Turkey Wants Backup Against ISIS, Everybody Hates Nancy Pelosi, More Bad Ebola News: P.M. Links

• 

  U.S. Government

  Before they send troops after ISIS, Turkish officials want somebody else to get some skin in the game. Oh well. Thought we had them there.

• If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that Nancy Pelosi is horrible. Even members of her own party are campaigning against her.
• With an eye on the confusing mingling of Obamacare with the tax code, experts say the next tax season should really, really suck.
• Now that the Supreme Court has turned up its collective noses at the chance to rule on the issue, West Virginia officials concede that their attempts to defend a state ban on gay marriage are pointless.
• In Spain, Ebola-infected nurse Teresa Romero took a turn for the worse, and more people have been quarantined. Yeah, that's not so encouraging.
• A Missouri state senator wants the feds to investigate the police shooting of— no, not Michael Brown. Try to keep up. This is a new shooting, of a man named Vonderrit D. Myers.
• Quick, call your bookie. The smart money is on Edward Snowden, Pope Francis, or Malala Yousafzai for the Nobel Peace Prize. What? That can't be. None of them committed an atrocity.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Even members of her own party are campaigning against her.

I'm sure she gave them permission first.

[Lord Humungus]

Like the Dem congress critters are all set to vote her out of being the minority leader.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello!

[Los Doyers]

I have a m o m e n t for you.

[Slammer]

Gaaahh!!! Pelosi!

[Aloysious]

I know, right? Obama, Pelosi, Boehner, how much worse can it get?

[Homple]

...Harry Reid...

[Hyperion]

McStain and his crummy little today, Graham.

[Homple]

That would be "toady", but a most apt couple of additions nonetheless.

[waffles]

The visage of the evil bitch sends shivers down my syrup infused spine.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm about to take a nap since I'm a bit under the weather, but now I'll probably be unable to sleep due to fear of monsters.

[Jesus H. Christ]

Get well soon, just don't look under your bed.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The smart money is on Edward Snowden, Pope Francis, or Malala Yousafzai for the Nobel Peace Prize.

None of them are Bush, so...

[Injun, as in from India]

Given the past history of the Nobel Peace Prize, my guess is that a basic qualification is probably killing at least a few hundred people.

[thom]

My money's on Putin.

[PapayaSF]

That, or lying a lot (Rigoberta Menchu).

[The DerpRider]

It's going to be the Pope, who they normally hate because religion until he came out and said something about capitalism sucking.

[dinkster]

The pope can say basically whatever he wants and not have acid thrown in his face or get water boarded by the CIA. So since he deserves it the least, he will win for certain.

[Hyperion]

I hope it's Snowden. Let Odumbo contemplate that for a while...

[Overt]

Yeah, you can never discount the chances of a man who gave America a black eye. Europeans love those people. Hell, the whole reason Obama got the prize was he went around the world talking about how bad the US is, and how it needs to be better.

[dinkster]

Can one peace prize holder have another assassinated? Would make for an uncomfortable dinner and speech.

[Warty]

Orange Goblin. Enjoy.

[Gluesponge]

Didn't know they had a new disc out! Kick ass...

Dunno how you feel about pagan/viking metal... but this is one of my favs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HblP8090R1w

[Palin's Buttplug]

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee says he will leave the GOP if Republicans abandon their ardent opposition to gay marriage and abortion.

Appearing on the American Family Association's radio show this week, Huckabee was discussing gay marriage and said: "If the Republicans want to lose guys like me ? and a whole bunch of still God-fearing Bible-believing people ? go ahead and just abdicate on this issue, and why you're at it, go ahead and say abortion doesn't matter, either."

"Because at that point, you lose me," Huckabee said. "I'm gone. I'll become an independent. I'll start finding people that have guts to stand. I'm tired of this."

http://dailycaller.com/2014/10.....-abortion/

[Injun, as in from India]

Sounds like someone's got an inflated sense of self-importance. You won't be missed, Huckster.

[BakedPenguin]

Pretty much what I was thinking. "Don't let the door smack your ass on the way out."

[C. Anacreon]

Don't let the door smack your ample ass on the way out.

[Cytotoxic]

Adios assholes. Even easier for libertarians to take the GOP, which is ours by right.

[Tonio]

That "ours by right" thinking is unproductive. Remember how it used to be that the GOP thought libertarian votes were theres by right?

[Tonio]

theirs, dammit

[creech]

Buh-bye!

[perlhaqr]

Sounds good to me.

[BigT]

Don't let the door handle give you a little butt-love on your way out!!

[Cytotoxic]

I just hope Santorum cleans that handle on his way out with the Huckster.

[Tonio]

Eeeeeeeeeewwww!

[CE]

The Constitution Party awaits, Mr. Huckabee. He could single-handedly double their vote totals.

[jesse.in.mb]

I kept trying to get my folks to vote Constitution Party. I think they were worried if they didn't vote for Bush or McCain that the Democrats would win in California.

*sigh*

[John]

You guys laugh but Huck represents a good ten or 20% of the vote. If you take over the GOP and Huck and his 20% leave and go to a third party, it will be a Pyrrhic victory as the Dems proceed to win every election because their opposition is divided.

You guys are always so happy to play spoiler to the GOP. Well if you ever take over the GOP or kill it and make the L party the other major party, the Socons can do the same thing to you.

The Socons are not going away. Unless you can find a way to take an equal number of votes from teh Dems, you aren't going to beat the Dems without them.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And of course plenty of SoCons are also more or less sensible on economic liberty, too. In fact, the Thomas Frank-is criticism is that they combine SoCon ideas with economic liberty.

But go ahead, cast them aside and shack up with the hipsters and Millennials, I'm sure they'll respect you in the morning!

[Stormy Dragon]

Maybe for some of us, the ability to spend more time at the mall isn't the be all end all of liberty. Getting to keep more of your money is useful if the Huckabees of the world have banned you from using it on anything you want to do that gets thier panties in a twist.

[John]

Other than getting an abortion and getting the government to force someone to cater your gay wedding, I have to figure out exactly what freedoms Huckbee intends to deny you.

[Stormy Dragon]

Well again, he's still in the "homosexuality should be illegal" wing of the party.

Taxes have to get pretty dam high before I consider that more of a threat to my liberty than the guy who wants to kill me outright.

[Loki]

Taxes have to get pretty dam high before I consider that more of a threat to my liberty than the guy who wants to kill me outright.

Really? He wants to get him some trucks, and some rope, and have good old fashioned "fag drag"? Got a cite for that claim?

It's a pretty far leap from not supporting gay marriage to wanting to kill gays.

[Marshall Gill]

It's a pretty far leap from not supporting gay marriage to wanting to kill gays.

I think it could be argued that Huckabee would support making homosexuality illegal. It is completely irrelevant, however, because short of a Constitutional Amendment, Lawrence vs Texas is basically the law of the land. Even a Huckabee administration with both houses controlled by Republicans couldn't make homosexuality illegal, much less a capital offense.

[Stormy Dragon]

No, he wants a to send a guy with a nice official badge and uniform to do it in the name of "the law". The end result is the same for me either way.

[Loki]

I'd still like to see a link/ citation where he actually says he literally wants to make homosexuality illegal. I disagree with his position on gay marriage. I think you guys should be allowed to be as miserable as the rest of us, but I don't know that his position is that extreme (although I'm willing to be proven wrong). Either way I wouldn't vote for him for dog catcher, for a host of reasons.

[Stormy Dragon]

FLASHBACK: Huckabee Compared 'Homosexuality' To 'Necrophilia' And Fought For Banning Sodomy:

In 1997, Huckabee requested an amendment to a state Senate bill stating "that it is Arkansas public policy to prohibit sodomy to protect the traditional family structure." [Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 1/23/1997]

[Loki]

Fair enough. I stand corrected...

[jesse.in.mb]

I find that while there's a higher rate of good economic sense among SoCons generally, they swing much harder for govt intervention in the economy when someone they see as an ally is involved. Bush's Faith-Based initiative nonsense had terrifying implications for church independence but plenty of SoCons were ready to line up at the trough for it.

[John]

People are always happy to sell the rope to hang them. That is not a socon issue. That is a human being issue.

[jesse.in.mb]

I was merely pointing out that "plenty of SoCons are also more or less sensible on economic liberty" when a Democrat is in the White House.

A lot of that fiscal sensibility was out in force during the Clinton years, mysteriously disappeared during the Bush years and reappeared the second Obama took office. I don't think it's a SoCon problem, just that one can't necessarily count on a block of voters that love limited govt now to feel the same way when their guy is in office. Much like the anti-war movement on the left disappeared the second Obama took office.

[John]

If you look at the record. The deficit under Bush went up after 911 because we went to war. But it came back down fairly quickly and was down to under $400 billion in 07. Then something happened for the budgeting cycle for 08. The Democrats took Congress in late 06. And spending went through the ceiling.

Dem Congress and Dem President = unimaginable deficits

Dem Congress and Republican President = really huge deficits

Republican Congress and Republican President = big deficit

Republican Congress and Democratic President = smaller deficits depending on how insane the Dem President is.

That seems to be the formula. The question really is which side can your work with? If not the socons, then whom? Who on the Democratic side is there to pull into a coalition? The hipsters? The greens? You tell me.

[Stormy Dragon]

Nancy Pelosi represents a good ten or 20% of the vote. We don't ally with her because it's a ten or 20% that's inherently hostile too our political goals. Huckabee's ten or 20% is just as hostile.

If we can't win without socons, then we can't win with them either.

[John]

Then you are fucked I guess. I don't know what to tell you. The political system is winner take all. You have to figure out a way to get 50% or close to it to have any power at all.

The bottom line is there is not and never will be enough ideologically pure Libertarians to get to that number. So either live in the wilderness of figure out how to make a coalition with someone you don't like.

[pan fried wylie]

So either live in The Wilderness of Figure Out How to Make a Coalition with Someone You Don't Like.

[Homple]

^^Best advice for libertarians who want to have a political impact beyond preaching to the acolytes.

[Stormy Dragon]

Then you are fucked I guess.

Pretty much.

[Gluesponge]

Speaking of F.U.C.T.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJQ2oJBL8g4

[carol]

A lot of us that have traditionally been labeled as Socons because we are pro-life are more worried about the fiscal collapse of the country than whether two guys want to get married or whether somebody choses to get high. I don't think Huckabee has nearly as much pull as what he thinks he does.

[John]

If the most important issue to you is making sure that gay couples can sue the fuck out of anyone who doesn't like their marriage, then you should vote Democrat and not worry about it. If social issues are that important, what is so bad about the Democrats? They do come through on gays and abortion. No one can deny that.

[carol]

I can support gays getting married and oppose them being able to sue their local baker all at the same time. I can vote for Rick Scott here in Florida and vote for Amendment Two (although I think it was poorly written) all at the same time. What I can't do is be pro-life and vote for a Democrat. That doesn't mean I have to support Huckabee's particularly brand of conservativism.

[John]

I can support gays getting married and oppose them being able to sue their local baker all at the same time.

Sure you can. I can support my winning the power ball too. But supporting it doesn't make it an option. There are two choices available; people who object to gay marriage and people who support it but do so only because it will allow them to oppress the living fuck out of their enemies and make objecting to gays effectively illegal.

Those are the only two options available. The third option of having gay marriage but also getting rid of public accommodation laws isn't going to happen. That sucks but it is the truth.

And no, you can't be pro life and be a member of the Democratic party. You once could. But not now.

[carol]

I understand what you are saying and you are right. Currently "live and let live" means "do as I say or else" and it is the Liberals more than the Conservatives who are trying to force everyone to their way of thinking. However, I do see more people who believe that tolerance means tolerating things that one might not personally approve of and those people are becoming more vocal. Right now, Liberals are losing the argument.

[Overt]

John-

Why is it that the Libertarians always have to be the ones that hold their nose and vote?

Believe me, I am quite sympathetic with your views around Public Accommodation, but at some point SoCons are going to have to decide whether or not Gay Marriage- and only gay marriage- is enough of a hill for THEM to die on.

Why don't THEY give up on the SSM issue and instead join a coalition that is agnostic in government's role in that matter, and is instead rabidly dedicated to removing government's role in all sorts of issues, including public accommodation that violate religious beliefs?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Why didn't Republicans support the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan if you are so worried about fiscal collapse?

Obama did.

Tom Coburn did.

Don't tell me the GOP cares about fiscal issues any more than Pelosi does.

[carol]

Simpson-Bowles would have slowed the growth of government, marginally, but it did nothing to reverse the growth of government. Going broke only half as quickly is certainly preferable to full speed ahead but no one was silly enough to think that trimming a little off the edges actually qualified as reform.

[Palin's Buttplug]

You did not answer my question.

[Gluesponge]

Support? Define support. Government is still growing. Republicans suck at fiscal responsibility, but we can take the gloves off and see that the Democrats (modern ones) were the kings and queens of spending like there was no tomorrow.

Then, not to be outdone, the Republicans did it too. The answer to your question is, NEITHER party supports fiscal responsibility. If you think so, you're drinking more than just the kool-aid.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Obama completely ignored it after it was released, you moron.

[dinkster]

"Don't tell me the GOP cares about fiscal issues any more than Pelosi does."

Comon. Your not even trying anymore.

[Stormy Dragon]

Don't forget that Huckabee is terrible on the economic issues too. He increased Arkansas's budget 50% during his adminsitration and raised taxes. He's a big fan of government spending on education and health care, and is a proponent of environmental regulation, include carbon caps.

[Whahappan?]

He's basically a pro-life progressive, fiscally irresponsible and politically socially conservative.

[thom]

The South needs to dump the Republicans and form a social conservative party that joins with the Republican party at the national level, sort of like the CDU/CSU in Germany.

[ant1sthenes]

They could call them the Dixiecrats.

[carol]

I've been thinking about leaving the Republican Party but if Huckabee leaves I've got more reason to stay.

[Stormy Dragon]

"Because at that point, you lose me," Huckabee said. "I'm gone. I'll become an independent. I'll start finding people that have guts to stand. I'm tired of this."

He's just jealous that Ann Coulter hasn't threatened to drown him in the national press.

[Homple]

I, for one, would like to see Ms. Coulter drown Mr. Huckabee.

[Loki]

But then who's going to drown Ms. Coulter?

[ant1sthenes]

I look forward to the perennial bitching from the future libertarianish GOP about Bible Party spoiler candidates stealing their votes.

[Emmerson Biggins]

that almost makes me wanna be pro gay-"marriage".

[Fist of Etiquette]

With an eye on the confusing mingling of Obamacare with the tax code, experts say the next tax season should really, really suck.

Disseminating your health data is going to further burden the IRS.

[Injun, as in from India]

Can we plead the 5th or claim crashed hard drives if we get audited by the IRS? Oh no. They will pass an individual mandate requiring everyone to back up their hard drives or pay a fine tax.

[EdWuncler]

What's the deal with all of these new trolls in the past couple of days?

[Warty]

Troll"s".

[Slammer]

Trollfest!

[Warty]

Someone copied Finntroll???

[Warty]

Dammit. Link.

[Slammer]

Scandinavia's packed with all that folk metal. It's cheesy as fuck but sticks in your head.

[Warty]

Oh I love all of it. I'm just surprised someone copied everything about Finntroll.

ISKE ISKE ISKE ISKE ISKE ISKE ISKE ISKE ISKE

[Warty]

Fuck I love Korpiklaani. MOAR

[Gluesponge]

Hell yeah! Love Ensiferum too.

I like Tyr, from the Faroe Islands...

Here is the lead singer's side project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BfZPy3wMeo

[Episiarch]

Somebody is entering their manic phase!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Is that why you used the exclaimation point?

[Los Doyers]

BE SUPPORTIVE GOD DAMMIT

[Pro Libertate]

Election. It happens every time. I think they/she/he/it feels like some sort of Democratic stormtrooper.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I haven't been keeping up. Who here has been indulging them? Name names.

[Brandon]

I reply to every troll, every time. Including John. What are you gonna do about it?

[jesse.in.mb]

He'll comment before you and make snarky comments at your expense. Look upon him and despair!

[Riven]

Someone forgot to pay the troll toll, I guess.

[Trouser-Pod]

I guess everyone wants in on the "Libertarian Moment" and... Are you chewing gum???

[pan fried wylie]

Totally unprofessional.

[Loki]

Chewing gum on line, eh? I hope you brought enough for everybody!

[Injun, as in from India]

If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that Nancy Pelosi is horrible. Even members of her own party are campaigning against her.

You have to campaign against her in order to find out what's in her.

[RBS]

find out what's in her.

Paging Teenage Girl...

[T]

I bet there's other ways. Is cutting in half and counting the rings only for trees?

[perlhaqr]

Ew.

[Raston Bot]

Humane Society wants to muzzle biologists when their perspective is inconvenient.

http://www.pressherald.com/201.....njunction/

The ballot question would ban hunting bears with bait, traps, and dogs because all those methods are unfair.

[perlhaqr]

Your link is really hosed.

[Ted S.]

I think you SFed the link.

[pan fried wylie]

My right to bear arms shall not be infringed.

[Episiarch]

Don't be silly, they're going to give the Peace Prize to Obama again. With two Peace Prizes, he's got to be peaceful, right?

[Pro Libertate]

He's like the Ike Turner of Peace Prizes.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

The thought of him trying that "Now Etta Mae, you know I do this cause I love you" shit on FWOTUS makes me laugh hysterically.

[Curtisls87]

awesome

[ant1sthenes]

Tina Turner dropped her citizenship while he was in office, right? Just sayin.

[Los Doyers]

peace
http://condition1industries.co.....epower.jpg

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

You can get that on a magnet at the Eighth Air Force museum gift shop at Barksdale AFB. Nice enough museum, could use more signs/explanations on the hardware outside.

[Slammer]

Cop steals $1,300 from man during arrest, pepper sprays him and his sister for kicks, I guess

Joye wasn't arrested or charged, and still hasn't gotten his money back, Marinelli said.

[Anonymous Coward]

Just doing God's work in some of America's toughest neighborhoods.

[thom]

Remember when they had to at least keep up the appearance that they weren't just another gang of criminals?

[Cytotoxic]

Israel has contacts with some of Syria's rebels and even arms them a little. They are considering arming them further.

http://www.businessinsider.com.....ia-2014-10

1) The notion that all the rebels are bad needs to be put to bed. Israel likes them.

2) Assad's forces are slowly putting the squeeze on Syria's rebels in some places but they are getting mauled in the South. Are they prioritizing protecting the coast over keeping Damascus?

3) This is all the more reason that Obama's plan to arm Syrian rebels is a terrible WTF R U DOING idea because it may just screw up whatever Israel's doing.

[RBS]

So, the US will end up fighting Israel via rebel proxies?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

The US will end up fighting the US via Israeli proxies.

[Marshall Gill]

I think we can take us.

[ant1sthenes]

"1) The notion that all the rebels are bad needs to be put to bed. Israel likes them."

Either that, or Israel is made of humans who make mistakes like everyone else.

[Emmerson Biggins]

1) The notion that all the rebels are bad needs to be put to bed. Israel likes them.

please show your work.

that sentence doesn't QED.

[perlhaqr]

"In Spain, Ebola-infected nurse Teresa Romero took a turn for the worse, and more people have been quarantined. Yeah, that's not so encouraging."

But nope, no chance of an outbreak here. No way. Anyone who thinks so is just an uneducated yokel. Amirite?

[Cytotoxic]

Yes.

[lap83]

Don't worry. The health secretary has assured us that everything will be OK, because:

1. Actually there will be other cases.
""I think there may be other cases, and I think we have to recognize that as a nation,"

2. But she has been attending meetings.

3. And they have a several-point plan involves things like knowing what Ebola looks like and official-sounding words with multiple syllabes such as "domestic preparedness"

http://online.wsj.com/articles.....re-comment

[Loki]

"Now I know everyone's shit's a little emotional right now, but I've got a plan to fix everything."

[Tonio]

I don't think anyone here has ever said there will be no outbreak. And outbreak is ill-defined.

I suspect that at most the Dallas outbreak may grow to a few tens of people then wind down as the patients recover or die. As sorry as I am for the dead victim, maybe this will make people take this more seriously.

[Cytotoxic]

It won't even be that big a deal. Ebola isn't a threat to America.

[ant1sthenes]

For now, probably true -- awareness is high, and travel between West Africa and America is limited.

However, Europe is at greater risk, and if the infection spread to Mexico (say, panic finally convinces the government to shut down flights from affected areas into the US, so the infected try to use Mexico as an alternate entry point to get US healthcare, and create an outbreak there in the process) we could easily be in a world of shit, especially if people feel that getting into the US or Europe will dramatically improve their chances of surviving the virus.

[Jerry on the sea]

It's not an outbreak, it's viral septic action.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

+1 kinetic medical action

[Jerry on the sea]

Lego to Stop Making Shell Play Sets After Greenpeace Campaign.

[BigT]

It's Exxon from here on out.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

How about this?

[MikeP]

Won't this move place their Octan interests under antitrust scrutiny?

[rts]

'Jail sex video' trial delivers not guilty decision for Kenneth Brown

Cpl. Kenneth Brown, a Mountie charged with breach of trust after it was alleged he invited other officers to watch two drunk female prisoners having sex in a Kamloops jail cell, has been found not guilty.

[Slammer]

No video? WTF?

[Jerry on the sea]

It was alleged he encouraged his colleagues to watch the women via a video feed from their jail cell.

But Justice Romilly disagreed, saying he did not believe Brown had invited others to view the proceedings, rather that he had asked another team member to "enlarge the screen so they could make sure that neither of the two women hurt each other".

[paranoid android]

It's like one of those "Can you enhance the image and clean up the pixels?" scenes from a cop show, except everyone's fly is open.

[Trouser-Pod]

+1 "run it through some filters".

[Loki]

Enhance... Enhance... Enhance...

[rts]

This is making the rounds on, ugh, Facebook.

Confirmed: California Aquifers Contaminated With Billions Of Gallons of Fracking Wastewater

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity, reveals that nearly 3 billion gallons of wastewater were illegally injected into central California aquifers and that half of the water samples collected at the 8 water supply wells tested near the injection sites have high levels of dangerous chemicals such as arsenic, a known carcinogen that can also weaken the human immune system, and thallium, a toxin used in rat poison.

[Los Doyers]

No wonder I've been getting more colds of late. Meh. *drinks from hose*

[Warty]

Because you're eating too many asses? At least pack some antibacterial wipes before you chow down in Brownsville, dude.

[jesse.in.mb]

Just don't use alcohol wipes. That's just mean.

[Los Doyers]

When I go to brown town, I'm gonna at least be wearing my Johnny Cleveland shirt.

[Warty]

You know Johnny Football is in no way shy about eating ass.

[Los Doyers]

And he shouldn't be. How else would he rise up to starting QB.

[Warty]

Look at Hoyer. Can you imagine him with his tongue two inches deep in a stripper's asshole? No way. Bench that prissy motherfucker and get Johnny Football and his scramblin' tongue in and start winning some games.

[Los Doyers]

When you can smell the shit breath through the helmet, you know he's golden.

[Loki]

When you can smell the shit breath through the helmet, you know he's golden.

It's comments like these that keep me coming back to H&R.

[Jerry on the sea]

The concentrations of arsenic found are less than what was still permitable 10 years ago.

[Cytotoxic]

Did they actually link the toxins to fracking? Are the toxin levels actually dangerous?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Fox News freakout:

Twisted Ivy: Harvard students say US bigger threat to world peace than ISIS

They got most of their SAT questions right, but students at Harvard blew this lay-up posed by the college blog Campus Reform: Who is the bigger threat to world peace, ISIS or the U.S.?

Various students at the hallowed Ivy League school said they believe that America, not the Muslim fanatics who behead innocent people, is the biggest threat to world peace.

The students were interviewed on the quad by Campus Reform on Saturday, and the shocking video was posted on Tuesday.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014.....than-isis/

[Mike M.]

Harvard students are mostly a bunch of brainwashed left-wing dipshits. Just like you, Weigel.

[CE]

Not exactly Earth-shaking... the organization with the largest and best-armed armed forces on the planet, with a history of invading and conquering dozens of countries, vs. a few thousand guys with whatever weapons they can find. The question was "who is the biggest threat to world peace", not "who is the most evil". Those kids did well on the SAT because they can parse meaning.

[Cytotoxic]

What misleading duplicitous tripe.

[John]

Or because they are fucking morons who can't make qualitative distinctions.

By our logic the US was the world's biggest threat to peace in 1944. I mean it was in the process of invading and conquering two countries and had the world's best army.

Wait, never mind, you probably actually believe that.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

What does "world peace" even mean? Pretty sure there are many nations whose ambitions and petty conflicts will prevent us from joining hands and singing Kumbaya.

[Pro Libertate]

We may have unclean hands--in fact, we definitely do--but we're a heck of lot more "good guy" than most of the people we like to blow up. It's not like we're bombing Vancouver. And, to be fair, there's been a kind of Pax Americana for the last sixty years. Sorta.

[Entropy Void]

Wait.

Bombing Vancouver is an option?

[Anonymous Coward]

What? No Glenn Beck, shrieky? I R DISAPPOINT.

Harvard is a haven of well-heeled intellectual inbreeding and trained seals who can bark on cue, therefore TOP MEN-in-training. With that in mind, the future leaders of America are right in conclusion, though wrong in reasoning.

As a Western civilization, we're to blame for a lot of the problems that we're facing now," one student said during an interview. "I don't think anyone would argue that we didn't create the problem of ISIS, ourselves."

....

"American imperialism and our protection of oil interests in the Middle East are destabilizing the region and allowing groups like ISIS to gain power," said another student.

This is just fucking retarded. The head-choppers were chopping heads before the United States, imperialism, or "oil interests" were even things. The Arabs have been kicking each other in the dick for, let's say conservatively since 700 A.D. when that one guy declared himself the last prophet of Allah, usually because someone was in the wrong tribe, someone failed to worship Allah in the correct fashion, or just to correct some past grievance related to stolen sisters or stolen goats (two objects of equal value).

The vanity of wealthy, white, progressives, in their sincere belief that they, and those like them, are the source of all misfortune in the world would be funny if it didn't result in them doing such profoundly stupid things.

[Stormy Dragon]

To be fair, we are currently bombing far more countries than ISIS is.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

They can bloody well go and get their own airforce!!!!!

[ant1sthenes]

Well... yeah. Being a threat isn't just about being an asshole, it's about capabilities.

[jesse.in.mb]

Senior Iranian Ayatollah Says High-Speed Mobile Internet Is Un-Islamic

Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said Iranian authorities should introduce measures that would prevent access to the "negative features" of high-speed mobile Internet and 3G services before making them widely available.

Allah forbid they gain access to pics of a woman's ankle after a 5 minute download time.

The activist group added that Iran does not have the necessary structure to prevent the "harm" that could result from such services, including "access to immoral movies and photos," "the weakening of family structures," and "spying and the sale of the country's confidential information."

3G is coming to destroy wholesome Persian families. You heard it here first!

[Lady Bertrum]

"3G is coming to destroy wholesome Persian families."

Pretty sure the horse is out of the barn (See Xerxes circa 500BC).

[Fist of Etiquette]

YOU'RE A BIGOT. Luddites serve a valuable purpose.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

He knows modem handshaking screeches are actually quotations from the Koran.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

You have to listen to them backwards.

[Cytotoxic]

I'm sure letting these guys have nukes is just fine. Anyone who says otherwise is a warmonger!

[grrizzly]

More than a decade ago I got a phone that supported WAP, which was a huge advancement. There were so few WAP-compatible sites that I even explored the single erotic site. Never seen so many female nude pics before or after.

[Stormy Dragon]

Senior Iranian Ayatollah Says High-Speed Mobile Internet Is Un-Islamic

NO! NO! NO! We said PACKET switching, not PORK switching!!

[SusanM]

From TubePacking:

http://thinkprogress.org/justi.....-ferguson/

That distinction, said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, begins in the academies, before officers even get their badges. "We learn the technical aspects of policing: what report to fill out for this offense, how to properly handcuff, how do you make a stop, this, that and the other," he said, but pointed out that the training doesn't emphasize the protection of civil rights and liberties. "We don't spend time talking about the role of the police in a democratic society. We don't talk much about constitutional policing, including the right to assemble and peacefully demonstrate."

[Cytotoxic]

I'm sure letting these guys have nukes will go just fine.

[Cytotoxic]

That was supposed to be in response to Jesse's link but seems oddly apropos.

[Loki]

Although it works here too.

[Warty]

Destroying this entire region isn't enough, so let's jerk off over a failed violent strike 103 years ago. Because we're stupid idiot assholes.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

2016 Ohio ad: "In Rand Paul's America..."

[Suthenboy]

"Cleveland is sweltering during one of the hottest Junes on record. It's 1911, and ...."

Global warming?

[Auric Demonocles]

Hahaha. Remember the Sarah Silverman wage gap video that we mocked recently?

Well now the idiots are turning on each other.

And holy shit is that chart at the end retarded. "Equal pay for equal work! Let's show this by comparing different work!"

[Cytotoxic]

I actually laughed out loud at the chart.

[MJGreen]

What's there to laugh about child care workers being paid less than truck drivers? HUH?

This is the defining issue of our time!!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

As I keep repeating, Silverman undoubtedly makes more than the female comic that does the warm-up acts for her stand-up shows despite them both doing the same work.

Where's the justice in there? Shouldn't she insist that all her warm-up acts get paid the same as her?

[lap83]

That's different because...look over there! It's a male gaze!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"Elizabeth is a Senior Editor at Mic. She has a Masters degree from the London School of Economics and has experience in the field of behavioural science and women's advocacy."

Just thought I put that up.

[lap83]

What about the wage gap between me and Sarah Silverman? Society is obviously discriminating against me because I'm not a progressive lesbian comedian.

[Rev-Match]

Aside from the woman freaking out over people eating chicken, this is the most retarded thing I have seen in a good, long while.

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

Angry Bird: Hawk knocks drone out of the sky

http://fox5sandiego.com/2014/1.....f-the-sky/

[Warty]

From the same shitty magazine for failure-worshipping idiots, let's throw more money in the hole.

What has been our response to this catastrophic situation? The Congress in Washington eliminated extended unemployment benefits, so that no jobless Ohio worker collected extended unemployment benefits last week. Further, the state of Ohio and the federal government intentionally slowed down the recovery by eliminating governmental stimulus to the labor market. Among all industries in Ohio, the largest job losses have been from the elimination of federal, state, and local government jobs as government spending was cut. Taxes were cut too, primarily for affluent taxpayers.

And finally, a paean to communism. Really

It's fair to say communists are stereotyped, misunderstood, and maligned, by their fellows on the left and most certainly by the right.

Politically well-connected, Nagin brought to the convention some well-known figures, including State Representative Mike Foley, local AFL-CIO leader Harriet Applegate, and the respected and often-quoted Zeller. Foley is serving his last term as a progressive Democrat in Columbus?an endangered species if there ever was one. Outflanked by right-wing Republicans, he has been helpless to stop legislative assaults on voting and abortion rights.

[John]

It's fair to say communists are stereotyped, misunderstood, and maligned, by their fellows on the left and most certainly by the right.

Words fail.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

If only Goering and the rest had known they could use the "but we meant well" defense at Nuremberg.

[MJGreen]

The Congress in Washington eliminated extended unemployment benefits, so that no jobless Ohio worker collected extended unemployment benefits last week.

So every jobless Ohio worker has been unemployed for 100 weeks or more?

[Lord Humungus]

I'll gladly be part of any anti-communist clean-up crew.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Montgomery pastor admits to having AIDS, sleeping with church members

.....

Once the pastor, with 23 years of leadership, started revealing more and more on the following Sundays, members and leaders say they realized he had crossed the line.

In a resolution read aloud at the church, leaders shared, and Pastor McFarland confirmed to WSFA 12 News, that he admitted to drug use and mishandling of church funds. And there was what members say was the ultimate shocker, described by church deacon Nathan Williams Jr.

http://www.wsfa.com/story/2673.....ch-members

BUT HIS SINS ARE WARSHED AWAY BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

[jesse.in.mb]

Squee!

'Programmable' antibiotic harnesses an enzyme to attack drug-resistant microbes

"In experiments, we succeeded in instructing a bacterial enzyme, known as Cas9, to target a particular DNA sequence and cut it up," says lead researcher Luciano Marraffini, head of the Laboratory of Bacteriology. "This selective approach leaves the healthy microbial community intact, and our experiments suggest that by doing so you can keep resistance in check and so prevent certain types of secondary infections, eliminating two serious hazards associated with treatment by classical antibiotics."

Suck it MRSA, we're coming for you.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Falling crude oil prices push WTI into a bear market:

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

Oil futures fall to $85 (Nov) as US Dollar continues to gain.

HYPERINFLATION! BUY YER GOLD NOW!

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I know you don't buy groceries, but you may find inflation there.

[Rich]

With an eye on the confusing mingling of Obamacare with the tax code, experts say the next tax season should really, really suck.

How about a moratorium on taxes for a while?

What with the Deficit and Debt and QE and all -- WDATPDIM?

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

"A Missouri state senator wants the feds to investigate the police shooting of? no, not Michael Brown. Try to keep up. This is a new shooting, of a man named Vonderrit D. Myers."

With a name like Vonderrit, I just can't take this seriously.

[Rich]

RACIST, probably!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not "Vonderrit"! It's "VONDERRICK", you racist, patriarchal, othering shitlord!

/tumblr SJW

But yeah, when your parents name you "Vonderrit"/"Vonderrick" they're setting you up for failure in life.

[ant1sthenes]

Oh. Vonderrit sounded suspiciously like Voldemort.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I can understand the Democratic candidate for Kentucky Senator trying to distance herself from Obama, but refusing to say whether she *voted* for him?

http://washingtonexaminer.com/.....le/2554616

[Rich]

That is some mighty fine thumb-twiddlin'.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Ooh, she had campaign workers remove their Obama T-shirts.

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....ew-johnson

[John]

She has also been caught telling her supporters to not worry she is lying and plans to totally fuck the coal industry if she is elected.

[Palin's Buttplug]

It's Hillbilly Country. She can't win running as a supporter of the Muslim Atheist Kenyan.

[Anonymous Coward]

Shrieky, I think you mean the "not-Bush" Nobel Peace Prize winner who spies on everybody and bombs brown people for the lulz.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

PB, the Man of the People, ladies and gentlemen!

[trshmnster the terrible]

See, PB hates the poor, so he has to ascribe infantile motives to their choices in life, including their voting patterns.

See, poor black people can't help themselves and need to be protected. Poor white people are too stupid to vote correctly and need to be 'protected'

Overarching theme? Poor people are dumb, hurr durr!

[Warty]

The gender pay gap is a moral atrocity. Why just look at this chart that proves it!

[Pro Libertate]

I have a chart that says everyone should give all of their money to me.

[Pro Libertate]

In other words, there's a Me Gap.

[Warty]

You have a thigh gap??? PICS

[lap83]

How much does being a Warty pay?

[trshmnster the terrible]

There's more than one? *glances at ass with fear*

[lap83]

I don't know, but his job seems to allow lots of freedom and flexibility...so it must have pretty good benefits and compensation.

[jesse.in.mb]

Are you willing to work for the joy of time travel, flexing in a mirror and rape rather than standard remuneration packages?

We thought you might be. Warty Hugeman Industries knows the value of raping Hitler with a rusty knife is worth more than gold and silver.

APPLY TODAY!

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

I laughed so hard I startled the cat and dog. Bravo!

[jesse.in.mb]

Some day I will be judged harshly by Anubis for the emotional trauma I've inflicted on your dog.

*Sacrifices more human hearts to appease the jackal-headed one*

[Trouser-Pod]

glances at ass with fear

Is that a Native name?

[ant1sthenes]

Equal pay for easy work!

[Jerryskids]

MMA fighter Jason Miller live tweets his stand-off with the police.

"A peaceful resolution" to the cops means much less than "respect my authoritah", bro.

[Jerryskids]

And I can't help but notice that the "just the facts" reporter mentions Miller's previous brushes with the law but neglects to inform us of how many of the cops outside his house have had citizen complaints filed against them or how many times the SWAT team has screwed up serving warrants. If you're going to mention Miller's past, why not mention the cop's past? Isn't that fair and balanced reporting?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Do black atheists have different concerns than white atheists? Absolutely, say organizers of a first-of-its-kind conference to be held by atheists of color in Los Angeles this weekend. And, they add, it's about time those issues got some attention.

"Called "Moving Social Justice," the conference will tackle topics beyond the usual atheist conference fare of confronting religious believers and promoting science education. Instead, organizers hope to examine issues of special interest to nonwhite atheists, especially the ills rooted in economic and social inequality....

"The conference is unusual for an atheist gathering in another important way ? its lineup of speakers includes members of the religious community....[an organizer says] 'in order to be relevant to communities of color . . . atheists and humanists of color must collaborate with progressive religious organizations.""

http://www.faithstreet.com/onf.....oked/34484

[Rich]

atheists of color

Nice band name.

[John]

The 99% of atheists who are Prog assholes using atheism as a way to further their politics give the other 1% a bad name.

[Coeus]

Fuck off with that shit. The fighting back has begun. I'd say it was like 70/30 percent. With enough not caring that the situation is still in play.

[Suthenboy]

Ditto.

How many atheists have you argued with here John? Are any of them prog assholes?

[thom]

"Do black atheists have different concerns than white atheists?

I would assume that the concerns of most atheists differ from the concerns of all other atheists. Atheists aren't stamped out in a factory.

[ant1sthenes]

Look, we're talking about disputes over central tenets of the atheist faith. There could be a schism in the atheist church if things get too bad.

[The Late P Brooks]

I have a chart that says everyone should give all of their money to me.

You're a greedy monster. I would be perfectly happy if every man, woman and child in America merely sent me one hundred dollars on my birthday. And on Thomas Jefferson's birthday.

[PRX]

the Dallas County deputy tested positive for pants-shitting fear but negative for ebola.

[trshmnster the terrible]

To be fair, if I had been through ebola man's house and started feeling sick, I would probably shit myself as well.

[lap83]

That's good news. Hopefully no one else is infec

[lap83]

arghs *infected

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Thought we'd lost you for a second.

[lap83]

I should've waited 21 days to post again

[Jesus H. Christ]

"Before they send troops after ISIS, Turkish officials want somebody else to get some skin in the game."

I'm tempted to say these people deserve to be run over by the ISIS horde, but it's really their disgusting government. I wonder how many towns the Turks must lose before they give a shit.

[Stormy Dragon]

Keep in mind they haven't actually lost any towns yet. All the furor the last few days is over a town that's not actually in Turkey. It's like saying the US is disgusting because we haven't invaded Juarez, Mexico to stop the cartels yet.

[Jesus H. Christ]

I get your point, but we have no reason to be believe the cartels will invade and enslave the US.

[Derpetologist]

Tales from the Derp

When I was in Peace Corps, we had some training in this thing called permaculture, which is sort of like organic farming except the goal is subsistence. It's not all bunk, but I think it would be a tough sell to people who were trying to climb out of poverty.

The instructor worked for USAID and he had a lavish gated compound in Dar es Salaam. I visited once to view his demonstration garden. He did manage to grow stuff, but it wasn't any better than what I saw Tanzanians doing. I was shocked and offended that a so-called aid worker was living in such luxury. The Peace Corps frowns upon such things.

Anyway, back in my village, there was a plot of empty land behind my house. I asked my neighbors if it was OK for me to plant a garden there and they said go for it. I planted banana trees and sugarcane. Some goats ate the sugarcane and a cow knocked over one of my banana tress, but I did eventually get some bananas- about a week before my service was up. I also built a chicken coop out of rough planks I sawed myself. I never actually got around to putting chickens in it. I later learned it was dismantled for other uses after I left. Eh, easy come easy go.

I get the feeling my neighbors were not particularly impressed with my farming abilities. Good thing I never brought up the wonders of permaculture.

[Derpetologist]

Tales from the Derp

Watched "Elysium" last night. Great Scott, what a pathetic train wreck of lefty agitprop. Here's the gist of this sci-fi movie: Los Angeles is an polluted, overcrowded slum full of Mexicans. Now comes the sci-fi part- all the rich people live up on a space station with magic healing pods they keep all to themselves. Meanwhile, disease is rampant on earth.

Do these greedy people ever think to rent out their healing services to the poor people? No- that would make sense, and this is MAATTT DAAAAMON movie.

Speaking of him, he is the hero of this feature. You can tell he's poor because he has to ride a bus to work like all the other Mexicans. Incidentally, he appears to be one of the few white people left in future LA.

He works in a factory that makes police-bots. For some reason, the process requires putting the bots in a closet that cooks them with intense radiation. This serves no apparent purpose except to create a situation that requires Damon to enter the chamber when a pallet gets stuck and blocks the door. The foreman arrives. Does he tell him to use log-out-tag-out in order to safely retrieve the pallet. No- that would make sense. Does Damon use anything to prevent the door from closing once he is inside. No- that would make sense.

So, Matt gets cooked, and now he has only 5 days to get to the magic tanning beds in space.

[ant1sthenes]

I heard that it was a dog whistle anti-immigration film.

[Faceless Commenter]

It appeared to me to be a pro-immigration film in that the victims spoke Spanish and the most pathetic victim of all was a Spanish-speaking little girl.

[Coeus]

Hey, that's good crime prevention advice. Wait, isn't rape is a crime? Burn them!!!

I wrote to the UW police department spokesperson asking for comment on the changes. I asked if they had received and understood feedback expressing that the wording of the article seems slightly delusional, in that no one has ever prevented their own assault by saying, all chipper, "I won't let it happen to me!"

Department spokesperson Marc Lovicott wrote back. "The article for the most part was left unchanged, and we stand by it," he said. "The story is a general crime prevention piece?for all crimes against men and women." He expressed that it is "never EVER a victim's fault if they're the target of a crime," and repeated the sentiment several times.

Good of him to say so. Of course it would be better to actually say so, and even better if people?and I mean women?had the sense that our state apparatus actually believed this to be true. It's really the little things! Like the fact that the outcry was strong enough for the department to change the title and some of their wording, but they "stand by" the article, as is, in the end.

[New Normal]

"He expressed that it is "never EVER a victim's fault if they're the target of a crime"

How do people believe this?

[Coeus]

So much for live free or die...

CONCORD, N.H. ? A lawmaker wants the state's colleges and universities to adopt ''yes means yes'' sexual assault policies or risk losing state aid, amid rising concerns over sexual abuse on campuses around the country.

Representative Renny Cushing, a Hampton Democrat, has filed a draft of a bill, modeling his idea on a law recently signed in California. Cushing wants to require schools to adopt sexual assault policies that center on affirmative consent, meaning that both parties must verbally agree to engage in sexual behavior.

Under the proposed bill, public colleges and universities that do not adopt such policies would lose their state aid, and private colleges would lose their property tax exemptions.

[Coeus]

Paying women to have babies with tax dollars is only fair, because...

The government, after all, has historically supported white men's home and business ownership through grants, loans, incentives, and tax breaks (concessions that were not, until the second half of the twentieth century, made widely available to most women or to people of color). It has allowed them to accrue wealth and offered them shortcuts and bonuses for passing it down to their children.

But more than just goosing the economic and professional prospects of men, government has depressed the economic prospects of women by failing to offer equal pay protections, paid family leave, or subsidized day care. Until the 1960s, the government did not prohibit any form of gendered workplace discrimination; until less than a century ago, it did not allow women to vote. (And while I'm writing here about the specifically gendered government support that white men have enjoyed, it's crucial to acknowledge the ways in which they also benefitted?in which they built the country and kicked off their cycle of power and profit within it?on the Constitutionally enforced enslavement and disenfranchisement of African-American women and men.)

[Coeus]

The perks and protections afforded white men throughout the country's history have meant that America's women have earned less money and wielded less political and social influence over their lifetimes, which has made them more likely to have become dependent, often on husbands. In turn, the women who have historically been barred from policy-paved paths to economic flourishing have assumed most of the unpaid and low-paid domestic work?of raising the children, keeping the houses, cooking the meals?for the men who are too busy with their careers. (As a bonus, men have not had to worry about economic or professional competition from those women who have been systematically marginalized thanks to government policy!)

[Troy muy grande boner]

One couldn't ask for a better argument for why men should go Galt.

[Derpetologist]

"government has depressed the economic prospects of women by failing to offer equal pay protections, paid family leave, or subsidized day care."

Not giving is taking. /derp

[PRX]

And while I'm writing here about the specifically gendered government support that white men have enjoyed, it's crucial to acknowledge the ways in which they also benefitted

sammiches?

[Redmanfms]

12 hours late to the party, but mtrueman has repeated that horseshit in every thread about the "wage gap" for last year or so.

[Derpetologist]

The people on the space station don't want any Mexicans using their magic tanning beds. Many of the Mexicans try to sneak aboard the space station with stolen shuttles. They usually get blown up, but the some of the ones that make it get to use the magic tanning beds. They are quickly caught however, and deported/deplaneted.

Questions: why don't the people on the space station just dump some of the magic tanning beds on earth so the Mexicans stop trying to sneak in? If they are willing to kill the Mexicans to keep them out, why do they merely deport the ones they capture alive?

Answer: because that would make sense.

Did I mention that Matt Damon is given pills that allow him to function in spite of the radiation damage? Why do those pills stop working after 5 days? How does he manage to survive getting stabbed in the gut in addition to radiation sickness? Why do the space station people even have shuttles to fly back and forth? How do they keep the air in on the space station without some kind of wall? What happened to all the white people in LA? Why is everyone in a mostly Mexican city bilingual? How is it there is no class system on the space station? Why do the space station people give a crap about policing the earth? Why do they hire unreliable human bounty hunters in addition to killbots?

This movie gave me post dramatic derp disorder.

[Coeus]

Niven it's not. But it wasn't too bad. If I didn't watch or read scifi with political ideological holes in it, I'd only watch or read 1 or 2 things a year.

[Brandon]

So...two stars?

[Suthenboy]

"Questions: why don't the people on the space station just dump some of the magic tanning beds on earth so the Mexicans stop trying to sneak in?"

You appear to be unaware that economies are zero sum. If you knew that then the movie would make perfect sense to you.

Come to think of it, if I knew that then pouring tons of money into poverty infested shitholes would make sense to me.

[heartburn]

"Police say Myers was both armed and aggressive, using a stolen 9 mm gun to shoot at the officer."

You wouldn't plant a non-stolen pistol.

Just sayin'.

[Faceless Commenter]

Wake up, you slackers. It's only 1:00 am PST and I just found this:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.c.....row-739778

The actress hosted the President in her Brentwood backyard, gushing to Obama, "You're so handsome that I can't speak properly"
...
She cited sustainable energy efforts as well as Obama's push for equal pay, which she called "Very important to me as a working mother."

I think once this stud is out of the White House he's going to cut loose.

[Slammer]

Nice. And Rust in Peace is a better album than Master of Puppets. There. I said it.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Smoking weed? He's gone too far now!

[thom]

I'm confused about why they get all semantic with what he said to the government employee. If he smoked weed it'll show up in the piss - just hang him on that.

[flye]

So I can safely drop him?

[Warty]

Thighs that can suffocate you when your face is between them are the best, it's true.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Yeah, while he should be able to, presumably he knows he shouldn't be in Texas.

[Gluesponge]

And you'd be correct. I think the bandwagon-ing of Master of Puppets has a lot to do with the death of Cliff Burton.

Five Magics is a much better song than Disposable Heroes.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Well, it would be if Dave Mustaine's voice didn't sound like shit. I love the instruments and the lyrics, but god damn that guy's voice grates on me.

[Emmerson Biggins]

I disagree.

Like em both though.