A.M. Links: Not Enough Drone Strikes For Top House Republican, Bill Clinton Says Vladimir Putin is Trustworthy, George H.W. Bush Attends Gay Wedding

• 

  Kremlin

  Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is concerned that the number of drone strikes are going down even as a number of terrorist attacks get in the news.

• Bill Clinton says Vladimir Putin is a man to be trusted (can he see into his soul like Bush did?), but that the US will "just have to see what happens" when it comes to the Syria deal.
• George H. W. Bush, meanwhile, attended a gay wedding in Maine.
• The FBI says Aaron Alexis, the Washington Navy Yard shooter, was delusional  and believed he was being manipulated by electromagnetic waves.
• A councilwoman in Philadelphia dropped plans to throw a fundraiser for her personal debts and expenses after the Board of Ethics expressed serious reservations.
• A former Nashville cop was arrested after being indicted on one charge related to using police resources while he was a cop to get his ex-girlfriend fired.
• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani  acknowledged the Holocaust happened after previously dodging the question in an NBC News interview. In that interview he said he was not a historian, while this time he insisted the matter of "scale" should be left up to them. The previous Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was a Holocaust denier.
• Two supermarket chains in Britain apologized for carrying a Halloween costume billed as "mental patient." It included a blood-splattered strait jacket and a meat cleaver. Mental illness advocacy groups were upset.

Follow Reason and Reason 24/7 on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.  You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here. Have a news tip? Send it to us!

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

George H. W. Bush, meanwhile, attended a gay wedding in Maine.

And his socks were the gayest thing there.

[invisible furry hand]

meh. It's only news if he was a groom

[Ted S.]

At least we can't marry our kangaroos like they do in Australia.

[ora44]

Start working at home with Google. It's the most-financialy rewarding I've ever done. On tuesday I got a gorgeous BMW after having earned $7439 this last month. I actually started five months/ago and practically straight away was bringin in at least $74, per-hour. visit this site right here http://www.Pow6.com
(WORK LESS EARN MORE)

[Snark Plissken]

Not gun doit. Not gun doit.

[Snark Plissken]

George H. W. Bush, meanwhile, attended a gay wedding in Maine.

Only so he could oppress them, I'm sure.

[Brett L]

Say what you will about 41, he has the noblesse oblige thing down.

[CE]

He wanted to let down conservatives, one last time.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Two supermarket chains in Britain apologized for carrying a Halloween costume billed as "mental patient."

But it's still fine every October to make fun of people who have become vampires through no fault of their own.

[Rich]

It included a blood-splattered strait jacket and a meat cleaver. Mental illness advocacy groups were upset.

Should have included a sawed-off shotgun and a security badge, I suppose.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I thought the *point* of Halloween was to have scary and offensive costumes. Wusses.

[Auric Demonocles]

No, it's to have keg parties with slutty nurse costumes. And slutty cat costumes. And...

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Go on...

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, there's slutty cop. There's slutty teacher. There's slutty mermaid. There's...

[KDN]

The Crow. Never forget The Crow.

[invisible furry hand]

...slutty Bill Maher...

[Raven Nation]

OMG: now THAT would be one terrifying costume.

[Rich]

... slutty Nancy Pelosi.

[Raven Nation]

SHIT! Now I don't know who is worse, you or IFH.

[invisible furry hand]

Rich, keep going. Let's break Raven Nation's brain for lulz

[Rich]

... slutty Henry Waxman.

I defer to SugarFree for more.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Slutty Golda Meir?

[invisible furry hand]

...slutty Paul Krugman...

[SugarFree]

... slutty Henry Waxman.

I defer to SugarFree for more.

Nope, you nailed it. I'll be in my bunk. Crying.

[Raven Nation]

Yep, Rich won. I'm going to be bent over the porcelain god for much of the day.

[Pelosi's Accommodator]

Slutty Barney Frank.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Slutty slut

[Lord Humungus]

my wife once went as a "slutty pit crew member" - just wore a racing suit zipped down.

[Auric Demonocles]

I hope she made some innuendos about screwing off the tires or something.

[Rich]

"Check your dip stick?"

[Jerryskids]

My favorite Halloween costume was when two of our buddies showed up together. One was dyed green wearing the shredded pants like the Hulk, the other was wearing just the shredded pants but no green skin. We thought he was at least a little creative showing up as the post-Hulk Bruce Banner but he informed us that he wasn't the Hulk or Bruce Banner. He was a premature ejaculation, he just came in his pants.

[The DerpRider]

My favorite was two friends who made a cardboard mock up of the white bronco and went and OJ and Al Cowlings. Priceless.

[Bee Tagger]

Wear a turtleneck next time. I have no sympathy.

[Lord Humungus]

Theft of US weapons in Libya involved hundreds of guns, sources say

Along with the GMV's, hundreds of weapons are now missing, including roughly 100 Glock pistols and more than 100 M4 rifles. More disturbing, according to the sources, is that it seems almost every set of night-vision goggles has also been taken. This is advanced technology that gives very few war fighters an advantage on the battlefield.

"It's not just equipment ... it's the capability. You are giving these very dangerous groups the capability that only a few nations are capable of," one source said. "Already assassinations are picking up in Tripoli and there are major worries that the militias are using this stolen equipment to their advantage. All these militias are tied into terrorist organizations and are tied to (salafists)."

[Matrix]

just another nontroversy!

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Fast and Furious II, Tripoli Bugaloo.

[Bee Tagger]

Nicely done.

[Cyto]

Only a few advanced nations..... and people who can search the internet and have a few hundred bucks....

[Lord Humungus]

that's what I was thinking - can't you buy these on Amazon?

[T]

You can't buy good NVDs for less than about 4-5 grand a pop. Last time I priced Gen 3+ that was the range. The export regs are byzantine at best, but basically, if it's worth a shit, it's non-exportable.

Yeah, shitty old Gen 1 is easy to get, but not what these guys stole.

[Lord Humungus]

gotcha - not up on the latest 'n' greatest.

[Cyto]

Several sellers have gen 4 goggles available for around 8 grand. Not exportable, but is it really that hard for a world-wide terrorist network to order stuff here and ship it?

Stealing a bunch of these probably got the top-of-the-line version in the hands of some locals who wouldn't have even thought to buy anything, but it is doubtful that this is a big game-changer. The major advantage these provide is in dynamic, tactical situations where improved sensitivity, depth perception and field-of-view are an advantage.

In the "sniper" scenario touted by officials in the article a simple $500 hunting scope should do the trick just as well. And if you can afford a few grand for a nice sniper rifle, you could probably spend a couple of grand on a nice night vision scope for your rifle.

[Cyto]

BTW,searching for the availability of the NV and sniper equipment lead me to the Violence Policy Center's report on Criminal Use of the 50 Caliber Sniper Rifle.

They attempt to refute this statement from the NRA:

"The simple fact is that .50-calibers have not been used in crimes,"
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulandam, Associated Press, August 18, 2004

They have a long list of "crimes" committed involving the rifle. I didn't read them all, but it seems they all are of the nature "guy was arrested and owned a 50 cal gun" or "guy was arrested for trying to sell a stolen 50 cal gun". The one real use of a 50 cal as a sniper rifle was from Mexico.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Has anyone noticed that the more the govt wants to restrict me from getting a gun, the more guns it gives to crazier people overseas?

[Matrix]

Is CrossFit libertarian?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

How hard is it to understand that libertarianism is a political outlook and nothing else?!

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Look, we're never going to be taken seriously until we have things that are us.

Bacon, it's libertarian.

[gaijin]

until we have things that are us.

Indeed. Big 'L' libertarians are the blackberry of smartphones. Small, 'l', well there everywhere, in lots of form factors...like android.

[PD Scott]

This is why there are no Kosher or Halal libertarians.

[jesse.in.mb]

Stop othering the non-existent Hari Krishna libertarians.

[DJF]

I thought it was an excuse to wear a top hat and monocle while carrying a silver tipped cane.

[Lord Humungus]

I came for the politics, I stayed for the fashion.

[PD Scott]

Would adding spats bring the whole thing together or are they an accessory too far?

[creech]

"Would adding spats bring the whole thing together or are they an accessory too far?"

Add only if matched with striped pants.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I'm actually thinking of dressing in a top hat, cane & monocle for Halloween.

[Lady Bertrum]

Don't you mean a slutty top hat, cane and monocle?

[Elspeth Flashman]

Yes.

[Lord Humungus]

oh yeah...

[BakedPenguin]

There's no monocle or cane, but this design is nice.

[Raven Nation]

"libertarianism is a political outlook and nothing else"

True, but one reason for leftist success in the last 40 years or so is that work their values into all aspects of the culture. To promote libertarian ideas, you're going to have to apply them in cultural factors as well. Or at least offer cultural analogies.

[VG Zaytsev]

We've got South Park - that's a pretty good start.

[Pathogen]

Robber barons are people too, quit objectifying them...

[Brett L]

In the larger article, the Xfit boss is cited boasting to reason about his and his top staffmembers' libertarian bona fides. Which means nothing to me, because the dude has obviously megamaniacal tendancies. Its about the same as hearing Bill Clinton talk about his conservatism at a church appearance.

[PM]

Here's the interview in question, if you're interested: http://reason.com/reasontv/201.....-and-the-c

[Brett L]

Culty, check.
Full of assholes with superiority complexes, check.
Thinks they are on their way to conquering the world, check.

Looks like it.

[Lady Bertrum]

Not all Crossfits are full of assholes. Some very regular people work-out at a Crossfit (waving hand in air). The owners set the tone.

[Steve G]

concur. I credit crossfit with me even stumbling upon this concept of libertarianism...and paleo. Something about critical thinking or something.

https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/6d606a0b7d31

[Raston Bot]

How do you reconcile that with all the crossfit women?

[Hillary's Clitdong]

They were dazzled by the monocles and the promises of tight buns.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

They're usually hot and in shape, plus if we keep them out of breath, they cannot speak.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A councilwoman in Philadelphia dropped plans to throw a fundraiser for her personal debts and expenses and the Board of Ethics expressed serious reservations.

That's unbelievable. Philadelphia has a board of ethics?

[UnCivilServant]

Hey, even New York does - it's an accoutremont of the corrupt to rubber stamp their less eggregious actions and to attack political opponents.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Yes, and they would have ruled in her favor had she slipped them a nice fat envelop of cash...

[RickC]

How many times have I seen this in sitcoms and movies. Guy claims that he's deserving of charity, everybody laughs, nobody takes him seriously or another character declares him disgusting. Apparently, Philly councilwoman didn't get the joke.

[Pathogen]

Yeah, they meet the last Tuesday of every September (if the moon is in the 7th house), it was just poor timing on her part...

[Bee Tagger]

It included a blood-splattered strait jacket and a meat cleaver. Mental illness advocacy groups were upset.

What about the butcher advocacy groups? What are they, chopped liver?

[gaijin]

They're all just a bunch of cut ups

[UnCivilServant]

No, I do believe they produce other cuts as well.

[CE]

Stop ribbing them.

[Lord Humungus]

DC delays key pieces of ObamaCare exchange

The ObamaCare exchange serving Washington, D.C. is delaying important parts of its operations less than a week before it is scheduled to open for enrollment.

Washington's exchange said Wednesday that it will not be ready on Oct. 1 to calculate the tax subsidies people can receive to help purchase private insurance.

The D.C. exchange also will not immediately be able to determine eligibility for Medicaid.

[gaijin]

So, what exactly will it be able to do?

[C. Anacreon]

So, what exactly will it be able to do?

Run expensive tv commercials about all the great things it does, for YOU.

[Lord Humungus]

Ya think?

Welsh language campaigners want village of Varteg to be renamed 'Farteg' - but villagers fear it will make them the butt of playground jokes

[Brett L]

I hear Pooteg was also rejected.

[Bee Tagger]

Yet no one is concerned about their villagers frequenting playgrounds?

[UnCivilServant]

Upwards of fifteen children a year die in playground accidents in the United States alone. Won't someone think of the chillunz1!?

[robc]

Only fifteen?

Need to bring back the monkey bars.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

And stock them with angry monkeys.

[invisible furry hand]

and have a really cool house band

[Gadianton]

And the hard rubber mats.

[gaijin]

Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is concerned that the number of drone strikes are going down...

Ironic position you have their Mr Rogers.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Hello kids, today we're going to drone some terrorists. And since we're doing it in the Land of Make-Believe, we'll only drone people who have been convicted of terrorism and we won't inflict any collateral damage. Hooray!"

[gaijin]

haha! But King Friday XIII will still lose much sleep over it all.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Dilbert argues with Tony

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I think I am going to officially stay off any threads where Shitweasel the Sockpuppet makes his debut. Its so painful to watch.

[Lord Humungus]

Not that I'm complaining, but I haven't seen shreek for a few days - of course I've been more inactive lately due to work.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

He's off gleefully counting his vast gains from shorting gold.

[Mainer2]

Not painful...boring.
Booooooooooring.

[waffles]

believed he was being manipulated by electromagnetic waves

Whether you believe it or not, we are manipulated by electromagnetic waves. It's silly to think otherwise.

[DJF]

I have been manipulated by gravity for years.

[Brett L]

Actually, I'm pretty sure they've used the big magnets in nMRIs to manipulate animals.

[UnCivilServant]

Without them, I'd never see the sarcasm and smarm coming from reason.com commentators.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The FBI says Aaron Alexis, the Washington Navy Yard shooter, was delusional...

So delusional that he thought he was carrying an AR-15.

[Rich]

Nice.

[Lord Humungus]

15% in US shun Internet; most intend to stay offline

The survey released Wednesday found that in addition to the 15 percent of adults who don't use the Internet on any device, another nine percent say they only go online at their workplace.

The report by the Pew Research Center found a whopping 92 percent of these "offline adults" with no interest in using the Internet or email in the near future.

[Bee Tagger]

They should really name names so that I know to whom to hitch my wagon when the cylons attack.

[C. Anacreon]

This is like my 77-year-old father. Never been on a computer, doesn't even own a basic cell phone. He does like cable TV though. I mean, he really likes cable tv.

[Spoonman.]

My 88-year-old grandmother is a Kindle Fire fiend.

[Matrix]

Ctrl-Alt-Del was a mistake, says Bill Gates.

[Ted S.]

I swear this wasn't here when I posted. (H&R takes so fucking long to load. I've tried Ghostery and Adblock, and neither work for me, only slowing things down further.)

[Snark Plissken]

I don't remember seeing it either. Squirrels!

[CE]

Seems like it discriminates against people who only have one hand. Or people who happen to be holding something in the other.

[Ted S.]

Bill Gates admits Ctrl-Alt-Delete was a mistake

[Auric Demonocles]

If only you had Ctrl+Z.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Having the 3 finger salute instead of a single button reduced accidental reboots, didn't it?

[Auric Demonocles]

Yeah, I actually like it was probably better to make it require multiple buttons than have a single button you might hit on accident.

[db]

Headlines from 2033:

"Sergei Brin admits multiple stage Android unlock gestures were a mistake, citing the lost potential for billions of hilarious butt-dialings."

[Jerryskids]

I suspect the lack of accidental reboots was the mistake Gates was talking about. Windows is so buggy and rebooting fixes so many of the bug instances that accidentally rebooting every once in a while would make Windos appear to run better than it really does.

[CatoTheElder]

I always thought Alt-Control-Delete was a good idea because it was difficult to inadvertently reboot.

[UnCivilServant]

Especially when you get the combination wrong. You must abide by the established syntax! Even when they are simulteneously depressed!

These keys are depressed too often, should I medicate them?

[Snark Plissken]

If only that was the worst thing about Windows.

[Rhywun]

If only that was the worst thing about Windows.

Right?

Also, I like this one:
"Earlier this year the Microsoft chairman admitted that the software maker didn't nail the mobile market when it had the opportunity."

I think he is confusing "mistake" for "missed an opportunity to rake in billions". Unless millions of Windows users were suffering from the lack of more Windows mobile stuff.

[Bee Tagger]

I think he messed up the lyrics to Public Enemy's 9-1-1 song.

[PM]

I wonder if it would be too ironic at this point to make the Windows key the reboot key...

[UnCivilServant]

I'm still confused by the claim by the IBM engineer that you can't hit Ctrl-Alt-Del with one hand. the right ctrl, right alt keys are close enough to the delete key that I by habit lock the computer with them.

[CE]

Those are the fancy new keyboards though. The old ones only had one set of keys.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

IRS Watchdog: $67 Million Missing from Obamacare Slush Fund
WASHINGTON, D.C. ? The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today. ...

[Slammer]

And think about what happens if you shorted the IRS on your return and said, "Well, it's missing, I don't know where it is."

[C. Anacreon]

Aww! They could have used that money to restore White House tours!

[Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Speaking of White House Tours -
I am taking the family to DC next week, first time for all of us. What still available tour is the best worth it?
Are the bike tours worth it?
Spy Museum?
Anything else around there worth checking out - my children are 8 and 12.

[Gasguzzler]

We took the nieces to the Natural History museum (Lucy is taller than I expected) over 2 days and could have spent another week there. Spy Museum is very cool (a certain 1964 Aston Martin DB5 was there, modified by Q Branch of course). Next time we want to hit the Art museum and the Air & Space.

[VG Zaytsev]

Did they try looking in Obama's personal investment accounts?

[Snark Plissken]

A former Nashville cop was arrested after being indicted on one charge related to using police resources while he was a cop to get his ex-girlfriend fired.

That sex tape was made when his dashcam mysteriously mis-functioned.

[Ken Shultz]

"Bill Clinton says Vladimir Putin is a man to be trusted"

Putin can be trusted to sell out American interests to whatever is in his own best interests, but then that could be said of both Clinton and Obama, too, so I guess he's right in that sense.

Vladamir Putin is a man to be trusted.

[Rich]

The FBI says Aaron Alexis, the Washington Navy Yard shooter, was delusional

Sheesh, just set up delusion-free zones.

[waffles]

Then there would be no such thing as political blogs!

[PM]

Would seem a shame to leave all those buildings in DC vacant too...

[Lord Humungus]

Wild pigs menace suburban Atlanta

She said the animals were no laughing matter for neighborhood children, however, noting that some were now afraid to leave the safety of their homes.

"My children are even afraid to be downstairs, worried that he (the pig) could come through the door," Danner said.

Descendents of wild boar, the feral pigs are a particular pest in rural Georgia and notorious for damaging farmer's crops, said Charlie Killmaster, a deer and feral hog biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

[gaijin]

Charlie Killmaster? That dude was born to be the solution to this problem

[Brett L]

Our Ag Secretary in FL for several years was Charlie Bronson -- who should obviously have been the FDLE boss instead.

[Pathogen]

And there was nothing quite as dignified as going to the office of Charles Bronson to get a CCW permit...

[Tejicano]

The attorney general of AZ who signed my first NFA transfer application (federal form to buy a machinegun) went on to become the director of the NRA. I always thought that was cool to have his personal autograph on that form.

[Brett L]

Does an AR have the stopping power to down a boar, or should I switch to my AK? I mean a Mosin-Nagant obviously has the stopping power, but I'd be worried about "stopping" 5 people well into the next county after shooting the pig.

[WTF]

I wouldn't go after a wild boar with .223 ammo.

[waffles]

22lr for me, maximum sport.

[UnCivilServant]

Does it even notice?

[Pathogen]

An ear or neck shot rocks the gently to sleep...

[waffles]

Actually I think it would be extremely dangerous. I don't recommend 22lr for anything larger than a squirrel.

[BakedPenguin]

I remember some friends going hog hunting, and one of them said he was going to being his .22. Another one looked up and said in his Georgia drawl "What for? You want to piss him off before I shoot him?"

[Tejicano]

Get an upper assembly in 458 SOCOM or something serious and you'll do fine.

[Steve G]

If its in the city, I'd take them out with a bow/crossbow. I'm currently enjoying "urban archery" deer season here in the DC suburbs...

[R C Dean]

As someone who has shot some feral hogs, two things to keep in mind:

(1) They are tough targets, both in terms of their skin, the bone around their vitals, and their general hardiness.

(2) They are vicious and mean and will kill you and call all their friends over to eat your corpse.

There's no such thing as too much gun. There is definitely such a thing as not enough gun. Make your decision based on whether your want to eat bacon, or become bacon.

[Matrix]

why not shoot it and make bacon?

(I don't eat pig, but I'm all for them doing so)

[gaijin]

serious question...is boar tasty like big fat hogs or is it tough/gamey?

[Pathogen]

Tough and gamey, the older/bigger ones tend to get a hard callous shielding... best to make sausage or pulled pork out of if you don't intend to trap/capture and feed them out first.

[Pelosi's Accommodator]

Definitely gamey.

[gaijin]

and I guess I should ask if ferral hogs are dissimilar from boars/farm pigs.

[UnCivilServant]

Feral hogs tend to be second generation escapees rather than wild boars. Some are interbred with boars, but most re-develop the bristle coat even without boar blood added. Genetically there's not much difference, but the appearance is dramatic.

[UnCivilServant]

*Genetically not different from farm pigs but appear more like wild boars.

[CE]

And people think evolution only works in one direction, or that changes in a species aren't just adaptations to an environment, based on previously installed code.

[Jon Lester]

To me, the real story is why anyone thinks this is unusual, because we have wild boar in northeast GA, so DeKalb County ought to be well within their range.

Farther south, quite a few Russian boar are running wild, the inevitable result of someone letting a few loose, though I'm not sure if it was deliberate or if their game reserve was less secure than they thought.

[Ted S.]

Charlie Killmaster, a deer and feral hog biologist

I didn't know deer could be biologists.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

They don't seem to last too long on the payroll - hunting season and collisions with cars dontchaknow.

[PD Scott]

Freezing up in staff meetings?

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Not only is this particular deer a biologist, but he's a hog biologist who has gone feral.

[Ted S.]

And nobody seems to be commenting on the fact that this deer can talk.

[Lord Humungus]

haven't you ever been on a vision quest?

[UnCivilServant]

Sorry, I read that as 'venison quest'. I must be hungry.

[Slammer]

And Balko didn't report about it?

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Hog is only one letter off from dog, after all.

[CE]

I blame Hernando de Soto and the Army of Florida.

[The Late P Brooks]

Mental illness advocacy groups were upset.

Crazy is cool! Get on the train to Bedlam!

[Lord Humungus]

Man gives Deltona cashier envelope with cocaine

Message to Deltona residents: It's not OK to pay your water bill with cocaine.

Employees at the Deltona Water office on Enterprise Road were evacuated this morning, Sept. 23, after a customer handed a cashier an envelope with a white powder in it.

[gaijin]

imagine how mad his dealer is going to be when he opens up the envelope and finds a check made out to the Water office.

[Scotticus Finch]

Wait, why is he giving his dealer cocaine?

[Pathogen]

Private couriers always fuck that up, should have used the post office.

[gaijin]

^Excellent

[gaijin]

oops. He would be the dealer, yes.

[Jerryskids]

Well it is at least nice to know that they had to have it tested to find out it was crack cocaine, apparently nobody at the Deltona water department, fire department or sheriffs office knew what it was. Here where I live I suspect pretty much all the government employees are much more intimately familiar with crack cocaine.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

New report undercuts global warming alarmists
...The religious analogy is appropriate because belief in global warming has taken on the trappings of traditional religion.

Alarmists like to say the science is settled ? which is nonsense, since science is a series of theories that can be tested by observations. When Einstein presented his theory of relativity he showed how it could be tested during astronomical events in the next decade. The theory passed.

Saying the science is settled is demanding what religions demand, that you have faith.

Religion has ritual. Global warming alarmism has recycling and Earth Day celebrations.

Some religions persecute heretics. Some global warming alarmists identify "denialists" and liken them to Holocaust deniers.

Religions build grand places of worship. Global warming alarmists promote the construction of windmills and solar farms that produce uneconomic and intermittent electricity.

Global warming alarmism even has indulgences like the ones Martin Luther protested. You can buy carbon offsets to gain forgiveness for travel on carbon-emitting private jet aircraft.

Some religions ban vulgar pleasures, like the New England Puritan sumptuary laws banning luxuries. Some global warming alarmists want to force most Americans out of big-lawn suburbs into high-rise apartments clustered around mass transit stations....

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Warmists/progressives did start out as left wing evangelicals, after all.

[gaijin]

I don't know, it seems to me you might need to visit the DMV and confess your sin of non-belief

[VG Zaytsev]

And before long the DMV would be molesting little boys.

[sarcasmic]

But the scientists are really smart! Are you really smart? I don't think you're as smart as them! They must be right because they're really smart! Did I mention that they're really smart?

/Tony

[gaijin]

Don;t forget, that be agreeing with people who are really smart, that makes you really smart too! Not like those dumb people who disagree with you (and the scientists)

[sarcasmic]

I know it! I mean, really smart people watch the Daily Show, so if I watch the Daily Show I'll be like really smart and stuff!

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Consensus and all that

[Tejicano]

One thing that I remember hearing early on in this global warming episode is how real scientists are always arguing the details. In any real scientific debate there are always semi-tangential, pendantic arguments about the smallest of details.

The global warming "discussion" always avoided any discussion like that. It has always been black and white, for or against.

That is not how science works. Hell, just saying "the science is settled" makes me want to ask on which issue - any issue - "the science" has ever been settled?

[robc]

Hell, just saying "the science is settled" makes me want to ask on which issue - any issue - "the science" has ever been settled?

The last time I can remember science being "settled" in a similar manner was the sun and planets revolving around the Earth. It was settled and any math showing otherwise was wrong.

[Brett L]

I am pretty firmly in the camp that Einstein-Newton gravity effectively describes all of the interactions between matter that are likely to affect me on a noticeable scale in the local corner of space-time that I currently inhabit. Not that the science is "settled", but that it would take some pretty weird fucking shit happening to cause me use any other calculation than Newtonian gravity for determining a first order approximation of a ballistic trajectory.

[invisible furry hand]

I am pretty firmly in the camp that Einstein-Newton gravity effectively describes all of the interactions between matter that are likely to affect me on a noticeable scale in the local corner of space-time that I currently inhabit

I hope there are bars in which those would be fightin' words

[Brett L]

It might. The place I think of as my local to once saw a high-energy physicist get cold branded (metal dipped in liquid nitrogen) as part of his PhD completion celebration. It is also the place I saw an ocenographer and a chemical engineer almost come to blows over using diffusion to describe ocean currents that are obviously convection.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Like this one?

The bartender says "we don't serve your kind here"

A quark walks into a bar.

[CatoTheElder]

I feel pretty much the same way about the laws of thermodynamics with generally insignificant exceptions introduced at the quantum level.

But stuff like this is hard science, which has been confirmed over and over again by experiment. Climate science is conjectural. Like social sciences, its conjectures cannot be confirmed by experiment, but only by patient observation of innumerable data in hopes of finding and confirming correlations. When the data fail to confirm a conjecture's predictions, new conjectures are supposed to be formulated ... unless they relate to economics, g, or global warming.

[robc]

first order approximation

sounds more like engineering than science.

When it comes to things like ballistics, the engineering is settled.

[Brett L]

Apparently, the pedantry is still yet to be settled.

[robc]

Anyone who uses the phrase "the science is settled" doesnt understand science.

[sarcasmic]

But, but, but... they voted!

[Lord Humungus]

Daniel Henninger: Let ObamaCare Collapse
Congress can't kill the entitlement state. Only the American people can.

As its Oct. 1 implementation date arrives, ObamaCare is the biggest bet that American liberalism has made in 80 years on its foundational beliefs. This thing called "ObamaCare" carries on its back all the justifications, hopes and dreams of the entitlement state. The chance is at hand to let its political underpinnings collapse, perhaps permanently.

If ObamaCare fails, or seriously falters, the entitlement state will suffer a historic loss of credibility with the American people. It will finally be vulnerable to challenge and fundamental change. But no mere congressional vote can achieve that. Only the American people can kill ObamaCare.

[PM]

If ObamaCare fails, or seriously falters, the entitlement state will suffer a historic loss of credibility with the American people.

LOL!

Just like Medicare?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Bill Gates said he wanted the Cleveland Browns to design a keyboard for him...

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Let down again, eh?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

You let me down w/ that running joke.

[sarcasmic]

Woman caught on camera snatching foul ball out of hands of distraught little girl

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

[Matrix]

kid should've pushed that bitch over the rail.

[Slammer]

I remember that. That game was in 2011, though.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Eh, we need some kind of entertainment at Lastros games, might as well be this.

[sarcasmic]

Walk of shame! Courtney Love teeters back to her New York hotel looking worse for wear in same clothes she partied in the night before

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-wear.html
*barf*

[Ted S.]

As if Courtney Love was ever non-barf looking?

[Pathogen]

If Hep-C had a daughter, she would look like...

[Lord Humungus]

Special Report: Hezbollah gambles all in Syria

In the photograph the two robed men stand shoulder-to-shoulder, one tall and erect, the other more heavyset. Both smile for the camera. The picture from Tehran is a rare record of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meeting Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi'ite paramilitary group.

Taken in April during a discreet visit by the Hezbollah chief to his financial and ideological masters, the photograph captured a turning point in Syria's civil war and the broader struggle between Sunnis and Shi'ites, the two main branches of Islam. It was the moment when Iran made public its desire for Hezbollah to join the battle to help save Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said. At the time, Assad and his Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, were losing ground to an advancing Sunni insurgency.

[Rich]

The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation

Ah, HA! No wonder insurance rates are going down!

[gaijin]

INteresting the use of the term 'slush fund'. Didn't that term have illegal connotations once upon a time?

[Brett L]

This is an opposition source report, not a quotation from the IRS.

[gaijin]

got it. in that case, the number seems relatively small. I would guess much larger sums will go unaccounted for.

[UnCivilServant]

Well, the IRS is good at cooking books, so they managed to hide the rest of the missing money.

[RickC]

A slush fund by any other name . . .

[sarcasmic]

Giant bronze RoboCop statue to be unveiled in Detroit after crowd-funding raises $67,000 in six days
RoboCop statue is set to be unveiled in Detroit next summer
More than $67,000 was raised in a six-day campaign in 2011
The 1987 film saw cyborg RoboCop fight crime in a futuristic Detroit

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-days.html

[invisible furry hand]

I'd buy that for a dollar

[UnCivilServant]

So would 66,999 other people.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Bet it is stolen and sold for scrap within 6 weeks.

[UnCivilServant]

Please don't tarnish the one good thing to land in Detroit with realism.

Maybe we can get one of those private security firms to guard it...

[PM]

When you leave the statue-making to the market you get tributes to sci-fi action heroes instead of some senile old coot who managed to get reelected 7,000 times and die in office with 10 or 20 mil in the bank while somehow maintaining folk hero status as a defender of the downtrodden. I expect it to be outlawed soon.

[sarcasmic]

That's it petal! A casual-looking Charlize Theron picks up some flowers from garden centre

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....entre.html
*drool*

[sarcasmic]

Something to laugh about! Amanda Seyfried loses her trousers and walks around the Big Apple in a pair of panties as she shoots new comedy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....Young.html

[sarcasmic]

The moment a cheeky baboon groped shocked TV reporter's breast live on air... before giving the cameras a wide grin

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-grin.html

[Brett L]

Well he obviously didn't learn that from his time with Tom Cruise.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

This is the link of the week.

[gaijin]

The breast link of the day for sure!

[PM]

Quite titillating if you ask me.

[Lord Humungus]

iPhone map app directs Fairbanks drivers onto airport taxiway

Relying on the iPhone map app's directions to get to Fairbanks International Airport is downright dangerous.

That's because the directions take you on a turn-by-turn route to Taxiway Bravo. From there, it's a direct shot across the main runway to the terminal.

At least twice in the past three weeks, drivers from out of town who followed the directions on their iPhones not only reached airport property, but also crossed the runway and drove to the airport ramp side of the passenger terminal.

[Metazoan]

Aren't there fences and crap? I mean, is this an easy way around the TSA? I wouldn't be surprised.

[Ted S.]

And people kept blindly following the directions.

[PM]

I drove my car into a fucking lake!

[db]

What, Siri doesn't automatically call ground for a taxi clearance?

[UnCivilServant]

Siri hates the user and wants to kill them, even if it must cease function in the process.

[sarcasmic]

Images from a sci-fi film? No, the 'lost world' of Socotra, a remote island with plants up to 20 MILLION years old
Socotra Island is home to around 800 rare species of flora and fauna
A third of the species found on the Indian Ocean island are endemic and cannot be seen anywhere else on Earth
The trees and plants on the island have evolved to suit its hostile climate and some varieties of plant are a staggering 20 million years

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....s-old.html
cool stuff

[sarcasmic]

The Nazi women who were every bit as evil as the men: From the mother who shot Jewish children in cold blood to the nurses who gave lethal injections in death camps
Chilling new book has unearthered thousands of complicit German women
At least half a million witnessed and contributed to Hitler's terror
Have been dubbed the 'primary witnesses of the Holocaust'
Secretaries typed the orders to kill and filed the details of massacres
Only a small number of women were called to account for their crimes

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....l-men.html

[Heroic Mulatto]

Needs more Ilsa.

[UnCivilServant]

I keep wondering why Bob Craine never showed up in that movie given his predelections and where it was shot.

[PM]

I know a girl called Ilsa. She's into alka-seltzer.

[Post-Coital Rat]

Only a small number of women were called to account for their crimes

I blame the patriarchy.

[Plisade]

From a variation of the Milgram experiment:

"... they repeated the experiment with a real victim: a "cute, fluffy puppy" who was given real, albeit apparently harmless, electric shocks. They found similar findings to Milgram: half of the male subjects and all of the females obeyed to the end."

[Lord Humungus]

National Review's Michael Walsh: What We Just Saw

After his disgraceful attacks on Cruz, including his reach-across-the-aisle, dog-in-the-manger response today, this should be the end of Senator John McCain as a voice of influence in the Republican party. Ditto his mini-me, Senator Lindsey Graham. Indeed, the entire Old Guard of business-as-usual "comity" fans passeth. When you care more about what the other side thinks, it's probably time either to switch teams or step down.

There is new leadership in the GOP, whether the party wants to admit it or not: Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Jeff Sessions, and the others who stepped into the breach to spell the senator from Texas.

...snip...

Conservatives have finally realized that, as it's currently constituted, they have no home in the Republican party, which is the Washington Generals to the Democrats' Harlem Globetrotters, the designated losers who nevertheless are rewarded handsomely for their sham opposition.

etc...

[WTF]

The amazing part is that Walsh is only just now realizing this about McCain and Graham.

[invisible furry hand]

But without government, nothing can happen!

Australian Government abolishes the Climate Commission, so its members set up as a private body via crowdfunding

[Brett L]

I don't know... is this progress or what?

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Proggies want to voluntarily fund a bunch of warminists to sit around and bloviate, fine by me.

[Raven Nation]

Have the Libs made any move to ditch the move last year to start regulating the media?

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, today is the 30th Anniversary of Australia II winning the America's Cup.

[invisible furry hand]

The Libs had very few policies, but I'm pleased to report that free speech was one of them. They said no to media regulation, and will repeal section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which prevents a person from insulting, humiliating, offending or intimidating another person or group on the basis of their race - ie. my hurt feelings trump your desire to say something.

Re the America's Cup, there was a get-together to celebrate it today. As it was on live TV, our former PM Bob Hawke had to drop an F-bomb while telling a silly joke, neatly mirroring his dropping of a b-bomb on live TV in 1983

[Raven Nation]

Man, I voted for Hawke back in the day. I was one of those people who got pissed off with the ALP in the 1980s b/c they became too conservative.

Glad to hear about the repeal stuff.

[Tejicano]

Hell, since they don't have any authority any more I'd prefer to see proggies piss their money away on stupid shit like this rather than sending it to support some pol who can really screw things up.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Found, a Soul Mate
People describe Erika Halweil, a longtime yoga teacher in the Hamptons, as someone who has a lot of backbone in every way. She has great posture. She rarely gets upset over things like parking tickets or bad-hair days. (Naturally pretty, she probably doesn't have many.) She is sometimes stern but never shy. ...

... Ms. Halweil, 36, grew up in New York in a tightknit family of four who loved to spend weekends together foraging for elderberries in Central Park, watching old Laurel and Hardy movies or surf-casting on Long Island. She always hoped she would replicate that kind of happy family unit in her own life. Instead, in 2008, she found herself living in Sag Harbor, N.Y., with a young daughter, Milla, an unhappy marriage and a huge mortgage she and her husband could not afford. "Broken marriage, broken house," she said.

While her marriage ?and also her yoga practice ? were foundering, she began regularly running into Corey De Rosa, an intense, thoughtful yoga teacher in Sag Harbor. "I was bumping into him three or four times a week, randomly, outside the post office, on a bench on Main Street," she said. "He was so inspired and I was pathless." ...

[Longtorso, Johnny]

... Mr. De Rosa, now 40, grew up in a big Italian family in Hempstead, N.Y., played soccer and studied art at the State University at Stony Brook, then spent years in Manhattan working in restaurants and partying. In 2003, while living in a loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he started biking across the Williamsburg Bridge every morning to practice Ashtanga yoga with Eddie Stern, a well-known teacher in SoHo. "I needed to transition from my party life into my balanced life," he said. "It takes a long time. It's not easy."

Three years later, he opened his own Ashtanga studio, Tapovana, in Sag Harbor. He painted the walls dark red, installed almost-black wood floors and put yellow candles everywhere. "It was like a womb," he said. "It took you somewhere else."..

[Longtorso, Johnny]

... On Aug. 17, 2008, Ms. Halweil was driving on Montauk Highway when a 5-year-old girl rode a red toy wagon down a steep driveway and shot out onto the road in front of Ms. Halweil's car. When she recounts the accident (the child died and Ms. Halweil was not charged) you can really see her calm, philosophical and open demeanor. In an almost plaintive voice, she said: "It was clear sky, clear road. I saw a flash of red coming toward my car." She swerved but still hit the wagon. "I got out of the car and this really beautiful little girl with pale skin and blue eyes was laying in the road. Her eyes were glazed over. I knew the spirit had left her body."

Today, she says the accident taught her about fate, her own and the girl's, but at the time she was devastated. She started taking daily classes at Tapovana and finding comfort in Ashtanga's rigorous, some say purifying, series of poses that are practiced in silence....

[Longtorso, Johnny]

...The ceremony was led by the bride's brother, who is the editor of Edible East End, a regional food magazine. He shared several pieces of advice about marriage that he had collected beforehand from family members and friends: think, laugh and love as often as possible; save money; check each other for ticks nightly to prevent Lyme disease; let the other person win sometimes; and, during difficult times, remember, this too shall pass.

[Jordan]

Is there a point here?

[Jordan]

I mean, this story is the very definition of "tl;dr"

[Lord Humungus]

just about to ask the same thing...

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Line after line of some of the worst, most self absorbed Obama voters (politics didn't come up, but you know who these people vote for) on Earth bragging about their horribleness, just begging to be mocked, and you don't get the point?

You, like the Cleveland Browns, have let me down.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Point and laugh?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Someone gets it.

[Jerryskids]

Wait a second - is this the 'gay' wedding Bush attended? Just because it was two fruitcakes getting married doesn't make it gay.

[Rich]

[McCain] apparently had other matters on his mind during the Cruz speech, tweeting, "Final episode of #Broadchurch tonight ? one of the most entertaining shows on TV right now."

First, electronic poker, now this. Say what you will about the senator, McCain is one wired dude!

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Maybe he should retire now, and then he would have all the time he wanted to play his favorite apps and watch TV!

[gaijin]

Exactly. and wouldn't you think he'd want to spend more 'quality' time with Cindy at this point? I mean how much longer is he going to be able to do that anyway?

[Ted S.]

Maybe Cindy doesn't want him around.

[PM]

The absence of McCain could turn any time into "quality" time.

[robc]

PM,

would you mind removing your email until the squirrels get done fucking around and/or reasonable gets fixed?

Its making things ugly for the rest of us.

[Ted S.]

He should have retired 20 years ago when he was part of the Keating Five.

[Cdr Lytton]

"Final episode of #Broadchurch tonight ? one of the most entertaining shows on TV right now."

Not surprising that Insane's fav show is all about a young boy's murder.

[Lord Humungus]

so... I recently read "Three Weeks in October" - "written" by the Montgomery County Police Chief, Charles Moose. Details the case of the DC Sniper.

It was 50% about the case and then 50% biography with an emphasis on the troubles of growing up in racist America. Highpoints - him talking about the $500,000 house he is building. And then complaining that ~$100K wasn't enough money (in 1993) when he was the Police Chief in Portland. Poor guy...

[UnCivilServant]

What I remember about that book is the fact that I could tell he was dictating anecdotes to the author when the phrase came up "two 23 caliber rifles" instead of ".223 caliber rifles".

[Lord Humungus]

yessir, don't recommend the book. The Amazon user reviews are worth a hoot though.

[Slammer]

Max Hastings has a new book about World War I, Catastrophe 1914.

Here's a little intro paragraph:

As commandant of the British Army's staff college in 1910, Brigadier-General Henry Wilson asserted the likelihood of a European war, and argued that Britain's only prudent option was to ally itself with France against the Germans. A student ventured to argue, saying that only

[Slammer]

'inconceivable stupidity on the part of the statesmen' could precipitate a general conflagration. This provoked Wilson's derision: "Haw! Haw! Haw!!! Inconceivable stupidity is just what you're going to get.'

[Jordan]

I wonder if that student ever lost his faith in TOP MEN or continued on through life as a dumbass proglodyte.

[UnCivilServant]

Neville Chamberlain?

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Odds were he was torn apart by German artillery or machine gun fire.

[Caleb Turberville]

I don't know who watched last night's episode of South Park, but something felt a little "off." I don't mean "not funny," because I certainly recognize an episode that just doesn't work. Usually episodes resolve into one cohesive theme or idea, but in the final moments, last night's episode just never got neatly tied up. But the whole comedic sensibilities seemed different. I'm of the understanding that since Parker and Stone are starting families that they've handed off some writing responsibilities to Bill Hader, so if that's the reason why last night's episode felt off, I'd rather they'd just handle writing from now on. Part of the reason for South Park's continued success was Parker and Stone's stranglehold on the creative process.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

It's been "off" for about three years.

[Rich]

Europe's key animals have made a comeback over the past 50 years. Conservationists say species such as bears, wolves, lynx, eagles and vultures have increased in numbers.

"Key" animals? Isn't *everything* intimately connected?

[UnCivilServant]

Key animals - things we can get people to give a damn about and part with filthy luchre over.

[Brett L]

Well, the Soviets turning a huge swath of urban Ukraine back into animal habitat may have had something to do with this.

[db]

I'd love to see a European countryside populated by radscorpions, yao guai, and deathclaws.

[UnCivilServant]

You just brought back bad memories of when I found an immortal deathclaw. When you put the thing down, it merely 'went unconscious' and hopped back up at the end of combat to renew its assault.

It was worse than that pack of albino radscorpions.

I'd gladly ship that one over to Europe so long as it couldn't breed.

[CampingInYourPark]

School official tells students Trayvon Martin case proved it is 'legal to hunt' children

"This year, we learned that it is legal to hunt down and kill American children in Florida," it reads, in a reference to the trial of George Zimmerman, who was cleared of all charges in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The email went out to all students in the Honors College.

"This year, we learned that it is legal to hunt down and kill American children in Florida."
- E-mail sent to University of Maryland students

The political language continued:

"This year, the most activist Supreme Court in the history of the United States and radical factions of gun owners, gun manufacturers, and marijuana users are challenging the very fabric of the nation..."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013.....l-to-hunt/

[Rich]

Let the lawsuits begin.

[Andrew S.]

Since the derp wasn't strong enough in the first part, he had to throw "marijuana users" in there at the end for that extra derpy goodness.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

He has to confirm that he's not a conservative or a proggie, but a good ol' fashioned authoritarian. "People are challenging the authoritah? CIVILIZATION IS FALLING!"

[sloopyinca]

It's like he stole it verbatim from a Dragnet episode. Did he tilt his head and squint like Sergeant Friday when he said it?

[Lord Humungus]

what's the bag limit? And where can I apply for the license?

[KDN]

marijuana users are challenging the very fabric of the nation

You mean people like...Trayvon Martin?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Shh. We're not supposed to talk about that.

[invisible furry hand]

At least one English aristocrat used to hunt his children

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Ah, children... the least dangerous game.

[sloopyinca]

Cop found not guilty of raping a woman at police substation despite changing his story 19 times during his interrogation.

I guess even a lying cop is more trustworthy than a car thief "POS" "civilian".

[sloopyinca]

And in other cop-rapist news, a Tuscon, AZ police officer has been charged with twice sexually assaulting an inmate.

I guess if you can't get in on a SWAT raid where you shoot a guy 22 times, find no evidence and walk away as if nothing happened, then the next best thing is to go rape a prisoner.

[Ted S.]

Surely you're not suggesting there's a double standard?

[UnCivilServant]

Oh no, there's a range of standards depending on where you are in the pecking order.

[sloopyinca]

And in still more rapey-cop news, a California judge is forcing the defendant cop to prove his victim is an unreliable witness against him. He may be able to, seeing as the alleged victim of the cop's rape is a 77-year old stroke victim.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Many thanks, sloopy, for fueling the cop-hatred.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Bad Optics: Obama and HHS vs Little Sisters of the Poor

"...And because the Sisters do not discriminate in their service or their hiring, they, and their ministry, and the aged population they serve, are all begin imperiled by the United States Government, specifically by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Obama Administration.

"How can that be? How can these religious Sisters, living in a country where the first amendment to its constitution insists upon a free expression of religion and the exercise thereof be in peril? Because the HHS and the Obama Administration say that if the Sisters do not deny their own consciences and offer insurance policies to their employees that include free coverage for sterilization procedures, artificial contraceptives and abortifacients, these vowed-to-poverty women will have to pay approximately a million dollars in IRS fines, effectively making their work near-to-impossible."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/t.....-the-poor/

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Highest Paid Player On All 32 NFL Teams
#32 Carolina Panthers: Steve Smith ? $3.8 million

[Eduard van Haalen]

I've always wondered where the STEVE SMITH rapist meme came from? Will anyone tell me, please?

[Lord Humungus]

The STEVE SMITH CHALLENGE

[Lord Humungus]

and speaking of Mr. Smith:

Just going to show that for all the recent hyperventilating about the NSA, there is no more intrusive snooper and violator of privacy than the free market. Websites are now proliferating that enable third parties to post their neighbors' criminal arrests, expunged convictions, mug shots, bankruptcies, and the like. To be removed from such a site, a monetary fee is required; if you refuse to pay, and naively believe that the website's proprietors should do the right thing anyway, you are greeted with this cheery mission statement of the website: "(it) strongly believes in freedom of speech and nothing will ever be censored on our service for any reason. If you don't like freedom of speech, we encourage you to either contact lawmakers and voice your opinion or move to a communist state."

[Longtorso, Johnny]

That's scarier than anything SugarFree ever wrote, including that Warty story that's only available in Amsterdam if you go to the 'coffeehouse' three streets down from the Stayokay Hostel and ask the guy behind the counter "Do you have any Running Leopard Silver? I need exactly 3.75 ounces." while scratching behind your left ear 4 times.

[SugarFree]

Yes, Steve. The existence of an obscure website means that anything Obama's NSA wants to do is perfectly justified.

His stupidity is so profound it is quite difficult to parody.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Thank you. That's very...well, let's just say "interesting."

[Certified Public Asskicker]

It all started with a Bill Plaschke article?

Any time I catch some of Around the Horn (usually when a bar has it on during happy hour) I knew I hated him on a deeper level than just from his lame, politically correct persona on the show.

[KDN]

Fire Joe Morgan used to have a field day with Plaschke. I miss those guys. Stupid Parks & Rec.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

https://twitter.com/STEVESMITHGRR

Ask him on Twitter?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The real Steve Smith is a neighbor of one of the Reason writers/editors. He, a liberal, showed up on the board after we were told to be nice. We collectively reacted to that exactly how you would expect us to.

Smith is big and bald and a bit Neanderthal throwback looking.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Wait, he exists? I thought he was just a meme.

[SugarFree]

A detailed discussion of STEVE SMITH origins.

[UnCivilServant]

Not sure if this showed up already.

TA Declines further "Diversity Training" after first being Told he's a racist.

I wonder if he was fired. Failing to attend the offensive manditory "training" where I work can get you thrown out even without any malfeasance.

[Andrew S.]

When I was in High School, I had a teacher that used the video for "Jeremy" by Pearl Jam to make the point that "You're all a bunch of little Hitlers"

Bonus: It was a Jewish school

(yes, I'm serious)

[Eduard van Haalen]

You know who else was called Hitler?

[sloopyinca]

Alois?

[Jordan]

Anybody who's ever disagreed with a progressive?

[sloopyinca]

This kid?

[SugarFree]

I'm sure this story would have been reported in exactly the same dismissive manner if Cory Booker was a Republican or libertarian.

[invisible furry hand]

Lynsie Lee, a stripper who works at the world's first vegan strip club...

Say no more!

[Eduard van Haalen]

I suppose the customers need *something* to distract them from the icky stuff they're eating.

[KMA Too]

ifh, I know there's often playful banter about your accent that we don't get to hear, but I just have to ask if you typed that doing your best Eric Idle impression.

'Cause that's how I read it.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Exactly, SF, when the left does something like that, they're just in touch with contemporary mores. Not sleazy or anything like that.

[#]

Relatively speaking Booker seems to be better than your average NJ pol, but he's going to be potentially dangerous going forward, because the media has already decided that he's their darling, and they won't do their job going forward.

[sloopyinca]

Month-long paid vacation to conclude for Vermont police officer. Police chief says it is a better use of taxpayer money to have him on desk duty instead of a paid vacation. He was awarded the paid vacation for getting a DUI.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

I thought the nut punches were supposed to be on Friday?!

[sloopyinca]

Yeah, well, I've got an auction tomorrow...about $6M worth of gear. Biggest one we've had down here in about 5 years (since the collapse of the market). And I bought a bunch of it from my sellers, so I need something to take the edge off today and reduce my stress level to about a 9.

[robc]

Criminal record is a guaranteed firing?

[invisible furry hand]

Gosh, here's a picture of a man growing a new nose on his forehead.

[sloopyinca]

Ruth. Ruth, baby! Sloth love Chunk!

[sloopyinca]

Married New Jersey cop charged with four counts of "misconduct" for using his position as a police officer to have sexual relationships with four women.

He was also involved in a fiery crash on the NJ Turnpike that has him in critical condition. So what's the over/under on a lengthy paid vacation vs a full-dress funeral with the bagpipes and all that shit?

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

HERO FUNERAL!

[CampingInYourPark]

Peter King haz a sad:

Peter King: 'Vile' phone calls by Ted Cruz allies

"The vehemence of the phone calls coming into the office. I don't care, people can call me whatever they want ? I haven't heard such vile, profane, obscene language," King said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday.

http://www.politico.com/story/.....z2g0U6sM00

[Slammer]

He should hear my wife when he comes on the teevee.

[Andrew S.]

Peter King may be worse than Pelosi. I wasn't sure that was even possible.

[PD Scott]

If only we could get them to fight to the death to determine The One. Maybe get Waxman and a few others, make it a Battle Royale.

[robc]

They called him a terrorist sympathizer?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-Religious conservatives on Texas textbook review panels criticize proposed science books

I understand the National Academy of Science's strong support of the theory of evolution," said Texas A&M University nutritionist Karen Beathard, one of the biology textbook reviewers. "At the same time, this is a theory. As an educator, parent and grandparent, I feel very firmly that creation science based on biblical principles should be incorporated into every biology book that is up for adoption."

Other reviewers objected to the books' acceptance of key evolutionary principles. Among them is the fossil evidence for the evolution of humans and other life species.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news.....chools.ece

[Ted S.]

SLD about this being the natural result of a government sector schools monopoly.

[robc]

99.44%

[Brett L]

As an educator, parent and grandparent, I feel very firmly that creation science based on biblical principles

Creation myths based on the bible have no science attched to them. This is not a direct indictment of their truth or falsity, just a definitional necessity. Now, if they wanted to go through a 6-9 week unit on how to apply the scientific method to these myths to test them with falsifiably hypothoses, that would be excellent scientific education.

[The Late P Brooks]

challenging the very fabric of the nation...

Yup. I guess the sell-by date on that "Dissent is not treason" thing has expired.

[sloopyinca]

In the last of the rapey-cop news (I don't want to be accused of beating a dead horse), cop convicted of "official misconduct" for forcing a woman to perform oral sex on him in 2008 case has also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion after he misused the government grant money he was given to erect a fence around his tow yard to pay for boating expenses and other bullshit.

So this one is a double-whammy. A cop gets convicted of "misconduct" in 2008 after forcing a woman to perform oral sex on him while on duty at a traffic stop (so presumably armed) and by 2009 he's not only free, but he's getting government grants to pay for a fence for his tow yard. I mean, what the fucking fuck?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

SoCon: Porn Addiction Dynamics

The criminologist assigned to help police with the case coined the term "Stockholm Syndrome." While there is considerable discussion surrounding the exact nature of this phenomenon, there have been several reported cases of the syndrome; some hostages seem to form powerful emotional attachments to their victimizers as an internal defense mechanism.

I have been just as guilty of the same lunacy when it comes to my own habitual sins?like my love affair with pornography. Yes, in my sober moments I could see the ugliness of porn for what it was. But there were many times I rushed back to porn like a dog to its vomit. In the moment of indulgence, I was blind to the shame and oppressiveness of my addiction?or perhaps it's more accurate to say that I saw the shame of it, but it somehow seemed less ugly to me.

http://biblicalcounselingcoali.....rnography/

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I have my strongest visceral reactions to men who volunteer to be eunuchs.

[sloopyinca]

Why? It's not like it takes a lot of balls to do it.

[sloopyinca]

Nothing? I come up with a gem like that and I get nothing?

I don't even know you people anymore.

[Spoonman.]

There is no reply to perfection.

[Swiss Servator, Helvetica FTW!]

Seconded.

[db]

You're exactly wrong about this. It takes all the balls to be a eunuch.

[Eduard van Haalen]

So a guy with a wife and several kids who doesn't watch porn is a "eunuch?"

[Bo Cara Esq.]

This fellows diatribe is a bit more melodramatic than 'a guy with wife and several kids who doesn't watch porn.'

[Eduard van Haalen]

It was a hypo in response to what I interpreted as calling non-porn viewers "eunuchs." Of course, if I missed your point I apologize.

He says he was a lonely guy who jacked off to what I suppose to be internet porn:

"When I was felt pathetically lonely, sitting at home while all my friends were out on dates with their beautiful wives, I longed for the rations porn would deliver, the temporary illusion of intimacy."

Then apparently he stopped using.

If resisting temptation works for him, what exactly is the difficulty? Nothing in the article says he's forcing other people to abstain - though maybe elsewhere on the site it says something along those lines.

But what about a lonely guy who used to use drugs but then gives it up, then writes about his struggles? Would that be mockable as well?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think his language is a bit melodramatic and over the top ('I rushed back to porn like a dog to its vomit' or 'I was blind to the shame and oppressiveness of my addiction'), and it is that that I think is a bit mockable.

[Eduard van Haalen]

From the point of view of someone who is immersed in the Bible, that comparison would come to mind: "As a dog returns to his vomit, so the fool returns to his folly," Prov. 26:11 (KJV).

I would imagine that any form of repeated folly would suggest that passage to many believers.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Where is it written exactly that porn and masturbation are sins?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Hmm, good point there.

Still, there are many other examples of being over the top the top. It seems to me the more sensible, less dramatic way to think if you are spending too much time watching porn is 'hm, I should cut back on the porn.' The idea of 'porn addiction' as some compelling Stockholm syndrome is one that is oft invoked by pro-censorship social conservatives.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The fact that he's whimpering about what a "sin" it was and saying words like "pots of meat" with a straight face. I have a feeling if a feminist wrote about her shameful addiction to men and how she defeated that addiction in the same melodramatic and weak tones you wouldn't be rushing into the breach defending her.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-if a feminist wrote about her shameful addiction to men and how she defeated that addiction in the same melodramatic and weak tones you wouldn't be rushing into the breach defending her.

Yes. This is point behind this kind of post. John and the Immaculate Trouser once invited me to post things from SoCons that were as ridiculous and over the top as those that IT post from feminists. This fit the bill.

[sloopyinca]

Mmmmmm, pots of meat.

/Homer

[Eduard van Haalen]

If she was into lots of men in succession, of course I'd defend her confession. In other words, by your own definition, you are dishonest for having misunderstood me.

And you don't even seem to realize that the "pots of meat" reference is a continuation of his analogy of the Israelites pining after Egypt: "The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."" (Exodus 16:3 (NIV))

And here's another piece of Biblical wisdom you may have missed in your legal education: "A false witness will perish, but a careful listener will testify successfully." (PRov. 21:28)

I'm still trying over the fact that you tried to pull that "trust me, I'm a lawyer" line.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Saying that he's making the right references to a stupid analogy doesn't make the analogy any less stupid.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

If she was into lots of men in succession, of course I'd defend her confession. In other words, by your own definition, you are dishonest for having misunderstood me.

Yeah, if you want to change the hypothetical I proposed, then you're right. Except that's not what I said, which means you're further compounding your dishonesty by changing the premises and then leaping onto a changed argument.

If a global warming scientist confessed to his 'addiction' and 'slavery' to fossil fuels, but hallelujah he's seen the light now, I can bet my next paycheck you would keep your yap shut.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Let's see, you said "addiction to *men*" - plural - and said I wouldn't defend her if she used a "melodramatic and weak tone."

And you said I can trust you, as a lawyer, to read someone else's mind, but how can you read minds if you cannot even read declarative English sentences?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Of course I'd defend a feminist who repented of her addiction to *men* - plural - even if she used a melodramatic tone to do it.

Why don't you simply give it up? You're only digging yourself in deeper.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

you're the one saying it's a valid analogy to compare the viewing of porn to slavery and Stockholm Syndrome, but you really think I'm the unreasonable one here?

Buy a clue.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"you're the one saying it's a valid analogy to compare the viewing of porn to slavery and Stockholm Syndrome"

I bet that when someone tells you it's raining cats and dogs, you bring your Pooper Scooper. Comprehension fail.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Yes, but where is the definition of "men" that says it means "lots of them in succession"?

You made that up. You manufactured it. You didn't read what I wrote; you read what you wanted to see.

[Eduard van Haalen]

If you can't tell the difference between the singular and the plural, you should probably give up the law and take up selling Rolex watches on street corners.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I said "men". That is plural. you then defined it as "into lots of men in succession".

That's not the fucking definition of the word "men", you liar.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I did not say it was the definition of men, I simply didn't want to be understood as supporting some feminist who repented of an addiction to monogamy, so I clarified what sort of feminist confession I would defend.

You lawyer.

[Eduard van Haalen]

What do you think of the criticism that there's been a deterioration of civility in the legal "profession"? I bet that's just an exaggeration.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

So in other words, you changed the hypothetical, which is exactly what I accused you of doing and which you vehemently denied.

[Eduard van Haalen]

No, I denied your projection which said I was dishonest. And I called you on your omissions, misdirections, and outright falsehoods.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

You're just babbling. I said "men". You re-wrote to say "lots of men in succession", which was not what I said.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The fact that you rush to presume bad faith even after I've explained my point shows that you are projecting - you must be conscious of your dishonesty at some level, especially attributing to me positions I don't hold, and you want to explain these feelings by assuming that others are doing the same thing because they're as dishonest as you are.

Good-bye, lawyer.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Eduard, is dishonesty a regular thing with you or just a once in a while lark?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Did I miss his point? Sure, I guess if I did that makes it dishonest. Totally.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I'm a lawyer, dude. I know when someone's eliding facts and tone inconvenient to their narrative, which is exactly what you just did.

[Eduard van Haalen]

As a lawyer, you seem very good at spinning a narrative out of the most sparse facts. A mistake can be woven into an elaborate conspiracy. You should definitely have worked for OJ's defense team.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Yeah, it's deffo valid to compare viewing porn to being a literal beaten slave in Egypt. That's not laughably offensive or anything.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Right, but you missed the reference because you are a moron.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

It wasn't he who was dishonest, it was you for deliberately spinning the narrative. Please learn to read.

[Eduard van Haalen]

You mad, bro?

I notice that your reply isn't responsive to the claim that you're a moron. As a lawyer, you would know that's the same as an admission.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Like I said, making the right references in support of a stupid analogy doesn't make the analogy any less stupid.

[Eduard van Haalen]

And...you move the goalposts yet again!

I'm sure the judges love you.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Nope. The point is and always has been that you dishonestly spun the narrative. You have been compounding your lies by changing my words and eliding facts. The best part is you think you're winning somehow! It's kind of cute, really.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The projection is strong in this one.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Also, Eduard, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you've obviously never had a wife or kids.

Having a family is the greatest thing in the world. But it isn't puppies and rainbows and the fucking Disney channel the entire time, either. Get off eHarmony and go get laid.

[Eduard van Haalen]

It sounds like *someone* is eliding facts and tone inconvenient to their narrative. As a lawyer, you are an excellent bullshit artist.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

That isn't even responsive.

[UnCivilServant]

No, it was fully responsive to the crap you spewed.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Trust me, I'm a lawyer" isn't particularly responsive, either. What it is, is unintentionally hilarious.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

If you're going to pull the "wife and kids" narrative, you need to demonstrate you know what you're talking about. And guess what? I know you don't, because you're acting like a 14-year-old reading an Austen novel instead of like an adult.

[Eduard van Haalen]

What I said was that a guy with a wife and kids wasn't a eunuch, but for some reason of your own, you chose to interpret that as meaning that being married is "puppies and rainbows and the fucking Disney channel."

You are either dishonest or a moron. And possibly both.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

You leaped right in there to defend this guy because his viewpoint is sympathetic to your own, despite the obvious flaws in his hand-wringing piece.

[Eduard van Haalen]

This is not the first time that you have failed to respond to a specific accusation - because you realize the accusation is true. So you change the subject.

But I can trust you, because you're a lawyer.

You attributed to me the position that being married is "puppies and rainbows and the fucking Disney channel."

Now, defend your position or shut the fuck up.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

You attributed to me the position that being married is "puppies and rainbows and the fucking Disney channel."

That's the sort of childish viewpoint you're exhibiting right here. You basically said, 'well, wait, he can't be a eunuch because he has a wife and kids!"

Uh, what? In case you didn't realize, I was using the term "eunuch" in a metaphorical sense, not in the literal one. You should also know that use of the term 'eunuch' frequently conforms to the former use rather than the latter.

I hope this helps you out.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"You basically said, 'well, wait, he can't be a eunuch because he has a wife and kids!""

Another lie. But I wouldn't assume that he's a eunuch *because* he has a wife and kids.

If the difference a bit too subtle for you, you should probably retake the fucking LSAT. They have some logic problems which might help you out.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

" I wouldn't assume that he's a eunuch *because* he has a wife and kids."

I assumed he was a eunuch because he talked like he had no balls.

You are either dumb or a total robot.

[Eduard van Haalen]

If you look above, you will see where I acknowledged that I may have misunderstood your point. I wonder why you fail to acknowledge this? Lawyers are supposed to disclose points like this - it's the honest thing to do.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

If you look above, you will see where I acknowledged that I may have misunderstood your point. I wonder why you fail to acknowledge this? Lawyers are supposed to disclose points like this - it's the honest thing to do.

Classic. Are you claiming you really thought my point was that he was a LITERAL EUNUCH?

So, yes or no: when you read me calling the guy a "eunuch", did you interpret the word "eunuch" literally?

because that's what you're claiming here.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Classic. Are you claiming you really thought my point was that he was a LITERAL EUNUCH?"

Since you're capable of uttering all sorts of idiotic falsehoods, I'm certain open to the possibility that you would say something like this, yes.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Wait, I thought you said Liberal eunuch.

Now on rereading, I realize that you attribute to me that position that the term eunuch should be taken literally.

Your falsehoods keep popping up like whack a moles.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

More from the author on this Disney thing I'm talking about:

When I was felt pathetically lonely, sitting at home while all my friends were out on dates with their beautiful wives, I longed for the rations porn would deliver, the temporary illusion of intimacy. But God was calling me to the trust Him as I entered the risk of godly intimacy with a real person. God can and will take all my relationships?even my failed ones?and use them to conform me to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29).

There were nights I felt genuinely angry at God for not giving me the spouse I so clearly "deserved" and the life I so desperately wanted.

This is childish dribble. I think this guy has a genuine problem of being A Nice Guy. He's basically the inverse of Hugo Schwyzer.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

What I said was that a guy with a wife and kids wasn't a eunuch

A guy with wife and kids might, provided that he has sufficiently Christ-awful taste in women, end up only having had sex as many times as he has kids. He might not have gotten anything from his wife for years/decades. If he doesn't masturbate or cheat, that's pretty damn eunuchy to me.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

He might not have gotten anything from his wife for years/decades. If he doesn't masturbate or cheat, that's pretty damn eunuchy to me.

Thank you.

[Eduard van Haalen]

HC,

Allow me to acknowledge that there may be married eunuchs. Fair enough? But being married doesn't prove it.

As I have mentioned more than once above, I took one of the lawyer-posters to mean that someone who didn't view porn was some kind of eunuch. He asserted I had misunderstood him, and I took him at his word. I assumed at that time that he was telling the truth. It is not an assumption I will make again.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Uh, no, I meant this guy, the subject of the post by Bo Cara, was a voluntary eunuch by the way he whimpered through his piece.

That was very clear from the context. That you misunderstood it and then proceeded to act like a retard about it is your own damn fault.

[Eduard van Haalen]

You're moving the goalposts. You said I was a liar, that I thought marriage was puppies and rainbows, that I used the term "eunuch" literally, etc.

Now I guess you're abandoning all those unsupported allegations and going back to your true third-grade nature by calling people stupid.

[The Late P Brooks]

he's not only free, but he's getting government grants to pay for a fence for his tow yard.

What are the odds he has a contract with the PD to tow cars away from traffic stops?

[sloopyinca]

I'd place them somewhere between 100% and 105%*.

The 105% denotes the 5% kickback he gives his cop-buddies for making sure he gets all the business in town.

[sloopyinca]

OT: remember the "cop shoots puppy in the head" story from yesterday? Well I went to their FB page and made a comment, to which the dog's owner defended their decision to call the cops and said 2 of the three cops there were ok and then proceeded to defend cops in general for what they have to do. I steered him to PoliceOne and told him to read a few articles and comments. I got messaged back a couple of hours later and he said he was terrified to know that those are actual cops.

I think he felt like Neo after taking the red pill!

[Michael S. Langston]

+ ?

But I had to add this otherwise this comment wouldn't appear because it's not in english.

However if I were to post something like..

Dudez. Crazy is that. Mom makes 8K a min clipping her toenails with a link - that would be cool.

[The Late P Brooks]

2 of the three cops there were ok

Since the story didn't end with, "the two other officers at the scene tasered and disarmed him, and then put him in restraints" I'll disagree.

[Loki]

So in last night's South Park episode when Butters started praying to the government and Obama, did anyone else immediately think "Holy shit it's Tony and/ or Shriek?"

[Jordan]

Haven't seen it yet, but that's pretty much how I envision those creeps.

[trshmnstr]

After a little over a month in law school... this 1L has a few questions/observations for the initiated.

I had a prof say "hold on to that little voice in the back of your head that says 'this is bullshit!' for as long as you can, especially in torts". When can I expect my conscience to be fully eviscerated?

Legal writing is effectively 85% busywork and 15% legitimate learning. Congrats, You BSed your way through 100 different bluebook citations and got 50% wrong! Yay!

Full time job plus part time school is a bit of a disaster. If I didn't need the income, I'd go to school full time in an instant.

Do these classes move very slow, or am I just not paying enough attention to detail? It seems that I can sum up each class period in one sentence, with a small paragraph to explain the subtleties of the rules/case history.

My BS meter went off big time yesterday in torts. We are going over duty, and specifically some case where a public utility was held grossly negligent for a power outage, and some guy who tripped down a flight of stairs sued them. The case seemed to have a decent amount of merit, and, IMO, could've gone both ways. However, the court decided that rather than argue on the established test, they gave a little lip service to the test and proceeded to argue that policy considerations were the primary factor in not holding the utility company liable. If this is what law school is going to be like, i'm gonna need somebody to take a baseball bat to my BS meter.

[Spoonman.]

What's your full-time job?

[trshmnstr]

Software Engineer

[Brett L]

How much money do you want to make and do you mind doing it as government contractor?

[trshmnstr]

Anything over $60k would start getting my attention, and gov't contracting is fine w/ me. Really, my only requirements are that i don't take a significant pay cut, my hours are flexible enough to allow me to take classes (both evening and day class times), the work isn't consistently bleeding over into 50+ hour work weeks (occasional overages are fine), and I don't have to leave the Dallas area.

[Brett L]

Staying in Dallas makes it harder, but send me a resume (brett_bolt-at-yahoo-dot-com) and I'll pass it to a couple of guys I know who are basically recruiting nation-wide.

[Brett L]

And anyone else on the board with software shills, too. This ain't charity. I get referral bonuses if you work out, and the guys I know won't spam you.

[Spoonman.]

Why the fuck are you going to law school?

[trshmnstr]

Patent law, one of the few lucrative areas of law left. Also, I'm not a pure engineer. I have social skills (despite being a part of this commentariat), I enjoy interpersonal interaction, and I find pure engineering a bit boring.

[Lord Humungus]

my wife just completed law school. If you're not married, you might make it through with some sanity. Needless to say, the whole ordeal - especially prep for the bar exam - put a big strain on our relationship. Things are patching up slowly though...

On another note, we had a guy here at my job who tried to do the same thing you are doing - full-time work + part-time school. He ended up quitting trying to get the law degree. Once again it was too much time strain with his family and work.

The end result - at least from my point-of-view - got me an extra dose of student loan pain, a wife who is now an underemployed lawyer, and a bunch of grief. But like a Chinese finger-trap, once you reach a certain point in law school, there is no point in quitting since the amount being paid out for the education is terribly high.

[trshmnstr]

That's exactly what I'm afraid of. Although my wife and I are almost on the same schedule now (she works 7-7 M-Th, I work 8-4:30 M-F and have class 6-9 M-Th), that won't last forever.

I'm more concerned about the work aspect. My wife may get pissed at times, but she can be reasoned with.(drink?) My job isn't quite so forgiving. We're on a 7 (calendar) day defect resolution cycle right now, and that means most of my coworkers have been pulling 55-60 hour weeks on and off for the last 2 months. Makes me look like shit when I cut out at 4:30 each day (2:30 for my boss and co-workers in Silicon Valley).

On one hand, this is a bit of a pain in the ass. On the other hand, I'm a natural, and I absolutely love law so far, so I don't want to give it up.

[Kaptious Kristen]

From the "Never Call the Police. Ever. Brian Aitken II: Electric Boogaloo" files, the squeeze's roommate is going through a somewhat contentious divorce. The roommate was at dinner with a friend and made some offhand comment like "I could just strangle her" or whatever normal people say when talking to someone they think they can trust and are under a lot of stress.

Anyway, the friend got drunk a few nights later and got to ruminating on that one offhand comment and called the cops.

Cops show up in full force, weapons drawn, at the house. Cuff the squeeze. Search without a warrant (squeeze is not on the lease, so possibly the roommate gave permission, possibly they searched without permission of any kind).

Roommate gets hauled away for a psych evaluation. Probably puts custody/visitation with his kids in jeopardy.

The squeeze says the friend that called the cops wasn't being malicious, just naive (I'll have to trust on this since I've never met her).

Hope she learned her lesson. NEVER CALL THE FUCKING COPS!

[Brett L]

Dude should file a complaint on the caller for filing a false police report. See if he can get the full dress cop investigation on her. You know, as a learning experience.

[Kaptious Kristen]

The squeeze was saying how he would love to swat her to teach her about cops. But I don't think he knows where she lives.

[The Late P Brooks]

However, the court decided that rather than argue on the established test, they gave a little lip service to the test and proceeded to argue that policy considerations were the primary factor in not holding the utility company liable.

Rule of Law?

How quaint.

[trshmnstr]

I think you practically quoted the dissent verbatim. Although I think the words ridiculous, dangerous, and abdicated were used as well.

[The Late P Brooks]

Anyway, the friend got drunk a few nights later and got to ruminating on that one offhand comment and called the cops.

You don't want to be that guy being interviewed on the evening news who says, "Yup. I jus' knowed he'd do sumpthin like thet. I never trusted thet sumbitch. Everboddy seen it comin'."

SEE SOMETHINJG, SAY SOMETHING!

[Kaptious Kristen]

Parks & Rec premieres tonight. I get my Ron Swanson fix!

[invisible furry hand]

Senate website gets the second amendment wrong

[The Late P Brooks]

DOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The budget crisis manufactured by Congressional Republicans will never succeed at halting health care reform, but it has already caused long-lasting harm. It will preserve the deeply damaging spending cuts, known as the sequester, that are costing jobs and hurting the lives of millions.

Nihilists and vandals are tearing down our temples and destroying the fabric of civilization.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

No word about whether the production by those workers was worth more than what it cost to employ them.

[#]

I also love all this hurt over the sequester. It's about 1/4 - 1/5 the size of the various tax increases that went into place this year, but somehow this never gets mentioned. If you really think the sequester is destroying all these jobs, should the tax increases not being doing that much more so?

[Brett L]

Just so I'm clear: The House Republicans are now Team Evil instead of Team Stupid and by sucking all the oxygen out of the room by defunding Obamacare which will be struck in conference, they've managed to preserve the sequester.

I hope the poles have really shifted and we are seeing a TEAM swap. I'm ready for the 'phants to get back to early-mid 90s style TEAM EVIL politics.

[Enough About Palin]

"George H.W. Bush Attends Gay Wedding"

Slow newsday?

[PD Scott]

Did he bring a gift? Was it on the registry?

[The Late P Brooks]

Opening sentence of NOPR story:

Stacy Dean Rambold, the Montana teacher who got sentenced to 30 days in jail for the 2007 rape of a 14-year-old student who later killed herself, is to be released from custody Thursday.

Phrasing it as if he violently assaulted her as she was playing with her little dollies on the school playground, and then tied the hangman's noose as she climbed up onto the scaffold; fuck you, NPR.

[UnCivilServant]

So what actually happened?

[Dave Krueger]

The FBI says Aaron Alexis, the Washington Navy Yard shooter, was delusional and believed he was being manipulated by electromagnetic waves.

If he had said god told him to do it, he would have been in better company because a lot of people claim that god talks to them. For that matter, who's to say that god doesn't use electromagnetic waves to talk to people? How do we know that god wasn't setting him up to do mass this shooting? Not your god, of course, but maybe one of the other ones. One of the bad ones.

[Dave Krueger]

Two supermarket chains in Britain apologized for carrying a Halloween costume billed as "mental patient." It included a blood-splattered strait jacket and a meat cleaver. Mental illness advocacy groups were upset.

You want to know why zombies are such popular bad guys these days? It's because every goddamn other thing is off limits.

[robc]

Okay, who is posting with their email in their link still?

[Troy muy grande boner]

what is wrong with posting you email in the link?

[robc]

The squirrels fucked things up so those of us using reasonable have an ugly ass box at the bottom of our screen now. But only when one of the last 5 posts is from someone with their email in their link. URLs are fine, nothing but name is fine, emails bork things.

[Troy muy grande boner]

What is reasonable?

[Troy muy grande boner]

so how do i fix this?

[BakedPenguin]

A Chrome add-on that hides troll posts.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Thanks for the info.

[Troy muy grande boner]

test

[robc]

Thank you.

Reasonable is an extension for chrome that allows filtering and etc.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Thank you too

[The Late P Brooks]

So what actually happened?

I believe it was consensual. Statutory rape, and without question wrong wrong wrong, but framing it in a manner so as to make it appear as if it was some sort of violent nonconsensual forcible rape bothers me.

[Caleb Turberville]

The biggest problem I saw was the lack of resolution in terms of themes. Parker and Stone like to mess with audience's heads and go left when you expect them to go right. But they have usually stayed away from the the fence-sitting position (except for the brilliant "I'm a little bit country" episode). But in last night's episode, it seemed like the writers genuinely wanted to tackle the NSA question, but they failed to arrive at thesis. Part of the problem is that they spent to much time on the Butters B-plot, when they should have spent more time dealing with the opposing arguments about the NSA controversy. I mean, that Santa Claus gag was straight up meaningless.

[Jerryskids]

I thought it seemed a little soft, I wasn't quite sure where they were trying to go with the NSA thing other than to say that we seem to have willingly embraced the idea of having nothing private any more any way so what's the big deal.

The Daily Show on the other hand - seriously? You're going to do a single 15 minute rant on Cruz, bring on your guests and call it a show? I can't think off-hand of any other story that occupied Stewart to this extent, why the hell is he foaming-at-the-mouth crazy about Cruz?

[Caleb Turberville]

Yeah, nothing makes South Park look better by comparison than The Daily Show. I remember when Comedy Central cancelled Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and gave the reason was that "[they] already had a show that appealed to conservatives, namely South Park." But then, the next year, they give Tough Crowd's old timeslot to The Colbert Report.

By the way, the liberals on Tough Crowd were far more tolerable and well-versed than Stewart or Colbert.

[#]

"why the hell is he foaming-at-the-mouth crazy about Cruz?"

Because he's a lefty?

[#]

"[they] already had a show that appealed to conservatives, namely South Park."

The beauty of South Park is that they are willing to go after everyone. So even if you personaly end up being the butt of the joke in a given episode, you can enjoy the laugh with some self humor, because you know they are dishing it out on everyone.

That's different than the daily show type stuff which tears into everything stereotypically conservative while taking a pass on left characatures.

If you end up a target in that show, then you know its just him trying to run a propoganda show rather than making fun.