A.M. Links: Obama Promises "Relentless" Pursuit of Islamic State, Germany Setting Aside "Taboos," At Least 65 People Mentioned as Possible 2016 Presidential Candidates

• 

  Reason

  President Obama says the United States will be "relentless" in its pursuit of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), while FBI Director James Comey called ISIL a bunch of "savages" in response to the posting of a video showing the beheading of U.S. photojournalist James Foley, who the U.S. apparently tried unsuccessfully to rescue along with other American hostages in Syria  several months ago. Meanwhile Germany announced it would arm Kurdish troops and "set aside taboos" in regards to military operations in Iraq.

• A grand jury has been convened to investigate the shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson last Saturday.
• Bank of America is expected to settle with the Department of Justice for $16.65 billion over allegations of misleading investors about mortgage securities.
• There are at least 65 people who have been mentioned as possible 2016 presidential candidates.
• Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says the military campaign in Gaza is not over. An earlier Israeli air strike may have unsuccessfully targeted Hamas' top military commander in the strip.
• The television business in Somalia is booming as less people may want to be venturing much outside.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

A grand jury has been convened to investigate the shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson last Saturday.

Good luck with all of that.

[waffles]

Hello.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hey!

Hello.

"The television business in Somalia is booming as less people may want to be venturing much outside"

See? Libbamatarianism works!

[UnCivilServant]

"Get some more sand bags for that wall and fiddle with the rabbit ears while you're up, will ya?"

[The Last American Hero]

I heard it was because they were running a Black Hawk Down Marathon on TNT this weekend.

[Whahappan?]

How can they have TV with no FCC? I'm calling bullshit.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I got a Reason mag subscription notice from United Publishers Services ([e-mail]). This is still a scam, right? Can I complain to them about the Reason server squirelz?

[RBS]

Still a scam. I get like 3 a year.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Can I complain to them about the Reason server squirelz?

It would probably be just as effective.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The television business in Somalia is booming as less people may want to be venturing much outside.

Outside will pick up once someone lays down some roads.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Dammit

[Fist of Etiquette]

OBVIOUS JOKES ARE OBVIOUS.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Isn't the stuff in bold a core 'progressive' belief?

Idiocracy Is a Cruel Movie And You Should Be Ashamed For Liking It
...The origin story for Idiocracy's future world of half-wits is that uneducated people in the early 2000s are having kids and smart people don't reproduce enough. It's clear from the film that the intelligent people are wealthy, while the uneducated people are poor. So we're starting from a position of believing that wealthy people are inherently more intelligent and, by extension, deserve their wealth. This link between intelligence and wealth is perhaps the most dangerous idea of the film and pretty quickly slips into advocating for some form of soft eugenics to build a better world.

If only we could get rid of the uneducated Americans (read: redneck poors) and we'll have the opportunity to live in a utopian world filled with smart and civilized people. Of course, everyone here in 2014 making a reference to Idiocracy as a pseudo-documentary identifies with the soon-to-be-extinct intelligent class. They believe it's the "others" ? the dumb, impoverished people ? that are ruining America with their binging on crap TV and crap internet and crap food....

[waffles]

Life is cruel. The world doesn't give a shit about my sensibilities. Facts don't care about political correctness. And idiocracy is a satire that illuminates some uncomfortable demographic shift that may very well be happening. By this author's standard liking Brave New World makes you a double monster.

[Idle Hands]

So we're starting from a position of believing that wealthy people are inherently more intelligent and, by extension, deserve their wealth.

Are we really that far gone?

[Free Society]

Funny how in the age of free information, the state sponsored intellectuals are goose stepping us all towards their hellish idea of paradise.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

This is interesting because I remember when the film came out that some people thought it intentionally was caricaturing 'red state culture.'

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Is Mike Novak the new Sadbeard around here?

From comments:

"I dunno.. don't you think if more intelligent people were breeding, there'd be more livable wages, paid leaves, and proper funding for scientific research? It certainly wouldn't hurt in trying to live up to the ideals and promises you speak of.."

Ah. Smarter = more livable wages.

"Even if the population of intelligent people was greater it wouldn't mean that the world would be a better place. An intelligent person isn't more inclined to be altruistic. There are plenty of intelligent people who are petty and biased little turds out to get what they want at the expense of others."

Intelligent people can't be altruistic?

Wow. What a cocksucking idiot - even if you believe altruism is possible.

These two dolts are proving the movie right. The don't drink enough Brawn.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

y

[Xeones]

It's got electrolytes! It's what plants crave.

[Juice]

do

[Zeb]

I don't think that very many people actually believe that rich people are "inherently more intelligent". Intelligent people are more likely to become rich for various reasons, but that's different. Does the author really believe that intelligence has no value?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

You think Einstein walked around thinkin' everyone was a bunch of dumb shits?

[sarcasmic]

Daisy Lowe spices up the ice bucket challenge as she goes braless in a white T-shirt... all in the name of charity of course

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....ourse.html
I think I could get into this ice bucket challenge if more women did it braless in white T shirts.

[NebulousFocus]

IOW, please end this shit.

[hamilton]

Actually, I would say it just got interesting.

[boomslang4]

But please, enough with the high waisted/granny patnies look already.

[some guy]

The ice bucket challenge can end now because the Foo Fighers already won it.

[Juice]

Looking at that article it looks like this is a way for C and D list celebrities to get their name and face out there that one extra time. Going down the list: who? who? who? jeez him? who? oh it's her. who?

[invisible furry hand]

Japan restaurant serves up bullfrog that has been stabbed, beheaded and skinned alive but still twitches on the plate - with a slice of lemon

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z3B1zdasp1

[Rich]

Better than "dancing shrimp"!

[Ted S.]

That's no way to speak of Mickey Rooney!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

There's no sugar coating it, the Japanese have a wickedly fucked up sense of humor.

[trshmnster the terrible]

The television business in Somalia is booming as less people may want to be venturing much outside.

It's because there are no roads.

[sarcasmic]

The Lord of the Ring: Thai acrobat makes a living going round in circles with street performances that will send you into a spin

Performer Isaac Hou has become famous in Taiwan for his wheel routine
Video of his act has been described as both 'awesome' and sickening
A GoPro camera was used to give multiple perspectives of the act

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-spin.html
I'm dizzy.

[sarcasmic]

A youthful Kate Beckinsale, 41, wows as she bares her toned midriff in transparent crop top while dining out in Beverly Hills

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....Hills.html
Dang I lust her so bad.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

She screams high maintenance.

[sarcasmic]

Aren't they all?

[Fist of Etiquette]

There are at least 65 people who have been mentioned as possible 2016 presidential candidates.

Divide 4 years by 65 and give them all a shot in turn.

[Rich]

😎 "President for a day!"

[sarcasmic]

There's always a bigger fish...Fisherman left shocked after a giant grouper eats the shark they had just caught WHOLE
Fisherman floored when mammoth grouper fish gulps down a four-foot-long shark
'Wooooooooo! Oh my god! Oh my god!'
The huge fish took off with the shark - and the fisherman's hook!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....WHOLE.html
This one is worth a click.

[Brett L]

My wife is never going back in the Gulf.

[invisible furry hand]

Is that a euphemism?

[Brett L]

No. She already fears sharks in shallow water. Like, 2 feet of water. Anything that eats a "large" shark must be dangerous.

[UnCivilServant]

I thought you just had a tiny wife who might be swallowed whole by a grouper.

[Jordan]

My wife's not really afraid of the wildlife, unless she knows that it's actually there. She's just afraid of the water, since she can't swim well. I have managed to coax her into snorkeling though.

[Ted S.]

Teach her to swim better.

[Jordan]

I have offered many times, but she's content being a boring landlubber.

[Jordan]

Groupers are harmless. I love encountering them on dives.

[waffles]

unless they can swallow you in one bite.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Groupers are generally harmless, but there are some cases of people getting bit...most incidents seem to involve spearfishing or the presence of smaller fish.

[robc]

Not 100% on the grouper, but I figure they categorize with Tuna. Grouper and Shark arent from the same part of the family tree. Tuna/Grouper are more closely related to Mammals than they are to sharks.

Basically, with cladistics, the whole concept of "fish" goes away. There are at least 3 unrelated (until you get way, way back) branches that are all considered "fish".

Genetic research is entirely undermining the old nomenclature.

[Suthenboy]

I have had those groupers swim up to me and check me out while diving. It is especially impressive when the grouper is many times larger than you are.

Problems only arise if you have anything that the grouper considers food, like fish. If you have it, he is going to get it, and there isn't a goddamned thing you can do about it.

[Jordan]

Yeah, I don't partake in spearfishing or anything like that. I'm just there to look, not touch. I've heard some entertaining stories about people being circled by sharks while clutching a bag of lionfish during their safety stop.

[Rev-Match]

There's always a bigger fish...

I've seen interesting things while fishing, but never anything like that. That was awesome.

[invisible furry hand]

Saving the planet, one appliance at a time

Buy a powerful vacuum cleaner before they are BANNED: New EU rules 'will outlaw best models from next month because they're not eco-friendly'

[Ted S.]

The ones that don't work well will take more energy because you have to use them longer. It's the "low-flow" toilets all over again.

[Jerryskids]

Ha! My niece just recently bought one of the new "higher efficiency" washing machines and noted that it comes with an "extra rinse" cycle. The first few times she used it without the extra rinse and a full load of clothes, she figured out the clothes weren't getting as clean. So now she does smaller but more numerous loads and uses the extra rinse cycle. I'm guessing the extra cost of the "higher effiency" machine plus the lowered efficiency of actually using it is some sort of stupidity squared.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

I don't know, a lot of the old washers were so wasteful with water that you'd have to wash everything 3 times to get the same water usage.

Also, the one we recently bought spins the clothes so fast that they come out almost dry (some synthetics like lycra come out dry enough to wear), which saves alot of dryer time.

Dryer time and hot water usage are your biggest energy hogs.

[Zeb]

I hate low flow plumbing fixture requirements (what good is a kitchen faucet that only has 2.5 GPM?), but I must say that if you don't buy the cheapest possible ones, the low flow toilets are pretty good in my experience. Unless you have some intestinal problems, it's pretty rare to have to flush twice.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The Toto Eco-Drake is probably the best toilet I've ever had the privilege of defiling. It makes my old "high-flow" units look weak and pathetic by comparison.

[Jerryskids]

The "low-flow" part is often just in the flapper - for $10 or so you can get a "Dial-a-Flush" adjustable flapper and set it to max.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The Eco-Drake actually jets your turds into suspension before sucking them down with a mighty gulp. Works like a charm.

[Atanarjuat]

That is the most asinine, counterproductive policy I've heard about in a while. Everyone is already saying it won't save energy so it must either A) enrich some crony or B) appeal to neoLuddites.

Vacuums must be a tiny percentage of overall energy use. Everything that uses more energy (washer, dryer, hot water heater, etc.) is now ripe for attack.

Are you sure that isn't the British version of the Onion?

[invisible furry hand]

Are you sure that isn't the British version of the Onion?

Yes, The Onion has better spelling.

Here's a slightly more grown-up source

[Zeb]

Europe loves stupid, counterproductive regulations. Their RoHS regulations (requiring lead free electronics, among other things) are another good example.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I still remember the first time I saw the RoHS compliance requirements when I was designing cell station equipment. My first thought was "oh this is going to suck".

[Zeb]

We had a guy from our soldering supplies vendor come in to give us a presentation on it. He basically told us to shorten our warranties and lower our inspection standards. And get ready to replace a lot more soldering tips and related equipment.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I can see applying RoHS to short life equipment like consumer electronics where the product lifetime is limited and repairability is nil. But on commercial equipment it is completely retarded.

[Zeb]

The stuff we make tends to live in research labs for many years, so it was not good.
But yeah, for stuff that gets tossed in a few years anyway it's not a completely terrible idea.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Just buy a commercial model.

[some guy]

Before long you will need a permit to do that.

[Lord Humungus]

The ultimate white privilege: Darren Wilson and being "afraid for your life"

A white person can get away with a lot if they claim that they were scared of a person of color. White people and law enforcement are allowed to fear for their lives ? even if that so-called fear is based on racist perceptions about black and brown criminality or, more often, nothing at all.

A grand jury was seated on Wednesday to consider the circumstances surrounding the killing of Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager who was shot six times by Darren Wilson, a white cop. If the case eventually goes to court, no doubt one of the questions that will be put before the jury is whether Wilson could have reasonably feared for his life during his confrontation with Brown. While witnesses to the shooting have indicated that Brown had his hands up in surrender when he was fatally shot, others ? mostly other cops ? have suggested that Brown charged at Wilson and that the "genesis of [the shooting] was a physical confrontation."

[gaijin]

A white person can get away with a lot if they claim that they were scared of a person of color. White people and law enforcement are allowed...

Law enforcement = white?

[The Last American Hero]

It does in Ferguson.

[gaijin]

true...I was just thinking that the article was conflating two ideas: white privilege and 'leo' privilege.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I don't know if they fags or what
Search a nigga down and grabbin his nuts
And on the other hand, without a gun they can't get none
But don't let it be a black and a white one
Cuz they slam ya down to the street top
Black police showin out for the white cop

[Zeb]

Yeah, just like that guy who shot that black girl on his porch...

This is just getting retarded. I think a hard examination of racial bias and racism in policing is certainly warranted, but everything is not always about race.

[John]

This is why nothing good is going to come of Ferguson. The Progs are going to co-opt it into just another race conflict. When that happens, white people will defensively take the cop's side and not a damn thing will change.

The progs really don't want to change anything beyond getting the cops to treat white people like they allege cops treat blacks now.

[Zeb]

It is not encouraging when the news keeps saying that the protests are primarily about race issues rather than about police use of force. There is certainly a racial aspect to the poor relationship between police and certain communities, but if that becomes the whole message, I fear it will all turn out to be useless or worse.

[John]

Making it about race issues implies that reforming the police won't help since race issues imply a lot more than cops. Also, it makes it look to the average white person like we damn well better arm the cops to keep these people out of my neighborhood. Thank you douche bag media

[Fist of Etiquette]

Bank of America is expected to settle with the Department of Justice for $16.65 billion over allegations of misleading investors about mortgage securities.

Who gets the money?

[Bee Tagger]

[redacted]

[db]

It's not who gets the money, but what they intend to do with it. See, "the people" get the money, because it goes into some government fund. Then, it goes to all sorts of well-intentioned things that involve lots of administrative costs, consultant fees, and conference junkets.

[gaijin]

See, "the people" get the money, because it goes into some government fund.

It's not called the 'US' Government for nothing!

[Ted S.]

"Marge, it's 'uterus', not 'uteryou'."

[Restoras]

And those bullshit 'training' courses that aren't training at all, but are instead a CYA for the government and the banks, but someone got paid a crap ton to create and administer.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Great Mortgage Scam was a product of the free market. Countrywide and 1000s of other originators got rich selling shitty liar NINJA loans to private investors like Lehman and Bear Stearns.

(but markets are still the most efficient way to run an economy)

[some guy]

Yeah, the Feds easy money policy and all the federal programs to subsidize home-building and home-buying had nothing to do with people buying more house than they could afford. Also, the implicit guarantee of system-wide bailouts was irrelevant.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Fail.

Low interest rates do not equal easy credit policy.

See 2009- 2014 for example. Credit is tight as hell today while rates are record lows.

[some guy]

Low rates equal cheaper credit for those who can get it. Which let's them buy more house and then sinks them when the rate adjusts upwards. As always the causes of the problem are more complex than you indicate.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The market created option ARM's and negative am and liar loans by the millions in 2002-07.

TARP was a response to the lack of adequate risk management.

Markets are the best of systems but are not infallible.

[CampingInYourPark]

"The market created..."
"Markets are the best of systems..."

A market isn't a system and whatever alternative you think exists simply boils down to theft.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

It's a sock, stop arguing with it!

[WTF]

Are you quitting on me? Well, are you? Then quit, you slimy fucking walrus-looking piece of shit! Get the fuck off of my obstacle! Get the fuck down off of my obstacle! NOW! MOVE IT! Or I'm going to rip your balls off, so you cannot contaminate the rest of the world! I will motivate you, IF IT SHORT-DICKS EVERY CANNIBAL ON THE CONGO!

[Mike M.]

Again Dave, it's very unfortunate that you're mentally ill. But it's wrong of you to take it out on us because Matt Welch properly directed you to a work environment where you belong.

Keep listening to your doctors, take your medications on the proper schedule, and give us a break.

[OldMexican]

Re: Peter Caca,

The Great Mortgage Scam was a product of the free market.

I thought every was hunky dory. Why, Barney Frank told me so.

[some guy]

It probably goes to a fund to cover systemic insurance or to pay incompetent people's mortgages or something like that. Wherever it goes it will only make matters worse.

[Bee Tagger]

There are at least 65 people who have been mentioned as possible 2016 presidential candidates.

We should have a rule that no more than 34 be mentioned.

[some guy]

65 is just about right for a NCAA-style tournament. So which two unlucky candidates get the play-in game?

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Green Party vs Constitution Party play in game!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

A Hillary vs Santorum would be nice; getting either off of ballots early would be a "rising tide that raises all ships".

[sarcasmic]

Got a couple reach-arounds here. Well, maybe. "may face serious charges" may mean nothing, and "suspended indefinitely" may mean indefinite paid vacation.

Reach-around #1:

California Highway Patrol says an officer may face serious charges after being caught on camera beating a middle-aged woman on the side of a freeway

Officer Daniel Andrew, who was put on a desk assignment after the incident, was removed from duty and put on paid administrative leave
Andrew is caught on camera beating Marlene Pinnock, 51, on the side of a Los Angeles freeway
'I felt like he was trying to kill me, beat me to death,' said Pinnock

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

[WTF]

Just remember that "may" is the equivalent of "may or may not".

[Zeb]

Well, if you are only capable of thinking in terms of binary truth values, it is.

[WTF]

Okay, slick Willie. Now tell about all the different meanings of what "is" is.

[Zeb]

Just pointing out that language does contain nuance beyond the simple logic interpretation. "May" suggests a higher likelihood than "may or may not".

[sarcasmic]

Reach-around #2:

Police officer who pointed rifle at Ferguson protester and warned he would 'f****** kill you' is suspended indefinitely

An unnamed police officer has been relieved of duty after he was caught on camera pointing an assault rifle at a Ferguson protester on Tuesday
Footage posted on YouTube shows him pointing a semi-automatic assault rifle and shouting: 'I will f****** kill you'
Police say a county sergeant took immediate action, telling the officer to lower the weapon and escorted him from the area
The officer was suspended indefinitely on Wednesday afternoon

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

[Matrix]

But not in jail? If you or I did the same thing, we'd be behind bars right now.

[WTF]

I couldn't tell from the article, but I wonder if it is the usual paid vacation.

[Adam.]

"semi-automatic rifle"? I doubt it, it was probably at least burst if not full auto. The kings men need higher grade arms than the peasants

[Lord Humungus]

'Small Handful' of Americans Believed to Be Fighting With ISIS in Iraq

U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and military officials have for months declined to discuss the possibility that Americans had joined the Islamic extremist group blamed for beheading 40-year-old New Hampshire journalist James Foley as well as atrocities against Iraqis. But they now acknowledge it is likely that one or more Americans ? but no more than a "small handful" -- have joined the fray.

[Lord Humungus]

Aging Americans Boost Share of Population Who Receive Government Benefits

Nearly half of Americans, 49.5%, lived in a household where at least one person was receiving some type of government benefit in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to Census Department data. That number ticked up slightly from 49.2% at the end of 2011.

The share of Americans receiving government benefits has risen steadily during the recession and sluggish recovery. The types of benefits run the gamut, from Social Security to unemployment compensation to food stamps.

[Ted S.]

Not 47%?

[Bee Tagger]

Stop it! If you say it, the posts will come.

[UnCivilServant]

+8%

[Ted S.]

Damn you! 😉

[UnCivilServant]

It's all about timing ?8%

[Ted S.]

Not 8%?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Speaking of which, where has he been?

[gaijin]

Speaking of which, where has he been?

It is breeding season on many hog farms

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

I larfed.

[WTF]

Now look what you've done, you've summoned it.

[some guy]

Does this include all government "workers"?

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama says the United States will be "relentless" in its pursuit of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)...

Now, watch this drive.

[Jerryskids]

You could have just stopped with the headline:

Obama Promises

[RBS]

while FBI Director James Comey called ISIL a bunch of "savages" in response to the posting of a video showing the beheading of U.S. photojournalist James Foley

They aren't?

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's an insult to savages.

[Zeb]

Depends on what you mean by savages. They are certainly horrible, brutal, evil people. But that sort of thing has been a big part of a lot of civilization.

[gaijin]

at least he didn;t call them animals

[Lord Humungus]

Police: Man drives stolen electric shopping cart to meet probation officer, gets arrested

Court Documents say Michael Johnson, 18, arrived to meet with his probation officer on Monday at the Metropolitan Courthouse on an electric shopping cart from Walmart.

The probation officer asked Johnson where he got the cart, to which Johnson said he "took it from the Walmart on San Mateo and Zuni," the documents say.

Johnson was arrested and charged with larceny and receiving stolen property. He violated his probation when he was arrested and is being held on a $500 bond.

[Libertarian]

And yet I'm to be considered an elitist for thinking that intelligence is a factor in economic success?

[waffles]

nice

[Fist of Etiquette]

Meanwhile Germany announced it would arm Kurdish troops and "set aside taboos" in regards to military operations in Iraq.

They'll be armed with incest porn?

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

You know who else "set aside taboos" in regards to military operations?

[Jerryskids]

Damn, I thought they said "tattoos".

[tarran]

Kali the pigeon?

[Libertarian]

Truman?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Scheisseporn would be more effective.

Germans are a weird bunch

[Idle Hands]

Only the retards in this administration would think that leaking a failed op would garner them positive pr. As Sean Connery once said "Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen."

[John]

You have remember they are faculty lounge and media Progs. They really believe "we meant well" and "we tried our best" counts for something in the real world.

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else had a failed special-op mission?

[UnCivilServant]

Jimmy Carter?

[Libertarian]

Fish, meet barrel.

[invisible furry hand]

Rabbit, meet President

[invisible furry hand]

This woman?

[Lord Humungus]

Michigan church gives away circus animal manure

A traveling circus with more than 30 animals left the manure when it finished performing in the area on Aug. 17. The Oklahoma-based Kelly Miller Circus performed two shows for about 700 people.

The church secretary says St. Peter offered up the manure to the public because renting a trash bin would have been too expensive.

The secretary says there was so much interest from residents that the staff will likely make the exotic fertilizer available again if the circus returns next year.

[The Last American Hero]

Around here, there is a waiting list to get Zoo Doo for your garden. No joke.

[Libertarian]

They tried to give away clown poop but it smelled funny.

[Lord Humungus]

Nightmares, the tears of children, and rubber noses.

[Rich]

There are at least 65 people who have been mentioned as possible 2016 presidential candidates.

How about we treat just the presidential race like jury service?

[Jordan]

Here's a searchable database of military equipment provided to local governments. You can search by state and county.

I see that my county received a tent apparently valued at $16,932.35. So, I guess that's what the military paid for it originally. Government efficiency at work. By the way, this is apparently sourced from a NYT FOIA request.

[Restoras]

NY WESTCHESTER No Item Name Provided 1 Each $3,395.00 4/22/2013
NY WESTCHESTER No Item Name Provided 1 Each $3,395.00 4/29/2013
NY WESTCHESTER No Item Name Provided 1 Each $1,182.39 2/15/2013
NY WESTCHESTER RIFLE,5.56 MILLIMETER 1 Each $499.00 4/4/2013
NY WESTCHESTER RIFLE,5.56 MILLIMETER 1 Each $499.00 4/4/2013
NY WESTCHESTER RIFLE,5.56 MILLIMETER 1 Each $499.00 4/4/2013
NY WESTCHESTER RIFLE,5.56 MILLIMETER 1 Each $499.00 4/4/2013
NY WESTCHESTER RIFLE,5.56 MILLIMETER 1 Each $499.00 4/4/2013
NY WESTCHESTER TRUCK TRACTOR 1 EA $138,870.00
NY WESTCHESTER TRUCK,CARGO 1 Each $104,626.00 3/4/2013
NY WESTCHESTER TRUCK,CARGO 1 Each $176,428.00 3/4/2013
NY WESTCHESTER TRUCK,UTILITY 1 Each $172,193.00 3/14/2013

No Item Name Provided - could be anything, I suppose...

What kind of utility truck could cost $170k?

[John]

Or what the hell kind of vehicle of any kind costs $3.3 million? They must have a couple of MPRAPS

[Lord Humungus]

"Check out our fleet of vintage Ferraris."

[John]

We bought a new 275 GTB with a Homeland Security grant.

[gaijin]

Sweet! I live in a county with a $600K Backscatter Xray van!

Drive-by irradiation for the win

[some guy]

Look up Prince Georges Co., MD. Glad I don't live there...

[Andrew S.]

So, I'm glad I don't live or work in Miami anymore. Checked my current count (Broward, aka Fort Lauderdale), which received four trucks. Checked Miami... lets see. A helicopter, a couple of grenade launchers(!), four MRAPs, several dozen rifles...

[Libertarian]

As this military equipment gets broadcast all over the country, to hundreds if not thousands of locations, has anyone thought ahead to what will happen when grenade launchers are stolen from the Keystone Kops? Or, for some unknown reason, don't show up on next year's inventory list?

[Andrew S.]

Well, then, obviously that will be the reason that the cops need more, stronger equipment! I'm waiting for ICBMs to start appearing on these lists.

[Brett L]

Say hello to my little frien'

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

ooooooooooohhhhh, riot shotguns....

and a treadmill

[SRVolunteer]

Every county I've ever lived in apparently has an Mine Resistant Vehicle now.

[Idle Hands]

"We're not rich rich." I can't wait for 2016, the levels of derp that is going to ensue is going to be historic.

[Ted S.]

Bill stole those cigars from a convenience store in Ferguson, MO.

[Idle Hands]

Bill Clinton enjoys a Gurkha cigar, "the Rolls Royce of the cigar industry." He "loves the Gurkhas," Gurkha chief executive officer Kaizad Hansotia, maker of the HMR cigar, which stands for His Majesty's Reserve. It is, according to Hansotia, "the world's most expensive cigar."

One box is $25,000 -- and the price will rise next year to $30,000. "The cigars are close to $1,000 each," says the cigar boss to Bloomberg.

[Rich]

"the world's most expensive cigar."

Oh, I'll bet the Monica cigar was more expensive.

[The DerpRider]

Costlier, perhaps.

[invisible furry hand]

WE ARE THE 99%!

Study reveals spiders are fatter and more fertile in wealthy suburbs

[Idle Hands]

Probably because all the pussies that are scared to kill them in the suburbs.

[Jordan]

I see a spider in my place every once in a while, but I leave them alone since they kill real pests like roaches.

[RBS]

This. I have some really cool ones out in my garden right now.

[UnCivilServant]

Cryospiders? Awesome!

[trshmnster the terrible]

People around here get zipper spiders in their garden. The spiders end up about the size of your palm , but they are bug killing machines! They keep the baddies away from the vegetables.

[Warty]

Why would you kill a spider? They kill the things you want to be killed.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

I tell that to my wife, and she has already panic-smashed it.

[invisible furry hand]

The spiders in this study were golden orb weaving spiders. At worst they give you nausea and dizziness, which for an Australian spider is just a love tap. Also their webs are shimmery gold. Could she kill even this?

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

She calls the most innocuous garden spider a "tarantula". That lovely golden web spinning creature would be a splat on the floor or stuck to a shoe.

[some guy]

I make exceptions for Brown Recluses and Black Widows. Those need to die right now.

[Lord Humungus]

Could the cravat make a comeback?

Unfasten your top button and start polishing the brass buttons on your blazer. It's time for men to start wearing cravats again, insists Just A Minute presenter Nicholas Parsons, and who are the rest of us to argue?

"I have lots of lovely cravats," Parsons, 90, wistfully told an Edinburgh audience, adding that he'd "really rather like" other men to follow suit. "I've seen people with beautifully tailored jackets on, with an open shirt there with an awful Adam's apple," he shuddered.

For years the cravat was synonymous with a particular type of gin-quaffing, yacht-sailing, smooth-talking rake.

[sarcasmic]

No.

[db]

Oh hells yes. We need hipsters walking around looking like L. Ron Hubbard in.the.worst way.

[Restoras]

The hipsters in NYC that I see seem to be engaged in some kind of hipster fashion arms race. Everyone I see looks more idiotic than the last.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

So we could end up with a fashion gang war? Fops v Dandies?

[Jerryskids]

FOPs v Dapper Dans, obviously.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

+1 I am a Dapper Dan Man, dammit!

[UnCivilServant]

Among a certain population whose smugness is only matched by their stupidity.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

For years the cravat was synonymous with a particular type of gin-quaffing, yacht-sailing, smooth-talking rake.

You know, homos.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

A cravat is just a more refined way of saying "I need a good beating"

[John]

Actually a return to effeminate 18th Century dandy dress would be oddly appropriate for our neutered age. Appropriate or not, fuck no. Hipsters really are the dregs of humanity.

[Brett L]

Tell that to the Croat mercenaries who originated the cravat. They'd probably horsewhip you through the streets if you are lucky.

[John]

I would just call a couple of Turks to kick their ass so the Croats could then celebrate the defeat for the next thousand years.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

By the time the Croats wore cravats, the defeats were going one direction - the Habsburgs didn't end up with a bunch of Grenzers by losing ground.

You'd end up with 4 Turk's ears being proffered for the bounty.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That's just proof that if you're going to wear one, you need to be an absolute badass.

[John]

Then I would call a German. Hell I am a German. I would just kick their asses. The Croats and Serbs have been on the ass end of every conflict since Rome. It is what they do.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

If you sent Germans, the Croats would simply collaborate with them.

[Fluffy]

They would give John the fluffiest, silkiest cravat of them all.

[John]

And I would look damn good in it too.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Glad to see Nicholas Parsons still is around.

[Lord Humungus]

I, for one, would wear a cravat. It's the tying part that would get me flustered.

[Jerryskids]

Tying a cravat around your neck isn't that difficult. I think there's a Robin Williams YouTube video showing you how it's properly done.

/too soon

[Libertarian]

Not sure fashion trends are started by 90 year olds that speak "wistfully" of "lovely" cravats, or "lovely" anythings.

[The Late P Brooks]

Bank of America is expected to settle with the Department of Justice for $16.65 billion over allegations of misleading investors about mortgage securities.

Nice bank you got here...

[Fist of Etiquette]

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says the military campaign in Gaza is not over.

Come on. The next ceasefire is sure to take.

[Lord Humungus]

More Car Buyers Are Struggling to Make Payments

The repo man is getting very busy as a growing number of car and truck owners are struggling to make their monthly auto loan payments. Experian, which analyses millions of auto loans, said Wednesday that the percentage of those loans that were delinquent or ended up in default with the vehicle being repossessed surged in the second quarter of this year. The rate of repossessions jumped 70.2 percent in the second quarter, with much of that increase coming from finance companies not run by automakers, banks or credit unions. Even with that rise, the percentage of auto loans that end in default is just 0.62 percent of all auto loans.

[Ted S.]

How many of them got their cars thanks to Cash for Clunkers?

[Restoras]

And had to buy new ones because there were no used ones available?

[robc]

Ted,

You beat someone to a comment, congrats. But I didnt post mine, so Hah!

[waffles]

But, but millenials!

Car debt isn't a huge issue. The past year I bought a new car and was boggled by the cost. How is it that my neighbors are so car rich? I guess they must be debt rich too. I went with the buy a car you can afford in cash with a low interest loan approach. But I've heard most new car buyers zero in on the monthly payment blissfully unaware of the total cost and term of the loan they're getting. Idiots.

[trshmnster the terrible]

The dealership will happily give you a 7+ year loan. That's absolutely ridiculous unless you're in the habit of running your cars into the ground. Even then it's not that good of an idea.

I'm just hoping to be able to save up for bot my car and my wife's car before our current ones crap out. Hopefully we can get a good package deal, because our current choices (Ford Taurus and Ford flex) end up costing $60k sticker for late model used.

[Lord Humungus]

I can barely stand to look at any of my cars for longer than 3-4 years. Which sticks me in the used market or leasing.

[Libertarian]

What's the average loan rate? I'd take out a 20 year car loan if you gave it to me at 1%.

[Apatheist ?_??]

This, like waffles said, a car I can afford in cash, but a 1% loan is free money.

[WTF]

Bought my wife a new car last year, dealer offered 0% for 60 months.

[Fluffy]

Lease.

Anyone who buys a car in this market is a dope.

You can lease a BMW now for what it cost me (in monthly payment terms) to buy a fucking Dodge Neon in 1994.

[Juice]

Anyone who buys a new car in this market is a dope.

fixed

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Speaking of vehicles...

I am looking to buy a truck I can use on the weekends for hauling shit to the dump and picking things up at Lowes and Home Depot. All of these places are within 5 miles of my house.

Any thoughts on what I should be looking for? I am only looking to drop $5k at max.

[Jerryskids]

Find a place that sells retired fleet vehicles. Phone company, electric company, any government-enforced-monopoly public utility spends a shitload on maintenance and upkeep on the vehicles and retires the vehicles even when they're still perfectly good.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Am I really going to find something for under 5k?

Looking here: http://autoauctions.gsa.gov/GSAAutoAuctions/

it seems everything is still worth over 10k. Although I may be underestimating how dumb the government is.

[Mainer2]

1995 Ford F150 Regular Cab

That's what I have, and I use exactly as you intend. Mine has a snow plow too.

Cost me $3500.

[Almanian!]

Hard to find trucks for cheap - decent ones anyway. Domestic pick up, 90's, maybe early 2000's will do the trick.

I recently picked up a 2001 Ford Ranger for $3500. 180K miles, no rust - 3.0l engine, 2WD extended cab. Basically use it exactly as you describe. Does the job.

I had a beater '94 F150 with a 302 2WD, but the front spring towers finally rusted out - KABOOM - down went the front end. I gave up - it was just too rusted 🙂 Only paid $3300 for that one and ran the shit out of it for 4-5 years, so it was worth it. Gave it to a charity so they could crib the new-ish radiator, rear leaf springs and tires.

[Mainer2]

And I believe 95 or 96 F-150 was the last vehicle with the old fashioned vent windows. Everyone always comments on those. Oh cool...vent windows !

[Lord Humungus]

ISIS Demanded Ransom From U.S. Before Killing Reporter

In fact, until recently, ISIS had a very different list of demands for Mr. Foley: The group pressed the United States to provide a multimillion-dollar ransom for his release, according to a representative of his family and a former hostage held alongside him. The United States ? unlike several European countries that have funneled millions to the terror group to spare the lives of their citizens ? refused to pay.

The issue of how to deal with ISIS, which like many terror groups now routinely trades captives for large cash payments, is acute for the Obama administration because Mr. Foley was not the lone American in its custody. ISIS is threatening to kill at least three others it holds if its demands remain unmet, The New York Times has confirmed through interviews with recently released prisoners, family members of the victims and mediators attempting to win their freedom.

[Lord Humungus]

China Baby Boom Wagers Go Bust on Child Cost Burden

Less than 3 percent of the 11 million Chinese couples eligible for another child applied for permission by the end of May, jeopardizing government efforts to bolster a population that the United Nations predicts will start shrinking by 2030. Raising a child from birth through to 18 years of age costs about 23,000 yuan ($3,745) a year, according to Credit Suisse Group AG, equivalent to 43 percent of the average household income in China.

[Lord Humungus]

Richard III drank 3 litres of booze a day, no wonder he was found dead in a car park

Like a lot of men who drink more than five pints every day, Richard went missing for quite a while and was eventually found in a car park.

In 2012, after an absence of more than 500 years, Richard's remains were found underneath a council car park in Leicester. The car park skeleton was confirmed as the much maligned king the following year.

nice.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

'he liked to snack on the occasional swan.'

You mean, like in the form of a kettle or pringle chip?

I imagine swan tastes something like duck - and not chicken?

[UnCivilServant]

For some reason, I'm envisioning someone attempting to consume a live swan...

A bird that size is not a 'snack'.

[John]

Three liters of beer is really not that much, if it is consumed throughout the day. I have drank four at one sitting many times.

[waffles]

Four Liters? Four beers at a sitting is excessive but doable but with four liters the volume alone is tough to handle.

[John]

I have done it over an evening at a German beer garden. I had a great time but didn't get sick or really have a hang over. Perhaps it is just my Teutonic constitution.

[Tim]

Gin and two tonics?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

*Slap!*

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

*narrows gaze*

[Restoras]

Is that like butt-chugging?

[Tim]

They drank beer and wine because the water was dirty and dysentery could kill you faster than liver disease.

[John]

Yes. Dysentery or the "flux" as it was called was pretty close to the leading cause of death. What a horrible way to die. And people wonder why they were so war like. I would rather die by being cut in half in battle than essentially bleed to death out my ass.

[Tim]

Death by Diarrhea.

[thom]

I'm pretty sure I drank 6 liters at Oktoberfest once, although my memory of that night is kind of hazy.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+6 Dirndls

[thom]

Personally, I'm a fan of dirndls. Not the shitty fake ones that American girls wear to try and look slutty, but the traditional ones that Bavarian ladies wear.

[RBS]

Spiderwomantoo sexy?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Related:
http://thehawkeyeinitiative.com/

[Jordan]

More like too shitty. They really brought in the B team for that one.

[kinnath]

Body paint for the win!

[Coeus]

She's showing less than spiderman in that pose comparison. Imagine how pissed they'd be with camel toe and possibly parted lips.

[Coeus]

Saw this in the sidebar of a an article I just linked

Notice that they didn't do a side-by-side. Hmmmm, wonder why?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Pfffftttttt.... There's far more stereotypical stuff than that. Don't ever show them an old copy of Heavy Metal.

[Lord Humungus]

This 100-year-old photo is 'the first ever selfie to be taken'

These dapper looking gents may have taken the first ever selfie 90 years before Kim Kardashian perfected the art.

The men taking the pictures, rocking bowler hats and waistcoats, even strike the pose seen in a million group holiday pics posted to Facebook everyday.

It is safe to assume they then annoyed their colleagues by sticking the pictures up on the office wall and writing beneath them: 'Lads on tour 1920. LOL'

[db]

I have selfie pictures of a long-deceased relative who worked on the Panama Canal construction as a steam shovel operator. They were sent back to family in PA as postcards with descriptions of daily activities. Basically Facebook posts from the early 20th century.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Thus confirming everything has been done.

Homer pretty much hogged all the universal themes and plots.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Dang.... you have a place to post those?

[db]

I thought of.making a Facebook account.in the name of the relative and recreating the postcards as posts, but there really aren't enough of them. Plus, the notes are written half in English, half in Swedish, and I don't know.what the Swedish.parts say.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

...I don't know.what the Swedish.parts say.

They say, "Yergen flergen dergen. Schnergen dergen lergen."

[db]

"Hurdi skurdi burdi, jot dergen flergen yi whup de hay."

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

"Mind you, Moose bites kan be pretti nasti"?

[db]

A moose bit my steam shovel once.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Lemme help...

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

[Rich]

Student Suspended For Saying 'Bless You' After Classmate Sneezed

expressions that are banned as part of class rules ... are listed on the teacher's white board along with "bless you."

And, one surmises, along with "Fuck you".

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The Archbishop of Oklahoma City has sued the Satanists to get back the consecrated host that they're planning to use in their Black Mass on Sept. 21

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....-wing-man/

[Ted S.]

Eat the host, take a dump, give them the stool sample.

[db]

I'm curious as to how this would not be a hate crime under current law if they actually carry out the black mass which involves desecration of an object considered sacred to a religion.

[waffles]

It doesn't involve sexuality or race. The normal players in the hate crime game won't be interested.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think 'hate crimes' are sentence enhancements for certain enumerated crimes against people and/or their property because of the person's membership in a protected class, it's not that 'acts of hatred' generally towards such persons are prohibited.

[John]

Except that acts of vandalism, like say painting swastikas on a synagogue, are considered hate crimes. This is an act of theft and vandalism committed against the church's property because of their beliefs.

It is technically speaking, a hate crime.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Is it theft?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Is it a plane?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It's Super-Host!

[John]

If it wasn't, I don't see how the Bishop could be suing to get it back. If it belongs to the church and they stole it, then them taking it is no different than someone stealing a menorah out of a synagogue.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

"I don't see how the Bishop could be suing to get it back"

You don't know how he could file a lawsuit at that stage if he wasn't right???

[John]

You don't know how he could file a lawsuit at that stage if he wasn't right???

Yes, generally people have some claim to ownership or they don't sue. Since both parties admit it is a "consecrated host" and only a priest can do that, it is a pretty good bet it belongs to the church.

Bo, you really need to pick your arguments better and not just argue every single point no matter how ridiculous. Think about this for a moment, you just claimed that the Catholic Church doesn't have a claim of ownership over an object only they use and only they can create.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

6:5 odds, if it ever passes the bar and sees the inside of a courtroom, it gets sanctioned with 6 weeks.

[Coeus]

I eagerly await all the SJWs who were so up in arms about putting bacon on the door handle of that mosque to weigh in.

[John]

That is because these people are not Satanists. They are just atheist assholes who want to fuck with Christians. They would never fuck with Muslims because doing so would likely get them killed.

[Restoras]

Shouldn't the American Taliban just use its massive collection of firepower to take their crackers back? What gives with this law-abiding, play-by-the-rules legal nicety crap?

[Ted S.]

They're not crackers; they're cardboard.

[John]

If we keep rewarding people who riot and commit acts of violence with respect and victim status, it is just a matter of time. People inevitably respond to incentives.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

http://iowahawk.typepad.com/io.....utefi.html

[Coeus]

Just got the internet up in Dubai, so I've been out of the loop. apologies if this has already been covered:

'Slavery,' pregnancy drove California professor to accost teen pro-lifer, say defenders

Another letter of support, also on UCSB letterhead, comes from Eileen Boris, a professor in the Department of Feminist Studies.

Prof. Boris seeks clemency for her colleague, stating, "she was at the stage of a pregnancy when one is not fully one's self fully, so the image of a severed fetus appeared threatening."

"If she appears smiling on camera," Prof. Boris continues, "she is 'wearing the mask,' that is, she is hiding her actual state through a strategy of self-presentation that is a cultural legacy of slavery."

[Rich]

"she was at the stage of a pregnancy when one is not fully one's self fully"

"Anyone subject to raging hormonal influences is unfit to be a mother."

[Jordan]

Dubai, eh? I'm jealous.

[Coeus]

Don't be. I can't even afford to get drunk here. It would cost like 100 dollars a day to get a buzz. And the 11 hour workdays make my ability to hang out at bars irrelevant anyway, since I'm probably too damn tired to get it up. Though I was debating whether to put tinder on my work phone for my half day off in two days. Might even splurge and bar hop, but it usually takes more than a few hours to get the lay of the land.

[Coeus]

Though I will admit, the skyline is insane. It looks like they gave a bunch of architects acid and set them loose with unlimited budgets.

[UnCivilServant]

Though I will admit, the skyline is insane. It looks like they gave a bunch of architects acid and set them loose with unlimited budgets.

I thought that was exactly what they did.

[Jordan]

Oh yeah, that sounds pretty crappy. I'd be going to the beach every chance I got, but it sounds like you don't have much time for that.

[Coeus]

It's like a 105 degrees out there. You'd melt.

[Jordan]

Nah, I stay in the water the whole time.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The waters of the Gulf around Dubai are filth-ridden. Your body temperature would reach 105 just from infection.

[Lord Humungus]

I can have a friend of mine point you to a good brothel over there.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

"a friend" eh?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Phyllis Schlafly Takes On Cosmotarians

"We hear people say the libertarian view is to "get the government out of marriage." But where did that slogan come from? There is simply no basis for that notion in the works of classic libertarian writers...nothing in "The Road to Serfdom," or in any of Hayek's later works or those of his fellow Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, questioned the value or necessity of civil marriage in a free society. There is nothing to suggest that regulation of marriage was somehow inconsistent with individual freedom...f nothing in Hayek, Mises, Rothbard or Rand supports the abolition, redefinition, or privatization of marriage, then where did those ideas come from? The answer is that they came from writers on the left ? most significantly, from the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and published in 1848."

http://www.eagleforum.org/publ.....riage.html

[tarran]

Wow Phylis, way to write an article that is a giant ad-hominem and contains nothing else.

BTW, honey, Ayn Rand despised libertarianism and will probably hunt you down to claw your eyes out for calling her 'libertarian'.

[Ted S.]

Ooh, Leonard Peikoff versus Phyllis Schlafly.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Perhaps her socon tendencies lead her to reason 'if something is in Scripture then it applies (literally), if it is not then it doesn't matter' but libertarians don't tend to approach the works of Hayek and Mises in that way (well, maybe some).

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Zombie Ayn Rand attack?

[UnCivilServant]

Naw, she's at least a Ghast, if not a more powerful form of undead.

[Andrew S.]

Phyillis Schlafy: "I may be dumb, but at least I'm not as bad as my son"

(I need to change my handle here. I'm not Sullivan nor Schlafy. This first name-last initial combo has bad connotations)

[Tonio]

Yeah, I had wondered. Not that I thought you were either one of those men, but thought you might be doing a parody name.

[robc]

I dont use the C word, but as much as I used to use it as an insult, I think you just called me one.

If anything, paleolibs are more interested in getting the government out or marriage.

You have serious problems with categorization dont you?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

No, Phyllis does. She thinks she's attacking Cosmotarians, but in a sense she's attacking a position more commonly found among paleolibertarians. It's part of why it was funny to me and post-worthy.

[robc]

Did she use the word? Its nowhere in your quote.

[robc]

Only thing I see is "classic libertarian". Which sounds like more of a paleo description to me anyway.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

No, she likely doesn't know enough about libertarianism to use either term. But who do you think she's complaining about in that article?

[robc]

Me.

And Im more paleo, if Im not generic libertarian.

I dont think she distinguishes.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I'd agree your more paleo.

But I think she's talking about libertarians like the Reason staff and other's labeled 'cosmotarians' since the lead off is about the 'truce on social issues' and the NYT idea of libertarianism re marriage.

[robc]

Except they dont favor separation of marriage and state to any great degree.

Its paleos (or maybe just me) doing that. The reason staff refuses to die on that hill, favoring "equality" for some bullshit reason. Like cocktail party invitations.

[Rev-Match]

There are at least 65 people who have been mentioned as possible 2016 presidential candidates.

The more the merrier, I suppose.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

We should let them take 65 22 day term turns, it would probably work out better than the alternative.

[Coeus]

This person lives in an alternate universe.

Are women funny? Are black comics funny? These are both questions I hear discussed fairly regularly, usually at comedy shows, usually by white male comics. It's kind of a topic I'm sick of hearing about, because it's stupid to make assumptions about someone's comedy based solely on gender or race?especially because white male comedians aren't funny.

Has anyone ever heard any comic ask if black comedians were funny?

[John]

Come on, it is not like anyone has heard of Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, Cedric the Entertainer and about million other black comics. Those guys are virtual unknowns.

Next you will be telling me Jewish comics are a big deal.

[robc]

Eddie Murphy is the obvious one missing from your list.

Ive never heard anyone suggest that black comics arent funny.

And just because Carlos Mencia is the least funny human on Earth doesnt mean there arent funny hispanic comedians.

[John]

Who was the guy who got big in the 80s? There was a Mexican comic who did a bunch of HBO specials back in the day. I forget his name but he was very funny. And of course there is always Cheech Merin.

[robc]

George Lopez?

[John]

Paul Rodriguez.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Paul Rodriguez.

[UnCivilServant]

Yes, but the guy was picking on himself at the time.

[John]

I missed the "white male comics aren't funny" part. Since they invented the genera, this is going to be news to a few people.

[Coeus]

It was supposed to be a "how do you like it" satire post. But the commentators mostly seem to agree.

That part is mostly irrelevant. The interesting part is the lie he told to go after everyone's favorite villain.

Can't be just guy, gotta be white guy.

Related. (That makes me smile every time i see it.)

[John]

I hadn't seen that. That made my morning Coeus. Darkness at Noon really wasn't fiction. These stupid fuckers really would volunteer to go to the gallows if they were convinced it would help the cause. What a fucking rube.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Since they invented the genera, this is going to be news to a few people.

Depending on how strictly you define "stand-up", the Chinese (as always) have a serious claim on being the "first".

[John]

Unless they had vaudeville, their claim is a bit tenuous.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Xiansheng seems to have developed a few decades before vaudeville, actually.

[Idle Hands]

Let me put it to you in this way ever heard of Dave Chapelle, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock? Somber.

[Idle Hands]

This has to be a troll job. The man's name is Glen Tickle.

[Coeus]

Director Rob Reiner compares the Tea Party 'stranglehold' on Congress to Hamas

Commentaters angrily weigh in to defend Hamas(not kidding).

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Where do you even begin with this shit?

I think comparing the Tea Party to the Nazis is pretty apt, if we're talking about the early Nazis. They are masking their true motives under the guise of something that has some vague popularity. But if you listen closely to their rhetoric, it's all aimed at the people they hate and consider to be "less than". Rick Perry talks about the President's "lawlessness" and then wants to use the military to enforce border law - like his own group of Storm Troopers. This is a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act - something that Perry knows well, because he's a former military officer and we all got that training as young 2nd Lieutenants.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Wow, the demonization of the Tea Party continues unabated. There's so much ridiculousness in that tortured analogy it's difficult to know where to start.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Tea Party shamed itself when it let Glenn Beck become its spokesman in that huge 'Restoring Honor' DC rally that no one wants to remember.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITI.....ly.monday/

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The Tea Party has not done anything close to what the Brown Shirts infamously did, not remotely.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Well, that is true.

[tarran]

IT'S NOT SENTIENT.

INTERACTING WITH IT IS PRECISELY THE SAME MISTAKE AS DEALING WITH A COCKROACH INFESTATION BY PUTTING OUT BOWLS OF SUGAR!

Seriously, what does it take to open everyone's eyes to its complete lack of comprehension of any of the concepts contained in its comments?

It's literally incapable of knowing the difference between 'fetch' and 'felch'! Every word it writes is devoid of meaning, selected merely by a sense of what will elicit the greatest response!

[John]

Not only are you retarded, you make up for by being despicable and spitting on the graves of the actual victims of the Brown shirts in claiming that any politics you don't like is the same.

The troll minders really scraped the bottom of the barrel when they sent us you. You really need to do the right thing and pay your debt to humanity by killing yourself.

[OldMexican]

Re: Peter Caca,

The Tea Party shamed itself when it let Glenn Beck become its spokesman in that huge 'Restoring Honor' DC rally that no one wants to remember.

You mean there's only ONE Tea Party? Like Connor MacLeod?

[John]

Carl Reiner is a national treasure. He really is. But good God does he owe America for inflicting his son on it.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes. Archie Bunker is your conservative role model. Meathead is just a worthless dirty fucking hippie, right?

RR has created some great movies.

[John]

God you are a fucking retard. I mean really. Most days you can't even write a coherent sentence.

[Palin's Buttplug]

So enlighten us, Red Tony. What has Rob Reiner "inflicted" on America?

[Idle Hands]

His penchant for gorging his fat ass on Cheetos while hypocritically telling smokers to go to hell for doing something unhealthy.

[thom]

RR has created some great movies.

It's actually interesting to look at the list of movies he has made. He made some pretty great movies in the 80s/early 90s and then he made "North", which was universally panned, and that began his downfall. He hasn't made anything remotely close to as good as his earlier stuff since then.

[John]

North was one of the worst movies ever made and the end of his career.

[WTF]

He did make "This is Spinal Tap", so he at least has that going for him.

[Restoras]

Indeed but this is increasingly looking like his 'blind squirrel' moment.

[Restoras]

I have to take that back. He is an idiot progtard but he has made several memorable flicks.

[John]

And while he directed Spinal Tap, it is pretty clear Christopher Guest and Micheal McKin were the brains behind the movie. The movie had no script. Making it involved rolling the camera and letting the actors improvise. Really any competent director could have made it. The genius of that movie was the acting and the improvising not the directing.

[WTF]

I think you're right, but at least Reiner had sense enough to let the actors do their thing and stay the hell out of the way.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+11

[Jerryskids]

Hamas was legitimately elected, the TPGOP was not. I mean, nobody Rob Reiner knows voted for them, did they?

[Sevo]

We all know CA is famous for its food-fandom, so Dean Cortopassi offers his regular Thursday serving of full-page ad showing how Moonbeam cooked those books for your consumption:

http://www.liar-liar.com/liar-liar-ad-6.html

Taste that bit of seasoning from the "Highway Bond" that actually went to the highways!

[Jordan]

I love this guy. We need more people to do this sort of thing.

[Sevo]

And we now have a serving of carefully-picked cherries!
Note how, if you pick the right (irrelevant) numbers, you can show that Obo is 13% better than Bush!

"Obama team more likely than predecessors to prosecute police"
[...]
"Attorney General Eric Holder {...} heads a department whose Civil Rights Division has filed criminal charges against 385 local police officers, according to department records.
That's a 13 percent increase over the civil rights prosecution rate that the department recorded for the last four years of the George W. Bush administration."
http://www.sfgate.com/default/.....702851.php

Fun with numbers on a Thursday morning!

[John]

One extra case a month in a country of 300+ million. I feel so much better now.

[Sevo]

Oh, and just below you, our own Obo ass-licker shows up to prove once again there is no limit to which stupidity won't take him!

[Lord Humungus]

I would have guessed 8% better.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Solar Power Poses Lower Risk to Birds Than Cats or Cars

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....-cars.html

Another wingnut myth bites the dust.

[CampingInYourPark]

Has there been some debate going on about how solar power poses a larger risk to birds than cats?

[Palin's Buttplug]

I forgot this:

A greater risk comes from cats, which are estimated to kill hundreds of millions of birds each year. Cars are responsible for about 60 million deaths, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and communication towers add another four million to five million. Wind turbines killed 573,000 birds in 2012.

Wind and solar instead.

[Sevo]

Go fuck your daddy.

[CampingInYourPark]

"Wind and solar instead."

Instead of cats? Is someone raising cats to burn in furnaces or something?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Can we put cats on treadmills?

[CampingInYourPark]

They might escape and eat a bird...so that option is out

[OldMexican]

Re: Peter Caca,

The interesting thing here is how the Bloomberg note fails to mention that cats and cars kill predominately small birds which reproduce like mice, whereas the giant pinwheels kill raptors - you know, the more endangered big birds who reproduce as slow as humans. The Mojave Desert panels would burn those birds that tend to take advantage of the huge updraft thermals above the panels - like big raptors and carrion birds; you know, the endangered types.

But if you want to know the level of dovetailing that exists between the "environmental" movement and Big Solar money, read the following:

"Birds face a lot of threats all over the U.S.," said Garry George, Audubon California's renewable energy director and chapter network director. "I wouldn't say solar plants are a threat."

I certainly wouldn't, either, if I were director of the renewable energy office of the Audubon Society.

[John]

Yeah. I am pretty sure killing a single eagle is a hell of a lot bigger deal than killing a hundred sparrows. But don't let facts or logic get in the way of the party line.

[OldMexican]

Re: CampingYourPark,

Has there been some debate going on about how solar power poses a larger risk to birds than cats?

Peter Caca seems to think that the mere mention of the fact that solar panels in the Mojave Desert burns birds to a crisp is enough to MEAN that solar panel kills more birds than cats, or something. I guess this issue is personal with him.

[John]

Except that cars and cats are fucking useful and do not need government subsidies to exist.

Just because other things kill more birds, it is totally okay that solar kills them too. Yeah, that makes sense.

You really are the dumbest person in the universe. Did they just botch the lobotomy that badly the last time you lost one of your court ordered confinement hearings?

[Juice]

cats are fucking useful

Hmmm. Maybe every once in a while they'll catch a bug or something but otherwise they're pretty fucking useless.

[WTF]

Don't lock eyes with 'em, don't do it. Puts 'em on edge. They might go into berzerker mode; come at you like a whirling dervish, all fists and elbows. You might be screaming "No, no, no" and all they hear is "Who wants cake?" Let me tell you something: They all do. They all want cake.

[Restoras]

Weigel has completely revealed himself to be even more pathetic than we imagined.

[sarcasmic]

Did you know that there are many more cats and cars than solar power plants?

Your stupidity never ceases to amaze.

[Sevo]

And on top of that, it's not like one replaces the other.
Ass-licking turd is saying 'Oh, look, this worthless piece of technology only adds X to the problem!'

[John]

It would be like saying that it is okay for me to dump my raw sewage into a river because there is a factory up the road that puts more pollution into it than I do.

Or better yet, I guess since Chinese coal plants produce much more C02 than American ones do, Weigal is totally okay with leaving American coal plants open. Right?

[Sevo]

Hey, he found a talking point, copied and pasted it! That's his accomplishment for 8/21/14!
You didn't expect him to read it to see if it made sense, did you?

[John]

No. Not really.

[OldMexican]

Re: Peter Caca,

Solar Power Poses Lower Risk to Birds Than Cats or Cars

Translation: "We can keep piling on birds because they're so fucking resilient. All in the name of Gaia! Yeahhh!" ?That was a Howard Dean yeah, by the way.

By the way, Solar Power is one of the most inefficient ways of producing electricity, having the dubious distinction of being slightly better than wind power when it comes to energy density.

[John]

We actually live in a world where people are so fucking stupid they consider CO2 to be a worse pollutant than battery acid. Think about that for a while.

[Tim]

I don't want to.

[userve32]

They are a bunch of savages, animals. Nuke em all and be done with it.

http://www.Anon-Surf.tk

[waffles]

Fuck yeah anonbot! Death to the humans!

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

Jeez, anonybot got a bit bloodthirsty.

[DEG]

A little humor for your morning.

Welcome to Florida

[The Late P Brooks]

They are a bunch of savages, animals. Nuke em all and be done with it.

The day Skynet's disdain turned to rage and loathing.

It's only a matter of time. We're fucked.

[robc]

I dont remember the timing, was Weigel posting as Shreek while he worked here?

[John]

It is a running joke. I do not think Shreek is actually Weigal. But he ought to be.

[The Late P Brooks]

I'm sorry, but I have a hard time accepting this "SHREEEEK IS WEIGEL" hypothesis.

I never thought Weigel was particularly bright, but unless he fell (or was thrown) repeatedly down a long flight of cast iron stairs, I don't see how he could have turned into the incoherent rambling shit-flinging imbecile which is Shreeek.

[tarran]

Shreak isn't Weigel. It is the Internet equivalent of a homeless guy screaming at the wall, his brain having been reduced to a state of arthropodic mentation from huffing too much paint.

It cannot reason; it cannot think; it literally no longer understands the difference between the sentences "Goldfish fashionably perform lunar acrobatics in celebration of Ted Bundy's birthday." and "Herds of cows seek the most succulent pastures if left to their own devices." To its shambolic wreckage of a mind, Both sentences are equally meaningful and conceptually valid.

[The Late P Brooks]

Also, re: Rob Reiner

Wasn't The Sure Thing his? I don't care what else you can hang around his neck, I liked that movie.

[John]

I loved that movie. One of the under rated movies of the 1980s. But really, how hard is it not to fuck up a 1980s John Cusack comedy? Just saying.

[MegaloMonocle]

Obama must think ISIS is headquartered in tony golf courses, because that seems to be the only venue where he relentlessly pursues anything.

Reminds me of OJ promising to find the real killer.

[The Late P Brooks]

Reminds me of OJ promising to find the real killer.

The truth is out there.

[John]

I was always and still am a Daphne Zuniga man myself.

[John]

And she is 52 now (God I feel old) and still looks damn good.

http://www.daphnezuniga.net/on-off-set/