Jeb Bush 'Actively Exploring' Presidential Run, Mom Calls into CSPAN to Scold Bickering Pundits (Her Sons), Vox Is Confused About How Milk Is Made: P.M. Links

• 

  Pikaluk / Flickr

  The Taliban attack on a Pakistani military school is over. All the terrorists were killed, but 145 people—most of them kids—died in the horrific attack.

• Jeb Bush is "actively exploring" a run for the presidency. Can he win?
• Anti-gun surgeon general nominee approved in 51-43 vote.
• Political activists and brothers Brad Woodhouse and Dallas Woodhouse were arguing on CSPAN when the program took a caller: their mother. She told them to stop arguing before coming home for the holidays.
• A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled against President Obama's immigration dictates in a criminal case, but it's unclear whether his decision would impact national policy at all.
• If you ordered Cards Against Humanity's specialty Black Friday product, congrats: it's shit.
• Vox doesn't understand where milk comes from.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Jeb Bush is "actively exploring" a run for the presidency. Can he win?

Apparently only if he changes his name.

[Mad Scientist]

This is a gimme election for TEAM RED, but they're going to do their very best to lose.

[Restoras]

It's ok, Team Red won't make things better, only worse in a different way.

[Agammamon]

Sometimes its cool to check out the devil you *don't* know.

[Root Boy]

i.e., see Cromnibus

[Injun, as in from India]

Obama in 2008: McCain is 4 more years of Bush.

Bush in 2016: Clinton is 4 more years of Obama!

[Bam!]

Well, Obama turned out to be 8 more years of Bush. So if Clinton is more Obama, who was more Bush, and Bush is more Bush, looks like we're screwed.

[Andrew S.]

Seriously. If 2016 ends up being Bush vs. Clinton... ugh.

[Riven]

Worst. Voter turnout. Ever.

[Injun, as in from India]

Seriously. If 2016 ends up being Bush vs. Clinton... ugh.

Jeb the Bush vs. Hillary's Bush?

[Injun, as in from India]

It will be called a bushwhacking, because either way, you will end up with a bush in the office.

[Restoras]

Injun (dot, not feathers) wins.

[Anomalous]

I hope Bush gets waxed!

[fish]

Plucked!

[R C Dean]

So, you can only vote for one of the two major party candidates, and if you refuse, you will be taken to the ditch behind the polling station and get a bullet in the back of the head.

The candidates are:

(1) Jeb Bush.
(2) Elizabeth Warren.

Which would you vote for?

[Protagoronus]

your mother

[Andrew S.]

The bullet to the back of the head.

[Bam!]

Who's not likely to win?

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

The voter?

[tarran]

In fine MA tradition, I'd vote for Warren; as president she'd be term limited to be in office only eight more years (max), and she could be in the Senate forever.

[Ghetto Slovak Goatherder]

If the world had gotten that bad I'd honestly take the bullet.

[tarran]

Naaah!

Cast your vote, then live your life.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wait, they don't actually shoot you if you vote for a third party candidate?

[Andrew S.]

No. That's only been a rumor that was spread by our alien overlords during the Kang vs. Kodos election in 1996.

[Restoras]

Warren, easily. She's as idiotic as Biden so the LULZ would be epic. Plus she would hasten the decline we need to have before things can get better.

[Injun, as in from India]

She is a dangerous populist. I would not want her in office at all. The country would be better off if she limited herself to the land of massholes. Governor of MA perhaps?

[Restoras]

I see your point but I'd still vote for her. Her idiotic policies would hasten the economic calamity that is coming and I'd rather have that sooner than later. Bush would just be more of what we have now with maybe stronger band-aids and more duct tape to hold it all together a bit longer.

[Cytotoxic]

Her idiotic policies would hasten the economic calamity that is coming and I'd rather have that sooner than later.

This is stupid. Really stupid. Argentina had collapse in 2001 and it was followed by over a decade of ongoing socialist authoritarianism. If you have the worst in charge at critical time points they can use that to make what's bad even worse.

The 'worse the better' eschatological fetish is one of the dumbest aspects of modern libertarianism.

[tarran]

I see your point but I'd still vote for her.

For those of you confused, kicking the incompetents upstairs is an MA tradition.

Critics of Mr. Dukakis and experts outside the state agree that Massachusetts could have stemmed some of its budget woes if it had started making cuts 18 months ago. But at the time, Mr. Dukakis was in the middle of his Presidential bid and was promising that if elected he would deliver to the rest of the nation his ''Massachusetts Miracle,'' a thriving economy and low unemployment. At that time, too, the Democratic-controlled State Legislature was loathe to do anything that would hurt Mr. Dukakis's campaign

[Bill Dalasio]

I have to agree with Cytotoxic on that one. There's no reason to think that the lesson that a Warren administration or the major media would draw from a collapse due to moving massively toward socialism would be that socialism brought on failure. The public would be told at length (and would largely believe) that the collapse proved the fundamental failure of capitalism. In the name of "emergency powers" we'd go from a hobbled mixed economy to full-on totalitarianism.

[Juice]

She wouldn't start a war (I suppose) and I doubt she'd be able to get any of her agenda through Congress. So, Warren for me.

[JWatts]

"She wouldn't start a war (I suppose) and..."

Not intentionally, no.

[R C Dean]

What's the record on NE liberals starting wars, anyway?

FDR, I'll give a pass to.

JFK? Oh, hell yeah. That's a war-starter, right there.

Bush the Elder? Got him a Gulf War, so that counts.

[BigT]

Don't forget whomever is elected is very likely to be nominating at least 1, maybe as many as 3 to the Supremes. I would not want Lie-awatha in that role.

[The Last American Hero]

Since I don't live in a swing state, my voting preference isn't relevant.

[Sudden]

if lizzie is there, i already win

[jesse.in.mb]

I do like the way you've turned a potential national tragedy into a small personal victory.

[Sudden]

it is a gift

[Sudden]

it is a gift

[R C Dean]

Apparently, one that keeps on giving.

[Invisible Finger]

Whichever one will speed up the demise the most.

[John Titor]

Sounds like seppuku for me.

[Cytotoxic]

Jeb. That should really be a no-brainer. Jeb is pretty bad, Warren is like cancer-Ebola bad.

[GILMORE]

BUSH v WARREN

I think a warren presidency would usher in 100years of conservative presidents to follow...

...simply to clean up the mess.

[grrizzly]

And I thought the Obama presidency required decades of cleaning up.

[Corning]

Elizabeth Warren

She has a 1.2% chance of ending our endless wars. Bush only has a 0.6% chance.

[Corning]

Also if we were forced to vote only for the two candidates by threat of death I am pretty sure i would already be dead from fighting in the ensuing civil war.

[Uncle Jay]

Johnny Fuckerfaster.

[Bill Dalasio]

A quick and painless death. Bullet for me RC.

[Mickey Rat]

That Jeb might have chance to win the GOP nomination, no matter what one thinks of him personally, is a a sign of how degenerate US politics has become. Out of yhe past none gop tickets, only three have not had a Bush on them. Going for 7 of 10 is not something th GOP shpuld be proud of.

We do not want a patrician class.

[R C Dean]

Out of yhe past none gop tickets,

I think John is getting contagious.

[Mickey Rat]

No, my typing on my phone sucks.

[CE]

No one could have envisioned Condoleeza Rice running for President. Especially not in Texas, after she torpedoed both TCU and Baylor on the college football committee.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Anti-gun surgeon general nominee approved in 51-43 vote.

A warning on every bullet.

[Almanian!]

"Jesus is closer than he appears if this product is headed toward you."

[Injun, as in from India]

On a serious note, this guy exemplifies your typical hollow Indian intellectual elite. He is British-born; so he has not seen the ruin of socialism in India. He has been through your Ivy League brainwashing; so he doesn't know alternative perspectives.

And I'm allowed to say the above, because.

[Tonio]

First Amendment?

[Injun, as in from India]

If anyone other than Dalmia or me criticized him, it would be racist!

[Root Boy]

I'll bite - any guy who forms a group called Doctors for Obama is an asshole and a douche - Red or Dot Indian, or other.

[Tonio]

You know who else was a hollow Indian?

[Trouser-Pod]

The wooden guy with the cigars?

[Tonio]

^Winner. Also, the cigar store indian is seen by many native Americans as the equivalent of the once ubiquitous lawn jockey.

[Libertarian]

But the Indians gave us tobacco!!

[Sudden]

The one in the cupboard?

[Trouser-Pod]

The one in the cupboard?

Yeah, this. I wanna change my question to this one.

[Uncle Jay]

Tonto?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Which guy?

Follow comments on Reason is hard.

[Invisible Finger]

He is British-born

So he's practically a White Indian.

[T]

Is there an equivalent pejorative to oreo or coconut in the Isles? You know, black or brown on the outside, white on the inside?

I ask for information, so I can improve my catalog of offensiveness.

[Libertarian]

Notting Hill taxi?

[The Last American Hero]

Too bad. I knew that Dr. Oz guy was a long shot, but I had my fingers crossed.

[Faceless Commenter]

Does this matter? Does the Surgeon General do anything besides sign cigarette packs? Does he actually practice medicine, much less perform surgery?

[jesse.in.mb]

Jeb Bush is "actively exploring" a run for the presidency. Can he win?

Barbara Bush: "There are other people out there that are very qualified and we've had enough Bushes"

[Palin's Buttplug]

Why not? The dumb Bush won twice.

[The Last American Hero]

Yeah, but to be fair to W, look at the competition.

[Florida Man]

I may be a little statist (get it) but I wouldn't mind Jeb winning. We haven't had any Floridian presidents so it's his turn!

[UnCivilServant]

I nominate the frozen head of Walt Disney!

(Yes, I know that's just an urban legend)

[T]

Yeah, they froze all of him, not just his head.

[Florida Man]

They thawed him and now he eats Cuban children.

[UnCivilServant]

Have you had Cuban Sandwiches? I don't blame him.

[JWatts]

"Why not? The dumb Bush won twice."

Against Al Gore and then John Kerry. Hmmm, the Elizabeth Warren versus Jeb Bush match up looks much more realistic in that light.

[Cyto]

This is a serious point. Dukakis? McCain? How do these people become major party candidates? McCain was clearly not a serious candidate for the job of President. Nor was Kerry. Or Gore. Or Bush. Holy crap, George W. Bush was a complete joke as a candidate. And that guy won! Twice!

Of course, Obama ran as a rorschach test without a resume, and he won.

[Palin's Buttplug]

U.S. Won't Ease Sanctions to Prevent Economic Meltdown in Russia

Obama administration officials said the free-fall of Russia's economy from tumbling oil prices combined with U.S. and European sanctions won't cause any let-up in the pressure on President Vladimir Putin's government.

Russia's woes -- the ruble plummeting to a record low and a contracting economy -- demonstrate the effectiveness of the campaign to force Putin to pull back from Ukraine, much as the sanctions against Iran forced the Islamic state to negotiate over its nuclear program, Josh Earnest, President Barack Obama's spokesman, said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....ussia.html

Stupid wingnuts like Ted Cruz were saying Putin "was playing chess to Obama's checkers".

Peanuts too.

[Almanian!]

That was GENIUS of Obo to get global oil prices to plummet!

Let's see what he can do about getting the temperature to fall rise change not change improve and the oceans to recede....

[jesse.in.mb]

GET OUTTA MY HEAD

[Tonio]

Yeah, I actually saw some FB derp over the weekend crediting the administration for the actions of OPEC.

[Doctor Whom]

Everything good is the doing of the Obamessiah (swt). Didn't you know that?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Sanctions, bitch! Look up the word!

Mr. Obama has already authorized multiple rounds of sanctions that have largely cut off major Russian banks from American credit markets, blocked the transfer of technology for long-term energy exploration and frozen assets and barred travel to the United States for a number of Mr. Putin's allies. Mr. Obama has made it a top priority to coordinate those measures with European allies, which have been more reluctant to escalate the confrontation with Russia because of closer economic ties.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12......html?_r=0

[R C Dean]

None of that shit matters (well, not to Putin, anyway) when oil is $100/bbl.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Because of Vladimir Putin's mistakes, Russian soft power is dwindling

- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Op.....jSCsJ.dpuf

[Cytotoxic]

And sanctions have nothing to do with it.

[Root Boy]

Not like being backed into a corner will make them lash out with more military force.

[Cytotoxic]

If that's what it takes to get them off their current belligerent course, so be it.

[Sudden]

Hence their insistence on now putting nukes into Crimea.

[jesse.in.mb]

Sanctions, bitch! Look up the word!

Wut? Russia is one of the primary sources of fuel for most of Europe, and European consumption drives Russian revenues. That would be the "closer economic ties." Nobody had to do anything in this case for Russian revenues to plummet when OPEC drove down the price of fuel. It isn't the sanctions that are operating, but Russia's core export suddenly dropping precipitously in value. Again, if Obama personally coordinated OPEC's recent moves, then he deserves a ton of credit, but Europe didn't cut consumption (especially as we move into the winter months), they're just paying less for the same amount of product.

[Invisible Finger]

I thought Europe was taxing the shit out of consumption.

Funny how the Keynesians/monetarists always go on about how consumption stimulates the economy and then bloviate about the need to raise sales/consumption taxes.

[jesse.in.mb]

Europe does tax the shit out of consumption, but it has for a long while. As far as I can see, there was no large drop in European oil consumption that lines up with Russia's most recent round of economic woes. With global fuel prices dropping Europeans will either save some cash around the holidays or crank their heater higher and longer because it's cheaper to do.

[Root Boy]

Yeah, they are pretty efficient already and what's the average engine size there, 0.8L?

Best they can do is hope they don't freeze in the dark if Putin cuts off gas

[Invisible Finger]

There's shitloads of "green" initiatives in Europe, so oil prices may have nothing to do with cranking the heater higher.

You may however have Europeans sleeping in their cars in the winter because its cheaper to heat.

[Cytotoxic]

OPEC isn't driving the prices lower. It's fracking and the dollar bubble.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Actually, since prices didn't actually drop significantly until they acted, I think it is mostly OPEC.

[Cytotoxic]

Uh prices were already dropping a great deal. The only reason they dropped more slowly before was because the markets thought OPEC might cut. OPEC didn't do anything.

[BigT]

OPEC, really Saudi, keeping high production is a swing at both Iran and US fracking. Russia is a sideshow, although a dangerous one. The Reds were bothered by the sanctions, but the oil price plunge is hurting the government 100-fold by comparison.

[Irish]

OPEC isn't driving the prices lower. It's fracking and the dollar bubble.

One of the reasons OPEC cranked up production is to stop the spread of fracking, so in that regard you're kind of right.

However, fracking's been going on for years and had a relatively minor effect on global oil prices. Here's US fracking production.

All that fracking didn't have much of an impact on global prices until about June of this year. What happened in June? OPEC basically collapsed into a bidding war with Saudi Arabia and Iran aggressively increasing production and cutting the price at which they sell oil globally.

If fracking were the primary cause we would have seen a price drop much earlier. I don't know how you can deny OPEC's involvement when the collapse in oil prices coincides completely with their amping up oil production.

[Cyto]

This is what I have heard. Opec is specifically trying to crush the US and Canadian oil industry. I think a large chunk of the new oil production in North America is not viable at less than $50 per barrel. Opec can probably still sustain half that price.

[Cytotoxic]

You mean the sanctions that are half-hearted and meaningless. Cool story bro. Obama is still a moron.

[jesse.in.mb]

If Obama personally orchestrated OPEC driving down fuel prices, then sure.

[Tonio]

Dammit.

[Officer Jim Lahey]

Cool story, bro.
Awesome that Obama got the Saudis to turn on the oil spigot, though. Man's a motherfucking genius.

[Almanian!]

SANCTIONS, BITCHEZ!!!11!

shriek told me so!!

works 8% of the time

[R C Dean]

It probably went something like this:

[Obama enters, kowtows to King Abdulla]

O: Your Royal Worship, etc., this fracking is making me look real bad since I can't take credit for it and its undermining my Green allies (you remember them, you've been laundering money to them for ages). I just can't make it stop because of "property rights" and "markets".

A: Its making me look bad, too, on account of oil prices going down and my entire existence being based on high oil prices. Still, perhaps the long game, here? What if we crash the price of oil for just a little while, to put the frackers out of business? Then, we can raise prices again and be back to coining money. To share with our friends, of course.

O: So let it be written, so let it be done!

[John]

No. What happened is the Saudis realized Obama is a feckless asshole who is going to sell them out to the Iranians so that he can claim credit for getting "an Iranian nuclear deal" and figured they had to do something.

[Restoras]

I bet you are 100% right about that.

[Root Boy]

Never doubt self interest with the Saudis and actually most countries.

[Cytotoxic]

Actually that makes a ton of sense.

Everyone is forgetting that the Saudis didn't do anything. They just maintained output.

[John]

True. But they didn't cut production like the rest of OPEC wanted them too. Driving the price of oil down is more harmful to Iran than carpet bombing them.

[Cytotoxic]

Russia and Venezuela are in a spiral. When is Iran going to start hurting?

[John]

They are now. You just don't hear about it or see it because the Mullahs don't give a shit if their people starve.

[Fluffy]

Iran has been more excluded from the greater world economy due to successive rounds of US-led sanctions for one thing or another, and as a result they have less to lose in the credit markets when the value of their assets goes down, and less to lose in the currency markets when their primary export loses value.

[Irish]

Russia and Venezuela are in a spiral. When is Iran going to start hurting?

Venezuela was already in a spiral. Their major shortages of foreign currency and basic goods began last year.

[Pompey]

Seriously, what's the point of you? Even if what you do here was considered trolling proper (it's not), the schtick would get old anyway (it has).

It's the same weak shit every single day.

What you spill out isn't even thoughtful trickery, it's idiotic.

[Tonio]

Welcome to H&R, Pompey. The 'Plug isn't even the worst troll (griefer, whatever) we've had to deal with. I respectfully suggest, Sir, that you simply ignore it which is far more frustrating to it than engaging it.

[Pompey]

I've been a lurker since 2007 or so. I'm simply curious, like, what's the motivation? A good troll, a skilled one, couldn't thrive on the some weak shit all the time. I want to understand what makes this individual so fucking pathetic.

The whole shtick is the forum equivalent to a guy that gets home from is job at Staples every night and sniffs his own farts. I feel sorry for him.

[John]

Don't insult people who work honest jobs at Staples by comparing them to shreek.

And yeah, the quality of troll around here is terrible. That is just another thing God Damned Obama has made worse.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Us classic liberals have always been despised by you Bircher types.

[Pompey]

*THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE*

::wipes tear from eye::

[Emmerson Biggins]

calling him Weigel seems to make him shut up more than any other insult I've seen.

[Clich? Bandit]

I guffawed!

[John Titor]

There seems to be some drug-induced brain damage and inflated sense of self worth involved. Mostly desperate cries for attention methinks.

[John Titor]

I respectfully suggest, Sir, that you simply ignore it which is far more frustrating to it than engaging it.

Also watch out for Egyptians.

[R C Dean]

I respectfully suggest, Sir, that you simply ignore it which is far more frustrating to it than engaging it.

I have a one bite rule for Plugs and Tony and the gang.

I'll allow myself one response to an unusually idiotic post. But I don't get sucked into a pointless back and forth.

[tarran]

Seriously, what's the point of you?

It's not sentient. It regurgitates random strings of words and harvests the random strings of words that people post in response. I believe that it hopes to convince itself that it is still human rather than the wreckage of someone who huffed too many thousands of Air Duster cans.

That's why it seems impervious to logic and abuse. That's why it repetitively posts the same comments over and over again. That's why interacting with it is like a nightmarish session with a malignant version of Eliza.

[LynchPin1477]

I seem to remember something from history class about a nation that was forced into humiliating circumstances and faced a crumbling currency. I don't remember how it ended, though...

[Anomalous]

Was it Argentina?

[UnCivilServant]

Zimbabwe?

[Cytotoxic]

The USSR broke up.

[Sudden]

I traveled back in time to stop the bad man from taking over.

[BigT]

The Confederacy?

[JWatts]

Oh yes, Obama on Russia. What was that line that Obama told Romney during the debates? You know when Romney said Russia was a geo-political foe? Oh yeah,

""The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War's been over for 20 years.""

Obama is just so awesomely smart that it's no wonder PB worships his foreign policy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

She told them to stop arguing before coming home for the holidays.

But mommmmmmmmmmmmmm...

[Warty]

FARRRRRRRRRRRRTS IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE

[John]

It would make you wonder what was under there.

[Jerry on the sea]

If Mars farts, does it make a noise?

[Fist of Etiquette]

GET YOUR ASS OFF MARS

[Root Boy]

I thought it was get your ass to mars....oh, I see.

I mostly skip the posts and go right to comment abuse and confusion.

[Clich? Bandit]

Two weeks

[jesse.in.mb]

If you ordered Cards Against Humanity's specialty Black Friday product, congrats: it's shit.

Even better it's selling on ebay for more than people paid for it.

[Injun, as in from India]

Vox doesn't understand where milk comes from.

Bull penises?

[Tonio]

Ha!

[PapayaSF]

It comes from CAPITALIST OPPRESSION AND EXPLOITATION.

[Invisible Finger]

Rape, cultured.

[Juice]

I must have some kind of defective pun center in my brain. I can never come up with good ones like this.

[Warty]

OH NOES

On social issues, however, these gaps are virtually non-existent. This suggests that while social liberalism will continue to be a political winner, economic liberalism may be tougher to sell to white millenials. Additionally, while white millenials say they want to live in a racially equitable society, they are no more likely than their parents to support policies to make that society come about.

Fucking Salon. Bunch of cunts.

[John]

Amazingly enough, people do learn. When you economic policies fuck over people royally long enough, people stop supporting them. Funny that.

[Andrew S.]

You defame the word "cunt" by using it to describe Salon.

[Irish]

The best part of that article is when they worry that younger Hispanics are actually less socialist than their parents, which means Hispanics might become less Democrat over time.

You mean this minority group won't mindlessly vote for us forever?!?! The horror!

[John]

My favorite part is how they say that young people support equality but don't support the policies necessary to achieve it.

[Anomalous]

LBJ bragged that the Civil Rights Act would buy two centuries of African-American votes for the Dems. He expressed it in much saltier language.

[R C Dean]

Which is truly astonishing since most opposition came from the Dems, not the Repubs.

I still don't know how the Dems made off with all the credit for it.

[JeremyR]

Media. Colleges.

Just like how America gets blamed for slavery, even though it was pretty much a world wide phenomenon, and other countries were much, much worse.

And do you ever hear Wilberforce (or England) getting credit for basically ending it in the West?

[GR8IPAZ]

Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence regarding "making that society come about."

[PapayaSF]

to support policies to that we persist against all evidence to claim will make that society come about.

[Doctor Whom]

Back in the days of Salon's Table Talk, I started a thread on school funding, in which I cited evidence that contradicts what "everyone knows." The thread was deleted in days.

[Root Boy]

Man, dumbest, most ideological line of thinking ever has got to be mo' money = better education among the lefties.

I've run into it myself. You cannot contradict them.

[PapayaSF]

The comparative budgets of public schools vs. Catholic schools are a pretty good refutation of their position.

As is a chart of US education spending over the last 40 years vs. achievement.

[GR8IPAZ]

A little light reading.

http://graduate.lerner.udel.ed.....011-13.pdf

[Cytotoxic]

It's pretty well written and makes the same point Reason has tried to make here a million times only to get very tiresome hoary responses from the readership.

[Corning]

economic liberalism may be tougher to sell to white millennial.

I don't think Salon knows what "economic liberalism" means.

[Corning]

That Poll is probably bullshit.

It shows Boomers want smaller government with less services...yet they are eating the bulk of all government services ie Social security and medicare.

My guess is those boomer fuckers are just lying to the pollsters.

[Invisible Finger]

Or they could be clueless and stupid.

[Corning]

That is true. Lots of Americans don't even realize how big social security and medicare are compared to the rest of the federal budget.

Still boomers are older then me so i will continue to hate on them.

[BigT]

Do you understand that only Boomers born before 1950 are getting SS? That is only about 20% of the Boomers. You ain't seen nothin yet.

[jesse.in.mb]

Disconcertingly clear ice in Slovakian mountain lake.

[Almanian!]

That's amazing! We had a pond in our back yard and it was pretty clear when it froze - but nothing like that.

wonder how thick the actual ice was?

[Fist of Etiquette]

FAKE

[PapayaSF]

If so, it's a very well-done fake. You can see little irregularities on the surface of the ice.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Oy, the comments!

Tyler Wolff
6 days ago

This is a good example of how beautiful the world can be when its not tainted by humans.?
Reply
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365
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Alekzandr daviz
6 days ago

I wholeheartedly believe that humans are not natural to this planet for example you could just take a dog out into the middle of the woods and it would figure out how to live you drop a human naked in the woods they would die without many years of specialized training?
Reply

[Irish]

If you dropped my foo-foo lap dog in the woods it would die in like 4 minutes.

[Doctor Whom]

Pekingese are not natural to this planet. If you shave one, what famous movie character does it resemble?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Pekingese are not natural to this planet. If you shave one, what famous movie character does it resemble?

The answer is to be found here:

ILLUMINATI Creating HUMAN DOGS For New World Order Agenda!!!

[Fluffy]

Human dogs, huh?

Didn't Paolo Bacigalupi write something where Labrador Retriever genes were spliced into humans to make them better-behaved sex slaves?

That sounds less like an Illuminati plot than it sounds like a kinky Japanese thing, though.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Paolo Bacigalupi, ugh! One of the most overrated SF authors out there. I want my hours spent reading The Windup Girl back.

[Fluffy]

Yes, I have to agree.

Unfortunately, because he stylistically and thematically apes Michael Swanwick pretty consistently, I always get tricked into reading his stuff.

I sit there reading page after page, waiting for the point at which all the (apparent) non-sequiturs and (seemingly) random plot points will suddenly pull together into a cool set of insights (the old Swanwick trick)...and then it never happens.

And I get to the end and I'm like, "What the fuck did I just read?"

[Heroic Mulatto]

My biggest problem with TWG was that I had already seen The World of Suzie Wong, I didn't need to read the eco-nut version of it. Besides, how could a post "peak oil" world have such advanced biotech without plastics? Without plastics, medicine and biotechnology would hover around circa 1860. With that preventing suspension of disbelief and my past familiarity with Thailand preventing the milieu from being "exotic", the entire novel just fell flat. If he centered the story on the Yellow Card Man, it might have worked. But, imo, overall Bacigalupi isn't a skilled enough story-crafter to overlook his ham-fisted devotion to the Gaia Death Clut.

[JWatts]

"Besides, how could a post "peak oil" world have such advanced biotech without plastics? "

Well technically peak oil wouldn't necessarily mean no plastics. First there are plenty of other materials and secondly, just because you don't have enough oil to literally burn, doesn't mean you don't have enough to produce affordable plastics with.

Peak oil doesn't mean Zero oil, it instead implies oil too expensive to be casually used as transportation fuel.

[Lady Bertrum]

That was Ship Breaker, I believe.

Read it; liked it.

http://www.amazon.com/Ship-Bre.....ip+breaker

[BigT]

Pekingese are not natural to this planet.

Why aren't they called Bejingese? Inquiring minds want to know.

[seguin]

...racism?

[UnCivilServant]

Food for foxes.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That you have a foo-foo lap dog intrigues and disturbs in equal measure.

[Irish]

Don't talk shit about my fluffy puppy.

I taught him to jump through hoops, which makes him at least 7x smarter than Shrike.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Fair enough.

[kbolino]

This is a good example of how beautiful the world can be when its not tainted by humans.?

I presume this was his suicide note, yes?

[John Titor]

*In Walken's voice*

THE ICE, is gonna break!

[JAMuary]

FWIW, from my knowledge of crystal structures, that ice is clear like that specifically BECAUSE of impurities that are present and was most likely the result of a flash freeze.

Quick cooling and a high concentration of impurities stop the H2O molecules from forming grain boundaries, and as a result the whole of the ice is akin to a single crystal. With no grain boundaries to reflect and refract the light, it is essentially see-through at any thickness.

Not unlike the process that allows glass to be transparent.

[Cyto]

I think the white in ice is due to air bubbles. As water freezes it forces the gasses out and into little pockets. This is why you often see ice cubes that are clear on the outside and white in the middle.

To make clear ice you start with filtered or distilled and you have to outgas the water - either by applying a vacuum or by boiling the water for a while.

[Almanian!]

I apologize for engaging the troll. I only screw up and do that about 8% of the time, so....

[Tonio]

And I would like to apologize for responding to Almanian's comment on the subthread started by the troll. Always happy to discuss things with A, but not if it means rewarding the troll.

[rts]

Prince George defeats communist influence

City councillors in Prince George, B.C. voted unanimously last night to take fluoride out of the city's tap water, in keeping with the results of last month's referendum.

Precious bodily fluids are safe... for now.

[Tonio]

+1 Purity of Essence

[Jordan]

When will they ban chemtrails?

[Almanian!]

I can see the ads now: "General Ripper approves!"

[Root Boy]

I just read some dipshit comment in a Colbert article about how socons are assholes who want to get in your bedroom.

We've now got at least two formerly conservative issues (fluoride and affirmative consent laws) that have now gone full circle back to the progs.

[Coeus]

For all you metalheads out there.

Metal has fought against and triumphed over many enemies throughout its long history. Politicians. Religious leaders. The mainstream media. Metal has survived their onslaughts and has only gotten stronger. But now metal is up against what is quite possibly the most dangerous and insidious enemy it has ever faced: social justice.

Now I bet you're probably thinking, "But BreadGod, social justice sounds like a good thing. How can you be against something like social justice? Does that mean you're for social injustice?" That's what the proponents of social justice (commonly known as social justice warriors) want you to believe. They want you to believe that they're all about making society a better place. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Social justice is totalitarianism in disguise. That sounds like an outrageous claim to make, but it's the truth. To understand why, we need to go back in time a hundred years. Sit tight, ladies and gentlemen. You're about to learn some chilling truths.

[Almanian!]

*makes 'Wayne's World' flashack motions\ and sounds*

[PapayaSF]

Thanks for the post.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...you only get milk from cows when they're pregnant.

PROVE HIM WRONG.

[Mad Scientist]

No, that totally makes sense. After the calves are born, the cow, like, totally stops making milk.

[Andrew S.]

Isn't that how it works in all mammals? I mean, you never see a human mother nursing a baby, because she's not making any milk once she's not pregnant, right?

[BigT]

As long as the young keeps nursing the mother will make milk. That's why cows can keep making milk indefinitely.

[Cdr Lytton]

Volume does change over time and starts dropping after about 3-4 months.

[Winston]

I find it interesting that over in North America hyphenated last names are associated with feminists while in Britain it is associated with the aristocracy who wished to keep surnames from going extinct.

For example Winston Churchill's surname was actually Spencer-Churchill because Marlborough had no surviving sons and his daughters were allowed to inherit his titles. So his Spencer descendants chose to add Churchill as a surname.

If families did this multiple times you could several surnames. For example the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos had five surnames! Brydges-Chandos-Nugent-Temple-Grenville

[John]

Marborough was a thoroughly loathsome human being but one of the greatest generals who every lived.

[Tonio]

Thanks for that insight. I was only vaguely aware of that.

[Invisible Finger]

Johann Gambolputty-de-von-Ausfern-schplenden-schlitter -crass-
cren-bon-fried-digger -dangle-dungle-burstein-von-
knacker-thrasher-apple-banger -horowitz-ticolensic-grander -knotty-
spelltinkle-grandlich -grumblemeyer-spelter-wasser -kurstlich-himble-
eisen-bahnwagen-guten-abend-bitte -ein-n?rnburger-bratw?rstel-
gespurten-mitz-weimache-luber -hundsfut-gumberaber-sch?nendanker-
kalbsfleisch-mittleraucher-von-Hautkopft of Ulm

[Almanian!]

Gesundheit!

[lap83]

Isn't that the shortest verse in the Gutenberg Bible?

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

His name is my name too!

[Almanian!]

Fuckin' Brits - always on about the royalty.

/Almanian Wadsworth-Wedgeworth-Symington- Blythe-Smalley-Eggmont

[Winston]

Except that royalty don't use surnames.

[Almanian!]

Didn't say they did

[UnCivilServant]

So the Plantagenets, Romanovs, Hapsburgs and so forth didn't actually have those names?

[UnCivilServant]

Or Godwinson, the last King of England?

[Almanian!]

You know who else has a name that begins with "Godw....".....

[Doctor Whom]

Godwitha Judith Bosum?

[John]

Last Anglo Saxon King of England.

[UnCivilServant]

The Usurpers that followed had no claim to the crown!

[John]

Bullshit. Harold promised the thrown to William and then renigged. The Pope said so!!

[kbolino]

Reneged, the word is re-neg-ed.

[Warty]

No, you idiot, that's what the PUA losers do.

[kbolino]

Well, maybe the desperate ones. If you have to re-neg, you clearly did it wrong the first time.

[Faceless Commenter]

But Harold did promise the villagers of Golthwayne as human chattel to William. The villagers back in the day had refused to support a royal edict demanding they surrender five bathels of wheat to the Blwvver of Aldrith, and so were thrown into the streets. Hence these folks incurred the lasting enmity of the royals and Harold promised the thrown to William.

[Winston]

Or Godwinson, the last King of England?

Did he actually use that name or was that used retroactively?

And it was a patronymic, not an actual surname.

[Winston]

So the Plantagenets, Romanovs, Hapsburgs and so forth didn't actually have those names?

Well I was speaking primarily of English Royalty. And Plantagenet was a name used retroactively.

[UnCivilServant]

If families did this multiple times you could several surnames. For example the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos had five surnames! Brydges-Chandos-Nugent-Temple-Grenville

And they were just as completely oblivious as to how stupid it looks as the modern hyphenators.

[Invisible Finger]

Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith
Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris
Nigel Incubator-Jones
Gervaise Brook-Hampster
Oliver St. John-Mollusc

[Winston]

That said some Brits use it as a a feminist device. See Frederick Pethick-Lawrence.

Also two of Britain's most prominent aristocratic families have double-barreled names yet use only one. The Cecils (actually Gascoyne-Cecil) and the Stanleys (actually Smith-Stanley) because of marriages to heiresses.

[Almanian!]

I still think Olivia Newton John should have married Elton John, gotten divorced but kept the name, then married one of Isaac Newton's relatives....so she could be:

Olivia Newton John John Newton.

HAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

derp

[Almanian!]

PS ....recognizing she's an Aussie, so purty far removed from the whole Engrish thang...

[Doctor Whom]

If Tuesday Weld married Fredric March II ....

Old jokes need forever homes. Please open your heart and your home to one.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

It's also common in Latin American countries to append the maiden name to one's last name. My name is hyphenated for that reason; it wasn't until well after that I found out that it was something snobs do over here.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Just change the hyphen to "y". And now you're representin'.

[John]

http://freebeacon.com/politics.....-politics/

Dem Congressman: 'Obama Needs to Listen to Others' Because 'He Really Doesn't Understand' Politics

That is just racism. Straight up.

[Almanian!]

word

Thanks for speaking truth to power J Money

*gloved-fist salute*

[Coeus]

On a happier note...

The cost to Gawker Media of its ridicule and viciousness toward video gamers was "seven figures" in lost advertising revenue, according to the company's head of advertising, Andrew Gorenstein. In addition, founder Nick Denton has stepped down as president and editorial director Joel Johnson has been removed from his post and will probably leave the company, reports Capital New York.

[Jordan]

So delicious.

[John]

That is one of the most awesome things I have ever read. Nick Denton is one of the biggest douchebags in the known universe. Couldn't happen to a better douche.

[Tonio]

Well-done, Gawker, well-done.

[Irish]

"Vox doesn't understand where milk comes from."

No use crying over spilled Gaza Bridges.

[Invisible Finger]

wished to keep surnames from going extinct.

Feminists don't want their surnames to go extinct.

[Irish]

Nothing says 'I'm fighting patriarchy!' like making sure your father's last name endures.

[Adans smith]

Dairy cows must be milked every day.One near me has a creek,ponds and corn fields,great duck and goose hunting.

[Almanian!]

My aunt and uncle ran the dairy farm my dad grew up on. I learned that one fast - "those cows need to be milked - every day - same time - whether you 'feel like it' or not...."

Made me glad my dad left the farm for good, old-fashioned work in administrivia 🙂

[JWatts]

"Dairy cows must be milked every day."

Dairy cows must be milked twice every day. And it has to be at least 10 hours apart, but generally 12 hours is more common.

And you can't skip days, during the milking period. The cow doesn't care if you're sick, or hung over or out of town on vacation.

[Palin's Buttplug]

US Dollar Index now at highest mark in over a decade - 88!

What happened to you Dollar Doomer, ammo stockpiling, goldbug, preppers?

[T]

Still got the gold and ammo. It's not like it goes bad.

[Lady Bertrum]

And you think this is good news?

You are stupid.

[Cytotoxic]

They're still here, still right, still ahead of the curve.

[mad.casual]

US Dollar Index now at highest mark in over a decade - 88!

Damn you bitcoin! I could've been wasting those CPU cycles on something really valuable like looking at porn or hosting a porn website.

[Corning]

It is relative to how shitty China, Japan, Russia and the EU are doing.

Also Banks are hording cash. One day they will have to spend it.

[jesse.in.mb]

Edinburgh Theatre Sorry For Porn DVDs Blunder

A theatre has admitted a "horrifying" error meant porn DVDs were sent to parents and children - instead of a recording of school performances.

The Edinburgh Playhouse said "highly inappropriate" sexual content appeared on some of the DVDs after a third-party firm botched the duplication process.

I'm betting the porn was more interesting.

[Bam!]

Given that the UK banned all the interesting porn, I'd doubt that.

[UnCivilServant]

They took it off the shelves and some intern thought they DVDs were re-usable.

/sarcasm

[lap83]

"I'm betting the porn was more interesting."
and less self-indulgent

[GILMORE]

This is reminiscent of the UKs incidental errors in dealing with serial-pedophiles - blasting them into space with little boys trapped in the capsule with them

[John]

Stories from the lovely tolerant left.

Some students took offense to the article, saying it belittled their concerns about social justice. Mahmood, who is Muslim and describes his political views as mostly conservative and libertarian, says the first big backlash came when another student complained anonymously about being offended and he was fired from the student newspaper, the Michigan Daily.

"These progressive students attacked Omar because they felt that he, as a Muslim, cannot also be a conservative," Derek Draplin, a student and editor of the conservative student paper The Review, which published the parody, told FoxNews.com. "He doesn't fit their social justice agenda so they attack him, censor him, try to get him to shut up."

On Friday night, according to Mahmood, people attacked his dorm room door, egging it and leaving copies of his satirical article with notes on the backs including "Shut the f--- up!" and "You scum embarrass us" and "DO YOU EVEN GO HERE?! LEAVE!!" along with various others, including an image of a creature with horns and another one of him with his eyes crossed out.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014.....latestnews

[Almanian!]

Yeah - you're about a day behind on this one, John...

SIMPSONS DID IT

[tarran]

John, you need to read Reason more consistently. Perhaps you should leave your wife so she doesn't distract you from this higher priority thing.

[John]

Occasionally, even I have to work for a living.

[UnCivilServant]

Join the dark side - take a Civil Service Exam.

[John]

I did. And being incredibly unlucky, I got a job where you have to work sometimes.

[Almanian!]

ur doin it wrong!

[John]

Yes I am. That and a lot of other things.

[Almanian!]

we kid you b/c we love you, John.

Well, I do - I can't speak for the others...:)

[Rufus J. Firefly]

As you can tell, Reasonoids are not overly tolerant about reposts.

[John]

Neither am I. I deserved the abuse.

[UnCivilServant]

Except that the Squirrels love them.

[UnCivilServant]

Except that the Squirrels love them.

[Steve G]

What you did there, Helen Keller could see it

[Juice]

they felt that he, as a Muslim, cannot also be a conservative

um......

[Corning]

they felt that he, as a Muslim, cannot also be a conservative

What the fuck am I even reading?

Between Salon misusing the phrase "economic liberalism" and this i am getting the feeling progressives don't know what these words even mean. Not even in the slightest.

[John]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....itutional/

District Court in PA declares Obama's immigration order unconstitutional.

[Almanian!]

PWND

Also on Reason...in fact, in this very PM Lynx....

A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled against President Obama's immigration dictates in a criminal case, but it's unclear whether his decision would impact national policy at all.

Keep trying, John!

[John]

I didn't say anything about its precidential value. I just said they declared it. How am I PWD?

[Almanian!]

John - Reason. Posted. It. In. This. Very. PM. Links.

Look up thread.....that's what I meant.

You're posting what they posted...

ergo

PWND!

[John]

Oh. Fair enough. Who reads the links anyway?

[UnCivilServant]

Read... the... links?

Is that like reading the articles? Cause I don't know anyone who does that either.

[Almanian!]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/.....ml?hp=t3_r

I'll give you this - they posted a Politico link - you linked to WaPo

[Mike M.]

Hat tip to me; I posted this in another thread hours ago.

[John]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....-shrugged/

No one gives a shit about torture.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I will give you one thing, John. You conservative authoritarians definitely outnumber us liberal rationalists.

[lap83]

liberal rationalist
noun
1. One who is liberal with the definition of "rational"

[Rufus J. Firefly]

LIBERAL RATIONALISM:

http://www.theatlantic.com/dai.....sm/207879/

[lap83]

So liberal rationialism is making stuff up and then demanding accolades. Then later calling people stupid for believing you.

[John]

A majority of the country voted for Obama didn't they? That is pretty strong evidence that most of the country likes torture, drones, NSA spying and general lawlessness in their President.

It is your world Shreek. We just live in it.

[jesse.in.mb]

Gay man criticizes litigious lesbian couple in NY, columnist proceeds to progsplain (dickishly) why gays should be even more litigious and then grouses that many of his gay and lesbian readers think he's wrong, and a dick.

In planning my own wedding, I had only one bad experience when a vendor said it would not cater to my husband and me; I took my business elsewhere. As bad as this sounds, I believe that business owners should have the freedom to choose whom they serve ? and that for members of our community to persecute people on their faith, beliefs and personal morals is wrong.

I was surprised, though, by the large number of my LGBT Facebook followers who seemed to share that view. One gay man posted: "Why ruin someone else's livelihood, when you still found another venue, still got married, and are still just as happy?" And this from a lesbian reader: "Let us not start becoming bullies after everything we fought for."

I must admit to being troubled and puzzled by the criticism of the lesbian couple, especially if that's any measure of general public opinion. If the McCarthys were black, Asian or Jewish, the outrage would have undoubtedly been against the farm owners for denying the couple access to the farm.

Oh noes. People disagree with my internalization of identity politics! I haz a confuzed. (For space sake, I skipped his cunty response to the guy for having accepted his second choice vendor).

[Irish]

This is not possible. I have it on good authority that all the gays want Christians to be oppressed beneath their chic but practical boot heels.

[Fluffy]

Unfortunately, the way civil law works is that the courts belong to the morally worst plaintiff, as soon as they have even the tiniest little fulcrum of an established tort in their favor.

So it doesn't matter if 99% of gays don't want to oppress Christians beneath their boot heels. If the state legislatures alter their discrimination laws to create this tort, then the boot heels will be deployed by the remaining 1%.

[John]

You are correct Fluffy.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Damn Rohmites.

[Heroic Mulatto]

A fitting tribute to Underzog on this first night of Chanukah.

[John]

Good for them. They would well advised to tell the people who want to make being gay mean "socialist with different sex habits" to shut the fuck up.

[Almanian!]

Jesus Christ, jesse! That's a lot of derp...

"Let us not start becoming bullies after everything we fought for." What a horrible reaction to have!

lulz

[jesse.in.mb]

Argh forgot a link

Here's the bit I left out:

Congratulations on your recent wedding and, of course, I'm glad that you found a backup caterer who would serve gay folks, including you, your husband and presumably some of your guests. Of course, it's a shame that not everyone in your shoes gets to celebrate with their second-choice of vendors. For those who live in small towns or more conservative parts of the country where there may not even be a second choice, well, I guess they're just out of luck.

Now, how did my slightly snarky response make you feel? I ask because regular readers know that I don't buy into the theory that good manners are simply about making others feel comfortable. I tweaked you (gently, of course) for putting yourself and your wedding first.

But that's exactly what's at stake here, The McCarthy's didn't feel comfortable being told no even though there were other venues available.

[lap83]

"For those who live in small towns or more conservative parts of the country where there may not even be a second choice, well, I guess they're just out of luck."

That entitlement is just so grating. Guess what? When I got married I was "discriminated" against by bakers because I couldn't afford the outrageous sums they ask for wedding cakes. So I ordered a bunch of pies, which I like better than fondant anyway, and bought a few generic chocolate cakes from Target. If you are truly honest about the definition of discrimination, it happens all the time to all types of people. You don't have to be a whiny dick about it.

[jesse.in.mb]

When my sister got married I recommended she check out this Episcopalian church that's tucked away in some eucalyptus trees and sits on a cliff. Lots of parking, picturesque views and great Anglican architecture. She loved it.

The church had a policy that you didn't have to be an Episcopalian to use it but their minister had to be the primary officiant. My family is very particular about their faith and my sister wanted the pastor she grew up under to be the officiant. They ended up unable to compromise and so she found a much less nice venue and had her pastor perform the (overly long) ceremony.

AND NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED.

[grrizzly]

Isn't Colorado Springs, the place where the letter writer lives, a notoriously socially conservative place? More than New York state, at least? And, of course, Steven Petrow thinks that other people should turn presumably the happiest day of their life into a SJW struggle. Why should a gay couple hire a vendor for their wedding who doesn't want to provide the services?

[Irish]

That's what I don't understand. Why would I want people at my wedding if they hate the idea of my marriage? Why would I want to get married at a venue whose proprietors don't think my marriage is in any way legitimate?

[Trouser-Pod]

You will be brought to heel. THE POWER OF THE COURTS COMPELS YOU!!

[Libertarian]

you made me giggle

[Mad Scientist]

Wedding ceremonies are a big "look at me!" excuse. Dragging in people who don't want to be there is purely to rub their noses in it.

[Sudden]

Why would I want people at my wedding if they hate the idea of my marriage?

In my case, I should have invited such people in the off chance they managed to ruin the wedding. I'm thinking the ex I had stalking me for the first year and a half of my relationship would've worked nicely.

[grrizzly]

Speak now or forever hold your peace.

[jesse.in.mb]

NY is a bit like CA where it's overall politics is skewed very heavily liberal by its urban areas and other areas skew more conservative. My experiences in rural NY have been blandly moderate with a dislike for Democrats, but I have a pretty limited perspective.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"Anti-gun surgeon general nominee approved in 51-43 vote."

Prediction: More common sense labeling.

[Andrew S.]

Maybe guns can come with a warning label that says "May cause death in the presence of blue-suited baboons"

[UnCivilServant]

"'Forty-five Automatic Colt Pistol - Caution, may cause grievous bodily harm.' No shit, sherlock"

*drops box of ammo in basket*

[John]

Does the barrel have a "point this way" sticker now?

[Almanian!]

I think it needs an "Exit Only" and arrow etched at the end of the barrel (arrow pointing OUT of barrel, of course)...

[CE]

US Army bazookas are stenciled with a "front toward enemy" instruction.

[Almanian!]

"IMR 4064 Smokeless Powder - WARNING! Highly Flammable!"

Well, I fucking HOPE so....

[Jordan]

Prediction: Shriek will spin this as evidence that Obama is the most pro-gunnest president EVAR.

[Invisible Finger]

I can see it now...

""Anti-torture surgeon general nominee approved in 51-43 vote."

[Palin's Buttplug]

Obama, like all recent presidents, is indifferent on guns but supportive of the 2A in general.

I can't think of a real gun lover since TR.

[Corning]

What the fuck are you even talking about. Obama has been pushing for tighter gun control for the past 2 years.

[Palin's Buttplug]

He pushed for background checks for the mental nuts. The NRA used to support the same.

There was more crap in the bill but just for bargaining.

Remember, Obama has relaxed gun laws twice - Amtrak and national parks.

[John]

He pushed for background checks for the mental nuts. The NRA used to support the same.

So he wanted to take away your gun rights and you love him anyway. You are most certainly dedicated to dear leader shreek.

[Jordan]

The national park one was crammed into his shitty credit card bill by the Republicans over his objections and he threatened to veto it because of it, but ultimately caved.

[Jordan]

There was more crap in the bill but just for bargaining.

Mendacious cuntery detected.

[JWatts]

+1, And how stupid do you have to believe that line of reasoning?

[Corning]

He pushed for background checks for the mental nuts.

Bullshit. It is a Trojan horse to increase scrutiny of back ground checks, make national lists of gun owners, and implement a national gun permit system. All would be necessary to "check" for nuts.

Also fuck the NRA. They blamed video games for gun violence.

[Jordan]

So indifferent that he lobbied for the most restrictive gun controls since the AWB. Right.

[John]

And promised his supporters to pursue gun control by executive order and other means if he couldn't get it through Congress.

Shreek really is delusional.

[Invisible Finger]

I don't remember the Average White Band calling for gun controls.

[GILMORE]

I used to use the second half of this tune (where the beat changes) as a segue between sets....the sudden change of pace made for crowd-pleasing goodness

[Fluffy]

Not even W?

[John]

I think W would count. He threatened a veto and let the assault weapons ban expire. He never proposed a single significant gun control policy that I can remember.

[Fluffy]

And I thought the point here was that W was a personal, lifestyle gun lover in the manner of the Bull Moose himself.

[John]

I think he is a big hunter. It was on his ranch that Cheney accidentally put some buckshot into his attorney wasn't it?

[Juice]

No. It was one of those places that does canned hunts.

[Ken Barber]

Apparently REASON also doesn't know where milk comes from.

That's a picture of a BEEF animal.

[UnCivilServant]

Is it at least female? I'm no bovine expert, so I can't tell from this angle. Bevause last I knew even beef animals produced some milk for their offspring. (Admittedly, not milk which goes into the supply chain)

[Corning]

Cow looks pretty young. Which means it might be cut up into beef before it ever makes a another cow and will never produce milk. Then again it has a tag. No idea if they even tag beef cattle before they are turned into hamburgers.

[Fluffy]

Can we stop for a moment and just all agree that it's really kind of awesome that cows are our slaves?

Mmmmmmm steak. Man, I do love to eat me a dead cow. And I say that utterly without irony.

Mmmmmmm ice cream.

Mmmmmmm cheese.

Damn. Thanks for being stupid and having no thumbs, cows.

[Invisible Finger]

Also thanks to cattle for being able to reproduce year-round.

[Corning]

Pretty sure calves are only born in the spring.

Do you mean cows birth also in Australia and Argentina?

[Corning]

Nevermind...i guess they can be born year round.

But i still think a cow can only have one calf per year...maybe one every 10 months. They aren't like chickens which lay eggs all the time.

[Invisible Finger]

Part of the reason the animals we eat are the animals we eat is because they aren't seasonal breeders. We don't eat much rabbit, but that's mostly because they have almost zero fat. Still, I think it would be cool in McDonald's had Rabbit McPellets on the menu.

[John]

Pigeon. How about eating Pigeon, like the rest of the world?

[CE]

Ummm, you don't normally eat the pellets....

[BigT]

Part of the reason the animals we eat are the animals we eat is because they aren't seasonal breeders.

Another big reason is that they taste good. I went to a restaurant is S Africa with 102 species on the menu. Elephant, crocodile, hippo, etc. all taste bad and most are not easy to chew. The insects were tasteless as well.

[antisocial-ist]

Pretty much any calf that gets sold at auction gets tagged, so most of them.

[John]

They got the right species. I am willing to let them slide on what a diary cow looks like versus a beef cow.

[John]

They are hipsters dude. You have to grade on the curve and cut them some slack sometimes.

[grrizzly]

For the clueless among us, how do you figure out that it's a beef cow?

[John]

The color and the size. Diary cows are bigger because they live longer since they are not slaughtered. And most diary cows are Holsteins and are black and white (think the Chick Fila cows) and a few of them are Brown Swiss, which are a perfect chocolate brown and look like some kind of an idealized cow from a story book. If you have ever been around a brown Swiss cow, they the most gentle and adorable creatures this side of a lamb. It will make you feel a bit guilty being a carnivore.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I saw a Swiss cow up close at the Champlain Valley Fair this summer. Thing was fucking YOOOOGE

[John]

But so cute. The big brown eyes, you can't resist them. The bulls are fucking evil. But the brown Swiss cows are out of Charlotte's Web.

[Kaptious Kristen]

This discussion just "triggered" me to remember going out to Denny Nelson's dairy in Minnesota when I was a very small fry (pre-school). I sat on one of his Holsteins, rode the combine, swam around in the dried corn in the silo, and sat on the screened-in porch. Some of the best times of my life. The. Best.

[Raven Nation]

It will make you feel a bit guilty being a carnivore.

We're clearly at a time when we need animals that invite us to eat them.

[CE]

So that explains where chocolate milk comes from.

[Faceless Commenter]

In addition, diary cows are often to be seen in the more private parts of the pasture, busy with a pencil and a notebook.

[JWatts]

The picture looks like a Charolais to me. And yes they are usually beef cattle, but there was a dairy near me growing up that had some. So, it's a little nit picky to ding somebody on a stock photo.

[Stormy Dragon]

Beef cattle still produce milk. Just not as much.

[Cdr Lytton]

Yes and male calves of dairy breeds will never produce any so guess what happens to them?

[Corning]

Jeb Bush is "actively exploring" a run for the presidency. Can he win?

Love how the left leaning MSM is freaking out about this. Aren't we in two or four wars or something? I wonder why left wing news outlets would want to start talking about potential republican candidate who has no chance in hell in winning the general and very little chance to win the primary with the election 2 years away.

[John]

Because they know the GOP base hates Jeb Bush. They are just trolling Republicans by acting like he has a chance.

[GILMORE]

" they know the GOP base hates Jeb Bush"

What?

Where do you get that from?

Relative to say, the way 'conservatives hate Chris Christie', or the way Union Democrats or hyper-progs hate Hilary Clinton...

...I can't think of any GOP segment that hates on Jeb Bush except for maybe the hardest core anti-immigration-types that see anything less than 'Game of Thrones'-style BorderWalls to be "Amnesty"

[John]

.I can't think of any GOP segment that hates on Jeb Bush except for maybe the hardest core anti-immigration-types

Which describes the entire GOP base. The GOP base is militant about amnesty and has no use for anyone who even acts like they support it. Rubio completely blew up his national prospects by supporting amnesty. They hate Jeb and Rubio almost as much as they hate Fatso up in New Jersey.

The politicians in the GOP who actually have real numbers of voters who support them and would vote for them for President, it is Cruz, Paul, Walker, Ben Carson (who is the real SOCON darling not Huckabee), Perry and maybe Romney. The rest of them are media creations and establishment assholes who are beloved in Washington and maybe their district but nowhere else.

[GILMORE]

We will agree to disagree on that. I think the GOP 'base' is broader than you suggest. Until very very recently Evangelicals were broadly open to immigration 'reform' compared to the smaller slice of hard Border-Hawks in the GOP who believe Hispanics are an existential threat to American Culture.

[John]

"Open to immigration reform" is not the same as supporting amnesty. You are right that the GOP base is not all restictrionist. The problem is that the GOP establishment has been so dishonest on the issue and is so despised that it has poisoned the well so that now people who are in theory open to the idea of reform will not vote for anyone who claims to be pro immigration because they don't trust them not to sell out and just open all of the borders.

[Corning]

so dishonest on the issue and is so despised that it has poisoned the well

And they did it all to get the bipartisan street cred they so very very much wanted to get with "working" with Obama.

Get blamed by the left for being racist and blamed by the right for being dishonest while trying to work in secret with Obama who ended up just shitting on them.

I find that I disagree with Rush more and more as time goes by but he has this issue down pat. The GOP establishment are horrible political strategists.

[Cytotoxic]

The border hawks really believe they are America. They are holding their breathe waiting for the nation to rise up against Obama's horrible no good 'amnesty' exec order. It won't happen, but they won't stop believing.

[John]

54% of the country disapproves of Obama on immigration.

Open borders have never been popular in the country at large. Open borders are a "stuff elite white people like" thing.

http://images.businessweek.com....._13_14.pdf

[Cytotoxic]

54% of the country disapproves of Obama on immigration.

That's nice. Did you hear that 90% of the country wants background checks? I am sure there will be a pro-gun control uprising alongside the anti-(nonexistent) amnesty uprising.

Open borders have never been popular in the country at large. Open borders are a "stuff elite white people like" thing.

So it's gay marriage about 20 years ago then.

The overlap of Liberals and Libertarians forms the 'Big Liberty' nexus. Big Liberty always gets its way.

[Corning]

Actually they are America. Amnesty is hated by most Americans.

The thing is the republican establishment has volunteered to be the fall guy for this and take the political hit for when invariably it is never repealed because the powers that be want it.

I agree with amnesty but make no mistake that it is unpopular and being pushed and protected by the elite in Washington. I just don't understand why the republican establishment volunteered to be hated by all sides on this one.
The left will always call them racist and the right and independents will blame them for not blocking and/or repealing it.

[John]

The GOP establishment volunteered to be the fall guy because they are crooks Joshua. The DNC are fucking outright evil. The GOP are just ordinary crooks who don't really want power or to be in charge. They just want to skim a nice income from their big money donors. And the big money donors want Amnesty.

[Corning]

hmm

I think it would be better to call them individually evil. ie crooks.

While the DNC want to institutionalize a full blown system of evil.

In Dungeon and Dragon terms it would be:

GOP are Neutral Evil

DNC are Lawful evil

[Corning]

Vox doesn't understand where milk comes from.

Vox are Udder idiots.

[GILMORE]

Shit is real, bitches be fighting over me, and I just maintain

[Heroic Mulatto]

All I know is 1+1.

[Lady Bertrum]

someone needs a mouthful of hot sauce.

[Heroic Mulatto]

While I'm home on vacation, I've been amusing myself with this Thug Life meme.

My wife is horrified and wants to return to the old country to raise our daughter.

[GILMORE]

Thailand?

isn't that place always one-step away from some kind of 'revolution' between people who wear Red versus Yellow?

[GILMORE]

*footnote: yes, i understand it better than that. but really: is that sort of thing any better for a kid?

[Heroic Mulatto]

Hell no. Besides, one Thai translation for "bookworm" literally translates as "book thug". Which, on second thought, is kinda badass. Anyway, this is as close as Thailand gets.

[GILMORE]

That looked like kids at a bar mitzvah used a special camera to pretend they were in a Rap Video with Snoop Dog.

Who may in fact do Bar Mitzvahs for all i know. He also makes balloon animals.

[Lady Bertrum]

....revolution' between people who wear Red versus Yellow?

So The Crips and Latin Kings have branches in Thailand? Who knew?

[Lady Bertrum]

I make by husband blow leaves when he's home.

And 'blowing leaves' isn't a euphemism.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And 'blowing leaves' isn't a euphemism.

Suuurrreee.....

[The Late P Brooks]

Obama, like all recent presidents, is indifferent on guns but supportive of the 2A in general.

Yeah. Pay no attention to the fucking snotnosed tantrum he threw in the Rose Garden after Manchin's bill went down in flames.

[John Titor]

Now, to be fair to Vox, it was Will Kymlicka (who's a big Canadian positive rights pusher) who made the claim about cows giving milk only when pregnant. Of course, his idiocy doesn't excuse Vox's idiocy when it comes to fact checking.

[Almanian!]

Over on the Tweeterz:

Libertarian Hub ?@LibertarianHub 3m3 minutes ago David Koch: 'I'm basically a libertarian' http://www.snsanalytics.com/Bfomy6"

I KNEW it!

[John]

They are onto us. The entire conspiracy is going to unravel now. And this before I ever got my member card or invited to any of the meetings.

[Cytotoxic]

I heard that the cromneybus bill actually had a few good things in it like partial Dodd-Frank rollback and raising caps on the number of hours truck drivers work. It's not very good but overall maybe the best we could get.

[GILMORE]

The dodd-frank 'rollback' was merely the decision to not implement a ban on direct 1-1 OTC swaps trading by banks; a fairly small issue but one which people like to make a lot of noise about because of the absurdly high notional $ value of swaps which makes people think that there's a hundred trillion of 'iffy paper' or something being floated.

[Cytotoxic]

I'll take anything. The ACA risk corridors also got narrowed, I think.

[John]

The other thing about the bill that no one is talking about is that it only funded DHS until February. It funded the rest of the government until September. So come February, the GOP can refuse to fund the entire department and stop amnesty without shutting down the entire government. Obama is betting that he can get the whole thing done before then. Maybe he can, but given his administration's track record of competence or lack thereof, that seems like a less than sure bet.

[Cytotoxic]

So come February, the GOP can refuse to fund the entire department and stop amnesty without shutting down the entire government.

This is a most amusing strategy. The GOP is going to fight amnesty by...refusing to fund an agency important to 'securing the border' and enforcing the War on Illegals. Good idea GOP! Through your own shortsighted imbecility you might actually deliver smaller government for once!

[John]

But the people in the department who guard the border are considered "essential" and would continue to come to work even if there was no funding. So shutting down the department would have no practical affect that anyone could see.

It would be a completely different situation. Obama and media would play hell getting the public to care. Meanwhile, every day without funding is another day Obama can't ignore the law.

[Cytotoxic]

Those people parasites on the border aren't the ones sweeping inside of US borders for unauthorized immigrants are they? Are they also enforcing the 100-mile Constitution-free zone around borders?

[John]

It is all of them. ICE and CPB agents would all keep coming to work.

And no one is sweeping the inside of the US for illegals. Obama isn't deporting anyone, even felons, who is inside the US. He is only turning people away at the border and calling them "deportations".

And there is going to be another big wave of UAC's coming in the spring who will be put on the government dole and spread out across the country.

[Cytotoxic]

So the border checkpoints Reason has documented are fictitious? As well as the people Obama has in fact deported. Psst: stop getting your info from Breittard and MadeupNumbersUSA. They lie, and now you're lying.

And there is going to be another big wave of UAC's coming in the spring who will be put on the government dole and spread out across the country.

You also pretend to be clairvoyant when you are clearly not.

[John]

So the border checkpoints Reason has documented are fictitious?

Which part of "counting turning people away at the border and counting it as deportations" did you not understand?

As well as the people Obama has in fact deported.

Obama has virtually stopped deportations. I work for DHS you fucking half wit. Trust me when I tell you this.

You also pretend to be clairvoyant when you are clearly not.

No. I just know what the Central American governments and the people who are going to have to deal with this tell me. And I believe them regardless of whether the facts fit my narrative.

You could be a smart guy Cytoxic. Your problem is that you are you allow your ideology to make you stupid by denying any fact that contradicts it and that is a shame. You owe yourself better than that.

[John]

If the GOP had any brains they would send Obama two bills, one that defunded his EO and another that funded it but had a few riders approving keystone and rolling back various really idiotic EPA regs. Tell him that Congress will fund his EO in return for him agreeing to do something about the labor market by rolling back regulations and approving Keyston.

Make Obama choose between Hispanics and the Greens. He would of course choose the Greens and then that would force the Democrats in Congress to explain to the Hispanics why white billionaire greens are more important than Hispanics.

[Cytotoxic]

I can't believe it but you are smarter than the entire GOP leadership.

[John]

If the GOP base actually got something in return for this bullshit, they would not be as pissed off about it. Most GOP voters would trade neutering the EPA and approving Keystone in return for funding Obama's BS plan.

[Raven Nation]

That's a pretty low bar.

[Invisible Finger]

The one time I can remember the government failing to spend money they regretted it so much they gave themselves more paid vacation.

[Stormy Dragon]

The passage that was eliminated banned banks from investing money in FDIC backed accounts in derivatives. How is letting banks put taxpayers on the hook when their shady investments go bad a win for small government?

[GILMORE]

"Stormy Dragon|12.16.14 @ 6:56PM|#

The passage that was eliminated banned banks from investing money in FDIC backed accounts in derivatives"

You don't know what you're talking about and I'm tired of explaining it here. Go fucking read about it.

The short of it = it didn't "ban" shit, (the practice could still continue, albeit via a new regulatory mechanism) and it wasn't about investing deposits in 'derivatives' the way you describe ('Derivatives' being a huge category of transactions that could mean any number of things, not a specific product). specifically, it was regulation of OTC swaps.

- it forced them to conduct OTC swaps exchanges via 3rd parties and report all transactions to a 'clearinghouse'. The idea was that 1-1 swaps markets were 'un-transparent' (disclosed only periodically) and not subject to the typical kinds of market-rules that registered securities are subject to.

You probably don't understand any of that either, but whatever.

The fucking regulators didnt understand how the OTC swaps exhanges *worked* and legislated a 'solution' that was impossible to implement and didn't actually help in any real way.

Think of Andrew Cuomo's "7rd Magazine limit". Basically the same #@*( thing.

The "rollback" of the legislation means nothing more than they're leaving this small part of banking practices alone.

[Cytotoxic]

We are watching Russia implode.

The currency crashed to 100 against the euro in the biggest one-day drop since the default crisis in 1998 as capital flight gathered pace, despite a drastic rise in interest rates to 17pc intended to crush speculators and show resolve.

Yields on two-year Russian bonds spiralled to 15.36pc, while credit default swaps are pricing in a one-third chance of a sovereign default. The shares of Russia's biggest lender, Sberbank, fell 18pc.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fin.....fails.html

[John]

That could be a good thing. A country with 10,000 or more nuclear weapons imploding is also pretty dangerous.

[kbolino]

It took me a bit to figure out that pc = %. Ah, the Brits, too snobby to use basic ASCII characters.

[db]

Give the British a break; when your teeth are that bad, you need to take a few extra bytes.

[The Late P Brooks]

The dodd-frank 'rollback' was merely the decision to not implement a ban on direct 1-1 OTC swaps trading by banks

Making the rich richer by picking the pockets of the poor!

*weeps, flounces onto fainting couch*

[AlmightyJB]

The answer to everything is Bush. Except for who should be president.

[userve32]

This is why we have to hit it up man.

http://www.TheAnonBay.tk

[zacharybaughandes]

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