A.M. Links: John Boehner Signs Up For Obamacare, All US Troops Could Leave Afghanistan Next Year After All, Bitcoin Black Friday a Thing

• 

  Speaker's Office

  Speaker John Boehner signed up for Obamacare; he'll see his monthly premium double even with a federal contribution. A special election for a vacant House seat in Florida could provide an example of how voters will react to Obamacare.

• All US troops could be leaving Afghanistan next year after all, as the Afghan president is declining to sign a security agreement that would keep some of them there after the planned combat troop withdrawal in 2014.
• A group of bipartisan senators is drafting legislation on new sanctions against Iran, just in case.
• An actress from Texas accused of sending ricin to President Obama and other public figures in an attempt to frame her husband will take a plea deal from prosecutors.
• The commander of the Free Syrian Army says the rebel group will not join January peace talks in Geneva. He wants weapons for his fighters instead.
• Anti-government protesters in Bangkok have seized portions of several state buildings in month-long demonstrations against Thailand's prime minister.
• A UN deputy secretary general warned that the Central African Republic is descending into "complete chaos." France will send 1,000 troops for a planned UN mission in the country.
• Bitcoin Black Friday is a thing this year.

Follow Reason and Reason 24/7 on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.  You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here. 

Have a news tip? Send it to us!

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Speaker John Boehner signed up for Obamacare…

But orange is a pre-existing condition.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

FOE’s sreak is entering DiMaggio territory now.

[Atanarjuat]

I think of him as the Ken Jennings of Hit ‘n’ Run commenting.

[Ted S.]

I agree. His sreak really is impressive.

[Rasilio]

Wait, why are we talking about his underwear?

[itsnotmeitsyou]

One day it will be revealed that Fist was guilty of Comment Doping and there will be an asterisk next to his record.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It would be funny if he’s doing this while in the office at work and blows off morning meetings in the board room to maintain the streak.

‘Be there in a minute!’

20 minutes later.

‘FOE, we need to talk. This obsession – nay – addictions of yours…”

[Fist of Etiquette]

My company specializes in subliminal advertising. For instance, you will have no idea why you needed to stop at the Sunkist display at the supermarket on the way home today. But you will.

[mad libertarian guy]

For instance, you will have no idea why you needed to stop at the Sunkist display at the supermarket on the way home today. But you will.

If it isn’t to buy every bottle with the specific intention of publicly dumping it all in the sewer, I’ll be goddamned disappointed.

NEHI for life, yo!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Seriously, that was FUNNY! You’re crazy, know that?

/chomps on orange.

[CE]

Nah, he’s entering the comments on his iPad during the board meetings.

[Doctor Whom]

Boehner’s premiums for his new plan under the Affordable Care Act will nearly double from his current monthly payments, even with the federal contribution.

My Obot Facebook friends are presenting that as a success of Obamacare. It’s impossible to satirize those people.

[The Other Kevin]

Well, HE’S willing to make a sacrifice and pay higher premiums. What’s the matter with the rest of you people?

[Ted S.]

Government sector-employees should see their benefits cut. At least when the current contracts end.

[Zeb]

And they shouldn’t mind. We’re told that the benefits shouldn’t be counted when comparing public and private sector pay, so it can’t be that important to them.

[fish]

It’s impossible to satirize those people.

No it’s not…..

[Fist of Etiquette]

France will send 1,000 troops for a planned UN mission in the country.

That doesn’t seem like a cost effective distraction from disastrous socialist domestic policies.

[Rasilio]

I’m just wondering if they are bringing their white flags with them or if they’ll need to improvise them once they get there?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Harry, Barack and Yucca Mt.
They packed the appeals court that just called out their lawlessness.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 created a timetable to build an underground repository for radioactive waste, and in 1987 Congress made Yucca the site. Yet Mr. Reid has blocked all progress.

He installed aide Gregory Jaczko on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2005, and President Obama made him chairman in 2009. A year later Mr. Jaczko shut down the Yucca project. Mr. Jaczko so abused his authority that in August a separate D.C. Circuit panel slammed the NRC for “flouting the law” and ordered the agency to restart work on Yucca licensing.

Meanwhile, the Administration has continued to soak the nuclear industry for fees to build the site it won’t allow to be built. The 1982 Act requires operators to pay 0.1 cents on every electric kilowatt hour generated by nuclear power. This money, about $750 million a year, is supposed to go to a fund to finance Yucca. Yet Mr. Reid has also blocked Congress from spending any money for Yucca, so the nuclear fees go to Treasury to spend in return for IOUs.

Is there any doubt that Jaczko was installed only as a political pawn? This is the M.O. of the Obama administration/Democrat controlled senate. I’m happy a court has finally done something about this lawlessness but it took them far too long to act.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Blocking Yucca is Harry’s top priority and his political survival depends on it. This means he needs Mr. Obama to help him control the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and back him on spending for Yucca. But that in turn gives Mr. Obama enormous political leverage on Mr. Reid to carry the President’s water.

It’s not too much to say that the Senate and its agenda is essentially hostage to Yucca Mt. And because the D.C. Circuit keeps interfering with Harry’s obsession, Mr. Reid is now helping Mr. Obama pack the court with liberals by blowing up the Senate filibuster.

Regulators are only here to protect public safety, not an arm of the politician used to extort whatever they want from the industry being regulated.

/sarc

[WTF]

The proglodytes are convinced Reid and Obama are only doing what they must to save Gaia.

[MJGreen]

I can’t recall: isn’t Reid retiring? If so, why would he be worried about “political survivial”?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I have to ask. Is this how American politics normally functions or are the Democrats that bad? Did/have, for example, the Republicans done the same in the past?

[Restoras]

I think it is fair to say the Stupid Party would and or has acted in a similar manner in the past.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

They definitely have. The Dems have just taken it to the next level by destroying the senate filibuster.

[fish]

STFU Joe….don’t you know we’re totally in the tank for the republicans here at reason.com!

[CE]

I thought the Dems were the Stupid Party and the Repubs were the Evil Party? It’s so hard to tell them apart.

[WTF]

The Republicans threatened to blow up the filibuster in the past, but they got flamed by the media and backed down.

[Elspeth Flashman]

If you think about it, blocking filibuster-ability is totally antithetical to the supposed tenets of the Democrat party. It’s saying “You’re the minority. But that’s too bad, we won’t listen to you anyway.”
But the supposed tenets of the Democrat party are “we should treat everyone the same, regardless of where they are from, how they got here, all voices have value, etc.” Am I right?

[Restoras]

The Dumbocrats have been completely imbued with Progressive ideology, up to an including the use of force, political or otherwise, to acquire and consolidate power and ram its agenda through.

Minority protections only get in the way of that so they must be done away with.

[Zeb]

I thought that was a supposed tenet of the US government.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Yes, but especially espoused by the Dems. The Repubs are the “evil” ones who are trying to take away rights, according to the Dem meme.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Elspeth, we’re all progressives now.

Coercion! Forward!

[JW]

Forward!

SCHNELL! SCHNELL!

[Emmerson Biggins]

I disagree. They are the party of Democracy. That means tyranny of the 50% + 1. If they are going by their name, they are all about the 50% + 1 looting, harassing, oppressing and micromanaging the 50% – 1. So at least they are being consistent.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So an article that gives a chance to engage in counter-factuals about which party is worse.

As for the subject Smilin linked to, they’re crony-hacks. Is anyone surprised?

[VG Zaytsev]

The phants have surely done similar stuff in the past, but the donks are much better at playing this kind of game and have a much larger ground presence to pull it off.

[tarran]

You can find excesses from both parties. Hell, right off the top of my head, the Republican thugs who smashed printing presses of pro Democratic newspapers during the War Between the States.

However, with that having been said, with each passing generation there is less resistance to the excesses; and I think it’s going to be very difficult to roll things back to 1980’s levels, let alone 1950’s levels.

[Neoliberal Kochtopus]

That’s the best example you have? Come on man.

[tarran]

It’s not the best example. It’s more what’s right on the top of my head.

Like the time my daughter asked my son to stand still so she could throw a rock at him and my immediate response was to shout “Not in the house!”

I’m working!

[Brett L]

Awesome.

[John]

Did Liberty Mike hack your account?

[Rasilio]

Similar manner yes, however since at least Reagan we have been in an escalating war between Dems and Republicans where each side uses the precedents set by the other and ratchets up the dysfunction/corruption

[Snark Plissken]

A UN deputy secretary general warned that the Central African Republic is descending into “complete chaos.” France will send 1,000 troops for a planned UN mission in the country.

Along with a thousands small, easy to wave white flags.

[Steve G]

“This legislation will allow millions of federal government employees and retirees to use the power of their individual purse to tell big polluters they can’t keep poisoning our air and water without consequences.”

Had a lively discussion in the office today about who the hell is going to be the judge of “socially responsible”

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

…tell big polluters they can’t keep poisoning our air and water without consequences.

If there is property damage, isn’t this what the courts are for?

[mad libertarian guy]

They are worried about damage, but “damage”.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The GOP had the good sense to limit Sulfer Dioxide emissions back in the early 90s. They would not today – too fucking crazy.

[VG Zaytsev]

Poppa Bush’s regulatory expansions are orders of magnitude more destructive than Sulfer Dioxide ever was.

[#]

Well Sulfer Dioxide is also really easy/ cheap to remove. You just put scrubbers/ catolitic converters on all your smoke stacks and/or go to a lower sulfur content coal.

It also isn’t a global thing. Acid rain stays relatively local to the source.

So not nearly as costly to mitigate as CO2.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A group of bipartisan senators is drafting legislation on new sanctions against Iran, just in case.

Maybe that will appease pro-Israel voters almost as much as a bomb run.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

The gun camera footage is much more dramatic, however.

[Lord Humungus]

The Front Man
President Obama is the nominal leader for permanent bureaucracy.

In total, it amounts to that fundamental transformation of American society that President Obama promised as a candidate: but instead of the new birth of hope and change, it is the transformation of a constitutional republic operating under laws passed by democratically accountable legislators into a servile nation under the management of an unaccountable administrative state. The real import of Barack Obama’s political career will be felt long after he leaves office, in the form of a permanently expanded state that is more assertive of its own interests and more ruthless in punishing its enemies. At times, he has advanced this project abetted by congressional Democrats, as with the health-care law’s investiture of extraordinary powers in the executive bureaucracy, but he also has advanced it without legislative assistance ? and, more troubling still, in plain violation of the law. President Obama and his admirers choose to call this “pragmatism,” but what it is is a mild expression of totalitarianism, under which the interests of the country are conflated with those of the president’s administration and his party. Barack Obama is the first president of the democracy that John Adams warned us about.

[mad libertarian guy]

The real import of Barack Obama’s political career will be felt long after he leaves office, in the form of a permanently expanded state that is more assertive of its own interests and more ruthless in punishing its enemies.

This is the real legacy of his presidency. Everything else is chump change. And it is scary as fuck to know tha 20 years for now, we’ll still be living under the Obama administration.

[Bam!]

As if George Bush didn’t expand the state?

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

BOOOSH!

[Fist of Etiquette]

A special election for a vacant House seat in Florida could provide an example of how voters will react to Obamacare.

Get ready for Representative Pat Buchanan.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That guy is an encyclopedia and wealth of information and knowledge about American political history. Guy pulls stats and figures out from any era. It’s nuts. He also penned some pretty balanced articles back in the day of the Iraq invasion – which he opposed and still opposes intervention.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

-1 ballot position

[Jordan]

Australia trolled the recent climate change conference.

For this year’s UN climatefest in Warsaw, Poland, Tony Abbott’s government didn’t even bother to send the environment minister, much less the Prime Minister and his pre-teen fan mail.
Instead we sent some delegates who quite properly treated the whole exercise as a lark, much to the consternation of Gaia’s little Gracies. “They wore T-shirts and gorged on snacks throughout the negotiation,” fumed Ria Voorhaar, a spokeswoman for the Climate Action Network. “That gives some indication of the manner they are behaving in.”

Back in 2009, Rudd negotiated pointlessly for 40 hours, grabbing just one hour of sleep. This year’s Australian delegates don’t go for that sort of nonsense. “They made an intervention that late-night negotiations were bad for health and should be stopped,” complained Voorhaar.

[Jordan]

And the meetings were indeed halted, with many blaming the snack-chomping Aussies and their t-shirts. “Their behaviour caused over 130 developing nations to abandon discussions on the controversial issue of climate compensation at 4am,” seethed Sophie Yeo of the activist group Responding to Climate Change. “It is one thing to be tired in a negotiation meeting, another to turn up in pyjamas,” huffed EU negotiator Paul Watkinson on Twitter. “Respect matters.”

[wareagle]

“climate compensation”
First time these fucks have been honest about their aims.

[Zeb]

Oh, they’ve been talking compensation for years now.

[JW]

“I’m 3rd World! Gimmee! Gimmee! Gimmee!”

[KDN]

Dealing with enviroweenies by showering them with contempt. Tony Abbott is my hero.

[WTF]

The Aussies treating them with the seriousness they deserve. That is just all kinds of awesome.

[DontShootMe]

Respect must be earned, what has an EU negotiator ever done that warranted respect?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

If the evidence you are using as the basis for this entire summit is so weak that one country showing up in t-shirts causes the whole thing to fall apart, maybe your evidence isn’t strong enough to make developing nations want to seriously impede their development by taxing carbon or giving it up all together (coal).

That was a long sentence.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

If these guys seriously want to help developing nations avoid going to coal, show them a method to produce industrial scale (reliable) electricity that’s cheaper than coal.

That, as far as I am concerned, is the only way any of these nations will even consider a reduced carbon economy.

[mad libertarian guy]

That was a long sentence.

Meh.

[Eduard van Haalen]

You mean the Aussies didn’t treat extortion demands in a respectful manner?

[mad libertarian guy]

“Respect matters.”

It sounds to me like they respected the matter in the manner befit to the matter.

These “conferences” are a fucking joke where it’s poor countries demanding that richer countries provide a big fat check for “compensation.”

This sham is all about wealth transfer and has absolutely nothing to do with the environment.

[Zeb]

And big checks written to the governments of poor countries always end up benefiting the ordinary people and never line the pockets of the leaders and their cronies.

[RBS]

Not all poor countries are asking for rich countries to compensate them. Some of them are telling the rich countries to fuck off and let them use their natural resources how they see fit.

[RBS]

treated the whole exercise as a lark

Sounds like the International Environmental Law class I took in law school.

[Auric Demonocles]

All US troops could be leaving Afghanistan next year after all, as the Afghan president is declining to sign a security agreement that would keep some of them there after the planned combat troop withdrawal in 2014.

Obama really does deserve that Peace Prize. We thought he would try to use his charm to get us out, but he cunningly drove away his allies, forcing us to withdraw. What a genius!

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

3-D chess man! Be so bad at what you do that the people you are trying to help start telling you to leave them alone.

Shreek will be on here soon telling us how Obama ended the Afghanistan conflict, like Iraq, and that he is the peace President. Never mentioning that Iraq ended on Bush’s schedule and that Obama wanted to continue occupation but was kicked out, and that the Afghans are now doing the same thing: Obama is being forced to end his military operations by the occupied country.

[Juice]

correction: The Iraq occupation ended on the Iraqi’s schedule. Bush wanted to stay. The Iraqis wanted the US out.

[Lord Humungus]

Has anyone seen Epi recently?

Naked man in high heels, turban arrested on drug charges in Augusta

Deputies had to use force Sunday to subdue a naked man wearing only high heels and a turban after spotting him hiding behind a tree trying to put on pink women’s panties and pantyhose.

The man, identified as 28-year-old Jermaine Lloyd, fled from deputies while trying to pull on the undergarments and carrying a purple bag and sweatpants, according to a police report.

[Ted S.]

If that’s Augusta ME, shouldn’t we be worried about Sarcasmic?

[Suthenboy]

Turban? Heels?

He wasnt naked.

[Fist of Etiquette]

THANK YOU.

[The Last American Hero]

So he was in the process of getting dressed, but they arrested him for being naked rather than, I don’t know, let him finish getting dressed?

[SugarFree]

The Knockout Game is a myth.

Like, totally a myth.

[SugarFree]

No way this is real, just a myth, despite all the people it’s happened to. They must be racists.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

And despite the people who admit what it was when they got caught.

[Citizen Nothing]

I had a couple of friends who were leaving the office at 5:30 in the afternoon on a busy city street and got sucker-punched by some dude who also punched a priest and some old woman as he ran down the sidewalk.
One friend went all the way down. But he was able to get up and follow the guy and point him out to the cops. (He later went to the ER, and checked out ok, but had headaches for two weeks.)
The puncher was black and all the punchees were white, but the bottom line is that the guy was just plain psychotic. He was sentenced to something like 30 days — time served.

[Restoras]

I am looking forward to the day when one of those assholes sucker-punches the wrong guy and ends up with a bunch of .45 inch holes in his torso as a reward.

[Jordan]

Already happened. Some woman killed two thugs.

[Restoras]

Good. Let’s hope it keeps happening.

[Jordan]

Also, some guy shot his attacker twice in the ass. The kid lived, sadly.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

…and she was arrested I bet.

[RBS]

He should have been sentenced to three punches in the face.

[Citizen Nothing]

I think my friends would have accepted this, assuming they got to do the punching.

[Lady Bertrum]

I would select Gregor Clegane or Bronn to the deliver the punch on my behalf.

[mad libertarian guy]

“If it so please the court, in my stead, your honor, I’d like to have The Hound administer the court’s justice.”

[The Last American Hero]

The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.

[John]

Wow, they can follow orders. They can’t do much else. But they do know how to follow orders.

[JW]

Has anyone checked on the whereabouts of the Punchmaster?

[Rich]

Teen Arrested In Alleged ‘Knockout’ Attack Of Boy

My favorite part:

[The victim] thinks a mandatory moment of silence in public schools would help. “The [perps] would know that there’s always a God watching them”

[KDN]

I saw that kid’s interview; he sounds like a 70 year old Rabbi. My finding that fact hilarious completely befuddled both my wife and me.

[Snark Plissken]

David Burge ?@iowahawkblog 3m
Not trend: Knock Out Game http://www.slate.com/blogs/wei…..burger_bar
Trend: riding sharks http://www.slate.com/blogs/wil…..harks.html
Don’t ever change, Slate.

[Fist of Etiquette]

How long ago was that? I want to ride a shark now, but I’m afraid it will be pass

[db]

Slap a mustache on the shark and wear skinny jeans and it’s all good.

[Snark Plissken]

I want to ride one of those jumping sharks I keep hearing so much about.

[hamilton]

Are you worried the trend has, um, jumped the shark?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh, and for the record…

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sooo…Matt gets punched out and it’s not real?

[Jordan]

SadBeard probably gets punched out a lot.

[Restoras]

That would explain his distorted view of reality.

[Medical Physics Guy]

I was assaulted but I deserved it because Western oppression

[db]

Donkey-punched, yeah.

[Matrix]

Yeah, he wanted to attribute it to random black youths. It was just me, after I got tired of reading his BS and decided his face looked really punchable.

[SIV]

Will Julian Sanchez weigh in?

[Warty]

Of course it’s Weigel. Do you think Weigel still comes around to read the comments? Hey Weigel, fuck you.

[Zeb]

My question still is what do you do differently if it is or is not a myth?

It certainly looks like it is a thing among certain groups of young black men who want to be seen as all hard and thuggish, but what do you do with that information?

[JW]

My question still is what do you do differently if it is or is not a myth?

Just to be on the safe side, you should shoot all young black men on sight, just in case.

Better safe than sorry. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This truck stops at all railroad crossings.

[Ted S.]

A group of bipartisan senators is drafting legislation on new sanctions against Iran, just in case.

The group is bipartisan (well, technically, they’re all on TEAM BE RULED, but that’s a different point), not the senators.

[DJF]

“””””Anti-government protesters in Bangkok “”””

Should we call these people anti-government since I am betting that they are not anti-government and instead want to be the government.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Anti-(not ruled by our team)Government

[Steve G]

How about “trans-government”? Then you’d have 2 potential meanings 😉

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

Well, it is Bangkok…

[Lord Humungus]

20 Things You Didn’t Know About… STEVE SMITH Neanderthals

1. You’re pretty much a Neanderthal. While it’s been more than 5 million years since we parted ways with chimps, it has been only 400,000 since human and Neanderthal lineages split.

2. If you’re Asian or Caucasian, your ancestors interbred with Neanderthals as recently as 37,000 years ago, when they crossed paths in Europe.

3. And that sex had benefits. Inherited Neanderthal genes come in alleles that help fight off nasty viruses such as Epstein-Barr ? associated with several kinds of cancer, says Stanford University immunologist Laurent Abi-Rached.

etc

[Medical Physics Guy]

We’re 3.1 percent. I think it gives me my striking profile.

[Drake]

After our Cro-Magnon ancestors got busy with Neanderthals, they all devolved into modern domesticated humans. Smaller brains and weaker bodies. Like comparing golden retrievers to dire wolves.

[Generic Stranger]

STEVE SMITH is a yeti, which would be a much earlier offshoot of the homo line.

[Drake]

Andre the Giant was a Homo Heidelbergensis throwback.

[Rich]

Spies worry over “doomsday” cache stashed by Snowden

The data is protected with sophisticated encryption, and multiple passwords are needed to open it, said two of the sources, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The passwords are in the possession of at least three different people and are valid for only a brief time window each day, they said.

Would someone *kindly* explain what purpose is served by leaking such details?

[db]

I don’t know, but leaking the names of the three people holding the passwords could surely improve many people’s 2014 Dead Pools.

[VG Zaytsev]

To justify an assassination.

[Rich]

Yeah, that crossed my mind.

But why couldn’t it just be “an accident”?

[Lord Humungus]

Study: Marry Someone As Drunk As You

Getting wasted all the time will only wreck your marriage if your spouse doesn’t get drunk with you, a new and romantic study finds. The University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions followed 634 couples for 9 years after their weddings, and found that nearly half of couples with one heavy drinker wound up divorced, compared to 30 percent of mutually drunk couples. More interesting, the divorce rate in drinking couples was no higher than in couples where neither person drank, suggesting it’s the lack of shared interest in drinking that leads to marital dissatisfaction, not the alcohol itself.

[Ted S.]

I wonder if these people ever saw The Days of Wine and Roses.

[Brett L]

The problem was he stopped and she didn’t. They were no longer on the same level.

[KDN]

So people with the same interests tend to get along better and stay married longer. What an interesting and counterintuitive find.

[Atanarjuat]

As drunk as me? That might be a problem.

[Lord Humungus]

if you can still post, you’re not drunk enough.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

awo95.,drzcrx..dpf///

*mumble, mumble*

[db]

“Um, hello? And/or also, Duh?”

[Doctor Whom]

Gosh oh golly, my worldview is officially shattered.

[Lord Humungus]

Photo of Rick Springfield’s buttocks shown to jury, which starts deliberating today in injury lawsuit

As Rick Springfield’s case in Syracuse nears jury deliberations, his buttocks has emerged as the weapon accused of causing “serious, disabling and permanent injuries” to a Liverpool woman during a 2004 State Fair concert.

A photo, reportedly of Springfield’s buttocks, was shown to the jury during the entertainer’s testimony Tuesday.

When asked whose buttocks was shown in the photo, Springfield responded: “Possibly mine.”

[hamilton]

To be fair, a not-insignificant number of commenters here at the HampersandR probably have buttocks that are registered as deadly weapons.

[Snark Plissken]

But…

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

We’ll be in our bunk.

[Lord Humungus]

Mall Santa Busted For Groping Female Elf, 18

A 62-year-old mall Santa Claus was arrested Saturday after allegedly pinching the buttocks of an 18-year-old woman who worked with him as an elf photographer, police report.

Herbert Jones was arraigned this morning in a Massachusetts court on an indecent assault and battery charge. Free on $1000 bail, Jones is next due in court on Christmas Eve on the felony count. A District Court judge directed Jones, pictured in the adjacent mug shot, to stay out of the Hanover Mall, and barred him from dressing up as Santa Claus for the balance of the holiday season.

[Jordan]

Bad Santa is real!

[Eduard van Haalen]

Santa threatens to put women on their naughty list unless etc.

He got the idea from crooked cops.

[trshmnstr]

indecent assault and battery charge.

As opposed to decent assault and battery. “I shall beat you like a sir!”

[Mr. Soul]

Isn’t Herbert the name of the perv in Family Guy?

[Emmerson Biggins]

Dayum. why else would you be a mall Santa?

[Lord Humungus]

The American Idol Electorate
Holding popularity contests is not the wisest way to select the leader of the free world.

A CNN/ORC survey conducted between November 18 and November 20 reveals that the American people do not think that Obama is capable of doing his job, nor do they really trust him to try. Less than half of Americans (40 percent) think President Obama can manage the government effectively, the poll shows, while 53 percent said that the phrase “honest and trustworthy” “does not apply” to the president. Meanwhile, 56 percent of the public say that he does not inspire confidence, the very same percentage has noticed that the president does not agree with them on issues that are important to them, and only 44 percent profess to “admire” him. His approval ratings, meanwhile, are hovering around the 40 percent mark ? and moving in the wrong direction to boot.

[Lord Humungus]

cont.

But here’s the kicker: Americans are still fond of him anyway. Seven in ten Americans affirmed in this same poll that they like Barack Obama personally, and slightly more than half agreed with the statement that he “cares about people like you.” We thus seem to be living in a country in which a majority of the people deem the president incapable of managing the government that it is his job to manage; think him untrustworthy; suppose that he doesn’t inspire confidence or admiration; and know full well that he doesn’t agree with them on political issues ? and yet still like him quite a lot.

[Auric Demonocles]

When disliking someone is racist, who is going to do that?

[mad libertarian guy]

Make no mistake, all the other things are racist too.

[Rasilio]

I’m not seeing the dichotomy here.

The guy seems to be a genuinely decent dude in person who loves his family and cares deeply about his fellow man, he’s also completely over matched by the needs of the job narcissistic and believes that he needs to just rule everything.

The 2 things are not at all antithetical

[Rich]

A UN deputy secretary general warned that the Central African Republic is descending into “complete chaos.”

Just wondering — How does one know when *complete* chaos has been attained?

[Medical Physics Guy]

When Vice makes a travel documentary there?

[db]

Someday I feel like moving to a complete shithole of a country just to make up for my white American privilege. And then take the place over and rule with an iron libertarian fist of freedom.

[robc]

When tiny changes make completely unpredictable results?

[db]

+1 Lorenz attractor

[Snark Plissken]

When a butterfly flapping its wings there turns Obama into a libertarian.

[SugarFree]

And the voices of Gawker rose up, “Our biases! We must confirm them! And comment without reading the article!”

Couple Denies Leaving Anti-Gay Note in Lieu of Tip, Says It’s a Scam

[trshmnstr]

I’m pretty sure that would put me over my yearly moron radiation allowance. Definitely not clicking.

[WTF]

Hmmm, another fake bias/no tip scam after the first one was hugely profitable. There’s a shocker.

[Rasilio]

I called it when the thing first came up. Her story never made sense because there was absolutely no reason the customers would have assumed she was gay just because she had short hair

[Matrix]

So, the waitress tries to stir up a controversy over something she faked. Perhaps she should be canned? Or caned… or both?

[Rich]

Price of Chicken Reaches All-Time High in U.S.

So *that’s* what’s driving the stock market!

[mad libertarian guy]

Price of Chicken Reaches All-Time High in U.S.

But inflation is a right wing myth. I know because shreek told me so.

[db]

Well, duh. It’s Thanksgiving. Everyone wants turkey now, not chicken. Just like with health care, poultry prices rise when there is not enough demand. If we mandate that everyone purchase a chicken, prices will go down.

[Citizen Nothing]

Obama the new Hoover? A mandatory chicken in every pot.

[Rich]

Just a doggone minute!

Do those chickens have health insurance?

[waffles]

I went to college and can confirm. Yeah that’s pretty much how it works.

[db]

Intended, of course, as a reponse to Rich, above.

[Rich]

*Complete chaos*, I tells ya!

[db]

Yeah, that’s the one.

[Lord Humungus]

this was probably already covered, but if not:

Obamacare’s Threat to Liberalism

Liberalism has spent the better part of the past century attempting to prove that it could competently and responsibly extend the state into new reaches of American life. With the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, the administration has badly injured that cause, confirming the worst slurs against the federal government. It has stifled bad news and fudged promises; it has failed to translate complex mechanisms of policy into plain English; it can’t even launch a damn website. What’s more, nobody responsible for the debacle has lost a job or suffered a demotion. Over time, the Affordable Care Act’s technical difficulties can be repaired. Reversing the initial impressions of government ineptitude won’t be so easy.

When the modern liberals first emerged in the early twentieth century, they conceded that they began their ideological race with a severe disadvantage. As Herbert Croly, the founding editor of this magazine, diagnosed: They were living in Thomas Jefferson’s country, not Alexander Hamilton’s. The prevailing ethos was leave-us-alone libertarianism?or, as Croly put it, “licensed selfishness.” The country wasn’t accustomed to thinking of itself as a national entity, and it certainly wasn’t ready to be governed by one.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Know what I find remarkable in all this nonsense? That liberals accept ‘grand social policies’ based on faulty premises in historical records. They think that even if it’s implemented poorly, it eventually becomes cemented and everyone loves it over time.

When something is not IMPLEMENTED properly in the first place, it NEVER gets righted. Think of a small-business that missteps in the early going. Some make it, sure, but more often than not the mistakes were too costly to overcome.

That’s why some people just shut down and start over.

But there’s no such thing with government. It just spends on top of the waste. It’s like adding cologne to body odor. It’s worse than BO – it’s BBO.

And now we can add another ‘B’ it’s Barack’s Beyond Bad Odor.

[John]

What is also remarkable is that in 2013, they are still rehashing ideas from 1913. Yet they still call themselves “progressives”.

[OldMexican]

Only because “Communists” sounds much worse even if more accurate.

[Lord Humungus]

It’s all ho-ho-ho til Obama hijacks your holiday:

Loathe peaceful holidays? Detest the spirit of agreeableness and good will that tends to pervade during this time of year? Well, if you’re longing for it to be ’tis the season of debates, irritations, and shouting matches, you’re in luck: The Obama administration thinks the holidays are the perfect time to gather round and discuss ? Obamacare.

Wary about the effect bringing up the most polarizing political topic among your relatives and friends who likely span the blue-purple-red spectrum will have? Don’t be, because President Barack Obama’s Organizing for Action has launched a website with helpful tips about how to have “the talk.” (Here’s my first tip: If any adolescents or preteens are present, you might want to use a different phrase than “the talk” when broaching the subject if you don’t want an instant exodus.)

[Jordan]

More evidence that proglodytes can’t support the personal from the political. Talk about insufferable.

[waffles]

s e p a r a t e

[Jordan]

Indeed.

[Rich]

You can’t fool *me*, my Lord.

That website is from The Onion.

[Rich]

Seriously, if you decide to look at it, prepare to have your blood pressure rise.

These clowns are incorrigible.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Just took a look at the obama website. I actually can’t believe anyone would visit that website more than once.

Healthcare for the Holidays!

This holiday season, millions of Americans have a chance to get quality, affordable health insurance?many for the first time. If you have family members who are uninsured, you can play a big part in helping them find coverage that works for them. It might not always seem like it, but your family listens to you. So have the talk.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I don’t listen to them when they’re full of bull shit.

[VG Zaytsev]

Just play this for anyone that starts trying to sell Obamacare this thanksgiving.

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

[Suthenboy]

As has been pointed out many times by many here, including myself, this is the creepiest administration in history.

They could make John Herbert’s skin crawl.

[So Conz Esq.]

anyone pitching obamacare at my house will quickly find out the white meat is out of network and the dark meat was redistributed to the dog, but the tofurkey has no copay.

[Eduard van Haalen]

“[Aldous] Huxley and [C.S.] Lewis did not share a worldview ? one was a seeker drawn to spiritualism, Eastern religion and psychedelics; the other was (and remains) the most famous Christian apologist in the modern English-speaking world. But they shared a critique of contemporary civilization, and offered a similar warning about where its logic might end up taking us….

“In effect, both Huxley and Lewis looked at a utilitarian’s paradise ? a world where all material needs are met, pleasure is maximized and pain eliminated ? and pointed out what we might be giving up to get there: the entire vertical dimension in human life, the quest for the sublime and the transcendent, for romance and honor, beauty and truth….

“But in many ways the impulses driving the Kennedy nostalgists are the same ones animating Lewis’s Puddleglum and Huxley’s Savage ? the desire for grace and beauty, for icons and heroes, for a high-stakes dimension to human affairs that a consumerist, materialist civilization can flatten and exclude.

“And one can believe J.F.K. is a poor vessel for these desires, and presidential politics the wrong place to satisfy them, without wishing they would disappear.”

http://nyti.ms/1aQUd5Y

[Restoras]

Paging Barfman.

[robc]

one was a seeker drawn to spiritualism, Eastern religion and psychedelics

Other than the psychedelics part, how does that not also describe Lewis? When he was rejecting atheism, he was drawn to hinduism as a possibility, IIRC. He ended up rejecting it to.

He was a seeker also, until the moment he found what he was seeking. And then he described that moment: Man’s search for God is like the Mouse’s search for the Cat.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Man’s search for God is like the Mouse’s search for the Cat.

Maybe I’m not intellectual enough, but what does this mean? Man’s search for god is akin to him searching for the predator which wants nothing more than to torture him to death for no reason other than its own entertainment?

Is this what he is trying to say?

[Eduard van Haalen]

God is seeking you more than vice-versa. He found dramatic language to express the idea.

[Zeb]

I think that’s one of those things that only makes sense if you already share the beliefs of the person who said it.

That’s the problem I have with Lewis’s Christian apologia. It is very clever and often amusing, but it really isn’t convincing unless you already believe or have decided that unbelief is not a good option as Lewis did.

[robc]

God is seeking you more than vice-versa. He found dramatic language to express the idea.

I think that’s one of those things that only makes sense if you already share the beliefs of the person who said it.

Both of these.

I can expand on EvH’s description with a story of a guy I know. He was raised in an atheistic/agnostic home, had no interest in religion, didnt really know much about it. On spring break while in college, he got into a conversation with a beach missionary and ended up converting. He said his first prayer was “Cant this wait until next week?”

He would understand the analogy Lewis was making. He was in Florida for a week of drunken debauchery and his plans got changed.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Holy shit that actually worked for once? I remember somebody in my group getting into a discussion with one my freshman year in panama city. I will say that giving out water and rides to drunk people is certainly a more friendly ministry than some of the other shit college ministries do.

[robc]

Its the only case I know of it working.

[CE]

Isn’t that how Trevor got people to join the cult in GTA V?

[robc]

have decided that unbelief is not a good option

I have known atheists who were convinced by Lewis, but I think you hit upon the key point. They had probably already decided against unbelief. They just hadnt decided upon a specific belief.

But I dont see the problem. No one is writing for everyone. Lewis has a target audience. There are other apologetics targeting other markets.

[Zeb]

It’s only a problem in that if you are not the audience it is meant for, his arguments don’t hold up that well. After the way it was hyped up to me by believers who read it and found it convincing, I was a bit disappointed. I don’t really know what I was expecting though.

[SugarFree]

Man’s search for God is like the Mouse’s search for the Cat.

Sounds like he dabbled in Gnosticism as well.

[robc]

Early on, he probably did.

But later on, he was clearly “a-gnostic” (in the literal sense of the roots).

[RBS]

Dabo Swinney: Head Baptizer

[SugarFree]

Jezebellians discuss their filthy underwear and the stains therein.

I consider myself a clean person, in fact my husband would say I veer on the neurotic side ? however I need to ask an embarrassing cleaning question: How do I deal with lady discharge stains in undies? I’m not talking about blood, I mean just normal everyday discharge.

I know I can’t be the only one who has this problem, I change my underwear every day, I’m a clean person, and I’ve given up on black undies due to some weird bleaching (God this is awful!) and have settled on white cotton (except for sexier stuff that doesn’t stay on long enough to be affected), but I still have discoloration which is nasty even after washing with OxiClean. Should I bleach? Should I use vinegar? Should I buy dune-colored undies because there’s nothing I can do about it? Should I go and live in a cave somewhere where no one can be contaminated!?!

Please note that there is a large panty shot illo of a woman far too thin and trimmed to be anything but a stock image.

[RBS]

I’ve given up on black undies due to some weird bleaching

Do even want to know what is doing the bleaching?

[waffles]

No. I don’t even what this is.

[SugarFree]

Euryale3
Okay, I’m going to take this to the next level. Does anyone else’s discharge eat holes in their undies? Like, over time, mine bleaches out whatever dye was there and then I start getting holes in the same spot. I want to ask whether there’s anything to be done about that (other than pantyliners because meh) but I suppose if bleaching is because of an acidic ph and an acidic ph is good, probably not. Anybody with this issue found particular colors or materials that hold up better?

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I dunno, my underwear tend to disintegrate between my legs. Constant friction on cotton does eventually wear it down.

Or maybe she just has an acid shooting vagina?

[SugarFree]

Maybe you have a carnivorous taint.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I’ve been meaning to get this checked out actually

[SugarFree]

It is dangerous to go alone, take these.

[sarcasmic]

Mangina!

[Rich]

acid shooting vagina

Nice band name.

[db]

Caustic (high pH) solutions are more likely to destroy clothing fibers.

[Marc F Cheney]

As an amateur gynecologist, I’d say it’s the dentata.

[Ted S.]

Why would Jezebel use a thin woman in a picture??

[SugarFree]

The chains of false consciousness.

[Restoras]

That’s how they see themselves in the mirror. It’s a funhouse mirror but don’t tell them that.

[Restoras]

Not for nothing, but maybe, just maybe, the underwear isn’t the problem.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Should I go and live in a cave somewhere where no one can be contaminated!?!

I think she’s onto something…

[mad libertarian guy]

Should I go and live in a cave somewhere where no one can be contaminated!?!

Yes. But not because your snatch melts your undies.

[widget]

,I change my underwear every day,

Me too! I can relate.

[Zeb]

If the stain doesn’t come out in the wash, then it probably isn’t contaminating much. People worry about weird things.

[The Late P Brooks]

It’s Thanksgiving. Everyone wants turkey now, not chicken. Just like with health care, poultry prices rise when there is not enough demand. If we mandate that everyone purchase a chicken, prices will go down.

By George, I think he’s got it!

[Mokers]

NPR: Getting the next round of talking points out early this morning.

Californians greeted cancelled plans with smiles

It’s amazing how many people think their premiums were reduced by magic.

[robc]

The logic makes no sense. Losing choice is freedom!

[WTF]

The logic makes no sense. Losing choice is freedom!

Doublethink is real.

Freedom is slavery, war is peace, etc. etc.

[Zeb]

Freedom from choice. Some people are happier with fewer decisions to make.

[robc]

Happiness and freedom arent synonyms.

In fact, freedom may be accompanied by a lot of unhappiness as it brings in responsibility.

[Zeb]

Well, I know that. Anyone who thinks freedom means “freedom from…” doesn’t get the concept of freedom if you ask me. But that is the logic many people operate on.

[Brett L]

Yes, our brother pigs don’t do the work like us horses, but we totally understand why ruling is hard work and they need all of the apples to themselves.

[The Late P Brooks]

Liberalism has spent the better part of the past century attempting to prove that it could competently and responsibly extend the state into new reaches of American life.

Huh. How’s it coming?

[WTF]

Well, they’ve achieved the extension part. The competent and responsible part, not so much.

[mad libertarian guy]

There’s just no way that sensationalized media coverage could have had something to do with this:

In the years that followed, [Adam Lanza] was obsessed with mass murders, assembling articles, photos, books, footage and violent video games, including one in which players gun down students in school. He even kept a spreadsheet ranking mass murders.

[…]

Lanza also became obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High bloodbath and other such mass killings, the report said.

Our Heroes In Blue?:

A timeline released with the report indicates that nearly six minutes passed between the arrival of the first Newtown police office and the time officers entered the school. The report said officers were operating under the belief there may have been more than one shooter.

[…]

The report said the first officer arrived behind the school at 9:39 a.m. Two other Newtown officers then arrived within seconds, and gunshots were heard in the background.

The last gunshot officers heard, which is believed to be the suicide shot by Lanza, was heard at three seconds past 9:40. Newtown officers entered the school at 47 seconds past 9:44, according to the report.

It’s nice to see that they waited until they were reasonably sure that the danger was over to go in.

[Restoras]

Fucking CHICKENSHIT assholes.

[sarcasmic]

Officer safety!

[Restoras]

That’s really just another way to say “Yes, I am a pussy”.

[Suthenboy]

This subject came up once with my sheriff. His words to me;

“There comes a time in every law enforcement career when you have to ante up. If there is shooting in a school, you are going in right now. If it is a choice between you and the kids, its gonna be you.”

With this sheriff I think you can take that to the bank. The last one, not so much.

[The Last American Hero]

Easy to say until you’re standing outside the school.

[WTF]

The number one priority is they need to go home at night!

[JW]

They face the danger, eventually, so we don’t have to.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

*applause*

[Eduard van Haalen]

“Israeli State Rabbinical Court Fines Mother For Refusing To Have Son Circumcised

“…The appeals court judges apparently concluded…that the mother was now refusing to have the boy circumcised as a way to force a reconciliation with her husband. The judges also indicated their concern that allowing a Jewish Israeli woman to leave her son uncircumcised would encourage the anti-ritual circumcision movement in Europe and the United States….The mother plans to appeal the decision to Israel’s High Court of Justice.”

http://religionclause.blogspot…..um=twitter

[Juice]

Sounds like someone needs to get the fuck out of Israel.

[mad libertarian guy]

Check out my new site!!

http://www.hornsandhorns.net

Start with “A Hunter” and go from there.

If anyone might be able to advise on how to get rid of that fucking 1 pixel wide line at the right of each picture on the home page, I’d appreciate it.

I hope you enjoy!

[Snark Plissken]

Nice. Congratulations.

Your pixel border problem is in bold.

.type-post, .type-page, .type-attachment, #post-area .post {
border-bottom: 1px solid #DBDBDB;
border-right: 1px solid #DBDBDB;
}

[Snark Plissken]

Line 422 of style.css according to Firebug, although those number don’t tend to be reliable. Just do a search for the line.

[mad libertarian guy]

You fucking rule, snarky.

I commented out the offending line, but didn’t like it. So I uncommented it, and then added the bold pixel border to the left and top as well. Much better, methinks.

[Snark Plissken]

Yes, I think it looks better like this. Firebug is your friend and ColorZilla can also be quite handy for this stuff. Also, don’t forget to add a favicon.

[mad libertarian guy]

I’ll get around to a favicon, but I’m fucking terrible at art (hence the lack of a logo).

[Restoras]

Moment Comes is a great story. Well done sir!

[mad libertarian guy]

Thanks!

I’ve never written any kind of narrative exposition before. I come from an academic writing background and have to say everything out loud (in my head) as if I were speaking it to make sure it isn’t too mechanical.

It’s a pretty laborious way to write. What follows in the “Why Deer Hunters SHould Be Coyote Hunters” is much more native for me. I still have a long ways to go with my prose style in the narrative pieces, but it’s a big step for me as a writer to even undertake narrative prose at all.

[Citizen Nothing]

Coyotes eating fawns is why I LOVE coyotes. I should start pen-raising them. Fuck deer.

[mad libertarian guy]

In certain parts of the country this is a legitimate reaction to deer. In others, not so much.

[Suthenboy]

Nice. I dont do emoticons so just know that I am smiling.

[mad libertarian guy]

I’m happy to hear that.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Congrats. I’m not a hunter but will visit – if anything I like the idea of supporting a site that may offend progressives!

[mad libertarian guy]

I hope it offends the fuck out of some progressives so that I can continue not giving a shit what they think about hunting.

[RBS]

Lose Weight Now!

[widget]

Bitcoins: $890. Buy now, widget, you fucking idiot. I bought silver at $48/oz, why not?

[db]

BTFATH!

[UnCivilServant]

When you bought silver, did they actually send you the silver, or just a piece of paper claiming you owned X oz. of metal?

[widget]

No. I bought it through Monex for them to store. I did buy gold from them and had it delivered, but not silver. I made money on the silver during the run up, but then lost it all and then some on a final purchase at $48/oz, hoping it would break $50.

There’s some funky stuff that happened during that last transaction with Monex. I had no-margin account with them but the last bars were bought on margin. I didn’t lose enough to get lawyer’s attention though. I tried.

[Brett L]

Ugh. I remember taking a pass at $14 because it had already run so strong from $7.

[db]

I’m definitely going to set up a Bitcoin farm now.

[Brett L]

I did it 6 months ago. Don’t think I’ve managed to accrue any.

[db]

How many cores do you have working on it?

[Brett L]

Not many. Its not a farm, so much as a garden. I have a desktop that is always on but rarely in use unless I am updating the budget spreadsheet or playing Medieval TW. (Although I am jonesing for Rome II, hoping it won’t be as un-fun as Empire and Shogun, which are too involved for me, MTWII was the Goldilocks of the series for me)

So 4? 8? Its less than a year old and on the high end.

[waffles]

Well, you only really can buy now. Because you can’t buy yesterday. And if you plan to buy tomorrow, by the time tomorrow comes it will also be now.

Silliness aside, the bitcoin market is in such a hyped state that any significant sell-off period is met with buys. Continued media exposure ensures a steady supply of new fools into the system mixed with true believers that won’t sell, even in a full-on crash. That means it may be hard to lose more money on bitcoin than silver at least for the next few weeks.

Long term? Who knows? That’s the fun of it.

[widget]

Unless you’re a hopeless insomniac, you’d want to automate a sell of your Bitcoins if you bought them now. Say at $700.

[Eduard van Haalen]

“ST. PAUL, Minn. ? With two other turkeys ticketed for a presidential pardon at the White House, their brother met Minnesota’s governor Monday at a state Capitol ceremony featuring much of the same upbeat pageantry ahead of a far gloomier fate for the bird….

“The next stop for the pink and white bird: a trip to the St. Paul Salvation Army and, eventually, dinner for the less-fortunate. Conversely, his two brothers are headed to the White House Wednesday where they’ll be officially spared.”

http://www.politico.com/story/…..00387.html

[CE]

Couldn’t the turkey call his brothers back to help him aid the less fortunate?

[Eduard van Haalen]

“The gender gap in pay persists due to the fact that men are more likely than women to work 50 hours-plus a week, found a recent study (pdf) published by the American Sociological Review….

“…despite moves toward equality, women still tend to be more responsible than men for housework and childcare?hours that hardly count on the job but make them plenty overworked, too….

“Researchers attribute the higher wages to employers’ perception that overworkers have contributed more to a company’s bottom line, or the impression that they tend to work harder and more productively.”

http://qz.com/149428/mens-over…..gap-alive/

[John]

Working hard is just the patriarchy.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I love their skeptical reference to “employers’ perception,” and the indignant reference to childcare and housework involving overwork.

[Eduard van Haalen]

“These sexist employers are trying to pull something on us, I just know it!”

[WTF]

As a manager, I’ll tell you another reason men tend to have higher salaries. Men tend to negotiate any offer you make, women are much more likely to just accept your first offer.

[KDN]

I’ve been hired for a real job twice in my life and never attempted to negotiate (both times I really had no leverage anyway). How does it work? When HR sends the paperwork over do you just call back and say, “hey, thanks for the $65k offer, any chance you can make it $70k?” Or is it only something that can be done when working for a smaller employer?

[WTF]

One of the keys is you must be willing to walk away. You indicate you are interested in the position, like the company, etc., but don’t feel like their offer is adequate. They may come back with a better offer, or maybe offer more bennies, or maybe just tell you the initial offer was final. Men tend to be more willing to take the risks and play the game.

[Brett L]

You never discuss salary before the offer letter? There’s yer problem. Someone should have said at some point, “we pay X, or between X and Y and you, we think are good for Z” and you say, “Gosh, I was really hoping to make B.” And then you negotiate. They will either tell you they don’t have room to maneuver or make a counter offer and usually if they meet you about half way it is good form to accept unless you REALLY need the extra money.

[KDN]

No, I did that, apparently I was starting to negotiate without realizing it. I never really pushed for more though; both jobs offered more than I was expecting, so at the point where I got the letter I was all too eager to sign it.

[Brett L]

Well, there you go. I have to say that at my first two gigs after passing the magic 2 years of coding experience point, they asked me how much I wanted and agreed immediately. My third gig, I quoted an outlandish number and got the high end of their spectrum. So this is learned experience. The most important being to say the highest number you can choke out with a straight face if they invite you to go first on salary negotiations. If they named a number above what I thought I would make, I would probably just take it. You hate to “leave money on the table”, but I’m not one to negotiate for 2% that I didn’t think I was getting in the first place. Others will disagree with me. YMMV

[Rasilio]

No, you can discuss salary you just never set a number. You give a range and some caveats.

This allows you both to know if you are at least in the same ballpark without locking you in at a given number.

If they press you for a specific number you respond “well I take all factors in the compensation package into account so I really can’t give a specific number without all of the details”

[Brett L]

Nice. I also have a standing rule to ask for a night to sleep on it after I receive the official offer. It signals that I am not desperate.

[robc]

You do it before the paperwork gets done.

It can be done at any job.

Job back in the mid 90s, I was in a poor leverage situation, so I accepted their offer (which was too low), but negotiated in a 6 month review instead of a 1 year review.

At 6 months, I got a huge raise.

[SIV]

“…despite moves toward equality, women still tend to be more responsible than men for housework and childcare?hours that hardly count on the job but make them plenty overworked, too….

It’s not like they are boiling the laundry in a kettle or pounding it on rocks down by the river. Spending time with your own children and cooking for family are leisure activities.

[John]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/…..n/3703205/

Obama telling brain dead supporters to spread the word of Obamacare’s greatness at Thanksgiving. I don’t think this is a very good idea. There was a time in this country where being an Obama supporter was a way to show your friends how cool and smart you were. I think that time passed right about the time people started losing their insurance thanks to Obamacare. Sending his remaining minions out to tell their friends and family how their old health plan was really a bad deal but they were too stupid to realize it until Big Daddy showed them probably isn’t going to do very much to help the brand.

[Suthenboy]

Which is why I strongly encourage them to do so.

They should also stop the conversation every time someone says the name obama and vehemently insist that they refer to him as ‘Dear Leader’.

[Eduard van Haalen]

So is this incipient totalitarianism, a personality cult, caudillo-style wackiness, or a combination of all this wrapped into a dysfunctional crap burrito?

[John]

It is the result of the totalitarian mindset. Obama can’t tolerate dissent of any kind. I have no doubt they would love to just lock up everyone they didn’t like. But they can’t do that. So they honestly thing they can send people out to convince the masses. It is a real life example of Marx’ old adage about history first being tragedy and then repeating as comedy.

[Restoras]

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.

[John]

From that NR article

Her challenge will be to ensure that her biggest legislative achievements?curbing carbon emissions perhaps, or expanding the Affordable Care Act?are impeccably implemented with the precision that her ancestors celebrated. She must contend with the new expectations that technology has set, with all of those devices that arrive in our hands seemingly glitch free. That’s what the Obama administration somehow failed to grasp and what liberalism requires if it ever wants to replicate its greatest victories.

First, you have to love the sexist language. Second, it never occurs to them that the kind of flawless execution might be unattainable. The whole thing is just a restatement of “next time we need the right people in charge”. What a hopeless ideology. They are incapable of any real self criticism or evolution in their thinking, no matter how profound the failure.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I’m guessing NR is New Republic not National Review

[John]

Yes

[Elspeth Flashman]

That’s how communist apologists continue to defend communism, so why should the left be different?

[John]

The old communists at least tried to explain reality. Leninism was not the same as Marxism since Lenin tried to explain why the industrial nations had not gone communist as Marx had predicted. It was all evil bullshit of course. But they at least tried.

The modern left doesn’t even do that. They won’t ever admit that Obamacare was a flawed concept or try to explain it any terms other than, “we need to give different people a chance to do the same thing”. The communists were wrong and murderously evil. The modern left is insane.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Agreed.
So the communist argument should be essentially an either/or – end/sum one. Either communism works or it doesn’t.
But the argument that “since it hasn’t, let’s give other people a try to work its magic” is a (somewhat manipulative) way to work around the either/or argument.

[CE]

Let’s not sugarcoat this. The Obamacare website rollout wasn’t quite glitch free, as many expected.

[Mike M.]

Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter and some other big city mayors are joining together to proclaim zero tolerance for the “Knockout King” game that some left-wing media scumbags are now trying to convince us doesn’t really exist.

Good for Mayor Nutter and the rest of them. There’s absolutely nothing amusing whatsoever about racially driven violence. It wasn’t funny when the Klan was lynching people back in the fifties and sixties, and it’s not funny now when some street thugs target people of other races to be knocked out for their own sick personal amusement.

[John]

Isn’t assaulting someone already a crime? Isn’t that kind of zero tolerance? Or has Philadelphia treated young black men assaulting people like they do dog bite; every kid gets a free assault.

[Mike M.]

I understand what you’re saying, and of course assault for any reason is wrong.

But personally I don’t have a problem with this message at all. I believe that the government was absolutely correct to crack down on the Ku Klux Klan the way they finally did. We don’t see lynchings anymore, and that’s a good thing; that kind of behavior never should have been tolerated in the first place.

If our government serves any legitimate purpose at all, it’s to at least try to provide enough basic protection to keep our country from degenerating into some sectarian hellhole like Iraq or Rwanda.

[John]

True. They should crack down on it. But I guess my issue is with the use of the term “zero tolerance”.

[Restoras]

Yes, “zero tolerance” is basically a poltical/bureaucratic ass covering strategy. It obviously leads to lots of absurdity (Pop-Tart guns, etc.) but hey, they did soemthing!

[Restoras]

I wonder if the media is trying to ignore the story because it is a perfect example of the inability of the state to protect you and guarantee your safety.

This realization does not fit well with the Progressive mindset.

[Bam!]

The realization that black people attack white people doesn’t fit well with the Progressive mindset.

[John]

They only report stories that advance the narrative. If it were white people doing it, it would advance the narrative that white men are racist. But black men doing it just advances the narrative that black men are dangerous and the state can’t protect you. Therefore, the story must be at first ignored and if it can’t be ignored must be shown to be a “myth”. Look at the various links Sugar Free gives above. They all came out on the same day with the same talking point. Apparently Drudge linking to these stories made it impossible to ignore them anymore.

[db]

Fuck Michael Nutter and every other Mayor who has fought so hard, successfully or unsuccessfully, to disarm the citizens walking the streets of their cities, making them vulnerable to such thuggishness.

You want to “declare war” on street crime? Stop preventing your constituents from defending themselves, asshole.

[sarcasmic]

I’d prefer to see thugs shot dead by armed citizens over speeches from mayors.

[The Late P Brooks]

The last gunshot officers heard, which is believed to be the suicide shot by Lanza, was heard at three seconds past 9:40. Newtown officers entered the school at 47 seconds past 9:44, according to the report.

I’m surprised they didn’t all decide to go home at that point, since the threat had apparently passed.

“We’ll stop by in the morning to check up on things, maybe. I gotta get home safe, and so do the rest of you.”

[db]

All the heroic looking pictures of M4-wielding cops escorting little kids out of the school boil down to this: Knowing the threat was over, they deliberately walked in bearing similar weapons to the shooter and proceeded to “save” the survivors.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Someone should have planted a tip that Lanza threatened cops over the Internet. They’d have charged in at once.

[Suthenboy]

No they would not have. They would have randomly shot people on the street who resembled Lanza in no discsernible way.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

And burned the school.

[CE]

“Lets wait 4 minutes and 44 seconds after the last shot, to make sure he’s not just reloading before he shoots more kids!”

[John]

A timeline released with the report indicates that nearly six minutes passed between the arrival of the first Newtown police office and the time officers entered the school. The report said officers were operating under the belief there may have been more than one shooter.

Some guy is in a building killing small children and they stood around outside and waited. That kind of cowardice has to be born. I don’t think even years of cop training could produce a person so immoral they are willing to stand around and let kids get murdered.

[Drake]

Surprising there weren’t armed parents running past the cops to get in the building. Basically what happened in the end at Beslan.

[sarcasmic]

You kidding? Like the cops would have let parents into the building. They’d have tased them first.

[John]

Sarcasmic is right. The cops would have shot the parents. Just imagine being one of the parents of one of the murdered kids and knowing the cops stood around for six minutes listening to your kid get murdered. I can’t even imagine the kind of betrayal and rage I would feel. Sadly, I bet no one says a word about this outside of forums like this. What the hell is the matter with people?

[tarran]

I thought the shooting stopped within a minute of them showing up?

OF course, some kids definitely bled to death as a result of the delay. If I were one of those cops, hara-kiri would be looking awfully attractive right now.

[John]

You have to go in. You can’t stand around. You have a weapon, go in there and do something. I am not saying just start shooting. You don’t want to shoot a kid yourself. But you have to go in. You are trained. If not you, who?

[Restoras]

They are trained, all right. Trained to wait. Trained to follow procedures. Trained to pike along and collect their pension. Trained to beleive that ‘officer safety’ trumps the safety of the public.

Chicken shit cowards, just like all bullies everywhere.

[Kid Xenocles]

Again, the comparison to the Coast Guard is compelling. They say “You have to go out, you don’t have to come back.”

[Drake]

I used to work from home a 2 miles from my kids’ school. I seriously would have been there with a battle rifle before most of the cops. They would have had to kill me to keep me out.

[tarran]

If a parent showed up with a gun, the cops would have assumed he was one of the shooters and killed him.

And then the parent would have been smeared as part of the problem and as an argument for further disarmament.

[sarcasmic]

“This kind of vigilantism cannot be allowed! Parents with school-age children should not be armed! It’s for everyone’s safety!”

[tarran]

We don’t know that.

I really don’t like to second guess tactical decisions without knowing the context.

What was their doctrine? What had they been told was going on? What orders had they been given?

Sometimes rushing into a situation is just a way to get yourself killed as well without accomplishing anything.

I think everyone of us thinks that we would rush in and risk our lives to save those kids. That hero impulse is dangerous and one reason why police, firefighters, soldiers etc work to imbue their people with discipline is to suppress that reaction because it can add to the body count.

Snipers wound a guy to bait the trap to lure more guys into a killing zone.

When I was in the Navy, three guys died when one fellow collapsed due to toxic sewage gases and two guys tried to save him.

[tarran]

I should point out that if I were the chief, the doctrine would be that the first four guys on the scene go in individually or severally and based on their fate the next 8 set up a perimeter or reinforce.

And none of this bullshit of not allowing EMT’s in until everything was ‘secure’.

[John]

They get paid to die in the line of duty. I am not kidding. The reason why they are paid is that they are supposed to risk their lives to protect the public. And if their doctrine requires standing around outside while someone is on a killing spree in a grade school, their doctrine needs to be changed.

And yes, give me a weapon and a flack vest and I will go in that school after that little bastard. I will take my chances. I would rather die trying to stop it than live knowing I stood around and let it happen. Neither choice is good, but it sucks to be me that day. But I honest to God fear being a coward. Perhaps I am just old school that way. If I had been there and been armed, I would have gone in that school. I know it. And it wouldn’t have been because I want to be a hero. It would be because I fear being a coward that much.

Fuck those cops. They are immoral cowards.

[tarran]

John,

I won’t paint those guys as cowards until I know more.

Aside from that quibble, I agree with every other statement you’ve just made.

[John]

Maybe there is more to the story. But it is not like it is the first time this has happened. The cops stood around and did nothing during Columbine. That seems to be the cops MO during these things. Has there ever been a cop killed or wounded in the line of duty trying to stop a mass shooting?

The ironic thing is that the only cops who ever did the right thing in one of these situations were the two rent a cops at Fort Hood who went after and eventually wounded and paralyzed Huissain. And last I heard at least one of them was fired.

[tarran]

IIRC, the cops in the Georgia Tech shooting acquitted themselves pretty well.

Cho had chained the doors shut, so it took them a minute to break in. But, IIRC, the cops were charging toward the gunfire.

[John]

VA Tech you mean? Interestingly both of those cases involved pretty low end law enforcement. It is almost like the more training they get the less likely they are to do anything. Columbine was in a big Denver suburb with a large and well trained police department. So was Aurora.

[robc]

Im sure he meant VPI. AFAIK, GT hasnt had a shooting.

[Generic Stranger]

The prevailing doctrine for active shooters these days is to go in as soon as you get to the scene. You don’t wait for backup.

That’s because most spree killers are cowards. The vast majority of the time they shut down as soon as they hit any kind of resistance. They either end up surrendering or taking their own lives.

[John]

Pretty much. Doubtful that anyone shooting up a grade school is interested in dying in a gun fight.

[Rasilio]

The problem here is in this case if the shooter is shooting at an armed cop trained at least minimally for tactical combat wearing a bullet proof vest he’s NOT shooting at kids during that time.

While the first handful of cops going in could very well end up being killed in action at the very least they interrupt and delay the shooters while the rest of the force gets a more organized response together.

This is not hero impulse this should be standard doctrine for police, in any active shooter situation get the shooter targeting you instead of civilians then rely on your training to stay alive as long as possible.

[Restoras]

This is not hero impulse this should be standard doctrine for police, in any active shooter situation get the shooter targeting you instead of civilians then rely on your training to stay alive as long as possible

This must cause their brains to malfunction – it doesn’t square with the Officer Safety Directive.

[Restoras]

That hero impulse is dangerous

If it is dangerous then why do we have it? Shouldn’t it have been Darwined our by now?

How many more people would die if everyone ignored their hero impulse?

I saw a horrific car wreck on the NJ Turnpike once. One had flipped over and you could see the driver covered in blood. At least half a dozen cars pulled over to help. Should they not have?

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

I’ve gone toward the gunfire, I’ve rushed into flipped over trucks, into car wrecks….and I was often so scared I could not have farted a BB out.

You just have to go – I don’t want to live in a society where people, especially cops, worry about anything other than helping.

[Rasilio]

The response of statists everywhere is no, they should have waited for trained medical personel

[Sevo]

Lefty columnist gonna lefty:
“FDA reins in genetic testing firm 23andMe”
http://www.sfgate.com/technolo…..011311.php
Money quote:
“But it’s worth adding here that the FDA evaluates the efficacy of medical tests and treatments because entrepreneurs throughout history have been happy to make bold promises about health benefits with absolutely no scientific basis. The United States has a rich history of salesmen pushing snake oil, tonics, healing crystals and ineffective herbs.”

Somebody tried to sell snake-oil so this is just fine!
Dipshit.

[Bam!]

I’m sure there’s some literal homeopathic snake oil on store shelves.

[John]

^^THIS^^

The same people who will happily support the FDA letting cancer patients die while new treatments are “properly tested” will believe virtually any nonsense and buy any product as long as it is called “homeopathic” or “organic”.

[sarcasmic]

I buy my homebrew supplies at a local health food shop. Anyway, last time I was there at the checkout some lady was asking the woman behind the counter about herbal supplements for her daughter’s cold. I held back the urge to say something like “I’ll sell you some placebos for twenty bucks.”

[Sevo]

Piker!
Get a mark like that on the hook, nail ’em for a C-note at least!

[Brett L]

” I have this ancient Chinese remedy that takes me about 2 hours to make, it tastes like coffee-flavored piss, but my grandfather brought it home from the war and we swear by it. The materials cost about $200 for a dose, but if you don’t quite have $200, we can work something out.”

[Raston Bot]

23andMe was based out of Mtn View so I bet this writer is going to get some shit about this piece.

[Spoonman.]

Naked man arrested after destroying cars with shotgun

Witnesses reported that the man’s rampage began when he stormed into the Shell gas station at 2602 West Loop South and began destroying the store and damaged the windshield of a car. Iyegbu then ran across the street where he allegedly used his gun to damage the windshields of at least seven more cars ? two located in the parking lot of Hotel Derek and five cars parked in the W Luxury Car Rentals lot.

“The naked man (was) running around in the street breaking cars,” the store manager of the W Luxury Car Rentals told the Houston Chronicle. “He looked normal but I am sure he was on something.”

This is a pretty upscale area, but once when driving through it some dudes in a pickup truck tried to convince me to follow them to their shop so they could fix a dent in my car.

[John]

Was he looking for Sarah Connor?

[Brett L]

Nice.

[Brett L]

I miss the total lack of zoning of Houston. Go 12 blocks parallel to the Loop and its the hood. It used to be about six blocks along.

[CE]

“The naked man (was) running around in the street breaking cars,” the store manager of the W Luxury Car Rentals told the Houston Chronicle. “He looked normal but I am sure he was on something.”

Sure, blame drugs, with no evidence. And where does walking around normal and breaking cars make you look normal?

[The Late P Brooks]

I will be sharing Thanksgiving Dinner with some friends. All of us own *at least* one handgun, so the Mayors Against Legal Guns talking point gambit definitely will not be an issue. There is some disparity in feelings about the Campaigner-in-Chief, but at this point it mostly seems to range from “Holy-shit-that-guy-is-a-fucking-moron, I-told-you-do-ism” (me) to fatigue, disappointment and buyer’s remorse. Nobody bothers to make the vaguest pretense of effectiveness for the Obamacare.

So, I think it will be a pleasant afternoon, with excellent food and good conversation.

[John]

I live in the epicenter of Blue America. And all but one of my neighbors had an Obama sign in 08. Since the first of October not a single one of them has had anything to say about politics. And these are political people who live and work in Washington at various do gooder jobs.

I am really starting to think that no one other than paid internet trolls (a.k.a. journalists) actually support him anymore. The sense of regret and betrayal among these people is palpable.

[Brett L]

First integrated family Thanksgiving for my wife and I. Luckily, my dad’s ADD prevents him from spending more than about 4 hours in any one place without computer access, so I have an upper bound on the amount of time I have to spend, because we are damn sure ducking when my folks do. Also, I want to watch the Falcon 9 launch webcast.

[CE]

Mayors Against Legal Guns? What else are they against? Legal Cars? Legal Houses? Legal Small Businesses? If you don’t like the law, try to change it. Campaign against it. See where that gets you.

[The Late P Brooks]

Just imagine being one of the parents of one of the murdered kids and knowing the cops stood around for six minutes listening to your kid get murdered.

I’m sure their rationalizations (and OMG TEH EVUL GUNZ! predispositions) leave plenty of wiggle room for those selfless noble first responders.

[Sevo]

And Obo gets heckled in SF (for not being kingly enough)
“Obama, in S.F., hails Batkid, pushes immigration reform”
http://www.sfgate.com/politics…..010392.php
“a shouting audience member who urged him to bypass congressional Republicans and use executive orders to accomplish major reforms.”

[CE]

At least he hailed BatKid.

[The Late P Brooks]

I think everyone of us thinks that we would rush in and risk our lives to save those kids. That hero impulse is dangerous and one reason why police, firefighters, soldiers etc work to imbue their people with discipline is to suppress that reaction because it can add to the body count.

I understand what you are saying, but there are circumstances in which the cops need to act without comprehensive knowledge of the situation. They had guns. They had radios, didn’t they? The fuckers never even take a shit without a bulletproof vest. Stopping killings in progress is the real priority, not mopping up and writing a report afterward.

[John]

Exactly. Yeah, there are few things in life more dangerous and awful than walking into a building knowing that someone in there has a weapon, is waiting for you, and means you harm. But some days it sucks to be you. You have to go in.

[sarcasmic]

Stopping killings in progress is the real priority, not mopping up and writing a report afterward.

Haaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha!

Officer safety is all that matters. You should know that by now. Why do you think they’re getting all these armored vehicles? Before long, instead of waiting outside until the shooting stops, they’ll stand around and wait for their armored behemoth to show up.

[Juice]

that can smash through the wall, hurl tear gas in, and burn the place down, Waco-style.

[Brett L]

I thought that the current thinking is that in any active shooter event, having the first wave of responders engage the shooter immediately was the safest for everyone.

[The Last American Hero]

You are confused – in an active shooter event, it’s wait around, eat donuts and chat about banging Morgan Fairchild after winning a surfing championship until the shooting stops and SWAT shows up to clean up. In the case of a drug warrant for suspect with no history of violence, it’s going in guns blazing.

[The Late P Brooks]

Officer safety is all that matters. You should know that by now.

I can dream, can’t I?