Shooting at LAX Airport, Birth Control Mandate Struck Down, Drone Strike in Pakistan: P.M. Links

• 

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  A gunman opened fire at Los Angeles International Airport. Information is still sketchy in the media, but reports say a TSA agent was killed. The gunman has been reported both in custody and dead and several others were injured.

• A federal appeals court has struck down the mandate that health insurance provided by employers must cover birth control.
• Nasdaq is having more tech problems, which shut down trading today.
• A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan has killed a Taliban leader, which may well sabotage peace efforts between Pakistan and the terrorist group.
• More part-time college professors are joining unions, which will help inflate that education bubble quite nicely.
• Turn your clocks back an hour on Sunday because the government told you to.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan has killed a Taliban leader, which may well sabotage peace efforts between Pakistan and the terrorist group.

They don't call him the droning president just because he likes the sound of his own voice.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

A federal appeals court has struck down the mandate that health insurance provided by employers must cover birth control.

Struck down by Janice Rogers Brown, no less. The liberal feminist apoplexy should be delicious.

[Ted S.]

She's post-menopausal. Therefore she's no longer a real woman.

[R C Dean]

I don't think most of your Movement Feminists are really gonna want to use that line.

[Dead or In Jail]

Will someone hurry the fuck up and put her on The Supreme Court already?

If we had had her appointed instead of that BleedingCunt John Rogers, then this whole ACA mess wouldn't be happening right now. Instead of taking someone with a fidelity to liberty and the Constitution, we took some anus whose loyalty is split between law journals and the press corps.

Heckuva job, Bushie.

(In an effort to him remember our nation's colonial/Common Law history, John Roberts should be tarred and feathered.)

[John]

She is a black woman libertarian. She cannot be allowed to exist. All libertarians are racist and sexist. She must be destroyed.

[VG Zaytsev]

Hey, give John Roberts a break.

You would've folded to if Axelrod promised to publicize picture of you fucking a goat.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A federal appeals court has struck down the mandate that health insurance provided by employers must cover birth control.

Cue a slutty, 30-year-old student telling us how the courts have virtually outlawed birth control.

[Auric Demonocles]

Now that I'm recently single, they go and make sure I can never have sex again. Damn activist judges.

[Gbob]

Are you kidding? This is your chance to be a hero! "Don't worry baby. I know those evil Rethugligans have waged war against your constitutional right to free birth control. I'll pay for it." You can then whip out your condoms (which the left believes cost around a hundreds dollars a piece, or some sum out of the reach of the poor) or even offer to pay for her pills at the pharmacy (don't let her hear the cashier telling you the price is five or ten bucks!). You get to seem like a big spender! Use the money you saved on dinner to buy some monocle polish.

[GILMORE]

" I know those evil Rethugligans have waged war against your constitutional right to free birth control. I'll pay for it

NOPE = patriarchy. Pay for it? Way to go and COMMODITIZE THE POON. Objectifier!! You support a system by which women are held hostage to male dominance of control of their bodily blah blah blah and phallocentrism.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Put it in her butt. Solved.

[JW]

EDG understands.

[Aloysious]

Hey!! Fun butt stuff!

[GILMORE]

NOSTERGILMORE SPEAKETH =

I FORESEE THIS COURT CASE WILL BE LATCHED ON BY THE MEDIA TO DIVERT ATTENTION FROM HOW FUCKED UP THE ACA IS IN SO MANY OTHER WAYS.... Now it will be about, as noted many times elsewhere today...how

Its court decisions like this that truly highlight how out of touch Right-Wingers are and how much they truly hate Women, The Poor, and Minorities.
(tm)

[Michael Ejercito]

Yeah, the other side loves women so much that they make them spend tens of extra dollars in premiums every month just to cover something they can buy at Walgreens or CVS for less than ten dollars.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Turn your clocks back an hour on Sunday because the government told you to.

My desire for an extra hour of sleep outweighs my disdain for government edicts.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Yeah. But sunset will be a 4pm out here.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I prefer that way. November is my favorite month of the year because it gets noticeably darker and colder. Plus my birthday is at the end of the month nicely sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[Dweebston]

Buh. I despise it. Not only do I leave work as the sun is setting, by the time I'm out of class it's fully night and cold. Brutal.

[Fist of Etiquette]

One day man will colonize the surface of the sun. I don't know if it will happen in my lifetime, but on that day we will finally no longer have to deal with this daylight saving time BS.

[C. Anacreon]

I don't think so. Ever since the dawn of time, man has yearned to destroy the sun.

[Terr]

+1 giant sun shade stored inside a mountain

[Fist of Etiquette]

And my desire to not leave work when it's pitch black out overrides my disdain for your disdain. But technically we're putting the clocks back to where they should be.

[CE]

Why not just set them back a half hour and split the difference year round?

[Fist of Etiquette]

WHY NOT MANDATE AN AXIAL TILT OF ZERO DEGREES?

[hamilton]

That is a BRILLIANT idea which you should never mention to any politician ever.

[JW]

The Guamonians will never survive such a thing!

[nothinghead]

Didn't Guam already tip over?

[C. Anacreon]

Why not just set them back a half hour and split the difference year round?

Sure would make trying to deal with people in other countries quite difficult (What time is it out there? Do I add six and a half hours, or five and three-quarters?" But, I guess we could get an app for that.

[BuSab Agent]

Just ask a Newfoundlander.

[Ted S.]

In theory, we could pick any time zone we wanted. Some of them just make more sense than others.

[Ted S.]

During the spring/summer when there's a lot of daylight, I'd prefer to have more of it after dinner and not in the wee hours of the morning.

Something about the libertarians' reflexive anti-DST attitudes strikes me as eye roll-inducing.

[CE]

I'd prefer that in the winter too. Just keep them on DST all year.

[Ted S.]

I'm not a fan first thing in the morning of having to search in the dark for the dog's chain to put her out to do her business.

To be fair, though, once you get below a certain number of hours of daylight you're going to have to deal with darkness no matter what you do.

[Tonio]

So, because getting up earlier is more convenient for you, you're willing to impose that on the rest of us. You just don't get this freedom from government coercion thing, do you Teddy?

[Rhywun]

Hear, hear. I couldn't care less about going to work in the dark - it's not like I'm awake then.

[JW]

Just keep them on DST all year.

So this. I'm asleep in the morning when it's dark out anyway.

[Tonio]

Ted, nobody objects to you choosing to get up earlier or later during certain times of the year. And nobody objects to your employer having summer hours and winter hours. What we object to is the government mandating this for everyone.

What if the government decided to change the system of weights and measures twice a year to manipulate gasoline consumption?

[Caleb Turberville]

"The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it."

[Ted S.]

Don't they already mandate different blends during different seasons?

Or am I missing your sarcasm?

[Tonio]

Yes they do, and that is objectionable. But not as objectible as changing fundamental units of measure. Also, see above at 4:51.

[Zeb]

Especially since the government tells us what time it is with or without DST. Unless you have some sort of very clever watch with GPS that sets itself to absolute local time.
I wonder if such a thing exists. Wouldn't be terribly useful unless you were an astronomer or something, bu tit would be clever.

[Tonio]

Some clocks sync up with the NIST atomic clock in Boulder. NIST has a special radio frequency allocated specifically for time broadcasts.

[hamilton]

Look, if you like your local time, you're going to be able to keep it. The law won't affect any of that.

[Tonio]

Nice.

[Warty]

I'm fucking sick of timezones. MANDATE UTC FOR EVERYONE

[Brett L]

But how will I determine my longitude?

[Warty]

With a telescope and careful measurement of the moons of Jupiter, you idiot. Or with a chronometer that shows GMT and a compass, but that way's for chumps. So, wait, do that.

[hamilton]

Do it by staring at the sun with a sextant like real men used to do. The polish off a few pints of grog and head belowdecks for buggery time.

[Warty]

That's latitude, you fool. God. People like you deserve to run aground on some rocks off Sicily.

[Warty]

Scilly. Not Sicily. Scilly.

[hamilton]

Oh you lucky bastard I was just about to come down on you for that. "From Ushant to Scilly 'tis 35 leagues". And you got longitude by shooting the sun for local noon and threatening anyone who fucked with the hourglass with death, if I remember right.

Now report for punishment.

[jesse.in.mb]

Beijing time for everyone!

1.351 billion people can't be wrong.

[Tonio]

Fun fact. We have standardized time zones because of the railways. Before coast to coast rail transport each town used to set local time based on longitude.

[Warty]

And not all that long ago, counties and cities were free to observe DST if they wanted to.

[Brett L]

I'm about to go to the westernmost Eastern timezone point in FL. It is easily 30 miles west of the rest of the time line. Because the St. Joe paper company wanted to be all in the Eastern time zone.

[BakedPenguin]

The St. Joe owns that section of the panhandle. Quite literally.

[JeremyR]

I know

With DST, it would be daylight at 4 am in the Summer where I live

[SweatingGin]

Obviously you're not a says admin or developer.

[Tonio]

This. Thank you.

Also, the incredible lost productivity of doing this. Idiocy!

[Fist of Etiquette]

More part-time college professors are joining unions, which will help inflate that education bubble quite nicely.

Combine a product government subsidizes as a necessity with collective bargaining and a liberal workforce, and you've got the makings of an epic bursting.

[Caleb Turberville]

Ever since the Lady's Garment Workers got their own union, the entire notion of collective bargaining has been gotten rather silly.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The gunman has been reported both in custody and dead and several others were injured.

THE GUNMAN WAS A WALKING AR-15 ASSAULT RIFLE. Spread the word.

[Tonio]

Well, if dead I bet the government has the corpse, so not mutually exclusive.

[C. Anacreon]

What you said is redundant. According to some guy on HuffPo the other day, "AR" stands for "assault rifle". So no need to say it twice, FoE.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'll drop the AR before I drop the assault rifle!

[GILMORE]

Drop the AR!

Pirate says = "You'll never get me to drop me Arrrrrrrrrrs!"

Bostonian says = "Ahhs? Waatya meen ahhs? We dohnt haaav anee ahhhs to begin with"

[GILMORE]

"According to some guy on HuffPo the other day..."

This is just another way of saying, "Something factually untrue was claimed recently"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR15

[C. Anacreon]

According to some guy on HuffPo the other day..."

This is just another way of saying, "Something factually untrue was claimed recently"

Yikes! I guess I need to use the /sarc tag more often. Of course it's not true! But it is amazing how many fools buy into that...

[Brett L]

SR-71 and SR-72 scramjet engine cycle porn.

[db]

Porn via slideshow? You monster.

[trshmnstr]

What do they need a new high altitude recon plane for? Do the Chinese already have all of our satellites accounted for and tracked?

[Brett L]

Yes.

[Not an Economist]

It is not the altitude it is the speed. Our spy satellites do not cover the entire world and while you can move them, that takes time and it may be impossible to move one where you need it.

A plane, especially a fast one, is more flexible that a satellite and may be repurposed once in the air a lot easier than a satellite.

[Gene]

Very cool.
But how much and why?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Two Greek men shot dead outside fascist party headquarters

Greek police say two men have been shot and are believed dead in a drive-by shooting outside an office of the far-right, Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party in Athens.

A party statement says two men aged 20 and 23 have been shot dead and a third man was injured in the attack.

A police official says the men were shot by two men on a motorcycle in the Iraklio neighborhood late Friday. It was unclear whether the victims were Golden Dawn members. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

No arrests have been made.

Golden Dawn's leader and two lawmakers have been jailed pending trial on charges of forming a criminal group. The party has denied any wrongdoing.

[BardMetal]

What exactly makes fascism or national socialism far-right?

Seems like being far-right in Europe means you're just as socialist as the other parties, but you're opposed to immigration, and the EU.

[#]

Pretty much. It's the fight between national socialism and international socialism.

[BakedPenguin]

This. Having a nationalist platform is ostensibly far right.

Of course, you probably don't want to look into what countries like Vietnam did with their ethnic Chinese minority after their victory. (Among other examples)

[#]

The few people in Europe who actually want restrictions on government are generally still refered to as liberals.

The rest of the political spectrum is just what kind of socialsm you want.

[jesse.in.mb]

A return to traditional Greek values, you say...

[EDG reppin' LBC]

You have some tzatziki on your toga. Wait... THATS NOT TZATZIKI!!!

[Marc F Cheney]

Two men were literally murdered and all you glibertarians can do is whine about national socialism. Bunch of manbabies, you.

*straight face*

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

I hate cycling my clock back.
This means it's going to be dark by 5PM until March.

[BakedPenguin]

This. The farmers don't need it anymore, so stop the idiocy.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

That's funny, my parents always told me it was the city folk who wanted it because they needed morning daylight for the kiddies to walk to school.
Since kids don't walk to school anymore, what's the point.

[Tonio]

After WW2 it was the retail merchants who lobbied to keep this.

[Ted S.]

On the other hand, do you like not having sunrise until 8:00 AM? As I said above, once you get to having not much daylight, you have to make a tradeoff somewhere.

[Tonio]

Wow, are you presuming to define my needs, Teddy?

[Ted S.]

If everybody acted as though I was always right, the world would have a lot fewer problems.

Note that this doesn't require I actually be right; just that people act that way.

[BuSab Agent]

Having lived for many years in a place without the daylight savings silliness (until the Indiana lege got another attack of teh stoopid), I can say that it's much better without. It gradually gets darker more and then lighter more over the course of the year and you don't even fucking notice it. Now that our benevolent overlords have got us fiddling with our clocks like everyone else, now we too can deal with a bunch of sleep deprived idjits on icy roads.

[Brett L]

I don't think Chris Frates is going to be on Obama's salon invites.

Senate Democrats voted unanimously three years ago to support the Obamacare rule that is largely responsible for some of the health insurance cancellation letters that are going out.

In September 2010, Senate Republicans brought a resolution to the floor to block implementation of the grandfather rule, warning that it would result in canceled policies and violate President Barack Obama's promise that people could keep their insurance if they liked it.

[rts]

First Nations declare victory against Taseko's B.C. mine

The site, 550 kilometres northeast of Vancouver in the Chilcotin region, is the tenth-largest undeveloped gold-copper deposit in the world.

The company has estimated the New Prosperity mine would generate 550 direct jobs and $340 million in gross domestic product annually.

Taseko's original proposal received provincial approval in 2010, but the federal government rejected the plan, which would have drained a lake of cultural significance to First Nations for use as a tailings pond.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Do they own the lake? If this was a free market and the government didn't own all waterways they'd still have to buy the lake and if the tribe put a cultural value on the lake that the mining company wasn't willing to pay then too bad. The problem here is the government owning the lake in the first place.

[rts]

Agreed. But I cut the quote short:

Taseko then submitted a new plan for the site in the Chilcotin region 550 kilometres northeast of Vancouver and said it would save Fish Lake and prevent contamination from groundwater seepage from a tailings pond that it would instead locate several kilometres away.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Unsurprising. Just looked up pictures of the lake, it's gorgeous. I imagine in a free market Taseko would never have considered using the lake in the first place because it would be too expensive. If only we had an environmental system using property rights rather than regulations.

[Cytotoxic]

A tiny little beuaracracy stopped it, which makes a joke of the Conservative's claims to be limiting government.

[Tonio]

"Conservatives'"?

[Winston]

This is Canada. Place were Obama is more popular than he is in the US and where private healthcare is a fringe opinion.

[Gene]

Yeah true enough but his plan to reform or abolish the senate by appointing the likes of Wallin and Duffy just might work for him.

[Ted S.]

Are they going to get rid of the Senate entirely, or come up with a horrid second elected house?

[BardMetal]

Anyone else think the term "first nations" sounds a little arrogant?

[Tonio]

Meh. Less confusing than Indians.

Oh, the Washington First Peoples NFL franchise....

[BakedPenguin]

This. I actually like it, despite it's PC origin, because it identifies exactly who the speaker is talking about.

Also, they were actually here before everyone else.

[C. Anacreon]

Someone talking about the Redskins issue on TV the other day actually brought up the ridiculous old myth that our tribes were called "Indians" because Columbus was confused and thought he had landed in India. Really? I thought that one was long gone.

To refresh, there was no place named "India" in 1492. What we now know as India was regions that were known as "Hindus" or
"Hindustan".

Columbus saw these indigenous people and thought they were creatures directly from God. So he called them "endio" or "endios", essentially "people/children of God."

If I were Native American, I'd much prefer being known as Indian thinking I was a "child of God." That even sounds better than being one of God's "chosen people." So I don't understand why there would even be an issue of "Native American" (which sounds so generic) vs Indian.

[rts]

Wikipedia disagrees

Europeans at the time of Christopher Columbus's voyage often referred to all of South and East Asia as "India" or "the Indias/Indies," sometimes dividing the area into "Greater India," "Middle India," and "Lesser India."[1] The oldest surviving terrestrial globe, by Martin Behaim in 1492 (before Columbus' voyage), labels the entire Asian subcontinent region as "India".[2]

[rts]

Further:

However, as the writer David Wilton noted in his book Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends, this phrase [en Dios] does not appear in any of Columbus' writing. Wilton also says that since Greek and Roman times, more than a millennium before the voyages of Columbus, many European languages used variations of the term "Indian" to describe the peoples of the Indian subcontinent.[6]

[C. Anacreon]

Interesting. I learn something every day in the comments section here, sometimes even the extent of my own ignorance.

Fascinating that this whole perception was likely the work of Russell Means. Thanks for setting me straight.

[The Heresiarch]

Yeah - The term "India" goes back a long way. That's why Arrian of Nicomedia's work on India was called the "Indica."

[Zeb]

For the past several years I have intended to just leave my clocks on DST so I can get up earlier and get home before it is completely dark out. But then every year an extra hour of sleep seems like a better idea when I get right down to it.

[Tonio]

Well you get an extra hour once a year, and you lose an extra hour once a year, so net zero.

[Zeb]

Well, obviously. I'm talking about my state of mind next Monday morning.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Almost without exception, I wake up when I damned well feel like it and I go to sleep when I damned well feel like it. I don't get a fetid dingo's kidney what the clock says.

[font_of_stupidity]

What happens if I die before I get that extra hour back? Then I got screwed!

We've got to do something to avert this looming crisis. Not just for me, but for the children too.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

You Are Stupid and We Will Take the Things You Like and Pay For, Pt MMLVIII

So let me recap:

Currently, my wife and I have a plan where we pay $315 per month. We don't need referrals to see specialists, we have out of network coverage, and we have an $8.000 in-network deductible (another $8,000 max out of pocket if we go out of network).

How about the new plan Anthem is offering me? $581 per month (84% increase), $10,000 deductible PLUS 20% co-insurance after that up to a $12,000 out of pocket maximum. Also, it's an HMO so I need to see my primary care physician for referrals, and oh by the way, the network of doctors has shrunk and my local hospital is out of network. There are no out-of-network benefits.

That's what we call the triple whammy ? higher premiums, higher deductibles, less access. Lose, lose, lose.

I smell satisfied customer and future Dem voter...

[Juice]

Welcome to the party, pal.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Whatever Mayor ROB FORD was doing with a crack pipe on the video, he wasn't smoking it insists lawyer.

[Ted S.]

SLD: Crack, of course, should not be illegal.

[Tonio]

Meh. That's not a standard libertarian disclaimer, Teddy. Legal pot is a standard. Legalizing cocaine in all its forms is mainstream, but arguable.

Teddy, srsly, why are you here? Are you a single-issue "libertarian" and if so what's that issue?

Freedom is the freedom to make bad choices. Freedom is the freedom to not have to support other people who have made bad choices.

[Brett L]

Is Biden dumb enough to go nucular?

Just minutes after the swearing-in of New Jersey Democrat Cory Booker, the Senate dove headfirst back into a standoff over executive and judicial branch nominations.

"I think it's worth considering it," Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said of changing Senate rules on nominees after Republicans filibustered two nominees.

Republicans blocked President Barack Obama's pick of Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., to become the top housing finance regulator, and Patricia Ann Millett's nomination to fill one of three vacant seats on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. Watt was blocked on a 56-42 vote for cloture, while Millett failed on a 55-38 vote. Sixty votes are needed to avoid a filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid voted "no" to preserve his right to reconsider the vote.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

You Are Stupid and We Will Take the Things You Like and Pay For, Pt MMLV

Recently, I wrote that our health insurance system needs reform, and that I thought the Affordable Care Act couldn't possibly make our current system worse. An important point in that post was that while I am a fan of free markets, Healthcare is already not a free market: the Government is involved enough, regulating it enough to completely screw it up. I concluded that some more Government involvement probably couldn't make it any worse. I believe that I was mistaken.

Does anyone remember this key promise from The President?

That whole "you can keep your plan ? you can keep your doctor" foundation that was used to "sell" the Affordable Care Act to the American People? To me, that's a pretty important foundation for this reform: the whole point is to add options for those who need it, while maintaining current choices for those who don't wish to make a change.

Well guess what ? I'm finding out in a hurry that this core foundation of my support for Obamacare was a fantasy. I ? the individual healthcare purchaser (in New Hampshire) ? am about to get royally screwed.

The message is coming through loud and clear, don't you think?

[Brett L]

Aww, does his little butt hurt? Welcome to the party, pal.

[Suthenboy]

yep. Fuck him.

[fish_remote]

This guy is crazy...Amanda Marcotte told me so!

[Sevo]

..."I concluded that some more Government involvement probably couldn't make it any worse."...

This guy *IS* too stupid to buy his own insurance!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

America's Angry White Men

Yet deny it we do, often by assuming that these outbursts are motivated by anything at all -- mental illness, access to guns, video games, whatever -- other than gender. We'd notice, of course, if it were poor black girls pulling the triggers in school shootings, or women who walked into their workplaces with semi-automatic guns firing, or all Asians or Jews or Latinos who were shooting up our movie theaters and political rallies. But white men? Must be some other factor.

It seems so obvious, and yet so startling to see middle-class white American men, arguably the most privileged human beings on the planet (excluding, of course, hereditary aristocracies and the upper classes) fuming with such self-righteous outrage. (The comedian Louis CK gets this sense of privilege: "I'm a white man," he says, "How many advantages can one persona have?"

So, to research my book, Angry White Men, I traveled the country and interviewed scores of these guys -- from "men's rights" activists who think white men are the victims of the new discrimination, to the "white wing" on the rightward fringes of the American political spectrum, who believe they are watching "our" country being snatched away from them.

How hard could it possibly be to write a book that offers so little insight or originality?

[BardMetal]

"(The comedian Louis CK gets this sense of privilege: "I'm a white man," he says, "How many advantages can one persona have?""

As a white man I never quite understood this sort of self-hating way of thinking.

[BardMetal]

I also don't know how you guys are able to add italics, or that little side bar to show that are quoting someone.

[Brett L]

Start here. Someone else probably has a better reference but it's all about wrapping things in pointy brackets.

[BakedPenguin]

No offense, Brett, I think W3 school is better. BardMetal (I won't use the abbr unless you piss me off), look up "blockquote", "italics", and "bold".

Alternatively, if you're using Chrome as a browser, just download this, and you'll have a shortcut.

[Tonio]

They are called HTML tags. Google the phrase "basic html tags".

[Fatty Bolger]

It's not really self-hating in his case. He's just a prick who realized that he can get away with anything he wants to, as long as he slams white men and observes liberal pieties once in a while.

[C. Anacreon]

Yes, this is a guy who did an entire comedy routine once about watching this toddler daughter bend over, spread her butt cheeks, and pop a turd out of her "little pink asshole." His words. I am not making this up.

So yes, I'm sure he has to pray to the PC gods sometimes to not be a major controversy, much less getting nominated for Emmy awards.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

You Are Stupid and We Will Take the Things You Like and Pay For: Marcotte Edition

Have you been seeing media stories sounding the alarm about how Obamacare is creating "rate shock" and causing people's health care costs to go up? Don't worry, folks[?]Basically, the plans that are getting cancelled are getting cancelled because they were, to be blunt, rip-offs. They had high deductibles, didn't cover shit, and often had caps. The new plans have to cover essential services and cannot have caps. Some of the rates the insurance companies sent out are, in fact, really high. But for many people who got those rates, if you go onto the exchange, you'll find that you can get a better rate for the same plan there. Many people will also qualify for subsidies. It's as simple as that[?]

High rates are a problem and we need to fix them, but we can't even begin to have that conversation unless we agree to compare apples to apples. Wingnuts screaming about how unfair it is that men have to pay into a system that covers maternity care?as if men don't benefit from having been given birth to and play no role in the act that makes babies happen?is just noise and should be ignored

If you like your plan, you can keep it are a misogynist teabilly.

[Sevo]

When a third party sticks its nose in a transaction between two willing actors, nothing good will come of it.

[Suthenboy]

Shorter Marcotte ; "Dont believe your lying eyes."

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Basically, the plans that are getting cancelled are getting cancelled because they were, to be blunt, rip-offs. They had high deductibles, didn't cover shit, and often had caps.

But, you stupid cunt, that's exactly what I wanted. Let's see, $75 for a doctor visit whenever I need it and catastrophic coverage for, well, catastrophes... or, a crapton more in premiums every fucking month, plus a copay to see the fucking doctor anyway.

[Ted S.]

No, you stupid prick, that's what you thought you wanted only because the free marked led you into false consciousness.

[font_of_stupidity]

as if men don't benefit from having been given birth to and play no role in the act that makes babies happen

Marcotte seems to be arguing that men should also have a voice in whether or not his child gets aborted. I KNEW Marcotte was a Teathuglican Christfag!

[rts]

Environment: Waste production must peak this century

But by extending current socio-economic trends to 2100, we project that 'peak waste' will not occur this century. Unless we reduce population growth and material consumption rates, the planet will have to bear an increasing waste burden.

I've heard this story before...

[Zeb]

Well, some projections suggest that population will peak this century, so that may well happen.

Do they really think that all trends are linear?

[Marc F Cheney]

No, they think all trends are exponential.

[R C Dean]

by extending current socio-economic trends to 2100, we should leave no doubt that we are complete idiots.

[rts]

Did you know that disco record sales were up 400% for the year ending 1976? If these trends continue... A-y-y-y!

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Kimi Raikkonen says he may not take part in the final two races of the season if his Lotus team do not solve a financial dispute.

He hasn't been paid all season he claims.
Also, if Lotus finish just happen to finish behind Ferarri (his new team), they get more money next season.

[Ted S.]

How's he going to make it rain with a different dozen women every week?

[Warty]

Since the TSA thread is dead, I'll repost my comment from there.

Gawker's comments are everything I hoped for. But you knew that already.

lampost451UGonecountry919161L
pfft, look at that nub AR15. Carry handle? You need at least a holo sight, Surefire light, that angled fingerhold thing that's hot now, breacher impact tip to use the barrel like a hammer and like, 7 more mags. And laser. How can I defend myself without parity to the world's finest armed forces? Just because they're soldiers and I'm not doesn't mean I don't deserve military grade weaponry. Today 1:33pm

[Brett L]

Why? Why would you go there?

[Warty]

Some men pay women lots of money to dress up in latex and burn their genitals with cigarettes. I also go to Gawker sometimes.

[Zeb]

Whose genitals? I suppose it could go either way.

[Brett L]

But... okay.

[Dead or In Jail]

I want you to have my gay babies

[Zeb]

THe funny thing is, if I assume that that is not sarcastic, I pretty much agree with what it says. I should be allowed to own military grade weaponry. At least the sorts of thing that an infantry soldier would have.

[BardMetal]

Why be limited to just what an infantry soldier could carry?

Would most other stuff be outreach simply because of the costs regardless of the law?

And if I happen to be some billionaire in North Dakota with a thousand acres who wants to cruise around my property in an M1 Abrams tank, why the hell not?

[BardMetal]

That was supposed to be "wouldn't most other stuff be out of reach simply because of the costs regardless of the law?"

[Generic Stranger]

I'm having trouble telling one way or the other, to tell the truth. It reads like it's sarcastic, but whoever wrote it actually seems to know a bit about ARs, which is extremely rare amongst antigunners. So maybe it wasn't sarcastic? I don't know.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

My position on gun rights has been that -- at a minimum -- whatever a policeman is able to requisition, I should be able to own under the presumption that a policeman's duties directly overlap with all of a citizens rights and obligations in a free society.

We can reasonably discuss what else I am entitled to purchase for my self-defense beyond these things, but that should be the starting point IMO.

[Sevo]

"Nasdaq is having more tech problems, which shut down trading today."

See?! See?!

[The Immaculate Trouser]

You Are Stupid and For God's Sake Will You Just Get With the Program Already?!

Since insurers have begun informing beneficiaries that their health care plans do not meet the new federal requirements of Obamacare, and will be either cancelled or significantly altered, the media has profiled countless middle class Americans who claim that the new health care law will force them to pay more for coverage.

Deborah Cavallaro, for instance, a real estate agent from Los Angeles, was enrolled in an individual plan that cost her just $293 per month. Under Obamacare, Cavallaro says she'll have to pay over $400 for coverage she doesn't need or want. But a higher premium doesn't tell the whole story: while Cavallaro may spend more each month, she'll be buying more comprehensive insurance with fewer out-of-pocket costs, better benefits that will cover more and cost her less if she actually falls ill, and much more robust consumer protections.

Their commitment to fiddle playing whilst all burns around them is most impressive.

[Brett L]

she'll be buying more comprehensive insurance with fewer out-of-pocket costs,

citation needed. Many stories have higher OOP maximums and higher deductibles.

[a better weapon]

...if she falls ill

I believe she is qualifying that fact in a very poorly structured sentence.

Real fucking stupid, but yeah, she thinks she can get away with it.

[Sevo]

Again, when a third party sticks its nose in a transaction between two willing actors, nothing good will come of it.

[Warty]

COLONEL
Whose
side are you on, son?

JOKER
Our side, sir.

COLONEL
Don't you love your country?

JOKER
Yes,
sir.

COLONEL
Then how about getting with the program?

Why don't you jump on the team and come
on in for the big win?

[R C Dean]

better benefits that will cover more

treatment that it may be literally impossible for her to ever need?

Does she have kids? If not, why is pediatric coverage a better benefit for her?

Is she still in her child-bearing years? If not, maternity coverage, etc.

Does she have, or is she planning to have, a drug problem? If not, substance abuse treatment, etc.

[Enough About Palin]

As I said in an earlier thread, if men have to pay for mammograms, then they should go to the doctor and get them. How can the doctor say no? Men can get breast cancer too. Tens of thousands of men getting mammograms would be a great political expression.

[Sevo]

R C Dean|11.1.13 @ 4:50PM|#
"better benefits that will cover more"

Hey, nobody said the benefits were for HER!

[Ted S.]

while Cavallaro may spend more each month, she'll be buying more comprehensive insurance with fewer out-of-pocket costs,

As I said a few days ago, you can either pay a bit more each month, and then not pay the radiologist for your mammogram, or you can pay a little less each month and pay the radiologist directly.

Yet there are politicians who will scream that if you allow women this choice, you want to take away their mammograms and have them die.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I offer free mammograms daily. My patients seem satisfied.

[Ted S.]

Tactile examination of moobs is not the same thing as mammograms.

[jesse.in.mb]

I didn't realize your hands were radioactive.

[Ted S.]

I beat you to the punch! :-p

Or would it be beating you to the fondle in this case?

[jesse.in.mb]

We went in totally different directions with that joke. You didn't beat me to anything.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Gentlemen, please! Stop beating each other.

[RightofCenter]

+1 off

[GILMORE]

Its exaggerations like this that truly highlight how out of touch Right-Wingers are and how much they truly hate Women, The Poor, and Minorities.
(tm)

[Juice]

just $293 per month

This shit kills me. I see left and right people talking about these bills that I would not feel comfortable with like they are such a great deal.

[kinnath]

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/0.....us_better/

It is difficult, and it will never be any other, to be an American and write in an American publication that the best thing to befall our great country would be a series of resounding defeats. It is upside down. It is bitter. And it is time.

Patrick Smith used to write the "Ask the Pilot" column back with Salon was 50% liberal crap and 50% interesting stuff. He shows up every now and then to remind me just how bad Salon as become.

[Cytotoxic]

Talks to establish a Trans-Pacific Partnership and an EU?U.S. Free Trade Agreement are both fated to end in tears, precisely because of their primary intent: to impose Anglo-American neoliberalism on everybody, or ? great phrase on the radio the other night ? "to dollarize the world economy."

Sounds like Liberal crap.

His hope for American foreign policy failure is...interesting. Depending on how that failure manifests, he might not like what America does. There would probably be more drone-bombings given that, contrary Smith's wishes otherwise, it has been a hugely successful policy.

[Metazoan]

Besides, plenty of people around the world seem to notice the value of "Anglo-American neoliberalism*"

*what a silly phrase

[Ted S.]

"Neoliberalism" seems to be the replacement for "fascist" as a generic derogatory economic term.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Yup. It's like T Sowell likes to say: the operative question when someone claims that a certain policy would have a "good" or "bad" outcome should be, "compared to what?"

[kinnath]

When he writes about airplanes, airlines, and seeing the world, he is mostly interesting. When he delves into politics, he can be annoying (he clearly tends liberal).

But he has railed against security theater and other government overreach in the past

[Paul.]

security theater and other government overreach in the past

When Bush was in office?

[kinnath]

Note that the core of his complaint here is American Cultural Imperialism. I have never seen actually state that we should become more European, so he doesn't generally come across as a whiney progtard.

[Paul.]

It's a fine line. Some people who bitch about American Cultural Imperialism are bitching about other countries wanting stuff like cars and movies, not so much our constant direct political interventions into their regional policies *cough*Hillary*cough*.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Who cares, American culture is great -- if people abroad like Coke and other American cultural exports, who are you to say they shouldn't have them?

We just need to get enough Hispanics in here to teach y'all how to dance, play a little merengue, and cook *good* food, then you're golden. (Oh, and perhaps to convince you to eschew your barbarous tongue in favor of something that slides off the tongue with more ease -- doesn't have to be Spanish; anything in the romance languages will do.)

[jesse.in.mb]

Maybe we can switch to French, then the Acad?mie fran?aise can whip us into shape.

[BardMetal]

Romance languages are snooty. Stick to Germanic languages.

[Calidissident]

The only Romance language I would describe as snooty is French. And aside from English (just cause I've grown up used to it), Germanic languages really do just sound awful.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Agree with Cali. How do Spanish, Portuguese (my personal favorite romance language) or Italian sound snooty?

I prefer romance languages for ease of use and how they sound; Anglos don't realize how counter-intuitive and strange their language is if you weren't born into it.

[jesse.in.mb]

Argentine Spanish?

[Acosmist]

Having lived in Miami and heard that awful mongrel dialect of Latin, uh, no, Spanish is not the first, or thousandth, thing that would come to mind. Shrill language.

[Tim]

Will this shooter turn out to be another voices hearing maniac that should have been recognized months ago?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

More on ObamaCare:

Take a quick look at those purple bars: that's the "most poverty-ish" group. Once you take into account the tax subsidies and cost sharing, the monthly premiums for the Bronze plan are $0. But what about that $11,500 deductible for a family of 4? How do you afford that if you're making $ 23k a year? Is that where cost sharing comes in? (I don't know these answers)? So let's check the silver plan: $36/month and a $ 1k deductible? That's not horrible coverage, actually, right? I think there must be a typo in these purple bars, though: the silver plan wouldn't have a higher deductible than the gold plan would, right? That would make no sense? I'm going to assume those two are reversed, and that it's really a $ 2k family deductible for the silver plan. $ 2k is probably a lot of money for those in this bracket ? probably not very "affordable" when you're only making $ 23k a year or less? We'll see, I guess?

Someone really needs to explain to me what the natural constituency for ObamaCare is. It's not the poor (who are already covered by Medicaid). It's not the elderly (who are already covered by Medicare). It's not the lower middle class (whose subsidies are pitiful). It's definitely not the "young invincibles", the middle class, or the rich (who are all getting shafted to varying degrees).

[Cont]

[The Immaculate Trouser]

As far as I can tell, the only people who really stand to gain in an objective way are the very sick ? those with pre-existing conditions and such. But that group is very small. How do the Dems expect to make this work politically when the only group unambiguously in favor is so small, and the groups negatively affected so large? I know you all want to characterize this as another free shit bill that will never get repealed, but here the free shit is large and limited to a very small group which everyone else pays for. Everyone else is left status quo or worse off than they were before -- and this is without considering what happens to insurance markets once the death spiral hits.

[Suthenboy]

You seem to have missed the whole point of Obamacare and single payer. Both are a giant boot.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Right, but "Vote for Giant Boot" doesn't bring out the pom-poms and ticker-tape parades come election time.

"Vote for Security" or "Vote for Free Stuff"? Sure. "Vote for 'Fuck you, we will make your decisions for you and give you shit'"... doesn't. And it seems like that is the strategy they are going for.

[Ted S.]

The people who voted for this thought they were fucking somebody else over.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

They don't think that anymore. Reality is a harsh mistress.

[C. Anacreon]

As far as I can tell, the only people who really stand to gain in an objective way are the very sick ? those with pre-existing conditions and such. But that group is very small.

Exactly. And probably the best way to solve the problem of the uninsurable with pre-existing serious problems would have been to extend Medicare to this group. It would have been a fairly minor act in its impact and cost, and it likely wouldn't have ended up being a very big deal. But no, the Bringer of Light wanted to "completely reform the American health-care system" rather than actually solve any problems.

[Tim]

Sign me up for the brown, runny plan.

[John]

There isn't one. That is why I keep telling the people who claim "the free shit brigade is going to make sure this stays forever" they are wrong.

These assholes managed to fuck up millions of people's health insurance in a program that appears to benefit almost no one. The only constituency this thing has beyond the assholes who created it is the "but it is Obama's signature achievement" crowd. That is it.

[Brett L]

I will admit that a lot of people are finding out that the free shit fairy is skipping their house, and they are surprised.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Exactly. Somehow, I don't see the electoral calculus of ObamaCare working out in the Dems' favor...

[Enough About Palin]

"Someone really needs to explain to me what the natural constituency for ObamaCare is."

Our asshole president's ego. He needed to prove he could do what Hillary couldn't.

And that's it.

[Cytotoxic]

A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan has killed a Taliban leader, which may well sabotage peace efforts between Pakistan and the terrorist group.

AMERICAN FUCK YEAH

[flye]

I think he was saying "kiss me, kiss me."

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you hard-hitting legal analysis from Jezebel commentators

Every pro life meatbonnet should be forced to pay double the tax that people with brains do. The "pro life Moron Tax" should go directly to programs for low income mothers, benefits for babies and children and food programs in schools.

Because the life they are forcing to be brought into this world doesn't end at birth and that precious little bundle of joy doesn't just feed/clothe/mind itself.

But let's not charge the mothers pumping out babies.

So, they can just overturn a ruling that a judge made because they don't like it? I wonder if they were all men. Total bullshit. I'm sick of this war on women.

Yes, those male judges retired to their chambers, male gazed and harassed their female assistants and law clerks, and wrote an opinion to destroy wimmenz freedomz!

When I see people with "we vote pro-life" stickers on their cars, I just want to ram into them as hard as I possibly can.

....just sayin.

Someone needs help.

Sorry, but that isn't someone "disagreeing with me." That's someone saying that they view me as a less than fully autonomous human being and that they take steps to actively limit my legal rights as such. So, yeah, I kind of want to ram them, too.

Wow.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

It probably speaks to my terrible online reading haunts that I am not fazed by any of this in the slightest.

[Metazoan]

MY BODY MY CHOICE unless it's any issue other than abortion.

[John]

Because the life they are forcing to be brought into this world doesn't end at birth and that precious little bundle of joy doesn't just feed/clothe/mind itself.

We joke. But they really hate poor people. and poor children in particular. They are a bunch of upper class white women doing their best to make sure the poor don't breed.

[BardMetal]

Wasn't that always Planned Parenthood's mission? Can't have inferior people breeding.

[flye]

To be fair, there are a number of bumperstickers that make me want to run people off the road. "Coexist" is near the top.

[BardMetal]

This times a million. I fucking hate those smug little Coexist bumper stickers.

[Generic Stranger]

I prefer this version.

[flye]

I went from not knowing that existed to an intense desire to own one in about 3 seconds. You should get a commission.

[BardMetal]

Nice

[font_of_stupidity]

"Loving Truth is my Religion" - Dalai Lama

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world" - Ghandi

"I'm Ready for HILARY!"

These are three of my ram-worthy bumper stickers.

[Ted S.]

But let's not charge the mothers pumping out babies.

Except of course those women only got pregnant because they got hit by a bus.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Because the life they are forcing to be brought into this world

I didn't realize that pro-lifers were all rapists.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Meanwhile...in Russia...

An elderly shepherd in Russia's North Caucasus survived a bear attack by fighting off the animal with kicks and headbutts, local television reported.
Yusuf Alchagirov, 80, also tried to stab the bear when the beast approached him in a raspberry field in Kabardino-Balkaria, but said the animal knocked his knife away.
The ensuing tussle culminated in the bear, enraged by the headbutt, throwing Alchagirov off a cliff and walking away, the man said on the regional affiliate of VGTRK television.
Alchagirov was briefly hospitalized with bruises, bite wounds and four broken ribs. His family baked him three traditional pies to celebrate his survival.
"I got off easy. It'd have killed me if I'd chickened out," Alchagirov said on television. The incident took place last week, but was not reported by federal media until Wednesday.
Locals will not be hunting the bear down because they believe he was only playing with Alchagirov, Russian media said Wednesday.

Anyone who lives to be 80 in Russia must be pretty hardcore.

[Brett L]

Locals will not be hunting the bear down because they believe he was only playing with Alchagirov

Obviously, the guy lived.

[Suthenboy]

Those sure are some steely balls you have there, Yusuf.

[Brett L]

Probably it was his giant balls hitting the bear in the snout that saved him.

[Rich]

Anyone who lives to be 80 in Russia must be pretty hardcore.

Well, to be fair, they do get free healthcare.

[GILMORE]

They used to get free vodka. Thems were the days.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

British man lusts after model Kelly Brook; gets gets thrown out by wife after leaving comment on Daily Mail article

A furious wife kicked her husband out of the family home after he offered to leave her and his kids for one night with Kelly Brook.

The man made the remark in the comments section of the Mail Online over a feature showing photos of the model in sexy lingerie.

He posted: "She is so sexy, I would leave my wife and kids for one night with her!"

His comment sparked criticism from others with many giving it a negative rating.

Unbeknown to him, one user was his wife who decided to post a message herself.

She wrote: "My idiot husband forgot his comments are linked to his Facebook account.

"You don't deserve our beautiful kids and I hope your brother has room on his sofa because I'm having the locks changed."

I presume the wife is also English, so maybe not a complete loss?

[tarran]

Methinks that I need to make sure that my next marriage contract has an Ornella Muti rider so I cannot be sued for breach of contract. 😉

[CE]

What, you don't have a list of 5 celebrity free passes already?

[Brett L]

I can't imagine why he'd want to leave her. Certainly not because she's a crazy bitch.

[BakedPenguin]

Brett - note that Kelly Brook is a British woman, then, if you haven't, take a look at her. Please modify any future comments you might have on British women thusly.

[Paul.]

A furious wife kicked her husband out of the family home after he offered to leave her and his kids for one night with Kelly Brook.

I'd leave his wife and kids for one night with Kelly Brooke.

[JW]

Yeah, I think this falls under "Madam, if I were your husband, I'd drink the poison."

[a better weapon]

Is Sarcasmic British?

[jesse.in.mb]

I presume the wife is also English, so maybe not a complete loss?

Might I recommend British men?

[Winston]

Okay so previously we were wondering about how come there is no Mencken at this time but I think Tom Friedman is somewhat close.

http://www.theatlantic.com/mag.....et/306393/

But this new democracy that thus arose in Germany was not, of course, a democracy in the American sense, Or anything colorably resembling it. It was founded upon no romantic theory that all men were natural equals; it was free from the taint of mobocracy; it was empty of soothing and windy phrases. On the contrary, it was a delimited, aristocratic democracy in the Athenian sense?a democracy of intelligence, of strength, of superior fitness?a democracy at the top. Its prizes went, not to those men who had most skill at inflaming and deluding the rabble, but to those who could contribute most to the prosperity and security of the commonwealth.

[Winston]

In the practical business of operating the state, in its units and as a whole, the final determination of all matters was plainly vested, not in politicians or in majorities, but in experts, in men above all politics, in the superbly efficient ruling caste. The professional mayor, aloof from party passions, unreachable by intrigues, remains today a characteristic German figure: the supreme triumph of intelligence over mere voting power. And one recalls, too, such typical representatives of the new order as Rudolf Virchow, for years a hard-working Berlin city councillor, and Wilhelm Koch, the greatest bacteriologist in the world and Germany's general superintendent of public health, her pre-Gorgasean Gorgas. Koch rid Germany of typhoid fever by penning up the population of whole villages and condemning whole watersheds. It was ruthless, it was unpopular, it broke down and made a mock of a host of 'inalienable' rights?but it worked.

[Suthenboy]

Wow, little Tommy is an unabashed authoritarian. And an idiot.

Winston, I am going to assume your Mencken comment was sarcasm.

[Winston]

Um that quote is from Mencken.

[Suthenboy]

I stand corrected.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The quote was from Mencken, not Friedman. It was his 1914 article supporting the German side in WWI and praising Germany as in many ways the embodiment of Nietszchean ideals.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Winston is quoting Mencken's thoughts on Wilhelmine Germany (which were Friedman-like in their stupid).

The way you can tell it's not Friedman is that there's no mention of golf courses, no tortured and/or mixed analogies, and the writing is not nearly vapid enough.

[Winston]

From this article I can see that Mencken was quite the writer. However his contrariness went a bit too far I think. I mean, contrary to his defenders, he isn't writing in the 1930s or 1940s and comparing Imperial Germany favorably to Hitler nor is he is applying a moral equivalency between Germany and the Allies or the US. He is outright praising Germany for behavior he attacked in the US because I guess they had Real TOP MEN unlike the Progressives or the Fundamentalists.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Like I said, Friedman-like in its stupidity.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I have some more of Mencken's lesser-known gems here:

http://reason.com/blog/2013/11.....nt_4103439

[Winston]

The last few paragraphs on WWI are quite something:
I come to the war: the supreme manifestation of the new Germany, at last the great test of the gospel of strength, of great daring, of efficiency. But here, alas, the business of the expositor must suddenly cease. The streams of parallel ideas coalesce. Germany becomes Nietzsche; Nietzsche becomes Germany. Turn away from all the fruitless debates over the responsibility of this man or that, the witless straw-splitting over non-essentials. Go back to Zarathustra: 'I do not advise you to compromise and make peace, but to conquer. Let your labor be fighting, and your peace victory.... What is good? All that increases the feeling of power, the will to power, power itself in man. What is bad? All that proceeds from weakness. What is happiness? The feeling that power increases, that resistance is being overcome.... Not contentment, but more power! Not peace at any price, but war! Not virtue, but efficiency! ... The weak and the botched must perish: that is the first principle of our humanity. And they should be helped to perish! ... I am writing for the lords of the earth. You say that a good cause hallows even war? ... I tell you that a good war hallows every cause!'

[Winston]

Barbarous? Ruthless? Unchristian? No doubt. But so is life itself. So is all progress worthy the name. Here at least is honesty to match the barbarity, and, what is more, courage, the willingness to face great hazards, the acceptance of defeat as well as victory. 'Ye shall have foes to be hated, but not foes to be despised. Ye must be proud of your foes... The new Empire has more need of foes than of friends. Nothing has grown more alien to us than that "peace of the soul" which is the aim of Christianity.... And should a great injustice befall you, then do quickly five small ones. A small revenge is better than none at all.'

Do we see again those grave, blond warriors of whom Tacitus tells us?who were good to their women, and would not lie, and were terrible in battle? Is the Teuton afoot for new conquests, a new tearing down, a new building up, a new transvaluation of all values? And if he is, will he prevail? Or will he be squeezed to death between the two mill-stones of Christianity and Mongol savagery? Let us not assume his downfall too lightly: it will take staggering blows to break him. And let us not be alarmed by his possible triumph. What did Rome ever produce to match the Fifth Symphony?

[Brett L]

By all means, Tommy, let's have a new technocracy like the Chinese.

[Paul.]

a democracy of intelligence, of strength, of superior fitness

We don't have that here.

[Winston]

Mencken on Bismarck:
Did he wage a war upon the Catholic Church? Then it was because he saw all organized and autonomous religion, with its tenacity to established ideas and its hostility to reforms from without, as a conspiracy against that free experimentation which alone makes for human progress. Did he do valiant battle with the Socialists, the Liberals, the whole tribe of political phrasemongers and tub-thumpers? Then it was because he knew how puerile and how futile were the cure-alls preached by these quacks?how much all political advancement was a matter of careful trial and stage-management, and how little it was a matter of principles and shibboleths.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Thanks for posting these passages. Interesting. I'll have to read Mencken now.

[Winston]

Like how he glosses over the kulturkampf, the Anti-Socialist laws, the welfare state and ruling without a budget?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Rand Paul responds to Gattaca-gate

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says in a new interview that charges that he has plagiarized Wikipedia in his speeches are an effort by "haters" to bring him down.
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow first accused Paul of lifting passages from Wikipedia's summary of the movie "Gattaca." Other reports suggest he has used Wikipedia's verbiage while describing the movie "Stand and Deliver."
Paul said during an interview with Fusion that he sufficiently credited the movies rather than Wikipedia and that his speeches are not supposed to be meticulously footnoted academic papers.
"We borrowed the plot lines from 'Gattaca,' the movie, and I gave credit to the people who wrote the movie," the potential 2016 presidential candidate said. "Nothing I said was not given attribution to where it came from.
"I didn't claim that I created the movie 'Gattaca'; that's what's absurd about this."
[...]
Paul also targeted Maddow and others who have pushed the story.
"The rest of it's making a mountain out of a molehill from people I think basically who are political enemies and have an ax to grind," Paul said. "This is really about information and attacks coming from haters. The person who's leading this attack -- she's been spreading hate on me for about three years now."

Oh the pettiness of politics and punditry

[Warty]

bobfbell
10/31/2013 11:46 AM EDT
As much as I am opposed to Mr. Paul and his beliefs, to make a mountain out of this mole hill is a distraction. Let's continue to criticize him for his out of touch ideas and his zeal to return the nation to an agrarian Utopia where every man is independent and the invisible guiding hand of the free market heals all ills. If he wants to pirate a few quotes from Wikipedia, cut him some slack;
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[Ted S.]

Not the fucking -gate suffix again!

[Warty]

"What would you call a scandal about water?"

[Swiss Servator, Burn a B??gg]

"Whitewater"

[Eduard van Haalen]

New book about the 2012 campaign, *Double Down,* gets bad review from reporter who didn't read it and doesn't want anyone else to read it, either.

http://thinkprogress.org/polit.....k-talking/

[Somalian Road Corporation]

CTRL-F'd article for mention of Kochtopus; was disappointed. I was under the impression that was editorially required at ThinkProgress.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Vatican investigating to see whether to declare a new saint:

"This Italian teenager was only 15 years old. He was passionate about animals and computers. In October 2006, he passed away from leukemia. The teens name was Carlo Acutis, and in a matter of years, he could be declared a saint....

"Carlo Acutis was not raised in a Christian environment. According to his parents and his classmates, the teen helped them better live out their faith, by earning their respect through his coherent approach to life....

"One of the standout attributes Carlo had was his devotion to the Eucharist. He would go to Mass each day. He also used his computing knowledge to create a web page that assembled Eucharistic miracles from all across the world."

http://www.romereports.com/pal.....nQfv1P9ypr

[jesse.in.mb]

It's hard enough to keep track of all the saints you currently have, particularly when you start factoring in the ones from semi-autonomous churches in communion with the Pope.

[Eduard van Haalen]

In honor of All Saints' day, here's a partial list:

http://www.americancatholic.or.....yname.aspx

[jesse.in.mb]

Totally disappointed in the description of St. Catherine of Siena, the ecstatic saint with an index finger relic.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Well, the good news is that, depending on the outcome of this investigation, nerds may get their own patron saint.

[jesse.in.mb]

I is confused you've already got a patron saint of lost causes (Jude) and a patron saint of virgins (Agnes), no? Why would nerds want for anything more?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Noted.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Michael Barone - Americans keep Moving to States With Low Taxes and Housing Costs

"Timothy Noah, writing in the Washington Monthly, professes to be puzzled. He points out that people have been moving out of states with high per capita incomes -- Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland -- to states with lower income levels.

""Why are Americans by and large moving away from economic opportunity rather than toward it?" he asks.

"Liberals like Noah often decry income inequality. But the states with the most unequal incomes and highest poverty levels these days are California and New York. That's what happens when high taxes and housing costs squeeze out the middle class....

"This leaves a highly visible and articulate upper class willing, in line with their liberal beliefs, to shoulder high tax burdens and a very much larger lower class -- many of them immigrants -- available to serve them in restaurants, landscape their gardens and valet-park their cars."

http://townhall.com/columnists...../page/full

[Eduard van Haalen]

Rand Paul introduces Senate resolution saying Obama should "directly address the serious allegation whether his administration monitored the calls of Pope Francis or the conclave selecting the Pope."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....questions/

[MJGreen]

Hahahahaha, I just now saw the context of Tony's "hit by a bus" comment. That is gold.

GOLD, Jerry!

Easily the funniest thing I've seen this week.

[Juice]

More part-time college professors are joining unions, which will help inflate that education bubble quite nicely.

Psshh. There's no correlation between how much adjunct professors are paid and tuition. NONE.

[Agammamon]

"Turn your clocks back an hour on Sunday because the government told you to."

No, because in *my* state, the government tells you not to.