Feds Back Off Louisiana Voucher Program, House to Investigate Accuracy of Jobs Reports, Rob Ford Giving Up the Hooch: P.M. Links

• 

  Office of the Mayor

  The Department of Justice has abandoned its efforts to block Louisiana's school voucher program, but still wants the authority to review and meddle with things.

• The House Oversight committee will investigate allegations that unemployment reports were falsified in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election.
• Occasionally drunken Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he's giving up the booze.
• Bitcoin's price has gone on an exciting adventure over the past 24 hours, even reaching a high of $900 before coming back down.
• George Zimmerman's latest charges include allegations he pointed a shotgun at his girlfriend. One presumes she is now his ex-girlfriend.
• The Obama Administration is still stuck playing defense of the Affordable Care Act as the latest information shows they were informed well in advance about problems with the federal exchange site.

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Comments

[playa manhattan]

Meet badBIOS, the mysterious Mac and PC malware that jumps airgaps

Reason Techies:
Real threat or sensationalized hype?

[Mad Scientist]

You Sugarfreed the link, pm.

[gaijin]

In your quest for first prize, I beleive you SF'd the link

[db]

Haven't RTFM but if the gaps are truly gaps, then the malware has been there all along, and something is waking it up.

[Brett L]

I think its a USB based thing exploiting an ad-hoc WiFi-on-chip hole. If it exists at all. The previous link playa provided had a very skeptical (rightly) review. Too many what-ifs for me to panic.

[Pro Libertate]

Hardware, bitches.

[db]

Well, it's not really a gap if.people are plugging devices or detachable storage in to a computer, then, right?

When they say "jumps air gaps" to me that implies "with no apparent connection to other machines." But if they go on to say that it's related to peripherals that are detachable then I say it's not really a gap.

[Zeb]

There was some suggestion about data being transmitted through sound devices.

[db]

Now that's interesting but it would require an open mike and something alreqdy resident on the computer to do something with that input.

[Cytotoxic]

ad-hoc WiFi-on-chip hole

He pulled out the WiFi and BlueTooth hardware. Still communicating with other infected machines. It only stopped when he...pulled the microphone and speakers. High-frequency networking.

[Brett L]

I don't agree with that, because a lot of the wifi stuff is on the main die now. Just because he thought he disconnected the radios, in absence of someone else doing the stuff leaves me suspicious.

[Cytotoxic]

It still stopped when pulled the microphone and speakers!

[LynchPin1477]

It should be easy enough to check that, no? Put the computers in a sound proofed room with a microphone and audio analysis software that can detect any sounds that might be emitted.

[Brett L]

The guy claims all of this, but no independent confirmation. Its one of those, yes, it could all happen, but getting from the sound card to the BIOS on AMD and Intel with a variety of hardware/software intermediary programs seems less likely to me.

[Protagoronus]

They tried to fix the air gapped system and it appeared to get updates from the microphone... or magic

[Bam!]

"Even then, forensic tools showed the packets continued to flow over the airgapped machine."

So the forensic tool managed to capture packets from a network-type that never existed before? Are we to believe that the virus constructed a network using microphones and speakers and then presented it to the OS as a normal network interface that could be sniffed with WireShark?

Could be bad reporting.

[Cytotoxic]

Couldn't he have detected the packets on the computers?

[Paul.]

The reporting is so bad, it sounds like Hoaxy reporting.

[playa manhattan]

Sorry:
http://arstechnica.com/securit.....s-airgaps/

[Bam!]

Seems like BS to me. No code dump yet? Pfft.

[LynchPin1477]

I agree, sounds far fetched. But this guy seems to have a pretty decent reputation, and has others who also have good reputations interested in the problems he seems to have. Worth keeping on eye on, at least, to see how it pans out.

[playa manhattan]

He's going to present at the next conference.

[Clich? Bandit]

keep an eye on HackerNews, those folks will shred it if it is wrong and they have the benefit of actually being competent.

[Bam!]

Schneier's commentariat already went at it.

[Paul.]

Strangest of all was the ability of infected machines to transmit small amounts of network data with other infected machines even when their power cords and Ethernet cables were unplugged and their Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards were removed.

This is a classic case of the user not providing, knowing or being aware of all the variables, period, the end, no further discussion.

Sorry to be so blunt, but it's that simple.

[Brett L]

Agreed.

[Corning]

I will wait until I get home and running linux before I click on that link.

[db]

My resident Computer Security expert hasn't personally looked into BadBIOS but she sent me this link:

http://www.rootwyrm.com/2013/1.....-is-wrong/

Sounds like hype.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Occasionally drunken Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says he's giving up the booze.

But the cumulative hangover might literally kill him.

[AlmightyJB]

"giving up the booze"

Now I've lost all respect

[PD Scott]

He didn't say he was giving up the pipe.

[Rich]

Keep the faith, JB. He was probably lying during *that* drunken stupor.

[Brett L]

But still smoking crack!

[BigT]

After all, at this point, what difference does it make?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Obama Administration is still stuck playing defense of the Affordable Care Act...

We had to elect the suit to find out what wasn't in it.

[Bee Tagger]

Are you suggesting they had to elect the chair to find out who wasn't sitting in it?

[Rich]

The Obama Administration is still stucks at playing defense of the Affordable Care Act...

Fixed Scott's typo.

[GILMORE]

Now, I know there are folks out there who are actively working to make this law fail. But despite a politically-motivated misinformation campaign, the states that have committed themselves to making this law work are finding that competition and choice are actually pushing costs down. Just last week, New York announced that premiums for consumers who buy their insurance in these online marketplaces will be at least 50% less than what they pay today.

That's right ? folks' premiums in the individual market will drop by 50%

""A Better Bargain for the Middle Class""
Galesburg, Illinois
July 24, 2013

BUT WAIT THERES MORE = IF YOU ACT NOW, YOU CAN ALSO RECEIVE THIS FULL SET OF PARING KNIVES, A $100 VALUE!!

...
meanwhile, forbes determines premiums in the individual market are up 40% on average across the country

http://www.forbes.com/sites/th.....o-elderly/

NY may in fact have gone down. Probably because it was the most expensive in the country. Which doesn't make his comment any less bullshit.

[Fatty Bolger]

NY was already worse than Obamacare. That's quite an accomplishment.

[GILMORE]

It should be taken for granted.

[db]

I hereby nominate Barack Obama for the Nobel Prize in Medicine, for discovering conclusive proof that laughter is the best medicine.

[Being Waterboarded]

Are you certain it is not the salty ham tears that are medicinal?

[Anonymous Coward]

Salty ham tears nourish the soul.

[db]

There are enough in Obamacare to make some salty ham tear pot pie. Or maybe "hot salty ham tear water."

[Marshall Gill]

Mmmm, hot salty ham tear water.

[Rhywun]

"Please, sir, may I have more?"

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Department of Justice has abandoned its efforts to block Louisiana's school voucher program...

Are we going to see a Stand in the Private School Door? Will we have to federalize the Louisiana National Guard?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Always look on the bright side of life: Monty Python to have reunion stage show

All of the surviving members of comedy group Monty Python are to reform for a stage show, one of the Pythons, Terry Jones, has confirmed.

"We're getting together and putting on a show - it's real," Jones told the BBC.

"I'm quite excited about it. I hope it makes us a lot of money. I hope to be able to pay off my mortgage!"

The reunion is expected to be announced officially at a press conference being held in London on Thursday.

John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin and Jones are all due to appear at the event, which was first revealed in the Sun.

Eric Idle also tweeted on Monday: "Only three days to go till the Python press conference. Make sure Python fans are alerted to the big forthcoming news event."

He added on Tuesday: "Python meeting this morning. Can't wait. Press Conference Thursday will apparently be live on Sky News. I'll get you the online URL."

Interesting since Eric Idle once said they wouldn't do a reunion unless Graham Chapman came back from the dead. They were in talks with his agent.

[Francisco d Anconia]

They had him in an urn for the last one.

[Brett L]

That was before they got bored of watching only Cleese work.

[Pro Libertate]

Actually, Palin has been working pretty regularly on his travel series and books. That and denying that he's Sarah Palin's father.

[Almanian!]

But Enough About Palin....

[Pro Libertate]

Tour or one-off?

[Killazontherun]

It wont be the same without the dead guy. Palin, Idle, the dead guy, Cleese, and probably someone else I' missing.

[db]

Jones and Gilliam (plus Chapman--"dead guy" to you).

[alan_s]

" I hope to be able to pay off my mortgage!"

That's pretty sad if Terry Jones hasn't been able to pay off his mortgage. I've never made millions doing anything, and yet I still plan to have mine paid off by the time I'm 30 in a few years.

[Pro Libertate]

He probably lives in some old Welsh keep that requires high maintenance expenses, like for importing Nile crocodiles, maintaining electrified fences, covering massive insurance premiums for deadly defenses, and the like.

[playa manhattan]

"they were informed well in advance about problems with the federal exchange site."

There is no sugarcoating it, the 40% of the site that hasn't been built yet might cause some problems.

[kinnath]

The most shocking part of this is:

1) The administration knew the system was totally fucked

2) The Republican party was mounting a massive campaign to delay the implementation by a year

3) Any half-assed poker player could have extracted major concessions from the Republican party to get that one year delay

4) The Democratic party could spend the next year blaming the Republican party for the delay (leading into the 2014 elections)

5) And the administration could have quietly used the extra year to the fucking system working

[wareagle]

why are you shocked? The player opposite the Repubs is Obama. His world is zero-sum, all politics and nothing but, with a fair amount of denial/ignorance tossed in, since he would say he didn't know the system was fucked up.

[kinnath]

Because even Jimmy fucking Carter would have recognized this opportunity to dodge a bullet and fuck the opposition at the same time.

[wareagle]

Carter was not evil. Obama is.

[kinnath]

Barack Obama: Dumber than Carter; Dirtier than Nixon; Bloodier than Johnson

[Almanian!]

There's no sugarcoating it - President Obama faces some challenges.

[seguin]

Also, waffles.

[Rich]

Yep.

So, what monstrous goal motivates this nefarious scheme?

[Mad Scientist]

I'm not shocked. The man's a bully, and he wants to get his way right now no matter how much worse that makes things for him down the road.

[playa manhattan]

This. His eyes were on the deadline, especially during the shutdown.

[CatoTheElder]

Hope'n'Change?
The Audacity of Hope?

Evidently Team Obama believed their own bullshit.

Either that, or ObamaCare was indeed designed to fail, and they thought they could manage to make it fail Forward? into a single-payer system.

[Mad Scientist]

The Obama Administration is still stuck playing defense of the Affordable Care Act as the latest information shows they were informed well in advance about problems with the federal exchange site.

You mean Dear Leader didn't just learn about it in the newspaper?

[Francisco d Anconia]

Can he go one day without being caught in a lie?

[PD Scott]

Christmas is coming. Hope he doesn't promise the kids or Michelle anything too extravagant.

[Rich]

"If you like last year's present, you can keep it."

[Raven Nation]

*Applause*

[Swiss Servator, kirsch anyone?]

*joins applause*

[Agammamon]

Look, stop crying that I went and sold the present I got you last year. I don't see you playing with it anymore so obviously you didn't like it.

[Marshall Gill]

All day long I hear reasons people can't work. My legs hurt, my back hurts, I'm ONLY FOUR.

[Bobarian]

Since it appears he can't go a day without telling at least one, I'd say odds are slim.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The House Oversight committee will investigate allegations that unemployment reports were falsified in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election.

Scandacalypse? Scandalgeddon? Are we going to discover the Obama Administration was actually to blame for Katrina?

[paranoid android]

When people (most prominently James Taranto of the WSJ) started saying that the IRS targeting scandal proved that Obama's reelection was "tainted" and/or stolen, I was dismissive, because I couldn't see how the tax treatment of a couple political groups could end up moving the thousands of votes it would have taken to change the outcome. But if you add that to the "if you like your plan" deceptions and now this stuff with the census, maybe "stolen election" doesn't look like too bold of a claim (not that I wanted Romney to win or anything).

[CatoTheElder]

Phony scandal. Phony scandal! PHONY SCANDAL!
la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA.
I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

[Rrabbit]

The House Oversight committee will investigate allegations that unemployment reports were falsified in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election.

The unemployment rate has been fake for a long time. The underlying data has been faked by individual Census employees who simple wanted to meet their goals of how many households to interview. The rate itself has been officially faked by excluding larger and larger groups of unemployed and underemployed people.

The question thus is whether in the months before the 2012 election, the unemployment report was falsified even more than it normally is falsified.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/1.....ncart_2box

This is a bit odd, but an Auburn student was apparently harassed by her fellows, and now wants the SGA to make Jordan-Hare Stadium a "hate-free zone."

[RBS]

liberal, secular, Jew queer

Jew queer?

[Caleb Turberville]

If that's what she calls herself, can you imagine what the offending comments were like?

[AlmightyJB]

Maybe she is trying to stop herself from hatin' on herself with a hate free zone? But would that work for Clayton Bigsby?

[Francisco d Anconia]

You know, WMD.

You haven't heard of jew queer weapons?

[Swiss Servator, kirsch anyone?]

*narrows gaze*

[AlmightyJB]

"described herself as "liberal, secular, Jew queer"

was that on her T-Shirt? I'm not sure how else the person ascertained that she was a "'F------ JEW'"

Also, Auburn you can stop your hatin' AFTER you beat Alabama.

[Brett L]

Maybe she looks Druish.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Just what we need, a Druish princess queen.

(I know, not quite right, but the best I could come up with.)

[playa manhattan]

And she was there with her "boyfriend's family". Does not compute.

[Apatheist ?_??]

As I understand it the term queer does not mean gay/lesbian and is more encompassing. Probably means she's bi or something.

[playa manhattan]

Hmmm, that's not what it used to mean (and I'm not that old).

[pmains]

The term was deemed un-PC. Then it was brought back with a new meaning.

[Agammamon]

When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queer

Queer is an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary.

[Corning]

Queer can still be used for weird right?

[seguin]

So...to get a doctorate in Bullshit Studies, is all you have to do is find a way to redefine a word?

[Apatheist ?_??]

Might be because she had an interview published in USA Today about how she was going down to Alabama to tame those backwards southerners.

"I do think sometimes that if I were to disclose my politics or my sexual orientation, I wonder how that would change," she said. "I identify as a queer and a feminist, and in New York that was kind of a given, but here I am a little bit self-conscious of being tokenized as being another Tegan and Sara, Emily Dickinson, Ani DiFranco type."

Why the fuck was this published?

[RBS]

She's worried about being stereotyped and her response is to do stereotypical things?

[wareagle]

because the folks writing the article agree with her and see nothing wrong or unusual about it.

[Apatheist ?_??]

But how is it at all newsworthy that a progressive is attending a southern school? I've know several and I don't particularly know that many. Hell I knew a gay frat bro who went to Alabama.

[Libertymike]

Roll...over, Tide.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I identify as a queer and a feminist, and in New York that was kind of a given

Fuckin' LOL.

Maybe she's distantly related to Anne "I look like my gay brother" Hathaway.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Another LOL moment:

"I was always skeptical of any idea because really smart people in the North just unanimously disregard it. And I was curious, always thinking, 'Is it really like that?'"

Think she'll make the leap of understanding that supposed brains don't eliminate provinicialism?

[GILMORE]

That shit is fucking retarded.

The very premise of it is, "Southerners are - as we all know - hopelessly backward, and a liberal jew queer *choosing* to live among them is therefore a bold exercise in her moral and intellectual superiority and her ability to tolerate their primitive views"

The fact USA Today did a story on it is effectively an implicit support of that view. Why the hell else is it *newsworthy*? Do they also run a companion piece about the girl from Alabama who move to NYC and manages to navigate the "complexities" of urban life? Like - derp = not every southerner goes all fucking John Rocker in the city! NEWSFLASH@@!@

Just appallingly fucking dumb.

and yeah, I'm a new Yorker who went to school in Tennessee. big freaking whoop. Although for the record, I was myself once derided as a "Typical jew-lawyer type". We irish catholics have that effect on people. We argue until you want to die.

[Agammamon]

its the nose man, gotta be the nose.

[playa manhattan]

She doesn't look that "Jewish" to me:
http://www.usatodayeducate.com.....erzin2.jpg

[AlmightyJB]

Where's her breast?

[Agammamon]

Well, there couldn't *possibly* any other way of telling. I mean its not like she would have gone around campus earlier and been making a public spectacle of her jewish queerness, now would she?

[Corning]

Could it simply be that someone said "fuck you" and the thick Alabama accent threw her off?

[wareagle]

I am embarrassed.

[wareagle]

okay, embarrassed at SGA over-reaction after reading the article. The "lesbian" who went to the game with her boyfriend, the Jew who is secular. Sorry, but this is concern trolling by someone from CA who did undergrad in NY and now wants to show the world how backward the South remains.

[Caleb Turberville]

She probably won't stop concern-trolling until the entire South has been designated a "hate-free zone."

[RBS]

She better wait until after football season then.

[Brett L]

Yes. JAP's bf and family pay more attention to football than her, racism accusation ensues is equally likely in my experience.

[Raven Nation]

Well the lesbian/boyfriend thing is weird. But a lot of Jewish people identify as being ethnically/culturally Jewish but atheistic when it comes to religion.

AND, I am not saying I agree with her on her claim; just sayin'

[Corning]

I identify with Aeron the Celtic god of slaughter...but I am atheistic when it comes to religion.

[AlmightyJB]

Like these good ol' boys?

[Caleb Turberville]

"ANTI-SEMITE!"

[RBS]

According to the comments she also runs an Occupy Auburn group. I know, yall are shocked.

[playa manhattan]

"Earlier versions of the resolution called for more severe measures, including the reading of a statement before each football game reminding fans of the school's harassment policy."

If I were in the stadium and had a few beers in me (why wouldn't I?), the warning would make me want to yell offensive things even more. It's almost like a reminder to misbehave.

[Caleb Turberville]

Can I just point out the obvious? How are the Alabama fans going to be treated come November 30th? Are we going to have to be forced to hear hate speech and intolerance for the crime of going to another university?

[Killazontherun]

Perhaps if you people would take this twit and the culture that she represents seriously, accepted both as superior to your selves and your own tribal ways while affirming her bumpin' uglies privileges with a shiny statue of approval, you wont have to hear all the talk about how hateful you are.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

"We didn't even make it to the end of the first half when a nearby woman referred to me as 'F------ JEW' and we left," she wrote.

"I got a taste of what it feels like to be reminded that because of how I look I DON'T BELONG."

This has the strong stench of shitthatdidnthappen.txt from a leftist drama queen trying to start drama for her own self-aggrandizement.

[Mad Scientist]

Holy shit, a chick who stirs up drama where there is none?! A lefty chick who invents drams with herself as the central character!? Now I've heard of everything.

[Rich]

"I urinated in a parking lot ? what does that have to do with anything?"

Hillary said it before, and better!

[Mike M.]

The House Oversight committee will investigate allegations that unemployment reports were falsified in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election.

Clearly another one of those phony scandals, because we know this administration would never lie about something.

[Mad Scientist]

He only hits us because he loves us so much.

[Killazontherun]

Yeah, but you hit back because you're a racist.

[Mad Scientist]

Everyone who likes their current plan is a racist.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Damnit Ukraine, you're fucking it up for the rest of us. Sneak in a goddamn last minute away goal.

[Andrew S.]

I used up all my World Cup qualifying anger when Team USA made that comeback against Panama in the last game. Never been so angry for my rooting interest to have won.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I felt that a bit but really Mexico qualifying is food for soccer here. Mexicans and Mexican-Americans pump a lot of money into the sport. Hell I believe the spanish language television rights deal was bigger than the english language one.

Well the bright side is that we can hopefully watch France crash and burn in the group stage again. That's always fun.

[Brett L]

Fuck Mexico. If its good for them to qualify, let them score enough points to qualify.

[Apatheist ?_??]

They did...

[Brett L]

Eh. Eventually. But there were people saying that certain teams should score more or less to let them in. Which is shit.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Yeah that's bullshit but it would be just as much bullshit to cheer for the US to lose to Panama as Andrew said.

[Marshall Gill]

When you say soccer, do you mean that "sport" that little girls play?

[Apatheist ?_??]

Feel free to not participate in the conversation if the sport isn't of any interest to you.

[General Butt Naked]

The Ukraine? You know what the Ukraine is, it's a sitting duck. A road apple, Apatheist. The Ukraine is weak. It's feeble.

[Raven Nation]

Yeah. I went 0-3 on my preferences today (didn't care about Greece/Romania).

[Apatheist ?_??]

Same but I didn't expect Sweden or Iceland to pull it off.

[Raven Nation]

Well, Iceland was the feel good, hope for a miracle story. I thought Sweden had a shot. And, I'm pretty confident I will be 0-4 after tonight.

[Fist of Etiquette]

George Zimmerman's latest charges include allegations he pointed a shotgun at his girlfriend.

Bucking for a reality series on History Channel or TLC.

[RBS]

Bravo or E.

[AlmightyJB]

"One presumes she is now his ex-girlfriend."

Would not be surprised if she bailed him out.

[Brett L]

Sigh. I had a Floridaman acquaintance who got run over by his gf (breaking his leg) during a fight that started as he was going to blow in the jail breathalyzer to satisfy his probation. He tried to say it was an accident until the deputy who saw it all told him to either write it down as it happened or catch a felony charge for swearing a false statement.

He bailed her out after they got her on agg-assault.

[playa manhattan]

Never stand in front of a car during an argument. Come on, Floridaman!

[db]

Now that's Florida Man in action.

[waffles]

Bitcoin's price has gone on an exciting adventure over the past 24 hours, even reaching a high of $900 before coming back down.

The Senate hearings are surprisingly neutral and open-minded. Jerry Moran even asked reddit for advice going in. Kirkland mumbled something about terrorism. I guess caution is the best that can be hoped for these people only exist to regulate things. Regulation and bitcoin just seem like oil and water to me. I guess that rub is why these hearings are happening in the first place.

[Rich]

The Senate hearings are surprisingly neutral and open-minded.

Probably because the senators know even less about this stuff than usual.

[waffles]

I forgot. Anonymity. This Mercedes Kelley Turnstall is insisting that anonymity must disappear for digital currencies to develop. This just smacks of that talk of "internet driver licenses" that gives some regulators a woodie. Unaceptable.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Husband of former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris commits suicide

Sarasota Police are investigating the apparent suicide of Anders Ebbeson, husband of former congresswoman and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris.

Police were called to the couple's house in the 1400 block of Sarasota's Bay Point Drive about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Police and Pastor William Hild of downtown Sarasota's First Baptist Church confirmed that Ebbeson, a 68-year-old Swedish businessman, had taken his own life and asked the community to respect the family's privacy.

"On behalf of the family, Katherine's husband took his own life," Hild said outside the home on Bay Point Drive on Tuesday morning. "They are asking for privacy, prayer, thoughts and love from the community."

"Anders has been suffering health conditions that he'd been attempting to deal with, which had been increasingly part of his life," Hild said.

Police Chief Bernadette DiPino said that Harris wanted the community to know that her husband was "no longer suffering."

I wonder if it was assisted.

[Jerry on the boat]

Suffering from Harris?

[db]

All suicide should be unassisted. It's the most important decision in a person's life.

[Pope Jimbo]

What if you give them a slow acting poison and they manage to stagger more than a couple steps before biting it? Do you still get the assist?

[Restoras]

I LOL'd

[mauricegirodias]

+1 Big Fun

[General Butt Naked]

Hanging chad Anders?

[Marshall Gill]

Too soon!

[SugarFree]

Did he finally see her without make-up? I bet she looks like a Cabbage Patch doll that lost a fight with a blowtorch under all that.

[Being Waterboarded]

Sen. Paul, opponent of Detroit bailout, to unveil plan to fix city

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/art.....z2l879jg00

So, any chance the locals laud him as a hero? I didn't think so either.

[Bobarian]

Does it involve cleansing fire?

[Brett L]

Chernobyl fungus uses melanin to metabolize radiation

Investigating further, the researchers measured the electron spin resonance signal after melanin was exposed to ionizing radiation and found that radiation interacts with melanin to alter its electron structure.

[Pro Libertate]

Racist fungus?

[Brett L]

Melanin actually provides extra energy AND abates solar radiation affects. What a bitchin molecule.

[Rich]

Wow! I'm gonna put some in my coffee tomorrow!

[playa manhattan]

I have a lot of money tied up in Melanin related investments. If a certain investment pays off, I'm going to buy an island.

[db]

High Energy photosynthesis FTW.

[Cytotoxic]

No. Nigger fungus.

[AlmightyJB]

The CIA is behind that

[playa manhattan]

Africanizen killer bees fungus

[playa manhattan]

What rock stars might have looked like if they had not died before their time

Slideshow warning

[trshmnstr]

Those eyes! I don't think any of those pictures had normal looking eyes.

[General Butt Naked]

That is not jimi hendrix.

That's some homeless dude the artist passes on the way to work every morning.

[Ice Nine]

Meh. I think it would have been more interesting to see what Cobain might have looked like if he'd used a 12 gauge instead of a 20.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

The Worst Family Feud Response Ever?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Name Something You Put in Your Mouth But Don't Swallow

Although I believe that woman was robbed.

[Brett L]

If she doesn't swallow, she deserves to be robbed.

[AlmightyJB]

Her boobs will do just nicely

[playa manhattan]

Hey hey hey, she's a pastor's wife!

[Anonymous Coward]

My di..a piece of gum?

[B.P.]

For the last couple of days, there has been a tent set up on the sidewalk across the street from my office with a sign reading, "free government cell phone." There are usually a dozen or so people in line at the tent. I have walked by it three times, and each time a person in line has been.... talking on a cell phone.

[Pro Libertate]

Obamaphone?

[B.P.]

It looks like it's run by some third-string cell phone provider. Their business model is probably signing up low-income people and then getting reimbursed from a universal service fund.

[Pro Libertate]

Ah, the USF. Still going strong, despite the fact that homeless people have cellphones.

I wonder what actual phone penetration is now, landlines, cellphones, prepaid phones, etc.?

[Rich]

"It's for a friend who totally loves the President."

[paranoid android]

Maybe it's a protest?

Government cell phone was framed!

[PD Scott]

Gissy is no sissy: goes 177 mph on rocket powered bicycle.

http://www.gizmag.com/francois-gissy-.....cle/29829/

On May 19 of this year, Francois Gissy claimed a new land speed world record by reaching 263 km/h (163 mph) on a rocket-powered bicycle. Now the flying Frenchman has gone even faster, hitting a peak speed of 285 km/h (177 mph) in just 6.7 seconds, making it the fastest anyone has ever ridden a bicycle.

The 285 km/h run took place at Interlaken, Switzerland, on October 7 on just 790 m (2,590 ft) worth of usable track. The acceleration phase of the Hublot-sponsored run took 350 m (1,148 ft), with the remainder of the track required for braking.

[Citizen Nothing]

He must have been pedaling like crazy to keep up.

[playa manhattan]

Yeah, I object to the term "bicycle".

[Zeb]

Did you look at the picture? I'd call that a bicycle. Two wheels and not a very heavy or unusual frame. Nothing about a bicycle requires it to be pedal powered.

[Agammamon]

Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it a 'motorcycle'?

[kinnath]

no motor. so no motorcycle.

Rocket-propelled bicycle is appropriate.

[Agammamon]

Uhm - I'd say a rocket was a motor.

[Francisco d Anconia]

motor

1. A machine, esp. one powered by electricity or internal combustion, that supplies motive power for a vehicle or for some other device with moving parts

I'm pretty sure a rocket qualifies.

[playa manhattan]

Except the Vehicle Code.

[Sevo]

"The House Oversight committee will investigate allegations that unemployment reports were falsified in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election."

As far as we know, he didn't directly offer currency for votes, but it's looking like he did everything else he could think of.

[The Other Kevin]

I'm sure he had absolutely no knowledge of that, either.

[KWebb]

Does some way to short Bitcoins exist? That kind of volatility can't be good for a currency.

[Cytotoxic]

It's gone through worse before and it came out stronger.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

DNA analysis suggests the forebearers of humanity breeded with Neanderthals, Denisovans, and a mysterious archaic population

New genome sequences from two extinct human relatives suggest that these 'archaic' groups bred with humans and with each other more extensively than was previously known.

he ancient genomes, one from a Neanderthal and one from a different archaic human group, the Denisovans, were presented on 18 November at a meeting at the Royal Society in London. They suggest that interbreeding went on between the members of several ancient human-like groups living in Europe and Asia more than 30,000 years ago, including an as-yet unknown human ancestor from Asia.

"What it begins to suggest is that we're looking at a 'Lord of the Rings'-type world ? that there were many hominid populations," says Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London who was at the meeting but was not involved in the work.

I ain't no damned Denisovan! Those people are lazy and suck up welfare!

[db]

"I'm a Cro-magnon man, my father was a Cro-magnon man, and my father's father was a Cro-magnon man! You are not dating a Neanderthal!"

[PD Scott]

an as-yet unknown human ancestor from Asia.

Yeah, yeah, we all know it was Warty.

[Corning]

Off all the time traveling rapists it would be Warty who chose the later part of the Pleistocene.

[paranoid android]

"What it begins to suggest is that we're looking at a 'Lord of the Rings'-type world ? that there were many hominid populations," says Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London who was at the meeting but was not involved in the work.

The lack of sexy elves being conclusive proof that there is no God.

[PD Scott]

They went into the west and diminished when the Native Americans killed them all?

[Apatheist ?_??]

No that was the Jews dude, read your golden plates.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Speciesist!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Look, I'm not saying I wouldn't live next to a Neanderthal, I just wouldn't want one of those people marrying my daughter.

Keep your penis in your genus, that's my motto.

[Generic Stranger]

Neanderthals were in our genus, genius.

[Troy muy grande boner]

MArgaret attwood's maddadder should get the huge this year.

That is all.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Damn, baby showers in Canada are a very humorless affair

[Cytotoxic]

Canada is a humorless affair. Hence the tragic inevitability of Rob Ford.

[PD Scott]

"I TOLD you not to invite Debbie Downer."

[Rich]

Police ... say they believe the son of a state senator stabbed his father before shooting himself to death.

Good thing he didn't try it the other way around, I suppose.

[playa manhattan]

"The Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper reported that Gus Deeds underwent a mental-health evaluation at a hospital on Monday, but was released due to a lack of psychiatric beds in the area."

I wonder what the media angle will be?

[Almanian!]

MARKET FAYLYOOR!

[Agammamon]

Don't laugh - you're next!

[PD Scott]

Girl draws self-portraits before and during LSD trip.

[playa manhattan]

Which one are you most attracted to?

[Brett L]

Phoenix

[GILMORE]

I vote Albuquerque

[Killazontherun]

I did that and drew some pictures of my cat. My abilities decreased profoundly. Her results are a tad, uhm, dramatic.

[Corning]

So she wasted an LSD trip looking at herself in a mirror....

/facepalm

[PD Scott]

Remember how we're always being told how important state licensure is for, well, everything? Choosing a licensed contractor does not always protect you.

"Of 1,048 complaints over five years, only four cases ended with a builder having his license revoked. And of those cases, none of the revocations were because of shoddy work.
...
Frustrated longtime board member Bob Barnard complained that contractor licensing has to share staff with 37 other boards. That means a hair salon, a funeral home and a contractor can each get the same investigator."

[PD Scott]

I bet if they reassigned people from the GA equivalent of the DEA they could get a lot more investigating done. OTOH, I'd hate to see a SWAT raid on a hair salon...

[Agammamon]

I bet not a single one was revoked because of shoddy work - I imagine that every single revocation was due to some problem with the licensing paperwork.

Didn't fill out their 27B/6 forms correctly.

[Corning]

Being licensed is about being insured and bonded.

They may not have lost their license but they payed for their mistakes which is the whole point.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Michelle Rhee is killing Brown v. Board of Education

We're Sliding Backwards, Towards "Separate and Unequal"

Chief Justice Earl Warren said that education "is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." Thurgood Marshall insisted on "the right of every American to an equal start in life."

But then we got derailed. We've become a nation of inequality, worse than ever before, worse than during the racist "separate but equal" policy of Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896. The Civil Rights Project at UCLA shows that "segregated schools are systematically linked to unequal educational opportunities." The Economic Policy Institute tells us that "African American students are more isolated than they were 40 years ago."

The privatizers clamor for vouchers and charters to improve education, but such methods generally don't serve those who need it most. According to a Center on Education Policy report, private schools serve 12 percent of the nation's elementary and secondary students, but only one percent of disabled students. Forty-three percent of public school students are from minority families, compared to 24% of private school students.

Meanwhile, as teachers continue to get blamed, the Census Bureau tells us that an incredible 38 percent of black children live in poverty.

Is there any logic in that passage?

[Pro Libertate]

Logic is a little tweeting bird chirping in a meadow. Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers which smell bad. Are you sure your circuits are registering correctly? Your ears are green.

[0x90]

Wasn't that an Edie Brickell song?

[Cytotoxic]

No.

Privatizers believe that any form of working together as a community is anti-American.

This is what Salontards actually believe.

George Lakoff summarizes: "The Public provides freedom?Individualism begins after the roads are built, after individualists have had an education, after medical research has cured their diseases?

YOU NEED US. WITHOUT US YOU'RE NOTHING.

In Salonworld, Michelle Rhee is a Kochtopus ShockTrooper. This is why we're going to win: our enemies are just too disconnected from reality to work it.

[Pro Libertate]

Where the fuck do people come up with this shit?

Look, idiots, libertarians are all about cooperation, not coercion. Jesus, it's in our advertising and everything. So we love people working together, voluntarily, to do things. We even have an economic system that reflects this love of cooperation.

[Mad Scientist]

The only kind of cooperation progressives recognize is centrally-controlled coercion.

[Cytotoxic]

They are simpletons pretending to be sophisticates. They also really really like authority. There is no difference to them between cooperation and coercion. The former implies the latter. As reality squeezes harder, they get more desperate. They can't win.

[Pro Libertate]

It's harder to get people to cooperate. You either have to talk them into it or pay for their help. It's easier to gang up on them and make them do what you want.

[Cytotoxic]

The key is making coercion hard. BTC and mobility and stuff makes that easier and easier.

[Pro Libertate]

And drones.

[Killazontherun]

We built all those autobahns, now you libertarians wanna zoom around on them, and have your fun.

[paranoid android]

Anytime someone cites George Lakoff, that should be a huge red flag. For all appearances, this is a man who has fashioned his entire career and persona after the character of O'Brien from 1984.

He's highly respected in progressive circles, naturally, for his work with language--specifically, his advocacy for socially engineering language to turn people into left-wing robots. You might assume I must be being hyperbolic, but before accusing me of such, you should probably look at this:

The Little Blue Book: The Essential Guide to Thinking and Talking Democratic

[pmains]

Wow. I thought you were making that title up.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

He's highly respected in progressive circles, naturally, for his work with language--specifically, his advocacy for socially engineering language to turn people into left-wing robots.

IOW, dissembling and mangling language for the cause. No wonder the left loves him so much.

[paranoid android]

One of his tips, or dictates, or whatever you want to call them--and I must stress that I am absolutely serious, and so is he--is to never refer to pregnant women as "mothers" or even "expecting mothers" because use of "mother" implies that they have a child, and so every time you use the word you're lending support to pro-lifers in their war on women.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

In a "free" society, a public system for youth-indoctrination is a necessity.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Looks like Frank Knarf (in the comments) has a good idea, stop people from moving!

The current crop of reformers may not have any useful ideas, but blaming them for the public school mess is obscuring the real causes. Unless you can stop people from moving out of poorly performing districts and into wealthier areas, these disparities will never be overcome. More money might help a little, better educated and prepared teachers as well. But these are marginal factors.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

"Show me your papers! Where are your papers?"

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, people should also be required by law to stay in the same profession. Children should work only in the professions of their parents. Prices should be fixed.

I call this the Diocletian Plan. If it's good enough for the Roman Empire, which lasted well over a thousand years, it's good enough for us.

[Pi Guy]

Educational Directive 10-289

[Anonymous Coward]

Meanwhile, as teachers continue to get blamed, the Census Bureau tells us that an incredible 38 percent of black children live in poverty.

This might be the greatest non-sequitur of 2013.

[Agammamon]

"Is there any logic in that passage?"

Yes. If equality is your most important premise then it logically follows that its good if *everyone* is poor and miserable as long as we're all *equally* poor and miserable.

Its the logic that hates 'a rising tide raises all boats' because some boats are floating higher than others - that it be better that there is no increase in prosperity if its not shared exactly equally among everyone.

[Killazontherun]

I think I see the problem. Let me double check to make sure. Yup. You have a full blown case of linking to a Salon piece.

[OldMexican]

Chief Justice Earl Warren said that education "is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms." Thurgood Marshall insisted on "the right of every American to an equal start in life."

But then we got derailed.

We found out that some kids are stupid, after all.

We've become a nation of inequality

Sounds bad. I knew that at one point, this nation was known as the Soviet Union.

[PD Scott]

Third grader suspended after crushing, sniffing Smarties candies.

Nine-year-old Demitri Santiago was recently suspended from Porterdale Elementary School in Newton County. His mother, Chelsi Lewis, said she received a phone call saying her son had been seen sniffing the candy powder. Monday afternoon, Lewis said her son came home with a note stating he had been suspended for two days. The reason listed was possession of banned objects. According to the referral, Demitri was caught by a teacher "sniffing a powdery substance."

[Rich]

It's an ongoing trend that has parents and teachers baffled: kids crushing Smarties candies into powder and sniffing it.

Kids should stick to eating paste and smelling mimeograph solvent, the way God intended.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

And butt-chugging.

[db]

Having snorted crushed Smarties powder once, let me tell you IT FUCKING HURTS and is absolutely not worth winning a bet over.

[Jordan]

Yeah, snorting Smarties is its own punishment.

[jesse.in.mb]

Most of the kids in my class snorted Pixy Sticks.

We all did it at the same time, and we only did it once. Rainbow sneezes and neon mucous were hilarious after effects though.

[Agammamon]

I did NutraSweet once.

[Agammamon]

The sweetener, not the poster.

[Andrew S.]

Riiiiiiight.

::walks away slowly::

[Rich]

How was he, uh, *it*?

[SugarFree]

Rowr.

[Brett L]

WTF?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Republican Congressman was arrested last month in DC for possession of cocaine

Rep. Trey Radel, a freshman Republican from Florida, was arrested on Oct. 29 for possession of cocaine in the District of Columbia, according to D.C. Superior Court documents.
Radel, 37, was charged with misdemeanor possession of cocaine in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.

Radel faces a maximum of 180 days in jail, as well as a possible fine up to $1,000.

The U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Columbia declined to comment on Radel's arrest or criminal cases.
The Florida Republican is a former journalist, TV anchor and radio talk-show host. He never held elective office before winning his House seat last November.
Radel's office did not respond to a request for comment at press time.

I didn't knowing possessing cocaine was just a misdemeanor. Is that based on quantity?

[PD Scott]

Shoulda stuck to Smarties. That only gets you a suspension.

[Agammamon]

WTF is wrong with this guy?

Everyone knows it should be your interns carrying this shit around - they're *expendable*.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sentencing disparities, or something.

Florida; TV guy; Congressional aspirations...I wouldn't be surprised if he had a few dead hookers in a meat locker somewhere near Boca Raton.

[Bobarian]

Florida Man's secret identity?

[Lord Humungus]

I remember in 2008 telling my mother, who is a stalwart Democrat, that a Chicago pol is going to be one dirty SOB. Turns out my prediction - based, among many, on the IRS and now the jobs reporting - was right. Color me shocked.

[Pro Libertate]

Of course he is. I lived there for a few years, and that's exactly what I said about Obama when he first hit the scene--better avoid, because he's a Chicago politician. Said that knowing absolutely nothing about him at the time.

[db]

You knew he was black, therefore RACIST.

[Libertymike]

Being an affirmative action beneficiary requires certain moral infirmities, among these are included racism.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Guess who:

It's been frustrating watching people who really ought to know better give credence to the disinformation campaign on the right has been pushing about the cancellations of junk insurance under Obamacare and forcing customers to get real insurance instead.

In a sense, it's not surprising that the idiotic Ayn Rand worship would eventually lead to a situation where conservatives are actively and aggressively positing that it's a basic human right to "get" to be ripped off by insurance companies if you "want" to, though of course the reality is most of the people throwing a fit over the loss of their junk insurance have no idea that they weren't getting real coverage for the money they pay every month. Can you really want something if you don't know what it is?

Well, as tempting as it would be to get into the weeds debating what "want" means if what you "want" is not what you think it is, that kind of diversion is exactly the sort of thing that Hayes is decrying here. The larger story here is that all this focus on largely anecdotal evidence of rate hikes?evidence that is inevitably dismantled when subject to the tiniest amount of scrutiny?is part of a larger strategy on the right to make sure that as many people as possible have no real access to health care. As Hayes points out, the consistent theme on the right..is that anything that makes it so more people get health care is something to be resisted.

[OldMexican]

Columbo?

[Cytotoxic]

The larger story here is that all this focus on largely anecdotal evidence of rate hikes?evidence that is inevitably dismantled when subject to the tiniest amount of scrutiny

Hm. He's not above straight-up lies. Rick Ungar? OOooh maybe Sadbeard.

[Andrew S.]

That level of economic idiocy has to come from Sadbeard. Nobody else, not even Krugman, can show those levels of ignorance.

[Sidd Finch]

This is way below Sadbeard.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not even Aman-duh?

[Max Power]

Based on the giant run-on sentence in the second paragraph, I gotta go Marcotte.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

We have a winner!

[Max Power]

I can tell because I've got to try extra hard to figure out what she's trying to say. It's like the words just go in my brain and slide right through and then I have to read it again.

[CatoTheElder]

It's not just run-on sentences, though. The first sentence is grammatically incorrect.

The phrase "the disinformation campaign on the right has been pushing" should be "the disinformation campaign that the right has been pushing".

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

A couple of hints: the line about "idiotic Ayn Rand worship" and the fact that I had to break it up into three paragraphs to make it readable.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Conservatives worship Ayn Rand? News to me.

Is it mendacity or ignorance?

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Sheer idiocy. Last month she suggested that boob-jumping tele-evangelists and prosperity preachers were the result of right-wing adherence to Ayn Rand.

(Bo of course proceeded to defend this statement...)

[Francisco d Anconia]

I filter Bo. Couldn't take it anymore.

[Mad Scientist]

Blue Tulpa: He's just sayin'

[OldMexican]

In a sense, it's not surprising that the idiotic Ayn Rand worship would eventually lead to a situation where conservatives are actively and aggressively positing that it's a basic human right to "get" to be ripped off by insurance companies if you "want" to

You don't have the right to find out things by yourself!

As Hayes points out, the consistent theme on the right... is that anything that makes it so more people get health care is something to be resisted.

So, if I understand correctly, you don't have a right to your own mistakes and if you think you do, is because you don't want people to enjoy healthcare.

What prize do I win?

[Fatty Bolger]

The Obamacare time bomb

There is an Obamacare time bomb set to go off just before the 2014 midterm elections ? and President Obama's purported "fix" for the millions of Americans losing their health insurance doesn't defuse it. If anything, it could make the blast worse.

In truth, Democrats are damned if Obama's fix works and damned if it doesn't.

[Killazontherun]

In truth, Democrats are damned if Obama's fix works and damned if it doesn't.

So, they are getting what they deserve, for a change? Off to Hell, I say!

[CatoTheElder]

Since 2009, my theory has been that ObamaCare was addled that it had to have been designed to fail: there was clearly no way for it to work in the real world. Obviously the plan was for it to fail Forward? into single payer.

However, the implementation has been so inept, the website so amateurish, the rollout so unbelievably bad, that the Obamatons would fail to get support for further government intrusion and control of the healthcare industry.

After reading this, I'm not so sure: remember that Nixon implemented wage and price controls via Executive Order.

Obama could easily call this time bomb's effects a "national emergency" and issue his own EO. I wouldn't put it past him, and he'd probably get a lot of support from the economically clueless and economics professors alike.

[Bam!]

The Philanthropic Spectacle
When giving is more about show than results

[PD Scott]

Isn't it usually, especially for the wealthy? Nice fundraising balls, get your picture in the newsletter, etc.

The Widow's Mite isn't a new idea.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Video: San Francisco cops beat man for riding bicycle on sidewalk

The video shows police making arrests at the Valencia Gardens apartments. At one point, amid a crowd of angry onlookers, a plainclothes officer in a dark baseball cap appears to throw punches at a man, and strike him again after he has been taken to the ground by police. The man is soon put in a patrol car with what appears to be a bloody face.

The video captures only the end of the incident. But residents of the complex, including the sister of one of the men arrested, say police had no reason to act with such a heavy hand.

San Francisco police officials on Monday defended the officers' actions.

They said the incident began when plainclothes officers tried to detain 20-year-old D'Paris Williams for riding his bicycle on the sidewalk near his home on the first block of Maxwell Court, near 15th and Guerrero streets. Williams did not comply with orders to stop, police said, and officers confronted him as he tried to flee into his apartment.

"It escalated to a point where he was trying to resist arrest," said Officer Gordon Shyy, a department spokesman. The officers "proned him out on the ground, and he still continued to struggle."

I guess he should be grateful he didn't get a bullet?

[Andrew S.]

And of course, to a cop, it's perfectly logical to try and stop somebody from entering their apartment and beat them for the horrid crime of riding their bicycle on the sidewalk.

[Andrew S.]

Also, WHY IN THE HELL DID I READ THE COMMENTS MY BRAIN IS TRYING TO ESCAPE OUT MY EAR SOMEBODY HELP ME

[Francisco d Anconia]

Oh, the "crime" wasn't riding a bike on the sidewalk. The crime was failure to OBEY.

[The Late P Brooks]

the consistent theme on the right..is that anything that makes it so more people get health care is something to be resisted.

It's truly fascinating to see people blithely spout such egregiously false and malicious nonsense and not get called on it.

[Mad Scientist]

It's piles and piles of pithy, feel-good BS like this that crowds progressives out of reality into their own special echo chamber.

[Sidd Finch]

John Tierney is trolling feminists.

Women are indeed very capable of aggressing against others, especially women they perceive as rivals," said Dr. Vaillancourt, now a psychologist at the University of Ottawa. "The research also shows that suppression of female sexuality is by women, not necessarily by men."

Stigmatizing female promiscuity ? a.k.a. slut-shaming ? has often been blamed on men, who have a Darwinian incentive to discourage their spouses from straying. But they also have a Darwinian incentive to encourage other women to be promiscuous. Dr. Vaillancourt said the experiment and other research suggest the stigma is enforced mainly by women.

"Sex is coveted by men," she said. "Accordingly, women limit access as a way of maintaining advantage in the negotiation of this resource. Women who make sex too readily available compromise the power-holding position of the group, which is why many women are particularly intolerant of women who are, or seem to be, promiscuous."

[Killazontherun]

That is exactly why you never ask a woman out, or show interest, when she is in a pack of other women. When you see a woman in public who is out with guys of whom she clearly has no romantic relationship, that is a superior specimen whom you should beat a path to get to know. You're chances are much better.

[lap83]

That argument does make some sense. But if that was the whole story wouldnt Muslim countries look a lot different. Also, doesnt the whole "men dont mind sluts" thing change when the woman in question is a man's daughter or wife? I would say it's more accurate to say that men find sluttiness more acceptable in less conservative societies where they are less likely to be husbands or fathers

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Two week ago, the mask was off. A week ago, the Emperor stripped down to his skivvies and demanded that the peasants compliment his new threads. Today...

It's been frustrating watching people who really ought to know better give credence to the disinformation campaign on the right has been pushing about the cancellations of junk insurance under Obamacare and forcing customers to get real insurance instead. In a sense, it's not surprising that the idiotic Ayn Rand worship would eventually lead to a situation where conservatives are actively and aggressively positing that it's a basic human right to "get" to be ripped off by insurance companies if you "want" to, though of course the reality is most of the people throwing a fit over the loss of their junk insurance have no idea that they weren't getting real coverage for the money they pay every month. Can you really want something if you don't know what it is?

You know what's been frustrating to watch? People who know nothing about health insurance hectoring others about "junk" plans whose existence and contents they are ignorant of, getting their 2 Minutes' Hate on against fundamentally immoral, unaccountable, and untrustworthy insurance companies... all the while not realizing that the plan they're stumping for forces all of us to do business with these entities, whether we want to or not.

[Anonymous Coward]

Women who make sex too readily available compromise the power-holding position of the group, which is why many women are particularly intolerant of women who are, or seem to be, promiscuous.

Don't fuck with the pussy cartel.

[GILMORE]

If Obama had simply invested more in the pussy infrastructure of this nation than he did in his fucking gay ass Obamacare, then this country would be no more fucked up than say, Mexico

[MJGreen]

Has anyone posted this yet? I Punk'd Scott Walker.

The long and short of it is that everything this guy said in his prank call to Walker was tongue-in-cheek, while everything Walker said was the unadulterated truth. It's merely "decent spin" for Walker to explain that, when saying they "considered" posing troublemakers as protestors, he was trying to appease who he thought was Koch.

The shorter of it is that this guy masturbates for two pages.

[Eduard van Haalen]

The 4 Worst Recent Police Fails in America

http://www.cracked.com/quick-f.....rc=fanpage

[Dave Krueger]

The House Oversight committee will investigate allegations that unemployment reports were falsified in the months leading up to the 2012 presidential election.

The government, not being completely truthful? I'm stunned. But, upon reflection, I hope they also find the motherfucker that's been jiggering the consumer price index.

[Dave Krueger]

George Zimmerman's latest charges include allegations he pointed a shotgun at his girlfriend. One presumes she is now his ex-girlfriend.

Maybe someone needs to tell George that guns are the answer to all problems only if you happen to be the government.

[ibcbet]

There was some suggestion about data being transmitted through sound devices. Nice share

[ibcbet]

It only stopped when he...pulled the microphone and speakers.