A.M. Links: Obama Visits Afghanistan, Iranian Court Summons Mark Zuckerberg, Eurosceptics Top European Elections

• 

  White House

  President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, promising the U.S. war would "finally" end by the close of the year. During the trip officials unwittingly revealed the identity of the CIA station chief in the country.

• The father of one victim of a weekend rampage at the University of California at Santa Barbara blamed the lack of tighter gun laws. Elliot Rodger fatally stabbed three people before shooting three others and then himself.
• An Iranian court has summoned Mark Zuckerberg to court to answer complaints about privacy violations caused by apps owned by Facebook.
• At least 40 people were killed in fighting between separatists and pro-government forces at the airport in Donetsk, Ukraine.
• At a pro-military rally in Abuja, Nigeria, an air marshal claimed the government knew the whereabouts of nearly 300 girls kidnapped last month but couldn't send the army there.
• Elections in Europe this weekend saw various Euroskeptic and populist parties across the continent perform well.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

During the trip officials unwittingly revealed the identity of the CIA station chief in the country.

Scooooooo-TER!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Remember Denis Lortie?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klm5YwCwK60

[Warty]

Lortie was paroled in December 1995. He now lives in Quebec and works in construction.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

After killing three people.

Nice.

Just like Karla Homolka roams the streets of Montreal after her part in heinous murders.

[SugarFree]

Including the rape and murder of her sister. That's some deep sibling rivalry.

[Drake]

In Obama's defense, "unwittingly" is how his Administration does everything.

[Anomalous]

+1

[Snark Plissken]

Elections in Europe this weekend saw various Euroskeptic and populist parties across the continent perform well.

Far right, you meant to write far right!

[waffles]

Antisemitic too.

[Lord Humungus]

The concentration camps are being set up as we speak. The Volkstrom shall rise again.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

That should be "boncentration bampfs"!!!

[Snark Plissken]

Why not just spell color with a 'k'?

[db]

"'Color.' Huh. What a silly bunt."

[Ted S.]

Non-far-left.

[Jerryskids]

Why haven't they started calling them 'Eurodeniers' yet and passed legislation outlawing such nonsense? The science is settled!

On a related note, I've seen several instances lately where they refer to climate change questioners as 'climate deniers' rather than as 'climate change deniers'. Are we pretending now that anybody who questions the self-evident proposition that Al Gore is an infallible oracle now not only questions the particulars of man-made climate change but makes the absurd claim that there is no such thing as 'climate' even?

[gimmeasammich]

Yes. Their point is not the be right, but to try and show everyone else as wrong.

[VG Zaytsev]

Return the favor, start referring to the cultists as climate hysterics.

[mr simple]

hysterics

You would choose a misogynistic term that promotes rape culture.

[Brett L]

I prefer referring to them as science opposers, religious fundamentalists, and Millenialists.

[MJGreen]

The EU is the law of the land. Why can't these obstructionist voters respect that and try to improve the EU instead?

[Mike M.]

The pants-shitting and salty ham tears going on all throughout the New World Order is giving me a broad smile this morning.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The father of one victim of a weekend rampage at the University of California at Santa Barbara blamed the lack of tighter gun laws.

Some people grieve by making political hay off their tragedy.

[Rich]

And, with all due respect, exactly what "tighter gun laws" would he propose? "Don't allow assholes to have guns", or what?

[Fist of Etiquette]

How dare you challenge him when he's grieving? He holds the moral high ground right now. Are you going to hassle the family of the stabbing victims when they call for tighter knife controls, too?

[Rich]

For the love of God, BAN BMWs!!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

If only

[Lord Humungus]

hey! /bmw owner

[gaijin]

Because...feelings, all we have are feelings.

[Pathogen]

"How dare you challenge him when he's grieving? He holds the moral high ground right now."

Your right, if victimhood is the noblest station to aspire to, then he's got this.. by extension, for being related to the victim.. All America is guilty here, and some of our civil rights are just going to have to go.. who are you to argue?

[Jerryskids]

I don't understand people who are opposed to perfectly reasonable restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms whenever and wherever and however you want. How hard would it be, how much of an infringement on your rights would it be, to just require gun sellers to ask people when they buy guns if they intend to use the guns to commit crimes and if they say 'yes' charge them like an extra 10% or something? Easy peasey, problem solved.

[pan fried wylie]

+20% if committing a hate crime.

[carol]

I like that! How about requiring them to fill out a brief questionaire? 1. Are you going to commit a crime? 2. Are you nuts? 3. Are you a liar (in case the answer "No" to #'s 1 and 2 we can catch them on 3)

[Contrarian P]

Kind of reminds me of the "did you pack your bags yourself" three questions you used to have to answer before getting your plane ticket at the counter.

[UnCivilServant]

"No, these bags are empty. I plan to fill them with cocaine for the return trip."

[VG Zaytsev]

There was a case of a British woman traveling on el al whose arab boyfriend packed her bags - including a bomb. That was discovered by that question.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

"Certainly not, my orphan-servants did!"

*adjust monocle*

[waffles]

"These people are getting rich sitting in Congress," he said. "And what do they do? They don't take care of our kids."

His anger sounds just, but his prescription is way off.

[WDATPDIM?!]

Srsly. The solution is to give them more power?

[Slammer]

Yes. Especially if they're the right people with good intentions to get things done.

[VG Zaytsev]

Absolutely, because who should take care of his kids if not rich Congressmen?

[Contrarian P]

Maybe because taking care of kids is the job of the parent and family?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

What we need Fist, is for politicians, who arguably lack any common sense, to create common sense gun regulations.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Also, who has the strictest gun laws, if not California?

[Auric Demonocles]

Illinois.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

The land of no gun violence, I should have known.

[KDN]

California is at the low end of the middle, IIRC. IL, NJ, and NY all blow it away on this particular bit of stupidity, and I think CT just joined them.

[Old Man With Candy]

It's not as bad once you get out of Cook County. We're up in Lake, and while it isn't Texas, it's better than most of California.

Interestingly, the only out-of-state CCW that IL recognizes is... wait for it... Hawaii.

[Auric Demonocles]

I just can't stop thinking about how common sense knife laws could have prevented those three deaths.

[carol]

I think that if it saves just one life that we should all be required to use plastic cutlery.

[Mike M.]

Didn't his psychotic son take out his first three victims with a knife? Funny how nobody is calling for knife control!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...an air marshal claimed the government knew the whereabouts of nearly 300 girls kidnapped last month but couldn't send the army there.

Air marshal? Shouldn't he be claiming the government knew the whereabouts of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

+1 CNN

[Drake]

He commands their carrier-zeppelin forces.

[Bee Tagger]

During the trip officials unwittingly revealed the identity of the CIA station chief in the country.

When it was reported on the morning news the next day.

[UnCivilServant]

I'd have had more respect if they admitted they were ugly

Glass lets out and lets in a lot of heat. A vast amount of energy is required for an office full of people to remain cool in the UAE and to stay warm in the snowstorms of Toronto.

Or, as in the case with a certain glass skyscraper I know in a snow zone, it can be ninety degrees in the dead of winter because of the greenhouse effect of the windows. (Here's a hint, they are ugly and were put in by a self-aggrandizing governer named Nelson)

Shuttleworth's most recent project began life as a solid steel object and he says it has glass only where it is needed.

"It is a privilege to have a window. I think it should be seen as a privilege," he says.

Or "My status Symbols! We can't let the common worker see the city!"

I do give the BBC a little credit, they let the glassmakers tout the sorts of things modern technology can do in a building without getting rid of all the windows. (Although the skyscraper that melts cars is a bit of an absurdity, and they should just get it over with and launch the 'gerkin' already)

[gaijin]

"It is a privilege to have a window.

Someone needs to check their privilege

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

*looks around*

Yes, here it is!

/snooty architecht

[DesigNate]

/snooty architect

I have enough privilege for all of you!

Bwahaha haha haha haha!

[Ted S.]

The Corning Tower? To be fair, it's bipartisan since it's named after a machine Democrat.

[UnCivilServant]

Close, the one for which I have data was one of the nearby "Agency Buildings"

[Jerryskids]

I never knew the Corning Tower was named for Mayor Erastus Corning. Not that I'm all that familiar with it, but I have heard of it and I just assumed it was the Owens-Corning sort of Corning Tower. I always kinda wondered if you looked at it real close if you could find a Pyrex logo and a 'dishwasher safe/microwaveable' statement.

[Snark Plissken]

An Iranian court has summoned Mark Zuckerberg to court to answer complaints about privacy violations caused by apps owned by Facebook.

And Cat Stevens said he should be beheaded, man.

[Rich]

"And if I ever lose my head, ?."

[Fist of Etiquette]

An Iranian court has summoned Mark Zuckerberg to court to answer complaints about privacy violations caused by apps owned by Facebook.

Ayatollah Unfriendahole-a.

[WDATPDIM?!]

You do realize that Zuckerberg is so young that even his parents probably wouldn't get that joke?

[gimmeasammich]

I think anyone who watched the Simpsons in the late 90s like me would get that joke. At the garage sale that they had in the episode where GHWB moves in across the street, they were selling a t-shirt that said that on it.

[WDATPDIM?!]

Oh.

Never mind.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Sadly, that was a mid 90s Simpsons. It's been that long since it was good.

[WDATPDIM?!]

Do you want to be really pissed off this morning?

Read this 2001 publication by the AEI in which the author explains why Fannie and Freddie will wreak havoc with the economy and why nothing will be done about it.

[Ted S.]

BUSHFAG!!!111!!!

CHRISTPIG!!!11!1!11!!

FAKE SCANDAL!1!!1!1!1!

[Jerryskids]

Or just pick up any random copy of Forbes magazine from about 10 years ago.

Forbes drank the Kool-Aid on the internet bubble (I cancelled my subscription the day I read the column about how valuations for internet stocks weren't out of line because the economy had fundamentally changed and therefore history no longer mattered) but I do have to give them credit for beating the drums on the whole mortgage bundling fraud that was underpinned simply and solely by the fact that everybody involved knew that when the bubble burst the government was going to come riding to the rescue astride the American taxpayer.

Who the hell wouldn't write a million dollar loan on an empty Coke can to a dead squirrel if they knew Uncle Sucker was going to pay you to do it? Everybody now talks about how 'risky' these derivatives were - what fucking risk? The risk that the government was going to run out of ink for their check-writing machine?

[Rich]

Plan For City Gun Shops Would Limit Sites, Require Sales Be Taped

The stores could not be within 500 feet of a school or park.

Emphasis added. WTF? I'm sure they mean "or parking lot".

[gaijin]

Watch for an explosion in eminent domain cases as they create strategically placed micro-parks that effectively eliminate any possibility of a gun shop.

[Rich]

It could happen. 8-(

[DontShootMe]

It could will happen

FIFY

[Steve G]

Here's the template:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_Ends_Park

[gimmeasammich]

Here's the template:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_Ends_Park

+1 Leslie Knope.

[Bobarian]

Perfect location for an "Occupy" movement.

[KWebb]

It works keeping all the sex offenders under an overpass. It should keep all the gun stores out of the city, too.

[Ted S.]

But the cops think they shouldn't be recorded. Fuckers.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

an air marshal claimed the government knew the whereabouts of nearly 300 girls kidnapped last month but couldn't send the army there..

If there is some part of your country you cannot put your own army in, it is no longer part of your country.

[WDATPDIM?!]

Or the army is no longer your army.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Then you really don't have a country anymore!

[Slammer]

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.

Frank Zappa

[Snark Plissken]

People's Democratic Republic of Detroit.

[Drake]

Posse Comitatus?

[gaijin]

is Posse Comatosis

[Lord Humungus]

On Obama, 'Take Back Our Country,' and accusations of racism

Robinson tosses a few loaded terms into the mix; referring, for example, to "the massive GOP resistance to Obama" recalls the southern "massive resistance" of the civil rights era. But as far as making racial accusations himself, Robinson writes, "I try to focus on what a person does or says rather than speculate on what he or she 'is.' How can I really know what's in another person's heart?"

"In the end," Robinson explains, "all we can do is look at what the individual does, listen to what he or she says and then draw conclusions about those words and deeds." Then, noting the words and deeds he has witnessed at tea party rallies, Robinson writes, "I can't say that the people holding 'Take Back Our Country' signs were racists -- but I know this rallying cry arose after the first African American family moved into the White House."

[WDATPDIM?!]

Um, post hoc ergo propter hoc?

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Check your Latin privilege!

/prog

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The article is a defense of Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller's remark that some Republicans oppose Obamacare because they don't like President Obama, and they don't like President Obama because "maybe he's of the wrong color."

Robinson argues that Rockefeller was not calling anyone a racist and was not even playing the race card. "Believing that some of the Republican and tea party opposition to Obama has to do with his race is not, I repeat not, the same as saying that anyone who disagrees with the nation's first black president is racist," Robinson writes.

Bull-fucking-shit. It's exactly what he meant or at least intended to imply.

[Drake]

How does that guy keep getting elected in West Virginia?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Unions. And Democrats have a history of bringing home the pork in WV.

[Jerryskids]

'Bringing home the pork' is a racist term since people of color are stereotyped as liking ribs and pork chops and fatback and that sort of thing. The more you know.

Just as Robinson's compatriot Leonard Pitts has blacksplained why referring to Uncle Sugar and calling Obama a liar are examples of racism, you with your white privilege are not the arbiter of racism.

[Clich? Bandit]

I smoke a pork loin last night...mmmmm...finished late but still ate three slices. Can't wait for lunch.

[Drake]

I had bbq ribs and melon. I must be horrible racist.

[Old Man With Candy]

Actually, it's anti-semitic and anti-Muslim.

[Jose Chung]

http://obamaspeeches.com/077-T.....Speech.htm

Racist!

[Slammer]

An Iranian court has summoned Mark Zuckerberg to court to answer complaints about privacy violations caused by apps owned by Facebook.

In addition to my Farmville and Candy Crush, I downloaded the Sharia Law Violation Punishment Matrix App.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

I posted this in the Rodger therapy thread but I'll drop it here as well.

I think Rodger was fucked up by basking in the Hollywood lifestyle. I was really bored the other day and wanted to peak inside the mind of madness so I read his manifesto.

Rodger's main obsession seemed not to be with sex but status. He was always ranking things and ranking people. When his father had a new gf months after divorcing his mother he decided that the mark of a high-status male was being able to get women, especially blondes, whom he seemed to view as the best and wrote about constantly. He wrote adoringly about attending premiers with people he knew through his parents and always tried to imitate what the popular kids were doing. He also had a strong obsession about race and social class. In fact, there are a couple points where he claims he could have made friends but didn't see anything to gain from the potential friends so he didn't bother.

Basically, he was an arrogant son of a bitch but his focus on sex was more a derivative of his drive for status than the main problem. Due to his money and connections covering the other problems sex was the only one he had to fill on his own and couldn't. If he hadn't been in the culture of fancy and narcissistic people all the time perhaps he would have grown up with a less inflated sense of self and lower drive for status.

[WDATPDIM?!]

Rodger's main obsession seemed not to be with sex but status.

IIRC, isn't that true for pretty much all teenagers? It's why the unpopular but decent-looking girls who are willin' don't get any action.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

He seems to have started on it earlier and gone on it deeper. A lot of college students I know don't seem to have matured that much since their teenage years so I'll allow for that to carry over to age 22 but this seems above and beyond. Of course, I never cared that much about the social hierarchy so long as it didn't directly hurt me, so I might just be projecting.

[gaijin]

Saw this online over the weekend...not a big fan of extrapolating individual action to a group, but it makes for some fun:

socially awkward, convinced of his own brilliance but not notably successful in life, hungry for revenge against those who have done better despite their obvious inferiority, eager to gain power over others

Sounds like a lot of lefties who'd use politics (vs guns) to get the change they believe in.

[R C Dean]

Sounds like our President, to me.

[Andrew S.]

I just think he was a self-entitled asshole. If it wasn't sex it would be some other percieved inadquacy. He would've found an excuse.

[waffles]

I think his assholery and feelings of inadequacy aren't really all that rare or extraordinary. What is appalling is transformation from revenge fantasy to bloody execution. Lots of guys are hurt and rejected 22 year old virgins. It takes a special kind of asshole to decide the best thing to do about it is to kill people.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I think his assholery and feelings of inadequacy aren't really all that rare or extraordinary.

Especially in the socially dysfunctional stewpot that is Hollywood.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Rodger has what can be called the Greg Gutfeld Complex. As a sawed-off little shit he should have just channeled his anger into a best selling book on the Joy of Hate. Successful authors do get pity fucks sometimes.

[Snark Plissken]

And if they write two autobiographies they can even get pity elected.

[Mike M.]

Hilarious, coming from a fat little midget writing a book on prog rock!

[Warty]

Aside from being a loon, he was a coddled narcissist who never understood that he wasn't special and that his feelings weren't important. In that, he's exactly the same as every other angry psychopath in history. The only thing notable about him, really, is that he left behind a rather large corpus of his whining.

[waffles]

Or this better explanation. Lots of people have awkward adolescence and feel rejected. Then they grow up.

[Lord Humungus]

European elections: the Ukip revolution is broad, radical and worthy of respect

Now, the Tories ought to be commanding the field. After all, the economy is improving fast. But they, too, have made an odd misreading of the electorate. Since 2010 they have governed in practical terms as tough economic managers but, bizarrely, concluded that they could soften that look by embracing a bit of social liberalism on the side. Think Scrooge officiating at a gay wedding. This means that they offended both the swing voters who don't understand why cutting taxes for the wealthy is a priority and the traditionalist Tories who think Tories ought to be pro-family, anti-EU, tough on crime, better at controlling immigration etc. So, like Labour, they have confused the electorate and, also like Labour, relocated themselves culturally to inner-London. They are the Cosmotarian wine and cheese party when most of the rest of the country can't afford to live so well.

[Drake]

We'll here about how bad this is from our own resident Cosmotarians shortly.

[Citizen Nothing]

I'd rather pick on your grammar/spelling.

[Bobarian]

Hear here?

[Rich]

Swiss group to allow assisted dying for elderly who are not terminally ill

Exit adds 'suicide due to old age' to its statutes, giving people suffering from age-related problems the choice to end their life

"Padre, I'm tired of livin'."

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Sliding toward the Netherlands.... make sure you have your "life passport" handy.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Who killed Julius 'Julie' Caesar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_5h8CzRcI

[Lord Humungus]

The Science of the One-Inch Punch
Physiology and neuroscience combine to explain Bruce Lee's master move.

By the time the one-inch punch has made contact with its target, Lee has combined the power of some of the biggest muscles in his body into a tiny area of force. But while the one-inch punch is built upon the explosive power of multiple muscles, Rose insists that Bruce Lee's muscles are actually not the most important engine behind the blow.

"Muscle fibers do not dictate coordination," Rose says, "and coordination and timing are essential factors behind movements like this one-inch punch."

Because the punch happens over such a short amount of time, Lee has to synchronize each segment of the jab?his twisting hip, extending knees, and thrusting shoulder, elbow, and wrist?with incredible accuracy. Furthermore, each joint in Lee's body has a single moment of peak acceleration, and to get maximum juice out of the move, Lee must layer his movements so that each period of peak acceleration follows the last one instantly.

[Raston Bot]

That's funny. My friend would practice that. I thought it was complete bullshit.

[Rich]

BBC cuts the 'G-word' from repeat of a Commonwealth Games documentary

*Games*?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Git?"

[Lord Humungus]

How the European Union Corrupted Eastern Europe

...the inflow of EU money into Eastern Europe is playing a more questionable role in narrowing the gap that new member states in Eastern Europe and the more affluent parts of the EU. Critics of development aid, such as William Easterly of New York University, have long argued that foreign aid directed to badly governed countries in the developing world can worsen corruption and cronyism, and foster authoritarian rule. Although the magnitude of the problem is different, EU funds are exercising a similarly nefarious effect on governance and politics in Eastern Europe.

Between 2014 and 2020, the EU is planning to spend over ?350 billion to help narrow the disparities between member states. It does so through several 'funds': the European Regional Development Fund, which is the largest of them and which supports the building of infrastructure and job-creation; the European Social Fund, which purports to help the unemployed and the disadvantaged, mostly by providing training programs; and the Cohesion Fund, which was set up in 1994 to provide funding to the poorest member states.

[Snark Plissken]

Oh great, it's going to get even worse? Just what we needed.

[KDN]

Consensus, bitches. Or not.

The Myth of the Climate Change '97%'
What is the origin of the false belief?constantly repeated?that almost all scientists agree about global warming?

In 2013, John Cook, an Australia-based blogger, and some of his friends reviewed abstracts of peer-reviewed papers published from 1991 to 2011. Mr. Cook reported that 97% of those who stated a position explicitly or implicitly suggest that human activity is responsible for some warming. His findings were published in Environmental Research Letters.

Mr. Cook's work was quickly debunked. In Science and Education in August 2013, for example, David R. Legates (a professor of geography at the University of Delaware and former director of its Center for Climatic Research) and three coauthors reviewed the same papers as did Mr. Cook and found "only 41 papers?0.3 percent of all 11,944 abstracts or 1.0 percent of the 4,014 expressing an opinion, and not 97.1 percent?had been found to endorse" the claim that human activity is causing most of the current warming. Elsewhere, climate scientists including Craig Idso, Nicola Scafetta, Nir J. Shaviv and Nils- Axel Morner, whose research questions the alleged consensus, protested that Mr. Cook ignored or misrepresented their work.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

HERETIC!

/hisses, points finger ala Sutherland

[Pro Libertate]

More screech than hiss.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Unearthly, eldritch howl.

[Jerryskids]

That criticism has already been debunked. The guy who issued the report said in the very issuing statement that scientific studies that didn't report a conclusion were dismissed as being irrelevant to the metastudy on the grounds that anybody not reaching a conclusion could not possibly be concluding that there was not enough evidence to reach a conclusion (since it is self-evidently true that global warming is real and man-made) and therefore must not actually be studying the question.

He later clarified this by saying that of course a lot of studies don't actually state that global warming is real and man-made, in the same way that geography books don't explicitly state that the Earth is round. Everybody knows that and it just goes without saying that it's true.

I hate to argue with a Top Scientist that the proposition that failure to mention a thing must mean that such a thing is so universally accepted as true that it becomes unnecessary to assert the truth of the thing, but it doesn't strike me as being a particularily good example of scientific reasoning. After all, I've read plenty of studies on the flora and fauna of southwestern Washington state and not a single one denies that the most populous species of fauna is Bigfoot. Isn't this proof that the ubiquity of the Bigfoot is so well-known and accepted that biologists don't even find it necessary to mention the ubiquity of the Bigfoot?

[tarran]

A VERY IMPORTANT RETRACTION NOTICE AND APOLOGY:

Last Thursday, I speculated that Bilbo Teabaggins was yet another sock of Mary.

But after a day of reading threads where he participated, I have become 99.9999% certain Bilbo isn't Mary based on the things he says.

Therefore, I
a) apologize unreservedly
b) offer a complete and utter retraction.
c) admit that the imputation was totally without basis in fact, and was in no way fair comment, and was motivated purely by malice,
d) deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused Bilbo, his family, and his friends, .... and
e) hereby undertake not to repeat any such libel at any time in the future.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Are you being held by your ankles, upside down and out of a window, by chance?

[Lord Humungus]

Held by the ankles Warty.

[Snark Plissken]

Bilbo is an elf-friend. Don't piss off the elves.

[Warty]

Whoever he is, he's irritating. Fuck him and fuck his feelings.

[SugarFree]

But after a day of reading threads where he participated, I have become 99.9999% certain Bilbo isn't Mary based on the things he says.

I see that a new sockpuppet named "tarran" has been created. I wonder who is behind it.

[Slammer]

Hail Hydra!

[waffles]

Fuck, I hate wearing socks.

[tarran]

I deem this to be the most substantive response on this thread to date.

[Pro Libertate]

Apologize.

[Lord Humungus]

I blame Snowden:

China Said to Study IBM Servers for Bank Security Risks

Government agencies, including the People's Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, are asking banks to remove the IBM servers and replace them with a local brand as part of a trial program, said the four people, who asked not to be identified because the review hasn't been made public.

The review fits a broader pattern of retaliation after American prosecutors indicted five Chinese military officers for allegedly hacking into the computers of U.S. companies and stealing secrets. Last week, China's government said it will vet technology companies operating in the country, while the Financial Times reported May 25 that China ordered state-owned companies to cut ties with U.S. consulting firms.

[Lord Humungus]

For-Profit Colleges Face Test From State, Federal Officials
Governments Say Some Programs Lack Proper Accreditation

Federal and state officials are conducting probes into for-profit colleges over concerns that schools are marketing career-training programs that lack proper accreditation for students in certain fields, according to government agencies and regulatory filings.

The investigations, being conducted by the Federal Trade Commission and some state attorneys general, focus on whether students are being deceived by for-profit colleges offering programs in career paths such as nursing, education, psychology and law enforcement. States are forcing for-profit colleges to refund money to students who say they were misled.

[Ted S.]

Can the state schools that have maleducated people also be forced to refund money to the students?

The AGs are just trying to stop a trheat to the current caretel.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Very interesting interview with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne sponsored by Brookings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjX5LnM8osI

I didn't know Marchionne grew up in Toronto.

[The Late P Brooks]

hereby undertake not to repeat any such libel at any time in the future.

Did you reach that decision while dangling from a window?

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

You may have beaten me to the punch, but threading ensures I will be seen first!!!!!

[UnCivilServant]

Except I read Brooks' response before yours was up.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

I can only hope people did not read as quickly as you... 🙁

[The Late P Brooks]

Robinson argues that Rockefeller was not calling anyone a racist and was not even playing the race card. "Believing that some of the Republican and tea party opposition to Obama has to do with his race is not, I repeat not, the same as saying that anyone who disagrees with the nation's first black president is racist," Robinson writes.

This must be what the nincompoops on Morning Joke were jabbering about during the thirty seconds I watched.

"...not even playing the race card."

My ass.

[Lord Humungus]

The Best Jobs of 2014

Best Jobs of 2014 / Midlevel Income

1. Mathematician / $101,360
2. Tenured University Professor / $68,970
3. Statistician /$75,560
4. Actuary / $93,680
5. Audiologist / $69,720
6. Dental Hygienist / $70,210
7. Software Engineer / $93,350
8. Computer Systems Analyst / $79,680
9. Occupational Therapist /$75,400
10.Speech Pathologist / $69,870

Worst Jobs of 2014 / Midlevel Income

200. Lumberjack/ $24,340
199. Newspaper Reporter / $37,090
198. Enlisted Military Personnel / $28,840
197. Taxi Driver / $22,820
196. Broadcaster / $55,380
195. Head Cook / $42,480
194. Flight Attendant $37,240
193. Garbage Collector / $22,970
192. Firefighter / $45,250
191. Corrections Officer / $38,970

[Auric Demonocles]

Lately it seems that about 1/3 of the girls I am going on dates with are speech pathologists. I hadn't even heard of that 3 years ago.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

Well, at least you're swimming in the right* end of the pool.

*if $ is a factor for you

[Warty]

200. Lumberjack/ $24,340

🙁

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Well, they cheat and use chainsaws, they don't just rip the trees out by the roots like you do. People will pay a premium for that.

[invisible furry hand]

The money is only part of it. On Wednesdays they go shopping and have buttered scones for tea. And put on women's clothing and hang around in bars

[Elspeth Flashman]

+1 sing-song.

[db]

+1 pressed wildflower

[Clich? Bandit]

Hey Warty, would you recommend any particular hand to hand fighting style? I was looking at BJJ and the Bruce Lee one (Jute Keen Do I think). Any thoughts.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I did BJJ for 10 years. Worked out well for me because Gracie and Machado both have studios near my house.

[Warty]

This thread is surely too dead for you to ever see this, but I've done BJJ for about 4 years now. It's a blast.

[UnCivilServant]

It's not clear how they judged "Best" and "worst" in that article.

[Lord Humungus]

Methodology

[UnCivilServant]

Thanks.

[KWebb]

Best: Significant barriers to entry protecting prime age workers from competition.

[Snark Plissken]

My old roomate was an audiologist, he struggled in the 90s to find a decent job, eventually joined the Navy as an officer. I guess things have improved.

[Slammer]

How about MTA security supervisor? You can make 91K for sleeping

[Jordan]

Firefighter? Bullshit. They need to factor in benefits as well. Plus, most firefighters just sit around the fire station all day.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

HEROES

[Mokers]

I wonder if volunteer firefighters are bringing the median salary down.

[Agammamon]

Enlisted Military Personnel?

How do they calculate that?

Did the just pick the base pay number for an E-1 and call it a day? When comparing military pay to civilian, its very important to look at the whole compensation package also. Granted, you have to be careful to not *over-value* that compensation (a lot of the stuff that is 'available' to you isn't actually available or of interest).

But how many jobs will give 20 year old 30 days paid vacation, unlimited sick leave, *and* a house and extra money if he decides to get married?

[Anon E. Mouse]

How many jobs allow your employer to send you to far-away lands, work you 16 hours a day 7 days a week, while carrying a 120 pound load, with a chance of having your foot bones blown up through your scrotum by a jug full of ANFO initiated by a saw blade and a flashlight battery? Yea, it is very important to look at "the whole compensation package".

[Lord Humungus]

Town 'psychotic' as snake in toilet bites Spanish woman

Residents in the town of Nar?n in Galicia, Spain are in an uproar after a local hairdresser was bitten by a green and yellow snake while sitting in her bathroom at home, doing what comes naturally.

According to Iris Castroverde, 30, at around 11 p.m. she was sitting urinating in her bathroom at home when she heard a strange, muffled sound, followed by splashing in the toilet beneath her. She suddenly felt a sharp bite on her left buttock.

As she stood up and flushed the toilet, she was shocked to see a yellow and green snake, approximately 20 centimeters (eight inches) long, disappear down the drain.

[Aloysious]

She suddenly felt a sharp bite on her left buttock.

There's a bad joke in there somewhere.

[Auric Demonocles]

Something jumped up and bit her!

[gimmeasammich]

So she is really Forrest Gump?

[Snark Plissken]

And it involves the word asp.

[Auric Demonocles]

Hey hamilton, do your scouts do the soapbox derby? I might have hiked through your track this weekend.

[invisible furry hand]

Drug trafficking and sex trade estimated revenue will be used to calculate Italy's GDP starting next year in a move expected to boost its economic results.

[Ted S.]

Italy's GDP isn't 100% black market?

[UnCivilServant]

No, there's still the officially recorded government spending.

[tarran]

Totally not a religion!

In terms of crime itself, I think what they are getting at in the carbon cost of particular crimes is that murder is by far the top of the list, serious wounding second. Serious wounding there is a lot more of so it generates a much bigger carbon footprint. Do you think we will ever get to the day, for instance, where police response times will be analysed not just on the physical and emotional nature of the crime but the carbon nature of the crime? What I am thinking is that the analysis showed that the carbon footprint of crime by non-dwelling is higher than crime by dwelling itself. Do you think we would ever make crime in a non-dwelling a higher response?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Wow, just wow

[tarran]

The guy seriously is contemplating prioritizing crimes based on the carbon footprint required to solve them!

The real crime is that they are taken seriously instead of being driven out by gales of derisive laughter.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Humanity has reached some kind of tipping point. I'm not sure what it represents yet, but it doesn't have anything to do with the climate.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Peak Derp?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

When does our stupidity overwhelm our capabilities?

[UnCivilServant]

2008

[Ted S.]

I thought they believed murder was the best crime, since it removes carbon users from society.

[invisible furry hand]

Decomposition releases carbon dioxide, you Gaia rapist

[UnCivilServant]

Methane too!

[Steve G]

as long as they aren't cremated.

[Jordan]

Microsoft Beats Secret FBI Data Request

The FBI asked for Microsoft data concerning an unnamed enterprise customer's account with an NSL in late 2013. The request came with a gag order, which is normal for NSLs, meaning the company could not disclose the request to anyone, including the customer.

Microsoft, however, challenged the gag order in court, alleging it violated its free speech rights. After the challenge, the FBI withdrew its NSL.

Related good news from further down in the article:

"It's certainly possible that the FBI realized they had a losing argument," Abdo says, pointing to a case currently being fought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on behalf of an anonymous recipient. "They are litigating the same question now in front of an appeals court in California and they might be trying to cut their losses."

In that ongoing case, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston has ruled that NSLs are unconstitutional; the U.S. government has appealed the ruling.

[Jordan]

Elliot Rodger, meet Whipping Tom:

"Whipping Tom" was the nickname given to two sexual attackers in London and the nearby village of Hackney. Both would attack women walking alone and beat them on the buttocks.

[...]

Between 10 October and 1 December 1712 a string of further attacks took place in fields near Hackney. This attacker, also nicknamed "Whipping Tom",[12] would approach lone women and beat them with "a Great Rodd of Birch".[13] Around 70 women were assaulted before a local man named Thomas Wallis was captured and confessed to the attacks.[12][13] According to Wallis, he was "resolved to be Revenged on all the women he could come at after that manner, for the sake of one Perjur'd Female, who had been Barbarously False to him".[13] He claimed that his plan was to attack a hundred women before Christmas, cease the attacks during the Twelve Days of Christmas, then resume the attacks in the new year.

[SugarFree]

Rodger leads back to a single rejection as well.

Woman 'devastated' to be named by Santa Barbara shooter Elliot Rodger as motivation for killing spree, dad says

The father of the woman, whose name the Daily News is withholding, 'doesn't even remember' Rodger, who went on a killing spree Friday night that left six dead and 13 injured. In a 137-page manifesto, the 22-year-old claimed the young woman as an 'evil b---h' who 'teased and ridiculed' him when they were younger.

[tarran]

It may not even have been a rejection.

You ever go to talk to someone and they are engrossed in a conversation with someone else and politely indicate they want to continue that first conversation.

For 99% of humanity, that's not a problem.

For .99% of humanity it a slight that sends them to the store to get a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.

and for 0.0001% it's a call to hoist the black flag and start slitting throats.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

And for therapists, it's "How does that make you feel?"

Instead of, "What the fuck is wrong with you? Get over yourself."

[SugarFree]

It may not even have been a rejection.

True.

But you should focus on the people who would be alive right now if she had just given up her sweet teen no-no for his use. Her selfishness killed all those people.

[tarran]

Just like Epi's selfishness is responsible for Mary Stack's obsessive stalking/griefing of the contributors to this board!!!!

I like this line of reasoning!

[SugarFree]

Just like Epi's selfishness is responsible for Mary Stack's obsessive stalking/griefing of the contributors to this board!!!!

Now you're getting it. If he had just loved her none of this would have ever happened.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

You have written some terrifying and hair-raising things before - that joins the top 3, easily.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The term "sweet teen no-no" is in the top 3 by itself.

[waffles]

Blowjobs save lives.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

+37?

[SugarFree]

In a row?

[invisible furry hand]

We single-payer sorts scoff at your American barbarism. Imagine not having blowjobs as part of a medical plan paid for by the taxpayer - why, the very idea!

[UnCivilServant]

I dread the thought of the sort of low quality, equal-opportunity, government provider of such 'services'

[Jerryskids]

Medical blowjobs are self-administered, none of that rent-seeking by the middlemen of Big Insurance or Big Pharma. It's why Canadian healthcare is so much cheaper and more efficient than ours.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

I'm laughing at how the dad and the girl got in one final piss on this loser's grave:

"She doesn't even remember this guy

The guy was a socially maladjusted, narcissistic, status-obsessed incel whose parents never properly raised him. This is the same situation as Adam Lanza with a more boring screed.

[Palin's Buttplug]

"Maggie", a student at the Univ of Maryland, makes $180,000/yr stripping every other weekend in NY City.

http://www.abc2news.com/lifest.....per-in-nyc

She is fairly attractive but not gorgeous.

[Brett L]

The really hot ones don't need to strip for money, they just have rich boyfriends.

[mr simple]

Double major in Spanish and Poly Sci. Why even go to college at this point?

"That's what a first year law associate would make!" What a fucking idiot.

[gimmeasammich]

She is fairly attractive but not gorgeous.

Which is why she makes $180k/year. "Fairly attractive" in stripper terms means she goes from a 5 to a 9 simply because she is willing to shake her jumblies in your face for a small fee.

[invisible furry hand]

Leftist protestor finds out why drowning out speech you don't like with a whistle kinda sucks

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I predict that she will not get the point.

[Slammer]

TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lord Humungus]

Greenwald's Finale: Naming Victims of Surveillance

"One of the big questions when it comes to domestic spying is, 'Who have been the NSA's specific targets?'," he said.

"Are they political critics and dissidents and activists? Are they genuinely people we'd regard as terrorists?

What are the metrics and calculations that go into choosing those targets and what is done with the surveillance that is conducted? Those are the kinds of questions that I want to still answer."

[Jordan]

Oh man, that is going to be EPIC.

[db]

Indeed, it has the.potential to finally tear the.mask off.

[Lord Humungus]

What's the over/under of a H&R commentator (or even contributor) making the list?

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Napolitano would be a likely guess.

[Lord Humungus]

BBC mauled for ruling 'girl' is offensive word: MP leads growing outcry at politically correct censorship

During the programme, presenter Mark Beaumont, 31, was flung to the ground by a young judo champion, and joked: 'I am not sure I can live that down ? being beaten by a 19-year-old-girl.'

His remarks were aired in full when the documentary, called The Queen's Baton Relay, was first broadcast on the BBC News Channel in April.

But fearing viewers might take offence, the corporation decided to edit out the word 'girl' when it was repeated last week.

[Soros' Wank-noose]

So, I take it that Jimmy Kimmel is syndicating his show to the BBC now/

[MiloMinderbinder]

Maine AG says it's unconstitutional to cut off state assistance to immigrants.

http://bangordailynews.com/201.....mmigrants/

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Congratulations, taxpayers of Maine!

[Lord Humungus]

For any of ya yokels who read ebooks, most of my garbage is now available for free - even on Amazon. Search under Paul Westwood

On another note, this will be my last AM links for a spell. Gotta double down on some work and personal projects. Plus I've come to the conclusion that politics just gets me pissed off. But I'll be crawling back when summer is over and the cold winds of Michigan blow once more.

[invisible furry hand]

Look forward to hearing about your latest speakers in a few months.

[SugarFree]

I feel so rejected. stab stab stab blam blam blam

[invisible furry hand]

The Chronicles of Warty Hugeman are your manifesto for all to read

[SugarFree]

Can you imagine the media trying to make heads or tails of that after a spree killing? Or, hell, almost any comments most of us make...

[tarran]

Dude, you were shot by a friend and it destroyed your pancreas!

The victim disarmament narrative practically writes itself!

Yilmaz

[db]

That's funny, I.never connected the shooting and the diabeetus before. Makes sense, really.

[db]

"This is the story of how I, SugarFree, came to be."

[SugarFree]

"I died in the sweetest of seasons."

[Elspeth Flashman]

You mean you died for the sweetest of reasons.

[SugarFree]

The victim disarmament narrative practically writes itself!

"If not for the evil gunz, America would have been spared the murderous rein of the worst Poet Laureate in history."

[SugarFree]

*reign* "Also, he sucked at homonyms."

[invisible furry hand]

I liked the idea of the Poet Laureate riding America, keeping it under control with a murderous rein and an ill-disposed bridle

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

And SugarFree (with Warty as his enforcer in chief) is just the man for the job!

[Elspeth Flashman]

You didn't write a 137 page manifesto first to justify yourself = fail.

[Lord Humungus]

yet.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Sorry, I never meant to be this harsh. And I meant to direct it against Sugarfree's comment. So, my bad.

[invisible furry hand]

Your apology won't save you when he straps on the Doomcock and begins a spree that ends in ecstasy and death

[Elspeth Flashman]

The way all sprees should end.

[waffles]

That was pretty weak, some guy from a couple years ago had over 800 pages. And not nearly as whiny.

[Brett L]

The Unibomber? Pretty repetitive.

[waffles]

I honestly can't remember. Super repetitive. One chapter was called "Barack Obama, SuperNigger". Also much conspiracy mumbo jumbo.

[SugarFree]

My time here is my manifesto.

[db]

You missed a "blam."

[SugarFree]

And the "thud" of a car strike.

[Lord Humungus]

ixnay ethay ojectpray

[Brett L]

Thanks, I may go complete my catalog. Good luck.

[Sevo]

"[Obama]promising the U.S. war would "finally" end by the close of the year."

Depends on what the meaning of "end" is.

[SugarFree]

You would have to be desperate to take a sample of your husband's excrement, liquidise it in a kitchen blender and then insert it into your body with an off-the-shelf enema kit. This article contains images and descriptions which some might find shocking.

Um, no shit, Sherlock.

[invisible furry hand]

Brown play

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Speaking as someone who has kids with flora problems, this doesn't sound that bad. Particularly since bad gut flora can cause mental problems in addition to physical.

[SugarFree]

Mostly, I wonder if they threw out the blender. Because I don't care how many times you run it through the dishwasher...

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Ignorance is bliss.

[lap83]

This smoothie tastes......good!

(is what I imagine they'd say)

[Brett L]

Like, if your doctors refused to attempt a treatment that seems to have a strong track record of improving people's conditions and a weak track record of causing active acute or chronic harm?

[Andrew S.]

I know this will shock you guys, but the Supreme Court (in a 9-0 decision) just issued another opinion giving cops immunity for deadly force!

[Elspeth Flashman]

Not again!

[The Late P Brooks]

"This is the story of how I, SugarFree, came to be."

*tosses book back onto remainder table, mutters, "Who gives a shit?"*

[SugarFree]

Well, there goes all the money I was going to offer for your likeness rights.

[Andrew S.]

And a decision against the first amendment as well (giving Secret Service agents immunity for suppressing dissent). Ah, SCOTUS.

[The Late P Brooks]

(giving Secret Service agents immunity for suppressing dissent).

If a Secret Service agent isn't qualified to determine what is or is not protected speech, nobody is.

[Matrix]

Seth Rogan gives a middle finger to critic Ann Hornaday for her suggestion that films like Neighbors are the reason these guys go nuts and kill people

Obviously Seth needs to check his privilege.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

Hop on dem coffins, Ann. Hatred of common entertainment won't promote itself.

[mr simple]

Emma Watson graduated from Brown.

Brown, eh? Natalie Portman got her degree from Harvard.

[lap83]

Yeah, but Portman's Jewish...and that's not anti-semitic because I didn't even say anything about the little bag of gold she wears around her neck.

[MJGreen]

Elliot Rodger fatally stabbed three people before shooting three others and then himself.

That's pretty shoddy, Ed. He shot a lot more than 3 people. Only 3 of the deceased were shot.