Supreme Court Blocks Voter ID Law, ISIS Mission Expands, New Attorney General? A.M. Links

• 

  ACLU / Youtube

  The Supreme Court halted implementation of Wisconsin's voter ID law.

• Speaking of voter ID laws, you can watch Lewis Black get really upset about them, if that's your thing.
• President Obama hasn't chosen a new attorney general yet, and isn't sure when he will.
• Hey, look: the anti-ISIS efforts are expanding beyond what Obama initially had intended. Now who could have foreseen that?
• The NFL fined Colin Kaepernick $10,000 for wearing Dre headphones after a game.
• Kristen Schaal took on Republican efforts to court women voters on The Daily Show. Funny? You be the judge.
• Did infamous fugitive William Bradford Bishop Jr. die as an impoverished, homeless man in Alabama?

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]

The Supreme Court halted implementation of Wisconsin's voter ID law.

Stopping disenfranchisement or infantilizing minorities? You decide.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"President Obama hasn't chosen a new attorney general yet, and isn't sure when he will."

Something tells me he thinks this deep down inside:

"We don't need no Attorney-GeneralS! That's why, along with my Nobel Peace prize, I've decided to take over duties. How hard can it be, right Eric? High five'!

[MJGreen]

He is a better attorney general than his attorney general.

[Agammamon]

I think its more along the lines of - if I nominate someone he'll have to go through the approvals vetting and I've already lost the 'recess appointment' trick. Best if I just let the deputy director stay in the chair.

[Auric Demonocles]

I assume this means that the Supreme Court is about to block all gun background check laws.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

They didn't rule on the merits, they blocked it for this impending election because some ballots were already issued without the requirement due to a previous lower court ruling.

[Pro Libertate]

Why not ban IDs altogether? Inherently discriminatory, clearly.

Why fight this so hard if there isn't voter fraud? Why? It's bullshit, since people have to produce IDs for so much else.

[Almanian!]

RACIST much?

[Rich]

No wonder poor people can't fly!

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Pro, in every other area libertarians usually acknowledge that government bureaucratic requirements fall disproportionately on people with less resources and savvy navigating bureaucracies, why is this one area different?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

And I don't know if this was reported here, but the GAO recently released a report with some concerning conclusions about voter ID laws:

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballo.....-tennessee

[Florida Man]

Bo,
I see where you are coming from. I'm not a big supporter of "speed please" either, however voting comes with granting people power, and power tends to corrupt. There exist a great incentive for fraud so there should be greater scrutiny of the process.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think the incentives for fraud are the least for the kind ID requirements might address. Most fraud involves shenanigans by the election officials or on petition drives from what I can tell.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The real problem is people voting more than once. I'd be all for some kind of 'purple finger' type solution to address that .

The problem with voter ID laws is that post 9-11 we made the bureaucratic hoops for IDs greater.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The real problem is people voting more than once. I'd be all for some kind of 'purple finger' type solution to address that .

The problem with voter ID laws is that post 9-11 we made the bureaucratic hoops for IDs greater.

[Florida Man]

I think biometric would be easy. Scan your thumb and vote. If you get a duplicate, investigate and charge the fraudsters.

[Florida Man]

Wow. Papers please. Stupid phone

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The stupidity of my 'smart' phone corrections always helps lower any fears I have of a Skynet type takeover.

[Pro Libertate]

I'd prefer not to have state-issued credentials, but that's what people use for identification. Feel free to fix that before requiring them in voting.

A biometric system that the state didn't control would be nice.

[widget]

Everyone gets a hit in coach pitch baseball.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama hasn't chosen a new attorney general yet, and isn't sure when he will.

There aren't enough Chicago attorneys in his inner circle to pick from?

[Injun, as in from India]

Paging John Yoo.

[Lord Humungus]

Do Conservatives Fear Winning Elections Won't Make a Real Difference?

Republicans are 'blah' about the midterms because they've lost faith that winning them will make a difference. Obama's contempt for Congress, and lack of interest in working with it on his true priorities, is obvious. He's pledged to unilaterally rewrite immigration enforcement to suit his needs. Large chunks of Obamacare are adjusted, nullified, improvised, and revised on the fly with no change to the written law. The president begins wars without waiting for any authorization for the use of military force. The U.S. attorney general is held in contempt of Congress with no real consequence.

No one can blame conservatives for being frustrated to the point of fury. But if American rank-and-file conservatives and Republicans conclude that the game is rigged, that it's not worth playing, and withdraw from political life . . . then that will be the ultimate triumph of this president.

[Injun, as in from India]

More than the President, the reason for hopelessness are RINOs who are tax-and-spend "liberals" in Team Red garb.

[antisocial-ist]

More than either, the bureaucrats who run the government and most directly makes peoples life miserable aren't up for election and are unlikely to be changed no matter who's in office.

[Lord Humungus]

and with Boehner and McConnell as "leaders"...

[widget]

It's not so good for Dems when this sinks in. Massive tax cheating, Italian style. We'll elect communists but they won't have much money to spend.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Conservative Super PAC: Iowa TV Station Won't Run Our Ads Against Democrats

Judge Wants To Force A Printer To Make Pro-Gay T-Shirts

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"As GLSO [the gay group] President Aaron Baker himself admitted during the hearing, "I believe that a gay printer would have to print a T-shirt for the Westboro Baptist Church? And if the Westboro Baptist Church were to say, 'Look, we're a church; we're promoting our church values by having our name on a T-shirt,' I don't see how you could refuse that.""

At least he grasps the nettle. But should he force others to do so?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

He's consistently wrong, have to give him that.

[Virginian]

"I believe that a gay printer would have to print a T-shirt for the Westboro Baptist Church"

You'd be dead wrong about that. No way in hell any judge would force a gay printer to print WBC tshirts.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Religious discrimination!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And many judges *pride* themselves on ruling in favor of the "rights" of unpopular people/groups. A good thing in many instances, but it could lead to upholding the "rights" of Westboro to coerce gay businesspeople, and I think Westboro is just the kind of guys to attempt this.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think Eddies right here. If it's the law plenty judges will.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Why is that?

[invisible furry hand]

In his book Browning recalls seeing Scott in a Melbourne hospital in 1975 after he'd overdosed on drugs.

"Bon was bragging to me the last time he was in that hospital he was visiting two separate girls, both unknown to each other, who were both giving birth to his kids at the same time," Browning said. "So there's at least two of Bon Scott's children out there, or at least two I can vouch for."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com......7086464089

[Pro Libertate]

SON OF AC/DC!

[Bee Tagger]

The NFL fined Colin Kaepernick $10,000 for wearing Dre headphones after a game.

Thus completing the deal they struck with Dre to best promote his headphones.

[Drake]

It's comical how shitty NFL contracts are. And the players are too dumb to realize they would be far better off without their union and collective bargaining agreement that allows this shit.

[John]

That is because the agents run things. The players should decertify the union and sue the NFL under anti-trust. The only reason the NFL gets away with colluding and the salary cap is because of the union and the CBA. Take that away and the players could kill the whole system and have no cap and whatever contracts each player could negotiate.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Actually, aside from some big name players the NFL union is a prime example of how successful a union can be. Unions make more sense for highly skilled workers who can't be easily replaced, otherwise they need government coercion to do anything.

[Idle Hands]

The NFL union only makes sense for players that CAN be easily replaced, the supremely talented get fucked by the cap.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Most NFL players cannot be easily replaced, it's the best of the best at that level.

[Drake]

If by successful you mean that the union bosses make a ton of money, then yes.

If you mean that the union improves the income, job security, freedom, and / or well-being of the members - then hell fucking no.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The NFL union wins sweet deals compared to unions representing average joes.

It's really common sense. If there were ten local suppliers of what you sell and they combined to bargain with you and other suppliers out if the area had significantly lower quality supplies, you'd have to bargain at a disadvantage.

If there were many other suppliers if similar quality you'd just switch to them.

[Idle Hands]

Bo look at what happened with the rookie contracts a couple of years back, you had players getting paid tens of millions of dollars never having played a down in the field. That's how much value the teams put on players, look at where we are now they capped the rookies. Who did that benefit more the teams or the players?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

You act like the NFLPA asked for less pay. The League is a tough bargainer too! Overall the players do better, why do you think they keep the union (they could decertify tomorrow).

[Idle Hands]

The league is a tough bargainer in that the majority of it's players live check to check, fucking over any of the other players that are semi financially literate.

[Drake]

The League? That's the problem.

If star rookie player was negotiating only with the teams, he would make a lot more money - and wouldn't have a crap contract that allowed him to be cut without pay whenever the team felt like it.

[MegaloMonocle]

Highly skilled, hard to replace workers don't need a union.

Fungible low skillworkers, maybe.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Highly skilled workers can get more through collective bargaining, because it's impossible to replace them as a group.

[Drake]

They collectively bargained a salary cap! You are out of your mind.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

They got something for that (like minimums

Of course, the caps have more to do with the NFL owners colluding (it's not like the NFLPA asked for them, they bargained against them and settled at a compromise)

[Idle Hands]

The biggest beneficiary of that collective bargaining would be the guy that doesn't do the amazing marketable things on the field. The long snapper is replaceable Tom Brady who leads the team in marketing power and jersey sales is not.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

"The long snapper is replaceable"

Not easily, just ask the Steelers a few years ago.

[widget]

I don't think unions have much to do with this. A man in his 20s doesn't know how to read a contract. Look what happened to John Fogarty. I signed a contract to do some programming when I was that age. For $13,000. I had a hard time getting payed. Turned out the go-between had charged the end user $180,000 for the work. The end user didn't want to pay.

[Drake]

A wealthy man in his 20's would have lawyers negotiating a better contract if not constrained by collective bargaining.

I'm sure he was paid far more than the $10k for the advertising.

[widget]

You're just kicking the can down the street. The lawyer has his own contract for his professional services.

[Don Mynack]

The NFLPA largely lets veterans coerce younger players into accepting a far smaller slice of revenue then the union-free EPL, so they can preserve the stupid "veteran minimum contract". The NFL gives it's players less than 50% of revenue - the EPL gives its players over 70%, with no threat of strike! The NFLPA is by any reasonable measure a terrible organization for younger players - the exact demographic where majority of its star power lies.

[Ted S.]

Tne NFLPA is really a guild, not a union.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Dumb rule aside, NHL players are by far the best dressed lot in North American pro sports with a sense of professional ethic.

[NebulousFocus]

Fine, but why should any athlete be required to dress up for arrival to, or departure from the venue?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Many jobs have dress codes. Ties, suits etc.

These guys make serious coin so it doesn't bother me if their teams require them to spiff up properly.

You the BIG leagues now BOY!

[Stormy Dragon]

Dressing up has nothing to do with it. The fine wasn't for wearing headphones, it was for wearing the wrong brand of headphones. If he'd been wearing Bose headphones, he'd have been fine because they're the official headphones of the NFL.

[Idle Hands]

The NBA has gotten pretty classed up, compared to what it was even 10 years ago. Lebron James, Russel Westbook and Kevin Durant never go to a press conference without a three piece any more.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Thank you Alan Iverson

[Idle Hands]

That was a dark time for fashion.

[PBR Streetgang]

Michael Jordan was the Trailblazer in wearing suits for pressers.

[Arkansaustrian Economics]

I'm sure their ten fans appreciate it.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Apparently you have never been to the Frost Belt in the US or anywhere in Canada...

[KDN]

Yep. NHL attendance numbers blow the NBA (its primary competition) out of the water. It doesn't play nearly as well on TV, though. And for multiple reasons, some having to do with the sport itself, others to do with promotion and management.

[Lord Humungus]

Probably a leftover from the era when hockey players were seen as real goons.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Trends in American Public Schooling since 1970

[Doctor Whom]

La la la, I can't hear you! Our schools are horribly underfunded and getting more so through budget cuts all the time! Since our methods are perfect, even more money would make all the difference! We need all those administrators; the union sound pedagogy says so!

[Lord Humungus]

What I learned from teaching a sex-writing class
In our pornified world, we need honest, vivid sex scenes in fiction more than ever

... I ask my students to write the worst sex scene they can. I specifically instruct them to make it graphic and to use crude language, including as many absurd genital euphemisms as they can stomach. Shining shaft of manhood. Candy shop. Secret garden. Sperm puppet. You get the idea.

Believe it or not, the resulting scenes are often deeply moving. And here's why: because nearly every bad decision a writer makes is the result of insecurity. Our desperation to entertain the reader causes us to turn away from our characters and flog the language.

This is especially true of sex scenes, because writers have to battle their own anxieties?about their own sexuality and about whether they're allowed to set out forbidden thoughts and feelings and behaviors on paper. Ordering students to write a terrible sex scene, ironically, unburdens them of this expectation. They are able to relax and let their ids go into overdrive.

[RBS]

. Shining shaft of manhood. Candy shop. Secret garden. Sperm puppet. You get the idea.

Purple headed yogurt slinger.

[Ted S.]

They need SugarFree to teach teh class.

[Rich]

He could at least be a throbbing member of the class.

[invisible furry hand]

"I knosh shings about you, Newt," Nancy slurred, as she jacked off the Japanese eggplant with a handful of rancid bacon grease. Newt was hugging Lady Justice, his hands tied together on the far side. He weakly struggled to get free and sobbed. He was nude and his pale buttocks and pallid thighs puckered in the cold rotunda.

Some things just cannot be taught

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Or unseen

[gaijin]

I ask my students to write the worst sex scene they can.

Does he grade them based on the scale of arousal he feels as he reads them? Is the grading scale, um, curved?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"I ask my students to write the worst sex scene they can."

I'm in bed jacking off. Then my wife enters. The end.

[Lord Humungus]

A happy ending?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It's a 'Which-way' book.

Chapter 1 - Accidentally cum on her face surprising her.
Chapter 2 - Lose erection. Turns over and goes to sleep.
Chapter 3 - Throws Kleenex box at wife. Argument over her family ensues.

[Lord Humungus]

What the world needs is a realistic "Choose Your Own Adventure" Sex Book.

Of course the endings could be rather evil:

. Congratulations, you have opted to not use a condom when visiting the massage parlor. You now have a STD.

or

. You are now married. You will have several kids and your sex life will be comparable to Franciscan monk.

. You finally scored with the cheerleader. Only to find out she is a nagging, vacuous bitch. Congratulations!

. You got to college. You now have genital warts.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Apparently it's all go at your place.

[Ted S.]

I can only image if somebody wrote a "worst sex scene" involving the professor.

[Ted S.]

Or even imagine.

[invisible furry hand]

Animal Activist Barges Into Restaurant, Rants About Her Chicken Baby

http://kitchenette.jezebel.com.....iritguide1

[Rich]

There's no business like Snow business!

*slap!*

[waffles]

How do animal activists know what animals want? I think chickens want to be eaten, it is crucial to their success as a species.

[Matrix]

Cattle, sheep, chickens, and domesticated pigs would disappear if people became vegan. Many species of wild animals would become endangered or disappear as well when hunting is gone. Deer would be a major nuisance for a while until they just started dying out of starvation or other problems. A lot of conservation efforts would also vanish.

The economic impact would be devastating when all those ranchers are gone, and the farmers that grow feed for the cattle.

The pussification of our species would be complete. Aliens would come and wipe us out with almost no effort.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think they'd just be replaced by other types of food producers.

[Idle Hands]

beet farms are the future.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Did she just spoil the final episode of M*A*S*H for me? Because I've been saving it...

[kinnath]

You reached way back for that one.

[Fist of Etiquette]

IT WAS A BABY

[Lord Humungus]

Nice. Ruin it for me.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"Her name is Snow, she deserves to be..."

Rufus (aloofly): Hey, this omelette is delicious.

[Griffin3]

Looked like a restuarant, half full of uptight, concerned liberals anyway. Am I the only one imagining a slow, table pounding chant of: bar. bee. que. Bar B Q. BAR BEE QUE! BAR-B-Q!! chasing her out of the restuarant?

That's the way it would've happened ANYWHERE in Alabama.

[Pope Jimbo]

Local teens "kidnap" underclassman and go on joyride. Police hilarity ensues after a fender bender.

Now the Dakota County attorney's office will soon weigh who might be charged, Lindquist said. Some among the 17 students accused of participating in the prank are adults, meaning the consequence for them could be more severe than if they were still juveniles, the chief said.

Lindquist said his department's goal is not to necessarily come down hard on anyone but "to correct behavior. ? It's not like we need somebody to be charged with felony kidnapping to feel good. I'm trying to scare the dickens out of everybody. I know how fragile life is."

http://www.startribune.com/loc.....60761.html

I guess calling parents is out.

[Ted S.]

That's not a joyride. This is a joyride.

[Juice]

It's not like we need somebody to be charged with felony kidnapping to feel good

A COP SAID THIS?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

"It's not like we need somebody to be charged with felony kidnapping to feel good"

"All we need to do is drive around with em in the squad car, and drop em off at the emergency room when we're done. Then we feel good!" The officer added under his breath.

[sarcasmic]

'He's been in this neighborhood for 30 years': Moment white attorney confronted police officer arresting innocent black man in rich suburb after 'presuming he was a criminal'

Jody Westby stopped Washington Police detaining disabled black man
Officers told her he was a suspect in a robbery almost a mile away
Mrs Westby blasts officers for having no grounds to arrest him and forces them to release him then helps him get away
It turned out that the 'robbery' was simply a homeowner setting off his own alarm after entering the wrong garage key code

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-away.html

[Injun, as in from India]

Awful.

[Virginian]

Actually this is a perfect example of how the cry of "racist!" is overdone when referring to police abuse of power.

The cop accosting the black guy is a black woman. I highly doubt she is motivated by racial animus. She's just a cop doing cop things.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It's the racism inherent in the system, man!

[Juice]

I've been told something like that. When I ask why so many black people are harassed and attacked by black cops. It's always some explanation of false consciousness or uncle tom syndrome or something like that. It never occurs to them that it's not necessarily because the "subject" is black, it's because the cops are cops.

[sarcasmic]

Exactly.

[waffles]

The NFL fined Colin Kaepernick $10,000 for wearing Dre headphones after a game.

The NFL consistently surprises me with new levels of commercial-grade retardation.

[gaijin]

A gladiator who defies an emperor! Only a famous death will do.

[Restoras]

The idiotic and arbitrarily enforced pass interference calls top the list.

[sarcasmic]

NYPD cops in the dock: Officer accused of stealing $1,300 in cash from construction worker as he frisked him

Lamard Joye was stopped by a NYPD officer in Coney Island last month, and claims the unidentified cop stole $1,300 from him
He claims the money came from a check he cashed a week prior to treat his wife on her 35th birthday
Joye has turned video of the stop-and-frisk over to prosecutors and the NYPD's Interal Affairs Bureau

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

[Lord Humungus]

Gotta Dance!

Man just wanted to sing and dance

When officers arrived, they found that the man lived at the residence where the van was parked, the history said. He said he'd been drinking and "he came outside to sing and dance."

The officer told him that his singing woke his neighbors and that was against the law, according to the history. The man said he would go inside and go to bed.

He said he was sorry and didn't mean to cause any trouble, the history said.

[Lord Humungus]

Police: Man shot in leg on post-wedding quest for more alcohol

A man on a wildly intoxicated post-wedding quest for more alcohol early last Friday in SoDo was shot in the thigh by a robber and failed to notice until the next day, according to the Seattle Police Department.

A good time all the time.

[jmomls]

Turn down for what?

[invisible furry hand]

A video of koalas fighting

http://jezebel.com/koalas-soun.....1644560609

[Lord Humungus]

Jezebel?

[RBS]

I'm assuming the victorious one then raped the other one?

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

Drop bears?!

[Bee Tagger]

President Obama hasn't chosen a new attorney general yet, and isn't sure when he will.

The lethargic, do-nothing Congress strikes again. What good is appointing a new attorney general without the political side show to drive donations?

[sarcasmic]

Bizarre Siberian craters 'may solve the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle': Experts claim underground gas explosions caused the deep holes to appear

Earlier this year, mysterious giant craters appeared in Siberia
And now scientists claim an underground gas explosion was to blame
They examined the largest crater and found evidence of gas hydrates
Theory could also explain why planes and boasts have vanished in the region known as the Bermuda Triangle
This is a hypothesised region on the west of the North Atlantic Ocean
Many, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, claim its existence is a myth

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....ppear.html

'Heating from above the surface due to unusually warm climatic conditions...'

Is there anything that isn't caused by AGW?

[Doctor Whom]

I once read an analysis purporting to show that the Bermuda Triangle, when correctly defined, had a higher incidence of vanished ships than simple probability could explain. "Correctly defined" meant "stretched to include all Atlantic shipping lanes."

[Lord Humungus]

That's one big "triangle".

[Lord Humungus]

Alleged Ballot Fraud Ensnares Groups Tied to Dem Super PAC
Sprawling network linked to David Brock groups Media Matters, American Bridge

A network of union-funded groups from Little Rock to Washington, D.C., working to raise the minimum wage in Arkansas have been implicated in a lawsuit alleging that operatives in the state forged notary signatures in order to get the question on November's ballot.

The lawsuit, which has reached the Arkansas Supreme Court, is challenging the validity of a ballot question to raise the state's minimum wage. Details in the complaint provide a window into connections between the seemingly disparate organizations.

[John]

But they object to voter ID because they care about fair elections. This is just fascism straight up. Make sure no id is required, use social networks and polling to figure out who is unlikely to vote, and then have your people show up to vote for them.

[TwB]

Exactly. vote early and vote often, right?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Your fantasy scenario of course is nothing like the alleged offense here.

[John]

Its just a fantasy. Sure. Whatever gets you through the night Bo. The Dems are as pure as the driven snow on this.

[Virginian]

His blindness on this is quite amusing.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It's not that Democrats are pure, like their GOP counterparts I'm sure their up for malfeasance to win. It's just your scenario is fantastic. If you "used social networks and polling to figure out who is unlikely to vote" in a big election you'd be wrong enough times that thousands of voters would show up and find out someone already voted in their name. The jig would be up.

[widget]

I an the only person in the US with my name. My wife and I went on vacation to Mammoth for some skiing and she misplaced her ticket. Someone turned it in. The lost and found counter clerk asked her for ID. She scratched his head for a moment before giving it to her. There were 8 other skiers there that day with her name.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

And you found out about it. And if you times that by the thousands if votes cast in most federal elections you'd have hundreds of cases of exposed voter fraud. That's why campaigns would be crazy to plan to do that.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Your supposition is dependent on anybody actually looking for this fraud. It's a lot easier to hide when no one is really looking.

[Pope Jimbo]

Voter fraud is only real when it is during a Democratic primary race:

http://blogs.citypages.com/blo.....rother.php

Phyllis Khan is a long time fixture in the MN legislature. This year she faced the first serious opposition she has had for decades from a Somali guy. (Lots of Somalis have moved into her district). During the heat of the primary she alleged her opponent was cheating.

"The Kahn campaign has reason to believe that the Noor campaign has been behind the registrations of new voters at this address," Rice writes in an email sent to Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, among others. "Further, we have reason to believe that many more, perhaps hundreds of people have been using 419 Cedar Avenue South as an address to register and vote in the Primary election on August 12, 2014 in the race between Kahn and Noor."

"The Kahn campaign has more than a reasonable belief that none of these new registrants who claim to live and reside at [4]19 Cedar Avenue South can in fact reside there," Rice continues. "It is impossible. The building has at most 30 units."

No followup from the media about how many people who voted for Franken might have been using this same address during his narrow victory.

[Virginian]

I thought I saw a story a while back about how Franken's margin of victory had been found to consist of fraudulent ballots.

[Pope Jimbo]

The problem is that once the piss is in the pool, how do you tell who the urinator was?

Yeah, there have been stories about there being more felons (who were ineligible) voting than the margin of victory.

There were stories about students at the U of MN (mostly from WI) who were voting in MN and their home states since MN didn't really check very carefully if they were eligible.

So everyone admits that lots of people voted in that election who shouldn't have. But no one can prove that those votes went all for Franken.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

This is another example of the fraud occurring before the appearance at the polls.

I'm not arguing that campaigns might and do cheat, just that John's described scenario is the craziest way to go about it.

[Pope Jimbo]

We have same day registration. So they could have shown up that same day and "registered" with the same shady address.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Noor Khan?

Really?

[Juice]

How fucking hard is it to get a notary to sign something? You just ask them, pay the small fee, and they fucking sign it.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

In these registration drives they are doing it en masse and don't want to pay those fees.

[sarcasmic]

Store video shows St Louis teen buying a sandwich with friends just minutes before he was killed by off-duty police officer - and there is NO visible sign he had a gun

An off-duty police officer, who has not been identified, shot and killed high school student Vonderrit Myers Jr. last night in Shaw, Missouri
The officer, who was patrolling the area for a private security company, approached the men after he thought they were acting suspiciously
They ran and he could see that Myers had a gun, police said
The officer, who was in uniform, reached the man and a scuffle ensued
Myers shot at the officer three times before the cop pulled out his own gun and shot at the teen 17 times, killing him, police said
According to the medical examiner, Myers was shot by 7 or 8 bullets
Surveillance video that has just been released shows the teenager buying a sandwich before the incident with friends at Shaw Market
The video does not show any visible sign of a gun on Myers

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....n-gun.html

[Drake]

It is called a "concealed weapon" for a reason.

[All-Seeing Monocle]

The officer, who was patrolling the area for a private security company...

The officer, who was in uniform,

I know it's not the primary point here, but this bullshit absolutely fucking grinds me.

[WTF]

The officer, who was patrolling the area for a private security company, approached the men after he thought they were acting suspiciously

So, he decided to harass them for no good fucking reason, while he was working as a private citizen.

[sarcasmic]

Being a cop isn't a job. It's a lifestyle.

[invisible furry hand]

The US government's Drug Enforcement Administration has been taken to court after setting up a fake Facebook account using real photographs and personal information it took from the mobile phone of a New York woman.

http://www.news.com.au/technol.....7085464990

[a better weapon]

I think this was already posted over the last couple days, but the more I think about this story, the scarier it becomes.

If assume the DEA used this fake profile to contact drug dealers. What if they fucked up and caused this woman to get whacked for some reason?

Unknowing having your likeness used in a sting or multiple stings is one of the most fucked up things I can imagine the government doing. How hard would it be to do a reverse image search and figure out my real online details of some dealer thought I was an informant or snitch?

[a better weapon]

Ugh...I'm going to be like DB for a while. I got a new phone for the first time in over 3 years and haven't gotten used to its keyboard and auto text.

Bear with me, guys.

[Lord Humungus]

Couple Had Sex In Back Seat Of Police Cruiser

After being arrested, a Wisconsin couple had sex in the back of a police cruiser, an encounter that was interrupted when a cop heard the woman "begin to moan loudly" while her legs were "touching the ceiling" of the vehicle, according to a criminal complaint.

[Auric Demonocles]

That seems like it might not be too uncommon of a kink, though I wouldn't expect many people to actually go through with it.

[Injun, as in from India]

I hope that cop was thankful for the gift of stank.

[gaijin]

I'm mostly surprised there wasn't a cop involved in teh act.

[Idle Hands]

"it smells like sex in here"

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Who in their right mind would want gratuitous skin contact with the back seat of a police cruiser?

[UnCivilServant]

A few unanswered questions from this BBC Article

1 - Was this done with or without subsidy?

2 - You say the mushroom packing material is biodegradable - will it rot if we leave it in storage for six months? A year? Five years?

3 - Does it grow slimy in the backaging like regular mushrooms?

4 - Does it still cost less when the mushroom farmers start charging you for the substrate?

5 - When I have to break it because your packaging science people are more focused on items other than human interaction, will it leave annoying debris that sticks to everything?

6 - Why are you calling Methane 'Air'? Methane isn't even a major constituent of air. I first throught you'd made plastic from nitrogen.

7 - Those compressed fiber endcaps are some of the most obnoxious packaging, right behind the polystyrene and the indestructable clamshell, why do you still use it?

8 - Why aren't these research dollars being put into making your computers less crap?

[Zeb]

Yeah the plastic seems to be made just like lots of other plastics, except they get the methane feed stock from cow shit instead of from under ground.

I've heard some things about the mushroom based materials. And I think they are no more likely to rot than wood fiber materials if kept dry. Regular mushrooms get slimy because they are mostly water. I'd be interested to know more about the cost effectiveness of the mushroom materials.

[Ted S.]

Exhibit #498013878732098 of how any nonsense will be given a respectable hearing by the press if it calls itself "green" or "sustainable".

[Lord Humungus]

I've been thinking of starting a biodegradable coffin company, but with something that looks spiffier than the basket weave or wooden material. My product would look like a metal coffin - even different paint colors - but could degrade or even burn if cremation is preferred.

There is, after all, always a steady stream of (non-repeat) customers.

[Ted S.]

I intend to have my ashes scattered. No need for a coffin at all.

[invisible furry hand]

Check the laws in your state. You almost certainly need one to be transported to the crematorium, and it probably has to go up with you. Perhaps you could use a strong cardboard one.

In NSW, you need a coffin to be transported to the grave, but you don't have to be buried in one, so I'm planning on being tipped out in front of a horrified crowd

[Elspeth Flashman]

That sounds like a lasting impression to make . . . instead of a good entrance, you make a good exit.

[sarcasmic]

Has Kim's SISTER taken over North Korea? Dictator fails to show for key Communist event (but does send a nice flower basket instead)

North Korea's Kim Jong Un has been keeping a low-profile since September
And today missed the Workers' Party 69th anniversary celebrations
Dictator was last seen in public attending a concert with his wife Ri Sol-ju
Reports his 24-year-old sister Kim Yo-jong has taken leadership of affairs

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

[Bam!]

Keeping Up With The Jong's.

[gaijin]

Lil' Kim is in charge

[invisible furry hand]

A school in Nebraska has instructed its teachers to stop addressing students collectively as "boys and girls" when getting their attention in the classroom.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/li.....7085105637

[gaijin]

Just call them all 'little shits'

[Rich]

the teachers were last week given a training document asking them to refrain from using gendered expressions like "boys and girls", "you guys" and "ladies and gentlemen" and instead say something like "hey campers" or even more bizarrely "purple penguins."

I thought "you guys" was already gender-neutral. I confuse.

[Bam!]

Henceforth they'll use, "Attention inmates."

[kinnath]

yutes

[Ted S.]

OK, call them "goys and birls" instead.

[Matrix]

So because a statistically insignificant number of students might be transgender, we should force everyone else to be treated as gender neutral?

IT'S FOR THE FREAKIN' CHILDREN!!

[lap83]

ladies and germs

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Listen up, you little bastards!

[sarcasmic]

They bought a zoo: Amazing photos show a young Melanie Griffith and mom Tipi Hedren with their pet lion Neil

Melanie Griffith grew up with a famous mom, Tipi Hedren, and a pet lion, Neil
The family adopted Neil after a trip to Africa
Neil inspired them to make the film Roar about the pretty but predatory beasts, which was sadly a box office flop

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-Neil.html

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That article is worth it for the pic of the High Priest of the Church of Satan. Looks like he's wearing a terry cloth bathrobe over his head with horns glued to it.

[Juice]

http://redbootsdotme.files.wor.....46_2-1.jpg

[Lord Humungus]

Drunk Florida stripper attacks boyfriend with an ax

Tammy Hiser, 34, was busted at a Days Inn in Daytona Beach early Monday after she tried to hack Andrew Whitaker, 28, to death during a fight over her drinking, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

"She is an entertainer, a dancer," Whitaker told the newspaper. "And that is where the problem is because she drinks and drinks at work."

Whitaker had picked Hiser up from Biggins, a Daytona Beach Shores jiggle joint, and was giving her the silent treatment in the car because she was drunk, the News-Journal reported.

[Pro Libertate]

Do strippers have agents?

[Ted S.]

Behold Florida Woman in action!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

In her natural state.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That's a low rent stripper right there. Yeesh.

[Florida Man]

My list keeps growing. Casey, Jody, Jesse, and Tammy. Although tammy didn't actually kill the guy so she is at the bottom.

[Rich]

Speaking of voter ID laws, you can watch Lewis Black get really upset about them, if that's your thing.

Who?

Also, that is one piss poor ad.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I AM YELLING AND SPITTING AND ABOUT TO HAVE A MASSIVE STROKE. LAUGH AT ME.

[Drake]

Because I'm a smart Lib and you are stupid conservatives.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Kristen Schaal took on Republican efforts to court women voters on The Daily Show. Funny? You be the judge.

Why do I click on this shit? WHY!?

[Lord Humungus]

Seen on twitter:

Cuff?:

BREAKING: Nobel safely in hand, Malala launches several unauthorized wars.

[Auric Demonocles]

Do I need to show an ID to view the alt-text?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

You'll need to show more than that to Soave.

[Almanian!]

This is what passes for Moaring Lynx now? Linking to Lewis Blackhead and the Daily Show?

What - Ms. Ekins didn't have a poll of Millenials' soup preferences ready?

Mailin' it in, Reason. I respect that...

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Hey, even the Prez is writing about teh millenialz now.

[Almanian!]

This makes me hate him even more

[Certified Public Asskicker]

It's hard, but he does find new ways to become more hate-able.

[invisible furry hand]

Argued with a straight face:

An Australian Federal Police employee who claimed he was bullied into working eight-hour days to make up for time he hadn't worked has lost a bid to challenge his unfair dismissal case.

http://www.canberratimes.com.a.....z3FkOy8UT8

[Injun, as in from India]

He should be thankful for being freed from job lock.

[DEG]

His union couldn't save him?

[Bee Tagger]

Kristen Schaal took on Republican efforts to court women voters on The Daily Show. Funny?

Yes, I think so.

[Lord Humungus]

UKIP gains first elected MP with Clacton win

n the night's other by-election, Labour held on to Heywood and Middleton but UKIP slashed its majority to 617.

Mr Farage told BBC Breakfast UKIP could hold the balance of power after next year's general election.

He said UKIP's second place in Heywood and Middleton was "even more significant" than its win in Clacton, saying the party was now the main opposition to Labour in northern cities.

[invisible furry hand]

Welcome to Clacton-on-Sea

[Juice]

no poofters

[Lord Humungus]

Ebola joke gets man escorted off plane

A passenger on a US Airways flight Wednesday from Philadelphia to the Dominican Republic was greeted by agents in hazmat suits after he allegedly made a joke about Ebola.

A video uploaded on YouTube by a passenger shows at least four people in blue hazmat suits boarding the flight, which had landed in Punta Cana, and eventually escorting the unidentified man off the plane.

Some people can tell a joke... and some can't.

[Rich]

"I jus' brag about my brodda. Ebola perfect game."

[lap83]

Assuming they think talking about Ebola is one of the symptoms, why would it matter if he's LEAVING the country? Are we trying to hoard all of the virus for ourselves?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Overreaction is not a vice anymore

[Ted S.]

Too many people have no sense of humor.

[Lord Humungus]

Noam Chomsky: Corporate business models are hurting American universities
The linguist and philosopher on the Walmartization of higher education, and what we can learn from John Stuart Mill

On hiring faculty off the tenure track:

That's part of the business model. It's the same as hiring temps in industry or what they call "associates" at Walmart, employees that aren't owed benefits. It's a part of a corporate business model designed to reduce labor costs and to increase labor servility. When universities become corporatized, as has been happening quite systematically over the last generation as part of the general neoliberal assault on the population, their business model means that what matters is the bottom line.

The effective owners are the trustees (or the legislature, in the case of state universities), and they want to keep costs down and make sure that labor is docile and obedient. The way to do that is, essentially, temps. Just as the hiring of temps has gone way up in the neoliberal period, you're getting the same phenomenon in the universities.

[Almanian!]

Shorter Chomsky: derp

[DEG]

I think you're giving Chomsky too much credit.

[Lord Humungus]

wtf does general neoliberal assault on the population even mean?

[invisible furry hand]

wtf does general neoliberal assault on the population even mean?

Suggesting people pay for themselves

[Ted S.]

"Neoliberal" is just the latest buzzword used by the left when there's an argument they don't like and want to dismiss it out of hand without having to resort to evidence.

[ant1sthenes]

Check your privilege.

[Raston Bot]

Or maybe the trustees are trying to compete with deflationary pressures in education.

[widget]

Who is more likely to flip his boss the bird, a temp or a perm?

[UnCivilServant]

To his face or behind his back?

[widget]

thanks for pinpointing the implausibility of Dilbert.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Chomsky has gone off the rails. He's basically arguing that education should not be subject to market pressures. It's particularly stupid when most of the fiscal issues that higher ed has can be directly attributed to government meddling in the market.

[Lord Humungus]

Paul Krugman: Why deficit scolds actually love deficits
The federal deficit continues to decline, so why aren't deficit hawks happy?

This Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office released its last Monthly Budget Review for fiscal year 2014. Its finding? The federal budget deficit continues to tumble, falling to $486 billion in fiscal 2014 after reaching a high of $1.4 trillion during the financial crisis in fiscal 2009.

So why weren't Alan Simpson, Erskine Bowles, and Peter Peterson running victory laps down the National Mall? That's essentially the question economist Paul Krugman sets out to answer in his New York Times column today.

Deficit scolds like Simpson are reluctantly admitting that the hysterical predictions of imminent economic crisis they made a few years ago haven't come true, but the deficit-obsessed continue to insist that we're headed for a reckoning sooner or later. As Krugman points out, however, the long-run fiscal picture is nowhere near as dire as the deficit scolds have long envisioned. Health care costs, long seized upon by deficit hawks, are coming under control, for instance ? thanks in large part to the Affordable Care Act.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Its finding? The federal budget deficit continues to tumble, falling to $486 billion in fiscal 2014

Wow, only $486 billion more to cut!

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Wow, only $486 billion more to cut!

And then the deficit will stop growing (except for interest payments).

Woo?

[ant1sthenes]

The deficit crisis is hiding in the ocean.

[Juice]

Deficit hawks aren't thrilled that the fucking deficit is still half a trillion dollars per fucking year? What assholes.

[The DerpRider]

That's a nice watch. Detroit officer found with murder victim's expensive watch after it goes missing from evidence locker.

[Raston Bot]

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

Trying to post this again, the link last night failed. This feels like a 1A muzzle:

A request of an emergency injunction filed Wednesday seeks to halt the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife from using its resources to campaign against the statewide bear-hunting referendum.

Question 1, which will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot, asks if hunters in Maine should be banned from using bait, traps and dogs to hunt black bears.

The state biologists and game wardens have pointed out that the herd needs to be culled by 4-5,000 per year but hunters are only bagging ~2500 per year and limiting the most effective hunting tactics would lower that number further. The ad that caused the Humane Society to wet their pants was paid for by the FISH & WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COUNCIL which is a PAC, not a govt entity. I have not yet read the filing.

Here's the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ9G5ygWrC0

[DEG]

I read this article on guns and race expecting a "gun owners are racist" screed. It's surprisingly good.

They talk to John Lott and David Kopel, they mention the Deacons for Self-Defense. I don't an impression that the author tried to make Lott or Kopel look bad. The author included a link to criticisms of Lott's work, which even though I think is fair. People have criticized Lott's work, whether or not those criticisms are valid is another story.

I was amused by this quote from the guy pushing the "gunowners are racist" angle:

Gallagher says he's not accusing every white person who buys a gun of being a racist; he's accusing them of being human, of unconsciously absorbing stereotypical attitudes about black men and violence that are as old as America itself.

"Do I think that people who own guns lie in bed at night thinking about shooting a black man? No," Gallagher says. "A lot of this is about the bogeyman, the fear that a young black man is going to come and get me."

I'm reminded of "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet".

[Raston Bot]

They say blacks should support groups like the National Rifle Association because law enforcement officers have traditionally not protected them.

"The NRA should stand for the Negro Rifle Association," says Robert J. Cottrol, a professor of law and history at George Washington University in Washington. "You would think the way many black politicians are supportive of gun control that African Americans were the most protected people in American history."

I like this guy.

[DEG]

Yes, I like that guy too.

[The Late P Brooks]

It's a part of a corporate business model designed to reduce labor costs and to increase labor servility. When universities become corporatized, as has been happening quite systematically over the last generation as part of the general neoliberal assault on the population, their business model means that what matters is the bottom line.

Or maybe, just maybe, university trustees have suddenly looked around at the ossified old geezers locked into their positions and realized employment for life is not such a great way to run a university.

[Juice]

But hiring adjuncts to teach for peanuts won't get you far either.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

If you don't like teaching for peanuts, you should have gotten a real job.

[The Late P Brooks]

wtf does general neoliberal assault on the population even mean?

Lynch mobs.

duh

[The Late P Brooks]

Nice tits, anyway.

Gwyneth Paltrow hosted President Obama at her home on Thursday, Oct 9 for a fundraiser and became so overwhelmed by her VIP guest's good looks that she struggled to give a speech, reports Us weekly.

Just before handing the microphone to the President, the "Ironman" actress gushed, "You're so handsome that I can't speak properly."

Paltrow hosted a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in her backyard for the President and around 200 others including Julia Roberts and Bradley Whitford. She described herself as one of Obama's "biggest fans, if not the biggest," and praised him for being an "incredible role model."

She also talked about equal pay which is, "very important to me as a working mother."

Did she bat her eyes and retire to the fainting couch?

I don't know how she can feed those two kids on the shit wages she gets as a *female* box office idol.

[Pope Jimbo]

I saw that this morning and grimaced at the tone deafness of it. Yeah she is the quintessential working mother.

If you were a woman with kids reading this story at your normal job how pissed would you be at having this woman jump on your bandwagon?

[KDN]

Gwyneth Paltrow is the epitome of tone deaf. She brings it to a new level on a daily basis.

[All-Seeing Monocle]

Isn't she the one who wrote an article about celebrity moms like herself having it tougher than "normal"moms? Obviously, you guys don't know shit.

[Juice]

Am I the only one who isn't remotely attracted to her?

[KDN]

Nope.

[All-Seeing Monocle]

Nope x2.

[Drake]

This should change your minds...

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

[KDN]

She reminds me of a malnourished albino chimp.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

She's starting to look like her Mom, who did age pretty well.

Nothing wrong with her a muzzle wouldn't fix.

[Antilles]

No. And I personally can't believe anyone really does. Bland, clueless albino...

[Mike M.]

Scott Walker could be strolling to massive win in Wisconsin.

"Walker speaks with a forked tongue," Fernando Stokes tells me. Stokes was a state prison guard for 32 years and is now retired. Waiting for his takeout order at Milwaukee's Water Street Brewery, Stokes couldn't even name Walker's opponent. That she was running against Walker was enough for him.

Ron, a bartender at Buck Bradley's in Milwaukee for more than 20 years, is backing Walker again. He understands the unions' anger: "If someone yanked away your gravy train, would you be happy?" Ron asks with a laugh.

Hmmmmm, so bartenders love him and prison guards hate him. Yep, this guy has absolutely made all the right enemies.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Yep, this guy has absolutely made all the right enemies.

Unless he gets sent to prison.

[jmomls]

He'll end up in the White House before he ends up in prison.

Yeeee-arrrrrgh.