Debt Ceiling Could Get Short-Term Deal, Pentagon Still Buying Planes it Doesn't Need, ATF Agent Can't Publish 'Fast and Furious' Book: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: 350jb | Dreamstime.com

  Because the implementation of the Affordable Care Act is going to make it harder to actually schedule doctor's appointments (because we have a shortage of them), maybe it's a good thing the health care exchanges aren't working.

• White House officials say President Barack Obama is open to the possibility of kicking the can down the road on the debt ceiling again.
• How about that budget that just cannot be cut in any way, shape or form? The Pentagon continues to buy $50 million cargo planes and then put them right into storage because it has no use for them.
• An ATF agent has been denied permission to publish a book about the "Fast and Furious" debacle because it would have a "negative impact on morale."
• The Taliban has not given up on its failed effort to kill a 16-year-old girl.
• A 9-year-old boy managed catch a flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a ticket. Security was apparently oblivious. He was caught by the flight crew on the plane.

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Comments

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

An ATF agent has been denied permission to publish a book about the "Fast and Furious" debacle because it would have a "negative impact on morale."

Truth is treason.

[Brett L]

Wait, this guy is still employed by the ATF? You don't get to kick your bosses in the nuts AND keep your job. Quit first, then publish.

[fish]

Just couldn't leave any money on the table Brett.

[Brett L]

Well, I mean, I get that if you can get your Federal 20, you're set for life. But surely the Author's Guild has pretty good insurance deals, too.

[Gbob]

An Author's guild is just a bunch of tubby people sitting around hoping somebody is going to buy them a drink. I know my bank account would be a hell of a lot happier if I had a comfy fed paycheck.

[SIV]

Direct Action

'Truckers for the Constitution' Plan to Slow D.C. Beltway, Arrest Congressmen
Police must detain 'accessories' to 'treason' or truckers will, organizer says

[Tonio]

IOW, they will only return the beltway to the state it would normally be in were the federal government functioning normally.

And good luck getting anywhere near a congressman, other than by chance. But some of them do have special congressional license plates.

[Stormy Dragon]

Conlon cited the idea of a citizens grand jury ? meaning a pool of jurors convened without court approval ? as the mechanism for indicting the officials.

"We want these people arrested, and we're coming in with the grand jury to do it," he said. "We are going to ask the law enforcement to uphold their constitutional oath and make these arrests. If they refuse to do it, by the power of the people of the United States and the people's grand jury, they don't want to do it, we will. ... We the people will find a way."

So the Tea Party solution to the shutdown is The Reign of Terror II.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Do you have an objection?

[Stormy Dragon]

Yes.

[SIV]

I don't think the Tea Party is ready to start lynching congressmen...yet. But we can hope!

[Fist of Etiquette]

White House officials say President Barack Obama is open to the possibility of kicking the can down the road on the debt ceiling again.

WEAKNESS! The Russian's been cut!

[Auric Demonocles]

If I can hope and change, and youse can hope and change, everybody can hope and change!

[Fist of Etiquette]

A 9-year-old boy managed catch a flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a ticket. Security was apparently oblivious. He was caught by the flight crew on the plane.

As much as I hate to defend the TSA, is it really their job to police a 9-year-old? As long as he's not a threat, it's the airline's fault for letting him on their aircraft.

[brokencycle]

The TSA is blaming the government shutdown on why the kid was allowed through security without a ticket.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

No way. I hope this is a joke.

[Tonio]

Is the legacy media even questioning how this happened and the competence and usefulness of the TSA?

[Brett L]

Well, that would be a fine argument if they weren't fondling 6 year olds at the same time in the name of security theater.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Who said they didn't fondle the 9-year-old and found him to be of no threat? Use your head.

[Brett L]

Use your head.

Phrasing!

[Ted S.]

As I posted yesterday:

Don't Go Far is a fascinating similar story from 1985.

[Generic Stranger]

I hope you did a better job of not screwing up the link yesterday.

[Ted S.]

It's a 503 error, not a 404. I copied the link from what I posted yesterday. I've got it open in my browser an a separate tab, and this time it shows up fine.

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/docon.....o-far.html

[Agammamon]

Except that you aren't supposed to be able to get through security to the boarding area without a ticket and photo ID.

I can imagine that they passed on the photo ID for the kid, but I would have thought that *someone* would need to show a ticket for him.

On the other hand, the kid probably just ducked down and went behind the guard station.

[C. Anacreon]

When flying with my son (who is now 11) the TSA people don't ask for photo ID for him, they just ask him what his name is or some other quick simple question like that. I could easily see the kid from this story walking in alongside some unrelated Mom and Dad traveling with their own kid or two, and the TSA guy just waving the kids along while checking the parents ID. Would be really easy for a kid to slip by in that fashion.

I think it's even more odd, though, that someone who is just nine managed to be on public transportation and wandering around an airport with no obvious adult accompanying him, and no one said a word. Nine-year-olds are pretty small, and it would look really strange (with something obviously wrong) to see them alone in these situations. It really shows you the crazy climate that's been created in this country -- that anyone who talks to a strange child is immediately assumed to be a molester or kidnapper -- so that no one ever got near him until after he was on the plane.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

A 9-year-old boy managed catch a flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a ticket. Security was apparently oblivious. He was caught by the flight crew on the plane.

Are there any Culkin boys left to star in this?

[trshmnstr]

Home Alone 14: Child thwarts TSA security to board cross-country flight with the help of a coked-up former child actor. (not that there's anything wrong with any of that)

[pan fried wylie]

Mom, sitting at home suddenly realized she forgot her son...wait, that doesn't work

[Fist of Etiquette]

An ATF agent has been denied permission to publish a book about the "Fast and Furious" debacle because it would have a "negative impact on morale."

That little known Feelings Clause in the First Amendment.

[trshmnstr]

It's somewhere in the permutations and umbrellas

[Eduard van Haalen]

How could the story of a routine operation blown out of proportion by teabaggers possibly hurt morale? Im sure that revealing the facts would merely showbrave policemen fighting crime!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Esquire names Scarlett Johansson Sexiest Woman Alive

I got no problem with that.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

More pictures if you want to judge for yourself.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-time.html

[PD Scott]

Is it me, or does she have the same facial expression in all those photos? Did the photog running the shoot tell her "OK, give me your best 'meh'/too much botox pout."?

[Killazontherun]

Helps the photographer to freeze frame when the model has the palsy or botox. She is sexier in stills than live action though she aint bad looking in moving pictures either. I suspect she may have a mild condition of palsy, I forget the name of the particular form, but I have a cousin with the condition, who is drop dead gorgeous.

[Killazontherun]

drop dead gorgeous but lacks emotional expression.

[SIV]

Maybe 7+ years ago. She wouldn't make my top 20 now.

[PapayaSF]

Sheesh, you are one picky dude. But I think Morena Baccarin and Aishwarya Rai give her a run for the money, at the very least.

[Warty]

She was in Cleveland this summer filming the new Captain America movie, or the new Avengers movie, or whatever the fuck it was. It was pretty cool seeing pictures of her walking around the neighborhood I lived in at the time in her little leather suit.

[Agammamon]

I got a question - why was Scarlett Johansen (as Black Widow) infiltrating Stark's company in Ironman 2?

You'd think that an agent of her capability wouldn't have been wasted chasing after someone who wasn't a threat, simply a person of interest and a possible candidate for the Avengers.

[Rasilio]

She wasn't investigating Stark so much as babysitting him and to some extent bodyguarding him likely because Fury considered Stark essential to the Avengers project

[GILMORE]

nothing says "dorks" quite so much as 'hot chick' thread devolving into 'but i find the changes to the comicbook narrative uncompelling'

[Rasilio]

ROTFL

While I freely cop to the charge of being a dork I never really read comic books as a kid, GI Joe and Captain Carrot for like 2 years were it.

That said one of the things that ratchets up a celebrities hotness factor for me is their appearance in geeky movies

[Redmanfms]

I don't think she's even close.

BTW, met her, dumber than a bag of rocks. Also, not that hot without shit piles of make-up, flattering lighting, and good angles. Basically, she's pretty in person, but about average as far as pretty girls go (you'll find better with little effort on nearly any college campus). I rate her about a 7.

[Rasilio]

I actually prefer her look without the makeup, but then I prefer pretty girl next door types to sexy supernmodel types anyway

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Pentagon continues to buy $50 million cargo planes and then put them right into storage because it has no use for them.

Or are they actually being used by S.H.I.E.L.D.? [Spoiler alert]

[PD Scott]

IIRC those cargo planes were originally going to become part of the Afghan Air Force but due to parts/support issues were turned down by them.

[DJF]

Different planes, the Afghans were going to get rebuilt C-27A's

The US Airforce is getting new C-27J's

Both contracts were screwed up

[PD Scott]

I will settle for great landing, wrong airport re: my recollection, and, since I was born in the shadow of Lockheed Georgia, be outraged that the govt didn't just buy more C-130s.

[DJF]

The Airforce C-27J were suppose to replace the Army's C-23 which was just for carrying small cargo in theater. But once the Airforce got hold of it they didn't have much priority for it. The Airforce does not like the Army having any fixed wing aircraft but at the same time has little interest in small and slow aircraft

And with the wind down of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan the Airforce is taking the opportunity of both getting rid of Army fixed wing aircraft and getting rid of a small slow aircraft which does not fit in with either the fighter jocks, the bombers or the big transports

[PD Scott]

It's too bad the Army can't have their own fixed-wing air force, with transports and A-10s the USAF doesn't want to mess with. But that would encroach on their turf and funding, and that can't be allowed.

[Agammamon]

You mean an 'Army-Air Force'?:)

[Boisfeuras]

Well, the Navy's Army has its own Air Force...

[Austrian Anarchy]

The C-23 entered service 29 years after the end of the US Army Air Corps and the birth of the US Air Force. However, it was one of the few fixed-wing aircraft that the US Army used. They may still use them, but I have not worked for the Army in a while.

[Not an Economist]

The reason why the US AF is still getting those planes, is that most of the money has already been spent and it would cost more to cancel the contract than to accept the airplanes and send them to the boneyard.

[Stormy Dragon]

No, the reason the US AF is still getting those planes, is that the House keeps putting ammendments in the appropriations bill requiring the Air Force to buy and maintain them even though the Air Force keeps asking to kill the program.

[Enough About Palin]

White House officials say President Barack Obama is open to the possibility of kicking the can down the road on the debt ceiling again.

BLINK!

[Some call me Tim?]

A 9-year-old boy managed catch a flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a ticket. Security was apparently oblivious. He was caught by the flight crew on the plane.

Security? How about the fucking ticketing agent? Did she not notice the fucking unaccompanied minor boarding the plane without a boarding pass?

America's Airports: Incompetence abounds!

[fish]

Security? How about the fucking ticketing agent? Did she not notice the fucking unaccompanied minor boarding the plane without a boarding pass?

Don't hate...the little fucker was pretty short.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

The security is the bigger worry to me, actually. You're supposed to have a ticket to get through the checkpoint. Because of that, the gate agents are so casual about checking tickets that I could see a short child going right past them...I mean, if they weren't supposed to be there, the TSA would've stopped them...right?

[Some call me Tim?]

I saw a bumper sticker the other day:

Freedom isn't Free
Tax the rich

Which pretty much sums up the mentality of the modern day left.

[Enough About Palin]

Counter with:

Freedom isn't Free
Get a Job

[Agammamon]

Spray paint it on the car.

[Jordan]

Stop infringing on my freedom to steal your shit, yo.

[PD Scott]

If one thought about it, one would realize that if they own a car they are one of the wealthiest people to have ever lived. For thousands of years if you wanted to go somewhere you walked or if you were lucky rode a horse or a carriage of some type. You were limited to what you could carry on your person or pulled on a cart. With a car, you can carry hundreds of pounds of cargo and several people and drive anywhere the roads go.
The sheer ubiquity of cars keeps people from seeing how extraordinary they are, historically speaking.
I sincerely wish all the "eat the rich" types in this country could realize that as far as vast parts of the rest of the world are concerned, they are rich.

[Pro Libertate]

Large Man with Dead Body: Who's that then?

The Dead Collector: I dunno, must be a king.

Large Man with Dead Body: Why?

The Dead Collector: He hasn't got shit all over him.

[BigT]

I thought Jonathan Swift had it right in A Modest Proposal - eat the children of the poor. It provides the poor with income, reduces their obligations, and helps shrink the population (which should appeal to the greenies).

[CatoTheElder]

The US is so rich that the main health risk of the poor is obesity.

Well, that and tobacco use (a luxury good), drug use (another luxury good), a traffic accident (see above) and a gunshot wound (because the poor can afford high quality firearms).

[Gbob]

Any time I get down about civilization, I think about explaining to my ancestors that a major problem in our society is that the poor are too fat and I try to imagine how they would process that.

[Agammamon]

Not to mention, with all the 'world awareness' crap these people spout, remind them that upper lower class are still richer than about 60% of the rest of the world so we need to raise taxes on the 'world rich'.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, there is much greater wealth disparity in most of the world than here, we need more money to achieve total equity in the U.S., and we have a gigantic military advantage over the rest of the planet.

I can see the obvious, though reprehensible solution. Wonder if our evil, stupid, and venal "betters" can see it? Sure hope not.

[gaijin]

I saw an article that suggested even the way we refer to poverty is flawed. When we say x percentage of people are "living' in poverty it does not factor the assistance they receive. So they aren't living in poverty. But they might if not for goodies Link to forbes story

[C. Anacreon]

I haven't been on in a few days. Has there been any discussion of the new Robert Reich documentary, which is apparently all about wealth disparity in the USA? Our local Bay Area reviewer gave it four stars, saying it courageously "shows the lie" of capitalism being good for average people, and that capitalism only helps a tiny elite and screws the middle-class and poor. I guess his message is the wealthy need to be less wealthy or something like that.

Reich already annoys me so much I don't think I could watch five minutes of him in a movie without ODing on anti-nausea meds.

[Pro Libertate]

Right, because our history is marked by a few rich people and lots of serfs. Or is that domination by an affluent middle class? I forget.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Haha. I'm sure your Bay Area reviewer is wearing a hairshirt and sleeping on a bed of straw underneath the stars to show his proletarian solidarity when he's not busy barely eking out a subsistence watching movies for a living.

[Bardas Phocas]

I thought Reich WAS the Tiny Elite.

[Greg83]

Someone was complaining to me about being poor the other day AT A CONCERT.

I told him about actual poor people, like the 80 year old lady in Africa who has to walk 5 miles each way every day to the nearest well in order to not die of dehydration.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Don't think you need to tax the rich to get a buck o' five.

[Enough About Palin]

"She accepted that she attacked Islam so we we tried to kill her, and if we get another chance we will definitely kill her and that will make us feel proud. Islam prohibits killing women, but except those that support the infidels in their war against our religion," he added."

Religion. Of. Peace.

[BakedPenguin]

We should just offer her and her family asylum already.

[Killazontherun]

When everyone obeys Allah there will be peace on earth. What's so hard to understand about that?

[PapayaSF]

So then, kind of like what we hear about Obama.

[Austrian Anarchy]

A 9-year-old boy managed catch a flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a ticket. Security was apparently oblivious. He was caught by the flight crew on the plane.

Impressive that Abbie Hoffman's Fuck the System is available in grade schools now.

[Austrian Anarchy]

More FTS evidence: He stiffed an airport restaurant for a meal by bringing in a stolen bag and leaving it while he pretended to go to the bathroom.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Argentine president to undergo surgery to remove blood clot in brain

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Argentina's president will undergo surgery on Tuesday to surgically remove blood between her brain and skull that has been causing new and worrying symptoms, her physicians said.
The doctors who discovered the subural hematoma had ordered Cristina Fernandez on Saturday to rest for a month. In some patients, such blood clots reabsorb by themselves over time.
But the situation became more urgent after Fernandez felt a weakness and numbness in her upper left arm Sunday evening, according to an announcement from the Fundacion Favaloro, one of Argentina's top cardiology hospitals.
"Facing these symptoms, the team decided on surgical intervention," the hospital statement said.
The surgery involves drilling small holes through the skull to remove the remnants of blood that the presidency said was the result of a still unexplained blow to her head on August 12.

Socialism rots the brain.

[Pro Libertate]

That's a subdural hematoma, right? I always think of The Man with Two Brains when I hear that.

[BigT]

WASHINGTON, DC. -- America's president will undergo surgery on Tuesday to surgically remove his brain and skull from his ass that has been causing new and worrying symptoms, his physicians said.

[Derpetologist]

I found a video about a guy who worked in various early nuclear reactors who claimed to have gone swimming in a spent fuel pool and further that the dangers of radiation have been greatly exaggerated:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejCQrOTE-XA

This xkcd comic confirms that you can swim safely in a spent fuel pool:

http://what-if.xkcd.com/29/

[Tonio]

But, there are no lifeguards!!1! (faints) /proggie

[Derpetologist]

The most interesting claim is that the reason the govt exaggerates the danger of radiation is that if people knew how valuable that so-called waste is, they'd have to keep under lock and key. It's just cheaper to tell people something is deadly so they won't go near it than to go through all the effort that would be needed to guard it.

[BigT]

Considering how expensive it is to dispose of the crap, wouldn't it be better to tell the peons that the stuff is very, very valuable and let them steal it. Problem solved!!

[Briggie]

Don't a lot of medical isotopes come from nuclear waste?

[The Bearded Hobbit]

I haven't heard about that. In the southwest, they come from here:

http://isotopes.lanl.gov/isotopes.shtml

... Hobbit

[trshmnstr]

"In our reactor?" He thought about it for a moment. "You'd die pretty quickly, before reaching the water, from gunshot wounds."

guns and radiation? It's like a prog's wet dream of grievances!

[Jordan]

I'd like to know how get a job as a diver in a nuke plant. Sounds like a sweet gig.

[fish]

Sounds like a sweet gig.

Especially picking up those "super powers"!

[gaijin]

I'd like to know how get a job as a diver in a nuke plant. Sounds like a sweet gig.

Come for the paycheck, stay for Cerenkov radiation light show.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

I have a relative who works at a nuke plant, though not as a diver. Apparently, the job of nuke diver is very well paid, probably because very few people are willing to jump into that particular pool.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Technically, it says:

"Swimming to the bottom, touching your elbows to a fresh fuel canister, and immediately swimming back up would probably be enough to kill you.

"Yet outside the outer boundary, you could swim around as long as you wanted..."

[Pro Libertate]

"Ra-di-a-tion. Yes, indeed. You hear the most outrageous lies about it. Half-baked goggle-box do-gooders telling everybody it's bad for you. Pernicious nonsense. Everybody could stand a hundred chest X-rays a year. They ought to have them, too."

[Tonio]

Next time a proggie goes off on teh evul radiation, ask when his/her last airline flight was.

[Derpetologist]

Or ask them which is more radioactive- coal ash or nuclear waste:

http://www.scientificamerican......lear-waste

Megatons of butthurt in the comments in that article

[Pro Libertate]

Or if he ate a banana.

[Rasilio]

When I was in college I went to UMass Lowell where they have a small research reactor (maybe they had a leak and that can explain Joe).

On of our professors was fond of taking a large mug into the reactor room when showing media and similar types around. Then when the inevitable question about safety came up he'd scoop the mug down into the pool and take a big swig of it to show how safe it is (that said I'm not sure how he handled the taste, distilled water tastes nasty)

[Jerry on the boat]

President Barack Obama is open to the possibility of...

In other words, just sign here at the signature line, please.

[gaijin]

He's definitely open. You just have to reopen government and raise the debt ceiling first. Then he'll be all negotiable and stuff.

[Ayn Random Variation]

Had to post this as soon as I got home. The woman next to me at work listens to NPR. Today one of the hosts said Reagan wouldn't have been such a great president if he had to deal with such an obstructionist Congress.
I actually yelped out loud.

[Eduard van Haalen]

As I said, the progs would simply go ahead and write up the encomiums they intend to make about the current generation of Republicans once the current generation has been replaced or grown old.

Imagine they'd said the stuff they now say about Goldwater...in 1964. Or if in the 1980s they wrote the stuff they now say about Reagan.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The progs *should* simply go ahead...

[Palin's Buttplug]

Massive Involuntary Knee-Jerk.

[Pro Libertate]

Ignorance truly is bliss. Until reality ruins the fantasy.

[PapayaSF]

Progressive history is not so much written as rewritten.

[Boisfeuras]

As the Poles used to say, the future is certain, but the past is always changing.

[Libertymike]

Epi, if you are around, yesterday, you got to see something you love to see:

SOME TOM BRADY SAD FACE

[Mike M.]

Ugg(s).

[Brett L]

I thought I was going to get to see double Manning sadface for a moment there, too! But nope. 'Murca's Team couldn't get one stop when they needed it.

[fish]

Yeah were both defenses locked out of the stadium yesterday?

[Brett L]

I've seen more defense at the Pro Bowl.

[Pro Libertate]

Denver's defense can look okay then blow apart. This was true back when Timmie was leading us all to a better world, until Elway let evil darken his heart.

[Ted S.]

Elway's always been evil.

[Libertymike]

That's what Bernie Kosar and Ernest Byner think, too.

[Rasilio]

"Yeah were both defenses locked out of the stadium yesterday?"

They thought they were furloughed because the department of defense was shutdown

[Pro Libertate]

There's that Manning again, not being a great QB.

[Brett L]

One stop on 10 possessions from a supposedly professional defense is not too much to ask.

[Pro Libertate]

It's Manning. The best QB by far since Marino. I don't know why people don't generally recognize this fact.

And trust me, as a Florida alum (he was 0-4 against the Gators, incidentally), I'm not wired to say such things about a stinking Volunteer. With apologies to my family members that are stinking Volunteers.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

*who, ProL, WHO "are stinking Volunteers"

[Pro Libertate]

Depends on the family member.

[Libertymike]

Part of the problem is the disproportionate amount of weight most fans give to post-season performance in their overall assessment of a player.

I have always thought that individuals do not grow up dreaming of being "a great team player" or "a guy who sacrificed himself to the greater cause of team success" or "a team first guy" or "a role player". Consistent with the foregoing, individual kids dream of INDIVIDUAL GREATNESS, NOT TEAM GREATNESS.

Sure, many kids may dream of hitting a walk-off home run in Game 7 of the World Series like the Pirates Bill M. in 1960 or throwing the winning TD with 7 seconds left to go in the Super Bowl a la Big Ben. But the focus of the dream, is themselves, not the team.

Okay, take the above and add to it the reality of the number of games a ballplayer plays in the regular season compared to the post-season. The regular season performance of a ballplayer is of far greater importance than his playoff performance from the perspective of sample size. Let's face it: the regular season dwarfs the post-season. The regular season is a far better measurement than the playoffs.

Moreover, the playoffs, in professional team sports, amount to a do-over. The playoff structure reflects our "everybody gets a third chance" and "everybody is entitled to a mulligan or two" mindset.

[Pro Libertate]

Especially in baseball. What's the point of 162 games if a bunch of teams get to go to the post season? I can see doing it with division winners with the number of teams in the league, but why wildcards? I know the real why, but as far as the game goes, it's nonsense.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Single elimination playoffs for less than half the league amount to a "do over"? Wha huh?

[Libertymike]

For baseball, how about limiting the playoffs to the World Series? Why reward any other teams who could not finish at the top of their respective leagues?

For the NFL, how about limiting the playoffs to the Super Bowl? The AFC and NFC winners would be determined by which teams had the best record in their respective conferences.

Okay, anticipating some objections / monkey wrenches, suppose there is a tie for the best record in the AFC? Both the Broncos and the Patriots finish with 13-3 records. If the two teams played during the year, the winner goes to the Super Bowl. If they did not play each other, one tie-breaker could be scoring differential.

You wouldn't think an anarchist would be so hard ass on this?

[Mickey Rat]

"For baseball, how about limiting the playoffs to the World Series?"

You can do that with a balanced schedule, which baseball no longer has.

[Libertymike]

The playoff structure, to a great degree, vitiates the importance and vitality of the regular season. The playoff structure has cheapened the regular season like quantitative easing has the dollar.

Furthermore, not every fan is wed to the notion that the playoffs are "more important"; nor is every fan a proponent of the puerile refrain that the playoffs are "when it matters most".

[Pro Libertate]

For football, it's total bullshit when they start criticizing players for not having enough Super Bowl championships. Manning has carried more teams than he's hurt them. Look what happened when he was injured--the Colts were instantly shitty.

Ditto Marino, who got a similarly undeserved rap. These are both great QBs. All-time great. I mean, people were talking like Eli was better than his brother because of the Giants' success. What bullshit.

[trshmnstr]

Look what happened when he was injured--the Colts were instantly shitty.

granted, for some portion of that season, Curtis Painter was his replacement. QB is vital enough of a position that you could replace the QB on a very talented team with a QB lacking NFL caliber talent, and the team would struggle big time.

Not saying that Peyton isn't amazing, but some of the Colts' woes that year were due to Peyton's backups being below NFL standards.

[Mickey Rat]

And the Colts were more dependent on having a high caliber quarterback than most of the league, they did not have much of a running game.

[Mickey Rat]

Having huge passing stats is an indicator of a one dimensional offense, and to the extent that a "great" quarterback encourages or even demands (Marino) that his team be one dimensional is hurting his team's success in the long run.

Eli Manning on the other hand has somehow managed to quarterback two of the least consistently dominant championship teams in history.

Success in pro team sports is measured by winning championships, big statistics are just trivia.

[Pro Libertate]

Just imagine how much easier the Giants would've had it with the other Manning at the helm.

[Mickey Rat]

Maybe, but it would likely be such a differently built team tat you could not directly compare them.

[Bobarian]

The play-offs are against other high caliber opponents. Stats get padded when playing push-overs (see NFC East).

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The logical conclusion to the "GOP as Terrorists narrative": They're using the same tactics as the Ayatollah during the Iranian Hostage Crisis

Today, we're talking about funding public agencies, not freeing people who are literally held captive. But the tactics are strikingly similar. Republicans began with a big grab?shutting down the whole government?and are now offering to return parts of what they took, bill by bill, in exchange for concessions and the appearance of moderation. "You're seeing House Republicans over and over again passing reasonable bills to open vital government services, and President Obama and the Democrats refusing to negotiate," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argued Sunday. "It is Republicans in Congress who are passing bills to reopen the parks, to reopen the memorials, to fund cancer research, to fund our veterans." Sen. John Cornyn, the Republican whip, pointed out that "the House has passed a provision to open up NIH."
[...]
Thanks for relinquishing some of those hostages, gentlemen. But they weren't yours to take in the first place. You don't get to choose which of them go free. Release them, all of them, now.

Funny, I think the GOP controlled House has the Constitutional authority to write spending bills.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Constitution Shmonstitution. That thing is 1000 years old and written in Sanskrit.

[Pro Libertate]

The power of the purse has been the House's from day one. If they spent approximately what they took in, this would happen ever year--the House would fund some things and not others. It's only shocking in this day when every law is funded, new, old, necessary, stupid, whatever, no matter how little money we have to cover it.

[Ted S.]

Technically, the laws aren't being funded, since we have to go into increasing debt for them.

[Pro Libertate]

Which just makes it all so much worse. Half the problem would be solved just making the government live within its revenues.

[BigT]

In regards to the current budgetary situation, James Madison weighs in...
Federalist Papers #58

The House of Representatives cannot only refuse, but they alone can propose, the supplies requisite for the support of government. They, in a word, hold the purse that powerful instrument by which we behold, in the history of the British Constitution, an infant and humble representation of the people gradually enlarging the sphere of its activity and importance, and finally reducing, as far as it seems to have wished, all the overgrown prerogatives of the other branches of the government. This power over the purse may, in fact, be regarded as the most complete and effectual weapon with which any constitution can arm the immediate representatives of the people, for obtaining a redress of every grievance, and for carrying into effect every just and salutary measure.

[Pro Libertate]

I've quoted that a few times lately. Seems like some people don't get that the House is fully within its rights here.

[Fatty Bolger]

Colin Hanks signs up for 'Fargo' TV series
Tom Hanks' son will star alongside 'Sherlock' actor Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton

Colin Hanks is the latest actor to put his name to FX's Fargo TV series.

The Dexter actor, who is the son of Tom Hanks, will play the role of a police deputy in the televisual adaptation of Joel and Ethan Coen's iconic 1996 film, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Last week, it was announced that Sherlock actor Martin Freeman had landed a role similar to the one played by William H Macy in the original film. Freeman will play play a a slightly hopeless local insurance salesman, henpecked by his wife, whose life is transformed when a mysterious and manipulative stranger arrives in town. Billy Bob Thornton will co-star as the intoxicating stranger in a role similar to the one first played by Steve Buscemi.

This could be good, yah, you betcha! Just watched the movie again recently and this caught my eye. The Cohen brothers are heavily involved, and will be producing, writing, and possibly even directing some episodes. Definitely something to watch for next year.

[Pro Libertate]

I heard about that. Does this mean no more Sherlock after this series?

[Fatty Bolger]

I hope not. I don't see why it would have to, Fargo will only be ten episodes per season.

[Pro Libertate]

I'd heard that both Freeman and Cumberbatch had said they'd stick with the show no matter what happened with their film careers, but who knows?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

My new annoyance with the Golden Age of Television is the interminable period between seasons (series). For example, MAD MEN, which I am considering dropping altogether because that Season 7 bullshit is, well, bullshit.

[Pro Libertate]

Especially with seasons that are shortish to begin with.

I just use "series" for seasons when talking about British shows, because they do it and it's infectious for some reason. I blame Blackadder.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

It was two years in between Luther series.

It will be two more years for Mad Men to conclude one season.

Sherlock has been gone what, three years now? I mean, I just lose interest after a while.

[Pro Libertate]

It's not that long, is it? I thought the second series ran last year. Jeez, time is so screwed up now.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Well, it ran in January of 2012. Series 3 won't air until 2014, so that's two years. And it was two years in between Series 1 and 2. three seasons of tv in four years? That is glacial.

[Pro Libertate]

And it's not like they do that many episodes, with the quasi-movie format they're using.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Second season aired January 2012 and the new season will likely premiere January 2014, so that's two years.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

And they only shoot the equivalent of nine episodes! Nine episodes in two years?!

[Pro Libertate]

I guess that works out now, given that Freeman and Cumberbatch would already be leaving a more traditionally structured series to make their tens of millions.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

It's very annoying that the new season will premiere two years after the first. That's too long.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Another Colorado state senator faces recall over gun control vote

A renewed and spirited effort is now underway to recall Sen. Evie Hudak, a Democrat from Westminster, less than six months after an initial effort faltered.

Organizers from within Senate District 19 were certified by the Secretary of State late Friday to begin gathering signatures to have a recall placed on the ballot. The group, "Recall Hudak, too," must gather about 18,900 valid signatures within a 60-day time frame, and on its website the group even has a running ticker that counts down to the deadline.

"She has infringed upon our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. She has voted to make all citizens less safe and to drive hundreds of jobs from Colorado," reads an excerpt of the petition language e-mailed by Mike McAlpine, a spokesman for the group.
[...]
Democrats have a single-seat majority in the Senate over Republicans, heightening the recall effort of Hudak.

In May, a different group suspended its recall effort against Hudak because they were unable to gather enough signatures.

During hearings on the gun-control measures last legislative session, Hudak was castigated by Republicans and Democrats for telling a rape victim who testified before her committee that having a gun would not have prevented the assault.

Heads will roll, ignore at your peril Dems.

[Mike M.]

Obamacare, "settled law". The Second Amendment, somehow not "settled law", despite being around for more than 220 years.

[Enough About Palin]

Obamacare, "settled law"

That's such bullshit. There are at least a couple of lawsuits working their way throgh the courts.

[Pro Libertate]

Even if they weren't, "settled law" only has meaning for little people like us. The House can do exactly what it's doing or use other powers to unsettle any law whatsoever, except for those directly emanating from the Constitution. Ditto the president, the Senate, and the courts.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Those Democrats are suicidal idiots.

'Guns' is the only real ideological advantage the GOP has over Democrats post-Dumbya.

[califernian]

Unless, you know, they are actually acting on their principles.

[PapayaSF]

Even suicidal idiots can act on principles.

[Thane of the Candy Kingdom]

Lake Natron story, unsurprisingly, hyped up beyond recognition

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Helluva lede sentence there, Amanduh.

Our recent troll infestation?which was conducted, as many are, by trolls who wait until a Friday night because they know that the moderators, unlike themselves, are probably offline socializing and maybe even having sex?was an unpleasant reminder that a lot of the angry, entitled dudes described in the post blame feminism because they can't get all the sex they think they deserve.

English major. With honors. Oy.

[Thane of the Candy Kingdom]

Don't any of these idiots see a teensy bit of irony in keeping virginity/sexlessness in their go-to bag of insults?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Jezebel maintains a blog unironically titled "Groupthink", so probably not.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Bonus:

You believe women are supposed to be compliant fuckbots with no inner motivations and desires besides pleasing you specifically.

Comedy is a good way to relax, have a laugh, and stop being such an uptight whiner. There are a lot of female comedians out there who can make you laugh and realize that women are diverse people, and some have brilliant, weird senses of humor. Get some DVDs of Maria Bamford, Sarah Silverman, and Amy Schumer. Go classic with Roseanne Barr.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

It's sort of amazing what she does here. She simply assumes that anyone who is there to give her grief is doing so because they're frustrated versions (which is a big fucking IF, I think) and then she proceeds to write 2500 words knocking down a strawman. The whole post would evaporate if someone demonstrated that most of the "trolls" are normal guys who are simply sick of Amanduh's shit.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Most of the trolls, I suspect, are just people who want to pull her chain. Amanduh is... excitable.

[Thane of the Candy Kingdom]

She left out Janeane Garofalo, everyone's favorite Criminal Minds-spinoff-ruiner.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Kathy Griffin gets a subset of the bitter clingers all riled up for some reason.

[Thane of the Candy Kingdom]

My first exposure (and only, outside TV commercials) to her was through her character on Seinfeld, and that has left with me an unshakable negative impression of her.

[Palin's Buttplug]

She played an airhead in that role.

Griffin is one of those rare people who could do 8 hours of standup without being redundant. She is all ego.

[Thane of the Candy Kingdom]

She played an airhead in that role.

No she didn't.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

I wasn't aware that the bitter clingers even knew who Kathy Griffin was. I'd be amazed if Kathy Griffin's parents knew who she was.

[Agammamon]

never heard of Maria Bamford, Sarah Silverman is not funny, and Amy Schumer's act (while good) is 90% sex and 'women's problems'.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Maria Bamford sucks. Amy Schumer is amusing, but she's not even close to being in the top 5 comedians list.

[sticks]

Bamford is great.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Get some DVDs of Maria Bamford, Sarah Silverman, and Amy Schumer. Go classic with Roseanne Barr.

Josh Blue and his "look I'm a 'tard" routine is funnier than all four of them put together.

Female "comedians" are rarely funny and inevitably tell the same stupid jokes. "MUH PERIOD! MUH BOYFRAN! MUH BITCHY BEST FRIEND! MUH CLOTHES! MUH GAY ACCESSORY FRIEND!"

[Warty]

I'm really beginning to be concerned about you people who read too much Marcotte. You have to be approaching the LD50 of exposure to her writing.

[Warty]

I mean, I click on maybe 1 of 20 articles of hers that's linked herr, and I'm beginning to genuinely enjoy reading her exercises in projection and hate. I'm worried about what it's done to you who have read so much more.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I make no apologies for finding Marcotte's column delightful and relaxing; she is the Ed Wood of brainless feminists. Few of her columns approach the lucidity of Plan 9 From Outer Space, but still.

[Tonio]

Maybe that's what happens to the prog-trolls of days past. Doing the doublethink required to accept her positions must have caused brain aneurysms. Poor devils.

[Killazontherun]

I suggest her 'trolls' keep it up; they really got under her skin and no matter how much sophomoric deflection she attempts here, it shows.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Apparently Ken (Mandatory Vaginal Ultrasounds) was at a GOP fundraiser this weekend and refused to have his photo taken with Ted Cruz out of fear some c-r-a-z-y would rub off on him and ruin his VA gubernatorial chances.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Cuchinelli, I believe. Strange dude.

[Eduard van Haalen]

New York magazine interviews Justice Scalia. Key points: He no longer says he's a fainthearted originalist. He believes in the Devil (Interviewer: OMG!). He used to go to parties attended by Dems and Reps, but they don't socialize like this any more. He doesn't hate gays. He likes his dissent in Morrison v. Olson.

http://nymag.com/news/features.....a-2013-10/

[Palin's Buttplug]

Originalism was always a transparent gimmick for the authoritarians to make abortion and the Pill illegal.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Were the Lizard People involved? Consult the voices and get back to me.

[sgs]

Isn't it pathetic how hard he's trying? It's so obvious he wants someone to engage him, it's so desperate and sad.

[OldMexican]

Re: Palin's Buttwipe,

Originalism was always a transparent gimmick for the authoritarians to make abortion and the Pill illegal.

I understand abortion, but the pill? Maybe the greatest legal mind of out times (i.e. Buttwipe) could care to explain that one to us, mere mortals. I *know* I can't ask Barry because his office is closed and shit, so...

[Palin's Buttplug]

Griswold v. Connecticut (The Pill Case) was the first time the "Right to Privacy" was construed by the SCOTUS.

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

Thereafter conservatives had to deny this was an actual right.

[sgs]

Look how hard it's trying. Sad.

[OldMexican]

Re: Palin's Buttwipe,

Griswold v. Connecticut (The Pill Case) was the first time the "Right to Privacy" was construed by the SCOTUS.

If it was construed by the SCOTUS as you clearly accept, then it means it couldn't have been in the constitution either way, Buttwipe. Why do I say either way? Because you are the one arguing that originalism would have made the pill illegal. There's NOTHING in the constitution that makes the pill illegal, and since you're accepting that the SCOTUS pulled a right to privacy out of their collective asses, then it means the constitution does not make it a right either. It is completely neutral in that case as far as a prohibition goes. So your contention that originalism would've lead to a prohibition of the pill is completely wrong. There's nothing originalist about the prohibition of the sale of the pill just like there's nothing originalist about the war on drugs or the war on any other commodity. NONE of those issues have to do with constitutional originalism.

[Palin's Buttplug]

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

The Right to Privacy exists whether it is spelled out like that or not in the Constitution.

That is the fatal flaw of Originalism. You authoritarians will never change your mind nor will we.

End.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

WFT do contraceptives and abortion have to do with a right to privacy?

[PapayaSF]

"EXTRA, EXTRA! Objecting to finding new rights not intended by the people who wrote the laws discovered to be authoritarian! Read all about it!"

[Palin's Buttplug]

If you really believed in limited government you would join us in supporting the right to do with your self as you please in private without government approval.

[PapayaSF]

I do, but that's not the same thing as "discovering" that written laws mean something entirely different than what the writers of those laws meant. If I reinterpret the Constitution to mean that Palin's Buttplug is legally a first trimester fetus, that doesn't mean I have a right to abort you.

[Stormy Dragon]

He no longer says he's a fainthearted originalist.

I'll believe that when I see it in the plain text of his opinions.

[Plisade]

I'm starting to think that Obama is like a retarded kid from the Make a Wish Foundation whose dream it was to be The President.

[PD Scott]

So opposing him isn't racist, it's just cruel. Let's let him pretend to be Pres a little while longer, okay? Then when he's tired himself out and fallen asleep, we'll take him out of the White House and when he wakes up he can tell us all about his wonderful dream.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The Night Johnny Carson Found Out His Wife was Sleeping with Frank Gifford

In the excerpt (not yet online), Bushkin describes accompanying Carson on a late night break-in of his second wife's apartment?an apartment she had leased without Carson's knowledge. "I have reason to believe my wife is cheating on me," Carson told Bushkin. "I also have an idea who the son of a bitch is that she's shacking up with."

Turns out, that son of a bitch was none other than former MNF announcer and flight attendant enthusiast Frank Gifford. During the break-in, Carson and Bushkin found that Carson's wife, Joanne Copeland, kept "six or seven framed photographs" of Gifford in the secret apartment. According to Bushkin, Carson did not take the news well:

Carson leaned against the living room wall and began to weep. [...] I could see that Carson's raincoat had fallen open. I was shocked to see that Johnny was carrying a .38 revolver in a holster on his hip.
[...]
But Carson being Carson, he couldn't resist a joke about the identity of his cuckold: "Why Frank Gifford? What's that asshole got that I don't have? That guy plays three positions on the field. I could never get Joanne to go for more than two."

[Eduard van Haalen]

"the identity of his cuckold"

Carson was the cuckold, not Gifford.

But the joke is funnier than most of us would have managed under the circumstances.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The Nation: All Federal workers are essential

When the federal government shuts down, as it has because of Boehner's decision to play politics with the traditionally perfunctory continuing resolution process, the people that Americans trust to serve the common good and the national interest are sidelined.

Yes, of course, politicians pick on federal employees in general and public workers in particular. But even the most over-the-top members of Congress recognize that a civil society is made possible by dedicated public servants who manage our parks, maintain our highways, process claims for pensions, keep job-training programs up and running, investigate civil rights violations and do their best to protect a fragile environment.

Government workers form the human infrastructure that underpins a great deal of what is good and necessary in the American experiment. We the people care for one another, we take on great challenges, we achieve great things, and we do this by forming a more perfect union and asking some of our fellow citizens to do perform the tasks that are necessary to its maintenance.
[...]
According to a Goldman Sachs study, every day of the shutdown robs the US economy of $400 million in economic activity?because of lost pay. The study estimates that economic growth would slow measurably?perhaps by 0.2 percents points?after just one week of a shutdown.

[Pro Libertate]

Every sperm is sacred.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

So now the CR process is perfunctory? What the fuck happened to the budgeting process?!

[Pro Libertate]

Can we go back to having budgets and other obscure hallmarks of constitutional government? Like declarations of war and stuff?

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Letters of Marque and Reprisal FTW

[Hillary's Clitdong]

You progressives and your 18th century fascinations. Bring back poena cullei, and apply it to politicians who can't balance the budget.

[BigT]

We don't have enough apes.

[Palin's Buttplug]

When the Senate passed a budget in March the House lost all interest in a joint resolution.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

They were probably so shocked the Senate had passed one after three years of pulling their puds, the Reps must have thought it was a prank.

[Jordan]

Paging Barfman!

and we do this by forming a more perfect union and asking some of our fellow citizens to do perform the tasks that are necessary to its maintenance pointing a gun at the heads of people until they do what we want and fork over their money.

Fixed.

According to a Goldman Sachs study, every day of the shutdown robs the US economy of $400 million in economic activity?because of lost pay.

I didn't know the Federal Government had money trees. Yet another derpgressive who doesn't understand opportunity costs.

[Ted S.]

I didn't know the Federal Government had money trees.

That's what the printing press is for.

[BakedPenguin]

...or that wealth is created by people providing for their own needs, not sucking off a mechanical government tit.

[OldMexican]

Government workers form the human infrastructure that underpins a great deal of what is good and necessary in the American experiment.

Like harassing home owners who water their lawns or just want to remodel their kitchens? Or groping young women at airports? Or droning people to kingdom come? Or listening to our conversations illegally?

Yeah. Without these "essencial" federal workers, civilization would fall into a spiral of decay and despair. It would be like Road Warrior, except without the punk haircuts.

[B.P.]

Needs more Somalia.

[Brandon]

I'll give it this much: that is a loooooooonnnnng circular argument.

[GILMORE]

""the people that Americans trust to serve the common good and the national interest...""

whoa!? hold the fuck up = are you suggesting the govt shutdown is interfering with the ready access to cheap and productive mexican labor?? FUCK THAT SHIT! we cant rely on american labor for shit... MUCH LESS government workers! the only hope for this nation are volunteers from abroad... please dont tell me im going to have to rely on the goddamn public sector for something...?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Freedom for me but not for thee, feminist edition:

The Supreme Court's new session begins today, and the court is hearing not one but two cases involving attempts by anti-choicers to legislate and harass legal abortion out of existence. In both cases, there's reason to worry that the conservative-leaning court is going to allow further restrictions on abortion access. As Emily Bazelon reported, one case involves the use of medication abortion and whether the states can force doctors to follow a bunch of medically unnecessary regulations on the very thin pretext that they're "recommended" by long-outdated Food and Drug Administration regulations. The other may have profound consequences for the safety and wellbeing of abortion providers and their patients. The court will be reviewing laws forcing anti-choice harassers to keep their distance from clinics.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

ha ha. it takes a truly broken mind to do that in the same paragraph.

[califernian]

one case involves the use of medication abortion and whether the states can force doctors to follow a bunch of medically unnecessary regulations on the very thin pretext that they're "recommended" by long-outdated Food and Drug Administration regulations.

So of course you're against any and all state regulations over personal medical choices right?

[OldMexican]

The Taliban has not given up on its failed effort to kill a 16-year-old girl.

She was told not to critizise the religion of peace. Fair warning.

[Rich]

Airport and airline officials are [trying] to figure out how a 9-year-old boy evaded security and stowed away on a flight from Minneapolis to Las Vegas without a ticket.

As I suggested this morning: Just ask the kid, morons!

The Transportation Security Administration says he was screened along with other passengers

Of *course* he was.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Parenting advice from the childless English major:

So what kind of advice can Obama and the Senate Democrats take from the parenting experts on how to defuse a tantrum that's underway? This list from WikiHow has some useful tips.

Remain calm enough to handle the tantrum properly. Luckily for the Democrats, they have "No Drama Obama" leading the way.

HAHAHAHA

let it be known there will be no discourse until the tantrum is over and a reasonable federal budget is passed.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

There will be many attempts by cable news to get Democrats to try to plead their case and reason with Republicans on-air. But you cannot reason with unreasonable people, whether they be dyspeptic toddlers or publicly elected grown-ups. Instead, WikiHow suggests expressing empathy for their feelings with phrases like, "You must feel frustrated that you can't have what you want right now."

*catches breath* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh, Amanda, you are a true delight. If you didn't exist, misogynists would have to invent you.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

If your toddler has near-exclusive power to set your family budget, you'd better fucking listen when they say they want to watch Barney.

[Killazontherun]

Thought she looked familiar. Bludgeoned that series of clones pretty thoroughly but it appears one escaped the trash compactor and survived.

[Stormy Dragon]

Same reason I refuse to go to an oncologist who hasn't personally had cancer. There's no way you can possibly learn about something other than through direct experience.

[BigT]

Know any good morticians?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Quantum black hole study suggests alternate universes exist

Physicists have long thought that the singularities associated with gravity (like the inside of a black hole) should vanish in a quantum theory of gravity. It now appears that this may indeed be the case. Researchers in Uruguay and Louisiana have just published a description of a quantum black hole using loop quantum gravity in which the predictions of physics-ending singularities vanish, and are replaced by bridges to another universe.
[...]
At the center of a black hole, all matter and light are forced to move inward at ever increasing speeds. This forces whatever enters a black hole into a single point of space right at the center. This point exhibits infinite curvature, making it a curvature singularity. At that point, no known combination of conventional quantum mechanics and general relativity can tell us what happens to the matter and light - the theories break down.
[...]
This brings us to the new work of Rodolfo Gambini and Jorge Pullin, recently published in Physical Review Letters. Gambini and Pullin have developed and solved the first well-behaved model of a quantum black hole, in which the central curvature singularity vanishes, and is replaced by a bridge that appears to lead into another universe.

All of this has happened before and it will happen again.

[Rich]

essential singularities are signs of a failure of the physical description itself.

Oh, and why exactly would *that* be?

one of the fundamental tenets of quantum mechanics is that information is never destroyed.

*** writes password on piece of paper and burns it ***

[Agammamon]

'essential singularities are signs of a failure of the physical description itself.

Oh, and why exactly would *that* be?'

because a singularity is defined as the point where your theories no longer explain reality.

'one of the fundamental tenets of quantum mechanics is that information is never destroyed.

*** writes password on piece of paper and burns it ***'

Technically, the password is still extractable. Though I don't know where the author gets the idea that information is never destroyed.
One of the fundamental features of a black hole is that is has no hair. That you can never find out any information about what fell in, can only measure mass, charge, and angular momentum.

[Rich]

Technically, the password is still extractable.

*** crushes burned paper into glass of water, stirs ***

[Mad Scientist]

You guys are misinterpreting what is meant by "information." It's been a long time, but here's my best recollection. The "information" of an atom, for example, is it's temperature, orientation, bonds with other atoms, velocity, etc. If you write a password on a piece of paper, the information is not the password, but the way the paper's atoms were altered by the addition of the oils in your hand, the new chemical bonds from the ink to the paper, the change in mass and temperature. If you burn the paper you further change the information by dramatically breaking chemical bonds, etc, but the elements themselves are still there, their present condition a result of all the changes that lead up to that point in time.

Theoretically, if you knew the velocity, temperature, orientation, etc., of every element in the universe you could you could write a simulation that could play forwards or backwards in time because the information in every atom is the sum total of all the actions upon it until the present. Even smashing atoms together and annihilating them results in exotic particles which quickly decay and distribute energy to still other atoms which in turn alters their information, so no information is ever lost.

Make sense?

[Stormy Dragon]

The password isn't "information" in the technical sense of the term, it's data. The technical meaning is actually somewhat opposite of our normal use of the word. A string of randomly selected characters, for example, contains more "information" than a string containing the test of Hamlet.

And black holes emit particles through a quantum process called "evaporation". If you some up the information contained in the particles so emitted, it will be equal to the information contained in all the particles that fell in to it.

[Tonio]

All of this has happened before and it will happen again.

We'll 'ave none of yer chakra-spinning mumbo jumbo 'ere, yer lordship. C of E, right, lads?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

God has a plan for you Tonio

[Pro Libertate]

I sure hope so. As I've stated here before, my lifetime ambition is to trade information with other parallel universes. For instance, the fourth season of TOS. The following seasons of Firefly. A constitution that actually worked. Etc.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Interesting. On the one hand we've probably elected Obama multiple times across these various universes, but maybe in some of these universes he's like a libertarian and socialism never survived the 19th century. That would be cool.

[Pro Libertate]

Are you kidding? How plausible is it that Jack Ryan would run off Jeri? I figure we're in a very low probability universe indeed.

[Stormy Dragon]

The presence of large numbers of Zepplins during the 1930s are clearly proof that most of our problems are due to us suffering through an alternate universe version of the depression.

[Agammamon]

Phsssh, information! Trade differing spacetimes!

[C. Anacreon]

I sure hope so. As I've stated here before, my lifetime ambition is to trade information with other parallel universes. For instance, the fourth season of TOS. The following seasons of Firefly.

Or maybe a version of the show Fringe where there are no parallel universes?

[Killazontherun]

A Fringe that is the logical offspring of both the X-Files and Red Shoe Diaries. By Jove, brilliant!

[Brett L]

And what will we give them? Seasons 8-26 of Friends?

[Mickey Rat]

I, for one, am becoming increasingly pissed off that I got stuck in this universe. Surely, there's a better one out there.

[PapayaSF]

This is just wish fulfillment by people in Uruguay and Louisiana, who want to live in a different universe.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

In Fatsville, the accused are guilty until proven more guilty:

The appearance, the accent, the fact that Julian Assange has been publicly accused of multiple sexual assaults...

Gross. This movie is gross, and the promotions for it are gross, and this quote is gross.

[BigT]

Michael Shermer

When Science Doesn't Support Beliefs

Then ideology needs to give way

Ever since college I have been a libertarian?socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I believe in individual liberty and personal responsibility. I also believe in science as the greatest instrument ever devised for understanding the world. So what happens when these two principles are in conflict? My libertarian beliefs have not always served me well. Like most people who hold strong ideological convictions, I find that, too often, my beliefs trump the scientific facts. This is called motivated reasoning, in which our brain reasons our way to supporting what we want to be true. Knowing about the existence of motivated reasoning, however, can help us overcome it when it is at odds with evidence.

Take gun control. [derp derp derp]

My libertarianism also once clouded my analysis of climate change. (super derp)

Sorry, I posted this a couple of days ago. It's so good it deserves to let you all down again.

Shermer is the consumate hypocrite, displaying precisely what he is criticizing in his essay. The comments are pure platinum derp as well.

[Thane of the Candy Kingdom]

He's a rapist anyway. PZ Meyers sez so.

[SIV]

Great.A statist psychologist rapist Atheist-priest running around claiming to be a libertarian.

[Killazontherun]

He's the bizarro world version of Anton LaVey. Totally lame.

[Brett L]

So, "I used to be a libertarian, but now I want to be liked." Is that the schtick? I can't be bothered to read anyone who thinks gun control has a scientific basis. So does Eugenics. A strong scientific basis. And it is still immoral, evil, and wrong in practice.

[Tonio]

The reformed sinner is one of the great American narratives, Brett. It goes nicely with our (former) national ideals of hard work and opportunity.

[Killazontherun]

nice.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Peanut Gallery here (supposed libertarians) are often guilty of mass delusion.

Look at this ridiculous Orginalism fad (now ridiculed) or the quaint notion of bank scrip instead of Federal Reserve Notes as a national currency. Once ole Ron Paul fades away those arcane ideas will as well.

[trshmnstr]

Something smells like urine and amphetamines.

[Cytotoxic]

He's trying so hard to get some attention. Won't any of you pay some attention?

[Cytotoxic]

I'm not reading that. Shermer was a confirmed shitbag a long time ago.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I'm not sure y'all have noticed, but... Amanduh is kind of a dick...

It's not cute when the relatively harmless old man at the coffee shop is rambling on again about how the rappers are ruining music, and it's even more grotesque when the cranky old man in question has real political power, as Scalia does.

There's a third option beyond just writing men like this off as cute or actively trying to argue with them: Start practicing the disdain for them they are so good at showing the rest of the world. It might feel unnatural after living in a culture that teaches that the proper reaction to the gruff old fart is to find his shtick amusing, but with practice, you'll soon find it easy to respond to Scalia or your local grumpy grandpa with the immortal phrase, "Christ, what an asshole."

Truly, an old man playing checkers at a park is the very essence of privilege and the appropriate response is to have a 20-something year old with a Wymyn's degree publicly berate them.

[Andrew S.]

Calling her a 'dick'? RAPE CULTURE!

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Like I said, it's time to revive an old term for people like Amanduh and Joan Walsh: they're cranks with big megaphones. Amanda has all of the reasoning power of a CFL bulb and jibbers like a homeless lunatic.

[Derpetologist]

Joan Walsh and Chris Matthews- two great derps that are even derpier together!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaNgtfs4fzk

[Ska]

Why do I feel so sure that someone who takes this advice won't get the response they are hoping for?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Amanduh or Sadbeard?

As I've been saying for a while, women's massive underrepresentation on corporate boards is a huge tell about the state of gender equity in the country and the world. There are no real rules or guidelines as to what constitutes a well-qualified candidate for a non-executive director role, and frankly most companies don't want active boards that really supervise the managers. If you care even a little about gender equity, you'll find some women to put on your board.

All correct votes will receive their very own, board-certified Feminist Self-Pleasuring Device!*

*Pleasure not guaranteed

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

Sadbeard is a fascinating character because he's considered really smart and knowledgeable even though he obviously makes up at least 90% of what he is saying. How does *he* know what the qualities are for a non-executive director role? He's a philosophy grad who's done nothing other than bathe in Leftwing New Media. I mean, look at his suggestions:

How about someone like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, or Rihanna all of whom have upwards of 30 million followers?

Holy christ.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Him and Ezra Klein both, though at least Ezra sometimes appears to have glanced at the Bureau of Labor Statistics website before penning an article.

[Cytotoxic]

Wow. Just wow.

[C. Anacreon]

And of course, Katy Perry or Rihanna would be able to make reasoned votes and commentary about corporate decisions, and use their experience to help the board avert mistakes and exploit opportunities -- so they'd be wonderful additions! Remember, people on corporate boards don't actually do anything, they just get treated like royalty and are just there for window-dressing.

The other absurdity is that if even some corporation asked one of these celebs if they wanted to be on their board, the celeb would decline unless they got a $1 million "appearance fee" and a private room with plenty of amenities, including a fishbowl full of M&Ms; which has had all the green ones removed.

On the other hand, Joan Crawford was on the Board of Directors for Pepsi for several years......

[Thane of the Candy Kingdom]

Time for a round of Crazy Feminist or Crazy SoCon?

As the entertainment industry continues to embraces mankind's deepest, darkest, most vile fantasies will you support it?

A number of students at Colorado State University said this week they were all for the violence and misogyny depicted in Grand Theft Auto V, a game that crossed the $1 billion sales mark within just three days of its release, according to Reuters.

"In Grand Theft Auto V you can hire a prostitute... have sex with the prostitute and as she gets out of your car, you can kill her and get your money back. Do you think that is acceptable?"

"The video game isn't a representation of real life" said one student. "It's like a fantasy."

What is the difference, morally, between the prostitute scenario and a video game that allows the gamer to rape women?

When juxtaposed will students see the filth behind the commercially successful video game franchise?

[Palin's Buttplug]

SoCon - based on the dig of the "entertainment industry".

Crazy Feminist would use "corporate class" I say.

[OldMexican]

Re: Palin's Buttwipe,

Crazy Feminist would use "corporate class" I say.

Nobody cares what buttwipes say. They are thrown into the can just like the rest of the shit, and flushed away.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Quit stalking me.

[Tonio]

I'll go with Crazy Feminist because Crazy Socons don't say "misogynist".

[Eduard van Haalen]

You're mistaken - it's a conservative site.

Or maybe you're right, because these guys don't seem crazy to me.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I expected it would be conservative - and I was right. It's a group called Campus Reform. (Another of its stories was for gun rights).

I was trying to think of a video game libertarians might find offensive.

What about one where you're a sheriff's deputy and you get points for seizing people's homes and possessions for past-due taxes?

What if you're a prison guard who gets points for beating up inmates as creatively as possible? What if you're a guard at [Godwin edit]?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Look, it's one thing to shoot evil soldiers/robots/mutants who are trying to conquer/enslave the world - there's a good moral framework there. But to go off nihilistically and just go around killing?

You're going to say that games don't turn gamers into killers, so what's the problem? I think it develops bad attitudes, and while the First Amendment may not let me censor that kind of stuff, I can at least use *my* First Amendment rights, just like a literary critic can criticize a bad book.

Seriously, Resident Evil has well-defined good guys and bad guys, and you're defending humanity against destructive forces. In GTA, you're part of what humanity needs to be defended *against.*

[Cytotoxic]

I think it develops bad attitudes

I think you convince yourself of any bullshit you want to believe is true.

[lap83]

I see what you're saying, and I also don't see what's wrong with thinking a form of entertainment is a bad influence. I don't think video games should be banned, but I wouldn't play a game where you get points for killing prostitutes.

[VG Zaytsev]

Someone needs to make a SoCon version of Grand Theft Auto.

You can be a sheriff that rips off drug dealers, battles moonshiners, busts heads at the local gay bar for fun, harass hippies, etc.

[Agammamon]

"When juxtaposed will students see the filth behind the commercially successful video game franchise?"

they *already* see the filth, no juxtaposition needed, and they *like* it. That's *why* it grossed a billion in three days.

[PapayaSF]

Whoa, whoa: they're saying that games aren't representations of real life??

[Mickey Rat]

"What is the difference, morally, between the prostitute scenario and a video game that allows the gamer to rape women?"

What's the difference practically? It seems that is pretty much rape (as she would not have had sex with you without being paid).

[Mickey Rat]

And neither scenarios are happening to real people.

[Bobarian]

Speak for yourself.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

The mask comes right the hell off:

After all, the assumption that economic growth will continue undergirds conventional wisdom about economic policy in a really profound way?namely it's the key reason to limit political interest in redistribution of economic resources[...]

But if growth is over, that whole logic collapses, and politics really should just consist of a bitter zero-sum scramble over the distribution of a fixed pool of resources.

Why I own a gun, Exhibit #937. Remember folks, this is the mindset of ~80% of the people who exercise control over what becomes law, what doesn't, and what laws are enforced.

[Pro Libertate]

Why don't we have significant growth now? What could possibly be the drag on an economy that's been going pretty good for a long time now?

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Financial Crisis of 2008.

All bank panics result in long stagnant aftermaths.

See US from 130-1935 and then again 2008.

[Calidissident]

I wasn't aware the US existed in 130. Assuming you meant 1939=0, I'd simply respond that US history began well before that.

[Cytotoxic]

All bank panics result in long stagnant aftermaths.

Except in Iceland, where the collapse was followed by swift growth. So the correct is 'all bank panics followed by bailouts and other intervention result in long stagnant aftermaths'.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Not true about Iceland. That is actually a progressive myth because they nationalized the banks - which the progs wrongly wanted Obama to finish after TARP started the job.

[Killazontherun]

Hey, we took those levers, and tried every position from QE1 to QEinfinity, and massive fiscal stimulus in between, and none of it worked which means that growth is impossible.

[califernian]

namely it's the key reason to limit political interest in redistribution

Ummm... you know some people actually have principles against taking stuff from other people.

[Tonio]

politics really should just consist of a bitter zero-sum scramble over the distribution of a fixed pool of resources

Yes, they salivate over Dire Times requiring Tough Choices by Top Men.

[Pro Libertate]

Must. . .not. . .Godwin. . .the. . .thread.

[sloopyinca]

The Taliban has not given up on its failed effort to kill a 16-year-old girl.

These guys suck as teen-killers. Don't they have drones?
-President Barack Obama

[Palin's Buttplug]

Crazy Whore spreading the C-R-A-Z-Y again:

Bachmann: 'End Times' Are Coming Because Obama Is Supporting Al-Qaeda

"This happened and as of today the United States is willingly, knowingly, intentionally sending arms to terrorists, now what this says to me, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, as I look at the End Times scripture, this says to me that the leaf is on the fig tree and we are to understand the signs of the times, which is your ministry, we are to understand where we are in God's end times history," Bachmann told Jan Markell, radio host of "Understanding the Times," on Saturday.

Sad that about 40 million nutcases think like her.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/l.....g-al-qaeda

[GILMORE]

Jebus and the book of revalations aside... armimg Syrian rebels has indeed gone on. how one decides to spin that is a matter of taste.

[Pro Libertate]

So much has been going on lately that this hasn't been discussed much, but I find our being involved with the rebels at all quite disturbing, precisely because they're of the same ilk as those who have directly attacked us.

Not that we should be supporting the Syrian government, either. If we can't sit out this one, we can't sit out anything.

[Cytotoxic]

Only some of those rebels are the same as AQ. It's in our interest for the Syrian government to be overthrown, but that doesn't mean we have to intervene. Can just sit back and watch.

What I'm interested in is Kurdistan. This should America's 'New Israel'.

[Pro Libertate]

You mean, Kurdlahoma?

[Artifex]

I was sort of hoping for Kurdtuky

[Killazontherun]

AQ controls every aspect of the Syrian rebellion, even dictating the p.r. campaign to get Western funding and backing. They have the capability of butt raping any of the secular splinters any time they please, as they demonstrated last month when they took over one of the towns that secularist held just to show them who they answer to no matter where the funding may be coming from. To get an idea of what is going on, imagine being in East Germany trying to organize an anti-government faction where twenty percent of the population are paid informants, imagine trying to recruit members in that environment. That's exactly what its like to run an anti-AQ, or even an anti-fundamentalist, rebel group in Syria. You will get snitched on because their society has broken down to the advantage of AQ and Saudi Arabia. Just as they planned.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's in our interest for the Syrian government to be overthrown

I don't see why that is the case.

In fact, I don't see why SoCons keep saying that Iran is some great existential threat to the US, when Saudi Arabian Wahhabism clearly is.

[Banjos]

Shriek is an anti-socon reactionary. If they turned prochoice over night because they found religious reasons to, dipshit here would be screaming about how they are pro baby killing.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes, and if one of those weapons had been used to kill Assad it would have been a high-ROI investment.

I may be anti-war but I also support cheap justice.

[GILMORE]

so basically you endorse the neocon PNAC view that the US constantly intervene in the middle east by any and all means insofar as they are "cheap". Way to maintain the foreign policy low ground for the 'opposition' (slow clap)

[Palin's Buttplug]

No. The NeoCons expressly wanted Mid-East wars to commercialize the area for oil companies and to protect Israel.

I just like to see a murderous thug get shot.

[Cytotoxic]

1) No they didn't.

2) Then go there and shoot him.

[GILMORE]

""commercialize the area for oil companies""

thats funny. because you'd think countries with oil reserves do that on their own. and fyi syria isnt one of them. oh, but the neocons were pro israel?! how uncouth. in the words of Walter Sobchak = at least its an ethos, dude. whereas you endorse muderous overthrow of ME regimes... because? Because it makes Obama look 'tough'? Because the US *can*, regardless of whether it serves any foreign policy interests? Sorry shithead, but cheerleading stupid interventions by 'your guy' while poo pooing it when 'the other guy' does it? its call screaming, steaming, stinking, gooey amoral hypocrisy. or, aka, "par for course" for you

[VG Zaytsev]

The NeoCons expressly wanted Mid-East wars to commercialize the area for oil companies...

Nah, they're way stupider than that.

Imperialist wars to gain control of resources are evil, but rational.

The Neo Cons are evil and irrational.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I've found that the sort of man inclined to call a woman he doesn't know a whore is precisely the type of man who would whore himself out to whatever passing trends and peer groups his limited intellect is associated with. Your pathetic Obama-fellating hagiographies certainly confirm that suspicion.

[Palin's Buttplug]

She is a political whore of the worst sort - taking our tax dollars in Medicaid fraud, phony farm subsidies and bilking campaign coffers.

I have respect for actual prostitutes.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

See how he tries to ingratiate himself after having had his venality revealed. Pathetic.

I have pity for the prostitutes you've defiled with your touch.

[Palin's Buttplug]

You're an idiot if you believe I thought Bachmann was a prostitute or that I would attempt to ingratiate myself here amongst the wingnuttery.

You probably sent her a few coins yourself and are mired in a futile defense of her.

[Pro Libertate]

I think I called that free condom chick a whore. Or maybe just a slut, though me financing her sexual adventures sounds kind of whorish to me.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

*shrugs*

That's been my observation IRL, take it or leave it. Can't say I've been impressed with the caliber of the people who've called women whores for nothing more than a political or personal disagreement; it's juvenile, unnecessary, and distasteful in the same way that, say, calling a black man you disagree with on those same grounds an Uncle Tom or a nigger.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

OTOH, I do like you ProL so you'd be on the "plus" side of that particular ledger, and the only one so far (if in fact you did call Sandra Whateverherlastname is a whore in a spiteful way).

[Pro Libertate]

It was probably "slut"', anyway.

Is there an equivalently derogatory term for male prostitute-like persons? Not that I'm thinking of anyone, in particular, other than Episiarch, of course.

[BigT]

Do you prefer the more refined word, cunt?

[Killazontherun]

What we are looking for is a harsher term than 'tool'; 'whore' doesn't really cut it to describe Fluke's loathsome character, as whores are usually decent people who don't compromise their personal integrity.

[Marty Feldman's Eyes]

How about that budget that just cannot be cut in any way, shape or form? The Pentagon continues to buy $50 million cargo planes and then put them right into storage because it has no use for them.

Silly rabbit, that's a jobs program, not something that has to be useful. Just be glad you ended up with a plane and not just some holes dug in the ground.

[Greg83]

Even better, the contracted company is based out of Rome, so it's a European jobs program.

[Stormy Dragon]

Gulf Cooperation Countries announce plan to develop early warning Gaydar:

Gulf states to introduce medical testing on travellers to 'detect' gay people and stop them from entering the country

[Mokers]

Yeah, that 2022 World Cup is going to be awesome.

[Greg83]

And here I thought "Gaydar" was just a joke.

[Stormy Dragon]

Sources indicate the system will work by dressing GCC customs officials in Pakstani Border Guard uniforms and then denying entry to anyone who spontaneously goes "Oh. My. Gaaaawd, how taaaaaaackeeeeeeeeee!" while getting their passport stamped.

[benji]

Republican gets destroyed by Bill Maher on Obamacare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD21fx_fapM

[Killazontherun]

That's not possible, as not a single member voted for it, so they can't be blamed for the program. It would be like if he were a detective investigating a bank robbery, he separates out two groups of people for his case, those who were present but didn't rob the bank, those who were present and did rob the bank. Once having established this he goes ahead and arrest those that didn't rob the bank, letting the robbers off with the loot in their hands. See how your sentence makes no sense?