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Syria, Syria, Syria, Syria, and Syria (and Edward Snowden Leaks): P.M. Links

Scott Shackford | 8.30.2013 4:30 PM

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Large image on homepages | Steve Rhodes / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND
(Steve Rhodes / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND)
  • Hey, there are anti-war protesters after all. Should have remembered to check San Francisco.
    Credit: Steve Rhodes / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

    President Barack Obama says he is considering a "limited, narrow" act against Syria to try to halt the government's use of chemical weapons on its own citizens. He promises that he will not send American troops into Syria for an open-ended commitment.

  • In making the case for a military strike in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry today said the Syrian government killed 1,429 people in a chemical weapons attack last week, 426 of them children.
  • Experts believe that bombing sites in Syria could ultimately end up releasing deadly chemical weapons by accident, thanks to incomplete intelligence.
  • Susan Rice is working behind the scenes to get support in Congress for a strike on Syria. Sen. John McCain is, of course, worried that the potential American response is not nearly combative enough.
  • Regardless of any potential military strikes, Russia is keeping its commitment to sell weapons to the Syrian government, part of a contract signed prior to the civil war.
  • The British government asked the New York Times to destroy information they've been given by Edward Snowden. Reportedly, the request was greeted with silence. (stunned silence, maybe?)

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NEXT: France May Be Ready For Another Intervention, But Syria is No Mali

Scott Shackford is a policy research editor at Reason Foundation.

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  1. Warrren   12 years ago

    No bomba Obama!

  2. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Experts believe that bombing sites in Syria could ultimately end up releasing deadly chemical weapons by accident...

    Plus they're right next to a baby milk factory.

    1. Tonio   12 years ago

      How do you milk babies?

      1. Brandon   12 years ago

        They have nipples, don't they?

      2. JW   12 years ago

        You just have to put their fangs on the inside of the beaker. Nature does the rest.

    2. Mr Whipple   12 years ago

      905 wants to know if that is next to the Factory of Birth.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ZOhWAaGVs

  3. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Susan Rice is working behind the scenes to get support in Congress for a strike on Syria. Sen. John McCain is, of course, worried that the potential American response is not nearly combative enough.

    She'll make sure to get the right talking points this time.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      ALL OF SYRIA SAW A YOUTUBE!

      1. JW   12 years ago

        Don't be absurd. It will be something they saw on Buzzfeed this time.

      2. gaijin   12 years ago

        Not as crazy as you think. From Kerry's full statement:

        ""We have identified one hundred videos attributed to the attack,

        Full PDF linked at ZH Full PDF linked at ZH

  4. Episiarch   12 years ago

    He promises that he will not send American troops into Syria for an open-ended commitment.

    PINKY SWEAR.

    1. Rich   12 years ago

      They'll be home for Christmas.

      1. Brandon   12 years ago

        A Christmas, sure.

        1. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

          A Christmas in July sale

    2. C. Anacreon   12 years ago

      He promises that he will not send American troops into Syria for an open-ended psychiatric commitment.

      FIFY

    3. DesigNate   12 years ago

      Maybe he won't, but President H. Clinton sure the fuck will.

  5. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    The British government asked the New York Times to destroy information they've been given by Edward Snowden. Reportedly, the request was greeting with silence.

    The sun has set on the British Empire.

    1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

      But there will always be an England

    2. Generic Stranger   12 years ago

      greeting?

      1. Brandon   12 years ago

        That jumped out at me, too.

        1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

          It's an archaic British expression in that context. It means typo.

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      The New York Times should have responded by laughing in their faces. (Well, metaphorical faces, since I doubt this was a face-to-face request.)

  6. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    The only thing more pathetic than Matt Yglesias' blog is his Twitter

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      Matt Yglesias ?@mattyglesias

      @michaelbd No, pretty easy for me. I take an old-school Jacobin-style line that religion should be stamped out.

      WOW! Yglesias flat out admits his hostility to the first amendment, his pro-French Revolution stance, and his generally fascist worldview...and he does it in fewer than 140 characters! That set some kind of land speed record going from 0 to totalitarian.

      1. Episiarch   12 years ago

        It's the only thing he does well.

      2. MJGreen   12 years ago

        So long as it's only the wrong religions being stamped out.

        All hail the State!

        1. ant1sthenes   12 years ago

          Someone really needs to rework the whole freedom of religion thing to include non-religious socio-moral worldviews that essentially substitute for religion or at least replace aspects of it.

          World War II was essentially a sectarian conflict between varieties of socialism. We're losing ground by letting people toss out pluralism and impose their morals and beliefs on others by redefining their belief system as something other than a religion.

          We need an inclusive term that could mean religion, or philosophy, or ideology, or anything that shares the functionality and problems with these things (ethos, maybe?). And then we can have chaplains for that thing, and protect that thing under the first amendment, and ban schools from teaching that thing (since it will be impossible to do so, public schools will have to be banned altogether. This is not a bad thing).

    2. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

      I don't always agree with Douthat, but he's generally pretty good. And I like his mini smackdown of Matty.

    3. DesigNate   12 years ago

      I'd create a twitter account just to heckle the shit out of that slope headed retard, but I have way more important things to do with my life.

      1. Warrren   12 years ago

        Every last thing you could find to do on this earth is more important than anything to do with the SHR.

  7. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    Toronto mayor Rob Ford took his two children, seven staff members and a crowd of journalists up and down the aisles of a Staples for a back to school shopping binge

  8. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    RON PAUL

  9. Episiarch   12 years ago

    The British government asked the New York Times to destroy information they've been given by Edward Snowden. Reportedly, the request was greeting with silence.

    Stupid limeys. They just need to get Obama to ask them.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      They're not on good terms with Obama, either.

      1. Dweebston   12 years ago

        Aw, does the NYT has a hurt with the president? I'm sure they'll come around.

        1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

          No, I meant the Brits. NYTimes, they're cool.

  10. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    TEEMU!

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Sel?nne still isn't retired? He must be pushing 50 by now.

      1. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

        He's 43. His first season was 92-93.

      2. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

        He wont retire until we stop pronouncing is last name as it it were Italian.

        (Sel-en-AY, not Se-LAH-nee

        Every other Finn gets his name pronounced OK but his is butchered all the time.)

        1. Ted S.   12 years ago

          Shouldn't his surname, being Finnish, be stressed on the first syllable: SE-l?hn-ne, with the ? being pronounced roughly like the a in American English "cat"?

          (Wikipedia agrees with me on the stress; not that that's saying much.)

          1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

            You are right, I capitalized wrong.

  11. Tonio   12 years ago

    Needs more "Syria".

    1. Rich   12 years ago

      U.S. Government Assessment of the Syrian Government's Use of Chemical Weapons

      Perhaps *that* will satisfy you?

  12. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    First Trojan companion of Uranus found, people everywhere giggle.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      I don't get it.

      1. Rich   12 years ago

        Hint: Like *Klingons*, ....

        Sheesh, Fist, do I have to explain *everything*?

      2. Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)   12 years ago

        Trojan is the name of a famous condom brand.

        *giggles*

      3. gaijin   12 years ago

        The companion was hard to find due to it's location behind uranus.

    2. Generic Stranger   12 years ago

      I'm sorry, SM, but astronomers renamed Uranus to end that stupid joke once and for all.

      1. Tonio   12 years ago

        It's the only joke they have that's accessible to non-geeks.

      2. Episiarch   12 years ago

        Oh. What's it called now?

        1. Generic Stranger   12 years ago

          Urectum.

        2. Rasilio   12 years ago

          Not sure but I hear the place is a real shithole

          1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obKLdou0LH0

            tee hee. rimshot, Uranus

      3. Rich   12 years ago

        astronomers renamed Uranus

        to -- get *this* -- URINE-US!!

        1. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

          As versus what, Turdus?

      4. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

        What's it called now?

        1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

          Fuck. Need to refresh more.

        2. Warrren   12 years ago

          Balloon Knot.

  13. Troy muy grande boner   12 years ago

    Don't these philistines know that the only morally acceptable way to murder is with high impact kinetic weapons? Bomb them.

    1. C. Anacreon   12 years ago

      Like in the old Beach Boys tune, "Bomb, bomb, bomb...bomb-bomb Iran...
      bomb, bomb, bomb...bomb-bomb Iran"

    2. Rasilio   12 years ago

      So Mass Drivers from Orbit?

      Works for me

      1. JW   12 years ago

        MEESTER GARIBALDI!

      2. Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)   12 years ago

        From orbit, just mass.

        So, the Geometers had thrown a rock at us. Actually, a long rod of some dense metal, but in principle nothing fancier than a rock. It penetrated a quarter of a mile into the solid cap of hardened lava on top of the volcano before it vaporized of its own kinetic energy, creating a huge burst of pressure that we knew as an earthquake. The pressure vented up along the wound that the rod had left through the rock, widening the hole as it roared out, founding systems of cracks that were immediately blown open by the underlying lava. This lava was wet, saturated with steam; the steam exploded into gas as the overburden was relieved, just as bubbles appear in a bottle of soda when the lid is removed. The lava, inflated by the steam, blew itself up into ash, most of which went straight up, which is why everything for a thousand miles downwind ended up buried in grey dust. But some of it came down the side of the mountain in the form of a cloud, rolling down the slope like an avalanche, and easy for us to see, since it was glowing range. And once we had gotten over the shock of what we had seen and staggered back up to our feet after the leg-breaking jolt of the explosion and sprinted to the top of the ramp in a desperate mob, what we clearly saw was that this thing, this glowing cloud, was coming for us, and that it would simultaneously crush us like a sledgehammer and roast us like a flamethrower if we didn't get out of its path.

    3. CE   12 years ago

      WW1 era poison gas = bad.
      Daisy cutters = shock and awe.

  14. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Dave Chappelle heckled during comeback tour performance, walks off stage in protest

    Reports are popping up all over from fans who saw Dave Chappelle stop his headlining set at Thursday's oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival in Hartford, Conn., because of hecklers.

    He left the stage after telling only a few jokes.

    WTNH reports that there was some booing and yelling, then Chappelle spent several minutes sitting on the stage smoking a cigarette before finally just leaving.

    He sat on a stool making comments about the situation and responding to hecklers until the end of what apparently was his contractually mandated time on stage, the Associated Press reports. Chappelle apparently told the audience he needed to do only about 25 minutes to get paid.

    According to audience members interviewed by the Hartford Courant, Chappelle was fine for the first five or 10 minutes. He was telling jokes, as usual. But every time anyone would scream out anything, Chappelle would stop speaking and tell the crowd how "awful" it was.

    I've always thought he was funny, but I don't think he has the mental toughness for the business anymore.

    1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

      I always found his humor to be far too 'you ever notice how black people act like this, but white people act like that?' for my taste. But he was huge there for a while and then, nothing.

    2. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Any more? Didn't he have a breakdown while filming his show and took off for a while?

      1. Almanian!   12 years ago

        Something like that. I miss him. His show was the absolute shit. Still watch the re-runs.

        "You still think I make Bryant Gumbel look like Malcolm X? I'M WAYNE BRADY, BITCH!" Funniest thing ever on the TEEVEE.

      2. Joe M   12 years ago

        Yes, because Oprah Winfrey sicced her thugs on him.

    3. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

      Like Seinfeld, the only unfunny part of Chapelle's Show was his standup act. The sketches were usually great.

      1. Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)   12 years ago

        What's the deal with airports?

        1. Almanian!   12 years ago

          If motherfuckin' black people ran airports, it'd looksomethin' like this....

          *runs the most-hilarious clip EVAR about black people running an airport*

  15. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    Meet Dean Karnazes: the man who can run for ever

    1. JW   12 years ago

      Dean Karnazes' muscles never tire: he can run for three days and nights without stopping. What's his secret?

      Fraking skinjobs.

      1. Warrren   12 years ago

        Are these skinjobs that are employed in the fraking industry or are they hydrocarbon rich resources that are being exploited by the fraking industry?

    2. Mike M.   12 years ago

      I highly recommend Born to Run by Christopher McDougall if you haven't read it already.

  16. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

    Walmart Villainy! (Adds may be work unfriendly)

    According to an internal memo obtained by Towleroad, Walmart plans to include domestic partners in its 2014 benefit plans in the U.S. and Puerto Rico starting on January 1, 2014 and will offer benefits to an associate's same- or opposite-sex spouse or to an unmarried partner, whether of the same or opposite gender.
    [...]
    Walmart has 1.3 million U.S. employees and is the largest employer outside the Department of Defense.
    [...]
    The company says that the full suite of benefits will be available to domestic partners including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, discount cards, family leave, 401K, and critical illness and accident insurance.

    See, this is why the left hates Walmart so much. They're just money grubbing capitalists with zero heart who rape and pillage their employees. Also, capitalism is evil.

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      Yes they are. Look at how they are setting up a trap to keep people employed there!

    2. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      When did Walmart unionize?

    3. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      Adds should be Ads.

      PREVIEW! Won't somebody think of the children!?

      1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        Looking around that site, uh, JUST FOR THE ARTICLES, it looks like Rand Paul is not a friend of the gay community. I see a story about him equating food stamps with slavery, and I'm guessing the tone of the story is not sympathetic.

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          I'm guessing the tone of the story is not sympathetic.

          Likely not. I have the site on my RSS and blow through it until I find something interesting. Most of their direct politics stuff annoys the shit out of me; it's all New Left talking points.

    4. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

      I do not think the left would be mad about Walmart including domestic partners in their benefits packages.

      1. C. Anacreon   12 years ago

        Yes they will, because they want Walmart to be the symbol of everything they are against.

      2. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

        We had a link just the other day about how they were mad that Wal-Mart was doing this for business reasons instead of out of the goodness of its hard, corporate heart.

        1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

          Wow, that is staggeringly silly.

      3. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        All liberals are black lesbian socialists - don't you know?

        Tune into Sean Hannity to get a real education.

      4. DesigNate   12 years ago

        What Nikki said.

    5. Tonio   12 years ago

      Oh, that's going to cause some serious butt-hurt. Good.

    6. DesigNate   12 years ago

      I am very disappointed that the ads were completely work safe jesse.

      1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        Hmm. I have a hosts file between me and most advertisers. I know I've sent links from them to other friends and been howled at for scantily clad men hawking minimalist underwear.

        I could link definitely not safe for work tumblr about otters* if that would make you feel better. Did I mention this link is NOT work appropriate?

        *not the semiaquatic mammal of the family Mustelidae

  17. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Jennifer Rubin: Why Rand Paul should never ever ever be our Commander-in-Chief

    What is the point of condemning the use of chemical weapons if we are not prepared to do anything about it? That's been President Obama's MO, which Rand Paul apparently has no problem with.
    We don't need to ascertain whether chemical weapons have been used (does he read the papers?). We already know.
    As for Congress, Rand Paul again demonstrates his misunderstanding of the Constitution. A declaration of war requires congressional action; a minimal strike of the sort the president contemplates is surely within the Article 1 powers of the commander in chief. Thomas Jefferson thought so.
    But the worst is his declaration that we have no national security interest in Syria. To be consistent, he could say we have no interest in the Middle East, I suppose. It's interesting, for starters, that he doesn't consider the players, including Hezbollah, a threat to our ally Israel. He's tried to bolster his pro-Israel credentials, but his policy assertion would throw Israel to the wolves. He apparently doesn't see any connection between Syria and its senior partner, Iran. But then he thinks a nuclear-armed Iran may be contained, as he spelled out at the Heritage Foundation.

    Keep up the good work, Rand!

    1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      What is the point of condemning the use of chemical weapons if we are not prepared to do anything about it?

      I dislike my sister smoking meth. I've told her it's bad for her, but she didn't listen. I should probably give her a drone hug to make her stop.

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        Get her to start snorting. Cleaner high, and it spares the teeth.

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          Bit late on the teeth. She was nearly beaten for fronting some product in downtown LA and has fled to a recovery place in SD (after the family scrambled to pay off her debts).

          She's about to get SOOOO FAT. When she's not alternating between heroin and meth she becomes a compulsive eater and shit gets bad.

    2. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Jennifer Rubin is a neocon? And I just want to be clear, we're not talking about this Jennifer Rubin, right?

      1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

        No we're talking about a Jenifer Rubin that is too hideous for photographs.

      2. Brandon   12 years ago

        According to the neocons who post here, nobody is ever a neocon.

    3. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      Israel-Firsters outnumber libertarians in the GOP at least 10-1.

    4. Brandon   12 years ago

      She gets destroyed in the comments.

      1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

        Yes, the Washington Post comments.

        1. Brandon   12 years ago

          This...seems an unnecessary clarification.

          1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

            So half of them are just ripping on her because she's one of WaPo's token conservatives. The other half show that her argument is so bad that even WaPo readers can shred it.

    5. Calidissident   12 years ago

      She's full of shit on the Constitution part and the Jefferson part. Jefferson acted on Congressional authorization in the Barbary War (as did John Adams in the Quasi War). Here's what he had to say at the time:

      In late 1801, the pasha of Tripoli did declare war on the U.S. Jefferson sent a small force to the area to protect American ships and citizens against potential aggression, but insisted that he was "unauthorized by the Constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of defense"; Congress alone could authorize "measures of offense also." Thus Jefferson told Congress: "I communicate [to you] all material information on this subject, that in the exercise of this important function confided by the Constitution to the Legislature exclusively their judgment may form itself on a knowledge and consideration of every circumstance of weight."

      http://www.libertyclassroom.com/warpowers/

      Not to mention that even if Jefferson had violated the Constitution, that doesn't suddenly make it ok for Obama to do so. The Founders did not put that clause in there so that Congress could engage in a diplomatic formality after the president decided to go to war. They wanted Congress to have the sole power to initiate war. And make no mistake, lobbing missiles and bombs at another sovereign country is an act of war

      1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

        I would think all the other droning was done the same way and nobody (except us posters) made a stink about it.

    6. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

      his policy assertion would throw Israel to the wolves.

      Not striking Syria is equivalent to throwing Israel to the wolves?

      I'm not sure Israelis would agree with her. Possibly empowering the rebels who have ties to extremist jihad groups doesn't necessarily benefit Israel.

      Syria does have connections to Iran, but striking what's left of the Syrian government probably will have zero impact on whether or not Iran goes ahead with nukes.

    7. Drake   12 years ago

      What is point of being the toughest kid in the schoolyard if you don't beat the fuck out of anyone who gives you a dirty look?

    8. Irish   12 years ago

      As for Congress, Rand Paul again demonstrates his misunderstanding of the Constitution. A declaration of war requires congressional action; a minimal strike of the sort the president contemplates is surely within the Article 1 powers of the commander in chief. Thomas Jefferson thought so.

      Well, if Thomas Jefferson had gotten his personal opinion transcribed into the constitution this might have some relevance, you fucking moron. How can this idiot not think that attacking the military installations of a sovereign nation is an act of war?

      "The president can do whatever he wants militarily so long as he doesn't call it a war!"

      Clearly bombing Pearl Harbor wasn't an act of war since it was a 'minimal strike.'

      1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

        It's even better than that. The whole idea behind the Pearl Harbor strike was to end the war as soon as they started it, by knocking out the US Pacific Fleet. The result of that intended "limited action," interestingly, turned out to be history's only nuclear war.

        1. Dweebston   12 years ago

          The history of our planet has been one perpetual nuclear war with the sun, and until humanity develops the technology to knock it down a peg or two we'll never truly be at peace.

          1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

            Our best chance seems to be a lost cause.

    9. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

      So wait, she still hasn't explained how, even if they are a threat to Israel it makes them a threat to us.

      1. Irish   12 years ago

        If we aren't willing to randomly go to war any time Israel wants us to, that would be a travesty of justice.

        1. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

          Do the Israelis even want us to do this? The Saudis certainly do.

          1. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

            This is primarily a Sunni/Shia thing, not a Jew/Arab thing. While Assad is a Sunni, he's been allied with Iran and Hezzbollah (both Shia) against the Sunnis in both Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

            1. A Frayed Knot   12 years ago

              Uh no, Assad is an Alawite which a branch of Shia'ism

              1. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

                Thanks for the correction. Sunnis are a majority in Syria.

      2. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

        There's something to be said for the idea that we should defend countries we made a commitment to defend.

        1. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

          "We"?

          You got a mouse in your pocket, dude?

          1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

            I know, you didn't sign up to be governed, whatever.

        2. CE   12 years ago

          Okay, how many Israelis died in the Syrian gas attack?

          1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

            None. How does that affect the general principle?

            1. Virginian   12 years ago

              Uh yeah if and when the Syrians attack Israel, I could be persuaded of that.

              Of course the Syrians have gone forty years without attacking Israel. Pretty sure they learned the last time not to stick their dick into the Golan again.

            2. Emmerson Biggins   12 years ago

              The general priniciple that Congress, and not the president has the war making power? Not at all.

              1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

                No, that treaties are the law of the land and maybe we shouldn't just make them willy-nilly.

                1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

                  And yes, I'm aware that nothing in Syria has really affected Israel. This was entirely abstract.

                2. Calidissident   12 years ago

                  What treaty do we have with Israel that would obligate us to defend them? This is a serious question, I'm unaware of any. While we have supported them in the past with weapons and money, we never had been involved directly or sent troops to help them in any of their wars.

      3. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

        We are the world

      4. Suthenboy   12 years ago

        Nor does she explain how the rebels winning would be a plus for Israel.

    10. CE   12 years ago

      Except that bombing some country to smithereens is clearly not in the President's "Article 1" powers, and is legally proscribed by the War Powers Act. If Congress would bother to enforce it.

  18. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

    "Experts believe that bombing sites in Syria could ultimately end up releasing deadly chemical weapons by accident, thanks to incomplete intelligence."

    I don't know whether to go with:

    It's okay if children die from chemical weapons, so long as the people (Obama) causing the deaths have good intentions.

    or

    Unintentionally causing the deaths of children from chemical weapons is, uh, not ideal.

    1. Drake   12 years ago

      Or we could use nukes to make sure the chemicals are completely destroyed.

    2. Dweebston   12 years ago

      Children die all the time. Sometimes it's chemical weapons, sometimes drone strikes, sometimes they grow up and die of geriatric diseases. What difference does a few decades make?

  19. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    That's a problem?

    I simply blended in to my social group of hedonistic boozers who thought nothing of drinking for 12 hours straight.

  20. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Susan Rice is working behind the scenes to get support in Congress for a strike on Syria.

    This woman continues to be a patsy.

    1. C. Anacreon   12 years ago

      This woman continues to be a patsy.

      That's why her secret service code name is "Lee Harvey"

      1. Rich   12 years ago

        Nice.

  21. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

    SoCon Says Mark Twain was Demon Possessed

    -we learned from Kevin Swanson, the Colorado pastor and host of Generations Radio, that Mark Twain was controlled by Satan.

    "Mark Twain was probably the strongest apologist against the Christian faith that America's ever seen," said Swanson, claiming that Huckleberry Finn was an "attack on the Christian church" by exposing Christian hypocrisy on issues like slavery. "He mocks Christianity throughout and Huckleberry Finn is an atheist himself."

    "Mark Twain himself I believe turned out to be demon-possessed," he said, citing Twain's book Letters from the Earth, which he called "one of the most acidic, horrific, evil books I think ever, ever written by any human being in the history of mankind."

    http://www.rightwingwatch.org/.....BcDtt.dpuf

    1. Brandon   12 years ago

      apologist against the Christian faith...

      What does this even mean?

      1. Tonio   12 years ago

        See, that's what the good reverend is talking about all you rationalists with your rationalism and book learning.

      2. Episiarch   12 years ago

        Nothing.

    2. Warrren   12 years ago

      Obviously he hasn't read all of the Gooosebumps books.

      1. Brandon   12 years ago

        I lol'ed.

    3. Gbob   12 years ago

      Samuel Clemens would have gotten such a kick out of that.

    4. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      The War Prayer* was an even more direct attack on Christian hypocrisy. It's still fun to hand to Christians who sport war boners.

      *Am entertained that Lew Rockwell was the second hit when I Googled it.

      1. Libertymike   12 years ago

        See that Irish?

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          What is my comment being used to prove? That Lew Rockwell knows a good/appropriate American short story when he sees it and is technically proficient enough to post it on his site?

          1. Irish   12 years ago

            That I shouldn't have said mean things about Lew Rockwell's propensity to praise left-wing dictators provided they hate America enough.

            That puts you on Libertymike's shit list right alongside fans of Abe Lincoln and people who are pro-vaccination.

            1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

              That puts you on Libertymike's shit list right alongside fans of Abe Lincoln and people who are pro-vaccination.

              Wait, is his list anything like Epi's? I've gotten a lot of really specific fetish mail since he put me on his list. I would prefer not to add to that.

              1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

                It's the list he sends chickenpox lollipops to.

    5. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      They can fucking leave Twain alone. He was a great author and in most respects a great man and American. But life shat all over him, from losing his brother in a steamboat accident, to business failures, to losing kids and a wife. Yeah, he got a little bitter.

      1. Tonio   12 years ago

        And don't forget the fortune he sunk into the typesetting machine (never worked).

        1. Tonio   12 years ago

          OK, "business failures," covered that.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            That's what I was thinking about. He ended up having to declare bankruptcy, but he made money on the speaking circuit and paid back his creditors, anyway. Yeah, he was that awesome.

      2. Irish   12 years ago

        He apparently found solace in his last years by befriending little girls who lived in his neighborhood because they reminded him of his dead daughter.

        I repeat this story for two reasons:

        1. It's a sad story and shows a human side of a great American writer and

        2. To show how times have changed since Mark Twain unquestionably would have been called a pedophile if he tried to make friends with little girls today.

        1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

          Joyce Carol Oates had fictionalized this in a good short story in Wild Nights!.

          1. Irish   12 years ago

            "The three saddest words in the English language are Joyce Carol Oates." - Gore Vidal

            1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

              If he said that before reading her Twitter feed, he had no idea, I'll tell you what.

              1. Irish   12 years ago

                If he said that before reading her Twitter feed, he had no idea, I'll tell you what.

                Is it that bad?

                About Vidal: I'm not even sure being insulted by Vidal means he actually didn't like you. Insults were just his way of communicating. It's all he really knew.

                "He was the only genius I ever met with an IQ of 60." - Vidal on Andy Warhol.

                1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                  Is it that bad?

                  I don't know. I do know that I liked what little (proportionally) of her fiction I had read, but her Twitter feed makes me want to strangle myself to death. I wish I could quote some incredibly inane bullshit she said about how writing negative reviews of things was meanypants and unnecessary or something, but it's impossible to find things on Twitter after a certain amount of time. Basically she's your standard "celebrity who is sadly retarded when you actually hear them talk" with additional leftism, though that's not the primary problem.

                  1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                    Leftardism is untreatable, sadly.

                  2. Irish   12 years ago

                    I don't know. I do know that I liked what little (proportionally) of her fiction I had read

                    In Joyce Carol Oates' case, reading about 10 of her books still counts as 'a little.' I've never seen a writer who's actually held in moderately high regard who manages to crank out a new 400 page novel every year and a half.

                    1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                      Eh, I think "moderately high regard" is about right for her. (And people still talk about her every year for the Nobel, which I think is silly.)

                      But yes, there's a reason I said "proportionally."

                    2. Irish   12 years ago

                      (And people still talk about her every year for the Nobel, which I think is silly.)

                      If they passed over Cormac McCarthy or Philip Roth for Joyce Carol Oates I would murder everyone.

                      She's not in the top ten for living American novelists. I've enjoyed some stories she wrote, but she's tremendously overrated by some people.

                    3. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                      If Roth doesn't get it before he dies I will be extremely pissed off. I feel less strongly about McCarthy, but I think he's my #2 American choice, and I would like to see him win. She wouldn't be anywhere near my top 10 (if I had one).

                    4. Irish   12 years ago

                      It says something about H&R that our literary discussion got about a third of the commenters and 1/7th the posts of the Star Trek conversation that starts right below.

                    5. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      Shut up, dorks. We're talking about Star Trek.

                    6. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                      I was mostly enjoying the fact that the two of us specifically were in both discussions at the same time, and semi-disagreeing in one while agreeing in the other (at presumably different levels of seriousness). But also that.

                    7. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      Hey, I spoke about Twain. You aren't going to cough up any American author better than him, so sit down and take your Trekking.

                    8. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      Hey, Vidal never won, did he? Admittedly, he was batshit insane, but I loved his historical fiction, especially Julian and Creation.

                    9. Irish   12 years ago

                      No, he never won. I'm pretty sure the Nobel committee has purposefully stopped giving the prize to Americans. The last American to win it was Toni Morrison, who obviously deserved it. Prior to her you've got a couple people who lived in America for large portions of their lives, like Czeslaw Milosz, Isaac Singer, and Saul Bellow, but who weren't really American. Bellow spent a ton of time here but was Canadian and the other two were from Europe.

                      You have to go all the way back to Steinbeck in 1962 for an American born winner of the prize prior to Morrison. They don't really like us very much.

                    10. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                      Whenever I get worried that Roth might not win it, though, I just remind myself that Nabokov didn't either and then I'm like "fuck 'em."

                    11. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      It's typical of older, decaying cultures to resent the newer ones. Our turn will come soon enough, I suppose.

                      The Greeks had the same attitude about the Romans.

            2. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

              Sylvia Plath thinks Joyce Carol Oates should lighten up, lol

              literaryjokesarefun.com

      3. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

        Also he had to pay for Picard's bill at the boarding house.

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          What's amazing about that episode is that they went to such lengths to get Twain utterly and completely wrong. One has to applaud such perfection.

          1. Episiarch   12 years ago

            The fucking Twain episodes were some of the most insipid episodes of the show, only matched by Dixon Hill ones. However, enjoy this video of a super-stoned Patrick Stewart.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              I saw that. He's amusing, though in a different way than the Shat.

              There's enough fascinating history and content from Twain to do a TV series about him. But they couldn't get twenty minutes of him right.

            2. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

              You have the motherfucking worst taste in Star Trek. How do you not like the retarded episodes where they go back in time and Whoopi is all 19th century and shit?

              1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                Nikki, please. Men are talking here. About manly things. [Grunts and adjusts his manhood.]

                1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

                  Two things that I will say that were good about that episode was that it involved a Colt 45, and that the woman had to be taken care of by the stronger men.

              2. Episiarch   12 years ago

                Hey everybody, nicole likes episodes where an intergalactic janitor dresses up like Queen Victoria and it has idiotic time travel paradoxes. What. A. Surprise, coming from the worst.

                You know who nicole's favorite character is? Now, I know you were thinking I was going to say Wesley, but I'm not.

                Wait for it: Alexander.

                1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                  Wait for it: Alexander.

                  A pathetic effort. You should know who my favorite character is. I think you hate him even more than Alexander, too.

                2. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

                  Epi, normally I agree with you, but you are wrong about Nikki being the worst. Star Trek: The Next Generation is the worst.

                  1. Episiarch   12 years ago

                    If I told you her actual favorite character was Q, would you reconsider?

                    1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

                      That would be pretty bad, but not as bad as any episode of TNG including Q, or malfunctioning holodecks, or Data attempting to be human, or Dianna Troy's feelings, or Whoopi. The rest I have suppressed on advice from my doctor.

                    2. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                      any episode of TNG including Q, or malfunctioning holodecks, or Data attempting to be human, or Dianna Troy's feelings, or Whoopi

                      All of these things, except Deanna Troi's feelings, are my idea of a fun TNG episode.

                      MWAHAHA

                    3. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      See, Scientist? SEE?!?

                      You should all defer to my choice of the worst, because as you can see, I was right.

                    4. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

                      No sale. Liking TNG is not as bad as being TNG.

                    5. Irish   12 years ago

                      TNG had Riker's beard you you fucking Philistine. Hating TNG is like urinating on the floor of the Basilica.

                    6. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

                      I'll grant you Riker and his beard. He was the only redeeming feature of that show.

                    7. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                      I'll grant you Riker and his beard. He was the only redeeming feature of that show.

                      How the fuck am I the worst exactly?!?!?!

                    8. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      Whoa, this is getting weird. I'm not sure who the worst is any more. Did Scientist actually say that? That's like saying your favorite Star Wars character is Jar-Jar, or that stupid Ewok played by Warwick Davis.

                    9. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                      Oh my god you even hate Wicket?!?

                    10. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      Oh my god you even hate Wicket?!?

                      Who doesn't hate Wicket?!?

                    11. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      The only good thing about the Ewoks was that Warwick Davis was in one of the costumes. That's it. Everything else was worse than, well, you.

                    12. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

                      In the sea of suck that is TNG, Riker was often the least sucking sucker.

                    13. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      What? It's like taking the Evil Kirk from "The Enemy Within," taking out all of the good stuff, including any hope of competence, then sticking a beard on him.

                      It's like the writers had never seen a TOS episode. They had no guide for putting Kirk back together.

                    14. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      What? The holodeck episodes are the worst. At least, where the holodeck malfunctions. Seriously, one time, and the shit is gone. Starfleet is a military organization, after all.

                      Of course, an episode exploring how much sex is going on in there, rather than in crew quarters, could've been interesting. Or Riker going in to virtually beat the shit out of Picard.

              3. JW   12 years ago

                Whoopi

                Stop. Right. There.

            3. Irish   12 years ago

              The fucking Twain episodes were some of the most insipid episodes of the show, only matched by Dixon Hill ones. However, enjoy this video of a super-stoned Patrick Stewart.

              No. The most insipid episode of Next Generation was the Outrageous Okona in which the Enterprise comes across a fucking space pirate or something who had stolen a jewel from one person and impregnated the daughter of another. Both those people wanted to kill him so Picard ended up having to mediate their dispute.

              We're treated to absolutely atrocious scenes of Okona trying to teach Data humor. It is awful.

              1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                Thank Commander Mitchell that they didn't think to combine those episodes. At the end of which, Okona and Twain become lizards, who mate. But they get better.

              2. JW   12 years ago

                Can't we all just agree that *most* of TNG was shit?

                It had it's moments, far and few...

                1. Irish   12 years ago

                  Bullshit. TNG was fine. I grew up on TNG and I won't have any badmouthing of it.

                  TNG, TOS and Deep Space Nine were all good. Enterprise got better as it went on. It started out awfully and was cancelled just when it finally started being decent.

                  Voyager was just terrible. Other Star Trek series had annoying characters but they'd be minor roles and would only show up once in a while. Even Wesley wasn't in TNG the entire series. Then Voyager came and gave us Neelix, who is the Jar Jar Binks of the Star Trek universe.

                  1. JW   12 years ago

                    TNG was tedious and plodding with all the endless Bermanesque moralizing. I'll admit to enjoying it the first time through, but on re-runs, it just became intolerable in most instances.

                    FWIW, I agree on Enterprise. It had a couple seasons left in it. I still like it on the strength of its characters, Bakula notwithstanding.

                    I kept rooting for Neelix to die a horrible and non-heroic death.

                    1. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      TNG is nigh unwatchable in reruns now. A few years ago I did see the episode where Lore is assembling an army of de-collectivized Borg--including Hugh, of course--and that was pretty good. Pretty much any Lore episode is watchable, because Lore is the only interesting character in TNG.

                    2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      Modeled on you, as I understand it.

                    3. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      Modeled on you, as I understand it.

                      Lore pretty much is me, down to my positronic brain (I still don't understand how Asimov didn't sue them) and my excellent artificial sense of humor.

                    4. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      It's a tribute. Ripping off people and calling it a tribute is okay. Or something. Hollywood has its own laws.

                    5. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      Enterprise had improved considerably by its fourth season. Naturally, they had to kill it and send it off with a shitty last episode.

                    6. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      I watched only a handful of Voyager episodes. Naturally, rather than miss it, I saw the worst TV episode ever. How is that possible?

                    7. Irish   12 years ago

                      Threshold is unbelievable. It watches like a ridiculous sci-fi B movie from 1957, except with updated effects. Apparently going too fast makes you SUPER EVOLVE until you become a lizard.

                    8. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      It reminds me a little of an old pulp story: "The Man Who Evolved" by Edmond Hamilton.

                    9. Irish   12 years ago

                      Question: Has there ever been a science fiction movie or T.V. show in which evolution in any way resembled the way evolution works in the real world?

                    10. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      Nah, it's just like computers. Wrong. Or physics. Wrong. Or science of any kind. Wrong.

                      What's extra bad about TV (or movie) science fiction is that books can do it right. Take a premise, even one that's implausible, and stick do it, exploring the implications. Don't break your own fucking rules.

                      Another thing--no danged time travel. Except for a few exceptions, that's just crap. It really ruined Enterprise to go there right out of the gate.

                    11. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      Futurama?

                      Not really. Most people don't understand evolution nor are they familiar with theories such as punctuated equilibrium.

                    12. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      You need to go see the latest post on The Chive. I think they were reading our earlier thread about your VR program.

                    13. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      I refuse to recognize the existence of that top photograph and just moved on to the next one.

                    14. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      Last one.

                    15. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      For a second I thought the pic said "Mugato".

                    16. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      Best costume design ever, or just best in the 20th century?

                    17. Episiarch   12 years ago

                      Bonus knowledge: The thing was supposed to be called a Mogatu or something like that but DeForest Kelly just kept saying "Mugato" so they just went with that.

                    18. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      As it should be.

                    19. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

                      Question: Has there ever been a science fiction movie or T.V. show in which evolution in any way resembled the way evolution works in the real world?

                      You mean showing generation after generation of descent with modification? Too much trouble.

                    20. Irish   12 years ago

                      I mean showing something adapting to its environment. For some reason sci-fi has decided that there is a special evolutionary 'track' and that we will eventually evolve in a certain way regardless of what our environment is.

                      There was a Philip K. Dick story in which human beings evolve into blind blobs due to radiation and their hamsters evolve into powerful energy beings that can manipulate the universe. That was obviously ridiculous, but at least his version was kind of funny.

                2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                  I rewatched the series last year, and I can say that it certainly reached some low points. Overall, I liked it well enough, but it was uneven.

                  1. Irish   12 years ago

                    The lows of TNG were REALLY fucking low. Some of the most trite, annoying and nonsensical episodes of Star Trek were in TNG.

                    I still like it though. It might be the worst good show in the history of television, but I still think it comes in on this side of the line.

              3. Episiarch   12 years ago

                But Billy Campbell!!!

                I think we can all agree that the worst episode is the one where Wesley breaks the law on that idyllic planet where all punishments are death, and then Picard gets him out of it. For leading me on and not killing Wesley, it becomes the worst episode ever. The best episode ever was of course the one where there was that planet where women ruled and then Riker goes in and sexes up their leader, and basically implies at the same time that all women want a dominant man to come in and straighten their shit out (if you know what I mean). God that's a great episode.

                1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                  I think we can all agree that the worst episode is the one where Wesley breaks the law on that idyllic planet where all punishments are death, and then Picard gets him out of it. For leading me on and not killing Wesley, it becomes the worst episode ever.

                  YES. OH GOD YES.

                2. Irish   12 years ago

                  How about the episode The Outcast where Riker falls in love with a member of a genderless species that believes expressing male or female gender identity is a perversion? That was a bad episode. It was meant to explore LGBT rights, but instead we got bizarre discussions about female gender identity on a fucking science fiction show.

                  1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

                    Actively helping Wesley not be lawfully executed is like, the worst cockblocking of all time, Irish.

                  2. Episiarch   12 years ago

                    For you, mick. Make sure you go to page two, where you will get your payoff.

                    I think we arrived at the point where we agree that there were a lot of really, really terrible TNG episodes. Most of them, in fact.

                  3. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                    The same issue was handled in DS9, which concluded with a lesbian make-out session.

                3. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                  Just think, we were this close to killing Wesley because it was the right thing to do. Man, some alternative universe made out good after that episode. I bet it got great after that.

                  1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                    You know, these threaded comments are still fucked up. One moment, my comment goes where I placed it. The next, it's bunched up somewhere else. Fuck this shit.

                  2. JW   12 years ago

                    Picard could have finally nailed Crusher, in the most manly of ways that the 24th century allowed.

                    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      Did they have sex after TOS? I mean, on ships. They sure as shit had sex on DS9.

                  3. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

                    You can always entertain the fantasy that Wesley spent years being the Traveller's boy toy before returning to Starfleet to cameo in the worst Trek movie ever.

                    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      What does it say that Wil Wheaton thinks Wesley should've been beamed into space in a feel-good second episode?

    6. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

      "Faith" is believing something you know ain't true. Mark Twain

      Twain is our greatest American - period. His life was Shakespearean and his work sublime.

      He epitomized "American" in every way.

      1. C. Anacreon   12 years ago

        "Faith is believing in things when common-sense tells you not to."
        Margaret O'Sullivan in Miracle on 34th Street

        You aren't the only one who can pull out "faith is" quotes, Shrike.

        1. Ted S.   12 years ago

          Did you mean Margaret Sullavan, or Maureen O'Sullivan? :-p

          (Actually, looking through the credits, I think you had Maureen O'Hara in mind, but IMDb says the quote is actually delivered by John Payne.)

          1. C. Anacreon   12 years ago

            Maureen O'Hara. I figured it was wrong, going only from memory rather than wisely going to IMDB as you had. I was close though.

            But they are not entirely correct on the quote. Indeed, first John Payne says it to her in the midst of a breakup argument. But later, a contrite Maureen repeats the line to Natalie Wood -- which makes little Susan (Natalie) believe in Santa enough to eventually get her dream home and family.

      2. Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)   12 years ago

        He epitomized "American" in every way.

        An obvious reference to Nigger Jim.

    7. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

      apologist against the Christian faith

      Um, yeah, you really don't apologize against things, guy.

      1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

        The root of apologist is the Greek word for defense. Christian apologists typically defend their religion from intellectual attacks, but he should certainly not call himself an apologist against his own side.

    8. Blinded by the Derp   12 years ago

      I thought he was attacking hypocritical Christians, not Christianity.

      Either way doesn't make him evil.

      1. DesigNate   12 years ago

        But...But they're one and the same!

  22. Brandon   12 years ago

    http://espn.go.com/espn/story/.....s#comments

    Scoop Jackson: Still an asshole.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      I thought you meant Hymietown Jackson, but I see I'm wrong.

    2. Warrren   12 years ago

      Scoop Jackson: Not making a dent in public policy.

    3. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

      Henry M Jackson came back from the dead to write for ESPN?

  23. Coeus   12 years ago

    Goddam, Krugman, aren't you just a mendacious little shit.

    One of the things you always heard, back when we were actually talking about stimulus rather than fighting a rearguard action against destructive austerity, was the claim that stimulus spending would inevitably end up becoming a permanent fixture of the economy. This was always said with an air of worldly wisdom ? of course that's how these things work! ? even though history said very much the opposite.

    By the way, it's helpful to have a sense of the scale of this thing compared with the economy. So here's the stimulus calculated as a percentage of the CBO estimate of potential GDP:

    So next time someone goes on about how we had this huge stimulus that failed, you can tell him that the "huge" stimulus ? in response to the worst financial crisis in three generations ? peaked at a whopping 1.6 percent of GDP, and was effectively gone in a bit over two years.

    Someone want to post the budget figures for the last 8 years again?

    1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

      FOUL! We haven't had a budget for 3 years!

      1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        Senate Democrats passed a budget this year and the House won't allow a vote on it.

        1. Biden's Scroteplugs   12 years ago

          must be a reciprocal agreement.

        2. kbolino   12 years ago

          Do tell how an appropriations bill originated in the Senate...

          1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

            WASHINGTON ? After an all-night debate that ended just before 5 a.m., the Senate on Saturday adopted its first budget in four years, a $3.7 trillion blueprint for 2014 that would provide a fast track for passage of tax increases, trim spending modestly and leave the government still deeply in the red a decade from now.

            The 50-to-49 vote in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, sets up contentious ? and potentially fruitless ? negotiations with the Republican-controlled House in April to reconcile two vastly different plans for dealing with the nation's economic and budgetary problems. No Republicans voted for the Senate plan, and four Democrats opposed it: Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Begich of Alaska and Max Baucus of Montana. All four are from red states and are up for re-election in 2014.

            "The Senate has passed a budget," Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the Senate Budget Committee chairwoman, declared at 4:56 a.m.

            http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03......html?_r=0

            1. kbolino   12 years ago

              I knew you weren't going to get the point, there was no need to prove it for me.

              1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

                Your original comment is a Non sequiter, dumbass.

                1. kbolino   12 years ago

                  Insofar as it contradicts your narrative.

                  The budget, as an appropriations bill, must originate in the House. In other words, the Senate took a House bill and fucked it up so much that the House didn't even consider the Senate version worthy of voting on, knowing that it would never pass.

                  1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

                    This is completely irredeemable. The budget resolution isn't even law, it's a framework for the subsequent debates over appropriations. It is almost completely nonbinding. Also, it's only bills concerning the raising of revenue, not the spending of it, that must originate in the House.

                    1. kbolino   12 years ago

                      To wit: "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills."

                      I blame public schools.

                      Also, I had no idea budget resolutions were so worthless, although I guess I should not be surprised since the Feds have had no issue collecting or spending money absent budgets.

                      I fully concede that this debate is utterly pointless. Surely we can settle to agree that PB is a mendacious idiot, yes?

                    2. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

                      Oh, sure.

                2. Bobarian   12 years ago

                  Are you responding to yourself, now?

                  1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

                    That's just the nesting limit.

        3. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

          Did the House not pass a budget that the Senate blocked and the President threatened to veto?

          1. Mike M.   12 years ago

            Why are you attempting to have any kind of halfway serious conversation with it? It's nothing but a shit-throwing monkey troll.

            1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

              Gotta have some vices.

            2. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

              I will fucking wear you out in any debate - you GOP lickspittle.

              1. kbolino   12 years ago

                Being able to continue on with incoherent babble long after everyone has conceded that you're insane is hardly a positive character trait.

        4. Coeus   12 years ago

          Senate Democrats passed a budget this year and the House won't allow a vote a bullshit reconciliation like the one they were recently burned on ala ACA on it.

      2. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

        Only 3? At this point I thought we had always been at war with Eastasia.

        1. Almanian!   12 years ago

          What difference, at this point, does it make?

    2. Brandon   12 years ago

      potential GDP is Krugman's new favorite phrase, because it absolves him of any obligation of proof, evidence, results or honesty.

      1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

        Yep, it's weasel words all the way down.

        1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

          -it's weasel words all the way down

          Indeed. 'Effectively gone' is my favorite.

      2. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

        It is a bizarre phrase. Is it supposed to mean 'here is the percentage the stimulus is of GDP if the GDP did what we and other supporters of the stimulus say it will?'

        Because that is simply odd.

        1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

          It somewhat proves how few people actually "read" his articles as opposed to just looking at the words.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

            Maybe they 'effectively read' his article, or they read the 'potential content' of it?

            1. Libertymike   12 years ago

              The stimuli are who we thought they were!

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Goddam, Krugman, aren't you just a mendacious little shit.

      No; he's a mendacious big shit.

      Even Robert Reich, as short as he is, is a mendacious big shit.

    4. Mike M.   12 years ago

      "We need stimulus spending, especially on national infrastructure, in order to create jobs."

      Oh yeah, how about the Keystone Pipeline then?

      "No, go fuck yourself!"

    5. MJGreen   12 years ago

      Uhh, 1.6% of GDP is a pretty large stimulus. And with teh multiplierz, it should've meant at least 3% growth.

  24. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Hillary Clinton's personal aide and confidante held private sector job while still working for State Department

    When news surfaced in May that the State Department had approved an arrangement that allowed Huma Abedin, a top adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, to take on work for private clients, officials at the department described it as nothing unusual.

    But three months later, questions about the arrangement persist, and the department has declined to provide some basic information about Ms. Abedin's situation and those of other State Department employees who may have been given similar status.

    Ms. Abedin, 37, a confidante of Mrs. Clinton's, was made a "special government employee" in June 2012. That allowed her to continue her employment at State but also work for Teneo, a consulting firm, founded in part by a former aide to President Bill Clinton, that has a number of corporate clients, including Coca-Cola. In addition, Ms. Abedin worked privately for the Clinton Foundation and for Mrs. Clinton personally.

    The arrangement set off concern among some government watchdog groups and a senior Republican in Congress, who questioned whether a person in a sensitive State Department position should be working for clients in the private sector at the same time.

    Does it make a difference, at this point?

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      Fake scandal!

    2. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

      I do not believe this story, Democrats do not hold jobs in the private sector.

      1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

        It's the private sector like a public-private partnership is the private sector.

      2. Biden's Scroteplugs   12 years ago

        I'm sure it's a non-taxpaying entity, so it's all good.

    3. Rich   12 years ago

      Hey, that's Weiner's wife! She's entitled!

    4. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Let's not forget the aide is married to Anthony Weiner!

  25. Rich   12 years ago

    Susan Rice is working behind the scenes

    That's one of the problems with this administration: virtually *everything* is done "behind the scenes".

    1. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

      Transparency!

  26. Damned Fool   12 years ago

    Cult Leader 'Black Jesus' Killed

    1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

      I think if Obama had been killed it would be all over the news and internet.

    2. Gbob   12 years ago

      Somebody check on the whereabouts of Everlast. (Too obscure? Possibly.)

      1. Ted S.   12 years ago

        Everlast? The boxing equipment maker?

  27. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    XKCD hates FoE

    1. Tonio   12 years ago

      Who doesn't? (Sorry, Bro, couldn't resist.)

    2. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      XKCD Everybody except his mom hates FoE

      FIFY

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Since this was discussed in the Morning Links, you're not first by a long shot. :-p

  28. Harpua   12 years ago

    Regardless of any potential military strikes, Russia is keeping its commitment to sell weapons to the Syrian government, part of a contract signed prior to the civil war.

    I didn't know either Russia or Syria existed in 1865. I'll be damned...

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      Russia? Really?

    2. Calidissident   12 years ago

      You were unaware that Russia existed in 1865? True, the modern Russian Federation with the current government didn't exist, but the Russian Empire and a Russian nation definitely did exist.

    3. Almanian!   12 years ago

      Warren, Cali - what he did there. You didn't see it? Really?

      You must not know any history from, like, 100 years ago or SOMETHING...

      1. Calidissident   12 years ago

        I'm aware that he was making a joke about the civil war, because in the US the term refers specifically to the American Civil War. The punchline doesn't work though, the way it's worded.

        1. Almanian!   12 years ago

          *stares at Cali*

          You're hopeless.

          1. Calidissident   12 years ago

            I liked your evil twin better

  29. Coeus   12 years ago

    The myth of protective order misuse.

    See if you can spot all the tricks in this article. You will be tested later.

    1. Brandon   12 years ago

      No. Not today.

    2. Gbob   12 years ago

      Having a test on a Friday is a dick move, dude. I'm already on my third beer.

      1. Almanian!   12 years ago

        shoulda asked those of us who took the class last semester....he's a dick, and the tests SUCK. have fun, bruh.

        1. Coeus   12 years ago

          It's just pass/fail. You get married, you failed.

    3. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

      All of them? I think there's just one: none of the "facts" actually even contradicts the "myth."

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        +1 pelt of an SJW

        Nikki's on the ball today.

        1. Nikki twerks hard for the $   12 years ago

          Boom!

  30. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Video: Robert Reich and the world's shortest sketch board: Celebrate Labor on Labor Day by demanding higher minimum wage, universal education and child care, and more unions

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      An Orren Boyle Production.

    2. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Note that they never want to celebrate the self-employed.

      1. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

        I am not a business expert, just opinionated. I think people who are self-employed are bad people for depriving the worst companies of their talents and effort. They have the duty to take less money, have less control over their time and lives for the good of the collective.

        /slate

        1. Warrren   12 years ago

          "People who hoard gold are jackasses!" --Charlie Munger

  31. np   12 years ago

    Leak Confirms Hypothesis that U.S. Spied on Bin Laden from Space

    In July 2011, I wrote "Exclusive: U.S. Air Force Could Have Used Spy Shuttles to Monitor Bin Laden" in which I discuss how both spy satellites and the X-37B autonomous space plane, a top secret U.S. Air Force design, could have been used to spy on the world's most infamous terrorist Osama Bin Laden.

    I first became aware that the U.S. might have used the X-37B -- which was equipped with powerful imaging hardware -- to spy on Bin Laden from space via amateur astronomer tracking data from Heavens Above. At the time I revealed:

    Amateur astronomers observed the orbiter following variable paths that took it between 40 north and 40 south degrees of latitude, a swath that includes Pakistan. Specifically, between September and October, observations logged on the site Heavens Above ... [show that the craft's] orbit crossed over Pakistan, though there was a gap in observations, making it hard to definitively say.

    While it still cannot be determined whether the camera equipped X-37B or one of the camera-equipped spy satellites -- such as "USA-186 Keyhole" or "Lacrosse-3/5" -- one key pillar of my story has been definitively confirmed via this week's release of the Edward Snowden-leaked "Black Budget" memos, which detail intelligence spending and operations.

    1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

      You are unqualified to have an opinion if you needed the leaked memos to confirm that we were spying on bin Laden from space.

  32. np   12 years ago

    On the Snowden leaks of Black Budget memos:
    http://www.dailytech.com/Snowd.....e33277.htm

    I. Intelligence Official: "Brilliant People Get You in Trouble"

    The latest document was published in The Washington Post and comes courtesy of former NSA analyst Edward Snowden.

    Mr. Snowden was never supposed to have access to this document -- nor many of the others he obtained. But as with much of his trove of documents, he obtained the kind of whistleblower information that was far too explosive for even a privileged employee of his clearance, by using digital espionage to escalate his privileges even higher.

    A former intelligence official quoted by NBC News described Mr. Snowden, stating:

    Every day, they are learning how brilliant [Snowden] was. This is why you don't hire brilliant people for jobs like this. You hire smart people. Brilliant people get you in trouble. The damage, on a scale of 1 to 10, is a 12.

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      The NSA or Booz is too incompetent to hire the properly incompetent people?

    2. Killazontherun   12 years ago

      12 being, congress starts to recognize the problem that there are way too many people in the field of espionage and spying to be anything but counterproductive to the nation's best interest and 9/10ths of us are about to get pink slips.

      1. Libertymike   12 years ago

        The Great Satan is going down!

  33. rts   12 years ago

    Dallas Buyers Club trailer.

    A movie where the FDA is the bad guy? Sign me up!

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      Coming soon to Netflix! I'll watch it there, I'm not going to spend movie theater money.

      1. Libertymike   12 years ago

        What about a Matinee? Theatre near my office has $4 prices b/4 6.

        1. Warrren   12 years ago

          I DON'T LIVE NEAR YOUR OFFICE! STOP OTHERING ME!

  34. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Couple who eloped in 1942 and remained married for 71 years, die only hours apart

    CHICAGO -- A husband and wife who eloped in 1942 and were married for more than seven decades died hours apart this week at a hospice in northern Illinois.

    Family members say Robert and Nora Viands were inseparable during their marriage, which included three separate wedding ceremonies. Together, they raised five children.

    "They were really never apart," said one of their daughters, Barb Milton. "They would hold hands in the dining room."

    The two lived together in their home until moving to a Rockford retirement center earlier this year as their health deteriorated.

    Robert Viands, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, was 92 when he died around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday. Nora Viands, 88, died at 4:45 p.m. She'd been hospitalized with pneumonia in December.
    [snip]
    The couple, who were originally from Ashland in central Illinois, met on a blind date. But family members say Nora wasn't initially smitten, and vowed not to go out with him again.

    Robert, who was later drafted during World War II, persisted and the two went on a second date. They eventually eloped to Missouri because at 17, Nora was too young to legally wed in Illinois. To appease their families ? she was Catholic, he was Methodist ? they had two more ceremonies in their respective churches.

    1. Almanian!   12 years ago

      Aw! Too bad they couldn't live long enough to have a death panel off them together.

      I haz a sad 🙁

    2. Snark Plissken (erstwhile PS)   12 years ago

      The tragic part of this story...it's on Huffington.

  35. Killazontherun   12 years ago

    This is what is getting their panties bunch up?

    From the article:

    http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/2.....z2dUKJDSjb

    Human Rights Watch said it was shocked to see an American brand name running an advertising campaign that would draw "howls of outrage" if released in the United States.

    "It's both bizarre and racist that Dunkin' Donuts thinks that it must color a woman's skin black and accentuate her lips with bright pink lipstick to sell a chocolate doughnut," said Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. "Dunkin' Donuts should immediately withdraw this ad, publicly apologize to those it's offended and ensure this never happens again."

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      I've never wanted to fuck a doughnut more in my life.

      1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        Yours sir, is the correct response.

      2. JW   12 years ago

        I'll happily help her take off that racist body paint.

    2. np   12 years ago

      The CEO for Dunkin' Donuts in Thailand dismissed the criticism as "paranoid American thinking."

      "It's absolutely ridiculous," said CEO Nadim Salhani. "We're not allowed to use black to promote our doughnuts? I don't get it. What's the big fuss? What if the product was white and I painted someone white, would that be racist?"

      "Not everybody in the world is paranoid about racism," said Salhani, a Lebanese expatriate in Thailand who said his teenage daughter was the model featured in the campaign. "I'm sorry, but this is a marketing campaign, and it's working very well for us."

      Ha. Brilliant

      1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        I've no doubt that American racial politics and the walking on eggshells attitude it creates comes across as very weird to people from other countries normally not affected by it. Lived here my entire life, and I find it to be highly fucked up.

      2. B.P.   12 years ago

        So basically the response is: "Eat shit you PC idiots."

        This reminds me of the flak that Taco Bell got about 15 years ago for having a talking chihuahua dog in their TV ads. Howls of racism, etc. Taco Bell seemed to double down by putting a beret on their chihuahua and making him into a Central American dictator. They even put big dictator-type banners of the dog running down the sides of the restaurants.

    3. B.P.   12 years ago

      Isn't this a little off mission for Human Rights Watch?

    4. MJGreen   12 years ago

      A "leading Human Rights group." What does "blackface" in an ad have to do with human rights?

      1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

        I hope they never see any of those M&M ads with Miss Brown. They'd have a stroke.

  36. Jumbie   12 years ago

    Reasonoids!

    The Footballocalypse of 2013 is upon us.

    Join the pick em league here and earn neverending glory:

    http://football.fantasysports......ckem/45865

    password: postrel4eva

    1. Warrren   12 years ago

      So if I'm not already a member I can't access the page?

    2. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

      I need the Group ID number.

      1. Jumbie   12 years ago

        45865.

        Sorry, it's in the URL, so I thought it would just take you there automatically.

        WAIT! Auric joined up without me giving him the ID number. Auric are you some kind of unicorn Haxx0r?

        1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

          I am. I did some magic shit involving taking the number out of the URL and searching for the group with it.

        2. Irish   12 years ago

          Auric are you some kind of unicorn Haxx0r?

          No. He just works for the NSA.

    3. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

      Only 6 days left!

    4. Warrren   12 years ago

      I'm in!

    5. Brett L   12 years ago

      Thanks, I'm in.

  37. Alice Bowie   12 years ago

    If Syria were to drop Chemical Weapons on Israel? Should we intervene?
    Israel can obviously handle its matters fine. But we would intervene and BOTH the DEMOCRATS and the REPUBLICANS would be 100% in favor of intervention.

    If the president of Uganda killed 1500 of it's citizens with sling-shots, should we intervene?

    I say we should never intervene.

    Can you imagine if Barak Obama were to start Dropping Sarin Gas on the LIbertarians/Republicans, would you guys want the Chinese to came and save your asses?

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      Can you imagine if Barak Obama were to start Dropping Sarin Gas on the LIbertarians/Republicans, would you guys want the Chinese to came and save your asses?

      I'd want them to come save me but they're under no obligation to do so.

      1. crashland   12 years ago

        Yeah but they probably would because dead people can't buy their stuff...

        Libertarians/Republicans have all of the money, they buy most of their stuff so keeping them alive so they can continue to buy stuff is in China's best interests.

        1. Irish   12 years ago

          Libertarians/Republicans have all of the money

          Really? You don't think wealthy white liberals, Asians, or Indians buy things from China? They're all liberal constituencies.

      2. Alice Bowie   12 years ago

        I think that's the point Irish. No one country is under the obligation to save the citizens in another country.

        The real question is "Is this intervention legal and appropriate?"

        The holocaust was going on and American didn't get involved.

        Papa/Baby Doc (among other very bad dictators) terrorized the 3rd world, we didn't intervene.

        They throw a rock at an Israeli shoulder and we, the american tax payer, cough up $5billion a year to defend Israel.

        I say CUT EVERYBODY OFF!!!
        EVERYBODY. And especially Syria.

        1. Bo Cara Esq.   12 years ago

          I have been thinking about this of late, it is essentially a version of the 'even the Holocaust' argument often thrown at non-interventionists/isolationists. I think you can make a moral argument that if intervening could help save someone from horrible, oppressive suffering or mass slaughter then it should be done. If a child were drowning in front of me I should surely try to save it. If that child is many miles away, but I could reasonably still come to it's aid I do not see how that could negative my moral duty.

          Of course, there is the difficulty that any intervention is very likely in the long run to make things worse, not better. Since few people can read the geopolitical future, this counsels against not intervening in nearly all cases.

          But, I do not think you can make the moral argument that anyone should be forced to join or support that intervention. If people want to voluntarily go fight for Syria against Assad let them form Lincoln Brigades, and if others want to financially support them, then allow it. But no further.

          1. Alice Bowie   12 years ago

            I agree 100%.

          2. Tony   12 years ago

            If a child were drowning in front of me I should surely try to save it.

            Bleeding heart. The child should have learned to swim. On his own dime.

            1. Coeus   12 years ago

              He should have. You don't think he should be encouraged to. You think you should pull a gun and make someone else save him after you provide incentives for him not to learn.

              1. Tony   12 years ago

                I'm the one for public education.

                1. Coeus   12 years ago

                  And against incentives for making it work worth a damn.

          3. MJGreen   12 years ago

            If that child is many miles away, but I could reasonably still come to it's aid I do not see how that could negative my moral duty.

            Think harder.

    2. Killazontherun   12 years ago

      If you kill me there is no one left to keep this dead man switch from deactivating the fields holding all of this nuetronium . . . . I've said too much.

      1. Warrren   12 years ago

        I'll risk it.

        1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

          Hey, look . . . a doughnut?

          1. Warrren   12 years ago

            Arrgle barrrgle fuckfuckfuck!

  38. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

    Wall Street Journal: Scottish castles are more affordable than London and New York apartments

    A fantasy highland home?whether it be a full-scale castle, a sporting estate or a historic country house?is becoming an increasingly appealing addition to the property portfolios of the superrich. While many are drawn to the romantic notion of being Laird of the Manor, the more practical overseas buyers who already own homes in London are attracted to the values offered for their money. "A budget which would only probably buy you a flat in central London could buy you a castle in Scotland," Mr. Cockburn says.

    This is because Scotland is still reeling from the aftershocks of the recession?which can translate to good deals for buyers. According to data from estate agent Savills, SVS.LN -0.41% the average price paid in 2007 for a prime country house was $1.856 million. Today, prices are struggling to return to that high point, standing at $1.127 million.

    I'd like to buy a castle on a Scottish island and then spend my time hunting people for sport.

    1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      Are you sure you wouldn't spend it riding Bear Grylls water slide?

      1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

        Um, is that some kind of euphemism?

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          For me, absolutely a euphemism; I'd tap that in a heartbeat. For you, it's a real thing that was even discussed on Reason the other day.

          1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

            Huh, I missed that somehow. In any case if I become neighbors with Bear I'll invite you over so you can give it your best shot.

            1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

              I'll start working on a plan where survival requires snuggling. I'll need a cold environment, a slightly over-sized sleeping bag and sopping wet clothing with night coming quickly to make this work.

              1. Warrren   12 years ago

                I get that you're one of them gay-Os but snuggling? What kind of man are you?

                1. Coeus   12 years ago

                  + 1 Willaim Dafoe

                  1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

                    Fuck! Ass!

                  2. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

                    Ugh, I'm ashamed I didn't catch that reference.

                2. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

                  Snuggling is sort of like cuddling.

                3. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

                  First of all, I have no problem with cuddling as long as it doesn't block my view of the TV, make me overly warm on a hot evening, or interfere with my sleeping or videogame playing.

                  Secondly, has your spooning never "accidentally" become sporking? I'm boiling the frog slowly here.

                  1. Coeus   12 years ago

                    Secondly, has your spooning never "accidentally" become sporking? I'm boiling the frog slowly here.

                    Yes, and occasionally in my sleep. That's why I don't do the "I just wanna sleep, lets go to bed, even though we haven't had sex yet" bullshit. I send them to the guest bedroom, then drive to an ex's house.

              2. Jumbie   12 years ago

                Seems to me this plan should require and UNDER-sized sleeping bag.

                1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

                  Some wiggle-room necessary for phase two: sporking!

          2. Arkansaustrian Economics   12 years ago

            I'd tap that in a heartbeat.

            He'd most likely have his producers set you up first, show up to fake hump you for 30 seconds, and then leave to spend the rest of the night in a hotel.

            1. Coeus   12 years ago

              But on the plus side, he'll drink your piss.

              1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

                These things are important!

    2. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

      But I was assured that prices had to remain high or it was awful for everyone!

    3. Episiarch   12 years ago

      Serious, Lord of the Dreadfort. Would a flayed man be your sigil? You would totally betray the Stark at a wedding, I can tell. How are your leechings going?

      1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc   12 years ago

        House Serious

        Sigil: the Steller's Sea Eagle on a field of Red and White

        Words: Never Rub Another Man's Rhubarb

        1. Episiarch   12 years ago

          This is ProL's house sigil.

          His words: They All Want Cake.

          1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

            It should be black and white. Scratch that, it should be a cave painting.

      2. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

        Are you a chubby-chaser?

        1. Episiarch   12 years ago

          If her dowry is her weight in gold, hell yeah.

          1. BiMonSciFiCon   12 years ago

            And does it really matter what your wife looks like if you just willy-nilly disregard the prohibition on the lord's right?

            1. Episiarch   12 years ago

              It's good to be the king. Or a lord.

    4. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Do you know where you're going?

  39. SIV   12 years ago

    Flying technicals!

    Weaponized crop dusters

  40. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    So progressives are confusing and contradictory.
    This week there was a group wanting lower property taxes for condos, because it just encourages single dwelling units and suburban sprawl. But only the downtown condos. Not the condos being developed in the suburbs.
    Then today I saw a sign that said "Culture not Condos".
    I don't even know what that might mean.

    1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

      It means, "I want you to get my permission to do something with your own property."

  41. prolefeed   12 years ago

    In making the case for a military strike in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry today said the Syrian government killed 1,429 people in a chemical weapons attack last week, 426 of them children.

    So, we're killing people in a far away land, who may or may not be less hostile to us than the non-killed people, for Teh Childrunz?

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      the Syrian government killed 1,429 people in a chemical weapons attack last week, 426 of them children.

      Way to not give a shit about the 1003 adults who died. (Assuming there really was an attack and all these people died.)

  42. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

    Black crime today - commenters go batshit crazy.

    http://philadelphia.cbslocal.c.....gton-park/

    1. Coeus   12 years ago

      Quite frankly, I'm amazed it identified the races. This Treyvon blow-back is really changing the reporting style.

      1. Palin's Buttplug   12 years ago

        "Races"?

        The perps are black. I did not see the race of the victims.

        The comments are vile.

        1. Coeus   12 years ago

          Agreed

        2. Dweebston   12 years ago

          I have a problem with disqus, too. Vile platform.

    2. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

      holy shit

  43. Killazontherun   12 years ago

    The Girl From Ipanema

    S?o Paulo, close enough for a tune in my head.

    Safe for work if you have the kind of boss who compliments you on the good taste of the nude paintings on your cubical walls. Otherwise, maybe not.

    1. Sevo   12 years ago

      Link no link

    2. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

      Very safe for work.

    3. Killazontherun   12 years ago

      http://www.wwtdd.com/2013/08/j.....hotoshoot/

      squirrels!!! It worked in the preview.

      1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        Happened above too, but I provided a second link to the body of the article so didn't notice. Apparently, you can't hand code links A href= "http://www.suckit.com" then to a phrase any longer. A dark era has begun.

    4. All-Seeing Monocle   12 years ago

      Yeah, that's fairly workable.

  44. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles   12 years ago

    I didn't even know about this. I get it if he thinks he's not up to the job anymore, but why would it be inappropriate for him to go back to work? He didn't do anything.

  45. Coeus   12 years ago

    Watching feminists be confronted by the same bullshit they spout at others continues to be delicious.

    I'm not sure what the solution is. Feministe openly accepts guest posts and we invite people to write but obviously, we can't force people to use this platform. And while I don't write here regularly anymore, I'm not down with the idea of shutting the whole thing down (as incredibly frustrating as the space can be at times).

    I'm just gonna leave this here.

  46. Ken Shultz   12 years ago

    "Secretary of State John Kerry today said the Syrian government killed 1,429 people in a chemical weapons attack last week, 426 of them children."

    Sounds like Joseph McCarthy with his 205 communists in the State Department--if it's not a round number, then it must be true!

  47. Coeus   12 years ago

    Marcotte's just gotta project:

    Or what if a woman, who is being beat by her husband, wants to leave but knows that in her state, she can only do so by giving custody over to her abusive husband? "Fathers' rights" assholes are good at concocting hypotheticals that redirect your attention away from the issues that most concern them,

    How dare they concoct self-serving hypotheticals. I mean, who does that?

    1. All-Seeing Monocle   12 years ago

      Those hypotheticritical bastards.

  48. Mr Whipple   12 years ago

    Snowden? That's old news. We are on to the next shiny object.

  49. mrdrawingguy   12 years ago

    Run Snowden Run!
    http://communities.washingtont.....arade-or-/

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