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'I Hope Jeb Runs,' Says Dubya, Arizona Has Harsh New Revenge Porn Law, Pics of Oklahoma's Satanic Statue: P.M. Links

Zenon Evans | 5.1.2014 4:30 PM

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  • "I hope Jeb runs" for president in 2016 and he can "give me a call" if he needs any political advice, George W. Bush said today. Hopefully that endorsement is enough reason for the GOP to run in the opposite direction.

  • Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed one of the nation's harshest "revenge porn" laws yesterday. It is now a felony to "to intentionally disclose, display, distribute, publish, advertise or offer a photograph, videotape, film or digital recording of another person if the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure."
  • Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is using Donald Sterling's racism controversy to rekindle his personal crusade to make the Washington Redskins change its name. Doesn't this guy have anything better to do in his own jurisdiction? Pick another fight with some ranchers, perhaps?
  • Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) recently called Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an "Uncle Tom." Thompson responded to backlash yesterday saying, "but I'm black."
  • A Russian diplomat was detained in Ukraine today under suspicion of espionage. Ukraine also relaunched its military draft today in response to increased separatist violence.
  • Remember when a Satanic Temple in Oklahoma launched a campaign to get a goat-headed statue displayed on the front lawn of the statehouse? Here are the first pictures of the statue.

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NEXT: Improv Everywhere's Silly Mannequin Stunt Gets Everybody Arrested

Zenon Evans is a former Reason staff writer and editor.

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  1. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Remember when a Satanic Temple in Oklahoma launched a campaign to get a goat-headed statue displayed on the front lawn of the statehouse?

    All hail the dark lord.

    1. Andrew S.   11 years ago

      'Afternoon, beautiful people of Reason.

      I think I need to take a break from this place. I'm very, very angry lately, and it's Reason's fault.

      1. gaijin   11 years ago

        Hi.

      2. Tonio   11 years ago

        The beautiful people, the beautiful people...

      3. Certified Public Asskicker   11 years ago

        Good luck. I have tried in the past and failed.

        1. C. Anacreon   11 years ago

          Me too. I've often wondered if I wasn't aware of many of these things if I'd be blissfully ignorant rather than filled with dread.

          1. Certified Public Asskicker   11 years ago

            According to this, yes:

            News constantly triggers the limbic system. Panicky stories spur the release of cascades of glucocordicoid (cortisol). This deregulates your immune system and inhibits the release of growth hormones. In other words, your body finds itself in a state of chronic stress. High glucocordicoid levels cause impaired digestion, lack of growth (cell, hair, bone), nervousness and susceptibility to infections. News consumers risk impairing their physical health. The other potential side effects of news include fear, aggression, tunnel-vision and desensitization.

            1. PD Scott   11 years ago

              Ignorance is bliss?

        2. waffles   11 years ago

          I need a job that doesn't let me sit a computer while the computer runs programs in order to escape this. Unfortunately sitting at a computer is the highest paid thing I am qualified to do.

          1. Heroic Mulatto   11 years ago

            Can you twerk?

            1. waffles   11 years ago

              Not for money.

              1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

                For the love of the game?

        3. Clich? Bandit   11 years ago

          "Tried and failed?"
          "No. Tried and Died"

          1. Clich? Bandit   11 years ago

            Reason Hit&Run; IS the Gom Jabar

      4. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

        You need to select your threads better.

        1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

          It has been nutpuncheriffic today 🙁

      5. Rich   11 years ago

        I understand, Andrew; but don't, um, shoot the messenger.

        Peace. "See" ya later.

      6. Zeb   11 years ago

        I have the same problem sometimes. I feel like I should stop caring sometimes. Someone will tell me if libertopia happens, right?

        1. hamilton   11 years ago

          You'll notice because the roads will have gone to hell.

          1. PD Scott   11 years ago

            But everyone will be driving drunk and high at 100 mph, shooting wildly into the air and each other.

      7. Jesus H. Christ   11 years ago

        I hear ya. It's been rough lately, and today especially.

    2. Tonio   11 years ago

      Not a fan of satanists, but this is an epic troll. The children are a particularly inflammatory touch.

      1. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

        You just know those kids are gingers.

        1. Idle Hands   11 years ago

          What color is satan?

          1. Rich   11 years ago

            Anything but Black.

            1. Idle Hands   11 years ago

              it's not black it's navy blue.

          2. The Last American Hero   11 years ago

            Well, there's all sorts of lesser imps and demons, but the Great Satan himself is red and scaly with a bifurcated tail and carries a hay fork.

            1. Brandon   11 years ago

              No, sir. He's white, as white as you folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow voice, and he travels around with a mean ole hound.

              1. Rich   11 years ago

                What color's the hound?

              2. Agammamon   11 years ago

                You know the thing about a white man, he's got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white.

              3. Old Man With Candy   11 years ago

                He looks like Walter Huston.

                1. Corning   11 years ago

                  Or John Ritter.

                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey0B9dfROwE

            2. Idle Hands   11 years ago

              So you could say he's a redskin?

        2. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

          Satan has no use for the soulless.

          1. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

            My thoughts exactly.

            1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

              Meanwhile, I can think of a lot of uses for the redheaded women...

          2. Scruffy Nerfherder   11 years ago

            zing!

          3. Agammamon   11 years ago

            *God* doesn't have any use for the soulless - but he doesn't have any hold over them either since God won't pay the temporal bills.

    3. Idle Hands   11 years ago

      Nice, what is it called when you double post before any of the other commentariat posts once?

      1. Tonio   11 years ago

        Rubbing it in?

      2. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

        Nothing worth commenting about.

        1. Idle Hands   11 years ago

          So the "Donald Sterling".

    4. Corning   11 years ago

      So i have been reading Wikipedia about Celtic Pagan gods...

      Apparently they had a horned god which today we pretty much know nothing about other then that he had a pet ram headed serpent.

      1. Mad Scientist   11 years ago

        I knew my mother-in-law was old, but I didn't think she was that old.

      2. BardMetal   11 years ago

        I assume you mean Cernunnos?

    5. Corning   11 years ago

      All hail the dark lord.

      Satanists are lame.

      basically they take iconography of pagan futility, wine and fuck gods and claim they represent some sort of lame interpretation of nihilism.

      The God of hey look at my horns then lets get drunk and screw =/ the serpent in Edan.

      If anything they should use the iconography of Mercury if they want to steal pagan Gods for their bullshit. Mercury is much closer to the Satan they worship then Bacchus or Pan.

      1. kinnath   11 years ago

        But I like Bacchus.

        1. Corning   11 years ago

          I do too.

          Why do you think I am pissed off that stupid satanists are screwing up his image?

    6. Juice   11 years ago

      Funny, but not a particularly good sculpture.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) recently called Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an "Uncle Tom." Thompson responded to backlash yesterday saying, "but I'm black."

    "Free pass, assholes!"

    1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

      "But not for that Uncle Tom!!!!!!"

      /Derpresentative Thompson

    2. gaijin   11 years ago

      Thompson responded to backlash yesterday saying, "but I'm black retarded."

      Fixed

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        Nice, especially with the touch of, you know ....

    3. Brandon   11 years ago

      He's probably not a fan of Lando Calrissian, either.

    4. Juice   11 years ago

      Dat head tho.

    5. Agammamon   11 years ago

      Thompson responded to backlash yesterday saying, "but I'm black."

      Here's what I don't get about their thinking - wouldn't a white guy calling a black guy an 'Uncle Tom' sort of be a compliment (backhanded though it may be)while coming from another black guy it'd be an insult?

    6. Mike M.   11 years ago

      "He just means that Thomas is too deferential to white people!"

      -Bo Cara, idiot

  3. Tonio   11 years ago

    Cops happily signing non-disclosure agreement with license-plate tracking firm to prevent disclosure of existence of license-plate tracking firm. What could go wrong?

    Boilerplate cop-derp from der commentz: "officers are underpaid, overworked, and just want to get home for dinner with their family."

    1. Andrew S.   11 years ago

      OFFICER SAFETY!

    2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      I don't give a shit what the contract says. FOIA trumps it. Period.

      1. Tonio   11 years ago

        I agree that FOIA and open government principals should trump that, or prevent those cops from signing those NDA's in the first place, but it will be interesting to see what the courts do with this.

        Also, FOIA laws are a real crazy-quilt. The federal FOI law only applies to the feds, and the states have their own FOI laws of varying scope.

        1. robc   11 years ago

          PA's is weird. IIRC, Penn St is immune because they are a "private" university in the eyes of the state.

        2. Agammamon   11 years ago

          With respect to breathalyzers the courts have been really skeptical about enforcement of these NDA's hiding source code.

          I hope they expand that scrutiny to this shit.

    3. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

      Funny, many of the jurisdictions I worked with had several overtime grubbing officers. One "detective" in Aurora, IL made more than 140K one year.... and that was some time back.

      1. Dances-with-Trolls   11 years ago

        one of my favorites was in PA where the local officers could choose any 2 year period of their "service" to determine their retirement rate.

        1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

          In CA, it's automatically the highest 3 years.

      2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        It's way more than that now.

    4. Andrew S.   11 years ago

      Most fun press release from that company's website:

      Laws against anti-license plate recognition legislation mess with our first amendment rights!

      Effect on our fourth amendment rights not noted.

      1. Brandon   11 years ago

        Laws against anti-license plate recognition? Is that a triple negative?

  4. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    Norwegian sheep born with corpsepaint

    1. Drake   11 years ago

      The end-times are here!

    2. Scruffy Nerfherder   11 years ago

      Where's Jesse? This must be a sign of the end times. I need to know.

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        Isn't he traveling? Don't worry --- yet.

      2. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

        Hmm.

        *flips through book of pan-religious eschatology bound in human skin*

        Oddly no. I assume this is a good time to start a new end times cult and add it in though. Anyone feeling ambitious and like the taste of Kool-Aid?

        1. PD Scott   11 years ago

          Isn't ANY time a good time to start an end times cult?

          1. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

            False.

            Omens and portents are essential to the founding of an end times cult. METALGOAT is ominous.

            If you have supernatural powers you can make your own omens, but for everyone else you need a comet, alignment of planets/eclipse, freakish births, natural disaster (including famine) or at the very least a very bloody battlefield (preferably with a dusky sunset and an abundance of corvids)

            The election of an opposite team player to the presidency is the brown dwarf of apocalyptic omens.

            1. PD Scott   11 years ago

              If you can't find omens and portents you aren't looking hard enough.

              I suspect you are greatly overestimating the critical thinking skills of people who would join an end times cult.

              1. PD Scott   11 years ago

                Which is good, the world needs more optimists, before the end times engulf us all.

                Which is any day now, surely.

                1. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

                  I may have accidentally had a small cult following at one point. Believe me. It's very easy to get people to believe you have some kind of supernatural abilities, but you need more punch than that to take it up to an end times cult.

                  1. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

                    Story time.

                    1. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

                      I had long blond hair and a beard for a while. It started with people jokingly calling me "gay Jesus" then a rumor started that I brought good parking luck. I started getting invited on really random car trips and going out for things where parking was difficult. Then some of my more studious friends started claiming that they were doing well on very hard tests because of my blessings. People started asking for my blessings and I went along with it. At one point I had a girl clawing at my shirt begging me to bless her for a test she hadn't studied for. It was a bit terrifying and I put the kibosh on all talk of it in my friend group.

                    2. PD Scott   11 years ago

                      If you'd only smacked her on the forehead and commanded the demons to be gone, you could be a very rich man today.

                    3. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

                      She was the spawn of a litigious lawyer.

    3. Corning   11 years ago

      Most METAL sheep ever!!!

      1. Juice   11 years ago

        Tell me, Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?

  5. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

    Special exemptions from state criminal law for labor unions.

    1. Juice   11 years ago

      Oh yeah, they can beat your ass and get away with it. They can threaten your family and that's ok.

  6. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

    A Russian diplomat was detained in Ukraine today under suspicion of espionage. Ukraine also relaunched its military draft today in response to increased separatist violence.

    But they've lost their combat dolphin program...

    1. Corning   11 years ago

      Ukraine also relaunched its military draft today

      But but but everyone tells me they are the good guys?!?!?

      1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

        It may not help, but they are facing an existential threat, as a nation, so I understand why they would do it. I just don't think a draft is a way to get a force that will defend as well as volunteers (besides my libertarian objections to slave armies).

        1. Agammamon   11 years ago

          Or the simple idea that if you can't *get* people to volunteer then maybe your state doesn't deserve to exist.

          1. grrizzly   11 years ago

            It's cool to be so hoity-toity when your country is separated by two oceans from any hostile power.

            1. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

              Canada did raze the White House once.

              1. grrizzly   11 years ago

                That was long before the total wars of the American Civil War or the World War variety.

              2. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

                And I have begged more than one Commonwealth military officer to lead such a venture again...they all say "no", dammit!

        2. grrizzly   11 years ago

          Agree with the first sentence. However, the Ukrainians (together with the Russians and others, of course, within the Soviet Army) defeated the Germans during WWII with a universal military conscription. I'm afraid an all-volunteer military force wouldn't have been enough.

          1. Corning   11 years ago

            defeated the Germans during WWII with a universal military conscription.

            Sometimes, when i really think about it, i get a lump in my throat and tears well up in my eyes at the thought of all those brave slave soldiers who died fighting to protect and preserve Stalin's regime.

            Such a noble sacrifice.

      2. PD Scott   11 years ago

        Maybe they're hoping the only people who show up will be pro-Russians who like being bossed around by authoritarians. That way they can just exhaust them with PT.

  7. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    The Mirror slanders Jezza
    Jeremy Clarkson issues video response to racism allegations

    1. Juice   11 years ago

      I certainly didn't hear it. Just mumbling. Growing up, I always heard it as tiger. Only later did I hear the offensive versions.

  8. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

    Remember when a Satanic Temple in Oklahoma launched a campaign to get a goat-headed statue displayed on the front lawn of the statehouse? Here are the first pictures of the statue.

    Is it a statue of Jim Brewer?

    1. Rich   11 years ago

      *Somewhat* reminiscent of Dianne Feinstein.

  9. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed one of the nation's harshest "revenge porn" laws yesterday.

    One wonders what the gov has floating around out there.

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

      Thank you so much for that image.

      1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

        Yeah....that might make dinner leave today's schedule.

    2. Tonio   11 years ago

      I suspect this is one of those cases where the legislators and executive know it was a bad law but went ahead and passed and signed it anyway, due to cowardice, and are fully expecting the courts to overturn it.

      1. PD Scott   11 years ago

        "You expect me to go back in front of my constituents and answer questions about why I'm FOR revenge porn? Like hell I will!"

  10. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    We hardly knew ya
    DJ E-Z Rock of 'It Takes Two' Fame Dead at 46

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      Ladies love me, girls adore me
      I mean even the ones who never saw me.

    2. Juice   11 years ago

      Well damn.

  11. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    Angry beaver delays traffic, roams around Miramichi

    1. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

      Hehehe...beaver...

      1. C. Anacreon   11 years ago

        Starring Jerry Mathers as the Beaver. He's all over this thread!

        1. gaijin   11 years ago

          Ward, don't you think you were a little hard on the Beaver last night?

    2. paranoid android   11 years ago

      Was it Dagget or Norbert?

      1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

        Curse you for getting in first with this!

    3. Agammamon   11 years ago

      Was it Daggett or Norbert?

  12. Matrix   11 years ago

    Fauxcahontas wants to save the middle class

    Just vote for her. Even if she's a millionaire, she still has your best interests in mind!

    1. seguin   11 years ago

      "We had to destroy the middle class to save it."

      1. Matrix   11 years ago

        It's perfectly acceptable to cure the disease by killing the patient.

    2. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

      She needs more homes to foreclose on and flip.

  13. I can't trust my fans   11 years ago

    Why did humans grow four inches in 100 years? It wasn't just diet

    SURVEY: Voters Split On Same-Sex Marriage, In Favor Of Medical Marijuana

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      It was mostly diet, especially access to dairy.

      1. I can't trust my fans   11 years ago

        No, disease-load.

    2. PD Scott   11 years ago

      Voters want to marry medical marijuana?

      Also, I suspect the comment/theory by Peter Greenhouse (increased genetic diversity due to people moving around encouraged increased height) has some merit to it.

      1. Juice   11 years ago

        Voters want to marry medical marijuana?

        Worked for Kumar.

  14. Rich   11 years ago

    It is now a felony "to intentionally disclose, display, distribute, publish, advertise or offer a photograph, videotape, film or digital recording of another person if the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure."

    Well, I for one hope there's more to the law than *that*!

    1. paranoid android   11 years ago

      So if, say, a high-profile politician embroiled in a scandal doesn't want their picture in the paper, can they charge the reporters with a felony for publishing it?

      1. Tonio   11 years ago

        Why yes, yes they could.

    2. Voros McCracken   11 years ago

      Yeah that sounds like if I takle a picture near a landmark and someone else is in the background, and then post my picture on Facebook, then I've just committed a felony?

      Really?

  15. seguin   11 years ago

    It is now a felony to "to intentionally disclose, display, distribute, publish, advertise or offer a photograph, videotape, film or digital recording of another person if the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure."

    Oh boy, the lawtrolling is strong with this statute.

    Who's going to get collared first, a news team or a Youtuber?

    1. The Other Kevin   11 years ago

      Small potatoes. Go after Google for a Street View photo.

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        Street view blurs, or at least tries to blur faces, addresses, and license plates.

    2. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

      Who's going to get collared first, a news team or a Youtuber?

      If he/she is filming vertical video, the youtuber deserves it more.

      To paraphrase Martin Niem?ller: first they came for those shooting video vertically and I said "fuck that guy, he's doing it wrong."

      1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

        I laughed... And then I reread it and laughed yet again.

        1. Fr?ulein Nikki   11 years ago

          Yep.

    3. flye   11 years ago

      The next live sports event that shows anyone in the crowd.

      1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

        Nice one.

      2. robc   11 years ago

        If I ever go to an event in AZ (before this is tested), I will file charges.

        1. flye   11 years ago

          Get a seat right behind home plate, and wear a shirt that says "I Don't Consent" in large print.

          1. robc   11 years ago

            How about, "If this airs, you are a felon."

  16. Matrix   11 years ago

    AT&T wants to buy DirecTV

    Oh joy. Now I can have shitty satellite service!

    1. Andrew S.   11 years ago

      Fuck. I just got rid of DirecTV in favor of UVerse. Don't make me go back. Especially since my only other alternative is Comcast.

      1. Matrix   11 years ago

        They'll likely keep UVerse, but I hated my experience with UVerse just staying with my grandfather when I visit.

        I currently have DirecTV and love it, for the most part. NFL Sunday Ticket cannot be replaced!

        1. Andrew S.   11 years ago

          The only reason I kept DirecTV for so long was Sunday Ticket, but I just watched RedZone most of the time anyways, and I get RedZone (albeit a different one) on UVerse. I'd used UVerse at my mom's house for a couple of years (visiting every Saturday) before I switched myself.

          Plus I'm paying as much for internet+TV on UVerse as I was paying for TV with DirecTV,a nd getting more channels.

        2. Juice   11 years ago

          After having DirecTV for a good 5 years, when I moved I could really have it and switched to FiOS and then Comcast. DirecTV blows them both away. Except for, you know, the rain thing.

  17. Apatheist ?_??   11 years ago

    Combined CONMEBOL and CONCACAF Copa America finally in place.

    1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

      That sounds like two Central American insurgencies.

      1. Jerry on the sea   11 years ago

        ...sponsored by the CIA.

        1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

          The first one sounds commie, the second one could be the rightwing death squadish one!

          1. Agammamon   11 years ago

            Let's not mince words - they're both death squads.

    2. robc   11 years ago

      Not really combined. No one in CONMEBOL has to qualify.

      1. Apatheist ?_??   11 years ago

        No one in CONMEBOL ever has to qualify for Copa America.

        1. robc   11 years ago

          I know, which was fine when it was just CONMEBOL.

          If its truly a "combined" tournament, everyone should be on equal footing.

          It isnt a combined tournament. Its just normal Copa with a few extra invites sent north.

          1. robc   11 years ago

            From your initial description, I thought Copa and the Gold Cup were combining into a single tournament.

            1. Apatheist ?_??   11 years ago

              Yeah, technically it's CONCACAF being invited in but it's also a special Copa America out side the normal schedule to celebrate the centennial so it's also a brand new tournament.

              I mean CONMEBOL is over-represented in the World Cup to (50% qualify) but that's still a combined tournament.

              1. robc   11 years ago

                I wouldnt have a problem if all 10 qualified. I doubt they are over-represented in the WC either. Asia is overrepresented, and probably Concacaf.

            2. Apatheist ?_??   11 years ago

              Also, I have no doubt that this is a test run to see how much money the tournament makes to decide on more merging in the future.

  18. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is using Donald Sterling's racism controversy to rekindle his personal crusade to make the Washington Redskins change its name.

    It might be a personal crusade if he wasn't Senate Majority Leader.

    1. Certified Public Asskicker   11 years ago

      Why not wait for the Clippers to sell to push a name change there? The probability would be pretty good (they have always sucked as the Clippers + RACISM!). Then, Reid can claim it was all his doing.

      1. C. Anacreon   11 years ago

        The Clippers franchise was originally the Buffalo Braves. Sterling could do some major trolling by suggesting a return to the Braves name, perhaps adding a "caricature drunk Indian logo" a la Chief Wahoo.

        1. Certified Public Asskicker   11 years ago

          Ha, good point. He's old, why not go out having some fun?

          1. Rich   11 years ago

            "The Ethnic Girlfriends"

    2. Andrew S.   11 years ago

      At least if it was Fauxcahontas leading this crusade, I'd understand...

      (okay, that was just wrong)

      1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

        Considering that real Indians/Native Americans don't care about the name, but white people do, it would make a ton of sense if she was leading the charge.

        1. Andrew S.   11 years ago

          Actually, the reason I'm personally against the name is because a Native American friend of mine is against the name, and I'm willing to respect his judgement.

          But you made me laugh anyways.

          1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

            Then he's part of the 9% of them who is easily offended, which actually makes him rarer than a moon landing conspiracy theorist.

  19. C. Anacreon   11 years ago

    I think a more on-target alt-text would have been
    "Starring Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers".

  20. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

    A tax code provision (currently being litigated) lets "ministers of the gospel" take an parsonage allowance, so the tax on their homes can be reduced. A Congressman wants to specify that a minister of the gospel is a "duly recognized official of a religious, spiritual, moral, or ethical organization (whether theistic or not)."

    http://religionclause.blogspot.....um=twitter

  21. Tim   11 years ago

    America stay out da Bushes.

    1. The Last American Hero   11 years ago

      Funny, I read that as "Go ahead Bro, if you think it's so easy, you run."

  22. Nick Schweitzer   11 years ago

    It is now a felony to "to intentionally disclose, display, distribute, publish, advertise or offer a photograph, videotape, film or digital recording of another person if the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure."

    ---

    I don't see how that stands. Just wait until a photographer is arrested for taking a picture of someone in public, or someone goes after a newspaper for taking a picture they don't like. That law seems to be written in a very vague manner that can go after all sorts of other things besides "revenge porn".

    1. Tonio   11 years ago

      That's the thing, Nick, cowardly legislators pass bullshit laws all the time. They know they won't survive a court challenge, but they can say they "did something."

      1. Dances-with-Trolls   11 years ago

        And pocket the revenue between now and then, too.

    2. GamerFromJump   11 years ago

      Pretty easy to make this a not-very-stealth ban on making it officially illegal to record cops, instead of the de facto way to get beat on that it is now.

  23. gaijin   11 years ago

    For all those of you in Illinois, who are planning to leave or who simply enjoy schadenfruede, I present: Noble Illinois Public Servants-Serving themselves at the public trough.

    More than 11,000 Public employees are collecting $100K or more annually in pension payment

    (Another 78,000 are getting more than $50K annually)

    1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

      Stop rubbing it in, dammitall!

      1. gaijin   11 years ago

        I feel your pain.

        1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

          And find it delicious?

  24. Corning   11 years ago

    Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) recently called Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas an "Uncle Tom." Thompson responded to backlash yesterday saying, "but I'm black."

    OK i guess I should read the book cuz it appears know one actually knows what the fuck the term "Uncle Tom" actually means.

    Anyone know if the book is any good? or am I in for a slog read?

    1. JEP   11 years ago

      Just watch the weird Asian interpretation from The King and I...

    2. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

      The book is written in a 19th century sentimental style which hasn't aged well, but it's certainly very dramatic. It is also very God-intensive, if you're into that sort of thing.

      The Uncle Tom stereotype came not from the novel but from some stage versions which played anti-black stereotypes for laughs.

      In the novel, Uncle Tom isn't actually an Uncle Tom. He actually (SPOILER ALERT) gets killed by Simon Legree for failing to disclose the location of a fugitive slave.

      1. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

        The modern meaning of "Uncle Tom" as a slur actually comes from the slavery-apologist genre of Anti-Tom literature. So the people who use it are basically the unwitting dupes of white supremacists.

      2. #   11 years ago

        It really is crazy how no one knows about the actual book but only the racial reference to the thearter shows that came later.

        The book was written by an abolishionist with an explicit message in it that black people were NOT sub human.

        The Uncle Tom character was written to show, that unlike popular sentiment of the day, that a black man could be a person of outstanding integrity and character.

  25. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    Bullshit

    1. Rich   11 years ago

      First food deserts; now food poverty.

      I blame violent video games.

      1. C. Anacreon   11 years ago

        I get so sick of hearing this. There is nothing cheaper than the produce section at the supermarket, and if you go to an independent produce store, you can get an enormous bag of fruits and vegetables for under $20. Yes, if you pay for the most beautiful "specially organic" Whole-Foods type individual items it will cost a lot more, but I would encourage against anyone on a fixed income shopping like that anyway.

        This kind of crap comes out every few months, trying to explain why poor people are morbidly obese, and saying the answer is to give them even more funds for free food.

        1. Rich   11 years ago

          You don't understand, C.

          Modern people can't eat *anything* unless it's heavily processed and packaged. They JUST. CANNOT.

        2. Rhywun   11 years ago

          The other day I bought an onion for 25 cents and it occurred to me that if anything, produce is cheaper now than it was 20 years ago - and in NYC vs Buffalo at that. Meat is a little more expensive and dairy, well, we all know why that's more expensive.

        3. BigT   11 years ago

          The problem has been framed as fast food being too inexpensive to resist. So progs favor raising prices, just like on cigs.

  26. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

    Anyone here a backpacker? I've been getting into it lately, and am planning on stepping it up with an End-to-End Long Trail hike the end of this summer.

    1. Tonio   11 years ago

      Yes. What you want to know?

      Also, my ex was a successful AT through hiker so I can tap his experience for you.

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        You're just looking for an excuse to tap him.

        1. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

          Dang...I was too slow to get a chance to hit that nice, slow pitch over the plate.

          1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

            I felt like I was in the slow pitch section of the batting cages.

        2. Tonio   11 years ago

          Good one, Beach Boy. And would that I could. Sigh.

    2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      Longest I've done is the Kalalau trail. Are you talking multi-day?

      1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

        The Long Trail is about 3 weeks.

        1. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

          I did 18 days in Kern Valley in HS, but it was with a fairly large group. We had a resupply two weeks in.

          1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

            I'll be pretty much solo. My ex wants to do 1 week of it, but we'll see if that actually happens.

            My sister and parents both live within 5 miles of it, so I'm going to use them and do resupplies every week. Plus I'll have someone to pick me up when I get to Canada.

            1. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

              The fewer people you have the more essentials you have to carry yourself, and the less gear you're going to have at your disposal. Wear your boots everywhere for a while before you go. It's as much to break your feet in as your boots. Pack Moleskin tape. Have your pack properly fitted by someone else and learn what they're doing to adjust it appropriately.

              1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

                Already done the pack. I'm only worried about the boots because I've just used my old running shoes for weekend trips before, so I've never had to buy before. I am planning on getting them pretty soon, since I'll be doing a 2 day hike at the end of this month.

              2. Brandon   11 years ago

                This. And put one of these in your pack.

                http://www.thetruthaboutguns.c.....val-rifle/

        2. hamilton   11 years ago

          That's about right. Kept meaning to do it but haven't.

          1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

            Feel free to join me in mid August (don't worry, we'll be back for football).

            1. hamilton   11 years ago

              I'll actually seriously consider that, although it's unlikely I could get the time unless work went to shit. Which it could. I'm assuming you have gear but let me know if you need anything.

      2. kinnath   11 years ago

        My nephew did the entire Appalachian trail. It took months.

    3. Jordan   11 years ago

      I certainly wouldn't mind getting into it, but I'm not sure where to start. Any good resources for beginners?

      1. Tonio   11 years ago

        The absolute best thing to do is hook up with an experienced group for an overnight. Hiking in groups is good because one person carries the water filter, another carries the stove, etc.

        There are probably some good books but I can't recommend any.

        Become an experienced day-hiker first.

        1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

          Weekend trips seem like a good place to start too, since (on top of getting more miles in) you have to do the camping part.

          1. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

            The camping part is the most fun for me

    4. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

      Nothing specific really. Just general talk, like we do about homebrew all the time.

      Only things I'm concerned with are getting some good boots and deciding what I want to do for my shelter (I'm planning on using the 3 walled shelters pretty much everyday, but I gotta have a backup plan).

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        Bear country?

        1. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

          To the point of using a bear bag/box at night: yes.

          To the point of carrying a gun for 270 miles: no.

          1. JEP   11 years ago

            I did a lot of backpacking when I was in high school with my scout troop. The scout leaders always had at least one firearm with them.

            Our group was followed by a mountain lion for about a mile when we were in New Mexico.

            We had to post a look out for alligators/crocs when we were in the Florida pan handle when we were learning how to drain canoes, etc.

            Also, you meet some weird people on trails, especially you're going to use the shelters.

            We also met some people who would hike with cats because there were so many mice in the shelters. The cat would just fall asleep on the top of their packs during the day.

      2. Brandon   11 years ago

        If you're going alone, just take a decent bivy sack. Much lighter than a tent, and pretty much just as comfortable by yourself.

  27. PD Scott   11 years ago

    Some more colorized pictures, if you haven't seen them yet.

    The ice girl on the right has a winsome smile.

    I have to wonder if Chaplin was wondering how to seduce Helen Keller.

    1. John   11 years ago

      The ice girl on the right is lovely.

      1. Corning   11 years ago

        They are both under 3 feet tall...

        Nutrition and decease and all back then don't ya know.

      2. Corning   11 years ago

        And also functionally retarded by today's standards of intelligence....

    2. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

      She looks like she needs warming up.

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        Hey .... that's Epi's *great grandmother*!

      2. Jordan   11 years ago

        This is why there are no libertarian ice girls.

    3. Drake   11 years ago

      That's Larry Fine.

    4. Idle Hands   11 years ago

      Abraham Lincoln has to be the ugliest man of all time.

      1. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

        look up 'Brezhnev answers the phone'

      2. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

        You say this having seen Henry Waxman?!

        1. Idle Hands   11 years ago

          putting a pig in a suit does not make it a man.

        2. jesse.in.mb   11 years ago

          He said man, not mole-human hybrid.

    5. John   11 years ago

      Some serious leg showing for the 1920s on the ballet dancer to the far right.

      1. PD Scott   11 years ago

        If only the times were more enlightened, she could have sued the photographer for revenge porn.

      2. robc   11 years ago

        I was about to say the same thing, only I know left from right.

      3. Juice   11 years ago

        And for ballet dancers those are some heifers. I didn't think they let them ever eat.

        1. Brett L   11 years ago

          Men were stronger back then. They could through a real woman in the air.

    6. Jordan   11 years ago

      Man, that picture of Anne Frank's father. Just... man.

    7. Damned Fool   11 years ago

      Oddly enough, Marilyn Monroe does not look fat at all.

      1. Idle Hands   11 years ago

        how could you tell nothing in that pitcher gives you scale. You need to get a boat in the background to appreciate the size of that whale.

        1. Idle Hands   11 years ago

          *picture, got baseball on the brain.

    8. Jordan   11 years ago

      That last photo... all those boys look like 30 year old midgets.

    9. Juice   11 years ago

      Why were kids so damned ugly back then?

  28. robc   11 years ago

    The court held that the officer acted reasonably under U.S. Const., 4th Amend., in detaining defendant. A reasonable police officer, considering the totality of the circumstances, would reasonably suspect criminal activity might be afoot upon viewing someone riding a bicycle, with an ax, at 3 a.m., even though no recent "ax crime" had been reported. While there were doubtless some reasonable explanations that might be conjured up, the possibility of an innocent explanation did not deprive the officer of the capacity to entertain a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct. There is some activity that is so unusual, so far removed from everyday experience, that it cries out for investigation, and will justify a detention even when there is no specific crime to which it seems to relate.

    1. John   11 years ago

      Terry V. Ohio is a monster that needs to die.

      1. robc   11 years ago

        That was from a 1998 case, but yes.

        I just thought it was funny.

        1. John   11 years ago

          It is. But why can't I ride a bike with my axe at three o'clock in the morning?

          1. robc   11 years ago

            I think you should be able to. Its a horrific decision.

  29. Bam!   11 years ago

    "I hope Jeb runs" maybe then he'll stop fighting you over ruining his chances.

    1. BakedPenguin   11 years ago

      We really need Bush Jong-Un to lead this country to greatness.

      1. Root Boy   11 years ago

        We really just need to skip the election and have a cage match (axes and bicycles?) between Hildog and Jeb.

        Winner gets to sell $1/punch tickets to pay off the debt.

  30. Max Power   11 years ago

    This is kind of a funny bad cop story in a Coen Brothers style dumbass plan gone wrong way.

    In November 2010, Frett had a scheme: While he was alone on patrol in Camden one night, his wife would drive up in a dark van. She would shoot him in the leg and escape as an unknown assailant.

    Injured in the line of duty, Frett would retire on disability at age 40 to collect a tax-free pension of roughly $50,000 a year ? two-thirds of his salary ? for the rest his life. And they would live happily ever after.

    But that's not what happened, according to Philly.com and other news outlets that covered the story.

    Frett's wife's aim was not accurate that fateful evening. The bullet she fired at her husband hit his pants leg but missed him. Over police radio, Frett reported that he had been shot.

    A nearby plainclothes officer stopped the getaway van and apprehended Frett's wife. Questioned by investigators, the couple's denials soon unraveled. Their plan was publicly exposed.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      It would have been funnier if he got hit in the penis.

      1. Jerry on the sea   11 years ago

        "She wasn't a good shot, and so won't he."

      2. Swiss Servator ...etwas   11 years ago

        Or it blew a nut off.

    2. Max Power   11 years ago

      Also, I drove through Camden this morning because my normal route was flooded and it looks like a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

      1. BakedPenguin   11 years ago

        When does Camden not look like a post-apocalyptic wasteland?

        1. Max Power   11 years ago

          Never. It always does. I felt like I was in Fallout 3. Sometimes I just forget what a shithole it is.

    3. flye   11 years ago

      I love the scene from the first season of The Wire where one of the lazy cops ("humps") assigned to the unit stands at the top of the stairs, trying to work up the nerve to throw himself down in order to get injured on the job and retire early.

    4. Rhywun   11 years ago

      I don't know when he started but don't most Heroes "retire" not long after that age? Couldn't he wait a couple years?

  31. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    Getting children to behave better could be as easy as swapping that chicken leg for smaller pieces of food they can eat with a fork.
    "A study in the journal of Eating Behaviors finds kids are more socially aggressive and disobedient when they have to hold onto their food." (Via KPTV)

    1. Certified Public Asskicker   11 years ago

      The study's authors say they found that kids between the ages of 6 and 10 were more aggressive and rowdier

      Hey, that's also the age range when their little spirits have been crushed by public schooling.

    2. Rich   11 years ago

      "That does it! No more lollypops or ice cream cones for you!"

    3. gaijin   11 years ago

      A study in the journal of Eating Behaviors finds kids are more socially aggressive and disobedient when they have to hold onto their food.

      Just the opposite with my kids.

  32. Damned Fool   11 years ago

    The people protesting Condoleezza Rice's commencement at Rutgers haven't given up yet. My fb feed has people going on about it, and I've been invited to events to continue protesting and "Confront President Barchi." People keep on talking about the student voice and "having a conversation." There's been plenty of conversation and even a formal public debate on the subject for a while now. But leftists, as usual, have a very different idea of what a "conversation" means.

    Being surrounded by campus liberals is so painful.

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

      "having a conversation."

      "Shut up while I'm conversing at you!"

      1. Injun, as in from India   11 years ago

        +1 Lecture

      2. flye   11 years ago

        I HAVE LISTENING SKILLS!

    2. Andrew S.   11 years ago

      I graduated law school from Syracuse in 2003. We had our own commencement, so we weren't involved in the undergrad commencement, but the undergraduate commencement speaker was Rudy Giuliani.

      Lots of students had a problem with him. You know what they did? They didn't protest, they didn't confront. When he got up to speak, they simply stood up, and turned their backs on him. Seems more effective to me.

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        I like that. It's a good was for the assholes to stand and be counted.

        1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

          was=way.

        2. Juice   11 years ago

          A big Rumsfeld/Condi supporter?

      2. Rhywun   11 years ago

        How many of them could name a single fact about him other than his political party?

        1. Juice   11 years ago

          Yeah, that's all anyone could ever have against Rumsfeld after all.

    3. Ayn Random Variation   11 years ago

      I can't find the links on google where the NAACP and NOW are griefing over this.

  33. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

    It is now a felony to "to intentionally disclose, display, distribute, publish, advertise or offer a photograph, videotape, film or digital recording of another person if the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure."

    So how long until someone gets charged with "revenge porn" for filming a police officer?

  34. Matrix   11 years ago

    This woman is OUTRAGED! OUTRAGED I tell you, because Charlton Heston's image is on a stamp

    "Whatever Mr. Heston might have accomplished as a movie star is tarnished forever to me and millions like me, who will forever equate him as the face of the National Rifle Association."

    1. Drake   11 years ago

      I'll be at the Post Office.

      1. Injun, as in from India   11 years ago

        Hopefully you won't have to pry the stamps from the cold, dead hands of a postal clerk.

        1. Rich   11 years ago

          LOL

    2. gaijin   11 years ago

      is tarnished forever to me and millions I am certain think just like me

    3. Heroic Mulatto   11 years ago

      Good thing no one gives a shit about what you and millions like you think, Ms. Keane.

      1. Bam!   11 years ago

        She's the last person in America still using stamps. The Post Office is going to fight hard to keep her.

        1. Heroic Mulatto   11 years ago

          That actually made me laugh out loud. Thanks.

          And have stamps hit the 50 cent mark yet? (shows how much I use stamps)

          1. PD Scott   11 years ago

            Close! 49 cents for First Class stamped mail.

          2. robc   11 years ago

            The "forever" stamp thing was genius.

            No one has a clue anymore, but people used to complain every time it went up.

          3. flye   11 years ago

            Seinfeld did some standup bit about the cost of stamps on the first Fallon Tonight Show that was pretty damn funny. About 3 minutes in on this clip.

    4. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

      I'm sorry, but if you don't like Chuck Heston, you aren't an American. Please leave now.

      1. Root Boy   11 years ago

        WooHoo!

        He was awesome in Touch of Evil as well as all his well known ones (Apes, Omega Man, etc).

        Plus he was awesome waving that musket around

    5. PD Scott   11 years ago

      "Get your tongue off me, you damn dirty nitwit!"

    6. lap83   11 years ago

      I remember the horribly rude things liberals were saying about him right after he died. I guess if you're against guns, it's a free pass to treat people like shit.

      1. Damned Fool   11 years ago

        It's like when Thatcher died a month after Chavez. People who were mourning the death of a tyrant who quashed media opposition and iirc subjected an opposing judge to detention and rape cheered the death of an archetypal strong independent woman who rose above class and gender limitations to become Britain's only female pm in history.

        1. Injun, as in from India   11 years ago

          And there was even an attempt to get The wicked witch is dead on the top of the UK singles chart when Thatcher died.

      2. Virginian   11 years ago

        I remember the horribly rude things liberals were saying about him right after he died. I guess if you're against guns, it's a free pass to treat people like shit.

        I remember one asshat calling him a racist. I was like, bitch Charlton Heston was 30 feet behind Martin Luther King while he gave his most famous speech. Who the fuck are you?

  35. John   11 years ago

    http://www.conservativeblog.or.....ikely.html

    New enrollment data shows Obamacare death spiral likely.

    1. Rich   11 years ago

      People who are flakey enough to wait until the last minute are probably also flakey when it comes to paying premiums.

      That's why we're adding premium withholding to the IRS's duties.

    2. gaijin   11 years ago

      Obamacare death spiral likely.

      get out of town! Why didn't someone warn us?!

    3. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

      Just in time for the next recession and presidential election! 2008: now with several more years and a terrible government program to sandbag the Dems!

    4. Corning   11 years ago

      New enrollment data shows Obamacare death spiral likely.

      What?!?!

      John let me explain economics to you...obviously you just don't understand basic concepts about government finance.

      We just print more money.

  36. Injun, as in from India   11 years ago

    "I hope Jeb runs" for president in 2016 and he can "give me a call" if he needs any political advice, George W. Bush said today. Hopefully that endorsement is enough reason for the GOP to run in the opposite direction..

    Bush vs Clinton 2016 !!

    I can't wait to watch some political dynasty-on-political dynasty action!!

  37. Certified Public Asskicker   11 years ago

    This is a little old, but it looks like Shreek isn't the only one who hates Clarence Thomas because of his race.

    SCOTUS decision today shows it's 5/9ths racist. And yes, Clarence Thomas hates his own race.

    Poor Clarence Thomas. Hates himself Everytime he remembers he got his job cuz court needed some color

    Once again, Affirmative Action hypocrite Clarence Thomas slams the door behind himself. Thx Uncle Thom(as)

    Clarence Thomas really is the universe's equal and opposite reaction to MLK

    1. Drake   11 years ago

      I remember MLK having a dream of racial preferences.

      1. Certified Public Asskicker   11 years ago

        I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. by the job they receive through affirmative action.

    2. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

      Um, that's racism, straight up.

    3. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

      While I am sure there are KKK members and other racists on the right running around, it seems to me that the biggest racists (and misogynists) in this country are progressives who attack libertarian/conservative minorities and women. Conservatives get blasted for "dog whistles," while openly racist leftists get free passes.

      1. #   11 years ago

        That's because progressives practice the right kind of racism.

      2. Virginian   11 years ago

        are KKK members and other racists on the right

        The KKK? How does being a racist and a socialist magically make you rightwing?

    4. Injun, as in from India   11 years ago

      There was this Minnesota Democrat guy who said the same thing about Thomas, and then claimed he did not know that the term was racist. The funny thing is he was a history major something like that.

    5. Coeus   11 years ago

      Poor Clarence Thomas. Hates himself Everytime he remembers he got his job cuz court needed some color

      I'm guessing they haven't read any of his opinions on affirmative action. They're proving his damn point.

  38. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    God Damn! The pusher.
    I said God Damn! God damn the pusher man.

    1. Rich   11 years ago

      "But I've never touched nothing that my spirit could will."

      Good stuff.

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        *kill*

        But, I kinda like my typo. 😎

    2. 110 Lean   11 years ago

      We fronted for them in Lincoln back in about '82. They were incredible!

  39. Matrix   11 years ago

    NYPD makes a lot of money writing tickets for parking near a firehydrant not easy to see

    It's for your safety, of course.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      Silly me. I thought fire hydrants were supposed to be easy to see. You know, to make it easier to find them quickly during a fire.

    2. Juice   11 years ago

      The fact that they aren't a bright color and there is zero signage tells me that it's intentional.

  40. PD Scott   11 years ago

    German student killed in Montana in "castle doctrine" case.
    The father of a German exchange student shot dead in Montana after he trespassed in a man's garage has said the US cannot continue to "play cowboy" with firearms.
    Markus Kaarma has been charged with deliberate murder in the Sunday killing of Diren Dede, 17, of Hamburg.
    But he says Montana's self-defence law allowed him to shoot the boy.
    Mr Kaarma, a 29-year-old firefighter, has told investigators his home had twice been hit by burglars, and he told a hair stylist he had waited up at night to shoot intruders, prosecutors said.
    On the night of the shooting, Mr Kaarma and his partner Janelle Pflager left their garage door open, and Ms Pflager left her purse in the garage in order to bait intruders, she told police.
    They set up motion sensors and a video monitor, prosecutors said.
    When the sensors went off just after midnight and they saw a man on the monitor screen, Mr Kaarma went outside and fired a shotgun into the garage without warning several times.

    1. PD Scott   11 years ago

      A) Kaarma is a bitch (sorry).
      B) I'm not sure that's "castle doctrine" so much as "lying in wait and murdering someone".

      1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

        It isn't murder. He shot a trespasser.

        1. Matrix   11 years ago

          I feel really uncomfortable with that. He left the garage door open. For all we know, the kid could have been going to knock on the door to the house to alert them that they left their garage door up.

          At my grandfather's house, he leaves the door up a lot, so people just knock on it instead of the front door quite often, because the front door is on the side of the house.

          1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

            I have never seen a front door on the side of a house.

            1. Matrix   11 years ago

              It's quite common in my grandfather's neighborhood. In fact, when I was staying there, my bedroom was in the front of the house. And there was a door there to lead to the front patio. People often knocked on it, mistaking it for the front door.

          2. Coeus   11 years ago

            At my grandfather's house, he leaves the door up a lot, so people just knock on it instead of the front door quite often, because the front door is on the side of the house.

            It's like that all over Texas as well.

        2. Juice   11 years ago

          It isn't murder. He shot a trespasser.

          This wasn't some home invasion. Are you one of those people that thinks if a little girl runs through your backyard you have the right to shoot her?

      2. Apatheist ?_??   11 years ago

        Yeah, that's not self defense at all.

      3. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

        Agreed. Related:

        Wiggum: Now Sideshow Bob can't get in without me knowing. And once a man is in your home, anything you do to him is nice and legal.
        Homer: [nefariously] Is that so? [calls out window] Oh, Flanders! Won't you join me in my kitchen? Heh, heh, heh...
        Wiggum: Er, it doesn't work if you invite him.

    2. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

      The NP article quoted the Dad as saying 'America can't be a cowboy like this'. Why not? What are you going to do about it? Raise another idiot to get shot while trespassing?

      1. Corning   11 years ago

        You don't shoot trespassers Cytotoxic.

        I have no idea why you need to be told this.

        1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

          Fine. He was a home invader.

          1. Corning   11 years ago

            yeah you should not shoot them either unless they pose a threat.

            What is wrong with you? Why is it necessary to tell you this common sense stuff?

            1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

              I really have no moral responsibility to determine if the guy invading my home 'poses a threat'. I'd say his presence there is a threat. NAP. You should be directing your appeals to 'common sense' at people like the guy who got shot.

              1. Juice   11 years ago

                NAP.

                You repeat this like you know what it means. Apparently you don't.

          2. paranoid android   11 years ago

            Christ, I'd hate to be a missionary going door-to-door in your neighborhood.

            1. PD Scott   11 years ago

              Martyrdom is a good way to get into Heaven, supposedly.

          3. Juice   11 years ago

            Fine. He was a home invader.

            No he wasn't. Jesus.

            1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

              How was he not?

              1. Virginian   11 years ago

                We don't know he was, because of the retarded shit that the homeowner did. Read the story. He placed his wife's purse in the middle of an open garage, and then waited for someone to come into his garage. Hunting over bait, so to speak. If the cops did this, it would be entrapment.

                The kid didn't break through a door or a window. It's very possible, maybe even probable that he wandered up the driveway to let the homeowner know about his door being open. Then he was shot without warning.

                Look, if you want to do some kind of bait and scare tactic, that's fine. But you cannot lure someone onto your property and then shoot them from ambush, only to claim self-defense. It's bullshit.

        2. Coeus   11 years ago

          Well, NAP would allow you. But most of us temper that with a proportional force doctrine as well.

          1. PD Scott   11 years ago

            I'm not sure that someone entering an open garage should be considering aggression. If he or she starts picking stuff up and stuffing it in a bag or attempts to gain entry to the house, then yes, I can see that as violating NAP. We have no idea if this kid saw the purse in the garage and was trying to let the occupants know about it or what. Kaarma didn't try to get the guy to freeze or anything, just started shooting.

            1. Coeus   11 years ago

              Theoretically, trespassing in all forms is aggression. Hence the need for prop force doc.

          2. Juice   11 years ago

            Well, NAP would allow you.

            Absolutely not. The NAP also involves proportionality. Just like the death penalty for shoplifting, killing someone for stepping foot in your garage uninvited is simply not a proportional response.

            1. Virginian   11 years ago

              The NAP also involves proportionality.

              Since when?

              Not that I'm defending this guy. Leaving the purse out in the open is bullshit. For all you know that kid was going up there to tell them about the door being open and the purse being left out.

              If someone breaks through a locked door or closed window to come inside your home, you can do whatever you want in my book. You don't get to bait/entice someone into your home and then shoot them without warning.

              1. Brett L   11 years ago

                What if they're in your open garage?

                1. Virginian   11 years ago

                  What if they're in your open garage?

                  Trickier, context matters a lot here. Someone who shot a UPS driver holding a package at 1PM in his garage is a piece of shit, while someone shooting a guy holding a baseball bat at 1AM is a different story.

                  In this particular case, he set out to lure someone into his house for the express purpose of killing them. That's crossing the line. The MT law includes the magic word "reasonable", and he went way past it.

            2. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

              The NAP also involves proportionality.

              I love that you first state that I don't understand the NAP and then immediately demonstrate you don't understand the NAP. Brilliant.

  41. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    Montreal.
    Boston.
    Tonight.
    Oh my.
    Get ready.
    A dandy!

  42. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

    Silk Road 2 is now has slightly more listings than its predecessor.

    http://www.coindesk.com/dark-w.....portunity/

    SR 2 was hit by a hack several months ago that drained some accounts. At the same time many online alt black markets turned out to be scams-Atlantis and Sheep all ran away with the BTC in them. SR on the other hand has forgone its commission and now the 5% charge on the transaction is sent to a random account that was robbed. Accounts keep getting money until they are made whole. Trust has been rebuilt. If you were a SR user and abandoned it you should go back and check your account it may have funds.

    1. Corning   11 years ago

      Silk Road 2 is now has slightly more listings than its predecessor.

      Streisand effect?

  43. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

    The Wisconsin GOP is defending a resolution defending nullification and secession, and calling on the legislature to nullify droning, Common Core and Obamacare.

    One Republican claims he was booed in March when he mentioned Abraham Lincoln.

    (from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

    http://bit.ly/1nNDOXt

    (No-one seems to mention the history of Wisconsin Republicans' nullification of the federal Fugitive Slave Act, as documented by Tom Woods.)

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

      debating, not defending

    2. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

      There is a lot of good stuff happening at the state level and it gives me reason for optimism. What starts at the state and local level has a way of trickling up.

      Is Wisconsin changing?

      1. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

        Depends what you mean. Democrats will likely continue to win at at the presidential level, but outside of Milwaukee and Madison I think people generally like Walker (not that I think he's perfect). Ron Johnson is (or at least ran on the idea of being) an outsider, which is a change from the Tommy Thompson Republicans we used to have.

  44. Notorious G.K.C.   11 years ago

    Mother Jones: First Rand Paul opposed aid to Israel. Now he opposes aid to the Palestinians. This "flip flop" means he's "firmly entered neocon territory."

    http://www.motherjones.com/pol.....-flip-flop

    1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

      Turing test fail.

    2. Coeus   11 years ago

      No one in the comments even questions the logic.

    3. paranoid android   11 years ago

      Even for an MJ hit piece, this is pretty bizarre. Stating what appears to be a completely consistent position in different ways in different contexts is apparently unconscionable.

    4. Red Rocks Rockin   11 years ago

      Mother Jones: First Rand Paul opposed aid to Israel. Now he opposes aid to the Palestinians.

      "HE HAS TO PICK ONE OR THE OTHER! THE ONE HE CHOOSES WILL BE THE ONE WE'RE AGAINST!!"

      /Derper Jones

  45. Idle Hands   11 years ago

    Driver less cars will be cool.
    I will be interesting to see how the stat will react to the loss of ticket revenue. My guess is they will fight this tooth in nail.

    1. Idle Hands   11 years ago

      Jesus. *it and *state

    2. Coeus   11 years ago

      Checkpoints everywhere.

  46. Coeus   11 years ago

    Describes SJWs perfectly

    Ideology of victimhood

    We should be more critically aware of the prevailing ideology of victimhood, which developed in the 1970s, and dominates current thinking. Its mantra, 'Believe the victim', sums up the present climate of credulity.
    The sociologist Joel Best describes how, 'as this ideology became accepted by key institutions, it created a victim industry ? a set of social arrangements that now supports the identification of large numbers of victims.'[vii] This powerful ideology has seven component beliefs:

    Victimization is widespread;
    Victimization has lasting consequences;
    It is morally unambiguous: the victimizer is exploitative, the victim innocent;
    Victimization often goes unrecognized, even by the victims themselves. As Crown Prosecutor Nazir Afzal is wont to say: 'They don't know they're victims.'
    Individuals must be taught to recognize their own, and others' victimization. This involves a process of re-education. It can amount to a conversion experience, sometimes of a religious intensity.
    Claims of victimization must be respected ('believe the victim').
    The term 'victim' can be disempowering. The terms 'survivor' or 'recovering' are preferable.

    1. Coeus   11 years ago

      Victim advocates start with initially modest campaigns, addressing clear-cut, egregious examples of exploitation. Having gained social acceptance, they then typically expand the problem's domain, to include a much wider range of behaviours, which they deem problematic. Thus, for example, we now operate expansive definitions of 'abuse', 'trauma', and sexual victimization. The definition of what 'rape' means in criminal law has also been expanded.

      1. PD Scott   11 years ago

        We're all victims of victimization.

        1. Root Boy   11 years ago

          This guy could be claiming victimhood (due to his parents), but he's white, so no takers:

          http://theprincetontory.com/ma.....privilege/

    2. Damned Fool   11 years ago

      I actually spent a minute looking for the like button.

  47. Agammamon   11 years ago

    Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed one of the nation's harshest "revenge porn" laws yesterday.

    See? What'd I tell ya? Every time Arizona enacts an awesome law/removes a bad one its not long before they do something so incredibly derpy it cancels out.

  48. Juice   11 years ago

    I like the idea that I read in another H&R comments section (sorry I forgot the commenter). If you're changing the name of the Washington Redskins because it's racist, why stop at the Redskins part. You might want to change the name of Washington since it's named after one of the largest American slaveholders, who was a white supremacist, and participated in treason.

    1. Agammamon   11 years ago

      I'm pretty sure Washington wasn't a white supremacist.

      1. C. Anacreon   11 years ago

        But he did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.

      2. Juice   11 years ago

        He certainly thought that whites were superior to American Indians and said as much.

  49. PD Scott   11 years ago

    A couple of other things that I don't have links for.

    I was watching Aerial America: Texas on Smithsonian the other day. Some of the footage was from El Paso, showing a Customs and Border Patrol helicopter flying in broad daylight over the area. In the back was a CBP officer hanging out the side with a M-16/AR-15 in low ready position. Do people regularly take pot shots at CBP helicopters in broad daylight? If not, does he need to be flying around like that? How accurate a shot can he expect to take from a moving helicopter?

    The other was something I heard about on the news recently. Some cops went to a house on a domestic call. They heard shots inside so they rushed... to call the SWAT team, then waited until they got a warrant and went inside, where (IIRC) they found the occupants dead in a murder-suicide. So, do the cops bust down the door without a warrant only if they smell pot?

    1. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

      So, do the cops bust down the door without a warrant only if they "smell" pot?

      FIFY

    2. Agammamon   11 years ago

      Yeah dude. Rash action around armed people might mean you don't get home at the end of your shift.

      Kicking down the door of a pothead is so much safer.

    3. Juice   11 years ago

      "How can you shoot women and children?"

      "Easy! You just don't lead'em as much."

  50. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

    There's a reality show about the Canadian Border. It's a show designed to piss off libertarians. It is literally all about how the government harasses people and makes the world worse at taxpayer expense.

    1. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

      'Border Security'?

      Yeah that show is horrible.
      They harass a guy for hours, then find nothing, but it was all worth it.
      *eye roll*

      1. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

        It is actually a very helpful resource for libertarians and smugglers/black market labourers trying to get into Canada. For instance, one women got busted coming into Canada to work under the guise of a tourist. She had the work schedule on her email which the border trog asked to access! Dumb! Put the work schedule on a different alternate email and fill your normal email with misleading emails you'd expect for a tourist trip.

  51. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

    Milwaukee Cops Ask Citizens to Report Pet Abuse

    I thought about asking them if this applies, but decided I didn't want to be beaten for "resisting arrest."

    1. PD Scott   11 years ago

      "After the shooting, police wrote Viilo a $122 ticket for letting Bubba run loose."

      Well at least they didn't charge her* for the ammunition they fired, so we're still better than China.

      *Since she's a taxpayer, I presume, she had already paid for it, of course.

      1. Agammamon   11 years ago

        Also - how do you charge someone for letting their dog run loose when it never left their yard in the first place?

    2. Agammamon   11 years ago

      How come you haven't posted that to Twitter yet?

      Turn it into another NYPD-style PR fiasco.

  52. PapayaSF   11 years ago

    A large bronze statue by a professional sculptor for only $20,000? Sounds cheap. Devilishly cheap.

  53. Mike M.   11 years ago

    Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed one of the nation's harshest "revenge porn" laws yesterday. It is now a felony to "to intentionally disclose, display, distribute, publish, advertise or offer a photograph, videotape, film or digital recording of another person if the person knows or should have known that the depicted person has not consented to the disclosure."

    Is there an implication here that I should feel sorry for people who do this?

    Well sorry, I don't. At all.

    1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      You don't think making posting a pic of your ex into a felony is a bit much?

      1. Jesus H. Christ   11 years ago

        The problem with the law is that it is far too broad, as others have pointed out. Purposely distributing pictures or video of someone in an embarrassing or intimate situation in order to cause emotional or even professional hurt seems to me a violation of the NAP, and so some sort of response should be available for those harmed. This law doesn't really do the job properly.

        1. Coeus   11 years ago

          Real world cases:

          There is a guy who is being raked over the coals in the "skeptic" community because he supposedly harassed and raped a college at a conference. He has posted pictures (no naughty bits) of them both nude with her on top on the night in question in order to restore his reputation. This is now a felony.

          Remember the hofstra case? With this wording, even showing the video to the cops (which is all that saved them) would be a felony.

        2. Jesus H. Christ   11 years ago

          Reading my own comment, I'm not sure it's possible. For example, would it be felony to re-distribute a picture that Carlos Danger sent to me privately? If it's a public official engaging in illegal or inappropriate behavior, the public should know.

      2. Mike M.   11 years ago

        In this day and age, no I don't, becauae a pic that makes it into the public domain will be in the public domain permantly and can potentially ruin someone's life.

  54. Tonio   11 years ago

    I tried to like Primus, I really did, but it just never clicked with me.

  55. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

    Unfortunately, can't do that too much for the longer trips. Beer is bulky.

  56. hamilton   11 years ago

    I am presuming that's why they developed that powdered alcohol stuff. I am expecting it to completely revamp my camping experience.

  57. Archduke von Pantsfan   11 years ago

    Here's the product for you

  58. Coeus   11 years ago

    I am presuming that's why they developed that powdered alcohol stuff. I am expecting it to completely revamp my camping experience.

    I always just take a small flask of 151.

  59. hamilton   11 years ago

    and OF COURSE they don't ship to the People's Republic of Massachusetts.

  60. Auric Demonocles   11 years ago

    Just get it shipped to New Hampshire and walk across the street to pick it up.

  61. hamilton   11 years ago

    I have been meaning to get a PO box up in Nashua for precisely this purpose. Maybe that Free State Project lass would let me have it shipped to her place.

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