Ottawa Shooter Had Jihadist Ties, Millennials Dig Libertarian Over GOP Candidate, New Opportunity for Ebola Freakout: P.M. Links

• 

  Robert Sarvis

  Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the suspect in the Ottawa shootout that left a Canadian soldier dead (as well as himself), was a convert to Islam with ties to jihadists. Oh, great.

• Republicans with visions of a GOP-dominated Senate dancing in their heads may want to thank a cluster of retiring Democratic geezers for clearing the way.
• Senator Rand Paul is laying out his ideas for restrained foreign policy in a high-profile speech in New York. And not a moment too soon.
• Libertarian Senate candidate Robert Sarvis polls better among Virginia millennials than the Republican Party's Ed Gillespie. Worth thinking about, right, Ed?
• Air strikes by U.S.-led forces have killed 521 Islamist fighters in Syria. And 32 civilians. Whoops.
• A healthcare worker in New York City is being tested for Ebola. Just in case you missed recent opportunities to panic.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...may want to thank a cluster of retiring Democratic geezers for clearing the way.

But do you want to live in an America where a senator can't name his own successor?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"A healthcare worker in New York City is being tested for Ebola."

That's, like seven hours by car from me!

Now what?

[John Titor]

Montreal's mostly an island, you can set up checkpoints at the bridges and declare it an city state with Venice-style quarantine protocols.

[BakedPenguin]

Not even that. Ebola's a tropical disease, sure to die in the frozen wastes.

[John Titor]

I know folks in Montreal who would be quite happy seceding from Quebec or getting a hundred year lease to Ontario a la Hong Kong. Have to exploit whatever crisis you can.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm one of those off-island Montrealers!

[John Titor]

Well start digging and make your own island then! Jeez, does the rest of Canada have to do everything for you Quebeckers?

[Tonio]

Panic?

[Los Doyers]

Grab your pate and make for the countryside.

[Pro Libertate]

Um, yeah, but I think the big thing here is that the Democrats have been playing and dancing to "Suicide is Painless." Not all of us agree with this as a way of life.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A healthcare worker in New York City is being tested for Ebola.

Yeah but NYC has to have at least one of everything by now, right?

[Jerry on the sea]

The first case of artisan Ebola.

[Citizen Nothing]

I like my Ebola locally sourced.

[MJGreen]

Is it gluten-free?

[Riven]

This is beginning to sound like a South Park episode.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The House of Commons mentioned Pittsburgh today. I felt moved to send them your message from this morning.

Now the Canadians are fuming.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I still stood and removed my hat. And for what it's worth, that anthem ranks as one of the top out there. BUT I WILL NEVER SING AN ANTHEM OF A COUNTRY SUBJECT TO MONARCHS.

[John Titor]

And our beer sucks too.

[Sy]

+1 sweaty jockstrap

[Pro Libertate]

It's okay. Join the U.S. in beer hegemony. Within a decade, we will have completed our climb from the beer cellar to the GOD OF BEER.

[Los Doyers]

Some great beer being brewed in CA, Pro L. Just sayin...

[Pro Libertate]

Sure. Which is why joining the American beer juggernaut is a wise move. It's like napalming Vietnam--how can you say no?

There was a time that Canadian beer was superior to American swill. But that time has past.

[Los Doyers]

I meant California, I would never drink that swill from up north.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, that's still in the United States. I checked.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Can we vote on that?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

There's great beer being brewed across the continent. Vermont, Quebec, Massachusetts, New York, Ontario for example.

[Pro Libertate]

Soon, Germany and the Netherlands will cower before the might of the brew of the North American continent.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, and Belgium. Cower.

[Stormy Dragon]

There's great beer being brewed in Kentucky too. And by brewed, I mean distilled. And by beer, I mean bourbon.

Because fuck beer.

[Pro Libertate]

Oddly, I agree completely with this statement.

[Tonio]

Beer is a prerequisite to whiskey, since whiskey is merely beer that has been distilled. Distiller's beer is made just like regular beer, minus the hops.

[Pro Libertate]

I don't drink much, but when I do, bourbon is my choice. Then maybe whiskey. And if I want to explore insanity, tequila.

Beer, not so much. Though I drank large quantities of it in college.

[Riven]

I'm pleased to live in a town with seven breweries.

Although, I probably ought to bring that number down to six. One place offers a wide variety of delicious beers, if you're the sort of low-brow, knuckle-dragging peon who likes IPAs. Sick.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Quebec hates that Monarch thing too.

[Pro Libertate]

New York? Now we'll learn the true meaning of panic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...was a convert to Islam with ties to jihadists.

I think Obama pulled a Garak and arranged this to get the Canadians into the war against ISIS.

[Heroic Mulatto]

C'est fauuuuuxxxxx!!!

[John Titor]

"So, I, uh, lied to cover up other men's crimes...and I, uh, can live with that."

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Computer, delete log, shred hard drive."

[Injun, as in from India]

Senator Rand Paul is laying out his ideas for restrained foreign policy in a high-profile speech in New York. And not a moment too soon.

Comments comparing him to Neville Chamberlain beginning in... 3... 2... 1...

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know who else ran on a subdued foreign policy?

[cavalier973]

Neville Chamberlain! Rand Paul is just like him, you know.

[Injun, as in from India]

George W. "Humble Foreign Policy" Bush?

Barack "Restore America's Reputation in the World" Obama?

[Almanian!]

George Washington?

[mr lizard]

The Zentradi?

[Tonio]

Needs moar umbrella.

[XM]

Rand Paul supports air strikes on ISIS.

[Pro Libertate]

I dunno, is it a good idea to bomb a god? Is there a Ghostbusters corollary here?

[trshmnster the terrible]

See original Stargate movie for what happens... Effectively Kurt Russell has to become an uber badass, and there has to be a magic sarcophagus to raise James Spader from the dead.

[Pro Libertate]

Only if he decides to surrender to the Nazis. I'm not seeing any of those around right now, despite the hyperbole.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Libertarian Senate candidate Robert Sarvis polls better among Virginia millennials than the Republican Party's Ed Gillespie.

Luckily for Gillespie young people don't vote.

[Idle Hands]

Also unlucky for Warner. Luckily Warner leads in dead people as well

[Injun, as in from India]

Virginia should pass a law to raffle a boat load of XBox and PS consoles for voting. You'll see an uptick in turnout.

Free sh** works.

[Ted S.]

Why is Sarvis stealing all those votes that are rightfully Gillespie's?

[Apatheist ?_??]

We simultaneously don't vote and also are overwhelmingly responsible for Obama/dems/[instert political issue]. Somehow...

[Brandon]

John can probably explain it.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Nah, I've had enough John hackery for a day.

[John]

Actions have consequences. Libertarians seem to get that, except when it is applied to them.

[Cytotoxic]

Oh we get. BS from Team Red = no vote for Team Red. There's your lesson for today poster who is totally not a Team Red water-carrier.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Nah, I believe this is referring to his different hackery this morning about how "dishonest" people are for not buying his retarded conflation of government recognition of gay marriages and separate laws dealing with discrimination/public accommodation. It's totally dishonest to support one and not the other apparently.

[Brandon]

Why can't you seem to grasp that the actions of voting for bigger government, more borrowing, more restrictive laws and perpetual war have the consequence of getting fewer votes from principled voters?

[Clich? Bandit]

yes they do, and voting for GWB had the consequence of getting BO with more executive power. Thanks Rs.

[Injun, as in from India]

Air strikes by U.S.-led forces have killed 521 Islamist fighters in Syria. And 32 civilians. Whoops.

What are the odds that's a typo? Could it be more like 32 Islamist fighters, and 521 civilians.

[CE]

They were counting their sisters and mothers driving the pickup trucks, and their kids oiling the guns.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Salon or the New Republic? Does it matter anymore?

"European Soccer Has a Racism Problem. Its Solution: Sexism."

http://www.newrepublic.com/art.....ign=buffer

[Rhywun]

?

They say the solution is NOT sexism.

Personally, I think the solution is to and the match and award the points to the visiting team.

[Rhywun]

Er, "end" the match.

[Ted S.]

What if the problem is apparently caused by visiting team supporters, as in the recent Serbia-Albania match?

And the headline is basically arguint that UEFA's proposed solution is sexist. Except that here in the US it only seems to be White Christian males who can be racist.

[Raston Bot]

like millennials vote. hahahahaha

[Slammer]

Quickest way to get your gun and badge yanked if you're a NYPD cop? Kick a fellow officer in the head because you thought he was a suspect.

Awww, the cute little head rub at the end

[Rhywun]

The perp stole $2.50 - he's lucky to be alive.

[Los Doyers]

Every time I see videos of NYC cops, I think: Don't they have physical fitness requirements?

[BakedPenguin]

The goal of interacting with the NYPD is to keep Hewell happy.

[BakedPenguin]

Oops. 'Huell'.

[CE]

Only to get in. Then it's donuts all day.

[Injun, as in from India]

A healthcare worker in New York City is being tested for Ebola. Just in case you missed recent opportunities to panic.

It's a vast right-wing conspiracy to decimate the population of a blue state in order to turn it red. Or something like that.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Hmmmm!?!?!

*rubs chin*

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Salon or Slate?

"Marvel's Civil War Is a Far-Right Paranoid Fantasy?and a Mess. Can the Movies Fix It?"

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bro....._mess.html

[MJGreen]

I thought Slate was supposed to be the more 'sophisticated' of the two.

[Injun, as in from India]

Sophistication is a polite way of saying snobbery.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm certain that Jamelle Bouie is writing within the context of being a long-standing authentic fan of comic books with a deep understanding of the genre and is not cashing in on the current hipster fascination with the art form as an excuse to indulge in social justice pareidolia. Absolutely certain.

[Ted S.]

the current hipster fascination with the art form

Translation: graphic novel

[Slammer]

They'll always be 'funny books' to me.

[Lady Bertrum]

Pareidolia - the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in considering the moon to have human features.

[JEP]

I'll leave this right here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HciKwoVAvo

[PapayaSF]

social justice pareidolia

Very nice.

[XM]

It don't matter what kind of fantasy the movie is, it's still going to drown in money.

The first Avenger movie was a mess, and it's now one of the highest grossing films ever.

[Cytotoxic]

The first Avenger movie was a mess

Boo! Hiss!

[Ted S.]

Aren't all modern comic-book movies just effect shows with a teal/orange color palette? 😉

[Cytotoxic]

NO AVENGERS WAS BRILLIANT

[John Titor]

BRILLIANT= Garbage MacGuffin Plot Of Whedon Snark With 'Button Kills Aliens' Ending apparently.

And I actually LIKE the Avengers, but yeah...film's a goddamn mess, a pretty mess, but a goddamn mess.

[Cytotoxic]

Garbage MacGuffin Plot Of Whedon Snark With 'Button Kills Aliens' Ending apparently.

Did you not comprehend the power of Loki's staff? You're one of the people that thinks that because a movie doesn't spoon-feed you ever plot point, that it must be a stupid mistake. Do you make those awful 'Everything Wrong With' videos?

[cavalier973]

"Totally Honest Trailers" is better.

[Cytotoxic]

That it is.

[John Titor]

Has nothing to do with being spoon-feed, it has to do with the plot being boring paint-by-numbers predictable filled with 'THE AUTHOR DECREES' moments that completely ruin the flow. It's a pretty, fun popcorn movie but 'BRILLIANT' is way above its pay grade.

[Cytotoxic]

the plot being boring paint-by-numbers predictable filled with 'THE AUTHOR DECREES'

I don't even know what this means. I'm sorry you can't enjoy anything. You probably like old Star Trek.

[John Titor]

You seem to miss the 'it's a pretty, fun popcorn movie' and 'I actually LIKE the Avengers' statements. Just because I criticize something doesn't mean I can't enjoy it, fanboy.

And fuck that, DS9 for life (which also has a bunch of dumb shit in it that I will openly criticize).

[Somalian Road Corporation]

DS9 does indeed have a bunch of dumb shit in it (the time-traveling back to San Francisco/Federal Employment Act stuff comes immediately to mind) but it was by far the best Trek.

The Ferengi episodes were absolutely hilarious because quite a few of the things that the writers intended as comically extreme portrayals of capitalism I found myself nodding, smiling, and thinking to myself: "Yes... yes..." to.

Also: Quark: The way I see it, Humans used to be a lot like Ferengi: greedy, acquisitive, interested only in profit; we're a constant reminder of a part of your past you'd like to forget...

Sisko: Quark, we don't have time for this...

Quark: But you're overlooking something. Humans used to be a lot worse than the Ferengi. Slavery. Concentration camps. Interstellar wars. We have nothing in our past that approaches that kind of barbarism. You see? We're nothing like you. We're better.

[cavalier973]

Captain America: Winter Soldier was awesome.

[lap83]

So I'm not the only one who didn't see the appeal?

[Lady Bertrum]

I'm right there with you. I like certain "guy" things. I've actually read Dune for fuck's sake, but The Avengers? Yawn, shrug.

[Brandon]

Read? They did a novelization of Dune?

[lap83]

Same here. Two of my favorite movies are The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and Heat. But I couldn't get past 10 minutes of The Avengers. It just seemed dumb with lazy writing and plot development. Also, I'm so bored of CGI-overload.

[Cytotoxic]

Is 'Mess' prog-ese for 'popular story that scares progs'?

[JEP]

My only complaint is that at the end (spoilers!) all the Hydra people were arrested by members of the US government agencies - FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. As if, Hyrdra could infiltrate SHIELD and remain dormant for 70+ years, but once exposed, all it takes is two guys in terrible suits with badges to walk in and take them away. It must have just slipped their mind to also infiltrate the enforcement and intelligence agencies of the most powerful government in the world.

[JEP]

Damn squirrels! I'm replying to cavalier's comment at 5:01

[Azathoth!!]

Hydra wasn't destroyed--SHIELD was destroyed. Watch Agents of SHIELD.

[Andrew S.]

The Civil War storyline, if they're going to do it, would be in the Phase 3 movies, so not in Avengers 2.

However, I have watched the Avengers 2 trailer a dozen times. It is spectacularly awesome, creepy Pinocchio song and all.

[cavalier973]

Pinocchio? Let's see here...

*watches trailer*

Pretty swooft, eh?

[CE]

That's the War of Fascist Heroes Aggression to you, mister.

[John Titor]

I was pretty sure that the Marvel Civil War was more meant to be a commentary by Millar on the general registry of political dissidents/undesirables (i.e. Muslims, Japanese Americans in WW2, etc.). There probably was a bit of anti-Bush stuff in there too, I don't know, I'm not a regular Marvel reader and its been years since I read the Civil War storyline.

[Cytotoxic]

I don't understand how Stark can join the government after all that brouhaha in IM2.

[Brandon]

The guy representing Senator Bitchtits apologized.

[JWatts]

Maybe because he's a billionaire weapons contractor and his primary customer is the government?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Nothing quite like a good Civil War thread.

[CE]

Wanna bet there's a Lincoln Memorial cameo?

[Palin's Buttplug]

A former aide to President Ronald Reagan is calling for southern states to secede from the union and form a new conservative nation called "Reagan" where citizens wouldn't be forced to compromise on "traditional values" like marriage.

Right Wing Watch on Wednesday flagged conservative author Douglas MacKinnon's interview with evangelical radio host Janet Mefferd, in which he hocked his new book, "The Secessionist States of America: The Blueprint for Creating a Traditional Values Country ? Now." Cautioning that all his secession talk was purely "academic," MacKinnon suggested that South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida break away from the United States and form a new republic named "Reagan."

"You have to remember that all 11 states from the South, including ultimately Texas, seceded legally," MacKinnon told Mefferd. "They left the union peacefully, they left the union legally, and then President Lincoln ? part of the problem there was that the North realized very quickly that it could not survive economically without the power of the South."

After making the legal case for secession ? and branding the Civil War "illegal" to boot ? MacKinnon argued that the leaders Americans are electing today do not represent traditional values, particularly when it comes to marriage.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/l.....-secession

[Injun, as in from India]

And then Douglas MacKinnon ran off to get coke from his male prostitute friend, who was introduced to him by like-minded traditional values superstar Rev. Ted Haggard.

[OldMexican]

Re: Peter Caca,

"You have to remember that all 11 states from the South, including ultimately Texas, seceded legally," MacKinnon told Mefferd.

Which is crazy talk, because no state can secede legally. Ask Lithuania.

[OldMexican]

Right Wing Watch on Wednesday flagged conservative author Douglas MacKinnon

Ohhh, "flagged".

Flaggin-tastic.

[CE]

How could he leave out Alabama?

[Slammer]

Epic fucking derp. The train station's architecture is racist.

[Injun, as in from India]

Imagine the economic stimulus and job creation that would happen by demolishing the racist train station and replacing it with an inclusive design. Also don't forget all the tolerant messaging.

[Mad Scientist]

If they want to keep their tolerance up to date they'll have to knock it down and rebuild it every 6 months or so. It'll be so stimulating!

[The DerpRider]

And it has to be a different color each time, but never white!

[Entropy Void]

... and don't use Canuckistani steel.

[Ted S.]

The police should round up minorities and force them to go to the train station.

[John]

Don't minorities understand that their entire existence is to make white Progs feel good about themselves?

[Trouser-Pod]

Always slaves to the white guy....

[Duke]

I see what you did there Ted.

[Entropy Void]

You know who else wanted to round up minorities and force them to go to the train sta ... Oh, never mind.

[John]

It is appalling how these assholes dehumanize minorities. It is apparently every brown person's job to show up wherever this guy goes so he can see them and feel better about himself.

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

Oh I don't know, John. I was at a Vikings game two Sundays back and couldn't help but notice that at least 98% of the people in the stands were white.

[BigT]

Isn't Minnie a lily white state? You think blacks are bussed in from Mil or Chi?

It's the crowd in MY with no immigrants that is off balance. NTTAWWT

[cavalier973]

"That's more dangerous than going room-to-room at the station, divvying up faces by the way they look, and keeping tallies on my iPhone."

What's the purpose in doing that?

[cavalier973]

stevesailer ? 2 days ago
We should just blow up all beautiful old buildings so that nobody is ever made uncomfortable by being reminded of what their ancestors didn't accomplish.

[Warty]

RSpung ripclawe ? 14 hours ago
They thoughtlessly left out any designated dice throwing areas. Oh, the humanity.

PWND

[Tonio]

No, you want to see actual racist architecture go to the South where some of the older train stations were designed with separate waiting rooms for Blacks and Whites. Interesting note that some stations had special waiting rooms for white women travelling alone.

[Tonio]

..travelling without men

[Injun, as in from India]

That is straight out of modern day Saudi Arabia man.

[Citizen Nothing]

So one never had to ask "Where the white women at?"

[cavalier973]

Citizen? They told us you was hung!

[Mad Scientist]

They was right!

[flye]

Excuse me, ma'am. I hate to disillusion you, but you're sucking on my arm.

[Mad Scientist]

Oh, it's twue! It's twue!

[Not a Libertarian]

This really was a chance to define today's Denver, to show off to the world, to say we are as interesting and relevant as anywhere you can name. But this project has defined us narrowly, darkly, negligently.

Darkly?

RACIST!

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

There are a shit-ton of homeless folks in Denver. Did he run a tally on them as well?

[lap83]

The implication seems to be that people view every great thing that was done by a white person as representative of how great that race is. But the writer doesn't empirically prove that this assumption is true, which only tells you what HE goes around thinking. "Wow, look at this amazing building. Us white people are awesome at doing this stuff. Aww, this dumb building made me think racist thoughts!"

Yes, yes you are racist. But that doesn't mean we all have to be deprived of beautiful things that a select few skilled individuals made.

[Rhywun]

"there is hope the station will impress out-of-towners with our farm-to-table menus, craft cocktails and trendy gift shops"

I.e. "stuff white people like".

[B.P.]

Huh. I know the guy who wrote this. Very pleasant fellow, but...

[Jerry on the sea]

I don't know if this was posted yet: Nelson Bunker Hunt dead: Former world's richest man dies in 'modest circumstances' in US after losing his fortune.

[Ted S.]

I thought the rich always got wealthier by stealing from the poor.

[Restoras]

He stole from the wrong poor people?

[Sevo]

The poor people that didn't have anything worth stealing!

[waffles]

Yes, he stole from the sort of poor people with the infectious variety of poverty. He caught their filthy poor stench all over his estate.

[BigT]

Hunt will be buried in a silver casket.

[Entropy Void]

ISWYDT.

[waffles]

"I don't have the figures in my head," he answered. "People who know how much they're worth aren't usually worth that much."

Cool.

[Trouser-Pod]

Wait..... Why didn't he just have one of his orphans die instead?

[PapayaSF]

The problem with trying to corner the silver market is that there's an awful lot of silver in the world, so when the price gets high enough, people will pull out the family silverware etc. to sell. I've never understood why they even tried that.

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

Clever Halloween Dog Costume

http://blogs.citypages.com/food/martini-dog.jpg

[cavalier973]

If you know where we are, please bomb us. There is no life after this. I'm going to kill myself anyway. Others have killed themselves this morning. I've been raped 30 times and it's not even lunch time. I can't go to the toilet. Please bomb us.

[cavalier973]

I clicked on it because I thought it was an article about Warty.

[Cytotoxic]

Certainly makes Reason's snarky PM links byline look really stupid.

[Tonio]

That is horrible almost beyond the point of comprehension.

[Slammer]

I hovered. I can't bring myself to click and read. Holy shit.

[RBS]

That's pretty much the money quote there anyway.

[lap83]

That made me genuinely sad. Mostly because it's unlikely anything can be done to save them.

[waffles]

Those evil bastards. Why can't our feminazis get riled up about something real like this? fuck fuck fuck, this is terrible.

[lap83]

"Why can't our feminazis get riled up about something real like this?"

Because it doesn't affect them.

[waffles]

Neither does gamergate or the faux campus rape epidemic.

[PapayaSF]

It's because it would ally them with neocon warmongers (boo!) against Muslims, who are "diverse," non-white, non-Christians (yay!).

[Idle Hands]

and people doubt there is true evil in the world.

[BigT]

We've got to bomb the harem to save it.

[Cytotoxic]

Air strikes by U.S.-led forces have killed 521 Islamist fighters in Syria. And 32 civilians. Whoops.

Whoops? Because a tiny number of 'civilians' got killed in a war?

[Citizen Nothing]

16.3 to 1. This is an acceptable ratio to you, Cyto? Wait. Of course it is. Why am I asking.

[Citizen Nothing]

We should call it the Obama ratio.

[RBS]

I'm assuming he still hasn't taken up arms himself...

[Cytotoxic]

Why would I?

[Sy]

Because you're a noncommittal chickenhawk coward?

[Cytotoxic]

You realize that this is the most laughably lame tactic you have right? It's basically an admission that you have nothing, which is all the peacenazis have aside from noise and fury. Cytotoxic pwns again.

[Sy]

You realize that not addressing the question as to why you feel compelled to employ other people towards your sycophantic bloodlust and crying projection is the most laughably lame tactic you have right?

[Sy]

All we're asking is why you never put your money where your mouth is.

Is it out of sheer laziness? Don't want to be inconvenienced by those pesky costs of war? Or do you find something rather endearing about an armed forces that should be engaged in global conflict for several decades at a time? And if so, do you still hold this position and believe yourself to be a libertarian?

[Cytotoxic]

I pay taxes so that the armed services does this for me, so my money is there.

[Cytotoxic]

Further my motivations are totally irrelevant. You lose I win.

[Cytotoxic]

Bla bla bla. Does purple prose actually contain a point or is it all retarded question-begging? Is that you Doherty?

[Sy]

Chickenshit pretzel-logic from a chickenshit coward.

Boy, you're REAL committed to scourging ISIS from the globe, aren't you? Why, HE'S A TAXPAYER!

[Sy]

What's a few hundred billion dollars more deficit, eh? What's a few thousand more PTSD claims and a few hundred more suicides, eh? You'll foot the bill for all that, I'm sure.

[Cytotoxic]

Cool story bro. Thanks for admitting defeat, just try to be a little more pointed next time.

[Sy]

Red Tulpa ran out of talking points and broke his moral compass, I see.

[Cytotoxic]

Why not? I mean sure, the number of ISIS killed is way too few. But that's because this bombing campaign is so tepid. Obama bombed non-threat Qaddhafi with 10x the intensity.

[Tonio]

It seems that he doesn't think the civilians were actually civilians.

[Warty]

KDW can turn a phrase when he wants to.

because no matter how badly government screws up, fixing what's gone wrong is always your problem. I can picture his situation precisely ? every police department, driver's-license office, tax bureau, and city licensing agency exhibits the same distinctive blind of slowly simmering hostility, smugness, contempt, and complete immunity from accountability. We are ruled by criminals, and their alibi is: "There's no record of that in the system." That, or: "The computer won't let me do that."

[Pro Libertate]

We are ruled by criminals. Hard stop. No further elaboration or explanation needed.

[Ted S.]

"Fuck you, that's why."

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

http://www.weather.com/news/sc.....y-20141022

Eclipse today, in about an hour.

[Pro Libertate]

DON'T LOOK AT THE SUN.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

How did you know?

[Pro Libertate]

I looked at it once, but I got better.

Actually, I just looked at the sun through a telescope with a sun filter on it at a science expo this past weekend. Pretty cool. I've viewed the sun through some protective eye wear during an annular eclipse I witnessed in Chicago, which was also an experience.

[flye]

+ Pi

[Sevo]

Doesn't everyone have an arc-welding helmet?
Why not?

[CE]

Because I never wanted to be a ballet dancer.

[Riven]

Do I preach at you when you're lying stoned in a gutter?

... Nooooooo!

[Pro Libertate]

AVOID STONE BURNERS.

[Riven]

Whatever!

[Pro Libertate]

Fine, Tleilaxu eyes for you.

[John Titor]

No, Libertarians leave their wounded in the desert, like proper Fremen.

[Riven]

Well, I'm already short, may as well have the rest.

[Pro Libertate]

Do you find that you can change your appearance at will?

[Riven]

Does cutting and bulking count?

[Pro Libertate]

Sure, why not?

[Riven]

This seems appropriate.

[Mad Scientist]

You're catching on fast if you already know how to SugarFree a link.

[Slammer]

AGW?

[Sevo]

Why are eclipses announced by the weather-critter?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

That's just the link that was sent to me. I'm sure NASA has something on it as well.

[Sevo]

But when I see a local announcement, either in the paper or the TV, it's always in the 'weather' feature.

[CE]

Because the weatherman is a meteorologist. Meteors come from space. Duh.

[flye]

You forgot to warn us not to stare at the sun. I'm afraid you have no future as a local news anchor.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'm staring at the sun. Don't do what I do.

I'm getting some good beer on the way home. Do what I do.

[Mad Scientist]

It's partially covered now. I can't stop watching! Will you deliver some of that beer?

[flye]

I'm making a camera obscura. Used to think they were pointless until I saw Tim's Vermeer last week -- oddly engaging film.

[Pro Libertate]

I really enjoyed that. Holy crap was that impressive.

[flye]

Agreed. When he started on the rug I felt real tension because I thought he was going to go insane right on film.

[Pro Libertate]

I sure the heck would have. An amazingly tedious task.

[Ted S.]

It's cloudy where I am. 🙁

[CE]

I can't see the eclipse here. The moon is in the way.

[Coeus]

Gawker is pissed on being on the losing of the culture war for the first time.

Failing to adequately cover this act of spinelessness was the first big fuck-up we at Gawker committed. Intel surrendered to the worst kind of dishonesty, and we allowed it to do so without ever calling it out. So let's say it now: Intel is run by craven idiots. It employs pusillanimous morons. It lacks integrity. It folded to misogynists and bigots who objected to a woman who had done nothing more than write a piece claiming a place in the world of video games. And even when confronted with its own thoughtlessness and irresponsibility, it could not properly right its wrongs.

Last week, a Gawker writer tweeted "bring back bullying." He, and later I, made the tactical mistake of publicly treating Gamergate with the contempt and flippancy that it deserves. As a consequence, our advertisers were quickly inundated with the same kinds of emails that spooked Intel. Gamergaters were passing around a sample letter ("DO NOT COPY AND PASTE") and list of advertiser contacts to coordinate the campaign; the Washington Post's Caitlin Dewey wrote an excellent breakdown of the efficient mechanism by which the relatively small group of Gamergaters was able to make itself immediately annoying to advertisers:

[Coeus]

If this seems bizarre to you, you're not alone. I feel like I went to sleep in the regular world and woke up in an insane new one where "bullying" is something that it's possible to be seriously and sincerely "for." Yesterday, Adobe wrote to one Gamergater on Twitter that it had asked Gawker to remove its logo from the advertising site because it did not support bullying; a few confused hours later, Adobe was forced to clarify to the world:

Maybe that's too much to expect from a brand. But it seems like the bare minimum to expect from ourselves. Gawker is rarely perfect, but it strives to be honest and fearless. For us to have apologized for a joke?to have even clarified?in the face of such breathtaking cynicism and dishonesty, from both "ad partners" and the enemies who leverage those brands' fearfulness to silence opposing voices, feels like an utter abdication of those responsibilities. Frankly, that sucks. If anyone is owed an apology, it's our readers. So: Sorry.

[Coeus]

last paragraph was supposed to be bolded and quoted. Fucked up the coding.

[Coeus]

And click through. The title is hilarious.

[Ted S.]

You can just hover over the link: "How we got rolled by the dishonest fascists [sic] of gamergate"

[trshmnster the terrible]

More! More tears! They're so salty and good! I demand more tears from this Gawker!

[Cytotoxic]

I've never watched a bunch go as splenetically insane since Rob Ford won the TO mayorship. Progs cannot handle losing culture battles.

[PapayaSF]

Indeed. And I love this:

the relatively small group of Gamergaters was able to make itself immediately annoying to advertisers

In other words: "Only progressives are supposed to be able to do that! WAAHHH!"

[Mad Scientist]

Progressives truly believe they speak for a much larger portion of the population. They really don't see the irony here.

[Pro Libertate]

If Gawker dies a horrible death from all of this, then that's only justice at work.

Just to add insult to injury, "Gawker" gets the red squiggly underline of NOT RELEVANT in this comments form.

[PapayaSF]

That's social justice at work!

I think it's time for a big Reason article explaining Hayek's argument that "social justice" is a mirage. The concept has taken over the left in recent decades, and made far too many inroads into ordinary culture. Demolish that, and you'll take a lot of steam out of the culture wars.

[Pro Libertate]

We really could use a cultural backlash against this irrational worldview that's been dominant in recent years.

[Ted S.]

I feel like I went to sleep in the regular world and woke up in an insane new one where "bullying" is something that it's possible to be seriously and sincerely "for."

Lots of people want to use the state to bully those they dislike. That's not a new phenomenon.

[paranoid android]

As someone only casually following this whole mess, the way lefty-media types (including the Vox affiliates) have closed ranks to defend Biddle's comments is absolutely breathtaking.

I know the whole "what if the other side said that?" game is a little tiresome, but can you imagine if one of the Gamergate types or a sympathizer said something like "this all just proves that uppity women need to be raped and put back in their place" and then tried to pass it off as a joke?

The journalists themselves have gotten locked into such an us vs. them mentality over it that they'll bend over backwards to defend an asshole like Biddle, even though the controversy over his comments has little-to-nothing to do with the Gamergate issue at large.

[Coeus]

The journalists themselves have gotten locked into such an us vs. them mentality over it that they'll bend over backwards to defend an asshole like Biddle, even though the controversy over his comments has little-to-nothing to do with the Gamergate issue at large.

Gamergate got started because they bent over backward to protect a sociopath on their side. This is par for the course.

[OldMexican]

the Washington Post's Caitlin Dewey wrote an excellent breakdown of the efficient mechanism by which the relatively small group of Gamergaters was able to make itself immediately annoying to advertisers

The tactics do seem vaguely familiar to me....

[MJGreen]

Gawker is only rarely perfect. Such modesty.

[Warty]

I have no idea what the hell is going on with this Gamergate shit. It's all far too tedious to read. But Gawker seems upset about it, so I guess that's good?

[Pro Libertate]

This is my interpretation as well, sans question mark.

[Coeus]

First successful pushback against the SJWs since they started taking over internet community after community. Gamers decided to use the SJW tactics against them and they are losing their minds. Article after article denouncing the same tactics they were using just a few months before.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, that sounds good to me.

This whole business (meaning the larger nonsense, not Gamergate), reminds me a little of the Critical Legal Studies movement, which was none of those things.

[GILMORE]

"Coeus|10.23.14 @ 5:12PM|#

First successful pushback against the SJWs since they started taking over internet community after community. "

This is pretty much the only accurate summary you will find anywhere on the internet.

The story is really about how the SJW/political-correctness crowd has invaded so many different corners of the internet...

...and they finally stepped into a domain where people were so hardcore-internet-nerd that they rebelled with the heat of 10,000 suns.

Much idiocy then ensued, to the vast confusion of the general public. Something to do with "gender" was blamed.

[Stormy Dragon]

So the tactics are good now that the "right people" are using them?

[Cytotoxic]

Irrelevant.

[Pro Libertate]

Hoist by their own retard, I believe is the classic phrase. Modified somewhat.

[Coeus]

So the tactics are good now that the "right people" are using them?

I think that shooting someone you disagree with is wrong. I don't think that shooting someone who's shooting at you is morally wrong.

That being said, while I disliked what they did to the Mozilla guy (despite disagreeing with his politics) I never said that they were wrong to do it.

It is absolutely impossible to play "gotcha" with me on this.

[PapayaSF]

I think what happened to Eich was absolutely wrong. He lost his job for making a legal donation to a proposition that won. Nobody ever claimed that he was rude or disrespectful to anyone based on his belief in traditional marriage. He had a great deal of support at Mozilla, including from gays, but he was forced out by an internet mob.

I was hugely disappointed by the Facebook discussions at the time. One lefty friend claimed it was A-OK because people were just expressing their opinions, so I asked if he'd be equally OK with someone forced out of a job for supporting gay marriage. He would not answer. Even Mike Godwin (of "Godwin's Law") turned out to be a clueless lefty about this. He could not see anything wrong with it.

[Coeus]

I disliked it, but could find nothing in my moral principles that forbade it.

I feel the same way about bestiality.

[PapayaSF]

My principles preclude getting people fired for mainstream political activity (and most non-mainstream political activity).

[Coeus]

How do you feel about this guy?

[PapayaSF]

Not sympathetic. What he said was rather hateful and trolling and put his employers in a very bad light. A more equivalent circumstance would be if he had been fired for making a contribution to the NRA, or to a gun control group. In either of those cases I would object.

[cavalier973]

*narrows eyes*

[Riven]

Me neither. I've read a couple articles about it, but since I'm more about the games than the industry surrounding it, I find the whole thing a little confusing.

[Warty]

TITS OR GTFO

[Riven]

Probably safe for work

[Warty]

Oh, you dirty girl. You know just what I like.

[cavalier973]

popehat had an article that was linked in some H&R forum yesterday that explains how "Gamergate" relates to the human experience.

[Coeus]

That was pm links. It's the only place I've been posting this stuff, but apparently that's still too much for brooks.

[GILMORE]

That was a great article BTW

[Coeus]

Thanks. Ken's doing one from his perspective on Monday. Probably on the opposite side. He's always offering help to PZ Meyers, of all people.

[flye]

Seconded.

[Stormy Dragon]

So let's say it now: Intel is run by craven idiots. It employs pusillanimous morons. It lacks integrity.

Yeah, I'm sure THAT'S gonna make them want to advertise with you again.

[Pro Libertate]

Not to mention other advertisers. Gawker isn't run like a business but more like a preschool, it seems to me.

[Pro Libertate]

And by that, I mean a clique within the preschoolers, not the institution.

[mr lizard]

These guys are my fucking heros. I have been out of gaming since the late 90's. Back then I was a nerd and I was LEFT THE FUCK alone about it. I can't imagine dealing with this crap. But I know I would have dug in tooth and fucking claw against these assholes. Also the gamers are equal parts guerrilla fighters and rich nation states in this gig, figuratively speaking of course.

[Coeus]

According to a new Pew survey, men are harassed more online then women.

They're already trying to spin it in the article. Shameless.

[GILMORE]

This is inevitable, because men engage in the most pointless tete-a-tete screaming at one another.

Still, women feel emotional pain 10,000X greater than men. So, you have to factor that in.

[Sy]

I'm sure Coeus is right on it trying to shore up those inequalities.

[Coeus]

I'm sure Coeus is right on it trying to shore up those inequalities.

Unfortunately, my schedule prevents me. My schedule is just so full with the daily beatings of the various women in my life that I just can't seem to find the time to take it online.

[Sy]

Well, at least you're putting forth the effort. That's all the Patriarchy can ask of you.

[Riven]

Plus, women retaliate with the silent treatment.

Which is supposed to be a punishment, I guess.

[CE]

It doesn't work online though.

[Lady Bertrum]

In my experience women are just as mean as man, both in real life and online and engage in quite a lot of pointless screaming. Sometimes women will disguise their put-downs in more subtle language.

Visit some online venues dominated by women and you'll soon see some incredible viciousness. The most civilized places are equal parts male/female, imo.

[MJGreen]

Sure explains this place.

Ya bitch!!

[JEP]

I play a co-ed sport that also has all male and all female teams.

The female teams have a lot of drama. The male teams have a lot of egos.

The co-ed teams seem to find a balance. The guys don't want to look like dicks in front the women. The women don't want to look bitchy in front of the guys.

[Coeus]

The most civilized places are equal parts male/female, imo.

Equal, yes. But if you're at a bar with just a few women and mostly men, it gets bad. Competition can bring out the worst in people. Better an all male club than a ratio 70/30 (or worse) male/female.

[lap83]

Mostly female and a few male can be bad too. Generally with fewer brawls, but they make up for it in cattiness and backstabbing.

In any case I have to second the equal parts male/female = civilization.

[Coeus]

Mostly female and a few male can be bad too

Good to know. Every time I've been in that situation I've been to busy basking in the attention to notice.

[Coeus]

Still, women feel emotional pain 10,000X greater than men. So, you have to factor that in.

They said that as well.

Taken together, half found their most recent experience with online harassment a little or not at all upsetting. But a significant minority, 27%, found the experience extremely or very upsetting.

Women were more likely than men to find their most recent experience with online harassment extremely or very upsetting?38% of harassed women said so of their most recent experience, compared with 17% of harassed men.

[lap83]

"This is inevitable, because men engage in the most pointless tete-a-tete screaming at one another.

Still, women feel emotional pain 10,000X greater than men. So, you have to factor that in."

Look at all those hyphens, God I hate you you fucking asshole. Go Die! /man

*feels othered by the strong wording and cries to self softly* /woman

[The Heresiarch]

Remind me again why people are freaking out about one person being shot in Canada. People get shot by the police every single day and that doesn't seem to raise an eyebrow, but now that this single Canadian got shot, now I'm supposed to shit my pants?

[GILMORE]

Canadians are like Wood Elves. Timeless beings of peace. It is a sign of the coming of Sauron.

[The Heresiarch]

Lord of the Rings Orgy

[BakedPenguin]

That was funny, but not entirely unexpected. I thought that scene was a bit off when I first saw it.

[lap83]

I thought they were more like Ents

[lap83]

what with all the trees and all

[John Titor]

Canada is the country that let Trudeau declare martial law over a kidnapping. Canadians can be really weak willed in the face of violence, and it's very lucky that we've never had an actual major terrorist plots.

[MJGreen]

It was done on hallowed ground, near where Important People were.

[PapayaSF]

The reason is that the shooter is someone following a world-wide ideology that been killing hundreds of thousands of people for decades, and intends to create a worldwide totalitarian dictatorship.

And just the other day, another Canadian Muslim murdered someone with his car.

[The Heresiarch]

Regardless of what they intend to do, they have actually done very little in the west (statistically speaking).

Even if there were a 9/11 every year, I'm much more likely to die in many other ways than by terrorist actions. And, of course, there hasn't been a 9/11 every year. So the odds are in fact even more miniscule.

[PapayaSF]

I dislike that sort of statistical argument. First of all, all ways to die are not equal: we all take risks and die one way or another, but that's different from an ideology that wants to murder you. Second, the odds of an American being killed by the Japanese military were also really slim as of November 1941, but those odds changed shortly thereafter.

[CE]

Canada changed yesterday, apparently. No one had ever been shot there before I guess.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I got to have lunch with Stephen Moore, formerly an economist for Cato, currently at Heritage. Very interesting guy! One of those people that I could talk with for hours and still have more to talk about.

He's really big on riding the energy boom into a generation of prosperity, and was all about cutting income taxes (corporate and individual) and reducing regulation. I had a hard time with some of his "rah rah Team Red" stuff, but he was quite interested in my view of the 2016 election as a lobstertarian (it autocorrected to this, and I'm keeping it!)

[Coeus]

2016 election as a lobstertarian (it autocorrected to this, and I'm keeping it!)

As well you should. They are a fine people.

[PapayaSF]

Nice.

[CE]

Alt text: Why would the GOP give any thought to Erik Spoelstra?

[Every Cop is a Criminal]

I think it has to do with economics.