A.M. Links: Obama Administration To Call in Scholars To Help With Obamacare Site, 16 of 26 Presidential Candidates Disqualified in Afghanistan, Prosecutors Say Slain Tsarnaev Brother Was Named in Triple Homicide

Credit: The White House

• The Obama administration will be calling in scholars known for their technological expertise and familiarity with government programs to help address glitches affecting the health insurance exchange website, which Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) jokingly said is being run by Nigerian email scammers.
• The Independent Election Commission in Afghanistan has disqualified 16 of the 26 presidential candidates, saying that the candidates had either kept citizenship from another country or did not have evidence of enough support.
• Federal prosecutors claim that Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed shortly after the attack, was named by Ibragim Todashev as a participant in a triple homicide. Todashev was shot and killed by authorities during questioning.
• The readouts released by France and the U.S. of the conversation between Obama and Hollande on the NSA spying on French phone records are different.
• The White House reportedly fired National Security Council staffer Jofi Joseph last week after it was discovered that he was behind the twitter account @natsecwonk, which included some rather unflattering posts relating to officials in the Obama administration.
• Peru's air force has reopened its Department of Investigation of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena, which researches reports of UFOs and extraterrestrial sightings.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) jokingly said is being run by Nigerian email scammers.

2002 called...

[Restoras]

Ten year old phishing to go with the ten year old tech?

[BakedPenguin]

I think Fist was going after "ten year old joke".

[SugarFree]

2002 called...

Did you warn them about the tsunami in 2004? Or Katrina? Or Obama? They'd have plenty of time to save all those people!

[Fist of Etiquette]

I did warn them that people will be using the "so and so called, they want their whatever back" joke well past its prime and suggested they try to nip that in the bud.

[Enough About Palin]

Hey Fist, the jerk store called...

[Thane of Steelport]

Well I slept with your wife!

[RBS]

His wife is in a coma.

[SForza]

No, it's his girlfriend in a coma.

[Thane of Steelport]

Unless that's a joke I'm missing, it was definitely his wife.

[0x90]

It's really serious.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I know, I know.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Everyone knows it's moved on to Kenya.

[pan fried wylie]

Fucking outsourcing!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The White House reportedly fired National Security Council staffer Jofi Joseph last week after it was discovered that he was behind the twitter account @natsecwonk...

Also, tweeting is beneath the dignity of the White House.

[Snark Plissken]

The White House reportedly fired National Security Council staffer Jofi Joseph last week after it was discovered that he was behind the twitter account @natsecwonk, which included some rather unflattering posts relating to officials in the Obama administration.

Twitter is for closers brown-nosers.

[Lord Humungus]

Yes, the "Brosurance" Keg Stand Obamacare Ad Is Real. Meet the Guy Who Made It.

[Brett L]

My days of not taking Obamacare seriously are certainly coming to a middle.

[Snark Plissken]

Sign up for health insurance now and get a lifetime supply of Axe Body Spray, bro.

[Brett L]

Why does Obamacare condone date rape?

[Snark Plissken]

Coercion is only cool when the State does it, bro.

[#]

Well, in order to prevent a death spiral, they do need a whole bunch of young men who are also dumb enough to way overpay for insurance to sign up. So I guess they are hitting the right target audience.

[Auric Demonocles]

Don't tap into that beer money to pay for medical bills! Instead, tap into to pay for insurance premiums!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"After a night of binge-drinking, you don't want to be caught without insurance when you run your car into head-on traffic!"

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I'm not going to sugarcoat this, Browns fan let down that waitresses all remind him of Golden Girl Bea Arthur
...I got the email today for season tickets. This is always a sad time for me, I can finally afford them, but have since moved away. I guess it will be another season of second hand smoke and 27 year old bar waitresses that look 40 and sound like Bea Arthur. Who needs church with a Sunday ritual like that...

[waffles]

Way to tow the lion with the meme-combinations.

[Clich? Bandit]

C-C-C-OMBO BREAKER!!!!

[hamilton]

The Jacket Godwins Crossfire.

Nick must be getting sensitive about all those Cosmotarian jibes.

[sarcasmic]

Please don't tell me Van Jones got the best of Nick. Say it isn't so.

[hamilton]

Sure looks that way. Hey, at least he was able to join the mainstream in confusing libertarians with Ted Cruz Teathuglican types. So there's that.

[sarcasmic]

And we libertarians wonder why people think we're a joke. Thanks, Nick.

[mr simple]

Breaking: Nick Gillespie Not Sure if Hitler Was Worse Than Nixon.

Burn.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Of course Hitler was worse than Nixon. What is not apparent is if Mussolini was worse than Nixon.

The worst of them all of course are Mao and Stalin, but they got a pass when someone decided "genocide" is the only form of mass murder that is acceptable to talk about.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Jesus fuckstick Nick, how hard is it to not mention Hitler on tv?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, who else can you think of that was in a bunker? I refuse to even call this a Godwin because he was using it in reference not to how bad Hitler was but how insulated.

Also, the most significant world event of the 20th Century and it's off limits as a reference? I hereby renounce the Godwin principle and will be referring to World War II and its principal actors whenever I feel it appropriate. You Hitlers.

[RBS]

I'm with Fist on this one.

[hamilton]

It's not off limits as a reference you stupid Goebbels. It just turns off the brain of every Chamberlain who hears it.

[Killazontherun]

Chamberlain, the great British patriot who bought them time to prepare for a war they had little means to fight at the time? Why, yes, a master strategist like that would indeed be turned off.

[Killazontherun]

Though, purely at the point counting distraction of it.

[Jose Chung]

"It just turns off the brain of every Chamberlain..."

Redundant.

[sarcasmic]

You know who else renounced the Godwin principle?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Nick Gillespie.

[Zeb]

Godwin only applies to internet discussion threads anyway.

[Citizen Nothing]

Doesn't Mike Godwin comment on H&R occasionally? What'da say, Mike? Does this meet the standard?

[Stormy Dragon]

Hey! Hey! We're not Hitlers, we're little Eichmanns!

[John]

It was a perfectly appropriate comment and metaphor. Nick just made a point these people didn't like but couldn't refuse. So, they played the "I am offended" card in hopes of changing the subject.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Sure, but you know the other side is going to only hear "Obama is Hitler" and go apeshit from there.

[Gene]

What's the GD big deal?

[Brett L]

Godwin's rule. The first team to invoke Hitler loses the argument. Because

[Jordan]

That's not Godwin's rule.

[Jordan]

It's a stupid corollary.

[Brett L]

Actually, for some reason it cut off my explanation that argumentum ad Hitlerum is intellectually lazy.

Yes, I am aware that the actual law is that the longer a usenet thread, the higher the probability of one side comparing the other side to Nazis approaches unity. When this happens, new information content in the thread goes to zero. But the corollary isn't stupid. Even if the analogy is occasionally apt, it is lazy to not find another one that isn't tired and overused by the intellectually challenged.

[Jordan]

What's intellectually lazy about saying that somebody is as insulated as Hitler was in his bunker? That's not what the typical Nazi comparison is.

[Tonio]

So, analogies must be fresh and hip to be valid. Got it.

[Brett L]

No, just not so overused, and often wrongly, that even a perfectly apt use gets blown off. He gave them a chance to get off the hook of the actual argument. And anyone who discusses policy and politics should have known that would happen.

[Fist of Etiquette]

So, analogies must be fresh and hip to be valid.

His goal is to convince the listener, so fortunately or unfortunately Hitler references are off the table not because you or I think they aren't appropriate but because it's likely the person you're trying to convince will have an adverse kneejerk reaction. Validity isn't the problem.

[hamilton]

This. For all the "libertarian moment" bullshit that has been popping up of late (and we at HampersandR have been rightfully pessimistic of this anyway), the way to totally blow it all to shit is to play into the TEAM's framing of libertarians as tinfoil hat racist elitist assholes (even though they got that last part right). Theoretically we all have some interest in trying to promote this shit broadly. And for god's sake when we get one of our less nutjobby guys on TV you'd think we could do a little GD prep. If you're cautious enough not to say "God Damn" on TV, you maybe just maybe might have thought through your talking points just a tough earlier.

Jesus.

[hamilton]

tough touch earlier

[Rabban]

Shudder, I find myself agreeing with Tonio.

[Bobarian]

Why not find one that is tired and overused by the intellectually challenged?

BOOOOOSHH!

Wasn't Cheney in a Bunker?

[Lord Humungus]

Meanwhile in Venezuela:

3800 More Toilet Paper Packs Found Hoarded

It was determined that the products were absent from the shelves in spite of being stored in the warehouse, restricting consumer access to these goods.

The establishment where the goods were found was not identified by name or RIF (commercial registration), however, the property serves as a warehouse of goods and food from the aforementioned store.

The legal representative of the business was put under preventative arrest under conditions of the public prosecutor.

In addition, the goods seized shall be put up for sale at fair prices in the markets Fundaci?n Mercados de Zulia (Fundamercado), the organization in Zula that facilitates the selling of products directly to the people.

[Austrian Anarchy]

"Hoarding" seems to be the magic word for the Leftist Economists.

[Restoras]

Well it certainly gives them an even stronger motivation to liquidate wreckers and kulaks.

[CatoTheElder]

Toilet paper hoarders are far worse than the typical kulak who is, after all, just a small-time farmer who oppresses a few peasants. Sure, the kulak is worthy of death for his crimes, but toilet paper hoarder is far, far more treacherous.

The toilet paper hoarder is a SPECULATOR who deprives the People of goods necessary for basic human needs, all in pursuit a profit that does nothing for the common good. The SPECULATOR, attempting to satisfy his limitless greed, is fundamentally anti-social; he oppresses the entire People, mercilessly depriving them of basic needs. The toilet paper hoarder is, therefore, an enemy of the People and, thus, an enemy of the state as it serves to protect democratic socialism and the rights of the proletariat.

???? DEATH TO SPECULATORS !!!!

[Lord Humungus]

Lenin just called with a job offer.

[Lady Bertrum]

In my house we don't call it 'hoarding'; it's called 'saving'. But, then, what can you expect from a bunch of Kulaks?

[trshmnstr]

You dirty PREPPER!!

[BakedPenguin]

...preventative arrest...

Yeah, leftists, tell us how great socialism is again. Also, they are hoarding TP, for fuck's sake. Idiots.

[Enough About Palin]

3800 More Toilet Paper Poo Tickets Packs Found Hoarded

[Numeromancer]

That place has gone downhill since the TP mines were emptied. It's too bad toilet paper is a non-renewable resource.

Nature is just cruel sometimes. What can you do?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Revealed: How GPs are paid ?50 bonus to put elderly on 'death lists'
GPs have been paid bonuses to put elderly patients on controversial 'death lists' in an attempt to save the NHS money by cutting the number of people who die in hospital.

They have been given ?50 a time to draw up 'end-of-life advanced care plans' for patients they predict will pass away within a year.

The payments are designed to encourage doctors to start talking about death with elderly and seriously ill patients and to keep a record of where, ideally, they would like to die. ...

[Zeb]

Now, I obviously don't think the NHS is a good thing for many reasons. But how bad is this really? They are making lists of people who are likely to die soon. Not lists of people to murder. The UK does allow private insurance and private hospitals. If they wanted to drag out the end of their lives in hospitals, they should have saved up so they can afford it.

[CatoTheElder]

I pretty much agree.

However, it is another confirmation that Sarah Palin was not quite as doltish as some think when she spoke of 'death panels'.

End-of-life standards based upon economic imperatives are essential for socialized medicine to work. Most people only face decisions related to end-of-life issues a few times in their own lives. It is a good thing that they have objective, professional counsel regarding such decisions. Unfortunately, under socialized medicine, their counsel is not objective because it has an economic interest in ending life sooner rather than later.

[John]

The problem with socialized medicine is that you end up with a one size fits all rule, because that is how bureacracies work. What is end of life care and what is treating the really sick is incredibly fact specific. One case with just a slightly different set of facts be either a waste of resources on a dying person or a cure that gives someone extra years of life. Worse still, many times we only know treatment is "end of life care" until after it doesn't work. If I get in a car accident this evening and am in the ICU, my medical care could either be another example of spending huge amounts of money on a dying person or another example of the miracle of modern trauma care depending on whether I make it or not. The docs of course have no way of knowing that when I come in. Maybe I am an obvious hopeless case. But more likely, I am a "he might make it case."

When bureacratize that sort of decision making, you end up with rules. And those rules inevitably get applied in unjust and horrible ways. Worse still, the people making those rules have no interest in saving people. Their interest is in saving money. They don't save money by treating people. They save money by declaring a person "hopeless" and cutting off treatment. So, "stopping needless end of life treatment" quickly becomes "stop treating the seriously ill".

[tarran]

^^^ THIS

It actually happened in England.

It was very bad.

[Jose Chung]

You can almost hear Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony while reading this tidbit.

[sarcasmic]

Pictured: Patriots fan, 26, punched in the face by Jets supporter as SHE is charged with assault for 'throwing the first punch'
Jaclyn Nugent, 26, has been charged with assault along with rival Jets fan and convicted killer Kurt Paschke
Her friends and fellow Patriots supporters Amanda MacDowell and David James Sacco also charged

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....schke.html
He only did what his cop dad would have done! I mean, a little woman like that can make a grown man fear for his life! She's lucky he didn't kill her like the kid he stabbed to death when he was a teenager!

[Ted S.]

The real question is, is it you or John who would fuck her?

[mr simple]

Police have reviewed the fight and found that both MacDowell and Nugent were first observed kicking and punching Paschke...Nugent is a 26-year-old graduate from the University of Massachusetts, with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice and Corrections.

Leading with violence is just something they teach in that program.

[sarcasmic]

The assault charge will look good on her resume when she applies to be a cop.

[Restoras]

I'm sure the MA state police will view it as a positive, especially since it was a Jets fan.

[Drake]

http://nypost.com/2013/10/22/w.....h-assault/

There is more to the story - apparently 2 of his friends ended up in the hospital from the brawl.

[Restoras]

Not to be flippant but I am filing this under the "So?" category...

I've been to Yankee Stadium wearing Red Sox gear and never had a problem. What the hell is wrong with these clowns?

[Ted S.]

It's Noo Yawkers versus Massholes. We're supposeed to give a shit?

[Restoras]

Absolutely not. In fact, if I were the fan of another TEAM I'd probably hope they both annihilated each other. Just sayin' is all.

[WTF]

I've been to Yankee Stadium wearing Red Sox gear and never had a problem.

I've sat next to Red Sox fans at Yankee Stadium,including playoff games, and as long as they don't go out of their way to deliberately provoke anyone, I've never seen a problem.

[gaijin]

I'm not advocating that guys should be able to punch women, but I am glad that she was charged too. Violence isn't ok just because one has a vag.

[Citizen Nothing]

I'm a straight-up feminist. If a woman punches you first, it's ok to fight back.

[WTF]

It does look like she initiated the violence.

[Zeb]

I see no reason why a man should not be able to hit a woman under the same circumstances in which it would be OK to hit another man. If you don't want to get hit, don't start a fight. You have the right to defend yourself no matter who is attacking you. It doesn't take a huge amount of strength to do some damage by punching someone in the face.

[RBS]

If you don't want to get hit, don't start a fight.

This.

[RBS]

The incident was caught on video showing a large man wearing camouflage shorts and a Wayne Chrebet jersey

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Thousands Of Consumers Get Insurance Cancellation Notices Due To Health Law Changes
...Florida Blue, for example, is terminating about 300,000 policies, about 80 percent of its individual policies in the state. Kaiser Permanente in California has sent notices to 160,000 people ? about half of its individual business in the state. Insurer Highmark in Pittsburgh is dropping about 20 percent of its individual market customers, while Independence Blue Cross, the major insurer in Philadelphia, is dropping about 45 percent....

[Jordan]

Guess they didn't like their plans. That line's never going to get old.

[Auric Demonocles]

The only other conclusion is that Obama was wrong/lying. Since that is impossible, they must have not liked it!

[Spoonman.]

Holy shit, 45%? IBX has been doing a huge amount of advertising lately, I guess because they know 45% of their customers are about to hate them.

[Palin's Buttplug]

They should add an extra plan level to Obamacare to replace these plans. Call it "Shit" - low liability.

Do you want Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Shit? - would be a nice web question.

[Restoras]

Good Statist! Good boy! Do you want a treat? Do ya boy? How about the scraps off my table! Here you go! Yes, good boy, good boy...yummy, aren't they?

[KDN]

In a related story, Shriek believes in a Customer Protection and Affordable Retail Act that will restrict WalMart et al from offering discount clothing. Who needs a pair of jeans that falls apart in 3 months anyway? There oughta be a law against those shenanigans.

[Jordan]

"If we let health insurers compete with each other, they'll only offer 1 plan!"

/Stalin's Buttboy

[Adam330]

Yeah, her new plan will be so much better than the old, what with its higher premium and higher deductible.

"Kris Malean, 56, lives outside Seattle, and has a health policy that costs $390 a month with a $2,500 deductible and a $10,000 in potential out-of-pocket costs for such things as doctor visits, drug costs or hospital care.

As a replacement, Regence BlueShield is offering her a plan for $79 more a month with a deductible twice as large as what she pays now, but which limits her potential out-of-pocket costs to $6,250 a year, including the deductible."

[CatoTheElder]

PB, glad to see you're back on your meds. Your comments last night were really incoherent, this comment actually makes sense.

Both sides are indeed distorting before-and-after price comparisons. Your side is comparing unsubsidized premiums (before) with subsidized premiums (after). ACA opponents compare premiums for low-liability coverage (before) with premiums for ACA-approved policies (after).

Both are rather disingenuous comparisons.

[Michael S. Langston]

Sorry - but comparing lost cost coverage that you had - with the lowest cost coverage you can now receive is not disingenuous.

Just as if the EPA changed regulations so much new cars cost twice as much - one wouldn't say "but you also get..." because you didn't "get" anything - you were "forced".

[John]

If the GOP wasn't the stupid party (I know but allow me a fantasy here), they would be running ads giving this fact and then showing various administration officials and Dems talking about how great Obamacare is with the final message of "if you lost your insurance because of Obamacare, the Democrats don't care about you and won't even acknowledge you exist". They need to put an end to this bullshit "but the Democrats care about me" line. They don't fucking care.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It's a good deal.

[sarcasmic]

The $75,000 balloon flights to the edge of space that will let you sip a drink at onboard BAR while soaring 19 miles above Earth
World View Enterprises announced plans Tuesday to send people up in a capsule, lifted 19 miles by a high-altitude balloon
The flight would take 90 minutes to go up at about 1,000 feet a minute, set sail up high for 2 hours
The luxury capsule will allow passengers to walk around and get a drink from the bar

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....space.html
"Hey babe, wanna join the nineteen mile high club?"

[Zeb]

I bet that would be pretty cool. But $75k seems pretty steep for a balloon ride, even with a pressurized capsule and all that.

[Jordan]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) jokingly said is being run by Nigerian email scammers.

RACIST! It's being run by a Kenyan scammer.

[Restoras]

Thread winner.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

'The Site Was Very Easy to Use'
..."The site was very easy to use," declares Deborah Lielasus, a self-employed quinquagenarian New Hampshire woman, who, according to the YouTube blurb, "will save hundreds of dollars each month" and "has better coverage, lower deductibles, and lower co-pays."

Did she really find the site "very easy to use"? We suppose this is subjective, and maybe she has preternatural patience or is some kind of computer savant. But National Review's Sterling Beard managed to track her down, and she "said it actually took her three days to enroll." The ad would be deceptive if it weren't so unbelievable to begin with.

There's another problem here: Lielasus is purportedly getting a free lunch: better coverage with lower premiums, deductibles and copayments than someone with her risk profile would be able to negotiate absent price controls. But people can get a free lunch only if other people pick up the tab. The technical term for those other people is "suckers." In the case of ObamaCare the suckers are young and healthy people who normally would be cheaper to insure. ...

[Longtorso, Johnny]

...According to NR's Beard, however, McNaughton is not a typical 22-year-old. He has served as "the webmaster of his local Democratic party," as "the chairman of the Young Democrats of Lee County and as a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention." In other words, he has a political motivation to participate in ObamaCare. If he's a sucker, he's like the sucker who joins a religious cult and gives it all his money.

But it turns out he isn't a sucker after all, for his lunch is, if not free, at least highly discounted. He says in the ad: "Getting coverage this good at this price, I'm thrilled." Beard reports McNaughton is receiving a $200-a-month subsidy from taxpayers on a $270 insurance plan. His premium may be enough to balance out some older person's price-controlled one, but it's paid for in part with money borrowed from the Chinese....

[Palin's Buttplug]

Fox News contributor signs up for Obamacare:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion.....uinea-pig/

[Michael S. Langston]

FTA:

But the fact is that ObamaCare has created a private marketplace

Says all you need to know about this brilliant Fox News contributor.

[sarcasmic]

Double dip for furloughed workers: Thousands will get to keep back-pay AND unemployment checks after being sent home for shutdown

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....hecks.html
Must be nice.

[Matrix]

how did they get unemployment checks? Well, at least here you gotta be unemployed for 30 days. They were out for about 2 weeks.

[Rasilio]

In most places your UE benefits kick in after you miss 1 week of work. You won't get your check for 1 - 2 weeks after that but if you were Furloughed for 2 weeks you would be eligible for 1 weeks Unemployment Insurance.

[Rich]

DAMN those Republicans!

[Tonio]

IIRC, unemployment benefits are state programs. Looks like the states were treating the federal government just like any other employer.

The states could pass legislation requiring employees who are later rehired and who receive back pay to repay their unemployment benefits.

[John]

WTF? I never signed up for UE because I would get back pay and have to give it back and so it wouldn't be worth the hassle. Silly me for not just knowing that it was okay to steal the money.

[sarcasmic]

Ha ha! Chump!

[sarcasmic]

Hundreds rally for teenager Daisy Coleman who says her sexual assault case involving a popular football player was ignored
The demonstration was organized by a women's rights activist
Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker will lead a re-investigation of the rape allegations made by Daisy Coleman
Coleman accused a Maryville, Missouri schoolmate of sexually assaulting her last year while another filmed the attack
But the case against Matthew Barnett and Jordan Zech was dropped suddenly before any verdict was reached
Media attention has focused on the possibility of a cover-up within the sleepy town
Some residents involved in the case have been attacked by members of hacker group Anonymous

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....nored.html
Randian knows he's innocent. He was there.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Randian knows he's innocent. He was there.

I mean she got drunk really fast. No one gets drunk that fast! And the timeline? Makes no sense! It takes at least half an hour to drive 3 miles in Kansas.

[sarcasmic]

Yeah! And drunk fourteen year olds are totally capable of consent! They're like adults and stuff!

[Outlaw]

Hopefully her and her family actually decide to cooperate with the police and prosecution this time, instead of just going on a media tour.

[Lord Humungus]

Women's breasts age faster than the rest of their body

Horvath says that, remarkably, their analysis shows that some parts of the body age at different rates. When they used their algorithm on healthy breast tissue from a group of women of average age 46, for example, it churned out a result that was on average two to three years older than the woman's actual age. Whereas in two groups aged 55 and 60 across both sexes, heart tissue appeared nine years younger than true age.

If it is known where the sample comes from, it is still possible to accurately predict age after some straightforward adjustment, says Horvath. However, in general, the algorithm is most accurate for samples from people under 30 years of age. "The older one gets, the less accurate it becomes," he says.

[Brett L]

Thanks. I referred to this yesterday but was too lazy to go get it.

[Auric Demonocles]

All parts are aging at the rate of 1 year/year.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...was named by Ibragim Todashev as a participant in a triple homicide. Todashev was shot and killed by authorities during questioning.

The DoJ should say Todashev also claimed that Tsarnaev was in charge of Fast and Furious.

[Rich]

+5.56

[WTF]

This doesn't look like they're covering tracks on a 'sting' operation that got out of control. Nope, not at all....

[CatoTheElder]

One of the most disconcerting aspects of being a libertarian is the understanding that it is simply not reasonable to give the government the benefit of the doubt.

I'd like to believe that law enforcement behaved properly in the Todashev case and that it is telling the truth. Really, I'd like to believe it and then forget about it.

The problem is that it is simply unreasonable to take their account at face value given the behavior of government officials and their agents over the past hundred years or so.

[sarcasmic]

TSA searching passengers before they even arrive at the airport by using property, work and car records

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

It means that the TSA can access a wide range of records, the Times reported, including tax identification number, past travel itineraries, property records, physical characteristics and law enforcement records.

Prove you're innocent! Prove it!

[WTF]

And they don't even need a warrant because FYTW!

[sarcasmic]

It's a dog's life! Ali Larter looks radiant as she picks up her beloved pooch Ella from the groomer

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....oomer.html
I miss Heroes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

She had the dumbest super power.

[sarcasmic]

And she looked damn good using it.

[bostonaod]

As near as I could tell, it was just being *really* crazy

[Ted S.]

It's not a superpower if it's something all women possess.

(This is why there are no female libertarians....)

[sarcasmic]

I lol'd

[Auric Demonocles]

It was actually super strength. She just didn't use it unless she was being crazy.

Then there was that weird other identical sister thing, and that was like power of cold I think?

[Reverend Mayhem]

It's J.J. Abrams -- what did you expect?

[Scotticus Finch]

What? No it wasn't.

[Mickey Rat]

Puny Fist call Hulk powerset dumb?!

Then Hulk smash puny Fist!!

[sarcasmic]

Illinois high school starts randomly testing students WEEKLY for drugs AND alcohol
The private St Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Chicago, will start testing its students this week by taking hair samples
Samples from 10 to 20 students will be chosen through random student ID selection
It will be conducted by a third party entity
Tests will reveal if a student has had alcohol or used drugs like ecstasy, cocaine or marijuana in the past 90 days
American Civil Liberties Union says there is no need 'for schools to be acting as uber-parents'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....cohol.html
Guilty until proven innocent.

[Jordan]

Guilty until proven innocent.

[Tonio]

Meh. Private school. 'Nuff said.

[bostonaod]

Guilty until proven innocent.

I was watching Lincoln the other day (it's on HBO), and was struck by the er.. wiggle room.. in the 13th.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

If we're all guilty of something..

[WTF]

So, you have to be convicted of a crime to be subject to the draft?

[robc]

Its a private school, I dont see the problem.

[Jordan]

They haven't violated the NAP, but they're still assholes and should be called on it.

[Citizen Nothing]

That's the beauty of libertopia: Everyone is free to be an asshole, and everyone is free to call out the assholes.

[robc]

Thats fine, but it would seem like the people paying money should be the ones calling them assholes.

If their customers are fine with it, why should any of their non-customers give a damn?

[Citizen Nothing]

Everyone is free to call out the assholes. Love Libertopia or leave it, baby.

[robc]

I said Im fine with it.

And what Im doing is calling out the assholes. The unconnected people criticizing this are the assholes.

I dont know why you would have a problem with me doing EXACTLY what you are suggesting.

[Citizen Nothing]

What the fuck? Are you calling me an asshole, robc?
Well -- good for you!!!!

[John]

In one sense yes. But in a larger sense I see the problem in that the parents there are going to take it and not send their kids to other schools. The fact that apparently a majority of parents who think this is okay and are in fact willing to pay to have it happen is disturbing.

[Auric Demonocles]

You can object to things without requesting government force stop it.

[robc]

And I can call you an asshole for objecting to it when its none of your business.

[Calidissident]

How is it being an asshole to object to something that doesn't personally affect you? I guess I'm an asshole for objecting the War on Drugs in general, since I don't do drugs.

[robc]

The WoD affects us all, or our pockbooks at minimum.

[mr simple]

Also, don't talk shit about other countries bad laws, because it's none of your business.

[Matrix]

It is a private school. But such policies should be told up front before the beginning of each school year.

[Ted S.]

The private St Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Chicago,

Sounds like a Catholic school. The students are going to test positive for the alcohol from the communion wine.

[Zeb]

In related news, half the student body has started shaving their heads.

[Invisible Finger]

It's a Catholic school. The priests will already have some of the pubes.

[PD Scott]

No one has called it St Violator? No one?

[Lord Humungus]

Sebelius: I Haven't Tried To Sign Up For Obamacare Because I Have Health Insurance

and

"We anticipated at the outset that everyone would never use the website," she said.

[Palin's Buttplug]

For a dreaded "government takeover of healthcare" remarkably few people need Obamacare.

[Jordan]

And yet everyone is subject to its 10,000 pages of regulations and dozen new taxes.

[wareagle]

that explains the litany of stories about people losing their coverage.

[Restoras]

Not to mention that enrollment periods haven't started yet for the upcoming year. November-December will see a lot more howling.

[PM]

Yeah, shreek, it's almost like it wasn't really necessary, eh?

[Pro Libertate]

It wasn't, and the Democrats knew that in the first place. So if it wasn't necessary for the stated reasons, why are they so committed to protecting the law?

[Lord Humungus]

Obama's signature legislation

[Auric Demonocles]

If he didn't do "healthcare reform", what did he accomplish?

More spying, wars, torture, spending, taxes, bailouts, cronyism, drug fights, and supplying bad guys with guns.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Assuaging a lot of liberal guilt since they finally got to elect a minority.

[Citizen Nothing]

America is way too racist to ever elect a black president to a third term.

[Pro Libertate]

He should've done as the Urkobold advised him: Built a space elevator/statue of Obama. Bestriding America like, well, a colossus.

[tarran]

Exactly!

[Pro Libertate]

Just for the record, this concept was independently derived. Was this Bender statue also a space elevator?

[tarran]

I don't believe so. The slaves working on it were suspended via rocket jet-packs, which probably are so cheap and ubiquitous as to make a space-elevator and expensive, wasteful boondoggle.

On the other hand wasteful boondoggles produced at other people's expense is something Bender would love, so there may be a space elevator shaft alongside the pipes carrying the fuel for the flaming eyes.

[Pro Libertate]

Good. I need a patent for a colossus/space elevator.

[Auric Demonocles]

That's too close to space law for you.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That sentence makes no sense.

If few people need it, then why was it introduced in the first place?

[Swiss Servator, O Luzern!]

No, no! The Progs insisted there were eleventy billion uninsured dying in the streets of Amerikkka.

[Rich]

"We anticipated at the outset that everyone would never use the website,"

W.T.F.

Then why (continue to) build it?

[Elspeth Flashman]

. . . that everyone would never use the website,"
What does this phrase even mean, that no one would ever use it? It makes no sense.

[Rich]

It means -- in modernspeak -- "that some people might not use the website".

[Elspeth Flashman]

Well, I'm old fashioned and think a person shouldn't speak that way, especially when they're trying to explain something to a few million people. Words mean something, in other words.

[Rich]

I agree completely.

One of my pet peeves is those auto commercials that state "Not all buyers will qualify".

"Sorry, your credit is impeccible -- but you're the last buyer, and we *said* ...."

Why is it so flipping difficult to state "Some applicants may not qualify" or (horrors!) "You may not qualify"?

[Zeb]

People really need to learn more second-order logic.

[PD Scott]

Clearly a Federal program is needed, Logicare.

[Swiss Servator, O Luzern!]

*golf clap*

[SweatingGin]

"We anticipated at the outset that everyone would never use the website," she said.

Seek immediate medical attention for a Schadenboner lasting longer than 4 hours.

This is almost as good a line as "Is it the shoulder thing that goes up?"

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yet all they did was brag about the hits it was getting in the first week! We get more than Apple!

Wow, wow, WOW.

Peter Principle all around!

[BakedPenguin]

No, Rufus. The Peter Principle assumes that a person actually had competency in something at one point.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

B-b-but.

Community organizing!

More like community agitation.

[Thane of Steelport]

We get more than Apple!

Why would you compare your traffic to a company whose business isn't web-based?

[DEG]

Gold on trees:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/22/.....?hpt=hp_c3

[Matrix]

There's gold in them thar trees!

[Lord Humungus]

and some local (Grand Rapids) news:

Man confesses to taking upskirt pictures of women waiting in line at grocery stores

"I anticipate you're going to hear from some very upset, and rightfully so, victims," Boivin said.

Boivin said Kosinski's plea means prosecutors will not add charges such as using a computer to commit a crime that could add years on to a potential sentence
.
Police said they found images of women's undergarment and private areas, some that somehow also included Kosinski's face.

[Tonio]

So, always use a film camera for this to limit "exposure"?

[Swiss Servator, O Luzern!]

*groans*

[Elspeth Flashman]

He photo-bombed the crotch shots, in other words. Tastefulness abounds!

[John]

With camera technology getting so small and cheap, I don't see how they will catch any of these perverts in the future. Maybe the dumb ones who brag about it on the internet or a few really unlucky ones. But the smart ones with a little luck? I don't see how. It is one area of privacy that I not sure we can save.

[Zeb]

Which I'm fine with. The one's who are discreet enough not to attract any attention aren't really harming anyone. Not saying it's an OK thing to do, but people have probably been doing things like this and getting away with it since photography was invented (or at least since film got fast enough to make it practical), and it doesn't seem to be a big problem.

[some guy]

Furthermore, these women were obviously wearing clothes that allowed a direct line of sight from things they wanted to keep private to a public space. Where do you draw the line? If someone goes outside nude, are you a criminal for photographing them? What about the Monroe-on-an-air-vent scenario?

I see this as being similar to walking around unclothed in your appartment with the windows open. Anyone who sets up a telescope to look in is a creepy asshole, but not a criminal.

[John]

It is more than this. I don't see how you keep this out of lockerrooms and bathrooms and such. The cameras are so high definition and so small.

[some guy]

Well, I was coming at it from a legal and moral standpoint. But yes, from a technical standpoint we should all assume that every action we take in public can be filmed from any physically possible angle.

[Rasilio]

Not to mention the risk that someone will recognize you from a picture of your private parts on the internet are essentially nil

[Bobarian]

Speak for yourself, some private parts are more distingushable than others.

[Restoras]

Wear pants?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Say Hello To The New Definition Of Rape

[Lord Humungus]

hello!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...saying that the candidates had either kept citizenship from another country or did not have evidence of enough support.

So election officials right up front check into citizenship issues in come countries, eh?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Goog thing the us isnt a 3rd world hellhole where officials arbitrarily keep candidates off the ballot!

[country bumpkin]

lol

[Lord Humungus]

Mickey Kaus: That Ain't Triangulatin'

The beauty of triangulation is that you only have to do it on a few issues to win the goodwill that lets you be a tough partisan on others. Most obviously, Obama could have helped defuse fear of too-big liberal government by leading a charge to find and cut the waste in Washington. (He could, for example, have embraced the sequester cuts if he was allowed to apportion them.) If Congressional Dems squawked, so much the better for his popularity and power. But perhaps we elected a President who isn't interested in how the nuts and bolts of government work?as long as he worries about the big legislation, what goes on in the bureaucratic boxes is a second order problem, right? If that's what Obama thinks, his health care rollout is, as they say, a teachable moment.

[Brett L]

This political backhand was so nice, I'm posting it again in the AM Links.

Charlie: This e-mail is to officially advise you that your presence at my husband's memorial services will be unacceptable. I have watched over the years, as Bill had, your transparent attempts to manipulate the political arena. I don't want my husband's memorial service to be another opportunity for that and I will not tolerate anyone turning this into a platform for political gain. Please honor my families request. Sincerely, Beverly Young Widow of Congressman Bill Young

[BakedPenguin]

That is great. Crist is vermin.

[Pro Libertate]

He is, but he is a tanner of nearly Hamiltonian proportions.

[John]

That got posted last night. But worth posting again and again. That woman deserves a medal.

[Brett L]

The only person angry at this is Rick Scott, because he was hoping that the FL Dems were dumb enough to nominate Charlie to run against him in the next gubernatorial election.

[BakedPenguin]

Crist is probably the only person who would lose to Skeletor. Scott has been very effective at pissing people off. He's almost like the anti-Jeb Bush in that regard. (J Bush, whatever else you can say for him, was pretty good with public relations.)

[Rich]

Clapper has denied reports that US spies recorded data from 70 million phone calls in France in a single 30-day period.

"The allegation that the National Security Agency collected more than 70 million 'recordings of French citizens' telephone data' is false."

It was 150 billion over a 3-year period. Nyah-nyah!

[Brett L]

This guy is making the best of Halloween.

The former Paralympic skier, who had his left leg amputated because of cancer when he was 9, is known for his creative outfits. Last year, for example, he dressed as the lamp from A Christmas Story.

[Auric Demonocles]

That flamingo outfit doesn't seem conducive to mingling.

[Lord Humungus]

Meanwhile in Germany:

Berlin dogs overdosing on drug users' excrement in parks

The newspaper quoted veterinarians in the city who said that they had see a rise in the number of dogs brought to their clinics that had eaten human waste. On running tests on the dogs it was revealed that they had been poisoned by illegal drugs, including heroin, that were still present in the human feces.
According to Vet Reinhold Sassnau, symptoms include dehydration, a rapid heartbeat, shaking and an inability to walk property. Sassnau told the newspaper that he sees many of these cases during his night shifts.

[PM]

A few potential remedies for that problem come to mind:

Keep your dog on a leash

Keep an eye on your dog

Don't shit on someone else's property (without permission, anyway)

Don't take as a companion any creature that habitually eats another's shit.

Any combination may be effective.

[Tonio]

You are assuming that the shitters were not trespassing on the property of others.

[Jordan]

They could be stray dogs too.

[PM]

Well it said "in parks". Which, if they're open to the public, are hard to trespass in. Unless you're handing out sandwiches to the homeless or something.

[Tonio]

So, if public parks are owned by everyone you just demolished your own "someone else's property" argument.

[PM]

Public parks are owned by the government. The shutdown should have amply demonstrated that.

[Doctor Whom]

This Berlin place is in 'Murica, right? Yeah, I thought so. This would never happen among sophisticated Europeans.

[Brett L]

Haha. Anytime you see a problem with human dung in public, assume its Europe.

[Swiss Servator, O Luzern!]

I see you have never been to Central Asia...

[Brett L]

Its a fair cop.

[PD Scott]

It's all one big continent.

[Zeb]

Here's a good solution. Just tell the junkies that their shit has loads of heroin in it and they will find a way to reclaim it.

[PD Scott]

My thoughts exactly. Get ready for Jenkem 2: Berlin Shi?eroo.

[The Late P Brooks]

Todashev was shot and killed by authorities during questioning.

And nothing else happened.

[KDN]

From the USA today article:

Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was fatally shot at his Orlando home during a meeting with an FBI agent and two Massachusetts state troopers in May, authorities said. He had turned violent while being questioned, according to authorities.

So an FBI agent and two stateys can't handle one violent suspect without shooting him? If he was that hyped up on PCP then maybe we shouldn't believe the story about Tsarnaev.

[Brett L]

Fatally shot in the back, wasn't he?

[Ted S.]

Did he even really turn violent?

[John]

What do you want to bet that the FBI and troopers were playing Jack Ryan putting a gun to this guy's head trying to scare him into talking when it accidentally went off? I don't think they just walked in and shot him. That is too crude even for these people. But I bet anything they were doing something utterly stupid and abusive trying to terrorize the guy and accidentally killed him. Whatever happened, it wasn't what they say happened.

[CatoTheElder]

Yours is the most plausible conjecture I've heard so far.

I, too, am certain that the official story is bunk.

[Invisible Finger]

The official story is always bunk.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I'm glad you think straight up execution is too crude for these people.

I'm not being facetious either. I'm actually glad.

[robc]

"accidentally" went off.

Modern handguns dont go off by accident.

[Bobarian]

Too be fair, modern handguns will go off if you maliciously do stupid things with them and mishandle them.

Accidently squeezing the trigger is still an accident, but the shooter is definitely negligent and to blame.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

All Women Are Disloyal
...Personally I haven't decided what's more hilarious?the fact that the two guys planned the whole thing and seem to be having a bro moment over busting this chick, or the fact that she was not just publicly shamed, but virally shamed; the video currently has over 2 million views on YouTube alone, plus however many it's achieved via Facebook....

[Jordan]

Wow, that is dumb. "All women" aren't anything.

[Tonio]

Women?

[Jordan]

COLLECTIVIST!

[Rich]

"When a man does something stupid
people say 'What a fool that man is'.
When a woman does something stupid
people say 'What fools women are'."

[Auric Demonocles]

It actually could have been a pretty good article/video, if they didn't go and try to generalize this one bitch to all women.

[Tonio]

Yeah, that's the problem I have with ROK. He consistently starts with good arguments, then by the second or third paragraph he degenerates into "all women..." ranting.

[PM]

I like that the first people Obama approaches to fix the website debacle aren't the brightest programmers who eat this shit for breakfast every morning, but academics. There may be a metaphor for his administration in there somewhere, but I'm having a hard time coming up with it.

[Drake]

Obama calling his fellow academic intellectuals. Reminds me of Sowell's definition.

People who deal only with ideas - never real work and have absolutely no accountability for results.

[robc]

The competent CS professionals wouldnt touch this.

[Drake]

Or will present a cost-estimate and timeline way beyond what the Administration would accept.

[robc]

The first line item would be "throw away everything done already", so yeah.

[Emmerson Biggins]

some of the graphics/UI-design might be keepable.

[robc]

graphics?

If Im in charge we are going with the google approach.

[Biden's Scroteplugs]

speech/photo op with gowns and mortarboards coming soon.

[CatoTheElder]

The Obama Administration really is trying to be a real-life caricature of Atlas Shrugged. Perhaps the critics who complain that Rand's portrayals of the State and its officials and agents were one-dimensional should reconsider.

Seriously, what does Obama think that academics are going to do with a problem that needs an immediate, practical, and effective solution? The kind of folks who always, always conclude "more research is required"?

I suppose academics are better than lawyers or public policy bureaucrats would be to fix Healthcare.gov. Obama's Chief Technology Officer of the United States

[Invisible Finger]

Wouldn't these by definition be fourth-rate workers and intellects? The first-raters and second-raters are already employed and the third-raters were the ones already working on it.

A first-rate IT worker would ask: Why are you doing this in the first place?

The answer would be: Because it's the law!

The first-rater's reply: So what? I'm outta here.

The second-rater would have the same question and almost the same reply but would take the job (if it paid better) and assign all the work to the third-raters, start looking for a better job and exit as soon as a higher-offer came in.

[Invisible Finger]

The fourth-raters will start lobbying for changes in the law to match what they can accomplish.

[Numeromancer]

The Krugmans of Computer Science!

[Lord Humungus]

Bomb explodes at Sleeping Bear Dunes, outhouse damaged, sheriff says

Sheriff Mike Borkovich says it apparently happened early Sunday morning. He says someone reported hearing an explosion, but deputies didn't immediately find anything. Later in the day, someone reported damage to the outhouse at the School Lake boat launch.

Borkovich says technicians with the FBI and the Michigan State Police determined that a bomb had been placed in or next to the outhouse, located in Cleveland Township.

[SweatingGin]

Hold my beer and watch this!

[The Late P Brooks]

The White House reportedly fired National Security Council staffer Jofi Joseph last week after it was discovered that he was behind the twitter account @natsecwonk, which included some rather unflattering posts relating to officials in the Obama administration.

Incompetence is okay, but heresy is verboten.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Loose lips sink ships faster than that iceberg we're being steered into.

[Wags]

Right, like academics know how to solve real problems. If you can't do, teach!

[Restoras]

While I find the "if you can't do, teach" meme idiotic and tiresome, bringing in "Top Scholars" for an engineering failure seems...ill advised. It will certainly make the repair work much more difficult.

Standing by for even better lulz to come.

[Rich]

Extended open season in 3, 2, 1, ....

[DontShootMe]

he chose...poorly

[Lord Humungus]

I had a terrible professor during the time I was getting my CS degree. She apparently started out in the private sector, couldn't hack it after a year, and went back to college to get her doctorate and teach.

[RBS]

Oh, like most law school professors. "Hey, I got my LLM in PR!"

[Invisible Finger]

I had decent CompSci instructors and a few bad ones, but the best one by a million miles, was the one who actually had a daytime IT job and only taught at night (because it was a great way to get free tuition for her kids when they reached college age). Thorough, challenging, helpful, and an ego in check; most of the students hated her because of the first two traits and ignored the fact that most of the other instructors didn't have the last two traits.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Peru's air force has reopened its Department of Investigation of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena...

Like aliens ever bother with the southern hemisphere.

[Steve G]

It's a gov't office, they'll start to find lots of evidence

[Lord Humungus]

Man acquitted of sex with BART seat

Leslie Bailey, 28, was arrested May 8 shortly after a BART train operator saw him on on his knees in the nearly empty first car, thrusting his pelvis against a seat next to the cab.

Bailey, who boarded the Dublin-Pleasanton train at the 16th Street Station, exited at Civic Center but returned to his paramour just before the doors closed, according to the San Francisco public defender's office. The operator testified that she then saw him gyrating on his stomach, his feet in the aisle, before he flipped over and began masturbating and smoking crack cocaine.

[Ted S.]

People have some odd kinks.

[Bobarian]

That seat was asking for it.

[SugarFree]

The operator testified that she then saw him gyrating on his stomach, his feet in the aisle, before he flipped over and began masturbating and smoking crack cocaine.

And they say there are no more heroes in America.

[Gilbert Martin]

"The Obama administration will be calling in scholars known for their technological expertise"

Like Professor Irwin Corey!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtN0xxzfsw

[CatoTheElder]

Academic theory vs. practice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlVDGmjz7eM

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Completely unbiased study finds fast-food chains cost taxpayers the "most money"

[PM]

What do you bet me their proposed solution isn't to cut off the taxpayer spigot.

[Brett L]

I guess we don't count local, state, and federal taxes?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Corporations don't pay taxes silly.

[Brett L]

Huh. I'm sure my mother will wonder why she's been keeping tax records for corporations for the last 35 years or so.

[sarcasmic]

Corporate taxes are a business expense that is passed along to consumers in the price of goods and services.

[Restoras]

People, and only people, pay taxes.

[Palin's Buttplug]

That would be fine if corporations were not considered "persons".

[PM]

Even better if that had any relevance to the current conversation, or if you had a clue what the legal implications of corporate "personhood" actually entail.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Fuck off, PM. You don't know shit about that issue.

[PM]

You don't know shit about that issue.

Lol. I'd like a refund on my business school tuition then. Not that one would need a degree to obtain a superior working knowledge of corporate law than you possess. You could pick up enough to at least competently troll from LegalZoom and Wikipedia

[Restoras]

You are such a fucking moron I have no idea how you breathe.

They are considered persons from a legal standpoint. That doesn't make them, you know, actual people you assclown.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I know that, dumbass.

My point about taxes went straight over your head.

[Jordan]

So what is your point then? That people can't pass on their own expenses? Because that's some grade A derp.

[PM]

Your point flew over your own head. The implication of only real, live people paying taxes... it's, um, not what you think it is.

[Restoras]

I know that, dumbass

No. No, you don't. This is obvious from your own statement

Palin's Buttplug|10.23.13 @ 9:29AM|#

That would be fine if corporations were not considered "persons"

People, and only ACTUAL, REAL PEOPLE pay taxes, you idiot.

[sarcasmic]

But, but, but the Supreme Nazgul declared that corporations are people, and that makes them actual living and breathing persons! Those black robes are magic!

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I'm a CPA Brett, I would know!

But in all seriousness, a quick google search shows McDonald's paid over $2 billion in income taxes. This fucking study says they "cost" taxpayers $1.2 billion.

2 is greater than 1.2, right?

[sarcasmic]

Not giving is taking and not taking is giving.

[Doctor Whom]

Numbers don't matter; only feelings matter. Consider all of the times when progs say with straight faces that American public schools are underfunded and that schools in places like Baltimore are even more underfunded.

[Brett L]

Don't math at them, its macroaggression!

[Swiss Servator, O Luzern!]

+1 (whoops, did I just microaggress?!)

[KDN]

Does that $2b even count the employers' share of the payroll taxes? Beacause I'm pretty sure the Feds get that, too.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

No, I only searched for income tax. I left out payroll, property, sales, etc.

[Rasilio]

Not to mention that only covers the income taxes of the Parent corporation, not those paid by the Franchisee's

[Drake]

Minus $3 Billion in hurt feelings.

[WTF]

So, unskilled, low-wage workers use the most government assistance...who woulda thunk it?

[mr simple]

Think of how much better off they and we would be if they didn't have those jobs.

[Invisible Finger]

Clinton forced these people to take low-paying jobs in order to keep their federal assistance coming in.

Besides, McDonald's et al are actively working on trying to replace as many of these people with machines as possible.

[Lord Humungus]

Orwellian high school preaches population control to students

The message was posted on a banner above lockers at Northview High School in Brazil, Indiana. It read in full: "Zero population growth. It's up to you ? No more than two."

The banner also has bunches of smiley faces representing tens of millions of people. The faces sit in boxes that mark the passage of time, and the implication is that in the future, there will no longer be room for more smiles.

[PM]

Thomas Malthus has never been wrong. Just always 1 generation too early.

[tarran]

What is it about Indiana and eugenics?

[Lord Humungus]

have you ever met anyone from Indiana? They're almost as bad as Ohioans.

[SugarFree]

Corn madness. The tassels get in your brain.

[trshmnstr]

When there's nothing better to do than watch the corn grow, you get angry. Very angry. Then, you get to thinking about how much nicer the world would be if we started killing people.

I'm starting to think that Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot, and Mao all spent their formative years in Indiana.

[PM]

91-0 Texas football blowout leads to bullying charge from a concerned parent

Headline says it all

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/.....10025.html

[Spoonman.]

IIRC my high school once won the state championship 44-0.

More importantly, it's high school sports, who gives a fuck? And I'm guessing the kids from Aledo didn't really consider it much to brag about.

[Loki]

I'm guessing the kids from Aledo didn't really consider it much to brag about.

Their coach certainly isn't bragging.

Aledo coach Tim Buchanan spoke to multiple outlets asserting that his team's frequent blowouts have become a source of embarrassment for the program.

...

"I looked around [after Friday's victory] and asked, 'Is there anyone here that feels good?'"

It really is no fun being on either side of a blowout. You play to compete, trouncing the shit out of an overmatched opponent really isn't that fun.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It gets old fast. My junior year, our high school was in a particularly weak conference for football; it was usually down to us and another school across the county for the conference championship for about a 4-5 year stretch. We kicked the shit out the weaker teams, ended the regular season ranked #1 in the state for our classification, and then got embarrassed on our home field in the opening round of the playoffs because we hadn't learned how to work through adversity.

That team had a lot of talent--the offensive player of the year for the state (he ran for over 1,900 yards in eight games, back when that average was a big deal), an all-state lineman that was the top scholar-athlete in Colorado for 1993, and a bunch of all conference players on both sides of the ball. But it didn't have a lot of heart.

The irony is the guys in my class (I switched schools in the middle of the year) had a ton of heart, and we won several JV games in second-half comebacks. But there wasn't a lot of talent, and they got creamed when they moved up to varsity the next year. Ironically, the school I switched to ended up playing for the state championship that season.

[Rasilio]

"More importantly, it's high school sports, who gives a fuck?"

Um, This is Texas High School Football is more important there than Sunday Mass is in South America

[Ted S.]

Your name implies that you read the PM Links, but apparently you don't. 😉

[PM]

Dammit.

[Rich]

Feds ask Blue Cross Blue Shield not to release exchange numbers

The Obama administration asked North Dakota's largest health insurer not to publicize how many people have signed up for health insurance through a new online exchange, a company official says.

The administration simply wants to pleasantly surprise everyone by announcing it next month.

[Brett L]

I hope their books are in order. The IRS is going to be crawling around their metaphorical rectum next quarter.

[Lord Humungus]

damn you, Rich.

[Rich]

It's OK, My Lord -- you had a *lot* more detail.

[The Late P Brooks]

Blithering nincompoop Alan Greenspan is on my teevee right now.
Apparently, he has written a book explaining how it's not his fault.

"I'm only human. I'm not omniscient."

Now he tells us.

[Rich]

"We never claimed it was a *perfect* Federal Reserve!"

[Palin's Buttplug]

Wrong. Greenspan said he got it all wrong back during the bubble build up.

As an Ayn Rand acolyte he also admitted that markets don't "self correct" like he had formerly imagined.

[PM]

Ironically ignoring the fact that there is, in point of fact, no actual "market" in money. Since the Fed, you know, controls a monopoly.

[Palin's Buttplug]

There is a free market in investment banking though. And that one got devastated. Lehman and Bear survived the Great Depression but died in the 2008 Credit Crisis.

[Restoras]

I thought markets don't self-correct?

[PM]

There is a free market in investment banking though.

Lol. You're cute. Even if true, we'll just ignore any influence or distortions caused by the federal reserve that might, possibly, maybe, in some possible scenario, inflate an asset bubble.

[Brett L]

Nah. He caved on his own principles and lowered rates when it was clear that the velocity and supply were too high. 2002 should have seen rising interest rates when it was clear that the 9/11 confidence crisis had passed. Instead he caved to the administration and kept lending far too cheap.

[robc]

He caved on his onwn priciples when he accepted the job.

He was an inner circle randist and he took the job Galt rejected.

[Brett L]

Its a fair correction, but I would still maintain that he broke with his published work sometime around 1996, and solidified the current problems by not raising rates gradually but steadily starting in the 3rd quarter of 2002 when it was obvious that the 9/11 confidence crisis had passed.

[Zeb]

Of course markets self correct. What do you think the crash was? It's just that when people are doing all they can to stop the market self-correcting, the eventual, delayed correction will be much more painful.

[John]

How was he supposed to know printing a bunch of money and artificially lowering interest rates for decades would do so much damage? I mean it is not like this has ever happened before.

[Lord Humungus]

Feds ask Blue Cross Blue Shield not to release exchange numbers

The Obama administration asked North Dakota's largest health insurer not to publicize how many people have signed up for health insurance through a new online exchange, a company official says.

During a Monday forum in Fargo for people interested in signing up for coverage via the exchange, James Nichol of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota told the crowd his company received the request from the federal government earlier Monday. Nichol is a consumer sales manager for the company.

Still, a spokeswoman from Blue Cross Blue Shield says about 14 North Dakotans have signed up for coverage since the federal exchange went live Oct. 1. That brings total statewide enrollment to 20 ? less than one a day.

[Lord Humungus]

http://www.enrollmaven.com/
has totals across all states

currently at:
Gold, Silver, Bronze (GSB) Plan Enrollment
22,794*

Administration GSB Plan Enrollment Goal by 03.31.14
7,066,000

Percent of GSB Plan Enrollment Goal Achieved
0.3%

Percent of Enrollment Period Elapsed
11.5%

[Restoras]

Math is a bitch.

[Loki]

Math is RACIST!!!!1!!!!

[Brett L]

This is awesome.

[SweatingGin]

Here comes death spiral!

[Invisible Finger]

Or "here comes the penaltax!"

We'll finally get to see that Democrats are more evil than incompetent.

[Lady Bertrum]

Do the enrollments include new Medicaid eligibles?

Probably not because of the identified plans.

[Biden's Scroteplugs]

IOW Obamacare has failed miserably. its zombie supporters will trudge on though.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

A commentator on the radio yesterday made the point that we shouldn't necessarily expect a linear enrollment rate anyway since in situations like these people tend to wait until closer to the deadline. It seemed like a fair point but I don't know how to adjust expectations.

[BakedPenguin]

This is both undoubtedly true and totally irrelevant.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Not totally irrelevant. If it's normal to have low enrollment rates at this point in typical scenarios like this then it doesn't make sense to make fun of the low enrollment rate.

[BakedPenguin]

What I meant was that I don't think it's going to get much better. If anything, it makes it harder to fix, since not all of the bugs will come out until later, when masses of people jam the exchange.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

You'd think for $400M they'd have done exactly that sort of testing on it. But we can only hope you're right.

[Brett L]

Just remember that the curve has to get steeper, faster for every day that it stays flat and shallow. At some point you're pushing an asymptote that assumes 2M people will sign up on March 31, 2014. It could happen, but the likelihood drops every day.

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

They were saying it's really more like 15 December, the deadline for being covered on 1 January (for tax purposes). You're both right, the tech problems pose a daunting challenge for meeting these goals. I'm mostly just thinking it will have to be a deferred payoff for us.

[Rasilio]

Having previously worked for a company who managed Open enrollment periods I have some insight to this, and basically it is a lie.

If you assume a 10 day OE period the percentage of users on each day would look something like...

Day 1 - 13%
Day 2 - 12%
Day 3 - 8%
Day 4 - 6%
Day 5 - 6%
Day 6 - 6%
Day 7 - 7%
Day 8 - 10%
Day 9 - 15%
Day 10 - 17%

[Cascadian Ephor Xenocles]

Thanks for the insight.

[The Late P Brooks]

The message was posted on a banner above lockers at Northview High School in Brazil, Indiana. It read in full: "Zero population growth. It's up to you ? No more than two."

WTF? Brazil (I've been there) is out in the middle of nowhere. Any kid smart enough to raise his head and look out the window will find dire warnings of "overpopulation = DOOOOOM" risible.

[Rich]

Florida Woman, 19, Arrested For Water Pistol Attack On Her Boyfriend

she was arrested for "squirting water" on the victim to "antagonize and agitate him against his wishes."

Yet another reason to not live in Florida.

[Loki]

So as I was walking in to work I walked past a TV that was tuned to CNN, and there was some dingbat (don't know who because I didn't actually stop) on there who said the dumbest thing I've heard so far this week.

This moron was basically saying that even if Obama wanted to hold someone accountable for the Obamacare debacle by firing Sebelius he couldn't because the EVUL RETHUGLICANZ in the Senate wouldn't confirm the replacement. That's right, the Obama administration's lack of accountability is all those nasty TEABAGGERTHUGLICANZ!!!11!!!eleventy!!1!! fault.

[Steve G]

Oh jebus, how many political appointee positions currently sit unfilled? Horseface has a deputy...

[Lord Humungus]

I watched a Norwegian WW2 movie last night - Max Manus

Not bad... not the best movie, but a solid B movie. It does have the problem of trying to cram too much time and too many characters into less than 2 hours. Bonus: action-packed bicycle machine gun fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbK4WTQFf9U

[John]

I saw Rush a couple of weekends ago. That movie is awesome. It is one of the best sports movies of all time and easily the best auto racing movie ever made.

[Lord Humungus]

will check it out. My list of movies that I want to watch is shrinking dramatically.

[John]

I go to like two movies a year. Rarely is there one I want to see. But I wanted to see this one and I wasn't disappointed. Even my wife, who was skeptical thought it was great.

[Lord Humungus]

I generally hate going to the movies, and with the reduced wait time for releases, I'll just watch 'em at home.

[Citizen Nothing]

Don't do that with Gravity. 3-D IMAX, baby. That's the only way.

[John]

I was thinking about seeing that. Is it good?

[Citizen Nothing]

I really enjoyed it.

[robc]

Im seeing Gravity on Friday.

[John]

This is one of the few that is worth seeing on the big screen. The car race scenes are fantastic. The big screen does them justice.

[The Late P Brooks]

even if Obama wanted to hold someone accountable for the Obamacare debacle by firing Sebelius he couldn't because the EVUL RETHUGLICANZ in the Senate wouldn't confirm the replacement.

This morning's Bloomberg babblers were talking about the "rollout" and the Sebellius question was raised. One of the guys, who worked for Administration Zero in the past, was utterly aghast at the notion of somebody being held accountable. It's not fair to remove people for being incompetent, I guess.

[The Late P Brooks]

That would be fine if corporations were not considered "persons".

That's so cute.

Totally irrelevant, but cute.

[Lord Humungus]

How Jon Stewart became President Obama's biggest problem

But, these same young people tend to get much of their news ? and therefore have their opinions shaped ? not by places like the Washington Post or the CBS Evening News but rather from Stewart. He is their Tom Brokaw, their David Brinkley. So, what Stewart says matters ? a lot.

How might President Obama solve his "Stewart" problem? Maybe appear on the show ? as he has done six times before, including twice as president. Stewart would, undoubtedly, challenge Obama on the problems with the site but would also give the president a platform by which he could address the growing public perception that the law (or at least the Web site) just isn't working.

[Rich]

give the president a platform by which he could address the growing public perception that the law (or at least the Web site) just isn't working

, to the accompaniment of audience laughter!

[Jordan]

Yeah right. Jon will bash the website, but once the actual policy problems start to manifest, he'll go right back to fellating the Emperor.

[Loki]

How might President Obama solve his "Stewart" problem?

Drone strike? NSA backed blackmail? DoJ witch hunt for his sources? There's really a lot of options available.

[waffles]

I know I'm not the target audience for this as I am not a big government believer but how could Obama help the situation? What can he possibly say or do to avert this train wreck?

It doesn't matter how I feel about the ACA implementation or the exchanges. It is fucking people RIGHT NOW. Is Obama's goal just to make me feel good about it? It's not going to work. You can only deny reality for so long.

[Palin's Buttplug]

College students started benefiting from Obamacare two years ago with the age 26 rule to keep them on Dad and Mom's private insurance.

[Restoras]

Yes, and when they turn 27 the shcok will be even nastier. I cannot wait for the lulz.

[John]

And that also reduces the pool of healthy suckers to subsidize this thing. The 26 rule greatly increases the likelihood that the exchanges are going to go into a death spiral.

But the people who wrote this law are as retarded as shreek. So it is not surprising one part of the law totally undercuts another.

[Citizen Nothing]

I was wondering about this very thing, John. By mandating that my insurance cover my 20-something sons, doesn't ObamaCare lose many of the easy bucks it needs to make the thing "work"?

[John]

Yes it does. Just how long are you "young and healthy" and a cheap insurance risk? Until you are 40 maybe? So lets say that pool really runs from 22 to 40. That is 18 years. They just cut their pool by five years or nearly a third. That would seem to be significant.

[Auric Demonocles]

I would also imagine that fewer 35 year olds need to get insurance outside of work than 25 year olds.

[Restoras]

That's right, and by reducing the pool by necessity the rates being paid by those that are in the pool are that much higher.

They think that just becasue they want something the can say "Make It So!" and it somehow just...happens.

[Citizen Nothing]

The Plug is right. And I've got two in college right now. SUCKERS!!!!

[John]

That is the good news. The bad news is they won't be buying overpriced unneeded insurance until they are 27. Your kids are not doing their patriotic duty CN.

[Citizen Nothing]

By then I'm sure the government will find some other way to fleece you childless, youthful or low-income suckers and funnel it to middle-aged, middle-class parents like me! It's the American way!

[Biden's Scroteplugs]

fuck the young adults whose parents can't afford to carry them on their policy. they can pay more so other young adults their age can freeride.

[Biden's Scroteplugs]

other richer young adults their age can freeride.

[The Late P Brooks]

Stewart would, undoubtedly, challenge Obama on the problems with the site but would also give the president a platform

Poor guy- if only he had some way of getting his message out, those dumb plebs would know how good they've got it.

[The Late P Brooks]

Holy shit. I just heard somebody on Bloomberg spout that talking point about how Sebellius can't be fired, because those nasty rethuglitards would turn a confirmation hearing into a Roman Circus, poking the President with sticks and otherwise torturing him and besmirching His good works.

[John]

They can't be expected to answer any questions or offer any explanations Brooks. The administration has spent five years peddling bullshit and never having to explain or justify anything. They are like spoiled rich kids who finally did something the cops couldn't ignore. They have no idea how to act. They have never been held accountable before now.

[Loki]

BTW, you guys want to Buttplug some slack, apparently he's a world famous karate black belt.

[Loki]

*cut Buttplug some slack.

Typing, how does it work?

[Brett L]

This violates the first rule of ape-human relations. Never teach them to fight.

[Pro Libertate]

No, no, don't be silly. Chimps and the other great apes can rip our arms out--they're that much stronger than us. It's not hand-to-hand combat that's the problem. It's arming them that's the problem.

[Auric Demonocles]

Chimps and the other great apes can rip our arms out--they're that much stronger than us.

Do you even lift pro?

[Pro Libertate]

Dude, get in a ring with a chimp, without you being armed or armored. Try and kick his ass.

[Auric Demonocles]

I would win via my superior intellect. I have access to many techniques which are beyond a chimp's primitive brain.

[Pro Libertate]

If you were Kirk, sure, but you're not Kirk. If you're lucky, the chimp won't eat you afterwards. If you're lucky.

Don't fight male bonobos at all.

[Loki]

The human bowling ball might work. At the very least it would probably confuse the chimp long enough to either escape or get the drop on him.

One way that male apes usually assert their dominance through a stylized penile display. Seems like that would be right in Kirk's wheelhouse.

[Pro Libertate]

Look, Kirk beat Khan, Spock, various gods, Klingons, Romulans, his own inner demon, you name it. Because he was Kirk.

[Protagoronus]

Never watched man vs. beast?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFMpWm6ECgQ

[Loki]

It starts with teaching one chimp karate, next thing you know Charlton Heston is in a cage screaming "Get your sinkin' paws off me! You damn dirty ape!"

[Loki]

*stinkin' paws...

I'm at John level typing fail today.

[Pro Libertate]

The key, clearly, is not teaching apes how to operate fire hoses.

[Mike M.]

ROFLMAO. Weigel couldn't win an ass-kicking contest against a one-legged man.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Luxury-loving "bishop of bling" pisses off the wrong Pope - suspended from office - his fate will be decided at a hearing

"Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst is accused of spending more than 31m euros (?26m; $42m) on renovating his official residence.

"...The suspension comes two days after he met the Pope to discuss the matter."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24638430

[The Late P Brooks]

There is a free market in investment banking though.

Of course there is.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Michigan teacher sues MEA over union dues & right to work.

From the srticle: "Miriam Chanski, a kindergarten teacher in Coopersville, says the debate is not about why she doesn't want to be part of the MEA, but rather her right to not to be forced to be in a union after Governor Snyder signed a bill making Michigan a Right to Work State.
"I chose to opt out and it's not being honored," said Chanski."

http://www.freep.com/article/2.....-MEA-union

[Brett L]

Whoa. Next some cop will try to opt out and end up an accidental friendly fire victim.

[Elspeth Flashman]

The Michigan legislature has actually proposed a bill affecting the practice of law b/c of right to work, you know the hefty bar membership that lawyers are ante-ing up each year = union dues/membership.

[Brett L]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. They're going after the lawyers' guild? How will they know who can bring lawsuits?

[Elspeth Flashman]

I know, right?

[The Late P Brooks]

you guys want to Buttplug some slack

I'll pass.

[Lord Humungus]

that leads to flatulence.

[Loki]

When you take my typo out of context like that you make it sound like I'm at SugarFree level depravity when in reality I'm nowhere close.

[Ken Shultz]

"WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration said Tuesday that it will call in a group of scholars known for their tech savvy and familiarity with government programs to help solve the problems that persist in the new federal health insurance exchange."

Stacking his administration with academics and career bureaucrats is exactly what got him into this jam in the first place. Does he still not have a single business person on his staff?!

Obama is the most rigid ideologue we've ever had in office--period. ...and the last people on earth you want to go to, if you're looking for people to make something happen, is academics.

He has access to thousands of people in Silicon Valley, who have succeeded wildly in rolling out websites and services like this, and would love to help him, but he's not utilizing any of them, why?!

Obama probably doesn't know this, but one of the best reasons to fire people is because they seem to be incapable of learning from their mistakes. Sometimes it's a character problem, and there's not a whole lot you can do with a manager like that.

Obama is one of those people, who can't seem to learn from his mistakes. He should have been fired a long time ago.

[Ken Shultz]

"Obama is the most rigid ideologue we've ever had in office--period."

Marx was less ideologically rigid.

Lenin was more pragmatic than Obama.

Seriously.

[BakedPenguin]

It's true. Obama would never authorize an NEP.

[Pro Libertate]

If only. Of course, Lenin couldn't just borrow trillions of dollars to finance his grand plans.

[John]

Only these idiots could think calling in a college professor is the way to get what amounts to an engineering project back on track. Really? How far removed from reality must these people be?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

He has access to thousands of people in Silicon Valley, who have succeeded wildly in rolling out websites and services like this, and would love to help him, but he's not utilizing any of them, why?!

Apparently, he's quietly brought in people from Google to help, but I'm not sure why he wouldn't be bragging about it. Maybe because it would lead people to ask why he didn't hire them in the first place.

And we still have to deal with Brooks' Law here. I suspect that the Dems are going to ask Obama to extend the open enrollment period beyond March 31st, although I don't know what they'll do about the penalty for not signing up before Feb. 15th. Probably just waive it, like they've done for anything else in the law that didn't conveniently fit their agenda.

[Auric Demonocles]

Apparently, he's quietly brought in people from Google to help, but I'm not sure why he wouldn't be bragging about it.

It would clash with his Apple metaphor!

[John]

They Dems are going to end up having to delay the entire thing. Sadly, the GOP is stupid and has no balls. If they had either, they would tell the Dems to fuck off we settled this during the shut down and it is clear the country wants this and the law is the law and let the Dems beg and grovel to please God delay it. But they won't. They will roll over and let the Dems and the court media pretend that the Democrats didn't just do what last month they called the Republicans terrorists for demanding.

[Auric Demonocles]

God it would be hilarious to have the Republicans refuse to delay and call in Obama for a hearing about why he is delaying it anyway, then have one of them tell him "It's a law! The Supreme Court already ruled so."

[John]

It is going to be funny anyway. Some things even the media can't cover up. They are either going to have to delay this thing or tell people they are going to be penaltaxed for not buying insurance that no one could buy. I bet they delay it. And when they do, all of the positive spin they got out of the shut down will evaporate as people wonder why the hell they just did what the Republicans wanted. It is going to be a complete political disaster.

[Auric Demonocles]

The Republicans were holding the country hostage to save it all along!

[John]

What people will think is "you shut down the government to keep the Republicans from doing what you had to do anyway". I know the media works hard to spin for the Democrats. But you tell me how you spin that? I don't see how.

[Auric Demonocles]

That's what people should think. But they should already think the Dems shut the government down (since they refused Rep bills to fund it) and they don't, so I am not optimistic that they will be smarter in the future.

[John]

AD look at Obama's approval rating. And also look at the polls that showed the public wanted the entire Congress replaced. The average voter doesn't pay a lot of attention and blamed both sides even if they blamed the Republicans more. If the Dems end up doing exactly what the Republicans asked for, there will be hell to pay. Worst of all, people will laugh at them. They will look ridiculous. And once people start laughing, you are in a lot of trouble.

[Auric Demonocles]

I hope you are right, but I don't think so.

[John]

They might not delay it AD. They might just let it go and totally fuck people figuring they will get over it and either not vote or vote on some bullshit social issue or the scare story of the day anyway.

The more I think about it, the more I think maybe they won't delay it. So what if they fuck over millions of people? The media won't report it. Their best change at this point is to just plow ahead and have the media lie and tell everyone it is working.

[robc]

It wont fuck them until 4/15 of 2015 right?

Of do you get penaltaxed on 4/15/2014 for not having already enrolled?

[creech]

Many of my Tea Party friends were mad at Cruz - they believe the GOP should have stood aside and let the whole Obamacare crash and burn. Others were of the opinion Cruz' duty to the country was to try to avert the crash and get the individual mandate delayed.
Yep - the GOP got tarred as not caring about the country instead of having its best interest at heart. How the f*** can we defeat the spin the MSM will put on anything O.G.L. does???

[John]

To the average low information voter, Cruz shut down the government to keep Obamacare from going into effect. In the short term that hurt Cruz because the average low information voter may not like Obamacare but really has no idea how big of a disaster it is. As the extent of the disaster becomes more and more apparent, Cruz's actions are going to look better and better. And when the Dems finally delay the entire thing, people are going to be very angry and hold the Democrats responsible. There is going to be no way to spin the Democrats ultimately doing what Cruz was asking for.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Sure there's a way to spin it - it's already starting. "We tried the Heritage Foundation market-based reform and it didn't work. *Now* will you accept that we need single payer?"

[John]

You can spin it any way you want. But that doesn't mean the spin will work.

They are telling themselves that. But they are also panicking at the prospect of this thing failing. The problem with selling that spin is that they didn't sell it as that. To get this monstrosity passed they sold it as a real solution and as making things better. They oversold it so much that it is going to be very difficult if not impossible to get anyone outside the hive to listen to them.

They could spin it as "we tried Democratic government and it failed so now we are going to have to put people in camps" too. But that doesn't mean people are going to believe them. This is a huge disaster for them. There is something about the Libertarian makeup that causes you guys to see a disaster for the other side as really being some kind of final triumph.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I'm not libertarian, just less statist than the crew the govt has now. And my cynicism is based on history - Obamacare itself was sold as a solution to the problems of the "free market."

[Eduard van Haalen]

And who now remembers that Democratic fingerprints all over the HMOs? No, the line is that the Democrats saved us from this sort of selfish evildoer profit-ism.

[robc]

Why does Cruz get credit/blame for the actions of the House?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Washington Post correction: "An Oct. 14 Style article about access to the prison camp for terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, incorrectly referred to Navy Captain Robert Durand as "thickset." He should have been described as muscular."

http://bit.ly/1aFTRLw

[The Late P Brooks]

Maybe Bill Gates would like to help fix the O-care software.

[robc]

Every third version would be moderately acceptable?

[PM]

+1 BSOD

[John]

That would be a hell of an improvement. At this point, I think Obama would sell the brats to Gypsies in return for the functionality of Vista.

[Auric Demonocles]

Every shitty piece of Microsoft software worked far more frequently than the exchanges have.

[Ken Shultz]

Can you imagine how bad it would be if, instead of doing what Microsoft did, Microsoft called in a team of academics?

The moment after the analysts' call, when they announced their academics initiative, the stock would take a pounding!

Seriously, I'd way more faith in Microsoft than Obama on this, and way more faith in Microsoft's programmers than academics, too.

[Ken Shultz]

I mean, Seriously...

Who the fuck in Silicon Valley calls in academics when they have a problem like this?!

Show me a time when some successful tech enterprise had a problem with a website roll out, so they brought in some academics to work on the problem--and that turned out to be the solution.

[Ken Shultz]

I used to be a quality control analyst for a software company that made the reimbursement and payor software for some of the biggest hospitals and hospital chains in the country. Our software correctly processed millions of transactions every day that were just as complicated or more complicated than what these exchanges were supposed to do...

There are billion dollar software companies out there who specialize in processing healthcare stuff--from putting people into their system to handling payor requirements that differ with every insurer in each state--plus Medicare and Medicaid requirements (Medicaid is always different, too. You should see the payor for New York!) Were any of these billion dollar companies that have been doing this for decades brought in to work on this?

Some of the best of these companies use products made by companies like Oracle--why isn't Larry Ellison involved in this? Does Obama even know who Larry Ellison is?

We've got stock exchanges that handle more data than the ObamaCare exchanges are generating--in real time--and comply with all sorts of Patriot Act type requirements, too. We've got credit card companies that usually get it right. My bank handles more data than the exchanges have to deal with, and they update my transactions via their website in real time. The phone companies, I can track my packages real time on UPS and FedEx...

ONLY the Obama Administration goes to academics for this kind of thing.

[Swiss Servator, O Luzern!]

+1 OFAC

[Red Rocks Rockin]

So the latest in the Healthcare.gov debacles are as follows:

--The latest desperate talking point of the administration's defenders is that because the website development was contracted out to a private sector company, it's the private sector's fault the website's not working. These knobs will truly go to any lengths to defend President Cornball.

--I saw on CBS News this morning that the new pricing application in the website dramatically underestimates what people will have to pay for their premiums. Apparently when you click on the app, it goes to a page with two age options: 49 and under, and 50 and over. The 49 and under option prices the plans as if you were a 27-year-old. The discrepancies are as high as 50% in some cases.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50.....ge-prices/

And of course, the solution by progtards to fix this is to give these incompetents even more money and power to institute single-payer.

--Oh, and remember the chimpouts from the left on Rombot's connection to Bain Capital last year? The "troubleshooter" Obama brought in to "fix" had been working at--Bain.

[John]

Since the Progs have never worked in the private sector and understand nothing about business or sales, they no doubt have no idea that under estimating the cost could be a problem. As angry as a high cost can make a customer, they are a hundred times more angry if they were expecting it to be cheaper. These idiots being politicians figured that lying up front and putting off the pain would help. This is not politics. Lying upfront just raises expectations and makes things worse. There are few worse things you can do to a company's reputation and customer base than over selling its product.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

For all the crap some of the Reps are getting from the right for cutting the deal to end the shutdown, operationally speaking it was the best thing to do from a media standpoint. They were going to be blamed no matter what, and now the focus is off the shutdown and smack dab on the exchanges. Pretty much all of the "good news" about enrollments are strictly anecdotal at this point.

I've seen people boosting this thing saying that they haven't enrolled yet, but they're "taking their time to make a decision." The problem is that the primary issue with the website is on the back-end, when they actually attempt to submit an application, not just window-shop. And now it's being shown that the part of the site that prices the plans before applying isn't providing accurate information.

This is going to be a train-wreck of magnificent proportions and I can't wait to see it.

[Loki]

President Cornball.

At first I read that as "President Cornbread." RACIST!!!!!11!!!

[prolefeed]

Millions of Southerners, white and black, would like to have a "conversation" with you about you disparaging delicious, delicious cornbread.

Unless you're talking about that sugary crap that passes for cornbread in the North, in which case disparage away.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The readouts released by France and the U.S. of the conversation between Obama and Hollande on the NSA spying on French phone records are different.

Proof that Socialists tend to hear what they want to hear.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Alice Dreger ("a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine") criticizes a fellow Northwestern prof, Michael Bailey, who thinks parents should be able to select against gayness for their babies (if a test for gayness can be discovered).

[Tonio]

If gayness does turn out to be genetic, the butt-hurt is going to be epic on both sides. Inevitably some fundies will do a 180 on abortion when the fetus has teh gay. And the feminist community will do similar things as they claim that aborting gay fetuses is wrong.

[John]

Inevitably some fundies will do a 180 on abortion when the fetus has teh gay.

Really? Show me a single citation to a single pro life person saying that abortion in this case should be allowed. I have never seen nor heard such a thing. I have only heard people like you claiming it must be true. What evidence do you base this assumption on? Last I looked no one was advocating the mass killing of homosexuals. And to the committed pro life person, that is exactly what abortion in that case would be.

If such evidence exists, I would like to see it. Otherwise, you are just pulling that statement out of your ass because you assume that because you hate those people they must really be hypocritical murderers.

[tarran]

I'm with John on this one.

Every fundie I have ever met has the attitude "hate the sin, not the sinner".

In my experience, the gay bashers who like to injure gays aren't fundies.

[John]

The only incidents of gay bashing I have read about recently have been in Harlem. Maybe all of the SOCONS are road tripping for their gay bashing these days.

[Hyperion]

In the US maybe. But over in Limeyland, they get harassed and beaten up for walking through the wrong neighborhoods with large populations of Muslims.

[John]

There too. And it won't be American Protestants who are aborting their children because they will turn out gay. It will be religions Muslims and Hispanics. But, don't let the facts get in the way of hating society's Goldstein.

[Calidissident]

Yeah John. Only Muslims and Hispanics hate gay people. As Ron Burgundy would say, it's science.

[John]

Yeah Calidissident. There is no reason whatsoever to think that Muslims would be the most likely to do this. I mean gays are totally welcome in Muslim countries. It is the death penalty to be gay in places like Canada and the UK. Places like Pakistan and Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are all about being gay friendly.

You got me. I am just a bigot. There is no rational reason why anyone would think religious Muslims would be the most likely to do this. I mean we already know they won't engage in sex selective abortions.

Wow. I have to hand it to you. You just totally pawned me. How do you do it? What a fucking amazingly smart guy you are. And you even put in a Ron Burgandy and "Science" reference. Did you think hard about that? Was it like a bolt of inspiration or was it something you had been working on and were keeping for the right moment?

[John]

To the extent that this would pose a problem to SOCONS it would be that it would prove that being gay really is like being black and make the civil rights argument applicable and really irrefutable. It wouldn't pose a bit of a problem for pro life people.

It does however along with sex selective abortion pose a huge problem for the pro choice side. They are going to either have to let this happen and face the prospect of gays being nearly eliminated from society via abortion or argue that choice really isn't choice that it is okay to abort because the child is inconvenient but not when the child is gay. That is not going to work.

[Brett L]

"I love my dead, gay, fetus-looking son!"

[Calidissident]

That's assuming everyone (or nearly everyone) checks their kid for being gay during pregnancy, and then most of them abort the gay fetus. I wouldn't want to do that, nor would I want to marry someone who would. I don't think I'm all that unique either.

[John]

A fair number would. Depends on your culture. I guarantee you a lot of religious Muslims would. It doesn't present quite the problem that sex selective abortion does. But it is a problem. Just because you wouldn't does mean there are not a lot of people out there who would.

[Rasilio]

"Inevitably some fundies will do a 180 on abortion when the fetus has teh gay."

No, no they won't. They will call the test a lie created to enforce the homosexual agenda.

No amount of science or reasoning can pierce their alternate reality bubble because they BELIEVE that they already know everything they need to know from their study of the bible. I mean these people went and built an entire museum to try and explain how evolution was a lie.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"these people"

are not a Borglike entity with one master brain - they don't all agree.

[Eduard van Haalen]

And no, prolifers won't change their minds if a test for gayness were discovered.

Some people seem to believe their own propaganda, that opposing SSM is the same as wanting to put pink triangles on gays and showing them in to extermination camps.

[GILMORE]

"Eduard van Haalen|10.23.13 @ 10:17AM|#

"...parents should be able to select against gayness for their babies (if a test for gayness can be discovered)""

But see, in the typical sci-fi/Vonnegut type ironic reversal, what will happen is that they find out how to stop the "gay gene".... but completely overlook that doing so amplifies the *compulsive cocksucking* gene. And we end up with a generation of heterosexual dicksuckers. WHOOPS. Its like the Toads in Australia and stuff = it never works out the way you think.

That said... fuck it = GATTICA!!GATTICA!!GATTICA!!GATTICA!! bring it on. I always wanted to be 2 inches taller and have blue eyes.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Why would I put an extra two inches on my *head*?

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Sure, it ought to be the case that defending the rights of parents to use this technology doesn't ultimately undermine queer rights, but it seems hard to believe that in practice it won't lead to support of the idea that one ought to try not to have a gay child?just as in practice the prenatal test for trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome) has led to a general attitude (at least among the vast majority of my very "progressive" childbearing acquaintances) that one ought to try not to have a child with trisomy 21. I have a friend whose young son has trisomy 21. This friend was out and about with her son one day when another woman looked at her and her son and?recognizing that the son has Down's syndrome?scolded my friend with the question, "Didn't you get the test?!" I can fully imagine a scenario where, 30 years from now, a woman tells a friend her son has come out as gay, only to have the friend respond, "Didn't you get the test?!" Could we really imagine that offering such a test would have no negative impact on how an already-homophobic culture views people who are gay (and their parents, for that matter)? In that sense, can we really imagine that supporting parents' right to choose against homosexuality supports the message that gay people are as good as straight people?"

http://www.psmag.com/health/ch.....gay-68364/

[Auric Demonocles]

The right to choose*!

*but not for any particular reason

[Loki]

the prenatal test for trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome) has led to a general attitude (at least among the vast majority of my very "progressive" childbearing acquaintances) that one ought to try not to have a child with trisomy 21

It always comes back to Eugenics with these assholes, doesn't it?

[trshmnstr]

"If they can't be one of the productive class, then they're just competing with me for government benefits."

The progressive drive for eugenics is simply economic. They want a bigger slice of the government benefits pie. The fact that they have no moral qualms about shaming women for not aborting "defective" babies is chilling.

[Killazontherun]

Would not the promotion of gay marriage which by its nature promotes monogamy take a portion of bisexuals who keep their genetic lines in tack through having sex with multiple partners including the opposite sex have the same effect as this choice? I'm all for choice, but to single this out as an abomination, you also should consider the consequence of choices you support that have the same results which is why I can not condemn the ones made not to my liking like gender preference selection.

[John]

I don't think they will ever find a "gay gene". Human behavior is just too complex.

[Killazontherun]

The latest research correlates homosexuality with what occurs to hormones in the process of gestation, to simplify it, your susceptibility to the effects of testosterone and estrogen. So, it is likely not so much having a gay gene but having a genetic makeup that is composed of more or fewer degrees of immunity to the effects of later bindings.

Human behavior is too complex to be accounted for entirely by genes, I know many effeminate men who are as straight as an arrow, and my own wife is pretty butch, but even changes in fractional tendencies in populations have long lasting effects.

[John]

I could see that being the case. But that has an effect in the aggregate. It won't tell you if this particular child is going to be gay with any real degree of certainty. So, I can't see that really causing many gay selective abortions.

[Calidissident]

I don't think that's the same thing at all.

[Enough About Palin]

Abortion on demand means abortion for any conceivable reason, without judgement.

[The Late P Brooks]

Apparently, he's quietly brought in people from Google to help, but I'm not sure why he wouldn't be bragging about it.

Perhaps they made him swear to never reveal their complicity in what they immediately recognized as a gargantuan clusterfuck.

[Killazontherun]

Obama campaigning on the failure of his administration:

http://dailycaller.com/2013/10.....aise-cash/

"By now, you've probably heard that the website has not worked as smoothly as it was supposed to," Obama told his supporters in an email sent out late Tuesday.

"That's why I need your help," he said, in a video pitch that links to an online fundraiser.

"The other side has already spent a whopping $400 million in anti-Obamacare TV ads," says the language on the fundraiser site. "We don't have to beat that, but we need to have the resources to fight back. Make a donation to support OFA today."

"I'm asking you to be part of Team Obamacare? I'm asking you to help tell you friends, families, coworkers, classmates, neighbors and anyone else what the Affordable Care Act can mean for them,"

Being the asshole he is, he also mischaracterizes the free market and the nation with a libel:

"Remember, nobody ever expected this would be easy ? change never is? [but] I'm absolutely confident that we will finish the job of making health care in the country not just a privilege for a fortunate few, but a right for all Americans to enjoy," he insisted.

May an assassin's bullet never rob him of the debilitating stroke he so richly deserves.

[Jordan]

I'm asking you to help tell you friends, families, coworkers, classmates, neighbors and anyone else what the Affordable Care Act can mean for them

Oh, I'm telling them.

[Loki]

May an assassin's bullet never rob him of the debilitating stroke he so richly deserves.

Unfortunately he'll be able to afford his own private doctor and the best care money can buy. If he were going to be stuck with shitty ass Obamacare compatable insurance, then I might be giddier at the prospect of his Assholeness stroking out someday.

[mr simple]

making health care in the country not just a privilege for a fortunate few

Well at least we won't be hearing anymore stories of hospitals turning away people who couldn't pay upfront and leaving them to die in the streets.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"The other side has already spent a whopping $400 million in anti-Obamacare TV ads," says the language on the fundraiser site.

It's always about TEAM with this asshole, isn't it? This guy is more deliberately divisive than Lenin.

[The Late P Brooks]

Dude, get in a ring with a chimp, without you being armed or armored. Try and kick his ass.

"Dude, where's my face?"

[Pro Libertate]

It starts out okay. The chimp thinks you're playing, with your painless attempts to hit him. Then he gets violently playful. Then he finally gets annoyed. Then he rips parts of your body off. Then he goes back to being cute and playful.

[RBS]

So it's like playing with a toddler with superhuman strength?

[Pro Libertate]

Exactly, except that the toddler might have some affection for you.

[The Late P Brooks]

The toddler probably wouldn't rip your balls off and eat them.

[Pro Libertate]

Unproven! Defamation of chimp!

[np]

A radical dream for making techno utopias a reality
At Y Combinator, Balaji Srinivasan, a Stanford lecturer and co-founder of genetics startup Counsyl, lays out his proposal for creating opt-in societies where government can't meddle.

"The best part is this, the people who think this is weird, the people who sneer at the frontier, who hate technology, won't follow you there," he said. "We need to run the experiment, to show what a society run by Silicon Valley looks like without affecting anyone who wants to live under the Paper Belt," he added, using the term "paper belt" to refer to the environments currently governed by pre-existing systems like the US government.

[np]

results in the expected reactions:
http://valleywag.gawker.com/si.....4/@maxread

What if the perfect liquidity event for Silicon Valley was not a blockbuster IPO, or an acquisition that paid out at some insane multiple, but a literal exit from the United States of America? No more lumbering bureaucracies, no lobbying incumbents, no "petty" laws, no obstructionist unions. That's what a Stanford lecturer and genetics startup cofounder Balaji Srinivasan proposed at Y Combinator's annual startup school this weekend.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelli.....nists.html

Last week, I wrote about one Silicon Valley investor's excited response to the government shutdown, a response sparked by his belief that "stasis in the government is actually good for all of us." It was an extraordinary statement, it seemed to me, not only because it ignored the very real damage the government's gridlock was doing to normal, non-wealthy people all over the country, but because it revealed a broader ideological shift among certain members of the technological elite, from political apathy to active anti-government hostility.

[Clich? Bandit]

Check out the reality folks!

BACON IS GOD!

[Hyperion]

The low fat thing has been one bad joke on humankind for a long time.

[Hyperion]

The Obama administration will be calling in scholars known for ....

Wait, this is a joke, right? Is this guy really as dumb as we all have been saying he is, all along? If this is true, I really have to stock up on beer and snack foods, because this is going to be an epic laughathon.

[Ken Shultz]

You know what I'm worried about?

This issue of website roll outs now has Obama's attention, and any time that's happened in the past, Obama has brought in academics and scholars to create guidelines about how things like websites should be rolled out.

I mean, if you don't want the government regulating things like how websites are rolled out, Hyperion, then what the fuck is wrong with you? Can't you see that the ObamaCare exchanges are a disaster?

How do you expect brokerage accounts, banks and credit card companies, telephone companies, package delivery services, online retailers, and others in the private sector to roll out websites for these services--if they don't have any regulations to go by from the government?

If private companies don't have access to academics, like the Obama Administration does, how will they know what to do?

They need regulation, and they need it now!

[Hyperion]

How do you expect brokerage accounts, banks and credit card companies, telephone companies, package delivery services, online retailers, and others in the private sector to roll out websites for these services--if they don't have any regulations to go by from the government?

Umm, because they're already doing it?

[Ken Shultz]

You noticed that, did you, you racist?

[Eduard van Haalen]

I would just point out that I posted several stories today, and the only one that got lots of comments - or *any* comments - was the one about gay abortions.

[Ken Shultz]

Well that's your thing!

Be proud of your thing.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Uh, wait a minute, is that one of those double entendre things?

[prolefeed]

"But diplomats complain that Obama has done next to nothing to help elected officials in allied countries tamp down anger among their voters at American spying. They say the U.S. president's total lack of even feigned contrition in effect forces other leaders to take a tougher public line."

Oh, silly diplomats, don't you know that megalomaniacal sociopaths believe they never do anything wrong, and thus are almost incapable of even feigned contrition?

[John]

It is baffling to me too. But they have so brain washed people about drugs and people are so insane about risks to their little snowflakes, it is not surprising.

The worst part about this is that there are going to any number of kids who try marijuana like kids often do, get caught, and then sent to rehab by their insane parents causing all kinds of harm. I knew several kids in college who had been stuck in sadistic rehab programs because they experimented with drugs or drinking and some sadistic school counselor convinced their parents they were addicts. There is a whole racket of sadistic juvenile rehab clinics out there making millions from insurance companies for the privileged of abusing kids.

[WTF]

I get that the 4th amendment supposedly doesn't apply to minors

Odd, my copy of the constitution doesn't say "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, except in the case of minors,"

I really need to get a pair of those magic decoder glasses the SCOTUS uses to see all those hidden clauses.

[RBS]

Yeah, I had a couple of friends in middle school who got shipped off to some wilderness rehab bullshit, in the middle of the night, because the school counselor convinced their parents that was the only way to keep them from killing themselves.

[John]

You just have to look good and make sure your product is a way for people to feel cool. The Apple cult is going to die, you watch. Jobs' genius was that he understood aesthetics better than anyone. His products always looked cool even if they didn't work that well or were overpriced. The thing with the Iphone OS7 is not so much that it doesn't work well. Apple could survive that. It is that it is incredibly ugly. OS6 looked like an Apple product. Everything was clean and neat. OS7 looks like a Microsoft product. It is big and clunky and the icons look like a grade school kid designed them. No way would Jobs have ever let them produce such an ugly product. To me it is a sign that their management has really gone south.