DOJ Drops Opposition to Airline Merger, Typhoon Deaths Not as High as Feared, Schools Targeted for 3D Printers: P.M. Links

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  Credit: Medialab Prado / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

  American Airlines and U.S. Airways have finally satisfied the Department of Justice enough, by giving up some gates and facilities at airports, that the agency will stop trying to block their merger.

• Deaths in the Philippines because of Typhoon Haiyan will likely not reach the 10,000 leaders feared, but they're still likely to surpass 2,000.
• A North Carolina man is facing federal charges that he tried to join an al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria.
• MakerBot is trying to get a 3D printer in every school. Given how Los Angeles Unified School District freaked out over iPad hacking, I can only imagine the kind of panic will come from kids' creations.
• More and more retailers are announcing they're opening on Thanksgiving evening. Walmart is the latest.
• SeaWorld is suing the federal government to try to end a ban on contact between humans and killer whales. A judge put the order in place following the death of a trainer in 2010.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

MakerBot is trying to get a 3d printer in every school.

Kids will be printing out 3D guns. Or worse, Kelly LeBrock!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Kelly LeBrock

Ummmm...

[Andrew S.]

2013 Kelly LeBrock is not 1985 Kelly LeBrock. 1985 Kelly LeBrock remains awesome.

[Bobarian]

As I noted yesterday, the only acceptable version is pre-Segal.

[John]

Plastic surgeons, you blew it up, you God damned lunatics.

[AuH20]

Plastic surgery really ruined the porn industry. A bad boob job is a fucking boner killer.

[Mad Scientist]

That's just sympathy fat. Her ex is starting to look like Rosie O'Donnell too.

[Juice]

Interesting. Back when she was hot she had tiny tits.

[Andrew S.]

FoE should have his early thread access and first posting privileges revoked for badmouthing 1985 Kelly LeBrock.

[Fist of Etiquette]

By your logic, I was also badmouthing 3D guns. No, I was speaking in the voice of pearl-clutching parents and administrators. But those plastic 3D guns are hideous.

[Andrew S.]

Apologies then. Need to get the sarcasm detection circuit recalibrated.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That apology made you look weak.

[gaijin]

But those plastic 3D guns are hideous.

I dunno. They kind of remind me of phasers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And phasers got a pass because they shot light beams out that could either temporarily incapacitate you or permanently turn you to vapor.

[Rich]

Kids will be printing out 3D guns. Or worse,

3D-gun-shaped Pop Tarts!

[Fist of Etiquette]

They'll probably just 3D print out doobies and rainbow parties.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

Kids will be printing out 3D guns. Or worse

They're going to print a sequel to Howard the Duck?!?

[Gbob]

As a former teacher, I can pretty much guarantee that within an hour there will be a thousand plastic penis reproductions throughout the school.

[AlmightyJB]

Exactly. that and fake boobs.

[Corning]

In wood shop i made a dick out of wood using the band saw.

I totally got sent to the principles office.

[Rasilio]

Why did your principal need a new dildo?

[Mary Jane]

My Uncle Thomas recently got a nice six month old Infiniti M Hybrid just by part-time work from a macbook... you could try these out... http://www.works25.com

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

SeaWorld is suing the federal government to try to end a ban on contact between humans and killer whales. A judge put the order in place following the death of a trainer in 2010.

Free Willy!

[playa manhattan]

Do the Orcas know about the ban? I need to know who I can sue if I get attacked in the wild.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

No touching!

[Restoras]

I welcome our new Orca Bouncers as Overlords.

[gaijin]

Show us where the Willy touched you.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

**points to blow-hole, starts sobbing**

[Raven Nation]

Glad I'd finished my soup or I would have spit it all over the screen. Well played, sir.

[Entropy Void]

"Free Willy!"

Apparently, this would apply to the 3D printers as well ...

[Mad Scientist]

A North Carolina man is facing federal charges that he tried to join an al-Qaeda-linked group in Syria.

Freedom of association, FTW!

[PD Scott]

No barbecue for him?

[Brett L]

Pork is a side in real barbecue.

[playa manhattan]

Deep Dish fight! Fuck Carolina BBQ! Texas FTW!

[PD Scott]

Beef is perfectly acceptable as a substitute if you've moved to some godforsaken near-desert that won't support adequate swine.

Of course, with the wild hog problem Texas has I don't know why they had to turn to cattle for their 'cue anyway.

[Jordan]

As somebody who was forced to move to NC from Texas, I heartily agree. Carolina BBQ is watery shit.

[Andrew S.]

I wouldn't say you're wrong, but... wait, I can't finish that. You're wrong. NC BBQ beats all. Specifically Western NC BBQ, which is better than Eastern NC BBQ.

[playa manhattan]

If I wanted mustard, I'd eat a hot dog.

[John]

You are a philistine Andrew.

[Pro Libertate]

Leaving aside the regional issues, barbecue pork is the superior meat to beef. It's not rationally arguable. Yes, that's right Texas. You're insane.

No, there is no subjectivity here. I have spoken.

[John]

You are dead to me Pro. Take your toga and just go home.

[robc]

Pro is right.

I prefer Memphis to NC, but pork is the correct answer.

Oh, and just to be clear, the most wrong is the people who call grilling out "bbqing".

BBQ requires a pit or a smoker, it cant be done on a grill.

And, of course, mutton always gets the short end of the BBQ meat argument. Owensboro BBQ!!!

[Thane is a cosmotarian!]

Memphis BBQ comes with a nice side of murder.

[Kid Xenocles]

I thought BBQ was when you boil water on the grill to cook your hot dogs in. [ducks]

[Pro Libertate]

Alabama football and barbecue mock your pretensions.

[AlmightyJB]

Go Auburn

[SIV]

Smoked beef isn't BBQ, neither is chicken or turkey roll or sausage.
BBQ is pork.

[Pro Libertate]

See? It's like a law.

[Fist of Etiquette]

John McCain is being named as a co-conspirator.

[Fist of Etiquette]

SeaWorld is suing the federal government to try to end a ban on contact between humans and killer whales.

Rick Santorum and Bill O'Reilly foretold of this.

[playa manhattan]

I thought Orcas were people under the constitution. Peta told me so!

[Eduard van Haalen]

Don't forget the Uruk-Hai.

[PD Scott]

Their tricks suck.

[gaijin]

No more kissing willies?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Heh: Rand Paul's speech at the Citadel features 33 footnotes

[Juice]

I didn't see any footnotes on Rachel Maddow's latest broadcast.

[Restoras]

I bet she has lovely feet.

[Bobarian]

that's just... ewwwwwww!

Thinking of Madcow in any kind of possibly sexual way is disgusting.

Besides, she has no feet; they are referred to as cloven hooves.

[Rasilio]

Do you really need to footnote party issued talking points?

[Michael S. Langston]

RTA - he's footnoting facts in the speech, not talking points...

[Eduard van Haalen]

His speechwriters either got fired or got a stern talking-to.

[Atanarjuat]

When Hillary Clinton was asked for more security, she turned the Ambassador down.[27] Under cross-examination, she admitted that she never read the cables asking for more security.[28]

I find it inexcusable that security requests were denied. I find it a clear dereliction of duty. Failure to provide our Ambassador and his mission with adequate security should preclude her from ever holding high office again.

He's going after his 2016 debate opponent early.

[Atanarjuat]

In a few weeks, I will be announcing the formation of a task force to do just that-to bring together great minds from the world of national defense, and put forward a plan to modernize our military, and strengthen our defenses.

We will begin by an Audit of the Pentagon, to eliminate waste and non-defense items, so we can better take care of our true defense needs.

Yet somehow the left will find a way to hate the guy who is doing something about their goal of reforming and cutting military spending and foreign aid.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Thats fucking funny. I'm glad he played it that way.

[rts]

Don't Panic - The Truth About Population

With seven billion people already on our planet, we often look to the future with dread, but Rosling's message is surprisingly upbeat. Almost unnoticed, we have actually begun to conquer the problems of rapid population growth and extreme poverty.

[Restoras]

Division of labor FTW.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Deaths in the Philippines because of Typhoon Haiyan will likely not reach the 10,000 leaders feared, but they're still likely to surpass 2,000.

Two thousand? You can't expect me to push Global Warming standing on top of only two thousand coffins.

[Brett L]

My comment on this post suggesting that deep ocean currents might be the reason for a warm anomaly at 100m, where little existed at 50m in the typhoon's path has been awaiting moderation for 3 hours.

[playa manhattan]

"moderation"? The science is settled!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Come back with a reasonable comment and they'll let you in.

[playa manhattan]

I love the scientific method.

[Juice]

I wouldn't even bother with Greg Laden. He's simply impervious to information that doesn't fit his predetermined conclusions. But if you must talk to it, be sure to call him Mr. Laden. He hates not being called Dr.

[Brett L]

I'm just saying, if there's no delta from the baseline at 50m, then heat from the surface doesn't seem to be the most plausible explanation for the huge delta at 100m.

[db]

10,000 leaders? Sounds like a good start.

[Brett L]

If only OCD were this cute in humans.

[Restoras]

Ummm, dude? What's with the otter fetish? NTTAWWT...

[Brett L]

Its their wee cute hands. Sure, thumbs are the invention of the devil, but otters are cute.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Dear Prudence: Help! My husband has erectile problems and I'm not being supportive

My husband has been having trouble sustaining an erection for over a year now. It happens only sometimes, but lately it has been more and more frequent. I have tried to be calm, loving, supportive about it, and not to get upset. A few nights ago, though, I burst into tears and asked him why he hasn't seen a doctor to try to get to the bottom of this. I said that I was too young (30) to live like this. He immediately agreed and made an appointment for a few days from now. Last night, it happened again, and I got upset. I feel like I can't put on an act of loving support anymore, although I know this is supposed to be one of the most important things a wife can do in this situation. We haven't successfully had sex in around three weeks. Since he got a clean bill of health on a recent physical, I feel that the problem is related to stress in his job, and I feel sure my reaction has multiplied the problem. Can you think of anything I can do to offset the damage I have done? I think I have really hurt his feelings and made him feel small (no pun intended), but it's hard to just stifle all my emotions on this topic anymore.

Maybe she's the one that needs to see a doctor.

[Brett L]

OMG!! 3 weeks?! He must hate you!

I only say that because I was in a relationship where going more than one day without sex meant that I obviously planning to leave her and found her repulsive... which drove me to leave her.

But yeah, crying probably isn't going to turn him on.

[playa manhattan]

This can't possibly be real. She answers all of her own questions.

[Mad Scientist]

OMG, three weeks! THREE WEEKS!!!!! We need to get a team of mailmen and pool boys over there stat!

[Enough About Palin]

Ding Dong

"Pizza delivery, ma'am, with extra sausage."

[John]

Maybe her husband is gay or she is just really fat. If the guy is healthy, the problem is that she just doesn't really do it for him.

Or perhaps he secretly hates being married to her and his frustrations manifests itself in an inability to have an erection.

[Brett L]

I'll bet the fact that she's a monstrous harpy who cries and throws a fit when she doesn't get her way has nothing to do with it.

[Rasilio]

+1 ex wife

[jesse.in.mb]

He probably just had a one off loss of erection during sex and his wife being a high-strung harpy has him all in his head about it.

Shit happens lady. If you want to be supportive go down on him until he gets it up again and then finish the deed.

[waffles]

You are so giving. Also notice the triple harpy. Is there a male-gendered harpy? Such a perfect descriptor.

[John]

I think my last sentence is probably pretty close to the truth. Then of course she hounds him about not getting it up which makes it even worse.

[waffles]

Maybe she is a shrieking harpy. It's not that hard to imagine that a healthy man wouldn't get excited for a shrew.

[Restoras]

Or perhaps he secretly hates being married to her and his frustrations manifests itself in an inability to have an erection.

This is the answer. I wonder if she nags and hounds him to death all day long, and then she wonders why he isn't interested in banging her.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

or she is just really fat

I have a friend who brought a girl back to his house (so she was attractive enough to take home) but when he unbuttoned her pants he said he quote, "had to send her home."

I think the only thing that would send me to a screeching halt if I am ready to go would be seeing a penis (other than my own), some kind of gross skin condition, or a bad smell.

Is a little extra chub that was hidden by clothing a reason not to keep going?

[Mad Scientist]

Well...it may have been more than a little extra. There's FUPA, and then there's rolls of doughy skin.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I should clarify, this was not a one night stand. He had a few weeks to size up the situation.

I guess I find it hard to believe it could have been that bad to simply stop.

[KDN]

You've not lived until you've wrapped yourself in the leftover skin of a successful gastric bypass patient.

[playa manhattan]

This is why we can't have nice things.

[playa manhattan]

"but when he unbuttoned her pants"

Load bearing buttons?

[Mad Scientist]

Each button was only rated for so many pounds of pressure. Once the top button was released, the lower buttons could no longer restrain their cargo. The resulting rapid expansion caused the button flaps to accelerate at an unexpected rate. And that, unfortunately, is how he lost his right eye.

[playa manhattan]

Ahh, the old cascading failure of blubber...

[playa manhattan]

Maybe a little from Column A, a little from Column B

[Rich]

My husband has been having trouble sustaining an erection for over a year

Lady, *most* guys do.

[playa manhattan]

See a doctor after 4 hours*

*or a hooker

[Generic Stranger]

What about a doctor who moonlights as a hooker?

[Bill Dalasio]

My husband has been having trouble sustaining an erection for over a year now.

if her husband can only sustain an erction for a year, she really doesn't have all that much to complain about.

[Entropy Void]

"Can you think of anything I can do to offset the damage I have done?"

HUMMER!

... or invite one of your hot girlfriends over for a threesome.

Well, you asked ...

[Andrew S.]

I have nothing against stores opening super-early for Black Friday (now Thanksgiving Day) sales because people are dumb enough to shop. But I wonder why people do that. Outside of the very very few doorbuster deals that you're probably not going to get, the deals usually aren't that great. Can do better on Amazon.

[Zeb]

Obviously, stores can do what they want. This isn't France. But I share your puzzlement. I won't go near a mall or big box store within a week of Thanksgiving.

[Andrew S.]

Went to the mall with my daughter this past Sunday to go clothes shopping. Was already insane. Not going anywhere near that place again until January.

[Fist of Etiquette]

OH SO STORES HAVE PERMISSION FROM YOU TWO DO THEY? And so on, in all caps.

[CE]

They don't have my permission. Stay closed on Thanksgiving, and giver your employees a freakin' day off. No one is going to buy any more Christmas presents because they can buy them a half day earlier.

[playa manhattan]

Fry's on December 26th is awesome. If you are lucky enough to live near Fry's.

[Brett L]

Sadly, not anymore.

[playa manhattan]

Mine is in a fight with the city over their business tax rate. They are threatening to leave.

[jesse.in.mb]

Nooooooooooo, unless they're just moving across the street into El Segundo, in which case I don't care.

[playa manhattan]

That's one possibility. They are the #1 source of business tax revenue for Manhattan Beach, and as you can guess, the city wants MOAR!

[playa manhattan]

El Segundo is very business friendly, though. They have some huge companies in that very small town. I keep some of my servers there because of the tax implications.

[jesse.in.mb]

I say we kill off The Container Store and get an oil extraction themed Fry's in there instead.

[playa manhattan]

An oil themed Fry's would be awesome for more than 1 reason.

They are talking about moving to the yet-to-be-built portion of the El Segundo Plaza. I hope they put in a pedestrian bridge or tunnel. I can walk to Fry's in the same amount of time it takes to drive during rush hour.

[jesse.in.mb]

An oil themed Fry's would be awesome for more than 1 reason.

They have an aerospace one of the 91 already. Oil would be the only reasonable choice for El Segundo.

I can walk to Fry's in the same amount of time it takes to drive during rush hour.

My boss was talking about moving part of our office to the north side of El Segundo recently (now it might be MDR) from its current location in Torrance by the mall. I'm displeased by this. Even if the El Segundo location might have been closer it would've taken longer to get into and out of town during traffic. MDR will mean getting on the 405.

[Spoonman.]

There's an oil extraction themed Fry's in North Houston, near Aldine.

[jesse.in.mb]

Technically El Segundo should be refining anyway, but extraction sounds way more fun as a Fry's theme.

[gaijin]

Hunting the ever elusive 'deal' is a hunter gatherer instinct in some people.

[jesse.in.mb]

Lady Gaga tests flying drone dress. (skip to 0:50)

Who knew Gaga could make drones less appealing?

Also a note from the description: "The superstar also confirmed that she will be going to space as part of Virgin's suborbital space trek in 2015."

[PD Scott]

Sure, she's giving up the reefer but still wants to get high.

[gaijin]

Her lyrics have been dealing in drone for several years.

Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah / Roma, roma, ma / Gaga, ooh, la, la la / Want your bad romance / Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah

[Caleb Turberville]

Okay, I have a question for anyone that's been watching sports news and seen the coverage of the Richie Incognito story: Does anyone else roll their eyes when older, retired players criticize the Miami Dolphins locker room? Like, am I the only person that believes that Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe were part of just as bad or potentially even worse locker room cultures back in the 80s and 90s? I mean, get real people. If you want to criticize macho sports culture, fine, but you can't act like Incognito is part of a wider culture that's been around for just about ever.

[Caleb Turberville]

*isn't

[John]

The entire culture is whacked. These guys beat the hell out of people for a living and play through incredible pain and injury to do so. Normal people don't play in the NFL. So few things about the locker room culture are going to be normal.

[playa manhattan]

It's just "get off my lawn!" talk. They did the same shit in the 80's, but there weren't cell phone cameras and twitter, so they got away with it.

[playa manhattan]

Oh, and people didn't used to get as butthurt about "bullying" as they do today.

[Mike M.]

This. It used to be understood that everyone needs to learn to stand up for himself, and that the best way to deal with a bully was to pop him one in the kisser.

Now that the pansies run everything in this country, kids are taught that the best way to deal with a bully is run and cry to mommy or daddy bureaucrat.

[playa manhattan]

Or to a lawyer. Jonathan Martin's lawyer plays a pretty big role in this whole non-event.

[Caleb Turberville]

Jeez, can you imagine would you could catch of the behavior between chefs and line cooks with a hidden camera inside a restaurant kitchen.

[playa manhattan]

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

I'm sure they censor the really gross stuff, as the point of the show is to rehabilitate the restaurant. Lots of blatant sexual harassment, though.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.....Underbelly

Anthony Bourdain's account of the hyper-masculine kitchen culture.

[playa manhattan]

Somebody described that to me a while back. Something about cocaine and knife fights.

[Zeb]

I just think it's funny that his name is "Incognito".

[playa manhattan]

US Customs actually caught a fugitive because he was using that name as an alias. Not too smart...

[Fist of Etiquette]

DAN MARINO WAS ABOVE THAT SORT OF THING. He was a leader of men.

[gaijin]

He was a leader of men.

and yet, he DOES NOT HAVE A SUPER BOWL RING

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, I didn't say they were quality men...

[playa manhattan]

laces out

[waffles]

The fact that you had to yell it tells me you doubt your statement. Dan Marino was one of the boys too.

[hamilton]

Charles Haley certainly was a hoot.

[Slammer]

You can understand Shannon Sharpe Speech? I'm impressed.

[gaijin]

Could you imagine if Lou Holtz and Shannon Sharp hosted a show together?

[Mike M.]

What I hate most about this story is that it's a tailor-made opportunity for all the left-wing pansies in the media to attack the masculinity that they despise so much.

[ChrisO]

There's no doubt that Incognito is a loose cannon. He was dismissed from every single prior team he's been with, both college and pro.

However, the media dog pile is actually making me sympathetic towards him, and I wasn't at first.

[Caleb Turberville]

Yeah, the idiotic defensiveness everyone is taking in response is what's driving this. Everyone wants to make this out to be something that's endemic to the Dolphins locker room and to the modern era. If everyone would just take a step back and see that this is a much more pervasive issue of a wider and more entrenched culture, they could stop dog-piling and Incognito and actually ask intelligent, thought-provoking questions.

[John]

CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash told her network's anchors on Tuesday that the end of the week is the "de facto deadline" at which point the White House needs to have settled on a series of fixes to address the crisis of Americans losing their health coverage. After Friday, Bash reported, House Democrats are going to be backing GOP proposed fixes to the Affordable Care Act against the wishes of President Barack Obama's administration.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn.....are-fixes/

[Andrew S.]

Obviously the Kochtopus has paid off all the Democrats in the House. It's a good thing Obama's above crony capitalism!

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

"Exploiting men for meals is tough. I have to put up with a lot of bad conversation," Wotherspoon wrote on the blog last month

[Juice]

And why would she go public?

[Restoras]

Didn't we go over this last week? She's a whore that doesn't put out...so why would anyone decent looking, with a brain and some cash go out with her?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

White supremacist takes DNA test, discovers he's 14% sub-Saharan African

Well, that's awkward: A white supremacist who made headlines worldwide for plotting to take over a town in North Dakota received the results of a DNA test -- and the results say he's 14% black.

And this all happened while cameras were rolling.

Craig Cobb, 61, who has tried to create a white enclave in tiny Leith, N.D., submitted a DNA sample to the "Trisha Goddard" talk show and got the results back during a recent taping.

The UK's Daily Mail newspaper got a copy of the segment of the show, which is nationally syndicated by NBC, and posted video of the moment Goddard read out the results to Cobb in front of a studio audience.

"86% European and," Goddard said, pausing as the audience started to cheer before she continued, "14% sub-Saharan African!"

The audience erupted in cheers and laughs as a grinning Cobb began to protest.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, hold on, just wait a minute," Cobb said. "This is called 'statistical noise.'"

"Sweetheart, you have a little black in you," Goddard said.

"Listen, I'll tell you this, oil and water don't mix!"

The video is hilarious.

[jesse.in.mb]

Damn you, this was on my TO POST list.

The fist bump was extra precious.

[Sevo]

Yer late; see last night.

[John]

Is he going to divorce his wife because she is a nigger lover?

[Rich]

Oh, hush up with your bad self! 😎

[playa manhattan]

Something something something Dave Chapelle. Somebody else can find the link.

[playa manhattan]

Fine, here it is. Clayton Bigsby, the Black White Supremacist:
http://www.comedycentral.com/v.....ton-bigsby

[Juice]

86% white and 14% black? Might as well be red white and blue because that's America!

[Apatheist ?_??]

I googled that guy after seeing this earlier. All kinds of weird, especially that nontheistic religion he follows.

Damn Yankee atheist racial socialists!

[Caleb Turberville]

notheistic religion

Racist Yankee Buddhist?

[Apatheist ?_??]

Apparently racism is their religion or something. I'm not gonna waste any brain power trying to understand it.

[Enough About Palin]

If he's 14% black, then isn't the city's effort to keep him from building his enclave...RACIST?

[BigT]

14%. How does one get to 14%? 1 ancestor 3 generations prior is 1/8, 12.5%. Or is the test +/- a few %? Or is it reliable at all?

[Suthenboy]

Is this proof that blacks are racist?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

If any of you have been postponing your suicides in the hopes of finding a good reason to take the plunge, postpone no longer: Matty Yglesias is back from vacation, and so is my tradition of posting the finest in Sadbeard stupidity! Here goes nothing:

If everybody had electric cars and nobody owned gasoline-fired cars, then bringing a new gas-powered car to market would be a huge pain. After all, gasoline cars have incredibly limited range! With your trusty old electric car you just pull in to the charging stations that line the nation's highways. To take a gasoline car on a long trip you need to sacrifice all your trunk space to holding extra canisters of gasoline, or else spend all your time fussing with smartphone apps that will direct you to the occasional oases where eccentric people have gasoline on hand they'll sell to you.

[Andrew S.]

I hate you.

[John]

We joke about him being retarded. But I really think it never occurred to him as he was writing that article that filling up a car with gasoline might be easier than recharging a huge set of batteries.

I would be very surprised if he has ever driven a gasoline powered car much less owned one. He is like Sheldon Cooper only rather than being a maladjusted and neurotic genius, Sad Beard is profoundly stupid.

[Brett L]

Here's a thought experiment: Top gear wants to drive a gas powered land rover and an electric car 1000 miles across the Sahara. They put 100 gallons of gas on the top of the land rover. How do they get the electric car to move 1000 miles?

[Restoras]

They tow it with the land rover.

[PD Scott]

On the back of a (diesel) truck?

[The Last American Hero]

I'd go with solar panels, but you'd have to drop about 90% of the car's body weight to get it to move.

[Sevo]

"How do they get the electric car to move 1000 miles?"

They can't. There are no cliffs that high.

[Rasilio]

Portable Solar Panels.

Course I'm not sure how they'd be able to pack all the food and water they'd need for the 3 week trip.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

What makes you think he passed the drivers' license test?

[John]

Nothing. I would be shocked if he has.

[playa manhattan]

It's like intellectual masturbation, but not really. Retard masturbation?

[Tejicano]

It's intellectual masturbation for somebody with mental ED.

[Juice]

But you'd still be able to recharge your tank in a couple of minutes as opposed to 8 hours.

[Slammer]

Uh, where does the charging stations electricity come from?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

It is absolutely free and costless to provide when provided by the government, just like any good which a progressive finds inconvenient to explain through conventional economic analysis.

[Mike M.]

I'm starting to think that those Capitol Hill polar bear hunters might have done permanent damage when they scrambled his brains.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

SoCon David Blankenhorn Has a New Cause: Fighting Gambling

-True work is not only hard, it's useful. It has a social and utilitarian aspect. It benefits not just the worker, but
the worker's community. Is casino gambling useful in this sense? Of course not. A core value of all gambling is covetousness, or the desire to gain something from others in exchange for nothing. The entire concept is inescapably self-centered and asocial. No one goes to casinos to help other people or to do something useful for the community.

http://www.americanvalues.org/.....romise.pdf

[Eduard van Haalen]

David Blankenhorn, the guy who wants the government to recognize SSM?

Maybe "ex-SoCon" would be better.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Oh, he gave up on that issue, but he still has a lot going on at the SoCon institutes he works at.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Maybe he can form a support group, SoCons for Governmentally-Recognized Same Sex Marriage. They can share a phone booth with Libertarians for the Drug War.

[Tonio]

Or maybe, Eddie, SSM has gone so mainstream that it's not a socon issue any more. Hey, you look really nice today...new mammoth hide your're wearing?

[Eduard van Haalen]

Pterodactyl, actually.

[trshmnstr]

SSM has gone so mainstream that it's not a socon issue any more.

Wishful thinking, joke, or delusional?

[Ted S.]

Pray the SoCon away!

[a better weapon]

No one goes to casinos to help other people

Like that bastard who puts his chips on the don't pass line when its my roll or that other guy who stole my face card while hitting when he wasn't supposed to!

[robc]

utilitarian

Ive found the problem.

And it isnt that he is a so-con.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

some women's bodies 'don't work' for yoga pants

not pictured: girls in yoga pants

[Rich]

thigh-gap scrutiny

Nice band name.

[gaijin]

thigh-gap scrutiny

Even nicer hobby!

[playa manhattan]

Somebody, possibly Jesse, has a link to remedy that problem.

[jesse.in.mb]

Look, don't tell Nicole that I reposted Warty's link again. She's offended by the boots.

[Lady Bertrum]

White yoga pants? No. Leggings, yes.

Should be girlsinleggings for accuracy.

[jesse.in.mb]

When Nicole comes back you'll have to duke it out over this. Nobody with a Y chromosome has independently noticed the leggings, not even the homotarians.

[Generic Stranger]

Nobody's THAT gay...

[Lady Bertrum]

Lululemon is crap. Athleta all the way.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Infographic: A timeline of quotes and major events in the Rob Ford crack cocaine saga

[Winston]

Since Scott Shackford has endorsed Bathroom Equality I wonder what his opinion on banning urinals is? The Swedes say peeing sitting down is safer.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Safer for what? Personally, I think men's rooms should have trees for me to pee on.

[Winston]

men's rooms

When did you become a reactionary socon?

[Fist of Etiquette]

When it was suggested I should pee sitting down, I suppose.

[Winston]

http://dailycaller.com/2012/06.....ting-down/

[ChrisO]

Removing urinals = pee-covered toilet seats. I'm not sure why anyone would think that's an improvement.

[db]

It's not safer when your dick hangs down in the water.

[Bobarian]

That's why I use the short urinals

[jesse.in.mb]

Vigil held for embattled Lebanon County pastor

I wonder what the barriers to exit are in this case.

[John]

None. He just doesn't have courage of conscience and thinks everyone should change for him. If he thinks gay marriage is consistent with Christianity, he should form his own sect. But doing that is hard so he doesn't want to do it.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Can people not change traditions they are part of from within? They must leave?

[John]

If the other people in the organization don't agree with them, yes. He can stay all he likes. But if he doesn't want to live by the rules, they have every right to kick him out. And if he had courage of his convictions, he should want to be kicked out.

Instead, he thinks he should be able to break the rules and the organization should look the other way because he is special or something.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

OK, I agree they should be able to kick him out, but of course he should be able to do his thing until they do.

[John]

And of course Bo, can't people not keep their institutions as they are? People like things as they are sometimes. Who the hell are you or anyone else to tell them they have to change? Go form your own organization if you don't like it.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

So John, you are against the efforts of the Tea Party to change the GOP? They should leave and go form their own organization?

[Enough About Palin]

The Tea Party isn't trying to change the GOP, dumbass.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-The Tea Party isn't trying to change the GOP, dumbass.

Really?

[John]

The GOP is a political party not the Methodist Church.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-The GOP is a political party not the Methodist Church.

And that is relevant how?

[trshmnstr]

And that is relevant how?

A political party's job is to get elected, which involves bowing to the whims of the public.

A church's job is to facilitate people to better worship God. They shouldn't bow to the whims of the public.

If you can show a political party that they're losing constituency because of their position, they change the position.

If you can show a church the same, they typically don't change their position.

[Tonio]

Consistency isn't John's strong point, Bo.

[John]

That only seems like a problem because thinking isn't one of yours Tonio.

[Seamus]

They can try, but the organization can also throw them out. If I was a member of the CPUSA and tried to persuade them to jettison Marxism and become followers of Milton Friedman, I shouldn't be too surprised if they decided to jettison me instead.

[jesse.in.mb]

There are already plenty of sects that believe that. I don't know if he has any theological problems with the MCC, but if the denomination owns the property instead of the congregation itself he might have a much higher barrier to exit than if he just asked his congregation to take a vote to leave the denomination. I don't know how his particular denomination works on those sorts of things.

[trshmnstr]

I was under the impression that Methodists were one of them. At least the gay Methodist pastor I met had me thinking so.

[jesse.in.mb]

I don't know enough of the Methodist church structure. I know with the Lutherans there are a few different Synods that a church can belong to and they have doctrinal differences (sometimes major) but they aren't seen as big enough to say "well he's not REALLY a Lutheran because he belongs to the ELCA instead of the LCMS"

Maybe the Methodists have similar distinct-but-not-that-distinct subsets?

[Coeus]

They do.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Cassini spacecraft sends back awesome new views of Saturn

Watch out for floating monoliths.

[Fist of Etiquette]

That was Jupiter, idiot. Although maybe it was Saturn in the book. Either way, those look fake.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

It was Saturn in the book, but they changed it to Jupiter because Kubrick was convinced he couldn't make Saturn's rings look good.

[Juice]

That picture of Titan is amazing.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

'it was one of the best moments in my life.'

[playa manhattan]

Does "model" mean something different in Brazil?

[Brett L]

I assume the same thing it means in "lingerie modeling" shops in the US.

[Enough About Palin]

Perhaps it means she's a model citizen?

[Winston]

Has anyone seen 2010? Released the same year as Red Dawn and by the same studio yet it has the exact opposite view of the Cold War. It's fully in the leftist "Reagan is a bastard and the Commies are just like us and Communism is just different but acceptable."

[Juice]

That's not how I remember it.

[OldMexican]

Re: Winston,

Has anyone seen 2010?

Many times.

It's fully in the leftist "Reagan is a bastard and the Commies are just like us and Communism is just different but acceptable."

I did find the fact that the Soviets would be the first ones to build Omega-class destroyers very amusing. Still, the space stuff was entertaining and many times correct if in other instances very anachronistic even when compared to 2001 (i.e. the round CRTs instead of the flat screens show in the 1968 movie.)

You have to remember that in 2001, the Soviets had bases on the moon just like the Americans, and Russian scientists could enjoy a friendly conversation with American scientists in a slow-turning space thread spindle. At that time and even in 1984, people believed that the Soviets would one day match or even surpass the Americans in productivity and standard of living.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-Even on the strictest libertarian principle?that inflicting possible harm on myself is permitted, but intentionally harming others is not?professionalized banking games, in which the only purpose and the only long-term outcome is fleecing others, do not and should not enjoy the protection of our laws. Here in New York, where wise and foolish alike are free as private individuals to gamble or not to gamble, we do not permit for-profit corporations to create and operate games of chance for these deeply questionable purposes.

http://www.americanvalues.org/.....romise.pdf

[robc]

the only purpose and the only long-term outcome is fleecing others

He forgot "entertainment".

I would agree with that sentence, but games of chance also provide entertainment so his conclusion can not be reached from his premise.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Agreed.

[rts]

Minimum gun sentence ruled unconstitutional

Ontario's highest court has ruled that a three-year mandatory minimum sentence for possessing a loaded prohibited gun is unconstitutional.

[Eduard van Haalen]

They *almost* make up for their hoplophobic policies with parodically liberal crime policies.

[jesse.in.mb]

For the "nobody cares when Muslims are homophobic"* files:

Police say 20-yr-old Ahmed Tuma was angry with his sister because she is in a relationship with a woman. Police say Tuma said it is shameful to their family and against Muslim beliefs.

Police say Tuma's sister and her fiancee arrived at home near 27th & M when he and a friend, 20-year-old Nathan Marks ran up to them. Police say Tuma tried to hit her with a crow bar. The couple escaped into their car, but police say Tuma repeatedly hit the car with the crowbar. [...]

Police say the couple drove off, but Marks and Tuma got into Marks' pickup and followed, ramming them from behind nearly into oncoming traffic on S. 27th Street. The couple were able to get away and call police.

Tuma was arrested for attempted 2nd degree assault, criminal mischief, two counts of terroristic threats [emphasis mine] and use of a weapon to commit a felony. All of the charges except use of a weapon carry a hate crime enhancement.

Another source indicates that "the victim in the attack told 1011Now that she thinks if her brother succeeded in killing her the rest of the family would likely be very proud of him."

*that's sarcasm in case anyone missed it.

[Coeus]

FTB bloggers finally start to apply skepticism to the ridiculous rape stats.

Why? because someone finally read the stats on female on male rape. Suddenly the methodology needs to be examined.

For example:

Raging Bee
September 4, 2013 at 2:14 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I'm a bit suspicious of some of the above-cited studies, because they use some rather vague terminology: "verbal coercion," "some type of harassment, pressuring, or coercion by a female," "verbal or physical pressure," "aggressive strategies," "Verbal pressure," "verbal threats and pressure"?What is "verbal coercion?" If it's a direct threat, why not say "threat" instead? What, exactly, was threatened? Based on my own experience, the "threat" could have been violence, or it could have just been "it's now or never, clock's ticking?" And what sort of "pressure" or "pressuring" are we talking about here?

I went to college, and I saw some of the "aggressive" or "pressuring" tactics used by women looking to get laid; and believe me, it's nothing compared to male aggression against women.

Doesn't asking that make you a rape apologist? also:

[Coeus]

John C. Welch
September 4, 2013 at 2:58 pm (UTC 0) Link to this comment
It's funny?

The current meme is "enthusiastic consent". That is, if the woman does not *enthusiastically* consent to sex and every act within that specific session, then it is wrong wrong wrong, and you, as a man, should never, ever, ever try to wheedle, convince, cajole or otherwise talk a woman into sex, no matter what. We could take from this that "Verbal Coercion" is wrong.

That is always, always wrong. Enthusiastic consent or nothing is how it works for some folks.

I then see the same folks, when the person being verbally coerced is male, then it's "what KIND of verbal coercion? Was it ACTUALLY a threat?" and so on.

Funny how suddenly it's not so bad, depending on the gender of the target/victim.

[Coeus]

Tha fuck?

Let me bring in an anecdote. When I was at a student party once, around 25 years ago, a very drunk (and physically rather large) woman came on to me, very strongly indeed. I tried to escape with a tactical toilet break. She followed me into the loo, forced me up against the basin, pushed her tongue into my mouth and her hand into my jeans. I had to summon up quite a lot of physical strength to escape. This may sound strange, but my understanding of the incident, then and now, was not that I had narrowly escaped being raped by her, but that she had narrowly escaped being raped by me. She was in no state to be making such a choice. When her hand grasped my cock it reacted and for a moment I considered letting her have her wish. I refrained, partly because I knew I would regret it afterwards, but more importantly because I knew it was highly likely that she would regret it, if not immediately, then certainly the next day. (I was also pretty sure she was going to throw up any minute, and if I didn't fancy her much to begin with, that certainly wouldn't have helped.)

[Hillary's Clitdong]

This may sound strange, but my understanding of the incident, then and now, was not that I had narrowly escaped being raped by her, but that she had narrowly escaped being raped by me. She was in no state to be making such a choice.

Using physical force to touch somebody's genitals is apparently the touchee's problem, not the toucher's. Somebody's been reading from the Book of Warty.

[Juice]

That's Raging Bee. It's allowed to post and is merely tolerated.

[Coeus]

Raging bee is not the only one with a new-found sense of skepticism. There are quite a few.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

More than 600,000 bats were killed in the United States last year by wind turbines, according to a new estimate.

[Mad Scientist]

At least now they won't have to suffer through the horror of average global temperatures increasing by 0.25 degrees.

[Bobarian]

Ain't that what the turbines are for, to keep the earth cooled down?

[AuH20]

If only there were some vigilante who could stand up for the bats, take inspiration from them...

We'll call him... Wind Turbine Man!

[Gbob]

Environmentalists are a cowardly and superstitious lot.

[Juice]

Natural selection.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

This Is Really The Talking Point They're Going With, Pt LXVII

Generation Opportunity, the Koch-funded anti-Obamacare group, had a tailgate party at the University of Miami where they bribed kids with beer and then tried to talk them out of signing up for health insurance. Oh sure, they don't try to sell it like that, of course. Generation Opportunity claims that they "educated students about their healthcare options outside the expensive and creepy Obamacare exchanges"[...]

This is an argument against the existence of health insurance, disguised as an anti-Obamacare argument. Yes, there are more regulations, to keep people from being free riders who only get health insurance when they need it, and dumping it the second they believe they won't need it, which is actually how premiums go up. (Check out this excellent takedown of Lori Gottlieb whining because she can't be a free rider anymore.)

While Marcotte's readership might actually be dumb enough to take this at face value, I think that progressives might find themselves surprised by the hostility they meet when they tell people that they are stupid and that they will be forced to buy something worse than what they had for more money. (I also don't think calling them whining free-loaders will do much for them, but what do I know?)

[John]

They bribed kids with beer so they would become wreckers!!

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Bribing kids with beer in anti-Obamacare effort, bad; advertisements with kids chugging beer in pro-Obamacare effort, good. I see.

[Irish]

This is an argument against the existence of health insurance, disguised as an anti-Obamacare argument. Yes, there are more regulations, to keep people from being free riders who only get health insurance when they need it, and dumping it the second they believe they won't need it, which is actually how premiums go up.

I like that liberals are suddenly talking about free riders in regards to health care. Do they not realize that this argument is also an argument against social security, medicare, and food stamps?

[trshmnstr]

It's also a great opportunity to flip the "you hate the poor" narrative on them.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It appears Sarah Palin has taken up the War on Christmas cause.

http://www.newsmax.com/newswid.....dgetphase1

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Please NO

[Slammer]

Sexy Sarah Elf costume? Yes, please.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yeah I got a townhall email promoting that today. Don't know how I turned up on their email list and clicking their unsubcribe thing doesn't seem to work. Motherfuckers.

[Tonio]

Rich guy uses personally built fortune to buy vaccines for the world's poor children. The usual suspects has a sad.

[Bam!]

Who has a sad?

[Atanarjuat]

I'm guessing Jenny McCarthy's dumb ass?

[Tonio]

Malthusians. CAGW cultists. Anti-biotech nimrods.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Take the Tuesday pledge - don't mention the war (on Christianity)

Outgoing President of US Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, devotes his final remarks in office to marijuana freedom:

"Calling actions to protect [dope-smoking] freedom "a central social and political concern of our time," Cardinal Dolan urged the bishops to make the protection of [herbal] liberty around the world a priority in their work.

"We as bishops, as shepherds of one of the most richly blessed communities of faith on the planet, as pastors who have spoken with enthusiastic unity in defense of our own [herbal] freedom, must become advocates and champions for these [stoners] whose lives literally hang in the balance, as we dare not allow our laudable battles over [herbal] freedom at home to obscure the actual violence being inflicted on Christians elsewhere," the cardinal said....

""We are living in what must be recognized as, in the words of Blessed John Paul II, 'as a new age or martyrs,'" Cardinal Dolan said, noting that as many as 1 million [stoners] have been killed in the first 13 years of the 21st century because of their faith....

"...the cardinal explained as the bishops began applauding, is contacting political leaders to urge them to make the protection of "at-risk [tokers] a foreign policy priority.""

http://www.todayscatholicnews......-priority/

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Death of a Libertarian

I am forced to make a confession. I once considered myself more libertarian in outlook than anything else. The main idea behind it is seductive; less government intervention means real equality, more opportunity, and less economic friction. Who hasn't seen horror stories of government run amuck? From teachers sitting around being paid to do nothing, to $7,600 coffee makers, to vast OSHA requirements that allow people to make a living suing businesses, to the idea that high marginal tax rates discourage high achievement, there is an elegant simplicity to the idea that less government is better. It espouses Randian individualism, hard work, and the idea that if you work hard and make the right decisions you will achieve your potential. What could be more American?

There's only two problems with libertarian philosophy:

1. It only works if you're white, male, straight, and mainline Christian
2. The actual numbers don't support any of their fiscal dogma

First is the libertarian belief that the 1964 Civil Rights Act is bad law, and a violation of religious liberty. In 2010, and again in 2012 libertarian icon Rand Paul tried to explain away why he thinks it is a bad law. Essentially, Paul's arguments boil down to it infringes on your first amendment right to be a jerk, and no one is being discriminated against these days anyway.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Opposition to Non-Discrimination Ordinances (NDOs) covering LGBT people use the same logic, namely that it is unconstitutional because infringes on the religious freedom to discriminate in the public sector, and that no one is actually discriminating against LGBT people.
[...]
This is how libertarian social philosophy fails. Libertarians claim that the marketplace is self correcting, and the goal of letting the marketplace work things out is to create equality of opportunity. It doesn't work out that way though. The workplace and the American Dream are a broken bargain for transgender people. When libertarians oppose NDOs of any stripe, they ignore the evidence that the marketplace is not in fact self correcting when it comes to discrimination. It also denies that ensuring equality of opportunity is an essential function of government.

When government has no role in ensuring opportunity, the result is tyranny of the majority.

I don't think she quite realizes where tyranny of the majority is more destructive.

[John]

In some sense she is right, life sucks if the society at large doesn't like your choices. Where she goes off the rails is in thinking that that is somehow anyone's problem but hers.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

People can be assholes, but in an America where gay marriage is having a domino effect throughout the country and gay culture is openly celebrated, why is she acting like LGBT (I know there are other letters now) people are stuck in the Jim Crow South?

[Brett L]

Honestly, I'm pretty sure ATL, Nawlins, and Houston are 3 pretty great places to be gay. From my understanding.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-I'm pretty sure ATL, Nawlins, and Houston are 3 pretty great places to be gay.

Unless you want to do something silly like marry your partner, I guess.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yeah but you can openly be with your life partner and get elected mayor.

[jesse.in.mb]

Honestly, I'm pretty sure ATL, Nawlins, and Houston are 3 pretty great places to be gay. From my understanding.

I've only tried in Nawlins so far. It was very fun. OTOH that asshole in Baton Rouge was just illegally arresting homos because he felt like it.

[AlmightyJB]

The anti-gay south

[AlmightyJB]

Dammit!

http://youtu.be/pEDYGbG7JWk

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think gays are more accepted, but I imagine life might be pretty hard for many transgendered people.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-When government has no role in ensuring opportunity

I wish she would consider whether forcing people to accept transgendered persons as co-workers, room mates, and the like is really going to help public opinion of transgendered persons.

[The Last American Hero]

Why not? That was how we eradicated racism in this country. We even have a black president.

/sarc

[John]

1. It only works if you're white, male, straight, and mainline Christian

Maybe or maybe you are just a racist fuck who thinks anyone who doesn't look like you is incapable of thinking and acting for themselves.

Honey, just check your white man's burden at the door. You will be happier without it.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I am curious as to how you get this from her comment?

[John]

Why would freedom only work for white males? Are non white Christian males incapable of handing freedom? Must they be protected by government?

Saying yes is called the White Man's burden.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think her argument is that non-discrimination laws are not needed to protect those in the majority, but rather those in the minority. I am not sure thinking minorities should be protected from discrimination is racist (whatever else I might think about government efforts to do this).

[John]

I think her argument is that non-discrimination laws are not needed to protect those in the majority, but rather those in the minority.

And that of course assumes that everyone who is not a minority will always and forever be a victim of discrimination and thus are forever in need of government protection. I understand her argument. You just don't understand mine.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

So whenever someone advocates for government assistance or protection for any group they are really saying that group is inferior?

[Mad Scientist]

I understand her argument. You just don't understand mine.

That's Blue Tulpa's specialty.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It is not about not understanding your argument, it is about thinking it incorrect.

[Fatty Bolger]

White male Christian heterosexuals - that's not a minority?

[Thane is a cosmotarian!]

I think John views it as implying females, racial and religious minorities, non-heterosexuals cannot work for their own betterment and better treatment in society.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

That logic strikes me as suspect. For example, if you say property owners deserve government protection of their property are you saying property owners are weak or inferior, or something else negative about them?

[Thane is a cosmotarian!]

I don't necessarily agree, just stating my interpretation of what he said. I don't really have the time or energy to engage in a detailed discussion of it.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Fair enough.

[John]

No one is saying property owners need protection. They are saying property owners should be able to enforce their property rights in court. That is not protecting them, it is respecting what they own.

Discrimination laws in contrast are asking the government to restrict people's freedom of association and in reality freedom of speech in the name of "fairness".

Remember these laws don't prevent discrimination. They prevent speech and conduct that could cause a reasonable jury to conclude the employer discriminated. When can never look into someone's heart and know the real reason they did something. We can only know their speech and conduct and conclude by indirect evidence from that. So these laws always become about "hostile work environment" and speech rather than discrimination.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-No one is saying property owners need protection.

Trespass laws? Vandalism laws? Larceny?

[John]

Trespass laws? Vandalism laws? Larceny?

Do those laws provide less protection based on race? You point is so nonsensical it is hard to respond to. Recognizing the concept of property and thus providing protection for such is in no way analogous to telling people on what basis they can hire and fire their employees.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

-Recognizing the concept of property and thus providing protection for such is in no way analogous to telling people on what basis they can hire and fire their employees.

The are both examples of government acting to protect certain groups. My point is, does the first example indicate inferiority like you think the second one does?

[hotsy totsy]

Property owners are a GROUP? Good Gawd.

[trshmnstr]

Trespass laws? Vandalism laws? Larceny?

That's so ridiculous I'm having a hard time coming up with a cogent response.

none of those laws are meant to stop discrimination against property owners. They're meant to stop force or fraud against property owners.

You're effectively arguing that every law on the books is an anti-discrimination law.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

You did not get the analogy either?

[trshmnstr]

By that definition, every law acts to protect certain groups.

Battery laws... only protect potential victims of violence. Fraud laws... only protect people who deal with less than honest folks.

There is a difference between protecting somebody's rights, and protecting somebody from discrimination. You have no right to not be discriminated against.

[hotsy totsy]

You call that an analogy?

[Cytotoxic]

I am curious as to how you get this from her comment?

BY READING IT.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Where does it say in what she wrote that blacks, etc., are inferior?

[robc]

mainline Christian

Ive noticed the complete lack of atheists around here.

WTF is the author talking about?

Plus, I would think the libertarian Christians are more likely to be out of the mainline denominations.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

That leaves the central tenet of libertarian philosophy: low taxes, especially on top wage earners.

Sigh.

[Juice]

Hell, I'd compromise. The standard deduction is now $100,000. Anyone making less than that pays no income taxes.

[OldMexican]

There's only two problems with libertarian philosophy:

1. It only works if you're white, male, straight, and mainline Christian

So it didn't work for those pagan Icelanders. I see...

2. The actual numbers don't support any of their fiscal dogma

Oh, I can't wait to know what is this fiscal dogma of which he speaks!

First is the libertarian belief that the 1964 Civil Rights Act is bad law, and a violation of religious liberty.

We're off to a bad start, considering that the 1964 CRA had nothing to do with religion or religious liberty.

Essentially, Paul's arguments boil down to it infringes on your first amendment right to be a jerk, and no one is being discriminated against these days anyway.

That wasn't his argument at all. His argument was that the CRA violated people's right to freely assemble, which is the case. Besides, what makes him think that libertarianism starts and ends with Rand Paul?

The workplace and the American Dream are a broken bargain for transgender people.

What? Is Ru Paul living under a bridge again???

[OldMexican]

Oh, so the author is a she. That explains a lot... (male chauvinist chuckle)

[Thane is a cosmotarian!]

I'm confused. Since when has libertarianism been dominated by Christians? Even if you leave out the many (and prominent) atheists and agnostics, there are still plenty of Jews, for instance.

[Winston]

Or even Mainline Christians? I'm sure they are plenty of Catholics and Baptists.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"1. It only works if you're white, male, straight, and mainline Christian"

Ooh, I bet all the non-Christians on H&R are kicking themselves right now. "Libertarianism was a Christian movement all along? What a rip-off, I'm out of here!"

[Juice]

Why does the phrase "hard work" turn up so often like it's some great thing? WTF is so great about hard work?

[Sevo]

..."Essentially, Paul's arguments boil down to it infringes on your first amendment right to be a jerk,"...

Well, she got that right, and I'm sure she'd rather make jerks illegal.
Hope she has a lawyer...

[AlmightyJB]

She should listen to Wesley Snipes.

[AuH20]

Why you need to do yoga for self-care, comrade? The revolution should sustain you!

As I most often hear it, self-care stands as an importation of middle-class values of leisure that's blind to the dynamics of working class (or even family) life, inherently rejects collective responsibility for each other's well-being, misses power dynamics in our lives, and attempts to serve as a replacement for a politics and practice of desire that could actually ignite our hearts with a fuel to work endlessly.

Talking about how we sustain ourselves, honor our personal needs, and prioritize our well-being in this brusque and brutal world is a huge advance from movement culture generations before. However, centering that conversation on 'self-care' devoid of our place in the collective misses the central point of why we need to care for ourselves. And that is because we must have all of our strength in place to counter the systems which, without our ability to resist and transform, without the self-preservation Audre Lorde describes, would see us destroyed.

[AuH20]

Lack of care is systemic. Therefore resistance to those systems is the highest affirmation of care for oneself and one's community. Movement work is healing work.

What self-care often misses is the reality that for the majority of people engaged in social justice movements, participation is out of necessity. That a collective effort in the form of social movement is the highest articulation of caring for one's own self in a world designed to deny your worthiness of care. Too many people discussing self-care overlook the structural barriers that make access to the care they are speaking of impossible without the struggle they often discuss as the cause of their need to 'take care of themselves.'

Even for someone like myself who has the majority of my materials needs met, I feel most alive, most on fire, most able to go around the clock, when I'm doing political work that feels authentic, feels like it pushes the bounds of authority, and feels like it is directly connected to advancing my individual and our collective liberation.

The truth is that we cannot knit our way to revolution. The issue is not that movements are taxing, because truly they are. It's called 'struggle' for a reason. But they go from strain to overtaxing when we seek to fulfill our political aspirations through vehicles never meant to carry them like in non-political formations or some 501c3s.

[Juice]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW8UlY8eXCk

[Jordan]

MakerBot is trying to get a 3d printer in every school. Given how Los Angeles Unified School District freaked out over iPad hacking, I can only imagine the kind of panic will come from kids' creations.

Mean-time-to-dildo? I'm guessing about 10 minutes.

[Brett L]

Depends, but for, uh, standard sizes, more like 25.

[AuH20]

Maybe it would make Ms. Smith stop being such a bitch! Ever thought about that, huh, Jordan?!

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

the 10 most Canadian music videos ever (not a slideshow)

[Winston]

How many of them extol Healthcare, Gun Control, HRCs and Pee-Air Turdeau?

[The Last American Hero]

The lack of Rush videos undermines the integrity of the list.

[db]

Subdivisions video FTW.

[The Late P Brooks]

QUERY-

If I was a free rider for all those years decades I had no insurance and paid my medical bills in full out-of-pocket, what will I be when the government shunts me into medicare because I can't afford my new! improved! insurance plan?

Show your work.

[John]

The answer is that you were just lucky. You paid for your medical bills only because you never had large ones. Had you had really big bills, you would have declared bankruptcy and stuck the system with the bill. So while you didn't free ride any out of pocket costs, you made the public assume the risk of you not being able to pay.

Of course if you get free medicare, you will be doing the same thing. But that goes back to the fact that these idiots believe in the fallacy that giving people health insurance reduces overall health costs.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

"I can't believe that worked"

[AuH20]

Blue is the Warmest Color was directed by a man, so it is all male gazey and shit.

The scene is meant to stand in contrast to the later sexual encounters with Emma, and yet this seems the least rehearsed of those scenes, the least choreographed and mechanical and voyeuristic.

And why wouldn't it be? The vision of this film comes from a straight male director whose uncomfortable consumption of the actresses' bodies is hardly subtle. Heterosexual intercourse would be the easiest for the male gaze responsible for the film to portray and naturalize. In Kechiche's film, heterosexual intercourse doesn't occupy the same lofty pedestal of lesbian intercourse, where the female form, untouched by maleness, preserved as "pure" by lesbianism, is seen as sacred and mystical. If you don't believe me, wait until the scene where the man is giving a lecture to a group of women on the mysterious power of the female orgasm in art. Of course the sole straight sex scene of the movie seems like the most realistic, the most casual and banal. Lesbianism via Kechiche is incapable of being casual. Its intensity is all-consuming, inhumanly magnetic. And as far as I can see, that in itself is a problematic framework for a straight man's portrayal of a queer narrative.

[AuH20]

Do I sound like a cranky queer? I'm sure I do, especially to the devout fans of this film who include top critics and acclaimed filmmakers. I think I've become very sick of this continual settling for something subpar in queer portrayals in film, especially when it's a straight male filmmaker, especially when I'm being made to feel gratitude for the bare appearance of a queer story, and most especially when the film receives widespread praise. Many of the comments about this film have mentioned the fact that it doesn't matter that the narrative is about two women, because love is universal and the story is telling a universal story. But it does matter, because queer stories are still different than heterosexual stories. They are different in very important and unforgettable ways, and to dismiss that fact, to say as the director has that the issue of class is more important than the issue of queerness, is ignorant on a number of levels. Queer stories can be universal, but they should still be told differently, and by the people who intimately know them.

[OldMexican]

At a bloated 2 hours and 53 minutes

Sitting down for 2 hours and 53 minutes to wait for a few lesbian scenes with, I'm guessing, a couple of unremarkable broads, makes sitting down through Barry Lyndon for the few 18-Century battle scenes that more worthwhile.

I can download 30-second videos with much better girl-to-girl action than what that movie offers.

[Juice]

Barry Lyndon was a great movie.

[OldMexican]

And the 18th Century battle scenes makes it even greater!

[Tejicano]

It wasn't that I had no interest in the battle scenes when I first saw it - Hell, I was in the US Marine Infantry at the time so I wasn't ambivalent about those. But it was the music that made it one of my all time favorites. I wore out the cassette tape of that movie's soundtrack. I love properly done period movies.

[Corning]

Can't this be more easily explained by two wooden straight actresses who just can't pull of being gay and in lust?

[AuH20]

Her sexuality is tied to her art and her place as an artist, to which I can only say, "But, of course." I'm sure Mr. Kechiche desired to make a point about how Emma is able to feel more comfortable in her identity and her work because she comes from the place of an artist, but I'm less sure that he knew the more dangerous trope he was playing into in such a portrayal. Queer sexuality, particularly female queer sexuality, is all too familiar with the caricature of the enlightened and liberated artist, the ties between that caricature and the idea of lesbianism as sexual experimentation. Of course, the trope implies, the artist is a lesbian, because she has the time and the liberal worldview to "play" in such realms, and alternative sexuality is a thing that belongs to people of privilege, people of impractical careers and creative mindsets. It can only be playtime to those who aspire to be teachers rather than professors, whose class level has them searching for practicality in their lives, whose narrative is bookmarked by men.

Which brings us to what boring narrative, exactly? Adele's romance with Emma is framed by heterosexual relationships. Heavily implied or not, it seems an awful lot like the classic case of the experimental dalliance with the liberated artiste.

[Corning]

Of course the sole straight sex scene of the movie seems like the most realistic

So the gay sex scenes are the most filled with male gaze..but when they film a sex scene in it with a an actual man it has less male gaze...

I am beginning to think the male gaze can be used to fuel my car, wash my linen and bring peace to the middle east. It can do anything.

[The Late P Brooks]

However, centering that conversation on 'self-care' devoid of our place in the collective misses the central point of why we need to care for ourselves. And that is because we must have all of our strength in place to counter the systems which, without our ability to resist and transform, without the self-preservation Audre Lorde describes, would see us destroyed.

*makes motorboat noise, falls down stairs*

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

A 19-year-old computer science student has pleaded guilty to hacking the computers of Miss Teen USA and other women and secretly photographing them with their own webcams.

[Brett L]

This is the man who can fix Obamacare.

[The Last American Hero]

It does sound like the opening scene to some movie where the gov't grabs the kid and instead of sending him to prison, recruits him to some super secret spy team.

[AuH20]

To spy on the sexy, evil (female) Russian President. But then, he falls in love with her, and she's revealed to be not all that evil, especially after he dips his wick in in her oil.

I SMELL BLOCKBUSTER!

[Corning]

Or a good episode of Archer.

[Mad Scientist]

It would be rude not to eat her pie which I assume is not only hot but also moist. Although hopefully not flaky.

[Bam!]

Obama may bypass Congress on national monuments.

[Sevo]

Yeah, well, he's an introvert, so he really is uncomfortable asking people for things.
Much easier to just take them.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Libertarians will destroy our economy

That's the plot, as it were; on the one hand a group of ideologues concerned that you can't trust the masses and on the other hand you have the kind of Rooseveltian notion that society should be for all the people and all the people should be able to participate in the society whether it's through a union or with the democratic process.

There's two groups that are driving this thing that I describe as the plot. First is the [conservative] ideologues but then there's also a group of predators who use that rhetoric and that ideology to set up a situation where they can enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else. So the rhetoric has been used to deconstruct the protections for our economy and our middle class that kept our nation stable from the '40s through the '80s.

Then the predators stepped in and said let's take that a step further and blow up Glass-Steagall and put in the Futures Modernization Act.. It's really the predators that have always brought down our country, but they've hidden behind ideology that is actually a legitimate ideology.

You're talking about conservative ideology?

One might call it conservative ideology but I'm not even sure Barry Goldwater would recognize it. Maybe "libertarian ideology" is a better word for it.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The projection is incredible. Look at that line about who "Rooseveltian" politics is about letting the masses participate when all it is giving the 'Brain Trust' the authority to force the stupid, unwashed masses to do as they're told.

Plus that guy has a very punchable, smug face in that photo.

[Winston]

Isn't Thom Hartmann on the most libertarian station ever Russia Today?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

participate in the society whether it's through a union or with the democratic process

Not only is this bullshit, it's obvious bullshit. Who "participates in society" in a union? Is this for real? I've worked a union position, and I didn't "participate" in shit. The union bosses didn't invite me or anyone I knew to the negotiating table, or ask my opinion on the process. As for democracy, who do you know who organizes the most important details of their lives democratically? Have you ever met anyone who ran a referendum among friends and family on whether he should get married to his college sweetheart, or whether he should accept a job at Raytheon? Only the most trivial decisions are left to democracy in real life, and it is not surprising that people treat democracy in the context of politics as trivially as it treats them.

Who the hell buys into this bullshit?

[John]

on the one hand a group of ideologues concerned that you can't trust the masses and on the other hand you have the kind of Rooseveltian notion that society should be for all the people and all the people should be able to participate in the society whether it's through a union or with the democratic process.

Who the hell is he talking about there the evil Libertarian plotters or the brave liberals who fight them? These people are so muddle headed and such poor writers you can't even tell what they are saying.

[Irish]

on the one hand a group of ideologues concerned that you can't trust the masses and on the other hand you have the kind of Rooseveltian notion that society should be for all the people and all the people should be able to participate in the society whether it's through a union or with the democratic process.

The lack of self-awareness is staggering. The libertarian argument that people can take care of themselves IS an argument in favor of the idea that you can trust the masses. On the other hand, the argument that we must disarm people because they are incapable of handling firearms safely is an argument against trusting the masses.

Liberals think you can't trust the common man and he needs to be controlled by an elite comprised of overcredentialed philosopher kings. They should stop pretending that they don't despise the common man and view him with scorn. No one likes a liar, progressives.

[Corning]

I am beginning to think there is a point at which an economy becomes so mired in cronyism and state control that if you started to reform it to be more free it would actually cause it to shrink at least for a little while.

All those corporate welfare queens and bureaucrats would have to retrain and retool and the producers which feed cloth and house them would have to move shop.

[Paul.]

I am beginning to think there is a point at which an economy becomes so mired in cronyism and state control that if you started to reform it to be more free it would actually cause it to shrink at least for a little while.

I think we're actually well past that. Any real "libertarian" reforms to our economy would cause short-term damage. If people can't weather that disruption in employment (public sector!) then your reforms fall flat.

[Gbob]

It almost has to be the case. The biggest impact would be in the financial sector. Wall street would pretty much melt down. You also have to look at what percentage the legal profession and accounting professions take in our economy. In a "Libertopia", those areas would be negatively impacted.

Even Reagan's small changes caused a pretty major disruption the first couple of years.

[OldMexican]

I read the whole piece and Hartmann makes a case based on an equivocation: That the people who pushed for deregulation (mythical creatures) were libertarians or that the kind of deregulation onto which he lays the blame for the 2007 downturn is part of libertarian philosophy.

If you can stomach it, read the comments from commenter Leslie, an apologia for government intervention and the Federal Reserve, with the same tired misrepresentations of the different financial panics of the late 19th and early 20th Century.

[Cytotoxic]

I love that I'm a predator. I can see this guy in heat-vision. CLOSING IN

So the rhetoric has been used to deconstruct the protections for our economy and our middle class that kept our nation stable from the '40s through the '80s.

Just ignore that double-digit inflation and unemployment of the '70s. Ignore all the bad stuff, it was statist utopia back then. And it's people on the right who are reactionaries.

[AuH20]

bell hooks and Melistha Harrith Perry discuss dismantling the "imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy

Challenge: Watch the whole damn thing. It is over 40 fucking minutes, and in the skipping around I've seen, it looks awful.

Apparently, around the 38 minute mark, they talk about Zimmerman, and how he "thinks his whiteness will protect him".

Also, it produced this comment:

I wish minutes 30-40 went on for a few hours. I wanted more of the discussion of the connection between sentimentality in popular representation (that James Baldwin quote made me feel quite guilty), unresolved grief, and innocence of whiteness and power. The ways pain shapes us and contorts us, and how we grow up around it. That's what I love about bell hooks. I don't know very much about Dr. King and bell hooks' interest in his statements about American fascism were really cool. I'm always a bit bored with discussion of representation, same here. I was especially moved when they discussed the impact of their work on their personal lives and vice versa. That grief over lost loved ones reminds bell of her concerns about black women's legacies, and how MHP's survivor self comes out and also dissociates on air. Does anyone else feel weird that they gave bell hooks a plastic water bottle?

[Caleb Turberville]

Doesn't she know that if she "dismantles capitalism" she won't have a job at MSNBC anymore?

[Paul.]

Does anyone else feel weird that they gave bell hooks a plastic water bottle?

I feel weird that I can't unread what I just read.

[AuH20]

I assume it's something regarding environmentalism... but still. SO GODDAMN RETARDED.

[Corning]

Maybe plastic water bottles are on the "What White People Like" blog and she reads the blog as a serious criticism of race.

[Tejicano]

Meh, if somebody wants to get in my face - literally or on-line - they will have to be articulate at some basic level. I simply ignore mumbling and drooling like this load of BS.

[The Late P Brooks]

What self-care often misses is the reality that for the majority of people engaged in social justice movements, participation is out of necessity. That a collective effort in the form of social movement is the highest articulation of caring for one's own self in a world designed to deny your worthiness of care.

Dude- is this a cut-and-paste from a The Colorado College course description?

[Hillary's Clitdong]

What self-care often misses is the reality that for the majority of people engaged in social justice movements, participation is out of necessity. That a collective effort in the form of social movement is the highest articulation of caring for one's own self in a world designed to deny your worthiness of care.

TL;DR version: If you want something, it's easier to form a mob and steal the stuff than it is to earn the stuff.

[AuH20]

Oh, c'mon P Brooks, CC would be much more pretentious about it and act like they were doing you a favor for teaching you this crap.

BTW, what's the hockey team ranked this year? That's about the only part of the school I don't want to burn to the ground.

[Rich]

a collective effort in the form of social movement is the highest articulation of caring for one's own self in a world designed to deny your worthiness of care

Believe it or not, I saw that tattooed on a ruffian's forehead just the other day.

[jesse.in.mb]

In penitence for revisiting the yoga pants that Nicole hates:

The adorable former rugby player, Ben Cohen does backflip in sailor suit on British version of dancing with the stars.

If he isn't showing enough skin for you there's always he and Kristina Rihanoff do a paso doble to 'Supermassive Black Hole'

[Corning]

Just post an image of Thor with his shirt off and be done with it.

[jesse.in.mb]

I wish it were that simple. Chris Hemsworth is very good looking, but I don't find him that attractive.

I find Ben Cohen both good looking AND attractive.

[Corning]

Your male gaze is fucking the whole project up.

[jesse.in.mb]

Do you know how hard I have to work to offset the MALE GAZE around here? Lady libertarians TALK about hunky men, but they so rarely post. Someone needs to objectify men and if nobody else will rise to the challenge, I suppose it'll have to be me.

Scruffy Chris Evans in Details photo shoot.

[AuH20]

I wish rugby were a bigger sport in America. To be fair, being Americans who love offense and hate defense, I think we'd be more into 7s or League, but still.

It's an awesome sport, and I honestly don't understand why it has never gained a bigger following here. Even soccer, which is stupid and league, is starting to get a more respectable league behind it.

[jesse.in.mb]

Yeah, I don't get why rugby isn't a more popular sport here. I'm generally not a sports fan, but it's much more interesting to watch than most of the sports than most (not just because of the beefy guys pacing the sidelines shirtless while waiting to play, but that helps).

[Sidd Finch]

3 different footballs is too much for one country.

[Timon 19]

Oz manages 4.

[John]

Lack of blocking and hitting. Rugby philes never understand this. When a non rugby fan watches a game, they look at all of the guys running around trying to get in position to take the ball and wonder "why the hell aren't those guys hitting someone". The lack of blocking and hitting makes rugby unwatchable to someone who grew up watching American football.

[AuH20]

Eh, I guess it's a good point. Americans also like watching a basketball player go one-on-one than watch the intricate backdoor cuts of a Princeton offense, and hockey, which takes a lot of positioning, also is a mostly regional sport.

Still, I grew up watching football, but I can watch rugby. Then again, I played rugby, so I actually know WHY they are doing what the fuck they are doing.

[Sidd Finch]

That thing where there's two different rugbies, and one of the rugbies is itself two different rugbies ... that thing is confusing.

[Timon 19]

You say this every time this subject comes up. You're full of shit. It's 100% cultural. American football and soccer are the two football codes that have been in the US consistently since the 1850s. The former had a greater initial acceptance and spread more quickly in the college ranks, while baseball clubs (yes, baseball clubs) and industrialists managed to field professional soccer teams. While the NCAA provided a consistent and widespread infrastructure for football, the various warring baseball clubs ended up inadvertently causing the Soccer Wars, which virtually killed the game for 40 years until the NASL got things horribly wrong again.

Rugby is basically a newcomer that's trying to come back after more than a century of total obscurity.

Also, I grew up watching American football and I think Rugby (union, not league) is awesome. Not as awesome as soccer, but close.

[Timon 19]

1860's...whatever.

[John]

The lack of blocking doesn't bother you. It bothers the hell out of most people who grew up watching American football. Rugby will always be a niche sport in this country.

[Timon 19]

It bothers the hell out of YOU. You're engaging in behavior that you often correctly point out in lefties: projection.

Interestingly, soccer was always going to be a niche sport in this country, too. While it's not the NFL or MLB, it's not lacrosse, softball, or cycling either. The top division has now been around for 18 years and will soon have 20 teams. Never say never (though I think there are some structural issues with the world game of Rugby that will make its growth here much harder).

[Sidd Finch]

butthurt article about the Braves moving to Cobb County

So the idea of an Atlanta sports team playing in a suburb makes me sick. Because I have no love for the suburbs. I care about cities, because that's where people are forced to intermingle. I care about cities, because that's where the culture is. And I care about my city above all, because it's mine.

This is what progressive actually believe.

[Thane is a cosmotarian!]

I normally like Amy Alkon's blog, but a couple months ago she went on a rant about (essentially) how the suburbs are terrible, terrible, soul-crushing places and you'd be stupid to want to live there.

It really irked me. It's one thing to extol the virtues of city life and encourage people to take it up. It's another thing entirely to bash people for having different choices and different preferences.

Personally I hate the city and moderately dislike the country, but IDGAF that a lot of people like living in big cities.

[Sidd Finch]

I don't really care about a "living in a city/suburb/gated community/whatever is teh suxxor" article. I'm just happy to be living, man. But this "forced to intermingle" shit pisses me right off, especially since "forced to intermingle" around Turner Field is euphemism for "you'll be lucky to make it to your car with your wallet."

[AuH20]

The forced to intermingle thing also bears ZERO relation to actual history.

How did the oh-so enlightened residents of Boston do when they were "forced to intermingle" during bussing in the 1970s?

[Sidd Finch]

good point

[Tejicano]

Yeah. I have lived for years out in the southern AZ desert on a street with 4 houses, I have lived in Tokyo for years, and I have lived in suburbs for a lot of time too. Big city has its attractions but I think I'll be retiring to a 'burb if I get that choice.

[Caleb Turberville]

Dude, libertarians should probably hate the Braves move as well. No doubt, their new stadium will be financed by new taxes.

I actually have to hand it to the Red Sox. Turner Stadium will be barely 20 years old when it gets demolished. Fenway Park, on the other hand, is 100 years old and still standing.

[Andrew S.]

It's going to cost ~$700 million. $200 million from the Braves and $500 million from the county. So yes, a shitload of money will be coming from the government.

And the Falcons are also building a new stadium that's mostly government-financed.

And both teams have/had facilities less than 2 decades old.

[Caleb Turberville]

Turner Field: Opened 1996, first occupied by the Braves in 1997.

Georgia Dome: First opened 1992.

Jeezus, what's with teams that are so insecure about not winning and championship and their supposed need to have brand new stadiums?

[Sidd Finch]

Turner is in a awful location. Check out the map on the article.

I really don't understand what's wrong the the Dome though. It's not great, but there's nothing wrong with it.

[Caleb Turberville]

Turner was originally an Olympic facility. It was built in its current location, no doubt, to spur "economic development" or some other horseshit dreamt up by a Georgia World Congress Center bureaucrat.

[PD Scott]

Not that I am a fan of the new Falcons stadium, but AFAIK the city of Atlanta is "only" picking up about 20% of the tab.

[Sidd Finch]

Turner was built as an Olympic stadium. It served it's purpose.

I don't live in Cobb County, so haha Cobb Countians. I'd be spitting mad if I did though.

[John]

Yeah because driving to Marietta is just so much to ask. What a moron.

[Caleb Turberville]

Moves the Braves a bit closer to Alabama, which in my experience, is home to the majority of Braves fans.

[Sidd Finch]

It'll be in an unincorporated area just north of the city. It's like 8 miles from Turner.

[PD Scott]

I wonder how the Cobb Co Commissioners plan to keep Smyrna or Marietta from annexing it once it's developed. Maybe a law passed by the state legislature?

[PD Scott]

Turner Field is in the middle of Atlanta - the central location is nice, but damn it can be hard to get to it during rush hour. The new Braves stadium will be beside two interstates that already have rush hour gridlock every weekday and won't have any MARTA station anywhere close by. I'm not sure exactly how the new location is supposed to make it easier for fans to get to the game unless they're coming down from north Cobb and Cherokee county.

[Paul.]

MakerBot is trying to get a 3D printer in every school.

Aren't schools gun-free zones?

[AuH20]

I'm not going to give you a context, but these two comments, one after another, on a feminist blog, are hilarious:

I had a dream last night where I was raped, and I spent the whole dream trying to prove that someone did it and put him to justice. I woke up without that happening.

Your speech was phenomenal, Carmen. Sex-ed was a similar experience for me, I just never realized it.

[Paul.]

One wonders if RAPE literally (figuratively?) hides behind every leaf and blade of grass in the mind of the feminist.

[AuH20]

Carmen, what an amazing speech!
I feel like sex ed reform is priority number one at this point.
If only we could control the media we could do away with glamorized scenes of sexual violence. Woman tied up or sprawled out on the ground like they have just been pushed down are somehow expected to sell clothing. One step at a time and SlutWalks are an amazing first step. Thanks so much for spreading that message.

?????({*})?????
For Women.
For the Love of Women!
http://www.VulvaLoveLovely.com

[Paul.]

If only we could control the media we could do away with glamorized scenes of sexual violence.

?!

[Coeus]

Everything for the state, and how dare you question it:

Why, the complainers ask, should the young and healthy be forced to pay for the health care of the old and sick? It might be the single dumbest argument about health insurance. This isn't even the usual greedy antisocial libertarian line of complaint?well, I don't have a kid, so why should my taxes pay for schools? There's no need to invoke social unity or the common good: Young, healthy people are not a separate population from the old and unhealthy. They are the very same people, only at a different stage of life.

[trshmnstr]

They are the very same people, only at a different stage of life.

Yes, because 65 year old me is walking around right now, waiting for 25 year old me to pay for his healthcare.

[Cytotoxic]

EIN VOLK

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Spike Lee sued over George Zimmerman Tweet

The "Do the Right Thing" filmmaker is being sued by a couple whose address he falsely identified as being that of Trayvon Martin killer George Zimmerman, according to documents obtained by the Smoking Gun.

The suit, filed on behalf of Elaine and David McClain, claims that Lee tweeted out their Florida address along with George Zimmerman's name to his 240,000-plus Twitter followers in March 2012.

"While defendant intended to post the home address of George Zimmerman, he actually posted the address of plaintiffs Elaine McClain and David McClain," the complaint reads.

The suit notes that the McClains reached a settlement with Lee on March 29, 2012, but numerous retweets of Lee's initial message were made, along with threatening messages such as. "He gone learn today" and "Since Yall Gone Kill Him and Whatnot."

"Subsequent to March 29, 2012, plaintiffs Elaine McClain and David McClain have suffered substantial injury," the suit, filed in circuit court in Florida, reads.

I don't know what merit the suit has, but it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

[Sevo]

"Deaths in the Philippines because of Typhoon Haiyan will likely not reach the 10,000 leaders feared, but they're still likely to surpass 2,000."

Once the political shenanigans start over the aide, the death toll will rise.
BTW, one headline had 10,000 deaths in *one city*!

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Seeing that Rastafarians, under my leadership from 1953-2013, and according to Haile Selassie's commission for the establishment of the Rastafarian movement as an institutional body, play such an important role in Jamaican life, the prime minister and opposition leader should agree to appoint me, Ascento Foxe, to the [Jamaica] Senate."

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gle.....sure6.html

[Winston]

The Gleaner has never been the same since they stopped hiring women employed by Dr. No.

[Winston]

Are these the most libertarian video games ever?

http://cinemassacre.com/2009/0.....wear-ties/
http://cinemassacre.com/2007/08/22/atari-porn/

[Eduard van Haalen]

Ouch!

"Q-Poll: Young voters trust congressional Republicans on key issues more than Obama...

"...Note that with voters under age 29, whose political beliefs and voting habits are being shaped right now, he's actually 18 points underwater. (More on this in a minute.)....

"The young, by and large, hold opinions almost indistinguishable from those of the median voter at a time when the latter is quite sour on Obama.

"Think about it for a moment ? not just through a 2014 prism, but beyond that. The Democrats have been full of crowing triumphalism over the demographic explosion they're expecting ? and part of their hope involves taking the young vote for granted. What if they're just wrong in assuming that any other Democrat is capable of exciting the young the way Obama did in two successive elections?

"Even worse, what if this poll is just one more sign that the young are learning lasting lessons about big government that will affect their thinking for decades to come? What if they're even more frustrated by the outcomes of the Obama era than your average American? You probably noticed that in Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli (yeah, the big social issues guy) won young voters, according to the exit polls. Currently, Obama fares better with the 30-49 crowd (his best demo) than he does with the younger set."

http://www.conservativeintel.c.....han-obama/

[Apatheist ?_??]

Can we shift our collectivist generation hatred now?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

It's going to be amazing if ObamaCare makes conservatives* out of the current generation of young people. Utterly amazing.

*It'd be hoping too much to expect that they become classical liberals or libertarians.

[Cytotoxic]

Okay that's it. He's one of us. Obama is a libertarian under ultra-deep cover.

[Winston]

we

Collectivist!

[Cytotoxic]

So...*sniff*...my generation...might not be totally...retarded? I'm not gonna cry. SO HAPPY SOMETHING IN MY EYE.

[The Late P Brooks]

BTW, what's the hockey team ranked this year? That's about the only part of the school I don't want to burn to the ground.

No idea, but I did see about five minutes of a CC game on some regional,sports channel recently. Can't remember who they were playing.

[AuH20]

Just checked. Not in the top 15. They suck this year. Luckily, so does DU. From a Denver Post article:

Colorado College and the University of Denver entered Saturday's game 50th and 58th in NCAA scoring, and given that there are only 59 Division I teams, a low-scoring affair was expected to conclude the first National Collegiate Hockey Conference series between the longtime archrivals.

I mean, if I were hockey player, I'd much rather go to a Wisconsin than that shithole, where I will most likely be accused of rape (although the puck sluts were pretty attractive in my time, a few years back)

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Jezebel may have a point

It was unmarried women, who broke for McAuliffe by 42 percentage points, who really won the day. Maybe we should... do a thing about that? said the geniuses on the right. But why in the world would single women consistently vote against Republican candidates in huge numbers?

Gee fucking whiz. I wonder why single women would cast their vote against a guy whose most memorable public achievements have been in restricting abortion and contraception? I wonder why women existing independent of nuclear families would vote, again and again, against candidates who promise to make that existence more difficult?

It's Maslow's Hierarchy, stupid.

As long as single women feel like their bodily safety would be threatened by the election of a candidate, all of the rebranding in the world won't convince single women to vote Republican. What people behind Burning Glass Consulting don't understand is that yes, single women care about economic issues, and many are probably aligned ideologically with fiscal conservatism, but as long as they fear for their bodily autonomy, they wouldn't vote Republican if Idris Elba personally asked them to via midnight front yard serenade. Survival needs trump comfort. It doesn't matter if a person is paying a few thousand less in taxes per year if that means they might be denied medical care.

[John]

So you are telling me that single women vote against their economic interests out of concern over social issues?

Has anyone told Thomas Frank about this?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

This is true, but not really something that can be resolved in the Rs favor. They may have a chance with single women, but single mothers are married to public benefits for the time being and it makes little sense for them to vote for a party perceived to be against those bennies.

Frankly, there isn't really a good way to win those votes since there is no rational reason to expect single mothers to vote en masse to cut the benefits which sustain them.

[trshmnstr]

What people behind Burning Glass Consulting don't understand is that yes, single women care about economic issues, and many are probably aligned ideologically with fiscal conservatism,

I highly doubt that. Single women tend to be very liberal in their economics because of "teh feelz".

Survival needs trump comfort.

Am I the only one who finds classifying abortions and contraception as "survival needs" laughable?

[AuH20]

Also, I don't see how relying on SNAP, EBT. Section 8 Housing, etc. really falls under the idea of "fiscal conservatism." But I'm all "Vulcan Logic" patriarchal like that, I guess.

[Corning]

Am I the only one who finds classifying abortions and contraception as "survival needs" laughable?

In biology having no offspring is not surviving....so yes very laughable and possibly the worst choice of words she could have picked.

[Corning]

Single childless women feel safe with the dem.

Married women feel they and their children are more safe with the rep.

[Paul.]

A judge put the order in place following the death of a trainer in 2010.

How is that legal? A judge passed a law? What were the sentencing guidelines for anyone who violated that?

[The Last American Hero]

So how low to Obama's approval ratings have to go before the Dems in Congress strip him and send him into exile like when the Skeksis exiled the Chamberlain in the Dark Crystal?

[AuH20]

I think the most important metric that's trending down? Personal approval.

Job approval is one thing, but its a bit of teflon. People can disapprove of the job you are doing a lot, but still think that you're overall a good guy who is just trying his best in the face of some tough shit, and therefore give you the benefit of the doubt. When people outright just dislike you? Then job and other forms of approval become much, much harder to come by.

[John]

His personal approval ratings are tanking too. People are figuring out that Obama might not care about them.

[AuH20]

I know they are John. Hence my above sentence construction, though I could have been clearer.

Basically, if Obama's personal approval drops below... eh, I'll say 37, and stays there for a few months, it is all over. I think that there are any number of people who don't love him, but don't really want to go too far down the road of hating him because:

a) The people who really hate him are perceived as mean, crazy assholes (Yeah, it's bullshit, but I think that is the man on the street's impression sometimes of Obama's critics)

b) In a lot of areas, especially urban areas, or states (California) it is seen as something that will lose you friends if you're against him, so you don't say shit.

If it starts to seriously appear as though people hate him, though, and his personal approval drops below 37% for a few months, that is going to translate into conversations at bars and in restaurants. That is going to start getting people, even in places like California, to overhear people talking about him and offer an opinion like, "Obama? That guy's a prick!"

And that is when, as a President, you start going into a downward spiral, as opinions about you harden for the bad and the fence sitters start seeing more social capital in being against you than for you.

[Paul.]

His personal approval ratings are tanking too. People are figuring out that Obama might not care about them.

If you like your President, you can keep him.

[Mike M.]

All I can say is: welcome to the reality party America, and just what the fuck took you so damn long?

Some of you out there are extremely low information and absurdly slow on the uptake, but there just might be some hope for you yet.

[Tejicano]

I'l sure the biggest chunk of them have been resisting the pull of reality because of TEH RACIZM. At some point I expect that dam will break and they will hope for a different change.

[Tejicano]

I'm sure the biggest chunk of them have been resisting the pull of reality because of TEH RACIZM. At some point I expect that dam will break and they will hope for a different change.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Meet Hawaii state representative Jo Jordan the first openly gay legislator to vote against state-recognized SSM, in part because of the inadequate protections of religious liberty.

"I really am not happy with the [religious] exemptions. Too narrow.

"I'm not here to protect the big churches or the little churches, I'm saying we can't erode what's currently out there. We don't want to scratch at the religious protections at all, because if we don't create a measure that's bulletproof, or as close to bulletproof as possible, then the measure will go to the courts. And they will interpret it however that may be. A judge will make assumptions and make a ruling, and that will become the law of the land. So you really want us to create the legislation.

"I haven't figured out why I felt so compelled to fight for the religious exemptions, to not erode Constitutional rights. I don't belong to any particular denomination. I don't wear one of those hats....

"At the end of the day, the way SB1 HD1 is written right now, walking into the third reading I can't say it is written the best that we can provide to all. If that's at the risk of not allowing same-gender couples to get married on Dec. 2, I can't stop that, I'm sorry. We want to make sure it's good. It's not about who gets to the finish line first. It's just not."

http://www.honolulumagazine.co.....-Equality/

[The Immaculate Trouser]

That's pretty cool of him.

Wish we'd had more like him at the beginning of this debate.

[Eduard van Haalen]

She's a she, but otherwise I agree.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Ah, yes. Here's another cool quote:

She recalled that during the debate on the Defense Of Marriage Act in Congress, many groups asked her to be the "face" of their activism.

"I was honest with them: 'That's not what I want to do.' I'm a legislator first and foremost, and I'm not here to promote your pride. I've got to do my duty first and I don't want to seem biased. It's about your work. Vet all the issues, put your personal stuff aside and let's see where we're going with this measure."

[AlmightyJB]

It's actually very smart. Because if this gets pushed so far as to really start screwing with peoples religion, the backlash would erase every gain that was made and then more.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Would that were true! Alas, I'm not sure that the majority would care. A majority of Catholics voted for the guy who stripped away their Church's religious freedom, for example.

[John]

Wow. There is someone who actually gets it. Freedom isn't about you getting your pony. What a great guy. I don't know if he is liberal or con or what. But can he run for national office?

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Jo" is short for "Georgette," according to Wikipedia.

[John]

Her I guess.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I should have been clearer!

[AuH20]

Jezebel mentioned him in their Saturday night open thread (which was worth skimming for the women who was asking about erectile dysfunction problems she was having with her new man. It was awesome!) They were all mystified and shocked that he believed that everyone's opinion should be heard in this debate, and simply couldn't grok a gay person NOT in favor of SSM.

Watch the villainization start soon, btw. Can't have any of the help gettin' ideas and trying to leave the plantation.

[Eduard van Haalen]

If they turn against her, she could end up like many other women (and this applies to men too) who dissent from the left on one or two key issues and end up getting Shunned By All Right-Thinking People. The result is that they start feeling more comfortable in the company of conservatives, and then grow toward the conservative position.

Think Tammy Bruce, former NOW official who thought feminists were being too soft on Clinton and OJ - commence shunning...now she's a Tea Party talk-show host.

The progs could limit that sort of thing if they could actually shrug and say to dissenters, "gosh, we may not agree on [religious freedom, OJ, affirmative action, etc.] but we're still part of the great diverse progressive family! How about a hug?" They might keep more people in the fold. But if you decide that any colleague who dissents on one or two points is an evil heretic, then when they're cast out they will drift even further to the "right."

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

She's getting ripped to shreds in the comments:

Robin Tyler ? Top Commenter
You should be ashamed of yourself. You denied your own people a major civil right.

Your own people?

Lisa Equality Talmadge ? Top Commenter ? Norwich, Vermont ? 478 subscribers
This explanation sounds terribly self loathing. Ms. Jordan may not have realized that GLBT people including herself deserve marriage equality.

Tragic Lesbo?

Robin Einzig ? Top Commenter
Massive Internalized Homophobia. It's as simple as that.

[Tonio]

Your own people?

Yes. You profoundly don't get it.

[John]

Yes Tonio we do. We know mindless tribalism when we see it. Have fun with it. But spare us any claims you have to rationality.

[Lord at War]

Wow, somebody's all butt-hurt. That's the thing about you homosexuals, you have to work that in to every conversation. This is the clinical definition of obsession. Get. Help. Now.

http://reason.com/blog/2013/09.....s#comments

[AuH20]

Can I just say how glad I am that D-I College Football refuses to use a playoff system? I mean, it's really awesome. It keeps weak ass schools, who only remain loss-less thanks to their weak ass conferences, from making December boring by fucking up the bowls.

You know, weak-ass teams? Like Fresno State. Or Nothern Illinois. Or especially that weakass team that plays in Ohio. I believe that it's some form of an Ohio State University, although certainly not the only one, and therefore not deserving of a definite article in front of its name.

[playa manhattan]

Paging Sloopy! Pick up the white courtesy phone!

[Sidd Finch]

http://reason.com/blog/2012/11.....nt_3363771

If anybody on here sees Sidd Finch in the real world, would you please kick him in the balls. He spent all night baiting me into an alcohol-fueled rage with his anti-The Ohio State University football bigotry and hate speech in addition to cheerleading for the entire SEC, as all people from that region are likely to do when you ask them who their team is.

Fuck that motherfucker.

On a lighter note, I did get Warty with a good goatse post last night.

I win

[Sidd Finch]

Kirk Herbstreit ?@KirkHerbstreit 9 Nov

"@RHS_SID: Why do my OSU friends deny SEC dominance over B1G? How a strong conf helps all our SEC teams. Why can't they see it?" In denial?

[Cytotoxic]

Confessions of a Quantitative Easer.

http://online.wsj.com/news/art.....0751473884

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By
Andrew Huszar
Nov. 11, 2013 7:00 p.m. ET

I can only say: I'm sorry, America. As a former Federal Reserve official, I was responsible for executing the centerpiece program of the Fed's first plunge into the bond-buying experiment known as quantitative easing. The central bank continues to spin QE as a tool for helping Main Street. But I've come to recognize the program for what it really is: the greatest backdoor Wall Street bailout of all time.

No doubt a nut-bar TEA BAGGER type Shirek is so familiar with.

[Cytotoxic]

We're in a bubble economy.

http://business.financialpost......as-wheels/

The subprime car market, meanwhile, is following a trend not unlike what transpired in the U.S. Housing bubble: No money down and bad credit? No problem. Low rates and eight-year amortizations will also help keep those payments down.

[Pro Libertate]

At last, the government is taking seriously my plan to institute a repo man tax on America.

[Cytotoxic]

That picture caused me to do things to my laptop screen that require you to replace my laptop screen. Evil and injured? You're vulnerable Uncle Sam, and that makes you dead.

[Pro Libertate]

Never broke into a car, never hot-wired a car.

I never broke into a trunk.

I shall not cause harm to a vehicle,
or the personal contents thereof.

Nor through inaction, let vehicle or
personal contents come to harm.

That's what I call the repo code, kid.

Don't forget it. Etch it in your brain.

[jesse.in.mb]

Comic about strippers and inflation.

[Eduard van Haalen]

US Commission on International Religious Freedom urges Obama to address persecution of religious minorities in Iraq [edited to remove reference to C________s]

"...violence is undermining Iraq's progress and threatening its people's safety, particularly the majority Shi'a Muslim population, as well as its smallest religious minority communities, including [name of religious minority omitted] and Yezidis. The violence also appears to be spreading into areas of northern Iraq that had been previously safer and had become places of refuge for religious minorities. Regrettably, the government of Iraq has been unable to stop sectarian attacks from occurring and often lacks the will to investigate attacks and bring perpetrators to justice. This has created a climate of impunity and a perpetual sense of fear for all religious communities, particularly the smallest ones...."

http://www.uscirf.gov/news-roo.....kmOUx.dpuf

[JidaKida]

Jack Frapp Dojo says that aint gonna heappne!

http://www.Privacy-Road.tk

[Diogenes]

As of 6:00 a.m. PI time, Aquino said "up to 2,500." I assume that there are many isolated seaside villages that have not check in as yet.

Friends in Manila with property in Mindoro Oriente say that the storm took out houses that far north.