Eric Holder is Out, France Bombs ISIS in Syria, Ferguson Top Cop Apologizes: P.M. Links

• Wave bye bye. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to take a hike as a soon as a new name is named to the office.

• Here's your coalition of the willing: France joined in the blowing-stuff-up-in-Syria anti-ISIS action.
• Sorry for the screw-ups, Ferguson, Missouri, Police Chief Thomas Jackson told the parents of Michael Brown. In particular, he said he was sorry that Brown's body laty in the street for four hours after he was shot by Officer Darren Wilson.
• Let us have our nukes and we'll be happy to help fight extremism, Iran's president told the United Nations General Assembly.
• A woman seen on video taking a beating from a California Highway Patrol received $1.5 million for her troubles. The officer in question was arrested quit and will soon be hired by another cop shop.
• South Carolina Highway Patrol Officer Sean Groubert was actually arrested and charged with armed aggravated assault after shooting a motorist for no apparent reason.
• Iraq's prime minister insists ISIS plans to attack subway systems in New York and Paris—which can't possibly be a desperate effort to get the U.S. to commit troops to save his tottering regime.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wave bye bye. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to take a hike as a soon as a new name is named to the office.

He's not losing the midterms for his team. He's no Ronald Dumsfeld!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"You're out Tom, er, Eric".

[Furburguesa]

May he crawlth backth under which rock he cameth.

[CatoTheElder]

Ha! Obama plans to appoint him to USSC.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Who's leaving?

[Rich]

Ginsburg.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

Don't even joke about something like that.

[Tonio]

The horror...

[Ivoted4KODOS]

Speaking of horror, our friend Mark Ames is back at PandoDaily with a doozy (warning, this will cause you to vomit all over yourself)...

http://pando.com/2014/09/25/fe.....o-believe/

[fish]

He never got over the fact that Taibbi moved up and he didn't! He's like the Andrew Ridgeley of gonzo journalism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgZ7gMze7A

[juris imprudent]

I just rolled the cursor over the link and felt a stabbing pain in my head as my IQ dropped 30 points.

[Fist of Etiquette]

France joined in the blowing-stuff-up-in-Syria anti-ISIS action.

They need to distract from domestic problems just as much as the next guy.

[Aloysious]

At least he wasn't as bad as...

Genghis Kahn?

[Brandon]

Bloomberg?

[gaoxiaen]

Edwin Meese?

[Vulgar Madman]

I see you already mentioned him. My bad.

[Vulgar Madman]

Baron Harkonen?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The officer in question was arrested quit and will soon be hired by another cop shop.

YOU DON'T KNOW THAT. But he will.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Papers will be filed and weapons and uniforms will be issued to assuage this peace officer employment mislocation incident.

[The Laconic]

Why would he quit? Did he forget to pay his union dues or something?

[Trigger Warning]

Voluntarily leaving makes it easier for his union to shuffle him around. Gotta keep up appearances.

[Rich]

Obama is going on about Holder's "superb job" with "equal justice under the law". 8-(

[Fist of Etiquette]

"You been doing a heckuva job..."

[Rich]

Now Holder is going on about how he and Obama discussed forming "a more perfect union'.

[Mexican Hop-head Buttsex]

So Holder is gay too?

[Ted S.]

And then they laughed.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Calling him "Brownie"?

Is that racist?

[Fist of Etiquette]

South Carolina Highway Patrol Officer Sean Groubert was actually arrested and charged with armed aggravated assault after shooting a motorist for no apparent reason.

Since when does fearing for ones life for no real-world reason not count as a reason?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Iraq's prime minister insists ISIS plans to attack subway systems in New York and Paris...

"Oh, I will make it my business to see ISIS plan attacks in New York and Paris."

[Coeus]

FORBES' FIRING SHOWS WHY AMERICA CAN'T HAVE AN HONEST DEBATE ABOUT CAMPUS RAPE

A Forbes columnist got himself blacklisted by the publisher because he dared to tackle the problem of campus rape from the perspective of an fraternity alumnus who works with younger frat brothers on delicate topics.

Forbes told the New York Daily News that Bill Frezza, an MIT grad and president of the "alumni house corporation" for his frat, "is no longer a contributor" to its site and that his column was removed "almost immediately" after it went up.

You can read the offending column through Google's Web cache.

He provided advice based upon the current policies. Feminists threw a shit fit. Guess they've never really thought through the implications of their policies.

[trshmnster the terrible]

See, he's bepenised and thus wrong. Therefore we had to let him go.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Headline of the column in question:

"Drunk Female Guests Are The Gravest Threat To Fraternities"

"Let me stay and face the peril!" "No, it's too perilous!"

[MJGreen]

+a good spanking

[Trouser-Pod]

Funny what goes on at Castle Anthrax.

[LynchPin1477]

I read the article. Paraphrasing, it says that if a girl shows up at the party or starts to get really drunk and out of hand, get her out of there. And never take a drunk girl upstairs, even if you have a signed contract.

Seems like good advice to me.

[Fist of Etiquette]

HOW ABOUT GIVING THE ADVICE NOT TO RAPE EVERY GIRL WHO FALLS ASLEEP IN YOUR FRAT HOUSE AFTER A FEW SIPS OF VODKA? HOW ABOUT THAT ADVICE?

[Coeus]

But then you are actively preventing her from getting wasted and banging a bunch of frat guys if she wants to. Why would you limit her choices like that? Only men's choices should be limited. You obviously hate women.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Paraphrasing, it says that if a girl shows up at the party or starts to get really drunk and out of hand, get her out of there.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?? ARE YOU SAYING A WOMAN CAN'T TAKE CARE OF HERSELF, THAT SHE NEEDS A STRONG MAN TO MAKE HER SAFE?? MANSPLAINER!!!

[Dammit, not again]

I met that guy about a year-and-a-half ago at a talk.

Libertarian, MIT alumnus, who took a perfectly good engineering background and went into investments (particularly biotech). He was a good guy with an extremely interesting subject--Entitlement Democracy, he called it--about how we all vote ourselves money (monies) from our neighbors' taxes. Thieves! All of us! Except Episiarch.

He was a little bit too into goldbuggery for my liking, but other than that, a swell guy.

No wonder those jerks at Forbes fired him.

[Homple]

"He was a good guy with an extremely interesting subject--Entitlement Democracy, he called it--about how we all vote ourselves money (monies) from our neighbors' taxes."

You met Basiat? Cool. Or was it de Tocqueville?

[Tonio]

AG Holder isn't actually out, yet. "Leaving" would have been a better and more accurate choice.

[Rich]

Actually, since he serves at the pleasure of the President, he may yet stay on.

[flye]

"'Ere, he says he's not dead."

(There's a Holy Grail quote for every possible discussion.)

[0x90]

Mostly dead is slightly alive.

[Stormy Dragon]

Sorry for the screw-ups, Ferguson, Missouri, Police Chief Thomas Jackson told the parents of Michael Brown. In particular, he said he was sorry that Brown's body laty in the street for four hours after he was shot by Officer Darren Wilson.

He didn't actually apologize for anything. It was one of those "I'm sorry if people were upset by..." non-apology apologies.

[Mexican Hop-head Buttsex]

In particular, he said he was sorry that Brown's body lay in the street for four hours after he was shot by Officer Darren Wilson.

How is that not an apology?

[Zeb]

Depends what the actual quote was. That seems to be a paraphrase.

[Stormy Dragon]

Because it was immediately followed by his explanation about how they HAD to leaving him lying there because of all the important work they were doing to investigate the shooting, so it wasn't actually there too long at all, he's just sorry the family got upset by how long it took.

[Anon E. Mouse]

Yea, I believe the reason that the police kept the coroner away was because there was some looting and rioting and shooting going on almost immediately after Brown was shot, but hey, we can't blame the savages for being savages, now can we?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Bullshit.

Brown was shot at 12:01 pm, Aug. 9th. The first reports of looting and rioting didn't occur until 9:00 pm, Aug. 10th.

[Brandon]

Neither side is too keen on letting facts stand in the way of the narrative.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Fox Host: Holder Ran The DOJ 'Much Like The Black Panthers Would'

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/l.....k-panthers

Fox News - Race Hustling Since 1994.

[seguin]

8% of dentists agree.

[Sevo]

Whatever, turd.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

I think you mean 'race baiting'

'Race hustling' is what is found on MSNBC.

You should spend more time checking with your handlers before posting here.

[Dammit, not again]

I heard Holder was Rihanna's dad. P. Buttplug, you can confirm this to be true?

[seguin]

On a scale of 1-7, I give you -3 Sharptons.

[CatoTheElder]

I agree with PB.

This is an outrageous insult to the Black Panthers, and Fox should apologize.

[Vulgar Madman]

How is the ghostwriter doing on your book?

[Rich]

officer Sean Groubert asking motorist Levar Jones, who is black, to get his license and then shooting him in the hip as he reaches into his car for the license.

"'No reason'? I thought he was going for a gun!"

/Captain Obvious

[flye]

The cop fired four times, hitting the poor guy once in the hip. If he was going for a gun the cop would be dead as fried chicken.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

But with more of a bacony-y taste.

[Brandon]

Literally dead as a chicken that has been fried? Or is fried chicken, like, a trend that is now passe? Because I would have a problem with that.

[flye]

I want to be clear that I am in no way casting aspersions on fried chicken. I offer my sincere and humble apologies for any suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of fried chicken, its cooks, its purveyors, its consumers, or its loving fans, of which I am proud to count myself among.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

The Survivor: How Eric Holder outlasted his (many) critics.

And yet Holder, an affable, ambitious and stubborn 63-year-old career prosecutor, has not only weathered these attacks but emerged, improbably, with greater leverage and more access to Obama than ever. How did he do it? To start, it helps that he is one of the few administration figures to cross the threshold from employee to friend of the famously reserved president. Holder, in fact, is one of the only Cabinet members Obama routinely invites over for dinner and drinks (Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a hoops buddy from Chicago, is another) and the only one who times his summer vacation to hang out with the president on Martha's Vineyard. Their wives are even closer, and Michelle Obama is a not infrequent drop-in guest for Friday pizza night at Holder's house.

MORE SCANDALS!

[Aloysious]

Birds of a feather...

[trshmnster the terrible]

Eat FLOTUS unapproved pizza together?

[juris imprudent]

Worse than that, you know it had to be Chicago-style... DEEP DISH.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Please, I'm sure it's broccoli and tofu pizza.

[Riven]

The crust is probably cauliflower, too. Sick.

[Bam!]

Those pizzas comply with her new school lunch guidelines, right?

[db]

My God, Pizza? Carbs? Grease? Definitively a scandal for Mrs. 0.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Look for a press conference at which she claims to be bulimic, followed by a new initiative for greater awareness, etc.

[tarran]

Are you kidding? She has earned the right to eat greasy, fattening foods. What do you take her for, a 17 year old Olympic gymnast?

[C. Anacreon]

Carbs? She thinks carbs are good. It's salt and fat she's putting all her efforts into reducing (too bad pizza has tons of both of those, too).

[ant1sthenes]

The Survivor: How Eric Holder outlasted his (many) critics.

By having actual power, and using it, rather than the ability to whine in a public forum?

[Vulgar Madman]

Affable? He always looks like he has just smelled a fart.

[Rich]

Holder thanks Biden for "his great wisdom".

[db]

Biden thanks Holder "for Great Justice."

[Rich]

"Walk in front of that white curtain, Eric, let 'em see ya."

[Rich]

Holder: "I will never leave the work."

Of course not!

[Fist of Etiquette]

If only because it was taking him behind bars.

[thom]

He'll be the guy who goes over everybody's appeals before they get filed.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Good afternoon, Gladys, any briefs I need to sign?"

"Here you go, Mr. Holder."

"And here *you* go - tell the guys keep up the good work, bye!"

[RBS]

I was just reading about the social media uproar of Bill Simmons being suspended by ESPN. Sure, his statements about Goodell weren't entirely wrong but he called out his employer and dared them to do something. What did people think was going to happen?

[LynchPin1477]

ESPN is totally within their rights. But it just feeds the impression that they are shills for the NFL and other big-money leagues, so I can understand why people are calling them on it.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

The "impression?"

[John]

Exactly. Unless Simmons said something that exposes ESPN to a liable action, I don't see how their suspending him says anything other than "we are the publicity arm of the NFL and do not tolerate any of our employees going outside that mission".

Totally within their rights to do that. It is also, totally within their viewers' rights to no longer take anything they say about the NFL seriously.

[AuH20]

Well, ESPN has Monday Night Football. From the NFL. So they can cover them objectively... until that objectivity either pisses off the NFL or makes people not to watch games, because either way it hurts their bottom line.

I feel that baseball making more money from regional sports networks than national networks was what allowed the media to go after them for steroids so much.

[UCrawford]

Likely accurate. ESPN isn't journalism, since they started getting paid by the NFL. They're infotainment. Bill Simmons doesn't bring in the level of coin that they do, so what did he think was going to happen?

He was right about Goodell, though.

[Brandon]

Funny how they still have the big Bill Simmons Presents Grantland in the middle of their front page. Guess their taking advantage of his name is not suspended.

[Mickey Rat]

From what I read Simmons called Goodell a liar in an expletive filled rant while daring ESPN to suspend him. Since ESPN has been leading the way in calling for draconian penalties for personal behavior how could they not treat such unprofessional blogging less harshly?

[flye]

He called a liar a liar. ESPN is not supposed to be the PR department for the NFL, but his suspension says otherwise.

[Ted S.]

I still want to see outrage directed at the DA.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

He already had to refrain from putting that woman with the gun in her purse in prison, which had to really hurt. What more do you want from him?

[An Innocent Man]

I still want to see outrage directed at the DA.

Yeah, If I were Goodell I'd hammer home this point. "I took this more seriously than the freaking DA.!"

[Mickey Rat]

Goodell's biggest mistake in this was not standing behind his initial decision. He still would have taken flak for it, but would have avoided the extension of the story from all the backtracking.

[An Innocent Man]

Im just sick of all of these analysts and sports media types acting like they were never ever aware of these kinds of incidents before. That none of them ever held back on reporting something cause access. Does anyone really think this is the first incident they ever knew of, and that the only reason they are acting shocked is because public opinion is in tsunami mode against the NFL? I call BS on BS.

[AuH20]

I'm tired of just domestic violence being singled out.

How often have NFL guys gotten into violent incidents at clubs, etc? Just because it was another man or a woman they weren't dating doesn't make it any better. And that has been going on for a while.

[The Last American Hero]

You are right, but we didn't have viral Youtube until relatively recently so there was more room for them to say "We'll never know exactly what happened that night..."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

And then watch Wilbon get all indignant and shocked and angry while taking shots at blogs for having the temerity to REPORT things.

For me, I realized there aren't any sports journalists per se as they are informers with opinions after the whole steroids in baseball thing.

It basically took bloggers and investigative journalists to out them while all the reporters with access and talking heads on TV making big bucks preserving their 'contacts' and 'access' sat on the hands pretending they never 'saw' anything or never had proof.

Maybe if they would have been professional enough...

You can't tell me some of those big boys at ESPN like Reilly NEVER heard or saw anything.

Please.

That's why to me they're one step above Jon Stewart.

[Raven Nation]

Don't know if this came up during the discussions on Scottish independence:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi....._Union.png

[seguin]

I could get behind an independent Nice. I wonder if they'd let me claim citizenship?

Also, I'm surprised Italy isn't a crazy-quilt.

[Raven Nation]

They did some kind of on-line vote in Venice to test the waters. About 3m voted and the Yes to independence vote as about 90%. Damn it, I was just reading the story but now can't find the link.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I imagine not Venice proper and more the Veneto given the pop. of Venezia is around 38 000.

It really is hard to gauge but like their Catalan counterparts and unlike Quebec, they're actually wealthy and prosperous in the North.

[Raven Nation]

Correct. I do remember the term Veneto being used.

[Zeb]

There are a lot of regions or cities in Eurpoe and other places that would probably do well if they became independent. Scotland obviously wasn't one of them.

[seguin]

Yes, they are. There's a saying in Italy: "South of Rome is Africa".

Where I lived (Abruzzo) is now almost as wealthy as the North, but it far outpaces the rest of Southern Italy.

Too bad, there's beautiful stuff down there.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Heh. When I was in Milan, the Milanese would tell me 'anything south of Milan' was Africa.

Too funny.

[seguin]

HA! I should've guessed it was only the Roman version that I heard.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah there is beautiful stuff down there. Lecce is apparently worth visiting.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Lecce, Leaving.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Nice back to Savoy!

[seguin]

Well, Savoy is nice.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Informally. I know Spain, Italy, Belgium were mentioned. Those nationalist pukes in Quebec were mentioned only because of me.

[LynchPin1477]

Interesting. Almost every region of Spain is covered. But I wonder what constitutes and "active separatist movement"...

[Raven Nation]

Here are the criteria from the accompanying Wiki article:

They are active movements with active members;
They are seeking greater autonomy or self-determination for a geographic region (as opposed to personal autonomy);
They are the citizen/peoples of the conflict area and do not come from another country.

There are further distinctions for autonomy within an existing state, complete independence, union with a neighboring state, et al.

[Sevo]

"Here's your coalition of the willing: France joined in the blowing-stuff-up-in-Syria anti-ISIS action."

So did they 'borrow' our planes to drop our bombs?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Where is this 'broad coalition'?

And how come the word 'unilateral' has not made a comeback?

[Mexican Hop-head Buttsex]

Contempt of Congress case against Holder will proceed
Opponent says timing of resignation no coincidence

http://www.washingtontimes.com.....z3EMcYn6oR

[John]

http://www.bloombergview.com/a.....daily-show

Even Megan Mcardle finally realizes Jon Stewart is scum. I will ignore the "I actually think Redskins is a racist name" as boob bait.

[Suthenboy]

Holy shit. That is the only true and good thing that woman has ever said. Are we sure it is her? Maybe she is on vacation and a ghost writer is filling in?

[Brandon]

Come on, she says good stuff on a fairly regular basis, she just says a lot of really stupid stuff too.

[Mexican Hop-head Buttsex]

Highest-paid female CEO used to be a man

Before United Therapeutics, Martine helped found both GeoStar, a satellite based navigation system and Sirius Radio (SIRI), a satellite radio service. Martine Rothblatt was also a man until 1994 when she underwent sex reassignment surgery at the age of 40, so she has a unique perspective on gender in the workplace.

"One of the unique insights I have is a huge appreciation for all of the privileges I received as a man," she says. "As the oldest son I was expected to do great things? but so many times it's the oldest son that gets that encouragement and not the oldest daughter. Those things kind of percolate and when all is said and done, only 11 of [the 200 highest paid] CEOs are women because of that." Rothblatt doesn't think people believe that men are intrinsically smarter than women, but believes that there's a "pervasive hangover from thousands of years of patriarchy," in the workplace.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....16214.html

[lap83]

"Rothblatt doesn't think people believe that men are intrinsically smarter than women, but believes that there's a "pervasive hangover from thousands of years of patriarchy," in the workplace."

oh, plenty of people think that men are intrinsically smarter than women. It's the idea of the patriarchy that is a myth. Ironically some of the most misogynist men I've met have had zero power or social status. There are more men at the bottom rungs of society than at the top.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Men are bimodal. They either excel at something or they suck at it. Women cluster around the mean. There are some average, some above, some below. Perhaps this explains the lack of female CEOs? Nah! It's patriarchy!

[Mexican Hop-head Buttsex]

The reason I posted this is because it's funny to think that if you want to be an extremely successful female CEO, it helps to carry both an X and a Y chromosome.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Something something gender is not sex!

/gender studies student

[AuH20]

Eh, that's kind of all shitty, resentful people. Hard core racists, supreme misogynists, and hard core Social Justice Warriors (I'm talking the Ecofeminists who spell is "mxnstral cycle" or otherkin)- these are not people who have much in the way of success, and they therefore struggle with social acceptance. The weird, often nasty communities that they gravitate towards tend to be one of the few places they find acceptance.

It kind of explains why so many communists are losers, although they tend to get the most acceptance out of all of these groups. I suppose because that's a bell curve thing- Commies tend to be the disillusioned scions of the rich/intellectuals, or angry, nasty toads. One end pulls up the other into acceptability.

[Auric Demonocles]

At least he wasn't as bad as [dunphy]

[Coeus]

What you can't say.

It seems to be a constant throughout history: In every period, people believed things that were just ridiculous, and believed them so strongly that you would have gotten in terrible trouble for saying otherwise.

Is our time any different? To anyone who has read any amount of history, the answer is almost certainly no. It would be a remarkable coincidence if ours were the first era to get everything just right.

It's tantalizing to think we believe things that people in the future will find ridiculous. What would someone coming back to visit us in a time machine have to be careful not to say? That's what I want to study here. But I want to do more than just shock everyone with the heresy du jour. I want to find general recipes for discovering what you can't say, in any era.

excellent essay. well worth reading the whole thing.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I read it the other day... Very good!

[Suellington]

Excellent article. Thanks!

[Suellington]

Did anyone else watch any of the three ISIS beheading videos? The Foley one was obviously at least partially faked. The guy is sawing at his neck with no blood coming out. Funny that these were the videos that pushed public opinion towards war and yet they are at least partially staged. Almost makes you think the government is a bit shady.

[Suthenboy]

May I ask, where do you live, Sue?

[Suellington]

People's Republic of San Francisco. One of the few natives and not yet ready to give it up to the lefties. Why?

[Brandon]

Native San Franciscan? So are you actually translucent?

[Suellington]

Ha! The fog is my drinking buddy.

[AuH20]

Cracked continues to get on its high horse over GamersGate

Did I mention that the corrupt game review, the one that is the alleged reason this blew up, never existed? I just did. And now I should mention again that the game review never existed. That's something that should always be mentioned again, possibly with hovertext or an interstitial page every time anyone uses the #gamergate tag: this was started by total bullshit.

...

Gaters don't seem to know that the game journalism "industry" is about 20 meters across. Probably 10 by the time you read this. Gaters act aghast that people whose entire career is based on games sometimes play and pay for games. Would it be better if they didn't? And, what, the only way to avoid corruption would be to get sent things for free?

The alleged scandal is a pathetic fantasy. A woman bestowing sexual favors so that men will look at the video game she made? Hey, losers, when choosing an excuse to attack female developers, maybe don't choose one that sounds like the letter you wrote when you thought the Game Boy was a spinoff from Playboy.

[John]

Someone might want to explain to that clown that it doesn't matter if he thinks it is a pathetic fantasy. It matters that his readers do.

At this point why would anyone read the gaming publications? Better off just reading the box of the game. It will be about as unbiased and probably more informative.

[Corning]

At this point why would anyone read the gaming publications? Better off just reading the box of the game.

Actually the subtext of this whole #gamergate thing is that youtube has for the past few years been the go to place for game news and reviews. just like how the internet took away gaming news from print magazines youtube (and twitch now) have been taking it away from the online news sites.

Much of the reason why the radical 3rd wave feminists have been able to get their claws into game news sites is that they have been weakening financially for some time. feminists are controversial and attract a lot of views which supplemented their ad income.

It is also why the news sites thought putting out those tone deaf "end of gamers" articles a couple of weeks back was a good idea. They have effectively not only lost their audience but have completely forgotten who their readers actually are.

Note: I should point out that now-a-days there really isn't a box to read any more.

[AuH20]

For console there's still a box.

But not for Steam.

Speaking of, John, I would just like to take a moment to recommend Crusdaer Kings 2 to you. With your focus on things like the war of the roses, I think you'd love it once you could get past the learning curve.

[AuH20]

Here's a solid launch trailer to give you an idea:

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

If you do decide, I recommend starting with Ireland in the vanilla campaign. It's pretty out of the way and England is dealing with Viking and Norman invasions, meaning that their tends to be a clusterfuck there for a few decades.

[John]

Thanks. Will have to look that up

[Corning]

For console there's still a box.

Not really. First off much of the content people play is free to play on xbox live and PSN. Also you can buy AAA from those same online console stores, console indy games are almost all exclusively bought online, plus the whole thing about women playing games making up 45% of the market...well they largely are playing games on their ipad/phones or games on social networks like farmville on facebook.

Do kids go to Walmart and get mom to buy them a AAA game in a box? Sure. But the average game player is 30. What netflix using 30 year old is going to go to the store when they can just download it?

[AuH20]

Thing I learned reading this: This is Cracked's 5th article on this subject.

I think taking a stand on GamersGate has become the way for nerdy people to try to assert their SJW creds and get in with the cool kids. That's not to say that some people acted poorly in this, but it also seems to have brought to a boil certain feelings that people have had about gamers and gaming for a while.

Namely that console and hardcore gaming has historically had a largely male audience, and to certain people, anything with a largely male audience is by definition misogynist. To make it even worse, some of those games have had scantily clad women and poorly developed female characters- which may not be great, but isn't proof of hatred of women as whole to anyone but these nuts.

So they're right. GamersGate isn't about Zoe Quinn and depression quest. On one side, it's about a feeling that developers/publishers and reviewers have been in bed with each other far too long, and that access has gotten in the way of objectivity (something not unique to gaming journalism). On the other side, I think it has a lot to do with the perception of gaming and "gamers" as largely white, awkward, and male, and this being unacceptable (and while it has created an occasionally not great culture... see WizardChan, which is for male virgins and honestly sad but pretty weird... it's more like a few bad apples than a systematically horrible culture).

[John]

The worst you can say about gamers is they are "uncool". The progs want to destroy every subculture there is. What they are doing to gamers is no different than what they do to SOCONS or anyone. They are horrible people and need to be stopped.

[trshmnster the terrible]

If it's predominantly white and male
We'll destroy it without fail!

[MJGreen]

I think taking a stand on GamersGate has become the way for nerdy people to try to assert their SJW creds and get in with the cool kids.

Doi! It's their time to signal.

[Corning]

The amusing thing is that the game news sites are the old uncool place for gaming.

Youtube has supplanted it as the place the audience goes for all the cool news....and then they join the cool crowd by just making youtube videos.

[John]

Calling your audience losers. There is a media business model for you.

[The Laconic]

I know, the whole thing is irritating. I don't understand why anybody pays attention to it, let alone SO MUCH attention to it.

[seguin]

Having read the synopsis of Depression Quest, I sort of made the assumption that any good reviews for it from a gaming website had to be quid pro quo.

[AuH20]

As someone who has struggled with clinical depression, I find it so insulting to have the game associated with the condition.

It's like if someone made an ADD simulator that was just random, bright images and colors and then SHINY THING!

Seriously, this is such...

...

Sorry, I saw a shiny thing. It was super shiny! What was I saying again?

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's not even a "game". It's a shitty "Choose Your Own Adventure" book.

[lap83]

Not sure how choose your own adventure would + depression could be made into any sort of game that anyone would want to play. At least based on my experience with the disease.

1. It's time for lunch...
A. Meh. turn to page 5
B. *cries*, turn to page 93
C. Life is pointless and hopeless, turn to page 10

[Heroic Mulatto]

That is the game. Seriously.

[seguin]

I had an idea for the second one.

FERRET SIMULATOR 2015

Complete (or not) random tasks that change every two minutes.

There is no score, just try not to get stepped on. Or stuck behind the fridge. Or fall off a balcony.

[seguin]

Also, I noticed no mention of Quinn's attempt to defame TFYC's Indiegogo.

I guess I'm paying attention because I'm trying to draw lessons on how to expose and destroy the incestuous links between journalists and their subjects.

[Coeus]

are you set up to do titanium? Got the bits for drilling bar stock?

[seguin]

I have never turned or milled titanium. I have some PCD inserts for my lathe, but beyond that nothing beyond the typical stuff for steel or aluminum.

I'm interested in learning how to machine it, but I can't say I'd get it done fast or give a good estimate of turnaround.

I'll call up my tooling guy if you want to send me either specs or just a general list of tooling I'd need. My email's under the contact page.

[Coeus]

Thanks. I've been thinking about something for a while, and, depending on what my finances look like after my next surgery, I might drop you a line about it.

As far as I can tell, all you'd need are the diamond carbide drill bits.

[blackjack]

I did shallow drilling with cobalt bits. The stuff is actually way less demanding than it's made out to be.

[seguin]

Thanks for the tip. If I can get it right, it'd be a great thing to put on my resume.

[blackjack]

I have done a good amount of Ti machining. Well, a bit anyway. It's not very different from steel, but the swarf had a tendency to break out into fires. Kinda looked like fireworks. Cut good with carbide, nothing special. Of course there's different alloys.

[Coeus]

NPR had a bullshit article too. And, bonus, the article about her that started this was published two days before he told his boss about him dating her. Nope, obviously everything was on the up and up. No talk about all the other stuff exposed, the use of the fake outrage machine to shut down actual pro-women projects that weren't run by them or their friends, the SJW journolist, the feminist media company started in academia with the express purpose of taking over the industry, the threats and harassment of anyone critical of their claims, or the damn-near internet-wide shutdown of any and all talk of it.

From the NPR article:

[Coeus]

Andreas Zecher, an independent games designer in Germany, wrote in an email: "For a short moment that strategy of the harassers seemed to work. There was a brief, but unbearable silence. People were afraid to become the next target, if they would speak up and show solidarity."

Bullshit. The silence was imposed by the SJW journolist, and the backlash against the enforced censorship was what started gamergate. And all to protect a few of their buddies who were, quite literally, saying that they were better and more moral than their critics from exposure as the horrible people they actually were.

Zoe even emailed her boss's wife, begging her not to go public with the fact that Zoe had been fucking her husband because it "would hurt the movement". As if the movement was ever about more than giving these mediocre sociopaths positions of power and influence.

[AuH20]

Oooh. I'd love a link to that email.

[Coeus]

Here's the chat log where she says something similiar to her ex.

Still looking for that email, but I'm kinda busy today. I guarantee it's on the slympit, though.

[AuH20]

Yeah, at the very least, that conversation shows her to be rather egocentric.

"Oh no! If people think poorly of me, they'll think poorly of ALL women!"

[MJGreen]

Did she refer to herself as one of games' "only strong voices for equality?"

[seguin]

Yeah, that jumped out at me too. What an egotist.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Is there a reliable 2-3 paragraph description of this scandal somewhere - without too many unexplained acronyms and name-dropping of people I don't know?

[Coeus]

I wonder, if i wrote an article and submitted it, would reason accept it? I can probably bang up a good one in about an hour or two.

[AuH20]

Well, Coeus, you need to go to the meetups more often then. Rub elbows with the reason writers, ply them with beer and cocktails, and get them on your side!*

*Note: I don't think this actually works. But I did meet a reason writer at a meetup, and that was kind of cool.

[seguin]

Poll Millenials about it. I hear Reason wants to try that angle.

[lap83]

or relate it to Game of Thrones

[AuH20]

Name dropping of people you don't know seems inevitable. It basically kicked off due to a relatively obscure indie developer and involves people like Annika Sarkesian (or Anna? Fuck it) who you don't know unless you know obscure internet feminist shit.

Part of the problem is that everyone has an agenda in this. I first got a take on it in a Vox article, but they clearly come down on the Quinn/Sarkesian/Gamers are horrible misogynistic sexists and ALL journalists do this!

[seguin]

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any decent, concise timeline to the blowup. The best bit of journalism I've seen that's even tangential to it is this interview with the group of feminist gamers (The Fine Young Capitalists) that Zoe Quinn's followers tried to harass.

http://apgnation.com/archives/.....apitalists

[Corning]

Just watch a youtube video

This is one of the first ones which covered the origin of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5-51PfwI3M

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Here, Eddie, it's a bit more than a few paragraphs but it'll give you the gist of it, and it has a lot more content if you are interested in specifics after reading it.

[Brandon]

Fascinating. Someone who hasn't actually written for Cracked in 3 years taking to Cracked to write an apologia for something he was never involved in. That has to be some sort of psychosis.

[ant1sthenes]

Huh, the part where gaming journalists conspired to put obvious clones of the same article on multiple sites at the same time attacking their audience, like a retarded version of Journolist, didn't seem to pop up, though admittedly I only skimmed it.

When you can't win people over through arguments, so instead you try to win them over by creating an illusion of consensus, that's called "propaganda". It's a variation on the Big Lie, it's cult programming tactics, it's functionally dishonest.

[Stormy Dragon]

Socons to campaign against Republicans who refuse to tow the lion on Same Sex Marriage:

Conservatives Launch 'Unprecedented' Campaign Against Pro-Marriage Equality Republicans

[Andrew S.]

Stupid Party, ladies and gents.

[seguin]

Word. Constitution being ripped to shreds? Well, that sucks...

A MARRIAGE WITH TWO PENISES/VAJAYJAYS? ITS HAMMERTIME!

[The Last American Hero]

The Party of Stupid lives up to its name, just in time for the November elections.

[Brandon]

It's also Buzzfeed, so I'll take it with a grain of salt.

[Brian D]

South Carolina Highway Patrol Officer Sean Groubert was actually arrested and charged with armed aggravated assault after shooting a motorist for no apparent reason.

Big deal. He'll be acquitted just like the scummy gang that beat Thomas Kelly to death.

[The artist known Dunphy]

Darn those pesky juries.

To paraphrase a wag, it's the worst system out there except for all the other ones

[Brandon]

"It could be worse?" That's what you're down to? Your hand-waving is getting sadder and sadder.

[The artist known Dunphy]

Clearly you're yetanother example of the person who can't read and can't comprehend what they read.

I said nothing resembling it could be worse
In a circuitous vague and entirely unoriginal way I said it's the best system out there

Hth

[Brandon]

it's the worst system out there except for all the other ones. (Punctuation mine)

IOW, don't complain about cops murdering innocent people with no consequence because it could be worse. That is exactly what you said.

[The artist known Dunphy]

It's nothing like what I said and clearly you have no ability to comprehend text

One should worry and respond to unjustified police shootings.
One should also recognize that police shootings in general are astoundingly rare per officer and unjustified shootings are astronomically rare per officer

NYPD IN 2012 shot 30 people out of the service population of over 10 million.

In an agency with 35,000 cops

But you will still hear morons claim they are Trigger happy because oh my God Sean Bell

Being concerned about unjustified police shootings is fine it's just a incredibly rare issue

[blackjack]

Do you give a pass to crimes that are rare? If a human kills another and said human is not wearing a badge, there's no greater priority than to apprehend him, Nobody says, "it pretty rare, so who cares?"

What about a badge makes it any different?

[userve32]

I dont think Joe Diggs is going to like that.

http://www.Crypt-Tools.tk

[NYC Liberal]

Appointing Eric Holder was my first sign that I wasn't going to like Obama.

[Los Doyers]

What, you're saying the hope and change signs weren't the first?

[The artist known Dunphy]

If Holder is going can we please lose The worst copocrat since David Brame (tm) Gil Kerlikowske?

Pretty plz?

Bush ii gave us the most diverse cabinet ever.

Obama's is just the worst.
Does drug czar count as a cabinet member I don't know? The mere idea that we have a drug czar is insane.

[Ken Shultz]

"Let us have our nukes and we'll be happy to help fight extremism, Iran's president told the United Nations General Assembly."

Iranian Revolutionary Guard have already been fighting "extremism" (AKA ISIS) in Syria directly...for years, actually (not to mention $15 billion in financial aid to Assad and further support by way of Hezbollah. Keeping the U.S. military from fighting Iran's enemies for them was another excellent reason not to bomb ISIS in Syria.

That being said, it also shows you how ridiculously pathetic Obama's foreign policy is, that Iran, which probably represents the biggest threat to American security going forward, could use Obama's bombing in Syria as a smokescreen for its own fight against the Syrian Rebels--and, at the same time, use Obama's stupid bombing to justify support for the very nuclear program that represents such a long term threat to American security.

It's a lose/lose! Thanks, Obama.

[Altar of the Market]

Looks like Mark Ames is editing the Reason Wiki entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(magazine)

[Altar of the Market]

Make that http://tinyurl.com/ktkdtet

[Heroic Mulatto]

Someone should ensure the Mark Ames article doesn't overlook the fact, as admitted to by Ames himself, that Ames impregnated an underaged Russian girl and then threatened her with murder if she didn't abort the child

[Rich]

"That goes without saying."

[John]

I don't see how any competent lawyer or insurance company could give them anything but the advice in the column.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Yeah, you need the confidence of knowing that your friends are friends in reality and not just in appearance - I would never pass out in some place where I didn't have friends to help me stagger home.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I had to take a few friends to the hospital to get their stomachs pumped, but that was about the worst of it. You took care of your friends and made sure they were gonna make it through the night and they're not hooking up with a whale or disease vector.

I generally dont get the draw to frats and frat parties. Shitty beer, sticky floors, sweltering hallways, and way too many people crammed into one place. The instant we all got out of the dorms, we never stepped foot in a frat again. After that, it was all about house parties.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

(assuming I went to those kinds of parties, that is)

[Whahappan?]

Nice save.