Obamacare Not So Affordable, Debtors' Jails May Be Making Comeback, Ship Trapped in Antarctic Ice: P.M. Links

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    Massachusetts and Vermont, who used the same contractor for their healthcare exchanges as the federal government, are looking at ways to withhold payment and reviewing their legal options in trying to recoup their losses. A USA Today analysis, meanwhile, finds that in more than half of the counties in the 34 states serviced by the Affordable Care Act-mandated federal exchange there are no affordable plans for couples over 40 who don't qualify for subsidies. Some experts are concerned that Obamacare could turn into Medicaid in the way that it limits the availability of doctors.

  • Civil liberties groups warn that judges across the country are throwing people in jail for outstanding debts, bringing back de facto "debtors' prison" despite a prohibition on the practice.
  • The Milwaukee school district has 15 vacant school buildings that cost it up to $771,000 a year to maintain. It hasn't used some of them in more than a decade, but refuses to sell any to charter or private schools.
  • California school districts are preparing for new regulations related to transgendered students set to take effect on January 1, and are also preparing for the possibility it'll be delayed by a court order just a few days after that.
  • A likely US drone strike killed three suspected militants in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan, according to unnamed intelligence officials in the country. Separately, Pakistan insists it will raise the issue of US drone strikes in the country with UN Human Rights Council.
  • Six African Union peacekeepers from Chad were killed in the Central African Republic by "anti-balaka" Christian militias. The UN, meanwhile,  is scrambling to send more peacekeepers to South Sudan, where violence broke out after a failed coup earlier this month.
  • Turkish prime minister Recep Erdogan says he thinks he's the target of a new corruption investigation in Turkey, but that investigators would leave "empty handed."
  • A Russian ship, carrying 74 people on a scientific expedition, has been trapped by ice off the coast of Antarctica, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority

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Ed Krayewski is a former associate editor at Reason.

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  1. Heil Reason!

    1. Warrren

      And a happy Jew year!

  2. …Pakistan insists it will raise the issue of US drone strikes in the country with UN Human Rights Council.

    Obama vs. the United Nations? Ha!

    1. Cripple fight!

      1. You dirty mother f*cker.

  3. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    The Milwaukee school district has 15 vacant school buildings that cost it up to $771,000 a year to maintain. It hasn’t used some of them in more than a decade, but refuses to sell any to charter or private schools.

    NOTHING LEFT TO CUT. WAR ON TEACHERS

  4. A Russian ship, carrying 74 people on a scientific expedition, has been trapped by ice off the coast of Antarctica…

    Maybe Captain America can free them. (Or was he in the Arctic?)

    1. PD Scott

      Paging Ernest Shackleton…

    2. Its fucking mid-summer in the antipodes. Melting ice-caps my hairy nutsack.

      1. We don’t talk about the South Pole and its ice.

    3. It’s global warming, I tells ya.

    4. Suthenboy

      Global warming strikes again

    5. CE

      Trapped by ice off the coast of Antarctica…. who could have foreseen this happening?

      1. Entropy Void

        Hockey Stick!

  5. CE

    Separately, Pakistan insists it will raise the issue of US drone strikes in the country with UN Human Rights Council.

    Drone strikes are going to become decidedly less popular when dozens of nations start making them.

  6. Rufus J. Firefly

    You can go to jail for not paying Home Depot back?

    1. JW

      Either that, or work in the plumbing section.

    2. Some call me Tim?

      Don’t be silly, you only go to jail for failing to pay the King’s Men what they’re owed.

      1. Don’t be silly, you only go to jail for failing to pay the King’s Men what they’re owed

        1. CE

          +1 Louie, Louie

    3. Agammamon

      You *wish* you could go to jail for stiffing Home Depot. If they catch you, they got *all sorts* of tools to use as they indulge their creativity on your arse.

    4. Isaac Bartram

      If you RTFA, you’ll find this is judges jailing people for failing to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs.

      It doesn’t have anything to do with private debt.

  7. SIV

    Civil liberties groups warn that judges across the country are throwing people in jail for outstanding debts, bringing back de facto “debtors’ prison” despite a prohibition on the practice.

    I kinda like the idea of green-powered ships for student loan defaulters.

    1. Sailboats? You want to impress the students?

      1. PD Scott

        I think he is thinking rowing. Not only will they work off their student loans but they will have great bodies at the end of it, too, if they earn their food and don’t taste the lash too many times.

        1. Row well and live.

        2. Enough About Palin

          Rudern macht frei.

    2. Why would anyone want to punish theft?

      1. Anomalous

        Because the government doesn’t like competition.

  8. Bo Cara Esq.

    SoCon Explains Assumptions Behind Abortion (and all) Regulations: People Are Stupid Cowards Who Might Make Decisions Different Than He

    “People are capable of stunning fact-defying flights of imagination. We can be sheep-like at times, readily misled by disinformation. We are often eager to believe what it is convenient to believe.

    More than that, people often don’t think straight: we don’t always evaluate information properly or reason clearly from premise to conclusion. We “think” in shortcuts, clich?s, summaries, experiences, emotional reactions, and bumper sticker slogans. We don’t always use our heads.

    It is often essential to show people facts that they may be disposed to slight, ignore, or distort. It is helpful to confront people who are facing a moral decision with core information in a form that enables them to truly apprehend the facts and consider their implications. Thus, a requirement that a pregnant woman contemplating abortion view an ultrasound of her unborn baby, in real time, and be told and shown that her baby is living, could potentially have an enormous impact. If a pregnant woman actually sees her baby, she may rethink her decision to have an abortion.

    That is the driving force behind state laws mandating ultrasounds and pre-abortion information.”

    http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/12/11710/

    1. robc

      Is there anything specifically Soconish about that answer? That sounds like Bloomberg, et al, reasons too.

      1. Bo Cara Esq.

        Er, did you miss the ‘headline’ I gave it?

        “SoCon Explains Assumptions Behind Abortion (and all) Regulations”

    2. robc

      Kudos for switching from dashes to quotes.

      Italics or blockquote would be better, but Im not going to push the issue, as some people are too dumb to use html tags.

      1. Agreed – at least quotes make it obvious it’s a quote.

        1. db

          B

          L

          O

          C

          K

          Q

          U

          O

          T

          E

          1. SForza

            Agreed – at least quotes make it obvious it’s a quote.

            I’m not as fancy as someone of the HTML-skilled commentariat, but I know how to use reasonable.

            1. I’m not as fancy as someone of the HTML-skilled commentariat, but I know how to use reasonable.

              I do know how to use HTML. Bo was being a twat, using a dash to specify quotes. Now, he is apparently using quotes. This isn’t perfect, but it’s a step up. If he continues, maybe he won’t even be a troll anymore.

              1. Entropy Void

                Doubt it.

    3. People are capable of stunning fact-defying flights of imagination. We can be sheep-like at times, readily misled by disinformation. We are often eager to believe what it is convenient to believe.

      Projection. Again. By an authoritarian.

      Yawn.

  9. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    Social Justice: Trans-people deserve gender neutral bathrooms

    Gender-divided bathrooms have long been a point of contention for queer people, especially those identifying as trans*. For those whose gender identity or presentation defies the clear-cut gender binary, the necessary urge to relieve oneself often ends with a painful resignation to either male or female when in public. The result is discomfort for everyone involved: When I androgynously walk into a restroom and am greeted by a negative reaction from another bathroom patron?which has ranged from startled gasps to being shoved back into the stall?I assume their outrage is of the same degree as my frustration at knowing I’m not fully welcome in either restroom.

    How does one ‘androgynously’ walk? And what does ‘trans*’ with the asterisk mean?

    1. KDN

      Transgender or transvestite. The author is making sure not to other those of us that just like the feel of a nice miniskirt but still maintain a gender identity that agrees with our chromosomes.

      1. Ahem. That’s a kilt; not a miniskirt!

        1. db

          The kilt is a decidedly masculine garment.

      2. Not quite 🙂 It’s used to save some typing when referring to both Male-to-Female and Female-to-Male transgendered. Think of it like a wildcard character.

      3. Agammamon

        Apparently transvestites are shit out of luck.

    2. Use the bathroom that your clothed self looks more like, and don’t let people see your genitals.

    3. I don’t care. If you can stand to piss, you’re welcome to use the urinal next to me without being hassled as long as you provide me the same courtesy.

      1. I would say that you’re welcome to use the urinal next to me if you exhibit a fair degree of accuracy.

        If you can’t, I don’t care what gender you are currently identifying with or what you are wearing.

        1. I’ll accept that welcome correction.

        2. CE

          Use the stall, and lift the lid.

    4. Agammamon

      Maybe the * is a wildcard for trans(man.woman).

      1. Dash it! I should read further before commenting 🙂

      2. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

        Okay, makes sense. But wouldn’t just trans by itself just…oh forget it.

    5. Bo Cara Esq.

      If people are really born with some identity that does not match their biology then I do feel for them, I am sure it must be difficult. But I can not shake the feeling that were ‘gender neutral’ bathrooms to be made available for such people some of them (or some self-appointed spokesman/woman) would cry foul on the grounds of ‘othering’ them.

      1. And, sadly, you’d be right. I don’t want to defend or attack anyone, just observe that for some gender neutrality feels like it’s defeating the purpose of transition.

      2. Agammamon

        Its lose-lose. Some will cry foul for othering them while the government will require them to be installed at a specific ratio to male/female bathrooms and not let you sell property until the building meets the new code.

    6. The Immaculate Trouser

      Waste of time. And money.

      Duh.

    7. Kid Xenocles

      I just want to eliminate gender-specific single-person bathrooms. I hate seeing a regular bathroom with a men or women sign on it.

      1. MP

        They really are an anachronism. I don’t understand why the belief that they are absolutely necessary persists so strongly.

        1. Agammamon

          Because we’re a fairly conservative society regarding interactions between men and women and have done it this way for several generations and the majority of people feel that that’s the way they like it.

      2. paranoid android

        Really, all bathrooms should just be co-ed.

        It worked on Battlestar Galactica!

        1. Cdr Lytton

          Don’t forget Ally McBeal!

        2. Bramblyspam

          We had co-ed bathrooms in our university dorm, and that was back in the 1980’s. No urinals though, just stalls – for toilets and for showers.

    8. Killaz

      Bit of an assumption that a male to female and female to male transgendered have the same prerogative in mores. Just my rule of thumb, if you went through the trouble of having your vagina turned into a penis, you can share the next urinal, and if you went through the trouble of having your penis turned into a vagina I will check your rack and ass out.

      1. Agammamon

        The ‘problem’ isn’t those who’ve transformed – its those who have one set of genitalia while going around as someone who has the other.

        So basically a man dressed as a women wants to use the women’s restrooms and that makes regular women uncomfortable.

        1. CE

          Couldn’t we have some kind of scanner, or TSA agent, to make sure people are using the right one?

    9. Rhywun

      “Look! She’s presenting!”

    10. Entropy Void

      Fuck You.
      Whatever the DNA says, PISS THERE.

      1. CatoTheElder

        The owner of the rest rooms should get to set the rules. If he/she/he-she/she-he wants to construct and maintain separate facilities for every cis- and trans- and indeterminate permutation that the science of victimology can imagine, that’s his/her/his-her/her-his right. Just don’t get any ideas about separate white and colored facilities, though. That would be racist.

  10. It hasn’t used some of them in more than a decade, but refuses to sell any to charter or private schools.

    Charter schools moving in those neighborhoods would negatively affect the property values.

    1. And the public schools would end up with more empty buildings to sell.

      1. Vicious cycle.

        1. CatoTheElder

          Death spiral.

    2. BigT

      “Charter schools moving in those neighborhoods would negatively affect the property values.”

      Not so fast. Lots of people might find those areas more desirable if a good charter school were available. And in some areas property values are near zero – no place to go but up.

  11. Archduke von Pantsfan

    How’s your fridge?

    1. Rufus J. Firefly

      Jesus Christ, that’s the news my taxes are paying for?

      1. But if you didn’t have the CBC, you’d have American-style news media, and you don’t want that, do you? 😉

        1. Archduke von Pantsfan

          FAUX NEWS!?@?!!@)@)@1111eleventy

        2. Rufus J. Firefly

          Arrggg! Canada will fall apart! What will I do if I don’t know what’s going on in Flin Flon!

          Oh, I know. Use the Internet.

        3. MOAR CANADIAN CONTENT

        4. CE

          Do you even need a refrigerator in Canada? Can’t you just leave stuff outside on the porch? Or will the bears eat it?

    2. My wife is the “leftover nazi”. I won’t see a fresh meal for a week.

      “NOT UNTIL THE LEFTOVERS ARE GONE!”

      1. Agammamon

        When she’s not there, throw out a little each day.

      2. Sevo

        “NOT UNTIL THE LEFTOVERS ARE GONE!”

        Doesn’t your dog get hungry? Well, there’s the answer right there.

        1. And expose my dogs to my wife’s cooking? Couldn’t do that to them.

          1. fish_remote

            +1 Brutal, brutal honesty about the missus!

          2. BigT

            Aren’t you glad metadata is not personally identifiable?

            …oh, wait…

    3. Aloysious

      Did anybody else notice the bottle of tasty, tasty Sriracha sauce??

  12. GLENN GREENWALD TO MSNBC: I’m Defending Snowden Like You Defend Obama ’24 Hours A Day’
    …Greenwald sniped back by blasting the network, charging that its own bias lies within its “24-hour” defense of President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.

    “I think that’s ludicrous ? that’s what I say to that,” Greenwald said.

    “Every journalist has an agenda. We’re on MSNBC now, where, close to 24 hours a day, the agenda of President Obama and the Democratic Party are promoted, defended, glorified, [and] the agenda of the Republican Party is undermined. That doesn’t mean that the people who appear on MSNBC aren’t journalists ? they are.”

    Greenwald went on to say that he doesn’t attempt to hide that he thinks Snowden’s actions are “admirable” and “heroic.”

    Welker was perturbed by Greenwald’s characterization of the network.

    “I think the point is not so much about MSNBC and what happens here, but more that sometimes when you talk about Edward Snowden, you do defend him, and some people wonder if that crosses a line,” she said.

    “Sure, I do defend him ? just like people on MSNBC defend President Obama and his officials and Democratic Party leaders 24 hours a day,” Greenwald shot back.

    “Not everyone on MSNBC does that 24 hours a day,” Welker interjected.

    “Not everyone, but a lot of people do,” Greenwald said….

    1. Being grilled by MSNBC, especially on this topic, I would use their Obama leg-humping every chance I got. I would not let up.

    2. Sevo

      “”Not everyone on MSNBC does that 24 hours a day,” Welker interjected.”

      It’s not got MUCH spam in it!

      1. They have to sleep sometime.

      2. Brian D

        +1 Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam.

  13. Rufus J. Firefly

    https://www.facebook.com/NikkiHaley

    Nothing says Merry Christmas like a warm Beretta.

  14. ‘Hands Off Our NHS’: the attitude that led to the horrors of Mid Staffs
    The reason the NHS lets patients down, says David Prior, chairman of the Care Quality Commission, is that “it became too powerful to criticise. When things were going wrong, people didn’t say anything. If you criticised the NHS ? the attitude was ‘how dare you?'”…

    1. Rufus J. Firefly

      Pretty much the situation in Canada.

      All criticism of our public system is batted down with a “at least we have free universal health care” and “at least we’re not American!”

      There’s little real debate about how to improve the thing.

      1. NotAnotherSkippy

        Good thing they can just swing across the border to use that awful American health care system without those huge queues. It’s also pretty cool that they get to freeload off medical research with drug and medical device price controls. *sigh*

        1. Rufus J. Firefly

          When I point this out it’s like I just killed Wayne Gretzky.

        2. Oh, the huge queues are coming, don’t worry.

          1. Oh, the huge queues are coming, don’t worry.

            Oh yes! they are coming.

            H/T Cafe Hayek

      2. wareagle

        if only history provided lessons that had real-world applications. And good grief, there are people who actually think it’s free?

        1. Rufus J. Firefly

          If they don’t they think it’s “money well-spent for a civilized society.” And, well, price to not be American.

          They really don’t mind sitting in a dingy hospital because at least they won’t go bankrupt. The problem is, for example, for real serious ailments like cancer and heart-related issues, we sometimes have no choice but to seek options in the USA.

          1. Smilin' Joe Fission

            This is exactly the case. The only general Canadian opinion I can’t stand more than their opinion on firearms, is their absolute, to the death defence of the health care system.

            Canadians act like the US is so barbaric and uncultured because they don’t have “free” healthcare. They literally laugh and scoff at the American health care system like the Canadian system is the sign of how much more advanced Canada is, socially, over the US. They live in a world of denial about the awfulness of this “free” system we have and pretend like all of the tech advances made strictly by the US health care industry would have occurred in our system independent of the US.

            Firearms and healthcare: These 2 issues make me want to leave Canada and never look back.

            1. Rufus J. Firefly

              Well said, Smiley.

              Yet all our pills and equipments come from there.

            2. JW

              Firearms and healthcare: These 2 issues make me want to leave Canada and never look back.

              Those are 2 big fucking issues. Throw in their contempt for free speech and you get a trifecta of terror.

              I loves me some Canuckistan women, the Toronto-to-Montreal culture has some serious appeal and you’ve got some outstanding indie music coming out, but the cold (and the above) absolutely kills it for me.

            3. Killaz

              I’ve never met a single Canadian that I didn’t take an instant liking to, but the belief system held in common is depraved. Adults should not be able to get away with magical thinking when so much is at stake.

              1. Rufus J. Firefly

                Canadians are alright.

                We’re America jr.

                1. Killaz

                  The suburb north of Buffalo, Chicago and Seattle where 1040 tax forms mysteriously don’t get delivered.

                  1. Mercutio

                    The suburb north of Buffalo, Chicago and Seattle

                    …and south of Detroit!

                    1. Seamus

                      As in “He was a city boy/Born and raised in South Detroit.” (Or, as the locals call it, Windsor, Ontario.)

              2. CatoTheElder

                The folks in Alberta aren’t quite as foolish as other Canucks. Most of them kind of remind me of Texans.

        2. Boisfeuras

          “What experience and history teach is this?that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.”
          ? Hegel

          1. Gorilla tactics

            “It will work this time”

            “It’s only because the RIGHT people weren’t in charge”

            “Revolution betrayed”

            “Stimulus wasn’t big enough”

            ad infinitum

            What’s sad is that that is what GOOD history was supposed to be, a useful and informative way to discover eternal truths. Now, it’s all race/class/gender madness and the discipline is utterly worthless.

          2. Libertarius

            That is quite rich to hear from Hegel, seeing as his philosophy entailed the worship of the State as the symbol of some kind of ethereal “collective consciousness”. Hegel was profoundly influential on Marx, to the point that you could not have Marx without him.

            So fuck Hegel.

    2. Medical Physics Guy

      Interesting parallel to Obamacare in the description of the defense of the NHS as generally “doctrinal” rather than performance or fact-driven. Lines up with all those “Obamacare is a moral imperative” defenses one sees.

      1. As long as your theory is correct and you have the right people in charge, the fact that it doesn’t work is subversive.”

        1. Gorilla tactics

          yup!

          remember leftism is a priori, empiricism doesn’t really matter.

          best quote about the matter:

          GNOSTIC POLITICS IS SELF-DEFEATING IN SO FAR AS ITS DISREGARD FOR THE STRUCTURE OF REALITY LEADS TO CONTINUOUS WARFARE. — ERIC VOEGELIN

          sub gnosticism for leftism (kinda what voegelin meant) i’ve quoted him before, but he really does understand the leftoid/totalitarian mentality to a fucking T-really worth reading.

          1. Libertarius

            But anarcho-rationalism is much better than that of the leftoids.

            /SARC

    3. db

      I used to work with a Brit expat who told a story about how poor and delayed NHS care nearly killed his father with untreated conditions and then hospital-sourced infections.

      He admitted the delays were due to the NHS being government run and financed. But when I suggested criticism of the NHS he staunchly defended it based on some “fairness” bullshit. It is not only too powerful to be criticized, people will even excuse horrifying lapses in care because it’s “applied fairly” or some shit. These are things that could amount to (legitimate) malpractice suits in the U.S., and they write it off as the cost of having single payer.

      1. Killaz

        My cousin married the daughter of the head administrator of a hospital in Liverpool back in the 80s. They are still married. Lovely family of five. I saw them last evening. I met her father when he was over a number of times, and he hated the NHS. He could go on for hours about the mendacity he faced every day. Mind you, his daughter is a libertarian outlier. She came to America to escape the rampant socialism of England even under Thatcher.

      2. CatoTheElder

        My cousin’s Brit husband has the same contempt for NHS, insists that its neglect killed his father, and laments its creeping introduction to the US via ObamaCare.

        Brits aren’t all in the tank for NHS.

        But most have a government school indoctrination in how great it is, and will do all sorts of mental gymnastics to maintain the illusion. This is no different than Americans who, despite all evidence to the contrary, get teary-eyed when they recite the Pledge and genuinely believe that they live in a representative republic of, by, and for the people with liberty and justice for all.

        In most cases, a Brit’s faith can only be shattered when he makes direct life-or-death contact with the NHS. As long as he remains healthy, the cognitive dissonance is not too painful. Since most people remain healthy most of the time, it’s no wonder that so many Brits can maintain their fantasy. In most cases, an American’s faith can only be shattered when he’s confronted by its injustice system.

    4. CE

      The reason the NHS lets patients down…

      In England, you don’t need the Cleveland Browns.

  15. The Immaculate Trouser

    In the spirit of holiday giving, I bequeath to you the gift of incredibly stupid proggie comments!

    Only a man would say that. By dismissing a rape victim you literately re-violate her again. But of course men don’t get that.

    Most men do, however, understand how to use the word “literally” in a sentence.

    Meanwhile, in the real world, the facts remain unchanged: False rape reports are relatively rare, constituting only about 2-8 percent of reports filed with law enforcement.

    1 in 12 chance = rare

    You’ve got people cruising around cities in medium-sized metal boxes capable of traveling at high speeds and powered by burning gasoline. Left unregulated, these vehicles would poison the air and crush huge numbers of innocent pedestrians.

    Thanks to regulations, car accidents and smog are now old wives’ tales told to scare children when scurrilous lies about ObamaCare’s implementation aren’t doing the trick.

    these gender size differences are even more amplified [in Pixar films] if the heroine is supposed to be a romantic lead, sending the troubling message that to be loveable, it’s best to take up almost no space at all. Shrink your bones down, if you can. Preferably until they’re smaller than your eyeballs.

    It would take at least 5 shrinks and an amateur porn studio to work through the issues embodied in this comment. Oy.

    1. Should false rape accusers be sued?
      …In 2012, according to the FBI, nearly 87,000 “forcible rapes” were reported. That’s down 7% from the number of rapes reported in 2008. Law enforcement agencies estimate that the number of false rape accusations ranges from 2% to 8% annually, or between 2,000 and 7,000 cases each year….

      1. Contraceptives And Cuckoldry
        …That recorded 1% cuckoldry rate is more than 30 TIMES the US recorded rape rate of 0.03%….

      2. Yes. And forced to register on a publicly available list.

      3. Also, am I wrong in thinking that 87000 forcible rapes is not 87000 distinct rapist-victim combinations?

        1. KDN

          I would assume the same.

      4. Agammamon

        Fuck yes they should. The only problem being most of ’em probably don’t have enough assets to make you whole.

    2. Bo Cara Esq.

      I do not get what is stupid about the last comment, which seems to me to be about depictions of women characters in animated films being unrealistic and perhaps negatively influencing children.

      Women characters are strangely proportioned in some of those films (though so are many male characters), and it does not strike me as stupid that children could be influenced in ways by the imagery in the films.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser

        Women characters are strangely proportioned in some of those films

        Not that!!! Anything but that!

        As far as negatively influencing children… if the worst you’ve experienced as a kid is watching a Pixar movie’s CGI representation of a lady, you’ve lived a very sheltered life. If it’s a fixation to you to the point where you’re writing articles about it lambasting Pixar for making movies with cutesy caricatured cartoon characters, you’ve got problems I can’t even begin to understand.

        1. Bo Cara Esq.

          It would certainly be silly to waste too much time on it, but the idea that films that are tremendously popular with children have unrealistic proportioned female characters in them and the idea that small children can be influenced by such depictions in ways that could be bad for their concepts of themselves hardly seem ‘stupid’ to me.

        2. Women characters are strangely proportioned in some of those films

          Not that!!! Anything but that!

          I LOL’ed out loud on that one….

          The reason for those strange proportions is that that’s what sells in the US!!!!! In England, for instance, you have a market that likes the really ugly actors and actresses, so they have an industry that caters to them as well as the people who want to see beautiful people.

          If Americans (and frankly most of the world) didn’t gravitate to the unusually proportioned characters, Pixar would be doing something different.

          And also note how the stuff is portrayed. In Up, you got a fat kid and an old fat guy as the protagonists. In the Incredibles, the extra fat that Mr Incredible and Elastigirl had put on as they went from superheros to suburban parents was a running gag.

          Basically, the guys making the movies are catering to what they think the audience wants, with numerous stabs in the more realistic body type direction. And then they are tweaking their future production standards based on what flies and doesn’t fly with consumers.

          I honestly think that if 95% of the outraged people (this includes yours truly) took some time off once in a while to recognize that their outrage was bullshit, everyone would be much happier.

          1. JW

            Wait, what? Cartoons aren’t real people? I can’t casually drop anvils on flightless birds?

            WHY DOESN’T ANYONE TELL ME THESE THINGS?

            1. Bo Cara Esq.

              It is not about people mistaking cartoons for real people, it is about small children, who are pretty impressionable and who come up with some odd things, seeing the woman character in a film that gets the most attention and forming an idea that she should ‘look like that.’

              I am sorry, but none of that sounds so far fetched and silly to me. It is almost common sense.

              1. It is not about people mistaking cartoons for real people, it is about small children, who are pretty impressionable and who come up with some odd things, seeing the woman character in a film that gets the most attention and forming an idea that she should ‘look like that.’

                Why? It’s important to have standards after all.

              2. Suellington

                When I was a kid I watched tons of Tom and Jerry, The Roadrunner, Scooby Doo and Bugs Bunny. Somehow I was able to discern make believe from reality.

                I did get called Shaggy in high school when I grew a chin beard. I wasn’t so amused but somehow survived.

            2. Tejicano

              ” I can’t casually drop anvils on flightless birds?”

              Of course you can, right? What surprised me – and I wasn’t properly prepared for – was that instead of the loud “CLANG” I was expecting to hear it was more of a dull, squishy, thud. The real world is such a let down after growing up on cartoons.

              1. 2ndClassProle

                The real world is such a let down after growing up on cartoons.

                Speaking of let downs. I keep running, but still cannot cross the fucking ravine.

                1. CE

                  That’s easy. Don’t look down.

                  1. BigT

                    Barbie: 39-20-32 – also an oversized head, skinny neck

                2. Tejicano

                  But when you hit the ground you did leave an impression on which you could count the number of fingers, right? THAT works, doesn’t it?

          2. Bo Cara Esq.

            “If Americans (and frankly most of the world) didn’t gravitate to the unusually proportioned characters, Pixar would be doing something different.”

            I would imagine that this would be acknowledged and lamented by most who complain about unrealistic depictions, or at the least they would describe it as some type of ‘feedback loop’ where big cultural products create expectations which then foster more creations of that type.

          3. The Immaculate Trouser

            For that matter, you see the same character design principles at work in movies like Avatar, in creating fantasy creatures.

            There is a reason that Orcs have beady, rat-like eyes while Na’vi have giant, open eyes.

            1. Bo Cara Esq.

              I read an essay of Stephen Jay Gould’s where he describes the design of Mickey Mouse as following a tried and true pattern found in nature of inducing appeal and affection by having relatively large heads, eyes, round face, etc. The traits of baby chimps and puppies and human infants which make us go ‘awww’ and want to care for them. And certainly you see that in cartoons like Pixar’s.

              But of course that does not detract from the point that whatever reason the producers choose, and we may respond, to such images, that they are 1. unachievable and 2. could be seen as models by young impressionable children who are forming their first ideas about what is expected of them ‘gender-wise.’

              1. The Immaculate Trouser

                But of course that does not detract from the point that whatever reason the producers choose, and we may respond, to such images, that they are 1. unachievable

                So, the events in a fantasy movie are often un-achievable and idealized? Quick, get the President on the horn so that we can let him in on this breaking news!

                I’m not trying to bust your balls too hard here, but seriously: your kid has to be pretty slow to not understand that what is being perceived is artificial. As far as it “affecting” us in some subconscious, unsubstantiated manner, all I can say is that such thinking is basically totemic in nature. Caricature has been with us since the ancient Greeks; “bad drawing make kid grow up bad” is silly enough but is particularly nonsensical when blown up to an essay-length harangue against the evul patriarchal corporations, man.

                1. Bo Cara Esq.

                  “the events in a fantasy movie are often un-achievable and idealized? ”

                  Ah, but I am not talking about events, but depictions, and the entire point is ‘why is this depiction idealized?’

                  “As far as it “affecting” us in some subconscious, unsubstantiated manner, all I can say is that such thinking is basically totemic in nature”

                  I do not think it ‘totemic’ at all to suppose that images can influence a person’s, especially a child’s, actual or idealized self image.

                  1. The Immaculate Trouser

                    ‘why is this depiction idealized?’

                    Because it’s a creative fantasy scenario.

                    Duh.

                    I do not think it ‘totemic’ at all to suppose that images can influence a person’s, especially a child’s, actual or idealized self image.

                    “these gender size differences[…] send the troubling message that to be loveable, it’s best to take up almost no space at all”

                    Totemic thinking. Like I said.

                    1. Bo Cara Esq.

                      “Because it’s a creative fantasy scenario.”

                      That just begs the question, why is our fantasy idealization that of girls with arms thinner than their eyes?

                      As to your second point, it is more like a child surmising ‘hmmm, the characters that get all the attention are far thinner than I, perhaps if I were thinner…” If that is ‘totemic thinking’ then common sense is.

                      Do not misunderstand me: this would be far down on the list of ills in the world, and it seems silly to ascribe it to evil corporations (since as tarran noted if the images turned off audiences the corporations would change them in a second) or patriarchy (the images do not really match what most men would find arousing [take a look at Mirage, the ‘sexiest’ Incredibles character, eww]). And of course I would oppose any NAP violating proposal in response to this, the best way to deal with it is for parents to explain to their kids how unrealistic it all is, and/or to avoid such films and reward others with your business. But the basic charge there makes sense to me.

                    2. DesigNate

                      Then your kid is fucking stupid. I have 6 nieces and not one of them thinks they should be like Merida or Rapunzel or Jessica Rabbit because they are fucking cartoons.

                      Now, you might convince me with real actual humans, but you better have a damn good argument.

      2. Corning

        and it does not strike me as stupid that children could be influenced in ways by the imagery in the films.

        It should because it is.

        http://static2.wikia.nocookie……ePants.jpg

    3. Rasilio

      “Meanwhile, in the real world, the facts remain unchanged: False rape reports are relatively rare, constituting only about 2-8 percent of reports filed with law enforcement.
      1 in 12 chance = rare”

      Not to mention the fact that there is absolutely no way to determine this fact. Was someone charged with a crime or not? Could be a false claim or could be true. Was someone convicted of a crime or not could still be either false or true since we have had numerous cases of men convicted of rape later being exonerated.

      Further how does one define a false claim of rape when the overwhelming majority of cases the man does not believe that he committed rape but rather that it was consensual in the first place? How is a difference in perception proven true or false?

  16. hamilton

    Civil liberties groups warn that judges across the country are throwing people in jail for outstanding debts, bringing back de facto “debtors’ prison” despite a prohibition on the practice.

    LIBERTOPIA AWAITS!

    /progtard

    1. Medical Physics Guy

      I had the same thought. The argument will be out there soon if it isn’t already.

    2. Gorilla tactics

      “bringing back”?

      nope. they have always done this for fathers behind on their alimony payments, radical feminist lawyers brought back debtors prisons.

  17. Funhouse Theater and Lounge Presents: Golden Girls Live Christmas Special

    1. Warrren

      No.

  18. Archduke von Pantsfan

    Bay Area officials have banned residents from burning wood, indoors and outdoors, on Tuesday ? and might extend the ban into Christmas Day ? as part of an air quality initiative.

    The order came from a governmental body called the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. It issued a “Winter Spare the Air Alert,” which prohibits people from burning wood, manufactured logs or “any other solid fuels” in fireplaces and outdoor fire pits.

    He said it is “imperative” that people follow the rules.

    According to KTVU, those who violate the burning ban must pay a $100 ticket, or take a “wood smoke awareness class.”

    1. NotAnotherSkippy

      Wood smoke awareness class… If it weren’t for the constant influx of fresh suckerstalent, CA would be our very own Venezuela.

    2. PD Scott

      “I’m not burning wood, I’m burning leftover stems from my medical mj grow!”

      That should work, right?

    3. CE

      So who elected the Bay Area Air Quality Management District? And what makes their edicts “imperative”?

      1. Gorilla tactics

        fuck california

      2. VG Zaytsev

        They’re created by the clean air act to fulfil mandates issued by the EPA and consist of appointees that are 3 steps removed from voter accountability.

        IOW – the ideal proglodyte type of government agency.

  19. Since when is it a big surprise that you can go to jail if you don’t pay fines or other amounts owed to the government?

    Hasn’t this been the case since forever? Hell, for as long as I can remember, cities have been issuing arrest warrants on people who don’t pay their frickin’ parking tickets, for crying out loud.

    Debtor’s prisons were for people who couldn’t pay debts to other people. We have bankruptcy now to deal with that.

    1. CE

      Ask Wesley Snipes.

  20. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    Things no one will tell fat girls

    Everyone has rolls when they bend over. Everyone. Lets just get this out of the way right off the bat. In the last few months, I’ve had over 30 women ranging from rail thin to extra large naked in my bed and I would routinely ask them to hug their knees. You wont believe this… ALL OF THEM HAD TUMMY ROLLS. Not one was exempt…

    When people say “you’re gorgeous,” believe them. I tend not to, and it’s a cryin’ shame. When people genuinely compliment you, it’s because they really see it.

    “Arm flab is embarrassing.” No its not, go fuck yourself. No, not you. The people who tell us that, silly.

    You’re not stunning despite your body. You’re stunning because of your body. There is a distinct difference. I grew up in a culture that would deem “unattractive” women as “special spirits.” A degrading categorization that implied that the only thing worthwhile was whatever was inside. Well, yeah. We are all much much more than our bodies, but our bodies are a beautiful part of us too. Beauty comes from the inside AND the outside. I am of the firm belief that every person is beautiful, and so this leaves the inside to be the part that is the most telling when it comes to true “beauty.”

    I feel like that headline offers so much to parody, it isn’t fair.

    1. “Don’t swallow your beauty, vomit it out after every meal.”

    2. 2ndClassProle

      I am of the firm belief that every person is beautiful,

      Unless you are flirting with them, and they think you are unattractive, then you are creep.

      /MALE GAZE

      1. The Immaculate Trouser

        Any person who would say such a thing has clearly never seen Danny DeVito or Crispin Glover.

    3. Agammamon

      We are all much much more than our bodies, but our bodies are a beautiful part of us too.

      Yes we are, but when you’re 5ft 6in and 200 lbs you’re gonna need an *incredible* personality to make me think you’re beautiful.

    4. I’m trying to figure out whether that article is written by a stright guy or a lesbian. I think it’s the latter.

      1. Juice

        I think the chick in the pic is the author.

    5. Juice

      The pic they have is not just of a fat girl. It’s a horribly ugly girl who is also fat.

      1. Really, which would you think is more feminine, this:

        http://i7.photobucket.com/albu…..arnay2.jpg

        or this:

        http://blog.curvykate.com/wp-c…..incess.jpg

        1. Mercutio

          The girl in the first photo looks anorexic. I’d take any of the four in the second picture.

        2. Aloysious

          I answer c. All of them.

        3. Bramblyspam

          I think the girl in the first pic is just mad because she got stuck with the ugly underwear. She’d look a lot better if she were, you know, happy. And maybe dressed nicer.

    6. Juice

      A guy can pick you up off your feet, and it won’t break his back.

      Um, no. Can the average man just lift a 300-lb sack of flesh off the ground? Not usually.

      A long time ago I was desperate and hooked up with this fat chick. Otherwise she was cute, but she was fat. Not just chubby. Anyway, at one point she got on top of me and then pinned me down. I couldn’t get her off me and she thought this was funny. I tell you there’s no bigger turn-off (not to mention fright) than a laughing fat girl pinning you down on the bed and you can’t move no matter how hard you try.

      1. PD Scott

        There was a CSI episode where a guy with a fat fetish died because the woman suffocated him after passing out on top of him, her weight being too much for him to breathe against.

        In the ep the woman wanted to be tried for murder rather than being laughed at for being so overweight she accidentally killed a guy.

      2. Tejicano

        Long ago I set my limit at nothing I couldn’t bench press. Living in Tokyo at the time made that pretty easy to meet though.

      3. CE

        Some guys like that though.

    7. Things no one will tell fat girls

      Ugly Women are Beautiful Too

    8. Rhywun

      In the last few months, I’ve had over 30 women ranging from rail thin to extra large naked in my bed

      Not being judgemental, but… either that’s a tad too slutty or nobody wants a repeat performance.

  21. Archduke von Pantsfan

    Big Shaving is bleeding this year, as the stubble craze cuts into sales and profit expectations are slashed.
    The problem is one of simple economics. The spike in facial hair means less demand for razors. Ward Klein, CEO of US-based company Energizer Holdings (which owns both Schick and Edge), recently reported that the weakness in some of the personal care categories in the US was “unprecedented”.
    “I’m really talking about razors and blades in particular,” Mr Klein added.

    1. Since I left the military, I shave once every 5 days or so. It’s AWESOME! My face is much happier.

      1. Agammamon

        I grew a beard after I got out (I think most of us do) – I’m going for the hobo look right now, haven’t shaved in two months.

        1. Unfortunately, some of us don’t grow particularly lush beards. I’ve got the moustache rocking, but not the beard. 😐

        2. I tried the beard too, but…

          A. I can’t. At least not anything that looks respectable (at 48).

          B. After about two weeks the itching drove me nuts.

          1. 2ndClassProle

            I got too much Native in me to grow anything substantial. Really grows great on my head, nose, ears, genitals and ass. If a woman is into the beards, I drop my pants, and see if she likes my bear cub.

            1. 2ndClassProle

              Question of etiquette… do I give you the ass, or the crotch!

              1. Situationally dependent, I suppose.

          2. Agammamon

            I don’t grow a lush one either – took a year before I had anything respectable. 2 months is just enough for it start to get in the way eating.

            The itching goes away after 3 weeks or so – I guess you get used to it.

      2. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

        I had to be clean-shaven for my part-time job while in school. I suppose one positive about being unemployed for 3 months has been being able to grow a beard.

    2. PD Scott

      I’ve always disliked facial hair. You want to grow it, go ahead, but it’s not for me. Stubble just looks like poor grooming.

      OTOH, hopefully this means fewer ads like the one a year or so ago with the attractive young women who required varying degrees of body hairlessness in their men.

    3. Red Rocks Rockin

      Yeah, I’m sure it’s a “stubble craze” and not the fact that your razor blades are expensive as hell.

      I switched to a double-bladed safety razor two years ago. I spend $15 a year on blades.

      Gilette and Schick can take their Mach 3-4-5 whatever and stuff it.

      1. Smilin' Joe Fission

        Same here. I use the blue plastic double bladed throw aways. Much cheaper.

      2. PapayaSF

        Find one of these.

      3. Rhywun

        There must be blowback lately, because I’m seeing not only that Dollar Shave Club guy all over the TV but another dude promoting the classic shaver thing just today.

        Me, I have a patchy beard and I just use a beard trimmer once a week and always have some stubble. Not for fashion, but because I am colossally lazy and I don’t have anyone telling me to shave every day.

        But yeah I hardly see anyone clean-shaven anymore. It’s all either lazy stubble like me, or meticulously crafted goatees or hipster sideburns.

    4. Medical Physics Guy

      The shaving cream racket – and even published by our “friends” at von Mises

      1. Tejicano

        Yup – earlier this year I caught on to the fact that shaving cream is really not necessary. One less thing to clutter up the bathroom, buy, and stock.

        I also have an electric to alternate between blade shaving.

        I have a buddy – Asian – who can go without a shave for a month and his “beard” looks like mine does in the late evening. I do envy that.

    5. Juice

      Could the insane price of razor blades be the cause of the “stubble fad”? Maybe?

    6. CE

      I’m saving the environment, one 3-day shadow at a time.

  22. …in more than half of the counties in the 34 states serviced by the Affordable Care Act-mandated federal exchange there are no affordable plans for couples over 40 who don’t qualify for subsidies

    People aren’t able to afford them? Or they just fail to make correct choices? What’s more important to a 72-year-old widower? Eating three meals a day or standard prenatal care?

    1. Rich

      Ima say “standard prenatal care”, because she could get a uterus transplant under Democratcare.

      1. Agammamon

        Yeah, prenatal care. Its for the greater good.

      2. Or she could get hit by a bus….

      3. Also, don’t let that it would definitely be substandard prenatal care affect your choice.

        1. And I said widower.

  23. The Immaculate Trouser

    Another present for y’all…

    Are men hard-wired by evolution, at the sight of a lady, to try to impress her, hoping to get laid? Self-styled “pick-up artists” would certainly like to think so, and evolutionary psychologists are eager to tell them science says it, too.

    Well, that’s bad. I think.

    The problem (besides the one Katy Waldman points out, which is how women are treated more like variables than humans in these kinds of studies) is that while it is true that a female presence does change male behavior, none of the mentioned studies actually prove that women cause men to show off.

    Damn those scientists, ever oppressing the fairer sex with their basic numeracy and multivariate models! Down with the Patriarchy, death to word problems!

    Research found that by reducing what is called a “cognitive load”?how much your brain can process at once?by giving people alcohol, you get the same effect.

    There’s a joke in there about Marcotte’s columns causing reduced cognitive loads, but damn if my alkie-impaired mind can reach for it.

    People’s opinions became more simplistic and reactionary. A man who is thinking about a woman instead of giving his full brain over to a question about diplomacy vs. war is likely to reach for the pat simplicity of war.

    Pat simplicity is the first thing that comes to my mind when recalling Eisenhower’s invasion of Normandy.

    1. 2ndClassProle

      what is called a “cognitive load”

      Is this what young people are calling it these days?

    2. I freely admit it. Until I got married, 98% of my existence revolved around getting laid. And I’m not sure I can name anything falling in the other 2%.

      SF’d the link BTW.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser

        Dammit. Here’s the link:

        http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_…..press.html

        Yeah, I did other things besides try to get laid back before I was married. I’ll be damned if I can remember what those things were, but I’m sure there was something.

      2. Smilin' Joe Fission

        I’m currently single and, outside of work, I am constantly thinking about what I can do to get laid in the near future and what to eat for my next meal. They really are the basic constant thoughts in my head.

        1. Rasilio

          Your loss, I designed table top space combat simulation game systems in my head (including some light calculus to make sure that my missile attacks worked properly), ran statistical analysis on my magic decks, designed multiple worlds to run players through for Dungeons and Dragons and Shadowrun and still found plenty of time to think about getting laid.

          Now I freely admit that the activities which I spent so much time on completely explain my near complete lack of success when it came to females but I never once bought into that single track mind bullshit.

          1. Tejicano

            Easy for geeks like you to say.

            I was still levitating tables at the sight of a nice mini-skirt well into my late 40’s. I don’t miss having a firebreathing libido one bit.

            1. Seamus

              “I was present . . . one time when someone asked the poet Sophocles: ‘How are you in regard to sex, Sophocles? Can you still make love to a woman?’ Hush man, the poet replied, I am very glad to have escaped from this, like a slave who has escaped from a mad and cruel master.’ I thought then that he was right, and I still think so, for a great peace and freedom from these things come with old age.” — Plato, Republic, Book I (quoting Cephalus).

    3. Corning

      Women get dumb around men they are attracted to as well. At least in my experience.

      Also I don’t think men or women get dumb around people they are not attracted to.

      I don’t think these studies have anything to do with gender. I am sure the same stuff could be found with gays.

      1. Rhywun

        I am sure the same stuff could be found with gays.

        Of course. Everyone is different but on average people tend to do things in an attempt to attract a mate – that goes for men and women, gay or straight. That is human nature and Marcotte’s or anyone else’s feeble attempt to twist that into some sort of feminist perspective is pretty weak.

    4. J S

      She didn’t mention how distracting the crowds could be. No, the football players just happen to be distracted by that group of skimpily dressed women standing in the corner shouting at them.

    5. Rufus J. Firefly

      A universal question or statement a man can make among strangers:

      Would you do her?

      and

      I’d do her.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser

        Regardless of race, religion, or creed, mankind is united by that age-old dialogue.

  24. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    Florida judge behind ‘marijuana courts’ sent to rehab after showing up to work drunk

    Florida judge Gisele Pollack apparently came to work drunk last week, causing such a scene that the chief judge had to deal with the matter.

    According to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, Pollack is said to have come into work last Tuesday obviously inebriated and calling for her staff to be fired. As one source reported: “The staff tried to keep the Judge off the bench. The Judge’s response was basically “f*** you, you’re fired.”

    Huffington Post also reports that Pollack appeared to be crying while screaming at an assistant and demanding to have her car keys returned to her.

    Pollack came up with the idea of a “marijuana court” that handles cases of misdemeanor pot violations to steer them toward treatment, basically decriminalizing possession. She was presiding over the court she founded when the incident occurred.

    Pollack didn’t return to work on Wednesday, and later told reporters that she’d take two weeks off for “an intense outpatient program.”

    1. SIV

      This story inspired the “Burn the Fucking System to the Ground.”rant at Popehat

  25. The Immaculate Trouser

    Taking time out of his busy schedule of watching basketball in his house alone and in silence on Christmas, Yglesias shares the true meaning of Christmas:

    Normal people never send mail to their senator or member of Congress. Consquently, members of Congress’ perception of what voters care about and think is massively skewed by the priorities of socially deviant frequent letter-writers. Step up and be a weirdo for once and let your elected officials know what you think. Thelooming expiration of unemployment insurance benefits would be a good topic.

    1) If I remembered enough Latin to correctly translate “step up and be a weirdo”, we could design an Yglesias family coat of arms.

    2) It’s a good thing that the expiry of unemployment benefits is the only thing going on at the moment. It sure would be awkward if the implementation of a major piece of progressive legislation affecting millions were going poorly. That would really make the idea of writing my Congressman about some UE bennies instead of said legislation sound like an idea conjured up by some hack trying to cover up the flaws of this administration.

    1. This person has no friends. In DC, surely they have open Chinese restaurants and movie theaters, right? Is that just a Southern Jewish tradition? Because I really enjoyed it the one time I went out and celebrated Jewish Christmas.

      1. Fa ra ra ra, ra ra ra

      2. PD Scott

        Every movie theater I ever worked was open Thanksgiving, Christmas, the works. And yet we didn’t have any news reports about how sad it was we weren’t able to spend time with our families.

        Here, enjoy this modern Christmas carol.

        1. Red Rocks Rockin

          Same here–worked for one in the mid-90s, and had to work Thanksgiving and Christmas, without fail.

          Now that the whole “Retail workers need to spend time with the families!!” group of SJWs has emerged, I get a big kick out of asking them where the fuck they were all the years I was shoveling popcorn.

      3. Juice

        DC is a weird place. It can be almost impossible to make friends with people. And even if you make friends, doing things with them can be quite difficult. DC has a lot of nice restaurants (and a lot of shitty ones posing as nice ones) and some quality entertainment choices, but besides that it’s a shit place to live. I don’t know why it’s so hard to make friends and do things with them, but it’s like that.

        1. CE

          Probably the people who are drawn there. They don’t want friends, they want power. If you help them get power, they’ll pretend to be your friend, until they don’t need you anymore.

    2. Corning

      House Stark: Winter is Coming
      House Lanister: A Lannister always pays his debt.
      House Greyjoy: We do not sow
      House Targaryen: Fire and Blood
      House Yglesias: Step up and be a weirdo

      1. Gorilla tactics

        House of Pain: Jump Around

    3. Tejicano

      I remember one christmas I spent alone years ago. I was recently divorced, too emotionally fractured to be in a relationship, and my fcuk-buddy was home with her parents. So I rented a bunch of videos and sat around fitting together the parts for a hi-cap 1911 (handgun).

      I had a pretty good time.

    4. CE

      I’ve written to my Congress-criminal a few times, in 3 different districts. Invariably they respond with a form letter explaining why they are voting the opposite of what I recommended.

    5. “Adveni et insolitus es.”

  26. Agammamon

    Massachusetts and Vermont, who used the same contractor for their healthcare exchanges as the federal government, are looking at ways to withhold payment and reviewing their legal options in trying to recoup their losses. <?blockquote

    Let me guess – there’s no legal way to avoid paying because the shitty government negotiators ‘forgot’ to put in penalty clauses and their only legal recourse is to drag the company into a friendly state (kangaroo) court. And the best outcome they will get is to spend as much in lawyer fees as they claw back from the company.

  27. How Women Use Love As An Excuse To Extract A Man’s Resources And Deplete His Life Energy
    …In times gone by they promised to honor and obey, which was a good trade off. These days those promises mean nothing once the divorce attorney files motions against you. It’s a shame more husbands don’t trot along to court with copies of their marriage vows. That is a verbal contract. Think into it logically: women say they are ‘in love’ but that does not imply they have love to give. A fish is ‘in water’ a bird is ‘in the sky’ but neither have anything to do with the object they are ‘in’. It’s a man that provides the love women feel they are ‘in’….

    …As the relationship progresses (and goes down hill) the man starts to believe catch phrases like; “we’ve grown apart”, when in reality he was never together with the girl he believed he was. She had made every effort to adapt herself to his world, like one of those science fiction aliens adopting human form, even becoming president, but behind closed doors, slipping back into its natural grotesque lizard creature appearance.

    He also likens married women to the deadly wasps that use their sting to paralyze the tarantula. She then uses the poor living spider, a once ferocious and powerful hunter, as a host for her nest….

    1. “I do not fear women, Mandrake… But I do deny them my essence.”

      1. They’re coming after my precious bodily fluids.

        1. Rich

          And putting them in ice cream, Mandrake ? children’s ice cream.

        2. Have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rainwater, and only pure-grain alcohol?

          1. Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation of water? Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?”

          2. CE

            Mostly the pure-grain stuff, it seems.

      2. hamilton

        “Well, I’m sorry, Wendy. But I just don’t trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn’t die.”

        1. Tejicano

          A favorite movie from my childhood was Jeremiah Johnson in which there is a line which went over my head until I saw it again after my divorce – which I now can recite verbatim : “I packed me a squaw for ten year pilgrim. Cheyenne she were. Meanest bitch that ever balled for beads. I lodge-poled her at Deadwood Creek, and traded her for a Hawken gun.”

        2. BiMonSciFiCon

          +1 Mr. Hat

    2. J S

      I’ve never liked that website. I got banned just for making one comment, one comment, about the Jews. And it wasn’t anti-Semitic at all, I said I was only criticizing some Jews and Jews have contributed a lot to America and such, but even bringing it up is enough for a ban in Roosh’s eyes. He goes off like he’s some politically incorrect bad boy, really he’s just a troll. Have you read this one, or this one?

      http://www.returnofkings.com/2…..g-disorder

      http://www.returnofkings.com/3…..d-movement

      Pathetic.

    3. J S

      Lawrence takes a hatchet to the patriarchy and declares it never truly existed in the first place, that women always ruled the roost.

      Total bullshit. That’s just called “how the world works.” Men being men and women being women. A lot of the MRA movement is like the feminist movement, men whining about women simply being women.

    4. paranoid android

      Does this guy actually think that it is more likely that his problems are the result of women being inherently evil gold-digging vampires than the result of him being an asshole and believing things like that?

  28. Rich

    Civil liberties groups warn that judges across the country are throwing people in jail for outstanding debts, bringing back de facto “debtors’ prison” despite a prohibition on the practice.

    Well, you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip, can you? Can’t polish a *rubber boot*! Know what I mean?

    1. Including tax debts, right?

      1. Rich

        Are you including the, um, penaltax in those debts?

  29. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    Dear Prudence: Help! My boss poops in our bathroom shower

    For the past three years I’ve worked for a small business with only one other employee. My boss, the business owner, has serious mental health issues and has made the job extremely challenging at times. She has picked on me occasionally in the past but has currently turned her focus to my co-worker. We work in a private office suite and no one has access to it but the three of us. Our boss has her own bathroom off her office, and the other employee and I share a separate bathroom. While I was on vacation last month, our boss twice came into the employee bathroom and pooped in the shower (which no one uses). My co-worker discovered it after noticing a strange smell and finally opening the shower. My co-worker was so mortified and afraid of our boss she didn’t say anything. The poop stayed until the cleaning lady came later in the week. The following week, it happened again. This time my co-worker mentioned the strange smell to our boss, who told her she was imagining it.
    […]
    This is shocking bullying. But I don’t want to quit because I am making way more in this position than I will get elsewhere, and I have flexible hours. Is all this a sign of dangerous mental illness? Should I flee? My co-worker has already put in notice.

    How you know the economy is bad.

    1. Rich

      I don’t want to quit because I am making way more in this position than I will get elsewhere, and I have flexible hours.

      Wise. Gotta take the good with the bad.

      1. It’s not wise; I worked for a crazy CEO, and no amount of money is worth the stress and fear.

    2. Rich

      If you stick around long enough, there might be a little something extra in your pay envelope.

    3. Agammamon

      But I don’t want to quit because I am making way more in this position than I will get elsewhere

      OK, I’d give this one the same advice I give to people who complain about cheating partners – get out or shut the fuck up.

      Its gonna keep happening, either the benefits of being in the relationship (working) are worth putting up with it, in which case shut the fuck up and get to work or they’re not – get out.

      1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

        If the boss has always been mentally ill then one wonders how she manages to run a small business and turn a profit.

        1. I worked for a mentally disturbed CEO.

          That woman could sell alcohol to a baptist minister. She was an amazing saleswoman.

          And she brought in massive amounts of money…. Her husband made sure that orders were filled, and when she wasn’t selling, she made her employees lives miserable.

          1. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

            I guess I just have a hard time imagining someone who shits in the shower and acts like it never happened as high-functioning and capable of interacting successfully with clients, as well as making investments and managing money.

            1. 2ndClassProle

              Maybe it is a test to see if they are worthy.

      2. Pretty simple really. Which do you value more the pay and benefits or the potential of finding a job where the boss doesn’t shit in the shower?

        You’re call lady.

        1. Leigh

          Back about 30 years ago, I had a job as a janitor when I was in High School – cleaning the telephone company’s buildings. For 4 bucks an hour, I cleaned shit stained seats on the toilets, ash trays, etc. And you know what? It was worth the four bucks an hour – I never complained.

    4. Tejicano

      I used to work with a guy who I pretty quickly pegged as a highly functional sociopath. He was able to employ that deep character flaw to make him a world class deal closer and went on to become the CEO of one of the largest global firms in his industry. He may not have shit in the shower but his abnormality seemed to be just as deep. He just knew how to capitalize on it.

      1. Rhywun

        I was fooled by more than one sociopath in my youth – before I knew it was a “thing” and there was a word for it. At the time it was deeply confusing and troubling that someone could behave like that. Now that I’m older I know to run screaming at the first signs.

  30. Rich

    Massachusetts and Vermont, who used the same contractor for their healthcare exchanges as the federal government, are looking at ways to withhold payment and reviewing their legal options in trying to recoup their losses.

    Couldn’t they simply deny the contractor healthcare if it had an accident while visiting those great states?

  31. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    Petulance, thy name is New Republic

    At the heart of the great big pile-on of ridicule for the flawed healthcare.gov rollout the past few months was a large helping of private-sector triumphalism. Just imagine, the chorus went, if tech giants like Amazon or Google had been in charge of the Web site instead of those clueless, fusty bureaucrats ? first, the problems would not have happened in the first place, but even if they had, the private sector would have held those responsible for the mistakes to account.
    […]
    Well, then. There’s little schadenfreude to be had in people being left empty-handed of presents to give their family and friends, or in underpaid, overworked warehouse employees and drivers rushing unsuccessfully to get the goods to their destinations on time. And as my colleague Jonathan Cohn noted recently, the comparison between healthcare.gov and Amazon was deeply flawed from the outset. But still, the Great Christmas Delivery Screwup of 2013 should inject a bit of perspective and humility into the ranks of the loudest private-sector champions
    […]
    So, how about it: if not an outright truce, maybe some de-escalation of the anti-government triumphalism. And a little forgiveness all around. Happy Boxing Day.

    1. Virginian

      Oh yes let’s have discussion about why the unionized UPS is failing so miserably, while the non-union FedEx is handling their business.

      Please, let’s talk about that.

      1. And how the UPS computer system “failed” because it worked well enough to complete orders, including payment, for too many people, not because the vast majority of users couldn’t get a username and password.

        And how all those orders will be completed about a year before the delayed parts of the ACA kick in.

        1. Tejicano

          I also wonder if UPS has figured out the “1-10-100” rule – that a mistake which takes 1 minute to fix at the origin, if not fixed, will take 10 minutes to fix at the next point. And if not caught and fixed at the second point will take 100 minutes to fix at the following point which will eat any profit you would have gotten from that shipment. From their attitude I highly doubt they get this.

          1. BigT

            A stitch in time saves nine. A very old bromide.

            1. Tejicano

              Yup. Pretty much that updated with the compounding effect illuminated.

    2. 2ndClassProle

      Was watching a marathon of Ultimate Factories on Christmas day, UPS was one of them. The logistics that goes into getting next day air is pretty fucking fantastic.

      Volume was up plus bad weather, and people like my mother thinking they can teleport that shit directly to the house. You going to have some problems.

    3. Cytotoxic

      So, how about it: if not an outright truce, maybe some de-escalation of the anti-government triumphalism.
      Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope

      1. CE

        Not when we’re winning.

    4. At the heart of the great big pile-on of ridicule for the flawed healthcare.gov rollout the past few months was a large helping of private-sector triumphalism.

      And here I thought that at the heart of the big pile-on is the fact that the healthcare law rollout was such a major clusterfrak. But I guess that failing to deliver Christmas presents on time is a much bigger deal than leaving millions without their already-existing health insurance.

      And as my colleague Jonathan Cohn noted recently, the comparison between healthcare.gov and Amazon was deeply flawed from the outset.

      Especially when one works and the other is an embarrassingly expensive failure.

    5. Juice

      I just take solace in the fact that there is a single solitary comment that basically says, “fuck you.”

    6. PapayaSF

      This would be a valid point if Healthcare.gov delivered what it was supposed to one or two days later than promised.

  32. J S

    Have you guys seen this:

    “Whether or not Ally consciously intended to discriminate makes no practical difference?”

    http://online.wsj.com/news/art…..0753132294

    And it’s 98 million dollars!

    1. Sevo

      OK, and?

  33. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    Dallas Cowboys sign the retired Jon Kitna to backup second-stringer Kyle Orton, Kitna pledges to donate entire gameday paycheck to school

    Jon Kitna, the 41-year-old former NFL quarterback who is now a high school math teacher and football coach, was signed this week by the Dallas Cowboys. He’ll serve as Kyle Orton’s backup if Tony Romo is unable to play in Sunday night’s NFC East championship. For that, Kitna will receive a game check of approximately $53,000 ? not bad for a few days work.

    But Kitna won’t be cashing that check himself. He told Cowboys play-by-play man Brad Sham he’ll donate the money to his high school, according to The Dallas Morning News.

    Kitna had a 14-year NFL career, serving as a starter in Seattle, Cincinnati and Detroit. He spent his final three seasons as a backup to Romo before retiring in 2011. He now works in his hometown, teaching math and coaching a football team that includes his son, a sophomore starting quarterback.

    The NFL return is a win-win for all parties. Kitna gets one more taste of the NFL life. The Cowboys have a battle-tested quarterback should Kyle Orton go down. Lincoln gets a nice donation from its most famous teacher. And, best of all, Kitna doesn’t have to take personal days or write up lesson plans for a substitute teacher. Lincoln is on winter break until next Thursday.

    Pretty cool.

    1. Warrren

      Not pretty cool, totally cool.

    2. Rufus J. Firefly

      I hope the Eagles kill them.

      1. Warrren

        Naturally as a Canukstanian terrist yo wish death upon a wholesome symbol of USAmerica.

  34. Cytotoxic

    Concerning the Antarctic: I heard that while there is more ice in the ocean, the continent itself is losing ice mass. Thoughts?

    1. The Immaculate Trouser

      WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE

    2. Archduke von Pantsfan

      “An Inconvenient Truth” has 1.5 stars on Netflix.

      I wept for joy.

    3. Corning

      Thoughts?

      Bullshit.

    4. Tejicano

      Seeing that the average annual tempurature there is still way below freezing – something like minus 20 (at that point C or F doesn’t make a lot of difference) – and at no point do any significant number of locations there get above 32F – any change is pretty much inconsequential.

      1. Corning

        any change is pretty much inconsequential.

        Or more importantly has nothing to do with global warming and everything to do with changes in precipitation.

  35. Sevo

    “Changing the long-standing name of any park or recreational center isn’t something done on a whim, said Sarah Ballard, a spokeswoman for the city’s Recreation and Park Department.
    “It’s not a top-down process that comes from City Hall or the department,” she said. “It’s community driven, with the community coming together to honor someone from the area.””

    Which is show we got Pelosi Drive in GG park, right? I mean you should have seen the crowd screaming to change the name! Both of them!
    http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/…..093046.php

  36. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    Christine Pelosi: Just as Vapid as Her Mama

    As we gather for the holidays, we remember the empty chairs at far too many holiday tables: for servicemembers killed overseas, children slain by gun violence, and loved ones lost to AIDS, cancer and other diseases due to stigma and poverty…

    Every vow we make in honor of those empty chairs around our holiday tables will require a political action: to wage peace, to fight for sensible gun laws and policies that address the root causes of violence for which guns are the accelerators, to expand healthcare for all in the Affordable Care Act, to break down the institutionalized misogyny, racism, xenophobia, and homophobia in our laws, and to fight income inequality by investing in jobs, comprehensive immigration reform, and preserving the American Safety Net from food stamps to unemployment insurance to veterans benefits to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

    That is why all I want for Christmas are my voting rights from which all other rights flow. Without voting rights, our struggle for women’s rights, civil rights, LGBT rights, immigrants’ rights and workers’ rights is just a conversation. We know that a handful of voter fraud cases have been used to silence millions of voices and we must change that.

    I like how she managed to get every progressive talking point into an article about voting.

    1. J S

      fight income inequality by investing in jobs, comprehensive immigration reform

      What a moron!

    2. That is why all I want for Christmas are my voting rights from which all other rights flow.

      Because rights are given , by government, to the good girls and boys.

    3. PD Scott

      I want a Constitutional amendment that says if you want to vote you have to pass the same citizenship test that immigrants have to pass. After all, if one wishes to operate a motor vehicle, one must pass tests to be able to legally drive. If a vote is so important, surely the voter should know what they are doing.

      1. CE

        I want voting banned. For obvious reasons.

  37. The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc

    South Carolina man recognized for growing the hottest peppers in the world

    Ed Currie holds one of his world-record Carolina Reaper peppers by the stem, which looks like the tail of a scorpion.
    On the other end is the bumpy, oily, fire-engine red fruit with a punch of heat nearly as potent as most pepper sprays used by police. It’s hot enough to leave even the most seasoned spicy food aficionado crimson-faced, flushed with sweat, trying not to lose his lunch.
    Last month, The Guinness Book of World Records decided Currie’s peppers were the hottest on Earth, ending a more than four-year drive to prove no one grows a more scorching chili. The heat of Currie’s peppers was certified by students at Winthrop University who test food as part of their undergraduate classes.

    1. PD Scott

      Since it is S Carolina, should we expect a Slate article about how it’s a plot to develop biochemical weapons to use against the Union if/when SC secedes again?

    2. Killaz

      My brother-in-law brought back peppers from Guam many years ago that we still cultivate. I have no idea how hot they are on the scale of things, but they made my dot Indian friend lose a bet.

    3. MP

      The article isn’t clear about how reliably he can replicate the heat across plants. I’m pretty sure the Trindad Scorpion Moruga is pretty reliable in terms of scovilles.

    4. “The Merciless Peppers of Quetzalacatenango ? grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum.”

      1. CE

        Who were perfectly sane until they mixed one drop in their chili one day.

    5. Warrren

      Currie? Really? That’s like Marvel’s habit of having many of their villains’ last names also be a descriptor of their criminal specialty or outlook on life.

      SEE: Doom Victor Von, or the Plunder family.

  38. 2ndClassProle

    Fracking Saves Water, Prevents Droughts

    1. Warrren

      DOESN’T MATTER! I CAN’T HEAR YOU! LA LA LA LA LA

  39. Mike M.

    Great, the United Auto Workers union is now using some of their taxpayer funded bailout money to buy advertising on ESPN intended to guilt-trip me into buying one of their cars. And people wonder why this country is going down the shitter.

    1. CE

      And the AIG ads brag about “paying America back”.

      1. Tejicano

        Payback’s a muthafucka

    2. Sevo

      I posted about on another thread, but the assholes didn’t say WHY to buy the cars other than the buyer ought to contribute to their pay!
      What horseshit! Do something that’s worth me buying.

  40. RishJoMo

    Dude thats liek the craziest thing I ever heard.

    http://www.BeinAnon.tk

  41. frankania

    Better still, Come to Mexico for Medical treatment, lab tests, cheap medicines–all at no prescriptions, no waiting.
    I have been uninsured since 1980 and simply come to Mexico for medical and dental during vacations….

    1. Corning

      I like my way better.

      I have not seen a dentist for over 10 years and that was only to get rid of some stupid metal bar a dentist put behind my lower teeth after I had my braces removed as a teen. Even then the piece of shit dentist said I should keep it in. My bottom teeth have not moved a millimeter.

      I have not seen a Doctor in 15 years.

      1. PapayaSF

        Unless you can clean plaque from your own teeth, that sounds like a bad idea.

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