A.M. Links: US Troops Oppose "Boots on the Ground" in Iraq, Jerry Brown Vetoes Bill Limiting Police Drones, Pro-Democracy Protests in Hong Kong Grow

via Twitter

• More than 70 percent of U.S. troops surveyed opposed putting "boots on the ground" in Iraq in order to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). The leader of the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, meanwhile, warned of terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Europe as retribution for air strikes against their group and ISIS in the country.
• Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says he wants an investigation into how a contract employee was able to start a fire at a regional flight control center that caused the cancellation of thousands of flights in and out of Chicago and disrupted air traffic nationwide.
• Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Ca.) vetoed a bill that would have limited police use of drones in the state.
• A doctor who may have contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone returned to the United States and checked himself in with the National Institute of Health.
• Anti-Beijing, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong grew after police used tear gas to disperse protesters.
• At least 31 people could be dead after Mount Ontake, in central Japan, erupted this weekend.

Follow Reason and Reason 24/7 on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Ca.) vetoed a bill that would have limited police use of drones in the state.

Dems are so good on civil liberties it hurts.

[Doctor Whom]

Buon giorno.

That's what Californians get for electing a Teathuglican as their Governor.

[antisocial-ist]

To a lot of voters, civil liberties= free shit.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Moar dronz = free security

Somebody said something about trading security for liberty, but he was an old, white slave owner.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Lord Humungus]

oh get a room.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A doctor who may have contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone returned to the United States and checked himself in with the National Institute of Health.

Obamacare will save him.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says he wants an investigation into how a contract employee was able to start a fire at a regional flight control center...

Because they weren't planning to investigate that already, Dick?

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

That is the brilliance we are used to from lifetime Donkey hack Dick Durbin.

[Ted S.]

Matches and something flammable?

Or perhaps the guy used something inflammable instead.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Lightable on fireable.

[Almanian!]

It blowed up REAL good...

[pan fried wylie]

WELL, REAL WELL

ffs

[Almanian!]

*spits chewing tobacco juice on floor*

"A global force for REAL GOOD!"

[DJF]

Next Durbin will discover that there is nothing in the Constitution saying that the public have a right to fire and he will want to ban its use, except for authorizied government employees

[Bee Tagger]

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Ca.) vetoed a bill that would have limited police use of drones in the state.

In California, can the police force their devices into a woman's airspace?

[TwB]

Yes, but only if they get written consent first. Or, if Pelosi gets to watch. Let that image sink in this morning.

[FUQ]

There is not enough brain bleach available.

[Aloysious]

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Ca.) vetoed a bill that would have limited police use of drones in the state.

Happy Monday. I think Jerry Brown is of the opinion that we should do our neighborhood cop a favor and beat ourselves up.

[Mongo]

I saw Axe Cop for the first time the other night. Some funny shit.

[Ted S.]

Is that "axe" as in what you use to chop down a tree, or the horrible-smelling body wash shit?

[Rich]

Don't axe Mongo. He just pawn in Game of Life.

[Almanian!]

*punches Rich's horse - horse falls over*

[Mongo]

Ha! - I never tire of that joke.

[Ted S.]

STOP RESISTING!!!111!!!

[Aloysious]

FOLLOW ORDERS!!!11!1!!!

Do I sound like the new dumfY yet?

[Rich]

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says he wants an investigation into how a contract employee was able to start a fire at a regional flight control center

Sheesh, Dick -- probably with some gasoline and a lighter.

[gaijin]

If it wasn't a contractor (i.e., privatized position) then he'd be calling for the same investigation, right?

[Dweebston]

"We must let the normal avenues of due process proceed, starting with a report from the air traffic controller's union."

[Bee Tagger]

More than 70 percent of U.S. troops surveyed opposed putting "boots on the ground" in Iraq

They'd rather be sipping lattes, I guess.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Green Beans Coffee can set up a stand at any FOB.

[Bee Tagger]

Free salute with every purchase?

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Nah, just a 1000 yard stare from some overworked Bangladeshi contract worker.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Please, they have it great compared to the construction workers.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

To be sure - they have no problem recruiting. They just looked so damned tired. You know something is wrong when people coming out of combat start commenting on how tired other people look.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

True, you'd think they would take it upon themselves to sample the product from time to time and perk themselves up.

[Rich]

*** whispers ***

Eakingspay of atteslay:

At CIA Starbucks, even the baristas are covert

[Pro Libertate]

Latte martini, shaken, not stirred.

[Fist of Etiquette]

More than 70 percent of U.S. troops surveyed opposed putting "boots on the ground" in Iraq...

So a huge game of The Iraqi Floor Is Lava it is then!

[antisocial-ist]

Too lazy to find a link, but the cops who tossed a flash bang grenade into a baby's crib in north Georgia go before a grand jury this week.

[Aloysious]

I hope that GJ does its job. Those police need to stand trial.

[WTF]

And the prosecutor will make certain they do not indict.

[db]

If the victim ain't white, you can't indict!

[Brian D]

Fifty or sixty cops in uniform in the courtroom glaring at the grand jury ought to take care of that.

[FUQ]

No gallery in the grand jury room but if it goes to trial all seats will be reserved for this purpose. Several officers will be assigned to make it obvious they are taking notes about each member of the jury.

[thom]

Maybe the judge will remind the jury that all the cops in the room depend on ongoing good relationships with judges such as herself, and that if they interfered with a member of the jury in any way to intimidate them they would never be able to get a warrant again. That would totally get aired out, right?

[FUQ]

It's cute you think the judges and jury aren't on the same TEAM.

🙂

[FUQ]

Judges and police...

Why do you have a comment section with no edit option? It matches you deluge of scripts and browser crashing ads tho.

[thom]

I don't know...I've always gotten the impression that judges really, really don't like it when people fuck with their jurors, police included.

[Brett L]

Were I on the jury, I'd definitely get the names and badge numbers of all the cops in the stands. That way, I'd have a good chance of making money in a civil rights lawsuit the next time I interacted with any cop in the court room.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The leader of the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, meanwhile, warned of terrorist attacks in the U.S. and Europe as retribution for air strikes against their group and ISIS in the country.

Bringing the world together one airstrike at a time.

[gaijin]

You mean the group that may or may not exist?

Khorosan group does not exist

[Rich]

"The group that dare not speak its name."

[Ted S.]

25 years ago we supported Khorosan Aquino, now we oppose Khorosan?!

[Rich]

Nice.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

*narrows gaze, looks for something Filipino to throw at Ted S.*

[Almanian!]

*hands SS,G a couple of Imelda Marcos' shoes*

[Ted S.]

Doesn't one of the commenters here have a Filipina wife?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I briefly dated Aquino's niece in high school, does that count?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maybe you're thinking of Ernesto my Filipino manservant (who is typing this comment out for me as I speak).

[Rhywun]

Go on...

[FUQ]

Does he polish you monocle?

[a better weapon]

That would be me. I'm sure I can find something for Swiss to throw at you.

[Bee Tagger]

Anti-Beijing, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong grew after police used tear gas to disperse protesters.

Misery loves company.

[TwB]

I was in Hong Kong in 2004 and back then, the locals were talking about breaking away from China and forming their own city-state, Singapore style. But of course, Big Red in Beijing would have none of that.

[robc]

They should have done it while still under english control.

[Lord Humungus]

or even Engrish control.

[thom]

They should have. I still think it's astonishing that in this day and age a liberal Western democracy just handed over millions of people to a totalitarian communist dictatorship.

Psst...Scotland...it could happen to you.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Tear gas makes you grow?!?!

[Doctor Whom]

It's got electrolytes.

[Rich]

The Blotch on Eric Holder's Record: Wall Street Accountability

Well, *a* blotch.

[Doctor Whom]

My progressive FB friends are already writing the hagiography of St. Eric. Blech.

[TwB]

More like part of the Picasso he painted all over the US Constitution.

[gaijin]

Picasso painted with his own feces?

[Rich]

Master's feces! 😉

[Elspeth Flashman]

Boooo. I see what you did there.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Well some people try to pick up girls
And get called assholes
This never happened to Pablo Picasso
He could walk down your street
And girls could not resist his stare and
So Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole

Well the girls would turn the color
Of the avacado when he would drive
Down their street in his El Dorado
He could walk down you street
And girls could not resist his stare
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole
Not like you
Alright

Well he was only 5'3"
But girls could not resist his stare
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole
Not in New York

Oh well be not schmuck, be not abnoxious
Be not bellbottom bummer or asshole
Remember the story of Pablo Picasso
He could walk down your street
And girls could not resist his stare
Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole
Alright this is it

[db]

That always reminds me of the scene in Repo Man.

[Elspeth Flashman]

The life of a Repoman is always intense.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Shrimp or plate or plate of shrimp.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Linked

[Fist of Etiquette]

Anti-Beijing, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong grew after police used tear gas to disperse protesters.

"OMG THE GAS IS MAKING THEM MULTIPLY! WE NEED MORE TEAR GAS HERE!" But in a Chinese accent.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Curse you, I should have scrolled down!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yes.

[SugarFree]

The New York Post rules the day.

[WTF]

Made me chuckle.

[sarcasmic]

The REAL road warriors: 'Mad Max' battle buses and tanks built by Kurdish fighters to repel ISIS soldiers in Syria

Peshmerga troops converted old tractors and lorries into military vehicles
They are badly out-gunned by ISIS who seized weapons from the Iraqi army
In order to properly defend themselves, Kurds armoured their own vehicles
Result is a fleet of elaborately designed but well-defended battle buses
The vehicles bear a close resemblance to the vehicles in 1979 film Mad Max

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

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Saw some of that in Bosnia in 1997... the leftovers were sitting around the airport in Sarajevo.

[db]

You might enjoy this...

http://code7700.com/cold_war.html

[antisocial-ist]

I have an idea to end this war quickly. John Kerry vs al Baghdadi in thunder dome. Two men enter one man leaves.

[Shirley Knott]

That's one too many.

[Lord Humungus]

there is only one ayatollah of rock-and-rollah

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Pedant Rant: There were no Armored busses in "Mad Max"

Civilization was not yet dead.

the 1981 movie - The Road Warrior is the answer you're looking for.

[Lord Humungus]

aka Mad Max 2 (pedant squared)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00.....dt_dt#akas

[Bardas Phocas]

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says he wants an investigation into how a contract employee was able to start a fire at a regional flight control center...

Combustion! How the fuck does it work?

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Luckily, the Aurora Fire Department has a pretty good investigations unit. Maybe they could cc Durbin on their report and save us all more seeing this jackass bloviate on our TV screen.

[Fist of Etiquette]

At least 31 people could be dead after Mount Ontake, in central Japan, erupted this weekend.

Centuries from now a descendent of Paul W.S. Anderson will direct descendents from Jon Snow and Jack Bauer in a terrible movie about this.

[WTF]

Sounds like Japan needs to send some geologists to jail.
/Italians

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

*applause*

[sarcasmic]

Maitland Ward leaves VERY little to the imagination in sequinned string bikini for convention appearance as sexy comic book heroine Red Sonja

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....Sonja.html

Who?

[Lord Humungus]

She doesn't look too happy.

[Bardas Phocas]

She clearly understands the power of the side boob.

[sarcasmic]

Ferguson police officer who was shot in the arm expected to recover as officials say they don't know why his body camera was turned off

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....d-off.html

[sarcasmic]

St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said he does not believe the shooting was connected with the two protests occurring at the same time
A police spokesperson said the officer was treated and released from the hospital and was expected to survive
Belmar says the officer was wearing a body camera at the time but that it was off for unknown reasons
The officer was checking on a community center at the time
A small peaceful crowd of local residents were gathered near police on West Florissant Road, away from the community center
Police reported the suspect was fleeing when he shot the officer
The officer returned fire though police say no one else was known to be shot and the suspect fled on foot
Police helicopters are canvassing the area in an attempt to find the shooter
There were conflicting reports early on over the reason for the shooting, and it is not known that it was linked to the death of Michael Brown
Another shooting on Interstate 70 involving an off-duty St Louis Metropolitan Police officer happened hours later
This week police officers brazenly wore 'I am Darren Wilson' bracelets while on duty
The Justice Department asked the Ferguson Police Department to order its officers not to wear the bracelets in support of Wilson

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Sounds like the cop may have shot himself...

"Get that camera off this shit!"

[Ted S.]

He was doing something illegal. That's why the camera was turned off.

Duh.

[sarcasmic]

No doubt.

[FUQ]

This is why I don't see body cameras as anything other than a protection for police. Anything bad the police do will be "lost" or the camera will be "off for technical reasons"

[Ted S.]

The law needs to be written so that when the cameras "malfunction" the presumption is that the cops turned it off to prevent negative things about them from being recorded.

[sarcasmic]

That'll never happen.

[thom]

Or that in the event of a camera malfunction the defendant's account of events should be assumed to be true.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Another approach: use cameras that lack an external on/off switch, but are instead activated wirelessly. When Officer Friendly signs onto duty, the camera starts recording. When he signs off, it stops.

[FUQ]

Even officer dipshit can "accidentally" pull the battery wire or wipe a little mud on the lens. I am all for forcing those that work in law enforcement (tries not to vomit) wear cameras but I'm afraid the sheep will see this as "THE ANSWER" and ignore camera malfunctions later.

[Entropy Void]

"Boots on the Ground,
Boots on the Ground,
Lookin' Like a Foo'
Wit' Cho Boots on the Ground."

[sarcasmic]

ISIS fighters now 'at the gates of Baghdad': Islamic militants fighting 'just one mile from Iraqi capital' despite days Western airstrikes

Fierce clashes between jihadists and government forces near Iraqi capital
Militants understood to be attempting to enter and seize control of Baghdad
Reports of militants' proximity to Baghdad came from Canon Andrew White
He is vicar of the city's St George's Church - Iraq's only Anglican church
News comes despite ongoing Western airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq

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

[FUQ]

"More than 70 percent of U.S. troops surveyed opposed putting "boots on the ground" in Iraq"

1. We already have "boots on the ground"
2. Most U.S. Troops are NOT opposed to "boots on the ground" in theory. They are opposed to being put in harms way under the stupid rules of engagement under Chocolate Jesus. They also expect and deserve clearly defined goals and missions with a clear exit strategy.

[sarcasmic]

Classy style! Mary-Louise Parker shines on opening night at Broadway revival of You Can't Take It With You in sheer black dress

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....dress.html
Age catches up to everyone.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Except Pro L'.

[Lord Humungus]

and me. Why I could pass for 35 all day long.

[Pro Libertate]

I soak in Palmolive.

[John]

Its not so much age as her having really bad hair and being too thin. As women get older being really thin like that just makes their wrinkles and age lines that much more noticeable.

If she gained even five or ten pounds, she would look 10 years younger. I don't mean get fat, just stop being super thin.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Fuck you guys, I think she looks good.

[John]

She don't look bad. It is just that she doesn't look spectacular like she did four or five years ago. When she first started making Weeds, oh my God was she hot.

[MegaloMonocle]

The French have a saying, don't recall it exactly, that basically says women have to choose between their face and their figure.

After a certain age, you need some body fat to keep your face from looking gaunt/wrinkled/parchmenty. Exhibit A: Sarah Jessica Parker. Exhibit B: Mary Louise Parker.

[John]

Jessica Chastain in contrast.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....grief.html

I really like her. What a great body.

[Rich]

Bomb Squad Called to LAX to Investigate Reality TV Equipment

The most unbelievable thing about this story:

the airport did not need to be evacuated

[Ted S.]

"Reality" TV is even more unbelievable.

[The Late P Brooks]

Gov. Jerry Brown (D-Ca.) vetoed a bill that would have limited police use of drones in the state.

Lie back, and think of California.

[sarcasmic]

The girl band you can DATE: Japanese reality show launches new group...and invites fans to apply for romantic nights out with them

The four-member band from Tokyo only ever appear in public wearing bikinis
A reality show starring the group gives fans the chance to date members
Male fans will take part in X Factor style auditions to win their affections
The band will be joined by a rota of girls who will take their turn as members

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-them.html
Er, what?

[SugarFree]

Teen singers already dress like hookers, so why not just be hookers?

[John]

The money is steadier and your career as a hooker is longer. Teen girl bands are in the barn by the time they are in their 20s. Hookers, if they take care of themselves, can transition right into the MILF scene and keep working into their 40s.

Yeah, being a hooker sounds like the better career choice.

[gaijin]

Er, what?

Dude, it's japan

[Ted S.]

Speaking of Japan....

[gaijin]

genius. pure genius.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Er, no

[Lord Humungus]

My masturbation misery
After a sex toy party, I tried to give vibrators a shake. But something about them just rubs me the wrong way

"At some point, you'll have to get used to having sex with weird things," my mother said as we sat in her formal living room in the middle of a sex-toy party she was hosting for her friends. It's like a Tupperware party, only with dildos. My mother's sentiment was unexpected considering that this is the same mother who sat my high-school boyfriend in the passenger seat of her car and, like a minivan-driving mob boss, told him, "Show my daughter where you live, not where you sleep," before I was able to meet his parents.

[Ted S.]

She just needs to figure out which kink is right for her.

[Auric Demonocles]

Apparently it's not "get sex advice from your mom".

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Apparently "Share a vibrator with Mom" isn't all that hot.

[FUQ]

I must have pics of mom and daughter first before deciding hotness.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I lay in my bed, The Bullet in one hand and operating instructions in the other. Just before I undid my pants, I got an idea: I would make this moment more like a date, to ease myself into it.

I poured two glasses of Knob Creek, and drank them both. Then I took a long, hot bath, complete with Himalayan sea salt and lavender scents. I put my hair in hot curlers, hoping for the perfect porn star coif. It's like the saying goes: The bigger the hair ? the longer the orgasm. I put on makeup, lathering my face with blush and dark eyeliner. As I sprayed a little Herm?s perfume behind my neck, wrists, and knees, I felt sexy, sensual, like a woman ready to love ? herself.

Any guy here have a routine like this?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Typical guy routine

1) Nobody home? check
2) Doors locked? check
3) Incognito mode enabled? check
4) Adblockers and popup blockers enabled? check
5) Towel handy? check

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Hmm, doors locked. I should add that to the routine with two kids now.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

"The bigger the hair ? the longer the orgasm."

WTF?

I shave my head... Have I been missing out all this time? It's like Samson?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

6) Make sure the dogs are outside. Having the dogs sit and stare can throw you off a beat.

[Florida Man]

Does a belt looped over the shower curtain rod count as a routine?

[Mongo]

She chipped her tooth.

(Oldie but goodie)

[Lord Humungus]

hahaahahahha...

6 terrifying reasons why it's time to stop eating meat
From disgusting slaughterhouse conditions to devastating health consequences, the evidence keeps piling up

1. Slaughter Lines Are Increasing in Speed
2. The Blight of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv)
3. California Slaughterhouse Receives Criminal Indictment
4. An Asthma-Like Growth Additive Worse Than Ractopamine
5. Factory Farm Fires
6. Ag-Gag Laws

someone is in the pocket of big carb.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

An Asthma-Like Growth Additive Worse Than Ractopamine

That doesn't even make sense.

[Rich]

Nice (albeit long) band name.

[Mongo]

Not for an emo band.

[gaijin]

6. Ag-Gag Laws

The Silence is Settled!

[MJGreen]

A disgusting slaughterhouse? From the POV of a vegetarian?

Well, I never!

[Lord Humungus]

Just one more Salon, since you peeps are such big fans of her work...

What Lena Dunham's "learned": Her entertaining, frustrating literary debut

A truer influence on Dunham, though I'm not the first to compare them, is Woody Allen. They share that volatile fusion of grandiosity and self-deprecation, and Dunham's comic timing (you can practically hear Hannah speaking many of the lines in "Not That Kind of Girl") is a looser version of Allen's obsessive hypermentation, with the cultural references duly updated: "This relationship culminated in the worst trip to Los Angeles ever seen outside a David Lynch film." Both juice their jokes with the overarching humor of a comic persona who confesses compulsively and whose neuroses become perversely endearing.

[Ted S.]

Excuse me, but the words "Lena Dunham" and "entertaining" should never go together.

[John]

whatever one thinks of Woody's lifestyle choices or his movies, he was before he became a famous director one of the greatest joke writers of all time. He was also one of the great comic essay and prose writers of the last 50 years.

Comparing Dunham to Allen is like comparing Justin Bieber to Marvin Gaye. That first sentence alone is one of the stupidest things I have ever read.

[Pro Libertate]

Allen's standup was very funny, and I like his essays. Not to mention his earlier, funnier movies.

[John]

Since you once worked at a university, read his "Summer Course Flyer" sometime if you haven't. I think that is the title. But it is a list of various course offerings given by a university. It is funny as hell. Contains gems like "students achieving oneness will more on to twoness" and "the categorical imperative and what it can do for you".

[Pro Libertate]

The Hermeneutics of Identity Oneness.

[FUQ]

Am I the only person that doesn't find Woody Allen funny?

[Ted S.]

He's been insufferable since Annie Hall, but some of his stuff before that was fairly funny.

[tarran]

I thought the Curse of The Jade Scorpion was quite funny.

[John]

"What's Up Tiger Lilly" is really funny too. They took a Japanese secret agent film and dubbed it with comic dialog. It is laugh out loud funny.

[John]

Watch "Don't Drink the Water" or the David Niven "Casino Royal" or "What's New Pussycat" sometime. Or go and read his early comic essays. He was once unarguably very funny.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

No, I haven't found him too terribly funny.

[Lord Humungus]

Love and Death is probably his best film... and then Sleeper.

His stand-up routines of the 60s are also funny.
YouTube

[John]

Love and Death is great. What is so insulting about comparing Dunham to Allen is that love him or hate him Woody Allen is a no kidding intellectual. He is a smart and very well read guy. Dunham in contrast is a typical pig ignorant Prog.

Let's see Dunham do something like make a satire of Tolstoy. That would require her reading a book written at a level above 50 Shades of Grey or Fear of Flying. And it is just really hard to get through all that mansplaining in a book like War and Peace.

[FUQ]

^^^ This

I don't find Woody funny but Dunham is just pathetic.

[Pro Libertate]

I just watched Love and Death for the first time in a long while. Very funny movie.

[John]

http://www.breitbart.com/Breit.....ound-Texas

Election fraud is just a right wing meme!!

Question; is there ever a time when election fraud isn't perpetrated by the left? Seriously, I can't believe it doesn't go one somewhere on the Right but I can't think of any really well known instances of it.

[sarcasmic]

Hanging chads!

[John]

I mean a case where people actually went to jail.

[FUQ]

How can people go to jail for something that never happens?

/prog

[ant1sthenes]

They should just get some sacrificial lambs to go out and blatantly steal elections like the left. That might get some reforms passed.

[kbolino]

"Voter suppression" in Ohio and Florida in 2004? Oddly enough, I can't seem to find any evidence that actual voters (not just names on paper) were impacted.

[John]

Those stories amount to "there was a cop car seen near a polling place so black people were afraid to go and vote". Literally that is how ridiculous they are.

[Lord Humungus]

U.S-led raids hit grain silos in Syria, kill workers: monitor

U.S.-led air strikes hit grain silos and other targets in Islamic State-controlled territory in northern and eastern Syria overnight, killing civilians and wounding militants, a group monitoring the war said on Monday.

The aircraft may have mistaken the mills and grain storage areas in the northern Syrian town of Manbij for an Islamic State base, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. There was no immediate comment from Washington.

something...something military intelligence.

[Almanian!]

AMERICA!

FUCK YEAH!

Killin' silos like
a motherfuckin' BOSS, YEAH!

AMERICA!

FUCK YEAH!

Nuke 'em and let God
sort them out now!

[John]

When you don't have any "boots on the ground" to tell you what to hit, you end up just randomly bombing shit.

[SusanM]

As long as it wasn't a baby milk factory.

[Almanian!]

Fully grown milk factories are OK to hit. Just to be clear.

But, yes, no baby factories. Agreed.

[antisocial-ist]

How would you milk a baby? Maybe you meant a baby juice factory.

[John]

If a Republican were doing it, it would be called a "baby food silo". Since the Chocolate Nixon is doing it, the media will call it a "terrorist reserve supply dump".

[Rich]

Tinkering with brain's decision circuits makes rats go random

No shit!

Seriously, despite the title, it's a fairly interesting article.

[Ted S.]

Random, aribtrary, or pseudorandom?

[Lord Humungus]

Yahoo-AOL merger proposal: recipe for revival, or stagnation?

A proposed merger of Internet pioneers AOL Inc and Yahoo Inc could create a nimbler player in Web video, but strong growth, the measure of success in Silicon Valley, would remain elusive.

Investors are revisiting one of the most speculated Internet combinations, after activist investor Starboard on Friday pressured Yahoo to merge with AOL.

A pairing could help the companies compete in their core advertising business. But even combined, they would remain but a shadow of the Internet powerhouses they once were, analysts and advertising experts said.

Needs moar Edsel.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

A merger with AOL? Yahoo must be desperate.

[John]

If they were smart, they could market themselves as the less creepy and political version of google and facebook. Zuckerman and the Google guys are leftist state worshiping assholes. There is a real need for an alternative for the non tech savy. Why not AOL? They could play off their datedness in a funny way the way Old Spice does.

[Ted S.]

And yet some people still get up in arms over the idea of monopolies in the internet economy.

[SugarFree]

Magical Wood Elf doesn't like the consent app.

Last June, Reason's Robby Soave called for an iPhone app that would clear up pesky he-said, she-said rape cases by recording two parties' "mutual consent" to engaging in sexual activity before they do the deed: "Maybe they would have to input a password and then touch phones, or something?" he proposed. Last week, his prayers were answered: The Good2Go sexual consent app isn't as touch-and-go as the app of Soave's dreams, but it does encourage sex partners to assess their mutual interest in sex and record their intoxication levels before getting busy.

[John]

It sounds like a nice idea, except that it just begs the question. If the woman can claim the guy forced her to have sex or took advantage of her being unable to consent when she was drunk, she can say he did the same thing forcing her to agree on the app.

[Rich]

It's forced consents all the way down.

[John]

Pretty much.

[Auric Demonocles]

Also, it only proves she was into it at the start. Maybe she changed her mind but he wouldn't stop.

[John]

That is another good point. I said yes but changed my mind!!

The reality is that since sex usually happens alone, you can only settle a dispute between the parties by making a guess based on the circumstances surrounding the incident. That means that if a woman is game to be there and start, it is going to be very difficult for her to prove rape if she later changes her mind. That doesn't mean she deserves to be raped. It is just the way life is.

[Auric Demonocles]

I think you've stumbled on the real solution:

Sex will only be allowed in the context of orgies!

[John]

With a parental chaperone. That ought to take a bite out of the teen pregnancy rate.

[gaijin]

I think all sex must be recorded via body cameras. Like the cops. The only way to know the truth.

[gaijin]

d'oh! FUQ first across that line

[John]

Sadly, I don't think we are far from that, at least with regards to casual sex and one night hookups.

[FUQ]

This is why all sex must be filmed in HD on college campuses. Then it must be uploaded for us to judge if it was consensual.

Now where is my towel?

[John]

I read that the new Iphone 6 has a video camera that is just unreal. In the current campus environment, can you blame men for filming all of their sexual encounters? You wouldn't even have to release the film. If the woman got buyer's remorse and claimed "rape", you just quietly inform her you have a video of it and would like her to drop the matter.

[Andrew S.]

Yeah, but then you get in trouble for recording without consent. And may whatever higher being you beleive in help you if that freshman girl you hook up with happens to still be 17.

[John]

Yes, you do get in trouble for filming. But that beats a rape conviction.

[Auric Demonocles]

Solve that problem by being in a more reasonable state.

[John]

There is always that AD. Don't go to college and stay away from those lunatics is probably the best solution. Take your classes on line.

[FUQ]

In all seriousness. This is where we are headed. Any smart male won't touch a female without written consent that has been filmed. This with a signed release to tape all sex from beginning to end. College campuses are becoming toxic for men.

[Auric Demonocles]

Some crime drama my sister was watching had a celebrity suspect say his alibi was getting laid. It turned out he does this with all of his conquests, so he pulled out he tapes to prove he couldn't have committed the murder.

[All-Seeing Monocle]

Hopefully the app informs the male counterpart that nothing he does in the app will keep him from retroactive consent withdrawal and subsequent expulsion, and then invites three male judges to real-time weigh in on whether the hotness of the prospective partner warrants the risk. I would consider that a value prop.

[Lord Humungus]

Very Important Scientific Study: Cows Hate the Sound of Cowbells

In order to test the effects of cowbells on cows for a doctoral dissertation, Julia Johns and a colleague attached 12 pound bells to over 100 cows in 25 different parts of the country, and measured both their decibel levels and the cows' reactions to them. Possibly that might not have been the most ethical thing if your goal was to figure out how the cowbells affect the cows, but okay. After all, it's not as in Johns' team could have predicted that the cowbells could reach decibel levels of 113?which is about as loud as a chainsaw, and far above the legal accepted limit of 85 dB (fun fact: the U.S.A's legal limit is higher than that of other countries at 90dB. We party hard).

Furthermore, the bells had a significant impact on the mood of these cows; many chewed their food at a much slower rate than usual, and some cows were completely unresponsive to sound at all. It's unclear whether the weight or the sound of the bell is what's causing most of the discomfort, but signs point to the latter, considering that having something heavy around your neck doesn't normally cause hearing loss.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Christopher Walken is disappoint

[Ted S.]

Needs more cowbell!

[Roger the Shrubber]

Is there a purpose for having a cow wear a cowbell that I am unaware of?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Early warning system against stealth cow attacks

[pan fried wylie]

Goddamn electric cows.

[FUQ]

Cows travel in herds. Typically one cow is the leader. You bell that cow so you can find the herd.

[Roger the Shrubber]

So the rancher can find the herd or the other cows?

[SusanM]

So, no Mountain mp3s when you stop by the farm. Got it.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Or BOC.

[Matrix]

So cows most certainly hate Mississippi State football.

[a better weapon]

After all, it's not as in Johns' team could have predicted that the cowbells...

Johns' team is full of heffers!

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/blog/bleeding-kansas/

A best realistic election result would be the Democrats suffering a soul shattering defeat with the lone exception of Pat Roberts being told to hit the streets. Sadly, I bet he manages to save his sorry ass. Kansas is still very Republican and the "independent" is a massive douche bag. As much as people in Kansas dislike Roberts, the fundamental dishonesty of a guy whom everyone knows will vote exactly as Harry Reid tells him running as an "independent" is probably going to be too much for them.

[John]

The disappointing thing about the Kansas race is that it really was an opportunity for a no shit Libertarian to have run as an I and actually won. After the GOP Senate campaign committee fucked over the Tea Party guy, a large number of Kansas Republicans were ready to vote for almost anyone. Sadly, as usual the Progs had their shit together and got one of their own to jump in the breach.

[The Late P Brooks]

My laptop is acting up this morning, and I had to start it up on a different OS partition. (an out dated version of ubuntu)

Holy shit, this website is fucked up.

[Auric Demonocles]

Embrace the social media!

[The Late P Brooks]

My laptop is acting up this morning, and I had to start it up on a different OS partition. (an out dated version of ubuntu)

Holy shit, this website is fucked up.

[Lord Humungus]

The only way I can stand being on Reason is thanks to Firefox with Adblocker and Scriptblocker running. That and the fascr add-on to block our seedier trolls.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm running the same setup.

[Lord Humungus]

oops - Scriptblocker = NoScript

[Auric Demonocles]

We knew what you meant.

[Lord Humungus]

Finding Those Active-Government Republicans & Smaller Government Democrats

So 38 percent of self-identified Democrats are "neutral" on whether government should be "more active," and 9 percent of the traditionally "bigger government" party want a "less active" one.

Meanwhile, 16 percent of members of the "smaller government" party want a more active government.

Of course, the question is pretty open-ended about "government," so we don't know what the respondents have in mind when they think of "more active" or "less active." Police actions like the ones in Ferguson? Military interventions? EPA regulations? Obamacare? Border security?

[John]

A lot of people who call themselves Democrat are not total retard Progs. The problem is the total retard progs have taken over the party. Like it or not we are stuck with the two major parties for the foreseeable future.

[MegaloMonocle]

A lot of people who call themselves Democrat are not total retard Progs.

True.

They're just led around by the nose by total retard Progs.

[Lord Humungus]

Finally, the Truth About the A.I.G. Bailout

Which leaves only two possible explanations for the overly solicitous treatment of Goldman and the others. The first is that their own financial position was so precarious that accepting anything less than the billions they expected from A.I.G. would have destabilized them, too. Which is to say, it really was a backdoor bailout of the banks ? many of which, like Goldman, claimed they didn't need one. Alternatively, maybe Mr. Geithner simply felt that Goldman and the like had a more legitimate claim to billions of dollars in funds than the taxpayers who were footing the bill.

Either way, forcing an honest admission out of Mr. Geithner, who is scheduled to testify in the trial, would be a helpful, even cathartic, development. Traumatic historical episodes often require a high-profile public reckoning before the country can move on. During the Great Depression, that reckoning came in the form of the Pecora investigation, in which a congressional panel summoned the titans of Wall Street to answer for their shady dealings in the run-up to the crash.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I thought everybody already understood that the reason they bailed out AIG was to protect their counterparties.

[John]

I thought everyone knew the AIG bailout was really a bailout of the banks? It was a bailout of the banks and a bailout of a whole lot of people's retirement. AIG holds a ton of annuities. Most big corporations got out of their pre-401 retirement liabilities by paying AIG lump sums to take them. Had AIG gone belly up, a lot of people would have lost their corporate retirements.

[The Late P Brooks]

Investors are revisiting one of the most speculated Internet combinations, after activist investor Starboard on Friday pressured Yahoo to merge with AOL.

It worked so well for Time Warner. What could possibly go wrong?

[Kaptious Kristen]

an investigation into how a contract employee was able to start a fire at a regional flight control center

My guess would be an accelerant and a source of combustion. Boom. Investigation done.

[John]

Didn't they prove that the claims to be able to see the chemical traces of an accelerant after a fire was complete junk science? That is how the one poor bastard got off death row recently I think.

[Andrew S.]

It's also how it's almost certain that Cameron Todd Willingham was innocent of the crime for which he was executed.

[tarran]

Not quite....

The junk science was that an accelerant made a fire burn hotter. Which is bullshit; the temperature of a fire is the product of the chemical reactions taking place, the rate at which fuel and air are being brought together, the amount of heat being lost to the surroundings, and the amount of heat being dumped in from the surroundings.

A charcoal fire can melt steel, or it can lightly grill a steak. Same fuel, very different temperatures. Actually, charcoal used in steel making was rarely mixed with an accelerant, but the stuff used to grill steak does get a dose of lighter fluid...

Accelerants do often leave forensic evidence, in the form of affecting how the fire spreads.

[John]

Holy shit. They actually claimed that accelerants make a fire burn hotter? That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard in my life. For the reasons you explain, it is a completely irrational claim.

I didn't realize that was the claim since I didn't think anyone would be stupid enough to make it much less believe it. Our judges and attorneys really are profoundly illiterate.

[db]

It all depends on how close you can get to the acrobatic flame temperature for a given fuel/oxidizer combination.

[db]

Holy carp, Autocorrect. Do you know nothing of thermogoddamics? "Acrobatic" s/b "adiabatic."

[MegaloMonocle]

"Adiabetic"? So SugarFree has an alibi?

[Kaptious Kristen]

If you're trying to light plastics or flame-retardant stuff on fire, you're probably gonna need gas or some other kind of accelerant. You can't just drop a match on an office carpet and expect it to go anywhere.

[The Late P Brooks]

it really was a backdoor bailout of the banks

No shit.

[Kaptious Kristen]

You want daily box kicks (or, nut punches for the fairer sex)? Just get on Facebook and follow PINAC.

Jeebus Chrysler drives a dodge.

[Matrix]

Cop suckers still defend that BS

[BigT]

A "poisonous combination" of record debt and slowing growth suggest the global economy could be heading for another crisis, a hard-hitting report will warn on Monday.
The 16th annual Geneva Report, commissioned by the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies and written by a panel of senior economists including three former senior central bankers, predicts interest rates across the world will have to stay low for a "very, very long" time to enable households, companies and governments to service their debts and avoid another crash.

We are truly fucked.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Those of us who don't carry debt in our businesses are getting fucked double right now.

[SusanM]

Bullshit law roundup by readers of Cracked.com

http://www.cracked.com/photopl.....lizing-it/

[Aloysious]

On an entirely different note: I hate Computershare. That was the most effort I've ever gone to just to sell shares of stock. The operator lady, however, was very helpful.

[The Late P Brooks]

The 16th annual Geneva Report, commissioned by the International Centre for Monetary and Banking Studies and written by a panel of senior economists including three former senior central bankers, predicts interest rates across the world will have to stay low for a "very, very long" time to enable households, companies and governments to service their debts and avoid another crash.

YOU"RE JUST NOT HITTING IT HARD ENOUGH.

The best.

The brightest.

[SusanM]

Top. Men.

[Stormy Dragon]

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says he wants an investigation into how a contract employee was able to start a fire at a regional flight control center that caused the cancellation of thousands of flights in and out of Chicago and disrupted air traffic nationwide.

The Search for Fire II

[Entropy Void]

OT: Good God, I love Camille Paglia.

Camille Paglia: The Modern Campus Cannot Comprehend Evil

http://wp.me/p5HMd-es8t

[Rhywun]

Blocked - what is it? I love her too.

[Entropy Void]

Just for you, Rhy-

Young women today do not understand the fragility of civilization and the constant nearness of savage nature
The disappearance of University of Virginia sophomore Hannah Graham two weeks ago is the latest in a long series of girls-gone-missing cases that often end tragically. A 32-year-old, 270-pound former football player who fled to Texas has been returned to Virginia and charged with "abduction with intent to defile." At this date, Hannah's fate and whereabouts remain unknown.
Wildly overblown claims about an epidemic of sexual assaults on American campuses are obscuring the true danger to young women, too often distracted by cellphones or iPods in public places: the ancient sex crime of abduction and murder. Despite hysterical propaganda about our "rape culture," the majority of campus incidents being carelessly described as sexual assault are not felonious rape (involving force or drugs) but oafish hookup melodramas, arising from mixed signals and imprudence on both sides.
Colleges should stick to academics and stop their infantilizing supervision of students' dating lives, an authoritarian intrusion that borders on violation of civil liberties. Real crimes should be reported to the police, not to haphazard and ill-trained campus grievance committees.
Cont'd

[Entropy Void]

Too many young middleclass women, raised far from the urban streets, seem to expect adult life to be an extension of their comfortable, overprotected homes. But the world remains a wilderness. The price of women's modern freedoms is personal responsibility for vigilance and self-defense.
Current educational codes, tracking liberal-Left, are perpetuating illusions about sex and gender. The basic Leftist premise, descending from Marxism, is that all problems in human life stem from an unjust society and that corrections and fine-tunings of that social mechanism will eventually bring utopia. Progressives have unquestioned faith in the perfectibility of mankind.
The horrors and atrocities of history have been edited out of primary and secondary education except where they can be blamed on racism, sexism, and imperialism ? toxins
embedded in oppressive outside structures that must be smashed and remade. But the real problem resides in human nature, which religion as well as great art sees as eternally torn by a war between the forces of darkness and light.
Liberalism lacks a profound sense of evil ? but so does conservatism these days, when evil is facilely projected onto a foreign host of rising political forces united only in their rejection of Western values. Nothing is more simplistic than the now rote use by politicians and pundits of the cartoonish label "bad guys" for jihadists, as if American foreign policy is a slapdash script for a cowboy movie.

[Entropy Void]

The gender ideology dominating academe denies that sex differences are rooted in biology and sees them instead as malleable fictions that can be revised at will. The assumption is that complaints and protests, enforced by sympathetic campus bureaucrats and government regulators, can and will fundamentally alter all men.
But extreme sex crimes like rape-murder emanate from a primitive level that even practical psychology no longer has a language for. Psychopathology, as in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's grisly Psychopathia Sexualis (1886), was a central field in early psychoanalysis. But today's therapy has morphed into happy talk, attitude adjustments, and pharmaceutical shortcuts.
There is a ritualistic symbolism at work in sex crime that most women do not grasp and therefore cannot arm themselves against. It is well-established that the visual faculties play a bigger role in male sexuality, which accounts for the greater male interest in pornography. The sexual stalker, who is often an alienated loser consumed with his own failures, is motivated by an atavistic hunting reflex. He is called a predator precisely because he turns his victims into prey.

[Entropy Void]

Sex crime springs from fantasy, hallucination, delusion, and obsession. A random young woman becomes the scapegoat for a regressive rage against female sexual power: "You made me do this." Academic clich?s about the "commodification" of women under capitalism make little sense here: It is women's superior biological status as magical life-creator that is profaned and annihilated by the barbarism of sex crime.
Misled by the naive optimism and "You go, girl!" boosterism of their upbringing, young women do not see the animal eyes glowing at them in the dark. They assume that bared flesh and sexy clothes are just a fashion statement containing no messages that might be misread and twisted by a psychotic. They do not understand the fragility of civilization and the constant nearness of savage nature.
Paglia is the author of Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art From Egypt to Star Wars.

30

[Kaptious Kristen]

When I go skiing this winter (Park City again, BTW), I'm-a fly first class. My first time. Am I going to be spoiled for coach from now on?

[John]

Depends on how long the flight is. On a domestic from the east coast to Denver, probably not. It will be nice but not so nice that you will long for it.

If it were on a trans Atlantic flight, however, you would be ruined for life. I got upgraded to first class on a 777 from Chicago to London once. It was the only flight I have ever been on that I didn't want to end.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Yeah, I'm flying BWI - SLC. One thing that appeals to me is the odds of hyper and/or screaming children is greatly reduced in first class. And better crapper access. I usually avoid the cans on flights because there's always a long line and you always get back to your seat to find a beverage cart blocking your access.

[John]

It will be a great flight and you will enjoy it. Have fun.

[Stormy Dragon]

Don't forget the ritual parading of the peasantry. You get to sit in your first class seat and stare haughtily at them through your monacle as they are forced to slowly parade past you, gazing longily at a world of luxury they can only dream of.

[Pro Libertate]

I flew business class once from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo. It was great, but the most stunning moment was when I went for a walk (6 1/2 hour flight to be followed by a 12-hour flight, so trying to get a little leg time) and walked back into coach. People crammed together, windows shut for the movie. . .it was a hint of what it would be like to be on a plane flight to a concentration camp.

[Rhywun]

Flew coach from LA to China and back once - both legs were almost empty thank the gods. That makes a world of difference.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I flew coach from NYC to Shanghai (with a fuel stop in Anchorage) when I was in my mid-20's. There's no fucking way I would ever do that again at my age.

[Johnny Bravo]

Am I going to be spoiled for coach from now on?

Most likely.

[db]

Domestic first class is OK but nothing like international first class. You won't be spoiled, but the seats, the food, and the free alcohol are a definite step up.

[Pro Libertate]

International first-class can be insane, depending on the airline. I mean, some practically have cabins.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Someday I'll have the cash and/or miles to fly this first class.

[db]

I was flying out of Shanghai last year with one of our vice presidents. As we were walking down the hall toward our A330, she saw an A380 at an adjacent gate. She asked if that was real or a movie prop. The A380 is a monster. It is hard to really get a grip on its size.

[SusanM]

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren called for congressional hearings into allegations that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been too deferential to the firms it regulates.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....lapse.html

[Pro Libertate]

I'm shocked--shocked!--to find that gambling is going on in here!

[John]

She will have hearings and her solution will be to hire more regulators for Goldman to buy off. I guess the price of preferential treatment will go up. So there is that.

[tarran]

On my facebook feed, someone was passing around a picture of Warren looking like she;d sat on a porcupine, demanding that students stop being treated as profit centers and be given cheaper student loans.

[Auric Demonocles]

I look forward to her demonizing banks in 10 years for giving students "predatory" loans that they can't afford.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

That they find cheaper ways of getting an education without paying for the worn-out residential college experience or supporting assistant deans for diversity, and not be victims of the higher ed bubble.