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Obama Dismisses IRS Targeting of Conservative Groups as Non-Issue, Secret National Reconnaissance Office Payload Successfully Launched, Private Company Wants to Land Spacecraft on Moon in 2015: P.M. Links

Ed Krayewski | 12.6.2013 4:30 PM

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(MSNBC)
  • thrill is gone
    MSNBC

    President Obama downplayed the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups in defending the job his administration has done and the trustworthiness of the federal government in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

  • A federal judge ruled Greenville County Schools did not have to stop student-led prayers or activities being held at places of worship while a lawsuit against the practices goes to court.
  • A DC police officer, Linwood Barnhill, is being investigated for allegedly running a prostitution ring after a missing 16-year-old girl was found in his apartment. He has not been arrested or charged, but police executed a search warrant for alleged child pornography and sex trafficking of a minor.
  • A rocket carrying an unknown payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which manages  the government's space-based spy satellites, launched successfully off the coast of California.
  • At a summit of African leaders being held in Paris, French President Francois Hollande urged the creation of a regional security force to deal with crises like the one in Central African Republic to which France is responding with its latest intervention.
  • Jordan will take the UN Security Council seat previously rejected by Saudi Arabia.
  • A private company wants to land a micro-spacecraft on the surface of the moon in 2015.

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NEXT: British Royal Marine Gets 10 Years for Murdering Wounded Afghan Insurgent

Ed Krayewski is a former associate editor at Reason.

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  1. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

    Group of Death baby!

    1. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

      Ronaldo, Klinsmann, Boateng. Oi.

      1. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

        I honestly think it’s reasonable for us to squeak through in second, winning the first two or tying Portugal and getting through on goal difference. Especially playing Germany last if they’ve already locked up the group by the time we play them.

        1. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

          It’s wrong to pit Brother vs Brother in this group.

      2. Ted S.   12 years ago

        Both Boatengs, no less.

    2. Ted S.   12 years ago

      Yeah, Spain having to play Netherland in the first match of Group B.

      Fuck FIFA’s FUBARed ranking system.

      1. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

        I was hoping France would get stuck with Algeria.

        1. CE   12 years ago

          They already are.

      2. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

        Eh, this happens every cup with everybody bitching. In the end I’m just excited. This is definitely the best overall field in a long while. There are three groups that would be the group of death in any other year.

        1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

          I don’t know, it’d be nice to get out of group play. It’s still possible, we have a much better and deeper team than previous WC’s, but fuck, what a brutal group. Two top five teams, and a team that has managed to beat us twice in WC competition in the past ten years.

          As I mentioned on a previous thread, I really wonder if there’s some shenanigans going on.

          1. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

            Whose the other top 5 team? Portugal is a one man team and they failed to beat multiple teams in qualifying that are far shittier than the US.

            We should on paper beat Ghana and beating or drawing Portugal is entirely reasonable. All it takes is Ronaldo disappearing for a game. Then Germany is last when they hopefully have 6 points.

            Its a tough draw but at least we got them in the best order and the game with Portugal is in Manaus. Our CONCACAF games should help in preparation for that game.

            That’s my optimistic take. Also Kubiak got fired, so yay!

          2. thom   12 years ago

            I really wonder if there’s some shenanigans going on.

            Shenanigans? In International Football? What an absurd notion!

      3. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

        Not only that but one of Spain, Netherlands, or Chile will play Brazil in the next round. That’s gonna be awesome.

        1. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

          HUP HOLLAND HUP!

          1. Andrew S.   12 years ago

            Holland is always my favorite non-USA team. Terrible group for them, but they’ll come through.

            1. CE   12 years ago

              In women’s field hockey, definitely.

    3. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      J?rgen craves the challenge.

    4. Old Man With Candy   12 years ago

      I couldn’t decide if I was going to watch soccer or trim my toenails. So I opted for the more interesting of the two. And fortunately, my wife just got me some new, sharp clippers.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    A private company wants to land a micro-spacecraft on the surface of the moon in 2015.

    Space property rights!

    1. Auric Demonocles   12 years ago

      You ever hear of the golden rule? It’s whoever has the golden asteroid higher in the gravity well makes the rules.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        I, of course, share your views on kinetic supremacy, but don’t discount the property rights inherent in a giant lunar laser.

        1. CE   12 years ago

          Your giant lunar laser is a sitting duck. My mobile lasers are mounted on sharks.

          1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

            The laser for us is just an enhancement, to keep you people from getting bored while we bombard you with space rocks, night and day. Nonstop.

      2. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        You ever hear of the golden rule?

        You know what the chain of command is?

        1. Generic Stranger   12 years ago

          Is it the chain I get and beat you with until you understand who’s in command here?

    2. Medical Physics Guy   12 years ago

      Can I place my lunar extracted helium order yet?

  3. font_of_stupidity   12 years ago

    Third?

    1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

      Last!

    2. font_of_stupidity   12 years ago

      Cool! I get to stand on the podium while the Apatheist national anthem plays!

      1. PD Scott   12 years ago

        It’s just ten seconds of sad trombone.

  4. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

    Suck it, England

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      And you thought England were overhyped

  5. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    A rocket carrying an unknown payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which manages the government’s space-based spy satellites…

    Space NSA!

    1. CatoTheElder   12 years ago

      The really eerie thing about this mission is its logo.

      http://forum.nasaspaceflight.c…..ic=32686.0

      NROL-39 – NOTHING IS BEYOND OUR REACH
      with image of Cthulhu encompassing the glove.

      1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

        The Martians better start encrypting their shit.

      2. CatoTheElder   12 years ago

        Cthulhu encompassing the globe

        a pretty good image, actually, of imperial USA

  6. Caleb Turberville   12 years ago

    http://youtu.be/4cOwnCnRYJU

    “We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese!”

    1. Nooge.   12 years ago

      And Big McLargeHuge.

      1. pogi   12 years ago

        It’s Butch DeadLift, splitter.

  7. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

    A rocket carrying an unknown payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which manages the government’s space-based spy satellites, launched successfully off the coast of California.

    But did you see the project logo?

    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      To be sure, I think whatever countries are directly being sucked by the octopus’ mouth are in deeper trouble.

      1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        Wouldn’t that be Canada?

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          I didn’t look very closely. Wonder if this is to make sure they don’t claim the North Pole?

          1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

            I’ll bet it is. Can you imagine how smug they’ll be around Christmas time if they achieve Polar dominance?

          2. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

            It’s ours dammit

            1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

              I say let the Canadians have it. Otherwise, the Russians will claim it. Canada is just a U.S. puppet, anyway, right?

      2. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

        Not to worry. Superman lives up there.

        1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          I thought the Fortress of Solitude was in Nunavut?

  8. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

    …in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.

    Krayewski should have lead with this, then I would have known to really ignore the whole post.

    1. wareagle   12 years ago

      and in typical Obama fashion, POTUS dismissed the whole thing he initially feigned outrage over while, in typical fashion, his acolytes missed/ignored the disconnect between their lord and master’s positions.

  9. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

    The manliest gardening!

    Alright you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This… is my boomstick! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart’s top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That’s right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It’s got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That’s right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?

    1. Killaz   12 years ago

      Wicked. Though someone on here grows his own hops. Robc, was that you?

      1. Gbob   12 years ago

        I did for years. Had ’em grow over my front porch. They looked great, smelled great, and I would harvest a few pounds of cascade hops each fall. Not too shabby. Oh, and they get better and better each year so my gardening is pretty easy.

        Not “owning a shotgun that fires seeds” kind of easy, but still easy.

      2. Marc F Cheney   12 years ago

        I do, too. Got a few handfuls of Cascade this (my first) year. I’m surprised I got anything at all, frankly.

  10. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

    Best Mandela Obit?

    Mandela began as a terrorist and never turned his back on monsters like Arafat and Castro, whom he considered brothers in arms. When he was released from prison by deKlerk, he showed unexpected statesmanship, counseling reconciliation rather than revenge, no small achievement in a country in which the “liberation” movement (led by Mandela’s wife and party) placed oil filled inner tubes around the necks of former comrades and set them on fire.

    1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

      …sounds about right, unfortunately.

      1. Libertymike   12 years ago

        OT:I responded to your question about my posts on calling out Bailey for his ad hominem dismissal of anti-vax doctors. I quoted a former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine on the general reliability and trustworthiness of studies conducted by those friendly to Big Pharma and financed by the latter.

    2. Homple   12 years ago

      He played the role of saint so well that Western hope-snufflers could busy themselves canonizing him while ignoring the dirty work done for him by his wife and supporters.

  11. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

    A DC police officer, Linwood Barnhill, is being investigated for allegedly running a prostitution ring after a missing 16-year-old girl was found in his apartment. He has not been arrested or charged.

    Of course he hasn’t. They’re treating him just like they would any other citizen.

    1. CE   12 years ago

      Procedures have to be followed.

  12. Mike M.   12 years ago

    The Top Five Ways Barack Obama is no Nelson Mandela. A great read.

    1. Juice   12 years ago

      How is number 1 not “They are two different people”?

  13. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

    PAUL KRUGMAN: Obamacare Has Won

    1. Fatty Bolger   12 years ago

      Wow. It’s a lock, then. It’s over. If Krugman says Obamacare has won, that means it has lost, for sure.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        The fact that he’s saying that right now, when it is most apparent that it’s a disaster, shows that he’s very loudly whistling past the graveyard.

    2. PapayaSF   12 years ago

      “Remain calm! All is well!”

  14. font_of_stupidity   12 years ago

    A DC police officer, Linwood Barnhill, is being investigated for allegedly running a prostitution ring after a missing 16-year-old girl was found in his apartment. He has not been arrested or charged, but police executed a search warrant for alleged child pornography and sex trafficking of a minor.

    The important thing here is that the Brave First Responder made it home safe and alive.

    1. CE   12 years ago

      No doubt. Pimpin’ is dangerous work.

  15. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

    Unarmed Man Goes On Shooting Rampage
    …The defendant is looking at 25 years in jail for the crime of provoking law enforcement into shooting random citizens. If this flies in New York, then there is no law.

    1. Rich   12 years ago

      You can’t fool *me*, Johnny. That’s from The Onicn Hit & Run!

    2. Agammamon   12 years ago

      Yeah, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. . . If he hadn’t done what I told him not to do, they’d still be alive.

  16. cavalier973   12 years ago

    A federal judge ruled Greenville County Schools did not have to stop student-led prayers or activities being held at places of worship while a lawsuit against the practices goes to court.

    Someone is suing students?

  17. Caleb Turberville   12 years ago

    Question about The Breakfasr Club: Why doesn’t John Bender just drop out? I’m convinced he’s doing better in school than he lets on. Perhaps he’s trying for a scholarship to a prestigious shop school?

    1. PD Scott   12 years ago

      So he can deal weed at school?

    2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Is there a novelization? Perhaps in that, it turns out he’s in the top 1% of the class.

      1. Caleb Turberville   12 years ago

        I doubt there’s a novelization, but I’d suspect it would reveal that Brian Johnson actually did kill himself, and it’s actually his ghost that haunts the library.

        Hence, the reason he doesn’t get a girlfriend, and his voice-over narration at the film’s conclusion.

        1. Winston   12 years ago

          I’d suspect it would reveal that Brian Johnson actually did kill himself, and it’s actually his ghost that haunts the library

          No, the entire movie is a dying hallucination.

        2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

          Actually, that’s not what happens at all. His parents move to Australia and, in a series of incredible coincidences, he replaces Bon Scott as the lead singer of AC/DC.

    3. Red Rocks Rockin   12 years ago

      More to the point, why is such a “rebel” like Bender bothering to show up for an all-Saturday detention in the first place? It’s obvious once he’s done pumping and dumping Claire Standish that he’s going to end up on food stamps and living in the same trailer as the Dad he despises, anyway.

      1. The Last American Hero   12 years ago

        You answered your own question.

        Bender: Hell no, I’m not showin’ up for detention on Satur…what, Claire Standish you say. This might be interesting.

        1. Cdr Lytton   12 years ago

          Fade to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqoNKCCt7A and roll credits.

  18. Sunmonocle Backwards Tophat   12 years ago

    At a summit of African leaders being held in Paris, French President Francois Hollande urged the creation of a regional security force to deal with crises like the one in Central African Republic to which France is responding with its latest intervention.

    What colonizing power left its developing-world colonies in the best or worse shape? I would say the British for the former (Southern Africa, India) and the French (West Africa) for the latter.

    1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

      This requires generalization when there wasn’t a one-to-one correlation between colonization model and country, but on the whole I’d say the UK and France for the former, and Belgium for the latter. Portugal was pretty bad in its non-American colonies, as well.

    2. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

      Belgium might have the worst if limited track record.

      1. Winston   12 years ago

        I got to HAND it to Leopold II for his record in the Congo.

        1. Winston   12 years ago

          The self-deprecating jokes about Leopold II being a libertarian just write themselves don’t they?

    3. Jordan   12 years ago

      Dude. Your name. It’s fucking hilarious.

    4. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

      The British Empire was one of the greatest forces for freedom ever.

      1. Libertymike   12 years ago

        Mr. Jefferson would like to have a word with you.

        1. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

          You mean the slave-owning hypocrite who nearly became a dictator during his time as president? DGAF about what he has to say.

          1. Agammamon   12 years ago

            Ghandi would like a word right after.

            1. Kid Xenocles   12 years ago

              The fact that Gandhi won the way he did actually works in the Brits’ favor, no?

            2. Juice   12 years ago

              You mean the racist pedophile?

      2. Corning   12 years ago

        Corning is my real last name…

        So you might understand why I think you are full of shit.

        1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

          On the whole, he’s right.

          Abolitionism would not have had the impact it had worldwide without the British Navy, ditto much of the spread of classical liberalism.

          1. Libertymike   12 years ago

            Like your Mandela observations, the proposition does not lend itself to an absolutist / black & white assessment.

            Put another way, thanks for dropping some knowledge and wisdom on us.

    5. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

      Does Haiti count for France? I’m not up on my empire histories.

  19. Winston   12 years ago

    Okay I know I’ve been pretty critical of all of the “Libertarian Moment/Era” stuff but it would be nice if I could see a poll showing that people would vote for Rand Paul rather than Elizabeth Warren.

    1. PD Scott   12 years ago

      If you polled the HnRers, most of us would.

      1. Winston   12 years ago

        I knew someone was going to say something like that!

        1. Libertymike   12 years ago

          However, many here could qualify for Chief Spreading Bull.

  20. DJF   12 years ago

    Can we start shooting headline writers yet? Here is the headline at USA today as posted at Reason.

    “”””All Syrian chemical weapons munitions destroyed””‘

    Here is what is in the first paragraph of the article. Its is not all Syrian chemical weapons munitions destroyed, its all unfilled munitions destroyed

    “”””it has verified the destruction of all of Syria’s unfilled munitions”””

    And a couple of weeks ago the same headline appeared but the story said that only the filling equipment was destroyed. And people wonder why the public does not know what is going on when the headlines are wrong.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/…..d/3892017/

    1. PD Scott   12 years ago

      Maybe the same guys are the ones telling us about Voyager leaving the Solar system.

      1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        It just did! Like just now!

        1. PD Scott   12 years ago

          We’d better make sure Voyager isn’t smuggling Syrian WMDs out of the Heliosphere.

    2. Rich   12 years ago

      Dude — it’s *USA Today*. You’re supposed to just look at the colorful graphics.

      1. DJF   12 years ago

        But its more then USA today, the Washington Post has the same headline from the Associated Press

        http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..tory.html.

        The stupidity is spreading!!!!!!!!!!

      2. Andrew S.   12 years ago

        …while you get dressed in your hotel room?

  21. Fatty Bolger   12 years ago

    Valve engineer invents new game controllers for your tongue and butt

    Just about every console maker has revealed details of odd, inventive controllers that they worked on and abandoned, but rarely do we actually get to see what such novel control schemes look like in action. Though they’re personal projects, Valve engineer Ben Krasnow has released videos showing off two devices he’s made that allow video games to be controlled by the tongue and by how a player is sitting. Krasnow calls the latter device a “posture-based” controller, which allows users to move around a game world by sitting on it and shifting weight on their butt forward, backward, or side-to-side. It takes the shape of a large pad, and it also allows gamers to swivel left and right to look around.

    1. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

      AKA an evening at Warty’s and Epi’s.

      1. Mad Scientist   12 years ago

        I heard Warty has epic sphincter control.

        1. PD Scott   12 years ago

          If so, he could portray Le P?tomane in a movie.

          1. BakedPenguin   12 years ago

            So that’s where Mel Brooks got the name.

        2. Libertymike   12 years ago

          This afternoon, he sucked on a syringe full of Tony’s drool.

    2. Weigel's Cock Ring   12 years ago

      Where do we go to put our name on the waiting list?

    3. Rich   12 years ago

      Said the arresting officer, “He appeared to be clenching his buttocks.”

    4. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      It’s Been Done Before

  22. Longtorso, Johnny   12 years ago

    A Walk on the Wilde Side
    …The new health-care law exists for the common good, not just the individual consumer. . . . We are better off as a society–more compassionate, but also healthier–when we can all get the care we need.

    So yes, I’ll subsidize someone else’s prenatal coverage. . . . And I’ll remember to be relieved that my own access to health care is guaranteed. But they had better work out the problems with the A.C.A. [Affordable Care Act, the euphemism for ObamaCare]; if they don’t, and it doesn’t fulfill its promise of insuring the uninsured, I’m really going to feel like a chump….

    1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      We are better off as a society–more compassionate, but also healthier–when we can all get the care we need.

      Wow, can the author of this point to a place where charity was abstracted through a government that compassion increased? ‘Cause I’m gonna say that’s not how it works.

      1. JW   12 years ago

        Silly boy, looking at the dumb old means. I bet you scoffed at the Dance While I Shoot at Your Feet Act, didn’t you?

      2. The Bearded Hobbit   12 years ago

        Altruism at the point of a gun is not charity.

        … Hobbit

    2. Nikki just says no   12 years ago

      Jesus Christ, and now that Longtorso links it, I can see that it’s the fucking WSJ who came up with the “[Affordable Care Act, the euphemism for ObamaCare]” gem. I’m going to start saying no early today.

    3. T   12 years ago

      I thought it was uninsuring the insured.

    4. CE   12 years ago

      Olivia Wilde?

    5. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

      It WILL insure them.

      What it won’t do is guarantee them health care.

  23. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

    ‘I’m being discriminated against because I look like the Son of God. It’s really distressing.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      THE SON OF GOD WAS NOT A GINGER.

      1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        Why not? Maybe he didn’t have a human soul. The empty spiritual wasteland in the metaphysical heart of gingers would be a great place to store ones Godhood while it was wrapped in fleshy bits.

      2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

        That may be true, but there are those who believe that Jesus was actually a Viking.

        1. Hyperion   12 years ago

          I’ve never seen a picture of him in a wooly helmet with horns, so I think the evidence to support this is very weak.

          1. hamilton   12 years ago

            Viking Jesus

            1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

              You people all do realize that when I post in all caps that means it’s not debatable.

              1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                I’m not saying he was a redhead. I’m saying he was a Viking.

                1. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

                  Like Thor? Okay, that’s acceptable.

                  1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                    Yes. He was probably blonde, anyway. He looked pretty blonde in all the pictures we had in my Methodist church growing up, anyway.

                  2. Agammamon   12 years ago

                    Get it straight – THIS was Jesus

                    http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/…..Wisdom.jpg

                    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

                      What, no beard?

          2. hamilton   12 years ago

            Alternately: proof positive.

    2. Rich   12 years ago

      At least his uniform crotch says “KRO” and not “INRI”.

  24. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    The least qualified person in the world to talk about humor and good writing… talks about humor and good writing.

    Smarm hates snark. Scocca basically put his finger on what is my #1 frustration with the internet, which is that your nice and giving blogger tries to write funny and hopefully persuasive arguments, only to be met with a sea of purse-lipped whiners who are concerned that your blogger is not ladylike enough, though that word is rarely used because they know they have to be better at coding their obvious sexism.

    1. Winston   12 years ago

      Nick Gillespie?

      1. SugarFree   12 years ago

        Holy fuck, you a boring whiner. Go fist yourself in a Porta-John if you hate this place so much. Participate beyond bitching and passive-aggressive jabs and you might actually learn something.

  25. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

    I would like to address the NAP discussion in the Vaccine thread (My apologies but I got to the party late). It was stated there is no libertarian principle supporting vaacine refusal. I disagree (but fully agree with getting vaccinated, that whole thread devolved into derp when the argument is about principles not vaccines). Here ya go, the Bandit’s guide to 6 years of repetition:

    A Right is a the Ultimate Personal Authority to perform some act.

    No one has a Right to vaccinate me other than me (and by extension anyone I contract that to blah blah blah, and warren can bitch about this being my definition all he wants).

    I am not responsible for the lifeforms that infect/infest me. I do however have a responsibility to not be malicious in my actions, i.e. knowingly trying to infect someone.

    This seems simple, from a principled standpoint, to me. Ohh, and I don’t subscribe to the asinine RB hate except when he ignores FTL neutrinos for a week, depriving us of vapid and rampant speculation in the comments of a relevant thread.

    1. Cytotoxic   12 years ago

      If you are infected with something dangerous, you don’t have a right to endanger others. It is appropriate to take quarantine action towards you, but not to force vaccination on you.

      1. Clich? Bandit   12 years ago

        This is not unreasonable. I was more addressing the negligent, infected but not showing, kind of situation.

      2. Coeus   12 years ago

        Agreed.

      3. Invisible Finger   12 years ago

        If you’re already infected, what good is vaccination at that point?

  26. Hyperion   12 years ago

    A private company wants to land a micro-spacecraft on the surface of the moon in 2015

    This is just sad. We should have fully self sustained settlements on the Moon and Mars by now. Why don’t we? One word; government. We put people on the moon in 1969. 1969! 44 years ago. Then we pizzed around in low orbit for 40 years.

    What now? If the proglotards stay in control and government continues to expand, we should be discovering the wheel again, about 40 years from now.

    1. PD Scott   12 years ago

      Wheels are othering to ellipses, you monster!

    2. Agammamon   12 years ago

      No, its not anything to do with *government* that prevented this. If anything, if government had had its way we *would* have space settlements – settlements that have as much use as keeping people up in the ISS.

      What has kept space settlement from happening through the private sector is less government, and more there’s no money to be made in it (yet).

  27. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    President Obama downplayed the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups in defending the job his administration has done and the trustworthiness of the federal government in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.

    Did Matthews conduct the interview from a kneeling position?

    1. Homple   12 years ago

      Any stuff on his face after the interview?

      1. Gbob   12 years ago

        He swallowed. Allowing the seed of the anointed one to hit the ground would be blaspheme of the highest order.

  28. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

    Never Forget: How an act of a lone nut 24 years ago proves that violence against women is still with us.

    1. Nikki just says no   12 years ago

      You know…that was a fucking tragedy and I’m not going to click through to what is certain to be a fucking travesty.

    2. Ted S.   12 years ago

      I presume those women were not allowed to defend themselves with equalizers?

    3. Fist of Etiquette   12 years ago

      Case in point, that Ohio State incident last month where that guy forced the woman to let him give her drunken oral in public. Whatever happened to that guy, anyway?

      1. SugarFree   12 years ago

        More pics came out that showed he wasn’t forcing her at all and the case collapsed. Although, in a idiotic twist, people have been massively harassing a girl at the same college who looks like the oral girl, but isn’t her if your eyes even barely work.

        1. Coeus   12 years ago

          More pics came out that showed he wasn’t forcing her at all and the case collapsed

          Even funnier, the feminists are still calling it a rape and using the fact that no one stopped him as proof of rape culture. Also conveniently forgetting the guy got his ass stomped afterward by some suddenly moral thugs.

    4. PapayaSF   12 years ago

      Note that the murderer’s birth name was Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi, and that his misogynist father was Algerian. But of course there’s absolutely no connection with Islam.

  29. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

    Today in the Adventures of Capitalism:

    The World’s Thinnest Condoms Are The Pinnacle Of Japanese Engineering

    “Honestly, I don’t how we can make them thinner than this,” a Sagami researcher told Tokyo Sports, “but as long as there is a need for thinner, we will continue researching 0.009 millimeter and 0.008 millimeter thinness.”

    Nameless Sagami researcher, and consumer demand, we salute you!

    1. DJF   12 years ago

      Which the Japanese will translate into English as ultra small condoms and wonder why nobody is buying.

      1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        We can always hope they put out a Gaijin! and Supah Gaijin! line for us.

  30. Archduke von Pantsfan   12 years ago

    China, a leader in Green Energy

  31. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    What’s that, you say? “Another well-written and logical Amanda article, please?” If you insist…

    I’m not going to give this gun seller a video embed for the ad they’re pretending was too hot for the Super Bowl, one that suggests that the AR-15 is good for baby-and-wife protecting. (In reality, as Adam Lanza demonstrated, it’s an extraordinarily capable tool of taking 20 lives of small children in the space of a couple of minutes.) If you must watch it, I recommend mentally changing the words “protection” and “defend” to “dominating” and “controlling”, because really, that’s what the hyper-masculinity this ad is promoting is truly about.

    “If you must watch this video which you should not watch, I recommend changing the ad to say something that it is in fact not saying.”

    As this excellent examination in Wired regarding the horrible gun violence in Chicago argues, most of the murders and other attacks are from young men taking issue at slights against their manhood and trying to reestablish it through the means promoted in the ad and this Fox News segment: gun violence.

    The obvious solution here is to stop seeing “masculinity” as a thing.

    Uh.

    Huh.

    1. tarran   12 years ago

      Whenever I read Amanduh’s ‘prose’, I am reminded of this song:

      Ugly Women are Beautiful Too

      1. PD Scott   12 years ago

        “Beauty is only skin deep, ugly goes straight down to the bone.”

      2. Rich   12 years ago

        “Always marry an ugly girl.
        That’s the only kind.
        She’s never, ever leave you;
        But if she does, you won’t mind.

    2. Nikki just says no   12 years ago

      an extraordinarily capable tool of taking 20 lives of small children

      That is a fucking mess. That is all.

      1. PD Scott   12 years ago

        She’s not even a capable tool?

      2. Coeus   12 years ago

        A gun is an acceptable answer. I would also have accepted: sword, car, poison, bomb made from household chemicals, knife, flamethrower, gasoline, kerosene, plastic bags with zip ties and a big stick.

    3. Nikki just says no   12 years ago

      Okay no one more.

      mentally changing the words “protection” and “defend” to “dominating” and “controlling”

      How about changing them to “domination” and “control”? Or, you know, anything else that was actually the same parts of speech? Do you guys think Amanda ever played mad libs?

      1. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

        Why would Amanda play what she is?

        Think about it…

      2. Agammamon   12 years ago

        And what about “intimidate” – a trifecta like, hmm where have I heard this before?

        http://reason.com/archives/200…..te-control

    4. Andrew S.   12 years ago

      Yeah! And another thing, why should anybody ever advertise farming equipment! Sure, they SAY that fertilizer is just for helping to grow crops, but look what Timothy McVeigh did!

  32. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

    The moment I know you’ve all been waiting for with bated breath:

    Pantone’s color of 2014 is “Radiant Orchid”

    An enchanting harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid inspires confidence and emanates great joy, love and health. It is a captivating purple, one that draws you in with its beguiling charm.

    Serious question. Why does this exist?

    1. PD Scott   12 years ago

      Pantone has to remind people they are different from Pantene.

    2. Nikki just says no   12 years ago

      So Sephora can sell me more makeup.

      1. Nikki just says no   12 years ago

        Which, BTW, they won’t, because FUCK PURPLE, I don’t care if in the makeup world “purple is neutral,” no it’s not, fuck purple, fuck February for being my birth month and having amethyst as a stone, fuck purple, I’m out.

        1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

          Maybe next year will be a better color year for you. I’d stock up on 2013’s emerald sheets and drapes while you can!

    3. Ted S.   12 years ago

      No offense, but that sounds like it’s trying to hit all the gay stereotypes.

    4. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      “Serious question. Why does this exist?”

      This is why

      My Ex was very into haute couture, so I’ve always appreciated this scene.

      1. Juice   12 years ago

        “You think you chose that sweater.”

        “Yeah, I did and not because of the color.”

        I was waiting for some profound point. Was the whole movie that stupid?

  33. Sevo   12 years ago

    “President Obama downplayed the IRS targeting […] in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.”

    And Matthews immediately launched on some direct and aggressive questioning, right?
    I mean, he’s a journalist, right?
    No? You mean he’s just a run-of-the-mill suck-up?

    1. Winston   12 years ago

      He Speaks Truth to Power in the face of racist RethugliKKKan lies.

    2. DJF   12 years ago

      Mathews briefly showed his displeasure of the President by temporally stopping his humping of the Presidents leg. But then they made up.

    3. Not an Economist   12 years ago

      According to Twitter reports, the ultra aggressive reporter said “He came to us today. He came amongst us.”

      hat tip http://twitchy.com/2013/12/06/…..-on-obama/

  34. Andrew S.   12 years ago

    So I asked this morning about favored whiskies.

    Since then, as my week has continued to get shittier, I’ve decided that I just need to get drunk.

    My company’s Christmas holiday party is tonight.

    I may or may not survive. And there’s a 50/50 chance I get fired. Should be fun.

    1. Rich   12 years ago

      Best wishes, Andrew. I would advise getting drunk *after* the party.

    2. hamilton   12 years ago

      Straight to gin, champ. Straight to gin.

    3. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

      I have to go to my wife’s. And I won’t even have time to get drunk before time. Gonna be a shitty night.

      1. JW   12 years ago

        The Redheaded Irish Dancer Company?

        Tell them that the arms at the sides dancing is creepy as fuck.

        1. Apatheist ?_??   12 years ago

          You misinterpreted my comment. I’m married to a midget wood elf.

  35. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    And Matthews immediately launched on some direct and aggressive questioning, right?

    “Well, Mister president, now that we have put that fake scandal in the trash where it belongs, will you be able this week to get John Boehner to agree to the limitless borrowing power you need to get the economy rolling again, or will the Republicans continue their nihilistic efforts to destroy this country?”

    1. Sudden   12 years ago

      Stop reading the official transcript from the interview please

  36. Max Power   12 years ago

    Worst (or best?) band names of 2013.

    1. Ted S.   12 years ago

      AV Club? Before I click, are the comments all in the obnoxiously “right-thinking” vein?

      1. Max Power   12 years ago

        Probably, but I don’t read them.

    2. Enough About Palin   12 years ago

      I like Wookiefoot

      1. Max Power   12 years ago

        I like Slutvomit and Fucking Panthers.

  37. The Immaculate Trouser   12 years ago

    …and a Yglesias article for good measure.

    Lets take this in order. Consumer confidence is definitely something you could imagine the President being able to impact despite central bank independence and the separation of powers. People think of Democrats as representing majoritarian economic interests and unpopular secularism and internationalism. So when a Republican gets in, they expect America to stand tall on the world stage and stand up for core moral values but perhaps give short-shrift to the middle class. When a Democrat gets in, it’s just the opposite. So Democrats = more confidence.

    Then there’s oil. The balance of powers is tilted much more toward the president and away from congress in the foreign policy and national security realm. It’s no surprising that Republicans’ more confrontational approach to international relations leads to more frequent oil supply disruptions.

    Now you come to TFP[…] Republicans, as the party of business, are much more likely to engage in pro-incumbent regulatory decision-making while Democrats who are cross-pressured from a wider range of interest groups (big business has a voice in Democratic administrations, but labor and environmental groups are totally frozen out of GOP ones) do better at making decisions in the national interest.

    1. tarran   12 years ago

      Again, why are the editors in Slate inviting the retard to publicly make a fool of themselves? Are they sadistic bullies who get a kick out of it?

    2. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      I find it fascinating how people on the left think consumer confidence in economics is literally just how confident consumers happen to feel. You know, just some random emotion that can be manipulated by a clever leader or leaders and something totally unassociated with the financial condition of the consumer.

  38. Coeus   12 years ago

    Krugman once again takes an analogy used by his ideological opponents in reference to regulation and misapplies it.

    There’s a scene in one of the Three Stooges movies ? if any readers know which one, please let me know ? in which we see Curly banging his head repeatedly against a wall. Moe asks why he’s doing that, and Curly says, “Because it feels so good when I stop.”

    Big joke, right? Except that this is now the reigning theory of fiscal policy.

    As Antonio Fatas points out, austerians are now claiming vindication because some of the countries that imposed austerity are ? after years of economic contraction ? finally starting to show a bit of growth. This is, as he says, happening because sooner or later economies do tend to grow, unless bad policy not only continues but gets steadily worse; with austerity still severe but arguably not getting much more severe, some growth isn’t a big surprise. And these countries are still far below where they would have been with less austerity.

    But hey, it feels good, at least relatively, when the countries stop banging their heads against the wall. Austerity rules!

    First off, we all know the extra taxes part of “austerity” is the only thing depressing growth, but have any of the policies changed? Aren’t they still “banging their heads against the wall”?

    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Krugman is like Heidegger. Where the latter gave the Nazis philosophical cover for their crimes, Krugman gives economic cover to the socialists for theirs.

  39. The Late P Brooks   12 years ago

    When a Democrat gets in, it’s just the opposite. So Democrats = more confidence.

    Right.

    1. Pro Libertate   12 years ago

      Yeah, it’s just boom times now, and our reputation internationally is through the roof.

  40. Coeus   12 years ago

    Feminist assumes that basic logic is beyond women. As usual.

    After all that work, it can be a disappointing blow to discover that bodies that have lost 50-plus pounds simply don’t look like bodies that have maintained a steady weight since reaching adulthood. (While cosmetic surgeries like those detailed here can treat loose skin, stretch marks, and sagginess, they’re also expensive, invasive, and mostly absent from the fairy-tale weight loss success stories we see depicted so often.)?

    “It’s a fantasy, that when we lose weight, everything wrong in our lives is going to be right ? that means our relationships are going to be right, we’re going to feel completely differently about ourselves,” says Geneen Roth, a New York Times bestselling author of books on eating who also leads retreats and workshops, and who herself lost between 60 and 70 pounds in her late twenties. “People are shocked to find out that this thing that they’ve been longing for and waiting for and working for is not what they thought it was.”

    1. Coeus   12 years ago

      So she’s not just brave; she’s also speaking truth to power. The diet industry (not to mention the weight-loss surgery industry) does not want women (or anyone) to know that they won’t emerge from the surgery with the bodies they see in advertisements. They absolutely don’t want people to know that choosing to lose large amounts of weight is choosing, in effect, voluntary disfigurement.

      If you don’t know you’re gonna need a skin tuck when you lose a ton of weight after 35, you’re a fucking moron.

  41. Coeus   12 years ago

    Party theme proves rape culture is present on campus

    The horror.

    1. PapayaSF   12 years ago

      Let’s see if my comment makes it past moderation:

      PapayaSF
      December 6, 2013
      5:33 PM
      “In order to shift the paradigm, we must recognize that there is nothing funny about […].” Ah, the rallying cry of of every humorless, self-righteous scold.

      If we forbid every instance of humor that *might* offend someone, or make them uncomfortable, or “trigger” them, what would we have left? Cute kitten pictures? No, probably not even that, because those might “trigger” allergy sufferers or victims of cat bites.

      The author clearly does not realize that she is perpetuating her own “ugly cycles”: Making Bad Taste a Crime, Finding Ever-More Minor Things to Be Upset About, Treating People as Helpless Victims of Other People’s Words, and most importantly, The Politicization of Everything.

      1. PapayaSF   12 years ago

        The comment did make it past the mods.

    2. JW   12 years ago

      …a few fraternity members were about to host a themed party called “Pigtails and Pedophiles,” and people were actually about to attend it, we, as a community, need to focus on what truly matters minding their own fucking business.

      I have a dream.

  42. Coeus   12 years ago

    Well, you learn something new every day.

    Though I’m not sure I wanted to in this instance.

    1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

      Yeah, I could’ve done without reading that.

    2. Corning   12 years ago

      That happens in Max Payne 3.

      1. jesse.in.mb   12 years ago

        I’ve also been informed it happens on The Shield, but I doubt that surprises anyone.

  43. Coeus   12 years ago

    Found this linked from something else:

    Why young women are still relying on partners to “pull out”

    So why are so many women waiting on their male bodied partners to pull out when there are so many other more reliable forms of birth control available? Well, it seems that the abundant access to birth control that anti abortionists claim is available to our sex-crazed girls and women, isn’t so abundant after all.

    Thought experiment: now that birth control is free, do you think that the rates will lower or increase?

    1. PapayaSF   12 years ago

      I believe that once “sex education” became common in school, rates of teen pregnancy and STDs went up.

  44. Coeus   12 years ago

    I am officially done checking shakesville for stupidity. It’s not even fun anymore, and I’m starting to feel like I’m picking on the mentally disabled.

    It’s entirely possible in this vast universe of infinite possibilities that there is some other explanation for a black postal worker being shot and killed on his route, followed by locals reporting that he didn’t respond to hollers and media diligently reporting he wasn’t “the regular carrier,” besides rank racism. But I’m not particularly interested in playing a game of Occam’s Big Paisley Tie. The most likely explanation is violence resulting from racism.

    The town is 80% black.

    1. PapayaSF   12 years ago

      My comment, before the inevitable deletion:

      Seriously? Where’s the racism in a resident saying “the worker was not the regular carrier, and when he called to him, he did not respond”? Those are just the sort of things any bystander or witness would say in response to queries from police or reporters. It’s easy to imagine how this information got into the article.

      “What do you know about this, sir?”

      “Nothing, really. I only saw him once. He wasn’t the regular mail guy.”

      “Did you talk to him at all?”

      “No. I called out to him, but he didn’t respond.”

      There’s absolutely nothing in the entire WaPo article stating, or implying, or even hinting at a belief that “this person has forfeited their right to live.” I am having a hard time imagining how anyone could see this, based on the information provided, as having anything to do with racism.

      1. Coeus   12 years ago

        You are on a libertarian johnny appleseed crusade today.

        1. PapayaSF   12 years ago

          Anything to avoid the writing that I am supposed to be doing. (Though I did do some of that.)

        2. PapayaSF   12 years ago

          Aaaand my comment got deleted.

          1. Coeus   12 years ago

            Not really surprised.

            Well, maybe baby suprised.

  45. Coeus   12 years ago

    Sheriff’s officer charged in road rage

    Lowell police arrested McLean around 5:40 p.m. on Friday after receiving a report of an alleged road-rage incident that began when the alleged victim, who was driving with his girlfriend and two children in the car, reported a man in a car behind him kept flashing his lights and following close behind his car. Both cars pulled into a store parking lot on Plain Street where the drivers exited their vehicles.

    McLean allegedly told the victim he was a state police trooper, carrying a police-style radio with “MSO” on it and a high-powered flashlight. McLean allegedly told the victim to place his hands on his car while he pat-frisked him. When the man asked McLean for some police identification, he said McLean punched him, according to court documents. The man struck back and McLean allegedly chased the victim around his vehicle until some passers-by intervened, according to documents.

    When police spoke to McLean, he allegedly told officers he was jumped by several people in the parking lot. Police reported they could smell alcohol on McLean’s breath. When McLean was asked how much he had to drink, he allegedly admitted drinking a few beers.

    Police allege McLean failed field-sobriety tests. McLean allegedly registered a .11 on a Breathalyzer test, which is more than the legal limit of .08.

  46. Coeus   12 years ago

    I’m having a hard time getting worked up over this.

  47. GamerFromJump   12 years ago

    In other news, Bill Clinton and Zombie Richard Nixon acknowledge being only second-best in the political dirty dealing arena, bow to the master.

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