Bitcoin Value Tops $1,000, Joe Biden Is Our Man in Asia, Judge Orders Hot Sauce Factory to Stink Less: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: antanacoins / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

  The value of a bitcoin topped $1,000 at Mt. Gox for the first time today.

• To ease tension between China and other Asian nations over disputed ownership of some South China Seas Islands, the United States will be sending … Joe Biden.
• A judge has ordered a Sriracha chili sauce factory in California to stop whatever operations are causing neighbors to complain about the smell, but stopped short of ordering the whole thing shut down.
• A British couple has lost its fight with the UK Supreme Court to deny a room to a gay couple at their bed and breakfast because of their religious objections to sex outside of marriage. They were ordered to pay damages.
• Three have been killed in Sao Paoli, Brazil, after a crane collapsed at one of the stadiums being built for next summer's World Cup.
• A Democratic Colorado state senator targeted for recall over her vote for the passage of gun control laws has announced her resignation. If she fought the recall and lost, Democrats would have lost control of the state senate. This method will allow Democrats to choose her replacement until the next election.

Get Reason.com and Reason 24/7 content widgets for your websites.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Comments

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

To ease tension between China and other Asian nations over disputed ownership of some South China Seas Islands, the United States will be sending ? Joe Biden.

His general idiocy can be disarming.

[sloopyinca]

Well, I guess Bill Clinton called in that favor Obama owed him pretty early.

[Aresen]

It's intended to be comic relief.

[B.P.]

I'll be in my bunker.

[sloopyinca]

"Look, if the Chinese try coming onto your island, just walk out onto the beach with a shotgun and put a couple of shots into the sky. That should scare them off."

-Joe Biden to the Japanese, December 2013

[Aresen]

To be fair, Dick Cheney would advise shooting them in the ass.

[Agammamon]

Face, Dick Cheney always shoots you in the face, never from behind - that's the cowards way.

[BakedPenguin]

You know, when Bill Clinton shot someone in the face, he got impeached.

[jesse.in.mb]

My friends think I'm weird for liking Dick Cheney for having shot someone in the face and then gotten that person to do a press release apologizing for getting in his way.

That, and he was a mensch about gay marriage thing during the veep debates when Edwards was being a slimy weasel.

Ooh, and he likely didn't have a pulse because of the LVAD.

[sloopyinca]

Happy Thanksgiving!

[fish_remote]

To you as well.....Has number 2 arrived yet....wait....are you a papa for the second time?

[sloopyinca]

Looks like Baby Liberty will come into this world on December 2nd* unless Banjos somehow goes into labor before then.

*Just like her sister did last year.

[BakedPenguin]

Now there is some efficient parenting. One big birthday party every year.

[robc]

Note: You and Banjos are allowed to have sex more than 1 day per year.

[Brett L]

Irish twins are the best twins

[Dead or In Jail]

I think the middle name, regardless of gender, should be Snowden.

[cavalier973]

Happy Thanksgiving, sloop.

[Gbob]

Same to you sloop. Truthfully, I think Thanksgiving is the ideal holiday. Family gathering around, over eating, drinking, napping and football. Life is good.

[DesigNate]

Happy Thanksgiving sloop!

[Fist of Etiquette]

A British couple has lost its fight with the UK Supreme Court to deny a room to a gay couple at their bed and breakfast because of their religious objections to sex outside of marriage.

I though gay people were the bread and butter of bed and breakfasts.

[Rich]

the bread and butter of bed and breakfasts

That's easy for *you* to say!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Alliterally.

[Enough About Palin]

I have it on good authority that bread and butter is both racist and homophobic.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Just white bread and butter spread.

[cavalier973]

Socially Liberal Concern Troll: "Well, if they're going to offer services to the public, then they need to learn not to be a couple of hate-filled bigots, because EVERYBODY has a right to stay in their bed and breakfast, and have sex with whomever--and whatever--they want. Because Christians are evil people who started the Crusades to kill innocent Muslims and Jews, and are probably retarded Creationists, as well, and...wait, are these Christians or Muslims who own the bed & breakfast? Because if they're Muslims, then these homosexuals need to learn the meaning of respect--as in, respecting the cultural differences of minorities. Or...do the Muslims need to learn to respect the homosexuals? Wait a second...wait...a...second...."

"hnnnngh."

"unnnngh."

*head explodes, throwing chunks of meat splattering about the room*

[Agammamon]

Only when it comes to owning them.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

A British couple has lost its fight with the UK Supreme Court to deny a room to a gay couple at their bed and breakfast because of their religious objections to sex outside of marriage. They were ordered to pay damages.

Freedom of association is such an incorrigibly quaint notion.

[sloopyinca]

Hey, I had some HuffTard tell me that Hobby Lobby is a public accommodation and thereby should be forced to subsidize the health care choices of every single employee even if they go against their religious beliefs.

I asked him if he's a fan of all other forms of slavery and he called me a TeaBaggerz.

[Nikki just says no]

Jesus, WTF does public accommodation have to do with it even in the twisted minds of statist retards?

[Mad Scientist]

Absolutely nothing. It's just an excuse to impose their will.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

You should know by now that not providing is the same as denying access to.

Why do you hate low income women who cannot fuck without insurance covering their birth control?

[sloopyinca]

Why do you hate low income women who cannot fuck without insurance covering their birth control?

Because I'm paying for their fun. Or was that just a rhetorical question?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

What if they were not having fun because patriarchy?

*CPA's head implodes*

[Brett L]

So just to be clear, he admitted that the TeaBaggerz are anti-slavery?

Because I think that's not the talking point.

[sloopyinca]

No, actually he claimed that we were enslaving the employees of places like Hobby Lobby because we were taking away the right of their employees to participate in insurance coverages they think they may need.

I shit you not.

[sloopyinca]

No, actually he claimed that we were enslaving the employees of places like Hobby Lobby because we were taking away the right of their employees to participate in insurance coverages they think they may need.

I shit you not.

[#]

Was I sleeping through my Orwellian speech class in high school?

[VG Zaytsev]

Even better:
he claimed that we were enslaving the employees of places like Hobby Lobby because we were taking away the right of their employees to participate in insurance coverages they think he claims that they need.

[jesse.in.mb]

Ooh, sorry we're turning you out on your ear at the last minute while you're on vacation, but even though we have no notification that you're not welcome here and took your booking, you really should be married before you can have sex (which we don't think you should be able to do).

But good luck finding another booking at the last minute in this quaint seaside village during peak season!

Don't get me wrong. I think they are caught in a shitty position since they can't just put a giant fucking "NO FILTHY HOMOS" sign on their shingle and on their website, and I think the couple kicked on their ear's primary recourse should be noting that on their Yelp, Google Places and Trip Advisor pages, but turning people out of an inn is complete shittiness.

[Nikki just says no]

True. Zeus is going to be mad pissed yo. As are the residents of Westeros.

[jesse.in.mb]

I feel like there's a story of an unwed mother not being able to find an inn that's a metaphor for the abject awfulness of an important religious figure's origin story.

It'll come to me in a moment, I'm sure of it.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Don't beat around the bush*, you know very well who the religious figure is supposed to be.

It's Batman, duh!

*Unless you're into that sort of thing

[sloopyinca]

Is he a Capricorn?

[cavalier973]

The "inn" was actually the furnished upper room of a house, most likely owned by a member of Joseph's family. (the same word is used of the place where Jesus had His last supper with His disciples before His execution). Joseph and Mary were relegated to the lower floor, where the animals were kept, either because more important and/or wealthy family members arrived, or because of the public scandal of Mary being with child before the actual marriage, or both.

[Austrian Anarchy]

The only reason Joseph and Mary were in town was because some puffy government bigwig decided on a national headcount.

[jesse.in.mb]

Or because it was preordained by GOD MOST HIGH:

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.

"

[cavalier973]

Could be both.

Prophecy doesn't necessarily equate to foreordination. Could be just a case of saying, "This is going to happen someday." *resigned sigh*

[BigT]

Like so much of the NT, it was all a fable made up to support the notion that J was the Messiah, and to get him born in the house of David, fulfilling prophecies.

[grrizzly]

Yep, there's a big difference between not baking a cake for a customer and leaving people without shelter.

[robc]

There is a big difference between no room at a B&B and being homeless.

[Tonio]

So, robc, you're ok with forcing people to rent to people they don't like long-term?

[robc]

Ummm...no?

What kind of weird interpretation of whatever is that?

[Tonio]

Well, I was trying to get more granularity on your B&B/Homeless comparison. I took that to mean that there was, in your mind, a difference between renting short and long term. Yeah, that wasn't what you were getting at.

So what did you mean by the B&B/Homeless statement? Would they be, in your mind, obligated to somehow accommodate them if they were homeless? And I assume that this is a moral obligation, not a legal one.

[Tonio]

OMFG, it's like Hannukah and Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July all rolled into one.

I typed an apersand and it worked.

&&&&&&!

[grrizzly]

Well, I'm travelling for Thanksgiving and staying in a hotel tonight. I would be mighty pissed off if I wasn't given a room I'd reserved beforehand and had to sleep in my car if all other hotels in the area had no vacancies.

There's no chance of this happening to me tonight, but a secluded village during peak season would be a different matter.

[robc]

There is a big difference between being pissed off and it being illegal.

Hell, there is a big difference between a tort and a crime.

[grrizzly]

Doctrinaire libertarians will find your argument very satisfying, rob. Others -- not so much.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm traveling for NYE and almost everything was booked up for that night only. If I'm turned away for some reason when I get there I'd be screwed in a country where I don't speak the language and it's cold.

[Zeb]

I think you could make the argument that you have a contract with the hotel you have reservations with and it was up to them to check beforehand if your presence would violate any of their rules.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Bingo. Use contracts - let people know up front what the terms are. If not having extramarital sex is one of those terms, then so be it. If the contract's definition of extramarital is different from the government's, so be it. But don't renege on the contract at the last minute by unilaterally amending it - that is totally uncool (and illegal).

[jesse.in.mb]

Is this going to be one of those weird places where we agree?

[Eduard van Haalen]

What's weird about it? It's totally natural-learn to accept it!

[jesse.in.mb]

What's weird about it? It's totally natural-learn to accept it!

This seems uncharacteristically creepy.

[Tonio]

Yeah, what j.i.m said. Yo.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Use contracts - let people know up front what the terms are.

Isn't it already contractual? I mean, isn't that what the rate per night, we're not responsible for your stuff, and blah blah blah notice on the back of every hotel room's front door about?

[PM]

Yep, there's a big difference between not baking a cake for a customer and leaving people without shelter.

Only in the sense that one apparently hurts your feelings more than the other. Which is a really, really shitty way to make laws.

[Enough About Palin]

You know who else was turned out of an inn?

[Tonio]

Zing!

[cavalier973]

Eddie Van Halen?

[Lord Humungus]

Keith Moon?

[PapayaSF]

It seems to me the details matter, and they're not in the BBC article. Did they try and make a reservation and were turned down? Or did they make one, show up, and then were turned away? The latter seems to call for damages, but the former, not so much.

[Auric Demonocles]

Damages, okay. But they should still be allowed to do it.

[jesse.in.mb]

According to an Advocate article from when the suit began:

They claim they had no idea about the policy before arriving for their stay at the inn near Penzance in September 2008.

In court Monday, Mrs. Bull said she failed to inform Preddy of the policy when she took his reservation over the telephone because she was ill.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Yeah, they'd be entitled to a full refunded and some damages in that case.

Or what Auric said.

[PapayaSF]

Yeah, that seems to call for damages.

[Ted S.]

They should have put the couple out in the stable.

[cavalier973]

You know, if the homosexual couple were relegated to the barn, and one of them miraculously had a child that night, then the world just might be turned upside down. Figuratively speaking, of course.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I didn't see any details that indicated breach of contract, which would be a separate issue.

The way it was phrased implied to me that they simply refused to make accommodations on grounds of conscience.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Ah, so they are prisoners of conscience.

[Tonio]

Taking their reservation was, I believe, a verbal contract. IANAL. YMMV in Limeyland.

[Zeb]

What damages? Did they have to sleep out in the cold and fight off Steve Smithbecause they were refused accommodation?

[Brett L]

Well, if they waited until the couple showed up, and didn't have strong notification, there would be precedent for some recompense, even if the hotel returned any deposit money. I mean, unless one was a Jesse (no offense to our jesse, but it is a androgynous name).

[jesse.in.mb]

it is a androgynous name

Aye, it is. My mother planned her kids' names in birth order with gender neutral names. I hail from a very practical womb.

[Zeb]

Yeah, I suppose that if they had reasonably assumed that they had accommodations for the night and weren't told of the policy until they arrived there might be a case for some damages. People making hotel reservations shouldn't be obliged to ask if the owners have any unusual rules. Sounds like Fawlty Towers.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Just the latest play at eliminating all meaning to private property other than the deed certificate suitable for framing. Just like in Germany right before it was bombed into rubble.

[Fist of Etiquette]

This method will allow Democrats to choose her replacement until the next election.

So the state Dems get to keep the seat for another year and save face. Pretty sneaky, sis.

[Mad Scientist]

One mouthpiece is as good as another.

[mr lizard]

Ya, but it's also the first official acknowledgement that they shouldn't try to charge Hill GC again. Hopefully those future elected will demonstrate continued self interest.

[PapayaSF]

It seems like a marginal 2nd Amendment victory, with Democrats figuring out a way to avoid their full helping of just deserts.

[Cytotoxic]

In addition to BTC going gangbusters, LiteCoin is also going up and up. 400% in a couple days.

[Austrian Anarchy]

On that Bitcoin business, is there anything to that story John Batchelor was reporting a few weeks ago that the PRC is buying it up like gangbusters? I mean outside of that grab of a bunch of BTC recently.

[Cytotoxic]

Yes. China is loving the BTC. More interestingly, the Chinese government is down with it to. Maybe they're thinking that there's more than one way to skin the USD.

[jesse.in.mb]

Exploding whale!

I even found the original video just so Ted wouldn't be faced with the GIF version!

[sloopyinca]

Exploding whale!

John's not gonna like that!

[Ted S.]

I think this was discussed in the AM Links. :-p

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Three have been killed in Sao Paoli, Brazil, after a crane collapsed at one of the stadiums being built for next summer's World Cup.

If only there was a country with infrastructure already in place...

[BakedPenguin]

I'm just surprised there aren't already enough soccer stadiums. It's fucking Brazil, fer Chrissakes

[Rhywun]

Of course there are enough. Just not fancy, new ones.

[jesse.in.mb]

Can there ever be enough soccer stadiums in Brazil?

[Brett L]

Speaking of Bitcoin, these guys are offering what is essentially a digital notary service that can confirm existence and completeness of a document, along with a timestamp using the bitcoin blockchain.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Dear Prudence: Help! My 15 year old daughter is having sex

Over the weekend, during a heated argument with my 15-year-old daughter, I found out that she and her boyfriend of a year have recently started having sex. I had suspected this, and, to her credit, when I asked she said yes without hesitation. I spent many years talking with her about choices and trying to develop an open relationship. We are seeing her doctor to discuss birth control and talk about reproductive health. On paper, I've done all the right things. But I am devastated! I feel pained that she didn't come to me first, sad that she made this choice so young, and afraid that something horrible will happen. I'm sure this is a normal reaction but how can I move on? How do I make her understand that even though I know she is having sex, and even though I have taken her to see a doctor, that I'm not OK with her having sex? What discussion is appropriate for her dad and me to have with the boyfriend? Clearly lying in bed weeping is not the answer.

?Weepy Mom

She's not going to stop. Buy her a big box of condoms.

[Mad Scientist]

Teenage Lust

[Brett L]

Obviously dad needs to clean his guns next time Junior comes over and have a talk about responsibility... and how male calves become steers.

"You had better love my daughter a lot. Because I will spend my grandkids' college money having lawyers dog you to the ends of the Earth for child support."

[Rich]

Apparently you and I have a mutual acquaintance!

[Brett L]

Going to HS just north of Houston, I have been invited to both admire gun collections and quizzed on livestock husbandry in harem animals with the fathers of my dates, yes. Frankly, my own father's admonitions on such matters (him shaking his head and saying, "I should have listened to my father when he said, 'don't ever get married, don't ever have kids', when my pops had just absolutely had enough of either of his sons.)

[Paul.]

Lawyers? I though the gun-cleaning was the deterrent here. We must not be on the same page.

[Rich]

How do I make her understand that ... I'm not OK with her having sex?

Say "I'm not OK with you having sex"?

What discussion is appropriate for her dad and me to have with the boyfriend?

One of my colleagues, when first meeting his daughter's new boyfriend, makes a point of showing him his gun collection.

[Paul.]

I just skip to showing him my corpse collection.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

How do I make her understand that even though I know she is having sex, and even though I have taken her to see a doctor, that I'm not OK with her having sex?

Uh... tell her directly?

So much for that "open relationship".

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Or, use hand motions, such as sticking your right finger into a hole made by your left thumb and left index finger. Then give her a double thumbs down.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Send her a picture of Goatse with a "sad face" emoticon.

[Enough About Palin]

^^THIS^^

[Ted S.]

The kid's going to start drinking before turning 21, too.

[Rhywun]

Quick, call Disney.

[Austrian Anarchy]

This is why we need nationalized health insurance with contraceptives for all, no matter what age or what sex. It should be voluntary for the willing and compulsory for the unwilling.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"I spent many years talking with her about choices and trying to develop an open relationship....how can I move on?"

With that attitude, I'm surprised the daughter isn't the girlfriend of the entire Cleveland Browns.

[Zeb]

And if she is talking about choices, that would seem to imply that the choice is the daughter to make. Did she tell her that she didn't want her having sex at 15 during those conversations?

[Heroic Mulatto]

I feel pained that she didn't come to me first

WHO IN HISTORY HAS EVER SAID "HEY MOM, I'M GOING TO HAVE SEX, IF THAT'S OK WITH YOU?"

[Paul.]

Oedipus?

[Rich]

A judge has ordered a Sriracha chili sauce factory in California to stop whatever operations are causing neighbors to complain about the smell

Perhaps a judge can issue the same order with regard to Democratcare.

[Brett L]

Holy shit Tallahassee PD detective was FSU fan!!1!

Seriously, its the police, most of these guys have a community college education and are from around here. I guess we could get the one UGA fan to investigate, but he was probably on vacation that week.

[sloopyinca]

Color me unsurprised that a cop of an otherwise smal town would have attended the major university there and would also support local athletics.

Having said that, his handling of the case is suspicious at beast and intentionally deceptive at worst. At a minimum, the alleged victim needs to file a civil suit against him and his department for the blatant mishandling of her complaint.

[Brett L]

Hmm, well, at least I have a Thanksgiving topic, now. I can ask my father-in-law if he knows this guy.

I expect that the City of Tallahassee will pay out the $200k maximum liability to the young lady and the 2015 session of the legislature will have six or seven more figures with her name on it.

[Mike M.]

My guess is the kid nothing wrong. I suspect they had consensual sex, he dumped her, and she's trying to get back at him. Happens all the time, especially in the university environment where the lesbian professors encourage that kind of crap.

[sloopyinca]

Boy, she tried to get back at him pretty quickly seeing as she called the cops right away and had a rape kit performed that same night at the hospital.

[Mike M.]

According to who, her lawyer and some people in the media?

This reminds me a little of the Duke lacrosse player fiasco, but this is even more unusual, given that the alleged incident happened almost a year ago.

It's certainly possible that he did it, but there is absolutely no way in hell that I'm just going to automatically assume that he's guilty based on early media reports, because I know that almost half of all rape accusations are false.

[sloopyinca]

Actually, that was according to the PD's own report and the State AG's office. They tend to only do rape kits when an alleged rape has just occurred.

[Brett L]

Gonna back sloopy on this. Common practice is that anyone who reports a rape or sexual assault gets asked to do a medical examination (rape kit). What is not clear, to me, is the evidentiary standard when a person admits to consensual sex. But not interviewing the roommate is pretty damning. You have a 3rd party, who, though perhaps biased, could shed some clarity on what is still a "he said, she said" thing about whether the sex in his dorm room where she was willingly crossed over into rape or sexual assault or not, and never talked to the person.

[Fatty Bolger]

Never believe early media reports on anything. They are always inaccurate and/or misleading.

[sloopyinca]

And I seriously think tOSU could jump FSU anyway if they struggle with either Florida or VaTech.*

*Duke will lose to UNC this weekend. And that will mean they will end up with a sole ranked team on their schedule in the final rankings, an that team will be in the teens after Clemson gets beat by USC.

[Brett L]

By struggle, you mean that our starters would play the whole 3rd quarter for only the 2nd time this year? Have fun playing the loser of the Iron Bowl in the runner up game.

[sloopyinca]

If they go undefeated and don't make it to the NCG, Ohio State will end up in the Rose Bowl, not the Orange Bowl. Playing the loser of the Iron Bowl wouldn't happen unless tOSU ends up in one of the lower-tier bowls.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Any thoughts on how the fact that this is black guy accused of raping a white girl affects perception of the case?

[sloopyinca]

The only colors that matter in this case are probably garnet and gold. And maybe a little green.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Meet Michael: The man in a with an open-marriage and a girlfriend

Michael has been happily married to Kamala Devi for 12 years, and the two share their California home with Michael's live-in girlfriend, Rachel.

The trio, Michael, 49, Kamala Devi, 38, and Rachel, 27, live what's called a "polyamorous" lifestyle. Rachel moved into Michael and Kamala Devi's home six months ago. Kamala Devi said she allowed Rachel into their lives because "I saw Michael lit up and I saw him happy." Monogamy is just not for them, she said.

The three are into meditation, yoga and Tantra sex.

"We have a lot of sex and a lot of sex partners over the years," Michael said.

They call what they have a "pod," like what you would call a group of dolphins. They practice safe sex and total honesty.

"The first rule is really about making sure that we have created the space to have that conversation," Kamala Devi said.

Kamala Devi and Michael have a 6-year-old son together named Devin, and Rachel provides a helping hand.

"We share life together," Kamala Devi said. "It takes a village to raise a child and it feels really good to have that kind of support."

This kind of "polyamorous" relationship is becoming increasingly common, experts say.

Look on his works, ye married men, and despair.

[Mad Scientist]

If you have to put up with yoga, creating "spaces" to have conversations, and raising your kids with a village, no amount of sex is worth it.

[Nikki just says no]

Nah, the yoga part would be fine. The rest, not so much.

[Tonio]

Maybe he likes that sort of thing. To each his own.

[Zeb]

Yeah, I don't see any inherent problem with any of those things. If it works for them, that's great.

[Rich]

creating "spaces" to have conversations

Is that like "GTFO!"?

[Brett L]

I like yoga. I like (well at least before kids, we'll see) going to yoga with my wife. As best I can tell, tantric yoga is also known as "foreplay".

[Brett L]

Eh. I have some friends in an open marriage. I have hung out with the couple, both girlfriends, and the boyfriend, and like all of them. The married couple obviously have good taste in people. That said, holy shit is it hard to keep up with making 5 adults equally satisfied with a relationship. These people can have it, I'm too lazy for anything but monogamy or casual sex (but not both).

[MP]

Exactly. I don't see how it could possibly be worth the effort.

Who are these people who have all this free time for sex? Shit, it hardly even see my spouse during the week. And then there's the hassle of finding private time (DON'T HAVE CHILDREN) when you're not dead tired.

I can't relate to people who have lots of sex. They live in a completely different world than I do.

[fish_remote]

They practice safe sex and total honesty.

Now that they've been interviewed about this arrangement I give it about another 6 weeks!

[Gbob]

Well, to be fair, the only way an open relationship works is total honesty. The woman I live with I have had 3 girlfriends and one boyfriend, and it never would have worked if we had to watch over our shoulders when it comes to the trust issue.

This may be why it doesn't work for most folks.

[Ted S.]

Isn't Kamala Devi getting a bit old?

[Dweebston]

I looked on his works, and I'm surprised he doesn't despair.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Amanduh Sentence O' the Day:

Yes, I realize they're framing it as objecting to Obamacare, but since the argument is, "I shouldn't have to pay into a common risk pool that covers medical procedures I won't use," the argument is actually against health insurance itself, since that's how it works, and instead is an argument for returning to a cash-only medical payment system.

Help me out here, guys: is the stupidity of the thought expressed in the above sentence worse than the structure of the sentence, or is it the other way around? I'm honestly not sure what to think.

[Nikki just says no]

The sentence is long and clunky but since there's nothing actually straight ungrammatical about it, I'm going to have to say the thought is worse.

[Tonio]

It's not an either/or choice. Both are just incomprehensibly stupid.

[Some call me Tim?]

The thought is super ignorant and implies one mus support all sorts of unneeded coverage for everyone in order to support the concept of insurance.

They basically don't understand that insurance is the buying and selling of risk, and no one would bother trading in risks they don't actually have.

[Paul.]

No, I interpreted it as one must support all sorts of unneeded coverage for everyone in order to support the concept of healthcare.

She cut out the middle man. If you're against being forced to carry pediatric dental coverage, you hate healthcare, not insurance.

[Brett L]

So, because women have a demonstrably different risk of being catastrophic car wrecks then men, and that age cohorts also have significant risk differences, she's okay with there being one premium for ALL drivers, regardless of age, sex, or number of claims in the past five years?

Because if so, fuck that idea. I will never have a pregnancy that goes south. I will never experience eclampsia during delivery. Ever. Nor cervical cancer. Nor will a pap smear on my non existent cervix allow for better outcomes from early detection of cancer on the cervix I don't have.

[Enough About Palin]

As I've mentioned before, if men are having to pay for mammogram coverage, they should be lining up to get them.

[Brett L]

First bitch-tits, then tit cancer. Like Meatloaf.

[Zeb]

Mammograms aren't the best example as men can get breast cancer and might want a mammogram some day. Lots of very unlikely things are covered by most insurance. Though the requirement that they be "free" is silly.

[Brian D]

Amanda should have to buy snowmobile insurance to help keep snowmobile insurance more affordable for the people who actually own snowmobiles. If she doesn't, it's because she disagrees with the concept of insurance entirely!

[Some call me Tim?]

This^^

Also: boat insurance, medical malpractice insurance, motorcycle insurance.

Hell, her car insurance coverage should be for a Maybach, even if she's just driving a Civic.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

If you drive a Civic, you don't have real insurance.

[Paul.]

That's an easy one to retort:

Not everyone has a snowmobile, but everyone needs healthcare. that's why healthcare is unlike any other market.

[Some call me Tim?]

That wasn't her point. She said you oppose INSURANCE if you don't agree with these coverage mandates.

[Zeb]

Her problem is not making the distinction between "procedures I won't use" and "procedures I couldn't possibly use". Everyone buys insurance that covers things they won't use because you don't know which things those will be.

[Paul.]

She's confused about the concept of insurance at its core.

Insurance is for the individual, not the group. The insurance company depends on the risk pool, you don't.

Insurance is a bet. It's a bet that you will have an accident, and the insurance company is betting you won't.

If you have an accident, you win and get paid. If you don't, you pay the insurance company.

It's entirely individualized to the insured. If I pay for pediatric dentistry, I'm betting the insurance company I'll need it at some point.

[Heroic Mulatto]

returning to a cash-only medical payment system

Yes, please.

[Tonio]

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Alright fine, but only because you insist on it.

[Brett L]

Don't get all human on us. It ruins our image. But since you've expressed this basic humanitarian sentiment, I echo your well wishes.

[BakedPenguin]

What Brett said. Also, to everyone else as well.

[jesse.in.mb]

Have you ruined a Thanksgiving, Tonio?

SusanM ruined Easter and I ruined New Years 2000.

We're batting zero so far on having ruined a Thanksgiving in the greatest tradition of our people.

[Tonio]

Not really ruined, but there was a time...

[Heroic Mulatto]

No, fucking the turkey on the table certainly ruined it.

[Some call me Tim?]

Can someone tell John Boehner that he is NOT HELPING?!

The GOP's continued calls for delaying the law show that it really is the Stupid party.

http://www.speaker.gov/press-r.....e-failures

[Rich]

This. He should rather threaten impeachment for not enforcing The Law Of The Land.

[Paul.]

No. The GOP must die in a fire. If they keep running into the fire, I ain't running in after them.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Maria Kang: She drives Jezzies crazy

Kang saw the Curvy Girl lingerie campaign ? in which "normal" women model underthings ? and was not happy. She wrote that she was "annoyed" by "news stories about how overweight, nearly obese women should be proud of their bodies."

You read that correctly: If you are overweight or obese you should not have any pride. Pride ? defined by Merriam-Webster as "a feeling that you respect yourself and deserve to be respected by other people" is not for you. If that is how your body works and looks YOU DO NOT DESERVE RESPECT.
[...]
It's obvious that weight, food and body image are emotional, complicated topics for her and she is still working through a lot of issues, and one could even wonder if her disordered eating turned into an ostensibly "healthy" fitness fixation. But here's the problem: Her issues are her own. She has no business talking shit about women who are overweight and feel pride.

...There's nothing wrong with her being proud of her dedication to exercise and flat abs. There is something wrong with responding to average size women wearing lingerie with a rant about the "healthcare crisis." A person, regardless of outward appearance or size, has a right to pose in underwear and feel good, proud and deserving of respect

[Ted S.]

So we're not supposed to make fun of fat people modelling lingerie, but are supposed to make fun of fat people at Walmart?

[Dweebston]

Walmart is not a lefty-approved venue for public consumption, unlike lingerie (but only when it's non-exploitative, a distinction that defies rationale). Ergo poking fun at fat shoppers totally isn't fat-shaming.

[Tonio]

This was covered the other day.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I like that she highlighted this part from Maria Kang's blog:

When we normalize being unhealthy we create complacency to positively change.

How dare Maria say such a thing!

[Dweebston]

So their response is a garbled, overlong "NUH-UH"?

De gustibus...

[The Other Kevin]

This whole thing is just so confusing. On one hand our nation is full of overweight people so we have to ban trans fat and big gulps to make them lose weight. But on the other hand, if you point out that people are overweight and they should exercise and eat right, you are a horrible person and not being respectful because they have a right to be the way they are.

[Zeb]

She is being a bit of a bitch. There is nothing wrong with a fat person being OK with being fat. I think it would be an odd thing to be proud of, but that's not my problem. The problem is expecting everyone else to embrace your fatness as well. Part of being proud and accepting yourself for what you are is accepting that not everyone agrees with you about such things. If you spend your time getting outraged about fat shaming, then you are not OK with yourself.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

From the Department of "It's going to be so sad when Yglesias realizes how pathetic his life is" Department?

I remember when Christmas Day in D.C. when I was sitting around the house alone watching basketball because I'm Jewish, and I decided to take a halftime trip to the Safeway. The store wasn't very busy and I was bored and curious, so I asked the (African-American and presumably not Jewish) woman working the register if it was a bummer to have to work on Christmas. She said, basically, no, that it was a great opportunity to pick up an extra shift and earn overtime pay. That seemed like a very sensible answer.

On the other hand, the security guard on duty in my building that day told me that it absolutely was a drag to be working on Christmas, ovterime pay be damned.

Uh, dude? You weren't sitting in your house alone on Christmas Day because you're Jewish.

Just sayin'.?

[Tonio]

Burn.

[Mike M.]

You just know this describes about 98% of his evenings. Probably including Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and all of Hanukkah.

[Brett L]

Wait, aren't you supposed to eat Chinese food and go to the movies on December 25 if you're jewish? I have even joined some of my friends on the few Christmases I was unable to get home in this tradition and found it a fine way to spend an evening.

[Tonio]

Thank you.

[BakedPenguin]

Wait, Matt Yglesias is Jewish? Is he related to Juan Epstein?

[Brett L]

This is the problem with matrilineal religions in patrilineal societies.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Wait...wait...Yglesias is a Member of the Tribe?

God fucking dammit bastard shit!

[Enough About Palin]

"Three have been killed in Sao Paoli, Brazil, after a crane collapsed at one of the stadiums being built for next summer's World Cup."

I look forward to future workplace accident reports in HyR.

[cavalier973]

You mean, "H&R", with an "&", right?

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Joan Walsh on Twitter: I possess an above average knowledge of African American history

Because she's read books about it, duh! Here's the winner of the subsequent conservative feeding frenzy.

[Rich]

an above average knowledge of African American history

The entry-level litmus test: What is Juneteenth?

[Enough About Palin]

"The entry-level litmus test: What is Juneteenth?"

As made up as Kwanzaa?

[Zeb]

And Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, Labor day, and probably most major religious holidays too.

[BakedPenguin]

Hallmark holidays! The lot of them!

[Michael S. Langston]

I possess an above average knowledge of African American history

Sounds eerily close to "some of my best friends are black".

Slate showing once again what projection looks like.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

When Feminist Dimbulbs Ask Libertarians Dumbass Rhetorical Questions, Twitter Edition (Two guesses as to the author)

What if your for-profit employer believes women should be in the home & under the cover of a man? No health care for women at all?

What if your for-profit employer believes that AIDS is God's punishment for being gay? Can they opt out of paying for HIV care?

What if your employer doesn't believe in modern medicine at all & thinks we heal with prayer? Can they refuse employees health care?

What if your boss opposes "Western medicine" and refuses to cover your kids vaccinations and insists you go to a homeopath?

What if your employer doesn't believe in psychiatric care? No mental health care coverage?

What if your boss is a Christian Scientist and believes you should not go to a doctor at all?

What if your boss believes childbirth pain is Eve's punishment and insists you can only give birth at home?

What if your blood transfusions violate your employer's religious beliefs? No surgery coverage?

I'm shocked that they didn't cover bus-related pregnancies.

[Mad Scientist]

What if you were to get a different job?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Dave Mowers in the comment section has got an answer for you!

You fail to grasp the point here. If corporations can set policy based on "interpretation" of Bible stories which nullifies federal laws then they obviously will use that power. This creates a de-facto secondary government power, which is a theocracy, ruled by Ted Hagee's running around all day making up onerous claims of what God intended. Even Christians cannot agree on what God intended in scripture which is why there are so many different sects and churches.

[Mad Scientist]

Sharia Law!

[Some call me Tim?]

It's like we don't have courts or something.

Also didnt someone write a book about how Freedom of Religion and government are incompatible because eventually someone has to pass a value judgement on whether your beliefs qualify as a religion? Or did I just imagine that?

[Auric Demonocles]

That's true. The best workaround is to have as few laws as possible, so they won't conflict with many religions.

[Brett L]

How dare they have a false Government. "Thou shalt have no Governments besides ours"!

[Michael S. Langston]

All power to The State?, without whom nothing is possible. The State?, who provides all - justice, food, shelter, clothing, education, health care, new jobs, air, water, transportation, and everything else we every take advantage of.

The State?, whose decisions are guided by altruism of the highest form, and tempered only by the strictest of moral standards from which they never stray. The State?, who through a perfect legal system, protect those who need, while only punishing the wicked, as through their omnipotence (and litmus tests), they can see inside any person's heart and judge them for whom they truly are. The State?, whose benevolence is demonstrated in their sincere intentions to give those in need, whatever it takes to retain the power required to do the Right Things?. The State?, whose perfect record of identifying and dealing with threats to the state, allows them the moral fortitude to muderdrone only the right people while doing its very, very, very best to not kill any civilians unnecessarily.

In The State's? name, we pray.

[Killaz]

Life is hard! Full of so many tough choices and complex situations we have to negotiate through just to deal with another human being who doesn't share our values nor point of view. Aren't we lucky we have government to make all of those choices for us?

[jesse.in.mb]

Are you no longer on the run?

You rolled over and cut a sweet deal, didn't you?

[Killaz]

I think they are off my scent, I ran around naked and jabbering to myself for a few days. Now I'm officially 'harmless' in the FBI file.

[jesse.in.mb]

Pics or it didn't happen.

I'm going to imagine it's something like this

[Killaz]

Well, I certainly didn't walk like that. It was more like a skip with a lot of head bounce.

[jesse.in.mb]

Joan Rivers Defends Alec Baldwin

This woman is a national treasure.

[Generic Stranger]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udS6losK7Ts

[Agammamon]

It will be a national tragedy the day she dies. Both because she'll be gone and because there won't be yearly paeans to her legacy every year for the next fifty plus years (unlike a certain useless president).

[IDPNDNT]

I'm calling it.

Bitcoin value is going to go bust.

[robc]

How far does it have to drop to be a bust?

If it drops to $300, that is still a doubling since Ive owned any (not purchased, but that is beside the point).

[IDPNDNT]

Thats a fair point I guess it just depends on where you buy at, but personally I wouldn't buy at this price.

It looks like Gold all over again.

[robc]

Gold is at $1236.

That also isnt a bust. It was under $500 10 years ago.

[IDPNDNT]

Perhaps bad choice of words bubble might be a better choice in words.

http://goldprice.org/gold-price-history.html

If you bought gold at it's peak during 2011/12 you're probably hurting.

It went from $1,900 down to $1,200.

Long term holders have made out like bandits, but recent buyers have lost their shit.

[Some call me Tim?]

I bought at around 1550. I am not really looking to sell though, and won't be for awhile.

[BakedPenguin]

I remember in 1995, right after Russia sold off a lot of their holdings, it went down to around $250.

I didn't have any money in 1995, or this might be a more interesting story.

[Enough About Palin]

"(not purchased, but that is beside the point)"

So you went on the bitcoin exchange, put some bitcoins in your shopping cart, but haven't checked out yet?

[robc]

I won some freerolls at a bitcoin poker site and parlayed it into a bit more btc playing really low limit bitcoin poker.

But, yeah, nice joke.

[robc]

Also, Im apparently better at currency investing than at poker, as Ive made far more from increase in value of btc than I have playing poker.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

And the Grand Jury Prize for Dumbest Statement on Abortion By A Feminist This Year This Week Today Goes To?

The difference between "abortion" and "miscarriage" is a social construct and not a biological reality. Which isn't to say it isn't real, but it's nonetheless important to understand that what makes an abortion different from a miscarriage is what part of a woman's body rejects the pregnancy, her conscious mind or her uterus itself.

Bonus from the Department of "Citation Needed" Department...

And ultimately, this is about well-off people using poor women as objects to express their sexual shame. They believe sex is naughty, but they don't want to be the ones who are expected to suffer for that belief. Poor women are required to suffer and the rich hypocrites pat themselves on the back for their "moral values" while getting expensive and discreet abortions by traveling or having a private family doctor who doesn't advertise that service.

[Killaz]

what makes an abortion different from a miscarriage is what part of a woman's body rejects the pregnancy, her conscious mind or her uterus itself.

I wonder what the writer had to say about the Republican pol who got national attention for that comment on rape and women's bodies rejecting impregnation when they are under the duress of legitimate rape because this is exactly the same argument.

[Zeb]

So agency makes no difference in a moral judgement?

I'm all for abortion being legal, but that sure as hell isn't why. If I believed that an embryo had the same moral status as a human being, whether is was destroyed intentionally or by a natural process would certainly matter to me.

[Jesus H. Christ]

I literally (and I do mean "literally) felt something snap inside me when I read that. It's so, I don't know, broken, and decayed and wrong. What sort of person thinks like that? It's not just a difference of opinion, it's actually sick.

[Agammamon]

". . . social construct and not a biological reality. Which isn't to say it isn't real. . ."

Wait, its real *and* unreal? Mind blown.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

The difference between "abortion" and "miscarriage" is a social construct

My head imploded again.

[Brett L]

Well, not to start a fight about when life begins, but there are obvious naturally occurring situations that, when induced willingly by a person, are socially construed to be wrong. So even if this is true, what's his or her point?

[Agammamon]

Yeah, the difference between grandpa dieing of old-age and me asphyxiating him with a pillow is just a social construct.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Libertarian ethics: Is voting an act of aggression?

[Killaz]

Yes. Voting is a terrible thing to do to your friends, neighbors, loved ones, fellow countrymen, and all sentient being in between. If you decide you should participate in the unholy matter, you should do so with no less the full weight of burden on your shoulders as you would if you were deciding a capital case in a death penalty trial because the blood on your hands will actually be greater in the voting booth than the jury pool.

[Boisfeuras]

It can be aggression or self defense?depending upon how you vote.

"In short, he finds himself, without his consent, so situated that, if he use the ballot, he may become a master; if he does not use it, he must become a slave. And he has no other alternative than these two. In self-defence, he attempts the former. His case is analogous to that of a man who has been forced into battle, where he must either kill others, or be killed himself. Because, to save his own life in battle, a man attempts to take the lives of his opponents, it is not to be inferred that the battle is one of his own choosing. Neither in contests with the ballot?which is a mere substitute for a bullet?because, as his only chance of self-preservation, a man uses a ballot, is it to be inferred that the contest is one into which he voluntarily entered; that he voluntarily set up all his own natural rights, as a stake against those of others, to be lost or won by the mere power of numbers. On the contrary, it is to be considered that, in an exigency, into which he had been forced by others, and in which no other means of self-defence offered, he, as a matter of necessity, used the only one that was left to him."
? Lysander Spooner, No Treason, No. II: The Constitution (1867)

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Your daily dose of doublethink:

Except even though it's factually true that I saw the first doctor before the Affordable Care Act passed and was unable to see him again after the Affordable Care Act passed, obviously the issue here had nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act.

Fantastic. Stunning, even.

[IDPNDNT]

I hate to use the shill card, but sometimes you have to wonder.

A lot of articles seem like they come straight out the administrations press department.

[Zeb]

I'd think they would do a better job.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

It's not like this administration doesn't have regular "off the record" meetings with journalists, you know.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

I don't think this article is satire

I'm not a racist. But I do have a race problem. I finally owned up to it as I was anticipating seeing 12 Years a Slave. In the weeks leading up to its opening in my state of North Carolina, I tried to think of whom among my friends I could see this film with. I have a number of racially and ethnically diverse friends and acquaintances who would love to see it, and yet, I knew I could only see this movie alone or with another dark-skinned person.
[...]
This is hard to admit. I will hurt the feelings of people I love. But isn't confession the first step to being reconciled? I have good, healthy friendships with a range of people, but I could not think of one white person where I live with whom I would feel emotionally safe enough to see this particular movie about slavery. I did not want to have to entertain any of the likely responses from anyone who could not see themselves in the skin of the enslaved men and women on the screen. I had no desire to dissect the film politically and theologically, engage in well-meaning social commentary, marvel at the history conveyed through the movie, or grieve over what was done to black people.

[Killaz]

meh, I think its authentic, and I can't blame him. If he is uncomfortable in a certain, very specific situation that comes up, he shouldn't sweat it as it seems clear from what he says, he is not locked in a pathological dysfunction and has friends from all walks of life. Every action can't be a test of principles, that would be a miserable way to live. Watch the movie with your brothers, and don't worry about what I think.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, the implication he makes about white people here is pretty bad:

I did not want to have to entertain any of the likely responses from anyone who could not see themselves in the skin of the enslaved men and women on the screen.

[Killaz]

To be honest, I never have been able to see myself in a slave's body or mind. I think his own perception of that would be quite limited too as he is no more a product of that than I am. I literally would not exist today without some man who purchased a mulatto to be his companion so far back in my genealogy you would only suspect it from the kinks in my sideburn hair. Lips are pretty full for a white dude, but that really isn't unusual. I can't picture myself there because in a sociological sense, I do not carry his baggage. To be authentic in his culture, he has to at least pretend like he can imagine it which sucks for him. I can sympathize and rather not blame him, but give him his peace because otherwise, except for this one thing, he seems fine in the description he gives.

[PM]

I never have been able to see myself in a slave's body or mind.

Probably because slavery was abolished in this country a century and a half before you were born, so you never got to experience it as victim or perpetrator. Which puts you in exactly the same boat as every black person born a century and a half after slavery was abolished. Like your skin color makes you any more able to connect with that experience when you've never had it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Yeah, I remember when my parents only wanted to see Schindler's List with fellow Jews...

Oh wait, they actually saw it with their Methodist best friends.

[Agammamon]

So, your like, a diversity *triple* whammy!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Pretty much.

[Killaz]

I remember when a pair of Jewish friends asked me to see Schindler's List with them and I said I'd rather have root canal than see that movie.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I thought the music was great, actually.

[Killaz]

The violin stuff? Very repetitive. Like a body of Fernando Sor etudes executed at a languid pace. Only, his pieces were meant to be laborious for study purposes.

[Killaz]

Hell, that's exactly what I was thinking when I heard the soundtrack. I was studying this piece

http://www.guitarist.com/media...../ss-08.mid

that week, and thought at one point, a few like modal transformations of the key and bingo.

[Killaz]

thought at one point, a few like Miles Davis modal transformations of the key and bingo.

I deleted it as I thought it would obscure the point. That would naturally lead us to talking about Sketches of Spain, we would lose track of the time and suddenly the tea biscuits are ate up before we know it.

[Killaz]

I still screwed up that correction of a corrected deletion. Shit.

[Eduard van Haalen]

It *is* an uncomfortable movie. I saw it in a white audience which groaned and gasped at several points - it was really intense.

But for the H&R crowd, the only shocking thing was that the protagonist retained his Christian faith, Job-like, in the midst of all his suffering.

[Fatty Bolger]

This is why I can't watch Spartacus with my Italian friends.

[Killaz]

I watched the Godfather trilogy with my Italian American friend, but he's very apologetic about it, so its cool. Apologizes for being Italian, not about the mafia stuff which he has no connection.

[jesse.in.mb]

Pat Robertson lets us know how he stays so fit.

I love Pat Robertson in the way one loves his completely senile uncle. The man needs to retire. He's a gaff making machine.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

No, he can't retire. He's the only thing that makes TBN watchable.

[Source: a guy with a lovely wife who has absolutely no taste in television.]

[Brett L]

He's an original member of the Powerlifting for Jesus team.

[Killaz]

Ha! The one episode that I caught of that show. So I know the reference. Oh yeah, saw the one with the new boss who would drop his trout and dare the boys to do the same.

[The Late P Brooks]

Except even though it's factually true that I saw the first doctor before the Affordable Care Act passed and was unable to see him again after the Affordable Care Act passed, obviously the issue here had nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act.

If Doctor A was an optometrist, and doctor B was a cardiologist, that could be true.

[Mad Scientist]

No, "the first doctor" and "him" are one and the same.

[The Late P Brooks]

"the first doctor" and "him" are one and the same.

That's what I get for carelessly skimming.

Maybe the doctor retired.

SOMETHING HAPPENED, BUT IT WASN'T OBAMA'S FAULT.

LEAVE OBAMA ALOOOOOOONE!

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

How to win an Obamacare argument with your Teabagging in-law at Thanksgiving

I'll bet you a year from now, when we're all sitting down to this wonderful bounty, this lousy website rollout will be a bad memory. It's already -- finally -- starting to work better. The states that set up their own website are signing up lots of people -- 80,000 in CA alone. Doesn't that make you think there must something people want and need here, once they can get it?

BiL jumps back in: What about all those millions of people who were lied to about how they could keep their insurance if they liked it? Please tell me you're not going to defend that!

You: Of course not, but again, let's not blow this out of size, bro. First off, you're talking about just 5 percent of the population. Now, I agree: the president was wrong to make that claim for those folks. But he was right for everyone else. And you know he's trying to make amends, right, by giving insurers a chance to re-issue plans that they'd cancelled?

Does anyone here remember that last time a big-shot politician admitted he'd made a mistake?! The dude's been gettin' it from all sides lately -- how about we give our president a little credit for owning up to a mistake he made and trying to fix it? (I suspect bro-in-law's getting a little worried about now -- this isn't what he envisioned on the drive up... )

[Killaz]

Obamacare enthusiast, please, just, and I'm not even saying this out of animosity, I'm so beyond that point now, but, just, for the sake of your own dignity, kill yourselves. Your pathos is too sickening. You're making everyone feel uncomfortable at the moment because when we finely do what we have to do to get rid of the thing, it is not going to be pretty. Think The Handmaiden's Tale. Right now, most of us would put up with a right wing dystopia than the flaccid prosperity destroying leftist one you are creating now. And when we do it, it will all be on your head for this stupid shit you pulled. So, do the honorable thing, down the vein, not across.

[Auric Demonocles]

Fucking 5% of the population? No big deal.

10% of the population without coverage (many of them by choice)? NATIONAL TRAGEDY!!!!1!

[Killaz]

What he neglects to point out, and what he damn well knows, this is merely the tip of the iceberg as the individual market is a small one compared to the employer based one that is getting hit next year.

[OldMexican]

Re: Jared Bernstein (Huff post),

First off, you're talking about just 5 percent of the population. Now, I agree: the president was wrong to make that claim for those folks. But he was right for everyone else.

I would ask this idiot during dinner: How do you know he was being honest with the 95% of the insured population? If he was willing to lie to 5%, what makes YOU think he would have any qualms about lying to everybody else?

[Brett L]

Think about your 20 favorite people, then think about which one you're going to say, "hey, fuck you, but nothing personal".

I have the sneaking suspicion that many of these people are innumerate and don't understand that 1 in 20 is a lot.

[Eduard van Haalen]

+1/20

[Boisfeuras]

You can also explain in relatable terms how staggeringly large "just" 5% of the U.S. population is: 16,000,000 people would fill 200 NFL stadiums, and is twice the entire populace of NYC.

[Sevo]

So he lied to the people who wanted to keep their insurance and he didn't lie to the ones who didn't?
That's a lie; he lied to all of them. The lie just has no direct effect on the others.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

But you know my methods: we stroke, we kick. We concede the truth and provide the context. We are fact based. We never get nasty.

I can definitely buy that this guy strokes -- if you know what I mean. And I think you do...

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Also, I guess Grandma telling everyone to shut the hell up because it was gorram Thanksgiving and not a fucking political rally was omitted from the transcript for clarity.

[Redmanfms]

But you know my methods: we stroke, we kick. We concede the truth and provide the context. We are fact based. We never get nasty.

Every prog I've ever had the displeasure of conversing with "in real life" must be exceptions that prove the rule. Even the progs in my own family (all two of them) are testy, emotion-based, and nasty. I've literally never had a pleasant conversation with a prog, real world or internet.

The progs I know well are only a shade above fucking YouTube comments in their argumentative methods.

I've had civil conversations with my socon, drug law supporting die-hard Republican aunt; I've had them with my Bible-thumping Jesus freak friends. I've never had a conversation with a prog in which disagreement (on my part) hasn't immediately resulted in impugning my character and assigning nefarious motives to my disagreement (you know, racist, sexist, hates children, wants to kill granny, wants to kill the poor, "dangerous").

My conservatard friends/family are also quite able to avoid discussing politics for one whole fucking evening, not so with progs, ever.

[Irish]

I've had civil conversations with my socon, drug law supporting die-hard Republican aunt; I've had them with my Bible-thumping Jesus freak friends. I've never had a conversation with a prog in which disagreement (on my part) hasn't immediately resulted in impugning my character and assigning nefarious motives to my disagreement (you know, racist, sexist, hates children, wants to kill granny, wants to kill the poor, "dangerous").

My conservatard friends/family are also quite able to avoid discussing politics for one whole fucking evening, not so with progs, ever.

^ This. I have hyper religious friends whose views I find laughable and I've never had the same problems with them as with the average progressive. Progressives run entirely on emotion, envy, and petulance.

[Michael S. Langston]

As much as I'd prefer not to as it seems like generalization, I'll third this. The only progs who have been fairly nice to me once politics of any kind came up, where those who believed they could change my mind or believe that I really believe what they do, I just don't know it yet (I have actually been told that one - and while polite, ultimately it labels me as retarded - though depending upon whom you ask - that may be debatable).

The good news is - thanks to Krugman - the plural of anecdote is data - so I think we have our proof that this is totally and completely true.

Next up - Nobel Prize submission for this groundbreaking work.

[Redmanfms]

Oh I never claimed all progs were this way, just every single one I've ever met. To be fair, the progs I've met at political sorta things who flew into red-faced, feet-stamping, spittle-spraying rages when I politely disagreed with them might be deferential, polite, and "fact-based" when "providing context to truth" for their family/friends.

Haha.

[The Late P Brooks]

First off, you're talking about just 5 percent of the population.

A few million here, a few million there; before long, you're talking about a lot of people.

Jared Bernstein is a sleazy lying sack of shit.

[Generic Stranger]

You know who else casually dismissed 5% of the population?

[cavalier973]

Principal Skinner?

[OldMexican]

A British couple has lost its fight with the UK Supreme Court to deny a room to a gay couple at their bed and breakfast because of their religious objections to sex outside of marriage. They were ordered to pay damages.

I was going to say "they can always move to the United States to escape protected-group-induced slavery" but I suddenly remembered that the recommendation is no longer sound.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Sandra Fluke versus Edmund Burke: Commentary magazine discusses the HHS mandate

http://www.commentarymagazine......DQ.twitter

[BakedPenguin]

Mostly good, Eddie, but I did take issue with the last couple of paragraphs. There were many English leaders who viewed themselves as the embodiment of God's will on Earth, and ruled thusly. Cromwell comes to mind.

Also, I asked you a favor a few days ago on the morning links. You owe me nothing, but it is in your wheelhouse. I was wondering if you could give me an answer.

[Eduard van Haalen]

I didn't mean to be rude - ask me again an I'll see what I can do.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Seriously, I must not have seen it, so just ask again. If I can do it, and if it doesn't involve extensive travel, breaking any laws/commandments, etc.-well, I'll see.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Was it the one where you wanted me and some other guys to have a dedicated abortion thread and to stay out of other threads, or some such thing?

[BakedPenguin]

I understand, no problem. I asked pretty late for AM Links.

My uncle Phil is currently dying from cancer. He is a devout Catholic, and I wished to ask you to pray for him. It would mean a lot to him, I believe, and I would appreciate it for that fact.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Absolutely!!

I'm very sorry to hear about that. I'm glad to hear he's devout, a description I couldn't apply to myself. But I will do as you ask. God bless.

[BakedPenguin]

Thank you, he will appreciate it. May your God bless you.

[JidaKida]

I bought 100 bitcoins when they were $9 a piece. I cant believe they are now worth $100,000. I have already cashed out $20,000 in the last few days. Not a bad return on a $900 invenstment!

http://www.Comp-VPN.tk

[Redmanfms]

Did pedobot just brag about his business acumen without actually trying to pimp something?

This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

[Rhywun]

I dunno... why don't you click the link and find out.

[ibcbet]

it's look cool. good coin model i think