Rep. Cantor Sees Obamacare's End Coming, Christie Aide Resigns, OFA Advertises for Minimum Wage Increase: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: Gage Skidmore / Foter / CC BY-SA

  House Majority Leader Eric Cantor believes Obamacare is living on "borrowed time." But the president assured Bill O'Reilly at the Super Bowl the administration has fixed all the problems!

• An aide to N.J. Gov. Chris Christie resigned over the weekend. She has been subpoenaed in the investigation of the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.
• Polling among civic leaders across Michigan shows that only a very small percentage of them support providing state fiscal aid to help bankrupt Detroit.
• The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin to demand same-sex marriage recognition.
• Organizing for America is buying ads to encourage Congress to increase the minimum wage. They did not spring for Bob Dylan.
• Customers at Marriott Hotels across the country may have been the most recent hacking target.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Organizing for America is buying ads to encourage Congress to increase the minimum wage.

Every economist agrees: Class warfare and economic illiteracy is good for Democrats.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

I heard on the radio that 40% of the Seahawks roster was drafted mostly in the later rounds - 5th and down as well as undrafted players?

There's value everywhere, man.

[Auric Demonocles]

Seattle has guys on such good deals that this minimum wage hike would probably affect them.

[Episiarch]

Actually, this is going to become an immediate problem next season when all these guys want much higher salaries. It's going to break up the team to a certain degree because they will hit the cap and will have to choose.

[Auric Demonocles]

Isn't that one more season away?

[Episiarch]

I have no idea, I'm not intimate with how they compensate their players.

[Auric Demonocles]

I believe that they start coming off these cheap rookie deals after the coming season, so the hawks will have one more shot to go for it before they start getting dismantled.

[Virginian]

Isn't that one more season away?

It is. Basically, they're going to bring back the same team they had this year, plus whoever they get in the draft. Not sure if they have the room to bring in any free agents.

They very well could repeat.

[Rasilio]

The players are not eligible for free agency until their 4th year or they are cut by the team so unless you're talking about someone like Russel Wilson who they REALLY want there long term there isn't too much they can do to demand a higher salary.

In general you are correct but it won't likely happen for 2 - 3 more years.

The big question to determine whether they will become a dynasty or flash in the pan is how well they manage the cap as their team ages

[Juice]

R. Wilson is "only" getting league minimum if I'm not mistaken.

[Mokers]

He is getting paid based on a salary scale based on draft order. Overall the Seahawks want to sign as many as possible because if they become free agents, any team can sign them away.

[Pelosi's Rabbit]

Maybe they'll get traded to the Browns, where they can be let down one last time.

[playa manhattan]

Their secondary was so effective last night that they were running into each other.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I was telling a buddy that's one of the most dominating defensive performance I've seen in any sport.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Listening to the radio, it sounds as though Manning is a sympathetic Baggio figure as this may be the one thing people will remember about his great career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voT5W9Doa-s

I still can't watch it. One of the greatest of his generation and easily top 15/so all-time in my view.

[Fist of Etiquette]

An aide to N.J. Gov. Chris Christie resigned over the weekend.

"Resignation means you can't subpoena me, right?"

[db]

It must truly suck.to be the corrupt underling to the corrupt overlord who throws you under the.buse before you get a chance at the big time. My heart bleeds for these folks.

[Episiarch]

It's all part of the vicious scramble to the top of the power edifice.

That Guy: There are two kinds of people: sheep and sharks. Anyone who is a sheep is fired. Who is a sheep?

Dr. Zoidberg: Errr, excuse me... which is the one people like to hug?

That Guy: Gutsy question. You're a shark. Sharks are winners, and they don't look back because they have no necks. Necks are for sheep.

[Auric Demonocles]

My only regret... is that I have colitis.

[Episiarch]

That colon wasn't as safe as they said it was.

[Auric Demonocles]

Don't you worry about "blank". Let me worry about "blank".

[MJGreen]

Look, every state wants to be Germany, but does New Jersey have the pure strength of will?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Yo, I got da triumph of da will, here!

[Episiarch]

Not only not funny, completely unaware that this is a Futurama reference. Your comedic skills are equal with Zoidberg's, Eddie. Oh wait, you won't get that either.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Warty]

I've never seen Episiarch so down. Or ever before.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Epi, Did you just boast about watching a cartoon on TV?

[Warty]

Eddie's goin' to get one of them $300 haircuts. This one's lost its pizzazz.

[Pro Libertate]

The only cartoons I watch on television are documentaries.

[waffles]

edifice or orifice?

[PD Scott]

Surely there are lobbyists and think tanks in Trenton where these poor staffers can get back on their feet.

[db]

No, I have it on great authority that corrupt staffers are ridden out on a rail, forever to wander the wastes as outcasts from public life.

[Almanian!]

Man, these dudes could learn a thing or two from Detroit!

Or DC, for that matter.

Reduce, reuse - RECYCLE! your politicians!

[PD Scott]

wander the wastes

Well, it's NJ so at least it isn't that long of a walk.

[Bobarian]

Where do you think the Jersey Devil comes from?

[Root Boy]

Not from NJ, but Wiener boy didn't seem to have any problem landing some 6+ figure job (I read an interview where he bragged about how easy this private sector work was).

[Brett L]

They pay him to go to lunch and stay out of the office. I imagine it was the only way they could keep their corporate insurance policy with a known sexual harasser on payroll.

[Root Boy]

And he only got the job because they wanted some political connections he may have had (or they thought the douche would actually get elected again).

[Fist of Etiquette]

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor believes Obamacare is living on "borrowed time."

One way or another, that's probably true.

[gaijin]

Two minutes in an it's just you and me. Did the rapture happen?

[Fist of Etiquette]

And I don't even really count you.

[gaijin]

And I don't even really count you.

Fisted!

[Mad Scientist]

Quiet! It's wabbit season!

[William of Purple]

oh no, not this shit again

[Pro Libertate]

"No, fuck you, cut spending."

[Ted S.]

I'd almost like to see them default to see the consequences, but I'm sure they wouldn't be pretty.

[Almanian!]

USA! USA! USA! USA!

[Killaz]

It's worth it for the administration to play the gridlock card. They never get blamed. The Republican congress does, hell, even the Democratic senate takes a beating for it. But never these guys.

[Root Boy]

Republicans will pussy out. They don't want to seem heartless - all those pictures of Boehner taking candy from babies will be in the NYT and WP on a rotating basis during any shutdown.

Can't have that.

[Rasilio]

I sure as hell hope they do, makes it that much more likely that Boehner and the rest of the Republican leadership gets primaried

[Root Boy]

Yep, they need to loose again in the mid-terms just to show their stupid leaders that their half-assed opposition to spending is a joke.

Though I may vote for a Repub since I moved to Colorado due to the gun control shit going on

[Rasilio]

The nice thing is you don't need the Republican Establishment to win for Republicans to win.

In the past the argument against primarying assholes like Boehner was that as bad as they were they are still better than the Dem who would replace them. With the built in assumption that the no name who beat them in the primary couldn't win the general election. This time around thanks to Obamacare it is likely to be very different and lots of no name Republicans will be beating Democrats so you can safely primary them without worrying overly much that you are just putting a Dem in office.

[Juice]

Then the Repubs need to reverse it on them. Say, OK you win! Have it your way. Here's a $6 trillion budget with a $3 trillion deficit. Raise the debt ceiling to $30 trillion right now.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Okay, I'm confused. Wasn't part the resolution (read republican cave in) to the dreaded government "shutdown" that all debt limit increases would be automatic unless congress votes no?

[Root Boy]

I remember that too, but I think it was part of the temp deal - with Congress you never know - read about the shenanigans int the uncut farm bill/bipartisan welfare bribe.

[CE]

I think it gave them until February, so they had time to craft a new budget deal. It's February.

[gaijin]

treasury's reserves would quickly be exhausted as it issues annual income tax refunds.

So the government is now admitting it doesn't even know how to manage cash flow? Sweet!

[Juice]

So they even spent all the money that wasn't even theirs to spend? I mean, Jesus. They take it from your paycheck and spend all of it immediately. WTF.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Polling among civic leaders across Michigan shows that only a very small percentage of them support providing state fiscal aid to help bankrupt Detroit.

They don't want Detroit taking all their money?

[Almanian!]

RACIST gonna RACIST, yo

[playa manhattan]

"The Marriott hotel chain has confirmed that guests at a number of its franchises across the United States were the victims of a major credit-card hacking scheme."

Great. So I'm going to have another cancelled card in my credit history. This is such bullshit.

[db]

That's why I only use Hilton-brand chains. That, and the off.chance I may run into Paris someday and get some of that crazy dirty action.

[paranoid android]

Is "action" some sort of slang term for hepatitis that I'm not aware of?

[db]

Well, whatever causes all that itching.

[playa manhattan]

I have 2 timeshares at Marriott (that I got on eBay for a thousand bucks), so I'm stuck with them in perpetuity.

[db]

Timeshares at hotels? I didn't know thst was a th8ng.

[playa manhattan]

Marriott Vacation Club, namely this one. You can trade into their various hotels, though.

[db]

Neat.

[Root Boy]

Hotel chains have their own timeshare/vacation business. Sometimes they are colo.

My wife got a nice Hyatt timeshare for almost nothing in Tahoe.

[playa manhattan]

Mine is colo with the JW and has rights to all of their facilities.

A lot of people really fucked up in '07-'08. Some even actually took out loans to buy these things. The week that I bought retailed for $37k, and I got it for 500 bucks. Their loss is my gain, I guess.

[Rasilio]

In my experience not so much.

My family owned timeshares since the 80's and it didn't take much more than a decade for the "fees" to start overtaking the cost of a hotel.

Last I heard on it my mother was trying to get me to buy her week in a condo on Jamestown Island in Rhode Island from her for $1000 but the various fees added up to well over $1200 a year if you used your week and about $700 a year if you didn't. This didn't include the extra $300 fee if you wanted to spacebank to a different facility. Since I am highly unlikely to ever take a trip to Rhode Island and I could probably get a week in a hotel almost anywhere in the country for less than $2000 I really didn't see the point in tying up all that capital

[Root Boy]

The point system makes those fees worth it. We can take ours almost anywhere (Park City this year) so our fees end up being less than what we'd pay for the next door hotel - and like Playa says you can use the hotel facilities if it's next door.

Hyatt also lets you convert timeshare points to hotel points.

[Tonio]

Does it really count against you if the card is cancelled and replaced for administrative reasons?

[playa manhattan]

According to my credit report, it does. It could indicated to lenders that you aren't keeping your data secure or that you shop at sketchy places...

[playa manhattan]

/sb indicate

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Sketchy places like Target, Neiman's, and Marriott. Right. Ah fuck us all.

[playa manhattan]

I suspect Target is going to get in a lot of trouble before this thing is over. They had their statisticians doing some pretty awesome things with their credit card data, but they probably were in violation of their agreement with Visa in doing so.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Yeah, I've never heard of someone getting dinged for incidents like that, although I guess it depends on the credit bureau.

That's actually why I don't like using debit cards--if my bank account is hacked, that fucks me over. If my credit card is hacked, that fucks the bank over. I also check my balances like a fiend and cross-reference everything. I've caught a couple of hacks early on (that deal where they take out a $20-25 purchase just to see if it gets challenged before draining the credit limit) just because I'm such a Paranoid Libertarian about my money.

[Pro Libertate]

NEVER USE YOUR DEBIT CARD FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN GETTING CASH FROM YOUR BANK.

[kinnath]

that's called an ATM card 😉

[playa manhattan]

^^This. I don't even keep much money in accounts that can be accessed by an ATM. Etrade sent me a debit card, and I promptly cancelled it.

[Raven Nation]

I thought you were covered if you use your debit card as a credit card.

[Pro Libertate]

Legally, you have certain protections, but the difference is that the credit card company has to drag cash out of you while you're disputing a bad charge. Better that than your bank account being depleted while you're trying to explain it was identity theft.

[Raven Nation]

OK, that makes sense.

[The DerpRider]

It looks like it was limited to certain hotels, but I'm sure I'll be getting a notice that they're reissuing my corp. card.

[Brett L]

Time for hookers'n'blow on Visa. Act Now!

[Raven Nation]

Scamming your own credit card before wide-spread computerization:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpYjY9RRIJQ

Jump to 2 minutes in.

[Brian]

Great. So I'm going to have another cancelled card in my credit history. This is such bullshit.

Couldn't you call your credit card company and say "I lost it. Give me a new one, with a new account number and security code"?

[Almanian!]

"Hmm - he's irresponsible. Dock him 40 Credit Score points..."

[Tonio]

Sounds like he'd get dinged for losing his card.

Damn, if there were only some mechanism to force them to treat customers fairly...

[playa manhattan]

Losing a credit card can negatively affect your credit rating. I don't know how much, as all of the CRA's algorithms are proprietary...

[Episiarch]

But the president assured Bill O'Reilly at the Super Bowl the administration has fixed all the problems!

Don't be silly, nothing he said mattered, he just needed to stoke his megalomania by trying to usurp the massive event that is the Superbowl to feed his own ego. You can disregard anything he said, it was just for show. In fact, you can pretty do that every time he opens his mouth.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Did you see the tweet of with the picture of him throwing a football? I thought his action resembled Tebow's. That's not a compliment.

[Episiarch]

No, I don't follow the president's tweets. Or anyone else's. Except Ashton Kutcher, his are the best.

[playa manhattan]

Did you buy a Nikon too?

[Episiarch]

No, just a Demi Moore. It was a used model.

[db]

Refurbished, though, right? The used ones get pretty rough.

[Episiarch]

I was hoping for the One Crazy Summer model but all I got was the Disclosure model. I'm not complaining.

[Pro Libertate]

I remember her on General Hospital (back when it was some absurd spy show rather than a soap opera), and she had the gravely voice even then.

[C. Anacreon]

How about when she was the flat-chested teen, daughter of Fat Tony, with the best friend who was always topless with the monster gazongas in Blame it on Rio?

[Pro Libertate]

I remember her. She was on Love Boat for a while.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I don't either, but when he tweets something embarrassing like that, it makes its way through conservative/libertarian circles.

[Auric Demonocles]

Who is his "favorite" NFL team? The Bears? We should ask him to name his favorite players.

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, that's an excellent question.

[Irish]

He's a 'White Sox' fan and of course could not name any of the players on that team.

In fairness, I'm also a White Sox fan and I've been trying pretty hard to forget the last few years as well.

[Pro Libertate]

Um, oh, I know, Frank Thomas!

[C. Anacreon]

How about Walter "No Neck" Williams or Carlos "No Thumb" May?

[Auric Demonocles]

That's exactly what I was referencing.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I, uh, well, when I moved to Chicago, I liked the Cubs. They still play the football, right? But before that, I liked the Raiders, who were just great. HTTR!

[Pro Libertate]

"Mr. Obama, next question: What is the Billy Goat Tavern, and explain two reasons why it is significant?"

[C. Anacreon]

Also, can you explain why it is always dark outside the Billy Goat's front door?

[Pro Libertate]

I can, but I must not.

[Ted S.]

When the Packers and Bears were in the NFC Championship Game three years ago, Obama implied his team was the Bears.

When Obama said he'd go to the Super Bowl to see the Bears, Charles Woodson famously replied 1-2-3 White House.

Warning: that video may be an autoplay.

[playa manhattan]

Auto commercial.

[Pro Libertate]

You take that back. That's like comparing the Anti-Christ with Jesus, except that it's not a simile.

[playa manhattan]

Shrike said that Obama emerged victorious from the interview.

[Episiarch]

Who? That sockpuppet who is obsessed with me and trying to get me to respond to it? Unrequited love is a horrible thing.

[db]

Unrequited love for you seems particularly bar, although not as self destructive as unrequited love for.WRty

[Fist of Etiquette]

Get over yourself. Yours wasn't even the handle being honored.

[Episiarch]

I've had mine "honored" plenty of times, sockpuppet handle-spoof first timer!

[Pro Libertate]

I'm curious which Arquette it was supposed to be.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't think you can pick a bad one.

[playa manhattan]

I'm guessing the unfunny coke head,

[Bobarian]

You're gonna have to be more specific

[Heroic Mulatto]

Alexis, of course.

[Ted S.]

Mary's stalked my blog.

[SugarFree]

Pah. She stalked two of mine and harassed me on grylliade.

But nothing beats her love for Epi. They're like two turds smeared into the same pair of underwear.

[Episiarch]

Yeah, but now shriek loves me too. So is that like three turds, or two turds and a giant douche sockpuppet?

[SugarFree]

One is a turd, the other is a low-calorie turd-free substitute made out of kombu.

[wareagle]

I thought that was Mary. Good lord; you have sockpuppet groupies.

[playa manhattan]

It was. All of her comments disappeared this morning.

[Warty]

Sockpuppets within sockpuppets. Nothing is as it seems.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Shrike thinks Stanhope is not libertarian and believes himself to be a classical liberal.

So...

/takes a shit.

[Citizen Nothing]

Shrike thinks Stanhope is not libertarian

The fuck?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Because he voted for Obama.

But his biography tells a different story. A vastly different one.

[Palin's Buttplug]

No, you dumbass. Stanhope is a libertarian that voted for Obama - at least he claimed he did in an interview (which I linked you to).

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Not what you said. You implied he wasn't and that he was a 'rationalist secularist.'

[Palin's Buttplug]

One can be a rationalist secularist and a libertarian at the same time.

In fact it is very likely.

Your reading comprehension is poor.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sure thing buddy.

[Corning]

Shrike said that Obama emerged victorious from the interview.

Orielly and Obama talking there can be no victory.

[Brett L]

I'm sorry. Which antecedent are your pronouns referring to? O'Reilly or O'bama?

[Episiarch]

Take your pick.

[playa manhattan]

Palin's Buttplug|2.2.14 @ 10:17PM|#
Two epic beatdowns today.

Hawks vs Donks and Obama vs O'Reilly/Fox.

Both live. No editing for visual effect.

playa manhattan|2.2.14 @ 10:43PM|#
I know I'm going to regret asking, but who do you think won in the Obama vs O'Reilly saga?

Palin's Buttplug|2.2.14 @ 10:50PM|#
Obama routed Bill-O. He deftly deflected the Fox News henchman on all the fake scandals, he put down all the wingnut talking points, he called out Fox News as the primary source of the fake scandals, he even got in digs like calling Fox News an "TV Channel" instead of a news organization. It was masterful. And live.

[gaijin]

Two epic beatdowns today.

Three if you count the stock market!

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, it's getting mildly unpleasant.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I was wondering if we would get a market update from Shreek.

[Palin's Buttplug]

S&P 500 = 1741.89

Happy now?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Goldbugs and peanuts.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Seinfeld fans disappointed by Super Bowl 'reunion'

[gaijin]

They looked old. It's why you don't see Tony Hawk actually skating much anymore.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It depressed me, really.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I always ask for 'extra MSG' at a restaurant.

[Raven Nation]

Amazing to think the last episode of Seinfeld aired more than 15 1/2 years ago.

[CE]

They are old.

[Michael]

I watched the embedded clip at 360p, and the only one that showed much age at that resolution was Seinfeld himself, what with the thinning hair and all. I'd really hate to see what Richards looks like these days.

[paranoid android]

The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin to demand same-sex marriage recognition.

Men marrying men I could handle, but America isn't ready for men marrying their civil liberties unions.

[Auric Demonocles]

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor believes Obamacare is living on "borrowed time." But the president assured Bill O'Reilly at the Super Bowl the administration has fixed all the problems!

Obama then added "These Broncos have solved all their problems. They should start getting goals as soon as the 5th inning starts."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

In lieu of the SB, there should be a minimum a team can lose by. The self-esteem of our children is at stake. No one should have to lose by more than, say, four points!

[Raven Nation]

Amazingly it still broke ratings records:

http://tvline.com/2014/02/03/s.....wl-xlviii/

Although I would love to see an hour-by-hour chart.

[Corning]

Viewership was baked in.

It was a good season and everyone had made their chips and salsa...

What are they going to do quit watching because the game sucked?

[Raven Nation]

True; but that's why I would like to see the breakdown. Be interested to know how many bailed at half-time or just after the kick off return.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Left Talks a Great Deal About the Evils of Income Inequality, But Is Very Happy to Perpetuate a Regime of Social Inequality
...The New Class doesn't like the truly wealthy having those advantages -- they want all advantages to come from educational and social capital, you know, the thing they have -- and so seek to reduce the rich's income while, noticeably, never so much as acknowledging about their own very significant, unfair competitive advantages.

Why, it's totally unfair that some rumpled-and-d?class? - hedge fund manager should be able to just swagger his way past the line at Nobu and get a table immediately, just because he's so rich and spends a ton.

That sort of privilege should be restricted to the truly worthy -- you know, people on TV, people that Vogue writes about. People that Jacob Weisberg is friends with and finds fashionable....

[Root Boy]

Read that a few days ago - Alex Wagner and the WH chef dude.

Was a lefty/beltway/NYC liberal reach around

[Rufus J. Firefly]

When I was a broker we had a book with over 200 people ranging from small to very large in terms of assets - say, 5k to 250 million. It's only normal the larger book gets more attention since they're harder to maintain and the clients tend to be more demanding - but they rendered us more in fees.

It's impossible to treat everyone equally. While we returned every single one of our calls because we believed everyone should be treated with respect I'd be lying if we returned calls in the order they came in.

The worse clients were the ones that made us no money but kept us on the phone more than their worth.

Same with the guys with coin who get the table in restaurants. They're more likely to improve the margins for the night for the restaurant. It's a rational economic decision is all.

[gaijin]

Financial Market Manipulation creates high demand for Tin Foil.

A rash of deaths and a missing reporting with ties to wall street investigations

[gaijin]

*missing reporter

[Tonio]

a missing reporter

See how easy that was, Bo? And I'm an old fart. If I can do it, surely a young turk like yourself can.

[Tonio]

Dad gummit, I had to take the extra time to lecture Bo.

[gaijin]

Who is Bo?

[Mad Scientist]

If you love Tulpa, you're in for a treat! Bo is every bit as insufferably pedantic, goal post moving, and haughty, but unlike Original Tulpa, this one comes in a trendy new Blue flavor!

[Citizen Nothing]

Bo is every bit as insufferably pedantic, goal post moving,

Never seen it myself. But then, maybe that's because I'm kind of blue-curious.

[gaijin]

Bo Cara Esq! Got it.

[Mad Scientist]

Read this thread, CN. It's even fresh.

[Warty]

But he's an infant and a law student instead of an embittered failure of a math professor. That makes him totally more bearable, right?

[The Bearded Hobbit]

and a law student

But he's a landowner, so he's got that going for him.

(Hint for the lawyers that add "Esq": We're laughing at your behind your back)

... Hobbit

[Episiarch]

Try New Tulpa today!

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Try New Tulpa today!

Sweeter than Old Tulpa but with half the calories!

[Almanian!]

I think of him as "Neuvo MNG"

[Citizen Nothing]

Ok. I didn't read the whole thread. But it doesn't seem as if little Bo was advocating anything, but rather making the (valid) observation that many people, including some with libertarian leanings, may view inherited wealth as less legitimate than "earned" wealth.
As for me, I'm taking it all with me.

[playa manhattan]

Ok. I didn't read the whole thread

You and me both.

[NoVAHockey]

he's old. just wheel him into the corner.

[wareagle]

Dad gummit

Coach Bowden...how ya been?

[Raven Nation]

Yeah, I've really got to figure out how to do that.

[Tonio]

Hier is a basic guide. You only need the text formatting tags; everything else is done automagically by the H&R website.

[Raven Nation]

Thank you sir!

[Raven Nation]

Or, Thank you sir!

[Raven Nation]

Awesome!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

In the Name of Love
...There's little doubt that "do what you love" (DWYL) is now the unofficial work mantra for our time. The problem with DWYL, however, is that it leads not to salvation but to the devaluation of actual work?and more importantly, the dehumanization of the vast majority of laborers.

...If we believe that working as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur or a museum publicist or a think-tank acolyte is essential to being true to ourselves, what do we believe about the inner lives and hopes of those who clean hotel rooms and stock shelves at big-box stores? The answer is: nothing...

..."Do what you love" disguises the fact that being able to choose a career primarily for personal reward is a privilege, a sign of socioeconomic class. Even if a self-employed graphic designer had parents who could pay for art school and co-sign a lease for a slick Brooklyn apartment, she can bestow DWYL as career advice upon those covetous of her success....

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

I'm not going to click through, because the chance a piece like that at Slate is in some way retarded is just too great, but I like the excerpt.

[Heroic Mulatto]

what do we believe about the inner lives and hopes of those who clean hotel rooms and stock shelves at big-box stores? The answer is: nothing...

No one ever took pride in cleaning a room?

[Root Boy]

He was more critising people who push the first world problem that every job you have must be cool and involves what you love and that is what makes you whole.

Ditch digger and hotel maid doesn't fit that theme, but doesn't mean people in those jobs don't have rewarding inner lives outside of their jobs (though you are right, it does imply you can't love that job).

I used to get a lot of satisfaction in cleaning jobs I had when I was younger.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I used to get a lot of satisfaction in cleaning jobs I had when I was younger.

Best job I ever had was in a mom-n-pop log furniture company in Grand Lake, CO the summer I turned 16. I was responsible for peeling the logs, drilling out the joints (that took a lot of practice; I broke a shit-ton of drill bits), carving dowels, and sanding. Was paid $4 an hour under the table, slept in a tent, and the owners provided meals. It was immensely satisfying seeing them do an order run to Denver and knowing that I helped build every single piece that was being delivered.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, we all can't be Bartleby, the scrivener.

[PD Scott]

But many of us would prefer to be.

[The Other Kevin]

I think there are two straw men here.
1) The idea that only a select few jobs can be classified as "lovable", so all other jobs are denigrated and declared unworthy. But as HC said below, why couldn't someone really enjoy cleaning a room, or being a nurse's aid, or whatever. In the reading I've done, the concept of DWYL can and should be applied to any job at all.

2) The idea that if you love what you do, you will be exploited by your employer. This assumes that people who love what they do are stupid and don't know they are being exploited, and it also assumes every employer exploits their workers as much as they can. The author has no concept that a person who loves their work does a better job, and with a better attitude, and that attracts better pay because the employer values the employee, and/or they do not want to lose that employee to a competitor.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Another straw man is that there is only one DWYL job per person. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that one could work one job to pay the bills while advancing in a second career. And if that person finds success in the second career, then they would have the financial ability to quit the second job.

Hell, I LOVE my primary job, but I still have the retirement dream of moving up to our summer home and start our hobby farm again but this time raise goats and alpacas, of which the wool will be used to fuel my wife's cottage industry job of knitting and weaving.

[C. Anacreon]

the concept of DWYL can and should be applied to any job at all.

I believe this is somewhat the concept behind Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Well, you don't need Karl Marx to tell you that jobs often suck and are unsatisfying. But with pluck and luck, some people can get a job they like more. It all depends.

Marx of course suggested that you'd like your job better if the government was the employer, which totally makes sense.

[Juice]

THANK YOU. I've always thought that platitude was utterly useless and stupid.

[CE]

The problem is no one loves accounting, and there's a lot of accounting that has to be done.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Water crisis shows the harm of the global warming junk science
...The trap was set in the late 1970s or thereabouts when the environmental movement first realized that doing something about global warming would play to quite a number of its social agendas. At much the same time, it became accepted wisdom around the corridors of power that government-funded scientists (that is, most scientists) should be required to obtain a goodly fraction of their funds and salaries from external sources - external anyway to their own particular organization," Paltridge wrote.

"The scientists in environmental research laboratories, since they are not normally linked to any particular private industry, were forced to seek funds from other government departments. In turn this forced them to accept the need for advocacy and for the manipulation of public opinion."...

[Mike M.]

Cantor Sees Obamacare's End Coming

It's the Peyton Manning of laws.

[CE]

I hope not. Peyton Manning had 5 or 6 really good years.

[Thane ? the booty]

Patent troll CEO explains why company wants names of EFF donors

Personal Audio CEO and general counsel Brad Liddle explained this morning that the company is just trying to make sure its opponents don't get two bites at the apple while the fight over the patent goes forth. With the IPR petition moving forward at the patent office and litigation proceeding in Texas federal courts, Personal Audio apparently suspects that the same people are behind both.

"EFF insinuates the information we are seeking is not relevant to the Texas litigation," said Liddle in a brief interview with Ars. "But to the extent that other third parties have donated or assisted to the PTO proceeding?to the extent they've been working on the inter partes review?they should be bound by the result."

...He believes that if the Texas defendants are involved in the patent office proceeding, they shouldn't be allowed to present their same defenses all over again in federal court.

"If there's a corporation or a person that has assisted EFF in the PTO proceeding, there's an estoppel argument" that should stop them from using the same defenses again, he said. Personal Audio shouldn't have to "engage in duplicative validity challenges, in expensive litigation."

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Investigation IDs IRS Leaker
A House committee investigating the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of right-leaning groups has identified the IRS agent who leaked the confidential donor list of the National Organization for Marriage, a conservative organization that opposes gay marriage. NOM's donor list, contained in a Form 990 Schedule B, which it is required by law to file with the IRS, was obtained in March 2012 by its chief political opponent, the Human Rights Campaign, and subsequently became the subject of several national news stories that centered on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's donation to the group.

Though the House Ways and Means Committee, which began investigating the scandal in the wake of revelations that the IRS had inappropriately singled out conservative groups, has identified the individual who divulged the information as an employee in the IRS's Exempt Organizations Division, it can't divulge his name to the public or to NOM. It can't even confirm when the leak took place, whether the perpetrator was disciplined, or even whether he is still employed by the IRS or the U.S. government. ....

[Thane ? the booty]

Threading fail?

[Root Boy]

Name of the shitbird leaker needs to be leaked -- though I suspect it will make no difference.

[C. Anacreon]

Shrike said there was nothing to see here and we all need to move along -- Obama cleaned O'Reilly's clock by saying just that!

[Coeus]

White Supremacy

White supremacy isn't a meeting of individuals in white hoods somewhere in the deep South. It's the values system that the article, in its naivet?, lays bare -- a values system that privileges white bodies as desirable and legitimate, views black bodies as sad and incapable, and presumes ownership over Asian traditions in a way that is downright neocolonial.

[Episiarch]

I've noticed a theme of referring to "white bodies" and "black bodies" instead of just "white people" and "black people". What is up with that? Is there some retarded reason for it? Beyond the usual retarded reasons, of course.

[Thane ? the booty]

I would presume that it's a "we're not defined by our races" thing. Which would be legitimate if they actually meant it.

Also, this whole "cultural appropriation" meme makes me furious. It's not even taking your dislike of a bad thing (racism, homophobia, etc.) too far. It's just vapid, mean-spirited, and discriminatory.

Not to mention that the relative peace the world is in is no doubt due in large part to (relatively) free trade and "cultural appropriation".

[Tonio]

Also, this whole "cultural appropriation" meme makes me furious.

Yeah, it's totally anti-free expression.

Also, these are people who normally oppose most forms of IP, and yet they are asserting IP rights over a culture.

(BTW, everyone loves the booty, Thane.)

[Irish]

Yeah, it's totally anti-free expression.

Not only that but it's actively racist and segregationist. They're basically arguing that all races must do the things that that race is known for and that a member of a different race is not allowed to take part.

This magically becomes not racist when a progressive says it.

(BTW, everyone loves the booty, Thane.)

Eh. The booty's like my third favorite part. Don't speak for me, Tonio. I feel like I've been oppressed.

[Root Boy]

Next thing you know they'll be ragging on Katy Perry for wearing a kimono in a music video...nah, never happen.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So. No more British chefs cooking Italian food on TV?

[Mad Scientist]

Boycott fusion restaurants!

[Episiarch]

So you can only be culturally what you are, uh, "bodied"? I love the intellectual prison these people voluntarily lock themselves in. Thank god it makes them miserable.

[Mad Scientist]

They were already miserable. The point of these convolutions is to provide a framework to place the blame for their misery on other people.

[Episiarch]

Good point. Still, they deserve all the misery they get.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

It's not just for colors, it's for everything. Fat bodies, thin bodies, female bodies, male bodies, etc. I think it's like...you are more than your body, or something. Except they're collectivists obsessed with identity politics and don't really believe that. So it's another instance of insane cognitive dissonance.

That said, the original XO Jane post was (a) totally racist and (b) just an excuse for the writer to talk about how skinny she was.

[Episiarch]

So we're more than our body, but not more than the color of our skin, which is part of our body. Got it. I'm going to go slam my head in a car door a few hundred times until that starts making sense. Want to join me?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Yes!!!

[Episiarch]

See you later, guys, nicole and I are going to go get intracranial hematomas.

[Ted S.]

I too would enjoy slamming Epi's head in a car door hundreds of times. 😉

[Episiarch]

Get in line, pal. Behind nicole.

[db]

Really? No one.is.going.to hit that?

[The Bearded Hobbit]

We're all trying to be polite.

... Hobbit

[Irish]

That XO Jane article is one of the saddest things I've ever read.

A woman is so brainwashed by prog identity politics that she suddenly freaks out about there not being enough black people in her yoga class.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Her safe space wasn't safe anymore! Because she was too skinny and able to do yoga!!!

[Irish]

I got home from that class and promptly broke down crying. Yoga, a beloved safe space that has helped me through many dark moments in over six years of practice, suddenly felt deeply suspect. Knowing fully well that one hour of perhaps self-importantly believing myself to be the deserving target of a racially charged anger is nothing, is largely my own psychological projection, is a drop in the bucket, is the tip of the iceberg in American race relations, I was shaken by it all the same.

This paragraph is hilarious. It literally can't be improved. She made herself cry by imagining she was a black person.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

It's the "perhaps" that makes it perfect.

[Episiarch]

Every time I see one of these authors talk about breaking down and crying over the most absurd, self-involved twaddle I just want them to be magically transported to somewhere where they have, you know, real fucking problems. Like being hunted by Darfur militias or something.

The combination of victimization fetishism plus zero real problems has made for absurdity come to life.

[Irish]

If there were any writers anymore who weren't mindlessly left-wing and were actually capable of satire, this type of thing could make a hilarious book.

Just a book about people creating ridiculous psychodramas and freaking out for no reason, in which ever minor problem resulted in hysterical fits and public weeping.

It would be like Confederacy of Dunces only with upper middle class white liberals.

[Snark Plissken]

The opening paragraph of Club Dumas, by Arturo Perez-Reverte

My name is Boris Balkan and I once translated The Charterhouse of Parma. Apart from that, I've edited a few books on the nineteenth-century popular novel, my reviews and articles appear in supplements and journals throughout Europe, and I organize summer-school courses on contemporary writers. Nothing spectacular, I'm afraid. Particularly these days, when suicide disguises itself as homicide, novels are written by Roger Ackroyd's doctor, and far too many people insist on publishing two hundred pages on the fascinat?ing emotions they experience when they look in the mirror.

[Anonymous Coward]

believing myself to be the deserving target of a racially charged anger is nothing

I'm sure Channon Christien would gladly trade places with if you really feel that you deserve to be the target of racially charged anger.

Feeling guilt for shit that other people have done is a clear sign of mental defect.

[Brett L]

I assume there weren't as many dot Indians in there as there should be, either. Oh wait. DGAF about them.

[Warty]

The original article:

IT HAPPENED TO ME: THERE ARE NO BLACK PEOPLE IN MY YOGA CLASSES AND I'M SUDDENLY FEELING UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT

Black people are too cheap to waste $200 a month on something as dumb as yoga. Racist idiot.

[Virginian]

Yoga is a free part of the membership at the gym I work at. It's good on a rest day.

[Tonio]

I'm guessing that because we are all kinda red and gooey inside that there are no actual black or white people, only people with black or white skin. They do have a point, but we all know what is meant by those phrases and they aren't intended to be hurtful.

[Episiarch]

"Well, you know what I say about kids, they're all pink on the inside."

[Brett L]

I knew you were Woody Allen.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm guessing that because we are all kinda red and gooey inside that there are no actual black or white people, only people with black or white skin.

You'd guess that, but that's because you're thinking rationally. From my seat in the academy I can tell you it means that only Black and Latina women are allowed to have curves. If a White woman does squats to build her booty, or *gaps* twerks on the dance floor. Well, that's RACIST, straight up. Oh and Asian women are not allowed to get plastic surgery on their eyes, because they obviously want to look like White women, as opposed to a long standing (like 5,000) cultural preference that was noted in Chinese literature.

[Thane ? the booty]

I don't see the point of double eyelid surgery. But hey, peeps can do what they want.

Also, I've heard that the skin bleaching thing is often more of a class thing (dark skin = working outdoors = lower class) than a racial thing.

[jesse.in.mb]

Also, I've heard that the skin bleaching thing is often more of a class thing (dark skin = working outdoors = lower class) than a racial thing.

It's the same reason porcelain skin was prized in Europe and now a tan is. It indicates you're well off enough that you don't have to spend time in a field/cubicle.

Also, at least with Korean women, they tend to freckle rather than tan evenly.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

To be fair, HM, that's because if I twerked on the dance floor no one would be able to notice anything but my white body.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Fair enough.

[Brett L]

That's too bad because my wife can make her hips do things that only black and latina girls should be able to do, and I like it. If that makes me racist, I'm okay with that.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

It makes you both racist.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Which makes it extra dirty hot.

[playa manhattan]

If Warty were here, he would demand pictures.

[Virginian]

Lana: "So, you know you have to be punished?"
Cyril: "Yes."
Lana: "So what you're gonna do is walk into our video store..."
Cyril: "With the sweet, old Korean lady."
Lana: "...and buy the nastiest, bare backinest, hard dickinest, ball slappiest interracial porno in there!

[Fist of Etiquette]

My body is white on the inside. Pro Libertate's body is black on the inside. All of his people's bodies are black on the inside.

[Mad Scientist]

Now we just have the find the people who are lizard on the inside. Fess up people!

[Episiarch]

You useless pieces of bland body!

[Pro Libertate]

Am I the Riddler or that other guy? Why wasn't he famous, too? Maybe the Riddler was right about him being inferior.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know what they say. Everyone is unitard famous for 15 minutes.

[Pro Libertate]

That's got a suck when your kids get old enough to watch your work. I mean, Frank Gorshin must've had some, um, interesting conversations with his kids.

[gaijin]

Frank Gorshin must've had some, um, interesting conversations

He and Dick GRayson both

[Heroic Mulatto]

THIS HAPPENED!

[Mad Scientist]

What. The. Fuck.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That. That was my childhood in 3 minutes.

[Corning]

I have also noticed that women are called females and men are called males.

Being human has become faux pas.

[Michael]

The most important thing to progs is identity. Bodies are simply the vessel. This is why all throughout prog history the "identities" have been so easily dispatched from the "bodies" in staggering numbers and in the name of correct thoughts and good intentions.

[Irish]

Lorne Michaels: Making fun of Republicans is easier than Democrats because Democrats take it personally.

What? You're saying Democrats are humorless dorks whose entire lives are ruled by politics and spend most of their time throwing petulant hissy fits when they're criticized?

That doesn't sound like the Democrats I know!

[Irish]

Didn't mean this to be a reply to Coeus...whatever.

[Episiarch]

So Lorne is admitting he's a coward of a comedian? Glad he finally did.

[Irish]

He didn't say he doesn't make fun of Democrats, just that they take it more personally.

Which anyone who's ever spoken to a hardcore Democrat and seen the humorless self-loathing in his dead eyes would probably have already known.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

SNL has never given me the feeling it swung hard either way. Just like The Simpsons - though my uber-conservative uncle thinks that changed over the years.

[Irish]

The Simpsons lost its mind by the end of the Bush years and swung hard left. It's the Paul Krugman of cartoons.

[Root Boy]

Correct. Simpsons used to be equal opportunity/libertarian (which was strange since Groenig seems pretty lefty from his other comics).

It's now pretty left wing.

SNL is almost the same, they gave pretty good shots to Clinton, Gore and other Dems, but they can't be bothered these days to rip Obama (happened a few times, but I think they still rip on Bush even with him gone).

[Irish]

I don't think it's coincidental that the Simpsons happened to get way less funny when they stopped making fun of half the political spectrum.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah, you won't see Mr. Burns deride Jimmy Carter like he did with 'boot camps' in one episode.

[C. Anacreon]

"Jimmy Carter? He's history's greatest monster!"

/Simpsons episode "Marge in Chains", back when they made fun of both sides, not just GOP

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They're definitely missing the boat with Obama. His shtick writes itself.

Ferrell's Bush thing is stale.

[crazyfingers]

The vast majority of the good episodes were written by self-described libertarian John Swartzwelder

[playa manhattan]

Season 13 was the last good one, whenever that was.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

You spelled "Season 10" wrong.

[Warty]

What season had the shitty spoof of The Prisoner? That was when I realized it had become fucking terrible.

[playa manhattan]

IDK. I assume I stopped watching before that. The wake up call for me was the Catch Me if You Can episode. It was a slow, steady decline, and that episode took it right over the cliff.

[Ted S.]

Wouldn't "comedian" imply that he's actually funny?

[Anonymous Coward]

The political is the personal. To TEAM Blue, their politics is their personal identity. An attack on their politics is not merely an ideological disagreement, but an assault on their very existence.

[Mickey Rat]

Democrats are classic bullies. It is known.

[lap83]

They don't know how to not take things personally. Which is why it's rare to debate one without them resorting to insults. "I didn't vote for Obama because he's a product of the corrupt Chicago political machine" "Oh, so you're racist"

[PD Scott]

As a deep Southerner, I'm offended.

[MJGreen]

So liking another culture's traditions and adopting or emulating some of them means you "presume ownership" over them? I hate green-tea-swilling white ninjas as much as the next guy, but I don't think they claim "ownership" or originality.

[Thane ? the booty]

Latest "Who Writes Linux?" report is out:

In the latest "Linux Kernel Development" report produced by the Linux foundation, the vast majority of the contributions to kernel development -- more than 80 percent -- are "demonstrably done by developers who are being paid for their work." Translation: The work is being done by programmers contributing to Linux in the service of some corporate paymaster, be it Red Hat, Intel, Suse, Samsung, or Oracle.

The report, now in its fifth edition since 2008, not only tracks who the major contributors are and who they work for, but some of the major trends in the evolution of the kernel. This year's highlights include forward-looking features like the flash-optimized file system F2FS, better automated testing for finding kernel bugs, and growing contributions from the mobile industry.

In fact, it might well be mobile development, rather than server-side, that constitutes the most vital parts of Linux kernel development right now. Texas Instruments and Linaro, two major mobile developers, were the No. 3 and 4 corporate kernel contributors in 2013, respectively. Linaro, a not-for-profit firm co-founded by IBM, Samsung, ARM, and others, was responsible for patches that boosted Android's performance by anywhere from 30 to 100 percent depending on the benchmarks used.

[Warty]

Did you catch the communist idiot's article on Salon claiming Linux as a success of communism?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I kill people with Linux all the time.

[Thane ? the booty]

What the fuck? I don't know whether I want a link, or not.

[Pro Libertate]

Is it somehow connected to Torvalds being Finnish and the Finns fending off the Soviets? Which somehow led to Linux?

[Warty]

I believe the Winter War was over the GPL license, yes.

[Thane ? the booty]

over the GPL license

May all those who lost their lives RIP in piece.

[Corning]

Then why do games with snipers not work on Linux?

[hamilton]

I think Ballmer himself called Linux communist ages ago. And here is the good old pravda blog itself with an article in that regard.

[Corning]

GNU founder Richard Stallman is a communist.

Linux founder Linus Thorvalds isn't.

Most people don't know what the fuck GNU is so that should tell you something.

[db]

I would have thought that the NSA would have been.better represented in that group.

[Tonio]

Oh, noes, teh evul korporations. Linux just became totes uncool.

[db]

Of course anytime you buy a piece of.hardwarebwith firmware in it, the last 50% of the manual isnfull of printouts of GPL, LGPL, etc licenses for all the open source stuff included.

[Thane ? the booty]

I know you're being facetious, but in case anyone reading doesn't: it's been that way for a long time now.

[Root Boy]

Come on, what really matters is how many women programmers contributed

[Killaz]

Linux desktop is about 1.6% of the market, so, let's hear it for Salonista communism!

[db]

But it is embedded in 0ractically everything else.

[Killaz]

Two notes to take here because you disregarded my attempt to thwart the exact words you wrote occurring in text beneath my own.

1) Linux bumbled on for two decades as attempts were made to make desktop Linux mainstream and accessible, so wrote 'desktop Linux' to underline it.

2) I wasn't taking the claim of Linux being an example of either communism or the success of communism seriously indicated by the neologism 'Salonista' to modify communism.

[db]

S9rr6, I wasnt disagreeing with you. Linux would have been nothing more than a curiosity but for the embedded.market. and I say thisa s a devotee who started out with Slaxkware in 1993.

[Killaz]

I was probably too gruff there. I did spend a few minutes trying to figure out how to write the first entry without insulting anyone's intelligence, and still getting the point across, so when it failed, I took it too personal.

[Thane ? the booty]

Yeah, the desktop market share isn't really the interesting thing with Linux, even if a higher marketshare there might be desirable. Routers, servers, TVs, supercomputers, etc.

I was LMAO one time when I saw Tux on the bootup screen for one of those in-flight monitors on the back of the seats.

Also, Linux absolutely dominates the smartphone market if you count Android as "Linux" (some people don't since it has a radically different userspace than most other Linux-based systems).

[Killaz]

Having developed in both, I don't. Android is very Java centric. Linux development was pretty much throwing out all the C++ features of the gcc compiler and resorting to ANSI C basics or going completely mad.

[Killaz]

I understand it's improved a lot since the 90s and early 00s, but, damn was it just one compatibility problem after another.

[Thane ? the booty]

Yeah. Typically people conflate "Linux" with not just the kernel but the GNU userspace, X, etc.

Since "Linux" proper is the kernel, then Android is a Linux-based OS every bit as much as RHEL and Ubuntu are, but most people wouldn't call it that.

[Corning]

Your link is broken and you are talking abotu the desktop market not the server market which linux has a much bigger share of.

Also the top dog of the desktop is a 10 year old version of fucking Microsoft windows...

The desktop market is not exactly a place where one finds quality.

[MJGreen]

This makes me think of that Onion video a few years ago, "Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable.'" A bunch of paid people are making Linux more relevant and more usable. The bastards!

[Warty]

United pullback "works toward making Cleveland backwater," local economist says

Um...I have some news for you, guy...

[Pro Libertate]

No, no, it's still recognized. I mean, someone says "Cleveland," I know they mean that burning cesspool on Lake Erie.

[Warty]

In post-Ohio's dialect (chiefly consisting of grunts and clicks), "backwater" literally means a body of water that is maintained for the purpose of setting on fire. The more you know.

[Pro Libertate]

If only Devo were from there rather than from Akron.

[db]

Can you run over to Great Lakes Brewing and rough 5hem up for being such a bunch of.sustainable pussies. If their beer weren't so good, their pompous marketigng wouldbtotally turn me off.

[Warty]

They make a big deal over having straw insulation in the new part of their building. Cunts.

[Killaz]

It's how you flaunt your wealth in 2014. Look, our insulation, it's straw, hand woven by fair trade agreed upon Peruvian peasants.

[Pro Libertate]

We really need to all chip in and get you a new phone. Or maybe a tablet.

[Warty]

Would cutting off his thumbs help?

[db]

I.am typing todaybwith one thumb and a middle.finger due to damageon my right thumb.

[Pro Libertate]

Damageddon?

[Ted S.]

I for one find that trying to figure out what DB was trying to type is good mental exercise for my brain.

[Pro Libertate]

Could be Damageon--a portmanteau of "damage" and "dungeon."

[Rasilio]

Android or Apple?

If Android try Swype, you only need 1 finger for that

[db]

I hqve tried swyoe ahmmmd fohnd it wanting.

[Citizen Nothing]

One of those old folks' big button phones.

[db]

A Bootyphone?

[PD Scott]

They still have a world class orchestra, though, right?

[Pro Libertate]

And it's the original home of a two-time Super Bowl champion. No one can ever take that from them. And Belichick first coached there before they fired his ass and made him go hunting for work up and down the Northeastern Seaboard.

[Warty]

Don't forget the Rams. Theirs counts for a third.

[Episiarch]

People still live in Cleveland? I thought you had turned it into your own personal rape and death factory by now.

[Pro Libertate]

"Live" is technically correct, I suppose.

[Warty]

"Cleveland: Capable of Supporting Human Life!"

[Pro Libertate]

You left out the word, "technically."

[Auric Demonocles]

Is Warty technically human?

[Episiarch]

You mean "Ending Human Life", right?

[Pro Libertate]

"Supporting human life until its premature, unnatural death."

[Almanian!]

Yeah, they say people live in Cleveland. But everyone's in the suburbs. It was all done when I moved out back in 2012 - you'd go downtown just before the sun went down...and it was like an old western - air whistling, dust clouds blowing up - no people.

Hit I-90 and get the fuck back west to Avon before Warty's minions woke up to feed...

[Longtorso, Johnny]

United let the people of Cleveland down. Who will serve as pall bearers now?

[Citizen Nothing]

Ha ha. Means more flights for C'bus, I hope.

[Pro Libertate]

C'bus? Is "Colum" now like "cunt?"

[Warty]

Cuntbus is its original Indian name, yes. How did you know?

[Pro Libertate]

As you may recall, I did time in Columbus. Hard, cold, sunless, weak football time.

[Rasilio]

As did I, one thing I'll give it, they have great parks

[Pro Libertate]

I liked the little town/suburbs, like Dublin and Worthington. And that German deli is pretty good.

[Mickey Rat]

United having a hub in Cleveland does not make much sense given its major hubs in Chicago and Dulles. Consolidation sucks when you've been made irrelevant.

[Brett L]

Ugh. This is like the male version of the Jezzies.

We get it. You didn't like communal showering/bathing. Man the fuck up. Only a doctor would think some other doctor was ever going to treat him like an equal.

[Warty]

Someone has a tiny dick.

[Episiarch]

Or he finds himself looking too much and liking it, and for some reason thinks that's bad if that's what he likes.

Or both.

[Warty]

"Why are all you faggots getting naked and all the time giving me so many erections??"

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Or he's uncut.

I give it an even chance any of the three ways.

[hamilton]

Don't you start another circumcision thread now.

[Auric Demonocles]

Maybe he was aborted.

[Heroic Mulatto]

His name is "Richard Senelick". The only more Jewish name is "Jewie McHebrewstein"

[Pro Libertate]

That's Jewish? I thought Senelick was Greek for "lick the Moon."

[Heroic Mulatto]

I thought Senelick was Greek for "lick the Moon."

*applause*

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

I'm supposed to look at every idiot's byline now?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Not only that, but you have to also download his "presser".

[db]

Some people wouldn't know talent if.it.walked in and handed them headshots and decorative soapsin a gift bag.

[Almanian!]

not clicking on that - nope. not gonna do it.

[Brett L]

It was actually a bitch about how his doctor treats a fellow doctor like a regular person by making him disrobe and wait in his underwear. And a big pile of crazy leading up to that fairly non sequiter complaint.

[lap83]

I don't know about the men's, but I hated undressing in the women's locker room at the Y when I was a teenager because some deranged attachment-style mothers would bring their upwards of 10 years old sons in there.

[Virginian]

The gym I work at has mens, womens, boys, girls, and family changing rooms.

I still have to ask people not to bring their kids into the adults only rooms.

[Corning]

I haven't showered in view of another man for over 20 years...

Not exactly a hard thing to avoid.

[Coeus]

The bar keeps getting lower....

MONTGOMERY, Alabama --- Equality Alabama, which advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, has written an open letter to U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, accusing him of making homophobic remarks to a realtors group in Montgomery.

Heres what he said:

"You allegedly joked about how nice it was to be called 'Honey' and 'Sweetie' by a woman at an Alabama restaurant rather than a D.C. men's room," Cooper wrote. "And you went on to mock our nation's capitol as a 'cross between Detroit and San Francisco'

I've said similar about the lines for the toilet in Austin. Never considered it homophobic. Does having a preference for getting hit on by women mean homophobic now?

[Irish]

Making a joke out of it is pretty homophobic.

"Oh my God, that dude just called me 'sweetie!' Fucking queer! I'm totally into chicks, man."

[Coeus]

So when I say "I like Austin, but I hate getting my ass grabbed there. It's almost always by a guy while I'm in line to piss." I'm being homophobic?

[Anonymous Coward]

"You allegedly joked about how nice it was to be called 'Honey' and 'Sweetie' by a woman at an Alabama restaurant rather than a D.C. men's room,"

So if a man must be sexually harrassed, he shouldn't have a preference as to who is doing it?

"And you went on to mock our nation's capitol as a 'cross between Detroit and San Francisco'

A barely functioning cesspool ruled by overcredentialled white gentry?

Sounds like D.C.

[Root Boy]

Scary stat: Obama's approval rating in Capital City is 81%.

[Irish]

Alternate headline: Parasites approve of blood supply.

[Root Boy]

Alternate Alternate headline: DC begins to look like that City in Hunger Games

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

So if a man must be sexually harrassed, he shouldn't have a preference as to who is doing it?

It's only sexual harassment when a cis-gender white male starts talking to a woman without an explicit invitation to start a conversation by her.

[Matrix]

Speaking of ObamaCare. One of my co-workers was getting his family's medical stuff together for tax purposes. Well, apparently, he cannot access his wife or 15 year old daughters stuff anymore because of ObamaCare. They each have to start their own accounts with BCBS and access the information themselves so he can file tax deductions. Yup, he's responsible for their bills, but they have to log on so he can get their records for tax purposes. Did not have to last year.

Thanks, Mr. Obamination. You certainl do care about families, don't ya?

[Pro Libertate]

Bet that's some pro-abortion thingee.

[Episiarch]

I swear the Dems are ultra-fucked come November. They've never fucked with so many middle class people so directly and blatantly before, in a way that can be felt so keenly. It's a blunder of cosmic proportions, and is therefore cosmically hilarious.

[Pro Libertate]

I've never seen a political party want to be utterly destroyed like this before. Sure, the Republicans have craved punishment, but never on this scale.

[Irish]

It's going to be even worse if Obama doesn't illegally push back the employer mandate.

Imagine what happens if millions of people lose their work insurance in October...and elections are a month later.

It will be a massacre. Any Republican within 5 points of a Democrat competitor will win that election.

[Episiarch]

The only thing that would blunt this is pure sheep-like partisan following, which is admittedly an insanely powerful thing at this point, but man...fucking with people's health insurance when you promised them everything you did would improve it?

Obama, foremost genius of our time. At fucking up worse than anyone could possibly have imagined. He's an idiot savant without the "learned" part.

[Pro Libertate]

If "Democrat" were a brand of a private company, they'd be renaming themselves this year.

[Anonymous Coward]

Epi, you damned racist, don't you that Obamacare is only failing because the evil Republicans in Congress refuse to properly fund it in concert with their evil Republican allies in the state governments who refuse to implement it?

It's evil Republicans all the way down.

Oh, and KOCHTOPUS!!!

[Mad Scientist]

"All our good intentions would bring about peace and prosperity for all, if only someone else would implement them and pay for them!"

[Killaz]

fully rigged VR Skyrim

http://www.dorkly.com/embed/58.....incredible

[Pro Libertate]

I'm virtually puking already.

[Warty]

His gleeful nerdwaddle is a thing of hideous beauty.

[Killaz]

That too was my favorite part.

[DJF]

I don't think this was part of the US invasion plan

""""Iraq Signed Arms Deal with Iran::::

http://www.tasnimnews.com/Engl.....gle/271725

[Pro Libertate]

Wrong! Wrong, sir! That was part of our master strategy to bring peace to the region! Next up, a mutual nonaggression pact between Israel and the Palestinians against the U.S.

[Juice]

This is a great thing, IMO.

[Coeus]

Date Grape Koolaid. The newest front on the war on women.

[Irish]

Where have I seen this before?

[lap83]

Progs hate that because they know they can't help but drink the koolaid.

[Coeus]

Payday loans are bad, unless the Post Office does it.

Ahh, Proggies love the smell of TOP MEN in the morning.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Is it really that hard to open a free checking account at a bank or credit union?

[jesse.in.mb]

If you're the type of person who can't avoid over-drafting your account constantly, then yes.

There are interesting alternatives popping up where you sign you direct deposit your pay onto a pre-paid debit card. Hopefully better financial vehicles will help push payday lenders out of the way a bit.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

There is https://www.bluebird.com/

But, being Wal Mart is behind it, it is evil I am guessing.

[jesse.in.mb]

Yeah, that was the first one that came to mind. They've been advertising it pretty hard in my area. There's something else that's functionally similar that's being marketed at higher end consumers, but I can't remember what it's called.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I really need to avoid RS comments:

The republicans won't allow this. Because the banking would bring in more revenues for the government, while helping the poor. Take some profits from corrupt banks and/or their campaign donors.

Don't forget the real reason they hate the post office so much. The postal union their workers make good blue collar salaries. They want a privatized the post office. Where they can pay workers minimum wage. While charging six dollars for a letter that might get there.

[Irish]

They seriously don't give a fuck about poor people. This idea is idiotic. Can you imagine how corrupt government run payday loans would become?

[Episiarch]

Actually, I don't think I can. It's probably beyond anything we could conceive.

[Irish]

Think about how fucked college loans became. College loans serve a comparatively intelligent and well educated group of people.

So now you've got bureaucrats running payday loans that are overwhelmingly utilized by the poor and relatively uneducated. What could possibly go wrong?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

FTA:

Under the proposal, which has been discussed in public policy circles for years, USPS would form partnerships with banks

But Warren is not a shill for banks or anything.

[Irish]

Holy fuck. They're talking about turning the post office into a crony operation for multi-national banks to provide payday loans to poor people?

Man, thank God those progressives are fighting against corporate malfeasance so hard! Corporations might do scummy things if it weren't for them!

[Pro Libertate]

Perhaps the Post Office could deliver socialized healthcare, too.

[Irish]

I think our foreign policy should be run through the post office.

[Pro Libertate]

I think you've just stumbled upon a way for the federal government to do anything it wants, without limitation. "Yes, that would be legal through the federal government's Postal Power."

[Pro Libertate]

That's so delusional, I don't even know where to begin.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

What are you talking about? An organization that losses billions of dollars every year is the perfect place to go for financial matters.

[Anonymous Coward]

Take some profits from corrupt banks and/or their campaign donors.

Barack Obama received $20,431,321 in 2012 from various portions in the Securities, Insurance, and Real Estate sector.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

[Juice]

Those households spend about $2,412 a year on these fees ? or roughly the same amount they spend on food

I just don't understand how some people can be that stupid.

[Lady Bertrum]

Is this the Super Bowl thread?

[Killaz]

It wasn't that super, and it's questionable that it was even played in a bowl.

[Killaz]

Good win for the Seahawks, though. I couldn't keep watching it after the first two drives of the second half.

[Episiarch]

I could. I just wasn't worried in the slightest. I'll admit I was disappointed when the Broncos got their one touchdown; I mean, if you're going to have a blowout, let's have a historical one, shall we?

[Killaz]

It was like watching pygmies who forgot to bring their spears get stomped by an elephant. So, so brutal. And with John Fox as their coach and Peyton Manning getting intercepted, I was flashbacking to Delhomme getting stomped by Arizona in '09 all over again.

[Pro Libertate]

I like Fox, but it did run through my head last night that he's now lost twice in the big game.

[Killaz]

I love the guy, but he has been the source of a lot of heart ache for me.

[Pro Libertate]

He's a good coach, but I understand.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Detroit police chief says owning guns may help law-abiding citizens; liberals hardest hit.

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....-own-guns/

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The New Republic argues for extraditing Amanda Knox despite double-jeopardy objections. Their arguments don't make the point they think it does.

"As with all extradition debates, the issue of reciprocity looms large. As legal scholar Alan Dershowitz put it in an interview with AFP, "We're trying to get Snowden back?how does it look if we want Snowden back and we won't return someone for murder?"

"This is especially true in light of Italy's recent history of carrying America's water for issues considerably more controversial than common crimes. In July 2013, Italy was one of four NATO countries that closed their airspace to the Bolivian president's plane on the suspicion that Edward Snowden was using it to abscond from Russia. In 2003, the Italian Intelligence Service even allowed the CIA to abduct an Islamist cleric off the street in Milan and whisk him off to Egypt, the country he had sought asylum from in Italy. Once there, he was allegedly tortured and abused by the Mubarak regime. After this "extraordinary rendition" became public, an Italian court convicted 23 CIA operatives of kidnapping in absentia, but Italy has never formally sought their extradition due to U.S. government pressure. By comparison, returning a convicted murderer seems downright routine."

http://www.newrepublic.com/art.....nt=3686519

[Killaz]

Again double jeopardy. Even if she got away with murder, the harassment is beyond the bounds of what we should tolerate.

[Pro Libertate]

Besides, foreign relations have nothing to do with our domestic view of due process. We don't extradite people solely because we like the country that's making the request or because they did us a favor last week.

Another minor distinction is, that under U.S. law, we don't view Knox as a convicted murderer.

[Irish]

We also have an international treaty which Italy signed which says we won't extradite American citizens who have been acquitted even if they are later convicted for that same crime.

TNR is arguing we should ignore international law for basically no reason.

[Pro Libertate]

Fucking Dershowitz loses his mind when it comes to the WoT--torture, tossing centuries of due process tradition out the window--all okay, provided that we kick some Muslim ass.

[Mickey Rat]

That's not quite it. They are saying we should give up an individual citizen's legal rights for purposes of diplomatic expediency. That's horribly utilitarian.

[Irish]

By comparison, returning a convicted murderer seems downright routine.

Sorry, TNR. I don't think we should help the Italians prop up their hyper-corrupt "justice" system in which someone can be prosecuted continuously until the government gets the conviction.

Let's be honest: TNR just really wants double jeopardy restrictions to be done away with, don't they?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Let's be honest: TNR just really wants double jeopardy restrictions to be done away with, don't they?

And prohibitions on ex post facto laws, bills of attainder, and corruption of blood. Look at all those neat tools government once had that the plutocratic, slave-holding Founding Fathers got rid of to protect their ill-gotten wealth!

[Killaz]

Sycophants to the powerful and putting the little people in their proper place since WWI.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm....so the New Republic wants to sacrifice Amanda Knox on the altar of TERRAHRISM? If we don't give her to the Italians, they won't let us kidnap people and torture them? They won't give our CIA operatives free reign to abuse natural rights in Buona Italia?

I'm not seeing a problem.

[Killaz]

Who knows, maybe they will refuse to get involved in CIA schemes involving in yellow cake. That would put a dent in our war output for sure.

[Coeus]

Driving a car and bitching about fossil fuels is not hypocritical if you're a woman.

I have never known the issue of comfort and safety in public spaces to arise during conversations of environmental responsibility, and this is an oversight. Most women experience street harassment at some point in their lives and a very common response from harassed women is to limit their time in public (citation). This means that a non-trivial percent of the populace feels quite literally unable to stop using personal fossil fuel powered vehicles for all their transportation needs.

[CE]

So buy a Segway.

[Coeus]

Whiny skeptic bitchfest of epic proportions.

This paragraph is fascinating to me. Most people are understanding that you want more answers and that you will struggle with trying to be a good skeptic while also continuing to find appropriate ways to act when your questions are things like Greta's concerns. These questions are very clearly life and death, and people understand that you want the best possible answer to act in the best possible way when your life is in the balance.

What I don't understand is why people are not willing to extend some of the same sympathy when you feel the same sort of emotional gut-punch from abstract, philosophical questions. What I really don't understand is how people assume that things like philosophical questions can't have huge real world impacts for someone. real world impacts like?oh, say, just for a random example, whether or not you walk through your life with overwhelming depression every second of the day.

[Coeus]

cont..

There's a reason I become so upset when people tease about being a philosophy major, or imply that philosophy is just an academic circle-jerk. I went into philosophy not because I wanted to use big words or nitpick about semantics, but because it was a matter of my life quality. Trying to come to grips with real, deep questions is not an exercise: it is a process of self-acceptance. The abstract is very real to me. It hits closer to home than many literal discussions about real-world problems. Some people may not be able to relate to this, but I still deserve the basic respect that says my concerns are worthy of time and discussion.

I have a request for the entirety of the non-religious world: please stop telling me that the questions that drive my life are unimportant, or that it makes no difference if we just have to accept that we don't know. Not knowing about something that is upsetting or confusing to you is difficult and it sucks, and it's not easy to just create your own meaning. While this may not be on par with the possibility of cancer that Greta faces, it does play into my own serious illnesses (depression and an eating disorder). Saying that the questions are abstract tells me I'm making a big deal out of nothing, when in reality the meaning of my life is anything but abstract for me. This is gas-lighting on a movement wide level. Stop.

[Warty]

Maybe she should squat more.

[Mickey Rat]

"...please stop telling me that the questions that drive my life are unimportant..."

They may be important to you, but they are unimportant to most everyone else.

[Coeus]

A long thread where farkers deny reality and debate the meaning of "is"

Seriously, it's almost that bad.