More Republicans Want to Liberate Cuba, Trigger Warnings Run Amok, American Sniper Trailer Debuts: P.M. Links

• 

  American Sniper

  Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz announced his support for relaxing the ban on traveling to Cuba. In an interview with BuzzFeed, he seemed much closer to the libertarian-Republican position on Cuba.

• Sen. Marco Rubio, however, remains firmly committed to an isolated Cuba, telling Megyn Kelly last night that Sen. Rand Paul—who supports President Obama's establishment of Cuban diplomatic relations—"has no idea what he's talking about."
• In his last press conference of the year, President Obama talked about North Korea's role in hacking Sony to prevent distribution of The Interview.
• If you don't care about miserable communist countries in the news… let's see… here's a funny Jeopardy video. "I'll take non-Common Core math for $400, Alex."
• Read The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf on why trigger-warning culture goes too far when it prevents colleges from tackling important subjects.
• Watch the trailer for American Sniper, starring Bradley Cooper, here.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Read The Atlantic‘s Conor Friedersdorf on why trigger-warning culture goes too far when it prevents colleges from tackling important subjects.

I don’t see a trigger warning on that link.

[SIV]

TRIGGER WARNING! (Douchebaggery) Conor Friedersdorf quotes Will Wilkinson at length in the link.

[gaijin]

Is “American Sniper” a trigger run amok?

[Ted S.]

As opposed to American Snipper, which is a mohel run amok.

[MJGreen]

Citizen SNIPS!!!

[Medical Physics Guy]

Is Will Wilkinson in the Reason commenters’ rogues’ gallery then? Too much of a cosmo-tarian? I have to admit I haven’t kept up with his stuff. Did the Economist give him the sack?

[SIV]

Wilkinson is exponentially worse than Weigel.

[C. Anacreon]

Wilkinson way way worse Weigel-wise. Weally.

[VG Zaytsev]

Meh, he makes a good sparry partner for Jonha Goldberg. Every debate I’ve seen them in Wilkinson gets his ass kicked and makes JG look like a libertarian.

[SIV]

The blogginheadstv one is where I realized WW isn’t just wrong, he’s a total fucking idiot. Goldberg is a lot closer to being a libertarian than Will

[Cytotoxic]

Even his full name sounds stupid.

[LynchPin1477]

Trigger warnings go too far the minute they exist.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

“trigger-warning culture goes too far”

You mean that a regime of moderate trigger-warnings might be OK?

[Ted S.]

Only if love is in control.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

To Gloria Borgia Obama is Superman:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/18/…..lark-kent/

She’s special.

[Ted S.]

I didn’t know Gloria had married into the Borgias. 😉

[Tonio]

I think I see what you did there. Missing comma, right?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ha! I was reading something on them as I typed.

Borger.

[Fist of Etiquette]

…Sen. Rand Paul?who supports President Obama’s establishment of Cuban diplomatic relations?”has no idea what he’s talking about.”

I guess Marco doesn’t want to be veep.

[rts]

Just dump Man Haron Monis’ body at sea, Muslim leaders say

If Monis’s partner does not claim his body he will be given a “destitute funeral” by the Department of Health.

The Daily Telegraph contacted a number of Islamic groups around the state, who all distanced themselves from the gunman and derided the Martin Place siege as an act of bastardry.

“We don’t care about him, we don’t know him, chuck him in the bloody shithouse,” said Amin Sayed, funeral director with the Lebanese Muslim ?Association.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

“We don’t care about him, we don’t know him, chuck him in the bloody shithouse,”

Perfect. He’s probably a non-native English speaker, but he produced one of the best sentences in the English language.

[Pope Jimbo]

Are there any native english speakers in the land down under?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Good point. Not only are they bad at English, but they don’t even know how to make music videos.

Notice how for much of the video, the action on the screen matches the lyrics of the song.

You’ll see none of that nonsense in, say an American music video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s

[Bam!]

Sen. Marco Rubio, however, remains firmly committed to an isolated Cuba, telling Megyn Kelly last night that Sen. Rand Paul?who supports President Obama’s establishment of Cuban diplomatic relations?”has no idea what he’s talking about.”

Because of the 50 years of giving Cuba the silent treatment has worked so well, Mr. Rubio.

[paranoid android]

Can the people who support continued isolation of Cuba please explain why we should not also recall our ambassador from and cease all trade with, say, China, for its spotty human rights record?

[Winston]

cease all trade with, say, China, for its spotty human rights record,

Not exactly the best gotcha since there are going who to want that.

[wareagle]

China and Cuba are hardly equal, and Nixon did not go there over trade. He went there because of the Soviet Union. China opening itself up, and China was a thoroughly closed society by choice – unlike Cuba, has meant a less oppressive life.

[paranoid android]

China and Cuba are hardly equal

Correct, China is far larger and its abuses are on a much greater scale. If anything the anti-Cuba faction should be much more pissed that we have relations with China.

[wareagle]

again, relations with China were based on geopolitical concerns of the time, not economics. Nixon did not set out to democratize China; he wanted a wedge between Mao and the Soviet Union.

China was also closed from the world, by choice. Cuba, before Castro, had a larger degree of freedom.

[paranoid android]

I’m not talking about 40 years ago, I’m talking about right now. With the USSR gone those geopolitical considerations don’t exist. The anti-Cuba faction says that on principle we shouldn’t trade with autocrats who jail dissidents and so forth. China is much worse on that account than Cuba, so what, besides the fact that Cuba is poor and easy to ignore and China is not, justifies our continued relations with the Chinese regime?

[Ted S.]

After Tiananmen, it was the Democrats who didn’t want to give “most favored nation” trading status to the PRC. Of coures, there was a member of TEAM RED in the White House then….

[wareagle]

that China has us by the short hairs might be considered a mitigating factor. No one says China is a great actor but it’s a rather large noteholder. I suspect that is at least some justification for continued relations.

[Calidissident]

You don’t have to make this about China. There are countless dictatorships today and in the past that the US has had relations with and has not embargoed. Cuba is the exception rather than the rule. Batista was an evil bastard too, but that didn’t seem to result in an embargo. Anyone who thinks that the Cuban embargo is about sending a message about freedom and acceptable governance is naive or delusional.

[Corning]

There are countless dictatorships today and in the past that the US has had relations with and has not embargoed.

Hell Saudi Arabia should be on the top of horrible nations needing an embargo.

When was the last time Cuba funded terrorists that successfully bombed the Pentagon?

[VG Zaytsev]

But Cuba did fund terrorist throughout latin america and africa and had a habit of sending actual military forces to help those terrorists.

[Chumby]

And that support interfered with the CIA’s clandestine, illegal, and expensive schemes in those areas. Saudi terrorists attacked this country. Cuban ones attacked us in proxy wars where we shouldn’t have been.

[wareagle]

with the Castros still in power, how does this change anything? Could have waited till they died; at least it would have made sense. And the flip side to your argument is, the US blinked and capitulated to a thoroughly nasty guy.

[HeteroPatriarch]

You’d be screaming “APPEASEMENT” at Washington’s farewell address.

[wareagle]

things I didn’t say for $600, Alex.

[Calidissident]

Or maybe we reexamined a policy that has clearly failed?

[Enough About Palin]

Peggy Noonan Disagrees

A closing note: I always thought, life often being unfair, that Fidel Castro would die the death of a happy monster, old, in bed, a cigar jutting out from the pillows, a brandy on the bedside table. My dream the past few years was that this tranquil end would be disturbed by this scene: American tourists jumping up and down outside his window, snapping pictures on their smartphones. American tourists flooding the island, befriending his people, doing business with them, showing in their attitude and through a million conversations which system is, actually, preferable. Castro sees them through the window. He grits his teeth so hard the cigar snaps off. Money and sentiment defeat his life’s work. He leaves the world knowing that in history’s great game, he lost.

Open the doors, let America flood the zone and snap those pictures. “Fidel! Look this way!” Snap. Flash. Gone.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/th…..1418946550

[Andrew S.]

Wasn’t Marco Rubio once supposed to be the GOP frontrunner for 2016? What happened to that, anyways?

[Fluffy]

Immigration.

[Bam!]

He lunged for a water bottle and that was that.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

He’s a Cuban American Senator representing FL. What do people expect him to say?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Reach for your migraine pills before reading:

“I’m a gay American whose been called an [expletive]” she shot back, screaming about homophobia and hitting the desk to make her point. “I have a black kid at my house, Whoopi. I have a black kid I raise!”

“That is not the same thing,” Goldberg said.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.c…..ell-759341

I suddenly feel unsmarter after this.

[lap83]

Just reading it was bad enough. There’s no way I’m going to watch the video.

[Ted S.]

Can’t they both go to hell?

[Tonio]

You know who else banged on furniture to make a point on television?

[trshmnster the terrible]

Thumper, if you consider a log furniture of the forest?

[Tonio]

Clever, and yes.

[Andrew S.]

The protagonists of multiple Skinemax movies?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

…porn star of your choice?

[Tonio]

Hmmm…

[Ted S.]

Actors in IKEA commercials?

[See Double You]

Any random lawyer?

[Aloysious]

Where’s my Rosie O’Donnel trigger warning, you philistine?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Next time it will go under ‘The View’.

Ted Danson was married to Whoopi.

Does that need a trigger?

[Aloysious]

Rosie O’Donnel is in a class of her own. I was once stalked pursued vigorously by a woman who thought that RD was the height of wit.

I am scarred for life.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yikes. Not even a super model would keep me interested if they believed that.

[Aloysious]

She was most definitely NOT a supermodel. ye gods.

[Chumby]

Was her name craiginmass?

[Tonio]

At least one.

[Ted S.]

Can’t you just hover over the link?

[Aloysious]

I could, but I’m working on a sense of entitlement.

That, and I foolishly clicked before looking. I want to blame Rufus for my own folly.

[Fist of Etiquette]

So that’s still on the air somewhere, huh?

[Tonio]

Yes. I use that as an idiot filter, as in anyone who mentions seeing something on the view automatically moves to idiot status.

[wareagle]

black folks tend to be unreceptive to that argument from gays. And gotta love wrapping oneself up in the totem of having adopted a black child.

[Invisible Finger]

Where is North Korean terrorism when you need it?

[MJGreen]

Classic Rosie.

[Winston]

More Republicans Want to Liberate Cuba

How does lifting the embargo “liberate” Cuba? The Castros are still there.

[Cytotoxic]

By allowing them to trade with us. Are you wantonly stupid?

[Redmanfms]

They already trade with you, Canadian psychopathic chickenhawk, and they aren’t any freer.

That argument is fucking stupid on its face. Trade with America isn’t magic. If trade with Europe and Canada didn’t liberalize Cuba, trade with America isn’t going to either.

[Fist of Etiquette]

…here’s a funny Jeopardy video.

No Sean Connery? No, thank you.

[PBR Streetgang]

Buck Futter!!

[Chumby]

The rapist = Therapist

[Bam!]

If you don’t care about miserable communist countries in the news… let’s see… here’s a funny Jeopardy video. “I’ll take non-Common Core math for $400, Alex.”

Tyler needs to learn more about strategy. The two girls clearly were not going to buzz in on those questions. Had he waited to buzz in instead of buzzing in immediately, he could have used the extra time to calculate the answer.

[Ted S.]

I think this incident from Kids’ Week is more interesting.

What that article doesn’t mention is that Trebek apparetnly began the next episode with the following:

Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. I’m sure you’ve noticed that one of the main differences between our kids week shows and our regular fare, aside from the age factor, of course, is the element of emotion. As talented as they are, these very bright young people, haven’t yet had too many experiences in life where they were not the winners. And that can be pretty tough on some of them. Nevertheless, we hope that their visit to Jeopardy! winds up being viewed by them as a positive one.

You can see what the damn stage mother who couldn’t teach her daughter how to lose graciously would be pissed.

[Enough About Palin]

Atheists unveil anti-Christmas TV specials

http://www.washingtontimes.com…..mas-tv-sp/

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Rudolph the red-nosed crazy drunkard who thinks he’s a reindeer

Frosty the Snowman who just sits there quietly spreading Christmas cheer in his own way

Kill Santa Claus by Quentin Tarantino

It was a wonderful life until you sky-fairy idiots started pushing Christmas down our throats

Scrooge rejects his irrational belief in ghosts and private charity and embraces Big Government

[trshmnster the terrible]

White Privilege, where Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye sing and dance without any idea how they were microaggressing the black waitstaff with their cis-hetero white male protestant privilege Christmas songs.

[C. Anacreon]

er, Danny Kaye was not a hetero, at least according to several tell-alls published after he passed. I think you could say at least bi.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Didn’t know that. Well, at the very least he played a hetero character.

[Stormy Dragon]

Why would atheists object to A Christmas Carol as is? The ghosts are purely a dramatic device and the message of the story (don’t be a dick or you’ll end up alone and miserable) doesn’t actually depend on any supernatural elements.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Because activist atheists are, by and large, idiots.

[Mickey Rat]

Because the type of atheists who act like that are miserable dicks.

[jesse.in.mb]

What the?

Shouldn’t they just go grab Chinese food with the Jews and ignore the holiday altogether?

Even more fun they should team up with hardcore evangelicals and pagans and freak everyone out about where our Christmas traditions actually come from.

Example

[Suthenboy]

Stop calling them Atheists. That is not what they are.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Ach, they are nae True Scotsmen!

[Tonio]

As much as it annoys me to say this, thank you Eddie.

Suthenboy doesn’t get to define who is or isn’t a proper atheist any more than I get to define who or who isn’t a proper hindu.

For you lurkrz, that doesn’t mean that I think all atheists have to be movement atheists.

[wwhorton]

First, autoplay videos are the devil. The first line on page one of the book of good UX is, “Thou shalt not take control away from the user.” As an atheist web developer, that really pisses me off.

Anyway, also as an atheist web developer, atheists are a bunch of obnoxious, entitled, whiny bitches. I don’t believe in God, but I’ve got a big-ass Christmas tree in my living room and have Handel’s Messiah on repeat as of 12/1. It’s a tradition, it’s fun, and I like it. Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” doesn’t have any impact on my own personal beliefs any more than driving past a synagogue on the way to work turns me Jewish. Atheists give atheists a bad name, man.

[Brett L]

Live/Dead Alert. Still not dead. I want to be angry at my new employers for locking down the Internet, but any culture that allows people to dip snuff in meetings probably can’t trust their employees not to download kiddie porn to their coworker’s computer as a prank. What did I miss this week?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Buy a smartphone with a data plan, cheapskate.

[trshmnster the terrible]

That’s what I do. I’m only one embolism away from putting periods between all my words.

[waffles]

You.mean.that.is.from.phones? I.just.like.the.style.

[Suthenboy]

I thought it was symbolic of stuttering. In my head those comments are in Mel Tillis’ voice.

[Florida Man]

That’s what I do. Iphone 6 plus changed my reason life for the better.

[jesse.in.mb]

Oh, you got the ipad mini mini?

[Florida Man]

Yup. I went from the 4s to 6+. Major difference. no reasonable but no ads either. I don’t have a computer at work so it’s my only option really.

[jesse.in.mb]

No Reasonable? What a monstrous world Steve Jobs has created.

[Florida Man]

Jesus, Jesse how many ways can you break text? Is that an exclamation point inside a question mark?

[jesse.in.mb]

I see you’re admiring my nonstandard punctuation, the interrobang. It’s an elegant punctuation mark for a more civilized age.

(& #8253 😉 no parentheses or spaces

[Florida Man]

I did not know an interrobang is a thang. Interesting link. Thnx

[jesse.in.mb]

I’m a little hurt that I break *one* comments section and you think that I’m breaking text left and right.

I can’t remember what thread that was…

[Florida Man]

I think it was the article about pot smoking Mexicans having ass-sex at an abortion clinic that serves artisanal deep dish pizza.

[jesse.in.mb]

Well that eliminates two or three articles from the Reason archive…

[Tonio]

You’re a text gangsta, jesse.

[Andrew S.]

If you really loved us, you’d do something like set up an ad hoc network on your phone and post using a tablet or notebook.

[Tonio]

Somebody at some college lied about something.

[PBR Streetgang]

Lemme guess.. an Athlete at UNC? Regarding taking exams?

[Corning]

any culture that allows people to dip snuff in meetings

I remember when you could smoke at work.

[Enough About Palin]

One of the best bands of the 60’s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz8Tc4qaIKg

[waffles]

Reminds me of the Brian Jonestown Massacre except 30 years before. Sure BJM is just a 60s band from the 90s but surely Fever Tree must’ve been an influence. Good stuff.

[Winston]

So care to explain Stalin? FDR recognized him in 1933 and he was tyrannical as ever until his death 20 years later.

And no China’s reform more has to death with Mao dying and reformists taking over rather than diplomatic relations with the US.

[Calidissident]

At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters whether or not opening relations or ending the embargo will cause the downfall of the regime or at least some liberalization. The embargo and cutting ties has clearly failed in those regards after 55 years, and the burden of proof should be on the ones supporting that policy, not the other way around.

[Winston]

burden of proof should be on the ones supporting that policy

Where did I support the embargo?

Except what I am disputing is the notion that trade and diplomacy itself undermines dictators. Stalin is proof that establishing diplomatic and trade relations do not inherently end dictatorship and China is not proof since Mao died before formal US-China relations were established.

[Calidissident]

I didn’t say you did. I’m pointing out the people arguing against the embargo shouldn’t be the ones who have to prove it will bring down the Castros. Also, I don’t think most people are saying that it’s surely going to do such a thing, just that it has a better chance than a policy that has clearly failed after more than 5 decades. Also, while you can argue that China being relatively less tyrannical now has nothing to do with relations and trade with the US, it’s clear that the standard of living of the average Chinese person has risen as a result of those things.

[DarrenM]

I though the embargo was to last until Fidel Castro’s death anyway.

[Corning]

and reformists taking over

Bullshit. The reforms came from the bottom up not some magical bureaucrats.

The only thing they reformed is when they discovered farmers where trading food and owning land they decided not to murder and/or re-enslave them.

Also Mao was out of power for some time before his death.

[Winston]

The only thing they reformed is when they discovered farmers where trading food and owning land they decided not to murder and/or re-enslave them.

Eh, the fact that they reduced the repressiveness somewhat is still reformist.

Also Mao was out of power for some time before his death.

He was able to dismiss Deng from most of his offices shortly before his death.

[wwhorton]

I think you’re envisioning a much more rigid structure in Chinese politics than actually existed; Mao being “in power” wasn’t a binary thing, really. He had a tremendous amount of popularity with the average Chinese as a result of the cult of personality surrounding him. Following the civil war, Chinese politics was all about a tug of war between technocrats like Liu Shaoqi and ideologues like Mao. Mao basically started the Cultural Revolution as an attempt to take power back from the CCP, and indeed Red Guards and PLA fought each other in the streets. I think it’s more accurate to say that Mao was just no longer the only power in China when he died.

Mao’s death allowed Deng and the moderate technocrats to come to power, and they purged the Maoist elements with the trial of the so-called Gang of Four. Deng had always been a proponent of limited free markets, at least at the local level, and that’s why you start seeing real reform begin when he comes to power in the late 70s.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Sen. Marco Rubio, however, remains firmly committed to an isolated Cuba, telling Megyn Kelly last night that Sen. Rand Paul?who supports President Obama’s establishment of Cuban diplomatic relations?”has no idea what he’s talking about.”

It’s only been 54 years. I think it’s working. Cuba is about to crack so long as we don’t cut and run!

[Winston]

It won’t crack until the Castros croak just like in China and the USSR.

[wareagle]

and that’s the rub, isn’t it. That would been a good time to lift the embargo.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

A good time to lift the embargo would have been 53 years ago.

You change cultures by interacting/trading with them, not alienating them.

And, yes, I just want cigars.

[jesse.in.mb]

We’ve given Castro all the tools he needed to maintain the status quo. No matter how much things in Cuba sucked, he could point to our intervention and say “Times are hard because of this blockade, but I’ve got your best interests at heart.”

Also, and this cannot be said enough: Fuck. Fidel. Castro.

[Cytotoxic]

The Embargo was necessary when the Castros were instruments spreading communism around the world especially Africa. That hasn’t been for a long time.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Which restaurant chain will take down Cuba?

Will it again be McDonald’s?

Stay tuned.

[From the Tundra]

Hopefully Chik-Fil-A

[Florida Man]

Come on Krystal’s!!!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

This is Arby’s chance to shine!

[Aloysious]

Taco Bell/

‘Run to the Border’ takes on a whole new meaning.

[Corning]

Hard Rock Cafe Havana with a shit pot of Velvet Underground memorabilia on the walls.

[Chumby]

Jack In The Box. Via E. Coli .

[Medical Physics Guy]

Tehse colors dont run!111!!!!!

[MJGreen]

Just look at how old and unhealthy Fidel is after the 54 years of an American embargo. Stay the course, and I’m sure we’re going to see results.

[lap83]

Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz announced his support for relaxing the ban on traveling to Cuba. In an interview with BuzzFeed, he seemed much closer to the libertarian-Republican position on Cuba.
Sen. Marco Rubio, however, remains firmly committed to an isolated Cuba, telling Megyn Kelly last night that Sen. Rand Paul?who supports President Obama’s establishment of Cuban diplomatic relations?”has no idea what he’s talking about.”

I’m sorry but I feel like Cuba is nowhere near a top priority on the list of what needs to be fixed or why Republicans were given a majority. Is it just me or do politicians have the attention spans of squirrels? They only stay on any subject long enough to blow hot air about it and next week it’s how terrorists are brainwashing our children through Angry Birds to get them hooked on bath salts. Rinse Repeat. (Rand Paul remains skeptical about it. Elizabeth Warren wants to remind you that you didn’t build Angry Birds. Cheney wants to give bath salts to terrorists.)

[Root Boy]

It’s small beer, but creates a lot of noise for both Obama and Rubio Repubs.

Hell, repubs spent post election working on the cromnibus crap sandwich, and getting FDA to approve sunscreen – prorities, suckers (Republican voters)

[John Thacker]

It’s a big deal in Florida– amusingly DNC head Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) is against Obama’s move at the same time the DNC is blasting Republicans who opposed it.

It’s not a surprise from Chaffetz. He’s one of the 30-40 libertarianish Republicans.

Also no surprise that Mark Sanford made comments in favor of lifting the embargo.

Like pot, lifting the embargo is a dividing line between the libertarian wing of the GOP and the others.

[Cytotoxic]

It’s not a surprise from Chaffetz. He’s one of the 30-40 libertarianish Republicans.

Downthread someone claims he’s a huge statist.

[Stormy Dragon]

Also no surprise that Mark Sanford made comments in favor of lifting the embargo.

All the women in Argentina are onto him?

[Stormy Dragon]

Relevant to the previous discussion about whether fraud can be an issue when it comes to consent:

The Spy Who Loved Me

Short version: British undercover cop, in order to build an identity to infiltrate animal rights groups, starts a family with an activist and then more or less vanishes off the face of the earth once the assignment ends.

[Ted S.]

Alfred Hitchcock did this story 70 years ago.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I think this points out the difference between fraud and rape. I forget who mentioned the assault analogy and boxing, but it is a good analogy to work with.

If two people consent (no matter the fraud involved) to hit one another, there is no assault.

Similarly, if two people consent to screw one another (no matter the fraud), there is no rape.

In both cases, if you can prove that you were harmed by them reneging on a promise, you are entitled to damages in a civil context. In no way does that rise to assault or rape.

[Invisible Finger]

True, but people will naturally adopt the attitude of their government. Therefore, anything they don’t like is now criminal.

[Invisible Finger]

More evidence that there is no such thing as a good cop.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I think a more interesting hypo would be in the classic Jacob and Esau context. Visually impaired person V wants to have sex with A. B disguises themselves to appear to be A. V would have never consented to sex with B.

Is that fraud or is that rape? I can make arguments for both sides. On one hand, merely fluffing your resume to get laid is innocuous, but taking affirmative steps to deceive the other person as to your identity seems to take it to another level.

[Stormy Dragon]

I think this is that hypo, provided A and B are classes of people rather than specific individuals. V wanted to have sex with an another animal rights activist, but probably never would have consented to sex with an undercover cop. So the undercover cop disguised themself has an animal rights activist to trick V into agreeing to sex.

[trshmnster the terrible]

There’s a big difference (at least in my mind) between portraying yourself in a way more conducive to getting laid and impersonating somebody else.

[Stormy Dragon]

1) He was impersonating somebody else. The real Bob Lambert had died of a heart attack in 1959
2) If I am wearing an NYPD police uniform and tell you you’re under arrest, am I impersonating a cop, or do you have to prove I was trying to be confused for, say, Commissioner Bratton specifically?

[Coeus]

There was a case with twins out of California that addressed this. I believe it was ruled as a rape.

[The Late P Brooks]

Reuters:

President Barack Obama said on Friday that U.S. blacks are better off now than they were when he began his presidency in 2009, but that the gap between blacks and whites remains.

“Like the rest of America, Black America, in the aggregate, is better off now than it was when I came into office,” he told reporters in an end-of-year news conference.

“The gap between income and wealth of white and black America persists, and we’ve got more work to do on that front.”

“I’m an excellent President.”

[Suthenboy]

In classic lefty fashion he thinks that decreasing the disparity by reducing the wealth of whites makes blacks better off.

Of course he has more work to do. He has also decreased the wealth of blacks. He must keep it up until everyone is equally impoverished.

What a piece of shit.

[Coeus]

LET’S TALK ABOUT TITLE IX AND FAIR PROCESS

With every action comes an equal and opposite reaction, so we always had to know that progress in the fight to end campus gender-based violence would provoke a negative response. And our opponents primary tactic is clever: I see anti-feminists claiming fair process for themselves. As schools reconsider their disciplinary procedures, these critics position their camp as the sole defenders of procedural protections (like the opportunity to be informed of the details of the complaint and present counter-evidence to a neutral investigator) for students accused of gender-based violence. The way they write, you’d think anyone who cares about justice for student-survivors obviously wants rigged disciplinary hearings that don’t give respondents a chance to stand up for themselves.

If you don’t feel that way, then you’re supporting the wrong policies.

[Coeus]

Developing a perfect, comprehensive response to this anti-feminist fair process narrative will take more time. Sure, some of these arguments are easy to take down: for example, many critics claim campus disciplinary procedures should have all the protections of a criminal trial, including evidence to support confidence “beyond a reasonable doubt.” In doing so, they ignore the meaningful differences between the stakes of a disciplinary hearing (expulsion at worst) and of a criminal trial (incarceration); due process works along a sliding scale, proportionate to the potential harms to the accused. And the insistence that we provide more protections for students accused of sexual assault than to their classmates facing plagiarism charges is rooted in age-old misogynistic myths of hoards of women “crying rape.”

No, it’s rooted in the fact that someone doesn’t get kicked out for plagiarism based upon nothing more than another student’s word.

[Coeus]

I keep trying to rush the progress: I started working in support of incarcerated people and criminal defendants before I got involved in Title IX policy work and feel personally invested in working this all out immediately. So I started writing my law school thesis on procedural protections for students accused of gender-based harms this September with the delusional idea that I’d be done by now (lol sorry advisor). I am currently on draft 37 of an op-ed on the same topic. And I keep freezing up, taking one more stab, deleting everything and starting over, getting mired in details.

Gee, It’s almost like there isn’t a way to square your policies with your stated goal.

[Aloysious]

…hoards…

It’s horde.

I hate that solecism.

[MJGreen]

No, the women are being hoarded. It’s a rape culture patriarchy after all!

[trshmnster the terrible]

due process works along a sliding scale, proportionate to the potential harms to the accused.

Two points:

1) this is exactly true, which is why the burden of proof for other expellable offenses is so high. In the “court” of college disciplinary panels, expulsion is their death penalty, and other than rape, they treat it with such respect in the way they have crafted their due process rules.

2) If academic dishonesty is treated so flippantly, why not false accusations? Plagiarism can get you expelled. False accusations get you a weekly meeting with a counselor and a support group.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Seriously, not flippantly

Changed my sentence, but forgot to flip my adverb

[R C Dean]

Looking into the American Sniper movie, I found this tidbit:

Before Chris’s death, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, also a former SEAL, filed a defamation lawsuit against Kyle after the sniper said he’d punched Ventura out in a 2006 bar fight for disparaging SEALs and the war in Iraq. He had written about the incident in his book, but only named Ventura specifically in interviews during his tour. Ventura insisted it never happened.

After Chris’s death, most thought Ventura would drop the suit. Instead, a Minnesota jury ordered Taya to pay $1.8 million in damages.

http://www.militarytimes.com/s…../20468577/

Christ, what a fucking scumbag Jesse Ventura is.

[tarran]

I don’t think he’s being a scumbag; the claim in the book was, if false, pretty clearly a malicious libel, Ventura suffered harm, and his lawsuit was against the estate of the author and not the dead guy.

Last but not least, it was a jury trial, and the jury clearly decided that a preponderance of evidence indicated the confrontation didn’t happen.

I don’t believe there should be a tort for libel (google Rothbard’s argument against libel and slander laws if you care to know why), but if you accept that it’s a tort, then a tort judgement against the estate of a wrongdoer to make a victim whole does not make the victim a scumbag.

[tarran]

Gorram it! We need an edit button!

Should be s lawsuit was against the estate of the author and not the dead guy‘s wife!

[Stormy Dragon]

Ventura did sue his estate. The “Minnesota jury ordered Taya to pay $1.8 million in damages” meant she was ordered to do that in her capacity as the executor of said estate.

[tarran]

Ventura sued the author. IIRC the author’s murder occurred a few months before the lawsuit went to trial.

[Stormy Dragon]

By the time it went to trial, it had been ammended to a suit against the late author’s estate.

[tarran]

Great, so we are all in agreement. Shall we sing Kumbaya?

[Corning]

I don’t understand the Heroic deference given to a government assassin.

He is an interesting contemporary figure and perhaps a necessity to our war mongering nation, but a hero?

Seems strange to me.

[Cytotoxic]

He killed dozens of evil people, saved American soldiers, and helped bring peace to Iraq. It’s not strange to anyone with a functioning moral compass and brain.

[Chumby]

Please define peace in Iraq. And juxtapoae that to when Saddam was in power.

[Cytotoxic]

Iraq when America left was pretty peaceful. Like Iraq was when Sadaam was in power but without the Iran-Iraq war, the Kuwait war, the Kurdish war, and the tyranny. All round much better.

[Chumby]

The US military is still in Iraq. The US helped Saddam during Iraq-Iran. The Kuwait war was “peaceful” to Iraq until it morphed into Gulf War (One). And didn’t that begin when US SoS told Saddam that the US would not intervene in a local dispute over directional drilling?

[dannye]

Read the book, Chris Kyle openly admits to shooting unarmed civilians.

Plus his unit has been documented to use the controversial “baiting” tactics, where the unit would leave bits of wire or an AK rifle then shoot anyone who tries to retrieve the bait.

Chris Kyle is basically a war criminal who fancies himself as a Christian crusader.

[UCrawford]

Read the book, Chris Kyle openly admits to shooting unarmed civilians.

If you’re referring to the civilians he claimed he shot in New Orleans, that was likely a lie…one of many that he told.

The baiting tactics were practiced by quite a few units…I blame commanders for that more than the troops, since they’re the ones who signed off on the practice.

[dannye]

The SuperDome is a lie, the carjacker story is a lie… but what I’m talking about is his own description of the RoE he followed in Iraq.

Page 79, he claims he shot every male he saw, regardless of what they were doing or if they were armed. That’s an obvious war crime.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

I don’t think such exists. Ron Paul got in hot water after his twitter intern danced on Kyle’s grave the day of his murder.

The military & police are one area where we should tread carefully to make sure that conservatives who have libertarian values in many areas don’t blow off the entire philosophy, not to mention that much of our core constituency is ex-military.

I like to begin by noting that only doing something heroic makes someone a hero, not wearing a particular uniform or taking an oath. Then I follow it up by asking them how confident they are that the young volunteers are in good hands under Obama/Clinton/whomever. It doesn’t take long to break through to most people this side of Rubin.

[UCrawford]

Why is Jesse Ventura a scumbag? Chris Kyle’s “autobiography” is basically one giant series of fabrications.

Unless you believe his uncorroborated story that the U.S. government sent him down to New Orleans to pick off black people engaged in looting from the top of the Superdome, and nobody ever noticed or reported *a white guy shooting black people from the top of the Superdome”. And unless you believe his story about the attempted carjacking, where he killed the carjackers, where no police department ever reported that call and no bodies ever showed up and he got out of an investigation by making a cell phone call to a super-secret number.

The dude was a pathological liar, and he lied about punching Jesse Ventura in a bar to sell his book. Why shouldn’t Ventura sue his estate? Frankly, it boggles my mind more that people accept Kyle’s unsubstantiated version of events so uncritically, even after a jury with all of the facts basically verified that he was a liar.

[UCrawford]

I should rephrase that to “Why is Jesse Ventura a scumbag for suing Chris Kyle’s estate?” He’s a scumbag for being a 9/11 “truther”.

[Juice]

That sniper dude was a complete piece of shit who deserved to die like he did.

[craiginmass]

Bad Headline.
Should read.

“Once again, another issue proves that Democrats are truer to Libertarianism than Republicans” and then go on to praise Obama and reference the Zogby polling which shows Dems WAY more sensible than every and any type of “conservative” or “republican” on yet another issue.

I thought – reading this headline – that “more republican want to” meant that MORE REPUBLICANS WANT TO THAN DON’T WANT TO.

Of course, that is untrue. They are all over the news and interweb screaming about cuddling up to dictators.

[Cytotoxic]

Failing to lift the Embargo during the time period when there was nothing to stop the Democrats from doing just that DEFINITELY proves their libertarian bona fides.

But wait wouldn’t we have outsourcing? Then we’d have to listen to more sob-stories about how the chinks/Cubans ruined your business.

[Chumby]

Craig ruined the business he father built.

[Riesen]

Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz announced his support for relaxing the ban on traveling to Cuba.

The statist piece of shit finally got something right. I’ve written to his office three times, and had calls with his staffer twice (about him wanting to gun down WH fence jumpers, and voting to expand the militarization of police). POS just won reelection, too…

[Cytotoxic]

Here’s something to warm the libertarian heart: it turns out that (Syria’s) war is good for something.

Security forces have refrained from destroying the industry of the hash growers who, already armed to the teeth, could be useful partners in keeping control of this tribal part of the country should the its instability become full-blown conflict.

The farmers too have grown in confidence: they have stockpiled AK47s, ammunition, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades and rallied around Mr Shamas, who has become the unofficial representative defending their trade.

“We are selling hashish, and if anyone from the government tries to come close to it, we’ll kill them,” said Mr Shamas, his heavily armed bodyguards standing beside the doors of two black SUV, their windows blacked out, the licence plates removed.

He’s not using an alias. Shamas’s photo is in the story about what an awesome drug lord he is, and he allowed the Telegraph to photograph his hashish factory and the 3 tons of hashish in it. Hashish prices have fallen from 1200 dollars to less than 400.

He also hands out money to people, like Hezbollah does, and stockpiles arms for his militia openly, like Hezbollah does. The Israel government might want to arrange a play date with this man.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…..juana.html

[Corning]

Pretty sure if some random dude started producing Hash to compete against Shama he would kill him.

Here is a crazy idea. Instead of trying to sift the sands of Syria for libertarians you start admitting US involvement in the middle east is a complete disaster.

[Cytotoxic]

I could admit to something that isn’t true…no wait that’s stupid. Nope. Gonna leave the stupid to you.

[Stormy Dragon]

Outsourced Terror

As former CIA officer Bob Baer explained in disturbing detail, “If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear?never to see them again?you send them to Egypt.”

[Bam!]

Damn those Jordanians, taking jobs away from hard working American sadists.

[db]

My greatest apprehension about normalizing relations with Cuba is that millions of Americans will flood their outstanding, world class free health care system and take advantage of the Cuban people’s tax money. Also, Cuban doctors will stand to lose out from all the U.S. doctors swooping in to take all their jobs.

[Riesen]

McDonald’s employee performs exorcism over the phone

[mgi64645]

Start working at home with Google! It’s by-far the best job I’ve had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this – 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go? to tech tab for work detail

———————- http://www.jobs700.com