Democrats May Face Midterm Drubbing, Inspector General Knew About VA Wait Lists, Libya Gets Even Messier: P.M. Links

• 

  Magharebia

  The Democrats continue to look like underdogs heading into the midterm elections. Although it's never safe to ignore the GOP's ability to rip defeat from the jaws of victory, the continuing fiasco that is Obamacare just may be weighing-down the donkey party.

• The Veterans Administration Inspector General reportedly knew about the possibly lethal waiting lists for care months before the scandal broke.
• Add Oregon to the list of states where a ban on same-sex marriages was struck down by the courts.
• Is "chaos-ier" a word? Because that's what Libya is becoming as the forces of a former general seize control of parliament and prepare to battle a rival militia.
• A New Hampshire police commissioner stepped down after using a racial slur to describe President Obama.
• Congressional Republicans consider giving schools, and students, relief from not-so-popular "healthy lunch" mandates. Apparently, the nutritional value gets a bit lost when the meal is tossed in the garbage can.

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Comments

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Jesse and I are trying to put together a meet up in the next few weeks, possibly a happy hour, Korean BBQ, or Shabu Shabu. Suggestions welcome. Post or email contact info to Jesse if interested.

Officially, we'll call it Sloopy's Going Away Party. But he already left, so he's just going to see pictures of the celebration in his honor.

[John]

You are in NYC right?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Los Angeles

[John]

That is right.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

My handle is derived from this.

[Sidd Finch]

playa = beach

[Slammer]

Yeah, it's CA, but Ahem

[Sidd Finch]

whoa

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Controlled by the Russia Mafia.

[jesse.in.mb]

Yeah. Occasionally folks will get confused on profiles and be geolocated in LA and have "Manhattan Beach, NY" listed on their profile.

I hadn't realized there was another Manhattan Beach until I saw that.

[Obese American]

How about Torehei or Musha in Torrance?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Googling now.

I go to King Shabu Shabu on PCH, but it's getting a little bland for me...

[Sudden]

Y'know Little Tokyo has some great Shabu Shabu places...

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I nominate Sudden as Social Chair.

[Sudden]

I recuse myself lest these meet ups turn into some sort of perverse re-enactment of various scenes from Wolf of Wall Street.

[jesse.in.mb]

Psht. Like you can get your hands on 'ludes this day and age.

[Agammamon]

Well, that's still better than re-enacting 'American Psycho'.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Kobe Beef Carpaccio for $6.95? Good thing it's near the hospital.

[RannedPall]

That was my go to shabu place when I used to live in Lomita. Haven't been in awhile

[Agammamon]

I'm in.

And on a related topic - can anyone recommend a decent email program?

I've been using Gmail and Hotmail (don't laugh - they have a pretty damn good spam filter) but I'm getting pissed over Gmail's insistence that I turn on cookies every time I use it. And I'm definitely getting tired of Google's insistence on cross-program integration - I'm seriously considering a *Windows* phone for my next cell.

[jesse.in.mb]

Hotmail is usually the address I throw up when I'm worried about spam. Hence using it here, but trying to put together a ReasonLA contacts list with their contact management system is turrible.

[Agammamon]

Hotmail is actually the only one of the three that I use that allows me to log in *without* having to enable cookies and turn my security settings down to minimal.

I can't do a fucking thing on any of the Google owned sites without opening myself up to a whole host of vulnerabilities.

I don't care about Yahoo anymore - its for the best, since I used to comment on their articles. No need to waste my time in that pit of derp.

As a matter of fact, no cookies has kept me out of a lot of pointless internet 'discussion groups'.

I've got a HM address that I use as a commerce spam dump and use that Gmail address for personal stuff but I'm seriously thinking about dumping it and getting another HM account for personal.

[Ted S.]

If you wanted to be mean, you could call it that "Thank God Sloopy Left Party".

Or the "We Miss Banjos, But Not Sloopy Party".

[db]

shabu shabu. .. yyuuuummmmmm.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

One of the places I was looking at has $1 happy hour Sapporos and hibachis at table for kobe beef belly...

[db]

I wish we had a place for shabu shabu in the 'Burgh.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Check out the pics:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/shin-s.....-gardena-2

I don't think there is anything there I wouldn't gladly eat.

[db]

You're just trying to make me jealous.

[RannedPall]

Been there. DELICIOUS.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

This is clearly going to turn into an eating contest. I'm getting too old for this shit!

[a better weapon]

I'm interested. My email should display.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'll forward to Jesse (The unofficial secretary). Where are you located?

[jesse.in.mb]

I thought you were in Texas now.

[RannedPall]

Gyu kaku? Boiling crab (messy but damn good)? As long as there's booze, I'll be there. The sooner you guys can nail down a date, the better, so I can request it off.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Sloopy used to be the decision maker, because he had the furthest to drive. Things have fallen apart since he left.

[RannedPall]

Well somebody has to step up and fill the void that sloopy left. We can't just have anarchy.

[jesse.in.mb]

Things have fallen apart since he left.

Since Friday?

[Agammamon]

Look, its not like this was a tightly run ship to start with.

We're always one chinaman away from a Chinese fire-drill at the best of times.

THAT'S RACIST!

[Raven Nation]

Where did Sloopy & Banjos go?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Banjos took a job in the DC area.

[a better weapon]

I was, but just took a job at UCLA this month.

I'm right off the Culver Blvd exit off the 90.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Can't make it.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'll pencil you in for next summer. Or is it the summer after?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Democrats continue to look like underdogs heading into the midterm elections.

Yeah and the GOP risks mid-term decimation over the rape comments that one guy's about to make.

[Palin's Buttplug]

In the Georgia primary the crazy Creationist Teabagger (Paul Broun) is running fourth.

Georgia will remain safe Team Red then.

You have my word on it!

[Agammamon]

I wonder if Soros pays some of these guys off.

Hey, I'll give you a chunk of stock in a good company if you'll say something completely retarded about rape.

[C. Anacreon]

First from Spain!

[Fist of Etiquette]

No puedes saberlo con certeza.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Are you going to make it to Barcelona?

[C. Anacreon]

Not this trip, though Barcelona is my favorite European city. But I just heard some good news that may lead to a Barcelona trip in September! Toasting the possibility now.

[db]

I was just there for the first.time a couple of.weeks ago. Beautiful city. and I generally don't like cities.

[paranoid android]

My sister just got a position teaching English in Barcelona, leading me to question all life decisions I've ever made--and I'm only three years older than she is.

[William of Purple]

How did she get a Visa?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I had a beachside apartment in Sitges one summer, which is a few miles down the coast from Barcelona. I had no idea it was the gay capital of Europe until I got there. Didn't matter though, there were nice boobies everywhere.

[C. Anacreon]

We met up with friends in Sitges when we were last in Barcelona. Lots of good times going on, including tons of blow everywhere, done openly in bars that were carved out caves. The ride down the coast to get there was amazing, through about 30 tunnels. Lots of USA expats. Some locals tried to get me into a bar argument to counter their point that 'America sucks,' but we managed to talk our way out.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

My cousin is an ex pat (sort of) working for the State Dept there.

The caves that interested me most were the ones with $1000 aged hams hanging everywhere....

[C. Anacreon]

Well, almost first, but certainly the first post from someone who just found out his tapas bar had free wifi, connected to the Internet, and stumbled onto PM links just as they came up, despite the fact that it is 10:30 pm here.

[Andrew S.]

10:30 pm dinner? That's dining pretty early for Spain, isn't it?

[C. Anacreon]

Pre - dinner cocktails right now.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You should have come across like you were bragging you made the first comment of anyone in Spain, which is how I took your meaning.

[C. Anacreon]

Si Se Puede!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Add Oregon to the list of states where a ban on same-sex marriages was struck down by the courts.

Get onboard with Shackford's phrasing, Tuccille.

[Winston]

Whatever happened to "legalize recognition of Same-Sex marriage."

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

For Victoria Day: Essential Facts about Queen Victoria.

[Ted S.]

Her father is the man after whom Prince Edward Island is named.

[Pro Libertate]

Did she bang that Scottish dude?

[Ted S.]

She was Queen. She could bang anybody she wanted.

[Pro Libertate]

Ha! Ask Elizabeth I about that.

[db]

Except that non-nobles could be executed for helping her out with that, right?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Fact 1: Incredibly unattractive

[Isaac Bartram]

Not really.

She may not have been a great beauty but as a young woman she was not unattractive by the standards of the day.

She gained weight as she aged and even then slim was considered better looking than fat. So she certainly lost a lot of her looks in middle age.

But even in old age she was hardly "Incredibly unattractive" compared to other old women. Especilay not if compared to working class women who were usually haggard at thirty (if they lived that long).

[Slammer]

I've always had a crush on young Elizabeth II.

[Corning]

she had 9 kids...

someone found her attractive...plus how would you look if you had 9 kids.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Here in Quebec, they celebrate "La journee de les patriotes." What a fucking joke. The cynic in me wonders why they settled on Victoria Day to push their nationalist agenda.

[Winston]

Eh they want to keep the Holiday but not celebrate an English Queen?

[Slammer]

The Veterans Administration Inspector General reportedly knew about the possibly lethal waiting lists for care months before the scandal broke.

Scandal?

[Rich]

Exactly.

"Reportedly"? "Possibly"?

Move along, Citizen ?.

[The Other Kevin]

Sorry, that should be, "partisan-created fake scandal".

[John]

If it can't be traced back to the Chocolate Nixon, it might be a scandal.

[Brandon]

He just found out about it the other day, and he is just as outraged as you. He is so outraged that he is considering increasing the chocolate ration.

[Ska]

14.04.09 BB refs unpersons rewrite fullwise upsub antefiling.

[pan fried wylie]

"increasing the chocolate ration" = An Extra SOTU?

[Not an Economist]

He did.

[Not an Economist]

Link to the above.

[Winston]

GOP's ability to rip defeat from the jaws of victory

I now know the GOP is indeed becoming more libertarian every day.

[Corning]

libertarians have not come within a hemisphere of the jaws of victory.

[Ted S.]

Oh dear: They're back to linking to 24/7, at least in one of the stories.

[jesse.in.mb]

Ted S. SMASH!

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Lionel Messi is set to become the highest-paid player in the soccer world after he agreed to sign a new contract with FC Barcelona on Friday.

On Friday, (now former) Barcelona head coach Tata Martino said Messi's new contract should end any strife between the club and its star player.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

James Taranto on trigger warnings for college reading assignments.

http://online.wsj.com/news/art.....29692.html

[Brett L]

Jesus Christ, I wish this more offended than thou fad would pass. Its not like they're reading Lolita to Elizabeth Smart.

[Fluffy]

Elizabeth Smart probably would think Lolita sounded like a trip to Disney World.

[Brett L]

A fair point, but I couldn't think of anything else in the canon that has a real complaint against it. Especially now. Reading about a lynching in college where people actually burned a cross in your daddy's yard might actually trigger a panic attack. I don't think that's happened to any Oberlin students this generation unless they burned the cross.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Very poor taste. I like it.

[John]

And as usual Oberlin leads the way

Triggers are not only relevant to sexual misconduct, but also to anything that might cause trauma. Be aware of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, cissexism, ableism, and other Issues of privilege and oppression. Realize that all forms of violence are traumatic, and that your students have lives before and outside your classroom, experiences you may not expect or understand." ("Cissexism" refers to prejudice in favor of men and women who identify themselves, respectively, as men and women.)

[Slammer]

When everything is a trigger, there are no triggers.

[Winston]

Isn't like reading ableist against the blind?

[Rich]

Obviously that paragraph should have been prefaced by a *meta-trigger*. Let the lawsuits begin!

[~Knarf Yenrab~]

Heckler's vetoes for everyone!

[a better weapon]

Realize that all forms of violence are traumatic, and that your students have lives before and outside your classroom, experiences you may not expect or understand.

So how are the professors supposed to know when to put in a trigger warning?

[Agammamon]

They are not. They *are*, however, expected to grovel profusely when one of their students claims psychic injury from a topic of discussion in the course, or if one of the other students in the class says something they don't like, or someone somewhere does the same.

[PD Scott]

Oh, if only the trigger warning was "do the required coursework or fail the class."

[Paul.]

The Veterans Administration Inspector General reportedly knew about the possibly lethal waiting lists for care months before the scandal broke.

I'm heading into the wayback machine here, so bear with me, but weren't we told by the progressive party machine when healthcare reform was being debated vis-a-vis Obamacare, that rationing was normal, fair and expected?

[Pro Libertate]

Lethal Waiting Lists vs. Death Panels?

[Mike M.]

More like rewarding your friends and punishing your enemies.

[John]

Look, only idiot racist tea baggers like Sarah Palin think there are death panels. We do have care priority lists and those are totally different, you racist.

[BigT]

Death panels are active, death waiting lists are passive. So, no aggression to be resisted.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

Tagalog in California, Cherokee in Arkansas: What language does your state speak?

The most-commonly spoken language other than English map is pretty unsurprising. The map of most-commonly spoken languages other than English or Spanish map, though, is pretty interesting.

[Pro Libertate]

Lots of German. They--well, we--are insidious.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Amish included.

[db]

I was in ATL waiting for a flight back to PIT two weekends ago and there was a group of Amish (or Mennonites) there speaking some kind of patois that sounded like a mashup gibberish of German, Dutch, and Valley Girl.

[Ted S.]

Das ist keine ?berraschung.

[Pro Libertate]

I read somewhere that German is the biggest single nationality in the U.S. in the sense that more of us are descended from German immigrants than from anything else.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

I think we're #2 after the English, actually, with the Irish taking the bronze.

[Pro Libertate]

I can't say for sure, and I don't remember the source, but it surprised me at the time.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I remember learning that in school, but it is probably out of date by now.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I'd guess that the % of people with English but no German DNA or vice versa is pretty godam small regardless. Maybe just cause I'm such a white boy mutt though.

[Zeb]

And until surprisingly recently, I think it was the second most common primary language after English.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

I grew up hearing it spoken frequently in my grandparents and great-grandparents houses, the PA version of it, that is, which is sadly becoming a dead language. Fewer and fewer people each year know what a hoofy is, and the world is poorer for it. Sigh.

[Old Man With Candy]

Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch, aber ich habe keine ahnung- was bedeutet "hoofy"?

[Restoras]

http://www.businessinsider.com.....ica-2013-8

Funny, this

49,206,934 Germans

The largest wave of Germans came to America during the middle of the 19th century, facing civil unrest and high unemployment at home. Today, the majority of German-Americans can be found in the non-coastal states, with the largest number in Maricopa County, Arizona. Famous Americans of German descent include Sandra Bullock, John Steinbeck, Ben Affleck, Jessica Biel, Tom Cruise, Uma Thurman, David Letterman, Walt Disney, Henry J. Heinz, and Oscar Mayer.

explains a lot...

[Agammamon]

Hmm, is Arpaio a german name?

[Invisible Finger]

This is why we have a functioning economy on the verge of being ruined by socialists.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

I'm a little surprised that Oregon went Russian. I know there's a lot of Russian immigrants here, but there's still a lot of German-speaking communities as well...though I suppose they've had more time to fully assimilate, so there may be a lot fewer people who use it as their primary language.

[Corning]

No shit.

By way of the Saxons they pretty much are everywhere.

I recently read they started in Denmark.

In 1000 BC passing aliens would have looked at those cunts and said.

"Those cunts are going nowhere."

[Ted S.]

I could go for some tagalongs right about now.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Some of those maps are almost unbelievable. Almost.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

How so?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

In my neck of the woods, the Chinese neighborhoods are way bigger than the Filipino ones. Way, way bigger. Same with the Bay Area.

I would have to assume that there are more Mandarin and Cantonese speakers than Tagalog speakers in CA.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

For instance, some people answered the ACS with "Chinese," while others gave specific dialects such as "Mandarin" or "Cantonese". These were all treated as different languages in the ACS data and when constructing these maps. (See the raw data here.) New York is marked "Chinese" because more people responded with "Chinese" than any other language other than English or Spanish. If all Chinese languages (or languages under the umbrella of a larger language family) had been grouped together, the answers for many states would change.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

So we are in agreement. The map maker sucks.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

That was a quote from the map maker.

[Sudden]

How is Japanese not the second most common language in Hawaii too? Way more native Japanese than Filipinos there.

[grrizzly]

I was surprised that Hawaiian wasn't on the map.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

According to Wikipedia:

Hawaii's Asian population mainly consists of 198,000 (14.6%) Filipino Americans and 185,000 (13.6%) Japanese Americans. In addition, there are roughly 55,000 (4.0%) Chinese Americans and 24,000 (1.8%) Korean Americans.

So they are pretty close in number.

Of course when you say "native" I presume you mean "born in Japan/the Philippines", which this of course does not illuminate.

Looking at the raw language data, there are only about 4000 more Tagalog speakers than Japanese, so it's again a pretty close race.

[Calidissident]

I'm pretty sure that the Japanese-American population generally has the lowest proportion of immigrants among Asian-American groups.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

I checked the data; you are correct -- if you add up everyone who wrote simply "Chinese" along with more specific names, there are about 200K more Chinese speakers than Tagalog speakers in California.

Personally, I would like to see the Census Bureau somehow nudge people into saying something more informative than "Chinese" when asked their language.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Good enough for government work.

I just knew that my anecdotal experience was correct.

[Calidissident]

Chinese isn't just one language, though. Mandarin and Cantonese (among others) are different languages. Related, but different. I would presume that most people who put "Chinese" probably speak Mandarin.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

That's why I scarequoted "Chinese"

[Calidissident]

That was more a response to Playa, not you, my apologies on the lack of clarity.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

My original guess was that there were more Mandarin speakers than Tagalog speakers in CA, and more Cantonese speakers then Tagalog speakers in CA.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

then=than

[Calidissident]

Well that isn't possible, given the numbers. Depending on the ratio of Mandarin to Cantonese, the larger (almost surely Mandarin) may still come out ahead of Tagalog.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Holy shit, there ARE a lot of Portuguese in Rhode Island...

[Agammamon]

Tagalog in CA is completely unsurprising to anyone who has been in the US Navy. The Pilipino Mapia has roots all up and down the coast of that state.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

A Huffpo article on Erectile Dysfunction

We have entered the age of the entitled penis, the penis-in-denial, the penis-as-revenge against the Grim Reaper. Our artificial national erection has become a metaphor for what ails America: patriarchal fist pumping without end; avoidance of softness and vulnerability; the cultural denial of death; and the synonyous-making of manhood and manhood that leaves men's brains humming with one inner mantra. I get hard, therefore I am.

[Paul.]

Where does that leave the manufacturer of KY Jelly?

[Carl ?s his privilege]

I think I got ED reading that paragraph.

[John]

Hormone treatment for women with no libido is just empowerment.

[Warty]

While hormone treatment for men is dangerous and has to be stamped out with restrictive laws and class-action lawsuits.

[John]

We don't want men staying young and fit. It just makes them more dangerous rapists.

[Warty]

It's hard not to conclude that the mandarins hate manhood, isn't it?

[John]

I don't think that is going to work out very well for them.

[Rich]

a metaphor for what ails America: patriarchal fist pumping without end

Fap-fap-fap-fap-??.

[jesse.in.mb]

We should coat our next gen stealth bombers in that text. I keep trying to read it, but my eyes slide right past it.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Penis. Penis. Penis.

[db]

Win.

[Ted S.]

Somebody send that writer a copy of Zardoz.

[pan fried wylie]

Zardoz sounds like the pharmacological antithesis of Viagra.

[Christophe]

"New Puritans" is spot-on accurate.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A New Hampshire police commissioner stepped down after using a racial slur to describe President Obama.

Boston PD will take him.

[Winston]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1804_Haiti_Massacre

Does this make Jean-Jacques Dessalines the ultimate Progressive?

[PD Scott]

You may disagree, but I think this song is pretty libertarian. Or "fellow travelers", at least. From 1952, Lulu Belle & Scotty "I'm No Communist"

Our government is bigger than it ever was today
The more they hire to work for it, the more they have to pay
Our public servants should be proud and honest you would think
Instead of taking bribes and dressing up their wives in mink

The taxes keep on going up of that there is no doubt
But still they just can't take it in as fast as they dish it out
Our national debt is monster size and growin' every day
Our children's children, still unborn are gonna have to pay

Our dollar used be the soundest money on this earth
But now two bucks won't even buy a good old dollar's worth
Unless we stop inflation and take care of what we've got
The Communists may win the fight and never fire a shot

[PapayaSF]

Nice.

[Warty]

Some excellent comments there.

Los Comunistas1 year ago

lol this sold how utterly dumb things were in the USA and probably still are. Communism is ultimately NOT about government, it is about its gradual withering away into a completely stateless society. It is only in the first primitive phase of communism, called socialism, that there exists a government, a state

Los Comunistas1 year agoin reply to TaleOfValors

wrong, there are many who lived in USSR (spoken to them) who say the old system was far better, there was generally job security, and huge social benefits. Free health care like in new zealand. Now you have a fascist capitalist dictatorship of rich corrupt tyrants, you got your wish, no sympathy

Stannis Baratheon11 months ago

This is pathetic. It really is, this brainwash propaganda you Americans make is almost as bad as the one the Nazis did, well you both hate communism and you're both imperialists, that's something you have in common. USSR had it's flaws, of course, I didn't support USSR, but you people have no idea of what Communism is, Communism wasn't just the Soviets, capitalism will drain our world of resources while people suffer with no food. You should be ashamed of supporting this hate-fueled propaganda.

[PD Scott]

Good God, man, how do you expect to retain your sanity if you read Youtube comments?

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' Targeted for Plagiarism

[PapayaSF]

Huh, never noticed that. It's not a pure copy, being a little different, but parts are close.

Still, I don't know how much of a case they'd have.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Smoke on the Water was ripped off a Bossa Nova tune.

[John]

Isn't not suing for 40 years kind of a problem? What, did they not turn on a radio for 43 years and thus missed the song?

[Zeb]

They claim that they didn't have money for attorneys until now.
I can't imagine they have a case. It's just not the same music. There is a whole industry of making songs that sound sort of like hit songs in just that way. You really have to copy lyrics or music note-for-note to have a case like that I think.
And just about all popular music references earlier works. That's just how it is.

[John]

I can't see it either. And the song came out in 1971. Spirit was still a signed and functioning band then. They didn't have the money to hire an attorney to get a piece of the most played song in FM radio history? Doubtful.

[BakedPenguin]

Randy California (guitar / singer) has previously said they just wanted Zep to acknowledge they "borrowed" the tune.

[Zeb]

That's not the same or even very close. Hardly a rip off. I'm sure there is some ever earlier song that sounds similar to that one too. It's hardly an innovative or complicated guitar line.

[db]

Quite a few of.their.songs have guitar and bass lines lifted right out of blues recordings from the 1930s.and.'40s.

[John]

Quite a few of every rock band in history's songs have guitar and bass lines lifted right out of blues recordings from the 1930s.and.'40s.

Fixed it for you.

[Zeb]

Yeah. And all of those artists from the 30s and 40s were copying stuff that they heard from other people who never got recorded.

[db]

Who's making the value.judgment here?

[Zeb]

Not me. That's just how music (and literature and painting, etc.) works. Especially with folky vernacular stuff like the blues.

[110 Lean]

Bullshit. That is about as common a chord progression as they come. Hell, someone could claim Spirit ripped off It's Been a Long, Long Time by Louis Armstrong

[BigT]

Taurus?? Bull!!

Is this just a big PR stunt to reawaken people to Spirit's music? Love Mr Skin.

[robc]

I wonder if Kansas Joe McCoy and Mississippi Minnie* get a few cents every time "When The Levee Breaks" is played?

*or their heirs

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Gonna be tough for the Habs to beat the Rangers without a goalie.

[Andrew S.]

So I'm going to have to root for the Blackhawks in the finals again. Gag.

At least the Penguins lost.

[Ted S.]

And listen to sports talk (if I turn it on) talk about the Rangers. Gag.

[Shirley Knott]

So that makes them the Hab-nots?

[BigT]

Kreider should have been suspended

[Sudden]

At least the rangers won't have your goals disallowed for "goalie interference." (still smarting over that BS call even though the Blackhawks overcame it).

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Veterans Administration Inspector General reportedly knew about the possibly lethal waiting lists for care months before the scandal broke.

I'd hate to think he found out in the newspaper.

[WDATPDIM?!]

This is one of those damned-if-you-did, damned-if-you-didn't dilemmas.

[Caleb Turberville]

SIAP: http://www.salon.com/2014/05/1.....t_failure/

To be fair, this is one of the more thoughtful anti-libertarian pieces to come out lately. But it still relies on the old trope that "libertarianism only works in a fantasy world."

[Brett L]

Unlike Socialism, which works every time in the real world -- just not the way its apologists think it will.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Good point. Socialism and libertarianism have an equal failure rate - 100%.

I had not considered that before.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Hey Weigel.

[Fluffy]

They have vastly different standards of success.

Libertarianism succeeds even when it "fails".

Because I never fucking promised you a rose garden.

[Juice]

Really? Where was liberty (for real, with no slavery) ever tried and then it failed?

[Tak Kak]

Somalia!

The road (dilapidated and filled with war lords) always leads to Somalia.

[Agammamon]

Its like, zen, man.

The road to libertopia always leads to Somalia, but there are no roads in Somalia.

Boom, mind blown.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Heh--"estrangement from history." Rather delicious irony given that we're coming up on the anniversary of WW1. Who the hell would take a look at the industrialized slaughter engendered by various governments over the last 100 years, often in the name of "progress," and come to believe that just maybe the cult of the Central State wasn't all it was cracked up to be?

This is why I laugh at hoplophobic leftists crying about guns in society--as if Jethro and Billy Bob in their right-wing militia are capable of causing even 1/100th the level of destruction that governments have unleashed.

[Winston]

Wasn't WWI a major blow against classical liberalism pretty much everywhere?

The amount of government control used to produce the needed supplies, arms and troops not only required the sacrifice of classical liberalism but WWI (and WWII) did inspire future generations of socialists that TOP.MEN. could mobilize society for Total War so why not mobilize society in peacetime?

Not to mention the ensuing economic dislocations in Europe provided able ground for Fascism, Communism and You Know Who.

[John]

It was a massive blow to humanity. But it wasn't the result of classical liberalism. It was the result of nationalism. You can't pin nationalism on classical liberalism. It is the French Revolution that started that, and a lot of other things.

[Restoras]

The unification of Germany and Italy into nation states didn't help either.

[PD Scott]

Unification because of nationalism. Nationalism was the hip new thing.

That, and Germans were tired of being the Belgium of the 16-19th century, other people's armies always marching across them...

[Winston]

It was a massive blow to humanity

Oh yeah, I missed that.

But it wasn't the result of classical liberalism. It was the result of nationalism. You can't pin nationalism on classical liberalism. It is the French Revolution that started that, and a lot of other things.

You misunderstood. I didn't blame the war on classical liberalism but that the War Economy seemed to show that centrally planned economies could work and that the post-war chaos was beneficial to fascism and communism.

[John]

For sure. Lenin got a lot of ideas from German war socialism.

[Winston]

In Canada during WWII the CCF (precursor to the NDP) like to say they supporting the conscription of wealth rather than men.

I'm also amused that thanks to the Allies including Stalin the Communist parties in Canada, US and UK supported conscription and in India the Communists supported the British War effort.

[Warty]

The french Nation in Arms, or whatever they called it, was the worst thing to happen to humanity since at least classical times. Once the kings and presidents realized they could in fact control society enough to field armies that huge, the world wars were inevitable.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Wasn't WWI a major blow against classical liberalism pretty much everywhere?

Yeah, I'd say so--in Europe at least, it was the final nail in the coffin. The ideas of classical liberalism and the Enlightenment had been eroding for most of the 19th century. I think it took the Great Depression and WW2 to finally kill it off here for good, though. FDR at least tried to give lip service to the very thing he was attempting to strangle, even if the fashion-obsessed academics in his "brain trust" were quite open in their contempt for the concept.

It really wasn't until after the war that increasing centralization and technocracy became the conventional wisdom, because those forces had been harnessed in a very successful way. Truman and the post-war Dems tripped up in confusing a wartime economy with a peacetime economy, though, and never did grasp the limits of scale and the ability of increasingly centralized bureaucracies to deal with socially and ethnically diverse populations that weren't under war duress. Eisenhower addressed this in his farewell speech but as is usual, everyone missed the point and thought he was just talking about the MIC (contrary to popular belief, it's not solely about the MIC, he simply identified the MIC as a primary example).

[WDATPDIM?!]

I tend to think that we/they make this kind of criticism too easy by overselling libertarianism. Instead of claiming that everyone will be richer, happier, and freer in libertopia, maybe we should just say that freedom is worth more than the costs of a relatively moderate drop in the average standard of living.

[kbolino]

It is very hard to argue principles with people who can't see past the nobility of their own intentions.

Forcing them to own up to the consequences of their failed ideology is impossible, because once they're done being apologists for one disaster, they move right on to being apologists for the next.

[Archduke von Pantsfan]

Physicists have discovered how to turn light into matter ? and reckon we have the technology to do it

[Winston]

I want to see if science can prove that traveling at infinite speed will turn people into giant horny salamanders.

[Shirley Knott]

As long as by 'matter' you mean 'electrons'. I don't think most folks think they get matter out of their electric sockets.

[Ted S.]

If light is a particle, isn't it technically matter?

[ducking]

[Paul.]

*nods slowly*

[Corning]

Fucking physicists!!

Can't they just say turning photons into electrons?

But NoooOO. They got to bring up god damn Star Trek replicators.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

A teacher fantasizes about his perfect Charter School:

My pretend school is called the Progressive Institute of Student Awesomeness (PISA).

PISA teachers would have autonomy and high expectations and job security. Class sizes are small -- 18 to 20 students at most

*Record Scratch* He fucked up already.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Oh lol, he was just pulling our leg anyway:

Above and beyond all of my progressive ideas about school, I believe in public education above all else. No matter how great, the imagined PISA hurts public education and hurts our country because it stands alone, or represents the elitist nature of the charter, and can't be replicated to serve the interests of all.

No one left behind and no one excluded from the best we can muster. Those are the ideals we should pursue as we seek to enhance our public schools. Shouldn't every student have a school like PISA?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Shouldn't every student have a school like PISA?

No. No brainer. Next question.

[db]

This. The "meat grinder" animation in The Wall is a perfect metaphor for modern public education. Everyone gets forced in, regardless of aptitude, intelligence, or background, forced through the same degrading process at the same rate, and ends up as part of a homogeneous mush at the end.

[Winston]

So how long before The Wall is banned as racist hate speech for saying that Government Schools suck and are conformist?

[db]

I'm sure Bob Geldof, if he ever stopped to think about it, would be appalled by his participation in such a project.

[Winston]

He'll probably say that he was just against the fact that Wrong TOP. MEN. were running British government schools back then.

[Winston]

Or that he was attacking the British Public (i.e. private boarding schools) schools rather than state (i.e. what we think of as "public" schools) schools.

[jesse.in.mb]

No one left behind and no one excluded from the best we can muster.

I thought we'd stopped leaving children behind during the Bush years...

[WDATPDIM?!]

Only if "no one left behind" means "nobody goes anywhere."

[Agammamon]

And no one allowed to get ahead.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He seems to be focused on what the teachers get.

[Paul.]

I'm glad you pointed that out. What do the kids get, I refuse to click through.

[Pro Libertate]

Happier teachers. It's trickle-down education.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I don't know. I'm not clicking through and putting money in their pockets.

[Andrew S.]

Here, try this one

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Oh, the kids, they get:

Teachers receive free tuition to take courses at the best local public university, each expected to either possess or work towards Master's degrees in pedagogy and content. Part of the job at PISA is to contribute to the scholarship on teaching and learning through professional reading, writing, and sharing with others.

Whoops, I mean:

PISA students would experience mandatory arts programs.

[jesse.in.mb]

As far as I can tell there is only one class in the teacher credentialing certificating program that has benefited any of my teacher friends in any way. WHY would you need a Masters in pedagogy. If there's more interesting stuff to learn put it on a lower shelf so everyone gets it, if not, stop wasting teachers' time with useless classes.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Teachers have been brainwashed well though. All of the teachers I graduated with (2008) that are now finishing their masters programs are very proud of themselves.

Hard work! Masters! I am now the greatest teacher ever!

[Carl ?s his privilege]

Six years? Please tell me they have been doing their masters alongside teaching.

[Paul.]

I'd hope so. I've been tempted to hand some of my daughter's teachers a juice box and a bag of goldfish crackers.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

They have. Some have completed their masters faster, but most still within the last 2-3 years.

[gaijin]

take courses at the best local public university

Why should teachers get to go to the 'best' local University? Wouldn't his ideal include all universities being equal?

[Andrew S.]

And here's everything you need to know about how much he cares about the students themselves:

When charter schools succeed, I cringe. I believe that the schools-worth of students belong with their peers, helping to raise everyone in our American society, not just the few who are chosen by a lottery or whose parents can get them to the charter or private school.

[BakedPenguin]

...not just the few who are chosen by a lottery...

The reason some cities use a lottery is because assholes like you drastically limit the amount of spaces available to save your asshole union buddies' jobs.

[Andrew S.]

The charter school my daughter will start at in the Fall pulls from the community on purely the basis of a random lottery. Yet it still manages to be a better school (especially for Middle/High School)with higher test scores than any of the Public Schools in the community. Wonder why that is.

[Sidd Finch]

The proper comparison is to the losers of the lottery.

. Yet it still manages to be a better school (especially for Middle/High School

Doubtful. Educational intervention, experiments, etc. are less effective with older children.

[Andrew S.]

The charter goes from K to 12, so the older kids there are going to have been in that system their entire educational careers.

And the losers of the lottery tend to be the kids from the same area. There's no direct comparison, but it's fairly startling the difference between the schools.

[Sidd Finch]

the older kids there are going to have been in that system their entire educational careers.

They're also kids who are smart/motivated enough to pass an advanced curriculum for many years.

And the losers of the lottery tend to be the kids from the same area.

There's a lot of variance in any district.

[Christophe]

I think Sidd's saying that people even just applying are self-selected for good family backgrounds, so comparing winners and losers of the lottery gives you the most direct comparaison.

[Sidd Finch]

Right. A random lottery followed by tracking the winners and losers is the gold standard for education experiments. It's shitty for the losers of the lottery, but it's super duper shitty to not at least get the data.

[BakedPenguin]

Yet [the charter] still manages to be a better school (especially for Middle/High School)with higher test scores than any of the Public Schools in the community. Wonder why that is.

Andrew, do parents have to apply at all, or is it truly random blind assignment? Because if it doesn't have spaces for kids whose parents can't be bothered to fill out a form, I think I can get to a big chunk of why that might be.

[BakedPenguin]

Oops. I will scroll down in the future.

At any rate, let me rec 2 movies to watch if you haven't seen them: Freakonomics (or read the book) and Waiting for Superman.

[Brett L]

Progressive Institute of Student Awesomness -- Schooling Humans in Things?

[Fluffy]

"What is this, a charter school for ANTS?"

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"How can we be expected to teach children to learn how to read if they can't even fit inside the building?"

"The building has to be at least... three times bigger than this!"

[#]

"PISA teachers would have... high expectations and job security."

Little tough to enforce the first with that latter, don't you think?

[WDATPDIM?!]

He said the teachers would have high expectations, not that they would meet high expectations.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

Prison reform programs produce high income, art

Prison reform programs, ranging from making soy sauce to creating works of art or doing woodwork, have often garnered positive feedback from society and are constantly breaking annual income records at their respective prisons.

According to the Agency of Corrections, the total income from produce sales for all prisons across the nation exceeded NT$460 million (US$15 million) last year, exceeding the total income of 2012 by 13 percent.

Chiu added that some of his colleagues, upon hearing that they would be transferred to other facilities, even ordered a sand drawing to remember their stay at the prison.

[PapayaSF]

Soy sauce? I would not eat something made in a prison.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Well the one advantage to slave labor is that you don't run into the problem of products made on Friday not being as high quality as those made on Tuesday. This can't be impossibly different.

[PapayaSF]

The Friday sauce may be the same as the Tuesday sauce, but that's not saying much. The problem is, it's all made by unhappy and resentful people.

[Corning]

Cooking food in prison compared to other prison activities would be the highlight of my day.

[PapayaSF]

But many of your co-workers would be sociopaths, who are not known for conscientious and considerate work.

[Agammamon]

Is it made in the toilet with leftover fish and hair?

[jesse.in.mb]

Prisons, the new monasteries?

NOW with more less approximately the same amounts of sodomy!

[Brandon]

What is it with you and sodomy? Oh, yeah...

[jesse.in.mb]

I actually blame marathoning "Oz"

[Notorious G.K.C.]

NPR vs. New Republic - the latest progressive catfight: Is the song "Turkey in the Straw" racist?

http://www.newrepublic.com/art.....ign=buffer

[Paul.]

I may be on one of my longest NPR-no-listen streaks ever. Thank you for reminding me why.

[Rich]

Let's see:

"Well, if frogs had wings and snakes had hair,
And automobiles went flyin' thro' the air,
Well, if watermelons grew on a huckleberry vine,
We'd still have winter in the summer time."

It contains the W-word, so Ima say "yes".

[Ted S.]

It should be "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the Straw".

[Ted S.]

No, it's not racist at all.

[Agammamon]

but the melody reached the nation only after it was appropriated by traveling blackface minstrel shows

So, why can't ice cream truck re-appropriate the song from the racists?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

NPR vs. New Republic - the latest progressive catfight: Is the song "Turkey in the Straw" racist?

http://www.newrepublic.com/art.....ign=buffer

[Pro Libertate]

What? That's like total Americana. So what if someone stole the tune for a while? Not like that doesn't happen to songs all of the time--look at the U.S. national anthem.

[Winston]

That's like total Americana.

Raacist!!

[Ted S.]

Of course it's racist. Who could possibly think otherwise?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

NPR vs. New Republic - the latest progressive catfight: Is the song "Turkey in the Straw" racist?

http://www.newrepublic.com/art.....ign=buffer

[Notorious G.K.C.]

what the heck?

[Slammer]

Squirrelz in the Straw

[Ted S.]

It may or may not be racist, depending upon the context in which it's used.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Is it racist?

The only question that matters.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Pauly Krugnuts: Health Care Confidential
..I know about a health care system that has been highly successful in containing costs, yet provides excellent care. And the story of this system's success provides a helpful corrective to anti-government ideology. For the government doesn't just pay the bills in this system -- it runs the hospitals and clinics.

No, I'm not talking about some faraway country. The system in question is our very own Veterans Health Administration, whose success story is one of the best-kept secrets in the American policy debate....

...The secret of its success is the fact that it's a universal, integrated system. Because it covers all veterans, the system doesn't need to employ legions of administrative staff to check patients' coverage and demand payment from their insurance companies. Because it covers all aspects of medical care, it has been able to take the lead in electronic record-keeping and other innovations that reduce costs, ensure effective treatment and help prevent medical errors.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Moreover, the V.H.A., as Phillip Longman put it in The Washington Monthly, ''has nearly a lifetime relationship with its patients.'' As a result, it ''actually has an incentive to invest in prevention and more effective disease management. When it does so, it isn't just saving money for somebody else. It's maximizing its own resources. In short, it can do what the rest of the health care sector can't seem to, which is to pursue quality systematically without threatening its own financial viability.''...

...For the lesson of the V.H.A.'s success story -- that a government agency can deliver better care at lower cost than the private sector -- runs completely counter to the pro-privatization, anti-government conventional wisdom that dominates today's Washington....

[Matrix]

BWAHAHAHA! How's that working out for you, Krugnuts? Go fuck yourself!

[PD Scott]

"Because it covers all veterans... Because it covers all aspects of medical care..."

So, when my Navy veteran father who served on aircraft carriers went to the VA and asked for hearing aids he must have been imagining things when they told him his hearing problems had nothing to do with being around loud jet engines in his youth and therefore he wouldn't be getting hearing aids from them now. (Maybe they said yes and he just misheard them.)

I'm so glad Krugman is a Nobel Prize winning expert on so many things, otherwise he'd be just another jerk talking out his ass.

[Matrix]

My coworkers go to the VA all the time, but it's mostly because it's free. They don't particularly care for the VA, in most cases. I know one of my coworkers who broke his back in the Airforce (on duty, coming off of a truck on an icy runway), and they did almost nothing. In fact, they nearly caused him to be paralyzed by not treating him for well over a year. He hates military docs and the VA. He sticks to private care, for the most part.

[~Knarf Yenrab~]

Well, that was before the Tea Party implemented their savage cuts (to budget increases).

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Krugbe is way ahead of you:

The V.H.A.: Not Wealthy, but Sometimes Wise
...Paul Krugman: The V.A. does have some waiting time issues; as you say, they're due to lack of funds. The fact remains, however, that despite its shoestring budget the V.A. by all accounts does a better job in many dimensions than private health care.

Still, you've touched on my biggest worry about the V.A., which is that it will be starved for funds by politicians who prefer to use the money for, say, tax cuts. That's what happened to Britain's National Health Service, which is better than Americans think, but was nickel-and-dimed by successive British governments down to the point where it currently spends only about 40 percent as much per capita as the U.S. system....

[John]

but was nickel-and-dimed by successive British governments down to the point where it currently spends only about 40 percent as much per capita as the U.S. system....

Gee Paul, maybe we should let people spend their own money on healthcare rather than leaving it to the whims of politicians.

[Knarf the Yenrabian]

Harry Reid warned us about anarchists like John.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

VA Budget Skyrockets Despite Federal Spending Cuts
DAYTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs spends more today in inflation adjusted dollars than it did after World War II and the Vietnam War, when millions of troops returned from the battlefield, according to federal budget figures.

By the next fiscal year, the VA budget is projected to rise 58 percent since 2009 to $152.7 billion, more than double the $70.9 billion spent in 2005, agency figures show.

...Straining under the national debt, budget cutters have slashed billions in federal spending and ordered unpaid furloughs of hundreds of thousands of Department of Defense civilian employees, but the VA's spending has more than doubled in little more than a decade and keeps climbing....

[Knarf the Yenrabian]

Obviously the problem is that the VA doesn't have enough money. That's the problem with all nationalized programs--they just don't take enough wealth away from private investment to be successful.

Still, you've touched on my biggest worry about the V.A., which is that it will be starved for funds by politicians who prefer to use the money for, say, tax cuts.

That's a revealing slip.

[Juice]

The V.A. does have some waiting time issues; as you say, they're due to lack of funds.

That Krugman said this is all I need to know about his economic way of thinking.

[Robert S.]

There's no sugar-coating it; the VA has some waiting time issues.

[Corning]

Tea Party implemented their savage cuts

savage slowing of budget growth when compared to what others wanted.

[William of Purple]

International Masturbation Month

[Longtorso, Johnny]

But only Warty's can reach across an international border.

[db]

I'm imagining a massive celebrity-led benefit event consisting of millions of simultaneous cross-border hand jobs along the US/Canada border. To promote world peace or international cooperation or whatever.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

A chain of hands to naughty bits streatching from sea to shining sea.

[Winston]

Wankers.

[Slammer]

Back in a few!

[Rich]

If you're moved to get pledges beforehand, you're really in the spirit of the thing!

Oh, FFS!

[Christophe]

I read that as "Intentional". Mildly confused.

[Ted S.]

Only a month?

[Winston]

Hey Rufus J. Firefly, Do you miss the Montreal Maroons and the Montreal Wanderers?

[PD Scott]

What's worse than an unsightly, unkempt home? An unsightly, unkempt home in an ATOMIC ATTACK!

It's like the urban renewal and civil defense folks got together to make a movie. I don't think I've ever heard the word "slum" said with such disdain.

[William of Purple]

5 Ways the Poor Are More Ethical Than the Rich

[Longtorso, Johnny]

5 Ways People in Comas Are More Ethical Than the Awake

[Brett L]

1) They can't afford lawyers.

[Matrix]

Just be wary of the comments. But one guy does see the real problem:

Jerome Bigge ?5 hours ago
Add to the discussion the "rentier" class, those whose incomes are higher because they use the power of government to restrict competition. What would the incomes of American doctors look like without their government enforced monopoly over access to medical drugs? Historically, they didn't earn anything more than middle class incomes before the passage of prescription laws in 1938. Previously to that time, when people got sick, they went to their neighborhood drugstore where they either asked the druggist to help them or knowing what they needed, simply purchased the medicine they needed and that was that. Of course the medical profession hated this state of affairs and persuaded the Roosevelt administration to pass a law that only doctors could prescribe medicine. Which of course raised the cost of health care for everyone else, but significantly improved their own standard of living...

[Mt low rider]

And I thought Raw commenters were as stupid as it got.

[110 Lean]

Then for their own moral good, we need to make certain that they stay poor.

[Matrix]

Well, that is the proglodyte strategy.

[Caleb Turberville]

The Politics of the C-word: http://freethoughtblogs.com/he.....he-c-word/

Long story short: Americans shouldn't use it, but British people might be able to.

[Caleb Turberville]

Reading this raises a question on my part regarding why the connotations associated with a word must last forever.

Surely, culture and society are dynamic enough that the taboo of certain words can change or disappear in a few generations' time?

To say that the American use is bad and the British use is...well, not bad, is to miss the evolution that occurred between British and American societies. If indeed one word managed to change into a slur over the course a few hundred years, then isn't it possible that it might change back in another few hundred years?

Besides, if you limit or prohibit the use of a word, people are just going to use other words to get across their message.

[Winston]

Good example: Moron, imbecile and idiot were supposed to clinical terms but came to be seen as insults so much that retard was chosen to replace it but today those words aren't really regarded as hate speech while retard is pretty close to being seen as that.

[Caleb Turberville]

Yeah. Add "lame" as well.

[Winston]

Also don't the Brits regard "spazz" as really insulting but over here it is pretty harmless or even archaic?

Not to mention how the Brits use "fag."

[Corning]

Lots of video game playing youtubers use cunt...the scots and brits anyway.

Some are hugely popular.

I am bullish that Cunt will soon enter the American lexicon.

[Matrix]

I rarely hear an American use it. But talking to British folks (men and women), they use it quite frequently.

[Caleb Turberville]

It's almost evidence for the point that the (over)use of a word can diminish the hurtful effects of that word.

It's like camp entertainment. By carrying a concept to the most exaggerated of extremes, you reduce it to a harmless caricature.

[kinnath]

Well, no one hears me say it, because I am always alone in the car when I say it.

[jesse.in.mb]

I wish we could get away with it. "Cunty" has a way better mouth feel than "bitchy".

In Dublin they were saying it almost as they were saying "feckin' grand".

[Corning]

Americans shouldn't use it, but British people might be able to.

What the cunt?!?!

[db]

I have a female professional colleague who is fond.of the.phrase "see you next Tuesday" when she means to express displeasure without openly cursing.in a meeting. If she gets to use.it at work, why don't I?

[Paul.]

A New Hampshire police commissioner stepped down after using a racial slur to describe President Obama.

Did he do it in that ridiculous NH accent?

[Dances-with-Trolls]

A New Hampshire police commissioner stepped down after using a racial slur to describe President Obama.

Well, so much for the VA scandal.

[Knarf the Yenrabian]

I think we're going to need a week's worth of CNN.com editorials, many more WH-released shots of BHO sitting in Rosa Park's seat, and several candlelight vigils to get past this traumatic reminder of America's racist history.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

Paging Thomas Friedman...

A Devotion to Language Proves Risky

A poet, linguist and globe-trotting polyglot, Abduweli Ayup had a passion for the spoken word, notably Uighur, the Turkic language spoken in his homeland in China's far northwest. In 2011, soon after finishing his graduate studies in the United States, Mr. Ayup returned home to open a chain of "mother tongue" schools in Xinjiang, the vast Central Asian region whose forced marriage to the Han Chinese heartland has become increasingly tumultuous.

But in a country where language is politically fraught, Mr. Ayup's devotion to Uighur may have proved his undoing.

Last August, Mr. Ayup and two business partners were arrested and accused of "illegal fund-raising," charges that stemmed from their effort to finance a new school by, among other means, selling honey and T-shirts emblazoned with the school's insignia.

Mr. Ayup, 39, and his two associates, Dilyar Obul and Muhemmet Sidik, have not been heard from since.

[Brett L]

Court rules that student found guilty of sexual assault by college tribunal may sue the college, particular faculty and staff, and his accuser. Ruh roe. Look for the calls to end due process to ramp up.

The federal court held that he was entitled to sue the private university under the state's Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law, and that he could also sue the university, university employees, and the female complainant for defamation (slander), with the court holding that their accusatory statements about him were not legally privileged.

Interestingly, the court said that he could also sue the female complainant for intentionally interfering with his contractual relations with the school; an important ruling, suggests Banzhaf, because for such an intentional tort he can seek much higher punitive damages in addition to general damages. Also, the court ruled that the mere fact that the tribunal found that the male student had committed the wrongful act complained of was not conclusive as to his guilt or innocence, and did not shield the female complainant from this type of legal liability.

[John]

So the college face the choice of being sued by Obama's DOE for not having star chambers for rape cases or being sued by their victims for having them.

[Paul.]

I'd choose getting sued by broke college students.

[Brett L]

Government lawyers with unlimited budgets or hungry, unethical John Edwards types gunning for you? Tough call.

[Paul.]

Where do you think the John Edwards types end up?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

In hell, channeling dead babies to stupid juries?

No, you're right. The government.

[paranoid android]

Anywhere they want, probably. Handsome sociopaths can get pretty far in life.

[Warty]

Jezebel doesn't seem to have a story about this up yet. When they do, $20 says the headline will be something very close to "Court Rules it's Legal to Rape College Women".

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Sucker bet if I ever saw one.

[Stormy Dragon]

Assuming it was a he said/she said sitation, it's probably going to be hard to sue the complainant. It's going to be hard to show she doesn't believe the accusation to be true.

[Brett L]

Want to bet whether the accuser was (a)under oath or (b)cross examined by a lawyer in her tribunal?

[Winston]

You Know Who Else thought it was too upsetting to discuss rape?

[Paul.]

The dipshit who invented the 'trigger warning'?

[Rich]

The marketers of canola oil?

[jesse.in.mb]

*clap clap clap*

[Paul.]

That was pretty good. Well played sir, well played.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Right. What is the big deal with rape? It is not like you are stealing money or something like that.

Todd Akin and Richy Murdoch got fucked!

[Fluffy]

I don't see the need a trigger warning for discussion of stealing money, either.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/20.....ing_l.html

Guy makes rap video "glorifying" the death of a police officer.

He gets jail time.

[John]

Not exactly. He made a video that pissed off a judge and caused that judge to pull his plea deal and give him jail time.

If you are a criminal and your fate lies in the hands of a judge, making a video about how great it is to kill cops is probably not a good idea.

[Caleb Turberville]

I can see that.

But the judge's statements regarding how young people should "respect certain positions in the community" deserves some mockery.

[Paul.]

Yep, my admittedly weak understanding of probation terms is that they can be very... broad.

If you're on probation, just stay home and play XBox.

[PD Scott]

Always wait until AFTER the sentencing to release your anti-cop video. Hell, that should be part of Common Core.

[Warty]

I'm a cop killer
Better you than me
Cop killer
Fuck police brutality
Cop killer
I know your family's grieving
Fuck 'em

[Caleb Turberville]

You're not going to make friends with any judges by making a video like this. But it's a little bit silly for the judge to claim that no one will make a productive living out of making songs and videos like this.

He could be the next Ice T, and by that I mean he could star in the next Law & Order spinoff.

[Invisible Finger]

In that case the judge might have done the right thing for once in his life.

[Paul.]

OT: MSNBC annoyed that emails showing the president lied about Benghazi are 'giving fuel' to the far right.

[Pro Libertate]

'Cause that's all that matters in this story.

[Winston]

OT? When did these threads care about on-topic posts?

And You Know Who Else didn't want lies or corruption exposed since it would benefit the far right?

[Brandon]

Hillary?

[John]

http://www.popsci.com/article/.....aster-code

You can live forever as a computer program.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I saw that movie already

[Winston]

Julie and Jack?

[Pro Libertate]

A copy of me might at some point. Won't be me.

[Paul.]

But would it be what you would have become?

[Pro Libertate]

Who cares? I'll be dead, anyway.

[Protagoronus]

So do you constantly die when your cells are replaced?

[Pro Libertate]

An excellent question. And I have a ship for you. Theseus' ship.

[hamilton]

To be fair, most of us already think you're a computer program.

[Pro Libertate]

Consciousness is consciousness.

[WDATPDIM?!]

Wouldn't you die happier if you knew that Pro Lib 2.0 would be posting on HnR for centuries to come?

[Pro Libertate]

No.

[Corning]

Corning 3.0 is going to write an approximation construct of Pro Lib 2.0 to entertain him no matter what so you might as well get use to the idea.

[Pro Libertate]

One of my other analogues will sue!

[PD Scott]

Progressive horror sci-fi: If you were a really rich person you could have yourself cloned and download your programming into your clone. You could do this over and over again, creating hundreds, thousands of copies, all of them rich and registered to vote, wrestling away the democratic process from the poor, the downtrodden, women, minorities, etc.

[Winston]

Don't give them any ideas. Of course I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of scifi stories already did this.

[Agammamon]

Surprisingly enough - almost every single sci-fi story where the tech allows this handwaves some sort of restriction on multiple simultaneous copies.

Its like most sci-fi is actually pulp space-opera dreck and not at all interested in exploring the theme of how technological advance changes society.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm trying to remember if that was the case in the Gateway series. I don't think so.

[Agammamon]

As far as I can remember Broadhead is at one point both corporeal and instantiated inside a virtuality.

But virtual broadhead doesn't exist as multiple simultaneously active copies.

[Agammamon]

I think I have that wrong - his *wife* did that after he died and was uploaded. She uploaded a copy of herself to live with him in the virtuality.

[Hyperion]

I hate PM links.

[John]

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

Democrats release old police report calling Republican woman Senate Candidate in Oregon a "Stalker".

[Brett L]

The mimi-BL is desperately reaching for the keyboard. He has strong opinions about everything';'o,..ll;,kppp;798ikji77uo

[jesse.in.mb]

Mimi?

[Brett L]

My one-handed typing skills have fallen off precipitously since I got married.

[Brandon]

One thing at a time, Brett.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Time to get him a leaptop.

[db]

Just make sure you keep.control of.his.time with it. My nephew is basically addicted.to "The Pad" because his.parents indulge him.too.much and used it as a babysitter early on.

[John]

Add Albuquerque, New Mexico's to the growing list of VA hospitals accused of keeping secret waiting lists to hide delays for veterans seeking medical care. And it may already be too late to get to the truth and find out what harm, if any, was done to veterans there?VA officials are already destroying records to cover their tracks, a whistleblower inside the hospital tells The Daily Beast

[Longtorso, Johnny]

See above. Krugbe preemptively blames Tea Party budget slashers for this, forcing the cuts past poor, powerless Obama.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

I'm sure he meant well and just overlooked the fact that the problem pre-existed both Obama and the TP. He missed a golden chance for a but BOOSH. Buttplug will be crushed.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

All govt programs are simultaneously successful enough to prove govt needs more money and power and are unsuccessful enough to prove govt needs more money and power.

[PapayaSF]

Very good.

[Slammer]

My uncle tells a classic story about being a nurse in the Naval hospital in Naples, Italy. He was in the ward with a patient in an oxygen tent when some big-wig officer came in to put in an appearance, chomping and smoking a huge cigar. My uncle pointed at the tent and said, "Oxygen, Sir" The officer said, "Oh, yeah..." and reached down and turned off the oxygen.

[tarran]

Funny bomb line story;

An Air Force Gen in the early 50's liked to ask people "Got a light?" whenever he was inspecting the bombers. And if someone offered him a match, he got an article 15, to encourage everyone to take the reg against open flames in the vicinity of ordnance seriously.

So this general goes walkabout late at night during the Korean unpleasantness. Upon hearing that he is prowling around, the senior noncom rushes out to intercept him with a couple of extra guys (letting a general officer roam around without a handler is more dangerous than letting a toddler wander around unattended). They find him poking around one of the arming stations talking to a young private. And just as they arrive they hear the General ask, "Got a light?" to which the private responds, "Of course, sir! Let me get it out for you."

The following .5 seconds was an agony for the non-com; that moment of pregnant calm before the firestorm of blame and punishment would explode throughout the unit incinerating any stripes that got in its path.

Then the chipper private flicked on his flashlight, and proffered it butt first to the General, "Here you go sir!, anything else you need?"

My understanding is that the private made corporal very, very quickly.

[Paul.]

An Air Force Gen in the early 50's liked to ask people "Got a light?" whenever he was inspecting the bombers. And if someone offered him a match, he got an article 15, to encourage everyone to take the reg against open flames in the vicinity of ordnance seriously.

Curtis Lemay used to smoke a cigar on the flightline.

Legend had it that someone remarked that something might blow up if he kept that up. The response was "It wouldn't dare..."

[John]

http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/did.....obamacare/

I love WND. It is so goofy but never boring. The "NSA blackmailed Roberts into supporting Obamacare" rumor surfaces again.

[widget]

But Justice Ruth Bater Ginsberg really is the Shadout Mapes.

[Brandon]

The Shadout Mapes didn't live that long.

[Pro Libertate]

Sure she did. Just not that long at the end.

[Juice]

I think this story deserves some kind of Douglass Adams award or something.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro.....rison.html

The Lorain County Correctional Institution acknowledged Friday that pirated movies are being shown to prisoners there, even as inmates serve time for illegally downloading movies.

Let that sink in. Someone could be convicted of illegally downloading movies and sent to prison, where they are shown illegally downloaded movies.

[John]

In April, 2010, Humphrey was sentenced to 29 months in prison for selling pirated copies of movies through the subscription-based USAWAREZ.com.

Because my tax money should go to throwing someone in prison to protect Walk Fucking Disney.

IP law needs to go. Just get rid of it all. It is no longer worth it.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Disney/ABC (along w/ NBC/Comcast) are govt shills and must be protected.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

Sent to prison for illegally downloading movies? I guess I wouldn't be too shocked, but I have never heard of it happening, and I read about this sort of stuff a decent bit.

[Sidd Finch]

he was selling pirated movies before they were released

[Carl ?s his privilege]

That's my point; the articles says

even as inmates serve time for illegally downloading movies

whereas I have only heard of jail time for people involved in distribution.

[Sidd Finch]

I'm assuming the reporter is bullshitting until I see further evidence.

[PD Scott]

If MPAA came after you and you didn't have the money, maybe then?

Hmm, this guy got five years for file-sharing.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

But again, without necessarily disputing the heartlessness of the IP lobby, that guy was engaged (quite heavily, too) in distribution, not mere downloading (which, if you're using BitTorrent, does involve you in distribution).

[WDATPDIM?!]

Obamacare just may be weighing-down the donkey party

You don't need a hyphen there, Mr. T.

[Matrix]

I follow CopBlock on Facebook, so I get little stories like this all the time. Probably not good if I want to avoid hypertension, though.

Cop pulls gun on 18 year old woman for driving faster than the posted speed limit, then handcuffs her

McDonough [county prosecutor] considered whether to authorize charges of felonious assault and conduct unbecoming a public official against Wagner, but ultimately decided his handling of the traffic stop did not warrant criminal charges.

I wonder what would happen if I just pulled a gun and pointed it at someone, as well as handcuffing them if they were doing nothing threatening to me and had committed and serious crime?

"When he asked if she enjoyed having a gun pointed at her I became sick to my stomach," McDonough wrote. "... I do not want Trooper Wagner to have the opportunity to do anything like this again and certainly not in St. Joseph County."

Then why not prosecute this stupid SOB so other officers won't think his behavior is okay?

[Slammer]

Because he can advance his fucking career by getting convictions, and who better to help him with that than cops?

[Matrix]

I had a friend who managed to get a thug to back down. This was probably quite a while ago. Probably in the 90s. But a cop was threatening him, and he was a concealed carry holder and a truck driver. There were a lot of shakedowns apparently going on these areas. Well, the cop was about to draw on him, and my friend said to him, "If you clear leather, I will put you down." The cop's attitude changed after that and ended up letting him go.

[poloniusium]

Now, he'd walk back to his cruiser, get his m4, and magdump into the cab.

[neoteny]

Supreme Court vacates police-immunity ruling in suit over multiple Tasering

The US Supreme Court ordered a federal appeals court Monday to reexamine a case involving the alleged use of excessive force by a police officer in Louisiana who deployed an electronic "Taser" device eight times against a handcuffed arrestee who was lying on the ground.

The suspect, who later died, had reportedly refused to obey a police command to stand up and walk to the patrol car. The police officer was fired for using "unnecessary force," but was found not guilty of manslaughter.

[Winston]

Has anyone checked the IMDB boards for Derp?

I have found this on the Discover Channel Show Never, Ever Do this At Home:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt29.....#215416418

Agreed. This show is completely useless. It's like a cross between MythBusters and Jackass. It come off more as a show about two rich little kids who are given permission to go around destroying things for the sake of destroying things.

As much as I hate how the MythBusters waste stuff (smashing and blowing up things that could have been donated to the poor, homeless, and people whose possessions have been destroyed by disasters), it's all the more aggravating when they do it on this show.

[WDATPDIM?!]

Y'know, someone could've used that derp.

[Slammer]

Nice. Whoever wrote that also needs to donate his computer.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm so tired of this mindless dreck.

[Winston]

Are you referring to the comment I quoted or to the show(s)?

[Pro Libertate]

The quote. I like Mythbusters.

[WDATPDIM?!]

"Will no one rid me of this turbulent dreck?"

[poloniusium]

Libya is a complete success for US foreign policy! Don't look behind the curtain.