Ft. Hood Shooter Sentenced to Death, Iraq and Afghanistan Send Gentle Reminders of Results of Previous Interventions, Zimmerman's Wife Pleads Guilty to Perjury: P.M. Links

• 

  Bell County Jail

  Maj. Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death for his murderous rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, to the surprise of probably nobody, least of all him.

• As US officials beat the drums of war to allegedly make Syria a safer place, citizens are still dying by the dozen to terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• An artist in Russia who painted some satirical images, including one showing Vladimir Putin in women's lingerie, had his art seized and has fled the country. He's hoping to find asylum in France.
• The family of a teen who was Tased by Miami Beach police and then died is now suing, claiming excessive force.
• George Zimmerman's wife has pleaded guilty to perjury for lying about the family's finances to a judge. She will serve one year of probation.
• Thanks to a failure to redact, we now know that Google is one of the companies trying to legally fight the secret National Security Letters the feds are using to try to get access to data.

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Comments

[Joe M]

An artist in Russia who painted some satirical images, including one showing Vladimir Putin in women's lingerie, had his art seized and has fled the country.

Oh my!

[Rich]

'Mugabe toilet paper': Zimbabwean acquitted

Some good news along the same lines.

[Joe M]

Thanks to a failure to redact, we now know that Google is one of the companies trying to legally fight the secret National Security Letters the feds are using to try to get access to data.

Rule #1: Don't be evil.

[Killazontherun]

Rule #2: Don't allow the first rule to cause you to go extinct.

[Fist of Etiquette]

An artist in Russia who painted some satirical images, including one showing Vladimir Putin in women's lingerie, had his art seized and has fled the country.

At least he didn't paint any bulls chasing Putin.

[PapayaSF]

Or if he had been a rodeo clown.

[Matrix]

Proof that cats are evil!
They are destroying the planet!

[KDN]

HERC WARNED US!!!!! WHY DIDN'T WE LISTEN!?!?!?!

Oh Herc, the world needs you now more than ever.

[Killazontherun]

Cats just wanna gambol.

[Agammamon]

And as usual, the article omits important information, like how many rodents there actually are or their replacement rate.

And it ignores other research that shows that cats (while still vicous, immoral killers) *don't* actually kill as much as this study shows.

[Matrix]

but... but... can I still consider them evil?

[Anomalous]

Mine certainly is.

[Hyperion]

Maybe there is a way we can teach them to exterminate progressives.

After all, cats are very libertarian fluffy critters. You can't tell them what to do.

[Matrix]

WHATEVA! I DO WHAT I WANT!

[Paul.]

The researchers "estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.4?3.7 billion birds and 6.9?20.7 billion mammals annually."

Imagine how much vermin we'd have in this world without these cats. More cats!

[SIV]

Killing small animals is why we domesticated cats in the first place.

[NeonCat]

Ancient Egyptian seers foresaw that one day we would have the internet and would need something besides porn to look at.

[Bobarian]

free-ranging domestic cats...

I find free range cats to be the tastiest.

[Joe M]

The family of a teen who was Tased by Miami Beach police and then died is now suing, claiming excessive force.

Totality of circs, procedures, etc.

[Andrew S.]

The talking point I've seen (here in SoFla) is that he deserved it for being a tagger.

I hate people.

[Joe M]

Of course. Everyone always deserves it.

[Brett L]

AKA the sarcasmic gambit

[mad libertarian guy]

The talking point I've seen (here in SoFla) is that he deserved it for being a tagger.

There are many reason I left that shithole, and the LnO attitude of so many people was pretty high on that list.

[Hyperion]

Well, that rhymes with bagger, so he must have been evil.

[Enough About Palin]

Has that pig-fucker stopped posting her? I sure hope so.

[Bobarian]

I'm not following the thread, which specific pig-fucker are you talking about?

[Thane runs off sobbing]

Dunphy

[Matrix]

Savage animal-hating teenager steals lunch from an innocent starving pup

[Blinded by the Derp]

When I lived in Minnesota there was always this crazy lady that would call into the Davis and Emmer morning radio show every time they talked about wolves or the wolf hunt, and tell everyone to leave wolves alone.
One time as she talked herself in knots she said it was unfair to reference wolf attacks on people in Alaskan because Minnesota wolves wouldn't do that.
She was a riot. It's too bad I won't hear her reaction because the talk radio show is no more and I left Minnesota.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Toronto mayor Rob Ford on pot: 'I've smoked a lot'

[Goldwin Smith]

What a shocker.

[gaijin]

Surprise. He's from Toronto. He probably grew up wiht A passage to Bangkok playing on his 8-track.

[Goldwin Smith]

Nice to see this is cbc.ca's top news story. Nothing on Canada's possible support for US intervention in Syria?

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

A security guard says nurses thought he was joking when he told them that a man had died during a 34-hour wait in a hospital emergency room.

[KDN]

Now that's a system we need to emulate.

Ain't no justice like social justice.

[Enough About Palin]

Ain't no justice like socialism justice

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

how'd that get here

[Agammamon]

Hey! Don't complain, there's health *insurance* for everyone in Canada.

[Pro Libertate]

My wife just told me about a woman she corresponds with in Australia leaving a hospital after many hours of waiting to be seen because of sharp pains she's experiencing during her pregnancy. She wasn't seen.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That shit happens all the time with universal health. It's cost-centric; not patient-centric. All for compassion (as the left views it) and the children.

Progs are happy having achieved turning health into a cattle herding experience. And it's "free"!

[ant1sthenes]

Wait, according to Tony logic, you only have a right to health care if you are actually getting health care. So socialized medicine is justified by the fact that people have a right to free health care, and yet its actual existence proves that people don't have a right to free health care.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Didn't you hear? Tony is really a sock puppet.

[Long Range Boredom]

So does this mean Rob Ford is cooler than Justin Trudeau with his 'I smoked it once years ago so therefore I'm hip with the youngsters' statement?

[Goldwin Smith]

Your question answers itself.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Trudeau probably smokes a little more than "just once."

Funny how these guys can come out clean and face no repercussions while the average folk get their lives ruined for getting caught.

Fucking lame.

[Long Range Boredom]

Yeah, note how he admits to smoking pot, but says nothing about pardoning non-violent drug offenders. Because that would require actual work.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

He's gonna do jack shit. He's a drama queen. Not a man of action.

[Matrix]

It is illegal to be homeless in Columbia, South Carolina.
CHANGE!! HAVE YOU GOT ANY CHANGE?!

[RBS]

Some people see the homeless as poor helpless people. Others see them as violent alcoholics.

[Brett L]

Some of them are just paranoid schizophrenics whose family can no longer help them.

[gaijin]

CHANGE!! HAVE YOU GOT ANY CHANGE?!

Nope, but I have some hope for you.

[Pro Libertate]

What constitutes a home? I mean, if you have a shack, is that a home? A box? A car?

[RBS]

That's for the State to decide and you to find out.

[NeonCat]

If it doesn't meet code, it ain't a home.

[Scott S.]

I started my journalism career in Columbia years and years ago. Looks like they're still hung up on the idea that they can make that city some sort of a destination, despite the existences of nearby Charleston and Hilton Head.

[Rich]

Hasan was sentenced to death for his murderous rampage

The man had a fool for a client.

[gaijin]

will his sentence be carried out via drone? Like it would if he were somewhere back east?

[Agammamon]

I still wouldn't have sentenced him to death - life in prison, no martyrs.

And it makes no sense considering that the military has been trying to downplay the terrorism angle and play this off as a 'workplace violence' incident. If it was just workplace violence they wouldn't have sentenced the guy to be executed.

All this does is play right into the hands of terrorists.

[tarran]

Dude, if I had been convicted of killing all my roommates on the ship, I can guarantee to you that I would have gotten the death penalty. And it plays into no-one's hands; he'll be a hero whether he's at Leavenworth or sitting in a coffin.

[Harvard]

Unless, of course, they drag him behind a semi hauling swine until dead.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

I don't see how. This is a man who bragged about doing the killings and his guilt is obvious. Reprisals generally don't matter if they're very precise, and it's hard to see how this one could be more precise. It would be one thing if we dropped a bomb on a village we thought he was in.

If being put to death for killing thirteen people (beyond any doubt) inspires you you were probably a lost cause anyway.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I've changed my mind on the death penalty. I can't think of anything worse than killing an innocent man and I was appalled by the number of innocent people incarcerated only later to be proven innocent by DNA.. But in instances where there isn't a shred of doubt, like this one.

Fry that fucker.

And while I agree with Ag that you can make martyrs. Fear of repercussions shouldn't factor into our justice system.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

That's pretty much where I stand.

[Bobarian]

One important caveat-- the Army has a number of people on death row, but still hasn't put anyone down since 1961.

Some guy has been on since 1988.

[Drake]

I wonder if the Army will kill him via firing squad (always considered a more "honorable" method of execution)?

[ant1sthenes]

Well, he wanted to die, so unless you are second guessing that, in a certain sense he won his case.

That said, he should have been tried for treason, not murder, if only to remind people what the statue is actually for.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

As US officials beat the drums of war to allegedly make Syria a safer place, citizens are still dying by the dozen to terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.

But wait, I thought Obama ended Bush's costly and unnecessary wars.

[Pro Libertate]

And closed Guantanamo. There's a long list of things like that.

[Brandon]

What part of Republican Obstructionism don't you understand?

[Pro Libertate]

No, you're right. So long as there remains one Republican walking this world, injustice will continue to reign supreme.

[Brandon]

Exactly. Once TEAM BLUE has total power, it will be a utopia. Or else.

[Brandon]

Exactly. Once TEAM BLUE has total power, it will be a utopia. Or else.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maj. Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death for his murderous rampage at Fort Hood...

The first Islamic terrorist sentenced to death in an American court?

[Matrix]

it wasn't a terrorist act. It was work place violence. Jeez!

[CatoTheElder]

He was a terrorist because he conspired with known terrorists.

However, before he could commit any terroristic acts, he was apprehended following a routine incident of workplace violence.

[Zeb]

So, who is it that is saying that it is workplace violence and not terrorism (or at least radical Islamic militancy)? Seems like after the trial it is pretty clear what his motivations and intentions were.

[Pro Libertate]

From what I understand, it's actually our military that's saying that.

[Francisco d Anconia]

More likely our military was "instructed" to say that.

[Pro Libertate]

Possibly, but it's still pretty disturbing.

[Drake]

Our military reports to civilians who, I'm sure, informed them that was not terrorism.

[CatoTheElder]

His victims are being treated as victims of workplace violence, not casualties in the war on terror.

No Purple Hearts. And no special treatment by VA.

[C. Anacreon]

And that sucks about as much as anything I've heard for a long time. Like giving those victims those medals and "service-connected" VA status would bankrupt the military. Those heartless bastards.

[tarran]

I see two possibilities:

1) The chain of command is covering its butt for mishandling all the warning signs of his impending treason.

2) The civilian leadership was trying to hand-wave away accusations that they were ineffective in waging the war on terra'

I suspect that if the Obama admin had told the army to stop dicking around, the laughable mischaracterization would have been corrected. Clearly the admin is cool with it.

[Pro Libertate]

I think it's mostly number one. They apparently ignored warnings signs galore.

[NeonCat]

"I remember, this one time I said 'Good Morning, Major, did you have a nice weekend?' and he replied 'The streets will run red with your blood infidel whore!' I laughed it off, if only I'd realized at the time he was being serious."

[Zeb]

If we are at war with Islamic baddies, wouldn't it just be an ordinary act of war since he did attack soldiers?

[Agammamon]

No. See if we attack them on *their* soil, its war. If they attack us on *our* soil its terrorism, even if they attack our soldiers because we don't recognize them as having soldiers so they used civilians to attack our military and that's still textbook terrorism.

Now if they had soldiers (which we'll never admit they do) and attacked our soldiers on *their* soil then, maybe, it might be legitimate. But not really since we're so pure and honest in our motives they'd have no logical reason to attack us and so its got to be terrorism again.

[Pro Libertate]

Even accepting his argument, he's then a spy in our uniform. He could be executed without much to-do for that alone.

[Zeb]

Yeah, I suppose there is that.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

You are generally not allowed to attack the enemy while wearing their uniform. You can transit in it as a legitimate ruse de guerre, but IIRC you have to be in your own uniform during the fight (with reasonable exceptions) to be considered a legitimate combatant.

[ant1sthenes]

As a member of the armed forces and (as far as I know) a citizen of the US, that would make him a traitor, in the Constitutional sense.

[Rich]

See?! We *are* at war with Islam!!

[DJF]

Remember this the next time you hear about how sequestration and budget cuts are gutting the military.

"""Pentagon awards US$7 billion of solar contracts""'

http://www.pv-tech.org/news/pe....._contracts

[Pro Libertate]

Solar? Of or relating to the government of the Sol system? Who rules Sol system?

[LynchPin1477]

Who rules Sol system?

We do.

[ThatSkepticGuy]

I thought it was Master Blaster.

[LynchPin1477]

Some guy on the radio actually had the gall to describe the military budget as being in "dire straits".

[Long Range Boredom]

There's only one kind of dire straits worth listening to on the radio.

[Pro Libertate]

Can't be that bad if we can afford to blow shit up in Syria.

[SFC B]

This is one of those expenses which can make sense though. The single biggest logistical item and hassle is fuel. If you can reduce the demand for fuel to run a FOB or COP by switching to an alternative energy source you can haul tons of other gear, or reduce the number of convoys needed, thus reducing risk of loss of personnel or equipment.

[Matrix]

Maj. Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death for his murderous rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, to the surprise of probably nobody, least of all him.

Put him with the general population and have the guards suddenly vanish for a few minutes.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Put him with the general population and have the guards suddenly vanish for a few minutes

What? So he can have a few minutes to sign autographs after he lectures the Aryan Brotherhood and Black Muslim prison gangs about how bad the Jews are?

[Agammamon]

He's going into a military prison.

1. The guards aren't going to disappear - they got this whole duty thing going on.

2. There really aren't gang affiliations inside the military prisons.

3. Military prisons tend to hold a higher class of criminal, even the rapists and murders are better behaved inside.

[Joe M]

George Zimmerman's wife has pleaded guilty to perjury for lying about the family's finances to a judge.

This story is getting a ridiculous amount of attention. I'm sure there's some way to twist it into proving, again, that Zimmerman is racist and killed Martin in cold blood with zero provocation.

[DJF]

How rare is it for someone to get charged with perjury?

[Pro Libertate]

Pretty rare.

[Rich]

Just ask James Clapper.

[PapayaSF]

Or Bill Clinton.

[Pro Libertate]

Perjury is okay when presidents do it. It's in the Constitution.

[NeonCat]

It depends on what the meaning of the word "perjury" is.

[Eduard van Haalen]

We talk a lot about America's manufacturing capacity, but we can still manufacture crimes.

If her husband hadn't been the victim of an attempted frame-up, she wouldn't have been convicted of anything. Screw these prosecutors, why should I give them any slack after what they did?

[Eduard van Haalen]

"In her letter to [judge] Lester, she took responsibility for lying and that over the past 16 months she has learned a lot about the justice system and the importance of telling the truth. Shellie Zimmerman also thanked Special Prosecutor Angela Corey for allowing her to enter into the plea deal."

Oh, I *bet* she's learned a lot about the justice system, about who gets to tell the truth, and who gets to promote their political career with lies.

In ancient Israel, that sanctimonious lying bitch Angela Corey would have gotten a punishment analagous to what she tried to get for George Zimmerman, and would have been sent to the women's equivalent of PMITA prison.

[PapayaSF]

On Facebook when my friends bring up that woman who fired a warning shot at her ex and had the book thrown at her, and contrast her with Zimmerman, I always tell them it's the same prosecutor and that she doesn't like self-defense. This is seen as somewhat derailing of their point.

[Brett L]

Also that woman who fired a warning shot had a no contact order with her estranged man and was in his house where she no longer lived.

[SIV]

And left the house, retrieved a pistol from her car and returned to fire the shot. She got screwed by pleading innocent too. Offered 1-3 years to plead then sentenced to 15-20 upon conviction

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Ontario Human Rights Tribunal: Atheism a creed that needs religious protections

[SIV]

"Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children."

Science-Fags need their own Jack Chick

[Eduard van Haalen]

Dawkins?

[Agammamon]

Yeah, I already thought we had Dawkins.

[Agammamon]

Except Dawkins doesn't make bite-sized crazy tracts for mass publication.

I used to love reading those - Chick's almost got a magic-punk dystopian future going on in his fiction. The world-building is incredible - to a great extent I'd put this nut up against any of the great comic writers of the 20th century.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ouch.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...citizens are still dying by the dozen to terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Bomb them into safety, too.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

20 Historic Black and White Photos Colorized

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Went a little heavy on the purple in the Civil War one. Other than that, cool find.

[jesse.in.mb]

Rawr on the lumber worker. We'd have to update the facial hair a bit, but rawr.

[mad libertarian guy]

The chick he's with is pretty hot too.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

He's unemployed and therefore poor. Come on man.

But I wonder who has his Social Security number now. records indicate his name was Thomas Cave:

http://www.shorpy.com/node/921

[jesse.in.mb]

He's unemployed and therefore poor. Come on man.

Is slumming not a thing anymore?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

He looks like he just banged his hot wife, took a moment to pose for a picture while his impatient wife looked on.

Meh. It's how I amuse myself.

[Bobarian]

We'd have to update the facial hair a bit, but rawr.

So are you pro facial hair or ag'in?

[jesse.in.mb]

Either works. Some guys look better with it and some without it. That particular mustache is bad.

[Brett L]

I posted this a week ago or more! I demand a hat-tip.

[Irish]

And I'm glad you posted it, Brett. Those pictures of Hepburn and Taylor...wow.

[mad libertarian guy]

Am I the only one who thinks that the Hepburn photo makes her look that much hotter because she's barefoot and in the kitchen?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That was awesome Archduke. What's up with Einstein's girly shoes?

[Marc F Cheney]

I've got some Gucci sandals like that, but I'm kind of a fancy boy.

[Marc F Cheney]

That picture of the kid with the stuffed animal... WHO'S CUTTIN' ONIONS IN HERE?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Amanda Marcotte, Mind Reader:

Larry Kudlow supports the Keystone pipeline and is willing to use a variety of rhetorical tricks to get people on his side. But that, of course, is the point. Without understanding the specific gender anxieties in our culture, you can't really understand why this tactic is likely to be effective[...]

Kudlow doesn't need to be direct here. He can invoke the stereotype subtly and achieve the desired reaction in his audience?basically, to support the pipeline as a way to ward of the implication that they're weak and feminine?and do so without saying anything so obnoxiously and obviously sexist that he gets called out on it.

Identity politics is an idea associated with the left, and while there are some people on the left who do play a crude game of identity politics, the fact of the matter is that it's really the province of the right. Practically every pitch in right wing media is addressed straight at the identity anxiousness button.

P-R-O-J-E-C-T-I-O-N

[RBS]

Gender anxieties?

[Damned Fool]

If she could read minds, she'd know that no one is objectifying her.

[Bobarian]

Speak for yourself-

Marcotte = object to be avoided

[Irish]

Kudlow doesn't need to be direct here. He can invoke the stereotype subtly and achieve the desired reaction in his audience?basically, to support the pipeline as a way to ward of the implication that they're weak and feminine?and do so without saying anything so obnoxiously and obviously sexist that he gets called out on it.

I support the pipeline as a way to ward off high gas prices that are devastating poor people.

Why do you hate poor people, Amanda?

[tarran]

Can you tell me if you are a chick or a dude?

I need to know so that I can figure out what your gender identity issue is. 😉

[Eduard van Haalen]

Yeah, I want to "lay some pipe," too, IYKWIMAITYD.

[John]

Kudlow is just using his facts and logic to take advantage of people's gender anxieties.

[mad libertarian guy]

Kudlow is just using his facts and logic to take advantage of people's gender anxieties.

Facts and logic are the purview of the privileged.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So the right, in addition to being raced obsessed, are also identity politics maniacs.

Jesus Christ these people are insane.

And what does 'gender anxieties' mean anyway?

[Heedless]

Penis envy

[Damned Fool]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-20.....k-in-minn/

Wolf tries to chow on teen in MN.

[Matrix]

I posted that above! Though I was trying to use a little snark, and spin it like an greeniac would.

[Damned Fool]

I just thought your link was on a crazy person. We get plenty of those here.

[Goldwin Smith]

Hmm isn't Reason's treatment of MLK rather similar to the left's treatment of Obama? Ignore what he actually does but focus of the nicest parts of his speeches?

[Andrew S.]

Because MLK Jr. has been dead for 45 years, and his actions in the long run didn't matter when compared to his words. With Obama, his words mean little compared to the long-term harm his actions are causing.

[Zeb]

MLK wasn't president and his sins did nothing to hurt the country as a whole. MLK is honored because he did contribute a lot to the civil rights movement and did a lot to keep it non-violent. Not because he was a non-womanizer tee-totaler who came up with everything he ever wrote or said all by himself.

[Pro Libertate]

If black leaders were more like him these days, I think their politics would be a little less disgusting.

[kinnath]

All the great men and women through out history have been deeply flawed. What makes them notable is not that they were flawed, but that they did great things despite being flawed.

MLK was a socialist and a serial adulterer. But the "I have a dream" speech is still one of the most important speeches that occurred during my life time.

[Goldwin Smith]

You know Who Else gave an Important Speech?

[kinnath]

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Ar.....ngham.html

[Goldwin Smith]

Not a speech.

[kinnath]

Ignore what he actually does but focus of the nicest parts of his speeches?

I was merely pointing out that your comment is fundamentally wrong.

[kinnath]

Ignore what he actually does but focus of the nicest parts of his speeches?

I was merely pointing out that your comment is fundamentally wrong.

[Harvard]

Freddy Krueger?

[Long Range Boredom]

Neville Chamberlain?

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

JFK?

[Mad Scientist]

John Galt?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Dwight Schrute?

[Killazontherun]

MLK was deeply flawed (plagiarist, woman beater, and association with communist made a mockery of civil rights) but he wasn't without his virtues either. He willingly got himself thrown in jails, in territory hostile to him and his cause and did so at great risk, to advance his agenda of which from a libertarian standpoint much of which was worthwhile. Obama on the other hand lacks a single worthwhile virtue. Collects classic issues of Savage Sword of Conan like I do, and that's pretty much it.

My only complaint, some worthier lights, like Thurgood Marshall who did even more than King (at least as a lawyer winning suit after suit, his Supreme Court record, not so much) to advance that cause get overshadowed.

[Zeb]

Well, everyone loves a martyr. Especially one who gives a good speech.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

I always liked Steven Den Beste's characterization of King (and Gandhi) as leaders of non-violent terrorist movements. (It's important that in context he was evaluating terrorism as an amoral set of tactics and had an unconventional definition of terrorism - so much so that it makes it hard to talk about.) Those faults make a lot more sense from that perspective than they do from the idea that he was a moral paragon.

[Andrew S.]

So fellow Reasonoids, I have a problem.

Lately, thanks to the amount of idiocy I've seen -- partially linked here, partially I've seen on my own, I've been so. very. angry. Constantly angry. Constantly down and worried about the future, the future of this country, the world my daughter is growing up in.

What the heck do I do (that doesn't involve being in a constant alcohol-induced stupor) to combat this?

[Nikki twerks hard for the $]

You could be in a constant drug-induced stupor.

Or stop reading the news.

[RBS]

Or both!

[Brett L]

I second this.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Lately, thanks to the amount of idiocy I've seen -- partially linked here, partially I've seen on my own, I've been so. very. angry. Constantly angry. Constantly down and worried about the future, the future of this country, the world my daughter is growing up in.

Take comfort in the fact that soon it will all come crashing down under its own weight and hubris? Just be prepared and make sure she knows what's going on.

[Joe M]

Oh, it's not as as bad as all that. We'll muddle through somehow. Try a one week news fast and you'll feel much better. I try to laugh so I don't cry.

[Damned Fool]

Glibertarianism: it cures what ails you.

[gaijin]

become a prepper. or get a handgun and go to the range. or undertake a vigorous exercise program. just a few things that can help you feel like you have some control and are prepared for the worst. oh and what Nikki said.

[Rich]

Take a two-week vacation (with your family) during which you neither attend to the news nor discuss politics. Just enjoy life.

Upon your return, I assure you that, although "things" will be worse, you will feel better.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Take a break from politics. The political world is self-important and wants you to believe that it is all that there is to the world; don't buy into it.

[CatoTheElder]

Take a vacation. Don't watch tv, read a newspaper, or connect to Internet.

About two weeks will probably do.

Either that or get immersed in work. Don't watch tv, read a newspaper, or connect to Internet for anything other than work.

[Marc F Cheney]

1. Stop reading the news.
2. Take a break from H&R while you're at it.
3. Read The Ultimate Resource 2, or perhaps The Rational Optimist. The world is going to be just fine.
4. Learn to laugh with contempt.

[Irish]

Lately, thanks to the amount of idiocy I've seen -- partially linked here, partially I've seen on my own, I've been so. very. angry. Constantly angry. Constantly down and worried about the future, the future of this country, the world my daughter is growing up in.

Shrug your shoulders and stop being so uptight. Work to change things but if you can't don't beat yourself up or allow it to ruin your life.

Allowing politics to rule your life is what liberals do. Don't follow them down the path to misery.

[NeonCat]

http://cuteoverload.com/

Or become a Buddhist, constantly chant that all is Maya.

Or go laugh at something funny, something ridiculously funny that doesn't involve politics.

[Rich]

"This whole world of delusion is nothing but a shadow caused by the mind. And yet, it is also from this same mind that the world of Enlightenment appears."

[jesse.in.mb]

Are you getting enough sleep and exercise? Maybe have some kava tea in the evening to wind down.

[Coeus]

It's only a matter of time until they get around to banning Kava.

[jesse.in.mb]

Don't give them any ideas!

I'll cut someone if they try to take away my evening kava tea.

[Coeus]

Try the extract paste. Very nice. But I still say dunphy is in idiot for acting like it's very strong. That paste is the strongest version you can get, and it still feels like a low dose of klonopin.

[jesse.in.mb]

I occasionally get a little anxious when trying to fall asleep. The kava tea takes the edge off that so I can fall asleep more easily. It's exactly what I'm looking for. I'll have to check out the paste though. I'm guessing Whole Foods or similar?

[Coeus]

Gotta go online. Whole foods only has the tea. The best one I found was from a place in Hawaii. Can't remember the name though. Been awhile, and that concentrated stuff lasts forever.

[Warty]

Take up some sort of manly art such as lifting weights, whittling, breaking horses, wrestking, or banging hundreds of dames. Then stop paying attention to what lesser men do on the news.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Masturbate.

[Harvard]

Murder six liberals that you know. Then masturbate.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

On their corpses, or in my creepy basement after having committed the deed?

I'm asking for a friend.

[Anonymous Coward]

Murder 12 liberals...while masturbating.

[Lady Bertrum]

What the heck do I do (that doesn't involve being in a constant alcohol-induced stupor) to combat this

Learn to enjoy the suck. Embrace the decline.

[Mad Scientist]

I was feeling pretty much the same way several months ago: short-tempered and just pissed as hell. To distract myself, I found a very expensive and time consuming hobby. I'm still pissed, but I spend more time now thinking about the hobby than dwelling on my disgust for our government. If that doesn't work for you, there's always HULK SMASH.

[Dr. Frankenstein]

Sounds like what I need. What is the expensive and time consuming hobby if you don't mind sharing?

[mad libertarian guy]

He collects deformed midgets in his rape-dungeon.

[Harvard]

Sorts out his electric LeMans entry.

[hamilton]

Not that I would ever dissuade anyone from alcohol-induced stupor, but I second the Rational Optimist and the Welch/Gillespie Declaration of Independents book (yeah, yeah). Both of those are uncharacteristically happy takes on liberty breaking out all around the world. It can't fail. It just takes longer with politics than it does with beer, air travel, porn, and TV channels.

Realize football starts next week.

And, of course, come to grips with the fact that reading this blog will make you a worse person, and ask if you really can handle that.

[T]

Football starts tomorrow, heathen.

[mad libertarian guy]

Yes we all know that minor league football starts tomorrow, it's just that many of us don't give a shit about minor league football.

[Cytotoxic]

Head for the ZEDEs in Honduras. I know I will.

[BakedPenguin]

Look into Five Flags theory. It's not an option unless you're financially secure, but there nothing like taking as much of your life into your hands as possible.

[Killazontherun]

Teach her to be self sufficient and value that over being a dependent on the grace and the caring of a bureaucratic functionary, teach her to apply critical reasoning, avoid sentiment, to master skills that are useful no matter what kind of regime is in charge. Teach her that the world doesn't need to be perfect for her to succeed. Teach her to find opportunity in all situations, but that which is found in leeching on a decrepit system only turns you into a mindless slave to it. Teach her that freedom can only come to a mind that is itself free, and is not bestowed by the will of others being writ into law. Even if the political system were much more to our liking that doesn't guarantee anything.

[Cytotoxic]

Buy Bitcoins. Smuggle stuff on the grey market for fun and profit. Masturbate.

[ant1sthenes]

Try to teach your daughter not to be an idiot or a fool (and impart as much in the way of character, life skills, and vocational training as possible) so she can be in the upper class once everything collapses?

[Palin's Buttplug]

This lying about Syria shit has gotten ridiculous. Senator Hagan keeps saying she does NOT support "US boots on the ground" and Republican Party operatives keeps saying Shocking: North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan seemingly advocates boots on the ground in Syria

http://livewire.talkingpointsm.....-ground-in

[SIV]

Kay Hagan wants American boys and girls to die fighting on the side of al Qaeda?
What a cunt.

[Palin's Buttplug]

You would make a superb GOP spokesman.

[John]

Have fun sucking Obama's cock as he goes to war in defiance of both Congress and the UN. Stop this illegal war.

[#]

Everyone knows that true classical liberals support illegal wars when Obama does it.

The real outrage is that some republican said something mean to a democrat.

[John]

BUSHPIGS!! Suck it you little monkey.

[Anonymous Coward]

Keep squealin', little piggie.

[John]

Speaking of the Fort Hood shooter, remember kids, the NSA has to read all of your emails because it is the only way to stop terrorists. Don't worry that even when they do read a terrorists emails, they do nothing to stop him.
http://www.motherjones.com/pol.....-fort-hood

[Joe M]

You know it's getting bad when John is linking to MoJo.

[Nephilium]

Hell, I just had my congresscritter tell me that the NSA reading all of the metadata was necessary to protect us from the hidden threats, like the Boston Bombers. The ones who the government was warned about, and the ones who committed their acts after the damned NSA metadata program was active.

[NeonCat]

The government needs to discourage good people from making phone calls or emails so they have less to sift through.

Really, it's all of our faults.

[Goldwin Smith]

Also have there been any anti-war rallies yet? Or would that be racist? Considering the adhom they love to use it they could very well engage in actual racist attacks on Obama.

[gaijin]

I checked all my lefty FB friends (which is most of them) and not...a..peep on syria.

[Goldwin Smith]

Surely the far left must have arranged some rallies? I mean those are the types that think Obama is too capitalist and actively support the likes of Assad, Putin and Al Queda?

[jesse.in.mb]

Really? I woke up to a ton of "THIS IS CLEARLY A BAD IDEA" from my lefty friends and most of my Republican friends have been more muted about it.

[Harvard]

Considering that when you have opposing factions of fascist muslims murdering one another simply remaining mute might be the better option.

[Cytotoxic]

Also have there been any anti-war rallies yet?

BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

[Goldwin Smith]

Yeah I know. Just wondering if my expectations have been dashed or if the DemOp media is ignoring them.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Sri Lanka, where they marry dogs instead of shoot them.
Sri Lanka police have apologized for holding a wedding ceremony for sniffer dogs after the country's culture minister condemned the event and demanded an investigation.

[NeonCat]

"Sri Lankan Culture Minister encourages dogs to live in sin"

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Evidence suggests that the Pacific Ocean may be responsible for pause in global warming

From the 1940s through the 1970s there was no major warming trend in the average surface temperature of Earth. At the same time, the tropical Pacific Ocean, which is responsible for the weather patterns known as El Ni?o and La Ni?a that can swing global average temperatures by as much as 0.3 degree Celsius, was anomalously cold. For the past decade or so the tropical Pacific has again gone cold?more Ni?a than Ni?o?and a new study suggests that the phenomenon may explain the recent "pause" in global warming of average temperatures.

Since 1998's record heat, average surface temperatures have plateaued for a decade or so?failing to reach new peaks?although the decade also qualifies as the hottest on record. Rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have not accelerated warming to new heights as rapidly as happened at the end of the 20th century.

Alright, so how much are the Koch Brothers paying the Pacific to mess with the narrative?

[Andrew S.]

This year is also going to be only the 5th since 1960 with no Atlantic hurricanes before September 1.

[mad libertarian guy]

And this is during a year in which NOAA predicted an extremely active hurricane season.

In its 2013 Atlantic hurricane season outlook issued today, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center is forecasting an active or extremely active season this year.

For the six-month hurricane season, which begins June 1, NOAA's Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook says there is a 70 percent likelihood of 13 to 20 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which 7 to 11 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including 3 to 6 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of 111 mph or higher).

These ranges are well above the seasonal average of 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.

If a company in the the private sector were as notoriously bad as the government at doing its job, it'd be out of business. But people still give stock to government organizations as if they were flawless.

[Mad Scientist]

But people still give stock to government organizations as if they were flawless.

Or accountable.

[Bobarian]

The Pacific is a right wing climate change denier? Who knew?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Proving that the McCain taint is hereditary...

Anyone "shocked" by Miley Cyrus at the VMA's might want a little perspective and read about what's happening to child refugees in Syria...

Ms. McCain, anyone reading the Twitter account of a 20-something year old princess for political insight is already too far gone to have perspective on much of anything at all...

[gaijin]

McCain taint

eeewwwww

[Irish]

But, like her boobs are huge and she was a blogger for her dad's presidential campaign! Until she got fired from her father's presidential campaign. Also, she writes totes awesome books!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Nothing wrong with huge-boobed bloggers.

[mad libertarian guy]

Nothing wrong with huge-boobed bloggers.

But there is a SERIOUS problem with using shitty phraseology like "totes." See above.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Agreed.

[BakedPenguin]

This. Until / unless Chuck Schumer starts a blog.

[Bobarian]

I feel as if my mind was raped.

[Nando]

Is Global Warming Really Slowing Down?

[gaijin]

Of course not. One of those charts in the article goes all the way back to 1891. That's more than a hundred years of data fercrissakes!

[Cytotoxic]

No, it's stopping.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

BRAINS!

[Matrix]

well, at least they are making something to occupy the brain eating zombies.

[Rich]

Creepy.

BWAHAHAHAA!!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Is It Bigoted to Reject a White Sushi Chef?

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

so they can be let down one more time?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Only in Cleveland.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Tebow survives Patriots roster cut to 75

[NeonCat]

At least he will pray for the deceased he lets down one last time.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

He will raise them from the dead.

[hamilton]

Pope phones up victim of rape in Argentina to offer words of comfort.

She was raped by a policeman who was of course immediately suspended without pay, tried, imprisoned, and fired.

I kid, I kid. He was promoted.

[Nikki twerks hard for the $]

"He told me that I was not alone and that I must have faith in the justice system."

Well, that sounds about right...

[Rich]

"Work hard. Be happy."

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Massachusetts' Simple Solution for Preventing Domestic Homicide
...How do they do it? They take the details of each reported case of abuse, looking at risk factors such as stalking and chronic unemployment, and rate each abuser on a point system for how violent and controlling he is. Men who are rated high are then subject to heightened risk monitoring, and their victims are given extra resources to stay safe. If the abusers start acting up, they can have their child visitations terminated or be made to wear GPS trackers. They may even be put in jail or in a psychiatric hospital for violating probation or restraining orders?courtesy of a preventive detention program that was mostly used to prevent gang or drug violence in the past, a program that gives the government leeway to restrain you even if your behavior otherwise falls short of the threshold to charge you with further crimes. ...

[hamilton]

I'm concerned that you're spending so much time living in the past, Johnny.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

American Federation of Teachers Lobbyists: Dr. King would want us to have more money

The American Federation of Teachers passed a resolution on the eve of the 1963 March on Washington declaring that the arch "is a strong call to all Americans to join the struggle for full freedom for all." Full freedom is not possible without a job that pays a decent wage. Full freedom is denied to those who have inadequate housing, who lack health services, and whose education is not a civic priority.

A high-quality public education for all children is an economic necessity, an anchor of democracy, a moral imperative and a fundamental civil right, without which none of our other rights can be fully realized. It's time to reclaim the promise of public education--not as it is today or was in the past, but as it can be to fulfill our collective obligation to help all children succeed.

All our children deserve great neighborhood schools; safe and welcoming environments; teachers who are free to teach, not just test; the arts and music; and the wraparound services that address students' needs.

I somehow doubt she thinks kindly of homeschoolers and school choice.

[Episiarch]

Interesting how all the stuff that they want for the children happens to increase teachers' salaries, improves their workplace, and adds lots of extras to throw at the kids so they can teach less. Just a coincidence, I'm sure.

[Nikki twerks hard for the $]

A high-quality public education for all children is an economic necessity, an anchor of democracy, a moral imperative and a fundamental civil right, without which none of our other rights can be fully realized.

This means teachers will be working for free, right? I mean, if it's a moral imperative...

[NeonCat]

They should be able to survive on the apples their devoted students bring them, and since an apple a day keeps the doctor away, takes care of their health care needs as well.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Nikki twerks hard for the $

Wait, what? When did this happen? Where does it occur? And how much?

[Nikki twerks hard for the $]

It happens all the time, right here. Right now, even! But by "money" I mean...uh, glory? No, that's not it either...

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's for the love of the sport, nikki, for the love of the sport.

[PapayaSF]

And why does Nikki keep getting new handles? A feeble attempt to throw off the NSA?

[Marc F Cheney]

Never mind. The point is that you better treat her right.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Great...now I have that tune stuck in my head but with "nikki" replacing "she".

[trshmnstr]

"A high-quality public education for all children is an economic necessity"

So they're gonna disband the union, get rid of tenure (both de facto and de jure), and introduce stringent achievement standards for the teachers that rewards them for actually being good educators rather than good babysitters?

Oh wait, this is just more of the public teacher hero complex. "We babysit your children and make them take tests. Worship us!"

[Rufus J. Firefly]

reedin an ritin is ovah rated any ways.

[Brandon]

an anchor of democracy,

What does this mean? It holds democracy back?

[Heedless]

It means rejoice! For this woman is teaching your little angel to write.

[ant1sthenes]

It caused the sinking our democracy, I think.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"neighborhood schools"

I thought that term was a racist dog-whistle. Has there been a memo changing this?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Commentators are sad that Americans don't care enough about jacking it to military intervention...

The next level up on the interest scale would be a small-scale war between two non-great powers. While significant, such a conflict wouldn't involve the United States, thereby relegating it to second-tier status in U.S. news coverage. SyFy announcing a Sharknado sequel would displace that story.

A mass revolution can be pretty big news, so it would take some pop culture mojo to knock it off the top of the website. A provocative Jennifer Aniston cover shoot would do the trick.

Action from the U.N. Security Council would be pretty big news, as they tend to stalemate a lot. For that to miss the front page, we'd need to see something on the scale of a more-dramatic-than-usual Taylor Swift breakup to bounce it off the front page.

So... regular Americans like to be entertained and don't concern themselves with affairs not their own? How is this supposed to be an indictment, again?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I hate, and I mean hate, the kind of person who throws up American Entertainment as proof the American people are stupid and that His Positions Are More Important.

[NeonCat]

One gets the feeling he watches The Newsroom and nods a lot during it.

[Irish]

If you are not thinking about Syria at all times you are a stupid motherfucker and nowhere near as intelligent and informed as Daniel Drezner.

Making your life about nothing but politics is the only way to be a full and complete human being.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Agreed. They belong in the same level of hell as people who use the term "sheeple" unironically.

Those of us who get worked up over politics are the weird ones, not the people who ignore politics as much as possible in favor of more enjoyable activities. It is worth remembering that politics shouldn't be something that most people are concerned with -- it is damned unhealthy when it becomes the chief preoccupation of a people.

[NeonCat]

It's almost like Americans think some civil war thousands of miles away shouldn't involve them at all!

Stupid, provincial Americans!

[Goldwin Smith]

On the other hand this means they won't care about NSA, IRS, cops, taxes, etc,. However being concerned about those things is a political act and libertarians want less politics. A two edged sword really.

[Brandon]

Do you ever say anything coherent? Do you read your own comments?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Threatpoint created the Puerarchy
...Inherent in red pill psychological theory is the understanding that women desire dominant men. The problem of threatpoint not only arises because it puts unilateral control in the hands of only one partner (with no fear of repercussion), but also because that it puts that control in the hands of the women in the relationship- the one who craves her man to be the dominant one.

As I've mentioned above, and is common knowledge to the red pill crowd, hypergamy dictates that women will constantly fitness test their mate. This test controls to see how much push-back they get from their tests. Is her man docile and bends to her whim? Or is he strong and dominant, and refuses to fall for these tests?

Threatpoint puts the control into the hands of the one fitness testing- making it close to impossible to pass these tests, lest it spark a divorce if she does not get what she wants.

And if he fails fitness testing, he loses her attraction.

Threatpoint doesn't just make marriages easier to break, it forces marriages into breaking....

[Episiarch]

I just realized you're a virgin. I don't know why I didn't see that before.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Do goats count?

[Rich]

Naaaaaaaah!!

[Irish]

I believe it was Dalrock who coined the term "threatpoint" regarding marriage and divorce reform in the West over the past 40 years. He was referring to the restructuring of marriage, giving more power to person who wants out, and reducing the power previously held by the partner interested in preserving the marriage:

So...divorce reform stopped people from being forced to remain in marriages they didn't want? That's...terrible. I guess.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I don't think that's great framing of the issue. The reality is that yes, some marriage reform was necessary to save women who were being abused. We went way too far with it, though.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Puerarchy is a horrible neologism that commits the sin of creating a bastard mongrel of a word by combining a Latin root with a Greek suffix.

[crashland]

As long as the greek is on the bottom, it's ok.

[Heedless]

Catamarchy?

[mad libertarian guy]

Linguistics nerds unite!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

"Your Son Is A Fucking Faggot"
...Out of nowhere a big booming voice rang out. "THAT'S a BOY?!" The man was overly large with a bushy beard and a camouflage shirt with the arms cut off. He had tattered shorts and lace-up work boots with no laces. I could smell the fug of cigarette smoke surrounding him, and there was a definite pong of beer on him.

"Yes," I said simply, still smiling.

With no notice, the man stepped forward, grabbed the headband off of Dexter's head and threw it to the bottom of our shopping cart. He then cuffed Dexter around the side of his head (not hard, but that is not the point) and said with a big laugh, "You'll thank me later, little man!"

At the same time as I stepped forward, Dexter grabbed his head where the man had smacked him and threw his other hand forward, stomping his foot and shouting, "NO!" I got between my son and this man and said very firmly, "If you touch my son again, I will cut your damn hands off."

The guy snarled at me, looked at Dexter with disgust and said, "Your son is a f*cking fa***t." He then started sauntering out, but not before he threw over his shoulder, "He'll get shot for it one day."...

[Tonio]

Yeah, somebody I follow on FB (I know...) reposted the original account of this the other day. It just didn't seem right. Almost had me believing it was a real thing until I re-read and picked up on "I could smell the fug of cigarette smoke surrounding him, and there was a definite pong of beer on him." Too over the top.

Also, Wal*Mart is certainly not going to tolerate the assault of random toddlers within their stores. Too much liability, bad for business, etc.

[C. Anacreon]

As the guy who does "Oh Social Justice, You So Crazy" says,

"I'll take Shit That Never Happened for $500, Alex."

[Warty]

And then he wrapped himself in a Confederate flag, shot a fleeing Trayvon Martin in the back, and got in his 4x4 truck to drive to the polls to vote a straight Republican ticket.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

*applause*

[LynchPin1477]

I wouldn't have warned him.

[Harvard]

Me either. I'd have made the little fairy eat that headband.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

You're a fucking loser. Who assaults a child and gets an erection about it? Holy fuck.

[Harvard]

You're new to this right? You get the erection, THEN assault the brat.

[Coeus]

Who assaults a child and gets an erection about it?

Roman Polanski?

[jesse.in.mb]

Lights SugarFree signal.

The man was overly large with a bushy beard and a camouflage shirt with the arms cut off. He had tattered shorts and lace-up work boots with no laces.

Umm, SF, can you write something perverse about this likely already fictional fellow? I'm asking for a friend, yeah a friend.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Do you have a Duck Dynasty fetish?

[jesse.in.mb]

No. I don't have a good description. Maybe something along these lines, but without the piercings, regretable tattoos or overly precise hair and beard trimming.

[Brett L]

I have a couple of friends you should meet.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm not opposed to this.

[PapayaSF]

Does everyone know that all this is now looking like a hoax?

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

This guy should be ashamed, we all know how evil it is to stand your ground.

[Brandon]

"Fug?" "Pong?" What the hell language is that?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'll take 'Things Alec Baldwin does for kicks' for $200, Alex.

[Mike M.]

"Now that we're done celebrating Doctor King's legacy of peace and justice, it's time to go bomb the living crap out of some people."

[Rich]

Some *brown* people.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Syrians are pretty pale.

Jus' sayin'

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

You know how I knew we wouldn't do anything in Syria today? Do you think he'd do something that might overshadow his historic speech that everyone has already forgotten?

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

If these 2 kids can't make it work, what hope is there fore the rest of us?

[Joe M]

Kirk Douglas is alive and kicking at 96. That should give the rest of us some hope.

[Pro Libertate]

Holy cow, he's still going? Spartacus for the win.

[Harvard]

He's hanging around for the opportunity to piss on the grave of his hideous son.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

SoCon Organization Leader-Bring Back Sodomy Laws

As they say, the law is a teacher, and it's wise to keep an anti-sodomy law on the books, even if unenforceable due to judicial tyranny, to express the state's official disapproval of that kind of conduct. The fact that it is against the law provides an additional reason not to give it special legal protections in discrimination law. It's schizophrenic to give special legal protections to behavior in one part of your code that is illegal according to another.

As Antonin Scalia correctly pointed out in his dissent on Lawrence v. Texas, sodomy was always contrary to public policy everywhere in the United States, going back to the very beginning. It was a felony offense in every state of the union until 1962, and still a felony offense in the other 49 states until 1972, when the sexual revolution started causing the moral pillars to crumble. Sodomy is immoral, unnatural and unhealthy and should remain contrary to public policy.

From a public health standpoint alone, societies should resist the normalization of sodomy. Whether you think the human body was designed by evolution or by the Creator, the body was clearly not designed for the uses to which homosexuals put it. The elevated risk of HIV/AIDS is reason enough all by itself to reject the normalization and legalization of homosexual conduct.

http://www.afa.net/Blogs/BlogP.....2147537790

[Irish]

From a public health standpoint alone, societies should resist the normalization of sodomy. Whether you think the human body was designed by evolution or by the Creator, the body was clearly not designed for the uses to which homosexuals put it. The elevated risk of HIV/AIDS is reason enough all by itself to reject the normalization and legalization of homosexual conduct.

The body was also not 'designed' to sit in an airplane or ride an elevator. Unless you're currently living in a cave, I think you're probably doing plenty of things for which the human body was not designed.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Whether you think the human body was designed by evolution or by the Creator, the body was clearly not designed for the uses to which homosexuals put it.

Inserting one's penis into various tight orifices to induce a feeling of pleasure is exactly what the penis was "designed" for.

And peeing.

[Harvard]

And opening long necks to win bar bets.

[Tonio]

Movement atheists have no problem with "sodomy." Most other atheists don't, either.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

As Antonin Scalia correctly pointed out in his dissent on Lawrence v. Texas, sodomy was always contrary to public policy everywhere in the United States, going back to the very beginning.

What does that even mean? Public policy like how?

If one means that it was against the law at the time, then that is hardly an argument in favor of its continuance as a law; merely a value-neutral observation.

Perhaps I'm getting old, but back in the day weren't arguments supposed to be constructed on the basis of some sort of logic, rather than random non-sequitur?

[John]

Scalia made the point that Sodomy laws were in effect for the entire history of the US. So it is pretty hard to say that the BOR was intended to make them unconstitutional. Public policy had always been that sodomy was a crime. Then one day, the SCOOTUs changed that and said that the Constitution now protected it.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Which is an argument that I would agree with on a Constitutional basis -- but the posted OP is trying to make a normative argument in favor of sodomy laws. How is noting that they existed at some point in the past an argument, rather than an observation?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Public policy" is the fig leaf judges throw on opinions when they want a certain outcome, legal reasoning and stare decisis be damned.

[Bobarian]

"weren't arguments supposed to be constructed on the basis of some sort of logic, rather than random non-sequitur?"

No they aren't.

[Brandon]

WTF? Even if he is straight, if he has never tried sodomy, his wife is missing out.

[Harvard]

Never underestimate the desire of a woman to mimic an influenza symptom.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Joss Whedon did not like the ending of 'The Empire Strikes Back' and other observations

"Empire committed the cardinal sin of not actually ending," Whedon noted during his 10-page deep-dive interview with Entertainment Weekly in this week's issue. "Which at the time I was appalled by and I still think it was a terrible idea."

To which your EW interviewer blurted: "You think Empire had a bad ending?"

"Well, it's not an ending," Whedon explained about the 1980 film, which had a cliffhanger leading into the next entry of the series, Return of the Jedi. "It's a Come Back Next Week, or in three years. And that upsets me. I go to movies expecting to have a whole experience. If I want a movie that doesn't end I'll go to a French movie. That's a betrayal of trust to me. A movie has to be complete within itself, it can't just build off the first one or play variations."

I of course can't relate since I wasn't alive when the movie first came out in 1980, but the movie did have an ending, it was just an unhappy one. As a whole, ESB is a masterpiece.

[Goldwin Smith]

True art is angsty.

[Mike M.]

I remember how annoying it was for me as a kid when I would always be left hanging wondering if this time it was curtains for the caped crusaders, or if they would manage to escape the Joker's fiendish death trap yet again.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Whatever, asshole. I didn't like the ending of Angel, but I don't go around whining about it.

[Episiarch]

You...you just did.

If you want to be pissed at Whedon, be pissed at him for putting his name on The Cabin in the Woods and then not doing most of the writing and having the movie end up sucking.

[Matrix]

How did they movie get a lot of praise by reviewers? I thought that movie was stupid. Even Ebert gave it praise... I mean... WTF?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I liked Cabin in the Woods. It was about the only thing decent Whedon did, which means I am not at all surprised that it turns out he didn't do it.

[Episiarch]

It was completely disappointing. I thought I was going in for another Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, and I got an incoherent, unfocused mess.

Reviewers praise a lot of bad movies. Generally I ignore them.

[Irish]

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil is amazing.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I thought Tucker & Dale was entirely predictable and while amusing also a bit of slog. They telegraphed every joke.

[Episiarch]

I enjoy pretty much any splatstick or comedic horror that is at all good. They obviously can't all be Braindead, but that's why it's the kind of movie you treasure for its awesomeness.

[hamilton]

Oh, no. You're not a citizen of the Whedonverse are you Epi?

[Episiarch]

Not really, I just find that I more often than not enjoy his work, whether it's TV or film. I love Firefly, watched some Buffy, no Angel, Dollhouse was interesting, I thought Alien 4 sucked, the Avengers was totally watchable, Serenity was very good, and Much Ado About Nothing was rote Shakespeare.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

Cabin in the Woods was a decent flick

[ant1sthenes]

Hey, at least it ended on a happy note.

[ThatSkepticGuy]

"If you want to be pissed at Whedon, be pissed at him for putting his name on The Cabin in the Woods and then not doing most of the writing and having the movie end up sucking."

I'd rather be mad at him for the pop culture shitstain that is Buffy.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Whedon would have preferred that Princess Leia was a 16-y/o martial arts expert giving him the spanking he so desperately wants...and needs!

whedonisagoodproducerbuthesweird.com

[ThatSkepticGuy]

"Whedon would have preferred that Princess Leia was a 16-y/o martial arts expert giving him the spanking he so desperately wants...and needs!"

You forgot the tacked-on lesbian angle.

[Matrix]

damn those Lord of the Rings movies and The Hobbit movies for not wrapping things up in each movie.

[Ska]

The ending of Return of the King sucked though.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

...which one? There were only 13 of them (21 if, like me, you own the Extended edition).

[Francisco d Anconia]

I won't watch the theatrical release once the extended edition comes out. Seems like I'm missing shit. I hate watch Aliens when it comes on HBO because I miss that awesome automatic minigun scene.

[Francisco d Anconia]

watching

[Mickey Rat]

Well, they cut several endings from the books, including the one that was part of the point of the story.

[BakedPenguin]

Yep, all 6 of them.

[BakedPenguin]

PWND by a tit. *sigh*

[Mickey Rat]

There are worse things in the world.

[Mickey Rat]

Wait, wrong kind of tit.

[Cytotoxic]

Whedon sucks. Aside from The Avengers I can't say he's done much good.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The Avengers is terrible.

[Cytotoxic]

STFU

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

"oh look a climax that holds absolutely no suspense whatsoever and is 45 minutes of a whirling mess of CGI. How cool."

[Cytotoxic]

I'm sorry you have no soul and actually care about 'suspense'. Seriously, 'suspense' has to be the most overrated movie device ever. It's basically a substitute for doing anything interesting.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

That is utter gibberish. If there is no anticipation in how the movie is going to turn out, you may as well just read the wiki and spoil it for yourself. There's no point.

[Cytotoxic]

It's the story-telling that counts ie the journey not the destination. LoTR wasn't awesome because of 'suspense'. You had to know The Ring was getting melted. Oh spoiler alert btw.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

But the "story telling" has to introduce some element of "the characters may fail", and if it's artful enough, you can know the end and still feel that little hitch in your chest when something happens that stands in the way of the protagonists'.

Never got there with The Avengers.

[Mickey Rat]

The question is do you get to the end in an interesting way, or do you get a pretty mess?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Whedon is OK, but he is overrated and an asshole on the level of James Cameron.

If you have to pick an asshole director to worship, go with Tarantino. He does far more interesting things with his movies than Whedon does.

[Goldwin Smith]

So when does he do his Billy Jack remake? Or some Suffragettes kicking ass movie? Or an IRA movie?

[Apatheist ?_??]

Firefly & Dollhouse

[Andrew S.]

Firefly and Serenity are awesome (and definitely libertarian-ish). I will always love Buffy and Angel as well.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And Whedon proves that he doesn't "get" the homage to pulp that Lucas was going for.

Then again, Whedon doesn't get a lot of things.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Didn't he say he would have supported the Alliance in 'Firefly'? He probably sympathizes with the Empire too.

[Episiarch]

Whedon says a lot of dumb things and then he tends to write individualistic, independent characters who belie many of the things he says. Someone on here once said something to the effect of "Whedon is always trying to deny his own libertarian impulses" and I think that's true.

[Goldwin Smith]

So pretty much like all of Hollywood?

[hamilton]

...And, forgive me for the repost, but I thought it was worthy:

The Trayvon Martin Luther King t-shirt being sold on the mall today.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I really hope a gleefully amoral capitalist was just making a quick buck, because that is beyond insulting to MLK.

[Irish]

You don't recall the time MLK pounded a community watch member's skull into a concrete sidewalk?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Your logocentric logic is oppressive!

[NeonCat]

Or when he hoped his kids could stand hand in hand with the kids of creepy ass crackers?

[Mad Scientist]

Progressives don't mind if their heroes were thugs. They can be big thugs like Mao or Stalin, or middling thugs like Che, or little thugs like Trayvon Martin. What's important is that they Did Something.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Long history of poets, artists, liberals admiring and adoring 'strongmen.' Maybe because they were weak in some way themselves? I don't know or care.

It was like that in the early 20th century right up until their lust for jackoffs like Castro and Chavez.

Tolstoy, I noticed, took a couple of jabs at liberals in his novels.

[Irish]

Tolstoy, I noticed, took a couple of jabs at liberals in his novels.

Dostoevsky not only took a few jabs but accurately called exactly what the left was going to do to Russia. Read Demons. It's basically about a bunch of left wing nihilists and fascists who try to form a revolutionary group and solidify it by committing a murder.

The collectivist mentality of the characters and the feeling that they are superior to the common man is a pretty accurate representation of what Marxism actually becomes in practice.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The characters in Demons were based at least in part on contemporary Russian revolutionaries.

It's worth noting that leftist anarchists killed one of the few latter-day reformist Tsars (one who ended serfdom and was on his way to establishing Russia as a constitutional monarchy with a parliament). There was never any redeeming element to Russian leftism.

[Goldwin Smith]

You must be referring to Alexander II's assassination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narodnaya_Volya

Yes they killed him because if his reforms worked then there would be less discontent for them to exploit.

I believe Franz Ferdinand's assassins were opposed to his reforms giving ethnic minorities more power in Austria-Hungary so they killed him. Again this would have left them with less discontent to exploit.

[Goldwin Smith]

Huh it seems for most terrorist groups they don't really have much of a desire other then to to kill their opponents whether they are in control of the state or not.

[ant1sthenes]

Well, if you assume that the left is the feminine ideology and the right is the masculine ideology, it sort of makes sense. The right prefers to be directly involved in violence, while the left decries it openly, but drenches its panties in the presence of a sociopathic bad boy.

[Pro Libertate]

Does it have Obama ears?

[C. Anacreon]

No, but the conglomerate person ends up looking a lot like Eddie Murphy.

[Coeus]

Remember the Shakesville blogger who felt that re-tweeting her constituted stalking and it was taking a mental toll on her?

It's possible that she followed my linking of her here.

So, I need a break. Like, a total break. Not a "we'll still have open threads and they'll still be moderated and I'm still accountable for anything that goes sideways, so I'm never really on vacation" kind of a break, but a real break where I am really detached and really away. Because I am beyond burned out; I am utterly depleted of resources to keep going without some time away.

Cause if re-tweeting stressed her out, we may have given her a total psychotic break.

[Heroic Mulatto]

so I am genuinely sorry that my needing time to engage in some self-care causes a temporary disruption in the community.

Jesus. How self-involved does one have to be to believe that his or her taking time to masturbate would cause a disruption in any community?

[Irish]

I realize that this community is a central part of a lot of people's lives, and that shutting down completely means disconnection from daily support on which a lot of people rely, so I am genuinely sorry that my needing time to engage in some self-care causes a temporary disruption in the community. There is no good way to reconcile that.

This is the saddest paragraph ever written in the English language.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

LOLwut

What is most striking about this affair is how Obama seems to have been dragged, reluctantly, into doing something that he clearly didn't want to do. He probably knows bombing Syria won't solve anything or move us closer to a political settlement. But he's been facing a constant drumbeat of pressure from liberal interventionists and other hawks, as well as the disjointed Syrian opposition and some of our allies in the region.

More than anything else, Obama reminds me here of George Orwell in his famous essay "Shooting an Elephant." Orwell recounts how, while serving as a colonial officer in Burma, he was forced to shoot a rogue elephant simply because the local residents expected an official of the British Empire to act this way, even when the animal appeared to pose no further danger. If he didn't go ahead and dispatch the poor beast, he feared that his prestige and credibility might be diminished. Like Orwell, Obama seems to be sliding toward "doing something" because he feels he simply can't afford not to.

9%. Someone please explain to me how an action that has 9% of the public in support of it is compelling the President of the US to do *anything* in pursuit of war. Seems to me like it should be the opposite -- especially considering that Obama's party controls the WH and the Senate.

How on Earth can people possibly buy into this nonsense?

[hamilton]

It allows reconciliation (on the left anyway) of the competing themes of "he's one of us and thus has to be a good guy" and "he's doing things which theoretically we find objectionable". The best way to square that circle is to depict a President besieged by Difficult Decisions and an Obstructionist Congress.

Which come to think of it was also used for Bush by the other team.

[John]

When his administration ends in the epic trainwreck it is headed towards, the left will tell itself that he was a great guy who was let down by those around him.

[Goldwin Smith]

Or he was too forward thinking to the obstruction Rethuglikkkans like they did with Wilson.

[John]

He is the President. If he be dragged into a war against his better judgement, doesn't that render him incompetent to be President? Isn't not going to war unless you think it is a good idea a pretty big part of the job?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

It is similar to the 2009-2010 meme about the country being "ungovernable", in that the logical implications of the meme are far more favorable to the opposition than to their own parochial interests.

[crashland]

Maybe he can't break the chains of bondage that leave him in servitude to John McCain?

[Pro Libertate]

Father knows best.

[Anonymous Coward]

Delusional fool. Obama is a warmongerer. There is no getting around it. All of the "Orwellian" doublethink in the world will not spare you the fact that Obama plans to send Americans off to kill brown people in the Middle East again.

[John]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-.....on-forward

MLK's vision included gay marriage. Martin O'Malley apparently wants to show the retard block of the Dem party that Lizzie Warren is going to have some competition.

[Andrew S.]

To be fair, MLK had an openly gay man in his inner circle, which was unheard of for the early 60s.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

The James Bond theme for mini ukulele and nose flute:

[BakedPenguin]

"That's some good flutin,' boy"

/Chief Wiggum.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Republican state senator who advocates allowing teachers to be armed in schools accidentally shot a teacher with a rubber bullet during a drill

Only a handful of school districts have sought broader arming power. But this being Arkansas and guns being inviolate, many of the usual legislative suspects are rushing to support the cause of more guns in school.

These include Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, who's leading the legislative hearing today. Hat tip to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Brenda Bernet for unearthing this:

After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, Hutchinson became interested in arming school personnel, he said. He was invited to attend an "active shooter" training and - using a rubber bullet-loaded pistol - he mistakenly shot a teacher who was confronting a "bad guy."

The experience gave Hutchinson some pause, but he still supports giving schools the authority to decide how best to secure their campuses.

That would include, presumably not choosing Jeremy "Batman" Hutchinson to be among those packing heat.

Still say it should be up the schools, he's not forcing them to arm teachers.

[Brett L]

"Accidentally"

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Good catch, his Republican instincts kicked in and he couldn't resist shooting a teacher. Luckily there weren't any women on birth control in the room.

[SIV]

That'll teach her not to try and earn more than $.77 on a dollar a man makes.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Do you think he was the only one in the room professional enough to handle the weapon?

[Cytotoxic]

Yesterday someone mentioned 'Darwin's Radio'. I'd just like to say that book sucks. That is all.

[kinnath]

That was me. You clearly have no taste 😉

[Cytotoxic]

I have taste. That book had an interesting plot and ideas and couldn't take it anywhere so it fell apart.

[kinnath]

It's been a really long time since I read it. I just remember the overall story line, and I have no memory of being disappointed with the book.

[Coeus]

That book had an interesting plot and ideas and couldn't take it anywhere so it fell apart.

Agreed.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

'Johnny Football' Manziel gets suspended...for one half of a game for NCAA violations

Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel of No. 7 Texas A&M has been suspended for the first half of Saturday's season opener against the Rice Owls, a source told ESPN's Brett McMurphy on Wednesday afternoon.

The agreement between the NCAA and Texas A&M closes the book on Manziel's recent issues, a source told McMurphy.

Earlier this month, ESPN reported that the NCAA was looking into whether Manziel was paid for signing autographs at several locations, including in South Florida around the BCS National Championship game. Also, ESPN reported that a set of autograph dealers claimed that Manziel accepted payments to sign more than 4,000 items, including footballs and photographs, at an event in Connecticut in late January.

NCAA investigators spent a large chunk of Sunday with Manziel, questioning him about allegations from memorabilia dealers that he accepted payments for autographs, a source familiar with the investigation told ESPN.com on Monday night.

I'm not in to college football at all, but this has to once and for all show how stupid and ineffectual the NCAA is, right?

[Irish]

I'm not in to college football at all, but this has to once and for all show how stupid and ineffectual the NCAA is, right?

What's it like to be a filthy red communist?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Not my fault my college doesn't have a football team! They decided to build a science library instead.

[Matrix]

there are over 120 FBS teams to choose from.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I guess I'm a USC fan since my dad and grandpa are, but I'm just not that interested in the games.

The only sport I really love is baseball.

[jesse.in.mb]

You and Fidel Castro...

[Cytotoxic]

Yeah he must be a communist because he doesn't want to watch a bunch of retards chase a piece of leather across a field.

Emotional investment in a sports team should DQ anyone from voting. Or polite society.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

As opposed to your emotional investment in war.

Sports are a safety valve for collectivism. Otherwise it manifests itself in uglier ways...like yours.

[Cytotoxic]

HERP DERP War =/= collectivism

You might want to understand what collectivism is before you talk about it.

[jesse.in.mb]

Oxford reconizes "derp" as a word.

Also selfie and phablet.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Sports offer as close to a universal value language as we have left. The sense of brotherhood that sports fans feel makes it possible for complete strangers to find themselves happily discussing the latest exploits (or ruefully noting the recent failures) of their favorite team.

Ultimately, sporting events like football's Super Bowl offer a microcosmic vision of what "real life" could, and should, be like.

In a society that increasingly rewards weakness and failure, sports fans appreciate that each athlete has to earn his way onto the field by proving his superior ability, and that physical and mental handicaps will be recognized for what they are -- obstacles to be overcome on the road to achievement, not values in their own right.

http://www.aynrand.org/site/Ne....._ctrl=1021

[Irish]

Sports are entertainment just like T.V. or movies. It is enjoyable to watch football, baseball, or basketball and root for one of the teams to win.

I don't know how liking sports is any worse of an emotional investment than liking Breaking Bad or Star Wars. It seems like some people like to act as if they're cool by shitting on people who like sports.

Also, my initial comment was clearly tongue in cheek.

[Cytotoxic]

Breaking Bad and SW are artistic pinnacles. Fagball is not.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

"That appeal is rooted in the immense value fans derive from watching superlatively honed athletes who demonstrate exceptional determination and ability in a seriously dangerous contest with near equals."

http://www.theobjectivestandar.....uper-bowl/

[Cytotoxic]

Fuck.

[Lady Bertrum]

"..watching superlative honed athletes..."

Unless your watching those sports at home while petting your cat, you are the gay.

[jesse.in.mb]

superlatively honed athletes who demonstrate exceptional determination and ability in a seriously dangerous contest with near equals.

Mmmm contests of determination and ability...

[Lady Bertrum]

+1

[Apatheist ?_??]

Well maybe that give my Owls a chance!
.
.
.
.
Rofl

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Owls should be your pall bearers, to let you down one last time.

[Brett L]

Amazingly, the NCAA couldn't "prove" he took money, and, for the first time ever, decided that they actually needed some. I'll bet he'd get the season sit-out like Dez Bryant if A&M was still a Big 12 school.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

AWESOME

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Cuckold Fetish Epidemic
...Hey, my wife wants to hang out with some guy who's on tv, maybe I should tag along, what?...

[Irish]

Stop posting links from fucking Heartiste. I can feel my sanity slowly eroding.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Generational Decline In Testosterone Levels

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Not my sanity; just my IQ.

Heartiste is one step above someone who reads tea leaves.

[Nikki twerks hard for the $]

At least reading tea leaves might involve drinking delicious tea.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I'd be perfectly fine with him not posting anything at all.

[Brandon]

But then you wouldn't know how much of a manly alpha he totally is! And it's important that everyone know that.

[John]

It is one thing to have your wife run around on you. It is another thing to have her do it with the biggest douche bag in the universe AKA Simon Crowell. Anyone who would want a woman back after that, is sick.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

...yeah, these links are somewhere on the level of Jezebel articles. Please stop posting them.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I'm hoping for a thread w/ quotes from both Heartiste and Jezebel, just for Epi's enlightenment.

[Lady Bertrum]

That is the world's second or possibly third worst blog.

[Goldwin Smith]

What's the first?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Little Green Footballs #throwbackWednesdays

[Brett L]

Agreed. And I'm old enough to remember when it was fun, before 2004. Then Chuck got all serious and decided to ban everyone who disagreed with him ever.

[Lady Bertrum]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/

[Irish]

Want to really hate the universe, LB?

Read this total fucking fever swamp in which the people at that blog have a discussion about the 'beta male of the year.'

Chuck
Jaak,

This is a question of degree of gayness. To someone who is ultra-hetero, dancing is gay. To someone who is of average heterosexuality (most men), knowingly banging a tranny is gay. Don't they tuck the balls up into the makeshift vagina or something? If your dick makes contact with that, you're irreparably and irrevocably gay.

This is what every comment on that thread is like.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Truly, wisdom for the ages. Jaak should only be so fortunate to receive such advice in other areas of his life.

[Irish]

I also like that this homophobic nutcase only thinks it's gay once your penis touches their balls.

Transexual gives you a BJ = totally not gay

Vaginal sex with transexual = OH MY GOD YOU HOMO!

This guy is a philosopher king if I've ever seen one.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Seriously. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that was an ad-libbed conversation on It's Always Sunny between Mac and Dennis.

[Coeus]

Transexual gives you a BJ = totally not gay

What if they had really great tits, and you only suspected after you saw an adams apple when their head was tilted back during the deed?

I need to know for a friend.

[Heroic Mulatto]

To someone who is ultra-hetero, dancing is gay

Fuck you, Chuck. Unless you're a gynecologist, Fred Astaire saw more pussy in his life then you ever will.

[Cytotoxic]

But dancing IS gay. Or at least degrading to a man.

[Brandon]

How? I don't like dancing, but that's just me. I don't like carrots either, but I don't think that makes carrots degrading.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Or Gene Kelly. Women automatically spread 'em wide open around dancers.

[Lady Bertrum]

Barf, just barf.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Google Streetview Corn Maze

[Matrix]

that's pretty cool

[Brandon]

I died of dysentery.

[Palin's Buttplug]

A town official in Maine was visited by the Secret Service Tuesday after posting a message to Facebook referring to President Barack Obama with a racial slur and calling for him to be shot, the Portland Press Herald reported.

David Marsters, a retired Massachusetts police officer and a candidate for selectman in Sabattus, Maine, posted a photo of Obama along with a link to a story about a Republican push to impeach the president at 8:17 p.m. Friday, writing "Shoot the Nigger" above it, according to the newspaper.

Marsters told the Press Herald that after his Facebook post was flagged to local law enforcement by other residents, he was visited by both the Secret Service and the CIA. He said he told the Secret Service agents who questioned him that he didn't intend to threaten the president.

http://livewire.talkingpointsm.....?ref=fpblg

[OldMexican]

A town official in Maine was visited by the Secret Service Tuesday

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

[Long Range Boredom]

Squeeze Japanese Boobs For Charity.

[Anonymous Coward]

Brilliant marketing. Just brilliant.

Oppai Daisuki!

[Thane runs off sobbing]

Don't they do this every year?

[Lady Bertrum]

Japanese have boobs? Possibly, overweight Japanese dudes.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

Seriously. Why would I want a Japanese girl with boobs big enough to squeeze?

/joking

/well more like half-joking

[Eduard van Haalen]

Somehow, I originally read that as "robots."

[Raston Bot]

http://cdn.returnofkings.com/w.....lscale.jpg

Breaking down the 1-10 scale. Handy reference.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

He has some really off-putting examples of 6s, 7s & 8s.

[Killazontherun]

#4 is a seven, over #5 at a six? What pair of eyes would even take notice of this alleged seven in a crowd?

#3 as a nine?

Was this person just stone, drunk and horny when he came up with this?

And #5 on that line looks like she may have a touch of the downs but got caught on camera at her most attractive angle.

Also, the one on the end of the six line is a cutie who catches the eye better than several listed above her.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The questionable choices on this list make me wonder if it was created by someone of average heterosexuality who knowingly banged a tranny, thus placing his penis in contact with tucked in balls and becoming the gay. As an ultra-hetero, the list utterly vexes me.

[Lady Bertrum]

I would like this if I could.

[Lady Bertrum]

And by "like" I mean your comment is funny, not that I "like" a guy placing his penis in contact with tucked in balls and becoming guy - because I'm really indifferent to that . I just want to be absolutely clear here.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Sounds like *someone's* having gender anxieties.

/Marcotte

[Coeus]

Hey, everyone's got fetishes. Don't worry. We accept you.

[Irish]

Look, as a super, hyper, indescribably masculine hetero, I can't even have sex with women because it's too gay for me. It's like, this woman was made partially from a man's semen. Having sex with her is like nailing some old dude's man juice.

No thank you. I'm too straight for that. I'll just sit at home with my cats like all the other heteros.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Women are too much like fairies for me, that's why I only have sex with macho dudes like any self-respecting straight guy.

[Lady Bertrum]

The testosterone overwhelms the interwebz leaving me light-headed.

[Pro Libertate]

The list was compiled by a woman, obviously.

[Brett L]

This guy has never been on a college campus in the South.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Whoever designed that chart clearly has a thing for the "bland, White sorority sister" type.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

I would never bang any chicks as low-res as these.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Need more than a headshot.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Meh. I use the binary scale.

1 = yes
0 = no

A lot simpler.

[Brandon]

This.

[Tejicano]

By the time you get to my age the criterion are :

Must be - 1) human, 2) XX chromosome, 3) weigh less than I can bench,

and then the scale is a measurement of how willing they are.

[lap83]

1. The main difference between 8 and 9 appears to be photographic quality.
2. I thought his definition of 10 made sense until I read the examples of niches. This guy gets almost all of his knowledge about types of women from porn. IOW, he doesn't know women but he knows what he likes.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

I accidentally posted this in another thread, meant to post it here:

A Letter to Libertarians from a Former Libertarian

I started reading things outside of the libertarian canon, primarily critical theory...

The pivotal moment for me was realizing that beliefs, ideas, and preferences don't exist in a vacuum but are informed and created by the social, political, cultural, and material reality in which they develop. ..."we're all just individuals" is a cop out used to avoid confronting and interrogating why we think the things we think or why we like what we like.

[...]

One way many libertarians reveal the context in which their ideas developed is by habitually siding with employers in discussions of employer-employee relations... Other similar demonstrations can be found in the prioritization of reducing or eliminating corporate and estate taxes and an emphasis on eradicating or drastically reducing social welfare programs with hardly a peep about the far more nefarious corporate welfare, as well as the tolerance of racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ people both in the movement and outside of it. ...these priorities indicate a desire to preserve and propagate the interests of wealthy, straight, white men.

Emphasis mine.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

So the author isn't a libertarian because of issues that are only at best tangential to libertarianism?

The author has her head up her ass.

[Irish]

One way many libertarians reveal the context in which their ideas developed is by habitually siding with employers in discussions of employer-employee relations... Other similar demonstrations can be found in the prioritization of reducing or eliminating corporate and estate taxes and an emphasis on eradicating or drastically reducing social welfare programs with hardly a peep about the far more nefarious corporate welfare, as well as the tolerance of racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ people both in the movement and outside of it. ...these priorities indicate a desire to preserve and propagate the interests of wealthy, straight, white men.

This is nonsensical. People here are constantly attacking corporatism. Secondly, I don't even agree that corporate welfare is more nefarious. Normal welfare keeps the poor in an endless cycle of poverty and has played a major role in obliterating black families. When you count Social Security and Medicare, which are essentially welfare for old people, ordinary sorts of welfare are also doing far more budgetary harm than corporate welfare is.

Corporate welfare is terrible but has probably had less of a negative impact on American society than other types of welfare.

[hamilton]

What are you, channeling Johnny? This is a month old.

My general take on this:

1. She'd be a libertarian but empathy, or something.
2. She didn't really get the libertarian thing to begin with as far as anyone can tell.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

I found it via a few-day-old blog post, and AFAICT it hasn't been posted to HampR before, so now's as good a time as ever. It's not like its content is time-dependent.

[crashland]

Maybe she just didn't want to be a horrible person like Nikki?

[Killazontherun]

primarily critical theory.

Could have went to acting class to emote better. Outcome would have been the same.

we're all just individuals" is a cop out

You are beyond being an individual? There is an alternative that doesn't involve changing your species and joining a hive?

habitually siding with employers

I assure you I side with myself and don't devalue myself in my relation with my employer. Just because I don't devalue myself to a union that seeks to suppress rewards based on talent (in spades, bitch) doesn't mean I'm the mannnnn's tool.

with hardly a peep about the far more nefarious corporate welfare

You're just embarrassing yourself here. Regulatory capture is in the libertarian canon. Your side doesn't even understand the concept.

tolerance of racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ people both in the movement and outside of it

Hey, what a bold statement to make in, what? fucking 2013! The Libertarian Party platform supported gay marriage in 1974. Democrats, the official party of tolerance, came around last year. Congrats for catching up. Just don't pat yourself on the backs too hard.

propagate the interests of wealthy, straight, white men.

Benefiting the general welfare of all people also benefits the interests of wealthy, straight, white men, so that makes the very concept of general welfare a DNA crime. So, we can't have that now can we?

[Cytotoxic]

Maybe its that 'liberaltarian' d-bag that used to work for CATO?

[Cytotoxic]

Wilkonsin.

[OldMexican]

The pivotal moment for me was realizing that beliefs, ideas, and preferences don't exist in a vacuum but are informed and created by the social, political, cultural, and material reality in which they develop. ..."we're all just individuals" is a cop out used to avoid confronting and interrogating why we think the things we think or why we like what we like.

Gee, another idiot who confuses the map with the territory. Who holds an idea, society or each individual mind? Who is free to hold the idea, "society" or each individual mind? So how can the truism "we're all individuals" suddenly become a "cop out"?

One way many libertarians reveal the context in which their ideas developed is by habitually siding with employers in discussions of employer-employee relations

So libertarianism is wrong because of someone's opinion on a dispute.

The guy may have arrived at a realization but it certainly wasn't because he put a lot of thought into it or anything resembling critical thinking at all. He simply arrived at the idea that he cannot be a libertarian out of purely (and puerile) aesthetic considerations.

[OldMexican]

Sorry, I see that the author is a she. Please change "gal" for "guy" and "she" for "he" when reading my reply.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

It's a woman (girl? -- she's in college).

[Killazontherun]

Unless she was conceived in a test tube by two wealthy (uh oh!) lesbians, its safe to assume she hates her own father who pays for her privileged ass to be there in the first place.

[Anonymous Coward]

beliefs, ideas, and preferences don't exist in a vacuum but are informed and created by the social, political, cultural, and material reality in which they develop.

Somebody, somewhere, is doing something evil, therefore your civilization is bad. Tear it down and put up my Marxist utopia in its place!

libertarians reveal the context in which their ideas developed is by habitually siding with employers in discussions of employer-employee relations

That strawman's head came right off! He never even saw it coming! Oh the humanity!

Other similar demonstrations can be found in the prioritization of reducing or eliminating corporate and estate taxes and an emphasis on eradicating or drastically reducing social welfare programs with hardly a peep about the far more nefarious corporate welfare

Tony's plot to corner the libertarian strawman market has failed spectacularly.

well as the tolerance of racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ people both in the movement and outside of it.

Cite needed.

We don't have to be comrades, but we can try to build space for constructive dialogue between libertarians and leftists and work together to dismantle those structures we both deem oppressive.

And then snowflake & Co. will build new structures that only libertarians deem oppressive because, you know, leftists have only the best intentions.

[Irish]

We don't have to be comrades, but we can try to build space for constructive dialogue between libertarians and leftists and work together to dismantle those structures we both deem oppressive.

Bullshit. Modern leftism actually considers freedom to be oppressive when that freedom results in people behaving in ways that the left deems inappropriate. How can people who love freedom and believe that liberty is the best state for mankind possibly find common ground with a political ideology that is actively authoritarian?

[Goldwin Smith]

I understand the whole desire not to ally with the Right but I don't think the proper response is to turn around and try to ally with the left. The modern left is pretty openly authoritarian. And this is no historical aberration. I mean the French Revolution anyone?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I understand the whole desire not to ally with the Right

I don't. There's a simple calculus to coalition politics which necessitates at the very least ad hoc political alliances. The American right wing in particular makes for a very logical and attractive partner for libertarians in many respects. This does not, of course, necessitate submerging libertarianism into a general right-wing consensus -- but it would be foolish not to take advantage of mutual affinities on issues where we are in agreement to further classically liberal policies.

The same applies to the left, but unfortunately the areas of philosophical agreement that the left and libertarians share is quite a bit smaller than the overlap between the American right and libertarianism.

[Goldwin Smith]

This is true.

[Goldwin Smith]

I think describing a libertarians as a "Republican that smokes pot" is closer to the truth than a "liberal that likes guns."

Oh does anyone remember the old Libertarians slogan of "low tax liberalism"?

[Azathoth!!]

There IS no 'right' for libertarians to ally with--what is commonly called the 'right' is to the left of libertarian thought.

[Lady Bertrum]

People I encounter regularly doing volunteer work who know me as a libertarian are frequently surprised at my anti-corporate welfare opinions. I spend a fair amount of time explaining why I dislike corporatism and why it's equally as evil as social welfare.

Many of the libertarians I meet in real life (very few) tend to not focus on this, and I think that's a mistake. Lefties will begin to question their own belief when you frame it as all welfare being distorting. But, I generally go gently, gently with people who I know disagree with me.

So, her perception that libertarians are pro-business rather than pro-free markets was partially on the mark, imo.

[Killazontherun]

A democrat is someone who will wave a No To Corporate Welfare! sign while chanting the mantra 'Detroit is alive and bin Laden is dead' without pause. The lack of self awareness is staggering. They are in no position to judge me on the matter of corporate welfare. They are the worst supporters of it.

[Lady Bertrum]

Yes, but do you want to change hearts and minds? Never mind, what was I thinking?

[Killazontherun]

Well, you just won me over. Sarcasm, who knew?

You seem to be very calloused to my anger which is hardly misplaced, Lady Bertrum.

[Killazontherun]

If you really want to win them over what you should do is buy a couple of Rush Limbaugh caps. Wear a different one every day. Create a bit of friction and tension that rubs their sense of tolerance just the wrong way. Once they start to reason with you, totally give in. They'll get that warm, fuzzy feeling they live for having reached an equitable solution, and see you as a positive enabler. Harmony of sentiments just like Adam Smith taught us. A win/win! YAy!

[Irish]

A democrat is someone who will wave a No To Corporate Welfare! sign while chanting the mantra 'Detroit is alive and bin Laden is dead' without pause. The lack of self awareness is staggering. They are in no position to judge me on the matter of corporate welfare. They are the worst supporters of it.

Some Democrats. Maybe even a majority of Democrats. That doesn't change the fact that we can't cede the field and stop trying to get people to agree with us.

Libertarians tend to be too defeatist. This allows leftists to paint us in a way that is totally contradictory to what we actually are and we don't fight back because too many people roll their eyes and say 'business as usual.'

I agree with Bertrum on this one. When I'm talking to liberals I start with corporate welfare or a similar issue. I've gotten friends of mine to essentially renounce liberalism after enough discussions with me. The best way to fight back against the collectivists is to convince a few people you know that you're right. At the very least it's a start.

[Killazontherun]

So, her perception that libertarians are pro-business rather than pro-free markets was partially on the mark, imo.

Someone cannot possibly come to this conclusion without a lot of ignorance and prejudice guiding them. Without informing themselves what libertarians write and say before shooting off at the mouth. Emotional outreach also involves honesty. If that punkass accused you of not giving a shit about corporate welfare, are you going to just nod understandably and take that shit? How authentic and real are you going to seem if you just recite the libertarian talking points to her like a fucking Moonie in an airport?

[jesse.in.mb]

the tolerance of racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ people both in the movement and outside of it

Wait, peaceably arguing with people we disagree with = tolerating?

I'll remember to truss up, tar and burn at the stake the next person I disagree with.

[Irish]

Wait, peaceably arguing with people we disagree with = tolerating?

No. Refusing to use the police to beat up racists means we're tolerating them. You see if you don't use the coercive power of the government to destroy your enemies, that means that you're tolerating their beliefs. Do you see?

[Mercutio]

"It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be."

This is the Progressive mindset in a nutshell.

[Azathoth!!]

Jesse, she's talking about you. If you do not believe in using the coercive power of government to equalize all outcomes and right all percieved wrongs them you are, in her eyes a racist, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ person. See?

[Pro Libertate]

Never ever a libertarian in the first place.

[lap83]

"So I was like a libertarian in my freshman year because they like want to legalize pot and freedom and stuff. But then in my sophomore year I took a class called Feminist multi-ethnicity and Social Justice in the 1960s and I was like omg libertarians are evil! I'm totally much wiser now, all those libertarians could learn a lot from my experience."

[Brett L]

Anyone who falls for critical theory fails the test. Sorry, you're already off into mysticism.

[ant1sthenes]

Sounds less like a libertarian, and more like a Democrat who likes smoking pot.

[Lady Bertrum]

Just for fun:

Q. In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress? (Specifically, what about the strategic bombing of suspected nuclear sites ? a situation that does not involve stopping an IMMINENT threat?)

Obama: The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

- Interview with Charlie Savage, December 20, 2007

http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2.....n-in-2007/

[Andrew S.]

It's different now, because the correct top men are in office.

Also, FYTW.

[OldMexican]

Please don't use His older words to contradict the wisdom of Barry the Beautiful, our dear and fearless leader. That would be blasphemy.

[Pro Libertate]

You can't take his word literally. They're parables with a much deeper meaning. Like Jesus, but far more enlightened.

[Almanian!]

ZIMMERMAN'S WIFE LIED - TRAYVON DIED

*mic drop*