A.M. Links: Hillary Clinton's Advice to Women in Politics, Federal Judge Strikes Down Virginia's Gay Marriage Ban, Ron Wyden Hints at Support for Rand Paul's NSA Lawsuit

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  CSPAN

  Hillary Clinton told college students that the most important tip she could offer women in public life was to grow thicker skin. What difference does it make?

• A federal judge struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, because it denies gay couples a fundamental freedom to marry. 
• Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) hinted in interview set to air today that he supports for Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) lawsuit against President Obama and the National Security Agency. Now that's bipartisanship.
• One in five people who signed up for health insurance under Obamacare failed to pay their premiums on time and therefore did not receive coverage in January. You can take a horse to water…
• The majority of Americans favor normalizing U.S. relations with Cuba, according to new polling data. What America needs now is a cigar.
• Two publications have sued Colorado in federal court over the state's restrictions on advertising recreational marijuana.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Two publications have sued Colorado in federal court over the state’s restrictions on advertising recreational marijuana.

Big Tobacco says good luck.

[UnCivilServant]

If they succeed, could that open the door for tobacco and alcohol to go back to normal adverts? (I know, big “IF”)

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Rich]

Happy V.D.

[UnCivilServant]

It’s not polite to comment on someone’s STDs.

[waffles]

You raise an interesting question. Which is the happiest venereal disease?

[Atanarjuat]

Pregnancy.

[Brett L]

Tertiary syphilis, I believe, inspires mania for a while before making you completely batshit insane.

[gaijin]

Tertiary syphilis, I believe, inspires mania for a while before making you completely batshit insane.

hmm. SO if Wendy Davis were to get it, I wonder what would happen?

[UnCivilServant]

Would we notice?

[R C Dean]

“If”?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Are you gay or something?

[Rich]

Oh, I’m something, all right!

[gaijin]

A little sumpin’ sumpin’?

[Rich]

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge! Say no more!

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Enjoy the herpes!

[UnCivilServant]

*sniffles* Canukistan has come to my door today and snowed me in.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Welcome to my world, sucker.

[Brett L]

45F and sunny. Going to 63F. Perfect day to sit outside my local and drink beer.

[The DerpRider]

Just brought back a six of Sculpin to enjoy this weekend. Traveling every other week for business has it’s advantages. I’ve been throwing 6-12 randoms in the suitcase to bring back and building up my stash. Friends love it. Instead of brewing my own, I trade now.

[Marshall Gill]

Supposed to reach 57 here today, 70’s this weekend!!

[Apatheist ?_??]

75 and sunny today for us. Hopefully this retarded winter has been broken. It’s not supposed to be cold in Houston in February.

[R C Dean]

51 and sunny, heading to 82 and sunnier.

[Fist of Etiquette]

One in five people who signed up for health insurance under Obamacare failed to pay their premiums on time and therefore did not receive coverage in January.

That’s not really the point of Obamacare, is it?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Deabeats gonna deadbeat.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

d

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

You sure graded your comment rather harshly!

[General Butt Naked]

I gave him a C-, but just because I didn’t wanna see his mug in commenting class again.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I get an ‘F’ for my spelling so far in this thread.

/puts L to forehead.

[a better weapon]

I initially read that as only 1 in 5 actually did pay.

The misreading is actually closer to what my own expectations were than the real number is.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I was hoping it was going to be another 47% situation.

[CatoTheElder]

That stat didn’t include the new Medicaid enrollees.

Also, you gotta remember that ObamaCare premiums are a really good deal for folks with serious health problems. They should be quite happy to pay their premiums.

[R C Dean]

That stat didn’t include the new Medicaid enrollees.

Nor should it. They aren’t getting insurance, after all, but welfare.

And, they are adding to the financial stress on the system. The point of the HIEs and the mandate was to bring new money into the system.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hillary Clinton told college students that the most important tip she could offer women in public life was to grow thicker skin.

And land a husband whose coat tails can be ridden to the top.

[waffles]

I want a woman with a short skirt and looooooooong coattails.

[gaijin]

+1 Cake

[tarran]

How will you meet?

[Fluffy]

During Watergate we will meet accidentally
We’ll start to talk when we impeach Nixon

[WTF]

Ah, the good old days when a president participating in a cover-up was actually considered an impeachable offense!

[UnCivilServant]

Hillary Clinton told college students that the most important tip she could offer women in public life was to grow thicker skin

FTFH

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Or get a juicer pussy.

I’m sorry. She walked into that one.

[Ted S.]

Or get a juicer pussy.

Use your pussy to turn oranges into orange juice? That’s a neat trick!

[Atanarjuat]

I hope some more snow falls on your satellite dish.

[Ted S.]

I presume you’re just pissed that I beat you to the punch. 😉

[Jordan]

No, it’s a vagina that shoots up steroids. Bro, do you even kegel?

[Ted S.]

I thought that was only for women.

I’ve got a pussycat, but he’s fat and too damn lazy to crush fruit for juice.

[Atanarjuat]

Google for yourself, but men can do kegels too. Supposedly one can delay orgasm when you become ‘powerful’ enough.

[Old Man With Candy]

Why in the world would I want to do THAT?

[AuH20]

ARCHER:I’m gonna assume you know the difference between an M-26 and a Mark Two fragmentation grenade, so
WHITEY: What?! L
ANA: What?
ARCHER: Oh sorry, do you not? Okay, the Mark Two has kinda nubbly ridges? Ya feel those? Different circumstances, might actually feel pretty good.
WHITEY: W-wait, son, now just wait a second
ARCHER: Another key difference is the pin.
WHITEY: Oh, Jaysus
ARCHER: See? The striking lever’s the same, though.
Spring-loaded.
Which reminds me: did you know that men can also benefit from doing Kegel exercises?

[gaijin]

Squeeze me baby, till the juice runs down my leg.
The way you squeeze my lemon, I’m gonna fall right out of bed.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Arggggh. Juicier.

[Pope Jimbo]

I think I’ll stick with the banana shows in Okinawa, thank you very much.

[Ted S.]

That’s gotta be racist.

[Atanarjuat]

Juicer pussy? Is that where you do enough kegels you can squeeze oranges with it?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Well, I’m glad my comment got some of you going even if it was misspelled.

I love to smell of (fill in blank) in the morning.

[UnCivilServant]

Raving pedantics?

[Rich]

Raving pedantics

Nice band name.

[Lord Humungus]

No wonder there are no libertarian women.

[Lord Humungus]

NZ Prime Minister John Key: ‘I’m not a reptile’

“To the best of my knowledge, no. Having been asked that question directly, I’ve taken the unusual step of not only seeing a doctor but a vet, and both have confirmed I’m not a reptile,” a smiling Mr Key said today.

“So I’m certainly not a reptile. I’ve never been in a spaceship, never been in outer space, and my tongue’s not overly long either.”

Last month, Auckland man Shane Warbrooke put in an OIA request to the prime minister’s office, asking for “any evidence to disprove the theory that Mr John Key is in fact a David Icke style shapeshifting reptilian alien ushering humanity towards enslavement”.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

LIZARD PEOPLE!!!!

[UnCivilServant]

I have to say, I like the response.

[Brett L]

American politicians probably could not pass the test.

[UnCivilServant]

That’s just because they’re Nazi Aliens, remember?

[Brett L]

Well, statists. Not sure if they are the specific flavor of Nazi. And probably share the same genotype as people, but being while being genetically H. Sapiens entitles you to certain inalienable rights, they are aliens, and thus alienable.

[UnCivilServant]

Umm… it was an article from a month or so back about how the US was run by a cabal of aliens who used to run Nazi germany but escaped at the end of the war. I know, continuity gags don’t always work.

[Brett L]

Oh yeah. I posted that at least once here. Right. They all met at Nelson Mandela’s funeral to pledge allegiance or something. I was just trying to riff off your comment.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I miss wakeup. You could always count on him to turn the conversation back to the Freemason Illuminati Zionist Lizard People and their plot to harvest our delicious semen through Project MONARCH.

[Brett L]

their plot to harvest our delicious semen through Project MONARCH.

I do not avoid lizard people, Mandrake, but I do… deny them my essence.

[Rich]

‘I’m not a reptile’

A *witch*, then?!

[Fist of Etiquette]

So I’m certainly not a reptile.

Exactly what a reptile would say.

[RightofCenter]

Auckland, Feb 18: Local conspiracy theorist Shane Warbrooke, infamous for asking PM John Key to prove he wasn’t a reptile, was found dead in his apartment last night. Authorities said the broken-in door, bound wrists, and gunshot wound to the back of the head have them convinced it was a suicide. “That poor, s-s-s-s-s-s-ick man,” Officer Lagarto slithered, just before licking his eyebrows. “We don’t know why he would take his-s-s-s own life that way.”

[bostonaod]

When asked, Rumsfeld was a little more.. equivocal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK8Y2nO_8TM

[Fist of Etiquette]

A federal judge struck down Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, because it denies gay couples a fundamental freedom to marry.

Because married is only married when the state blesses it. RIGHT, LIBERTARIANS?

[sarcasmic]

And here I thought individuals had rights, not couples.

Silly me.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Given that a marriage involves more than one person, I don’t think the wording is all that bad. “Because it denies each gay individual seeking to marry another gay individual his or her fundamental freedom to marry” is a bit prolix.

[SugarFree]

Married couples become one flesh, doofus. That’s just SCIENCE!

[robc]

Every translation I can find says “man and wife”. I dont know what gay men call their spouse, so maybe they can slide in, but lesbian couples are SOL.

[SugarFree]

Don’t argue with science, robc. Science likes to drink and when science drinks it can get real angry.

You found a spot yet? Because I’m thinking sinkhole. The world’s first underground brewbar that is really underground. And you’d save a ton on AC in the summer.

[robc]

Did you see the sinkhole tweet (I know you follow me)? Is it tacky to name a beer after a sinkhole?

I was thinking the label could have a stylized sinkhole with the front of a car sticking out the top.

FOUR sinkholes opened up in BG that morning. This town is trying to eat my alive.

And looks like I have found a place, landlord finally seems willing to rent to me (it was questionable for a bit). More details after its finalized.

[SugarFree]

I don’t think so. As long as no one died, a Sinkhole Porter or Imperial Stout would be all in good fun.

(I haven’t look at twitter in forever. I have twitfatigue.)

[robc]

Don’t argue with science

Im not. Science is pedantic about terms. Im agreeing with it.

[Cdr Lytton]

Every translation I can find says “man and wife”. I dont know what gay men call their spouse, so maybe they can slide in, but lesbian couples are SOL.

The ones around here won’t have any problem with meeting that threshold.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Correct! Gays can get married and two states tolerate weed smoking. Librettopia!

[Brett L]

Sooo… these “fundamental freedoms”. Is there a definitive list or are we stuck with a SWPL-style ever-shifting preference cascade of the current cool freedoms at the cocktail parties federal judges want to be invited to?

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

Its the SWPL one.

[Brett L]

Okay. Okay. That’s one way of doing it, but — bear with me hear — what if we established a simple principle for determining these things. Something like, oh, a simple set of inalienable rights descending from the concept that a person owns him(or her)self and so long as they don’t compromise these same rights in others, may do as they like.

And then we could adjudicate around the edges in particular cases where rights and claims are murky.

Just throwing that out there.

[Brett L]

Jesus Christ, Brett. bear with me hear? WTF?

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

bear with me hear

I just thought that was the command form of “bear with me”.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Y’all come back, hear?

[Heroic Mulatto]

LEAVE COCKTAIL PARTIES ALONE!

Pastry puffs and Scotch with Amaretto is fucking delicious. Furthermore, I look damn good in a smoking jacket.

[hamilton]

See my comment, below.

And darn you to heck for putting anything like amaretto in scotch (let alone pastry puffs, don’t they become all soggy?). My orphan militia is on its way over right now.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Amaretto in scotch is an IBA certified cocktail that I shall defend to the death. (Still, you wouldn’t use the good stuff, I grant you that.)

[hamilton]

Just because Marlon Brando likes it doesn’t make it right.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You know, my wife tried that line when I used a pat of butter as sexual lubricant. It was BS then and it’s BS now.

Marlon Brando (pbuh), like Muhammad (pbuh), is al-insan al-kamil, who should be emulated in every way possible.

[Brett L]

I have a purple velvet smoking jacket to swap with my tux jacket for less formal affairs. Unfortunately, I had so much fun last time I went out like that, that my tuxedo shirt was irreparably stained.

[Zeb]

2013ZSIR0903US
Hangzhou Airport

Sounds like a waste of perfectly good scotch.

[Zeb]

Woopsie.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You know, you should really do your SIGINT work in a different browser window.

[Zeb]

Yeah, probably. Or read what I cut and paste at least.

[Fist of Etiquette]

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am exactly as happy to see same-sex couples wed as I am to see anyone else wed. Which is to say, I don’t give a shit either way. More power to the lot of you. What I do care about is the advancement of the notion that we need a license from the state to do any and every damn thing.

Having said that, I congratulate anyone in that state who wants to get married and wish them well and hope they don’t use their newfound freedom to now sue fundy Christian business owners but instead move on to a different and probably better cake baker or whatever the fuck.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Having said that, I congratulate anyone in that state who wants to get married and wish them well and hope they don’t use their newfound freedom to now sue fundy Christian business owners but instead move on to a different and probably better cake baker or whatever the fuck.

The government gave them rights… Now it’s payback time.

[General Butt Naked]

*tears up Fist’s invite to my next cocktail party*

[hamilton]

invite to my next cocktail party

Fucking cosmotarian.

[mr simple]

how do you know they’ll be drinking cosmos?

[hamilton]

I wouldn’t put it part them to fall all the way down to Appletinis, but I was trying to be kind.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I’m gonna be so libertarian that I’ll alienate all of you eventually. Bwahahaha.

[anomdebus]

*sigh* just like PB </s

[mad libertarian guy]

What I do care about is the advancement of the notion that we need a license from the state to do any and every damn thing.

I always knew you were a racist, Fisty.

[Mickey Rat]

Arguing the federal government has no business dictating marriage policy to the states is just so pass

[Zeb]

I’m still trying to make up my mind on that. Obviously, I think gay marriage is something that should be legally recognized.

I’m leaning toward the federal involvement being a good thing. The 14th amendment does give federal courts authority over states when it comes to equal protection and to me gay marriage is such an issue.

[Zeb]

Unfortunately, in the world we live in, for many people state marriage is what matters. There are a number of legal advantages to being married. And if you are not religious or inclined toward pomp and ceremony, state marriage is the part that matters. I, for example, am only legally married so that I can get health insurance from work for my wife.

So, while I agree that the ideal situation would be for the state to have no part in it at all, that is not the case and is likely to happen sometime after roads are all privatized and heroin and methamphetamine are legalized for recreational use.

[R C Dean]

There are a number of legal advantages to being married.

The only aspects of marriage that can’t be duplicated contractually are the tax advantages/burdens imposed by the State. Like everything else, including healthcare now, marriage is basically a tax issue, and we are governed by the IRS.

[Zeb]

So why should one kind of married person be taxed differently from another? Obviously, the tax system is fucked, but unequal treatment of gay couples isn’t going to fix that.

Getting health insurance from my work couldn’t be duplicated contractually. And that is closely tied to the tax treatment.

And it is an equal protection issue. One class of married people is treated differently from another.

That’s enough gay marriage for me today. We all know what everyone thinks about it.

[Calidissident]

You can contractually get your foreign gay SO into the country legally without a marriage license?

[R C Dean]

Because married is only married when the state blesses it. RIGHT, LIBERTARIANS?

Nothing outside the State. RIGHT, COMRADES?

[Rich]

Snowstorm Keeps TSA Agents Home, Causes Security Line Chaos At Newark Airport

It was not immediately learned how many TSA agents failed to make it to work Thursday night.

Of *course* not. This is the *Obama* administration.

[UnCivilServant]

Shouldn’t this have improved efficiency? Or did they refuse to open the gate without the blue-shirted jackboot at attendance?

[tarran]

Or did they refuse to open the gate without the blue-shirted jackboot at attendance?

Survey says?!?

[Lord Humungus]

Kevin Williamson: A Deeper Naginism
The Nagin corruption scandal points to a deeper problem within our polity

There is no way to put a happy face on this fact: Critical American institutions are of shockingly low quality. Corruption is a part of that: At No. 19 on the Transparency International rankings, the United States is tied with Uruguay. Its transparency score of 73 is far behind where you want to be, among such category leaders as Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden, and Finland (91, 91, 89, and 89, respectively). We lag well behind our Canadian neighbors and such important international competitors as Germany. Our overall standing is not terrible, but it does not place us among global leaders, either. Moderation in the pursuit of honesty is no virtue.

… How would you proceed, knowing that not too long ago a mayor’s brother, by occupation a hotdog vendor, had been awarded a seven-figure contract for providing services at the airport ? a contract that also absolved him from any financial responsibility in his dealings? If you are a taxpayer in Atlanta being asked to consider spending more money on the city’s schools, surely the corruption of their managers must weigh on your decision.

[SIV]

The problem is that our institutions are not full of Canadian budgeters, Finnish school administrators, and Swiss train conductors. They are full of Ray Nagins.

That dog whistle is deafening.

[WTF]

There’s probably a joke in there about Swiss chocolate/chocolate city, but I’m not coming up with it.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

Where the police use batons kirsch.

[Lord Humungus]

A man called the Oakland Sheriff’s Office, in Detroit, Michigan to complain crack costs too much and his dealer keeps raising prices.

[Rich]

Was his name Jimmy McMillan, by any chance?

[gaijin]

Hillary Clinton told college students that the most important tip she could offer women in public life was to grow thicker skin

I could see this line being used by anyone running against her whenever her advocates try to pull some ‘haters on Hillary’ nonsense. Along with the oft-repeated ‘what difference’ line, she’s going to have a harder time playing the same games as President ‘Who Am I’. I think.

[SugarFree]

Hillary Clinton told college students that the most important tip she could offer women in public life was to grow thicker skin.

She’s actually telling them to develop scleroderma.

[UnCivilServant]

But then how are they going to find coattails?

[SugarFree]

She grows those as well. At one point they were her shoulder blades.

[gaijin]

At one point they were her shoulder blades.

Or a sagging ass.

[SugarFree]

Those are now her ankles.

[CampingInYourPark]

A lot of people are getting subsidies — as expected. About 80 percent of the folks who bought policies on the exchange so far were eligible for subsidies.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/…..=yhoo.view

Free market solushuns!

[robc]

80% were eligible for subsidies. 20% havent paid.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

[anomdebus]

So, 4 out of 5 got subsidized(or free) stuff and 1 out of 5 didn’t pay…
Nah, there probably isn’t any connection there </s

[anomdebus]

In my defense, I wasn’t paying attention (ie opened 1.5 hours ago and finally finished reading through those comments)
I blame reasonable for giving me a reason to read all posts before commenting..

[Mike M.]

49 out of 50 states have snow cover.

I guess back when the idiot watermelons said that our children would never see snow again, they really meant the children of Florida.

[Atanarjuat]

Actually I think it snowed in NW FL a few weeks back. It definitely sleeted for a full day here in Tally.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Who are idiot watermelons?

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

“Green on the outside, red on the inside”

[Jordan]

Curse you!

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

Muhuhuwha!

[Jordan]

Environmentalists. Green on the outside, red (commies) on the inside.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ha!

[Brett L]

Start Here, and don’t forget The Goreacle

[Lord Humungus]

Relentless jail-cell farting leads to assault, racial slur

Adan said for the past three days, Lowseth had been pushing Adan’s buttons by coming into his cell and farting, then leaving.

He confronted Lowseth about the repeated farting, asking him if Adan had a personal problem with him or with his skin color.

That was when Lowseth swore at him and called him by a racial slur, Adan said. He thought Lowseth was about to “sock” him, so he got to him first, he told the detective.

that prison food will get to you every time.

[CampingInYourPark]

First thing I think of when somebody farts in my general direction is: Is it because I’m white?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Jonathan Turley: The left’s indifference to Obama’s executive power grabs is beginning to border on a cult of personality

[Mike M.]

They would never admit it, but most of his worshippers would be thrilled if he proclaimed himself dictator for life.

[Jerry on the boat]

Beginning?

[Brett L]

The smart ones are starting to figure out that they need to develop some credibility for when the Republicans take over.

[Jerry on the boat]

I imagine Hillary to start pushing back against the Obama clan pretty soon.

[mad libertarian guy]

The left’s indifference to Obama’s executive power grabs is beginning to border on a cult of personality

Beginning? I’d say we passed that mark quite some time ago.

[R C Dean]

Sometime in the spring or summer of ’08, would be my guess.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I may be wrong but I did not observe such blind commitment under Bush as seems to be the case under Obama.

[Brett L]

Oh, you mean like how they totally backed him on his Social Security reform in 2005 even though it cost them Congress in 2006? Because that didn’t happen.

[a better weapon]

I recall quite a bit, actually. The war boners are still war boning to this day about Iraq and defending it. As for the ‘fiscally responsible’ part of the GOP tent, they didn’t make a peep until the bailouts.

I’d say it’s pretty similar.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ok. The war was indeed fully backed. Hanson wrote multiple articles comparing the left’s hatred for it to ancient history.

But still, it didn’t feel like there was a cultish angle to it.

I could be wrong.

[a better weapon]

True. Not cultish, but there was definitely some above average TEAMing going on.

[mad libertarian guy]

The only cultish aspect about Bush was the opposition to him. They are all about principals, it’ just a matter of whether they will denigrate or elevate him.

[SugarFree]

It think the war boner for Iraq transcended mere Bush worship. Many of them are still slobbering over it under Obama.

[Roger the Shrubber]

I recall interparty disagreement on a SC nomination and some proposed port security contraction deal, among some others.

[Dead or In Jail]

I’m always surprised when I see something sensible from Jonathan Turley and then I remember he’s not Jeffrey Toobin and it all makes sense.

[mr simple]

It fits perfectly.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Report: Cuomo aide broke gun law for months, was predictably given waiver

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Rats.

Not as in ‘I missed’ but as in ‘what a bunch of fucking hypocritical douches.’

[Lord Humungus]

Gold Extends Rally Above $1,300 as Investors Boost Metal Holding

Gold headed for the biggest weekly advance since August as U.S. economic data that trailed estimates increased haven demand, with holdings in the biggest exchange-traded product expanding to an almost two-month high. Silver was set for the longest rally since March 2008.

While the prospect of a reduction in asset purchases by the Federal Reserve helped spur a 28 percent slump in gold in 2013, the cuts to stimulus that began in January hurt emerging-market stocks and currencies and increased gold’s appeal as a haven.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

Thank God I listened to one of our resident trolls and shorted gold!!!1!1!!

[UnCivilServant]

That can’t have been too hard, one of the few things it’s good for is its electrical conductance.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

+1 ohm

[Lord Humungus]

Ohmmmmmmmm /Tibetan monk

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

Tibetan monks conduct electricity?!!!

[Lord Humungus]

we all do.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Don’t we all?

[UnCivilServant]

Well yes, being made of meat, they have an electrolyte mix which allows for conductivity. They’re not great at it, but they can.

[Lord Humungus]

nothing like a 425V shock to wake you up… I’ve been there working on tube electronics.

Knew someone who got a full 1000VDC from an old Western Electric amplifier from the 1930s. He was lucky to live and tell the tale.

[UnCivilServant]

+1 Old Sparky

[mad libertarian guy]

What have you been listening to of late. You mentioned Agalloch recently. Have you heard the new Alcest? Not metal at all, but exceedingly beautiful.

The newest (live) Anathema album is superb on vinyl, and they’re getting ready to release Hindsight on vinyl, which should be magnificent.

[Lord Humungus]

I’ve been meaning to buy the newest Alcest – haven’t seen it on vinyl yet.

I just bought a copy of These Immortal Souls – Marry Me (Birthday Party guitarist splinter group). I used to own a copy of this before my apartment fire of ’91. Prices have been going up and up on vinyl, especially the rarer indie stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKw5dRktWys

I’ve also been buying everything I can get my hands on from the Wild Swans – a lesser known Liverpool group from the Echo & The Bunnymen era. They have a newer (2011) album out that actually exceeds their 80s quality.

This is a beautiful song they do about WWI and II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP3yZ2K8A7c

[mad libertarian guy]

I tend to be ridiculous and pre-order much of my new music. So much of the stuff I listen to only prints a small number of copies (particularly on vinyl) that if I don’t get in early, I generally either miss out or have to pay an arm and a leg. I had preordered the new Alcest (some special edition) months before release.

[Lord Humungus]

considering the limited qtys, that’s the way to roll.

[neoteny]

Once I’ve got 220V DC between a thumb and an index finger (on the same hand). It was a shocking experience.

[neoteny]

AC, not DC.

[Mike M.]

Hard to say when Weigel is more absurdly ludicrous, when he pretends that he had a 30 year career in finance, or when he pretends that he developed database software for Oracle.

[Brett L]

Have you used Oracle? I can totally believe it. They wrecked the SQL language.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The majority of Americans favor normalizing U.S. relations with Cuba…

We just want their well preserved Chevy Bel Airs.

[UnCivilServant]

It would inject much needed cash into their economy without the ruinous side effects from the typical methods of doing so.

[gaijin]

It might also improve Major League Baseball’s talent pool.

[mad libertarian guy]

Maybe slightly. Though they have some talented players, there probably aren’t more than 4 or 5 guys on the island who could make it in the bigs.

[Swiss Servator, Befehl!]

Eh…if the Dominican can produce players, I imagine Cuba can too. Hopefully we will find out soon enough.

[KDN]

Cuba is slightly larger than the Dominican, just as poor, probably crazier about beisbol (it’s one of the few things you’re allowed to assemble to discuss, with a state license of course), and is competitive in international play (small sample size alert) despite having no access to all the guys that jumped to the US. If allowed to move freely to MLB without being stuck under the draft system or having all of their money confiscated by the Castros, they’d likely have a similar impact.

Also if we normalize relations we can move the Marlins there so they might actually sell out a game once in a while, which is nice.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

The Doyers just signed this guy. It’s gonna’ be a good season.

[kevrob]

LA (NL) should officially become Los Doyers and stop using Brooklyn’s nicknames. LA (NBA1) should let go of “Lakers,” a relic of Minnesota. Just what lakes are they referring to, the La Brea tar pits?

Did Hollywood even have any trolleys to dodge in `58?

Kevin R

(Let’s Go, Mets!)

[Don Mynack]

Will the Cubans still be subject to their maximum wage of $200/month? I don’t see their ludicrous government changing either way.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Stop permanent funding of SB-1 and Plan Bay Area
…2. It allows government taking by eminent domain for “sustainable development” by newly authorized “sustainable community investment areas”.

3.It gives government authority to declare our suburbs as blight to take our property.

4.Sustainable development is a radical land use plan that seeks to change our current suburban, rural and urban land uses to urban, open space/agriculture and habitat….

[mad libertarian guy]

It’s only been 7 years and an untold number of lost tourism dollars, but we’re gonna have to continue keeping that nice lake of yours artificially low because we need to do an Environmental Impact Survey to study some fish smaller than a minnow.

Boaters may have to wait another year before Lake Cumberland is refilled to its level before an emergency draw-down seven years ago ? and even then, the water level may not be exactly as it was.

[. . .]

“I’m not happy with it,” said Dennis Smith, general manager of Burnside Resort & Marina on Lake Cumberland. “We are having to change our whole business plan ? what we can do, what we can’t do.”

While there has been plenty of water for recreation, aesthetically, getting back to a full pool is important for lake communities that rely on visitors and tourism.

“It makes a big difference whether you have water surrounding you vs. dried banks,” Smith said.

[a better weapon]

Rock climber, Alex Honnold, pulled off what may be the hardest free-solo of all time. The route he chose to climb ropeless is the 2,500-foot El Sendero Luminoso (5.12d) in El Potrero Chico, Mexico.

There are guys who have balls… and then there are guys who have action-movie-character sized balls.

[Rich]

At least they’ll die doing something they love.

[Marc F Cheney]

Falling?

I don’t think they love falling.

[waffles]

Other than the incredible climbing all the time it’s amazing how normal and down to earth this guy is. He’s just passionate, in the purest way.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I had no problem bypassing stop-and-go traffic by taking my motorcycle onto the shoulder at 140mph+, but I’d be a bit hesitant to do that kind of thing.

[mad libertarian guy]

Not only are those balls massive, they’ve made of unobtanium.

[Lord Humungus]

Whatever…

The Whatever President

What makes the president’s cavalier treatment of the legislature’s handiwork in this instance so remarkable is that Congress did his bidding. It passed the law he desperately wanted. Yet he still treats it as a series of suggestions and little more.

President Obama’s hero Abraham Lincoln had a famously worshipful view of the rule of law. “Let reverence for the laws,” he said in his Lyceum Address, “be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap?let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.”

President Obama’s implicit rejoinder: “Whatever.”

[gaijin]

INdeed!

“I taught constitutional law for ten years. I take the Constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that were facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all, and that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m President of the United States of America.”

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I always saw him as the ‘I didn’t do it’ President myself.

[Juice]

TBH, Obama didn’t want Obamacare. He campaigned against that sort of plan while running for president.

[Rich]

German police said a nightclub was evacuated when a woman doused herself with pepper spray that she mistook for spray-on deodorant.

I’ll bet she was doing a mean Chicken Dance.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama’s clever campaign to constrict the flow of criticism

Reporters Without Borders released its annual World Press Freedom Index the other day. Much of it was predictable. Few would be surprised that China, Syria and North Korea inhabit the bottom rungs of press freedom.

What was shocking to those of us who favor a strong, independent — and, yes, imperfect — media as a constitutional check on government’s power was the ranking of the United States, the world’s largest economy and most enduring democracy.

The U.S. during the fifth year of Obama’s reign plummeted 13 spots to 46th in the world, right between — are you ready? — Rumania and Haiti. The group based that embarrassing ranking largely on the Obama administration’s unusually determined efforts to curb dissent and plug and track down leaks. (For the five countries deemed most free, scroll to the bottom.**)

[CampingInYourPark]

Obama’s reign

[Rufus J. Firefly]

From comments: “Add to this mess how the government wants every business that wants to enjoy the year delay in the Obamacare employer mandate to sign a paper testifying that any reduction in their work force was not due to Obamacare.”

Really? Obama really is a piece of work if accurate.

[CampingInYourPark]

The Obama administration will give medium-sized businesses another year’s pass on providing insurance coverage to workers. Treasury estimates that about 2 percent of American businesses fall into this category, but does not have numbers on how many people work for businesses of this size. For these companies, the employer mandate does not take effect until 2016.

Employers who want to take advantage of this particular exemption will need to certify with the federal government that they are not cutting back on positions just to fall below the threshold. “It’s simply so they don’t game the system,” one senior administration official told reporters on a phone call this afternoon. “They have to certify they’re not doing that and not dropping their coverage.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/…..-employees

[a better weapon]

Yep, under threat of perjury.

[SweatingGin]

You know what would really make the press more free in the US? Nationalize it.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

+1 Salon.

[PRX]

I’m big boned thick skinned

[Rich]

A little something just for SugarFree

I’m warning you others — do not click.

[UnCivilServant]

The headling alone in the URL makes me not want to go there.

[Rich]

I’m warning you others — do not hover.

[Lord Humungus]

And the son of Warty was born. So sayeth the chronicler.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

What the heck does a 44 year-old fetus look like?

Hans?

And why do these things always seem to happen in Lithuania or Estonia or Brazil or Moravia or whatever?

[SugarFree]

It often fossilizes into a little calcium statute.

And places with modern medicine will confirm a miscarriage with an ultrasound. She would have had a D&C to remove the tissue.

[Tonio]

Why yes, many laws are indeed calcified.

Now, about that statuary…

[SugarFree]

Jerk.

[mad libertarian guy]

What the heck does a 44 year-old fetus look like?

Shreek.

[CatoTheElder]

You can take a horse to water…

but you can’t make him pay for it?

[Ken Shultz]

With an individual mandate!

See? Obama’s thought of everything.

[UnCivilServant]

But then you’d have to give the horse water subsidies because he doesn’t have any money or income.

Who’s going to pay for that?

[Ken Shultz]

Healthcare is a fundamental right!

Stop putting profits ahead of people!

Racist!

[Roger the Shrubber]

but it will die of thirst with its head up its ass.

[Ken Shultz]

“One in five people who signed up for health insurance under Obamacare failed to pay their premiums on time and therefore did not receive coverage in January. You can take a horse to water…”

But I’m still covered, though, right? I mean, just becasue I don’t pay my premiums doesn’t mean I’m not covered, does it?

Wha?!

Damn corporations! They’re putting profits ahead of people! Obama should reign them all in. Healthcare is a fundamental right!

[Brett L]

You know, I read that article and 80% was the best result. Everyone else said 70-75%.

[Ken Shultz]

Meanwhile, the president of Aetna is wondering [out loud]…

“Are they going to be double-digit [increases] or are we going to get beat up because they’re double-digit or are we just going to have to pull out of the program?” Bertolini asked in a “Squawk Box” interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Those questions can’t be answered until we see the population we have today….

He said that so far, Obamacare has just shifted people who were insured in the individual market to the public exchanges where they could get a better deal on a subsidy for coverage. “We see only 11 percent of the population is actually people that were firmly uninsured that are now insured. So [it] didn’t really eat into the uninsured population.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101354183

[Snark Plissken]

Catasaurus Rex: Meet Pickles, the three-foot rescue cat weighing 21 pounds who doesn’t realise his own size

Warty want.

[SugarFree]

Aw. My 2nd Maine Coon was 20 lbs with no fat and about that size. Pickles is adorable.

[Warty]

Obviously. He’s a handsome man.

[Clich? Bandit]

you should get a savannah cat. They get big, and like dogs they will eat intruders.

[Warty]

Some acquaintances of mine had one. He was huge, expensive, really friendly, had huge murderdagger claws, and then he died of kitty cancer.

[Clich? Bandit]

i now haz sad face

[Lord Humungus]

The female owner is cute.

I have a Norgie half-breed. She “looks” huge but it’s all fluff.

[Brett L]

I would like a kitty that big. The important thing is not to let them curl up on your chest when they are little fluffball kittens, because even a 12lb cat stresses your diaphragm.

[110 Lean]

stresses your diaphragm.

And here I thought Brett was a guy’s name.

[Brett L]

My cat tried to asphyxiate me through putting all his weight in one condensed paw directly on my solar plexus. It was like kung fu how he could unerringly find that nerve bundle and put all his weight on it.

[Citizen Nothing]

I mean, that would take years to learn that, wouldn’t it?

[SugarFree]

On this Valentine’s Day, I’d like to extend maximum love to the lovely ladies of Hit & Run.

You are the spicy mustard that makes this sausagefest tolerable.

[tarran]

Do you lick the mustard off the sausages? Or just bite into them and swallow them.

[SugarFree]

I’m sorry if real emotions frighten and confuse you.

[sarcasmic]

Since when did libertarians have emotions?

[SugarFree]

I outsourced them to India.

[sarcasmic]

That explains why you comment smelled like curry.

[UnCivilServant]

So you’re robots, the undead and the occassional high-functioning autistic? That explains so much.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It’s a lie. We experience the deep passions of lust, greed, pride, and wrath.

[sarcasmic]

What do you mean occasional?

[sarcasmic]

Masticate!

[mad libertarian guy]

You know you like sausage sans condiments, Truvia.

[Rich]

Hear, hear!

[Fist of Etiquette]

I certainly hope you’re including the dudes pretending to be chicks. Otherwise this message is for no one.

[SugarFree]

Citizen Nothing said it was a kilt! A kilt!

[Heroic Mulatto]

As the biological father of 83.15% of the Hit ‘n Run infants posting here (Irish, nicole, et al.), Daddy would like to remind you of something.

[gaijin]

That’s nuts!

[Lord Humungus]

This morning I gave the wife darj chocolate covered toffee. There was no mention of mustard.

[Lord Humungus]

*dark

[Heroic Mulatto]

dark chocolate covered toffee

You know, you should refer to your Afro-Cuban poolboy in more dignified terms.

[Lord Humungus]

it’s a fair cop

[Heroic Mulatto]

THE FUCKING FUCK?!?!?!?!?!!?

[Citizen Nothing]

Run, Joe, Run!

[John]

Just imagine a Democratic Primary debate of Fauxcohontus, Hillary, Crazy Joe and some retarded Blue state governor to be named later. Talk about a circus act.

[UnCivilServant]

Cuomo’s ego won’t let him not run, he’s the retard you’re looking for.

[creech]

Wouldn’t a Biden/Warren ticket be just about the most fun ever?

[John]

It would be, especially when you consider the epic butt hurt on the part of Hillary lovers that would cause.

[Citizen Nothing]

Hillary goes third party with John Bolton.

[Bill Dalasio]

Well, fun if you ignore the possibility that could end tragically.

[Fluffy]

You forgot Sharpton.

How can you forget Sharpton?

[Jerry on the boat]

And Kuchinich…

[John]

Yeah. There has to be a race hustler to take up the mantle of Obama. Please God let it be Sharpton.

[AuH20]

NCAA may try to eliminate the no-huddle

Nick Saban Barbie says: “Defending the no-huddle is hard!”

[John]

Funny how the year after an SEC team gets their asses handed to them in the title game by such an offense and after two years of Missouri and A&M terrorizing most of the league with it, the old SEC powers want the rules changed.

I don’t seem to recall anyone complaining when Steve Spurier was running it at Florida.

[Mickey Rat]

AS stated below Auburn runs a variation of no huddle. If you are arguing that this is coming because the “wrong” SEC team won the conference and was in the national championship, you may have something.

[John]

I think it is totally LSU, Alabama and Georgia having their asses handed to them by the teams you mention.

[UnCivilServant]

I read that as “Nick Satan Barbie says…” I don’t know what’s up with me.

[Brett L]

Because Baylor, Oregon, and WVU were the top 3 in the BCS, right? Oh wait, nope. They got beat by teams who could play defense and control the clock. Same as the pros. If your team can’t do those two things, you’ll never win all your games, or even all the games that matter.

[John]

The other thing is what makes college football entertaining and gives it an advantage over the NFL is the variety of offenses and styles of play. Get rid of that and it really is minor league football with inferior athletes.

[Don Mynack]

Auburn runs the no-huddle, they just run more than pass, much like Oregon

The objective is to get more offensive plays, because it increases a team’s chances of scoring.

BTW – Auburn lost because they gave up a kick return, not because Florida State controlled the clock.

[PRX]

yeah, no huddle doesn’t work because Baylor didn’t win the BCS.

[Brett L]

Jim Kelly and the Bills. Oregon getting beat by Stanford. Pick. No huddle is not a panacea for not playing defense and dictating the clock.

[PRX]

the fact that you even mentioned Baylor tells me no huddle does work. little Baylor and the BCS were never in the same sentence before Briles. Baylor was a doormat. I guess Bama losing twice in the last 2 years to teams like this means nothing.

[Brett L]

Take a breath. The point is not whether the no-huddle is a viable offense. The point is that there’s no reason to ban it because it doesn’t give an unfair advantage. It can be a winning system, but it doesn’t guarantee dominance. I think everyone has some form of up-tempo/no-huddle package now. It is useful. Especially teams like Baylor and Auburn who haven’t had time to recruit the skill players for the system they want. Running lots of plays, fast, from similar sets gives you a chance to make execution, rather than raw talent, the dominant factor. Its not bad, just not magic.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Oregon, Baylor, and the like don’t even run things as fast as they potentially could if their playbooks were a bit less complex. I remember reading some guy talking about when he coached high school, he’d run a system that tried to snap the ball 2 seconds after the ref placed it on the line of scrimmage. They never bothered to do conditioning drills because the kids would build their cardio during practice with all the running around.

They enabled this by having a four-number playcalling system–two of them determined the play, and the other two were dummies so the opposing team couldn’t crack the code. They’d put half the call on a whiteboard during the play, and the other half after the whistle, and just flash the whiteboard on the field. They never even had to say anything because the playcall was in big, bold numbers.

[Cdr Lytton]

Mark Helfrich can’t pull off no huddle like Chip Kelly did. Oregon lost steam this season as Kelly’s legacy wore off.

[John]

http://freebeacon.com/the-golden-egg/

The Washington Free Beacon does some massive gloating over the MSM regarding its Hillary Papers story. Note also the contrast between the fact checking they did, which included uploading all of the documents onto the web, with Dana Milbank running a story on the Ron Paul lawsuit based on the unverified emails of an angry ex-wife. Never forget the legitimate media is needed because of its rigorous standards.

[John]

http://www.breitbart.com/Insta…..rying-Down

Educated women marrying less educated men more often. But the lead in the story is buried. Their husband’s still make more money on average. Every time I read on of these feminist “men are obsolete” articles I want to scream “are you aware of the higher ed bubble?” Women, since they go to college at a higher rate and concentrate themselves into the kind of soft degrees that no longer pay for themselves in earnings, are going to get killed when the bubble bursts and no doubt are suffering more than men due to the cost and lessening value of higher ed. Why doesn’t anyone ever seem to notice this?

[UnCivilServant]

Because that requires admitting that their won “studies” degrees have no value. Which means their life work has no value, as they are defined by this tirade.

[John]

And when someone finally wakes up and realizes that student loan debt has a “disproportionate effect” on women, it will totally be men’s fault and men will be expected to be punished for it.

[WTF]

Hence the “student loans should be forgiven” movement.

[CatoTheElder]

The Feminist Mystique
It has become simply “I Want!” in the mouths of a minority of women, but the right kind of women.

http://www.nationalreview.com/…..williamson

[mad libertarian guy]

Because that requires admitting that their won “studies” degrees have no value. Which means their life work has no value, as they are defined by this tirade.

The incessance on the part of those on the left to identify themselves by what they do for a paycheck is insanely annoying.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Not that you’re incorrect, but the bubble isn’t going to burst in the near future. There are millions of Chinese and Gulf State students who are willing to pay cash-in-hand for an American degree. As Sowell pointed out a few years ago, 50 percent of degrees in STEM fields are going to international students. He bemoaned the fact that while, compared to most of the world, our university system ranks pretty high (hmm..could it because that its the only sector of American education that one can exercise choice?) however, its becoming increasingly for the benefit for non-Americans.

Not to mention that institutions like the Confucius Institute or the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission are going to universities across the nation with suitcases full of money. They couldn’t get away with “buying” Harvard or Yale, but they sure as hell can rent them!

[John]

The problem is that the number of students who are full pays and actually have the skills, including the English skills, to be top students is smaller than you think.

A lot of expensive private schools have been making a living on foreign full pays for years now. But most of them are lying about the quality of their student body and basically taking anyone with a check book. You can do that and it does pay the bills. But it is eventually going to hurt the overall quality of your student body.

Moreoever, it is a short term fix. Those Chinese can figure out that there are better ways and cheaper ways to learn than shelling out 50K a year for four years just like Americans can. The whole model is going to have to change.

Beyond that, to the extent it doesn’t change, it will only be in a few highly technical and marketable fields. Even the rich Chinese or Saudis are not going to come here to pay top money for a sociology degree. People are in large part just going to stop doing that.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The problem is that the number of students who are full pays and actually have the skills, including the English skills, to be top students is smaller than you think.

A lot of expensive private schools have been making a living on foreign full pays for years now. But most of them are lying about the quality of their student body and basically taking anyone with a check book. You can do that and it does pay the bills. But it is eventually going to hurt the overall quality of your student body.

Oh, I’m well aware of that, considering it’s part of my job to ensure they get those English skills.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Those Chinese can figure out that there are better ways and cheaper ways to learn than shelling out 50K a year for four years just like Americans can.

The Chinese are worse off then we are, the they have 2,000 years of cultural inertia to overcome before they’ll come to that realization. They just don’t share the pragmatic viewpoint on education that you and I do. At least they are honest that it’s 100 percent about status, and they only way to get that status is to show off that you spend a lot of money.

Even the rich Chinese or Saudis are not going to come here to pay top money for a sociology degree.

In my experience, most of them are going for the ritual MBA. However, there are not a small number looking for degrees to work in their governments’ bureaucracy; Education, Poli Sci, and yes, Sociology. It’s not surprising that socialists would study sociology, no?

[John]

So you are telling me that the future of higher education is getting stupid Chinese full pays to subsidize the education of Americans who are smart enough not to pay? Have a pool of dumb Chinese full pays that allows you to let the Americans to go to school for free?

That is actually not a bad idea.

[Heroic Mulatto]

If presentations to the faculty senate are to be believed, yes.

Though the Chinese are not entirely stupid in this. The massive swelling of the Chinese middle class has overwhelmed Chinese universities. They just don’t have the capacity to accept everyone who qualifies. This pissed off the newly wealthy until both the government realized they could send their kids to America on the cheap (i.e. they don’t have to hire more state-salaried professors) plus they get the glamor (Postrelian glamour?) of a Western degree. Thus, the Chinese are willing to pay us to be a social pressure valve. In addition, the new Chinese middle-class are happy that they don’t have to stress out studying for the state university entrance exams (unless they want to) as they can, in their minds, get a better deal just by paying to sending their kid to a 2nd-tier American university.

[Lady Bertrum]

It’s important to look at the value of the degrees, though. Getting a BA in communications at no-name school offers little guarantee of a decent job with possibly quite a lot of debt.

I wonder if community and technical colleges aren’t where many of these students belong. Kids in my area are graduating from CC specializing in fields like medical technology (radiography etc.) and getting good jobs right away. A friend who teaches design at our local CC was bitching about funding going toward the nursing and tech fields. If you’re a working class or poor kid it makes way more sense to get a specific job skill with a reasonable guarantee of employment and minimal student loan debt. They can always further their credentials or complete a BA/BS on-line or part-time while working.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Getting a BA in communications at no-name school offers little guarantee of a decent job

Are you talking about American students or the international students?

I wonder if community and technical colleges aren’t where many of these students belong.

That is exactly where most of them belong, but class snobbery gots to snob. Just like you’d think the majority of those CC faulty should only need master’s degrees, but again, class snobbery gots to snob, yeah?

[Lady Bertrum]

To your question, I was talking about American students. I don’t care if Chinese students – their parents, really – are overpaying for a questionable degree. My sympathies really are with poor or working class students trying to improve their earning potential – because I once was one.

There is very definite snobbery involved because CCs have the reputation of being for losers. But I see some very specific, demanding programs that really do prepare students for decent jobs.

[WTF]

Although I assume at some point the Chinese will wise up and then that bubble will burst.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I hope to have retired to my hobby farm long before that point.

[CatoTheElder]

The problem in China is that there are so few universities there that are recognized as “elite”. Once the world’s leader in elite education, Maoism in general and his Cultural Revolution in particular wiped out the 2400 year-old Confucian culture steeped in higher education. That all ended in 1976, but it takes a very, very long time to establish excellent institutions of higher learning. Modern Chinese recognize the need for higher education, so domestic supply greatly lags demand.

Typically, the Chinese aren’t just interested in quality or applicability of education: they are quite conscious of prestige. The US has been a world leader in higher education for quite some time. It was also a world leader in making cars for quite some time, but that changed with the auto industry’s quality issues and foreign competition.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

There are millions of Chinese and Gulf State students who are willing to pay cash-in-hand for an American degree.

This is actually how Australia keeps its “Pay Forward, Pay Back” tuition system going–they’re bolstering revenues with tuition from foreign students, because relying on natives to sustain the system would see it go broke within a generation.

[Aloysious]

Tony bait.

[SugarFree]

Damn fine comments:

Michael Shaw ? a day ago ?
Michael Mann’s Hockey Stick Graph may supplant Piltown Man as the greatest scientific hoax of all time.

andycanuck Michael Shaw ? a day ago
Then it will be “Piltdown Mann”.

[John]

Comment of the year.

[WTF]

Awesome. I can see that taking off as Mann’s new sobriquet.

[John]

http://jalopnik.com/this-cadil…..1519987554

Some douche bag named Zac who writes a Jalapolink has a sad because Cadillac runs a horrible xenophobic commercial and isn’t like BMW, which emphasizes the sustainable materials it uses.

First, I wouldn’t buy a Government Motors car much less any sort of battery powered car. But, I think the commercial is pretty clever. More importantly, as someone at PJ Media points out, they don’t just pull these sorts of campaigns out of their ass. A big ad campaign is focused grouped to death. They only choose a theme that sells with people. The fact that this is the theme that the ad people found sold, should give the “Hi I am Zac I work at Gawker” types of the world pause. The cultural winds may be shifting.

[UnCivilServant]

Until Ford lets me down, I’m not going looking for another supplier (I’ve got an eight year old car with no mechanical faults and workable milage from them that takes my lax maintenence schedule like a champ.)

Also, I’m not sure I’d even be able to plug in a battery-operated car where I live. The lot is so far from the apartments that no extension cord would read, I’d have to chain them. And they’d get stolen.

[John]

Peak oil is total bunk. And we live in a golden age of the internal combustion engine. Even elite performance cars like 911s or M5s or corvettes get 25 or more MPH. You can buy a diesel that puts out tons of horsepower and torque, has none of the disadvantages of older diesels and gets over 40. There is absolutely no reason to buy a hybrid much less an electric car. If you really are concerned about cost and fuel use, buy a high performance diesel or a small car with a good four cylinder.

[Ivan Pike]

You can buy a diesel that puts out tons of horsepower and torque, has none of the disadvantages of older diesels

+ 335d

[CatoTheElder]

There’s a miles long traffic jam in Philly right now and it is impossible to move. Anybody with a half-discharged electric car in that mess is either very, very cold, or unlikely to have enough juice left over to go very far. Electric heaters take a lot of electricity.

[mad libertarian guy]

Is it really xenophobic to point out that we have the most technologically and industrially advanced civilization the world has ever seen because we don’t have mandatory month long holidays? There is a reason places like Italy and France are fucking economically, and finding excuses for people to work as little as possible and then making it law is part of that reason.

[John]

To you and I, nothing. To guys named Zac who worry about sustainable materials, it is all xenophobic.

[Lord Humungus]

I grew up a GM man – my dad had Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs while my mom – who is a terrible driver – got the beater Chevys. I know vintage Chevy iron back and forth – can do a small block chevy swap in a few hours.

Now? Grrr… there isn’t a GM that I would want to buy. A CTS? Maybe. Camaro? Maybe. But I’m not crazy about them.

From here on out, it will probably be high mileage beater Toyota trucks. At least I never get stuck in my current one.

[John]

If you want a sports car, the new corvette is amazing. It has had an incredible drive train for years. This time they finally sorted out the interior and made it worthy of the rest of the car.

Honestly, I would buy it before I bought a Ferrari. The Corvette is just as fast but will last much longer, is a third the price, and is a much more practical car. You can drive a vette every day and someone will still want it when it has 100,000 miles on it. A Ferrari is going to be “high mileage” and virtually impossible to sell once it hits 30,000 miles.

If you really want an elite sports car and you don’t like 911s or GTRs or don’t want a car with a full back seat like an M5, the Corvette is about your only option.

[Lord Humungus]

yeah, I’m really not a ‘vette guy. Though I’ve always had a secret wish for one of the crap-tastic late-70s Stingray with the louvred back window. Just for the cheese factor alone.

[John]

Those can be had in very good condition for around 10K. I am not a Vette guy either. I am a 911 guy for some odd reason I can’t explain.

[Lord Humungus]

Vettes remind me of porn mustaches and gold chains – a middle-aged machine.

They are – however – good at what they do… though I would rather take a ‘vette engine and put it in something better looking, like a 80s Monte Carlo LS.

[John]

I would take any pre 1968 Vette in a heartbeat. I think the C2 mid year ones are spectacular. But it went really wrong in 1968.

[Lord Humungus]

wwwaaayy back in the mists of time, I had a HS friend whose dad rebuilt vintage corvettes. He had all the good ones: split-windows etc.

He was such a vette-head that his wife got a 427 powered Corvette as her daily – had to drive my friend around in it when he was just a tyke.

My pal usually had some Chevy, using the engines that has dad had – A 327 powered S-10 and a 396 powered Vega come to mind.

[John]

The matching numbers big block ones go for six figures. They are also death machines. Dangerously fast. I would be very happy with a small block. It would be a total blast to drive and look just as beautiful as a 427.

[Citizen Nothing]

They tend to fall in sinkholes, though.

[robc]

Only about 1 million dollars worth of vettes are in the sinkhole.

[GILMORE]

“If you really want an elite sports car and you don’t like 911s or GTRs or don’t want a car with a full back seat like an M5, the Corvette is about your only option.”

What, M3 gets no love? The Cayman??

Also, Audi RS cars are bananas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j14iS2U9zL8

Both get underappreciated because of the sedan-profile, no Guido-Chic. Cayman tho I think is the best sports car per $ at the moment.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Plus Neal McDonough, which is sweet.

[Heroic Mulatto]

HOW DARE THE VALUE OF HARD WORK BE RECOGNIZED AS AN DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC OF AMERICAN CULTURE!

Let’s all go to Geert Hofstede‘s house and lynch him!

[GILMORE]

” Jalapolink has a sad because Cadillac runs a horrible xenophobic commercial and isn’t like BMW, which emphasizes the sustainable materials it uses.”

Except that’s not what he said, John (I did go RTFA).

he said Caddy seems to have completely lost its self awareness of where it fits in the universe and is advertising itself as something

e.g.

“I don’t know who this ad resonates with either? Old Cadillac buyers who believe these amazing American achievement claims probably aren’t interested in a plug-in Caddy anyway. New Cadillac buyers from Palo Alto probably just bought a Tesla anyway.”

Meaning = its completely sold out its *red blooded fossil fuel pride”, yet still panders to a nationalistic “this is what makes America great” theme. Yet it does this while trying to be ‘sophisticated’ (speaking to a rich California businessman market), all while suggesting Euro sports cars are inferior. its wrong on all cylinders as an advert. I think the new Caddy CST(?) is probably a great car, but find their ads directly trying to compare themselves to 3-series inviting unwelcome comparisons. You can’t be both an ‘independent American icon’ and yet have such major inferiority complexes you have to actually *mention* who you’re ‘better than’ in your ads. It rings false.

He says GOOD THINGS about the car. He thinks the ad is all wrong. He’s probably right. You’re having an overreaction I think. Which happens.

side note = the C7 corvette is indeed a monster

[John]

I didn’t say he hammered the car. But he says it makes you hate electric car buyers. There is nothing contradictory about not being fossil fuel and also appealing to nationalism. The article makes no sense. He is just butt hurt about the nationalism.

[GILMORE]

Whatever. I think you read more into it than is there. I know some of the writers there (not him tho) and I think the issue with Caddy is something I’ve been feeling myself as well, which is that they are increasingly a brand unsure of its identity. They need to stick a flag (no pun) in the ground and stake their territory, else they’re just going to look worse trying to be all things to all people.

To that point = they are not going to “Out Yuppie” the Bimmer 3 series anytime soon, IMHO. They should stick with focusing on their core market, which is the 45-65 male Midwestern golfer guy who wants to drive a car to work and not look like a snobby prick in a merc to his neighbors and friends, but can still rip the shit out of anything on the highway because the thing has some monstrously overpowered V8 under the hood.

I was always fond of the northstar engines in the ETC/STS models in the 1990s. They pulled.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F…..dorado.jpg

[Zeb]

I’d recommend reading past the first paragraph of the article. That’s not what he says at all.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

This post aside, Jalopnik’s one of the few Gawker sites that’s actually tolerable. The writing still sucks, but because most of the blog entries are politics-free, it’s usually just a bunch of people talking about cars and trucks.

Once in a while, a politics-related post comes up and the limpouts commence, but overall it’s probably the best site on Gawker.

[Bill Dalasio]

it’s probably the best site on Gawker

Isn’t that sort of like the smartest retard on the short bus?

[Bill Dalasio]

You know, I watched that ad and read the commentary and I couldn’t help but think that Zac is the kind of dweeb who will never hesitate to tell you, at length, like the kind of length that you start to want to scream at him to just fucking move there already, about how much more enlightened the Europeans are because they take a whole month off. So, I guess, in a way, I can understand his resentment of the ad. It pretty much takes his schtick and throws it back in his face.

[Clich? Bandit]

Re-posting for all the morning dweebs:

Here is another AWESOME one.
Cop arrests fireman as he is tending to injured at crash

A fukin MAZING!

[John]

Isn’t that against the rules? Don’t you have to get the bosses to have a sit down and give you the okay before you can whack a made man from another public sector union family?

[tarran]

Cops and firemen frequently despise each other.

They are rivals for public money. Each group gets plaudits from the public that the other group feels are undeserved.

I dated a former EMT a couple of years back, and she told me that having cops man the 911 switchboard was a problem because they basically were interfering with the firemen’s calls (showing up; doing crowd control etc).

The above arrest is an example of that; the chp see the highway as their turf and the firefighters as hired help. The firefighters understandably have contempt for the cops’ amateurish understanding of rescue.

[John]

They totally despise each other. But they at least in my experience tend to leave each other alone since each can bring to bear on the other the kind of pressure they use on the public.

[Agammamon]

You can take a horse to water…

But the you have to hold his head underwater until he either drinks or drowns.

[UnCivilServant]

except horses are stronger than people, so you won’t get the head under.

[a better weapon]

“Oh dear. The Republican Party’s worst nightmare is coming true! ObamaCare is working!

reddit.com/r/politics is always good for supreme level derp.

[John]

When I read shit like that I wonder if they think their politicians just don’t know how to get elected. I think our political class might be the most idiotic in Western history. But I do figure they know more about how to get elected than I do. So if I wonder if Obamacare is really working or not and maybe I think it isn’t because of my own confirmation bias, I look no further than to what Dem politicians running for office are doing. And not a single one of them running anywhere in the country is mentioning Obamacare or using it as a justification for re-election.

Maybe I am just cynical, but I think the people advising those pols know a bit more about what is actually happening than the kool aide drinkers on reddit.

[Warty]

FUCK. NO.

There’s no drunken idiocy like Russian drunken idiocy.

[110 Lean]

I have a fear of heights, so today’s A.M. Links are really fucking with me.

[mad libertarian guy]

I don’t particularly have a fear of heights, but this video scared the fuck out of me. Even more than the dude climbing the 2500 ft rock wall.

[DEG]

Tom Perkins in the news again.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/1…..?hpt=hp_t2

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/1…..?iid=HP_LN

Walter Williams also had the idea that your vote should be tied to your taxes. If I remember correclty, Williams’s idea was that every citizen got one vote, and then you got more votes based on how much you paid in income tax.

[robc]

Not a new suggestion at all. Im pretty sure Ive floated it out there too.

The preferred way to do it is to make taxes voluntary but to tie them to votes.