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Syrian Rebels Worry Intervention Isn't Coming, Cops Hunt Hecklers, 3D-Printing Innovations Continue: P.M. Links

Scott Shackford | 9.12.2013 4:30 PM

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    Syrian rebel groups are worried that the Russia-Syria chemical weapons disposal plan might actually work, which means they won't get foreign assistance in driving out President Bashar Assad or bringing him to justice. But even without our direct involvement, they are now getting weapons from the CIA.

  • Wonder what police are going to do with themselves if and when the war on drugs wanes? In Seattle (where marijuana is now legal), undercover officers are going to be attending Seahawks games in order to bust hecklers.
  • One Maryland lawmaker is proposing legislation requiring all officers in the state to wear body video cameras.
  • One of the bigger challenges for 3d-printing may soon be history as technology is advancing to allow a single printer to use multiple materials.
  • The Ugly Animal Preservation Society has named the blobfish the world's ugliest creature, barely beating out [insert name of your most hated politician here].
  • Evidence – or rather more evidence – shows that IRS officials knew exactly what was going on with the targeting of Tea Party groups for special evaluations before granting (or not granting) tax-exempt status.

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NEXT: Missouri Officer Faces Federal Charges Over Assault Allegations

Scott Shackford is a policy research editor at Reason Foundation.

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

    The Ugly Animal Preservation Society has named the blobfish the world's ugliest creature, barely beating out [insert name of your most hated politician here].

    My condolences to Nancy Pelosi. But second place isn't that bad.

    1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      Pelosi, really? I thought Harry Reid was up for it.

      1. PD Scott   12 years ago

        No loathe for Henry Waxman?

        1. Atanarjuat   12 years ago

          Moleman was disqualified for having won too many years in a row.

        2. Tony   12 years ago

          That thing is the spitting image of Mitch McConnell.

          Seeing that you're equal opportunity nonpartisans and all.

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

        Yeah, I could have thought of someone better but I had a Fist to beat so...

        Ooh, Debbie What'shername-Schultz! Or Dianne Feinstein. Or Bob Filner.

    2. Killazontherun   12 years ago

      My problem with Pelosi has nothing to do with the way she looks, she wasn't that bad looking in her prime. And even if she were uglier than a dope fish, I don't see where these misogynist beliefs based on mere physical appearance have any place at all in a rational political debate. No, it's her ethnicity with which I have a problem.

    3. MJGreen   12 years ago

      Have to go with Schumer. Maybe it's because I'm in New Yorker, and so I see how many issues this asshole thinks are his concern. I just can't think of any politician I hate more.

    4. C. Anacreon   12 years ago

      That fish looks exactly like 'Ziggy' from the eponymic comic strip.

      1. CE   12 years ago

        The fish looks human is what is creepy. Like some failed experiment that got washed down the drain and ended up living in the ocean.

  2. Brandon   12 years ago

    Are these weapons still leftovers from Fast and Furious?

  3. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    Evidence ? or rather more evidence ? shows that IRS officials knew exactly what was going on with the targeting of Tea Party groups...

    What difference at this point does it make?

    1. #   12 years ago

      But PB told us its a fake scandal!

  4. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

    Wonder what police are going to do with themselves if and when the war on drugs wanes? In Seattle (where marijuana is now legal), undercover officers are going to be attending Seahawks games in order to bust hecklers.

    Fuck you. Cut spending.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      They get to attend a football game and assert their authoritah in front of a crowd? Sweet gig.

      1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

        If we know anything about cops, we know they'll be the loudest hecklers, and will only arrest non-Seahawks fans.

        1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

          The plan is to dress up like fans of the opposite team in order to bait hecklers. Be great if that plan gets them their asses stomped.

          1. CE   12 years ago

            So they don't really want to cut down on "crime", they want to make arrests. If they wanted to cut down on crime they would patrol the stands in uniform.

    2. AnonymousCoward532   12 years ago

      Let's not forget the Seattle PD was investigated for excessive force amongst other things not too long ago. I'm not the most obnoxious fan in the world (I did attend a Mariners game and lived to tell about it), but my interest in attending a 'Hawks game went from some to zero.

      http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/seattlepd.php

    3. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

      Remember guys, dunphy says these guys are working class heroes.

      I just hope they make it home at night. That's what's important.

      1. Corning   12 years ago

        dunphy works in some suburb of Seattle. Renton?

        So he gets no free Seahawk tickets.

        He is seething over this I am sure.

    4. Atanarjuat   12 years ago

      Fuck you. Cut spending.

      No shit. The venue surely pays good money to Seattle PD for off-duty cops to handle hecklers and other security matters. So the games were previously a source of income for the department, and they already had cops there to deal with the "problem".

  5. Matrix   12 years ago

    The Ugly Animal Preservation Society has named the blobfish the world's ugliest creature, barely beating out [insert name of your most hated politician here].

    sorry, Warty, maybe next time...

    1. Andrew S.   12 years ago

      How did it take five replies to get to this one? Seriously, Reason. I am disappoint.

  6. playa manhattan   12 years ago

    Big molasses spill in Hawaii:
    http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetw.....arine-life

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

      Talk about a stick situation.

    2. Andrew S.   12 years ago

      Better than this one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.....s_Disaster

      1. Matrix   12 years ago

        35 mph? How does molasses move that fast?

        1. The Bearded Hobbit   12 years ago

          In January!

          ... Hobbit

      2. Suthenboy   12 years ago

        Or this one....

        http://candyprofessor.com/2010.....ses-flood/

    3. playa manhattan   12 years ago

      The company responsible (Matson) imports almost 50% of goods to Hawaii. Some commenters are calling for Matson to be fined out of business, while others are calling for the company to be nationalized...

      1. PD Scott   12 years ago

        Thank you, Jones Act. Because Hawaii is part of the US, under the Jones Act "all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents."

        Which is why Matson has 50% of the trade.

        1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

          Yup. It all comes from the Matson terminal in the Port of Los Angeles. The stuff gets offloaded from ships that went right past Honolulu on the way here, and then transferred to the Matson ships to go back out to Hawaii....

          1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

            The stuff gets offloaded from ships that went right past Honolulu on the way here, and then transferred to the Matson ships to go back out to Hawaii....

            That's government for efficiency!

    4. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

      Sweet!

      1. Tonio   12 years ago

        Good one, LFoD.

    5. Suthenboy   12 years ago

      "Because the spill happened in a harbor and there's less circulation than in the open ocean, it could be months or possibly years before the molasses is completely washed away, David Field, a visiting assistant professor of marine sciences at Hawaii Pacific University, tells the station."

      Doom and gloom resulting from industrialization, commoditization, and all around success. We are raping the planet. We must exterminate 90% of the human race and have the remainder live a stone age lifestyle, you know, in balance with the planet. ( Whatever the fuck that means )

      Or.... It is sugar, a highly water-soluble substance that will disperse quickly. In a year or two you will never know it happened.

      1. BigT   12 years ago

        Sweet!!

  7. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    One Maryland lawmaker is proposing legislation requiring all officers in the state to wear body video cameras.

    Lady officers already where body image cameras.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      I don't know wear on their bodies they have them, though.

      1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

        Nice save!

        1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

          See, this way no one notices. It's mind science!

  8. playa manhattan   12 years ago

    Hugo Schwyzer trying to retire on disability:
    http://www.dailybreeze.com/soc.....he-college

    1. Hillary's Clitdong   12 years ago

      How much does a community college gender studies professor get? Too much or way too much?

      1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

        Higher than both of those.

    2. C. Anacreon   12 years ago

      The author of the story has a nice rack. Wonder what the professor thought of her.

  9. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    But even without our direct involvement, they are now getting weapons from the CIA.

    Arming al Qaeda. How far we've come since 9/11.

    1. mad libertarian guy   12 years ago

      But even without our direct involvement, they are now getting weapons from the CIA.

      Because giving arms to one of the sides isn't "direct involvement."

  10. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

    The Redskins are still racist, and people will protest in Green Bay!

    http://profootballtalk.nbcspor.....on-sunday/

    Correct me if I am wrong, but the Packers are named after the INDIAN Packing Company. They might need a name change too.

    1. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

      Also, this is the first paragraph:

      On Wednesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that, if one person is offended by the Redskins name, the league must listen.

      1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        I'm offended by New England's name. Get on it, Commish.

        1. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

          The Browns offend me. Clearly a reference to Brown people, and the uniforms are ugly.

          1. Brandon   12 years ago

            Maybe they'll be your pallbearers at your funeral, to let you down one last time.

          2. Matrix   12 years ago

            Actually, the Browns refer to shit... which is why I "take the Browns to the Super Bowl" every morning.

        2. hamilton   12 years ago

          The Revolution? Fuck you, commie.

          1. pmains   12 years ago

            If he's a counter-Revolutionary, I believe that makes him an anti-commie.

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

          As someone who was a Falcon in his past life, I am offended and hurt by the cultural appropriation by the Atlanta football team. I demand social justice!

        4. Winston   12 years ago

          What about the "New York" Giants and Jets?

          1. Matrix   12 years ago

            Andre the Giant was offended by the New York Giants when he was still alive...

      2. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

        "...and laugh until the tears roll down our faces! But we'll be listening."

      3. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

        AND STOP CALLING DOLPHINS "THE FISH". DOLPHINS ARE MAMMALS

      4. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        Power to the Offended!

    2. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

      And if you haven't seen this, it is good for a few laughs:

      QBs as their Team Name

      RG3 as Pocahontas was my favorite.

      1. Brandon   12 years ago

        Who's that guy on the buffalo? I thought EJ Manuel was black?

        1. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

          Apparently it is Jeff Tuel.

          I have no idea who he is, but I do know Matt Leinart could not overtake him, which is hilarious.

          1. Brandon   12 years ago

            Oh, the guy who sucked so bad even Mike Leach couldn't make him decent.

      2. Brandon   12 years ago

        Also, that is the most badass Christian Ponder could ever possibly look.

    3. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

      Correct me if I am wrong, but the Packers are named after the INDIAN Packing Company.

      And here I was thinking Tom Cruise would be offended by the Packers...

  11. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    One of the bigger challenges for 3d-printing may soon be history as technology is advancing to allow a single printer to use multiple materials.

    Like inkjet printers, the printers themselves will be cheap throwaway products, it's the pricey ink cartridges that will be how they get you.

    1. CE   12 years ago

      With 3D printing, in the future everything will be free. Except toner.

  12. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

    Why Aren't There More People Of Color In Craft Brewing?

    "Craft brewing is rooted in home-brewing," Marshall says. "And if you look at home-brewing, you see nerdy white guys playing Dungeons and Dragons and living in their mom's basement, and I know this because I was and am one of them."

    1. John   12 years ago

      NPR, asking the important questions I see.

    2. hamilton   12 years ago

      That's MEAD, dammit! Safe for mage consumption and only 5 cp!

      1. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

        Hey, my Sweet Local Honey Mead (with a picture of a local honey on the label) was very popular stuff until I stopped making it.

    3. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      Self-hating dweebs!

    4. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

      Yeah, that sort of article isn't offensive, but watch the sensitivity police jump all over me if I say something like:

      "Yo, wassup, y'all, I'm the president of Home Boy Home Brew, the only home brew made by African-Americans. Commercial beers may be ample, but they taste like a urine sample. *Our* beer is a treasure, craft brewed for your drinking pleasure. Get value for your money when you give it to your honey. She'll swallow down the brew and then she'll wanna...anyway, I gotta get back to work, I'm-a prepare a batch of Home Boy to deliver to the local Whole Foods, ciao!"

      1. SweatingGin   12 years ago

        At one point I did have a few malt liquor recipes...

        1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

          Billy Dee Williams will be right over.

      2. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

        I find your inappropriate use of ciao highly offensive.

    5. SweatingGin   12 years ago

      Also, why are women so under-represented in craft brewing and home brewing? Obviously we need a program to get a more equitable balance among brewers.

      1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

        "Hello, I'm Elizabeth Schneur-Coffin, Chairperson of the board of the Womyn's Craft Brew Collective. We brew beer as good as anything made by some *man,* and we don't spend the profits on video games like certain genders I could mention (we buy shoes!). So when your man is up, ask him to go to the fridge and bring *you* a beer!"

      2. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

        Clearly beer drinkers == rape culture

      3. JW   12 years ago

        They can make their own yeast, so they should be perfect for it.

        1. alittlesense   12 years ago

          I may never drink beer again. The mental image I now have is very disturbing.

    6. Killazontherun   12 years ago

      For the very same reason that when a make shift bong needs to be constructed on the spot they always ask the nearest white guy to do it.

      1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

        Boil some water, malts, hops, yeast and whatever else trips your fancy, when finished place in a very cold sink, when down to luke warm, add yeast. How fucking hard is that?

        No one knows the color of the person shipping the product to you, its not a biggie if you're black and want to get into it. I imagine its gonna catch on soon in black oriented bars and hang outs soon enough if it hasn't already.

        I have no idea of the skin color of who produced that awesome Ghost Face Killah I drunk last night (yes, it was great, like someone made a beer out of Andy Capp fries!), but I'm going to get me some more soon.

        1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

          Boil some water, malts, hops, yeast

          LEAVE OUT THE YEAST! LEAVE OUT THE YEAST! In the boil. Don't hurt God's most perfect little critters. Whose a good little anabolic processor producing ethanol? You are! Oh, yes, you are!

          1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

            Why is Killaz hunched over a microscope weeping and baby-talking?

            1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

              I can hear the cries of millions of dying souls, boiled to death from my misplaced directions.

        2. playa manhattan   12 years ago

          Was the ghost face spicy?

          Last night, Ralph's was all out of my usual flavor of Lagunitas, so I was stuck with a 6 pack of some shit IPA that had a picture of a bear with antlers on the label. Can't remember the name, though.

          1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

            From the label: Made with 6 chiles including Anaheim, Fresno, jalape?o, serrano, habenero, and ghost chile. I quaffed it down in six double shots, boasting to my friends after I shot the last one, 'is there no end to my power!'

            1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

              Chiles named after Californian counties have no power over true initiates and should never even be brought up in polite company.

              1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

                If you say so, but I know nothing of this 'polite company' you speak. This thread is a follow up from one I wrote yesterday, and if you'll recall I mentioned my evening company would be consisting of dot Indians. Those guys were impressed by the beer, one friend followed up a text message forwarded to me earlier this afternoon. Paraphrase. On the toilet. Think I need to call 911. Ass is on fire!

                1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

                  Chiles with Californian names are to me as threading is to P Brooks. I simply refuse to acknowledge their existence beyond utter contempt.

          2. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

            Sounds like Anderson Valley.

            The Ghost Face sounds absolutely nauseating from BA's descriptions of it, but true to the idea of a chili beer. I did like Rogue's Chipotle Ale though.

            1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

              I'll definitely pick up the Rogue sometime soon. It gets my attention every time I see it on the shelf. GFK is not as bad as I thought it would be, some sense just chilli juice and ale, but the fermented malts are of a decent quality and gave their spin on the taste.

              http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/23/65230

              beerthulu's review at the top pretty much nails my experience.

            2. Killazontherun   12 years ago

              Yeast & Water: Rogue's Pacman Yeast & Free Range Coastal Water.

              Lol, at that last bit.

              1. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

                Rogue has quite a bit of whimsy with their marketing. Creativity with their recipes too. Their bacon maple beer is worth your time, and probably would be a great breakfast beer.

                I haven't like a lot of things Twisted Pine's put out in the past, so I didn't think about getting Ghost Face, but your review's convinced me to go try a bottle.

                1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

                  I had a bottle of the bacon maple Rogue last spring. I liked it as what I call a biter shot. It doesn't go down smoothly as a 12oz., but perfect as a jolt to the system.

                  1. Killazontherun   12 years ago

                    In a full glass, I mean. I think it only comes in the tall boy.

    7. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

      "Wanna hear a secret? We have an absolutely *fabulous* craft beer called *Pink* Ribbon! Yes, it's for all you *beer-curious* people out there who like to drink your beer out of a glass with a cute little umbrella in it. But it's only available in socially-aware bars and convenience stores!"

      1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

        Was it invented by a school teacher?

        1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

          No, that's the beer that's ridiculously overpriced, and when it doesn't work they blame the customer.

    8. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

      "Howdy, folks, I'm Lee Jackson Beauregard Longstreet Turnipseed, and I'm here to talk to you about this here microbrew I make. It's called Southern Can. Every batch is lovingly handcrafted right here in my grandpappy's old still. It goes down right nice, and when your body is finished with it, it comes out in a strong, manly stream as you piss off your front porch."

    9. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

      Why Aren't There More People Of Color In Craft Brewing?

      Because they don't count when inmates throw their cornflakes in the toilet and cover it with the plastic that came on their food?
      OK, here come the howls...

    10. Corning   12 years ago

      They are also underrepresented in meth cooking bicker gangs.

      Anyway the real reason is that beer is beer. There is no better tasting beer only slight variations.

      So like most sensible people they say fuck it and just drink Budweiser.

      It is like asking why there are no micro brew colas. What the fuck would be the point?

      1. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

        It is like asking why there are no micro brew colas.

        Never say never. I guess Saint Arnold's Root Beer would count as a micro brew, and it's one of the best soft drinks I've ever had.

        However, if there is no better tasting beer as far as you're concerned, that's great. Think of all the money you're saving, not chasing stuff like Dark Lord, Tactical Nuclear Penguin, and Utopias.

      2. alittlesense   12 years ago

        "bicker gangs?" They sit around and argue with each other all day?

  13. Coeus   12 years ago

    Krugman is a fucking idiot, part 1,397:

    A short piece on yours truly in Bloomberg Businessweek online, in which I learn that I'm a gnome. Also, that Jeff Sachs, whose analysis and motives become increasingly mysterious, thinks that I don't pay enough attention to wasteful government spending. And that calls, I think, for a couple of reminders.

    First, if we're talking about current federal spending, outside defense ? which isn't part of this discussion ? where is the major waste? As we need to remember now and then, the federal government is basically an insurance company with an army, and the insurance side isn't bad.
    ...
    So whenever you hear someone talk about "wasteful government spending", demand that he be specific ? and in particular, that he explain wasteful relative to what. There aren't any good answers.

    1. Certified Public Asskicker   12 years ago

      where is the major waste?

      No, not even Krugman, right?

    2. playa manhattan   12 years ago

      How about anything along the lines of "Department of x" where x isn't in the constitution? Is that specific enough?

    3. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

      Oh my gawd it's the Derpocolypse. I've seen it.

    4. Hillary's Clitdong   12 years ago

      So whenever you hear someone talk about "wasteful government spending", demand that he be specific ? and in particular, that he explain wasteful relative to what. There aren't any good answers.

      Department of Defense. Beyond a minimum of nukes to prevent any other country from getting frisky with its own nukes, and maybe the Coast Guard, it's entirely wasteful. Relative to what? Relative to a private company which, similar to a country, pays for security forces. A company would typically pay some money for security, but it would stop paying when (*roughly*) the cost of additional security exceeded the probable cost of any loss that would be averted by additional security. It would not normally spend vastly more than that. Also, chances are it's going to stick to actual security and not indulge in the extravagant adventures that the US military does. If the Corporate Head of Security proposed that the company go 1.5 Trillion into debt in order to carry out a hair-brained scheme to convert an ex-British Mandate into a democracy, he'd be laughed out of the boardroom.

      1. Hillary's Clitdong   12 years ago

        And if you want to view the government as a whole, then the analogy might be that voters in a democracy are like shareholders in a corporation. Here, the "shareholders" have voted themselves such a large slice out of the yearly profits that equity is no longer increasing (Actually, it's decreasing). That is, the shareholders are looting the company for hard assets. They're acting like corporate raiders.

    5. Matrix   12 years ago

      In the mind of the King of the Idiots, no government spending can be wasteful, because that money goes to someone. Therefore it creates economic activity. Even if the actual project is not particularly useful in and of itself, the money being spent is! Broken windows for all!

    6. Mike M.   12 years ago

      There's absolutely no waste at all in the Department of Education, none. We're really getting our bang for the buck with those guys.

    7. CE   12 years ago

      After The Sequester, nothing left to cut.

    8. Atanarjuat   12 years ago

      current federal spending, outside defense ? which isn't part of this discussion ? where is the major waste?

      Let's look at the site Charity Navigator. You can see what percentage of your donation will go to those in need and what percentage goes to overhead, CEO pay, etc. There are many charities where only single-digit percent goes to overhead. For example MAP International assigns 98.2% to program expenses, the rest goes to fundraising and administrative overhead. I wonder how, say, the FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY would compare, if anyone could ever dig up the equivalent data? Even in transfer payment programs, I'd be comfortable wagering that less than 50% of their funding actually goes to recipients.

      Krugman is telling a lie so sweeping and broad and ambitious, no one can refute it with a single soundbite, and his audience will have moved on by then.

      1. Atanarjuat   12 years ago

        NBC News used to have a segment called "The Fleecing of America" where each week they investigated some guy getting a federal salary to sleep at his desk because the project ended 10 years ago but the money kept coming or some project where a hole was getting dug and filled in again, etc.

        Yep, the federal government is the most efficient organization ever assembled by man. What an idiotic claim. Even competitive businesses aren't perfectly efficient, they're just more efficient than the competition.

  14. Winston   12 years ago

    So what chance does Lhota have in NYC?

    1. Andrew S.   12 years ago

      About as good as the chance that tomorrow Obama admits he's not cut out for this job, kills Obamacare, and then resigns.

      1. Winston   12 years ago

        Isn't he one of the more libertarian Republicans? And would whatisname be considered one of the more or less sane NYC Dems?

        1. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

          A Reason editor called the Dem 'NYC's Obama'.

    2. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

      Wiener garnered more votes in the Primary than Lhota.

      1. Winston   12 years ago

        So is NYC entering a libertarian moment? Does the death of the GOP leave an opening for Libertarians or does it show that the voters love their free shit?

        1. SweatingGin   12 years ago

          First: SWAT raids on dinner parties.

        2. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

          So is NYC entering a libertarian moment?

          That's about as likely as the president's plane crashing there, and Snake Plisskin rescuing him.

          1. Winston   12 years ago

            Yeah I know, I was bashing Nick.

            And what about Snark Plisskin?

          2. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

            I'm retired.

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

    Dear Prudence:

    I'm a 50-year-old professional man. I married my college sweetheart and we've been happily married for almost 30 years. We have two grown children who are doing well. About four years ago, my wife had breast cancer, a mastectomy, and chemotherapy. It was traumatic and after her treatment she told me that she was no longer interested in sex.
    [...]
    Three weeks ago I was at a club and a twentysomething man walked up to me. He said, "This band has a large gay following. Are you gay?" I said, "No. I'm married. I'm just here to take photos." He said, "Well, I think you're hot. If you're bi-curious, my apartments is nearby." Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. He was young, and handsome. I thought, "Why the hell not?" We went to his place and had (safe) sex. I'd never had sex with a man before. I found it to be interesting and enjoyable, but not something I'd been longing for all of my life. What I did I find that I longed for was the passion. Three times that night, he said, "You are such a sexy man." No one had ever said to me before and I keep hearing those words in my head.

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

      Since then, I've had a bunch of conflicted feelings. I feel sad about betraying my wife. I also keep scanning crowds to see if I can find that guy again. I don't think that it's the sex that I want, so much as the passion and appreciation. I would like to find some way to explain my feelings to my wife, but I can't tell her about the one-night stand. She's not homophobic, but the fact that I've strayed outside of marriage would be painful for her. Your thoughts?

      Obviously a closeted bisexual. Surprised she didn't encourage him to, um, get a grip on that.

      1. John   12 years ago

        I found it to be interesting and enjoyable, but not something I'd been longing for all of my life.

        Survey says; doubtful. Why is it that every middle aged man who ends up on the business end of some gay guy's penis swears they never thought about doing such a thing before now?

        1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

          Because Prudence makes this shit up. Either you like fucking dudes (NTTATWWT), or you don't.

          1. Coeus   12 years ago

            That doesn't really explain prison or the armed forces.

      2. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        I also keep scanning crowds to see if I can find that guy again.

        You know where he lives, dipshit.

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          Hey there creeper. How you doin'?

          You can't just show up at a hookups house. Shoot. I felt creepy tracking down someone on Facebook because I didn't get his information after we met.

          1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

            Uh, one night stands without the worry of the hookup sticking around or looking me up? That's your world? Where do I sign up?

            1. Brandon   12 years ago

              Well, you start with an overbearing mother...

              1. Hillary's Clitdong   12 years ago

                And add a cupful of Lady Gaga...

            2. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

              Actually that story isn't a good example of NSA sex. I'm going to be seeing him in October when I'm out in New Orleans and we text back and forth with some regularity...

              Which reminds me, I'll be in NOLA 10/16 to 10/23 for a conference. Any advice from the commentariat? I've been a few times, but wondering if anyone wants to meet for drinks or has recommendations for food.

              1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

                Have this after a night on the town:
                http://www.thefix.com/content/.....-cure91523

                1. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

                  Arg. Looks like bad Vietnamese food.

                  1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

                    From a food cart in NOLA? That's unpossible!

              2. John   12 years ago

                Go to Jaqimos. It is up near Tulane.

                1. Max Power   12 years ago

                  I second Jaques Imo's, it's amazing. If you go on a Tuesday, you can go next door to the Maple Leaf and see Rebirth Brass Band. They're awesome, even if you're not really into jazz.

              3. playa manhattan   12 years ago

                I had the tasting menu for Revolution NOLA when the chef/owner was a guest chef for the Master Series at the Strand House in MB. Best short ribs I've ever had, and I have them several times a month. Here is his menu:
                http://www.revolutionnola.com/.....tml#dinner

              4. James Hatt   12 years ago

                the gay scene in new orleans is largely around the marigny (louis armstrong park area). Kajun's pub is a good place to go. if you're around uptown (you shouldn't be, there's better places) and like a dive bar, head to snake and jake's christmas lounge. you drink free for the night if you get shot, and 2$ shlitz.

                I'd highly reccomend the marigny though, gay or straight because I like divish bars and they have some nice greasy late night food options mostly located in convenience stores.

                Jacques Imo's if they're referring to the place on oak street never seemed special to me.

          2. Corning   12 years ago

            You can leave a note on his door with your phone number.

            Hell the post office is still in business. Write him a letter.

      3. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

        Dear Penthouse, I never thought this would happen to me but...

      4. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        I'm inclined to say he gets a pass on cheating if his wife told him sexy-times were permanently cancelled 4 years ago. I can buy not being particularly into men but being into the attention if he's had a 4+ year dry spell.

        1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

          Having sex with a man? That's *so* gay!

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

          Yeah, but why is he so interested in finding the guy again for an encore?

          If he's well-off and handsome for a guy his age surely he could find a girl.

          That's why I think he should probably come to terms with that before proceeding.

          1. Agammamon   12 years ago

            Probably because the girls don't tell him that - the dude he hooked up with probably gets off on seducing men who otherwise identify as straight and knew *exactly* which buttons to push.

          2. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

            Clearly the man has the capacity for bisexuality, but I think many if not most people do, although they might identify as straight or gay, and never have cause to examine that.

            The man is conflicted about having cheated on his wife and is enamored with how being with that particular guy made him feel. I can imagine myself hoping for a repeat, but not wanting to push that hard to make it happen and risk rejection.

            1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

              Isn't the first half of your argument essentially the Kinsey Scale?

              1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

                Basically, yes. I don't love the Kinsey scale, but it's something people are familiar with.

                1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

                  It's all pretty new to me, so I don't know what has been accepted/discredited yet. I only became familiar with it when I had 2 fraternity brothers come out of the closet in the last year. One was a surprise, and the other was a "no shit"....

                  1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

                    I'm not up on the latest research on the topic, my opinions are based mostly on anecdote and the cobbling together of bits and pieces of academic writing.

              2. Corning   12 years ago

                Isn't the first half of your argument essentially the Kinsey Scale?

                So basically having your wife's tits cut off is equivalent to being in prison.

                This actually makes the story seem more plausible to me.

            2. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

              I'm inclined to say he gets a pass on cheating if his wife told him sexy-times were permanently cancelled 4 years ago.

              What's kind of pathetic is that he never sat down with her and hashed out the issues surrounding their sex life. SHE might not be interested in sex anymore, but it's not really fair for her to expect her fully functioning husband to suddenly go cold turkey on any sort of sexual stimulation. Hell, throw the guy a bone and tell him he can whack off to porn 3 or 4 times a week, and he probably will be able to live with the lack of physical intimacy for quite a while.

          3. Matrix   12 years ago

            Or perhaps cheating on your wife with the same sex is less cheaty than with the opposite sex.

            If I was married and my wife was cheating on me with another woman, I would be upset. But not quite as upset as if she were with another man. I mean, after all, if the other woman was attactive enough and still into guys, I might be able to have fun too.

            But, not a lot of women think that way, I'm sure, with the genders reversed.

            1. mauricegirodias   12 years ago

              The (largley female) readership of slash fiction tends to refute your theory. A number of women harbor bisexual fantasies.

        3. John   12 years ago

          If the wife was no longer interested in sex, why didn't she tell him it was okay for him to go elsewhere? Why didn't he go elsewhere? You mean in four years he never even hired a hooker?

          1. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

            In four years he should have been able to find a discrete girlfriend.

      5. Agammamon   12 years ago

        ". . . but the fact that I've strayed outside of marriage would be painful for her. Your thoughts?"

        Tell her about the one night stand and tell her that its going to continue. If she doesn't want sex, well you still love her and will accept that but she has to accept that you won't live without it.

        1. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

          Or tell her to fake it like she did for the previous 30 years.

        2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          I bet she stopped having sex with him because he's, you know, gay.

    2. Tejicano   12 years ago

      The guy is definitely bi or gay.

      After having kids my wife made the unilateral decision that we would no longer have sex. It has been almost 6 years now of exactly zero for me with my wife. We have discussed it and she offered to budget money for me to pay for something if I need it.

      I'm not in prison and there isn't a single part of the male anatomy that I would have any interest in.

      I have found a lady on the side who is excessively hot, just old enough to be above the "creepy" line, and discrete. She's also teaching me about some freaky stuff I never considered before.

      Problem not "solved" but bearable.

  16. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

    I don't know if any of you have been following the Yucca Mountain debacle but this absolute grilling of Peter Lyons of the DOE over their screw ups dealing with Yucca is great.

    Congressman Bill Johnson lectures Macfarlane and Lyons

    1. John   12 years ago

      Rather than bury all of this waste in the middle of nowhere lets leave it stored in small amounts in temporary storage areas all over America.

      1. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

        Why bury it at all? Smilin' Joe would know more about the economics of this, but at which Uranium price does it become economical to start reprocessing spent fuel rods? Still, that's a lot of useful radionuclides that you're entombing.

        Also (and feel free to chime in, robc) why do reactor operators pull the rods at all? The spent rods are still radioactive and are still putting out heat, right? Is it just that they don't put out enough heat compared to a fresh fuel rod?

        1. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

          Once the rods get to a certain point they can no longer sustain a critical reaction and the heat generated from decay heat is much smaller than from fission. However, there is still a lot of useful material in the rods. Most of the rod is made up of U-238 which can be fully utilized in fast reactors, we don't have any of those currently. India is about to bring one online. Most cool new nuclear tech seems to be happening in Russia and India these days.

          I don't think we should bury it either though, at least not somewhere where we can't easily retrieve it. There is still a ton of useful energy left in the spent fuel that fast reactors can use. I believe something like 90% of the retrievable energy is still in the fuel.

          I'm not quite sure at what price it becomes economical to start reprocessing. It is much higher than prices are right now, which is a big reason why we don't do it.

  17. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had complained to the Federal Election Commission that conservative groups like Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity should be treated as political committees, rather than 501(c)(4)s, which are tax-exempt social welfare groups that do not have to disclose their donors.

    "Perhaps the FEC will save the day," Ms. Lerner wrote back later that morning.

    So it seems Ms. Lerner is a bit of a partisan hack. The IRS - an already unsubtle organization - may not be the best place to install an openly partisan hack.

    1. Finrod   12 years ago

      Ms. Lerner is a bit of a partisan hack like the ocean is a bit below the sky.

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

    Pennsylvania judge orders halt to the issuing of gay marriage licenses in one county

    A Pennsylvania judge on Thursday ordered a Montgomery County court official to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, saying that a court clerk does not have the authority to decide whether the state rules are constitutional.

    The state's Health Department sued Montgomery County Register of Wills D. Bruce Hanes in August after he began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, following the U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling that the federal government must recognize same-sex unions in states where they are legal.

    "A clerk of courts has not been given the discretion to decide that a law ... he or she is charged to enforce is a good idea or bad one, constitutional or not," Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court President Judge Dan Pellegrini wrote in an opinion issued on Thursday. "Only courts have the power to make that decision."

    Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced that she would not defend the state's ban on gay marriage in a case before federal courts in the middle district of Pennsylvania.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      If gays can't have a marriage license, nobody can! Who's with me?

  19. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

    CA passes a bill regarding fracking and other drilling techniques.

    http://www.reuters.com/article.....MV20130912

    1) This quote: A hotly contested bill that would impose California's first regulations on fracking and other oil production practices passed the state Assembly on Wednesday, despite opposition from environmentalists and oil companies.

    This is Reuters bullshit served blatant and piping hot am I right? Pretty sure CA was not regulation free beforehand.

    2) Does this bill improve the industry-investment-and-development climate in CA for drilling and fracking?

    1. playa manhattan   12 years ago

      I do contract work for PXP. I assure you it's regulated, which is how I got the business...

  20. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    Folks living in this tiny outpost on the Alaskan border may use Canadian dollars, but they're still '100% American'

    1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

      Right, like the guy with the Dear Prudence letter isn't gay.

      1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

        Gay as the square root of minus one.

        1. pmains   12 years ago

          But when you think about it, isn't all love irrational?

          1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

            +1 complexity

            1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

              Because an imaginary number plus a real number is...COME ON PEOPLE THAT WAS AWESOME.

        2. trshmnstr   12 years ago

          gay as j? it rhymes, but what does it mean?

          1. pmains   12 years ago

            The square root of -1 is i, not j.

            1. hamilton   12 years ago

              You clearly don't speak engineer. Infidel.

  21. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    Pizzaburger by Boston Pizza is a love letter to American eating ? from Canadian kitchens

    1. Smilin' Joe Fission   12 years ago

      I just can't believe Poutines are not everywhere in the US. It is among my favorite foods, an unbeatable as a post-bar 2 am drunk food.

      1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        I saw poutine at one place near where my parents live, but it was nowhere near as good as the stuff I've had in Canada, or Korea at a Mexican restaurant owned by Canadians (flavors were great, but there was 0 heat in any of the food).

        1. Obese American   12 years ago

          Let's just say that I have it on good authority that a poutine chain is coming to Southern California in the next year....

          1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

            Your statement is cryptic and intriguing. This isn't some kind of viral marketing campaign for Mountie Python is it? I know there's supposed to be python gravy poutine.

      2. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

        I've seen many people eat fries and gravy, but without the cheese curds. Maybe some cheddar, but no stinkin' curds.

  22. DK   12 years ago

    ... undercover officers are going to be attending Seahawks games in order to bust hecklers.

    Epi is going to be arrested by Dunphy!

    1. Corning   12 years ago

      I call dibs on his fantasy football team!!!

  23. Rock Action   12 years ago

    Oh, wow. Vagina Dentata on that one.

  24. PD Scott   12 years ago

    Monkeys may soon be safe from SIV:Promising vaccine candidate successful in almost half the test subjects.

    Could lead to a cure for AIDS, too.

    http://www.gizmag.com/hiv-aids-vaccine-ohsu/29042/

    Because the damn html keeps putting reason.com/blog in front of the hyperlink when I preview.

    1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

      Monkeys may soon be safe from SIV

      But H&R still won't be.

      1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        I see what you did there.

      2. Brandon   12 years ago

        COSMOZ!!!

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

    Elizabeth Warren: 'I don't understand logic' of Congress that refuses to act on regulating Wall Street

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) spoke on the five-year anniversary of the financial crisis, saying Congress should act to end "too big to fail" financial institutions.

    "There are many who say, sure, 'too big to fail' isn't over yet, but Congress should wait to act further because the agencies still have to issue a bunch of Dodd-Frank's required rules,'" Warren said, according to her prepared remarks. "True, there are rules left to be written, but that's because the agencies have missed more than 60 percent of Dodd-Frank's rulemaking deadlines."

    Warren touted the new Glass-Steagall Act as a potential solution, and said she doesn't understand "the logic" in Congress waiting to step in and stop unfair advantages to large banks over their smaller peers.

    "I don't understand the logic," she said. "Since when does Congress set deadlines, watch regulators miss most of them, and then take that failure as a reason not to act? I thought that if the regulators failed, it was time for Congress to step in. That's what oversight means. And that's certainly a principle that would have served our country well prior to the crisis."

    Well Liz, 'I don't understand logic' sums you up pretty well.

    1. Agammamon   12 years ago

      "Since when does Congress set deadlines, watch regulators miss most of them, and then take that failure as a reason not to act?"

      Oh, about the same time they started delegating their powers to the executive branch maybe?

    2. Biden's Scroteplugs   12 years ago

      Her CFPB is a gift to big banks. All their rules favor the big guys.

    3. Irish   12 years ago

      "True, there are rules left to be written, but that's because the agencies have missed more than 60 percent of Dodd-Frank's rulemaking deadlines."

      So the agencies can't keep up with the amount of rules you foisted on them and your response is "Let's make more rules to foist upon them?"

      Great idea.

    4. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

      There's a real simple way to end too-big-to-fail institutions...

      Let them fail.

      Vote General '16!

      1. R C Dean   12 years ago

        You mean, Vote Naked?

    5. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

      Warren touted the new Glass-Steagall Act as a potential solution, and said she doesn't understand "the logic" in Congress waiting to step in and stop unfair advantages to large banks over their smaller peers.

      Gee Liz, why don't you ask the guy who's in charge of the SEC, IRS, FBI, and FDIC, and voted for TARP before he became President?

    6. CE   12 years ago

      Elizabeth Warren: 'I don't understand logic'

      She could have stopped there.

  26. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    This week in feminist fascism...

    Todd Starnes is trying to make it an issue that the federal government requires religious charities that take federal money to refrain from proselytizing. The group was using the food distribution as a hook to get people into a roomful of religious materials and pushing Bibles on them. Starnes is defending this as necessary behavior[...]

    You know, if a church wants to do that, it's their right, though I do think it's a little less than charitable. But once they're taking taxpayer money to feed people, they cannot and should not be able to use that money to try to sell their religious beliefs. The government belongs to all of us[...]

    The church is fine far away from non-members and in its own context, but the will of the volk must take precedence of course.

    1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

      I don't see what's supposed to be fascist/outrageous about this.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        You don't think it's awful to dictate to people what they can and cannot say at a building that they own through a program they run the instant they start taking government money?

        There's a lot of people in that bucket.

        1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

          According to Amanduh it's only when they're engaging in the activity for which they have received the government money.

          And so no, if the government gives a religious charity money and says, "use this money to feed poor people in Detroit", it's not in the least bit awful to say "oh by the way, while you're using this money to feed poor people in Detroit, don't proselytize to them"

          1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

            What is "proselytizing", Thane? It's communicating a religious idea to others with the intent of convincing others of the truth of that idea -- something fully covered by the 1st Am. These programs are things these churches were already doing.

            This is another prong of the arguments progs make about religious private school vouchers and Catholic churches receiving ObamaCare subsidies. We are supposed to pretend that the government giving a subsidy for some public purpose to people who are engaging in that activity with their own time and resources requires two things:

            1) That the people in question start educating on ideological issues or otherwise doing government-mandated things that they may not agree with.

            2) That those people disengage from speaking or acting in non-coercive ways which they were acting in prior to receiving said subsidy.

            That's absurd, and applies to a lot more than Christians. Like I said, there's a whole lot of people in the bucket of receiving public subsidies (implicit or explicit). Right now non-profits aren't receiving quite the level of scrutiny as churches wrt the ideological content they communicate to their clients, but when they do and they are muzzled for saying things against the government cant, it's not going to be to the benefit or liking of anyone who has an interest in free speech.

            1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

              If 50% of the money for Project Feed Poor People in Detroit comes from taxpayers, then 50% of the time, they can't proselytize. Or give out Ron Paul bumper stickers. Or Frontgate catalogs. Or whatever.

              1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

                1) Uh, why?

                2) How would that be measured in any meaningful way?

                Your problem is that you are seeing anyone who accepts government funds as government mouthboxes. That is an inversion of a fascist viewpoint -- in your case, you see that as an argument to eliminate the funds but still see restrictions on speech as valid because the volk are operating in their capacity as wards of the state. That is bad enough, but Amanduh and co are fascists who see no argument to eliminate these subsidies -- in fact, they see them (and any sort of public interaction) as an excuse to muzzle people and require them to submit to "public" standards on their speech at every turn.

                That's fascism right there.

              2. Finrod   12 years ago

                Try telling liberal groups that they can't say anything bad about Republicans, conservatives, or capitalism if they're taking government money and watch the howling begin.

          2. shortviking   12 years ago

            Rights are not handed over the instant one receives federal dollars.

        2. Agammamon   12 years ago

          No, not really. I think its a far worse thing to forcibly take my money and give it to organizations that will use it to proselytize for positions and philosophies that I don't support or even actively oppose.

          And these limits only apply to the organizations activities that they took the money for.

          1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

            Except that's not what is happening. The money is going towards churches and non-profits that are doing things that align with what government would like done (in this case feeding the hungry). Proselytizing doesn't take a penny away from you; the government is not providing money so that churches can print pamphlets.

            I agree that government should not be funding such things, but while they are they should not be compounding that wrong by requiring that privately-run organizations restrict what they can or cannot say -- especially when that speech is not being funded by government and is pertinent to that organization's main mission. If you go to a church instead of a non-profit to get food, it is absurd to get offended when you get a mini-sermon along with your food.

            1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

              I don't know/remember your opinion of it, but what's your opinion of the government giving money to Planned Parenthood. If it is different, why?

              1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

                Proselytizing or advocacy is not coercive -- at all. Full stop. It is a legally protected activity, and is not coercive in the context of government subsidy. It doesn't take a dime out of your pocket (which is the meaningful infringement on NAP), so there is nothing that you could possibly object to on liberty grounds.

                Partial birth abortions and late-term abortions are inherently coercive activities. Other abortions are arguably coercive, depending on where you fall in the debate. In either case, there is a certain level of ambiguity regarding the coerciveness of the action.

                If the only thing PP were doing with its money was advocacy (i.e., telling women about abortions, the positive aspects of same, education about what an abortion entails, etc.) and the funding they received was for actions government was already going to do with or without PP, then we have an analogous situation. As is we do not.

    2. pmains   12 years ago

      This is similar to a charity I run. I ladle the recipients a bowl of soup and hand them a copy of Atlas Shrugged. Then I spit in their soup.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        You don't spit in their soup first and call all assembled "moochers"?

        For shame.

  27. PD Scott   12 years ago

    British pilot likes the F-35B better than the Harrier, featuring the USS Wasp.

    Am I alone in thinking it looks weird to have the? hood up on the top for the air intake?

    Wonder what repeated exposure to the jet wash will do to the carrier decks, too.

    1. Agammamon   12 years ago

      Nothing more than repeated jet-wash does to the decks now - Harriers don't VTOL by magic.

      And the Wasp is an LHD ( multipurpose amphibious assault ship), not a carrier.

      1. PD Scott   12 years ago

        It looked to me like it was full afterburner, but maybe that was just the thermal camera.

        And yes, the Wasp is an LHD, but it sure seemed to be carriering that aircraft.

    2. Hillary's Clitdong   12 years ago

      Well, it's a much more advanced aircraft, which can hotrod a lot more than the Harrier. Of course, they've blown a ridiculous amount of money making a VTOL aircraft. Kind of silly, considering the US has supercarriers which can handle fixed-engine aircraft.

      1. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

        Kind of silly, considering the US has supercarriers which can handle fixed-engine aircraft.

        But the foreign customers don't. They usually operate sloppy seconds LHDs and the like, which can't run regular naval fixed-wing aircraft. And that's who's going to be buying a ton of F-35s (like the IAF) in order to try and deal with next-gen SAMs like the various S-300s, -400s, and whatever the Indians have come up with this week. These projected foreign customers are what makes the F-35 halfway affordable in the first place.

        Really surprised that Lockheed hasn't successfully lobbied past the Obey Amendment to get the F-22 line restarted for foreign sales.

    3. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

      Am I alone in thinking it looks weird to have the? hood up on the top for the air intake?

      Agree, it looks weird, but it probably really cuts down on FOD worry.

  28. Coeus   12 years ago

    I found this clicking through some stuff on that Pax guy:

    On Harassment and Policies: An Open Letter to Skeptic and Freethought Leaders

    The second concern I have revolves around equating sexual harassment with unwanted sexual attention. If we want to use the phrase "unwanted sexual attention," I think it is very important to define it because it means different things to different people. Groping is a type of unwanted sexual attention that is clearly harassment. Asking a peer for a date is (usually) not harassment, even if it turns out to be unwanted sexual attention. In human courting, there is a period of uncertainty where we try to figure out if sexual attention is wanted or unwanted. We should not create policies where an innocent courtship inquiry is considered cute if turns out to be wanted, but is considered harassment if it turns out not to be wanted. Putting up such deterrents to reasonable courtship would be unfair to those who would consider themselves lucky to find love with someone of a like-mind at a skeptic or freethought convention.

    1. Coeus   12 years ago

      there's more, all eminently reasonable. Look at what one of the main "feminist skeptic" bloggers has to say about it:

      Elyse Anders ? a year ago ?
      "As a billionaire dude, I totally understand what the average woman experiences in public. Because of that understanding, I can say that we can't give them all this power to be irrational and hysterical like they tend to be. My good friend Marty Klein wrote an EXCELLENT piece on why women are being so silly and destroying organizations, I agree with that. Have a policy in place, but not one that is going to make men take more responsibility for how they treat women. Maybe it's time women take more responsibility for just accepting that men can't understand how to behave around them."

      Thoughts on what this says about their true intentions?

      1. John   12 years ago

        Feminists are totalitarians. That means all insitutions must be taken over and corrupted so they serve the cause of feminism.

        Yes, their purpose is to turn the skeptic movement or whatever this is into another arm of leftist feminism. All your bases belong to them. Sadly, this basically means that you can't let any of them into your organization unless you want them to corrupt it.

        1. Coeus   12 years ago

          I mean, what does it say when they are vehemently against clear rules?

          1. John   12 years ago

            It says they want the power to be able to go after anyone they don't like.

            1. Coeus   12 years ago

              Bingo. And on another, more basic level, vague wording keeps the classes separate. If the guy's not already experienced and confident, these rules are supposed to cow him into never making an advance at all.

              They don't even apply to the experienced and confident men. Slightly violating social norms is pretty much the definition of seduction. If you do it right, no one complains. If you try to follow all the rules, you're obviously not experienced, and are thus wasting the other party's time.

    2. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

      Myers's "hand grenade" post was the last straw for me taking these people even remotely seriously.

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

    California sends bill banning lead hunting bullets statewide to governor's desk. For the children condors.

    There's a move to ban hunters from using lead ammunition in California. Environmentalists say it would protect endangered species, but opponents say it's really just an attempt to stop hunting altogether in the state.

    How to save the majestic California condor? The use of lead in ammunition is already banned for hunting in the bird's main habitat between San Jose and Los Angeles, but lead continues to be the leading cause of death for the endangered species.

    Lawmakers had a contentious debate over whether to extend the ban statewide requiring hunters to use non-lead bullets beginning in 2019. Since lead-free ammo is difficult to find and expensive, opponents say this really is a back door attempt to get rid of hunting altogether in California.

    "It's original intent was to ban hunting. It's a hunting ban disguised as a ban on lead ammo," said Assm. Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks.

    "In reality, there are many potential factors that create identical impacts on California's wildlife population. The growth of California cities and roads can each be responsible for increased access to lead," said Assm. Frank Bigelow, R-Madera.

    But Frank, nobody needs to go hunting.

    1. hamilton   12 years ago

      Tim Donnelly may need help from the Log Lady to defeat that bill.

    2. John   12 years ago

      So they can stop all hunting. That will work out well. When the deer move into Beverly Hills and Palo Alto, I wish them luck with that, if t hey are not already there.

      1. tarran   12 years ago

        Wasn't a jogger killed by a mountain lion a few years ago?

        IIRC Three dudes tried to pull the animal off of her, but were unsuccessful.

        None were armed.

        1. John   12 years ago

          I think so. And damn did those dudes have balls.

          1. tarran   12 years ago

            People say that the rise in wildlife-human interactions is due to habitat encroachment.

            I think this is bullshit.

            Habitat encroachment was happening 25, 50, 100, 150 years ago. It's called settlement and homesteading.

            I think what's happened is that since th e1960's there has been a huge drop in people going into the wilderness armed and truculent.

            For thousands of years wildlife experienced a reality where humans were nasty creatures that would kill them given the chance. Then that stopped. We've been cruising on the residual fear animals have of humans. But the mommy animals are no longer vigorously teaching their kids that humans are mean and scary.

            1. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

              In CA, they passed a mountain lion hunting moratorium in, IIRC, 1972. Cue big rise in lion populations along with a big drop in deer pops, at least out in the boonies. Despite that, I only saw a lion twice in the CA woods, and both times it was for about a 1/10th of a second as it crossed the road in front of our car. They usually are extremely skittish, at least they were 20 years ago.

              They're surprisingly small when you see them up close, like in a zoo. Then again, so's a leopard, and few dangerous game will cut a guy to ribbons as fast as one of them.

              1. CE   12 years ago

                I saw a mountain lion in California once. It was bigger than I am.

          2. Coeus   12 years ago

            I think so. And damn did those dudes have balls.

            I'd rather be castrato with a pocket knife, in that case.

        2. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

          People are killed by mountain lions on a fairly regular basis, like one or two a year. I Googled it a while back, and it was a bit scary, having grown up in NM and spent plenty of time outdoors.

          1. John   12 years ago

            The ban on firearms in national parks always struck me as incredibly dangerous and stupid. I am not going to bear and mountain lion country unarmed. Without a gun, You are not the top of the food chain in case you haven't noticed.

            1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

              Didn't that get repealed by a rider on the CARD Act?

              1. tarran   12 years ago

                It was horrible.

                Right afterwards, the roads into Yosemite were stained red with the blood of people slaughtered by rethuglicans shooting wildly.

              2. Terr   12 years ago

                Yes.

            2. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

              I am not going to bear and mountain lion country unarmed.

              A black bear crossed US 460 near Farmville, VA yesterday. He was not terribly concerned about me in my CRV. Sauntered across like he had all the time in the world.

              1. CE   12 years ago

                The difference is that bears don't see you as prey. Mountain lions do.

    3. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

      Jesus, I'm surprised the Fudd's went along with this. Anecdotally, my dad, who's about as big a Fudd as it gets, probably has something like a few thousand loose bullets in various calibers, all of which will now have to be junked. Because you know they're going after target shooters next, and justifying it as cutting down on airborne lead exposure.

      Was it legal before to use lead shot, as long as you weren't going after waterfowl?

      1. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

        He can sell the bullets online. With the shortage he'll probable make a good amount.

      2. CE   12 years ago

        Second hand lead exposure kills.

    4. Finrod   12 years ago

      If they want to save the condors in California, they should first shut down all the bird shredders windmills.

    5. CE   12 years ago

      So the Lone Ranger has nothing to worry about.

    6. Tejicano   12 years ago

      I don't know why they don't take all this lead, load it on to rockets, and send it back to whatever planet they got it from? It isn't like it occurs naturally here ya know.

  30. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    So whenever you hear someone talk about "wasteful government spending", demand that he be specific

    TSA DHS DEA NPR

    FUCK YOU, KRUGABE

    1. Stormy Dragon   12 years ago

      While I'm in favor of cutting NPR funding for reasons of principle, the idea that's going to have any noticeable impact on Federal spending is ridiculous.

      1. Redmanfms   12 years ago

        While I'm in favor of cutting NPR funding for reasons of principle, the idea that's going to have any noticeable impact on Federal spending is ridiculous.

        Which has what to do with the subject?

        It is wasteful government spending or it isn't, the amount of the waste wasn't specified by ol' Krugnuts.

        Oh, BTW, PROG BULLSHIT.

  31. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    Amanduh is almost as good at biology as she is at writing.

    Score one for those hippy progressives who are always saying that men and women aren't really opposites: A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that men suffering from some common midlife health woes, like weight gain and decreased libido, have not only falling testosterone levels to blame, but also falling estrogen levels. This news will no doubt surprise many, because there's a widespread belief that estrogen is the "female" hormone and testosterone the "male" one[...] What is a little more surprising is that even though biologists have understood this for decades, the research has still been very gendered.

    1) Biologists have never said that men and women are "opposites" (whatever that means).

    2) Evolutionary biology is no more a conspiracy against feminists than it is a conspiracy against evangelical Christians.

    3) Nothing in this study has anything to do with gender roles or contradicts previous work regarding sex differences.

    1. John   12 years ago

      his news will no doubt surprise many, because there's a widespread belief that estrogen is the "female" hormone and testosterone the "male" one[...]

      Because if either sex has any of it, it can't be associated with the other sex. I really wonder how Amanda feeds herself.

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

    11 Questions to See if Libertarians are Hypocrites

    Pay to Play

    But the libertarian movement has seen a strong resurgence in recent years, and there's a simple reason for that: money, and the personal interests of some people who have a lot of it. Once relegated to drug-fueled college-dorm bull sessions, political libertarianism suddenly had pretensions of legitimacy. This revival is Koch-fueled, not coke-fueled, and exists only because in political debate, as in so many other walks of life, cash is king.

    The Koch brothers are principal funders of the Reason Foundation and Reason magazine. Exxon Mobil and other corporate and billionaire interests are behind the Cato Institute, the other public face of libertarianism. Financiers have also seeded a number of economics schools, think tanks, and other institutions with proponents of their brand of libertarianism. It's easy to explain why some of these corporate interests do it. It serves the self-interest of the environmental polluters, for example, to promote a political philosophy which argues that regulation is bad and the market will correct itself. And every wealthy individual benefits from tax cuts for the rich. What better way to justify that than with a philosophy that says they're rich because they're better?and that those tax cuts help everybody?

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

      The Cato Institute's overview of key libertarian concepts mixes universally acceptable bromides like the "rule of law" and "individual rights" with principles that are more characteristically libertarian?and therefore more fantastical. Since virtually all people support the rule of law and individual rights, it is the other concepts which are uniquely libertarian and form the basis of our first few questions.

      The Institute cites "spontaneous order," for example, as "the great insight of libertarian social analysis." Cato defines that principle thusly:

      "? (O)rder in society arises spontaneously, out of the actions of thousands or millions of individuals who coordinate their actions with those of others in order to achieve their purposes."

      To which the discerning reader might be tempted to ask: Like where, exactly? Libertarians define "spontaneous order" in a very narrow way?one that excludes demonstrations like the Arab Spring, elections which install progressive governments, or union movements, to name three examples. And yet each of these things are undertaken by individuals who "coordinated their actions with those of others" to achieve our purposes.

      So our first hypocrisy test question is, Are unions, political parties, elections, and social movements like Occupy examples of "spontaneous order"?and if not, why not?

      1. John   12 years ago

        one that excludes demonstrations like the Arab Spring, elections which install progressive governments, or union movements, to name three examples.

        How can you answer a question when it is based on a complete falsity? No one excludes unions or protest movements from the definition of spontaneous order.

        1. SweatingGin   12 years ago

          Libertarians define "spontaneous order" in a very narrow way

          The word you're looking for is strawman

          1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

            Liberals define "self-interest" in a very narrow way.

      2. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

        Since virtually all people support the rule of law and individual rights

        So we'll skip over our own blatant hypocrisy on those things.

        Kind of like how virtually all people support free speech unless that speech is actually offensive or involves corporations or something yucky like that..

      3. Agammamon   12 years ago

        To which the discerning reader might be tempted to ask: Like where, exactly?

        Here's an anecdote. Every Sunday a large number of my neighbors go out into the desert to a strip of sand (well a strip that is sandier than the rest of the desert) and race trucks, jeeps, atvs, and dirtbikes.

        There's no-one coordinating this (indeed, coordinating it would - technically - be illegal without a butt-ton of permits) and yet we can all line up our cars to watch and not block each other's view, can organize drags between willing competitors, and even just run a bike really fast for a quarter-mile - all without anyone to tell us where to park or when to start racing.

        There's drinking yet no-one drinks so much that can't get home safely, you make your own choice on what, if any safety gear you use (and pay the price for your accident if you have one). If you go down the onlookers aren't going to strip your broken body and steal your bike, they'll take you to the hospital.

        Hell there's shooting just over the hill in a spot that's not a gun range, just a place people go to shoot and no-one there decides that they'll shoot *toward* the race area.

        All spontaneously generated order.

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

      Our democratic process is highly flawed today, but that's largely the result of corruption from corporate and billionaire money. And yet, libertarians celebrate the corrupting influence of big money. No wonder, since the same money is keeping their movement afloat and paying many of their salaries. But, aside from the naked self-interest, their position makes no sense. Why isn't a democratically elected government the ultimate demonstration of "spontaneous order"? Does our libertarian recognize that democracy is a form of marketplace?

      We're told that "big government" is bad for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is too large to be responsive. But if big governments are bad, why are big corporations so acceptable? What's more, these massive institutions have been conducting an assault on the individual and collective freedoms of the American people for decades. Why isn't it important to avoid the creation of monopolies, duopolies and syndicates that interfere with the free market's ability to function?

      Libertarians are right about one thing: Unchecked and undemocratic force is totalitarian. A totalitarian corporation, or a totalitarian government acting in concert with corporations, is at least as effective at suppressing the "spontaneous order" as a non-corporate totalitarian government. Does our libertarian recognize that large corporations are a threat to our freedoms?

      1. John   12 years ago

        there is so much stupid in this, it is hard to know where to begin.

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

        I'd like to answer this, but I'm in a bit of quandary.

        You see, all of these questions are based on false premises, employ shoddy logic, and completely ignore and mischaracterize libertarian political and moral theory.

        So there's no point in engaging people like the author. And yet there are so, so many stupid people like the author that such questions will have to be addressed. So what do we do?

        1. John   12 years ago

          That is a real problem. He is so stupid and operates from such false assumptions, there would be no way to avoid talking past him. Where do you even begin?

        2. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

          Meh, not all of the questions are fallacious in and of themselves; they're just easy to answer. Example:

          Are unions, political parties, elections, and social movements like Occupy examples of "spontaneous order"?and if not, why not?

          Yes. They are appropriate so long as they don't coercively compel something of others.

          Most of the other questions are similarly easy for a libertarian to answer.

      3. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

        We're told that "big government" is bad for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is too large to be responsive. But if big governments are bad, why are big corporations so acceptable? What's more, these massive institutions have been conducting an assault on the individual and collective freedoms of the American people for decades.

        Let's play a game: name unstoppable corporate juggernauts that were... stopped.

        I'll start:

        DEC
        Compaq
        Sears

        1. Brandon   12 years ago

          WorldCom.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            A&P. Got attached for anti-trust at one point.

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              More attacked that attached, I believe.

        2. Finrod   12 years ago

          Enron.

      4. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        Literally every single one of these questions has been answered by libertarians with satisfactory answers. This is Libertarianism 201, tops.

        If you really want to ask difficult questions of libertarians, ask them about children, the mentally deficient, public goods, and questions on the nature of private property.

        1. John   12 years ago

          He is so stupid, he can't even make the right arguments. The other hard questions deal with private collective actions being used against unpopular minorities. What to do when say 90% of the society decides some small and unpopular minority should not be allowed to own a business and accomplishes this via boycott?

          1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

            Yes, those would be good questions to ask of libertarians as well.

        2. Agammamon   12 years ago

          Or lifeboats.

        3. Brandon   12 years ago

          Satisfactory to you maybe, but not satisfactory to R.J. Eskow, who has never spoken to or read anything by a libertarian and only has HuffPo commenters' summaries of Ayn Rand's works on which to base his concept of "Libertarians."

      5. CE   12 years ago

        Totalitarian corporations? You mean the ones that force you to buy from them? Can you name three?

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

      Hey, a Tony sighting in his natural environment:

      Tony 20 minutes ago
      No libertarian actually wants to live in a society organized around libertarian policies. They want to live exactly the life they're living now with a few tweaks (legal drugs), just without having to pay taxes--as they call everyone else freeloaders!

      I've never heard one say "Yeah, my life will be much more difficult and riskier, but that's the price I'm willing to pay for freedom." They're never willing to pay a price. It's always unicorns and lollipops for them.

      The sad thing is Tony is probably one of the smartest people in that comment section.

      1. John   12 years ago

        I have always said that. Go over to Slate or WAPO were liberals hang out in large numbers. Tony is a fucking genius compared to the average Slate or Post reader. And they make up for being stupid by being totally hate filled and indigent. Progs are the most bitter pissed off people.

        1. Irish   12 years ago

          I post on Slate like once a month when I see something particularly ludicrous. The really crazy shit Slate publishes tends to get a lot of libertarians and conservatives who are there to shit on it, so there ends up being a good number of people who agree with me.

          The people on there who are the actual day to day posters though are dumb as bricks. I once pointed out on an environmental story that carbon taxes would raise the energy prices for the poor and lower middle classes, which would greatly disadvantage the very people liberals claim to want to help. I asked how they could justify that.

          Someone responded that we'd just replace it all with wind and solar. I mentioned that in most places wind and solar doesn't work at all, and that even when it does work it is an intermittent source at best and needs to be backed up by some sort of generator. Therefore, you're always going to have a majority of power coming from nuclear energy or fossil fuels.

          She called me a global warming denier.

      2. Brandon   12 years ago

        Wow. Tony is like a god over there. Maybe he will stay there.

      3. CE   12 years ago

        Okay, for Tony:

        If freedom makes my life much more difficult and riskier, that's the price I'm willing to pay for freedom.

        Except that I expect freedom would make my life (and the lives of most others) much less difficult and much safer.

    4. Live Free or Diet   12 years ago

      11 Questions to See if Libertarians are Hypocrites

      11 Examples of Question-Begging would have been a better title.

  33. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    Economics and Business Correspondent, folks:

    Ross Douthat asked me to consider the possibility that there are reasons for this other than discrimination. And I'm happy to entertain that hypothesis. But whatever you think the cause of men's utter domination of the commanding heights of the American economy is, the domination is a fact of life. Men are controlling all the big companies and the big pools of money in this country. That's your patriarchy right there. If you look around at whose running the show in the American economy it's a bunch of men. And I find it hard to believe that doesn't matter.

    Are the rest of you men feeling that power from knowing that some men you have never met sit on boards you have never heard of making decisions you are only barely aware of? I know I am... and I'm sure that "matters"... somehow, for some reason.

  34. Brett L   12 years ago

    A gun that meets the legal definition of a semi-automatic rifle and fires 450 rounds/min

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says yes, since it's still technically a semiautomatic.

    The key is that of the pieces that make up a gun, the ATF regulates only the "receiver." It's the only piece that has a serial number and the only one that requires a background check to purchase. Slide Fire modifies the trigger and the stock -- the butt of the gun that sits against the shooter's shoulder.

    1. Agammamon   12 years ago

      As usual, Yahoo is about 20 years behind the times. Check out 'bumpfire' - which is what everyone *else* calls it.

    2. db   12 years ago

      The slidefire has been on the market for a while--but people have ben reticent to pick them up because the ATF reversed its "A-OK" ruling on a similar product a few years ago after quite a number of sales had been made.

      The slidefire just allows the gun to cycle back and forth, and ech time the gun slides forward, the trigger strikes the finger held rigidly across its path. Move the finger away and the gn slides fully forward.

      It's clever because it uses the same principle as bump firing but make the process simple.

    3. Brandon   12 years ago

      How long would a barrel last firing 450 rounds a minute?

      1. Tejicano   12 years ago

        Much longer than you could keep up with magazine changes. This wouldn't even be a stress test for most modern steels.

        1. Gray Ghost   12 years ago

          The linked gun is belt fed. (And 6,500 bucks!) Though with a non-swappable barrel, it does seem a bit silly. But hey, it's their money.

          How long can an M240 go before they have to change a barrel, I wonder?

          1. db   12 years ago

            The alloys they make military LMG barrels out of are amazing. I once saw a video of a test of an M60 barrel way back when of it test firing a 1000m long belt. The barrel got white hot and you could see it throwing off sparks as the bullets moved along its length. The M240 is probably better. FN makes some seriously long-lived barrels.

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

    Marcotte: You shouldn't have to hear a sermon to get free food

    All they had to do was not have the food distribution in a room where the Jesus-shit was going on. That's it.
    [...]
    Here's what I really think is going on: Starnes and his fellow travelers believe that food assistance should come with strings attached, in this case having to put up with religious propaganda to get the assistance. You know, if a church wants to do that, it's their right, though I do think it's a little less than charitable. But once they're taking taxpayer money to feed people, they cannot and should not be able to use that money to try to sell their religious beliefs. The government belongs to all of us, and making it a requirement to endure proselytizing just to get access to food the government pays for is beyond the pale.

    But this is a constant theme on the right, one that seems to be getting a little louder these days, that simply needing help means that your forsake certain basic rights to religious liberty, from your right to determine for yourself what your beliefs regarding premarital sex are to your right to access government-funded services without being bullied into talking about Jesus. It's gross and exploitative.

    And people who want to use a church charity can't decide for themselves if they want to join that church?

    1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

      TIT posted this upthread, and it's being discussed.

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

        Ah, so he did. Hat tip to TIT.

    2. John   12 years ago

      Does anyone read Amanda besides bored libertarians looking to be amazed by her stupidity?

      1. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

        One or two of my friends have posted links to some of her Slate XX pieces on Facebook. Jezebel too.

        Eventually I had to remove them from my feed.

      2. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        She's one of the most popular online feminists, actually.

        Weep for America.

        1. Irish   12 years ago

          She's one of the most popular online feminists, actually.

          Weep for America feminists.

          That says a lot about the idiocy of feminists, but how many Americans have even heard of Marcotte? I'm going to a bar tonight. If I mention Amanda Marcotte's name to the 5 or 6 people I'm meeting there, how many will know who she is?

          My guess is 0 since I choose my friends well.

    3. hamilton   12 years ago

      The church clearly has to be shut down, or at least its food distribution must be. That will clearly help those hungry people.

    4. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

      You should only have to forsake religious liberty when you buy a ticket to see U2, Madonna or Lady Gaga.

  36. Thane of the Candy Kingdom   12 years ago

    How to advertise on a porn website

    Probably SFW, though if your employer is strict I'd just wait 'til later.

  37. Irish   12 years ago

    After losing the recall, Giron throws a hissy fit, claims voter suppression, gets schooled by CNN host, then whines.

    Bitter, bitter tears.

    1. Coeus   12 years ago

      Delicious.

    2. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

      Hopefully the proggies will all convince themselves that gun grabbing is a winning issue for them.

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

    Walter White wants you to buy Preparation H

    Your best course will be to...spread lightly.

  39. John   12 years ago

    http://tbo.com/contestant-show.....-20130912/

    Miss Kansas covered in tats.

    1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

      I think her breast implants distracted from the message.

  40. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

    Now that it's Fashion Week, NPR is going on about "models of color" and "models who are larger than the norm" and convey a message of strength and athleticism.

    1. Agammamon   12 years ago

      How does 'models who are larger than norm' convey a sense of strength and athleticism rather than a sense of too-much-eatism?

      1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

        You must be a heretic. We have ways of reducing a heretic's weight, heh heh.

    2. CE   12 years ago

      Except they're still smaller than the norm, really.

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

    New books argues that Matthew Shepard was murdered over possession of meth by his lover

    While sifting through formerly sealed court documents, the journalist said he discovered an anonymously written letter:

    Basically the letter was saying that the defense raised by Aaron McKinney's defense team of 'gay panic' was false and the evidence that was cited for that was that Aaron McKinney had been a male hustler, that he was familiar with gay guys in gay bars.
    It mentioned at first both Aaron and Russell, but as the letter went on it spoke more about Aaron, mentioning that he really did like having sex with gay guys, that he wasn't unfamiliar with homosexuality and the gay world.
    The theory sharply contrasts the widely-known media narrative of Shepard's death, which has inspired movies, books, plays, and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

    Not only does Jimenez's research contradict the claim that McKinney and Henderson only met Shepard the night of the murder, but it mars the picturesque image of the 21-year-old student and the world he lived in prior to his death. The book reportedly claims that Sheppard and Mckinney were both dealing and using methamphetamine and, in addition to being business rivals within that venture, had a sexual relationship.

    Well the truth is seldom pleasant.

    1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

      The narrative has already been settled. Good luck trying to replace it.

    2. John   12 years ago

      Is there anything the media doesn't lie about? Any story that fits a media narrative is almost certain to be a lie, half truth or exaggeration.

      1. VG Zaytsev   12 years ago

        Is there anything the media doesn't lie about?

        Only accidentally.

        It's impossible for them to be wrong as frequently as they are without intentional dishonesty.

  42. John   12 years ago

    http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2013.....undraiser/

    Nice to see that the Florida AG takes his job seriously.

    1. John   12 years ago

      Or her job that is.

    2. paranoid android   12 years ago

      Her job.

      She probably just hasn't been able to focus on work since she lost to Kamala Harris for the title of "Most attractive attorney general according to the President".

      Still, given the opportunity, I'd definitely sit for her bar exam, if you know what I mean.

      1. John   12 years ago

        For an over 40 woman, she is not bad. According to wikipedia she is currently engaged to future husband number three. So there is probably some crazy sexy going on there.

        1. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

          She divorced Dagwood? Or if you're leaving letters out of your name, Dawood?

  43. Irish   12 years ago

    EPA bans all new coal plants that don't meet ludicrous regulations.

    Hey, remember when the current head of the EPA said she was sick of hearing that environmental regulations cost jobs? What does she think this will do?

    Honestly, if Republicans were smart they'd go to every blue collar and low income Hispanic neighborhood in the country and lay into the EPA for the negative impact it's having on employment and fuel costs. They could strip a good amount of support from the Democratic party by doing so.

    Of course, the Republicans are not smart.

    1. John   12 years ago

      When the lights go out, it will all be the rethuglicnas fault. Remember too, these are the same people who hate nuclear and fracking. They want to turn off the lights and send us back to the stone age.

      1. Matrix   12 years ago

        that's right. but they don't realize they won't be able to charge their iPads without power.

    2. General Butt Naked   12 years ago

      Don't the old, inefficient, and most polluting coal plants get grandfathered in?

  44. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

    I'm sorry if this has already been posted, but I thought y'all would appreciate Harry Reid's delicious tears as he bitches about "anarchists".

    Harry Reid's Sweet Tears

    1. Irish   12 years ago

      "They've taken over the House and now they've taken over the Senate."

      The Democrats control the Senate. I was unaware so many of them were anarchists.

    2. paranoid android   12 years ago

      "While I cannot take the time to name all the men in the State Department Congress who have been named as members of the Communist Party anarchists and members of a spy ring, I have here in my hand a list of 205." - Harry Reid

      1. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

        I thought of this as well. Anarchists are the new dirty communists - sleazy infiltrators - destroying the glorious Republic from within.

      2. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

        Nailed it.

      3. db   12 years ago

        + Heinz 57

    3. Mike M.   12 years ago

      It's sad the way Reid has been descending into lunacy. He used to be pretty normal.

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

    Hawaiian woman outraged that state DMV wants her to truncate her 36 character last name

    A Hawaiian woman whose last name contains a whopping 36 characters claims officials are bullying her and disrespecting her husband's heritage by shortening it because it doesn't fit on state-issued identification cards.
    Over the past 20-years, Janice 'Lokelani' Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele has carried two separate IDS - a state ID card and a driver's license.
    The driver's license was printed with an abbreviated version of her family name and her first and middle name was completely left off.
    However, to counteract this, the Hawaiian Governor's office allowed her special dispensation to accommodate her full name on her state ID, but that expired in May and her problems began when her new one arrived laid out the same as her drivers license.
    Her frustrations began when she contacted her local county on Hawaii and asked them what could be done - they suggested she change her last name to make the situation easier on her and them.
    'And I went, 'How disrespectful of the Hawaiian people,' recalled Janice to KHON2.

    Oh Janice 'Lokelani' Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele, her name is my name too. Whenever we got out the people always shout: Janice 'Lokelani' Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele!!!!

    1. Lady Bertrum   12 years ago

      Wasn't McLovin from HI? Now we know why no first name was printed on his license.

    2. Finrod   12 years ago

      So is she a member of the Silly Party or the Very Silly Party?

    3. Tejicano   12 years ago

      I went to Marine boot camp with a bunch of Hawaiians. One had a rather long name (nowhere near as long as this one though) so the Drill Instructors just called him "alphabet".

    4. Brian D   12 years ago

      Issue her an ID surfboard.

  46. Eduard van Haalen   12 years ago

    Trayvon Martin's mom to testify on Hill:

    http://www.politico.com/story/.....96736.html

    1. Snark Plissken   12 years ago

      They are holding hearings on the rampant spread of bad parents?

    2. Brandon   12 years ago

      And Dianne Feinstein just came.

  47. Archduke Trousersenthusiast   12 years ago

    Better Call Saul 80s edition

  48. AnonymousCoward532   12 years ago

    Test

  49. Gindjurra   12 years ago

    Heckling? Is that what they call it? Heckling is verbal.

    What the undercover cops are there for is to prevent rowdy fans from assaulting out-of-towners. Some have even been hospitalized.

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