A.M. Links: DOJ to Review Police Tactics, U.S. Sends More Military Advisors to Iraq, Lauren Bacall Dead

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  President Obama spoke about the weekend shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, calling it "tragic," while the Department of Justice announced it would conduct a broad review of police tactics nationwide. Gun sales in Ferguson have quadrupled. The Ferguson Police Department continues to withhold the name of the officer who shot and killed Brown. A progressive reporter heckled the Rev. Al Sharpton, who arrived for protests in Ferguson, for being a snitch.

• The United States is sending 140 additional military advisers to northern Iraq. Iran and Saudi Arabia have both come out in support of Haider al-Abadi to replace Nouri al-Maliki, who refuses to give up as prime minister of Iraq. The Vatican, meanwhile, has endorsed the U.S. air strikes in Iraq, something it usually doesn't do.
• Russia has sent a convoy of aid to eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian officials say they will consider any attempt to deliver aid to eastern Ukraine without their consent an invasion.
• Officials from Israel and Palestine are expected to continue negotiating as a ceasefire brokered by Egypt comes to an end. Hamas, which rules Gaza, where the bulk of civilian casualties have been, insists this would be the last ceasefire they agree to.
• Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has become the official owner of the Los Angeles Clippers after a judge approved Donald Sterling's wife's authority to agree to a sale.
• Actress Lauren Bacall died at age 89.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Actress Lauren Bacall died at age 89.

Who's the third going to be? Start the pool, you ghouls.

[UnCivilServant]

150:1 on the NYS Legislative Delegation to Israel (A whole pile of pols flew out there in a bid to try to court low information voters within the Jewish community)

[Tonio]

But there is no Israel lobby...

[UnCivilServant]

Is it wrong to hope Hamas scores a hit on Governer Cuomo?

[Tonio]

Yes.

[WTF]

Allah willing.

[Batgirl]

From your mouth to god's ears.

[AlexInCT]

Then I want to be wrong...

[Doctor Whom]

Do millennials even know who that was?

[Ted S.]

The woman married to Mayo Methot's ex-husband.

I've never understood why this particular marriage was considered so much more romantic than any of the other Hollywood marriages that either stood the test of time (say, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward) or those that ended tragically (Clark Gable and Carole Lombard).

[robc]

Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft?

[toolkien]

Stiller and Meara?

[Vapourwear]

Some of us do.

[Auric Demonocles]

Nope.

[Pro Libertate]

I say to you, go unto Netflix and watch.

[Ted S.]

I'd suggest Written on the Wind. Douglas Sirk movies can be fun to watch when he goes way over the top.

[Pro Libertate]

The Big Sleep and Dark Passage if you want some Bogart, too.

[Ted S.]

I hate The Big Sleep, since it makes no sense.

[cavalier973]

It's all innuendo

[Tonio]

Get ahold of the original 1945 cut - it's more linear. The 1945 version was included on the DVD of the restored version of the 1946 theatrical version.

[Stormy Dragon]

It's because the story hinges on things they weren't allowed to discuss directly due to the Haye's Code, so they have to kind of hint about them and hope you pick up on it.

[Auric Demonocles]

I don't even know what you suggesting I watch.

[Pro Libertate]

It's time for you to watch some films from before 2010.

[Auric Demonocles]

Just this weekend I watched part of The Matrix. That's not even from this millennium.

(Also I watched National Lampoon's Vacation Friday night after the old HnR folks had to go home to their families)

[tarran]

What can I say? My hearing aid battery only has so many minutes of juice.

[Pro Libertate]

Have you seen Animal House?

[Auric Demonocles]

Naturally. I had to learn how to go through life.

[hamilton]

To be fair, I just went out for another drink but that was because I figured you wouldn't share your redheads.

I could host the next meetup and then we could drink more. But probably not get redheads. On the other hand, board gaming... actually I just think I'll shut up now.

[Auric Demonocles]

Sadly there were no redheads on Friday, let alone enough to share.

I could do a board gaming and drinking meetup.

[DEG]

I could do a board gaming and drinking meetup.

Are redheaded women involved?

[Auric Demonocles]

Sadly, it sounds like there aren't any at hamilton's house. But I'm willing to forgo that for one evening.

[cavalier973]

My favorite movie with Lauren Bacall is "How to Marry a Millionaire". Also has Marilyn Monroe as a near-sighted ditz, and Betty Grable. Fun movie.

[ant1sthenes]

I'm too old to be a millennial, but the only reason I know is song lyrics. We had it all, just like...

[waffles]

Millennial here: No. I do not know who that is.

[JEP]

Do millennials even know who that was?

Who? Now that Miley Cyrus. Boy does she have a long tongue...

[JEP]

In all seriousness, I've always been more of a Grace Kelly/Hedy Lamarr type of guy. Any girl who can talk about frequency hopping will spark my interest.

Although, I may need to check out Bacall.

[cavalier973]

Myrna Loy. Classy and Beautiful.

[Knutsack]

I don't know what I am, but I know that when I first saw her in How to Marry a Millionaire, I was in love. My favorite of the classic movie stars.

[MegaloMonocle]

I am gobsmacked that (a) anyone doesn't know who Lauren Bacall was (b) some people have never watched her classics with Bogart and (c) any cisgendered male hasn't been in love with her at some point.

Now get off my lawn.

[Ted S.]

Lou Reed?

OK, for a more serious guess, my first thought is always Luise Rainer, since she's 104 now.

Norman Lloyd turns 100 in November, I think; Olivia de Havilland is 98; and Kirk Douglas is relatively young, not turning 98 until December.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm always a little surprised when I find out that Olivia de Havilland is still alive. She was always the perfect leading lady for Errol Flynn.

[SRVolunteer]

...the perfect leading lady for Errol Flynn

Ouch.

[Drax the Destroyer]

My money is on Michael Jackson.

Oh...wait...

[Robert]

That's such a common name, how could you lose?

[robc]

Abe Vigoda, but I want odds.

[$park? has had enough]

Just to go with someone unexpected, I'm gonna say Lindsey Lohan.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, which is it?

[Obama's Buttplug]

Betty. Fucking. White.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

A couple of other actors died. I forget their names.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Selena Gomez.

[Jerms]

Put me down for Jerry Lewis

[Jerms]

Put me down for Jerry Lewis

[cavalier973]

Okay, okay. Sheesh!

*Jerms: Jerry Lewis*

[Lord Humungus]

"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MheNUWyROv8

[Rufus J. Firefly]

There was a certain 'rough manly' edge to Becall.

[Ted S.]

I always wanted to see Bogart put his lips together, and just have air come out with no whistling noise.

[Flying Nun Strafing Run]

Sadly, that's all I'm able to do.

[MegaloMonocle]

Nice handle.

[db]

Thanks.

[Robert]

That picture possibly explains why I dreamed such a complicated plot last night. I dreamed I was either a publisher or a literary agent, and someone came to me with a book he wanted to write, but was afraid to publish because it was from his actual life and he was afraid people would kill him.

[John]

Matt Yglesias already called Gerald Ford.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

+1 correction

[JW]

Did SadBeard leave a message?

[John]

No. Mr. I went to Harvard and am smarter than you, tweeted a couple of days ago that Gerald Ford was still alive.

[Citizen Nothing]

In his defense, with Gerald Ford it's hard to tell the difference.

[Mike M.]

I'm willing to cut him some slack. When those Capitol Hill street urchins played "Knockout King" on him a couple of years back, they clearly did some serious permanent brain damage.

[Brandon]

Doesn't that just count untimely deaths? 89 hardly fits.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...after a judge approved Donald Sterling's wife's authority to agree to a sale.

Usually men have to endure their wives buying expensive things.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

*rimshot*

[Cdr Lytton]

For themselves. They're always taking your treasures to Goodwill or selling them at fire sale prices.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Good point.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Dalrock: What is modern marriage for?

Another victim of Marriage 2.0

[Drax the Destroyer]

Every other week my co-worker's wife threatens divorce. Luckily for him, she makes more money.

Luckily, my wife thinks I'm dead.

[ant1sthenes]

Hit by a train?

[cavalier973]

Lots of respectable people are hit by trains.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Just a grease spot on the L&N.

[Brandon]

Blooey! Nothin left.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Alpha Game
Breaking the chains, winning the games, and saving Western Civilization.

Ahahahahahaha.

[Bobarian]

I loved this comment referring to marrying women who have already had multiple divorces:

"Sometime in the next five years Kim Kardashian is going to prove mathematically, statistically and scientifically that Kanye West is in point of fact, the dumbest dumb-fuck on Earth."

[Brett L]

Only if he thinks half his stuff is worth more than being rid of her.

[MegaloMonocle]

But putting himself in the position of having to make that inevitable decision?

Dumber than a box of rocks being pounded into gravel by the stupid hammer.

[Bobarian]

Brett L supports free market divorces.

[Lord Humungus]

Hockey fans drive petition to 'Ban The Stripper' at Blackhawks home games

As noted by Hockee Night, the intermission entertainment has featured the same predictable rotation for pretty much ever: a kid shoots, then a pretty girl in heels suspected by many to be a plant, then a male fan, then a celebrity. There's no music for the male fan and the kid. But the moment the pretty girl hits the ice, Frank Pellico plays "The Stripper" on the organ -- you know, because people want to see her without clothes -- and the audience begins to hoot and/or holler.

Suffice it to say, many hockey fans find this troubling. There are appropriate times to play "The Stripper" (such as when Ravishing Rick Rude is making his way down to the ring for a match), but "shoot the puck" isn't one of them.

[Ted S.]

If she's a plant, then she'd be in on the joke.

[sarcasmic]

Quite the hair-razors! Men shave their chest fuzz to resemble bikini tops in latest wacky social media fad

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....a-fad.html
I'm glad I don't have that much body hair.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Do you know who else had that much body hair?

[Tonio]

STEVE SMITH! ?

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Correct!

[Ted S.]

I was going to say Warty.

[UnCivilServant]

That's not hair.

[sarcasmic]

Your mom?

[Pathogen]

Captain Caveman?

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Also correct!

[Cdr Lytton]

Robin Wiliams?

[Stormy Dragon]

Robin Williams did not have a lot of body hair. Robin Williams had full on fur.

[Rich]

That's just wrong.

[Steve G]

glad I'm blond...

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Uh..... how about no

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama spoke about the weekend shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, calling it "tragic," while the Department of Justice announced it would conduct a broad review of police tactics nationwide.

If only Obama and Lois Lerner's email archive would hold a beer summit.

[$park? has had enough]

Apparently Michael Brown could not have been his son.

[toolkien]

He was too chubby. No way he followed the FLOTUS' food policies, ergo no son of mine.

[cavalier973]

Zing!

[MJGreen]

He appears to have actually been an innocent, upstanding young man.

So this says something about Obama...

[waffles]

The United States is sending 140 additional military advisers to northern Iraq. Iran and Saudi Arabia have both come out in support of Haider al-Abadi to replace Nouri al-Maliki, who refuses to give up as prime minister of Iraq. The Vatican, meanwhile, has endorsed the U.S. air strikes in Iraq, something it usually doesn't do.

Someone said something yesterday about this being the end of the Pax Americana. Is there some truth to that or is it something tinfoil hatters say every time a new conflict starts?

[gaijin]

The United States is sending 140 additional military advisers to northern Iraq.

ANd...they will be wearing loafers, so no boots on the ground...yet.

[Rich]

Sheesh, if the Iraqis haven't taken our advice by now, what's the use?

[GILMORE]

Special Forces wear Ninja Slippers

true fact!

[WTF]

The Vatican, meanwhile, has endorsed the U.S. air strikes in Iraq, something it usually doesn't do.

CRUSADE!!11!!!!!

[Tonio]

Yeah, I mean WTF?

For once I'm actually curious about Eddie's opinion on something.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The Pope has a foreign policy - usually peaceful, but the persecution of Christians seems to have turned him in favor of some measures to protect the persecuted people.

(PS - this isn't a crusade, because that's formally declared and promises certain spiritual benefits to the warrioes)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

[Notorious G.K.C.]

warriors

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Come out and plaaaaay?

[UnCivilServant]

Do we get our Templars back?

[gaijin]

Surely Templars Back?

[Steve G]

We chose ...poorly

[Pro Libertate]

You know, as a fan of history, I could get on board with that. THE EIGHTH CRUSADE.

[tarran]

The ISIS jihadis and the Shiites are going after the christians in the area. These communities date back to the Roman era, and are being snuffed out... literally.

I think the use of arms in their defense falls pretty firmly within the bounds of the Catholic Church's Just War doctrine.

[VG Zaytsev]

But, but, crusades evil.

Jihad Goooood!!111!

[newnamename]

Source for Shiites going after Christians?

[cavalier973]

You think it's the Sunnis, then?

[newnamename]

ISIS are Sunnis, so yes.

[tarran]

Source for Shiites going after Christians?

I remember reading about some incidents in the south-east of Iraq, but I can't find where. It might be that I am misremembering.

[sarcasmic]

A VERY pricey game of cops and robbers: Officers baffled after pulling over a man who overhauled his $100,000 Maserati to look like a police car

Driver pulled over in Braintree, Massachusetts, at the weekend
Told the officer he was assisting police because people would slow down when they saw the car
Had written 'Decepticons punish and enslave' on the door instead of 'Protect and Serve'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....olice.html
Cops just want to take the car I bet.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

The People of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Pseudo Police Car

[WTF]

Ha ha, I first read that as Pedo Police Car.

[Bobarian]

Those all say 'D.A.R.E.' on the side.

[Citizen Nothing]

Nice.

[Ted S.]

The police can't be so stupid as to be baffled by the idea that people want the legal privileges that cops get, can they?

Wait, don't answer that question.

[Steve G]

He'll likely be ordered to paint his car?!? Yet, I could go out and buy a retired cop car at auction with the normal cop paint scheme intact minus the decals and lights and be unmolested. WTF, it's art man!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

First, why would anyone want to desecrate a beautiful car with a cop impersonation of all things? And I'm not so sure this is impersonating. Second, if he wanted to impersonate the cops, all he had to do was buy the cars used by Keystone Kops.

[hamilton]

He was trying to turn his car into Barricade, I presume.

[MegaloMonocle]

Looks to me like this is a rolling protest. First Amendment FTW!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ferguson Police Department continues to withhold the name of the officer who shot and killed Brown.

Just like they would any civilian under investigation.

[Pathogen]

They want to give anonymous the chance to out him, at the worst possible time..

[Lord Humungus]

More bang for your buck

Now specialist websites and apps are allowing information to flow between buyer and seller, making it easier to strike mutually satisfactory deals. The sex trade is becoming easier to enter and safer to work in: prostitutes can warn each other about violent clients, and do background and health checks before taking a booking. Personal web pages allow them to advertise and arrange meetings online; their clients' feedback on review sites helps others to proceed with confidence.

Even in places such as America, where prostitution and its facilitation are illegal everywhere except Nevada, the marketing and arrangement of commercial sex is moving online. To get round the laws, web servers are placed abroad; site-owners and users hide behind pseudonyms; and prominently placed legalese frames the purpose of sites as "entertainment" and their content as "fiction".

[gaijin]

More bang for your buck

So, deflationary or inflationary activity?

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

*narrows gaze*

Not this, again...

[Lord Humungus]

first one then another.

[JW]

Whoreber? Yelpdelo?

[MegaloMonocle]

Luber.

[Rich]

First female winner for Fields maths medal

Ha! Suck on *that*, Barbie!

[Jordan]

Tony said we shouldn't take mathematics seriously, since it's dominated by white males.

[Doctor Whom]

People keep telling me that the STEM subjects have no applicability to the real world (unlike postmodernism, I guess).

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm very skeptical about that.

On the other hand, one of my high school English teachers tried to argue that math was just "made up" by people, while English wasn't...

[Drax the Destroyer]

I hope this was at a public school. If so, it's another anecdotal stake in the heart of that cunty vampire.

[Auric Demonocles]

Yes, it was a public high school.

[UnCivilServant]

On the other hand, one of my high school English teachers tried to argue that math was just "made up" by people, while English wasn't...

Math was deliberate, English was a mutant bastard accident child of a language that is in the process of cannibalizing all others to become High Gothic.

[Gadianton]

English grew out of the attempts of Norman men-at-arms to make dates with Saxon barmaids. The resulting language is as legitimate as the results of the dates.

Paraphrasing H. Beam Piper

[Heroic Mulatto]

+1 Space Viking

[Colonel Slanders]

Yes, but perhaps High Gothic will be cannibilized and become Lingua-technis?

[Zeb]

Well, mathematicians and philosophers still disagree about whether math is invented or discovered. Whatever the answer is, it is pretty irrelevant to the value of teaching it in school.

[Auric Demonocles]

Regardless of whether or not we ever figured it out (or what words/symbols we came up with to express it): 1+1=2

[Zeb]

Yeah, sure. Natural numbers correspond to real things that you can count. Most math doesn't work that way.

I tend toward the side that says math is discovered rather than invented, but there probably isn't a final definite answer.

[$park? has had enough]

Here's my take on it: the concepts are discovered, math is then invented to describe the concepts. Look up Sir William Rowan Hamilton and the history of quaternions as an example.

[Auric Demonocles]

Quaternions were such a weird concept when I first started doing ACS/GNC.

[$park? has had enough]

I fried a decent number of synapses trying to grasp the underlying concept. I tried and tried before I came to the conclusion that it's very likely beyond what I can wrap my brain around.

[Adam.]

I have a text book on quaternions that i haven't started yet, call me a masochist for buying it i guess. what's ACS/GNC?

[Auric Demonocles]

Attitude control/guidance, navigation, and control. Basically, controlling the position spacecraft.

[Zeb]

Quaternions, like most math used in physics, is a specific case of a much more general mathematical concept.

[$park? has had enough]

Math is a language created by humans with the narrow focus of attempting to describe how the universe works.

[Zeb]

That's more what science is. There is an awful lot of math that doesn't (yet, at least) have any application in describing the physical world.

[$park? has had enough]

Science is the field, math is the language used in that field. I'm not a mathematician, but could you give me an example of math not being used to describe the universe? I'd like to check it out, seriously.

[cavalier973]

"Is it, in fact, possible to do science without mathematics? This question was answered by Hartry Field who in 1980 demonstrated the dispensability of mathematics to physics. Field, a Fictionalist, does not advocate doing science without mathematics, since he admits it is such a useful tool: he has chapters in his book Science Without Numbers: a Defence of Nominalism devoted to showing why mathematical entities are useful; but he demonstrated that physics is not dependent on mathematics and can be done apart from mathematics. He did so (using gravitational theory as an example) by avoiding the conventional approach of deriving a gravitational potential function, i.e. gravitational potential in terms of spacetime points (which commits one to realism about space, time, functions and real numbers)."

[$park? has had enough]

Thanks, I'll have a look when I get home and am not limited by my phone.

[Zeb]

Let's see, where to start. A lot of things in number theory have no obvious practical application. I'm sure you have heard of Fermat's last theorem. That's probably a good example.
The math necessary for science (at this point anyway) has been pretty well figured out for a long time. Most truly new math is pretty esoteric and has little immediate applicability. Mathematicians also like to generalize things as much as possible, so even in areas which do apply to describing the world, the math generally goes well beyond what is needed for science. An easy to grasp example is the kind of math necessary to describe the curvature of space-time. Science only needs 4 dimensions, usually (or more if you consider string theory to be science), but mathematicians will try to come up with general theorems for arbitrarily many dimensions.

[Zeb]

Who says that? The TE part, at least, is pretty much by definition practically applicable to the real world.

[UnCivilServant]

Both of which are built on a foundation from the other two.

[Zeb]

Indeed. Can't have the modern world without a bit of S&M.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Spaniards and Mexicans?

[Zeb]

Hey, are you small?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Obsequious and clairvoyant

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

No, really, he didn't say that did he? He couldn't possible be that ridiculous.

[gaijin]

and she is Iranian! Drone her or she will be building a bombs in no time

/neocon

[Ted S.]

Note the BBC meta-context: the URL is "science-environment".

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

grrrrrr...

[Steve G]

Also among the winners was Prof Martin Hairer from the University of Warwick, UK, whose work on randomness could prove useful for climate modelling.

Of course it will..

[MegaloMonocle]

They gotta get those hockey sticks out of random variation somehow.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Left wing idiot Fred "White Evangelicals" Clark comments on Michael "Warboner" Spenser. People, we're thru the Derpingglass here.

An Internet Monk's prediction and the 'rise of the nones'

[Lord Humungus]

Obama Administration Loosens Ban on Lobbyists in Government

Under a new rule, registered lobbyists whom Mr. Obama had previously barred from serving on government advisory boards may now participate if they are representing companies or groups and not acting on their own behalf.

The change was published in the Federal Register and took effect immediately, the administration said. It comes after the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the Obama administration's efforts to dismiss a lawsuit by six lobbyists who challenged the ban's constitutionality after being excluded from a trade advisory committee. The lobbyists said their First Amendment rights to petition the government had been violated.

[Drax the Destroyer]

So now my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids are fucked?

Thanks Obama.

[Pro Libertate]

What's odd is that the "ban" seems totally pointless, as this administration is more captive of various interests than most.

[John]

And who leaves a big paying lobbyist job for a work a day GS one?

[Pro Libertate]

Someone who will make even more money as a result?

[John]

Yeah. I guess they look at it as sort of a sabbatical.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Vatican, meanwhile, has endorsed the U.S. air strikes in Iraq, something it usually doesn't do.

God helps those who help themselves to strafing runs.

[UnCivilServant]

The Vatican, meanwhile, has endorsed the U.S. air strikes in Iraq, something it usually doesn't do.

True, air power was not well developed during the crusades.

[antisocial-ist]

The pope is a dedicated prog, this should surprise no one. Somebody might want to check judge Nap's blood pressure though.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Lord help me, I read that as "God helps those who help themselves to strafing nuns."

[UnCivilServant]

Well, Flying Nuns can go on Strafing runs...

[Flying Nun Strafing Run]

Yeah, Baby!

[Pro Libertate]

Vatican Makes Shocking Revelation.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Scandal.

[Pro Libertate]

I know, yet silence. I suspect a Freemason-engineered cover-up.

[sarcasmic]

Woman sparks outrage by posting 'funny' photos of baby granddaughter in a roasting pan and with duct tape on her face

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-face.html
Lots of stupid in the comments.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Why am I hungry?

[Drax the Destroyer]

Why am I hungry?

[UnCivilServant]

Because you're a Humanitarian, Drax.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Goddamn server squirrels.

[Andrew S.]

You sure it wasn't a server raccoon?

[Drax the Destroyer]

Could have been. Or some overly cutesy murderous tree.

[Ted S.]

Perhaps if you ate the server squirrels you wouldn't be so hungry.

[Ted S.]

I remember the outrage over Bonsai Kitten.

[UnCivilServant]

I was so sad when I discovered it was a hoax...

Strangely I found out it was a hoax before I found out what it was. I still want one - even if it's a stuffed cat in a jar.

Hrmmm... Anyone know a toymaker?

[Lord Humungus]

'Underwear-stealing ghosts made my life hell': Hull woman forced to move seven times

When her underwear started going missing, little did she know it would signal the start of two years of hell.

Because what could have been dismissed as a slight annoyance, was actually the work of forces beyond this world and one of many paranormal pranks that would ruin Pauline Hickson's life.

The 58-year-old says she was forced to move home seven times in two years because she has been followed around by two ghosts, who would steal her bras, take her jewellery and even use the shower.

Blind ghosts?

[Rich]

after a so-called "hypno-exorcism"? a little-known ghost busting technique ? she says she is free of the mischievous spirits

"Hypno-exorcism", indeed.

[Raven Nation]

I prefer the hypno-toad.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Step 3 = Profit!

[Matrix]

Casper's cousin, Jasper the pervy ghost

[Tonio]

But absolutely no way there could be a simpler explanation for this, such as actual living human beings.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I don't feel like reading it...but was the stolen underwear clean or dirty?

[Ted S.]

Yes.

[Elspeth Flashman]

You'd be the only one who'd want to know.

[Drax the Destroyer]

When you are 78, you take what you can get.

[Tonio]

Apparently that's a thing, EF.

[Doctor Whom]

Stop persecuting her for her faith!

[Tonio]

Yeah, this. Because under the FA if you privilege any one belief system you have to privilege every single one of them.

[Ted S.]

Go commando.

[Dammit, not again]

Am I the only one who wants to capture Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen, strip them naked, oil 'em up, and have them grapple until submission, while beaming the action to every television set across the Fruited Plain? The winner assumes ownership of the other's professional sports outfit (L. Angeles Clippers v. The Seahawks of Seattle)

[UnCivilServant]

DO NOT WANT!

[Dammit, not again]

I urge you to reconsider.

[gaijin]

yes

[Doctor Whom]

Why, yes, I believe you are.

[hamilton]

To be fair, that's kinda tame for this crowd. No mention of anal, Mexicans, cocktails, or foreskins.

[Auric Demonocles]

HnR has gotten too dull lately. I'm cancelling my subscription!

[hamilton]

No fair starting a drinking binge at 10 AM.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm basically on vacation at this point.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Or deep dish pizza or weed.

[Bobarian]

Or Cincinatti and black woman names.

[alittlesense]

Mother of Pearl...the nausea......

[Lord Humungus]

Paris Hilton paid $2.7M for four nights DJ-ing

Paris Hilton scooped $2.7 million for four nights work as part of her new two-month DJ tour.

The heiress kicked off her run of 13 gigs with a set at Ibiza's Amnesia club, where she has a residency, on Wednesday night, but she was slammed for earning $347,000-an-hour.

[Gene]

Blow ain't free ya know.

[Vapourwear]

Fuck society's value system.

[Ted S.]

If somebody wants to pay her that much and isn't trying to use my money to do it, more power to both parties.

[Auric Demonocles]

No one is saying they should be prevented from doing it.

But if you're paying someone $347k an hour to do something that an iPod could do automatically then you're an idiot.

[RG]

Ehhh, they may make that back in cover charges and booze sales. The real idiots are the morons paying the higher cover to see her.

[Zeb]

But an iPod can't be Paris Hilton. I don't know why people value a night club that has a Paris Hilton in it more than one that doesn't, but it does seem to be the case.

[alittlesense]

You insult the iPod by comparing it to Paris Hilton

[Zeb]

I really don't give a shit about iPods or Paris Hilton one way or the other.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Paris is leveraging her assets. I'll give her credit for that.

[MegaloMonocle]

I've always thought the people who say she is stupid are, well, wrong.

[Jordan]

Gun sales in Ferguson have quadrupled.

Do not read the comments there. Holy shit.

[Rich]

I'm going in.

*** takes deep breath ***

[gaijin]

We'll wait 30 minutes and call search and rescue if you aren't back by then. God speed

[Rich]

*** cough, cough, sputter ***

Whew! It's pretty gruesome down there. Jordan's right!

But I did learn a new term: "Undocumented Purchases".

[UnCivilServant]

Is that what it's called when an illegal alien buys something under the table without paying taxes?

[sarcasmic]

It's the new pc term for looting.

[Zeb]

Shouldn't that be "undocumented non-purchases"? Or perhaps "indefinite unauthorized borrowing"?

[Jordan]

RIP, buddy.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

NOOOO!!!! RICH, COME BACK!!!

[Restoras]

I went in. Wow. Utterly frightening. My 'faith' in humanity has not been restored, not that it ever existed to begin with.

Reading those comments - it's how I imagine Athens after the death of Pericles.

[cavalier973]

Did you engage the arguments?

[Pathogen]

Earl Turner ? 5 minutes ago

Go Ebola! Go Ebola! Go Ebola!

? ?
?Reply ?Share ?

Ebola has a sports team?

[UnCivilServant]

No, it's the new mascot of the Liberian national team

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

I...you...I mean...just...

*walks away shaking head*

[Pathogen]

It gets.. ummm.. better..

1776 ? an hour ago

AMERICA NEEDS SOME WEAPONIZED SICKLE CELL ANEMIA!!!

2 ? ?
?Reply ?Share ?

Jeeeeesus Christ.. what a cunt.

[SugarFree]

Is that briannnnn's new handle?

[Los Doyers]

Shhh, he can hear you typing.

[JW]

He's just moonlighting.

[Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

One year as a head coach for a city league soccer team I tried to convince the kids that we should be called H1N1. The kids of course had no idea what I was talking about - but it would have been fun to hear the parents cheer - GO H1N1!

[Lord Humungus]

Wash. police: Man arrested for assault with mashed potatoes

A Centralia man was arrested Sunday after he allegedly threw mashed potatoes on another customer at a local restaurant, police said.

Officers responded to the scene, a restaurant in the 600 block of West Main Street, at about 4:50 p.m. after receiving a report of an assault.

Arriving at the scene, they arrested a 38-year-old man. He was booked into jail for investigation of fourth-degree assault.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Look at what I bought from Amazon

I'm going to name it 'Weigel'.

[Raven Nation]

Seriously, I wonder if whomever wrote the product description was messing with the company:

Made of durable polymer with a band of non-latex, Santoprene, The Knobble II gives your hand more power when you need it.?Use either the tip or the base for applying pressure on yourself or others.

Or am I betraying my own ignorance by missing something here?

[Andrew S.]

Is this something I'm going to click on and then later regret clicking on after seeing new suggestions on my amazon front page?

[UnCivilServant]

Do You know you can remove items from your amazon browsing history to avoid that very scenario?

[Raven Nation]

It's a self-massager so, no?

[Bobarian]

Yes, there is nothing that could be described as a "self-massager" on Amazon that could be conceived as embarrassing

[Lord Humungus]

'Chillin' with my homie or what's left of him'
British rapper turned ISIS jihadist poses with severed head as they seize more key towns close to Syrian border with Turkey

A British rapper who travelled to Syria to fight for ISIS has posted a photograph on Twitter showing himself posing with a severed head.

The sickening image was taken in the city of Raqqa - the capital of ISIS' self-declared caliphate - and uploaded to the social media site along with the caption 'Chillin' with my homie or what's left of him.'

The photograph shows masked former rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, 23, holding the decapitated head while standing in Raqqa's central square - the same location where the seven-year-old son of Australian jihadist Khaled Sharrouf was seen holding a different severed head earlier this week.

[Drax the Destroyer]

Well, that's no way to get ahead in life.

[Elspeth Flashman]

What's that in the road, a head?

[Drake]

He'll never be the head of a major corporation.

[Flying Nun Strafing Run]

I predict severed-head selfies will be big this Halloween.

[cavalier973]

It was the rap "music" that pushed him over the edge; we should ban that stuff.

[Jordan]

Hotel threatens guests over 'logging' craze no one even knew about (deliberately pooing in the pool)

A hotel has been forced to send out a letter to its British guests threatening ?1,400 fines for anyone caught 'logging' in swimming pools while on holiday.

The bizarre internet craze (that's no one had heard of until now) has apparently become a favourite pastime for 'boozed up Brits abroad', according to one holiday spot in Egypt.

The owners claim participants are deliberately pooing in their crowded pools before 'watching the carnage unfold around them'.

[gaijin]

are they sure it wasn;t just a candy bar?

[UnCivilServant]

maybe once upon a time... before it met digestive ensymes.

[Pathogen]

+1 Baby Ruth..

[Zeb]

British tourists are so charming.

[JW]

Now all I can picture is a goofy-toothed ginger, squatting over the edge of a pool and grimacing.

[cavalier973]

"I'm a logger. Just down from Coos Bay, Oregon."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hamas, which rules Gaza, where the bulk of civilian casualties have been, insists this would be the last ceasefire they agree to.

People are starting to catch on and it's looking bad to always be the one breaking them.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama Donors Embrace Corporate Inversions He Criticizes

President Barack Obama has been bashing companies that pursue offshore mergers to reduce taxes. He hasn't talked about the people behind the deals -- some of whom are his biggest donors.

Executives, advisers and directors involved in some of the tax-cutting transactions include Blair Effron, an investment banker who hosted Obama for a May fundraiser at his two-level, 9,000-square-foot apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Others are Jim Rogers, co-chairman of the host committee for the 2012 Democratic National Convention; Roger Altman, a former senior Treasury Department official who raised at least $200,000 for Obama's re-election campaign; and Shantanu Narayen, who sits on the president's management advisory board.

[Jordan]

Anybody watching Tyrant? I watched the first episode and like it a lot. Haven't watched any others yet, but will soon.

Meanwhile, I just can't get into The Strain. It's just too ridiculous. And I really don't like the CDC bureaucrat main characters ("hey look how eccentric I am! I drive a weird Mercedes jeep thing").

[Raven Nation]

I watched the first episode of the The Strain and was bored most of the time.

[Drax the Destroyer]

I've seen a couple episodes. Unfortunately, the fact that everyone speaks English all the time is a little annoying, but I guess no one in Paducah would watch it if brown people were speaking arabic/farsi/made up bullshit.

I think the arc of the show will be kind of like Breaking Bad, where the main character, in an attempt to do something good, will become a monster. Not sure how they can drag the show out for more than 3 seasons without a huge budget though.

[Apatheist ?_??]

In my opinion it quickly goes downhill and the main nuclear family is too retarded to be believable. The actor playing the brother is pretty good though.

[seguin]

I like The Strain. I've been waiting for non-emo vampires for some time now, and full-on Nosferatu? Heck yeah. Admittedly, some of the stuff that's happened has been silly (like the proboscis thing and... the flushing)

There's nothing eccentric about owning a Land Rover Defender. Period. They're nice trucks, classics. He even explains why he has it in the third episode (and implicitly explains why it's LHD). Plenty of people drive old cars daily, most of my friends for instance.

I could do without using the Nazis as the flashback villain though. It's @#$@#$ tired. There are so many other genocidaires out there. The thing's a strigoi - why not Ceausescu?

Anyway, it neatly subverts a lot of modern TV tropes while unfortunately leaning on a couple of others, but overall I think it's pretty good.

[MegaloMonocle]

I been meaning to pick up Tyrant. Thanks for the reminder.

[Lord Humungus]

Hawkish Hillary Risks Alienating the Left

Hillary has another problem. As she pulls away from Obama, asserting her hawkish credentials, she risks alienating her liberal base and souring Americans who remain wary of involvements overseas. Criticism of Obama's hesitance to arm the rebels in Syria, her push for engagement in Libya, her endorsement of the surge in Afghanistan and drone strikes in Pakistan, and her past vote in favor of the Iraq war establishes her as a card-carrying interventionist.

In the Atlantic interview, Hillary sounds positively bellicose, a feminine John McCain. She describes herself as "hepped up" about jihadism (a welcome change from our somnolent Commander in Chief), gets excited about the U.S. "advancing the cause of freedom," celebrates the "defeat" of the Soviet Union, sticks up for Israel's right to defend itself and throws in the occasional "damn" just to emphasize her stars-and-stripes grit. While music to the ears of those frustrated by Obama's lack of leadership, the Left will not be happy.

Don't worry, the left will get in line for 2016.

[Andrew S.]

The left hasn't been anti-intervention since January 19, 2009. Not sure why that would change for Hillary.

[John]

Because they don't like the Clintons and just because they let their last boy friend beat them up doesn't mean the new one can do it.

The Left is going to go all in for Fauxcohontus or whatever retard steps up to give them a hug. The 2016 Dem Primaries are going to be brutal.

[robc]

Could a Hillary-Warren war lead to Biden getting the nomination?

Lol, good times.

[John]

If Hillary goes full Neocon, and it looks like she is, it is going to be a battle royal.

[Raven Nation]

Hilary-Christie

[John]

If Warren and Paul were to win the nomination, I could totally see that happening. It would be a crooked establishment unity ticket.

[Tonio]

That's an interesting possibility robc. I don't think he could win in a general election unless it was against someone like Christie, and I think the party elders know that.

[Pro Libertate]

Julian Castro. I'm telling you, they're going to want to redo Obama. Warren is a little too well known to play that role.

People forget how much Obama tried to sound like a centrist in 2008 (and, really, in 2012, too, despite all of the evidence to the contrary). Warren can't do that, because there's too much recent stuff that makes that laughable. Others, less well-known, can.

[John]

See my McCardle comment below. Also, since Obama is such a miserable failure, the Progs are already disowning him and calling him a centrist who was never one of theirs.

You are right Warran can't claim to be a centrist. But I honestly think the Left wants a full on retard. They don't want anyone who will pretend. I don't think Castro has the money or the organization to get the nomination. The other problem is that Bill Clinton is still beloved in the black community. In a match up with a Latin, Hillary would get 95%+ of the black vote. I don't think you could win the Democratic nomination without getting at least a decent share of the black vote. It would be like winning the GOP nomination while losing 95% of the evangelicals. Possible, but pretty hard.

[Lord Humungus]

Clinton-Castro.

Alternative: Booker-Castro - the perfect way to sew up the minority vote.

Related: I thought it was a mistake for Romney to pick a white dude Ryan. A woman or "minority" (I hate that term) would have been the better political choice. ?

[John]

Booker is probably gay and has a ton of skeletons in his closet from his days in Newark. Yeah, I know I could be describing Obama in 2006. But, I really don't think even the Democrats want to elect another blank slate black guy. No way will Booker even run.

Clinton-Castro would be a complete disaster since it would make getting the monumental black turnout necessary for a win virtually impossible.

[Troglodyte Rex]

But, I really don't think even the Democrats want to elect another blank slate black guy.

I can see calls for vetting the fuck out of any seemingly unknown after the ball was dropped on the current office holder.

[MegaloMonocle]

Nah. In TEAM sports, its not performance in office that matters.

Its winning elections.

[MegaloMonocle]

Warren can't do that, because there's too much recent stuff that makes that laughable.

You assume the DemOp Media won't do their bit to cover all that up for her.

[Pro Libertate]

Obama was really invisible except for the convention speech. Warren is not.

[Lord Humungus]

Why labor unions are more like Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan than you realize

With their grip on power in modern American culture slipping daily, the country's labor unions will try anything to to hold onto their dominion and relevance.

No, really. Anything. Anything at all.

Defending academic plagiarism? Check. Threatening dissenters? Yup. Tricking its own members to keep them funnelling cash to the bosses? Yup, that too.

Maybe they twerk on Robin Thicke next? It worked wonders for Miley Cyrus' celebrity.

[sarcasmic]

A hermit's hideaway 6 miles off the coast of Maine: New England's tallest lighthouse is up for sale...but is it also its loneliest home?

Boon Island and its 133-foot lighthouse are being auctioned by the federal government
The tiny, rocky island sits just 14 feet above sea level and was once the site of a shipwreck where sailors survived by cannibalizing each other
The government has extended its auction of the island once and could do so a second time as bids have only reached $41,000

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-home.html

[UnCivilServant]

Two questions - How's the internet connection, and can I get UPS/FedEx to deliver there?

[Raven Nation]

Hmm, 14 feet above sea level could become uncomfortable during a storm.

[UnCivilServant]

That's what the rest of the 133 feet of the tower are for!

[Raven Nation]

True. Hopefully, there are drains in the base.

[Ted S.]

This is what Amazon's drone delivery program is for.

[The DerpRider]

If it's six miles off the coast, isn't that international waters? Libertopia is born!

[SugarFree]

International waters is 11 miles.

[SugarFree]

But living 6 miles off the coast does cut down on wrong address SWAT raid somewhat.

[Ted S.]

Wouldn't a lot of people here like to get away from humanity?

[Lord Humungus]

Yes! A resounding yes.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

"I love humanity...it is people that I cannot stand"

[Raven Nation]

+1 Rousseau (maybe) and Linus van Pelt.

[Drake]

Is 6 miles far enough away to declare independence? I know a good template for the declaration.

[Marshall Gill]

Just don't fuck it up by replacing "property" with "the pursuit of happiness" like TJ did.

[Idle Hands]

Well apparently none of us are boyfriend material.

3) "Which amendment in the Bill of Rights do you think is the most important?"

Second: Run. Seriously, just run! Your man might not be an asshole to people on the Internet because he's too busy being an open-carrying asshole in real life.

First: This could be a huge warning sign. Trolls cite the First Amendment as frequently as college application essays cite "The Road Not Taken." They think that it gives them the right to verbally harass, stalk, and threaten whomever they want without any consequences. If your man picks the First Amendment, just ask him to explain what it means. If he thinks it means that "it's a free country" and "people can say whatever they want," tell him to go back to the playground he learned his politics from and find a new boyfriend.

[Andrew S.]

What do I get for "Most Important is an idiotic question, because they're all important, you idiot"?

[UnCivilServant]

Dumped on the spot for your exercise of the 1st.

[Idle Hands]

Let me mainsplain it so you'll get it through your thick masculine skull: go back to the playground where you learned politics Andrew S.

[Doctor Whom]

You get a trip to a consciousness-raising. The freedom to have an abortion is good, as are certain other cherry-picked freedoms. The rest mark you as a racist, so why are you such a racist, you racist?

[John]

Do a google search on the author. She is a thin, reasonably attractive, upper class, young white women. Here she is lecturing fat girls and minority girls, who often have few choices for men that they need to be more picky.

Looks to me like someone needs to check her privilege.

[sarcasmic]

reasonably attractive

Except for that nose. She looks like a fucking toucan.

[John]

Better a big nose than being a fat chick.

[$park? has had enough]

*gasp* *blink* John, is that really you?

[Bobarian]

When John calls someone fat, you know it's true.

[Idle Hands]

Well she did get the Seth MacFarlane part right.

[Idle Hands]

lol, that chicks a dude baby:

Samantha Allen (@CousinDangereux) is a transgender woman, an ex-Mormon and a PhD student in Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Emory University writing a dissertation on sexual fetishism. She writes regularly for The Border House and has contributed to Kotaku, Medium Difficulty and First Person Scholar. She is also an erstwhile singer-songwriter. You can find her on the web or on Twitter.

[Lord Humungus]

She sounds like am absolute barrel of fun.

[John]

She might be; provided she has a fun fetish.

[John]

Do her lips take like cherry cola?

I am not the world's most masculine guy but I guess twitter pics can be fooling.

[John]

Serious question, does "transgendered woman" mean she is a guy who thinks he is a girl or a girl who thinks she is a guy? It could be either way and I left my fruit loop scorecard at home this morning.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Strongly suggests M to F because she is currently calling herself a woman.

[John]

Probably. She fooled me. Either she is pretty convincing or I am more suited to the other team than I thought I was.

[tarran]

In your defense, she's using her nose to hide her adams apple...

[Idle Hands]

Well he/she did crowd-fund a vagina so I think he/she is women now anyway. I wasted entirely to much time looking this person up.

[Auric Demonocles]

The way I remember it is to just think of them as lying. So "woman" is a lie for "man".

He's a dude who thinks he's a chick.

[Apatheist ?_??]

She was born with a male body. But if you google her name, it appears she is now post-op (crowd funded apparently!).

[cavalier973]

I know a guy who thought he was a rabbit born in a human's body. I was told we had to confirm his lifestyle or we would be considered bigots.

[Heroic Mulatto]

So you fed him a lot of pellets and used his poop for compost?

[AlexInCT]

You give him any carrots and ask em what was up doc?

[cavalier973]

We shot him and made hasenpfeffer. At least we weren't bigots about it.

[WTF]

A trans woman (sometimes trans-woman or transwoman) is a male-to-female (MTF) transgender person with a female gender identity. The label of transgender woman is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual woman, although the two labels are often used in this way. Transgender is an umbrella term that includes different types of gender variant people (including transsexual people).

From that I think it means she is a man claiming to be a woman.

[John]

Apparently so. And doing it well enough to fool me.

[lap83]

She's not just telling them to be picky, she's telling them to be picky about the wrong things.

Any man whose favorite amendment is the second is likely to be an intelligent, strong, and fiercely loyal partner who knows the importance of being able to defend your loved ones. To actively avoid men like that is dangerously stupid. Loyalty and knowledge of your country's history is a dealbreaker? Good luck with your love life. You'll need it.

[MegaloMonocle]

If your goal is a submissive beta male, then filtering out 1A and 2A supporters is an excellent start.

[sarcasmic]

Tenth: Your man is passionate about states' rights. Racists and homophobes love states' rights. Be afraid.

Um, yeah.

[ant1sthenes]

Racists and homophobes like to post stupid shit on the internet, the author likes to post stupid shit on the internet... I'm not saying she's racist, but it's an interesting coincidence, isn't it?

[hamilton]

"Eighth - I'm not into BDSM"
"Third - No quartering my soldier in your premises without your consent, baby."

(for college students): "Sixth, just so you remember when the campus tribunal expels me".

[Drax the Destroyer]

I love how not actively hating the tenth amendment = racist. Fucking bitches.

[Auric Demonocles]

It appears that the only "correct" answer is the super vague one, and only because it might mean he's down with killing babies.

[WTF]

So, is the Third Amendment an acceptable choice?

[UnCivilServant]

Why do you hate the Heroes (tm)!

[Pathogen]

Alt + 0153 = ?

[tarran]

I read the piece. According to her, liking the third amendment means you are a loser.

[Tonio]

According to the author the Third is "silly."

She gets appropriately taken down in the comments there, though.

[Apatheist ?_??]

4) "Can I borrow your laptop really quick?"

Ask him this question when he's in the middle of using it. And then count how long it takes for him to get his computer into a state where he's comfortable handing it over to you. If he passes it over immediately with his email and social media accounts still open, you're likely to be in the clear. This is a man with nothing to hide.

If he spends thirty seconds meticulously logging out of his email and social media accounts before handing it to you, there might be something going on with him and trolling is definitely on the table. It's 2014, after all. Men don't just cheat on you and watch too much porn anymore. They also obsessively track down and harass people who are different from them in order to feel the fleeting sense of control and superiority that defines their particular version of masculinity.

Um, because the only reason someone would want electronic privacy is to hide their internet trolling?

How bout this, any person who demands to read your emails should be dumped on the spot.

[robc]

How about, I spent 15 years working in IT and I dont leave myself logged in ever?

[robc]

Early in our relationship I created an account on my laptop for my girlfriend (now wife). Because that is how computers work. You use your own account always.

[Bobarian]

^^THIS

[Ted S.]

I wonder how she'd react if he wanted to read her emails and "social" media accounts.

[MegaloMonocle]

Check your privilege, you bigoted woman-hating racist?

[robc]

What if you answer 3rd?

[John]

It means he doesn't like a girl in uniform and he needs to go.

[Auric Demonocles]

Plus he isn't willing to share!

[Auric Demonocles]

Then you should be dumped because "If he picks an amendment this useless, you should just dump him anyway even if he's not a troll."

Which is funny because the only reason it's "useless" is that it's actually done its job/been respected.

[Pro Libertate]

What, pray tell, is the "right" answer to that question? The 19th? Yes, I know, but I'm using their kind of logic.

[NoVAHockey]

it's a trick. you're supposed to say "as a check in centralized power, i abhor the bill or rights and find comfort in the commerce clause."

[Pro Libertate]

Ha! Wrong! It's a tax!

[NoVAHockey]

i meant the 16th!

[Auric Demonocles]

Not sure if you RTFA, but it's the 9th. Cause the only right you should have is the right to kill babies (as long as it's not with a gun!).

[SugarFree]

I bet Samantha Allen has had at least 4 abortions.

[Auric Demonocles]

Not physically possible, as discussed elsewhere in this thread.

[SugarFree]

How dare you say she isn't what she says she is.

[waffles]

I will defend the right for the transgendered to have abortions. Don't you dare other me by pointing out my lack of uterus cis-shitlord.

[boomslang4]

"Where's the fetus going to gestate, in a box?"

[Pro Libertate]

That's wrong. Because that right comes from a penumbra, not any one amendment.

Not that I agree with that logic, as the entire historical record makes it clear that we do not have enumerated rights (the government has enumerated powers, of course).

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm just the messenger.

[robc]

As a huge fan of the 9th, she is an idiot.

[Zeb]

If he thinks it means that "it's a free country" and "people can say whatever they want,"

So what does freedom of speech mean then?

[MegaloMonocle]

You are free to repeat the proggy catechisms.

[Brian D]

Wow, the comments are not a sea of derp.

[Idle Hands]

probably because it was linked by instapundit and the college fix. Which is exactly what this kind of troll piece was designed to do. Not enough complete facists even on the left to justify paying someone to write this drivel.

[Drake]

Wow, I've been out of the dating pool for a while. This list was put together by a woman getting a doctorate?

[MegaloMonocle]

This list was put together by a "woman" getting a doctorate?

[PRX]

dating advice from a eunuch. Fermi Paradox answered.

[Tonio]

Dating is different than sex, PRX.

[MegaloMonocle]

Wait, what?

[Jensen]

TRIGGER WARNING CANADIAN SATIRE

Justin Trudeau's autobiography consists of 340 photos of Trudeau. "This is what my face looks like when I think about global warming," said Trudeau, at a packed public reading. "As you can see, I'm taking it very seriously. Like a world leader might. "And here it looks like the cameraman managed to catch me right as I'm getting out of the shower," he continued. "I look sort of angry because I'm thinking about civil rights violations, but also, I don't know, a little aroused?"

[Pathogen]

Ghost written..

[Ted S.]

That can't be satire since Trudeau really is that in love with himself now, can it?

[Lord Humungus]

My Christian virginity pledge nearly destroyed me
At the age of 10, I vowed to stay pure until I married. I finally realized my body belongs to me and not the church

I lost my virginity on my wedding night, with my husband, just as I had promised that day when I was 10 years old. I stood in the hotel bathroom beforehand, wearing my white lingerie, thinking, "I made it. I'm a good Christian." There was no chorus of angels, no shining light from Heaven. It was just me and my husband in a dark room, fumbling with a condom and a bottle of lube for the first time.

Sex hurt. I knew it would. Everyone told me it would be uncomfortable the first time. What they didn't tell me is that I would be back in the bathroom afterward, crying quietly for reasons I didn't yet comprehend. They didn't tell me that I'd be on my honeymoon, crying again, because sex felt dirty and wrong and sinful even though I was married and it was supposed to be okay now.

trigger warning: Salon

[John]

So Christian virginity pledges given by ten year old kids are harmful but colleges and primary schools teaching women to think all men are rapists is totally healthy and would never cause any young women to have issues with sex and men. Got it.

[sarcasmic]

Hey babe, you think that's dirty and wrong and sinful? Get in the shower and turn around!

[Pathogen]

Prude..

[John]

The funny thing about that is that it is Catholics that are hung up about sex. Evangelical chicks fuck like rabbits. It is that whole "biblical duty to please your husband" thing. They don't have those big families because the wives think sex is dirty. Just saying.

[robc]

I wouldnt say Catholics as much as mainline protestants.

Catholics have big families too...at least traditional ones.

[John]

Yeah but the wives feel guilty doing it. Of course they still do it, so the husband's can't complain.

[Lord Humungus]

I've dated a number of Catholic girls - and married one. They're Greeeaaaat /Tony the Tiger

[John]

I married a Catholic girl too. I thought I got the only one who wasn't guilty.

[NoVAHockey]

i honestly think that's a myth

/catholic family.

[Idle Hands]

Seriously. My parents go to church every sunday, goes to bible study and have no problem discussing and joking about sex much to my chagrin.

[Restoras]

I think it is definitely Protestants that have more hang ups.

[robc]

sex felt dirty and wrong and sinful

Sounds like a personal problem.

[Idle Hands]

Yeah, methinks she has deeper issues going on. Which may explain how someone could stay abstinent that long without getting married at 15.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I certainly think total abstinence until marriage with a dose of fundie sex is dirty throughout your life could lead to some sexual hang ups

[Idle Hands]

Could be, but I would lean more to something else traumatic happening to her to have a hang-up this bad. Or perhaps she is asexual or a lesbian.

[robc]

Except outside the Shakers no one teaches that "sex is dirty throughout your life." Or even that "sex is dirty."

[Bo Cara Esq.]

You need to visit more churches.

[Idle Hands]

Which ones?

[robc]

Ive been to plenty.

My current church borders on pentecostal (Its non-denominational, but the pastor has an AoG background).

Ive never heard anyone say sex is dirty. Its celebrated. Inside marriage.

[Idle Hands]

yeah I went to Catholic school and at no time did any one of us take any of that shit seriously.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Are you saying they taught it but no one bought it?

I'm just saying that's it not uncommon to find conservative churches that talk about sex and sexual desire as something that defiles ones temple. Heck, Paul himself says 'better to marry than burn,' not exactly a ringing endorsement of even totally within marriage sex

[Idle Hands]

I'm saying I've been to Catholic Church, known quite a few evangelicals attended a baptist mass, a lutheran mass, a greek orthodox mass, catholic school, religous education and a friend who is a minister and while they don't condone sex at all before marriage their isn't this pervasive group of people who are constantly discussing how evil it is. TLDR It's a minor aspect of most religions I've been exposed to and in my experience when it is brought up it's often falls on deaf ears.

[Idle Hands]

and while I'm not discounting that there are some seriously fucked up fundie groups out their, I'm more likely to believe that she is either not heterosexual or she is a victim of some deeper issue to feel the way she does.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Pictured: The author:

Samantha Pugsley is an English Studies graduate, freelance writer, and photographer. She's a married, bisexual, artsy super nerd who loves Marvel, fantasy/science fiction novels, video games and writing fanfiction. She's incredibly passionate about gender equality, female sexuality and reproductive rights as well as mental health reform. You can follow her on twitter @samanthapugsley

I've never met a SJW who hasn't worn her mental illness as a badge of honor.

[Tonio]

I've never met a SJW who hasn't worn her mental illness as a badge of honor.

This, this, a thousand times this. And what's worse is that many of them use their claimed mental illness to police the speech of others "you're triggering me, you have to stop" yet claim you're "othering" them if you walk away from their nonsense.

[Restoras]

Coming from a Protestant background, the 'sex is dirty' meme does run in an undercurrent. YMMV.

[cavalier973]

My dad, a Baptist pastor, always told me when I was growing up that sex was "a beautiful thing" that should be reserved for married couples.

This woman's problem isn't that she took a virginity pledge, it is that (I infer) she elevated it to a salvific level. "If I had premarital sex, then I would go to Hell." No, unbelief is the only "action" that lands one in a state of eternal separation from God.

She says that she would have done better to sleep with her then-boyfriend. I'm not so sure; from her writing, I would guess it possible that she would be even more emotionally damaged for having broken her "promise to God".

[Marshall Gill]

I'm just saying that's it not uncommon to find conservative churches that talk about sex and sexual desire as something that defiles ones temple.

Feigned obtuseness? There is still a difference between the act being the cause of the defilement and the circumstances being the cause. You seem to be claiming that because Christians consider stealing bread a sin that they also consider eating bread a sin. As rob correctly states, it is sex outside marriage that is wrong or defiling or dirty, not the act itself.

[Idle Hands]

'better to marry than burn,'

I think he's referring to vd associated with sleeping with floozies.

[Idle Hands]

remember the advent of penicillin is a recent phenomenon.

[Elspeth Flashman]

But that's what makes it soooo good.

[Matrix]

Sexual purity until marriage =/= sex is sinful and dirty.

Not that I necessarily agree with pushing that on boys and girls, but that's not how it is supposed to be understood, unless you're part of some deranged cult.

It really sounds more like the issues were from her internalizing the message and twisting it around as opposed to the message of "no sex until marriage".

I mean, saying "no driving until you have a permit/license" isn't saying "driving is evil and wrong, and you should feel ashamed for even having desires and eventually driving when you do have this permit/license"

[Lord Humungus]

Reminder: Rape and offensive images of rape are both real problems
Attempting to rank sexual traumas in terms of privilege does nothing to stop those traumas from happening

A quick reminder: Ranking sexual traumas is not productive. It's something Todd Akin does, and following suit does little but buy into the problematic idea that some forms of rape are "legitimate" while others are not. It perpetuates that notion that sexual trauma doesn't count if it comes in the form of a graphic, triggering image on a screen, because an image on a screen is not a stranger at the end of a dark alley wielding a knife and forcing a woman to have sex against her will. It feeds into all the ideas we get about grey areas and "sexual touching isn't assault" and how maybe harassment and abuse are just normal parts of everyday life for women.

trigger warning: trigger warnings

[Doctor Whom]

That's derpitudinous even by the standards of a site that talks about ancient Roman potato farmers.

[WTF]

Yes, and watching a slasher movie is the same as being hacked to death, and watching The Exorcist is the same as being possessed by a demon.

[John]

By that logic anyone who watched Schindler's list has the same claim to victim hood as a death camp survivor.

That may be the most offensively stupid thing I have ever read. It is certainly in the top five.

[Auric Demonocles]

Totally off topic, but it's the first thing that pops into my head every time I hear Schindler's List now because it's so bizarre:

Liam Neeson was Schindler.

[John]

What is the first thing?

[Auric Demonocles]

You don't find it weird to think about him playing a serious role in a drama, particularly an Oscar winner?

[John]

No. But I pretty much stopped watching mainstream movies in about 2005. So the Taken series hasn't made any impression on my consciousness. I still think of him as Rob Roy and Les Miserables. I only saw the first Star Wars Prequel, and as awful as it was, he was still pretty good in it.

[tarran]

You can't blame the actors for the first prequel. Not even Jon Lovitz, master thespian, could have acted his way out of that bad script.

[hamilton]

I was only... ACTING!

[Restoras]

I liked Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor in Phantom Menace.

[Matrix]

It's okay to joke about murder, assault, torture, and other similar horrible things. We make plenty of TV shows and movies that deal with these and some address them in a humorous fashion. But then we have rape. Make a rape joke, or depict it on TV and suddenly a certain segment of the population has a "frothing at the mouth" diatribe about glamorizing "rape culture." Get over yourselves. Rape is horrible. Torture is horrible. Assault is horrible. Murder is horrible. But these things are a part of life, and they can be imitated for entertainment and joked about for amusement. It's how we, as human beings, often cope with things that are so horrible and unfunny.

[John]

Rape only if it applies to women being raped. Joking about men being ass raped in prison is totally the height of acceptable humor.

[Colonel Slanders]

^^^^ This X 1000

[John]

I was busy so I missed the comments on the McArdle "we all lost when Hillary Lost the 08 Primary" piece. The infuriating thing about that is that biggest reason Obama became President is that the big low information middle thought of him as a pragmatic centrist who would bring the country together after 8 years of partisan nastiness under Bush. And the biggest reason they thought that was because the center right media, of which McArdle is a cadet member, went all "his pant creases are perfect" and "he is from Harvard" and said he was. Now McArdle has the nerve to bemoan that Obama turned out to be exactly what his worst right wing critics said he was. That is just too fucking bad I guess. She was part of the group that most helped put him in office. It is her legacy as a journalist. If she doesn't like it, too fucking bad.

[Tim]

They got what they voted for. Obama is golfing at his Nantucket summer palace and running the war. The generals are carrying his bags.

[John]

2008 was such a surreal experience. It was so blatantly obvious to me at least what a hateful clown this idiot was and so many people who should have known better were convinced he was second coming of George Washington. It really was a bout of national collective insanity.

[Lord Humungus]

Not that McCain was any great shakes, but I remember getting a sick feeling in my stomach when Obama was elected.

My mom comes from Chicago - so I know the area and culture pretty well. I also knew not to trust any pol from there.

Things have actually turned out even worse than I expected. And I'm still surprised Obama won in 2012 - but that's just the symptom of where the U.S. is at.

[Lord Humungus]

* or any politician from anywhere (!)

[John]

McCain was terrible. But he would have been held in check by the Dem Congress. Obama wouldn't have been as big of a disaster if the Republicans had taken Congress or at least held a big minority in the Senate. Turning him lose with Pelosi and Reid as the adult supervision was a catastrophe.

[John]

Also, the media would have done its job and actually reported on a McCain administration. Forget ideology, how can you have a Democratic President when doing so means the media will cover up any crime or corruption no matter how big?

[Raven Nation]

My mom comes from Chicago - so I know the area and culture pretty well

That was probably what made the whole thing worse: people thought that someone who came through Chicago, and was at least peripheral to its machine politics, would be a different kind of politician.

It was like the immaculation of Barack Obama: born and raised in an evil and sinful world but emerging pure as light.

[robc]

McCain had one last ditch chance to win ... he could have opposed TARP.

Im not sure it would have been enough, because I dont think the TP types would have believed him, but that was his last chance.

[John]

He was ahead in the polls until he stopped campaigning and ran to Washington to help pass TARP. I think that was the point people said "fuck it, something has to change" and let the retarded kid have a shot.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

McCain was ahead in the polls?

[VG Zaytsev]

Yes he was from the convention to the point where the stock market crashed and he said the economy is fundamentally sound he began sinking at that point and went into free fall when he 'suspended' his campaign and rushed back to DC to be a prop in the passage of TARP.

I think that he could have won had he actively campaigned against it. His go along to get along shtick was exactly the wrong tack at that point in time.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

And some of us in the Chicago area knew who he was since he was State Senator "Present" and having his knob slobbed by the Chicago Sun-Times as TEH MESSIAH!!!!!

[creech]

I doubt McArdle herself changed more than a dozen votes in Obama's favor. So which center-right journalist really had the influence to put Obama over the top?

[John]

I said she was a cadet member. Her contribution was small but only because no one reads her not because she wouldn't have done more if she could have.

[Sevo]

..."that biggest reason Obama became President is that the big low information middle thought of him as a pragmatic centrist who would bring the country together after 8 years of partisan nastiness under Bush."...

Man, I really missed my chance at farting through silk: That beachfront property in Nevada should have had a better advertising budget.

[John]

I know a ton of people who up until about a year ago were telling me with a straight face that Obama was a centrist and a pragmatist. And these people were brain dead progs. They were otherwise normal people. You have to remember most people have lives and don't pay much attention. If you were not paying much attention and getting your information from the nightly news or the local newspaper, you would have thought Obama was a centrist too.

[John]

Were NOT brain dead Progs.

[Sevo]

"The United States is sending 140 additional military advisers to northern Iraq."
From above

"Nancy Pelosi: No 'boots on the ground' in Iraq"
http://www.sfgate.com/politics.....ationworld

So these aren't boots-boots?

[John]

They are going to be wearing sandals. So there are no boots on the ground. Got that, you racist tea bagger?

[Bobarian]

They're practically running shoes!

[Brett L]

Welcome back to 1993!

[John]

http://nalert.blogspot.com/201.....party.html

Josh Marshall suddenly realizes the boots he has been licking all of these years don't taste very good. Nice of you to pull your head out of your ass for once Josh.

[SugarFree]

Asshole Gorilla Humps Robin Williams' Corpse for Publicity

When Buzzfeed and Gawker fight, we all win.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

I hope for a mutually fatal draw.

[John]

Or at least a lot of suffering.

[JW]

C'mon, hold out for MAD.

[The Late P Brooks]

Now McArdle has the nerve to bemoan that Obama turned out to be exactly what his worst right wing critics said he was.

The money shot from that McArdle piece was her whining about how partisan divisiveness has kept Washington from doing the really important job of expanding the government and spending more money.
Jesus on a merry-go-round, what a useless dolt.

[John]

And how all of those "crazy Republicans" elected in 2010 just won't go along and expand government and have done so much damage to the Republican Party.

The only reason the Republican Party still exists is because he found a little religion in 2010 and started saying no to Obama. Useless Dolt is to kind of words for her. What a fucking nitwit.

[MegaloMonocle]

The frustrating thing about McArdle is that she knows better, but just can't seem to break out of the DemOp bubble.

Absolutely nothing she complains about now wasn't pretty apparent in 2008, and glaringly obvious by 2010, but only now, when its Socially Acceptable to turn on Barack, does she do so.

[John]

^^THIS^^

I am only harder on her because she seems to be smart enough to know better and doesn't because she is so concerned with culture and fitting in.

[The Late P Brooks]

When Buzzfeed and Gawker fight, we all win.

Buzzfeed and Gawker make my brain crash.

[See Double You]

Not sure if this was already covered, but why not repost? ISIS bomb instructor accidentally blows up self, 21 other Jihadists.

[See Double You]

Oh, should have included a trigger warning: NYT.

[Sevo]

'I thought you said to count to 10!'

[Sevo]

Too soon?
Naah...

[Tonio]

Ten shall be the number of the counting, and the number of the counting shall be ten...

[Matrix]

He had a premature detonation.

[John]

This is why suicide bombing never works as a military strategy. Your best bombers never make it past practice.

[Matrix]

Well, when you "practice like you play", it happens. Hopefully more of them go with the "practice like you play" mentality.

Or we can send undercover CIA agents inside pretending to be giving them practice bombs, but actually give them the real thing. We can get these guys to take themselves out!

[Bill Dalasio]

after a judge approved Donald Sterling's wife's authority to agree to a sale.

Is it just me or does this stink of dispensing with any pretense of the rule of law because Donald Sterling is "icky"?

[John]

No it is not you. But Sterling should have filed for divorce. Once he did that, the team would have been under the jurisdiction of the California divorce court and couldn't be sold until the divorce was settled, which would have been years.

[Sevo]

"Is it just me or does this stink of dispensing with any pretense of the rule of law because Donald Sterling is "icky"?"

Pretty sure the problem here is whether he's competent. Along with the fact that the NBA prolly wouldn't let the team play if he continued ownership (and it's their clubhouse).
But it does have a certain stench to it...

[John]

The NBA would never close up shop of a franchise, I don't care if Satan owned it.

[Bobarian]

Silly John, Satan owns the Redskins.

[AlexInCT]

Hey! Quit that...

[Bill Dalasio]

But, that's precisely what I think stinks about this whole thing. If they'd simply said, screw it, the Clippers are out of the league as long as Sterling owns them, it would still suck, but at least it would be arguably within their rights.

But, they can't let that happen. So, what do they do? They get someone else to sell the team, as if he isn't the owner. At no point have I heard anyone credibly argue that he's mentally incompetent (if he were, then a trustee should have been appointed to oversee all his affairs; not just the sale). And it would be very difficult to argue the NBA should have done anything about the matter - if he's crazy/senile, how do you hold him responsible for making crazy statements?

[PRX]

OT: anyone seen the TrueCar ad with the Sadbeard lookalike? when he says "now you can be an expert in less than a minute" it seemed like they were mocking Yglesias.

[lap83]

better alt text: Stop Bogarting the photo!

[cavalier973]

Why the USA doesn't do metric.

[John]

I love how the article assumes that "rational" means "multiple of ten". Efforts to decimalize things are called "attempts to rationalize" things. Ah no, there is nothing "irrational" about the English system of measures or the Georgian Calender. "Irrational" actually means something with regard to numbers. And it doesn't "it is hard to do the math" or "I don't like it". It means "any real number that cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers." That means it is a real number that can't be expressed as a fraction. The English system is fractions based and perfectly rational. Just because this retard can't do fractions doesn't mean they are irrational.

[Zeb]

Metric is good for technical stuff because it is easy to convert units and it is standardized around the world. But rationality has nothing to do with it. Units are all arbitrary.

[John]

Yes. But in day to day use one is no better or worse than the other. I find that for cutting things, a fractional system works better. But that may just be me.

[Zeb]

Oh, personally I much prefer the customary units. I can't imagine doing carpentry in cm. Inverse powers of 2 are great.

[Bill Dalasio]

Actually, the only reason it's easier to convert units is because we use a base 10 counting system. And the only reason we do that is becuase we (mostly) have ten fingers. Logically, given the recurrence of 3s in the world, we'd be much better off ussing a base 12 system.

/duodecimalist rant

[Zeb]

Yes. There is nothing special about 10. And I am not an advocate of metricization (is that the right word?). Divisors of 12 and powers of 2 are better and promote mental arithmetic skills.

[Zeb]

The metric system is a communist conspiracy.

[cavalier973]

What's a meter? It was originally set equal to one ten-millionth of the length of a longitudinal meridian between the equator and the North Pole. Go ahead, try to picture that in your mind's eye. Or don't bother, because the definition completely changed in 1960 when the meter instead took its basis from the wavelength of krypton-86 radiation. Far easier to grasp. But hold on! It changed yet again in 1983, and now it's the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second. Makes you want to stretch your arm out from your sternum and call it a day.

[Libertarian]

If they were going to redefine it anyway, why not an even 1/300,000,000 of a second? That's what they teach in the physics department at Whatsamattayou.

/Bullwinkle

[Zeb]

They wanted to redefine it without changing it.

[Bobarian]

from a scientific measurements basis, metric is nifty, because:

1 gram of water is one cubic centimeter, which requires 1 calorie of energy to raise its temperature 1 degree centigrade.

That has nothing to do with 'rational' vice irrational. The speed of light over a distance allows for a time component, but that's not near as nifty.

[cavalier973]

Just the other day, Matthew Yglesias of Vox argued that we should have a single, global time zone...

Set it for Zulu time. "The meeting's at 0600Z."

[Zeb]

We already do, it's called UT.

[John]

Greenwich mean time or Zulu, is effectively a single global time zone. Things like submarines or military operations that take place over multiple time zones operate under it.

Yglesias, since he is profoundly retarded and tries to make up for it by being ignorant, has no idea that Zulu time exists. It is just that people don't follow it because there is generally no reason to.

[Zeb]

Unless he is also suggesting that people all work at the same time around the world (which is also a stupid idea), what is the point?

[cavalier973]

The family of a 15-year-old Utah cheerleader who died Sunday after she was accidentally run over as she sunbathed in her driveway was comforted Monday by neighbors who brought them dinner in a show of support.