People Think Romney Is Running for President, NYPD Tackled a Pregnant Lady, Political Ads Suck: A.M. Links

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  Gage Skidmore / Flickr

  The groan heard 'round the world: Some people think Mitt Romney might run for president again, and some of those people write influential columns. Yes, this is real life.

• U.S. airstrikes killed an al-Qaida leader in Syria.
• NYPD tackled a clearly pregnant woman.
• Learn all about the belief system of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
• Airstrikes in Syria are all about the oil refineries right now.
• Jon Stewart trashed political ads. "If aliens came down to earth and watched our political ads, they would think the Senate was an adult summer camp competition, or some six-year pass to Dave & Buster's," he said.
• Survivor is back!

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

U.S. airstrikes killed an al-Qaida leader in Syria.

That job has a high turnover rate.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Excellent Sheep:

http://www.excellentsheep.com/…..lent-sheep

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

It’s as bad as playing keyboards for the Grateful Dead or drums for Spinal Tap.

[Viral Media Group]

You are right there.

[jmomls]

*U.S. airstrikes killed an al-Qaida leader in Syria.*

Every time we kill anyone over there, they paint them as some “leader” or “top man” or “commander” or whatever. Geez, these guys ain’t got no low-level grunt nobodies in their ranks?

[Fist of Etiquette]

NYPD tackled a clearly pregnant woman.

It would have been a social disaster to assume she was pregnant. Complete faux pas.

[Ted S.]

Damn you, Fisty!

[sarcasmic]

She should thank them for not killing her.

[Drake]

And all the free pre-natal care the city will now provide.

[KDN]

This is pretty accurate. It’s generally a bad idea to try and peel a cop off the guy he’s arresting, particularly when he has known gang affiliations.

[Citizen Nothing]

I don’t think they should hire cops who have known gang affiliations.

[KDN]

They had no choice; the department’s policy of only hiring in-state residents has significantly decreased the number of young men with no records available to them. It was either let gang members in or hire New Jerseyans. Easy choice.

[thom]

By definition, impossible. Could the Bloods or the Crips only allow members who have no gang affiliations? Wouldn’t work there, wouldn’t work here.

[DJF]

Finally the mayor’s policy against sexism is making progress.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Jon Stewart trashed political ads.

Because they compete on the level of his political commentary?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Airstrikes in Syria are all about the oil refineries right now.

You know who else set oil fields ablaze?

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Lord Humungus’ foes?

[gaijin]

If only they had just walked away!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

John Wayne’s film-crew in “The Hellfighters”?

[Lord Humungus]

The revolutionaries in the movie Sorcerer?

[a better weapon]

Paul Dano?

[Lord Humungus]

‘We Only Whisper It’
Justice Ginsburg sings another verse of “Kill the Poor.”

Speaking about such modest restrictions on abortion as have been enacted over the past several years, Justice Ginsburg lamented that “the impact of all these restrictions is on poor women.” Then she added: “It makes no sense as a national policy to promote birth only among poor people.”

This is not her first time weighing in on the question of what by any intellectually honest standard must be described as eugenics. In an earlier interview, she described the Roe v. Wade decision as being intended to control population growth, “particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.” She was correct in her assessment of Roe; the co-counsel in that case, Ron Weddington, would later advise President Bill Clinton: “You can start immediately to eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy, and poor segment of our country,” by making abortifacients cheap and universally available. “It’s what we all know is true, but we only whisper it.”

[antisocial-ist]

These people have loved eugenics for a century. They just had to be quiet about it after that whole holocaust thing.

[trshmnster the terrible]

^this

[CatoTheElder]

I recently read a 1934 article by Trotsky, If America Should Go Communist, wherein he looks forward to the day that a communist America would use eugenics to shape the new communist man.

“Within a century, out of your melting pot of races there will come a new breed of men — the first worthy of the name of Man.”

He concludes, “One final prophecy: in the 3rd year of the Soviet rule in America you will no longer chew gum!”

In another article, he foresaw, ” Man will become immeasurably stronger, wiser and subtler; his body will become more harmonized, his movements more rhythmic, his voice more musical. The forms of life will become dynamically dramatic. The average human type will rise to the heights of an Aristotle, a Goethe, or a Marx. And above this ridge new peaks will rise.”

Why do libertarians oppose human progress, and progressivism?

[Ted S.]

That attitude goes back to Margaret Sanger.

[gaijin]

“…eliminate the barely educated, unhealthy, and poor segment of our country,

Because, unlike race, these qualities are forever?

[Ted S.]

Three generations of imbeciles is enough.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

But enough about the Kennedy family.

[TwB]

as Ed McMahon used to say, “Hi-yo!”

[gaijin]

^lol!

[Jerryskids]

Three generations of imbeciles is enough.

Both Robert and Patrick Kennedy would vehemently disagree with you.

And I would be careful about pissing off those two, I hear they have the strength of 6 normal people when they get agitated.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Just point behind them and yell “Look, a rum cake!” When they turn, run.

Works every time.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Ginsburg is a utilitarian piece of shit. She puts outcomes ahead of principles almost every time.

[Drake]

Luckily, she seems stubborn enough not to quit during a Democratic Administration.

[BigT]

Too late if the Senate goes red. Obama would never get an appointee through ( I hope )

[Ted S.]

That’s a big if, considering how stupid TEAM RED is.

[Drake]

They aren’t called The Stupid Party for nothing.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

BO would never get his first appointee through…

Which means he’ll nominate an extremist as a sacrificial lamb, and then nominate a ‘moderate’ left wing judicial activist who will fuck up the country for 20+ years.

[Pro Libertate]

The GOP historically has a tendency to pass on through even ideologues. After bitching about it, they say, “Sure, why not?”

[PM]

40 of 43 Republican senators voted to confirm Ginsburg in ’93, for example.

[waffles]

Sometimes I feel sympathetic to eugenicists.

I’m a monster.

[Rich]

Airstrikes in Syria are all about the oil refineries right now.

But what about the carbon footprint?

[gaijin]

But what about the carbon footprint?

No boots on the ground, remember?

[Rich]

😎

What about the global warming, then?

[UnCivilServant]

Have no fear! Nuclear Winter will sort that out!

[db]

If aliens came down to earth and watched a Daily Show marathon, we would never know it because they would quarantine the planet and nuke it from orbit.

[Dr Fallout]

It’s the only way to be sure.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Survivor is back!

It’s the thrill of the fight.

[WTF]

Thanks for the earworm.

[db]

Fist always rises up to the challenge.

[Lord Humungus]

Mother drives with 5-month-old in trunk to avoid being cited for not having car seat

A Lauderdale Lakes woman is accused of driving with her 5-month-old baby in the trunk of a car to avoid getting a ticket for not having a car seat.

Broward sheriff’s deputies conducting a traffic stop early Tuesday found the baby lying on a pair of large hedge-cutting shears and surrounded by potentially hazardous items, Judge John “Jay” Hurley said, reading from a police report during first-appearance court Tuesday afternoon.

Breona Synclair Watkins, 19, was arrested and charged with child abuse, resisting an officer and five traffic-related offenses, including driving without a license and failure to have a child restraint.

[WTF]

Well, she was right, they did cite her for not having a car seat.

[Rich]

Watkins traveled 15 feet into an intersection at a red light and then backed up, disrupting traffic. When the deputy initiated a traffic stop, Watkins went through the green light and turned down another street, driving for about a quarter-mile before pulling over

You go, Girl!

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Florida Woman.

[Brett L]

I don’t understand why anyone is surprised. She probably went to public school. These are the people our society is training. When so many rules have no basis in actual safety, you can excuse the extreme case for not being able to differentiate not getting caught breaking the rules from keeping her child safe.

[sarcasmic]

Ferguson police spotted wearing ‘I am Darren Wilson’ wristbands in support of officer who shot black teenager as they deal with new wave of unrest

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..nrest.html
‘Hands up. You’re dead.’

[Ted S.]

They’re wearing the wristbands because FYTW.

[Aloysious]

If the new Dumfy shows up, I’m blaming you.

[WTF]

Apparently it only shows up late at night or early in the morning with a manic drunk on.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Waitaminute! There’s a new one?

Does it ‘Lift and Surf’?

[Rhywun]

I dunno but it does talk – a lot. It shit all over some thread last night.

[WTF]

Whether Wilson was right or wrong, wearing those bracelets is pretty fucking stupid.

[sarcasmic]

It’s pure intimidation is what it is. It tells any citizen they meet “Hi there. I will cheerfully kill you if you don’t obey me, and all my fellow officers will support me.”

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Other street gangs wear colors or symbols, why shouldn’t they?

[UnCivilServant]

Because they already have uniforms.

[jmomls]

*Hi there. I will cheerfully kill you if you don’t obey me*

Yes, because “not obeying” is the same as “punching a dude in the face”.

“Reason” my ass.

[sarcasmic]

You mean I can kill anyone who punches me in the face? Or is that a special privilege reserved for public servants?

[mr lizard]

I rather like it when they filter themselves down to a politically identifiable subset.

[gaijin]

Learn all about the belief system of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

If I click on that link does that make me a terrorist?

[antisocial-ist]

You’re already on the list for just looking at the link.

[Dr Fallout]

…or promising to think about looking at the link later.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

And for asking uncomfortable questions.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Mostly, you’re a terrorist for questioning your betters, though.

[CatoTheElder]

It’s a NYT website, so you’d ordinarily be safe. But you’re already at Reason, so you’re on the watchlist already.

[Zombie Jimbo]

Well at least Romney would’ve been competent. The fact that he really didn’t want the job is also a plus.
We could’ve done worse and seemingly always will.

Drag the next president into office kicking and screaming, and let him out after four years for good behavior.

[Dr Fallout]

“Well at least Romney would’ve been competent”

only 47% of the time though.

[Drake]

That’s the terrible choice. A competent guy I agree with maybe 50% of the time. Or, a complete incompetent I agree with 0%.

[Idle Hands]

Romney was the Gov. of Massachusetts as much of a competency improvement as he would have been over Obama you probably would have agreed with him at a much lower rate than 50%

[Drake]

I have family there and know his record. He was pretty good at fighting a long and somewhat successful rear-guard action against the overwhelming Democrat majority in the state legislature.

A true conservative or libertarian would have died on the first hill and had all his vetoes overridden.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

A true conservative or libertarian would have died on the first hill

Ahnald Shwartzennegger was a true conservative? Or started out as one?

Because Ahnald the conservative died on the hill of six propositions, killed by the teachers and pub-sec unions.

[Drake]

Or an

[Dr Fallout]

ahhh, but what about an incomplete incompetent?

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Ah, but he was discussing the presidency, not the IL Legislature…

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Was it just a week or so ago when Kruggie and Co. were trashing the tax cuts in Kansas?

I wonder how high tax states are doing…

Maryland cuts revenue expectations by $405 million

[Certified Public Asskicker]

The comptroller (a Dem) has a nice quote:

“Another year has passed, and ordinary families and small businesses haven’t even recovered to where they were before the financial collapse, much less made up for the wages they’ve lost,” Comptroller Peter Franchot said. “We need to recognize that hope is not an economic strategy.”

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

That is a change.

[Brett L]

He’s off the White House Christmas card list.

[John]

And remember, Maryland is basically a ward of the federal government. Take away the tax revenue from the DC suburbs and it is Detroit with a nice bay.

[Doctor Whom]

Even with the tax revenue from the DC suburbs, substantial parts of Maryland are Detroit with a nice bay or nice mountains. If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost start to think that all of that income redistribution was not a complete success.

[TwB]

Agreed

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I’d almost start to think that all of that income redistribution was not a complete success

Well, it is hard to redistribute income when you have evil CPAs helping wealthy clients establish residency in Florida…

[Juice]

And it’s only MoCo. PG County is a DC suburb and it’s a fucking wasteland.

[thom]

Maryland cuts revenue expectations by $405 million

I left 6 months ago. Of course they still insist I owe them $800 for letting my insurance “lapse”. Apparently the idea that anybody would move away from that shithole completely blows their mind.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

So al-Baghdadi’s religious tendencies fall close to Wahhabism. No surprise there. The Saud’s really fucked up back when they reached that power sharing agreement with al-Wahhab.

[WTF]

I’m not sure the Saudis fucked up. It seems to have kept them safe and in power.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Relatively speaking, it’s kept them in power as long as the USA has existed,. So I guess you’re right, but the long-term result is going to be a real doozy.

[Lord Humungus]

The millennial is dead: How an irrepressible stereotype was finally supplanted

The millennial views the world differently now. Gone are the wide-eyed artists depicted in “Girls” and other bits of generational agitprop. And there’s likely not a new Mark Zuckerberg or David Karp to be found in the ranks of those born between 1982 and 1993.

This isn’t errant speculation. This is fact.

A study performed by Millennial Branding ? a Generation Y-centric research firm ? polled members of both Generation Y and Generation Z in 10 different countries. The study found that millennials were starting to lose their temerity. Only 15 percent of millennials are motivated by meaningful work, whereas close to 40 percent are motivated by acquiring more money.

[John]

I would hope 100% of them are motivated by making a living and paying their own bills.

[gaijin]

^Exactly. Like everyone else. This is one reason why I despise the so-called ‘research firms’ who mostly find what they need to enable brand marketers to give them money for asinine cohort stereotyping.

[Auric Demonocles]

close to 40 percent are motivated by acquiring more money.

And this is bad because? I have helped program a satellite, and I did it because I wanted money.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

It’s bad because it’s only 40%.

Shouldn’t it be ~90%?

[DontShootMe]

Thanks a bunch.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..100199.htm

Only the pure of heart would have succeeded.

[Ted S.]

Acquiring more money isn’t meaningful?

[UnCivilServant]

I get my money by beating up old servers for the Government.

It’s not meaningful work – but they still pay me for it.

[Ted S.]

I’d like to get paid to beat up those who serve the government, too. 🙂

[UnCivilServant]

These are computers – they don’t feel pain.

[DontShootMe]

Yet.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

It damn well better be, for the things my Swiss masters have me do…

*sobs while recalling….things*

[Ted S.]

Why are you stepping all over Emily Ekins’ turf anyway?

[Lord Humungus]

For fun… but not profit.

[lap83]

“Only 15 percent of millennials are motivated by meaningful work, whereas close to 40 percent are motivated by acquiring more money.”

Then we are smarter than I thought. Generally speaking, iIf you look for meaning from your work you’ll get neither meaning nor money. At least you have a good chance of getting more money from work if you’re motivated by it.

[Lord Humungus]

21 Photos Of Nature Winning The Battle Against Civilization

As solid and unshakable as we think our civilization is, its grip on nature is tenuous at best. If any cracks appear in the faces of our buildings or our machines, nature is quick to move in and take over. With this in mind, here are 21 photos of places and things that nature is in the process of reclaiming.

Quite a bit of thought has been given to the idea of what Earth might look like once we’re gone. Indeed, many books and TV shows on the topic have found that nature would take our places fairly quickly. Many cities would be re-colonized within a year or two, and many of our buildings would begin crumbling soon after without human maintenance or energy sources. The Life After People series on the History Channel has a comprehensive timeline of collapses detailing when various famous landmarks of human civilization throughout the world might give way to nature.

[John]

The earth has been here for what, a billion years? Our nice little 10,000 year run doesn’t really mean much to nature.

That said, nature doesn’t win or lose anything. It just is. Those are pictures of man deciding to let civilization go. Nature has nothing to do with it.

[Zeb]

The man vs. nature crap is really stupid, but it is an interesting thing to see happen.

The real lesson from things like that should be that nothing people do is really irreversible and for the most part really doesn’t last that long without constant maintenance. But the enviromentals don’t want to hear that.

[John]

I believe the term is “entropy”. If you don’t constantly maintain things, they fall apart.

[Zeb]

“Entropy” loosely defined. The plants and fungi that do most of the reclamation are as highly organized as cities are.

[John]

I mean “entropy” as it applies to the system that is a building or structure. It is naturally going to fall into disorder unless efforts are taken to keep it from doing so. The laws of thermodynamics apply to a lot of things, buildings and structures being one of them.

[Zeb]

And the Earth has been here 5 billion years or so. Complex multicellular life for a bit less than a billion.

[John]

I knew it was over a billion.

[DontShootMe]

Approx 4.5 billion.

http://www.scientificpsychic.c…..eline.html

[Rich]

Those are great. Thanks, M’Lord!

[trshmnster the terrible]

There’s an instagram account that posts pics like that every day. I think the handle is @itsabandoned.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

So, Detroit-centric?

[trshmnster the terrible]

No, they look for nice pictures. I’m sure there’s some parody account @ghettoitsabandoned or something.

[Spoonman.]

Can’t decide whether the tree roots on a brick sidewalk or the boat full of trees in Sydney is cooler.

[sarcasmic]

Bittersweet: AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young confirms his retirement due to undisclosed illness as legendary group announces their new album Rock Or Bust

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..-Bust.html

[Lord Humungus]

Man, I saw ’em live back in ’89. Great show.

[John]

That is a shame. But they should be able to hire a good sideman and still sound good live. The Stones didn’t miss a beat when Bill Wyman retired. Hell, if anything they sound better right now than at any time since the 70s.,

[sarcasmic]

Article said a nephew was taking over.

[Drake]

Sucks. Malcolm holding down the fort on rhythm is what allowed Angus to go off with his crazy licks all those years. The guy was the band’s backbone.

[TwB]

That’s sad to hear. I hope that he gets better.

[jmomls]

AC/DC should make an album with a female lead singer. Just cover their own greatest hits with girl vocals.

Cash. Money.

[Lord Humungus]

Should Pluto be a planet again? Panel votes to reinstate ninth world of the solar system in unofficial debate

In 2006, Pluto lost its status as a planet when other bodies in the solar system of similar or greater size were found.

The decision to demote it to a ‘dwarf planet’ by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) at the time was highly contentious – and it now seems many still want its planet status reinstated.

In a debate where experts presented cases for and against the decision, it was found that most people in the audience still wanted Pluto to be a planet.

[Auric Demonocles]

It’s still a planet…

[UnCivilServant]

It never stopped being one.

[Auric Demonocles]

I actually meant that it’s right in the name.

[UnCivilServant]

If you call it a Dwarf, I’m going to… do something, I haven’t figured out the proper retaliation for impuning the honor of a planet.

[Ted S.]

It’s not a dwarf planet, it’s a little person planet.

[Zeb]

This is just fucking stupid. It still is what it is no matter what anyone calls it. And it is definitely a different sort of thing from the other planets.
I find it just bizarre that people have this emotional attachment to the categorization of a tiny, practically invisible object.

[Pro Libertate]

That’s no tiny, practically invisible object, that’s a space station.

[Zeb]

Is that the one where the aliens are watching our political ads?

[Pro Libertate]

No, the Plutonic Observation and Research Nexus is here for something else, but I forget what, exactly.

[Auric Demonocles]

Now, I agree that mountains who only allow skiers are snobbish assholes. That’s why I refuse to ever go to Mad River Glen ski resort, despite being perfectly capable of skiing at a black diamond level on top of my usual snowboarding. This is even when I had a pass that was reciprocated by them, meaning I could have gone with free.

But I still wouldn’t try to sue them for depriving me of a constitutional right.

* I did pass through the land during my recent hike, and stopped long enough to use their summit’s rain-barrel and outhouse.

[Ted S.]

Mad River Glen has a big pile of money, and dammit, that’s just not fair!

[Auric Demonocles]

You need to take some reading classes.

[Ted S.]

I only hovered over the link. 😉 (The fact that, upon clicking, I got a flash-ad overlay, only confirms the rightness of my original decision not to click on the link.)

That having been said, I’ll stand by my fundamental assertion that envy is a large portion of what’s driving bullshit suits like this.

[waffles]

Alta is for skiers. And stop complaining Snowbird is better anyway. Taos opened up to skiers a few years back and it did no harm because the only snowboarders who would want to go to Taos were generally on par with the terrain.

The only thing that pisses me off about snowboarders on expert terrain is that they absolutely suck at traversing to the point where they may be blocking a pinch point between two trees with their stupid one-footed hobble. This frustrates me if I’m trying to carry momentum to get to that sweet sweet powder cache I know is just over that ridge.

[Idle Hands]

On the east coast where skiing often times is similar to ice skating it’s irritating when a disproportionate amount of snowboarders scrape what little snow there is off the mountain.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Most snowboarders are a pain in the ass to ski with. Too slow and almost always unaware of the skiers around them.

[Auric Demonocles]

So you have no idea what you’re talking about.

I do both, and skiers are the assholes on traverses.

And as you showed, the snobs everywhere.

[waffles]

I never said I wasn’t a snob. I am, and proud. I have met both skiers and snowboarders who were on terrain they should not have been on. Choice of equipment does not matter.

[sarcasmic]

Black holes do NOT exist and the Big Bang Theory is wrong, claims scientist – and she has the maths to prove it

Scientist claims she has mathematical proof black holes cannot exist
She said it is impossible for stars to collapse and form a singularity
Professor Laura Mersini-Houghton said she is still ‘in shock’ from the find
Previously, scientists thought stars much larger than the sun collapsed under their own gravity and formed black holes when they died
During this process they release a type of radiation called Hawking radiation
But new research claims the star would lose too much mass and wouldn’t be able to form a black hole
If true, the theory that the universe began as a singularity, following the Big Bang, could also be wrong

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci…..ve-it.html

[John]

Wow. And yet, we do know that the universe is expanding and that there is background radiation at the temperature predicted by the big bang. So if not the big bang, then what?

[sarcasmic]

There was recently some article saying that that background radiation is just dust.

All I am certain of is that we don’t know anything for certain.

[John]

Wow. Wouldn’t that be a kicker. But I thought the science was “settled”? This woman is denying the consensus. She must be some kind of subversive Tea Bagger.

[sarcasmic]

It’s only “settled” when it justifies some liberal agenda. Same thing with law. Soon as they get their way it’s “settled,” never to be questioned again.

[Auric Demonocles]

October 2013: “Congress can’t delay Obamacare! IT’S THE LAW!”

November 2013-present: “Obama can delay Obamacare.”

[CatoTheElder]

^THIS.

E.g., laws of supply and demand are not settled because they conflict with various progressive agenda items like minimum wage. Laws of thermodynamics are not settled because progressives believe in green energy.

[WTF]

Don’t get too excited, you know women aren’t that good at math.

[Auric Demonocles]

I highly doubt her work turns out to be correct, but the correct response is to check it out, not call her a denier and shun her.

[John]

You must be some kind of racist tea bagger. There isn’t nay need to correct the consensus.

[db]

No, that paper did.not say the background radiation did not exist. It said that polarization of the radiation was due to dust, and not other effects.

[John]

I know. But Gamow’s prediction was still correct.

[tarran]

A bit of trivia, the term the ‘Big Bang’ was coined by Hoyle who thought the Universe was eternal and he used it to as a mocking reference to the crazy notion that Universe had started from a pinpoint at some definite moment in the past.

[John]

Yes, the big bang theory was meant as an insult. Originally the theory was developed by physicist priests, though it was fully developed by George Gamow.

The steady state theory had always been the response to theists. The universe just is and always has been and thus asking “where it came from” is a nonsensical question. When Hubble found that all objects in the universe were red shifted, it was a huge problem because it made the “it just is” answer no longer valid. The universe doesn’t just exist. It used to be different.

[Zeb]

A lot of words come into use in a similar way. I believe that “impressionism” and “suffragette” both also started out as mocking epithets.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Quaker, queer…and that’s just the “qu”s.

[Zeb]

I’ll have to look at this some more (I’m sure the DM article gets lots of things wrong, science reporting in the popular press always does), but I don’t see how this would have any bearing on the Big Bang. From what the article says, the result suggests that stars can’t collapse to form black holes. That doesn’t mean that other mechanisms couldn’t form them.

And we do have a lot of observations now that aren’t explained without a mass dense enough that it would have to be a black hole according to general relativity.

Things are far from settled in cosmology, but I doubt that this result will be the big game changer.

[Slammer]

and she has the maths to prove it

But not the grammars

[WTF]

‘Maths’ is Brit for ‘math’.

[gaijin]

the Big Bang Theory is wrong

I never did like that show. Especially SHeldon.

[UnCivilServant]

I tried to watch it, I couldn’t abide the hurtful stereotypes.

[Auric Demonocles]

But it does have the super nerdy guys (besides the asexual one) banging hot chicks, so that part is a nice dream.

[trshmnster the terrible]

The first season and a half were funny. Now it’s just friends with a bunch of nerd jokes.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

This. The show started out with a…bang? But now it’s the same “jokes” over and over again.

[John]

I still like that show. I think it is funny and good light entertainment. I really don’t get the hate directed at it. It is really the only remotely passable sitcom left on the air.

[trshmnster the terrible]

If I’m gonna watch a sitcom, I’ll watch big bang. I just dont like sitcoms in general, because they’re all so damn formulaic these days. Like I said before, big bang is just Friends, but with less subtle nerdiness and more awkwardness than Ross and Chandler brought.

[John]

That is exactly what it is. I like it better than friends. Friends was always a set of people people wanted to be but really weren’t. BBT, which the exception of the two blonds being gorgeous, are generally how people actually are. The men on that show are very believable nerds. They are not even good looking. They all look like average schlubs.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I dunno, I think I identify more with the characters on friends, and I am and always have been a nerd. I think that the characters on BBT have just evolved into caricatures of themselves over the seasons. I agree with you on the appearances part though. I guess if I boiled it down to the trades craft of producing a TV show, I enjoyed the writing of Friends better, and the casting of BBT better.

I do have to admit that I get flashes of my high school and college experience in certain scenes of BBC, which is why I’ll watch it if there’s nothing better on TV.

[Rhywun]

Their trashing of certain genre references is usually pretty spot-on.

What I do find quite annoying is the Galecki character confusing ‘nerd’ for ‘gay’.

[Rhywun]

I thought it would be horrible because of the stereotypes so I never watched it until recently. But the writing is actually pretty good.

[CatoTheElder]

I watch it when I fly over the Pacific. It’s not bad if I’m really tired, bored, and can’t sleep. In fact, it’s kind of amusing.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Everybody and their brother will be picking her work apart. Should make her life interesting for the next couple of years.

[sarcasmic]

At least she showed her work, unlike climate “scientists.”

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

In their defense, it is just obvious. Stop being so contrary already.

[antisocial-ist]

No, if you criticize a woman’s math she can sue you for patriarchy.

[Zeb]

Holy fuck, science reporting is terrible. This could be an interesting challenge to current theories of stellar evolution.

[BigT]

F her maths. Look at the photo accompanying the link – there is a black hole in the middle. There is NO light getting here from that spot. That means all the light behind it is being absorbed. It’s gigantic. It’s giving off no radiation. That’s what a black hole is.

The woman is another kind of hole.

[Zeb]

I sort of doubt that she is claiming that no black holes could possibly exist at all. At least from what it says in the article, it seems like her calculations were about collapsing dieing stars. There are other possible mechanisms for black hole formation. And as you say, there is pretty good observational evidence for black holes at this point.

[SugarFree]

That’s an artist rendering.

[Lord Humungus]

7 different types of non-believers
If you’ve left religion behind and you’re unsure what to call yourself, you might try on one of these

1. Atheist. The term atheist can be defined literally as lacking a humanoid god concept, but historically it means one of two things. Positive atheism asserts that a personal supreme being does not exist. Negative atheism simply asserts a lack of belief in such a deity.

2. Anti-theist. When atheist consistently evoked images of Madalyn Murray O’Hair, hostility toward religion was assumed.

3. Agnostic. Some atheists think of agnostic as a weenie term, because it gets used by people who lack a god-concept but don’t want to offend family members or colleagues.

etc etc

I’m more in the *shrug* don’t care camp

[DJF]

I am Agnostic since I don’t know if there is a god.

[Florida Man]

Wouldn’t that make everyone an agnostic? Nobody knows if there is a God, it is a matter of faith.

[Zeb]

There are people who are pretty serious (and almost religious) about their agnosticism. And they generally think that the existence or non-existence of God is simply something that is not possible to know, not just something that they have insufficient evidence for.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Militant agnosticism – I don’t know and you don’t either, so please shut up.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Given the nature of a being who has existed outside of our time and can affect/effect anything in our ability to observe, it is beyond our capability to know anything more about that being than it wants us to know.

Thinking that that being cares about whether or not our penis is trimmed or we eat pork or tell the pedophile in the box what we did wrongwill make a difference to that being is nothing but hubris writ large

[Rich]

What is the term for people who believe there *was* a god, but it “died”?

[UnCivilServant]

Necrotheists

[Lord Humungus]

coming to you live from the Gates of Hell!

[Rich]

I believe in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, just like most Christians. However, I also believe that Jesus killed God when he arrived in Heaven and that is why neither of them has been heard of since. Is there such a thing as a necrotheist?

[UnCivilServant]

Wait, what?

In just threw that word together from affixes.

[Zeb]

Vikings? Didn’t all the Norse gods die?

[Doctor Whom]

Various polytheist religions teach that at least some of their gods have died.

[antisocial-ist]

But with the vikings, almost all of the gods and people die at the end(I think there are 2 gods and 2 people left alive after the world tree is thrown into fire after ragnorak). And that is why the morsel religion is the most metal religion ever.

[antisocial-ist]

Morsel= norse

[Apatheist ?_??]

Ahem…

[flye]

Nobody cares what you believe.

[Apatheist ?_??]

I don’t care that you don’t care!

[SugarFree]

The comments spend a lot of time rejecting “labels,” which is pretty ironic given how often Salon uses “libertarian” as a slur.

[ant1sthenes]

They forgot Kratotheists.

The opposite of a theocrat (which is just a wishful hierocrat at any rate), they don’t a state run by a god, they want the state to be god. A power-worshipper. Nazis, Commies, Progs, all the political religions are varieties of kratotheism.

[CatoTheElder]

You forgot to include neo-cons.

The state gives people meaning, it is their sufficiency and their strength, and it is the object of their adoration and allegiance. It is the good shepherd of its sheep; it protects from the wolves without and the evildoers within.

Neo-cons are big on religion for the little people, but only if religion acknowledges the secular supremacy of the state and the duty of all to support the state.

[Riven]

Reading this comment reminded me of Bioshock Infinite.

[sarcasmic]

Grandmother who was brutally beaten by a California Highway Patrol officer for jaywalking settles for $1.5million as cop resigns

Marlene Pinnock suffers from bipolar disorder and had been off her medication for several months when she was spotted walking along the freeway
Officer Daniel Andrew had pulled Pinnock from oncoming traffic when she resisted
Daniel then straddled her and began punching her in the torso
Motorist David Diaz saw the confrontation and recorded it on video

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..ttles.html
It says the officer may face criminal charges, but I’m not holding my breath. I wonder how many departments have offered him a job.

[John]

Notice he “resigned” and wasn’t fired. Ten bucks says he is working as a cop for a different department before the first of the year.

[sarcasmic]

I bet he had multiple job offers before he even resigned.

[Lord Humungus]

Wanted: Experienced officer looking for heads to crack.

[trshmnster the terrible]

It’s like a gang initiation mixed with a witch’s brew.

“bring me the tears of an elderly woman, the shirt of a tased man, a hot speeding girl’s panties, and the melted face of an infant!”

[The Late P Brooks]

Morning Joke showed the dash cam video of the cop in South Carolina(?) freaking out and blazing away at a guy who turns and reaches into his car for his wallet, because the cop asked to see his license. The nodders were shocked. Maybe not so heroic as they thought.

The truly revolting part is where the poor bastard is on the ground, APOLOGIZING to the fucking trigger happy pussy goon who shot him.

[gaijin]

The truly revolting part is where the poor bastard is on the ground, APOLOGIZING to the fucking trigger happy pussy goon who shot him.

To be fair, he may have thought it was the only way to save himself.

[Auric Demonocles]

That poor cop. Now he’s going to have to go on disability for mental anguish.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

NPR had a piece on this morning where some researchers are monitoring the stress levels of cops in tense situations. Because your average Joe just doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a cop.

*sheds tear of sympathy*

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, I don’t understand what it’s like to be a cop. Because I can’t imagine being that big of a coward.

[John]

If you can’t remain calm in a stressful situation, maybe law enforcement is a bad career choice? I bet pilots of sick planes have a pretty high stress level too. Yet, that doesn’t excuse them from making the proper decision.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The commentary was awesome. Their premise is that before we hold cops accountable, we should have a clear understanding of the stress that they’re under in that situation.

The obvious questions is “Since when do we hold them accountable?”

[John]

I am pretty bad at remaining calm in stressful situations. I can do it if I really have to but eventually I start to get angry and lose my temper. That doesn’t make me a bad person. It does, however, mean I should not be a beat cop. Not everyone is cut out for certain jobs. Go figure?

[MJGreen]

That’s what they mean by “before.” Before we ever start holding them accountable, let’s get all the facts in. Until then, open season!

[Steve G]

http://vimeo.com/28386624
The good stuff starts at 7:45. ‘The cop that is trained [in MMA, combatives, etc] is 3 times less likely to use force to subdue a suspect than an untrained cop’

[John]

We should not be training cops in combatives. All it does is make them be tempted to use it. There is no reason for a cop to ever be in a situation where he has to use combatives. That is why he has a tazer, a gun, and backup.

[Steve G]

You missed the point then. They should learn combatives not to use them but to learn how to keep their cool in tense situations.
Besides, even if they were tempted to use them, wouldn’t this be preferable to them automatically going for their gun when a suspect resists (Brown) or even when he doesn’t (Crawford and so many more to chose from)?

[John]

That is a good point. Of course that would also point to not hiring women cops. Combatives or no, what does option does a five foot 100 lb woman have against an angry large man other than shooting him?

That said, in an ideal world I would agree with you. In the real world, however, I think teaching them combatives just makes them more violent and more likely to initiate a confrontation.

[Steve G]

Well, yeah, the caliber (pun not intended) of guys they are recruiting these days can only be reshaped so much via training. Might be able to deal with the insecurity, but the power hunger is another story.

[INFORG]

I think just the opposite. Back in the day, I was in law enforcement and didn’t have all of these compliance tools to play with. You are much more likely to try and de-escalate when you know the most likely alternative is going “hands-on”.

Doesn’t matter that you are trained to do it or even great at it, you respect the fact that it is going to hurt, could lead to serious injury, and completely takes you out your situational awareness and can lead to someone jumping you, getting hit by passing traffic, etc.

The taser was the worst ever addition to law enforcement. It was sold as an alternative to deadly force – evidence shows that is simply not true.

[CatoTheElder]

Whenever a cop kills somebody who didn’t need killing, it should be a per se violation of law. The only decisions the jury should have to make should be 1) “Did the victim need killing?” and 2) If #1 is affirmed, “Should the cop’s crime be considered negligent homicide, manslaughter, or aggravated murder?”

By “need killing”, I mean actually armed and openly threatening officers or innocents.

Similar criteria should apply to cops every single time they discharge a firearm in public.

[UnCivilServant]

Newly discovered Bug is old enough to drive – and has ruined my week/month

http://arstechnica.com/securit…..nix-in-it/

I’m going to spend an eternity patching linux servers…

[trshmnster the terrible]

Yeesh, that’s a big ‘un

[Carl ?s his ? for ?s]

I kinda assumed Ars was full of shit, but I looked into it further, and yeah, it’s pretty bad.

[UnCivilServant]

That was the version that had the test to run listed, so I posted that link instead of the slew of others.

I don’t make a habit of frequenting that site.

[sarcasmic]

Leighton Meester showcases her natural beauty with barely-there make-up as she attends fragrance launch in Tokyo

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs…..Tokyo.html
Not quite sure who she is, but dang those are some nice legs. Way to skinny for John though.

[Idle Hands]

She is like a poor man’s Heather Graham.

[Drake]

Or like a poor man’s 12-year-old son.

[sarcasmic]

Really?

[Drake]

ehh.

[Roger the Shrubber]

What good are legs without an ass?

[John]

She is cute. If I saw her on the street I would think she was attractive. For an actress, I am not seeing it.

[Idle Hands]

The Devil Weed not Tony Stewart kills Kevin Ward Jr. and you monsters want it sold legally.

Tantillo also made the startling revelation that Ward was under the influence of marijuana the night he was hit and that there was enough of the drug in his system ‘to impair judgement’.

[Jerryskids]

In 2010, the team moved up to the 360 Sprint Car division. In his first year, Kevin scored five top five finishes, eight top ten finishes, and had only 4 DNF’s with over 30 events raced. He came very close to winning his first 360 Sprint Car feature in his rookie year, finished seventh in the Empire Super Sprint point standings, and was named 2012 Empire Super Sprint Rookie of the Year.

The following year was event better for Kevin, as he picked up his first career Sprint Car feature win at Autodrome Drummond on June 4th, 2011. This was a great achievement for the young racer, and most memorable moment of his career to date. He also won two Dash for Cash events and ended the season with 11 top five finishes, 16 top ten finishes and finished 4th in the Empire Super Sprint point standings.

This is the guy who drove a racecar professionally after smoking dope? Either something doesn’t quite add up here with the “smoking dope impairs your judgement” meme or else this kid would have been the Michael Jordan of racing if he had laid off the weed.

[SusanM]

So, black guy on the goofballs, it’s his own damn fault. A fairly wealthy white woman gets taken advantage of after an evening of Jagerbombs and everyone but her is to blame?

[SusanM]

goofy white guy, sorry

[Idle Hands]

Don’t be facetious Susan. Not everyone else, just like the patriarchy and white males everywhere.

[John]

Here is my question, how bad of a temper do you have to have to lose it while you are stoned? I have never seen anyone get angry while stoned in my entire life. What a lunatic that guy must have been.

The bottom line is the driver who died was a moron. You don’t walk out onto a race track and confront a moving car, especially not a dirt track racer that has theoretical handling at best.

[Steve G]

theoretical handling

good way to put it

[trshmnster the terrible]

He was emulating the “big boys” in nascar who throw a hiss fit every time they get bit by the wreckin’ is racin’ bug. It’s stupid to confront anybody while they’re in an automobile, especially highly tuned racing machines on a hair’s edge in 50 different ways.

Another practice that this indicts is the local yellows in road track racing. It’s generally a bad idea to have unsheltered people on a hot race track, no matter the situation.

[John]

I agree. Put the track on a yellow and bring them to a stop as they come around.

There is just no safe way to have people walking around on a race track with moving cars. And no race is worth risking pedestrian’s lives like that. You take enough risk driving the car. There is no reason to take more risk when you have to get out of it.

[John]

Has Reason covered the Hillary to Alinsky “Dear Sal” letters yet? How are those letters any less important than the infamous Ron Paul newsletters that Reason covered to death. Hillary is the presumed Dem front runner for 2016. And she actually wrote those letters as opposed to just putting her name on someone else’ work. This is like finding that Ted Cruz wrote love letters to the John Birch Society back in college. It would seem to be a pretty important story in the vetting of Hillary, which of course is unlikely to happen but work with me.

[Idle Hands]

Because Sal Alinsky is like Keyser Soze to the main stream media.

[WTF]

Do you have a link? I will admit I didn’t know about these letters until you just mentioned them now.

[John]

http://freebeacon.com/politics…..y-letters/

[WTF]

Thanks. Not at all surprising, really. Also not surprising that the media have been silent on this.

[John]

It is hard to think of an equivalent figure on the right. The closest I can think of is imagine if Rand Paul had written fawning letters to G. Gordon Liddy in college. The media would be in full furniture eating “oh my God how has he not resigned from the Senate by now” mode.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Ditto

[Jerryskids]

Maybe Hillary is just a big Alan Parsons fan.

“And if it hurts when they mention my name
Say you don’t know me
And if it helps when they say I’m to blame
Say you don’t own me

Even if it’s taking the easy way out
Keep it inside of you
Don’t give in, don’t tell them anything
Don’t let it,
Don’t let it show”

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

It’s all timing John, Hillary hasn’t even decided if she’s going to run yet. (snicker).

The best way for media outlets of all stripes to make hay with this is when people actually care (2016).

[John]

You can’t time the news. The story is out now and will “old news” by that time. Not talking about it now is effectively choosing never to talk about it.

[Rich]

What *is* it with Jack Ma’s head?

[Mexican Hop-head Buttsex]

He looks like a puppet from Team America.

[Florida Man]

I’m voting for Rick Scott after watching an anti-Scott political add. It claimed he cut the number of teachers and gave tax breaks to Florida businesses. Sign me up!

[mr lizard]

I’m voting straight team red because team blue charged hill GC after Sandy Hook

[Lord Humungus]

I’ve started to collect coins/currency – rather haphazardly through random lots. Some neat pieces:

Fractional Currency – silver coins were being hoarded during the Civil War, so it was time to release paper versions. I got one of these:
http://www.antiquemoney.com/wp…..rrency.jpg

though not as nice of condition.

and those silver coins – Morgan and Peace dollars, and even earlier – were just plain beautiful. Also the early coins were more conceptual – Liberty is everywhere – instead of Dead presidents.

I’m interested in getting an old Franklin designed penny, especially the logo “Mind Your Business”
http://theharry.com/wp-content…..ioCent.jpg

[sarcasmic]

Liberty is a bad word these days. It means chaos and disorder.

[Zeb]

I hate the dead president coins. I think the Lincoln Cent was the first. Allegorical representations of Liberty were far better.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Currently, allegorical misrepresentations of Liberty are far more accurate.

[Steve G]

I’ve always been a fan of early paper notes and have a paltry collection. The colors on anything over a few decades old are amazing. Love the old $2s and $5s…

[Bill Dalasio]

Jon Stewart trashed political ads. “If aliens came down to earth and watched our political ads, they would think the Senate was an adult summer camp competition, or some six-year pass to Dave & Buster’s,”

Well, I’ll take Mr. Stewart seriously when he takes off the clown nose and is willing to argue his politics from a substantive position. That said, I’d pay to watch someone interview him about Bill Moyers and LBJ’s Daisy ad. Well, that and watch them throw his faux disgust back in his face.

[John]

Or ask him about Harry Reid claiming he knew Mitt Romney hadn’t paid his taxes. If it is not in a commercial, I guess it is okay?

[Zeb]

Why do people always think that aliens would be similar enough to people to understand what a political ad is and its context in human life, but wouldn’t have similar failings, problems and politics to people? Seems like a better assumption that other intelligent life would either be so different as to be unintelligible or that all intelligent life would be just as fucked up as we are.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

“Bfrtiuopx is a being of the people, he puts on his pants three tentacles at a time like a regular guy.”

[TwB]

The GOP, aka the party of stupid, may nominate Romney again? Good god. Romney has the warmth of the leftover pot roast in my fridge.

[John]

I doubt they would. That said, he would probably win. Most of the country realizes re-electing Obama was a mistake. Yet, the media will ensure that any Republican nominated will be portrayed as an evil racist woman hater. The country realizes now that none of that was true about Romney and voting for him would be a way of getting a do over from 2012.

[Lord Humungus]

The Economist greets the new Warrior Obama

[Certified Public Asskicker]

This is from April, but Jesus fucking Christ:

La Leche League now acknowledges that men can, in fact, breastfeed

As the cultural understanding of gender has expanded, it is now recognised that some men are able to breastfeed. In the spirit of nondiscrimination and with this awareness, La Leche League International has refined the eligibility qualifications for its volunteer breastfeeding counsellors to include men who otherwise meet the prerequisites for becoming a volunteer applicant. Prerequisites include organizational experience, personal experience breastfeeding a baby for at least nine months, and a demonstrated commitment to La Leche League philosophy.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

*insert Chuck Schumer joke here*

[John]

Chuck Schumer, wet nurse to New York.

[Auric Demonocles]

As the cultural understanding of gender has expanded

What would that have to do with whether a male’s breasts are functional or not?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Why do you assume only women have functional breasts you cisgendered neanderthal!?

[trshmnster the terrible]

The proper insult is “cis shitlord” because maturity.

[Rich]

“organizational experience”?

“Let’s see. I know I left my nursing bra around here *somewhere*.”

[Idle Hands]

You can milk anything with breasts.

[Steve G]

*hands you Jinxy the cat

[trshmnster the terrible]

cat milk does not come from cats!

[Zeb]

Well, men should at least have the right to breastfeed, biological reality or no.

[Slammer]

Spreadable Beer.

No alcohol, though.

[UnCivilServant]

What’s the point? All the bad flavor, none of the alcoholic goodness?

[Rich]

Multi-tasking makes your brain smaller: Grey matter shrinks if we do too much at once

Worryingly, the part of the brain that shrinks is involved in processing emotion.

Meh.

[UnCivilServant]

So that’s why I’ve been reclassified as phlegmatic by the authors over at Black Library.

Huh.

[db]

I see what you did there, and it’s, well, I guess it’s probably funny.

[Ted S.]

Does it make us more rational if it makes us less emotional?

[Carl ?s his ? for ?s]

Please do not link to Daily Mail “science articles”. It makes you part of the fucking problem.

Here is the actual article.

1. Not longitudinal, i.e., no evidence of “shrinking” you fucking assholes

2. It’s just in the ACC, which is important, but not the same as your whole fucking brain

3. It says right in the fucking abstract the cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow us to specify the direction of causality

4. According to DM: Grey matter is the part of the brain that processes information

[Carl ?s his ? for ?s]

fuck off squirrels, cut off my posts

anyway, continuing number four…

that quote is a big WTF???

and finally:

Dear “science journalists”: you are nearly all a cancer on humanity; 95% of you need to fuck off and die.

[db]

This, especially with Daily Mail articles. Jeebus.

[Lord Humungus]

a good Kevin Williamson article here:

Capitalism Is Clean(er)

I could list many more, from China to East Germany and beyond. If you want to see what anti-capitalist environmental policy looks like, look up images from Semipalatinsk ? though I cannot in good conscience recommend that you go through with it. Not if you ever want to sleep again.

I hear you already: “Fine, commies bad! Bad commies! We get it!” But consider another case, one that more closely resembles the vision of the world put forward by our so-called democratic socialists: state-run oil companies.

[Lord Humungus]

There isn’t any clean energy, and most significant industrial enterprise will impose some costs on the environment in the best of circumstances. The question is how to minimize the damage and mitigate the inevitable effects. The best line of defense against environmental damage is property rights, and the lack of property rights is one of the reasons that environmental devastation has been so severe in those unhappy parts of the world in which socialism has prevailed: If nobody owns the land or the water rights, then nobody can sue for damages when Big Socialist Oil dumps chemicals in the river. If the polluters and the regulators are on the same side ? in the same party ? expect narrow self-interest to trump everything else. You can sue Exxon; the people behind Sinopec have nuclear weapons.

And Exxon has never operated a gulag of which I am aware.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Yeah, but our socialism/communism is going to be for the people. It’s not going to be like every other time it’s been implemented.

[UnCivilServant]

Exxon has never operated a gulag of which I am aware.

After the Valdez spill they set up a gulag for seabirds. All the scrubbing, and the dish soap…

[Free Society]

Stupid libertarians with your historical evidence.

[Kaptious Kristen]

They make their employees work on oil rigs and stuff. They make. them. work. Oh! The humanity! Nobody should have to work. So, that’s kinda like a gulag.

[ant1sthenes]

You know, go liberty and all, but I think the reason that socialism is so filthy isn’t particularly related to free markets. The government can’t and won’t regulate itself.

Regulators and regulatees have to have an adversarial relationship; regulatory capture is an ever-present threat in capitalism, but it’s the default setting for socialism.

[The Late P Brooks]

And Exxon has never operated a gulag of which I am aware.

But they make you pay for gas, which is like slavery!

[thom]

If Exxon didn’t charge so much for gas then the government could charge higher gas taxes. All those Exxon “profits” are really just government revenues that have been diverted to a huge corporation.

[Roger the Shrubber]

As I’m sure you’re aware, per gallon federal and state taxes exceed Exxon’s marginal profit by an order of magnitude.

[sarcasmic]

Shocking moment police officer shoots unarmed driver after pulling him over for not wearing a seatbelt

South Carolina State Trooper Sean Groubert stopped Levar Jones in his car
Groubert ordered Jones to show his driving licence during the traffic stop
As Jones leaned into his car, Groubert started shouting and fired two shots
Jones, retreated with his hands up when Groubert fired two more rounds
Groubert denies Assault and Battery of a High and Aggravated Nature

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..tbelt.html
Charged doesn’t mean convicted. I’m not holding my breath.

[Jerryskids]

Shocking moment police officer shoots unarmed driver

And yet somehow I’m not shocked at all.

Now if the video were “Shocking moment po-lice officer receives lengthy prison sentence for shooting unarmed driver”, I would pay good money to see that.

[SusanM]

From Toilet Paper: Equality makes warmongering OK!

http://thinkprogress.org/world…..ilot-isis/

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It’s the new generation of war bond hucksters.

[Citizen Nothing]

They need to bring Bugs Bunny out of retirement. Nobody could hawk war bonds like Bugs.

[Free Society]

People Think Romney Tackled a Pregnant Lady, Political Ads Suck: A.M. Links

[lap83]

How else does he get them into the binders?

[Kaptious Kristen]

I stopped watching Survivor about 5 years ago when they dirtied up the gameplay with ridiculous twists and ratings stunts. The first 10 or so seasons were kind of an cool insight into human social behavior. Amazing Race is way better (though they do engage in stupid stunt casting).

And speaking of teevee – Redskins Insert PC Name Here vs. Giants for a nationally-televised game? Seriously? I’d rather watch Survivor.

[John]

The national games are set, at least the first couple of months of them, are set before the season. The networks figured RGII and the flagship franchise of the nation’s largest media market would make for good ratings. And it still might. But they had no way of knowing RGIII would get hurt and the Giants would be even more awful than people thought they were going to be.

[Kaptious Kristen]

The Skins wouldn’t have been any good with RGIII. If anything, Kirk Cousins has improved the team. But still – a divisional game of two crapass teams on a Thursday night? Fuckin-a.

[John]

The Thursday night games are always crap anyway. Teams with no preparation and still banged up from Sunday stumbling around the field.

The better question is why the hell don’t they make every Thursday night game a matchup between two teams coming off a bye week so that the game is watchable?

The answer of course is because the NFL doesn’t give a fuck and knows its brain dead fantasy football degenerate fans will watch the product no matter how shitty it gets.

[Mexican Hop-head Buttsex]

“The better question is why the hell don’t they make every Thursday night game a matchup between two teams coming off a bye week”

I have wondered the very same thing.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Hmm. after a thursday game is the 2nd longest break in the season.

It would also add a lot of scheduling rigor into what national games get shown on TV.

A Jacksonville vs. Tampa in December game would be as appealing as drying paint.

“Watch to find out who gets the #1 pick next year!”

[John]

The break after the game doesn’t improve the quality of the game. The Thursday games are just horrible. Moreover, they are unsafe as they don’t give players proper time to recover from the last game.

The NFL cares so much about player safety, they continue to play Thursday night games.

[John]

More importantly Bobarian, no one who cares about the quality of football wants any kind of meaningful late season game played with three days preparation.

Give me the Jacksonville Tampa game any day over having a game that means something played under such circumstances.

[jmomls]

*The Thursday night games are always crap anyway. Teams with no preparation and still banged up from Sunday stumbling around the field.*

So far this year we’ve had Packers-Seahawks and Ravens-Steelers on Thursday night. Both were good games.

The Sunday night games have all been total crap piles, though.

[Illocust]

Hey, any chance Reason could cover the whole #GamerGate debacle? I’d think Libertarians could have sympathy for a demographic that is constantly vilified by their own media and is now trying to fight back. More importantly, a lot of these guys are learning what its like to be on the wrong side of a social justice crusade. A little sympathy from libertarians now, could go a long ways to getting a lot of sympathy and possibly new recruits in return.

[John]

They haven’t covered it. And they should. But the Reason staff I think reflexively defends other journalists and are thus loath to cover a story like that.

[Illocust]

There is the very big possibility that the Reason staff hasn’t heard about this yet. It may be a huge movement that hasn’t lost steam for five weeks, but its been cordoned off in the “Not Serious News” ghetto of gaming journalism.

[Zeb]

I’d never heard of it. And now that I have read two articles about it, I still don’t give a shit or understand why anyone does. But then again, I’m one of those people who doesn’t think video game journalism is serious news. It’s like sports journalism, stupid and pointless, except as entertainment, and even more stupid and pointless when it gets all political.

[John]

They are all nerds and a lot of them are gamers. Moreover, this is a huge story within the media right now. They have all heard of it and have chosen not to write on it.

If someone like me who is neither in the media nor plays video games much less reads game magazines has heard of it, the Reason staff has heard of it.

[Zeb]

I also don’t really see the libertarian angle, I guess.

[John]

The Libertarian angle is that it is another example of various totalitarian progs taking over a field and bending it to politics.

It does not involve government, true. But there is more to liberty than government. Society and culture matter too. And if you have a culture full of institutions run by intolerant fascists, you are not going to have much liberty, government or no.

[John]

Also, Reason covers a lot of culture and media stories that don’t have a strictly man versus government angle.

[The Late P Brooks]

Another practice that this indicts is the local yellows in road track racing.

Fuck you.

Go be n accountant.