A.M. Links: Economists in Survey Say Income Inequality is Hurting the American Economy, China Confirms Near-Collision With US Navy Ship, Up to 500 Killed in South Sudan Since Sunday

Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Jason T. Poplin./wikimedia

• China has confirmed that one of its warships almost collided with the USS Cowpens earlier this month.
• An official from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has acknowledged that the department should not have hired about 80 of the officers it did in 2010.
• Washington, D.C. gun owners will face up to a year behind bars and a $1,000 fine if they do not re-register their firearm from Jan. 1, 2014.
• Most economists in a survey conducted by the Associated Press believe that income inequality is hurting the American economy.
• Up to 500 people have been killed in South Sudan since Sunday as fighting between military factions spread from the capital.
• Indians have protested the treatment of a diplomat who was stripped and searched after being taken into custody by police in New York City.

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Comments

[Lord Humungus]

Holy dweeb.

Barack Obama: How do you plan to spend the cold days of December?

Wear Pajamas.
Drink hot chocolate.
Talk about getting health insurance.

[Old Man With Candy]

Jesus, and I thought *I* didn't have a life.

[db]

The types who squee over this kind of shit give me the major creeps. It's a short road from "squee" to danger, if 1930s Europe is any indication.

[Rich]

Organizing for America's video

These clowns just keep throwing money at self-parodying bullshit.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"Adam Manning ?@AdamManning 15h

@BarackObama must get some pyjamas like that! they look very warm. Thanks Mr President!"

What a fucking loser.

[Snark Plissken]

I thought this summed it up nicely.

[Slammer]

This, too.

[Snark Plissken]

Just led to search box.

This also:

Cuff? ?@CuffyMeh 14h
Welp, we've found Obamacare's free contraceptive. #HeyLadies pic.twitter.com/ZPL4xu22Th

[Slammer]

Oops. I can't figure it out. I guess it's just #pajamaboy on twitter.

[Lord Humungus]

I liked This

[Snark Plissken]

Very nice.

[Slammer]

Holy shit. It's gone way beyond parody. It's insane.

[wareagle]

I think the word is cult.

[Enough About Palin]

"The best part is that my chemical castration was covered 100 percent!"

Pulled from the comments at the Daily Caller.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Indians have protested the treatment of a diplomat who was stripped and searched after being taken into custody by police in New York City.

The Indians are against ganging up on women and assaulting them all of the sudden.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

She's a real cutie too. Just did a GIS. Course, I'm attracted to exotic women.

[wwhorton]

Whoa, no joke, she's much more attractive than I'd have guessed. I was expecting a paunchy guy in his 60s.

[Fist of Etiquette]

She's got dimplomatic immunity.

[GILMORE]

oh, yeeeeaaaaaaah.

- That means no condo, right?

[CE]

Since when do you need to be arrested in front of your kid's school and hauled to jail and strip searched for not paying your maid enough? What were they afraid she was she going to do, not tip the jail janitor enough for cleaning her cell?

[Lord Humungus]

Obama sends message by naming Sochi Olympic delegation

The White House delivered a strong message of opposition to Russia's anti-gay laws Tuesday with the announcement of its delegation to the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics.

The White House delegation will include an openly gay athlete: tennis great Billie Jean King.

It will not include the president, first lady or the vice president, all who headed the previous four Olympic delegations, or a cabinet secretary, only a former one. This marks the first Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Summer Games that a U.S. president, vice president, first lady or former president has not been a member of the delegation for the opening ceremony, which will be Feb. 7 in Sochi.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

When people were so outraged that they wanted athletes to boycott the Olympics, I was really hoping an athlete would come out and say:

"I have trained my whole life to be in the Olympics. Sometimes, I want to separate politics from the rest of my life. Yes I am going to participate in the Olympics and fuck you."

[Heroic Mulatto]

You know, Jessie Owens should have boycotted the Berlin Olympics. I mean, it was right in the middle of Nazi Germany, what possible message could he have sent?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I love that he said, "Hitler didn't snub me ? it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram."

[Heroic Mulatto]

FDR snubbed Owens? I guess that means FDR was a Republican all along!!!!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Racist!

[Matrix]

This should be posted all every day on the "Being Liberal" Facebook group.

[wwhorton]

I thought the whole Obama administration's alleged break with Bush's foreign policy was that it was going to talk with our "enemies"?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I guess Putin's been punking Obama so badly on shit that actually matters, like Syria and Edward Snowden, that Obama felt like he had to do something to tweak the Shirtless Equestrian.

[Snark Plissken]

China has confirmed that one of its warships almost collided with the USS Cowpens earlier this month

But they still insist they are excellent drivers.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Can't they see straight?

[Rich]

The Cowpens reported the warship had repeatedly broadcast the nonsensical message "Tuln reft!".

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I heard a scuffle with someone yelling "you pay now!" and then "holy moly, you tun righ, tun righ!" And then silence.

[Old Man With Candy]

They sail like they drive?

[mr simple]

They use sailboats as warships?

[GILMORE]

THEY JUNK~! YOU PAY NOW!

[Entropy Void]

You can brind dem with dentar fross!

[CE]

Cowpens? Isn't that the battle where Mel Gibson took down that British guy who burned the church full of women and children for killing Heath Ledger?

[Lord Humungus]

Michigan Man Arrested For Punching Mother In Face While Decorating Family Christmas Tree

A Michigan man repeatedly punched his mother in the face while decorating the family Christmas tree after noticing that "there was an ornament with his brother's name on it and that there were no ornaments with his name," according to police.

[Old Man With Candy]

When I saw the headline, I wondered it it was you. Fortunately not.

[General Butt Naked]

Sounds like Florida Man moved.

[PD Scott]

Speaking of Florida Man, he has a rich diet.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Also no word on whether or not word of Ramos' amazing swallowing abilities made its way to other inmates.

Aw snap! Newspaper makes prison rape joke right in the article!

[Elspeth Flashman]

The word before "punched" should be "allegedly."

Christmas sure makes those family tensions run high.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Why. Bam! Do. Whack! You. Pow! Love. Bing! Rup. Bang! Ert. MORE!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Washington, D.C. gun owners will face up to a year behind bars and a $1,000 fine if they do not re-register their firearm from Jan. 1, 2014.

January 2, watch all the D.C. gun violence disappear.

[Slammer]

Maybe Obama will choose not to enforce parts of this law.

[BardMetal]

I really wish there was some kind of organized attempt at civil disobedience to this kind of bullshit.

Get a million gun owners to march into Washington D.C. in open defiance of their unjust laws and see how people respond.

[RBS]

"Millions of Domestic Terrorists Storm Nation's Capitol"

[BardMetal]

Have them march carrying just "high-capacity" magazines, and no weapon. Nobody could argue they posed any danger by doing so, yet they would still be marching in defiance of an unjust law.

Pictures of cops dressed in full riot gear attacking unarmed protestors might raise some national attention.

[RBS]

"Brave Defenders of Freedom Fight Off Horde of Anti-Goverment White Supremacists"

[Marc F Cheney]

There may not be an organized attempt at civil disobedience, but there will certainly be an unorganized success at civil disobedience.

[Drake]

"re-register their firearm from Jan. 1, 2014"

Does that phrase make sense to anyone? Is that by Jan 1st or after? Every gun ever bought, or before this year?

Or is it just another idiotic rule to be immediately struck down in the courts?

[Swiss Servator, Alps avast!]

No. Maybe. Perhaps. Yes.

[wwhorton]

You've got it all wrong, see. It's not meant to be clear, it's meant to provide something for the arresting officer to write down in the report.

[Steve G]

Gun, what gun? I lost it years ago...

[Marc F Cheney]

Ha ha, DC's gun laws are now officially worse than Chicago's. Suck it, DC.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama on defense over NSA

The White House was put further on defense over the National Security Agency on Tuesday as executives of the nation's largest technology companies confronted President Obama over the agency's spying program.

The meeting, which included the chiefs of Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Yahoo, followed a court ruling a day earlier that said the agency had violated the constitutional rights of millions of Americans.

The White House touted the meeting as an opportunity to discuss improvements to the troubled healthcare exchange website, but the technology companies emphasized that they personally urged Obama to rein in the NSA.

[db]

The part not mentioned here is just how blatantly Obama tried to deflect the conversation to Obamacare, while the tech industry folks were having none of it and publicly called the bait and switch out.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

He did that?

"Defenders of the NSA have argued for months that the agency's controversial phone record collection is legal and that no court has ruled otherwise."

What kind of a bullshit situation do countries predicated on the notion of liberty have such fascistic laws in the name of security?

We truly are living in creepy times.

I only consent to Bat-Man listening in. I know he's a vigilante and not partial to taking sides.

[db]

I went looking for links on this but my brief search didn't coke up with the items I had read yesterday that definitely said this.

[Rich]

Happiness is overrated: It's better to be right, study finds

Good, albeit obvious, news for the H&R commentariat.

[Snark Plissken]

The wife started out at 8 and rose to 8.5 by Day 6. She had no desire to share her quality of life with the researchers on Day 12, according to the report.

She said the answer was too obvious and if they couldn't figure it out they just weren't trying hard enough.

[Heroic Mulatto]

If you're familiar with the ins and outs of academic writing, you should read the actual journal article...it's hilarious. I really wonder if someone isn't taking the piss.

[Rich]

all participants who received the intervention reported a serious adverse event.

Thanks, HM! 😎

[Heroic Mulatto]

This was my favorite:

We cannot discount that the difference in results might be caused by differences between the two treatment groups, which unfortunately we were unable to match by possible confounders such as sex.

[Warty]

Look at the graphic. It's clearly a joke, and a hilarious one at that.

[lap83]

In my experience, as a wife of a husband who always needs to be right, it works much better for me to be the passive one.I am right very often but he needs to arrive at the right answer independently. I think most men are like that.

[mad libertarian guy]

Another libertarian woman!!

What is this 7? 8?

[Lord Humungus]

It's a trap - there are no libertarian women.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

/Salivates...

[Marc F Cheney]

This is why Virginia Postrel hates you.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

No we're not!

[wwhorton]

The three doctors think they might be on to something, and they wrote that they would like to see the work continue: "More research is needed to see whether our results hold if it is the male who is always right."

What do you mean "if" the male is always right?

I keed, I keed!

[CE]

Luckily, I'm always right. Usually.

[Lord Humungus]

Tourists Are Giving Endangered Iguanas Diarrhea and High Cholesterol

Hop on over to the photo-sharing site Flickr and you'll find dozens of photos and videos of people eagerly feeding grapes to hungry iguanas on the beaches of the Bahamas. It looks like great fun and the iguanas obviously go crazy for the fruit, which is usually fed to the lizards on the ends of long sticks. There's just one problem with this activity: the food is making the iguanas sick. Health conditions arising from the grapes and other foods that iguanas do not normally eat in the wild include diarrhea, high blood sugar and cholesterol as well as lowered levels of potassium and a high level of parasitic infections.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

OH GOD NO, PLEASE TELL ME THAT THIS ISN'T TRUE.

[SugarFree]

Scruffy Nerfherder's stockpile of iguana diarrhea is losing value at an alarming rate.

[Lord Humungus]

All part of the shreek stock exchange.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The email I received told me that I couldn't lose! Dammit, tricked again!

[SugarFree]

I told you to hedge by going long in Elk pimple futures.

[Swiss Servator, Alps avast!]

Feh.

I'll lord it overall of you when my fur bearing trout farm takes off!

[sarcasmic]

Acrobat breaks neck live on camera trying to break world record for jumping through panes of glass and now appeals for $100,000 recovery money

Jesus Villa slammed head-first into the unbroken pane of glass in July
Former Cirque du Soleil performer hopes to raise $100,000
Money will help him recuperate for what he calls his 'ultimate comeback'
The stuntman has raised just over $6,000 so far

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....money.html
Dumbass.

[RBS]

He didn't even make through the first one.

[Jeff]

That's gotta be a record in itself.

[Brett L]

Gorilla Glass was on sale, though!

[Zeb]

You'd think that you'd want to have a pretty good idea of exactly what will happen before you try something like this. It can't be very hard to figure out how much force it is going to take to dive through a piece of glass and how much shock you are going to get on your neck.

[sarcasmic]

Having her cake and eating it: Model Bar Refaeli shows off her playful side in sexy new lingerie campaign

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....paign.html
I'll be in my bunk.

[General Butt Naked]

I'll be in my bunk.

It's kinda gross and creepy that you still continue to post links whilst masturbating.

Jesus man, it's almost christmas. Santa's watching.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

It's just an expression, he finishes his session right before 9 o'clock.

[sarcasmic]

You think that's gross, you should see my keyboard.

[Elspeth Flashman]

You know the reason why Santa's so jolly? He knows where all the bad girls live.

[BakedPenguin]

Excellent. Consider this line stolen.

[mad libertarian guy]

Jesus man, it's almost christmas. Santa's watching.

I'm betting that part of the point.

[Azathoth!!]

It's kinda gross and creepy that you still continue to post links whilst masturbating.

Jesus man, it's almost christmas. Santa's watching.

FTFY

[Elspeth Flashman]

My favorite is the bike pose.

[sarcasmic]

Alaska glaciers over the decades show proof of climate change

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....hange.html
Because without the burning of fossil fuels, the climate would be exactly the same as it was. CONSENSUS!

[kinnath]

http://www.salon.com/2013/12/1.....r_partner/

After the NRC review was released, another analysis by four statisticians, called theWegman report, which was not formally peer reviewed, was more critical of the hockey stick paper. But correction of the errors it pointed out did not substantially change the shape of the hockey stick graph. In 2008 Mann and his colleagues issued an updated version of the temperature reconstruction that echoed their earlier findings.

But hypothetically, even if the hockey stick was busted? What of it? The case for anthropogenic global warming originally came from studies of climate mechanics, not from reconstructions of past temperatures seeking a cause. Warnings about current warming trends came out years before Mann's hockey stick graph. Even if the world were incontrovertibly warmer 1,000 years ago, it would not change the fact that the recent rapid rise in CO2 explains the current episode of warming more credibly than any natural factor does?and that no natural factor seems poised to offset further warming in the years ahead.

My observations prove my theory is correct. But if my observations are wrong, what of it? The theory is still right, right?

Fuck these people.

[sarcasmic]

it would not change the fact that the recent rapid rise in CO2 explains the current episode of warming more credibly than any natural factor does

Credibly. Ah yes. As in "you only have credibility if you agree with us." CONSENSUS!

[Zeb]

So then why is the CO2 thing so bad if it just causes things that happen naturally anyway? Humanity needs to be able to adapt to changing climate in any case.

I try not to get too involved in the debate about the science part of climate change, both because it is too politicized from both sides and therefore very difficult to get unbiased information, and I am no expert on the subject and I just don't know.
What I do know is that whatever is happeing with the climate, it is going to happen and people will need to adapt to it if there is any significant change. If these assholes actually cared about people rather than control, they'd be pushing for work on mitigating the harms of climate change and taking advantage of the positive results rather than trying to lay blame and frighten everyone.

[sarcasmic]

A bit too much holiday spirit! How a mother telling her son to 'sober up' and send his own cards led to his series of hilarious and debauched Christmas greetings

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....arity.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Those are awesome.

[RBS]

Maggie, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 18 minutes ago
Where is Jesus? Keep Christ in Christmas.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Are these supposed to be funny? For some people, this will be their reality this Christmas, even learning that a loved one has been attacked or killed. I liked the one with him tied to the tree, but the rest.... Maybe I've had a sense of humour bypass, but these failed to tickle my funny bone.

Alice from the UK

EVERYONE STOP, I'M CONCERNED

[PD Scott]

Where is Jesus?

Away in a manger?

[font_of_stupidity]

Keep Christ in Christmas? Who's calling it "Mas"?

[General Butt Naked]

Not Roberto Duran.

[Swiss Servator, Alps avast!]

*golf clap*

[Enough About Palin]

dmentia, finchingfield, 37 minutes ago
At least he isnt dancing around rapping about his christmas pajamas!

[sarcasmic]

How to defy odds AND gravity: The Canadian engineers who won $250,000 by making the first ever human-powered helicopter fly

AeroVelo' human-powered helicopter won the $250,000 AHS Sikorsky Prize in June with a flight lasting 64 seconds reaching over three meters high
It was the first-ever sustained flight of a human-powered helicopter, taking a prize that was first set up in 1980, with all other engineer attempts failures
Now masterminds Todd Reichert and Cameron Robertson explain the genesis of the project and how they have come to achieve the impossible

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....sible.html
Pretty cool.

[Bee Tagger]

Most economists in a survey conducted by the Associated Press believe that income inequality is hurting the American economy.

Don't you mean "economists agree..." ?

[mad libertarian guy]

Nope. They believe!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan is completely enamored with Russian president Vladimir Putin, and is particularly excited about his anti-gay crackdown. In his syndicated column today, Buchanan lauds Putin as a leader of "conservatives and traditionalists in every country" who are resisting "the militant secularism of a multicultural and transnational elite" who push "abortion on demand, homosexual marriage, pornography, promiscuity, and the whole panoply of Hollywood values."

Putin is a champion of "conservatives, traditionalists and nationalists of all continents and countries" and has taken up their fight "against the cultural and ideological imperialism of what he sees as a decadent West,"

- See more at: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/.....Qb9IQ.dpuf

Putin continues to give conservatives a stiffy.

[Dweebston]

Still less creepy than your infatuations, friendo.

[DJF]

And Fidel still gives progressives a thrill up their leg

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Exactly. The list of conservative pundits and people in general 'enamored' with "traditional" leaders pales in comparison to left-wingers and their intellectual sewage and poetic gibberish for crackpots, dictators, murderers, communists, Marxists and general all-around jerk-offs.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Ridiculous. Sean Penn and a few celebrities are just about it.

Yeah, I know, you're going to call Mandela a commie bastard.

[WTF]

Sometimes that Derpa, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a Derpa, he's got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Oh, really, Palin?

HISTORY is replete with leftists who praised dictators. If you don't know this then you're deliberately ignoring history or ignorant of it.

It's quite the remarkable comment to focus on one lousy, crappy, actor with the intellectual skills of piece of napkin.

[Zeb]

There are also a good number of right wingers who supported dictators because they were anti-communist.

Earlier in the 20th century, when communism still seemed like a viable option to more people there were, of course, loads on the left who supported nasty dictators, but at this point it seems more like a fashion statement or cultural identifier than any sincere (or at least well thought out) political belief.

[mr simple]

murderers, communists, Marxists and general all-around jerk-offs.

No need to be so repetitive.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Redundant. I know.

Sorry, wtf.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

In other news, Buchanan is still a closet authoritarian who longs for il Duce.

[alittlesense]

And this is why I loathe the far right and the far left. They are both dictator wannbes.

[General Butt Naked]

You know what's weird?

Pat Buchanan was drinking buddies with Hunter S Thompson.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Thompson was once floored that Nixon knew as much about College football as he did.

[Citizen Nothing]

I thought it was pro football.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I talked with Buchanan for about 10 minutes. He is quite personable.

[mad libertarian guy]

They're all personable (except perhaps Obama with his "I'm the smartest motherfucker here" attitude). I couldn't give a shit whether these people are cool to have a beer with. I want them to stop fucking shoving their sensibilities down my goddamn throat via the force of law.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Did you callously present him with your little sketch book of classical liberal credentials?

[Don Mynack]

Vladimir Putin? You mean that blogger for the Huff Post?

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/vladimir-putin

[Lord Humungus]

Down on Warty's farm:

Pig farmer jailed for forcing repo men to strip and get into pen with boar

They said in evidence that Connaughton had ordered them to strip and get into the pen with the agitated boar and they feared they were going to be violated by the animal.

The report says the animal could be heard on an audio recording made by one of the men on his phone during their ordeal.

The court heard audio of the two men pleading to be let go. They promised the farmer they would never return to the premises, but he said he wanted to 'teach them a lesson.'

The men were told to strip naked and they would be allowed walk out of the yard. When they refused Connaughton made them get down on their knees and say the 'Our Father' before they were let go, leaving their truck behind.

[sarcasmic]

Guns and Roses, Down on the Farm.

[Rich]

Spinal Tap, (Working on a) Sex Farm

[Snark Plissken]

Derek Smalls: We're taking a sophisticated view of sex...
Marty DiBergi: Down on a farm.
Derek Smalls: Yeah.

[db]

The life of a Repo Man's always intense.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Dang it! You stole my line. +1 black flag song.

[BardMetal]

How about someone teach the farmer a lesson about paying his bills?

[db]

Do you think they give a damn about their bills in Russia?

[Snark Plissken]

They went to JAC Pigs Ltd in Co Longford in April 2010 to repossess items on behalf of GE Money. The court heard a scuffle had taken place in the yard at the pig farm during which Mulvey and Tighe said they were assaulted.

There's no mention of a weapon, did this guy make them humiliate themselves merely with the use of his fists? Weak city slickers!

[Warty]

"I ain't gonna work on Warty's farm no more."

[sarcasmic]

Flipper gets flipped! Gigantic killer whale sends dolphin somersaulting 20ft into the air

Dolphin sent through the air by giant Orca whale in California
Killer whale attacked from below and flipped the dolphin around

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....t-air.html
Wow.

[RBS]

I love how people are always shocked when they find out apex predators kill a lot of cute little animals.

[sarcasmic]

I just thought it was cool how that dolphin, which is not a small animal, got tossed like a rag doll. Them orcas are powerful creatures.

[RBS]

I didn't mean you, I meant the kind of person that doesn't really know how it all goes down in the wild.

It is cool though, that dolphin looks like a bait fish compared to the orca.

[Zeb]

"Killer Whale" really is an appropriate name for those guys.

[Marc F Cheney]

Well, except the "whale" part. /pedant

[Zeb]

"killer giant dolphin" doesn't quite roll off the tongue in the same way.

[Marc F Cheney]

But "killer porpoise" does...

Which reminds me, I like the idea of calling humans "killer apes".

[sarcasmic]

The greatest gift a snow leopard could wish for... snow! Young cub delights visitors as he frolics with his mother on public debut

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....other.html
Awwww. Kitty.

[waffles]

China doesn't love the Bitcoin

The China-fueled speculation bubble is nearing its end as the Chinese bitcoin exchanges are no longer accepting deposits. It seems that the value of Bitcoin in China will trend towards zero.

[robc]

It seems that the value of Bitcoin in China will trend towards zero.

The "official" value. The black market value will remain high.

[Lord Humungus]

Mickey Kaus: Obamacare Escapes the Chains of Law

It would be hard to frame this policymaking process as a rule. How about: "Insurance companies will have access to Obamacare's exchanges if they've sacrificed a reasonable portion of their expected profits to cover for our screw-ups, as determined by us, and haven't said anything too nasty about us in the press."

HHS has pretty clearly escaped the rule of law and entered a world of corporatist haggling, where political leaders and a few big industry types sit around the table and work everything out. True, they have a mutual interest in doing so?Obama needs Obamacare to work, insurers are counting on it working well enough to make them money. The interests aren't symmetrical though?at some point, long before Obamans give up on Obamacare, insurance companies could decide to cut their losses, bail, and go make money somewhere else. That gives HHS a motive to make sure they get enough money to keep them in the game: 'Don't worry, we'll make it up to you later.' This is a policy best announced at a small table in a noisy restaurant, not in the semi-judicial proceedings required for formal rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act.

[wareagle]

"chains" I can't believe no one here is outraged, outraged I tell you, over this obvious racism.

[Matrix]

Libertarians are always talking about how unfair the Law is, and they often cheer when an average person can flout the law and not face any penalties. Why shouldn't the government be able to skirt the law just the same? Shouldn't you libertarians be cheering for them as well?

/proglodyte.

[Lord Humungus]

Latest Federal Rules, Requests Put New Pressure On Insurers, Says Moody's

Insurers responded softly if not sweetly to the Obama administration's latest requests and rule changes for individuals trying to buy coverage in online marketplaces by Jan. 1.

Moody's Investor Service, which is watching Obamacare from the outside, isn't so tactful.

The latest changes "impose additional financial risks" on the companies, Moody's said in a Monday report. The guidelines disclosed Thursday, are "credit negative," meaning they're not great news for people who have lent money to insurers.

[Palin's Buttplug]

But Fox News says no one can sign up.

[Lord Humungus]

thanks for the unrelated comment.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It's funny, eh, that a classical liberal soooo into the financial markets essentially scoffs off Moody's.

Funny that.

[FYTW]

The important thing to grasp about Shriek is that it's all pose: he claims to be a classic liberal, but time and again he's demonstrated his politics are garden-variety progtardery. He claims to be a student of financial markets, but he's demonstrated he knows basically nothing about financial markets beyond a layperson who skim-read the front page of Motley Fool.

The guy's a clown who wants desperately to be taken seriously.

[Jeff]

Keep sucking that Obama dick, retard.

[Adam330]

Yes, that's why the obama administration came out with this rule change, which forces insurers to accept enrollments beyond the already extended deadline.

[Ted S.]

Cars reported "stolen" in Reykjavik

Wait until you read what actually happened:

The Reykjav?k police have asked people to remember where they have parked their car when they go shopping downtown. According to the police, at this time of year many people call the 112 emergency number and report their car stolen. But it usually turns out that people have simply forgotten where they parked, ruv.is reports.

The police issued an announcement saying that they hope that as few people as possible will lose their car during Christmas.

[Tejicano]

A buddy of mine did a year studying up in Fairbanks, Alaska and reported a similar thing. Something like a dozen cars stolen each year but just about all of those were simply misplaced cars.

Why? Where the Ef can you drive a stolen car from Fairbanks? There is nowhere to go. I expect that Reykjavik is a similarly isolated location.

[GILMORE]

""I expect that Reykjavik is a similarly isolated location.""

It is. Its a small harbor town with like one hill, some really good bars and some really serious drinkers. When its cold and the wind blows you can feel it passing through your soul and attempting to make your balls shatter. That's when you turn around have another drink and call the cops and say your car was stolen.

Did I mention the bars? Getting very drunk in Iceland is kind of the thing to do. They party harder than Hasidics at a wedding.

[Warty]

I know two things about Iceland. 1) Drinking, 2) THERE IS NO REASON TO BE ALIVE IF YOU CAN'T DO DEADLIFT

[GILMORE]

There are at least a few things to know about Iceland =

1) Drinking.

2) Because of the incredibly small gene pool, people will want to fuck you (*SEE #1 = "DRINKING")

3) they have a population of dwarf horses. It comes up randomly in conversation. why? it just does. (SEE #1 = "DRINKING")

4) Geothermal hot springs. Yeah man, you should totally go. You know most of the country's power is geothermal? Seriously. You didn't know that? This place is one big volcano man! We have like 10,000 little earthquakes a year. crazy right? Yeah, I used to be a cod fisherman. That shit is dangerous. Did I tell you about the dwarf horses? Crazy. Drink up, its your round! Now, my buddy Hardgjkt here, we were cod fisherman at the same time.... skaal!!
*(SEE#1="DRINKING")

[Clich? Bandit]

i prefered thawing in the blue lagoon with several cocktails...and a sea kelp pack.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

And to think these whimsical people came within whiskers of making the World Cup.

[robc]

2 goals isnt exactly a whisker.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No, but that they got into a playoff to begin with was pretty impressive. And Croatia was "beatable." They were limp in the second leg nonetheless all things considered...Whiskers.

[sarcasmic]

Did an LAPD officer shoot dead 'drunk' Corvette driver live on TV after high-speed chase because he mistook a fellow officer's 'bean bag' round for real gunfire?

Brian Beaird led police on an hour-long speed chase through Los Angeles
Video captured the moment when Beaird seemed to speed through a red light and crashed into another car
Officers tailed the man for an hour and attempted to pull him over for reckless driving and a possible DUI

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....wn-LA.html

He added that part of the investigation will be whether verbal warning was given.

Because failure of a member of the public to immediately obey a public servant is a capital offense. "I feared for my life from the unarmed drunk guy because he didn't obey me! I feared for my life!"

[Andrew S.]

Look, the police officer went home safely to his family that night. What more do you want?

[Snark Plissken]

I'm not going to shed tears for an asshole who recklessly endangered not only his life but anyone else who was unlucky enough to cross their path.

The chase finally came to an end around 10:30pm when he sped through a light and hit another driver crossing the intersection in front of him in a T-bone collision.

I consider that attempted murder, fuck him.

[kbolino]

We usually try attempted murderers, not summarily execute them.

[Michael Ejercito]

He should have surrendered- as so many people accused of attempted murder have done.

[Lord Humungus]

Perfect enforcement: On the ground in the red light camera wars
In 2013, red light camera use declined in the US for the first time.

"A significant portion of the red light cameras?maybe 70 or 80 percent?are for rolling right turns," Shah told Ars. "When you think of RLC, they're for people blowing through the intersection, which don't have nearly the same kind of chance for accident or injury. A lot of people feel like it's really unfair, doing the things like the right turns.

"There's nothing wrong with using technology to improve traffic safety. What's wrong with RLC is that the emphasis became on revenue instead of traffic safety early on, and that led to decisions on business models and locations and how they set up fines, warnings, education. That left a bad taste in people's mouths," he added.

[SugarFree]

In 2013, red light camera use declined in the US for the first time.

And I swear to this day that later that night I heard Tulpa playing "Taps" in the backyard.

[Swiss Servator, Alps avast!]

*applause*

[Steve G]

Meanwhile, DC's taking it up a notch to hassle drivers for not giving those nimble pedestrians every inch of their beloved crosswalk...

http://wamu.org/news/13/11/22/.....crosswalks

[Rich]

Paying students money or prizes increases the number who ate fruit or vegetables

What could possibly go wrong?

[Lord Humungus]

Jonah Goldberg: Obamacare's Silent Insurers
Do the people running these firms have no backbone whatsoever?

The irony, as Christopher DeMuth recently noted in The Weekly Standard, is that if the architects of Obamacare had their way, the insurers would have been in even worse shape today. The original plan was for a "public option" that would have, over time, undercut the private insurance market to the point where single-payer seemed like the only rational way to go. If it weren't for then-senator Joe Lieberman's insistence that the provision be scrapped, DeMuth writes, "Obamacare's troubles would today be leading smoothly to the expansion of direct federal health insurance to pick up millions of canceled policies and undercut rate increases on terms no private firm could match."

In other words, the insurers knew the administration never had their best interests at heart, but got in bed with it anyway.

[Drake]

I invite you to visit the corporate office of a big health insurer. There are acres of office space filled with lawyers, clerks, and IT personnel who do nothing except try to comply with federal and state rules.

At this point, those companies exist at the whim of politicians and bureaucrats. It's absurd to think they could even consider "standing up" to the government in any big way. They will dispute minor rules and challenge actuarial numbers - but they simply cannot afford to openly challenge a major policy.

[GILMORE]

An insurance company is effectively a giant compliance organization with a small investment committee making sure they remain semi solvent.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Businesses tend to do that.

I have a question. I'm part of a business organization that lobbies Parliament and provincial assemblies on behalf of independent businesses. For example, with the government mulling over increasing CPP-QPP (public pensions) taxes, they go in and fight for us.

Don't American businesses have something similar?

It's really pathetic that business has to get up and point out what really should be obvious to politicians. To Obama I get since he's ignorant of business but still.

[wareagle]

virtually EVERY loophole, subsidy, credit, or break in the US tax code is the result of some group trading politicians cash/votes in exchange for favorable legislation.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Point taken.

[robc]

Parliament

How quaint.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

You mean the band?

[GILMORE]

I studied under Dr. Funkenstein @ Mothership Polytech

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Sarcasmic, no Brooklyn Decker nip slip?

*Most likely NSFW for some, not much nipple, but still nipple.

[Rich]

Also, "water sports" in the second photo.

[sarcasmic]

I don't even know who that is.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

You confuse me

[sarcasmic]

You're confusing me with someone who looks at magazines.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

You look at women with little clothing on. This is why she is well known. I thought you might, ah nevermind.

[Lord Humungus]

SUV Crashes Through Cohasset Hardware Store

Shortly before 4 p.m. Sunday, police say a 51-year-old Scituate woman went to the Aubuchon Hardware Company to pick up some ice melt. Knowing the bag would be heavy, she wanted to back her Honda CRV up to the front of the store.

While backing up, police say the woman mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake and that's when she smashed through the front of the building.

[Eduard van Haalen]

100% allegedly genuine answers kids gave on school tests

http://distractify.com/fun/fai.....ll-genius/

[Certified Public Asskicker]

My angry school rage only took reading the first one.

[General Butt Naked]

What's "angry school rage"?

Are you gonna shoot up a bunch of kids or something?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

No, my angry school rage is to just seethe at my desk typing on the internet about how bad schools are.

Also #11, fuck you teach'.

[Heroic Mulatto]

If you can't "see" due to blindness, then you can't "look" as well. See is a stative verb; whereas, look is not. Therefore, if one can look down a microscope, that entails the ability to see. That would rule out blindness, of course.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

*Hangs head in shame*

[Heroic Mulatto]

But do you think the teacher grading the test knew that?

[Tejicano]

Dude. I was sure you would get the one where the student wrote his/her entire answer in Chinese when asked to write a letter home for a Chinese immigrant in the 1870's. Back then there was no written coloquial Chinese - only classical Chinese. Completely bogus.

[Eduard van Haalen]

"Dear family,

"Well, I finally pounded in my golden spike, mif you know what I mean."

[Heroic Mulatto]

That's true. Did you happen to notice if he used any simplified characters as well?

[Tejicano]

I didn't see any so I assume the author was Taiwanese.

However, it's late here and I am most of the way through a nice pinot right now.

[Brett L]

My friend has a ninth grader who told him the state of matter plasma was "in his blood also". Prompting my friend to tell his son, "this is a very important lesson to learn. This idiot is your boss. Write down whatever you need to in order to pass, but believe nothing he says."

[Heroic Mulatto]

You know, you should mention that your friend is Johnny Flame.

Those details are kinda important to the story.

[Brett L]

Really? Is that something that happened in the worst comic book movies ever made? Or the worst comic book series ever inked? Either way, I wouldn't know.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Hey, I'm not arguing. I'm a DC man, myself.

[John]

You mean his teacher told him that?

[Brett L]

Yes, sorry. That would make sense of this. The teacher told him that plasma (the state of matter) was in his blood.

[Andrew S.]

Quotes from a teacher grading exams...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

#3 creepy. 13 and 20 funny.

[robc]

Saw that the other day, it doesnt contain my favorite.

http://builtonfacts.com/wp-con...../05/13.jpg

[General Butt Naked]

Really, the elephant is about as realistic as a "frictionless ramp".

[mr simple]

#2 is stupid.

1) They all look like parallelograms.
2) There's nothing indicating that the drawings are to scale or length or angle indicators so there's no way you could know what they are.

[GILMORE]

OMG the kid in #15 pulled a Haddaway~!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhrBDcQq2DM

What the fuck is the question, "What is Love?" doing on a *test*?

Followed by, "How do we love God?"

I'm guessing "Sacrificing Virgins" isn't the correct answer.

[Zeb]

I imagine it was from a religious school where a very specific answer is expected.

[BigT]

"How do we love God?"

Usually from the front, but the rear entrance is attractive to some.

[Zeb]

Very well, thank you.

[Zeb]

A lot of those are quite clever. The people who write some of these questions are idiots, though.

[Lord Humungus]

Tourist walks off pier while browsing on Facebook
Police rescue woman from dark and chilly Melbourne waters still clutching her mobile phone

The woman was walking along St Kilda pier engrossed in social media when she walked off the pier into the dark and chilly water about 11.30pm on Tuesday.

A quick-thinking witness raised the alarm. Police officers were able to point out the distressed woman floundering in the water to the water police, who rescued her about 20 metres from the pier. It is believed the woman did not know how to swim. She was taken to hospital for treatment.

There will be no need for a lost property report as the woman kept hold of her mobile phone throughout the ordeal.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Well, there's one thing left to do.

Ban Facebook, mobile phones and piers. Also, put a giant fence around the ocean.

[The Late P Brooks]

Washington, D.C. gun owners will face up to a year behind bars and a $1,000 fine if they do not re-register their firearm from Jan. 1, 2014.

But not David Gregory.

[Lord Humungus]

Teachers Challenge Compulsory Union Dues

Over the past 26 years, Rebecca Friedrichs has been forced, as a condition of her employment, to pay tens of thousands of dollars to a private organization whose actions she largely does not support. As an elementary-school teacher in the Savanna School District of Buena Park, Calif., she has more than $1,000 automatically taken out of her salary every year and given to teachers' unions. Faced with year after year of compulsory payments, Friedrichs is now on a path to end this union coercion.

As the lead plaintiff in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which has recently left the U.S. District Court for California's Central District and will soon be on its way to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Friedrichs argues that forcing her to financially support union activism for political agendas she disagrees with violates her First Amendment rights.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

This will set the unions hair on fire.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Nice classroom you have there, "Becky", a shame if something would happen to it.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

$1000! I don't get how EVERYONE doesn't rebel. What a crock of shit teacher's are unionized. My wife is a teacher. They're effen public servants not private workers. Not only that, she pays $400 a month into a health insurance plan that amounts to pure crap.

Unions are parasites and collect to preserve their power structure. Here in Quebec, union bosses are like mobsters earning 500 grand a year.

Fuck them in the ear, nostril and asshole.

[The Late P Brooks]

An official from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has acknowledged that the department should not have hired about 80 of the officers it did in 2010.

due PROCESS.

totality of circs.

studies show true americans LOVE and REVERE police officers.

hth

[John]

I am actually on the bad cops side of this. Fuck the LAPD. If they are so stupid and negligent, they ignore the criminal backgrounds of the people they hire, then they deserve what they get. The people who should be fired here are the leadership who did this.

[Zeb]

Important to also consider what the citizens of LA deserve. Fire them all.

[Lord Humungus]

Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama
German chancellor furious after revelations US intelligence agency listened in on her personal mobile phone

Livid after learning from Der Spiegel magazine that the Americans were listening in to her personal mobile phone, Merkel confronted Obama with the accusation: "This is like the Stasi."

The newspaper also reported that Merkel was particularly angry that, based on the disclosures, "the NSA clearly couldn't be trusted with private information, because they let Snowden clean them out."

Snowden is to testify on the NSA scandal to a European parliament inquiry next month, to the anger of Washington which is pressuring the EU to stop the testimony.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

In the NSA's defense, it is their job to tap her phone. It's her intelligence service's job to prevent it. I would recommend that she be reaming them out instead.

[Drake]

Correct - it is NOT the NSA's job to tap MY phone.

[Brett L]

I'm sure this got posted yesterday afternoon, but Florida also celebrates FSM in our Capitol. I love it.

[SugarFree]

All glory to FSM. May our sauces be expertly seasoned by his passing.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

May your life be touched by his noodly appendages.

[Swiss Servator, Alps avast!]

KEEP YOUR NOODLY APPENDAGES TO YERSELF, PAL!

[Brett L]

Ever since the kid, my wife keeps saying that, too.

[Apatheist ?_??]

WAR ON CHRISTMAS!!!!

[itsnotmeitsyou]

THOSE EVIL ATHEISTS ARE JUST TRYING TO CORRUPT OUR YOUTH AND REMOVE THE TRUE MEANING OF THE SEASON! WE CAN'T STAND FOR THIS "EQUAL ACCESS" BS!!! EVERY OTHER HOLIDAY IS A MADE UP HOLIDAY!!1!!!!!1

[Don Mynack]

And yet all you bastards want our religious holidays off from work.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

First, we don't give a fuck what the holiday is for, a paid day off is a paid day off. I'll call it a "Festivus Break" if that will make you feel better.

Second, most paid holidays aren't religious in nature. Christmas and Easter are the only two that come to mind immediately, and as stated, we don't give a fuck. I'll celebrate the spring equinox and the winter solstice if it'll stop the asinine butthurt.

[Zeb]

And Easter is really the only one that is still for the most part primarily religious in how it is observed. And you don't get a day off because it is on Sunday (though I guess some people get Good Friday).

[Rich]

An entry in the Annual Holiday Home Decorating Contest that features a mythical creature from European folklore has sparked complaints.

Guess who's getting a visit from Krampus this year?

[General Butt Naked]

"I was appalled that the city of Murrieta would allow someone to enter a home with a theme representing the devil," one parent, who asked not to be identified, told the Murrieta Patch. "My 3-year-old was frightened by the home and I was disgusted. I'm asking that you help make this disrespectful issue known to the residents of Murrieta."

How dare the authorities allow something totally ridiculous that might scare my lil' retard!

[Heroic Mulatto]

one parent, who asked not to be identified, told the Murrieta Patch. . . .I'm asking that you help make this disrespectful issue known to the residents of Murrieta.

No, you fucking ninny. If you don't have the fucking guts to identify yourself, you don't get to make a complaint. The right to know one's accuser and confront witnesses is one of the planks upon which American civil society rests. Fuck your municipal Star Chamber and fuck your blubbering piece of shit sissy of a kid. You fucking ignorant piece of shit. I hope your kid chokes to death on a Lifesaver and you are charged with manslaughter.

[General Butt Naked]

If there is one group of people that I cannot understand, nor empathize with, it's the assholes who get offended over the most trivial shit. Not only that, but they never fail to want to use the force of law, i.e. men with guns, to make people stop said trivial shit.

If this cunt got her way, would she endorse the cops shooting this person if they refused to take down the decoration?

[GILMORE]

You mean like people celebrating their religious holidays in public?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

But then she'll petition to ban Lifesavers!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Fuck. You're right.

[RBS]

I'm confused, did the city force her three year old to enter the home?

[Snark Plissken]

Allow them to enter the home into the contest.

[Apatheist ?_??]

That's some delicious butthurt.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Nobody mention Azazel and the annual scapegoating rituals.

[John]

When you look at the appalling behavior of many children today, I think America needs bad Santa more than ever.

[General Butt Naked]

This is a weak-ass morning links.

Where are the ridiculous social crusaders and their easily mockable sentences?

[Lord Humungus]

C'mon, we've got Pajama Boy!

[General Butt Naked]

Tweets are weak sauce, dude. Everybody is an idiot on twitter.

It takes a 250 word sentence full of jargon and butthurt to truly get this morning started.

[Brett L]

Children are remarkably perceptive. From the mouth of babes...

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

(1) Both don't want any more kids.
- Lori, age 8

[mad libertarian guy]

What's the best kind of correct? Technically correct.

Q: To change centimeters to meters you?
A: Take out the "centi".

[Eduard van Haalen]

That link seems somehow familiar...

Anyway, it'the word "centimeter" that has the "centi," an actual centimeter doesn't have it.

[robc]

An actual centimeter cant be changed into a meter either.

[Zeb]

That answer only works if you put quotes around "centimeter" and "meter" (I'm big on distinguishing use/mention with quotes). Who the fuck are the idiots writing these questions? It should be "how do you convert cm to m?"

[Zeb]

Or better and even less ambiguous "how do you convert a measurement in cm units to m units?"

[The Late P Brooks]

Fuck the LAPD. If they are so stupid and negligent, they ignore the criminal backgrounds of the people they hire, then they deserve what they get.

The LA County Sheriff won't be the one whose head looks like a dropped watermelon in the booking photo.

I hate licensing in general, but there should be some sort of central clearing house of information so these fucking deranged scumbags can't keep getting handed off from one cop shop to another for years.

[John]

But that wouldn't do any good. These clowns knew about the misbehavior and hired them anyway.

Keep the cops, but make the people who hired them personally liable for any harm they cause.

[sarcasmic]

If the law was worthy of respect, then maybe respectable people would seek to enforce it.

[John]

There are some respectable people who do. There just are not that many of them. That is mostly due to the fact that being a cop is a really shitty job that requires you to deal with the worst parts of humanity. There are a very small number of people who are cut out to do that well. Since our answer to every problem is "more cops on the streets" we have long since run through those people and have overwhelmed them with violent pieces of shit who just want a badge and a gun to terrorize people.

[sarcasmic]

There are some respectable people who do.

I used to believe that, but not anymore.

That is mostly due to the fact that being a cop is a really shitty job that requires you to deal with the worst parts of humanity.

No. It's due to the fact that respectable people do not tolerate the constant abuse of power that is SOP in police departments these days, and are either forced out or leave on their own.

[John]

No. It is a shitty job. People suck. I wouldn't last a week as a cop doing anything but writing tickets. It is a big nasty world out there full of nasty people you really don't want to meet. That is what makes the job so awful.

And sadly respectable people do tolerate the abuses. If they didn't, the abuses would stop very quickly.

[sarcasmic]

Being a cop isn't a job. It's a lifestyle. It's not something you hang up at the end of a shift. You're a cop all the time. You are to be obeyed all the time. You do whatever you want all the time. There's nothing awful about it. It's who you are. You have power. People must obey you, and if they don't you get to hurt or even kill them. That's all that matters.

[robc]

I used to believe that, but not anymore.

I got a ticket from one once. I doubt he lasted long. He seemed to feel honestly bad about giving me a ticket.

The funny thing is, it was probably, technically, the most dangerous thing Ive ever gotten a ticket for, as I was doing 50 in a 25 school zone.

Comparing and contrasting him with the cop who gave me a ticket for rolling a stop sign on an empty street at midnight, it was night and day.

[RBS]

rolling a stop sign on an empty street at midnight

The night shift traffic patrol guys are always amped up looking for DUIs and "drug traffickers*".

*Anyone with any amount of any substance that may or may not contain actual drugs.

[robc]

The night shift traffic patrol guys

He was a university cop. It was off campus, but their jurisdiction is statewide.

[John]

Rob he was probably short on his quota for that month. And I have known and worked with a lot of cops. A good number of them are decent people and try to do the right thing. The problem is that a bad one can do so much damage that it doesn't matter how many honest ones there are.

[sarcasmic]

A good number of them are decent people and try to do the right thing.

That's what they like you to believe.

[robc]

Rob he was probably short on his quota for that month.

Yep.

He was sitting at a spot that a cop sat (and still sits) the last few days of each month.

I watched it carefully after that, it was on my way to work, so I could track it.

Speed limit of 45 but it drops to 25 when light was flashing, in morning and afternoon.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Does anywhere else have those asinine school zones with no flashing lights or times posted? Cuyahoga County has all their school zone signs say "speed limit 20 during restricted hours" with no mention or listing of what those restricted hours are.

[The Last American Hero]

When I see the "good" ones holding the bad ones accountable for their actions, I'll believe it. In my town, we've had bad cops face civil rights charges for their misconduct. The good cops were on video standing around watching and but for video none of this uncovered. No charges or discipline reported for the "good cops" in this case.

[tarran]

I've met good cops.

The guys in the Waltham MA PD seem to be very standup guys.

I've had three interactions with them under really varying circumstances, and in every case they acted as peace officers. When I got fingerprinted for a new job, the cop refused to collect the fee, saying something to the effect that unemployed fathers had enough expenses already and shouldn't have to pay to work (I had brought my kids and they were being cute as buttons). When I asked them to do a health and welfare check on my wife, they handled it very professionally (she was threatening suicide and it was credible). When I nearly caused an accident right in front of one of their cruisers, after listening to me explain why it was 100% my fault and that I couldn't explain why I convinced myself that the guy who had the right of way was turning left, the cop said "no point in giving you a ticket; you aren't likely to ever do this again" and let me go without even a warning.

[sarcasmic]

I had one interaction with a mythical good cop. I was walking home in a blizzard and he picked me up and gave me a ride. Didn't demand to know where I was going and where I was coming from and why I was going there and what I had been doing, didn't demand ID so he could run me for warrants, didn't demand that I turn out my pockets, didn't even ask for my name. I was shocked. He just gave me a ride home and then drove off. Nothing like that ever had happened to me before, nor has it happened since.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

That was just the ghost of the last honest cop.

It is said that after being murdered for reporting another officer, he now wanders the country helping those in need.

[BigT]

Named my son after him...

"Keith Richards turns 70! Celebrate with rocker's famed wisdom "

On aging:
"We age not by holding on to youth, but by letting ourselves grow and embracing whatever youthful parts remain"

On fame:
"I fell into it. I'm still falling."

On longevity:
"I was number 1 on the who's likely to die list for 10 years ... I was really disappointed when I fell off that list."

On drugs:
"I've never had a problem with drugs, only with policemen."

"I've never turned blue in someone else's bathroom. I consider that the height of bad manners."

On patriotism:
"I don't wave a flag for anything. I'm a musician."

On authority:
"If you're going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet."

[John]

I love that line about not having a problem with drugs. Richards is the world's most famous junkie and he has never once blamed his drug use on his "disease" and when he felt it was no longer worth the legal hassle to use, he quit with no relapses in nearly 40 years. And on top of that is was probably music's hardest working and most productive musician during the years he was a junkie. The man is a walking fuck you to the entire bullshit rehab industry.

I saw an interview with Steve Earle a few years ago and he was going on and on about how he can't keep alcohol in his house or allow anyone around him to drink because he understands how powerful his "disease" is. I just wanted to scream, "no Steve you are fucking degenerate dishonest piece of shit who pissed away your talent and your music career. Drugs and booze are just the method you chose to do that."

[General Butt Naked]

Agree on the Earle angle.

I like his music, but goddamn hearing him interviewed is rage inducing.

[John]

I like his music too. But he is a total slug as a person. He is the kind of person that gives drug users a bad name. Just because you use drugs, doesn't mean you should be a violent piece of shit thief. And he takes no responsibility for all of the shitty things he did. It was all the booze talking.

[RBS]

Of course it's bullshit. The whole thing is based on the premise that it's not your fault because it's out of your control.

[John]

I totally agree with that English prison doctor who writes under the pseudonym Theodore Daylrimple that "drug addiction" is a sham created to excuse degenerate behavior. You steal because you are a thief not because you use drugs.

[Brett L]

I was working from home yesterday and my wife had the fucking Bravo channel on. There were a bunch of rehab in Malibu commercials. Seriously, if you can afford a Malibu rehab, your drug "problem" is still manageable. Or your family are idiots. I nearly broke the TV.

[Gilbert Martin]

"Most economists in a survey conducted by the Associated Press believe that income inequality is hurting the American economy."

Who cares what they believe?

The only thing that counts is what they can prove with unequivocal and absolute definitiveness.

Any affirmative condition claim about any conceivable aspect of existence in the Universe that cannot be proven to be so with exactly the same level of definitiveness that I can prove that my car has 4 wheels attached to it isn't proven at all.

And the economists haven't proven diddly squat.

[John]

Exactly. How do they think it is "hurting the economy"? Hate articles like that. It is just a lazy appeal to authority.

[Mike M.]

I'll bet that most of these same economists love indefinite Quantitative Easing, which is the biggest gift to the rich that has ever been given in the history of mankind.

[General Butt Naked]

Yup.

The two biggest economic sins of our leviathan government are over-regulation and the running of the printing presses. Those two things put more of a gap between the middle and upper classes than anything a free market could ever dream to do.

[mr simple]

That's the thing. It might be bad for the economy, but it's not the free market that's causing it and no amount of redistribution will solve it, which is where these idiots are going with it.

Also, it was an AP poll of 3 dozen economists and they only said a majority agreed. Wow, they found 19 economists who agree to that? Very scientific.

[John]

The rich are never harmed by inflation. They have enough disposable income and assets to hedge against it. The people inflation fucks is the middle class and especially savers and pensioners.

[The Late P Brooks]

"Most economists in a survey conducted by the Associated Press believe that income inequality is hurting the American economy."

I believe Washington's fetish for vast centralized bureaucratic organizations and resulting fascistic attempts to consolidate huge segments of the economy into monolithic entities which are only nominally private is destroying the American economy.
I'll be right here by the phone, awaiting the AP's call.

[John]

That is just it. Inequality is not the problem. The problem is how the inequality is created. The US in the 19th Century or England in the 18th and 19th centuries were hugely unequal societies. But it wasn't a problem because the vast fortunes were generally created through honest means.

The one place in England were inequality was a problem was the landed gentry who were rich because the corn laws kept the country from importing grain and kept food prices artificially high. There was nearly a revolution over it in the 1820s. But no one but hate filled leftists ever gave a shit about fortunes that were honestly acquired.

We an inequality problem in this country because too many rich people got that way by manipulating government and political power. Our inequality problem is not that Bill Gates or the Walden family has billions. Our inequality problem is that Washington DC is the least productive and most obscenely wealthy city in America.

[NoVAHockey]

What's funny/sad is that nobody wants to hear it. My friends outside of the DC area don't believe what I tell them. They know better. Ok.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

Aye, inside the beltway, the recession never happened. A friend moved to DC and had a job within 24 hrs. She had been looking for a job elsewhere for months with little success.

People outside DC don't realize that the city where all their federal taxes go to don't have the same economy that the rest of the country does. The federal teat is still giving milk, even if it's chinese milk.

People inside the beltway don't seem to realize that the rest of the country is still struggling to make ends meet. I met people there that seriously didn't think the economy was in the crapper. They couldn't understand why I had been unemployed for 6 months before moving to DC. I got the "why didn't you just get another job" question enough that I wanted to punch throats.

[John]

My wife and I call it the "Hunger Games" city. The shocking thing about Washington is not the number of upper middle class bureaucrats. There are too many of those. But there has always been that. What is gross is the number of truly wealthy people here. People who clearly have made millions. Those people are not bureaucrats or even politicians. They are generally K Street Lobbyists and connected contractors. These people own multi million dollar houses and think nothing of dropping 30K a year each for three and four kids to go to private school every year. It is just infuriating how many people there are like that in Washington.

[itsnotmeitsyou]

My wife and I call it the "Hunger Games" city.

That's a very accurate description. I generally have no problem with the wealthy, but amongst the wealthy of DC, many of them are wealthy not because they created something of value, but because they know someone in government and don't actually have to do anything to keep revenue flowing in.

One of my former employers is like this. She runs a gov contracting company that has been investigated by Congress for gross incompetence, waste, and fraud. She just keeps getting contracts left and right. Her company is literally a glorified HR department that pays the employees half the money that fedgov gives her for their work. I found the contract for the office I worked at, the contracted hourly for my position was $55/hr, I was making $22. It's sickening.

[NoVAHockey]

"30K a year each for three and four kids to go to private school every year"

just to clarify .. he means 30k for each kid.

"They are generally K Street Lobbyists and connected

[The Late P Brooks]

My friends outside of the DC area don't believe what I tell them. They know better. Ok.

LALALALOALALALALALALALALALALA I CAN'T HEEEEEEEEEAR YOU!

[DEG]

Some folks in NH don't like Scott Brown coming to NH to run for the Senate.

[db]

How would they have felt if Hillary had chosen NH over NY?

[John]

That is different you sexist

[DEG]

A different selection of guns to raffle?

[BakedPenguin]

Yep. I'm one. Unfortunately, the other candidates mentioned aren't exactly all that great, either. Unless a semi-decent TPer or Libertarian candidate gets on the ballot, I'm leaving that one blank.

[Sevo]

Elon Musk is a wonderful business man! He's especially skilled in gaming the government:
"Tesla gets $34.7 million tax break to boost production"
http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/.....roduction/
I presume this is a result of a royal decree by the Duke of California.

[GILMORE]

That smarmy fuck was voted "CEO of the Year" by MarketWatch

And half the holders (46%) of the float are short his company.

Makes sense.

[Sevo]

Unalloyed Econ Bullshit Award for Dec 2013 goes to:
"Income gap slows economy, most experts say in survey"

No, what's reported doesn't say that. It says "if middle-class people made more money, they would spend more"
http://www.sfgate.com/default/.....073025.php
This 'survey' (poll, really) is going to be repeated by every bone-head MW freak for the next hundred years; it will be the equivalent of the UN 'health survey' that showed Cuba's medical care superior to the US.
The hint is the poll was done by a company named Raymond James. I called them, they did NOT do the survey; the guy named barely remembers a reporter calling him to ask.
I repeat: this is BULLSHIT and it will be repeated.

[Sevo]

Ooops!
Read the headline, Sevo.
But the comment stands.

[Zeb]

Their concerns tap into a debate that's intensified as middle-class pay has stagnated while wealthier households have thrived.

Right. The problem is that middle class income and spending has not grown. The income gap is completely irrelevant. Presumably if the middle class were doing better, the rich fatcats would be doing even better than they are now.

[Jerryskids]

The problem is looking at household income. The growing income inequality has been a problem for 50 years - perhaps not so co-incidentally just about the same time the divorce rate and single-parent households have been a growing problem and the Baby Boomers started changing the culture.

50 years ago, women didn't have the job opportunities they have now, there wasn't the welfare spending we have now and there was a social stigma against divorce so women tended to stay in bad marriages, especially if there were children involved.

Leaving a bad marriage even if it hurts you financially makes you better off, but the household income average makes it look like you are worse off.

Same thing with young adults moving out on their own, especially young women. Instead of living at home in that high-household-income household until they get married or join the Army, young, relatively low-income people move out on their own and create low-household-income households. Were all those Baby Boomer hippies moving out on their own and having children that would repeat the process a bad thing? The income inequality statistics say it was.

IIRC, it was Thomas Sowell who pointed this out maybe 10 years or so ago - when you see statistics based on household income, prepare for some crap that doesn't consider that households change.

[GILMORE]

"Up to 500 people have been killed in South Sudan since Sunday as fighting between military factions spread from the capital."

Wait, what? I thought Sudan was saved by Don Cheadle and Obama's election and the Liberal Persistence in Solving Problems When They Get The Power, just like how they closed Guantanamo and Won Afghanistan and Ended Racism and Improved the Schools and the Health and Made Peace with Israel and Palestine, and wait a second.... WHAT HAVE THE REPUBLICANS BEEN DOING TO STOP ALL THIS?@?@ MUST BE KOCHBROS AGAIN

[GILMORE]

BTW, I'm a regular reader of Foreign Policy, and I like the mag in the broadest sense, but a few things become apparent over time =

1) they really don't know how to run/design a website, or come up with some intelligible pay model for their largely 'reader submitted' content (*most of their stuff is contributed by policy wonks who just want to be published ) I mean, go there are look at it. Its a fucking design mess.

2) The "Foreign Policy" establishment is effectively TEAM BLUE by default, and often reflects it in their incredible ability to overhype one international issue at one moment and then completely turn on a dime and pretend it no longer exists. See = Sudan. It also comes up in the latent exasperation expressed with anything about Domestic Policy. These people are like, Above that stuff man. These guys work with the UN. Join the world, already, US!

(basically, if you didn't get your masters at Georgetown and teach summers at the Sorbonne, you're a fucking peasant)

3) The commenters are often hilariously transparent paid shills by China, India, Pakistan, or Palestine; or whomever. It can get funny.

Anyway, I went back there to get the latest tear-jerker on Sudan: yeah, nothing. They havent' yet stopped hyperventilating about how Syria is such a thing and OMG, and then forgotten about that as well. They'll get to it eventually. Whatshername Samantha Powers, 'The Intervention Junkie' will need a new story to fume about then ignore again.

[GILMORE]

"Indians have protested the treatment of a diplomat who was stripped and searched after being taken into custody by police in New York City."

OMG! The degradings!

"India has responded furiously to what it considers the degrading treatment of a senior diplomat by the United States, a country it sees as a close friend"

DEGRADING!

What was she arrested for?

Oh = keeping an imported nanny *as a personal slave*

http://www.csmonitor.com/World.....anny-video

Which, if you read the linked article? Is a fairly common thing for "upper class" Indians to do, particularly when living abroad (bring along some 'untouchables' to keep house)

"In 2012, an Indian maid won a $1.5 million lawsuit against Neena Malhotra, a former press and culture counselor at the New York Consulate, for what a US court determined was "barbaric treatment" tantamount to slavery, but the Indian diplomat has refused to pay the amount, a position supported by an Indian court.
...
Reports of torture and confinement of domestic workers are not rare in India. Just last month, a lawmaker's wife allegedly beat to death their house-help with a hot iron rod. The lawmaker and his wife are both being prosecuted."

Stay classy, india.

[GILMORE]

see what I did there? "Classy"? Eh? EH?!

Don't assume its a 'caste' thing. Its a money thing. They play up the angle that this lawmaker 'came from' a 'low-caste'. If you think that makes an indian *less likely* to treat their hired help like slaves, think again.

To add to the "classy" being shown by oh-so-indignant India =

"On Tuesday, authorities removed concrete security barriers that were used to prevent vehicles from driving at high speed near the U.S. embassy in New Delhi. The barriers would offer some protection against a suicide-bomb attack"

Because, "Offend our sensitivities? WE HOPE YOU DIE"

Seriously, we love you too, india. Er. Or whatever = now we see why you an Pakistan are always a pussy hair away from nuclear war, because you're both fucking hypersensitive losers.