Obama's "Most Secretive White House" Times Editor Has Covered, FDA Studying Risks of Caramel Coloring, Justin Bieber Charged With Resisting Police Without Violence: P.M. Links

• 

  jndotcom/flickr

  Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times tells Al-Jazeera America President Obama's is the "most secretive White House" she's dealt with. The White House, meanwhile, announced Obama would use the Google Hangouts to answer pre-selected questions, and some live ones from pre-selected people, after the State of the Union. Transparent enough for you?

• The FDA announced it would be studying the safety of caramel coloring, used in cola in response to a Consumer Reports study an impurity in twelve sodas they tested from five manufacturers. If you like your soda, can you keep it?
• The Baltimore Sun reports on a secret audit by the city of Balitmore that found speed camera error rates 40 times what had been previously disclosed.
• Franklin Frye was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of stealing a necklace and has been in a mental hospital since 1971, the last six of which with a request for release assigned to a dead judge.
• Current and former members of its cheerleading squad are suing the Oakland Raiders for wage theft and unfair employment practices, claiming that team owners aren't abiding by California worker laws.
• Justin Bieber was charged with resisting police without violence and DUI while allegedly drag racing in Florida.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Justin Bieber was charged with resisting police without violence and DUI while allegedly drag racing in Florida.

This is why we need to secure our borders.

[Andrew S.]

So Fist, you were the origin of the $50k donation to Reason during the last webathon, and with that money you bought early access to links threads. Didn't you?

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's not a race, you know. Because on some days I don't win.

[Andrew S.]

I'm just wondering how you do it!

[Fist of Etiquette]

I've explained it several times. Sometimes I have happen to wander over to Hit & Run and sometimes it just happens to be 4:30PM Easter Time, and sometimes I happen to notice there are no comments yet, so then I read over the links and think about each of them and then if something pops into my head that I want to share with everyone, I take the link and I copy and paste it, adding italics tags, and then I type out my thoughts, worded just so, and then I click preview and make sure that everything looks okay, and then I make revisions if necessary and then I preview again and if everything looks good I click submit. There's really no trick to it.

[jesse.in.mb]

I always just assumed you did an enormous amount of speed at 4:25 and hit refresh obsessively until links were posted.

[RBS]

Jesse's theory seems more likely.

[C. Anacreon]

Actually, it has a lot to do with a little thing called a flux capacitor, and I'm not permitted to say any more than that.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Occam's Razor.

[a better weapon]

Funny. I've done this exact approach (minus the speed) a handful of times with no success.

[jesse.in.mb]

Well, now you know the missing ingredient in your strategy...

[CE]

I've tried the same strategy minus the preview button and I still come in second or third.

[Zeb]

He's also explained it in a slightly more plausible way before.

[Agammamon]

You wanna know how I got these scars?

[GILMORE]

"I've explained it several times..."

We've traced the calls... and they're coming FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!!! GET OUT NOW!

[Almanian (sans exclamation pt)]

Warty set us up. THAT BASTARD!

[Tonio]

You do that "aw, shucks" routine awfully well, Fist. Bravo.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It had a typo or two, but that's what I get for rushing a comment, I guess.

[CE]

I'm thinking the fake second place finishes are to instill the tiniest amount of doubt that you aren't the writer of the AM and PM Links, adding your own comment when you hit "Publish" on the stories.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know, technically tonight Krayewski was first.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

How fast can the U.S. hand Beiber citizenship? Keep him.

[PD Scott]

This aggression will not stand, man.

[B.P.]

And keep your goddamn geese, too. They've turned my local park into a moonscape.

[RBS]

Since all of Florida is a border town can they rendition him to Yemen?

[CE]

Justin Bieber was charged with resisting police without violence and DUI while allegedly drag racing in Florida.

Resisting without violence? What did he do, complain loudly? And that's a crime now?

[jesse.in.mb]

The FDA announced it would be studying the safety of caramel coloring, used in cola in response to a Consumer Reports study an impurity in twelve sodas they tested from five manufacturers. If you like your soda, can you keep it?

Bah this is why my state has no more Jew Coke.

[Andrew S.]

Passover Coke is awesome. Harder and harder to find though (and I need it during Passover!)

[Ted S.]

Now that I've read up a bit:

Corn is a legume???

And I thought Jews could eat grain during Passover, it just couldn't be leavened.

[Tonio]

Not a legume.

[JD the elder]

Kitniyot isn't just legumes, although that's how it's often translated. And technically, no, corn doesn't seem like it should be chametz, and corn syrup less so, but...you were expecting a bunch of 5000-year-old religious rules to make sense in the modern world?

[Killaz]

In his wisdom, Jahovah was warning us of the dangers of Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland.

[Heedless]

Hey, I saw The Informant!, those are some scary, crazy people in that business.

[jesse.in.mb]

As far as some Jews are concerned in certain contexts it is...

[Ted S.]

Coke that's been ritually circumcised? 😉

[jesse.in.mb]

I think everybody here prefers their coke uncut.

[fish]

Threadwinner!

[Ted S.]

What about their hookers? 😉

[Bobarian]

I like to cut em just a little.

[Francisco d Anconia]

I don't get it.

[jesse.in.mb]

Joking?

Nicole will intactivistsplain it to you...

[Fist of Etiquette]

No one ever scores pure coke.

[Matrix]

Fuck... coke zero is on the list. Dammit

[Matrix]

and why were they testing Sprite? Does Sprite have caramel coloring?

fucking Canadians adding 'u's in unnecessary places.

[C. Anacreon]

and why were they testing Sprite? Does Sprite have caramel coloring?

This is to avoid any perception of racism.

[Ted S.]

fucking Canadians adding 'u's in unnecessary places.

They pull those "u"s from between the cushions of their chesterfields.

[Zeb]

Does Jew coke use a different kind of caramel coloring from regular coke?

[Apatheist ?_??]

no more Jew Coke.

It's all part of a plot by Tulpa.

[Entropy Void]

Tried Beaner Coke?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times tells Al-Jazeera America President Obama's is the "most secretive White House" she's dealt with.

But she's sure she can change him.

[John]

Nice of her to mention this fact a year after the country re-elected him. Was it not secretive before 2012?

[font_of_stupidity]

But remember John, back then his last election was coming up. After that he had more flexibility.

[Almanian (sans exclamation pt)]

I blame Bush

[font_of_stupidity]

Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times tells Al-Jazeera America President Obama's is the "most secretive White House" she's dealt with.

She's obviously an extreme right-wing War-on-Women Teahadist Rethuglican.

[Boisfeuras]

Right-wing media bias!

[Sevo]

Phone call this afternoon from:
"your factory authorized Microsoft technical representative"; would [I] please open a browser and enter this address?'
Oh, for the times you wish you had a police whistle handy!

[Andrew S.]

I got one of those calls once. Strung the guy on for a few minutes, then told him I had a Mac. Then he hung up. 🙁

[Sevo]

I don't know what the scam is, but it's obvious it's intended to collect pretty valuable info if they're using live callers.
It's not like the 'we have money waiting' emails.

[crazyfingers]

They have you download/open an application that gives them access to your computer, like Teamviewer. Then they try and blackmail you by threatening to delete your files unless you pay up.

[CE]

Won't work on me. My files automatically self destruct in 14 days.

[jesse.in.mb]

I had someone start messaging me out of Ghana recently on a *cough* social networking application *cough*. He's been asking all sorts of social engineering questions about what I like and what I do and trying to get usernames for other services I might be using. I kind of want him to find one and get in using "Reiki Healer" as my occupation though.

[RBS]

We get email scams all the time from random foreigners who just happen to win large judgement but for some reason can't find an attorney. I think the one going around right now is some Japanese woman.

[Sevo]

Yeah, ever since they stopped printing the phone books, I have a hard time finding all sorts of professionals, so I just do random emailings!

[CE]

Don't worry. I sent her the 10K she needed to access the prize. Still waiting for her to send me my cut though. Should check in again...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Does anybody know anyone who has responded to those 'Nigerian' email scams with a 'fuck off?'

[Ed]

http://www.419eater.com/

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Interesting.

[grrizzly]

Don't you have to be in the proximity of another person to use this *cough* social networking application *cough*?

[jesse.in.mb]

No. Grindr you have to be in proximity. Scruff you can set a location manually or search for a particular location. This one is Gay Romeo (it's used almost exclusively in Europe, I installed it when I had little luck fishing off the Scruff pier in Berlin) and it was originally web based and added a location aware smartphone app. You can set search parameters for wherever on it. I got no messages from scammers while in Germany, but have had a few since I've been in LA. I'm curious what their targeting system is.

[grrizzly]

Interesting. After nine years with my partner, I barely know the new stuff kids use these days.

[jesse.in.mb]

After nine years with my partner, I barely know the new stuff kids use these days.

It's a bit sad, really. Sometimes you'll hit a gay bar and everyone's glued to their smartphone the whole time. Congrats on 9 years. That's significantly longer than anything I've been able to pin down, but I'm also prone to dating crazy.

[robc]

Does there really need to be specialty apps?

OkCupid doesnt work for gays?

[jesse.in.mb]

Does there need to be Coke, Pepsi, Tab and RC Cola?

I find the fragmentation of services annoying in this case, but there's a market for it so these venues exist. Beyond that OkCupid is just catching up to these geosocial networking apps with Tinder, they're only six or so years late to the game.

[Entropy Void]

Take a look at 409eater, they love that kind of stuff.

[Entropy Void]

oops, sorry, that should be "419eater" ... scambaiting site .... shouldn't type while wiping the counters ...

[paranoid android]

"Hey, it's not working...oh, wait, do I have to be connected to the Internet for this? Oh, I can't find the cord...this may take me a minute, could you please hold?"

[Sevo]

Make 'em earn their pay, dammit!

[Being Waterboarded]

This one is the best response ever.

[110 Lean]

I have reduced the telemarketing calls to my house to nearly zero per year. How? About 10 years ago, whenever I get one, regardless of the gender of the telemarketer, I would ask them what they were wearing. They'd laugh nervously and start to continue with their script, but I would again interrupt them with, "No really, what are you wearing. Worked like a charm.

[Sevo]

FUNNY!
I've never tried it, but I got the suggestion on what to do if your seat-mate on a plane pesters you.
Just lean over, smile real big and ask "Have you been saved?"

[Mad Scientist]

It's a scam to convince you that Microsoft's normal slew of errors is a critical condition, which they can only fix for a price since the OS is "out of warranty." Here's a typical interaction.

[a better weapon]

Not sure I can trust the link you've provided. You seem to know an awful lot about this scam...

[Mad Scientist]

It's a meta scam! Run away!

[Killaz]

Answering phones is for poor people.

[jesse.in.mb]

The White House, meanwhile, announced Obama would use the Google Hangouts to answer pre-selected questions, and some live ones from pre-selected people, after the State of the Union. Transparent enough for you?

I mean that sounds fair, right? Nice little 21st century fireside chats...

[Bam!]

Your presidency has the momentum of a run away freight train. Why are you so popular?

[C. Anacreon]

Well, as long as I'm asking something, can I ask him to assuage my fears that he's contaminating the planet in a manner that may one day render it uninhabitable?

/Lisa

[paranoid android]

"Mr. President, if those anti-government Tea Party extremists in Congress would compromise and allow you to govern, would America be one hundred times more awesome, or two hundred times?"

[paranoid android]

Franklin Frye was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of stealing a necklace and has been in a mental hospital since 1971, the last six of which with a request for release assigned to a dead judge.

Oh, the judge will get around to it--it's not like he's going anywhere!

[AlmightyJB]

Seems hw should have just pled guilty.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Baltimore Sun reports on a secret audit by the city of Balitmore that found speed camera error rates 40 times what had been previously disclosed.

Also in the report, Bunny Colvin set up secret autobahns in his district that showed outside the box thinking.

[John]

The Baltimore Sun reports on a secret audit by the city of Balitmore that found speed camera error rates 40 times what had been previously disclosed.

They have stopped even pretending to enforce the law. Basically the cops just run around and rob random people.

[DesigNate]

With speed cameras, they don't even have to run around.

[Boisfeuras]

"It could have been no difficult thing in the early and solitary ages of the world, while the chief employment of men was that of attending flocks and herds, for a banditti of ruffians to overrun a country, and lay it under contributions... Those bands of robbers having parcelled out the world, and divided it into dominions, began, as is naturally the case, to quarrel with each other. What at first was obtained by violence was considered by others as lawful to be taken, and a second plunderer succeeded the first... As time obliterated the history of their beginning, their successors assumed new appearances, to cut off the entail of their disgrace, but their principles and objects remained the same. What at first was plunder, assumed the softer name of revenue; and the power originally usurped, they affected to inherit."
? Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man

Thank God we've progressed beyond that state of affairs.

[110 Lean]

A ghost ship crewed only by CANNIBAL rats is feared to be heading for Britain.

The 300ft vessel, built 40 years ago in the Soviet Union, has nothing aboard but packs of disease-ridden rodents who are forced to prey on one another to survive.

[Calidissident]

Throw in some nuclear material that has caused them to mutate and you've got the plot of the next SciFi original movie.

[fish]

I see this as a Corbin Bernsen vehicle.....

[Bardas Phocas]

Britian or the ship?

[fish]

I was thinking SyFy network movie as mentioned previously but lets try your suggestion first....

[robc]

Niven did it.

Not exactly with rats, but Legacy of Heorot isnt that far off.

[Drake]

Do they explode if you shoot them?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's a movie I'd pay to see.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sounds like the problem will eventually take care of itself.

[RBS]

But in heavy seas, the tow-line to a tug broke, prompting the Canadian government to send out another ship to drag her far out to sea and release her.

Do governments do this often?

[Entropy Void]

Damn Canuckistanis!

Your fault, Rufus!

[Dweebston]

I misread; thought the ghost ship had been adrift for forty years with cannibal rats breeding themselves into horrid monstrosities.

I am disappoint.

[font_of_stupidity]

The 300ft vessel, built 40 years ago in the Soviet Union, has nothing aboard but packs of disease-ridden rodents who are forced to prey on one another to survive.

In other words, it was better off than most Soviet ships.

[Tonio]

Not quite as awesome as it sounds. The vessel has only been adrift for a few years since the rope broke when she was being towed to a scrapper. And of course there are rats. There always are. And of course they eat each other when they run out of food - which for rats is everything but the steel hull.

[a better weapon]

Cannibal Rats is a good band name.

Also, I just watched Skyfall for the first time on Monday so it's interesting that I've heard about cannibal rats twice this week.

[Warty]

See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
Hither to work us weal;
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!

[Pro Libertate]

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;

[fish]

So there was no reference regarding the link to the Kelly Brook pictures on the same page?!?!?

Thanks for nothing Lean!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/ce.....ng-3055382

[DesigNate]

Bless you fish.

[db]

Seems like eventually the laws of thermodynamics will catch up ot the rats.

[jesse.in.mb]

Engineering fail: civil engineering team has poured fast-setting concrete into the Victoria Line signalling equipment room and shut everything down

[Dweebston]

BLOCKED due to company policy.

What sort of shady NSFW links are you posting here?

[John]

Civil Engineering porn is illegal in at least 10 states you pervert.

[hamilton]

Too much trussing and total dynamic head.

[Dweebston]

More like engineering disaster pr0n, which I can watch for days.

I save the aviation disaster stuff for the week before a flight.

[PD Scott]

Modern Marvels Engineering Disasters FTW.

[jesse.in.mb]

Eh, it's a click-baitey site that a friend sent me, but nothing pornographic

The original title was even "You won't believe why the Victoria Line is currently suspended"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Penises. Nothing but penises.

[Tonio]

Yeah, and they're still using actual electromechanical relays - or at least those relays are still in place.

[db]

They are proven tech and reliable, and it is easier to replace them in kind than get the govt regulators to certify new tech. For that matter, have a look at nuclear power plant controls sometime. They are ancient tech for the same reaosns.

[Ted S.]

They need to size down photos and provide a link to the larger original image instead of using the original in a smallish box.

It's really, really bad when sites do this for thumbnails.

[Agammamon]

So, how's that college degree working out for you?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The White House, meanwhile, announced Obama would use the Google Hangouts to answer pre-selected questions, and some live ones from pre-selected people, after the State of the Union.

Will he be doing so on Google Glass? Because if so, someone alert the RIAA and DHS.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

http://dallasmorningviewsblog......ndy-davis/

Nice woman this Wendy Davis.

But hey, she's a Democrat so all good.

[Tonio]

Meh. She did fudge the timeline a bit, which is really dumb in this era of crowdsourced fact-checking.

What's going to kill her is that she wasn't awarded custody of the kids. In my experience a woman has to be batshit crazy, addicted or have a serious criminal record to not get custody.

[John]

She didn't lose custody. She didn't want custody, which is even worse. If she had lost she could at least blame the judge.

It is pretty hard to run on being the single mother made good but then gave your kids to their dad.

[DesigNate]

The second husband isn't the dad of at least one, if not both, of the kids.

[John]

She gave her oldest daughter to her step father. I have never heard of that happening.

[DesigNate]

Yeah, it's pretty messed up.

I haven't been on facebook in a while, but I'm betting all of my liberal friends are pissed about the article. I should go and rub it in their faces.

[a better weapon]

That will turn a lot of women off. But as a guy, the fact that she filed for divorce the day after his check for her final tuition payment cleared is what really gets me.

[kinnath]

The one-two punch.

[fish]

Hey at least she didn't end the marriage Preying Mantis style.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKW39MUQhKE

Like a Deadly Mantis...

[Heroic Mulatto]

C'mon...that was just crying for a 5 Deadly Venoms link.

[Virginian]

That will turn a lot of women off. But as a guy, the fact that she filed for divorce the day after his check for her final tuition payment cleared is what really gets me.

Wait, really?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9s9sPXXkqw

[Red Rocks Rockin]

What's going to kill her is that she wasn't awarded custody of the kids. In my experience a woman has to be batshit crazy, addicted or have a serious criminal record to not get custody.

That and the fact that she's constructed a narrative for herself as a bootstrap-grabbing single mother who lived in abject poverty, and still made it through Harvard Law.

Now that it's come out that she basically had a sugar daddy--who cashed out part of his 401(k), no less, to help finance her education--that she dumped the same month her loans were paid off, and who became the custodial parent for BOTH their kid and the one she had with her first husband, her whole biography is falling to pieces.

When she says that "my story is the story of so many single mothers in Texas," I'd think a lot of single mothers in Texas would be a bit offended that she thinks their story is one of being a hyper-ambitious gold-digger with no place in her life for kids.

[Irish]

What's going to 'kill her' is the fact that she's basically a single issue candidate whose single issue is abortion and she's running in Texas.

I think I might have some problems running on nothing but gun rights in San Francisco.

[Apatheist ?_??]

You're all wrong, none of this is killing her because she was already dead. She never had a chance of winning. Almost any potential democratic candidate had zero chance of winning.

[fish]

Why do you hate strong independent women RRR?

[PapayaSF]

"Fudging a timeline" is pretty bad when you do it under oath in court, which I believe she did.

[Andrew S.]

Franklin Frye was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of stealing a necklace and has been in a mental hospital since 1971, the last six of which with a request for release assigned to a dead judge.

::makes mistake of reading comments to linked article::
::checks self into mental institution for doing so::

[RBS]

The Baltimore Sun

That's still around?

[Irish]

It's been all downhill since Mencken.

[PD Scott]

It's been all downhill setting since Mencken.

[John]

Dallas Morning News insists on mansplaining about Wendy Davis

f a man campaigned on something like "family values" or a similar theme, and if he had two failed marriages in his past, and if he left two small kids with a spouse for an extended time a couple thousand miles away, and if he dumped that spouse later on, he would run into the same buzzsaw that Davis hit this week.

The public sees when a candidate is trying to have it both ways. And that has nothing to do with a man-woman double standard.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog......ign=buffer

[a better weapon]

The man wouldn't get this shit because he'd be forced at the point of a gun to give up his house, go to court to renegotiate his child support (he's a national figure now, after all!), and because courts almost always give custody to the ex-wife.

You can't turn around and ignore all that shit when it suits you, Rodger Jones (Who the fuck puts a D in Roger when its a first name anyways?).

[John]

They don't give custody when the ex doesn't want custody. And a man who ran on "family values" but had two ex wives and happily dumped the second one for a newer model would most certainly get this shit and more.

[a better weapon]

True. I thought the comparison was implying that the candidate was like Wendy in every other way, just male.

I read the "family values" part, but didn't compute it I guess. Yes, he most certainly would be shredded in that case.

[C. Anacreon]

Look what happened to a "family values" candidate who was detained for tapping his shoe and having a "wide stance" in the airport crapper.

[C. Anacreon]

I am always amazed that so many assholes like this end up very successful in politics. It also shows how no one really checks out politicians till they get to the really high posts. But the narcissism and/or sociopathy to have pulled shit like this, and think that no one will ever find out or care, is just stunning.

Also, I don't have anyone I would call my friend who had done anything like this in their past -- nor would I want them as a friend. But according to most Dems and their lapdog media (except, I guess, the Dallas paper) this is just some minor past issue that shouldn't even be brought up.

[John]

Some people are just incredibly adept at reading others and manipulating them. Combine that with a complete lack of conscience and you have someone who can go far in a lot of fields. Now they won't be competent or accomplish anything. But they will be successful in terms of making money and obtaining power.

Seriously, Davis must not have a shred of conscience. How could you leave your husband or wife knowing that they took care of your kids and paid your way to law school? If they were abusive or left you, that is one t hing. But her ex wanted to stay married.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

C., I see life this way as well.

Shit, my wife's best friend never made good on replacing a couple of things her son busted in my house permanently leaving peeved. Principle of the matter and all that...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

permanently leaving ME peeved.

[The Last American Hero]

I hope they feel the same way about newsletters in 2016.

[DesigNate]

The DMN actually showing some balls to a dem, I love it.

[jesse.in.mb]

Giz accidentally gets something right: A Single Man Spent 53 Years Building This Massive Cathedral

Though the frenzy over Don Justo's work depicts him as a madman, a "non" architect who builds with "trash," that's a sensational take on the truth. The history of outsider architects?a term for designers who work outside of traditional professional oversight?shows us that even humans without a license or degree are capable of creating beautiful, useful architecture.

photos are spiffy.

[paranoid android]

A Single Man Spent 53 Years Building This Massive Cathedral

A married man never would have gotten anywhere, what with all the nagging.

[Tonio]

He didn't build that...

[Capo]

Resisting arrest without violence is pretty much a standard charge in Florida. If you were to say "Please Officer don't arrest me" they would probably charge you with it.

[John]

The standard for false arrest is so high, that any cop can at any time for any reason throw you in jail for at least a few hours and potentially a few days (depending on when you get to see a judge) and there is not a damn thing you can do about it. Sure the DA will drop the charges. But big fucking deal. He still gets to take you to jail.

[Ted S.]

Porn for Sarcasmic, or John?

H?sav?k (Iceland) Women Pose Nude for Fundraising Calendar

More pictures here, although this page is in Icelandic.

[John]

Those women are thin. Sarcasmic will be all over it. I am sure he will be grateful you put that up instead of some whale like Kate Upton.

[Zeb]

I like the girl modeling the handknit sweaters.

[Entropy Void]

Tak!

[Caleb Turberville]

Anybody a fan of Repo Man (1984) with Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton. A lot of people recommended the movie to me, and so I finally picked it up a few days ago in a bargain store. I liked it a lot.

Political question: I watched some of the special features on the DVD. One discussion with the producers and director was kind of interesting. I think the producer mentioned something about the fact that he felt the movie encapsulated a feeling about the early Reagan years in that "the whole country was falling apart."

Typical Hollywood anti-Reaganism aside, I don't understand how the movie can be interpreted as a pessimistic or left-wing movie? The anti-hero is a self-made loner who has wild and interesting adventures in his newfound job. By the end, he's way better off than his burnout hippie parents.

[John]

And there is a serious bit of historical lying going on there. The country felt like it was falling apart in the Carter years. By mid 1983, when that movie was made, things were looking up in a big way.

[Caleb Turberville]

Apparently, for the hippie liberal, the only way to happiness is to go to college.

Apparently, because Otto didn't go to college and instead became a repo man, he is suffering in "Reagan's America."

But when I watch the movie, I give Otto a lot more credit. At the start, he's a worthless punk. By the end of the movie, he's finally become a productive, hard-working adult.

[John]

Come on Caleb, running a successful Repo business is total failure and oppression compared to having a Masters in Puppetry with $200K in student loan debt. Otto was a sucker.

[Zeb]

Depends on what he means by "early Reagan years". The first year or two were still pretty rough.

[Irish]

Hollywood has a tendency to make movies that contradict what the writers claim the movie was about.

Something similar happened with The Wire. It's impossible to watch that show without taking away a general anti-government message, and yet the writers are all progressive goons.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah, Tarantino's explanation for Django really didn't cut it for me.

[Zeb]

Never ask artists how to interpret their art. They always get it wrong.

[Lady Bertrum]

Art is suppose to be intentional but is frequently subconscious. It's a bit awkward when they can't explain their motivation/intention so they sometimes pull some pablum out of their ass to sound like they knew what they were doing.

[Zeb]

The Wire is a great example of that. I've just been re-watching it and when I think about what David Simon has said about what particular characters represent, I just have to laugh. He thought that The Greek and Marlo Stanfield represented unrestrained capitalism. If anyone represents capitalism (and how government fucks it up for the little guy) in that show it's Bubbles.

[robc]

Same happens with Joss Whedon.

All his main characters end up very libertarian. He even acknowledges this, but he cant stand libertarianism.

[Irish]

Somewhere deep inside Joss Whedon there is a libertarian yearning to breathe free.

He's simply too much of a coward to turn against the prevailing worldview of his friends.

That's a serious problem. I think progressivism really speaks to the part of people that is childish and adolescent; that little bit of everyone that people maintain even into adulthood where they are insecure, want their friends to like them, and don't want to rock the boat.

As a result, someone who has doubts about the prog worldview often has trouble abandoning it because they're worried about what their friends will think and don't want to leave the religion they were raised on.

[Marshall Gill]

don't want to leave the religion they were raised on.

To be fair, this is difficult, no matter in which religion you are raised. I was raised first as a Baptist, and then an evangelical. It wasn't until my 30's that I really shed the shackles.

[Mad Scientist]

Hey, kid, wanna make 10 bucks?

[C. Anacreon]

Otto what? Otto parts?

Also, Plate of Shrimp.

[Pro Libertate]

Plate 'o shrimp.

[Pro Libertate]

Oops. Plate o' shrimp.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Never saw it but I do think 'The Running Man' and' Demolition Man' are prescient (wittingly or otherwise) as they are under rated!

[Almanian (sans exclamation pt)]

Simon says, "Time to die!"

[Tonio]

Every car has one.

[Warty]

I blame...society.

[Pro Libertate]

That's bullshit. You're a white suburban punk just like me.

[db]

But it..still...hurts!

[Pro Libertate]

Let's get sushi and not pay.

[Pro Libertate]

That producer, I assume, was Michael Nesmith. Monkee. Heir to Liquid Paper.

There is no way one could view that movie as left-wing by today's standards. Except maybe for that bit about John Wayne.

John Wayne is a fag.

[C. Anacreon]

He answered the door wearing a dress.

[Pro Libertate]

The world is ready for Repo Man 2: The Wrath of Miller.

[db]

I suggest we should all agree to press play on Repo Man simultaneously some evening and liveblog our watching it on some thread here. Maybe one if the Independents threads.

[Pro Libertate]

Really, for those of you who haven't seen it, see it.

[Irish]

Margaret Carlson: Wendy Davis's Essential Truthiness.

Davis has the bad luck to have a second ex-husband giving his side of the rags-to-riches story (he says he supplied the riches). Yes, she and her daughter lived in a mobile home, but only for a few months before moving into an apartment, and she worked two jobs. Enter the second husband, an older lawyer with whom she had a second daughter. They divorced in 2005 but not before, he says, he paid for her last two years at Texas Christian University and for Harvard Law, and kept her two daughters while she was there. Davis said that she and her husband cashed in a 401(k) and took out loans to pay for her tuition and that she split time between Massachusetts and Texas. When they divorced, he asked for and got custody of the two girls, and Davis was doing well enough by then to pay child support.

Yes, it sure is 'bad luck' when someone is alive who can contradict the lies you've been telling.

Life would be so much easier for Davis if she were allowed to lie with impunity!

[Bam!]

Lets be real: The only reason anyone pays attention to Wendy Davis is because she's a progressive who doesn't look like Betty Friedan.

[John]

That and abortion. Rich white women wanting to pay for poor black women to kill their unborn kids is how progs roll.

[paranoid android]

How "progressive" is she beyond the standard-issue Democrat support for abortion? I didn't even think Texas had progressives.

[Ted S.]

Not even Austin?

[DesigNate]

She's from Fort Worth so she may be more or less progressive, depending on who you talk to.

[SIV]

I didn't even think Texas had progressives.

WTF?

Ever hear of LBJ or "W"?

Texas has a nasty strain of progressivism.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Definitely falls in the 'I'd do her' category.

[John]

Maybe if she hadn't walked out on him, Davis would have to good luck of having a supportive current husband rather than the bad luck of having a truthful ex husband?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

She gave up a daughter and the other freely chose to live with the father.

If that's not a zing on the mother I don't know what is. I don't know of too many cases where the daughter opts to leave the mother.

[Juice]

Sounds like Davis might be so "career oriented" that she's a total bitch at home and "has no time" for the kids.

[a better weapon]

Margaret Carlson: What goes around comes around is the theme of another part of the interview. Marianne was also surprised when Newt asked for the divorce only months after she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and even though he'd sat with her when the doctor told Newt that she "was not to be under stress." How cruel to tell her it was over in a phone call when she was visiting her mother on her 84th birthday.

You can feel her pain but this is one of those occasions when only the wife is surprised. Any good girlfriend could have told her to be prepared: if her previously married husband had done it once, he might do it again. His treatment of her was harsh, but hardly more than his telling his first wife, Jackie, suffering from cancer and the mother of his children, that he was divorcing her while standing at the foot of her hospital bed.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/a.....image.html

[a better weapon]

Also bad luck, right?

[John]

Watch Carlson pull a Joan Walsh and admit that well maybe she had been hard on Newt and she regrets doing that, now that Newt isn't a threat to be in office.

Walsh wrote an indignant column about how horrible it was that the evil Rethuglicans even asked where the Obama brats went on vacation only to have said Rethuglicans dig up various horrible and nasty things Walsh had written about the Bush twins during their father's administration. Walsh wrote that she was really sorry about doing that. Sure Joan.

[Irish]

And she'll magically stop being sorry during the next Republican administration.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Bloomberg may have been a nanny-stater but you can't deny he understands money and economics.

http://online.wsj.com/news/art.....4765617949

I heard that, according to a study Bloomberg commissioned, something like 5000 New Yorkers pay for 50% of income taxes and that if just 1500 left (as a result of a tax hike) it would cost NY billions. I can't find a link to that though.

[Irish]

Bloomberg's website is also pretty good. They did post that idiotic Carlson article up above, but the people who comment at Bloomberg tend to lean right and be relatively intelligent.

They also run a decent amount of stuff critical of Obamacare and the Dems.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I would hope so.

As opposed to the commenters in a Krugman's thread.

Yeesh.

[SIV]

Bloomberg shares the boss's position on guns.It shows in the news stories as well as the editorials.

[John]

I read somewhere that there have been 17 million black abortions since Roe. Regardless of what you think of abortion, how different would the country look today had their been no Roe? Lets say a million of those would have still happened. That means instead of 65 million black people in the country today, there would be 81 million.

Whatever you think about abortion, if you are keep America white type, it certainly is effective.

[Irish]

John, please don't turn this into an abortion thread. I can only handle so many Eduard/Bo pissing contests.

[John]

I don't even know what to think of it. It is just an astounding what if. The country with that many more black people would be a lot different in who knows how many ways.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

See, Irish, I didn't comment!

[Calidissident]

Where are you getting those numbers? According to the Census, there are about 42 million black Americans, including mixed-race people.

[John]

The number of people who identified as black, either alone or in combination with one or more other races, in the 2010 Census. They made up 13.6 percent of the total U.S. population. The black population grew by 15.4 percent from 2000 to 2010. 65.7 million.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmcensus1.html

[Calidissident]

Reread your link. 65.7 million is the projected black population on July 1, 2050. 42 million is the current black population.

[John]

Yeah. But that makes the 17 million even more significant. Instead of going from 65 to 81 you go from 42 to 59. That is a huge percentage jump.

[Zeb]

That assumes that pregnancy rates would be the same as they were with legal abortion.

[Ted S.]

13.6% of 310 million is a bit over 40 million.

[Zeb]

I don't know. Maybe we'd all be speaking Chinese.
What if you went back in time and fucked your mother and killed your father?

[John]

Yeah Zeb. No point in thinking about the impact that past decisions have. My God, you might learn something.

[Marshall Gill]

No point in thinking about the impact that past decisions have. My God, you might learn something.

Even when it makes me uncomfortable?

[MJGreen]

The AV Club does a "where to get started" feature on Penn & Teller. As you might expect, parts of the article and the comments are precious. Do watch Bullshit, but don't watch their episodes on environmentalism or recycling or global warming, because those are just wrong.

If you can't at least respect the "dihydrogen monoxide" stunt, you're an ideologue.

[Irish]

If progressives are so certain that they're right, why wouldn't they want to watch the Bullshit episodes they disagree with so that they can see what their opponents are arguing and contradict them?

The only reason you wouldn't watch or read things you disagree with is because you're essentially a religious adherent who is worried that the mean old libertarians might convince you to engage in heresy.

This really isn't much different than a fundamentalist freaking out when he catches his son reading Christopher Hitchens or Darwin.

[Boisfeuras]

Exactly. It's a progressive Index Librorum Prohibitorum.

[John]

Who the fuck reads that shit? I can see reading a restaurant or a car review. There are objective facts about those things I would like to know. But there is no accounting for taste in entertainment. What the fuck does anyone care what some critic thinks about a TV show? If you like it, watch it.

[Mad Scientist]

People who need to know what the right opinions are, that's who.

[John]

The people who read AV club have to know what the Hive is thinking on these things I guess.

[Ted S.]

There's certainly a place for reviews of stuff you haven't seen (and possibly haven't even heard of) before.

[MJGreen]

Because people's time is limited, and they want to gauge whether they will like something or not. "If you like it, watch it" assumes you already like it, or know you'll like it.

That kind of article is one of the few useful things the AV Club produces these days. As it says at the top of the page I linked to, it can be daunting to get into a band or genre or franchise. It's nice to have some pointers as to where to start.

The site has been morphing into a Gawker site the past few years, especially with its insufferable "think pieces," but it still does some things right.

[John]

I thought it was always a bunch of hipster douche bags who were too stupid or not connected enough to work for Gawker.

[Irish]

I thought it was always a bunch of hipster douche bags who were too stupid or not connected enough to work for Gawker.

I don't like the AV Club's political slant, but their writing is infinitely better than Gawker.

Gawker is the lowest of the low. It's a sweatshop for writers who no one would read if they weren't willing to work for table scraps.

[John]

So Gawker is where the retards who can't work for the AV club go? I don't score my retards at home as closely as I probably should.

[Irish]

Gawker is where the worst internet writers go once it becomes obvious that they aren't good enough to write for serious magazines or produce a book anyone wants to read.

That's also why Gawker is such a cesspool of hate and incoherent rage. All of the writers end up there right as their dreams have turned to dust, and that type of angry, self-loathing nonsense gets gobbled up by other pathetic losers.

[Pro Libertate]

I saw something yesterday on io9 about "books that would be great if you could change one thing," and the first few comments wanted to change. . .Huckleberry Finn. The commenters had issues with the plotting. Not to mention that these Dr. Who fanatics thought it needed changes to be "great."

I'm at fault for even looking at the comments, but people who think they can improve on one of the best novels written by an American can kindly fuck off. Like really fuck off. Totally and completely off.

[John]

War and Peace would be so much better if Prince Brolkonsky had not died like that and been able to marry Natasha.

Now fuck off Pro. Hipsters know better. Don't you know that. These authors are like dead white men.

[Pro Libertate]

"You know, the Crucifixion would have been so much more meaningful if Jesus had turned into a woman on the cross. What was God thinking?"

[Marshall Gill]

War and Peace would be so much better if Prince Brolkonsky had not died like that and been able to marry Natasha.

This crushed me. I couldn't believe that I found myself so deeply involved that I was really sad that this happened.

[Irish]

I don't know what they were saying, but Huckleberry Finn could have been made better by fixing the ending.

A lot of critics have had problems with the book right around the time Tom Sawyer reenters the narrative.

I think that's a reasonable criticism. I'm not sure if that's the one they were making though.

[Pro Libertate]

Warty. Please destroy Irish on an atomic level. No, that's not good enough. Destroy him on a subatomic level.

Good-bye, Irish.

[Warty]

Sure thing. You want him in quarks or muons?

[Pro Libertate]

Quarks. Unless string theory is somehow actually real, then strings.

[Irish]

Ha! Fuck you guys. I already exist on a subatomic level.

There is no Irish. I am simply a string of ones and zeros on the internet meant to give the false appearance of a libertarian while periodically criticizing Huckleberry Finn.

[jesse.in.mb]

There is no Irish. I am simply a string of ones and zeros on the internet

I feel like this would seriously hamper my ability to visit you and Nicole in Chicago were I ever to stop being lazy about domestic travel.

[Pro Libertate]

You're messing with the wrong Warty, because Warty Hugeman can travel in time. Just wait until he gets Twain to review your comments. He's a destructive power beyond your comprehension. Just ask James Fenimore Cooper.

[Irish]

Whatever. I'm a huge Twain fan, but that doesn't make Huckleberry Finn perfect.

Mysterious Stranger is great as well, but it has some serious pacing issues throughout the middle of the story.

I love it and Huckleberry Finn despite their flaws, just like I love Gulliver's Travels even though the Houyhnhnms are annoying as hell.

[Pro Libertate]

Bah.

[Entropy Void]

I like the cut of your jib.
Do you have a newsletter to which I could subscribe?

[MJGreen]

The AV Club has been around a lot longer, and as Irish said, many of them can actually write. (though, again, they're starting to turn into that, with some writers using the really vague, informal, all-around shitty style of Gawker)

If you want legit, actually witty snark on pop culture, their Newswire is the place to go.

[Warty]

Penn has talked about why he doesn't read reviews. The AV Club in general, but that piece of shit in particular, do a good job explaining why no one should.

[Zeb]

No one being reviewed should, anyway. And no one should assume that reviews are good advice on what to watch. But if they are well written and entertaining, you might as well read them if you have nothing better to do.

[Irish]

I like Hitchens', Mencken's, and Orwell's literary reviews. Mencken and Orwell both talked about the fact that the goal of a review should be to produce your own work of art that has merit separate from what is being reviewed.

I tend to agree. The point of criticism should be produce something that uses the product under review as a jumping off point but then goes off in a direction that is artistic and valuable in its own right.

[Zeb]

I think that is a good approach.

Ever read William S. Burroughs essay on literary criticism (it's in the collection The Adding Machine)? I like what he had to say about that a lot too.

[Irish]

No, I haven't. I should though.

I think almost all good literary reviewers take the 'artistic' approach. Orwell talked about the fact that old literary reviews like the British Quarterly Review or Blackwood's used to give reviewers like 15 pages to play with. As a result, you'd sometimes come to the end of an article and the writer would be talking about something completely unrelated to the book they were supposedly reviewing.

Orwell did something similar with Inside the Whale which starts as a review of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and spends most of the 'review' talking about the impact of political apathy and politics related to art.

[Max Power]

Which one of you is the lone libertarian valiantly arguing his case in the comments?

[Max Power]

Also, it always strikes me how intolerant of other viewpoints these people are. "Ugh, Penn is a dirty libertarian. I can't watch that". If I eliminated every form of entertainment produced by people I don't agree with politically, I wouldn't have much left.

[Irish]

It's because most media in this country is run by leftists. As a result, they are much more capable of walling themselves off from dissenting opinion.

There have been a number of studies that have shown conservatives and libertarians have a better understanding of left-wing beliefs than leftists have of the opposition. I'm willing to bet that's because libertarians and conservatives are forced to see left-wing beliefs in the media whereas progs are capable of never leaving the echo chamber.

[Max Power]

Yeah, I notice this among Facebook associates from college (I was a music major so they skew pretty left). They're all doing their little lefty circle-jerk and it's like no one has ever contradicted them or presented a different viewpoint.

[MJGreen]

I've mostly stopped commenting there*, especially since they now have that Disqus system, but I recall at least one regular here was a frequent poster. If someone is defending Penn*, I may steel myself and check it out.

*and Teller. Isn't he actually the more radical libertarian?

[jesse.in.mb]

Nigeria! Fuck yeah!

Thousands of protesters massed outside the Shariah court in Nigeria's northern city of Bauchi, throwing stones into the building to demand the speedy convictions of seven men arrested for belonging to gay organizations.

This is beyond depressing.

"No one can be sentenced to death until confirmed without a reasonable doubt," Aliyu said in response to calls for the men's execution.

Oh well, gee, thanks Nigerian Sharia court. I'm glad you're down with the due process.

The same court last week convicted a young man of sodomy and had him publicly whipped with 20 lashes, and fined before being freed. The court said it was lenient, sparing him the sentence of death by stoning, as he had confessed to one instance of sodomy many years ago and had not committed any homosexual acts since.

[Irish]

Good lord. It sure is a good thing that Sharia courts aren't gaining a foothold in the West!

[Zeb]

You know, I still can't get worked up about that. Perhaps the UK law enforcement should do better at enforcing laws against assaulting your wife in Muslim communities. But beyond that, if some woman who is already civilly divorced decides to go to a Sharia court to get the Islamic divorce (I didn't think women could do that at all) she's asking for it. She had the choice to leave that community and become part of the western world. She made a choice to go to the Sharia court.

[Marshall Gill]

Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.

Sir Charles Napier

[John]

The rest of the world is pretty much horrible. What are you going to do?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Nigeria has had its ups and downs. This is one of the downs. And their downs tend to be very bad.

But the entire world isn't like this all the time. Even in Africa, some countries get by.

[John]

As bad as this is, there is worse shit going on in other parts of Africa. Yes, not all of the world is like this all of the time. But most of the world pretty much sucks in some way or another.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

I was wondering what the deal was on this obviously being some kind of ex post facto bullshit since they started rounding people up within hours of the law being signed.

But then I also didn't think Nigeria was actually going to start fucking killing gays, because that would be insane, and I was all, "So wtf is their game plan here?"

I feel like if I'm the worst, I should be a lot better at guessing the magnitude of other people's bad intentions.

[Irish]

But then I also didn't think Nigeria was actually going to start fucking killing gays, because that would be insane, and I was all, "So wtf is their game plan here?"

Why would you be surprised that a sub-Saharan country would commit genocide against a minority group?

[jesse.in.mb]

I feel like if I'm the worst, I should be a lot better at guessing the magnitude of other people's bad intentions.

Yeah, I was a little surprised how quickly that escalated considering Uganda has been flogging a death penalty bill for gays for a few years and haven't managed to implement it. Things were getting bad in Nigeria, but it seemed like they really just flipped a switch and they got crazy.

[crazyfingers]

The same court last week convicted a young man of sodomy and had him publicly whipped with 20 lashes, and fined before being freed.

He probably liked it... /kidding

[Ted S.]

Any update on the coworker?

[jesse.in.mb]

She sent some pictures of her looking happy with her Nigerian prince and wrote some text messages that didn't read like they were written by a Nigerian scammer. We're cautiously optimistic that she'll be back in a week. Bonus points if she's not engaged or married. She's being treated like royalty by his family and it's validating her belief that he truly loves her for her inner beauty.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Fucking hell, if he's legit, that's like hitting the Nigerian powerball. Hopefully it stays that way; I doubt many of these scammers go so far as to actually meet up with their marks, but I guess it's possible.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Something tells me this story is not over. Either it ends up a subject for Law & Order or Mike & Molly.

[jesse.in.mb]

It really depends on what he's after. If he's just looking for citizenship she'll be heart-broken in a few years, but I doubt any serious harm will come to her. If he's looking for money it could be very messy.

[Matrix]

White House disputes NSA's activities are illegal

This is my surprised face....

[Dweebston]

It looks a lot like your unsurprised face.

[Juice]

Didn't candidate Obama say the complete opposite?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

""Judge John Garrett Penn is deceased," a docket entry noted, "and no longer assigned to the case.""

Wow, and they call the necklace thief insane!

What clued them in that the judge was actually dead? Did they notice that he hadn't filed any orders in the previous several years? Was there a ripe smell coming from the bench that the lawyers didn't dare mention for fear of offending His Honor? Did it finally make them suspicious that the only time the judge walked or nodded or raised his hand was when his clerk was standing behind him? Did his voice start sounding like the clerk's, and was the clerk massaging his mouth whenever he talked?

[PD Scott]

Commie kiddie indoctrination, 1934 edition: Our Lenin, a children's biography of good old Vladdy.

Great graphics.

RULE OF THE WORKERS + ELECTRICITY = SOCIALISM

I... I'm not sure that's true...

[John]

I have a friend who actually attended the Little Red School House in Manhattan back in the 1950s. They never taught her anything except political indoctrination. She had to teach herself to read as an adolescent.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I thought Communists *increased* the literacy rate!

[Almanian (sans exclamation pt)]

Sure - kill off the illiterates.

[Ted S.]

Th;at more or less a slogan

The actual slogan translates to "Communism is the power of the soviet plus electrification of the entire country!" Soviet here being a certain type of governing body.

[Pro Libertate]

Electrons of the world unite!

[Boisfeuras]

Yes, Lenin coined the slogan "Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the entire nation."

Therefore, Soviet power equals communism minus electricity.

[PD Scott]

Is it just me or does it look like Lenin is telling a joke on that poster? With glowering guy making sure the other dude laughs.

[GILMORE]

I've seen a whole raft of charges recently that on the face of them don't sound like they even *mean anything* and equate to some kind of Legalistic FYTW

"Resisting the Police Without Violence"?

What, he sat in the lotus position and began to chant Hari Krishna? He 'lollygagged' when they told him they wanted to take him into central booking for... something about eggs...?

If you can't even charge someone with plain-old 'resisting arrest' - I note: the most fucking abused and bullshit charge tossed at someone* simply to pile something on to whatever other bullshit charge they've decided to hang over you in effort to secure a quick easy and compliant plea deal - ....if they can't even throw that at you, and they have to fucking caveat it with, "Well, it wasn't like he really tried hard at it, and was admittedly physically as pliable as narcoleptic chinchilla.... BUT HE STILL SORTA RESISTED!!"... then the IS no more "law-ish law", anymore. Its just FYTW, all the way down.

Its like ordering Spam Eggs, Spam and Spam, but hold the spam.

*side note: the one time I spent 2 nights in a cell was because I asked a cop "Why"? That was the "resisting arrest" part of the subsequent 4 charges, all dropped for lack of evidence.

[Matrix]

Current and former members of its cheerleading squad are suing the Oakland Raiders for wage theft and unfair employment practices, claiming that team owners aren't abiding by California worker laws.

Well, I knew that cheerleaders were not paid a lot for their actual performances on the field, but I read or watched something about how they do decently with all the other things they have to do like calendar shoots and showing up at different events.

So, if they want at least minimum wage, the Raiders can say "okay, you will get minimum wage for all your duties, but you won't get anything extra for photoshoots or any events you attend on behalf of the organization." They'd probably shut their traps immediately.

[Almanian (sans exclamation pt)]

I'm having a super-hard time caring about the Oakland fucking Raiders. And their cheerleaders.

There are pedophile teachers out of a job in this country, and until they're put back to work and paid $200,000 back pay, there are just more important work-related issues than some stupid cheerleaders.

Now, if they'd join the SEIU...

[Irish]

Trolling made easy: Republican state senator proposes Piers Morgan Gun Bill.

A state senator in Oklahoma has proposed a bill -- dubbed the Piers Morgan Constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Arms Without Infringement Act -- that would allow law-abiding citizens to obtain firearms without a gun license.

"The Second Amendment says the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and yet when we require our citizens to jump through hoops, pay fees and undergo a process that presumes they're guilty of something until proven otherwise, their rights are being infringed upon," Sen. Nathan Dahm said in a statement. "Senate Bill 1473 simply says Oklahomans can carry firearms in all the places currently allowed by law, but they will no longer be required to obtain a license to do so."

Morgan unsurprisingly freaked out. The tweets in that article are just wonderful.

Piers Morgan ? @piersmorgan
Follow
Hi Senator @NathanDahm - come on my show and debate your new 'Piers Morgan Act'. If you have the guts. http://okcfox.com/story/245308.....n-oklahoma ? ? ?

Yeah, I'm sure he's petrified Piers.

[Almanian (sans exclamation pt)]

Piers the Ponce is pretty much the definition of Internet Tuff Gai

[DesigNate]

That is epically hilarious. More state level politicians should do stuff like this.

[Matrix]

Dude, I'd pay money to see him say to on Piers' show...

Dahm: I'm sorry Piers, but I cannot understand your mumbling.

Piers: Mumbling? Are you insulting me over my accent.

Dahm: No, I just can't understand you with Obama's dick in your mouth.

[GILMORE]

"executive editor of the New York Times tells Al-Jazeera America President Obama's is the "most secretive White House" she's dealt with"

..."Which is really sad, because if only they shared more with us, we'd totally do everything to SPIN IT IN THE MOST POSITIVE WAY POSSIBLE!? OH DEAR LEADER, WHY DO YOU SHUN US?! GIVE US YOUR GUIDENCE!!""

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

F1 Double Points gets a Green Light

[John]

I don't follow F1 very closely. Pleas tell me what the fuck is going on? How is it that Red Bull has a completely dominant car every stinking year? That shouldn't happen. Once in a while a team should dominate because they come up with some innovation (like Lotus did in 1978 with ground effects). But no way should the same team dominate year after year.

Has everyone but Red Bull just stopped trying?

[Bam!]

I think the cars are pretty tightly regulated by F1.

[John]

Which is all the more reason why the same guy shouldn't be winning every year.

[trshmnstr]

Nope, it's just like the laws of economics. When you stifle innovation, who wins? The entrenched "big guys." You see it in all of the major racing series now. They've all done major restrictions in the name of safety and of cost reduction. Now, there are huge dynasties because nobody can branch out and try anything new.

[John]

I would buy that except that there is more than one "big guy". The same few makers have won for decades because of this. But Ferrari and McClaran and Lotus have just as much money as Red Bull. Why do they still lose?

[Bam!]

No it isn't. Read through the regulation changes. When someone comes up with something, it seems to get banned or nullified in some way.

[John]

But you still have four or five teams that are totally even in terms of resources. Why is only Red Bull Winning?

Can someone who watches F1 please answer this question?

[Bam!]

According to this, they might be using regenerative breaking as a form of traction control. I suspect it'll get banned.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Just like Ferrari dominated the 90s and everyone absolutely went nuts over it.

[Almanian (sans exclamation pt)]

Speaking of which, how's Schu-ie doing?

*Bing*

🙁 I continue to haz a sad....

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/25849148

[The Late P Brooks]

John, please don't turn this into an abortion thread. I can only handle so many Eduard/Bo pissing contests.

Maybe Amurrikin will drop in to use that number as the explanation for falling crime rates.

YEEEEEEEE

HAAAW!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Some people (*cough*) preach the Gospel by posting on the Internet. Others just *live* the Gospel.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/t.....x-edition/

[Almanian (sans exclamation pt)]

Wow. That does give one (well, me) pause...

That's fuckin' man style right there - no doubt about it.

Pax, Ukraine...

[John]

The Orthodox have balls. They are everything the Catholics like to pretend to be.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

This is linked in the article:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/t.....e-made-of/

[John]

Some priests have balls. Sadly many of them joined the church as a career and for power.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Well this is the same with many orthodox (and protestant) priests too. The Russian Orthodox leadership has long been stooges of the government. This is actually one of the major splits in Ukraine, allegiance to the patriarch in Moscow or not.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Fr Paolo [Dall'Oglio is] an Italian Jesuit of sixty-odd who fell in love with Syria as a teenager and went back there with a vocation, he said, to promote peace between Muslims and Christians. He's been there three decades now...

"It was in the spring of last year that things really began to go badly awry in the north of Syria. A loose alliance of rebels took the city of Raqqa on the northern bank of the Euphrates, but as the Syrian Sunnis were celebrating, the foreign Islamists began to paint the town black. Soon, churches were ransacked and the ISIS flag raised above them. Before long, impromptu sharia courts appeared and those blood-hungry 'lions' of ISIS began their usual routine: executions, beheadings and torture.

"Who dares brave Raqqa? Fr Paolo, of course. In late summer he smuggled himself into town with the help of Kurdish fighters and went to try to talk peace to ISIS....

"...The last footage of him is on Youtube, at a rally in Raqqa ? his big head high above the crowd, rallying the crowd, calling for peace. A few days after that he disappeared, bundled into an ISIS prison, and since then: silence."

http://www.spectator.co.uk/col.....-in-syria/

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah well, they didn't exactly defend Byzantium with balls now did they? They relied on Venice to fight their battles. In some cases, Greeks murmured being under Turkish control was better than Venetian.

How did that work out for them?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Now, Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox...there's another story.

[Bam!]

So that's why that live stream someone posted last night had a guy holding a cross in front of a police riot gear line.

[trshmnstr]

thats amazing!

[Mickey Rat]

"...I love being a Raiderette,..."

Why would you love it if it that horrible an experience? Because that is what it is, an experience. Should the Raiders treat the cheerleaders a little more reasonably, possibly, but the reason they don't is that there are enough women willing to put up with all that crap in order to say they were an NFL cheerleader and be the center of attention for 10 games a year.

[Coeus]

My god, is anyone really this naive?

As I've said before on this site, hearing the president address this issue that has effected so many of us personally is an emotional experience. When he says, "To anyone out there who has ever been assaulted, you are not alone. You will never be alone. We have your back. I've got your back," I think he really means it.

[Coeus]

Bonus comment from Biden:

The President also knows that we have to stop blaming victims for these crimes. No one ever asks the person who got robbed at gunpoint in the street ? why were you there, what were you doing, what were you wearing? What did you say? Did you offend someone?

How does this little bit of "wisdom" continue? That's like the first thing people ask when you get mugged or jumped.

[Irish]

No one ever asks the person who got robbed at gunpoint in the street ? why were you there, what were you doing, what were you wearing? What did you say? Did you offend someone?

Yes they do. If I walked down the street waving hundred dollar bills in the air, someone would say 'Dude, you shouldn't have been doing that.' Similarly, if a white guy got punched in the face for calling a black person the n-word, I think there are a good number of people who would argue that the white guy totally got what was coming to him.

[trshmnstr]

if a white guy got punched in the face for calling a black person the n-word, I think there are a good number of people who would argue that the white guy totally got what was coming to him.

That was the first time I ever felt any sympathy for Kanye.

[Mickey Rat]

There is some point you have to take a certain level of responsibility for risky and thoughtless decisions. For instance you want to think that you should not have worry about someone burglarizing your car, but that does not mean leaving it unlocked at night is not a bad decision.

This attitude (and the constant repetition on the sports channels)is one of the things that infuriates me about those "NoMore" spots.

[Irish]

Idiot. Obama is trying to make people like this continue supporting him even as he royally fucks them with Obamacare and any other number of government programs.

There is nothing Barack Obama can do to stop sexual assaults on college campuses. That has to be handled locally and with local policy. He's talking about something he has no control over so that people like her will gullibly support him even as he fucks up all the things he does control.

[Being Waterboarded]

Yes, but think about how good if feels to know that BO wants to have your back - even if he can't really have your back.

[Pro Libertate]

It's so absurd, the way people think these days. I mean, it's not even possibly true, what they want to believe.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"If we let it happen, shame on us."

Obamaction.

[trshmnstr]

complete lack of self esteem. They need somebody to confirm that they're special snowflakes.

[John]

I think he really means it.

That kind of makes me think that the author really isn't capable of consenting to sex. Maybe to her all sex really is rape.

[Coeus]

I clicked a link about an assault. This is what I got:

The professor grabbed my tablet and closed it on my hands while I was opening my document and then proceeded to try to take my tablet from me while one of my hands was sandwiched in between the tablet and the keyboard. In dismay I responded, "Excuse me; what do you think you're doing?" She stated, "I said on the first day of class that I don't want laptops used in class." My response, "I was not in your class on the first day, I registered during the second week of classes; so I was unaware of this. And I have used my tablet in class before. Do not touch my belongings or me. What you did was uncalled for and unprofessional and please do not do it again. All you have to do is ask nicely, you do not need to touch other people's belongings." After making that statement I packed my belongings and left class because I did not feel that I was in a safe learning environment after being disrespected and belittled. Mind you, this happened in a graduate course at a tier one research university.

[Coeus]

The professor treated me as her inferior in front of an entire class of graduate students, I spoke up for myself but NONE of my classmates spoke up for me. I am glad I stood my ground. This incident speaks volumes! This was done to me not just out of spite but also because I am a Black woman who is a dual PhD student. I am not supposed to be in her space, challenging White supremacist racist ideals or dominant Western intellectual traditions. I was disrespected because she felt she had the power to do so, I do not believe she would have done this to a White female student. This incident is the epitome of what White feminism does to women of color all the time.

I am blogging about this account because I want everyone to know that this happens to people of color, especially Black people in the academy.

[Pro Libertate]

She's a thug.

[Coeus]

there's a followup article

This past semester I experienced a horrifying incident where the professor of the Readings in Feminist Theory course I was taking (a graduate course in Global Gender Studies) assaulted me in class in front of my fellow classmates. The professor is a White woman, tenured professor, & known for her Liberal Feminism in the department & subtly known for her White supremacist racism.

I am loving seeing SJWs continue to eat their own.

[trshmnstr]

Those tears are so salty!

[Being Waterboarded]

I cannot say that what the professor did was independent of any racist view, but I can certainly attest that there are professors out there that are flat out intimidating/mean to everyone - regardless of race or gender. I had a professor in grad school that would severely belittle anyone that asked a question. Oh, and if you came a minute late to class? He told you to leave his classroom since you did not get there on time.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I was about to say that the professor's behavior was pretty unprofessional and then the writer came out with all of her racism bullshit and I lost all sympathy.

[Heroic Mulatto]

but I can certainly attest that there are professors out there that are flat out intimidating/mean to everyone - regardless of race or gender. I had a professor in grad school that would severely belittle anyone that asked a question. Oh, and if you came a minute late to class? He told you to leave his classroom since you did not get there on time

What year did you take my class?

[Coeus]

Damnit, you're that asshole? Figures.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I don't teach anything that could be considered a Gen Ed., so stay away from linguistics/TEFL and you're safe from my asshole-ness

[Rufus J. Firefly]

She had a mild point until...she went all bat-shit race crazy.

[trshmnstr]

How to get ridiculed and assigned a derogatory nickname.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

My response, "I was not in your class on the first day, I registered during the second week of classes; so I was unaware of this. And I have used my tablet in class before. Do not touch my belongings or me. What you did was uncalled for and unprofessional and please do not do it again. All you have to do is ask nicely, you do not need to touch other people's belongings." After making that statement I packed my belongings and left class because I did not feel that I was in a safe learning environment after being disrespected and belittled.

Shitthatneverhappened.txt.

In reality, she let the professor take her shit, marinated in her own self-loathing the entire class, picked up her stuff when the lecture was over, then came home and posted some made-up bullshit about how she stood up to a meanie prof.

[The Late P Brooks]

One on F1 before I leave.

I read an interview recently in which Luca de Montezemolo (Ferrari boss) was saying F1 should just go back to open testing, with real full size race cars on real race tracks, because the way things are now, they spend hundreds of millions of euros on computer simulations and shaker rigs and assorted other weird shit that HAS NO DEMONSTRABLE PROVEN UTILITY IN THE REAL WORLD.

They spend a tremendous amount of time and money fucking around in their mad scientist labs, and when the get to an actual race track, there is no assurance the car will do what it did in Imaginationland.

[John]

Did they stop testing by rule or just go insane and decide it wasn't necessary?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Interesting take on things. A little Parcellish.

[Irish]

Serious question: Based on the above article where the woman is just SO excited that Obama said something about sexual assault, has there ever been a president with a better understanding of the progressive mind than Obama?

He's a total failure as a president, but his ability to manipulate his base is pure genius. Progressives want to be coddled, they want to hear someone speak softly and soothingly about issues they don't actually control, and they want to have their egos stroked. Every time Obama lays out a piece of red meat to his base, he is either saying something soothing about an issue he can't actually change, coddling the little darlings after their latest temper tantrum, or playing into their narcissism.

He has played them like a master and they're too dumb to realize it. He's been doing it for 7 years.

[John]

Obama grew up around communist upper middle class white people. He figured out at a very young age what they wanted to hear and how desperately they wanted to project their hopes onto him. He is the master of the meaningless platitude. He knows what these people want. And they are too stupid and pathetic to realize how he is manipulating them.

[Coeus]

He has played them like a master and they're too dumb to realize it. He's been doing it for 7 years.

I don't think they're too dumb to realize it. There's something I've learned in my last 5 years of dating. If you say the right things in the right way, it doesn't matter if they know you're full of shit. They still want to play along.

[John]

Why do you think that is? Do they just want to live in a fantasy land? Have they really internalized all of that post modern bullshit about perception being reality?

[Coeus]

Why do you think that is?

There's all kinds of theories. I do lean to the fantasy land explanation, but I honestly don't know. Just like I have no idea why holding my drink at my waist versus at my chest seems to make such a huge difference.

[John]

I haven't dated in a long time. But when I did. I found the best thing I ever did was learn to be totally comfortable with myself. The whys and whatfors of who I was or what I did, didn't matter. What mattered was I was total comfortable and confident about whatever I was. Once I did that, I seemed to have a lot of success.

And for whatever reason body language is both mysterious and important. I never mastered it. It was my one big failing. For that reason, I was a fucking master at picking up women via the internet. No body language needed.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You think Obama is playin' a con? You're sadly mistaken. He is a TRUE BELIEVER, and that makes him infinitely more dangerous.

[Irish]

I agree he's a true believer, but why suddenly talk about sexual assault, an issue he has no control over, in the middle of the Obamacare failure and a number of other scandals?

It's because he knows people like the person above will weep gratefully and ignore the fact that he has no power over this.

[Pro Libertate]

He's a true deceiver.

[GILMORE]

I swear when I read that I immediately thought it *must* be the name of a Phil Collins song.

Weird. I'm told that's a sign of nascent psychopathic issues = seeing Phil Collins in everything.

[Pro Libertate]

Phil Collins is the urstoff of modern culture.

[RishJoMo]

Its all in the mpountains dude.

http://www.Anon-Stuff.tk

[Coeus]

This sounds like my school growing up.

On a science test, their teacher had included a fill-in-the-blank question: "ISN'T IT AMAZING WHAT THE _____________ HAS MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" When my stepson didn't know the answer ("Lord"), she belittled him in front of the entire class. When he wrote in "Lord Buddha" on another exam, she marked it wrong. As she was returning that exam to students, one student proclaimed aloud that "people are stupid if they think God is not real." In response, my stepson's teacher agreed, telling the class, "Yes! That is right! I had a student miss that on his test." The entire class broke out in laughter at my stepson.

The same teacher also told our children that the Bible is "100 percent true," that the Earth was created by God 6,000 years ago, and that evolution is "impossible" and a "stupid theory made up by stupid people who don't want to believe in God." She's also told the class that Buddhism is "stupid."

Replace buddhism with talk about coming from monkeys.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, she is correct that Lord Buddha was not a creator god, and that we Buddhists believe that the universe was not created by any form of sentience.

Still, that stupid fucking Bible Belt pigshit inbred yokel bitch is lucky she didn't do that to my daughter.

I'd show her the righteous fury of Buddha's Left Hand: The Shambala Warrior Spirit.

Jai Shakyamuni!

[Heedless]

It really made my day the first time I read the phrase "militant Bhuddists".

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And so the ACLU decides that the govt shouldn't run schools, and that parents should choose from among a network of private schools, each with its own distinctive ethos and curriculum?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Just kidding, of course, govt schools are one of the Flying Buttresses of Democracy!!

[Heroic Mulatto]

HA HA HA HA!!

[jesse.in.mb]

Ooh, I taught at a school like that for a short while. I had to scold the teachers judging the science fair for trying to DQ my best student's science fair project because it showed signs of "Darwinian thought." They were mollified when I told them that her project emphasized microevolution and not macro evolution.

That was around the time I started drinking regularly after work.

[Irish]

They were mollified when I told them that her project emphasized microevolution and not macro evolution.

Goddammit. I hate this argument because it doesn't understand how evolution works.

[jesse.in.mb]

It prevented them from flunking her. That was all I cared about. The middle school science teacher was a young-earth hard-liner and some of the stuff he was teaching was shockingly bad.

[GILMORE]

"The middle school science teacher was a young-earth hard-liner"

Wait.... WTF?

its not just that by itself is completely fucked up... but....

WHO HIRED THEM?? thinking to themselves "*that's* what our school needs!"

I mean, even as a 13yr old, I'd be fucking with that guys head, insisting that I was myself a Norse Cosmology Hardliner, and that I was disinterested in any theories regarding the formation of Midgard that fail to address the key inputs made by Ice Trolls.

http://www.germanicmythology.c.....asill4.jpg

[jesse.in.mb]

I was working at a fundamentalist Christian school. That's the type of guy one hires to teach science there.

Our history text books tied things back in to Biblical prophecy whenever they could.

[Azathoth!!]

I was working at a fundamentalist Christian school.

...and you expected something different?

[GILMORE]

EMERGENCY BROADCAST = BREAKING NEWS

Love Fails To Keep Them Together: Captain & Tennille To Divorce

http://www.reuters.com/article.....4J20140123

A Nation Mourns.

[Pro Libertate]

WHAT? But they're the Captain and Tennille. Besides, aren't they in their 70s or older by now? Weird.

[PD Scott]

She just finally had it with that damn captain's hat he always wears.

[Pro Libertate]

Who gets the hat, anyway?

[PD Scott]

Oddly enough, Wendy Davis's ex-husband.

[GILMORE]

The hat is in arbitration as part of the pre-nup

[Pro Libertate]

Perhaps we'll at last learn if Captain is, in fact, a captain.

[GILMORE]

ah, but what is a captain without his First Mate? just another sailor.

[GILMORE]

"aren't they in their 70s or older by now?"

Oh, pro-L. They were *always* in the '70s. And always will be.

[Pro Libertate]

Fair enough.

[Pro Libertate]

What's next, Sonny and Cher getting a divorce?

[Drake]

Chastity growing up to be a fat man?

[Pro Libertate]

Don't be absurd.

[ConstitutionFirst]

Of all the crimes being committed by this regime, why are we wasting time talking about that juvenile knucklehead (and next candidate to expire of self abuse) Bieber?

Unless, of course, it is to keep us from talking about Dinesh D'Souza.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Thanks for the noir film link. Cool.

[John]

If it were happening in another country, I am pretty sure someone would be calling it genocide.

[Irish]

John, regardless of your opinion on abortion, how on Earth is people choosing to have abortions themselves the same as genocide? They aren't being forced to do this.

[John]

I didn't say it was. I said it would be called that. The international human rights community has a pretty elastic view of the term.

Beyond that, paying for it and encouraging it, while not genocide, is not good.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I think of all the potential 'talent' lost to society.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I wanted to go skate and shoot the puck around this morning but it was a tad too cold for my taste.

[Being Waterboarded]

Interesting point... I have heard that feminists have been up in arms in the past with respect to how, in much of Asia, parents choose to abort females but not males. You'd think that SOMEONE might be up in arms that, in the US, blacks are aborted much more than other races...

[John]

You would think BW. You would think. It is not like "disparate impacts" are not an obsession with Progs in every other context or anything.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Exactly.

It's about that here too.

I'll definitely head out tomorrow though come hell or high water from the Bay of Fundy.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Love him or hate him, Thrift Shop is a brilliant take down of both "Ghetto Superstar: Gucci, Gucci, Prada" culture and hipster culture....simultaneously!