Shutdown Negotiations Extend Into Weekend, School Officials Lobby Facebook for Censorship, No More HIV Segregation in Prisons: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: eldh / Foter / CC BY

  The House will meet Saturday to work on shutdown negotiations, but both sides are sticking to their guns. Republicans want piecemeal spending resolutions while Democrats want it all passed. President Barack Obama has disavowed an anonymous quote given to the Wall Street Journal that the White House was "winning" the shutdown fight.

• A cyberbullying law in Maryland has resulted in Facebook creating a program that allows school officials to call them to order students' posts taken down for using "questionable" language. This totally won't be abused by schools at all to quash student criticism, am I right?
• The governor of Pennsylvania compared same-sex marriage recognition to allowing brothers and sisters to get married, which is totally a new and fresh argument gay people haven't been hearing for decades.
• Twitter hopes to raise $1 billion from its initial public offering. That's dollars, not retweets.
• Eat shit and live! Pills made from poop can help fight certain dangerous intestinal infections. I look forward to the name they give this medication, though I bet television commercials will disappoint.
• South Carolina and Alabama have ended their practices of segregating prison inmates with HIV. They were the last states that were still doing so.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Barack Obama has disavowed an anonymous quote given to the Wall Street Journal that the White House was "winning" the shutdown fight.

Publicly Dems can't say they're winning in the shutdown, even if privately they think that. But either way in reality they're not winning dick.

[db]

How does the plethysmograph register when you post first?

[Fist of Etiquette]

It registers the time of its life.

[Cytotoxic]

I thought you were going to say 'it breaks'.

[CE]

He did, however, go out for sandwiches with Joe Biden, to show how budget-conscious the White House has become. Heck, Michelle even stopped tweeting to save the taxpayers even more.

[Generic Stranger]

I read "tweeting" as "twerking". The mental image very nearly fried my brain.

[DJF]

Repost but the police car that was totaled in the Washington shooting was the result of operator error.

http://youtu.be/MCu80iDid_Q

[Tonio]

So, have they announced whether the cop who was injured was hurt by friendly fire, or did he get injured in the car crash?

[Ted S.]

Why not both?

[Rich]

Obviously we need *exploding* barriers -- this one didn't do much.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A cyberbullying law in Maryland has resulted in Facebook creating a program that allows school officials to call them to order students' posts taken down for using "questionable" language.

Next up: Requiring students friend their school administrators on Facebook.

[Ted S.]

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

[Killazontherun]

They don't like any competition. Even a schoolyard punk is too much of a threat to the total state.

[Tonio]

Yeah, Facebook never ceases to disappoint.

[Rich]

order students' posts taken down for using "questionable" language.

1) Nobody knows what "questionable" language is amirite?

2) Will those removals be teachable moments?

[Fist of Etiquette]

If the language is questioned then it is questionable.

[Brett L]

Okay, "Eat Shit and Live" is obviously the best headline for this ever. Well played, Scott.

[Tonio]

That may have originated with a commenter. Not sure.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Not a direct ripoff, but sarcasmic said it in the AM links

Kinda the same

[PM]

Yeah, I came to the comments just to give it a 10/10. The Reason staff has been on a veritable roll lately.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The House will meet Saturday to work on shutdown negotiations, but both sides are sticking to their guns.

Which party is going to panic first?

[andarm16]

The Republicans of course.

[Adam.]

well, the republicans are sticking to their guns, democrats don't believe in them

[CE]

Shouldn't they have to shelter in place and don escape hoods and go kits for someone even mentioning guns?

[lafe.long]

...and don't forget the annunciators.

[Eduard van Haalen]

What's an escape hood? Is it what the KKK would have worn to Gettysburg before their march was cancelled?

[Tim]

http://vimeo.com/76160689

Godzilla teaser

[Cytotoxic]

Godzilla movies can never be good, ever. Even more so now that Pacific Rim took away their raison d'etre.

[Tim]

They're good in that memory of being 7 years old watching the Creature Double Feature on channel 56, eating cookies and drinking canned grape juice way.

[Cytotoxic]

I have no such memories...

[Tim]

This was during the Nixon administration and before Star Wars.

[Mad Scientist]

Egad, I have pretty much that exact same memory, but it was Coke instead of grape juice.

[Sudden]

Heroic Mulatto has the same memory except with grape drink instead of grape juice.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Indeed, and with the intro being the Million Dollar Movie theme.

[C. Anacreon]

Probably "Goofy Grape", because they were out of "Rootin-Tootin Raspberry"

[kinnath]

Well I was 17 at the end of the Nixon Administration. But I have the same memories from the summer of love.

We were allowed to stay up all alone until midnight watching horrors flicks every Friday night.

[MP]

Child.

[Redmanfms]

Or ever watched MST3K.

Japanese mega-monster movies can be great, especially when being ripped on by a dude and his two robots pals.

[Timrek]

Gamera is friend to children.

Giant monster movies...there for the children.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Godzilla doesn't translate well into the West. To truly appreciate kaiju movies, you kind of have to have grown up on an island where a massive earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption, or all three at once(!) can occur at any time with little to no warning.

[Cytotoxic]

Couldn't they just make a movie about that instead?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Couldn't they just make a movie about that instead?

Can we get Joel Schumacher to direct it?

[Sudden]

Kill it with fire!

[Heroic Mulatto]

They did, it's called Gojira.

Seriously, just as Godzilla was supposed to represent the horrors of atomic destruction, many of the earlier Godzilla-like giant monsters were metaphors of other violent natural phenomena. Why do you think Rodan was depicted as coming out of a volcano?

[Redmanfms]

I always figured that the movies were really just revenge porn for the Japs after they got the ever-loving shit bombed out of them, had their murderous, genocidal attempt at empire burned to the ground, and were utterly humiliated by their perceived inferiors.

They slapped on a little bit of extra "fuck you" by having the monsters be generated by the genie their inferiors let out of the bottle.

[Heroic Mulatto]

But most kaiju movies have the destruction focused on Japan itself. So if anything, it's more masochistic Japan-guilt porn.

[Long Range Boredom]

I find it interesting that they avoided a lot of civilian death footage in Pacific Rim (the director's a pacifist who says they just evacuate everyone before the monsters show up) but the first shots of the Godzilla teaser have corpses everywhere.

[Cytotoxic]

I actually liked that and should give the trailer a bit more credit. Love me some mass death.

[BakedPenguin]

Will they have the B?C song in the soundtrack?

[C. Anacreon]

History's shown again and again how nature points out the folly of man...

[Fist of Etiquette]

The governor of Pennsylvania compared same-sex marriage recognition to allowing brothers and sisters to get married...

Oh, that's right. I almost forgot that my governor is, in fact, an idiot.

[BardMetal]

Are people that support gay marriage opposed to legalizing brothers and sisters marrying? and if so what is their argument for why the one is ok and the other is not.

[Fist of Etiquette]

My guess is the stated argument will be offspring abnormalities. They still do blood tests for marriage licenses, right?

[Enough About Palin]

Not in Minnesota.

[Floridian]

I didn't need one in 2010

[Fist of Etiquette]

What do I know? I don't put a ring on it and I certainly wouldn't go begging for the state stamp of approval if I did. BOOM YA BURNT.

[bendover]

Aside from the ickyness of sibling marriage - with the advent of invitro fertilization, adoption and modern genetic testing - the point the "idiot governor" is making, may be valid.

From a purely libertarian perspective, what business of the state is it who I marry?

[bendover]

I'll actually go a step further. I think that parents should be allowed to marry their children.

By doing so my daughter would save about $13 million in estate tax due to the 100% spousal exemption.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

It would be difficult to disentangle coercion issues there... and the likelihood of severe birth defects skyrockets.

Same reason we don't allow doctors or psychiatrists to marry their patients, but even stronger.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Lazarus Long, Craster, and pedobear like this on FaceBook.

[cavalier973]

I think "elimiinate the estate tax" is an easier sell than "let me marry my child--to avoid taxes, of course"

[Old Man With Candy]

Whoa, $13MM tax savings? That means you're dropping $26MM when you croak? Did I ever mention what an attractive fellow you are?

[C. Anacreon]

Why should there be any laws preventing consenting adults to do anything that doesn't harm others?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I wonder if there is some point at which the risk of birth defects -- and not just in the context of siblings -- rises to the level of being harm to others.

[Long Range Boredom]

I've asked the same question about polygamy, and the typical answer I get is some vague mutterings about how its inherently sexist or something.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Because they should fight for their own rights, is the usual "I got mine, you get yours, I don't care about principles" answer.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"totally a new and fresh argument gay people haven't been hearing for decades."

Decades? I didn't think this was a mainstream gay cause until, say, the 1990s. But educate me if I'm mistaken!

(Yes, I know of the Minnesota gay-marriage case from 1971 - I said "mainstream.")

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

South Carolina and Alabama have ended their practices of segregating prison inmates with HIV. They were the last states that were still doing so.

I wish I could say Andy Dufresnse fought the good fight and the Sisters let him be, I wish I could tell you that. But prison is no fairy tale world.

[Aloysious]

+1 Shaw-SHANK

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Do you see this morning's edition of The Albuquerque Jorunal?

[db]

Spoiler warning, motherfucker.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Yeah, THIS. Fucking seriously.

I first saw it on the 24/7 links on the side and then 30000 people posted it everywhere. Yeah, it's clever, you're still an asshole for posting it.

Gee, thanks, now I don't have to watch the remaining 1/2 season to find out how it ends, fucktards.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Funny, I've read up on every episode for this past season and will still watch them on video when they come out for rent. I doubt my viewing experience will be any less enhanced because I knew the outcome beforehand.

I remember when this "DON'T SPOIL THINGS" shit was started by Roger Ebert for The Crying Game. Maybe there's something wrong with me that I don't get all bent out of shape by "spoilers" and can still enjoy a TV show or movie even when I know how it ends.

[Ted S.]

Why are we supposed to care about Nizar Trabelsi? 😉

[Cytotoxic]

Is he really 'dead'? It was not made explicitly clear! Maybe he was just tired!

[Almanian!]

He was resting after a prolonged squawk.

[Cytotoxic]

I want to believe! I LOVE YOU HEISENBERG.

[Ted S.]

Happy cinnamon bun day!

[CE]

If only Cinnabon had kept making good cinnamon rolls.

[db]

Re: segregation of HIV positive inmates. Are there any figures out there that report HIV infection rates in prison populations, and do they differ with inmate segregation?

[DJF]

It would have been nice if the reporter asked the question but I guess it did not fit the narrative they wanted to follow.

[Tonio]

It's pretty gruesome.

IIRC inmates are not allowed to have condoms because they might, somehow, use them to smuggle drugs. In reality this is about control, increasing misery, and denying them any fun they might have. Having said that the rapey prisoners wouldn't bother with condoms.

Have no idea how rates vary with segregation.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

House Majority PAC to air anti-Boehner ad during football this weekend: #GOPTemperTantrum

Well that settles it, I'm never voting for John Boehner again!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Kodak moments from 125 years ago: Pictures taken by first commercially available Kodak camera

[SugarFree]

The technical term for the format is "Kodak paper stripping roll." You'd take all the pictures you could, then mail the camera to Kodak. The emulsion was on opaque paper, so when they were developed, the emulsion with the exposed image was rehydrated, stuck to glass, contact printed and then scraped off. No reprints and this process was why the prints are round (corners wouldn't come off cleanly.) The prints were pasted to backing boards (the photopaper was very thin.) They'd reload the camera and mail it back to you with the prints. (Except for the last part, just like those little plastic "disposable" cameras.)

[Juice]

Pretty fucking cool.

[sloopyinca]

Follow up to my trials and tribulations with my stolen truck.

OK, so I went over to Temecula PD yesterday and had some nasty-smelling fat chick tell me that I need to go back to San berdo PD and have them fill out the correct report and that they had no record. Now I know this was a lie because I had talked to a Temecula cop the previous day a couple of times and he said they'd arrest the guy on sight. She accused me of lying so I demanded to see her supervisor.

Well wouldn't you know it, but two very large men with shaved heads and sunglasses on came out into the lobby and proceeded to ask me what the problem was. I began to explain and started to get up out of my chair when one told me to sit back down and calm down. I told him I could stand if I wanted to and he told me I was making a scene. I repeated to him that the case was a little more important to me than to their department and that the communication there was a joke. I then was told that if I didn't calm down that I would be removed. So I calmly asked to see their commander or to have an appointment set with him/her so I could get some resolution. I also told them it was disrespectful of them to stand over me with sunglasses on and hands on hips near their weapons when I'd done nothing suspicious.

Well, they got their Lieutenant to come out and he asked me the same questions, only he wrote down everything I said. He came out 5 minutes later witha copy of the initial report from San Berdo PD
(cont.)

[SweatingGin]

Jesus, be careful sloop. Dunphy will send a police one message over to them and someone will trip and bump into them causing their weapon to fire.

[Lady Bertrum]

You're killing me here. I'm refreshing but I need to leave to go to the gym. Hurry up and finish the story. I hope it ends better than Breaking Bad.

[Tim]

Does this end with you getting the living shit beat out of you?

[Ted S.]

Did you have a camera rolling why you were there? (Or is CA an all-party consent state?)

[sloopyinca]

CA is all-party unless you are at an open meeting. I know I'd end up winning in the long run, but I don't have the time to fight them.

Besides, Angry Birds Star Wars II had pretty well drained my battery in the three hours I sat there waiting on them to do something.

[sloopyinca]

and radio dispatched two officers to the house, which was unoccupied. He then instructed me to call SBPD's detective division and see if they could amend the report to list the thief as an actual suspect in the theft, which would give them PC to request a search warrant. He gave me his card and I left, but I did ask him why it was so difficult to get any of the other people working there to be respectful and/or give a shit about the victims of crimes. He said he would discuss the first lady's attitude but said the two juiced-up dudes were told to be "alert" by her because I had begun to get difficult. I let it go.

So, I called SBPD and left a message for a detective. I had a guy call me back who told me in not so many words that the uniformed officer that took the statement was a lazy asshole for not having officially filed the report yet and he got all the information. He called the suspect, who admitted to having taken the truck, and made arrangements for him to turn the truck in when he returned from out of town (this afternoon). He told me if the guy took it to Temecula, that department would arrest him at their own discretion but said it was unlikely. He said he would pursue all charges and would come to interview me and my staff on Monday. He gave me his name (first name as well, which is pretty odd for a cop) and his office and cell numbers and told me to call if anything came up.

[sloopyinca]

So I dealt with six cops so far.

One was lazy and only did his job when I demanded.

One was a bitch that tried to get me intimidated when I complained about her poor service.

Two were roided-up goons that stood over me and tried to intimidate me.

One was a plainclothes Lieutenant that pointed me in the right direction.

And the last was a plainclothes Sergeant that genuinely helped in every way possible.

So I'm batting .333, which is surprisingly (although frustratingly) good I guess.

[Tim]

Policeman: Well, Mr. Seinfeld, we'll look into it and, uh, we'll let you know if we find anything.

Jerry: Do you ever find anything?

Policeman: No.

[Lady Bertrum]

I'm glad you're *probably* getting your truck back. I hope it's in good condition. What a hassle, though.

Sending good thoughts your way.

[sloopyinca]

Oh, I'm gonna get it back. Hopefully later today. The shitweasel that stole it really fucked up...insomuch as he was an employee I fired that day and almost ran over my yard manager as he tore out of our yard in the truck.

So I had his home address, cellphone number and driver's license information. And he was also kind enough to tell the cops that yes, he did in fact take the truck after I told him he was not to take it.

[JW]

and almost ran over my yard manager as he tore out of our yard in the truck.

His only good luck was not pulling this same stunt in DC.

[sloopyinca]

What's fucked up is that I told it to the uniformed patrolman who took the initial report (after I requested a report number and he took the information down for real). He didn't ask for any witness names or statements from the other people there when the GTA/ADW took place.

It was almost as if. he. didn't. give. a. fuck.

[Cytotoxic]

If only you had a weaponised drone.

[Ted S.]

I'm amazed that you found even one popo who gave a fuck.

[Juice]

almost as if?

[Cytotoxic]

I'm sure service from the police in the future will be slightly better for your persistence.

[sloopyinca]

I can assure you that if any of those first three "officers" I dealt with in Temecula see me out and about, they'll make my life hell.

[Ted S.]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!111!!!

[Sudden]

Probably not gonna get the creedance tapes back though

[Tonio]

Dammit, Sloop, don't leave us hanging.

But that sounds like a suckfest from the beginning. Sorry, dude.

[Tonio]

Stupid squirrels!

[JW]

I look forward to the name they give this medication, though I bet television commercials will disappoint.

Duh. It will be a couple, each sitting on their own toilet, holding hands and staring off into the sunset.

"Fecalis"

[SugarFree]

Poopenyol
Crapbutrin
Shittlenine Profartenate

[Rich]

Advil BM

[Invisible Finger]

Scatrex
Ordurel
Defebrex
Wellguano
Manurex
Excretol
Medistool

[Invisible Finger]

So to take South Park a step further, if I put crap in my mouth I'll get a steak dinner out of my ass?

[SweatingGin]

Seized Silkroad Bitcoins are now a posting board.

[Ted S.]

Slovak man tries to avoid paying EUR 1.5M by posing as diplomat

Hungarian public TV was the first to break the news on the arrest. It also showed the luxury cars of fake diplomat complete with diplomatic license plates. The gang managed to keep their activities a secret for 18 months.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Krugman in Wonderland: Obamacare's Glitches and Faults show it is working

To illustrate the point, consider Medicare Part D, the drug benefit, which went into effect in 2006. It had what was widely considered a disastrous start, with seniors unclear on their benefits, pharmacies often refusing to honor valid claims, computer problems, and more. In the end, however, the program delivered lasting benefits, and woe unto any politician proposing that it be rolled back.

So the glitches of October won't matter in the long run. But why are they actually encouraging? Because they appear, for the most part, to be the result of the sheer volume of traffic, which has been much heavier than expected. And this means that one big worry of Obamacare supporters ? that not enough people knew about the program, so that many eligible Americans would fail to sign up ? is receding fast.

Of course, it's important that people who want to sign up can actually do so. But the computer problems can and will be fixed. So, by March 31, when enrollment for 2014 closes, we can be reasonably sure that millions of Americans who were previously uninsured will have coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare will have become a reality, something people depend on, rather than some fuzzy notion Republicans could demonize. And it will be very hard to take that coverage away.

[Rich]

the glitches of October won't matter in the long run
because in the long run we are all dead.

the computer problems can and will be fixed
because the government *never* abandons a software project.

So, by March 31, when enrollment for 2014 closes, we can be reasonably sure that millions of Americans who were previously uninsured will have coverage
if only because the government will have *deemed* them to be covered.

[Cytotoxic]

the program delivered lasting benefits

What?

this means that one big worry of Obamacare supporters ? that not enough people knew about the program, so that many eligible Americans would fail to sign up ? is receding fast.

WHAT?

[Adam330]

Once these people get past the log-on screens and start looking at plans, they're going to realize that the cheap plans are often $350+ a month, and still have really high deductibles. Most the states aren't publicizing the prices, but the DC one has a calculator. https://www.dchealthlink.com/calculator
Enter age 50, $50,000 income and the bronze plan is $393 a month. That's no free pony. There's going to be some serious sticker shock.

[pmains]

Anything over $44,920, and you're at $393/month for the bronze.

At 40, it's $268/mo if you make $32,395+.
At 30, it's $214/mo if you make $27,782+.
At 21, it's $200/mo if you make $27,855+.
At 20, it's $0/mo even if you're making $85k, so I dunno.

[pmains]

And, I should add, that's for a single person.

[Invisible Finger]

So people are just going to lie about their income.

[MJGreen]

Obamacare will have become a reality, something people depend on ... And it will be very hard to take that coverage away.

Fuck.

Off.

Slaver.

[Invisible Finger]

No it won't. They could just sell the clients to another insurance company... and then THEY can drop their sorry asses.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

And it will be very hard to take that coverage away.

Right about that, anyway.

Krugster has the intelligence to understand that a democracy is systemically adverse to turning off the spigot of FREE STUFF.

[C. Anacreon]

Yes. Look at the outrage over trying to cut back a tiny bit in the number of people who are on food stamps, which has DOUBLED in just the past six years. From the lefty politician quotes, anyone who is taken off food stamps will immediately STARVE to death.

So I'm guessing that a lot of people who were unemployed and got on food stamps, then got a job, just keep taking the food stamps? Why not? Then you can use your own money for other things. And there is certainly no shame in using the card anywhere, it's just like using a Visa card.

[The DerpRider]

NOAA - Please Pay Us embedded in weather report. Screen grab from browsing earlier. It's since been changed.

[Ted S.]

Try Accuweather. 😉

[Bam!]

They depend on NOAA for a lot of their data.

[Ted S.]

And when the fuck did Weather Underground change their layout? It's like I'm being delivered a site uptimized for mobile devices, with the old "pick your location" choices at the top from the last several I'ved looked up are no longer there.

[Ted S.]

And when the fuck did Weather Underground change their layout? It's like I'm being delivered a site uptimized for mobile devices, with the old "pick your location" choices at the top from the last several I've looked up are no longer there.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Connecticut school bans students from quoting GEICO's 'Hump Day' commercial

It's gotten over 15 million hits on YouTube and has become one of the most memorable commercials to date.

It's the Geico Hump Day commercial, but it doesn't have everyone laughing. Some Vernon teachers say the phrase is catching on so much that it's becoming disruptive in their classrooms.

"Everybody's walking around in the hallways and saying its hump day in that weird voice," said Brooke Lewis, who is a student at Vernon Center Middle School.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mary P. Conway said some sixth-grade boys at Vernon Center Middle School started using the phrase so much, teachers said it was disruptive.

Students told Eyewitness News it doesn't just happen on Wednesdays, it's every day.

"Sometimes its the counting down to when it is," Lewis said.

Parents agree with teachers.

"OK, that's getting out of hand," said Mick Ruggiero, of Vernon. "Just keep it to Wednesdays and we'll be all right."

Students told Eyewitness News some kids have been called into the office, but Conway said this isn't a district, or even schoolwide issue. Conway said the teachers just wanted to nip it in the bud.

Thank God for teachers and school administrators, without them kids would be annoying!

[sloopyinca]

This was on the local AM radio station this morning. By the time I got to work, I was nearly in tears saying "Hump Daaaaaaaay" to myself over and over.

The scolds on the radio were less amused at the story than I was.

[Rich]

It's gotten over 15 million hits on YouTube and has become one of the most memorable commercials to date.

Good grief. Any GEICO commercial has a negative effect on me.

[CatoTheElder]

"Eat shit and Live" is a great slogan for ObamaCare.

[Redmanfms]

"Eat shit and Live" is a great slogan for ObamaCare.

"Pay us, eat shit, or we'll fucking KILL YOU," would be more realistic.

[Paul.]

A cyberbullying law in Maryland has resulted in Facebook creating a program that allows school officials to call them to order students' posts taken down for using "questionable" language. This totally won't be abused by schools at all to quash student criticism, am I right

It's a public/private partnership. You don't become the #1 social networking site by thumbing your nose at public officials.

[sloopyinca]

Violent physical assault results in...county residents paying the victim $150,000.

But don't worry. One of the officers that brutalized the family, including one cancer patient, was let go. No charges were filed.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Small price to pay for blowing off some steam at the end of a rough day.

[Paul.]

[Deputy] Hurl, a recent hire who was under probation at the time of the incident, was let go 10 days after the incident.

And reinstated after aribitration?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

How realistic is 'Gravity'?

On to the next bit: showing someone adrift in space. This comes with its own problems. To begin with, orbital mechanics are incredibly counterintuitive. For example, if you're adrift in space, 50 feet behind the space shuttle, equipped only with a wrench, what do you do?

Those of us familiar with Newton's laws of action and reaction might throw the wrench away from the spacecraft, in the hopes that the reaction would push us toward the shuttle. But thanks to the peculiarities of orbital physics, we might actually need to throw the wrench toward the spacecraft because, believe it or not, this will help us catch up by dropping us into a faster orbit.

But even so, there's just no way an orbital change would save the two Gravity astronauts. The Hubble Space Telescope and ISS are in completely different orbits, at different altitudes, passing over different parts of the Earth. There's no practical way a space shuttle on a mission to one of these objects could change orbit to visit the other. In fact, because of this, NASA had to take special trouble with 2009's final space shuttle repair mission to Hubble: Knowing that Atlantis wouldn't be able to make it to ISS if it could not re-enter Earth's atmosphere, NASA officials readied the space shuttle Endeavour for a possible rescue mission.

Still looks entertaining.

[Bam!]

Read the article in the voice of Cubert from Futurama.

[CE]

And the communications satellites are thousands of miles above the low Earth orbit where the space station is.

[Briggie]

Even if you were able to do that wouldn't it take forever for you to catch up to the spacecraft? My orbital mechanics is a little hazy though.

[Coeus]

This makes no sense.

Seemed completely consensual to me. Are optometrists not allowed to do that at all?

[Paul.]

A 33-year-old Orion Township woman reported that Deck asked her to "come back to his personal office after she put her new contacts in so she could witness him masturbating," according to a press release from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

Warty?

[Rich]

"When you go to visit a professional office such as a doctor, the last thing you literally expect to see is this," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard stated in the release.

"I mean, I could understand if Dr. Deck had used a plethysmograph, but really, this is disgusting."

[Invisible Finger]

She said she wanted her contact lenses squickly.

[Coeus]

I wonder if he switched back and forth between under and overhand?

"Better like this? Or better like this?"

[sloopyinca]

"He's about to enter the shit-tornado to Oz."

[Sidd Finch]

SEE IT: Zinedine Zidane's infamous World Cup head butt now subject of new sculpture

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I prefer the 8-bit version

[Coeus]

Commenting on the commonly used tropes in rap is racist.

Feminists. Is there no stupid they can't top?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Both the whiny singer and the harridan scold who wrote the article are insufferable.

[SIV]

The comments mostly defend the Kiwi teenage singer and suggest focusing on real racism:

I seriously don't think this 16 year old is trying to condemn shows of wealth by people of color, but by the popular music that's shoved in all of our faces. Katy Perry has a grill now, too. And so does Madonna. Let's go back to dissecting the very real racism of Miley Cyrus, K?

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Let's go back to dissecting the very real racism of Miley Cyrus, K?"

I hope that was sarcastic.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Easy for you to say! You don't have to live in a world where the institutional racism of Miley Cyrus presses down upon your very being, every second of every hour!

[Eduard van Haalen]

Miley Cyrus has the same last name as the Persian king who restored the Jews to their homeland, so she sounds like an *anti*-racist to me.

[Eduard van Haalen]

And King Cyrus commissioned some stone engravings showing him doing some risque dance moves.

[SIV]

They are dead serious. Miley is the 21st century Zip Coon. Rippin' off the Black Man worse than Elvis and Led Zepplin combined. CULTURAL APPROPRIATION

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It's also rather amusing because her current producer is a black man.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Video: Glenn Greenwald has contentious interview with BBC news anchor

First question: "Why should you be the arbiter about what is in the public interest and what is vital to national security?"

Followed by the old 'you're helping the terrorists win' arguments.

[BakedPenguin]

Jesus. Totalitarian bitch.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Hulkamania

[sloopyinca]

What the fuck is wrong with you?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I'm trapped in Canadia.

[Coeus]

Progtards are aghast that hobby lobby doesn't stock menorahs.

There are dozens in the comments wondering why it's not illegal.

[Paul.]

Would they be aghast if The Jew Shack didn't stock Crucifixes?

[Ted S.]

I went into a "Christian" bookstore once and asked where their supply of rosaries was. 😉

[Rich]

You gotta shop and sell the rosaries.

[C. Anacreon]

nice

[Mad Scientist]

This has no actual relevance, but I enjoyed the ruthless rhyming.

[sloopyinca]

"But it should be illegal. "Hobby Lobby" is a public accommodation insomuch as they use public roads to get to their parking lot and have public utilities power their stores. Them not accommodating their Jewish customers is akin to having "Blacks Only" rooms in hotels or denying rooms to blacks altogether because "sorry, but we're a white-owned hotel chain". The Hobby Lobby should be shuttered until they are willing to serve the needs of any person of faith or atheists and stop pandering to Christian fundamentalists.

Oh, and they also deny their female employees the right to have necessary medical care in the case of rape and/or incest attacks. So not only are they pandering to the wants of their fundie owners when they decide what merchandise to stock, they also deny basic human rights like reproductive care to their female employees."

-spoofyinca

[MJGreen]

DOZENS!

[Ska]

I just blue myself.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I bet the sex toy shop doesn't stock chastity belts, either.

[A Secret Band of Robbers]

That's not as safe an assumption as you might think.

[sloopyinca]

Eat shit and live! Pills made from poop can help fight certain dangerous intestinal infections. I look forward to the name they give this medication, though I bet television commercials will disappoint.

Couldn't they get the same result from another bacterial source? I distinctly remember in Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes" that before Connor MacLeod was able to walk, his monkey mother fed him maggots to make him better. And then the Kurgan killed the ape and chased him back to England.

[Coeus]

Otters. Not as cute as you thought.

Sea otters ? cute, furry, adorable, clams-wouldn't-melt-in-their-mouths sea otters ? have been observed forcibly copulating with, and in the process killing, juvenile harbor seals off California.

On some occasions, they further note, otters would guard and copulate with the seals long after their victims had died -? as much as seven days afterward, in fact.

Bizarre as this behavior may seem, Harris and her co-authors point out that it is not dissimilar to standard sea otter mating protocol, in which males will often approach the female from behind, grip her around the chest with his forepaws, and grasp her nose or the side of her face with his teeth. Although the female frequently resists, generally the two eventually spin in the water, the male behind the female, until mating is complete. Here, too, the encounters may prove fatal for the female, either as a result of wounds inflicted from the male's bites and scratches or because of drowning. Harris and colleagues describe one instance in which a male otter held a struggling female underwater until her body became limp and then copulated with her several times. Indeed, trauma related to mating was responsible for 11 percent of deaths in fresh southern sea otter carcasses examined between 2000 and 2003.

[andarm16]

So, another brutally violent species of adorable marine mammal.

[Almanian!]

So - these are the STEVE SMITH of otters?

[sloopyinca]

Now we know why Eric Cartman turns on them in the future.

[Brett L]

Wow. Sea otters and dolphins are pretty rapey.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Followup on the Breaking Bad theory of Norm MacDonald.

MJGreen|10.4.13 @ 8:56AM|#|?|filternamelinkcustom

It doesn't hold up.

Walt just happened to know that Jesse was being kept as a slave? A fantasy would have been more flattering to Walt and less flattering for his enemies.

answer:

Norm Macdonald ?@normmacdonald 8h
Of course he intuited Jesse was in captivity as soon as he saw on Charlie Rose that Blue was on the street.

[MJGreen]

Walt went to the Nazis thinking Jesse had partnered with them. And why would Walt fabricate this in his own head? He still blamed Jesse for ruining everything. Why imagine a happy ending for Jesse, rather than another victim of the M60?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

He knew Jesse wasn't a partner. He said Jesse was a partner to piss of the Nazi.

[MJGreen]

**OBVIOUSLY, BREAKING BAD SPOILERS**

According to Gilligan, Walt went there planning to kill Jesse along with the rest. Walt probably figured Jesse was working under duress, but everything on and off screen indicates that he was going to kill Jesse.

It's just stupid. Why forgive Jesse? Why give Jesse such catharsis? How does he know that the perfect resolution for Jesse is to have him kill Todd? Walt didn't know about Jesse's feelings for woodworking, so why dream about Jesse dreaming about the box? There are answers to all of these questions, but their sum brings the whole edifice down. That everything played out as if it were real requires far more intuition and dumb luck for Walt than if everything were real.

The best answer to the questions, of course, is, "It's just a TV show!" But that's why the finale is so great on its own without this theory: it was a fun, exciting piece of entertainment. Some leaps in logic, some wish fulfillment, a lot of coincidence. How does viewing it all as a dream make it any more plausible and more fitting than what is plainly on screen?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

It's not a dream. It's a dying man's last thoughts. It starts when the keys fall off the visor.
The song "El Paso" is sung from the perspective of a dead man. There are no keys in reality.
He's humming the song when he builds his gun. The car he's driving changes.
There's no way the Nazis would let him park his car however he wanted, and there's no way they wouldn't check the car for explosives or weapons.
Why is everything working out so well for Walt, when for the last 5 years VG was showing us how everything keeps going wrong.

VG said the key to the episode was the Woodworking. By this, VG takes us out of the main story to tell us what is happening. The soft focus means it's not real. It means Jesse is imagining woodworking to escape the nightmare he's living. It's a parallel thought to Walt's.

[Briggie]

Jesus christ, not another one of these "It was all just a dream." theories. Why do people have to put a metanarrative into everything? Funniest part is they think they are some mastermind for coming up with it.

What is that four letter word I am thinking of?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....s#t=20m16s

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Rand Paul wants Congress to settle their differences over some coffee

Paul pitched a "clean" one-to-two week stop-gap measure to give the parties time to iron out their differences while keeping the government afloat. He has suggested bicameral negotiations to find a middle-ground between the demands of conservatives to defund Obamacare and Democratic insistence that they wouldn't touch the law. And he's now making a new pitch: Coffee.
In a letter to all senators sent Wednesday afternoon, Paul called for a bipartisan coffee meeting on the Capitol steps Thursday morning to "alleviate this tension and partisanship."

A Coffee Summit?

[Ted S.]

Harry Reid's a Mormon. I don't think he can drink coffee.

[CE]

How about a good old-fashioned Conference Committee with the House of Representatives, to iron out the bill the House already passed?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Well yes, he's been calling for that to, but Dirty Harry won't play ball.

[MJGreen]

Everything about this shutdown is pretty great. Here, Rand gets to act like the grown up in the room, a uniter, someone Serious about Getting Things Done. Good for him.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Coffee, huh? Drink of the Muslim?

Clearly when he is not working full-time for the Zionist Capitalist Running Dog Conspiracy, Rand does freelance work for the Islamofascists.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Screw it, why not a vodka summit?

"Dude, you just declared war on Finland!"

"I had to in order to get the rest of you to approve funding for the Cleveland Browns Funeral Home."

"How about making it a capital crime to tell that joke again?"

"OK, make hookers covered under Obamacare and you have a deal!"

[Cytotoxic]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4LxMgBErz4

In which John Stewart 'demolishes' shit-eating shut-down coverage by Fox. I'm not watching this because I'm lazy, and because I'm not a masochist. But I am a sadist, so I'm going to leave it here for you to watch. Can't wait for your comments based on what I've read of the video description.

Lemme guess: Johnny brings the tedium and can't really make a point without mocking Fox News?

[Killazontherun]

Watched the entire episode, not a single joke or criticism aimed at democrats. He's gone to mats for his Team big time this week.

[Cytotoxic]

I'm genuinely curious: was the segment funny at all?

[Killazontherun]

Less than usual because it was completely strained with by the effort to sell the , 'oh, those wacky rascally republicans!' It's only so many times you can air Michelle Bachman as the person in charge of all of this when you've got both Obama and Harry Reid in your corner.

Samantha Bee makes a pretty good goofy face, but she's looking unkempt of late. Can't handle her liquor, I suppose.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

We're learning more and more about the species in Warty's natural habitat

[The Late P Brooks]

I look forward to the name they give this medication, though I bet television commercials will disappoint.

[insert "shit-eating grin" reference]

[Almanian!]

Fuck everything.

[Rich]

What's the matter, Bunky?

[sloopyinca]

Hey, fuck you buddy!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I'm not your fucking buddy, guy!

[Killazontherun]

I'm not your guy, friend!

[sloopyinca]

Don't call him friend, buddy!

[Killazontherun]

Nutty buddies are delicious, pal!

[Cytotoxic]

Attention everything: fuck.

[Sea Otter]

Right on!

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

SERENITY NOW!!!

[MJGreen]

HOOCHIE MAMA!!!

[sloopyinca]

Insanity later.

[Enough About Palin]

HACKED! Healthcare Website Now Selling NFL Jerseys, Ugg Boots, Armani Fragrances...

http://www.weeklystandard.com/.....59213.html

[sloopyinca]

Slightly related: do any of you wear Uggs? I recently bought three pairs for myself and I have to say they're rather comfortable. I almost bought a pair of Zegna ankle boots but instead went the Ugg route and I've got to say it was a smart move.

[Sidd Finch]

I didn't know Uggs came in men's sizes.

[Redmanfms]

They don't.

[sloopyinca]

Suck my balls. These are the most comfortable pair of work boots I've bought in a decade.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Ok, but those aren't "Uggs" Uggs.

[sloopyinca]

And what part of my commenting on here makes you think "hipster douchefaggot" enough to expect me to sport a pair of those things?

[Heroic Mulatto]

I dunno. My Hipdar is as good as my Gaydar, which is to say, non-functional.

[Sidd Finch]

And what part of my commenting on here makes you think "hipster douchefaggot" enough to expect me to sport a pair of those things?

The part where you're not wearing these like a real US American.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

As long as you aren't wearing Crocs, I don't care.

[Sidd Finch]

Also this part:

We have reinterpreted the traditional Alpine hiker boot in Ruggero's hand-finished leather and rugged split suede, for an elevated style of indulgent durability.

[Brett L]

"Ruggero"? Like Canyonero?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I bet you carry a "messenger bag" too.

[sloopyinca]

That looks like a purse.

[Sidd Finch]

re: poop pills

Low-Hanging Poop

I read about this, but thought I'd heard about such stool transplants some time ago. I had. It was mentioned in The Making of a Surgeon, by William Nolen, published in 1970. Some crazy intern ? let us call him Hogan ? tried a stool transplant on a woman with a C. difficile infection. He mixed some normal stool with chocolate milk and fed it to the lady. It made his boss so mad that he was dropped from the program at the end of the year. It also worked. It was inspired by a article in Annals of Surgery, so this certainly wasn't the first try. According to Wiki, there are more than 150 published reports on stool transplant, going back to 1958.

So what took so damn long? Here we have a simple, cheap, highly effective treatment for C. difficile infection that has only become officially valid this year. Judging from the H. pylori story, it may still take years before it is in general use.

Obviously, sheer disgust made it hard for doctors to embrace this treatment. There's a lesson here: in the search for low-hanging fruit, reconsider approaches that are embarrassing, or offensive, or downright disgusting.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

US shutdown: 10 unexpected consequences (NOT A BUZZFEED LIST!)

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

1. One person maintaining the Canada border

It's a 5,525-mile (8,891km) border, with 8,000 obelisk monuments dotted along it. These are cast-iron and stand five feet high, on a three-foot concrete base. Cleaning and maintenance is usually in the hands of eight field officers but seven of them have been told to stay at home.

That leaves acting commissioner Kyle Hipsley on his own. Speaking from a field office in Montana, he said everything was under control.

Kyle Hipsley: American Hero.

[Long Range Boredom]

We plan to move the Canadian Bear-Mounted Calvary over the border on a moonless night. Not even Kyle Hipsley: American Badass will be able to stop us!

[Briggie]

You guys ride bears?!

Fuck we are screwed.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Cafes and restaurants are offering discounts and freebies to any of the 800,000 federal workers who are no longer at their desks.

Fuck all restaurants that do this. Seriously. I hope they call are forced to shut their doors because they can't afford Obamacare for all their workers.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

Agreed. And private defense contractors who are furloughed due to contract payments being suspended, they get jack shit (and they won't get paid back, either).

[Killazontherun]

He displays a sign proclaiming his desire to work, yet he took a government job anyway? Does not compute.

[Killazontherun]

Wenzel on the murder of Miriam Carey:

http://www.economicpolicyjourn.....ds-of.html

The death of Miriam Carey is a terrible tragedy. In some way that most of us can't see, she recognized government as a threat more intensely than most of us. Her trip to Washington D.C. proved what she believed, that unarmed and travelling with nothing but a baby, government could perceive her as a major threat that had to be eliminated.

After this tragedy occurred, inside Congress, members of Congress stood to thank their private police force that "protected" them from an unarmed woman with a baby.

I ask you, who really is nuts here?

[Redmanfms]

After this tragedy occurred, inside Congress, members of Congress stood to thank their private police force that "protected" them from an unarmed woman with a baby.

I've not seen or read enough about the affair to know what to make of it (I err on the side of police thugs getting their murder thrills on in these cases), but she wasn't "unarmed" she was armed with a car, something vastly more lethal than a gun.

And trying to draw motivation when we know nothing about what drove her there is just fucking stupid.

[Killazontherun]

Yeah, that car was going to head up the steps of the Capitol building, hop on the elevator, and run over a couple of congressmen. Wenzel addresses those points you raise, btw, and the raw video clearly shows the officers on the ground escalating the situation as well.

[Redmanfms]

Yeah, that car was going to head up the steps of the Capitol building, hop on the elevator, and run over a couple of congressmen.

Maybe not, but she could certainly plow over plenty of people at street level.

Wenzel addresses those points you raise, btw, and the raw video clearly shows the officers on the ground escalating the situation as well.

Went and read the article. What a question begging mess of speculative horseshit.

Also, the gate guard "escalated" by not permitting her to pass? Fucking really?

Yeah, after she gunned it, ran over somebody, and then proceeded at high speed up a street the Secret Service and Capitol Police (who have no fucking clue of her mental state) were supposed to just stand down, because well, Wenzel claims her family (none of whom were talking to law enforcement during the encounter) knew she had problems and was paranoid.

Come on man.

[Killazontherun]

Car could not have passed those barriers (no one actually needs a v-8 engine!) no matter what she did. Within a few seconds she had several guns aimed right at her head. No one was interested in figuring out what was going on. That video was very revealing. It is apparent the Secret Service are trained killers, with not even a flatfooter's knowledge of handling an emergency. Wenzel was dead on in describing how this would have been handled in LA even with the ramming of vehicles compared to Paranoia Central. It was that mentality that he was criticizing, and he is right.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

It's misleading to call her "unarmed". She was using her vehicle as a weapon.

By that standard the 9/11 hijacker pilots were unarmed.

[C. Anacreon]

What about sex, Tulpa?

Stop using sex as a weapon.

[Heroic Mulatto]

"Welcome Home Brother Charles"
A proud black man does time in jail where he is subjected to heinous experiments. Once released, he goes about extracting vengeance on those who put him in prison. This includes both seducing their women and murdering them by a mysterious means. Then the hook is revealed - his murder weapon is his own genitals which are now enormous and super powered as a result of the experiments he endured in prison.

[C. Anacreon]

I'm hoping that Pat Benatar does the theme song.

[Killazontherun]

You're right, every car should have an officer equipped to the back seat with a gun pointed to the head of the driver to keep him in check in case he does something like swirls into the other lane and into a school bus. Preventing terrorism doesn't just stop at a entry barriers hundreds of yards from the White House. It could happen anywhere.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

FUCK THE MLB

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

What? It's about time the West Coast gets a game in prime time hours Pacific Time.

[C. Anacreon]

Got that right. And a friend just called about an extra ticket, so I'm going to that Raiders game! If you are still awake, look for me on the 40-yard line 🙂

This is revenge for none of you ever being on HnR after 9pm Eastern. I don't usually even get home from work until 7:30pm Pacific (10:30 Eastern) and there is often little more than crickets here. Unless Boston is under martial law, that is.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Ugh. I hate prime-time football. It's such a pain in the ass having games start so late. I get the necessity of Monday night's start time, but to me football is one of the best things about Pacific Time. I can roll out of bed Sunday morning and have my football start at 10, then watch straight through until the end of the night game if I want.

[Apatheist ?_??]

No reason to watch that game anyways.

[sloopyinca]

If the Three Amigos were dickheads, that's what they'd look like.

[CE]

Cleveland Browns lose QB, set to let down Josh Freeman (and Tim Tebow) fans by not signing him:

http://www.cleveland.com/brown.....ter_1.html

[Brett L]

Not that Freeman's any good, but I do hope Schiano is literally forced to walk a plank in Tampa Bay with, oh, 50 lbs of chain tied to him. If he swims home and lives, he can look for another job. That guy is an asshole, and I really thought the Glazers had better business sense than to bring in a little tyrant.

[Long Range Boredom]

The Case for Can-America, wherein the author continues to push the almost borderline Yellow Peril 'the Chinese are coming to take our resources' narrative.

[Long Range Boredom]

Favourite comment: "American government is for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Canadians believe that these are none of the government's damn business.

Canada's first principles of government are "peace, order and good government." The United States doesn't believe in the first two, and isn't capable of the third. The American idea of good government is a big trough."

As opposed to the Canadian idea of good government, which is a big trough and a shitty Constitution.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'd prefer Amexico. Mexico offers us tropical beaches, Latin women, and tequila. Canada offers us snow, Quebec, and Tim Hortons.

The choice is clear.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Americarribean. All that you say above, plus boricuas and mulattoes -- surely an agenda we can all get behind!

[Heroic Mulatto]

I like how you think.

It would be Carnival every day!

[The Immaculate Trouser]

You know it.

[Briggie]

North America should just consolidate into one country.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Does anyone else remember the scare of the "AMERO"?

[Long Range Boredom]

I do because it was taught at my high school. Canadian nationalists love the concept because they can constantly hammer on it and exercise their superiority complex towards Americans.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

VG Zaytsev's comment from the other thread. It is quote-worthy:

1) The 2.5% cut in projected spending isn't any kind of win and doesn't matter for shit in the long term. Expecially when compared to the disaster that Obamacare is and will be.

2) The idea that this shut down is horrible exists no where outside of the beltway bubble. The rest of the country doesn't give a shit one way or another. The push polls claiming otherwise are bullshit.

3) The idea that this will destroy the republican party or make it impossible for them to ever retake the Senate is pure progressive fantasy. There is literally no historic evidence to support that contention nor logical reason to believe it.

4) The shutdown will put pressure on the democrats to the extent that it is their constituencies that are negatively impacted. This makes a deal favorable to the republicans more likely as time goes by.

5) The republican base was becoming disgusted with the inability of the republican house to effect the rollout of Obamacare. There was a real possibility of that disaffection limiting their turn out in 2014. This fight has re energized the base and will most likely help the turnout battle of 14.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

6) The idea that this is cutting into negative coverage of Obamacare's rollout is wishful thinking. The media is going to do everything in their power to sell this pile of shit. Fortunately, it's so bad that they will still ultimately lose, but that will drag out years. The only analogous policy to Obamacare that I can think of is forced bussing in the 1970s which played out over a half dozen election cycles before the elites gave up and admitted defeat.

[Brett L]

I assumed the Obamacare coverage must be hurting, too, because they've tried too hard to sweep it under the rug. "Oh, we'd report it as bad if only there wasn't this shutdown going on."

[Stormy Dragon]

Some of the bikers involved in the SUV driver beating may have been off duty NYPD, explaining why one of their coworkers did nothing when the beating was going on right in front of him:

http://nypost.com/2013/10/04/u.....-beat-dad/

[Eduard van Haalen]

An unnamed source said the undercover cop didn't do the decent thing and defend the guy because he (the pussy) didn't want to "blow his cover."

Because, I guess, if he'd done something violent, they would have recognized he wasn't a *real* biker!

[Ken Shultz]

I'm gonna go ahead and say this in spite of the fact that it's not going to be very popular, but...

Considering the number of times the average rider almost gets killed on a regular basis, it's amazing how rarely stuff like this happens.

I have a rule I live by, which is that if you almost kill me with your four wheel driving stupidity? then I get to kick a dent in your door with my boots.

I don't always exercise my right to kick a dent in your door, mind you.

Oh, it's also incredibly liberating when you get a bunch of sport bike riders all in the same place at the same time. When I was riding PCH to and from the Moto GP at Laguna Seca this last summer, you had your normal level of idiot four-wheelers--and swarms of people on sports bikes from all over the word. It's so amazing when you can pass an idiot in front of you knowing that the other bikers coming towards you will run interference for you.

And there were so many of us, cars actually started paying attention to the bikers instead of just looking right through us...

Anyway, it's amazing that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. I was almost killed twice this summer except for the best two swerve moves of my life, and both times it was about idiots on four wheels looking straight through me--despite the safety vest.

[Eduard van Haalen]

This goes back my discussion of anarchism in the previous thread.

So, we have a case where a motorcyclist says an idiot on four wheels clipped him, and presumably the alleged idiot has his own version of the incident - that some crazy motorcyclist jumped in front of him and he slammed on the brakes but couldn't stop in time.

If only there was some way for the different versions of events could be aired, the correct version discovered, and liability assessed accordingly! Maybe a panel of ordinary citizens listening to the evidence on both sides...

I mean, if these motorcycle guys have all this solidarity, they can take the four-wheel dude's license number and call the cops (or in this case, alert the cop(s) who are already riding in the motorcycle motorcade). Then the driver would be summoned to court and the truth of the matter could be hashed out.

*Or,* you can go to Door #2, chase the guy down, smash his windows, and beat him up in front of his wife and child.

[Coeus]

I have a rule I live by, which is that if you almost kill me with your four wheel driving stupidity? then I get to kick a dent in your door with my boots.

I don't always exercise my right to kick a dent in your door, mind you.

Agreed, but this isn't that. That kick gets their attention. This is something else entirely. I've been riding for 15 years and never had someone clip me from behind. because I check before I slam on the breaks. If there's one place they can see you, it's when you're in front. Remember that video of that cop on a motorcycle who stopped way too fast? Cops stop being careful, because they think they rule the world. Guy who was hit was probably a cop also. All my clipping incidents have been from merging.

[Briggie]

From what I have been hearing from other people, the bikers have been starting to become a real problem. Cops don't want to do anything because they are afraid it will turn into a chase, and the idiots get killed and their family sues. Apparently,that has happened the last couple of times the cops tried to do anything.

Things will just end up worse off though. I am going to guess people are going to start getting sick of their shit and running them down with their cars is going to be SOP.

[Briggie]

To elaborate. There are other videos of this same group running red lights and riding on sidewalks and shit. Even one where they are beating on another car. What do you expect is going to happen when you swarm and surround a car? Of course they are going to freak out and start plowing. I know quite a few people who ride, and I am very considerate to bikers, but these guys are fuckwits.

[Coeus]

Cops don't want to do anything because they are afraid it will turn into a chase, the assholes are cops as well.

fixed it for you.

He rides with the New Rochelle-based Front Line Soldiers, a club that also counts several other cops among its members, a source said.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Denver Broncos are +28 favorites over the Jaguars next week.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

So really, it wouldn't hurt to bet $5 on the Jags because the potential payoff is so huge.

[Ken Shultz]

I'll take the Jags at that point.

[Winston]

Personally I think the entire Star Wars Saga is an hallucination of Qui Gon Jinn as he is dying from that gas in the beginning of the Phantom Menace.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

What's a Phantom Menace?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Let me eat some beans and I'll show you.

[Stormy Dragon]

Man sets douses himself with gasoline in front of the Air and Space Museum and sets himself on fire:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/.....ashington/

[Killazontherun]

And there is already is a fuckton of anti-Tea Party remarks on that story.

CNN, just the facts, but smothered in viewer drool.

[Killazontherun]

And there is already is a metric fuckton

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Metric? Are the CNN commenters French?

[Killazontherun]

That was a blame shifting effort on my part away from the superfluous verb and on the French.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Ah, understandable.

[Rhywun]

Fucktonne.

[Killazontherun]

Even revealed, my plan works!

[Coeus]

Christi Barron ? an hour ago ?
People are being pushed to their breaking point. Crazy stuff ,
216 4 ?Reply?Share ?
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rarelogik Christi Barron ? an hour ago
Wow...just wow. I doubt this will be the last incident. As the body-count increases, it's going to get harder and harder for those in Washington to ignore.

[Brett L]

I love when people stand on the dead to wave their own flag.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

The governor of Pennsylvania compared same-sex marriage recognition to allowing brothers and sisters to get married, which is totally a new and fresh argument gay people haven't been hearing for decades.

Er, when was the last time the pro-gay-marriage side came up with a new argument? Just because it's old doesn't mean it's invalid.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Welp. X-COM:Enemy Within is out. So much for being a productive member of society.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I don't have the game, but I just checked and the base game Enemy Unknown is on sale for $10 on Steam.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

it's also free to play until Sunday.

[Killazontherun]

Remember I was complaining about the Windows Live save system for Bioshock 2, yesterday? I got them to patch that shit out of there on the Steam version. Will be playing a bit later.

[Brett L]

Wat?

[Killazontherun]

http://reason.com/blog/2013/10.....nt_4042828

It was fixed last night. I shot an e-mail to someone a few days ago. Some days, it pays to be a supervillian. I don't know why everyone isn't one.

[Coeus]

It's not rape, but it really is. Everything is rape.

Frankly, "creep" seems inadequate to the task of describing Richardson's behavior. While it's important to note that Peck does not imply that she didn't consent to what went on with Richardson, it is troubling that she describes "zooming out" during their encounter. The environment she writes about at the studio, where she is surrounded by Richardson and his assistants, all armed with cameras (and, apparently, towels), all cheering her along, and all acting like it's the most natural thing in the world for a photographer to interrupt a shoot and demand a hand job from his model, is even more troubling. "Inappropriate" and "unprofessional" don't even begin to cover it. Given the power differential that exists between Richardson, who is old, wealthy, regarded as an artist, and vastly influential, and most of his model subjects, can the consent of these women even be said to be freely given?

Never forget. Feminists say Lewinsky was raped, and they still voted for Clinton.

[Eduard van Haalen]

If what that says is true, it *was* inappropriate and unprofessional. You don't have to agree to the consent analysis to agree with that.

[Coeus]

No you don't. But that's not enough for them. They want big daddy government to step in. Women simply cannot function in the world by being allowed to make their own decisions. Feminists simply don't believe it's possible. The only way to do that is to pretend something is a violent crime. It's why they link anything they want to rape.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Indeed, but notice the wording, " "[i]nappropriate" and "unprofessional" don't even begin to cover it." Because Richardson is such a sleaze, she wants the actions of his that she finds to be distasteful to be classified as "rape," regardless of whether Richardson actually sexually penetrated any of these women, much less against their will.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Ah, I wasn't attentive enough to notice that this was their bottom line.

[Coeus]

Hey, it worked before.

If Dems can get the 218 signatures on the discharge petition, then Dems would use a procedural move to replace the Lankford bill with an amendment: A clean CR, just like the one in the Senate. So this would not enshrine the periodic one-percent reductions in spending in the Lankford measure.

Bypass the house by replacing a bill with another. Seems familiar...

[Brett L]

I think this is great. I know who's primary opponents to write checks to if this works.

[Coeus]

Abolish whiteness.

For an example of how the club works, take the cops. The natural attitude of the police toward the exploited is hostility. All over the world cops beat up poor people; that is their job, and it has nothing to do with color. What is unusual and has to be accounted for is not why they beat up black people but why they don't normally beat up propertyless whites. It works this way: the cops look at a person and then decide on the basis of color whether that person is loyal to the system they are sworn to serve and protect. They don't stop to think if the black person whose head they are whipping is an enemy; they assume it. It does not matter if the victim goes to work every day, pays his taxes and crosses only on the green. Occasionally they bust an outstanding and prominent black person, and the poor whites cheer the event, because it confirms them in their conviction that they are superior to any black person who walks the earth.

Beyond delusional.

[Bam!]

Anyone else think Obama looks like Dubya in this photo?

[Killazontherun]

Yup, it's got that asking who shot my pa in the saloon look of GWBs down pat.

[cavalier973]

A staffer accidentally sent confidential information to a broker, including Social Security numbers of 2,400 insurance agents.

[cavalier973]

Justin Amash:

"To those who rest their argument on '#Obamacare is the law,' I would remind you that the #sequester is also the law. And the so-called 'clean CR' being promoted by Senate Democrats spends taxpayer funds at a higher rate than is legally authorized under the sequester for this fiscal year. Republicans have compromised by agreeing to this higher rate of spending in all our offers. I hope Senate leaders will come to the table to negotiate for the good of our country."

[Killazontherun]

That photo of Murray up on his wall just got a little dust in the eye.

[Russ Davis]

"The governor of Pennsylvania compared same-sex marriage recognition to allowing brothers and sisters to get married, which is totally a new and fresh argument gay people haven't been hearing for decades."
This is true for if people had any brains they'd know there aren't any "gay people," just deranged, angry, lawless fascist perverts who hate God like their media enablers do. For the few who can handle the truth, see "The gay invention" at http://www.touchstonemag.com and see http://www.DrJudithReisman.org for how perverts won the battle to brainwash and sodomize stupid, illiterate "useful idiot" America with media and shrink help, as clueless as to the ongoing and impending catastrophic demise as were the fools under the tyranny of the fellow French Revolution, Soviet & Nazi lawless fascists, all of whom decimated houses of worship of the true God, as they also were raped. As America's Founders warned and promised, without God our fatal, suicidal end is certain. God save us, He on Whom we've suicidally turned our backs, for only He can, the Lord and Father of our Lord Jesus.