A.M. Links: Germany Getting Closer to China as U.S. Hopes They Can Work Things Out, Bomb Blast Kills at Least 16 in Kabul, Israel Conducts Air Strikes in Gaza

Ed Krayewski | 7.8.2014 9:00 AM

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Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, visited Beijing, where she and China's president, Xi Jinping, pledged to increase strategic cooperation between the two countries. The White House, meanwhile, says it hopes the U.S. and Germany can maintain a friendly relationship despite growing outrage over U.S. spying in Germany.
The losing presidential candidate in Afghanistan is disputing the results and may form a parallel government in Kabul. A bomb killed at least 16 people outside of the capital, including 4 NATO troops, as Secretary of State John Kerry warned against any attempt to take power by "extra legal means."
Israel has launched an aerial offensive in Gaza after militants in the Palestinian territory fired at least 80 rockets into Israel yesterday.
The real Internal Revenue Service scandal is that it hasn't been funded enough, because of Republicans, according to The New York Times, a "newspaper of record."
Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel, who unsuccessfully challenged six-term incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran in the Republican primary held last month, is alleging voter fraud. Mississippi has a voter ID law but McDaniel's lawyer says the real voter fraud happens in absentee ballots.
A math professor used the Amazon Kindle "Popular Highlights" feature to measure which bestseller is likely the least read. Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century came in first.

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Fist of Etiquette 11 years ago

The White House, meanwhile, says it hopes the U.S. and Germany can maintain a friendly relationship despite growing outrage over U.S. spying in Germany.

While secretly stealing her Enigma.
1. gaijin 11 years ago
  
  her Enigma.
  
  I heard it was wrapped in a shroud.
  1. Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago
    
    Inside a riddle?
    1. WDATPDIM!? 11 years ago
      
      Or a girdle. One or the other.
    2. Fist of Etiquette 11 years ago
      
      Smothered in secret sauce.
2. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
  
  Hello.
  
  Those uppity Germans. Don't they know they haven't repented enough for the Nazi's?
  
  Seriously, Obama can't even manage alliances with reliable allies.
  1. KDN 11 years ago
    
    But Boooosh alienated France! And the French President was right wing! That's way worse!
  2. Ted S. 11 years ago
    
    They haven't repented enough for the Nazi's what? And which Nazi's what?
    1. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
      
      A German professor told our class once that "Germany was politically timid in the post-war probably driven by guilt for the Nazis."
      
      And I asked how long before they move on and permit their clout to take hold?
      
      He only smirked.
      1. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
        
        Smirked as in, he didn't know and moved on.
      2. Injun, as in from India 11 years ago
        
        Same timidness thing holds true for Japan, but with the rise of China, they're changing course. Maybe Germany will do the same thing when Russia gets stronger.
        
        Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
        
        I think they've already signaled they're coming out to the party.
        
        They no longer will stand in the shadows of France.
        
        Frankly, I don't blame them.
        
        Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
        
        In the political sphere, France acted like a scorned woman towards Germany demanding it make amends for treating her so poorly. Germany, feeling guilt for having scorned her, only obliged.
        
        But I've detected they've become more vocal in recent years not necessarily waiting for France and the EU even though they continue to show commitment to the latter.
        
        Restoras 11 years ago
        
        That 'commitment to the latter' is driven by the false belief that a 'unified' Europe won't go back to doing what it has done best over the past 1,000 years.
        
        Dweebston 11 years ago
        
        New and innovative methods for expropriating property and murdering people in the name of some socialist prophet or another?
        
        MJGreen 11 years ago
        
        I'd think the commitment is driven by the reasonable belief that control of the EU is functionally similar to conquest.
        
        Eggs Benedict Cumberbund 11 years ago
        
        There are only three types of countries in this world: Dicks, Pussies, and Assholes.
        
        Bill Dalasio 11 years ago
        
        I'd say it goes further than that. At core, the French never really much liked the idea of a Germany's existence. And, in a way, it's understandable. A united Germany is sort of the 2-ton elephant in the middle of Europe. Its very existence poses a major challenge to France's role as the leading state of continental Europe.
        
        Raven Nation 11 years ago
        
        Same timidness thing holds true for Japan
        
        True, although that seems to be changing too:
        
        http://www.theaustralian.com.a.....6979512785
        
        (autoplay video but SFW)
      3. waffles 11 years ago
        
        Look, everyone wants to be more like Germany, but do we really have the pure strength of will?
      4. creech 11 years ago
        
        Maybe politically timid but secretly?
        I remember a Army Captain, teaching our military history class in 1964, that he had worked with the German army in his last assignment and that they were every bit as good as any frontline Wehrmacht troops from WWII. You don't want to know what he said about the French.
        
        Swiss Servator, Alles Klar 11 years ago
        
        The Bundeswehr has declined since the Wall came down - they had a lot less of a work ethic, so to speak, when I worked with some of them in 2005...
        
        The Last American Hero 11 years ago
        
        Having a large communist army surrounding your country does tend to promote good military discipline.
Fist of Etiquette 11 years ago

The real Internal Revenue Service scandal is that it hasn't been funded enough...

I'm pretty sure that was the problem with the Bay of Pigs, too.
1. WDATPDIM!? 11 years ago
  
  Double our budget, and we'll be ten times crappier!
  1. Certified Public Asskicker 11 years ago
    
    It has doubled. Double again?
2. Injun, as in from India 11 years ago
  
  Of course, if has not been funded. Imagine all the teathuglicans that have not been harassed because of the "lower" level of funding.
3. Mike Laursen 11 years ago
  
  I really shouldn't offer up this advice on properly incentivizing employees, but the thing to do would be to offer collectors a cut of taxes collected.
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

The god that sucked: How the Tea Party right just makes the 1 percent richer

Free to choose is a painfully ironic slogan for the market order. While markets do indeed sometimes provide a great array of consumer choices, the clear intention of much of the recent chatter about technology, "globalization" and the "New Economy" is, in fact, to deny us any choice at all. Moving from rhetoric to the world of financial politics the same logic holds true: Markets show a clear preference for the shutting down of intellectual dissent and political choice. Markets romp joyfully when word arrives that the vote-counting has been halted. Markets punish the bond prices of countries where substantial left parties still flourish. Markets reward those lands ? like Bill Clinton's USA ? where left parties have been triangulated into impotence. So predictably do markets celebrate the suppression of political difference that Thomas Friedman, the highly respected New York Times columnist, has actually come up with a term for the trade-off: "the golden straitjacket."

plenty more derp in the Salon link.
1. Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago
  
  Markets show a clear preference for the shutting down of intellectual dissent and political choice
  
  Which is why all points of view can be expressed freely at public universities.
  1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
    
    And at the IRS.
  2. Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago
    
    Student Accuses High School Of Blocking Conservative Websites
    
    WATCH WHAT YOU SAY, THE NEW LIBERAL POWER ELITE WON'T TOLERATE DISSENT
    1. carol 11 years ago
      
      You can't expose kids to opposing viewpoints. Next thing you know they'll start thinking and stuff.
    2. fish 11 years ago
      
      ".....noted reason.com commenter T o n y approves"!
      1. Clich? Bandit 11 years ago
        
        Noted?
        Dagny gets "Beloved", Warty gets "Litigant", and you give Tony NOTED?!
        
        SugarFree 11 years ago
        
        I got "frequent."
        
        Warty 11 years ago
        
        Your commenting is precisely like your urination.
  3. Jerryskids 11 years ago
    
    Markets show a clear preference for the shutting down of intellectual dissent and political choice.
    
    So markets prefer that there be no market for political choice? Does that not sound just a little bit illogical? Like maybe some people don't understand what a market is?
    
    Markets in an economic sense prefer stability, the less uncertainty of future risks in current investments the better. Who the hell is going to make long-term investments if you've got a large portion of the electorate championing drastic changes in the laws governing long-term investments? If you want corporations and stock markets to keep focusing on short-term goals, just keep making it impossible for them to rely on long-term projections. If you want them to think long-term, to make riskier investments, to innovate, you have to give them some assurance that the rules today will stay in place longer than until the next election.
    
    In other words, there's a trade-off between free-wheeling political markets and free-wheeling economic markets. And the whole idea of "trade-offs" is anathema to the Left, they insist on having it all. They want to regulate the hell out of everybody in the name of making them free and don't see any problem with the logic.
    1. MJGreen 11 years ago
      
      Why do these markets keep freaking out when we try to elect people to raise corporate taxes and regulate international trade?? What are they so afraid of!?
2. Matrix 11 years ago
  
  So, markets don't like anti-market political climates? WHODATHUNKIT?!
3. KDN 11 years ago
  
  Thomas Friedman, the highly respected New York Times columnist
  
  Wait, seriously? On what planet does this guy live?
4. Suthenboy 11 years ago
  
  "Markets punish the bond prices of countries where substantial left parties still flourish. Markets reward those lands ? like Bill Clinton's USA ? where left parties have been triangulated into impotence."
  
  I wonder why that is.
5. 110 Lean 11 years ago
  
  Obligatory
6. MJGreen 11 years ago
  
  Markets show a clear preference for the shutting down of intellectual dissent and political choice.
  
  Oh man, that's beautiful.
Fist of Etiquette 11 years ago

Mississippi has a voter ID law but McDaniel's lawyer says the real voter fraud happens in absentee ballots.

I shudder to think how many ways this will be tied to race.
1. Jerryskids 11 years ago
  
  Them damn dirty Absenters, why don't they go back to Absentia where they belong? Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are Absent, but a lot of them don't make any effort to fit into American society and expect us to respect their Absentee culture.
  1. Swiss Servator, Alles Klar 11 years ago
    
    Yeah, I had an Absentee landlord once - jerk was never around to fix the plumbing problems!
invisible furry hand 11 years ago

Three cleared of murder of vampire gigolo
1. Rich 11 years ago
  
  vampire gigolo
  
  Nice band name.
2. Ted S. 11 years ago
  
  I'm a vampire gigolo,
  And everywhere I go,
  People know the part I'm playing
  1. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
    
    Biting your nails yet?
    
    From ESPN yesterday:
    
    "Forza Deutschland!
    
    In case you haven't noticed, Germany have become the new Italy -- right before your narcoleptic eyes. Like the Azzurri did so brilliantly en route to winning five World Cups, Joachim Low's boys have mastered the art of sucking the air out of a game once they've taken the lead. It may be mind-numbingly tedious to watch, but it's ruthlessly effective, as France found out Friday."
    
    Could you believe that ESPN could make such an unprofessional mistake? It's not five; it's four they have. It's mind-boggling how factual mistakes I see them make. Don't they have fact checkers?
    1. Slammer 11 years ago
      
      I've stopped watching ESPN by 95%, and completely avoid the website. Best boycott of the last year for me.
      1. Ted S. 11 years ago
        
        I don't visit the website, and only watch the TV channels when there's a sporting event on I want to watch.
    2. Restoras 11 years ago
      
      Joachim Low's boys have mastered the art of sucking the air out of a game once they've taken the lead. It may be mind-numbingly tedious to watch, but it's ruthlessly effective
      
      They stole that from Jacques Lemaire and the NJ Devils.
      1. Ted S. 11 years ago
        
        And the league put in the trapezoid deliberately to fuck the Devils.
        
        creech 11 years ago
        
        Fucker Scott Stephens ruined the Flyer's Eric Lindros with a shoulder under the jaw. Stephens would have been awesome in a Flyers jersey!
      2. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
        
        Lemaire is pure genius.
        
        He's the only guy that can leave for 10 years, come back and win.
        
        Ted S. 11 years ago
        
        I miss Pat Burns. 🙁
      3. KDN 11 years ago
        
        I love that Bowman ran the same system in Montreal and Detroit and Jacques gets all the shit for it.
        
        Note: the advent and spread of the butterfly curbed scoring far more than the NZT ever could.
        
        The Last American Hero 11 years ago
        
        Left wing lock =/= neutral zone trap. Of course, they should have gone to Olympic sized rinks imho.
        
        KDN 11 years ago
        
        I'm cribbing that from Jacques himself who stated on the eve of the '95 Finals when, asked where he came up with his mystical system, stated that he learned it from Bowman in Montreal and that it's the same thing they're doing now.
        
        I've always found the whole idea silly that a system does that much for you; hockey's a very fluid game and tactics are constantly shifted to match the situation (i.e. the trap-happy devils would shift to a RW-lock to push Stevens into Jagr's side of the ice). It's like arguing over the formation in soccer: communication, coverage, and spacing is far more important than shape.
        
        I've also never been bothered by the shift to defense because I was too young for the go-go 80's, generally prefer defensive struggles regardless of sport, and understand that the much missed offensive era is the real historic abnormality. For some reason there was huge dearth of defense and goaltending talent produced in the postwar era, and that situation began to rectify itself with the mid-80's drafts. Once those players hit their prime, things naturally shifted.
    3. Ted S. 11 years ago
      
      Biting your nails yet?
      
      They've been ground to a nub since Friday.
      
      And Germany really sucked the air out of the game against Portugal.
      1. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
        
        I just hope the officiating is fair and we have a good game.
        
        invisible furry hand 11 years ago
        
        I just hope there's a bit of biff
        
        Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
        
        That too.
        
        I was telling my friend in Holland it would be great to see an international incident. The pressure on Brazil is massively insane so they can snap at any time and the Germans will be all no fun and games.
    4. Rhywun 11 years ago
      
      the art of sucking the air out of a game
      
      The friendlies leading up to the WC were more exciting than any of the knockout matches.
    5. Emmerson Biggins 11 years ago
      
      Godammit ESPN. Speak fuckin english. Germany has become the new Italy.
WDATPDIM!? 11 years ago

A math professor used the Amazon Kindle "Popular Highlights" feature to measure which bestseller is likely the least read. Thomas Pynchon's Capital in the 21st Century came in first.

I couldn't get past the first five pages of Capital's Rainbow.
1. EDG reppin' LBC 11 years ago
  
  Pynchon is a fucking genius.
  1. Slammer 11 years ago
    
    Greatest living American writer.
2. gaijin 11 years ago
  
  Clearly this so called 'math professor' did not graduate from one of the 'right' schools. If he had, his math would have surely shown the opposite results.
3. Restoras 11 years ago
  
  That book was bought by our intelligentsia and ruling class to sit and look pretty on their bookshelves, so when people come over for cocktail parteez everyone will know they are one of them.
  
  It literally is just signalling.
  1. UnCivilServant 11 years ago
    
    Unless you go around showing people the contents of your kindle, there's no signaling for eBooks. They can't casually observe the fact that you own it. So really, it's just stupid.
    1. irishbulldog 11 years ago
      
      I enjoyed your book.
  2. Ken Shultz 11 years ago
    
    Once you understand it, there's no need to read it.
4. SugarFree 11 years ago
  
  The main character gets an erection every time workers seize the means of production.
  1. WDATPDIM!? 11 years ago
    
    "Hey, Honey, wanna seize my means of production?"
    1. Rich 11 years ago
      
      "Hey, Honey, how about some Quantitative Easing?"
      1. DontShootMe 11 years ago
        
        And this is why there are no libertarian women
5. Apple 11 years ago
  
  Pynchon, Piketty, what difference does it make if no one's read the book?
Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago

Take a Shower With the Golden Girls
1. invisible furry hand 11 years ago
  
  There's an Australian company with the glorious name of Golden Shower Development (Ptc) Ltd
  
  Jes' sayin'
2. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  Now basic hygiene is going to turn a generation gay?
  1. Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago
    
    Hygiene is gay.
    1. gaijin 11 years ago
      
      There's a gene for that?
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

The wasps of your nightmares: They're giant, have an intensely painful sting and build nests with ants corpses

Spider wasps are known (and feared) for having an intensely painful sting. Now there's a new reason for revulsion: They build nests with the corpses of dead ants. The newfound species of spider wasp has been given an appropriately hardcore name: Deuteragenia ossarium, or "bone-house wasps," after graveyard bone houses and ossuaries.

Ecologist Michael Staab and colleagues based in China and Germany came across bone-house wasps in southeast China's Gutianshan National Nature reserve when they were collecting nest samples for a different project, and they describe them in a PLOS ONE paper published last week.

I fear nothing with my army of trained monkeys wielding flamethrowers.
1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  I'm pretty comfortable with my position in the wasps v. rocks debate.
2. Florida Man 11 years ago
  
  I fear nothing with my army of trained monkeys wielding flamethrowers.
  
  I'm mostly afraid of your gay boy berserkers, mostly.
  1. Lord Humungus 11 years ago
    
    They're a friendly bunch, once you get to know them.
3. Ted S. 11 years ago
  
  Please tell me they're Australian.
  1. UnCivilServant 11 years ago
    
    Southeast china - which means they'll be hitching a ride in the next shipment of cheap plastic crap and iPhones (but that's redundant) headed for the US.
4. Notorious G.K.C. 11 years ago
  
  [to the tune of the Pink Panther theme]
  
  Dead ant, dead ant
  Dead ant, dead ant dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant!
  da da da da da da
5. Bill Dalasio 11 years ago
  
  And they wear really stupid looking outfits during the summer while lounging at their country clubs.
invisible furry hand 11 years ago

Since we're too fat and lazy to mow the lawn, the taxpayer should do it
1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  Why are you denying people access to lawncare?!?
2. Matrix 11 years ago
  
  Well, at least they saw through his bullshit.
  
  But there may come a day when it will be a civil service job to mow everyone's lawn.
  1. Restoras 11 years ago
    
    full employment!
  2. gaijin 11 years ago
    
    mow everyone's lawn
    
    if you know what I mean, winkwink
  3. Seamus 11 years ago
    
    Well, you'll be allowed to mow your own lawn if you really want, but once we get Harris v. Quinn reversed you'll have to pay dues to SEIU to do so.
3. Ted S. 11 years ago
  
  Wait until these people come up against the enviros who claim lawns are anti-environment.
Fist of Etiquette 11 years ago

Germany's president, Angela Merkel, visited Beijing, where she and China's president, Xi Jinping, pledged to increase strategic cooperation between the two countries.

Just wait until the China-men bomb Pearl Harbor again.
1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  Dude, it was the Germans. Duh.
Rich 11 years ago

"The relationship that the US has with Germany is incredibly important," Earnest said.

You know who else had an incredibly important relationship with Germany?
1. Restoras 11 years ago
  
  Italy?
  1. Rich 11 years ago
    
    Well, I *was* thinking "David Hasselhoff", but suppose that works, too.
2. An Innocent Man 11 years ago
  
  Joe Kennedy?
3. Free Society 11 years ago
  
  Finland?
4. UnCivilServant 11 years ago
  
  The Teutonic Knights?
5. Swiss Servator, Alles Klar 11 years ago
  
  The Holy Roman Emperor?
6. Emmerson Biggins 11 years ago
  
  Hasslehoff, right?
7. Pathogen 11 years ago
  
  Austria...
8. The Last American Hero 11 years ago
  
  Soros?
Ranter 11 years ago

Boy, I'm sure glad we elected the guy who was going to heal the world and unite the US with all the other countries...
1. gaijin 11 years ago
  
  It's opposite decade....whatever he says, it's the opposite.
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

Top-notch Japanese grapes fetch a record $5,400

A wedding hall operator bought the Ruby Roman grapes at auction for a whopping ?550,000 ($5,400) on Saturday, the first day of the buying season in the prefecture, local media said.

The bunch of around 30 grapes weighed some 800 grams (28 ounces), and individual grapes can reach 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) in diameter, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The top-notch grapes ? costing around $180 a pop ? will be served at the wedding hall in the city of Kanazawa in Ishikawa.
1. Restoras 11 years ago
  
  Are they cubes or soemthing?
2. Florida Man 11 years ago
  
  That is a thing in Japan. People give perfect fruit as gifts and the prices can be crazy.
Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago

Scientists and Studies predict 'imminent global COOLING' ahead ? Drop in global temps 'almost a slam dunk'
Growing number of scientists are predicting global cooling: Russia's Pulkovo Observatory: 'We could be in for a cooling period that lasts 200-250 years'
1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  Russian wants a cold long Winter? Are they expecting an invasion?
  1. UnCivilServant 11 years ago
    
    Marshal Mud is getting tired, so he wants to hand the reigns over to General Winter for a while.
  2. Zeb 11 years ago
    
    It is a sad comment on the state of things that one would assume that because scientists predict something, it is something they (or their patrons) want to have happen. (not that I think your comment was terribly serious).
2. Brian D 11 years ago
  
  Winter is coming?
  1. WTF 11 years ago
    
    Eventually, the Starks are always right.
  2. Clich? Bandit 11 years ago
    
    In all seriousness, global cooling is a MUCH worse proposition that ANY CAGW premise. We have had significantly higher temps, even in the recent past, than today and always with better human thriving. Cooling? Not so much. Valley Forge and the whole Revolutionary War period, Rome's end times were distinctly cooler, and fuck all if you are from the Clovis population.
    1. MJGreen 11 years ago
      
      Yeah, this alarms me more than global warming. A warmer climate is generally better for humanity. While I think we're now advanced enough to adjust to a cooler climate, it will likely mean a lower standard of living than otherwise. Less arable land is never very good.
Slammer 11 years ago

New York City at it's best:

Just outside the front door of our store, a bird has strangled itself to death on a wire, I believe in building a nest. Or someone hung it there (doubtful). So the carcass is hanging there in public view, and customers are complaining. 311 (city info) is called and the response was this: "Someone will be sent to investigate who owns the pole. If the city owns the pole, the carcass will be removed within 12 WEEKS. If it's a privately contracted pole, the owner must be notified and THEY have 12 WEEKS to remove it."

Anyone want to guess what will happen to a small bird corpse in 12 weeks in July and August?

So Animal care and Control is called. The response is: "You can remove the bird yourself, then wrap it in a plastic bag, tape it shut, and mark it Animal Carcass, and THROW IT IN THE GUTTER, where it will be removed at some point by Animal Care and Control."

I guess the best option is climbing a ladder, falling off, and suing the shit out of the city.
1. Drake 11 years ago
  
  The best option is owning your own property far away from NYC.
2. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  People can't remove birds without the proper training and (more importantly) certification.
3. SugarFree 11 years ago
  
  Pi?ata. First person to knock down the bird gets a 10% coupon.
4. UnCivilServant 11 years ago
  
  Why would anyone call the city and not just trash it themselves?
  1. Slammer 11 years ago
    
    I'll bet climbing up and removing it is a violation of some type, maybe a felony.
5. Fr?ulein Nikki 11 years ago
  
  THROW IT IN THE GUTTER
  
  And people wonder why Chicago is so much cleaner.
  1. Clich? Bandit 11 years ago
    
    I have had many co-workers from New York. They all said the same thing when they came to Denver. "Damn, you could eat off these streets!"
  2. Invisible Finger 11 years ago
    
    Yeah, the human corpses in the gutter around here usually get picked up in 48 hours.
Certified Public Asskicker 11 years ago

Would you eat at an Indian restaurant, on the site of an old porn theater?

I would need the entire place leveled before I would go in.

Or the food would have to be really good, I can be swayed.
1. Ted S. 11 years ago
  
  What sort of porn?
  1. Certified Public Asskicker 11 years ago
    
    The kind shown within a porn theater.
2. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
  
  Woman: "What do you put in your chicken? I can taste the tumeric but there's a certain other taste. Reminds me of something..."
  
  /nervous waiter looks on backs up gingerly.
  1. Bee Tagger 11 years ago
    
    The waiter is a redhead? No, thanks!
3. waffles 11 years ago
  
  Related, I don't recommend Indian for a date night. Your burps will be powerful and unsexy.
4. Fist of Etiquette 11 years ago
  
  A little love is baked into everything on the menu.
5. 110 Lean 11 years ago
  
  There's a restaurant in Minneapolis that used to be a gay bar. (NTTAWWT)
The Late P Brooks 11 years ago

The White House, meanwhile, says it hopes the U.S. and Germany can maintain a friendly relationship despite growing outrage over U.S. spying in Germany.

Even as the Justice Dept prepares to extort an as yet undetermined amount of money from Kommerzbank. That should help.
1. gaijin 11 years ago
  
  That will teach those Krauts to ask for their gold back!
Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago

Woman shown mercy after sex attack lies led to arrest
A woman who lied about being sexually assaulted - leading to an innocent man's arrest - has been shown mercy by the courts.

Tracy Kent was spared prison after a judge learned how she was a "damaged and vulnerable woman" with a catalogue of woes behind her. ...
1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  I'm sure the judge would have been lenient with the man if he turned out to "damaged and vulnerable".
  1. Jordan 11 years ago
    
    This is Britain, where victims get harsher punishments than criminals.
2. Matrix 11 years ago
  
  But if she never kept up the lie and it was never properly investigated, I'm sure the innocent man would have been shown mercy as well, right?
3. invisible furry hand 11 years ago
  
  Here's one who did go to jail, despite being "vulnerable":
  
  A trainee barrister has been jailed after being found guilty of falsely accusing her former boyfriend of a series of rapes and assaults.
  
  Sentencing Rhiannon Brooker, 30, to three and half years, the judge Julian Lambert said she had acted in an "utterly wicked" way and argued that false claims made it more difficult for real rape victims to be believed in court.
4. SugarFree 11 years ago
  
  Marcotte is still convinced he is guilty.
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

The "Tea Party" appears to be the new boogeyman. Well - and the Kochs.

John Walsh Previews CNN Crime Show, Says Congress 'Scared Sh*tless' of Tea Party on Guns

Walsh later posed a question for lawmakers: "If we really love our women and children, why do we allow this amount of crime and exploitation of them to go on? Why don't we do something different?"

Among his suggestions for reducing gun violence: Increased mental health checks ? "I could name 15 first-world countries that check your mental state before you get a gun," he said ? and a requirement that gun manufacturers include a GPS tracking device in every weapon.

"Everyone of us have a GPS chip in our cellphones," he said. It's not Big Brother to put those GPS chips in that AK-47."
1. Fist of Etiquette 11 years ago
  
  But wouldn't another government database make you feel safer?
  1. UnCivilServant 11 years ago
    
    Not with what I know about government databases.
2. Warty 11 years ago
  
  One of my favorite things is when idiots propose outlandish nonsense while pretending that it's noncontroversial. A GPS device in every gun. Mmm-kay.
  1. Ted S. 11 years ago
    
    If rounding up the children and putting them in concentration camps where only responsible adults can take care of them could save the life of even one child, don't we have an obligation to try?
3. Fist of Etiquette 11 years ago
  
  Wait a minute. A GPS chip? Who the hell wouldn't disable such electronics on their gun before even firing it the first time?
  1. Elspeth Flashman 11 years ago
    
    So GPS in every gun, knife, lawn implement, hammer, screwdriver . . . .
  2. Zeb 11 years ago
    
    No problem. You jest need to register all guns, then allow random checks on all gun owners to make sure they keep the batteries in their guns charged.
    1. Lord Humungus 11 years ago
      
      and if the GPS signal stops - felony!
4. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  I can name 15 people that are jumping off a bridge!
5. Ted S. 11 years ago
  
  I'm sorry your son died, Johnny. But you've gone off the deep end and need to JUST SHUT UP.
  1. WTF 11 years ago
    
    That's why all children should be implanted with a GPS tracking chip. It could save their lives.
  2. Los Doyers (prev. RannedPall) 11 years ago
    
    Yeah John, this is nothing to lose your head over.
    
    /clutches pistol on hip and backs away very slowly
  3. Bill Dalasio 11 years ago
    
    I don't know that I even feel sorry for him at this point. I mean, his kid died 33 years ago and, to be honest, he's parlayed it into pretty lucrative career for himself.
6. Fr?ulein Nikki 11 years ago
  
  "Everyone of us have a GPS chip in our cellphones," he said. It's not Big Brother to put those GPS chips in that AK-47."
  
  So, John Walsh isn't following the NSA controversy.
7. Lucky Jack 11 years ago
  
  "Everyone of us have a GPS chip in our cellphones," he said. It's not Big Brother to put those GPS chips in that AK-47."
  
  Eric Holder and the ATF disagree.
Certified Public Asskicker 11 years ago

Q: Why do public school teachers suck?

A: There is never enough!

The hard part of teaching is coming to grips with this:

There is never enough.

There is never enough time. There are never enough resources. There is never enough you.
1. Matrix 11 years ago
  
  And yet, there are places in this world with far superior education systems that have fewer resources, less class time, and a higher student to teacher ration than in this country. How the fuck do they manage to do it?
  1. Brian D 11 years ago
    
    They don't have to worry about HEALTHCARE AND CONTRACEPTION, YOU FASCIST!
  2. Acosmist 11 years ago
    
    What place has a far superior education system? Name one.
2. Rich 11 years ago
  
  Teaching is like painting a huge Victorian mansion. ... And when you get to some sections of the house it turns out the wood is a little rotten or not ready for the paint.
  
  Exactly. It's the *kids*.
  1. Certified Public Asskicker 11 years ago
    
    I posted it and forgot I was going to add the ridiculous mansion analogy.
    
    Where are school reformy folks in this metaphor? They're the ones who show up and tell you that having a ladder is making you lazy, and you should work without.
  2. WTF 11 years ago
    
    As both a former house painter and a former teacher, I can unequivocally state that painting a Victorian mansion is orders of magnitude more difficult than teaching. And the two are nothing alike. Teaching is actually quite easy once you do it for a little while.
  3. lap83 11 years ago
    
    And when you get to other sections of the house and it turns out the entire building is infested with termites, then you know it's time to give the painters a raise because it's going to be really hard and take forever to cover every individual termite with paint..those suckers are fast.
  4. Invisible Finger 11 years ago
    
    Teaching is like painting a huge Victorian mansion.
    
    So we stopped building huge Victorian mansions.
    
    I think there's a lesson to be learned there. But being a teacher means never having to learn anymore.
3. gaijin 11 years ago
  
  There is never enough you.
  
  As I recall, average test scores for entrants into education programs (under and graduate) typically show education majors in the bottom quintile of the entrant population. (std disclaimer: test scores are not deterministic of course).
  1. Acosmist 11 years ago
    
    Nope. Teachers are about average. Ed majors are not teachers, just like many engineering major freshmen don't become engineers.
    
    Head out of ass, please.
The Late P Brooks 11 years ago

The real Internal Revenue Service scandal is that it hasn't been funded enough, because of Republicans, according to The New York Times, a "newspaper of record."

Well, duh.
1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  I heard the same thing with the VA scandal too. I suppose it's at least an improvement over "BOOOOOOOOOSCH!"
Warty 11 years ago

Thomas Pynchon's Capital in the 21st Century

Genius.
1. John 11 years ago
  
  That is because the people who buy it are most likely to be functionally illiterate.
  
  Is the Johnny Manzeil train wreck getting fun or what? Bieber? Really? If he were out with Taylor Swift or some SI swimsuit model, people would love him, even if he was a drunk. But fucking Beiber?
  1. Warty 11 years ago
    
    There are pictures of him with some Playboy bimbo, so he has the slut angle covered. Did you see the picture of him rolling up the dollar bill in some club? If he's this bad now, I can't wait to see how insufferable he is after winning a couple games.
    1. John 11 years ago
      
      You want him to have some success just so he can get even worse.
    2. Ted S. 11 years ago
      
      He's in Cleveland. Why do you think he's going to win any games?
      1. Restoras 11 years ago
        
        +1 Factory of Sadness
  2. EDG reppin' LBC 11 years ago
    
    It's silly to you and me. But for a 21 year old, hanging out with Drake and Bieber is pretty cool. Plus, it's not about Bieber, it's about the fact that Beiber is a pussy magnet.
    1. SugarFree 11 years ago
      
      Beiber is a pussy magnet.
      
      Like attracts like.
      1. invisible furry hand 11 years ago
        
        Any resemblance between Justin Bieber and a teenage lesbian is purely congenital
        
        Fr?ulein Nikki 11 years ago
        
        He looks a lot more like Rachel Maddow.
    2. John 11 years ago
      
      I spent the weekend with my two nephews. If they are any indication, no one, not even people under 25 likes Bieber.
      1. Zeb 11 years ago
        
        No one male, anyway. Someone must like him.
    3. lap83 11 years ago
      
      There is no way that every 21 year old girl is attracted to Beiber. When I was 21 I had a thing for Clive Owen after I saw him in Closer. He makes Beiber look like Shirley Temple.
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

Jonah Goldberg: The Anti-American Pastime
Soccer is a dull sport for dull people.

Part of the attraction of soccer, Mr. Zakaria says, is that we're sharing the sport with the rest of the world; we're following something the rest of the world is following. Yes, Professor Beinart says, but it's much more than that. Younger Americans, who like soccer more than older Americans, "are far less likely than older Americans to say that American culture is superior or to say that America is the greatest country in the world."

In case you were wondering, this is a good thing to Mr. Beinart, and I suspect many other liberals. Because "it reflects a more cosmopolitan temperament, more of a recognition that America has things to learn from the rest of the world, and that in fact maybe we have to learn from the rest of the world if we're going to remain a successful country."
1. John 11 years ago
  
  Soccer is the Cosmotarian sport. And if I ran the MLS, I would be really pissed that various douche bags are making my sport part of the culture war.
  1. Ted S. 11 years ago
    
    Most of them are the anti-soccer people.
    1. John 11 years ago
      
      Not really. And even if it were true, it wasn't true for most of the last 50 years. Soccer people spent decades telling the country what stupid out of touch hicks they were for not liking the world sport and now have the nerve to whine that there has been a backlash. If they didn't want to make it part of the culture war, they shouldn't have marketed that way originally.
2. waffles 11 years ago
  
  I can simultaneously believe America is a decadent cesspool of pungent spew, the greatest country in the world, and may benefit from appropriating the best parts of the culture's of the world. My ideal America is something like the world showcase at Epcot but with blackjack and hookers.
  1. Restoras 11 years ago
    
    My ideal America is something like the world showcase at Epcot but with blackjack and hookers
    
    This is what Times Square and 42nd Street used to be like before Guiliani took over.
  2. Elspeth Flashman 11 years ago
    
    In fact, forget the world showcase! /Bender
3. John 11 years ago
  
  We have things to learn like having riots when our team loses and setting aside entire sections of stadiums for NeoNazi fans to do monkey chants and throw bananas at black players.
  1. wareagle 11 years ago
    
    we already have the riots, usually in cities whose team won some championship or other. But never in San Antonio. For whatever reason.
    1. John 11 years ago
      
      They only riot in cities run by Team Blue.
      1. waffles 11 years ago
        
        John, that's stupid. Every city celebrates a national championship by fucking up the city. Usually limited to the university/bar scene. Drunken revelry does not know political bias.
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        Not San Antonio. I guarantee you they wouldn't have riots in OKC if it ever won. Do they riot in Green Bay?
        
        Clich? Bandit 11 years ago
        
        Green Bay, Packers, Superbowl, LATE JANUARY...I can't seem to figure out why they don't riot...
        
        WTF 11 years ago
        
        Not once has there been a riot in NYC after a team winning a championship.
        
        Restoras 11 years ago
        
        In 1994, the cops were out in force ahead of the Rangers winning the Cup. Nothing happened.
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        Hockey fans generally don't riot Restoras. Even Detroit hockey fans don't riot.
        
        Lets see, what does the fan bases of the Spurs, Thunder and the NHL have in common? It is almost like there is a racial component to rioting or something, but we can't talk about that I don't think.
        
        Restoras 11 years ago
        
        Well, Vancouver fans went apeshit in 1994 as I recall.
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Il3UlV2ars
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        But Canadians are the worst Restoras, so they don't count. I mean Canadians are worse than the French.
        
        Swiss Servator, Alles Klar 11 years ago
        
        You call that a riot? A true riot is an ugly thing...
        
        Rhywun 11 years ago
        
        I've seen the Giants parade down Broadway a couple times - nothing happened.
4. invisible furry hand 11 years ago
  
  Ho hum, another football thing. Let's enjoy watching Roy Keane break Alf Inge Haarland's leg instead
  1. invisible furry hand 11 years ago
    
    oh bollocks, wrong link
    
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nGkafx3-Ks
  2. Ted S. 11 years ago
    
    A fan meets Arsenal coach Ars?ne Wenger
    1. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
      
      Really Ted? I'm eating a bagel.
5. thom 11 years ago
  
  I really like watching soccer, which I do once every four years.
6. EDG reppin' LBC 11 years ago
  
  It's common knowledge that incidents of domestic violence spike during the World Cup Championship.
7. lap83 11 years ago
  
  Most people who like sports are dull, why single Soccer fans out?
  1. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
    
    Yeah this whole soccer thing is retarded.
    
    It's plain bizarre. It's a game played by millions upon millions in every spot on earth. Growing up hard core football and hockey guys would play soccer and loved it. REAL sports guys have no problem with the game.
    
    Personally, there isn't a sport I don't like. I don't watch or entirely get cricket and rugby but I'm not about to hate on it.
    
    Conservatives make too much a point to bash the game.
    1. lap83 11 years ago
      
      I guess it's culture war stuff. I played soccer throughout middle school and high school and enjoyed it a lot. It takes just as much skill as any other sport. I'm not really into the spectating side of it though. So I feel I'm objective when I say I don't see any difference in watching soccer versus anything else. To me, it's all arbitrary fervor. Theoretically I understand that people get excited and anticipatory, but I can't bring myself to care if I'm not participating.
    2. SusanM 11 years ago
      
      Well, aren't you Canadian? If so, soccer's in the blood. At any moment you might rip that Argonauts jersey (or is it "jumper", Sir Rufus?) of and belt out "You'll Never Walk Alone" while waving an inflatable banana.
    3. Vulgar Madman 11 years ago
      
      "You have to like it! Everybody likes it!"
      I have been hearing that my whole life. I just don't care, leave me alone.
8. Rhywun 11 years ago
  
  It's Bernard, not Jonah. Which is good because I generally respect Jonah's writing and I would hate to see him dirty himself by following the Ann Coulter beat.
9. Azathoth!! 11 years ago
  
  That's Bernie Goldberg, not Jonah.
Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago

The Climate Change Debate Is Over, And Environmentalists Lost
1. Matrix 11 years ago
  
  Just like Christian escapists who believe in the Rapture and that the Anti-Christ is coming just around the corner, they will never be convinced. It will continue on and on. Man will always be to blame for something wrong in the Earth, real or imaginary. So you must always be repenting and offering up sacrifices and indulgences to appease Gaia, you sinful heathens!
  1. gaijin 11 years ago
    
    ^this. Self loathing instituionalized
  2. John 11 years ago
    
    It is much worse and even more primitive than that. Christians say upfront that they have no idea when God will end the world. And they also don't believe there is anything they can do to stop it.
    
    These people are much more primitive in that they actually think they can control things and their sacrifices mean something in this world.
    1. Restoras 11 years ago
      
      These people are much more primitive in that they actually think they can control things and their sacrifices mean something in this world
      
      Kinda like those ancient/fabled religions that believed human sacrifice could placate the gods that were thought to control the weather. It is an interesting and apt comparison.
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

A Company Liberals Could Love

One such company was hailed last year by the left-wing policy website Demos "for thumbing its nose at the conventional wisdom that success in the retail industry" requires paying "bargain-basement wages." A retail chain with nearly 600 stores and 13,000 workers, this business sets its lowest full-time wage at $15 an hour, and raised wages steadily through the stagnant postrecession years. (Its do-gooder policies also include donating 10 percent of its profits to charity and giving all employees Sunday off.) And the chain is thriving commercially ? offering, as Demos put it, a clear example of how "doing good for workers can also mean doing good for business."

Of course I'm talking about Hobby Lobby, the Christian-owned craft store that's currently playing the role of liberalism's public enemy No. 1, for its successful suit against the Obama administration's mandate requiring coverage for contraceptives, sterilization and potential abortifacients.
1. WDATPDIM!? 11 years ago
  
  BURN!
2. Don Mynack 11 years ago
  
  Demos' reply to Douhat was even lamer:
  
  "It's a positive thing when employers -- motivated by religious values, pragmatic business concerns, or any other consideration ? choose to go beyond the floor set by the law to lift up their workers. But we'd be better off with more strong employee protections and workers' rights so we don't need to rely on the whims of corporate leaders who choose which rights and benefits to bestow."
  
  Wages don't matter now, apparently. You know, the whole point of working and all.
  1. ant1sthenes 11 years ago
    
    No, the point of employment (working or otherwise) is to establish the bond between serf and liege. Clearly the serf is obliged to work, and the liege is obliged to protect and provide for the serf. Pay is generally expected, but it is a transitional tool that respects of the norms of the current system, with its antiquated notion of relating pay to the value of the labor provided, while serving to provide for the basic needs of the serf (hence, "living" wage). Benefits are more important.
    
    Tying insurance to employment is a key component of balancing the new feudalism, as are strong protections for workers. Ultimately, it must be as difficult for workers to escape a job as it is for employers to fire them, or the system will collapse. Ideally, once this is established, the next step, of handing jobs down from parents to children, can commence.
    
    This is what progressive believe. Proof?
    1) The most reliable marker of progressivism is projection
    2) Progressives accuse libertarians of supporting feudalism.
Jordan 11 years ago

The real Internal Revenue Service scandal is that it hasn't been funded enough, because of Republicans, according to The New York Times, a "newspaper of record."

Like I always say, government agencies have every incentive to fail, because progressives will always reward them with more money and power when they do.
1. Drake 11 years ago
  
  Because a $1.8 Billion IT budget isn't enough to for employee e-mail retention.
  1. thom 11 years ago
    
    This still blows my mind. They really should just move over to Google Apps or Outlook 360.
2. Longtorso, Johnny 11 years ago
  
  Every govt activity is simultaneously enough of a success to prove govt deserves more money and power, and enough of a failure to prove govt needs more money and power.
  1. Notorious G.K.C. 11 years ago
    
    +1
The Late P Brooks 11 years ago

Thomas Pynchon's Capital in the 21st Century came in first.

SRSLY?
1. db 11 years ago
  
  Damon your fast fingers. The Blockquote slowed me down!
  1. db 11 years ago
    
    And fuck autocorrect.
    1. Restoras 11 years ago
      
      To be fair, it has been an awfully long time since we had a good Matt Damon thread.
      1. db 11 years ago
        
        You can never get enough MATT DAMON.
        
        Lord Humungus 11 years ago
        
        MATT DAMON /MATT DAMON
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

Complacency Breeds $2 Trillion of Junk as Sewage Funded

The value of bonds in the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global High Yield Index has soared to more than $2 trillion. It took 12 years for the gauge, started at the end of 1997, to get to $1 trillion, and only four years to add another $1 trillion. More than $338 billion of the debt has been sold this year, putting 2014 on track to top last year's record $477 billion.

Investors who say they have no choice but to seek ever-riskier securities to generate any type of return are buying junk bonds and loans at a pace suggesting low default rates have blinded them to the potential minefields ahead. Even Japan's risk-averse $1.25 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund said it's considering loosening its practice of only buying investment-grade debt and venturing into junk bonds.
1. Jordan 11 years ago
  
  "Mission Accomplished!"
  
  - Central bank clowns
2. Scruffy Nerfherder 11 years ago
  
  Doooooooooommmmmmm
db 11 years ago

A math professor used the Amazon Kindle "Popular Highlights" feature to measure which bestseller is likely the least read. Thomas Pynchon's Capital in the 21st Century came in first.

Ummmm...
1. waffles 11 years ago
  
  The commentariat here can be so piketty. Although, Ed, that's one nice slip you got there.
  1. wef 11 years ago
    
    Pynchon is Piketty? Merkel is president? Hmmmm. I think he is playing with the hoi polloi, testing us, chuckling.
    1. db 11 years ago
      
      Chancellor my subscription!
invisible furry hand 11 years ago

The Chinese aren't impressed by their rulers' self-criticism sessions:

"Where are the mistresses? Where are the bribes? Where are the illegal demolitions?"
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

'We'll take back Spain': Fighters claim ISIS to seize 'occupied lands'

A group of jihadists claiming to be part of ISIS have vowed to invade Spain along with all other "occupied lands" in a video posted on the web.

The men say Spain is the land of their forefathers and that they are prepared to die for their nascent Islamic State.

The video of two men claiming to be militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has taken the Spanish media by storm. The minute-long footage shows them speaking in Spanish, and saying that ISIS will take over Spain.
1. John 11 years ago
  
  Good luck with that.
  1. waffles 11 years ago
    
    This could be good. Europe will have to defend itself against the Moors and the US should just sit back and watch the show.
    1. Restoras 11 years ago
      
      Maybe Europe will be faced with a two-front war, one in Iberia and one in the Balkans.
      
      Double feature!
    2. An Innocent Man 11 years ago
      
      We can sell arms to both sides!
    3. Jensen 11 years ago
      
      I'd watch it and the likely unsuccessful Reconquista 2.0 on pay-per-view.
    4. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
      
      Waffles, America would never let that happen. Ever. I think we all know that.
      1. Restoras 11 years ago
        
        I wouldn't be so sure, Rufus. I think a lot of Americans are sick of Europe and thier bullshit.
      2. MegaloMonocle 11 years ago
        
        Depends on what America is (a) capable of doing and (b) willing to do.
        
        If/when we finally hit the financial wall, our ability to write checks and send equipment to help the Euros fight off the Moors will be constrained.
        
        And our willingness to send troops, well, I wouldn't bet on it.
    5. flye 11 years ago
      
      Nope, it's the Moops.
      1. Swiss Servator, Alles Klar 11 years ago
        
        +1 bubble boy
2. UnCivilServant 11 years ago
  
  Um, if you discount all the lands taken by the sword by various muslim conquests, the Caliphate's claims are limited to... the city of Medina, and possibly not even that. Even Mecca was seized by force of arms rather than willing conversion of the populace.
  1. Pro Libertate 11 years ago
    
    Yes, I was just thinking that that was a door that they really don't want to have opened. Persia for Zoroaster!
3. Notorious G.K.C. 11 years ago
  
  "they are prepared to die for their nascent Islamic State"
  
  I don't root for human beings to die, but I suppose I can't stop them...wait, they mean *kill* for their State, don't they?
SugarFree 11 years ago

Oklahomans Bedeviled by Upcoming Satanic "Black Mass"

Oklahoma City officials say that Mayor Mick Cornett's office has received over 450 emails and phone calls opposing a satanic "black mass" set to be held at a city-owned downtown theater.

The sinister event, scheduled for September 21 at the 95-seat City Space Theater in the basement of the city's Civic Center (get your tickets here), is being put on by 35-year-old Adam Daniels, who described himself as a high priest of the satanic group Dakhma of Angra Mainyu.

According to their website, group worships Angra Mainyu or Ahriman, a god who they believe will cleanse the world through destruction.

Daniels is also a convicted sex offender, having had a sexual relationship with a female prisoner while he was a guard at an Oklahoma prison.
1. Rich 11 years ago
  
  "What they may not realize immediately is that simply by going, they will open themselves to the power of the demonic."
  
  "Indeed, merely by reading this warning, they open themselves to the power of the demonic. BWAHAHAHAA!!"
2. waffles 11 years ago
  
  Oklahoma City is way cooler than I had originally thought.
3. waffles 11 years ago
  
  Not exactly Satanic, but this is what descended upon my backyard this past weekend. I decided to check it out. And while more of the attendees were extremely weird, they were extremely friendly and welcoming.
4. Zeb 11 years ago
  
  a god who they believe will cleanse the world through destruction.
  
  Isn't that what Christians believe?
Rich 11 years ago

Patrick Buchanan makes a point: With the economy shrinking 3 percent in the first quarter, with Obama sinking in public approval, and with the IRS, NSA and VA scandals bubbling, why would Republicans change the subject to impeachment?

They're not known as "The Stupid Party" for nothing, Pat.
1. John 11 years ago
  
  Exactly. Don't do the Democrats the favor of removing obama. Make them fucking live with the asshole.
  1. Palin's Buttplug 11 years ago
    
    Gallup: Obama approval rating 44%
    
    vs 52% disapprove.
    
    http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx
    1. John 11 years ago
      
      And the strongly approve versus strongly disapprove numbers are even worse. Why would want to even try to cut that anchor off your opponent?
      1. Ken Shultz 11 years ago
        
        The double-digit insurance rate increases haven't even kicked in yet.
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        And if there is one thing about Obama, he won't ever admit he was wrong or change course. I keep saying that before this is over it will be the Democrats who want to throw Obama out of office.
    2. Certified Public Asskicker 11 years ago
      
      52% - 44% = 8%
      1. Ken Shultz 11 years ago
        
        That's the center-left 8% who can't bring themselves to pretend that they approve of the job he's doing, but can't bring themselves to criticize him either--since they've dismissed all of his vocal critics as a bunch of racists.
      2. Swiss Servator, Alles Klar 11 years ago
        
        Nicely done!
    3. Rufus J. Firefly 11 years ago
      
      Why...that's an 8% difference!
Jordan 11 years ago

Thomas Pynchon's Capital in the 21st Century

That would be Piketty, not Pynchon.
1. Game of Thrones fan 11 years ago
  
  If Pynchon wrote an economics book I would definitely read it.
  
  "One summer afternoon Mrs. Oedipa Maas came home from a Tupperware party whose hostess had put perhaps too much kirsch in the fondue to find that she, Oedipa, had been named executor, or she supposed executrix, of the estate of one Pierce Inverarity, a California real estate mogul who had once lost two million dollars in his spare time but still had assets numerous and tangled enough to make the job of sorting it all out more than honorary."
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

Despite Being an Economic Superpower, America Simply Can't Compete With This

If you've been keeping up with the majority of business wheeling and dealing since the spring, you've probably caught a hint of the prevailing theme: corporate tax inversion. This is the practice whereby a U.S.-based company and its correspondingly high peak corporate marginal tax rate purchases a company in a foreign nation with a lower peak corporate marginal tax rate, anthen uses that purchase to relocate its headquarters to the foreign nation to pay less in taxes and thus keep more of its profits.

When it comes to taxing corporations, the home of the brave and land of the free is practically the king of the hill, in a bad way. The United States is only saved from the ignominy of being the highest-taxing country in the world by the United Arab Emirates, with its 55% tax on corporate profits. Within the U.S., before deductions, corporations could wind up paying as much as 40% in taxes on their profits. By comparison, according to research firm KPMG, the global average is just 23.57% (and again, this is before deductions).
1. DJF 11 years ago
  
  """before deductions""
  
  So not really a good comparision
  1. KDN 11 years ago
    
    Yeah. Total federal corporate income tax after credits was 25.31% of total receipts less total deductions, 23.22% of income subject to tax, and 23.36% of net income less deficit per IRS data. Oh, look at that: we're right in line with the global average.
    1. KDN 11 years ago
      
      *in 2008 per IRS data.
    2. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
      
      You can't take the deductions out of the US ones and then compare it to the rest before you take out their deductions. If you adjust one you have to adjust both:
      
      By comparison, according to research firm KPMG, the global average is just 23.57% (and again, this is before deductions).
      1. KDN 11 years ago
        
        Blegh, read the blurb wrong. You're absolutely right, but a lot of the world has moved to flat taxing corporations. The comparison has to be post-deduction for it to matter.
        
        It would still be beneficial for us to lower the top corp rate for a host of reasons, though. My favorite is that doing so will entitle your country to a host of free advertising touting your low top corporate rate.
  2. Drake 11 years ago
    
    The mid-sized, mostly domestic U.S. business, company I work for always forks over 35 to 40% of after deduction profits in U.S. and state income taxes.
    
    During this time of almost zero market growth, a quarter $billion tax cut looks pretty sexy.
    
    Pissing off Chuck Schumer and Robert Reich is just a little icing.
2. Certified Public Asskicker 11 years ago
  
  Robert Reich has a solution:
  
  By treaty, the U.S. government can't (and shouldn't) discriminate against foreign corporations offering as good if not better deals than American companies offer. So if Walgreen as a Swiss company continues to fill Medicaid and Medicare payments as well as, say, CVS, it's likely that Walgreen will continue to earn almost a quarter of its $72 billion annual revenues directly from the U.S. government.
  
  But as a foreign corporation, Walgreen should no longer have any say over the size of those payments, what drugs they cover, or how they're administered.
  
  In fact, Walgreen should no longer have any say about how the U.S. government does anything.
  
  That'll teach 'em!
  1. gaijin 11 years ago
    
    Walgreen has a say over what the government does?
  2. Ken Shultz 11 years ago
    
    He's not trying to do what's best for seniors and the poor. He's not even trying to get the best deal possible for the taxpayers! He's trying to reconfigure public policy so that it's bad for Wal*Mart--and he doesn't give a rip what that will do to seniors, the poor, or the taxpayers.
    
    He must be a progressive.
    1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
      
      Walgreen and WalMart are different.
      1. Ken Shultz 11 years ago
        
        That's what I meant!
  3. Jerryskids 11 years ago
    
    I can't quite figure out that "continues to fill Medicaid and Medicare payments". Does Walgreens actually make money by filling payments? I couldn't find anything right off hand by googling the phrase, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that there is some sort of bureaucratic paperwork mumbo-jumbo that pays for filling payments.
    
    But assuming that Reich meant "filling prescriptions", it's at least a little troubling that he would flatly state that Walgreens should have no say in the size of those payments. I suspect that if you were to suggest that the size of those payments should be negative $10 per prescription, that Reich would have no problem with that.
    
    And how would you force Walgreens to pay you to fill your prescription with them? Why, you just pass a law making it mandatory to accept Medicare and Medicaid payments, even if those payments are in negative amounts of money.
    
    This is, I think, where the whole national healthcare thing is going. As doctors and clinics and drug suppliers drop out of the government system due to low payments and high paperwork requirements, it's going to create a lot of pressure to simply make it illegal to drop out of the government system.
    1. Jerryskids 11 years ago
      
      I have already seen a local discussion on doctors refusing to accept new Medicare and Medicaid patients - we as a society and as taxpayers have invested a great deal of money into educating and training these doctors and providing them with the infrastructure to practice their calling and therefore they have an obligation to repay that investment. Refusing to accept new Medicare and Medicaid patients is nothing less than theft of services by doctors.
      
      Not to mention that the practice of medicine is a holy, noble calling and should never be profaned by the introduction of discussing it in terms of filthy lucre. Priests and nuns don't make much money, why should doctors?
Rich 11 years ago

One of my neighbours went on holiday to Venice with some Dutch friends. To her disgust, she found they'd turned the hotel bathroom bidet into a drinks cooler.

"There ought to be a law!"
1. Slammer 11 years ago
  
  I had an old boxer tell me his brother was on the Olympic squad with Ali and found him drinking out of a bidet thinking it was a water fountain.
Palin's Buttplug 11 years ago

Meet Holly: Blogger Tea Party Crusader for Hobby Lobby (Images)

nice gun!

http://justinspoliticalcorner......7vvN7GmXXJ
1. Ken Shultz 11 years ago
  
  I'd never seen another site with your logic smeared all over it like that, Shrike.
  
  Is that where you get your news and analysis?
  
  Is that your own personal site? You could have written that post yourself!
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

I Ate Out of Dumpsters in Denmark for Two Weeks

The amount of stuff we found blew me away: fresh vegetables, pastries, whole loaves of bread, cookies... These weren't festering, larvae-encrusted, rotting piles of half-composted food, either. For the most part, the produce was totally fine. The stuff looked like it was tossed because it had a few bruises, or, if it was a bunch of food packaged together, because one grape in the whole box had some mold on it. All freshly baked goods are required to be thrown out every night, regardless of the state they're in, so the bread was especially fresh. (I probably shouldn't have been so surprised; according to the United Nations Environment Program, about 1.3 billion tons of food?or about a third of the world's production?is wasted every year.)
1. Matrix 11 years ago
  
  And yet giving that food to the poor and homeless is probably illegal in that country, just like it is here.
Injun, as in from India 11 years ago

A math professor used the Amazon Kindle "Popular Highlights" feature to measure which bestseller is likely the least read. Thomas Pynchon's Capital in the 21st Century came in first.

Because capitalism is cruel! Of course!
1. Injun, as in from India 11 years ago
  
  And if this was a socialist country, his book would be part of a forced curriculum. In a reeducation camp.
Stickler Meeseeks 11 years ago

Um, Ed...McDaniel's first name is Chris, not Charlie. Perhaps you were thinking of the country music violinist?
1. Lord Humungus 11 years ago
  
  I propose a fiddle contest.
Rich 11 years ago

Florida Man mugshot

"Youth is wasted on the young."
wef 11 years ago

The German President is Joachim Gauck. Merkel is Chancellor.

Editor!
1. invisible furry hand 11 years ago
  
  So...
  
  Pynchon / Piketty
  Charlie / Chris
  President / Chancellor
  
  Hey Krayewski, stop drinking the bongwater cocktails
  1. waffles 11 years ago
    
    Successful Ed troll is successful.
    1. wef 11 years ago
      
      and crowd sourcing the fact checking
  2. Jerryskids 11 years ago
    
    What the hell do you want out of Ed? He gave you your precious alt text didn't he? Do I hear one single word of thanks for that? NOOOOOO! You're all a bunch of ingrates.
widget 11 years ago

Germany's president, Angela Merkel, visited Beijing, where
1. widget 11 years ago
  
  Chicoms!
The Late P Brooks 11 years ago

But fucking Beiber?

Not even with Barfman's dick.
Lord Humungus 11 years ago

Obama: Peace is the only path to true security for Israel and the Palestinians

Finally, peace is possible. This is one of the most important things to remember during setbacks and moments of frustration. It will take political will to make the difficult choices that are necessary and support from the Israeli and Palestinian people and civil society. Both parties must be willing to take risks for peace. But at the end of the day, we know where negotiations must lead?two states for two peoples. Refusing to compromise or cooperate with one another won't do anything to increase security for either the Israeli or the Palestinian people. The only solution is a democratic, Jewish state living side-by-side in peace and security with a viable, independent Palestinian state. That's why Secretary Kerry and I remain determined to work with both Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas to pursue a two-state solution. When the political will exists to recommit to serious negotiations, the United States will be there, ready to do our part.
1. Restoras 11 years ago
  
  Nicias agrees.
2. 110 Lean 11 years ago
  
  The only solution
  
  You know who else had a solution?
CatoTheElder 11 years ago

The real Internal Revenue Service scandal is that it hasn't been funded enough, because of Republicans, according to The New York Times.

The linked article, which is actually a critique of NYT nonsense, concludes, "This is just embarrassing."

The IRS has a $1.8 billion IT budget and claims with a straight face that they can't competently backup their e-mail system. I seriously doubt that the IRS is capable of embarrassment.

That goes double for any sycophant that would defend the IRS.
1. John 11 years ago
  
  And don't forget, every agency in the federal government gets sued and is subject to the laws regarding archiving. There are tons of small agencies that are due to lack of political clout under funded. The Coast Guard is a good example of that. They are tiny but have a million missions. Yet somehow everyone but the IRS manages to preserve their records and emails for the archives, Congress and the courts.
sarcasmic 11 years ago

Conservative mother-of-three whose Twitter posts have made 'liberal heads explode': Female gun and bible enthusiast becomes web sensation

Holly Fisher created uproar online in the wake of last week's controversial birth control decision by the Supreme Court
She posted a photo online of her wearing a pro-life T-shirt, while posing in front of a Hobby Lobby store and holding a Chick-fil-A drinking cup
'Attention Liberals: do not look at this picture. Your head will most likely explode,' read the caption
Next she posted a photo showing her standing in front of the American flag holding a gun and a copy of the Holy Bible on July 4
Image again generated a lot of online heat and was also quickly turned into a Twitter meme, with many calling her the American Taliban
'I have always been extremely conservative and passionate about my views,' she said

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....A-cup.html
I especially like the "EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE" Twitter meme. The answer is easy. She doesn't go around killing people. Not that the average leftist could compute that simple distinction.
1. John 11 years ago
  
  And of course tolerant women loving Progs greeted her with death threats and rape fantasies. Funny how enlightened pro feminine Prog men seem to love threatening and fantasizing about raping any women who goes outside the hive.
  1. sarcasmic 11 years ago
    
    I never understood the whole Christian Taliban meme until I figured out how the left sees no difference between self defense and vigilante justice. The Taliban uses vigilante justice. The American pro-gunners support self defense. The left sees no distinction between the two. They honestly don't. They just see someone who is not in government using a firearm. That's all they see. So to them a bitter clinger is no different than a Taliban fighter.
    1. SugarFree 11 years ago
      
      MNG could never understand the difference, either. No matter how many times it was explained to him, he insisted attacking someone and defending yourself from attack were morally equivalent acts.
      1. Matrix 11 years ago
        
        You are property of the state. Only the state has the authority to defend its property, not you.
        
        /Progtard
      2. John 11 years ago
        
        MNG was a typical prog in that he was a crude materialist. For him all that mattered is the results in the physical world. The idea that some abstract principle like freedom or justice could matter more than the results in the material world was beyond him.
        
        People always accused him of being dishonest and he was sometimes. But a lot of times the people on here and he talked passed each other because the rest of the people on the board were pointing to abstract principles that he could never understand the importance of. He just saw the results in the material world and nothing else.
        
        sarcasmic 11 years ago
        
        He just saw the results in the material world and nothing else.
        
        The seen and the unseen. Well, the unseen doesn't exist because it can't be seen. How could it exist if you can't see it? That's why people on the left are so terrible at understanding economics. All they can see is the seen, and because they can't see the unseen, it doesn't exist to them.
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        Take self defense. A prog looks at that and says "but why should someone die for trying to steal your TV?". They can't see the difference between that and the government hanging people for doing it because the result is the same.
        
        You and I see the abstract principle of the right to be safe in one's home. They don't see that.
        
        sarcasmic 11 years ago
        
        A prog looks at that and says "but why should someone die for trying to steal your TV?".
        
        "Why should the president be impeached for getting a blow job?"
        
        "Um, he lied under oath."
        
        "About a blow job!"
        
        "He took an oath and then lied."
        
        "About a blow job!"
        
        And that's as far as you get. Lying under oath is abstract, while lying about a bj is specific.
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        That is a good example sarcasmic. The idea that the President lying under oath at all is something worth being angry about never occurs to them.
        
        sarcasmic 11 years ago
        
        If a Republican did the same thing they'd have gone nuts. TEAM is what matters. Principals trump principles.
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        That is because their Team is doing the right thing for the material world. So who cares about your "principles" sarcasmic if they end up with bad people in charge?
        
        That is how they actually think.
        
        sarcasmic 11 years ago
        
        Not so in the case of the bj. Republicans are supposed to have morals. So a Republican getting some strange on the side is a hypocrite, which makes him a bad person. Democrats don't have any morals. So getting strange on the side just made Clinton a man, not a hypocrite, since he didn't have any morals to break.
      3. sarcasmic 11 years ago
        
        Both actions (self defense and vigilante justice) are uses of force, and only government has the monopoly on legitimate uses of force. Thus both actions are wrong.
        But that first statement is tautological. Not only are any uses of force by anyone other than government wrong because government has the monopoly on legitimate force, any use of force by government is legitimate because government has the monopoly on the legitimate use of force.
        The only objections they have to the use of force by government are when the other TEAM is in power, but that's blaming the TEAM, not government.
    2. John 11 years ago
      
      It is all about projection with them.
    3. lap83 11 years ago
      
      "the left sees no difference between self defense and vigilante justice."
      
      This is true. I have noticed this trait even in casual conversation. There was one former coworker who saw a woman walking outside and remarked "She looked like Sarah Palin. If it was, I would've probably shot her in the face." It was particularly shocking because he was otherwise a typically mild-mannered liberal guy.
      
      They evidently believe that someone who owns a gun is just one step ahead in their violent revenge fantasies.
  2. Palin's Buttplug 11 years ago
    
    That is how women like Jihad Barbie start out - as Aborto-Freaks. They don't care about liberty. They want to use the police state to enforce their morality.
    
    Then they pick up the other RWNJ lingo.
    1. sarcasmic 11 years ago
      
      You are courageous, I must admit. I mean, showing your stupid like that and getting smacked down over and over. Yet you keep putting it on display. Unless you're so stupid that you don't know you're stupid. Yeah. That's probably it.
      1. Swiss Servator, Alles Klar 11 years ago
        
        Post concussion syndrome from the constant beatdowns? CTE?
2. Certified Public Asskicker 11 years ago
  
  And...I would, if it needed to be said (probably not, but just saying).
  1. Drake 11 years ago
    
    I would marry her if we weren't both already married.
3. Fr?ulein Nikki 11 years ago
  
  Sounds like some kinda boring pictures. And I really hate how the Mail hyphenates things like "mother-of-three." She's just a mother of three, guys. (Yes, I know this is the least of their editorial problems.)
  1. John 11 years ago
    
    Nikki, thanks for the book recommendation the other day. And I hope you try Black Lamb Grey Falcon if you have never read it.
4. Anonymous Coward 11 years ago
  
  So Holly Fisher, a woman posts photos for the sole purpose of getting a rise out of the Progressives (who respond with verbal abuse, death threats, and rape threats#WHARONWIMMINZ) is comparable to Reem al-Riyashi, a Palestinian suicide bomber who murdered four Jews? That asserting a right to self-defense is the same as DURQA DURQA JIHAD?
  
  Explain the difference? The difference is that unlike the Progressive cattle, who lack any comprehension of history or nuance, some of us understand that even things that look like other things may not be at all similar.
  
  Aw fuck it, Progressives are just stupid.
Slammer 11 years ago

Air passengers must charge phones before airport security or risk losing them, says US.

Passengers will be required to turn on their mobile phones at airport security under tough new measures for flights to and from US following reported al-Qaida bomb threats

"During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cellphones," the US Transportation Security Administration said in a statement, noting that all electronic devices are screened by security officers.
"Powerless devices will not be permitted on-board the aircraft. The traveller may also undergo additional screening."
sarcasmic 11 years ago

Now that's a a monster truck: Black-smoke-belching pick-ups built by anti-environmentalists who are 'rolling coal'

Some truck enthusiasts are modifying their vehicles to boost the amount of fuel entering their engines, creating high-pollutant soot that they can then spew out exhaust pipes and smokestacks in thick black clouds
'It's just fun,' says Robbie, a 25-year-old South Carolina mechanic. 'Just driving and blowing smoke and having a good time.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....easts.html
Haaaaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha!
1. Lord Humungus 11 years ago
  
  blowing smoke and having a good time
  
  Bob Marley?
2. Idle Hands 11 years ago
  
  that is fucking hilarious.
3. Zeb 11 years ago
  
  That's just obnoxious. Unlike CO2 emissions, soot is an actual pollutant that can harm people.
4. Jerryskids 11 years ago
  
  As I've said too many times, those kids rolling coal are also undoubtably sticking vodka-soaked tampons up their butts and shooting up marijuanas before they go off to their rainbow parties where they smoke bath salts and eat each others faces off.
  
  IOW, this whole rolling coal thing is urban legend-type nonsense. The underlying message is that rednecks (because who else drives pick-ups?) hate Obama because he's an uppity Negro and hate environmentalists because they're educated. If you criticize Obama or environmentalist concerns like global warming, why, that puts you on the side of ignorant racist rednecks, doesn't it?
The Late P Brooks 11 years ago

"During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cellphones," the US Transportation Security Administration said in a statement, noting that all electronic devices are screened by security officers.
"Powerless devices will not be permitted on-board the aircraft. The traveller may also undergo additional screening."

This is why I am preparing to drive fifteen hundred miles later today.

Fuck the TSA, DHS, George W BOOOOOOOOSH, Barack Obama, and all the chickenshit cocksuckers in and out of gove4nment who allowed this to happen.
1. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  Heaven forbid you want to travel with a broken (or merely uncharged) device.
  1. MegaloMonocle 11 years ago
    
    Especially considering how hard it can be to find an outlet in an airport, and how quickly smartphones eat their batteries.
Michael 11 years ago

This may very well be the most obtusely self-unaware editorial I'll read all year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....s/?hpid=z4
1. Michael 11 years ago
  
  That's how I found myself, one dreary day when my Honda wouldn't start, in my husband's Mercedes at the WIC office. I parked gingerly over one of the many potholes, shut off the purring engine and locked it, then walked briskly to the door ? head held high and not looking in either direction.
  
  To this day, it is the single most embarrassing thing I've ever done.
  
  No one spoke to me, but they did stare. Mouths agape, the poverty-stricken mothers struggling with infant car seats, paperwork and their toddlers never took their eyes off me, the tall blond girl, walking with purpose on heels from her Mercedes to their grungy den.
  1. John 11 years ago
    
    Why are you on WIC if you have a husband and can afford two cars?
    
    In fairness used Mercs are not that expensive and if they are in good nick are very reliable cars. But still.
    1. Fr?ulein Nikki 11 years ago
      
      If her story is true, I'll take it as legit. They were smart not to sell the Merc if it was paid off and reliable. They were probably not smart to not have more savings, but preemie twins could easily fuck your finances, I'd imagine.
      1. John 11 years ago
        
        I agree that they were smart not to sell the Merc. They last forever if you take care of them.
        
        I don't think people realize what a bargain used luxury cars are. The people who buy them new tend to buy new cars every couple of years so the market is full of really great well maintained cars.
        
        robc 11 years ago
        
        One of the "millionaire next door" things was that most millionaires buy nice 2-3 year old cars.
        
        A 2011 Mercedes with low mileage today or something.
        
        The do that because that is what they did on their way up.
        
        MegaloMonocle 11 years ago
        
        They last forever if you take care of them.
        
        But taking care of them is really expensive.
2. Warty 11 years ago
  
  Jesus Christ, honey. WIC? Have some dignity. Turn some tricks or something.
  1. John 11 years ago
    
    She says she is a tall blond girl. I am sure some strip club somewhere would hire her.
    1. Scruffy Nerfherder 11 years ago
      
      She is a little self-obsessed, what with all of the selfies she takes.
      1. John 11 years ago
        
        She is not fabulous, but she is tall thin, has cute boobs, I have seen a lot worse in strip clubs. She should have gotten some self respect, got off the dole and at least taken danced for an honest living.
        
        Scruffy Nerfherder 11 years ago
        
        She is a classic prog. Projecting that anyone who disagrees with her and is willing to stand their ground is infantile.
        
        Government shutdown? You can blame Obama. Sure. Many people do. There's a whole meme about it that I see daily. Thanks, Obama.
        
        You can blame the Affordable Care Act. That nasty bill that provides women and children with the healthcare they need and deserve as a human right.
        
        But the law isn't going away. Not even if every last tea-party Republican stomps around, throws shit, then holds his or her breath until they turn blue and pass out. Because that's what they're doing.
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        I take it back, she would have never made it as a stripper. Who the hell would pay for a lap dance or buy her a drink if the price was having to talk to her?
      2. Pro Libertate 11 years ago
        
        I didn't know Steffi Graf had run out of money.
PRX 11 years ago

I think Ed is doing a tribute to the great libertarian Wrong Way Corrigan and even did it on the wrong day which is a nice touch.
Los Doyers (prev. RannedPall) 11 years ago

Air strikes into Gaza? Great. Cue the pictures and articles about those soulless Israelis purposely targeting innocent Palestinian orphanages and puppy stores.
Notorious G.K.C. 11 years ago

Bent is the branch that might have grown full straight, and broken is Apollo's laurel bough...

"Rand Paul is expanding the reach of his nascent presidential operation to the Granite State, hiring Rick Santorum's 2012 campaign manager, Mike Biundo, as the chief New England strategist to his political-action committee, RANDPAC.

""Mike will be a valuable asset to my team," Paul said. "His experience, passion and leadership will help me advance the principles of liberty. The Republican party needs to grow and Mike will be a vital part of that effort.""

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....na-johnson
1. John 11 years ago
  
  Eliana Johnson is a major babe.
  1. Idle Hands 11 years ago
    
    questionable.
    1. John 11 years ago
      
      Google her. She is very cute, unless you are not into that kind of thing. NTTAWWT
      1. Idle Hands 11 years ago
        
        hotter women could be found at any bar in Arlington on a Friday night, now whether you have the wherewithal/fortitude of putting up with what is probably an insufferable and spoiled liberal is up to you.
        
        John 11 years ago
        
        There are hotter women all over. But that just means there are a lot of hot women. It doesn't mean Johnson isn't a babe.
        
        Idle Hands 11 years ago
        
        I don't think I would kick her out of the bed in the morning, but I also wouldn't call her a babe.
Notorious G.K.C. 11 years ago

Man who took vow of poverty wins $259,880 in the lottery.

Fortunately, it's an Episcopalian vow, so he plans to keep some of the money for a pension, but he's giving a lot of it to charity.

(CAUTION: Autoplay ad and news)

http://www.christianpost.com/n.....ot-122872/
1. Notorious G.K.C. 11 years ago
  
  Oops, $259,800,000
2. Auric Demonocles 11 years ago
  
  Playing the lottery is a smart start to staying in poverty.
John 11 years ago

Some guy in 1972, saw the future and saw the women of Jezebel.

ne is constantly struck, in the accounts of lesbian relationships which appear from time to time in the movement literature, by the emphasis on the superior "tenderness" of the relationship, the "gentleness" of the sexual connection, as if the participants were wounded birds. The derogation of assertiveness as "machismo" has achieved such currency that one imagines several million women to delicate to deal with a man more overtly sexual than, say, David Cassidy. Just as one had gotten the unintended but inescapable suggestion, when told about the "terror and revulsion" experienced by women in the vicinity of construction sites, of creatures too "tender" for the abrasiveness of daily life, too fragile for the streets, so now one was getting, in the later literature of the movement, the impression of women too "sensitive" for the difficulties and ambiguities of adult life, women unequipped for reality and grasping at the movement as a rationale for denying that reality.

http://www.nytimes.com/1972/07......html?_r=0
1. SusanM 11 years ago
  
  Some guy named Joan?
  1. John 11 years ago
    
    Stop it with your gender identity oppression Susan.
    1. SusanM 11 years ago
      
      You're right. After all, you may have just figured intuitively that the writer was an early pioneer of the LGBTCIANRBQTNTABCDEFG movement. I shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly.
2. Idle Hands 11 years ago
  
  saw that, the main take away I have is how much better the writing was 50 years ago.
  1. John 11 years ago
    
    That too.
Jumbie 11 years ago

Over on Reddit a couple days ago there was a poll on which world leader should represent Earth in any negotiations with space aliens.

Obama didn't crack the top 200 comments.

Top 4 finishers were Putin, Merkel, Pope Francis and the Uruguayan president who lives in a hut or something like that.

Even Ron Paul got a mention, though it was for being able to bore the aliens into leaving with monetary talk.

But what does it say about the MAN who is the US president when the Office of US president doesn't get considered in a liberal place like a default reddit?

Also, who do you guys think should be the earth representative?
1. EDG reppin' LBC 11 years ago
  
  Also, who do you guys think should be the earth representative?
  
  1. David Bowie
  2. Putin
  3. Shaquille O'Neal
  4. Jackie Chan
  5. Lady Gaga
  
  And those choices are only if the aliens seem friendly. If the aliens seem like they want to start some shit, then;
  
  1. Bruce Willis
  2. Rhonda Rousey
  3. Adam Corolla
  4. Keith Richards
  5. Putin
2. SusanM 11 years ago
  
  Unfriendly aliens: Samuel L. Jackson
  
  Friendlies: Bill Clinton (who else but a master bullshitting con artist to make a deal?)
  
  Honorable posthumous mention goes to Douglas Adams, though.
Restoras 11 years ago

He basically did just channel Denis Lemieux
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XbL7lG0Su8

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