Bridge Scandal Didn't Appear to Cause Harm, Obama Wants More Money for Global Warming, North Korea Is Apparently a Very Bad Place: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: Icky Pic / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

  According to an Associated Press review of logs and emergency calls, the politically motivated closing of the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey did not appear to cause any additional health problems or deaths.

• President Barack Obama went to California to pledge drought aid and also push for funds to make communities more "resilient" to climate change, which will undoubtedly be used by said communities the same way money was handed out to them after 9/11 to make them more "resilient" to terror attacks. By which I mean the money will be used however they want to subsidize whatever they want with some sort of lip service to the actual goal.
• Storms have contributed to a 25-year high in flight cancellations, though government regulations that prohibit planes sitting on the tarmac for more than three hours have also contributed.
• The federal government is losing nearly half their deportation cases when brought before judges. Their failure rate has been increasing each year since 2009.
• In news that will make you sarcastically respond, "You don't say," the United Nations has determined that extensive crimes against humanity are taking place in North Korea.
• A bill proposed in California would require warning labels on sugary drinks because people just don't know that they're bad for them and need the government to tell them so.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the politically motivated closing of the George Washington Bridge in New Jersey did not appear to cause any additional health problems or deaths.

As long as there were no fatalities on the casualty lists, scattershot political payback is a-okay.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I love you, won't you tell me your name...

[Episiarch]

Is it me you're looking for?

[Fist of Etiquette]

What an idiot. SugarFree already did that joke.

[Episiarch]

Yeah. Poorly.

[Ted S.]

Hello again, hello.

[Bobarian]

Hello, is there anybody out there?

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Hello.

Hello
Well its good to be back
good to be back
Hello
Hello
Hello

[Certified Public Asskicker]

*Hands Fist some NFL Valentines*

[Fist of Etiquette]

Normally I don't tolerate hop-ons, but some of those weren't bad.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I just wanted to show some love to my favorite first poster.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A bill proposed in California would require warning labels on sugary drinks...

Warning: The Surgeon General had determined that this ain't helping the cause, fatties.

[CE]

Slap that thing on diet drinks too.

[Mad Scientist]

Oh, goody. A new label we can all ignore.

WARNING: This message contains drollery known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.

[Ted S.]

How about warning labels on government welfare programs that pepole on welfare have lower standards of health and are more likely to be obese?

[Rich]

That's a nudge even Cass Sunstein would be on board with.

[Pro Libertate]

This comment violates Proposition 65.

[Tonio]

Happy Valentine's Day, People: 52 Hilarious #ActivistPickupLines from our friends at Buzzfeed.

Yes, they really are hilarious; just not in the way they are intended to be.

[Episiarch]

Holy shit, "humorectomy" isn't just a portmanteau.

[Zeb]

It's also a valise.

[Tonio]

Carpet-bagger!

[JW]

And a floor wax.

[Zeb]

You had me at "fuck the system"

And by "the system", I assume you mean "me in my ass".

[Tonio]

Unconscious self-parody is the cruellest, and therefore funniest, form of humor.

[Killaz]

The problem with snow in the South is it never sticks around. So, that means I have to get dressed and do that ritualistic thing.

[Tonio]

Squirrels?

[Suthenboy]

Holy shit. Those are....beyond terrible. That is a window into crazy.

"She said she found dating to be hard for activists because for people like her "love is not about sacrifice and scarcity but about equality, justice and community.""

Yeah, I bet it is.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Well the drone one was good.

[JW]

These people are starting to make me believe that we're going to have to write off that entire generation. Into the disintegration booths.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Barack Obama went to California to pledge drought aid...

Just what Cali needs. More hot air.

[CE]

He's catching up to Danerys Targaryen in the titles list.

Mr. Barack H. Obama, President of the United states, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Drone Master of the Skies, Bringer of Peace, Maker of War, and now...

Bringer of the Life-Saving Rains.

[Ted S.]

That's not rain; he's just peeing in the reservoir.

[tonguesandelbows]

Whoever first called him "Chocolate Nixon" was most accurate though.

[Clich? Bandit]

Isn't he technically Milk Chocolate?

[CatoTheElder]

It really isn't fair to slime Nixon in that way. Sure, regarding economic policy, expanding the regulatory state, or disrespect for constitutionally guaranteed individual rights, Obama is the "Chocolate Nixon". However, regardless of whether one agreed or disagreed with him, Nixon was quite competent in foreign affairs compared to Obama.

[MJGreen]

Spartacus Obama, Bringer of Rain

[Rhywun]

Rain and light? Dayum.

[neoteny]

He is going to rain on their parades.

[Fist of Etiquette]

He's going to "make it rain" you mean.

[JW]

He's already halfway there, pissing on their legs.

[Bobarian]

BO: Pissing on your neck and telling you it's rain.

[PD Scott]

Cleaning the windows on the world's tallest skyscraper.

[110 Lean]

I had a friend that hung iron on skyscrapers. He told me that after you're up eight or ten floors, it's not gonna make a difference how much higher than that you go. Iron workers call it "down in the hole".

[PD Scott]

If you're high enough, you have time to text your wife good-bye on the way down.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the United Nations has determined that extensive crimes against humanity are taking place in North Korea.

But no purges by dog mauling?

[Tim]

You don't say?

[Dead or In Jail]

A harmless bridge scandal is a little bit like a harmless Libya/Panama/Kosovo intervention.

The correct answer is, "No, Fuck you, not allowed."

[mad libertarian guy]

An Autumn for Crippled Children

[Ted S.]

Autumn Sonata has a crippled child, and better music.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

The federal government is losing nearly half their deportation cases when brought before judges. Their failure rate has been increasing each year since 2009.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Seriously, squirrels? That post was supposed to include:

Hasn't Obama deported more than any other president? Reminds me of the "sell at a loss, make up in volume" joke.

[Ted S.]

I swear this comment wasn't here when I started typing mine!

[BiMonSciFiCon]

It's okay. You're a packer fan, right? I'll let it slide.

[Ted S.]

That's an interesting comment.

[CE]

Waddya mean, didn't cause harm???!!!

People have finite life spans (for now), and many of them had to spend a few more hours in Jersey.

[Acosmist]

That's a legit complaint. Spending more time in traffic, the most awful thing there is, is a concrete harm.

[CE]

And should be applied to the TSA. Unnecessary TSA travel delays cost the economy billions.

[mad libertarian guy]

I wonder what the math is on my recent delay via TSA.

I had to sit around for an extra 2 hours. My bag did not make it on my flight. Someone else had to pick up the cooler and drive it about 90 miles to where I was (then 90 miles back).

[Clich? Bandit]

i had read years ago that flying back in the day on early, SLOWER, jets was faster up until about 1500 miles cause there was no wait time in security/check in etc.

Granted, you also paid a fortune.

[Ted S.]

It's a tax on time.

Taxes on time might be the worst of them all.

[Lady Bertrum]

"...had to spend a few more hours in Jersey."

Fuck you. Jersey is awesome except for the taxes, weather, Guidos, turnpike, and proximity to Delaware.

[mad libertarian guy]

Don't forget the smell, proximity to NY, proximity to Philly, the smell, and the smell.

[Pavlov's Cat]

I can tell you people never spent any time in Maryland. Jersey really is The Garden State next to MD.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"A federal judge issued a corrected opinion in her decision striking down Virginia's same-sex marriage ban after the first improperly ascribed a quote to the Constitution that is actually in the Declaration of Independence.

""Our Constitution declares that 'all men' are created equal," Judge Arenda Wright Allen wrote in opening paragraph to her original decision..."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/.....83363.html

As we speak, I bet Tina Fey is preparing a satirical skit about this ignorant judge!

[CE]

Yet the Magna Carta, er Constitution, er Declaration, remains silent on "all women" and whether or not they are equal.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

More pertinent, this is the woman who tells the poor ignorant rednecks thay they understand the constitution less than she does. I mean, she went to law school and everything!

Sure, she doesn't know what's in the actual *text* of the Constitution, but she can move beyond this sort of superstitious clinging to bourgeois "facts" and discern the Constitution's true meaning, which the ignorant racist hicks don't understand.

[Tonio]

You got a sad, Eddie?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I'm enjoying this, actually.

[Virginian]

You got a sad, Eddie?

Eh, you know the judge can be advancing the cause of liberty and still be an utter moron, right?

She's doing the right thing for the wrong reasons here.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I know such things are possible, though I deny she did the right thing in this case.

I like to focus on it because the SSM side likes to focus on their side's superior constitutional understanding vis-a-vis the emotional, religious, prejudiced ignorant right-wingers.

I won't conceal my delight in finding a Bidenesque level of historical knowledge on the SSM side.

[Clich? Bandit]

I ever regale of my story about how I have seen three of the four known Magna Cartas?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Not that I recall

[Clich? Bandit]

When I was you a copy went on tour in the US with the Declaration, Constitution, and some sword NOT Excaliber. Then I went to the British Library in London and they said that copy is not the one that I was looking at and I said 'cool'. And then I went to Slasbury Cathedral. I had NO idea that they have a copy as well and have had it in their possession since before the church had even been built. It was clearly legible and guarded solely by an old dude waxing historic. That Magna Carta had the coolest history. One should google if one has the itnerest.

[Pavlov's Cat]

There's a sword other than Excaliber?!
But... why?

[Bobarian]

Stormbringer kicks ass, but is kind of hard on its owner.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah, er, no.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

This is just as dumb as "I can see Russia from my house," the difference being that Palin didn't actually say the Russia thing, while the judge *did* confuse the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence. In an opinion explaining why she knew more than the people of Virginia what the Constitution *really* means.

[110 Lean]

She's a Barack Obama affirmative action appointee (2011).

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Oh, gosh, thank you so much for the help.

[110 Lean]

I realized I'd get shit for posting that, but come on, she should know her founding documents. And Obama has put a lot of people in positions for which they clearly are unqualified.

[Rich]

The warning would say: "STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay."

It had jolly well better be accompanied by a large photograph of a morbidly obese person with gangrenous wounds and meth mouth.

[Invisible Finger]

I love Wacky Packages.

[MJGreen]

But the same label will not be placed on anything else with "added sugar(s)," right?

[Christophe]

I found this: http://thekronies.com/

My apologies if this has already been posted about.

[Rasilio]

Yes it has been posted.

The CEO of the company that makes them was interviewed in Forbes today...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ar.....lunder-iv/

[CatoTheElder]

Must reading for anyone who wants to succeed in today's economy.

[CatoTheElder]

Maybe it has, but I hadn't seen it.

Quite clever and well done.

[110 Lean]

Scott Hodge: Here's What 'Income Equality' Would Look Like
Take about $4 trillion from the top 40% of families and give it to the bottom 60%?voil?, no more inequality.

President Obama has talked a lot recently about reducing income inequality. Yet he neither acknowledges how much money the government is redistributing, nor how much more would be needed to close the income gap. Perhaps that's because the project would require redistribution on a staggering scale.

[110 Lean]

(cont.)
That's the upshot of two separate studies published in November 2013 by the Congressional Budget Office and the Tax Foundation. While they used slightly different methodologies, each study measured the amount of existing redistribution by the federal government?by comparing how much Americans get back in total federal spending (everything from transfer programs to national defense) to how much they pay in all federal taxes (everything from income taxes to excise taxes). Both studies show that the federal tax-and-spending system already is extremely progressive and redistributive.

Looking at prerecession data for non-elderly households in 2006 in "The Distribution of Federal Spending and Taxes in 2006," the CBO found that those in the bottom fifth, or quintile, of the income scale received $9.62 in federal spending for every $1 they paid in federal taxes of all kinds. This isn't surprising, since people with low incomes pay little in taxes but receive a lot of transfers.

Nor is it surprising that households in the top fifth received 17 cents in federal spending for every $1 they paid in all federal taxes. High-income households hand over a disproportionate amount in taxes relative to what they get back in spending.

[Rasilio]

I suspect that the $0.17 per tax dollar is not including monies recieved through crony spending...

http://www.mises.org/daily/666.....he-Cox-Box

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Doesn't come close to closing the gap. And note that the report states the top quintile which begins considerably lower than you think.

From your link the conservative view is the accurate one. The "libertarian" view is incorrect and just falls into the "precious middle class" fallacy.

[Rasilio]

No it doesn't, My salary puts me just inside the top quintile.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

And you think you consume more than you pay in? You must have an interesting income stream.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

no more inequality.

For maybe five minutes.

[Apatheist ?_??]

"These people seem to be breaking their necks to give this money right back to us."

[CE]

I'll do it, for a measly 1% handling fee.

[Ted S.]

Kill the top 40% and destroy their wealth, and you've gotten rid of most of the income inequality, too.

[Invisible Finger]

Killing the bottom 60% works, too.

[Invisible Finger]

Let me guess, the top 40% that are public officials would be exempted from the mulcting.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Even the Swedes know deadbeats vote Democrats.

http://super-economy.blogspot......-vote.html

[110 Lean]

Blocked here at work, but I live in the neighborhood in Minneapolis with the highest percentage of welfare recipients. It also has the lowest voter turnout. Too lazy to get off your ass to work translate into too lazy to get off your ass and vote.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Anywhere near a restaurant called Broder's?

[110 Lean]

Hell yes. Both the pasta bar and the deli. Been going there for about 20 years or so.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

As good as it looks and sounds?

[Episiarch]

The term "pasta bar" does not sound or look good in any way.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No but these folks seem to have it together.

Italian cuisine and culinary history (and the technology behind it. e.g. olive oil, pasta, espresso machines etc.) is a passion for me.

It's rare for a restaurant to make fresh pasta. Labour and cost intensive.

[Clich? Bandit]

Do they believe pizza was invented in Naples, Italy?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Why does that matter?

[Episiarch]

I didn't realize it was fresh pasta. Damn, that is a pain in the ass, but holy shit is it good.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Complete different cat from the dry pasta.

[110 Lean]

As good as it looks and sounds?

Hell yes.

[110 Lean]

And I'm from back east originally, so I know a bit about Italian cuisine.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Northeast Italian American cuisine differs, I noticed, from say, Italian cooking in Quebec and even Ontario.

So my point of reference is what I learned in Italy proper.

Broder's caught my attention. What are the odds of my ever visiting Minnesota though!

[Mad Scientist]

Pasta is delicious if you pick it just when it ripens.

[110 Lean]

Correction. I live miles from there (it's in an affluent neighborhood across town). I read your comment as "have I ever been there". Old eyes...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It 'could' have been read as such. Woulda asked anyway.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

So how is lovely N. Minneapolis these days? The only time I go downtown these days is to hit Manny's.

[110 Lean]

Tragically, 5 kids died in a house fire this morning at 2818 Colfax avenue north. And shootings are up a little bit, but other than that all is well.

[Kevin47]

Broders is very good, but if 110 Lean lives in the same neighborhood as Broders, his statements re: percentage of welfare recipients are decidedly off base.

[TimothyZ]

Don't worry. There are many diligent busybodies who will tax you for their benefit.

[Tonio]

Anyone else getting served the delicious ad: Public advodate calls out the governor (with a picture of VA Gov MacAuliffe).

Would love to know if it was the ad company or whether Delgaudio and his people can't spell their own name right.

[Tonio]

...and I can't spell Gov. McAuliffe's name correctly. But presumably they have a copy editor.

[Virginian]

Just call him Scumbag Terry. That's what I do.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Ads you say?

[Tonio]

Don't be smug, Apothecary.

[The Other Kevin]

Say what you want about California, but they do pass shitty laws with a ruthless efficiency.

[CE]

Hey, we do vote against tax hikes once in a while. But never against bond measures to build stuff. That money comes from someplace else. Investors, I guess.

[Rich]

Several multi-vehicles crashes, involving as many as 100 cars and dozens of tractor-trailers stretched over several miles of icy highway, shut down the Pennsylvania Turnpike for most of the day today

One driver said that road spray on windshields plus the sun low in the sky may have hindered visibility as drivers found themselves suddenly upon a stopped vehicle ahead with insufficient room to stop on the slick pavement.

Am I a bad person to think that every driver involved in pile-ups like this should be additionally fined? Sheesh, drive according to conditions.

[Ted S.]

Don't give the government ideas.

[Rich]

Sorry, Ted. I thought it was understood that the fines would go to *me*.

[SIV]

"Those dumb Southerners can't drive in snow"

[Episiarch]

REGION WAR! REGION WAR! REGION WAR! WOO HOO!

[Mad Scientist]

"Englishmen don't know what a tongue is for!"

[Virginian]

Shouldn't you be drinking coffee and smoking weed while recovering from your Super Bowl win and also enjoying strikingly beautiful views of the ocean and snowcapped volcanoes along with a generally temperate climate?

(Am I doing it right?)

[Episiarch]

Not really. You need to be bitterly insecure about what the other REGION has said about you. The bitter, obsessive insecurity is critical to doing it right. Also, you need to be more collectivist and act like everyone in an entire REGION is exactly the same. That's key too.

[Warty]

WASHINGTON IS FULL OF EPISIARCHES! FUCK WASHINGTON!

[Episiarch]

I only wish Washington was full of people like me.

[JW]

"And that's when all the other states banded together and declared a genocidal war on the state of Washington..."

[Corning]

WASHINGTON IS FULL OF EPISIARCHES! FUCK WASHINGTON!

Western Washington. Don't lump us who live east of cascades with those starbucks drinking Boing union pinkos

[Zeb]

Is that a controversial statement? Much evidence seems to point that way. Though I must admit that a shocking number of my fellow northerners seem to have lost that ability. There's always some dickhead white-knuckling it at 25 mph with 20 cars backed up behind them.

I certainly don't hold it against southerners that they can't drive in snow. It's not usually a terribly relevant skill. I would have thought that Pennsylvanians would have a bit more of a clue, though.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Houstonians drive retarded anytime there's even a minimal amount of snow or ice. I don't find us not being use to it an excuse. The only thing in their favor is that when it does happen its usually freezing rain all night with the temp dropping below freezing right before rush hour which is pretty nasty.

[JW]

I cannot fucking stand the white-knucklers and will go around them as soon as possible.

I do know how to drive well in most weather, but I tend to drive right on the edge of traction, which I'm sure will fuck me hard one day.

[BSubversive.com]

Am I a bad person for thinking, fuck Philly?

[110 Lean]

When I lived in PA they would call off school the day before an alleged snow event was predicted. And then it wouldn't happen. Schools closed for nothing.

[Rich]

"If it saves just *one* child's life ...."

[Zeb]

While sitting in a plane for three hours on the runway sucks (I had to do that in Newark once), having to get off and come back to the airport the next day would suck even more, I should think.

I still want the option of being heavily sedated and put in a box for transport. If I could get half price fare and skip security, I'd totally do that.

[Rich]

That is a *great* idea, Zeb!

***cough***Kickstarter***cough***

[Rasilio]

So you want the BA Barrachus travel plan?

[Rich]

"Fly Fool Airlines"

[Mad Scientist]

"I'm gonna fly you out on Knuckle Airlines. Fist class."

[Zeb]

Although I am of the age that would have watched it, I don't believe I have ever seen an episode of The A Team.

[Rasilio]

I pity the fool who hasn't seen the A Team

[Episiarch]

That's sad. Because you can't go back and watch it now. It's fucking terrible. But man, when you were a kid...

[Mad Scientist]

You shut up, you! Hannibal Smith's plans always came together!

[Episiarch]

Ok, I'm the looks, NutraSweet is the brains, Warty's the muscle, Hugh's the wild card, and I guess that makes you the useless chick. Am I right?

[Mad Scientist]

I'll only agree to this if my main role is look pretty and scream a lot. Just like at Warty's house.

[Bobarian]

Warty has the blacked out sinister looking van already.

[Rich]

It's fucking terrible. But man, when you were a kid...

I have the same reaction to The Outer Limits.

[Invisible Finger]

Their failure rate has been increasing each year since 2009.

Obama goes hand-in-hand with increased failure rate.

[Virginian]

http://en-us.reddit.com/r/expl.....hat_is_it/

A rich rich vein of derp here.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Whoah:

Well I mean we could march 10,000 people wherever they are and kill them and nothing could stop us really with a mob that large.

[Tonio]

And, as always, the threat of violence. Yet somehow we are the agressors.

[Episiarch]

I don't harp on projection for no reason, dude.

[Tonio]

I was kind of wondering why you left that out.

[Virginian]

lol didn't see that one. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see them try?

[Rasilio]

Apparently that poster has never heard of machine guns

[Tonio]

Or flamethrowers.

[Virginian]

Claymore mines.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Well I mean we could march 10,000 people wherever they are and kill them and nothing could stop us really with a mob that large.

Joffre approves.

[Ted S.]

Their flower power is no match for my glower power!

[Episiarch]

I just realized this is another perfect example of how these fucking morons are animists. They've totemized the Koch brothers, who are now supernaturally evil to them. It's beyond absurd, but it's par for the course for animists. Holy fuck these people are stupid.

[Tonio]

Not just stupid, but violent and evil as well.

I'm really surprised we haven't seen an attempt at this sort of mob violence from them.

[Episiarch]

Warty wondered the same thing in a thread the other day and my response remains the same: these people are abject cowards. One of the reasons they are so pro TOP MEN and government is because the TOP MEN and the government will do all the violence for them. That's why their rhetoric is usually much more about the government punishing people or enforcing things. To them, doing so themselves is unthinkable. They're about as dangerous as Hugh's mom.

[Tonio]

As individuals and in small groups, yes; as an electorate they are dangerous as hell. Because the state can always find bullyboys to do the dirty work so these people can keep their hands clean.

[Episiarch]

Agreed, but a mob is nothing we need to fear from them. As you say, it is their idiotic TEAM sheep behavior where the danger lies.

[Pro Libertate]

So they'll just vote for us to be put into camps and slowly but systematically slaughtered?

[PD Scott]

(whiny tone)"Why aren't you going? We took a VOTE."

[MJGreen]

SOCIAL CONTRACT!

YOU ANARCHISTS!

[Warty]

And what I said is that they're harmless now, but what about 40 years from now? This kind of stupid demonization is dangerous.

[Episiarch]

Cowards don't stop being cowards.

[Virginian]

Well the fear is that right now these guys are just mouthing off. But 40 years from now, some of them will be tenured professors with students to brainwash.

[Mad Scientist]

We'll never see that attempt. They're violent, but they're also the cravenest of cowards. They love big government because they need a bully whom they believe they can control. Without that bully, they're about as fierce as a kitten.

[110 Lean]

I'm really surprised we haven't seen an attempt at this sort of mob violence from them.

People with masks and torches on that pipeline exec's front lawn was just the warm-up.

[JW]

All they want is a little lynchin.'

[BSubversive.com]

Holy fuck these people are stupid.

Duh. Water is wet, shit stinks anybody scared of the Koch brothers is a moron. If these stupid fucks ever leave their mom's basement, it might be interesting.

This is one instance in which America having guns is a good thing, these guys should be shot. I detest these 1%, illuminati, eye in the pyramid, faceless people.

Yeah, having guns is indeed a good thing to protect against idiots like ReubyDeubs

[Virginian]

One of them was fapping to the thought of the Koch brothers being dragged to the guillotine.

[Pro Libertate]

I wonder if they refuse to watch NOVA, with its prominent kudos to the Koch Foundation or whatever right at the beginning?

[Virginian]

Dude, they explain their PBS donations by saying that the Kochs only donate to PBS to prevent PBS from exposing their evil agenda.

Seriously you guys.

[Pro Libertate]

Okay, so they think that next week's NOVA would be on KOCH MIND/WEATHER CONTROL DEATH BEAMS but for their donations?

[Virginian]

Apparently. But remember these people simultaneously believe that PBS is an unbiased government media organ which fearlessly pursues the real stories and is simultaneously totally beholden to the Kocktopus.

Like remember when Bush was simultaneously the biggest moron ever and the Machiavellian menace moving the chess pieces.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Bush was the moron, Cheney was the Machiavellian menace.

[Mad Scientist]

I thought the meme was that Bush was a moron and Cheney and/or Rove were the puppet masters.

[Episiarch]

It varies from idiot to idiot.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Why does everyone forget about Wolfowitz? What a national treasure.

[Episiarch]

Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. Here. Do you have a quote or link?

[Virginian]

To which one?

[Episiarch]

The PBS thing.

[Virginian]

I'll give them ballet and art, but their PBS funding is payola, pure and simple, to keep climate change and other catastrophic externalities of their businesses OUT of PBS programming.

More violence!

How is it possible someone hasn't murdered these guys? All sorts of high-profile people get murdered for trying to do good. Seems reasonable to think these fucknuts should have been murdered by now.

[Virginian]

They fund PBS to make sure their interests aren't disputed with the programming, such as climate change denial. Cancer research is known for being an incredibly inefficient industry where many profit and small percentages of donations actually lead to the cause. Everything else keeps them nice and close with powerful people. They're just shitty people, there's no good.

[Pro Libertate]

So, um, a beautiful and mutual organization like PBS, can be influenced to do horrible evil by money? I see.

What about politicians?

[Mad Scientist]

Ah, but you see, there is a certain beauty in their psychosis. If PBS is good, and private donations are a corrupting evil, then it follows all PBS funding should be obtained from the state.

[Episiarch]

If you ever needed to understand why these people are so convinced that their perceived opponents are horrible, evil, and violent, look no further than these people themselves. They are viciously disgusting people who project their own depravity on everyone else. And they will come out and make comments like this without the slightest realization of what it says about them.

[Pro Libertate]

PBS is so great that some minor donor (small against their total funding) can get them to sell their souls completely and to intentionally fail to report great horrors.

Um, if you think that, then you should be burrowing into a hole, because that's actually true at the government level. For money and for votes, they'll do and not do anything at all. Without moral or ethical limits.

[Virginian]

They are viciously disgusting people who project their own depravity on everyone else.

There is a guy currently claiming that Obamacare excuses the drone strikes, because it's going to save more lives then the drone murders take. So, net positive.

The banality of evil, right?

[Pro Libertate]

And these people vote and actually influence our lives. Holy shit.

[JW]

When I point out to idiots as these, that they are the exact reason that no one should be in charge of everyone else's lives, they somehow don't see it.

All we need to do is to increase the beatings.

[Zeb]

Yup. I'm sure almost none of them know anything about the Kochs besides something about oil and they are evil. All I know about them is that they are rich, somehow involved in the oil industry, they donate some money to conservative and libertarian political organizations and they donate lots of money to artistic and cultural institutions and public television.

[Virginian]

Oh oh one of them wonders how many of the Koch defenders are

paid schills [sic]

I could use some of that payola, where do I sign up?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I was a "paid schill" for one summer when I worked at IJ through the Koch Summer Fellow Program. I think I ended up getting ~$2000. And some free books. Clearly, I am still beholden to them.

[MJGreen]

Don't laugh. Everything Glenn Greenwald writes is suspect, because he once contributed to a CATO paper. The tentacles run long and deep, comrade!

[The Other Kevin]

So funny how those comments claim that the Kochs and libertarians control the government. Besides maybe Rand Paul, who else, in ANY part of government, could be considered libertarian?

BTW, any of you other commenters have your Koch check delivered late? Mine hasn't arrived yet, maybe it's due to the weather.

[Mad Scientist]

That's their claim because they honestly cannot comprehend why their grand plans keep failing. It simply can't be a flaw in their system! Must be saboteurs.

[PD Scott]

Our Koch shill checks are being counter-sabotaged!

[neoteny]

Must be saboteurs.

And wreckers. And kulaks. Especially kulaks.

[John C. Randolph]

Global Warming is obviously underfunded, and that's why it's so damned cold across the country today.

-jcr

[JW]

You dumb ass. It's the cold and lack of warming that is direct proof of global warming extreme climate change!

[Warty]

This is neat. These Germans go around Europe with metal detectors and post the results.

[Pro Libertate]

Just don't find any unexploded explosives.

[Warty]

That was my thought. Farmers bring them up every spring when they plow, so these guys must find plenty of mines and unexploded shells. I wonder why they didn't include any video of them.

[Pro Libertate]

What an insane waste. All that shit, everywhere. But no Moonbase.

[Warty]

The thought I kept having when I watched all these guys' videos was that there was a man for each and every one of those weapons. What a waste is right.

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, my first thought is, of course, for the human cost of the war. But the waste goes beyond that to the lost opportunities to manufacture consumer and industrial goods. On an absurdly large scale.

[db]

Look at technology throughout human history. Anywhere the State has the power to direct resources into R&D and manufacturing, the pinnacle.of.achievement and craftsmanship is in weaponry. Look.at the simple, elegant designs of most modern weapons, then.compare that to the.primitive nature of current spacecraft.

[PD Scott]

Obviously we need to declare war on the moon.

[Pro Libertate]

I'd nuke it.

[Sevo]

"But the waste goes beyond that to the lost opportunities to manufacture consumer and industrial goods. On an absurdly large scale."

Increasing wealth means moving goods to a higher state of value. Now imagine turning a fighter jet to trash; you can't get lower value for expensive goods.

[TimothyZ]

Don't worry, they'll give you moonbase. It will preserve the bones better than the earth's erosive oxygen atmosphere.

[db]

War, not actual economic or technological progress, is the health of the state. Those things only are allowed to occur to further the State's quest for power. What's a few eggs when the world's your omelette?

[JW]

I wonder why they didn't include any video of them.

Hier you go.

[Warty]

I'd seen that before, super cool. It's interesting how they built that hill to direct the mine's energy out to see. I'm not surprised the Dutch know exactly how to dispose of unwanted explosives.

[db]

They blow up leftover WWII land mines? Fuck, I'd have a 0roblem walking around in the.country in most European places, with all the abandoned ordnance that is still sitting around. The cities getpoliced pretty well, but I bet the.suburbs and rural areas can be dangerous.

[Pro Libertate]

I went hiking in West Virginia, and the trail head had warning signs about unexploded ordinance that some branch of the military was firing around there.

[db]

Nice.

[Pro Libertate]

I was one of the lucky ones, I guess. Not blown up.

[Warty]

A friend of mine worked at Aberdeen Proving Ground for a while, and they all get training on UXO. Apparently it's a pretty serious problem.

[Bobarian]

When I was stationed at FT Irwin, a guy kicked an old mortar round that blew off his foot.

It was traced back to 1951 when that part of the desert was being used as a mortar range. That area is known as Brown/Debnam Pass and was one of the most travelled training areas in the US for doing mounted training (Laser tag).

[JW]

When I was a kid in the Boy Scouts, we had a Jamboree at Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania. The Gap was also a military munitions testing ground.

They warned us to stay away from the unexploded stuff, but that was about it. I'd imagine a Militant Soccer Mom group would overrun that camp today and shut it down.

[Warty]

I'm sure they have to deal with a lot of UXO, but they don't show it in the videos. All they seem to show is small arms, belt buckles, coins, things like that.

I'm amazed at the condition of some of weapons. I bet you could make some of them operable again if you'd get the rust off with electrolysis and maybe replace the springs.

[Bobarian]

Some of the old Soviet Union satellite countries make pretty good scratch off of selling access to WWII vehicles that were abandoned during the German retreat.

Some of that stuff is almost like new.

[The Late P Brooks]

President Barack Obama went to California to pledge drought aid and also push for funds to make communities more "resilient" to climate change

The money will then be spent to reinforce and expand California's wasteful water policies.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

And if CA had spent all of its green money on desalination plants and the power plants to drive them they'd be a lot better off than they are now.

Adaptation, it's not just for Obamacare!

[Pavlov's Cat]

I would have beaten you to this if I hadn't stopped to think about how be really snarky about it. Just saying...

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Bullshit. Just admit that you were trying to figure out a way to monetize your saliva off the backs of the poor Californians.

[Bobarian]

I spit in their faces; it's other body fluids for their backs.

[Pavlov's Cat]

Hey, why not? They live right next to the world's biggest water mine. I mean, they have all that high-grade water ore right there. They should be the Saudi Arabia of water. They don't even have to dig for it.

[TimothyZ]

It astounds me when I read Haek how clearly and relevantly he foresaw this mentality.: " funds to make communities more "resilient" to climate change"

Get that? Obama wants to 'make' something of the communities. Maybe if he didn't take so much of their resources, their "resilience" would be better off than if he he deigns to build up their communities.

[Sevo]

"President Barack Obama went to California to pledge drought aid"...

"The poor farmers need aid since there was too much rain. Ooops: Just enough. Nuts: Too little"
And I'm hoping the rain-dance got recorded.

[The Late P Brooks]

Well I mean we could march 10,000 people wherever they are and kill them and nothing could stop us really with a mob that large.

"When the cat is at the rathole, ten thousand mice dare not come out." -Sun Tzu

Which of our progressive mice will be first to poke his head out?

[Episiarch]

Itchy?

[PD Scott]

"See? Even libertards admit the Kochs are fat cats!" - Some idiot on Reddit eventually

[Mad Scientist]

For the good of the colony, they'll democratically elect someone to sacrifice.

[PD Scott]

"You're a brave man. Go and break through the lines. And remember, while you're out there risking your life and limb through shot and shell, we'll be in be in here thinking what a sucker you are."

[JW]

Which of our progressive mice will be first to poke his head out?

Whoever it is, there's an overabundance of confidence, a shitty beard and a Keffiyeh involved.

[CatoTheElder]

This would be like an Ayn Rand novel, but her villains are more complex and intelligent characters.

The reddit crowd is more like a community of cognitively impaired variants of Rand characters.

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember Cyprus? The EU is ready to start robbing pensions and personal savings:

The savings of the European Union's 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says.

The EU is looking for ways to wean the 28-country bloc from its heavy reliance on bank financing and find other means of funding small companies, infrastructure projects and other investment.

"The economic and financial crisis has impaired the ability of the financial sector to channel funds to the real economy, in particular long-term investment," said the document, seen by Reuters.

The Commission will ask the bloc's insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law "to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing", the document said.

Come on, bank run.

[PD Scott]

Cyprus Ill, "Hits from the ECB"... just not that catchy.

Maybe depositors will get a coupon for an extra night free at the Cypriot bed and breakfast of their choice for every ?1000 deposit written off...

[Jordan]

Holy shit. I knew the Monetarist clowns hated savings, but until now they've always stolen them indirectly.

[Episiarch]

Just wait until the US government starts really eyeing people's 401k's and IRAs.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

It's not fair that they're (401k) tax free (deferred, what difference does it make?).

And the capital gains on Roth IRA's should be taxed too. I mean, it's not fair that working people get taxed on their wages but the capital gains on Roth's aren't.

[CatoTheElder]

USG will soon means-test distribution of SS benefits and Medicare premiums -- and your 401(k) and IRA balances will enter into the equation.

Heritability of 401(k) and IRA accounts will be up for grabs as well. After all, they are retirement accounts, and after you're dead, you don't need it.

All because it's the fair thing to do, of course.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

When that happens, the mass exodus of the wealthy (or simply frugal) will really begin.

[Episiarch]

And then they won't let them leave. The US already demands a colossal payment should you decide to give up your citizenship.

[mad libertarian guy]

I seriously wonder what would happen were one to say "fuck you and your exit payments" and simply never return to the states?

[Episiarch]

Well, I guarantee they'd seize all your assets that they still could get their hands on. If you had moved it all out of country, depending on how much money you had (which would be a factor in how much they planned to steal from you) they might try and extradite you.

Also, you'd better already have another passport for another country before you try that.

Remember, the US is pretty much the only country in the world that claims a portion of your income no matter where in the world you earned it, and claims a portion if you decide to leave. It's pretty much unabashedly saying it owns all of us.

[Steve G]

Writing a War College paper presently on courses of action for dealing w/ the EU from the perspective of SecState/NatSecAdv/etc (haven't picked yet). Might have to include this little nugget. I'll cite anon coward of course.

[Jordan]

Oh, and the ECB is also seriously considering negative interest rates.

[Warty]

No wonder they hate Bitcoins so much.

[The Late P Brooks]

"You're a brave man. Go and break through the lines. And remember, while you're out there risking your life and limb through shot and shell, we'll be in be in here thinking what a sucker you are."

EXCELLENT.

I love that line.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Duck Soup?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I nailed it!

[Ayn Random Variation]

So I was innocently watching Dirty Dancing last night for the first time I knew who Ayn Rand was.
There's a scene where the evil rich med school student/waiter tells Jennifer Gray, after the girl he knocked up got a backroom abortion that fucked her up, that some people matter and some people don't. He then hands her a book so she can better understand. And the book is The Fountainhead! I lol'd so loud that my gf thought I was having a fit.

[~Knarf Yenrab~]

Wild speculation time: what percentage of progressives recognize the name Ayn Rand, and what percentage of those have read Rand or heard her speak?

I'll go with 30%/5%.

[Corning]

It is grand that a little sexually deviant Russian peasant girl who escaped Lenin does cause such a ruckus among the left.

[World watchers]

Obama came out today he wants it an extra billion dollars from the taxpayers some crazy idea of wasting money for companies like his solar flops he had some friends in the business of global warming!! Anything he can do any way possible for him to get rid of America's money he will do double down and do!!

[0x90]

(CNN) -- You don't have to be strictly a man or a woman on Facebook anymore.

In a nod to the "it's complicated" sexual identities of many of its users, the social network on Thursday added a third "custom" gender option for people's profiles. In addition to Male or Female, Facebook now lets U.S. users choose among some 50 additional options such as "transgender," "cisgender," "gender fluid," "intersex" and "neither."

Why a list -- why not just put it as a text field and be done with it? 50 choices is only enough to cover 50 hipsters. Well, assuming one of them will take "gender fluid".

[enviro414]

The two primary drivers of average global temperatures explain the reported up and down measurements since before 1900 with 90% accuracy and provide credible estimates back to the low temperatures of the Little Ice Age (1610).

CO2 change is NOT one of the drivers.

The drivers are given at

http://agwunveiled.blogspot.com/

[cheap soccer jerseys]

I certainly don't hold it against southerners that they can't drive in snow. It's not usually a terribly relevant skill. I would have thought that Pennsylvanians would have a bit more of a clue, though.