A.M. Links: US Plans on Syria Intervention in Constant Flux, Wal-Mart Responds to Protesters, Alec Baldwin Hosting Show on MSNBC Starting in October

• 

  watchingfrogsboil/foter.com

  US military plans to intervene in Syria are apparently changing on a daily basis, and the Obama Administration is also considering training Syrian rebels. AIPAC is planning a lobbying campaign to shore up support in an unenthusiastic Congress, while many of Nancy Pelosi's closest allies,  who were instrumental in passing bills like Obamacare and cap and trade, haven't decided for themselves their position on Syria, let alone armtwisting anyone else about theirs. Black lawmakers may be among the most reluctant. G-20 leaders remain divided about Western intervention in Syria too. In the meantime, American officials say they've intercepted communication from Iran directing militants in Iraq to hit US interests there in the event of a military strike against Syria. NATO insists it won't get involved in any response to Syria's chemical weapons use because that response is supposed to be "limited," while the US ruled out working through the UN Security Council because of Russia and China, who both have veto powers.

• Final regulations on purchasing recreational marijuana in Washington state are still about nine months away, though some regulations have already gotten a tentative ok.
• Wal-Mart responded to labor protests against its stores by pointing out its employees are already remunerated better than their counterparts in retail, and that the protests were merely a union-orchestrated media stunt.
• Brazilian diplomats have canceled a trip to the US in preparation for an as-yet-uncanceled state visit next month. Brazilian officials are upset about reports the NSA had spied on the country's president.
• State media in Egypt have denied that the government is planning to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Alec Baldwin has agreed to a weekly Friday show on MSNBC set to start in October.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Final regulations on purchasing recreational marijuana in Washington state are still about nine months away, though some regulations have already gotten a tentative ok.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, what have I been smoking?

[Snark Plissken]

Alec Baldwin has agreed to a weekly Friday show on MSNBC set to start in October.

Hyper-partisanship is for closers.

[Snark Plissken]

Actually, better would be: acting is for closers.

[Old Man With Candy]

Put down that fucking Cupp!

[BakedPenguin]

Her?

[Old Man With Candy]

God, yes.

[MJGreen]

And to think, there are people who will actually watch this.

Not many, in the grand scheme of things, but tens of thousands at least.

[WTF]

It might be worth it for the entertainment value if he has one of his epic meltdowns on air.

[Lord Humungus]

Guelph family lives like it's 1986

The thing is, Blair and his girlfriend Morgan, 27, are pretending it's 1986.

And they're doing it because their kids ? Trey, 5, and Denton, 2 ? wouldn't look up from their parents' iPhones and iPads long enough to kick a ball around the backyard.

That's why their house has banned any technology post-1986, the year the couple was born.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I could probably find one of those suitcase-sized cellphones for them if they're interested in buying.

[Apatheist ?_??]

So they're denying them the same technology that they had?

[wwhorton]

"Gee, dad, your childhood sure is neat!"

[Tonio]

Those kids will be picking their nursing home. Or not.

[Fist of Etiquette]

In the 80's he would have done the decent thing and put a ring on that finger, eh?

[SugarFree]

Did you watch the video? 26? They both look like they were chained to truck and dragged through a field of old.

Did they not sell conditioner in 1986?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Did you ever notice the further back in time you go, the older people looked at a younger age? Look at war movies from the 40's. Those characters and the actors playing them were early twenties, but you would swear they were in their forties.

The Mona Lisa was 10 years old when she posed for that. The Easter Island statues were a kindergarten class. Michelangelo's David? That depicted him as seen in an ultrasound.

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

"Michelangelo's David? That depicted him as seen in an ultrasound."

*Begins applause*

[Apatheist ?_??]

Michelangelo's David? That depicted him as seen in an ultrasound.

Is that why his dick so small?

[Gbob]

No. He was really just Irish.

[C. Anacreon]

He was a grower, not a shower.

[Bam!]

In the famous photo of him posing with the rifle, Lee Harvey Oswald looks like he's 35 even though he's 25.

[SugarFree]

Or, you know, they could have just not let their kids play with their gadgets if it bothered them so much... Nah, of course it's a better idea to pretend it's 1986.

Sure glad these two had kids.

[John]

I don't understand why parents these days refuse to tell kids no. Telling your kid no is one of the great pleasures of parenting. It lets you show to yourself how much wiser you are than them. Don't these people want to feel more mature and wise than their kids?

[SugarFree]

They are only doing it for a year, so it's probably a book deal. The "doing this for a year" genre is inexplicably hot right now.

[John]

Bingo. I bet that is exactly what they are doing. That is actually pretty damned exploitative. the kids will never see the money from the book. And I bet they have no desire to give up their stuff.

[PM]

the kids will never see the money from the book...

It may end up paying for their college education. Or at least their insurance until they're 26...

[Apatheist ?_??]

I don't see the reason to hamper their kids either. Getting comfortable with new technology is a good thing. It's not like they can't balance it by making them go the fuck outside too. These people are the same age as me. They grew up with the progression from discmans to mini discs to mp3 players. They grew up with PCs becoming common place. They grew up with the birth and the explosion of the internet. How did they develop such luddism?

[John]

Exactly. Maybe you should work instead on figuring out ways for these gadgets to be a positive influence on your kids?

[tarran]

I don't see the reason to hamper their kids either. Getting comfortable with new technology is a good thing.

My daughter looks up how to make origami figures on you-tube. That, and that alone, justifies the kids having access to the Internet. Her life has been immeasurably enriched by it.

[Louis Cypher]

"That, and that alone, justifies the kids having access to the Internet. Her life has been immeasurably enriched by it."

Khan Academy
MIT OpenCourseWare

Great resources.

[wwhorton]

I'm a little less than ten years older, and I fail to see the magical difference between letting your kids play Super Mario Bros. on your vintage-ass NES vs. dorking around on a tablet. Oh, yeah, you can bring the tablet outside.

I used to play video games all the time when I was a kid--who am I kidding, I play them all the time now--but I also skateboarded or biked damn near six miles a day and did such favorite yard chores as "leveling the yard", which did not involve making it kill smaller yards until it got stronger so much as digging up a higher part and filling in a lower part with it. When I wasn't doing either of those things, I read voraciously, as I still do.

I don't get the paranoia about video games or electronics. I mean, if the issue is being active, then it doesn't matter if you're spending four hours playing a video game or four hours reading a book, really; you're sedentary either way. And, frankly, unless you're spending that time reading academic works or training manuals, you're not really much better off than you'd be sitting in front of a television. At least video games have the merit of involving you as an active participant, and, in the case of the better ones, actively promoting your own creativity, analytical ability, and problem-solving skills.

[John]

^^THIS^^ Being a kid is generally boring unless you are put to work at an early age. I grew up in the age of atari and my parents never even bought one. Yet, I spent a good part of my youth doing pointless and pretty stupid things. These people are living in a fantasy land if they think kids were somehow more productive and enlightened in 1986 than they are now. I guess they have totally forgotten what it was like to actually be a kid.

[lap83]

"I don't get the paranoia about video games or electronics. I mean, if the issue is being active, then it doesn't matter if you're spending four hours playing a video game or four hours reading a book, really; you're sedentary either way."

Exactly. This story is just another example of people confusing luddism with wisdom. Like John said, just say "no" and kick your kids outdoors. Otherwise you're sending a message that post-80s technology is evil. Actually, seeing it that way makes me think they're just moronic hipsters taking the lo-fi obsession too far.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

wwhorton, I concur. We'd play Colego Vision for two hours and then go play outside for six. Biking, baseball, walking in the forest, you name it. We balanced it out. In my 20s, my buddy and I played Sega baseball for over 16 hours straight. Our mothers were freaking out as they brought us food. The stale fart scent remains I think in that room.

Guess what? We're fitness junkies. Name the sport we likely played it. Cross-country skiing, cycling, tennis, soccer, hockey, baseball etc.

My daughter likes to play video games too and can't stand parents who brag about banning their kids from playing. They seem to think because we let her play she doesn't go outside - which is horseshit. We just know how to say no or tell her she's had enough - outside you go kiddo. Let's go pitch and catch.

[The DerpRider]

Because they're syrup sucking canucks.

[tarran]

The funny thing is that once you say no, and make it stick, then each time you do it afterwards is easier and you get less resistance.

Kids actually like having a parent that says no often (as long as the parent isn't being a psycho). It teaches them self denial, it also helps them get an idea of how to order their lives.

[John]

I remember a few years ago watching some TV doc about various screwed up kids and their parents doing therapy. In every case the parents had been totally permissive. And they would go into therapy and the kid wouldn't say it out right but that would practically scream "make some rules and do your job" to their parents.

I think at some level making rules and enforcing them gives kids a sense of security and makes them feel their parents care about them. The flip to side to the freedom of "do whatever you like" is "I really don't care what you do or about you".

[Louis Cypher]

I think at some level making rules and enforcing them gives kids a sense of security and makes them feel their parents care about them. The flip to side to the freedom of "do whatever you like" is "I really don't care what you do or about you".

This is so true.

[tarran]

I think at some level making rules and enforcing them gives kids a sense of security and makes them feel their parents care about them. The flip to side to the freedom of "do whatever you like" is "I really don't care what you do or about you".

Exactly.

[Cdr Lytton]

I would add to that, stop trying make your kids into your friends. Do you job as a parent and they'll mature into a more equal friend-like level when they're adults. Not when they're twelve or eight.

[Cdr Lytton]

trying to make

[John]

Yes CDR Lytton. That is spades. Your kids don't want you or need you as a "friend". Who wants to be friends with their parents as a kid? Later, when you are an adult, hopefully you get to appreciate your parents as people instead of just your parents. But not when you are a kid. You do yourself and your kid no favors by trying to be their friend. A parent has to make rules and make decisions. You can't be a friend and do that.

[Cunctator]

When my first grandchild (a grandson) was born, I told my son-in-law that I would only give him advice once on how to be a father. I told him that his son, and subsequent children, would have a lot of friends during their life, but only one father. That was his job. My daughter already knew how I felt about the job of parents.

[John]

That is great advice Cunctator.

[wwhorton]

Unless those kids are industrious as motherfuckers and Canadian child labor laws have relaxed considerably, they paid for the gadgets they don't want their kids to have. It's not his 7-year-old's iPad. Has Mullethead ever considered setting a password? Or perhaps putting things on high shelves?

[Steve G]

head in the sand. works for the Amish.

[Vapourwear]

I live in a havily Amish area, and most of them are quite up on technology. The don't embrace technology, but they definately aren't pretending it's the past.

[Steve G]

Rog, these clowns are worse, but as has been said... book deal, or whatever

[lap83]

They are worse than the Amish because they appear to be subtracting technology without replacing it with any skills that don't require it.

[db]

I know some family members who have not mastered (hell, even gained apprentice status at) saying no to their kids. It's getting bad, and I'm embarrassed for them everytime I see the behavior they are enabling. I feel worse for the kids because if they aren't stopped, they will have some social issues for sure when they're older.

[Brian D]

In 1986 I could put down the controller to my Atari 2600.

[Brian D]

Er, couldn't.

[tarran]

You poor thing!

You didn't have an Intellivision controller with its 16 direction joydisk?

[invisible furry hand]

We did!

[MJGreen]

Or don't get them the gadgets in the first place.

Why does a 2 year old - even a 5 year old - need an iPhone or an iPad? I get using an iPad as a supplementary teaching tool, but don't give them possession of it.

[Steve G]

Cursive resume?? Not sure, but I think there were typewriters back in '86

[The DerpRider]

He has the 80s hockey hair rocking. Call Ron Duguay.

[Juice]

That dude was born in 1986? He looks older than me.

[CE]

For a second there I thought Tony Blair had a 27-year-old girlfriend.

[hotsy totsy]

Then you think that having a 5 year old and a two year old that they'd get married, since the good old days were so much more livable.

[sarcasmic]

Letting her hair down! Bella Thorne busts some moves with big sister Dani at launch event for SEGA's Go Dance

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-game.html
Fifteen will get you twenty.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Not in Japan.

[Ted S.]

OMG! They're twerking just like Miley Ray Cyrus!

[SugarFree]

That last picture of her with her mom is really nice.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

You know what else fifteen can get you?

[Brett L]

Off?

[Juice]

Hmm. Her face makes her look like a white trash trailer slut.

[sarcasmic]

But I thought Disney girls were wholesome!?!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...many of Nancy Pelosi's closest allies, who were instrumental in passing bills like Obamacare and cap and trade, haven't decided for themselves their position on Syria, let alone armtwisting anyone else about theirs.

They also got a little bit in the ass letting her strongarm them on the Amash NSA amendment.

[sarcasmic]

Leggy Kristen Stewart smartens up in fitted black frock as she's joined by Juliette Binoche on set of new film Sils Maria

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....Maria.html
Shockingly she is scowling in all the pictures! Can you imagine that?

[a better weapon]

Just happened to notice her left leg looks a bit longer than her right in every picture.

[sarcasmic]

Girl sets herself on fire after roommate opens door while she was twerking against it doing a headstand
Tried showing off her skills while four candles burned on a table behind her

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....video.html
Ha ha!

[a better weapon]

Gotta watch out for those plastic fiber athletic clothes. I wonder if she put it out in time before parts of her yoga pants melted to her.

[Steve G]

I was just commenting the other day about how 'stop, drop, and roll' seems in hindsight to be the most overhyped bit of advice given to us in our youth. Apparently we need to bring it back since she seems to think you can just crabwalk away from flaming pants...

[wwhorton]

Dear scrawny white teenagers,

Please leave this to the professionals: http://officialtwerkteam.com/ .

Sincerely,
Twerk Aficionados Who Knew About It Ten Years Ago

[sarcasmic]

'What the hell did you do to me?' Joel Kinnaman makes his debut as RoboCop as first trailer is released

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....debut.html
Is it just me, or are all these movies the same?

[Bee Tagger]

If RoboCop talks like Detective Holder but with a robotic tone, I'm in.

[Brett L]

Will Samuel Jackson's character buy that for a dollar?

[Long Range Boredom]

It's not like Alex Murphy revealing his face at the end was symbolic or anything.

[Cyto]

I hope they do a better job on this than they did on Total Recall. RoboCop had sci-fi B-movie greatness. Total Recall also understood that you can be cheezy and still have a good movie with interesting and thought-provoking sci-fi story lines.

Then they reboot in a way that makes no sense and wonder why all their amazing CGI and big budgets don't make for a better movie. Here's a hint guys: it wasn't the gee-whiz future tech or space stories with special effects that gave these movies an audience.

[Long Range Boredom]

I think this might be a Stallone-in-Judge-Dredd scenario, where the actor playing Murphy really pushed for his face to be more visible. Points to Keith Urban for keeping his mask on the entire time in the new Dredd movie.

[Long Range Boredom]

*Karl Urban.

[sarcasmic]

Just watched Dredd the other night. I liked it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...directing militants in Iraq to hit US interests there in the event of a military strike against Syria.

We still have interests in Iraq?

[Bardas Phocas]

We have an embassy, but those expendible -- so, Bombs Away!

[Steve G]

and a not-insignificant contigent of non-combat troops and DoS types

[Tejicano]

What difference, even at this point, would it matter?

[Suthenboy]

No. The bringer of light ended that Bushpig fiasco just as he promised. We have no troops or interests there.

Did I mention that I am a flying reindeer?

[John]

Thousands of contractors and black ops guys do not count as a presence. Just like bombing a country does not constitute waging war against it. You and your nihilistic Libertarian word meanings.

[CatoTheElder]

I understand why the MSM and other government propagandists call them "contractors", but we should call them what they really are: mercenaries.

[John]

Yes and no. Mercenaries implies they are tip of the spear fighters. And most of them are not. And I am sure some of them are being paid by the Iraqis. If the Iraqis want to hire old American SF guys to fight their insurgency, I don't see a problem.

[sarcasmic]

World-famous celebrity bodyguard is tasered to death by police 'after breaking into neighbor's mansion naked and high on cocaine'
Norman Oosterbroek died after a confrontation with police on Monday night
The famous bodyguard had stumbled naked into a neighbor's yard
He fought with the homeowner until police arrived and tasered him
Police believe he was ingesting cocaine as he fought, he died later in hospital

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....olice.html
Resistance is fatal!

[Suthenboy]

"....he was ingesting cocaine as he fought..."

Huh? He asked for a timeout and snorted a line, then went back to fighting?

[sarcasmic]

He was naked too. So where did he have his drugs stashed?

Looks to me like a bunch of CYA. Cops kill the guy for contempt of cop, then justify it by saying he was on drugs.

[Louis Cypher]

"Cops kill the guy for contempt of cop, then justify it by saying he was on drugs."

He did break into his neighbor's house and was fighting with the neighbor? What would you have done at that point?

[sarcasmic]

FTA: Police would not divulge how many times Oosterbroek was struck on Monday night or how many officers were involved in his arrest, according to the report.

Stinks like CYA to me.

[Louis Cypher]

"Stinks like CYA to me."

Because they didn't disclose how many officers were involved? Considering he had broken into someone's house and was fighting with the owner, what should have happened?

[Gray Ghost]

He was 6'5", 280, and in someone else's backyard, fighting, in the middle of the night. I'm surprised they even tried Tasing him instead of going right to shooting him.

The details of that night may come out if his widow files a wrongful death suit. Or if any surveillance video (which you'd expect a half million dollar Miami house would have covering the yard) comes to light.

[Ted S.]

He should have fallen in love with the person he was protecting.

[The DerpRider]

+1 I will always love you.

[Lord Humungus]

The US government has betrayed the internet. We need to take it back

The NSA has undermined a fundamental social contract. We engineers built the internet ? and now we have to fix it

Related: How to remain secure against NSA surveillance

The NSA has huge capabilities ? and if it wants in to your computer, it's in. With that in mind, here are five ways to stay safe

[some guy]

here are five ways to stay safe

1) Don't draw attention to yourself by posting on websites like reason.com

[Bee Tagger]

It seems like once you decide on precautionary measures, you better go all-in because those precautionary measures will get you noticed.
I'll probably go with the "hope I get lost in the ocean of data and hope I don't anger the wrong person" strategy.

[some guy]

That's probably the smartest approach as it has the smallest immediate impact on your life. Too bad we can't buy insurance against "getting noticed by or angering the wrong person in the government".

[Rich]

Too bad we can't buy insurance against "getting noticed by or angering the wrong person in the government".

We *could* have if you hadn't posted the idea on reason.com! Thanks a lot, some guy!

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

Ah, but you would need an insurance company to underwrite it...*ahem*

[kilroy]

Too bad we can't buy insurance against "getting noticed by or angering the wrong person in the government"

That's called a large political contribution.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

2) Don't use a suspicious Internet handle, such as "Warty".

3) Don't wear a black leather jacket, because it indicates right-wing militancy.

[CatoTheElder]

Whatever you do, don't use the following words:

RFI SIGDASYS TDM. SUKLO SUSLO TELINT TEXTA. domestic disruption smuggle 15kg nitrate Pretoria M-14 enigma Bletchley Park Clandestine nkvd argus afsatcom CQB NVD Counter Security Rapid Reaction Corporate Security

or

Spoke Talent Trump FX FXR IMF Intiso r00t lock picking Beyond Hope csystems passwd

or any of the other words at

NSA trigger words.

They are NSA trigger words. So fuck you, NSA.

[PM]

I rather enjoy the idea that some schmuck in a room without windows just had to take half an hour out of his day to to read that bunch of gobbledygook

[Tonio]

So, how's that social contract thing workin' out for ya?

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

I'm altering the contract. Pray I don't alter it further.

[Rich]

the Obama Administration is also considering training Syrian rebels.

Without "boots on the ground"? Are we meeting them in Kuwait or something?

[Jordan]

The troops will wear tennis shoes.

[Ted S.]

They'll upstage the president by wearing one tennis shoe and one dress shoe.

[Eduard van Haalen]

We'll just send "advisors" to Syria. That doesn't mean some kind of escalation, does it?

[Tonio]

No, of course not. They're just advisors. Now, if somebody actually shoots at them, not realizing that they're just advisors, they can shoot back. Then when they begin actively targeting our forces, well...

[Gray Ghost]

They're just advisors. Now, if somebody actually shoots at them, not realizing that they're just advisors, they can shoot back.

Which the Russians manning the Syrian S-300 or -400s and P-800 sites will no doubt do. They're there because the Syrians probably don't know how to use their toys yet. Oh well, if they couldn't take a joke, they shouldn't have joined.

[John]

It is not like sending advisers into a civil war ever worked out badly before.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Hey, we got some groovy music out of Vietnam. Maybe a bloodly, pointless slog in East Nimbleshit is what American pop culture needs.

[John]

The last top 40 song I really liked was Hey Ya by Outcast. And that came out the summer after we invaded Iraq. So maybe war does produce better music.

[Rasilio]

What not digging Radioactive by Imagine Dragons? The first actual Rock song to make the top 40 in like 5 years

[John]

I haven't heard that one. I will have to look it up. I live in a total cultural bubble. My wife isn't really into music and all of my friends who are live in other states. It is so bad that the last new band I found and liked was Of Monsters and Men. And I found them by using my Shazam ap one morning when Mountain Sound was the background music on the Weather Chanel. No kidding.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm a total music geek but still have a hard time finding new artists - at least for the type of sludge I like.

[wwhorton]

I pretty much just listen to sports talk radio and CSPAN when I'm in the car. Otherwise, it's basically death metal and whatever the wife has on Pandora that doesn't sound like something that would be played on Girls.

Speaking of which, did hip hop die? I think it did, but I would've thought it would've been in the news or something.

[Rasilio]

You may have heard it, it was used in commercials for like 6 different things at the same time last fall including the TV Shows Defiance and Vikings

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Shinedown seems like rock to me and I thought they had some songs in the top 40, but I could be wrong.

[John]

I will look them up as well. Thanks NEM

[Rasilio]

Yeah Shinedown is Rock and had top 40 hits, in like 2003

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Well, and 2008. And 2012, depending on how you want to define top 40.

[CE]

Don't kid yourselves. The US advisors are already there.

[Brian D]

Online courses.

[DontShootMe]

^This^ How to train insurgents via Skype.

[some guy]

Jordan, actually.

But we could just as easily do it in Syria. Past presidents have held that special forces don't count as "boots on the ground".

[Rich]

What could *possibly* go wrong?

[H. ReardEn]

Obama: If we call them 'military footware' no one can call me out on my 'no boot on the ground' statement. Or maybe we should issue them Spartan sandals! Problem solved!

[#]

Along that note I was reading something yesterday about how various treaties prohibit aircraft carriers from travelling through the Bosperous in Turkey, so to get around this Russia labels it's carrier as an "aircraft carrying cruiser"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Black lawmakers may be among the most reluctant.

Well with them everything is about race, and they see a military made of many, many black personnel.

[mad libertarian guy]

Well with them everything is about race, and they see a military made of many, many black personnel.

It just might be the only case in which identity politics works for the better.

[sarcasmic]

Horror as remote-control helicopter stunt pilot, 19, partially-decapitates himself with his aircraft after he lost control
Roman Pirozek Jr, 19, was an avid RC helicopter hobbyist
He specialized in performing dare-devil tricks with his powerful $1,500 model helicopter
His own father watched as the blades of the 6-pound RC flyer sliced off a piece of his head
He was dead when police arrived

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....opter.html
Obviously these deadly toys must be prohibited!

[Rich]

Why does anyone *need* a toy helicopter?

[some guy]

Obviously this park won't be open for helicopter flying for very long.

[Louis Cypher]

Self-correcting problem.

[KMA Too]

A model helicopter, eh?

Avoid if at work

[mad libertarian guy]

Alec Baldwin has agreed to a weekly Friday show on MSNBC set to start in October.

There is no way that this show won't be the most insufferable thing to have ever hit the airwaves. Keith Olbermann is less annoying.

[Old Man With Candy]

Third prize: You're fired.

[Shirley Knott]

Far be it from me to disagree that he is usually one of the most annoying of the Baldwins, and certainly the most visible, but in his (very partial) defense:
The interview he did with Gene Wilder remains one of the best bits of interview TV I've ever seen.
Sadly, it seems to have fallen into a black hole rather than a re-run cycle.

[Eduard van Haalen]

he is useress to me, lol

alecbaldwinisadick.com

[Rasilio]

Is he gonna tell us what's in his wallet?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

If he did the whole show in character as his 30 Rock persona, I'd probably watch it.

[Lord Humungus]

House Speaker John Boehner: Would resigning be a smart move?

Will House Speaker John Boehner (R) of Ohio resign his leadership post in 2014?

That's what The Huffington Post is reporting this week. After speaking to four top former Boehner aides, two current aides, five former leadership aides close to Boehner's inner circle, and a GOP operative, The Huffington Post said Boehner will step down after the midterm election, frustrated by his hard-to-steer caucus.

[mad libertarian guy]

The Huffington Post said Boehner will step down after the midterm election, frustrated by his hard-to-steer caucus.

Hard to steer? Or their refusal to fall in line with party leadership?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Why won't they let me steer into those rocks?

[Virginian]

I mean, that's what hard to steer means.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I hear he's been offered an executive position at Wonka.

[Lord Humungus]

I actually lol'd.

[sarcasmic]

Lunatic driver 'Afroduck' who filmed himself tearing around Manhattan in 24 minutes 'is arrested after bragging online that he couldn't be traced'
Police arrest man they believe to be lunatic driver 'Afroduck'
He had filmed himself lapping Manhattan in 24 minutes, seven seconds
But bragged online how he wasn't 'reckless' and couldn't be identified

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....raced.html
Well, there can only be so many registered manual 2006 BMW Z4s, so it couldn't have been that difficult to hunt him down.

[Steve G]

I think it was Ray Kelly who mentioned traffic cams, but honestly if I was this guy and intended to do this, the first thing I'd do is obscure my plates

[Vapourwear]

Typical problem, more money than brains.

[Fist of Etiquette]

US military plans to intervene in Syria are apparently changing on a daily basis...

But the important thing is that's all anyone is talking about.

[mad libertarian guy]

But the important thing is that's all anyone is talking about.

That's the bedrock of this whole "we need to invade Syria NOW despite their being embroiled in a bloody civil war for over 2 years. Chemical weapons are the excuse, but the media not talking about the NSA is the reason.

They had to find something even bigger than the NSA revelations, and real live war drums will make anything else background noise.

In fact, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if this whole thing is an elaborate setup specifically for that purpose, never having had any real intentions to attack, but I also know that when warmongers get their war boners on, someone better watch out.

[BakedPenguin]

That the Obama administration gave Saudi Arabia chemical weapons to hand over to the rebels, (or told them to hand over some of their existing supplies)?

I wouldn't put it past them.

[Bam!]

A "Wag the Dog" moment.

[some guy]

History should hold [Bush] accountable for the current muddy debate over what to do in the face of a state-sanctioned mass killer.

"But the prior president gave every world leader, every member of Congress a reason to keep the dogs of war on a leash. "

Timothy Egan says that like it's a bad thing...

[DJF]

So its Bush's fault we aren't in another war? Does he get a Peace Prize?

[some guy]

The Iraq conflict should have taught the Millenials that war is bad, the same way the Vietnam conflict should have taught the Boomers that war is bad. I don't think the lessons really took, though.

[John]

The boomers got drafted and fought Vietnam in much greater numbers than the millennials fought Iraq. If you don't count the feeling of political righteousness and aggreivement, Iraq personally affected a very small percentage of people in this country.

[some guy]

And the fiscal costs of Iraq have been hidden by taking on extra debt, rather than by a painful war tax. That's not helping either. Between treasury bonds, remote-control warfighters and the Twitterverse the next generation won't even know when we are in a war.

[Jordan]

Jesus, what an obtuse idiot.

[Snark Plissken]

The isolationists in the Republican Party are a direct result of the Bush foreign policy.

Rand Paul used to be a neocon.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

That has to be whiniest op-ed I've ever read.

[some guy]

For the Times I'd say it is pretty middle of the road.

[wwhorton]

So, wait. It was Bush's fault that we were at war, and that was bad, but now it's Bush's fault that we haven't already gone to war, and that is also bad?

[#]

Is Timothy Egan Shriek?

[sarcasmic]

You've got some neck, getting so close to me! Angry giraffe smashes tourist's bicycle as he poses for a photo next to it

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....to-it.html

The animal completely destroyed the bike, leaving poor Louise with a two-mile walk back to his car.
Remarkably, Louise has also previously been chased by an ostrich in the reserve.

[SugarFree]

But the lamestream media won't ever make a big deal about the rampant giraffe-on-giraffe violence endemic in our nature preserves.

[BakedPenguin]

Remarkably, Louise has also previously been chased by an ostrich in the reserve.

Not sure how remarkable that is.

[Lord Humungus]

Rabbit-swinging Watsonville woman arrested

Deputies arrived and found her swinging the carcass over her head in a helicopter motion, Kennedy said.

It wasn't likely Camberos killed the rabbit herself, (deputy) Kennedy said. "It had been dead for some time," he said, adding that it was probably roadkill she picked up.

She complied with the deputies' orders to put the rabbit down and was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of narcotics.

[Rich]

She complied with the deputies' orders to put the rabbit down

"Drop the rabbit, or we'll shoot!"

[Eduard van Haalen]

This is nae ordinary rabbit...

[DJF]

He wrangles SHEEP!

[Rich]

arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of narcotics.

Perhaps she was just trying to cure warts or something.

[sarcasmic]

The 146 counties where HALF of the U.S. population lives.. with the other 157million Americans scattered across 3,000
Population clusters gathered around major cities including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....lives.html

[mad libertarian guy]

The 146 counties where HALF of the U.S. population lives.. with the other 157million Americans scattered across 3,000
Population clusters gathered around major cities including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago

In other words, the EXACT reason the founders set up the Electoral College: so that a small section(s) of the country can't control everything.

[sarcasmic]

And it's the reason why the left wants to do away with the EC: so urban liberals can control those bitter clingers.

[db]

The basic presumption of statism in these United States is that one set of rules can be selected that is the optimum for each of hundreds of millions of people living in widely varying geographic, demographic, and cultural spaces.

In other words, the basic presumption is that individuals and minorities do not matter.

[KDN]

Southern California counties are dramatically larger, by comparison, but also include a similar string of unbroken suburban growth

I like how misleading this map can be. Taking this map at its face, it looks like there's a huge population center from Vegas to LA. But in actually there's 220 miles of mostly empty desert.

[Juice]

Why Birmingham? and what looks like Greenville, SC?

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

"Wal-Mart responded to labor protests against its stores by pointing out its employees are already remunerated better than their counterparts in retail, and that the protests were merely a union-orchestrated media stunt."

Well, yeah. And the Earth is somewhat roundish, the Sun will come up tomorrow, etc., etc.

[Root Boy]

Has anybody reported on the actual scale of these and the $15/hr burger flipper wannabees? I guess I just have to take it on faith this is some huge national effort since the MSM says so?

[Lord Humungus]

The Man With 6,000 Barbies Can't Get A Date Because Women Feel Competitive With His Dolls

It's not him, it's us. According to Jian, women are just all so threatened by how sexy his dolls are:

"I've also got the ex-girlfriends who get insecure about this kind of stuff. You get the [text messages] about the unresolved relationships that go 'I will never be one of these.' Ya know? 'What's my waistline?' ?They look at dolls and go 'OK, that's the competition', which is quite troubling but it's a reality."

[OldMexican]

"He started to get all weird after he began playing with dolls."
"They're action FIGURES!"

They look at dolls and go 'OK, that's the competition', which is quite troubling[...]

Yeah, that's why they don't go out with you. Because they feel threatened by the sexy dolls. Sure.

[Brett L]

Its totally not because he has $150k worth of dolls that he will never spend on them.

[Not a Libertarian]

One would assume that his ex-girlfriends came to conclusion that he was a massive homosexual.

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else is a massive homosexual?

[wwhorton]

Which is funny, because I know a few massive homosexuals, and they think dolls are creepy. Also, tacky.

Pugs, on the other hand...

[mr simple]

Not to defend the guy, but that reporter is really defensive in that post.

[Bam!]

Didn't someone post some girl he dated who ended up on a reality due to her Barbie collection? Seems like her and this guy could get together. (Really, I'm just a romantic at heart.)

[Rich]

Schools Sending 'Fat Letters' To Parents About Overweight Children

"we also send out a ton of handouts to try to help that family"

A "ton" of handouts, eh? Talk about *insensitive*!

[Tonio]

Dear LAUSD,

MYOB and STFU.

Parent

[mad libertarian guy]

we also send out a ton of handouts to try to help that family

And they would get a letter back telling them in words that aren't very kind to go fuck themselves and mind their own goddamn business.

[Steve G]

Why do I get the feeling these handouts suggest a low-fat diet...

[John]

I have the same feeling. I also have the feeling that the same people sending these handouts out would call CPS on any parent who let their kid out to run and play unsupervised.

[Rich]

"We gently -- but STRONGLY -- suggest a low-fat diet."

[tarran]

They do.

[PH2050]

Durr hurr, don't you know that fat you eat turns into fat in your body?

/Dumbass govt derp

[Ted S.]

Once again, the state is the biggest bully of them all.

[Root Boy]

Shouldn't the fatties get on them and accuse them of fat shaming. Blue on Blue action is so much fun.

[wwhorton]

Dear Busybody Tax Leech,

At the risk of being a touch indelicate, I feel I must bring to your attention the physical unattractiveness of your child. On more than one occasion, I have had to retrieve my dogs from under my truck and sooth them with peanut butter and rawhide following your daughter's passing in front of my home. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the numerous surgical opportunities available in order to empower your child to live a more fulfilling, happier life. At a minimum, may I suggest a mask?

[Lord Humungus]

Hitler bodyguard Rochus Misch dies at age 96

Rochus Misch, who served as Adolf Hitler's devoted bodyguard for most of World War II and was the last remaining witness to the Nazi leader's final hours in his Berlin bunker, has died. He was 96.

[hamilton]

You know who else had a bodyguard in a... er... um, forget it.

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

Warty?

[mad libertarian guy]

Warty doesn't need a body guard.

[Stormy Dragon]

Is there going to be a "Hitler Reacts to Hitler's Bodyguard Dying" video?

[NeonCat]

Nein! Nein! Nein!

[Lord Humungus]

District: No Money In Lunch Account, No 'Humanitarian Meal'

As kids head back to school, parents are once again faced with the choice: do they let their children buy lunch or do they brown-bag it? But a new lunchtime policy in one local school district has some parents furious.

Most parents in Willingboro should have gotten a letter from the school district in the mail today. It talks about a new lunch program. The new lunch program states that if kids, not on the Free and Reduced Lunch program, don't have money to pay for their school lunch, they will go hungry for the day. This is the newest policy for the Willingboro, New Jersey school district.

[Virginian]

Eh, at my school you could run a tab.

I got in a lot of trouble because I would run a tab for these awesome cookies they had to supplement my brown bag. A dollar a day adds up really quick.

[DJF]

So you had the cookie monkey on your back.

[Virginian]

Don't we all?

[Tonio]

Economic discrimination?

[Steve G]

Soooo, no money, no lunch? What am i missing? Sounds like they are preparing kids for the real world, or at least the way used to be.

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

TANSTAAFL! Well, there is, also reduced price. But not for you, Richie Rich!!!

[Steve G]

yeah, set up ahead of time.."kids, not on the Free and Reduced Lunch program (without money) will go hungry for the day"
Kinda like adults, not on food stamps, who forget their wallets at the grocery store... don't go home with food!

[Root Boy]

They need to combine this with the LAUSD fat kid policy and just steal lunch money from the fat kids - or make them eat a low fat meal like rice so they loose weight.

[Teaching Student]

Get ready for the lawsuits. We can't give parents supply lists anymore, we can't ask them to pay for Field Trips, we can only using a very strict set of language to ask for donations... You watch it, lunch is an "integral part of the educational experience." Schools are going to have to provide it for free.

[Virginian]

Uh my attitude on that is fuck you teacher boy.

Here's the thing: Either you stop taking my fucking money to pay for your shitty Soviet schools, or I wash my hands of any kind of financial support.

My education budget, like my charity budget, is consumed by the 20-30% of my income that gets stolen from me.

You know I get fucking donation requests from my public high school? Fuck you parasites, you already get my money. I'll be dammed if you get another dime.

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

I think he was pointing out what was present and what was coming...not advocating for it (as far as the lunches).

I am with you on the "donations". Why do I pay thousands a year in tax to the school district?!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Where exactly does the exorbitant amount of property tax I pay go then?

[Nazdrakke]

/points to "Administration" building

[H. ReardEn]

My kid's elementary school has a guidance counselor. He drives a Lexus SUV.

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

The "reading specialist" at my kids Middle School makes $105K a year.

[wwhorton]

My cousin-in-law's daughter (wow, that sounds a bit Spaceballs) goes to a public elementary school in a really nice part of town. It's public, technically, but it's in a really wealthy, WASP-y, and rich leftist district. She was informed that if she wanted to give her daughter a cupcake for lunch on her birthday, she would have to send enough for the entire class.

It did not go well.

[Ken Shultz]

"In the meantime, American officials say they've intercepted communication from Iran directing militants in Iraq to hit US interests there in the event of a military strike against Syria."

Obama is about to open up a whole new front on the War on Terror--because dealing with Al Qaeda just isn't enough--and all because he doesn't want it to look like his stupid statement about red lines a year ago was an empty threat?

He's pushing hard for the title of Undisputed Worst President Evar!

[CatoTheElder]

Obama has a legacy to consider, and ObamaCare alone isn't going to cut it. If he's going to be compared with Lincoln and FDR, he's got to incite World War III. Nothing burnishes a president's legacy more brightly than a huge body count.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No legacy to consider. It's all Bush's fault. At this point he can jack off on national TV, ejaculate on the screen and still say 'Wasn't me!' and get away with it.

Just guessing of course.

[Lord Humungus]

Man left with a hammer in his head following horror nightclub attack

Matthew Probert, 21, was left with a HAMMER in his head outside a Lincoln nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning. The Scunthorpe rugby star was snapped slumped against a wall with the claw of the tool embedded in his skull.

He had been on a night out with pals, before he was attacked at about 12.50am. Up to five bouncers were seen by onlookers trying to reassure him and keep him awake, as they checked his pulse.

includes obligatory pic of his British girlfriend.

[Rich]

Probert, a loose-head prop, was rushed to a specialist brain unit

Would someone *kindly* translate "loose-head prop" into American?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Rugby position.

[SugarFree]

I tried to figure out what they do in the game, but while reading through the rugby position article on wikipedia, my brain began bleeding and I passed out. I think I remember this happening before.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I think it was when you read through the LARP Rules for Quidditch.

[invisible furry hand]

They're positions when they form a scrum ( a weirdly formal clusterfuck). A tight head prop's head is jammed between the loins of two other men. The loose head prop's isn't.

[SugarFree]

Wha? What happened? Oh, no! It happened again!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

"The room's startin to spin real fast... cause of... cause of all the gayness"

[Lord Humungus]

enough of your gay orgy fiction!

[Teenage Girl]

Eewww!!

[BakedPenguin]

I actually figured out the rules of cricket just by watching a single one day match. I watched Aussie Rules football and figured out the rules by the end of the match. I've seen a lot more rugby in my life and have never figured out anything except the scoring.

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

No forward passing, no blocking, ball stays live unless a penalty, out of bounds or dropped forward or passed forward (you may kick forward). When tackled, you must release the ball.

There is a line that runs sideline to sideline from the ball - you cannot be involved in the play if you are "offsides" - on the wrong side of the ball.

Scrum is like "scrimmage" - ball goes in and two sides contest for it. When out of bounds, the ball is thrown back in and contested by dudes getting hoisted up by a couple others (think a Three Stooges jump ball) or some tricky variation.

Everyone plays two way ball like old timey American football.

That is a really short primer.

[John]

The no blocking bit drives me crazy about rugby. It ruins the game for me to both watch and play. The times I played it, I found myself running around for seemingly miles just wishing I could hit someone. For having such a fearsome reputation, I found it to be surprisingly less violent than I had hoped.

And cricket is oddly compelling. I don't know why, but I can watch it. And if you ever watch an Indian League game, the groupies in the stands are unbelievable if you like Indian women. In my next life I want to be either a Brazilian soccer star or an Indian cricket star.

[Timon 19]

Blocking is basically an explicit foul and will yield a penalty against you (and if you do it like you might in American football, will likely earn you a 10-minute time-out and put your team down a man).

The game requires a bit more guile than just blindly clearing a path for the guy with the ball. You either go around the other team, over them, or through them with the ball. It's not instant gratification.

[Timon 19]

It's probably all the rules at the ruck plus offside (which is vastly more complicated in my view than soccer's version of the rule - I still haven't figured out Rugby's) that are tripping you up.

I watch as much Rugby as is available on DirecTV's Rugby channels (which is a surprising amount, and all you need is the sports package), and I still haven't figured out why the referee blows his whistle 50% of the time.

[Jordan]

Ban assault hammers!

[Cdr Lytton]

http://soldiersystems.net/2013.....-in-stock/

[SugarFree]

At least he wasn't [gasp] shot! [/gasp]

"Loose-head prop" is a rugby position.

[wwhorton]

MAN! British girls! I don't know what they've been puttin' in the water over there but I wish they'd been doing it in the US about twenty years ago.

[Redmanfms]

You can't be serious. She looks like a cheap hooker. No lips, pudgy fat girl cheeks, arm fat.

If that's seriously your taste, I'm sure there is a trailer park somewhere near you.

[Lord Humungus]

I've not stopped hiccuping for 14 Months:

The BT software worker said: "They've taken over my life. I woke up with them one morning after a stag do.

"I've no idea why they started ? I'd had more to drink than for some time but nothing out of the ordinary, just the usual mix of beer and spirits.

"Some days are worse than others and on odd days they'll stop, but they can get so bad I pass out or throw up my food.

[Rich]

Completely drink a glass of water from the wrong side of the rim.

Works every time.

[Jordan]

A "stag do"? I think the British are just fucking with us at this point.

[Tejicano]

Really. I can see him wink at the interviewer when he says this knowing it will get printed. The rest of the entire population of the UK will chuckle - just as clueless as to what it should mean - knowing that the Yanks will read it and wonder "WTF???"

[tarran]

A stag do is a "boys' night out"

Stags = unmarried, unattached men/boys
Do = party or outing.

You have to feel pity for the brits; they're trapped on an island with only British women.

[Tejicano]

Well, at least they've got that great british cuisine...

Yeah. Stark raving pity.

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

Why do you think they conquered India?

Curry!

[invisible furry hand]

Not quite - a stag do is the night before a wedding - the lads take the groom out for booze, strippers, and a few sadistic pranks. The female equivalent is a hens' night

[Apatheist ?_??]

"Hackers" trolling baby monitors now:

"Wake up, you little slut."

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

"Hackers" need to get a fucking life.

[mad libertarian guy]

That's just fucked up.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Eh, babies can't understand you anyway. It isn't so much fucked up as it is boring and the hallmark of a pimply-faced bored teenager who thinks Rage Comics are the height of humor.

[mad libertarian guy]

By fucked up I meant creepy.

Shit's creepy. What possible jollies could anyone get from fucking with a little baby in her crib? It's sick.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Having had a few baby monitors, they don't have speakers at the baby end.

I call bullshit.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Now screwing with the parents? A-OK Nothing like a little Rosemary's baby routine to get things started right after bedtime.

[mad libertarian guy]

They absolutely make 2 way baby monitors now.

[wwhorton]

I've got one we use to yell at the dogs remotely when they get into the trash. Mic and speakers, remote tilt and pan, IR, the whole nine, for something like $50.

[Lord Humungus]

There were just 169K new jobs created in August.

which means we get a unemployment drop to 7.3%

Markets More: Economy Economic Data Non-Farm Payrolls
WEAK: JUST 169,000 NEW JOBS CREATED IN AUGUST, BAD DOWNWARD REVISIONS, LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE FALLS
Joe Weisenthal Sep. 6, 2013, 7:55 AM 16,302 30

inShare7

texas oilfield

DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

The jobs number number is out and it is weak.

There were just 169K new jobs created in August.

Private payrolls came in at 152,000 new job, vs. expectations of 180,000.

What's worse. Last month was revised SHARPLY down from 162 to 104K. That is quite ominous.

June was also revised down, from 172K to 188.

The unemployment rate did, however, drop to 7.3%, but that's basically just due to continued exodus from the workforce.

[Lord Humungus]

apologies for the extra verbiage.

[BakedPenguin]

June was also revised down, from 172K to 188.

Wait, what?

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

Recovery Summer!

[Andrew S.]

Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) runs SWAT drill with "sovereign citizens" attacking the port.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ne.....0718.story

[mad libertarian guy]

It's like they get their "plots" for training exercises from fucking SplinterCell or Rainbow 6. Everything they plan for is straight out of fucking video games where elaborate cells of terrorists that could never exist, and would fail miserably in their missions even if they did.

[Brett L]

Oh yeah, Port Everglades is totally the container port ANYONE is going to choose to affect shipping by terror attack.

[Andrew S.]

Well, I mean, it's not an insignificant port... but it's not Miami, and I'm pretty sure it's smaller than Port Canaveral as well.

[Brett L]

Long Beach, Miami and New York are the places to hit. Port Everglades, Norfolk, and Seattle all do large volume but aren't "primary" in anyone's mind outside the industry.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Houston?

[Gray Ghost]

It's one of the bigger ones, but not the biggest, if we're measuring by containers.

Measure by total weight of freight and Houston and S. Louisiana crush. I suspect most of that is due to crude oil, LPG/LNG, and chemical carriers.

[Brett L]

Yeah, I was going with containers. I used to work outbound booking for a major container ship company. Very little container traffic in the Gulf due mostly to the law that prevents US cargo from being shipped without transshipping in a foreign port. For almost everywhere that isn't within 200 miles of a Gulf port it is cheaper to ship to a Pacific or Atlantic port and rail intermodal. The exception is US manufactured clothing that is assembled in countries with Carribbean ports. (Pretty much all clothes that say "made in the USA" before 2003. I think this has changed a little as these practices came to light.)

[Brett L]

Very little should be surprisingly little. Its still a lot of containers.

[Gray Ghost]

The exception is US manufactured clothing that is assembled in countries with Carribbean ports. (Pretty much all clothes that say "made in the USA" before 2003.

I was really surprised to learn that the Marianas---which I though made a good chunk of those "Made in the USA!" clothes---had gotten out of the sweatshop game.

[John]

Iran really does have crazy stupid leaders. Here Obama stands a good chance of losing authorization to go into Syria and these dumb asses start talking shit and are liable to attack the US ensuring that the US intervenes. It is something about the Muslim mentality. They just can't help themselves but to talk shit even when doing so is not in their interests.

[mad libertarian guy]

I disagree.

I'm glad they made the threat, because now no one can claim they had no idea that there might be unintended consequences that they simply couldn't foresee (despite being astoundingly obvious to everyone).

Those who think, or that can be convinced, that we could go in, make a few strikes without others caring are fucking idiots.

[John]

Except that the threat is likely to get support in Congress. If voting No means letting those assholes think they can bully the US, maybe you don't vote no. It is a lot harder to vote No if voting No is likely to embolden those crazy assholes.

And of course, people might want to look at this and understand that maybe they are just assholes who need an enemy to stay in power and are going to do whatever it is they are going to do regardless of what we do. Thus, bootlicking and telling them how sorry we are and how we won't bother them again might not buy us much peace.

[thom]

It's in Iran's interest for the USA to attack Syria. Somebody else takes the brunt of the damage, and they can point to it and say, "See, they'll do that here too", even though they know that the USA won't be able to expand the scope. Iran has their own civil unrest issues and this is a convenient way to further deal with that.

[John]

I don't think it is in their interest at all. They have a lot of people and money invested in Syria. A lot of their best military people are there helping Assad. Seeing all or most of them die in US bombing raids and seeing Hezbollah and Assad go down in flames is not a good thing for Iran. That is a lot of assets to lose and a lot of prestige to loose. They are much better off seeing Obama having to back down and then quietly telling their own people how tough they are.

[Andrew S.]

Off duty officer acts like an idiot, tries to use his badge to bully citizen, citizen doesn't fall for it, officer files spurious charges, ruins man's life. Nothing else happened.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ne.....4917.story

[a better weapon]

"It's power run amok," said Means' attorney, C. Edward McGee Jr. "We live in a comfy, cozy world, and we believe law enforcement are out there working their butts off to protects us -- as most of them are doing -- but you get some guys like this that just scare you to death."

I can't stand that soft pedaling. Most cops aren't good guys. They're average guys taking home a paycheck who are doing what they are told to keep their jobs.

You know who gets to tell them what to do? These "rare" species of cops who get into positions of power by writing as many tickets as possible and escalating as many civilian encounters as possible. A good cop to me is one who protects me from bad guys outside and inside the police department.

[Brian D]

I'm sure the cops will learn a lesson after the taxpayers pay for this travesty.

[a better weapon]

Iranian military leaders proclaim that their war boners are bigger than Obama's

"We should remind Obama that if you are a bastard, there are other bastards all around the world who can assault Sasha." The statement is written in both English and Farsi, but in the Farsi version, Forghani clearly stated that Sasha will be raped by someone who has been able to get close to the Obama family.

That's pretty fucked up and I have to imagine it only makes Obama want to drop the hammer now ever more. Whatever unlikely chance we had before, I can't imagine he's going to get talked out of this now.

[John]

They are shockingly stupid. Obama is about to have his nuts cut off by Congress. And these dumb asses are trying to save him.

[DontShootMe]

They badly need the US involved in the middle east, they'll do everything they can to encourage this strike...

[John]

No they don't. They need the US trying to kill them about as much as I need someone shooting at me.

[wwhorton]

I don't know, I disagree with you on that one. They're selling this as resistance to American bullying, and a lot of the world outside of the US finds it easy to buy. The West already thinks Iran is insane, and the middle east thinks Iran is insane but at least a bastion of resistance against Western imperialism (perceived or otherwise), and a symbol of Muslim power. If Obama backs down, they look strong. If Obama flips out and goes Rambo, they make the US look like a dangerous bully, and make themselves look better by comparison.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who has the biggest warboner of them all?

[Apatheist ?_??]

Murica:

While children are gassed in Syria, Obama's America hems and haws and debates endlessly.
...
Hundreds of innocent Syrians have been gassed to death by their despot?hell, even my ninth grader is horrified, and not just because he is aware that many of the dead were close to his age?and yet ? our spontaneous revulsion, our reflexive anguish, is smothered in political slurry.
...
This was once a great land that asked not what oppressed people could do for themselves; it asked, instead, what we could do for them. Today, every urge to rescue others, to intervene on the side of the murdered underdogs, is met by many in this country with accusations of imperialism. Our loss of righteous strength?strength that was once this country's greatest asset?is now celebrated by many Americans
...
How did we come to this state? I refer not only to the Stockmans (who, mercifully, are of no political consequence), but also to Sen. Rand Paul, who will not do the right thing by innocent Syrians because he wishes to cut Barack Obama not an inch of slack. Rand Paul is a hideous isolationist.

[John]

That guy supported the Iraq war. So at least he is consistent. What is really appalling is the people who make that same argument about Syria but spent the entire decade of the 00s screaming about America's illegal war in Iraq. The people Saddam was killing are just as dead as the Syrians Assad is killing.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I donno this guy is pretty fucking a appalling. I mean "our righteous strength?"

[John]

i don't understand how you can have such a simple view of the world. We are only one generation removed from colonialism. Colonialism was not all or even mostly go steal shit from the brown man. A lot of it was the same sort of do gooder save the world shit like this. We can't save the world. We can't fix Syria. I wish we could. But they have to fix it themselves. And to the extent we can help them do that, it takes a monumental effort that the US neither has the money nor the will to mount.

Iraq is in a lot better shape than Syria and has a lot better future. But it took a 8 year occupation and nearly a trillion dollars to do it. Absent that kind of effort, there is nothing we can do. Since that is not going to happen, why are we doing anything? A partial effort is much worse than no effort as we have seen in Libya. All us bombing will do is make things worse and give people a reason to hold us responsible for what happens there.

[mad libertarian guy]

Colonialism was not all or even mostly go steal shit from the brown man. A lot of it was the same sort of do gooder save the world shit like this.

Nonsense.

"Spreading civilization" was the excuse for colonialism; setting it up so that trade was "favorable" to their side was the reason.

[John]

Nonsense. Most colonies cost their European overseers money. A few times colonialism got the colonizer rich, Spain in South America for example. But mostly it was a complete money drain. England didn't get rich off its colonies. Its colonies were a luxury afforded to it by its economic prowess at home. The idea that they got rich off of them is just a bullshit lie told by Marxists trying to explain the success of European capitalism.

[#]

Well a lot of colonization was due to the heavy trade tarriffs/ mercantilism between the powers. The 19th century imperialism wave was in part because if your industry wanted raw materials you needed to have them within your national borders.

Once relatively free trade became the norm post WWII, the already war weary powers let their colonies for the most part go because they didnt see the purpose anymore.

[Gray Ghost]

Especially that it's "our greatest asset." Not our freedoms, not our Bill of Rights, not the American Dream: rather, the ability to kill people on the other side of the globe with the push of a few buttons.

These guys really are Fascists. Disgusting.

[Virginian]

Kate Upton is America's greatest asset.

[Gray Ghost]

+2

Video is nowhere near suitable for work.

[Juice]

The people Saddam was killing are just as dead as the Syrians Assad is killing.

How many people was Saddam killing in 2002?

[Virginian]

I do so love it when the Brits tell us what it means to be American.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I'm not sure if anything makes me feel more like a xenophobic asshole then a Brit that moves to America and delivers political lectures.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Man, we're two for two on terribly-written Syrian op-eds today.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"This was once a great land that asked not what oppressed people could do for themselves; it asked, instead, what we could do for them."

No, Mr. Unpronouncable, we have tended to ask whether the intervention is in the national interest. Yes, even with Hitler - the interventionists believed that Hitler was trying to use aggression to conquer other countries and take over the world, which was seen to conflict with American interests.

Most of our minor interventions were for the (perfectly defensible) purpose of grabbing land and settling it.

The main idealistic war we fought (at least according to the President at the time) was World War I. What a glorious success *that* was!

[CatoTheElder]

You're absolutely right. The US acts in the interests of the US, particularly its ruling elite. Its military history is nothing to get sanctimonious about.

In WW I, the US sided with the most imperialistic nation in modern history.

In WW II, the US sided with one of the most ruthless tyrants in modern history as well as the most imperialistic nation in modern history.

[John]

In fairness, the Germans practically dragged the US into World War I. There was no reason for us to be in that war. But the Germans managed to get us involved through utter incompetence.

And we didn't choose sides in World War II. Our side was chosen for us when Japan attacked us and Germany declared war. And whatever the UK's sins, they were nothing compared to the Nazis and the Japanese. Stalin was just as bad. But he was an ally of necessity. It is not like we could have attacked him too.

[tarran]

The Germans in WW-I couldn't pick a strategy and stick with it.

Had they gone for unrestricted submarine warfare from the get go, they could probably have kept the U.S. out of the war.

Had they absolutely refused to engage in unrestricted submarine warfare, things would have been hard for them on the battlefield, but they could have shamed the U.S. government into actually behaving as a neutral, rather than the wink-wink support being given to England.

It was the flipping back and forth between those two approaches that kept salting the wound.

[John]

The Germans should have realized that the US entering the war was doom for them and thus never done anything to cause that. Whatever advantages they gained through unrestricted submarine warfare were dwarfed by the damage to their cause created by hundreds of thousands of Americans landing in France. Had the US not entered the war, France and the UK would have eventually had to make peace that would have looked a lot different than Versailles.

[Virginian]

And we didn't choose sides in World War II. Our side was chosen for us when Japan attacked us and Germany declared war.

____________

Uh no....FDR spent two years before Pearl Harbor acting as a quasi-belligerent, against the will of the American people. He didn't persuade the American people that going to war against the Axis was right, he just provoked them until they attacked first, then wrapped himself in the flag.

[tarran]

Oh yes, the good old "Neutrality Patrols" that followed German ships and subs around broadcasting their positions to the Royal Navy. 🙂

[John]

FDR spent two years before Pearl Harbor acting as a quasi-belligerent, against the will of the American people.

Bullshit. That only matters if you believe the poor Japanese were somehow goaded into attacking us. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Japanese planned to create an empire that would support the home islands with natural resources and slave labor. They knew the US stood in the way and would have attacked the US no matter what the US did.

And yes, fighting the Axis was the right thing to do. Both the Nazis and the Japanese depended upon looting other nations to stay in power. The were both socialists who quickly ran out of other people's money and had to invade other countries to keep the system going. People always puzzle why Hitler invaded Russia. He needed the cash. There was no where else in Europe to loot. So had the US not gone to war and let Germany take over Russia and Europe, the Nazis would have eventually blown that money, because no amount of money is ever enough for a socialist, and come to the Americas looking for more.

[Virginian]

Nothing you've said contradicts what I said. It is true that the Nazis and Imperial Japanese intended to conquer as much as they could. It is also true that the American people wanted no part of foreign wars, and FDR got us involved anyway.

The American soldier exists to defend the Constitution of the United States. Nothing more, and nothing less.

[John]

Sure. I am glad they defended it when they did in Europe and the Pacific rather than waiting to do it in the US. As much as WWII sucked, it would have sucked a lot more had it been fought here rather than there.

Just because you are there to defend the country, doesn't mean you can't defend it at a distance.

[Juice]

And we didn't choose sides in World War II. Our side was chosen for us when Japan attacked us and Germany declared war.

Those things happened because of whose side the US was already on, as in helping, ie China and the UK.

[OldMexican]

This was once a great land that asked not what oppressed people could do for themselves; it asked, instead, what we could do for them.

"We used to bomb people to kingdom come for their own good! What happened to us? Oh, what happened to US???"

[hamilton]

While children are gassed in Syria, Obama's America hems and haws and debates endlessly.
...
Hundreds of innocent Syrians have been gassed to death by their despot?hell, even my ninth grader is horrified, and not just because he is aware that many of the dead were close to his age?and yet ? our spontaneous revulsion, our reflexive anguish, is smothered in political slurry.

Number of children listed on this page blown to bloody bits in drone attacks (as of 6 months ago): about 125 by my count.

[Ted S.]

So I complained last night about the antisocial networking stuff on H&R slowing down, and trying to reload itself no matter how much I hit the Escape key telling the browser to stop loading the page. Somebody suggested Ghostery, but I tried that this morning, and the result was that the browser was even slower. Any idea what the hell is going wrong?

[Rich]

Any black SUVs parked outside your house?

[Apatheist ?_??]

I donno, I use Ghostery and adblock plus and that social shit doesn't even load. And I've never had it reload before.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Try NoScript.

[Lord Humungus]

Agreed - Noscript is the way to go with Firefox. Block everything you don't want. It makes Reason faster and no ads on the side!

[Juice]

Then you have to constantly figure out which of the dozen scripts to allow so that you can actually see some content. It's a PITA.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Maybe Opera just isn't that good. I have Ghostery, Ad Block, and reasonable running in Chrome and don't see those issues.

Does it happen in another browser? Does it happen in Opera on another computer?

[John]

the Chrome browser I use at home seems to hate Reason. It is constantly crashing when on Reason or just giving a can't connect to server message. Also there is some kind of flash ad ware plugin on Reason that every device I own hates. I don't know what it is, but it freezes every browser I use until I click to stop the plug in. H&R is really a mess of a site.

[db]

This.

[Gray Ghost]

I have Ghostery, Ad Block, and reasonable running in Chrome and don't see those issues.

The same, and while the site isn't the fastest, I don't have near the problems that a lot of you complain about.

[mad libertarian guy]

Use Reasonable with Chrome.

[Emmerson Biggins]

+1 for Mozilla & NoScript

[John]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_.....tin-at-g20

Someone put this up in the PM links yesterday. The NBC headline is a "dominant Obama" meets with Putin. First, could they suck his cock any deeper? But more importantly, they are so stupid that they as much as admit that Obama is anything but dominant. I have never heard that term applied to US President including the real no kidding don't fuck with me or I will bomb you Presidents like Bush I and Reagan. If you have to tell the world how "dominant" this douche bag is, you are admitting he is anything but.

[OldMexican]

Re: John,

First, could they suck his cock any deeper?

Looks like they've been practicing controlling the gag reflex for a while, now.

[Palin's Buttplug]

You and your cock sucking fantasies!

[John]

There something wrong with that shreek? Are you a homophobe in addition to being a racist?

[Mike M.]

Homophobe? Weigel is as queer as a three dollar bill.

[Rich]

From a jacket-buttoning pause to a hard-pumping handshake, Obama displayed tell-tale signs of dominance ..., communication experts said.

"Just a sec, there, Vlad. Let me zip up my fly. ***wink, wink***"

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Gimme some skin...ooh, too slow!

"So tell me, Vlad, do you know what a man with a giant cock has for breakfast? Well, let's see, today I had bacon and eggs!

"Have you gained weight?

"Here, let me wipe that gravy stain off your tie.

"Oops, when I shook your hand I forgot I was holding that joy-buzzer.

"So anyway, Vlad, stay out of Syria and let me bomb it.

"No? But I displayed signs of dominance! Please respect my dominance, pretty please!"

[Hillary's Clitdong]

a "dominant Obama" meets with Putin

After all this time, we learn that Obama is a wannabe-PUA.

[John]

Talk about a comical phrase. It is like saying "a masculine Perez Hilton starts new blog".

[Hillary's Clitdong]

She noted the significance Obama buttoning his suit jacket after exiting the limo.

"That's another way men show power," she said. "It says, 'I know the attention is on me' and it's a little bit rude to do that. It's grabbing the power for yourself."

Tonya Reiman, who has written three books on body language, said Obama extended his hand at least two seconds before Putin did.

"This is a show of power," she said. "In addition, he leans in toward Putin with his upper body, placing himself slightly into Putin's personal zone. Notice Putin pulls back ever so slightly, which indicates that Obama has the upper hand."

During the handshake, they pumped up and down 18 times, said Joseph Tecce, a psychology professor and body-language scholar at Boston College.

"The handshake is very tense. The 18 may have been an attempt for either one to show dominance, to say, 'Don't fuss with me," he said. "Or they are saying, 'Look, we are shaking hands, we're good ? an attempt to establish what is not real."

An entire article of this stuff. I'm surprised we don't have a section on how Obama could have "closed the deal" with Putin by wearing a goofy hat or telling the right sardonic joke.

[John]

It reads like an Onion Article. How did someone write that with a straight face?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Putin is a shrimpy little guy. The taller guy always look dominant when juxtaposed.

[John]

LOL Obama is the ultimate beta male. He couldn't look dominant among the umpalumpas you little shill.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

onya Reiman, who has written three books on body language, said Obama extended his hand at least two seconds before Putin did.

"This is a show of power," she said.

Let me guess: If Putin had extended his hand two seconds before Obama, Obama would have been showing power by leaving Putin hanging.

[Cyto]

I was thinking the same thing. Standing there with your hand extended waiting around for reciprocation is anything but dominant.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah right. Obama gets the 'upper hand' with a handshake against Putin of all people. /rolls eyes.

Did it occur to this chick maybe Obama is just good at bluffing and acting? He knows how to make all the right "power" cues and pretend intellectual stares but in actuality there's nothing there.

[Fist of Etiquette]

So Obama came away with Snowden in cuffs then?

[Lord Humungus]

Rick Santelli: "What Are We, A Banana Republic?"
http://www.realclearpolitics.c....._long.html

[Palin's Buttplug]

Low interest rates and tame inflation numbers have turned Mr. Screaming Teabag into a raving lunatic.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

How's U6 look? Still about 14%?

[SugarFree]

Just got an email from our bank... If we are willing to transfer $10,000 in "new money" and not touch it for three months, we can open a Money Market savings account offering the mind-blowing interest rate of 0.55% annually!

Recovery summer!

[Lord Humungus]

you are obviously a hoarder!

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

And a notorious Kulak!

[Lord Humungus]

for those too stupid to click on the link:

CNBC's Rick Santelli reacts to the August jobs report, which revealed that the lowest proportion of Americans for decades are part of the workforce. "You can't hide this millions of people forever," he said. "And you can't play this three card monte game for long. To see the stock market rally on crappy data, to me, is just a horrible dynamic, what are we, a banana republic?"

[John]

Millions of people without work and no hope of finding any. What could possibly go wrong? That won't turn into a massive social problem or anything.

[Palin's Buttplug]

What do you want? Some FDR style WPA program?

We have the best economy in the world during a world-wide financial crisis and credit failure the equivalent of the 1930's.

Add lower credit limits and asset writedowns together and the world economy is negative $25 billion since 2007.

[Drake]

Uh... No.

Most of the free world didn't engage in big government economic intervention and came out of recession in the early 30's. Only the U.S. went through the repeated recessions as FDR "tried everything" except less government.

[John]

It is all the fault of a now five year distant financial crisis. Obama regulating the economy to death and passing a healthcare bill that makes it much more expensive to hire full time workers and made it impossible to calculate labor costs for the last three years has nothing to do with it.

[Palin's Buttplug]

98% of US business will see no effect regarding Obamacare.

[Drake]

Bullshit. It's already happening.

[John]

98% of US business will see no effect regarding Obamacare.

So say the voices in your head. Reality, not so much. Defend Barrack W. Hoover all you like dipshit. But the numbers don't lie. Worst President ever.

[OldMexican]

Re: Palin's Buttwipe,

What do you want? Some FDR style WPA program?

You mean *cough* green jobs! *cough* we didn't have one already?

We have the best economy in the world during a world-wide financial crisis and credit failure the equivalent of the 1930's.

For Buttwipe, the best economy is one that is holding by the skin of the Fed's money printing machine. Not one that produces actual shit, no.

98% of US business will see no effect regarding Obamacare.

That can only mean that 98% of US businesses will close their doors in the near future. What cards are you reading? I guess if you got the memo regarding all those wonderful Obamacare taxes that will affect everybody, then you're predicting massive business failures the likes of which the world has never seen, or you're just full of shit.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Funny. I could have sworn a report actually concluded Canada did better during the crisis.

[Jordan]

Low interest rates and tame inflation numbers have turned Mr. Screaming Teabag

- Shreeeeeek in 2007.

[Palin's Buttplug]

In 2007/08 the economy was losing trillions in real net asset value per month.

That was the time to panic - which many did.

[OldMexican]

Re: Palin's Buttwipe,

In 2007/08 the economy was losing trillions in real [sic!] net asset value per month

The assets were OVERvalued, you nitwitted buffoon. They don't call it a correction for nothing. Nobody lost anything, as the assets were not being bombed into rubble in a war or something. The assets are all still there, still standing.

You really don't understand economics, do you, Buttwipe?

[sarcasmic]

PB, like so many economic illiterates on the left, does not understand that value, money, wealth and income all mean distinctly different things.

[Rasilio]

No he's right, the assets were losing "value" as measured in the number of dollars one could exchange them for.

What they were not doing however is losing "real value" becuase they were overvalued to begin with and the prices corrected.

What he's also missing is that we are nowhere near the bottom of this correction.

Given the axiomatic truth that every debt is counted as an asset by someone the unsustainable debt load America (and most of the rest of the world) is under it must also be true that some portions of those debts will never be fulfilled in their full listed value and therefore there are large quantities of assets somewhere in the economy which remain significantly overvalued.

Oh and PB don't give me your pro Obama crap about how the debt is lower than I'm saying. I'm not talking about just federal debt, I'm talking ALL debt, Federal, State, Local, Personal, corporate, etc. Total debt across all of those categories is approaching $70 Trillion and rises to more than $200 trillion if one includes unfunded liabilities.

If the blended debt servicing cost on that $70 Trillion was just 4% that means that more than 15% of GDP is going to pay for debt service (that's just paying off the interest, not paying down the principal). Even worse we still havn't managed to even get to the point where we aren't growing that debt annually so it is still getting worse every year.

[Gray Ghost]

If you look at wiki's numbers for 2012 Federal expenditures and receipts, you see that expenditures for interest on Treasury debt and intragovernmental debt (SS, basically) net out to about 1/6th the total receipts that year.

This, with a prime rate of 3.25 percent last year, and long-term T-bill rates in the 2.2-3 percent range. If rates ever get back to what we had with W (5-6 percent), never mind Carter, we are so fucked.

[Juice]

No he's right, the assets were losing "value" as measured in the number of dollars one could exchange them for.

What they were not doing however is losing "real value" becuase they were overvalued to begin with and the prices corrected.

There is no such thing as inherent value. It's all subjective. So if the price of an asset drops, it lost value.

[everyone]

Don't listen to these naysayers, Shrike. We all know you are correct.

Palin's Buttplug| 9.2.13 @ 5:57PM |#

If everyone agreed with me I would quit posting.

[Drake]

I like how you say "inflation numbers" to distinguish it from actual inflation. That way you don't insult the little people who have to heat a house, fuel a car, and feed a family.

[OldMexican]

Re: Palin's Buttwipe,

Low interest rates and tame [sic!] inflation numbers

World, meet again the sad idiot who thinks inflation = whatever the government says it is.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Exactly OldMexican one of the first lessons I ever learned outside the box when I started out as a junior broker was from my senior partner: Inflation is intensely personal.

I learned to take inflation figures with a grain of salt and look behind the story a little.

[everyone]

So true.

Palin's Buttplug| 9.2.13 @ 5:57PM |#

If everyone agreed with me I would quit posting.

[Long Range Boredom]

Forbes' map of predicted U.S. growth over the next decade.

[John]

The once-youthful area is also experiencing among the most rapid declines in its under-15 population in the nation.

Liberals spend all of their time justifying every action as for the children. Yet, wherever they rule quickly turns into a haven for old people. Funny that.

[Apatheist ?_??]

The energy industry and burgeoning trade with Latin America are powering the Third Coast, combined with a relatively low cost, business-friendly climate. By 2023 its capital?Houston?will be widely acknowledged as America's next great global city.

Sometimes I wish all these articles would shut the fuck up about Houston. We don't need the wrong kind of people to flock here and fuck our shit up.

[Virginian]

Your climate should forestall that. One of the things I hate about Yankee transplants here is the bitching about the weather. Yes, it's fucking hot. I am aware. I'm also aware that snow more than five days a year is an aberration.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I'm also aware that snow more than five0 days a year is an aberration. I mean the weather is great for 2/3rds of the year.

[Virginian]

Exactly. VA has moderate climate, with four full seasons. If you like your winters a little cooler, then the Valley is for you. If you don't mind some summer stickiness, central VA is great.

I like having all seasons, but snow is best taken in moderation.

[John]

That is why I like VA and Maryland so much. They have summers, but they are only hot if you have never been in the deep South or the southern plains and seen what really hot looks like. They winters but they are only seem harsh if you have never lived up North. You get a mild version of all four seasons. I like that. As nice as the winters can be in Georgia or Texas the summers just suck. Same in reverse for the northern plains and New England. And I can't stand the sameness of a place like Southern California. The mid Atlantic is actually my favorite climate.

[wwhorton]

I don't know, I think it depends on where you are in Maryland. Where I am in Naptown we've had some crap-ass winters with like no snow to speak of despite being cold, along with worse-than-usual summers. Those are the worst, IMO. The heat doesn't bother me, but the humidity sucks, and the irony of the "Sailing Capital of America" having not a breath of wind for the hottest, stickiest three months of the year is amazing.

That said, seasons are nice. Lived in SoCal for a minute, and the lack of trees, grass that isn't constantly watered, and, well, seasons was too weird.

[Brett L]

Thorium reactors are the future! They are only five years away, just like in 2008!

Models indicate climate change will reduce probability of Atlantic cyclones making landfall. So burn more fossil fuels or you're a racist who wants more Katrinas.

[John]

Stop raining my parade about those thorium reactors. The idea that could bury my won mini reactor in my back yard and have years of totally reliable power is just too wonderful not to believe in.

[mad libertarian guy]

Models indicate climate change will reduce probability of Atlantic cyclones making landfall.

Haven't we been told for years that hurricanes would become more frequent, be stronger, and hit more often because of "climate change?" Why, yes. Yes we have.

These fuckers can't make up their minds. It's always a heads we win, tails you lose situation for these fuckers. More hurricanes = GLOBAL WARMING!!! Fewer hurricanes = GLOBAL WARMING!!!

[sarcasmic]

It's not global warming. It's global climate change.

[Steve G]

...because public funding is the only way to push this forward... the art (and comments made my head hurt)

[PH2050]

You're conflating a theoretical fuel cycle with proven, U.S.-made technology from 50 years ago.
I look forward to reminding you of this comment in 2017 when China reveals its first MSR.

[Dave Krueger]

AIPAC is planning a lobbying campaign to shore up support in an unenthusiastic Congress...

Oh, my. Israel wants us to bomb Syria. Who would have thought?

Strange how Israel hasn't even been mentioned in the debate about whether to bomb Syria.

As was the case with Iraq, the decision to bomb Syria was made a long time before chemical weapons were used. All that was needed was an excuse.

Obama's "red line" statement virtually guaranteed the use of chemical weapons by someone in Syria because it made clear that's what it would take to bring America into the war. The Syrian government does not want the U.S. involved in the war, so who does that leave? It's pretty clear that the people who want us to attack are Israel and the Syrian rebels, not that ether one of those groups would ever (EVER!) stoop to setting up a fake chemical attack to make that happen...

[John]

AIPAC needs to stop believing its Anti-Semitic critics. Ah, no, we didn't go to war in Iraq for Israel and the pro Israeli Jews are just another interest group. They can get a few foreign aid goodies like every other interest group. But that are not talking us into a war that we wouldn't otherwise want to fight.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"AIPAC needs to stop believing its Anti-Semitic critics."

Yeah, they trade on that image - "they think Jews all think alike and are all-powerful? OK, then, let's put ourselves forward as the embodiment of Jewish power!"

[Dave Krueger]

Being opposed to the actions of Israeli is not the same as being antisemitic, although there are no end to those who mindlessly throw that in anyone's face who criticizes Israel. It's a simplistic and meaningless rebuttal similar to shouting racism when anyone argues against affirmative action.

And, I didn't say we went to war in Iraq because of Israel, so please have the bare minimum of courtesy it takes not to put words in my mouth. My point was that the decision to bomb Syria was made long ago and, as happened in Iraq, the justification was conjured up after the decision was made.

[John]

Sure. But a lot of AIPACs critics claim that Jews have a disproportionate influence on US policy. That is both anti-Semitic and untrue.

[Gray Ghost]

But a lot of AIPACs critics claim that Jews have a disproportionate influence on US policy.

I dunno. As of the beginning of 2012, The "enlarged Jewish population" of the United States was 6.7 million. The population of the United States on Jan 2012, was 312.8 million. So Jews make up 2.15 percent of the population. Don't you think the Jewish population in the U.S. has political influence that far exceeds its proportional representation?

There are reasons for that, of course: greater wealth per capita than other religious or ethnic groups; greater intelligence as determined by IQ scores; cultural emphasis on education. And it isn't anti-Semitic to point that out. I think you can make similar arguments about the political power of homosexuals related to their proportional representation, though I don't know how the IQ thing shakes out.

What is anti-Semitic is to make claims that Jews in the U.S. are plotting to deliver the U.S. wholesale over to Israel, or things of that nature.

[Brett L]

SpaceShip 2 goes supersonic. I only need about 250M more points on my Virgin frequent flier credit card to get a free trip to space.

[Steve G]

http://www.prtctransit.org/myp.....?docid=613

Disclaimer: Local DC BS. One guy dies (9 days ago), an entire public transit system goes into "emergency services" mode.

[Virginian]

So will their be a rebate to the taxpayers for that day? Since they aren't actually providing any fucking services.

[invisible furry hand]

Genius creates a website tracking which polling booths in tomorrow's federal election have a sausage sizzle, cake stall, arts and crafts stand or other fundraiser so you know where you can buy a hotdog while voting

[Not a Libertarian]

If the State forces you to vote, you might as well get a hotdog.

So, I generally (vaguely) understand how the Australian voting system works in the House of Representatives.

[Why is there apparently no Australian libertarian party of any size? Even New Zealand has ACT]

I am comfuzzled how the Senate elections work.

[invisible furry hand]

Because we suck, I suppose. There's a libertarian wing of the Liberal party, which recently has been the only real defender of free speech; the Libs have promised to appoint a freedom commissioner to the Human Rights Commission, and generally stop people getting punished for hurtful speech. Not so good on the economic and social liberty. Also the Sex Party is running on repealing the drug laws. So there are bursts of libertarianism.

The Senate voting system is explained here

Just to blow your mind a bit more, each party gets $2.47 from the public purse for each primary vote, and gets public funding for its campaign (and can still raise private money). Best of all, they officially launch their campaign one week before the election because that's the point they have to stop charging back their expenses to the public purse. More here

And people wonder why I am so grump.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Don't you have to vote in your precinct? That's the way we did it back when I grew up. There was a polling place at my high school but I had to use the one near my house.

[invisible furry hand]

Nope, anywhere in my electorate is OK. Local government elections (at least here in NSW) are like that, but Federal / State, no. And you can cast an absentee ballot or early if you can't get to one in your electorate on the day

[The Late P Brooks]

So Jason Furman (White House mouthpiece) was just on Bloomberg, blaming obstructionist Rethuglitards and teh Sekwesterpocalipps! for today's lousy jobs report. We'll be a deadbeat nation if those meanies in Congress don't let the President have a new credit card!

How will fine young American college graduates get a job if the nation doesn't continue the wild spending binge of the past decades?

[John]

Shouldn't the spending have had some good effect? We did spend a lot. Maybe it should have produced, I don't know, at least a better participation rate or something positive?

I guess the clowns think spending has some kind of pig in python shaped utility curve where it does not good at all until you hit this magic level, which is of course just one porkulus bill away, and then it is all puppies and rainbows.

[Stormy Dragon]

Alec Baldwin has agreed to a weekly Friday show on MSNBC set to start in October.

8 Simple Rules for Berating My Teenage Daughter

[John]

The sad thing is that I could see Baldwin doing a good show in a train wreck Oh My God this guy is a nut but I can't stop watching sort of way. But MSNBC will never let that happen. They will fill him with various dull prog talking points and just make him into a better looking Rachel Madow.

[mad libertarian guy]

It'll be dull talking points, but I imagine he will pull all of the theatrics that Olbermann pulled. He'll have shitty ratings, but they'll love him for it.

[John]

Places like MSNBC and Slate have one business model these days; pay idiotic people to write and say insanely offensive and idiotic things in hopes of trolling people into web hits and TV viewership.

[mad libertarian guy]

Places like MSNBC and Slate have one business model these days; pay idiotic people to write and say insanely offensive and idiotic things in hopes of trolling people into web hits and TV viewership.

To be fair, I'd say that some writers here at Reason seem to be for the same purpose.

[Not a Libertarian]

I am surprised by how the House is coming down against a Syrian intervention.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....-on-syria/

I am astounded that the Senate even appears divided at this point.

Was it not everyone's assumption that somehow someway that the House would find the votes to approve the President's action?

[Lord Humungus]

that was my thought too... glad I'm being proven wrong.

and another count:
As members of Congress consider President Obama's request to authorize military force in Syria, following evidence that President Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons killed over 1,400 people, a ThinkProgress analysis of the public statements of 413 Representatives found that 217 lawmakers have either decisively ruled out supporting the measure or say they are unlikely to back it. Just 44 of the 413 members of the House of Representatives said they will definitely or likely vote in favor or the resolution.
http://thinkprogress.org/polit.....hip-count/

[Virginian]

I mean the fear was always that TEAM BLUE would fall in line behind the Dear Leader, and then the Warboners Rigid Caucus of the GOP would "stand with the President", putting him over the top.

But if the Left vote, the Rand Paul vote, the Fuck Obama vote, and the fingers in the air vote all vote no, you're left with just the WRC and the true Obamatards.

[John]

As I said yesterday. If you vote for this thing, you are betting your political future on Obama not fucking it up. Sound like a good bet to you?

[John]

It wasn't mine. I was always skeptical. America is tired of going to war. And there are only downsides for an individual Congressman who votes for it. If things go well, Obama will take all of the credit and your constituents will forget about it. If things go South, the country will go into revolt and everyone who voted for it will be in danger of being held accountable.

Other than just blind loyalty, "we must support the President overseas at all time", there isn't any political upside to voting for this and a ton of downside. And worse still, Obama has been such an insufferable asshole to the Republicans for so long, he has no friendships or loyalties to call upon to get this thing through.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Those "142 Undecided" loom large.

[Apatheist ?_??]

They're waiting see what goodies they can get.

[BakedPenguin]

Was it not everyone's assumption that somehow someway that the House would find the votes to approve the President's action?

November 2014 is close enough, and the people who vote in mid-terms are often informed.

[Brett L]

Can we please have a no confidence vote on Boehner now?

[The Late P Brooks]

The President speaks:

I'm pleased to be here in Stalingrad, and honored to stand on ground hallowed by the bootsteps of the great economic theorist, humanitarian icon and Hero of the Revolution, Joseph Stalin.

You may think we are here at this G20 meeting to consider wise and efficient economic policy, but we're not.

We're here to talk about me, and how you can help me build my legacy, and generally feel good about myself. Now, I'll probably never be able to impose a ruthless totalitarian dictatorship in order to mold the American people to fit my vision of social justice, but that doesn't men I can't stand here and whine about how those traitors in the House of representatives are trying to take all my cool toys away.

[The Late P Brooks]

Notice Putin pulls back ever so slightly, which indicates that Obama has the upper hand.

Yeah.

It couldn't have been a "Get away from me, you creepy fuckwad," response. Nope, definitely not.

[Virginian]

I wish he'd been setting himself for a throw.

Dominant. Heh. Putin is an ex KGB agent who wrote a judo textbook. I doubt he's impressed by Mr. Law Review.

[John]

Reagan was a skilled actor and could give off the effect of being a tough guy even though he had never been a soldier or a boxer or anything. Carter was a nuclear engineer who served on submarines. Bush I flew in combat in World War II. Bush II had Cheney. Clinton was at least a Rhoades scholar and could bullshit his way through things using his cleverness. Obama doesn't have a single personal characteristic that says dominance or commands respect. Being the guy who stabs someone in the back during some faculty lounge dispute doesn't really translate very well to the world stage.

[mad libertarian guy]

The dude hunts bare chested. He laughs at Obama.

[Jon Lester]

I wish I'd bought his judo DVD back when it was closer to $20.

[wwhorton]

I don't know this for a fact, but the rumor I've heard is that this isn't like a state-sponsored fluff job; like, Vlad is apparently a badass judoka. Like legit, Olympic-grade.

[The Late P Brooks]

I wish he'd been setting himself for a throw.

So

fucking

awesome.

The thought of that useless dweeb twirling into the scrum of photographers as Putin fixes his cuffs and smirks disdainfully made me laugh out loud.

[Jon Lester]

Whose idea was it to have Alec Baldwin competing with local high school football coverage for ratings?

[#]

How many coastal, dorky, limo-liberals do you think watch local football?

[OldMexican]

War may be coming, Walmart survives yet another feeble attempt at unionization, and the Buttwipe still does not understand even the most basic of economics.

What else is new?

[John]

Funny how WallMart employees are so exploited but they never seem to have any interest in unionizing. WallMart must be using some of the corporate mind control stuff.

[sarcasmic]

The few people I've known who worked for Walmart liked their job.

[John]

Same here. They just expect their people to work hard.

[H. ReardEn]

I was at a Sam's Club eating up some free samples. The guy starts in with the employee about how his wife is some academic or works for some progressive organization and how he knows for a fact, through his wife, how it's horrible to work for Wal-Mart because of some corporate policy which he cited. Employee told him that he and his wife were full of shit.

[sarcasmic]

Oh my! That poor employee is so oppressed he doesn't even know he's oppressed! It's so terrible! What do they call it? Stockholm Syndrome? Yeah, that's it! Stockholm!

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

I thought Stockholm Syndrome was what you got from working at IKEA?

*ducks and runs from room*

[Sevo]

"Kenneth Cole Twitter Account Makes Cringeworthy 'Boots On The Ground' Tweet To Promote Footwear"
"Boots on the ground or not, let's not forget about sandals, pumps and loafers"
http://www.sfgate.com/technolo.....790606.php

[Gray Ghost]

Still think their tweet about Egypt rioting 'because they heard KC's spring collection was now available' beats it.

Douchey, but decent trolling all the same.

[Virginian]

Anyone else have Peyton in fantasy last night? I'm feeling pretty good about this week overall.

[John]

Manning is the greatest fantasy QB ever. With the NFL outlawing defense, he is going to have a huge year. But, i will say that my God did the Ravens look incompetent last night on defense. A lot of those yards were the result of the Ravens' secondary just not executing the coverage and letting Denver receivers run free.

[Gray Ghost]

With the NFL outlawing defense, he is going to have a huge year.

This, especially the bolded. Baltimore got run out of the building in the second half, and still put up 27.

Not quite the 70-63 silliness of college football, but they're getting closer.

[Rasilio]

Even better, who started the Ravens D?

[Virginian]

That's the bad part....it was also me.

[Brett L]

Too bad they only played one half last night.

[Virginian]

I actually think they'll shake down into a solid unit. Manning just had too many weapons, and he had the "fuck you" face on all night.

[wwhorton]

You don't think the posters of Joe Flacco plastered all over the stadium might have had some sort of effect on the Broncos and their fans, do you?

[Brett L]

Sloopy hung 54 points on me last night. Thank goodness Jacoby Jones got hurt or it would be 70. I need the Texans D to have 17 sacks and 3 TDs against San Diego to have a chance. So I'm actually feeling pretty good about things.

[Gray Ghost]

"Shut You Down!"

We'll see. Rivers ain't elite anymore, and Cushing is back, but the Texans really didn't do well versus very good pass offenses last year.

[BakedPenguin]

So glad I had The GB TE instead of Thomas.

[Brett L]

I'm tongue in cheek here. I'm getting an L unless my decision to start Josh Freeman against the Jets instead of Kapernick against the Packers turns out to be inspired instead of stupid.

[The Late P Brooks]

Employee told him that he and his wife were full of shit.

Nice.

[Swiss Servator - Gnome Slave]

I would have cheered, had I been there.

[PH2050]

I remember having to watch a training video explaining why Wal*Mart preferred us not to unionize. I couldn't believe I was making $1 above minimum wage for what was probably the most skate job I've ever had. I felt like I was getting over on them!

Then again, I'm not a dumbass who thinks I should be able to support 3 kids on grocery instock crew wages.

[Steve G]

I know I recall doing school papers and printing them out on what was essentially a typewriter-based printer. That thing was like being at a full auto shooting range.

[Virginian]

/points to the brand new laptops every kid in the local district gets.

[John]

Yes. The Russian state has embraced Orthodox Christianity as the state religion. They really have kind of gone back to the days of the Tsars. They see themselves as the protectors of the Slavs and Orthodoxy. That really shouldn't concern the US. But for some reason the US keeps fucking with them and making them more paranoid and enemies when they really shouldn't be.