Feds Investigate Eric Garner's Death by Cop, Lawmakers Battle for Budget Dominance, Congress Considers War Declaration Against ISIS: P.M. Links
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Video screen capture Eric Garner's strangling by a New York City cop will be the subject of a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
- Dismay at the grand jury's failure to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for killing Garner unites Americans across political divisions. At least we can agree on something.
- Republican Senators Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Mike Enzi of Wyoming are battling over who gets to head the Senate Budget Committee. (Two will enter, one will leave!)
- Nathaniel Branden, the successful populizer of Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy even after she broke with him, died yesterday at 84.
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took Barack Obama at his once-upon-a-time word and introduced a resolution to declare war against ISIS to make things all constitutional. The president may not appreciate the gesture.
- Energy development across parts of the West is on hold for fear it might harm the…greater sage grouse? Really? Apparently, that's a bird.
- The European Central Bank's decision to hold off for now on further "stimulus" has renewed faith in the euro. A little.
- Problems plaguing the new Orion space capsule have delayed its launch by at least a day.
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Eric Garner's strangling by a New York City cop will be the subject of a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
I swear, if the Feds manage to make the cop sympathetic...
It's definitely the feds' job to be investigating this.
That being said, they're going to screw it up badly, aren't they?
Feds going after government officials
vs.
Obama administration going after somebody accused of racism
Interesting dilemma for the feds.
Hello.
Ahlan wa sahlan, kayfa al haal?
Are you calling me a fag?
Fags are hanged where that language is spoken.
...or *hung*?
Horses and porn stars are hung, my good doctor.
*I* know that; I was just playing around.
Rather, horsing around?
Now you're just jerking me around.
Well at least help me get off this giant horse.
I think that was what Greedo said to Han Solo.
Fags are what Garner was *allegedly* selling
Care to bum a fag, mate?
Wajid zain, alhamduallah.
Dismay at the grand jury's failure to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for killing Garner unites Americans across political divisions.
Watch as they spring into inaction!
Bent slinkies are almost as bad as...you know.
Does it start with an "N"?
Wet dishrags?
You people must live in the gutter.
You could not be more mistaken. We aspire to live in the gutter. Someday.
No wire hangers!
Plan C?
Hitler?
The European Central Bank's decision to hold off for now on further "stimulus" has renewed faith in the euro. A little.
"We'll have to do it ourselves. Let's go break some windows!" /Krugman
Krugman lives in NYC, right? Maybe if the protests go well, he'll have some broken windows of his own to repair.
Republican Senators Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Mike Enzi of Wyoming are battling over who gets to head the Senate Budget Committee.
Is this the committee responsible for actually producing a budget? Because, if so, pretty easy gig.
Why can't both of them lose?
"Motion for a budget of infinity."
Unanimous: "Aye!"
Rand Paul (quietly): "Nay."
McConnell: "Who keeps saying that?"
Paul points at Jeff Flake: "Him. Get em, fellas!"
+1 Dental plan
Lisa needs braces.
Though we march day and night by the big cooling tower, they have the plant but we have the power...
Now do Classical Gas!
Bum bum bum bum bum bummmmmmmmm...
Where's my burrito? Where's my burrito? Where's my burrito?
Problems plaguing the new Orion space capsule have delayed its launch by at least a day.
Sabotage by Dr. Smith.
Lack of nukes for propulsion?
"Danger, Will Robinson!"
He's hiding inside the capsule!
Nathaniel Branden, the successful populizer of Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy even after she broke with him, died yesterday at 84.
Didn't he break up with her for a younger woman? And then she got not-at-all-irrationally upset? This according to The Freewheeling History of the Libertarian Movement.
I thought he was married to a younger woman who was forced to accept their affair because Objectivism. I do like that early Objectivist meetings sound like a giant key party.
That is what The Passion of Ayn Rand would have us believe... That she ditched an extremely handsome older painter and he a smoking waifish blonde to pursue an affair with each other while she wrote Atlas Shrugged.
The way Jennifer Burns in Goddess of the Market describes Frank O'Connor I would've assumed he was a closet 'mo.
Lots of him just wanting to tend the roses.
This being Ayn Rand, wouldn't she be more upset that he didn't want to rape her?
I thought everybody's heard about it.
I heard it's a bullshit subspecies reclassified as threatened in order to hurt energy production.
We have the same problem in Canada with the Energy East terminal being put on hold for Beluga whales. We'd be better off if these species were exterminated.
We should have animal pogroms once a month.
Full employment for Sardaukar!
Ok, I'm curious. Why?
To get them out of the way of development.
So, better as a practical matter, not as a good in itself?
Aren't there plenty of Belugas out there in the North Atlantic anyway? Not all whale species are endangered.
+1 Surfin' Bird
A-papa ooh mow-mow, papa ooh mow-mow
Curse you. Now I have the Family Guy shtick of that stuck in my auditory and visual cortexes.
Energy development across parts of the West is on hold for fear it might harm the...greater sage grouse? Really? Apparently, that's a bird.
And look at the tatas on ...him.
Fricass?e that shit, yo.
Kill it with fire!
Why? It's majestic! It has its own iron throne, boobs, a Shakespearean ruffle... What's not to like?
Look, if the bird isn't slated for the dinner plate, telling me you think it's pretty isn't going to make me less inclined to use it to test the next iteration of the solar death ray
And I wouldn't expect it to. It's just a wonderfully ridiculous bird. With tatas.
Birds with Tatas...excellent gay death metal band, or German trance fusion group.
do you even lift bro
Apparently, that's a bird.
Who needs energy when you have a bird?
If they would just flap at windmills, thus turning the blades faster instead of flying into them and being smashed to bits they could help us gain energy independence. But noooo, they refuse to be team players for the EARTH.
Stupid birds.
It's a Progressive Utopian dream! Harnessing the energy of every individual creature on earth to support and power their ideal society! So pure, so...total.
Untrue, anything that gives actual aid or comfort to a human being is evil, and thus you are oppressing those poor animals, you monster!
Every bird an NRA bird!
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took Barack Obama at his once-upon-a-time word and introduced a resolution to declare war against ISIS to make things all constitutional.
Congressional declarations of war, what are they good for?
He also pointed out that when Mr. Obama made his first bid at the White House, he said no president should unilaterally go to war.
Dammit, Rand, if Congress will not act ....!
I think Bill Clinton called it 'coercive diplomacy'.
Prostitutes in the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk have unexpectedly hiked prices for their services by up to 40%, blaming the tumbling rouble exchange rate for their decision, it seems.
They also want to peg the cost of services to the dollar in the longer term if the situation doesn't improve, sources at one brothel tell the local FlashNord news agency. Two hours with a prostitute in Murmansk cost 3,000-7,000 roubles ($57-132; ?36-84) before the price rise, the agency says. The management of another brothel says it's "trying to keep prices down, but the cost of living is rising and the girls can't work at a loss". The rouble has lost more than 40% of its value against the dollar and 60% against the euro since the start of the year, as a result of Western sanctions over Russia's involvement in the eastern Ukraine insurgency and a fall in oil prices.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-.....e-30311546
Sanctions working.
If you mean sanctions by Saudi Arabia to drive down oil prices in a bid to kill fracking is hurting the ruble, then yes.
Yeah, sanctions are working to fuck over Europe.
2 Lamborghinis instead of 4?
Ouch, there went Italy's GDP.
Correlation or causation? Europe is in trouble regardless.
Any restriction on economic activity is shooting yourself in the foot. Sanctions aren't responsible for all of that, but they contributed.
Sanctions can make sense if they cause the target to change behaviour and that change is worth the pain. Unfortunately, when Russia-supported 'Ukrainian rebels' shot down an airliner with what was probably a Russian-made missile, they made sanctions a necessity.
A sustainable energy future requires frying birds to death mid-flight!
Streamer. That sounds delicious.
The moment you've all been waiting for!
Pantone has announced their Color of the Year for 2015 and it is "Marsala" (#18-1438)
As I'm sure you all recall, 2014 was "Radiant Orchid".
Are you purposely trying to bore me?
You're so gay.
Whatever gave it away?
You know else liked to give it away?....
Anthony Kiedis?
Nailed it!
He probably thinks that song is about him.
My mother used to feed me a raw egg mixed with Marsala before school back in the day.
Mama mia
... Some childhoods are so interesting.
And another piece of the puzzle falls into place.
kennedy wore "Marsala" (I called it 'maroon') the other night and she looked "hearty" like a 60yr old Dean of Students looks 'hip'
Not gonna lie: I'm a little disappointed you weren't the first to reply to that.
I must thank you for linking me to that website.
I'm always short of new terms to describe the same-old colors
A quick reference guide for Kennedy's tops. I'm sad "traffic cone" isn't on there.
I saw this as an Amazon lightning deal earlier today. I thought about buying it as camouflage. Maybe a cop seeing a dog like that might hesitate a second before shooting it if he thinks it's a police dog.
That's not a dog, son. That's clearly a stripper.
Bow chicka bow-wow!
Careful, you wouldn't want to run afoul of the Stolen Valor Act.
I picked amazon clean on Monday.
"Energy development across parts of the West is on hold for fear it might harm the...greater sage grouse? "
Interesting that they're only holding up oil and gas leases. You know what's really bad for birds? Wind farms.
Previous comment retracted, throw that bird in your new smoker.
And solar death rays.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-H.....r-scrutiny
Britbart investigating Lena Dunahm's rape claim and found no evidence that such a person ever existed.
I found the Radio Station's general manager's reaction rather telling...
It doesn't matter if she is telling the truth!!
I am sure if they had records that collaborate Dunham they would not want to turn them over because the truth doesn't matter.
God. Would'nt you love to cross examine a bitch like that on the stand?
There was a rape, but her sister was the victim.
You knew it was a hoax from the start. Anyone who is a big enough sicko to want to rape Lena Dumham is not the kind of sicko who just does one rape. They are the kind of sicko who ends up being the subject of a crime thriller in 20 years. And the alleged 'rapist' didn't appear to the be that.
Be on the lookout for a guy in Ohio with a giant mustache and purple cowboy boots who likes to raw dog it with fat ugly chicks.
Anyone who is a big enough sicko to want to rape Lena Dumham is not the kind of sicko who just does one rape. They are the kind of sicko who ends up being the subject of a crime thriller in 20 years setting themselves on fire for the deep shame they feel for 'doing the dunham'.
We laugh Bobarian, but there are people out there who really do have to live with the fact that they slept with Lena Dunham. That is a horror I really don't want to contemplate.
I have friends who have a "go ugly early" attitude. They get laid far more often than me.
One of the guys I went through Nuclear Power School with was a chubby chaser. It was perplexing. He seriously could have had any woman he wanted (looked sorta like JFK Jr. but more built), but he went after fat, frequently homely girls. When I asked him why he gave me two reasons; the first was that they were extremely appreciative (something like on-demand whenever his mood suited blowjobs), and that it felt great. He said fucking fat girls is like fucking a giant tit.
He definitely preferred fat girls with big boobs though, I don't think he would have stooped to Dunham because of her nega-tits.
I have to imagine that the investigation was quite thorough and brief.
"Let's see, there are two Republicans at Olberin, and only one of them is male. This should be difficult..."
What's wrong with these people? They're psychotic.
The F-35 is a piece of crap that should be turned into toasters ASAP.
In 2008, two analysts at the RAND Corporation, a California think-tank that works closely with the military, programmed a computer simulation to test out the F-35?s fighting ability in a hypothetical air war with China. The results were startling.
"The F-35 is double-inferior," John Stillion and Harold Scott Perdue concluded in their written summary of the war game, later leaked to the press. The new plane "can't turn, can't climb, can't run," they warned.
http://blogs.reuters.com/great.....-cant-run/
Toasters? Can they be made to look like Number Eight? If so, I'm all in favor of toasters.
But can it defeat a MiG?
It might have a shot against a MiG-1, unless they did something stupid with the targetting system for the missiles.
40-second Boyd rolls over in his grave...
The F-35 is nothing but a welfare program for defense contractors.
A camel is a horse designed by committee. An F35 is a military jet designed to do everything, but nothing well.
Old news. The Designer Of The F-16 Explains Just How Stupid The F-35 Is. Such a bad idea to shut down the F22 line and buy this piece of shit.
http://digg.com/video/the-desi.....he-f-35-is
The F-22 is also a piece of crap. We don't need a big tech advance; China and Russia aren't going to invade.
At least it could accomplish it's mission - air superiority. Other than being slightly harder to detect on radar, the F35 can't do anything better than what we were flying over Vietnam.
We still employ my favorite aircraft that flew over vietnam.
(For the record that would be the B-52)
Imagine the Pentagon trying to design a new heavy bomber?
Instead of taking a 757 or similar, installing bomb doors and electronics, they would spend a trillion dollars to design something that didn't work as well and cost $5 billion each.
You mean something like this?
I'll take an AC-130 any day of the week.
The idea is that dog fighting is a thing of the past, so they aren't designing for it anymore.
They said the same thing about dedicated close air support.
Now they're shipping A-10s back to the ME.
I'll believe it when there are enough wars where it hasn't come up.
(And the most recent bayonet charge on record was during the Falklands War so...)
Yep, definitely not saying I agree with the idea.
I think I remember reading that the US air force has the oldest fleet of air craft in the world.
Most of that is because all the new designs are supposed to be fancy, cutting edge stuff, but every time they try to use them in the field, they fail.
Simple is better - easier to maintain, easier to train pilots and techs, etc. The osprey is a disaster because it's half helicopter, half air plane so pilots have a awful trying to learn how to fly the thing.
Not quite
Our current ave age is ~26 (part of my day job). Many of the worlds AF's have our hand-me-downs or USSR's which are getting long in the tooth.
I think some Brits did a bayonet charge in Iraq.
It worked.
Gurkhas I believe - they like their blades.
Do the ghurkas have bayonets or are they kukris?
Both I think.
So an enemy aircraft gets close to an F35, we use foul language on them? It's supposed to be capable of unescorted strike missions, they will get jumped.
You're supposed to blind them with the glare from your sunglasses and run away.
Air Froce planners don't actually think about how the unfancy tech can be used, they just want the shiniest, fastest airplane bling they can get. They literally don't care what job they're actually supposed to do when fighting, they got into it for the speed and altitude.
All the more reason they should have no say in their procurement and training.
The F35 is the shiniest, but it is considerably slower than several of the aircraft it is supposed to replace.
You know else couldn't turn, climb, or run?
The Edsel?
Nice! You got me with that one. I was looking for a Zepplin, or inner city light rail
Hillary?
Just remember people said similar things about the P-38, P-40, P-47, P-51, F-84, F-86, F-100, F-4, F-111, F-14, F-15, F-16, F-117, B-2, C-17, and the A-10. And look how those turned out.
Liberals lose minds when Rand Paul says the T-word: taxes.
How can you lose what you never had?
(note: this also goes for government revenue)
Nobody talks about Ayn Rand more than people who don't like Ayn Rand.
Surprise? No, not really. Then again I'm not a starry-eyed teen reading Atlas Shrugged in the HS library and believing that Rand is one of the ?berfrauen. Maybe we should ask one of them.
A retiree consultant put it best "If they're going to be throwing money out the window, why shouldn't I be standing under it with a bucket?"
I see nothing wrong with advocating for governmental fiscal responsibility while cashing checks from them. The fact that they still write me those checks just shows how stupid they are.
Rand explicitly stated that there was no virtue in refusing money from government. It's already been stolen it's going to be spent. You taking it ensures it doesn't go to some parasite who votes to reinforce the system. Rand was of course completely right, and Night of Jan 16 is a really good play to read too bad its production was botched and butchered.
Well that's why I'm not particularly surprised. I seem to recall her making a big deal about taking Social Security checks, which liberals occasionally realize and write articles about.
I liked this review on Amazon for We the Living
If one forgets about the gulags and the starvation, Russia was actually a pretty great place under Communist rule!
What about the poor medical care and the shortages of everyday houshold goods and housing in general?
Are we going to have to compile a long exceptions list here?
It was probably Bush or something
I not only married a Russian, have not only been to Moscow and St. Pete's, I have seen the Taiga...and it is VAST! Siberia and the outer rings of Moscow are snapshots and time capsules of Communist Russia (and some of the homes in Siberia are Tsarist). It was less than pretty how people were required to live.
His review of Schindler's List must read
Don't get me wrong -- it's good as a piece of film making if one takes away the grime of a hard time for Germany, which Spielberg holds cruelly under a magnifying glass; if one forgets the fact that he is biased, horribly biased against the Nazi regime; if one ignores what he said about Germany and the Germans while promoting the movie; if one discounts the fact that he hates the place and he was filming her "truth"...
Nice.
I always want to kick people who rightly hold up the Nazis as the worst thing ever, but then excuse communism.
If I had some gravy I would make some biscuits and gravy if I had some biscuits.
Who is this retard?
I enjoyed 'The Fountainhead'. Ayn Rand was an atheist and capitalist so I liked her anyway.
And she was no Team! player.
Unlike you.
http://thefederalist.com/2014/.....hates-you/
Mollie Hemingway trolls the fuck out of the Washington Posts.
Mollie is really good. I should read her more often.I think it was last week she wrote a thorough review of the Benghazi report. By the way, if you had an impression that Conor Friedersdorf was different from the rest of the Dem media, don't miss the beginning of that article.
Grand jury indicts man who filmed eric garner's death on gun charges.
http://benswann.com/grand-jury.....n-charges/
That'll learn him to disrespect the cops like that.
New York City Patrolmen's Benevolent Association issued a statement on Orta's arrest with harsh words for "criminals like Mr. Orta who carry illegal firearms who stand to benefit the most by demonizing the good work of police officers."
Oh really?
Good work like choking people to death?
That was improper procedure, they were supposed to taze him to death, or fill the area with bullets.
Or shoot his dog and flashbang his infant and then subject him to a battery of enemas.
Predictable. But since it's an icky gun, the prog sympathy will disappear.
Meanwhile, in the City of Brotherly Love, Protesters Seeking Justice Crash Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Some of the decorations at City Hall had the words "No Justice. No Peace." spray-painted on them. One of the decorations had "Mike Brown" on it.
Seems we're gonna have a Brown Christmas.
Brown Christmas,
I gave you my shit
But the very next day
You gave it away
This year
To save me from tears
I'll give it to someone special....
This week's Libertarian Moment, courtesy of Ankur Chalwa (West Coast regional director and member of the Executive Board of Students for Liberty):
"Make an example". Preferably through therapeutic usage of the guillotine against class enemies, one would imagine.
I am not a left-libertarian nor do I play one on TV, but I have to imagine that any authentic ones out there have to feel pretty friendless right about now.
Ends, means, etc.
Left-libertarian is something of an oxymoron. Everyone I know who claims to be such (sample size=1, full disclosure) is a batshit prog fifth columnist.
That's the impression I've gotten so far IRL and with ~80+% of those who identify as such on the internet, but I'm sure there has to be a good one out there somewhere.
Doesn't Balko identify as left-libertarian?
I've met a few self-described left-libertarians, and they're generally just really libertine and hooked on BOOOOSH and the patriot act. It's not necessarily that their views are different, but they're just emotionally appalled more by republican policies than democrat.
That seems fine to me. What I don't get is wtf the deal is with assholes like Ankur or Cathy or the folks at Bleeding Heart Libertarians coming up with things more Orwellian than even the current political culture. The excerpted content is insane collectivist bullshit. Baying for a cop's blood even if he's innocent because of it being a supposed societal corrective to racism and authoritarianism is *far less* (not more) libertarian than even the average person's sensibilities. Establishing an equivalence between slut-shaming and property damage is horribly illiberal, especially when applying this view in any practical sense. Hell, I'm a squishy classical liberal, and I find that shit absolutely appalling.
I don't really have a good feel for what a "left-libertarian" looks like at the ground level. I do, however, hope that wherever they are they can find it in their bleeding hearts to spit venom towards the attitudes expressed by the so-called "thought leaders" of the movement.
Coyote $21,000 in debt after wandering through university campus
That's funny.
So is '75 Surprising Facts about Margaret Atwood.'
In other news, Peter King is still a giant piece of shit.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/.....r-verdict/
*Shittiness intensifies*
Peter King is impressive in his ability to dig deeper each time I think he's hit rock bottom.
At least he's getting fatter so he looks less like John Noble
If only Eric Garner had been an Irish terrorist, Rep. King would've been first in line to defend him.
He's become uglier than even your average Paddy politician, as well. That's not an easy feat to accomplish when you're dedicating all of your energies on beating out Nancy Pelosi for the coveted Most Evil Congressperson Award of 2014.
Holy cow, he's gone sub-Schumer.
AZ pastor has an action plan for "curing" AIDS. Sadly that plan is from Leviticus.
"Turn to Leviticus 20:13, because I actually discovered the cure for AIDS. This is the cure for AIDS. Everybody's talking about 'let's have an AIDS-free world by 2020.' Look, we can have an AIDS-free world by Christmas...90 percent AIDS free...If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, even both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. And that, my friend, is the cure for AIDS. It was right there in the Bible all along ? and they're out spending billions of dollars in research and testing. It's curable ? right there. Because if you executed the homos like God recommends, you wouldn't have all this AIDS running rampant."
Scary fringe church is scary! Anyway, I'm fairly sure you're doing Christianity wrong if you harp that heavily on Leviticus.
I will say this makes for a fun game.
"We can eliminate poverty overnight, just kill all the poor people!"
"We can end racism overnight, just kill all the brown people!"
"We can cure breast cancer overnight, just kill all the women!"
"We can heal the political divisions in America, just kill all the Democrats/Republicans!"
Doesn't the bible also say it's ok to own slaves, as long as they're from a neighboring nation?
And how does the good pastor feel about mixed fiber clothing?
Has he sacrificed an animal to god this week? Because god really likes the smell of animal sacrifices.
The hair at the pastor's temples appears to be trimmed! GET HIM!
I'll bet you anything he has worn poly-cotton blends. I'm sure elastic counts.
Check out the ill-fitting cheap suit he's wearing. I'm sure he's wearing poly blends.
"Why do all of these homos keep sucking my dick?
So Mexicans or Canukistanis?
Yeah, try and enslave us.
We have weapons.
Sher-wood, Easton, Titan, CCM, Bauer...
What if we just invited Canada over for dinner and never let you leave? It'd be impolite to decline the invitation.
Just like Hotel California...
Jack Bauer or Eddie Bauer?
That can't be right, Jesse. Why, I am constantly informed here that there are only five "christians" in the US who want to kill the homos, and that they are all named Phelps, and that none is a true christian.
That can't be right, Jesse. Why, I am constantly informed here that there are only five "christians" in the US who want to kill the homos, and that they are all named Phelps, and that none is a true christian.
"Reason: all Christian apologia, all the time"
There must be a "for shriek and Tonio's eyes only" version of the site...
He's talking about other posters, not Reason writers.
Lighten up Francis, it's a joke. It's also a becoming a bit of a thing here as I've seen other posters paraphrase this. And I'm not sure who started it.
Also, what cali said.
Well, there are undoubtedly some pretty crazy Christians out there. Don't think it says anything about the average Christian, though, anymore than the Skoptsy would give us a reliable picture of Russian Orthodoxy today.
I know that, as my more serious posts over the years have often stated. And I do have quite a nuanced outsider-insider view of Christian doctrine and beliefs across the various denominations and the relative membership of those denominations.
Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $16,834 this year, up 3 percent from last year, with workers on average paying $4,823 towards the cost of their coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) 2014 Employer Health Benefits Survey.
http://kff.org/health-costs/re.....ts-survey/
3%. Not double digits like in the past.
double digits like in the past.
Lies.
2014 Employer Health Benefits Survey
What the fuck does employer coverage have to do with the ACA, which is trying to *kill* that market?
Nevermind that many of these current plans being surveyed stand to be eliminated next year as they delayed Employer-Mandate kicks in?
In the struggle to understand whether you are ignorant and mendacious, I generally assume 'both'
Health insurance costs were supposed to rise by leaps and bounds because of Obamacare (according to anti-market conservatives anyway). Instead they are not.
Yes it has you pig-ignorant lying sack of shit.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/th.....-5-0-12-5/
A Labor Union Prepares To Strike, As Obamacare Ups Health Insurance Costs By 5.0-12.5%
This is hilarious coming from a fan of central planning.
Looking only at employer sponsored plans for evidence of the effects of the ACA is like looking under a rock for evidence of life on Mars.
Either you're too stupid or too dishonest (or both) to understand WTF you're even talking about.
As explained to you before = the only way to actually benchmark costs will be to look at actual annual out of pocket expenses of people who had private coverage before the ACA and people who have Fed-subsidized coverage now.
Looking at the 'employer market' - which lost millions of enrollees last year and loses millions more next year due to ACA *erasing* whole swathes of coverage out of existence - is intentionally LOOKING AT THE WRONG THING.
Moron
All you do by even pretending to talk about Obamacare is demonstrate how little you actually understand what it is.
please, share more of your profound ignorance
You ignoramus. You think I just make stuff up?
WSJ:
Year over year health care expenditure growth lowest EVER RECORDED.
http://online.wsj.com/articles.....1417640559
That's like saying Prohibition worked wonderfully because spending on alcohol dropped dramatically.
"More Cost of Health Care Shifts to Consumers
High-Deductible Insurance Plans Prompt Some to Delay Treatment
By Stephanie Armour
...
Americans increasingly have to dig into their own pockets to pay for medical care..."
Did you even read what you linked to?
You think I just make stuff up?
How can you say that and not fall into the wormhole created by that statement?
The fact that he said that, then linked to a story that DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS his own statement, suggests he's actually just trolling
its hard to tell the difference between him genuinely being an idiot, and him making fun of himself
RTFA!
The study found that the employers' health spending growth fell over the four years studied, and it attributed about one-fifth of that slowdown to steeper out-of-pocket costs.
It supports my contention! Lying is no way to win your point.
No it doesnt "support your contention" because your contention is meaningless.
The headline 'prices' of plans mean nothing.
The total out-of-pocket annual expenses people are paying NOW under ACA plans versus what they paid under prior private-coverage plans are the only legitimate comparison of 'costs'.
Just because 'costs' have moved from one line-item to a different one does not equate to any 'slowdown' or reduction in price increases. It just changes where the $ comes from.
Its bullshit and you simply add more evidence that you're dishonest AND an idiot for being completely unable to lie *more effectively*
Any insurance plan that Obamacare has actually touched has either been rendered illegal or has greatly increased in price.
Wingnut lies.
Markets work. The ACA is a marketplace - albeit with a government front-end web site.
And yet you don't trust them to manage healthcare or currency. Or pretty much anything, actually.
My employer coverage went up by 20%. YMMV.
Homeless shelter provides slave labor to NFL:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/s.....or/2208350
"When they come in the program ? this sounds a bit bad ? they become our property to help us help them become new people," said Anthony Raburn, a minister who works with Atchison.
Um. Yeah, that does sound a bit bad.
Even better, they employed recovering alcoholics to serve beer at the concessions.
...BTW if you are a true tampa resident. Look for Captain Crunch at Gasparila next year. You might find your favorite reptilian overlord
"Dismay at the grand jury's failure to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for killing Garner unites Americans across political divisions."
ORLY?
Salon =
"The vile right-wing response to Garner's death: Blame Bloomberg's Taxes..."
"Rand Paul just wrecked his '16 campaign: Watch his awful Eric Garner answer""
""Fox News wins the award for most tone-deaf response to Eric Garner grand jury decision""
And more!
Also, for Bonus Fun = search Salon for "Vile" and see how many articles have the words "Right Wing" right before it!
As someone else said, if Garner had been arrested for possessing marijuana, would pro-marijuana legalization left-wingers have any problem pointing out the shittiness of that law? Why is it somehow vile or awful to point out that cops shouldn't be arresting people for selling cigarettes (which happens due to insane taxes) and that stuff like this happens as a result?
BECAUSE VILE!!
Our extra Libertarian Moment, courtesy the lovely Cathy Reisenwitz of ThoughtsOnLiberty.com
Shaming Others is Unjustifiable Coercion (seriously, that's the title):
Remember that time we called Shreeeeek a retarded dipshit? Exactly the same thing as going to his house, setting it on fire, and punching him in the face. Because we didn't sign a contract with him letting us say mean things, or something.
Your rights end where Shrike's feelings start!
This is what you get when Progs try to pretend to be Libertarian.
I have a real weakness for attractive, self described "sex positive" women. So I really try to like Reisenwitz and cut her way too much slack. But I read this and it makes me realize she is nothing but a spoiled child refugee from Jezebel.
Cathy is a cutie pie, and if she moved to calling herself a feminist instead of a libertarian she would immediately and substantially raise the average IQ in both groups.
She is a babe. And she is just cute enough and just sentient enough that you could nod your head and believably pretend to agree with her to get her in the sack.
Haven't we previously had discussions about not sticking your dick in crazy?
First, Riven, there is no sexy like crazy sexy. You are never convincing me otherwise.
Second, Cathy is harmless. She is not slash your tires boil your bunny crazy. She is send you a ten page email about how your actions have inadvertently supported the patriarchy and that is why she is no longer returning your calls crazy.
Oh! Well! Carry on, then!
I've only been with one crazy/sexy woman. I kept it brief because she had serious problems and I wasn't looking for any projects.
I think she's stripping and living out of her car (to help her save money for meth) now.
I thought you were a girl Riven. You mean you had a lesbian affair with some stripper?
You really are too good to be true.
I get that a lot.
We smoked a little grass and drank a bit, but the stripping and meth use are recent developments for her. She was just a fiery redhead when we dated. It's sad because she was gorgeous still the last time I saw her, and now I sort of wonder if I'll never hear from her again because she's in a dumpster somewhere. :/
That the stripping and meth came later, just makes the story more sexy. You have to be Postrel trolling us. 😉
That's the popular theory. 😛
Is crazy the new euphemism for pompous idiot?
Or do hot girls just get called "crazy" because it sounds better than admitting you are attracted to retards?
Or do hot girls just get called "crazy" because it sounds better than admitting you are attracted to retards?
If I wasn't so obviously guilty as charged, I would deny that IAP. I pretty sure I have made about five too many excuses for Elizabeth Nolan Brown while absolutely brutalizing Megan McAdrdle and Dalmia on a nearly basis to be able to deny that charge with a straight face.
Or do hot girls just get called "crazy" because it sounds better than admitting you are attracted to retards?
That's pretty excellent. I told one of my friends about the idea of not sleeping with people who don't read books - so if you go home with them and they don't have a kindle/book on the night stand or somewhere, just leave.
He actually did it the next week.
Does this rule apply if all her favorite books were written by Stephanie Meyer?
You might want to make sure she's legal.
I think you would be surprised at how many middle-aged women love the Twilight series. And "love" isn't a word I just throw around. It's a phenomenon that's been written about all over the webz.
I've seen the rifftrax of Twilight, which is hilarious. That's the most I know about it, besides the fact that tweens love it, from my experience working at a toy store when they first came out.
Other than that, I really don't know what to make of middle aged women loving books that revolve around sparkly vampires.
Sometimes dumb people can be attractive, I get it. But you have to call them on their bullshit. Some things are more important than sex.
Some things are more important than sex.
WTF?
Ok, that's clearly too hard for you to accept. But you'll have no one to blame but yourself if you knock up a feminist and she wants to send your son to anti-patriarchy reeducation camp.
John,
There's something to be said for finding a compromise between being a Puritan and being the Marquis de Sade.
I prefer the stoic perspective: by all means enjoy life and being passionate about things, but don't be a slave to those passions.
Like... really good sex?
I should introduce you to transitioning vegan.
Oh, whatever. Crazy is fun. Just make sure you sanitize any means by which Crazy can find you and wait until Crazy gives up.
Give me a break.
My thoughts exactly...
You can claim things to be of the same type without making the same claim about degree.
Ah, so you agree with Cathy?
If so, please explain how slut-shaming is similar in kind to coercion. To the degree that it exists outside of feminist discourse, "slut-shaming" is like any other form of social pressure or shame. It does not create a physical imposition or physical pressure to conform, nor does it carry the implicit threat of such. To the degree that it is distinct from any other form of voluntary disassociation, shame and ostracization attempts to place mental blocks on undertaking an action -- that is to say, it is similar in type (though not in degree) to persuasion and bandwagoning, if we are categorizing between coercive and non-coercive.
I would also point out that raising both to the level of government concern is a fairly quick way to create highly illiberal systems of government -- as "slut-shaming" is only distinct from other types of shame/disassociation in its content, rather than in its intensity, it becomes difficult to justify action in kind against slut-shaming of the type used against actual coercion. Shaming may not be a white hat application of free association, but neither is it analogous in a NAP framework to coercion.
No, I do not.
FWIW, Cathy is an anarchist. She never said government should intervene to stop shaming, and she specifically disclaimed the notion in her followup (linked at the bottom).
So was Bakunin. So what? I expect anyone who holds out as adhering to libertarianism to have classically liberal values.
Either she was confused by what she wrote or was lying in her follow-up, which claims, "I meant to try to shame or persuade individual actors into choosing not to shame." Sorry, but an article categorizing shaming as a form of coercion is not equivalent to merely shaming someone out of slut-shaming (it would be trivial to come up with reasons why slut-shaming might be a bad thing one should be ashamed of without ever making this absurd argument). In fact, it is incredibly hypocritical to make that claim when your original article is very clear that shaming others is equivalent to or perhaps worse than coercion -- only to then claim to be doing that very thing you are complaining about.
there are studies which indicate that social exclusion is far more psychologically damaging than property crime.
They must be shitty studies. Or the studies were only done on socialists.
Nobody likes to be ignored by the group they want to be in with. But if one is going to psychologically put being ignored on the same plane as being harassed, then you really have no concept of coercion and really don't care about liberty all that much.
Studies show that murder has less psychological damage to the victim than polka music. Clearly we need to make murder legal and ban polka.
The Gold Fairy Tale Fails Again
http://www.bloombergview.com/a.....ails-again
The Swiss kicked that ridiculous gold buying scheme to the curb 77-23. Barry covers how the Gold Fairy Tale won't die.
Anyone who believes in fiat money should never criticize others for believing in 'fairy tales'. Gold is still holding at 1200 btw. It seems to be...hedging really well.
Great, I see scumbag is back from "covering" the Louisiana senate runoff ass-kicking to take place in two days.
Oh, dear, there goes the neighborhood
http://www.charismanews.com/wo.....-in-israel
Somebody posted this case in the morning links. I like to think I'm pretty damn jaded when it comes to cop abuse, but this one shocked me:
I have heard about that case. It is so bad and so shocking, I don't even know what to say.
What the actual fuck?
Oh dammit. Thanks for reminding me. I fell into a depressive stupor for days the first time I read that back in September. Anybody got a bottle of whisky handy?
How about a flask? I don't just keep a bottle of whisky in my purse.
Although...
I have a bottle in my fridge. It's Fireball though, is that all right?
DIAF, frat boy.
A: I was never in a frat.
B: the reason I bought it is because it's part of my interesting bottle collection.
C: There's still whiskey in it becuase I never drank any.
D: I store it in the fridge because the shelves are otherwise occupied.
I can't hear your excuses over the sound of your skin being braised in a Fireball and ginger reduction.
Fireball is never all right.
It's the only whiskey I've got. There's Vokda, Gin, Tequila (Maybe), Schnapps, Kirshwasser and Rum though.
... Gin it is!
Nooooooo.
He didn't tell you what kind of gin. It could be from the bottom shelf! I mean, this is a man that has Fireball in his house.
Full disclosure: I have Fireball in my house
Fine, I'm going to go check the freezer.
... It's Bombay Sapphire.
Apparently I have Krupnik and Jagermeister in there too.
I did briefly consider that perhaps it would be shitty well-type gin, but I'd still take crappy gin over crappy versions of anything else he had.
And Bombay is a perfectly acceptable gin for me! I'll be right over.
Sapphire is completely acceptable. Also accepted would be Hendricks, anything by Anchor Distillery, and Crater Lake (on Epi's say-so).
Gordons would've gotten you murdered.
Hendricks has a special place in my heart.
You don't have a heart, you bot.
You're right; it's just a swirling black pit nowadays.
Something something, heart of gold
This whole conversation (and the beepocalypse articles) reminded me of how I'd discovered Krupnik in the first place - I got lost looking for mead. Realising I never actually found that mead, I just went out and bought two bottles.
Horrific.
Yeah. That was pretty goddamn rough this morning.
No consequences? Where are the rioters when we need them?
I had never heard that one. This is the kind of public official who should be making appearances in post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Committees.
From the AP article in links to:
Sounds legit.
Also, speaking of articles it links to -- it suffers from a serious lack of citations.
-1 Grab its motherfucking leg
Revealed: 100 safety breaches at UK labs handling potentially deadly diseases
Ha. It at least makes me feel a little bit better about the CDC.
Recently, scientists have been re-examining mysterious out-of-the-blue outbreaks that occurred years even decades ago with the new sequencing techniques we have. Oddly, many of these outbreaks involved viral strains that hadn't been seen in the field in a long, long time. Further examination revealed there was always a lab nearby, and this lab had that strain. Many of the worst disease outbreaks are in fact laboratory failures.
Got a citation on that? Sounds interesting.
I am having a real hard time finding anything but I know this is real and I am not crazy. I'll come back to it later right now I have to wash the dog and walk the dishes.
Got a citation on that? Sounds interesting.
Who's responsible for squirrel outbreaks?
Suddenly the plot of 28 Days Later seems a lot more reasonable.
To be fair, the government had done pretty well on keeping that shit under wraps. It wasn't until a bunch of animal-loving eco-terrorists got involved that it got out.
I saw Barack Obama on the webathon banner.
My favorite was "Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi."
I liked 8======)-
It looks like I broke their web banner.
This is for all of you kittie fans out there.
That is wonderful and disgusting and awful and fantastic.
This made me cry...
and my ribs hurt.
That uh.....
I might have to link to that in my handle.
I loved the cat puking on the other cat's tail, although I'd hate to be that owner.
Oh my god that hurts I'm laughing so much.
*rousing applause*
That was... poetic.
So, I think the best reaction to the Garner thing so far has come from a New York Times comment I saw. One person argued that Garner's choking is really the state of Virginia's fault.
You see, if Virginia didn't have such low cigarette taxes, then there would be no cigarettes for people like Garner to sell, so they wouldn't be brutalized by the police. See, if everyone just complied with the Prog's grand vision of society, nothing bad would ever happen!
Nope. Can't handle the doublethink required.
I'm going to start blame with the cop who actually had his arm around the guy's neck and draw a spiral outward from there.
Tax Harmonization is what all the shitty governments (read: 98% of them) in the EEC want.
Ugh.
Ugh. Apparently, Twitchy finds this photo 'digusting
Honestly, I like the Garner stuff. It has reminded me how gross L&O Conservatives can be.
Someone bring Twitchy its fainting couch!
At a bar now. CNN is on, THEYRE interviewing Eric Garner's children.
OH JOY! The first 2016 Hillary ad is here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfU3hI8ML30
Stand with Hillary everybody!
I lasted 4 seconds.
(supposed to be a reply to the Hillary ad)
You're really missing out. It has bearded country singers, amber waves of grain, smiling children, and a hammer smashing a pane of glass labeled "2016".
Breaking the glass ceiling! Get it?
herp herp herpa derp herpa derp herpa derp herpee!
You have made Master Chief Derp very sad. Go ring the bell and get off my beach!
No easy day to be a derp SEAL. No siree.
Are you guys ready for the return of Blofeld and SPECTRE?
http://deadline.com/2014/12/bo.....201308576/
a hammer smashing a pane of glass labeled "2016".
"Grab its motherfucking leg."
"Fuck that. you grab it. I'm not touching that."
All good things must come to an end. BULLSHIT http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014.....trip-club/
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