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President Calls U.S. 'Less Racially Divided,' Sony Hack May Have Been an Inside Job, Harbaugh Rakes in College Football Big Bucks: P.M. Links

J.D. Tuccille | 12.30.2014 4:30 PM

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  • San Francisco 49ers

    Racial tensions may be in the news, says President Obama, but the U.S. is "less racially divided" than in the past. That might be even more true if politicians didn't excel at playing groups against each other.

  • The president threatens an active veto pen and a regulatory surge as his contributions to American politics in 2015.
  • In the Obama administration's nanny-ish food policies, the GOP sees a juicy political target.
  • Fatal shootings of police officers rose by 56 percent in 2014 compared to the previous year, claims the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Well, yes, but 2013 marked the lowest rate of such killings since the 19th century.
  • Cybersecurity experts say insiders, including a fired employee, may have engineered the great Sony hack of 2014.
  • Jim Harbaugh will reportedly make $48 million over six years by moving from the San Francisco 49ers to the University of Michigan. That makes him the highest paid college football coach ever. For the moment.
  • Searchers found bodies and debris from missing AirAsia Flight 8501 in the waters off Indonesia.

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NEXT: 4 Ways Neo-Victorianism Reared Its Ugly Head in 2014

J.D. Tuccille is a contributing editor at Reason.

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  1. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    The president threatens an active veto pen...

    Veto powers, activate! Form of A PEN!

    1. Rufus J. Firefly   11 years ago

      Hello.

    2. Bam!   11 years ago

      An active veto autopen. Wouldn't want to break up his golf game.

    3. Puddin' Stick   11 years ago

      A veto is a refusal to sign...

      1. Old Man With Candy   11 years ago

        "You vill sign ze papers, old man!"
        "I cannot sign ze papers!"
        "SIGN ZE PAPERS OLD MAN!"
        "I cannot sign ze papers."
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVLDJHMGcQ8

      2. Zeb   11 years ago

        Not always. I can't remember how it is for Federal legislation, but in NH where I live if the governor doesn't sign or veto a bill, it becomes law after a certain period of time. Basically she has to actively reject it to stop it becoming law.

        1. Puddin' Stick   11 years ago

          For the Federal government, the President returns the bill, unsigned to Congress, with a (required) written objection.

          If the President doesn't sign within 10 days (excluding Sundays) and Congress is in session, the bill does become law. If Congress adjourns before the 10 days (excluding Sundays) is up, the bill does not become law (this is the pocket veto).

  2. Protagoronus   11 years ago

    Sen. John McCain is doing his best to purge the Arizona Republican Party

    You know who else tried to purge his party?

    1. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

      It was the extra ellipsis that done me in.

      1. Protagoronus   11 years ago

        Bahahaha

        1. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

          Joke's on you, dummy. Tuccille got rid of the non-link completely.

          1. Protagoronus   11 years ago

            It lives on in the smiles of children, in the patter of rain on a tin roof, in the gurgle of McCain's colostomy bag...

  3. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Sen. John McCain is doing his best to purge the Arizona Republican Party...

    You know who else purged his party?

    1. fish   11 years ago

      SpongeBob?

    2. Ted S.   11 years ago

      Princess Diana binged her parties before purging them.

      1. Clich? Bandit   11 years ago

        In soviet Russia parties purge you.

    3. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

      Brian Holloway.

    4. Protagoronus   11 years ago

      Garth?

  4. Kaptious Kristen   11 years ago

    WTF happened to the non-linked McCain link?

    1. Gene   11 years ago

      It's been purged.

      1. MJGreen   11 years ago

        This is like that movie, The Purge 2.

        1. seguin   11 years ago

          No it isn't, because I wanted to see it.

  5. Iucundus   11 years ago

    D?nde est? el hyperlink de John McCain?

    On a more pressing note, I'm not sure if this is a gift or not since they all kinda look 12, but their cores are really nice.

    1. Warty   11 years ago

      I wonder how many orphans get bought by the Russian National Dance Whore Academy yearly. And what happens to the washouts?

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        I assume the washouts are in your basement, properly taken care of.

    2. Iucundus   11 years ago

      Are you trying to deflect attention?

    3. Lady Bertrum   11 years ago

      There's nothing sexier than 11 years olds shaking their thangs to some rapper pacing out, "bathroom, bathroom, bathroom, bathroom."

      1. Iucundus   11 years ago

        I've actually never understood people who thought professional dancers or gymnasts were sexy, but it is possible to appreciate the coordination and fluidity of motion. It seems like their bodies are chosen for technical reasons, kind of like coat hanger runway models.

        1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

          In other words, you like fatties?

        2. Puddin' Stick   11 years ago

          Flexibility?

        3. Scruffy Nerfherder   11 years ago

          I married a ballerina. Fit, flexible, and accomplished.

          That said, the twerk video was gross.

    4. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   11 years ago

      Looks like someone is horning in on HM's area of expertise (that linguistics stuff is just a cover).

    5. Old Man With Candy   11 years ago

      I am the Old Man With Candy and I approve of this message.

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        I assumed that you were the producer of the video.

        1. Old Man With Candy   11 years ago

          You know me all too well.

  6. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    ...but the U.S. is "less racially divided" than in the past.

    Hence the mid-term election results?

    1. MJGreen   11 years ago

      I'm guessing we have Obama to thank?

    2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      It may or may not be true, but there's no fucking way Obama gets credit. No fucking way.

  7. Ted S.   11 years ago

    Is there a link to the McCain story?

  8. fish   11 years ago

    Racial tensions may be in the news, says President Obama, but the U.S. is "less racially divided" than in the past. That might be even more true if politicians didn't excel at playing groups against each other.

    Grade A Moron!

    1. HeteroPatriarch   11 years ago

      He questions eating meat?

    2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

      When I grow up, I'm going to Bovine University.

      1. Frank Frankelson   11 years ago

        So a Big Ten school, then?

  9. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Cybersecurity experts say insiders, including a fired employee, may have engineered the great Sony hack of 2014.

    Re-hire that guy in your marketing department, Sony!

    1. Iucundus   11 years ago

      But this time try to have an actual release. I think they only made about a third of the budget back so far.

  10. Rich   11 years ago

    President Obama says Americans feel worse about race relations not because relations are worse, but because we're talking about them more.

    With all due respect, what does this even mean?

    1. Rich   11 years ago

      To expound, could it read "President Obama says Americans feel worse about X not because X is worse, but because we're talking about X more"?

      1. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   11 years ago

        "President Obama says Americans feel worse about X not because X is worse, but because we're talking about X more 'I got mine, Bitchez'"?

    2. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

      Nothing. He's a master of the empty statement. Like snatch-the-pebble-out-of-your-hand master. He's that good at it.

      I'd say that the politics of race have gotten far worse since he's taken office. So much for healing the wounds, huh? Guess we don't need President Warren to make everything right with our Indian population, after all.

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        It's great stuff. 8-(

        Wonder what ol' Eric "Nation of Cowards" Holder has to say about it.

        1. Root Boy   11 years ago

          He'd tell you about being stopped by the pigs one time and how racist it was. Also about how he's the worst treated AG in history.

      2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        Of course it has gotten worse. 2012 was all about identity politics and free shit.

        It's a pilar of their party.

    3. Bam!   11 years ago

      Ignorance is bliss.

    4. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

      IT MEANS HE GETS RESULTS YOU STUPID CHIEF!

      1. Rich   11 years ago

        Don't call me CHIEF, PAL!

        1. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

          You can't respond to a Simpsons quote with a South Park meme.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

            Yes, that's like crossing the streams.

  11. Protagoronus   11 years ago

    the GOP sees a juicy political target.

    Which is healthier than a juicy steak... Michelle is playing 3-D chess.

  12. Irish   11 years ago

    Has anyone noticed that the countries which have rebounded the best since the economic crisis are the ones which have done the opposite of what Krugman wanted, i.e. allow spending to decline as a percentage of GDP?

    US spending as a percentage of GDP is back down to 20% from a peak of 24%, Ireland and the Baltic states all heavily cut spending, and all of those countries have rebounded very well compared to the rest of mainland Europe.

    Ireland and Estonia are basically the two fastest growing economies in Europe now. Estonia actually has the lowest debt in Europe.

    Estonia's unemployment is still 8.3%, but that's almost exactly what Sweden's unemployment is and Estonia's unemployment maxed out at 19% following the economic crisis. It's interesting that Estonia's unemployment rate has dropped by more than half while all of those debt riddle southern European countries have had no recovery to speak of.

    1. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

      Didn't Ireland raise a bunch of taxes?

      1. Irish   11 years ago

        Yeah. They went hardcore on austerity in order to get their deficit down and that included tax increases.

        Not a perfect policy from my point of view, but Krugman spent years claiming their policies would beggar them from now til Judgment Day and Ireland now has a GDP growth rate of 5%.

        1. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

          What do you make of this chart which seems to say that Ireland's government spending as % of GDP is 48.1%???

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.....age_of_GDP

          1. Irish   11 years ago

            I'd say that's irrelevant to the point that they've had large spending cuts, which is the issue under discussion.

            The question is pretty simple. Krugman's argument is that massive spending increases are necessary in order to restart the economy. His argument is that this is true regardless of what the current fiscal situation of a country is.

            I'm not saying I approve of Irish profligacy, and that's actually why they ended up in the bad position of having a huge debt spike following the economic decline. I'm just saying that their post crisis policies are as close to austerity as anyone in Europe and it has worked.

            1. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

              Irrelevant? They cut from having a hugely profligate starting point. It's like when the store with higher than usual prices announces the big 5% off sale.

              1. MJGreen   11 years ago

                Right, so how is it relevant, Bo? The Keynesian argument is that spending needs to increase to put idle resources to work, and cutting spending will only worsen the shortage in demand. What was Ireland's spending by GDP in 2007?

        2. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

          Ireland has come the closest in Western Europe to real austerity. They have kept spending steady. They are tax raises but also some sensible fees like water charges.

    2. Carl ?s the level   11 years ago

      Tyler Cowen did, though of course that's not how he put it, since he's nice to Krugman (to be fair, he's nice to pretty much everybody -- though there was that one Gawker piece about Nozick that he refused to link to, which is kind of a big deal for Cowen).

    3. Cytotoxic   11 years ago

      It should be noted that Keynes is being piece-meal abandoned the world over by governments from India to Brazil. It's all over.

    4. Harun   11 years ago

      US unemployment would be around 10% if we used the old standard.

      Also, we moved a bunch of people to SSDI.

      Europe does that too

  13. GILMORE   11 years ago

    Fox News 'reporter*' declares "Hipster Boom" in Brooklyn may be over, because, uh, like, its a story, OK? So don't be so serious. Also, that bar has free pizza, which is nice.

    *She has a microphone, which is an important start.

  14. GILMORE   11 years ago

    A bit old, but =

    Internet Expert on Everything Debunks "Libertarianism" in one fell swoop with shitty analogy about 'menus' and how you have passively accepted a social contract and shit by being born and that property rights are arbitrary and also he's good at Math, so you're stupid.

    *This is a open call for a rebuttal vid by Derptologist.

    1. Protagoronus   11 years ago

      Ah, so when I order something at a restaurant, I am paying for everything on the menu. It is so clear.

      1. GILMORE   11 years ago

        You are paying for the ability to have the option for everything.

        He later clarifies that the math involved in "Buffets" is very complex, and therefore must be glossed over.

        1. Protagoronus   11 years ago

          Whenever anyone utters "it is very complex," I immediately feel the need to grill them until they explain it all in a manner that shows they understand all of the complexity or until they admit they do not know what they are talking about (or get angry and storm off).

          1. GILMORE   11 years ago

            To be fair = i believe the guy is a mathematician by trade, and is pretty sharp on a variety of issues.

            but that his political philosophy reasoning-as-derived from his 'math' is pretty fucking retarded.

            I find there to be a certain segment of the population who only consider the most 'extreme and absolute, reductio ad absurdum' examples of any theory in order to consider it valid-or-not.

            In the case of 'property rights', he's particularly hung up on the idea of 'when did they start'?

            1. Protagoronus   11 years ago

              When asking "When did they start?" he seems convinced that everything was stolen at some point which is the typical socialist zero-sum view of the world and ignores value creation.

              Saying that someone got swindled many generations ago for the plot of land where the Chrysler building stands does not mean there are some descendants somewhere entitled to said building.

          2. DK   11 years ago

            Feynman on teaching:

            Feynman said, "I'll prepare a freshman lecture on it." But he came back a few days later to say, "I couldn't do it. I couldn't reduce it to the freshman level. That means we don't really understand it."

        2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

          "He later clarifies that the math involved in "Buffets" is very complex"

          What? I always come out ahead. Always. Go for the Chilean Sea Bass, Prime Rib, and Crab Legs.
          Fuck the pasta station.

          Words to live by.

          1. GILMORE   11 years ago

            I have a photo around here somewhere (can't find) of my "Las Vegas All-You-Can-Eat Breakfast"

            my buddy got married out there (in former Elvis penthouse suite @ the Hilton - great party) and the next morning I ate about 5lbs of king-crab crab legs with 2 gallons of weak mimosas. I was specifically trying to find out how much $-value i could extract from the buffet.

            Surprisingly it all stayed down

            1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

              I keep a running tally in my head. I came out at least 400% ahead at the Bellagio Buffet.

              And no, I didn't keep it all down.

              1. Tman   11 years ago

                God that Bellagio buffet.

                WHY DID I EAT ALL THAT SUSHI???????

                1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

                  YOU KNOW WHY

        3. The Laconic   11 years ago

          So the argument for government is based on some very complex math that didn't exist until recently?

          Thank goodness the state is on some solid theoretical footing at last.

        4. Invisible Finger   11 years ago

          You are paying for the ability to have the option for everything.

          Sounds like a socialist menu.

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder   11 years ago

            The socialist menu has 3 choices on it, unless you're a party apparatchik, in which case, please proceed to the back of the restaurant where the upgraded facilities and extended menu choices are.

    2. Warty   11 years ago

      I always pictured Tulpa as much fatter.

      1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

        I have a question for you. Will Cleveland be drafting a QB in 2015?

        1. Warty   11 years ago

          I sure hope not. Manziel has shown enough that they need to commit to him for a minimum of 5 years. If they're willing to work for it, they can make history by giving us an entire season without a first down.

          Real answer: yes.

          1. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

            "Manziel has shown enough "

            In his game and a half?

            1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

              Here's my follow-up question: How long before Manziel gets arrested for some sort of criminal orgy?

              1. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

                Arrested or convicted?

                1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                  Well, let's not get crazy. He is a rich kid who is also a professional athlete. I mean, any deaths during the criminal orgy will almost certainly be proven to have been accidental.

                  1. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

                    I would think any crimes by him would be limited to attempts, since he clearly can't complete anything.

                    1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                      What Cleveland should do is give Tampa all of its draft picks for Mike Evans. Then poor Johnny can throw the ball up for grabs again like he used to.

                    2. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

                      Is it me or have Heisman QB picks been hit or miss recently in terms of NFL success, but highly touted receivers seem to have immediate impacts? And yet, they keep giving the Heisman to QB's and not receivers.

                      Top men I guess.

                    3. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                      The Heisman is kind of a joke when it comes to being an award to the top player. It's the top QB most of the time, with RBs tossed in occasionally.

                      Actually, it's often a joke even for QB.

                      As far as receivers go, is there any question that Manziel benefited more from Evans than the other way around?

                    4. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

                      I think it's because it's harder to predict QB talent than it is WR talent. If you're big and fast and have half a brain, you can succeed at WR. You need to be some combination of big, fast, strong arm, full brain, "intangibles", etc. to succeed at QB in the NFL.

                    5. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                      There's a much bigger leap for a QB to make to the pro level, even if he played in a pro-set system.

                    6. Old Man With Candy   11 years ago

                      Bingo. MUCH bigger difference between college and pro QB play than college and pro receiving. Aside, of course, from the ability to be able to see over the lineman (the Flutie Fault).

                    7. DK   11 years ago

                      Is it me or have Heisman QB picks been hit or miss recently in terms of NFL success ...

                      The only great one would be Roger Staubach in 1963. Marginal to decent ones are still very few - Jim Plunkett, Doug Flutie, Vinny Testaverde, Carson Palmer, and Cam Newton.

                    8. Mickey Rat   11 years ago

                      Part of the problem is that the top colleges are playing an offensive style that does not translate well to the NFL game, because the average NFL defender is that much faster than his average Division I counterpart. Also, I believe a Roger Staubach has been more of an anomaly historically. Heismans do not translate to NFL success, at least not for the QB position.

                    9. BiMonSciFiCon   11 years ago

                      I would think any crimes by him would be limited to attempts, since he clearly can't complete anything.

                      Nice.

          2. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

            Good. Send your offensive line to Tampa, and you can have their first pick. No, no, no, no need to send us any QBs, we'll find one somewhere else.

            1. Warty   11 years ago

              I'll trade you Gerald McCoy for Nick McDonald.

              1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                Yeah, that was great. I have like seven highlights from the entire team for the entire season. That's one of them. At least the defense improved.

          3. Clich? Bandit   11 years ago

            I would say Warty's tears are delicious but I believe they are poisonous and I therefore refuse to taste them.

            1. Warty   11 years ago

              Tears? Like I said when they drafted him, either he was going to be good, or I get to watch a gigantic asshole fail miserably. Either way I was going to be ecstatic. Come on, an NFL team making a grown man watch the game from the locker room? You can't make up comedy like that.

              1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                If anything, he's underperformed more off the field than on it. I really expected him to disappear into the Playboy mansion or something like that. Kind of sad. He had such potential, at an almost Charlie Sheen level.

            2. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

              No, I'm confident that Warty never expected much from Manziel. It was a gamble that likely failed (though maybe he could get better down the road). Now the question is, what next? In all seriousness, I suspect they'll get rid of Hoyer and find the best free agent QB they can.

              1. Warty   11 years ago

                Rumor has it Kirk Cousins is in town. Le sigh.

                1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                  BEST free agent QB they can, is what I said.

                2. Clich? Bandit   11 years ago

                  Warty's tears are not for Johnny Douchebag but for the Browns...and letting him down...one last time...

                  Anyway, I am going to take my manning and sit out a week then com back and kick some Cincinnati (maybe) ass.

                  1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                    Cleveland can no more participate in the Super Bowl than the Cubs can the World Series. It's like in the Bible or something.

                  2. Warty   11 years ago

                    The Browns are incapable of letting me down. When they were 6-3 and had just destroyed the Bungles, I fully expected a 6-10 finish.

                    1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                      It must've been like being on LSD when they were in the AFC Championship game. Which they went to several times before they moved to Baltimore.

                    2. mauricegirodias   11 years ago

                      After they moved to Baltimore, too.

                      /Ravens.

          4. Old Man With Candy   11 years ago

            Brian Billick was particularly cruel about him in his interview on ESPN Radio.

            Then again, he's the one who committed to Elvis Grback and Kyle Boller, so...

    3. The Laconic   11 years ago

      I'm not going to watch it.

      But I'm going to take a stab and guess that (1) he doesn't have any new argument here, and that (2) the argument he presents has been throughly dissected and demolished by Michael Huemer (among others).

      The good old social contract, which you can't opt in or out of, has no actual terms written down anywhere, which the other party has no obligation to respect, and which can't be enforced on the other party. You know, just like a normal contract.

      1. JEP   11 years ago

        Usually, trying to convince someone that the social contract doesn't exist is a dead end. I instead try to point out that the application of that idea is open to mis-use - there are absolutely no limitations. It's like if you bought an iPod, and then Apple decided to raise the price on all previous purchases, post-transaction. If they were allowed to do that, no one would buy from Apple.

        It's also fun to throw in the term "debt to society" since it's associated with serving a prison sentence, and underlines the idea of being held in slavery for the "greater good."

        Reardon really said it best (paraphrasing), As soon as your "greater good" requires victims, count me out.

  15. Ted S.   11 years ago

    Detroit Free Press on Harbaugh's move to Michigan

    1. GILMORE   11 years ago

      No comment on how Michigan taxpayers are financing the nation's most expensive Football coach while denizens of Detroit Can't Afford to Pay for Water... despite there being a rather large lake nearby?

      1. The Last American Hero   11 years ago

        Money is fungible, but my understanding is that a wealthy booster said he'd pay for Harbaugh.

      2. AlmightyJB   11 years ago

        They're not. Football program more than pays for itself.

  16. GILMORE   11 years ago

    Obama's DoE finally convinces Harvard to Stop Resisting and implement required draconian Sexual Assault policies which Law Professors thought was " "overwhelmingly stacked against the accused" and "starkly one-sided.""

    *Exactly!*

  17. Fluffy   11 years ago

    Just in case anyone didn't already know, the Pirate Bay is back up with .cr as the domain extension.

    I am putting this out there even though I am a supporter of intellectual property rights, because shutting down the Pirate Bay even though they CLEARLY are running a safe harbor operation is BS.

  18. GILMORE   11 years ago

    FILE UNDER: "You Can't Believe This Story Wasn't Made Up By Progressive Liberals To Feed Their Beliefs about Crazy Redneck America and Their Guns"

    Mother Shot and Killed at WalMart By Her Own Toddler

    It just had to be Walmart, right?

    1. Bo Cara Esq.   11 years ago

      Wow, yeah, we'll be hearing a bit about that one.

    2. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

      Ye gods. That kid is going to need some serious counseling later in life.

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   11 years ago

        Hopefully, he'll never know.

    3. Andrew S.   11 years ago

      Yeah, I thought that one was made up when I saw it posted on my Facebook feed.

      How the hell did a 2 year old put enough force on the trigger to shoot the gun?

      1. Root Boy   11 years ago

        Mom should have carried condition 3 like the Israeli's do.

      2. Doghouse Riley Jr.   11 years ago

        The really terrible twos?

        1. Old Man With Candy   11 years ago

          Winner.

      3. AlmightyJB   11 years ago

        Some two years olds are pretty big.

        1. AlmightyJB   11 years ago

          The mountain dew probably doesn't help.

    4. MJGreen   11 years ago

      Terrible. And a reminder to stay off Facebook for a few days.

  19. Mike M.   11 years ago

    Racial tensions may be in the news, says President Obama, but the U.S. is "less racially divided" than in the past.

    By "the past", he must be talking about slavery or the age of legal segregation. He certainly can't be talking about right before he came into office, because that would be absolutely laughable. Even Gillespie wouldn't still try to make such a preposterous claim at this point.

    1. Root Boy   11 years ago

      I'm sure NPR hit him with some hard questions and facts as well, like how blacks are further behind financially since he came into office, while GS and GE are doing fine.

    2. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      It's referred to in politics as "the big lie." Of course it's laughable.

  20. Root Boy   11 years ago

    Lefty billionaire tries to save SF from itself. Note that he gives a lot of money to a Childrens Hospital -- not that SF has any kids, too fucking expensive to live there and have a brood.

    Marc Benioff is more pure than those other tech billionaires

  21. GILMORE   11 years ago

    Taliban Learn Lesson From George W. Bush =

    Declare, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, BITCH as Obama calls Afghan combat mission 'over*'.

    He should have pre-empted them and just openly said, "Fuck this dirtpile. You can have it back: we've wasted too much money on it already" Did Gerald Ford make a big deal about 'ending' Vietnam? Or did he just sweep it under the rug and move on? Call me cynical but i assumed that's what Obama was aiming for by having his little Afghan speech over the holidays.

    *it is also noted = Obama announced new, 2 year mission called, "Resolute Support" which is apparently not 'combat' but still involves trying to pretend Afghan shithole not imploding by keeping 13,000 troops at risk.

    1. mr lizard   11 years ago

      Whether you die in a war, a police action, an expedition, or defending your homeland you're still the same thing to us....dinner

    2. GILMORE   11 years ago

      re: keeping 13-15k troops in afghanistan

      is anyone surprised that the media doesn't really spend any time focusing on the actual "Afghan policy" of the last 6-7 years, which multiplied troop committments by 500% in effort to achieve.... what?

      My point - the troops he's now "keeping" in afghanistan (plus contractors) is likely little different than the numbers we had there in 2008 that he deemed woefully insufficient for the 'task' (whatever that was)

      I don't think i've seen a single story in the press actually doing any kind of 'accounting' for the Obama-phase of the Afghan war, looking at the costs and assumed benefits in any way.

      We're supposed to think that he's been a far more sparing and careful 'war leader' despite throwing nearly 100,000 troops into a dead-end fight with zero actual strategic purpose

      *for the critics of Iraq policy, something they usually fail to realize in their condemnation of "blood for oil" is that oil actually matters whereas i can't think of a single fucking thing in Afghanistan that compares.

      1. Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)   11 years ago

        The 13K is actually a little more than the lowest before the Obama surge.

  22. Caleb Turberville   11 years ago

    I'd be interested in learning what style of offense Harbaugh plans to implement at Michigan.

    At Stanford, he ran a fairly balanced, pro-style attack. Did the same thing with the 49ers until Kaepernick got the starting job, then he moved to the spread/option style.

    1. mr lizard   11 years ago

      Run it 2 times up the middle, and then tell the guys to get open.

      That's Michigan football

      1. Beautiful Bean Footage   11 years ago

        As LSU fan has had the privilege and pleasure of finding out over the last decade...

    2. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

      I bet he goes pro-set.

    3. The Last American Hero   11 years ago

      After watching Carroll kick his ass up and down the field the last two years, I bet he goes pro-style and watches Meyer and Dantonio kick his ass up and down the field for the next two years.

      1. Acosmist   11 years ago

        Carroll gets to cheat. The NFL pretended to actually enforce illegal contact for a few games, but then reverted to "Seattle gets to do whatever because ???"

    4. Robert   11 years ago

      I'd like to install the sidesaddle T for him.

  23. Mike M.   11 years ago

    Oh man, I love this lefty talking point du jour I see all over the place today about how much spending as a share of GDP has gone down over the last few years, as though Obama and Reid are primarily responsible for that. Note that many of these same people railed against the paltry sequestration.

    If there's one thing primarily responsible for spending holding fairly steady, it's that the American people had the good sense to quickly give the House back to the pubbies and cause total budgetary gridlock after such wonderful things as the Crapulus. One can only imagine how much higher spending would probably be right now if we had been foolish enough to allows the dems to keep total control of everything for six full years.

    1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

      Saw the same thing under Clinton. Stopping what might have happened did more for the economy than anything he did. Though, to be fair, he was at least willing to shift to the right to stay politically relevant. Unlike Obama.

  24. The Last American Hero   11 years ago

    What's with Mr. Post-Partisan President threatening vetoes?

  25. Invisible Finger   11 years ago

    Racial tensions may be in the news, says President Obama, but the U.S. is "less racially divided" than in the past.

    So now this jerkoff is taking credit for the passing of time.

    1. PapayaSF   11 years ago

      Well, how much else has he got?

      It's still a ridiculous statement. Seen on Twitter: "My favorite part of the Obama era is all the racial healing."

    2. AlmightyJB   11 years ago

      Plus more people are going to heaven since he took office.

  26. Mickey Rat   11 years ago

    I found this piece of ridiculousless posted to my Facebook today:

    http://www.upworthy.com/a-dron.....ing?c=tkp1

    "This is no farm. It's a factory built for efficiency."

    The horror of efficiency!

    "As the drone comes over the trees, it comes across a lake."

    But that's no lake at all.

    It's an open sewage lagoon filled with pig feces and urine."

    Yeah, that's because it is not a lake, it is holding pond.

    "When the pigs poop and pee, it falls through slats in the floor and gets flushed out into the "lake."

    And it gets worse.

    The operators of the factory farm have to clean out the cesspool when it gets too full. How do they do it?

    They spray pig waste over the fields around the farm..."

    Apparently, organic fertilizer is now a bad thing.

    1. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

      Well it is when, as the article notes, they're spraying all over the houses of people who didn't agree to having pig shit sprayed all over their property.

      1. Mickey Rat   11 years ago

        That is a legitimate gripe, but the writer seems to think one should be horrified by the idea of spraying pig waste on the fields at all.

      2. GILMORE   11 years ago

        Maybe living next to a pig farm isn't the wisest of real-estate choices if 'aerosol shit' isn't your thing.

        Have you ever driven past these things? The air quality is decidedly musky

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder   11 years ago

          Back in the 80s my father's company provided rental pumps to those farms to transfer pig air to the holding ponds from the houses. The smell would penetrate the aluminum castings. I hated that particular delivery run.

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder   11 years ago

            Air? FuckING Autocorrect.

            Shit is what I meant.

    2. GILMORE   11 years ago

      "Upworthy" is the Millenial Peak Retard Machine

      Its entire purpose is to pretend everything has been recently discovered by progressives and HOLY SHIT ITS FULL OF RACIST/CLASSIST/SEXUST/ABLEIST PROBLEMS!?

      Its basically like "self-pooping-diapers" for so-called adults.

      If you don't know what to be having a moral-panic-attack about, you are supposed to go there. every single headline is, "Here's Why X is Like a Huge Fucking Deal to Pearl-Clutch About So You Can Get a Quick Dose of 'Morally Superior'"

      That way, people who don't know WTF a pig farm is or how they're run or what a holding pond is because they've never so much as driven outside the suburbs can imagine they've discovered something insanely vile and corporate-y.

      Add racism and a dash of 'sciencey-academia' for flavor - serves millions.

      e.g.
      ""It can, I think very correctly, be called 'environmental racism' or 'environmental injustice' that low-income people, people of color, bear the brunt of these practices."
      ? Steve Wing, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology, University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health"

    3. Scruffy Nerfherder   11 years ago

      No shit. This is news? Those pig houses have been around for decades.

      I cannot begin to explain the smell they acquire in July.

  27. Stormy Dragon   11 years ago

    Jim Harbaugh will reportedly make $48 million over six years by moving from the San Francisco 49ers to the University of Michigan. That makes him the highest paid college football coach ever. For the moment.

    But lord don't anyone suggest paying the players, because that would make it look like college football is all about money.

  28. userve32   11 years ago

    So why didnt I ever think of that? Wow.

    http://www.Way-Anon.tk

  29. Robert   11 years ago

    On the subject of Obama food policy, did we ever get clarif'n on what Michelle meant by, "How can you enjoy vegetables if you never eat any chocolate?"

  30. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

    For parties? Can he sing?

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