A.M. Links: U.S. Builds Case Against Russia Over Malaysian Jet Attack, Death Toll Climbs in Gaza, Florida Jury Awards $23.6 Billion in Smoking Lawsuit

• The Obama administration says that an "enormous amount of evidence" links both Ukrainian separatists and Russian forces to the missile attack that brought down a Malaysian Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine. The MH 17 crash site, meanwhile, remains under the control of pro-Russian separatists.

• The Palestinian death toll in Gaza has climbed to 476 after heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas on Sunday.

• "Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in French cities on Saturday to condemn violence in Gaza, defying a ban imposed after demonstrators marched on two synagogues in Paris last weekend and clashed with riot police."

• According to a new report, the Obama administration was first warned about long wait times and other problems at Veterans Affairs hospitals in 2008.

• A Florida jury has awarded $23.6 billion in damages to a widow who sued tobacco company R.J. Reynolds over her husband's death.

• Actor James Garner has died.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Actor James Garner has died.

I really thought he was already dead.

[Idle Hands]

Your pretty quick on the draw.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

You sound like his wife.

[Ted S.]

I posted it in two threads yesterday morning. Where's my hat-tip?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

RIP Jim Rockford.

Hate to break it to you guys but Canada beat the USA in the final at the World Lacrosse Championships.

[UnCivilServant]

So?

The success or failure of any bunch of athletes has no effect on me. It's not as if I bet on the games.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Just busting.

[Bee Tagger]

Sidney Lacrosseby strikes again.

[Ted S.]

So the Canucks are a bunch of upper-class white rapists?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Be careful when you visit.

Canada spelled backwards is Adanac.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

And Kokomo pronounced backwards is "Oh ma' cock".

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

A Toyota's a Toyota.

[Ted S.]

Tulsa nightlife: filth, gin, a slut.

[Bobarian]

Bob is boB

[Ted S.]

Everybody knows a little place like Kokomo

[Kaptious Kristen]

MMM...sounds more like " 'Omo cock".

[Ted S.]

You can tell the difference between 'omo cock and 'etero cock?

[Kaptious Kristen]

I have a decent gaydar, though it's not 100%. I suppose if I'm seeing the cock in the flesh, chances are good that it's a 'etero cock.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

That's pretty airtight logic.

[jesse.in.mb]

Some of my college friends beg to differ, but I drop trou relatively easily.

[Brett L]

Good-bye, Maverick. Even if you did spell Brett wrong.

[Pro Libertate]

And to the Scrounger in The Great Escape.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Support your local sheriff/gunslinger.

[Idle Hands]

Women won 23.6 billion in a cigarette lawsuit. No really, what the fuck.

[Jordan]

If you want to beat Fist, you can't just be first. You have to at least read the links 😉

[Idle Hands]

I going to claim that a link to CNN isn't a link to news at all, a more credible source is needed. One with integrity and a nose for hard hitting reporting.

[Brandon]

But you linked to the Times.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

You should read about the case. The court all but prevented RJ Reynolds from making their case. Not only that, but the award is not within state or federal guidelines.

This gets overturned on appeal.

[Jordan]

Yeah, this ruling had nothing to do with the law. The jury ruled purely on emotion.

[Geoff Nathan]

Well, given when this guy started smoking (1976), which is when the first rabid anti-smoking campaigns began, and the award is based on RJ Reynolds somehow 'hiding' the fact that smoking was bad for you, this is beyond insane. Hell, I remember cigarettes being called 'coffin nails' in the sixties.
Obligatory disclaimer: I have never smoked cigarettes.

[kinnath]

The surgeon general warnings started well before '76.

[Rhywun]

You know who else warned about the dangers of smoking well before '76?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Mom?

[DontShootMe]

If you read the Dashiell Hammett novel "The Thin Man", published in 1934, you'll see that his fictional characters were referring to cigarettes as coffin nails way back then. This faux outrage over people not knowing that cigarettes are bad for you is just really lame.

[Ted S.]

Nora Charles: What hit me?
Nick Harles: The sixth martini.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Fraud has to do with being deceptive, the fact that the truth was out there doesn't preclude someone's misrepresentation

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Please find an American tobacco ad post-1976 where a claim was made as to the health benefits of smoking. Now, show how that had a profound and lasting impact on the victim in the face of all other evidence at the time that showed the physical dangers and potential harm that smoking causes.

After that, go fuck yourself.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Still waiting, Bo.

[Brandon]

Still waiting...

[Restoras]

Of course it does not preclude someone's misrepresentation, no more than it precludes someone's misunderstanding, or someone's willful ignorance.

[MegaloMonocle]

Fraud requires reasonable reliance on the misrepresentation.

I don't think it has been reasonable to assume or believe that cigarettes aren't bad for you for many, many years.

[invisible furry hand]

The link was suspected in the early decades of the 20th century, but was first properly established in (I think) 1950 by Richard Doll and Austin Bradford Hall, which got a lot of press. It was the start of the anti-smoking campaign in earnest.

Nonetheless, people continued to smoke. Hell, they smoke even now. The grim truth is a lot of people like self-destructive behaviour

[Restoras]

Just about everyone seems to enjoy some kind of self-destructive behavior.

[Bobarian]

The honest truth is if you smoke for 50 years, there is a chance you could get lung cancer, and if you never smoked a day in your life, there is a chance you could get lung cancer.

That one chance is higher than the other becomes moot when a lot of people do the math for their own calculation.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

How silly does a juror have to be to say "yeah, 23.6 billion sounds about right?'

I think I'd be a juror likely to argue with 11 other people.

[Idle Hands]

exactly, that sum is so ludicrous noone could ever pay that out.

[Tonio]

And even if it does stand, there'd be no more settlement money for the next person who sues, so I'm envisioning other ex-smokers suing this woman for "their fair share" of the settlement money. Lawyers will clean up, litigants will get pennies.

[Brandon]

Which was the idea in the first place.

[Bobarian]

Chances are you'd be a juror who'd argue himself out of the jury pool. Seriously, this is why juries are so fucked up.

Lowest common denominator = too dumb to get out of jury duty.

[Lady Bertrum]

I'm looking forward to the billions of lawsuits against the USDA and for its food pyramid propaganda which has lead to the obesity epidemic and the death by fat of thousands.

[Idle Hands]

we're about 10 years from the ill health effects setting in, when people start getting significant medical bills there will not be a tree in the forest that won't get shaken.

[Poppa Kilo]

Disagree strongly - we are seeing the affects now, and have been for a generation and more.

Check the increased incidence of diabetes as one major impact. Obesity, too - which is closely related.

Gary Taubes' "Why We Get Fat - and What to Do About It" is a good read on the subject (trigger warning - has naked pictures of two pairs of twin girls - fat twins and skinny twins).

[Brett L]

Repeat after me: Sovereign Immunity.

Although, whether or not independent researchers providing the "science" the USDA based this on could be sued... that's an interesting question.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

$23.6b

It's like 1/600th of the nation's GDP.

[Stormy Dragon]

Yeah, but I think there's more than 600,000 fat people.

[Restoras]

Awards like this are also a variation of the More Free Stuff concept.

[Idle Hands]

The fact that anybody could get rewarded this ridiculous sum of money in the first place is amazing in itself.

[Root Boy]

I expect the first MJ lawsuit (if the lawyer ticks can find big MJ) within a decade...

[Idle Hands]

But according to pot advocates MJ smoking is good for you.

[Rasilio]

It is apparently even more carcinogenic than Tobacco, the difference is with Tobacco you can (and will) smoke a lot more of it.

A 2 pack a day smoker smokes 40 cigarettes. You'd be asleep for the day by the time you got to your 10th joint

[Idle Hands]

I don't disagree, I just think some people fighting for pot advocacy have gone a little overboard. I'm all for legalization, it's just funny that most of the people that are advocating for a completely unregulated product, consider themselves leftists in every other sense. The hypocrisy is hilarious.

[Brandon]

Most of the people advocating for it to be completely unregulated are libertarians. The leftists want it heavily regulated and taxed as fuck. And provided free to poor people.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

It is apparently even more carcinogenic than Tobacco

[citation required]

I've heard exactly the opposite.

[Rasilio]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2.....udy-finds/

"Though marijuana smoke does contain cancer-causing chemicals, the majority of people simply don't consume enough of it to get ill, said Mr. Morgenstern.

"When you think about people smoking 20-40 cigarettes a day for 40 years, they're smoking hundreds of thousands of cigarettes," he said. "The exposure [to harmful smoke] that marijuana users get ? is more than a magnitude of difference less.""

Basically the heaviest pot smokers will smoke on average as much pot in a week as the average tobacco smoker smokes in a day and the average pot smoker isn't smoking much more than 5 joints a week so the amounts consumed just aren't enough to cause much of an increased risk of cancer.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Meh. Skeptical.

The study, which contradicts other recent research that concluded the connection was all but non-existent

men who were

surveyed

about their lifestyles in 1969-70, then tracked over the subsequent 40 years.

The researchers admit the study could not trace how much the men used marijuana or tobacco after the initial interviews.

I'll wait to come to a conclusion.

[Rasilio]

Problem is that proving a causative link for cancer is nearly impossible.

Marijuana smoke has basically the same carcinogenic compounds as Tobacco, some of them in greater quantities. The one exception is swapping out Nicotine (which is itself carcinogenic) for canniboids (which some think fight cancer).

However the problem is the difference in the way the 2 substances are used. Tobacco users smoke a LOT of Tobacco. 10 cigarettes a day every day is considered a light smoker. Comparatively Marijuana smokers do not, 10 joints a week would be an above average pot smoker. To study them you would need to somehow find a population of cigarette smokers who averaged smoking about half a pack to a pack a week then compare them to a population of average pot smokers over a very long period of time. Problem is I do not think that first group exists

[Libertymike]

There is also significant support for the proposition the MJ provides health benefits. Of course, this fact may fuck with your narrative, but that is what facts often do.

[Libertymike]

Are you aware of the January 2012 Journal of the American Medical Association article in which the long term effects of moderate MJ smokers, (2-3 joints a month - I know - that is a pretty tame description of "moderate", over 20 years, included a MODEST INCREASE in lung capacity?

[Rasilio]

Your mistake is assuming I have a narrative

[Seamus]

But we're constantly being told that even light smoking is like juggling hand grenades: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/n.....a-day.aspx Surely light pot consumption should be at least as risky.

[Libertymike]

All day long, I can refer to both anecdotal and "studies" evidence that support the position that MJ is not only not bad for you, but GOOD for you.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Yeah...

Why not $100 trillion?

You can't put a price on a human life.

Why not $100 trillion trillion?

[Brandon]

All the money.

[Bee Tagger]

the Obama administration was first warned about long wait times and other problems at Veterans Affairs hospitals in 2008.

A fact which the Obama administration is now aware of thanks to this media report.

[Vulgar Madman]

Thank god for newspapers!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the Obama administration was first warned about long wait times and other problems at Veterans Affairs hospitals in 2008.

They had oceans to lower and planets to heal.

[Auric Demonocles]

You know who else was President in 2008?

[UnCivilServant]

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf?

[waffles]

She is a despot. She insists on being referred to as "Her Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf". I doubt she will ever step down from her position. Free and fair elections in Africa are fucking bullshit.

[UnCivilServant]

But her title was 'President' and she was in office in 2008.

[waffles]

I know but having spent 3 steamy months in Liberia leading up to her reelection the mere mention of her name makes my blood boil.

[Ted S.]

But she's got a vulva and lots of melanin. That alone makes her somebody we're supposed to idolize.

[Rhywun]

Her Nobel Peace Prize tells me everything I need to know.

[BakedPenguin]

Her Nobel Peace Prize tells me everything I need to know.

Well, Norman Borlaug won one, so there's at least one recipient who actually deserves it.

Of course, Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho won it a couple years later. At least Tho had the honesty to refuse his.

[DontShootMe]

Ok, I'll bite. Which planet is Obama healing? Cuz it dang sure ain't this one.

[ant1sthenes]

I believe he thinks that destroying humanity will help heal the planet, which is why he's trying to let shit spiral out of control until we get world war 3.

[hamilton]

Well of course. Central to the Progressive mindset is the complete and utter uselessness and destructiveness of the human race.

[DontShootMe]

So the goal is a world populated by gigantic radioactive cockroaches? Got it.

[hamilton]

Yes. Cockroaches would properly propitiate Gaea, you see.

[MegaloMonocle]

So the goal is a world populated by gigantic radioactive cockroaches progressives?

[UnCivilServant]

Well of course. Central to the Progressive mindset is the complete and utter uselessness and destructiveness of the human race.

Since their reference pool consists of themselves and those they've admitted to their echo chambers, can you blame them for having that view of humanity?

[DontShootMe]

I finally understand. Thank you.

[Auric Demonocles]

Dude, where have you been?

[hamilton]

Vacation (well, "vacation" - scout camp) for a week, then a business trip to Europe. Anything interesting happen?

Time for that Boston meetup. Or are you off hiking soon?

[Auric Demonocles]

I did get quite a few Pats tickets. I've already got the Bengals, Bears, Broncos, and Lions taken care of. (I also have both preseason games and 1 very good ticket to the Dolphins, but I'm trying to sell all of those).

I've got 4 more weeks before hiking. I'm up for another meetup. It seems to be all the rage this week.

[hamilton]

Cool. Let's initiate the long complex scheduling sequence.

We should also do a game if we can find two more Hampersand Pats fans, or at least coordinate tailgating this year.

[Auric Demonocles]

Here we go. IIRC, there was talk of doing it bit north of the city this time, as it seems like I'm the only one who actually lives in town.

[Palin's Buttplug]

According to a new report, the Obama administration was first warned about long wait times and other problems at Veterans Affairs hospitals in 2008.

BOOOOSSSHHHHH!!

NO FAIR!

[Restoras]

Hello, David Weigel.
http://reason.com/people/david-weigel/articles

[Mike M.]

Of 2124 12th St NW Washington, DC 20009, phone number 202-261-2848.

[Jordan]

I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND BASIC LOGIC!!1

NO FAIR IN USING LOGIC AGAINST ME!!!1

[Vulgar Madman]

Be nice, buttplug hasn't had his meth yet.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Excessive wait times =/= creating fake scheduling logs! not ever intending to see patients and then collecting bonuses.

If those things were going on pre-Obama then prosecute those criminals as well.

Also, go fuck yourself. This isn't a team Red site, dickface.

[Restoras]

He seems more of a pizza-face to me. Is it possible to be both?

[Lord Humungus]

beyond 'tard rage, I have a hard time imagining him bench-pressing more than a jug of milk.

[Ted S.]

Deep-dish "pizza" topped with artisanal mayonnaise and foreskins?

[Restoras]

There is nothing 'deep' about Weigel. I'd have to go with a poorly made, soupy and doughy NYC-style slice with white beans and corn starch, though the foreskins are an interesting touch. Would these be sheep foreskins?

[perlhaqr]

Welp, thats done for me for needing lunch. Blah.

[tarran]

Nothing fills me with hope for the future as much as observing people wasting minutes out of their day to reason futilely with something that has the brain-power of a cockroach.

You people seem to think that if you find the right combination of words, it will understand. Regrettably, it literally is incapable of comprehending anything you are saying to it; it's shitting a word salad, and consuming the word salad you shit back at it.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

I'm not reasoning with him. I'm mockingly calling him a dickface.

Also notice I didn't lock eyes with him.

[Root Boy]

Well, I kind of like the color it adds to the AM/PM threads. I don't just want to read John arguing that he does not hit fat chicks.

[VG Zaytsev]

They're just tilting at windmills.

[Restoras]

More like tilting at the stay puft marshmallow man.

[UnCivilServant]

Well yeah, get a good hit with a lance and you can roast one of those over a fire and make a massive S'more.

[UnCivilServant]

Nothing fills me with hope for the future as much as observing people wasting minutes out of their day to reason futilely with something that has the brain-power of a cockroach.

I'm wasting those minutes at work in one form or another. If I can get a troll to shriek amusingly, it helps the time pass.

It's amazing how much bureaucracy slows down processes that shouldn't take long at all.

[Mainer2]

I don't understand it either.
It's not much of an effort to have the discipline to not respond.
Yet the some characters consistently bait the commentariat to dance.
The are master baiters.

[Bobarian]

What you did there? I don't (want to)see it at all.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

And did nothing.

Something Obama is brilliant at.

'We will and I will not stop!'

/Flops on couch with remote.

[kinnath]

http://www.salon.com/2014/07/2.....s_failure/

Right-wing obstruction could have been fought: An ineffective and gutless presidency's legacy is failure

Almost makes me feel cheerful on this tedious Monday morning.

[Lady Bertrum]

It's always because they didn't fight hard enough - try hard enough, not because their ideas suck and are unworkable.

COMMUNISUM WOULD TOTALY HAVE WORKED IF ONLY WE HAD THE RIGHT TOP MEN.

Liz Warren is the right TOP MAN. It'll totally work this time.

[kinnath]

True, but it is enjoyable to see them openly savaging the first black president in public 😉

[Rasilio]

"Liz Warren is the right TOP MAN. It'll totally work this time."

well she has got more balls than Obama

[Rhywun]

Run, Liz, Run!

[jesse.in.mb]

Run, Liz, Run!

After her presidency the people will let her out of her cage and give her a head start while the spectators scream that.

[hamilton]

Oh, the comments are so yummy salty-sweet.

[MJGreen]

That was always going to be the historical narrative for Obama. He meant well, he had the right ideas, but he just didn't stand up enough to the all-powerful right-wingers.

In fact that's pretty much the faithful's MO. It's always about how the Democrats are spineless, and that's why they don't get their miracle legislation.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

DC Reasonoids! Don't forget the meetup this Wednesday in Old Town Alexandria at O'Shaugnessys.

The place opens at 5, so if you're getting there early, let me know and we'll pre-game somewhere else around there.

Let's get a prelim roll call.

I'll be there and so will Banjos.

[Idle Hands]

I'm almost positive I'm in, don't get out of work till 5 so probably be a tad late.

[Ted S.]

Teaching the kids to drink already? :-p

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

It's a pre-req whether I am in the Peoples Republic of California or this close to Mordor.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I discovered a few weeks ago that little Reason loves margaritas.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'm there

[Lord Humungus]

will you take ownership of your part of the h&r herd?

[Kaptious Kristen]

I'm askeered as to what this even means!

[Steve G]

Put me down for a solid 'highly likely'

[Doctor Whom]

I'll be there late.

[radar]

How the hell do so many of you tolerate living in DC/Nova???? Richmond's bad enough, but on those unfortunate occasions when I have to go north I feel like I can't even breathe. It's such a repugnant region.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Jesus, where do you live in Richmond that's "bad enough"? You up in Chimbo or something? No wait,you live in Varina, don't you?

I so miss Richmond. It was fucking great from the Slip to Short Pump. He'll, there were even good places on Southside.

As for DC, I love living on the VA side but couldn't live in DC or MD. Im 4 blocks from the metro and walking distance from a shit ton of stuff to do. And we live off the yellow line, so we avoid the dipshit mobs of blue and orange line clowns.

[radar]

Hah, no, I live in Glen Allen, the ultimate in white bread (or, more accurately, white bread mixed with some naan) suburbs. Not talking about where I live as much as the city itself in general. There's been a massive explostion in the population of boho hipster dipshits in the past decade or so. Must be all that VCU expansion. Can't stand when the wife drags me down to Carytown anymore. And is it possible for a new restaurant to open up that ISN'T some SWPL wet dream of snout-to-tail, locally sourced organic fusion cuisine? Christ.

It's still home and likely always will be, though. Definitely wouldn't move to Nova no matter how much anyone paid me. For one thing, you couldn't buy a closet in Nova with what I paid for my house.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Well if you avoid Carytown you're all set then. Hell, Carytown has always been that way. With the exception of Sticky Rice, I never wanted to go there except for the watermelon festival. Although I did used to hang out there from time to time and shoot the shit with a few regulars at some coffee shop by Plan 9.

I spent the majority,of my time in the Bottom or at Potters Pub (before Rose died and her asshole son took over) and Rare Olde Tomes (RIP Martin and Andy). I'm pretty sure my life there would be tough to top out in Glen Allen.

[radar]

The gyro place in Carytown is pretty good, and you can find a lot of decent clothes at the Carytown Goodwill. Aside from that, though, I agree with you. If only I could convice my wife of that...

[Kaptious Kristen]

We haz jerbs, courtesy of our overgrown gubmint. That's the only reason I stay here. I interviewed for a "jack of all trades" web developer/marketing/social media position in VT and they didn't even want to pay me $60k.

[Pi Guy]

Just got back from vacation but am priming the pump with the boss to get out a little early. (I'm an hour+ north of there in Carrollabama County, MD)

Looking good, tho

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Oh good. I was gonna email you and see if it was too far or not.

Glad to see you're gonna try to be there.

[Slammer]

Michael Moore divorce documents.

Included among the nearly 300 items on Moore's trial exhibit list are six stories published in 2011 about the Torch Lake compound. Each of the articles described the luxury residence, while some of the reports noted that the Occupy Wall Street supporter was living like a member of the "1%." One story described the residence as "Moore's $2M hypocrite house," while another article's headline declared that the director's "Massive Michigan Vacation Mansion Beyond 99 Percent's Wildest Dreams."

Nine properties in Michigan and new York.

KKKapitalism!!!!

[Restoras]

No, it's ok because he worships the same religion.
http://theweek.com/article/ind.....rant-dogma

He'll get a pass.

[Slammer]

The reigning dogma of our time, according to Lilla, is libertarianism

what makes libertarianism a dogma is the inability or unwillingness of those who espouse it to accept that some people might choose, for morally legitimate reasons, to dissent from it.

What utter bullshit. That is so full of shit I'm speechless.

[waffles]

Projektshun!

[Atanarjuat]

Prog-jektshun!

fixed

[Brian D]

I think that "morally legitimate reasons" qualifier is key. If she means that libertarians can accept that people choose to dissent from libertarianism, but disagree that they would do so for morally legitimate reasons, then I would agree.

[some guy]

You just don't get it, Brian. Your refusal to obey is the most evil kind of oppression.

[Brian D]

True. I'm quite sure progressives would consider my disdain for progressivism to be impossible to articulate with morally legitimate reasons too.

[Fluffy]

Well, ANY code that has a moral basis can't be dissented from for morally legitimate reasons.

That's the whole point.

[robc]

Im trying to figure out what the "morally legitimate" opposition to freedom is?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

If it saves just one child...

[MegaloMonocle]

They can't stand that:

You aren't free unless you are free to be wrong.

Ultimately, they think its evil to do what you want, when its not what they want you to do.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah. A supporter of universal care and single-payer, like he'd go get health services in Canada and Cuba.

He's some piece of hypocritical work that idiot. But people sure love him.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

I think he's awesome. That fucker has extracted more money from leftist griefers that everybody this side of AlGor and has managed to rack up quite a bankroll in the process.

I just hope one day he comes out and says it was all some kind of performance art where he proves that fools and their money are easily parted.

He's a modern-day P.T. Barnum.

[Idle Hands]

The man has the audacity to claim that Cuba has a better healthcare system than our own, with a straight face. That may( but way more likely not) be true but how can you possibly substantiate that, it's a joke.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I visited a hospital and pharmacy in Cuba.

Trust me.

It isn't.

[jesse.in.mb]

I had a history professor who specialized in Cuba and worked there for a lot of his graduate work. He always joked "The doctors are well educated and helpful, just bring your own goddamned aspirin, bandages, antibiotics, etc."

He told stories of paying for medical services with a bottle of OTC pain meds he'd brought with him from the States.

[Ted S.]

Warty has a Doppelg?nger

[Bobarian]

Was that supposed to link to something else? I expected a photo of Sasquatch or a cave bear; not handcuffs and an article 'im der deutsch'?

[Ted S.]

See? It's safe for work as long as your boss doesn't speak German! 🙂

The headline translates as "Man masturbates on train in front of girl".

I suppose Warty would just rape the girl.

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else could speak im der Deutsch?

[Ted S.]

Der edle Ted S.?

[Bobarian]

Ted S. is Hitler?

[Lord Humungus]

now that makes sense.

[Rasilio]

Yeah but Nicole is worse

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Gunderic?

[Rhywun]

Ich nicht.

[seguin]

Gaiseric?

[Restoras]

NYC-area Reasonoids:

Reminder, Meet-up this Saturday 7/26
Time: 5:00PM
Place: http://www.rattlenhumbarnyc.com/home

Who's going?

[waffles]

What's wrong with the steel-city Reasonoids? Can we get it together?

[Restoras]

With the response I am getting for this meet-up I might be driving to the Steel City this weekend.

[Ted S.]

What isn't wrong with yinz?

[Almanian!]

Actual Yinzer conversation:

1) Jeet yet?

2) No. Jew?

1) No - I'm goint'th Jine Iggle (Giant Eagle)

2) It's so You mid (humid). I could gofer a Yuge sandwich. Yinz wanna Yuge sandwaich?

Dropping the H's and with the yinz and yuns and usn's - it's laugh-out-loud funny in real life.

Jine Iggle - my fave.

[waffles]

I just shorten it to Jeagle.

[Slammer]

Is that where you buy jumbo?

[Stormy Dragon]

First time I was visiting my brother in Pittsburgh and a ynizer started talking about a Giant Eagle, I thought they were saying "Jeep Eagle" and couldn't figure out why they wanted to go to a car dealership for food.

[Mock-star]

NEEDS MOAR CRICK

[Auric Demonocles]

While that death scare is intimidating, it still needs alt-text.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in French cities on Saturday to condemn violence in Gaza, defying a ban imposed after demonstrators marched on two synagogues in Paris last weekend and clashed with riot police."

There people are something else. Next time, don't kidnap three kids and kill them senselessly you assholes. Come to think of it, quit lobbing rockets at Israel like a bunch of degenerates.

As for the Malaysia plane, dear Lord, I hope it wasn't the Russians. If it was, there's another bunch of depraved pieces of shits.

[Ted S.]

It was the neo-Soviets.

[waffles]

Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground attack. Two of them were Americans. Haven met US citizens who willingly fight for Israel I don't get it. What the fuck do these people think they're doing? Signing up so they can go play commando in Gaza is crazy stupid.

At least I can say the birthright Israel program is very effective.

[VG Zaytsev]

Rahm Emmanuel was in the Israel army.

[Tonio]

Israeli soldiers have been killed in the ground attack. Two of them were Americans.

So what? They may still hold US citizenship due to quirks in our laws, but when you voluntarily join the army of another nation you lose any US-citizen protection or sympathy for anything that happens while you are wearing the uniform of another nation.

[Idle Hands]

French Foreign Legion.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

"Next time, don't kidnap three kids and kill them senselessly you assholes. "

The people that marched in Paris kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teens?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They're reacting to Israel's reaction to Hamas's original action of...kidnapping three teens, Bo.

Don't go nitpicking 'tard again, please.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Maybe it's possible to deplore the actions of two murderous Hamas members and still think killing 500 people in response is wrong?

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

They've killed 500 people in response to the kidnapping and murder of three people?

Huh, I thought it was in response to,the indiscriminate, albeit unsuccessful, rocket campaign Hamas were waging against them.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'd be suspicious of that 500 number as well. As we've seen time and time again, thanks to the efforts of the Pallywood misinformation corps, Palestinian causality numbers are like Internet penis inches.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don't believe a word they say. Back in University we hung out with a girl that had parents from Palestine. She didn't even believe Palestinians.

[Fluffy]

If the fact that group of people A bombed someone means it's OK for me to kill 500 people from group B, then 9/11 was OK four times over.

[ant1sthenes]

Do you think Israel is deliberately targeting noncombatants (as opposed to Hamas using noncombatants and civil infrastructure as human shields)?

I am skeptical. Hamas exists to destroy Israel, not to protect Palestinians. Every Israeli noncombatant killed is a victory against Israeli morale; every Palestian noncombatant killed is a victory against Israeli political standing. Every drop of innocent blood shed aids Hamas; every drop of innocent blood shed hurts Israel.

[Restoras]

8,000 rockets in the past ten years. Nah, that's not justification at all. Them Jews really should just not stand up for themselves and turn the other cheek.

That strategy worked great in the 30s and 40s!

[invisible furry hand]

They Aint Makin Jews Like Jesus Anymore

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

The idiot anti-Jews on the left have trotted out there newest talking point: scale of response.

They actually think responding with overwhelming force is condemnable. They think for every Hamas unguided rocket that gets through Iron a Dome, Israel should respond in kind by sending a few Palestinians to their death.

They have no idea that their way of fighting a war would basically mean every war is one of attrition and the larger population wins.

IOW, they're fucking retarded.

[WTF]

The only thing the doctrine of proportional response has done is make it safe for weak powers to attack strong powers, because it removes the deterrent of all-out war and possible annihilation.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Q: Exactly who gets the bright idea to "protest" Israeli government policies by marching on and intimidating the members of a French synagogue, then getting into a fight with riot police on the grounds?

Scratch an anti-Zionist, find a Jew-hater.

[mad libertarian guy]

Next time, don't kidnap three kids and kill them senselessly you assholes. Come to think of it, quit lobbing rockets at Israel like a bunch of degenerates.

I doubt that protesters in France did either of those things.

And either way, the level of indiscriminate killing in Gaza is unconscionable, even if you agree that Israel has a right to retaliate.

What's happening there is sick. There is no valid justification.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No doubt about that.

[perlhaqr]

Link to evidence for "indiscriminate"?

[Jordan]

Yesterday was the first time I fired a grenade launcher. Turns out my buddy has one attached to an AR. We fired flares, not grenades, but it was still hella fun. Also blew up some tannerite. Good times.

[Lord Humungus]

Domestic TERERoRIIRSMM!

[Bobarian]

Flares are fun, but HEDP is A LOT more fun.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Obama administration says that an "enormous amount of evidence" links both Ukrainian separatists and Russian forces to the missile attack that brought down a Malaysian Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine.

The separatists bragging about it online before realizing what they'd done might be a big clue.

[Tim]

I'm unfriending them.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

#presidentclouseau

[Lord Humungus]

On vacation this week - heading to the beach today. Have a happy Monday, suckers.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Where you headed?

[Lord Humungus]

Lake Michigan - where else? About the only time of year that the water is warm enough to swim in.

Of course my Finnish wife can go swimming in May...

[Ted S.]

She could probably go swimming in January too.

[Almanian!]

Headed over to Manistee later this week myself with Mrs. Almanian.

Hoping the big lake exceed 40F...:) It's been pretty cold this summer.

Have fun, Humongus!

[Lord Humungus]

you too... I'm out the door... as of now....

[EDG reppin' LBC]

When I was a kid, I would go stay with a family friend at Point Betsie in July. That water is cold!

[The DerpRider]

I sunk my kayak in Traverse Bay last week when there were 4-5' whitecaps. Spray skirt next time...

[Almanian!]

kewl!

Yeah, last summer there were, like, six foot waves on the beach. ON THE BEACH! It was a bitch - couldn't even wade. A couple years ago, I took my sun - the water was calm and so warm we played water football with the gang for about an hour and half and didn't freeze!

Lake Michigan - she can be a real bitch...not to be toyed with.

[Almanian!]

I took my sun - let's go with "son" - the "sun" was already there two years ago 🙂

[The Late P Brooks]

PBS: NEEDZ MOAR TOP MEN.

While the facts are still emerging from the loss of MH17, it now appears highly unlikely that the missile crew intended to shoot down an airliner from a nonaligned country peacefully traversing Ukraine airspace. It is also clear from the earlier Malaysia Airlines MH370 disaster that a highly competent, independent, global accident investigation organization is now needed.

I suspect this boils down to AMERICA: WORLD POLICE. I don't imagine they're too keen on giving Russian investigators free rein in New York.

[gaijin]

It is also clear from the earlier Malaysia Airlines MH370 disaster that a highly competent, independent, global accident investigation organization is now needed.

Wait, they found that other plane?

[tarran]

Oh, my, yes!

Because the plane's disappearance would be so much less mysterious if the NTSB was asking IMMARSAT engineers to analyze the 7 pings instead of the IMMARSAT guys doing it on their own initiative.

What we need is more project management!

[UnCivilServant]

What we need is more project management!

Sadly, I actually hear that (or the logical equivalent thereof) out of the project management office.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in French cities on Saturday to condemn violence in Gaza...

The joke's on them. The only thing the world hates worse than the Jews is the French.

[Slammer]

For the metalheads: I present you Slugdge. All their songs are about giant snails and world domination. Their albums are free from Bandcamp, too.

[entropy_factor]

typically the metal links on Reason suck ass, hard. Too much cookie monster voice with shitty compressed guitar.

While still too cookie-monster for me, the music is certainly an upgrade. A little more complex than the typical "metal" here, so there's that.

[Root Boy]

Air Force gets a new PACAF commander - and she's not a pilot:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....cific.html

She has some crazy wing badge on her uniform, though I have little knowledge of the baubles the AF gives out -- I only know Navy/MC wings.

[Restoras]

Jeez. Is it just me or are our senior officers sporting campaign ribbons in the style of the old Soviet Union? It looks like a cutting board made of discard rainbow loom loops. WTF?

Oh, and squirrels seem to be engaging in a little hit and run with me this morning. Anyone else?

[Jordan]

Pretty soon they'll look like the North Korean generals with medals on their pant legs.

[Slammer]

Those are all legit.

[creech]

This photo of her with ribbons will start to give our four-star sheriffs and police chiefs some ideas!

[Drake]

Now that they give out all of these leadership and achievement medals, it's hard to know what I'm looking at.

When I was in the Marines, I knew most of the common ones. Ribbons above the Combat Action Ribbon where meaningful, those below were for showing up.

[Restoras]

those below were for showing up

So, just a continuation of the everyone gets a trophy policy that starts in kindergarten soccer/tee-ball/etc.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Absolutely. All but the top 2 or 3 are usually bullshit anyway.

[entropy_factor]

fuck a good cookie LOL Chesty's Own right here!!

[Ted S.]

I haven't noticed anything. Yet.

[Brian D]

Well this one is for typing, and this one is for dart champion, and this one is for surfin'!

[Vulgar Madman]

*yawn* wake me when they pick a transgendered black midget with parkinsons.

[Steve G]

She's an Air Battle Manager (AWACS). She's arguably as versed in the operational art of air warfare as any pilot. This is a big non-issue on several levels, not the least of which is this push 'for more diversity in the higher ranks'. My boss in the AF is a female general, her boss: another female general. That's boss's deputy: a female senior civilian. Fucking enough already about diversity...

[Francisco d'Anconia]

She's an Air Weapons Controller and a Weapons School grad. She'll be fine.

[Slammer]

I think I just became pro-dictatorship. Warren in 2016.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's sickening but it does reveal how they think deep down inside.

[The Late P Brooks]

Right-wing obstruction could have been fought: An ineffective and gutless presidency's legacy is failure

Why hasn't President Social Justice Warrior dissolved Congress and declared martial law?

TAKE THE GLOVES OFF!

[Almanian!]

"Let me be clear. It's too bad that a do-nothing Congrefs has forced me to do this. But they have. There's your problem, right there....*points at Boner*

But they have forced my hand. I'm forced to take unprecedented action due to the Republican leadership.

Therefore, effective immediately, I am declaring Congrefs in recess, having all Representatives and Senators jailed, and declaring martial law. In my mercy. God bless 'murca."

[Drake]

Not gonna happen - running a dictatorship would interfere with the golf and fund-raising schedule.

[Tonio]

Revisiting the incredibly awful Liz Warren video. First, you guys are all a bunch of pussies. I LOL'd all the way through it. They actually believe that she's a dynamic, electable candidate and that the video will resonate with the American people. Sure, a Warren presidency would be something to fear but I don't think we have to worry about that anytime soon. This video reminds me of seventies lesbian folk music, which is admittedly awful but also hilarious in it's painfully-unaware self-parody.

[Idle Hands]

I would concur with this.

[Andrew S.]

I fear Warren being elected. Team Red isn't called the Stupid Party for nothing. Once they run Rand Paul out of the primaries they'll find a way to fuck up the general.

[Idle Hands]

There is no way in hell Warren gets in over Hillary. No effing way. The equivalent would be a Santorum esq character from team red. Just look at the polls she craters.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I remember people saying that about an obscure young junior senator.

[MegaloMonocle]

Tut, tut, HM.

The approved form is "You know who else was an obscure junior Senator?"

Tow the lion, dude.

[Tonio]

As I keep saying she is going to enter the 2016 race, but only to try to move her party's platform to the left. She will not get the nomination in 2016. Since Hillary is likely to win in 2016, and to win reelection in 2020, Warren's serious run will be in 2024.

[Rhywun]

No fucking way is Hilary winning in 2016. The base loves her but she is deeply unpopular to everyone else.

[Seamus]

So all those polls are lying?

[Jensen]

You guys do realize that Warren will be 75 in 2024 right?

[Ken Shultz]

"According to a new report, the Obama administration was first warned about long wait times and other problems at Veterans Affairs hospitals in 2008."

In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes government bureaucrats writing CYA memos just to cover their asses.

Somehow, all the veterans who died waiting on the secret lists will be all Bush's fault, too.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Muslims in Mosul, Iraq, burned and destroyed a 1800 year old Catholic church.

"Informed sources said that the organization of the so-called Islamic State in Mosul, "Daash" had completely burned down the Syriac Catholic Diocese in Mosul, the sources said that the organization has burned the archdiocese, which lies in the area of the field and was burnt down with the full contents of its holdings....

"The Christians were given three days to arrive to a meeting and convert, but not one showed up....

"But there are still about 200 more Christian families left in Mosul. Shoebat.com urges all of you to pray for them."

http://shoebat.com/2014/07/19/.....n-destroy/

[EDG reppin' LBC]

"But there are still about 200 more Christian families left in Mosul. Shoebat.com urges all of you to pray for them."

I would encourage them to get the fuck out of Mosul.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Curses!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

"But there are still about 200 more Christian families left in Mosul."

I'd say it's probably past time to leave.

[Tim]

Time to move folks.

[Ken Shultz]

I'm not up on this stuff like I used to be, but I think there's an international norm that imposes a responsibility to protect.

Clinton and Albright dithered on calling what was happening in Rwanada "genocide", since that might have forced our hand in some ways.

I hope Obama is reluctant to call this ethnic cleansing, as well, although ethnic cleansing is exactly what this is. I just don't want to send troops back there.

We used to have this thing called "carpet bombing", though. We don't do that anymore because out of the warmness of our hearts, but sometimes, when violence really is the answer, but sending in troops isn't...?

[entropy_factor]

R2P (responsibility to protect) is some interventionist bullshit, and then some.

[Seamus]

"Responsibility to protect" doesn't apply when it's just Christians we're talking about. They probably don't even support transgender rights.

[Res Publica Americana]

It still boggles my mind that anybody gives a two shits about these mind-fuckingly retarded, developmentally stunted barbarian fucks. Let them murder each other. In fact, if we're lucky, they'll just self-exterminate.

[Matrix]

But, but... RELIGION OF PEACE! And, um... Christians are "people of the Book." They're supposed to be safe from forced conversion.

[Res Publica Americana]

There are people WHO ACTUALLY BELIEVE THIS.

[Drake]

That was long ago when Islam was a confident, growing faith, governed by competent leaders (and even then they were dicks).

Now, it's a cult of losers who, like modern liberals, can't tolerate competition because they know they'll lose.

[Andrew S.]

Balko posted this link yesterday with cops discussing the guy who was choked to death by the cop.

However bad you think it's going to be, it's worse than that.

[Kaptious Kristen]

A demonstration as to why all cops are bad.

[Mainer2]

The conservative morning radio host here in New Hampshire is confident that 99.9% of the police do not support this kind of thing.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Clich? Bandit]

that shit cant be real...are these people so stupid as to put that online?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

They're only stupid if there are repercussions

[Rhywun]

The cop-sucking Post this morning is going with "autopsy reveals no throat damage". Glug, glug, slurp.

[MegaloMonocle]

So, it was just a complete coincidence that he died with a cop's arm wrapped around his neck?

[perlhaqr]

Is that a PoliceOne link? NO FAIR HIDING IT!

It's like being Rick Rolled, only worse. Dick Rolled. By which we mean, your dick, and a steamroller. :-/

[Pro Libertate]

That sucks about James Garner. Always liked him. RIP.

[Libertymike]

We need more Brett Mavericks and Jimmy Rockfords.

One thing, among many, that I really liked about the guy was that he was with the Silver and Black. Could there be a better fit between a character (both Brett Maverick and Jim Rockford) and his favorite team?

Yes, The Americanization of Emily was awesome, but I thought one of his best roles was in Murphy's Romance.

[Bobarian]

Playing Woodrow Call in the last of the 'Lonesome Dove' stories was a great cap on his career.

[Libertymike]

Yes, good point. Thank you for reminding me.

[Mainer2]

Newman, McQueen, Garner.

Who would you rather share a beer with ?

[invisible furry hand]

Jimmy Garner by a country mile.

[Libertymike]

and then some.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Garner. Hands down. One of the main reasons I moved to LA was because of my love for The Rockford Files.

[Emmerson Biggins]

+1 Garner.

[The Late P Brooks]

There is no way in hell Warren gets in over Hillary. No effing way.

And Obama will be a one-term President. No Fucking Way he'll ever get re-elected.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I heard Klein explain that Hilary knew the truth about Benghazi and was stunned that Obama asked her to go with the video meme. For political expediency she unfortunately closed ranks and went with the lie.

And this person wants to lead a nation?

Unfortunately Warren is far worse. If Hilary was incompetent in her role, imagine Warren! What exactly qualifies her besides her idiotic faux-populist bull shit she spews from her flapping vagina?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

If Warren gets in over Hillary, the Iron Bitch will blow a gasket. She'll probably go on a drug and gun fueled rampage at the convention. That alone is worth the price of admission.

[invisible furry hand]

Drug and gun fueled? Please. With icy determination she will seek out her enemies and crush their balls in her adamantine claw until they die. Or at least that's what I'd like to see

[Mainer2]

adamantine is such a good word

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Kind of like Man-Killer?

Van Horn was driven nearly insane by bitterness and anger, and her plight was soon discovered by agents of the subversive scientific organization called Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.). Operating covertly, A.I.M. financed a militant feminist group that recruited van Horn, and the organization also secretly funded her lengthy rehabilitation process. Moreover, van Horn, who adopted the code name "Man-Killer," was outfitted with a powerful exoskeleton that granted her superhuman strength.

[The Late P Brooks]

Water, water...

California, the source of nearly half of US-grown fruits, nuts, and vegetables, has joined many other drought-hit areas with its first water-emergency measure. On Tuesday, state regulators approved daily fines of as much as $500 for anyone who violates local bans on such activities as washing cars and watering lawns.

This new enforced ethic of conservation may serve a temporary goal of avoiding water "blackouts" in many cities. But it sends a message that water is a scarce resource ? when it isn't.

Is it just me, or is this editorial pretty much incoherent?

Some parts make perfect sense, but as a whole, I'm not sure where the fuck they're going.

And I firmly believe a huge part of what is sold as OMG Global Warmingz! is just stupid, counterproductive water policy.

[Pro Libertate]

Auric and I have a plan to deliver water ice from space at high speed to people who fail to pay for anti-comet insurance.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Be an Ice Pirate!

[Pro Libertate]

I remember that. I saw Spenser, but where was Hawk?

[Auric Demonocles]

I would classify it as more like an Ice Mob.

But if we are gonna be pirates in space, I definitely want my battle controls to be exactly like Space Invaders.

[Pro Libertate]

Fortunately, those are consistent with my controls, which follow the Galaga model.

[Idle Hands]

Isn't there a scene in Richard Pryor movie where he exports glaciers to African countries or something like that?

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

He gave money to someone that wanted to drive glaciers to Africa in "Brewsters Millions".

An underrated movie, by the way.

[radar]

Yep, Brewster's Millions is awesome. The scheme was actually using tugboats to tow icebergs to Africa.

"Vote None of The Above!"

[Matrix]

But if your lawn starts dying because you're not watering it, you'll also be fined $500/day.

[Res Publica Americana]

Imagine you're Putin, and you're sitting there, drinking some punk-ass booze and watching TV. Suddenly, Obama shows up at a press conference, and announces that the Congress of the United States has just passed a declaration of war on the Russian Federation and its abettors. How many simultaneous hemorrhages would you suffer?

[ant1sthenes]

0. There is nothing that Obama can't fuck up, therefore such an act would be the end of the US.

[Seamus]

Sounds like time to recycle a joke from the Carter Administration (mutatis mutandis):

"Why does Michelle insist on the female-superior position?"

"Because Barry can only fuck up."

"Thank you. I'll be here all week."

[The Late P Brooks]

What exactly qualifies her besides her idiotic faux-populist bull shit she spews from her flapping vagina?

She's a genius in the eyes of the cargo cultist masses, apparently.

You know- the people who allowed themselves to be convinced Mitt Romney was some sort of fire-breathing libertarian anrhist who was going to go to Washington and completely dismantle the government, disenfranchise womynz and black folk, and bring back indentured servitude.

[The Late P Brooks]

How many simultaneous hemorrhages would you suffer?

I'm not sure you can get a hemorrhage from laughing until your stomach hurts.

[Res Publica Americana]

Having history's hyperpower declare war on you is a laughing matter? Fuck. Putin's crazier than we thought.

[UnCivilServant]

Under Obummer's 'leadership' we've gone from 'hyperpower' to 'laughingstock'

[Res Publica Americana]

I guess so. All the military might in the world isn't worth shit if your C-in-C's a vacuous limpdick.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

What would you propose we do, militarily speaking?

[tarran]

Are Lee Marvin and Chuck Norris busy right now?

[Res Publica Americana]

Against Russia? In reality? Unless Putin goes completely, genuinely batshit and decides to invade western Europe, nothing. But I'm a big proponent of absolutes, in every sense.

Foreign policy, for example. No involvement in anything ever, at all, to any degree. Ever. In any way. At all. Ever. Unless we're attacked directly, in which case waging total war until the enemy is dust and ash is the way to go.

[mad libertarian guy]

That's not a bad rule, but there are certainly lots of gray areas to be seen by what is meant by "attacked directly."

If that Malaysian plane were a US carrier shot down over the Ukraine, would that constitute a direct attack? There were not an insignificant amount of Americans on that plane. Is that a direct attack?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

If that Malaysian plane were a US carrier shot down over the Ukraine, would that constitute a direct attack?

Again, what if it was? You going to go to war with a nuclear power over it?

You gotta run a cost/benefit analysis.

I also like RPA's foreign policy philosophy. IMHO, if you aren't willing to wage total war, you probably shouldn't be waging war over it.

[Artifex]

Putin is a nasty but bright guy. His chuckle would be appropriate. Note the following:

1. If Obama is saying it in a press conference, odds are almost 100% that it is a convenient political lie and simply not true.

2. If you were a Bond villain type despot and were forced to face any US president on the battlefield, who would you choose ?

[Fluffy]

FDR.

What's he gonna do, run after me?

[Almanian!]

I'll go with FDR, too, cause he's dead.

[Idle Hands]

yea so pretty much any of the corpses.

[Atanarjuat]

Just to be on the safe side, avoid Andrew Jackson's corpse.

[Poppa Kilo]

Washington, too - not demonstrative, but determined as all hell.

[Idle Hands]

2) Easily FDR the man couldn't even walk.

[tarran]

Everybody saying FDR is an idiot: the answer is clearly 1917 Woodrow Wilson; the dude was a vegetable!

FDR's arms worked; he'd be quite capable of operating a wheelchair tricked out with a minigun. Wilson on the other hand would just drool and garble at you.

[Idle Hands]

But Taft would be his second, Taft scares me.

[Stormy Dragon]

Putin's great at tactics, but not so much at strategy. Ukraine is kinda turning into evidence of that. At the beginning everyone in the west look like fools because they weren't prepared at all to stop Putin, but the longer he's involved there, the worse it's starting to go for Russia because he never really thought through what the long term consequences would be.

[Restoras]

The West will nothing to stop him regardless of the methods he employs or pace of events, so he can bide his time and just figure it out.

There will be no military intervention, and there will be no meaningful economic intervention.

Personally, I think he's just testing the waters here and there to gauge response. Kinda like someone else in the early 20th century.

[Rasilio]

It is when you have enough nukes to turn their country into a glass parking lot

[Res Publica Americana]

And vice versa, which is why I wager nukes would be off the table.

[Rasilio]

Nukes would be off the table right up until one side started categorically losing and then they would be right back on it which is why the US declaring war on Russia is a joke worthy of a good belly laugh

[Res Publica Americana]

Yeah, possibly. Nukes are just about the only thing Russia's got. Oh, well. No wars anytime soon with those neo-reds, I guess.

[Res Publica Americana]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2.....-17-probe/

Outrage at Moscow grows over 'shambolic' Flight 17 probe

"The probe into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 has turned "shambolic," according to international leaders, and an intercepted communication appears to capture Moscow directing Russian separatists in Ukraine to keep evidence out of the hands of objective investigators.

Since the plane went down over Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday, killing all 298 aboard, separatists have kept investigators from the scene, seized the Boeing 777's black boxes and even taken custody of corpses, packing them in body bags and onto refrigerated train cars. There have even been reports of looting from the bodies, and the credit cards of the dead used by ghoulish thieves.

"As anyone who has been watching the footage will know, this is still an absolutely shambolic situation," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at a news conference. "The site is being treated more like a garden clean-up than a forensic investigation.""

-----------------------

Does anybody actually have the balls to put Russia into real hot water over this if they shot the plane down?

[Pro Libertate]

Russia is hugely dependent on people doing business with it. If they did this, it's another step towards getting their customers to find other sources for oil.

[Res Publica Americana]

I wish some oligarchs would just get together and assassinate the cunt already.

[The DerpRider]

A traveshamockery?

[Almanian!]

A cluster traveshamockerysideshowcircus

[Fluffy]

So wait. Aussies actually use the word "shambolic"?

[invisible furry hand]

Yes we do. We don't understand it, of course.

[Atanarjuat]

guys, check your privilege

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I don't see any stats on micro-aggressions and trigger incidents. What a bunch of bullshit.

[The Late P Brooks]

From a CNN story about a new TSA fee hike.

The trade group Airlines for America has generally objected to government raising more funds from airline passenger travel and specifically objected to this fee increase and the elimination of the fee cap.

"Our government must stop using airlines and their passengers as its own personal ATM whenever it needs more money," according to a statement.

Yeah. Air travel is an ATM for the government. Fuck off.

[Rhywun]

So are smoking and drinking and ...

[Fist of Etiquette]

No new posts since AM Links. I guess you can either have regular Hit & Run content or you can have sporadic 24/7 content, but you can't have both.

Surely the Millennials are pondering some policy issue somewhere.

[Lady Bertrum]

Rick Perry to deploy National Guard on TX border

Fun stuff.

[Rhywun]

Great. That'll last about as long as it takes one of them to shoot dead one of those cute Guatemalan kids.

[ant1sthenes]

Surely the point is to provoke some serious firefights with narcotrafficantes until the public is clamoring for war.

[sarcasmic]

Is Krusty the Clown about to have his last laugh on The Simpsons? Speculation grows that fan favourite will be killed off in season premiere

There has been much speculation about a Simpsons character being axed
Producer said the character will die in an episode called Clown In The Dumps
This strongly suggests that Krusty the Clown will be written out
Character's last appearance will be on the season premiere in September

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....miere.html

[sarcasmic]

Why stop with Krusty? Kill the whole fucking show.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Wait,they're still making Simpsons episodes? I thought they had replaced them with 17 minute couch gag segments followed by Progressive Insurance commercials.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I liked the episode when he faked his own death.

It was there we were introduced to Handsome Pete.

http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Handsome_Pete

[Stormy Dragon]

Interesting Trivia: if you look at the earliest episodes of the show, Krusty is the same character design as Homer with a different nose and hair.

Originally the creators were planning to have it turn out that Krusty was Homer's second job, with Bart having to deal with the shock that his biggest hero was the dad he so openly disrespected.

[Hawk Spitui]

For your consideration....
http://mobile.philly.com/busin.....=267755911

[kbolino]

In the 13 states that boosted their minimums at the beginning of the year, the number of jobs grew an average of 0.85 percent from January through June. The average for the other 37 states was 0.61 percent.

Compelling.

Also, what were the relative rates of growth for those states before the minimum wage hikes?

[kbolino]

RE: Hawk Spitui