A.M. Links: Hillary Clinton Says Benghazi 'Biggest Regret', John Boehner Mocks Republicans Over Immigration, Bill de Blasio Targets Fireplaces

• 

  WPIX

  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi was her "biggest regret."

• House Speaker John Boehner mocked his Republican colleagues for being afraid to push for immigration reform because it's "too hard."
• President Obama arrived in South Korea as part of his 9-day trip to Asia. He laid a wreath in a ceremony for soldiers who died in the Korean War and participated in a memorial for the victims of last week's ferry crash.
• Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia not to make an "expensive mistake" in Ukraine, while Ukraine's prime minister insisted Russia wanted to start World War 3.
• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is proposing to ban new wood fireplaces and restrict the kind of wood already existing fireplaces can use.
• A 700-page economics text about income inequality, Capital in the 21st Century, is now at the top of Amazon's best seller list. However, it has only garnered 57 reviews, suggesting a significant amount of buyers aren't finishing the book, or maybe even reading it.

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Comments

[invisible furry hand]

Jewish students living in an NYU dorm woke up Thursday to find threatening "eviction" notices left by pro-Palestinian activists

more

[Rich]

ifh FIST!

Or last -- it's kind of ambiguous.

[invisible furry hand]

*slap!*

[Rich]

*slap!*

[Snark Plissken]

Ahem. It's quite clear *I* have the first comment with a valid quoted reply to the posted links. Your high fives have been confiscated.

The fall-down of decorum as of late has been atrocious.

[Rich]

Those aren't "high fives", Snark -- so the joke's on YOU!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Please, while it was an obnoxious piece of political theater, that notice was as threatening as a butter knife.

[Ted S.]

Imagine if the shoe were on the other foot, and Palestinians or blacks or women were the subject of the "eviction" letters.

[Jordan]

Well, then it would later turn out to be a self-perpetrated hoax.

[Kreel Sarloo]

From TFA:

The warnings conclude, "THIS IS NOT A REAL EVICTION NOTICE" ? and the group said they were replicas of notices routinely left at the homes of Palestinians by the Israeli government.

So it actually appears that 'Palestinians....[are]....the subject of the "eviction" letters' on a pretty regular basis.

[Kreel Sarloo]

Only the eviction letters Palestinians get are real, and backed up with force, rather than political theater.

[Michael S. Langston]

& college kids are responsible? Or are all Jews responsible with every action Israel takes?

Or maybe you have some real reason you are agreeing with such obvious and blatant anti-Semitic behavior?

[WTF]

Oh, HM, it's clearly an act of terrorism.

[John C. Randolph]

No, it's an act of intimidation. The appropriate response is to shove it down the leafleteer's throat if he's caught in the act.

-jcr

[John C. Randolph]

The manner of delivery is what puts it over the line. Slipped under their doors, in the middle of the night, inside of a supposedly secure building.

-jcr

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Better late than never.

It's always a good time to be civil.

[UnCivilServant]

It's always a good time to be civil.

Bullshit.

[Rich]

Nice.

[mr simple]

"A lot of people felt transgressed upon because they felt threatened by it."

If they can't work in their buzzwords, they won't know what to say.

[WTF]

If they had any balls they would tape the fliers on their doors with "MOLON LABE" posted in response.

[Hillary's Clitdong]

"YOU'LL HAVE TO TALK TO MY MOTHER FIRST" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[Cdr Lytton]

Oy vey!

[MJGreen]

How did they determine who was Jewish and where said Jews lived? I wonder if I would have gotten one of those notices. That would be fun.

[Lord Humungus]

The New Abolitionism
Averting planetary disaster will mean forcing fossil fuel companies to give up at least $10 trillion in wealth

To preserve a roughly habitable planet, we somehow need to convince or coerce the world's most profitable corporations and the nations that partner with them to walk away from $20 trillion of wealth . . .

The last time in American history that some powerful set of interests relinquished its claim on $10 trillion of wealth was in 1865?and then only after four years and more than 600,000 lives lost in the bloodiest, most horrific war we've ever fought.

[Rich]

To preserve a roughly habitable planet

Too late, Christopher Hayes.

[Brett L]

Great. Well, now we're just arguing about price. How's zero for my first counter-offer?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

What about all of the benefits that petroleum brings us?

Stable electrical power sources and plastics for just two.

[Brett L]

An energy-dense, relatively difficult to start exothermic oxidation, liquid at most temperatures humans experience substance. If gasoline and diesel didn't exist, we'd have invented them.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Spoken like a chemical engineer.

[OneOut]

But not the smartest one on the block.

Gasoline and Diesel are inventions.

[Swiss Servator, K?se, K?se!]

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.

[JW]

"Every time you plug in your iPhone to charge, you might as well be whipping a black slave with the cord."

"Oh, and yeah, it will just be the oil companies that give up their wealth. Your life will stay exactly the same."

These totalitarian cunts are even trying any more, are they?

[Snark Plissken]

Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia not to make an "expensive mistake" in Ukraine, while Ukraine's prime minister insisted Russia wanted to start World War 3.

Moscow by November, who's with me comrades?

[Restoras]

Only if you can assure me that AGW has removed the Russian Winter rule from play.

[Injun, as in from India]

And if the permafrost is thawing and releasing methane, all you would need to set Russia ablaze is a matchstick.

[Rich]

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi was her "biggest regret."

Permit me: "WDATPDIM?"

[WTF]

Well, it may make a big fucking difference to her presidential election hopes.

[Atanarjuat]

WTF, yarp, and this is the only reason why she regrets it at all.

She and her staff are probably insulated enough to not realize the seething hatred and disgust normal Americans have for Hillary Clinton. The backlash against Benghazi was in part an expression of that feeling. But Hillary probably thinks it's just another scandal to sweep under the rug.

[datcv]

Did she remember to feign a little feminine emotion while she admitted this "regret"?

Because then any criticism afterwards is just sexist.

[Moe19]

FAKE REGRETZ!!!!1!

[invisible furry hand]

Those crazy North Koreans:

She's convinced that hamburgers were invented by Kim Jong Il, thinks Lady Gaga is a man and refuses to ride a bicycle on the grounds that it's dangerous and would ruin the shape of her legs.

[Ted S.]

Is IFH drunk from her Anzac Day partying?

[invisible furry hand]

Partying is not traditional on Anzac Day. I missed the dawn service at 4.30am as it looked like rain, so it was just a quiet day at home doing some sewing, watching Vikings, and trying to avoid the endless coverage of Anzac Day parades and ceremonies.

[Swiss Servator, K?se, K?se!]

So no ANZAC biscuit baking then?

[Raven Nation]

Partying may not be traditional, but I do seem to remember some pretty serious drinking at the RSLs & other places. And, so the urban legend went, it was the one day of the year the fuzz wouldn't bust you for playing two-up.

[invisible furry hand]

Yeah, that's true, but it's more a tradition for servicemen, not the general public. At least around my way. Two-up is actually legal now on Anzac Day (still illegal the rest of the day).

[Aloysious]

I like her. She looks naughty.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Dude, that some serious nuts wrapped up in that package

[Aloysious]

There's no sexy like crazy sexy.

[Tejicano]

I once dated - briefly - a woman who grew up in the PRC when it was still rather strict. Divorced with a kid. I gave her the first orgasm she had ever heard of - didn't know what had happened.

I can only imagine how repressed people in NorKor must be.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They're so fucked up even progs say 'wow, they're fucked up!'

[WTF]

That's crazy! Everyone knows Obama invented the hamburger in 2008!

[Injun, as in from India]

And the stinkburger in 2014.

[gimmeasammich]

In her defense, at least Kim Jong II looks like he could have invented it. It's a long departure from her usual ration of rice and kimchi.

[Lord Humungus]

A fatal wait: Veterans languish and die on a VA hospital's secret list

At least 40 U.S. veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, many of whom were placed on a secret waiting list.

The secret list was part of an elaborate scheme designed by Veterans Affairs managers in Phoenix who were trying to hide that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor, according to a recently retired top VA doctor and several high-level sources.

[Ted S.]

As I said in the PM Links yesterday, the VA is America's single-payer health care at work! (Or not at work.)

[Swiss Servator, K?se, K?se!]

And I would go bankrupt paying for my own care before I even think about coming within a mile of a VA clinic.

[Jordan]

Every veteran I've ever known has said that exact same thing. It really boggles my mind when progressives hold up the VA as a shining model of efficiency.

[fish_remote]

It really boggles my mind when progressives hold up the VA as a shining model of efficiency.

Why? Back out through the front doors or out the back in a bag they're still cranking them out....that's efficiency!

[db]

The only veteran I knew of who used the VA committed suicide after being released with an all clear from a VA hospital after being treated for depression. His relatives knew he wasn't right, and it should have been obvious to the VA staff.

[Jordan]

My wife did some rotations at the VA. She said the nurses were all obese lazy pieces of shit who just sat around chatting all day, and the place was deserted on Friday afternoons.

[John]

I am always amazed at how many nurses are fat and who smoke.

[invisible furry hand]

I'm more amazed by how many nurses seem to go in for alternative treatments (both giving and receiving). Every time i read about some cancer quack there's a nurse or two amongst their victims

[Mad Scientist]

Desperate people do desperate things, even when they should know better.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It probably has a lot to do with watching the many failures of medical treatment (which are fairly normal).

[Atanarjuat]

And yet dental hygienists are always fit and hot.

[Auric Demonocles]

And yet dental hygienists are always fit and hot.

This is one of the things I've learned through online dating. It's quite odd.

[110 Lean]

Mine is an angel from heaven.

[Brett L]

I am always amazed at how many nurses are fat and who smoke.

They know they are far more likely to die of something else.

[John]

Few of them are veterans. If you are a veteran you have experienced what it is actually like having a government bureaucracy run your life. The experience of being in the military and especially of going to war shows you how insane and inefficient bureaucracies are. You still can respect the military because you understand what an insane situation war is and how a huge crazy bureaucracy is kind of the only way to cope with it. If you have any brains, you also understand that you would never want your civilian life run like that.

One of the most common traits of Progressives is that they generally have never been on the receiving end of a bureaucracy. They might work in them but they have never been subject to them. This allows them to have a complete fairy tail view of how they work. Serving in the military and especially in a war ends all of those fairy tails.

[DEG]

My grandfather uses the VA hospitals. He told me once that if you get lucky and get a good doctor, you can get some damn good care. Of course, that's the problem, getting a good doctor.

[RG]

And yet the media is obsessed over a rancher's thoughts on race.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Listen, the orders came down straight from the top. Well, "orders" is a little strong, but I'm sure someone strongly "insinuated" that certain people would be quite happy if the various media made the topic their latest 24/7 obsession.

Besides, one can only prattle on about a plane for so long.

[sasob]

Oh! Well as long as it wasn't because of death panels - because that would just be crazy talk.

[GILMORE]

RANGERUP presents =

The Wizard of VA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QH5LcmfyLI

please watch. very funny. cartoons. cursing.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Better than when Reagan laid a wreath on Hitler's grave.

[Restoras]

Hey he was a victim of war too. Twice.

[Lord Humungus]

Now who hasn't made this simple mistake?

SC Man: Sorry I Was Naked in Walmart, But I Accidentally Took Meth Instead of Ecstasy

A South Carolina man is feeling remorseful after his unfortunate visit to his local Walmart in Tega Cay, where he showed up wearing nothing but black running shoes.

According to the Associated Press, the man, Kevin Hughes, took his naked stroll into Walmart's Health and Beauty section around midnight - and doesn't remember much from the trip. Yes, AP says, drugs "may" have been a factor.. Hughes admits that he occasionally uses ecstasy, but accidentally took methamphetamine, which triggered the naked excursion to the retail chain:

[invisible furry hand]

Mother of nine who claims ?38,000 in benefits to receive ?1,400 more after falling pregnant again with twins, but says she doesn't feel 'guilty' because she and her husband have part-time work

Their hobby's pretty lucrative too

[Brett L]

Nice.

[Rich]

'We don't use condoms and me and Rob have never talked about it.'

So there!

[Brett L]

A Vice interview with the woman who pays drug users $300 for vasectomies/tubal ligations/long-term birth control and actually gets takers. Markets are logical, individuals are stupid.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Did they use the money (from their surgeries) on drugs,then?

[Brett L]

The best part is, she doesn't care and neither should we. And, she's opposed to governments mandating this practice. So, yeah, pretty solidly libertarian idea.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I read the article, so I get where she's coming from. And I get it that she's not about making things mandatory. I just wonder whether decisions about this topic are made in a level-headed fashion by someone - on some sort of drug - who sees cash in front of their faces if they do this.

[Brett L]

Who are we to judge the voluntary transactions between two private parties? I've been high on lots of drugs, and there were lots of things I wouldn't do for $300. A vasectomy is one of them.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

VICE: A question I'm sure you get asked all the time is, how do you usually respond when somebody calls you a eugenicist or a Nazi?

Whoah, first question?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Vice doesn't understand voluntary unless it's some hipster who doesn't want to bring kids into this horrible world.

[Brett L]

Actually, the Vice guys are doing her a favor, because her answer is spot on.

[Stormy Dragon]

Are you suggesting only minorities use drugs? That's pretty racist.

[The Late P Brooks]

"I deeply, deeply regret that the tragic events in Benghazi became public knowledge."

[Elspeth Flashman]

This is the more accurate version.

[Injun, as in from India]

I deeply regret the Benghazi events because they will be used in attack ads against me in 2016.

[Raven Nation]

Yeah, I'm assuming at last one operative has already made commercials showing the embassy burning and the ambassador's body being dragged through the streets with a voice over of HRC, "WDATPDIM?"

[WTF]

I doubt the republicans are actually smart enough or serious enough to play that kind of hardball.

[Pro Libertate]

I deeply, deeply regret that we put someone with no foreign policy skills, no administrative experience, and no eye for anything but politics into an important position like State.

[Injun, as in from India]

But... But... She dodged bullets in Bosnia!

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, she's got experience in dodging things, no doubt.

[Michael S. Langston]

I deeply, deeply regret that we put someone with no foreign policy skills, no administrative experience, and no eye for anything but politics appearances, totalitarian control, and self aggrandizement into an important position like State the President of the United States.

FTFY

[Lord Humungus]

I would do the same:

British burglar, 58, breaks out of prison to escape incessant hip-hop music

A British burglar broke out of jail to escape the incessant hip-hop music being blasted in his wing.

Robert Stevens, 58, just couldn't stand having to listen to Eminem, Jay Z and Kanye West being played over and over again.

So he climbed over a security wall at the minimum security HMP Leyhill prison, in south Gloucestershire, and fled.

The fugitive, serving six-and-a-half years for commercial robberies in the area, then spent 20 days at large.

[BardMetal]

How is being forced to listen to that shit not considered cruel and unusual punishment?

[Ted S.]

This is the UK; they don't have such protections.

[Restoras]

Indeed. One of the reasons for the Bill of Rights. If only the Framers had used clear, easy to understand language so we could all decipher its true meaning.

[gimmeasammich]

They didn't?

[Pathogen]

It was specifically written to be cryptic in order to give our most handsomest politicians maximum flexibility when attempting to interpret the Bill of inane ramblings . The SCOTUS justices use a magic 8-ball to establish precedent/jurisprudence, and have no need to contemplate the right-wing drivel of a couple of 100+ year old dead white guys, nor their impractical hate-filled screed...

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Yeah, doesn't that make him feel violated?

[sarcasmic]

Ever wonder what happened to US military aircraft left behind after the Vietnam War? Locals are using the fuel tanks as CANOES

Fuel tanks ditched by aircraft during the Vietnam War are still scattered throughout the country's forests
Local farmers have started customising the hollow aluminum tubes to be used as river boats and canoes
Auxiliary fuel tanks were ditched by fighter jets as they limited speed and maneuverability in an emergency

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....m-War.html
They make nifty canoes.

[db]

Cool.

[Pope Jimbo]

I'd love to paddle one of these by all the granola hippie types in the BWCA. The looks would be priceless.

[Lord Humungus]

now that's smart.

[Atanarjuat]

My dad has some aluminum trinkets he brought back from Vietnam (the war), which are supposedly made from US aircraft aluminum.

[sarcasmic]

Could our search for alien life trigger the end of humanity? 'Great Filter' theory suggests habitable exoplanets may spell our demise

Scientists claim there must a barrier that prevents rise of intelligent life
Barrier - known as the Great Filter - could be in past or awaiting humanity
If we find intelligent life, it would mean the Great Filter is still ahead of us
This suggests an event will occur to prevent humanity ? and perhaps all technological civilisations ? from travelling to other parts of the galaxy
We might then expect that catastrophe awaits both aliens and ourselves

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....emise.html
That's just dumb.

[BardMetal]

Well is it a consensus of scientists that believe in, what I guess is basically magic?

[Brett L]

Its not dumb, its a falsifiable hypothesis as to why, if the universe has existed for 13.8B years, and we've only been developing for 4B years, we don't see telltale signs like radio waves from other stars. If we reach the stars or observe other races using radiation to communicate, the Great Filter hypothesis is false. But we have a pretty good cross section of the universe at various times coming into our telescopes. It is pretty unlikely that we are the first and only, so this is a way of asking why the type of spectral anomalies humans put out to transmit information to each other isn't observed elsewhere if we aren't unique.

[John]

Maybe there is a different way to communicate? Also, it is a big universe and radio communication travels pretty slow. The Milky way is what a hundred thousand light years across? If a civilization developed 50 thousand ago in another part of the galaxy we wouldn't be in their event horizon for another 50 thousand years. Maybe life developed at roughly the same time and they just haven't reached each others event horizon.

[Brett L]

Sure. But the first stars with rocky planets formed, say, 10B years ago and have formed continuously ever since. Let us assume for argument's sake that we are very standard in taking 4B years to evolve after the planets form around the star. There's still a 6B year "gap" where we have never, not once seen anything come past our telescopes that resembles the radiation we have been giving off for at least a century here on Earth.

The odds are vanishingly small that we would see any particular civilization. But either civilizations tend to be extremely rare, or extremely short-lived, or have very short periods where they radiate indiscriminately. The middle choice is the Great Filter.

[sarcasmic]

Maybe there are better forms of communication. I mean, wires are being replaced by fiber optics. Tape were replaced with disks which are being replaced with solid state. What's to say that radio waves will become an anachronism?

[Tonio]

He covered that with "very short periods where they radiate indiscriminately".

The types of transmissions which we'd likely receive would be broadcasts from commercial radio or tv stations, or data uplinked to satellites (again, commercial broadcast content, mostly) due to the strength and duration of those signals. Assuming traditional broadcast will be dead by 2050, that gives a roughly 150 year window (1900 - 2050).

We've only been listening for 50 years or so. It is worrisome that we haven't detected anything yet, but the sky is pretty big.

[BardMetal]

You're talking about the Fermi Paradox.

The answer is probably that intelligent life is so extraordinary rare that for all practical purposes we are alone in the universe.

A lot of very unlikely things have to come together to create a technological civilization that is capable of communicating using radio waves.

[John]

Even if they were not rare and were sending out radio waves, we would have to be listening at that frequency when they pass to hear them.

[Brett L]

We watch on a very broad frequency, like sound through x-ray. And we have really good data on what the null signal looks like. We would definitely notice a civilization like ours, even if we couldn't listen to them per se.

[Tonio]

Sound is mechanical vibration and as such doesn't travel through the vacuum of space, having no medium such as air molecules to propagate through.

Radio waves are electromagnetic radiation. I believe that SETI listens to pretty much everything from long wave radio through microwaves.

[John]

Seti listens to most of the spectrum but not all of it. And it has only been listening for what 40 years? Also, it doesn't know what it is listening for. It is possible that SETI has heard something and couldn't tell it from interstellar noise. We think we know what non random noise looks like but since we have never heard known alien transmissions we don't know it for sure.

[Mad Scientist]

Consider too how much quieter we've become in the last few decades. There are still plenty of 50,000 watt radio stations, but most information travels over wires or high-frequency radios with short ranges now. In a few more decades there may be almost no perceptible radio emanations from earth. Other intelligent beings likely have a similar history, so they'll become difficult to detect.

[John]

That is a great point. Also, consider the possibility of quantum communication. We can only do it in the lab right now. Maybe other civilizations have built their entire civilizations around it.

[BardMetal]

Didn't Fermi calculate that if a civilization could achieve 10% of light speed they could colonize the galaxy in roughly 10,000 years? The galaxy is what about 14 billion years old?

Even when you account for the short lives, and lack of heavy metals in early star populations, and the amount of time it would take for new stars, and planets to form. We've still have had billions of years in the milky way for intelligent life to develop, and spread outward, and yet there is zero evidence for them.

Most likely intelligent life is extremely rare.

[Zeb]

Or intelligent life doesn't get much more advanced than we are very often.

[John C. Randolph]

There's also the possibility that intelligent aliens feel no particular compulsion to expand across the galaxy.

-jcr

[Brett L]

See above. I think the three most likely are that (1)Civilizations don't radiate with enough power to form an interstellar signal at random for long periods (2)Civilizations who reach the ability to radiate loudly are extremely short-lived (although not necessarily life on the planet) (3)Civilizations who reach the ability to radiate loudly approach singular events in a galaxy

[Mad Scientist]

I just looked up the Drake equation to refresh my memory. Sure enough, the last part is:
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space

[Zeb]

What I wonder is how far away we could reasonably expect to be able to detect radio signals from other planets. At this point with the technology we have, could we expect to get any real signals from beyond the general region of stars we can see?

[Tonio]

Depends on the strength and directionality of the signal. Also what else is in that part of the sky (as seen from our position). IOW, there could be a megawatt station on a (relatively) nearby planet which we'd never hear because it's behind (relative to our position) a neighboring star whose radiation drowns out the signal.

[alittlesense]

Is that anything like The Great Pumpkin?

[Rich]

our unusually large moon stabilises the axial tilt that gives us different seasons [and is one of the] prerequisites for complex life.

Go on ....

[KDN]

Similar notions have been used to sell a lot of video games over the last 15 years.

[MJGreen]

It's the Reapers!!

[sarcasmic]

Hope she didn't sweat it! Cameron Diaz twerks on Jimmy Fallon after revealing she hasn't used deodorant in TWENTY years

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....years.html
*barf*

[Raven Nation]

There was a report a few years back that she had one of her assistants shave her 'pits for her.

[sarcasmic]

That's just wrong.

[JW]

I can't be the only one who can't stand her.

[The Late P Brooks]

A Vice interview with the woman who pays drug users $300 for vasectomies/tubal ligations/long-term birth control

I had no idea vasectomies had that sort of value on the secondary market.

[Rich]

Man crushed to death by giant crucifix dedicated to Pope

From the article, it appears this was predestined.

[Swiss Servator, K?se, K?se!]

*scowls, then nods in agreement*

/Dour Dutch Calvinist

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Ethan Allen with a group of associates attended a Sunday service led by a stern Calvinist preacher. He took as his text "Many shall strive to enter in, but shall not be able." God's grace was sufficient, observed the preacher,to include one person in ten, but not one in twenty would endeavor to avail himself of the offered salvation. Furthermore, not one man in fifty was really the object of God's solicitude, and not one in eighty ? here Allen seized his hat and left the pew, saying, "I'm off, boys. Any one of you can take my chance."

[Aloysious]

House Speaker John Boehner mocked his Republican colleagues who he says are afraid to push for immigration reform because it's "too hard."

For a Retardican he makes a great Dumbocrat.

[Pro Libertate]

Immigration is not the major issue now, anyway. Just leave it alone and deal with the much more pressing business.

[Brett L]

But how will they fuck up their chances for maximizing the seats in the Legislative branch if they don't loudly and stupidly take up a position both their base and the base of their opposition hates that they could just not talk about until mid-November?

[Aloysious]

I don't disagree, I just don't like Boner. At all.

[Pro Libertate]

Who does? Literally, who?

[sarcasmic]

Could we travel to Mars in 30 DAYS? Nasa believes nuclear-powered rockets could make trip faster and cheaper

Nasa envisions using a nuclear reactor to heat hydrogen to create thrust
Grain of sand of material has the same energy as a gallon of rocket fuel
Last year, Washington Uni developed prototype components of nuclear-powered rockets that could some day make the technology a reality

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....eaper.html
What could possibly go wrong?

[Brett L]

Very little, actually. You launch it in safe mode and the worst thing you get is a well-shielded nuclear reactor in the Atlantic. And safe-mode is extremely safe. The only radioactively dirty part is the water coming off the back once you de-orbit, but by the time it gets to the troposphere again, its probably not even statistically more radioactive than irradiated water vapor from cosmic sources.

[db]

Yeah, this. Nuke propulsion.is.the way to go for interplanetary work at the very least.

[BardMetal]

Yeah right now it takes roughly 8-10 months to get to Mars when it's close. Not very practical for manned spaced flight. Something that could shorten it to 30 days would make that a real possibility.

[sarcasmic]

I mean, something goes catastrophically wrong, wouldn't you basically have a dirty bomb blowing up in the atmosphere overhead? I know the dangers are minimal, but I still cringe a bit when I hear nuclear and space used together.

[Brett L]

Yes, but like 120 miles overhead. Statistically, over open ocean. And the range on a dirty bomb is going to be like, 3-5 miles. You're not getting this big, pure nuclear bomb type detonation. Also, you really don't want to know how much plutonium has already gone up on rockets.

[Restoras]

Caveat to this comment - I know jack about this. But, I assume any radioactive material would be launched into orbit first via a chemical rocket, and would not be used to propel the vehicle off the Earth. Once you have the components you need in space you assemble the reactor and off you go. I presume that you could store the radioactive material in a safe enough container to prevent a wide spread of material across the Atlantic in the event of an malfunctioning rocket.

[Brett L]

Yes. This is exactly the plan. Firing a nuclear rocket inside the atmosphere would violate the nuclear test ban treaty that the US does not want to be the first to violate.

[Tonio]

Plus, the hippies go ballistic (!) any time you mention anything atomic/nuclear, and doubly so when you talk about launching it on a rocket.

They've tried to stop launches of probes and rovers with nuclear power sources (for the electronics, not nuclear propulsion).

[Ted S.]

Why are you afraid of nuclear power? 😉

[Swiss Servator, K?se, K?se!]

Because the Canadians have it! I've seen 'em all over this board!!!!! Nukular Canucks!

[Mad Scientist]

It doesn't say what he actual fuel source would be, but I thought NASA was just about out of plutonium. So what would they use for fuel in this hypothetical gizmo?

[UnCivilServant]

The tears of libertarians.

[BardMetal]

Out of all the government programs this one pisses me off the very least.

[Mad Scientist]

I don't mind the nuclear power, but I would be really frightened if we started launching into space any of Warty's bodily fluids.

[Zeb]

Get more plutonium. It's politically tricky, but not that hard to do.

[Snark Plissken]

Fuck that, nuclear pulse baby.

[Terr]

Wasn't that the black fluid in Prometheus?

[Terr]

That was in response to Mad Scientist.

[Mad Scientist]

So it was a horrorshow after all!

[Brett L]

Only if we do it Footfall style and use a converted Iowa-class battleship.

[Lord Humungus]

The Other Stealthy ObamaCare Menace
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation exists to impose price controls and limit payments to providers.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation has flown below the political radar. That's due to its seemingly innocuous mission: promoting new and more efficient "payment systems" and "models of care." But this agency is just as dangerous as IPAB. It is a bureaucracy within the massive Department of Health and Human Services superstructure and therefore run by the president's political appointees. But unlike most of the federal bureaucracy, the agency never has to go back to Congress to get an appropriation. ObamaCare provided it with $10 billion, upfront, to cover its costs for a full 10 years.

[Palin's Buttplug]

DEATH PANELS!

WE CAN'T CUT COSTS! WE OWE THE OLD FOLKS!

[WTF]

BUSHPIGS!!11!!!!CHRISTFAGS!!11!!!

[Ted S.]

Single-payer legal care, with price controls on legal procedures.

Because there's not one lawyer anywhere in the country who does anything worth more than minimum wage.

[John]

Damn straight. And the government should be able to limit how much money any one person can spend on their criminal defense.

All lawyers should work for the government. What could possibly go wrong?

[Jordan]

Also, anyone who wants to open a law firm should have to obtain a certificate of need from existing law firms.

[John]

Absolutely. And all of those liberal legal aid and social advocacy clinics need to be shut down unless they can show there is a need in the market and the other lawyers in the market agree there is such.

[The Late P Brooks]

However, it has only garnered 57 reviews, suggesting a significant amount of buyers aren't finishing the book, or maybe even reading it.

Everybody dies at the end.

[gaijin]

I suspect a propaganda campaign...get someone to pony up several thousand dollars to place orders, raising the book to number one on Amazon temporarily. This gets people to talk about it, thus convincing more people to pay attention.

[Bardas Phocas]

Now that Bundy has been shown to hold unpopular views, how soon can the BLM goon squads be deployed to machine gun down him and his insurectionista friends?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....ml?hpid=z5

"Now witness the firepower of a fully armed and operational land management agency."

[Brett L]

That's pretty much the point of the exercise, yes. Now that he's a racist, its totally okay to shoot him like a Branch Davidian.

[Rich]

NO!! LYNCH HIM!!

[BardMetal]

Yes intolerance can't be tolerated!! We can't repeat past mistakes, so round up the intolerant people, and ship them off to tolerance camp, where "tolerance will make you free".

[BardMetal]

Well I guess now we will see how principled his supporters are.

If you think the BLM is wrong then I don't see how any of Bundy's personal views change any of that. Bundy could build a shrine to Adolf Hitler, and it still wouldn't make the BLM's actions any better.

[Rich]

Get with the program, BardMetal! He's a GD *racist* now!

[db]

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is proposing to ban new wood fireplaces and restrict the kind of wood already existing fireplaces can use.

It's OK, the City will be providing free kindling and paper from the New York Public Library's collection of Enlightenment and classical liberal authors. The Ayn Rand collection is slated to provide heat for the homeless next winter.

[Tonio]

We may actually live to see that, db, at least the younger people here.

[Lord Humungus]

New Chicago high school to be named for Obama

Mayoral critics noted the $60 million high school was announced a day after CPS voted to turn over management of three failing schools in impoverished neighborhoods on the city's West and South Sides to a private organization. They contend that instead of investing more resources in top-tier schools that serve a small number of students, the money should be used to help neighborhood schools across the city, many of which saw severe budget cuts this school year.

Some also wondered why Obama College Prep was not being built on the South Side in the president's Kenwood neighborhood or in the community where First Lady Michelle Obama grew up, rather than among well-to-do North Siders. The mayor last fall announced a $17 million addition for another top tier school, Walter Payton College Prep, located nearby.

[gaijin]

Whatever happened to waiting until a politician was out of office--or dead--before naming public infrastructure after them?

[invisible furry hand]

it's wishful thinking

[John]

I want my kids to go to Obama High just so they can start a pep club and call it "The Choom Gang".

[Swiss Servator, K?se, K?se!]

No, no! That will be be the sports teams nickname - "The Obama High Chooms"

[Rich]

"*Another* interception by the Chooms!"

[Raven Nation]

Yeah, most of West Virginia was named after Robert Byrd when he was still alive.

[Mad Scientist]

Does brain dead count as alive?

[Zeb]

And lots of stuff in Alaska named for Ted Stevens while he was still alive.

So apparently it's OK if you are a crooked senator who brings home the bacon.

[Ted S.]

We probably shouldn't name anything at all after elected officials. We certainly shouldn't do it while they're still alive.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Some also wondered why Obama College Prep was not being built on the South Side in the president's Kenwood neighborhood or in the community where First Lady Michelle Obama grew up, rather than among well-to-do North Siders.

I'm sure it is just a coincidence.

[Lord Humungus]

'It's legal!' Woman defends right to use smart car to transport horse around

Kim Scholz, from Koenigsbrunn, Germany, was pictured online taking petite pet Sammy for a drive down the motorway.

She says it is just "practical" to put him in the car over a horse box.

She told Central European News: "I have actually been stopped several times by the police, but once they see that Sammy is properly secured in the back of the car and in fact that he seems to be quite enjoying it in there, they always let me carry on.

[Rich]

Tweet of the Day from @Wolfrum:

I got 100% smarter once I decided that any fact that disagrees with my opinions is a lie.

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else had big muscles?

Swedish cops nab man for having big muscles

Two police officers in southern town Lund spotted a man with large muscles working out at a gym. They took him in on suspicion of narcotics crime, and once at the station made him go through a drugs test. They also frisked the man.

On Thursday, however, the Justice Ombudsman (Justititeombudsmannen - JO) said that big muscles were not adequate grounds for arrest nor to suspect a person of taking drugs to enhance their workout routines.

[Brett L]

That guy from Brussels? I think he was six foot four.

[Swiss Servator, K?se, K?se!]

+1 vegemite sandwich.

[invisible furry hand]

He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich

[UnCivilServant]

I've never had Vegemite, what's it actually taste like?

[Mad Scientist]

Salt.

[sarcasmic]

I hear it tastes like salty yeast. It's one of those things that you might like if you first tried it as a kid and didn't know any better, but if you try it for the first time as an adult there's a good chance you'll puke.

[invisible furry hand]

It's made from brewers' yeast extract, so it's hardcore umami, and salty. Old-school Australian cooking used to suggest adding a bit to stews.

Foreigners make the mistake of taking a teaspoon and eating it like it's Nutella or something. A classic way to eat it here is a thin scrape on buttered toast. Every so often i get a jones for it.

[Raven Nation]

Works good on bagels too.

[JD the elder]

Salt, with hints of black olive and something burned on the bottom of a pan.

[Zeb]

Sounds good to me.

[Swiss Servator, K?se, K?se!]

Lou Ferrigno?

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Incredible Hulk

[Lord Humungus]

Chinese builder hatches revenge by sending former boss 1,300 ducklings

An angry builder hatched an unusual revenge against his former boss by sending 1,130 live baby ducks to his home.

Chiu Xiang arranged for the ducklings to be dropped at the home of ex-employer, Hung Bin, in China's Sichuan province, after a wage dispute.

The 60-year-old employee stated he was owed $500 in wages.

1300 != 1130

[invisible furry hand]

Death by cuteness!

[Jordan]

I would think that roaches would be a much better revenge.

[UnCivilServant]

sending 1,130 live baby ducks

1300 != 1130

Clearly, there were 170 dead baby ducks.

[Brett L]

Its not like a Japanese company was fulfilling a US contract.

[Pathogen]

Very good..

[The Late P Brooks]

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

"You know, we should use leeches more often. Why doesn't anybody use leeches?"

[Lord Humungus]

Yemen drone strikes are nothing to celebrate

Capturing him alive would also preserve the valuable "pocket litter" he possesses that could provide key leads. According to former CIA counterterrorism chief Jose Rodriguez, author of the new book Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives, "Al-Asiri's capture could yield intelligence from phones, computers, paper records and fingerprints, which would help locate bombs he has created, bombers he has dispatched, new bombmakers he has trained and potential targets he had identified."

If al-Asiri has in fact been killed by a drone, all this vital intelligence has been destroyed.

This is the problem with the Obama drone campaign. The president kills almost every high-value terrorist he locates. This is perfectly legal, but strategically insane ? because in the process he is blowing up the very intelligence we need to protect the country.

[gaijin]

This is perfectly legal,

Um, I think this is debatable

[Rich]

Yemen drone strikes are nothing to celebrate

Perhaps. But are they a laughing matter?

[Pro Libertate]

"When in doubt, take 'em out."

I believe that's the entire Disposition Matrix? in a nutshell.

[Michael S. Langston]

I believe Yemen still refuses to allow US operatives to work in the tribal areas. They did this under Bush right after 9/11 and likely continue that policy today.

As such, when we do identify a target in Yemen, they have reduced our options to only one.

SLD: murderdroning wrong, Obama wronger.

[Jordan]

Happy Hug an Australian Day!. *Gestures for IFH to come over*

Now, to locate Yvonne Strahovski...

[invisible furry hand]

You've really got a thing for Polish-Australian women

[Raven Nation]

Well, I admire the sentiment. But, obviously created by a non-Australian b/c no Australian would recommend drinking Fosters.

[Bardas Phocas]

A sweet story of a little girl petitioning the Queen for a courtier position for her father.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....e/?hpid=z6

Everyone curtsy!
And put down the cake! You can't 'let them eat cake'!

[gaijin]

In better news, the Queen is told to stay in her castle for a day:

First Lady Scraps Graduation Speech at High School

She's now speaking the day before.

[Jordan]

I was just thinking along those lines yesterday. It is truly disgusting what the presidency has become.

[Tim]

Bought my second grader a new pencil box, so we are moving his stuff. Out comes a pocket copy of the Constitution! Did the school give you this? No (of course).
Turns out it was a present from a little girl who knew he loved the (USS)Constitution- which he visited and wrote a report on and built a model of.
He knows it's not about the ship but he wants to keep it in his pencil case.
I figure it's more to keep the girl happy, but he could be a budding libertarian.

[Ted S.]

I figure it's more to keep the girl happy

There's a brewing sexual harassment case in here somewhere. 😉

[Tim]

I'm afraid the school will find it and suspend him for carrying hate literature.

[Tonio]

That is quite the touching story.

[Rich]

Library Locking Bathrooms After Used Needles Clog Drains

Despite the nature of the items that have been causing the clogging, Simon said there was no evidence that drugs were being used in the bathrooms or anywhere else in the library.

(Beware autoplay.)

[Tim]

She knows exactly what is going on but is being ordered to parrot that line by City Hall.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Very Soviet.

[sasob]

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi was her "biggest regret."

Hmm. I'd bet it was an even bigger regret for the guys who died there.

[gaijin]

I'd bet it was an even bigger regret for the guys who died there.

+1 WDATPDIM

[Jordan]

So, I just finished reading The Hot Zone, and was looking for another book about horrific diseases, and Amazon recommended Lab 257: The Disturbing Story of the Government's Secret Germ Laboratory

Based on declassified government documents, in-depth interviews, and access to Plum Island itself, this is an eye-opening, suspenseful account of a federal government germ laboratory gone terribly wrong. For the first time, Lab 257 takes you deep inside this secret world and presents startling revelations on virus outbreaks, biological meltdowns, infected workers, the periodic flushing of contaminated raw sewage into area waters, and the insidious connections between Plum Island, Lyme disease, and the deadly West Nile virus. The book also probes what's in store for Plum Island's new owner, the Department of Homeland Security, in this age of bioterrorism.

Sounds intriguing. Anybody read it?

[John]

It has been mentioned on here before and you may have already read it but Issac's Storm is a great disaster book. It is about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. It is a great story of human hubris. The science was totally settled that a hurricane could never hit Galveston Island. It was a consensus that only idiot deniers disputed.

[Jordan]

Ooh nice. Added to my wish list.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Pretty much anything involving the Aral Sea

[db]

Builder in juvenile court scandal to be sentenced today.

He faces only 8-14 months for his role in bribing two PA juvenile court judges to send kids to his juvenile detention centers.

[Rich]

SFed link.

I trust he's doing his time in one of his centers.

[db]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireS.....d-23464631

[John]

I am all for the judges doing long sentences over that. I don't see why he should get any less though.

[gaijin]

The link is faulty. CUrious to know what punishment the bribed judges received.

[John]

They got years. I can't remember how many but it was over ten.

[gaijin]

They got years.

good.

[db]

I agree, but this guy is.getting.off.light by pleading to."failure.to.report.a.felony." obviously a.plea deal to nail the.judges, but jeebus, he's the.one.who.bribed.them.and committed.the.felony!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

True. But the real power was with the judges who were entrusted to administer the law in a fair and equitable manner. I would have sent them to the Gulag, given the chance.

[db]

I agree, but if the only way they could have possibly got convictions.on the.crooked judges was to give this guy a plea deal, it seems fishy.

[gaijin]

I hear you on the disproportionate sentencing...I do think our lawmakers/judges/pubservs should be held to a higher standard of conduct than your average scumbag.

[Andrew S.]

One of them got 30 years. Think the other one got something around 20.

[Ted S.]

That's an interesting link.

And an infuriating story.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

MST3K is on this:

http://mst3k.wikia.com/wiki/Untamed_Youth

[sasob]

What did the judges get - a paid vacation?

[John]

A long one in federal prison. This is one of the few cases where justice was served.

[Suthenboy]

"The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene..."

FFS. How creepy is that?

[gaijin]

Mental Hygiene

I hate to think what they use for Mental Floss

[John]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

Now this is a dog bites man story. Judges actually doing their job and holding the government to some standard of behavior.

[John]

Sorry. man bites dog story.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

New Yorker tries to be funny, with Libertarian Police Department.

I was shooting heroin and reading "The Fountainhead" in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.

"Bad news, detective. We got a situation."

"What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?"

"Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars' worth of bitcoins."

The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. "What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?"

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Ha, first comment:

I agree that police are underfunded. It would be absurd - ridiculous really - to assume that the police could continue to effectively stop the pot dealers at my daughter's school under a Libertarian administration, as many Republicans are currently proposing.

It is a shame that Republicans claim to support the NYPD et al. but fail to see the inherent handicap in requiring corporate funding for police forces. Our American police have always succeeded in spite of corporations, not because of them! These Libertarians have got to go.

[Mad Scientist]

These Libertarians have got to go.

Really, it's just a matter of deciding where the camps will be located.

[John]

Maybe you should try teaching your daughter not to smoke pot? Just a thought. There were pot dealers at my high school but I somehow managed to avoid smoking pot (at least in high school).

And I wish him luck with his "progressive police department" using all government made equipment and nothing tainted by the evil corporations!!!

And someone might tell this guy about the thousands of private security forces in this country.

[UnCivilServant]

We used to have office furnature made by Corcraft (Prison Slave Labor for those unfamiliar with the program) don't know why it stopped given the mindset of politicos here.

[Jordan]

Just once, it would be nice to read a critique of libertarianism from somebody who can demonstrate they actually know what libertarianism is.

[John]

Or at the very least understand that "Libertarianism" is no the same as "Anarchist".

[Brett L]

Well... they won't learn that here. We run everywhere from smaller-than-todays-US-government-archy to anarchy.

[lap83]

Progressivism means never having to know the real definitions of words. You make it up as the situation calls for.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The New Yorker is a refuge for elitist morons. I'm not clicking that.

[Lord Humungus]

Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie already did this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLfghLQE3F4

[Pro Libertate]

Fry and Laurie Reunited.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Putin's Crimean Medal of Honor, Forged Before the War Even Began

"A now-hidden medallion awarded to former Ukrainians undermines the Kremlin's narrative of when the 'liberation of Crimea' really began."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/a.....began.html

[Pro Libertate]

They should give him a preemptive Peace Prize.

[The Late P Brooks]

Bloomberg is reporting a "Plunge" in mortgage loan applications, this morning.

CRANK UP THE PRINTING PRESSES!

[Pro Libertate]

I heard an analyst wondering who, precisely, all these investors who've been buying up inventory the last couple of years planned to sell to? Some of it will be rental property, some will be just held on to, but a big chunk of it is going to lack buyers, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is tighter credit.

His conclusion, and I agree, is that we've got another bubble, albeit a small one. Look for pricing adjustments.

[John]

Prices where I live are as high now as they were in 08. Even in the Hunger Games city of Washington, that can't hold.

We have another bubble. What amazes me is how stupid people are. Just because the fed prints the money, doesn't mean you have to borrow it. You would have thought after 08 people would have been leery of buying too much house and investors would have been a bit less interested in mortgages.

It is almost like TARP created a moral hazard or something. I wonder if anyone has told Megan McArdle about this. She spent the entire fall of 08 explaining how there was now way TARP could cause a moral hazard since the top men at the banks had already lost so much they knew better now.

[Pro Libertate]

It's mostly investor money, buying up properties. Which only works when you can either rent the hell out of the properties or sell them.

[John]

And it only works when the market is on the way up. Eventually it is going to crash again.

[Pro Libertate]

It's definitely going to pop, but the question is whether the government will intervene again to prop up prices.

Without government intervention in the market and without bailing out banks and lenders who should've been allowed to fail, housing across most of the country would likely be substantially less expensive than it is now. Maybe incredibly less expensive.

But it's all about the people, don't you know?

[Brett L]

It's definitely going to pop, but the question is whether the government will intervene again to prop up prices.

What can they do? Interest rates are as low as they can go, its way too soon to force banks to make risky loans again. I think they are out of tools short of letting prices fall and passing a law forcing banks to take any short sale and reimbursing the bank for the loss. Which would also lead us out of the crisis and towards sane future valuation, BTW. Its not a libertarian solution, but it would actually let individuals cut their losses and stop throwing good money after the bad.

[Pro Libertate]

They'll probably just throw hundreds of billions at the big banks again.

[Brett L]

I have been wondering the same thing. Tallahassee is a great example. It already had a lot of investor owned rental property before the first crash, which took approximate 40% of the value out of properties. They built, and this is a scientific term, a metric shitton of new student housing near the campus over the last year. Seriously, there have to be at least 1000 units, call it 2500 renters. There are a ton of rentals standing open in the areas that used to be the edge of the student area. The small investors who got into the game after 2000 are gonna be boned. Hell, I was talking to a guy who owns 50 rental properties and he had a 20% vacancy rate for fall. So yeah, now that my house is almost worth what I owe on it, I expect to take it in the ass again. I'm tempted to try to sell this winter and maybe get out without owing and just rent an build a nest egg for the next good opportunity.

[The Late P Brooks]

I agree that police are underfunded.

All those thought crimes left unpunished. It's a tragedy, it is.

[mad libertarian guy]

This plan of the media's to try and convince the public that those in the e-cigarette industry are somehow cheering on the the FDA's new proposal to regulate e-cigarettes is a fabrication of the highest order.

They talk to a couple of executives at the largest 3 e-cigarette corporations and decide the whole industry is in favor when, in fact, the vast majority of the industry is hailing this new regulation as the first death knell of a booming sector of the economy. They feel betrayed by those at companies like Njoy and Blu who are not only praising these new regulations but heavily lobbying for even more like banning flavors besides tobacco which would kill the vast majority of the small eLiquid makers in the same way that being forced to submit designs for new vaporizers to the FDA for approval are going to kill the thriving hardware industry.

Once again we have the biggest players in an industry and government conspiring to kill smaller competitors by creating a massive barrier of entry in to the market, and we have the media cheering them on.

And this is for a product that is saving lives and creating jobs everywhere.

Fuck the FDA.

[John]

When they negotiated the tobacco settlement, they allowed the tobacco companies to pay off the settlement over time because paying it all at once would have made tobacco so expensive people would have stopped smoking and they wouldn't have collected their money.

There is a tremendous symbiotic relationship between Progs and the tobacco companies. The tobacco companies give Progs tax revenue and an entire class of people (smokers) for Progs to bully, lecture and feel superior too. The progs are happy to grant the tobacco companies an effective monopoly to keep that going. The last thing either the Progs or the tobacco companies would want is for people to actually quit smoking.

[mad libertarian guy]

The last thing either the Progs or the tobacco companies would want is for people to actually quit smoking.

You can add the FDA to that list, and they can all go fuck themselves with a rusty chainsaw.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I haven't had a cigarette in over 6 years and I'm still pissed off about how cigarettes with real mint (like the old Nat Sherman Hint of Mints) are actually fucking illegal now and it's just menthols that are available.

Also I'll be glad when Time Magazine finally shuffles off this mortal coil, because in their position as unofficial Democratic Party newsletter I can't remember the last time they produced anything worth reading.

[Bones]

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoff.....ame-change

A basketball arena built with private funds on private land to avoid regulatory problems...in San Francisco? Holy fucking shit, Batman!

[John]

"To avoid regulatory problems". I think that means that San Francisco is so fucked up they can't even pay off their cronies anymore. People would rather just build their own stadium than let them do it for free.

[Lord Humungus]

Happy Birthday, Oliver Cromwell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjuHqNmPZSI

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Haaapy biiiirthday, to yoooou
Haaapy biiiirthday, to yoooou
Haaapy biiiirthday, Mr. Lord Protector
Haaapy biiiirthday, to yoooou

[Tonio]

+1 Head on Pike

[The Late P Brooks]

Once again we have the biggest players in an industry and government conspiring to kill smaller competitors by creating a massive barrier of entry in to the market, and we have the media cheering them on.

One of the Bloomberg bimbos actually (accidentally?) said the new regs would likely kill off smaller companies, while enhancing the market position and profits of the big companies. But big is good, and small is bad, so it's a win.

[John]

Small companies cause change. Progress means stasis. And we all want progress right?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Bloomberg's entire industry is symbiotic with governmental interference and crony capitalism. I would expect nothing less.

[Warty]

Long essay about manhood

The counter-culture movement not only loosened the code of manhood, but also devalued the goal of growing-up altogether ? for both sexes. We moderns deny death and seek eternal youth. We flee responsibility. We laugh at the idea of delayed gratification ? we want what we want, and we want it now. We watch instead of do, consume instead of create. Adulthood is for suckers. We are eternal children like the Semai, ever shouting: "I'm not listening! You're not the boss of me!" To the possibility of responsibility or civic duty, we respond in unison: "I bood."

[John]

I have been meaning to read that. The thing about the counter culture was that it failed. Everyone involved in it either went to a very bad place (think Manson or Jim Jones) or left it and went off to live a conventional life.

The boomers still celebrate the counter culture even though they live for the most part completely opposite of it. This has had a really bad effect on their kids and especially on poor people. You can live an irresponsible "its all about me" life if you have a nice loving family to run home to. If you don't have that you need to get your shit together and make some hard choices. So its the poor that end up paying for the boomers' nostalgic love of the counter culture.

[Aloysious]

There are some feminists that believe that patriarchy was an intentional, evil plot by men all over the world to oppress women and keep them down.

Unpossible.

On a serious note, I really do like that website.

[lap83]

I love that blog, but I haven't read it in awhile. Thanks for reminding me about it.

[lap83]

Btw, the part on tomboys is really interesting.

[Auric Demonocles]

Some of us in the Boston area are getting together Tuesday evening for tacos and drinks. Let us know if you're interested in joining.

[Pro Libertate]

Join. . .the Body?

[Auric Demonocles]

Resistance is futile.

[Pro Libertate]

"You said you wanted freedom. It's time you learned that freedom is never a gift. It has to be earned."

[Sevo]

""The Internet's rules of the road must not open up fast lanes to those who can pay, leaving others stuck in traffic," Markey said in an e-mail."
http://www.sfgate.com/default/.....427999.php

Of course not! Whether this dipshit knows it or not, he's proposing we ALL stay stuck in traffic.

[The Late P Brooks]

Some of us in the Boston area are getting together Tuesday evening

"Hello, Operator. I'd like the number for Boston PD anti-terror squad, please."

[Mad Scientist]

They were carrying blinking Mooninites!

[Sevo]

And it's a repeat from last night, but just too good for one link:

"CIA 'torture' methods included these 21 songs, artists"
[...]
"If hearing Barney the dinosaur sing "I Love You" one more time seems like torture, try it on a loop for the next 24 hours."
http://www.sfgate.com/entertai.....427375.php

See if your fave made the cut!

[Brett L]

"If hearing Barney the dinosaur sing "I Love You" one more time seems like torture, try it on a loop for the next 24 hours."

Who knew parenting was the best preparation for resisting the CIA?

[Aloysious]

"Never Gonna Give You Up" Rick Astley #32

Talk about torture...

[Bones]

They're rickrolling the bad guys. This is America in 2014.

[Brett L]

Jezebelian stumbles across the truth: Hotties are great!

Here's the thing: It's really hard to be outraged about these men going to great lengths to bulk up and lean down, even while reading about the dangerous health risks and blatant exploitation and objectification, because I LOVE IT. I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

Hollywood Men: It's No Longer About Your Acting, It's About Your Abs
I love the way it looks. I love looking. A shapely form is actual eye candy: A sweet, delicious, fleeting morsel to devour with your pupils. There's a reason the ancient Greeks sculpted sinewy arms, well-formed shoulders and flat abs, there's a reason Michaelangelo's David ? whose lean torso insures he would definitely be cast today as a Calvin Klein underwear model ? is one of the most famous works of art in the world, and there's a reason I started watching Arrow, and it's because humans are visual creatures who delight in pretty things.

[Tejicano]

I dunno. Maybe some women care or notice.

At one point in my fitness lifestyle I got into this grueling routine which not only gave me great abs but scuplted rivulets of muscle along both sides up to my pecs. Eveywhere else I had definiton like Webster with decent bulk as well. After about three months like that my wife made note of it with some offhand comment - as if I was wearing a new tie.

[The Late P Brooks]

Who knew parenting was the best preparation for resisting the CIA?

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

[Sevo]

I wish I could remember the advertiser, but it was obvious from the visuals that it was a black African family in a car, and they were speaking that language that uses gutteral stops for some 'letters'.
Anyhow, the parents said little, but the kids were chattering loudly in the back until Mom rolled her eyes, Dad pulled off the road Mom turned around and you just KNEW Mom said "NO! We're NOT there yet!"
No translation required.

[lap83]

He hit me first!

[Vampire]

---New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is proposing to ban new wood fireplaces ---

What a douchebag.

Dedoucheio: We need a better environment! We need renewable resources!!

New Yorker: we shall burn wood.

Dedoucheio: No you can not heat your home with wood!

New Yorker: It is a renewable resource.

Dedoucheio: Seize him!!!!

He forgot how many of them were in use during hurricane Sandy, heating the homes of people affected. Wood can be a cheaper alternative to other fuels, which help when these politicians are effing up the economy over and over again. If he wants less pollution from fireplaces, then encourage folks to retrofit to a wood and coal burning insert which would be more efficient. Anthracite coal would reduce emissions too. An attempt to ban fireplaces is such bull sheisser.

Electric food trucks??? Yeah sure, folks struggling in the city have 35,000+ laying around to do such a thing. The fee's regulation compliance, and taxes are almost mon existent in Ny... They should have no problem. Damn sheisser heads in NYC and Ny itself are mind boggling.

[paranoid android]

He forgot how many of them were in use during hurricane Sandy, heating the homes of people affected.

Forgot? No, he's all too aware of that, and now he's putting a stop to people trying to look out for themselves without the loving hand of government to guide them.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Man, it's just a torrent of stupidity and intellectually dishonest accusations of racism over Bundy on my Facebook feed right now. Not defending his statements on slavery, but even an asshole has rights.

I'm utterly sure that the only reason I'm getting off relatively lightly is because some of the parties involved know that my ex before last has darker skin than Obama, so it's a bit harder to just smear me as a racist and declare victory.

I really don't understand how I used to be close friends or otherwise just get along with some of these people during Bush's terms. He really was a uniter and not a divider.

[Free Society]

"Today's reforms ? the biggest in a generation ? will make a fundamental difference for thousands of New Yorkers living with asthma, and pave the way for other cities around the nation to follow suit."

And a fundamental difference for the millions of New Yorkers who like to be warm when it's cold outside.

Now all they need is a power outage in a winter month and we'll get a body count to measure the success of fascism.

[Free Society]

The caption on this photo is hilarious. It's a photo of the burning US consulate in Benghazi with a guy with an AK-47 celebrating. The caption reads; "Sept. 11, 2012: A protester reacts as the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames during a protest by an armed group."

Protesters! Because Ak-47s, RPGs and assassination are things we associate with "protesters".

http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....her-watch/

[The Late P Brooks]

Btw, the part on tomboys is really interesting.

Mmmmmmm, tomboys.

Tomboys make the coolest girlfriends.

[Vampire]

Jennifer: Baby it's cold outside. I'm so glad we have this fireplace to keep warm during this storm even without electricity. Throw another log on the fire.

Kyle: ok beautiful

--Govt douche---This is the fuel police!!! Put down that log immediately!! Come out with your hands up!!!

Touch another piece of wood, we dare you! After we put out this fire, you will!!! And I mean will wait for FEMA to show up with a portable generator to hook up to your boiler!

Kyle: but....the boiler is under water!

Govt douche: are you licensed for that profession?? Oh I didn't think so! Your opinion on this matter is speculative at best, so a qualified professional licensed by the government will make that determination.

Kyle: but....have a look for yourself!! How can it work when all the controls are fried? The thing is ruined!!!

Govt douche: I do not possess the proper government license to make such a determination! Now stop pestering me before I jail you.

Jennifer: but aren't you the fuel police? Can't you see that the equipment is unable to burn fuel...effing idiot!!!

Govt douche: Seize her!!!!!

[Restoras]

Without any "Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!" this is completely unrealistic.

[Vampire]

Lol

[Certified Public Asskicker]

There a few sane comments:

Meanwhile, back at the NLPD (Non-Libertarian Police Department)...

----

SWAT kills a dog and roughs up an old man after serving a no knock warrant to the wrong address.

No one is fired.

----

Huh. That's not very funny. Then again, neither is this piece.

[Pope Jimbo]

Fair is fair. A pair of 50 year old topless granola hippie grandmas made me retch as I paddled by them one summer. So making them cry is payback.

By the way, even the young gals I have seen topless in the BWCA are usually so grubby after a few days, that it isn't worth more than 30 minutes of ogling.

[sarcasmic]

Hippies smell

[110 Lean]

I have been to the BWCA many, many times and never saw a topless female paddler.

[The DerpRider]

IPA sampling for me, Ballast Point Sculpin, Dogfish Aprihop, and Great Lakes Chillwave.