Hostage Situation in Paris Resolved, Defense Contractor Bribed 'Scores' in U.S. Navy, Florida Police Use Black Mugshots for Target Practice: A.M. Links

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  @DarioSpagnolo/Twitter

  An armed suspect took two hostages in a Paris post station Friday morning before releasing them and turning himself in. Police say it doesn't appear to be related to the attacks at Charlie Hebdo and a Parisian supermarket last week, and the gunman may be mentally "unbalanced." 

• A Malaysian defense contractor who pled guilty to corruption charges Thursday says he bribed "scores" of U.S. Navy officials with things like cash and Spanish suckling pigs. 
• Freshman GOP Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) has been chosen to give the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address, following in the footsteps of Reps. Paul Ryan (2011) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (2014) and Sen. Marco Rubio (2013).
• Neurosurgeon with presidential dreams Ben Carson is doubling down on remarks that Obamacare is the worst U.S. policy since slavery and America now akin to Nazi Germany. "I stand by those" said the Republican politician. "I don't think there's anything crazy at all." 
• North Miami Beach police were discovered using black men's mugshots for target practice. The police chief said the department didn't mean to racially profile and would expand the target faces to include white and Latino men. 
• The state of Michigan must recognize same-sex couples who married on March 22, 2014—the one day it was legal to do so in the state. "In these circumstances, what the state of Michigan has joined together it may not put asunder," ruled U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

An armed suspect took two hostages in a Paris...

Great. Now it's a fad.

[hamilton]

Great. Now it's a fad.

Actually if you had a few more incidents and the hostage-takers all wore logos for like McDonalds and Victoria's Secret and such, that might convince the islamists to consider the whole technique corrupt and thus abandon it as a tactic. Sheer genius, I say.

[BardMetal]

Must be those Basque separatists or the IRA...

[Pope Jimbo]

Sort of the new ice bucket challenge.

I'm AQ in Yemen doing the Paris Hostage Challenge. I nominate you ISIS...

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

Just what kind of gun control are they using in France?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Do I want to know what a Spanish suckling pig is?

[DontShootMe]

Delicious?

[Bardas Phocas]

You do.
http://spanishfood.about.com/o.....oasado.htm

I might commit a little fraud for some roast piggie.

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

Apparently something US Navy officers want....it can get lonely on those long cruises.

[Pope Jimbo]

Gay Shore Patrolmen in Barcelona?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Freshman GOP Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) has been chosen to give the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address...

"YOU LIE!"

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Three in a row before anyone could get a lick in.

I feel very victimized by your efficiency.

[sarcasmic]

[Lord Humungus]

Artist Paints World Leaders on the Toilet?

[db]

I think you'd need M.C. Escher to depict that...

[Rich]

I like number 2.

[hamilton]

I see what you did there.

[Teenage Girl]

Eewww!!

[BardMetal]

Is this one of those rule 34 deals?

[gaijin]

Leading from behind?

[hamilton]

Why is the Dalai Lama wearing panties?

[Fist of Etiquette]

World leaders need highers ceilings in their water closets, it appears to me from those paintings.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Pope looks sad. Dalai Lama looks intense.

[Lord Humungus]

Carl Spackler: A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

[BigT]

No Muhammed?

Aren't you Charlie?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Obamacare is the worst U.S. policy since slavery and America now akin to Nazi Germany.

You know who else took control of certain medical decisions?

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

"Bones" McCoy?

[Fist of Etiquette]

There were no other serious submissions, so I guess your answer wins. Congratulations.

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

Victory by forfeit is the best kind!

[Palin's Buttplug]

The 2016 GOP Klown Kar is filling up!

[Mike M.]

Finished with that book yet?

[Palin's Buttplug]

I can't wait for the primary debates. Huck Santorum Carson and Jeb trying to out Gawd each other. Then talking war with Iran and Iraq and calling each other APPEASERS. Fun stuff.

[Pathogen]

Probably so. What do you suppose Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton will one-up each other with?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Squaw won't run and Hil-Dog bores the shit out of everyone. Someone like Kucinich would liven the Dem freaks up.

[Bee Tagger]

An armed suspect took two hostages in a Paris post station Friday morning before releasing them and turning himself in.

Sounds more like a null value flag operation to me.

[Slammer]

American Sniper made Joe Biden cry.

"It's intense, man."

[Bee Tagger]

In fact, the vice president enjoyed the film enough that, according to three separate people seated near him, Biden was moved to tears during the film's final sequence.

And those three people were moved to the wing of the hospital that provides stitches.

[Jerryskids]

I'm sure Biden was shedding tears of frustration that the sniper in American Sniper didn't just fire a shotgun into the air.

(On a related note - Clint seems to have found himself quite a second career as a director, hasn't he?)

[Dweebston]

There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend: those who act, and those who direct.

[Lord Humungus]

Star Wars stormtrooper charity walker Scott Loxley saved from potentially deadly snake bite in north Queensland by iconic armour

Mr Loxley, a former Army soldier, used his official Facebook page to share the story of his encounter with the "vicious" snake.

"He's lunged at me and bit me but the good news is the armour, he bit me in the shin, the armour actually protected me and stopped the bite," Mr Loxley said.

Thankfully, the force of the bite was not enough to penetrate the armour.

"I could feel the teeth on the plastic scraping but the armour actually stopped something," he said.

"So all those people who rag on the old stormtroopers, 'you know, the armour doesn't do this, it doesn't do that' ? it stopped the snake bite and probably saved my life today."

[hamilton]

And yet it can't stop a rock thrown by a frigging 4-foot teddy bear.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A stormtrooper charity? Support the stormtroops and give!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Then he fired 1,000 bullets at the snake and all of them missed.

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

He's a stormtrooper, not a walloper!

[Rich]

the gunman was known to police and may be mentally disturbed.

Muslim?

*** ducks ***

[sarcasmic]

Don't shoot (up)! FBI forced to dismiss dozens of drugs charges after addict agent uses seized heroin that was crucial evidence

Heroin task force agent Matthew Lowry took drugs from the evidence room
He signed them out under superiors names and used the drugs daily
Lowry claimed they needed to be tested at the lab, but took them home
150 defendants could walk free and dozens of charges were dismissed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....dence.html
Didn't say anything about the agent being charged. Probably getting a paid vacation and some training.

[Illocust]

Does it matter? This seems like a win for everybody. Agent gets a paid vacation and hundreds of people don't go to jail for a victimless crime.

[Monty Crisco]

Got that beat. Over 40,000 tainted drug convictions in NC.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/.....nvictions/

[Ted S.]

As if any of the people convicted are going to be let out of prison. 🙁

[Rufus J. Firefly]

And Deval Patrick likens himself as a Presidential candidate. A man Obama said did a great job as Governor. Nice.

[sarcasmic]

And he knows racism first hand! I mean, someone like threw an empty soda can at him once!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I love the part when he claimed EBT fraud was anecdotal and soon after an investigative report out of Maine dropped the bomb on it spilling right over into Massachusetts.

He's a Moonbat's Moonbat.

[sarcasmic]

Another Howie fan I see.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

His show is entertaining but he's a tad too conservative for my taste. For example, him going off on ebola and immigration was not my cup of tea. His touch and go with cop stories but leans on their side.

But his mob and welfare fraud stuff is awesome.

[Free Society]

Got that beat. Over 40,000 tainted drug convictions in NC.

All drug convictions are tainted. Every. Last. One.

[Zeb]

But 150 defendants get off, so he (accidentally) did some good.

I'd bet a lot that he is getting a paid stint in a very nice rehab facility.

[mr lizard]

That junkie just increased total freedom. Good for him.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I see the Paris police were able to nab a mentally unbalanced suspect without, you know, killing them like they do here in NA.

[sarcasmic]

Connecticut cop who was caught on camera as he repeatedly stomped suspect is found NOT GUILTY of police brutality

Bridgeport police officer Clive Higgins was one of three officers accused of brutally beating Orlando Lopez-Soto in 2011
The two other officers, Joseph Lawlor and Elson Morales, previously pleaded guilty to violating the civil rights of Lopez-Soto
Higgins refused to admit guilt and the move paid off Wednesday when a jury found him not guilty

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ality.html
I bet the ones who pleaded guilty are kicking themselves in the head. Get it?

[db]

Yeah, should have been a no-brainer.

[BardMetal]

Who are these juries?

[DontShootMe]

the ones that have a cop car cruise slowly by their house every day while the trial lasts, and look out a gallery full of police officers, all staring closely at the jury.

[BardMetal]

That would just make me vote guilty. Maybe even extra guilty.

[Free Society]

Who are these juries?

They're people that get to see a prosecutor drag his feet and hear him half-heartedly prosecute a colleague for a crime he doesn't want to convict him of out of professional courtesy.

It's nothing short of amazing that a grand jury even saw fit to press charges and to punt the case into the hands of a trial jury. That alone, as far as prosecutions of can police go, is a resounding success.

[sarcasmic]

People who have never been the victim of a crime, nor been accused of a crime.

IOW they still naively trust the police because they've never seen them "work."

[Fist of Etiquette]

The police chief said the department didn't mean to racially profile and would expand the target faces to include white and latino men.

They'll be lost when it's time to shoot an Asian tourist for brandishing his camera.

[Zeb]

Now they are profiling by sex. Where are all the women and children targets? WAR ON WOMEN!

[Pope Jimbo]

The kid pics are used on the flash-bang grenade range.

[Zeb]

Of course. Don't know why I didn't think of that.

[sarcasmic]

"I got it in the crib! How many points is that?!?"

[Lord Humungus]

CATO: Challenging President Obama's Immigration Action Even Though It's Good Policy

Our immigration system is broken and Congress has shamelessly refused to fix it. Of course, this unfortunate circumstance doesn't give the executive branch the power to institute reforms itself. Yet through a recently announced policy known as Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA), President Obama has given partial legal status to more than four million illegal migrants, entitling them to work authorizations and other benefits.

This unilateral action is good policy, bad law, and terrible precedent. Perhaps most importantly, it violates the separation of powers and is thus unconstitutional.

[Ted S.]

North Miami Beach police were discovered using black men's mugshots for target practice. The police chief said the department didn't mean to racially profile and would expand the target faces to include white and latino men.

Use cop photos for target practice.

[sarcasmic]

That's what I do.

[BardMetal]

I'm surprised they didn't add pictures of people's dogs.

[Illocust]

This says less about good practice or racism and more about what our police officers becoming more militarized. This is an old trick by the army to train soldiers not to hesitate taking shots on the battle fields. Practicing with dummies will get you the aim, but it fails to get you to be willing to shoot at another human being.

[This Machine Loves Koch]

Bingo. Lt Col(r) Grossman wrote about this pretty extensively in On Killing. It desensitizes the shooter and breaks down the natural resistance to killing. The more realistic the training, the more likely the shooter will be to pull the trigger.

Of course, given that sociopaths may already be predisposed to entering the police force anyway, one might argue that this kind of training is moot.

[BigT]

Re-train bakers to bake cakes for gays. Genius.

[Bee Tagger]

The police chief said the department didn't mean to racially profile and would expand the target faces to include white and latino men.

They should have them use Roschach images.

[Slammer]

Rorschach

[Lord Humungus]

The Warthog Lives!
Happily, the Air Force has failed again in its crusade to kill off a great plane

The effort of the Air Force to retire prematurely this storied plane has few parallels, not just because it has faced dogged, and ultimately successful, resistance from well-informed members of Congress, but because it has lasted 25 years and has its origin in what looks like a troubling moral and intellectual crisis among Air Force leadership.

Every service has its cultural eccentricities, its strategic fashions, its technological fetishes that cause it to see defense priorities in terms of its parochial interests. But the obsessional Air Force campaign to get rid of the A-10 suggests an especially perverse set of priorities. After all, the A-10 has been one of the great airborne success stories of the last two wars, and even now is enabling the United States to battle ISIS in Iraq in a way that is not just far more economical than flying fast jets from distant aircraft carriers or bases at the other end of the Gulf, but highly effective.

[Ted S.]

Is the Warthog actually a good plane, or is it one that's got vested interests in 250 House districts protecting it?

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

Us dumb ground-pounders LOVED them.

[l0b0t]

Boy oh boy do we! The three truly awe-inspiring things I saw in the Army were a hot run from an A-10, a wonderful night of AC-130 coverage making us feel all warm, safe, and snuggly, and a bombing run by B-52s. Pyrotechnic destruction; it's the tits!

[Heedless]

It depends pretty heavily on us maintaining air superiority, doesn't it?

[tarran]

It's a great plane; designed to bust Soviet tanks, it basically will chew up anything on the ground.

It's mission was to fight in a nasty AAA and SAM filled environment, & its designers made sure it could take amazing amounts of damage and keep flying.

Fighter pilots hate them, the A-10 flies so slow that the fighter escort feels like they are sitting in one spot with a bulls-eye waiting for the enemy to marshal a counterattack in a leisurely manner.

It really should be owned by the Army.

[John]

It should. At this point though it is really close to being make obsolete by drones if it isn't already. There is no reason to spend a million dollars training a pilot and risking his life doing close air support when you can do the same job with a drone flown remotely from the rear by some Specialist who grew up playing video games.

[tarran]

Two words:

Anti-radiation missiles.

Drones need to radiate to fight. Piloted aircraft don't. The afghanis can't produce them, but the Russians and the Chinese can.

[John]

That just means they can shoot the drones down. We can build more. They are cheap.

Ultimately, you need all of it, air support, artillery, drones, everything. We shouldn't totally get away from old fashioned analog tech like artillery because you have to have something to fall back on if they screw with your technology. Sometimes you have to kill people the old fashioned way by blowing them up with a mortar or 155 round or just shooting them.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Not necessarily. Drones shouldn't emit any more radiation than a modern fighter, which are loaded to the hilt with microwave gear.

[Rasilio]

Fast moving air superiority craft are closer to being replaced by drones than the A-10.

Flying low and slow in a threat rich environment is a task still beyond computer brains and being that close to the terrain makes constant radio communications back to a remote operator difficult at best.

[Monty Crisco]

Pretty sure the armed drones have to be flown by officers...

[John]

Not in the Army they don't. The Air Force insists on officers flying, but not the Army.

[Stormy Dragon]

The air force in general does not like the close support mission.

[Steve G]

citation needed..

[Virginian]

Is the Warthog actually a good plane, or is it one that's got vested interests in 250 House districts protecting it?

Well if they retire the Warthogs then the zillion dollar JSF boondoggle will have to be built to replace them.

[Free Society]

Maybe it's function on the battlefield is obsolete, maybe not. But I know that it's a very impressive air craft that can spit a fucking laser beam of metal.

[tarran]

Personally, I think the Warthog will only lose its utility when man-portable anti-aircraft energy weapons hit the battlefield.

[John]

The function of close air support will never be obsolete. Precision munitions are great as long as you are striking a fixed target you can see. The problem of course is the enemy doesn't usually stand up and make targets of themselves. In situations where you don't have a precise location of an enemy, which is most of the time, there is no substitute for close air support and artillery.

[Mickey Rat]

My understanding is that it is very good at what it does. However, the Air Force brass has seen itself as having a distinct strategic mission and resents javing to have a plane dedicated to tactical ground support. They seem to have insecurities about having been the Army Air Corps and the A-10 mission suggests to them that maybe they never should have been made a separate service.

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

RETURN THE USAAF!

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

NOT SUPERSONIC!!!! SPEED IS LIFE!!!! MUST SMASH PLANE THAT ARMY LOVES!!!

GRAHHHHH!!!!

/USAF

[DontShootMe]

The AF should just give up and let the Army have the plane. I've known a couple of Warthog pilots, and the guys who actually flew it loved it, although they admitted they would have liked to go faster at times.

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

The Air Force doesn't really want to get rid of the A-10.

The AF uses the A-10 as a bargaining chip. The Army supports the program, so they can garner some back-door budget support by keeping it on the edge. In terms of AF systems it's an incredible bargain.

Also because it's cheap and cheap to fly, it's a great plane for Air Natl Guard. That means you can garner a lot of states supporting supplemental increases to AF budget by threatening their interest.

25 years ago, the AF put it on the chopping block, for real, and the Army offered to take over the program. That was the last time the AF really tried to kill the program.

[Steve G]

Thx. The only accurate comments here on that story. The AF recognizes the value of the platform, but in the priority of programs and manpower needs, it just doesn't stack up. This isn't some sort of fighter pilot conspiracy.

[Ted S.]

NOT SUPERSONIC!!!! SPEED IS LIFE!!!

Na na, na na na
Speed is life!
Na na, na na na
Lub-a-duh-duh-duh life!

[Adans smith]

A-10 SMASH

[Slammer]

That article didn't mention Ron Jeremy a single time, dude.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The state of Michigan must recognize same-sex couples who married on March 22, 2014...

Whoa. I had to look to see if it was Shackford. But, no, ENB has joined the club of contributors who use recognize instead of legalize.

[Zeb]

I think "recognize" is a good word to use. It doesn't completely describe the situation, but no single word will. "Legalize" sort of has the implication that it was criminal to gay marry before. And everyone knows damn well what it means.

[Fist of Etiquette]

When debating ideas, the more precise or correct the words you choose the better. I applaud them both.

[Rich]

I really hope Carson runs so I can call everyone who doesn't vote for him RACIST!

[Palin's Buttplug]

That would have worked with Flava Cain in 2012 as well.

[Doctor Whom]

He's not a true Scotsman Christian socialist African-American.

[Zeb]

I know little about Carson. But a black Republican presidential candidate in the general election would be awesome to watch.

[Rich]

http://www.runbenrun.org

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't think it works that way on the other side.

[Zeb]

But it might expose some of the racism of the left to people whose heads aren't completely up their asses.

In any case, some heads will explode and that will be very amusing.

[Lord Humungus]

Flasher who tripped over pants sentenced in Portland

Joey Vandervort pleaded guilty in November to attempted assault for trying to punch a police officer who approached him during the incident last October in the St. Johns neighborhood.

KPTV reports Vandervort had exposed himself to a woman and when he tried to run away he fell several times because his pants were around his ankles.

[Ted S.]

Lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Criminal mastermind.

[db]

Guy's an amateur. G.O.B. Bluth has the skills.

[Pope Jimbo]

Hah! Man loses cops in car chase, but gets nabbed when his prosthetic leg gets caught in fence.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blo.....ke_leg.php

The reckless driving that allowed him to blow from the cops' sight ended up being his downfall. He eventually spun into a ditch, left his car, and hoofed it into the woods.

Cops followed his footprints more than a mile through woods, over farmland, and across a creek before they finally caught up to him. He was lying on the ground and couldn't get up because his prosthetic leg had gotten stuck in a fence.

He should have put his leg on backwards and foiled the trackers.

[Lord Humungus]

His case doesn't have a leg to stand on.

*ducks out of room*

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

*flings coffee mug at departing LH*

[Pope Jimbo]

Do you think that when the cops caught him there was an actual ass kicking contest?

[Matrix]

Parents under investigation by CPS for allowing their children, 10 and 6, to walk home from the park without parental supervision.

I'm sure if the kids are taken from their parents, they'll be given to pedophiles and child abusers... much safer with them than their parents, right?

[Jordan]

The State is the ultimate predator.

[Free Society]

The State is the ultimate predator.

But if we could just tweak it a little, like you know, get 'greed' out of politics then it would all be swell again! #NaiveStatist

[Zeb]

Just a small matter of changing huge parts of human nature.

[Jordan]

The New Soviet Man will show up any day now.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

'The State is the ultimate predator.'

That's, like, totally hate speech.

[Ted S.]

Thank you Lenore Skenazy.

[Doctor Whom]

Dear Montgomery County:

For once, please do something that doesn't embarrass me to be from you.

Smooches,

Doctor Whom

[Lord Humungus]

Arizona To Become First U.S. State To Require Students Pass Civics Exam

The proposal requires students to correctly answer 60 out of 100 questions that are from the civics portion of the U.S. citizenship test.

Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey previously told the Associated Press he would sign the bill and hoped it would be the first lawmakers bring to his desk.

A number of states are considering similar legislation as part of an initiative led by the Joe Foss Institute located in Scottsdale, Arizona.

[Rich]

The Foss Institute, whose motto is "Patriotism Matters," has created a civics institute to promote the test to state legislatures as a way to increase the understanding of basic government by students, with the hope they will be better prepared to be engaged citizens.

Emphasis added. Fuck, yeah!

I trust the legislators will also be tested as a condition of employHAHAHAHA!!
Sorry, couldn't quite get it out.

[Doctor Whom]

If civics class in Arizona is anything like civics class in Maryland, the test will be a breeze. For every question, just take the side of government.

[Lord Humungus]

Lobbyists to Meet With Members at GOP Retreat

Republican lawmakers from the House and Senate came to Hershey for a joint retreat, to get on the same page and get away from Washington for a few days. But they won't be getting away from lobbyists.

Quite the contrary, actually. According to a GOP lawmaker who requested anonymity to speak more candidly about the retreat, lobbyists ? "for those who paid enough, I guess," the lawmaker said ? will be meeting with House Republicans later Thursday, once GOP senators have left after 5:30 p.m.

According to the member, plenty of House Republicans are scratching their heads at that decision. "What are lobbyists going to be doing up here?" the member said.

something, something parliament of whores

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"What are lobbyists going to be doing up here?"

Oh, please!

[Ted S.]

Republican lawmakers from the House and Senate came to Hershey for a joint

They should have stopped right there.

[Bill Dalasio]

The police chief said the department didn't mean to racially profile and would expand the target faces to include white and latino men.

So, the problem wasn't that they were systematically thinking of shooting actual people whose crime may have been nothing more than selling cigarettes. It's that the actual people were over-represented by black people.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[SugarFree]

Rage-pooping should also be on the menu.

[Elizabeth Nolan Brown]

Yeah, it's been a week full of #NotTheOnion stories, but I actually think this one wins.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

No, the vagina monologues versus transsexuals one wins.

[sarcasmic]

I agree.

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

Yeah, three years ago, that would have been an Onion article.

[John]

That may win for the entire year. I know it is not even February yet, but I can't even imagine what kind of story will beat that one.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Don't tempt them.

[Irish]

This won't be in the top 10 by the end of the year.

A few years ago no one could have imagined this story. By December, there will be stories which are even crazier.

[John]

There might be a few stories crazier, but there won't be ten.

[sarcasmic]

There is no such thing as Peak Derp.

[Bill Dalasio]

The real topper on this one is the "oh, we'll work to make sure we include more white and hispanic targets in our sociopathic murder spree fantasies."

They (and in that I'm including most of the police critics) didn't even get that the racial aspect was just so subordinate to targeting mugshots.

[The DerpRider]

John Kerry serenading in France will be nominated.

[Bill Dalasio]

The Onion?

Cripes, this almost goes to South Park level. I could actually see an episode where cops don't get that the problem is brutally assaulting people.

[KDN]

It's basically the opposite of the town flag episode.

[Bill Dalasio]

Yeah, pretty much.

[SugarFree]

Is the Moon a star or a planet?

[BardMetal]

How do people go through life this fucking stupid? Shit like this makes we wonder if the old eugenicists were right all along.

[gaijin]

If there's a bright center to the universe, they're on the planet that it's farthest from.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Then where exists the person who watches these QVC YouTube videos?

[gaijin]

On the dark side of that planet's moon?

[Drake]

Vernor Vinge had it the other way around in the Zones of Thought series.

[The DerpRider]

I thought it was cheese.

[Ted S.]

It's a balloon

[KDN]

"Now, we all know the moon is not made of green cheese. But what if it was made of barbecue spare ribs, would you eat it then?"

[gaijin]

Its a space station!

[Ted S.]

+1 Barbara Bain in a tight uniform

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

+2 Catherine Schell in a tighter uniform

[Zeb]

Well, by the original definition of planet, it's a planet. But I doubt the QVC airhead knows that.

[Jordan]

I was expecting a link to Yahoo Answers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

We're all stars. In our own way.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The Moon is earth's moon. Duh. Hello.

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

Imperialist! Uh....gravityist?

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

That's no Moon!

[Jordan]

An armed suspect took two hostages in a Paris post station Friday morning before releasing them and turning himself in. Police say it doesn't appear to be related to the attacks at Charlie Hebdo and a Parisian supermarket last week, and the gunman may be mentally "unbalanced."

How do you say "gun free zone" in French? Do they need us to ship them some signs?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And do police ever say, "the gunman seemed very well-adjusted"?

[Citizen Nothing]

"The gunman actually made a lot of sense!"

[Zeb]

Only when it's a serial killer.

[Bobarian (Mr. Xtreme)]

Or a police officer... but I guess that's a little redundant.

[BigT]

He demanded Fox cancel The Independents.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama amnesty to qualify 2 million illegal immigrants for tax breaks, benefits

More than 2 million illegal immigrants will be approved for President Obama's deportation amnesty over the next few years, and they will be eligible to collect Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as claim a special tax break for low-income families, the Congressional Budget Office said in an analysis Thursday.

Mr. Obama predicted that up to 5 million illegal immigrants could be eligible for his amnesties, but the CBO numbers predict only 2.25 million will have signed up and been approved by 2017.

The estimate was released as the administration defended the law in a federal court in Texas on Thursday, asking a judge to reject a request by Texas and two dozen other states to halt the program even before it gets started.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don't get this.

I'm assuming they have not paid taxes.

So why are they getting benefits on the dime of actual taxpayers?

[Palin's Buttplug]

FICA you Canuck.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

FICA in Italian means 'to fuck' as in 'I'm gonna fuck that so and so.'

SO I think it's appropriate.

[John]

No, Earned Income credit you fucking retard.

Ignore the retard Rufus.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I thought that was common practice.

[Palin's Buttplug]

And your beloved Reagan created the massive EITC of today.

Repubs suck worse than Dems do.

[John]

He never gave it to illegal aliens you half wit.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Reagan signed the biggest amnesty bill in history you moron.

But he is an Aborto Freak conservative like you so all is forgiven!

[Pathogen]

You have sucked both?

[Monty Crisco]

Thanks for your input, Mr Weigel. Now, get a day job.

[Rhywun]

CBO numbers predict only 2.25 million will have signed up and been approved by 2017

I guess Mr. Obama overestimated the number of votes his party will need in upcoming elections.

[Lord Humungus]

Strippers at vegan strip club in Portland sue management

According to Courthouse News, Matilda Bickers and Amy Pitts ? which are either perfectly normal regular person names or really boring stripper names ? claim Casa Diablo required dancers to pay kickbacks to management in the form of rental and DJ fees, and fines for showing up late or cancelling shifts. The dancers also claim they were fined for touching bouncers in an "inappropriate" way, but did not prevent customers from touching the dancers.

According to Courthouse News, Portland is home to more strip clubs per capita than any other city in the country, as well as a robust vegan population.

Casa Diablo caters to both with what it bills as the "hottest dancers in Portland" and a menu that includes veggie burgers, wraps and other animal-free foods.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

You can serve any crap at your restaurant if you got strippers.

[Ted S.]

Were those terms in the contracts they signed?

[Illocust]

Shush you, these are women we are talking about here. The great war on women waged by the patriarchy leaves these poor delicate flowers top distressed to do small things like read contracts before they sign them.

[Bardas Phocas]

Me, I like a little meat on the bone.

[Rasilio]

So what is the point of a strip club where they strippers won't eat your meat?

[Rhywun]

I have never met a vegan who would patronize a strip club.

[The Other Kevin]

In high-level diplomatic move, John Kerry brings James Taylor to France to sing "You've Got a Friend" during press conference

And we all thought the "reset button" was bad. This whole administration is a fucking embarrassment.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And to emphasize the strength of the US-France alliance, Kerry brought Rick Astley to sing "Never Gonna Give You Up."

[Rhywun]

But Astley was unavailable so he just Rick-rolled them instead - causing WWIII.

[db]

Ugh

[The DerpRider]

Well, I got nothin'. Not the Onion, eh?

[Mokers]

They really are that stupid.

[John]

They really are. Dick Cheney may have been evil, but at least he was a fucking adult. It is like we let a bunch of lefty high school students at a Model UN take over the presidency.

Serious, what the hell is wrong with this people? On what fucking planet does anyone over the age of 12 think this is in any way appropriate or a good idea?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes. Bad taste is just so stupid!

[John]

It is more than bad taste you retard. It is juvenile and insulting to everyone involved. Since you are one of the dumbest people in the known universe, it is not surprising you endlessly identify with the retard party. The rest of us however don't have the luxury of being functionally retarded and thus are bothered by such morons being in positions of authority.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I bet you are stupid enough to think one of the Bushpigs would have been welcomed in France.

[John]

BUSHPIG!!!!

Let it out shreek let it out. If you won't take your meds, you just have to let the fit pass.

[Enough About Palin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlYlNF30bVg

[Illocust]

Okay what is with the just plain jane insults recently. We've got the logic on our side, deploy it. You aren't ever going to win Palin or Tony over, but there is a significant chunk of lurkers you will. Just insulting makes us look no better than the SJWs and progs.

[John]

Neither Tony nor shreek are worthy of reasoned debate, because that is not why they are here, though Tony in fairness does sometimes actually try. Shreek in contrast never does. He never says anything worthy of any sort of reasoned response. He deserves the insults because one they are true and second he just comes on here to disrupt the conversation.

[Palin's Buttplug]

James Taylor singing some sappy song to the French is just sooooo stooopid!

Poutrage from John!

[tarran]

Serious, what the hell is wrong with this people? On what fucking planet does anyone over the age of 12 think this is in any way appropriate or a good idea?

My sense is that a lot of proggies stop maturing emotionally at a middle school level. A small portion of them are fortunate enough to stumble through life without ever hitting an obstacle that makes them doubt their certainty that they are the smartest guys in the room.

And thus they think they are mature adults; they think they are a fount of brilliant ideas; and they do really stupid things.

[John]

It is a totally self absorbed ideology. I don't know how you would ever mature into an adult while remaining a true believer.

[Zeb]

France also seems to be run by 12 year olds. SO maybe it was a good idea.

[BardMetal]

It's what happens when a bunch of self-absorbed baby boomers who can't accept they're no longer young or cool attempt to do foreign policy.

They might as well attempt a trade negotiation at Woodstock. Groovy man right on..

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

"smart power" FTW!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Next up, Muppets will negotiate the trade pacts.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I've got a buddy at State, Deputy Director, hard-core Republican. I can't wait to razz him on this.

[Enough About Palin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuWEkUcS0lI

[Irish]

Goddammit.

Via Yahoo:

"An armed man has taken several hostages at a post office northwest of Paris, an official at the city prosecutor's office told Reuters.
The man equipped with a military weapon had taken an unconfirmed number of hostages at the post office in the town of Colombes, not far outside the capital, French media reported earlier."

[Free Society]

North Miami Beach police were discovered using black men's mugshots for target practice. The police chief said the department didn't mean to racially profile and would expand the target faces to include white and Latino men.

Sexism!

[Lord Humungus]

Tea Party's Constitution fraud: Why the movement's "devotion" is a situational sham
For all its talk, it seems the far right's love of the Constitution has a big limit. It's called the 14th Amendment

Admittedly, as a lefty, I don't have to shoulder the burden of reconciling my policy preferences with my devotion to tradition and adhering to process for its own sake. The Tea Party and the GOP in general, on the other hand, are not quite as liberated. I seriously doubt that recognizing the blatant hypocrisy of deifying a centuries-old blueprint, while simultaneously urging it do undergo major revision, will disabuse these conservatives of their self-perception as the Constitution's true friends. If that were to happen, if the right agreed to give up complaints about process arguments and simply argue for policy on its own terms, they'd likely find themselves frequently at a disadvantage. Because just like repealing Obamacare without replacing its most popular elements, booting millions of men, women and children out of the country is a political nonstarter.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Tea Party likes the 2A but not much else.

[John]

They are just not freedom loving classical liberals like you shreek.

[BardMetal]

Well about 8% of them are.

[Irish]

"If you just ignore the law, it's easier to make arguments in favor of things that are blatantly illegal."

[Tonio]

^This

[John]

If you don't believe in constitutionally mandated welfare and special treatment for protected groups, you just don't believe in equal protection.

Salon is either one of the great long con trolling operations in the history of the internet or they actually are shreek level retarded.

[Zeb]

Everyone craps on and abuses the 14th amendment.

[Doctor Whom]

They want to amend the Constitution, as the Constitution itself permits? Those monsters! We lefties never, ever, ever want that, ever; as citizens we are united to keep it changeless.

[Zeb]

Well, following the constitution doesn't automatically make you a non-monster.

I'm sure you would agree that repealing the 2nd amendment or modifying the first to allow campaign finance and hate speech laws would be monstrous but constitutional.

[OldMexican]

Admittedly, as a lefty, I don't have to shoulder the burden of reconciling my policy preferences with my devotion to tradition and adhering to process for its own sake.

Isn't the above a description of anarchism?

I would be shocked if that lefty ever dismissed the notion that the State should be this all-powerful provider of good and wonderful things, but I still find fascinating that the author is showing such cognitive dissonance, especially when the little red Marxians spent many a month accusing the Tea Party of being a bunch of "anarchists."

[Lord Humungus]

White people are more racist than they realize
Whites don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. Research suggests most harbor "implicit bias" when it comes to race

In the Implicit Bias module on race, for instance, "positive" and "negative" words are paired with computer-generated images of Black African faces and White European faces. The test instructs you to match the categories by quickly pressing a button on the left or right side of your keyboard, so that you're connecting "good" words with black faces and "bad" words with white faces ? and vice versa. The test measures how quickly you're able to successfully follow the exam's instructions; if you're better at pairing "good" words with white faces than with black faces, you probably have some measure of implicit bias against black people. (As I did when I took the test.) Other modules explore one's potential gender bias, age bias, religious bias, and so forth.

The results are as disturbing as they are instructive, and they're buttressed by an increasingly robust body of research. The overwhelming majority of white people who've taken the test exhibit a preference for whiteness; for blacks, respondents are split nearly down the middle, with about half favoring black faces and half favoring white faces.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"if you're better at pairing "good" words with white faces than with black faces, you probably have some measure of implicit bias against black people. (As I did when I took the test.)"

This proves how prevalent racism is! I mean, if even the SJWs are subject to it, that means the normals are extra-racist.

[Irish]

Only the whites are racist, however.

All other racial groups are pure and noble.

[John]

So the no doubt white writer at Salon is admitting he is racist? If white people are more racist than they realize, how does he realize it?

[BardMetal]

Don't look for honestly of intellectual consistency with these people. These are the same types that will maybe the argument "Government is controlled by evil corporations so lets make government (which they control) more powerful to reign in corporations"

Or in breath say only trained police officers should carry guns, and yet in another breath proclaim that police officers are all racist. Which means they're basically saying only racists should carry guns.

They are mentally disturbed.

[John]

They really are. The old Marxists were just evil. These people are insane. Their thinking isn't even internally consistent. You can't even call them delusional. A delusion at least makes sense within the delusion.

[Zeb]

You probably have to sign something that admits you are a racist and sexist if you are a white man who wants to work for Salon.

[John]

That is what the daily self criticism and re-education classes are for.

[Free Society]

I'll sign that paper just because. Racism is such a broad category that quite nearly anyone who denies they have any racist inclinations is either Helen Keller or a liar. Desensitizing society to "racism" would go a long way in combating the less excusable forms of it.

[Zeb]

Desensitizing society to "racism" would go a long way in combating the less excusable forms of it.

Yes. The worst thing for race relations is people who insist on making everything about race and try to root out every little tiny bit of racial bias. Everyone has some, possibly unconscious, bias about race, sex, any human characteristic really. And I don't think that will ever really change.

[Free Society]

And I don't think that will ever really change.

I certainly don't see why it needs to change other than it makes progressives feel icky. Certainly the battle to eradicate every little scrap of racial bias has done nearly irreparable harm to American culture.

[Zeb]

I think it makes a lot of people feel icky. But that's a personal problem.

[BardMetal]

Is there any research suggesting that the results of these tests mean anything at all? I mean did they have a few undercover racists take the tests to see if the test could discover their racism? How else would you know if this test actually works?

Maybe we should just bring back Phrenology.

[Bardas Phocas]

It's all about the FEELZ
...and nano-aggressions.

[Zeb]

All that tests like this show is how people behave when taking tests like this.

They are observing a real phenomenon, I'm sure. But I think you are right that it is ridiculous to assume that it says anything about racist attitudes in the real world. And it's just dumb to do any experiment with no control.

[Free Society]

They are observing a real phenomenon, I'm sure.

Sure but racial preferences are inherent in sexual attraction. If you flash picture of white women and black women in front of me I'd tend to find the white women attractive and the black ones not so much. Is that racist? Maybe, but it's not unethical or unnatural to have such preferences.

[Zeb]

I agree you can't blame someone for their own preferences. I wouldn't call all distinctions based on race "racist".

I happen to find a lot of black women quite attractive. But I don't get the thing a lot of people seem to have for east Asian women. No accounting for taste.

[Illocust]

Yeah, I don't put much stock in this test. I took it for disability and it informed me that I apparently hate myself and my older brother. The one on gender used names that made it hard to determine which side they should go in (they used a few gender neutral names and some others that I'd never heard before).
It seems like a whole bunch of this test is good because it confirms our bias, not because of familiarity or any one of a dozen other reasons that could explain the results.

[Rich]

With all due respect, what are "positive", "negative", "good", and "bad" words?

*Surely* the experimenters are not assuming that all people, regardless of culture and gender, perceive the, um, value-loading of words in the same way!

[Zeb]

I'm pretty sure black people show the same bias in similar tests.

I'm pretty skeptical that this says anything useful about anything, though.

[OldMexican]

Whites don't deserve the benefit of the doubt. Research suggests most harbor "implicit bias" when it comes to race

If whites don't deserve the benefit of the doubt, then what is the point of doing "research" or even quoting previous research?

But maybe logic is also racist and thus I should not give myself the benefit of the doubt.

[Free Society]

Are you white?

[Mike M.]

Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Who?

[Rich]

Al Sharpton calls 'emergency meeting' over Hollywood's all-white Oscar list

WARNING: Audio ad autostart!

"The movie industry is like the Rocky Mountains," he said in a statement reported by Business Insider. "The higher you get, the whiter it gets."

The man is ? too much.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Who takes that POS seriously?

[Mike M.]

Besides your beloved Obama? The guy is practically a permanent fixture at the White House now.

[Citizen Nothing]

Rand Paul! Amirite!?

[Rhywun]

When he's taking time off from running New York City.

[Irish]

This is hilarious given how often Al Sharpton meets with Obama.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Sharpton is among all those white people in Obama's cabinet?

I know you fucking morons think Sharpton calls the shots at Treasury but Jack Lew is unknown to you.

[Tonio]

I know you fucking morons think Sharpton calls the shots at Treasury...

Wow, that is particularly unhinged, even for the 'plug.

Mea culpa for feeding it.

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else lived high on top of a mountain...

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

Swiss mountain goats?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Rashid ad-Din Sinan, head of the Assassins?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Ooh, I know, this guy.

http://www.barbdahlgren.com/wp.....untain.jpg

[gaijin]

John Denver?

[db]

The Greybeards?

[Pathogen]

Paarthurnax lived upstairs from the Greybeards... just say'n..

[db]

Goddammit, no spoilers. I still haven't really joined the.main quest.

[John]

Johnny Rivers?

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

You know he was just biting his tongue so he didn't say JOOOOOOOS!

[tarran]

Excuse me, that's very ethnically insensitive. The PC term is hymie-wood.

[Free Society]

Fucking washington times with their dick sucking autoplay. And fuck Al Sharpton. He should have no problem starting a film awards organization that gives awards only to black people. They can call it the "Separate But More Equal Awards".

[db]

So, if a "MAJOR TERROR CRACKDOWN" in Europe leads to twelve (12) arrests, can we assume that the warnings of thousands of sleeper agents penetrating the west is, possibly, a slight exaggeration?

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

No no! That would lead to ULTRAMEGASUPER TERROR CRACKDOWN!!!!!11!1!

[Rich]

Oversight report finds major problems with DHS

The report finds that Homeland Security is not successfully executing any of its five main missions. Homeland Security spent $50 billion over the past 11 years on counterterrorism programs, but the Department cannot demonstrate if the nation is more secure as a result.

"Nothing to cut!"

[Drake]

I thought spending $50 billion was the main mission?

[Pathogen]

They maintain the storage facilities for all of the unused body scanners Chertoff sold us..

[db]

Hmmmm, something weird is going on here. Two police vehicles keep firing around in our parking lot around the building. Several times they have stopped and talked to people standing outside.

[db]

"firing" s/b "driving"

[Pope Jimbo]

Give them time db.

I bet you are one of those guys who goes rubbing the clitoris like a bull at the gate...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqI-28meTZ8

[Rich]

Probably just a matter of time, db.

Better shelter in place.

[Ted S.]

That's a John-level typo right there.

[db]

I got the John plugin for.my Autocorrect.

[Lord Humungus]

The great H&R crackdown has begun.

[db]

They were just waiting until TI was off the air to strike.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

They're looking for you db.

[db]

Seems a bank nearby was robbed and the robber fled on foot.

[db]

So, yeah, I expect gunshots sooner or later.

[db]

I was just told our building is under lockdown and we are not to leave. I asked what the legal authority for such an order is. Basically they will hassle the hell out of anyone who leaves the building and possibly try to press charges for interfering with a police investigation. Which is of course bullshit, but I don't wish to test it, especially at work.

[sarcasmic]

As long as the police face zero consequences for illegal actions, like holding people captive in their place of work, then they're just going to keep on doing it.

The Land of the Free (to ask permission and obey orders).

[db]

The thing is, at the moment I don't have a need to leave the building, wither personally or professionally, I am busy and can't just waste half a day arguing with police when I'm being paid to be productive for.my.employer.

[db]

Plus the registration and state inspection stickers on my vehicle are expired and I.don't want to call attention to that.

[sarcasmic]

Better hope they get things resolved before quitting time.

[db]

Actually it looks like people who.have a reason to.leave are just doing so, fuck the.consequences. no.one is taking the police seriously. I love.it. I just hope that the cops are done by lunchtime since I have to go to another office for a meeting at 2.

[Drake]

Tanks, APCs, MRAPs?

Please don't tell me they are risking their lives in regular cruisers.

[db]

Big fucking SUVS. And they blasting through the parking lot at speeds that guarantee that if someone stepped out from between cars into their path, the person would be toast.

[Drake]

Hope you feel safe watching your taxdollars at work.

[Pope Jimbo]

Ugh!

The statists are gearing up.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/a.....n-ever.php

Where is the concrete evidence that surveillance programs have meaningfully infringed on the privacy of Americans who don't associate with terrorists? As John says, the privacy concerns expressed by the likes of Rand Paul are almost entirely hypothetical.

* The John is John Hideracker who writes at PowerLine, not our John.

[John]

As John says, the privacy concerns expressed by the likes of Rand Paul are almost entirely hypothetical.

That is a flat out lie. We know for a fact that the DEA trains its agents to lie to courts about getting information that came from the NSA and without a warrant.

How the hell can someone say that?

[Free Society]

That is a flat out lie. We know for a fact that the DEA trains its agents to lie to courts about getting information that came from the NSA and without a warrant.

Imagine if a private company was found to be training it's employees to actively commit perjury in pursuit of it's business objectives. That would be the end of the company. When the government does it, it gets a bigger budget the following year and that much more effective at destroying lives.

[Irish]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....-on-lovers

^ Um...

[Irish]

On his first day of access to the NSA's surveillance system, a man spied on six e-mail addresses belonging to an ex-girlfriend. The NSA caught him four days later. He claimed that he "wanted to practice on the system and had decided to use this former girlfriend's e-mail addresses." He claimed not to have read anyone's e-mail. He was demoted, assigned 45 days of extra work, lost half his pay for two months, and was denied a security clearance.

[db]

Explain to.me how being denied a security clearance shouldn't be grounds for immediate dismissal from the NSA.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Explain to me how explicitly violating the law doesn't get you charged.

[db]

I don't know, ask James Clapper.

[Zeb]

It's sort of the NSA's job to violate the law, isn't it? He should have got a promotion.

[John]

It is or should be. If he was denied a security clearance, he couldn't even get inside the building to come to work.

They must have meant he was denied a higher security clearance necessary to access the program. He should have lost his clearance altogether and been fired. That doesn't seem to have happened.

[Free Society]

He should have been charged with the same litany of federal crimes that would normally be leveled against a non-government thug who hacks into accounts and steals private information.

[Jordan]

'In Dog We Trust' accidentally printed on Sheriff's rugs

The thing that struck me about this was that they paid $500 for a rug. And if the rug had been printed correctly, nobody would be bothered by that. This sort of waste is considered routine and entirely normal. It really drives home just how much wealth the government squanders.

[db]

The main water treatment plant in Cambridge, MA has an enormous lobby with a map of the whole city's water system rendered in brass and terrazzo which must have cost half a million to install. Ridiculous waste for a government project.

[John]

That rug really brought the room together.

[Jordan]

That's like your opinion, man.

[John]

Shut up Jordan. You are out of your element.

[Rasilio]

So are they trusting the dog not to pee on it?

[sarcasmic]

Nobody shot the dog?

[Jordan]

They shot the rug maker.

[Free Society]

The agnostic, dyslexic, insomniac sits up every night thinking about whether or not there is a dog.

[Lord Humungus]

Boy Says He Didn't Go To Heaven; Publisher Says It Will Pull Book

The decision to pull the book comes after Alex Malarkey wrote an open letter to retailer LifeWay and others who sell Christian books and religious materials. It was published this week on the Pulpit and Pen website.

"I did not die. I did not go to Heaven," Alex wrote. He continued, "I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible."

He concluded, "Those who market these materials must be called to repent and hold the Bible as enough."

[Jordan]

Next you're going to tell me that really wasn't the Virgin Mary on that one guy's toast.

[John]

But Children never lie. Didn't you know that?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Good for him, standing up for his own truth.

[Illocust]

Shows a lot of maturity. He grew up and he bothered to actually grow up despite it being the harder path.

[SugarFree]

The kid's name is Malarkey. No one caught on before now?

[Free Society]

he Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible.

Those two statements are in direct conflict.

[Lord Humungus]

*banjo music plays softly in the background*

The states where people die the youngest

5. Oklahoma
Life expectancy: 75.9 years

4. Louisiana
Life expectancy: 75.7 years

3. West Virginia (tie)
Life expectancy: 75.4 years

2. Alabama (tie)
Life expectancy: 75.4 years

1. Mississippi
Life expectancy: 75.0 years

[Matrix]

Maybe because all the old people move south for the lower taxes on retirement, lower cost of living, and warmer temperatures?

[sarcasmic]

I thought the ancients were flocking to Florida, not Mississippi.

[db]

The Mississippi Gulf coast has plenty of.property available, still moldering away since Katrina. Biloxi is a quite.nice.area. long beach and Pass Christian are nice too. The only.downside.is.it.isn't quite as warm in the.winter as Florida.

[Isaac Bartram]

Starting some time in the 90s, more retirees left Florida than came there.

Florida is now around No 39 as a retiree destination.

The tax structure is still favorable but the cost of living (especial real estate) has gone up.

[Zeb]

That wouldn't explain Oklahoma or West Virginia.
I'd guess it probably has to do more with diet and they type of work that people tend to do.
Also, the old people who have the resources to move south for retirement would tend to have longer than average life spans, I would think. Old people moving there could well increase the life expectancy, since they are already old and are healthy enough to move.

[Tonio]

West Virginia is largely due to coal mining - both mine accidents and black lung.

[Zeb]

Yeah, that one's pretty obvious. I'm more interested int eh old people effect. The more I think about it, the more it seems like old people moving to a place should increase, not decrease, the average age at death.

[gritzly]

I can't speak for anyplace else, but the food in Alabama is wonderful...if you like everything fried.

Although, that's not entirely true...you can get a lot of items "double dipped" i.e. fried twice.

[Rasilio]

Wouldn't that raise the average age of death?

Figure everywhere has similar numbers of people dying in their 40's - 60's but if all they 70 year olds from Massachusetts leave for the south that will raise the relative population of post 70 year old deaths in the south and lower it in Mass.

[ant1sthenes]

How would that lower the age of mortality? The people that stay up north and like the cold are just too badassed to die?

[Zeb]

Not long ago, those were pretty close to the national life expectancy. SO I am going to call ti good news. Some state has to have the lowest life expectancy.

[Tonio]

Eddie, aka Notorious G.K.C., since you were absent for the recent discussion of Il Papa's latest pronouncement, I thought I'd follow up with you and again ask your opinion. I believe several other commenters also expressed interest in your opinon on this.

[josefafmartin]

my co-worker's half-sister makes $69 /hr on the internet . She has been fired from work for ten months but last month her payment was $17800 just working on the internet for a few hours. try here......
????? http://www.netcash50.com

[Lord Humungus]

258 hours of work in a month? That's a lot of overtime.

[Coeus]

ABC proudly joins the SJW echo chamber.

Biased reporting is one thing. Something we've all come to expect. But this is something else entirely.

[Zeb]

I can't make sense of anything in that link.

[Coeus]

this is the comment they censored.

I presume because it had factual information in it.

[DEG]

Think tank claims these Washington's, Texas's, Florida's, South Dakota's, and Illinois's taxes are a heavier burden on the poor than on the rich.

It also claims California's taxes are among the least burdensome to the poor.

Hmm... I wonder where the poor have a better shot at getting a job?

[Zeb]

It also claims California's taxes are among the least burdensome to the poor.

That has to be relative to the rich. I bet in absolute terms the poor pay less in those other states.

[Free Society]

All taxes are a heavier burden on the poor than on the rich.

[Rasilio]

Not really all that ourtageous of a claim since 3 of those states have no income tax and instead rely heavily on sales taxes

[DEG]

Luxembourg in the news. The EU claims Luxembourg gave Amazon a special deal allowing Amazon to avoid taxes.

[Drake]

Nobody tell the EU about those New York taxbreak ads I keep seeing.

[Free Society]

It's amazing that we live in an age where a state's reluctance to extort money from the productive is considered a crime.

[Stormy Dragon]

Neurosurgeon with presidential dreams Ben Carson is doubling down on remarks that Obamacare is the worst U.S. policy since slavery and America now akin to Nazi Germany.

Does he dream or being President? Or of having a show on Fox News?

[Drake]

He only gets one dream?

[Stormy Dragon]

His current rhetoric seems more like someone running for President more because they want to increase their name recognition than someone running for President because they actually want to be President.

[Coeus]

Controversial DNA startup wants to let customers create creatures

In Austen Heinz's vision of the future, customers tinker with the genetic codes of plants and animals and even design new creatures on a computer. Then his startup, Cambrian Genomics, prints that DNA quickly, accurately and cheaply.
"Anyone in the world that has a few dollars can make a creature, and that changes the game," Heinz said. "And that creates a whole new world."

[Zeb]

I definitely want that. I think we are pretty far from being able to do anything like that. But there is the future.

[Swiss Servator, CHF... genug!]

I am crossing a python and a rat with a pigeon to get an indestructible and stupid creature that can become a menace in any urban or rural area!

[Coeus]

Think easier. Like airborne ebola. Hence the controversy.

[pogi]

So...reinventing the hipster?

[Drake]

How about an injection that creates 20-year-old me? That would be a cash machine.