A.M. Links: More Unrest in Ferguson, Rick Perry Indicted for Trying to Force DUI D.A. to Resign, Facebook Testing "Satire" Tag for Fake News

• 

  Daily Sabah

  Yesterday was the ninth night of protests in Ferguson. Missouri's Democrat Gov. Jay Nixon, who declared a state of emergency in Ferguson and ordered a midnight to 5 a.m. curfew on Saturday, has now ordered the National Guard in. Nixon blamed the police chief in Ferguson for provoking this weekend's violence by releasing surveillance video purporting to show Michael Brown, who was shot by cops last Saturday, robbing a corner store a few minutes earlier. Results of the autopsy reveal Brown was shot at least six times.

• Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted for "coercion" and "abuse of power" for using his power to try to force a District Attorney responsible for public integrity accused of drinking (heavily) and driving to resign. The only reason the indictment has any traction is because Perry is a Republican and the D.A., Rosemary Lehmberg, is a Democrat. New York's Jonathan Chait, no fan of Perry, called the indictment "unbelievably ridiculous."
• The California Supreme Court ruled that a suspect's silence before pleading the Fifth can be used to demonstrate guilt.
• Kurdish and Iraqi troops have retaken the Islamic State-controlled dam in Mosul, with help from U.S. air strikes, according to an Iraqi military spokesperson.
• Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said it was his understanding he would be leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has stayed the last two years to avoid arrest in Great Britain and extradition to Sweden for questioning.
• The social networking website Facebook is testing a "satire" tag for fake news.

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Comments

[Snark Plissken]

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said it was his understanding he would be leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he has stayed the last two years to avoid arrest in Great Britain and extradition to Sweden for questioning.

He will now be prosecuted for having sex with a Swedish feminist.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It is criminal after all.

[Poppa Kilo]

But also self punishing.

See also, 'self abuse'.

[UnCivilServant]

Don't they have the same standards of proof as US Universities?

[Lord Humungus]

From what I read, Swedish jails are the place to be if you have to serve time. Though all the blonde Ikea furniture would get a bit sickening.

[UnCivilServant]

Is that 'blonde Ikea furniture' as in the 'Furniture girl' from Soylent Green?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Better late than never.

"Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said it was his understanding he would be leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy in London"

It was also to his understanding there would be no math and that Ecuador doesn't need no stinking badges.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Saturday, has now ordered the National Guard in.

Only Nixon could go to Ferguson.

Or, forget it, Jay. It's Fergusontown.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

I'll take "Only Nixon could go to Ferguson"...if there is a choice, I mean.

[entropy_factor]

"Nixon Sends in National Guard"

FOUUURR DEAD IN O-HI-OOOOO

[Fist of Etiquette]

Nixon blamed the police chief in Ferguson for provoking this weekend's violence...

Does his union contract allow him to be blamed for anything?

[UnCivilServant]

He's the Chief, he gets all the blame in the contract.

[JW]

It does state that he shall receive one pig every month and two comely lasses of virtue true.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Keep the pigs. How many broads do I get?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The social networking website Facebook is testing a "satire" tag for fake news.

AKA in case you're an idiot tag.

[Snark Plissken]

It could also be used to write positive reviews of Michael Bay movies.

[Kaptious Kristen]

There are lots.

[invisible furry hand]

Man with 453 piercings - and two horn implants - refused entry to Dubai because officials thought he practised black magic

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z3AkSBcxb9

[Bobarian]

Sounds like some 'practised' black magic on him.

[Freedom Frog]

Such an accepting culture.

[Zeb]

I just can't imagine why anyone would go there.

[Coeus]

While I doubt this guy had the same reason, I'm here for work.

[Zeb]

OK, other than for work.

[paranoid android]

On the plus side, it's not full of weirdos with shit like horn implants.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Germans....

[Lord Humungus]

NZ: Youth bare all for politics

The youth-led group and volunteers are publishing a raunchy calendar in an effort to encourage young people to engage in politics.

The idea is the brainchild of environmental campaigners Generation Zero and campaign director Laura O'Connell-Rapira says it's a proven way to get attention.

"Sex sells ... we want it to be tasteful and funny, rather than porny and gross."

trigger warning: PG Nudity

[Ted S.]

I'd prefer a calendar that uses nudity to persuade young people to get politics out of our lives.

[Dweebston]

Imagining you stand on the vanguard of some tremendous social change won't ever not be sexy.

[invisible furry hand]

trigger warning: PG Nudity naked Kiwis

[Juice]

Sex sells

They're fucking in the calendar? No? Oh, they thought nudity meant sex.

[sarcasmic]

The California Supreme Court ruled that a suspect's silence before pleading the Fifth can be used to demonstrate guilt.

WTF?

[WTF]

Yes, exercising your right to remain silent, before saying you are exercising the right to remain silent, means you are likely guilty. Because FYTW.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

SCOTUS ruled the same way lady year, 5-4, the four conservatives and Kennedyvin the majority.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Last year

Salinas v TX

http://www.scotusblog.com/2013.....the-fifth/

[sarcasmic]

Presumption of innocence is gone. Everyone is guilty. Some people pay lawyers to get them off, but even they are guilty.

[WTF]

Yes, everyone is guilty of something. Only by weakening the unfair protections of the constitution can we hope to get just a small fraction of the guilty.

[Bobarian]

Hiring a lawyer is a clear demonstration of guilt.

[waffles]

People pay lawyers to get off? Hookers are probably cheaper.

[Bobarian]

And a lot more pleasing.

Although, if you're into degradation?

Who better to give a cleveland steamer.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Yeah, so the point of the 5th becomes totally moot. Because only guilty people plead the 5th.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The state Supreme Court in a 4-3 ruling said Tom needed to explicitly assert his right to remain silent ? before he was read his Miranda rights ? for the silence to be inadmissible in court.

"This could be the last hurrah for a conservative Supreme Court," appellate lawyer Jon Eisenberg said.

We are so fucked.

[Cyto]

"you have the right to remain silent" will need to be amended.

They'll have to start printing little Miranda cards that say "You have the right to remain silent if you utter the phrase 'I invoke my 5th amendment right to remain silent'."

Without the magic words, you don't have any rights.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Do I need to invoke my 4th amendment rights too? How about my *th amendment rights?

[UnCivilServant]

I dare you to try to invoke your 20th Amendment rights when being arrested and watch the confusion on their faces.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I wish I could invoke the 27th more often

[thom]

Isn't it inherently contradictory if you must speak to invoke your right to remain silent?

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Not if you mime it.

[$park? has had enough]

Apparently you no longer have the right to remain silent.

[gaijin]

Lois Lerner refused to comment on the case

[Ted S.]

WTF?

FYTW!

[Jerryskids]

I think we've long been halfway to that already - as I recall, you have to affirmatively state that you are invoking the Fifth in order to have it protect you. You can't just sit there and say nothing, you have to actually *say* that you're going to sit there and say nothing. Otherwise, your failure to speak can be used to imply that your silence says something.

Which is a pretty screwed-up understanding of what a "right" is if you ask me, but probably no more than how screwed-up the court's views of any other of your rights are. "Freedom of Speech" zones pretty much negates the whole idea of free speech, for example.

[sarcasmic]

Freedom means asking permission and obeying orders.

[robc]

Its a procedural right, not a natural law right. Like jury trials. Unlike the natural law rights, this one really is granted by the state. Its important and its a stupid decision, but lets be careful not to conflate the two.

[Shirley Knott]

How is the decision not to speak not a natural law right?
It seems a far clearer natural law right than any purported right to be constantly yapping away, wherever/whenever.
Silence is the natural 'base state'.

[robc]

Not speaking is natural law right. Having it not held against you is procedural.

[UnCivilServant]

Silence is the natural 'base state'.

There are people for which I wish that were true.

[Zeb]

That's insane. What is the reasoning? That the 5th doesn't exist until you invoke it? It is ridiculous that you have to invoke it at all. Simply exercising the right ought to be all you need to do.

[sarcasmic]

Guilty until proven innocent. That's the reasoning.

[Xeones]

FYTW is all the reasoning that is necessary.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The California Supreme Court ruled that a suspect's silence before pleading the Fifth can be used to demonstrate guilt.

Instead of breaking them up into sex separate states, how about breaking them off into their own country?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Sex separate states would be pretty unappealing to most

[$park?'s head exploded]

In California it would probably add up to more than six.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Yeah, I'm not living in a state will all dudes.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

*with

[Fist of Etiquette]

Proof typos are like yawns.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sex separate states would be pretty unappealing to most

No one who speaks German could be a bad man.

[JW]

I'm more inclined to invade and take control of their beautiful weather and landscapes, deeding it to more worthy owners. We'll move the residents to Nevada, Idaho and Montana, insulting them along the way for squandering such a treasure on crass venality.

Call it the Trail of Jeers.

[Aloysious]

You are not moving that trash to Idaho. We have too many as it stands right now. Ship those bastards to NYC. They'll fit right in.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Montana could open a new hunting season.

[sarcasmic]

'We are aiming our guns at high schools. A lot of you will die': 15-year-old arrested after Instagram posts of weapons and dead bodies threaten 'huge shooting'

Police say the teen did not actually have access to weapons and it appeared that he posted stock photos

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....oting.html
He's got no guns, just pictures off the internet, and he's arrested anyway. Really?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Then he should have been arrested for intellectual property theft.

[gaijin]

so he's a terrorist...I'm sure the patriot act can provide some sort of cover to detain him indefinitely.

[JW]

Someone that stupid should at least have his ass kicked thoroughly by everyone else at the school.

[Jerryskids]

None of this is going to matter much next week when, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the last time it happened, the CIA burns down the White House and the Capitol and blames it on terrorists.

[sarcasmic]

Swimsuit-clad Lena Dunham shrieks while pouring cold water over her head for ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....lenge.html
John gets a chubby.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

You think anyone is going to click that?! Well, maybe SF, for source material...

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

No effing way.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Pass.

[invisible furry hand]

Confirmation she has washed sometime in the last year, then

[Lord Humungus]

lol

[RBS]

I clicked... I have no words...

[invisible furry hand]

This is my favourite picture because she looks like she's slipped away from her carer for innocent summer fun

[Jordan]

Good lord. *Barf*

[Lord Humungus]

WHY did I click on that?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

You did it so the rest of us don't have to

[Lord Humungus]

Taking one for the team.

Whoever said libertarians (anarchists, minis, etc etc) can't work together?

[VG Zaytsev]

Fat, ugly and bitter is no way to go through life, son, er....

[John]

Did you think hard all weekend come up with that joke?

[sarcasmic]

It's only funny 'cause it's true.

[Lord Humungus]

Guy Claims He Has Tamed a Japanese Giant Wasp, Keeps It on a Leash

The Japanese giant hornet is known as one of the world's largest and most aggressive insects. It is two inches long with a quarter-inch stinger, can fly at speeds up to 25 mph, and is feared for its powerful, poisonous stings that claim at least 40 lives in Japan every summer. So when a Japanese man made an outlandish claim that he had actually tamed a hornet, no one really believed him.

But Twitter user Mikuru625's has been trying to convince everyone that he actually has a pet giant hornet by posting photos of it. He said that he had captured the hornet with a butterfly net and held it with tweezers while he removed its sting and poison sacs. He then put a string around its thorax, so that the insect follows him wherever he goes. "He does bite occasionally but it doesn't hurt," the owner says.

trigger warning: big ass WASP

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

OK, the comment "What kind of kibble does he feed it?" was pretty good.

[UnCivilServant]

Well now that it's sting has been removed, it is kinda cute and comedically oversized.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Needs moar tentacles

[LynchPin1477]

It's not so much tame as disarmed and shackled.

[LynchPin1477]

Surprising no one, he has a hentai girl as the background on his phone.

[db]

Cazadors are the worst.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+1 MG 50 Cal

[db]

12-ga Hunting Shotgun with extended mag tube works wonders on them.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Seen elsewhere on the intarwebz - "Lehmberg .239, works every time".

Shriek and Tony must be furiously fapping over a copy of the "indictment".

[gaijin]

I'm sure it's been posted previously, but the jailhouse video of Lehmberg being processed should be 'plastered' everywhere imo (the second at the link)This is who Texas Democrats are defending

[Elspeth Flashman]

That's not important, what's important is the abuse of power! Stop looking at the man behind the curtain!

[Freedom Frog]

Not for nothing but the voice behind the camera should just shut the fuck up. She was egging her on.

The blonde cop is kinda hot.

Gotta love the "FEMALE" sign on the cell door. Just in case anyone wasn't sure, I guess.

[sarcasmic]

Cell phone footage of a violent attack against a Philadelphia park ranger by a skateboarder 'because he was told he couldn't ride in the park'

The suspect has not yet been identified
Witness Mariano Verrico of Essex Fells, New Jersey managed to capture the brutal attack 'over a no skateboard rule' on film
'He got kicked in the head repeatedly and spit on,' Verrico told reporters of the park ranger
There is a skateboard ban in LOVE Park in Philadelphia
'He never once tried to fight with the kid,' he said

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ge-of.html
You can bet the cops ridiculed the guy and called him a pussy. I mean, he should have shot those fucking kids for failure to obey.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Skateboarders should find and destroy that trio. All the attack has done is guarantee a heavily armed sweep of all skatepunks out of public parks.

[Zeb]

There's always an asshole who ruins it for everyone.

[Freedom Frog]

Why is skateboarding banned in public parks again?

Does it have something to do with knowing what's best for someone else?

[Zeb]

In places where bikes or skates are allowed, it's because skaters are nasty hoodlums up to no good.

[Roger the Shrubber]

They damage park benches, concrete walls and stairs and anything else that they choose to use as their playground.

[Los Doyers]

Keep em off your lawn!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

A priest checks into a hotel and asks the clerk if the porn channel in the room is disabled. The clerk says "no, it's regular porn, you sick fuck."

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

*narrows gaze*

[Lord Humungus]

I chortled silently.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Some of the comments are at least encouraging:
NR: 'I'll Go Home at the End of the Day'

[Doctor Whom]

No one should be asked to be a sitting duck.

The irony, it burns!

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

I'd say a lot of the comments are encouraging! Send Palin's Buttplug here next time he insists that only Team Blue cares about police misconduct.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...surveillance video purporting to show Michael Brown, who was shot by cops last Saturday, robbing a corner store a few minutes earlier.

And assaulting the clerk.

[Zeb]

I think that "robbing" implies some sort of assault.

[sarcasmic]

Dumped police cadet, 21, opens fire at 18-year-old ex-girlfriend's home - shooting her, her mother and killing family friend - before girl's brother shot him dead in return
Michael William Little, a 21-year-old Knoxville, Tennessee police cadet, got into an argument at his ex-girlfriend's house Friday night
Little shot ex-girlfriend Ashley Womack, 18, her 47-year-old mother Rhonda and family friend Travis Wegener, 28
Rampage was stopped when Ashley's 22-year-old brother Joshua grabbed rifle and shot Little dead
Little and Wegener were killed in the shootout
Ashley was treated and released from the hospital for a gunshot wound
As of Sunday, Ashley's mother remains hospitalized in serious condition

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-dead.html
When will these guys learn to do these things while in uniform? Then they'll be hailed as heroes, no matter what they do.

[$park? has had enough]

Best and brightest right there.

[Jordan]

This is clearly more evidence that only the King's Men should be allowed to possess arms.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

How bizarre - they forgot to mention that 22-year old Joshua Womack was a cop. He must be a cop, as I have been assured that regular people with guns only make things worse.

See? Just wait for the police and all will be well.

[Lord Humungus]

Is the U.S. economic recovery almost over ? already?

Half of America still thinks the Great Recession never ended. That, even though the U.S. economy continues to grow and add jobs.

It's an understandable view, of course. Median family incomes are 3 percent lower today than five years ago, new jobs pay a fifth less than those lost during the downturn, and the share of adults with a job remains well below pre-recession levels. For most workers ? particularly those who aren't software engineers at Google ? the Not-So-Great Recovery has been a bust.

That's not even the worst of it. If history is any guide, we're overdue for another recession. The average length of a post-WWII upturn after a downturn is 58 months. The current recovery, which began in July 2009, has been plugging along for 62 months. But because this recovery has been so weak, even a mild downturn, like the one after the internet stock bubble popped, could conceivably push the jobless rate back over 8 percent.

trigger warning: shreeeek bait

[Jordan]

There never was a recovery.

[Ted S.]

Damn you! 🙂

[WTF]

What do you mean? We've had like 5 recovery summers so far!

[UnCivilServant]

I thought it was one Five-Year plan.

[Elspeth Flashman]

You know who else had a Five-Year plan?

[Lord Humungus]

Mao?

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Breaking Bad?

[antisocial-ist]

John McKay?

[Poppa Kilo]

Your mother?

[come on - do I always have to be the one to fill this in?]

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Theo Epstein?

[JW]

Starfleet?

[Mercutio]

John Fogerty?

[Obama's Buttplug]

Henri Charriere?

[Ted S.]

Did the US economic recovery ever begin?

[Doctor Whom]

No, and I blame Bush. Whenever the S&P goes up, I still praise my lord and savior Obama, though.

[Gbob]

You know that kind of teabagging denial of reality is just as bad as those nuts who say that we haven't always been at war with Eastasia. Of course we've had an amazing recovery, and if you weren't racist you would have seen it. It has been a glorious six years. If we're going to face a downturn it's only because the economy is reacting to fear of what life will be like when we don't have glorious leader's hand at the helm.

[DJF]

""""Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted for "coercion" and "abuse of power" for using his power to try to force a District Attorney responsible for public integrity accused of drinking (heavily) and driving to resign. """

Don't District Attorneys do this all the time, they charge people with multiple crimes in order to force a plea bargain to lesser charges?

Didn't Governor Spitzer get charged with multiple crimes but then the charges were dropped when he resigned?

[Ted S.]

I didn't think the monster was charged at all. Certainly not for the things far worse than cavorting with hookers, like having state troopers spy on his political opponents.

[DJF]

Your right, he was threatened with being charged but once he resigned they said they were not going to charge him

[Ted S.]

My right what? According to the Wikipedia article he was threatened with impeachment by an Assembly Republican, of which there are about 6 in a chamber of 150.

[Stormy Dragon]

On one hand, this indictment is primarily about partisan politics. But on the otherhand, the legislature specifically chose not to give the governor the power to fire district attorneys, so I'm not happy with him using the funding process in an attempt to give himself powers he can't legitimately claim.

[Lord Humungus]

Groups claim insurance discrimination in new forms

Ending insurance discrimination against the sick was a central goal of the nation's health care overhaul, but leading patient groups say that promise is being undermined by new barriers from insurers.

The insurance industry responds that critics are confusing legitimate cost-control with bias. Some state regulators, however, say there's reason to be concerned about policies that shift costs to patients and narrow their choices of hospitals and doctors.

With open enrollment for 2015 three months away, the Obama administration is being pressed to enforce the Affordable Care Act's anti-discrimination provisions. Some regulations have been issued; others are pending after more than four years.

trigger warning: obvious insurance company move is obvious

[DJF]

"""Ending insurance discrimination against the sick was a central goal of the nation's health care overhaul"""

Giving insurance to pre-existing conditions means that its no longer insurance.

You don't give car insurance to someone who has already totalled his car

[WTF]

Giving insurance to pre-existing conditions means that its no longer insurance.

Correct, it is welfare.

[Ted S.]

State regulators would say that, wouldn't they?

[LynchPin1477]

So the consequences of life in the real world are now "discrimination. Reality is obviously biased.

[sarcasmic]

Now protests start IN FAVOR of shooter cop: More than a hundred turn out in rally supporting Darren Wilson after he skips town to avoid violent reprisals
The large group gathered outside of the St Louis offices of news station KSDK on Sunday
Most of the protesters are members of the law enforcement community

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

During the rally the protesters passed around a giant card on which they wrote messages like: 'Stay Strong' and 'The Blue Line Forever'.

That pretty much says it all.

[Jerryskids]

So there's a group of protesters that are largely law enforcement and therefore much more likely to be armed and dangerous than the average protest group? Now there's a protest that calls for the kitted-out riot squads with the MRAPs and the heavy artillery.

[Juice]

How many rounds of tear gas did they get hit with?

[Idle Hands]

A brave new world as written by a lesbian.

What about the ambitions of the individual? Some men may aspire to more than luxury breeding pens.
Some would argue it would be a dystopian world because it wouldn't be free in the present conventional sense. However that is misguided. It will be utopian because it will be a world almost without conflict where people cooperate and are treated properly within a well-engineered and long-forged system. If everything is great for almost everyone the point is null. Survival and socio-organic wellbeing are the most important elements in life. Diversity of principles and standards is only necessary in a world of multiple nations, cultures, societies, and religions due to fear of oppression. So, how is this world any better? Because some people have potential opportunities to do certain things?

What a charmer. Somehow I don't think she believes she'll have to give up on her hopes and dreams in her little fascist wet dream.

[$park? has had enough]

Socio-organic wellbeing... *head explodes*

[Idle Hands]

So a environmentally friendly society?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Women cooperating?

[Elspeth Flashman]

This. I went to a craft event this weekend. The undercurrent at some of those things is madly competitive, and some of the women are out doing each other by sabotaging/backstabbing each other.

[Bobarian]

HA!

[Ted S.]

I'd think lesbians would like Brave New World, since it tried to get rid of procreative sex.

[Idle Hands]

She makes the argument that more people will become lesbians due to necessity.

[Bardas Phocas]

So she's just trying to expand her dating pool.

I remember when I was a teenager, reading a book about a plague that killed off most of the men on Earth. In the back of mind, I thought that wouldn't be so bad if I was one of the survivors.

[Idle Hands]

also how does violence just "disappear"? I've seen plenty of women throw down. Of course it always did seem to be over a guy so maybe she has a point.

[Bobarian]

It just becomes "Silent"

[Apple]

Well, now you have 10 times as many women are fighting over the same man.

[MegaloMonocle]

Yes, go on . . . .

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

She's got to be trolling with that Southern accent and that hair.

[Zeb]

Well, it's an interesting alternative to turning women into Axlotl tanks.

[Ted S.]

(NB: Below link is to a ~1.2MB, 3:20 MP3 audio file)

Widow claims budget cuts and "bullying" cuased her husband to commit suicide

Am I a bad person for laughing when the widow starts turning on the waterworks? She sounds awfully manipulative. At least the co-worker's comments sound like a reasonable case for poor management skills.

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

Yes, you are a bad person for laughing. And so am I for also laughing.

[sarcasmic]

The wolf family of Zacherevye: How a Russian family took in and tamed a pack of wolves

Alisa Selekh is inseparable from the wolves since her father, a gamekeeper, took in a group of wild wolves in 2009
Five years on, the wolves are completely domesticated and live with the Selekhs as their beloved household pets
She loves nothing more than to roll in the grass with them, let them lick her face and even ride on their backs

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

[WTF]

Wolves are really just wild dogs anyway. No surprise they act like dogs under the right circumstances.

[UnCivilServant]

Wolves are really just un-mutated wild dogs anyway. No surprise they act like dogs under the right circumstances.

There are genetic and developmental differences between wolves and dogs (of either feral or domesticated variety).

[Zeb]

Wolves are plenty mutated. Just not selectively bred by people for thousands of years.

The amazing thing about dogs is how attuned they are to human expression and emotion. They can read people better than other dogs. However tame it might be possible to make wolves, they will never be "fully domesticated" the way dogs are.

[tarran]

They can be... and you'll get more dogs.

[WTF]

They can read people better than other dogs

Studies have shown that they can read people even better than chimpanzees and other primates can. This genius at reading human expression and body language is part of what makes them so useful to humans. And also what results in false alerts by drug dogs seeking to please their master.

[WTF]

Of course, they are still the same species, Canis Lupus, with similar traits and instincts. Selective breeding in domesticated dogs has simply emphasized or de-emphasized certain traits. But wolves fit in extremely well with human social interaction, which is why they became domesticated in the first place. Once DNA testing showed closer genetics between some breeds of dogs and wolves than between some other dog breeds, it was recognized that they are in fact the same species. Canis Lupus Lupus is the wild undomesticated dog, and Canis Lupus Familiaris is the domesticated dog.

[Ivan Pike]

There are genetic and developmental differences between wolves and dogs (of either feral or domesticated variety).

A better dog.

he (Saarloos) found most dogs to be too domesticated and wanted to breed in more natural properties in order to get better working dogs.

[WTF]

That is basically just a wolf. GSDs have a good amount of wolf in them in the first place, so crossing GSDs with wolves will basically get you wolves.

[Ivan Pike]

GSDs have a good amount of wolf in them in the first place, so crossing GSDs with wolves will basically get you wolves

He was worried about the amount of hip displasia in GSDs and wanted to introduce more robust genes for them.

[Lord Humungus]

Yellen Dashboard Warning Light Glows as Millions Work Part Time

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has a stubborn warning light blinking on her labor market dashboard: A group of Americans larger than Washington state's population can find only part-time work.

As Yellen heads to this week's Fed symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where the focus will be on the labor market, those 7.5 million part-time workers who want full-time jobs are inflating the broad measure of underemployment she watches to gauge job market health. Involuntary part-time workers have gained by 325,000 from February's five-year low.

trigger warning: Yellen needs to stop driving a '72 Vega

[Cdr Lytton]

Fed symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Nothing left to cut! Here's an idea. Meeting room at the Houston Airport Comfort Inn.

[Jordan]

Everyone, prepare your shocked faces: corruption in Chicago!

The former chief executive officer of Redflex, a major red light camera (RLC) vendor, has been indicted on federal corruption charges stemming from a contract with the City of Chicago.
On Wednesday, in addition to former CEO Karen Finley, government prosecutors also indicted John Bills, former managing deputy commissioner at the Department of Transportation, and Bills' friend Martin O'Malley, who was hired as a contractor by Redflex.

According to the indictment, O'Malley himself was paid $2 million for his services as a contractor, effectively making him one of the company's highest paid workers. Much of that money was then funneled to Bills, who used it for personal gain. Via Redflex employees, Bills also acquired a Mercedes and a condominium in Arizona. In December 2013, Ars reported on red light cameras nationwide, and in particular, Redflex's four cameras in the central California town of Modesto.

[Ted S.]

Martin O'Malley? The Maryland governor?

[sarcasmic]

Punch drunk love: Woman, 22, steals $3.99 bottle of wine so she can get herself arrested and see her boyfriend in jail

Alicia Walicke, 22, blamed herself for boyfriend's arrest earlier that day
Wanted to 'make things right' by going to jail herself and joining him
Stole Mad Dog 20/20 wine from Shell petrol station in Cedar Park, Texas
She drank the wine in the forecourt until police arrived to arrest her

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....riend.html
I wonder how many stupid pills she eats every morning.

[Slammer]

When I was in junior high and high school mad dog was the drink of choice. Then wine coolers came out, and were a huge deal. Blech.

[Bobarian]

That wine is fortified...

with essential nutrients and vitamins?

[carol]

Back in my day it was Annie Green Springs and Boone's Farm. A bottle of Plum Hollow and I was set for the night.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Maybe she just washes them down with the MD 20?

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

It's nice to see one of my local towns make the UK news. Last two times this happened were 1) the tiny female jogger in Austin who was slammed to the ground by six cops for wearing headphones, and 2) the cop in Georgetown, TX who pushed and tripped high school students who rushed the field after their team won the game.

All of those cops still have their jobs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

New York's Jonathan Chait, no fan of Perry, called the indictment "unbelievably ridiculous."

Axelrod, too. She must really have gone off the reservation.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

We will eliminate male disposability by disposing of 90% of men.

The Woman Who Thinks Reducing the Male Population by 90 Percent Will Solve Everything
...I believe we must remove men from the community and place them in their own specific sections of society, akin to subsidised or state-funded reservations, so they can be redefined. We can make not only men safer, but women as well. By subsidising said reservations through the state we can provide men with activities, healthcare, entertainment, shelter, protection, and everything that one could ever require in life. This will remove conventional inequality from society. By reducing the number of men to 10 percent of the total population, their socio-biovalue will be raised. They will live out their lives happily and safely, and male disposability will be a thing of the past....

[kinnath]

What's that rule about not being able to tell the difference between satire and not satire?

[$park?'s head exploded]

Socio-biovalue... *bloody neck stump explodes*

[WTF]

I wonder how she thinks women would be able to actually carry this out?

[LynchPin1477]

we can provide men with activities, healthcare, entertainment, shelter, protection, and everything that one could ever require in life

So they'll deliver women?

[Bobarian]

So... might be alright if your the 1 in 10 who get to procreate.

Is the plan to kill all the male children?

[Bobarian]

you're

[Zeb]

I think the plan is to do some sort of sex selection or genetic modification at the time of conception. Which I guess some people would consider killing all the male children.

[Matrix]

It worked in Moses' time, didn't it?

[$park?'s head exploded]

Men will have to be jacked-off by milking machines. Can't run the risk of a woman getting pregnant.

[Zeb]

I thought they kept the reduced male population around specifically for getting women pregnant.

[$park?'s head exploded]

Sure, but not via sex. That would be disgusting.

[LynchPin1477]

Is this actually real? It can't be real. Can it?

Also, she's kind of hot.

And TWTANLW.

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

Yes, I did not expect her to be blonde and cute. I pictured something along the lines of Lena Dunham. And that accent! She should be discussing her upcoming Sorority party, or something like that.

Not that I adhere to, or condone, stereotypes of any kind.

[Lord Humungus]

Naked Illinois robber caught getting dressed in bank bathroom: police

The Chicago Tribune reports a very naked Ezekial Deanda, 32, allegedly ran off with an undisclosed amount of cash from the Associated Bank before darting into the bank's basement.

It didn't take long for Rockford cops to find Deanda because he was only getting dressed in the downstairs' bathroom.

trigger warning: hunky (? don't ask me) man

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

The utter shame for any criminal - being caught by the Rockford PD...

[Rhywun]

I'd hit it.

[The Late P Brooks]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry was indicted for "coercion" and "abuse of power"

Good one. Now do Obama.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Supposedly, Gov. Perry abused power by trying to deny state funding to an agency run by a convicted DUI offender.

Seriously.

Even progs are going, WTF?

Arrest video for Rosemary Lehmberg:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrxsCH_p1oc

[Notorious G.K.C.]

If MADD doesn't weigh in on this, what exactly, are they good for?

[Fist of Etiquette]

She's probably prosecuted more DUI's than she's participated in. So, net gain.

[MegaloMonocle]

She's probably prosecuted more DUI's than she's participated in.

A chronic alky (which she may be) likely commits at least one DUI per day.

So, I doubt it.

[invisible furry hand]

Really dull parties?

[Ted S.]

Absolutely nothing, say it again!

[Bobarian]

Now Imma gonna sing that in my head all day.

Bastard.

[Ted S.]

For your benefit, I posted a Youtube link to a different song elsewhere in the AM Links comments.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The indictment seems weak, but as a legal matter the silliness of the purported victim is irrelevant.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"seems," madam, nay it is, I know not "seems!"

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The prosecution is political, not legal - those who are attacked for political reasons get to make a political defense, including pointing out the "silliness" of Ms. DUI.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

In the end it's tried in a court though

[John]

"The court will figure it out" is not the correct answer to the abuse of the criminal process for political reasons. The court shouldn't have to figure it out since the indictment should have never been sought in the first place much less obtained.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Exactly - expose the prosecution to the public for what it is, shame and hopefully punish the people who brought the charges.

[CatoTheElder]

You're talking about prosecutors and progressive politicians: they are obviously incapable of shame.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Sure, but once it's brought now it will be.

Hopefully some lasting good will come from this, like prosecutorial reform or reform of the grand jury process

[Ted S.]

Hopefully some lasting good will come from this, like prosecutorial reform or reform of the grand jury process

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Your na?vet? is charming.

[MegaloMonocle]

If this goes to trial, then the abuse of power is successful, even vindicated.

No, the judge needs to throw this out, right now, suspend (again) the prosecutor's license to practice law, and request that the State AG investigate the entire Travis County DA's office to identify who else might have their fingerprints on this and be subject to sanctions.

If the judge really wanted to do the right thing, he'd declare DA DUI to be in contempt of court for having filed this piece of garbage, and jail her.

[John Thacker]

Not just a convicted DUI offender, but one who repeatedly insisted that the cops "call Greg" (the Sheriff of the county), tell him that the DA was being arrested and he'd get her released, and obliquely threatened those cops' jobs for arresting her.

Legally I don't think that matters, but legally they don't have a case to stand on. They are trying to claim that threatened a veto is impermissible, acknowledging that actually vetoing the appropriation without a threat would be fine.

[John]

And this wasn't just any DUI. This women didn't blow a .09 after having a glass of wine at dinner. She blew a .23, had an open bottle of vodka in the car, and was pulled over for going the wrong way down a one way street. Few people are as tolerant of drinking and driving as I am. But even I will admit this woman is clearly a drunken menace and the kind of person who will if not stopped likely kill someone or herself one day. She should have gotten a lot more jail time than she did considering her crime.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I don't think the TX law has been violated here from what I've read, but I'm not sure they shouldn't have a law that would fit similar scenarios.

To take a hypothetical appealing to Eddie, suppose a Governor refused to defend a SSM ban and a county clerk of the court decided to do so, and the Governor threatened to veto funding for the court system unless the clerk dropped the defense.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

To take another hypothetical, suppose you were an idiot.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Touched a nerve, but not one in the brain I guess

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"threatened to veto funding for the court system"

Which is totally parallel to the real-world situation, and not in the least hyperbolic.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

In the present case they are threatening to cut funding for a public ethics prosecutors office, right?

County courts get a variety of funding from state legislatures, cutting one here or there for a system is not hyperbolic at all.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The analogy would be cutting funding to that particular clerk's office, not the whole judicial system, dillweed.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Well of course I meant the system for which the clerk oversees

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The way you phrased it *did* seem unusually retarded.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Show some ability to grasp context Eddie

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I would presume that your hypothetical governor, as a matter of conscience and not mere politics, was convinced that traditional marriage laws were an egregious violation of sacred constitutional rights. Why *wouldn't* he want to defend an agency defending such a wicked and oppressive law?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

defund an agency

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It's one thing to have your office decline to do something within its purview and another to threaten to use the power of your office to force another office not to do something within its purview.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I'm sure I could grammatically analyze that sentence if I wanted to, and get the meaning.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I wouldn't hurt your head over it Eddie, I imagine you have all you need in that Perry is a Republican social conservative. Principals over principles being your usual mo

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Shorter Bo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtQLIU4ze0g

[invisible furry hand]

Allow me to pop a jaunty little bonnet on your purview

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I don't click on these links when using my phone, can you summarize what's in it?

[invisible furry hand]

an amusing movie clip involving the word "purview"

[John]

Suppose he did? That would be okay too.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

But Eddie says it's inconceivable hyperbole!

[$park?'s head exploded]

Just out of curiosity, what is the point of arguing with someone who isn't here?

[invisible furry hand]

It's harder to lose the argument

[Restoras]

Harder but not impossible?

[invisible furry hand]

Not impossible, human ingenuity being what it is

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Eddie is Notorious BIG, he used to go by Eddie van heulin

[$park?'s head exploded]

I see. Well, leave it to someone like that to venerate Chesterton.

[Stormy Dragon]

1.) Legisltuare specifically chose not to give the governor the power not to fire district attorneys. How is this not a power grab by the executive?
2.) Are you saying that all people convicted of DUI should be fired, regardless of whether it had any impact on their job performance, and that if their employer fails to do so, the government should coerce them into doing so by any means necessary?
3.) What else can the governor withhold funding for if he's unhappy? Can he defund an openly gay DA until they resign? An openly non-Christian one?

[Acosmist]

Volokh destroyed your argument before you made it. I bet you feel dumb, huh?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"I should not have to reconcile being an NFL fan with being a woman

"I'm sick and tired of dealing with the sexism that is seemingly attached to being a female fan of the NFL"

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/1.....g_a_woman/

[John]

Then watch the WNBA.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Cruel and unusual.

[John]

We all have to make our sacrifices to fight the patriarchy.

[Ted S.]

I agree that the NFL should stop pandering to women by having a bunch of pink shit every October.

Focus on raising awareness of some other disease.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Like butter fingers

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Especially that it's only pink trim. You want to really get people talking? Go with a pink uniform.

[Stormy Dragon]

Penn State's school colors were originally pink and black from 1887-1890. The uniforms ended up fading to white and dark blue, and the school decided to changes the school's colors rather than buy new uniforms.

[Zeb]

All that pink shit makes me care less about breast cancer.

[Bobarian]

Speaking of the NFL, anybody see Randy Moss on Fox last night?

What a train wreck.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I saw it, and yes.

[John]

Was he stoned or something? I like Randy. I hope things haven't turned out badly for him.

It is funny how good prog sportswriters piss their pants in fear when they see an actual black man who won't kiss his boss's ass and lives by his own rules like Iverson or Moss. Think about it, Moss or Iverson were never criminals. They never beat their girlfriend's unconscious or stole money or did any drugs beyond weed. Yet, the sports media portrayed them as bigger villains than real criminals like Ray Rice or Ray Lewis because their crime was the biggest crime of all, being a black man who refuses to kiss ass to white people.

I will never forget when a reporter asked Moss how he was going to pay some fine and Moss said "cash money homey, cash money." I love that guy.

[Idle Hands]

This is why I find Manziel so interesting. He's literally telling these reporters to go fuck themselves "I do what I want" and they hate him for it.

[John]

Yes. Manziel is growing on me for that reason. I hope he produces on the field and continues to tell the media to go fuck themselves.

[Kaptious Kristen]

They really went deep into the bench for that whole broadcast team last night.

[Lord Humungus]

Immigration rights groups pressure Dems to stick with Obama

A coalition of 30 immigrant rights organizations warned Senate Democratic leaders Friday not to back away from demands that President Barack Obama act on immigration before the midterm elections.

The letter is a response to growing concern among the groups that the Senate leadership will pressure the administration to hold off on taking some of the boldest action until after November. That includes temporarily halting the deportation of potentially millions of undocumented immigrants.

Such a move could complicate the reelection bids of Democrats in red states like Arkansas, North Carolina, Louisiana and Alaska ? races that could determine whether the party will maintain its grip on the Senate.

trigger warning: politics

[DJF]

But, but, but, they keep on saying that 'Immigration Reform' is popular, why do they want to wait till after elections to carry it out?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Those states may not be in line with the nation as a whole, especially when narrowed to the off year electorate

[BigT]

Shorter Bo: Fuck em, they don't count.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Er, no, just that they may not reflect overall national popularity, which was the point I was responding to

[John]

Meanwhile, good gentry liberals are up in arms about their schools being overwhelmed with illiterate non English speaking and in some cases non Spanish speaking UACs and blacks are the verge of open revolt.

Such are the wages of identity driven political coalitions.

[The Late P Brooks]

The California Supreme Court ruled that a suspect's silence before pleading the Fifth can be used to demonstrate guilt.

"You claim you're innocent, eh? Go on; PROVE IT."

[Lord Humungus]

Wingnuts' sad dream to be cool: Why they worship Reagan and the military

One of the most poignant characteristics of the conservative movement is the extent to which they deeply yearn to be cool and yet are inescapably uncool on the most fundamental level. From their "conservative Woodstock" obsession to their sad attachment to Ted Nugent, the rare remnant of '60s rock 'n' roll who will have anything to do with them, they continue to insist that they are the true counterculture, the real rebels with a real cause. It's just sad. With age should come wisdom, but unfortunately Republicans are still living with their faces pressed against the glass, wistfully yearning to join the party.

...snip...

One might wonder why Perlstein is suddenly in the cross hairs of the conservative movement after having already written two epic histories of the modern conservative movement and being generally lauded by the right as a "fair and balanced" historian. Dave Weigel got it right in this piece about the book: It's one thing to write about a minor saint like Goldwater and a martyr like Nixon ? this time he took on God himself. And that will not stand. There has been a lot of time and money expended over the years to deify President Reagan.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"they deeply yearn to be cool and yet are inescapably uncool on the most fundamental level."

Unlike progressives.

[Snark Plissken]

Supercool Dave Weigel gives us the skinny.

[Lord Humungus]

"Pizza face geek says his mom thinks he is cool."

[John]

I am pretty sure whatever the "wingnuts" aspire to be, Dave Weigal isn't it.

[Doctor Whom]

There has been a lot of time and money expended over the years to deify President Reagan.

Aren't you glad that no one tries to do that with FDR or Obama?

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Was tax-extracted money used to deify Reagan?

[Ted S.]

The projection is strong in this one.

[Zeb]

Most people pick their politics as a means of social signaling.

Of course, libertarians are the true political counterculture. It's amazing that the progressive left still manages to maintain the image that they are the cool people.

[sarcasmic]

Making sure he'll see it? Gigi Hadid wows in a bikini for ALS Ice Bucket Challenge before nominating ex Cody Simpson

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....later.html
I don't know who she is, but DAMN!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

'I love Cody to death and he loves me,'...'He needed his time to focus on his music and he's the one who broke up with me.'

Well, Ms. Hadid, have you considered sending him a boiled rabbit in token of your love?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

The Ice Bucket Challenge is out of control.

However, we need more of these.

[RBS]

So, the challenge is you either donate money or get a bucket of ice water dumped on your head?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

You donate $100, or donate $10 and get ice water dumped on your head.

I have decided if I am challenged, I will donate $200 to a different charity.

[RBS]

I will donate $200 to a different charity.

That seems to be the direction this is heading now.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

I did it - and I challenged the highest officer and the top NCO in the IL National Guard....heh heh heh.

[Shirley Knott]

How is this not bullying?

[Andrew S.]

If Rick Perry can be indicted for that, can somebody indict Cuomo for corruption, especially for getting rid of that ethics panel? I'd love to see that, especially to see everyone's reactions on the Rick Perry indictment reversed.

[UnCivilServant]

Preet is working towards it. After all, a convicted Governer nets him higher office.

[Slammer]

Israeli wedding of Jew, Muslim draws protesters amid war tensions

Protesters, many of them young men wearing black shirts, denounced Malka, who was born Jewish and converted to Islam before the wedding, as a "traitor against the Jewish state," and shouted epithets of hatred toward Arabs including "death to the Arabs." They sang a song that urges, "May your village burn down."

A few dozen left-wing Israelis held a counter-protest nearby holding flowers, balloons and a sign that read: "Love conquers all."

[RBS]

On point

[Ted S.]

Also on point, but in a different way

[Juice]

born Jewish

No.

[Juice]

That certainly doesn't look like a Muslim wedding dress.

[invisible furry hand]

What they found was that, even after controlling for price and age, people are really not interested in healthy options.

Great. Now some fucker will use this as justification for more food laws

[Loki]

Well, duh, this just proves that those idiotic rubes don't what's best for them. They need to be told what to eat by TOP. MEN. /sarc

[Lord Humungus]

Glorifying graffiti ? exhibit teaches New York's kids an awful lesson

Gesturing to a photo of a train with "DUMP KOCH" spray-painted on it, the guide continued, "Remember when I said the government thought graffiti was a crime? This says Dump Koch. Koch was the mayor . . . one of the people who enforced these laws."

Yes, the guide mentioned "the risks that the artists took," noting that some graffiti painters preferred trainyards because "in the trainyard the trains don't move."

But as the children listened to the story of a "very famous" artist who went on to design for "Reebok and Nike," it was hard not to think that the takeaway for a pre-teen living in The Bronx wasn't a neat history lesson, but the message that this is fun and that it will make you famous ? not dead in a river.

trigger warning: glorifying vandalism

[Slammer]

Haha reasonable just blocked your post because of capitalized Koch!

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I didn't watch a lot of preseason football this weekend, but from what I did see...

Holy fuck the flags are out of control.

[db]

I'm sick of every damn game being turned into a patriotic orgy too.

[Ted S.]

I prefer my orgies to be strictly apolitical, too.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

What? You're not Ready for Hillary?

[Lord Humungus]

*throws up in mouth*

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

AIEEEE! Brain bleach!

[Certified Public Asskicker]

And then there is Pinktober...

[WTF]

Holy fuck the flags are out of control.

Yeah, you're basically not allowed to play pass defense anymore. It's really sickening.

[Lord at War]

I want a TV commercial with Jack Tatum shedding a tear.

[Lord Humungus]

What I Did After Police Killed My Son
Ten years later, we in Wisconsin passed the nation's first law calling for outside reviews.

I have known the name of the policeman who killed my son, Michael, for ten years. And he is still working on the force in Kenosha.

Yes, there is good reason to think that many of these unjustifiable homicides by police across the country are racially motivated. But there is a lot more than that going on here. Our country is simply not paying enough attention to the terrible lack of accountability of police departments and the way it affects all of us?regardless of race or ethnicity. Because if a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy ? that was my son, Michael ? can be shot in the head under a street light with his hands cuffed behind his back, in front of five eyewitnesses (including his mother and sister), and his father was a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who flew in three wars for his country ? that's me ? and I still couldn't get anything done about it, then Joe the plumber and Javier the roofer aren't going to be able to do anything about it either.

trigger warning: jeezus...

[sarcasmic]

We did our research: In 129 years since police and fire commissions were created in the state of Wisconsin, we could not find a single ruling by a police department, an inquest or a police commission that a shooting was unjustified.

Here in Maine there has never been a shooting by the police that was ruled unjustified. Ever.

[Jordan]

I don't know how that guy has restrained himself from murdering that piece of shit cop.

[Idle Hands]

seriously, I couldn't imagine being able to control my rage. He's a much better man than I am.

[WTF]

Because if a blond-haired, blue-eyed boy ? that was my son, Michael ? can be shot in the head under a street light with his hands cuffed behind his back...

Hold on there, Chapman says white kids have nothing to fear from the police.

[Lord Peter Wimsey]

The entire left says this. Kelly Thomas says, "bullshit!"

[Certified Public Asskicker]

IRS has published an exemption chart that summarizes who can claim exemption from minimum essential coverage...

http://www.irs.gov/uac/ACA-Ind.....Exemptions

Clear as mud.

[Jordan]

You have been notified that your health insurance policy will not be renewed and you consider the other plans available unaffordable.

In other words, pretty much anyone.

[Ted S.]

Clear as mud is the point: make people lawbreakers no matter what they do.

[Lord Humungus]

Why Rick Perry Will Be Convicted

If the court of public opinion has an impact on a jury's decisions, Texas Governor Rick Perry may have a chance of beating his indictments. While poorly informed Democrats like Obama advisor David Axelrod call the indictments "sketchy," Perry's advisors have him concentrating on defending his constitutional authority to exercise the line item budget veto.

Except that's not what this case is about.

Perry is accused of using his veto authority to coerce a publicly elected official into leaving office. And when the veto threat, and later the actual exercise of the veto didn't work, he may have tried a bit of bribery, which is why he is facing criminal charges.

Not because he exercised his constitutional veto authority.

[John]

They really will defend anything. And Axelrod may not be the smartest guy, but he knows an overreach and a PR disaster when he sees one.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

At least the controversy has revealed this little nugget which the media would otherwise have buried:

"The PIU has prosecuted seventeen officeholders since it was created; thirteen were Democrats."

[Slammer]

Solar plants fry birds in mid-flight

Workers at a state-of-the-art solar plant in the Mojave Desert have a name for birds that fly through the plant's concentrated sun rays ? "streamers," for the smoke plume that comes from birds that ignite in midair

[UnCivilServant]

So the windmills chop them up and the solar plants cook them. Does the hydro plant eat them?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Well, if the birds are dead, then they cannot emit CARBONZ!

[Zeb]

Birds are renewable.

[Ted S.]

It would take a heart of stone not to laugh at this.

[Spoonman.]

I enjoy that they point out that other things could be igniting midair, so not every "streamer" is a bird.

Having seen a fly go through a candle flame, however, I can't imagine that the streamer from an insect would be very big.

Also, this must smell terrible.

[Michael]

But Cliven Bundy teabagger wingnut desert tortoise grumble blaaarrrggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!

/proglodyte

[Loki]

I heard an interesting tidbit on the radio this morning about the Pentagon's 1033 program to provide military weapons to local police (they were actually talking about militarization of police on the morning radio).

Apparently there's a clause that says that if the police don't use the gear within 12 months, they have have to return it. Anybody know if that' true? Incentives, how do they fucking work?

[John]

Socialism, before it causes starvation, always gives us blackouts.

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....rd-winter/

Joe Bastardi: ? It's flowing along right now into the type of El Nino situation that is notorious for giving the United States cold, snowy winters, especially in the eastern part of the United States, relative to the averages. That would be significant because we were within one power plant last year of having the grid overload ?

Question: This is sounding horrific. I know that in the first quarter, the weather was said to be to blame for the slow economic growth. Are we going to stop working, basically is what you're saying?

Joe Bastardi: This year, if you get the kind of winter that we had in 2009-2010 or 2002-2003 with the nation's grid on the ropes the way it is and some of these regulations that I hear about coming down that are supposed to close plants on January 1st ? and what I know, because we're involved in getting people ready to fight snow in cities around the country ? this could be a very, very big economic impact on the winter. And we're very concerned about that.

[John]

But wait, there is more

Last winter, bitterly cold weather placed massive stress on the US electrical system ? and the system almost broke. On January 7 in the midst of the polar vortex, PJM Interconnection, the Regional Transmission Organization serving the heart of America from New Jersey to Illinois, experienced a new all-time peak winter load of almost 142,000 megawatts.

Eight of the top ten of PJM's all-time winter peaks occurred in January 2014. Heroic efforts by grid operators saved large parts of the nation's heartland from blackouts during record-cold temperature days. Nicholas Akins, CEO of American Electric Power, stated in Congressional testimony, "This country did not just dodge a bullet ? we dodged a cannon ball."

[tarran]

Unsurprisingly, in Scotland, whee the greenies got to impose their vision of a renewable energy gosplan on the country/province, they are already having blackouts.

Which the power companies keep blaming on faulty relays - even through the relays are doing their job (opening on overcurrent to keep voltage up in the part of the grid that has adequate power).

[John]

How were they supposed to know solar wouldn't work in Scotland?

[tarran]

In Spain, the subsidies for solar were so high that some guys bought diesel generators and bright floodlamps and basically 'produced' solar power at a massive profit at night.

[John]

The entire "green energy" thing is nothing but one giant program of looting.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Aw c'mon, really? I know I shouldn't be surprised by that, but I still have some hope for the human race.

[DJF]

In England they came up with a program to have emergency diesels hooked up to the grid to not only supply power to individual sites but to back up the grid when the individual sites did not need them. In order to get them hooked up they allow them to charge much higher rates then normal power.

So of course its now a big boom industry installing emergency diesels

[db]

My former employer is rumored to be considering shutting down a 2500 MW coal fired plant that is part of the PJM grid. Part of the reason PJM 's demand was an all time record last year is that FirstEnergy moved all their generation and transmission into the PJM market in 2011, which added about 44,000 MW of capacity and similar amounts of potential demand.

[John]

So are you saying we shouldn't worry about blackouts?

[db]

Not really. I'm saying the decimation of the coal fired power plant industry is going to lead to heavier reliance on less reliable generating methods.

Also, look at all the transmission line and voltage support projects (capacitors, synchronous condenser, etc.) being proposed or built. Utilities are doing those because they are having to shut down power plants that are nearby their loads and having to transmit energy over much longer distances, which, in an AC grid, causes voltage drops and greater inefficiency.

[Jordan]

Meanwhile, Europeans have resorted to burning wood for power

In its various forms, from sticks to pellets to sawdust, wood (or to use its fashionable name, biomass) accounts for about half of Europe's renewable-energy consumption. In some countries, such as Poland and Finland, wood meets more than 80% of renewable-energy demand. Even in Germany, home of the Energiewende (energy transformation) which has poured huge subsidies into wind and solar power, 38% of non-fossil fuel consumption comes from the stuff. After years in which European governments have boasted about their high-tech, low-carbon energy revolution, the main beneficiary seems to be the favoured fuel of pre-industrial societies

[...]

Tim Searchinger of Princeton University calculates that if whole trees are used to produce energy, as they sometimes are, they increase carbon emissions compared with coal (the dirtiest fuel) by 79% over 20 years and 49% over 40 years; there is no carbon reduction until 100 years have passed, when the replacement trees have grown up. But as Tom Brookes of the European Climate Foundation points out, "we're trying to cut carbon now; not in 100 years' time."

In short, the EU has created a subsidy which costs a packet, probably does not reduce carbon emissions, does not encourage new energy technologies?and is set to grow like a leylandii hedge.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

As an engineer, this kind of thing makes me ill.

[John]

Using coal is now evil but cutting down the forests is now "renewable". The 21st Century Prog may be the dumbest form of human in the entire history of man.

[tarran]

Many are utterly brainwashed to think the middle ages were romantic lovely time. They don't realize that even the aristocrats woke up to rooms that smelled like shit - literally.

[John]

I don't know a single Prog who isn't profoundly ignorant about history. I know a lot of people who are really knowledgeable about history and every one of them is either a Libertarian or some breed of Conservative.

[thom]

Progressives believe that historically every single waking moment of every single persons life was consumed by class struggle, racial struggle, etc. They can't fathom the idea that people just lived their lives: raising families, entertaining themselves, and enjoying lifestyle improving technological improvements.

[Restoras]

I'm still waiting for the technological advance that eliminates my snap hook.

[tarran]

My impression is that a lot of progs think that the society they are building will be like a benevolent feudalism with them as the aristocrats/pampered factotums.

They have no idea that the executioners will end up in charge, and that their skulls wile likely be included in the pyramids.

[Loki]

the main beneficiary seems to be the favoured fuel of pre-industrial societies

If I didn't know better I'd suspect this was by design. Since many of the eco tards seeem to want us to go back to a pre-industrial state anyway...

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

And I thought Afghanistan was the only place I would see people burning wheels of dried dung for heat...

[Zeb]

In places with a timber industry, it makes sense to use waste wood for energy, but to subsidize it is just nuts.

[MJGreen]

Matt Ridley credits energy source for the rise and fall of civilizations. Civilizations would grow until they exhausted their current energy resource, at which point they'd collapse and the process would start over again. He credits the efficiency of coal for breaking us from that cycle and sparking the Industrial Revolution.

It would be bleakly hilarious if we intentionally restarted the cycle and brought on our own collapse.

[Ted S.]

Joe Bastardi:

Really?

[tarran]

That *is* his name... 🙂

[Loki]

Well, the ecomentalists have been screaming for years that we need to use less energy. Imagine how much less energy we'll use when we get hit by massive blackouts? Think of the carbon footprint reduction! /full progtard

[Warty]

Literally Unbelievable

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

And they probably vote

[Zeb]

Or they say that they vote, anyway.

[The Late P Brooks]

Perry is accused of using his veto authority to coerce a publicly elected official into leaving office.

As "CEO" of Texas, how does Perry NOT have the authority to make a decision to withold state funds from a state entity headed by a person plainly not qualified to run it?

[Slammer]

David Burge @iowahawkblog ? Aug 16

#IStumbleWithRosemaryLehmberg you know who else didn't give $7 million to DAs who blew .239 in breathalizers? HITLER.

[MegaloMonocle]

As I understand it, the case basically boils down to "Perry has the authority to veto funding, he just can't say he's going to veto funding. Because that's a threat."

[Brett L]

But he did, so he wasn't threatening, right?

[John]

A portrait of America's low information voter

They are descendants of the Scots-Irish who forged this country in the 17th century, and of the European immigrant wave that landed in the early 20th century.

And they are caught between the politics of division.

In hindsight, Mark said, Mitt Romney lined up with everything he believes in: "But what he was proposing was drowned out by the image Obama gave of him being a rich guy out of touch and tone-deaf to the needs of the country.

"Turns out Obama was that guy, not Romney," he said, jumping off the back of the truck and heading back onto the farm field with his crew.

Read more: http://triblive.com/opinion/sa.....z3AkcyUhrI
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

The country really is getting the government it deserves. The only upshot is maybe this guy and others like him have learned to stop listening to the media. But that is probably too much to hope for.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Feeeeeeeeelings

And signaling

[Ted S.]

Wo wo wo feelings.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"They are descendants of the Scots-Irish who forged this country"

Wait, good old boys? They don't vote for Obama, they are too busy with their tractor pulls and Klan rallies!

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Wait a minute, is Romney not a tone deaf rich guy?

[John]

No. He is rich but rich is not the same as being "tone deaf". He actually did a few productive things with his life. Tone deaf rich people are the ones who campaign for green energy and other things that screw everyone who is not rich in the name of some superstitious belief. You know, like the millionaire golfer the country elected President.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think in this context tone deaf means divorced from and unable or willing to understand the challenges less well off people face. I don't see anything in Romneys past indicating that doesn't apply

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

understand the challenges less well off people face

Again with that damned red herring.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

You don't think less well off people have challenges different from the well off? It's the same idea behind that small businesses are hurt more by taxes, regulations, etc

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's irrelevant to the role of the President. It's also irrelevant to the concept of constitutional government. I'd prefer a President who understood the difference between negative and positive rights.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

That would be nice for sure. But I'm not sure it's that irrelevant. Do you think Romney would taken the positions he did as governor on gun rights if he'd ever had had to rely on only a cheap pistol to keep someone from breaking in his apartment?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Do you think experience is the only way to arrive at the correct conclusion?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I don't think it should be dispositive, just that it's reasonable to consider

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

And I think it is a distraction from the real issues at best. At worst it is an appeal to identity politics and class warfare. Principles before principals.

[VG Zaytsev]

How about he did a piss poor job selling himself to those people (stinky white men).

He was out of touch with what those voters wanted, not that his life experience didn't match theirs.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

When you're a Team Player it's always the dirty tricks of the other Team or the stupidity of the voters if your Team loses, it's not that your Team was piss poor

[John]

The English left continues to be Fascist.

A few years ago, I was at a doctor party, the kind where tired residents drop by in their scrubs, everyone drinks red wine, and discussion centres around medical industry gripes. I wandered over to a group of obstetricians and listened in. One tall blonde woman said something that caught my attention: with 10,000 kids dying everyday around the world from starvation, you'd think we'd put birth control in the water.

The controversial idea to restrict or control human breeding is not new. In 1980, Hugh LaFollette, Ethics professor at the University of South Florida, wrote a seminal essay on the topic titled Licensing Parents. Since then, philosophers and even some politicians have considered the idea, especially in light of China, the most populated country in the world, implementing a one-child policy that is in effect today.

For most people in the 21st Century, however, the idea of restricting the right to have offspring for any reason whatsoever seems blatantly authoritarian.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/ar.....n-breeding

It only "seems authoritarian" to make people get permission from the government to have children and presumably murder any unauthorized children in the womb.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think the whole 'people should have to have a license to have kids' idea is held by people across the political spectrum

[John]

That is nice you think that. Unless you have a link to show such, why are you mucking up the thread with your assertions?

Stop being a concern troll. Just because someone points out something on the left that doesn't fit your narrative, doesn't mean you have to immediately intervene with "but the other side too..."

[Bo Cara Esq.]

You have a link to show it's not? You have a link with an anecdote about a social gathering where some unnamed source allegedly said this.

My point is that at least from my experience people saying 'people should have to have some qualification to have kids' is a common statement not reserved to any political side (it's usually said in connection with some news of horrible parenting being discussed)

[John]

You have a link to show it's not?

Yeah because expecting someone to prove a negative is just solid rational argument.

You are the one who made the assertion, not me. It is up to you to provide proof of it, not everyone else.

Do you have a link to show you don't fuck sheep?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

You brought up the claim, genius.

[John]

Bo Cara Esq.|8.18.14 @ 10:20AM|#

You brought up the claim, genius.

No I didn't. I provided a link and said "the English Left is fascist". You are the one that said "but lots of people on both sides believe that", not me. It is not may obligation to show that no one but the English left is fascist. I only made a claim about the English left and gave evidence. Once you say "but both sides are", it is on you to provide evidence not me to prove a negative.

Sometimes i think you are just being a prick. But really you seem to not understand formal logic and reasoning sometimes.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

And your evidence was an anecdote about an unnamed group at a party

[John]

My evidence is an article in a mainstream publication. That is pretty strong. If you have evidence the British left has disavowed this article, give it. Otherwise shut the fuck up.

[Loki]

it's usually said in connection with some news of horrible parenting being discussed

Which would seem to indicate to me that it's being said in more of a "gallows humor" sort of way as opposed to a serious policy proposal. Hell, even I'm guilty of saying similar things in jest when hearing about some idiot parent that got their kids killed or hurt because of their stupidity. It doesn't mean I actually believe it.

Further, you're the one who made a completely unsupported assertion and when asked for a link to support it, you demand a link from John to support the well known and documented tendency of the Fascist and Socialist left to support Eugenics? That's rich.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

"you're the one who made a completely unsupported assertion"

Who said "The English left continues to be Fascist."

[VG Zaytsev]

Yes, John was inaccurate in assert that.

He should have sais The Political Left Continues to be Fascist. No reason to limit it to limeys.

[Loki]

Do you ever make an argument without falling back on a tu quoque fallacy?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

You're rich.

Loki: you're the one who made a claim and refused to support it

Me: no, here's where John did just that

Loki: oh, a you too argument now!!!

[Loki]

I said you made a tu quoque fallacy, and your response is to basically document your own fallacy. Riigghhhtttt...

Were you deprived of oxygen in the womb? Because that's the only explanation I can think of for why you're so fucking stupid.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Nope. If I can ever figure out how to get Reasonable on this machine (I don't have admin rights) I will finally be free of this.

[Lord Humungus]

If you have Firefox, you can also download and install fascr.

[Loki]

No one escapes the black hole of DERP that ensues anytime Bo, Tony, PB, or one of Tulpa's socks show up on a thread. There's simply no escaping the event horizon of stupidity.

[Citizen Nothing]

IMHO, when you equate Bo with Tony, PB, or Tulpa, that says far more about your own DERPitude than Bo's.

[John]

Bo is not Tony or PB. But he is pedantic and has a poor grasp of formal logic and argument.

[Zeb]

Yeah, Bo goes too far on arguing some pointless shit, but really no more than a number of beloved regulars do.

[Lord at War]

Only one can be Botardesque!

[sarcasmic]

In my youth I was on board with the idea of requiring a license to reproduce, until I thought about who would issue the licenses and upon what criteria.

[John]

So what you are saying is you moved beyond the mentality of a dimwitted 8th grader writing a social studies paper. That is great for you. Too bad so many adults in power have never done the same.

[sarcasmic]

I moved beyond feeling like Tony the human animal, and started to think like a human being.

[John]

It is sad but they really are irrational animals at this point.

[sarcasmic]

They'd fail the gom jabbar, that's for sure.

[thom]

The left looks at China and sees their promised land.

[Robert]

Nixon blamed the police chief in Ferguson for provoking this weekend's violence by releasing surveillance video

What was he supposed to do, sit on it? People were clamoring to know more; I certainly was eager to learn more. Previous violence had been blamed partly on the apparent info blackout. Oh, goodie, I get to get mad at another Nixon.

[John]

When you show up to stop the looting, you are just provoking more looting apparently.

I blame the cops for a lot in this. Showing up to defend private property from the rampaging mob is not, however, one of those things.

[tarran]

You know what? If he believes that, Nixon is full of shit!

Brown being a thug in no way justifies an increase in the violence. People outraged by the shooting have absofuckinglutely no justification to become more violent because it turned out the victim was a robber.

[John]

The fact is that the cop may have been justified in shooting Brown. I honestly don't know and really neither does anyone else outside of the Ferguson police department.

There does seem to be some facts about the case the weigh in on the cop's side. Yet, those facts were not made public until well after the public exploded over this.

This case shows a lot of problems with the police. One problem no one has mentioned, at least as far as I can see, is how the reflexive "fuck you that is why" attitude of the police contributed to the situation getting out of hand. Had the police gotten ahead of things and put the facts out early rather than just giving the usual "fuck you, he is on paid vacation and we will look into this on our own time" response, my guess is the perception of this case might be completely different and the situation much more calm.

[tarran]

Here in MA, they got rid of the dashcams and they won't even consider wearing the body cams because...

"too many cases were getting thrown out when the video contradicted the report"

If cops were honest, if they could be relied on to tell the truth, if they took pains to police themselves properly...

To me, dashcams and bodycams should be treated like a radio or gun. Cops don't go on patrol with an inoperative radio. They sure as hell can go on patrol with the other stuff too.

[sarcasmic]

"too many cases were getting thrown out when the video contradicted the report"

Convictions are more important than justice.

[John]

If it turns out the cop was justified in shooting Brown, the cops will view that as a victory and interpret it to mean everything is okay. In fact, whether the cop was justified or not is irrelevant to the more important issue here; community faith and trust in the police.

Note the difference between these riots and the LA riots over Rodney King. In the King case people rioted after there was a verdict they didn't like. Here, they rioted immediately because the perception is that no cop will ever be held accountable for anything no matter how egregious the conduct.

Of course cop defenders will say that is not true. And my response is that it doesn't matter if it is true or not. If people perceive it to be true, the damage is done. It is not good enough for cops to do the right thing. The public also has to perceive and trust that they will do so and be held accountable when they don't. The Ferguson riots show that thanks to cop unions and literally decades of unaccountable and outrageous behavior, that trust no longer exists in many places. That is a much bigger problem than the actions of this particular cop in this case.

[sarcasmic]

Here, they rioted immediately because the perception is that no cop will ever be held accountable for anything no matter how egregious the conduct.

It's more than a perception. It's reality.

[tarran]

Sarcasmic, in the Navy we had a saying (and I'll bet the Army has it too): "perception *is* reality".

The point John is making isn't that cops have to be held accountable; cops have to be perceived as being held accountable. The Ferguson PD probably thinks that they *do* hold cops accountable, see they hand out unpaid vacations!

[CatoTheElder]

Perception is not reality.

However, it often affects future reality.

[Warty]

And not only did they riot over the perception that the cops would never face justice, but the cops immediately put the boot down as hard as they could. It's like they took a class on how to make their subjects hate them as much as possible.

[John]

I wonder if they have a manual for that Warty.

[Restoras]

I wonder if they have a manual for that Warty.

Is there any doubt?

[VG Zaytsev]

"too many cases were getting thrown out when the video contradicted the report"

Sounds like a straight up admission that their cops routinely lie.

[tarran]

The law enforcement community here is every bit as bad as sarcasmic claims.

[Restoras]

My BiL is in a major metropolitan PD. He concurs.

[sarcasmic]

Mass cops are some of the worst.

[BigT]

Saw some reports that after being hit by the door Brown walked away and then suddenly turned and rushed the cop. If true could justify shooting multiple shots.

[John]

And he was a suspect in a robbery. Been nice if they had said that at first instead of letting the "he was just an innocent kid walking down the street" meme to get out.

You really can't overstate how badly the Feguson police have fucked this up. It may well be that they have managed to make a valid shooting into a riot. What a bunch of baboons.

[Zeb]

It seems like the robbery happened not long before the shooting. I wonder at what point they actually put together that it was the same person? It seems possible that it took them several days to figure it out, given what else was going on. It would be nice to see a straight answer from the police.

[sarcasmic]

I highly doubt that the cops put anything together. It was probably the shop owner. And he paid for it by having his business destroyed.

[$park?'s head exploded]

I wonder just how many hits to the psyche humanity can take before shit really starts to fall apart.

[The Late P Brooks]

The controversial idea to restrict or control human breeding is not new. In 1980, Hugh LaFollette, Ethics professor at the University of South Florida, wrote a seminal essay on the topic titled Licensing Parents. Since then, philosophers and even some politicians have considered the idea, especially in light of China, the most populated country in the world, implementing a one-child policy that is in effect today.

This guy is so far behind the curve, it's pathetic. Everybody knows common sense government regulation of human reproduction needs to include active selection of partners for optimal outcomes and appropriate progress on the path to a master race.

[Sevo]

Gov't school failure #4,987:

"S.F. teachers miss more school than students on average"
http://www.sfgate.com/default/.....694618.php

Some are required, but even with those, it's worse than the kids. And the teachers are looking for a raise.

[William Scofflaw]

I know this is probably old news, but I just saw this.

It really reminds me of the Progressives. The threats of violence may be a bit more distant, but their interest in showing everyone how to correctly live for their own good strikes me as identical.

[Old Man With Candy]

Maybe those magnetic balls aren't safe after all.

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-Ne.....ure-371407

Or maybe it's Darwin in action.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

If your kid is twelve and eating magnetic ball bearings, consider it a sign that your parenting years are far from over.

[Zeb]

I don't think it's ever been in question that they are dangerous if swallowed. The problem is the insistence that every toy be safe for very young or very stupid children.

[Juice]

Good thing the idiot didn't swallow a balloon or plastic bag.

[Kaptious Kristen]

So my friend's hubby is at the academy to become a Maine State Troopah. If you encounter a short British dude on the highways in a few months, mention my name for a "get out of tasering free" card.

[sarcasmic]

I'll keep that in mind.

[Kaptious Kristen]

He'll probably be working in and around east-central ME (Bridgton, etc.)

[sarcasmic]

That's not far from where I'm at. Though I'm happy to say I haven't been pulled over in over a decade. That's a trend I plan to keep.

[MegaloMonocle]

Trying to imagine how that's going to go:

"Sir, you were going 15 over the speed limit."

"Say, officer, do you know Kaptious Kristen?"

*blamblamblamblamblam*

[sarcasmic]

Ron Swanson's Beyoch.

[Warty]

Ohio!

Now he has admitted to having sex with up to 100 dead women between 1976 and 1992 while he worked the night shift.

[Kaptious Kristen]

How is this not taking place in FL?

[Warty]

Ohio is Florida without pythons.

[Los Doyers]

Pics are lacking. This is clickbait.

[BigT]

Victimless crime? Or property violation?

[Zeb]

I honestly don't care at all, corpses are just garbage that needs to be disposed of. But some people get all touchy about that kind of thing.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I just have to share this and show off a bit. Because my Pa is badass. This is his new car.

[John]

Beautiful. I love the new Mustangs. Is it a Shelby or a GT? I can't tell.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Roush Stage 3

[John]

The Roush ones are even better than the Shelbys. They have been for a while. Carol Shelby was a great American but he is gone now and he got old and kind of became a figurehead for the company over the last years of his life and the quality of the cars produced showed it.

Roush in contrast is still firmly in control of his company. The Roush Mustangs are just awesome. You father has good taste in cars and especially Mustangs if he knew enough to buy a Roush rather than a Shelby.

[Kaptious Kristen]

He traded in his GT California for it. Apparently Jack Roush meets with everyone who buys one of his Stangs. I told my Pa to ask Jack to give Kenny Wallace a NSCS ride 🙂

[John]

That is cool Rousch meets his customers.

[John]

Sadly, I made the mistake of buying a 911 and am now firmly in the cult. You really never get out of that cult once you drink the Kool-Aide and will probably never own a hot Mustang like your father's.

[MegaloMonocle]

Roush Stage 3

[Pours ice water over head and crotch]

Suh. Weet.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Also, he's currently driving around out west in it with a (age appropriate) blonde.

[John]

If I am ever old and divorced, I will only go for age inappropriate blondes and brunettes, but no gingers since they are fucking crazy.

[Restoras]

but no gingers since they are fucking crazyier

I beleive this is more correct.

[John]

Fair point. All women start from a base level of batshit insane and then proceed from there.

[JW]

I love your dad, in a masculine way, of course.

[WTF]

Day-um!

[Warty]

I see a lot of people are arguing with an annoying blank space. You don't have to do it, you know. You can walk away.

[$park?'s head exploded]

This is the Internet, one does not simply walk away from an argument.

[The Late P Brooks]

You can walk away.

"Am I being detained?"

[John]

We have been in a golden age for about ten years now. It took them about 30 years to figure out how to get performance and comply with the emissions standards but around the turn of the century they finally did. It is astounding how fast cars are today versus what they were in the 80s and 90s.

[John]

It is another jump but the cars today feel so electronic and less connected than they did about ten years ago. Worse, the the next generation is generally retarded and can't drive manual transmissions, so those are going away. Also, every year the safety standards get more rigorous causing cars to get bigger and more uniform. For example, the 991 generation 911 has fully electric steering that eliminates every ounce of road feel.

Maybe this is my being biased since I own a 2002 car, but I think the 00s might be remembered as a sweet spot where cars got fast again but hadn't yet evolved into 200 mph Prias hybrids wearing fat suits.

And one for thing.

GET OFF MY LAWN!!!

[John]

An Elise is the one car I might trade my 911 for. They are fucking awesome. But they are also really primitive and likely to be regulated off the street the way things are going.

And people are still nostalgic about those ass heavy "if you don't drive me right I will spin you into oncoming traffic or over a cliff and laugh while I do it" 911s. The price of air cooled 911s has gone well past insane in the last few years. Shitty SCs with rust issues are now going for north of 30K and you can't touch a 930 turbo for under six figures these days.

Some people claim that old cars will lose their value as the old generation dies off and generation retard takes over. I think it will be the opposite. I think the regulators are going to take so much of the charm out of cars that older cars will be in even more demand. Hell, my older brother has an 84 Z28 of all things that has doubled in value to about 12K in the last five years. Why? Because you can't touch a real muscle car for under 20 or 25 these days so people are now resorting to buying 80s Camaros.