Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Hayden Continues Defending CIA Torture, Other Countries Respond, Detroit to Exit Bankruptcy: P.M. Links

Scott Shackford | 12.10.2014 4:30 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
Large image on homepages | CIA
(CIA)
  • Just having to look at that smirk should count as torture.
    CIA

    Former CIA Director Michael Hayden insists the agency's interrogation methods provided a "Home Depot-like storage of information on Al Qaeda" in the wake of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on torture. The report's appendix spends 37 pages, by the way, countering the claims about the program Hayden made in just one hearing.

  • Other countries' leaders have mixed response to the torture report. Some are upset it happened but appreciate that the United States came clean. Poland's former president finally admitted that his country was the home of one of the CIA black sites used to interrogate detainees.
  • A story that actor Lena Dunham described in her memoirs about an alleged sexual assault against her when she was a student at Oberlin has started falling apart. She has taken to BuzzFeed to defend herself.
  • A House Committee is still trying to get at answers about the security lapses that led to four deaths at the Benghazi consulate in Libya, even though the Obama administration has been cleared of any wrong-doing.
  • Here, have some evidence that increasing the minimum wage eliminates jobs to share with your friends.
  • Detroit will finish the paperwork to exit bankruptcy today, according to the city's emergency manager.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: Thank You for Making Reason's 2014 Webathon the Most Successful Ever By Far!

Scott Shackford is a policy research editor at Reason Foundation.

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (199)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Fist of Etiquette   10 years ago

    Former CIA Director Michael Hayden insists-

    that you're a dumbass.

    1. Bam!   10 years ago

      He does look like Red Forman.

      1. Winston   10 years ago

        Dumbass

      2. C. Anacreon   10 years ago

        Red Forman was also Clarence Boddicker in the original Robocop, and Robocop exacted some good old revenge on Clarence, IIRC.

        1. Almanian!   10 years ago

          "The Tigers are playin' - TO night! I never miss a game!"

        2. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

          "Bitches, leave!"

    2. Los Doyers   10 years ago

      I know u are but wut am i

    3. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

      Hello.

      "increasing the minimum wage eliminates jobs to share with your friends."

      Ha, ha. I have no friends.

      1. Los Doyers   10 years ago

        Facebook friends?

        1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

          What the fuck is 'Facebook'? Sounds weird and creepy.

          1. Los Doyers   10 years ago

            Kind of, I can poke you on Facebook.

          2. Juice   10 years ago

            What's so creepy. It's just a book made of human faces like the Necronomicon.

      2. Enough About Palin   10 years ago

        I'll be your friend, Mr. Rufus.

        1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

          /shows Ed Gein shrine.

          BFF?

          1. Enough About Palin   10 years ago

            *picks up Charlie Manson scrapbook*

            Sure, man.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   10 years ago

    Detroit will finish the paperwork to exit bankruptcy today, according to the city's emergency manager.

    So new creditors, line up for business!

  3. Los Doyers   10 years ago

    She has taken to BuzzFeed to defend herself.

    Top 10 reasons why Lena Dunham is a cunt.

    1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

      1) She's not funny but pretends to be funny. And not funny girls pretending to be funny are cunts.

    2. RBS   10 years ago

      Survivors have the right to tell their stories, to take back control after the ultimate loss of control. There is no right way to survive rape and there is no right way to be a victim. What survivors need more than anything is to be supported, whether they choose to pursue a criminal investigation or to rebuild their world on their own terms. You can help by never defining a survivor by what has been taken from her. You can help by saying I believe you.

      1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

        They have the perfect personality profile to be targeted by any cult they're so fucking stupid and narcissistic. Even shitty, ineffective cults could find members among these quacks and retards.

        1. KPres   10 years ago

          They pretty much are a cult...

      2. trshmnster the terrible   10 years ago

        You can help by never defining a survivor by what has been taken from her.

        This is exactly what you're all about, bitchzilla. You define this solemn fraternity of "survivors" and base your entire world around it.

      3. LynchPin1477   10 years ago

        Assuming the story is true, and if, as is sometimes claimed, most people who rape on college campuses are serial offenders, then by not pressing charges she is allowing a probable serial rapist to walk free and rape some more. She clearly is capable of reliving the experience. So what's her reason for not trying to save future victims?

      4. Medical Physics Guy   10 years ago

        Talk about a TLDR. Are there really people who read pages of navel-gazing crap like this?

      5. Enough About Palin   10 years ago

        is no right way to be a victim

        .

        Just like there's no right way to be a toddler killer.

      6. Steve G   10 years ago

        You are not in control!
        \Samuel L Jackson

    3. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

      "Barry" is pseudonym

      "for my sister", she didn't add, "and 'my sister' is psuedonym for the neighbor's dog."

      1. MJGreen   10 years ago

        Dunham: "There is no right way to survive."

        Iowahawk: "How did your sister do it?"

        1. Heroic Mulatto   10 years ago

          OH SHIT! LENA WAS REKT, M8!

        2. Almanian!   10 years ago

          Burge is an official "National Treasure". lulz

    4. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

      Los, no one is playing your game.

      2) By likely making this rape story up, she mocks and diminishes real rape victims; particularly those who went though harrowing and horrible experiences.

      She probably got her ass slapped and took offense.

      I'm just guessing of course.

      1. mauricegirodias   10 years ago

        Random House did some serious damage control when it became clear "Barry" had lawyered up and was maybe going to raise $100k for legal fees. His gofundme has stalled since, but he was up to $20k in two days.

        RH is offering to pay his initial costs and "fix" the book, and they were on it Monday A.M.

      2. Los Doyers   10 years ago

        I had no intention of starting a game, I was merely stating an appropriate buzzfeed article title for Lena. But if we're playing games, let me get my naked twister out.

    5. Raven Nation   10 years ago

      3) She thinks someone who is 28 has earned the right to publish a memoir.

  4. Fist of Etiquette   10 years ago

    Here, have some evidence that increasing the minimum wage eliminates jobs to share with your friends.

    Those 14 million jobs are martyrs to the cause of a living wage for all (uh, except the 14 million).

    1. some guy   10 years ago

      It was 1.4 million jobs. RTFA, not just the URL. Are you really that willing to sacrifice quality in your insane quest for quantity and primacy?

      1. Fist of Etiquette   10 years ago

        Yes. Very much so.

      2. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

        What gave it away?

  5. db   10 years ago

    News? Rosetta data show evidence against hypothesis that Earth's water was brought by comets

    I thought that by now it would have been clear to everyone that Earth's water came from Mars in an ancient Areforming project when the sun's output dropped, threatening to freeze all life on the (now) Red Planet.

    1. Los Doyers   10 years ago

      I thought it came through a wormhole that connects us to other livable planets.

      1. Medical Physics Guy   10 years ago

        Those are stashed in the center of the gas giants, if you can find a Dweller who will admit it. *looks around for anyone who gets the reference...*

        1. Medical Physics Guy   10 years ago

          It was Iain M Banks' "The Algebraist". Awesome and ultimately very libertarian sci fi book for anyone looking for a new read.

          1. seguin   10 years ago

            Thanks for the tip!

      2. Fist of Etiquette   10 years ago

        Stargate? Gross.

        1. Medical Physics Guy   10 years ago

          If you were replying to me, no. Excellet Scottish science fiction writer.

          1. Shirley Knott   10 years ago

            Sadly deceased. No more Culture novels, which bites.

    2. Rich   10 years ago

      Results from Europe's Rosetta ... shows [sic] the water on the icy mass is unlike that on our planet.

      "Unlike"? Mirror-imaged?

      1. Spoonman.   10 years ago

        Different isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen, most likely.

        1. Rich   10 years ago

          Yep. Oh, well -- Back to Divine Creation!

        2. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

          What's the half life of water?

          1. LynchPin1477   10 years ago

            See below. It's the deuterium which is the tracer, and it is stable.

        3. BigT   10 years ago

          Different isotope ratios might be explained by the water on the comet being a different age than that on earth.

          1. LynchPin1477   10 years ago

            It is most likely Deuterium, which is stable.

            It would be a whole new mystery if the comet was a different age than the Earth. The whole solar system should have formed at the same time.

            1. BigT   10 years ago

              Do we know it is from our system?

        4. Protagoronus   10 years ago

          I assume this cannot be explained away by increased exposure to cosmic and solar radiation for 4.6 billion years?

          1. Protagoronus   10 years ago

            (or the average residence time of water on earth so far... probably somewhere

          2. db   10 years ago

            "Because deuterium is destroyed in the interiors of stars faster than it is produced, and because other natural processes are thought to produce only an insignificant amount of deuterium, it is thought that nearly all deuterium found in nature was produced in the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, and that the basic or primordial ratio of hydrogen-1 (protium) to deuterium (about 26 atoms of deuterium per million hydrogen atoms) has its origin from that time."

            1. BigT   10 years ago

              The deuterium is not necessarily uniformly distributed - matter certainly is not. Even the cosmic background radiation is non-uniform.

              1. db   10 years ago

                That's the point. It's why you can use the locally varying concentrations to determine the origin of things.

      2. Protagoronus   10 years ago

        Ice-9

        1. Rich   10 years ago

          If only.

      3. db   10 years ago

        It wears a mustache.

        Or it has an isotopic ratio of deuterium to hydrogen four times the ratio of water on earth. Pick one.

    3. The Laconic   10 years ago

      I thought water came from Poseidon's sweat as he battled Cronos?

      1. LynchPin1477   10 years ago

        That wasn't sweat...

        1. Enough About Palin   10 years ago

          And what they were engaged in really wasn't what you'd call a battle.

          1. T   10 years ago

            Sword fight?

            1. seguin   10 years ago

              "Do you like gladiator films, Johnny?"

  6. rts   10 years ago

    OECD finds increasing inequality lowers growth

    Growing income inequality has reduced GDP growth in many industrialized countries, a new OECD report has revealed. Today's economy would be bigger if the richest 10 percent hadn't increased their share of total income.

    1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

      Maybe they should decrease equality.

      1. LongTimeListenerFistTimeCaller   10 years ago

        Which parallel universe did they use for their counterfactuals?

    2. Irish   10 years ago

      "Growing income inequality has reduced GDP growth in many industrialized countries, a new OECD report has REVEALED."

      Whenever there is a study and someone writes that the study has 'revealed' or 'proven' something, I want to punch them.

      Nitwit: Unless multiple studies are done and the result is replicated, a study has not proven anything. One study literally means nothing.

      This is why modern social science is such a mess. People don't understand the importance of replicability, and mindlessly report individual studies as scientific fact without bothering to look at the methodology to even determine if it was well run.

    3. wadair   10 years ago

      Methinks they have the effect before the cause.

      1. The Laconic   10 years ago

        Or, you know, inequality and low growth could have the same cause.

    4. Michael S. Langston   10 years ago

      Not saying that they're making that up, but (FTA):

      The report also found no evidence that redistributive policies such as taxes and social benefits harm economic growth, provided the policies are well designed and implemented.

      1. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

        provided the policies are well designed and implemented.

        See, now that has gotta be conjecture, because there is no example in existence to check that against.

    5. Carl ?s the level   10 years ago

      Organization composed mostly of social democracies advocates social democratic policies to fight income inequality!

      faints

      Has anybody seen the actual report, which DW apparently can't be fucked to link to? Does it use an actual fancy-pants model (which is still suspect, of course), or does it do something retarded like "if all deciles had grown at the same rate, what would the total growth rate be?"?

      1. Irish   10 years ago

        'Does it use an actual fancy-pants model (which is still suspect, of course), or does it do something retarded like "if all deciles had grown at the same rate, what would the total growth rate be?"?'

        You mean like the sexual assault survey which found that 1/4 of college women are sexually assaulted and reached that number by studying two schools for one semester, adding up everything from 'unwanted touching' to 'sodomy with a pool cue' and calling it all 'rape,' and then randomly multiplying by 5 without proper explanation?

        Silly libertarian, once a man in a lab coat has decreed it so, only a science denier would ask for evidence.

      2. Carl ?s the level   10 years ago

        Here is the press version and here is the actual working paper.

        They do use a fancy-pants model, not the retarded method, which is good.

        From the abstract (emphasis mine):

        In particular, what matters most is the gap between low income households and the rest of the population. In contrast, no evidence is found that those with high incomes pulling away from the rest of the population harms growth. The paper also evaluates the "human capital accumulation theory" finding evidence for human capital as a channel through which inequality may affect growth. Analysis based on micro data from the Adult Skills Survey (PIAAC) shows that increased income disparities depress skills development among individuals with poorer parental education background, both in terms of the quantity of education attained (e.g. years of schooling), and in terms of its quality (i.e. skill proficiency).

        i.e., the claim is not, as many lefties will undoubtedly claim, that the rich are too rich; the claim is that there is low human capital on the low end of the distribution.

    6. LongTimeListenerFistTimeCaller   10 years ago

      FTA

      On average, much of the extra money taken in by the wealthy tends to sit unspent in the form of financial savings, rather than being spent into circulation in the real working economy. That directly translates into a reduction in GDP compared to an economy with a less unequal distribution of wealth or income.

      Apparently capital investment reduces wealth while buying cigarettes creates wealth. I don't even...

      1. Irish   10 years ago

        Except that spending money doesn't increase wealth when progressives don't want it to.

        For example, high spending on health care doesn't help the economy, which is why government has to nationalize the health care system.

        Keynesian logic only works when progressives want it to work; the rest of the time they suddenly become budget hawks. See also: Progressives complaining about the cost of the Iraq War, despite the fact that in all other instances they claim deficits don't matter.

        1. Raven Nation   10 years ago

          Progressives complaining about the cost of the Iraq War, despite the fact that in all other instances they claim deficits don't matter.

          And, actually, from a Keynesian point of view, strictly on the economic front, they should have been cheerleaders for the war as stimulus. Kruggie suggested that alien invasion would be good for the economy.

          1. Zombie Jimbo   10 years ago

            Illegal Alien Invasion

      2. Shirley Knott   10 years ago

        Why, if that money weren't locked up in savings, just think of the broken windows it could buy!

  7. BiMonSciFiCon   10 years ago

    Detroit will finish the paperwork to exit bankruptcy today, according to the city's emergency manager.

    I felt a great disturbance in the bar, as if millions of lawyers suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

    1. The Last American Hero   10 years ago

      What's the over/under until they file again?

  8. Fist of Etiquette   10 years ago

    Poland's former president finally admitted that his country was the home of one of the CIA black sites used to interrogate detainees.

    Um, you know who else used Polish land as though it was his own?

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

      Empress Maria Teresa?

    2. db   10 years ago

      Otto von Bismarck?

    3. BiMonSciFiCon   10 years ago

      That very nice man from Georgia? /Duranty

    4. Almanian!   10 years ago

      Archie Bunker?

    5. seguin   10 years ago

      Baidar Khan?

  9. BigT   10 years ago

    OT: Bengals coach Marvin Lewis calls Johnny Manziel a midget. Apologizes.

    Cleveland strikes back, sending local TV personality and dwarf, 4'3" tall 'Lil John' Rinaldi to Lewis presser. Sitting in the front row Rinaldi questions:

    "Based on the height difference on a player like Manziel [compared to Hoyer] how has your defensive approach changed for Sunday's game?"

    Check the video

    1. Mike M.   10 years ago

      Not only will Johnny Football let Cleveland down one more time, he'll do it quicker, being closer to the ground and all.

      Thanks, I'll be here all night.

    2. Zombie Jimbo   10 years ago

      Cleveland did not let me down this time!

  10. paranoid android   10 years ago

    A story that actor Lena Dunham described in her memoirs about an alleged sexual assault against her when she was a student at Oberlin has started falling apart. She has taken to BuzzFeed to defend herself.

    So what's Dunham's reasoning for not reporting "Barry"'s "real" name? She can't really use the Jackie excuse of being scared of him, so why isn't she reporting this to try to warn people about this dangerous predator?

    1. RBS   10 years ago

      Only survivors get to determine how they survive or something.

    2. Injun, as in from India   10 years ago

      These people are trivializing rape and making it harder for future victims. What a$$holes. I'm never buying Rolling Stone ever again.

      1. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

        I'm never buying Rolling Stone ever again.

        I said that shit 25 years ago.

        fuckin' old.

  11. Fist of Etiquette   10 years ago

    ...even though the Obama administration has been cleared of any wrong-doing.

    How can you do wrong when you're off innocently golfing or fundraising or whatever?

    1. Rich   10 years ago

      That reminds me. What's going on with the newly-retrieved Lois Lerner e-mails?

      1. Almanian!   10 years ago

        What?

        LOOK, GRUBER! CIA TORTURE REPORT!

  12. Kaptious Kristen   10 years ago

    People who support high minimum wage don't give two shits about actual data.

    1. BiMonSciFiCon   10 years ago

      I got in a twitter argument with Jamelle Bouie about this. He accused me of having the economic understanding of someone with just an Econ 101 education, and demanded empiric evidence. I then provided such evidence.

      End of story: he totally changed his mind and is now a free market libertarian!*

      *I may not be a reliable narrator on this point.

      1. Irish   10 years ago

        "I may not be a reliable narrator on this point."

        Sure, but at what point were you sexually assaulted by a mustached Republican with purple cowboy boots?

        1. Almanian!   10 years ago

          Go on....

          1. mauricegirodias   10 years ago

            And when his friends forced you down, but before you ended up sixty-nining in the broken glass, did he walk around his accomplices, or use cables like in that Cirque du Soleil porn?

    2. Andrew S.   10 years ago

      Or the people earning minimum wage, for that matter.

    3. Paul.   10 years ago

      Emotions aren't actual data?

    4. MJGreen   10 years ago

      Not true. They care a whole lot about one study from 1994 that looked at a very isolated sample.

    5. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

      If they understood data, they wouldn't have to worry about making minimum wage.

  13. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

    "Other countries' leaders have mixed response to the torture report."

    Responses include,

    "You call that torture? Our meter maids can inflict more pain that that!"

    "Hand these prisoners over to us, soon they'll *beg* for the mercy of waterboarding!"

    "Wait, what's the controversy here? That you didn't kill enough prisoners?"

    1. Rich   10 years ago

      "Nearly split a gut from laughing! No wonder it's called 'The Torture Report'!

  14. Paul.   10 years ago

    She has taken to BuzzFeed to defend herself.

    Excellent, I don't visit BuzzFeed as a moral imperative. Her defense may fall in the woods, but I won't be around to hear it.

    Let me guess what she titled it: 9 Reasons why the facts don't matter...

    And it'll be posted either in the LOL or the FAIL sections. Do I have that about right?

    1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

      It does have a certain Ned Flanders guilt feel to it.

      1. Winston   10 years ago

        Ned Flanders guilt feel

        Everbody bitches about zombie Simpsons yet uses zombie Flanders all the time.

        1. MJGreen   10 years ago

          He was a zombie?

          1. Winston   10 years ago

            There was that Halloween episode...

            Anyway I was referring to how people think 21th Century Simpsons suck yet used that part depiction of Flanders.

        2. AuH20   10 years ago

          So, a Bob's Burgers-Simpsons crossover would involve Tina ogling Flanders and allow Homer to say, "Stupid sexy zombie-Flanders"

          1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

            What are you guys going on about? I was referring to when Flanders swallowed a paper clip and was busting Loverjoy's balls with all those phone calls.

            1. AuH20   10 years ago

              "Ned, have you ever considered any of the other religions? They're all pretty much the same."

  15. Knarf Yenrab!   10 years ago

    Here, have some evidence that increasing the minimum wage eliminates jobs to share with your friends.

    I will file this with the metastudies indicating that eating a bullet is bad for your health.

    Ole Keynes really did a number on this field.

  16. Injun, as in from India   10 years ago

    Looks like I got scooped. 🙂

    David Boaz: Eric Garner Could Spark American Spring

    My comment

    1. Los Doyers   10 years ago

      No hat tip? Riots.

    2. Irish   10 years ago

      "David Boaz: Eric Garner Could Spark American Spring"

      So we'll overthrow our government, be plunged into a period of sectarian anarchy, and then come crawling back to the first strongman dictator who promises to restore order?

      1. Winston   10 years ago

        So which General looks like a good strongman?

        1. Kaptious Kristen   10 years ago

          That dude up there? ^^

          1. AuH20   10 years ago

            Kristen, I feel if this gentleman were the commander, you'd be willing to... damn it, I had a pun involving flagpoles.

            1. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

              Do you have a pun about SFing the link?

              1. AuH20   10 years ago

                Eat... Bullets. Damnit.

                Here. Never let it be said that I never did anything for the people into fellas on this site

          2. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   10 years ago

            No...

            Fucking 'The Donald' will be king, with his mercenary army of apprentii!

      2. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

        Sounds like a plan.

      3. AuH20   10 years ago

        But that strongman will take some time to restore order to the whole country, meaning that in one corner of America, we could make... LIBERTOPIA!

        1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

          http://bit.ly/1zQYvVk

          It will take a man like that.

          1. Rich   10 years ago

            The "Authentic" part is a nice touch.

  17. Misanthrope   10 years ago

    Friggin' Lena Dunham just can't stop #winning. Soon she's going to have 100% name recognition and a cohort of worshipful idolators who lick the sidewalk in advance of her every step. I put the odds at 50-50 that it's President Dunham before mid-century.

    Incidentally, Rolling Stone maintains the appearance of relevance in what to be the hour of its deepest shame.

    What was that saying about bad publicity?

    1. AuH20   10 years ago

      Yeah, as much as I find her odious, and it is especially odious that she just fucked up some guy's life- paying attention to anything she does just fuels her.

      Her show on HBO doesn't get a ton of viewers- even by HBO standards- but people talk about her and by extension HBO. A big part of HBO's original programming model is to be a network that people talk about.

      It's like Pauly Shore. The only way we can get rid of some people is to ignore them until they go away.

      1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

        Those people never go away willingly.

      2. Warty   10 years ago

        THE WEASEL

        1. MJGreen   10 years ago

          Has he resolved to freeze the weasel yet?

        2. Almanian!   10 years ago

          I just watched "Biodome" again recently.

          On purpose.

          Am I worse than Hitler?

          1. Warty   10 years ago

            Were you born in Brazil? Just curious.

            1. Almanian!   10 years ago

              Nein!

              I mean...heh heh!

              LOOK! LENA DUNHAM!

          2. some guy   10 years ago

            Was it done to settle a bet or debt? If not, then yes.

            1. Almanian!   10 years ago

              Woo hoo!!

              *fires up the oven*

    2. MJGreen   10 years ago

      Indeed. I can't imagine her "defense" is anything but odious - she "chose to speak out" by burying the story in a playful memoir? - but I'm not going to give Buzzfeed the clicks to find out. She's a provocateur. Her schtick is largely based on getting people to talk about her as if she's anything but a normal person with medium talent.

      Still, I don't think she's going to be on as many fingertips even a year from now.

      1. Irish   10 years ago

        It's even worse than that. At no point did she even intimate that she considered herself to be 'scarred' or 'traumatized' by the event.

        Then someone threatens her with a lawsuit for basically libeling him, and all of the sudden she's a seriously traumatized survivor who people should stop being mean to.

      2. ChrisO   10 years ago

        Here's here defense, nearly in its entirety:

        To be very clear, "Barry" is a pseudonym, not the name of the man who assaulted me, and any resemblance to a person with this name is an unfortunate and surreal coincidence. I am sorry about all he has experienced.

        The rest of her BuzzFeed piece is exactly the sort of SJW blather you'd expect, making it clear that it's really All About Her.

        The notion that she chose a pseudonym that is the unusual name of an actual prominent Oberlin Republican merely by "unfortunate and surreal coincidence" is, well...unlikely.

    3. Slumbrew   10 years ago

      Apparently the NYT has mentioned Dunham 400 times since 2001. What the holy fuck?!

  18. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

    Marquette University, whose right to call itself a Catholic institution has not yet been revoked, suggests in its training materials that employees should inform on colleagues who oppose same-sex marriage.

    And -

    "Since 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has considered discrimination based on "the belief that men should only date women or that women should only marry men" to be illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A spokeswoman for the EEOC told Catholic News Agency that "particular pejorative behavior or remarks about same-sex relationships," such as voicing opposition to gay marriage, could be "evidence of discriminatory motivation in a termination case.""

    http://www.nationalreview.com/.....rine-timpf

    1. Rich   10 years ago

      "evidence of discriminatory motivation"

      "Notice that in this photograph you are not holding a copy of the Training Manual."

  19. Cytotoxic   10 years ago

    HP is replacing transistors with memristors and copper with fibre optics to bring you THE MACHINE (and eventually a new OS called Carbon).

    http://www.businessinsider.com.....16-2014-12

    Apparently this will do all the work of a data centre in an area the size of a fridge. MIT says THE MACHINE will use 1.25% of the electricity of a normal computer. HP is getting really interesting they're also making a serious foray into 3D printing that might put competitors out of business.

    1. Carl ?s the level   10 years ago

      When I want technology news, the first place I go is Business Insider!

      1. Cytotoxic   10 years ago

        Oh whatever. Look it up on Google News.

      2. Slumbrew   10 years ago

        with MIT's Technology Review running SJW bullshit, where else can one look?

        1. DEG   10 years ago

          I tried reading it. I couldn't finish it. I am happy I dropped my subscription to that magazine long ago.

          I stopped at this point:

          Technologists love to celebrate the hacker and the programmer. What corporate roles are undervalued by the industry?

          Obviously, programmers are important, but a very common dysfunction, particularly at technology startups, is privileging programmers. When you don't value other skills, your engineering team becomes very entitled and even abusive of other parts of the company. Really important functions, like marketing, sales, business development, finance, and legal, become underfunded and under-resourced. We often end up with companies with great technology that are nonetheless dying because they could not execute from a nontechnical standpoint.

          Not every company overvalues software folks. The companies that do don't always have great technology and die, as they should if they don't meet customers desires and wants.

    2. paranoid android   10 years ago

      Does it kill fascists and play Pink Floyd when you boot it up?

      1. Ska   10 years ago

        No, no, that's just my copy of Wizard of Oz.

  20. AuH20   10 years ago

    Want to know who we haven't heard from in a while?

    Lindy West!

    She continues to live in a bizarre parallel universe where she is funny and the following isn't horseshit:

    Because those words ? I believe you, it's not your fault ? are aggressively, ubiquitously suppressed in our culture. We've constructed seemingly infinite incentives for victims to keep silent (you drank too much, you wore too little, you'll destroy the family, you'll ruin the fun, your entire sexual history will be dredged and questioned and vivisected ... in front of your grandma) and pretty much no compelling reasons to report, nor functional support systems in the aftermath. According to RAINN, the rate of unreported sexual assaults is as high as 60%, while 97% of rapists will never be convicted. So why bother? It's just going to hurt more and go nowhere.

    1. BiMonSciFiCon   10 years ago

      I am not going to comment on whether any of that is true or not true.

      What I find bothersome is that the incident that spurred all of this is completely unlike anything she describes above. Regardless of how much a woman drank, how little clothing she wore, etc., absolutely no one would have brought any of that up if what had happened at UVA was true. Literally no one would have excused that horrific event based on what "Jackie" had worn or what she had to drink that night.

      I believe these sorts of things do and might discourage women from coming forward, but it would be nice if we had some accurate, factual stories of that sort of thing happening.

  21. BiMonSciFiCon   10 years ago

    OT:

    I watched the first 15 minutes of The Independents last night with my very well educated (very good private undergrad school, T-14 law school) liberal/progressive significant other. The first segment was about the torture report. The second topic was the Gruber hearing. Not only did she not know of the hearings, she had not even heard of Gruber. She gets her news from liberal/progressive news sources, so I'm not surprised she didn't know all the details. But she hadn't even heard of him. Blew my mind.

    1. Warty   10 years ago

      PICS YOU IDIOT

      1. The Laconic   10 years ago

        Um, he'll take pics the next time she visits. (She lives in Canada.)

        1. Almanian!   10 years ago

          He met her "online"

          1. BiMonSciFiCon   10 years ago

            She's totally real guys. No, really. What's that look for?

    2. Mike M.   10 years ago

      They aren't low information voters for nothing.

      1. BiMonSciFiCon   10 years ago

        I think it's more of an indictment of the media. The liberal media is pathetic.

    3. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

      There's only one thing to do BiMonSciCon...

      Gas fight!

      1. BiMonSciFiCon   10 years ago

        Orange Mocha Frappachino reference? I invented the piano key necktie!

        1. Rufus J. Firefly   10 years ago

          You know it.

  22. Enough About Palin   10 years ago

    Detroit will finish the paperwork to exit bankruptcy today, according to the city's emergency manager.

    And then ironically be bombarded with letters offering them guaranteed auto loans.

  23. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

    Atheist activists want to repeal provisions in seven state constitutions excluding them from office, although thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, these provisions are unenforceable.

    "It would be unthinkable for such "naked bigotry" against white people or Presbyterians or Catholics to go unnoticed if state constitutions still contained it, said Rob Boston, director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, an advocacy group. "Right now we hear a lot of talk from conservative Christians about their being persecuted and their being forced to accommodate same-sex marriage. But there's nothing in the state constitutions that targets Christians like these provisions do about nonbelievers," Mr. Boston said."

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12.....-ban-.html

  24. Rich   10 years ago

    OK, I get it.

    No more "making fun" of Lobster Girl.

  25. AuH20   10 years ago

    Holy shit, the radfems are doubling down on this UVA thing HARD. I think it's a bit like gun control legislation post-Sandy Hook. In their minds they were SO CLOSE to finally getting everything that they wanted, only now it's been fucked up (in one case by states refusing to roll over and pass gun control legislation, in this case by weakening the argument for kangaroo kourts on kampus) and they are DESPERATELY trying to spin this so that it doesn't snowball.

    With that in mind, here's a fun article proving my point

    If social media and mainstream blogs are any indication, Phi Kappa Psi is on its way to becoming the next Duke Lacrosse ? a highly publicized incident that misogynists will point to as a way to discredit all people, especially young women and students, who experience rape.

    ...

    Jackie's story inspired many others to come forward with their own, and we need their voices. The original article reveals a deeply ingrained resistance to combatting rape, a culture of fear among students, and a need for campus resources to protect survivors whether they choose to report their assault or just need community support. None of these realities hinge on whether Jackie's date was a Phi Kappa Psi.

    1. AuH20   10 years ago

      Actualy, I was just looking and the same site wrote a follow-up article today entitled This might be the most important moment ever to fight rape on campus.

      Like I said, desperate.

    2. Almanian!   10 years ago

      Not gonna lie - I bet this helps Phi Kappa Psi's next rush, yeah brah?

      1. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

        "Where all the drunken vulnerable coeds at?"

  26. GILMORE   10 years ago

    "actor Lena Dunham"

    Please! The appropriate gender-neutral title is "Thing-Person"

    1. Heroic Mulatto   10 years ago

      Swamp Thing-Person

      1. GILMORE   10 years ago

        Still hotter than Lena

        1. db   10 years ago

          *Thing-Fish* is hotter than Lena.

  27. AuH20   10 years ago

    Anyone else excited for Agent Carter about Captain America's girlfriend and super hot woman Haley Atwell as a 50s SHIELD spy?

    1. Almanian!   10 years ago

      Oh, myyyyyyyyyyyy.....

      An I don't mean like Takei. NTTAWWT...

    2. Warty   10 years ago

      Ooo. My. She looks fertile.

    3. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

      Run *that* up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.

      1. db   10 years ago

        Now run it back down. No, up again. Wait, no, down.

  28. Andrew S.   10 years ago

    Unlike other police departments, the LAPD still knows how to act after they kill someone. Looks like they may have killed a street performer with a fake knife, and then planted a real knife on him.

    http://photographyisnotacrime......performer/

  29. Warty   10 years ago

    Kitty friends!

    1. Almanian!   10 years ago

      A grateful commentariat thanks you...

    2. AuH20   10 years ago

      Warty, I've realized with your habbit of rape and your love of small, furry animals, you are basically Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

      What I'm saying is that you're retarded. And my thing is cuter.

      1. Warty   10 years ago

        It's true. I'm basically Gronk.

        1. AuH20   10 years ago

          So is the best way to get onto the Pats roster to have a photographer capture you looking like a mega-douche?

          Because that would explain a lot.

      2. GILMORE   10 years ago

        I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him and pat him and pet him and call him George

  30. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

    The laziest cat in the known universe.

    What does that bird have to do - slather itself in gravy?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumn6flhNtg

    1. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

      "Hmmm...I have the feeling I ought to be doing something with this bird...but, frankly, I'm too tired to think about that right now."

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbHhw9pFa0Q

  31. Carl ?s the level   10 years ago

    Macadamia Sales Take Off After Korean Air Nut Row

    Korean Air Lines Co. has this week been in damage-control mode following public uproar against an executive who made a jet return to its gate and ordered a crew member to disembark because of how a bag of macadamia nuts was served.

    But for every loser, there's a winner, apparently: South Korean media on Wednesday reported that macadamia sales have jumped at the country's major online marketplaces, in some cases more than doubling from the previous week.

    Sales of the nuts from Monday through Tuesday at Gmarket, one of South Korea's top online marketplaces and owned by eBay, are up 149%...

    ...Ms. Cho [an executive and daughter of company chairman], seated in the first-class cabin of an Airbus A380 jet, "scolded" a flight attendant last week after the attendant served her an unopened bag of macadamias. A customer, Ms. Cho said, should have been asked if she wanted the nuts, which should then have been served on a plate?not in a bag? in accordance with Korean Air in-flight service protocol. A purser in charge of in-flight administration and supply was summoned and ordered to exit the plane after he couldn't answer Ms. Cho's questions to her satisfaction. The flight... was delayed for 20 minutes.

  32. Notorious G.K.C.   10 years ago

    "Yeah, you *better* run! Crawl back into the water and swim away!"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiyWXQyAJ44

  33. GILMORE   10 years ago

    White House claims (Bush) Torture Program "Undermined America's Moral Authority"

    - China butts in to add "also, the Spying on your own citizens? and throwing Free Speech under the bus? We're grateful for that as well, since now we can completely laugh in your face whenever you bring up the Human Rights Treaties in the UN and try to give anyone shit"

  34. Warty   10 years ago

    Hey. You. Yeah, you. Over there, waving your bloody shirt and your fake statistics. Fuck you.

    1. GILMORE   10 years ago

      With the GOP in a position of Power, Dems will resort to continuing to shove populist FEELS-NOT-LOGIC ideas so that Evil GOP can swat them down, so that they can ensure to keep their base riled up through 2016

      I'm pretty conviced that Obama's immigration gauntlet was really just a move to force the GOP to try and pass legislation which everyone knows will (regardless of what it is) piss of a large swath of the most-conservative base for not being Tough Enough

  35. Irish   10 years ago

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....8249737325

    ^^ Holy shit.

    "They said there are mounting inconsistencies with the original narrative in the magazine. The students also expressed suspicions about Jackie's allegations from that night. They said the name she provided as that of her date did not match anyone at the university, and U-Va. officials confirmed to The Post that no one by that name has attended the school.

    And photographs that were texted to one of the friends showing her date that night actually were pictures depicting one of Jackie's high school classmates in Northern Virginia. That man, now a junior at a university in another state, confirmed that the photographs are of him and said he barely knew Jackie and hasn't been to Charlottesville for at least six years."

    Well, this sure does look like Jackie made the whole story up, doesn't it?

    1. Irish   10 years ago

      Also:

      "The Rolling Stone article also said that Randall declined to be interviewed, "citing his loyalty to his own frat." He told The Post that he never was contacted by Rolling Stone and would have agreed to an interview. The article's writer, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, did not respond to requests for comment this week."

      Well, Sabrina Erdely is never going to work again.

    2. Andrew S.   10 years ago

      HOW DARE YOU NOT BELIEVE HER YOU RAPE APOLOGIST?

    3. Grand Moff Serious Man   10 years ago

      Well, this sure does look like Jackie made the whole story up, doesn't it?

      So what? It's really about bringing attention to the epidemic of rape on campus you rape denialist!

      But seriously, it seems that the emerging apologia for this whole clusterfuck is that narratives and stories and 'speaking out' are more important than actual fact-finding.

      Dunham's Buzzfeed defense of her memoir is basically a demand that all women who claim to be raped be automatically afforded victim status and a ton of emotional support.

      I certainly don't see any perverse incentives in that system, do you?

    4. paranoid android   10 years ago

      And photographs that were texted to one of the friends showing her date that night actually were pictures depicting one of Jackie's high school classmates in Northern Virginia.

      There's one very crucial point of clarification needed here: does this mean she texted people these photos on the night of the alleged attack, or was it sometime after the fact?

      And the fact that her friends still seem very concerned and very convinced that something traumatic happened to Jackie--even after Jackie painted them as callous psychopaths in her account to Rolling Stone--still leads me to think that *something* had to have happened to this girl. But it's increasingly clear we're dealing with a somewhat disturbed individual--so it's becoming very hard to draw conclusions about what went on that night at all.

      1. GILMORE   10 years ago

        "--still leads me to think that *something* had to have happened to this girl."

        Its RASHOMON, Jake

      2. Fluffy   10 years ago

        Some people are just crazy, bra.

  36. DEG   10 years ago

    Barry released a statement through his lawyer.

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

In Dangerous Times, Train for Self-Defense

J.D. Tuccille | 6.2.2025 7:00 AM

Welcoming Anti-Trump Liberals to the Free Trade Club

Katherine Mangu-Ward | From the July 2025 issue

Brickbat: Armed, Elderly, and Dangerous

Charles Oliver | 6.2.2025 4:00 AM

How Trump's Tariffs and Immigration Policies Could Make Housing Even More Expensive

M. Nolan Gray | From the July 2025 issue

Photo: Dire Wolf De-extinction

Ronald Bailey | From the July 2025 issue

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!