Fort Hood Shooter Convicted, Obama Defends NSA as Agency Admits to Willful Violations, Tech Companies Paid for Surveillance Compliance Costs: P.M. Links

• 

  Source: Bell County Jail

  Maj. Nidal Hasan was convicted of murder in his shooting rampage in Fort Hood and is now eligible for the death penalty.

• In an interview with CNN, President Barack Obama said safeguards that prevent the National Security Agency from abusing its surveillance powers have worked. Then, in correspondence to Bloomberg News, NSA admitted there had, indeed, been "willful violations" of the rules. Just going to guess here that the administration treats the safeguards as "successful" because the violators were caught.
• Tech companies have been paid millions by the NSA to cover the costs of complying with its surveillance program.
• The Independent in the United Kingdom is reporting Britain has a secret monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept communications. They claim they got the information from leaked documents from Edward Snowden. Snowden, however, says he did not provide any information to the Independent, leading to theories that the British government leaked it to try to make Snowden look bad.
• Rapper 2 Chainz was tired of his tour bus constantly getting pulled over by police for drug searches, so after another incident of "you have a broken taillight/we need to search your vehicle" in Oklahoma he refused until they got a search warrant, tying up police for nine hours.
• The FDA in its infinite nannyism is considering a ban on selling e-cigarettes online to keep them out of children's hands.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maj. Nidal Hasan was convicted of murder in his shooting rampage in Fort Hood and is now eligible for the death penalty.

For simple workplace violence? Anything extra for violating grooming regs?

[Joe M]

That is protected under the Hirsute Americans' Inalienable Rights Act of 1997.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm still appalled at that aspect of all of this. I mean, we see terrorists everywhere except when they friggin' tell us they're terrorists? WTF?

[JW]

Come now, ProL. didn't you hear that:

Human and technical errors, like all of the errors reported [in this story], are unfortunately inevitable in any organization and especially in a highly technical and complicated system like NSA.

They're only human! Dealing with highly technical and complicated stuff! Give them a break!

[Pro Libertate]

Terrorists! Everywhere!

Allahu Akbar! Die American soldiers for fighting the Taliban!

NOT TERRORISM

[JW]

Look, Colossus promises to get on this very soon. Right now, he's busy talking to the Russians.

[Matrix]

I hope he stays in jail for the rest of his life. And by that, I mean I hope that within six months the guards will find his charred remains in a fetal position at the corner of his cell..

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The FDA in its infinite nannyism is considering a ban on selling e-cigarettes online to keep them out of children's hands.

Is this...racist?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wouldn't it be easier to ban the children from the internet?

[Corning]

They already tried banning children from using e-cigarettes.

But i think this might work if simply ban the internet for everyone.

[Almanian!]

Well...if no one's on the innertoobs, then how is the NSA going to spy on us?

[mad libertarian guy]

Fuck these people with a rusty chainsaw.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...he refused until they got a search warrant, tying up police for nine hours.

It was a standoff. Anytime anyone tries to stop the coppers at the scene from getting what they want, it's a standoff.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford takes down Hulk Hogan
'I own this town!' mayor boasts while defeating Hulkster in arm-wrestling match

[NeonCat]

He then cried "I FUCKING LOVE COCAINE! WOOOOO!"

[anon]

The Hulk or Rob Ford?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Ric Flair. Wooo!

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Don't worry the Hulk will win at the pay-per-view grudge match.

[Almanian!]

He must have forgotten his "TRAINING AND VITAMINS!"

Remember that, you little Hulkamaniacs: skip the training and vitamins, lose to a wussy little pol.

[Episiarch]

You forgot the link.

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, I'm sure Terry didn't let him win.

[Long Range Boredom]

Man, he's just begging to be forced to kiss Vince McMahon's ass.

[Joe M]

Rapper 2 Chainz was tired of his tour bus constantly getting pulled over by police for drug searches, so after another incident of "you have a broken taillight/we need to search your vehicle" in Oklahoma he refused until they got a search warrant, tying up police for nine hours.

Never heard his music, or even his name, before, but already a fan.

[Ted S.]

He's the mutant brother of 2 Chilly.

[Aresen]

I don't like Rap and I had never heard of him before, but now I want to buy all of his CDs.

[Marc F Cheney]

They don't put it on CDs anymore, grandpa. They put it on them "J-PEGs" or something.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Before he was "2 Chainz"; he was known as, and I'm not shitting you,Tity Boi.

2 Chainz has yet to take the Libertarian rapper crown from Big Boi, whose Twitter feed reads like the AM/PM links.

And I know one of you motherfuckers is him.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I think it's Fisty.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Twitter is a joke in your town.

[Joe M]

I love me some OutKast.

[Enough About Palin]

"I love me some OutKast."

Seconded

[Killazontherun]

jEESUS

Bestiality brothels are spreading through Germany as abusers turn to sex with animals as "lifestyle choice" http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Altered Carbon for reelz.

[ant1sthenes]

Santorum warned us, but no one listened.

[jesse.in.mb]

Big Boi had me at "Bitch, I voted for Gary Johnson"

[anon]

But you'll never know *which* one, sucka.

My money's on Almanian.

[Almanian!]

Naw, I'm the one who's always sayin' creepy thangs about teh whyte wimminz.

Yo.

So...note sure. Don't know rap.

[robc]

He has also been seen on the sidelines of Tech football games.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

If you read the linked article, the HampR headline is a bit misleading. The rapper was arrested after this time for obstructing a police investigation. Apparently, requesting your Fourth Amendment rights is "obstructing a police investigation".

This, to me, is a bit more serious than it looks on the surface.

... Hobbit

[Coeus]

The vile tweet that Dr. Phil deleted.

In the tweet, Dr. Phil decided to crowdsource whether "if a girl is drunk, is it OK to have sex with her?"

Am I missing something?

[anon]

I thought that was the whole point of drinking in my college years...

[Bobarian]

If I'm drunk is it OK for a girl to have sex with me?

[Dibbler]

You probably raped her in a drunken haze you othering cis shitlord! Stop perpetuating the patriarchal rape culture!

[Irish]

He was trying to take a poll of what the opinions of other people were, not advocating the behavior himself. That's why the left wing overreaction is so hysterical.

I'd also like to point out that an awful lot of sex occurs when alcohol is involved. Is all of that rape?

[Episiarch]

When Warty is involved, yes.

[bmp1701]

That has nothing to do with the alcohol, and everything to do with Warty's involvement.

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH NOT APPRECIATE OTHERS MOVING INTO HIS MEMONIC TERRITORY.

[Agammamon]

I see Steve has trouble spelling mnemonic like so many of us.

[STEVE SMITH]

STEVE SMITH ALSO MAKE NEOLOGISM.

[Mickey Rat]

I'm glad you object. I was beginning to think you and Warty had merged into some horrific eldritch abomination of inside HnR tropes.

[Killazontherun]

I thought he was asking for situational advice. He sounded desperately in need of a lawyer.

[Fist of Etiquette]

He's a virtual rapist!

[Almanian!]

I'll take "The Rapist" for $200, Alex...

[Long Range Boredom]

He's the first analyst and therapist hybrid. An analrapist, if you will.

[bmp1701]

Has no one at Slate ever had consensual drunken sex? Isn't it possible for two consenting adults to go get drunk and screw?

[John]

I am thinking most of the readers at slate and nearly all of the writers there have never had consensual sex in their lives. And as far as the few who have, if Bayzelon and Lithwick think their husband's are sleeping with them sober, denial is not just a river in Egypt.

[Ted S.]

Has anybody at Slate ever had any kind of sex?

[Long Range Boredom]

Yes, but it was horrifying and filled with many tentacles.

[Episiarch]

I suspect that a surprising number of the cretinous dorks who write for Slate are virgins.

[Marc F Cheney]

*cough* Matty Ygs *cough*

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

In some states it is in fact not possible for two drunk adults to consent to sex.

[Coeus]

In some states it is in fact not possible for two drunk adults to consent to sex.

So what does she have to blow in order to blow?

[bmp1701]

In some states it is in fact not possible for two drunk adults to consent to sex.

Um, "in law" it might not be possible for them to consent. The facts beg to differ.

[Almanian!]

HAH! Then none of my kids is MINE, cause I didn't CONSENT!

Right? Isn't that how this works?

No?

[Agammamon]

Only if you're a woman. Men don't get to consent to having children.

[Mickey Rat]

So would such a thing be coincidental rape?

[Mad Scientist]

Sometimes getting drunk prevents screwing. We should encourage more underage drinking!

[Invisible Finger]

We should lower the drinking age to "birth".

[Enough About Palin]

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

[John]

Is there any aspect of human nature liberals won't deny? What the hell kind of social retard do you have to be to pretend that people don't get drunk and have sex?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

If he wanted a different reaction from the Perpetually Aggrieved, he should have asked if it was OK to have sex with a GUY who is drunk. See, men don't get the protections of the Church of the Aggrieved.

[KPres]

Well, I don't call myself drunk as long as I can get it up, so under that definition, it's impossible to have sex with a guy who is drunk.

[Invisible Finger]

Whiskey cunt.

[bmp1701]

What the hell kind of social retard do you have to be to pretend that people don't get drunk and have sex?

Maybe all their sexual encounters begin with whining, begging, and both parties convincing themselves that attractiveness standards are a Patriarchal lie?

[Gorilla tactics]

"Maybe all their sexual encounters begin with whining, begging, and both parties convincing themselves that attractiveness standards are a Patriarchal lie?"

In the montreal club scene we used to call these people 259s because the clubs close at 3:00

[Almanian!]

A "great big one", I'm guessin'.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Dr. Phil's crime was that he didn't preface his tweet with "WARNING! TRIGGERING! WARNING! TRIGGERING! x100"

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

In an interview with CNN, President Barack Obama said safeguards that prevent the National Security Agency from abusing its surveillance powers have worked. Then, in correspondence to Bloomberg News, NSA admitted there had, indeed, been "willful violations" of the rules. Just going to guess here that the administration treats the safeguards as "successful" because the violators were caught.

Well if you can get away with calling an act of terror 'workplace violence' then I suppose anything is possible.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Tech companies have been paid millions by the NSA to cover the costs of complying with its surveillance program.

I guess no one in Congress checks the agency's individual budget items.

[anon]

Maj. Nidal Hasan was convicted of murder in his shooting rampage in Fort Hood and is now eligible for the death penalty.

Isn't that kinda like winning a prize to muslims?

[Xenocles]

He has said many times that is what he wants. I see no reason not to grant his wish.

[ant1sthenes]

It's a win-win!

[NeonCat]

No word on the snake being charged with biting the canine officer.

[bmp1701]

STOP SLITHERING, SIR! STOP SLITHERING, SIR! STOP SLITHERING, SIR!

[Gbob]

It got confused over the instructions to put it's hands over its head.

[Ted S.]

If you don't know the difference between "its" and "it's", why not use both of them! 😉

[Gbob]

I plead iPhone autocorrect and typing while in traffic. I await sentencing from the grammar court.

[Entropy Void]

Sentence is 1 year's hard labor with a Galaxy 4s

[Enough About Palin]

Partain said he's grateful that the Belgian Malinois survived.

"He's my partner," said Partain.

The fruit of the gay marriage slipery-slope.

[Xenocles]

Why didn't we listen?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...President Barack Obama said safeguards that prevent the National Security Agency from abusing its surveillance powers have worked.

Give it up, Barry. You don't have the Clinton slickness to pull off this bullshit.

[andarm16]

He doesn't need it. He has the media on his side, so no one will ever hear about the fact that he lied through his teeth. (Other than teabagging kochsuckers like us)

[Episiarch]

Just going to guess here that the administration treats the safeguards as "successful" because the violators were caught.

Whatever they have to do to make this go away. God, I love watching them squirm. Thank you Edward Snowden.

[John]

First there were no violations. Now, well sure there are violations and look how successful we were at catching them.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm sure CNN challenged him on that assertion.

[Episiarch]

They're very thorough that way. With Republicans.

[Pro Libertate]

And they would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for that meddling kid.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

21 year old transgender woman dies after being assaulted in New York City

Hate crimes task force detectives were investigating Friday the death of a transgender woman who was assaulted last week on a New York City street and later died.

The victim, 21-year-old Islan Nettles, died Thursday, five days after she was attacked. The medical examiner's office will determine a cause of death.

It was the latest in a spate of bias attacks this year in New York. Sixty-eight have been reported, from yelled slurs to the May killing of a 32-year-old gay man in Greenwich Village. Police stepped up patrols this summer in response.

Violent attacks on gay and transgender people is a serious issue, so isn't it kind of ridiculous that yelled slurs get treated on the same level?

[John]

And what are the chances the attackers were black youths? Watch liberals all of the sudden lose interest in gay bashing as a serious issue.

[Irish]

Unless you have evidence they were black, you should probably hold off on the racial speculations.

[John]

The story didn't identify the race of the attackers. That is in our current media environment a dead giveaway that they were black.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The attack was in Harlem.

*ahem*

[John]

Harlem is made up of black people and hipster gentrifyers. Maybe a couple beardos did it.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Probably not:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.1435038

[NeonCat]

"We were into trans-bashing before it was cool."

[Gorilla tactics]

"We were into trans-bashing before it was cool."

Did they beat his ass ironically?

[Gorilla tactics]

sad but true

[Invisible Finger]

Could've been Russians.

[John]

With the name Paris Wilson?

[Apatheist ?_??]

They have a name but no pictures or mention of race on any news articles. Paris Wilson is pretty ambiguous.

[John]

It looks like maybe the victim was a hooker and the Wilson guy was a John who found out he had just paid for a tranny hooker. I really can't think of any other explanation for him beating her to death after finding out she was a tranny.

And "Paris" might be the name of a white guy. But it seems a bit yuppie for a white guy hanging out in Harlem beating up transsexuals.

[Calidissident]

According to the article, there was only one attacker.

[Irish]

It was the latest in a spate of bias attacks this year in New York. Sixty-eight have been reported, from yelled slurs to the May killing of a 32-year-old gay man in Greenwich Village. Police stepped up patrols this summer in response.

A YELLED SLUR IS NOT AN ATTACK!

[MJGreen]

Fahk off, queeah!

[Heroic Mulatto]

In 5th Century Athens it would have been. (See, hubris)

The More You Know

[Irish]

This part is ridiculous:

Nettles and a friend, another transgender woman, were out Saturday evening in Harlem when they ran into a group of men, and one pounced, punching Nettles in the face, police said. But a witness who spoke to authorities initially did not mention any anti-gay remarks, and the suspect, 20-year-old Paris Wilson, was arrested on an assault charge.

After the attack, Nettles was hospitalized, slipped into a coma and later died.

The witness eventually told detectives about the anti-gay remarks, and the hate crimes task force took over the investigation. Detectives are looking at whether the suspect had propositioned Nettles. Upgraded charges are possible following the medical examiner's ruling, police said.

When the transgendered woman was initially beaten to death, we weren't sure if it was serious, but when we found out that someone used a homophobic slur we realized it was time to act.

[John]

Holy shit. If she had only been beaten to death so someone could take her Iphone, it really wouldn't have been such a big deal.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I don't think hate crimes should have a different punishment but it can be a bigger deal than a simple mugging.

[Bobarian]

If someone is beating me to death, I'm not really all that worried about them calling me names, too.

Stick and stones may break my bones,

but calling someone a homo is federal time?

[Apatheist ?_??]

If the victim had lived I could imagine why it would be more traumatic to get beat up for being transgender than just being mugged. And if there were a rash of tranny beatings I could imagine how that would upset other transgendered people more than a rash of muggings.

Like I said it shouldn't be a legal difference.

[Invisible Finger]

What if you hate people with iphones?

[ant1sthenes]

Murder is merely an offense against the victim, but saying something homophobic is an offense against PC god.

[Scarcity]

68 incidents, at most, of "yelled slurs" in NYC this year??

Jesus, as a straight man I can't ride my bike to work in Chicago without hearing nearly that many "faggot!"s in one day.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

That happens to you too? And here I thought my guy was just...somewhat gay looking. I mean cute. Cute.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Maybe it was the tie. Or the cock in his mouth. But probably the tie.

[Scarcity]

I got hit by a car a couple weeks ago on Elston; no injury or anything but the bike bit it and I did what I totally assume was a bad-ass roll across the hood. 30 seconds later as traffic starts moving again the guy who was 2 cars back yells "That's what you get for riding in the bike lane, faggot!"

?? The BIKE lane??

Oh well. As that wise sage Childish Gambino says, If I'm a faggot spell it right, I got way more than 2 G's.

[Invisible Finger]

Out of curiosity, do you have a death with or something? Can't you take side streets most of the way?

[Scarcity]

I feel pretty safe on Elston. While technically the driver was at fault in the collision, I could've prevented it by riding smarter.*

I commute to Glenview, so it's 22 miles each way. I can do it in 1.5 hrs on Elston and the North Branch Trail, but it would take forever on side streets.

*The mistake I made was going too fast relative to the cars going my direction. The cars a short distance ahead of me going my direction (but not moving at the moment) had left a space at a no-signage intersection (no stop sign, light, etc.) for an oncoming car to turn left. I didn't see the space and couldn't stop in time when the car came through it. Stupid riding on my part, but I'll be safer in the future.

[Invisible Finger]

"Yes" would've sufficed. Or you can just admit you're looking to retire on a big personal injury suit.

When I have to go in on weekends I'll take my bike, but there is no way I'm riding a bike in rush hour traffic around O'Hare. Between the pissed off locals and the clueless tourists it's more stressful than driving a car.

[Michael]

Just curious - Elston and what? I seldom ride up that way, but Elston has always seemed pretty easy going. Milwaukee between Ashland and Damen on the other hand is a fucking gauntlet.

[Episiarch]

You ride your bike to work? You fucking faggot.

[Scarcity]

Well, yeah, on the days I work. The rest of the time I spend olympic powerlifting on a surfboard with Kate Upton.

[anon]

So you're Big Boi?

[jesse.in.mb]

I hate to pile on Scarcity, but I'm gonna have to agree with Epi on this.

[Scarcity]

et tu Jesse?

[jesse.in.mb]

Bicycling to work a few times a week is the gayest thing I do.

[Irish]

Really? I assumed that the gayest thing you did was making love to other men.

[jesse.in.mb]

Really? I assumed that the gayest thing you did was making love to other men.

Bro, that's just how you get your rocks off, nuthin gay about it. The cuddling and small talk afterwards is kinda gay though, but it has nothing on bicycle commuting

[Coeus]

The cuddling and small talk afterwards is kinda gay though,

I'm reminded of the detective on Boondock Saints.

[Aloysious]

+1 agent Smecker

[Invisible Finger]

A bicycle seat up your ass for 1.5 hours is kinda gay.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

"I hate to pile on Scarcity."

What's wrong with Scarcity?

[seguin]

There's never enough of him to go around.

[Mad Scientist]

Is this you?

[Scarcity]

Blocked at work but I think I get the gist from the url.

I do love riding in this.

But that's not my commuting attire.

[Entropy Void]

Pics or it never happened.

[Bobarian]

Must be dem dere pink bike shohts, yah flamin moe!

[Invisible Finger]

Since you aren't gay it's acceptable to call you a faggot.

[Coeus]

Further conspiracy of the capitalistic dogs.

2. It's a sad thing that people are being encouraged to turn their cars into offices. Some people's work will necessitate that some amount of work happen in their car?salespeople and so on (though the steering wheel desk that is advertized as a place to eat made me wonder what ever happened to park benches and then I remembered that we don't believe in investing in our country). But aside from those very specialized circumstances, it's just this push to squeeze every last drop out of people rather than just, you know, hiring more people.

3. The company is called AutoExec, but I'm pretty sure that most autoexecs just hold their tablets with their hands in the back seat while someone else drives.

[Derpetologist]

[cue "Soap" credits music]

Will this person every realize the reason companies go to such great lengths to avoid hiring new people?

Tune in next week for a new episode of Derp.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rUxKq7w6ec

[andarm16]

Totally ignoring that what they call extracting every last drop is the result of the government making it so very expensive to hire new people.

[Ted S.]

The real reason we donb't eat at park benches is to avoid people like the writer of this article.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Also because of weather.

[Agammamon]

And because parks got rid of the benches because they were hobo campsites.

[jesse.in.mb]

Ugh, and straight couples have public sex on them. Can't they hide in the bushes like respectable adults?

[Agammamon]

Well, I wonder why we can't do it in the *public restrooms*, hmm?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

E

[Ted S.]

F

[anon]

G

[NeonCat]

What the H?

[Scarcity]

A girl, you my B girl
C girl? I got this D girl
No need to spell it out, I'll make it easy
I'll have you yelling out your "ABCD"
I just wanna F, F, F

[Irish]

Man kicked out of football game and threatened with arrest for letting his son hold his beer while he took a picture.

Clearly having his father thrown in prison would have been better for that young man's development than the horror of having alcohol near him.

[Pro Libertate]

Is it some sort of anti-aluminum issue? Are they concerned the aluminum from the can could be leeched into the kid's body through his skin?

[DK]

Seconds later, two undercover officers with the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control approached him.

Seconds!?!? Do they have undercover officers in every aisle? Reminds me of this.

[Generic Stranger]

Nobody expects the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control!

[Tejicano]

Visiting friends in Prague we sent their 8 year old out to the bar next door to bring up a bucket of beer. Great beer at that. That is an experience every drinking adult should have just because it is so cool.

[Brett L]

The NFL said they got booted because the father "became beligerent". You better believe my kid will be filming me saying, "I paid $150 for these fucking tickets, you're gonna have to taze my ass to move me!"

[The Bearded Hobbit]

I saw this from another source. Another example of the insanity engulfing our country.

I used to have my toddler daughters "bring a beer to Daddy". If I did this today Child Services would be at my door. The only time I felt guilty, though, was when there was an argument at the refrigerator; "I'm bringing Daddy a beer!" "No, I'm bringing Daddy a beer".

... Hobbit

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

Rapper 2 Chainz was tired of his tour bus constantly getting pulled over by police for drug searches, so after another incident of "you have a broken taillight/we need to search your vehicle" in Oklahoma he refused until they got a search warrant, tying up police for nine hours.

I luv dem rappers

[Heroic Mulatto]

And they love you, nikki. And they love you.

[NeonCat]

I hadn't seen this before; I know it's not true, but I wouldn't put it past them.

[LynchPin1477]

Although you can't breathe in space, you could survive in space without a suit for a short period of time.

[Mad Scientist]

Tech companies have been paid millions by the NSA to cover the costs of complying with its surveillance program.

I'm frankly surprised to hear this.

[NeonCat]

Think how much money we could save if everyone who wanted to hurt the United States or its government would just be open and honest about it. But noooo, they have to be coy and deceptive about it.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

E! has five reasons why Ben Affleck is the perfect Batman, but only one of them is really needed:

1. He's Already Saved the World: Yes, Armageddon totally counts. If it weren't for Ben?and yes, Bruce Willis?that asteroid totally would've hit the earth back in 1998. And what about Argo? Had it not been for Mr. Affleck, those American diplomats might still be in Iran.

I'm sure this is all tongue-in-cheek, but citing a Michael Bay film and an overrated Oscar winner is not a good sign.

[John]

Argo wasn't overrated. It was very good film. It is no an all time great. But it still deserved the Oscar because nearly every other film made these days sucks.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

'Argo' was a very great thriller, but it wasn't nearly as good as 'Zero Dark Thirty' which was not only more relevant but it also blew 'Argo' out of the water with its conclusion.

That should have won Best Picture.

[Cytotoxic]

THIS. I liked Argo but it bothered me when it took liberties with events.

[KPres]

Argo was mind-numbingly boring, and the fact that it won an Oscar really shows how far Hollywood has fallen.

[Cytotoxic]

What? How was it boring? You suck.

[KPres]

What do you want me to say? It was grey and lifeless. All the characters were one-dimensional, and they took themselves waaay too seriously, especially since a Beardo Ben Affleck is impossible to take seriously. Contrast with the more lively Charlie Wilson's War, which told a similar tale, but a lot more personality.

[KPres]

but *with* a lot more personality.

[Episiarch]

Well, he was Daredevil. And look how well that turned out.

No, Batman should be played by Vince Chase. He was Aquaman, after all.

[Pro Libertate]

Batman should be played by me. I'm ready to retire and need the big payday. Yes, I'll likely be the worst Batman ever, but fuck you, I got mine.

[Episiarch]

You can play King Tut, and you'll like it.

Now we need a Catwoman...

[Pro Libertate]

So long as it pays, I'm in.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I call dibs on Lord Fog. Epi, will you be my Lady Pea Soup?

[Episiarch]

Always. You know that.

[PS]

http://reason.com/blog/2013/08.....nt_3957775

[Bobarian]

George Clooney is the worst Batman ever, and no one can touch that!

[Mickey Rat]

Yes, and oddly he was the one that most looked like Bruce Wayne should look.

[Fist of Etiquette]

HARRY STAMPER SAVED TEH WORLD.

[Mickey Rat]

Affleck, may have saved the world in Armageddon, but at best he was Robin. Willis's character was the Batman equivalent in that story.

[CatoTheElder]

The admissions of 2500 lapses by the NSA, 56000 inadvertent breaches by the NSA, and thousands of intentional violations by the NSA are a diversion from the real problem. These are a small fraction of the data records collected.

The real problem is the fact that billions of data records are routinely collected without probable cause.

[andarm16]

all of which is of course a distraction from the real problem at hand, the Republican war on Women and gays.

[CatoTheElder]

and disrespectful rodeo clowns

[andarm16]

I forgot about that.

[Coeus]

More stupid in the comments than you can shake a stick at:

mrrogerb ? 4 hours ago ?
They could have given me half the money they wasted and I would have given them the short answer - Obama's black.
11 ?Reply?Share ?
Avatar
yadayadaaa mrrogerb ? 3 hours ago
AND the American people keep chosing his agenda over the disasterous trickle=down economy crashing teabagger downgrade legitimute rapes beliefs of the Republican canival.
In other words. Their own idiology blew up in their faces when applied under cheney/bush. The whole world witnessed them nearly turning us into a 3rd world country.
Whereas Obama has given us more jobs in a month than the GOP tax cuts did in all of dubyas yrs in office, Deregulating crashed the economy and all their gay bigoty got spit on when voters got to have THEIR say.
The fact that all that happened with a black man. In SPITE of their scorched earth sabotage of our own recovery. Was just icing on the cake.
Losers with no manhood to adjust a disasterous failed idiology. Going to their racist roots. Whaaaaah! Those poor, impotent old things. Are useless in fact.

[John]

Come on. It is not like the economy sucks or people of one party don't always hate the President of the other party or anything. It is totally the RACSIM here.

[Irish]

AND the American people keep chosing his agenda over the disasterous trickle=down economy crashing teabagger downgrade legitimute rapes beliefs of the Republican canival.

That explains his 41% approval rating.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Amanda Marcotte Is Secretly Dunphy:

Sexual harassment simply isn't bad flirting or flirting from ugly men. (Also, the whine assumes Filner has always looked the way he does now. He wasn't super handsome when he was young, but he was hardly ugly.) It's about using sexual innuendo and touching to make someone else feel uncomfortable. Even if the harasser would be pleasantly surprised and eager to have sex with his victim?which is less common than people suppose?that doesn't mean his main goal is getting laid. It's putting a woman in her place. Sure, it's probably true at some point in time some woman has unfairly characterized a man's well-meaning flirtations as creepy or harassing. But to claim that's the preponderance or even totality of events that women claim are harassment is misogyny, pure and simple.

totality of circs show it was a good harassment... something about surfing... hth

[Coeus]

Objective standards are a tool of the patriarchy.

[Gorilla tactics]

I always mention Isaac Newton's Principia as a rape manual whenever Ovarian Stalinism (feminism) is being talked about.

[BakedPenguin]

Feminism always struck me as more Maoist. Still, nice phrase.

[Coeus]

Sure, it's probably true at some point in time some woman has unfairly characterized a man's well-meaning flirtations as creepy or harassing.

How generous of her.

[BakedPenguin]

"Sure, it's probably true at some point in time some woman has unfairly characterized a man's well-meaning flirtations as creepy or harassing."

'Okay, maybe it happened, like, once. Back in the 1950's. In France.'

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Republicans don't understand how the economy works because of Ayn Rand

Paul Ryan has reshaped the contemporary Republican ideology by layering Rand's philosophy on top of Reaganomics. Ayn Rand believed in Objectivism: "The concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." Ayn Rand saw a limited role for government, only the military, police, and judiciary. As a consequence, Paul Ryan and Rand's many other Republican disciples want to severely cut government spending and eliminate the social safety net. (The Paul Ryan budget attacks the core components of the safety net: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and affordable health care.) That's why the GOP leadership is not worried by the prospect of a government shutdown or default. They believe it will produce less government.
[snip]
Republicans don't understand that it would be a terrible idea to crater the American economy because they've lost touch with reality. Hypnotized by a toxic blend of Reaganomics and Objectivism, Republicans don't understand how the economy works or the concerns of middle-class families.

Weird, he doesn't explain why cutting spending and reducing the size of government is bad.

[John]

And note the rewriting of history concerning Reganomics. The economy was fabulous under Carter and totally cratered in the 1980s.

[Irish]

The left tends to ignore the pre-Thatcher British economic decay and the pre-Reagan stagflation. Everything bad that's happened since then is the fault of Thatcher and Reagan, but they get no credit for the economic turnarounds.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The UK persisted in wartime rationing ~5 years after the last country in continental Europe terminated its wartime rationing programs. Think about that for a moment: occupied Germany and Austria got back to normalcy sooner than the UK did after Labour.

[John]

And Democrats wanted to do the same thing here. War planning was so great, why stop it after the war?

[tarran]

Not the Democrats. The Progressives... Rockefeller Republicans like Hoover were part of the coalition that loved war-time economic planning during the great war and spent the 20's trying to reinstitute it in peacetime. That vile philosophy has always had adherents in both parties.

[John]

But it was the Republicans who stopped it after taking Congress in 1946.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The Republicans stopped rationing and wartime planning both times. Harding's campaign slogan was "Return to Normalcy"; Hoover was more or less loathed by Harding and Coolidge (and in retrospect, they had good reason for that loathing).

[tarran]

True... the Progressive movement is much stronger in the Democratic Party than the Republican. It's just that the set of Progressives and the set of Democrats are intersecting sets rather than one containing the other.

[Nikkis enthusiastic dissent]

They were just keeping calm and carrying on, duh.

[Goldwin Smith]

From the attacks on Thatcher you would think that 1970s Britain was some utopia thanks to Attlee, Wilson and Callaghan.

Don't forget how their narrative on Reagan was that Big Government worked just fine until the 1980s. Including the Fifties,Nixon and Vietnam.

[Joe M]

It's self-evident!

Related, I just started The Fountainhead again this week, and I have been struck by one major fact: it's writing is far far superior to the writing in Atlas Shrugged. I think it's because it is less explicit.

[MJGreen]

You want me to be... explicit?

I started reading it this week, after asking for Rand suggestions last Friday. It's slow going so far, and not totally my cup of tea, but I'm intrigued enough to continue. I'm not expecting to really like it, though.

[anon]

It's slow going so far,

Don't worry, it doesn't get any faster.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

It has a couple of great lines. I like the scene between Roark and Toohey.

[andarm16]

We the Living is even better. It's semi autobiographical, so it gives you a decent impression of where Rand was coming from, and how she managed to create the perfect mirror opposite of communism (complete with revisionist anti revisionist conflicts and everything).

Even the fountainhead gets a little to Anvilicious at times, although it's no where near as bad. (To be fair, nothing is as bad as the Gault speech in Atlas Shrugged. I think I'd rather read Twilight then read Atlas shrugged again)

[Ted S.]

Doesn't everybody just skip over the Galt speech in Atlas Shrugged?

The funny thing about The Fountainhead is that there are several things Rand more or less got right. The "long march through the institutions" as personified by Toohey. The critique of modern "art".

[andarm16]

I think I read about twenty pages, nodding my head in agreement, and then it got to the point of how much fucking longer is this thing going to last!

[Cytotoxic]

You missed out.

[Joe M]

Last time I read AS, I skipped the speech entirely, and yeah, I don't think I'd want to read it again. I guess that makes me a second-hander. Really, the story is awesome, and the book could be amazing if someone would come in with a chainsaw and edit the shit out of it, removing, say, a third of the words.

[The Last American Hero]

ditto on the editing for Game of Thrones.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

ASOIAF has gotten worse over the last two books w/r/t that. I think it's a product of (a) success and (b) not knowing what to do with the story, so he fills it up with pointless descriptions.

That said, I have high hopes going forward.

[Brett L]

What? GRRM has an awesome formula: When the story gets too slow, start killing the characters people like.

[jesse.in.mb]

I read Atlas first and haven't gotten around to The Fountainhead. It sits staring at me from my TO READ shelf.

[robc]

I read Anthem first.

Its a quick read, which you cant normally say with Rand.

[jesse.in.mb]

I liked Anthem. Fountainhead is the big one I haven't gotten to yet. I enjoyed the plot of Atlas, but it needed to be edited and Rand needed to not be so insecure in her writing that she felt the need to spell EVERYTHING out, repeatedly.

[Joe M]

Yup, totally. But so far, The Fountainhead isn't doing that too much. There are a lot fewer stares loaded with unspoken meaning, but on the other hand, the love interest hasn't entered the story yet, so I might change my tune.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I only read the Fountainhead once, except for one passage I read again and again lol

bangmeattherockquarry.com

[Derpetologist]

?? In the Big Rock libr'l mountains,
all the money grows on trees,
and the all spending does some good,
and republicans get stung by bees

[CatoTheElder]

Not weird at all. Just retarded.

[Mad Scientist]

The Paul Ryan budget attacks the core components of the safety net: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and affordable health care.

It won't be long before we fondly remember the days when they were clamoring for "affordable" health care. Very soon they'll rationalize that paying for your own health care is racist and elitist and discriminatory. Then they'll want "free" health care.

[MJGreen]

Because it would crater the American economy. Duh.

[Enough About Palin]

"want to severely cut government spending and eliminate the social safety net"

Well when ads on the bus telling seniors on Medicare that they should get their ass some food stamps (and the same for 41-year-old "Bill" who is temporarily on unemployment and forced to live on $1,700/mo while looking for a job), I no longer believe the term social safety net is accurate. I was on unemployment for 8 months and I managed just fine.

[Agammamon]

Heh, I'm not working now (by choice), living on my $1,500/mo retainer and I don't receive or need foodstamps. Heck, my car and motorcycle is paid off, and I'm banking around $500/mo.

'Course I *chose* to live in the middle of nowhere, where the livin's cheap.

[Lady Bertrum]

Didn't all the actor except West and Nicholson who played Bateman suck? Christian Bale and Michael Keaton were tolerable, but the rest sucked eggs. Ben Affleck is just another in a long line of mediocrity. He really should just direct, but I guess he's too good looking for that.

[John]

Nicholson was the Joker. And yeah most of them sucked. That is because Batman is not that interesting of a character and there are a limited number of interesting movies to be made using him.

[Episiarch]

And Christopher Nolan has already made them, but it won't stop Hollywood from making more.

[anon]

Somehow I bet the most interesting Batman movies involve Robin and gay sex.

[John]

I think that is about the only thing left to be made. But maybe that is where they plan to go with the Batman Superman movie.

[Enough About Palin]

I bet you do.

[Lady Bertrum]

Right. Nicholson WAS the joker. So a boring actor for a boring superhero, I guess.

I thought Robin would have the next movie in the series because of the Dark Knight Rises ending with Joseph Gorden-Levitt.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

To be fair superheros are supposed to be archetypal.

That being said, Batman is as interesting as the material allows him to be. Give him a good villain and a set of horrible choices to make and he becomes a pretty powerful and tragic figure.

I highly recommend Mask of the Phantasm and Under the Red Hoood which are the best Batman animated features, IMO.

[Coeus]

What about Batman: Year One?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

That was good too. I'll put that in the top five.

I can totally see Bryan Cranston playing a live-action Commissioner Gordon.

[Nephilium]

There's talk of Cranston being Lex Luthor.

[Pro Libertate]

I just realized something. In the not-too-distant future, we should be able to simulate dead and younger actors pretty accurately, and insert them into different roles. Not like Olivier in Sky Captain, but with a decent amount of accuracy.

So, young Marlon Brando as Batman. That kind of thing. Lawrence Olivier as the Predator.

[Episiarch]

"And introducing Cary Grant as The Penguin"

[Pro Libertate]

You could even do it for hopelessly minor characters: "Sydney Greenstreet as the man who walked by the camera."

[NeonCat]

"Batty, Batty, Batty."

[Pro Libertate]

This era that's coming will be soooo awesome. And it's really going to happen, too.

[NeonCat]

I believe Connie Willis wrote a short story about it. It made it very hard to be an actor because all the roles were filled by dead movie stars.

[Pro Libertate]

Just pay a commission to the heirs and skip all of the bullshit prima donnas.

[TeamBarstool]

Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Bale was good as Batman; he just wasn't given much to do with his character after the first movie.

I'm pretty sure that Nicholson played the Joker.

[Lady Bertrum]

I'm looking forward to Bale's new movie - because I like both him and Jeremy Renner. The subject matter is Abscam, so it could be fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2le_xVhjEGg

[Apatheist ?_??]

You forgot to mention Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams.

Dat screencap.

[Mickey Rat]

They're telling the story of John McCain's supervillian origin?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The best Batman is still Kevin Conroy. Ditto for Mark Hamil's Joker.

[Cytotoxic]

Mark Hamil...I don't know why people say he can't act.

DiMaggio was almost as good in some brutally violent animated Batman film. Called the Red Hood or something. It was like if Tarantino directed a Batman animated film, this is what it would look like.

[Agammamon]

Because, way back when (circa the first two Star Wars) he *couldn't* act.

[Cytotoxic]

Yeah I don't get that. He said those lines as well as anybody could have.

[Agammamon]

I don't know, listen to the stuff in ESB in the swamp, when he's repairing the x-wing. Some of that is bad directing but not all.

He has gotten visibly better in each movie.

[Cytotoxic]

Mark Hamil...I don't know why people say he can't act.

DiMaggio was almost as good in some brutally violent animated Batman film. Called the Red Hood or something. It was like if Tarantino directed a Batman animated film, this is what it would look like.

[LynchPin1477]

Before the recent trilogy, Mask of the Phantasm was far and away the best Batman film of all time. I still like better than Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises. Without Heath Ledger it would be better than The Dark Knight, too. Even with Ledger it is pretty close.

[paranoid android]

Why does everyone always forget the Batman Beyond movie, Return of the Joker? It (and the rest of the series) was always one of my favorite takes on the Batman concept. It's a great example of how to effectively do "something new" with a really old established character.

[Cytotoxic]

I didn't get into Batman Beyond although I'm sure it's good but I did watch Return of the Joker and that was pretty good. What happened to Robin...that was messed up.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Batman Beyond was somehow even darker and more twisted than The Animated Series.

You're right that it deserves more recognition. What Joker did to Robin in the movie was one of the most awful things I've ever seen in a cartoon ostensibly meant for kids.

[Nephilium]

And Batman Beyond was due to WB asking for a TV show that was Batman in High School...

[Long Range Boredom]

Also the only Batman who can sing.

[Cytotoxic]

Bale was awesome West sucked.

[Pro Libertate]

From the guy who hates TOS? I bet you like the new Mission: Impossible movies more than the series, too.

[Cytotoxic]

There was a series? Oh wait yeah I heard of that.

[Pro Libertate]

I hate you most.

[Zakalwe]

For being right?

[Pro Libertate]

You, too.

[Lady Bertrum]

Bale's fake deep voice was painfully stupid.

[Zakalwe]

I still haven't seen Batman Begins, but I LOL'd in the theater when I first heard this during The Dark Knight. I couldn't understand why everyone else was taking it seriously.

[MJGreen]

West was great. The first Batman movie is a lot of silly fun.

[Cytotoxic]

There is nothing in this world I loathe more than silly fun.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The misery of using food stamps

But discussing the period I was on food stamps summons memories I've shared only with those in my inner circle, and very rarely at that. The disdain or outright hostility I frequently encountered from grocery store clerks or from customers in line behind me who scoffed when I paid with tell-tale currency still reminds me of how close I came to losing my autonomy and how that possibility lingers. And what people who've never fought major illness can't quite understand is that the loss of autonomy can be as terrifying as the symptoms themselves. A few cells revolt and you're now looking at your former, healthy life through a membrane: you can see it, but it remains agonizingly out of reach. Despite your best efforts, you're at the mercy of others just to stay afloat.

So why delve into all this now? Because the U.S. House of Representatives is presently considering a whopping $4 billion cut to our nation's food stamp budget. And if it passes, roughly four million Americans will get booted from the food stamp program with little or no recourse. Or, you know, food...That responsible elected officials could be so short-sighted and brutal is amoral.

This person vividly describes the inefficiency of the welfare bureaucracy but the worst part is not getting respect from people waiting behind you in line?

[Derpetologist]

I propose scrapping the welfare bureaucracy and replacing it with ATMs. Push a button, wait a minute, get a dollar. It conditions people to be patient and a smart person will figure out you can make $60 per hour if you stake out the machine.

[andarm16]

There is a reason that many cashiers look at people funny who use food stamps. They've seen the kind of shit that people use them on.

Back when I worked retail, there were times when I could barely contain my screams of anguish at the things that people were purchasing on food stamps. There was one time that after ringing up several hundred dollars of steak and lobster that I did go outside on my next break and do a primal scream of impotent rage at humanity.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I've worked at a grocery store too. A lot of the frustration comes from the fact that often the people don't know what they can and can't buy with their WIC. So the cashier has to explain it to them and get a bagger to run back and forth getting the correct items, all while the line behind them is backing up.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

That happens at the Food City I shop at all. the. time.

[Episiarch]

Why are you shopping in a place where poor people can shop? Don't you know there are Whole Foods out there?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

There are some ingredients that you honkies just don't have in abundance in your fancy-ass stores. Sofrito, sazon... pretty much anything that comes in the Goya label is impossible to find anywhere outside a po' Hizpanix store.

[Episiarch]

Dude, go to the supermarketa for that stuff. It'll be even cheaper. I used to get all my spices and tomatillos and lard at the supermarketa, and it was dirt cheap.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The supermarketa in Tucson sucks. El Super is usually pretty good; dunno why but it attracts less of the food stamp crowd (and is just awesome for its meat prices).

[Episiarch]

I went to some store in Tucson with my sister that I swear was at least Mexican staffed if not run. It had a great fish counter and good prices. I cannot recall the name, unfortunately.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

That's too bad. My wife would garrote someone if we could find a decent Hispanic food store. We have found some fantastic Asian food stores that work as halfway-substitutes for what we need, oddly enough.

[TeamBarstool]

17th street Farmers Market? Great place that has recently closed.

[TeamBarstool]

"The supermarketa in Tucson sucks"

I'm not sure what part of town you live in or what you're looking for but my neighborhood (Barrio Santa Rosa) has several pretty good markets in the area.
Some the smaller ones on St Marys west of the freeway are excellent.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Hook me up, man. I am north side right now (was formerly in SW Tucson, which had some great supermarketas).

[TeamBarstool]

Best tortillas in town.
http://tinyurl.com/mkk3fyn

Shoot me an email and I'll get you a list of others. If you lived on the SW side, you should know a few.

[Agammamon]

"pretty much anything that comes in the Goya label "

Hell, even Walmart's got that stuff where I live.

Hmm, 'course I *do* live in a predominantly Hispanic area.

[Art Vandelay]

"sofrito"

You buy pre-made sofrito? Why not make your own?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Because I'm lazy. My wife makes her own and it's a lot better than the kind you buy in stores.

[andarm16]

Oh god, I hate WIC! Having worked at a store without baggers (We'll call it Tar-Mart) it was my ass that had to get it. (Oh, and did I mention that I had very strict productivity totals that I had to hold too?) The baby food WICS are pure evil. I once spent 90 minutes with someone trying to explain what to get with them. The other evil thing was that our fabulous EBT cards had magnetic stripes that could be demagnetized at the drop of a hat. You'd have to hand key the number. I still have the first four digits of those cards burned into my head, and I will probably have it for the rest of my life.

[trshmnstr]

When i worked grocery, I more than once loaded $200+ of name brand, "luxury" groceries bought by EBT into a Caddy. They also typically had a carton or two of cigs in the grocery bag as well.

Nothing screams "needy" like an Escalade, Camels and salmon.

[NeonCat]

Why don't you want "poor" people to have a nice ride, a good smoke and Omega 3s, trshmnstr?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

People shouldn't have to work to enjoy the finer things in life.

/Tony

[Invisible Finger]

When I was 6 or 7 my family was on food stamps for a couple months. (Long bureaucratic story.)

A hazy memory for me but a vivid one for my mom. I remembered a time when we were drinking powdered milk and I brought it up at a family gathering a month or so ago.

And my mom's reply was great: "Yeah, that's when I didn't know how food stamps worked. I thought I was supposed to stretch them out as much as possible, but it turns out they expire quickly so you either use them or lose them. So you forgot how well we ate after I learned that!"

[Pro Libertate]

One of my "ah, ha!" moments in recent years was realizing that the welfare scam is mostly about supplementing income for the lower- and even right-smack-in-the-center middle class. Not so much helping poor people, just handing cash to people with some income so they can have their nicer cars, TVs, smartphones, whatever. That's how you buy votes.

[John]

Yes. And most people who are "poor" are that way because they make stupid choices. Go to any poor neighborhood and you will see lots of fancy rims, big stereos and TVs and such. You won't see a lot of saving or efforts at planning for the future.

[Irish]

The only time in my life that I have ever seen a store entirely devoted to rims was in a dirt poor black neighborhood. In order to make enough money to stay in business, an awful lot of people that liberals claim don't have enough money to feed themselves must be blowing paychecks on spinners.

[trshmnstr]

Why save, when you get free food from Uncle Samtabama Claus? To most, there is no moral question in taking free shit from the government, so why not spend your spare change?

[Invisible Finger]

Yes, it's racist: Uncle Sambo

[Mad Scientist]

There's a chick (excuse me, single mother) renting the house across the street from me with Section 8 assistance. Too poor to pay the rent but she can somehow afford a brand new car, a big flat panel TV, satellite TV service...

[Pro Libertate]

My wife is running into this phenomenon big time in homeschooling. A number of the homeschool moms are well-off, but a large contingent get federal "benefits." Let that swirl around in your brain for a moment--perfectly healthy, workforce-aged women voluntarily not working and getting federal support.

My wife says they tend to have stuff you wouldn't think people dependent on federal assistance would have, too.

I don't think this used to be at all the standard situation, by the way, but it's part of the general trend. I did a privacy review of EBT some years ago, and one of the things they were really after was eliminating the social stigma of being on assistance. I still think that was a huge mistake--make people want to get back on their feet, not stay on the dole for life.

[Mad Scientist]

That would be a mistake only if they want people to get back on their feet. They don't. They want to coddle them and go home each night feeling like they're "doing something." With other people's money.

[Pro Libertate]

They're trying to buy a permanent majority. That's clearly the truth. It's such a terribly course for this country to take, but here we go.

[Irish]

Maybe that's a way to get liberals against the welfare state.

"Guys! Filthy homeschoolers get benefits! I BET THEY'RE A BUNCH OF DIRTY CHRISTIANS, TOO!"

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, definitely the majority are the anti-evolution crowd, but that's a much smaller number than it used to be. People are opting out for a lot of reasons.

My wife has spent quite a lot of time to find curricula that aren't totally religious based.

[mad libertarian guy]

My wife has spent quite a lot of time to find curricula that aren't totally religious based.

Can you hook me up with some sites for this? My kids are in private school, but that shit's expensive and home schooling is the next option, and I couldn't find much at all in the ways of non religious curricula.

[Irish]

Doesn't the Khan academy have a ton of stuff? I don't actually know much about home schooling, but people say good things about them. I'm not sure how it works though.

[Pro Libertate]

It does, but you can't rely on on-line resources for everything. And it's best on math and science, I think.

[Pro Libertate]

Remind if I forget. She's favoring some classical angle, which kinda follows the old trivium, though not really.

It's less of an issue with non-science subjects, too.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

ProL, what we did with my kids was this:

1) For history/social studies (and theology, but I'm guessing you're not interested in that), we assigned them books in the field (pop history at first, later more academic stuff) that they would have to read and write reports on arguing for or against the author's thesis with a few requirements like having to cite secondary sources and such. It worked surprisingly well; the internet generation is amazingly savvy about acquiring information when you give them some direction and I think it helped them understand how history and historiography "work".

This guy has videos on world/US history that I don't entirely agree with, but that are pretty solid and entertaining.

Podcasts like Norman Histories are fun to break things up.

2) For math/science we used my old textbooks. Khan Academy would probably work well.

3) I taught my kids guitar for music.

4) Writing is sort of integrated all over; we used some textbooks when the kids were in elementary but after that we figured that giving them books to read and reports to write would be a better way to approach grammar/writing, and it has worked well so far.

[Pro Libertate]

My wife is including some religious stuff, just not when it touches science, and not anything hardcore.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

A friend of a friend is pulling a low-income housing scam. He's got a big, two-bedroom place, all the toys you'd expect an upper-middle class white guy in his mid 20s to have. He's fit, smart (I think he has a masters in some health sciences field) and makes plenty of money. Yet he's on reduced rent.

He also painted a Jay-Z quote on his wall.

Yeah, I'm okay never hanging out with him again.

[andarm16]

Don't forget the retailers that get to ride the foodstamp and wic express.

[Apatheist ?_??]

It should be miserable.

[Agammamon]

". . . four million Americans will get booted from the food stamp program with little or no recourse. Or, you know, food..."

Yes, because our government is so good and efficient that the *only* people on food stamps are those who really, really need them.

[Agammamon]

Personally, I'm tired of watching people buy food with EBT in one hand and a new model smartphone in the other.

[Lady Bertrum]

The Subtlest Racism....

The progressive insistence that America remains a deeply racist nation occasionally takes on an air of desperation, transmuting itself in its more difficult moments into the perverse, almost infantile, asseveration that if America is not sinful, it should be.

http://m.nationalreview.com/ar.....-c-w-cooke

[Irish]

That Oberlin case was hilarious because anyone familiar with Oberlin knew immediately that it was fake. There have been something like half a dozen major racial incidents in Oberlin in the last 20 years, ALL OF THEM ended up being faked by liberals.

You'd think people would just ignore the Oberlin that Cried Wolf at this point.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Cat versus toy helicopter

[Cytotoxic]

You know what H&R needs? Another GIF thread. Show your support.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

GIFs are of their father Lucifer. We do not speak of them on the Evening Lynx.

[NeonCat]

Male orb-web spiders tear off own genitals to become better fighters.

Maybe it's better to lose a fight, little spider dudes.
(scanning article)
Oh, they have two sets. But, still...
"The dual penises act as a plug, potentially keeping other males from inseminating the female."
Spider Patriarchy!

[Heroic Mulatto]

DONGFANG BUBAI!

[Heroic Mulatto]

45 minutes and no Jin Yong, or just general wuxia, love?

You all suck Dongfang Bubai's amputated cock.

[Coeus]

Someone speaks the simple truth, Jezebel releases the hounds.

Today's TIMEtroll is brought to you by Hadley Heath, who is a woman so it's somehow more genuine/credible if she tries to argue in a way that is contrary to her own interests/dumb. Heath argues that women should pay more for health insurance because they consume more health care, and having everyone pay the same amount for health care isn't fair to the men. Poor men. Always getting the shaft in everything.

This attempt at fairness is anything but. If fairness were really the guiding principle it would be quite simple: Women would pay more for health insurance because women consume more health care.
Feel yourself getting mad? Don't do it! Don't let the anger take control! Don't give in to the Dark Side of The Force!

[John]

But men paying more for auto insurance is demanded by justice. Modern feminism is nothing but the cry of the spoiled white woman.

[Almanian!]

Jesus Christ almighty. I mean, seriously.

[Irish]

Heath argues that women should pay more for health insurance because they consume more health care, and having everyone pay the same amount for health care isn't fair to the men.

Let's say I buy a Bugatti Veyron and you buy some beater you got second hand. Should we pay the same amount for our cars?

[Cytotoxic]

Feel yourself getting mad? Don't do it! Don't let the anger take control! Don't give in to the Dark Side of The Force!

STOP RESISTING. Actually that doesn't cut it. You must not only not resist, you must abolish all mental resistance instinct.

TOTAL SUBMISSION

[CatoTheElder]

Why, oh why, do Reasonoids read Jezebel?

Just curious.

[Episiarch]

There are a shocking number of masochists here. I also don't get it.

[andarm16]

Well, folks have to have something to post when the official links are of a sub par quality(Reason Magazine: come for the articles of questionable quality, stay for the blog comments). Honestly, I think some of the funniest comments on here comes as a result of Marcotte / Jezebel quotes. posts.

[CatoTheElder]

Isn't there enough nonsense in the mainstream media without having to observing a lunatic asylum like Jezebel?

[CatoTheElder]

observing=observe

[Gorilla tactics]

yeah seriously,

any web site that talks about the wage gap as being unfair, I stop reading-they have demonstrated they don't know about shit discursive reasoning or basic economics and they still have the audacity to refer to themselves as "the reality based community" fuck em

[KPres]

I read to learn how to be cynical and mendacious, which is like currency in Obama's America. Being able to overcome your natural sense of shame when you tell a bold-faced lie, then manufacture a well-spring of false indignation in response to that lie, takes a lot practice, so I like to learn from the experts. And nobody does it better than the writers at Jezebel.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

lolabop

Speaking as a woman who works in the insurance industry, I think that Time has a fair point. I'm in Europe where legislation went into place last year which meant that we can't charge gender specific prices anymore. This mean women now pay more for life assurance and motor insurance, even though statistically they are less likely to claim. They now pay less for serious illness and health insurance although they are more likely to claim. Insurance is all based on statistics, and priced accordingly so in my opinion it is fair that if you are more likely to make a claim, you pay a higher price. It's not discriminatory if it's backed up by statistics, as a woman I am statistically more likely to make a claim due to illness, and I have no problem with paying more than a similar ages male counterpart as a result of those statistics!

RuthSlayderGinsburg

That's absolute horse hockey. If women need more medical care, charging them more means that a larger portion of women will not be able to afford said necessary medical care.

Hey, it's just statistics! Statistics that I, as a moral human being, am not comfortable with.

You hear that? She's uncomfortable with those statistics!

No realz, only feelz.

[John]

Such is the cry of the spoiled white woman. Check your privilege and give her what she wants now.

[LynchPin1477]

The entire article, pretty much every word, is an argument for ignoring reality because it makes the author feel bad.

[Gbob]

Math makes her feel bad and hurts her feelings. The numbers on the scale also make her sad, but that's a different story.

[LynchPin1477]

Yeah, women's bones keep getting broken! This has literally nothing to do with men. Unless, uh, you count those times that men are the reason that women are in the hospital (1 of 50 women with broken bones at a hospital has broken bones due to domestic violence. Domestic violence is among the top causes of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44 in this country, and the vast majority of domestic violence perpetrators are men.

I don't even know how to respond to that.

[Irish]

Is she seriously arguing that domestic violence is one of the primary causes of women going to the hospital? Not, I don't know, ovarian cancer? Breast cancer? Pregnancy?

[LynchPin1477]

I think she is only arguing it in the case of injury, not illness.

[Irish]

Which still makes the point idiotic since the issue is the amount of health care spending, of which injuries is a small part. Women also suffer more broken bones because women have problems with loss of bone density and increasingly fragile bones after menopause. Unless men are using the power of patriarchy to steal bone density from the ladies, this woman doesn't seem to know what she's talking about.

[NeonCat]

Men are calcium vampires, didn't you know that?

[John]

The facts must fit the narrative. They just make shit up because that is how they want reality to be. What is really sad and pathetic is that they want to be victims. You would think that she would be happy to know that domestic violence statistic is total bullshit. But she would be pissed if you told her that. She wants it to be true. She wants to be a victim. It is just fucked up.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Even if what she is saying is at all relevant then sue those fuckers for battery. Why the fuck should ALL men be held monetarily responsible?

[Marc F Cheney]

You respond to that with LOLs, LynchPin. LOLs.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Like an episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents': Woman resurfaces alive 13 days after her funeral

The family of 50-year-old Sharolyn Jackson was overjoyed to learn that, 13 days after they held a funeral and burial, Jackson is, in fact, alive.

The services were held August 3rd after the Philadelphia Medical Examiner had signed a death certificate for Jackson and a body, thought to be hers, was laid to rest.

Then, last Friday, Jackson showed up at a Mental Health Facility.

Her family was elated, but an investigation has now been opened to determine who is buried in the grave thought to be hers.

So far, city officials say they know the body is that of an unidentified woman who was found dead from natural causes July 20th on a West Philadelphia street, her body taken to the Medical Examiner's Office

[andarm16]

I thought it was going to be one of those nineteenth century things where people who couldn't afford to keep the body around till it started to rot threw some relative in the ground before realizing that they were still alive.

[Derpetologist]

A local maximum of Derp: Noam Chomsky explains what "libertarian socialist" means. Apparently, the word "libertarian" means "perfect equality" and American libertarians corrupted the meaning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxbeyn2xMQE

[John]

Libertarian socialist is just an academic term for bum who doesn't want to have to work for a living.

[Cytotoxic]

Why doesn't that fuck die already? Does he ever not lie?

[John]

Because nasty assholes seem to always live to a ripe old age.

[Cytotoxic]

I should give him more credit. He is a totally perfect liar. In a way that truly transcends tribal politics. He might be good enough that he practises true doublethink. An actual totalitarian mind. Weak-minded insecure 'intellectual' types that are well-travelled and have no critical thinking skills like a certain douchebag 'friend' of mine are perfect prey for him. He's a word surgeon.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Chomsky took the libertarian side with his debates against Buckley and did very well.

Amazing that Chomsky is hated here while he sounded like Ron Paul.

[KPres]

Apparently your entire exposure to Chomsky is one series of debates with Buckley? I know which one you're talking about, they're all over youtube, and I left with the sense that Chomsky was crazy and Buckley was a pretentious pile of shit. You should listen to more of Chomsky, though, you'd love it. He's a fucking batshit lunatic.

[Cytotoxic]

I left with the sense that Chomsky was crazy and Buckley was a pretentious pile of shit.

I just wanted to repeat this perfectly distilled summation.

Chaomsky did crazy with a confidence no one has matched since. He's like the Joker except the opposite.

[anon]

Noam Chomsky has always been a fucking moron, and the idiots that listen to anything he says are just as bad as him.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

To be fair, waaaaaaay back in the day libertarian was a euphemism for socialist -- but that was back when liberal was the term for someone with classically liberal tendencies.

[Redmanfms]

To be fair, waaaaaaay back in the day libertarian was a euphemism for socialist -- but that was back when liberal was the term for someone with classically liberal tendencies.

Yeah, in the middle of the 19th Century.

Eurotrash Neo-Commies love claiming libertarianism as their own, but when pushed on the NAP they very rapidly degrade into exactly what Communists in practice turned out to be, murderous totalitarians.

[Lady Bertrum]

It's deeply ironic that Chomsky spends his senior years 'splaining what words mean seeing how he's one of the very best perverters of them.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

X.Org Foundation loses 501(c)(3) status because its Oracle-employed accountant hasn't filed returns for years.

[Long Range Boredom]

DC comics plans to move Justice League to Canada. No comment from Wolverine.

[NeonCat]

Justice League, eh?

[mad libertarian guy]

Extended drought and a long history of poor water usage in an already super dry West Texas is turned in to "OMG TEH FRACKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Three years of drought, decades of overuse and now the oil industry's outsize demands on water for fracking are running down reservoirs and underground aquifers. And climate change is making things worse.

[. . .]

But Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, argues fracking is not the only reason Texas is going dry ? and nor is the drought. The latest shocks to the water system come after decades of overuse by ranchers, cotton farmers, and fast-growing thirsty cities.

This should be a lesson in what happens when you don't allow the market of supply and demand to set the price of natural resources, but, of course, decades people watering their lawns and filling their swimming pools (in an area where water is a scarce resource) with virtually "free" water is turned in to "FRACKING!!!!" with a side of "CLIMITT CHANJ!!!"

I'm no economist, but I understand that natural resources, no matter how necessary to human existence or fundamental to quality of life, are no different than any other resource. If prices are set too low because of "WATER BELONGS TO US ALL" there will be a shortage. It's simple economics. Some people just don't get that.

[John]

They set the price artificially low and surprise, there is now a shortage of it. Who could have seen that coming?

[mad libertarian guy]

But it's TEH FRACKING!!!!!

Decades of misuse and conservation in an already dry area facing a drought had nothing to do with it. It's the fracking there that started just 2 years ago.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

New Mexico rules a photographer has to photograph a gay wedding, Jezebel gloats

First, apologies for the double negative in the headline about this positive development: the Supreme Court of New Mexico has ruled that a photography business can't refuse to photograph a same-sex wedding on the grounds that the photographers find same sex marriage so, so, so gross. To paraphrase the ruling: the Constitution does not guarantee life, liberty, and the right to be a dick about your stupid beliefs.

Elane Photography's owners Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin refused to work for Vanessa Willock, stating that photographing her touching another woman on the feelings would force them to represent themselves to the public in a way that violated their religious beliefs that only the sort of love enjoyed between Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin is the sort of love The Lord enjoys watching from his pervy god-cloud. God HATES girl-on-girl. In essence, posting the pictures from that sinful hell-union would imply to other homophobic fossils that Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin personally endorsed Vanessa Willock's lifestyle, sort of like how photographing an enormous bridal party wearing dresses festooned with giant bows would mean that they thought everything in the world should be covered in giant bows.

I'm still struck by how awful the writing is.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

To paraphrase the ruling: the Constitution does not guarantee life, liberty, and the right to be a dick about your stupid beliefs.

What's worse: the egregious contempt for freedom of association or mixing up the Declaration of Independence with the Constitution and Bill of Rights?

[Episiarch]

What's worst is that you've placed this dreck here for our eyes to see.

You're gunning for nicole's tiara, aren't you.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I read this shit so you don't have to. I'm the hero Reason deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So you'll call me worst ever, because I can take it.

[Episiarch]

Dude, didn't you get the memo? nicole can't help reading these things--because she's the worst--so linking to them punishes her. Because she can't help herself. So only post a link, and she'll both go read the whole thing and parse the derp, and she'll hate every second of it.

See? It's genius!

[jesse.in.mb]

Having other people do this kind of soul-destroying work makes you a bad person, but a GREAT libertarian. I tip a snifter of early British industrial revolution orphan tears in your general direction.

[Agammamon]

Uh, isn't that the other way around - you're the one we *need* but not the one we *deserve* (he's much, much worse).

[Agammamon]

Popehat has a good analysis of the ruling and he points out that its basically impossible to allow *both* freedom of association *and* non-discrimination of protected classes in public accommodation.

Though I do have two solutions for that:

1: Stop defining *private* businesses as 'public'. I've got no problem with telling government agencies that they have to not discriminate (they do tend to forget *so* often), but not private individuals serving other private individuals.

2. End protections for protected classes. The 1st amendment allows for freedom of association, and just as the 1st allows freedom *of* and *from* religion, it allows freedom *of* and *from* association and we're a long way from needing to police private agencies to ensure some measure of equal treatment.

[Derpetologist]

I could eat alphabet soup and shit something more coherent.

[BakedPenguin]

Okay, that was funny.

[John]

That case has some flat out horrifying collectivis and language in it. Get this

Jonathan and Elaine Huguenin, the owners of Elane Photography, "are free to think, to say, to believe, as they wish" Bosson writes. But in the "world of the marketplace, of commerce, of public accommodation, the Huguenins have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different."

Doing so, Bosson said, is "the price of citizenship."

Shame on Reason for not destroying this case. It is horrible.

[Cytotoxic]

JESUS

[Pro Libertate]

Huguenin? Any relation to Warty?

[LynchPin1477]

That is fucking disgusting. The judge is basically saying that your rights end the moment you act on them.

[John]

Yup. That case is horrible. People should be up and arms about it.

[JW]

If you are, then that proves that you hate fags.

IT'S ONLY A RIGHT IF YOU CAN FORCE SOMEONE TO DO SOMETHING FOR YOU!!!!

[NeonCat]

So, let me get this straight, no pun intended. If a group of NM anti-gay activists held a fair, say, where they beat up a bunch of pinatas made to represent gay stereotypes and demanded a gay photographer record it for posterity, the photographer couldn't refuse?

I'm not even going to ask if Jezebel would agree that the law's the law.

[Agammamon]

Yes he could. The judges reasoning is that homosexuals are a protected class (non-discrimination based on Race, Color, Creed, or *Sexuality).

The gay bashers are *not* a protected class and as such have no 'right' to force businesses to accommodate them.

As sucky as the ruling is, its construed as narrowly as possible to be consistent with prior law. If the law puts you in a protected class, no-one can refuse to serve you. If you're not in a protected class then the basic right to associate/not associate applies.

[Apatheist ?_??]

It's outrageous but public accommodation laws are old news and I don't find this any worse than forcing some backwater racists to serve black people.

[JW]

Enjoy the slope on the slide down.

[Apatheist ?_??]

It's nothing to do with a slippery slope. Free association is free association. Just like violating Illinois Nazi's free speech is just as bad as any other violation.

[Pro Libertate]

The problem is and has been that these laws are being allowed to trump other civil liberties, which, if anything, have traditionally received the highest level of protection in our system. Property rights. The right of association. The freedom of speech.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yes but the notion that this is some new violation because of the gayz is wrong.

Interestingly enough this case is a good counter-argument to the SSM laws = bakers being forced to serve gays argument. New Mexico doesn't even have gay marriage and this couple were having a commitment ceremony completely outside of the legal framework.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, sure, this is nothing new. It's a wrongheaded situation, regardless of whether it's done with gays, blacks, the disabled, or anyone else.

What many proponents of this sort of highhandedness don't understand is where it has to lead--to the destruction of other important civil liberties.

And in a culture that generally respects minority rights, not sure how many businesses could survive by being actively discriminatory. The only time that has worked in the U.S. has been when the government was legally sanctioning and even mandating the discrimination.

[Whahappan?]

Which of course is completely ignored by most people.

[paranoid android]

Whenever I see a business hang one of those signs that reads "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" I always think, "Like hell you do."

But this was inevitable, of course. One can't really logically argue against the application of the anti-discrimination statutes with respect to gays without likewise arguing against its application for, say, racial minorities. And any attempt to make that argument means you're just a shithead regressive racist who should just join the KKK already.

So there's no reason to listen to anybody who would point out that it makes no sense to tell the Huguenins they "have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different," when it is the plaintiffs who are demanding that no space be left for other Americans who believe something different. Too many sacred cows are on the line here.

It's feels all the way down.

[Joe M]

the Constitution does not guarantee life, liberty, and the right to be a dick about your stupid beliefs

FUCK. YOU.

[Pro Libertate]

The Constitution is all about dicks. Dicks who say stuff the vast majority of us don't like. Dicks who have crazy religious practices. Dicks who probably committed some crime. Dicks we want to torture but can't. Dicks who go to war.

It could be called The Constitution: Protection of Dicks, and that wouldn't be inaccurate.

[JW]

Now you've gone and gotten jesse all excited.

It's gobsmacking that they use the word "liberty" to describe how you must labor for someone else against your will.

They really just Don't. Fucking. Get. It. Cognitive dissonance falls way short of describing what's at work here.

[Pro Libertate]

You know, I'm totally serious. The First Amendment, for instance, is completely unnecessary in a society where everyone agrees. It's entirely aimed at protecting expression most of us hate, like Illinois Nazis.

Getting that our system is based on restraining the majority from fucking over the minority is what sets libertarians apart from statist fucks in both major parties.

[JW]

I'm with you. Long ago I argued that the speech clause of the first amendment was designed to protect the smallest minority; the minority of one person.

But, that's just a quaint idea now. KILL THE INFIDEL WHO DARES TO QUESTION THE COLLECTIVE.

[Pro Libertate]

The Constitution is very much about protecting each individual in our society. It goes to great lengths to not treat us as a collective or even as groups.

The destruction wrought by identity politics and collectivism cannot be understated. That path can only end, ultimately, in totalitarianism.

[Whahappan?]

That's the goal, whether it's acknowledged or even conscious.

[jesse.in.mb]

Illinois Nazis

NOW ProL has me all excited.

[JW]

It's the boots they wear, isn't it?

[Pro Libertate]

Jack-off boots.

[jesse.in.mb]

What isn't to love? MMM false bravado barely masking deep personal insecurity and an inability to parse the world around them in reasonable terms other than the artificial construction of race...

I'll be in my bunk.

[Gorilla tactics]

the inevitable mission creep of "civil rights"

[ant1sthenes]

Wait, presumably New Mexico also bans discrimination based on religion. That means a gay photographer can be forced to work at a Westboro Baptist wedding ceremony, right?

[JW]

Now you're just being silly. Everyone know that rights only flow one direction. Towards the permanently aggrieved.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Yes, that would be correct.

I expect to see a lot of photos with the heads of the participants cut off. Why would you want someone at your wedding who basically already said they hate you?

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Family members notwithstanding of course.

[JW]

How is this not considered indentured servitude? Sorry, but you MUST work and toil if these people demand it. This is about justice, it's about power and control with the proglodytes.

What if they do a shitty job? Everything is slightly out of focus? White balance all screwed up? Heads cut off? Lots of pictures of feet? The wedding is over, they can't recreate it.

[JW]

This *isn't* about justice...

[Pro Libertate]

I sure hope we can fix this country. I fear it may be too late.

[JW]

It's too late. I only hope I get to throw it in the faces for the fuckwits who caused this. You know, at the camps.

[Pro Libertate]

It may be, but things could shift dramatically in very short order. The founding of the U.S. wasn't really some giant shift--just some people realizing that the state controlling everything was a bad idea and building upon liberties already recognized in the British system.

The philosophy and even the practical evidence for limited government, individual freedom, and free markets is out there for the taking. All it takes is for enough of us to see the truth. Then change can happen.

[Redmanfms]

I sure hope we can fix this country. I fear it may be too late.

This country is going to limp along relying on bread and the circuses of manufactured outrage for a quite a while after all the people here are all dead. It will then slowly fade into a lesson in political entropy, much like all of Europe.

Make no mistake, this shit has no rational end. People like the lesbians in this story and their supporters have absolutely zero interest in rational discourse.

The only way this ends is with blood, and lots and lots and lots of it. Since most American are too fat, dumb, and happy to revolt and entirely to moral to murder their neighbors, spiraling entropy under increasingly poorly disguised totalitarianism is the way American liberty is going to end.

[Derpetologist]

OK, so Noam Chomsky might be out to lunch when it comes to politics, but he's still a great linguist, right?

Uh, maybe not.

His big idea was the theory of universal grammar and the theory of the language acquisition device.

Questions:

1. If grammar is universal, why do different languages have different grammars?

2. If grammar is universal, why do different grammar patterns exist in different dialects?

3. If language learning is innate, why do so many feral children fail to learn to speak?

4. If learning language is innate, why is it so hard to learn a foreign language?

[Thane runs off sobbing]

I don't buy Chomsky's theories, but his UG is a lot more subtle and abstract than your questions suggest.

[Heroic Mulatto]

1. If grammar is universal, why do different languages have different grammars?

You're misinterpreting his theory. Universal Grammar refers to the properties of language that seem to be hard-wired in the brain. While there are grammatical differences between languages, what's more interesting is what is universal between languages. All languages have nouns and verbs, all languages are capable of infinite recursion by embedding clauses, et al.

2. If grammar is universal, why do different grammar patterns exist in different dialects?

See my response to 1.

3. If language learning is innate, why do so many feral children fail to learn to speak?

Fellow linguist and HnRoid Geoff Nathan could answer this better than I can, but I would posit it has to do with the gross lack of stimulus during certain neurolinguistic "critical periods" during the development of the brain. Steven Pinker has wrote a lot about this and I suggest you read his work if you're interested

[cont]

[Heroic Mulatto]

4. If learning language is innate, why is it so hard to learn a foreign language?

I learn languages for a living, so maybe it's just hard for you. 🙂

Seriously, though, I refer you to my answer for number 3 concerning the brain's "critical period". We have evidence that at around the age of 7, the brain begins to prune certain neural connections to language centers in the brain to make room for other stuff, like being attracted to boobies or something.

Secondly, people tend to underestimate the amount of stimulus one needs to "acquire" (not "learn": see Stephen Krashen) a language. To really gain competency in a foreign language you need at least a full year's worth of immersive and comprehensible input. In my experience, after that year, your engine is primed and you really start soaking it up like a sponge.

[Derpetologist]

The Piraha language is often used as a counterexample to UG. Notably,

"An extremely limited clause structure, not allowing for nested recursive sentences like "Mary said that John thought that Henry was fired""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah?_language

[Heroic Mulatto]

Piraha has no color terminology! Piraha has no concepts for numbers! [insert linguistic universal and reverse it]

Sorry, bro, Everett is a crank.

When a few more linguists go down to the Amazon and confirm his findings, I'll stop believing Piraha is the cold fusion of linguistics.

[Derpetologist]

I am but an armchair linguist, so I will yield to your judgment.

[Mickey Rat]

"All languages have nouns and verbs,..."

All languages have words that describe things and words that describe actions. That more likely means that nouns and verbs are basic for language to have useful meaning, not that it is a property of human brains.

[Irish]

1. If grammar is universal, why do different languages have different grammars?

2. If grammar is universal, why do different grammar patterns exist in different dialects?

3. If language learning is innate, why do so many feral children fail to learn to speak?

4. If learning language is innate, why is it so hard to learn a foreign language?

Uh...these questions seem based on a misunderstanding of Chomsky's argument.

1. He doesn't believe all languages have the same grammar. What he's saying is that all languages fall into certain types of grammar and have a lot of similarities that you wouldn't necessarily expect given the differences within human communities.

2. Basically the same as number 1

3. Chomsky argues that even feral children show signs of linguistic ability even if they haven't been taught. In order to learn a certain language you obviously need to hear that language spoken, but you can show signs of linguistic ability even without learning a language.

4. For the same reason babies know how to swim, forget how to swim, and must subsequently be retaught. It's not hard to learn multiple languages when you're a baby, which actually provides evidence for Chomsky's point. It only becomes difficult once you've aged.

[Derpetologist]

Different languages have features in common. There are also features that are far from universal- grammatical gender, articles, case systems etc.

If humans were born with some kind of pre-language, I'd expect to see a lot more similarity in languages.

Sleep is universal and everybody does it in about the same way. Language, not so much, IMO

[Long Range Boredom]

Some researcher in the Amazon who was studying local languages pointed out the flaws in Chomsky's work and he got torn a new one.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Forbes ranks the world's top paid models

[Heroic Mulatto]

The fact that human-horse hybrid (horman/hurse)Gisele B?ndchen is the world's top paid model proves that the fashion industry is made up of gay men who, not only don't understand what feminine beauty, but are openly hostile to the concept.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I'm sure it has to do with height, weight, and the ability to do what the photographer wants more than just natural feminine beauty.

[jesse.in.mb]

proves that the fashion industry is made up of gay men who, not only don't understand what feminine beauty, but are openly hostile to the concept.

I dunno how you guys fucked that one up. I mean seriously "gay men have better fashion sense than anybody else" why would you buy that? Take back fashion from the homo-extremists and get some boobs back in there. Everyone likes boobs except the art world and closet cases who'd rather be fucking pubescent boys.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

Everyone likes boobs except the art world and closet cases who'd rather be fucking pubescent boys.

My handle is particularly apt right now

[John]

^^THIS^^ Even gay men like boobs. The whole thing is absurd.

[Killazontherun]

I took a gay colleague to a titty bar that had a great happy hour drink special once. Since he was doing me a favor. I paid to get him a lap dance from a Ann-Margret look alike.

After the dance, I asked. 'You seemed to enjoy it.'

'Pussy doesn't make us run off screaming. I'm gay, not dead.'

[Episiarch]

I dunno, Kate Upton seems pretty popular right now.

The Forbes list isn't saying "this is the world's hottest chicks". At all. It's showing the most highly paid...and that includes their own side businesses. It's actually better described as "top ten best businesswoman models".

[Killazontherun]

She looks like a Cambell's Soup kid come to life. I don't get the attraction.

[Episiarch]

I am also not a fan, but I get it. She is very pretty and has huge tits. But she has no core and that's rough.

[Killazontherun]

You nailed it with the core. When she bounces, it looks rough, like early signs of cellulite formation.

[JW]

When she bounces, it looks rough, like early signs of cellulite formation.

There's a fat girl screaming to get out, too.

For those reasons, I'm enjoying the hell out of her *now*.

[JW]

Tell me you wouldn't hit it.

I much prefer Emily Ratajkowski, but I'll make an exception for Kate.

[Killazontherun]

I'm not picky about what I would hit though if the butt's to big, I don't want my middle weight contender dick getting smacked around by a world class heavy weight. Skinny butts make me look better.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Take back fashion from the homo-extremists and get some boobs back in there.

As the son of a F.I.T. graduate, I'll take on that mission.

This is my new jihad.

[Killazontherun]

Well, you proved me wrong. I didn't think that sentiment was possible detached from an envious vagina.

Not until #4 on the list do I get deeply stirred. Lima and Kerr are pretty, but I see similarly attractive women every day. Moss makes me want to rob a bank vault and haul the booty back to her to prove my worth.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

Tumblr addresses child support.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

There is no such thing as 'thin-shaming' by fat people

A few people have drawn parallels between Woolf's thin advocacy and the men's rights and reverse-racism movements. These comparisons help highlight that although no discrimination (against thin people, white people, male people, etc) is OK, certain derogatory epithets ("fat") remain more costly and painful than others ("skinny"). I won't rehash here all the forms of prejudice the overweight suffer nor dwell on the benefits that accrue to the lithe. We don't have all day?and it's not a competition. But West does explain why heavier girls might merit some forbearance when they criticize slenderer girls: They're lashing out against an entire system of ideals and beliefs, while willowy bullies taunting the fatties are just punching down. (Also, it's my personal, very un-PC view that naturally underweight chicks have it easier than their naturally overweight sisters, since putting on weight?think lounging around your apartment watching movies and snacking on delicious food?is way more fun than dropping it, which generally entails not eating when you're hungry and exercising when you don't want to. Blah.)

It's not their fault they'd rather sit around on their asses all day eating Hagendaz than work out!

[John]

God liberals are children. Get the fuck over it. Life isn't fair. Some people win the genetic lottery and get to be thin no matter what they eat. You didn't. So get off your fat ass and mix in a salad once in a while tubo.

[Irish]

Progressive political thought is essentially based on the desire to extend childhood as long as possible.

This is why a 17 year old Trayvon Martin was a child, we had to ban Four Loko "to help our kids," and Obamacare allows 'children' to remain on their parents insurance until the youthful age of 26.

[Brett L]

I can see my genitals without a mirror and I don't care who knows!

[Derpetologist]

So does UG basically boil down to saying many different languages have similar structures? That's not what I'd call profound.

There are plenty of features that are found in some languages but absent in many others: articles, the verb to be, complicated verb conjugations, plurals, etc.

[Heroic Mulatto]

So does UG basically boil down to saying many different languages have similar structures? That's not what I'd call profound.

Well, UG was proposed hand-in-hand with the theory of the Language Acquisition Device (LAD), that is, the human brain has some part which is devoted to acquiring language. At the time the theory was profound in that the previous theory was a Behaviorism, which argued that our language ability was merely a instinct and no different than a parrot's ability to mimic.

[Episiarch]

Skinner vs. Chomsky...oh the battles they had.

[BakedPenguin]

Oh, if only with bricks instead of words.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Also, here's a quick and dirty introduction to UG and Government and Binding theory via the Summer Institute of Linguistics.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

Don't Fly During Ramadan

"Are you detaining me, then?" I've been through enough "know your rights" training to know how to handle police searches; however, TSA agents are not law enforcement officials. Technically, they don't even have the right to detain you against your will.

"We're not detaining you. You just can't leave." My jaw dropped.

"Either you're detaining me, or I'm free to go. Which one is it?" I asked.

He glanced for a moment at my backpack, then snatched it out of the conveyor belt. "Okay," he said. "You can leave, but I'm keeping your bag."

[Long Range Boredom]

I read that on Tom Woods' site a couple days ago. The levels of incompetence/evil are staggering. Especially that last part about the religious imagery in his place being removed to send a clear message.

[JW]

Fucking hell. I don't know if I would have been as calm as he was.

[Mickey Rat]

I wonder if that is Orwellian or merely stupid?

[Coeus]

Roofie detecting glass.

There are gonna be some really pissed off feminists when they discover that less than 2 percent of claimed "roofie incidents" are just drinking too much.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

I think you may have written that sentence incorrectly.

[Coeus]

I did indeed. Most are just drinking too much. Less than two percent are actually drugs other than alcohol.

[Brett L]

Nah. It just proves that the glass doesn't work right. It still can't detect that she "felt" roofied.

[Killazontherun]

Stupid beyond belief:

http://www.wwtdd.com/2013/08/a.....some-work/

The student journalists at the University of Sydney were sick and tired of vaginas having to conform to some unrealistic male-dominated-media fantasy of how a vagina should look. They got 18 'regular gals' from around campus to show off pictures of their own bumpy, grizzled, imperfect vaginas on the cover of the school paper.

"The vaginas on the cover are not sexual. We are not always sexual. The vagina should and can be depicted in a non-sexual way ? it's just another body part "? statement from editors of Honi Soit, the school paper

"Look at your hand, then look at your vagina," said one participant in the project.

Have the topic in mind before you ask if its NSFW for once.

[Pro Libertate]

No, no, no, this is proto-Bene Gesserit stuff. Look at your hand. Keep looking until you can trick your mind into seeing a vagina. Make it turn back into a hand. When you can do this at will, you'll have taken a huge step towards mastering your prana-bindu training and, well, mastering your own domain.

[Killazontherun]

I see an eye in my palm. Hmm, hurts when I poke it.

[Pro Libertate]

You need to keep working on this exercise. I'll come back in sixty days to check on your progress. If you get tired, masturbate furiously for one hour.

[Killazontherun]

Oh, and to further the complaint they may have because if there is anything a feminist likes more than anything it is having a reason to bitch, here's my ranking.

01. fat girl
02. definitely check the age on that coed
03. scruffy but clean
04. you're good to go
05. need a better look
06. the peeling is easy -- thumbs up
07. probably Italian
08. everything you could ask for
09. coming in for a landing but no tower in sight
10. stretchy mcclitty
11. a little scooched, probably tight
12. are those spider eggs?
13. neat trims get my respect.
14. excitable. A little flushed.
15. uhm, next.
16. ready to party!
17. where did it go?
18. sickly looking

[Cytotoxic]

Didn't The Party of 1984 also want to stamp out sexuality?

[Cytotoxic]

Look at your hand now look at me now look at your vagina now back to me back to your vaginan-hand FUSED AS ONE.

[Brett L]

So... the Han Solo Fridge. Genius or crazy?

[Pro Libertate]

You know what I would like better? A fridge that looked like the hibernation chambers from 2001.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

"Happy birthday honey! It's a Han Solo Fridge!"

"I love you!"

"I know."

[Coeus]

The skeptic bar for not rape gets higher.

The issue is one of INFORMED ENTHUSIASTIC ONGOING CONSENT.

[paranoid android]

How many more modifiers can they attach to "consent" after they've already stripped the word of any coherent meaning?

Next thing you know, we'll be talking about obtaining "informed enthusiastic ongoing unlimited unconditional deluxe omniscient double secret consent"

[ant1sthenes]

I'm pretty sure this ends with trivializing rape to the point where we just legalize it.