The Incredible Shrinking Economy, White House Juggles CIA Bungle, Cuomo Has an Offer You Can't Refuse: P.M. Links

• 

  Pat Arnow

  About that recovering economy…U.S. gross domestic product fell by 1 percent in the first three months of 2014.

• The White House is, again, in damage-control mode after that accidental outing of the CIA's Afghanistan station chief to the media.
• Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki looks like a sacrificial political offering as Democrats facing election challenges line up with the GOP for a shot at the scandal-plagued official.
• You know that missing Malaysian passenger jet that just won't leave the headlines? Australian officials say they've been looking in the wrong place.
• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he'll campaign against state senators who don't vote for taxpayer funding of statewide political campaigns. Campaigns like his, presumably.
• Saying he's been punished for resisting pressure to profile young drivers and meet quotas for issuing traffic tickets, a New Jersey cop filed suit against the Mendham Township Police Department.

Follow Reason and Reason 24/7 on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here.

Comments

[Protagoronus]

Caprica would have been better than BSG if it went for more than one season. Discuss.

[Duke]

I don't find paprika all that flavorful and MSG gives me terrible headaches.

[Auric Demonocles]

You just need to learn to laugh at his tractor pullz type comments.

[SIV]

PILTDOWN MAN

[Ted S.]

Madison Square Garden gives me headaches, too.

[KDN]

Worst. Goal song. Ever.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

It certainly built up momentum in the second half of its first season. It was the first prequel that didn't feel like a waste of time because it was so fresh and different from its source material.

[Auric Demonocles]

It helped that it was literally a different world than the source material.

[Andrew S.]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but... no, wait, that is what I'm saying. You're absolutely, positively, 100% wrong.

BSG (assuming we're talking about the reimagined series) was a very good show for 3.5 seasons (we'll ignore that last half season). I'm not sure Caprica had more than maybe one or two good episodes.

[Protagoronus]

Let's ignore most of season three too I guess?

[Cytotoxic]

Most of S3 was fine or better. But that ending...FUCK.

[LynchPin1477]

BSG would have been better than just about anything ever if it had ended before going into the whole final 5 saga.

[Jordan]

And the Gaius Baltar trial. Fuck that was boring.

[expat]

And don't forget Fat Apollo - that was a bit of a mess too!

[jesse.in.mb]

jesse.in.mb does not recognize Fat Apollo.

It never happened.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

If I can acknowledge old Kathleen Turner, you can acknowledge fat Apollo

[jesse.in.mb]

How can I acknowledge something that doesn't exist.

I will accept Jamie Bamber's PETA ad grudgingly, can we call it even?

[Mt low rider]

Old Kathleen Turner =Sadz, man she was so hot 20 years ago.

[Ted S.]

I thought you liked bears. :-p

[jesse.in.mb]

I said I'd accept it grudgingly.

[Cytotoxic]

What Lynchpin and Jordan said. The series got all mopey and emo towards the end too. Ugh.

[kibby]

Definitely one hundred percent yes.

[DJF]

It would have helped if everyone on the planet was not a crook or a murderer

[Ted S.]

Everybody in The Best Man is a crook or a murderer, since it's a story about politicians. It's a pretty damn good story, too.

[MJGreen]

I didn't catch the second half of the season, but I recall reading that it continued to fumble with some of its promise. Unless it was heading in a really good direction, I can't imagine it hitting the same highs as BSG. I can imagine it falling apart as BSG did, though.

[Protagoronus]

Definitely could have fallen apart. Too bad we cannot find out.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

I'm not familiar with all these people.

/narrows eyes.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If they like Battlestar Galactica, you don't want to be.

[Bobarian]

Lorne Greene was great in that show.

[Entropy Void]

I liked Dan Blocker.

[Mt low rider]

Don't forget little Joe..

[Fist of Etiquette]

About that recovering economy...U.S. gross domestic product fell by 1 percent in the first three months of 2014.

The Summer of Rec(ession).

[waffles]

Shutup. Shutup shutup shutup. You're the kid who would yell "I don't believe in fairies" while watching Peter Pan.

[Injun, as in from India]

Nothing that another round of Quantitative Easing can't fix!

[Furburguesa]

Is it true they count QE as part of GDP?

[R C Dean]

Yes, it is (broadly speaking).

Government spending is counted as part of GDP. QE is, in significant part, the purchase of government debt by the Fed. Effectively, the Fed creates money and gives it to the government to spend, where it is counted in QE.

Part of QE is also the acquisition of mortgage-backed bonds by the Fed. I'm not sure how much of this is still going on, but the same basic mechanism applies, with one important caveat. The Fed is creating money and giving it to banks (in exchange for their CMOs). However, the banks are not as clean a "transmission channel" as the government. The government spends it all immediately. The banks may or may not put their freshly-minted dollars into circulation; many of them are accumulating these funds to repair their balance sheets.

[Furburguesa]

Thanks. If you take QE out of the equation, we have been in a depression since 2008.

[Injun, as in from India]

Pretty much. This is the big premise of Keynesians. That the private sector can go into a tizzy and you need government to stabilize growth. I really wish government spending was big included in GDP. It is misleading IMHO.

[Brett L]

If they would just except the borrowed money from the GDP it would be useful. Government spending value it took from the citizens as cash is one thing. Government spending "value" it created as the Fed buying T-bills is not the same thing at all.

[Corning]

You might note the ever rising stock prices while employment is anemic.

Almost as if all that money is not leaving those banks and their stocks have divorced themselves from the economy at large.

[Lady Bertrum]

Technically, the GDP didn't fall by 1%. The GDP contracted to -1%

[Rich]

Who are you, so wise in the ways of Economics?

[Lady Bertrum]

I read a book once.

[Pro Libertate]

So we're officially in a recession. Though I suspect we've been in one all along. I don't trust government numbers at all.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

I believe that requires two quarters of contraction.

[Lady Bertrum]

Technically, a recession is 2 consecutive quarters with a negative GDP print, so not yet. But I agree about government numbers, particularly their CPI number (inflation).

[Pro Libertate]

That's right, two consecutive quarters. So they'll do everything on Earth to lie as much as they can get away with the next quarter.

[Pope Jimbo]

What? You mean they won't "revise" the numbers from Q1? I thought that was the preferred method of juking the numbers.

Or maybe they will juke the numbers for Q2 and then silently revise them downwards after people move on.

[Cytotoxic]

Just when the Dems thought they couldn't be any more screwed come the midterms.

[Injun, as in from India]

The sad thing about the Dems getting screwed is that the alternative is the GOP. They will sell Hope-and-Change to get elected and will deliver jack.

[Protagoronus]

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says he'll campaign against state senators who don't vote for taxpayer funding of statewide political campaigns. Campaigns like his, presumably.

and phoney baloney jobs.

[Tonio]

+1 My Secretary, Miss Stein

[Fist of Etiquette]

Harrumph.

[Furburguesa]

I didn't get a harrumph out of that guy

[Ted S.]

If I were forced to take public financing to run for office, I'd run a hardcore porn themed campaign. Or maybe a Nazi theme. Just to make the point about the evilness of public financing.

[UnCivilServant]

The scheme he wants to push is based on the NYC 6:1 ratio (steal $6 of Taxpayer money for each $1 of donated funds) that multiple ligislators have been indicted for defauding already. The 'campaign fund' is regarded as a piggy bank and the rules for expenditures are ignored. It's a blatant "how can we line our pockets more?"

[Injun, as in from India]

The silver lining is that they can't stop PACs. The campaigns themselves will be hobbled, but no one can stop outside groups from spending money on campaigns. At least for now. The left is already talking about doing a constitutional amendment to prohibit corporations from spending on political advocacy.

[Drake]

No. The silver lining is that I don't live in NY and never will.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

About that recovering economy...U.S. gross domestic product fell by 1 percent in the first three months of 2014.

Someone needs to replace 'Hail to the Chief' with a sad trombone.

[Rich]

LOL

[110 Lean]

+1 creative process

[WDATPDIM?!]

Hail to the Post Turtle.

*wah wah waaaaaaaah*

[Fist of Etiquette]

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki looks like a sacrificial political offering as Democrats facing election challenges line up with the GOP for a shot at the scandal-plagued official.

Yep, the buck stops there at the top. The very top.

[Injun, as in from India]

Except that the top is Teflon-coated, which means that the rule "Sh** rolls downhill" will apply.

[Mt low rider]

Hey now, Reagan has the TM on the teflon presidential TM.

[Slammer]

You know that missing Malaysian passenger jet that just won't leave the headlines? Australian officials say they've been looking in the wrong place.

How would they know? It's missing.

[Tonio]

Hah!

[Suthenboy]

How would they know? It is pretty obvious that you are looking in the wrong place if you haven't found it.

[Corning]

They are looking in the south pacific right? and like in Lake Michigan or anything like that...

[Brett L]

Lookin' for jet in all the wrong places...

[Rich]

"Look *harder*, dammit!"

[Clich? Bandit]

I dropped my keys over there.

Then why are you looking under the lamp post?

It's where the light is, DUH!

[Drake]

Always in the last place you look.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Reason Korean BBQ Sausage Fest.

9 dudes, and we almost had 1 female attend. Almost.

[Slammer]

I hope all that meat is from near extinct endangered species. Also, no monocles?

[Trials and Trippelations]

We did have an orphan auction in the parking lot

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

(My apologies to Aggamammon. We (Jesse) didn't put this together until a few hours beforehand. We will do another meet up soon, with ample prior notice.)

[Trials and Trippelations]

And now I am officially verified as not Mary

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I forgot to check your ID.

[Trials and Trippelations]

Shit. Unofficially verified then.

[110 Lean]

Or potentially an agent of Mary's.

[Sudden]

I was her agent for a time being, but she fired me when I had trouble shopping her biopic about a love affair with a hairy Italian gentleman from Seattle to publishers.

They all said they had already received a similar novel from a man who went merely by the nomdeplume SF, and apparently his was far more entertaining.

[Atanarjuat]

Isn't everything libertarians do a sausage fest?

[Mad Scientist]

Stop othering Nicole!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Did you make it to Urban Dictionary yet?

[Mad Scientist]

Yes. Yes I did. I'll bet SugarFree had no idea there's an up and coming challenger in the obscurely nasty department.

[SugarFree]

Say what?

But I welcome the competition. Filthy builds on filth. That's how Epi got Butt HPV.

[jesse.in.mb]

Playa referenced "space docking", Mad Scientist was unfamiliar with the term. Playa started to explain. Some woman who was listening into our conversation started screaming "NOOOOOO MAKE HIM LOOK IT UP" and laughing hysterically.

I thought Epi got butt HPV from his mom.

[SugarFree]

Space docking? Epi's been obsessed with that for years. It's second only to gorilla mask in his crooked box of desires.

Of course, lately he's been all about the Alaskan Pipeline, but that's really just a summer time thing.

[Mad Scientist]

SugarFree, I can't believe you give away these little jewels for nothing. You should be teaching a graduate level class on advanced filth and raking in the dough.

[SugarFree]

Tenure would be tough. There are only something like three peer-reviewed journals on interdisciplinary filth studies left at this point.

[Sudden]

Some woman who was listening into our conversation started screaming "NOOOOOO MAKE HIM LOOK IT UP" and laughing hysterically.

That was called attempted flirting. I'll admit that I did consider it.

[jesse.in.mb]

That was called attempted flirting. I'll admit that I did consider it.

Dude, picking up on and defusing lady-flirtations is a vital skill for a gay man that hangs out in predominantly straight bars. I can pick out lady-flirting better than the male counterpart.

Thinking women are just being chummy and being chummy back ends VERY poorly.

[Sudden]

I figured you realized it. If only I was with one straight single person, otherwise it was 2 on 1. For some reason, I've never been able to seal the package deal.

[Mad Scientist]

The SUV that picked them up had a guy driving it, so I'm thinking you were only going to score with one anyway. Unless that guy was her adopted father...

[Sudden]

I'm betting Uber/Lyft. IIRC, they both got in the back seat, and they didn't seem to acknowledge the driver in any personal manner.

[jesse.in.mb]

The chatty one was the only one actively interested. The other one was too busy being embarrassed by her friend. You needed a distraction, not necessarily someone who was looking to score.

[Sudden]

I generally agree, and it would've worked out fine as that was the one that I was more interested in anyhow (not usually my type, but I feel like post-IV massacre, I need to give blonds another chance). Although I thought the other one might have merely been a bit shy.

[jesse.in.mb]

Shy would've been sideways with occasional glances. She had her back solidly turned to us.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Roger that. She wanted it from behind.

[kibby]

If I ever get out there to visit, I demand to attend one of these. So get cracking on all that, mister!

[Ted S.]

Get cracking on getting out there, darling.

[kibby]

If only I could magically conjure up a place to stay & money to rent a car, I would!

[Ted S.]

Hitchhike and crash on Playa Manhattan's couch.

[Mad Scientist]

He's planning on getting a new dog soon, so you'll have a cute little Pug/Beagle to keep you company.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Hear that? That's the sound of Sudden changing the locks on his doors.

Whatever. I'll get the dog when they're out on a walk.

[Sudden]

I don't have children, ergo I don't need to keep my guns locked up with ammo stored seperately.

[jesse.in.mb]

Whatever. I'll get the dog when they're out on a walk.

You have NO sense of strategy. Ply him with alcohol out about town, remind him that he promised to give a tour of his whisky collection, steal his dog when he's stumbly drunk.

[Sudden]

I'm still convinced that I was ruffied by the ghost of Warty on that night. I haven't blacked out but a handful of times in my life before that.

[Mad Scientist]

You didn't say his name three times, did you?

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm still convinced that I was ruffied by the ghost of Warty on that night

The ghost of Warty, you say.

*Tucks apothecary bag behind back, whistles with faux nonchalance*

[jesse.in.mb]

Playa's children are little joie de vivre engines. His couch is not a safe place to sleep.

[Rich]

"Get cracking on a sausage fest." Gotta love it.

[LynchPin1477]

The Reason commentariat is not nearly as fat or creepy looking as I would have guessed.

[Rich]

Pics or ....

[jesse.in.mb]

I was sitting out of view of the camera...

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Pro, or Con?

[jesse.in.mb]

I don't look creepy unless I'm rum drunk.

I've got some body image issues to work through on the fat comment.

[Obese American]

I respectfully disagree.

[Sudden]

You better damn well announce the opening of our very own poutine restaurant.

If I discover that we were not informed about that as of grand opening day, I will put the pout in poutine.

[Lady Bertrum]

Hot stuff!!!!! (I'm assuming the meat was cooked.)

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

We got so chatty that we accidentally let a little bit of it burn on the grill... Sigh. Such a waste of perfectly good meat.

[Brett L]

*consults Urban Dictionary... "meat was cooked"*

[I can't trust my fans]

Isn't sloopy married? Can't he, like, force his wife to attend?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

They moved to DC.

[Paul.]

Never such a hive of scum and villainy and other bits I don't remember.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I hear the sound of NSA facial recognition algorithms whirring away

[grrizzly]

That's almost justified. A meeting of an anti-government cell camouflaged as a BBQ dinner.

[jesse.in.mb]

"Cell" implies waaaay more organizational skill than we've brought to bear on just grabbing dinner.

[grrizzly]

On the contrary, having 9 people attend a dinner on such a short notice is pretty good. You wouldn't believe how long it takes to arrange a HOA meeting when most owners actually live in the building.

[jesse.in.mb]

Yeah it worked out surprisingly well. I'm glad we were able to get something together while you're in town.

[Sudden]

I'm still trying to figure out who the government plant is. But I'm guessing its akin to a poker table, if you can't spot the mark, it's probably you.

Sorry guys. They must've implanted a chip unbeknownst to me.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

It's an official meeting of the White Supremacist Patriarchy, appropriating East Asian culture!

[Banjos]

You lost three females when sloop and I left. Granted two of those females are under the age of two.

[I can't trust my fans]

How is DC treating you?

[Banjos]

Not bad, hopefully I will be starting a new job on Monday. Sloppy will be Mr. Mom until he can get something rolling. He was hit on by a bunch of wimminz today (according to him) when he took the babies to the National Mall while I was at an interview.

[Banjos]

hahaha, my phone autocorrected sloopy to sloppy, awesome.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I like it. SloppyinDC.

[Sudden]

Ted Kennedy trademarked that handle.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

Leave that to SugarFree.

[jesse.in.mb]

Don't worry. We've put Serious Man on an outreach program that's finally bearing fruit.

[kibby]

Not literally, though.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Well yes, it'd be bizarre if you gave birth to fruit.

[jesse.in.mb]

Not to mention an incredibly inefficient agriculture program.

[kibby]

But it would be very newsworthy.

[Obese American]

Naturally, that's my hand grasping for the meat. Good times.

[Pope Jimbo]

Could you keep us non-CA Reasonoids informed as to when the next get together will be?

I'm sure the rest of us would be happy to take up a collection to buy Putin's Buttplug a plane ticket to the event. (If I can't go, I want to be sure no one enjoys themselves)

[jesse.in.mb]

I just want you to know that you have just validated Mad Scientist's SugarFree inspired fears about meeting in person. Thank you.

[Pope Jimbo]

It gets better. We will cancel the return trip portion of the ticket, so Shriek will be stuck in CA for good (I realize you think he has the hundreds of thousands of dollars from his investments to purchase his own return trip, but alas no airline yet accepts monopoly money)

[Injun, as in from India]

The White House is, again, in damage-control mode after that accidental outing of the CIA's Afghanistan station chief to the media.

What was good for Scooter is good for the Obama administration dunce who screwed up. I am looking forward to the application if the same standard.

[Andrew S.]

You mean blaming a low-level flunky for the fuckup of somebody important?

[R C Dean]

You mean blaming a low-level flunky who everybody knew all along was not responsible for the fuckup of somebody important?

See, also, Monday in DC.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Australian officials say they've been looking in the wrong place.

Let me guess, it's not down under.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Saying he's been punished for resisting pressure to profile young drivers and meet quotas for issuing traffic tickets, a New Jersey cop filed suit against the Mendham Township Police Department.

They're sure going to have to up the quotas to pay for that settlement.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

+1 Vicious Cycle

[Tonio]

This is the first time this has happened, right? A trial about ticketing quotas, that is. Will be interesting to see what comes out during discovery and makes it into the official record. That will make future, similar suits easier to win. It will be a long slog but we might see change someday.

[R C Dean]

There it is, folks! The semi-mythical "good cop."

So, that's one . . . .

[Drake]

I got pulled over once in Mendham - the cop was very polite. I wouldn't expect different - it's the Beverly Hills of NJ.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Dear Prudence: Help! I caught my roommate having sex with her dad!

I recently started school at a large university for the summer term after transferring from a small private college. I have a disability that makes it difficult for me to live with others and make friends, so I was delighted to have a liberal-minded roommate who is not only incredibly considerate and fun to live with, but who has helped me make other friends. I know that her mother died a few years ago, and she and her father have had difficulty coping. Yesterday, I returned early when my class was canceled and was shocked to find her and her father having sex in our room! They were startled and he quickly explained that he is not her biological father. She told me later that the relationship with her adoptive father began after her mother's death when she was 18, that it is fulfilling and she plans to continue it, though she promised I would not have to witness it again. I am concerned that this is unethical or illegal, and that he is taking advantage of her. I don't want to lose my friendship or living situation, and I'm not sure what the school could do to help. Should I insist she seek counseling?

This seems too obvious, even for Dear Prudence. But it's a strange world we live in...

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Is she hot?

[Ted S.]

I don't want to lose my friendship or living situation, and I'm not sure what the school could do to help. Should I insist she seek counseling?

Set her up on a date with your father?

[R C Dean]

I don't want to lose my friendship or living situation,

Keep your big yap shut, and this won't be an issue.

[Suthenboy]

"...I am concerned that this is unethical or illegal..."

Actually dear, it is none of your fucking business.

[Rich]

*** rising intonation ***

But it *could* be ....

[Slammer]

Wonder what the disability is?

[Pathogen]

Ass-burgerz

[Bobarian]

" I was delighted to have a liberal-minded roommate"

So she's obviously brain-damaged.

[Brett L]

C'mon. Ripping of Lolita now? The writers jumped the shark a while back. Also, everyone is of age, kiddo. Tag in and have fun!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Again: Are these people attractive? It make all the difference.

[Brett L]

Height/weight proportional (is that the old phrase from the kinky classified ads in the weeklies?), probably.

[jesse.in.mb]

Now it's just HWP, or more colorfully "not fats, no olds, no Asians, not racist, just my preference"

[Mad Scientist]

I was delighted to have a liberal-minded roommate

but I didn't want her to be that liberal-minded.

[110 Lean]

About that recovering economy...U.S. gross domestic product fell by 1 percent in the first three months of 2014.

Perhaps we should follow Italy's lead and ad a few more products like prostitutes and drugs.

[Max Power]

Union Square - San Francisco, CA

Cormac M. | Author | Lost in the chaparral, NM

Two stars.

Given the way my uncle died havin a drink directly after his funeral just didnt seem right so I went for a walk instead. One of them downtowns where all there is is stores. Came across a store was a big cube. Two stories tall and all silver. There was folks outside just standin there. Line stretchin round the block. Maybe a hundred people. I saw a man who'd brought his own chair. He had a shirt on with the same logo as the one on the store. I figured he worked there so I asked him what the line was all about. What were all these people waitin for. He told me it was for a apple phone or some such. I said dont these folks have telephones already? He told me they all had apple phones but it was the older one. I asked him what would happen to the old apple phones. He told me about a fella named Craig had a list and everbody sold their old telephones on it. A telephone sellin list.

Yelping with Cormac

[Game of Thrones fan]

This is the nature of war, whose stake is at once the game and the authority and the justification. Seen so, war is the truest form of divination. It is the testing of one's will and the will of another within that larger will which because it binds them is therefore forced to select. War is the ultimate game because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god.

[Slammer]

+1 Judge

[Injun, as in from India]

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki looks like a sacrificial political offering as Democrats facing election challenges line up with the GOP for a shot at the scandal-plagued official.

Replace TOP MAN. Wash, rinse, repeat. And oh! Long live Single Payer!

[Atanarjuat]

If only those mean Republicans hadn't cut VA funding, everything would be great!

--everyone I've heard talk about this

[Slammer]

Public seppaku would be cool.

[Rich]

And diverse.

[Injun, as in from India]

Shinseki won't do it. Obama will do seppuku on Shinseki. That kind of changes the definition though.

[Tejicano]

"Seppaku" would be "urgency" in English.

Formal Seppuku generally requires a second to deliver a coup de grace - which I guess Obama could handle. In some cases the seconds were found to be a bit exuberant, jumping the gun, so to speak. I guess he could use that as an excuse.

[Palin's Buttplug]

About that recovering economy...U.S. gross domestic product fell by 1 percent in the first three months of 2014.

The worst winter weather in memory? No factor!

Seriously, durable goods orders and capex are way up in this quarter.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

In memory? How scientific of you.

We had the best winter weather in memory out here.

[KDN]

They'd be using the weather as an excuse if it were warm, too.

German jobless rise biggest in five years, mild winter blamed

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, just what we need, upset Germans.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

You know who else dealt with upset, unemployed Germans?

[Injun, as in from India]

Angela Merkel?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Hey Weigel. Of course, if the winter had been warmer, that would have been 'proof' of AGW and thus, also, an argument for giving more power to Obama. A win either way, eh?

[Suthenboy]

When I saw the headline I knew you would be here somewhere telling us that down is up. Good to know you can be counted on.

[Palin's Buttplug]

"The economy is in the process of reaccelerating," David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates (GS:CN), wrote to clients. He said his firm's model of the economy "suggests near-0% odds of recession for the coming year."

Another not-to-be-repeated drag on the economy in the first quarter was poor weather. Investment in structures fell at a 7.5 percent rate, partly because construction workers couldn't work effectively in the unusually excessive cold and snow. Adding to growth was health-care spending, which, boosted by the Affordable Care Act, grew at a 9.1 percent pace.

Bloomberg

[Longtorso, Johnny]

health-care spending, which, boosted by the Affordable Care Act, grew at a 9.1 percent pace

Weigel, you idiot, OCare was sold to us as reducing health care spending.

[pmains]

Incorrect. We've always been at war with Eastasia.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Nobody even on the left says centralizing control of education will make it cheaper. Once spending becomes govt spending, increases are always equated with 'compassion'. The Weigels of the world say they want to reduce healthcare spending, but their track record says they'll fight reductions (or a cut in the rate of growth) w/ everything they have.

[Lady Bertrum]

David Rosenberg is a decent guy but he's no Nostradamus. You could get a completely contradictory opinion from many respected economists. Naming just one - John Hussman

Keith McCullough is the only market guy I know of who predicted the negative GDP print and he says slowing growth increasing inflation in '14.

[The Original Jason]

Truman is said to have asked for a "one armed economist" because they were always saying, "on the other hand?"

[R C Dean]

Geez, get your stories straight.

If this winter is "not-to-be-repeated" poor weather, does that mean all the bloviating about Climate Disruption (or whatever the tag line is this week) is a bunch of hooey?

So, the partially implemented ACA increased spending by 9.1%? So I guess it is a crashing failure at one of its main goals, "bending the cost curve"?

[Injun, as in from India]

Bending the cost curve ? I see a lot of Americans bent over, that's what seems to be Obamacare's main goal.

[Homple]

Perhaps since they're blaming the weather they won't be shooting any kulaks this quarter.

[Ted S.]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!111!!!

[Pro Libertate]

We've had booms right through some awful weather events. Unleashed, the American economy is a fucking juggernaut. But with this parasite on its neck, not so much.

Let my economy go!

[Suthenboy]

^This.

If we could cut government drag on the economy in half we would have an explosion of prosperity never before seen.

Goddamn fucking parasites are bleeding the host dry.

[Cytotoxic]

The problem is that the government has gone beyond being a parasite into being a cancer.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The worst winter weather in memory? No factor!

Hmmm, weather caused inventory reductions and consumption was up.

Take out the deficit spending by .gov and it's even worse.

[Cytotoxic]

The worst winter weather in memory? No factor!

It certainly wasn't here in Canada.

[Mt low rider]

And stupid rears it's ugly head...you being a dolt was amusing, you now have the relevance of a Golden Girls rerun.

[Rich]

a shot at the scandal-plagued official

Trigger warning needed.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Dear Prudence: Help! I'm a libertarian sociopath

I'm a 31-year-old male and consider myself to be a borderline sociopath. I view this as a neural development disorder where many people fall along a spectrum, not something to be "treated" or changed. I have a strong "logical morality" and do not wish harm to anyone, but I do come first and don't commonly feel guilt or remorse. This seems to work in most areas of my life, but dating is a problem. By all recognizable accounts I am easygoing, successful, charming, and normal. However, I do not feel love the way I imagine many people do. My love for someone peaks around the two-month mark in the relationship and I can feel that way for nearly anyone who meets my dating criteria. But I have been the "love of their life" for many women, who form incredibly deep bonds and end up devastated after they realize our relationship will not progress and it ends for seemingly no reason. In some of these relationships I have even been entirely up front that I simply don't "feel" the way most people do and they have not been deterred.

So, what am I to do? I don't enjoy hurting others, but I do enjoy when others care for me. Do I just continue this pattern throughout life...or is that callous and morally demanding of a better approach?

Uh, kibby...

[kibby]

Some of this does have a sense of troubling familiarity....

[Rich]

I do come first and don't commonly feel guilt or remorse.

You selfish *bastard*!

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Well if True Luv is out of the question it at least sounds like he has a future in politics, so, silver lining.

[LynchPin1477]

I wonder what he thinks of Ayn Rand's sex scenes.

[a better weapon]

I read that in Patrick Bateman's voice.

[jesse.in.mb]

It's much easier when you think of your dating partners as needy and overly attached.

I should probably not date liberals, eh?

[Sudden]

You might find it hard to find any suitable companions of your type outside of liberals.

[jesse.in.mb]

I dunno, a full third of our get together was sodomitically inclined, and while liberals are clearly more vocal in the gay community, I find that those who would likely otherwise skew conservative end up in a nice socially liberal/fiscally conservative sweet spot.

[Cytotoxic]

Ayn Rand has the hots for this guy from beyond the grave.

[Sudden]

Every woman has the hots for this guy. Prudence responded appropriately: women will try to change him. They love the chase. Hell, I'd bet dollars to donuts that Prudence was flicking her bear as she authored her response*

*TIWTANLW

[Sudden]

I'm a 31-year-old male and consider myself to be a borderline sociopath. I view this as a neural development disorder where many people fall along a spectrum, not something to be "treated" or changed. I have a strong "logical morality" and do not wish harm to anyone, but I do come first and don't commonly feel guilt or remorse.

STOP READING MY DIARY!

[Drake]

Sounds like bragging to me.

[Mt low rider]

Don't pick on kibby, she is my fave in a world where faves are outlawed.

[Slammer]

Baseball's confusing unwritten rules.

I wish politicians spoke like ballplayers. Torii Hunter is a riot.

[Rich]

tl;dr

[Ted S.]

Some of those unwritten rules, if enforced, would help shorten the game.

[Mt low rider]

Tori Hunter is the man, if all ball players were like Tori baseball would be in better shape.

One of the best dudes in all of the sporting world.

[Rich]

the U.S. Navy's deputy director of ocean engineering ... suggests the original pings probably came from the search vessel itself

WTF?

[Jordan]

That really inspires confidence.

[PD Scott]

The plane was calling from inside the ship! Run!

[Fist of Etiquette]

That's what they get for pinging 127.0.0.1.

[The Other Kevin]

+1 localhost

[Wasteland Wanderer]

There's no place like 127.0.0.1...

[Apatheist ?_??]

Alcohol Taxes Should Be Tripled
The war on drugs has been a failure. But the war on booze deserves a second chance.

Another goody from Slate's resident conservative. I guess they feel the need to have a fellow nanny around to fill their quota, but what's National Review's excuse for giving this guy a blog. Everything I've read by him is shitty.

[I can't trust my fans]

Reihan's a thoughtful guy. He just gets carried away.

If we have to have some taxes, I wouldn't mind raising alcohol taxes. Trebling them is too much, though.

[Apatheist ?_??]

No, sin taxes are even worse than normal because they are social engineering.

[LynchPin1477]

Plus "sinning" is fun.

[Ted S.]

For everything I long to do,
No matter where, or when, or who;
There's one thing in common to,
It's a sin

[Wasteland Wanderer]

SugarFree'ing a link: that's a sin.

[PapayaSF]

No, sin taxes are even worse than normal because they are social engineering.

But all taxes have engineering effects: they suppress whatever is taxed. So do you want less income (income tax), spending (sales tax), etc., or do you pick something that does have negative social effects, and tax that? The latter seems quite preferable to me.

[SugarFree]

Negative social effects?

Leave booze alone and tax politicians. A 250% tax on wealth, property and capital gains should do it.

[R C Dean]

Howsabout if you deploy a handful of taxes that apply as broadly as possible at a low rate? Minimal economic and social distortion, no?

Plus, passing a tax for the express purpose of imposing a crypto-fine on people doing something you disapprove of is a tax implemented for a bad reason that does not apply to taxes imposed for the sole purpose of raising revenue.

[robc]

The Single Land Tax has zero deadweight loss. In theory.

It does have a social engineering aspect though...it encourages productive use of land.

[Tak Kak]

Perhaps if you're a Keynesian, other economists recognize the importance of "idle" resources in a market economy .

[Apatheist ?_??]

And no, even excusing the tile and byline which might have been written by an editor, there is nothing thoughtful at all in that article.

[Ted S.]

In Finland, it's common to go on booze trips to Tallinn since the alcohol taxes are so high in Finland. I believe there are even two alcohol superstores at the ferry terminal in Tallinn.

[Episiarch]

This is correct. The booze on the ferry is super cheap and Finns will stock up like mad there.

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

Cripes, they are still doing that?! I was in Tallinn in 1984 and the drunken Finns were a menace.

[Sudden]

Finns also score higher than any nation on STEM testing while maintaining the highest alcoholism rate in the developed world.

What was that about negative social effects of alcohol?

[Acosmist]

Genetics are hard to understand, yeah.

[kbolino]

If we have to have some taxes, I wouldn't mind raising alcohol taxes.

"If you must steal, at least steal from people other than me."

[I can't trust my fans]

LOL. I confess that I barely drink.

You know what could solve a lot of problems? Legalize and tax prostitution.

[kbolino]

I'm unclear why the tax is necessary or how it solves any problems.

[robc]

Fuck you.

Excise taxes piss me off. No legal product should be taxed any different than any other.

And 0% seems like a fine number.

[Ted S.]

Baptists and bootleggers.

[I can't trust my fans]

a New Jersey cop filed suit against the Mendham Township Police Department.

The article doesn't mention it so I will: Mendham is the home of Il Duce Chris Christie, may History forget his name.

[Lady Bertrum]

Yep. It's a beautiful little town. The whole township police force must be around 5 or 6 cops, so 1/5th of the force is suing the township.

[Drake]

I would live there if I had a shitload of old money. I drive through it on the way home most days.

[Rich]

Being a cynic linked to tripled risk of developing dementia

Good news, though: no link between cynicism and an early grave!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh, what do those scientists know? They're probably getting paid off by Big Alzheimer's. Selling pharmaceuticals or something. What were we talking about? Who are you?

[Rich]

"Daisy. Daisy. Give me your answer, do."

[Homple]

I may have Alzheimer's but I'm glad I don't have Alzheimer's.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The White House is, again, in damage-control mode after that accidental outing of the CIA's Afghanistan station chief to the media.

Which was, of course, treason when they did it to Valerie Plame.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Bushpigs outed Valerie Plame for political revenge. To get back at Joe Wilson for writing that about the Bush lie that Niger was selling yellowcake to Iraq.

Which is 100x worse than BENGHAZI!!!!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Plame died, along with 3 others? That's news to me Weigel.

[Palin's Buttplug]

There is no controversy about the deaths, you half-wit. The "scandal" is about what Susan Rice blamed the attack on.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

There is no controversy about the deaths

They're dead, thus no controversy (despite the questions about whether Obama could have sent them help)? That's the best you can do, Weigel?

Your OFA talking points are getting worse by the day, oh 8% pure libertarian.

[I can't trust my fans]

PB strikes me as "definitely not Weigel."

just sayin...

[kbolino]

Drugs are bad, mmkay?

[Paul.]

Which... drugs?

[R C Dean]

There is no controversy about the deaths, you half-wit.

What difference, at this point, does it make?

There is plenty of controversy about the deaths. What were they doing there? Why were their requests for security ignored for months? What really happened there, and why has the administration put all the survivors in an air-tight box? Could the military have mounted a rescue mission, and if so, why didn't they?

Let's not forget: Where the hell was the President during all this?

[Paul.]

Let's not forget: Where the hell was the President during all this?

Where else, bringing healthcare to the masses?

[110 Lean]

Love the Weigel jabs, Johnny. Smile every time.

[Corning]

So if you out a CIA operative when you are angry it is bad but when you do it out of incompetence it is not so bad....the degree to how bad it is is what is going on in your head when you did it.

This sounds and awful lot like a thought crime.

[Corning]

I also think this is how Shrike judges Iraq between Bush and Obama.

Obama thought good thoughts while he perpetuated a war that he promised to end for 5 years while Bush had mean christfag thoughts.

[Drake]

Armitage was definitely a pig - and a fucking asshole to watch Libby crucified like that. But he wasn't a Bushpig.

[R C Dean]

The White House is, again, in damage-control mode

These days, they are never not in damage-control mode.

[Paul.]

About that recovering economy...U.S. gross domestic product fell by 1 percent in the first three months of 2014.

I can't wait for progs to keep blaming this on the weather.

[Paul.]

Which if they do, proves that global cooling is our greatest threat.

[AuH20]

OMG do I hate my college and its newspaper

Don't get me wrong; I understand the meaning of the term "comfort food." It refers to the feeling one gets after biting into a warm doughnut or cheesy meatball sandwich, before suddenly being overtaken by the urge to plop onto a warm and cozy couch, curl into the fetal position, cuddle with your dog, and enjoy a gentle back rub.

Fast food has also turned into a type of comfort food. Companies like McDonald's have found loopholes to legally bribe young children into lifelong consumption of their unhealthy products by giving them free toys, which make a child excited, associating McDonald's with happiness. I have had this reaction to rich, high-calorie animal-based foods such as cheese, pastries, and fast food in the past. The orgasmic experience only lasts while the food is still sliding over your tongue. Once you swallow the last bite, the sensation of comfort usually transforms into something very different. For most of us, the evening following a holiday caliber meal is either spent on the couch with an aching stomach, in bed asleep with a gut full of saturated fat, or on the toilet seat disposing of our "comforting" dinner.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

Companies like McDonald's have found loopholes to legally bribe young children into lifelong consumption of their unhealthy products by giving them free toys

A bribe you have to pay for. WORST BRIBE EVAH!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I expect nothing less from Colorado College. A close friend of mine went there, and came back all fucked in the head.

[GILMORE]

you should write a parody-response article along the lines of 'a modest proposal', in which you concur with this author and add to her thesis how we should be equally aware of the ' pernicious and insidious pleasurable sensations we receive through public announcements of gastronomic moral superiority = how chewing on kale allows one to get a small thrill to feel what it must be like to suffer alongside starving rodents, that small boost to self-esteem one gets from pretending to Self-Denial by merely downgrading one's dessert to "Soy Cheesecake"... the bourgeoisie pretention that one is 'depriving' one's self simply by exercising ostentatious restraint, lording over the lesser beings who actually enjoy the occasional guiltless self-indulgence..."

etc.

[Dweebston]

Companies like McDonald's have found loopholes to legally bribe young children into lifelong consumption of their unhealthy products by giving them free toys

"Legally bribe"? Their delicious sandwiches aren't rewarding enough? Does the author disclaim the nutritive value of a McDonald's cheeseburger? Morgan "5000 Calorie Diet" Spurlock certainly seemed sustained on a McDonald's diet.

For most of us, the evening following a holiday caliber meal is either spent on the couch with an aching stomach, in bed asleep with a gut full of saturated fat, or on the toilet seat disposing of our "comforting" dinner.

That sounds like self-flagellation, man, and that's your own problem.

[Slammer]

If you have to shit, shit, if you have to fart, fart. You'll feel better.-Mao

[Dweebston]

I first heard that quoted in Paul Johnson's Modern Times, as narrated by a stern British woman aping a Chinese accent.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Companies like McDonald's have found loopholes to legally bribe young children into lifelong consumption of their unhealthy products by giving them free toys

Good thing young children don't have the money to buy McDonald's or the ability to drive themselves there.

[MJGreen]

curl into the fetal position, cuddle with your dog, and enjoy a gentle back rub.

That sounds really uncomfortable.

[MJGreen]

I have had this reaction to rich, high-calorie animal-based foods such as cheese, pastries, and fast food in the past.

Jeez. Put an inkling of thought into your conjunctions.

[Tonio]

Maybe. Real pastry involves butter. Maybe lard.

[MJGreen]

Fair point, I guess.

[110 Lean]

"high-calorie animal-based foods such as cheese, pastries"

WTF is an animal-based pastry?

[Mad Scientist]

Made with Crisco?

[Lady Bertrum]

Crisco is made from vegetable oil - very bad for you. Lard is animal fat and very good for you.

[Mad Scientist]

Every day, something new. Thank you, Lady Bertrum.

[Tonio]

And don't forget butter, sweet, sweet, butter...

[Heroic Mulatto]

A Jamaican Beef Patty?

[Slammer]

+1 Golden Krust

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I like the use of Maggi Seasoning. Otherwise, looks a little weird.

[SIV]

One made with lard.

[110 Lean]

Still, it is some sort of flour-based.

Full disclosure: I bake. Even shortbread has twice as much flour as butter.

[Tonio]

Remember that butter has a significant water content which vapomorizes during teh cooking process leaving behind the butterfat.

[Stormy Dragon]

Even shortbread has twice as much flour as butter.

Why does your butter have flour in it?

[Lady Bertrum]

empanadas?

[a better weapon]

Is this guy fucking serious? Toys are what made people associate McD's with comfort food and turned them into lifelong customers?

This dumbass does realize that they didn't put toys in happy meals until 1983, right? What's the explanation for those 43 years of explosive growth before then?

[Suthenboy]

What a load of sanctimonious horse shit.

I have found that people who engage in food weirdness are people who have never been hungry. People who have been hungry do not decry food or have bullshit, magical ideas about it. They also do not scold people who produce food or fret endlessly over what other people eat.

Drop Jackson Foster's ass in the middle of nowhere and let him go a couple of weeks with only a handful of bugs to eat then lets see what he has to say about McDonalds.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Drop Jackson Foster's ass in the middle of nowhere and let him go a couple of weeks with only a handful of bugs to eat then lets see what he has to say about McDonalds.

One of the best lines from the first Iron Man movie was Tony demanding both a cheeseburger and a press conference after he got back to the States, "Cheeseburger first."

Fuck yeah Foster would be crying for a burger and fries after an experience like you described above--presuming he even manages to make it out, which most coddled princesses like him would not be able to do.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

Copyright fun.

I need to copyright the phrases "reasonable regulations" and "internalized misogyny." Anything else I'm missing in my quest for more money?

[Rich]

"Trigger warning" and "chopped liver"?

[Injun, as in from India]

Common sense gun control

[GILMORE]

"You know that missing Malaysian passenger jet that just won't leave the headlines? Australian officials say they've been looking in the wrong place"

Reports still unclear whether it was also the right time

[Rich]

"Some people think they jive me, but I know they must be crazy ...."

[Max Power]

Man, I love that album.

[Rich]

It is great. Croker Courtbullion, ah, yes.

[AuH20]

God, my alma mater is dumb pt. 2

The plant-based lifestyle that Roll promotes is not about weight loss, counting carbs, or fat and protein, but is instead about forming a relationship between your own body, mind, and the earth that is sustainable, pure, and healing.

In a world where heart disease prevails and overconsumption devastates natural resources, Roll wants people to know that the solution for human health is also the solution for environmental sustainability and animal cruelty.

On the most extreme scale, if every athlete began to increase endurance and recovery rates by gleaning protein, fiber, and phytonutrients from plants rather than animals, a cornfield used to feed cattle could be converted into a wild habitat or vegetable farm built through permaculture on a basis of biodiversity. Heart disease and other illnesses would plummet in the United States, and cows would no longer be fed hormones or be forcibly impregnated to produce a constant flow of milk.

After hearing Roll's lecture, I looked around at the audience and hoped that they were as inspired as I was. There were middle-aged runners in spandex, vegans with headbands and dreadlocks, and student athletes who perhaps were not yet aboard the plant-based train.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm I right in understanding you're in the SoCal now? I thought I had your contact information, but can't seem to find it.

Would you be interested in socializing with other maladjusted libertarian men (and possibly their wives or kibby if she gets her act together)?

[Heroic Mulatto]

I looked back on Roll's lecture for inspiration as I faced my 20th birthday.

Shut the fuck up.

[MJGreen]

She's got it figured out! Why doesn't anyone else see what is so obvious to her!?

I'd ask her for an example where "overconsumption" has "devastated natural resources."

[antisocial-ist]

There's only one proper response to vegans, and militant vegetarians.

Fuck you, the only reason I don't eat people is because it taste like shit.

They generally leave you alone after that.

[jesse.in.mb]

Wait, people tastes bad?

*fishes out to do list and cross off #8*

[Swiss Servator, CH yeah!]

That settles it - jesse makes me laugh more than anyone at H&R.

[jesse.in.mb]

Awww

*blushes*

[Injun, as in from India]

Have you tried soylent green?

[Dweebston]

I love hearing vegans kvetch about the shit they ostensibly take from omnivores over their dietary choices.

As if anyone besides a fellow vegan would willingly discuss veganism with a vegan.

[Warty]

I once fixed a vegan. It was gratifying.

[Suthenboy]

Repeat of my comment to pt. 1

These spoiled little douchebags have no fucking idea what it takes to produce food and make certain there is a reliable supply of it.

[Paul.]

You know that missing Malaysian passenger jet that just won't leave the headlines? Australian officials say they've been looking in the wrong place.

Well, everyone's been looking in the wrong place. It would have been found if they'd have looked in the right place.

"Found the keys yet, honey?"

"Nope, but I know I'm looking in the right place..."

[Rich]

The plane will turn up in the last place they look.

[Paul.]

Not if they keep looking.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Grant Hill group said to bid $1.2 billion for Clippers:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....ffers.html

Sterling paid $12 million for them.

[GILMORE]

So what?

[Paul.]

But low, sell high?

[Paul.]

Buy... lulz

[WDATPDIM?!]

So no one has a right to that much of a profit, Comrade.

[Brandon]

Sterling bought them 30 years ago. But in no way is the decline of the value of the dollar in any way responsible for any part of that increase. At all.

[Dweebston]

You know that missing Malaysian passenger jet that just won't leave the headlines? Australian officials say they've been looking in the wrong place.

Were they holding the map upside-down? I hear their toilets drain backwards, too.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Not in the US Embassy, they don't!!!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Labour wanted mass immigration to make UK more multicultural, says former adviser

"Labour threw open Britain's borders to mass immigration to help socially engineer a "truly multicultural" country, a former Government adviser has revealed

"The huge increases in migrants over the last decade were partly due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity", according to Andrew Neather, a former adviser to Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett.
He said Labour's relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to "open up the UK to mass migration" but that ministers were nervous and reluctant to discuss such a move publicly for fear it would alienate its "core working class vote"."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....viser.html

[jesse.in.mb]

Immigration to England: so good when it means this, so bad when it means this

[widget]

Mr. Tibbs or Muhammad (sp?).

Did you know that Lulu does a cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A36NI1Ov_c0

[Suthenboy]

Yep

[widget]

Finding out that adults of different races and cultures don't play together like children in a meadow must be astonishing.

[Jerry on the sea]

Last decade? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cn7dDF74yE

[Cytotoxic]

Doing the right thing for the wrong reason is still a good thing.

[Drake]

"Labour wanted mass immigration the same reason Democrats want mass immigration to U.S. - more votes.

[Acosmist]

Yeah, this is old news. Steve Sailer has been talking about this for...a while.

[widget]

Companies like McDonald's have found loopholes to legally bribe young children into lifelong consumption of their unhealthy products by giving them free toys, which make a child excited, associating McDonald's with happiness.

My six yo won't settle for anything less an authentic Japanese Beyblade when it comes to bribery.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Richard Martinez: Bane of the NRA!

It isn't just the force of Martinez's emotions or political conviction that make him powerful. He is currently shouldering the unimaginable grief of being yet another parent who has lost yet another child in yet another mass shooting. He has seen this happen before, he knows the political script that's already playing out. He has listened as gun apologists ? time and again ? urge the nation not to "politicize" a national tragedy out of respect for the families, and then watched them turn on these same families in order to protect our deadly ? and immensely profitable ? culture of guns. And he's using it. All of it.

[...]

Martinez is brave, destroyed, weeping, loud, furious and unpredictable in his grief. He is channeling all of that with a singular focus: Change. Or as he said that first day, introducing himself to the world as the grieving but determined father of Christopher Michaels-Martinez: "Not one more."

Wow, that's just flatly admitting you have nothing but emotionally bullying and blackmail on your side. And they're proud of it!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

And they're proud of it!

The Feelz will give us power.

[Mad Scientist]

For the left, the feelz trump everything else. Katie likely is proud of it.

[Rich]

His vulnerability and righteous, focused anger is unlike anything exactly like everything we've seen in response to a mass shooting.

FTFY

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Martinez is brave, destroyed, weeping, loud, furious and unpredictable in his grief. He is channeling all of that with a singular focus: Change.

Isn't this the same shit they said after Sandy Hook and Aurora?

Sorry, but if a bunch of kids shot by a emotionally stunted, psychotropically drugged-up aspie raised by a paranoid mother didn't bring Change, neither will 3 people stabbed and 3 people shot by a half-white, half Asian narcissist just because Martinez has become the latest SWPL Hope Du Jour.

[Episiarch]

Is it cynical of me to think that these people who "speak out" after one of their loved ones gets killed (or like Giffords gets shot themselves) in a shooting massacre, and do so in a way that will perfectly stroke the BAN BONERS, kind of know what they're doing?

When TEAM FEELZ loves you, you become a fucking celebrity, almost a god, to them. I have to assume that there are some people deliberately feeding off of that. They may even do it as a way to distract themselves from grief, but the end result is the same.

[Mad Scientist]

I don't think he knows what he's doing. If he did, he wouldn't have needed his kid to get killed to get a microphone in front of him.

[Homple]

Of course Team Feelz drops you like Cindy Sheehan when your usefulness ceases or you become inconvenient.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Martinez is brave, destroyed, weeping, loud, furious and unpredictable in his grief.

While he is loud, he is also an obnoxious oaf who ghoulishly parades his son's corpse to push a political agenda he seems to have held well before the tragic murder of his son. How about pushing for the decriminalization of sex work, that would have saved your son too, Dick...but strangely you're silent on that cause.

[Sudden]

I do wonder if this whole process is part of his means of distracting himself from the actual grieving process. The same way some people consume themselves with work after a loss, he is using this agenda-pushing to delay and distract from having to genuinely accept and cope with his loss.

[Homple]

Fair statement.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You know, at first I thought that, but the more I hear and see of the man, I've been convinced the truth is actually more fucked-up in that he seems almost gleeful that people are now listening to his views on gun confiscation now that he has a bloody shirt to wave.

[Sudden]

but the more I hear and see of the man

See, that was your first mistake.

[Dweebston]

You're reading too much into it. In his shoes I'd be grasping at straws for some means of righting this travesty. The man probably feels crushed with helplessness. I would, anyway.

[Sudden]

It's funny. Progressives constantly label anyone to their right as reactionary, yet the BANBONERZ! hoopla generated in spurts of preening outrage from these sensationalistic incidents (this, Sandy Hook, Aurora, etc) is trademark reactionary behaviour.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Comment of the article:

reinvented 12 minutes ago
Unfortunately we are a nation full of rednecks. Nothing will change until we can change some people's minds. Hardly anybody listened after Sandy Hook. Do we really think people will listen to this guy? I wish they would, but he'll be just another voice crying in the wilderness soon enough. The NRA won't be happy until everyone is issued an AK-47 at birth. And it looks like that's about where we're headed as a nation. Guns everywhere . . . all the time.

He just wants to change those ignorant, Bible-clinging rednecks minds! Why won't those inbred hicks listen to his sophisticated arguments and accept government as their lord and savior by giving up their tiny penis-compensating death machines? I just don't get it.

[Sudden]

Yep, all those maladjusted rednecks in Connecticut, California, and Colorado right?

[I can't trust my fans]

Your hyphen is out-of-place. Try this:

tiny-penis-compensation death-machines

[MJGreen]

Man, it'd be pretty rad to be given an AK at birth.

[Pathogen]

Yeah... I had to pay for mine...

[Dweebston]

Unfortunately we are a nation full

of people who understand on a visceral if not a rational level that Marxist conceptions of shared victimhood and collective guilt are gutless appeals to emotional vapidity, and treat your shirt-rending theatrics as such.

[Rev-Match]

The NRA won't be happy until everyone is issued an AK-47 at birth.

I wish I was issued one at birth. I'd be a lot more proficient marksman by now.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

It isn't is just the force of Martinez's emotions or political conviction that make him [a] powerful [talking point].

FTFY

[Homple]

"Absolute moral authority".

[MJGreen]

Martinez is brave, destroyed, weeping, loud, furious and unpredictable in his grief.

In other words, he looks like a blubbering imbecile. Which is understandable, given his grief, but he will not convince a single person out there.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

urge the nation not to "politicize" a national tragedy out of respect for the families

Ugh, every time, people use that word, It wasn't a fucking "tragedy", it was mass murder. It wasn't an act of nature, illness, or an accident; it was the result of intentional acts by a bad person.

[R C Dean]

He is currently shouldering the unimaginable grief of being yet another parent who has lost yet another child in yet another mass shooting.

Odd that this unassailable moral authority isn't extended to parents who say that they think there is no point to passing new laws after their kid gets killed.

[Suthenboy]

They are proud of it because they think that constitutes an actual argument. This is the left we are talking about.

I don't care how many times they use tragedy to advance their agenda. I know what the agenda is and the answer is NO. FUCK YOU, NO.

[Drake]

Sorry your kid is dead, but fuck off asshole.

[21044]

...and meet quotas for issuing traffic tickets.

Not quotas, but goals, a neighbor, who was once a local county mountie, told me.

[The Late P Brooks]

It isn't just the force of Martinez's emotions or political conviction that make him powerful. He is currently shouldering the unimaginable grief of being yet another parent who has lost yet another child in yet another mass shooting.

He can kiss my ass.

[Paul.]

This.

The parents that lost children to stabbing have no go-to political bogeymen. Their narrative is one of inconvenience, and we're not interested in their story.

Media to stabbing victims' families: go fuck yourself.

[JW]

Mass stabbing? What mass stabbing? There was no mass stabbing. There was no running over people in his car either.

THERE WAS ONLY MASS SHOOTING! OF WOMEN! ALL WOMEN! WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

War on Asian Men? Nobody cares.

[Iucundus (ex Damned Fool)]

War on Asian Men? Nobody cares.

[widget]

Hell, they're even less noticeable than two marines who defended the US embassy in Benghazi.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Circumcision was linked to a 60% decrease in prostate cancer risk in black men, according to a large case-control study published online May 28 in BJU International."

http://www.oncologypractice.co.....777da.html

[PapayaSF]

I cannot imagine how cause and effect works in that case.

[robc]

Good point. But the body is tricky sometimes.

Correlation != Causality, of course, but unless we have a good reason for doubting it, we should consider the possibility.

Both ways.

[hamilton]

Both ways.

Prostate cancer makes your foreskin grow?

[grrizzly]

That's easy. Circumcision turns black men gay, they engage in anal sex, which lowers prostate cancer risk.

[jesse.in.mb]

Wait if circumcision is turning black men gay, then what are the white homo demons sent by Obama doing?

[Drake]

So wouldn't they just get anal cancer instead?

[Tonio]

Utilitarianism, FTW, Eddy.

[Cytotoxic]

Still doesn't justify mutilating non-consenting children. Also, 1) what's the baseline and 2) I bet that's from reduced STD transmission which can be achieved with a condom and without genital mutilation.

[The Late P Brooks]

God, my alma mater is dumb pt. 2

What the fuck are those blabbering cretins at CC up to now?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Uber CEO praises innovation of driverless cars, shows just how evil and exploitative Uber is

"The other dude in the car" is a strange way of describing your employees, but that's exactly what employees are in the sham "sharing economy"?just some "other dude" you're matched up with for a fleeting transaction. And for Travis Kalanick, the sooner we can rid ourselves of these other dudes, the more money for us, the dudes we are. The "magic" Travis speaks of is the elimination of the Uber drivers Uber seems so proud of today. Just like the taxi industry Kalanick is currently fighting to dismantle, he would love to someday dismantle the human fleet he's assembling right now?the same swarm of on-demand drivers he's using to battle Big Taxi.

Even if it does take decades for robot cars to supplant humans behind the wheel, the fact remains: Uber is a company with a decades-long vision for its business. And it's a business that's making taxis obsolete today, and people obsolete tomorrow.

But don't you dare call these people economically illiterate Luddites!

[Max Power]

Is that whole ValleyWag site just set up to bitch about all the awesome stuff that comes out of silicon valley?

[MJGreen]

As Bastiat liked to note, these people don't even consider the benefits to the consumers, which is all of us. All that matters are the 'producers,' which can only be a select few. Greater convenience, lower price, increased safety for the passengers are not given a single thought. What about the poor cabbie!?

[Cytotoxic]

I don't have the link but the London Taxi union folk are set for war on Uber. Mass strike and all that.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Help me, the urges are too strong...must...resist...posting...Lincoln article...aaaaaah...

"Abraham Lincoln's Steampunk Presidency

"The only commander-in-chief to hold a patent presided over one of the country's most inventive periods....

"...U.S. Patent No. 6,469: a device for "buoying vessels over shoals" according to its inventor, a 40-year-old Abraham Lincoln. Apparently, this self-taught prairie lawyer also taught himself how to buoy vessels in his early 20s, when a flatboat he worked on ran aground on a milldam in New Salem, Illinois....

"In hindsight, it appears the Union was fortunate to have elected its only inventor-president in 1860. Although Lincoln's support for technological innovation was not a factor for most voters, it completely revolutionized the nation he presided over."

http://www.slate.com/articles/.....ation.html

[WDATPDIM?!]

If only he had used his special powers for good.

[Cytotoxic]

Beating the confederacy was pretty good.

[WDATPDIM?!]

A truly great leader would have avoided a war.

[Injun, as in from India]

How? Singing kumbaya with Jefferson Davis?

[WDATPDIM?!]

By not calling for enlistment of volunteers right after Fort Sumter fell, for starters.

[The Late P Brooks]

The parents that lost children to stabbing have no go-to political bogeymen. Their narrative is one of inconvenience, and we're not interested in their story.

Media to stabbing victims' families: go fuck yourself.

Archie Bunker famously asked, about victims of gunfire, "Would it make you feel any better if they was all pushed outta windows?"

I guess we know the answer.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

NPR attempts report on gun violence in Chicago, gets interrupted by gunfire

According to NPR, Schaper had been in Chicago to learn about Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to record every gun purchase on video, and limit purchases to one gun per customer.

Kids were getting out of school as Schaper was interviewing community activist and blogger Asiaha Butler on her porch in the city's South Side.

But the interview had to be abruptly halted when a man with a semi-automatic weapon began shooting.

"Oh my, Jesus!" Butler exclaimed as the shooting began.

"About 30 or 40 yards away, a man is standing outside of a car firing a large semi-automatic rifle at a target around the corner we cannot see," Schaper recalled. "Asiaha pushes the little girl indoors and some people duck down and scurry, while some of us just watch in bewilderment ? while the shooter gets back into his car and drives down the street right in our direction."

Police later determined that the man had been firing at a van, and at least one person was injured.

I'm sure more city laws will fix all that. Also, Raw Story commenters fail the Turing Test:

ComradeRutherford ? 6 hours ago
Ah, the GOP utopia, where people are shooting at each other all the time.

This has to be a bot because no one can be that clueless, right?

[Max Power]

It's because of all those guns coming from Indiana!

/Shitty-Roger-Sterling on the Independents.

[Paul.]

Back in the cold-war days, a friend of mine pointed to the Soviet Union as a a cautionary tale of what capitalism gets you.

[WDATPDIM?!]

Maybe your friend was trying to persuade you to give up all hope?

[Suthenboy]

"This has to be a bot because no one can be that clueless, right?"

No. The left's failures are always someone else's fault. Remember, it was republican policies that destroyed detroit and republican cuts that caused the VA to be shit and republi.....you get the idea.

[The Late P Brooks]

tiny-penis-compensation death-machines

Is that the thing that goes up?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

God willing.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

This morning gaijin asked if he should get a Chromebook, and EDG answered:

I got a Chromebook a year ago. It worked fine for three weeks and then died. Don't get it. Look for a different device.

That statement is... misguided.

First, all production runs have duds, and it's foolish to dismiss a device based on the fact that yours was broken. Some manufacturers are better than others on this -- Apple, for instance, is known for doing a very good job with QA.

The key with every electronics product (not to mention, say, vacuum cleaners and food processors) is to buy it from somebody that handles returns well, such as Amazon or Newegg, and to keep the packaging and serial numbers.

Second, "Don't get it" suggests a bit of confusion of Chromebooks; there is no it. Off the top of my head, Samsung, Acer, Asus, and HP all make Chromebooks; I believe Dell, Toshiba, and Lenovo also do or will soon. Saying "don't buy a Chromebook, mine broke", beyond being foolish for the first reason I mentioned, is essentially like saying "don't buy a laptop, mine broke".

As for my advice on the matter: I've never used one, but I know that a lot of people like them. I don't know much about any particular models; overall, I've heard the best about Samsung's.

As for Scruffy's suggestion of the 12.2" Galaxy Tab Pro: I've heard good things in passing, though it costs more than I would spend, and I don't like Samsung's TouchWiz interface.

[widget]

I can't even buy anything from Newegg. "Your shipping address in does match our database". Like that's my problem. I have even called them. In person they are even worse than the web site. "You do not live there!". To Tigerdirect.com I go.

[Carl ?s his privilege]

My experience with Newegg has been positive, although I have not ever had to return anything to them.

My experience with TigerDirect, while less extensive, had been all positive until recently. I ordered something from them which, a month-and-a-half later, had not arrived. I emailed them and they said "Sorry, there was a glitch and we lost your order, please redo it". I explained that I ordered with a giftcard, which I had thrown away.

The responded by saying the same thing in different words.

It was only $15, luckily.

[Paul.]

The responded by saying the same thing in different words.

Order, redo it you must.

[robc]

Re: Subset of economy

US Beer Industry fell by 1.1% in units shipped in 2013. Craft was up 18%.

Of the big boys:
ABInbev down 2.7%
MillerCoors down 3.0%
Crown Imports up 5.7%
Heineken USA down 1.9%
Pabst down 2.8%
Boston up 8.5%
Yuengling down 2.3%
NAB down 4.6%
Diageo down 7.9%
Mark Anthony up 6.0%

All others up 10.2%

[Sudden]

Considering the top link on today's PM links is the 1% GDP contraction, looks like the US beer industry is a great barometer for the national economy.

[widget]

I have worked at AB plant in Van Nuys, CA. On the refrigerators, to be more specific. Several hours of smelling ammonia along with the fermentation vapors does not make you thirsty for a cold one.

The building are far apart and a bit of a walk.

But there were bikes everywhere, with baskets. Just campus bikes for anyone to use. I felt a bit awkward at first getting on one. "Am I stealing this?" I got used to it though. I am a micro-communist now.

[Sevo]

"The White House is, again, in damage-control mode after that accidental outing of the CIA's Afghanistan station chief to the media."

So they finally get "transparent" and it's the one time they shouldn't. The gang that can't talk straight.

[Suthenboy]

They absolutely fuck up everything else they touch so why wouldn't they fuck up transparency as well?

[Brandon]

Also, when the hell did they start deploying DHS cops at games?

Right after DHS cops decided they wanted to go to games and get paid for it.