French Hostage Crisis Comes to a Bloody End, Boko Haram Kills 2,000, 150-Vehicle Accident on Michigan Highway: P.M. Links

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  French police killed the two Islamic gunmen suspected of carrying out the Charlie Hebdo attack. A related situation, the hostage crisis at a kosher supermarket, also ended during a simultaneous police raid. The three presumed terrorists are dead, as are several hostages, according to the latest reports.

• Have you watched Bill Maher's response to Charlie Hebdo yet?
• Nigerian militant group Boko Haram slaughtered 2,000 civilians.
• Michigan's winter weather caused a 150-car pile-up on the I-94 expressway. One person was killed.
• The musician Sia has apologized for her latest music video, which was deemed offensive by people who can't appreciate good art.
• A Florida man wearing a shirt that read, "seriously, I have drugs," was arrested by police for drug possession. It looks like he did really have drugs.
• Michael Sam is getting hitched.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Have you watched Bill Maher's response to Charlie Hebdo yet?

Considering how much he hates religion, I can only imagine.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Is it worth clicking on Maher?

[trshmnster the terrible]

Hola!

[BigT]

He [Maher] praised the murdered editors, writers, and cartoonists of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for their bravery in lampooning Muslims in the face of death threats and even the November 2011 firebombing of their offices. "These guys had the balls of the Eiffel Tower. Their balls were bigger than Gerard Depardieu," Maher said.

Politically correct liberals have turned America into "Pussy Nation."
By contrast, he said in a line that was partially bleeped during the broadcast, the politically correct liberals of the United States, especially those who've been arguing for sensitivity to delicate Muslim sensibilities, had turned America into "Pussy Nation."

When Kimmel warned that Maher was turning on his fellow liberals, Maher corrected, "No. I'm asking them to turn toward the truth. I'm the liberal in this debate. I'm for free speech. To be a liberal, you have to stand up for liberal principles. It's not my fault that the part of the world that is most against liberal principles is the Muslim part of the world."

[BigT]

Maher cited an unidentified "study" of 130 countries in which 17 majority Muslim countries ranked in the bottom 20 regarding the treatment of women. "In 10 Muslim countries, you can get the death penalty just for being gay. They chop heads off in the square in Mecca. Well, Mecca is their Vatican City. If they were chopping heads off gay people in Vatican City, wouldn't there be a bigger outcry among liberals?"

When the show resumed after a commercial break, Maher's bile had not run out, and he spent the next several minutes venting at Bill Cosby. Not only had the iconic comedian sexually assaulted many, many women, Maher argued, "I never thought he was funny." He added: "People say he deserves his day in court? Do we have enough time?"

Maher drew a contrast between the embattled Cosby, who has so far been accused by some 30 alleged victims, to such high-profile alleged offenders as Woody Allen, "who had one accuser," and the late Michael Jackson, "who had two or three accusers," young boys who said he fondled them.

Recounting a childhood incident on the school playground, where one bully held him down while another socked him repeatedly in the face, Maher said that given the choice between that and "being jerked off by a pop star"?another bleeped phrase?he'd take the latter.

Those two guys deserve an award.

[PapayaSF]

I think Maher goes off the rails re Michael Jackson, but the comments on Islam are dead on. The Vatican City analogy is perfect.

[Zeb]

I thought the line about the choice between being jerked off by a pop star and getting punched in the face was pretty good, from a comedy perspective, at least.

[Irish]

I love when people desperately try to equivocate regarding Islam's notorious problem with women.

This is an actual quote from an Atlantic article I was reading:

"Why are so many misogynist Arab practices as or more common in the non-Arab societies of sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia? After all, nearly every society in history has struggled with sexism, and maybe still is. Just in the U.S., for example, women could not vote until 1920; even today, their access to basic reproductive health care is backsliding. We don't think about this as an issue of American men, white men, or Christian men innately and irreducibly hating women. Why, then, should we be so ready to believe it about Arab Muslims?"

You see, when Americans don't allow women to force their employers to give them free birth control, that's a lot like when a girl in Saudi Arabia is raped and then stoned to death for failing to remain a virgin.

So really, who are we to judge?

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, I'm thinking the whole First-World Problems = Third-World Horrors is getting a little old.

[Cytotoxic]

Not hating Maher is like losing a centre of gravity. No reference point.

[Rhywun]

Does he say this stuff on his own show? Can't imagine his audience of chimps hooting and hollering at that. More like awkward silence.

[Irish]

He does, all the time. He gets a very mixed response, though I have to say I do respect his willingness to say these things knowing that a large portion of his audience will vehemently disagree.

[Zeb]

I have to give Maher some respect. He does seem to be willing to say what he thinks. Obviously I disagree with him about a lot of things. But I disagree with a lot of people that I like about a lot of things.

That said, I haven't seen much of him in years. I might hate him more now if I saw his show or something.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The musician Sia has apologized for her latest music video, which was deemed offensive by people who can't appreciate good art.

Or Shia Lebeouf.

[Drake]

Good artists don't apologize.

[LynchPin1477]

Shia Lebeouf is about the only thing I can find that is offensive about that video. Granted, that is pretty bad.

[Cytotoxic]

SLB was damn good in Fury.

[Crusty Juggler]

Shia was the best part of two Transformers movies. "More Shia," that is what I always say.

[Cytotoxic]

This is one of the worst things I have ever read. And I read some of Richman's column from two days ago.

[waffles]

It takes a talented director like Michael Bay to bring out the best in top-tier actors like Shia for sure.

[Crusty Juggler]

So true waffles, so true.

[Mock-star]

I liked "Holes".

Thus concludes my list of Shia Lebeouf movies that I liked.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Nigerian militant group Boko Haram slaughtered 2,000 civilians.

That seems like a lot, even by the Dark Continent's standards.

[Injun, as in from India]

They were not 2000 school girls.

So no Michelle Obama frowny face for you!

[Slammer]

The U.N. is going to be really pissed.

[Cytotoxic]

Where the fuck is Nigeria's military? If they won't fight just hire some PMCs.

[Zeb]

I have to agree with you here. This is a situation where a violent response (by the government or people of Nigeria) is quite warranted. Seems like a war at this point.

[Cytotoxic]

"Seems"?

[PapayaSF]

I am wary of the "2,000" number. This is an early report, and they're often wrong. I suspect the real number is much lower.

Not that I don't want every member of Boko Haram dead, of course.

[Irish]

They literally burned a city down. I don't think 2000 is impossible. If you wade into a city with hundreds of guys with guns, they can kill 2000 people in short order.

[CE]

Only if the citizens of the city are unarmed.

[PapayaSF]

I didn't say it was impossible, just that the number seemed questionable (in part because it's suspiciously even). It just reminds me of all the people trapped on the mountain by ISIS a few months back: initial reports said it was thousands (IIRC), but later reports were that it was many fewer.

[Rod Flash]

I didn't get the opinion that they were giving a precise death count. I think it was like "up to 2000" or "as many as 2000". I don't think a literal reading is required here, although I guess they could have said "a shitload".

[Injun, as in from India]

French police killed the two Islamic gunmen suspected of carrying out the Charlie Hebdo attack. A related situation, the hostage crisis at a kosher supermarket, also ended during a simultaneous police raid. The three presumed terrorists are dead, as are several hostages, according to the latest reports.

Repeat after me.

Religion of Peace.
Religion of Peace.
Religion of Peace.

[Drake]

Don't forget:

Workplace violence

Lone wolves

Isolated incidents

Not what Islam is about...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Also they're disenfranchised and are fighting all occupiers.

And truth and justice for all.

[Lady Bertrum]

According to Christiane Amanpour they were "activists".

[Redmanfms]

Collectivist!!!!

Go to a mosque!

I have Muslim friends who aren't shitheads, therefore your criticism of the religion is invalid!

/Bo-Bo and Ken

[BigT]

MuhamMAD might get someone in trouble.

[Injun, as in from India]

+1 Satanic Verse

[Fist of Etiquette]

A Florida man wearing a shirt that read, "seriously, I have drugs," was arrested by police for drug possession.

This is why superheroes like Florida Man should never reveal their true identity.

[Jordan]

A Florida man wearing a shirt that read, "seriously, I have drugs," was arrested by police for drug possession. It looks like he did really have drugs.

Guess we can cross the "hide in plain sight" strategy off the list.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

'A Florida man wearing a shirt that read, "seriously, I have drugs," was arrested by police for drug possession. It looks like he did really have drugs.'

Florida Man?

Someone had to ask.

[JEP]

If Ayn Rand wrote Harry Potter...
http://the-toast.net/2014/05/2.....ers-stone/

The best part is a lot of the comments are along the lines of "I'd much rather read this than the actual books"

[Cytotoxic]

That was amazing.

[JEP]

My favorite was the last line...

Hermione ached with desire for the both of them to master her, but nobody paid her any attention. They had empires to build.

[db]

The final line is outstanding.

[John Titor]

Apparently, this is only Part 1. I demand more.

[JEP]

I think the entire series should be written this way. We could crowd source it like the LOLCat Bible.

[AlmightyJB]

That was funny:)

[Rhywun]

"This information is neither useful nor productive."

LMAO

[Cytotoxic]

Thing is he's right. That mirror just shows you stuff it is not helpful at all really.

[LynchPin1477]

Thought's on last night's Archer premiere? I thought it was underwhelming, but we'll see what the rest of the seasons brings.

[JEP]

Archer was by himself, Krieger only made a cameo, no one made fun of Cyril, Lana's a mother...at had some moments, but yeah, I was underwhelmed.

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

I thought, better than most of last season.

[LynchPin1477]

I liked last season. I don't get the hate for it. But it was gimmicky. This is the 6th season. May be time to wrap it up.

[JEP]

Last season was worth it if only for hot, cocaine addict Pam.

[LynchPin1477]

I wish they would release an "unrated" version. There are some damn hot cartoon women on that show.

[The Laconic]

You know, you can draw your own cartoon boobs if you really need to.

[LynchPin1477]

Doesn't usually come out so well

[JEP]

Boobs, tentacles...anything, really.

[SweatingGin]

Lynchpin in his natural habitat.

[KDN]

Archer tends to get better as the season goes along and all of the running gags begin to hit home. I'm not worried.

[Sevo]

"Have you watched Bill Maher's response to Charlie Hebdo yet?"

I have now. Props.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Egypt's Al-Sissi's powerful speech calling out Muslims. MSM ignores it.

http://www.americanthinker.com.....e_msm.html

I'm guessing Obama is not fond of this guy for ousting Morsi.

[Cytotoxic]

If only Sissi wasn't so damn evil.

[Cytotoxic]

Good news for freedom-Sri Lanka just had a presidential election upset. The authoritarian incumbent lost to a challenger pledging to weaken the presidency a lot and make Sri Lanka a parliamentary system within 100 days of coming into office. He also says he will only serve one term. Some say China has lost its ally in SL.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/al.....democracy/

I hope he constitutionally limits presidents to a single 5-year term, but I don't think that's on his program.

[trshmnster the terrible]

I... I don't know how to respond when liberty has actual potential to grow. It has put a little smile on my face to see that liberty isn't losing in 100% of the world.

[Cytotoxic]

It's growing in a lot of places I think. Just not so much in the richest places.

[Drake]

Good - hopefully now they can put the whole ugly civil war behind them. A country with a ton of potential if they can get their act together.

[Injun, as in from India]

Rajapakse was dangerous. IMHO he was behind the killing of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge

[Cytotoxic]

Rajapska was like the Fijimori of SL. Saved the country, brought peace, and then started becoming dangerous. He had to go.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Good for Sri Lanka. Here's hoping for their success.

[PapayaSF]

Sri Lanka: It's not known enough, but their civil war was, in large part, started by a system of racial preferences in education.

[John]

Contrast this

Nigerian militant group Boko Haram slaughtered 2,000 civilians.

with this

Christian militias ethnically cleansing Central African Republic of Muslims
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/.....88288.html

This is not to say what is going on in either place is right or justified. Regardless of how right or wrong it is, one inevitably leads to the other. If living with Muslims comes to mean living with terror, people will stop living with Muslims.

[Warty]

I am immediately suspicious of the lack of numbers in the second headline.

[John]

True. But it is Central Africa. It is not like it would be a shock if it were true.

[Cytotoxic]

The anti-Balaka militants of CAR have been slaughtering a lot of innocent people.

Living with Muslims can be fine ex Albania. Living with Arabs or those influenced by them is a problem.

[GILMORE]

Breaking News =

CRAZY MOTHERFUCKERS IN AFRICA KILLING EACH OTHER LIKE ITS GOING OUT OF STYLE

"It seems to have started at some point in the last few hundred years, and never slowed down", note experts

[John]

Africa has always been the trend setter in systematic ethnic violence.

[wadair]

I call it tribalism, and the Middle East and Africa are two places where tribalism remains dominant.

[Rhywun]

My eyes glaze over at stories like these. I get it - awful things are happening there, but I just can't summon the willpower to care. Might as well be another planet.

[Tejicano]

Yeah, I read these stories and feel for the innocents who

[Tejicano]

...get caught in the crossfire. ...but not enough to want to put on a uniform to do something about it, not enough to want some other American to put on a uniform to do something about it, and not even enough to send some tax money in that direction.

[Injun, as in from India]

Burn this b**** down!

Challenge to Obamacare's IPAB could get Supreme Court hearing

[Warty]

She added: "I apologize to those who feel triggered by #ElasticHeart My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody."

Historians will someday identify 2014 as the year that everyone became a gigantic mewling cunt.

[trshmnster the terrible]

It's the hash tag that puts it over the edge.

[Ted S.]

My intention was to create some emotional content, not to upset anybody."

Uh, honey, upset is an emotion.

[Tonio]

Ted, you monster. Her intentions were pure, don't you see? That's all that matters.

[Ted S.]

I'm suggesting she succeeded in creating some emotional content. She has nothing to apologize for.

[Warty]

Yes she does. She should have immediately told these offended cunts to fuck off. You can't coddle idiots like this.

[Carl ?s the level]

Latest version of the North Korean Linux distribution Red Star leaked for your entertainment. The linked CCC talk is interesting and occasionally hilarious.

[db]

North Korean Linux distribution Red Star

They hold it high in hand.

[wadair]

I would never install that on my network.

[Ted S.]

The authoritarian incumbent lost to a challenger pledging to weaken the presidency a lot

Can we get this in America, pretty please?

[db]

Female ejaculation comes in two forms, scientists find

Even though the women had urinated just before stimulation began, the second scan - performed just before they climaxed - showed that their bladder had completely refilled. Each woman's final scan showed an empty bladder, meaning the liquid squirted at orgasm almost certainly originated from the bladder.

[Slammer]

So THAT'S why Grandma has all the plastic sheets on her furniture.

[Ted S.]

The password is, "fistula".

[Tonio]

Eeeeew!

[PapayaSF]

The two times I've personally ... uh ... been there for this, it didn't seem like urine.

[db]

I've experienced it too and I agree, however I think the main reason for that is that the bladder fills extremely fast in these instances and therefore probably the kidneys haven't had a lot.of time to excrete stuff that make urine urine-y. The way they did the experiment made it clear that there are two sources of two different fluids involved but the largest amount came from the bladder.

[db]

They also point out that some women issue a thicker white liquid, some have the thin voluminous squirt, and some have both.

[Juice]

A Florida man wearing a shirt that read, "seriously, I have drugs," was arrested by police for drug possession. It looks like he did really have drugs.

One of my favorite songs ever.

[GILMORE]

That sucks

This is better

[Juice]

Your grandma sucks.

[GILMORE]

This song about the New Jersey Turnpike is better than that

[GILMORE]

"Love Me, I'm a Liberal", by Jello Biafra/Mojo Nixon

I cried when they shot Medgar Evers
Tears ran down my spine
I cried when they shot Mr. Kennedy
As though I'd lost a father of mine
But Malcolm X got what was coming
He got what he asked for this time
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

I cheered when Humphrey was chosen
My faith in the system restored
I'm glad the commies were thrown out
of the A.F.L. C.I.O. board
I love Puerto Ricans and Negros
as long as they don't move next door
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

The people of old Mississippi
Should all hang their heads in shame
I can't understand how their minds work
What's the matter don't they watch Les Crain?
But if you ask me to bus my children
I hope the cops take down your name
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

[GILMORE]

*correction =

that was apparently written by someone named Phil Ochs, whose revolutionary songs have been updated repeatedly to mock the 'mainstream left-wing'.

I always preferred proper punk-rock commies to progs as well.

[Tonio]

Ochs was a full-on commie, fwiw.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

What about someone who lives for drugs?

[Injun, as in from India]

This, of course, is Obama's favored modus operandi. First, contrive a way of sending money to your voting coalition; then accuse anybody who notices the game of hating the poor.

Obama's Community College Plan Is a Recipe for Corruption

[Ted S.]

No shit, Sherlock.

Or: That's a feature, not a bug.

[Tonio]

"What I'd like to do is to see the first two years of community college free for everybody who's willing to work for it," President Obama said in video posted to Facebook by the White House on Thursday. [Emp. mine]

Mr. President, an associates degree is generally completed in two years of fulltime study.

[Pro Libertate]

Perpetual community college is his plan, silly.

[John]

Someone named Alex Bates manages to break the stupid meter at MSNBC

This isn't just Islamic extremism," Bates said. "If you go back to the 80s during the Reagan administration, when Jerry Falwell sued Hustler magazine for portraying him having, I believe it was drunken incest with his mother in an outhouse, again in a visual form, and won $150,000 court case against Hustler for that that was overturned by the Supreme Court I think 8 to 0. So, you know, religious fundamentalists of all stripes and all nationalities have this penchant to say 'we want to be able to tell you what you can portray.'"

http://downtrend.com/robertgeh.....errorists/

You just have to kind of stand in awe at the monumental amount of stupid contained in that paragraph.

[Drake]

When I think of bad stuff from the 80's, that isn't what leaps to mind.

[John]

Yeah, suing someone for defamation because they put up a bunch of false and defaming quotes of you in front of a picture that implied you are a cross dresser is totally like showing up and murdering 12 people. I mean it is just exactly the same.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Fundiez be Fundiez!

/that moron

[PapayaSF]

Yeah, my Facebook feed has lots of that same, evasive fallacy. "Look at the horrors of religion!" I want to say: "Yeah, all those Amish terror attacks have been really upsetting to me."

[John]

There are entire towns in Lancaster PA where no police or outsiders dare go.

[LynchPin1477]

I grew up in Lancaster. You do NOT want to be out late on a Sunday when the Amish youth are coming back from their barn parties. Those buggies pack heat.

[John]

And who can forget the reign of terror the Shakers inflicted on America and the incredible evil and cruelty of inflicting well made furniture on an unsuspecting nation.

[db]

Harrison Ford spent most of the 1980s in hiding until Elder Stolzfus finally lifted the death order that was issued over Witness.

[PapayaSF]

Thanks to John and db for the laughs.

[Mickey Rat]

And years later Falwell suggested to Flynt that they have a series of debazes with each other that developed into a friendship even if disagreeing on thier philosophies of life.

But what Falwell did is completely the same as murderous violence.

[trshmnster the terrible]

John, the only response that this abortion of an argument deserves is uncontrolled mocking laughter.

[Raven Nation]

That's so stupid, it's not possible to even think up an appropriate sarc or insult to hurl.

[Warty]

Give him credit. The MSNBC bosses make their talking heads fill an anti-Republican quota. He was just trying to make some extra cash.

[Carl ?s the level]

Trigger Warning: Kotaku

McDonald's Serves Up Cosplay In Taiwan

[The Laconic]

Borderlands fans, there was some very impressive Mad Moxxi cosplay posted on Twitter today. monoabel.deviantart.com

I'm gonna need another bunk.

[Ted S.]

Shouldn't they be dresed as Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar, Mayor McShake (or McLovin' or whatever his surname was) and the others?

[SweatingGin]

Firework truck kaboom video from that Michigan crash

[BigT]

Impressive.

[Ted S.]

Kaboom! video

[Stormy Dragon]

Picturing the "There's nothing to see here, please move along" scene from The Naked Gun.

[db]

Repost from this morning:

Hey guess what guys, the PA legislature's buffoonish overreaction to the Jerry Sandusky case has mandatory reporters running scared, and requires reporting even slight suspicion of child abuse with no physical evidence to CYS in the state. Predictably, CYS has been getting completely slammed with calls, overloading the system, and potentially burying real cases of abuse in an avalanche of noise.

This per my social worker friend who, while not a CYS employee, has to deal with them on a frequent basis. On the upside, the more sensitive reporting requirements have the potential to expose upper middle class and wealthy families who send their kids to daycare to the grinding gears of the State Children and Youth Services machine.

[Ted S.]

Why do you hate the children, db?

[Tonio]

Rot row! Critics say evidence is flimsy that Norks were responsible for Sony.

This is the main issue that critics have with all of the information the FBI has so far provided about the IP addresses: without knowing the exact IP addresses and what's on the other end of them (a mail server, a web server, a laptop) or why officials concluded the addresses are used exclusively by North Korea, the public has little to go on to trust the government's assessment.

[John]

I would imagine it was some kind of an inside job.

[grrizzly]

Barack Obama told me it was North Korea. It must be true.

[Pro Libertate]

Is this administration ever right about anything?

[PapayaSF]

The latest I heard is that they linked it to the Norks in part because while the hacking was in progress, they also logged into Facebook.

[Carl ?s the level]

Critics Say New Evidence Linking North Korea to the Sony Hack Is Still Flimsy

Editors, what are they? Ugh. Delete either "new" or "still" (but not both), please, Wired.

[Tonio]

Ha, ha, Carl. Wired is a pale ghost of its former self. Gee-whiz journalism and click-bait headlines is all they have left. And hysteria (Maryn McKenna).

[PapayaSF]

A great cartoon.

[GILMORE]

"Michael Sam is getting hitched."

Who?

And are they marrying Lindsay Lohan? someone else whose name i used to hear all the time, but never really ever did anything.

[Juice]

except have great tits

[HeteroPatriarch]

Just fantastic.

[John]

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

Shoppers thronged grocery stores across Caracas today as deepening shortages led the government to put Venezuela's food distribution under military protection.

Long lines, some stretching for blocks, formed outside grocery stores in the South American country's capital as residents search for scarce basic items such as detergent and chicken.

Never forget kids, socialism is progress and capitalism is evil.

[PBR Streetgang]

Socialist utopia, like cold fusion, 20 years away and always will be.

[Raven Nation]

Never forget this:

"Today the people of the United States lost a friend it never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion," Sean Penn on the death of Hugo Chavez.

And, in an eerie - but slight - echo of events in France:

"Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it. And this is mainstream media. There should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies." Sean Penn referring to journalists who called Chavez a dictator.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

'Michigan's winter weather caused a 150-car pile-up on the I-94 expressway. One person was killed.'

Amateurs.

[John]

Its because global warming has made snow and cold weather so rare that they have forgotten how to drive in it.

[CE]

Winter weather never causes any accidents. Poor driving does.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Today's Pearls Before Swine comic: Radley Balko edition.

[Ted S.]

Which icon is the permalink? I figured it would be the little down arrow giving me more options, but only opened up an ad in a separate tab.

[DesigNate]

It's too bad the comments are all "They're some of the few things between us and jihadists." retardedness.

[Warty]

The Bill Maher video is decent enough. I'm pleased that he's finally stopped calling himself a libertarian.

[The Laconic]

That reminds me, Borderlands fans, there was some very... impressive Mad Moxxi cosplay posted on Twitter today. monoabel.deviantart.com

I'm gonna need two bunks.

[John]

California newspaper vandalized for using the term "illegals".

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015.....ant-label/

I am sure all of the "I am Charlie" Progs who are so committed to free speech are upset about this, right?

[HeteroPatriarch]

What "I am Charlie" Progs? All the progs I've seen have said that Charlie had it coming because hate speech.

[Stormy Dragon]

as are several hostages

Did the terrorist guy kill them when the raid started, or were they killed by the police in the cross fire?

[John]

Hard to believe it is not a bit of both.

[Raven Nation]

BBC initially reported the hostages were killed before the raid but they're now backing off that writing:

"It is not clear whether they were killed before or after the police assault."

[Ted S.]

Do the cops and hostage takers have different types of guns?

[John]

I would bet so.

[John]

And even if they are the same, each barrel will leave a ballistic finger print on the bullet. So you could tell which weapon each bullet came from, provided it wasn't completely smashed on impact with something.

[Warty]

I mostly saw FAMASes in the pics from today. The terrorists had some sort of AK.

[John]

Can't believe French Government paramilitary units would be carrying AKs.

[Warty]

I'm seeing a surprisingly wide variety of weaponry in the pics from today. Lots of HK stuff.

[John]

Best weapon I have ever shot was an HK 417. That is the 7.62mm rifle they make. Just a great rifle.

[Juice]

Is that a shotgun with a holographic sight?

[John]

The guy standing in the second picture of the first link is definitely holding a semi automatic shotgun.

And the weapon in the 3rd picture is definitely a HK 417.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"Noah Smith @Noahpinion ? 3h 3 hours ago

Boston and Paris terrorists looked a lot more like 1900-vintage anarchists than 2001-vintage al Qaeda."

Can anyone make sense of this?

[John]

He is saying that radical Islamics are really just Western fascists in garb?

That is my best guess.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don't recall Anarchists being methodical like the Parisian guys.

And I don't see how Boston was carried out was similar to Paris. The former were punks and the latter clearly had military training.

[Warty]

He's either saying that they're insignificant and ineffectual or he's saying that they had big crazy moustaches.

[John]

And cool names like the Molly McQuires.

[Raven Nation]

Could be referring to them as individual actors rather than part of a coordinated attack.

[Cytotoxic]

He's saying today's lone wolves or very small group attacks are less dangerous than the 9/11 -style attacks AQ used to pull off, much like how the anarchists used to occasionally kill.

[db]

Seems his point is that the terrorists have been reduced to small time bomb throwing and shooting rather than Bond villain-style schemes.

Which is a ridiculous criticism, as the very numerous incidents of local small scale terrorism seem to have had more impact over time (certainly it is more personal if it happens in *your* neighborhood) than the small number of relatively grand attacks.

[Virginian]

Yeah if they were smart they'd send 20 wackos into the US, have them scatter, and then have 3 or four of them pick a random mall/movie theater/sporting event/grocery store every week for six weeks, and shoot as many people as possible.

By week three there'd be full fledged panic everywhere.

[Zeb]

911 was pretty damn big. But you can only really get away with that once. I don't know that all the subsequent attacks against western targets together come close to the death and destruction there yet. I don't think we would have had the wars, increased surveillance and security and all that we have had if there hadn't been something really big like that. Then again, I suppose that it may have just happened more incrementally had there just been more, smaller attacks over the past 15 years or so.

[Cytotoxic]

The Hebdo attack once again demonstrates that they hate us for our freedoms and don't give a shit about 'occupation'. There is no blowback.

[CE]

Or maybe there's a bit of both.

[Cytotoxic]

There's a lot of the former and the latter is nowhere to be seen.

[AlmightyJB]

OT: Grand Jury indicts AG for lying

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....r-perjury/

[PapayaSF]

Good.

[Pro Libertate]

Wait, that's a thing?

[db]

I know, an Attorney General lying? Pshaw.

[Pro Libertate]

That's impossible, isn't it? I mean, just by uttering words they become the truth, right?

[db]

You better fuckin' believe it, peon.

[DEG]

I forgot about Kane dropping the corruption charges. I thought the grand jury was somehow tied to her investigation of Corbett over how he handled the Sandusky case. This is a better explanation.

I expect the Montco DA won't do a thing.

[John]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....sites.html

Anonymous going after Juhadists websites.

[John]

http://news.yahoo.com/britains.....25665.html

MI5 says Alquada in Syria planning mass attacks on West. They are always saying this. So I wouldn't bet on it being true. But suppose it is and they pull off a really big attack in the US. Other than the country going batshit crazy, what is the fallout of that? Do the Democrats finally turn on Obama?

[Warty]

I have never understood why they don't get 30 or 40 two-man terrorist teams into the US and have them carry out either attacks like this or sniper attacks. The DC snipers created mass panic and shut down the capital for, what, a week? The fact that no terrorist organization has managed to do this is testament to how powerless they really are.

[John]

Me either. That or three and four man mass attacks like what they did in Mumbei. Go after a busy shopping mall or convention center or something.

We have been really lucky in how dumb our enemies have been. At some point we won't be.

[DEG]

I've noted for a long time that European countries have had to deal with competent terrorists for longer than the US government has. The European governments also don't do the stupid shit the US government does.

[PapayaSF]

True, I'd have expected something like that by now. But they are playing a long game.

[PapayaSF]

Today's lone wolf jihadi:

Investigators say they've taken Amadi Jihad Webster into custody related to the situation at DAS North America. He's charged with carrying a gun without a permit.

[PapayaSF]

Rod Taylor has died.

[Ted S.]

WHere the fuck is my hat tip?

[GILMORE]

Who the fuck is Rod Taylor?

I googled his name, and the adjectives "handsome, sexy" were next to a picture of this guy with big ears and a goofy grin

[PapayaSF]

You never saw The Time Machine or The Birds?

[JeremyR]

The guy from the Birds and The Time Machine

[Pro Libertate]

And the Nazi from 36 Hours.

[Zeb]

Someone Ted S. likes more than Lou Reed.

[Trouser-Pod]

Who the fuck is Rod Taylor?

Wow....I did not think I'd hear that question from GILMORE.

[Gluesponge]

He played Churchill in "Inglorious Basterds" too. 🙂