Rep. Beto O'Rourke on "Constitution-free zones" at the Border; Plus Independents Re-Run Open Thread for "Rise of the Machines"!

There was a lot of quality content on The Independents this week, including an interview from the Monday episode with anti-prohibitionist border-district Democrat Rep. Beto O'Rourke (El Paso):

From that same episode, Lowell Peterson, executive director of the Writers Guild of America, East, tries to defend the use of tax breaks to promote ethnic and gender diversity in TV writing rooms:

At 7 p.m. ET tonight (4 p.m. PT), Fox Business Network is presenting a re-airing of our Friday robot episode, "Rise of the Machines." Re-live the Singularity magic on this open thread with Katherine Mangu-Ward, James Barrat, Robin Hanson, P.W. Singer, Marc Scribner, Lori Sanders, and some of your most beloved robots from the '70s and '80s!

Comments

[seguin]

Is there a break for hiring non-humans? Because that might make Lowell an attractive hire.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Bill Maher: Michelle Obama and Paul Ryan agree on black laziness

Real Time host Bill Maher went to bat to a degree for Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) by comparing his recently-criticized remarks about "inner city men" to an excerpt from a May 2013 speech by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Maher ? who noted the "hushed silence" from the crowd ? specifically quoted from her commencement speech at Bowie State University, in which she said too many young Black people "can't be bothered" to get a job.

"Instead of walking miles every day to school, they're sitting on couches for hours playing video games, watching TV," she said at the time. "Instead of dreaming of being a teacher or a lawyer or a business leader, they're fantasizing about being a baller or a rapper."

"I just read this, and you thought it was Paul Ryan," Maher told comedian W. Kamau Bell.

"Because you told me it was," Bell replied.

"For a reason," Maher said. "I'm just asking: Is something less true if a white person says it about black people?"

"This sounds even more like, 'Hey Black people, don't be lazy,'" Maher said.

"She's talking to Black people," Bell retorted. "We talk to each other differently than we talk to you."

First earthquakes, now Maher making an incisive point. Must be the end of days.

[Warrren]

Perhaps he's reaching a limit of dealing with lefties.

They are tiring, enervating even. Prolonged exposure can turn anybody mean or make them rethink their priorities.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

are there still aftershocks?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

There have been over 100 record aftershocks according to the news. I've felt two of them. One this morning at work and about an hour ago and another one briefly rattled my house.

[Tejicano]

I've been in Tokyo for the past couple decades and was here for the big one three years ago. After that one we had daily aftershocks for months which, before 03.11, would have been a topic of conversation but at that point hardly rated notice.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

There was just a 4.1 an hour ago. Biggest aftershock yet.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Doesn't sound good.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The aftershocks are consistently moving to the northeast. Which is the direction of the San Andreas,

[Tejicano]

I had always wondered if the San Andreas fault was some kind of preforated line which should be marked "Tear off and discard when no longer required".

[Banjos]

Considering sloop and I are fairly close to the fault, let's just hope they remain low grade aftershocks.

[Warrren]

Hope you're fine! Got my finngers crossed!

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

There are some large quakes happening as well on the other side of the pacific plate.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The really interesting stuff is going to happen when the East Pacific Rise and the San Andreas Fault finally connect.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

""She's talking to Black people," Bell retorted. "We talk to each other differently than we talk to you.""

But the criticism of Ryan was supposedly that he was *wrong,* factually wrong. *If* it's wrong, then it would be just as wrong if a black person said it.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I mean, what if Ryan had been demonstrably wrong, as in claiming that more black men were in prison than in college? His political career would have been over, just like the career of a junior Senator from Illinois was derailed when he bandied this fake statistic around:

http://www.npr.org/2013/04/23/.....an-college

[Suthenboy]

"....he was *wrong,* factually wrong. *If* it's wrong, then it would be just as wrong if a black person said it."

Blasphemer!

Haven't you ever heard anyone use the term 'my truth', or 'what is true to me'?

[Warrren]

You know what I've never seen in these comments? A caliber war. A knock-down drag-out discussion of the merits of 9mm v .45acp v .40 or any other caliber a person might like to bring in.

As much as I like .45 I'd rather have more 9mm in the same size gun as each additional round over how many .45s can fit gives me an extra chance to get out of trouble.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

There is merit to both the 9 and 45. No point in .40 unless you are a female police officer.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I have tons of both 9mm and .45. Not nearly as much as my .223 stash, but still a lot.

[Tejicano]

The largest part of my ammo stash is in 30'06 - on links. But since that is there to feed a belt-fed full-auto it kinda makes sense.

Next would be 7.62X51mm since I have about a dozen rifles which eat that.

6.8X43mm is well represented too but I need to source some 7.62X39mm since I've been running low on it.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I got a good deal on a spam can of 7.62x54R. Caustic shit, though.

[Tejicano]

I have considered a conversion kit to run my M1919A4 on 7.62X54mm for the cheaper ammo. But I can always reload the '06 ammo and in the end when the cases have been shot, re-loaded, annealed too much I can cut them down and start over in 7.62X51mm.

[SweatingGin]

I've been coveting a 1911 lately.

But I'm more than happy with my .40.

Not ashamed. More punch than 9mm, while still fitting more than 10 rounds in a magazine.

[Tejicano]

Lately I've been thinking to convert my FN High-Power from 40 Shrimpy-Wimpy to 357 SiG. Slightly smaller diameter but a lot more zip.

All my carry guns are either 45ACP or 10mm. A bit less capacity but I can hit tennis ball sized targets out to 15 meters so I shouldn't need so much ammo.

If it really comes down to SHTF the handgun is for shooting my way to my car to get my hands on something more serious.

[Bobarian]

You're all old dinosaurs, the correct answer is phased plasma in the 40 watt range.

[Warrren]

Sorry, the feds have restricted those to 10 Watts.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

I'm sticking with my reverse gravity beam. Even set to 1 second effect, that's a 10 meter fall, or a fall to the ceiling, then back to the floor.

[Tejicano]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Look at it this way - pit your contemporary apex predator against any carnivour from the Cretaceous and I'll put my money on the big lizard.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

pit your contemporary apex predator against any carnivour from the Cretaceous and I'll put my money on the big lizard.r

So, humans? That'd be a pretty bad bet. Pretty sure we have a cartridge for that.

And if that fails, we always tanks. T-Rex don't stand a chance.

[Tejicano]

You've got to make it a fair fight.

You can't run that tank by yourself, you need a crew. In fact, that tank is going to need somebody to bring fuel, ammo, parts... ...when it comes down to it you need a medium sized city of people to build, maintain, supply parts, and run that tank.

So to make it fair, pit your 50,000+ group of humans against 50,000 T-Rex's and I wonder if the humans - with a bunch of tanks - would wear them down over time or visa versa.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

There isn't anything a T-rex could do to harm a tank. An M1 Abrams weighs almost ten times an adult t-rex (62 metric tons vs. 6.8 metric tons), and is considerably more compact with a much lower center of gravity. However, the M1 can shoot these, which are designed to penetrate tank armor, and would be overkill for a t-rex.

And really, I don't hink we'd need tanks anyway. Africans used to hunt elephants, which are only a bit smaller than a t-rex, with freaking spears. Introduce modern firearms into the mix, along with our knowledge of camoflage, and I don't think we'd have any trouble hunting them to extinction.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Hey, just what ya see, pal.

[Paul.]

Not ashamed. More punch than 9mm, while still fitting more than 10 rounds in a magazine.

I have a .45 that carries 14. But it's not a ladies gun, so there's that.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Well Warren, you really set off quite the argument.

[Warrren]

Maybe not a high enough density of gun types on here today.

I've been thinking of getting myself one of Beretta's 81s in 32 as a carry piece. Low round count, but small and with little recoil and I hear they are very accurate and reliable.

Is that controversial?

And being in Cal I shouldn't use round count as a attribute to winnow down choices as regardless of caliber I'm stuck at ten rounds. Unless I just happen to find a box of pre-ban magazines somewhere...

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Possession is not illegal. You don't even need to have get pre ban mags. Just get them from out of state.

I, um, heard that some people would order them from 44mag.com (based in Oregon), and they would ship them disassembled.

It is not illegal to do that, so now the CA attorney general is suing 44mag and a couple of other companies in a nuisance lawsuit.

[Tejicano]

I've tried starting conversations on pump vs. semi-auto & box mag-fed scatterguns. Didn't get a lot of traction.

[Episiarch]

OVER-UNDERS 4EVAR YOU MONSTER

Though I do like my Weatherby semi-auto.

[Warrren]

There are people that can pump their SG very fast. I'm not one of them. I'd like more speed on tap but I've never fired an autoloader and I've not looked into reliability issues with them.

And why not include SxS in your topic. I've read that in the way back some police detectives in the NYPD would carry a cut-down 20 ga. coach gun with them. Not a lot of shots but a super-quick second shot. That might be relevant to some today.

[Tejicano]

I have a nice SXS as well but that's more of a SASS weapon to me (I also have a bunch of SAA clones too).

My current go-to 12 gauge is an MKA-1919 which I converted to a side folding stock and had the barrel chopped just over 18 inches. This is a box magazine-fed semi-auto with all controls just like on the AR I'm trained on. I've got 10 round magazines for it for fast reloads and quick transition from buck-shot to slugs if required.

I haven't seen any drum magazines for it like the ones I have for me Saiga-12 but that may happen some day.

[Tejicano]

P.S.

"I'd like more speed on tap but I've never fired an autoloader and I've not looked into reliability issues with them."

Try a Saiga then. What level of reliability are you missing when go for a Kalashnikov?

[AlmightyJB]

The only time I've heard about realibility issues in semi-auto shotguns were with low recoil loads. Some self defense shotgun ammo is low recoil but if it's a concern just stick with full power loads. You can't go wrong with a pump. You'll have another round in by the time you bring the barrel back on target anyways.

[Suthenboy]

I think a lot of people are hesitant to talk about what they have on the internet.

[Tejicano]

Yeah. I'm pretty free to run my mouth since my current IP address is where I live in Japan while my guns are somewhere back in the US and practically untraceable to my presence on-line.

[NSA Corey]

so noted.

[Suthenboy]

Well it does occur to me that I buy all my guns through a friend's gun store, so they already know what I have.

[SweatingGin]

Semi auto shotgun is damn fun, but pump is just so satisfying.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

THIS, is a damn fun shotgun.

[Tejicano]

I wouldn't mind. But I am primarily a rifleman, then a pistolero. Shotguns for me are for short range defense/combat.

Sux for me since here in Japan a shotgun is about all I can dream about. And self defence is not legal under just about any circumstance.

[Suthenboy]

Truth is, nothing beats a shotgun for all around combat. In close quarters it is the best choice, head and shoulders above everything else. It is massively effective.

I have a Saiga 12, ten-10 round mags, and around a thousand rounds each of slugs and 3" #4.
When the zombie apocalypse finally arrives I will be ok, I think.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

I'm with Tejicano, I love me a good rifle! If something needs to go away, I like the idea of it dying before it knows I exist. My national match M1A (bought at auction) is my best old girl. In this woodsy land, if I can see it, she can hit it.

Varminting around the farm is done with a stainless Ruger 10/22. People like to kid me about the flash suppressor, but it's there just as a stand-off to shelter the crown. The gun gets bumped around a lot.

Closer up, yes the 12 gauge. I like the old Mossberg 500. I have three of them, each has its own bird barrel and a short cylinder barrel to be worn indoors. All three have old-fashioned walnut furniture.

CCW gun is usually a little titanium .38spl S&W revolver I bought used.

[AlmightyJB]

I have an old mossburg pump 12ga I paid $75 for years ago. Recently both a nice 870 but haven't taken it out yet. This is why I need to get out of the burbs. So I can take a gun home from the store and fire off some rounds in the backyard.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

And self defence is not legal under just about any circumstance.

Really? So if someone were to break into your home what would be your options?

[Tejicano]

In Japan there is no escape in the case of self-defense. They always assume you could have run away - even if they brake into your home. If it was a case where you were cornered - like in your home - they might not charge you but that is not a given.

The main line that you should not cross is drawing blood. If you take a baseball bat and beat somebody until they are hospitalized you would be facing lesser charges than if you poke them once with a dinner fork and break the skin with one tine.

The other option is to be well aquainted with a "Mr. Wolf" (as per Pulp Fiction) to help dispose of any unwanted visitors who didn't survive the reception held in their honor.

[Suthenboy]

Yes it is Francisco. Personally I prefer a good SXS, but the OU is ok. I can hit better with the SXS.

Truth is, if you practice, you can shoot that damn thing nearly as fast and effectively as a pump. I hold two rounds between my fingers on my right, and two rounds between my palm and the forearm. I used to be able to get six shots off in around 10 seconds. Used to.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I've tripled with it twice. Three Huns, two shots.

Not much of a self defense guy (other than pistols), but I luv me sum bird huntin.

[Trollo]

Upland game bird hunting beats the snot out of golf as far as walking through grass hobbies go.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Which is most effective bullet for warding off the King of England?

[Warrren]

I'd make a joke but I don't think an English king has ever been shot with a gun. Unlike Charles XII of Sweden who took a lead pill from a Norwegian, of all people, through the head.

[Paul.]

A muzzle loader. Calibres in common use.

[Suthenboy]

The reason you haven't seen it is because caliber is not necessarily the most important factor.

I carry a .45acp, but I am about to switch to 10mm auto because of it's superior ballistics. I would still have no problem carrying a 9mm or a 40 or any revolver in anything from 22lr to 44mag. I have carried all in the past.

[Tejicano]

10mm is a really great but overlooked round. I am in the process of converting an early Para-Ord to 10mm. What's not to like about a 1911 platform which runs on 16 round, double stack magazines?

I have a couple EAA Witness pistols and a Glock M20 but I would do a standing broadjump over a clydsdale for the chance to buy a 10mm Hi-Power.

[Suthenboy]

I have a hi-power. I can't hit the side of a barn with it. Go figure. With a 1911 I can't miss, but the hi-power...nothing. It feels great, shoots great...but not for me. I would be interested to hear about it if you can find one. The slide seems a bit short for 10, but maybe that could be fixed easily.

Also, isn't the hi-power a straight blow-back like a PPK? It might be difficult to handle the 10 like that.

[Warrren]

I have a Hell of a time hitting with single-action revolvers for some reason.

Not DA/SA revolvers in SA mode, just the SA only guns. Weird.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

SA revolvers typically have very light triggers and long barrels. One of my daughters tends to fire them by gripping her whole hand instead of just pressing with only the trigger finger. It makes her hit low and left with SA revolvers, except one I have with a 3" barrel. She has no problem with my Gold Cup 1911 or any of my .22 target autos.
Maybe you're doing the same thing?

[Warrren]

Gripping too hard? Seems plausible. I've sold both that I owned so I'll have to rely on a friend if I want to get more trigger time.

[Paul.]

Low and left is a very common group. I shoot low and left on almost everything if I'm not careful. Comes from puulllinggg the trigger (right handed shooter, of course) and as your trigger finger compresses, it pulls the gun slightly left and as you put the final squeeze it naturally pulls the barrel down a hair.

[Tejicano]

The 10mm Hi-Power doesn't exist. I'm only saying I wish they did.

Inglis in Canada did make a few 45 ACP Hi-Power proto-types once upon a time.

The magazine well would have to be lengthened along the direction parallel with the barrel axis and a few other parts would have to be modified as well. Not impossible but very difficult.

[AlmightyJB]

The best caliber gun is the one you have on you.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

So very ^^THIS^^!

[Trollo]

The virtue of .25 and .22 pocket pistols.

[Tejicano]

I have a buddy who carries a 44 Mag as his primary and a 9mm as a back-up. So which is the best caliber in this case?

[AlmightyJB]

Both. I recently shot a friends .44 mag Desert Eagle. Can't see that as a carry gun for. Ridicously heavy. I'm a .45 guy myself although currently my dresser gun is a glock 22 with 15 rounds of 135gr Corbon jhp and a tac light on the rail. My stainless officers special needs a new extractor which I've purchased but still need to install.

[AlmightyJB]

That same buddy also just bought a ppk/s. I loved shooting. Freakin tack driver from the first shot. That would be a nice pocket gun. May be my next handgun purchase.

[Tejicano]

I am very much a 45 guy too - athough a good 10mm is very close.

My main go-to handgun is an HK USP45 mostly because it hits anything within about 20 meters exactly where I mean to hit it.

I also have an FN FNP45 which I am having the high-profile, tritium sights put on. After that I hope to get it out and run it through some paces and see how it works for me.

Any handgun I have around for social purposes has to have enough range time so I can know and be confident of what ranges at which I can expect to make solid head shots.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

From the studies in white liberal guilt

[Heroic Mulatto]

"The egalitarian pioneer ideal has faded into oblivion," Piketty writes

And what's the reason for that, Piketty? Perhaps an overbearing, increasingly dirigiste government that has done its best to extinguish the culture of self-reliance, hard work, optimism, and ingenuity that made up that egalitarian pioneer ideal, perhaps?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Comis the humane pig farmer believes that what he does for a living is wrong. Morally wrong. "As a pig farmer, I lead an unethical life," he wrote recently on The Huffington Post. He's acutely aware that he "might indeed be a very bad person for killing animals for a living."

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, if you feel raising animals for slaughter is unethical, you could always try not doing it.

Jus' sayin'

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

I wonder if it has occurred to him that by the same standard, eating is immoral? Something has to die for something else to eat.

[Suthenboy]

Yes, every living thing lives at the expense of some other living thing.

Fortunately for us, pigs are really extra, extra tasty.

It does bother me a bit sometimes because they are smart as hell. But, if you have ever had a pet pig you get over that pretty quick. they are smart enough to figure out that they are bigger and much stronger than you are. Typical pet-pig bullshit - they will lay down in the driveway behind your car, if you have a dirt road, and sleep. If you try to get them to move...well....it is nearly impossible to get them to move. You might even piss them off if you are too insistent and get your ass kicked.

Anyway, a 22 through the forehead, just above the eyes through the brain and into the foramen magnum is instantaneous lights out for piggy. That is as painless and quick as it gets and I make a point of it.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

All the pigs I've had around were for food. The biggest jerk would be the star of the next barbecue. We don't have any pigs now, but we do have a few steers, and a bunch of goats and chickens. A rooster keeps coming after me in spite of me smacking him with my cane every time he tries. If he doesn't learn soon he'll find out he's mortal.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Does he have a "pro Child, Pro-Choice" bumper sticker on his Prius?

[SweatingGin]

There's a lot to pick out of this article. A lot of crazy thumb sucking, and I'm only partway through. But:

But it better come from a venue such as Grange Kitchen and Bar, Ann Arbor's haven of, as one local blogger calls it, "slow foodie mentality."

Their food would be awesome, if they weren't trying to do all this local shit. Sorry, guys, local choices in Michigan in January kind of suck.

That said, their cocktails are awesome.

[Bobarian]

Sorry, guys, local choices in Michigan in January kind of suck.

White tail venison smothered in snow?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

MMMMmmmmm, snow sauce.

[Paul.]

"slow foodie mentality."

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

[Trollo]

Fucking hipster pig farmer.

[Suthenboy]

I am gonna say that is bullshit. Comis is a made up person by some liberal shithead writer. What a crock.

That is right along the lines of "I have been a free market capitalist all my life, but even I can see the merits of communism.".

Completely disingenuous.

[Paul.]

It's almost like someone saying "I believe in the absolute right of people to agree on an exchange of goods and service for a price they choose, except for labor."

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

And except for when a gay couple wants photography and a cake. Then you can't go on strike.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

That is right along the lines of "I have been a free market capitalist all my life, but even I can see the merits of communism.".

But communism is completely bankrupt. I know that because the Russian Flu crowd said so on Northern Exposure, Season 1, Episode 5!
(See? I've learned to argue on their level.)

[Trollo]

Pure animal rights propaganda.

A secular and religious consensus exists that living an ethical life means accepting that my own interests are no more important than another's simply because they are mine.

The ethics are settled.

[Suthenboy]

"....accepting that my own interests are no more important than another's simply because they are mine."

Not if your interests include the wellbeing of children you are responsible for. If your children are malnourished so that you can tell yourself you are a good person, then you are most definitely not a good person. You are a selfish piece of shit.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

Of course my interests are more important to me than yours. That's why we come to agreements. Hell, that's why we trade!

[BiMonSciFiCon]

The wars of the future will not be fought on the battlefield or at sea. They will be fought in space, or possibly on top of a very tall mountain. In either case, most of the actual fighting will be done by small robots. And as you go forth today remember always your duty is clear: To build and maintain those robots.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

lol @ Earth Hour

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

dont read the comments

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I plan on turning on every light in the house.

Who's with me. 3 minutes to earth hour EDT.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

?

[Suthenboy]

Sorry Francisco, I was with you but I could not reply as I was simmering in my 7 person hot-tub, sipping a vodka, and watching my big screen tv through the living room window.

I am not making that up.

Does that count?

[Ted S.]

I hope you had six hot women in the tub with you.

(Or six hot men if you swing that way.)

[Suthenboy]

Heh. Nah, just me and the wife. I am too old for 6 women. My libertine days are but a hazy, distant memory. Men are invisible to me. It still counts, I think. That hot tub eats some serious wattage. So does the TV.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

AWESOME!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'm going to make such a mockery of it. I just got an email from the organizer that they are expecting 500 people tonight. So, if she's right, at least 500 people in my town are assholes.

[Ted S.]

I'd say rob them all, if it didn't violate the NAP.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

My go to line tonight is going to be:
"If you care about the earth, kill yourself now."

[Suthenboy]

^Winner

[Ted S.]

I'm a cheapskate, so I'm just going to keep doing what I normally do.

[Winston]

I have to laugh at the comments about "giving the Earth a rest" since you know the planetary core, winds, plate tectonics and whatnot are still going.

[Suthenboy]

Yes, but see how slow they are? They are tired....so, so tired.

[Ted S.]

Earth Hour is the sort of thing that really shows the bias of the media. Look how quickly it became a worldwide event that gets fawning coverage from the media, because the proper class of people like it.

[William of Purple]

For one hour, we are all North Korea!

[Paul.]

It's almost like getting a spread in the New York Times because you find yourself unemployed in France, and decide to spend your days educating them about Kale.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

But that's so much easier than growing kale!

[Suthenboy]

"Bjorn Lomborg, ..... believes Earth Hour is an 'ineffective feel-good event' that sends the wrong message about electricity, and ignores the plight of millions living in darkness."

Well Beeeyorn, thats because you don't understand what the whole point of it is. It happens to be very effective.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Well Beeeyorn, thats because you don't understand what the whole point of it is.

Helping smug assholes feel good about being smug assholes?

[Suthenboy]

Exactly.

I see Beeeyorn is a warmista. Has anyone him that there hasn't been any warming for almost 20 years, and that the previous warming was far below what chicken little had predicted?

I wonder if anyone has told him that statistically storms, floods, droughts, etc are statistically normal?

If I told him that when reality or experiment does not match the predictions of a hypothesis, the hypothesis is wrong, would he understand? The whole thing gets shit-canned and you start over.

I wonder if anyone has pointed out to him that the whole approach of the doom crowd is identical to a con game?

Dare I use the word chimera here?

[Rhywun]

Never heard of 'Earth Hour' - that's really a thing? And there are people with neighbors who give them shit about it?!

Well it's now - and as I look out my living room window at the Verazzano Narrows bridge I see it is shrouded in rain but fully lit up as usual.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

I took a nap with everything on as if I were awake. OK, so it was all unintentional... including the nap.

EARTH FIRST! We'll strip mine the other planets later.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Grandma Drummer

[Bam!]

GOP grey elephants trying to draft Jeb Bush for 2016.

Concerned that the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal has damaged New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's political standing and alarmed by the steady rise of Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), prominent donors, conservative leaders and longtime operatives say they consider Bush the GOP's brightest hope to win back the White House.

You'd think by now they'd have learned the Bush well is poisonous.

[Suthenboy]

Uh...Carl Rove? Rumsfeld? I can't remember which, called Jeb Bush a reform minded candidate who can get us away from the establishment.

I nearly ran off the road when I heard that. Holy shit, could these corrupt, entrenched motherfuckers be any more transparent?

If Paul runs and crushes them, wins in spite of them, then they will all climb over each other to claim they were his biggest supporters.

[Trollo]

"conservative leaders"

Conservative like Davids Frum and Brooks?

[Suthenboy]

If a democrat is elected in 2016, or an establishment republican (very unlikely), then the status quo power structure in the republican party will be maintained. That is the only thing those fuckers are concerned about.

The Country? The American People? They can go fuck themselves.

Hopefully people will see that and sweep the right person in in spite of these evil motherfuckers. It doesn't have to be a person of real principle or integrity, just someone who acts as if they do. I don't think the establishment guys even know how to fake it.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I'm already wincing in anticipation of the election results.

[Paul.]

I just threw up a little in my mouth.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Ten minute warning...

Turn your lights on if you live in the central time zone.

[SweatingGin]

Start up every two stroke motor you have.

[montana mike]

I just doubled the orphans on the treadmill so I can watch march Madness on TWO 60" big screens.

[Kakistocrat]

I missed the timing on comments, but I have been unloading 50k barrels of crude off of barges all night...I've done my part.

[The Late P Brooks]

The Country? The American People? They can go fuck themselves.

And we can chalk up another win for Team Gimme.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Oh, people of the Mountain Time Zone (God's time zone)...throw off your chains and turn on your lights!

FREEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOM!

[Warrren]

Free doom?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Take THAT, you Global Warming whackjobs.

[Suthenboy]

Nice.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

2 thumbs up, and a bonus 3rd thumbs up for turning on the outdoor floods too.

[Sevo]

To anyone who claims to know what earth's 'health' means, I have a comment:
You cannot define the 'health' of the earth. You are simply one more religious bleever and as a result, your claims on political policy should have the same effect as those who claim the earth is 5K years old and for the same reasons.
None.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

West coast, you're up...lights on.

[Warrren]

All over it! Of course we have tornado warnings right now so we can be ripped away from the bosom of Mother Earf at any minute thus rendering my protest moot.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Well, just hold out as long as you can. Remember, if ya gotta die, die with your boots on.

[Warrren]

And now lightning storms!

[Warrren]

Hail!

Tornadoes, lightening, and hail.

I'd prefer lawyers, guns, and money!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Who's the jackass that decided to post an open thread and then repost a Remy video that confuses and siphons off commentators?

[Warrren]

Interns!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The Facebook page "Being Liberal" just posted this:

I'm pro-choice because it's not my place to make medical decisions for other people.

'Pro-life' is "I know what's best for you". 'Pro-choice' is "you know what's best for you."

Again, from a progressive politics Facebook page. Words pretty much fail me.

[Paul.]

I can never unread that.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The Facebook page "Being Liberal" just posted this:

I'm pro-choice because it's not my place to make medical decisions for other people.

'Pro-life' is "I know what's best for you". 'Pro-choice' is "you know what's best for you."

Again, from a progressive politics Facebook page. Words pretty much fail me.

[Paul.]

AAAAAAHHHH. TWICE!

[Warrren]

Here ya go

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

I'm pro-choice because I don't think baby killers should reproduce.

You should have seen the look on the faces of the two opposing zealots I originally said that to!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

That thing you said? I'm going to borrow that.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

Go ahead! It's open source. Tweak it and see who likes it better your way.

[nrob]

When can we legislate the epidemic of stupid out of Washington? The diversity of stupid, however, knows no bounds