NYPD Gets More Oversight, House of Cards Tax Credit Fight in Maryland Gets Nasty, Walmart Sues Visa: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: JeepersMedia / Foter / CC BY

  New York City has appointed its first inspector general for the police department, part of the oversight reforms that ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg and the police department resisted.

• Producers of political power fantasy House of Cards threaten to move filming of their show out of Maryland if they don't get more tax credits. In response, some Maryland lawmakers threaten to use eminent domain to seize the film company's property if they try. Nothing like seeing two horrible government policies used against each other.
• Attorney General Eric Holder says the federal government will recognize about 300 gay marriages performed in Michigan between the time a judge struck the ban down and a stay of the ruling was put into place. Michigan's governor said the state will not recognize them for now.
• Walmart is suing Visa for $5 billion, claiming the credit card company is conspiring with banks to jack up the credit card processing fees retailers have to pay.
• In Orange County, Calif., 21 residents have been diagnosed with measles this year, its worst outbreak in 20 years. Seven have been hospitalized.
• Protests followed the news that Egyptian military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi will run for president. Three people, including a journalist, were killed in clashes.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Comments

[Injun, as in from India]

Test of first.

[Karl Hungus]

Passed with flying colors.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

The Tigers did the right thing signing Cabrera. They want to win and he’s the best player in baseball.

That is all.

[Sudden]

What about DeSean Jackson’s release by the Iggles?

Alleged L.A. gang ties, including a recently acquitter murder suspect.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Maybe LBC knows him. He’s from there.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Jackson is from different neighborhood. From what I’ve heard though he’s a decent kid. Any gang ties are probably incidental. He’ll he grew up in LBC and went to Poly. He’s bound to have a friend or relative who’s banging. But not him.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He went to CAL. How bad a guy can he be?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Especially when he can punt return like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPXSzia2Zfg

From back when I acknowledge CAL’s football program.

[Sudden]

Praise be to Tedford

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

1-10 my senior year. Tedford came in next season.

[Max Power]

Or like this!

This might be my favorite football game ever.

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

I love Jackson standing back there, waiting for the ball, making the hand gestures that say “Bring it!” It was an amazing ending.

I’m a Cowboy fan and I still loved it. Because…you know…it’s nice to see what a happy game ending looks like.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Look, the guy is a stand out receiver that gave the Eagles a weapon to work with but too much baggage. They’re pretty good at replacing players – like the Pats.

It’s a classic how much do you want to tolerate talent versus the trouble thing.

Although, I think the contract talks were overblown a little. I don’t think what he said was bad at all.

[Max Power]

The Eagles are losing about $6.25 million by cutting him, so that makes me think they know something that didn’t come out yet. Or maybe Chip Kelly just really doesn’t like him.

I always thought he seemed like kind of a punk but not a bad guy or criminal.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah, more punk than anything. And there are plenty of those to go around. So. Meh.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

If you were considering Simpsons references for your handle, why not “Jazz Man”?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Honestly, I had so many I got flustered and just typed the first thing that came out of my head. I had recently watched ‘Duck Soup’ and the rest was hist’ree.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I was referring to “Max Power” which comes from Homer’s hair dryer. Yesterday, he shared that he majored in “Jazz Performance”, which sparked a firestorm of followup questions.

Now I’m headed to google to find out about this “duck soup”.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

A found a duck soup with a Rufus T. Is it worth watching when I finally have free time?

[Max Power]

Bleeding Gums Murphy would’ve been a good handle though. I kinda wish I’d thought of that earlier.

[Max Power]

Max Power was the first thing I thought of. I just always liked that episode.

…and that’s the end of that chapter.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Sir, traditionally, a monogram is just your initials.

[Pro Libertate]

Apparently, there’s some suspicion of him having gang involvement.

[KDN]

Just because he’s the best hitter in baseball doesn’t mean he’ll be one in seven years, never mind eleven (he wasn’t a FA until after next year). The value is fine but the length is stupid.

I’d delve into it further, but Keith Law saved me the trouble.

The history of players like Miggy in their 30s and early 40s isn’t promising for Detroit. Only seven corner position players have generated 40-plus WAR past age 30 since 1961. No pure first baseman has done it; Edgar Martinez is the only DH to do so.
…
[David] Ortiz might be the best comparison for what the Tigers can reasonably hope to get from Cabrera. Papi has stayed healthy and productive into his late 30s, averaging 132 games and 4.1 WAR over the past seven seasons. He earned $28.5 million over the past two seasons and will make $31 million over the next two, or just a little more than what Miggy will make per season under the new deal. And the Boston Red Sox have kept his contracts limited in duration rather than committing to him a decade in advance — with no evidence at all that this has cost them any kind of significant premium.

[Sudden]

The market now is that you can only sign a guy like this by saddling yourself to a backend contract that renders your team unable to compete for the last half of his contract. Guys like Pujols getting 7 year contracts in their mid thirties. If ever the lefties could rationally point to a market failure, it would be the length of contracts for MLB power hitters.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The NHL does the same thing. Luongo for example.

And who can forget DiPietro’s 15 year contract. That was the most insane thing I’ve ever seen.

[John]

Cutting off the steroids made these sorts of contracts insane. I like Miggy a lot. He is a great hitter. But he is very likely to stop being a great player in the next five years and the Tigers are going to be stuck paying him great player money.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The Tigers shouldn’t be surprised if they get a Todd Helton situation from this. That’s really the risk here. He very well could be a good hitter all the way through, but the odds are that the last 2-3 years of that contract, his salary’s going to be way out of proportion to his production.

As a rule, I’m not a fan of professional sports contracts that go beyond 2-3 years, but I understand why it happens. The emotional aspect of holding on to a popular, massively productive for years and possibly having him retire in that uniform still carries a lot of cachet.

[John]

I agree. That is why the Yankees were smart to let the Mariners overpay Robinson Cano. One of the upshots of steroid testing is that it has made baseball a young man’s game again. The days of winning with guys in their 30s are over.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The length is ridiculous. But, I think they’re aiming for a championship inside three or four years and it’s reasonable to believe he can perform well in that time frame.

Holy crap. Ortiz? Ortiz was a 1B and then DH. Cabrera plays 3rd. Pas le meme chose I think.

Law? The guy that’s in love with Trout?

[Brandon]

The tigers did the same thing the Yankees did with ARod. How’s that working out?

[Karl Hungus]

“A former Washington DC resident must enroll as a firearms offender and pay a fine after a judge found him guilty of “attempted possession of unlawful ammunition,” for having antique replica muzzleloader bullets in his home . . . ”

http://www.foxbaltimore.com/ne…..zXaNNJDtJ0

(Yes, the tip was called in by his ex-wife, and yes, they staged a SWAT raid on his home)

[PD Scott]

DC is strong with the stoopid.

[Injun, as in from India]

Bullies and their cowardly enablers.

[Tonio]

This was covered by another poster several days ago, Karl.

[Karl Hungus]

Apologies then, I didn’t know that – haven’t been around much lately.

[PD Scott]

It’s not like we have a checklist of discussed items… “Previously, on Hit n Run… Deep dish pizza, Obamacare, Chris Christie, abortion, Republicans are teh stoopid party, Marcotte/Sadbeard/Reich/Krugman wrote something insane.“

[Bobarian]

You forgot – Matty Y is functionally retarded, and circumcisions.

[Suthenboy]

Every single person who acted to have that man prosecuted should be hanged.

[paranoid android]

Yeah, I was going to post something along the lines of “every time I read a story like this, my ability to resist the urge to call for everyone involved to be lined up and shot deteriorates a little” but thought it sounded a little extreme.

Absolutely maddening.

[Corning]

So i saw this video on slings…

It makes me wonder why Muzzle-loaders ever existed.

Or at least the non-long barrel non-rifled mussle-loaders which had to exist first which without the other ones would never exist.

[John]

They existed because it was easy to train people to use them. A long bow is a much more deadly weapon than a musket. But it takes years of practice to use a longbow effectively. I can train you to use a musket in a few days.

[jamesrk]

Training: as above

Logistics: arrows vs bullets and gunpowder

Disease: soldiers where just as likely to die of malnutrition or disease back then, the bow reflects the strength of the user the gun does not.

Armor penetration: there was armor that could stop the bullets but it was heavy and only protected vital areas.

[Corning]

Slings take no skill….a rock and some rope twirl it around and release.

Keeping powder dry and packing and oiling the moving parts and on and on and on.

This would not be the first time military invention went crazy off into a dead end tangent.

Big men in heavy armor got their ass kicked by small men on small horses who could fire a bow from horse back and knew how to retreat regardless of some idiotic code of chivalry when the mongols went west….only really stopped coming when the west adopted the mongols tactics.

Even today we still have tanks and aircraft carriers which make absolutely no fucking sense what so ever.

[Brandon]

Why do tanks and aircraft carriers not make sense?

[R C Dean]

Slings take no skill

As long as you don’t care where the rock goes, anyway.

Big men in heavy armor got their ass kicked by small men on small horses who could fire a bow from horse back

In large part because the Mongol bows were crazy powerful.

[Corning]

Bows are not slings.

[Bobarian]

slings take some not insignificant amount of skill to hit a target while being fired upon.

The amount of ‘armor’ (padding) to protect yourself from a sling would be a relatively insignificant.

I’m not even going to address the tanks and aircraft carrier comment, as I wouldn’t know where to start.

[jamesrk]

http://chrisharrison.net/index.php/Research/Sling

Key Points
“The sling requires enormous skill, one that can generally only be obtained with training from childhood (Hawkins, 1847; Korfmann, 1973; Wise, 1976; Ferrill, 1985). ”

“Ranged attacks work especially well in volleys, as the concentrated firepower is likely to wound more people simultaneously, causing confusion and fear, and making it harder to regroup. A group of archers could draw their bows and fire simultaneously. Crossbows and firearms could do this even better. The sling was much harder to coordinate as the arming, aiming, and firing of the weapon was a single motion. People with different length arms and casting styles would fire at different moments, even if starting at the same time. ”

“Advances in armor design were perhaps the sling’s biggest obstacle.”

[Sudden]

Completely OT:

There’s a photo floating around facebook about BACA, an arizona biker gang organization that offers to guard the house of a child accusing molestors and to shield them from having to see the face of their accused in court.

As expected, everyone pats themselves on the back in the comments saying “wow great!” “These guys are teh awesomez” etc etc.

I want to comment and say “well, that all sounds fine and good until it results in the first conviction being overturned for jury intimidation or children who think bikers are cool start accusing ordinary people of heinous crimes.”

I’m pretty sure that this would cause most people to begin frothing at the mouth and hate me and accuse me of being a pedophile or sympathizer, rather than someone who, y’know actually cares about the rights of the accused.

[PD Scott]

Is there currently a big problem with accused molesters going to their accusers houses (with the possible exception if it’s a parent)? Because I’d think it’s something that would look bad for you, the accused, if you did it.

[Brett L]

No contact with victim is a pretty standard term for bail in even misdemeanor assault cases.

[Sudden]

not that I’m aware of. But these organizations aren’t about fighting any percieved injustice, but rather naval gazing and self-congratulatory feelz.

Hell, it may even be an effort to get more kids to “come out” with accusations, but I can’t help but worry that the spike in accusations that may follow will be of less credibility.

[Bobarian]

“accuse me of being a pedophile or sympathizer, rather than someone who, y’know actually cares about the rights of the accused.”

Why not all three?

[Zeb]

Seems to me that the whole “right to confront your accuser” thing is pretty important.
It sucks if you were molested, but that doesn’t mean the whole world revolves around you.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I think they lost the plot at “arizona biker gang organization.”

[Fist of Etiquette]

In Orange County, Calif., 21 residents have been diagnosed with measles this year, its worst outbreak in 20 years.

We can’t go two measly decades without an outbreak.

[Sudden]

People who don’t vaccinate because they don’t want their kids to end up retarded are themselves retarded.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You should do a little more research on this website that I found:
How do vaccines cause autism?

[Sudden]

I would print that, but the 36 point font would bankrupt my company.

[Andrew S.]

You had me. I clicked on that expecting to be all pissed off.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Exactly.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, that’s concise. And irrefutable.

[Tonio]

Have you no shame, Sir?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I think it’s pretty obvious I don’t.

[SIV]

Walmart is suing Visa for $5 billion, claiming the credit card company is conspiring with banks to jack up the credit card processing fees retailers have to pay

So offer a cash discount for all purchases like the liquor store does.

[Injun, as in from India]

But how else can Walmart have its cake and eat it too?

[Brett L]

This is just Walmart striking back against the people who are keeping them from getting a banking license.

[Pro Libertate]

I rather suspect that Walmart is more right than wrong here. Banks and the credit card networks colluding against merchants? Seems plausible to me.

[Brett L]

Oh, I’m sure. My point is that if they believe (not wrongly) that if they weren’t being blackballed for a banking license, they’d be getting a better deal from Visa and their fellow banks. Everyone who has spent five minutes talking shop with an independent retail or restaurant owner knows that the credit card and bankers collude to screw merchants.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Reason #1 why Costco doesn’t take Visa/MC. They seemed to have negotiated a sweet deal with AMEX, though.

[Brett L]

Yeah, a friend with a restaurant spent an evening trying to explain to me the various payment schedules and transaction fees. It is utterly Byzantine. I understand why Square exploded. 2.75% is high, but they pay you in days not plus 30 or on Wednesdays between the 12th and 16th of even numbered months.

[Juice]

They take my debit card that uses the VISA network. I’m sure that’s different somehow.

[Pro Libertate]

It is different, because it’s not a credit transaction.

[Pro Libertate]

It’s bullshit that Walmart couldn’t get an industrial loan charter, anyway. Target got one.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

What happened? I’m not familiar with the details. Where they not favored by All the Right People?

[Pro Libertate]

I don’t recall it all, but the banking industry wasn’t thrilled with the idea, nor were the card networks.

[db]

It is getting common for.companies to.contract with banks to.set up purchasing cards that kick back percentages to the.company at year end. Word is the.banks lean heavily on vendors and.impose excessive transaction fees in.order to.do so. I would not.be.surprised if this.were.happening at tye.retail level.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Visa does not allow cash discounts or minimum purchase requirements.

[Injun, as in from India]

Wasn’t that supposed to change with the CARD act or something like that?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It may have, I’m not current on the matter. But if you see a handwritten sign saying “Minimum $10 for credit card purchases”, you used to be able to call them on it. I never did.

[Bobarian]

the CARD act?

Oh, I remember, that’s where congress colluded with the banks and credit card companies to fuck the consumer, right?

[PD Scott]

Was there discussion of the bullet-proofish $3.2 million Diamond Armor suit?

The bullet-proof fabric of the suit was developed by body-armor maker Croshield and provides level II protection certified by both NIJ standard 0101.0 and NATO STANAG 2920 V50500m/s. To protect the wearer against the more prosaic threat of rain, Schoeller Technologies used nanotechnology based on how plants shed dirt and water to make the suit waterproof and dirt-resistant. Similar nanotech is also used to seal the seams against leaks.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

So… if you do get it dirty, how do you clean it? I guess you’d have to buy a laundromat and pay the owner enough so she/he’s not incentivized to steal it.

[Brett L]

Schoeller Technologies used nanotechnology based on how plants shed dirt and water to make the suit waterproof and dirt-resistant.

Hose it off.

[PD Scott]

I don’t think it’s especially padded, so if you were shot you’d still have all the energy from the bullet, you just wouldn’t have the bullet penetrating you.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Yeah, be a bit like getting hit by Mike Tyson…wearing brass knuckles.

[Injun, as in from India]

New York City has appointed its first inspector general for the police department, part of the oversight reforms that ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg and the police department resisted.

Call me a cynic, but this new IG guy is going to whitewash or ignore the NYPD’s abuses.

[Tonio]

Eure, currently head of the District of Columbia Office of Police Complaints, insisted his office would not duplicate the work of the NYPD’s internal affairs unit or the Civilian Complaint Review Board as some critics have claimed.

[PD Scott]

“We’re going to independently pretend to care about the concerns of the good people of New York.”

[Tonio]

And even if the IG did want to do his job, how much cooperation do you think he’d get from the NYPD?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Walmart is suing Visa for $5 billion, claiming the credit card company is conspiring with banks to jack up the credit card processing fees retailers have to pay.

I can’t imagine how much of Walmart’s wares are purchased with debt.

[Ted S.]

More or less than purchased with EBT?

[SIV]

Curses!Foiled again.

[Ted S.]

Sadly, this happens to me all the time. 🙁

[SIV]

All the EBT.

[Jordan]

I buy everything with a credit card, since I pay it off every billing cycle and get rewards to make up for the shitty interest rate of my savings account (thanks Monetarist clowns!).

[Andrew S.]

Yep this. Have a Southwest VISA and a Marriott VISA that I switch between (plus an Amazon VISA that I only use for purchases there). End up getting free travel out of it, since it doesn’t cost me anything.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I get 1% cash back, but am thinking of trying something else. What is the ROR on Southwest and Marriot?

[grrizzly]

Get Barclaycard Arrival. The cash back is 2%. Nothing beats, at least for the first year, when the annual fee is waived.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

2% on everything?

I put every single expense that I can on my visa, so the annual fee won’t really matter if I’m doubling my return.

[grrizzly]

Yep, but you can get 2% only through travel expenses: plane tickets, hotels, car rentals and such. For me it’s not a restriction, I travel a lot. But if somebody never travels then it won’t work.

[grrizzly]

You can apply a statement credit only to travel expenses, if you want to get the 2% cash back. But the cash back is 2% on every single purchase, travel or not.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Thx, I’m going to look into it.

[BakedPenguin]

You know Milton Friedman is the economist mostly associated with Monetarism, right? While he started off as a statist, Monetarism’s main point was that the money supply should follow the growth of the GDP.

That’s a debatable proposition, but it’s not Keynesianism.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That Maryland-House of Cards thing is weird.

[Pavlov's Cat]

It wouldn’t have taken me a minute to turn on my heel and start packing, most expensive/irreplaceble stuff first.
Announcement of the move would immediately follow confirming the last item crossing the border.

[Mad Scientist]

Why announce it at all? I’d claim I was just swapping out old equipment with shiny new stuff….which hasn’t arrived yet.

[Tonio]

I’m don’t think they were threatening to seize the cameras and lights, MS (those are likely rented, anyway), but rather the real estate used for the exterior shots.

[Corning]

Maybe they are talking about seizing the copy rights and IP of the show?

What the fuck does the article say? Did any of us even read it or are we simply trying to recreate the article from first principles?

[Tonio]

I RTFA, Josh, but it was unclear. And since I’ve never heard of using eminent domain on anything except real property I assumed that’s what they meant.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Wouldn’t be the first time Maryland tried something like this.

[Tonio]

The practical problem with that is the locations they use for external shots can’t be duplicated elsewhere. The external shots you see in HoC are all shot in Baltimore.

The title sequence was shot in DC, but that’s a done deal.

[Suthenboy]

No doubt movie companies will be climbing over each other now to begin new productions in Maryland.

[kbolino]

Maryland doesn’t really care about having actual work done in the state, more than half of the population is employed by or dependent upon the federal government one way or another.

[Juice]

And then people attribute the overall wealth of the state (which comes almost entirely from the federal government) to Maryland’s great TEAM BLUE government.

[kbolino]

Maryland (and DC and Northern Virginia) is a great example of how progressive government still manages to fuck so much up even with a practically unlimited supply of other people’s money.

[Virginian]

Northern Virginia

Yeah I had someone tell me Loudon County was really nice. And it is. But that’s because courtiers throughout history have always had really nice houses near to the capital.

Government officials having really really nice things is not a good sign.

[Brandon]

which comes almost entirely from the federal government other states’ taxpayers…

[Free Society]

That Maryland-House of Cards thing is weird.

It’s par for the government course. Eminent domain is a thing backed up by violent force. If the House of Cards producers refuse to accept the seizures they will be ‘legally’ kidnapped and if they resist enough they will be murdered by the state. The Maryland legislature would rather kill than not get a cut of the wealth that they produce.

This is statism and it has to stop.

[LarryA]

That Maryland-House of Cards thing is weird.
Anyone remember the episode of Friends where Joey said something in an interview that the writers of his show don’t like? In the next episode his character fell to his death down an elevator shaft.
Imagine what the writers of House of Cards could do writing about Maryland.
Never piss off someone who buys television time by the episode.

[Ted S.]

In response, some Maryland lawmakers threaten to use eminent domain to seize the film company’s property if they try.

They didn’t learn when they tried this against the Irsays 30 years ago?

[Rich]

“I literally thought: What is an appropriate Frank Underwood response to a threat like this?” Delegate William Frick said, according to The Washington Post. “Eminent domain really struck me as the most dramatic response.”

I literally thought: Frick You, That’s Why!

[Warty]

Bob Irsay, save us now!

[kinnath]

http://www.slate.com/articles/…..don.1.html

Marriages are so much more merged, and affairs become a venue for differentiation, a pathway to autonomy. Women will often say: This is the one thing I know I am not doing for anyone else. I am not taking care of anyone, this is for me. And I have a harder time doing that in the context of marriage because I have become the mother who needs to protect the child 24/7 from every little boo-boo and scratch, and I am constantly other-directed so much so that I am utterly disconnected from my erotic self and my partner is longing for sex and I can’t even think about it anymore. And then suddenly I meet somebody and discover something in my body I haven’t experienced for the last eight years, or I didn’t even know existed inside of me.

The end is nigh.

[Teenage Girl]

And then suddenly I meet somebody and discover something in my body I haven’t experienced for the last eight years, or I didn’t even know existed inside of me.

Eewww!!

[Ted S.]

Was this articule written by Sigourney Weaver, by any chance?

[Tonio]

+1 Alien

[Invisible Finger]

+1

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Bravo!

[Soros' Wank-noose]

Probably so. If not that, the shitty intellectuals certainly are.

“Other-directed”? I don’t….Huh?!?

[Juice]

It’s newspeak for directed by others. I guess.

[Brett L]

Just so I’m clear: Your partner wanted to help you reconnect with your erotic self, but YOU chose to see them as the person who only sees mommy, until some other stud came along and got you lubed up. Yeah. You’re totally the heroine of this story.

[Sudden]

While this is undoubtedly a sign of the Marcusian take-over of the culture, she does properly identify the heights that a female rationalization hamster acquires in order to avoid any shame for her behaviour. My own ex-wife would constantly act like her daily life was one massive exercise in self-immolation that anti-war Vietnamese buddhist monks couldn’t rival in a million years. I recall marriage therapy vividly:

her to therapist: “I feel like everything I do is for others, like I’m always putting everyone else first. Sometimes I want to be selfish.”

my brain as this is being said: “bitch, you don’t even do the fucking dishes and the only times you do cook I find myself having to drink an additional three beers just to meet my minimum calorie content for the day.”

[kinnath]

Because it was so fraught, women used to need a really good reason to take that risk. But today, female infidelity is the biggest challenge to the male-dominated status quo.

[Ted S.]

My own ex-wife would constantly act like her daily life was one massive exercise in self-immolation that anti-war Vietnamese buddhist monks couldn’t rival in a million years.

As Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu said, “If they want to barbecue themselves….”

[Sudden]

Except she never did any such thing. Not with me, not with her friends. She had normal human relationships where she would give at times and take at times.

But one has to see themselves as a victim in order to justify their morally abhorrent behaviour i suppose.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

How did you end up married, then? Crazy good sex?

[Sudden]

Not really. The sex was for the most part pretty average. Not exactly sure how I ended up there other than she started putting pressure on me to put a ring on her finger at some point and, while it was something I had thought about, I complied before really thinking it through. We had good times no doubt, but I found myself all too often just going with the flow to avoid conflict.

There were points where I thought about ending it, but a combination of a) fear of the unknown and b) her having gone through a brain tumor and successive seizures etc after that made me feel like if I broke up I would be the moral equivalent of John Edwards.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You did the right thing then. You tried.

[Suthenboy]

Bullshit.

People who cheat, cheat. They don’t do it because they are overwhelmed or in an unhappy marriage. They do it because something is missing inside them. No other person will ever be able to make them feel complete. They will continue looking for that other person forever, going from one to another to another, never realizing the fault lies within themselves.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

There’s a rule. If you start dating a girl while she’s cheating on someone else….

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Happened to my cousin. He was all happy and I told him she was gonna do the same thing.

And she did and broke his heart.

God rest his soul.

[Coeus]

There’s a rule. If you start dating a girl while she’s cheating on someone else….

That’s why those never get the girlfriend label. You just bang them (with protection). And they are the majority, in my dating sphere at least. I call it the Arboreal Ape Theory of dating.

[Bobarian]

That is not dating, that is bangin’ Hos!

[Coeus]

I consider multiple bangs to be dating.

[John]

Exactly. the bottom line is that it takes effort and commitment to stay married and stay loyal over the long term. This women didn’t have the character to do that and jumped in bed with the first thing that came along.

Everything she writes is just her rationalizing those cold facts. I don’t really care that she is a whore. I just find her excuses for being such really boring.

And the sexism at Slate is appalling. Lets see them publish some self justifying articles by philandering men.

[Injun, as in from India]

And then suddenly I meet somebody and discover something in my body I haven’t experienced for the last eight years, or I didn’t even know existed inside of me.

Isn’t that somebody supposed to provide the something inside of her?

[Corning]

And then suddenly I meet somebody and discover something in my body I haven’t experienced for the last eight years, or I didn’t even know existed inside of me.

Soo…

She pooped out a couple kids and she and her husband forgot that after the pregnancy/post pregnancy sex break you need to force yourselves back into the routine of fucking each other and basically the fall out is she needs a mystical reawakening explanation of why she is willing to ruin her marriage and fuck around on the father of her own flesh and blood.

Brilliant.

[R C Dean]

This is the one thing I know I am not doing for anyone else.

So, you’re just using him like a piece of meat.

You go, girl! Feminism for the win!

[Fist of Etiquette]

In response, some Maryland lawmakers threaten to use eminent domain to seize the film company’s property if they try.

If only Frank Underwood was this subtle.

[Ted S.]

Did they think the name Urquhart was too difficult for Americans to pronounce? 🙁

[Tonio]

I think they wanted a different character name to differentiate this from the UK version.

[Zeb]

I liked the similar but not same names in the US version. They changed Stamper’s first name and some names completely. And Urquhart has a kind of foreign sound to it. The plot is different enough that it seems appropriate.

I just finished watching the original, which is great. Urquhart’s wife is really evil in that one.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

This Gawker story on how climate change deniers should be arrested is pathetic clickbait, but also proof that Gawker can still do new, groundbreaking things. This is officially the first place I’ve read something positive about those Italian scientists getting convicted:

This is an argument that’s just being discussed seriously in some circles. It was laid out earlier this month, with all the appropriate caveats, by Lawrence Torcello, a philosophy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

There is a clear precedent, Torcello says, in L’Aquila, Italy, where six seismologists were convicted of manslaughter in connection with a 2009 earthquake that killed 309 people. The scientists weren’t convicted because they failed to predict an earthquake; no one can make such a prediction with reliable precision. But they were convened to study a series of tremors the week before the quake, and tacitly signed off on a government official’s public message that “the situation looks favorable” and residents should chill out with some wine.

Their “inexact, incomplete and contradictory information,” the court found, contributed to the residents’ fatal lack of preparations for bigger tremors.

Well, I guess Torcello is breaking the ground, so nevermind.

[Sudden]

There is a clear precedent, Torcello says, in L’Aquila, Italy

Do these people understand that the concept of common law precedent requires that the case cited as precedent actually be, y’know, part of the canon of domestic common law?

Can’t wait until they start using Soviet Article 58 as precedent….

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Well, it’s not like the word is only a legal term of art.

[Free Society]

The people who think you can prosecute others for disagreeing with them, have no concept of law. For these fascists the law is a thing that exists to treat others to some violence.

Plus I think Italy is rocking a Civil Law system that recognizes universal jurisdiction. Nothing Common Law about it.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I have been told to contact you with the following message:
Jesse makes good bread.

[Brett L]

Should I be calling my wife and telling her to head for our GTFO spot?

[db]

Call it a drill.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

No, no, no. That would involve an eagle landing or something.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Wow. That could mean…so many things…

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He bakes his own naan, I make my own garlic sauce, and we swap. Sometimes carbs are worth it.

[Rich]

He bakes his own naan, I make my own garlic sauce, and we swap.

Is that what the kids are calling it these days? 😉

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Phrasing?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Hehe, I knew you were tempting me with carbs! Yum…

[Sudden]

I think youn mis-spelled crabs.

[jesse.in.mb]

Should I interpret this as a failure on your part to find your food processor bowl?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Still looking. It might have been hidden from me.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I can offer you an alternative: Tzatziki and some fully cooked gyro meat. All you have to do is thin slice it and pan sear.

If you reject this offer, say so in the next 30 seconds.

[jesse.in.mb]

I will accept your offer. I’ll fire up the oven when I get home.

[MJGreen]

Naan and garlic sauce. Back and forth. Forever.

[Ted S.]

Blood libel!

[SIV]

Matzo sucks. Too much Christian baby blood, not enough yeast.

[PD Scott]

“It’s an old Sicilian thing. It means Jesse sleeps with the bakers.”

[Sudden]

I have it on good authority that bakers are categorically anti-gay, so that cannot be so. Unless their homophobia merely hides their closet fetish.

[Sudden]

At first I read that as Jesus makes good bread.

I wasn’t sure how to take that.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Well, the Jesus method is very cost effective, but I haven’t been able to duplicate the results. Yet.

[Bobarian]

I took it to mean a list of ingredients.

[Ted S.]

and tacitly signed off on a government official’s public message that “the situation looks favorable”

What would have happened to them if they refused to sign off on the government official’s message?

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Well, since it’s Italy…yeah.

[Suthenboy]

Given that the only people pushing that horse shit are a loud, vocal minority, how does Torcello propose to put the large majority of people in jail and keep them there?

Also, the Italian case he uses is one where the scientists who signed off on the government officials statement under duress. They were threatened with prosecution if they caused a panic by telling people disaster was on it’s way.

Torcello, go fuck yourself with a chainsaw while you hang yourself.

[Corning]

If you are a woman and you fail to turn your man into your yard working, spider killing Symbian then you have not only failed as a woman but as a human being.

“I just can’t get my husband to fuck the shit out of me the way I want to be fucked the shit out of.”

“mam you are a drooling idiot. please kill yourself.

[Rich]

Body Odor Prompts Police Call in Hannibal, Mo.

The northeast Missouri town’s municipal code allows people to be cited for peace disturbance because of a “noxious and offensive” odor.

Like “Grey Flannel”?

[Fist of Etiquette]

New York City has appointed its first inspector general for the police department…

If he’s not also head of the police union I’ll be disappointed.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Michelle Malkin reviews Democratic corruption scandals

http://www.nationalreview.com/…..lle-malkin

[Rich]

It’d be great if her book was made into a movie in time for the midterms.

[Rich]

SQRLZ!

[Carl the Jarl]

I found out today that my dumb bitch sister-in-law has a concealed carry permit and handgun. My faith in the Second Amendment is officially shaken.

[db]

Has she shot.anyone yet? Even assholes have.rights.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Undecided. How is she a dumb bitch?

[Soros' Wank-noose]

What PM asks…

[Pavlov's Cat]

Have you made sure she has a good holster and training?

Is your faith in the First Amendment shaken when the President lies?

[Carl the Jarl]

Not seriously, see below.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

So…is she truly slow on the uptake, or is the “dumb bitch” qualifier related to, let’s say, cunty behavior?

[Carl the Jarl]

First of all, I’m joking about the Second Amendment thing. The fact that assholes and bitches will get their hands on gun is a given, with or without gun rights.

Second, to Soros’s question: she is just generally a dumb bitch, nothing specific to do with guns.

That said: the reason I found out she had a gun and permit was that today she was with my mother, brother, and aunt, and, in a fairly busy parking lot during lunch hour, bent over, pulled her pant leg up, and handed it to my aunt, who has never fired a weapon, without warning.

I was told she took out the mag, at least, but it wasn’t clear whether she checked the chamber.

[PD Scott]

Yeah, the concealed part is there for a reason.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

Ah! Yes, I see why you phrased it the way you did.

Oh, as for to Soros’s question-call me wank-noose. Or, Noosey*. 😉

*I thought about “Wankey”, but figured that starts to linguistically tread on Warty’s turf.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

So, Noosey, what was your previous handle?

[Soros' Wank-noose]

KMA, Too

[Soros' Wank-noose]

I haven’t really added much of substance, then or now, as I’m keen to learn from you all. Well, most of you.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I’m here to learn, too. Lots of knowledge to be had, and most people here are a lot smarter than me.

Except for one argumentative kid who impersonates a lawyer.

[Mad Scientist]

It’s worse than that: he’s impersonating a law student.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Wow. Way to aim for the middle!

[Soros' Wank-noose]

Good point. Hopefully, I won’t ever need legal advice that I can’t get from an attorney I hired.

That said, much love to our esquires here.

[Bobarian]

So… a bright future in food services, then?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

That’s fucking stupid, and bad manners. Do that shit at home, and get permission first.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

‘pulled her pant leg up,’

Sorry. Stuck on this. Is she hot?

[paranoid android]

Now I’m wondering if anyone has ever made a “women pulling guns from ankle-holsters in movies” supercut…

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Seconded. Waiting for hotness confirmation.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

Oh, you wouldn’t have heard about this sort of thing a century ago. How scandalous that someone calling herself a woman would dare show her ankles (or holsters) in public…..just shameful!!

[Carl the Jarl]

Sorry. Stuck on this. Is she hot?

NOPE!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Now I understand your contempt.

[DJF]

That happened to me when I saw a picture of Chuck Schumer with a machine pistol

[PD Scott]

How about a little 90s techno for a Friday afternoon?

[Ted S.]

How about some 90s Eurovision crap?

(I was actually in a hotel in Riga, Latvia during Eurovision ’92.)

[PD Scott]

Well the young woman in the Fluke video is cuter and wearing a tight purple bodysuit, so I think my selection is a tad better.

[SIV]

’65 Eurovision in Naples Luxembourg Wins!

[Ted S.]

Luxembourg’s entry from 1967 actually became famous.

[BakedPenguin]

Just curious, Ted, do you have an LP collection with a lot of Ed Ames and Andy Williams?

Although, admittedly, it’s been covered by guys with rocker cred.

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, don’t go trashing Mingo.

[Ted S.]

I was the youngest of four kids, and my mom was a surprise baby, six years after the next youngest kid in her family. So I had a lot of elderly relatives and friends of relatives.

My parents also had terrible taste in music. When I was a kid, there was actually a station that broadcast elevator music, and my dad listened to that a lot! (Much of my listening is classical, nowadays. Unfortunately, the classical station began its spring begging drive today.)

[Stormy Dragon]

If the production moves out of state, why would they care whether Maryland eminent domains the property they no longer use? If anything it makes it easier to move, as they’ll get paid market price for them without having to worry about finding a buyer.

Not saying it’s a good thing for Maryland to do; just that it seems a rather toothless threat.

[Tonio]

They’ll get what the government says is the market price. I’m sure that will be lower than the actual market price since people would pay top dollar to live in the Underwood house from HoC. Trophy house!

And, as noted above, the properties are used for exterior shots and would be difficult to duplicate elsewhere.

Of course, due to the plot twist, the Underwood house isn’t as essential. Don’t know about the other exteriors.

[Ted S.]

They’ll get what the government says is the market price. I’m sure that will be lower than the actual market price

At which point everybody else in the area — nay, the entire state — ought to petition their assessors for a revaluation of their property.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

The greatest company in the world, Costco, Dumps Edible Peanut Butter in Landfill.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

They get the same write-off for donating it as they do for dumping it, right?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

They do. On one hand, I can see why they would not want it donated to a food bank lest one kid gets sick and dies. Then it is all their fault.

But was there no other option then to just destroy all of it?

[Invisible Finger]

Didn’t you basically answer your own question?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Perhaps. I still think there would have been takers for free peanut butter.

Assuming we actually lived in a country where people were willing to accept risk.

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

“Assuming we actually lived in a country where people were willing to accept risk.”

HAHAHAHA! Thank goodness we don’t – keeps me in business.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I’ve said it before:
We need to start irradiating more shit in this country.

[PD Scott]

Absolutely.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

I was going to make a joke about giving it to lonely dog-owners. But, the more I thought about it, the more I felt bad for said dogs.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

My mind went in that direction too, but I couldn’t form a coherent joke. If I forced the joke, I surely would have come across as a pervert.

[Lord at War]

There’s a reason a girl I knew growing up was nicknamed “Skippy”.

[Warty]

Well they sure as shit can’t give it to farmers.

[Stormy Dragon]

I think you’re leaving out a key detail in that the peanut butter may be contaminated with salmonella.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

It was tested and safe. Costco didn’t want it because a few shipments had leaky oil.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Costco has had some bad publicity lately because of worms in their fish. Some videos of it have gone viral. Maybe they were concerned about appearances.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/od…..44548.html

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I may be a little bitter that I cannot join one.

And that liberals insist every company should be like Costco.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You can’t? Conflict of interest, or you just hate good deals?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

No Costco nearby.

[Mad Scientist]

No Costco nearby.

So, what do you do when you need 5 gallons of mayo?

[Swiss Servator, mehr Spr?ngli]

Finds out where sloopy get his artisan mayo?

*ducks and runs from room*

[jesse.in.mb]

So, what do you do when you need 5 gallons of mayo?

What about 55 gallon drums of lube?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

SF’ed link. Praise jeebus.

[jesse.in.mb]

Let me try again:

Passion Natural Water-Based Lubricant – 55 Gallon
The Ultimate Lube Keg
Best Value
Lube Pump Included

List price is 2,500, but Amazon is selling it for 909.73 + 523.27 S&H

The comments are of course delightful:

As UPS discretely unloaded my 55 gallon drum, the driver accidentally spilled it into my driveway. Any amount of cars can now fit into the garage.

I’m surprised by the high price. It would be cheaper if they sold it in bulk. I’ll wait until they release a three pack.

[Stormy Dragon]

I find myself unable to accept the concept of paying a store for the privelege of shopping there.

[kbolino]

I find myself unable to accept the concept of paying a store for the privelege of shopping there.

If you shop savvy, you can easily make back the annual membership fee and then some. Gas ($0.20/gal cheaper) and milk ($1.50/gal cheaper) come to mind. Of course, the gas only works if you go at off-peak hours and the store is not too far from your house.

Also, for a lot of things (excepting perhaps the worm-ridden fish), their quality is superior to other brick-and-mortar merchants at similar price points.

The biggest downside for many people I would think would be the need to use cash, debit, or American Express, and the gas station doesn’t take cash.

[Stormy Dragon]

I’m sure you can, and yet I’m willing to bet the majority of their customers don’t. And since I’m single and live alone, I’m probably far more likely to end up in the category of people who end up losing money on net.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I made the fee back with a single electronics purchase. I got a 70″ led TV, and it comes with the Costco warranty.

But yeah, buying in bulk works a lot better with a family or roommates.

[Bobarian]

We’ve got a Sam’s Club local here. I made back the membership on a set of tires.

[prolefeed]

I find myself unable to accept the concept of paying a store for the privelege of shopping there.

Their business model is, almost all their profit comes from the annual fee. Which means they can sell everything at cost, thus undercutting all their competitors because the annual fee is a sunk cost.

If you buy a lot of stuff there, it’s worth it.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Also, ewwww!*

*In little girl voice*

[Corning]

Producers of political power fantasy House of Cards threaten to move filming of their show out of Maryland if they don’t get more tax credits

Push the whiny millennial journalist in front of a train!!!

Swear to god that was the funniest thing I have seen on TV all year.

[prolefeed]

How she did not suspect that that was an incredibly dangerous place to talk to that sociopath?

I guess if she had the common sense to walk away, wouldn’t have made much of a show.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Jonah Goldberg notices sun rising in east, points out that the media doubt the motives of conservatives while assuming purity from liberals and Democrats

http://www.nationalreview.com/…..h-goldberg

[Rich]

It’d be great if her book was made into a movie in time for the midterms.

[Corning]

Conservatives need to stop being whiny little girls.

Try being a libertarian and listen to what the main stream press the liberal press and the conservative press say about us.

Hell even the god damn communist press treats conservatives better then libertarians.

[Suthenboy]

When Jolly was running in florida recently, he could not get the backing of the republican party unless he swore fealty to John Boehner as speaker of the house. When he hesitated to support Boehner they began to trash him. That told me everything I needed to know about the republicans….which I already knew.

They won’t fight because they don’t give a flying, flippin’ shit about anything except power. They have no principle or integrity, on par with the democrats. They are just slightly less corrupt and evil.

*See shreek, you were right all along, I am a team red fanatic.

[Coeus]

Christ. Get a load of cops reaction to that teen ticketing an officer story from a few days ago.

They are pissed, and many wish bodily harm.

[db]

Someone ought to have a twitter feed of actual policeone comments and display.it.on billboards around the.country.

[Pavlov's Cat]

Bravo Annie James!

[Juice]

The only comment you need to see.

who the hell does she think she is trying to tell a cop what to do or where to park?

Right on! It’s OUR job to tell YOU what to do! Never forget your place, citizen.

[Mercutio]

Right on! It’s OUR job to tell YOU what to do! Never forget your place, citizen peasant.

FTFY.

[Freedom Frog]

My father was a cop. I never heard stuff like this from him. This people have serious personality disorders. wow.

[Corning]

Walmart is suing Visa for $5 billion, claiming the credit card company is conspiring with banks to jack up the credit card processing fees retailers have to pay.

One year from now Walmart will be taking bitcoin….

Oh wait, never mind they already do.

[Coeus]

Posters on Fark cannot be real.

It’s like they get sexual pleasure from arbitrary bans.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

“Asian swords aren’t for showing off in public. They’re strictly for wall mounting and keeping their owners single.”

[Coeus]

Even better.

[Andrew S.]

Fark is where the people who were banned from /r/politics for being too extremely left wing congregate.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

^^Why is this, given that (thought) Drew was far more libertarian than anything?

If I’m correct, how’d it get so low?

[Soros' Wank-noose]

*I thought

[Andrew S.]

Not sure about that, but Drew doesn’t control the content, and there’s no upvoting/downvoting like on Reddit.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

I used to go there all the time (well before discovering H-and-R), but left because of the bullshit.

I just figured he’d be more involved than what he obviously is/was.

[prolefeed]

Producers of political power fantasy House of Cards threaten to move filming of their show out of Maryland if they don’t get more tax credits. In response, some Maryland lawmakers threaten to use eminent domain to seize the film company’s property if they try. Nothing like seeing two horrible government policies used against each other.

So, a show that kinda sorta glorifies ruthless Democratic politicians who will stop at nothing to get what they want runs afoul of real-life ruthless Democratic politicians using government as a blunt weapon?

[Rich]

Maryland pissed away Berretta. They can piss away House of Cards.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Did they? When was that?

[Rich]

Check it out.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Fascinating because the government always throws subsidies to companies under the guise of ‘saving jobs.’ But here lies a perfectly fine, profitable company that probably doesn’t rely on a hand out and those jobs don’t matter because they don’t fit the gun-control narrative.

Interesting that.

[paranoid android]

Oh man, I don’t want to steal any thunder from the regular posters of Slate/Salon madness, but this was linked from another article above and was too good to pass up:

Dear Prudence: My ex didn’t reveal she was transgender?until her sister told me.

Dear Prudie,
Several years ago I dated a woman named “Rhonda” for three months. I broke up with her after her sister “Amy” revealed to me that Rhonda was born “Ron” and showed me ample evidence. When I confronted Rhonda about her being a transsexual woman, she broke down and confessed that she was going to tell me, but only after we had been intimate! (Luckily we hadn’t been yet.) It wasn’t her transsexuality that ended the relationship, but her deception; I am not a transphobic person. Rhonda took the breakup badly and stopped speaking to Amy, and on top of that their parents took Rhonda’s side and accused Amy of trying to ruin Rhonda’s life out of jealousy. Later, Amy and I began dating and eventually married. Her parents refused to attend the wedding as a show of solidarity with Rhonda, despite Amy’s attempts to reconcile with all of them.

Props to him for accomplishing a feat even more daring than Jerry Seinfeld’s legendary attempt at the “roommate switch”, eh?

[Andrew S.]

Prudence is getting more and more fanciful with the letters “she” makes up I see.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Serious posted that a month or two ago.

[Brett L]

Now she’s just trolling us with bullshit.

[Auric Demonocles]

They dated for 3 months and still hadn’t banged? Was this trans experience in high school?

[Coeus]

Could be medical reasons. Some stuff takes numerous treatments to clear up.

I mean, so I’ve heard…

[John]

I love the “I am not a trasnphobic person” caveat. Just because you are appalled by some tranny who lies to you doesn’t make you “phobic” whatever the fuck that is.

[paranoid android]

You are probably aware of this, but there actually are a great number of SJW-types and progressives who would argue that desiring honesty from a sexual partner about their born-gender is a severe moral defect.

I haven’t had enough whiskey yet to want to venture down there, but some of them are probably in the comments of that very article.

[Auric Demonocles]

I have seen it. There are actually some people so crazy that they do classify you as “transphobic” if you treat a transwoman any differently than an actual one…. Even to the point of sex.

[Auric Demonocles]

And in this case they wouldn’t have classified this as “dishonest” since “she” “is” a woman.

[SusanM]

While I’m not going to argue with most of what you’re saying, I’m kinda curious as to, stopping at the point of sex, how you might treat a transwoman differently in the first place.

[Coeus]

Dating, I would assume.

[John]

I am not sure I have the constitution to drink enough whiskey to venture down there.

[Coeus]

desiring honesty from a sexual partner about their born-gender is a severe moral defect.

Wrong. Only men. Women are allowed to have preferences.

[Coeus]

SJWs and their striking similarity to socons continues.

It’s been so long since my heart has been warmed by furious students and faculty fighting for what is right, and now it’s happening: UMTC is getting some pushback over an invited speaker. It’s Condoleeza Rice. Why did we invite a war criminal to speak on campus in the first place? She is a person who should be shunned by all civilized company everywhere.

[Tonio]

Dammit, Coeus, what is it with you and PZ?

[Coeus]

I started reading slymepit.

Someone register and post “we get it, she’s black”.

[Juice]

done

[Coeus]

sweet. take a screenshot, cause it wont be there for long.

[Coeus]

Aaanndddd…it’s gone.

[Tonio]

Dude…

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I used to read PZ in my pre-libertarian days (I call them the “before time, the long long ago”). I don’t know how I ever did it. He’s insufferable.

[Juice]

I read him, Brayton, and the whole Panda’s Thumb crowd during the great evolution/creation debate of the early 00s. It would still be raging if the Kitzmiller trial hadn’t totally killed off the ID movement in 2005. After that trial, there was no sense of common purpose and everyone started branching off into other political topics, which gave them a chance to show their true colors. That’s when that crowd really turned me off.

[Tonio]

Yeah, that’s a good summary, Juice. I’m one of the more vocal atheists here and even I find Myers insufferable, not just because of his anti-libertarian stance.

[Brett L]

Humorectomies.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

What are SJWs and why does this article make them like SoCons?

[Tonio]

Really, Eddie? Too lazy to google?

SJW = social justice warrior

You know, those people who proudly wear the mantle of anointed righteousness, demand that their point of view is immune from criticism, and so on.

[Bobarian]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sjw

[Palin's Buttplug]

House GOP launches MORE BENGHAZI probe – this time on the mythical “stand down” order that never happened.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/n…..hazi-probe

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress last June that personnel in Tripoli were never told to “stand down” and top Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee reported in February that no such order was given.

The panel’s persistence on an issue the military considers settled underscore that Republicans have no plans to relent in their politically charged investigation of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans on President Barack Obama’s watch.

The fake scandal that won’t die!

[SusanM]

Hey, come on. They have mid-term elections to lose!

[Andrew S.]

Palin’s Buttplug|3.28.14 @ 5:02PM|#

Derp derp derp derp derp derp – derp derp derp derp derp “derp derp” derp derp derp derp.

Derp. Derp Derp, derp derp derp Derp Derp derp Derp, derp Derp derp Derp derp derp derp Derp derp derp derp derp “derp derp” derp derp Derp derp derp Derp Derp Derp Derp derp derp Derp derp derp derp derp derp derp.

Derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp Derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp derp Derp. derp, derp, derp derp derp Derp Derp Derp Derp derp derp derp Derp derp Derp Derp Derp derp.

Derp derp derp derp derp derp!

[BiMonSciFiCon]

You guys, I’ve figured it out. PB is http://www.southparkstudios.co…..erpee-dumb

[Corning]

The fake scandal that won’t die!

President lied, and 2016’s top democrat presidential contender lied as Secretary of state.

Even if the lie is as simple as blaming some youtuber for causing a terrorist attack and claiming it was spontaneous I think it meets the criteria for a real scandal…especially considering Americans died in the attack.

Hell you think Bush firing some hack lawyers and replacing them with his hack lawyers in the DOJ, something every president has done since the stone ages, is a scandal and no one even died…just a bunch of scum bag bureaucrats had to find jobs in the private sector.

[GILMORE]

This guy testified in congress that security teams in Tripoli were refused permission to travel to Benghazi. He was there on the ground at the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcoUa0-OZso

From Gen.Dempsey’s more-recent testimony, it appears both you and democratic hacks are making hay out of a bullshit, semantic distinction: he says, “Stand Down” would suggest an order NOT TO DO something. Instead, he says they were ordered TO REMAIN in Tripoli and aid with casualties.

This is what you roll with as your “proof!” that there is a fake-scandal. A crock of horseshit.

“GEN. DEMPSEY: They weren’t told to stand down. A stand down means don’t do anything. They were told to — that the mission they were asked to perform was not in Benghazi but was at Tripoli Airport.”

I don’t know whats so embarrassing = that you are so morally vacuous as to submit this as “proof” of something, or that your peers are so unbelievably stupid as to consider this a contradiction of Hick’s testimony.

[EdWuncler]

So there’s this feminist that I know on Facebook that always rant about how it’s not fair for rich old white men to determine she they can use birth control or not. Anyway, I asked if she thought it might be a tad bit hypocritical of her to bitch about old white men taking away her birth control but yet wouldn’t have a problem if those same old white men forced everyone to subsidize birth control.

What a shitstorm that question caused.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I bet you got accused of mansplaining.

[paranoid android]

Please, all Right-Thinking People know that women have a universal right to subsidized birth control. Whoever heard of a “right” to keep your own money?

[EdWuncler]

I tried to explain to her that anything the government gives you, they can also take from you. So why put yourself in that situation and instead try to find out why birth control is perhaps so expensive for some women.

[Corning]

instead try to find out why birth control is perhaps so expensive for some women.

Government regulations that keep it behind the counter at the pharmacy and require a permit to buy issued from a government credentialed “professional”.

[Warty]

Just thinking about it made me tired. I hope you learned your lesson about using Facebook for anything other than to stalk slutty acquaintances.

[Brett L]

Can I use it to feel superior to all of my friends with ugly babies?

[Banjos]

Yes

[Ted S.]

Why should Colonel Mustard be forced to pay for Miss Scarlet’s birth control?

[paranoid android]

Would you believe that for some reason, it never clicked with me until just now why the guy’s name was “Mr. Boddy”?

Fun fact: Wikipedia informs me that the original, English version of the game, the victim’s name is “Professor Black”. Apparently the guys making the American version showed sense than the importers of Settlers of Catan did regarding the “robber”.

[Ted S.]

Professor Plum did it in the conservatory with Colonel Mustard.

[Mad Scientist]

Why should Colonel Mustard be forced to pay for Miss Scarlet’s birth control?

Progressives have an answer for that: because he can afford to.

[Coeus]

This was created to demonstrate how the Redskins logo is offensive.

I wonder why they left this one off?

[Derpetologist]

Pff. Everyone knows that’s *college* team. Totally different…

[Derpetologist]

Derp. The final frontier. These are the tales of a Derpetologist. His continuing mission: to explore strange, new fools. To seek out new morons and new half-wit imbeciles. To boldly sigh where no one has sighed before…

? ? ?

I put in an order for a part, got a confirmation, and a month later it still hadn’t shown up. I find out the order had never been placed. I told my boss. A few days later, the guy calls me into his office to chew me out. He boasted of his high IQ, street smarts, and ability to get things done for about a hour. I ask him if he could have straightened out this problem in less time than what he spent to chew me out. He said yes. I said, so go out there fix it. That’s why I came to you the first place.

Thus ended the conversation.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You can be right, or you can be employed. Choose one.

[Derpetologist]

I walk the line…

[Stormy Dragon]

“Street Smart is just something dumb people say when they want to use the word smart to describe themselves.”

[lap83]

There was a good but short post today on Penelope Trunk’s education blog about how compulsory schooling began with the assumption that teachers need to replace parents.

http://education.penelopetrunk…..d-parents/

She quotes a pretty disturbing excerpt from the philosophy of the early 20th century General Education Board

In our dreams?people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present educational conventions [of intellectual and moral education] fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen ? of whom we have an ample supply. The task we set before ourselves is very simple?we will organize children?and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Look at the woman in the cartoon, helpfully labelled “parents,” and you’ll see the viewpoint of such people:

http://www.truthdig.com/images…..rs_500.jpg

[SusanM]

Check out this excerpt from a 1906 document by John Rockefeller’s General Education Board,

[Stormy Dragon]

The aphorism also assumes that kids, left to their own devices, will stare at the wall all day instead of learning through play.

To this day, I remember the pick up ball game where my friend John turned to me and said “if f is continuous on the closed interval [a, b] and F is the indefinite integral f of on [a, b], then definite integral of f over [a, b] is F(b) – F(a)”.

[lap83]

I know you’re just being tongue-in-cheek, but sadly your example hits a little too close to home for me. My brother, sister, and dad all talked about math for fun when my siblings and I were growing up. Now, I would say I have above average math skills…but math for entertainment? No thanks.

It illustrates a good point though. If the only thing you needed to get someone interested in a subject was by talking at them, we’d all end up liking the same things.

[Stormy Dragon]

The key there I think is the “and dad”. I found the suggestion that you can just kick the kids out of the house to play with the neighborhood kids for a few hours and they’ll come back with a high school education ridiculous.

Public education is wrapped up with a lot of statist indoctrination. But the response is not no education at all. I’m bothered by the strain of right wing thought that thinks the solution to left wing pseudo-intellectualism is anti-intellectualism rather than real intellectualism.

[RishJoMo]

Sometimes man, you jsut have to roll with the punches.

http://www.GotzAnon.tk

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Far worse than that. In his opinion, the teenage girl should fear for her safety in doing what she did.