Lawmakers Insist on Congressional Permission for Syria Strike, Beltway Insiders "Review" NSA Surveillance, Feds Won't Challenge Marijuana Legalization: P.M. Links

• 

  U.S. Navy

  As of today, 116 lawmakers from both major parties signed a letter demanding that President Obama seek congressional approval for any military action against Syria. Rumor has it that Obama responded by making his horse a senator.

• The panel established by the White House to review federal surveillance turns out to be packed with policy insiders closely connected to current snooping practices. U.S. intelligence agencies have a (no longer secret) "black budget" of $52.6 billion for 2013, according to Edward Snowden.
• The U.S. sent a fifth destroyer to park itself off Syria's coast, while a revolt in the British parliament appears likely to at least delay that country's participation in any military action.
• Stymied by congressional and public opposition to further restrictions on guns, the Obama administration unilaterally tightened firearms regulations.
• Under domestic and international pressure to stop milking its population, the French government says it won't raise taxes as much as originally intended.
• Just days after Tennessee unveiled excellent test results for charter school students, Nashville educrats stepped up efforts to destroy the independent schools.
• The U.S. Department of Justice says it won't directly challenge state laws legalizing medical and recreational marijuana. For now.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...116 lawmakers from both major parties signed a letter demanding that President Obama seek congressional approval for any military action against Syria.

The rest think either Obama or his bombs are too dreamy for scrutiny.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. Department of Justice says it won't directly challenge state laws legalizing medical and recreational marijuana. For now.

Settled.

[DJF]

They will wait until midnight before the send in SWAT

[Gindjurra]

County sheriffs would be wholly within the law (state, federal, state constitutional, federal constitutional) to arrest any federal SWAT team that tried it. If the federal SWAT team resisted and opened fire, their deaths would not be crimes under US law.

I wonder if any sheriffs value their oath over their fat federal grants?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Under domestic and international pressure to stop milking its population, the French government says it won't raise taxes as much as originally intended.

68% then. Le etat, c'est moi bitchez!

[Aresen]

If you can't milk 'em, you can't make fromage.

[Bobarian]

French gubmint cheese gots to be better den good ole US 'nacho' cheese.

[T]

I have faith in the ability of governments the world over to screw up a sure thing.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The panel established by the White House to review federal surveillance turns out to be packed with policy insiders closely connected to current snooping practices.

I'm beginning to suspect Obama isn't serious about this.

[Tonio]

Fist, we're going to have the bestest, Santa-licious xmas ever this year. Then in January we're going to have a little talk.

[Pro Libertate]

Bestest most greatest possible president ever.

[gaijin]

as Gomer might have said:

Suh-praz, suh-praz, suh-praz!

[CE]

I propose a blue ribbon bipartisan panel with 2 Democrats, 2 Republicans and 1 independent, made up of former Presidents, governors and Congress persons widely respected for their adherence to legal principle over partisanship:

Ron Paul
Jimmy Carter
Jesse Ventura
Dennis Kucinich
Gary Johnson

If the legality of NSA snooping can be independently reviewed by them and pass Constitutional muster by a 5-0 vote, then let it proceed. I mean, if the NSA has nothing to hide, why would they care who is on the blue ribbon panel?

[Gindjurra]

Obama promised to run the most transparent administration ever. For certain values of transparent, anyway.

It seems the only thing that is the most transparent in history in his administration is his lies.

[Matrix]

Revenge porn should be illegal.
Probably worth debating.

[Tonio]

They don't call it ex-tube for nothing, you know. TFIBHAW

[Enough About Palin]

TFIBHAW

?????

[Rich]

That online users can claim a prurient interest in viewing sexual images does not transform them into a matter of legitimate public concern.

Um, what?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's lawyer talk. It means that just because you like spanking it to amateurs doesn't mean it should be a matter of law.

[Rich]

That's ridiculous.

*Everything* is a matter of law.

[Episiarch]

Don't let other people have naked pictures of you unless you have no problem with them possibly being released. So simple, really. I mean, taking responsibility for your own choices? Amazing!

[Duke]

But that would entail *gulp* personal responsibility. Obama assured us there would be none of that!

[Tonio]

That is so, like, unfair! What if they change their mind later?

[Killazontherun]

Are you implying that a woman giving consent at the time the picture was snapped and most likely taken before she took that second year class in Feminist Studies is more valid than the rightful aggrievement she'll feel about it once properly educated on the exploitation done to her? Misogynist!

[db]

Are you a fanof the Supreme Court's third party privacy policy?

[jesse.in.mb]

Easier fix: realize that the internet is a big place and it's highly unlikely that naked pictures of you will be seen by anybody you know.*

Alternate easy fix: have enough naked pictures of you floating around that you don't care if one more gets out.

*A student at my school pulled a Simon Rex and did a JO video for Sean Cody. Everyone did find out about that, but he was on a fairly major porn site.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

And so how many times have you watched it?

[jesse.in.mb]

He's possibly the least attractive model I've seen on Sean Cody. I saw it once out of curiosity and then several more times showing it to others to sate their curiosity.

The video is not sexy, which was deeply disappointing.

[Rasilio]

"Easier fix: realize that the internet is a big place and it's highly unlikely that naked pictures of you will be seen by anybody you know.*"

Except on some of these sites they don't just post the pics, they also include email addresses, phone numbers, facebook profile links, full names and towns they live in, etc.

So even if no one you know before the pics are posted see's them you're going to get contacted by tons of people who have.

[jesse.in.mb]

That's certainly a different case than just posting pics. I agree with your assessment below that harassment law would probably take care of that scenario though.

[hotsy totsy]

Just make sure the naked pictures of you are when you look GOOD...flat tummy, no cellulite, everything tight.

If it shows your butt sagging or cottage cheese thighs then you have a case to slap him to hell.

[Anonymous Coward]

So the shorthand is:

"I sent my ex some nudes. We broke up and he posted them online! How dare he!"

As the owner of said nudes, he should be able to do as he pleases with them.

Lesson: Stop sending nudes.

We done here?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Sounds like an endorsement of the "third party doctrine" to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not really. If you mail someone a letter, and they receive and open it, are you still the owner of the letter? No.

If you send your boyfriend titty pictures, he opens the email, and busts one to it, and saves it in his hard drive, is it still your picture? No.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

But what is it you think the third-party doctrine says, exactly?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is it even relevant to the topic?

[Doctor Whom]

Not really. If you mail someone a letter, and they receive and open it, are you still the owner of the letter? No.

They own the physical item, but you retain ownership of the intellectual property.

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the intellectual property severable from the physical object?

[Doctor Whom]

Yes. In the US at least, that's explicitly the law.

[PapayaSF]

Could the victims could use the tactic that they never signed a model release?

[Rasilio]

They probably could if they wanted to file a civil suit to get the images taken down, but then the suit would be a matter of public record.

[PapayaSF]

They might be able to avoid the Streisand Effect with just the threat of a lawsuit, though.

[Rasilio]

One thing everyone is overlooking here is there are basically 2 different forms of this.

In one, they post the pics maybe with a name attached and that is it. Maybe the girl finds out about it, maybe she doesn't but it is highly unlikely that it ever comes back to haunt her in any meaningful way.

In the second the pics are posted along with all of her contact information and now she is getting bombarded by requests for sex/more pics from every HNG (horney Net Geek) on the Web.

The two things are very different and should be treated as such legally.

In the first, sorry babe, you don't want the pics leaked don't take them and if it makes you feel bad that some 37 year old in his mom's basement in Dayton is jerking off to it then that's a you problem.

In the second I think laws making the act of posting the pictures along with the contact information fall under existing Harassment laws are just fine, I'd also be fine with giving the girls the ability to "charge" the website $10,000 a day that the pics and contact info are posted, and if the owners of the site cannot be found or will not respond to requests to take them down then the girl in question can take ownership of the domain and if possible the servers.

Basically, you can post pics of your ex and talk about what a slut Jennifer is but if you include her full name and/or contact info and you go to jail for harrassment and the owners of the site lose the site if they allow that info to go live.

[Derpetologist]

Classic Nutpunch-

Harry Browne on Drug War hypocrisy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMY8rIYLF-M

[Matrix]

There's something in the water...
Oklahoma town has blood worms in water supply
Cue the teenager girl.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Sir Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong at the North Pole

[Enough About Palin]

My barber's family is from New Zealand. Sir Edmond Hillary and his wife lived in the same town, so when my barber's family took him there for tea. Hillary was a most gracious man, as was his wife.

True story.

At my company, there's a painting of Mount Everest signed by Hillary out in the hallway.

True story

[trshmnstr]

Neil Armstrong was one of the coolest guys ever. I got to hear him speak when Armstrong Hall was dedicated at Purdue. For being shy and quiet, the man was a great orator, and made me feel like he was talking directly to me.

[Generic Stranger]

Hillary, legendary for being the first to scale Mount Everest with teammate Tenzing Norgay, was on board, and Armstrong was, too, saying he was curious to see what the North Pole looked like from ground level, as he'd only seen it from the moon.

Heh.

[Coeus]

Minimum wage is horrible!!!

From the comments:

Karak
August 29, 2013 at 11:55 am | Permalink | Reply
I've been working in fast food for years. At one point I was making $8.50 an hour, 28 hours a week, and I applied for food stamps because I was living off my credit cards and paying for my rent by cooking and cleaning for my roommate.

The food stamp people said they didn't consider my credit card payments, student loan payments, or outrageous cost of gas. Just my rent and dependents. I didn't qualify based on the fact my rent was "free". When I explained I was essentially homeless and working like an unpaid domestic worker for a bed to sleep in, the lady sighed and re-iterated I didn't qualify.

What. The. Fuck.

pheenobarbidoll
pheenobarbidoll
August 29, 2013 at 12:59 pm | Permalink | Reply
Learned long ago to lie to those people. You get your roommate to say you're paying rent( figure out what your domestic labor is worth). Sucks, but the system is set up to deny you.

Willemina
Willemina
August 29, 2013 at 1:03 pm | Permalink | Reply
I wish the fucked-uped-ness of your situation could be forged in to a hammer to poleaxe the critics of a living minimum wage.

If you make and serve food for a living, you should be able to afford to eat. .

[Episiarch]

Sucks, but the system is set up to deny you.

That is a feature, not a bug.

[Matrix]

28 hours a week? Fuck you! Get another part-time job.

[B.P.]

Related: Photos of lunatics rallying against fiscal reality:

http://photos.denverpost.com/2.....her-wages/

It's nice to see the chair of the NY City Council helping to lay siege to one of her constituent's businesses.

[Matrix]

picture number 5. Big black woman holding up a sign "I AM A MAN"

[Tonio]

I think it's a reference to when that slogan was used by blacks marching for civil rights. Man in the sense of human being.

[NoVAHockey]

I like number 7. that poor bastard behind the counter

[Matrix]

Easy... I'd tell them to leave the premises and call the cops if they did not.

[Rich]

This stuff may result in the unintended benefit of people avoiding that unhealthy fast food.

[Rhywun]

I'm going to avoid $10 Big Macs too.

[VG Zaytsev]

I bought McDonalds for breakfast and lunch to support them.

[Tonio]

That's some tasty derpitude. But then again you don't often find the best and brightest folks working minimum wage jobs into adulthood.

[Pro Libertate]

What bullshit, anyway. How many fast-food workers aren't unskilled kids? How many don't work full-time? Etc., etc., etc.

Not to mention, why should I have to fund their lifestyle? Go get a marketable skill, stop voting for people who are destroying any hope of economic growth, etc., etc., etc.

[Rich]

PL, I find that arguing along the lines of your last paragraph generally results in a response like "I'm not even going to go there" or "You can't even begin to appreciate what these people are up against".

[Pro Libertate]

Then start a charity.

[Rich]

Exactly my "rebuttal".

[Pro Libertate]

What's funny is that, unlike most libertarians I know, I'm pretty empathic. But empathy or not, I don't believe it's practical to throw money at people, nor is it moral to take money from some and give it to others. Therefore, charity.

[trshmnstr]

Amen. To add to that, why don't we shift our monetary and governmental policies so that the buying power of a minimum wage job isn't undercut by all the BS that they're doing to try to keep the Titanic afloat?

[Joe M]

Also, what's this 28hrs/wk bullshit? Get a second fucking job.

[RBS]

Yeah, the time spent coooking and cleaning for the roomate could be spent working for actual pay. Also, no, you are not "essentially homeless."

[Dweebston]

Cooking a meal? Cleaning an apartment you've presumably kept tidy, if for no other reason than to make life easier for yourself since you're tasked with doing it? That's not a full workweek, honey. That's several hours of menial, low-impact labor. Congratulations, you're now working nearly 90% of a full-time job.

[Tejicano]

Yeah, by the time I leave the office on Wednesday evening I've put in more hours than that. I can heardly imagine what I would do if I had that much extra time off.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

I can heardly imagine what I would do if I had that much extra time off.

Beat Fist to the punch with witty comments?

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

One of the comments I read today on this story went along the lines of "at least slaves got free room and board".

[Episiarch]

Slaves probably had more marketable skills.

[Pro Libertate]

In ancient Rome, they had some seriously well-educated slaves. For instance, Stoic philosopher Epictetus was a slave. Kids in Roman households were regularly taught by slaves.

For that matter, the imperial bureaucracy was largely made up by freedmen (ex-slaves) when it was first created.

[Tonio]

Some (in the US) did; others didn't.

[JW]

Slaves probably had more marketable skills.

And they didn't whine as much.

[Michael]

One of the comments I read today on this story went along the lines of "at least slaves got free room and board".

What I've been seeing lately is acknowledgement of the fact that younger workers would be effectively priced out of the market if a $15/hr minimum wage is ever enacted. Their response? Well...ummm...then we should just have a separate minimum wage for high school-aged workers.

Basically, three cheers for inequality and age discrimination! Sometimes I love nothing more than watching proglodytes twist themselves into rhetorical pretzels in response to their ridiculous ideological positions being shot full of holes.

[SweatingGin]

Well...ummm...then we should just have a separate minimum wage for high school-aged workers.

I hadn't seen that, but that's great.

'Cause a lower tier minimum wage for the young would drive the old useless people out of fast food, replaced by teenagers, who could then get skills (ya'know, like they used to).

I suppose then the people who are out protesting now (since they won't be worth employing at $15) can then protest for some kind of make-work. Maybe be paid protestors.

[NeonCat]

Look, if we keep tinkering with reality enough eventually we'll get it just right.

[Tejicano]

If you're going to quote Mao you should at least give him credit.

[Irish]

At one point I was making $8.50 an hour, 28 hours a week, and I applied for food stamps because I was living off my credit cards and paying for my rent by cooking and cleaning for my roommate.

Twenty eight hours a week? It's hard right now to find a full time job, but you really couldn't get a second part time job?

[JW]

Working only one job is an inalienable human right.

Now, GIMMEEGIMMEEGIMMEE.

[Matrix]

working only one part-time job, even!

[Bobarian]

"said they didn't consider my credit card payments, student loan payments, or outrageous cost of gas."

Maybe you should go back to school on more student loans and finish your basket weaving and hamburger flipping degree, and everything will magically get better.

/Obama economic recovery plan

[Certified Public Asskicker]

God I can't wait for machines to replace these whiny fucks. We have to be pretty close, right?

[Irish]

If they get a $15 minimum wage it will happen tomorrow.

[Pro Libertate]

I said exactly that to my wife earlier today when discussing this whole nonsense. We're slowly heading that direction, anyway, but it will accelerate if wages are artificially increased that much.

[JW]

Were I in that business, I would have made it clear to employees that anyone who didn't turn up for their shift today, would be seeking a $15/hour job elsewhere.

[Pro Libertate]

Perfectly legal, too.

[Killazontherun]

Willemina

I wish the fucked-uped-ness of your situation could be forged in to a hammer to poleaxe the critics of a living minimum wage.

Oh, Willemina, you poor ignorant slut, there is nothing I want more than you to attempt to initiate violence on me.

[Anonymous Coward]

At one point I was making $8.50 an hour, 28 hours a week, and I applied for food stamps because I was living off my credit cards and paying for my rent by cooking and cleaning for my roommate.

Come talk to me when you're at least working 40 hours a week for $8.00 unloading Chinese merchandise for WallyWorld.

[CE]

Minimum wage is horrible, but not for the reason they think.

[Invisible Finger]

I realize 12K a year isn't much, but let's see....

This person's annual rent: menial chores around the house (aka zero dollars)

Daily food budget (including discounted meals at employer): $5K

That leaves $7K for clothing and transportation annually. If you're spending more than $3K on transportation for a part-time job and $2K on clothing you're doing something wrong.

What's that you say? You say that's $12K BEFORE TAXES?

OH!! Then your problem isn't your wages, it's the insanely high taxation!!

[Atanarjuat]

I'm sure they pay some taxes here and there, but keep in mind if they are over 25, the EITC puts $3500 in their bank account every April 15. So it's more like $15.5K/year.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I ate at McDonalds today just to give these morons a big long distance FU.

[Rich]

The panel established by the White House to review federal surveillance turns out to be packed with policy insiders closely connected to current snooping practices.

Paging Gomer Pyle ....

[gaijin]

crap! how'd you get down here with that comment before mine upstream?

[Rich]

*Weird*, huh?

[Matrix]

Guy kills wife to end her cancer pain
Terminal patient. He says she asked him to end her pain permanently.

I sympathize with the guy, and compassionate assisted-suicide should be legal. But, you better get documentation, either video or written permission.

[Tonio]

Even if he had, remember what they did to Jack Kevorkian.

[Art Vandelay]

Or at least fake a crisis and have the SWAT team kill her.

[NeonCat]

"Here, honey, point the gun at the door when you hear them smash in."

[Coeus]

But to be sure, you'd have to dress her up like a dog. And that's just undignified.

[db]

There is no way I could ever bring myself to shoot a loved one in the face.

[Matrix]

Yeah... me neither. I'd probably have them OD on something like sleeping pills or something less violent.

[Anonymous Coward]

Documentation doesn't matter. Peasants don't have the right to kill other peasants without the sovereign's permission.

[Matrix]

Man shoots arrow with marijuana attached into Washington Jail
Well, that is a creative way to do it, I suppose.

[NeonCat]

And if he had stolen it from a police evidence locker veritably he'd be a modern day Robin Hood.

[PapayaSF]

No wonder he missed: he should have attached it near the head. In the middle of the shaft it will hit the bow when shot.

[B.P.]

What about all that dynamite the Dukes of Hazzard used to strap to their arrows? That really happened, right?

[CE]

Yeah, but blowing stuff up was just a misdemeanor in Hazzard COunty...

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Earth life 'may have come from Mars'

[Fist of Etiquette]

Did they even have fig leaves on Mars?

[Pro Libertate]

What, this is news? Did Mars life exit the heliosphere before coming here, too?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Life here began out there.

[Brandon]

We could ask the Old Ones.

[Killazontherun]

No intent whatsoever to imply creationism in what I'm saying here, but if you have to reach as far as Mars to explain a discrepancy in the model because the ingredients in your model don't quite add up, the fault is most likely in the model itself. It's most likely not complete at this point. This is literally saying, 'look over there!' A distraction instead of outlining a problem which should be the point of focus. That's how how they treated disputed claims, contradictory evidence and controversial theories back in the great neo-Darwinist period.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, there is some support for at least the possibility of panspermia--it's not just something being made up to fill some theoretical holes. Whether it actually happened here or not is a whole 'nother question.

[Killazontherun]

I actually enjoy metaphysical speculation in spite of my temperament. It can be stimulating in the sense of a puzzle, and takes some imagination to be really good at it. As reality becomes better understood, at some point even tangible proofs become possible. Cosmology as a field was exactly this process taking place. Much of it is what we previously labeled metaphysical, like the shape of the universe, or the question of what is there beyond space, that you see in the oldest Greek texts on metaphysics, the study of dark energy is busy solving that.

However, that's the key, reality has to be better understood at an empirical, provable level before you can even approach that step you suggest of tying biological systems to an axiomatic function of the universe. You may get there some day, but it will only come about when we unravel the physical universe through empirical means.

[Coeus]

I'd say that there's more evidence of panspermia than the primordial earth ooze + lightening theory.

[BigT]

You would be wrong.

[CE]

Yeah, this is like saying the ancient Egyptians couldn't have built the pyramids with what we know of their technology, so they must have had help from aliens.

[Matrix]

Woman's possessions trashed after bank sends repo men to the wrong house (even the wrong town)
This is a different story than the one last month.

[Ted S.]

Procedures were followed; nothing else happened.

Oh wait, this wasn't done by cops. Scratch that.

[Leigh]

Yeah, and you can pretty much guarantee that she'll get a nice hefty check in the end. Even though it isn't criminal, I'm sure the bank would be settling real soon - a lawsuit would not end nicely for the bank if they don't.

[Tonio]

IANAL, but, yes, criminal if they had the wrong house. B&E, vandalism, etc. Whether the local prosecutor charges them is another matter.

[Agammamon]

Mens Rea comes into this for criminality - they didn't *intend* to break in and take everything from their house, it was a clerical error.

So I'd say that yes, its not a criminal matter (though I do think she'd have been justified in shooting them as they were taking stuff but that's just me - I have no appreciation of the value of human life) but it is a pretty hefty civil matter.

If I were her, I'd just sue the shit out of the repo company and offer to settle for a lesser (but not 0) amount if they cough up the bank. Then sue the shit out of the bank.

[VG Zaytsev]

Mens Rea comes into this for criminality - they didn't *intend* to break in and take everything from their house,

Sure they did.

it was a clerical error.

Tough shit.

Someone is responsible for this and should be held criminally liable. "Oh it was just a clerical error" doesn't mean jack shit.

[Agammamon]

Or, they'll do like the bank from last month did - "I ain't paying retail for your stuff".

[Matrix]

She'll probably have a difficult time proving damages. And then, they may only pay depreciated cost, which means she'll likely not get much of it back.

[Pro Libertate]

The life of a repo man is always intense.

[db]

+ 100 normal fucking people

[BakedPenguin]

Bud: The guys that make it are the guys that get in their cars at any time. Get in at 3am, get up at 4. That's why there aint a repo man I know that don't take speed.

Otto: Speed huh?

[Pro Libertate]

Credit is a sacred trust, it's what our free society is founded on. Do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia? I said, do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia?

[BakedPenguin]

I don't want any commies riding in my car.

Christians, neither!

[Pro Libertate]

Duke: The lights are growing dim Otto. I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am.

Otto: That's bullshit. You're a white suburban punk just like me.

Duke: Yeah, but it still hurts.

[rts]

Immigrants a 'fiscal burden,' Fraser Institute report suggests

A new report suggests immigrants are imposing a "fiscal burden" of about $20 billion a year on Canadian taxpayers and recommends a number of radical changes to the country's immigration selection process, including bringing an end to the sponsorship of parents and grandparents.

[Matrix]

The 2nd Amendment it not your gun permit
I agree with just about everything he said. The Consitution did not grant us rights. I merely acknowledges them and tells the government that it is not allowed to infringe upon them.

[NeonCat]

So, the Constitution isn't the supreme law of the land unless it is, which in this case it isn't, so you shouldn't think that just because an Amendment says you can keep and bear arms that you can, you know, keep and bear arms.

[Tonio]

Resonable and necessary, commerce claus, emanumbras and penations...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dead white slaveowners could not have possibly foreseen a gun that fires a round every time you squeeze the trigger.

Ban it.

[Matrix]

50 Years after the march and white people are still a disgrace
From the comments: We, as white people, should perform self-genocide - either by interracial marriage or just dying childless. We are inherently wicked, and every evil in the modern world (e.g. capitalism) can be traced to our accursed genes. This article nails it. How any white person can't hate themselves is beyond me, and the fact that I do hate my own kind just proves that I at least have a modicum of decency - not that that will ever make up for all the damage I and my ancestors have done to the good peoples of the planet.

Eventually, there won't be any white people left, and this world will finally be a happy place.
WARNING: It's Gawker

[Episiarch]

You...you're actually asking us to read an egregiously self-hating Gawker article? You know that's a direct insult, right?

[Matrix]

feel the burn!

[T]

Wow. Somebody finally figured out how to insult Epi. Good job, Matrix.

[Episiarch]

Well, I meant it was a direct insult to normal people. Well, as normal as you guys can be.

[BakedPenguin]

"Look at those assholes, ordinary fucking people. I hate 'em"

[Certified Public Asskicker]

At least I got a nice lol when I clicked the article and saw the picture.

[gaijin]

Um, why wait? He could start a trend right now...if he had the courage of his convictions that is.

[Pro Libertate]

How about we narrow that down to the white people who write for digital rags like Gawker?

[NeonCat]

Now I want to have children just to spite them.

[Matrix]

Have more than like 4, and they will probably have aneurysms.

[Irish]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Irish]

I can't be the only one who doesn't even get angry about this stuff anymore, right? These people are so pathetic, so irrational, and so clearly emotionally unstable that I'm too busy laughing to get mad at their vile, violent and often disturbing beliefs.

I mean, this person approvingly quotes Mencken:

This is 90 years after H.L. Mencken diagnosed the "hereditary cowardice" of Americans who identified as "Anglo-Saxon" and wrote:

The normal American of the "pure-blooded" majority goes to rest every night with an uneasy feeling that there is a burglar under the bed, and he gets up every morning with a sickening fear that his underwear has been stolen.

In the intervening years, the white American race has expanded its boundaries beyond self-styled Anglo-Saxons and Nordics to include such formerly inferior or untrustworthy strains as the Irish, the Italians, or even the Jews. But the fundamentally defective character of white Americans has not changed; if anything, it has gotten worse.

Is he so stupid that he doesn't realize that Mencken's primary target was left-wing dipshits like him?

[NeonCat]

Yes, yes he is.

[Episiarch]

I also don't get angry, though I do find their increasing calls to violence disturbing. But my question is: why do people keep posting links to what is essentially the same fucking bullshit every day? We get it. They're idiots. Can we talk about something interesting now?

[NeonCat]

How about growing the best MJ in America?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Nah -- it's just amusing.

Now if these people actually had the power that they like to think they have...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah...I'm not giving Gawker clicks. Or fucks.

But if the self-loathing dipshit wants to off himself for his genetic uncleanliness (you know who else wanted to kill the racially impure?), I fully support him in his efforts to make the world a better place for a lack of him.

[PapayaSF]

So, self-hatred is good for whites, but bad for gays, the obese, and everyone else....

[CatoTheElder]

Is the Gawker website supposed to be something like The Onion?

I don't think its very funny. The humor is just too dry and verbose.

[CE]

So, liberal self-loathing is real?

[Calidissident]

I wouldn't be shocked if the person who wrote that was a black (or other non-white) person pretending to be white. It's just so ridiculously self-loathing and pathetic. But I wouldn't be shocked if it was real either. People like that do exist.

[Tejicano]

Having "process design" as a career skill I just want somebody to hammer out just what the specific, quantified goals should be to achieve racial equality.

It seems to me that we reached a general state in US society where things are greatly improved - not just in comparison the the 1950's but even as compared to the 1970's. But there is always somebody out there for whom it could never be enough.

When too many "white people" start to think this way a lot of them will just get tired of the game.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Kentucky man claims to have killed his wife at her behest as she was dying of breast cancer

A Kentucky man who says he killed his cancer-stricken wife at her request reportedly called police to confess just minutes after the shooting.
Ernest Chris Chumbley told a 911 dispatcher in Laurel County he shot his wife, Virginia Chumbley, twice in the face early Wednesday morning with a .32 caliber handgun.

According to CBS affiliate WKYT, Chumbley shot his wife because she was terminally ill with breast cancer and she had asked him to "stop her pain."

Chumbley cries throughout the 16-minute 911 call and says his wife had an appointment with her cancer doctor scheduled for the morning. At one point, he asks the dispatcher if he can go see his wife's body in the bedroom, but he is told not to move.

[Matrix]

you're late by 2 mintutes

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Study: Link Found Between Losing Sports Teams, Heavier Fans

At least Browns players should be in good enough shape to handle the extra weight when serving as your pall bearers, so they can let you down "one last time".

[Palin's Buttplug]

Probably a coincidence and not causality.

Blue states tend to win more and have long had fitter inhabitants.

[Andrew S.]

Derp.

[gaijin]

BUt, what about blue cities?

[Palin's Buttplug]

New York, Chicago, Boston, LA, and San Fran just win more in every sport.

Even post NFL parity.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

LA is favored to win the Super Bowl this year.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I'll take those odds.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Green Bay.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Minnesota......

[Palin's Buttplug]

Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, New Orleans, Houston - all loser towns.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

You DO understand that with major league sports drafts, where players wind up and where they were born/raised have zero relationship, right?

[Palin's Buttplug]

That is irrelevant when you are measuring the FANS and their comparative fitness related to their sports teams.

Boston wins more, their fans are fitter, ergo your study is accurate.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Boston wins more, their fans are fitter, ergo your study is accurate.

Boston got a huge break w/ a 6th round QB. You, of course, are all for Maoist 'motivational exercises' in the morning since our bodies belong to The State.

Most 'fitness' rankings are based on whether govt programs exist (i.e. a bias toward 'blue' cities) or BS like restaurant to health club ratios.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Fitness measures are tied to weight. Red States have fatter inhabitants according to studies I have seen.

[Floridian]

A latter study came out and found that respondents in the south were more honest about their weights than other regions. I think they discovered that when they referenced surveys results vs actual measurements. Also weight and BMI aren't good measures of fitness. 5'8" and 180 can either be a fat ass or a beef cake.

[Brandon]

Exactly. If it's in Houston, he's a fat ass, if it's in Boston he's a beef cake.

-Buttplug.

[CE]

I'd like to see all the pro sports leagues do away with the commie draft and salary caps, and let the uber rich owners go all to win. If some owners or cities can't compete, let some rich dude in another city buy them out. Stop coddling small towns and rewarding poor performance.

[Agammamon]

Ah, I think I see the connection - Blue towns tend to be pussy enough to allow their local politicians to steal more of their money and funnel it to the local team, allowing the owner to afford to buy better players.

Towns like Houston tend to allow their citizens to keep more of the state's money.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

So Atlanta's MLB winning, the Cowboys in the 70s/90s, the SEC vs. the Ivys in football, Houston's back to back NBA championships, Dallas' championship, the Spurs run thru the NBA, Arizon'a success at the end of Warner's career all prove the wonderfulness of all things buttplug?

[Brandon]

To be fair, Houston's back to back NBA championships were only because MJ got was on double-secret suspension for 2 years.

[Boisfeuras]

Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, New Orleans, Houston - all loser towns.

Every one of those towns is Democrat run, and most have been since Reconstruction.

[Ted S.]

Believe it or not, a study published Monday in a Psychological Science found that after a sports team loses, fans of that team eat 16 percent more saturated fats than they usually do.

Fans of winning teams apparently are getting thinner, too. The study found the winning fans ate 9 percent less saturated fat.

Sure, tie weight gain to saturated fat, not carb-loading.

[T]

I drink more when my team loses. I'm unable to notice a correlation with saturated fat.

[Bobarian]

If I were a Cleveland fan I'd probably drink saturated fat... or drano.

[SIV]

Stymied by congressional and public opposition to further restrictions on guns, the Obama administration unilaterally tightened firearms regulations.

Now I'll have to move if I want to buy a suppressor.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Noted whacko Glenn Beck to fire any employee that buys a fluorescent light bulb.

"I am dead serious," he said, admittedly while laughing. "I fire the person that starts to purchase fluorescent light bulbs unless that is the only light bulb for a specific reasons and I want to be CC'ed on what that reason is."

He further added "If you're doing anything in this company because of global warming, you're fired?Global warming is a pile of crap?a load of socialist, communist crap."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mi.....cyclables/

[jesse.in.mb]

Beck may be onto something. Why is his staff buying CFLs when they can pick up something like Philips HUE?

CFLs are soooo 2003.

[Agammamon]

You know what sucks about CFL's? If you buy the wrong color they're too damn expensive to just go back to the store to get another one.

And they gouge you by not selling singles anymore - doubles so you spend 12 fucking dollars on two bulbs, one of which you'll have lost by the time you need it.

So fuck you, saving the planet my arse.

[Atanarjuat]

How about the fact that they contain toxic mercury and require special methods for disposal and for cleanup if one breaks.

I'd like to shake the hand of the person who convinced America that CFLs are good for the environment.

[CE]

CFLs suck.

[Raven Nation]

LEDs, on the other hand, are pretty good. Still expensive, but the light is better, and they do last a long time - at least in my narrow, unofficial study.

[rts]

Syria military mission not planned by Canada, Harper says

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada has no plans for a military mission of its own in Syria, although the government supports its allies and has been convinced of the need for "forceful action."

[CE]

What's wrong with "stern condemnation"?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

New Jersey court says someone who knowingly sends a text to a person driving can be held liable for causing an accident

A New Jersey court says a person who knowingly sends a text to a driver can share liability if the driver causes an accident.

Tuesday's ruling came in the case of a couple severely injured when their motorcycle was hit by a teenager who was texting while driving in 2009.

The injured couple settled their lawsuit against the driver for $500,000. They also sued his girlfriend, who sent him a text message.

The appeals court says someone who texts a motorist can potentially be liable if the sender knew the recipient would view the text while driving.

Nevertheless, the judges upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed the lawsuit against the girlfriend. The court says the couple didn't show evidence that the girl knew her boyfriend was driving or would look at her text.

[Rich]

Yet another reason to never set foot in New Jersey.

[Ted S.]

The AM Links thread let you down one last time.

[Episiarch]

Hey, you have to expand the pool of potential people to sue. It's a trial lawyer's prerogative.

[Agammamon]

So what about if you send a text to someone who *could* view the text while driving?

I mean that's the next logical step right?

If you are now being held responsible for someone else's behavior.

[Rich]

Cameron was forced into an awkward climbdown on Wednesday when the opposition Labour party and lawmakers in his own party said they wanted more evidence

"An awkward climbdown"? Where exactly was he making his case?

[CampingInYourPark]

Obviously he was in the process of a climbdown from the redline.

[Agammamon]

See, that's exactly why Oimabomya can't go asking congress for permission - they might say no and then he'd look weak.

[Rich]

And if *he* had to do a climbdown -- RACIST!

[CE]

He had already climbed the beanstalk to fight the giant, but then his Mommy told him he didn't have permission.

[Ted S.]

The life of a journeyman tennis player

(Unless I screwed up the link, it should be to the single-page version.)

[Episiarch]

Russell's earned $220,000

Not too shabby. There's a reason the lower tier of the professional tennis circuit is still populated. There are a ton of tournaments and lots of prize money to win.

[Ted S.]

Yeah, but there's also how much you have to spend on travel. Last I read, $200K/year was about the break even point.

(Russell's figure was from before the US Open. Getting ranked high enough to get direct entry into the four Slams is huge.)

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, it's not cheap. I used to work with a guy who had been at the lower end of the PGA tour, and he quit precisely because of the expense. And I believe he placed in a few minor matches.

[Episiarch]

True, but if you can consistently place, you should be able to make enough to cover it.

His other option, since he's never done anything else, it to go be an instructor/pro. And most instructors are not exactly living the high life.

[Ted S.]

Tennis tournaments, of course, are knockout events, so if you lose in the opening round, you have to figure out what to do for the rest of the week.

[CE]

Fortunately there are a lot of other tennis players who also lost in the early rounds in the other bracket.

[BakedPenguin]

Epi, you (and other tennis fans) might like Short Circuit (no, not the Steve Gutenberg movie). It's about men's tennis in the 1980's. The digital version is $5, but if you wanted, you could probably find the paper one on eBay for less.

[Pro Libertate]

I liked the fake Indian in that movie.

[Coeus]

Found by perusing links posted in the comments this morning:

You know, there's a lot of whining that Rebecca Watson or myself have claimed that TAM is unsafe, a claim that we actually haven't made at all. To the contrary, we've both supported TAM and encouraged people to attend. But we've also asked that it be better, and I do give DJ credit ? it has improved in the representation of women speakers during his tenure.
But if you're looking to pin the blame on people who have said TAM isn't a good place for women, who might be spreading the word that women shouldn't attend, you might want to start with people who declare that women ought to "expect to be hit on".
Some people seem confused by the phrase "safe space". They seem to be unaware of the fact that in English, one word in context can modify the meaning of another: like "parkway" is actually a place where cars drive, rather than park.

Just forget you ever heard all the screaming and knashing of teeth about "rape" and "sexual assault". It was all in your heads.

[Agammamon]

'. . . who declare that women ought to "expect to be hit on"'

How horrible for those women, imagine taking a trip to someplace away from home with a bunch of other people doing the same and having people make passes at you.

[Agammamon]

The problem I have with taking this sort of thing seriously is that too often the phrase 'hitting on' (being used in a bad sense) runs the gamut from someone asking if you'd like to go out for a drink to someone grabbing your arse, sticking his tongue in your ear, and asking if you want to go back to his hotel and screw.

If you're definition of bad is that broad then I'm just going to stop taking you seriously.

[NeonCat]

Cutting edge tech, 1983 edition.

[Ted S.]

But it doesn't feature Bill Cosby.

[CE]

Don't knock the engineering geezers. In 1972, they could still put a man on the moon. We have no clue how to do it now.

[Generic Stranger]

Nah, we could due it fairly easy. We just don't have the political will to spend several billion on the project.

Hell, this year a private company called Dynetics, with the help of NASA and Rocketdyne, the original manufacturer, went and took the F-1 rocket engine that powered the Saturn V down to its component pieces and figured out how to rebuild them. They even tweaked the design to be somewhat better.

Once you have the engines working, the rest isn't quite as hard. And we have much better computers to run this stuff, as well.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Michael Keaton gives Ben Affleck his blessing to be Batman

Keaton is still the best live-action Batman, IMO.

[Matrix]

I think it's close between Keaton and Bale.

But... who would you have for best Batman... Conroy or Keaton?

The worst, by far, is Clooney. At least Adam West's Batman was meant to not be taken seriously.

[DJF]

The Adam West version was the only one with the proper sound effects.

BAM, BIFF, BOFF, CLANG, etc

http://www.batmania.com.ar/pag.....ntidad.htm

He also wore his underwear on the outside in proper superhero fashion.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Conroy is still the best overall. Just the way he makes Bruce Wayne different from Batman in his voice is very impressive.

The brilliance of Batman: TAS is that they had the actors record their lines together, so Kevin Conroy would react to Mark Hamill's lines as the Joker and so on.

[Episiarch]

I'm actually surprised how much hate I've seen directed at the Tim Burton Batman. It's an excellent movie.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

He definitely nailed the dark and Gothic feel of Gotham and the comics, but casting Nicholson as the Joker may have been a mistake. You don't want your villain to upstage the lead actor.

And then there was that bullshit with Alfred letting Kim Basinger into the Batcave which would never happen.

[Episiarch]

Sure, but it was still a Burton movie back when Burton was great. And I guess you can't help it when Jack Nicholson does what you hired him to do: be Jack Nicholson.

[db]

The Joke is bound to upstage Batman every time. Ledger's performance was stellar.

[Episiarch]

The Joker is an inherently more interesting character than Batman, and good actors realize that.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The Joker will always be more engaging than Batman, but with Nicholson you were aware you were watching Jack Nicholson chew scenery and act all crazy.

Ledger pulled you into the film, Nicholson pulled you out.

[Episiarch]

I disagree. The whole point of Nicholson's Joker was that he was fucking insane. Like, really detached from reality insane (Ledger's Joker was more psychotic than detached from reality). To me, there was an element with Nicholson's Joker where he kind of didn't grasp the ramifications of fucking with Batman, whereas Ledger's specifically did and wanted to.

[db]

You're right here. The two Jokers are different characters, or at least driven by different psychological issues. I think both are excellent portrayals of the same basic character, which is someome so crazy most people are afraid to stand in his way. They're just insane in different ways. Ledger's version was more explicitly suicidal, where Nicholson's really didn't expect to be beaten, and probably had no concept of what death was. It's the difference between two murderers facing the death penalty pleading insanity: one is quite clearly wilfully dangerous and maliciously insane where the other is perhaps pitiably unaware of the nature of his crimes.

[Matrix]

Well, that happened with The Dark Knight. I had my doubts about Heath Ledger, as a lot of people did, but he nailed that one out of the park... hell, out of the fucking state. It was a phenomenal performance. He had the best performance in that movie.

[Pro Libertate]

Lead villains are often the scene-stealers. Ask Darth Vader. I mean, the original one, not the punk kid.

[JW]

But, Anakin is so dreamy, with his strangled acting and his one-dimensional physical presence!

[Lady Bertrum]

Anakin wasn't dreamy. Damn, that kid could whine and his face was completely punchable.

[Pro Libertate]

Still liked him in Shattered Glass. Did Lucas just destroy him, or was that just one of those roles that happened to work with this particular actor?

[Lady Bertrum]

Can't recall the name of the movie, he played a time/distance traveler leaping from place to place. He did a good job and redeemed himself as an actor for me.

[Pro Libertate]

Warty Hugeman and the Whores of Tomorrow?

[Agammamon]

Jumper and that movie was meh. Not even Samuel Motherfucking L Jackson was anything but mediocre in it.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

After watching all three Plinkett Red Letter Media Reviews I'm convinced it's unfair to blame Christensen.

You look at the behind the scenes footage and you realize that Lucas offered zero direction and treated the actors as props. Plus it's hard to act when you're surrounded by blue and green screens and only have like 10 feet of stage to work with.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

As I said above, who you cast can make a huge difference. Ledger disappeared into the Joker role, with Nicholson you were just watching Jack Nicholson with make-up be funny and psychotic.

Entertaining, but you sacrifice verisimilitude.

[Killazontherun]

I hated Nicholson as the Joker. Michael Keaton what the only thing about that movie that wasn't tiresome or predictable or too cute by half.

[Bobarian]

Keaton was a real surprise in that movie, up to then he was just a decent comedic actor in shit like Johnny Dangerously (Jue fargin icehole)

[Agammamon]

Except that's the only thing you can *do* in a Batman movie - Batman himself is not really very interesting and its the villians that make the movie.

Its why the Burton's first two BM were good (Joker, Penguin, and even Pfeiffer's Catwoman were good) and the rest sucked.

Its why Batman Begins was meh, Dark Night was fuck-awesome, and Dark Knight Rises was meh.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Put it this way: Keaton was the better Batman. His costume, voice, and mannerisms were perfect and you could see why criminals would be terrified of him.

Bale was the better Bruce Wayne. He had the acting chops to pull you into his tormented mind. The Dark Knight worked so well because Bale did a great job showing the decay of Bruce Wayne as he endures the Joker's reign of terror and its consequences.

[CE]

Batman Begins was great. They went downhill from there.

[db]

It really is, but some Bale fanbois seem to be blind to its greatness.

[Matrix]

I love the film. I think it is great. The 2nd one is decent. I think the Val Kilmer one is barely passable, but George Clooney's Batman is an absolute abomination.

[JW]

It's an excellent movie.

Oh, that movie about The Joker? It's OK.

My problem with it is that Miller's The Dark Knight Returns had come out not too long before the movie. I went opening night expecting more of that and walked out sorely disappointed.

Never did I realize that I'd have to wait 25 years to see that movie.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Matt Damon Defends Ben Affleck's Batman: 'You Know, He's Not Playing King Lear'

[Palin's Buttplug]

Not a compliment at all.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

E.J. Coughlin ?@ejc 22 Aug

Please cast Jennifer Lopez as Catwoman. If it's gonna go down in flames, light it with a blowtorch. #BATFLECK

Christina Li ?@kuhrissteenerli 27 Aug

For someone who lives under a rock, I just caught up on my social media. Stop making fun of Miley Cyrus. She's gonna make a great Batman.

[Calidissident]

I would be so down with J.Lo being Catwoman, just to see DAT ASS in tight leather pants

[NeonCat]

Ben Affleck: "Thank you?!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Matt Damon Defends Ben Affleck's Batman: 'You Know, He's Not Playing King Lear'

Pray thee, gentle reader, think not poorly of this humble writer and his vulgar pen, but tis whispered in alehouses and privy councils that Matt of Damon does use the beasts of the field, especially the guileless sheep, as a man might use a common strumpet.

[Agammamon]

MATT DAMON! SHAKY-CAM!

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Have you done the monkey tail?

[Rich]

Please remind me. Is it clockwise gay, or ...?

[Lady Bertrum]

Because women find men who make their mouths look like monkey ass so very attractive.

[Generic Stranger]

Whoah, Google.ca is fucking old-school.

[Rhywun]

Surprisingly, a search for "punchface" yields the exact same results.

[Derpetologist]

1977: Leonard Nimoy speculates about a coming Ice Age

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_861us8D9M

[Pro Libertate]

Is that from In Search of. . .? I loved that show as a kid, probably mostly because he narrated it.

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

I got his autograph in 1972 when my mom was DNC chairman for Oregon and he stopped in to campaign for McGovern. I was like 6 and pretty blown away by the fact that Spock was a normal human. And then I somehow managed to lose the autograph damnit.

[Pro Libertate]

I saw him and Shatner at the only convention I ever went to. It was in Minneapolis back in '90-91.

[Lady Bertrum]

"...the only convention I ever went to..."

Yeah, sure.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

He means the only one he went to that weekend

[Pro Libertate]

Nope, that's it. I'd have gone to others, I'm sure, but never did.

[NeonCat]

There's still time. You can go to Dragon*con in Atlanta this weekend.

[Pro Libertate]

It's too late for me, my son. I have kids and an empire to run and stuff.

[kinnath]

In the mid-70s, Time magazine ran a cover story that basically said "oh my fucking god -- we're all going to die". I remember it.

[Derpetologist]

So do Penn & Teller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v4Q9Wv10Ho

[CE]

And it's probably still true. Unless some of us manage to live forever.

[Steve G]

The poster boy for the military's sexual assault "epidemic" isn't even going to be charged w/ sexual assault... Now that he's been raked through the coals, I wonder (rhetorically of course) if he'll even get so much as an apology.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/a.....3308270033

[Coeus]

Also found from links in comments this morning:Are harassment policies sex negative?

Alcohol is often a factor in consent. Drunk people can't consent by law and that leads to a ton of rapes that neither party may ever consider rape. It also leads to a ton of rapes where only one party considers the sex rape. It is still rape. Rape with no clear line to define it. I mean, if I had a few mixed drinks while an experienced drinker did the same, I am definitely drunk while my drinking partner is not. I have little tolerance for alcohol. Others have a strong tolerance and we can't expect breathalyzer tests before fucking. So how do we know when someone is "too drunk for consent?" We don't actually. We have to rely whether the victim interprets it as rape. That means that yes there may be times that people abuse the honor system of victim defined rape but the burden of proof and a system heavily stacked against rape victims stand in strong opposition to such efforts. This is the option with the greatest potential for minimizing harm, at least until someone comes up with something better.

Get that? The price we pay for making buyer's remorse rape is that occasionally someone will lie about actually having remorse. But it's the best system we've got.

[Rich]

Short answer: No, harassment policies are sex neutral at worst and sex positive at best.

I probably need to explain some things before that makes sense.

Right, but I don't care enough to continue.

[Thane runs off sobbing]

It also leads to a ton of "rapes" where neither party considers the sex rape, FWIW.

[Calidissident]

By her logic, almost every douchebag frat guy in the country is a rape victim

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Ex-girlfriend of Kim Jong-un has been executed by firing squad

[NeonCat]

Most people settle for unfriending on Facebook. Kim Jong-un is not most people.

Probably doesn't even have Facebook.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Titan is a strange world

Now, a team of scientists from the University of California at Santa Cruz are throwing a new wrinkle into the story, published Wednesday in Nature. What if Titan's crust isn't thin and brittle like an eggshell, but thick and firm, with humongous mountains floating over its subsurface ocean? What does that do to the implications for lakes, subsurface seas, and life?

It started when Cassini had made enough passes by Titan to generate a reasonably complete topography and gravity map of the moon's surface. Since Cassini is orbiting Saturn, and only occasionally swinging near Titan, it has taken the better part of a decade to brush past Titan close enough, often enough, to gather the necessary data.

And when scientists looked at the results, they were baffled.

"Normally, if you fly over a mountain, you expect to see an increase in gravity due to the extra mass of the mountain. On Titan, when you fly over a mountain the gravity gets lower. That's a very odd observation," said Francis Nimmo, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) and one of the lead scientists on the team, in a press release.

I hope to live to see the day when we can land something on Titan.

[Pro Libertate]

Titan and one of the ice worlds, like Europa or Enceladus.

[Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)]

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT URANUS BECAUSE WE LOVE POTTY HUMOR, LOL, REPEAT...

[db]

ATTEMPT NO PENETRATIONS THERE

[Rhywun]

... NTTAWWT.

[db]

I declare a late threadwinner.

[db]

We actually already have landed a probe on Titan and have pictures of its surface.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, Huygens included a lander. There's a NOVA on the whole mission.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Really? Shows how little I know. When was that?

[Pro Libertate]

2005, dude. Sorry you missed it.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

What was I doing in 2005?

[Pro Libertate]

Vacationing on Mars? I hear cell service there sucks.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Vacationing on Mars? I hear cell service there sucks.

Congratulations, I think you just invented a new idiom for going through puberty.

[CE]

You mean "we" as in the European Space Agency, or "we" as in humankind?

[FYTW]

Slate: If you don't send your kids to screwed-up public schools, you're a bad person.

[Matrix]

we discussed this at length in the AM Links.

And again, this lady is a fucking moron.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

we discussed this at length in the AM Links.

Don't you hate seeing the same thing reposted over and over?

The Golden Girls: How One TV Show Turned A Generation Of American Boys Into Homosexuals

[DJF]

I am horrified that Slate would publish such a racist anti-Obama article.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

...I am not an education policy wonk: I'm just judgmental. But it seems to me that if every single parent sent every single child to public school, public schools would improve. This would not happen immediately. It could take generations. Your children and grandchildren might get mediocre educations in the meantime, but it will be worth it, for the eventual common good. (Yes, rich people might cluster. But rich people will always find a way to game the system: That shouldn't be an argument against an all-in approach to public education any more than it is a case against single-payer health care.)

So, how would this work exactly? It's simple! Everyone needs to be invested in our public schools in order for them to get better. Not just lip-service investment, or property tax investment, but real flesh-and-blood-offspring investment. Your local school stinks but you don't send your child there? Then its badness is just something you deplore in the abstract. Your local school stinks and you do send your child there? I bet you are going to do everything within your power to make it better....

[DJF]

""""I bet you are going to do everything within your power to make it better...."""

But as anyone who has had anything to do with the public schools knows, the parents have very little power. And with the State and Federal government increasing their control of the schools the power of the parent is shrinking

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I got food poisoning at a local restaurant. Me and my family will keep going back and puking over and over as part of a long term goal of improving local business, for the good of the community.

[Pro Libertate]

I got brain-poisoning in public school.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Suck it up for the good of the community. I love how the left is moving from "we're so much smarter and thus more successful" to "putting up w/ our failure and ineptitude is a test of your morality, to be judged by us".

[Pro Libertate]

Screw that. I'm still pissed about my own public education enough to want to keep my kids out of it, as much as possible.

[Joe M]

Hear hear! I'm hellbent on either private or homeschooling.

[Pro Libertate]

Homeschooling been going well for my youngest. But it's not without cost, since it means my wife staying home, at least for now.

Private school is epically expensive.

[Matrix]

So we should go the slow process of government instead of the faster process of free market. She is such a fucking imbecile. Hopefully, she is too damned stupid to even know how to reproduce.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I think she can handle going to a bar, getting blackout drunk, and waking up in a strange man's apartment.

[Pro Libertate]

If government did television, we'd be just now getting three channels in color.

[General Butt Naked]

From NORK media wiki:

Broadcasting in North Korea is tightly controlled by the state and is used as a propaganda arm of the ruling Korean Workers' Party. The Korean Central Television station is located in Pyongyang, and there also are stations in major cities, including Ch?ngjin, Kaes?ng, Hamh?ng, Haeju, and Sin?iju. There are three channels in Pyongyang but only one channel in other cities. Imported Japanese-made color televisions have a North Korean brand name superimposed, but nineteen-inch black-and-white sets have been produced locally since 1980. One estimate places the total number of television sets in use in the early 1990s at 250,000 sets.

Good call, but a bit optimistic. Maybe those lucky NYers and LAers would get 3 channels, but we'd be lucky to get 1 in the sticks.

[Pro Libertate]

The U.S. government has the advantage of U.S. industry, which can make the government look less incompetent than it is. Like with the Apollo program.

Speaking of that, one thing that has long irked me is how the Grumman guy is portrayed as some asshole corporate guy trying to cover his ass in Apollo 13, when, in fact, Grumman played a huge role in rescuing the crew, from working out all of the lifeboat options to working to solve the power-re-routing issues, etc.

[Agammamon]

So
1. Somehow the schools will get better even if there are no consequence (loss of money for example) for remaining shitty.

2. We all *must* have children (even those who would otherwise choose to remain childless) in order for 'real' investment to occur.

[Agammamon]

All this despite the fact that for more than my lifetime, *most* kids have gone to public schools, we keeping pumping more and more money per pupil to these schools, keep paying teachers more and more and yet the schools don't get any better.

[CE]

I thought liberals thought moar people = bad?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Something something, kulaks, wreckers. Same spiel, different paint job.

Tell you what, lady: how about you thank me for paying for both your kids' "educations", and those of my own kids -- as a homeschooling parent, I' deriving not a whit of benefit from the institution that you laughingly call "public education" -- but my taxes nonetheless go towards funding it. Sorry if paying into that system but deriving no benefit isn't enough sacrifice for you, but I'm not into child sacrifice.

[Agammamon]

"Rumor has it that Obama responded by making his horse a senator."

So DC finally gets some representation huh?

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

I have often said that at least with Caligula they had the entire horse in the Senate.

[Raven Nation]

Actually, I would definitely give a golf clap on the horse statement.

[some guy]

Well, Democracy may guarantee that every official is a narcissistic megalomaniac. But at least it also ensures that none of them are stark raving mad.

Though, Hank "Guam Might Tip Over" Johnson is getting kind of close.

[Mike M.]

Turns out that one of the punks who beat Delbert Belton to death just did a month in jail for stealing a woman's cell phone on a bus. I guess the attempt at "correction" didn't work out too well.

[NeonCat]

He's a good boy, just misled.

[Killazontherun]

If I had a second son he would be about the age of and might have looked just like Delbert Belton because back then I was getting in to all kinds of strange.

[PapayaSF]

Will white racism NEVER END???

[John]

That is the problem with the juvi system. We don't punish the real criminals. So the real criminals think they can get away with anything until finally the real dangerous ones end up really hurting someone.

Meanwhile, we throw non criminal kids in with the real criminals for crimes like truancy so we make sure they are screwed up too.

[Virginian]

Heinlein addressed this in Starship Troopers.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Riddle me this: What is deep, narrow, abrasive, and ice cold?

[Mike M.]

Hillary Clinton's vagina?

[Rich]

Does it have something to do with Dianne Feinstein?

[Episiarch]

Your m...Warty's vagina?

[Tonio]

Glacial crevasses?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I find your lack of imagination disappointing.

[Derpetologist]

A British man tries to explain the concept of government to an alien: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUS1m5MSt9k

[Raven Nation]

Not bad. And if you watch the "Economic Collapse Survival Map" which comes up in the sidebar, apparently we should all move to Jackson County, Florida.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Body-positive feminist responds to picture being turned into 'fat-shaming' meme

But when I got up the next morning he had sent me the link. It had over 2000 shares, almost 10,000 likes, and almost 1000 comments. Overnight, I had become an Internet meme.

The picture was from a "This is what a feminist looks like" campaign my university feminist group did this past spring semester. It is one of my favorite pictures and has been my profile picture at a number of different sites. There is no telling where they stole it from, it could have been Facebook or it could have been OkCupid

At first, I was in shock. I was upset. I posted it in a closed Facebook group and asked folks to help me report it. About a dozen or so folks reported it, I reported it and waited for Facebook to take it away. When I finally got a response, they told me it didn't violate their Community Standards. I requested another review and received this reply:

"We remove content if it's required by relevant privacy laws in the country you're writing from. Since you're an adult writing in the US, we won't be able to remove this content for violating your privacy."

Good to know Facebook doesn't care about people stealing your photos and turning them into mean-spirited memes.

[Derpetologist]

If you wouldn't put it on a billboard, don't put it on the internet.

[NeonCat]

Well, at least she's thin-skinned.

[PapayaSF]

I laughed.

[Joe M]

That is incredibly amusing.

[Agammamon]

I don't support, uh, 'fat-shaming - I think its unnecessarily cruel.

I especially don't like it in places like here, where instead of attacking someone on their ideas (and lord knows there's plenty of targets there) we make fun of their looks.

On the other hand - fuck you, you chose to live like that, deal with the consequences.

Don't whine that you're feelings are hurt and so these sorts of posts should be removed, attack these people for the low-brow idiots they are. Tell 'em that your size is irrelevant to the discussion and if they have a counter to your actual argument then post that.

Though that caption's pretty funny.

[Goldwin Smith]

I don't support, uh, 'fat-shaming - I think its unnecessarily cruel.

Even Chris Christie?

[JW]

Body-positive feminist responds to picture being turned into 'fat-shaming' meme discovers how the Internet works.

[End Child Unemployment]

Am I missing something, or did H&R miss this story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08.....state.html

IRS recognizing all same sex marriages seems to be big liberty-positive news to me.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Thus explaining buttplug:

Tiny Human Brains Grown in Lab

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

so they can let you down, one more time?

[Derpetologist]

John Stossel vs. liberal dingbat on the minimum wage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywDuCEIeHnM

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Dads listen up: Why your daughter wants to be a porn star

1. Because you loved her enough, but you didn't love her right. You weren't attuned to your daughter's emotional state as a child, and now, she has difficulty connecting intimately with other human beings. It's not that you meant to handicap her. You may even have a bit of a problem with authentic intimacy too, and it's probably an intergenerational issue, so look to your mom and dad for answers as to how the cycle started in the first place.

2. Because you were her friend, and not her parent (Hello Baby Boomers!). You never set solid parental boundaries, and you failed to teach her about her right to have her personal boundaries respected. Your permissive parenting led to her low self-esteem and crappy social skills...
[...]
7.Because you gave her a smartphone when she was 10, and now she takes awesome #selfies all day. With every picture she takes to post to her social media sites, she becomes less sensitive to the idea of her images floating around on the web. Studies show that higher social media use is correlated with narcissism. Sexting is a booming practice, and a gateway technology usage that might lead to appearances on Internet porn sites. You can be fairly certain that your daughter has either thought about sexting, or has friends who do it.

[RBS]

Gateway Technology!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

So if you clamp down on them too much, they go straight to the pole. If you don't clamp down on them enough, straight to the pole.

That just makes my decision to send any girl-children to the convent that much wiser, since nothing I might otherwise do will keep the girl-child away from a life of double anal interracial creampies.

[Coeus]

So if you clamp down on them too much, they go straight to the pole. If you don't clamp down on them enough, straight to the pole.

It's a great time to be alive, ain't it?

[Fluffy]

Your permissive parenting led to her low self-esteem and crappy social skills...

Two things:

1. Unless teenage girls have dramatically changed since my day, there is no self-esteem crisis among teenage girls and everyone who claims there is one is full of shit.

2. Even if #1 is not true and there IS a self-esteem crisis among teenage girls, it is focused in the ones too homely to ever successfully do porn.

[Agammamon]

Well, there's *no more* of a self-esteem crisis among teenage girls than normal - they're *always* in a crisis about their self-esteem, its natural.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Here's one:

"Because you got divorced, and it was ugly. I don't even need to discuss the damaging effects of a nasty divorce because these statistics are known. However, if you still think it's cool to get divorced and drag your kids through the mud because children are resilient, or won't notice how poorly you two treat one another, think again. A study by Paul Armato shows that children of divorce continue to score lower academically, and in the areas of "psychological adjustment, self-concept and social competence." Furthering this concern, a 2002 study in The Journal of Pediatric Psychology found that adolescents from mother-alone or mother-absent homes are more likely to become sexually active at a young age, risk taking behavior that is compounded by substance abuse and lack of social support. Yes, there are situations in which divorce is best for all, but the process by which divorce happens is delicate and negative consequences can have lasting effects."

[Eduard van Haalen]

She applied that one to herself, along with:

"Because you never showed her a healthy way to fill the spiritual void that is quintessentially human. Isn't it interesting that girls leave porn because they've found religion? It happens every day, even to girls who were considered to be "the world's hottest porn star." Money, sexual exploration, and false adoration didn't provide personal fulfillment like spirituality did."

[Raven Nation]

"Studies show that higher social media use is correlated with narcissism."

Hmm, chicken/egg; social media use causes narcissism, or vice versa?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Matty Tries; Fails Once More To Topple Milt Friedman:

Milton Friedman famously said that "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon" which I believe was meant as a rejoinder to people who favored wage and price controls. And there's some truth to that. But really big inflations?the dread hyperinflations people warn about when they tell you Ben Bernanke is turning America into the next Zimbabwe?are really never monetary phenomena. They are the outcome of political crisis: Civil war, foreign conquest, reparations agreements, whatever.

Umm... no.

1) Hyperinflation is defined as being 50% monthly inflation -- the chart posted by Matty indicates that Syria is experiencing 50% *yearly* inflation.

2) The highest hyperinflation of all time (Hungary) was instituted in a time of peace; every example of hyperinflation in Latin America was likewise instituted in a time of peace, as was most hyperinflation in Africa (including Zimbabwe -- hyperinflation started just before the civil war).

So other than fucking up the definition of hyperinflation and getting his basic observation wrong, Slate's Economics and Business Correspondent is right on the money.

[Derpetologist]

Perhaps Matt would care to give an example of hyperinflation that occurred without a large increase in the money supply. I'm not holding my breath.

[John]

What Sad Beard doesn't get is that Friedman was talking about general inflation not the inflation of a particular good or service.

[Derpetologist]

Sad Beard could have spent 5 minutes on youtube and seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F94jGTWNWsA

[Derpetologist]

Or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgSqZKx0mNI

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Economics and business correspondents don't have time to read influential economists and businessmen!

[FYTW]

It's almost sad watching this little freak's intellectual flailings.

[CE]

This one he got mostly right:

http://www.slate.com/articles/.....using.html

Why mandate yard sizes? Leave it to the free market. (Of course, he wants more row houses and less suburban sprawl, but still...)

[CE]

Of course the liberal commenters were apoplectic that he went all libertarian on them.

[CatoTheElder]

Even when inflation arises during political crises, it is a monetary phenomenon.

Two kinds of money are in wide use in the Middle East: local fiat currency and gold. If you've ever visited a gold souk in the Middle East, you know this is true.

I seriously doubt that Syria's inflation rate is nearly as bad when transaction are evaluated in terms of gold.

Syrians, making rational decisions based upon the desirability of holding Syrian pounds, are exchanging their fiat currency for gold and other goods. This is a monetary phenomenon, even though the decisions are influenced by civil war. Same thing happened in the South during a war of similar nature.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Yes, exactly. In reality, the statement "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomena" is a tautology -- an important one, since many people conflate the *origins* of a phenomena with the phenomena itself.

Yglesias states in his OP that "Putting a solid conservative central banker in charge of things in Damascus wouldn't change anything", which is absolute nonsense as that is exactly how Germany and pretty much every country that got into hyperinflation got out. The more relevant question is this: given their goals, would it be rational for Damascus' government to work to lower inflation? The answer of course is no, for the reason that you provided.

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomena, but the origins of monetary phenomena are manifold.

[Emmerson Biggins]

It's 9:58, and Matty is still a fucking moron.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Racist Republicans show white supremacist views by skipping MLK commemoration, but black Republicans like Tim Scott are too unimportant and heretical to invite

RNC chairman Reince Priebus pointed to the fact that Republicans held their own King commemoration Monday, inviting only blacks who are Republicans. Sounds like a fun time ? a separate but equal celebration.

The fact that no leading Republican bothered to attend the 50thanniversary commemoration shows how far to the right they've moved on race. It's not just that they've thrown in the towel when it comes to appealing to black voters. They also don't think it's worth it to make an extra effort to appeal to white voters who flinch at racism.

Thursday morning's campaign by some Republicans to make march organizers out to be the real racists, because they didn't invite South Carolina's appointed black senator, Tim Scott, represents the usual GOP game of racial tit-for-tat. The fact is, the organizers were reaching out to national GOP leaders, and Scott is not one of them. His hostility to everything the Congressional Black Caucus stands for also makes him an unlikely and provocative choice as speaker.

Yeah, we can't have any Uncle Toms at the march.

[John]

They told the one black Senator he could attend as a spectator. Damn nice of them considering it was open to the public.

[Anonymous Coward]

The fact that no leading Republican bothered to attend the 50th anniversary commemoration shows how far to the right they've moved on race.

No progressive has ever done anything racist at any point and time. And why wouldn't a member of TEAM Red want to attend what was essentially a TEAM Blue campaign rally?

The fact is, the organizers were reaching out to national GOP leaders, and Scott is not one of them.

So the black guy isn't important enough to attend your little soiree?

[Pro Libertate]

Wrong thinking is punishable. Right thinking will be as quickly rewarded. You will find it an effective combination.

[Goldwin Smith]

Where is the proof that episode exists?

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, I saw it. It was the one where Matt and Miss Kitty finally get it on.

[Killazontherun]

Scott didn't take the deal. Two hundred years vote for the democrats on the ballot, and you get in return the loss of your pride. So, fuck him if he wants to be a spoiler.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

Don't follow @DisturbingPict

[Goldwin Smith]

That's what Hadrian's Wall is for.

[Derpetologist]

Climate change debunked in 13 minutes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gDErDwXqhc

[John]

http://americanglob.com/2013/0.....en-issued/

Confederacy, the new Dem talking point. They do take orders that is for sure

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Neo-confederates are incredibly silly and their arguments historically specious, that much is true. You and I are some of the biggest anti-CSA posters on this board, and I am very glad that the CSA was unsuccessful in its bid for independence and institution of a slaveholding society on this continent.

That said, can anyone honestly claim that in the modern US, neo-confederal sentiment is anything but an ultimately harmless expression of regional pride for an area that is just now starting to outperform other regions in the US? Progs wouldn't be talking about this if the South were as pathetically steeped in economic backwardness as it was during, say, the New Deal era. It's just sour grapes for the *fact* that people are voting for the South with their feet, because the South is now adopting the policies that progs have argued against since they emerged as a political force.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

As another member of the Axis of AntiCSAers, I sign onto this analysis.

[Virginian]

ultimately harmless expression of regional pride for an area that is just now starting to outperform other regions in the US

Bingo. I like genealogy a lot, and my ancestors rose against King George in 1745, then they had to go to Ireland. Where they rose again in 1798, and had to leave again. Where they settled in the Shenandoah Valley, just in time for another doomed rebellion against a tyrannical ruler.

Plus a lot of it is in reaction to the hagiography of the Civil War. The myriad atrocities of the bluecoats are downplayed or outright ignored, much in the same way the Allies in WWII are held up as shining paladins.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The modern South is invested in what is on the whole a healthy rebellion from established authority from on high and in traditional institutions that have community roots from the bottom up. You can see this in their churches, their politics, and their families. (In many ways, it is the area of the US that most reminds me of Latin America -- in a good way!)

Modern neo-confederate movements are an attempt to extrapolate these positive attributes on the event that the South is most remembered for negatively. There is a virtual cottage industry dedicated to telling Southerners that the Civil War was "really" about -- f.e., using immigration to argue that the South is essentially Celtic in character and that the war was *really* our version of Celtic/Anglo conflict between England and Scotland/Ireland. Or that it was about tariffs and economic freedom, or an overbearing federal government. As with Northern myths about the war, some of it is even true.

However, it's fairly obvious to anyone reading these revisionist histories written from the 90s onwards that they are attempts to *distance* the South from historical racism, not to embrace it. They are written for the Southerner who has no beef with his black neighbors and friends, but who wants a positive context for his family's stories and memorabilia about a seminal moment in Southern history.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Yeah, you can tell this country has had major racial progress when even the neo-Confederates say slavery was horrible (and try to blame the North for it). So even if you roll your eyes at their historical analysis (as I do), it's not a sign that they're wishing they could oppress black people.

True story - one Halloween I saw a guy in a Confederate outfit (in the North) trying to reassure an interracial couple that he totally wasn't hating on them, it was just heritage. You didn't see Confederate sympathizers do that sort of thing a few decades ago.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Just to be clear, the *actual* Confederate leaders were genuinely wicked (though sometimes courageous in a bad cause). But then, Assad is wicked, too. Very well, but do you want a war?

[Killazontherun]

At least they are showing a little creativity. Every four months or so, they trot out 'racist' with the finger point when something doesn't go their way. That just made people yawn. Now, they vary it up with 'Neo-Confederate'. Ooooh, spooky! You got my attention now, proggy.

[Derpetologist]

It's like talking to a zombie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrcM5exDxcc

[PapayaSF]

One thing that annoys the crap out of me is how, for the left, guilt by association only works one way. A handful of neo-confederates? Well, that proves how vile the whole right is! Libertarians talking about state's rights? Same thing!

But point out Democrats who are directly linked to socialists and even Communists? Oh no, unfair guilt by association! McCarthyism!

[BakedPenguin]

THIS. Ever so much.

[Archduke Trousersenthusiast]

alligators make horrible pets, mainly the government will take it away.

[Derpetologist]

The most dangerous superstition:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-sRbR2QQ7w

[Michael]

"Barely a third of U.S. senators pay their interns -- and embarrassingly for Democrats, a party focused on workplace welfare, most of them are Republicans."

http://www.theatlantic.com/pol.....ns/279111/

[Derpetologist]

Pelosi struggles to explain why it's OK for her to pay her interns less than the minimum wage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pFC3LKMIQo

[Pro Libertate]

It's not like they're as skilled as $15/hour fast-food employees.

[Coeus]

This is what a feminist looks like:

The meme that was created merely stated that you look like how most individuals would commonly imagine feminists to look. You stating that you were being slammed for being fat is your own insecurity and apparently the opinion of those who support you, since that is what THEY took from it. The irony is that you are now using this as a way to promote your bullshit spin on what otherwise would be considered a positive movement. Feminism is no longer about equal rights when you don't feel like you should be equally made fun of.

hehe.