A.M. Links: House Intel Chair Warns of Violence if Senate Releases Torture Report, New Horizons Wakes Up Close to Pluto, Home Video Game Console Inventor Dies

• 

  RalphBaer.com

  House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) says the Senate should not release a report on torture practices of the CIA because it might provoke "violence and deaths." Meanwhile, six prisoners from Guantanamo Bay were flown to Uruguay for resettlement.

• Protests over the death of Eric Garner in police custody in New York City continued on the West Coast, with protesters in Berkeley, California, hurling rocks at cops.
• The United States will continue to attempt to rescue hostages held in Yemen, despite three failed raids so far.
• North Korea denied being involved in the hacking of Sony Pictures, which is producing a film about an attempted assassination against Kim Jong Un, but applauded the move.
• The space probe New Horizons has awoken from sleep mode as it approaches Pluto. Back on Earth, NASA launched the Orion capsule, expected to be the model used for future, manned deep space missions
• The inventor of the home video game console, Ralph Baer, died aged 92.

Reason's annual Webathon is underway! Your (tax-deductible!) gift will help Reason magazine, Reason.com, and Reason TV bring the case for "Free Minds and Free Markets" to bigger and bigger audiences. For giving levels and associated swag, go here now. 

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The inventor of the home video game console, Ralph Baer, died aged 92.

Ran out of lives.

[Aloysious]

Speaking of games, Table Top season 3 episode one, starring Wil Wheaton for your viewing pleasure. You're welcome.

[robc]

I normally complain about the type of games they play, but Tokaido is great.

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Green Mushroom

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Reason is short of their target with one day to go I see.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I do what I can to help by blocking all of their ads.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The space probe New Horizons has awoken from sleep mode as it approaches Pluto.

Merging with Voyager, which left the solar system earlier this year, last year and the year before.

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

And will finish leaving the solar system in about a millenia.

[UnCivilServant]

We'll send along an FTL ship to pick it up and put it in a museum - on Earth

[Just a thought not a sermon]

9) So I went grocery shopping this weekend and in the spirit of Christmas season-humility was reflecting on how "first-world" some of the items in my cart were?craft beer and imported cheese and so on. Pure luxuries. Do you remember earlier this year when there was a big controversy over Republicans wanting to cut food stamps in the Farm Bill? At first, I was outraged. Even as a libertarian-ish sort of guy, taking food out of the mouths of poor people is pretty far down on the list of what I would cut. But then I saw an article in the Washington Post on just how much the benefits for a family of four was declining: from $668 to $632 a month. (I looked up one of the old articles just now to confirm this figure.) I was curious and asked my wife how much our family of four spends on groceries monthly: about $800, it turns out. Could we get by on $150 a week, I asked her? Certainly?we'd have to drop the organic milk and vegetables, I'd have to downgrade to Budweiser, we might need to switch to generic breakfast cereals, but we wouldn't be missing any meals. In short, for slightly less than the actual, post-cut food stamp benefits we'd be fine. Think about that the next time you hear about food insecurity in America.

[Monty Crisco]

You. Fucking. Monster.

[sarcasmic]

Yesterday when I was at the grocery store buying some odds and ends for dinner, the people in front of me bought $40 worth of steak on their EBT card. I can't afford to eat steak, but people on welfare can.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

$40 worth of top round?

[sarcasmic]

Pepper steak from the deli. No idea what the cut was before the deli people seasoned it.

[Tonio]

It is also possible that they were buying that steak to trade it for actual cash money, etc.

[Doctor Whom]

B-b-b-budweiser? No organic milk and vegetables? How are hipsters supposed to get by on food stamps?

[Libertarian]

PBR! Is there anything it can't do?

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

Be drinkable?

[Swiss Servator, Winter kommt!]

Try Hamm's! Gives you a headache and acts as a superb laxative!!!

[Almanian!]

Hey Mabel - Black Label!

AKA "Black Death" - ALSO an excellent laxative.

[Rich]

Your squirts'll be like sky-blue water!

[Aloysious]

Food stamps have almost nothing to do with feeding the poor. If any poor, starving people happen to be fed with food stamps, that would be in spite of the program, not because of the program.

[Brett L]

Although WIC is nearly perfect as a government sponsored program (SLD applies, but accepting that the goal is to provide a minimal nutrition at the lowest cost to pregnant and nursing women and children under four). Unfortunately, it presents little to no graft, so it will never be emulated.

[Spoonman.]

Spent $458 for a family of 3 (though the one-year-old obviously doesn't eat as much as an older child would) last month, maybe up to $500 if you include the couple times I bought fish in cash. Not at all trying to budget it, could be less if it needed to be. And, that includes buying enough for several guests and hosting Thanksgiving at our house, though others brought food to it too.

[Juice]

TG this year was ridiculously cheap for us. A 12 pound turkey cost $7. The rest was veggies and the like and I think it was maybe $20 in total.

[straffinrun]

Why not make them actual food stamps. I'm thinking a type of jerky that could be sent through the mail.

[Almanian!]

Soylant & H Green Stamps - excellent!

[Injun, as in from India]

Wow. I had NO idea how much they were getting.

[Rhywun]

I tried food stamps for a couple months in the early 90s when I was pretty hard up. I remember it being quite generous.

And yeah, I agree that "food insecurity" pretty much doesn't exist in the US. Every time I see that commercial claiming "one out of five kids doesn't know where their next meal is coming from" I just say to the TV, "You lie!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

North Korea denied being involved in the hacking of Sony Pictures...

Or even knowing what hacking is.

[AdamJ]

Contrary to what Matthew Broderick taught us, it's hard to hack with an Apple IIe

[robc]

I'm not sure a password of Joshua requires hacking.

[AdamJ]

They did use a capital 'J'. Made it way harder.

[Lord Humungus]

Paul Krugman destroys conservatives' favorite myths about the Obama economy

The Labor Department confounded forecasters on Friday when it reported that U.S. employers added 321,000 jobs in November, while average wages rose a better-than-expected 0.4 percent. Aside from a quick hiring spree for the 2010 Census, it was the best jobs report since the 2008 meltdown. We aren't quite out of the woods yet, but this is what a real recovery looks like.

According to Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, last week's good news debunks the right's favorite shibboleths about the Obama-era economy. In today's column, Krugman argues that while long-term unemployment remains at historic highs and the economy's growth potential has diminished over the past seven years, President Obama's policies aren't at fault.

[Lord Humungus]

related: Memo calls out workers for cheating on Census data

As readers of my column know, whistleblowers in five of the six Census regions in the US have alleged data were being falsified on a regular basis. Congressional investigators know the names of these whistleblowers and are probing the matter.

...snip...

By the way, experts forecast the Labor Department will report that the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 percent in December. Whatever number comes out, just smile because it's really a joke.

[AdamJ]

And right on schedule at 6 years! Of course when the house falls again in two years, it will be those pesky Republicans' fault.

Future Paul Krugman in 2016: "the possibility of a Republican president has caused the current economic malaise. If the a republicans would just concede the presidency, my models show that unemployment would drop by 4.5 points."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Aside from the fact Salon shouldn't be talking about economics, I love when publications insert 'Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times' to introduce Krugman or any other pundit.

The reality is he won a prize in a sub-set of economics and is fit to speak with any kind of real authority based on that narrow definition.

[Andrew S.]

Speaking of, which one of you wonderful people donated to Reason in Krugman's name? I salute you, whoever you are.

[Juice]

the right's favorite shibboleths

Um, are you sure you're using that word correctly?

[SugarFree]

A custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important.

He's using it correctly, if a bit hyperbolically.

[MJGreen]

Ahh, this time it's "what a real recovery looks like." Not like all those other times that phrase was used the past six years.

[sarcasmic]

Outrage over cop who punched and put 15-year-old girl in a chokehold as she screamed out: 'I can't breathe'

Cell phone footage has emerged of a police officer punching a 15-year-old girl in Mesa, Arizona
The footage was posed on Facebook on Friday and has been shared more than 1.8 million times
The victim is quickly put in a choke-hold and can be heard yelling 'I can't breathe' as her mom begs with the officers to let her go
The man who filmed the incident claims police tried to delete the video and told him they 'could have shot her (the victim) dead' for her actions

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

[db]

They probably *would* have shot her if they weren't being recorded...

[VG Zaytsev]

That video is an obvious forgery. Everyone knows that the cops only abuse black men. A white girl? - Unpossible.

[sarcasmic]

White cops cleared in ANOTHER police brutality case: Grand jury fails to indict fired officers who bashed black woman's head into a counter

Ricky Grissom and Ryan Cunningham were caught on camera in June 2013 brutally manhandling Keyarika 'Shea' Diggles
She was on the phone to her mother when her head was slammed down
They then dragged the 25-year-old her to her cell while still handcuffed
Cade Bernson, Diggles' attorney, has said the decision is appalling

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

[sarcasmic]

Knifeman shot dead by LAPD in front of scores of tourists 'was street performer who dressed as Scream villain'

Man shot by LAPD on Friday has yet to be named, but friends says he was a street performer known as 'J' who would pose with tourists
Two officers shot and killed the man just before 7 p.m. on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue
Cops fired several rounds, leaving his body laying on a corner as shocked witnesses looked on
The area of Hollywood Blvd where he was killed is near the famous Walk of Fame and is renowned for its street performers

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

[db]

That's fucked up.

[Injun, as in from India]

*BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*

"Okay, cool. So who did we shoot dead?"

[Zeb]

"Kinfeman"?

Is that a word?

[sarcasmic]

Punched in the face while handcuffed in a police car - but her cop attacker will NOT be charged: Prosecutors say officer who left woman, 23, with a broken eye socket 'acted professionally'

Adley Shepherd struck a drunk Miyekko Durden-Bosley, 23, on June 22
She was protesting her arrest, insisting she had not made any threats
Frustrated, she then kicked Shepherd outside of the vehicle
The officer reacted by pushing her into the back seats and striking her
Prosecutors claim he 'acted professional' even though he fractured her eye socket during the incident

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

[BigT]

You're stealing sloopy's gig.

[some guy]

All of these links are from the Daily Fail, so he's still in his bailiwick.

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

So...
Daily Fail is stealing Balko's work?

[Libertarian]

Unfortunately, it looks like there's plenty to go around.

[VG Zaytsev]

Prosecutors claim he 'acted professional' even though he fractured her eye socket during the incident

Sounds like an admission that he's a paid thug.

[Zeb]

You could almost say that by definition everything he does is "professional".

[tarran]

Frustrated, she then kicked Shepherd outside of the vehicle

This is the biggest mistake a person can make. Cops are bullies, and can batter, injure or kill largely with impunity. In a fight between a cop and citizen, the more successful the citizen in injuring the officer, the more vicious the physical violence he will receive in return and the legal penalties he will face once the courts get their hands on him.

And because they are *cry*-bullies, with ever blow they strike, every electric shock they deliver, the cops are crying "see what a terrible person this is making me do all these terrible things!"

It's not fair; it's not right; in a civilized nation it would not be tolerated; but, here in the U.S. it is the reality - the cops are modern day samurai who view the rest of the citizenry as peasants and merchants who either bow or scrape in respect or face punishment with deadly force for any perceived act of disrespect.

[sarcasmic]

"Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"

[Raven Nation]

New Horizons has awoken from sleep mode

It spent most of its life sleeping. So, typical government employee?

[DontShootMe]

Think of its shock. Wasn't Pluto a planet when it left?

[Bee Tagger]

The space probe New Horizons has awoken from sleep mode as it approaches Pluto.

I recommend two alarms, maybe one over by Neptune so you have to get out of bed to turn it off.

[Ted S.]

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) says the Senate should not release a report on torture practices of the CIA because it might provoke "violence and deaths."

Yeah, some anarchist might try to beat the shit out of a shithead like Mike Rogers if the report were released.

[Steve G]

FAKE PHUTURE SCANDALZ!!!111

[The Other Kevin]

"People might be really upset if they were told the truth about what we do. So we should just not tell them."

[Jerryskids]

If he had been a little more weaselly and a little less retarded, he would have said the report shouldn't be released for national security purposes. "There's absolutely no wrongdoing whatsoever in the report, but releasing it would give The Terrorists information on how we conduct our business and innocent (not to mention proud and brave and fine) Americans will die if this report is released" is what any politician with a lick of sense would have said.

Rogers, as head of the House Intelluginse Comittea, of course knows what's in the report - if he knows it's enough to cause people to go apeshit then that should be enough to cause people to go apeshit.

"We've got nothing to hide but we're hiding this from you" isn't a logical argument, "we're hiding this because we don't want you to see the shit we did" is the only conclusion you can draw from his statement.

[SugarFree]

Gawker and economics... it can't never not be funny:

Here's a Restaurant That Pays $15/Hour and is Doing Perfectly Well

One whole example? Wow! Now that's how you science!

[sarcasmic]

There's a whole lot of stupid in those comments. Wow.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's the profit margin that keeps businesses from doing the right thing.

no words

[sarcasmic]

You see, this is why the government should run everything. It doesn't waste money on profits for rich people, which makes it so much more fair. Capitalism is unfair because it funnels the fruit of the workers' labor into the hands of the idle rich. Don't you know anything?

[AdamJ]

Except or the rich people the government gives money to, but their ok because they've been cleared by or are related to topmen or are a union leader.

[Tonio]

Sarcasm aside, Sarcastic, you are absolutely right. The goal here is to create a system where you can't fire anyone for any reason, and have to pay your low-end employees wages which are unsustainable while making a profit. Therefore all businesses will have to be nationalized to ensure prosperity for all.

We really are headed in that direction. Some days I think it can't come soon enough since that will hasten the inevitable collapse.

[Suthenboy]

The profit margin? In the restaurant business? They have one?

Just....wow.

[Doctor Whom]

Then it must be a universal truth! [/my progressive Facebook friends]

[ColonelEngineer]

Funny how the people who are quickest to say "but science!" also talk about how mathematically illiterate they are. Statistics is a cornerstone of science and ONE example out of how many restaurants in America? That's accepted to be counted as zero.

[The Last American Hero]

Unless there's one example of a business behaving badly, in which case KORPORASUNS R EVULL!

[ColonelEngineer]

Evil^2 if it's "teh KOCHTOPUS!!1!"

[Bill Dalasio]

It's very simple. If you're scientifically or mathematically literate, you frame your argument with evidence and explanations. If you're not, you have to rely on an argument from authority by citing the conclusions of the science you don't really understand.

[invisible furry hand]

Well if it can pay $15/hour, why can't it pay $50/hour? Greed, I tells ya, pure greed

[Juice]

Like one of the commenters said, it's not about the money, it's about power. So it's not greed. It's just plain heartless hunger for power.

[Rich]

Hey, so you know how classists are always arguing that the demands of Strike For 15 are unreasonable because any restaurant that paid its employees a living wage would surely go out of business? Yeah, turns out ? shockingly ? that's complete bullshit.

Emphasis added. LOL

[Don Mynack]

So, the free market paid a high wage? I don't believe it. No way.

[SugarFree]

You have to wonder if the servers really think this will work out for them in the end.

While in France I paid attention to waitstaff, mostly because chasing down weird food or authentic places to eat is a big part of travel for me, and the restaurant business fascinates me. All the servers in France are on their high minimum wage and France has no tipping culture. You aren't even supposed to leave your loose change behind. So I was curious about how this would affect service.

Service is France is slow, but you can consider it leisurely if you squint. And we never had any server that was downright rude, but we did have a few that were inattentive in a not-busy setting.

But what I really noticed was the lack of an adequate number of servers for any given set. A small restaurant that had 15-20 tables would have one person covering the entire restaurant. The worst I saw was a patio that had 66 seats, 3/4 of which were full at lunch. It was been covered by one guy, and a busboy that doubled as a bar back, who seemed to split his time between the two patio areas (the other was only slightly smaller) and the entire indoor seating area.

They may get their $15 an hour, but they are going to work three or four times harder as a result.

[Brett L]

Quelle suprise!

[Rasilio]

From the source article that Gawker based their trash on...

"No one is just flipping burgers. All of the workers are expected to be jacks-of-all-trades: They bake buns from scratch daily, they house-make aioli and prepare made-to-order grass-fed burgers and free-range chicken sandwiches."

They pay $15 per hour because their workers are more efficient and more productive meaning fewer workers per unit sold.

McDonalds *could* go to such a model and pay their workers $15 per hour and in the process they would lay off roughly 75% of their current work force while hiring in additional higher skilled workers so that at the end their workforce was about 60% of what it is today and the youth unemployment rate would skyrocket.

Now, what are the odds that the average McBurger Flipper can actually handle that type of work environment?

[Lord Humungus]

Bomb scare turns out to be discarded sex toy

Federal police on Thursday reported a suspicious object, sealed off the area as a precaution and alerted city authorities, said San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesman Lee Swanson.

When the bomb squad arrived, they suited up in vests and helmets and approached the object.

"It was oblong, egg-shaped, you could say, I think aluminum, with a cord coming out of it leading to a small plastic box that contained a battery," Swanson said, adding that the squad quickly determined it was a sex toy, likely dropped in the area, and did not pose a threat.

[invisible furry hand]

The Danish vibrator had learnt to feed itself!

[Libertarian]

did not pose a threat.

Says you!!

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Iowa Anti-racism artwork confused for racist artwork

http://www.desmoinesregister.c...../19957345/

[Notorious G.K.C.]

""We're all college students ? capable of having an intelligent conversation about art," said Stephanie Hutchins, a UI junior from Brooklyn, N.Y. "But it was too soon. Maybe if he had waited, we'd still have been angry, but we would've been willing to listen more.""

We're capable of intelligence...as soon as anger wears off!

[Ted S.]

Note how she implies it's his fault she wasn't willing to listen more.

[Suthenboy]

"We're all college students ? capable of having an intelligent conversation about art,"

There is no evidence of that.

[Libertarian]

"My immediate response was that I was really upset," Johnson said.

Something about this word construction just rubs me the wrong way. It's like the self-examination is on a nuclear level. He didn't say, "I was upset." Nooooo. He had to describe his response.

[Rich]

"I really did want to burn" the sculpture, Perla said.

What?! Not *lynch* it?!

"The University of Iowa is a diverse community with no tolerance for racism, and the artwork that was briefly displayed on the Pentacrest this morning was deeply offensive to the more intellectually-challenged members of our community."

FTFY

[kinnath]

How the fuck did someone not burn this down. There's no place in this society for polite conversation with hipster artists. I am so disappointed in my fellow Iowans.

[Bee Tagger]

with protesters in Berkeley, California, hurling rocks at cops.

I hurled when I saw Cop Rock, also.

[Swiss Servator, Winter kommt!]

*polite applause*

[straffinrun]

Something like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKqGXeX9LhQ

[Lord Humungus]

Why Poor People Stay Poor
Saving money costs money. Period.

It is impossible to be good with money when you don't have any. Full stop. If I'm saving my spare five bucks a week, in the best-case scenario I will have saved $260 a year. For those of you that think in quarters: $65 per quarter in savings. If you deny yourself even small luxuries, that's the fortune you'll amass. Of course you will never manage to actually save it; you'll get sick at least one day and miss work and dip into it for rent. Gas will spike and you'll need it to get to work. You'll get a tear in your work pants that you can't patch. Something, I guarantee you, will happen in three months.

When I have a few extra dollars to spend, I can't afford to think about next month?my present day situation is generally too tight to allow me that luxury. I've got kids who are interested in their quality of life right now, not 10 years from now.

[robc]

Your emergency fund is separate from your savings, you nimrod.

[KDN]

you'll get sick at least one day and miss work and dip into it for rent.

I haven't missed a day of work due to illness since I was 20. These people need to get their health game up.

Note: as one data point, my experience can be extrapolated out to the entire population and used to discredit the entirety of any argument. Because that's how statistics work in progland.

[Brett L]

I have, but only because I can afford to. I think maybe twice in my life, I've been too sick to hold down my chair and meet minimum professional expectations.

[some guy]

I've got kids who are interested in their quality of life right now, not 10 years from now.

How much are those kids costing you per month? Maybe you should have delayed that little luxury until you could afford it.

[Steve G]

Well then, tell 'em their quality of life is gonna suck for a while until their guardian gets their financial shit in order...unless of course you feel like they run the household

[The Last American Hero]

This is absolute hogwash. I know many people that made very little money and they were able to save AND still throw some money in the collection plate at church. It's called budget discipline.

[The Last American Hero]

Most of them no longer make very little money.

[KDN]

A buddy of mine is always gainfully employed considering his education level, and is also always flat broke. I once said of him, "I'd like to see someone give him $1 million just to see how fast he could blow it." An innate ability to handle money exists, and we all know which of our friends have it and which don't.

[robc]

And while some have an innate ability, its also a skill that can be learned.

[sarcasmic]

The difference between poor people and rich people is very simple: poor people spend all their money. That's it.

[robc]

THIS

Which is why lots of people who have large incomes are also poor people.

[SugarFree]

Antoine Walker earned 110 million in the NBA and declared bankruptcy two years after retirement. Just one of many examples.

[robc]

While it wouldnt necessarily help, and might be overly paternalistic, I think the NBA (and other professional sports) should make their contracts 30 year annuities.

Same NPV, but each season is payed over next 30 years.

Year 1 in league you might only make 30k or something, but for a just out of college 19-23 year old, so fucking what?

By year 3, its 90k, and maybe you learned something about money in those first 2 years.

And you have a salary coming in over a more normal working lifetime. For an NFL player, instead of big money over 4 years, its a nice salary over 33 years.

[Redmanfms]

J.G. Wentworh, "It's your money, use it when you need it."

[robc]

Yeah, that was exactly what I was referencing with "it wouldnt necessarily help". But maybe some of the guys might not go to the trouble.

[TwB]

Bobby Bonilla, the former MLB player, did it right. Bonilla is currently being paid approximately $1.19 million by the New York Mets each year. This was part of a deal made when the Mets released Bonilla before the 2000 season while still owing him $5.9 million for the final year of his contract. The deal expires in 2035, at which point Bonilla will have been paid $29.8 million for a season in which he did not even play for the Mets

[mauricegirodias]

Yeah, but Bonilla's employers, the Wilpons, were hand-in-glove with Bernie Madoff, so to them it was "guaranteed interest." A lot of ballplayers actually get deferred money in their contracts, which is why, say, Daryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, though "bankrupt," had future income in the millions.

Deferred money ain't the thing it used to be, though, at least in MLB.

[sarcasmic]

There is no shortage of people who say that winning the lottery ruined their life.

[KDN]

Athletes and lotto winners usually provide the most extreme examples. Look at what just happened to Jack Johnson of the Blue Jackets.

[straffinrun]

Make him Yellin's replacement, this guy understands Keynes.

[OldMexican]

It is impossible to be good with money when you don't have any.

"I like to say silly truisms."

If I'm saving my spare five bucks a week, in the best-case scenario I will have saved $260 a year.

You could save $50 a week and thus save $2600 a year. For instance, drop your cable, or change the channel lineup.

Douchebag.

[Juice]

Sometimes I consider dropping the cable TV and just keeping the internet for Netflix and the like. My gf absolutely refuses. If I wanted to save that $140 a month (I'm not shitting you) I would have to pull the cable from her cold dead hands.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

My gf absolutely refuses. If I wanted to save that $140 a month (I'm not shitting you) I would have to pull the cable from her cold dead hands.

Tell her if she wants the cable that badly, she should pay for it out of her own salary. If she's not willing to do that, then she obviously doesn't want it badly enough.

[Tonio]

Of course you will never manage to actually save it...

Yes, but how much worse-off would you be under the circumstances you describe if you didn't have that emergency fund?

[Rasilio]

Yeah, the real reason they stay poor.

Saving is impossible because between taxes and inflation if you can't earn at least 5% interest your savings depreciates about as fast as you can save it.

Now, find a savings instrument that a poor person can afford that will get them even 3%

[Rich]

A U.S. official said Uruguay agreed to "security arrangements" and that the six would be "free men." He declined to say whether they would be allowed to travel abroad.

"Resettlement", indeed.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Has anyone here other than me ever played one of the Magnavox Odyssey games?

[Mike M.]

I played one called "Mousetrap" if my wayback memory serves me correctly.

It was basically Pac Man, except you were a mouse instead a yellow pie wedge.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

All I remember is the plastic overlays that kept falling off the screen.

[Mike M.]

I seem to vaguely remember seeing those overlays! Upon further review though, Mousetrap was on the Colecovision and not the Odyssey after all.

[Lord Humungus]

yeah my cousins had one. I liked the Atari 2600 - which my dad bought for us in '78 (?) - better.

[SIV]

I have an Odyssey II somewhere I rescued from the trash. I recall playing some other kid's Odyssey back when they first came out. "Tennis"(Pong) and hockey, IIRC.

[SRVolunteer]

Pick Axe Pete!

[Rasilio]

I had a friend in High School who had one and played quite a few games on it but I don't remember any specific titles

[A Frayed Knot]

Yeah, I used to have one. KC Munchkin FTW!

I also enjoyed their Defender knockoff as well.

[Lord Humungus]

Shock as scientists find 'electric' bacteria in the Yarra

However, the three centimetre-long bacteria, found in sediment between the mouth of the Yarra and Dights Falls in Collingwood, is found in particularly high densities in Melbourne.
Advertisement

Monash University biogeochemist Perran Cook said a patch of sediment the size of an adult footprint would host bacteria capable of generating one to two volts, enough for a small LED light.

"It is extremely novel," Dr Cook said. "The whole idea of life conducting electricity in this way has only really been discovered in the last decade."

[Ted S.]

Monash University biogeochemist Perran Cook said a patch of sediment the size of an adult footprint would host bacteria capable of generating one to two volts, enough for a small LED light.

Those fucking greenies are going to try to push this despite how much land it's going to take to make this commercially viable.

[invisible furry hand]

What land? Just coat the ceilings of your inner-city home with slime and marvel at Gaia's lightbulb

[Rich]

Exactly. No more replacing those annoying lightning bugs!

[Ted S.]

The freaky antipodean speaks from experience.

[Tonio]

Meh, it just might work and would be less wasteful than a lot of other things they could do.

[OldMexican]

Monash University biogeochemist Perran Cook said a patch of sediment the size of an adult footprint would host bacteria capable of generating one to two volts, enough for a small LED light.

That is a big volume for such a small energy output.

[Injun, as in from India]

Okay. So we can now remake The Matrix and replace Human Duracells with bacterial Duracells?

[invisible furry hand]

Bacterial Duracells would be a great name for a band

[Juice]

They would get shut down just like Green Jello and Krispy Kreme.

[Tonio]

If anyplace on earth were going to have three-cm electric bacteria, it would be Australia.

[UnCivilServant]

I'm more impressed by the fact that there are three centimeter long bacteria. As in single celled organisms.

[Bardas Phocas]

Am I reading this right?
"three centimetre-long bacteria"
[shudder]

[R C Dean]

Hell, I'm still hung up on a bacterium that's three freakin' centimeters long. That's about an inch and a quarter.

[Lord Humungus]

Rep. Matheny drives car into Tullahoma flower shop, says dog caused him to crash

The Tullahoma News reports that Matheny's car careened through a parking lot and into Martha's Flowers and Gifts on Monday morning.

Matheny said his dog had jumped into the front seat of his 2005 Mercury Grand Marquis and that the lawmaker tried to brake but mistakenly hit the gas.

The shop was open, but police say nobody was injured.

[invisible furry hand]

He should have just shifted over and let the dog take control

[Libertarian]

Nice excuse. My brother used to keep a dead bee in the glove box so that he could pull it out as an excuse in case he got pulled over for erratic driving. Carrying around a dog seems a bit excessive, though.

[Tonio]

Nice. I'll remember that.

[UnCivilServant]

"This bee looks a little... mummified, sir"

[Brett L]

You know, I do think dogs in the front seat are at least as dangerous a threat as texting. Were I a legislator, I'd use this as an excuse to add a ban on dogs in front seats to any texting while driving bill as a poison pill.

[SugarFree]

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) says the Senate should not release a report on torture practices of the CIA because it might provoke "violence and deaths."

Blowback is just a myth! Go back to your cocktail party, Rogers!

[Rich]

Obama to business leaders: Raise wages

How does it go? Something, something -- Cut spending!

[robc]

If forced to raise wages, that's exactly what businesses will do.

[sarcasmic]

No, no, no! They'll just take in less of those icky profits! Businesses are rich! They're rolling in cash! They're hoarding! We must force wages to go up so they'll spend their ill-gotten profits! Businesses have unlimited cash! Make them pay! Make them pay!

[robc]

Actually, Econ 1001, day 1 supply demand curves shows they will cut spending, raise prices AND have less profits.

[Injun, as in from India]

In other news, Petulant Obama wishes America was a monarchy and that he was king.

[thom]

Somebody needs to introduce him to Civ 5 so he has a safe place to exercise these urges.

[Ted S.]

Politician makes bad pun and responded by laughing uncontrollably

Brynjar N?elsson, Member of Al?ingi, Iceland's parliament, laughed for two minutes when asked in a TV interview for his reaction to not being nominated Minister of the Interior. He had expressed interest in getting the job. His reply was:

"No, no I am not disappointed. I am much too old for that and I am not prone to sulk, even though the outlook is the way it is [which in Icelandic might also mean: even though I look the way I do]."

There's a video here, where you can also see the original double entendre if you understand Icelandic.

[Lord Humungus]

Dems, It's Time to Dump Dixie
With Mary Landrieu's ignominious exit, the Democrats will have lost their last senator in the Deep South. And that's a good thing. They should write it off?because they don't need it.

And that is what Louisiana, and almost the entire South, has become. The victims of the particular form of euthanasia it enforces with such glee are tolerance, compassion, civic decency, trans-racial community, the crucial secular values on which this country was founded? I could keep this list going. But I think you get the idea. Practically the whole region has rejected nearly everything that's good about this country and has become just one big nuclear waste site of choleric, and extremely racialized, resentment. A fact made even sadder because on the whole they're such nice people! (I truly mean that.)

With Landrieu's departure, the Democrats will have no more senators from the Deep South, and I say good. Forget about it. Forget about the whole fetid place. Write it off. Let the GOP have it and run it and turn it into Free-Market Jesus Paradise. The Democrats don't need it anyway.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

trans-racial community

Coming from a leftist, that's laughable. Everything they propose is race-tinted.

[Mike M.]

Awesome standard-issue Weigelian Journolist psychosis on display there. What an epic meltdown.

And the last time a republican held Landrieu's seat was over 130 years ago! Funny how the dems didn't have a problem with Louisiana all those years until now.

[Spoonman.]

With Deval Patrick out, how many non-white governors are there? How many are in the South?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"choleric, and extremely racialized, resentment"

Which is why Louisiana and South Carolina elected Asian-American governors and South Carolina now has a black Senator.

And why New York City has ideal race relations!

[Injun, as in from India]

"Choleric, extremely radicalized, resentment" are words better applied to the bawling left whose only repeated demands are for more government and less freedom.

[Rhywun]

And why New York City has ideal race relations!

NYC race relations are WAY better than other cities I have lived in such as San Francisco and Buffalo. You can't make generalizations based on headlines.

[antisocial-ist]

" Let the GOP have it and run it and turn it into Free-Market Jesus Paradise."

I wish.

[robc]

The progs want the north and west to secede from the Union.

The "Jesusland" graphics dating back to the 2k election makes this clear.

Im okay with it...Jesusland gets all the good college football teams.

[Cdr Lytton]

When they travel in to play the Jesusland teams.

[Juice]

As long as you keep your jesus to yourself.

[Raven Nation]

Sooo, write off a large portion of America's black population?

[tarran]

White progressives are subconsciously very racist in my experience; They want black votes for their politicians, but when it comes to interacting with them, they think it's - to use Amanduh Marcotte's vernacular - gross!

[thom]

Well, they think of black people as children, and sometimes they want to do adult things.

[Free Society]

Prog to blacks who aren't riding the monolith: "Uncle Toms!"

[Kaptious Kristen]

Doing a highly scientific study of my Facebook connections shows a reverse correlation between liberalness and number of black people known.

[OldMexican]

Let the GOP have it and run it and turn it into Free-Market Jesus Paradise. The Democrats don't need it anyway.

Oh, don't be such a tease!

[Injun, as in from India]

one big nuclear waste site of choleric, and extremely racialized, resentment. A fact made even sadder because on the whole they're such nice people!

What a passive-aggressive little sh1t.

"You suck a$$, but you're really so nice!"

[Steve G]

I believe what you're looking for is, "Bless your heart!"

[Redmanfms]

The victims of the particular form of euthanasia it enforces with such glee are tolerance, compassion, blah, blah, blah

The only place in the US I've ever hear the word "nigger" used by anyone was in Boston. The man who used it was a white guy who screamed it in the middle of a profanity-laden assault on a old black lady who took too long crossing the street with her groceries.

It's worth noting he had numerous bumper stickers on his car, including "Union and Proud" and "Gore 2000" stickers.

The people who still believe the "South is RACISSSSSTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!1111!!1 bullshit are fucktards who've never left what little shitty enclave they infest.

[SugarFree]

The longest burst of racist insults I ever heard was an American black taxi driver yelling at an African immigrant truck driver that was blocking his way in Manhattan rush hour traffic. He ran threw them all in an unbroken torrent, even a few I'd never heard before.

[Lord Humungus]

even a few I'd never heard before

does not compute. does not compute. *brain explodes*

[Rasilio]

I've lived in Boston and I've lived in Atlanta.

Both cities are basically equally racist, the main difference is...

In the south whites have no problem whatsoever hiring or working with blacks but would never consider socializing with them.

In the north whites have no problems socializing with blacks but have a real problem trusting them to be hired or as coworkers

[thom]

The more "traditional" residents of my old Baltimore neighborhood used the n-word constantly, often to black people's faces. One time when my neighbor was high on pills he told me in great length about how racism had saved that neighborhood.

[mauricegirodias]

Highlandtown, Hampden, or Pigtown?

[thom]

Hampden

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The Republicans need to keep a file of these sorts of articles, and taunt Southern Democratic candidates - "do you agree with some of your fellow Democrats that your party should write off the South, and that this region is a toxic waste dump of resentment which lacks compassion and civic decency?"

Then the headlines would be - "[Dem candidate] disavows Democrats who say the South has no 'civic decency.'"

Repeat the process with all the candidates.

[Tonio]

Yummy, yummy tears...

[Lord Humungus]

Two people, cat pepper sprayed at Seattle McDonalds

Police say a man went into the restaurant with what he called a "service cat" and was recognized by employees as a previous troublemaker who had been banned from the store. The employee told the man to leave the restaurant and an argument ensued.

A struggle broke out between the man and employee, resulting in the man, his cat, and another customer in line getting pepper sprayed. The pepper spray belonged to the man, Seattle Police said.

The customer was taken to nearby Harborview Medical Center to be checked out, then later returned to pick up his belongings and have a meal on the house. The employee was treated at the scene by Seattle Fire medics. The cat was also not hurt.

[Rich]

what he called a "service cat"

It was actually a service rat.

[Libertarian]

ALT TEXT: Seems like only yesterday that we were making fun of Obama for giving a medal to Meryl Streep.

[Lord Humungus]

Lawrence Summers: Crumbling infrastructure is a sign of lost collective faith

A government that has to install safety nets under bridges to catch failing debris will not inspire when it aspires to rebuild other nations.

When big companies are cannibalising their machinery for spare parts, it is hardly surprising that they are not trusted to embark on voluntary long run programmes to control greenhouse gases, promote diversity or develop new technologies.

What is to be done? First, the focus of infrastructure discussions in both the public and the private sector needs to shift from major new projects whose initiation and completion can be the occasion for grand celebration to more prosaic issues of upkeep, maintenance, and project implementation.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

When big companies are cannibalising their machinery for spare parts, it is hardly surprising that they are not trusted to embark on voluntary long run programmes to control greenhouse gases, promote diversity or develop new technologies.

What the hell? Summers' level of argumentation is at the level of a ninth grader.

[Ted S.]

That's an insult to ninth graders.

[Drake]

I thought recycling was good?

[UnCivilServant]

Only if it uses less energy than to produce new.

[Free Society]

Even if you overlook the power inputs and come at it from a 'green perspective', often times the the enviroment is made worse off by the process of recycling materials than by mining and producing new.

[KDN]

the focus of infrastructure discussions in both the public and the private sector needs to shift from major new projects whose initiation and completion can be the occasion for grand celebration to more prosaic issues of upkeep, maintenance, and project implementation.

I agree, but it's incredibly naive to expect that to happen. Governor Cuomo can't stick his name on a refurbished bridge for all eternity, it has to be something new and unclaimed.

[Rhywun]

Or he could just wait until an existing bridge is inevitably named after him. Most of them are taken by other Democrats but the Brooklyn Bridge is still up for grabs.

[Injun, as in from India]

And THIS is the guy who was slated to be the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and ditched because of sexist comments?

America is in trusted hands, comrades!

[Jerryskids]

I've seen that all the time - government spends what it has while it has it with no concern for future maintenance and operations costs. Capital costs are all they look at.

Private businesses and individuals may do that, but at some point the short-sightedness catches up to them and they go bankrupt. For example, how many private businesses are in the position of a lot of state and local governments with the bills for past promises of future retirement benefits coming due? (And how many of those businessess are not heavily unionized businesses?)

My own county spent a ton of money on parks and recreation stuff when the economy was good and money was rolling in - with the economic downturn they don't have enough to cover the upkeep on the parks and ballfields and they're now falling to shit. Who could possibly have foreseen that the good times weren't going to last forever and they needed to anticipate paying for upkeep even in hard times?

It's like young people buying their first house that don't include in the budget the cost of replacing the house over the 30 year life of the mortgage. Do they seriously think the furnace and the roof and the carpeting and the appliances and the paint are all going to last 30 years?

[Steve G]

"Americans love to build, but they hate to maintain" Dan McNichol

[Rich]

"Foreign leaders have approached the government and said, 'You do this, this will cause violence and deaths.' Our own intelligence community has assessed that this will cause violence and deaths."

It depends on what the meaning of "cause" is.

[Lord Humungus]

What Chris Rock got wrong: "Nice" white people perpetuate white supremacy
America is slowly, gradually producing nicer white people. Sadly, they're part of the problem

One can be perfectly nice, after all, and still fail to see that which is right before you, staring at you from the computer screen as you watch Eric Garner killed on the streets of Staten Island with an illegal chokehold. The officer who applied that pressure to Garner's neck might himself be "nice" in the sense that he is kind to old people, babies and animals. Likewise, the grand jury that decided yesterday not to indict him for any crime might well have been filled with nice people, who send get-well cards to sick friends and relatives, participate in Secret Santa at work and volunteer at the local food bank. And what of it? Their niceness did not, clearly, provide them with the gift of comprehension, as they managed to watch an officer kill a man who posed no threat to him whatsoever?no reaching for his gun, even in some paranoid fever dream, no charging him like a bull, or as Darren Wilson put it to justify his killing of Mike Brown, like "a demon."

[OldMexican]

One can be perfectly nice, after all, and still fail to see that which is right before you

In other words: You can't win in the eyes of the race hustlers, no matter what you do.

Their niceness did not, clearly, provide them with the gift of comprehension, as they managed to watch an officer kill a man who posed no threat to him whatsoever

What was that you said about "not seeing what is in front of you"?

[VG Zaytsev]

One can be perfectly nice, after all, and still fail to see that which is right before you, staring at you from the computer screen as you watch Eric Garner killed on the streets of Staten Island with an illegal chokehold.

That is definitely true.

For example:

How many progs look at that video and see a man that's been harassed dozens of times and ultimately killed for selling his own property without send a few cents to the state government out of every sale?

I'm betting the number is close to zero.

[WTF]

"What the fuck are you talking about?"
-John Stewart

[Coeus]

Not very many at all.

[Monty Crisco]

Chris Rock is also a typical proggie that doesn't have the "comprehension" to see that Eric Garner being choked to death by cops is what his dream of big government looks like.

[Coeus]

Why we believed Jackie's story

I am drained. I am confused. But I keep returning to one question. If everyone here believed Jackie's story until yesterday ? a story in which she is violently raped by seven men at a fraternity house as part of a planned initiation ritual ? should we not still be concerned?

There was something in that story which stuck. And that means something.

It is no accident that the article came out, and it became apparent almost immediately that there were very tangible things we needed to discuss.

Yes, the story was sensational. But even the most sensational story, it seems, can contain frightening elements of truth.

[The Laconic]

It's LIKE the truth. And isn't that really a better kind of truth?

[robc]

truthiness.

Wasnt that a term created that was used to make fun of right wingers? More projection, it seems.

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else told sensational stories that had some elements of truth?

[invisible furry hand]

SugarFree?

[db]

God help us all.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Bret Easton Ellis?

[Drake]

Kris Kringle?

[Rich]

Hillary Clinton?

[Injun, as in from India]

+1 Bosnian Sniper Bullet.

[Doctor Whom]

The entire legacy media?

[SIV]

Uncle Remus?

[mr lizard]

Your mother

[Michael]

David Foster Wallace?

[Brett L]

Dan Rather?

[creech]

Hearst?

[Bam!]

A man from Nantucket?

[Monty Crisco]

Nixon?

[Ted S.]

There was something in that story which stuck. And that means something.

It means people like you who believed it are gullible and/or mendacious.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It means she wanted to believe. She wanted to confirm her beliefs and/or prejudices.

[Idle Hands]

Wow. So you create and manufacture a problem and use political forces to push the propaganda that it is a problem, then you are shocked to find people buying into the propaganda?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

You missed this key sentence: "Ultimately, though, from where I sit in Charlottesville, to let fact checking define the narrative would be a huge mistake."

She's on the campus paper, by the way.

She would have a good career before her in the MSM if he becomes a bit less frank.

[Tonio]

Good catch. Once again the left asserts that facts don't matter, only the narrative.

[Rich]

There was something in that story which stuck.

Semen?

[Lord Humungus]

*ahem* male glaze

[OldMexican]

It is no accident that the article came out, and it became apparent almost immediately that there were very tangible things we needed to discuss.

Of course the article was not the result of happenstance. It was perpetrated on purpose.

Yes, the story was sensational. But even the most sensational story, it seems, can contain frightening elements of truth.

Like, for instance, people will suspend logic and reason just to support a belief in a higher purpose.

[Mickey Rat]

Goodfact trmps Truefact.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

You believe it because you let the narrative dictate your objective reasoning and better senses.

Idiot.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

believed.

[invisible furry hand]

No, present tense is correct

[straffinrun]

thought that was a grammar link. trigger warning!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm all messed up.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Why we believed Jackie's story

Because they're sick fucks who love violence when it furthers their cause? Because they get a boner every time they hear about a rape, and they spontaneously orgasm if it's something extra special, like a gang-rape as part of some mysterious dudely ritual?

[NebulousFocus]

Slate, of all places, gets it right regarding the "rape crisis".

The College Rape Overcorrection

[The Last American Hero]

If colleges are rape factories, why do millions of parents scrimp and save money to pay sky-high tuition to send their daughters there?

[Coeus]

Dammit, beat me to it. Amazing it's on Slate, right? Yeoffe's bucked the party line before, though.

[NebulousFocus]

It's a great article- obviously she's been working on this for some time. She'll get many more reads due to the UVA bullshit. That's a good thing.

[Coeus]

Better late to the party then never, I guess. I kinda view slate publishing this like I view kotaku publishing an article calling Target stupid for caving to pressure on GTA V.

"Ohh, we weren't mocking everyone who said that this was gonna happen on every stupid lying article we posted. We were saying that the moral panic based on lies we started wouldn't result in this. And it didn't. That had nothing to do with this. Promise. See, we're pissed about it too."

[kinnath]

Emily Yoffe is one of the few respectable writers left there.

[Brett L]

There is no "rape crisis". Per capita or absolute, college campuses remain one of the safest places for 18-22 year old women to live and work in America.

[Injun, as in from India]

I found this comment by an anonymous poster elsewhere, about why there IS such a thing as "rape culture".

"1.8 million abortions each year. That's a whole lot of rape and incest."

[Monty Crisco]

There was a "rape crisis" and a "rape culture" in Rotherham (Prison ISle Progtopia) but that is the LAST thing feminists want to talk about...victims and perps DON'T FIT THE NARRATIVE!!!

[Coeus]

Mark Judge @markgjudge
Follow
I sent an op-ed debunking Rolling Stone to three outlets November 22; none published it. @allahpundit @michellemalkin @MichelleFields

[Rich]

The Pima County Board of Supervisors will vote this month on whether to refuse to hire smokers and put a major pinch on the pocketbooks of those who already work there.

*** rising intonation ***

What about the Americans with Disabilities Act?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Smokers are the new gays.

[Rich]

Fucking fags.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Oy, guv'nor!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

We haven't grown more tolerant, we've simply chosen new targets for intolerance!

[UnCivilServant]

I don't tolerate anybody, so shut up you freedom-worshipping scum!

[Tonio]

I think you mean "Oi" which is an English interjection, not to be confused with "Oy" which is a yiddish lament.

[Stilgar]

" with protesters in Berkeley, California, hurling rocks at cops."

Funny the difference in protests around the country. In NYC where you might expect people to be a tad more pissed off, things were peaceful. Elsewhere? "lets break shit".

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Liberals are comfortable with nuance and complexity. Researchers at Berkeley itself confirmed this!

So these are nuanced, complex rocks.

[UnCivilServant]

They only used rocks with smaller, more complex crystal grains.

[The Last American Hero]

In NYC they'll choke you for selling illegal cigarettes. Imagine what they'd do if you actually assaulted them.

[R C Dean]

Shoot some bystanders?

[KDN]

That only happens with would-be terrorists."You can't kill or maim civilians, that's our job! You don't have the proper training or certification!"

[Brett L]

Well, anyone breaking Nivens' First Law should expect to be injured, right or wrong.

[Ken Shultz]

"House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) says the Senate should not release a report on torture practices of the CIA because it might provoke "violence and deaths.""

It would have been so much better if he'd said the CIA shouldn't torture people because it might provoke violence and deaths.

Or, better yet, he could have said that releasing the torture report might deter the CIA from torturing people in the future--which can provoke violence and deaths.

You know what I was just thinking? Maybe we should try some CIA people for warcrimes. In the long run, doing something like that could help prevent violence and deaths.

[SugarFree]

Has anyone seen the Berkeley protest described in the media as a riot?

[Rich]

I learned the other day that the r-word (not "retard") is RACIST!

[db]

Whyever do you ask?

[SugarFree]

Just noticed that it wasn't on the few mainstream news sources I consume, so I was curious.

Tearing shit up is what I'd call a riot, but then not all protesters are responsible for what a portion of them do.

[db]

There are very nuanced conventions when deciding whether to label a social disturbance as a "protest" or a "riot." Primary among these appears to be the relative albedo of the protesters.

[Coeus]

BERKELEY RIOT: 'PEACEFUL' MOB TORCHES POLICE CAR, ATTACKS SHOPS

and

Graphic Content: Police Riot in Violent Clash with Protesters in Berkeley Over Racist Police Actions

seems to believe that it was only cops rioting.

[SugarFree]

Interestingly partisan takes.

[Brett L]

Only people of color and football fans riot, SF.

[KDN]

The good citizens of Vancouver dispute your assertion.

[NebulousFocus]

Here they claim the police rioted.

http://www.alternet.org/activi.....ce-actions

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Democrats a lock in 2016:

http://www.marketwatch.com/sto.....beforebell

[Injun, as in from India]

By "lock on the white house", do they mean that the exiting President is going to put a LOCK ON THE DOOR to keep another Democrat from getting in?

[Coeus]

UVA post #3: Burn that straw!

Rolling Stone Retracts Sexual Assault Allegations Suddenly Rape No Longer Exists

Best part is an exchange in the comments with the author:

d506
December 5, 2014 at 2:06 pm ? Log in to Reply
Can I start by saying that I agree with you, because I don't want this comment to come across as a defense of the Rolling Stones.

Refusing to publish the original story seems to fly directly in the face of the BelieveHer movement, while refusing to retract a story they know isn't true would seem to be a serious breach of journalistic integrity. They seem caught between a rock and a hard place. So my question is, what should they have done in this situation? I'm genuinely unsure of how to properly navigate this sort of thing.

[Coeus]

Amy Roth
December 5, 2014 at 2:25 pm ? Log in to Reply
I don't have the answer either. But I will say that with great power comes great responsibility. Rolling Stone is a highly circulated and highly read publication amongst young readers. They have the ability to influence how society views a topic. If Rolling Stone did publish a false rape claim (and we don't even know for sure if that is true) they have fed into the myth that more rape claims are false than are true. They now have a responsibility to counter that claim with facts so that ALL WOMEN are not the victims of their bad reporting.

[Juice]

Rolling Stone is a highly circulated and highly read publication amongst young readers.

ORLY?

[Rich]

I'm genuinely unsure of how to properly navigate this sort of thing.

White People Problem.

[Coeus]

They did exactly what the author of this piece said they should do, and she took em to the woodshed for it.

And she admits that she has no solution.

[Kaptious Kristen]

So my question is, what should they have done in this situation? I'm genuinely unsure of how to properly navigate this sort of thing.

"I need people in positions of authority to tell me how I should feel about everything."

[Lord Humungus]

Saturday I was in Lansing - and as we were leaving the campus area we had to detour because of the protesters blocking off one of the main intersections.

And that's the end of my story /old man

[Injun, as in from India]

What were they protesting?

Protesting about too many protests?

That's what I would do if someone blocked me from going to my destination.

[Coeus]

And a final UVA link, this one is not from where you'd expect.

The College Rape Overcorrection

Sexual assault on campus is a serious problem. But efforts to protect women from a putative epidemic of violence have led to misguided policies that infringe on the civil rights of men.

And the piece even goes on to question the bs statistics.

[Idle Hands]

Good to see that not all liberals are willing to throw away their rights to appease the mob.

[Lord Humungus]

OT: I've been listening to this group out of Japan called Mono. It's "symphonic rock" or whatever you want to call it - all instrumental.
https://soundcloud.com/monoofjapan

Heavy Alcest - in places - sort of approach. Or a soundtrack to a great movie.

[SugarFree]

Reminds me a bit of God Is An Astronaut, in case you haven't heard of them.

[invisible furry hand]

Hey I've heard of them - I've got Gone (which is some of their older EPs). Must check in on their newer material - thanks for the prompt

[Ted S.]

More Japanese music.

[Ted S.]

Still more Japanese music, which PBS viewers might recognize

[Rich]

Still more Japanese music, which PBS viewers might not recognize.

[Coeus]

House releases mandatory dress code.

As in all these stories, let's pretend that the men get to wear whatever they want.

[Ted S.]

House releases mandatory dress code.

Clothing is not optional.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I had an interview one time at a small firm and the interviewer told me it was a shirt and tie place.

He was wearing khakis, a slightly darker khaki shirt, and a brown tie.

So, he literally looked like shit, but he had a tie on so he was a professional I guess.

[robc]

Place I worked at in the late 90s had a very tight dress code of business casual.

No jeans and no ties. If you wore jeans (with a few exceptions) you got looks and a talking to. If you wore a tie, every one of the partners asked who you were interviewing with.

[Coeus]

My current employer is the same.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

That's how it is at my current employer.

They do "team appreciation" Fridays, but you are still not allowed to wear jeans. I don't get it.

[Lord Humungus]

jeans... sweatshirt... the life of an IT department with very little contact with the outside world.

I'll change to a nice sweater or shirt if we're having important guests, but the jeans stay.

[UnCivilServant]

I do not get why people want to wear jeans, they're not comfortable.

[Lord Humungus]

then stop wearing tight mom jeans.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Tight mom jeans = oxymoron.

[Brett L]

I used to wear a tie and/or a suit once a month at a place like that. Its a good way of making sure you get the max raise every year.

[thom]

Yep. Wear a suit and take a long lunch.

[creech]

You interviewed with the S.A.?

[Tonio]

FWIW, this is the Montana House of Representatives. FTFA:

Once you see what's in the dress code, it's clear it is targeted at women?and probably reporters. After all, reporters are really the only people who can access the house floor besides the legislators' own staff?and a handful of high school "pages." Last session, reporters were required for the first time to get special permission or "passes" to be on the House Floor at all.

Wow, so much butt-hurt and gratuitous shock quotes.

[Riesen]

Ron Paul: Reckless Congress 'Declares War' on Russia

You know who else declared war on Russia?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Charles XII?

[OldMexican]

+ 1 for Poltava

[Libertarian]

A fascist country where forward-thinking people were in love with their leader? (hint: NOT the U.S.)

[Tonio]

Italy? (Don't know if Italy actually declared war against the USSR).

[Lord Humungus]

Napoleon?

[Doctor Whom]

The Meiji Emperor?

[OldMexican]

Frederick II "The Great", king of Prussia and Elector of Bavaria?

[straffinrun]

Russia?

[UnCivilServant]

The Khans of the Golden Horde?

[Monty Crisco]

Nixon?

[Juice]

The resolution may be stupid, but Ron Paul does an awful lot of Russia apologia in that article. Russia is doing what the US does all the time and Ron Paul calls out the US for doing it.

[invisible furry hand]

The fragile political consensus on how to tackle the growing problem of hunger in Britain has come under strain as a Conservative member of a cross-party report on the issue declared that one of the principle causes of food poverty was that "poor people do not know how to cook".

http://www.theguardian.com/soc.....-know-cook

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Have top British chefs teach cooking to the poor!

[WTF]

I see another Gordon Ramsey show.

[SugarFree]

Any answer other than "shovel more money at them" is unacceptable.

[OldMexican]

Britain was going through "an age of hunger", she said: "It is a national disgrace that food banks have become a part of the fabric of our society, but thank God they are there.

It is always fascinating how bureaucrats continuously mistake the cause for the effect, which denotes their complete lack of economic competence. They think, or at least want you to think, that the reason there are foodbanks is because people are hungry. Rather, it is the inverse, following Say's Law: "A product is no sooner created, than it, from that instant, affords a market for other products to the full extent of its own value", or in other words, Supply makes it's own Demand.

Because the opportunity cost of cooking a meal with the utilization of one own's resources is, indeed, not having it already-cooked for free, then people will choose the pre-cooked meal most of the time. In essence, the goverment's supply created its own demand. That does not mean people are hungry, it only means they are responding to incentives. It's economics, baby!

[Drake]

Simpler version.

Free food = more money for the pub.

[OldMexican]

Should be "Supply makes its own Demand." Sorry.

Ah, that damned apostrophe!

[Rasilio]

Err, this is Britain, Nobody on that island knows how to cook

[Lord Humungus]

'Large bottomed' commuters should slim if they want to use train seats, says MP

Ms Milton, who has highlighted the struggle to get a seat on commuter services, added that the man "roused from his slumber" as the train was waiting outside Waterloo. Following her 35-minute journey, she told the Evening Standard: "If you are going to sit on one of those seats for three people, you need to take up one third of the seat. If your bottom is bigger than a third then you need to reduce its size."

Ms Milton, who trained as a nurse at Bart's and is married to a doctor, was public health minister from 2010 to 2012. As a minister, she suggested GPs should tell people they are fat rather than obese to help them to lose weight. Some health experts warn that using the word "fat" can stigmatise people who are overweight.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

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

[UnCivilServant]

Hey Asshole, if they made those seats wider than my pelvis, I wouldn't take up one and a partial. I've ridden on those trains, they're built for children.

[Idle Hands]

UVA student: something must have happened to Jackie because she was watching to much tv and she told her she was assaulted.

I always assumed she had gone to class and forgot to turn off her later alarms. Being the lazy freshman I was, I tended to roll over in bed and pay no mind to it, hoping somebody else would turn it off, and remind Jackie about it once she got back from class. If I had known Jackie wasn't going to class, that she was curled up in bed without the will to turn off the alarm, things would have been much different. I remember second semester, she shared a Netflix account with me and I noticed how much TV she was watching ? hours and hours of shows that seemed to get darker and darker as time went on. I wondered how she had time, with homework and school, and I wondered if she was okay. I didn't ask. I wish I had.

In December 2012, Jackie broke down. All of a sudden she was going home and none of us knew why. It was right before finals, and I couldn't believe she was leaving. She was distraught, and only said she needed to go home. Her teachers had given her allowance to take her finals over break. At that point, we knew something big had happened. I didn't know until this year with the publication of Rolling Stone's article how bad that time was for her.

[tarran]

I had a roommate like this sophomore year in college; he followed the same arc except it wasn't that he was raped. Rather, he clearly couldn't cope with being away from home without mom and dad to tell him what to do (he was a freshman).

His mom was a lovely woman, I actually spoke with her on the phone a bunch of times over the semester - and she was pretty distraught at his implosion.

It worked out well. When he flunked out the school failed to notice that I had no roommate, so for a golden semester I had a single that was twice as big as the other singles. 🙂

[Andrew S.]

This sounds familiar. Man shot by Orange County (Florida) deputy; witnesses say he had his hands up

An Orange County deputy said he was forced to shoot and critically wound a threatening man inside a stolen vehicle in an apartment complex parking lot early Monday, according to officials.

But witnesses said they saw the man with his hands up as gunfire erupted just after 12 a.m.

"His hands went down after the first shot," said Natasha Hall, a resident at Timber Sound Apartments east of MetroWest.

The driver's hands were moving, he tried to move the blocked-in vehicle and the deputy felt threatened, spokesman Capt. Angelo Nieves said.

The man, who hasn't been identified, was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center ? where he underwent surgery this morning after the shooting in southwest Orange County.

He was listed in critical condition Monday morning.

Deputies did not find any weapons on him immediately after the shooting at the complex, which is north of Raleigh Street and east of South Kirkman Road, officials said.

[The Late P Brooks]

the deputy felt threatened, spokesman Capt. Angelo Nieves said.

Good shoot.

BOOYAH

[Kaptious Kristen]

Bronco Bama made Boxing Day a holiday! Woot for me! Bad for you!

[Zeb]

He's not a secret Muslim, he's a secret Canadian!

[Steve G]

Can't hold a candle to the classic Rainier motorcycle...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz-WuLQz_ns