Obama "Mad" About Obamacare Exchange Site Failures, Former Hershey Factory in Canada To Be Used For Medical Marijuana, Man Suing NYPD After Candy Mistaken For Meth: P.M. Links

Credit: Mene Tekel/wikimedia

• Consumer Reports magazine is urging its readers to avoid Healthcare.gov. President Obama said that he was "mad" about the problems that have affected the health care exchange site earlier today.
• A former Hershey factory in Canada is to be repurposed into a medical marijuana plant.
• A man is suing the NYPD after he was arrested for possession of meth. The meth in question later turned out to be jolly ranchers.
• Almost 15 percent of American teens and young adults are neither in school nor working.
• 51 percent of likely U.S. voters say that they were personally affected by the most recent government shutdown.
• Four same-sex couples are suing to force Tennessee to recognize their legal marriages from other states.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

51 percent of likely U.S. voters say that they were personally affected by the most recent government shutdown.

It occurs to no one that this is a sign that the federal government is too involved in his or her personal life.

[Specail Sauce]

I didn't realize that "personally affected" translates into "Teabaggers made me very angry, and I'm sure someone out there is really suffering over this."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, I was personally affected, in that I had to hear about it every day.

[Some call me Tim?]

This.

Aside from some park closings, I would have barely noticed otherwise.

[BigT]

It make me unusually happy to know that there were so many non-essential government employees we could rid ourselves of. It made me sad to think there were so many government employees considered essential. Therefore I was affected.

[Killazontherun]

It occurred to me that a lot of people are full of shit, and answer polls to signify intentions, often dependent of the tone of the interviewer who asks the questions. Unless I'm reverse Pauline Kael, there is no way fifty one percent were effected given the entitlement checks still went out. Except for a five hour glitch last weekend in the EBT card system that resulted in lootings at Walmarts, there wasn't any disruptions to be accounted for to arrive at that number.

[Andrew S.]

The EBT screwup was state-related, not federal, wasn't it?

[SIV]

Xerox

[SIV]

Which, interestingly, has totally lost its place as a verb. When was the last time you xeroxed anything?

[SIV]

Watch out "google", your days are numbered.

[Zeb]

That's true. You don't really hear about that anymore.
Didn't Xerox make a special effort to try to stop its name from being the generic word for photocopying at one point? I wonder if they regret that now. I bet most people don't even know that Xerox still exists.

[Enough About Palin]

We used to have a board member who was the President of Xerox's USA operations. He said when copiers first came out people they could use them to make copies of a letter people said, "Why on earth would you want to make copies of a letter?"

[SIV]

I bet most people don't even know that Xerox still exists.

Apparently they run the EBT card system for 17 states.

[SIV]

I grew up using it as a generic word for copying and the copy itself.It was the common term until Kinkos and other copy shops proliferated.

[BigT]

We still call 'em carbons.

[Killazontherun]

That's true, but as far what people in polls would count as a disruption in their lives and link it to the shutdown, I'd expect a poll skew as a result.

[Mainer2]

This is why we are screwed.

There are way too many people that simply can't conceive of educating their kids, choosing how to feed themselves, buying a light bulb...without the government involved. It is literally beyond their ken.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Four same-sex couples are suing to force Tennessee to recognize their legal marriages from other states.

If they wait long enough they can just sue for divorce recognition at the same time.

[RBS]

I eagerly await the arrival of Gay Divorce in South Carolina.

[BigT]

It's been done. 1934 but not in SC.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

A man is suing the NYPD after he was arrested for possession of meth. The meth in question later turned out to be jolly ranchers.

Meth makes you skinny. Jolly Rachers have sugar that can make you fat. In Bloombergstan we know which is the greater evil

[playa manhattan]

Plus, they look exactly alike. Fact.

[Hyperion]

Yep, sort of like how tomato plants look exactly like pot, and like no one can even tell the difference except for a super smart police officer.

So, it's probably just safer to not eat Jolly Ranchers or grow your own tomatoes. For the children.

[Agammamon]

Look, the cops were just on the lookout for the newest meth scourge to hit the streets.

Their briefings said to be on the lookout for ultra-pure meth, translucent blue in color. Said to be 99.1% chemically pure.

Street slang calls it 'Blue Sky', 'Big Blue', or 'Blue Magic'.

[Enough About Palin]

It's their new Stop and Frisk or Treat program.

[Zeb]

Different translucent crystalline substances do often look quite similar. I could see it initially being an honest mistake. But if they guy says it's candy, you should probably have some evidence to the contrary before you arrest him (or better yet, get a real job and stop fucking with innocent people who have done no harm).

[playa manhattan]

Without having read the story, I would guess contempt of cop. Jolly Ranchers are colored and scented, and most departments use field test kits to test for meth. If it doesn't turn blue in the field test, they don't take you to jail.

[Agammamon]

The problem with that - those field test kits are notorious for providing false positives.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com.....kits_N.htm

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama said that he was "mad" about the problems that have affected the health care exchange site earlier today.

He's lost in Obamacare's eyes.

[Hopfiend]

I wonder if he's even figured out which asses to kick?

[hamilton]

He certainly won't be taking names.

[Moe19]

He's got the IRS for that.

[Enough About Palin]

I'd kick neo-austrailian's backside. Be hard to miss an asshole there.

[Ted S.]

He doesn't mind not knowing what he's heading for?

[Fist of Etiquette]

What are you doing?

[playa manhattan]

You know exactly what he's doing.

[Ted S.]

Obama's mad about you, too.

[Fist of Etiquette]

There's my girl.

[Brett L]

Its too late. He's gone too far.

[font_of_stupidity]

+1 Beyond the Mind's Eye

[rts]

Calls for 'cameras on cops' renewed in latest B.C. inquest

One of the few facts not in dispute in the death of former Canadian peacekeeper Greg Matters is that he died on the ground at his rural British Columbia farm, shot in the back by one of the heavily armed members of the RCMP emergency response team sent to arrest him on a charge of assaulting his brother.

Matter's mother and grieving loved ones question the account of police officers involved in the shooting, and the family's lawyer made it clear at the inquest that they would like the jury to recommend video or audio recording of such police actions.

[Citizen Nothing]

Obama: "That fellow at CVS said I was mad! Well, who's mad now?"

[NoVAHockey]

everyone at CVS is mad.

[RBS]

Maybe if they had more than one pharmacist on duty...

[Zeb]

Even when there are more, they just stand there behind their glass wall laughing at you.
How fucking hard is it to count some pills and put them in a little jar?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Consumer Reports magazine is urging its readers to avoid Healthcare.gov.

In unrelated news, DHS has seized consumerreports.com.

[mad_hominist]

Fuck Consumer Reports, they supported this monstrosity from the get-go.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Four same-sex couples are suing to force Tennessee to recognize their legal marriages from other states.

Is that aspect of DOMA still pending in the Federal courts?

[R C Dean]

Yes, it is. Or at least, it wasn't decided by last sessions Big Gay Marriage Case.

I'll give 8 -1 odds that SCOTUS requires states to recognize gay marriage from other states, when the issue is presented.

And, the same odds on SCOTUS requiring states to license gay marriage, when that issue is presented.

[John]

I said exactly that when that case came out and everyone accused me of being a butt hurt SOCON. The Kennedy opinion sets up being gay as a protected class.

[Tonio]

John, you are a butt-hurt socon regardless of the outcome of any particular court case.

[John]

You are an idiot. I am anything but a SOCON. I don't go to church, I don't believe in blue laws. i think drugs should be legal. I think gambling should be legal. There is nothing socon about me.

I just defend socons because they picked on by nasty bigoted fucks like you who think that freedom means freedom for people you like rather than freedom for everyone. The fact that you would just assume I was a SOCON just because I defend them shows what a nasty idiot you are.

You are not the dumbest poster on her Tonio. But you are probably the worst person here. I mean that sincerely. Shreek is a sock puppet. Tony is just neurotic and confused. But you are just a bad guy. You really. You are a legitimately bad and nasty person. And you further proved it with this post. I am really sorry that you are such a terrible person who can't understand how anyone could defend people who different than they are.

Too bad I caught your little piece of nastiness too late. You will never read this much less respond. You just did what you do, which is shit on the thread with you general ignorance and nastiness and ran away. Shame on you.

[Redmanfms]

But you are just a bad guy. You really. You are a legitimately bad and nasty person. And you further proved it with this post. I am really sorry that you are such a terrible person who can't understand how anyone could defend people who different than they are.

You pretty thoroughly pegged Tonio.

He is a nasty, duplicitous, dissembling shitheel.

[DJF]

I can't remember, what part of the Constitution sets up protected class and determines who belongs to one?

[Bobarian]

Commerce Clause?

[VG Zaytsev]

The 'equal' protection clause.

Because if some people aren't more equal than others then nobody is equal at all.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Almost 15 percent of American teens and young adults are neither in school nor working.

But joining the other 85 percent planning to vote Obama in 2016.

[Auric Demonocles]

Hey, I plan to continue working and now voting for Obama! Get some more significant figures in those numbers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Too late. You said now.

[Auric Demonocles]

There is no sugar coating it, I have occasionally experienced some glitches when posting to Hit and Run.

[PapayaSF]

On the other hand, it didn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and you don't get fined for not using it.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Do not deprecate the thousands of squirrel-hours that go into sabotaging posts.

[rts]

Rogue dentists operating in affordability gap, says clinic

The B.C. College of Dental Surgeons can't say how many rogue dentists are practising in B.C., but the head of a subsidized dental clinic in Vancouver says there are more people seeking low-cost or free dental care than his service can help.

Stephen Learey, executive director of the non-profit Strathcona Community Dental Clinic in Vancouver, says the need for affordable dental care always outstrips the supply.

On Wednesday, a raid was conducted at a home in East Vancouver and last Friday, a Coquitlam home was also raided.

[Ted S.]

Is dental care single-payer in Canada?

[rts]

No.

[Mad Scientist]

On Wednesday, a raid was conducted at a home in East Vancouver and last Friday, a Coquitlam home was also raided.

These rogue dentists, practicing dentistry withing filing a 27B/6, must be stopped.

[BakedPenguin]

Sam Losco!

[The DerpRider]

There is no sugarcoating it. The HMS Hood has developed seaworthiness issues after maneuvers in the Denmark Strait.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

There is no sugarcoating it: the Challenger shuttle mission has experienced unexpected turbulence.

[John]

I have started my own meme.

[SugarFree]

There is no sugarcoating: John has started a meme.

[NoVAHockey]

when did this happen?

[NoVAHockey]

ah, nevermind. See, I stopped paying attention to what Obama has to say.

[Enough About Palin]

There is no sugarcoating it: NoVAHockey has stopped paying attention to what Obama has to say.

[BigT]

Even there is no sugarcoating it, Shrike continues to suck Obama's member.

[NoVAHockey]

when did this happen?

[SugarFree]

John|10.21.13 @ 12:45PM|#

Calling something that doesn't function "too slow" is sugar coating it.

There is no sugar coating it, TWA Flight 800 is not going to arrive on time.

[Michael]

Goddammit, that's still pretty funny. Very nice work, John.

[hamilton]

Or no aspartame-coating, for some types.

[Auric Demonocles]

There is no sugar coating it, SugarFree has a slight disagreement with sugar.

[Clich? Bandit]

DAMNIT! John is now the cleveland browns

[DenverJay]

Johnie Mememomic?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Sounds like Bill O'reilly to me. John's been watchin too much of teh no spin zoooooone!

[John]

You can accuse me of plagiary. But of watching O'Reilly? You go too far sir!!

[Ted S.]

You didn't start it. Somebody else made it happen.

[The DerpRider]

There is no sugarcoating it. They said they wanted a Bud Light...

[Killazontherun]

Guest a few weeks ago brought some Lime-a-rita just to fuck with me because I'm a hophead snob (not really that bad, SN is my favorite brewer, after all). I didn't take the bait, but he left two in the fridge, and I actually found things to do with them. One went into an onion ring batter, turned out pretty good (I was cooking for the kid). The other I mixed with mayo and Grey Poupon as a sauce for my crab puff appetizers. That was decent too.

By the way, any Saint Louis Rams fans out there? Are they always that butthurt when getting trash talked?

[RBS]

Rams Butthurt

[Ted S.]

Is that as bad as the Patriots fans who think the penalty called on the OT FG attempt is part of a conspiracy?

[Killazontherun]

However, when taunting is tacitly allowed while frequent and over-the-line instigating is ignored, the result will be what was witnessed Sunday and led to the Rams likely having lost quarterback Sam Bradford for the season with a torn ACL.

He twisted his leg while he was being legitimately pushed out of bounds with nothing approaching excessive force. It was a good play well within the rules. Saying that it was the resulted from the scrappy atmosphere is just so much bullshit.

[Killazontherun]

Also, no where mentioned was the shot on Cam Newton, taking him out for a few, that started the entire ruckus. Except for Steve Smith who grew up in Compton after all, the Panthers tend to be painfully polite. It was a bad idea to get them riled.

[Auric Demonocles]

At a football game last week my buddy brought me back a beer, which turned out to be a Bud Light Lime. Coincidentally, I haven't talked to him since.

[General Butt Naked]

The other I mixed with mayo...

So you're one of those artisanal mayonnaise freaks then?

[Killazontherun]

I like to do different things. My tastiest creation, well, you know how pound cake crust is the most awesome thing in the world? You know that right? Right? Well, it is! Anywut, I made the batter, spread it on my stoneware pizza slab, cooked for twenty minutes, spread cinnamon glaze on it, and cooked it for another ten. Fucking amazing. Kills Cinnabon.

[General Butt Naked]

That sounds pretty fuckin' good.

[Killazontherun]

If it goes national, it should be called the killa.

[playa manhattan]

I miss the times when people used to post recipes on Hit N Run in response to trolls. I got some really good recipes that way.

[robc]

I miss the times when people used to post recipes on Hit N Run in response to trolls. I got some really good recipes that way.

I may start posting homebrew recipes in response. Good idea.

[Ted S.]

One went into an onion ring batter

I thought you were supposed to put it in the coconut and drink it all down.

[playa manhattan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p6TNytFsNY

[Hillary's Clitdong]

There is no sugarcoating it. Jenna Haze may not be a virgin.

[The DerpRider]

There is no sugarcoating it. Jenna Haze is not as chaste as her schoolgirl outfit would imply.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

There is no sugarcoating it. Auschwitz is not up the standards that we expect from a day spa.

[Spoonman.]

There is no sugarcoating it. STEVE SMITH is an aggressive lover.

[Bobarian]

There is no sugarcoating it. John Wayne Gacy was poor choice to hire as entertainment at my children's party.

But he did have his own clown costume.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama said that he was "mad" about the problems that have affected the health care exchange site earlier today.

Obama is happy for the distraction from the actual, long term problems with the law like reduced work hours and higher premiums.

[Tim]

You'll know it's an official goatscrew when the media stops calling it "Obamacare".

[Marshall Gill]

And you will know we are well and truly fucked when they start to call it Obamacarousel.

[Ayn Random Variation]

Health Care Change

[Tejicano]

You mean like when they stop sugar coating it?

[C. Anacreon]

You'll know it's an official goatscrew when the media stops calling it "Obamacare".

I think we are already there. Today all the CBS radio news updates referred to it as the "Affordable Care Act". I'm sure the word has come down to spare the association to the Giver of Light?.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Sparks, Nevada middle school shooting: Shooter was a middle school student, killed school employee

A middle-school student in Sparks, Nev., shot and killed a school staffer and wounded two other students before apparently killing himself on campus, police said Monday.

Further details about the shooting at Sparks Middle School shortly after 7 a.m. remained scant after a news conference late Monday morning, but witnesses described hearing shots on the playground before a student in khakis gunned down a teacher.

A student who saw the shooting told the Reno Gazette-Journal that he and his friends were by the school basketball court when they heard a loud pop, followed by screaming.

"The teacher came to investigate," 8th-grader Kyle Nucum, 13, told the Gazette. "I thought it was a firecracker at first, but the student was pointing a gun at the teacher after the teacher told him to put it down, and the student fired a shot at the teacher and the teacher fell and everybody ran away.

I imagine this will get more attention if the shooter turns out to have been bullied.

[RBS]

I just saw that and wondered why it hasn't been all SCHOOL SHOOTING OMG!!!!!!! all day.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Perhaps it was a FF gun.

[John]

He killed the staffer. I wonder if it was the teacher who was doing the bullying.

[Ted S.]

That was my first thought too.

[SugarFree]

"I thought it was a firecracker at first, but the student was pointing a gun at the teacher after the teacher told him to put it down, and the student fired a shot at the teacher and the teacher fell and everybody ran away."

Someday Kyle will write for Gawker with narrative skills like this.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That prose is almost Joycean*.

*NOT A COMPLIMENT!

[Hillary's Clitdong]

...i thought it was a firecracker, like the ones mum used to stick up her bum, but then pop pop pop i heard gunfire running running running wondering if i will ever live to fulfill my fetish for women farting in my face BRAAAAP pop pop pop goes the gun run run run

[Mad Scientist]

It works really well if you read it with Wiggums voice.

[Mad Scientist]

Crap. RALPH Wiggums voice.

[SugarFree]

"I bent my wookie."

[GILMORE]

I heard your dad went into a restaurant and ate everything in the restaurant and they had to close the restaurant.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

And Piers Morgan is back to wetting his pants:

Criminals in Britain hardly ever use guns. Why? They can't get them. America's only response to gun crime is to sell more guns. Madness.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

And:

At what point will the rights of children not to be shot at school over-ride the rights to own guns? So sick of all these shootings.

And:

Britain banned assault weapons + handguns after Dunblane massacre in 1996. There's not been a single school shooting since.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Of course, GB's violent crime rate is FOUR TIMES that of the US.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

But it would be ten times if we didn't have guns!

[Brandon]

But it's not newsworthy stuff like school shootings, so Piers doesn't have to acknowledge it.

[CE]

And guns are already banned at schools.

[Andrew S.]

The only good thing about Piers Morgan rants is that we occasionally get Jeremy Clarkson responses.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Islamists in Britain cut off a soldier's head in broad daylight, in London. Why? Because he couldn't get a gun to defend himself.

[Suthenboy]

Piers Morgan proves consistent with my observation that the left never argues in good faith, EVER. Big, fat, bald faced lie.

It took me three seconds to google 'gun crime england' and get zillions of hits. Here is the first one.

Gun Crime Soars in England where Guns are Banned.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/k.....d-n1464528

[Some call me Tim?]

Townhall isn't exactly an even handed straight news site...

[PapayaSF]

Jeebus, I hate this sort of ad hominem attack on news sources. Yeah, a conservative site quoted the Daily Mail which used UK government stats. So what? Do you think Mother Jones is going to report on a post-ban increase in UK gun crime?

[Some call me Tim?]

Yeah but Townhall really isn't a news site. I wouldn't quote it at someone, ever. I also wouldn't quote MJ, The Nation, NR, TNR, InfoWars or any other blatantly biased sites.

[PapayaSF]

What's your idea of an "unbiased" news site?

[BigT]

There's no way to sugarcoat it...Reason.com.

[Mad Scientist]

Piers Morgan doesn't give a damn about the crime rates in either Britain or the U.S. He cares about ratings, and he'll say whatever he has to to get them.

[Juice]

Victims in Britain hardly ever use guns. Why? They can't get them.

[Hyperion]

I bet that the kid had been playing violent video games.

[a better weapon]

There is no sugar coating it, one of our student's has violated the school's code of conduct.

[John]

http://narrative.ly/pieces-of-.....lled-bull/

Fascinating article about a masters student in London calling bullshit on basically the entire field of positive psychology and a 2005 peer reviewed academic paper that was one of the most cited in the field. The whole affair doesn't give you a lot of confidence in the current state of science.

Bonus for Pro Liberate. One of the heroes of the article is a University of Florida Psychology professor.

[CE]

Psychology isn't science.

[Ted S.]

Psychology on the scientific purity scale

[Enough About Palin]

I never knew they had alt-text!

[robc]

He left out the philosopher, but he is so far to the right, that the mathematician may not be able to see him. At least not without a telescope some philosopher invented.

[Pro Libertate]

He left out the religion scholar, who is above the line, floating around.

[Brett L]

What do you mean? Those are all sub-categories of natural philosopher.

[Pro Libertate]

Dude, that ship has sailed.

[Agammamon]

The philosopher is so far to the right he's come round to be on the far left.

[Pro Libertate]

Actually, the philosopher is imagining the whole thing while being a butterfly that is dreaming he's a philosopher.

[Brett L]

No. They desperately need to make every masters' candidate do a confirmation study as part of the process. Maybe 2. Its the only way to know the bullshit from the not bullshit.

[Pro Libertate]

One of the things that I didn't like in Burn Notice was when they had some super-psychologist who could look into your very soul. What crap. They also had him be smart at spycraft, which is nonsense.

[Mad Scientist]

The only reason not to like psychologists is because you're trying to protect yourself from a monstrously terrible, suppressed fear. It's OK, ProL. Tell us where Warty touched you.

[Pro Libertate]

Exactly. You can't lose with that kind of bullshit. It's on par with lawyer bullshit, except that it makes one trillionth less money for the profession.

[Thane of Steelport]

You seem to be thinking about psychoanalysis, not psychology writ large.

[Pro Libertate]

It's not all bullshit.

[SugarFree]

"Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digga
But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas"

[RBS]

Not to brag, but I've spent years of my life with various Unemployed Boyfriends. None of them were lazy (well one of them was lazy); they'd just been dealt a shitty hand or were trying to make it in an industry that just wasn't that into them.

Hell of a lede.

[SugarFree]

"or were trying to make it in an industry that just wasn't that into them"

The world could not possibly support that many goat masturbators.

[playa manhattan]

Well, that's the kind of industry where you have to start out as a volunteer and prove your worth.

[Coeus]

So what I gather from the comments is that men who support women because they're hot are pathetic, and men who are supported because they're hot are pathetic. At least feminism is consistent.

[SugarFree]

But men can't be upset if their woman makes more than they do. And if the man makes more than the woman it's because patriarchy hargle bargle.

[C. Anacreon]

Along these lines, this came across the desk today from a college:

Memorial Center Cafe -- Equal Pay Bake Sale -- Sponsored by Feminism:Equality Matters for the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act, baked goods will be sold in a salary comparison to the white man's dollar:
- White men pay $1.00
- White women pay $0.81
- African American men pay $0.76
- African American women pay $0.68
- Hispanic men/Latinos pay $0.67
- Hispanic women/Latinas pay $0.59
- Asian American men pay $1.20
- Asian American women pay $0.88
- Subtract $0.10 if you identify as LGTBQ
________________________________

Didn't Kipling have something to say about the White Man's Dollar?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why would women want unemployed boyfriends in the first place? Or is that the joke?

[RBS]

It's the ascent of the Matriarchy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If that's the kind of decision making that they think will lead to a matriarchy then there will be no matriarchy.

[Mad Scientist]

Q: You know what you call a musician without a girlfriend?

A: Homeless.

[mr lizard]

No seriously down here in Tampa... Show me an unemployed, 23 y/o, suspended license, no car, 1 kid, he'sliving at his mom's, rocks out jorts and beaters... and I will show you Tampa Bay's most eligeble bachelor. I really wish I was kidding, but I have no shit dragged these guys out as a wingman, and had to spray the rioting hordes with pussy repellant.

[robc]

jorts

So he's a gator fan too?

Ugh.

[Pro Libertate]

Look, let's not ruin things by pretending that there isn't another team that we both hate much, much more.

I once dated a Georgia Tech grad. PhD in Industrial, but before you cast stones, she's quite successful. Like piles of money successful.

[Agammamon]

Morons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I0K-ymOTS4

[Pro Libertate]

Well, this means war.

[mr lizard]

No even worse... This proto-typical Tampa male is a USF fan usually after failing out the first semester.

[Pro Libertate]

Wow, things have changed if that's so.

[GILMORE]

Fist of Etiquette|10.21.13 @ 4:52PM|#

Why would women want unemployed boyfriends in the first place?

Why do little girls play with baby dolls?

[Coeus]

John, did you email Connor Freisdorf after I posted that article Thursday?

Cause he has a butthurt column about an email that looks a lot like what you said then.

Here are some excerpts from a response emailed by someone present at the protest:

"Conner Friedersdorf is an elitist douche bag who loves freedom just so long as it is exercised by people he approves of and in ways he finds tasteful."?
"Those people at that memorial, and I was one of them, hate you and everyone you knows guts and can see right through you."
"See if those icky tea party people would just go away and know their place things would be better. And let me guess, you live somewhere else on the I 95 corridor."
"What is wrong with your article is that it is totally elitist and completely dismissive of the people who did that. Basically, you don't think that the Tea Party are the right kind of people and therefore all they really do is embarrass themselves and everyone else."
?Insults and profanity are something that I get all the time from

[John]

I will an issue a GLOMAR Denial of that. It may have been someone stealing my prose. That said, holy shit, he seems to have taken it hard. Wow.

[Coeus]

He deserved it. He talks about half of the article how he agrees with them, then impugns their character for the rally. What other reason could he have?

[John]

That is why it got under his skin. The email was a bit harsh and vulgar. But it was true. And truthful attacks hurt the most.

[John]

The funniest part is that his response to the charge of being am elitist is to claim that a lot of the Tea Party people are horrible. Note, he doesn't offer any proof of that beyond his own prejudices. But in his mind that totally defeats the charge that he is an elitist.

[hamilton]

I saw that and had a sad. Friedersdorf was shifting nicely over to putting some decent libertarianish articles together but then he frequently gets all sensitivey. His Twitter is also awash in the "no really I don't root for anybody look, see I yelled at those other guys too" meme.

[Brett L]

I saw that, too. Goddman did he get butt-hurt about being called out for being a principalled "libertarian".

[Francisco d Anconia]

Butthurt Report Form

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Oh, this is delicious:

Yes, some people criticize Tea Partiers out of cultural prejudice. Get over it

"BUT DON'T YOU DARE MAKE ANY CRITICISMS OF BLACK OR HISPANIC OR ASIAN CULTURE BECAUSE THAT'S RACIST!!!"

[Mad Scientist]

It's perfectly OK when someone on the left says something evil because they mean well.

[BigT]

Racism - the last refuge of the ignorant liberal. (sorry for the redundancy)

[SIV]

Usually I get pissed when somebody links that dickhead Friedersdorf here but that was really good. What a fuckin' crybaby.
And why does Conor spend more time listening to Limbaugh than a Teabaggin' truck driver? You'd think he'd worry about catchin' teh RACISM.

[John]

http://www.theaustralian.com.a.....6743492769

Australia has a totally kick ass Prime Minister.

[Hyperion]

I like, totally don't believe it. The Aussies are the peak retards of the political world. They have even outdone the Swedes and the Limeys.

I have to see it before I will believe it. Not sure what it would take to convince me. Maybe if he calls Obama a statist shitbag and challenges him to a duel.

[Coeus]

He disbanded their office of climate change.

[Raven Nation]

Also, one of the first things they did when coming to power was rescinding the previous government's arbitrary crackdown on freedom of speech & the media. IFH can give more details.

[Agammamon]

After Gillard just about *anyone* would seem awesome.

And do you know this guy gets paid more than the US president?

[Brett L]

In Australian dollars, or has the OzBuck just appreciated that much against our dollar?

[Hyperion]

Meh, that's not a leader. A real leader would be sipping a soy late in his office and blaming the fire on global warming and not enough government spending.

[Eduard van Haalen]

What's surprising is that this is surprising. A govt official who owes his position to a vote of the people still does normal-person stuff? Wow!

We've come to expect our Leaders to fly around in special planes and ride in motorcades and have their own cooks and food-tasters.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/taster.asp

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hulk mad!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Diabetic woman and staunch Obamacare support faints on stage behind President Obama

As President Barack Obama was promoting the Affordable Care Act on Monday, a woman standing with him on stage nearly passed out.

Karmel Allison, a Type 1 diabetic from San Diego, was standing almost directly behind the President as he gave his remarks in the Rose Garden. She got wobbly at one point and others standing around her began to help.
[...]
Allison, who represented the American Diabetes Association, was at the event because she said she had a positive experience while researching options under Obamacare, according to a White House description.

"It was an honor to be there and I'm rather sorry I fainted in the middle of the speech, but I was really happy to be able to be on stage at that moment," she said.

Well let's be fair to her: standing behind a man exuding that much bullshit might cause any one of us to faint.

[hamilton]

I presume the reason the poor diabetic woman fainted was that Obama wasn't sugarcoating anything.

[CE]

Did the NYPD seize her Jolly Ranchers or something?

[Hillary's Clitdong]

There is no sugarcoating it. That woman is experiencing a minor problem with her blood sugar. *THUD*

[PD Scott]

If she had been staunch enough her revolutionary fervor would have sustained her. Perhaps some time answering the Obamacare customer service lines will do her some good...

[SweatingGin]

"This speech needs to go really good. Get a fainter on the stage."

[Cdr Lytton]

Goddamit! DON'T LOCK YOUR KNEES!

/every CSM

[Gasguzzler]

This gets an actual, out-loud chortle.
+1 bayonet wound to the guy standing in front of the fainter.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Female suicide bomber blows up bus in Volgograd, Russia

female suicide bomber blew herself up on a city bus in southern Russia on Monday, killing six people and injuring about 30, officials said. The attack in Volgograd added to security fears ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The suspected bomber was from the North Caucasus, a region in southern Russia where an Islamic insurgency has been simmering for more than a decade following two separatist wars in Chechnya. A local official said the suspected attacker was married to an Islamic militant.

Volgograd lies 650 kilometers (400 miles) to the northeast of the North Caucasus, while Sochi sits to the west along the Black Sea.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide bombing, but it was the first outside the North Caucasus since Chechen rebel leader Doku Umarov three months ago called for a resumption of attacks on civilians and urged militants to target the Sochi Games, which are to be held in February.

Russia in past years has seen a series of terror attacks on buses, airplanes and other forms of transportation, some of them carried out by suicide bombers. The last suicide attack on a bus was in 2008.

Going to be a fun Olympiad

[Francisco d Anconia]

Might simply have been PMS.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

1. Do lady suicide bombers blow themselves up in order to receive 71 virgins?

2. If yes, then why don't they just skip the Kaboomey stuff and just play World of Warcraft?

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Hey!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Do lady suicide bombers blow themselves up in order to receive 71 virgins?

Even better! They get to be one of those transparent-skinned, giant breasted, eternally growing back hymened houri in eternal marriage to one of the brave martyred mujihadeen!

[Zeb]

Women probably get a different reward. Like well behaved children. Or a husband who can't rape or beat her.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Isn't it 72 virgins?

[SugarFree]

If you read the original text, one of them is really, really slutty. Like slightly pudgy high school dance squad member slutty.

[PapayaSF]

Yes, although a variant translation is "72 white raisins," which would be a real bummer for those martyrs.

[John]

And the Russians are so gung ho for the Iranians, their historic enemy and next to the Saudis the biggest supporter of Islamic terrorism, to get the bomb why?

[PD Scott]

Because the Russians feel stronger when their rivals are weak and divided: if the US has Iran to fixate on the Russians don't have to worry about the US for a while.

[John]

We shouldn't be rivals with Russia. We both have fairly similar interests in the world.

[PD Scott]

I suspect that the Russians consider themselves rivals with everyone.

[John]

They are suffering a demographic implosion and are paranoid as hell. And we keep fucking with them making them even more so.

[Marshall Gill]

Considering the teeming hordes of Mohamadeans on their borders, they should be pretty concerned. There is a point where negative demographics leads to cultural doom. Just think, in a hundred years the world won't be able to find any decent morose literature.

[Suthenboy]

You are right, and common enemies. You are the first person besides myself that I have heard say that. I have been saying it for years.

[John]

Going after the Serbs in Kosovo really turned them against. What a stupid idiotic war that was.

[Virginian]

Yeah you'd think Rhode Scholar Bill Clinton would know that Russia sees itself as the protector of the Slavs. There was a little war that started in 1914 because of it.

[The DerpRider]

If I were in the NHL, I would come up with a sore back or something for those two weeks. No way in hell could you get me to to Olympics.

[Ted S.]

Of course, it's tough to trust anything the Russian authorities say.

[Eduard van Haalen]

First the Boston bombers, now this. Farrakhan was right...you just can't trust these Caucasians!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Former Obama economist: What's wrong with America?

If you think that all sounds too pat, ask yourself: why, after the debacle we've just been through, the policy debate did not move at all toward that critical list of economic issues noted just above, but instead to... deficits and debt?

What would happen if a political leader were to organize solely around these economic issues, without folding in the usual stuff about balancing the budget (OWS never got there)? Not to ignore that it is absolutely essential to get on a sustainable budget path but to put that all-encompassing debate into its proper perspective. It's the tail, not the dog.

Imagine a platform based not on deficit reduction but on the realization that lots more people need jobs that pay living wages, which means higher minimum wages, work supports, manufacturing/trade policy, full employment fiscal and monetary policy, direct job creation, and work sharing. BTW, that's not an expensive agenda (the only new cost would be direct job creation, and I've got a pretty cheap model in mind; good fiscal policy is a cyclical cost -- not saying it pays for itself, but in terms of lost output, it's expensive not to do it).

Like I said, former Obama economist.

[John]

Work sharing? How in the hell can anyone who took more than a day of economics believe in that?

[Andrew S.]

How can anybody who took more than a day of economics believe in that?

There's your problem.

[Ted S.]

It's not their work that's going to be shared.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

By "economist", they mean "someone who formulates policy with the assumption that the government has an infinite amount of money".

[PapayaSF]

I like "direct job creation": So the solution to deficits is more government jobs! It's the economic equivalent of perpetual motion.

[Brandon]

Former Obama "economist" thinks that if government took all the money and redistributed it "fairly" everything would be perfect. Not news.

[R C Dean]

Imagine a platform based not on deficit reduction but on the realization that lots more people need jobs that pay living wages, which means higher minimum wages,

Which will destroy jobs.

work supports,

What is that? Crony-tastic subsidies for favored industries? Welfare for people who have jobs at these higher "living" wages? If you have a living wage, what do you need "work support" for, anyway?

manufacturing/trade policy,

Yes, central planning has such a great record. Lets get us some (more) of that!

full employment fiscal and monetary policy,

I thoguht we had already had that, what with having the spending and credit spigots wide open for five years.

direct job creation,

More pubsec workers, in overtly make-work jobs, are clearly the key to a red-hot economy.

and work sharing.

Converting full-time jobs to part-time jobs is clearly the key, etc.

[Brett L]

Not to ignore that it is absolutely essential to get on a sustainable budget path

So, the budget hawks are 100% right?

[CE]

51 percent of likely U.S. voters say that they were personally affected by the most recent government shutdown.

I have to admit that I was personally affected, too. Feelings of euphoria and giddiness at first, then bitter disappointment that it wouldn't last, followed by quiet acceptance that the Feds would go back to spending 10 billion plus per day.

[John]

I would love to know exactly how that 51% defines personally affected.

[NoVAHockey]

I was personally affected. Traffic was awesome for 2 weeks.

[John]

I did a lot of ice skating and motorcycle riding.

[NoVAHockey]

in talking with neighbors, seems Home Depot did a lot of business. lots of deferred projects around the house getting done.

[Auric Demonocles]

There is no sugar coating it, "personally affected" is not a fully fleshed out requirement.

[edcoast]

My realtor TOLD me I was personally affected because people were reluctant to pull the trigger on buying my house. Ended up with a deal anyway.

[Pro Libertate]

I was a friend of the House. When the spirit of spirits within it saw the needs of the many, that spirit withdrew and spared my son's job with the government.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Joan Walsh to liberal media: Stop talking Obamacare website failures!

Don't get me wrong: the problems with healthcare.gov are real, and disturbing, and must be fixed asap. (Think Progress has a dispassionate assessment here.) But excuse me if I believe the president knows that without my telling him. It's like watching the 21st century version of the rise of the Democratic Leadership Council: and I feel the way I did back then: on the one hand, yes, it's important for Democrats to acknowledge when government screws up, and to fix it.

On the other hand, when liberals rush conscientiously to do that, they only encourage the completely unbalanced and unhinged coverage of whatever the problem may be.

...Nature abhors a vacuum; media nature abhors a false-equivalence vacuum. I feel like I saw it start on Thursday, when The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, a writer I like and admire, Tweeted something farcical:

Who will be more discredited this year: conservatives for pushing us to brink of default or liberals for failure of health care exchanges?

? Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) October 16, 2013

How dare you imply the Dear Leader, Comrade Obama, the Greatest Genius in All American History, doesn't understand the problems!

[John]

But excuse me if I believe the president knows that without my telling him.

I guess their job is to serve Obama not the public. Walsh really is a full on fascist. She honestly believes that the media exists to serve the state.

[Hyperion]

But excuse me if I believe the president knows that without my telling him.

Well, eventually he might see it on the teevee.

[Raven Nation]

Yep, thus endeth the "truth to power" argument.

[CE]

She has a good point though. If it's still not working, it's not really news anymore.

[John]

Sort of like New Orleans still being flooded stopped being news.

[SweatingGin]

Maybe CNN and MSNBC can run a "Time since Obamacare debacle started" clock in the corner.

[SweatingGin]

HIS CLOTHES ARE GORGEOUS!

[PapayaSF]

But excuse me if I believe the president knows that without my telling him.

And no doubt yet she feels it is essential to tell Republican president about every problem. "The Iraq War is not going well, President Bush!!"

[Coeus]

Observe the logic of the feminist:

A FEW THOUGHTS:

1. This is NOT the same as wearing Oktoberfest costumes because that is a specific holiday and country, not an ENTIRE CONTINENT of people, many of whom were routinely enslaved, colonized and oppressed by white people for centuries.

2. AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY.

3. You're 21 and you can't spell.

4. God help Cambodia.

For her birthday, this woman is getting a talking-to from the internet. Many happy returns!

[Andrew S.]

Bonus, as is typical of Jezzies, is the racism in the comments.

(Yes, I know, you cannot be racist against white people.)

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I'll agree with feminists on one thing, leave Oktoberfest costumes alone.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The minute I saw they were Aussie, I just shrugged. When it comes to race, Australia is just 80's South Africa with better beer.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

80's South Africa with better beer.

They have more than Foster's down there, right? Because I'm pretty sure Fosters is Australian for piss.

[JD the elder]

Oh, hell yes. Nobody drinks Fosters down there; I don't think I even saw it once when I was in Oz for two weeks. They're kind of old-fashioned about their beer, I believe: a lot of it is still very local and doesn't make it even make it out of the state it was brewed in.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Indeed. Thinking Fosters is all there is to Aussie beer is like thinking Bud is all there is to American beer.

[Hyperion]

Especially since Fosters is, if I'm not mistaken, made in Canada.

[Heroic Mulatto]

With beer and spirits, it's all about the licensing. Fosters originates from Australia, but the can you buy in Canada was licensed to Molson, so unless you specifically order an import, you're just basically drinking Molson in a blue can with a red "F" on it.

[General Butt Naked]

Maybe it's because I'm not very bright, or am just being obtuse, but what is racist about dressing up as someone with a different skin color?

Or are we just using the new definition of racist, i.e. something that could possibly offend a perpetually offended someone on the internet?

[John]

That is a good question. It goes back to the old minstrel shows where white people dressed up in black face and basically presented a characture of black slaves. Somehow, because of that one thing, that happened over a hundred years ago now, no white person is ever allowed to dress up as anyone else.

[Winston]

Don't forget yellowface.

Also look at any review of Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor or A Day at the Races and everyone getting upset over blackface numbers.

[PapayaSF]

Not to mention Warner Oland as Charlie Chan, etc.

[Eduard van Haalen]

100 years ago?

Today, black and white musicians imitate the most offensive stereotypes of black criminality, and whites to watch it.

Anyone who would feel guilty at a minstrel show ought to put on sackcloth* and ashes after watching gangsta rap.

*What is sackcloth, anyway?

[John]

There is an entire Hip Hop music industry build around selling the worst image of the scary negro to white kids.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I will qualify my remarks by saying that some of these artists are self-aware of what they're doing and seem to expect such ironic awareness from their audience - "here I am being silly, are you entertained?"

[Heroic Mulatto]

*What is sackcloth, anyway?

If you're seriously asking, it's the cloth used for sacks, i.e. it's woven coarsely because it's not intended for clothing, so if you put it against bare skin, it's pretty damn itchy.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Thanks, I thought it was something more exotic. Seriously. Didn't apply Occam's Razor.

[T]

I just dress up like my pale ancestors. Nobody's ever called me racist for that.

Well, except for when I dressed up like great-uncle Hans. The Waffen-SS officer uniform is apparently offensive.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Did Michael Jackson catch shit for being racist trying to imitate whites?

[Heroic Mulatto]

This is hilarious, by the way

Also one of my friends who is Mauritian painted himself white

I, too, am disappointed that that pic didn't make the cut.

[Francisco d Anconia]

From the Comments:

Yeah I lived there a couple years ago in Sydney, and there was some racist shit on the NEWS. Does not surprise me.

Or perhaps your definition of "racist" is completely off the fucking wall.

[Heroic Mulatto]

To be fair, this was on the news, and if you understand Australian gibberish moonspeak, is holy shit racist, in a hilarious way.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Is that the link you meant to post?

[Heroic Mulatto]

DOH!

No. Try this.

[Thane of Steelport]

"wog"?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yes. The two gentlemen in the young lady's description were of swarthy Lebanese descent.

[Brett L]

Its an acronym, mate. Western Oriental Gentleman. Nahthin racist abaht it. Just respectfully mentioning it.

[GILMORE]

Its so cute how she almost tears up talking about the shooting, then immediately freshens up to happily tell the reporter about the Strip Joint.

[JD the elder]

Because "cultural appropriation". Don't bother trying to unravel what "cultural appropriation" actually means; it's basically like a cartoon bomb that blows up in your face if you try and open it.

[Winston]

So does that mean Lucas, Leone and Kurosawa should be banned?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, if you look at the pictures, they weren't just painting themselves to look "Black". They dressed up as stereotypical "ooga-booga" savages, which I can see someone getting offended about...if they were actually at the party and these assholes crashed it. However, to troll some random person's Facebook account for pictures to get angry over is a mentality that should be listed in the DSM-V as a disorder.

[Winston]

Does that mean keeping a list of every time someone microaggressed at me is a bad thing?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Oh shit. Who was that professor that claimed to do that? That's going to bother me until I take my first drink tonight.

[Coeus]

I found that one, but I can't remember. Don't put her name here, cause you know she's got a google search going, and this would surely count for the list.

[Hyperion]

logical feminist

Now what you got there, is you got yourself one of them there oxymorons.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The Klan thing is kind of awkward.

[Coeus]

Agreed. Not even on theme.

[Coeus]

Tha fuck?

In October of 2012, playwright and writer Monica Byrne wrote a detailed post on her blog accusing Zivkovic of sexually harassing her and giving her a somewhat lackluster apology when she asked for it (twice). Byrne and Zivkovic had met for a "business meeting" to talk about her interest in the intersection of science and theater. During their conversation, Zivkovic brought up sex repeatedly, mentioning his prior attendance at a strip club, his unhappiness with his sex life with his wife, an affair he once had...it goes on:

None of these topics were invited by me. I tried to listen politely and nod when he paused, but otherwise not engage or encourage him. He seemed not to notice how uncomfortable I was. I was trying to mitigate the situation as it was unfolding?which I later read is a common immediate response to trauma, trying to minimize it or pretend it didn't happen. In my head, I told myself that I could still write for him, as long as I didn't meet with him in person ever again. At the end of the meeting, I hugged him, which may seem bizarre; but earlier he'd identified himself as a "hugging person" and so do I, generally, and I was still in shock and trying to smooth over the incident.

Unprofessional sure, but traumatic?

[Eduard van Haalen]

A guy chats up a woman he doesn't know at a conference about his sex life and how he had an affair and went to a strip club...that *ought* to be shocking! Before trying something like that, he should run it by his wife.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Ross Perot used to fire adulterers, on the grounds that "if your wife can't trust you, how can I?"

[Coeus]

the true measure of harassment:

LettersInABubbleUArchibald_Cunningham1L
Is there an equivalent to "pretty lady?" Is that even considered harassment? He doesn't say it in a creepy way, he doesn't ever hit on me, and I'm friends with his girlfriend. It seemed harmless, but now you've got me wondering. Today 4:00pm

Archibald_CunninghamULettersInABubble1L
It can only depend on how you feel. I, personally, wouldn't like it in the workplace. Yes I have used that term but only with friends. Doing in the workplace draws attention to your appearance. That's why I wouldn't like it.
4:03pm

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Say No to Libertarian Alliances

Yet I cannot support this coalition or the rally. It is fatally compromised by the prominent leadership and participation of the Libertarian Party and other libertarian student groups; their hard-core ideology stands in direct opposition to almost everything I believe in as a social democrat.

The Libertarian Party itself is a right-wing political party that opposes all gun control laws and public healthcare, supported the government shutdown, dismisses public education, opposes organized labor, favors the end of Social Security as we know it, and argues in its formal political manifesto that "we should eliminate the entire social welfare system" while supporting "unrestricted competition among banks and depository institutions of all types."

Yet my progressive friends would take the stage with the representatives of this political movement? Why? The loss is much greater than the gain. Organizers trade their own good names and reputations to stand alongside ? and convey legitimacy to ? a party that opposes communitarian participation in liberal society, and rejects the very role of government itself. And their own argument for privacy is weakened by the pollution of an ideology that uses its few positive civil liberties positions as a predator uses candy with a child.

I love that predator with candy analogy.

[Ted S.]

The actual predator with candy can only molest one child at a time.

Government can screw all the children in one go by destroying the rule of law and equality under the law.

[John]

The police state is just fine as long as it is our police state I guess.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Hello little girl, I've got some civil liberties in my van.

[PD Scott]

"Wanna assemble freely, little girl?"

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Don't tell your parents, but I want to be the first one to cut your taxes.

[Eduard van Haalen]

You seem to know a lot about luring girls into vans.

[Whahappan?]

Where's Old Man With Candy when you need him?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Show us on the doll where the libertarian engaged in voluntary transaction.

[PapayaSF]

+1

[Coeus]

Or libertarianism itself will rise, and our loss of liberty will be greater still. That's because libertarianism is a form of authoritarianism disguised in a narrow slice of civil liberties. In trumpeting the all-knowing, ever wise wonders of the totally free and unencumbered market, it bestows all the power on those with access to capital. You may say we're there already, but under a pure libertarian system, things would get much worse.

Writing in the Guardian about the growing UK Independence party, a libertarian political group in Britain, Ed Rooksby notes that: "As paradoxical as it may seem, rightwing libertarianism has always been a deeply authoritarian political philosophy. It claims to value liberty in some general and all-encompassing sense above all other principles, but the particular types of freedom libertarianism seeks to defend and extend are always, tacitly and implicitly, forms of liberty for the few at the expense of the many. Thus libertarianism stands for the unfreedom of the majority."

That is a whole lot of words for "It would be worse, but we can't quantify how" and "they don't believe in free shit stolen from others".

[Mad Scientist]

I want to be free to be told what size soda I can buy, rather than toiling under the terrible burden of having to decide for myself. Also, I don't want other people taunting me with their ability to decide for themselves, so it's important that we're all free to be told what size soda to buy.

[Juice]

The Libertarian Party ... opposes organized labor

It does?

[kbolino]

Progs don't read much Bastiat.

[Brett L]

Well, we do are hostile to unions that want to make membership a requirement of employment, and use the government to leverage negotiations via coercion. That said, I think you'll find Tucille (maybe?) particularly hostile to anti-collective bargaining that is voluntary in nature. I am sympathetic to this. The Pullman Porters and coal miners and longshoremen didn't unionize so they could get a bonus for having a master's degree. Their families were literally starving if the worker got hurt, and barely eating if he didn't.

[Paul.]

A man is suing the NYPD after he was arrested for possession of meth. The meth in question later turned out to be jolly ranchers.

In a city hell bent on going after sugary drinks, trans fats and other dangers to public health, are these details really important?

[Enough About Palin]

"Nobody has ever seen such a well-preserved skull from this period. This is the first complete skull of an adult early Homo. They simply did not exist before."

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-P.....n-Ancestor

[John]

How did they know it was an early Homo? Did he die interior decorating? Did they find a cache of fossilized Judy Garland records nearby?

[Eduard van Haalen]

I anticipated that someone would do that joke, but I didn't anticipate the details. Good one.

[John]

NTTAWWT Judy had a nice voice and who doesn't want a properly decorated living room?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I hope everybody has ordered their White Ribbons for Pornography Awareness Week! SoCons are counting on you to show your opposition to this scourge.

-The 26th Annual White Ribbon Against Pornography Week is October 27th ? November 3rd this year. Will you join hundreds of other groups and thousands of citizens around the country to raise awareness about the flood-tide of pornography pouring into our nation's communities, homes, and children's minds? Participate this week and pledge to take action against pornography throughout the year!

http://pornharms.com/beaware/about-wrap

[Night Elf Mohawk]

What's the appropriate pro-porn ribbon color?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Depends on your particular fetish.

[Ted S.]

I think they use bandanas, not ribbons.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

What's the ribbon for ethnic fetishes?

[Coeus]

What's the ribbon for ethnic fetishes?

I just use a punch card.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Blue, of course.

[PD Scott]

With irregular white spots.

[SugarFree]

What's the appropriate pro-porn ribbon color?

Herpes.

[Tejicano]

Any shade of gray.

[Agammamon]

I think we're all quite aware of the flood-tide of pornography, thank you very much.

I think their pitch should be more in the vein of making *other* people aware of how many oppose the flood-tide (all 100 of them) rather than pitching awareness of the tide itself.

[PapayaSF]

Just wait until they see where I'm wearing my ribbon!

[Enough About Palin]

Near-Toothless Man Gets 7 Years For Gnawing and Biting Neighbor's Penis in Argument Over Loud Music

http://www.breitbart.com/Insta.....Loud-Music

[trshmnstr]

How the... What the.... How does this even happen? You start off with him complaining about loud music, but how does it get from that to him gnawing on your knob?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Scientists map out personality traits across America

Common sense tells us that people with similar personality traits tend to flock together, and according to a new study, the same principle holds true for Americans living in different parts of the U.S.
Research conducted by Dr Peter J. Rentfrow, of the University of Cambridge, has revealed that Americans living in the north-central Great Plains and the South tend to be conventional and friendly; those who reside in the Western and Eastern seaboards can be described as relaxed and creative, while New England and Mid-Atlantic dwellers are prone to being temperamental and uninhibited.
The study dividing the map of the U.S. into three regions marked by distinct personalities was published online October 14 by the American Psychological Association's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

West Coasters tend to be 'relaxed and creative'.

[Winston]

Jerry Brown is a transplant?

[Agammamon]

And yet, AZ is *more* creative and relaxed.

Though I'm not sure how 'uninhibited' those in the NE are - temperamental certainly, but uninhibited?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Though I'm not sure how 'uninhibited' those in the NE are - temperamental certainly, but uninhibited?

You've never partied with me, if you have to ask that.

[Enough About Palin]

Near-Toothless Man Gets 7 Years For Gnawing and Biting Neighbor's Penis in Argument Over Loud Music

http://www.breitbart.com/Insta.....Loud-Music

[Winston]

You Know Who Else double posted?

[Marshall Gill]

Ted S.?

[Enough About Palin]

Almost 15 percent of American teens and young adults are neither in school nor working.

In my neighborhood, it's more like 50%.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

ESPN's Lee Corso draws fire for dressing up as Florida Seminole on ESPN's College Football Game Day

This unseemly episode is the result of two traditions. The first has to do with Florida State University, which has taken the nickname "Seminoles" from the Native American tribe with a long and unfortunate history in Florida. The university's tradition, since 1978 anyway, is to have a man, dressed up like a tribal "chief" named Osceola (n? William Powell), ride out atop a horse named "Renegade" onto Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee before home games and throw a flaming spear into the ground at midfield while the crowd goes wild. Here is the list of "Osceolas" (and "Renegades") over the years.
[...]
Evidently, no one at ESPN stopped to think: "Hey, maybe some folks might consider Corso's dance inappropriate" especially for a network that has covered the "Redskins" controversy and has a huge stake in the success and reputation of the National Football League (and college football, for that matter). And clearly no one afteward at the network seemed inclined to offer any sort of explanation or rationale for what had just aired.

[John]

Nothing says racism like naming your football team after a group. I mean respecting them as part of your history and holding them up as an ideal for your team to follow is totally the racist. I mean just totally the racist.

[T]

As PJ O'Rourke once said, there's a reason there's no team named the New York Kikes.

[John]

That would be because Kike is a no kidding racial slur. But what if rather than the New York Knicks, it was the New York Hebrews? Unless they had an insulting mascot, why would that be wrong?

[Rich]

How about the New York Mohels?

Instead of "DEEEFENSE!" the fans could yell "FOOORESKIN!"

[John]

How is it different than the Boston Celtics?

[Brett L]

I think we pay them enough to take some liberties. Also, at least 2 of the last 5 "Chief Osceolas" have been white, maybe all 5. And the Seminole Tribe of FL has no problem whatsoever. Especially since all tribe-members get free educations at FSU.

[Suthenboy]

Well, Seminole means 'runaway' because the Seminole tribe is a mixture of various indian tribes and escaped slaves.

I dont consider them to be native americans any more than any other cultural group that has indian mixed in, which would be almost any cultural group in the U.S..

[Generic Stranger]

Doesn't FSU have the express permission of the Seminole Tribe to use their name and likeness?

I seem to recall that FSU and the Seminole tribes have a pretty good relationship.

[Brett L]

Yes. TK Weatherell told the NCAA to stick it up their ass when they tried that "no native american mascots" policy. With the elders of the Seminole Tribe of FL (who own the Hard Rock franchise and are probably the richest identifiable group on Earth not sharing more than 25% of their genetic material with Sam Walton) standing behind him while he did so. TK is a SOB, but he's our SOB.

[Winston]

From Reason 24/7

Must be that new Math

Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday the average number of mass shooting incidents has tripled in recent years.

Between 2000 and 2008, the U.S. experienced an average of five mass shootings every year. Since then the annual average has tripled, Holder said. So far in 2013, there have been at least 12, he said.

[Suthenboy]

Is this the same Eric Holder who thinks we should brainwash people against guns?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Europeans freak out a circumcision more than other countries, practice cultural imperialism, says an American-born Jewish Scotsman named McDonald.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.553482

[Eduard van Haalen]

Now Ha'aretz has a paywall.

[insert nasty Cartmanesque slur]

[Coeus]

Someone thought this was clever.

Not sure why. Is there a rash of guys stating that when they wake up with a fat chick and no memory of the event that it's rape?

[Eduard van Haalen]

From a quick skimming of the article, it seems the author is satirizing the very idea that college women should limit their drinking to avoid getting into a situation where they might be raped. Well, you sexists, what if we gave similar messages of restraint to college *men* - you'd hate that, wouldn't you, you double-standard having sexist chauvinist pigs!!! Ooh, men are so *icky!*

Though they don't technically refute the point that coeds shouldn't be getting wasted at fraternity parties. But that doesn't matter, because there are more important things than logic - like venting rage at the Patriarchy!

[Eduard van Haalen]

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so - Ezra Klein says problems with Obamacare show the need for single payer:

"The part of Obamacare that's troubled is the part Democrats lifted from Republican policymakers. It's the part that tries to integrate private insurance companies with government systems in order to create a universal insurance system that's subsidized by the state but run by private companies. The part that's working well is Medicaid -- which is to say, the part that's working well is the part that expands an existing, government-run, single-payer system....

"Obamacare isn't "the left's" grand plan. Their grand plan is Medicare-for-all. Obamacare is a compromise between the left's vision of universal health care and the right's hatred of government-run insurance. It's based off a blueprint developed by the Heritage Foundation...

"The case that can be made against the difficulties of implementing a system this complex isn't a case for the status quo....It's a case for a much simpler, government-run health-care system."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....-it-fails/

[Irish]

"Obamacare isn't "the left's" grand plan. Their grand plan is Medicare-for-all. Obamacare is a compromise between the left's vision of universal health care and the right's hatred of government-run insurance. It's based off a blueprint developed by the Heritage Foundation...

Ezra is fucking insufferable. The left has a 'vision' but the right has 'hatred.'

You could just as easily say 'Obamacare is a compromise between the right's vision of health care choice and the left's hatred of private initiative.' It would be equally accurate.

[Pro Libertate]

It would be more fucking accurate. I'd like my healthcare prices to be like my TV prices--ever falling for better and better technology.

[Auric Demonocles]

Instead you will get it like your TV service prices: ever increasing, crappy customer service, and being forced to buy a bunch of stuff you don't want.

Ps: I finally got sick of having to request the desktop site to reply to comments and got the ap. As you would expect from an evil corporation, they want access to my location info and the ap doesn't even show the comments!

[PapayaSF]

After all, the history of the 20th century proved that single-payer is the optimum way of providing food, housing, clothing, education, publishing, broadcasting, retail, and all manufactured goods. Why wouldn't it be best for health care?

[Pro Libertate]

Is it single-payer or single-sayer? Or, perhaps, single-slayer?

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Or, perhaps, single-slayer?

She is the chosen one.

[Ayn Random Variation]

Single prayer

[Ayn Random Variation]

And so we have this week's talking point: It's the Heritage Foundation's plan, and they're Republicans, so it's the Republican's fault.

So now the usual susppects will finally have something to say on the OC threads tomorrow.

[Ayn Random Variation]

Republicans'

[Ayn Random Variation]

"The case that can be made against the difficulties of implementing a system this complex isn't a case for the status quo....It's a case for a much simpler, government-run health-care system."

These people are fucking insane. For 3 years they talk about how great this will be, but now it's too much to expect the gov't to set up a web site in 3 years for $400 million so 30 million uninsured people can get insurance, so the "simple" solution is to have them completely take over the whole system for 300 million people?

We are so fucked.

[Eduard van Haalen]

In Western Australia, fertility clinics may reject male embryos in favor of female embryos in the case of clients whose families are at "high risk" for autism:

"There are no genetic tests for autism, so instead of looking for a gene mutation, the screening identifies the embryo's sex because boys are at least four times more likely to develop autism....

"It differs from prenatal testing of babies in the womb, which checks for conditions such as Down syndrome and can result in parents opting for a termination.

"[Govt spokesman says] "There is currently no specific genetic test for autism but males are about four to five times more likely to have the disorder."

"...[the same spokesman, or perhaps a different one] said selecting a female embryo to reduce the chance of autism would only be done in the context of a family at high risk."

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewe.....or-autism/

[Francisco d Anconia]

Just pointing out that it wasn't a trenchcoat.

[RBS]

What if he was wearing hoodie?

[Hyperion]

Well, no, but if he would have been wearing camo pants and a Duck Dynasty tee shirt, then that's a sure sign you're looking at trouble.

[CE]

You know who else ruled a country and had attractive daughters?

[playa manhattan]

Go on...

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Yeah, but how will that look on TV? Heavily armed Russian police and the military walking around fully armed. Helicopters flying everywhere.

I wouldn't want to be there as a spectator. .

[John]

Still learning how to skate. I am getting better. I can skate well enough for it to be a workout. But still can't do crossovers and am not good at skating backwards. When I get those two down, I am going to take some stick and puck lessons and then join a league.

[Hyperion]

Or that his parents shop for clothing at the Walmart.

[Bam!]

"Heavily armed Russian police and the military walking around fully armed. Helicopters flying everywhere."

Pretty much what you'd except from Russia.

[Tejicano]

Yeah. With Russian security collateral damage is to be expected.

[VG Zaytsev]

Heavily armed Russian police and the military walking around fully armed. Helicopters flying everywhere.

Sounds like DC during a government shutdown.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I recently read up on the Columbine shooter. The killers were themselves bullies who liked to pick on the freshmen. The whole bullied-kids-getting-their-revenge-on-the-world thing was pretty much invented out of whole cloth and became an excuse to make bullied kids' lives worse by treating them as potential killers.

The Columbine killers give off a distinct Loeb and Leopold vibe - seeing themselves as Nietszchean superment who are vastly superior to the vulgar herd, which apparently needed some culling.

The media blew this case like the blew the Shepard case - each time so support some 1990s PC bull hockey.

[RBS]

The greatest sin of all.

[Restoras]

Back in the day, I had friends that formed a team and called themselves The Tripods, due to their lack of ability...

[John]

I have a skating instructor I see once a week. She is great. And yeah, it is all about weight distribution and learning how to lean into your skates and bending at the knees and ankles not at the waist. Easier said than done. But it is coming.

[Enough About Palin]

I wish. Camden-Webber. Got to see kids shooting at each other Friday evening (Dowling and Fremont). The kid I saw firing a black handgun looked to be having fun, as if he were truly in his element.

[Francisco d Anconia]

If you've got a link for that, I'd like to read it. I always suspected such. They were a little too hip and from well to do families to be the "picked on" crowd.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Here's the book I read:

http://www.amazon.com/Columbin.....=columbine

Washington Post review:

"In "Columbine," his exhaustive and supremely level-headed examination of the Littleton school massacre, journalist Dave Cullen demonstrates that we really don't know this story....[H]is conclusion is arresting: namely, that the public's understanding of this supposedly archetypal mass shooting is almost entirely wrong....Far from feckless pariahs, in fact, the two shooters in the Columbine case -- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold -- were smart, reasonably popular kids who doled out more bullying than they ever suffered. Their shooting spree was not some precipitous act of revenge against specific tormentors, but more like an elaborately planned theater piece, worked out almost a year in advance, designed to demonstrate their innate superiority by indiscriminately killing as many victims as possible."

http://www.amazon.com/Columbin.....55&s=books

[Eduard van Haalen]

Plus they planted some bombs - their plan was to gun down the survivors as they fled the school. Fortunately, the bombs didn't do anything harmful.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Thx.

[Francisco d Anconia]

How much of what we think we know is wrong because the media has an agenda?

[SIV]

Utah is a country?

[John]

They get every story wrong it seems. Did you see the new book on the Matthew Shepherd murder? Turns out his killer was his gay lover and the whole thing had to do with a meth deal. It was not a hate crime.