originally, Zimmerman just faced second-degree murder charges for shooting and killing 17-year-old Martin. He claims self-defense, saying that Martin punched him in the face and smashed his head into the sidewalk.

In the state of Florida, third-degree murder doesn't require proving that Zimmerman acted with some sort of "ill will" or hatred. The new charge, however, does need a felony-basis. In a surprising move, the prosecution argued Zimmerman committed child abuse as the felony required for third-degree murder.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....00966.html

---------

Can this case become any more retarded?

[anon]

Little late, judge already rejected that bullshit.

[Res Publica Americana]

Good. The prosecution's really grasping at straws here.

[Rich]

Just wait a few days. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

[John]

There is no way that could survive on appeal. You can only try a defendent on charges that are brought before the court. You can't make up new charges based on how the trial went. The only way you can get an additional charge put before the jury is if it is a lesser included charge of what is there. So for example, if the charge is rape, but it looks like it is possible that the jury could conclude no penetration occurred just touching, the charge of indecent assault could go before the jury because it is a lesser included of rape.

Child abuse is not a lesser included of murder 2. No way should that go before a jury.

[Pro Libertate]

It got tossed, but I agree--it had to. It's not a lesser-included offense. Manslaughter is in Florida, so they can do that, though I've always thought it wrong to allow prosecutors to ask for it at the end of the trial.

The reason they don't do it earlier, of course, is because they want the murder conviction.

[John]

I agree with you on that.

[Sevo]

John| 7.11.13 @ 5:03PM |#
"There is no way that could survive on appeal. You can only try a defendent on charges that are brought before the court. You can't make up new charges based on how the trial went."

John, you haven't bee watching Obozo; he makes up new laws before breakfast.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Q: Why does Salon pay Amanda -- really?

I've long said that men who insist, at length, that women simply are less horny than men and [fill in half-witted evo psych-sounding answer] is why, they're usually just trying to rationalize why women who hit the gym, watch their diet, do their hair every day, wear make-up, and shave extensive parts of their body then hesitate to share all that hard work with someone who combs his hair periodically and hits on women with the assumption that they owe him something.

Think deeply about what would compel someone to write the above 82-word run-on sentence, and then publish it for syndication. Then think deeply about what would allow the creator of said sentence to become one of today's leading online feminists. Then hang yourself in the bathroom stall in utter despair at this world we live in.

Congratulations, you've just lived the final hours of Slate's HR manager (RIP).

[John]

It is bad enough to be an idiot. But Marcotte adds to that by being boring and a completely incoherent writer. She must have literally never had a proper writing class that graded on anything beyond proper adherence to Feminist dogma.

[Restoras]

It doesn't matter how she writes as long as the Progtards nod their heads knowingly while consuming her insipid blatherings.

[Coeus]

It's like she's never seen any of the sex stats of gay men vs lesbians.

[Coeus]

He, look at this, guy named middleleagueliberal, reads the whole article, and rips Amanda a new one. Her response?

Amanda_Marcotte Mod MiddleageLiberal ? 3 minutes ago ?
I'd reply to you, but you don't actually make coherent arguments. But I do detect that you wish I would uphold the misogynist myth that women are anti-sex, no doubt because it's easier than believing that it may just be with you.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Amanda's comments section frightens and confuses me. It's a madhouse of terror the likes of which HP Lovecraft would have rejected as the subject of a short story for being "too twisted and dark".

You are a real trooper for allowing your mind to drink deep of that madness.

[Coeus]

The takedown was great, just way too long to post here. Nobody even tried to argue his points. They just called him names.

[MJGreen]

But now you're making us go to the site, and grace it with precious hits. I don't know if I can stomach that.

[A Serious Man]

Joan Walsh: Rand Paul is guilty of speaking heresies against Abraham Lincoln.

Now, Rand Paul would never compare Lincoln to Hitler, of course. But his casual, self-satisfied assertion that Lincoln was "forced into glory" is a staple of neo-Confederate Lincoln hate, even if he says he's "not an enemy" of the president who fought the Civil War to end slavery. This is classic Paul, trying to have it both ways.

You can cherry-pick quotes from Lincoln to prove virtually anything about his racial views. He was, in fact, a supporter of a colonization plan to send freed slaves to Africa ? Liberia was usually the destination ? for a time. He made many disturbing public declarations of his belief in black inferiority. But his views changed. In his last speech before he died, Lincoln indicated he supported giving the vote to freed slaves who were literate or had served in the Union army. Although that didn't satisfy Lerone Bennett, as McPherson observed, since no such requirements applied to whites, it outraged slavery defenders. "That means nigger citizenship," John Wilkes Booth replied. "Now by God, I'll put him through. That is the last speech he will ever make."

[anon]

Good thing that's not actually a crime, or heretical, or whatever.

[A Serious Man]

The cartoonish view of Lincoln as racist hypocrite expounded in "Forced Into Glory" is a dangerous lie that undergirds neo-Confederate thinking. But it's a particularly good choice for Paul because it happens to be by a black man. Still, that he cited a mostly debunked work of Lincoln-hate approvingly shows that he's right in refusing to fire or even distance himself from Hunter ? because he believes many of the same things.

And Rand Derangement syndrome marches on. No nuance is allowed when it comes to critiquing the hagiography of Lincoln.

[Res Publica Americana]

He was probably jerking off furiously to a photograph of FDR when he wrote that rant.

[John]

Lincoln was forced into glory. I am a huge Lincoln defender. But only a fucking moron would think that he got elected intending to free the slaves or do anything beyond keeping slavery in the South and the union together.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Count me as one of the folks tired of Lost Cause historiography among libertarians -- but c'mon. Lincoln did and believed plenty of horrible things. He is also the subject (victim?) of a cult of personality which will acknowledge no wrong in him. Frederick Douglass' memorial speech on Lincoln would no doubt be considered "racist" in today's parlance.

[John]

Such is the fate of a lot of people from that era. Southerners did the same thing to Lee. Both sides picked a saint and created a death cult around him.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Yup. Longstreet is a far better model for the modern Southerner. He was a good general, a good man by the standards of his time, and a genuine opponent of slavery -- but as long as Lost Cause historiography is still around, he's the traitor who laid low the genius of Lee at Gettysburg, and who kicked the South when it was down by becoming a dirty Republican.

[John]

The funny thing is that Lee when he was alive would broker no criticism of Longstreet. The whole Longstreet did in Lee at Gettysburg myth was started by Lee's deadbeat nephew and AP Hill, whom Lee wanted to relieve.

Read Longstreet's book sometime. It is very interesting and demystifies Lee. He is very fair to Lee. He gives Lee a lot of credit. But he also makes points like that as big of a victory as Chancellorsville was, it could have been another Fredericksburg if Lee had played it smarter. Longstreet understood that victories were great but not if they came at a cost of people the South didn't have to lose.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I've been meaning to read Longstreet for a while, now. Got sidetracked by reading about the interwar period, and I just finished reading Version 43 (I think SF recommended it). Now's probably a good time to dive in.

[John]

This is going to be a continuing theme with these clowns. Paul seems to be a pretty smart guy who thinks a lot about a lot of different things. So they can't call him stupid. So what they will do is bait him by asking him questions about various side issues like Lincoln hoping that Paul bites and gives them an thoughtful answer that they can then take out of context and lie about to make Paul look like a nut.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

True, but Paul is not running for historian. He and his need to shut the hell up about the Civil War and the CSA, already. We get it -- you like the modern South and are proud of it. FWIW, the modern South is my favorite US region, and reminds me the most of Latin America. There's nothing wrong with Southern pride, and they've made tremendous strides in the areas of race and economy in recent years -- perhaps greater than any other people, certainly greater than any in the history of this country.

They should focus on that, and not on justifying the unjustifiable or reviving risible academic debates about loathesome institutions and practices.

[John]

You are correct. He needs to stop taking the bait. But it is very clear to me that is what is going on here. The last thing some hack like Walsh wants to talk about is Paul's views on something like the NSA. So she talks about Lincoln instead.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Rand Paul is standing by the jackass racist known as the Southern Avenger who is writing his campaign material. That is not very smart in terms of 2016.

[John]

Just like Obama stood by Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright. It didn't hurt Obama to be associated with a terrorist and a racist preacher. I doubt this will hurt Paul outside of retards like you.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Obama distanced himself from both of them.

You are wrong yet again - dozens of times this year already.

[ant1sthenes]

Eventually (with Wright, at least). Before that, he could no more disown him than his own white grandma, IIRC.

[PapayaSF]

The difference is that the mainstream media defends Democrats and leftists, but attacks Republicans and conservatives and libertarians, often for the exact same offenses.

[MJGreen]

He believes many of the same things as Hunter? Who has gladly repudiated his past positions on Lincoln and the CSA?

So, what's the problem again?

[Calidissident]

Lincoln is allowed to change his views but Hunter isn't

[A Serious Man]

17 fun facts about 2001: A Space Odyssey:

17. The movie was not a financial success during the first weeks of its theatrical run. MGM was already planning to pull it back from theaters, when they were persuaded by several theatre owners to keep showing the film. Many theater owners had observed increasing numbers of young adults attending the film, who were especially enthusiastic about watching the 'Star Gate' sequence under the influence of psychotropic drugs. This helped the film to become a financial success in the end, despite the many negative reactions it received in the beginning.

[Pro Libertate]

So, instead of handing out 3-D glasses, they handed out LSD.

[NeonCat]

"Do not drink the brown Tang, the brown Tang is bad."

[Enough About Palin]

Back when this film was on the big screen, movie houses would show the same movie for weeks on end.

It was a simpler time.

NOW GET OFF OF MY LAWN!

[PapayaSF]

I saw the movie in its first run, once had dinner with Arthur C. Clarke, and own a 2001 billboard (i.e. a 24-sheet poster).

[mad libertarian guy]

The White House has threatened to veto the farm bill if it omits food stamps. Republicans have proposed stripping the food stamp funding out and dealing with it separately.

But how are we going to continue shoveling pork in to bills if we're expected to address separate issues separately?

And I hope the House cuts the fuck out of some food stamps. Perhaps those who now rely on them will find the compulsion to get a fucking job.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

I don't mean to start anything serious, but this is one of the issues I take with libertarian rhetoric, if not libertarian political advocacy: For many low-skilled individuals in this country, just getting a fucking job has been turned into a demoralizing, even labyrinthine gauntlet by current labour law, occupational licensing, high (implicit) marginal tax rates, and a host of other economic regulations. While I'm not there yet, I am slowing drifting toward the belief that governments *owe* low-skilled individuals support if they are going to so distort and pervert the options available to them. I actually think of it as a kind of eminent domain issue, where the taking is less tangible, but no less important...

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Agreed in principle, though in practice many of the poor and indigent are already eligible for substantial support from the government.

That said, I can't help but agree with Reagan when he said that there is no reason for a healthy single young man (or a young woman, for that matter) to need public assistance of any kind, and that seeing that in abundance in certain communities is indicative of a much greater problem.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

That is all true, no doubt. I was mostly interested in discussing the complexity of removing current support, which itself creates some of the aforementioned problems but also compensates individuals for genuine wrongs.

Honestly, my biggest complaints are with minimum wages and implicit marginal rates, although I realize that arguments against the minimum wage need to be predominantly sociological and political, rather than more strictly economic. Studies don't typically show the large effects on unemployment or underemployment that I would expect from the minimum wage (as opposed to the well-known and perverse effects of high marginal tax rates).

I usually bring up the minimum wage because there *are* people who can support themselves on it, and governments are quite possibly eliminating a job/lifestyle choice for those individuals, as it is likely that they will find no corresponding choice when employers are forced to pay significantly more. Moreover, there is the commonly proffered argument about low-wage jobs as the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. That is all essential when our educational system so poorly "serves" those who are disadvantaged, low-skilled, etc....

[Generic Stranger]

While I'm not there yet, I am slowing drifting toward the belief that governments *owe* low-skilled individuals support if they are going to so distort and pervert the options available to them.

If the Government had a non-theft based income, I'd agree with this. Problem is, it doesn't. It has to take from others to pay its bills, so the Government "owing" something to somebody becomes YOU, the taxpayer, owing something to somebody.

[A Serious Man]

Poll: 1 in 10 adults use their smartphones during sex.

All phones can be set to vibrate.

[Pro Libertate]

Oddly, this surprises me.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

"And for all those wondering, the study does not mention how exactly they are using their devices during sex."

tl;dr

[Palin's Buttplug]

(CNN) ? Sen. Rand Paul's new media director, who also helped the Kentucky Republican write a 2011 book, has a past as a pro-Southern secessionist assuming a "Southern Avenger" persona while hosting a radio show.

Jack Hunter, who has made a number of provocative comments about race, was also a member of the pro-Southern independence group League of the South before he came to work for Paul.

"Sen. Paul holds his staff to a standard that includes treating every individual with equal protection and respect, without exception," Paul's communication's director Moira Bagley said in response to the inquiries Tuesday. Hunter's past associations were reported by the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication.

The website noted articles written by Hunter praising John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln, and an item in which Hunter writes that he toasts Booth's birthday annually.

http://politicalticker.blogs.c.....n-avenger/

[John]

Maybe they can attend the same racist church together every day for 20+ years. Maybe Paul can call him his spiritual mentor.

[Sevo]

Maybe Paul can then give a pathetic speech about 'inclusion'.

[A Serious Man]

Didn't Obama give a landmark speech about race after all that Rev. Wright stuff went down?

I doubt anyone could quote a sentence from it.

[Enough About Palin]

"Let me be clear"

What did I win?

[MJGreen]

"Uhhh..."

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Good job, shriek. This was covered no less than two posts above.

You're really making an effort.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Joan Walsh is not mainstream like CNN.

Rand Paul needs to fire the guy now. I want him in the GOP race instead of Santorum (unlikely though).

[ant1sthenes]

How many bombs did he plant during his more radical past?

[Coeus]

The stupid, it burns:

From Rodney King to Mark Duggan to Trayvon Martin, the challenging relationship between police and ethnic communities has erupted in social protest, initially. Trayvon Martin's killing by George Zimmerman prompted protests all over the country.

and

Perhaps, it is because race is the adjudicator of justice in American democracy. In fact, extrajudicial punishment of black male bodies has rarely been discouraged in the courts. The trial of Roy Bryant and J.W. Milan for Emmett Till's murder -- the most infamous vigilante violence case in the nation history -- was a farce. Thus, a George Zimmerman's acquittal is very real.

I hope that fuck gets shot in a riot.

[Pro Libertate]

What bothers me is how much they're trying to get one started.

[Coeus]

Exactly. And this article from a guy with "Rev." before his name is a particulary egregious example.

[Virginian]

I like how Zimmerman is somehow now a police officer.

[A Serious Man]

Public Policy Polling has Rand Paul, Hillary Clinton atop the field.

Brace yourselves for a two and a half more years of this shit.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Just tell me who Dick Morris is picking. I love a good laugh.

[darius404]

Clinton then Christie come out ahead in the general. Don't worry, the 3rd coming of Bush is just right around the corner.

You'll laugh now, right?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I think Amanda finally broke nikki. She's created a site dedicated to correcting Amanda's awful prose -- oh, and she's evidently pretending to be a man.

fixingamanda.blogspot.com

[robc]

The most recent post is from April 2010.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

D'oh!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Dennis the Peasant tried doing that for several years and finally got burned out. The fact of the matter is that Manjaw Marcotte is unfixable.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Dennis the Peasant was great; probably the funniest blogger on the conservative/libertarian axis out there.

[Coeus]

Manjaw Marcotte

I've seen that 3/4 picture of hers for years, and never understood this dig. Then I saw a full frontal face pic. She looks like the actor who played superman in the black and white show.

[Generic Stranger]

I've seen that 3/4 picture of hers for years

And you haven't been struck blind? Truly, your eyes are the stuff of legend.

[darius404]

You're SURE that's not just a man in a wig?

http://farm1.static.flickr.com.....7b0d6a.jpg

[Coeus]

Check it out. Uncannily similar, ain't it?

[Coeus]

Anti-teen pregnancy adds Are othering to trans-teens.

nice pics.

[Mike M.]

It's going to be so hilarious when the Cavaliers start begging LeBron to go back to them in a year from now. I wonder if Gilbert will get down on his hands and knees and apologize and cry like a little baby.

[Sidd Finch]

More hilarious than this?

[Sidd Finch]

response to Mike

[Mike M.]

Ha-ha, man I'm so sick of Dwight Coward and the media's attempt to turn him into LeBron junior. Coward isn't in the same universe as James as an overall player.

[OldMexican]

Prosecutor Has a Dream That all Illiterate and Potty-Mouth Witnesses Will Be Believed Unconditionally Just Because They're Black

On Thursday, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda contended that the only reason to find prosecution star witness Rachel Jeantel uncredible would be racism -- her lack of sophistication and Haitian background. "I had a dream that today a witness would be judged not on the color of her personality but the content of her testimony," de la Rionda said.

So, members of the jury, if you aquit, is because you're all racists!

You can't get more pathetic than that.

[Coeus]

One in 5 young adults admits to using a cellphone during sex.

They talk about texting, but does looking at porn count? If so, count me in.

[Coeus]

World's funniest human writes the stupidest article you've ever seen.

But the comments are hilarious. Truly demonstrates the entitlement of the modern feminist, as well as the white knight syndrome on display.

paladinULindy West111L
Why not put the clit inside? I've dated far to many women that think I need to be the one to rub it while I'm also fucking them. Put that shit inside so we can both get off the same way. Nature has evolved most of its mistakes away aside from this and the appendix. Yesterday 5:39pm

This really sets them off. I wouldn't even think it was that controversial.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The angel opened the fourth seal and...Elton John praised the Pope.

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....jean-lopez

[ant1sthenes]

Isn't he friends with Rush Limbaugh or something?

[John]

$500K. Whoever that judge is who set that should rot in hell. That is fucking pathetic.

[Pro Libertate]

Is there any evidence other than what he posted that indicates that he's dangerous to anyone? Secret cache of pressure cookers, that sort of thing?

[John]

Nothing. He is a typical teenager who likes to play video games and talk shit to his friends. No evidence he was a danger at all. I have never heard of a teenager who wasn't up for murder getting bail set that high. Unless the parents refuse to take the kid and want him left there, kids always make bail.

[anon]

You know, if they arrested everyone that ever said anything about murdering someone on the internet, we'd pretty much all be in prison for the rest of our lives.

I guess in some ways we already are.

[John]

The entire H&R comentariat would be in prison right now.

[kinnath]

I have wished gruesome deaths upon many elected officials, but I don't think I have actually threaten to act violently against anyone. I have been very careful to make sure that I only claim to want POTUS to die a horrible death from otherwise natural causes.

[Enough About Palin]

In a way, we already are.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

"The entire H&R comentariat would be in prison right now."

That's bullshit -- anyone says others, I'll kill ya.

Also, I don't like nobody touchin' me. Any of you commenters touch me, and I'll kill ya.

[Pro Libertate]

Lighten up, Gozer.

[Gozer the Gozerian]

You just made the list, buddy.