A.M. Links: Germany Denies Chemicals Exported to Syria Were Used in Weapons, Entertainment Industries Want Search Engines to Fight Piracy, Cher Rips Miley Cyrus

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  • not quite cher
    MTV

    Bashar Assad says it could take up to a year to destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile. Germany denies chemicals it exported to the country between 2002 and 2006 were used in chemical weapons. Meanwhile, John McCain's response in Pravda to Vladimir Putin's New York Times op-ed on intervention in Syria focused on telling Russians Putin didn't respect their dignity or accept their authority.

  • The naval base in Newport, Rhode Island did not appear to inform anyone else at the Navy of Aaron Alexis' complaint to police about voices in his head and unknown persons following him and trying to attack him with vibrations.
  • The Labor Department has interpreted federal law on private pensions to include same-sex married couples even in states that don't recognize same-sex marriage.
  • FBI statistics show Chicago as America's murder capital, with 500 murders in 2012.
  • The music and movie industries want search engines to do more to fight privacy and they're trying to get Washington to coerce them into it.
  • While international adoptions have fallen, adoptions by foreigners, mostly Europeans, of US children, mostly black, are up.
  • State officials in Hawaii say there's not much they can do about a molasses spill, which will largely take care of itself.
  • Cher ripped Miley Cyrus' VMA performance, saying it did not shock her and that Miley Cyrus can't dance and has poor oral hygiene.
  • Gwyneth Paltrow told Chelsea Handler she was addicted to sex after spending all her time with her.

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Ed Krayewski is a former associate editor at Reason.

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  1. mnarayan

    Friendly reminder: Today is the first Troll Free Spursday of the season, so please don’t feed the trolls.

    1. Agreed!

    2. gaijin

      Is there a master list of trolls somewhere?

      1. Its kind of Justice Frankfurter thing – you’ll know it when you see it…

        Tony, Shriek, any of American’s or M. Stack’s various aliases, etc.

        1. SIV

          I nominate Tulpa…

          1. sarcasmic

            Tulpa ran off like a pussy and now only posts on weekends.

            1. RBS

              He’s also seems to have a taken an even harder turn towards the Law and Order part of his LAOL.

              1. So it should be LAOO – Law And Order OBEY?

        2. SweatingGin

          American mostly comes at night. Mostly.

          1. Hillary's Clitdong

            Just like the Mexicans who are ruining the economy!

        3. Eduard van Haalen

          “Its kind of Justice Frankfurter thing – you’ll know it when you see it…”

          I believe that was Justice Potter Stewart.

          Frankfurter was the one who wished he had an Oscar Meyer Wiener.

          1. Eduard van Haalen

            The Origins of Justice Stewart’s “I Know It When I See It”

            http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/…..-i-see-it/

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder

      What will I do with all these stale retorts? Throwing them in the trash just seems wasteful.

      1. Compost them!

        /NYC

      2. Use them on Epi and Warty.

        1. Elspeth Flashman

          That never works.

          1. H. ReardEn

            Nothing, sadly, ever does.

            1. PD Scott

              Not even a deep dish pizza cut in the shape of a cross?

              1. UnCivilServant

                Cruciform casseroles are the least effective weapon.

  2. The music and movie industries want search engines to do more to fight privacy and they’re trying to get Washington to coerce them into it.

    Why don’t they cut out the middle man and go right to the NSA for help?

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      DOWN WITH PRIVACY

      OBEY

    2. DontShootMe

      If they want the search engine creators help, why don’t they ask them? Maybe, you know, negotiate? Oh, that’s right, this is America, we don’t negotiate, we get the courts to tell the other party to do what we think we want them to do.

    3. gaijin

      Why don’t they cut out the middle man and go right to the NSA for help?

      Without reading the article, I’m guessing the solution will involve some sort of ‘search tariff’. Like what they did with blank cassettes back in the day.

    4. VG Zaytsev

      Why don’t they cut out the middle man and go right to the NSA for help?

      That’s pretty much what they did to KimDotCom.

  3. iPhone 5’s fingerprint reader won’t work with a severed finger

    But if your fingerprint is the key to the iPhone, someone probably said, what happens if you catch the attention of a violent mugger? In addition to getting your brand new phone stolen, will you suffer the indignity of getting your fingertip chopped off to be used as a morbid, decomposing keycard?

    The answer, as it turns out is no.

    According to Mashable, the iPhone 5S’s fingerprint sensor detects the sub-epidermal layers of your skin. Translation: it won’t work unless the finger used is also attached to a living human being.

    aw…

    1. Is there something you want to tells us, o leather hooded one?

    2. Zeb

      I bet it would work if the finger is really fresh.

      1. gaijin

        which begs the question: if my fingers are really cold, will my phone be useless?

        1. I knew it, you are a zombie!

          1. gaijin

            sshhh! Don’t tell anyone. 🙂

    3. Bee Tagger

      Translation: it won’t work unless the finger used is also attached to a living human being.

      The moment Decker realizes he’s a replicant is after 24 hours in line to be one of the first to pick up the new iPhone 5S.

      1. gaijin

        +1 Blade

      2. Clich? Bandit

        Is that really the conclusion? Cause I always thought it was up in the air.

        1. PM

          The book doesn’t leave it ambiguous like the movie does.

          1. UnCivilServant

            In the book he’s human. In the movie he’s human. People make all sorts of logical contortions, but within the setting and win light of his own performance, it’s not a case of a special replicant, but of a drunkard who’s sent to kill them because he’s expendable and had some success at it in the past. If he failed, they’d grab another human from the teeming masses.

            1. I always leaned toward that, too, because the whole time he’s on screen, he’s either drinking, getting beat up, or drinking again as he’s recovering from getting beat up.

              1. PM

                He’s not a drunk in the book either. The movie leans more toward the suspense of “is he or isn’t he” in terms of being a replicant. The book leans more in the direction of “has humanity become so debased that it matters?”

          2. Clich? Bandit

            I must get this, what did you call it? Book?

            1. PM

              Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

              By Phillip K Dick

              The movie is “based” on the book in the Hollywood sense – it changes quite a few details.

    4. a better weapon

      What a creative scenario. I can’t believe that people fear this sort of thing happening.

      A guy ready to mutilate a human being probably isn’t going to be dealing in small ball stuff like pickpocketing for iPhones.

      1. The DerpRider

        +1 double switch.

    5. DontShootMe

      And, who is going to hold classes so that the criminal stealing your iPhone knows he can’t use your chopped off finger?

    6. db

      If you’re willing to cut off someone’s finger to access their iPhone, why not just force their finger onto the screen and torture them to get the password? The real risks are not someone cutting off your finger, but 1) trusting your iPhone and any software that has access to it with a digital representation of your finger print, and 2) mistaken feelings of security with single-factor biometric ID.

    7. Troy muy grande boner

      Can you use your penis?

      1. Use it for what?

      2. UnCivilServant

        If you have to wonder, the answer is always no.

      3. Entropy Void

        Only if you want it chopped off by said mugger …

      4. Troy muy grande boner

        Never mind, it is a stupid idea. To have to have a woody every time you need to answer your phone would give me a case of anxiety.

        1. goneGalt

          How ’bout if I register Mr Softee?

          1. The DerpRider

            +1 mushroom mark.

    8. BigT

      According to Mashable, the iPhone 5S’s fingerprint sensor detects the sub-epidermal layers of your skin. Translation: it won’t work unless the finger used is also attached to a living human being.

      Seems bogus to me. What changes when the finger is severed? Lose a little blood. I can’t believe the sensor is able to detect that. I call Bullshit – the answer is meant to calm the public without actually doing anything. Just like the DHS airport screening.

      1. Cyto

        Also, where are these “sub-epidermal layers” going when the finger is severed? Presumably the criminal mastermind wouldn’t sever the finger, then flay the epidermis to get at those pesky sub-epidermal layers, remove said layers and then re-attach the epidermis…. well, maybe he would.

        The articles on this feature seem to be using the word “capacitance” with the fingerprint scanner. If this is the case it wouldn’t really be looking at the “sub-epidermal layers” – it uses the finger/skin as a layer of a capacitor and the ridges of the finger would change the local voltage on a pixel-by-pixel basis to image the fingerprint.

        Ultrasonic scanners do use “sub-dermal layers”, but I’m not aware that they necessarily require living tissue. If you were to bounce infrared light through the dermis you could image capillaries and such to create a second layer of “fingerprint” data, but I don’t think the “doesn’t work if severed” due to “sub-epidermal layers” argument makes a lot of sense for a capacitance scanner. Then again, I’ve not even seen a new iPhone 5s, as is the tradition in internet commentary.

    9. Mike Laursen

      And Apple QA has thoroughly tested this.

  4. “Germany denies chemicals it exported to the country between 2002 and 2006 were used in chemical weapons.”

    You know who else….no, I just can’t finish this one…

    1. Zakalwe

      You know who else couldn’t finish?

    2. Eduard van Haalen

      “Zey have stayed in ze original packaging since 1942! Ve just sent zem to Zyria after ze war for…zafekeeping!”

  5. gaijin

    Germany denies chemicals it exported to the country between 2002 and 2006 were used in chemical weapons.

    A fine assertion, but how can they know for sure?

    1. UnCivilServant

      “… Because the chemicals we sold them were not those advertized and cannot actually be used for the same purposes.”

      1. gaijin

        Where did you see that? I read the 24/7 blurb and the article it linked to and all I saw was ‘dual use’. Or are you suggesting that Germany pulled a swticheroo?

        1. UnCivilServant

          I was joking.

          1. gaijin

            gotcha! The quotes threw me

    2. Rasilio

      In some cases they could.

      There are techniques where you mark the chemical batch with a specific quantity of an isotope, this would give each batch of the chemical a unique spectral signiture.

      Then you just need to test the chemical agents used to see if they match that signiture.

      The question is whether they did that with these chemicals beforehand.

  6. Former Dem Rep: ‘John Kerry Should be Nominated for Sainthood’

    Former Democratic representative Jane Harman has high hopes for secretary of state John Kerry. Harman, who retired from Congress in 2011, told CNN on Wednesday that, on account of his diplomatic achievements, in particular his success striking a deal with Russia that will force Syrian president Bashar Assad to turn over his chemical-weapons stockpile, “John Kerry should be nominated for sainthood.”

    You know who else should be nominated for sainthood?

    1. My wife, for putting up with me?

      1. gaijin

        all wives. and all husbands too!

    2. Rich

      The writers of “St. Elsewhere”?

    3. a better weapon

      Elmo’s fire?

      1. Entropy Void

        John, Paul, George … and Ringo?

    4. gaijin

      Drew Breese?

    5. in particular his success striking a deal with Russia that will force Syrian president Bashar Assad to turn over his chemical-weapons stockpile

      Kerry stumbled in to any deal that may or may not be in place. He didn’t “negotiate” anything. He threatened war and Putin saved the day for him by giving the administration a way to back out.

    6. The DerpRider

      A whale’s vagina?

    7. Almanian!

      Someone named “Louis”?

    8. Johnny Gat?

    9. Drake

      H. John Heinz III for dying so John Kerry could marry all that money?

    10. BigT

      Kerry twerks Putin and that deserves sainthood?

  7. FBI statistics show Chicago as America’s murder capital, with 500 murders in 2012.

    The result of the brain drain the last five years, what with their best and brightest moving to D.C.

    1. WTF

      FBI statistics show Chicago as America’s murder capital, with 500 murders in 2012.

      But, this is unpossible, as they have very strict gun control laws!

      1. Auric Demonocles

        Just imagine how much higher things would be without the laws!

        /tony logic

      2. mr simple

        If only they could get control of their video game problem.

    2. Shirley Knott

      And they said Detroit couldn’t improve itself.

      1. Auric Demonocles

        From the full (multiple click away) article:

        However, on a per-capita basis, the bureau reported that Flint, Michigan was more dangerous than the two larger cities. One in every 1,613 residents of Flint were murder victims last year, as the city of 101,558 reported 63 murders in 2012.

        So Michigan is still home to the true murder capital. And it’s the hometown of that wingnut Tim Thomas who didn’t want to be graced with Obama’s presence, so we can even blame it on right wing extremism!

        1. UnCivilServant

          If a town of fifty had a single murder-suicide, it would get a per-capita rate of 2000/100,000. You have to band these things by size of polity beyond pure per-capita.

          We have one murder capital per band.

          1. Auric Demonocles

            100k is big enough to be considered on a per capita basis.

            1. UnCivilServant

              I know, I just wanted to play with numbers. I haven’t had the chance since statistics class.

              *hangs head*

            2. robc

              If you consider them to be basically “random” occurences, then the SD will be about the sqrt of the number. So for Flint, it would be 63+-16 (2 SD).

              Using the lower bound to calculate the per capita rate might work to eliminate bands.

              So a city with one murder would have an SD of 1, so 1+-2, so no matter how small, it wouldnt have the highest rate.

              1. robc

                Using this, I still get Flint with 46.4 murders per 100k (lower bound) and Chicago at 16.8.

                So Flint is still about 3 times more murdery than Chicago.

  8. Bee Tagger

    Future brickbat:
    Family: Teen Suspended After Trying To Do The Right Thing

    http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com…..ball-game/

    1. Virginian

      He didn’t do the right thing though.

      1. CatoTheElder

        Agree.

        Not only did he attend a government school, he was voluntarily attending an extracurricular function of that fascist institution. Fascists gonna be fascists, duh.

    2. WTF

      I guess he learned a valuable lesson on talking to authority.

    3. You’re not going to get a hat-tip.

      1. Bee Tagger

        Not with that attitude, I won’t!

    4. Rich

      What part of “Zero Tolerance” do you not understand?

      1. UnCivilServant

        Why anyone would implement such a stupid policy?

        1. Rich

          You! Yes, YOU, the one dissing Zero Tolerance! Over here, NOW!

          1. UnCivilServant

            Piss off, I’ve got tenure!

        2. CatoTheElder

          FYTW

    5. Gbob

      You unfeeling animal. Don’t you know how many children are killed each year inside classrooms by children wielding pocket knives.

      What? None? Huh.

      Well….well…Fuck you, that’s why!

      1. UnCivilServant

        At least fifteen a year die on the playgrounds. Out of the millions who safely use such equipment on a daily basis – we must ban playgrounds – for the chilluns!

  9. Analysis: Time to taper? Not if you look at bank loans

    The U.S. Federal Reserve decided to hold off on scaling back its bond-buying program on Wednesday, and at least one reason for its choice may have been a stubbornly weak economic indicator: bank lending.

    Since the bottom of the recession just over four years ago, commercial bank loans and leases have grown 4.0 percent, one of the weakest post-recession recoveries in terms of borrowing since the 1960s, according to Paul Kasriel, the former chief economist of Northern Trust Company. For comparison, over the same period after the July 1990-March 1991 recession, loans and leases grew over four times faster.

    1. gaijin

      So we need more of the same to get more of the same? Makes sense!

    2. Virginian

      Hearing the gleeful voice of the radio guy yesterday almost drove me into a killing rage.

      “The Federal Reserve today announced that now is no time to taper off the 85 billion dollar a month stimulus program. In other news, markets and oil closed at an all time high!”

      1. Raven Nation

        I read somewhere that Larry Summers was going to back off QE & allow interest rates to rise. This was an additional reason for opposition to him becoming Fed chair.

        1. VG Zaytsev

          If by an additional you mean the real,
          then yes.

      2. John

        What drives me into a killing rage is how the media act like that unemployment and stagnant growth doesn’t matter as long as the Dow is up. As long as the big boys on Wall Street are doing well, everything is just great.

        1. Raven Nation

          Obama made some comments back in 2009 that the success of his policies should not be judged on stock market movements.

          1. John

            And nor should they and nor would any other President’s economic record be judged by such. Can you imagine the gnashing of teeth if this were happening under a Republican President?

            1. WTF

              Can you imagine the gnashing of teeth if this were happening under a Republican President?

              Hell, I remember the gnashing of teeth over George W. Bush’s “jobless revovery”.

              1. UnCivilServant

                I have yet to see any other kind of recovery, since the rebound is the perfect time to implement automation. You have all these rosy figures of growth you can show the loan officer.

              2. CatoTheElder

                Americans should be grateful that Obama’s policies have created a boom in part-time jobs!

                Voters said they wanted to be more like Europe, and Obama delivered with long-term unemployment and shorter work weeks.

                1. PD Scott

                  Where’s my month long vacation in the south of France?

                  1. UnCivilServant

                    We tithed that to the first family.

          2. CatoTheElder

            “[Obama’s] policies should not be judged on stock market movements.”

            Except, of course, when they should.

        2. VG Zaytsev

          … the media act like that unemployment and stagnant growth doesn’t matter as long as the Dow is up.

          Another sign that the media are morons repeating whatever propaganda is handed to them by government. And America is a Cargo Cult nation.

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder

      “If you need the money, you can’t get it” is the refrain I hear from bankers right now.

    4. VG Zaytsev

      It’s almost like someone is paying banks money to hold excess reserves on deposit with the fed, or something.

  10. THIS IS HOW I MAKE BREAD!

    1. “on second thought.? let’s not go to the 80s…. it’s a silly place”

      1. Almanian!

        +1 European Swallow

        1. Heh, that was actually from the YouTube comments.

    2. Elspeth Flashman

      Thank you for that. 0:59.

      1. Lady Bertrum

        Keep this up and there maybe more female libertarians.

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Awesome

  11. Rich

    Assad says it could take up to a year to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile.

    Assad also said if the United States wanted to pick up the $1 billion, that would help.

    Oh, that *zany* Bashar!

    1. a better weapon

      I thought they were just going to move them to Russia, not destroy them. What exactly is Kerry taking credit for? The story can’t even be kept straight from day to day and nothing has been finalized from as far as I can tell.

    2. Don Mynack

      Tell them to have them at the docks for us to collect in two weeks. If not, we start blowing shit up. You want $1B? Call your friend Putin – I’m sure he’s just love to loan you some scratch.

  12. Cher ripped Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance…

    Get off my lawn!

    1. gaijin

      haha! Remember the video where Cher mounted that navy gun while wearing fishnet stockings? Yeah, totally more classy than Miley.

      1. Raven Nation

        I remember seeing that on Pop Up Video on VH1. At one point they captioned that her outfit cost several thousands of $. Then captioned that the cost of a roll of duct tape & a body stocking was, like, $100.

      2. At least she flossed first.

      3. Elspeth Flashman

        I totally remember that!

    2. The DerpRider

      When did Cher get smell-o-vision?

    3. Gladly….*shudders*

    4. Lady Bertrum

      If only she could Turn Back Time.

    5. Red Rocks Rockin

      Cher ripped Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance, saying it did not shock her

      At this point, they could have a Roman orgy on the VMA stage and it wouldn’t be a surprise.

      I’ve said before, as trashy as Miley Cyrus acts, the media and entertainment knobs criticizing her are collossal hypocrites, because they’ve been encouraging this very behavior for decades now, either with “wink-wink” enablism or outright “SHOCK THE SQUARES! FUCK YOU, DAD!” promotion.

  13. Bee Tagger

    State officials in Hawaii say there’s not much they can do about a molasses spill, which will largely take care of itself.

    Much like the birther movement.

    1. Rich

      Except there’s a real long form of the spill.

      1. Bee Tagger

        Are you here all week?

    2. a better weapon

      Both started in Hawaii… you might be onto something.

  14. Dead dog Halloween prop pulled from Sears, Wal-Mart

    A gory Halloween prop that portrays a dead dog on a chain has been pulled from Wal-Mart, Sears and Amazon.com this week following massive outcry among consumers and animal rights advocates.

    Skinned from nose to tail, the prop was described on Walmart.com as a “foam filled latex prop of a skinned dog with a large tire track squished through its mid torso. Chain attached for dragging purposes,” according to The Consumerist. “You have seen bloody road kill, this is bloody road kill.”

    1. The DerpRider

      Guy in our sub mounted the dead of a freshly killed deer on a spike for Halloween last year.

    2. Don Mynack

      Nothing brings out the stupid like puppies and kitties:

      “This product ONLY encourages and teaches kids that dragging a dead skinned dog on a chain is okay!!!” wrote Howe. “It is SO important to teach love and compassion of animals to children. That Walmart thinks this is an acceptable product is DISGUSTING!!! Any parent who would buy this product shouldn’t have kids.”

      It’s a piece of plastic, people.

    3. LOL. And I like dogs.

    4. SugarFree

      Can’t kids these days just dismember a mannequin and hang it from a tree in the front yard like we did back in my day?

      /getoffmahlawn

    5. Azathoth!!

      And Distortions caved.

      I hope they pay for this at the trade show.

  15. Cher ripped Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance, saying it did not shock her and that Miley Cyrus can’t dance and has poor oral hygiene.

    If only Billy Ray Cyrus possessed her mad parenting skillz.

    1. WTF

      If only Billy Ray Cyrus possessed her mad parenting skillz.

      I’m guessing Miley would be Martin Cyrus by now.

  16. I’m sure this was covered…

    Auto-Brewery Syndrome: Apparently, You Can Make Beer In Your Gut

    So the team searched the man’s belongings for liquor and then isolated him in a hospital room for 24 hours. Throughout the day, he ate carbohydrate-rich foods, and the doctors periodically checked his blood for alcohol. At one point, it rose 0.12 percent.

    Eventually, McCarthy and Cordell pinpointed the culprit: an overabundance of brewer’s yeast in his gut.

    That’s right, folks. According to Cordell and McCarthy, the man’s intestinal tract was acting like his own internal brewery.

    1. DJF

      So now he is on the ATF most wanted list?

    2. gaijin

      Sounds like an episode of House. I wonder if you could eat a packet of Safale yeast and get the same result temporarily?

      1. WTF

        I wonder how many people are actually going to try that now.

        1. Huh, what? *mmumf, chomp, chomp, chomp*

      2. SweatingGin

        I’ve heard if you drink a bottle of liquid yeast you can get massive, terrible beer farts to terrorize people on a car trip or hunting cabin with.

        1. I’ve heard

          sure…

      3. db

        Suppository.

    3. db

      So cool.

  17. Navy Yard: Swat team ‘stood down’ at mass shooting scene

    A tactical response team of the Capitol Police, a force that guards the US Capitol complex, was told to leave the scene by a supervisor instead of aiding municipal officers.

    The Capitol Police department has launched a review into the matter.

    “I don’t think it’s a far stretch to say that some lives may have been saved if we were allowed to intervene,” a Capitol Police source familiar with the incident told the BBC.

    1. Virginian

      Typical. See, it would be one thing if the government took our money and freedom and gave us something in return. Even a shitty something. But they don’t. They take the money, lavishly equip these guys, and then use them for drug raids.

      1. John

        It is almost as if those teams were created to terrorize people or something. I don’t see what other conclusion you can draw. Time and time again we have one of these shootings and the SWAT team stands around and waits until the guy runs out of ammunition so they can go in and clean up the bodies. The only time I ever see a SWAT team doing anything in these situations is when they terrorize innocent bystanders in the name of safety.

        1. It is almost as if those teams were created to terrorize people or something. I don’t see what other conclusion you can draw.

          The original idea behind SWAT was actually a sound one. The problem is that every town and burb wanted one and there just aren’t that many barricaded hostage situations. So what do you do with them? Disband them, that is crazy talk.

        2. CatoTheElder

          The number one priority is occifer safety.

          Late night dynamic entry is pretty safe as long as occifers are primed to shoot first and ask questions later.

          Assaulting an active shooter is dangerous. To assure occifer safety, it is best to identify the shooter’s location and position snipers.

    2. UnCivilServant

      “I don’t think it’s a far stretch to say that some lives may have been saved if we were allowed to intervene,” a Capitol Police source

      Of course not, the people they’d have shot would have increased the body count.

      1. Virginian

        Eh, I’ve often thought that the real reason cops shoot so many innocent bystanders is the fact that they’re armed with pistols. Pistols are tricky to use compared to shoulder weapons.

        A SWAT team, armed with long guns and with better training, would probably have been able to shoot the bad guy only.

        This assumes the timing works. It may be they were told to stand down because the shooter was already dead.

        1. UnCivilServant

          I’ve often thought it was simple callousness with regards to what is downrange, so long as it didn’t have a badge on.

          1. WTF

            Hell, sometimes they even shoot each other because their trigger discipline is so shitty. I think the cop shot in the manhunt for the Boston bombers was actually shot by other cops who were panic-shooting at the escaping brother in a vehicle.

        2. John

          Pistols are tricky to use compared to shoulder weapons.

          I am not sure if I quite understand that. It is point and pull the trigger in both cases.

          1. Virginian

            Tricky to use well, I should have said.

            Cops should have pistol caliber carbines, not pistols. Hitting something with a 9mm carbine is child’s play compared to doing it with a 9mm pistol.

            1. John

              Now that is true. Shooting accurately with a pistol is much harder than with a rifle. I had an interesting conversation with a Special Forces guy I knew in the army regarding that. We were talking about these murder cases where the criminal will pull a gun on some person or couple and force them into a car and then later murder them. He said if you are ever confronted on a public street by someone with a gun, the best course of action is to just take off running. Even the SF guys are lucky to hit a moving target with a pistol 50% of the time. Your typical criminal will be lucky to have a one in three chance and that is if he has the courage to shoot you right there.

              I would agree. A shoulder weapon is much more accurate and less dangerous to bystanders.

              1. I’ve seen footage of liquor store robberies where the robber and the clerk are taking potshots with pistols at each other… and no one get hit.

                And this also shows up on video games with good bullet physics – you have to lead your shots when someone is running. I admit to missing like crazy when using a rifle which is why I’m a heavy MG sort of guy.

              2. He said if you are ever confronted on a public street by someone with a gun, the best course of action is to just take off running.

                That’s not terrible advice, but with a caveat. Don’t run directly away, but laterally to the shooter’s direction. It’s hard to track a moving target with a pistol.

                1. John

                  That too. His point other than how hard it is to shoot a pistol acurately was that it takes a lot of balls to shoot someone. These guys take their victims for a ride to hide their tracks but also because it takes them a while to get up the guts to do it. Even the worst killers are unlikely to shoot someone on a public street at a moment’s notice.

                  It is not a great option. But running is a lot better than standing there or worse getting in the car with them. You get in the car, you are dead. Even if they shoot you running away, you are making them do it where someone might see them do it and at least they get caught.

                  1. Rasilio

                    Plus even if they do hit you it is not likely to be a well placed shot and they are HIGHLY unlikely to hang around and drag your wounded body back into the car to finish you off. More likely they shoot you get in the car and leave.

                    Combine that with the fact that pistol calibre bullets are fatal in less than 1/3rd of the cases and your odds of survival are pretty good

            2. Cops should have pistol caliber carbines, not pistols.

              Pistols are fine for short range work. If you need to engage beyond that range, a shotgun or long-gun should be employed. Use the correct tool for the job.

              1. UnCivilServant

                We’re talking about police here, they shouldn’t be armed in the first place.

              2. db

                I don’t even like the idea of pistol caliber carbines–the bullets get going faster out of a longer barrel and retain more of their energy when they hit a target or barrier. Studies show it’s safer to use 5.56x45mm ammo in indoor close combat than pistols because pistol bullets penetrate so much farther throught walls and doors while the lighter rifle bullets stop faster. If they were using frangible pistol bullets it would be a different story but most police departments want the ability to penetrate armor. Even a FMJ 5.56 bullet will do that.

                1. Studies show it’s safer to use 5.56x45mm ammo in indoor close combat than pistols because pistol bullets penetrate so much farther throught walls and doors while the lighter rifle bullets stop faster.

                  I’m not sure the Box-o-Truth should be considered as “studies,” but they do damn good work.

          2. The guns themselves are similarly easy to operate, it’s proficiency he’s talking about.

            I can teach just about any idiot to shoot reasonably well with a long gun in just an hour or so. It takes much longer to gain the same level of proficiency with a pistol. It’s all about the sight lines: the longer the distance between the rear and front sights, the easier it is to be accurate. Recoil is also not an issue with a long gun (especially 5.56mm which is what is used the HK-416) which leads to much better control of the weapon and more accurate follow up shots.

      2. H. ReardEn

        No firefighters’SWAT Team member’s lives should be lost protecting private propertyindividuals.

        1. UnCivilServant

          Easy way to make that happen – dissolve the swat teams. There, no more will fall in the line of duty.

    3. DJF

      So now we have the government failing to do anything about a guy who shot someone else’s tires, another persons floor, who admitted hearing voices, and then when he starts shooting on a military base fails to use available force to stop him. And with all this the governments response is to ask for more power and restrictions on ordinary citizens.

    4. Don Mynack

      They had a warrant to serve for a dude who was $27 behind on his taxes.

    5. Officer safety FTW.

    6. Bardas Phocas

      Now what reasons would the CapPolice bosses have for calling off their paramilitaires?
      1. The Navy Yard attack is just a diversion and real attack, by insurrectionistas, will be on the US Congress.
      2. If the CapPolice death squad starts shooting, they may: hit the bad guy, hit a bystander, hit a Top Man. All of those things will be tons of paperwork for the Boss.
      3. Out of Jurisdiction.
      4. Don’t get involved.
      5. ?

      1. Almanian!

        6. PROFIT!

      2. I’d say it was a jurisdiction pissing match. Someone didn’t like the Cap Police on their turf and wanted to be the hero.

    7. kinnath

      http://www.slate.com/articles/…..a_has.html

      We can’t have all the freedom we insist on in this country. We can’t have near total access to guns and no way to track people with mental illness?along with a system for treatment so riddled with holes that’s barely a system at all. The combination?our approach to guns crossed with our approach to mental illness?is deadly. And however unlikely it is that the senseless Washington Navy Yard massacre will actually change anything, I have to howl one more time.

      1. Virginian

        Our approach to mental illness

        This shit gets on my nerves. The Left essentially dismantled involuntary commitment. Now, maybe that was on balance a good thing, maybe it was a bad thing. I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone can know. But it was something that the Right was very opposed to at the time, and still wishes to roll back.

        It’s the same shit when they talk about “our national debt”. Fuck you asshole, I didn’t get any benefit from said debt.

        1. #

          Don’t forget that this guy was a vet, so he already had access to the VA’s “single payer” mental health services.

      2. JW

        You’d think it would be easy to track people with chips in their heads.

        I do wish the proglodytes would just get down to brass tacks on what their ultimate agenda is: We need to have a total police state because of the massively insufferable pussies they are. Danger lurks behind every corner!

        As long as no one can get hurt or threatened, either by themselves or someone else, any state action is justifiable to prevent that.

    8. VG Zaytsev

      Navy Yard: Swat team ‘stood down’ at mass shooting scene

      Makes sense,
      no dogs
      were present.

  18. revolving doors… something or another. Comments are priceless.

    Reaping Profit After Assisting on Health Law

    Washington’s health care revolving door is spinning fast as the new online health insurance marketplaces, a central provision of President Obama’s health care law, are set to open Oct. 1. Those who had a hand in the law’s passage are now finding lucrative work in the private sector, as businesses try to understand the complex measure, reshape it by pressing for regulatory changes ? or profit from it.

    That means boom times for what might be called an Obamacare cottage industry, providing work for dozens of former administration and mostly Democratic Congressional officials whose immersion in health policy minutiae, and friendships, make them invaluable to private business.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Krugabe approves.

    2. John

      I put that up yesterday. The comments are just astounding.

    3. Hillary's Clitdong

      Most of the people profiled are not “reaping profits.” They are earning wages in their fields of expertise.

      The Derp is strong in this one.

      1. CEOs, though, are totally different!

    4. JW

      See: system, works.

  19. Rich


    Obama: ‘Raising the Debt Ceiling…Does Not Increase Our Debt’

    Obviously, it’s time for a new term for ‘raise the debt ceiling’. I suggest ‘implement the automatic bill-payer’.

    1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles

      If raising the debt ceiling does not raise our debt, then there’s no reason it has to be done to avoid default.

    2. Rasilio

      Well technically he is correct, raising the debt limit in and of itself does not increase the debt.

      It allows the debt to increase.

      The spending is already in place and without raising the debt limit congress would be forced to cut that spending, but you could cut spending AND raise the debt limit at the same time

  20. It’s always a Florida man

    A Florida Man Beat His Daughter For 40 Minutes While Listening To Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines”

    1. WTF

      Listening to Robin Thicke for 40 minutes would make me want to beat someone.

    2. Jesus. Who was he punishing?

      1. Hillary's Clitdong

        Well, in his defense, she could have been listening to the Eagles.

  21. Terrible real estate agent photographs

  22. Meanwhile, in Japan

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Needs more Lucy Gutteridge

    2. All I get is a big black square.

      1. UnCivilServant

        It’s a censor box.

      2. Racist!!

    3. PD Scott

      Don’t look behind you.

  23. State officials in Hawaii say there’s not much they can do about a molasses spill, which will largely take care of itself.

    Now that’s what I call a sticky situation.

    1. Auric Demonocles

      It only took Boston about 2 weeks to clean up the molasses flood of 1919. With improved government efficiency over the past century, I bet they can handle this new one in just a couple of months.

      1. UnCivilServant

        Wasn’t that also on land?

      2. …molasses flood of 1919…

        I thought you were joking, but Googled it anyway. Holy crap.

        1. Auric Demonocles

          It actually was more destructive than the Marathon bombings.

          1. PD Scott

            And yet there were no calls to ban molasses.

    2. gaijin

      not much they can do about a molasses spill

      My question: what do they do about the rest of the mole?

      1. Almanian!

        It will bury itself.

        Problem solved!

        1. gaijin

          ^excellent!

      2. *narrows gaze*

      3. Zeb

        Boo.

        1. gaijin

          Boo.

          get that a lot. Shocker, I know.

  24. SugarFree

    The Most Important Issue of Our Age: Why aren’t there more positive portrayals of women in GTA V?

    Gentlemen… start your hand-wringing!

    1. Gentlemen Beta males… start your hand-wringing!

      Fixed it for you.

      1. BardMetal

        Beta males?

    2. John

      Before we answer that question, I would like to know what portrayal of a woman would satisfy these people as being sufficiently positive. I honestly can’t think of a portrayal that would satisfy the perpetually aggrieved.

      1. Auric Demonocles

        The CEO of a large successful company, overcoming sexist opponents, and acting in a totally moral manner, while simultaneously raising a happy family.

      2. Virginian

        Pretty, but not too pretty. Super competent and better at everything then the men around her, but with faults and flaws, but nothing that suggests she’s inferior in any way.

        Simple, right?

        1. John

          So Tina Fey running a crime syndicate while raising her twin daughters?

          1. Hillary's Clitdong

            She’s married. Our video game character has to be a single mom.

            1. John

              It is a fictional character voiced and made to look like Tina Fey who is a single mom of twin girls who is the CEO of Big Evil Co and its criminal syndicate.

      3. Eduard van Haalen

        “I honestly can’t think of a portrayal that would satisfy the perpetually aggrieved.”

        Self-employed female hit-person who only takes jobs that involve killing men, while employing a male nanny to take care of the kids. Kills the nanny when he gets uppity and hires a new one.

    3. UnCivilServant

      Answer: Because there are no positive portrayals of human beings in any Grand Theft Auto game.

      1. a better weapon

        DING DING DING!!!

    4. Virginian

      Wow. I like how he mentions several paragraphs in that GTA skewers everyone and everything, but then continues his bleating about the way women are portrayed.

      The whole thing about GTA is that everyone is a shitty person. The main characters are hardened criminals, the civilians are stupid and shallow, the cops are corrupt, etc.

      1. JW

        The whole thing about GTA is that everyone is a shitty person. The main characters are hardened criminals, the civilians are stupid and shallow, the cops are corrupt, etc.

        So, it’s just like any Neil Blomkamp movie.

    5. Hillary's Clitdong

      Why aren’t there more positive portrayals of men in GTA games? Why is every man either a druggie failure or a wisecracking sociopath?

    6. Thus is why I’d rather play the Saints Row games. You can choose a woman as your main character, thereby killing the stereotype that only cholo men can be piece if shit thugs.

    7. Zeb

      Are there positive portrayals of anyone in GTA?

    8. a better weapon

      I noticed that Taliana’s stats?her grades as a henchman?were high. But the portion of the take she was asking for from this big heist was low.

      HAHA!!! The glass ceiling exists in GTA V’s bustling crime industry!!! DERP!

      Actually, assuming she really played this game for 40 hours, she’d know that the “henchman” you hire always get the smallest take by far no matter how good they are. The hackers and safe crackers get the biggest take.

  25. Irish

    Has anyone heard about this bizarre story in which Ezra Klein and his wife claimed that Larry Summers had started a ‘sexist whisper campaign’ against Janet Yellen?

    Apparently they just made the quotes up in which various people supposedly said sexist things about Yellen. They claimed that Richard Fisher of the Dallas Federal Reserve said that if Yellen got the job, it would have been ‘driven by gender’ when in fact he said no such thing.

    What’s hilarious is that each of them used the fake quote in a different article, Ezra for Wonkblog and Annie Lowrey, his wife, for the New York Times.

    This is one of the weirdest lies I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t even make sense.

    1. SugarFree

      He’s married to a woman? [googles] And she’s hot? WTF? That’s the bizarre part the story.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Studied English and American literature at Harvard, reports on economic policy for the NYT and Slate. Sounds about right.

        1. Hillary's Clitdong

          Got a question about complicated economic questions? Ask an English lit major!

        2. SugarFree

          But those girls usually look like they got beat with a fugly stick. She’s guest-star-on-a-sitcom pretty.

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder

            I do detect a mix of Justine Bateman and Zooey Deschanel in her face.

            1. SugarFree

              I mean, if she’s married to him there’s something wrong with her brain, but she’s still quite the cutie.

              1. John

                Forgive her. She is a slave to her class. She would be totally ostracized by all of her friends and colleagues if she married someone who wasn’t an absolute dogmatic liberal or worked in an unapproved field or went to state school. She is under tremendous social pressure to remain in the hive.

                1. JW

                  Don’t worry. She’s fucking the pool boy.

                  1. Jumbie

                    I’m not worried. I’m the pool boy.

          2. John

            She is very cute. You have to remember how inbred these twits are. When you consider she could never marry anyone who didn’t hold exactly the right political views and go to exactly the right schools and work in an approved field, her choice of men is pretty limited. Klein is a douche bag. But he is George Clooney compared to someone like Sad Beard or Weigal. And that is the pool of men someone like Lowrey is choosing from.

            1. SugarFree

              True. I hear rumors that SadBeard is married, but “she” turned out to be a frozen burrito.

              1. John

                Someone like Lowrey would choose self abuse or lesbianism if Sad Beard were the only option available.

        3. wareagle

          I’m sorry, English major reports on econ policy for the alleged paper of record? That’s a bio from the Onion; has to be.

          Wow. Public opinion shaped by someone who went to Hah-vahd to major in liberal arts.

          1. John

            It is out of The Onion. The last place in America where liberal arts majors from the Ivyies dominate is the major media.

            I actually have respect for real reporters. I mean people who go to wars and spend their time covering city hall or the crime beat. That is a tough job that takes real skill. But people like Lowrey and Klein are not that. They are not reporters. How do you report on “economic policy”? And as you point out, they don’t know anything about the subjects they report. So what they are is just paid hacks. They repeat talking points and lies for whatever political side (usually but not always the Left) and that is it.

            What value added does someone like those two bring? They don’t know anything about economic policy or at least not anymore than what is brought to your typical drunken cocktail party conversation. And really anyone can repeat talking points. Places like the NYT and WAPO are just employment agency for Ivy League twits unable to do anything productive.

      2. DontShootMe

        The eyes. They eyes. There’s a lot of crazy in them thar eyes…

    2. John

      So do they admit making up the quotes? Isn’t that kind of a big deal? Doesn’t WAPO and NYT have fact checkers? It is one thing for douche bag to say stupid things. But it seems to be something else to make up quotes. If Fisher didn’t say that and Klein made up the statement, that is liable, even for a public figure. If making up a quote is not reckless disregard, nothing is.

      1. Irish

        The New York Times issued a correction with the right quote but WAPO has issued no correction.

        I don’t know that they purposefully made it up, but I’m confused as to how two people could have both written articles about Summers, both written about a ‘whisper campaign’ that no one else is talking about, and both have used the same nonexistent quote.

        Did neither of them bother checking the source?

        1. John

          It is called the journolist. They all get their talking points and lies and all repeat them. The idea is that if you repeat a lie enough, no amount of denial or proof the other way will keep it from having the desired effect because “there must be something to it or everyone wouldn’t be saying it.”

          People think I am kidding when I say the major media are scum. I am not. People like Klein or immoral scum who deserve nothing disdain.

          1. WTF

            The idea is that if you repeat a lie enough, no amount of denial or proof the other way will keep it from having the desired effect

            You know who else…ah, fuck it.

      2. Irish

        Plus, what he actually said is:

        “It’s a presidential decision, and we’ll see if it is driven by gender or other considerations and so on. Janet is extremely capable. There are other capable people.”

        He was talking about the president’s thought process. The Kleins must have purposefully removed the ‘driven by gender’ part from its context in order to make it look different than what he was actually saying.

        Given that they both did it, this seems like it was on purpose.

        The best part is that the next sentence is ‘Janet is extremely capable.’ Yeah, hell of a sexist whispering campaign.

    3. Mike M.

      What do you expect from the scumbag who created the JournoList and then shut it down as soon as people found out about it?

  26. Defining ‘journalist’is a slippery slope

    Last week, a bipartisan majority on the (Michigan) House Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 4770, which seeks to define the word “journalist.” The goal is to distinguish between those who should see accident records immediately (vehicle owners, prosecutors, journalists, etc.) and those who shouldn’t (the vulture-lawyers).

    Journalists, of course, ought to have access to public documents. The proposed legislation, sponsored by Ellen Cogen Lipton, D-Huntington Woods, recognizes this. Unfortunately, it also comes dangerously close to the licensing of reporters.

    1. UnCivilServant

      The only perople who should see accident records immediately are vehicle owners of the involved vehicles. No prosecutor or ‘journo’ should get near them.

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder

      public documents

      I think they don’t understand the meaning of the word public.

      1. sarcasmic

        Public means everyone but you.

    3. I’m mildly surprised that’s in a mainstream outlet and not a blog.

    4. “Congress shall make no law…”

      1. DontShootMe

        If only you would remove the ellipsis, all would be good.

        1. PD Scott

          “Congress should unmake most of their laws?”

    5. Eduard van Haalen

      “those who shouldn’t (the vulture-lawyers)”

      The last couple of times someone hit my car, I soon had a copy of the accident report because some lawyer would mail it to me along with an offer to help me sue the other driver. I didn’t sue, but I got a free public document!

  27. Rich

    NASA Will Pay $18,000 To Watch You Rest In Bed

    It depends on what the definition of “rest” is.

  28. “I believe a burp is an EXCELLENT neg”

    1. Hillary's Clitdong

      Yeah, nothing says Rico Suave like belching at a bar.

      1. WTF

        Then rip a loud wet fart to really seal the deal.

  29. CatoTheElder

    “They don’t respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten and banish organisations that defend your right to self-governance.”

    That’s pretty much what I’ve said about the Obama Administration, and certainly would have said about the McCain Administration, except for the media part, of course.

    1. Outlaw

      Pretty much all of McCain’s criticisms can also be applied to America.

      And his rhetoric about liberty and shit is sickening because he doesn’t even believe in it.

    2. Eduard van Haalen

      “They punish dissent and imprison opponents.”

      And when are they going to give us the traitor Snowden so we can imprison him like he deserves?

    3. Eduard van Haalen

      If Putin is seen as not being tough *enough* vis-a-vis the West, I bet he loses popularity with the Russians instead of gaining it. The people of a country tend to like having a leader to slap foreigners around on their behalf.

      1. PD Scott

        Russia is strong (feels secure) when her enemies (everybody else) are weak.

    4. wwhorton

      At first I didn’t realize that quote wasn’t about the United States.

  30. Warty

    Feel good story of the day. Idiot is in a bank, idiot sees guy open carrying, idiot becomes concerned. Idiot comes up with the best way to solve the problem – to pass the teller a note that says “gun”. Guess what happens next.

    And don’t miss the pissed-off letters to the editor, too.

    1. Hillary's Clitdong

      Open-carrying in Glastonbury pretty much falls into the category of IRL Trolling.

    2. Virginian

      Yeah that’s kind of amusing, but charging the guy is bullshit IMO. I mean, it would be one thing if the cops had detained the innocent guy, but I say no harm no foul.

      This is the main reason I CC instead of OC. I don’t want to end up like Erik Scott.

    3. Red Rocks Rockin

      Fuckin lol at this one, from Tina Moron(i):

      “I don’t care if there’s a law that says weapons can be carried anywhere.”

      Funny how these shitlibs are all about government laws until it violates their feelz.

  31. Wapo: The Fed takes the country further into uncharted waters

    Yet the Fed’s huge role represents more responsibility for the economy than a single technocratic institution ? or any one fallible, unelected official, even a dedicated, talented one such as Mr. Bernanke ? should bear for too long. Among the chairman’s innovations has been an attempt to fine-tune market expectations through more open communication of Fed intentions. Precision, though, can be elusive. In June, Mr. Bernanke candidly announced that the bond-buying “taper” might start by year’s end ? inadvertently triggering a rise in interest rates that hurt the U.S. housing recovery and clobbered emerging markets. Mr. Bernanke’s decision not to taper is at least in part an attempt to undo that.

    1. In June, Mr. Bernanke candidly announced that the bond-buying “taper” might start by year’s end ? inadvertently triggering a rise in interest rates that hurt the U.S. housing recovery and clobbered emerging markets.

      Trying to keep that housing bubble inflated.

      1. The bubble is what holds the wool over your eyes.

  32. kinky…

    Rebel-on-Rebel Violence Seizes Syria

    An al Qaeda spinoff operating near Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, last week began a new battle campaign it dubbed “Expunging Filth.”

    The target wasn’t their avowed enemy, the Syrian government. Instead, it was their nominal ally, the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army.

    Across northern and eastern Syria, units of the jihadist group known as ISIS are seizing territory?on the battlefield and behind the front lines?from Western-backed rebels. Some FSA fighters now consider the extremists to be as big a threat to their survival as the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

    1. John

      And we so need to get involved in this. What could possibly go wrong?

    2. Eduard van Haalen

      “We’re not the Syrian People’s Front – We’re the People’s Front of Syria!”

      1. Elspeth Flashman

        Splitter!

  33. Daniel Henninger: The Obama M.O.
    Barack Obama’s modus operandi is: I think, therefore you do.

    Mr. Obama doesn’t do Washington’s politics. Disappointed acolytes say it is because he is “passive.” That underestimates him. For Mr. Obama, the affairs of state are wholly a function of whatever is inside his mind.

    Some things remain in his mind, like the economic benefits of public infrastructure spending, which appeared one more time in Monday’s post-Navy Yard speech on the lessons of the financial crisis and Congress’s obligations to agree with him. Some things enter his mind and then depart, like red lines in the Syrian sand.

    From where he sits, it is the job of the political world outside to adjust and conform to the course of the president’s mental orbit. Those who won’t adjust are dealt with by the president himself. They are attacked publicly until they are too weak politically to oppose what is on his mind.

    1. John

      Henninger is such a good writer. And he has Obama pegged. It is half the reason why he is such a diaster and a worse disaster than just an ordinary bad President. The other half is the fact that he is black and white liberals are just mature enough to handle having a black liberal President. White liberals cannot separate criticism from “Racism” in their own minds let alone in the actions of Obama’s opponents. You put all of it together and you get a President who is not just incompetent and has no respect for the institutions of government, but also horribly divisive and creating divisions in this country that will take years or even decades to mend.

      1. Bo Cara Esq.

        Last night Palin’s ButtPl*g extolled, and I am not making this up, Obama’s US Senate career as a counter to charges that he benefited from affirmative action. I for one do not care about his affirmative action from decades ago, but who would point to the man’s US Senate career as proof of accomplishment?

    2. Mike M.

      He is truly the undisputed King of Blame.

  34. The most convincing case I have ever read for reinstating the draft:
    http://www.johntreed.com/militarydraft.html

    Author self-identifies as a libertarian. I still oppose conscription, but there is sound reasoning in his argument.

    1. IS there?

      I got halfway through his disjointed wall of text without seeing him address the basic premise of libertarianism:

      That it is immoral to aggress against people who are minding their own business.

      All I got were assertions that the draft wasn’t so bad.

      Case in point, he argues that slave soldiers make better soldiers because volunteers are tricked into volunteering by recruiting sergeants. To translate the derp into english: When we use fraud rather than force to get people to sign up, they think we’re assholes. You know, if I was using fraud to get people to pick cotton on my fields, their dissatisfaction wouldn’t be grounds for bringing back chattel slavery.

      I could spend a week fisking that poorly organized intellectual diarrhea.

      1. Oh, well, whatever you do, don’t read what he has to say about the Navy’s surface ships:

        http://www.johntreed.com/sittingducks.html

        He doesn’t talk about the NAP or other libertarian stuff in these article, but he does in others.

        I think his strongest point with the draft is pointing out that declaring war and then drafting people was the pattern in all of America’s successful wars.

        1. Virginian

          Except for the American Revolution, the Mexican War, the Spanish American War, and the dozens of brushfire wars.

          Oh, and how do you distinguish between WWII volunteers and draftees? The Airborne particularly were a cut above in large part because they only took volunteers. Or look at the Marines, who in both world wars showed an effectiveness in combat draftee formations could not match, due to their core of long service professionals.

          America has never fought a war with only draftees. Even in late stage Vietnam, there were professionals and volunteers. By contrast, we have fought entire wars with all volunteer formations, and done quite well.

          1. 70% of US servicemen in WW2 were draftees. That was the largest war in US history (in terms of blood and treasure) and it was won in less than 4 years.

            I don’t think the US could have won either world war without a draft, although if it had stayed out of the first one, the second one most likely would not have happened.

            1. Mike M.

              World War II didn’t even come close to the Civil War in terms of American blood.

        2. I think his strongest point with the draft is pointing out that declaring war and then drafting people was the pattern in all of America’s successful wars.

          … and that is the fucking problem. Because the wars were all bad from the perspective of how libertarian the US government and society was. Every war left a more powerful, activist and insatiable state fucking with people and taking their shit.

          Moreover, the wars fought with a peacetime draft as opposed to ones that were entered into prior to a draft existing, namely the Vietnam and Korean wars, were stupid ones that were fought poorly, and absent the massive manpower available due to the draft would probably not have been fought at all.

          1. In another article, he says the US has gone to war too many times and often for murky reasons. He opposes undeclared wars.

            If Congress declares war, and cannot recruit enough volunteers to fight, what then? Even in “good” WW2, about 70% of the men were conscripts.

            I agree that a peace-time draft is never justified. But in a declared war?

            1. If Congress declares war, and cannot recruit enough volunteers to fight, what then?

              Then Congress needs to end the fucking war that lacks popular support

        3. Don Mynack

          The derp seems unaware that one could buy their way out the draft, and buy their way into the officer corps. What a maroon.

        4. VG Zaytsev

          Like Vietnam?

          1. Vietnam was not a declared war.

    2. Never, never, never will I support a slave army. I don’t care how carefully you polish the manacles, it is still a slave army.

      1. If it’s OK to force people to pay taxes, what exactly is so abhorrent about drafting people? Almost all countries have used conscripts at one point or another.

        1. UnCivilServant

          One is more likely get kill me than the other.

          1. UnCivilServant

            *get me killed

            OR

            *kill me

            I apparently changed my sentence while typing.

        2. Virginian

          If it’s OK to force people to pay taxes, what exactly is so abhorrent about drafting people? Almost all countries have used conscripts at one point or another.

          Two wrongs don’t make a right.

          1. But once you accept the principle, as most libertarians do, that the government can use force for some things, the question becomes “which things?”

            Here, I will state that philosophically, I’m an anarchist because I see no legitimate reason for some people to gain the power to make laws while all other supposedly equal people cannot make laws. Every theory of governance boils down to “might makes right”. However, since I know anarchy doesn’t work in practice, I’m willing to tolerate and support a limited government.

            1. BelowTheRim

              Sorry bro, a government that forces me to kill is not limited at all.

              I think you are posting derp with these threads.

              Personally I’d much rather arm the population, end foreign adventurism, bring troops home, and concentrate on border protection.

              Arming the populace is an important part of that idea.

        3. RBS

          Raise you hand if you support forcing people to pay taxes…

          1. Jumbie

            Can I just raise the middle finger?

        4. Don Mynack

          Yes. So what? Conscript armies, throughout history, have been severely underpaid, underfed,and under equipped, because who cares if they die? You can always call up more.

          Conscript armies, historically, raped and pillaged their way through enemy territory, in order to survive, or in the rare case, to get rich. Is that “OK”?

        5. robc

          Who accepts the premise?

          When “if A then B” is true, A being False doesnt make B True.

      2. BardMetal

        Slave army? Many previous generations would have considered conscription a duty that comes with citizenship.

        1. Virginian

          I would be inclined to listen to arguments for conscription if we were locked in an existential struggle with Canada or Mexico. But we aren’t.

          South Africa had a sensible compromise in the first part of the 20th century. Everyone served their two years, but only volunteers could be sent outside the borders of South Africa.

          1. Eduard van Haalen

            Agree except about the definition of “everyone.”

        2. Smilin' Joe Fission

          Who do I owe a duty to and how did I come to owe this duty? Social contract or something?

          1. robc

            Im stilling waiting for my requested copy of said contract.

            1. robc

              I plan on having my lawyer do some serious edits before I consider signing.

              1. Hillary's Clitdong

                You already signed it at the moment when you were born. American contract law traditionally enforces contracts made between massive, superpowerful entities and infants.

            2. Smilin' Joe Fission

              I am also still waiting. People keep talking about it but I have never got to read it so I feel very out of the loop.

        3. Hillary's Clitdong

          Many previous generations would have considered conscription a duty that comes with citizenship.

          There’s nothing in the Constitution about any “duty” to obey whichever Ivy League nitwits are currently in power when they want to force you to kill foreigners in some third-world hellhole on the other side of the world.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.

            I agree with your sentiment about conscription (it cannot be justified under the NAP), but I am not sure of your Constitutional analysis. Article I Sec. 8 grants Congress the power to ‘raise armies’ which likely includes the power to draft.

            1. Virginian

              It does not. The Constitution does not have implied powers, the doctrine of implied powers is a creation of statists attempting to rationalize their power grabs.

              1. Bo Cara Esq.

                I am not arguing for an implied power, I am arguing that the term ‘power to raise armies’ would have meant to the Founding generation, among other things, the power to conscript.

                1. Virginian

                  I am not arguing for an implied power, I am arguing that the term ‘power to raise armies’ would have meant to the Founding generation, among other things, the power to conscript.

                  Actually, conscription in the modern sense, as opposed to feudal levies or outright slave soldiers, is a creation of the French Revolution. The Founders would not have considered a draft among the powers of the government.

                2. Tonio

                  Sorry, Bo, you may not see it as an implied power but many others do see it as an implied power. “Raise armies” means committing the financial resources to pay soldiers, buy cannon, etc.

                  The founders were very wary of conscript armies since that’s one of the unsavory features that many colonial/early Americans had left europe to escape.

                  The founders were even wary of a national, standing army.

                  1. wwhorton

                    “Raise armies” means committing the financial resources to pay soldiers, buy cannon, etc.

                    Agreed, and I think this meshes well with the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment as providing for private ownership of firearms as part of a “well-regulated militia.” The power to raise armies would refer to the government being permitted to hire soldiers, presumably from amongst the citizenry. Armed citizens comfortable with the use of firearms would make better soldiers, presumably, than conscripts who may or may not have ever even seen a gun.

            2. Hillary's Clitdong

              Article I Sec. 8 grants Congress the power to ‘raise armies’ which likely includes the power to draft.

              Maybe at the time of the original founding, but the 13th Amendment should have put a bullet through that. A blanket ban on slavery or indentured servitude should prohibit involuntary conscription (However, SCOTUS was, as it usually is when it comes to “war powers”, a total chickenshit when this issue came up during WWI). This wouldn’t even eliminate Congress’s power to “raise armies” since Congress would still have the power to raise a volunteer army and/or call up state militias.

            3. DesigNate

              That’s funny cause when I read “raise armies” I immediately thought of Patriot where they go around to the different towns asking for volunteers and informing them of how they will be compensated for their service.

        4. Marc F Cheney

          “They” considered it a duty, and yet “they” had to be forced into it?

          I don’t think you’re referring to the same set of individuals in each case.

        5. Report, do as we tell you (up to killing and being killed)and be bound by the UCMJ or be imprisoned.

          Yup, that sure sounds like a “duty” that attaches for being born in the US of A!

        6. Emmerson Biggins

          They also believed in witches and many other lies told to them by their betters.

      3. Never, never, never will I support a slave army. I don’t care how carefully you polish the manacles, it is still a slave army.

        Agreed.

        The only argument that could be made in favor of forced service is that, perhaps, we might have people being more conscious about using our military in foreign adventurism because everyone will have skin in the game.

        Would liberals be so eager to support Obama bombing Syria if they knew that their little Caleb, who would otherwise be studying Sociology or Art History, might be wearing some of the boots on the ground?

        Of course one could counter-argue that conservatives, which are over-represented in the military, still happily vote for guys like McCain and are happy to see their children go off to war.

        1. Virginian

          The military isn’t a monolithic group though. Some guy who operates drones or drives a desk in CONUS is no more a warrior then I am. One of my biggest pet peeves is guys who fixed trucks wearing BDUs for a few years posturing like they’re veterans. Veterans have CIBs. Everyone else was just in the military for a while.

          1. radar

            Speaking as a pogue myself, I agree with this. I would never refer to myself as an “Iraq veteran” because that implies I fought. I was an electronics technician who never had to leave the relative comfy confines of Al-Asad. We had pizza and internet and video games for the duration of my 7 months there.

            Veterans fire their rifles and take incoming fire.

        2. Would liberals be so eager to support Obama bombing Syria if they knew that their little Caleb, who would otherwise be studying Sociology or Art History, might be wearing some of the boots on the ground?

          When JFK and LBJ were ramping up their glorious adventure to keep French-Indochina American the ‘liberals’ were quite comfortable sending the children of the poor into the jungle to do the deed while they sent their precious snowflakes to Bryn Mawr to study public health or law.

          1. Eduard van Haalen

            But, next time it will be different! The draft will have absolutely no loopholes that the rich could take advantage of! We’ve had *years* of experience passing loophole-free laws, so you can totally trust us!

            1. Eduard van Haalen

              Let me predict this: Under the draft, we’ll have a lot of poor volunteers and a lot of poor draftees doing front-line fighting. We’ll have *two* classes of rich people: The gung-ho volunteers who charge into battle – as officers, of course – and the reluctant draftees whose families will pull strings to (a) exempt them from the draft altogether or (b) get them a soft billet (remember Al Gore’s combat duty as a military journalist?)

            2. About 70% of Vietnam servicemen were volunteers.

              1. Eduard van Haalen

                I had a relative who volunteered to be a Navy officer – but I’m not clear on whether he would have done this absent the risk of being drafted into the Army. So the definition of volunteer is a bit hazy – sometimes it means staying a step ahead of the draft by trying to get some control of your branch of service, or the timing of your service.

                1. #

                  Same thing with me Grandfather in WWII. He joined the aircore because he didn’t want to be drafted into infantry.

          2. Obviously there would have to be a caveat that there are no exceptions except in the case of disability.

            1. Eduard van Haalen

              When has this ever happened? If it could be done, wouldn’t it have been done somewhere?

              1. Is it not done is Switzerland and Israel currently?

                I’m not arguing in favor of a forced draft under any circumstances save imminent death from an invading force (though I agree with with robc that a draft would likely be unneeded in said circumstance).

                1. Eduard van Haalen

                  Don’t know about the Swiss, but the Israelis have religious exemptions for men and women – women who believe they should be at home with the kids, and men who want to devote themselves to studying Torah.

                  Switzerland allows conscientious objectors to serve in the civil service:

                  http://rt.com/news/swiss-army-…..endum-011/

                  (they’re having one of their referendums on abolishing conscription – I wouldn’t give much for the chances, but who knows?)

              2. Eduard van Haalen

                Won’t you have some kind of exemption for med students and doctors? Students and workers in STEM fields? Young men with callings to the ministry? Conscientious objectors? Farmers and farmworkers? Fathers (or mothers, I guess) of newborns?

                Or will you risk the nation’s scientific, medical and technological progress, its agriculture, its commitment to religious freedom – all in the name of some vision of equality which has proven elusive since the dawn of time?

        3. Hillary's Clitdong

          The only argument that could be made in favor of forced service is that, perhaps, we might have people being more conscious about using our military in foreign adventurism because everyone will have skin in the game.

          An argument that doesn’t stand up well in the face of all the idiotic wars that countries with conscription systems have launched. The U.S. has done some dumb shit in its time, but Germany still holds the Gold Medal in Moronic Military Adventures it earned with Operation Barbarossa (mucho conscription). Japan was similarly conscription-happy, and managed to similarly destroy itself through military adventurism.

          1. PD Scott

            The all time winner I believe is Paraguay in the War of the Triple Alliance. Per wiki “an international military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. It caused approximately 390,000 deaths, the highest rate of fatalities related to the number of combatants of any war in modern history. It particularly devastated Paraguay, which suffered catastrophic losses in population and was forced to cede territory to Argentina and Brazil.”

            1. PD Scott

              “The outcome of the war was the utter defeat of Paraguay. After the Triple Alliance defeated Paraguay in conventional warfare, its people conducted a drawn-out guerrilla-style resistance that resulted in the destruction of the Paraguayan military and much of the civilian population. The guerrilla war lasted until L?pez was killed by Brazilian forces on March 1, 1870. One estimate places total Paraguayan losses?through both war and disease?as high as 1.2 million people, or 90% of its pre-war population.
              A different estimate places Paraguayan deaths at approximately 300,000 people out of its 500,000 to 525,000 prewar inhabitants. According to Steven Pinker, the war resulted in the deaths of more than 60% of the population of Paraguay, making it proportionally the most destructive war in modern times”

      4. Tonio

        polish the manacles

        Jolly good, sir.

    3. Don Mynack

      That was truly one of the most ignorant things I have ever read.

    4. Outlaw

      lack of a draft lets young men veto a Congressional declaration of war by “voting with their feet” not to volunteer, an intolerable transfer of responsibility and authority by the Congress

      Oh, fuck off. Voting with our feet and voting warmongering bastards out of office is an essential check on the insane dickbags in Congress.

      Draftees are in the military for one very good reason:

      they figure it is their duty

      No, because they figure it’s better than being imprisoned and having their lives ruined.

      Great Britain tried to fight World War I without a draft. They had to relent and institute a draft. Ultimately, Germany and Japan lost World Wars I and II in part because they could not draft as many soldiers as their Allied enemies.

      And so this is an argument for the draft? Men didn’t want to be thrown into German machine gun fire for the empire and suddenly drafting them is a good thing because it helped the Brits win?

      The fuck? That’s so ridiculous and immoral.

      But there is another way to dodge the draft: outlaw it.

      Derp.

      If people do not want to volunteer and the nation’s survival is not on the line, a draft is completely unnecessary and immoral.

      1. If people do not want to volunteer and the nation’s survival is not on the line, a draft is completely unnecessary and immoral.

        The only moral, and legally acceptable, argument for a draft is if we’re under attack. As males (of a certain age and level of health) we are all expected to act in defence of the country via the militia.

        1. robc

          And I question the morality of that.

          I would have no problem taking up arms if the Canadian hordes sweep down into America. But if the US tried to draft me? Fuck em, Ill stay at home.

          1. Virginian

            Exactly. You don’t need a draft for that. Hell, the Russians, even the ones who hated Stalin, organized to resist the Germans. You only need a draft to fight unpopular wars.

            1. robc

              Everyone southern yahoo with a pickup truck and a deer rifle will be up for the chance to invade Pennsylvania again (fuck New York, the Canadians can have it).

              1. PD Scott

                “Them funny pretzels gone be ours yet!”

          2. Outlaw

            The following is one of those extreme situations that’s unlikely to ever happen where you might have to abandon your principles to survive. Like that pesky lifeboat scenario that Heinlein was fond of.

            If Soviet hordes were pouring into America from Mexico (like in Red Dawn) it’s time to jump the fuck on the bandwagon. There would be a lot of people volunteering to fight but there would also be a lot of people who don’t want to die but were capable of fighting. You draft them, because if you don’t you’re gonna fucking die and live in a Communist dystopia.

            Obviously, since that’ll never happen it’s not something to worry about. But sometimes necessity requires you to be a bit flexible.

            1. robc

              You know what, I dont think we need to draft them to win.

              There would be more than enough Americans voluntarily fighting in the Red Dawn scenario.

              1. Hillary's Clitdong

                There would be more than enough Americans voluntarily fighting in the Red Dawn scenario.

                Cue the “Hurr, durr, rednecks with small arms can’t fight a modern army” statements from gun controllers.

                1. Outlaw

                  They can but a somewhat organized army equipped with standardized military weaponry, training, and leadership would be better suited to fight a modern army than ragtag rebels.

                  You want to try to win the war with regular forces before it gets to the point where you’re reduced to relying on irregular forces.

              2. Outlaw

                I don’t think so. In every war there are a lot of people who just want to sit it out and let the chips fall where they may.

                That’s absolutely fine most of the time because most wars are completely unnecessary.

                But if your nation’s survival is on the line those people need to be kicked in the ass and have a rifle shoved into their hands.

                1. Virginian

                  But if your nation’s survival is on the line those people need to be kicked in the ass and have a rifle shoved into their hands.

                  Fuck that. I’d rather fight shorthanded then have people in the line who are just looking to run at the first opportunity.

                  Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
                  That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
                  Let him depart; his passport shall be made
                  And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
                  We would not die in that man’s company
                  That fears his fellowship to die with us.

                  1. Outlaw

                    I’m not talking about cravens, Virginian.

                    I’m talking about people who think that “well, it might not be so bad” to live under occupation and those who just want to wait it out.

                    1. Virginian

                      Yeah, and they will be the ones looking to surrender, or flee, or turn rat in exchange for protection if you force them into fighting.

                    2. Outlaw

                      How common was this in America’s past wars where conscripts were used (and when the nation’s survival wasn’t at stake)?

                      Cowards and deserters were shot or imprisoned.

                      They fight because not fighting means they’re more likely to die. They fight because of peer pressure. They fight because running means they most definitely will die or be imprisoned.

                      It’s immoral, it sucks, but that’s why the draft shouldn’t be used unless it’s under the most extreme circumstances.

                      To write it off entirely in every situation is just naive, IMO.

                    3. Virginian

                      You have entirely missed the point of America. If this country was invaded, I would fight to preserve the liberty that it stands for, even in its flawed state.

                      If the American government shot “cowards” and “deserters” it would not be worth defending anymore.

                    4. Tonio

                      During the Civil War the Federals instituted a draft because, surprisingly, many people in the North didn’t give a rat’s ass about the conflict. If you were of moderate means you could pay someone to serve in your place.

                    5. robc

                      During the Civil War the Federals instituted a draft because, surprisingly, many people in the North didn’t give a rat’s ass about the conflict.

                      Sounds like a good argument against the draft to me.

                    6. robc


                      I’m talking about people who think that “well, it might not be so bad” to live under occupation and those who just want to wait it out.

                      Any nation that produces too many of that type of people deserves to fail.

            2. Dr. Frankenstien

              The only half way decent argument I’ve heard is that all capable citizens should have military training in order to defend themselves and communities/country if the need ever arises.

              1. Tonio

                I think everyone should have basic disaster relief training – CPR, First Aid, knowing when not to attempt rescue, etc. I don’t think this should be imposed by goverment, but I’d have no problem with government offering it if no coercion were involved. Oh, wait, government::coercion, never mind.

      2. Eduard van Haalen

        “Great Britain tried to fight World War I without a draft. They had to relent and institute a draft.”

        Yeah, how did that work out? WWI had *such* a good outcome for the world!

        Oh, and trying to enforce the draft in Ireland led to a nasty rebellion, and the establishment of the Free State (later Republic).

  35. Dr. Sommers on MSNBC About Boys’ Education, Mocked & Slammed by Feminist Hosts
    …Imagine if, in the 1960s, we had said, “oh, please. I’ll start caring about women’s issues when men are no longer most of the homeless, those dying in the workplace, suicides, those in prison, and so forth. And not only do I not care, I think that no one in society should care about them either.” If someone were walking around today saying things like that, these people on MSNBC would call that sexism. But when they do the same to men, it is not called sexism. It is called the status quo, both at MSNBC, as well as in academia – which, by the way, is the primary reason male education issues have been ignored for so long….

    1. John

      It is all about hating men. They are happy that boys are doing badly. But they can’t admit that publicly, so they just laugh it off and pretend it is not true.

    2. BardMetal

      Women are members of the victim class and men are not, and regardless of whatever facts or figures you have, the left is always going to see the world through that template.

      1. John

        Exactly. The facts must fit the narrative.

    3. Bo Cara Esq.

      – It is called the status quo, both at MSNBC, as well as in academia – which, by the way, is the primary reason male education issues have been ignored for so long….

      Well said. Because some few men are rich and powerful all the many poor, troubled young boys must suffer!

      1. John

        It is like saying that because LaBron James and Oprah are rich, no one should give a shit if most black people are poor.

        1. Bo Cara Esq.

          Well said.

      2. Apex Fallacy.

  36. UnCivilServant

    We have apparently exported policing attitudes to India along with our businesses: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blog…..e-24131318

  37. Marc F Cheney

    Gwyneth Paltrow told Chelsea Handler she was addicted to sex after spending all her time with her.

    I find this utterly impossible to believe, and I try to believe six impossible things before breakfast.

    1. robc

      The service at Milliway’s is poor.

    2. Kaptious Kristen

      I don’t even know what that means. Too many third-person pronouns to make sense of any of it.

      1. Marc F Cheney

        The way I read it, after clicking through two links, is that Chelsea Handler is “fun” and this somehow rubbed off on GP.

        I take that to mean that Fishsticks tried sex again after a long hiatus, and has engaged in it several times since then. She’s “addicted” to it in the same way she’s “addicted” to Himalayan ghost tea or whatever.

        1. Cyto

          I took it to mean that she’s in a movie about sex addiction and her publicist gave her the line to use on Chelsea Lately to promote the movie.

  38. sarcasmic

    Pictured: The shocking moment before a man is killed by a police car during a chase over a seatbelt violation as his family release previously unseen dash cam footage

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..ation.html

    Last week a grand jury decided not to indict Harris.

    A grand jury can indict a ham sandwich, but not a pig.

    1. SugarFree

      As reported by WKMG, the medical examiner’s report stated there is no evidence Brown was struck by the vehicle. The medical examiner said the man died when he was pinned underneath the car.

      So he didn’t “strike” yet he did “pin him under the car.” Did the cop car float down on him like a leaf in a gentle breeze?

      1. UnCivilServant

        He was pushed to the ground and the car set atop him gently.

      2. sarcasmic

        “I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I..

        1. Marc F Cheney

          STILL TOO SOON.

          1. Clich? Bandit

            I am going to start reading the comments from the bottom up.

      3. Vehicles were driven, pedestrians were crushed.

      4. Auric Demonocles

        The pedestrian threw himself under the car. There was nothing the officer could have done.

  39. for anyone into sleazeball cinema: B-movies, Roger Corman, Blackploitation flix, Kung Fu, and bad horror:
    http://www.coolasscinema.com/

    Chatterbox:

    During a lovemaking session with her boyfriend, Penelope Pittman, a beautiful hair stylist, discovers her vagina possesses a remarkable vocal capacity from singing to mouthing off a catalog of haughty quips. Wrecking havoc in her personal life, Penelope tries to cope with her wisecracking blunt cunt, her new-found fame, and find Mr. Right in the process. Christening her cootchie with the name Virginia, the two take their “act” to television which opens her up to further sexual misadventures.

    some reviews have NSFW pix.

    1. PD Scott

      Now I’m picturing a new, terrible Sarah Silverman-esque ventriloquist act.

  40. Bo Cara Esq.

    We joked about this the other day, but it has come to pass.

    SoCon Blames Buddhism* For Navy Yard Shooter’s Spree

    -While far less flagrantly violent than Islam, Buddhism is plenty capable of more subtle forms of it. What other religion, for example, produces monks who set themselves on fire? A religion that permits self-immolation is not a religion of peace.

    http://spectator.org/archives/…..e-costs-of

    *At some points he seems to say ‘Buddhism did not make him do it, but it did nothing to stop him’

    1. John

      Actually Buddhism in some parts of the world is a lot more violent than you think. We only think it is a pacifist religion because we get our views of it from Hollywood. It is anything but that in places like Burma and Tibet.

      1. Bo Cara Esq.

        I do remember reading about Buddhism on Muslim violence in Burma recently. I thought it was an Onion article at first, but I guess it is silly to think any religion is not tainted by human nature.

        Still, I do not find the argument about self-immolation very convincing.

      2. BigT

        Correct. Buddhism drove the Divine Wind (Kamikaze)of the Japanese

    2. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles

      Hm. I’m assuming the commentator is a Christian. Christianity holds that the only way for God to forgive humanity for their sins (or at least the way he chose) was for him to become human and offer himself up for torture and execution.

      The Christian tradition’s veneration of martyrs might also be problematic for the self-immolation critique of Buddhism.

      1. Clich? Bandit

        The Christians that decry all this violence from specific religions has massively crippled memories or poor history educations.

        -Conquistadors
        -Inquisition
        -Witches
        -Crusades
        -Lutheran Persecution
        -Jacobite

        the list is fucking endless.

        There are no clean actors here. One MUST realize that individuals do bad shit not the organizations they adhere to. We have seen all the religions commit mass murder and atrocities.

    3. Tonio

      That is some John-grade derp right there.

  41. Hawk Spitui

    Chinese eugenics

  42. Hillary's Clitdong

    “We were unaware that the law required anyone to give an explanation for having tea, whether in the morning, noon or night. One might take tea in a variety of ways, not all of them always elegant or delicate, some of them perhaps even noisy. But we know of no way to drink tea ‘suspiciously’,” he’s said to have ruled. Prosecution pleas that Mr Patil was known to the police reportedly cut no ice with the judge: “Cutting chai is permissible, cutting corners with the law is not.”

    Er mah gerd, the judge is being loose on crime!

    1. UnCivilServant

      Well, since it often takes nine years or more to comclude a court case, with the defendants usually allowed to go home between court dates…

  43. The Browns let him down:

    Trent Richardson Found Out That He Got Traded On The Radio
    Ex-Cleveland Browns running back Trent Richardson says he didn’t find out about his shocking trade to the Indianapolis Colts from the team.

    Last night he told reporters he first heard the news on the radio….

    1. Bo Cara Esq.

      Not telling him about it is the opposite of classy. And Richardson is not going to the only one let down, as the team has essentially admitted they are giving on this season to get better draft positions next year.

      -When asked about the draft, Browns CEO Joe Banner dodged. “I don’t want to tip our hands, but it puts us in a very good position to have made some good progress in the off-season, we’re in good (salary) cap shape,” Banner said. “We’re positioning ourselves to build a team that is good and sustainable.”

      http://www.usatoday.com/story/…..e/2834297/

      1. Virginian

        That’s a big boost for Richardson fantasy owners though.

    2. CE

      Cleveland is stockpiling first round picks in 2014 so they can pass on Johnny Manziel and let down their fans one more time.

      1. Its the Browns. They’ll draft him and he’ll suck. (This does not mean I think Manziel can’t be a good NFL QB. Just… Cleveland is like Tampa. Good QBs get destroyed in those cities.)

  44. radar

    A Halloween dilemma: took the boy out to look at costumes the other day, and which costume does he insist he must have without even considering anything else? A SWAT team costume. So now I’m stuck between two principles – a thorough hatred of SWAT teams and a desire to encourage independent thought in my son rather than programming him with my beliefs.

    Spoiler – I bought him the goddamned costume. My son knows how to play me like a fiddle. Felt dirty about it, though.

    1. UnCivilServant

      He wanted the scariest thing in the catalog.

      1. Tonio

        Yeah, this. Halloween costumes depict the scary and the absurd.

    2. robc

      You not letting him go as a SWAT team member would be like a Christian not letting their kid go as the devil.

      I can see the point, but barely.

      1. Clich? Bandit

        My job as a responsible parent is to indoctrinate my child as best I can. Unfortunately she is already more stubborn than me.

    3. BigT

      Could make it a really ‘over-the-top’ costume to inject a little irony into the situation. Get him a few AK’s etc to wear.

    4. Tejicano

      Something my mom taught me about parenting – “never fight the battles you can’t afford to lose.”

      This is a small issue. Let it pass and it will pass. On the big issues you lay down the law.

      Semper Fi dude. I’ve got two little boys to raise myself.

  45. Women Waiting Tables Provide Most of Female Gains in U.S.

    Unemployment data appear to reflect big advances for women. The jobless rate in August for females 20 years and older was 6.3 percent, the lowest since December 2008, compared with 7.1 percent for men. As recently as January, the rate was 7.3 percent for both genders, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    The downside is that the gains have been largely in lower-paying industries such as waitresses, in-home health care, food preparation and housekeeping. About 60 percent of the increase in employment for women from 2009 to 2012 was in jobs that pay less than $10.10 an hour, compared with 20 percent for men, according to a study by the National Women’s Law Center using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    1. This bit is uh, interesting:

      Honard, 22, who graduated from Syracuse University in May, works about 25 hours a week at the restaurant while looking for a job related to public policy. She moved to Washington four days after graduation with the hope of finding a position at a think tank or policy-related organization, she said, and has applied to about 20 prospective employers.

      “The response has been minimal,” said Honard, whose degree focused on education, health and human services. “There are two ways of looking at it. I could be extremely frustrated and be bitter, or I can make the most of it, and I’m trying to take the latter approach.”

      We wouldn’t hire a 22yo here to do anything but the most menial of tasks.

      1. John

        No one is getting a job at a think tank without at least a masters and probably a PHD. Think tanks are the most over credentialed and inbreed organizations imaginable. And they really don’t pay that well. Pretty much anyone who is good at a field will go work in the field for real money rather than get a PHD to think about it.

        Honard got terrible career counseling. Who told her that she could get a BA and move to Washington and do anything but wait tables or maybe open letters and give the odd blowjob to some Congress creature?

        1. Someone hired Ezra – how high could DC’s standards be?

          1. John

            I didn’t think he worked for a think tank. Ezra just bloviated on the web and got the Post to hire him. No think tank would hire him.

      2. Auric Demonocles

        She moved to Washington four days after graduation with the hope of finding a position

        I found (one of) her mistakes. Also she thinks 20 applications is a lot.

      3. Tonio

        degree focused on education, health and human services

        So, schoolteacher (assuming this focus included teaching credentials), welfare case worker, or something similar. And she’ll be competing against people with way more experience, and who may have MPA/MPH degrees.

        Sorry, Hon, practice your waitressing skills.

        1. hotsy totsy

          She’ll probably make more money as a waitress than a welfare case worker. Possibly contribute more to society as well.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    If it’s OK to force people to pay taxes, what exactly is so abhorrent about drafting people?

    “None of them Viet Congs ever called me nigger.”

    1. PD Scott

      If the US Govt was any good at PsyOps, they would have filmed some (reputed) VC doing exactly that.

  47. sarcasmic

    Cop caught on video forcing three family members to lie in the road at gunpoint after minor traffic dispute spiraled out of control in quiet neighborhood

    Officer Eric Hart has been suspended after footage of him forcing three members of a family to lie on the road went viral
    The incident happened after Hart stopped Cassandra Meyers because of a license plate violation
    Her father-in-law Aaron Tatkowski arrived and took exception to how the officer was speaking to her
    The situation escalated and soon Hart had Tatkowski, his girlfriend and 15-year-old son all on the ground as he pointed his weapon at them
    Local residents near Toledo, Ohio, captured the incident on video and posted it on YouTube
    Both Tatkowski and Meyers were charged with related offenses

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..spute.html

    Both Officer Hart’s report and the official response from Washington Township Police state that because the ‘suspects’ in this case were disobeying direct orders, the use of force and unholstering of weapons (at one point a taser also made an appearance) was justified.

    1. sarcasmic

      Oh, and he’s on paid vacation until it blows over.

      1. some guy

        When will cops learn that damn near everyone has a video camera in their pocket these days?

        1. sarcasmic

          Why should they care? The worst thing that ever happens is a paid vacation.

          1. Tonio

            ^This.

  48. sarcasmic

    Father offers a date with his step-daughter on Craigslist after she is stood up… and even throws in tickets to a football game

    Gary Yates offered ticket to take Jessica Flanagan after her date pulled out
    He says he’s been inundated with offers to accompany the 27-year-old
    But advert – since removed – did not reveal he would be chaperoning

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..slist.html

  49. sarcasmic

    Double-dose of John/Hyperion pron!

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..itcom.html

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..ikini.html

    1. John

      You really can’t stay out of either ditch can you? Every women you post is either a whale that makes your eyes burn or some kind of starvation victim.

      You have very odd taste in women. They either have to be super fat or super thin, never in the middle.

    2. SugarFree

      Rebel Wilson needs to go away. She’s terribly unfunny.

      1. RBS

        Agreed.

      2. sarcasmic

        Other than being some broad broad that the DM likes to write about, I have no clue as to who she is.

        1. SugarFree

          Fat, unfunny Australian that all the feminist sites are in love with. In a couple of terrible movies, has her own terrible-looking sitcom this fall.

          1. sarcasmic

            One of those deals where you’re supposed to like her not because of her work, but because if you don’t then you’re intolerant of fat people?

            1. SugarFree

              Yup. Like Lindy West, she only gets work because of her weight.

              Born on first base, ate their way to a triple, and think they hit a homerun.

              1. John

                That is awesome. I guess Lena Dunham and West prove that being fat is the best way for a female comedian to get ahead.

  50. Is there a map for this place?

    Sold for Sex at Puberty Village Girls’ Fate in India

    Like many Indian girls, Suchitra was taught her future profession by her mother. In her village, there was only one path. Even before she’d reached puberty, Suchitra had learned different sexual positions and other ways to please a customer.

    At age 14, a man she had never seen before showed up one day at the family’s house near Bharatpur in northern India. At her mother’s urging, Suchitra got into his car. Six hours later they reached their destination. It was a brothel in New Delhi’s red-light district. She had been sent into sexual servitude.

    1. My church’s “mission of the month” was fundraising for an Indian law firm that chases down the procurers and brothers and gets the kids freed and helped.

      I would almost rather we raised money for a hit squad…

      1. Calidissident

        Where’s Liam Neeson when you need him?

  51. Sevo

    Gov’ts require (or “suggest”) arbitrary food dating, are surprised when good food gets wasted!
    Take away: Gov’t action is typically really, really dumb:

    “Masses of food wasted – ‘use by’ dates mislead”
    “Emily Broad Leib, director of Harvard’s Food Law and Policy Clinic and co-author of the report, said a welter of state laws and voluntary labeling regimes came into being during the 1970s, after Congress failed to devise a uniform standard.”
    http://www.sfgate.com/science/…..825974.php

    1. sarcasmic

      I still haven’t been able to convince my wife that food dates don’t matter. If it smells good and tastes good and doesn’t have anything fuzzy on it and isn’t buggy, then it’s still good. But she still periodically goes and throws a bunch of good food in the trash just because some stupid stamp tells her to.

      1. WTF

        At least I finally got my wife to ask me if food is still good before she chucks it. I give it the sniff test and make a ruling.

      2. Tonio

        Stupidist thing evah: expiration date on salt. That’s right, salt. A mineral which in crystaline form is extremely hostile to bacteria. A mineral which was (likely) mined from the ground after sitting around for millions of years. Derp.

  52. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles

    Did we do Starbucks sort-of reversing its gun policy yesterday?

    Starbucks says guns are no longer welcome in its cafes, though it is stopping short of an outright ban on firearms.

    1. BigT

      Starbucks’ “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” us about guns.

    2. UnCivilServant

      I’d boycott them, but since I don’t drink coffee, I never did business with them in the first place.

      1. Cascadian Ephor Xenocles

        They said on the radio that Schultz’s memo was a direct response to the buycotts held periodically by gun rights advocates in appreciation for the old policy.

        1. UnCivilServant

          I’m confused.

  53. some guy

    The naval base in Newport, Rhode Island did not appear to inform anyone else at the Navy of Aaron Alexis’ complaint to police about voices in his head and unknown persons following him and trying to attack him with vibrations.

    How many similar complaints are made each year across the armed services? How could anyone have picked Alexis out of all the other complaints that weren’t precursors to violence?

    There are a lot of crazy people out there and you have to balance, security with privacy and resources.

    1. John

      That is just it. It only looks bad now because we know what happened. Go to the other extreme and there will be a million stories of how the Navy is picking on the mentally ill.

      1. Ed

        I don’t know, seems pretty reasonable to me that people who hear voices shouldn’t be Navy contractors. Does that make me an ablist or something?

        1. Mike M.

          We used to put these extremely crazy people in mental institutions where most of them belong. Now we ignore them, wait until they lose it and kill a bunch of people, and then take them out.

          I suppose the modern way of dealing with it is a lot cheaper from a cold cost-benefit anslysis standpoint. But the old way of dealing with them seems a lot more humane to me, both for the lunatics and their innocent victims.

    2. Tonio

      Does anyone know if HIPAA or employee privacy rules prevented them from doing this?

      BTW, I’ve been hammering my friends on how this was a purely a failure of several levels of government, but am getting nowhere.

  54. The Late P Brooks

    Spoiler – I bought him the goddamned costume.

    When he gets cuffed and maced by the school resource (WTF) officer for bringing his toy M-16 to school on costume day, he’ll understand.

    1. Get him a stuffed dog to shoot.

  55. BigT

    Government biofuels:

    Come for the Incompetence

    The Inspector-General says money was properly spent, but not always well-spent, as the DOE allocated $600 million to biofuels commercialization over 7 years yet fell short of RFS targets

    Stay for the Corruption:

    Victims Lost $100M in Alleged Biofuels Fraud Scheme

  56. Bo Cara Esq.

    Did you know you were being forced to pay for FX’s Sons of Anarchy? According to this SoCon group you are.

    -The school shooting scene was a transparent attempt to gin up controversy and draw attention and viewers to his sick, grotesquely violent biker show. Sutter, his program, and FX all stand to profit by this episode exploiting last December’s tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut.

    The bottom line is this: Kurt Sutter aired an episode of his ultra-violent TV show ? a show only a tiny minority of Americans watch, but which all are forced to pay for. In it, he exploited the real-life mass murder of children, for his own profit, under the phony guise of making a statement against violence.

    http://w2.parentstv.org/blog/i…..hypocrisy/

    1. Tonio

      Didn’t RTFA, but how was anyone forced to pay for this?

      1. Winston

        Apparently the author is referring to something called Cable Choice.

      2. Winston

        Apparently the author is referring to something called Cable Choice.

    2. MJGreen

      I was going to watch the premiere tonight. That must be the big shocking event of the episode.

      Thanks for spoiling it, socon bastards!

  57. The Late P Brooks

    She moved to Washington four days after graduation with the hope of finding a position at a think tank or policy-related organization

    Another dream crushed into the dust. Just buy a nice dress and start turning tricks.

    1. John

      No silly, this is Washington. She does that by going to work in Congress.

    2. WTF

      Sounds like all the waiters and waitresses in NY and LA who are ‘really’ actors and actresses.

  58. sarcasmic

    EXCLUSIVE: Two decades after her affair with Bill Clinton, Gennifer Flowers reveals they’d be together now if it wasn’t for Chelsea and how former president confided in her that Hillary was bisexual

    Flowers’s 12-year affair with Bill Clinton was exposed in 1992 during his presidential campaign
    She bitterly regrets rejecting him when he last begged to see her and says he’s the ‘love of her life’
    Launching a career as a sex columnist she says Clinton taught her everything she knows
    Bill told her Hillary was ‘bisexual’ and that he had ‘no problem with that’

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..elsea.html

    Paging Barfman. Barfman to the Morning Links please.

    1. WTF

      former president confided in her that Hillary was bisexual

      There’s a shocker.

    2. widget

      She bitterly regrets rejecting him when he last begged to see her

      No. Bill Clinton is alpha to the core. He wouldn’t add a “please” to “Suck my dick.”

      1. widget

        Or maybe that should be William Jefferson Clinton, not Bill. But my favorite is Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Senator. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. I just want to shoot a Yankee every time I read that, even though I am one.

    3. Tonio

      Allegations like that are made with surprising regularity by philandering husbands against their wives.

  59. The Late P Brooks

    Starbucks says guns are no longer welcome in its cafes, though it is stopping short of an outright ban on firearms.

    Some dumb motherfucker, described as a “corporate image consultant”, was on Bloomberg this morning talking about the insufferable horror poor oppressed suburban mothers pushing overpriced strollers containing overpriced children would experience if they were in Starbucks and some depraved monster with a perfecly legal firearm came in and ordered a cup of coffee. And, like, OMG that guy could actually sit down and drink it on the premises!

    The horror.

    The HORROR!

    1. Auric Demonocles

      And how do they feel about the guys who don’t want to see someone breastfeeding in the cafe?

      1. If I saw a woman breastfeeding in a Starbucks, I’d have a hard time not asking for a cream topoff.

        1. WTF

          lulz – I’ve gotta remember that one in case I ever get the opportunity to use it.

        2. Auric Demonocles

          Technically I never said it was a woman doing the breastfeeding…

        3. PD Scott

          Open-carrying breastfeeding women in Starbucks.

    2. Tonio

      The good part about this is that hoplophobic suburban moms are soft-boycotting Starbucks on Saturday. Bad news for MILF-watchers, but good news for everyone who wants an overpriced coffee drink in a relatively entitlement-free zone.

    3. Steve G

      Would never have happened if the gun owners hadn’t turned around and made a big freakin deal about it turning Starbucks into a political ‘battleground’… Frankly I don’t blame the CEO a bit for this toothless gesture.

  60. widget

    Meanwhile, John McCain’s response in Pravda to Vladimir Putin’s New York Times op-ed on intervention in Syria focused on telling Russians Putin didn’t respect their dignity or accept their authority.

    I am from California. I am willing to wear a hair shirt and flog myself for next Lent for being present while Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were elected senators, repeatedly. Pertinence might not be the best way go about seeking redemption, but my Roman Catholic upbringing lets me know it’s worth a try. But first I want to know what my fellows in Arizona are going to do in kind.

    1. Maybe they could go hug a barrel cactus?

  61. The Late P Brooks

    Bill told her Hillary was ‘bisexual’ and that he had ‘no problem with that’

    “That’s great, Honey. Have a nice time, and try not to wake me up when you get home.”

    1. widget

      The “B” in LGBT seems to sputtering out, while the “T” ascends.

  62. widget

    Penitence, not Pertinence. This is why we need government.

  63. John

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..-hers.html

    What happened to Famke Janssen? When she was a Bond girl she was amazing. Now she looks like an anorexic grade school marm. What a shame.

    1. SugarFree

      the 47-year-old X-Men star

      There’s your answer, fishbulb.

      1. John

        Selma Hayek is in her late 40s. She still looks good. So is Sandra Bulluck. I don’t expect her to look like she did in her 20s. But wow, she should look better than that.

  64. Virginian

    http://legalinsurrection.com/2…..-be-alive/

    1. John

      How the hell did that rule not get repealed after 911? Forget this nut for a moment. The terrorist threat such as it is is more than anything small groups or individuals walking pulling off small attacks. The government claims the battlefield is world wide. Okay, then why are we disarming our military on post?

      Obama apparently trusts Al Quada in Syria with arms more than he trusts our own service men and women here in the US.

      1. Virginian

        Bureaucratic CYA. If you change a policy, and a negative result occurs, you will be blamed. If you leave bad policy in place, it’s the other guy’s fault.

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