Another Black Man Killed by St. Louis Cops, Pentagon Defends Police Militarization, U.S. Journalist Beheaded by ISIS: A.M. Links

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  stephelamtv/Instagram

  Another young black man has been shot to death by cops in the St. Louis area, about two miles from where Michael Brown was killed. This time, the man at least had a knife? And police knew he was a suspect in a vicious energy-drink and pastry robbery? And… OMFG you guys, seriously?

• Meanwhile, in Ferguson, the authorities arrested 47 demonstrators and broke out the pepper spray, but they refrained from using tear gas this time, so… progress?
• The Pentagon defended its practice of sending military-grade equipment to suburban police departments because NARCOTICS and TERRORISTS y'all. 
• Islamic militants released a video of what appears to be the beheading of American journalist James Foley. U.K.'s foreign secretary says the person narrating the video might be British. 
• Los Angeles schools will stop sending students to the cops for minor infractions. "We are about graduation, not incarceration," L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy said. 

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Another young black man has been shot to death by cops in the St. Louis area, about two miles from where Michael Brown was killed.

The cause doesn't need any more martyrs.

[WTF]

Check this shit out:
"I'm a cop, if you don't want to get hurt, don't challenge me."

[Tonio]

Covered earlier with it's own article.

[WTF]

Jeez, you miss so much when you actually have to take time out to work.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

British jihadists.

Burn Brittania.

[robc]

They burned the white house too. Sink the whold damn island.

[WTF]

They burned the white house too.

You say that like you think it's a bad thing.

[robc]

Yeah, I realized that after I posted.

As suggested below, a reenactment wouldnt be a bad thing.

[Ted S.]

They should have burned the rest of Washington.

[Zeb]

Or they should now, anyway. There wasn't a whole lot of the rest of Washington at the time.

[ant1sthenes]

4 days til the bicentennial.

[WTF]

We should do a reenactment.

[perlhaqr]

Maybe we could invite them back for a second tour?

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

I have tried - I have asked British Army and RAF Regiment Officers to bring some guys over for a House BBQ.... they all demurred 🙁

[Moe19]

I'll tip over, sooner or later.

[Zeb]

That one seems like a probable suicide by cop.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Pentagon defended its practice of sending military-grade equipment to suburban police departments because NARCOTICS and TERRORISTS y'all.

And, you know, the eventual need to pacify large groups of Americans when the ess hits the eff.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It also frees up warehouse space for new shit.

[kinnath]

Why can't we just go back to shipping out excess stock to 3rd world dictators?

[Xeones]

You don't think small-town/suburban PDs are starting to fit that bill?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Coming soon, Ex-Im loans to Podunk County Iowa to purchase surface to air missiles, because drones and shit.

[kinnath]

2nd world, muther fucker, we're at least 2nd world in Iowa 😉

And we ship subsidized grain to true 3rd world countries.

[RAHeinlein]

And, no riots here in Iowa - not even a PEEP when police shoot unarmed young men...

http://whotv.com/2013/11/07/po.....scheduled/

[kinnath]

But he was just a white boy.

[Juice]

The cops rammed the truck repeatedly. I never once in that footage saw the truck try to ram the cops.

[perlhaqr]

Why can't they just give some of it to me? I'd have lots of fun with it!

[Lord Humungus]

Grand Theft Eros: Police discover man's pickled penis collection

The hospital porter was busted after detective's searched the man's home over a separate incident and know forensic teams are taking DNA samples from the severed schlongs to find out who they originally belonged to.

Inside his flat in the Eastern Croatian town of Slavonski Brod they found shelves in his bedroom lined with glass jars containing the pickled human peckers.

Police have been flooded with requests from worried locals wanting to know if male relatives that had died at the Slavonski Brod Hospital were among those who had a pound of flesh taken by the perverted collector.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I guess he's in a pickle now.

Yeeaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.....

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

What a dick.

[hamilton]

Pervy porter picked a pack of pickled peckers.

[PBR Streetgang]

Perfect

[perlhaqr]

Wow.

++

[gaijin]

Who will remember these victims?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Heheheee!!

[entropy_factor]

he's about to do some hard time...

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Bone Collector.

[Lord Humungus]

The Bone Boner Collector

[Fist of Etiquette]

Don't be crass.

[sasob]

Let's hope the original owners were finished with them.

[userve32]

Oh lrdy here we go again, they gonna make a big ole Black Thang out of it.

http://www.Anon-Surf.tk

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Jesus anonbot. Dial it back. Racist much?

[Fist of Etiquette]

You tell 'em, racebot.

[Doctor Whom]

Merkin has a new job as a spambot?

[RBS]

He makes 1,356.73 a month and only has to work 80 hours.

[Lord Humungus]

he lost is old jerb

[Lord Humungus]

*his

[Jordan]

Los Angeles schools will stop sending students to the cops for minor infractions. "We are about graduation, not incarceration," L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy said.

Oh, so I take it you will stop sending truant kids and their parents to the cops? No?

[Ted S.]

That's not minor, since it robs the schools of state aid.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's how regressive things have become for them to make such a statement.

"We realize calling the cops for pop tart guns is beyond retardation."

[Fist of Etiquette]

Los Angeles schools will stop sending students to the cops for minor infractions. "We are about graduation, not incarceration," L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy said.

Our failing schools not preparing students for what awaits them in the real world.

[Fluffy]

+1

[Elizabeth Nolan Brown]

Ditto

[Jerryskids]

Los Angeles schools will stop sending students to the cops for minor infractions.

Given the fact that they've already sent the cops to the students, I'm guessing this means summary execution right on the spot for chewing gum in class. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

[Greg83]

All the easier with AR-15s: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/n.....20301.html

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

+1 Hedy Lamar

[gaijin]

the person narrating the video might be British.

or Australian? or Scottish? They all sound the same 😉

[Tonio]

Apparently they can tell the difference. Just as we can between a Yinzer and a Yankee.

[waffles]

My time in the Paris of Appalachia has definitely tuned my ear to the subtleties of the yinzer dialect. I still get excited when I encounter an unforced "yinz" or "n'at" in the wild.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Scottish people are British. British != English.

[gaijin]

Scottish people are British.

true technically...a scotsman might disagree though 🙂

[Lord Humungus]

only a true scotsman would disagree.

[Free Society]

Technical or otherwise. If Scotland secedes they'll still be British, since that's a designation for the landmass upon which Scotland sits.

[gaijin]

a designation for the landmass upon which Scotland sits.

Imperial Mapmakers!

[perlhaqr]

Fook that! There's Scotland, and Frumunda Scotland.

[Free Society]

There is no Scotland, only Caledonia!

[kinnath]

We'll know soon enough.

[Fr?ulein Nikki]

Whether they're part of the UK or not, they aren't leaving Great Britain without a big earthquake.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

They all sound the same 😉

You will pay.

*stuffs haggis into mortar shell*

[perlhaqr]

That's going to smell really bad.

[Lord Humungus]

David Harsanyi: Sorry, Libertarians: You Will Never Convert Liberals

In her piece at The Week, Shikha Dalmia contests my earlier skepticism about the "libertarian moment" and refers to me as "a conservative writer with libertarian leanings" ? a description I protest. At worst, I'm guilty of being a libertarian with conservative leanings.

Now, I only mention this slight because I'm someone who's supported the legalization of gay marriage, drugs, and prostitution; advocated for the privatization of about everything government runs; written in favor of immigration and sentencing reform and so on. If I'm considered a "conservative," how could I possibly believe that millennials who support socializing large swaths of the economy are cut out to be the libertarian foot soldiers of the future? Maybe, we need a better definition for "libertarian." Or maybe we ? if I may refer to myself as a libertarian for a moment? are engaged in self-delusion.

[gaijin]

small l's don;t need to "convert" anyone...just find common ground on the things we can.

[Fluffy]

This is why we should be focusing our energy on developing a doomsday device-or-devices instead.

Grey goo. Come on, it's sitting there WAITING for someone to build it.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+1 Crappy Crichton Novel

[db]

Grey goo builds itself, I thought.

[waffles]

Yep. But doesn't it consume matter and use energy to do it? There's a metaphor here but I'm stumbling.

[Dweebston]

You didn't build that.

[gaijin]

red matter!

[MP]

The Stuff tastes better.

[Tonio]

No, liberalism will do the converting for us. Every person has his own tipping point, but as the liberals plunge us headlong towards the confiscatory welfare state more people will abandon them. It's up to us to keep our message out there so they know there's an alternative to staying home.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

We don't need to convert the socialists, just minimize the damage they do until economics forces them to accept reality or permits easier means of leaving the taxman behind.

Abolitionists were a tiny minority 150 years ago; lots can change in a few generations, but people feel hopeless now because we've been mired in a century's worth of progressivism. It could be and has been much worse.

[Free Society]

Abolitionists were a tiny minority 150 years ago; lots can change in a few generations, but people feel hopeless now because we've been mired in a century's worth of progressivism. It could be and has been much worse.

but but but slavery is inevitable, we can never abolish it and if we do it will come back even worser!! /statist logic

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Isn't it strange how the whole western world suddenly found its morality about slavery as soon as the Industrial Revolution came along? And, coincidentally, slavery became increasingly less profitable?

It's almost like much of modern holier-than-thou morality is the consequence of economic development and the increased options that wealth brings us.

[Free Society]

Isn't it strange how the whole western world suddenly found its morality about slavery as soon as the Industrial Revolution came along? And, coincidentally, slavery became increasingly less profitable?

It's almost like much of modern holier-than-thou morality is the consequence of economic development and the increased options that wealth brings us.

Of the industrialized countries, the ones that persisted in slavery the longest were the ones where the institution of slavery was subsidized by the government. In the United States this was done primarily by southern state governments, but also the feds via the Fugitive Slave Act and others. If slave owners were not able to externalize the cost of slave holding onto taxpayers, it would have become cheaper to pay the slaves a wage to keep them around long enough to benefit from their labor. Wages being cheaper than the cost of catching slaves and keeping them around by force.

[Whahappan?]

Nuh-uh, it was the GOVERNMENT that ENDED slavery!
/smug prog

[Free Society]

Well Dalmia being a pseudo libertarian herself is in no position to comment on whether other people are libertarians or not. She doesn't even know what libertarianism is.

[Colonel Slanders]

^^^ +1

[Knarf Yenrab!]

The article where Dalmia helpfully explained how right-to-work laws--state-enforced limits on voluntary contracts between employers and employees--are libertarian was the point when I realized why the paleos were always so irritated with the beltway, policy wonk types.

You can only water down the brand so much.

[Free Society]

Dalmia is doing a hell of a job at that. My favorite piece by this superlibertarian was her proclamation that we need to do the libertarian thing and notch up the welfare state to the next level of evil by instituting a 'living wage', to be stolen via taxation and redistributed via bureaucracy. That's freedom!

[Azathoth!!]

So you think it's okay that a third party--who owns neither the means of production or the labor of individuals--should, by force of law, have the right to claim ownership of that labor?

Wow.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Islamic militants released a video of what appears to be the beheading of American journalist James Foley.

Looks like Obama picked a good week to not be seen on vacation.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Now if only he'd stop picking the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

The best part of being president? You can spend more time in your rented infinity pool than you do the White House.

[Snark Plissken]

If they can just find the guy who made this video and arresting him for violating parole, everything should be hunky-dory.

[sarcasmic]

Watch out Miley! Group of Siberian twerkers become internet sensation with 30 MILLION watching their dance video
Fraules Dancing Centre called 'Siberia's greatest export'
Gained notoriety when video of dance routine went viral online
Received over 30 million views on YouTube
Even been visited by celebrity choreographer Danielle Polanco
Polanco has worked with JLo, Beyonce and Janet Jackson
Due to the sexual nature of twerking, school only takes girls over 16
Owner Yelena says parents beg her to take their girls aged under 10

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....video.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Owner Yelena says parents beg her to take their girls aged under 10

Poverty will do that to you.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They're tired of chopping wood.

'My daughter - Paula Bunyanova - is nine and has man hands!'

[Lord Humungus]

Tattoo removal business booming as inked teens grow up

The year is 2001. Eighteen-year-old Rees Barnett impulsively walks into a tattoo parlour and picks the trendiest designs off the wall display: a tribal arm band and a shoulder tribal tattoo. But over the years, both those symbols quickly went from cool to ?clich?, leaving Barnett with tattoo regret. "Unfortunately, I can't blame it on booze," he said. "[It's] one of those bad decisions that you wake up and realize, oh crap, I'm stuck with these."

Now, at age 32, the pension fund analyst is erasing this part of his past at Precision Laser Tattoo Removal in Toronto. A technician zaps his two tattoos with a laser while Barnett endures much more pain than when he got inked. "It almost feels like you're getting electrocuted, pinched all at once and times that by 10." There's also the painful price tag. In total, he'll spend an about $5,000 on multiple treatments over the course of about a year. The original tattoos cost him around $400.

[Fluffy]

Suffer, dumbass.

[Marshall Gill]

Just wait until he gets the bill for the cosmetic surgery on his stretched out ear lobes!

[Doctor Whom]

How did I manage to figure out as a teenager that if I did stuff like that, I'd eventually regret it?

[Colonel Slanders]

Because I suspect that you grew up in a time where young 'uns learned the lesson that there were consequences to their actions. That there wasn't going to be a trophy for the losers or that there wasn't always going to be a safety net there for you.

[Citizen Nothing]

Tattoos for everybody, winners and losers alike!

[Ted S.]

SSNs tattooed on the forearm!

[Furburguesa]

Bar codes

[Ted S.]

You're not the only one.

[Rhywun]

I just think they're stupid. Narcissists gonna narcissist.

[Tonio]

Seriously, this is a growth sector of the economy.

[hamilton]

Coming soon: mandatory coverage of tattoo removal in health insurance plans because jobs or something.

[waffles]

As an uninked person seeing most of my generation defile their bodies with poorly conceived bullshit this would piss me off more than anything. Because with O-care I would pay for it too.

[Lord Humungus]

I had a GF back in the early 90s who had tattoos. At least at that time, it seemed exotic. Now everyone - even grandmas - have tattoos.

One of my friends is an ex-Suicide Girl who is now a almost middle-aged mom of three. Needless to say that mass of ink hasn't held up well.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Personally, I don't get the tattoo craze at all. But hey, all the power to them. With the trend as it is, it buyers remorse is bound to happen.

My wife's best friend - who is going through a mid-life crisis - got one on her inner wrist and ankle. I think it looks ridiculous.

[Dammit, not again]

I thought that the craze has something to do with the fact that tattoo removal is something that's relatively simple to do. In other words, the thing that made tattoos cool--permanence--no longer prevails.

[INFORG]

Not simple at all really and the more colors used and higher the initial quality the longer it takes. I got a small tattoo back in the 80's while in the Military (not visible in normal clothing) and I have spent about $750 and over a year getting it removed (still have probably another 6 months before it is done).

In hindsight, I should have just gotten another tattoo to cover it up. Removal is a much bigger pain in the ass than people think.

[Sudden]

No ink myself, but I have thought about getting a Gadsden Flag tattoo at times.

Coiled snake, wrapping around the upper arm, with the Don't Tread on Me emblazoned at the top.

Although I'll probably never do it (especially since I'm already 32, officially today)

[db]

Hey, happy birthday. Me too.

[Greg83]

hey it's my birthday too! 31 and I still don't feel like a grown up.

We share a rockin birthday with Zeppelin's Robert Plant (66 today).

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Happy Birthday!!!

Now call your mom, and apologize for wrecking her vagina.

[perlhaqr]

My friend Sam has a tattoo much like that.

[Zeb]

Yeah, women in particular really need to consider what their bodies are going to look like in 20 years.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

From comments:

"The only thing having a tattoo says about someone or about their "Life" is that they had $60 once."

[Certified Public Asskicker]

No no! These musical notes on my shoulder are because I once played the clarinet in the fourth grade! MEANZ! FEELZ!

[Doctor Whom]

What a greedy, selfish 1%-er you are. Now go have your orphans polish your monocle.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

And as I have said before, the worst is when people start talking about how meaningful all of the scribbles are.

[Rhywun]

There are entire websites devoted to stupid and/or incorrect Chinese character tatts.

[Michael]

http://soufoaklin.blogspot.com.....-inks.html

[Rhywun]

Don't give them ideas, dammit.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Whatever happened to long-sleeved shirts?

[sarcasmic]

A tough nut to crack: The hilarious moment a VERY persistent squirrel repeatedly slides down a pole covered in Vaseline and fails to reach bird feeder

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....eeder.html
That's one tenacious squirrel.

[Rhywun]

Must be one of ours.

[sarcasmic]

Looking sharp! Bella Thorne sports a stylish mismatched bikini as she enjoys a day at the beach with pals

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....rands.html
Youth continues to be wasted on the young.

[Reverend Mayhem]

Could be worse -- could be Bella Abzug.

[Obama's Buttplug]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x19vy_9aFc

[Lord Humungus]

Feds: Nudists Scaring Off Rare Birds From Beach

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say that nudists are scaring off rare birds on Passage Key.

The Passage Key was established to protect native birds and serve as a breeding ground for them, but recently has been home to sandbars and is a popular destination for nudists.

"It is a federal crime to walk on the island," a Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson told WFLA-TV. "Nudists are allowed to wade in the water off-shore, but are prohibited by law from being on the island."

[Tonio]

I'm wondering if a rollback of indecent exposure laws would have any effect on this, ie they are seeking out places the cops won't hassle them for mere nudity and one of those places happens to be a NWR.

[Ted S.]

Somehow I doubt it's just birds they're scaring off.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

How dare the people wander around on the people's property.

[sarcasmic]

'I can't go out... the support is really keeping me going during this stressful time. Just stay safe': Under 24-hour guard in fear for his life, Darren Wilson breaks his silence in texts to friend

Jake Shepard, a friend of 14 years, showed MailOnline texts from Wilson
Wilson, who shot dead Michael Brown, sparking seven nights of unrest, 'can't go out' and thanked him for support during 'stressful time'
Shepard said he believes Wilson, who has a young child, is still in the St Louis area
He feels bad that now Brown's and Wilson's lives are both 'now over'
Shepard that while Brown's family has the support of the 'whole nation'... 'Darren doesn't get that'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....riend.html
Awwwwwwwwwwww! Poor baby!

[Fluffy]

Wilson's life is now over?

Fuck that noise. I'm sure he's still on the clock.

[sarcasmic]

He's probably clocking in a hundred hours a week right now.

[Restoras]

Well, one life is 'over' and the other's is, you know, actually over. At least a hero went home safe that night.

[Tonio]

Well, one life is 'over' and the other's is, you know, actually over.

^This

[WTF]

But the poor guy is going to have to retire on disability due to the stress and do noting but collect his fat pension for the rest of his life. The horror, the horror.

[sarcasmic]

After he sits at home for a year collecting a hundred hour a week paychecks to bump up the salary upon which his pension will be based.

[Sudden]

At least a hero went home safe that night.

Safe apparently includes with a broken eye socket. The more evidence comes to light, the more it looks like Brown fought the guy, at least in the initial incident. And there are a few witnesses saying Brown charged the officer, which would be consistent with a forward fall after sustaining six gunshot wounds.

As I said early on, yes, cops make bad shots all the time. But this may not be one such case.

[Restoras]

Eyewitness accounts are notoriously unreliable. And, just because someone 'charges' a cop shouldn't give the cop license to murder someone who is still entitled to actual due process.

Aren't these guys trained to actually subdue suspects? Shouldn't that be the first recourse?

[perlhaqr]

If Brown really was another Trayvon, then I'll feel bad for the cop. But if that's the case, and given the massive deference the police can generally expect from the media, the initial weirdness in the reporting of this even strikes me as very sketchy.

If the police had immediately released the officer's name, and even X-rays showing a broken orbit, I think that would have simmered things down rather significantly. Likewise, body and dash camera footage would have been a significant plus.

[Restoras]

It does reek of 'we need to get out stories straight'.

[califernian]

disgusting

[Doctor Whom]

He feels bad that now Brown's and Wilson's lives are both 'now over'

And the "False Equivalence of the Year" award goes to .... May I have the envelope, please?

[Atanarjuat]

Free, round-the-clock guard is a service everyone in St. Louis can expect, as long as they are in fear for their life. Good to know.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Shepard provided MailOnline with this photograph of him playing hockey

In case everyone forgot they're all white!

[Lord Humungus]

The Real Value of $100 in Each State

This week's tax map shows the real value of $100 in each state. Because average prices for similar goods are much higher in California or New York than in Mississippi or South Dakota, the same amount of dollars will buy you comparatively less in the high-price states, or comparatively more in low-price states. Using data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis that we've written about previously, we adjust the value of $100 to reflect how prices are different in each state.

For example, Tennessee is a low-price state, where $100 will buy what would cost $110.25 in another state that is closer to the national average. You can think of this as meaning that Tennesseans are about ten percent richer than their nominal incomes suggest.

[kinnath]

This is why I live in Iowa.

[waffles]

I don't get that. What goods are much more expensive in California, than say Pennsylvania? Other than the sales tax California seemed like a consumer paradise where rabid competition made prices rock bottom.

[kinnath]

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pce.asp

Definition of 'Personal Consumption Expenditures - PCE'

A measure of price changes in consumer goods and services. Personal consumption expenditures consist of the actual and imputed expenditures of households; the measure includes data pertaining to durables, non-durables and services. It is essentially a measure of goods and services targeted toward individuals and consumed by individuals.

[kinnath]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.....rice_index

Includes housing, medical expenses, and transportation.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

I'd bet a huge portion of the differences are due purely to differences in state/local housing policy. California's biggest cities have turned housing restrictions and inflated property values into an art form, whereas the SE remains wide open.

[waffles]

And a huge portion of the difference is the cost of living in or near California's cities. The cost of living in rural areas must have much less difference.

[kinnath]

Last time I was in CA, gasoline was 50 cents per gallon higher that IA -- strictly taxes.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

That's an element as well, but housing in SoCal continues to be insane. People will pay $2000 a month (and huge portions of their paycheques) to rent what looks to my untrained eye to be a drafty duplex that would be lucky to bring a third of that in Nashville.

But I've heard educated, six-figure-earning engineers call it the Sunshine Tax and then move on. It never occurs to most people to wonder why housing is so much more expensive in SoCal or NYC; it's just a sad fact of life that no one can understand or change.

[kinnath]

My 1.18 acre lot in a rural IA development cost $32K 10 years ago.

CA housing is basically shitty little $100K houses sitting on cramped lots that go for $500K.

[robc]

Yes, the difference is in land prices.

Even during the "housing" crisis, physical housing prices stayed stable. It was the land underneath them that crashed in value.

It was a land bubble, not a housing bubble.

[kinnath]

I agree

[Knarf Yenrab!]

SoCal real estate sits at that price only because of restrictions that prevent high-density housing options. One of the small, semi-rural cities I was looking at enforced a minimum lot size of 1/4 acre for new homes.

[kinnath]

price = f (supply, demand)

Do-gooders of all stripes routinely use the power of the state to fuck with supply or demand or both to achieve some "noble" social goal.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

The noble goal in this case being to secure the support of rent-seeking land owners at the expense of renters and prospective residents. As usual, the political means redistributes wealth from the relatively poor to the relatively rich.

The plight of the libertarian (or the half-trained economist) is to know these things are happening while realizing that there will never be sufficient political motivation to make them stop.

[BigT]

You don't get out much do you?

[waffles]

No I live in a box.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I live in a box. I live on a one way street, but I don't mind.
'Cause I live alone. Nobody has to share my home.
And if I could choose I might pick a bigger box
But that's all I'd change, until I get a credit card
My home on the range is underneath my black hat
Until I wake up

[perlhaqr]

Gasoline is pretty goddamn expensive there. I dunno about much else, but there's definitely that.

[Zeb]

Interesting, but not all that useful. There are big differences within states as well. NY without NYC would be a lot closer to the average, for example.

[robc]

Would be interesting to see a correlation between that and voting patterns.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

SlashDerp: Solar Plant Sets Birds On Fire As They Fly Overhead

[Tonio]

Don't talk about wildlife deaths from renewable energy! /progcentralcommittee

[waffles]

Someone posted an Iowahawk or something yesterday along the lines of "if I had known Obama's green energy programs were actually producing death rays I would have supported them".

Sweet.

[Lord Humungus]

Why is Obama disconnected, directionless?

Obama's approval ratings are already in the cellar, and much of the nation has soured on his abilities as a transformational leader. So why not at least take a shot to turn that around? Ferguson surely looks like the opportunity to do that.

Instead, Obama seemed content to send Attorney General Eric Holder to the scene while he went back on vacation. Hard to imagine the previous Democratic president taking this kind of approach.

And matters on Capitol Hill, where the president is considering major unilateral action on immigration and corporate tax inversions, appear even worse. Congressional Democrats are now very openly saying they have basically no relationship with the presidentand have no expectation that this will change over his final two years in the White House.

[Ted S.]

Because the day-to-day business of governing is no damn fun.

[Libertarian]

Well.........................I think it'd be fun for a libertarian president.

[thom]

It would be fun for a day or two, and then you'd spend the next four years spending your entire day with professional bureaucrats who are trying to perform jobs that you would be consistently resistant to. It might be worthwhile work (as much as can be found in government) but it would be painful, tedious, and unfun.

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah, but you could put Warty or Sugarfree or LibertyMike in charge of said bureaucrats and make their lives a living hell.

[BigT]

ou'd spend the next four years spending your entire day with professional bureaucrats who are trying to perform jobs that you would be consistently resistant to

Bureaucrat walks in.

"You're fired"

I could do that all day, every day for many years.

[db]

It would be...instructive...to see just how fast the left wing and media can pivot on the subject of "unilateral executive action."

[thom]

Except that we live in a country with checks and balances and the rule of law and all that, and as a libertarian you'd probably be predisposed to actually honor that system while working to make changes in a lawful manner. So no matter how obstinate you were, you'd still have to work with these bozos. Sure, they'd all understand that you thought their program was stupid and their job unnecessary, but as the Chief Executive, you'd still be responsible for managing all this shit. It would be the worst.

[Restoras]

Easy - he's in way over his head. He doesn't have the intellectual capacity to deal with being POTUS.

[WTF]

No, no, it's because America is ungovernable - we just don't deserve a brilliant light like Him!

[Knarf Yenrab!]

You jest, but it is ungovernable. The US is like a dozen cultures and fifty nations smashed together, with an alienated Congress and executive flailing around periodically when some schemer gets a Big Idea.

Still not a good idea to hire a back-bench senator who's never run so much as a popcorn stand to run the executive.

[WTF]

The US is like a dozen cultures and fifty nations smashed together,

Which is why federal power was intended to be very limited compared to the states.

[Rhywun]

I really don't think being president requires vast amounts of intellectual capacity. Reading, writing, and minor arithmetic should be enough.

[Restoras]

Right. He's in over his head.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Get orders from Congress
Say, "Thank you, boss"
Effect orders expediently, dodging impeachments left and right

Sounds good to me. I often wonder if the time for the direct election of the President hasn't come to an end in favor of something patterned after the UK's more organic (and less secure) prime minister. The Cult of the Hapless that surrounds Obama and prevents him from being dislodged is frightening, and he's far from the most dangerous character you might imagine in that role (see Wilson or FDR with 21st-century resources at their disposal).

[SusanM]

Do you really want him doing stuff?

[gaijin]

The wages of a career built solely from rhetoric.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Congressional Democrats are now very openly saying they have basically no relationship with the president...

They have no utility to him.

[VG Zaytsev]

Ferguson surely looks like the opportunity to do that.

What kind of moron thinks this?

The only value Ferguson has to Obama is keeping black people agitated in hopes that they'll turn out this November. That might (maybe) help dems but it sure as hell isn't going to turn around Obama's presidency, let alone the country. And there's a huge risk of it back firing on him and the dims.

[BigT]

Legacy. That's all he has left. The first black prez will always be there, but what else does he have to show for 6 years of golfing? If he had any brains he would be trying to become the new black leader - a less divisive Jesse Jackson. But, of course, there are golf courses to conquer.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

BHO isn't cut out for that.

Jackson and Sharpton have the courage to make themselves into incendiary rabble rousers, but Obama wants to be the nation's cool professor-in-chief. Which is why he'll be an empty suit to the media to the day he dies, and why I suspect we'll be hearing him offering helpful platitudes to the media as our calm president emeritus (and visiting lecturer at harvard law) for the next 30 years.

[thom]

The only value Ferguson has to Obama is keeping black people agitated in hopes that they'll turn out this November

Nah, they've packed most black people into democratic stronghold districts. They could show up in force and vote 100% dem and it wouldn't make any difference in the end result.

[Jordan]

Central planning causes empty shelves in Cuba, say BBC

Years after the collapse of the USSR, Cuba remains a bastion of communism, central planning? and shortages of basic goods.

I am not surprised that there are empty shelves in Cuba. I am surprised to be reading such things on the BBC.

despite Cuba's proximity to the US, Washington's 50-year-old trade embargo ? which was designed to squeeze this island's communist government from power ? means there's no American investment here. There's no Starbucks, no Coca-Cola plant.

Some might see that as a good thing. But they might not find shopping for essentials quite so quaint. I once approached my big local supermarket full of optimism. I now know I'm likely to find a mixture of half-bare shelves and ones stacked with a single product: cheap ketchup, say, or adult incontinence pads.

Basic items disappear whenever Cuba struggles to meet its import bills. For weeks there was no toilet paper or cartons of milk. Now even the delicious local coffee is "lost," as Cubans say ? "esta perdido".

[Jordan]

I think this comment put it best: "Someone has just written his/her last article for the BBC."

[Doctor Whom]

despite Cuba's proximity to the US, Washington's 50-year-old trade embargo ? which was designed to squeeze this island's communist government from power ? means there's no American investment here. There's no Starbucks, no Coca-Cola plant.

Please, for the love of all that is good and compassionate, won't some other country please trade with Cuba? Seriously, I think that we should end the embargo, if for no better reason than to remove that fig leaf.

[gaijin]

at minimum, Cuba should be able to trade what Michael Moore said were 'world class medical services' for, um, food, right?

[Jerryskids]

"World class medical services" may not mean what you think it means. Liberia has world class medical services, it's why if you have Ebola you get your ass to some country that has first class rather than world class medical services.

[gaijin]

yeah, I was being sloppy /sarc

[Fluffy]

Everyone else but us trades with Cuba.

Why aren't their shelves filled with Chinese crap like ours are?

[Dweebston]

They need a miraculous machine for turning grain coffee beans into foreign imports.

[jmomls]

Because their corrupt leaders loot the funds.

[Jordan]

That quote is tempered by the next part:

Some might see that as a good thing. But they might not find shopping for essentials quite so quaint. I once approached my big local supermarket full of optimism. I now know I'm likely to find a mixture of half-bare shelves and ones stacked with a single product: cheap ketchup, say, or adult incontinence pads.

[Rhywun]

Some might see that as a good thing

The only people who see that as a "good thing" are leftists who enjoy seeing other people living in squalor.

[Dweebston]

They don't merely enjoy it, they relish it. If the left can be said to have any coherent guiding principles where economics is concerned, it's to spread the poverty. The gamut of acceptable living arrangements runs from noble savage to proud subsistence farmer. Excepting themselves, of course.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Huh. If only someone had explained a century ago why the absence of market prices would lead to dramatic shortages of this and oversupplies of that.

The best part of being libertarian is getting to say "I told you so" while the world burns.

[RBS]

Now even the delicious local coffee is "lost," as Cubans say ? "esta perdido".

I bet there is still rum though.

[Ted S.]

Oh those wacky Kiwis:

Fire officer frees man impaled by meat hook

A fire officer who helped free a meatworks cleaner who had his face impaled on a meat hook says the victim was in a jovial mood, despite being in severe pain.

The MP3 file is ~1.4 MB and 4 minutes.

[hamilton]

the victim was in a jovial mood, despite being in severe pain.

I can't help thinking of Eric Idle when I read this.

[Jerryskids]

The Black Knight was played by John Cleese. "It's just a flesh wound."

[hamilton]

That, too, is true.

[Xeones]

Tis but a scratch!

[Lord Humungus]

Readers absorb less on Kindles than on paper, study finds

The researchers suggest that "the haptic and tactile feedback of a Kindle does not provide the same support for mental reconstruction of a story as a print pocket book does".

"When you read on paper you can sense with your fingers a pile of pages on the left growing, and shrinking on the right," said Mangen. "You have the tactile sense of progress, in addition to the visual ... [The differences for Kindle readers] might have something to do with the fact that the fixity of a text on paper, and this very gradual unfolding of paper as you progress through a story, is some kind of sensory offload, supporting the visual sense of progress when you're reading. Perhaps this somehow aids the reader, providing more fixity and solidity to the reader's sense of unfolding and progress of the text, and hence the story."

either that or they were too busy playing Candy Crush to read.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I've always found paper to be better absorbent than electronics.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Wiping your ass with those old circuit boards hurts too.

[gaijin]

shocking

[BigT]

Kindles wipe right off whereas pages get stuck together.

[Fluffy]

I'd like to see how they set up control groups for this.

I'll bet that I remember less of what I read on Kindle. You know why?

Because I have so many books on my Kindle that they all run together in my mind.

I can still remember half of the Time Life Great Ages of Man books practically word-for-word...even though I read them when I was 8.

People who have too much stuff don't remember as much about any particular piece of that stuff.

[Ted S.]

It's not your place to say who has "too much" stuff. :-p

[/sarcasm]

[Ivan Pike]

Because I have so many books on my Kindle that they all run together in my mind.

I think this is it. I only load books on my reader when I am ready to read them.

[VG Zaytsev]

Diminishing marginal utility?

Unpossible.

[Rhywun]

sense with your fingers a pile of pages ... tactile sense of progress ...

My god what a load of horseshit.

Because I have so many books on my Kindle that they all run together in my mind.

This happens to me too. I just read a lot more than I used to.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Man Who Wouldn't Be King
Robert Draper's New York Times magazine piece, "Has the 'Libertarian Moment' Finally Arrived?" dutifully if rotely runs through the greatest hits: Kennedy was on MTV, Nick Gillespie wears black and quotes Jack Kerouac, people bring guns to PorcFest, David Koch exists, libertarians disagree about abortion, and Rand Paul is not the ideologue his father is....

[Lord Humungus]

Admitted voyeur caught targeting Spokane Co. shoppers

Shoppers beware! A local man was recently accused of taking video and pictures of women's rear-ends in Spokane Valley stores.

Spokane County Sheriff's deputies said they found the evidence on Kyle Tucker's cell phone. The 26-year-old was recently arrested and admitted to snapping inappropriate photos of women, but offered an unusual excuse. Investigators said Tucker told them that he only takes the pictures when he is hungover.

[Ted S.]

Does the article actually have any of the pictures?

[WTF]

So, the women were in a public place, and someone took pictures of them. How is this illegal? Am I missing something?

[Zeb]

Unless he was doing some sneaky upshirt sort of shots, I can't see how photographing people who are in public and in plain sight could be illegal.

[Zeb]

Shirt, skirt. I guess it works both ways.

[gaijin]

Rule of Law is so inconvenient for Leftists...except when they need it to cover for their thieving ways. What could possibly go wrong here?

Argentina to pay bonholders in local account to skirt ruling

The picture showing Kirchener's mask is frightening.

[perlhaqr]

I dunno, it seems pretty stupid of the judge to force Argentina to default on the bills that it can pay.

[The Late P Brooks]

Yesterday, because I am a glutton for punishment, I clicked over to Hardball, to hear what Chrisssie Matthews had to say about teh Ferguson. I caught his little closing sermonette.

Holy shit. What a pathetic, revolting love poem to the State. We must love the Policeman, for he will keep the darkness of anarchy at bay. Those poor black people in Ferguson need jobs, but private enterprise cannot provide those jobs. Only the Leviathan State can provide the sort of fulfilling and challenging jobs those people need, and pay them a fair living wage. And on. And on.

It made me want to puke.

[Doctor Whom]

I think that progs are playing up the racial angle because that's one of the few grounds on which they can bring themselves to criticize Almighty Government, blessed be It forever.

[BigT]

Am I too optimistic to think that maybe a few progs will wake up to the oppressive nature of government and the militarization of police as part of this tragedy? If they could only get past the racism they would see the world more clearly.

[Andrew S.]

Yes. At least for most of them.

What I've gathered from many of them is that they don't necessarily have a problem with the militarization of police; but rather, they have a problem because it disproportionately affects African-Americans. If the boot of the state was focused on as many white people as it is black people, they'd be fine with it.

[Lord Humungus]

President Bush accepts Jenna Bush Hager's Ice Bucket Challenge

The Ice Bucket Challenge just got the presidential treatment.

President George W. Bush accepted the challenge ? with a little help from former first lady Laura Bush ? after he was called out by a number of people, including his daughter, TODAY's Jenna Bush Hager.

insert waterboarding joke here

[Pro Libertate]

If I'd been a key Bush adviser during his presidency, when the torture stuff came out, I'd have advised him to submit to waterboarding on live television. For people who supported him, they'd applaud and say, "See? Not that bad." For those who hated him, they'd enjoy watching him suffer. Win-win!

[Snark Plissken]

Waterboarding isn't a joke, SEE LIBERTARIANS ARE EVIL!!!

[hamilton]

To be fair, I'd mind less about being called evil if they'd at least acknowledge that we're Not Wrong.

[Lord Humungus]

The conservative parent trap: Why I love seeing Republicans have gay kids

The scenario is a familiar one: When I first came out, my own parents would have fallen into the category of Republicans uncomfortable with having a gay kid. And because being a conservative makes you no less likely to have one, since then it's been a perverse pleasure to see many right-wingers end up with a gay son or daughter. I'm a nonbeliever, but it's hard not to think it's divine retribution when a gun-toting, kick-'em-in-the-ass Republican dad has a son who likes a different kind of drag-racing.

But in nearly every case, being a parent wins out over being a conservative. That's not to say there isn't a learning curve. After the initial shock wears off and it's clear this isn't a phase, right-wing parents typically enter the "don't ask, don't tell" period. If you ask them, they might tell you they're fine with it ? or have at least come to terms with the fact it's not changing ? but they'll never bring it up, and go quiet if anyone broaches the topic. "It's your private business" is a typical refrain during this phase...

[Ted S.]

This is a reas Salon article and not a Salondotcom parody?

[kinnath]

real, but I knew better than to read it. even I have my limits.

[Tonio]

You know who else has a complete lack of empathy for people different than them?

[Ted S.]

Warty?

[Snark Plissken]

Politicians?

[Poppa Kilo]

Your mother?

[Atanarjuat]

Most people don't want a gay kid because it means they probably won't be having grandkids.

[thom]

Most people don't want a gay kid because it means they probably won't be having grandkids.

Really? Seems like every lesbian I come across these days is porking out lumpers, and gay men can't seem to adopt babies fast enough.

[Rhywun]

gay men can't seem to adopt babies fast enough

Enh, only on TV.

[Juice]

Adoption results in not actual genetic grandkids, you see.

[Ted S.]

has a son who likes a different kind of drag-racing.

Not all gays are transvestites. Typical bigotry from the "tolerant" left.

[kinnath]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_kvXeMv-2k

[SusanM]

You know Izzard is straight right?

[kinnath]

From the video, gay men have drag queens covered and straight men are transvestites -- male lesbians so to speak.

So I was pointing Ted S. towards some clarifying information.

[SusanM]

That's what I get for posting before my first coffee. Carry on 😉

[Tonio]

It's a little joke, Theodore.

[Poppa Kilo]

Lighten up, Francis.

[Doghouse Reilly]

Missouri National Guard Arrives in Ferguson, Begins Police Call

In a just world...

[Lord Humungus]

The best sex tips you'll ever hear ? from a man with no penis

Leave it to a man with no penis to school the Internet on sexual intimacy. That's what happened when a man who allegedly lost part of his genitals in a childhood accident took to Reddit to answer questions about life without a phallus.

Under the evocative screen name "penisindoor," he claimed that at age 12 he put his erect member through a door crack to tease his buddies and one of them ? a friend who was, in "penisindoor's" words, unfamiliar with the basic laws of physics ? slammed it shut. After a trip to the hospital, he says he was left with just the stump of his penis, fully intact testicles and a rerouted urethral opening. (He provided photographic evidence, if you're interested.) The 30-something-year-old is fully capable of orgasm and ejaculation, he says. And, no, the absence of a penis does not prevent him from having sex with his girlfriend.

Apologies.

[sarcasmic]

Obligatory Ghostbusters

[Ted S.]

Rule 34 says somebody is turned on by those photos.

[Apatheist ?_??]

There was a guy with two penises who did an IAMA on reddit a while back. Rather interesting. Dude claims to put them both to good use.

[PBR Streetgang]

There's a guy upthread with a jar collection that would like a word wit him.

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

What a dick.

[Rhywun]

Wild horses could not make me click on that.

[entropy_factor]

Beheading is some emotional shit. So I get why people are screaming for MOAR WARZ

but man, you just cannot defeat an ideology like ISIS with just drones etc. It's gonna take years. No one is willing to admit that our invasion in 2003 created the environment for ISIS to form (along with the Syrian civil war). So every person I hear saying we should get back on the ground, I don't hear anything about what the end game is.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I don't hear anything about what the end game is

midterms

[entropy_factor]

haha exactly. But I'm saying, ok, we send in the Marines and fuck ISIS up. Cool. Then what? If we leave, a vacuum appears and someone else can pop up. If we stay, we create more opponents bc occupation pisses off the locals.

I truly think that some people cannot imagine a world where the United States was not involved in Iraq.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The only longterm solution to ISIS is to give Iran the leeway to crush them. Additionally, we will have to lean on Turkey and the Saudis to get them to stop supporting them, indirectly or directly.

[entropy_factor]

Agreed, but Saudis are complicit with sunni radicalism and no fucking way Israel lets Iran do anything because, well, Israel.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Iran isn't on their doorstep. ISIS may be there soon.

This is where Biden was actually right. Iraq is not a viable state unless it is run by an authoritarian bastard. Better to split it up into three states.

[entropy_factor]

Israel is the most paranoid state ever, they will not stand for Iran so much as looking at anyone funny.

And their influence over the US congress enables that. We will not permit Iran to intervene. Israel will be satisfied.

and yes, I agree- split it up. But don't expect a clean divorce.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

If ISIS worms its way into the PA, they may change their tune.

[entropy_factor]

Sunni/Shia split.

ISIS wishes, but I think Israel would act WAYYYY before they'd be ok with Iran so much as running a single airstrike.

[VG Zaytsev]

Damned dirty joooooosss

[entropy_factor]

nah, no "dirty joos". Just saying, it is foolish to think that Israel, who has been warning of the "impending Iranian nukes" since at least 1992, would be ok with Iran attacking anyone in the region currently.

[VG Zaytsev]

Yeah well, the Sauds and the gulf emirates hate and fear the Iranians a lot for than Israel.

[entropy_factor]

I would agree. Certainly a mixture of miscalculation and distrust. That's why no one has moved yet.

[Tonio]

"There is no Israel lobby." -AIPAC

[entropy_factor]

+1. I actually met John Mearsheimer (one of the authors of The Israel Lobby) last year. Certifiable fuckign asshole. No word on Steven Walt.

[tarran]

They are doing the Saudis work for them, why should the king lift a finger against them?

[entropy_factor]

I agree. I think if the Saudis cut off the flow of cash, due to the US abandoning them or stopping weapons shipments, that'd be great. Not gonna happen anytime soon tho.

However, Saudis know that radical Islam, while useful in other areas, is actually very dangerous to the Saudi regime. OBL hated the house of Saud. The only think keeping them from their own Arab spring is US military equipment and funding to maintain strict social order.

[VG Zaytsev]

The house of Saud has been in bed with Wahhabis for it's entire existence. The idea that they're going to stop now is preposterous.

[entropy_factor]

yes, but they want them abroad, not at home. The house of Saud pays jihadis overseas so they stay there and don't threaten the House of Saud.

[VG Zaytsev]

ISIS isn't in Saudi Arabia.

And to the extent that it draws violent yutes to Syria to scratch their jihad itch, it works to the advantage of the house of Saud.

[entropy_factor]

ISIS is undoubtedly funded by rich Sunnis from Saudi Arabia. That's not even an "if" thing.

And yes, that's how Saudi Arabia works. Export the terror, the shitheads from their society, to pointless jihads in Syria, Libya, Iraq, whatever... fund them, tell them they are doing Allah's work etc. But it keeps the miscreants and really whacko fundies OUT of Saudi, and prevents them from challenging the Saud regime.

Remember, before Arabia became Saudi Arabia , which is fairly stable, it was pretty much Somalia of the world ~1900.

[Pro Libertate]

There's some truth to that, but I also think they're trying to play both sides to ensure a kind of stability. Keep the radicals at bay with support while keeping the West at bay by supporting their interests, too.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

They'll only lift a finger if we lean on them, unfortunately because of our fiscal misadventures, we don't have a lot of leverage anymore. Petrodollars FTW.

[entropy_factor]

even then, I'd be fucking amazed. Saudis always funnel money, but it's usually informally. The state never admits that this happens.

But they silently smile when opposing governments are undermined by jihadis.

[perlhaqr]

Hardly. Make a deal with Turkey, arm the ever loving fuck out of the Kurds, and let the Kurds kick the tar out of ISIS and keep what they take over. (To make up for the deal with Turkey.) The Kurds are the only semi-sane people in the region anyway.

[entropy_factor]

"make a deal with Pakistan, arm the ever loving fuck out of the mujahideen and let them kick the tar out of the Soviets and keep what they take over"

FTFY. oops

[perlhaqr]

You didn't fix much, if you don't know the difference between the Pashtun and the Kurds.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Kill 'em all?

[entropy_factor]

and the innocents you inevitably kill as well, or the children of those you kill--- what will be their mindset in a few years?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Exactly. You can't kill them all. Best to walk away and let them sort it out.

[Tonio]

Best to walk away and let them sort it out.

^This. Because the only alternative is to kill them all and that's both unacceptable and impossible.

[CampingInYourPark]

"what will be their mindset in a few years?"

Dunno, does it mean we can expect the headless journalists kids to strap some bombs onto themselves looking for a mosque to target?

[entropy_factor]

fine, kill them today. But you will continue to have terror attacks for the next 50 years. Never ending cycle much?

[CampingInYourPark]

Does this mean being the child of someone killed creates a certain mindset or is this a new topic assuming that looking the other way while a group of fanatics that like chopping heads off will stop if you ignore them?

[entropy_factor]

no,

what I am saying is: drop a bomb. Drone a house. Target killed. Awesome.

But guess what, these aren't animals. They are humans with relationships of various sorts. Maybe that target has a nephew who really looks up to him. Now the kid is prone to being radicalized because Uncle Sam killed his favorite uncle. Then what?

That's the idea. And innocent civilians are killed, turning the populace against us and radicalizing even more. It's a lose-lose.

No one says 'ignore chopped off heads'. My point is that our options are limited without regional actors taking responsibility and Saudi support for jihadis being cut.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I don't think these people need a reason to become radicalized. They don't need a dead relative, or a traumatic event to turn them into insane Muslim head cutter-offers. These are people with no money, no prospects, and no future. A few people with money and power are able to easily organize them into murder gangs, using Islam as a cover. We could kill 99% of these people, and in 5 years, they'll be right back at it.

Walk away, and let them sort out these violent dynamics.

[CampingInYourPark]

"These are people with no money, no prospects, and no future. A few people with money and power are able to easily organize them into murder gangs, using Islam as a cover."

I really see no reason to care one whit about why someone is duped into becoming a murderous thug. There are poor people all over the globe, with the same problems and the same choices.

"We could kill 99% of these people, and in 5 years, they'll be right back at it.

Walk away, and let them sort out these violent dynamics."

That sounds nice, as long as they don't follow you home.

[entropy_factor]

"those people".

Ever been to the ME, hell, ever met someone outside of your lilly-white Iowa town of 5,000?

There are driving factors for radicalization, and being brown ain't it. Hell, being poor isn't even it either.

Read: Dying to Win. Will open your mind as to the true nature of your average terrorist.

[CampingInYourPark]

"Read: Dying to Win. Will open your mind"

Is it written by a terrorist? Why the would anybody rely on a second hand analysis of someone's behavior when the actors themselves will give you the reason for it?

[entropy_factor]

smh, I don't even know where to begin with this comment.

Again, in Pape's analysis, Islamic terrorism wasn't even the most common form of terrorism. But fuck reading, right?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I live in Long Beach, CA. I understand that people decide to form into murderous gangs for no reason at all, whether it is ISIS, or Rollin' 20's Crips. I also know that trying to kill every gang member will not stop murderous gangs from forming. You can't kill every bad guy. They just keep making more bad guys.

[CampingInYourPark]

"I also know that trying to kill every gang member will not stop murderous gangs from forming. You can't kill every bad guy. They just keep making more bad guys."

Replace "bad guy" with "mosquito" and then explain how insecticides are useless. It's a good thing we don't wield clubs and rocks anymore. I'm afraid some of us wouldn't make it very long.

"Hey, Abamalastaja, don't hit me with that rock. I'm sorry I didn't let your Dad eat my wife. It's all a big misunderstanding and I know you bear mental scars."

[Poppa Kilo]

Can you kill enough of them?

If you can, would you want to?

[jmomls]

Look, if the Romans could wipe out the Carthiginians two millenia ago, the American military could certainly wipe out any country/enclave/group it wanted to, today.

[Libertarian]

We've been dropping bombs half way around the world for how long now? I'm sure it's going to work one of these times.

[entropy_factor]

I feel it is almost like a "TOP MEN" argument. Always need ONE MORE TRY and damnit, the problem will be solved.

"If we only bombed the right target, or the right country, then the Middle East will become the liberty-loving paradise it was always meant to be!"

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Blowing treasure on war is a better political strategy than leaving it in the hands of entrepreneurs. Plus most politicians are self-important enough that they believe themselves to be Americans' last line of defense against a world that is senselessly hostile to them.

Doesn't occur to them to ask why Islamists aren't going after Switzerland or Canada with the same gusto they do the US. The answer might be inconvenient to their political narrative.

[TwB]

It most certainly is going to take years, but do we, the US of A, have the fortitude to undertake such a mission? Right now, I doubt it. And when you have a radical group that goes around beheading people like a latter day bunch of Genghis Khan's, the only way to defeat them is to kill all of them. Negotiation will not work at all.

[entropy_factor]

when they wear no uniform, and the motivation is ideas, not a flag that can be conquered, what is the answer? I don't think there is such a thing as "killing them all". Kill one, 5 more pop up.

Shall we kill all Muslims? No, too Hitler-esque. So how do we discern? I think we leave it alone, let it rot, let regional actors (who have more skin in the game) take action for once.

[TwB]

We can't leave them alone. I think the beheadings are just the beginning. If ISIS can somehow get to Europe or the US, they are going to do some damage and we have to destroy them before they kill hundreds if not thousands of innocent civilians. And yes, I realize that the US military does that all the time, like droning a wedding in Yemen. My point is, if we can stop terrorist attacks before they start, I'm for it.

[entropy_factor]

I just don't think it's possible. Sounds clean and easy, but it isn't.

ISIS is a regional threat currently, not a world threat. No matter how fucking bad the scaremongers scare you, we are dealing with well funded gangbangers in Toyota pickup trucks who acquire US military hardware left over from our 10-year occupation. That, my friend, is ISIS.

"We must destroy them" - destroy who? What uniform are they wearing? How about their unaffiliated followers? New recruits? Poor kids on the streets of the Middle East? All potential replacements. Shall we kill them too?

[TwB]

Fine then, leave 'em alone. It's not going to end well, regardless.

[entropy_factor]

obviously lol. Not happy about it, but our cards in this game are pretty shitty.

Thing is- the world is more peaceful than ever in human history. Yeah, this is some fucked up stuff, but the world will never be without violence/death. Never. If you think it can be, well, I guess we don't have the same world view.

[Jordan]

My point is, if we can stop terrorist attacks before they start, I'm for it.

Yeah, you know what the world needs? Another decade of the War On Terror! USA! USA! USA!

[LynchPin1477]

I'd want to see evidence that they can get to the U.S. before I accept this. It took Al Qaeda years of planning and organizing to pull of 9/11, and that was in a less vigilant time.

And if it is Europe we are worried about, let the Europeans take the lead.

[entropy_factor]

also, 9/11 was planned in Germany. Not some anarchic ME shit hole, surprisingly.

[Zeb]

I just don't see them getting to the US in any meaningful sense. And even if they do want to do another 911 or something like that, I doubt bombing some of them in Iraq is going to stop it.

[Rhywun]

If ISIS can somehow get to Europe or the US,

What reason would they have to do so, if we get out of there (which is their stated goal)? Just for funsies?

[Azathoth!!]

You don't 'discern'. You abandon any fealty to 'proportionality' and you kill and kill until whatever is left is begging you to stop.

Then you secure your victory and kill anyone whose surrender was false.

And when it's all over, and you have utterly obliterated your enemy's ability to wage war, you help pick up the pieces.

This is how war is waged--IF you don't want an orwellian perma-war.

[creech]

Maybe we should set up a website where such people could register themselves or a son or daughter go volunteer for a year or more service fighting the barbarians?

[entropy_factor]

meh, I've been there, done that. I don't see it solving anything than thinning our population a bit.

If you truly think that the world can ever be a place without murder, mayhem, and carnage, I would argue that you're a believer in utopia. I, however, am not.

[Zeb]

If you truly think that the world can ever be a place without murder, mayhem, and carnage, I would argue that you're a believer in utopia. I, however, am not.

This is a good point. That's all just a big part of what humans do. More war isn't going to help. The only way to bring more peace to the world is to make people richer and more prosperous.

[entropy_factor]

agreed, your libertarian credentials are in the mail.

[Jerryskids]

Beheading is some emotional shit.

Are we still talking about penisindoor or is this a new topic?

[Lord Humungus]

Why do I feel guilty for laughing at this?

[Knarf Yenrab!]

You are insufficiently calloused. I prescribe four hours of Balko articles a day until the last light of your humanity is expunged.

[The Late P Brooks]

I'm a nonbeliever, but it's hard not to think it's divine retribution when a gun-toting, kick-'em-in-the-ass Republican dad has a son who likes a different kind of drag-racing.

I love being lectured by people who are so obviously morally superior.

[The Late P Brooks]

'I can't go out... the support is really keeping me going during this stressful time. Just stay safe': Under 24-hour guard in fear for his life, Darren Wilson breaks his silence in texts to friend

Eat a bullet, Darren.

[TwB]

Really? You won't even let the man have his day in court? We still don't have any fucking idea what really happened that day. I want Wilson to be tried in a court of law, not strung up in the town square. This ain't medieval Europe.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The moder judicial system has its roots in medieval Europe. And I've read accounts where medieval justice was denounced as too lenient.

[TwB]

True, the judicial system does have roots going back over 500 years, I just don't want Wilson thrown to the mob before he gets to testify in court. Our judicial system isn't perfect, but it's there for a reason. I want Wilson to stand trial for what he did and whatever verdict is given should be the outcome.

[VG Zaytsev]

It worked for Kelly Thomas.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Even before a trial, I'd like a grand jury to investigate. That's a traditional shield against wrongfully bringing people to trial (originating in medieval England!). The media coverage doesn't tell me whether there's even enough evidence to go to trial.

The lynch atmosphere is a real problem, and could even influence the justice system, like in L.A. where they thought they'd have to convict those cops of something to avoid a recurrence of the riots.

[entropy_factor]

right? I always mention that John Adams defended the British from the Boston Massacre... because, the rule of law protects all.. including rapists, murderers, pedos.... and IMO, should be used for terrorism crimes.

[Atanarjuat]

It would be awesome if cops had to answer for the wrong they have done in court, without the deck stacked in their favor.

I suspect the uproar over this will result in a small change like more body/dash cameras, but not actually address the root cause--no incentive for cops to curtail their bad behavior if they can continue to avoid punishment.

[VG Zaytsev]

Body and dash cams are an insidious revolutionary change, which is why the police extablishment fights their adoption.

But you are correct that it seems like a trivial thing and can even be sold on the grounds of helping the cops which makes universal adoption more likely.

[PM]

...and can even be sold on the grounds of helping the cops

If you've done nothing wrong you've got nothing hide, as the cops are fond of telling us proles.

[Jordan]

You actually think that courts will punish a police officer? How charming.

[Andrew S.]

If anybody was confident that this would be fairly investigated and that he would actually have his day in court, there wouldn't be quite so much anger.

[Jordan]

What the hell happened in the Independents thread last night? If you're on a libertarian site and you're calling for state-sponsored mass murder, you need to take a long hard look in the mirror.

[Idle Hands]

Ehh it's good to have debate keep this place less of an echo chamber and it helps the exchange of ideas. Both Calidessant and Irish countered extremely well, I don't think it was counterproductive at all.

[Idle Hands]

people were just overreacting to the beheading video and letting there emotions get the better of them.

[LynchPin1477]

U.K.'s foreign secretary says the person narrating the video might be British.

I read that as "might be Bush" at first glance.

[waffles]

He looms large.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Canadian province investigates farmers for using child labor - their own children.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/.....-1.2729781

[Lord Humungus]

Why We Dehumanize Political Opponents

I will say that most people who inhabit the worlds in which I travel in ? the worlds of politics, political philosophy and theology ? lean too much in the direction of assuming we know the full truth as against leaning too much in the direction of having little confidence we can ascertain any of the truth. We therefore tend to ignore evidence that challenges our assumptions and resist honest self-examination. We spend all of our time defending what we deem to be the truth; as a result, we have almost no time to actually reflect on it and refine our views of it.

"What I want in our students," my good and wise friend told me, "and what I admire are people who are teachable, who are open to arguments, who make room for other perspectives."

You know who else dehumanized their opponents?

[sloopyinva (previously -inca)]

Medusa?

[Ted S.]

The Earthlings in War of the Worlds?

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Dr. Clayton Forrester

[hamilton]

Haile Selassie god damn it.

[Doghouse Reilly]

+1 Ras Tafari Makonnen

[Jerryskids]

Circes?

[sarcasmic]

Espheni?

[Libertarian]

Charlton Heston?

[Pro Libertate]

Dr. Zaius has something to say to you.

[PM]

Oooooooh Dr. Zaius

[Pro Libertate]

And the obligatory Dr. Zaius does "Mark Twain Tonight" (Limited Engagement).

[Lord Humungus]

Have Republicans Given Up On Attacking Obamacare? Doubtful.

In a bit of dubious cherry-picking, a new Bloomberg piece concludes that the Affordable Care Act is losing its effectiveness as a political issue for Republicans. Working off this premise, Greg Sargent at the Washington Post reasons that this tells us Obamacare is "disappearing" as a major issue. And Paul Krugman followed up with his characteristic level-headed analysis.

How do we know the end is near-ish? Well, so many Americans are "benefiting from the law," theorizes Heidi Przybyla, that political ads are simply not doing the job anymore. This news is somewhat unexpected ? and unpersuasive ? when you consider a Kaiser Family Foundation poll recently found that only 15 percent of Americans believe Obamacare has directly helped them, while 28 percent say it has directly hurt them. (Fifty-six percent say it has had no effect on their lives.)

[Ted S.]

And Paul Krugman followed up with his characteristic level-headed analysis.

Considering the site that posted this, I love the subtle humor.

[PM]

(Fifty-six percent say it has had no effect on their lives.)

Wait until the employer mandate kicks in.

[Libertarian]

"...Kaiser Family Foundation poll recently found that only 15 percent of Americans believe Obamacare has directly helped them, while 28 percent say it has directly hurt them."

And yet if Obamacare gets "repealed" my head is going to explode with the shock.

[The Late P Brooks]

If you're on a libertarian site and you're calling for state-sponsored mass murder, you need to take a long hard look in the mirror.

I haven't looked at any of it, but I never cease to be amazed at the casual blood lust of some people.

[Libertarian]

I read a lot of it. It was hard to believe it was in a Reason comment thread.

[Idle Hands]

You found it hard to believe that there was a disagreement in the commentariat? Or that people were advocating exterminating entire regions of people based on the fact that they share the same religion that's bent on the destruction of west?

[Libertarian]

I found it hard to believe that there were several commenters saying (I paraphrase): let's nuke em.

It was the same surprise I would have if several Reason commenters were exclaiming support for the minimum wage.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

I suspect the anxiety of watching an innocent man get his head sawed off with an eight-inch knife is more likely to make normal people go crazy than is the economists' argument against the minimum wage.

[Tim]

We didn't start the fire.

[The Late P Brooks]

You won't even let the man have his day in court?

Maybe if I had the slightest expectation of equal treatment under the law. It's touching that you think Wilson will be charged and go to trial in the same way any one of us would.

[PM]

It's a bit of false dilemma to go from a shitty justice system to vigilantism though. All the ancaps who routinely lecture me on how such a thing could never happen in the wild... and keep in mind this is at a libertarian site.

[tarran]

Which Ancaps argue that eliminating a shitty justice system would not lead to vigilantism in the real world? Because all the Ancaps I interact with recognize that that is a big problem caused by poor provisioning of judicial services - as you get when you have a shitty justice system.

The mob violence we are seeing in Ferguson is exactly what you get when there is no properly functioning justice/security service. We merely argue that you are far less likely to get a shitty system when you don't ask the state to provide the system.

[PM]

I've never seen any conceptual model for an ancap criminal justice system, and left with competing courts (with no actual enforcement power) in which to pursue a civil case I doubt very much that the outcome would be less vigilantism. Then again, this case wouldn't have come up in an ancap scenario, because there wouldn't have been a cop patrolling the street for jaywalkers, and the guy probably would have been shot by the convenience store owner he was robbing a little bit earlier.

[tarran]

Oh I completely agree: in places where the judicial systems suck or are non existant, "don't be a victim" becomes the primary mode of crime prevention. The secondary mode is "deal with the crime on the spot".

I think we could have a fascinating discussion as to what constitutes vigilantism in a society with no state, but unfortunately, work calls.

[PM]

I'm actually very sympathetic to the ancap approach, I just think some of its alternatives may not end up much better in practicality. We'd probably end up more in agreement than disagreement.

[TwB]

Well fuck, maybe I am too naive for my own good, right? Still, I want the man to stand trial, and not be thrown to the mob because even if they beat him to death in the street, would that give them justice? Would they feel better then? I fucking hope so, but I doubt it.

[Atanarjuat]

If he was killed by the mob, and they felt better about it, that would just result in less energy and political will for real change in policing. And the boot would press down on the peoples' necks.

But if he stands trial and inevitably gets off, as you suggest, that may be the final straw needed for reform.

[BigT]

Maybe the story is not what has been pushed by the MSM...

Wilson, she said, "tries to get out of his car. They slam his door shut violently. I think he said Michael did. And then he opened the car again. He tried to get out. He stands up.
"And then Michael just bum-rushes him and shoves him back into his car. Punches him in the face and then Darren grabs for his gun. Michael grabbed for the gun. At one point he got the gun entirely turned against his hip. And he shoves it away. And the gun goes off," Josie said.
"Well, then Michael takes off and gets to be about 35 feet away. And Darren's first protocol is to pursue. So he stands up and yells, 'Freeze!' Michael and his friend turn around. And Michael taunts him ? And then all the sudden he just started bum-rushing him. He just started coming at him full speed," she told the station.

[Pro Libertate]

That sounds like a cop. Not saying she's lying (assuming she is), but right now a key witness needs to be someone else, I think.

[califernian]

I don't believe this convenient eye witness for a second.

[WTF]

Police sources tell me more than a dozen witnesses have corroborated cop's version of events in shooting,

Not exactly an unbiased source. I don't know if we will ever know how it really happened, without any video of the incident.

[BigT]

I don't have faith in any witness statements. But it appears there are several narratives out there. I recall one in which Brown was 'shot in the back' which seems to be pure BS from the autopsy results.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

I don't necessarily doubt WIlson's honesty (or even the surviving kid's), but memory is notoriously unreliable, particularly when it's an emotional memory that you replay over and over in your head. Absent a hard record, we're unlikely to know exactly what happened.

This is why there's no excuse for police in this century not to have video cameras on them all the time. The technology has become cheap, it promotes responsibility, and it minimizes the he said-he said bs that feeds the usual shrill suspects and their lynch mobs.

[WTF]

it promotes responsibility, and it minimizes the he said-he said bs

But since he said-she said is generally resolved in favor of the cops, they have every incentive under most circumstances to avoid a video record.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

If the police unions find themselves motivated to accept cameras as the lesser of two evils--the greater being riots and an irresponsible media looking to fire up lynch mobs--that could be the silver lining to the Ferguson story.

[PM]

Had this forwarded to me. Take it for what it's worth. If true, there's no way in hell this guy's getting convicted of anything.

The Gateway Pundit can now confirm from two local St. Louis sources that police Officer Darren Wilson suffered facial fractures during his confrontation with deceased 18 year-old Michael Brown.

[Jordan]

there's no way in hell this guy's getting convicted of anything

Yeah, well that would be true regardless of the circumstances.

[Ted S.]

As I said yesterday, it's probably from the recoil.

[tarran]

Yep, it's looking less and less one sided with each bit of 'evidence' that dribbles out to the public.

And if Brown did initiate the fight and did fracture the cop's skull, then under MO law, the cop would have legally been empowered to gun him down, even shooting him in the back.

Looking at it as a legal question and not as a moral question, the cop is unlikely to be convicted of anything by a jury applying the reasonable doubt.

As to the question of morality, the question is whether Brown was charging the cop when shot or not. If he had surrendered, then shooting him was - morally speaking - murder.

As a tactical question, the cop fucked up and fucked up badly. My guess is, if he did have fractures and was in fear for his life and from the passers-by, he thought he was in mortal danger and fired until Brown was prone on the ground. My guess is he felt outnumbered.

Which goes back to what happens when a police force violates Peelian principles and is seen as an enemy by the citizenry they serve.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

It's possible (not proven) that he thought the cop was going to get him on the robbery he'd just committed, so was desperate to get away, even if it means smacking a policeman around. If so, Brown would have seen the cops as the enemy regardless.

[tarran]

I'm not speaking as to Brown's state of mind, but the cop's state of mind.

There's a video I saw (which I am too lazy to look at) where a cop got shot by a man who had decided to blow himself up in his house. In that video, the neighbors rushed to aid the cop (and were screamed at a little by the panicky boys in blue). In that town, the cop would far less likely to fear the mob, and much more likely to act with restraint.

I could be really wrong. I look forward to reading the transcripts of the various interviews that are taking place right now, because it will be very interesting to see how perception of the police and the citizenry shaped the various actors' actions. I expect that the level of distrust and hatred between the police and the citizenry played a major role in turning what should have been a minor matter (apprehending a strong arm robber) into such a clusterfuck.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Indeed - this is why there may be pressure to offer up this particular cop as a scapegoat for all abusive cops. It should all come down to the evidence, but some grandstanding prosecutor may decide to throw a guy to the mob to satiate their bloodlust, which God forbid.

So there's two ideas here

1) Lots of cops abuse their power and get away with it, alienating the citizens - TRUE

2) This particular cop abused his power and will get away with it - UNPROVEN.

[The Bruce]

PM -- agreed, considering he got injured, doubtful he will be convicted of anything. Though, that is all the injury tells us -- that he was injured. One could make the case that Wilson shot Brown in a fit of anger over being punched in the eye.

[PM]

Of course. It's only one tidbit of information, but it's enough to satisfy the legal requirements for use of lethal force (right or wrong). With the dueling narratives and the media frenzy surrounding this case, I doubt very much that anything approaching the truth will be ascertained one way or the other (unless a video surfaces or something).

[Mike M.]

Trayvon Martin redux.

[Zeb]

Well, at least this time it's not so easy to make it about gun control and self defense laws.

[The Late P Brooks]

Tell me this- is Officer Wilson suffering deeply rooted remorse because he "had" to kill that guy, or is he just whining about being forced to endure a lot of inconvenience and inexplicable second-guessing when all he ever really wanted was to keep the boot of the State firmly on the neck of the rabble, collect a fat paycheck, and go home safely to his family every night?

It makes a difference.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

At this stage we can't say we know, I don't think.

[Andrew S.]

It's the latter. I mean, he has to sit at home, and he can't intimidate the proles for fun. How cruel is that?

[sarcasmic]

Being a cop isn't a job. It's a lifestyle. It means doing whatever the fuck you want to do, and no one will stop you. After all, what are they going to do? Call the cops?

So yeah. I'm sure he's wrecked right now because he's not out there doing whatever he wants, and flashing his badge at anyone who objects.

[The Late P Brooks]

"Ease your pain. Eat a bullet, Sad Sack" not same as "Hand him over to the mob".

[Lord Humungus]

shocked I am.... shocked!

Audit: 'Obamacare' Tax Not Meeting Revenue Target

The audit by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration says the IRS needs to do a better job policing the tax. The tax agency, however, doesn't have adequate tools to identify which companies owe it, the audit said.

The report could add fuel to efforts to repeal the tax, which is opposed by Republicans and many Democrats.

While the IRS has taken steps to educate companies about the tax, the agency "faces challenges to definitively identify manufacturers subject to the medical device excise tax reporting and payment requirements," said the inspector general, J. Russell George.

[Andrew S.]

Well I for one am truly stunned. I can't believe this is happening!

[The Late P Brooks]

At this stage we can't say we know, I don't think.

We do not, and will never, know. The wheels of the PR machine are already grinding the truth to dust. The "thug" is dead; shot by a cop who ONLY EVER WANTED TO HELP PEOPLE.

Cut him some slack, he feels awful. He really just wanted to buy that poor lost kid an ice cream cone and give him a ride home to his loving family.

But- MAD DOG RABID SUBHUMAN ANIMAL ATTAAAAAACK!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

In this case there's PR pressure in the other direction - "white cop kills black youth, local people demand justice" - there's going to be pressure to scapegoat him for the actions of other, more clearly abusing, cops.

In racially-charged cases, the pressure to let the cop off can sometimes be more than counterbalanced by the desire for a sacrificial lamb.

I don't know which narrative is true, which is why I'd prefer an investigation by a grand jury (drawn from the community itself).

[BigT]

there's going to be pressure to scapegoat him for the actions of other, more clearly abusing, cops

THIS. And sadly this will satisfy the progs as to correcting police misconduct. They will focus their outrage on that chimera of racism rather than on the deeper, much more serious problem.

[Free Society]

Los Angeles schools will stop sending students to the cops for minor infractions. "We are about graduation, not incarceration," L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy said.

"Now go to class or we'll have you arrested"

[The Bruce]

According to VICE:

"St. Louis police said today that a 23-year-old man wielding a knife was shot and killed by two officers responding to calls about a convenience store robbery. The man had stolen energy drinks and pastry from the convenience store and was pacing around in front of the store when officers arrived, according to police and witnesses.

When confronted with police, the man reportedly told officers to "shoot me now, kill me now" repeatedly."

Sounds less like a hardened criminal and more like a man with serious mental health issues. He probably needed treatment, not jail time and certainly not a few bullets. Great job, SLPD.

[Atanarjuat]

St. Louis cops have armored vehicles, but can't afford dashcams, body cameras, or...tasers?

[sarcasmic]

Cameras interfere with officer safety.

[PM]

St. Louis cops have armored vehicles, but can't afford dashcams, body cameras, or...tasers?

Kind of an embarrassment of riches - they actually already own body cameras, they just weren't using them.

[BigT]

If the force has cameras and they were not being used then the police administration is at fault. This should be a felony - maybe the threat of 5-10 in the slammer will bring those a-holes around.

[PM]

No joke, you can't make this stuff up:

The tragic irony is that police in Ferguson have a stock of body-worn cameras, but have yet to deploy them to officers.

[sarcasmic]

Not only do they refuse to wear body cameras, they don't use dash cams either. They won't allow reporters around them when they work, and airspace is totally shut down.

But they've got nothing to hide. No. Only a lunatic conspiracy theorist would think they're hiding something.

[Tim]

I've been on the wrong end of a crazy guy with a knife. If I had a gun I would have shot him dead. Knves are no joke.

[Zeb]

There is such a thing as suicide by cop.

[Winded]

Pro-2nd Milwaukee county sheriff laughs at Bloomberg's failed involvement in primary:

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....n-a-giant/

[Palin's Buttplug]

Time to "audit" SNAP to find out how much Wal-Mart earns from selling junk food to the poor.

http://www.bloombergview.com/a.....on-mystery

[PM]

Lol. Only you could get pissed off about grocery stores receiving money from the food stamp program that you support.

If we only had universal nutrition!

[Pro Libertate]

It's interesting how much more fungible dollars for welfare and other subsidies have become. Used to be that a recipient was quite limited in what he could buy with a welfare dollar (depending, of course, on the type of welfare we're talking about). And student loans, on the subsidy side, used to be hard to spend on anything but school.

In the latter case, part of the difference is the amount being loaned. When you were getting an extra couple of grand to live on for a semester, most kids spent it mostly on, well, living. When it's an extra ten thousand, well, other options become available.

[PM]

SNAP is actually fairly strict on what can be purchased, to the point of absurdity at times (take-and-bake pizza: okay, hot pizza from the other end of the same department store: not okay), and the rules are enforced by the barcode scan at the POS system, so even a cooperative cashier can't really help you. It's simple enough to sell or "loan" your EBT card for cash though.

[Rhywun]

Its utter contempt for "the poor" is telling, isn't it.

[BigT]

Are you suggesting that WalMart should turn down food stamps? Then you would have real reason to be outraged by a company refusing to do business with dirty poor people.

PB - consistently on the wrong track.

[tarran]

Once again, it's not sentient!

It's spewing out random words in hopes of getting a response. When you people respond to it's inflamatory comments, it's as if you are putting out sugar bowls to deal with a cockroach infestation.

[Pro Libertate]

In a just world, Walmart would provide low-cost healthcare and other things we let the government do at high cost. And far, far, far more effectively, though the service might still suck.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Can't tell if you're referring to this or not, but Don Boudreaux linked to it the other day:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/in.....mpaign=DPD

These clinics are distinct from the 100 clinics that the large retailer has operated for several years in conjunction with local hospitals. The new operations, reports Diamond, will be fully-owned by Walmart and will operate seven days a week with longer hours than competing entities.

And the visits will be low-cost: just $40 for a walk-in appointment. The company's employees using Walmart's health plan will see even greater savings -- they can see a doctor in the clinic for just $4.

Nice to see that the remnants of the market are still a strong influence for good.

[kbolino]

The real reason lefties hate Walmart so much is that it has done more to help the poor than the government ever has. It makes them look bad, and they can't have that.

[WTF]

Shreek,I bet you're the kind of guy who would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around. I'll be watching you.

[The Last American Hero]

Reduce SNAP, reduce SNAP abuse. Pretty simple.

BTW, why pick on Wal-Mart? Oh, that's right, they're the only ones that sell junk food. Also, they are the most common store in large urban areas where the largest concentration of SNAP users live, except.they.aren't.in.most.urban. areas...

[sarcasmic]

BTW, why pick on Wal-Mart?

Because they prey on poor people by selling them low cost stuff, and then they make a profit on top of that! While providing poor people with jobs! Fucking monsters!

[Pro Libertate]

THE OPPRESSION OF TOO MANY CHOICES.

[Rhywun]

And they don't skim off 10% of employee's salary to fill the pockets of Democratic top men. The horror.

[Mike M.]

Again, it's unfortunate that you're mentally ill Dave, but it's wrong of you to take it out on all of us because Matt Welch directed you to a more appropriate work environment.

[PM]

And hey, since we haven't discussed gay marriage in forever...

Government to Farmers: Host Same-Sex Wedding or Pay a $13,000 Fine

On August 8, it fined Cynthia and Robert Gifford $13,000 for acting on their belief that marriage is the union of a man and woman and thus declining to rent out their family farm for a same-sex wedding celebration. The Human Rights Commission ruled that "the nature and circumstances of the [Giffords's] violation of the Human Rights Law also warrants a penalty."

[waffles]

This has nothing to do with baking cakes. Anyway, how do you win the hearts and minds of your opponents by forcing people to do things they don't want to do? Government in action.

[sarcasmic]

It's not about winning hearts and minds. It's about punishing thought crimes.

[Flaming Ballsack]

that's right. bcasue oppression and coercison of minoritues to protect majority privilegeis ok when its informal.

[sarcasmic]

Um, yeah. Because saying "No" constitutes oppression and coercion. idjit

[Flaming Ballsack]

okay so libertariansom means that some people have to exist on sufferance of the majority? sorta gives lie to the ideal of libertaerian meritocracy doesn't it? you kno the one where u say that onl ythe abilioty to pay matters? its the perfect setup to protect your privilege isnt it? dont let ( and this is *letting* since the majority have the power to *let* the minority do anything even if its defacto and not dejure) the people you don tlike earn a living and then hate them for being poor.

when are you going to just own that your beleifs are litte more than a shallow excuse for your own bigotry. you wuldnt care about micheal brown if you were sure that would only happen to black people.

[sarcasmic]

Dude, you got to lay off the sauce. Seriously.

[Rhywun]

Check your sobriety privilege, dude.

[Doghouse Reilly]

You seem to think they (the gov't) would even be interested in winning hearts and minds in the first place. But the Giffords are TEH EMENY, and you don't convert TEH EMENY, you make them comply by any means necessary. If they resist, make an example out of them so the other potential dissidents fall in line.

[Roger the Shrubber]

The Pentagon defended its practice of sending military-grade equipment to suburban police departments because NARCOTICS and TERRORISTS y'all.

Can someone describe a plausible anti-narcotic or anti-terrorist police action where military grade equipment, especially the armored vehicles, would be useful? Because I can't think of one unless terrorist or narcotic gangs start to seize and defend territory, requiring the police to conduct military-style incursions into enemy territory. But even that's not an effective argument because at that point, the National Guard would be activated.

[sarcasmic]

After someone wrote a sarcastic letter to the editor at a local paper, asking the city cops to parade their military might on holidays like dictatorships of old, the mayor responded with a harsh letter saying that cops have to deal with an underclass of cop killers who are armed with fully automatic weapons. That's right. There's an AK behind every door.

Sad thing is, this guy probably believes this. Even though no cops on the department have been killed on duty since the 80s, and only three have been killed in the last century.

[PM]

Picture the North Hollywood shootout, only with cocaine and IED's. Until they were able to acquire surplus MRAP's, that's the type of scenario that used to keep sheriffs in places like Franklin Indiana (population 23,712) up at night.

[Warty]

GRRRL POW...is that cake???

sybannRebecca Rose
9 minutes ago
An apology is not enough. Fix it, motherfucker. AND: kindly use decent fabrics and eschew the fucking poly in the plus sizes too. AND: our arms are not that fucking long - we're just bigger around. Jesus. Why is it so hard to get this right? (And I can actually wear most Target XLs).

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

There's always Sam's Club

[Doghouse Reilly]

This is the "Masterful Takedown" referenced in the original article. Oh, the delicious roly-poly femtard rage.

Year after year, season after season, you put out these gorgeous designer collections and you almost never include a plus range. Every time each of these collections is about to be released it feels like a slap in the face.

Y'know, if you wanted those gorgeous designs that badly, maybe you'd, I dunno, learn to eat right and exercise more? Nah, too much work. Better organize a boycott and bend this retailer to my will.

[Zeb]

And just maybe some of those gorgeous designs are less gorgeous when modified to fit people with very different body proportions than what they were designed for.

And I'm not saying that all fat people are horribly ugly. There are plenty of clothes that look good on a larger person. They are not generally of the same design as clothes that look good on thin people.

[Michael]

I there is already nothing for fat girls to buy at Target, is it still considered a boycott?

[userve32]

Sounds like a pretty hinky plan to me but I like it.

http://www.Anon-Surf.tk

[Kaptious Kristen]

Have we discussed Bob McDonnell completely throwing his own wife under the bus and then driving over her broken body again and again and again?

I think it's kind of entertaining. And I really don't get political wives. They all just stand there with their plastic smiles while their husbands fuck around.

[tarran]

What happened?

[Kaptious Kristen]

They're (the defense) basically saying the wife is a complete nutjob and ol' Bob had nuttin to do with nuttin.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/n.....30751.html

[tarran]

Wow!

If the testimony is true, then the future ex-wife has it coming.

[Mike M.]

The wealth, fame, power, perks, and privileges are so desirable to many women that they're willing to make a lot of tradeoffs to stay in the lifestyle.

And landing an alpha male who has risen (or is capable of rising) to the level of a senator, governor, or president isn't exactly easy; there are only so many of those guys out there.

[Kaptious Kristen]

To me, alpha male means something other than "politician". Politicians are lily-livered, spineless and indecisive. All they know how to do is con people. Not exactly alpha behavior.

[ant1sthenes]

Alpha tends to mean "sociopath".

[Xeones]

It does kind of look like Virginia was run by the Bluth family for four years, yeah.

[ant1sthenes]

Some people are attracted to power. It makes as much sense as caring about the size of fat deposits.

[The Late P Brooks]

I really don't get political wives. They all just stand there with their plastic smiles while their husbands fuck around.

I happened to see part of one of Spitzer's press conferences when he was getting dragged through the mud. His wife was standing behind him, looking at the back of his head like she was trying to decide where to put the bullet.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Yet she has yet to divorce him (though it seems they're separated)

[Xeones]

You have to admit, "We can't be guilty of conspiracy because our marriage is bad and we barely speak to each other" is a... novel defense.

[WTF]

Or the Sierra Club.

[Tonio]

It's not the solar panels (which directly convert sunlight to electricity) that kills birds; it's the thermal solar plants (concentrates sunlight to harvest the heat which produces steam which turns the generators) that kill birds.

[Pope Jimbo]

C'mon Tundra, you know that they can't comment on windmills and solar panels because they have to stop the avian genocide that is the new Vikings stadium!

http://www.twincities.com/viki.....ciety-says

I'm sure once they brow beat the state into paying an extra million or so for crazy glass they will get right on those wind farms in western MN.

[perlhaqr]

Gotta build a combo solar / windmill farm. Flaming eagle badmitton!

Maybe we can plant a huge garden of eleven secret herbs and spices upwind, and then turn it into a KFC exportation plant as well.

[Free Society]

Hey man, I keep my dinner plate in a sash of skin that used to be my lip. No regrets.