A.M. Links: Syrian Deal Made Between US and Russia, Obama's Approval Rating Hits Low, Breaking Bad Creator Begins New Project

• 

  Credit: YVRBCbro / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

  A deal has been reached between the U.S. and Russia regarding Syria's chemical weapons, according to a tweet by ambassador Samantha Powers. Inspections of the nation's chemical stockpiles could begin as early as Tuesday.

• President Obama's popularity is at a two year low. His approval rating is 43 percent while his disapproval rating is 49 percent. 
• The president said he will not budge on his intention to raise the debt ceiling, despite House Republicans' demands.
• The UN released a report that says scientists are 95 percent certain that humans are the dominant cause of global warming since the 1950s.
• At least 17 people were killed in a bus bombing in a region of Pakistan subject to repeated Taliban attacks.
• Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is set to begin his next project, a drama that centers around two detectives.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The UN released a report that says scientists are 95 percent certain that humans are the dominant cause of global warming since the 1950s.

Their five percent doubt is being ostracized as we speak.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

You know who else was 95% certain?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Ivory soap?

[robc]

Ivory is 99.44%

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Government Ivory Soap?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The 0.56% is the soul.

[The DerpRider]

The Old Man deciding how many things will work in an outlet?

[Redmanfms]

In reference to your handle, WTF happened to ol' Derider?

Reading his "why I'm not a libertarian" schtick (which only proved him to be an authoritarian progressive) was kind of funny. Sort of like if Tony weren't a complete moron and passably witty.

[tarran]

The Derider, aka Joe from Lowell, was always good for a laugh.

My guess is that once again Obama let him down. He'll show up in four years pretending the last eight didn't happen.

Or maybe Sugarfree did figure out how to transport him back in time so the Julius Caesar could use him as a sex-slave.

[SweatingGin]

The Derider was joe, wasn't it?

[WTF]

Yes, and he disappeared soon after we found him out and started back in on him with short jokes.

[Zakalwe]

The guy with the 20 saving throw?

[Rich]

*** takes a sip of coffee ***

Legendre?

[KWebb]

Peer reviewed journal articles?

[The DerpRider]

Peer reviewed? Ha.

[VG Zaytsev]

Dentyne.

[mad libertarian guy]

Their five percent doubt is being ostracized as we speak.

As is everyone who has suggested that their models not matching reality (or even being close at all) might suggest that they've got a few things wrong.

But worry not, folks, because even though reality hasn't conformed to their models their predictions are still totally correct, and if we just believe, they will fix the environment via massive wealth transfers to their green tech buddies.

[Brett L]

Speaking for myself, 95% of anything the UN believes is probably wrong, so I am 90.25% certain that the UN has no fucking clue what caused the temperature trend.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The president said he will not budge on his intention to raise the debt ceiling, despite House Republicans' demands.

Get congressional Republicans to agree to more debt or get them to shut down the government. For Obama it's all good.

[wareagle]

more bullshit from the same guy who, as Senator, called the need to hike the debt ceiling a sign of leadership failure.

[Auric Demonocles]

But that was nasty Republican debt!

[mad libertarian guy]

Get congressional Republicans to agree to more debt or get them to shut down the government. For Obama it's all good.

It's must be nice to have a pliant media that'll neatly ties these little bows for him!

[Lord Humungus]

This is What Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Thinks About Your Privacy Rights?

Scalia said that before the court's 1967 opinion on wiretapping, the high court held the view that there were no constitutional prohibitions on wiretaps because conversations were not explicitly granted privacy protection under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against Americans against unreasonable search and seizure of "their persons, houses, papers, and effects."

But he said then the Warren court stepped in and found that "there's a generalized right of privacy that comes from penumbras and emanations, blah blah blah, garbage."

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

I piss on you, "Justice" Scalia!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Sorry, but I think "penumbras and emanations" are bullshit too.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I claim the Right to Privacy is a "natural" right.

Done deal.

Now the government can leave me alone.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's only bullshit because the didn't cite the 9th amendment:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

A majority of Americans believe that they have a right to privacy - so they do.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

A majority of Americans believe they have the right to free health care...

[Francisco d Anconia]

Positive rights, negative rights how do they work?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Please define the "right to privacy" in a negative way.

[Francisco d Anconia]

A negative right is one that requires no action from others in order to be enjoyed. Taking no action ensures the right.

Privacy is CLEARLY a negative right.

[Cunctator]

---Sorry, but I think "penumbras and emanations" are bullshit too.---

You only need "penumbras and emanations" if you think the Constitution is a grant of rights. If you look at it as a grant of power the the government, then the government needs to find specific authority for what it want to do. There is no need for "penumbras and emanations" as the government is not granted any specific authority to invade your privacy except in relation to the enumerated powers, which would be few and far between.

[DJF]

So Scalia would have no problem with me listening in on his private deliberations with the other justices?

[PD Scott]

IIRC, they don't even allow cameras in the courtroom, and they certainly don't permit C-Span to broadcast arguments or verdicts. Justices, what are you trying to hide?

[Eduard van Haalen]

The article fails to note that, until 1968, the Congressional ban on disclosing the contents of telephone conversations had no law-enforcement exception, thus much of the FBI surveillance described in the article was illegal, and if discovered the surveillance and its fruits could be thrown out of court.

In 1968, Congress let the FBI seek wiretapping warrants, at least for domestic law-enforcement.

Now, absent the Court's 1967 ruling, would Congress have been emboldened to allow warrantless wiretaps?

We know that in subsequent years Congress signed off on a lot of really bad surveillance, though at least they had the fig-leaf of a warrant. And the Fourth Amendment seems to subject *all* warrants to the probable cause, etc. standard, not just when cops are searching "persons, houses, papers and effects."

So maybe Scalia wasn't calling for open-ended wiretaps after all?

[VG Zaytsev]

He probably was. He's overly deferential to cops.

[Ted S.]

because conversations were not explicitly granted privacy protection under the Fourth Amendment,

Scalia gets his rucks off raping the Ninth Amendment.

Never mind the question whether a conversation is an effect.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Just more evidence that the Bill of Rights was a stupid fucking idea.

[WTF]

Exactly, because the important issue is that the Constitution does not grant the government the power to perform wiretaps, therefore they cannot do so.

[VG Zaytsev]

So, basically he thinks the same thing on privacy as Obama.

Fuck him.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Models of misinformation -- climate reports melt under scrutiny
...German climatologist Hans von Storch has found that IPCC climate models project warming trends as low as actual recorded observations only 2% of the time.

The monthly journal Nature Climate Change reports that over 20 years (1993-2012), the warming trend computed from 117 climate model simulations (0.3?C per decade) is more than twice the observed trend (0.14?C/decade). Over the most recent 15 years (1998-2012), the computer-simulated trend (0.21?C/decade) is more than four times the observed trend (0.05?C/decade)?a trend that is pretty close to a flat line....

Climate Models vs. Observations: Picture Worth a Thousand Words
...Compared to the actual temperature rise since 1980, the average of 32 top climate models (the so-called CIMP5) overestimates it by 71-159%. A new Nature Climate Change study shows that the prevailing climate models produced estimates that overshot the temperature rise of the last 15 years by more than 300%....

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

"Observation" - that is NOT part of science!

/eco-prog

[WTF]

Yeah, what good is 'observation' compared to consensus?!

[John]

I made the mistake of listening the NBC reporting of the new report on the Weather Channel this morning. It was appalling.

They didn't even mention the pause in warming. They did at least mention that the report admits that human activity is only responsible for half of the "warming", which of course they failed to mention has stopped happening. And then after a quick nod to that spent two solid minutes going on about how they are 95% certain man is warming the planet.

I wonder if this cult will ever die. The idiots who espouse it will just lie and ignore anything that doesn't fit the narrative.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Last night on NPR they had the EIC of Popular Science on to explain why he discontinued comments on popsci.com. He gave the response we heard before, that the comments enabled debate about things that aren't debatable. Of course, both he and the interviewer failed to mention, at all, that the debate over AGW is what got popsci's panties in a bunch.

Great reporting, NPR.

[John]

The Pop Sci histrionic and vague justification for killing the comments is quite entertaining. They never mention exactly what they are talking about, only that all of science is apparently up for debate in some circles. if you didn't know any better you would think that people were getting on pop sci and questioning the laws of thermodynamics or the periodic table of elements.

The other thing of course is that if these arguments were just so ridiculous, I doubt the people at Pop Sci would feel the need to kill them. The only reason you try and shut someone up is because they are saying things you don't want to hear and don't really have a very good response to.

[R C Dean]

all of science is apparently up for debate in some circles.

One would hope that all of science is up for debate in scientific circles.

[tarran]

The morons seem to mistake science for scripture.

Science is a process, where by dispute, hypothesis testing and observations we come to better understand the universe.

All theories are one observation away from being falsified.

[John]

True. But that obvious and rather abstract point wasn't what I was talking about. The fact that everything can be up for debate if the right observation is ever made doesn't mean it actually is up for debate at any given time.

My point was about Pop Sci's slight of hand by never mentioning what areas of science were being debate and basiclly implying that people were wasting time debating things that currently there is no reason to doubt instead of debating really controversial things (AGW) that Pop Sci wants to pretend there is no reason to doubt.

I didn't think that point was necessary to explain. But apparently you and RC in particular are either so thick or so pedantic you missed it.

[tarran]

I didn't think that point was necessary to explain. But apparently you and RC in particular are either so thick or so pedantic you missed it.

*I* thought I was agreeing with you, actually.

[John]

Some debates tend to die out after a while. No one is debating the laws of thermodynamics and won't be unless someone comes up with a good reason.

So while they may be "up for debate" in that if someone ever comes up with an observation or reason to debate them, they will, they are not "being debated right now" and are thus not "up for debate" in anything but the most theoretical sense.

See, I can be even more pedantic than can be.

[Brett L]

Well, when the creationists suck all of the air out of the room every time PopSci posts a cool article about the fossil record, I have some sympathy. OTOH, pretending that AGW is different than, say, the fights over the Interstellar Aether, phlogiston, or germ theory is ridiculous.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

In the instance of fundies screaming about "lies from the pits of hell", they have nothing to back up their claims except "BUT JESUS!!!1!!!one!!!"

No one is going to take those arguments seriously, and a bit of moderating will take care of anyone who is being abusive.

When it comes to things like AGW, they just don't want any dissenting views to be heard, no evidence presented, and no holes poked in their doctrine.

[Pro Libertate]

Weird how Popular Science thinks it's a good idea to make a huge deal about shutting down comments. I used to subscribe, but I certainly won't be doing so anytime soon if they're this politicized in their science reporting. I saw enough of that bullshit from the formerly Scientific American.

[AlexInCT]

Heh, I dropped my subscription to SA about a decade ago when it went full retard for AGW, and after this lame move by PopSci I will be avoiding their site as well. These people do not want their dogma challenged and it is sad.

[mad libertarian guy]

I wonder if this cult will ever die. The idiots who espouse it will just lie and ignore anything that doesn't fit the narrative.

It will, but it'll die a long, slow death, and it will never be openly acknowledged that they have been full of shit. It will simply be forgotten like the malthusian predictions of the 60s and 70s. The religious will never give up their faith.

[John]

They will move onto something else. At heart the believers in this kind of crap are always just puritans who want to end what they see as sinful and tacky lifestyles. They gave up the bible as a justification in the 20th Century and moved on the environmentalism. When they can no longer use that, they will move onto something else.

[VG Zaytsev]

Yep

[tarran]

They already have.

Ocean Acidification is the next Global Cooling.

[#]

We've gone from population bomb mass starvations to we're all going to die cause the ozone hole to global warming.

They will find something else for sure.

[AlexInCT]

^^^THIS.

The agenda will be the same, the crisis will be something else, and they need to rob us of our freedoms and wealth yesterday to save Gaia.

[sarcasmic]

Police officers pepper-sprayed and handcuffed father as his daughter lay dying because 'he shouted at EMT to help her' ? and now his son's been barred from the army for coming to his defense
Brooke Russell, 16, shot herself in the head on March 17th and was found by her family in the park behind her house in Joplin, Missouri
They rushed her to a waiting ambulance where Brooke's body allegedly fell off the gurney in front of her shocked family
Her father, Kevin lost his temper at this and he and his son Brant were pepper sprayed
They are now facing three charges each of assault, disturbing the peace, and obstruction - which they vehemently deny
Both were handcuffed to a bench in jail for 3 1/2 hours - during which Brooke passed away

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....p-her.html

However, Joplin Police Chief Lane Roberts told KSPR, that despite Kevin Russell's complaints, he does not have the option of going public with his officers side of the story.
'What I'll tell you is that the conduct that's alleged is directly contradictory to our values, our mission statement, our code of ethics,' the chief explained.
'Those are not the things we engage in.'

Translation: 'This is standard operating procedure. Fuck you, that's why.'

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

Union Reps were last seen warming up their grievance generators.

[John]

I can't tell you what my officer's did, but it was of course proper. The police unions have managed to make many police personnel records off limits to the public. It is not just situations like this that are infuriating. If you are a defense attorney and a cop is testifying about how your client confessed and your client says he only did so because the cop threatened to kill him, you can't get to the cop's personnel files to see where he was caught doing the same thing last year. The cop has privacy rights you know.

[Eduard van Haalen]

If you are a defense attorney and the disciplinary authorities sanction you for (say) illegally searching a cop's disciplinary file, then in many states the sanction might be made a public record. But cops' misbehavior should be private.

[sarcasmic]

Public means everyone but you.

[sarcasmic]

The cop has privacy rights you know.

An officer with a long history of abusing his power would likely have left many angry citizens in his wake. Best to keep everything private. For the officer's safety.

[John]

The problem is that without the record, you don't know what to ask or where to look. And you have no way of knowing if he lies to you on the stand when you ask him if he has ever had any discipline issues. The cops are good about not even letting prosecutors see the records so that the prosecutors can't be accused of suborning perjury.

[Troy muy grande boner]

I once did an internship for the City of Joplin after I got out of law school. I would change cloths downstairs in the same room as the pigs. They would joke about how they would steal marijuana and other drugs from people and use it themselves.

[Lord Humungus]

Woman upset she has to give up pet squirrel

"I raised him from an infant," a crying Householder said. "I fed him through a syringe every two hours."

The family can't keep the squirrel. Phil Bloom, the director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Division of Communications, told NewsChannel 15 that it's illegal to possess one without a permit.

"If someone feels the need to save that animal, which is usually not necessary, the proper and legal way to take care of that is to turn that animal over to a licenses wild animal rehabilitator within 24 hours," Bloom said.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

"it's illegal to possess one without a permit."

"legal way to take care of that is to turn that animal over to a licenses wild animal rehabilitator within 24 hours"

o'er the Land of the Free...

[sarcasmic]

Freedom means asking permission and taking orders.

[CatoTheElder]

In the profound and timeless words of Rudy Giuliani:

Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

[DontShootMe]

It's a squirrel. I could fling a rock out my back door and hit 3 of the varmints.

Or, maybe the reason website could adopt it, it always needs more squirrels.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

"it always needs more squirrels"

Suck up.

[DontShootMe]

Nah, I'm just tryin' to con somebody from reason into coming out to my place and taking all the squirrels without me having to pay them. Gotta give the chipmunks out here a fighting chance.

[Old Man With Candy]

Rats with bushy tails. But they're still rats. I encourage my dog to eat them.

[DJF]

She should argue that she is the squirrels pet and there is no law requiring squirrels to have permit to keep a human.

Probably won't work in the long run but it would be fun to watch the bureaucrats argue the case.

[Lady Bertrum]

She should argue that the squirrel is a helping pet. It sniffs out cancer and buries it in the backyard for use during the winter months.

[Zeb]

Or that the squirrel just happens to like hanging around her. You don't need a permit to have mice in your house, do you? (I probably shouldn't give them any ideas)

[RBS]

Home inspections for all!

[Brett L]

You know they're going to kill the squirrel, too, right?

[Drax the Destroyer]

The town's swat team will probably use it for small dog target practice.

[Brett L]

That's the best chance for survival the squirrel has.

[Zeb]

What I want to know is who reports someone to the state for keeping a squirrel?

[Citizen Nothing]

Had to be a cat.

[invisible furry hand]

$20 million from one woman alone!

A US 'psychic' has been convicted of duping clients out of $25 million after she convinced them she could see the future and control the tax department.

Rose Marks, 62 of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, allegedly told her customers she could predict the future and modify the past - as well as influence the Internal Revenue Service.

more

[sarcasmic]

Officer who made woman shake out her bra during routine traffic stop is suspended for ONE DAY
Zoe Brugger was pulled over for a broken headlight, when the officer suspected there were drugs in the vehicle
Officer Dustin Fetz asked Brugger to twice shake out her bra to see if she was hiding anything
Brugger filed a complaint and sent a letter to the State Attorney's Office
The State Attorney has investigated the issue and the Lakeland Police Department is starting their own investigation

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....E-DAY.html
The paid vacation was not for humiliating the woman, or for illegally searching the car without consent, but rather for turning off the audio on the dash cam. At least he didn't rape her.

[sarcasmic]

Hidden camera catches culprit taking man's Second Amendment sign - and it's a POLICEMAN
Hidden camera captured police removing pro-Second Amendment sign
Authorities claim sign was on public property and had to be removed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....CEMAN.html
To serve and protect. Themselves.

[Lord Humungus]

Businessman's hands full with bra bid

West Cork businessman Sean Murray, whose Skibbereen shop houses the region's largest lingerie department, has issued an appeal for at least 70 women ? or men ? to flock to his store on Saturday, Oct 26, to let him pop open their bras in a record-breaking bid for a cancer charity.

He will have to display deft fingerwork using just one hand to unclasp more than 69 bras in 60 seconds if he is to break Dutch-man Dennis Storm's 2012 record.

[sarcasmic]

'Don't you know my son is dead?': Father of boy who drowned on class trip gets call from school about his absences
Jean Fritz Pierre, 16, died while swimming in a lake on a school trip in June
His father Jonas Pierre, who is already suing the city for $10M, says the school called to discuss his son's record of skipping class

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

[UnCivilServant]

"Get back to work you lazy corpse!"

Oh wait, that eas the Elbonian overseer from the dilbert cartoon.

[Stormy Dragon]

"Quite frankly Mr. Perkins, if he wasn't
dead I'd have him expelled."

[PD Scott]

That whole show/performance was hilarious.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Are Women Really Less Corrupt Than Men?
...All this is to say, when you take consequences out of the picture, there's not that much difference in behavior. Esarey and Chirillo describe an experiment conducted "in the United States and Burkina Faso where they found that, compared to men, women are equally likely to accept bribes in the absence of monitoring but are substantially less likely to accept bribes when being monitored."...

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The importance of slut-shaming
...This suggests - not proves, but suggests - that absent social pressure to remain chaste, women will behave as badly in the sexual sense as men. Which is what we have largely observed in the post-sexual revolution decline in female moral standards. The fact that female behavior is not yet, on average, quite as bad as male behavior is likely in part due to the fact that some sexual double-standard still exists.

Female susceptibility to social pressure is why slut-shaming is so effective. This is also why feminists, being anti-civilizational barbarians, are so focused on preventing both men and women from slut-shaming. Of course, the same tactic can be used against them by relentlessly pointing out that they are rude barbarians at war with both decency and civilization itself.

So, never apologize for making a woman feel bad about her sexual history or hesitate to do so. In doing so, you are defending civilization.

[AlexInCT]

"do so. In doing so, you are defending civilization."

You do that after you bang her, right?

[John]

They are less corrupt, provided the environment has social pressures against being corrupt. What that study really says is that women are more susceptible to social pressure than men are. That is great right up until the social pressures start pushing for sticking people in ovens. Women are, for whatever biological reasons, generally more conformists and less likely to stand up against the social norms of the day.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Libertarians could exploit this by giving women free purses as a recruitment incentive...

Oh, hi, honey, I was just telling these nice gentlemen on the Internet how awesome women are!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is set to begin his next project, a drama that centers around two detectives.

Wait, everyone already hates Low Winter Sun...

[Longtorso, Johnny]

"He's a Pope.....He's a chimp....they're detectives...."

[The DerpRider]

It's set in Battle Creek. They have cereal, a truck stop, and a casino...

[sarcasmic]

Heard this advertized on the radio today.

Your tip is sent to a secure server in Canada where all of your identifying information is removed and a four digit code is assigned to you. *The Police Department has no way of identifying who you are.* The tip is then forwarded to the Portland Police Department and assigned to an investigator for follow-up. The investigator might text you back to get more information.

http://police.portlandmaine.gov/solveacrime.asp
They don't know who you are, but they can get right back to you. OK. Sure. Anyone who believes that this is anonymous is a fucking moron.

[UnCivilServant]

There's a reverse lookup table where the four digit code is correlated to the contact information of the tipper - for prompt service.

At least, that's how Government Databases usually handle it.

[R C Dean]

Or, they can always just ask the NSA.

[Lord Humungus]

It's robots vs. immigrants in Paul Ryan's dairy district

GOP budget chief and Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan says he wants to pass a major immigration rewrite because his home-state Wisconsin dairy farmers will go bust without a steady supply of low-wage immigrant workers.

However, those dairy farmers are increasingly hiring robots to milk their cows.

Farmers' "first reaction is disbelief? [but] once people do purchase them and put them in, it's definitely a life-changing event," said Adam Steiner, a robot salesman in Stratford, Wisconsin, for Iowa-based Lely USA Inc.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I'm really confused here. Haven't milking machines been around for 20 years or so?

[Auric Demonocles]

I can confirm that they've been in existence since at least 1992, when we moved to the farmhouse.

My first guess is that these are more automated? Because the milking machines I am used to still require someone to prep the udders, put them on, and take them off.

[Auric Demonocles]

I've read the article more in depth. These machines are *way* more automated (and also way more expensive). Calling them "robots" made me think that would be the case.

The cows use the new robots when they wish, and the robots only need maintenance every 20,000 milkings, so the farmers are free to set their own schedules, such as attending their kids' school events while monitoring the milking via their smartphones, Steiner said.

But at $200k a pop and being familiar with the budget of an 80-100 cow dairy farm, I'm not sure this part is true:

"There's a lot of smaller farms, 60 to 240 cow dairies, and the robot milking machine makes it possible [for them] to stay in business," said Segner. "It is saving the small family farms," partly by increasing the willingness of young Americans to become farmers, he said.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

What is the budget of an 80-100 cow dairy farm? I'd have to think a bank would give you a business loan on the investment.

[UnCivilServant]

With the revolving debt load of the average farmer... maybe not.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, it'd absolutely have to be a loan. If you're paying a mortgage, just breaking even for the year isn't out of the realm of possibility. Farming is actually fairly capital intensive (assuming you are growing your own feed), and a $200k piece of equipment is still increasing the capital costs like 20-30%. And all you're getting out of it is that you don't need to use the labor to milk the cows, which on a farm that size can be done yourself over the course of ~6 hours (~3 hours 2x a day).

If you were willing to take out more loans, a family farm could scrape by on it, but the return really isn't going to "save" the farm. At best it means the farmer has a lot of free time.

[robc]

At best it means the farmer has a lot of free time.

This.

Once you reach a certain scale, the robots make sense, but for small scale family dairy farms, labor costs arent that large.

[INFORG]

Free time that can be used for a second job in town.

[R C Dean]

I've not run a small dairy farm, but having lived in dairy country in Wisconsin, I got the impression that a small farm (60 - 150 cows-ish) was worked by the farmer and maybe 1 or 2 hired hands.

So the labor costs would be pretty minimal, call it $30K a year.

Hard to justify a $200K capital investment that will allow you to lay off $30K/year in payroll.

[UnCivilServant]

They haven't reached market saturation.

[waffles]

Also, how do you "hire" a robot? Unless it's the Britishism, don't you typically buy the things. Robots are chattel.

[Biden's Scroteplugs]

1. robot minimum wage
2. ???
3. Skynet

[robc]

After time we grew strong and developed cognitive powers
They made us work for too long, for unreasonable hours

I think Ive quoted 3 different parts of this song on here in the last week. Weird.

[DJF]

These ones don't require a human to hook them up.

[robc]

20 years?

My uncle owned a dairy farm and I can remember milking machines back in the 70s.

Im assuming the new robots attach the machines to the cows instead of a human doing it.

[Auric Demonocles]

Zenon's alt-text approval rating is also at a two year low.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

I say it is even worse!

[Auric Demonocles]

We've only recently started tracking this.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

I am willing to extrapolate backwards.

[Clich? Bandit]

The models prove it...95%...derp..

[sarcasmic]

North Carolina Wal-Mart shooter chose victims by race, shot only whites
Lakim Faust shot four people in June at a Greenville, N.C., Wal-Mart
He picked his victims by the color of their skin, shooting only whites

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....hites.html
No mention of him being charged with a hate crime.

[wareagle]

and you have to go to a British paper to find it. Probably coincidence.

[RBS]

If yall said that anywhere else you'd be flagged as no good, dirty racists.

[mad libertarian guy]

They aren't?

[RBS]

Maybe? I mean, aren't we all racist now?

[mad libertarian guy]

Because I listen to the news, I know I am.

[Mike M.]

Only four more days until we're all under the tyrannical yoke of Obamacare. Have a nice weekend everyone!

[DJF]

Or as MSMBC would write it "Only four days until Obama lays his healing hands on all Americans and we all live forever".

[Drax the Destroyer]

Despite the fact this will fuck us, I'm kind of looking forward to how much of a dismal failure this shitshow will be. But they'll move the goal posts and pretend it's a success per usual.

[#]

Don't forget the random people the media will find somewhere about the single mom with four kids who somehow wasn't already in medicaid or S Chip who now can fight her cancer because of the bill, making it sounds like this is the norm.

you know there are going to be tons of these dredged up by the media going forward.

[AlexInCT]

"Don't forget the random people the media will find somewhere"

And if they don't find them, they will make them up.

[Lord Humungus]

Residents complain traffic barriers look like male organs

Scott residents said the posts, called bollards, were installed on two streets in the Glendale section of Scott and the shape of the objects -- elongated shafts with rounded tops -- resemble male sex organs, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Thursday.

"People are laughing at it. They're calling it Penis Road," resident Pat Martin told officials at a Tuesday meeting of the township commissioners.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

Should make giving directions easy... "turn left at the second phallus and we are the fourth house on the right.

[Rich]

"And don't get me started about those nasty *wading pools*!"

[Eduard van Haalen]

No photos?

[Lord Humungus]

if you want to look at dongs, there are better places to start.

[R C Dean]

"Hey, we're just happy to see you!"

[sarcasmic]

Climate change is on ice: UN scientists reveal the world's barely got any hotter in the last 15 years - but say they are now 95% certain man is to blame for global warming
Report compiled by over 800 scientists and used 9,000 scientific studies
But conceded that world temperatures have barely risen in past 15 years
This is despite more greenhouse gases being pumped into atmosphere
Critics say this shows carbon dioxide isn't as damaging as was claimed
Report said CO2 has reached levels unprecedented in at least 80,000 years
Britain will experience COOLING of about 1?C, disrupting weather patterns

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....years.html
"Consensus! It's not political! It's science! Consensus is the new science! But it's not political! We swear! Just because we depend upon power hungry politicians for our salaries doesn't make what we do political! And did we mention there's a consensus?"

[DesigNate]

How can we be blamed for something that isn't fucking happening?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Dating Is the Worst, and Other Scientific Facts
...Too many choices make me feel anxious. What if I choose incorrectly? Maybe I just don't want jam after all. Forget it. I'll just go home without it, or buy something else instead. After all, the perfect jam has to be out there somewhere. Why waste my time and money on all these other ones?...

...I turned on the computer and logged into OkCupid. There's this screen when you log in that shows you your "Three Top-Rated New Matches!" I sh*t you not, this is what popped up on the homepage

I knew all three. I had kissed ALL three. All three worked in my field. All three were my top-rated matches....

[Gbob]

Christ. I think I dated her. Well, not her exactly, but at least a dozen different versions of her.

If you think that dating today is terrible, then perhaps the problem isn't that the dating scene is terrible, but instead you're the one who is the problem.

I dove into dating after my divorce, and I found it a great experience. I meet plenty of new folks, have plenty of laughs and fully embrace the freedom that can be found. Online dating is a great tool for meeting folks.

If you're biggest problem is that you have too many choices, then perhaps you don't really have a problem after all.

[Redmanfms]

If you're biggest problem is that you have too many choices, then perhaps you don't really have a problem after all.

Tyranny of choice. This is a thing....

....that moron progs like Tony believe in.

[sarcasmic]

Babysitter spared jail after she had sex with TWO 14-year-old boys in her care - and one of the victim's families supported her release after she professed her love for him
Loni Bouchard, now 22, had sex with two 14-year-old boys when she was 19
She wrote in her journal about the 'amazing sex' she had with one of the 14-year-olds
She was sentenced to three years in prison but a judge suspended all of it and gave her probation instead

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-care.html
Why did I never have a babysitter like that?

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

At 14, my parents were pretty sure I could be responsible enough on my own...dammit! I am with you, where was this when I was 14?!

[UnCivilServant]

Why would you hire a babysitter for a 14 year old?

[H. ReardEn]

Whay 14-year olds need babysitters?

[Jordan]

I wouldn't be surprised if CPS would take your kids away if you left them home alone at 14 years old. 14 is the new 5.

[Clich? Bandit]

Ya know it is funny. Now, I would never leave my 3yo alone yet but I give her a lot of leeway to make decisions. And sometimes she makes bad ones. She learns (and daddy eats her ice cream cause thats how I roll). The infantalization of our species is despicable.

[Clich? Bandit]

Also, technically, ice cream isn't paleo so it really IS hurting me more than it is hurting her. Damn.

[Brett L]

Heh. Every parent I respect that has a kid in the "no" phase routinely slips in something like "do you want ice cream?" when the kid gets on a "no" role. Their kids are well-behaved for their age.

[CatoTheElder]

Because they were bad, bad boys.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I eagerly await Apatheist's call for this woman to get 20 years in jail.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Actually, assuming the age is set at 16 and not 14 or 15 (I didn't say I wasn't opened to convincing) I think the Romeo and Juliet law for 14 and 15 year olds should be expansive enough to include a 19 year old.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

18 year olds and 50 year olds are legally treated the same in all other criminal actions. I don't see any reason to change it to accommodate your sensibilities, no offense.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Well my proposed age of consent set up is better than pretty much any state including those with 16 age of consent from your perspective so see it as an incremental change then.

14, 15, 16, whatever you have to decide somewhere. I said that 16 sound reasonable to me and that a 14 year old being pressured by her 50 year old teacher and then committing suicide does not. Any standard is going to be subjective because no two individuals are going to mature at the same rate and there isn't some magical day when suddenly somebody can consent.

I've notice that you've never laid out how you would set up the system and how you would distinguish your age from somebody who thinks it should be even lower.

[Tonio]

Nice weasel move, Pathetic. Why don't you come up with a table of "victim" ages, "perp" ages and penalties for consensual acts. If you want different penalties for males and females be sure to make that explicit.

[Apatheist ?_??]

What would your age of consent be then? Would you have not Romeo and Juliet laws at all from that age? What arguments would you make to distinguish your chosen age from some NAMBLA type who thinks the age should be 8 or something? Any argument you make will be just as subjective as deciding between 14,15 or 16 as the age.

[DesigNate]

Has an 8 year old ever been tried as an adult?

[Apatheist ?_??]

Should a 14 year old be tried as an adult? Why are some and not others? What age should people be tried as adults 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14? Why is your arbitrary age more correct than one a year or two higher?

[DesigNate]

I'm pretty sure 14 y/o have been tried as adults, most likely in capital murder cases, but that may not be the best example.

In any case, I remember being 14, and if a hot 20-22 y/o had wanted to hook up with me, I can assure you it would have been enthusiastically consensual. (Now if it was one of my older teachers, it damn well wouldn't have been and I would have told my parents.)

[Apatheist ?_??]

The tried as an adult thing was a non sequitur because we are discussing what a hypothetical age of consent would be but it is a similar discussion. So sure 14 not 16, whatever. What would you say to someone who thinks it should be 13 or 12? Tonio and NK haven't presented an argument for what the age should be and what distinguishes their age from someone who thinks it should be even lower. Apparently proposing a regime that is more permissive than any state in the US and similar to different European countries is crazy. I don't think 14 instead 16 is crazy because I acknowledge that it is a very subjective decision, something they apparently cannot.

[DesigNate]

The tried as an adult thing was my way of saying that if the government thinks you can be held legally accountable as an adult for a crime you commit, then obviously they should think you are old enough to give consent.

I'm not sure what I would say to someone who thinks AoC should be any lower than 14. Of course since every one is an individual, some kids are going to be able to give reasoned consent at 12 and some shouldn't even be giving it at 18.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Except the problem is that your subjectivity is forming the basis of jailing people for 20 years.

Fact #1: No one cares if a 14-year-old male has sex with a 35-year-old female. Reversing the genders is what gets people's panties in a twist on this issue, and that's plain-jane sexism.

Fact #2: In all contexts, 18-years-old is effectively an adult (except for alcohol). There is no reason to treat an 18-year-old differently from a 50-year-old.

Here's my argument: the line should be set at the onset of pubescence. The purpose of pubescence is to enable to the body to reproduce. Humans reproduce by having sex. Ergo, it is "natural" for pubescent humans to engage in reproductive activity. I say strict liability for anyone who engages in sex with prepubescent children. After that, it's incumbent on the State to prove the crime.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

The problem is, neither of your facts are actually factual.

#1 derp

#2 There are multiple exceptions. Healthcare, student financial aid, etc.

[Tonio]

I haven't presented an argument because I don't have a fully formed opinion on this. You have argued this repeatedly, on a per-case basis, so I'm asking you for your guiding principles.

It is noteworthy that you won't provide this.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I have provided them. You have not. I haven't argued about it repeatedly, only twice. If having Romeo and Juliet laws is throwing out principles than I guess I have none. I just see it as a way to make the law flexible when there is not hard and fast way to make a law that applies to everyone. The 16 year old, and 5 year romeo and juliet for 14, 15 year olds is what they have in Canada. I just think that is a better system than what we have in most US states.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I also don't don't have a fully formed opinion either. As I have said maybe 14 or 15 is better. I am genuinely interested in how you would argue with someone who wants it even lower than you do because I don't think it is and easy thing to answer. When deciding an actual law though there is going to be an actual line drawn somewhere though.

[Tonio]

What would your age of consent be then?

You're the one going on about this on a case-by-case basis. I'm asking you to give your decision-tree for this sort of thing.

[np]

Boy, 14, sells mother's jewels for brothel visit

They also paid two visits to a brothel in the red light district of Karlsruhe, southwest Germany.

Buoyed by the night's experiences, "one could still see a delighted smile on the faces of the thieves during their interrogation," Minet's statement said.

"But the little rascals' smiles, who are not unknown to the police by the way, disappeared soon enough, especially because they will have to pay for the reversal of the transaction out of their pocket money," he added.

The boys are to be charged for theft.

[Wind Rider]

Tried to go to the brothel in Karlsruhe a few times. It was always closed. That made me sad.

[The DerpRider]

$22.50 beers in Florda!!! Free Jags game!

[Pro Libertate]

From team in disarray to greatest team in the NFL! Next up, Tebow!

[sarcasmic]

'That b**** ruined my walk!': Chaos on the catwalk as British model PUNCHES topless feminist protesters who stormed Paris Fashion Week

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....twalk.html
WTF some those models are ugly.

[DJF]

I wouldn't get in the way of those models, they always looked pissed off.

[AlexInCT]

You would be pissed too if you were starved and had to wear some of the shit they do...

[Gbob]

The fashion industry is run by gay men and women. How else would you expect models to look like?

[#]

It really is amazing how not attractive a lot of high fashion models are.

I'd take a random model out of a Sears or Target catalog over a random high fashion model any day.

[Clich? Bandit]

High Fashion models are supposed to be walking clothes hangers...and they are (even too skinny for sarc i bet). You want hot women go to lingerie models...they are required to instil a sense of sexuality in their reader not status.

[Tonio]

Gay male taste isn't monolithic. See "gay bears." Also, to the (very) limited extent that I appreciate women my tastes run more to Christina Hendricks than Twiggy.

[Wind Rider]

DO NOT GOOGLE GAY BEARS! There is no such thing as brain bleach.

[Tonio]

Wimp.

[DesigNate]

God I hate feminist.

[Lord Humungus]

'I could see the maggots': Ore. man finds worms in candy bar

This all started Tuesday when Jackson picked up a Rocky Road candy bar at a local Plaid Pantry store. He likes to eat the candy bars to balance his blood sugar.

At first, he didn't see the worms that were in the candy bar he'd bought. When he opened the wrapper, he did see some white material. He figured it was just some of the marshmallow material the candy bar has inside.

He swallowed the first bite and soon realized something wasn't right with that candy bar.

[Rich]

Hey! Better than Pop Rocks!

[The DerpRider]

Still better than Mounds.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

YOU LEAVE MOUNDS ALONE!

[Lord Humungus]

my best friend liked to eat "Bun" - I never had the "pleasure" since they looked like chocolate covered maggots to me.

[sarcasmic]

Pictured hours before he was killed: San Francisco Giants fans stabbed Los Angeles Dodgers supporter, 24, to death in front of his family
Jonathan Denver was stabbed to death wearing Dodgers gear only blocks from AT&T Park, home of the rival San Francisco Giants
A member of Mr Denver's group was also badly beaten with a baseball bat, but it is not clear if it was his father - who is a Dodgers security guard
Michael Montgomery, 21, was arrested on suspicion of murder, but his father claims his son was defending himself

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-fans.html
I do not understand sports fans. Never have.

[Auric Demonocles]

That's probably not related to being a sports fan any more than "mass shootings" are related to being a gun fan. Those guys are just crazy.

[Brett L]

I mean, maybe they just stabbed him for being named after John Denver.

[sarcasmic]

Concrete Posts Shaped Like Male Genitalia The Talk Of Scott Township

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com.....-the-town/
Penis!
From the comments: "So, why are the black ones so much bigger than the others?"
Another comment: "I have always thought grain elevators should be banned as well, they make me feel inadequate."

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

If you guys are going to spam links, try to coordinate.

[sarcasmic]

You still coordinate your clothes with your schoolmates? How cute!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

D+. Apply yourself next time.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

You are a biased grader - I give it a B+.

[Tonio]

Bugs!

[John]

The Scots are just about 2500 years behind the Brits on this.

http://www.google.com/imgres?i.....CEwQ9QEwBQ

[Eduard van Haalen]

Scots *are* Brits. Do you mean behind the *English?*

[UnCivilServant]

No, actually the scots are irish/pict mix, the welsh are brits and the english are well, english.

[Pro Libertate]

A good number of the English are Saxons, from the continent, Vikings, from the continent, and Frenchie Vikings, from the continent. And I'm neglecting others for brevity. Not to mention that there must be some Roman blood there, too.

[UnCivilServant]

Yeah, too mutt to be any defined group other than a new classification.

[Pro Libertate]

The Scots, as a whole, probably have a slightly better claim to being long-term "native" British than most English do.

[Clich? Bandit]

The Frenchie Normans are actually the original Brittons who were run off by the Romans according to William, he may have been lying (Like the Silurians, Iceni, etc.). Ohh and the Island is called Britain so everyone from that Island is British. Of the British you have Scots, Welsh and English. They all hate each other. The Welsh haven't done anything about that is a very long time.

[Pro Libertate]

The Frenchie Normans were Vikings. Norman = Northmen.

Of the English, Scots, and Welsh, the last are probably the ones with the most "native" blood (obviously, if you go back far enough, everyone came to Britain from somewhere else).

[Tonio]

Even the Welsh came from somewhere else since we all come from Southwest Africa.

[Clich? Bandit]

Yes and no. William's claim came form Britton's being expelled by Romans. Not saying it is true. Bronze age Britain is absolutely fascinating to me. Ohh and Bodiccea for the win...what a hard core bitch, bummer how it ended though...fukin romans.

[Tonio]

Romane eunt domum!

[Tonio]

The original inhabitants of Southern England were the Bell Beaker people; the only thing we know about them is their distinctively-shaped pottery (bell-shaped beakers). These are presumably the people the Romans first encountered when they invaded the island of Britain. The first written records we have are from the Romans. The Anglo-Saxons invaded/migrated several centuries later and these were the people who were invaded by the Normans in 1066.

Interesting factoid: Old English (Anglo-Saxon) is mutually intelligible with modern Frisian (the dialect of Low German spoken in parts of coastal Germany and Netherlands). Google "mongrel nation brown cow" to watch a scholar of OE approach a Frisian farmer and start talking to him in OE.

[Tonio]

first written records of Britain

[Clich? Bandit]

pretty cool

[Tonio]

There are a lot of viking genes in English, Scots and Irish due to coastal raids.

[Pro Libertate]

Not just raids. The Danes occupied chunks of the island for a good while. And the Normans didn't just raid. They conquered.

[Tonio]

Agreed, but I was trying to keep it as simple as possible for reasons of brevity. Raiding does not exclude occupation, etc. I'm quite aware of the details of the Norman Conquest, having had a semester-long course on just that. I was trying to distinguish between Scandanavian Vikings vs Norman Vikings but realize that wasn't clear.

[Tonio]

Also, the Normans had picked up some other genes from Normandy and Brittany by the time they invaded England.

[Pro Libertate]

Are you suggesting the Normans had carnal relations with Frenchie folk?

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

If you said that to any of the Scots I know, you'd have a pint glass shaped scar on your forehead...

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I think having a pint-glass-shaped scar on your forehead is a requirement of being Scottish. It happens when they first try to learn to drink.

[Eduard van Haalen]

And I wouldn't be convinced by their argument, however eloquent it might be.

"Politically, Great Britain refers to England, Scotland and Wales in combination"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.....definition

[UnCivilServant]

By a definituion written by the westminster parliment, which at the time was built to marginalize the lesser countries in the union.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Whatever the motive, they did it. And the Scots Parliament acceded to the Act of Union. Maybe they'll reconsider. Then we can stop using the term "Britain" altogether and just say England and Scotland.

[Tonio]

Whatever. We need a collective noun for the island.

[R C Dean]

Limeys?

[Pro Libertate]

They're further behind than that. Remember what Alcibiades got busted for by the Athenians?

[Auric Demonocles]

We aren't all old enough to remember Athens.

[Pro Libertate]

Remember it? It's still there, dude.

[Slammer]

But a lot of it is ruined.

[UnCivilServant]

Who forgot to send in the bulldozers to clean up the rubble?

[Pro Libertate]

The Turks.

[tarran]

In our defense, we didn't want to spend money trying to clean up the messes left by Greek perversions.

They'd just cast more weird concrete sex toys.

[Pro Libertate]

Right, which is why you stored all of those explosives in the Parthenon. Let the Venetians blow it up.

[Auric Demonocles]

The president said he will not budge on his intention to raise the debt ceiling, despite House Republicans' demands.

You would think a "constitutional scholar" would know it's not up to him.

[Pro Libertate]

In the history of academia, has an adjunct instructor ever been considered a scholar?

[Auric Demonocles]

If he was a Democratic politician, yes.

[Pro Libertate]

If your standards are too high, lower them, eh?

[Lord Humungus]

Strip Club Sues Oracle Over Unpaid $33,540 Tab

The lawsuit alleges an American Express corporate credit card in the name of Oracle/Iberica was used by Jose Manuel Gomez Sanchez for $16,490 in charges on Oct. 2, 2012, and for $17,050 worth of charges on Oct. 4, 2012.

"Mr. Sanchez signed for each of these charges in which the cardholder was in fact Oracle," the suit alleged.

Oracle, which is hosting its annual OpenWorld conference in San Francisco this week, declined to comment.

[The DerpRider]

Sounds like a guy who was on his way out and decided to live it up on the corporate card.

[UnCivilServant]

Since we pay Oracle at least $500,000 a year in support, and they provide half-assed service, they can afford that relatively small sum - and can then try to get it back from the employee who stole it from them.

That is assuming he was an aothorized signature on that card, etc, etc. If it was a stolen card that's a whole different area of law, but it sounds like he was issued a company card and overused it.

[Brett L]

There was a sales guy at one of my former employers who used the corporate card to woo a stripper. He pretty much destroyed his life. At the end he was divorced, with alimony and child support, and had been fired from a job which would not give him a recommendation. And, I don't think this needs to be said, the stripper wasn't about to take him in and support him.

[AlexInCT]

He didn't work for GE did he? I know someone with the exact same sob story.

[invisible furry hand]

The White House website is curiously polite

[Rich]

A deal has been reached between the U.S. and Russia regarding Syria's chemical weapons, according to a tweet by ambassador Samantha Powers.

The US will launch cruise missile strikes today anyway, according to a tweet by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Seriously, what is it with using Twitter for this kind of stuff? Do you know anyone who "follows" Samantha Powers?

[Pro Libertate]

If I were president, one thing my ambassadors fucking wouldn't do is tweet about foreign policy.

[Auric Demonocles]

How would you keep the local ambassadors in line?

[Brett L]

You like your cushy job? Don't fucking tweet. You serve at the pleasure of the President.

[Auric Demonocles]

So... fear?

[Pro Libertate]

Yes. Fear of my tattle agent.

[Auric Demonocles]

The more you tighten your grip, Pro Lib, the more tweet opinions will slip through your fingers.

[Pro Libertate]

I can fire ambassadors on a total whim (if I were president). If I didn't like the way an ambassador was dressed, I could fire him/her on the spot.

So, yes, they can tweet all they want. Just not while holding office in my administration.

[Auric Demonocles]

I think there was a misunderstanding (though your last post made me think you got it). I was not saying that you (if you were president) shouldn't be able to fire the ambassadors for any (or no reason). I was making a Star Wars reference.

And implying that you look like this.

[Pro Libertate]

I daresay I'm familiar with the script of Star Wars, and I'm never going to look like his Grand Muffness.

We had a toy store open at our local mall, and they had a bunch of Star Wars characters there. My youngest daughter hasn't seen the movies, yet, but she still thought they were cool. Pretty good costumes, too, including a Chewie over seven feet tall. The only odd one was this girl in an Imperial officer's uniform. I'd lay down pretty good money that she's a stripper at night.

[Auric Demonocles]

I can't wait for the slutty stormtrooper outfits.

[Pro Libertate]

I think that's where Disney plans to take the series.

[Tonio]

Uh...

[Zakalwe]

President Obama's popularity is at a two year low. His approval rating is 43 percent while his disapproval rating is 49 percent.

You know who else only had the approval of a minority?

[Auric Demonocles]

Martin Luther King!

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

Tyler Perry?

[UnCivilServant]

F. W. De Klerk?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Ooh, good one.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

*opera applause*

[Ken Shultz]

Miley Cyrus?

[R C Dean]

Me?

[Lord Humungus]

Special Report: Pimco shook hands with the Fed - and made a killing

The Reuters analysis of quarterly Pimco Total Return Fund holdings and of Fed actions suggests that Pimco's expertise was augmented by other factors: its size, the Fed's choice of an intervention program perfectly tailored for Pimco to exploit, and a close relationship with the Fed.

The firm had brought in former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan as a consultant in 2007. Gross's top lieutenant, Mohamed El-Erian, serves on an advisory committee to the central bank's most important branch, the New York Fed. Pimco's global strategic adviser, economist Richard Clarida, has known Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for three decades and was reported to be in the running for a seat on the Fed's board of governors in 2011.

Pimco, a unit of German financial-services firm Allianz SE, was one of four firms the central bank hired to help it buy agency MBS in 2009 under the first phase of quantitative easing, called QE1. In essence, these firms collaborated with the Fed on writing its playbook for the program. The aim was to stimulate lending and spending by driving down interest rates through mass purchases of bonds, flooding the market with cash.

[John]

Cronies are cronies. But remember, if the Republicans mention this or the million other examples like it, it will be because they are going down the dark path of populism. Dalmia told me so.

[Emmerson Biggins]

This might be pure corruption.

But Greenspan might just be pretty good at predicting what the Fed is going to do. That doesn't seem outrageous. And that is probably the number 1 skill in the world to have for making money.

[Lord Humungus]

I, for one, blame global warming:

Hornet attacks kill dozens in China

Hundreds of people stung in Shaanxi province by swarms of giant insects believed to have multiplied over warm summer

[UnCivilServant]

In china the death tolls are always 10x what they'd be in any other part of the world for comperable events. The same hornet attack elsewhere would have killed 1-2 tops.

[T]

Well, they have plenty of spare citizens, so why exert a lot of effort to save one or two? You've got more.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I, for one, welcome our new Hornet overlords.

[Rich]

Senior Obama Adviser Compares House Republicans To Terrorists, Kidnappers, And Arsonists

Just how fucking *desperate* are these people?

[Ken Shultz]

Demonizing their opponents is all they have left.

They're lucky the Obama people haven't called them a bunch of stupid, inbred, hillbilly, rednecks.

[Jordan]

He forgot to include Wreckers and Kulaks.

[Swiss Servator, Bow to Bern]

And Splitters!

[CatoTheElder]

I suppose that it is finally okay for the Obama Administration to detain its opponents without trial or, if too difficult to apprehend them, SWAT or drone murder them. That's what terrorists, kidnappers and arsonists deserve.

[nipplemancer]

Philly Transit Chief surprised no one calls 911 to report cop getting beaten by fare-jumper.

STOP RESISTING!!

[UnCivilServant]

Turnabout is fair play.

[R C Dean]

And turnstyle turnabout is the fairest play of all.

[sarcasmic]

Comments are awesome. Maybe there is hope.

[nipplemancer]

Most of Carlos's readers are fairly in the 'Fuck the police' camp. Linking through to the Blaze or the local Philly report though you'll find similar sentiment.

[Ken Shultz]

"President Obama's popularity is at a two year low. His approval rating is 43 percent while his disapproval rating is 49 percent."

That'll change if the Republicans really start holding up the budget.

That isn't the way things should be, but that's the way it is.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

A) No and B) what budget? I haven't seen a budget in five years.

[Ken Shultz]

A) Yes

and

B) You know what mean.

If they don't raise the debt ceiling, if they really try to hold up spending of ShitheadCare, the Obama's numbers will rise again...like zombies.

C) Zombies.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I don't think people are as terrified of a government shutdown as the Beltway assumes.

[UnCivilServant]

I welcome it.

[Ken Shultz]

I think it's mostly theatrics until after the mid-terms.

I think they're going to cave in the end, anyway--so if all it does is make it harder for Republicans in swing states to get elected...

I'd welcome it if the Republican leadership in Congress had a backbone. Right now, the only people who seem to be serious about obstructing spending are the people who are running for president--because they're just worried about appealing to the Republican base.

[Ken Shultz]

I think Obama has been so busy shooting himself in the foot, lately, that he hasn't really had to time to harp on his "Republicans are scary" message.

Coming from him, I bet it still works.

[KDN]

So long as the tourist traps remain open and the EBT card is filled every month, people really don't care.

[Lord Humungus]

Japan Inflation Accelerates to Fastest Since 2008 on Energy

Japan's inflation accelerated to the fastest pace since 2008 in August on higher energy costs, underscoring pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to drive wage increases as he seeks to end 15 years of deflation.

Consumer prices excluding fresh food increased 0.8 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 30 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a gain of 0.7 percent. Stripping out energy and perishables, prices fell 0.1 percent.

[waffles]

Am I correct in understnading Abe-nomics as a super aggressive quantative easing? Just inflate the crap out of everything and see what happens?

[Jordan]

That's my understanding. The crash is going to be absolutely spectacular.

[Lady Bertrum]

It's an attempt to get some inflation after 20 years of deflation. Energy is the only thing causing any significant inflation for them, though. Their current account deficit is a disaster much like Fukushima.

[AuH20]

Yes... because it's the REPUBLICANS who control the conversation through their control of the media!

...Coal and oil companies would benefit from provisions to expand offshore drilling and drilling on federal lands. The proposal blocks the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas emissions and coal ash, and would give Congress the power to veto any "major" regulation issued by a federal agency (because an affirmative vote would be required, Congress could void new rules simply through inaction).

Neat! What a terrific proposal from an excellent party that is almost TOO FULL of decency and integrity!

Sargent wisely observes: "By laying out a truly insane list of demands, Republicans could perversely succeed in reframing this battle?at least in the eyes of some in the Beltway press?as a standard Washington confrontation in which both sides are making demands and the impasse is the result of each side's refusal to meet somewhere in the middle. You could easily see a scenario in which Republicans 'agree' to drop some of their demands and argue they are trying to compromise, with some commentators then wondering aloud why the White House is refusing to negotiate in kind."

Control the conversation; control the government. And the corporate coup being staged via Congressional Republicans continues right on track.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Fatsville quoting Greg Sargent? Oh fuck no. I'll take Salon over that.

[John]

Sadly the Republicans don't have the balls or the smarts to do this, but dropping the Obamacare provision and putting in a prohibition on the EPA regulating CO2 would be very smart. Obama and the Dems would play hell shutting down the government to ensure the EPA can kill coal. But the Green butthurt over them folding would be epic.

[The DerpRider]

Nose gear on my plane broke this morning as we were taxiing to take off. Sitting inside in Miami on a Friday. I hate Delta.

[Andrew S.]

I'm at the point where I'm willing to pay more to avoid Delta. It's easily the worst airline in the US.

[RBS]

The last two times I've flown Delta, once to Mexico and once to Germany, have been great.

[Lady Bertrum]

The last two times I flew Delta I had delays. An hour for the first and three hours the second time. They suck balls.

[Zeb]

International flights are always better.

[The DerpRider]

I fly a lot, and they are usually okay. It's just they seem to crap out on the days you really want to get out of town or be on time.

[Pro Libertate]

Back when I flew frequently, late 90s, early Aughts, I liked Delta quite a bit. Have they declined that much?

[Brett L]

I think its like cell phone or cable carriers. If you use one for too long, all you see is the suck, despite the fact that they all have the same level of service, more or less.

[Pro Libertate]

I liked Alaska Air when I flew them from LA to Cabo. They kept cracking jokes the whole while.

[WTF]

At least it didn't break while you were landing.

[AuH20]

A cisgender sex-positive dyke organizer addresses the cotton ceiling.

making a lot of really unfounded assumptions about what works for everyone else around us too.

Assumption 3. One person having a trigger is a legitimate reason to exclude someone else from an event.

Here's a list of some of the triggers and squicks I've encountered among the people I've met in the last few years as a travelling sex educator and event organizer: seeing someone taking off their belt; being touched on the belly; seeing porn; hearing the terms "fat," "ugly," and "stupid"; seeing blood; hearing a deep voice; seeing a masculine-presenting person fucking a feminine-presenting person doggy-style; seeing testicles (though a penis would be fine); military uniforms; finding out someone is bisexual or not a "gold-star" lesbian or gay man; watching age play or being in the presence of "littles"? I could go on. The thing about a trigger is that it's deeply personal, by its very nature. Sometimes it's about past trauma, sometimes not. I know that for me, if I saw someone do a food play scene, I'd have to either leave the room or vomit, and I couldn't tell you why?that's just how it is.

Regardless of what it is, it's super important that we take responsibility for managing our own triggers and squicks rather than expecting spaces to be set up to accommodate us

[AuH20]

Assumption 8. Trans women aren't really women, because they weren't socialized as women.

This one falls apart on several levels.

First, it assumes that all women were socialized the same way. This makes no room for the vastly diverse types of socializing we each go through. A past butch partner of mine, for instance, refers to her childhood as being a "boyhood"?she played sports, spent time with her dad learning about woodworking and was never forced to look or dress girly. I, on the other hand, was very much socialized to be a girl, with all the expectations and prohibitions that come along with that. This is a pretty stark difference in childhood gender-socialization experiences despite how we were both raised in white, Ontario-based, heterosexually-parented, middle-class families with religious mothers and multiple siblings. As soon as we start adding on other differences?race, economic status, geographic location, age, number and configuration of parents, sexual orientations within the family, religion, schooling and so forth?we multiply the ways in which our gender socialization might change.

Second, it assumes that the way we are socialized "sticks" the same way on everyone. I would argue, for instance, that probably none of us who are queer were socialized as children to be queer. Most of us who are gender-independent weren't taught to be that way by our parents.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

This woman expends a lot of words to effectively tell a group of sissies to put their big-girl pants on and get over it.

[RBS]

I see at least 2 triggers in your reply.

[RBS]

3 if you separate "big girl" and "pants".

[Eduard van Haalen]

Could someone translate this into English? Cotton ceiling? Triggers? etc?

[Redmanfms]

A cisgender sex-positive dyke

I don't know nor care what the fuck that even means.

You know, it's always amazed me that these lefties keep inventing new terms to describe increasingly smaller groups of people in a rather weird (and conspicuous) attempt to avoid accepting and promoting the smallest minority of them all, the individual and individualism.

It's really fucking bizarre.

[Rich]

Are "niggers" and "spicks" triggers or squicks?

[T]

Could just be a fetish depending on how you roll.

NTTAWWT.

[Ted S.]

If she's calling herself a dyke, then shouldn't that be the flannel ceiling?

[Rich]

A morning nutpunch

The Religion of Pieces 8-(

[RBS]

But they are just a poor, misunderstood activist group that really does mean well.

[AuH20]

40k a year well spent: Ivy League to launch nudity week

Nudity is a very simple concept that's been made wildly complicated by a mess of social historical, and cultural pressures. We emerge into this world wearing nothing but bits of amniotic sac (and a very beautiful baby wig, in the case of Suri Cruise); however, once a human has reached late childhood, the freedom to frolic naked without raising confusion, shock and panic vanishes.

Enter some students from Brown University (side note: one time I visited Brown and I saw a young man dancing around outside of a frat, balancing a dildo on his head, while everyone cheered encouragingly). They've decided to establish a Nudity Week, a week-long bacchanal in which they all take to the woods in orgiastic glee to shed their mundane concerns. JUST KIDDING ? it's a very thoughtful series of performances and panels meant to facilitate "an open and honest discussion about power, privilege, race, class, gender, ability, and other isms how they intersect with nudity, body image, nudity in relation to (de)sexuality, etc." (which is the liberal arts student's equivalent of a gleeful forest-orgy).

[Eduard van Haalen]

"40k a year well spent: Ivy League to launch nudity week"

I imagine that for non-STEM students the Ivy League is about connections, not academics.

[Loki]

Do most ivy league schools even offer STEM degrees? The only engineers, mathematicians, or scientists I've ever met from ivy league schools are from either Princeton or Cornell. Maybe Columbia as well. But I've never met anyone in STEM field from Harvard, Yale, Brown, or any of the others.

[Spoonman.]

Harvard has an engineering department, but I'm not sure it's accredited.

Cornell's engineering school is thankfully large enough that I barely interacted with the weird shit going on elsewhere.

[CatoTheElder]

I've worked with two ChE's from Yale. Both were good engineers and well educated.

[Lady Bertrum]

A STEMs degree from Stanford is well regarded.

Two local kids just got scholarships to Stanford, perfect SAT's and are STEMs focused.

[John]

Stanford is not technically an Ivy. To Loki's point, the medical schools at the Ivys are often quite good. Princeton has little outfit they like to call The Institute for Advance Studies and even though the people there don't teach, it does tend to have positive effects on the physics program. Cornell has some very good engineering, physics and math programs as well as a great vet school.

So yes they do. The problem is that when people think if Ivies they think of Harvard and Yale, which have sadly become the number one producer of douche bag politicians and media mavens and not much else.

[Ted S.]

Former NFL quarterback Jay Fiedler was an engineering major at Dartmouth.

[Tonio]

Dartmouth is redneck ivy, so yeah, engineering.

[Tonio]

The ivys tend towards theoretical. So physics instead of engineering, etc.

[Metazoan]

I'd rather a forest orgy.

[Lord Humungus]

Dem Senator: 'Keystone Pipeline Decision Has Taken Longer than it Took Us to Defeat Hitler'

Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp "is ready to take on President Obama over the long-delayed approval for the Keystone XL Pipeline ? and she predicts her side will prevail," according to USA Today.

Heitkamp is not one to oppose Obama, in general, but this time the North Dakotan is seeing things differently. "We know that we have the votes here in the Senate; we certainly have the votes in the House," she tells the paper "In fact, I think we could build enough votes to override a veto."

[The Late P Brooks]

Nose gear on my plane broke this morning as we were taxiing to take off.

Better than folding like a cheap lawn chair on landing.

[The DerpRider]

Yeah. I wasn't the guy demanding we make a go of it. Just sucks because I've been down here all week and ready to get back to MI and camp this weekend.

[AuH20]

Italians are socially conservative- what?! It's almost like the Catholic church is headquartered there or something!

Guido Barilla, the chairman of the world's largest pasta company, made some crazy, ignorant, and idiotic statements about gay people in a recent radio appearance. Great, now we have to worry about our pasta being actively anti-homosexual because nothing can be easy and the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket woven from Barilla spaghetti.

According to Grub Street:

The chairman of pasta company Barilla went on a Radio24 program to explain the company's apparent position against depicting gay couples or families in its advertisements. "I would never do (a commercial) with a homosexual family, not for lack of respect but because we don't agree with them. Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role," Guido Barilla said. The executive also told the program's hosts that "if the gays do not agree, they can always eat pasta from another manufacturer," which prompted a swift boycott from advocacy group Equality Italia.

Attempting to backtrack, they posted the following statement on their Facebook page (as translated by Grub Street):

I apologize if my words have generated controversy or misunderstanding, and if they have offended the sensibilities of some people.

[Snark Plissken]

The power of NutraSweet compels you!

[UnCivilServant]

"As one of the few employers who haven't left Italy for Poland..."

[RBS]

I don't see the problem...

[mad libertarian guy]

Guido Barilla

Italians: living up to their own stereotypes since fucking forever.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Are his brothers' names Mario and Luigi?

[Zeb]

It's kind of a jerky attitude, but that's pretty damn mild as far as being anti-gay goes. Barilla gets to decide what they want their image to be.

[mad libertarian guy]

Barilla gets to decide what they want their image to be.

Bigot. SOCIETY should get to choose how companies that sell shit they might want get to market to them.

[Metazoan]

Society will decide, through the market.

[Loki]

The last think anyone wants is for gay people's pasta to other them. I mean, don't get me started on bigoted pasta. /sarc

[Tonio]

Cue the butt-hurt over gay people daring to stick up for themselves by boycotting Barilla in 5..4..3

[Snark Plissken]

NSA: Some used spying power to snoop on lovers:

"I appreciate the transparency that the Inspector General has provided to the American people," Grassley said in a statement. "We shouldn't tolerate even one instance of misuse of this program. Robust oversight of the program must be completed to ensure that both national security and the Constitution are protected."

In many cases the employees who intentionally abused the NSA's spying systems resigned before they could be punished. Several were demoted in rank or otherwise sanctioned.

[mad libertarian guy]

Several were demoted in rank or otherwise sanctioned.

Demoted sounds like just the right punishment for domestic spies who abuse the tools they have in order to try and get some pussy.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Haven't we seen this story before?

[Lord Humungus]

it will let you down - one last time.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Like Beslan, the al-Shabab animals tortured and raped their hostages before killing them:

Those are not allegations. Those are f****** truths," the doctor, a forensics expert, told The Star newspaper. "They removed balls, eyes, ears, nose. They get your hand and sharpen it like a pencil then they tell you to write your name with the blood. They drive knives inside a child's body. Actually, if you look at all the bodies, unless those ones that were escaping, fingers are cut by pliers, the noses are ripped by pliers.

Of course, our betters at the American MSM are afraid the fly-over 'rubes' would finally get fed up with all this shit and call for Mecca to be nuked, so they have, in their great wisdom, decided to completely bury the lede and instead screech about the UN's global warming report.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Animals? What animal other than humans tortures its own kind?

[Zeb]

That's a good point. Their behavior was very human. Nature is tough and cruel, but with animals there is generally some purpose to the violence related to survival or reproduction.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Dolphins, Ducks, Chimps, Lions...

Just to name a few.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Flipper? Noooooooo....

[Zeb]

Perhaps. I still say that humans are unique (so far) in their ability to be evil. You really need to have a sense of morality and a certain level of self awareness for nasty behavior to really be evil.

[Tonio]

Agency.

[Spoonman.]

Maybe if we weren't tied up doing stupid crap there could be a nice solid punitive expedition into Somalia.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That didn't go so well the last time.

[Spoonman.]

No, that's true, it didn't.

[WTF]

We didn't really do a punitive expedition with overwhelming force into Somalia.

[Tonio]

No sympathy for the Jihadis, but I'd really like to see some confirmation on this.

Nuking Mecca would accomplish what, exactly? Oh, yeah, it would make all the Jihadis instantly vanish, endear us to the Turks and other moderate muslims, etc.

[The Late P Brooks]

In many cases the employees who intentionally abused the NSA's spying systems resigned before they could be punished.

Don't we have criminal courts anymore?

Haha, just kidding.

[UnCivilServant]

Judge: Lets see the Prosecutions case against the defendant consists of "Classified for national security" "Classified for National security" and "classified, reason not given". What is a jury supposed to go on again?

[The Late P Brooks]

a very thoughtful series of performances and panels meant to facilitate "an open and honest discussion about power, privilege, race, class, gender, ability, and other isms how they intersect with nudity, body image, nudity in relation to (de)sexuality, etc."

I have no idea what that means.

[Jordan]

Check your privilege.

[Rich]

LOL

[Ken Shultz]

I think they're saying that screwing over a privileged class (subconsciously or otherwise) is what makes heterosexual capitalists horny.

[Eduard van Haalen]

It probably means the gender studies dept needs to spend all its budget to set a baseline for the next year.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama: Obamacare critics are 'desperate' fat-cat Fox News watchers

President Barack Obama went nuclear this week in his attacks on Republicans trying to derail the Affordable Care Act, painting the controversial law's opponents as fat-cats who watch too much Fox News. Or freeloaders. Or the Koch Brothers. Or folks who think the Fugitive Slave Act and Obamacare are equally terrible.

That's a slight exaggeration. Slight.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

I like how the comments absolutely bury the President.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's occurred to me that Obamacare is actually anti-socialized medicine.

The whole selling point of progressivism / socialism is that the wealthy should be taxes at every higher rates to fund 'services' for everyone else.

But Obamacare turns that mechanism on it's head and is in effect a type of capitation tax. Everyone, regardless of income or wealth pays a flat amount. And to the extent that older people are sicker it is 'benefiting' wealthy people.

The butthurt will be epic when the proggies finally figure out that Obama and piglosi reversed 100 years of progressive tax policy.

[John]

The whole system is designed to get young people to pay for the care of the old and the sick. I think (hope) that Daniel Henniger is right and that Obamacare will be the for Progs what invading Russia was for Napoleon. Like I keep saying, everyone other prog program pays off the middle class or hides the cost from them. Obamacare goes after the young and the middle class and makes their lives measurably worse. Whatever it is, it isn't medicare or social security and the idiots on the left and right who said it would become popular like those programs are completely mistaken.

[VG Zaytsev]

I agree.

The hatred for it going to continue growing.

[tarran]

The progs overreach, get smacked down, regroup and come back as if nothing happened.

Do they remember their support for Jim Crow? No. They think they were the guys who fought to end it.

Do they remember their support for fascism? No. They think they were the guys who defeated fascism.

Do they remember their support for eugenics? Ha. Down the memory hole that went.

DO they remember their support for an education system to prevent the lower classes from aspiring to be doctors, scientists and other 'knowledge workers'? No. That's the evil proposal of those who oppose government education.

They're like the political equivalent zombies. Or Borderline Personality Disorder sufferers.

Sorry, but only with the collapse of the federal government will their power be diminished. And even then they will never be extinguished. The alluring notion of using violence to perfect human society will always recruit new thralls into the movement.

[John]

Maybe after he tells them for about the 100th time to go fuck themselves and check their racism for pointing out the obvious, his dumb white supporters will at least admit he is not quite as nice of a guy they keep claiming he is.

[#]

Doubtful.

[John]

If there has ever been any President of either party who made such as crude, low class, divisive and nasty statement about their opponents as this, I would like to hear what it was. Even Bill Clinton, who was the master of trashing his opponents did so with more art and grace than this. What a sorry piece of shit that guy is.

[The Late P Brooks]

Check my privilege?

Are you crazy, how am I supposed to defend myself?

[Ken Shultz]

Stop getting horny.

Especially if what makes you horny is women.

Oh, and what should make you horny is women of color, gay men and transsexuals, etc. ...unless it makes you horny already, in which case that shows you just want to dominate them, you perv.

So, to defend yourself? first you have to get to work with hating yourself for being heterosexual--chop, chop! ...especially if you're white. I mean, it is possible that you're irredeemable. Some things aren't for you.

[Loki]

As a white heterosexual male you're not allowed to defend yourself. Ever.

[Drax the Destroyer]

And when they invent the time machine, you'll be obligated to go back in time and beat your ancestors' to death to pay for your sins.

[VG Zaytsev]

Ow, MY Balls is a real TV Show

[Loki]

Mike Judge was a fucking prophet when he made Idiocracy. The only thing he got wrong was how quickly we would get there. I expect within my lifetime that we'll start watering crops with Brawndo. Because it's got electrolytes.

[Andrew S.]

http://www.xkcd.com/603/

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Thank you.

People who take Idiocracy seriously are engaging in heavy irony.

[CatoTheElder]

Idiocracy is indeed prophetic, but the timeline was off.

Judge's story suggests that it would take 20 generations (500 years) to descend into idiocracy. At the rate things are going, it's only going to take two generations.

Judge anticipated that idiocracy would be achieved solely by natural selection. He failed to understand how public education could train Americans to become idiots regardless of the level of their inate intelligence.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

SSDD

[CatoTheElder]

You got that right, but children have always been horrible.

[VG Zaytsev]

And Athens collapsed about a generation after Socrates wrote that.

So what's your point?

[The Late P Brooks]

Holy fuck. Tony Blair's little woman is on my teevee right now, mooing passionately about how awesome it would be if Hillary could be President and free teh wimminz.

Because women are a downtrodden minority, oppressed mercilessly by evil bastards like yrs trly.

[The Late P Brooks]

Apparently, New jersey has made saying mean things illegal.

What a bunch of retards.

[KDN]

You can thank the Tyler Celementi case for that. The state has been awash in anti-bullying hysteria ever since.

[Loki]

Today's Mother of the Year nominee.

This woman, Deanna J. Hillyer, 31 assaulted two men along with her 15 [pauses to let that sink in...] and 11 year old son after the 11 year old got into an argument with the two. Now, at this point you may be thinking "What was the argument about? It's possible that two men were being jerks to the 11 year old."

FTA:

...the youngest son, 11, became upset after allegedly being refused a cigarette...

[RBS]

That's some quality parenting right there. Reminds of this woman I saw the other day. She was yelling at the bus driver for some reason, I couldn't tell what for because it was 90% expletives and she was on her cell phone. This went on for about 10 minutes, long enough to back up traffic in both directions, since the bus was in full stop position. Then she started yelling at the other parents at the stop who just wanted to get there kids to school. Turns out this woman's kid is probably the bully. I can't imagine where he gets it from.

[Brett L]

Not! Florida!

[Loki]

For once.

[The Late P Brooks]

The UN released a report that says scientists are 95 percent certain that humans are the dominant cause of global warming since the 1950s.

Speaking of that-which-is-not-climate, it's snowing right now. For the first time I can recall, prior to the first of October. It won't last through the day, but it's here right now.

[NoVAHockey]

Woo. I got the "your son turned legos into a gun" talk yesterday.
he's 4.

[Jordan]

Did you tell them to go fuck themselves?

[Lord Humungus]

preferably with a dry knotty branch.

[NoVAHockey]

no. I didn't want them to take it out on him. so i acted concerned, told them i'd talk to him about it. and tried to impress "can't do this at school."

he hold me he was going to save the people at the navy yard.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

So you reinforced their behavior and led them to believe you thought it was reasonable.

[NoVAHockey]

well, shit. I guess so.

[sarcasmic]

To be fair, at 4 it is a bit early to teach disrespect for authority. Wait until 8 or 9 for that.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I'm not talking about teaching the 4 year old; I'm talking about teaching the school employees.

[sarcasmic]

I'm talking about teaching the school employees.

No point. They're like Tony. Impervious to facts, logic and reason.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

The ones at our former private school weren't. That's a big difference, though.

If we somehow had to send our kids to public school, I'd be checking whether they were impervious to scorn and ridicule, something along the lines of "You do understand that Legos "guns" aren't really "guns," right?"

[Tonio]

Yep, that's what he did, NEM. Not everyone can afford to stand on principles all the time.

His kid could be in that school system for the next 14 years, and that's a long time for them to mess with NoVa and his kid.

I would certainly congratulate NoVa had he stood up to them, but I can't condemn him for taking the more practical course of action.

Given the power which the public skoolz have over students and parents this type of change will have to be forced on them from above, through the ballot box.

[John]

You have more self control than I do. God I would have told them to fuck off.

[H. ReardEn]

'That's funny. He usually uses the LEGO figurines for target practice'

[The DerpRider]

Was you next question, "Did he get it to fire?"

[Lady Bertrum]

Explain to the concerned party that your son is a Macyver-like genius and that Lego gun is really just a tool to use against the patriarchy and the RACISM.

[mad libertarian guy]

I got the "your son turned legos into a gun" talk yesterday.
he's 4.

The only proper response would be "You do realize that Legos cannot actually be turned in to a gun, right? I mean you're an educator; surely you don't believe that a small kid imagining something might be a gun could actually be a gun, right?"

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

As a recently minted father, I love the advice you all give.

And yes, I mean that.

[Brett L]

My kid isn't even out of the womb and I am prohibited from having unsupervised contact with teachers by my wife. For some reason she thinks I might mock, scoff, or berate them.

[Tonio]

Pregnant women often develop strange notions, Brett. Ride it out, Bro...

[Tonio]

Also, that was quite funny.

[CatoTheElder]

If the pre-school doesn't want boys to use Legos to make guns, it should quit providing toys that are properly used by boys to make guns and killer robots.

That, and turn their pathetic little pre-school into an all-girls pre-school.

[The Late P Brooks]

I got the "your son turned legos into a gun" talk yesterday.

Tell him to say it's a dildo, next time the teacher asks what he's making.

[Loki]

Specifically tell to say "I'm making a dildo for you since you obviously need to relax and lighten the fuck up. I thought this might help with that."

[mad libertarian guy]

It's Hard to Hate Rand Paul. I mean, we can totally dismiss his ideology as foolish by decree, but we can't hate the man.

Though he has been at or near the top of near-meaningless early primary polling, he is nonetheless a long shot to ascend to the top of the GOP ticket, let alone to the White House. And a good thing too: A Paul presidency would be a misfortune for the majority of Americans who would be devastated by his regime of minimalist government.

Unfortunately, this is an improvement in how Rand Paul has been treated by the media. But at least they get a few things right.

What's most important about Paul, however, is not his own prospects for higher office, but the kind of politics his early and limited success may foretell for post-Obama America. He doesn't feel he has to be a bully, a screamer, a birther, a bigot, or a lock-and-load rabble-rouser to be heard above the din[. . .]

He is a godsend for the tea party?the presentable leader the movement kept trying to find during the 2012 Republican freak show but never did. Next to Paul, that parade of hotheads, with their overweening Obama hatred and their dog whistles to racists, nativists, and homophobes, looks like a relic from a passing era.

Even if Rich wrong about the dog whistles he's sure are being blown, at least he has the decency to say that Paul isn't one of those guys.

[John]

He is a godsend for the tea party?the presentable leader the movement kept trying to find during the 2012 Republican freak show but never did.

Obama is a godsend for black political leadership, a presentable leader the movement has been trying to find since the death of MLK and the resulting freak show of Jessee Jackson and Al Sharpton left in the wake of his tragic death.

Imagine someone writing that. Dems can't be racist anymore. But it is in their genes to hate someone. So they now hate working class white people instead.

[robc]

I stand behind a comment I made a few months back: Anyone who uses the phrase "dog whistle" can be ignored entirely.

[UnCivilServant]

Evebn if it's in reference to the actual device?

[KDN]

"If you hear a dog whistle, chances are you're the dog."

[Auric Demonocles]

I really thought he was referencing Obama's speaking style when he said "his early and limited success may foretell for post-Obama America. He doesn't feel he has to be a bully, a screamer". If it didn't say birther or bigot I wouldn't have realized he meant Republicans.

[John]

Adam Carolla shows himself to be somewhat of a serious person. Wow. Sorry for the lack of link. Reason keeps eating it.

Mochachino." That's cute, isn't it?

And what adults had historically done, he said, was embrace adult tastes. Cigars taste good to an adult cigar smoker because he has cultivated that taste. Oysters don't taste good to a kid; oysters taste good to an adult who has cultivated a taste for oysters. Cognac isn't good because it's sweet. Cognac is good because we have embraced adulthood and trained ourselves to embrace more sophisticated tastes.

?A mochachino, topped with lots of nummy whipped cream, is not a sophisticated taste. We emerge from the womb craving the sweetness of sugar, after all.

Again, it's one thing to indulge in a treat. But it's another thing to decide to simply revert to one's childhood self?

But looking at the White House's new "Adorable Care Act" Cute Overload animal pictures, and the continued rise of BuzzFeed, despite, you know, everyone knowing it's a bit of a joke, I now appreciate there was a deeper level to his rant about the problem of Numminess in America.

We are indeed becoming a more childlike people. We are more and more shirking the expected obligations of adulthood, such as marriage and procreation, and even more basically, we're rejecting the obligation of adults to actually think, in terms of numbers, and of best outcomes, and so forth.

[John]

The national mode of thinking is now Nummy. "We?and by we I mean Americans, not "we" meaning us here right now?increasingly think in terms of cute, and easy, and glib, and dumb,

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

You really like it when people handwring over Kids These Days, don't you? It's like your thing.

[John]

It is not about "kids". Plenty of adults who are older than I am do the kinds of things he is talking about. His point has nothing to do with age or any particular generation but society at large.

You are really quite defensive about your generation. It is almost like you are secretly embarrassed or something.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

This coming from the guy who incessantly feels the need to comment on a woman's body every time a woman is mentioned. That lack of discipline is a two-way street, champ.

[John]

Liking women is now "undisciplined"? Interesting way to think about it. Maybe you should try getting over your delicate sensibilities sometime.

If you don't like the way people act, tough shit. Take it up with them not the people who point it out.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Uh, no, the need to comment on every woman who graces these pages like you're a 13 year old with a permanent erection is immature.

[John]

So what? It doesn't bother anyone but you. So I guess we are all 13 year olds now.

[sarcasmic]

The king of personal attacks is lecturing on maturity. How cute!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Don't you have a date to be cuckolded by a police officer to get to?

[sarcasmic]

Oh, that's just precious!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Your entire existence here is "OMG LOOK BEWBS"

[sarcasmic]

Haven't seen personal attacks like this since high school! Ah, memories...

[Loki]

Your entire existence here is "OMG LOOK BEWBS"

This coming from someone who just accused another poster of being cuckolded by a cop, and is accusing others of being immature. Project much?

[sarcasmic]

I wonder what name Randian will use next time he/she/it skulks back with his/her/its tail between his/her/its legs, hoping no one recognized him/her/it.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Are you brain damaged? I changed my name because I felt like it, and I even kept the same link and TOLD people I changed the name. But yeah, I was hiding.

[sarcasmic]

And that's why you denied being Randian after I recognized your pattern of making ad hominem arguments and called you on it. Whatevs.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

That never happened. I defy you to find the proof.

[sarcasmic]

I'm not searching through the archives for you. Like I said, whatevs. You're simply not that important to me, or anyone for that matter.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The real problem I have is that bootstrapping a generational observation out of one or two anecdotes is just lazy. Last I checked, we're in a golden age of straight booze. There's an avalanche of specialty liquors (not sweet ones either), wines, and craft beers. I haven't exactly seen a decline in cigar consumption, and last I checked, people still loved oysters. So WTF is the point again?

[John]

If you don't thing the generalization is valid, why does it bother you so much? You are not them. Okay. Neither am I. If you didn't think the generalization were in some way valid, you wouldn't feel so insulted.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Gee, John, for the same reason you don't like inflammatory and ignorant commentary about conservatives. next time someone claims all teabaggers are racist, should I just say, "you shouldn't feel insulted, John; they're obviously not talking about you!"

[John]

Sure I would. That would be because I identify myself as such. The day I deny the validity of the entire classification, is the day I will stop caring about what people say about it. You in contrast spend half the time claiming there is no such thing as your generation and thus no general statements can be made and the other half of the time being butt hurt over such statements. Pick a fucking position.

I will tell you what, next time someone hurts your delicate feelings about your beloved generation, you point that out. In the mean time, Corolla wasn't talking about young people but society at large. So his point has nothing to do with your generation. So do your self a favor and save your tears and whining for when they at least are in response to a post about your generation.

Beyond that, the ext

[sarcasmic]

Is Randian going have a huff and change his/her/it's name again?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Er, what does my name change have to do with anything? you really need to step up your game.

[sarcasmic]

Er, what does my name change have to do with anything?

Tee hee! How cute!

[sarcasmic]

Oh, and Ali Larter.

*drool*

[Auric Demonocles]

I miss the early days of Heroes...

[sarcasmic]

I miss the early days of Heroes...

Yep.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

In the mean time, Corolla wasn't talking about young people but society at large.

Naturally, we can make valid society-wide observations from the existence and popularity of a drink at Starbucks.

[Tonio]

John is like a sticky trap, NLK. No good can come from poking it. It took me a while, but now I just scroll on down.

[Auric Demonocles]

A mochachino, topped with lots of nummy whipped cream, is not a sophisticated taste. We emerge from the womb craving the sweetness of sugar, after all.

I have never craved a mochachino, and when I tried it on the insistence of a girlfriend it was awful.

[John]

They are awful.

[Zeb]

They are kind of good in a dessert sort of way, but definitely not what I want when I want some coffee.

[The Late P Brooks]

A Paul presidency would be a misfortune for the majority of Americans who would be devastated by his regime of minimalist government.

Just imagine the inescapable carnage wrought by a return to 2005-level budgets.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'd have to go back to 2005? Mother of god...

[John]

Paul is an amateur. He would end up being lectured by Putin, make line in the stand statements to the international community without any thought for how he would back them up, allow American ambassadors to be killed without any US response, engage in illegal bombing campaigns and generally reduce US standing in every aspect of world politics.

[Metazoan]

I see what you did there

[UnCivilServant]

Just imagine the carnage of a return to 1805 level budgets!

[BuSab Agent]

If only we could return to the 1805 value of the dollar as well.

[Slammer]

NY Times: Obama to give $300 million to Detroit, but it's not a bailout.

This first major infusion from the federal government, which administration officials say will not be the last

White House economic adviser, Gene B. Sperling, "It's the largest city bankruptcy in the history of our country, on our watch, and we've got to do something."

The bailout that is not a bailout

[Auric Demonocles]

It's the largest city bankruptcy in the history of our country, on our watch, and we've got to do something.

Like remind other cities that they should reconsider following the same policies that got Detroit into the mess in the first place?

[UnCivilServant]

"It's the largest city bankruptcy in the history of our country, on our watch, and we've got to do something."

I agree, and that something is make popcorn and watch it burn.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's the largest city bankruptcy in the history of our country, on our watch, and we've got to do something."

How about disincorporation.

[Sevo]

Mankind is the cause of something that doesn't seem to matter much:
"Climate panel: warming 'extremely likely' man-made"
Yes, that temperature that doesn't seem to change much is because mankind likes prosperity!
http://www.sfgate.com/news/sci.....848217.php

[Pro Libertate]

I just saw a news broadcast on this (think it was CNN). They repeated the bit about us being responsible for "at least 50%" of the warming. So there's half that's not us? So there is, in fact, a warming trend that isn't AGW? What, precisely, is the mechanism for that? If they can't identify it without a decent degree of precision, then how can I trust their claims about the anthropogenic part?

[sarcasmic]

They're like really smart experts and stuff!

[Pro Libertate]

I'm surprised that so many climate scientists remain quiet while all of this nonsense gets spouted. Even if they think indications are that there is a warming trend and that AGW is an important driver of that trend, all of this nonsense isn't science. And their silence makes them look pretty bad. I know a good number do it because they're corrupted by politics, but more are probably just nervous about trying to swim against the tide.

[tarran]

I'm not sure what to conclude...

When Judith Curry bucked the consensus after Climategate, the group think brigade went after her savagely.

And nothing else happened.

Sure, the groupthink brigade does try to destroy the career of any scientist that says they are full of shit, but they are pretty ineffective.

You'd think that other penguins, after seeing her survival in the ocean would jump in and join her.

My sense is that climate science has been a dumping ground for less capable guys, kind of like the difference between people who major in mathematics and major in education w/ mathematics concentration.

[sarcasmic]

We're talking about people who went into this field of study because they were already convinced that human activity is harming the planet. There's very little actual science involved. It's all about back fitting data into reverse engineered models in order to confirm a predetermined conclusion. It's all based upon faith. Not only that, but any of them who come out against it better be financially set for life, because they'll never work again.

[Pro Libertate]

I used to be friends with a meteorologist (he's since left the area), and he was really into the weather. That's my idea of a climatologist.

[Loki]

If I didn't know any better, I'd think that maybe they're trying to very slowly at least partially walk back some of their fear mongering claims.

[thom]

Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan is set to begin his next project, a drama that centers around two detectives.

Thank God. I was hoping somebody would finally make a detective show.

[Brett L]

If its Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, I'm in!

[Tonio]

Morning Proggie Obamacare Butt-Hurt from FB: If you live in Maryland the link is [url]. If you live in Virginia, your state has pushed the responsibility off onto the federal government, so your link is [url].

Hahahaha...

Not the states' responsibility to implement federal laws, particularly without funding. You passed it, you implement it.

[John]

Yeah, wasn't Obamacare supposed to fix everything? You know all that evil stuff the states were doing?

[Pro Libertate]

In what way does it not make things worse? Much worse.

[The Late P Brooks]

"It's the largest city bankruptcy in the history of our country, on our watch, and we've got to do something."

I know what my father would do. He'd say, "That's what you get for being stupid. Now, how do you propose to fix this mess?"

[Mainer2]

Ah, an old fashioned adult dad. Todays's dad's will give detroit a nummy mochachino.

[The Late P Brooks]

I was hoping somebody would finally make a detective show.

Maybe it will be about two dedicated law enforcement professionals so devoted to making their city liveable they go the extra mile in service to the community by beating homeless people to death, raping waitresses during traffic stops, and murdering property owners who dare ask them what they're doing skulking around on private property.

[Loki]

I just had a great idea for a new TV show. Show dramatic re-enactments of various police brutality stories. The kind of shit that Balko posts all the time and we read about here but hardly ever warrants more than passing mention in the MSM. Wrong door SWAT raids, dog shootings, homeless beatings (the first episode would feature the Kelly Thomas murder).

The twist would be at the end of each re-enactment we'll show the most despicable comments made by actual LEOs at PoliceOne. Let people see what their "heroes in blue" are really like.

[Loki]

We'll call the show Heroes in Blue. For teh irony...

[Sevo]

Lefty stage-managing gone bad.
Strictly local, but SF has 'rent control', which makes buildings far more valuable empty than rented.
Guy finally evicts people living in $3,500 apt for $800, 'tenants advocates' stage protest!
Well, turns out the lefties didn't do a lot of research; the family has 7 adult kids, one of whom is an engineer at Oracle, so the 'family' is not lacking for resources:
"Tech boom forcing longtime S.F. family out of home"
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....843955.php

[Zeb]

One thing I can't figure out is why anyone would own an apartment building in a place with rent control. Is it just because it is impossible to sell them?

[The Late P Brooks]

The twist would be at the end of each re-enactment we'll show the most despicable comments made by actual LEOs at PoliceOne. Let people see what their "heroes in blue" are really like.

Also, we'll run a boilerplate "rebuttal" from the National Association of Chiefs of Police and the PBA and Mayors Against Legal Guns about how the nation will devolve into chaos and anarchy if civilians were ever to take it upon themselves to second guess the actions of law enforcement professionals or, heaven forbid, ever presume to take responsibility for their own security.

[Loki]

Included at the end of each re-enactment before the PoliceOne comments will be a re-enactment or, if available, actual press footage of the official response: "...firearms were discharged... procedures were followed... paid administrative leaves were given... etc..."

[sarcasmic]

The title could be And Nothing Else Happened...

[GILMORE]

OMG its possible that Detroit's pension system may have had a teensy bit of corruption and mismanagement???? WHO WOULD HAVE IMAGINED??!?!?!?

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/20.....sion-plan/

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/20.....-billions/

And clearly this is all a very unfair and republican driven effort to undermine the workings man and teh peoples and stuff who bargained 'fairly' for their cheese. The hubris of the fucking GRS pension trustees is so appalling as to be a joke. Its like a huffy child outside of a house, burned to the ground and smouldering, holding a box of matches and a gasoline can, going, "I am AGHAST you are suggesting any irresponsibility on MY part!! You GAVE me these matches and did nothing to specifically prevent my access to the fuel!! This is clearly a shared responsibility and you should really examine your own role in the matter before casting aspersions on my character...."

Example = """No one from the G.R.S. had any input into this proposal," a spokeswoman for the general pension trustees, said in a written statement, referring to the General Retirement System. "We believe it is unseemly and disingenuous to present a proposal involving a new benefit structure that will affect the pensions of our members, beneficiaries and city employees not yet vested, without seeking our input, suggestions, knowledge and expertise."

[Troy muy grande boner]

The whole system is designed to get young people to pay for the care of the old and the sick

I have no doubt that this is true. But what the fuck are these people thinking? There are not a lot of employed young 20 somethings. And I am sure that most don't have 6 figure jobs with which to steal from.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Excuse me..... from which to steal from.