Cops Give Seattle Stoners Special Doritos

Hempfest was nacho cheesier than ever this year, thanks to the Seattle Police Department (SPD). Cops policing the 23-year-old cannabis reform event handed out 1,000 bags of Doritos to festivalgoers.

The get-out-the-snacks effort may have helped thwart a few cases of the munchies. But it was primarily intended to promote goodwill between attendees and city police in the wake of Washington State's vote last fall to legalize sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Each of the snack-sized bags was labeled with a sticker: "Hempfesters! We thought you might be hungry. We also thought now might be a good time for a refresher on the do's and don'ts of I-502," the state initiative legalizing weed.

In addition to urging Hempfest's many pot smokers not to drive while high or distribute weed to minors, it also good-naturedly suggested that they "listen to Dark Side of the Moon at a reasonable volume." Nacho-noshers looking for further information were directed to an SPD webpage titled, "Marijwhatnow? A Guide to Legal Marijuana Use in Seattle."

The chips came with two cautionary notes. At the top, a disclaimer: "This sticker is not a lawyer and cannot provide you with legal advice." At the bottom, a warning: "The contents of this package are as delicious as they appear."

Comments

[Kill all the economists]

Fascists!

[HazelMeade]

It's a government plot to kill off stoners by getting them to eat junk food?

[Snark Plissken]

it also good-naturedly suggested that they "listen to Dark Side of the Moon at a reasonable volume."

Not bad, not too bad.

[Libertarius]

Dark Side of the Moon is an excellent choice, but if you want to expand your getting-stoned-and-listening-to-Floyd repertoire, I strongly suggest the Live at Pompeii DVD.

That early Gilmour-era Floyd is the best stoner rock ever recorded. Saucerful of Secrets, Careful with that Axe Eugene, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Echoes, etc...some of it was Barrett-era stuff, but Gilmour made it actually listenable and melodious.

[RBS]

I like Animals for getting stoned.

[TheZeitgeist]

Soundtrack for the film More is perhaps the least-appreciated Floyd psychotropic gem.

[Libertarius]

The More soundtrack is good, which reminds me of another forgotten gem of early Floyd: Obscured by Clouds.

Division Bell is also excellent. Come to think of it, the only Floyd I don't like is Piper at the Gates of Dawn (cheesy 60's British psychedelic, reminds me of Austin Powers) and most of the Atom Heart Mother album, with the exception of the AHM suite, which I'm sure you have to be stoned to even listen to.

[Killazontherun]

Phshaww - - Black Sabbath's Masters of Reality, or Vol. 4. That's real stoner music. Not college jerk circle approved diddle dick shit.

[Libertarius]

I like Sabbath, but I can only take so much of overdriven power chords before they become tedious.

Snowblind is probably my favorite Sabbath song.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

and fried chicken!

[Almanian!]

+2 wings

[Irish]

The Luddites rise again!

The job impacts from innovation are arriving rapidly, according to Gartner. Unemployment, now at about 8%, will get worse. Occupy Wall Street-type protests will arrive as early as next year as machines increasingly replace middle-class workers in high cost, specialized jobs. In businesses, CIOs in particular, will face quandaries as they confront the social impact of their actions.

Machines have been replacing people since the agricultural revolution, so what's new here?

In previous technological leaps, workers could train for a better job and achieve an improvement in their standard of living. But the "Digital Industrial Revolution," as the analyst firm terms it, is attacking jobs at all levels, not just the lower rung. Smart machines, for example, can automate tasks to the point where they become self-learning systems.

Smart machines "are diagnosing cancer, they are prescribing cancer treatments," said Kenneth Brandt, a Gartner analyst. These machines "can even deliver [treatment] to the room of the patient."

This is idiotic. If it were true, we'd expect unemployment to slowly be getting worse as more jobs are automated. It isn't though. Unemployment spiked after the crash and has slowly dropped since then. That means that the evidence for automation causing unemployment remains nonexistent.

There's a second problem

[Irish]

(Continued)

The second problem is this. If, as Gartner suggests, jobs are getting 'attacked' at all levels, then you'd expect unemployment to slowly be increasing across the entire wage spectrum. This isn't happening.

The unemployment rate for college graduates is only 4.5%, a rate only slightly higher than in 1992. Prior to the economic crash, unemployment among all groups was actually about the same as it had been in 1992. It was actually quite a bit lower for low-skill workers. This means that there has been no change in unemployment as a result of automation and the entire increase in unemployment is the result of the economic crash and continuing low growth.

[BakedPenguin]

How many times does this have to be dis-proven? Individual jobs may be lost, but on a macro-economic level, the increased wealth will create other jobs elsewhere.

Being afraid of economic efficiency is just stupid.

[Irish]

No matter how automated our economy becomes, there never seems to be a shortage of jobs for people who are willing to wander around with 'The End is Nigh' signs while steadfastly refusing to read graphs or look at statistical evidence.

[BakedPenguin]

I was reading Sowell's Basic Economics (not much new for me, but sometimes it's good to go over the basics). Only about 30 pages in so far, but one point he's already stressed repeatedly is that the more economically efficient a system is, the wealthier the people who live in it will be.

I think about that, and then remember that Hopey McJackass thinks ATMs destroy jobs.

[Irish]

What gets me is that the Gartner analysts attempt to handwave away the criticism of his argument is completely contrary to the available statistics. He acknowledges that automation has never resulted in higher unemployment or in less wealth, but just claims that this time it will be different because the automation impacts the entire spectrum of jobs, whereas earlier types of automation did not.

The problem is, as the unemployment graph I posted shows, there is no evidence that there's actually been any increase in unemployment over the last 20 years. Unemployment is high now due to the lingering effects of the crash, but prior to that unemployment had been virtually unchanged since 1992, and was actually lower in 2007. That's over a period of time in which we saw a massive amount of innovation in digital technology and the beginning of the automation of historically high skill jobs.

Therefore, for Gartner's prediction to be correct, you would have expected to see some signs prior to the crash of slowly increasing unemployment. Instead, there has been no change in unemployment for 20 years other than those attributable to the economic crash.

[BakedPenguin]

Unemployment is bad not only because of the crash hangover, but also a government of economic morons who have created an environment of high regulation, high uncertainty, high taxes.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Gartner has a lot more influence than Thomas Sowell.

Not that I am taking sides on this one.

[Irish]

And of course influence has absolutely no bearing on whether or not someone is right.

The Catholic Church had more influence than Galileo.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Thomas Sowell is no Galileo. He would be more like the RCC.

Much like this guy:

Does he really believe in the devil?

"Of course! Yeah, he's a real person. That's standard Catholic doctrine," he said. "You are looking at me as though I'm weird. My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the devil?"

http://www.latimes.com/nation/.....?track=rss

[Irish]

Actually, I think these guys are like the Roman Catholic Church in this scenario.

The report, entitled "The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan," was released on Jan. 9, 2009. It was put out by the office of the president-elect was written by economists Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein. Romer would become chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers for President Obama. Bernstein was Vice President Biden's chief economic advisor.

Page four of the report features a chart projecting the unemployment levels with and without the stimulus. With the stimulus, the Romer and Bernstein predicted that unemployment would never rise past 8 percent, and would peak just under that in the third quarter of 2009 before steadily declining to around 5.6 percent by today. Without the stimulus, they predicted that unemployment would peak around 9 percent in the third quarter of 2010 before declining to around 6 percent today.

Your boy Barack really knows how to pick some ingenious policy analysts. I could gut a pig and try to divine the future and I'd do a better job than Romer or Bernstein.

Speaking of bad predictions, has gold hit $600/ounce yet?

[Palin's Buttplug]

On gold, the Fed has not begun tightening (or tapering) yet.

When they do the Inflationistas will all abandon the shiny relic en masse. Their story is a just a winsome fable.

It is why no real economist could ever take Ron Paul seriously. He views the world as a simpleton does. "Printing money" is much more complex than he would ever know.

[Cytotoxic]

On gold, the Fed has not begun tightening (or tapering) yet.

Are you implying the Fed is ever going to tighten? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

"Printing money" is much more complex than he would ever know.

There's a printing press and a bunch of shitty assets the fed buys up to buoy an unsustainable system. Ultimately, it's almost as simple as you.

[Ketogenic Paleo]

Did you actually ever read one of Sowell's books on economics?

[Francisco d Anconia]

But teh welth will only go to teh wunpursenturs!

[Jquip]

Not that the argument you're rebutting is good, sound, and makes kittens pure or anything.

But for your rebuttal to work you need to speak about the labor force participation rate, and not the political statismagic number created to keep people from looking at the labor force participation rate.

And contrary to your expectations, if automation is reducing labor, then it doesn't mean there would be less employment in the managerial ranks. Nor lower pay. In fact, there's a reasonable argument that the skilled robot techs would be making a better penny then the labor they replaced.

Generally though, automation will increase unemployment until the cost of labor is lower than the automation. Or until other avenues open up for the displaced workers. But given time and legal barriers of entry to business, the sale of labor, migration into any sort of productivity -- even subsistence farming -- then there will be hysteresis at the best. And a structural dead-zone at the worst.

[Irish]

Sure, but the labor force participation rate in 2006 was still identical to the labor force participation rate in 1992. It was less than 1% lower than it was at the peak in January of 2000.

The massive drop in labor force participation has occurred since the economic crash, when we've fallen all the way from 66.5% to 63.2%. This massive drop since the crash, following a period of historically high labor force participation, actually proves my point just as well as the general unemployment rate.

The LFP drop is the result of the crash, not automation.

[Jquip]

Yep, much better argued.

On a related tangent: It's worth noting that the expected productivity gains from computing didn't tend to materialize. Rather than produce more, office workers had a tendency to produce more solitaire. The inefficiencies of which are starting to shake out of the system nicely.

But it does leave an open question as to when the cost of labor will be attractive again, given that the current labor force rate is the same as it was in 1978. Or even just when it will bottom out or at least think about this whole freefall thing.

[TheZeitgeist]

If you're an optimist, as I am, you hope machines some day do all the work so you can lay around and eat for free.

Just need some programmers, mechanics, and Blade Runners to keep things going. Genetically engineered super-blondes to service them would be renumeration, given nobody works for food or energy or housing anymore.

Shit, machines might even replace politicians.

[Brian D]

Shit, machines might even replace politicians.

Would we even notice? I thought my choices for President in 2012 were between Shysterbot and Sleazomatic 5000.

[VG Zaytsev]

On a related tangent: It's worth noting that the expected productivity gains from computing didn't tend to materialize. Rather than produce more, office workers had a tendency to produce more solitaire. The inefficiencies of which are starting to shake out of the system nicely.

And that was caused by a combination of cultural factors and ever increasing government regulation.

It will probably take 3+ generations for the computer revolution to completely work it's way through the economy. We're currently at the start of the 2nd generation.

[VG Zaytsev]

Generally though, automation will increase unemployment until the cost of labor is lower than the automation. Or until other avenues open up for the displaced workers. But given time and legal barriers of entry to business, the sale of labor, migration into any sort of productivity -- even subsistence farming -- then there will be hysteresis at the best. And a structural dead-zone at the worst.

Yep.

And the barriers involve cultural and welfare practices, in addition to legal barriers like regulation, trade management and currency manipulation.

[KPres]

In previous technological leaps, workers could train for a better job and achieve an improvement in their standard of living.

It's just insane. Machines increase productive efficiency, driving down prices, meaning people can afford to buy more stuff. The more stuff they buy, the more labor is required to make all this new stuff. That's why machines don't create unemployment.

If you ever get to the point where people are more-or-less materially satisfied, and don't want anymore stuff, the machines STILL won't create unemployment, because people who don't want any more stuff will also choose to stop working. That's not unemployment, that's vacation.

The idea that machines create unemployment has always been a cornerstone of Marxist thought, which is why you see all these people trying to prove that it's happenening. That way they can say "see, Marx was right, we need a communist revolution!" (they actually use phrases like "we need a new system for the 21st century!", but it's all the same old commie bullshit). It's all nonsense, though. These people don't understand how prices work in a competitive market.

[Kill all the economists]

This is idiotic. If it were true, we'd expect unemployment to slowly be getting worse as more jobs are automated. It isn't though. Unemployment spiked after the crash and has slowly dropped since then. That means that the evidence for automation causing unemployment remains nonexistent.

Somebody needs to tell that to the libertarian economists...

http://www.arnoldkling.com/blo.....e-is-over/

A critical view of the critical view...
http://foseti.wordpress.com/20.....isgust-me/

[Irish]

Based on those two posts, Arnold Kling made a stupid argument and some other idiot responded with a stupid argument.

You really hang out with some intellectual heavyweights, American.

Afterward, it occurs to me that this suggests that there will emerge a toady class, meaning people whose work in one way or another flatters the wealthy.

This has been true since time immemorial. It's not the result of automation or the modern economy. It was true in the court of King Louis XVI, it was true in the days of Rockefeller, and it's true today when toadies like Jay Carney exist for no purpose but to flatter and run coverage for the powerful.

Acting as if this is something new shows a total lack of historical knowledge that makes me think your ability to predict the future might be a little flawed.

[Kill all the economists]

Given that the major point of Kling's column apparently went "whoosh!" over your head, I submit you're not in much of a position to be criticizing anyone's intellectual heft.

Kling's column referred to a discussion of Tyler Cowan's book, Average is Over. I advise that if you want to credit the views expressed therein to "a total lack of historical knowledge", you'll have to take that matter up with Prof. Cowan himself.

[Cytotoxic]

Perhaps you should make Kling's point clear instead of sounding off like a pompous twat.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

[Zeb]

Well, I make robots that can deliver things in hospitals, so I say fuck 'em.

How do so many people believe that the economy is zero sum?

[anon]

How do so many people believe that the economy is zero sum?

Because it's so easy to believe; they only see the "negative" impact of a person losing their job because something else can do it better/cheaper/faster.

Nobody looks at the fact that there's now a person free to do a meaningful task rather than wasting their life performing a meaningless task.

Nobody thinks about "Well gee, I wonder who maintains all these machines that do all this stuff we created them to do so that people wouldn't have to do it anymore."

I guess my point is mostly "Nobody thinks."

[Francisco d Anconia]

What happens when robots can build/maintain robots? Does the entire human workforce become engineers and work designing new shit for people that the robots then build?

And then what happens when the robots can dream up new shit for people? How does anyone (except robot companies) make a living?

[Sevo]

Francisco d Anconia|10.13.13 @ 7:55PM|#
"What happens when robots can build/maintain robots? Does the entire human workforce become engineers and work designing new shit for people that the robots then build?"

Sorta. They write books, write music, design games, etc.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I suppose you wouldn't need much money as all goods and services would cost very little.

[Sevo]

Irish|10.13.13 @ 4:18PM|#
"The Luddites rise again!"

Uh, this is the Gartner Group; they are paid to deliver 'news' that requires their consultation and raises the importance of CIOs (or equivalents).
Further, the claim that Occupy groups are going to Occupy again as a result of automation ignores the efforts of the liar in the WH; who needs him for an enemy?

[Episiarch]

The SPD have always looked the other way at Hempfest, even when weed was technically illegal. This year I saw people toking on one-hitters while walking up the street.

Regardless, the Titans have put up points first, so now they need to pay.

[BakedPenguin]

Ugly way to close out the half for your boys.

[Episiarch]

No fucking shit; that was a fucking joke. Hauschka gets injured and they have no field goal kicker backup? That was fucking amateur hour out there. Fucking ridiculous.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Tom Brady is teaching the Saints a lesson.
How dr?le.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Lesson: Don't give Tom Brady three chances to score.

[TANSTaaFL]

Offensive struggles aside, you gotta admit, the NE D looks SOLID this year.

[The Late P Brooks]

Being afraid of economic efficiency is just stupid.

Won't somebody think of the spoon makers??????

[Habeas Dorkus]

Did the Hempfest-goers hand out copies of the Constitutional requirement for probable cause?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Freeloaders on the land

Mr Pirelli is one of a growing number of Canadians who try to avoid financial obligations by claiming to be Freemen, Detaxers, followers of Moorish Law, members of the Church of the Ecumenical Redemption International or of other assorted groups. The Law Society of British Columbia, which represents lawyers in the province, estimates that 30,000 Canadians now share these allegiances. Each group has its own peculiarities, but all contend that the government has no authority over them (including the power of arrest).

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

There is a shit ton of smug in that article and the comments.

Chrysophylax_Dives17 mins ago
The closest parallel to the groups described is the sovereign citizen movement in America. The Southern Poverty Law Centre, an internationally-recognised civil rights organisation, classes them as a hate group. Although originally a racist and anti-semitic movement, most contemporary sovereigns have no idea where their beliefs come from. The SPLC estimates that there were about 300,000 sovereigns of all races in the USA in 2011, but expects the number to rise rapidly.

While most merely hold up the courts with ridiculous amounts of nonsense paperwork, imposing substantial costs on others and often escaping the law, a few take their hatred of government to the level of murder. Most sovereign attacks, however, take the form of "paper terrorism": filing false tax forms and property liens to damage their opponents financially. Several states have laws specifically to prevent sovereigns from attacking people in this way.

"Paper terrorism"?!?!

Rmiller87Oct 13th, 16:06
As a Canadian, harmless kooks like the guy in this article don't worry me so much.

But I am still not sure why CSIS hasn't hauled in the extremist who advocated for Albertans not to pay their taxes in his Albertan firewall letter :

"...there is no reason to have Ottawa collect our revenue."

This sounds very Tea Party like to me.

Is there free speech in Canuckistan?

[Irish]

The closest parallel to the groups described is the sovereign citizen movement in America. The Southern Poverty Law Centre, an internationally-recognised civil rights organisation organization that has devolved into a brainlessly left-wing group that abuses its reputation in a desperate attempt to stifle free speech and bludgeon any who dare to dissent, classes them as a hate group.

Fixed it for you.

While most merely hold up the courts with ridiculous amounts of nonsense paperwork, imposing substantial costs on others and often escaping the law, a few take their hatred of government to the level of murder.

When someone says 'some' without providing a single name, you can rest assured that this has never happened.

[anon]

When someone says 'some' without providing a single name, you can rest assured that this has never happened.

Some argue this is not true!

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Is there free speech in Canuckistan?

There is, but it's not an absolute right.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

here are of course limits to free speech and free press guarantees, as the Canadian Supreme Court is quite ready to point out (see CBC v. A.G.N.B., below). For example, even though the press enjoys core constitutional rights of access and publication, they do not have protection for all operational means and methods the press may choose to adopt. The press does not, for example, enjoy immunity if they run a pedestrian down in pursuit of a new story under the guise of "freedom of the press". Nor is a violent attack on someone (however dramatic the attack may be) considered to be expression.

Those are extreme and obvious examples. I'm sure they can be twisted to ban any speech that implies a threat of violence or is seditious and anti-government.

You're not really free if your freedoms are predicated on a utilitarian belief in the maintenance of a democratic society rather than on the conviction that they are natural and unalienable rights possessed by individuals.

[Generic Stranger]

So, in other words, "no".

[anon]

There is, but it's not an absolute right.

As much as we complain, the US is pretty much centuries ahead of most other countries in regards to free speech.

[Zeb]

Which makes it even more depressing to see how many people would give that up. Free speech (with the obvious weak spots around commercial speech and electioneering speech) is really amazingly well protected in the US compared to most other places and times.

[np]

Not really. Or it depends. There's no freedom of speech. Only freedom of Speech X vs Speech Y, differing by region/country.

Just yesterday:
http://reason.com/blog/2013/10.....facebookgo

And criminalization of incitement, obscenity, many speech or expressions related to sex, and FCC content restrictions. MPAA, ESRB, the recently defunct Comics Code are all indirect government animals.

The US does regulate hate speech by coupling it with any slight act whatsoever, to escalate what would normally be a misdemeanor into a hate crime.

See Dharun Ravi's "bias intimidation" case. See also, the Amish hair-cutting feud between two families. His speech over religions differences was used against him to escalate the forced hair cut into a hate crime (via the Interstate Commerce Clause).

[np]

We still have a version of the Alien and Sedition Act with us. See 18 USC Chapter 115 and 10 USC ? 894 - Art. 94 others.

And prohibitions against various speech, including prohibitions against their promotions: 18 USC 552, 1462, 1465, 2251, et. al

e.g. 18 USC 552:

All persons are prohibited from importing into the United States from any foreign country any book, pamphlet, paper, writing, advertisement, circular, print, picture, or drawing containing any matter advocating or urging treason or insurrection against the United States, or forcible resistance to any law of the United States, or containing any threat to take the life of or inflict bodily harm upon any person in the United States, or any obscene book, pamphlet, paper, writing, advertisement, circular, print, picture, drawing, or other representation, figure, or image on or of paper or other material, or any cast, instrument, or other article which is obscene or immoral, or any drug or medicine or any article whatever for causing unlawful abortion, or any lottery ticket, or any printed paper that may be used as a lottery ticket, or any advertisement of any lottery.

Even they don't actively enforce certain things, prosecutors and reach into their grab bag of laws to make you submit to a plea bargain.

[Anonymous Coward]

Although originally a racist and anti-semiticsexist movement, most contemporary sovereigns progressives have no idea where their beliefs come from.

FIFY.

[Zeb]

originally a racist and anti-semitic movement, most contemporary sovereigns have no idea where their beliefs come from

So, if some racists did something at some point in the past, then doing that thing is racist? That's an interesting theory. What the fuck is wrong with people.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No there isn't and I've been strenuously arguing this with my clueless Canadian brethren who believe we've 'struck a balance.'

Which means, no we do NOT have free speech. We 'think' we do. Ask Mark Steyn.

When I cornered a liberal on this he admitted and conceded 'you just can't say anything here and that's good. There has to be a limit.'

Of course, he gets to decide that.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Hush now, you patriarchal rubes, with your whiteness and your privilege. Our educated betters are about to speak.

[Irish]

I've been reading up on Marx and he seems like he knows what's up. too bad he was a privileged white male.

This is the greatest thing I have ever read. It has everything.

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought Marx's Jew-ness cancelled out his White privilege. Or does Jew privilege stack with White privilege?

I can't keep up with proper status of the races and who has which privileges. Does anybody have a chart?

[anon]

No charts cause it ultimately depends on the situation.

If they disagree with what you're saying, being a jew stacks against you. If they agree, it negates being white. As always, it depends on how you FEEL.

Haven't you read a fucking sociology book!? Stupid racist honkey.

[Ayn Random Variation]

Archie Bunker's chart:

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

[Pathogen]

"..Or does Jew privilege stack with White privilege?.."

Because... cabal of.. elders of Zio.. Palestine

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Are you stupid? Read a sociology book. Blacks can't be racist

So what was the deal with that whole Rwanda genocide?

[Eduard van Haalen]

The Belgians caused it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, there is some merit to that in that the Belgian colonial m.o. was similar to the British in that they consistently played colonized ethnic groups against each other to prevent them from uniting against the colonizers.

[Pathogen]

And then again, sometimes people just don't like each other... to death.

[Ted S.]

David Thompson is so much fun to read.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Oh, my.

Words. They elude to describe the collective stupidity and abject ignorance of those two colossal, cruddy nitwits.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Denver 14 Jax 12 at the end of three.

The point spread was an NFL record 28.

[anon]

Skimming the article, I think this was a decent demonstration on how cop/civilians should get along, instead of the former curb stomping the latter after s/he shoots the latter's dog.

[Pathogen]

As long as there's no question these Heroes in Blue? will "just make it home at the end of their shift", all is well... for now...

[Irish]

American hero. Lavabit's founder fights federal government by claiming that their demands of him would have constituted massive commercial fraud.

Levison was found in contempt of court for his actions. But now he is attempting to fight that charge and get the government's snooping demand deemed unlawful. In the brief filed in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday, Levison's attorneys say the surveillance demand was unconstitutional and would have forced him to commit "massive commercial fraud" on his customers and business partners "by lying to them about the security of services that were purchased because of their security." Levison alleges that the government tried to put him under a gag order whereby he would not have been able to inform his customers, business partners, or relevant cryptographic authorities that his encryption keys had been compromised by the government.

Fraud: Bad when done by businesses, totally cool when caused by the government.

[anon]

Got me thinking ... If we specifically hire our government to protect us against coercion and fraud, yet they're the primary perpetrators of said crimes, why do we still have a government?

[SweatingGin]

No, see, this whole incident has been a lesson for libertarians.

See, government had companies spy on us too much. So, to prevent companies from spying on us, we need to give the government more power over those companies, and it can then have them spy on us.

If we don't use coercion and violence against people, someone else will come in and use coercion and violence against them.

[Ted S.]

I was looking through the satellite TV box guide recently, and it was amazing that the former Documentary Channel (now Pivot) was running a documentary bitching about social networking sites not giving users privacy. At least the interview with the documentary's creator does talk about government's predations some.

[np]

Pointing a gun at someone and demanding their money is a crime, even if you say it's for some greater good.

But government doing it? Totally cool.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Lol Slovakia.

[Killazontherun]

Probably covered else where, Kate Upton not only has lost weight, looking svelte, but if that is her going 18th Century France up in the piano she looks and sounds better than then any woman this side of Doctor Girlfriend.

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

[Eduard van Haalen]

Hot pockets, with halluncinatory drugs baked into every bite!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Kate Upton with Biz Markie's voice?!?

I'd still hit it.

[Killazontherun]

I'd be disappointed if I didn't get called on that one. But on a woman, that three pack a day voice . . . how can you resist?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

North Korea's feeling left out, guys.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I'm So Ronery.

[Cdr Lytton]

USDA, doing a bang up job of protecting the public:

USDA put Foster Farms on notice, giving it three days to come up with a food safety plan for two plants in Fresno, Calif., and another one in Livingston, Calif. The notices followed tests of whole chickens and chicken parts which turned up a 25 percent incidence rate of Salmonella -- more than double the nearly 10 percent allowed. It also said that between January and September inspectors had found "poor sanitary dressing practices, insanitary food contact surfaces, insanitary nonfood contact surfaces and direct product contamination."

Up to 10% contamination and failing inspections for at least nine months with zero correction but USDA inspectors are all that stand between us and Upton Sinclair!

[Francisco d Anconia]

They obviously need more funding.

[Thane of Steelport]

Well, I haven't gotten Salmonella from my Foster Farms frozen corndogs (yet).

Phew.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Mmmmmmmm! Perogies and onions with fresh baked bread! Like being in NEPA!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

So I was walking my dog through the park today and I saw, sitting on a park bench, a young black kid who looked a lot like Trayvon Martin wearing a hoodie with Trayvon Martin's self-portrait on it.

Surreal, like if I saw Che wearing a Che shirt.

[Ted S.]

One of the joys of having a back 40 is that I don't have to hang out with the riff-raff in a public park to walk my dog.

[VG Zaytsev]

Did you shoot him Jorge Z style?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I managed to keep my baser, White-Hispanic instincts in check.

[Snark Plissken]

I hope you at least drew a big red circle around yourself.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Not liking the big strike zone this weekend in Boston, but it seems fairly applied. Sox need to swing the bat.

[Ted S.]

The strike zone is over the plate, and kneecap to armpit, just like it's always been. 😉

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

"It's nothing until I call it."

[?J?? de ?guila]

Fuck, even when it's legal, ya can't get stoned in peace.

[Sevo]

Woman ("mother"!) offers totally impractical, horrendously expensive 'plan' for bums, SF news organization falls for it:
"Buses retrofitted with showers to roll out for homeless people"
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....891249.php
Buses that have been retired 'cause they're used up suddenly grow shower stalls, dressing rooms, water tankage, free drivers, free maintenance, and, oh, where do we dump this stuff?
SF remains a source of amusement.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I just got a spam tweet from EverQuest promoting sales.
Do people still play EverQuest?

[Ted S.]

Serves you right for subscribing to their Twitter feed.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

It was a "promoted tweet" which means I don't have to subscribe

[Snark Plissken]

AdBlock can help you with that.

[Irish]

I have found the most unintentionally funny twitter account of all time.

Behold the glory of Anti-McDonalds:

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 7h
The McDonald's Corporation moves into neighborhoods, poisoning their members and destroying their vibrant spaces.

NOT THEIR VIBRANT SPACES!

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 13h
McDonald's production system is designed to isolate individuals from their community.

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 19h
McDonald makes people dependent on corporate hierarchies for their next meal.

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 12 Oct
McDonald's turns citizens into politically lethargic consumers; a lethargic populace is lazy and uninterested in revolutionary actions.

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 12 Oct
McDonald's food contains acrylamide, a chemical that may cause blindness in children.

Then where are all the kids who have been blinded by McDonalds?

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 11 Oct
The McDonald's corporation specializes in destroying vibrant cultures and communities.

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 10 Oct
In order to destroy McDonald's influence over the people, citizens must be taught to distrust anything made by a corporation.

...he said while posting on twitter from a computer.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I bet his computer was assembled by a collective.

[Irish]

And here's a hilarious retweet:

The Overt Dictionary ?@OvertDictionary 7 Oct
Walmart: a corporation which has actually broken the legs of employees who began to speak of unionization.

Citation needed.

[General Butt Naked]

I saw it in a movie once. He totally had this engine that ran on water.

[Sevo]

And a carburetor (remember those?) that made an engine go 100 miles on a gallon of gas!
My wife's hair-dressers uncle is the source.

[Ted S.]

Any time you heat starches to a certain point, you get acrylomides. Een in something like organic bread.

The acrylomide scare is a good decade old, and when it was first public, the news sources screamed that it was the potato chips and French fries that would kill you. Not starches in general, the mendacious bastards.

Oh, and the acrylomide scare is only slightly more accurate than the saccharine scare. Or any of the coffee scares.

[Irish]

Well, this guy does seem to have a poor grasp of scientific fact:

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 27 Sep
McDonald's food destroys the human mind, rendering the consumer's neurology weak and susceptible to corporate influence.

McDonalds will weaken your neurology. It's just science.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That twitter feed reads like the internal mental monolog/dialog of a paranoid schizophrenic.

[General Butt Naked]

...or the general from Dr. Strangelove.

[Francisco d Anconia]

...but, he'll see the big board.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

That doesn't stop the Prop 65 warning at coffee shops.

[Heroic Mulatto]

McDonald's represents the face of corporate greed. It is an imperialistic, monopolistic, corporation that kills millions each year via cancers & heart attacks.

McDonald's bought out Burger King, Wendy's, In 'n Out, Five Guys, Sonic, Arby's, and Dairy Queen?

WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?????

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

No, what they mean is all of the fast food KORPARASHUNS together make up a monopoly against healthy food

[Heroic Mulatto]

I thought that's what they meant by "imperialistic". If what you say is true, then it must mean that McDonald's also maintains a private army and is engaged in a campaign of conquest and colonization all across the 3rd World...or SPACE!!!!

[Cdr Lytton]

Friedman's Golden Arches Theory becomes Pax Ronaldus?

[Irish]

It happened right around the time it magically became possible for a corporation to become imperialistic. I was unaware that McDonalds had invaded other countries.

[Heroic Mulatto]

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE, also MCDONALD'S DID 9/11!!!

[Thane of Steelport]

Snickers bars, sub sandwiches, Big Gulp, and "French Fry" on a "McDonald's Soldier"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wouldn't that be more accurately termed a CARTEL as opposed to a MONOPOLY?

[Pathogen]

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 13h
McDonald's production system is designed to isolate individuals from their community.

It's called "going to work", it typically last for ~8-12 hours, then the individuals are generally free to rejoin the collective community..

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 19h
McDonald makes people dependent on corporate hierarchies for their next meal.

Unlike the totally autonomous grocery stores, and their loose confederation of citizen farmers..

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 12 Oct
McDonald's turns citizens into politically lethargic consumers; a lethargic populace is lazy and uninterested in revolutionary actions.

Yeah, people are much more inclined to riot engage in the revolution, any revolution (apparently), when they are starving

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 12 Oct
McDonald's food contains acrylamide, a chemical that may cause blindness in children.

Soo, there's super-glue in McDonalds food? I'm sure the USDA/FDA are on it!...

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 10 Oct
In order to destroy McDonald's influence over the people, citizens must be taught to distrust anything made by a corporation.

I suspect this guy wears clothes.. Not to be trusted!...

[VG Zaytsev]

"The revolution would have happened too, if it weren't for that damn meddling MickyDs and their lethargy inducing poison."

/ van Jones

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Anti-McDonalds ?@Anti_McDonalds 57m
McDonald's ads are designed to make death look pretty, to make heart attacks look edible, to make cancer look charming.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

they re-tweeted this clownface:

Not Starbucks CEO ?@NotStarbucksCEO 7h
Sitting in my 18,000 sq foot mansion trying to figure out a way to get Ethiopian coffee farmers to work for less.

[Irish]

Why Starbucks Sucks ?@YStarbucksSucks 21h
Every time someone visits Starbucks they increase the amount of money flowing out of their community.

I always love when progressives make arguments that we should only buy things made within 5 miles of our houses. They never seem to realize that this goal conflicts with their desire to centralize political power in Washington, D.C.

If it's so important to act locally, then why do progressives try to take away my local political autonomy and give it to people who work 1000 miles away?

[Ted S.]

Because fuck you, that's why.

[Sevo]

..."If it's so important to act locally, then why do progressives try to take away my local political autonomy and give it to people who work 1000 miles away?"

And why is it they oppose the Cuban embargo? I mean, it keeps all the jerbs and the products in Cuba, right? That's just wonderful, according to brain-deads.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

then there's this gem:

Reasons 2B Lazy@Work ?@Reasons2BLazy 12 Oct
The lazier you are at work the less profits your enemy will make.

[Ted S.]

McDonald's ads are designed to make death look pretty

Like PSAs promoting law enforcement activities?

[TeresaJJordan]

what Todd answered I am amazed that some people able to profit $9752 in four weeks on the computer. Visit Website
http://WWW.JOBS72.COM

[TeresaJJordan]

what Todd answered I am amazed that some people able to profit $9752 in four weeks on the computer. Visit Website
http://WWW.JOBS72.COM

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Iowa university crowns first ever transgender homecoming queen

Steven Sanchez, 21, made history at the University of Northern Iowa when his fellow students crowned him the first-ever transgender homecoming queen. (Steven identifies as both male and female ? so I'm not misgendering him, just to be clear).

According to the Des Moines Register, Sanchez was forced to drop out of high school because of relentless bullying. He later earned his diploma at a community college, and now he finally feels at home at UNI. Says David Pope, the president of UNI Proud and a friend of Steven's, "Even though Steven has dealt with a lot of bullying and cruelty in his past, he's just unabashedly himself. I think a lot of people on campus are inspired by that, and feel they can be more like themselves around him."

Steven performs under the name Lola at various campus events. At the Homecoming Royalty Competition, Lola rapidly become a crowd favorite, performing two Selena Gomez songs (very good choice, Lola. Very good.). By the end of the competition, a standing-room only crowd had amassed inside of the campus auditorium. When Steven's name was announced, everyone erupted into applause.

So he could have been either King or Queen?

[Heroic Mulatto]

"Homecoming Monarch" works too.

[Ted S.]

So he could have been either King or Queen?

Ahem. Look back at the part you bolded. How dare you ignore the part of Steven that identifies herself as female?

Stop oppressing him/her/it/them!

[Anonymous Coward]

Steven performs under the name Lola at various campus events.

Whatever Lola wants...

[Francisco d Anconia]

Required.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Counterpoint.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Shit, I never realized that song was about transgender prostitutes.

[Heroic Mulatto]

So is this one.

[SIV]

Feels Like A Woman

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Watching Detroit Tigers pitching is like watching Michelangelo paint a picture of a baseball game.
or something.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I didn't think Prince Fielder could move that fast.

[Anonymous Coward]

Rachel Maddow's little sister (Chris Hayes) laments the fatally flawed Constitution, that more than one-party can have power in the federal government, and separation of powers.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

They won't be happy until we have an American Mussolini in charge to make the trains run on time.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Well, that's the most retarded thing I've heard today.

Congrats Chris.

[Irish]

Apparently California is essentially using 'green energy' as an excuse to get into a trade war with other states and to privilege oil produced in California over oil produced elsewhere.

If you're keeping track, I am not allowed to grow wheat on my own property for my own consumption because the government has decided this counts as interstate commerce.

However, California is allowed to use green energy as an excuse to dampen interstate trade.

I feel like the commerce clause may be getting slightly misinterpreted.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

They banned lead bullets to protect the birds and other wildlife, but will continue to promote windmills that notoriously kill birds.

Chaotic evil.

[Sevo]

The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc|10.13.13 @ 10:36PM|#
"They banned lead bullets to protect the birds and other wildlife,..."

Pretty sure a lot of the impetus had to do with Condors eating contaminated kill.
Well, Condors ought to either get the treatment that Pandas do in China, or go extinct.

[Heroic Mulatto]

So apparently, if you run into Coolio in England, he'll come back to your dorm room, cook you dinner, and then join you in an unplugged version of Gangsta's Paradise. Nothing about the previous sentence was a joke.

[General Butt Naked]

Coolio is the fucking man. They should make a goddamn movie about his life.

I love Can 'o Corn. It's like someone wrote a dang song about my childhood to 70's soul.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Word. Can 'o Corn was back when a popular rapper could still get away with "socially conscious" hip-hop.

Though, still gotta give props to Fantastic Voyage, for just being damn fun.

[General Butt Naked]

I didn't ever think about it as being socially conscious, but more as actual portrayal of reality.

Like, you had all these (and still do) rappers doing the gangsta/money shit and saying that it was not exploitation or glorification, but rather a reflection of reality. Horseshit. Being poor and surrounded by crime fucking sucks. There's no cars or bitches or diamonds. It's being fucking hungry and cold. It's having a pack or ramen for your dinner.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Absolutely. Though, I have to say that Ice Cube was always up front about saying his "bitches and money" songs were about fantasies young men had while living in the ghetto, as opposed to presenting it as something real.

The ones that believe their own hype are the ones who tend to end up dead or in jail because they keep thugs and shit in their entourage which in turn keep them active in all that gang shit.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I am proud to say that I have never heard of a "Coolio" until 3 minutes ago. And judging by those two performances, it'd been better if I hadn't.

GET, THE FUCK, OFF OF MY LAWN!

[Heroic Mulatto]

De gustibus non est disputandum.

[Francisco d Anconia]

No, rap pretty much sucks. That is the one constant in our ever changing universe.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Franciscus Anconiensis delenda est.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Now that's just mean.

And you know this is a dead language?

[Dagny T.]

This is lovely. He's a decent impromptu conductor!

[Heroic Mulatto]

The central thesis of every Hit and Run post.

Think about it.

[Pathogen]

Contemplate this on the tree of woe...

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Indeed. Crucify HM!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Alright, it's zombie time. The Walking Dead has spotty writing, some annoying characters, and is overall pretty uneven, but once you stop taking it seriously you find one of the most entertaining shows on TV for what it is.

[Sevo]

The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc|10.13.13 @ 11:03PM|#
"Alright, it's zombie time."
http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/

[Irish]

It's improved drastically since the second season. Most of the annoying characters have either gotten less annoying or been killed.

They've also gotten impressively creative with some of the zombie attacks. Zombies falling through the ceiling was a stroke of genius.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Season 3 was much better than season 2, but there was still some pretty bad writing, particularly with Andrea and the Governor.

I am impressed with the premiere though, zombies through the ceiling was tense because of the few redshirts they added. And Rick's encounter with the woman in the woods ended in a way I wasn't quite expecting.

[Sevo]

Been out.
In Q-2, there was a late-hit call on Dallas for drilling RGIII on the sideline. I'm saying that was a good call for business reasons and there is no way it diminishs the brand. Agreed?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Whoa Red Sox

[Jon Lester]

I don't need no damn high fructose corn syrup with my law enforcement relations, fuck you very much...

[Pathogen]

You're sweet enough?

[Jon Lester]

Yes!

[Jon Lester]

This is also the first time I've crossed the proverbial Rubicon with a certain coarse word in H&R comments, for whatever that's worth. Law enforcement types have a way of bringing it out of me...

[General Butt Naked]

It's fucking seeping cunts like yourself and your obscene shit talk that make us patriotic and moral goddamn libertarian look like anal ripping cum dumpsters.

Fuck you and the horse you fucking rode in on.

[Pathogen]

This is just the kind of fucking over the top goddamned rhetoric that skull-fucks political discourse, and leaves it for fucking dead. Fortunately, this sort of horseshit is beneath the delicate fucking sensibilities of the posters at this bastion of moral fucking hygiene known as the H&R comments section... Stand up and be counted, or go fuck yourself...

[General Butt Naked]

VOTE FOR ME, I'LL FUCK YOUR MOM'S ASS

[Pathogen]

That's the spirit..

[General Butt Naked]

I really think that we can win this thing.

God bless you and god bless america!

[Pathogen]

"If you don't smoke Tarryltons vote for GBN, Fuck You!"

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Overweight man told to buy two airline seats - finds out one is in row 17, the other in row 19

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The obvious solution is to divide the man in half.

[juliajuli314]

my roomate's mother makes $82/hour on the internet. She has been without a job for 9 months but last month her check was $15166 just working on the internet for a few hours. look at this now
=========================
http://www.works23.com
=========================

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

bold.

[Generic Stranger]

Gizoogle - Fo' all y'all biotches who wanna find shiznit!

http://www.gizoogle.net/index......is+Shiznit

Hempfest was nacho cheesier than eva this year, props ta tha Seattle Popo Department (SPD). Cops policing the 23-year-old dat fuckin' phat shiznit reform event handed up 1,000 bags of Doritos ta gangbanggoers fo' realz. As Peter Suderman explains, it was primarily intended ta promote goodwill between attendees n' hood five-o up in tha wake of Washington Statez vote last fall ta legalize sale n' possession of lil' small-ass amountz of da sticky-icky-icky.

I rofled.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

BICYCLE KICK

[General Butt Naked]

If soccer were a real sport AMERICA would be #1 at it. And furthermore, this mexican anchor-baby piece of crap making nice goals just takes food out the mouths of the innocent children of hard working AMERICAN white goal scorers.

Nice try, cosmotarian.

[Mizchief]

Other than insulting the attendees with ignorant stereotypes I think it was a nice show of good faith.

[leakage-detection]

may have helped thwart a few cases of the munchies...