A.M. Links: Iraq Seeks Help from Iran, U.S. Evacuates Baghdad Embassy, Russian Tanks Enter Ukraine

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  • Credit: White House / Flickr.com

    The situation in Iraq keeps deteriorating. Early this morning, ISIS fighters captured the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar. Meanwhile, Iran has reportedly sent troops to Iraq to help the government stem the insurgency. In Baghdad, the U.S. is evacuating staff from its embassy and strengthening defenses.

  • The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce one or more decisions today in argued cases. With the current SCOTUS term set to end on June 30, 17 cases remain undecided, including disputes over presidential power, warrantless cellphone searches by the police, and Obamacare's contraceptive mandate.
  • The San Antonio Spurs beat the Miami Heat to win the NBA Finals.

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NEXT: Steve Chapman on How Long We Should Stay in Iraq

Damon Root is a senior editor at Reason and the author of A Glorious Liberty: Frederick Douglass and the Fight for an Antislavery Constitution (Potomac Books).

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  1. In Baghdad, the U.S. is evacuating staff from its embassy and strengthening defenses.

    Something going on in the YouTubes?

    1. WDATPDIM!?

      WDATPDIM?!

    2. strengthening defenses.

      Yeah. Less than 100 Marines. Two platoons.

      http://pjmedia.com/richardfern…..whup-whup/

      Not enough to make a difference, but more than enough to incur futile casualties and complicate the evacuation.

      1. ace_m82

        Uh, that’s more than enough Marines.

        That may not be enough ammo…

  2. invisible furry hand

    Pope Francis is shorting the word economy. Time to go long then

    1. Rich

      Well, he is a man of few words.

      Anyway, what do you have to say about this?
      Australia Sees Obama Climate Change Plan as All Talk, No Action

      Who does “Trade Minister Andrew Robb” think he *is*, dissing the Most Powerful ….?

      1. invisible furry hand

        He is a blasphemer and must die!!

        More seriously, Andrew Robb unfortunately is part of a government that is doing this:

        The Abbott administration is attempting to enact laws to replace the carbon-price mechanism with a so-called Direct Action Plan, which consists mainly of taxpayer-funded grants to companies.

        1. Rich

          Cutting out the middleman — That’s good, right?

    2. mr simple

      More importantly, did you celebrate the fact that Australia won the men’s Field Hockey World Cup and took second in the women’s? Is the sport big down there? I know they are a perennial force.

      1. invisible furry hand

        Not particularly, although it’s been mentioned on the news. It’s reasonably popular as a sport to play, but it doesn’t usually get much love on TV. ATM we’re all World Cup crazy down here, and State of Origin is on, and the normal Rugby League and Aussie Rules competitions, so we’re a bit distracted as well

  3. Radio icon Casey Kasem has died.

    Rutrow.

    1. Zombie Jimbo

      I suspect Scrappy-doo. Too soon?

      My kids (14 and 10) had never heard of Casey Kasem’s American top 40, but they did recognize the voice of Shaggy.

      1. Casey Kasem, Dick Clark, everyone whose job Ryan Seacrest takes dies. Coicidence? I think not.

    2. l0b0t

      Obligatory – The best thing Kasem ever did. http://youtu.be/Z6gPSSYxex0

      1. invisible furry hand

        These guys are from England and who gives a shit

      2. He would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling kids.

    3. hamilton

      I liked him more as G-Force commander Mark.

      1. +7-Zark-7

  4. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce one or more decisions today in argued cases.

    Taxing authority all around!

  5. invisible furry hand

    Horse sex man turns to burglary. Is this proof of rehabilitation?

  6. PBPlug, aka Shreek aka Weigel, please come to the white courtesy phone. No, the white one….

    AFTER CLIMATE CHANGE SPEECH, OBAMA JETS TO PALM SPRINGS FOR GOLF
    President Barack Obama arrived in Palm Springs, California on Saturday via Air Force One to spend Father’s Day playing golf. Hours earlier, he had lectured graduating students at University of California, Irvine, about the need to “do something” about climate change, mocking those who questioned that policy goal.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) encourages reducing unnecessary air travel to minimize carbon dioxide emissions. Golf courses are also frequent targets of environmentalists–especially in southern California, where a severe drought has placed a spotlight on golf courses’ use of scarce water resources….

    1. WTF

      Rules are for the little people, not the King!

    2. VG Zaytsev

      Obama is reluctantly willing to let you bare any cost to fight climate change.

    3. MJGreen

      It’s like some Christfag said: Grant me frugality and munificence, but not yet.

    4. Sticky Fingaz

      Serious question: What makes you think PBPlug= Weigel?

      I’m a little fascinated by sockpuppetry but I need evidence!

    5. Butts Wagner

      Following in Gore’s carbon footprints.

  7. …ISIS fighters captured the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar.

    “Is that the last city we’re going to take, Other Barry? I don’t think so.”

    1. AlmightyJB

      Where in the hell is James Bond at?

      1. DontShootMe

        In the sanatorium with multiple personality disorder. “I look in the mirror and see so many different faces…”

        1. AlmightyJB

          Being a 21st century “man” doesn’t agree with him.

          1. AlmightyJB

            21stCenturySchizoidMan?

  8. What’s in their genes?

    Anna Margr?t Frankl?nsd?ttir, who lives in Selfoss, was 104 years-old yesterday; born on 15th June 1910 at Litla-Fjar?arhorn in Kollafj?r?ur in the Strandir area of the Westfjords.

    […]

    Four of the siblings are still alive. As well as Anna Margr?t, there are also Nanna Frankl?nsd?ttir, the oldest person in Skagafj?r?ur, at 98; Margr?t Frankl?nsd?ttir, 92; and Gu?bj?rg Frankl?nsd?ttir, aged 90 ? all three of whom live in Siglufj?r?ur.

    Of the siblings who have passed away, one survived to age 98, another 94, and others still to 93, 92 and 90 years-old.

    1. Auric Demonocles

      Howard families.

      1. Old Man With Candy

        +1 Sperling

    2. Notorious G.K.C.

      They needed the extra years to learn how to pronounce their own names.

    3. invisible furry hand

      being an inbred Viking does have its benefits.

      Whatever is the genetic basis of their long lives will be investigated by some biotech company or another, since the whole country is just a genetic and genealogical database

      1. Restoras

        Iceland

        1. robc

          Iceland == inbred vikings

      2. robc

        When you need an app to avoid hitting on a cousin….

    4. lap83

      no husbands?

      1. invisible furry hand

        Frankl?nsd?ttir is a patronym, not a surname, and patronyms don’t change upon marriage.

  9. David Brat Is Right
    …If David Brat’s wholly inoffensive observations are enough to give a person the vapors, he might well look to reconsider the foundations of his philosophy. In certain cases ? rape, murder, defense of the realm ? the case for government force is an easy one to make. In others ? the hosting of cowboy poetry festivals, the banning of smoking, the hyper-regulation of small businesses ? it is downright farcical. Were I convinced that the state should be using its power to determine the optimum price of milk, I would probably recoil at the word “violence,” too. This, though, has no bearing on whether its use is pertinent. David Brat was correct: Governments of all sorts rely upon force and maintain a monopoly on fire, and thereby invite all of us to turn our skeptical eyes toward them. Let’s try not to crucify a man for looking on them without favor and telling all who would listen the acrid truth about what he has seen.

    1. Restoras

      Is the author still writing for NR?

    2. There was that case last week where a mother didn’t pay the fines for her truant child, and wound up dead in a prison cell, having been neglected.

      H&R covered it

    3. wareagle

      maintain a monopoly on fire

      it’s just monopolies all the way down.

    4. John

      Journalists are just profoundly stupid. The term “monopoly of force” is poly sci 101. It goes to the core of the debate about the morality and legitimacy of government. Anyone who is offended by or doesn’t understand that term doesn’t know anything about government. Anyone who writes about government for a living and doesn’t understand that term is a dangerous half wit.

      1. sarcasmic

        Then there are the people who insert the word “legitimate” into there, making it a tautology. If government uses force then it is legitimate because legitimate force what government does.

        1. John

          No. That is the entire debate. Is government legitimate. To be a government you need to have some kind of monopoly of force. But is that moral or right. If you are an anarchist you say no.

          Monopoly of force is an even more basic concept and debate than legitimate force. It goes to the entire question of whether government should have any kind of primacy over the individual.

          1. sarcasmic

            Whether or not government is legitimate doesn’t matter because you can’t escape it. There will always be a gang of assholes with guns who will use organized violence as a license to steal. That’s all government is. Assholes with guns who steal.

          2. MJGreen

            Well I don’t think that’s wholly accurate, because after all, no government has a literal monopoly on force. But it has the monopoly on “legitimate” or legal force. An anarchist can say this is wrong, but as a descriptive matter, people see a government as the sole coercive enforcer of the law.

            1. sarcasmic

              Self defense is a legitimate use of force.

      2. Restoras

        I don’t think it is that they are profoundly stupid – they’ve simply bought into being part of the Governing Class. They are an unofficial ‘Department of News and Information’ at this point.

        1. John

          That sounds profoundly stupid to me. All they know how to do is reprint press releases and mutter talking points.

    5. Were I convinced that the state should be using its power to determine the optimum price of milk, I would probably recoil at the word “violence,” too.

      Its a package deal.

      (1) Government sets price controls.

      (2) Farmer sells at another price.

      (3) Government fines farmer.

      (4) Farmer refuses to pay fine.

      (5) Men with guns go to farm to assault and kidnap arrest farmer for not paying fine.

      Proggies and other bootlickers like to say that the farmer is arrested for not paying the fine. If you are so intellectually impaired or dishonest that you think this means he wasn’t arrested for selling milk at the wrong price, then there is no point talking with you.

  10. Rich

    17 cases remain undecided

    With all due respect, how hard is it to flip a coin to determine 4-5 or 5-4?

    1. AlmightyJB

      I blame Kennedy.

      1. Why? Does she keep interrupting oral argument, or are her earrings too distracting?

      2. Almanian!

        I blame Bush

  11. “The Obama administration is contacting hundreds of thousands of people with subsidized health insurance to resolve questions about their eligibility, as consumer advocates express concern that many will be required to repay some or all of the subsidies.”

    Poor congressional Dems. Poor, poor congressional Dems.

    1. John

      I don’t think the free shit brigade is going to be happy about that. You thought low information voters were pissed when they found out the insurance wasn’t free, wait until they have to pay back their subsidies.

      Again, this bill manages to be an entitlement that doesn’t even give people free shit.

      1. Restoras

        Pay back – that’s funny.

        1. John

          In fairness, I am sure some of those people lied and are crooks. But I bet a lot of them are honest and the government fucked up and gave them the wrong subsidy. And now after they have counted on that money, they will have to pay it back. This program is fucking evil.

          1. PRX

            they will discover that with Obamacare, the only winning move is not to play.

          2. Rasilio

            It might not even be a fuck up on the part of the government. It is VERY difficult to predict the future and the subsidy clawback was built into Obamacare for that very reason.

            Get a promotion, a new job, win a couple thousand in the lottery? Bingo you no longer qualify for the same level of subsidy (or possibly not any subsidy at all) but since your subsidy level for the year is calculated only once at the time you sign up these subsidy clawbacks will be VERY common.

            And of course if you were the cynical sort, could they have designed a better system to lock people in to their current slot on the economic ladder? Any change in income could very easily result in effective marginal tax rates of over 100% as the government takes back excess subsidies they paid you.

  12. John

    http://observer.com/2014/06/al…..lU.twitter

    Disturbingly, evidence has surfaced that the President Obama’s close friend and senior advisor violated her oath “to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” the rules of legal ethics, not to mention the law. As a senior member of the Enron Task Force, Ms. Ruemmler prosecuted four Merrill Lynch executives and sent them to prison on an indictment that was “fatally flawed.” The conduct the prosecutors alleged was not criminal. At the same time, she deliberately hid exculpatory evidence?that is, evidence she was constitutionally compelled to hand over to the defense. Indeed, the prosecutors not only acknowledge the evidence as exculpatory, they yellow-highlighted it as such?then buried it.

    Not only did Ms. Ruemmler hide the evidence she had identified as crucial to the defense, but she signed the false and misleading “disclosure letter” to defense counsel. Ms. Ruemmler then elicited hearsay testimony from witnesses that was directly contradicted by the first-hand evidence she and her Task Force hid. She capitalized on and compounded the injustice, repeatedly telling the court and jury “facts” that were directly refuted by the evidence she hid.

    1. John

      The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately reversed 12 out of 14 counts of conviction against the executives, acquitting one entirely. All the defendants were released, after having spent up to a year in prison on a sham indictment, while Ms. Ruemmler and her cronies continued both to hide the evidence that defeated the government’s case and to demand that the Merrill executives be prosecuted a second time on the same indictment.

      Rummler is one of Obama’s closest advisers. The country is in the best of hands.

      1. WTF

        That’s okay, now that we know what she did, I’m sure she will be held fully accountable and…

        HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

        Sorry, too ridiculous to finish typing.

      2. VG Zaytsev

        If the congressional republicans had any balls at all, they’d impeach this bitch. I’d love to see the proggies try to defend her.

        1. John

          She left government service and took a big job on K Street. But Obama still has her on speed dial according to the article.

        2. WTF

          Hell, they’re defending Lois Lerner.

      3. gaijin

        constitutionally compelled

        hahahaha!

  13. VG Zaytsev

    Nothing about the IRS blatantly lying about losing Lerner’s emails in a computer crash.

    Hmmm

    1. John

      Reason hasn’t touched that. Really? And they wonder why people call them leftists pretending to be Libertarians for a paycheck.

      1. Restoras

        Cocktail Partaaaaayz!

        1. Slammer

          Doesn’t the NSA have the emails?

          1. gaijin

            Doesn’t the NSA have the emails?

            sure…they just collect them all. They need more funding to actually be able to sort through them.

          2. We have everyone’s emails.

            /NSA

      2. WTF

        Well to be fair, there are almost too many fucking scandals to keep up with. Brilliant strategy by Obama, just violate so many laws that no one can fully focus on anything and the public just gets tired of hearing about it all.

        1. John

          “Losing” two years of emails is a pretty big deal. There is no excuse for Reason not excoriating them over it. If Bush had “lost” two years of emails relating to Haliburton, I somehow doubt Reason would have ignored it.

          1. I’m pretty sure that the writers are allowed to pick their own stories (within a wide range), and therefore go after whatever interests them. That’s why some events get 5 items, and some others get nothing – if they just don’t arouse interest in anyone.

            They’ve also written next to nothing on the Justina Pelletier case, which is horrific.

            1. Rufus J. Firefly

              They sadly used that girl in some sort of macho-political game of power. It was degenerate what Massachusetts did to her.

        2. VG Zaytsev

          If only there were just on scandal that everyone in the media could hammer away at 24/7-365.

          It just not fair to expect thousands of journalists to cover more than one scandal at a time.

    2. Restoras

      That is, of course, total bullshit. I am willing to bet those emails are stored somewhere just like every other IRS email, and they are just stalling in order to make sure every last one has been tracked down and erased.

      My machine at work occasioanlly ‘crashes’ and I’ve never lost an email. It’s reminiscent of Weiner and his ‘hacked’ twitter account.

      1. WTF

        Of course it’s a blatant lie that nobody actually believes. And of course they will get away with it because who is going to hold them accountable?

        1. Restoras

          Do you mean to tell me the good folks at CNN won’t chase this story down and get to the bottom of…oh look! Teh World Cup is going on!!

          1. Rhywun

            Teh World Cup is going on!!

            Just think of all the Kim Kardashian stories they’ll have on tap when that is over – enough for the rest of the year at least.

            1. Restoras

              CNN is a colossal joke. The middle-east is imploding in fire and violence and they are running WC crap. And then the same people complain that Americans ‘aren’t informed’.

    3. Rich

      This. Truly outrageous. One of the commentariat suggested subpoenaing the NSA.

    4. robc

      Discussed in multiple threads last week.

      1. BUT NONE OF THE COSMOTARIANS ACTUALLY WROTE A DEDICATED ARTICLE ABOUT IT!!!111!!! WHY DO YOU DENY THE LEFTY-COSMOTARIAN NATURE OF THE H&R WRITERS?

        [/sarcasm]

      2. John

        The posters on the board discussed it. But they are not Reason. We are talking about the publication.

        1. Thank you for confirming my sarcasmic post above.

        2. robc

          I AM REASON.

          1. I AM REASON!

            1. I AM SPARTACUS REASON.

              1. robc

                Jokes arent funny if they have to be explained.

    5. Fluffy

      These people seriously expect us to believe that emails from a government server can be lost when a laptop dies.

      1. VG Zaytsev

        I forgot who said it but…

        Totalitarian regimes push the most blatant lies on their subjects not because the think they will be believed but to humiliate the public with its impotence.

        1. I think it was Solzhenitsyn.

      2. John

        What VG said. They don’t expect us to believe it. They just don’t give a fuck if we do or not.

    6. Not possible. Emails are stored on backed up servers.

      1. The Boy in the Corduroy Pants

        All else fails, get them from the NSA.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    In Baghdad, the U.S. is evacuating staff from its embassy and strengthening defenses.

    Rightsizing. They are merely rightsizing. Knock it off with the defeatist talk, you commies.

  15. db

    In Baghdad, the U.S. is evacuating staff from its embassy and strengthening defenses.

    What difference, at this point, does it make?

    1. WTF

      Helicopters on the embassy roof in Saigon?

      1. Restoras

        Oooo can we get vid of Huey’s being pushed off the side of the Georege HW Bush too?

        1. db

          Only if some Iraqi colonel packs his family of six into a Cessna Bird Dog and drops a message asking them to clear the deck so he can land in a desperate escape bid.

          1. Restoras

            SF’d

            1. db

              http://en.wikipedia.org/w/inde…..le_flights

            2. Christophe

              Fixed.

              That is one insane story. Thanks db.

              1. Cdr Lytton

                Mine as well. I think db was the one who posted that a couple of months ago.

                Speaking on the Midway thirty six years later.

                http://youtu.be/Zq_mg8CtSzk

  16. sarcasmic

    ‘I never trusted a polygraph again’: Hillary Clinton LAUGHS in 30-year-old interview as she recalls how she helped a suspected child rapist walk free after the prosecution lost crucial evidence

    Hillary Clinton defended Thomas Alfred Taylor, 41, in 1975 in Fayettville, Arkansas
    Then aged 27, Clinton found a loophole in the prosecution case and Taylor walked free
    Newly unearthed audio interview from the early 1980s has Clinton discussing the case with Arkansas journalist
    Recordings throw into question Clinton’s claim to be a champion of women and children’s causes
    Taylor died in 1992 and his alleged victim is now a drug addict still in Fayettville, Arkansas

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..dence.html
    That woman is fucking evil. That’s all there is to it.

    1. John

      She was his defense attorney. It was her job to stick it to the government. I blame the government for losing the evidence and managing to lose the case not her. I didn’t know she ever did any defense work. I thought she was a crooked corporate attorney helping Savings and Loan crooks.

      1. sarcasmic

        I don’t fault her for doing her job. I fault her for her cavalier attitude.

        1. John

          Yeah, though everyone who has ever done that work has been a bit cavalier at times. She got a child rapist off. It was her job but if you are not a bit cavalier you would go crazy.

          1. sarcasmic

            And lawyers wonder why they are universally despised.

            1. John

              It is a dirty awful job. It really is. It looks easy on TV but doing criminal work is making your living on human tragedy. Someone has to do it, but doing it does bad things to your soul if you are not careful.

              1. sarcasmic

                Didn’t appear to bother her a whit.

                1. Restoras

                  Suggesting….that she doesn’t have a soul? Not surprising, really, for any politician?

                  1. So you’re saying ginger lawyers would be even worse?

                  2. So you’re saying ginger lawyers would be even worse?

                    1. Restoras

                      So bad, in fact, it is worth repeating!

                    2. As I said last night, I’ve got a problem with my mouse. I’m getting a lot of extraneous double-clicks.

                    3. invisible furry hand

                      It’s probably time to upgrade from this

                    4. Almanian!

                      Artisanal Mouses! The latest craze!

                    5. mr simple

                      A wooden mouse? It’s vintage and environmentally friendly. Definitely a hipster’s dream.

        2. The Last American Hero

          This. It would be one thing to say what John said about being his attorney. To laugh about it is another thing entirely.

          1. VG Zaytsev

            She also impugned the victims character and lied to the da about out of town expert testimony that she did not have.

            It may be the defense lawyers job to do those things in order to set a child rapist free.

            But anyone that is capable of doing them should be disqualified from holding government power.

            1. John

              It may be the defense lawyers job to do those things in order to set a child rapist free.

              No. It is not a defense attorney’s job to lie to the court or the government. impinging the victim’s character? That could be part of her job assuming she is telling the truth when she does it.

              Basically Hillary comes across as a sleazy unethical lawyer. And that, judging by her performance with the Watergate Committee and later with the Rose Law Firm is exactly what she always was.

              1. sarcasmic

                Basically Hillary comes across as a sleazy unethical lawyer.

                Paging Captain Redundant! Captain Redundant to the HampR comments please!

                1. John

                  Not all lawyers are sleazy and unethical. And trust me, if you ever need one, you won’t think yours is that way, provided he gets you out of trouble.

                  1. sarcasmic

                    Last time I needed a lawyer I couldn’t afford one. So I got stuck with a public pretender who explained to me that he job is to get plea bargains for the DA.

                  2. Not all cops are bad, either.

                  3. Not all lawyers are sleazy and unethical.

                    Ahem.

              2. VG Zaytsev

                It shows the kind of win at any cost mentality that leads to lying and abuse (cough Obama cough) when held by those in government.

            2. Rufus J. Firefly

              VG, exactly my thoughts. What’s interesting is she feels fit to lead a nation. If she did that to a victim of rape (ironic given the GOP are apparently waging a war against women) imagine how derelict she would be as a leader of a nation.

              1. sarcasmic

                If she did that to a victim of rape (ironic given the GOP are apparently waging a war against women) imagine how derelict she would be as a leader of a nation.

                “What difference does it make?”

    2. Even accused child rapists deserve the protections of the rule of law.

    3. WTF

      Ready for Hillary?

      1. Rich

        WDATPDIM?

      2. Restoras

        Hell yes. Epic. Lulz.

    4. gaijin

      IT sounds like a twist on the plot from Devil’s Advocate…

      1. WDATPDIM!?

        That would explain a lot….

        1. WTF

          John Milton: “Lawyers are the devil’s ministry.”

          1. Aw, cram it ya blind English bastard!

            *carefully tucks tail back into expensive suit, combs hair over horns, returns to court*

    5. Notorious G.K.C.

      We don’t know if the guy was guilty – it seems the records were destroyed in a flood.

      Suppose you’re an indigent guy arrested and charged with a shocking crime. What should the ambitions young public defender tell you – “well, I could make an aggressive defense on your behalf, but you need to understand I have to maintain my political viability in case I run for office later, and the time I spend on this case could be better spent making money and advancing my career. So just cop a plea and I’ll try and get you a reduced sentence.”

      1. Notorious G.K.C.

        And with the records destroyed, how do you know she was lying?

        1. WTF

          And with the records destroyed, how do you know she was lying?

          Her lips were moving?

    6. Idle Hands

      All I got out of that was that I would’ve banged hill dog in 1980.

  17. sarcasmic

    Close encounters of the furred kind! One camper’s incredible encounter with an Alaskan brown bear

    Video shot at the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, known for its large bear population
    Posted to Facebook by Drew Hamilton, a tech worker at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..-bear.html
    I think I would have shit my pants.

  18. sarcasmic

    Man sues hospital after ‘botched’ surgery shortened his penis by an inch – and caused his wife to divorce him

    Unnamed Canadian man was rushed to hospital with a fracture to the area
    Needed surgery to repair the damage but this left his penis shorter
    Was unable to have for two years, leading to marriage breakdown
    Now claiming Can$155,000 ($142,680 / ?84,073) in damages

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/hea…..e-him.html

    1. invisible furry hand

      But on the bright side he can now enter this

      1. Rich

        “We always have a lot of contestants but at the last minute they pull out.”

        Do tell. How, exactly, is this contest judged?

    2. I presume this being Canada, it wasn’t a private-sector hospital?

  19. sarcasmic

    Do you love dogs? Then you’re probably prejudiced: People who prefer canines tend to be more ‘dominant and discriminatory’

    Study found dog lovers score higher for ‘social dominance orientation’
    This personality trait is linked with group-based discrimination
    Research also states dog owners are more dominant than cat lovers
    While women are more likely to prefer felines over canines
    Previous studies suggested dog lovers are more likely to have stronger and more conservative political beliefs

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci…..atory.html

    1. Notorious G.K.C.

      This is nonsense. Everyone knows conservatives own cats, which they stroke while taunting James Bond.

      You would think so-called scientists would know this!

    2. WDATPDIM!?

      Rousseau: Do you like cats?

      Boswell: No.

      Rousseau: I was sure of that. It is my test of character. There you have the despotic instinct of men. They do not like cats because the cat is free, and will never consent to become a slave. He will do nothing to your order, as the other animals do.

  20. sarcasmic

    Man facing $200 fine for flying ‘Betsy Ross’ American flag ? but he insists he just wants to ‘honor our history’

    David Renner was told the only acceptable flag has 50 stars and 13 stripes
    But he believes he has a right to fly the Betsy Ross under a 2005 law
    He plans to consult a lawyer and will continue to fly the flag until resolved

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..story.html

    1. gaijin

      the only acceptable flag has 50 stars and 13 stripes

      So is flying a gadsden flag a capital offense?

    2. [before reading article]

      I don’t see how such a law can pass constitutional muster. It’s gotta be either a homeowners’ association, or a historical district

      [after reading article]

      At least the writers at the Mail had the good sense to mention it was a HOA in the first sentence.

      1. Art Stone

        Is there an official Libertarian position on HOAs?

        On one side, it is voluntary self-regulation – on the other, it is another layer of people with the power to regulate your conduct.

        1. Steve G

          If you live in a neighborhood with a HOA, you live in a neighborhood with no inherent value to begin with. In my experience they are adopted in mediocre ‘hoods to try and keep them from deteriorating to shitty ‘hoods. Occasionally “historic” neighborhoods use them, but they are on a whole other level of stupid.

  21. Slammer

    “Wiiliamsburg gentrification is changing jury pools”-lawyers

    “The jurors are becoming more like Manhattan ? which is not good for defendants,” noted veteran defense lawyer Julie Clark.
    “They are .?.?. much more trusting of police,” Clark said of the jurors. “I’m not sure people from the University of Vermont would believe that a police officer would [plant] a gun.”

    Former Brooklyn prosecutor and defense lawyer John Paul DeVerna said, “The ‘Williamsburg Effect’ affects every case that goes to trial.
    “A contrarian-minded person ? and Billyburg has them in spades ? can cause discord in the jury room. And if the hipster gets along with everyone, that can even be more dangerous because they are confident and educated, which means they have the potential to hijack the jury.”

    1. John

      Fucking dirty hipsters. I didn’t grow up in the hood either. And yet, I understand how the world works. What the hell is their excuse?

    2. Auric Demonocles

      As a UVM alum, I would believe a cop could have planted a gun. Also, UVM is more hippies than hipsters.

      1. Restoras

        I was always under the impression that UVM was jsut drunk all the time…;)

        1. Auric Demonocles

          That was me personally, but I was pretty unusual with not being high.

    3. l0b0t

      I’m a bit skeptical. We have such a large population in Brooklyn (also the jury pool is drawn from the entire borough not just one small neighborhood) that one can only be empaneled once every 8 years. I doubt the small but growing Williamsburg douche community is tainting juries.

      Also, I just read the article (there’s a 1st time for everything) and found this delicious complaint from a trial attorney –
      “We’re dealing with more sophisticated people, and they don’t believe [plaintiffs] should be awarded millions of dollars for nothing.”

    4. Fr?ulein Nikki

      That’s the first actually interesting thing I’ve read about gentrification. Fucking white people.

  22. sarcasmic

    Like mother, like daughter! Outraged mom makes a stand against principal who sent her daughter home over uniform violation – by wearing ‘offending’ dress herself to graduation

    Violet Burkhart was sent home from Central Davidson High School on her last day because administrators thought her dress was too short
    Burkhart says she’d worn the same dress to school several times before and it had never been a problem
    The school’s dress code is vague, defining short as anything ‘shorter than mid-thigh,’ noting that ‘Mid-thigh is a difficult measure’
    To protest the incident, Burkhart’s mother, Amy Redwine, is wearing the same dress to her daughter’s graduation

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..ation.html

    1. robc

      My school had end of fingertip rule. Silly but at least measurable.

      1. Rich

        “I’m shorthanded today.”

      2. Yes. Lots of girls with short arms in my school, too.

    2. Rasilio

      That skirt is not really short at all. That said the redhead is presumably the daughter and looks 30 in those pics

    3. There is no conceivable interpretation of “mid-thing” that isn’t shorter than that skirt.

  23. sarcasmic

    Kim Jong Un-derwater: North Korean dictator heads out to sea to ‘teach navigation methods to captain’

    Kim Jong-un spoke of importance of submarine units during navy visit
    Kim reportedly guided a navy drill and taught navigation methods to captain

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..ptain.html

    1. WTF

      Meh. Let me know when Kim helicopters in to Pakistan and single-handedly kills a master terrorist leader with his bare hands like our Dear Leader did.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    “The Obama administration is contacting hundreds of thousands of people with subsidized health insurance to resolve questions about their eligibility, as consumer advocates express concern that many will be required to repay some or all of the subsidies.”

    Huh.

    1. Bend over to take the Cost Curve …. or something like that.

  25. sarcasmic

    Chelsea Manning breaks her silence in controversial op-ed from prison: Soldier behind Wikileaks claims government hides the truth about wars and has repeatedly lied about Iraq

    Detained US soldier Chelsea Manning warned Americans they were being lied to about Iraq once more in a recent op-ed
    Said ‘the current limits on press freedom and excessive government secrecy make it impossible for Americans to grasp fully what is happening in the wars we finance’
    Manning is serving a 35-year prison sentence on espionage charges and other offenses for passing along 700,000 secret documents, including diplomatic cables and military intelligence files, to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..op-ed.html

    1. Drake

      “Detained US soldier”?

      I believe “Convicted Traitor” is the proper term now.

    2. Notorious G.K.C.

      “claims government hides the truth about wars and has repeatedly lied about Iraq”

      Wow, stop the presses. That’s some fine intelligence gathering right there.

  26. NoVAHockey

    Quarterly estimated tax payments due today. I felt like I just wrote a check to the IRS.

    1. gaijin

      Can’t you claim a computer malfunction?

    2. Drake

      They seem to be losing a lot of information right now. Maybe they’ll forget about you.

    3. Rich

      How about if the government abolished withholding and estimated payments in favor of draconian penalties for not coughing it up on April 15?

      1. Drake

        The old hack (but true) ideas.

        Stop all withholding and pre-payments, and make it all due April 15. Make election day April 16th.

        1. WTF

          Ha, they know damn well if there was no withholding there would be rioting in the streets on tax day. That’s why it will never happen.

  27. Rich

    Motorcyclist Clocked At 150+ MPH On I-75 Speaks Out

    “The thing is when you ride the motorcycle you can’t let the motorcycle get control of you and at that moment the motorcycle took control of me and I just kept going faster and faster.”

    At least *he* doesn’t say “rate of speed”.

    1. robc

      Is that better or worse than people who interchange speed and velocity?

      1. Rich

        Worse.

      2. Restoras

        WDATPDIM?

    2. John

      Ah, no not really. You let your lust for adrenaline get the best of your judgement. I have never done a 150 but I have do over a hundred at least once a year just to feel alive. That said, the motorcycle never seems to care how fast I go. It likes to rev and has its own almost living qualities but it never demands I go faster and faster.

      1. Drake

        My uncle had a 911 SC in the 80’s (the old air-cooled beast). It was kind of demanding and really did not like being driven slow – the steering would twitch and the engine would stutter and jerk until you punched it, then everything would smooth out and start to sing. It was a dangerous and addictive.

        (My uncle ended up clocked at over 150 in it and would never have been caught if he had slowed down a little and not gotten stuck in a ditch.)

        1. John

          Flat sixes like to rev. They don’t really wake up until about 3000 RPMS. The old ones like the one your uncle had were notorious for knocking and generally running like shit at low RPMs. There is a saying “drive it like a Porsche”, that means keep the revs up and drive it hard. The old 911s from the 70s had to be driven that way or they just didn’t work very well. Even the water cooled ones are a different engine and car when you rev them hard. If you just chug around shifting at 2,500 rpms you don’t realize how fast of a car it is. Keep it in a lower gear and the revs up over 4,000 and it is a beast.

        2. Restoras

          But down in his barn
          My uncle preserved for me
          An old machine…

        3. Entropy Void

          Pegged the speedo at 150 on my 911 Targa on the interstate … steering did get a little hinkey at the top end ‘cos all the weight sits on the rear axle …

      2. Warty

        I have an old VF750 Sabre with no fairing, and it will happily do well over 100. The problem is that the wind is fucking unpleasant at that speed. So yeah, it’s worth doing once in a while, but it’s not fun at all.

        1. John

          Exactly. I worry about losing my license in a car not a motorcycle. If you don’t have a fairing, it just sucks much past 80. I love riding but I never got the people who like to go that fast. It just beats you to death.

          1. Warty

            Maybe it’s different on a sportbike. But I don’t think I want to find out.

            1. Warty

              On second thought, here’s his bike. WANT. Kinda.

            2. John

              Those hiyabusas are insane. And for it to be better you have to lay down on the tank and get behind the fairing.

              To me sport bikes have gone past the point of usefulness. Your old Sabra was wickedly fast compared to any car and I am sure was a ton of fun. What extra fun does all of that horsepower and speed get you? My bike goes from zero to sixty in a bit over three seconds and it is considered a dog by sport bike standards. But really, three seconds to sixty is crazy fast by any reasonable standard. What does getting there in two really get you other than possibly killed?

              1. Warty

                My biggest issue with sportbikes is that I don’t fit on them. As Hunter S. Thompson said, they’re for 5’7″ Italian pimps. The Sabre fits me, though, and so do the new generation Honda V-4s. When I have the spare cash, I’d love a new Interceptor.

                But even those aren’t really sportbikes by modern standards. The motorcycle world is funny. My dad has a couple old Triumph Bonnevilles and a 1972 Honda CB750. The Honda was the first “superbike”, with an absurd 80 horsepower. 500cc beginner bikes nowadays are faster. It’s insane.

                1. John

                  I don’t fit them either. I fit my bike. For whatever reason it works for me and for that reason I may never replace it.

                  And I have a real thing for the old Hondas like your dad’s. They have all of the character that the Triumphs have but they are Japanese and thus were not built by English communists like the labor Britain Triumphs were and run great. Don’t let your dad sell those bikes. Those things are only going to get harder to find and more expensive as time goes on. And they will just get cooler with age.

                  The only thing is that if you get used to riding a modern bike with ABS, be careful riding an old one that will lock the real wheel and go down if you hit the foot brake too hard.

                  1. Almanian!

                    You boys just need the right-sized sportbike. I’m 230 – I fit on my ZX14 Ninja just fine. It’s comfy, even.

                    That’s why I bought it – enough power to haul my fat ass around, good handling, comfy. What’s not to like?

                    1. John

                      I have a BMW R1150. I am not sure I would call it a sport bike, but it is a naked roadster so it is not a tourer. It has a very upright riding position. For me that works much better than crouched over on a cafe racer.

    3. The guy across the street from me has a brother who is finally going to graduate from the hospital rehab after hitting an overpass guard rail at 100+ MPH and falling 50 feet. Luckily, he didn’t fall into traffic below*. Dude will walk again, but his left arm apparently doesn’t bend at the elbow much anymore.

      *For a surreal experience, ask a guy, “How’s your brother doing?” because the brother lived with him for a while and you haven’t seen the guy in months, then have a 10 minute conversation where you pretend that you really were asking how his brother’s recovery was going.

  28. Tales of the 1%

    Report: Chelsea Clinton Paid $600,000 Per Year At NBC

    1. How much were the Bush children paid?

    2. WDATPDIM!?

      Under capitalism, the rich become powerful. Under communism, the powerful become rich.

    3. Competence and experience are so overrated.

      1. invisible furry hand

        She had the competence to be born to the right parents. And 30 years with Bubba and Hill-dog must teach you something

        1. WTF

          30 years with Bubba and Hill-dog must teach you something

          But I doubt that it’s anything good.

          1. Not, apparently, how to host a TV show.

  29. Slammer

    Medtronic to join fleet of US companies jumping ship for Europe

    “These transactions are about tax avoidance, plain and simple,” Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the lead sponsor of a bill that would close the aversion loophole, said last month. “The Treasury is bleeding red ink, and we can’t wait for comprehensive tax reform to stop the bleeding.”

    1. How dare they think the money they’ve earned is theirs!

    2. Jordan

      Maybe start by repealing the shittastic Unaffordable Care Act’s medical device tax?

    3. NoVAHockey

      yeah, well, maybe Sen. Levin should have paid attention when [some other industry lobbyist] was making the rounds on this issue.

    4. Fluffy

      The funny thing is that if you made the tax rate on overseas earnings 0%, all US overseas corporate earnings would be repatriated. That way at least you’d get the balance of trade benefit and the local reinvestment benefit.

      But because the Congress is bound and determined to impose the domestic tax regime on all overseas operations, they’ll get…nothing.

      Enjoy your nothing, Congress!

      1. Christophe

        It’s probably better that way. I shudder to think what they’d do with more money.

  30. The Late P Brooks

    The Bloombergers were all over that Medtronic story this morning.

    TAX DODGERS!

  31. JD

    For whomever at Reason collecting these:

    http://www.thegailygrind.com/2…..sive-force

  32. Slammer

    8 foot tapeworm removed from woman’s body

    1. They should have put the tapeworm on a hook naxt to a normal-sized doctor to prove that it is in fact eight feet long.

    2. Teenage Girl

      Eewww!!

    3. invisible furry hand

      I’d be more impressed by an eight-footed tapeworm

      1. They don’t have those in Australia?

        1. invisible furry hand

          Not yet discovered, but it will be.

          You might enjoy this

  33. John

    http://thehill.com/homenews/ad…..washington

    Obama is done with Washington. Then why don’t he fucking resign? As bad as having a bad President is, having no President and the executive branch running on auto pilot is worse. He still has nearly three years left in office and he seems to be quitting. What is he going to do if the Democrats get killed in November? What happens if there is another big terrorist attack or some kind of US hostage crisis again? He just doesn’t give a fuck about even trying to do his job. It is funny to think that “at least he won’t do any damage”, but that is not entirely true. Having no one running the executive or foreign policy and the President just meandering around playing golf and shooting his mouth off is a real problem for the country. It wouldn’t matter so much if we were not a world power or didn’t have a giant government. But we do and it does.

    1. Warty

      “I think he has always liked getting outside the bubble,”

      HA!

    2. Spoonman.

      I don’t think anybody’s actually been President since Truman.

      1. mr simple

        Don’t you talk about Ike like that!

    3. Fluffy

      I know that progressives generally always lie about the motives of their opponents – but sometimes they also mistake them, because they’re just so incredibly stupid.

      Reading the Obama quote in that article about the NRA makes it plain to me that part of Obama’s problem is that he’s just too stupid and obtuse to correctly read his opponents.

      He still thinks the reason he can’t get his way on gun control is “the NRA”. The thought that the only reason the NRA is important is because tens of millions of Americans don’t care what Obama thinks about guns literally can’t occur to him.

      You saw this when Obamacare rolled out, too. I remember watching him on TV complaining that he couldn’t understand “why people were so angry that people might get health care.” I thought at the time it was just a frame, but now I see that he literally thinks that’s what motivates his opposition. The thought that people might not like getting fucked over in order to pay for other people’s health care is an impossible thought to him. The space in his brain where that thought might reside is empty.

      And because it’s empty, he feels only frustration. He is the political equivalent of Elliott Rodger.

      1. Fluffy

        That’s it, that’s totally it. He’s President Elliott Rodger.

        “How can those members of Congress keep getting with those thugs from the NRA, instead of me, the perfect gentleman?”

      2. John

        That is exactly Obama’s problem. He is stupid and completely lacks imagination and thus is unable to understand his opponents. You don’t have to agree with your opponents but to be President you have to understand the country and understand the other side’s interests and motivation. Obama can’t do that. That more than anything is why he is such an awful President. He just can’t fathom that people could support the NRA for rational reasons.

        It goes back to his infamous “bitter clinger” line. That line wasn’t just insulting. It was profoundly untrue. But Obama didn’t mean it as an insult. He thought he was making some kind of profound observation. He doesn’t understand that people have valid reasons to think the way they do. He just thinks they have some kind or irrational false consciousness.

        1. Warty

          I’ve been listening to the Hitch-22 audiobook. At some point in it, he mentions that some time in the 80s, the polemicists of the Left began doing this thing where, once they’d identified their opponent’s worst possible motivation, they were convinced they’d found the true one. He laments that that later became the dominant style of political writers of all ideologies. And now apparently it’s the style of presidents.

          I think it’s a direct result of the sad decline of rhetoric. Do you think Obama in school ever had to argue for a position and then reverse himself and argue against it? No fucking way.

          1. John

            That is a good point. I think what happened was that as time went on it became more and more obvious how wrong the left was. They couldn’t win arguments rationally anymore, not after Stalin and the Killing Fields. Indeed, a lot of people like Hitchens who started out as hard Leftists got disillusioned and left. The ones who staid were increasingly personally invested into the ideology. They couldn’t admit they were wrong but couldn’t win the argument either. So they abandoned reason and started doing what you describe.

    4. VG Zaytsev

      It’s not his fault.

      Those damned DC pols just won’t STFU and do what he wants. It’s almost like they think they were elected too, or something.

  34. WDATPDIM!?

    The situation in Iraq keeps deteriorating.

    Russian tanks have entered Ukraine.

    Woohoo. Just in time for the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke You-Know-Who.

    1. You Know Who Else

      Chocula?

    2. invisible furry hand

      Ellington?

    3. Almanian!

      Pants Fan?

      1. Curse you!

    4. Christophe

      I call myself a pessimist, but fuck I hope you’re wrong about what you’re insinuating.

    5. Pantsfan?

    6. trshmnster the terrible

      Fran Drescher?

  35. Rich

    Gun control groups march across Brooklyn Bridge to demand action

    “Not one more person needs to die from senseless gun violence.”

    Exactly. If these folks get their way, people will die only from *common-sense* gun violence.

    1. Pushing them off the bridge would be action.

      (Not that I’m advocating it.)

    2. Rasilio

      Which kind, double or single?

  36. The Late P Brooks

    The funny thing is that if you made the tax rate on overseas earnings 0%, all US overseas corporate earnings would be repatriated.

    You mean, let those kkkorporations get away with only paying tax on their earnings ONCE? At a rate decided by a bunch of smelly foreigners?
    That’s crazy.

  37. Notorious G.K.C.

    Profile of the new Poet Laureate

    http://www.theamericanconserva…..-laureate/

    (Best line I found – “”This is an old man’s poetry, written by someone who’s spent his life / Looking for one truth. / Sorry, pal, there isn’t one.”)

    With all respect to someone who seems like a nice guy, I wonder when the person who puts dirty limericks on the bathroom stalls will get to be Poet Laureate?

    1. Bam!

      I’d say around the time H&R Block offers a gentleman’s rebate.

  38. 110 Lean

    For Sugarfree:

    ‘Bionic’ pancreas nears reality

    1. SugarFree

      As long as it makes the “nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh” noise when I jump over a fence…

      1. WTF

        Only if you do it in slow motion.

      2. db

        Not for.fence jumping, but it makes the noise.when.you.eat a glazed donut.

    2. Auric Demonocles

      We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic sex pervert. SugarFree will be that man. Better than he was before. Better…stronger…less scared of candy.

      1. invisible furry hand

        And he will be called… Jaimie Sommers

  39. Holy shit, they be workin’ me like rented mule this month. I’ll be doing drive-bys, but I think playing in the reason comments is over until at least after 4th of July. Y’all try not to disgust Postrel or scare away the female “libertarians” (TANFLs) while I’m gone.

    1. Auric Demonocles

      We’ve been trying to scare away nicole, but she’s like that cat from that song.

      1. SugarFree

        This song?

        1. Auric Demonocles

          Sure, why not.

    2. invisible furry hand

      Thank Christ I can take the peg off my nose for a few weeks

  40. Libertarian

    Say what you will, Cheney NAILED it.

    Once you got to Iraq and took it over, took down Saddam Hussein’s government, then what are you going to put in its place? That’s a very volatile part of the world, and if you take down the central government of Iraq, you could very easily end up seeing pieces of Iraq fly off: part of it, the Syrians would like to have to the west, part of it???eastern Iraq???the Iranians would like to claim, they fought over it for eight years. In the north you’ve got the Kurds, and if the Kurds spin loose and join with the Kurds in Turkey, then you threaten the territorial integrity of Turkey.

    http://www.lewrockwell.com/201…..g-of-iraq/

    1. Restoras

      It’s interesting how the repurcussions of WWI continue to echo in eternity.

  41. robc

    Starbucks offering college tuition to employees who work 20+ hrs/week for 2 years.

    It would be hilarious if it was for STEM only.

  42. Warty

    Judge rules FBI fitness test biased against men

    But the Mount Prospect man failed a final fitness exam at the FBI Academy, completing 29 of the required 30 untimed pushups. Female trainees are required to do at least 14 untimed pushups, according to the lawsuit.

    30 pushups? 30 untimed pushups? He’s right to sue. If you can’t do 30 pushups without any time limit, you’re a woman, and therefore you should only have to do 14.

    1. robc

      1 per day for 30 days qualifies, right?

      1. mr simple

        It is untimed, so I think he could push that argument.

    2. Auric Demonocles

      I agree that he’s a wuss, but there is also some bullshit in the differing standards. If 14 pushups is sufficient to do the job, then it should be sufficient.

      1. lap83

        I agree. Besides, it’s unlikely that any woman who trained to do 30 pushups would be able to maintain that if the job doesn’t require it constantly. Women lose strength at an insane rate after ceasing workouts because of the lack of testosterone.

    3. John

      Forget 30, how can they let women only do 14. I mean 14? That is terrible even for a woman.

    4. db

      Thirty? I’m woefully out.of shape.and I guarantee you I could do.30 pushups.

    5. NoVAHockey

      I wonder how many pull-ups he can’t do.

      1. WTF

        All of them.

  43. SugarFree

    “And Now Bill & Hillary Clinton’s Entire Marriage Summed Up In One Photograph”

    You guys need to keep this one handy for the primaries…

    1. John

      Did you see the Secret Service Agent tell all saying what a nasty bitch she was? I think how you treat those who guard you is a real indication of character. Even Bill was decent enough to be nice them. But not Hillary.

      To me the worst thing about that book is not Hillary, I already knew she was queen bitch of the universe. It is that the White House staff are apparently even worse. They are basically entitled rich douche bags who feel it is okay to kick around the Secret Service. What fucking scumbags.

      1. Drake

        It is a leading indicator of good versus bad military officers. The assholes who never learn your name, treat you like some kind of retarded slave, and generally think of enlisted people as morons put on Earth to serve them – they are too be avoided.

        They are also the type who get sabotaged – usually through inaction. Enlisted people don’t warn them when he’s about to drive his vehicle off a cliff, when the General is on the way over, or where the live mine field is. Mr. fucking omniscient will find out himself.

        I wonder how many of the Clinton / Obama fuck-ups started this way? Some beaten-down junior staffer or analyst holding key info, and just shrugging and saying “fuck them”.

        1. Yup. I always made a lot more friends in other countries armies with NCOs and EMs rather than officers.

  44. Auric Demonocles

    This alt-text put up a better fight than the Heat did.

  45. SugarFree

    Gawkerites begin to cannibalize themselves to defend Di Commio on pot arrests.

    AwesomeSaucedUAndy Cush
    Friday 5:54pm

    from my experience, it’s a disproportional amount of minorities smoking pot in public. It’s rare that I’ll see a group of white people smoking in public, but I see (or smell) people of color smoking a couple times a week. Go ahead, call my racist, but those are my observations and they’ve been pretty consistent over my past ten years in NYC living and working in four boroughs.

    Stop hitting yourself, black people, stop hitting yourself.

    1. Warty

      areyouseriousUAndy Cush
      Friday 3:22pm
      jShare to Facebook
      iShare to Twitter
      rGo to permalink
      Mayor Decides to Enforce Laws

      Are these people self-parody or beyond parody?

      1. SugarFree

        The forgot that they were just supposed to drink the Kool-Aid, not fill up a kiddie pool and wallow around in the muck.

  46. Anyone else see How to Train Your Dragon 2? I was surprised at all the libertarian themes in it.

    1. trshmnster the terrible

      Nope, but it’s on my list (i’ll watch it once it’s out on PPV). I enjoyed the first one, which I accidentally stole from Fry’s.

    2. Yes, and I wasn’t thinking that much about it, but I did sense some.

      1. 1. “Even good dragons in the control of bad people can do bad things”
        2. “Why do you need a dragon army to help people? … I think you really just want to control them”
        3. “I know where to find dragons that don’t listen to anybody”
        4. Literal big government leviathans.
        5. Act 2 is basically “The Road to Serfdom” for kids
        6. The entire theme of the movie is that a society based on mutually benefical trade of services is better than one based on central domination and control.

        1. Oh, I’m not disagreeing with you, Stormy. I just wasn’t thinking too much about it. However, with regards to your #6, I do remember thinking that Hiccup should have used the word “mutual” at some point.

          Shit, I guess I was thinking about it some. But, I agree with your observations.

    3. Rasilio

      Isn’t it funny how many libertarian messages have been popping up in pop culture in general. Even by those who are decidedly anti free market?

      Harry Potter could be read as one long message to distrust authority and government.

      Captain America The Winter Solder

      The Lego Movie

      Firefly/Serenity

      Hunger Games

      and dozens of others. It is almost like there is a hidden cabal of libertarians somewhere in Hollywood/the publishing industry subliminally planting libertarian messages for people to find

      1. I noticed that in Capt. America too. My explanation is, with the rise of the Tea Party and gun culture, the winds of public opinion have changed, and Hollywood is just giving the audience what they want.

  47. Art Stone

    George Bush is the one on the left in the picture.

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