Gays Marrying in Alabama As We Speak (World Still Here), U.S. Might Arm Ukraine, Will NBC Fire Brian Williams? P.M. Links

Today in possible U.S. military interventions, Ukraine.

• 

  David Shankbone

  Some same-sex marriages are now taking place in Alabama, but the overall legal situation for gay couples is in flux.

• Today in possible U.S. military interventions, Ukraine.
• Staples is cracking down on part-time employees working more than 25 hours a week. Like other employers, the office supply chain has to restrict its part-time employees' hours to escape Obamacare-related penalties.
• NBC executives are split over whether to fire Brian Williams.
• Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock (R) continues to receive bad press. At least he has that nice office, though.
• Read a chapter from Cato Institute Vice President David Boaz's new book, The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom, here.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...but the overall legal situation for gay couples is in flux.

Sounds sexy.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"NBC executives are split over whether to fire Brian Williams."

I hear it will be settled like we did in the streets.

Rock, paper, scissors.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

Street Countdown, which is just like Countdown, but on the street.

[Dweebston]

I don't care.

[Rich]

Speaking of sexy ....

Georgia Woman, 82, Arrested For Theft Of "Sexiest Fantasies" Body Spray

According to the manufacturer, the spray "provides a burst of sensuality as plump wild strawberries, succulent peaches, and voluptuous vanilla come together to create a fragrance as addictive and seductive as the woman who wears it." The product is also reportedly "sure to drive any man wild."

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Nooooooooooooooooooo

[Rich]

Lighten up, Scruffy. She was probably cute back in the day.

[Pope Jimbo]

What? Flux capacitors are basic science. They ain't sexy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Today in possible U.S. military interventions, Ukraine.

You think Ukraine is weak?

[Dweebston]

Seinfeld aside, does Ukraine have a bear-wrangler in chief?

I didn't think so.

[gaijin]

The girls, however, really knock me out.

[Juice]

What do they put in the water over there? Unless they're hiding the pics of the ugly ones.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

NBC executives are split over whether to fire Brian Williams.

Fire a rocket at him and see if he floats. /crossed wires

[Injun, as in from India]

The Dangerous Lie That 'Bush Lied'

"Some journalists still peddle this canard as if it were fact. This is defamatory and could end up hurting the country."

Yeah, right. This hurts the country more than the thousands of killed and injured veterans.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

You might want to check your link.

[Injun, as in from India]

Dang! Thanks for the catch Doghouse Riley Jr.

The Dangerous Lie That 'Bush Lied'

[Anomalous]

It seems to be paywalled.

[John]

So telling lies is okay then? If it is not true,people shouldn't say it. I don't care if saying it makes you feel good.

[Juice]

I can't read it but the headline is like a timewarp back to 2004.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Like other employers, the office supply chain has to restrict its part-time employees' hours to escape Obamacare-related penalties.

There ought to be a law.

[IceTrey]

If they were smart they would challenge the law on the basis that Obama is not a natural born Citizen because his father was a foreigner which means he is a usurper and the law is invalid.

[Brett L]

I think adjunct college faculty are the only people being shafted harder by the law. Only because they are more reliable to rise to defense of the law that is fucking them do I enjoy it a little.

[Agammamon]

They *should* defend it - before they were dying in the streets because they had no insurance.

No they have insurance, the only downside being that their evil employers have decided to cut back on hours so they have to choose between running water or being able to eat.

What the hell - the university has showers in the gym.

[mauricegirodias]

Nah, servers at Darden Restaurants who've been replaced by tablets were the ones shafted hardest.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Staples is cracking down on part-time employees working more than 25 hours a week. Like other employers, the office supply chain has to restrict its part-time employees' hours to escape Obamacare-related penalties.

Who ever could have predicted such a thing?

[SoCal Deathmarch]

Sure, the next thing you'll tell me is that the average family isn't saving $2,500 a year on insurance and deductibles have skyroc... Hey, wait a second!

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Definitely still have that plan I liked back in 2009.

[SoCal Deathmarch]

Well, the good news is that it's deficit neutral.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Me too. I'm paying 5K a year more in case one of my sons needs hormonal birth control.

[JW]

Maybe you should stop raising him as a little slut?

[Caleb Turberville]

The poor dope that decided to specialize in gay wedding cakes in the state of Alabama is finally going to the bank today.

[Rich]

He had jolly well better be careful about "structuring".

[Anomalous]

Do people call him a cakeboy?

[gaijin]

straight up

[Winston]

Guess who said this?

"the Soviets arrived early at what libertarians consider to be the only proper and principled foreign policy"

[BiMonSciFiCon]

(1) Michael Lind. (2) Matt Yglesias. (3) Max Fischer.

[Winston]

It was Murray Rothbard.

[Ted S.]

Murray Rothbard, I think. Somebody (probaly you) posted the quote in the Commie thread on Sunday.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

The preceding paragraph:

The idea was this: As the first successful Communist movement, Soviet Russia would serve as a beacon light and supporter of other Communist parties throughout the world. But the Soviet state qua state would devote itself to peaceful relations with all other countries, and would not attempt to export Communism through interstate warfare. The idea here was not just to follow Marxist-Leninist theory, but also the highly practical course of holding the survival of the existing Communist state as the foremost goal of foreign policy: that is, never to endanger the Soviet State by courting interstate warfare. Other countries would be expected to become Communist by their own internal processes.

Shocking--shocking!!1--stuff.

[Winston]

supporter of other Communist parties throughout the world

Except Rothbard opposed this sort of support when the US did it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.....t_Republic

Or helping the Germans violate the Versailles treaty.

Or Rothbard statements that the US forced the Soviets to Communize eastern Europe.

Or disingenuously comparing Stalin's desire for Mao and Tito to not undermine the war effort with him opposing them taking power after WWII.

[paranoid android]

Who needs context when you've got a high horse to sneer at people from?

[CE]

Rothbard was right, as usual.

[Winston]

Um...
"So trusting was [Stalin] in the rationality of the German-Russian Accord for Peace in Eastern Europe"

Quoth Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O.....eparations

On 5 May 1941, Stalin gave a speech to graduates of military academies in Moscow declaring: "War with Germany is inevitable. If comrade Molotov can manage to postpone the war for two or three years that will be our good fortune, but you yourselves must go off and take measures to raise the combat readiness of our forces".

[Winston]

So Rothbard called the Soviet foreign policy "the only proper and principled foreign policy" for things we would never accept the US doing?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock (R) continues to receive bad press.

Forget it, Jake. It's Illinoistown.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Water manager caught urinating in empty Sierra Nevada reservoir

TOP MEN

especially the part about how this guy makes $111,000 a year as a "manager"

[Brett L]

It's empty. What's the problem? If he can fill it by pissing in it, then I'll be impressed.

[Rich]

Sanchez, who earns $111,000 annually, was in line for a promotion before the incident. He now faces a maximum penalty of a weeklong suspension without pay substantial bonus as well.

[Anomalous]

That dirty Sanchez.

[Juice]

heyoooooooo

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"It was symbolism. He was angry!"

[Brett L]

I guess people don't understand how dilutiom works. Its like all they know about water comes from the WWI episode of Archer. "Water? Never touch the stuff old boy. Fish fuck in or you know. "

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Yep. So it's a felony if you or I do it.

But the guy whose job it is to actually manage the drinking water gets paid $111k/yr to piss in it.

[Rhywun]

It's all just pipes.

[MJGreen]

Different pipes go to different places!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

You know how much stress top men are under? DO YOU?

[Rich]

Why do you think it's called the incontinental United States?

[Mickey Rat]

Don't tell anyone what the ducks do in it when it is full.

[Rich]

"Yeah, but that's *natural*!"

[Injun, as in from India]

Anyone see Vox's fellati0 of the President?

My first two years in office when I had a Democratic majority and Democratic House and Democratic Senate, we were as productive as any time since Lyndon Johnson," Obama told interviewer Ezra Klein. "And when the [congressional] majority went away, stuff got blocked.

Yeah, right. "Productive"? Like bailing out banks, passing a "stimulus" of borrowed money which will be paid by the generations unborn, interfering in the healthcare industry in a bad way, etc.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If you're lucky, your bowels are just as productive. Blockages can be dangerous.

[Injun, as in from India]

We should give all Congressmen "FREE" laxative-laden coffee every morning.

They will be productive in the true sense, and stop passing laws. What good it would do the country.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

We should give all Congressmen "FREE" laxative-laden coffee every morning.

Nice.

[wadair]

And they could brag that they had passed something.

[The Other Kevin]

I keep going back to this over and over. They didn't do anything besides pass Obamacare. They could have done anything - increased the minimum wage, ban CO2, any of their pet causes. And if they did it incrementally, they'd have everything they wanted and still be in office. But no, they put everything they had on Obamacare, and they paid the price for it. If I were a Democrat I'd be pretty pissed.

[HeteroPatriarch]

You think they'd still be in office if they had incrementally wrecked the economy?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Well they did pass ONE budget. I imagine they were exhausted after that.

[John]

When I could no longer cram shit down the country's throat and had to compromise and do my fucking job, it got all hard and racist.

Signed
Obama.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The Democrats quit even before the mid-terms. Complete cowards.

[Catatafish]

Every time I see him whine about "when I had Democrat majorities in Congress I got stuff done" all I'm really hearing is "why do we need Congress at all? We'd be much better off as a country if when I said jump, you all asked how high."

[Dances-with-Trolls]

So what's going to replace ass-sex at HnR when SCOTUS goes all Sodom and Gamorrah on us?

[Brett L]

We still have Mexicans now that pot and ass-sex are socially acceptable.

[Mike M.]

I just love Maureen Dowd coming out and saying "Oh yeah, everyone knew that Brian Williams is completely full of shit."

Uhhhh, news flash to all you lefties out there in the JournoList: if it's really true that you knew this guy was a total liar all along and never said anything, it just makes you all look even worse.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Just look at the comment sections: it's all "but Fox News lies 99.999-100% of the time" and "teabagging wingnut hypocrites would never be in a war zone to begin with". Except for, you know, the ex-military bloggers that the legacy media loves to hate.

They don't care. It's Different When We Do It(tm).

[Caleb Turberville]

Is Krang a brain? Is he a brain with eyes and a mouth? Did the Shredder base Krang's biosuit on his actual body from Dimension X? Why does the Shredder still take crap from Krang? He's very vulnerable. Shredder should kill Krang and replace him as warlord of this dimension as well as Dimension X.

[Winston]

Best thing Chuck Lorre ever did.

[Caleb Turberville]

He wrote the theme song.

[Winston]

Yes, that was the best thing he ever did.

[Coeus]

Why does the Shredder still take crap from Krang? He's very vulnerable.

I always wondered that.

[Heroic Mulatto]

BECAUSE THEY WERE LOVERS!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Schock's campaign has also purchased a $74,000 Chevrolet Tahoe to help get him around back home in Illinois, in addition to a $27,000 Ford.

That beater Ford is for when he needs to identify with the little man.

To pay for all of this, Schock is constantly fundraising, and he has repeatedly attended high-profile events.

A little exorbitant spending is a small price to pay to keep them from legislating.

[wareagle]

seems a cost savings in the long run.

[CE]

If you want to see multi-millionaires in flannel shirts and blue jeans walking in a cornfield, tune in to a Minnesota ad for the US Senate race.

[Pope Jimbo]

Shut your mouth! Everyone knows the only way to win in Minnesoda is to get a big green bus.

http://images.publicradio.org/.....bus_33.jpg

Trucks and flannel is pure Tennessee hokum.

[Injun, as in from India]

Map of ISIS fighters' origins

Conspicuously absent is India's 180-million strong muslim community. Why? I don't know, but it's a darned good thing.

[Brett L]

Serious guess: All the non-pluralistic Muslims moved to Pakistan?

[Injun, as in from India]

It is really hard to say. My best friend growing up was a secular muslim. It took about 3 years for me to get into his family's circle of trust, and then I found out that his dad was atheist and had a well-stocked bar in his house. But I've also seen fundamentalists also. It is surprising that none of the fundamentalists have joined the ISIS ranks.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's easier for the Deobandi to travel to Afghanistan, I guess.

[Rich]

Obviously the solution is to close the Syrian border.

[LynchPin1477]

Am I reading that right, that France is 4th on the list?

Holy shit.

[Medical Physics Guy]

I get sixth. But still, holy shit. And, they seem to just let the jihadists right back in the country too. Apparently they view the UK as a model for how to handle returning jihadis and wish they were as strict as the UK. Which is ridiculous. The UK sucks. They have no idea who the jihadis are and they go right back home with no one the wiser.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Indonesia, the largest muslim country in the world, only sending 60 is good as well though not really surprising. Bangladesh and Malaysia are absent as well.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Which is strange as there is documented evidence of Malaysian ISIS fighters.

[Apatheist ?_??]

It wouldn't surprise me if they got their numbers out of their asses.

[Juice]

It all depends on what's stronger, the sense of one-ness with fellow Muslims or the sense of other-ness of Arabs.

[Injun, as in from India]

Scott Walker's hilarious screwup: How he messed with University of Wisconsin ? and infuriated his state

Comments are laden with derp. There is one guy with the handle Frank650 who is trying to reason, but gets repeated ad hominems.

We should all start trolling Salon, Slate, ThinkProgress, etc. for sh1ts and giggles.

[Ted S.]

What exactly did Walker do?

[John]

He actually dared to expect the universities to spend money on degree programs that provided students with skills.

[Pope Jimbo]

And he wanted to cut the budget of the university system by $300M. How dare he defund his enemies?!??!!

[HeteroPatriarch]

Actually, this is pretty good:

He has his head so far up their asses; he is sucking them off from the inside.

Of course, he's talking about Walker being controlled by the evil Koch brothers, but still, that's funny.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

Sweet Homo Alabama

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

"Where the SoCons are so blue"

[Injun, as in from India]

I had a SoCon "friend" unfriend me on FB because of my socially libertine views. I really really wish he was still in my network so I could see his reaction.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

My God, not socially libertine views!

Depending on how conservative he is, something like this?

[Winston]

Bo said this yesterday about the Rockwellians:

they understand demonizing is often followed by conflict, and conflict by a larger, more intrusive state.

So by this logic criticizing Russia and Putin in any way is statist.

[Mike M.]

"Mr. Gorbachev, don't tear down this wall. We don't want to offend you and risk starting a conflict or anything."

[Ted S.]

Not death metal. Definitely not death metal.

[Warty]

Neither is this

SUBGENRE WAR

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

But this certainly is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTIIMJ9tUc8

[Winston]

You Know Which Other Federal Court struck down an Alabama law?

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

1982 Grammy Awards Committee?

[Caleb Turberville]

I nominate Norm Macdonald and Dennis Miller to replace Brian Williams.

[Winston]

White Men. How about Margaret Cho or Lindy West?

[Brett L]

My days of not watching TV bews are firmly at a middle. Go all out.

[Ted S.]

I don't like TV bews, either.

[AlmightyJB]

How about Her? NSFW

http://youtu.be/inS6bu89Z1A

[Dances-with-Trolls]

That women is going to send some back-specialist's kids through school someday.

[Pope Jimbo]

Well that is what she gets for trying to sit upright and not laying flat on her back like she was intended to do.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I've heard, read and seen great ideas in my life and this one has to be THE GREATEST.

EVAH.

[AlmightyJB]

15 articles posted in 2 1/2 hours.

[Ted S.]

There must be a new Reason-Rupe poll.

[Warty]

Today in possible U.S. military interventions, Ukraine.

Anyone hear from Groovus in the last year?

[Winston]

I wonder if he still feels the Ukraine is such a free place now.

[Rich]

I don't think so. It's seriously distraughtening. 8-(

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Brands Are Not Your Friends

But social media will always be an incongruous and gross place for brands to mingle, because all brands are inherently psychopathic. A company does not have feelings. It will never love you. It does not love its workers. It likely screws them over. Think about that the next time you tweet at a brand, or defend one online. Treating brands like buddies isn't just embarrassing for all parties?sympathy for a brand is antipathy for all humans. The great friending of the brand undermines the vital skepticism of corporate America and capitalism altogether. It's horrid enough that our laws treat corporations as people?to treat them as personal friends is just rotten.

Holy fucking derp.

[Warty]

I don't feel like subjecting myself to that, but did they note that Gawker is a brand? Did anyone come close to realizing that peoples' personal names are brands?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Introspection isn't their strong point.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

You have a brand, too, Sam Biddle. Anyone on the internet can see your name at the top of an article and know that it will be full of condescending navel-gazing without actually having to read it!

A decent comment at Gawker?

[Brett L]

No, this is good. Businesses will usually try to stay in business. They will fire you if it makes business sense no matter how much your manager likes you. Similarly, always take the better job, no matter how much you like your current boss or company.

[Coeus]

Related:

A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation.What you don't know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me.

I'm a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs?as much as any one person can.

In today's culture,

Blogs like Gawker, BuzzFeed, and the Huffington Post drive the media agenda.
Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines.
Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see, and hear?online and off.
Why am I giving away these secrets? Because I'm tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I'm pulling back the curtain because I don't want anyone else to get blindsided.

I'm going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with that information is up to you.

[Illocust]

Eh, I could see such a job existing, but I doubt this guy actually has it.

[John]

I don't understand why anyone would want a company to love them rather than just give them what they paid for.

[lap83]

If they're a character in Idiocracy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8zNsUTWsOc

[CE]

Because only Team Blue and Team Red deserve our unrequited affection?

[Enough About Palin]

"Holy fucking derp."

I have worked with senior management at Foutune 100 companies for thirty years. This is utter bullshit. The current company, pays me ubove market, treats me like gold and donates millions upon millions to charity every fucking year. This is much closer to the truth:

But social media will always be an incongruous and gross place for governments to mingle, because all governments are inherently psychopathic. A government does not have feelings. It will never love you. It does not love its citizens. It likely screws them over. Think about that the next time you tweet at a government, or defend one online.

Treating governments like buddies isn't just embarrassing for all parties?sympathy for a government is antipathy for all humans. The great friending of the government undermines the vital skepticism of government America and taxation altogether. It's horrid enough that our laws treat governments as people?to treat them as personal friends is just rotten.

[Enough About Palin]

blockquote fail

[datcv]

Progtards can't get over the idea that CORPORASHUNS ARENT PEOPLE!!!!!111 long enough to realize that all corporations are run by people. Some of them are shitty and incompetent, some of them are evil and corrupt, and probably the large majority are just looking to make money honestly for themselves, their shareholders, and their employees.

[DesigNate]

Hey, at least they're being up front with their abject stupidity.

[Rich]

Homeland Security sets up Obama amnesty complaint hotlines for illegals

That's outrageous! It should be done by the Department of *Commerce*!

[Matrix]

A baby is born pregnant with twin fetuses

.... I really have nothing to say about that.... O_O

[Winston]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Medina

[Matrix]

I know about that one. She was impregnated by someone else, probably her father.

Doctors believe that the fetuses inside of the newborn were actually her parents' that mistakenly ended up inside of her while she was still in utero.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Damn tribbles comin' here, eatin' our Quadrotriticale...

[Jerry on the sea]

I take misleading Fox News headlines for a $1000, Alex.

[Coeus]

Raw story talks about "debtor's prison"

Oddly, no mention of the only non-govt. debt which can actually put you in prison, the phenomena which is actually what debtor's prison means.

[Matrix]

Uber for helicopters

So awesome!

[CE]

I hope my pilot isn't moonlighting.

[Warty]

I will sell you liniments
To cure that whooping cough

[Warty]

Oops, I fucked up the lyric. Well, fuck you.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Damn, I haven't seen Clutch in years. They still doing new stuff?

[Warty]

Yep, and they're still great. Tim Sult shaved his beard and now he looks like some suburban dad. It's great.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Holy shit.

[Coeus]

Science Fiction is pushing back against the SJWs

So instead, I've thrown together some criticisms and narratives that the SJWs have been using and my brief response to each.
Sad Puppies represents the "Fringe" and "bigots with crazy beliefs".
Wait? Did my people nominate Requires Hate or a guy who publically supports NAMBLA while I wasn't looking? Oh wait? That was the GOOD SIDE.
File 770 has written a lot about how Larry Correia is the worst person ever.
Headline: Man with 28 Hugo nominations thinks the system is perfectly fine.
Some people put on the Sad Puppies suggested slate have removed themselves.
Yes. This isn't surprising. Considering the heat and concern trolling many of the suggested authors have been getting, I'm surprised it has only been a few.
If you'll note, despite the allegations to the contrary, our suggestions are politically diverse. Of the ones who have dropped out, I do believe they have all been liberals.

[Winston]

So no more TNG?

[Coeus]

No more blacklisting if it's not proggie SJW (yes there is now a difference. They're so crazy that they're now alienating proggies).

[SusanM]

Well, there really always was. Strictly speaking, an SJW is someone who pipes up on an social justicey issue when they have no real world experience to speak from. Like the upper-middle class Oberlin sociology twatcake lecturing a thread on inner-city urban life - from knowledge based on classroom drivel and having watched X "almost three times".

[Coeus]

Disagree. SJW is someone who has bought into critical theory and wants people who don't destroyed and removed from the public eye. Experience with oppression or not.

[Coeus]

related:

I was talking to my friend Bill Reader about "If You Were A Dinosaur, My Love" and I told him my moral certainty that the story started as a gay short story (I have a vague idea that I might have published with Abyss and Apex, maybe, unless they were the ones who sent me a rejection saying I clearly had never been in another country and was "a narrow minded pain" ? I can't remember. After 120 short story publications, they all run together. However I do know that my stories with gay protagonists, like Songs or Never Look Back got a lot of pushback and editors saying "if you just change it to" before someone published them as is. No, I don't know why. There's nothing shocking in these stories. But progressives imagine the rest of the country are homophobic troglodytes. It's important for their self image. Which is part of the point I'm trying to make.) "Not because it makes more sense that way," I told him. "But because liberals are convinced any gay man entering a rural bar will get beaten to death, even though the instances of exactly this occurrence are? let me see? I'm thinking? exactly zero percent a year."

[Coeus]

And he said "No, I know what you mean. It makes liberal-sense. I've started calling this "para-logic." I.e. the sense that they live in a parallel world, and if you buy the premises of that world, instead of your lying eyes, and believe that the rest of the country are frozen somewhere between the middle ages and the imaginary 1950s filled with Stepford Wives, then their stories and actions make perfect sense."

[Coeus]

Christian violence Is just as bad as Muslim violence

If anything, Obama didn't go far enough in his remarks. Christianist violence isn't a relic of the Crusades; it continues today, and in many of its forms is just as violent as what we are seeing from ISIS.

Christian Violence in the Past Century

In the spring of 2013, Middle East historian Juan Cole decided to compare the body counts between violence committed by Christians and that committed by Muslims in the 20th century. He found that Muslim violence has claimed the lives of around 2 million people, mostly during the Iran-Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan, while violence by Christians claimed the lives of close to 100 million people.

how?

Some of this Christian-led violence is well-known: the World Wars, the Holocaust, the colonial wars in Southeast Asia and Africa.

Oh. Right. Sure.

[paranoid android]

In the spring of 2013, Middle East historian Juan Cole decided to compare the body counts between violence committed by Christians and that committed by Muslims in the 20th century. He found that Muslim violence has claimed the lives of around 2 million people, mostly during the Iran-Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan, while violence by Christians claimed the lives of close to 100 million people

Hmm, seems like hair-splitting. Why don't we just lump all of that under "collectivist violence" and throw the Soviet purges and the Great Leap Forward in too? Or would the author not like the conclusions that might lead to?

[Irish]

"In the spring of 2013, Middle East historian Juan Cole decided to compare the body counts between violence committed by Christians and that committed by Muslims in the 20th century. He found that Muslim violence has claimed the lives of around 2 million people, mostly during the Iran-Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan, while violence by Christians claimed the lives of close to 100 million people"

Uh...then this guy's an idiot. Muslim violence in Sudan killed 2 million people in the 1990's alone.

I'm also going to assume he counted WWI and WWII as 'Christian violence' which, of course, they weren't. They were nationalistic violence which had nothing to do with religion, and it's disingenuous to claim otherwise.

[Irish]

What's especially idiotic about Juan Cole's argument is that the millions of people killed in Islamic ethnic cleansing in Sudan should be counted as killed by Islam, but the people killed in the Iran/Iraq war shouldn't be.

The Iran/Iraq war was based on friction between the governments of those countries. It didn't occur for religious reasons. In fact, the Baath party was probably the most secular party in the Middle East at the time, so I don't think you can count people killed by Saddam as having been killed 'by Islam.'

[MJGreen]

I had this argument recently with some atheist idiot. He insisted that the Nazi death toll counts as Christian violence, because their belt buckle had the slogan, "God with us." Even ignoring that the motto was decades old, this rather bland invocation of God is supposed to prove that the Nazis were religiously motivated.

[OldMexican]

Some of this Christian-led violence is well-known: the World Wars, the Holocaust, the colonial wars in Southeast Asia and Africa.

I thought that the standard Marxian bromide regarding those wars was that they were initiated by imperialistic design and that imperialism is the last stage of capitalism. I guess they were Christian wars after all.

Don't dare say later that little red Marxians are consistent.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

This reminds me of one hilarious fellow I knew a few years back who was the kind who claimed that Stalin and Deng were tools of capitalist counterrevolution. I realized that serious argument was going to profit neither of us, so I started throwing some earnestly playful shots that were Gulag Archipelago and other Soviet references at him. Unfortunately, he didn't understand any of them (boy I was shocked, shocked there), so he just started blubbering about how capitalism was responsible for the deaths of 1.2 billion people. Yeah. With a B.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Wow. There's some serious retardation going on at Raw.

[Irish]

I like that they define 'Christian violence' as 'any violence caused by a country that is majority Christian.'

The problem is, in order for something to be religious violence, the religion has to be the reason for the violence. If I'm a Catholic and a Colombian drug lord, people I kill in my capacity as a Colombian drug lord cannot rationally be considered victims of 'Christian violence.'

Also, why do progressives spend so much time defending Islam? Islam is the least progressive religion on Earth. Go ask the average Parisian Muslim his views on homosexuals - you'll get a slightly less, um, enthustiastic reception to the idea of homosexuality than you would from the average Frenchman.

[Coeus]

Also, why do progressives spend so much time defending Islam?

Because they're racist, and Muslims are mostly brown.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

See also: Sheldon "Nationalism is a poison" Richman flying the Palestinian flag.

[lap83]

I wonder how those numbers compare with athiest violence...

But seriously, I'm tired of the old "insert religion I hate" violence trope. The more I hear it, the more it reminds me of "hate crimes". As if a tenuous connection to a motivation is more heinous than the act itself.

[Coeus]

Good question. Stalin had quite the body count.

[Irish]

But Stalin didn't kill that many people because he was atheist. There were the purges of various Orthodox priests, but overall the violence committed by the Soviet state was in service to Communism or Stalin's cult of personality, not to atheism.

Again, it is only religious violence if the violence was motivated by the religious belief. Otherwise a Muslim who was growing opium in Afghanistan who killed a rival opium grower would get counted as 'Muslim violence' even thought he cause of that violence was drug related, not related to religion.

[lap83]

Out of curiosity, what does religious violence look like to you?

[Warty]

This.

[lap83]

Personally, I think motivations in murder are pretty much always the same and the belief system is incidental. It is a perception that you have something to gain from someone's death and you care more about what you would benefit than their life. The specifics may vary, but that basic extreme selfishness is there.

[Irish]

It needs to actually be in service to a religion. You can't argue that WWI, for example, was a 'Christian war' when it was fought for nationalistic purposes and not religious ones.

When ISIS throws a gay man off a tower specifically because his existence is an affront to Allah, that's religious violence. If a secular Muslim dictator kills political dissidents because they're undermining his regime, that's not.

[lap83]

That's a good example, but I guess I'm skeptical of most stated religious motivation in a violent situation because if religion could be a primary motive to violence, it seems like you would see a lot more of it. So if it only inspires a relatively small minority of religious followers to violence, then there must be some other variable and the term "religious violence" doesn't tell the whole story.

[Stormy Dragon]

What if a Muslim dictator kills political dissidents for what he claims is blasphemy? Is that religious violence?

[Mickey Rat]

Atheism was a tenet of Soviet Commumism. Saying people who killed in the name of communism were not killed in the name of atheism is putting up a division between the two that did not really exist.

Which is not to say that atheists shoyld be considered guilty of the crimes of the Soviets, but it would behoove atheists not to paint religious people with similarly broad brush.

[BigT]

Utter nonsense.

The Soviets would not leave countries or peoples alone if they were atheist, only if they were Communist. Their 'religion,' for which they killed hundreds of millions, was communism.

[Rich]

"Make the president's proposal the default budget if Congress fails."

Oh, FFS! Just abolish the so-called budget and be done with it!

[Winston]

So go full Bismarck?

[John]

So all the President would have to do is veto the Congress' budget and his would become the budget. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Winston]

Reason would support it if it lead to more immigrants.

[John]

Dalmia would at least.

[bassjoe]

How about just abolishing the requirement that the President submit a budget to begin with?

98%+ is never taken seriously by Congress (even by those in the President's own party).

And even the bits of it that manage to get past congresscritters disdained laughter... only become part of a congressional budget resolution which is not even worth the paper it's written on when the times comes to actually pass appropriations bills.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I can't say that I'm not incredibly concerned by all the weight that the "obstructionist" arguments seem to be carrying, particularly when I see direct parallels to the ol' "kulaks and wreckers" hijinks.

I mean, the President having to deal with a duly-elected Congress, regardless of whether or not they are supposedly "do-nothing", is a feature, not a bug, and it's often boomers I hear parroting this crap. My fellow millenials are even worse. Just like all the fucking so-called "net neutrality" nonsense right now, they don't even understand what they're pushing for.

[Coeus]

Anti defimation league's classroom lesson plan. Reached by partnership with Anita Sarkesian

Make sure to indoctrinate them early.

1. Post the statements written below around the classroom, using print-outs of Our Experience with
Gaming Statements:
I have watched other people play video games.
I have played video games.
I play video games on a regular basis (at least once a week).
I have witnessed sexism in video games.
People have said or done sexist things to me through video game interaction.
I believe video games can have a negative effect on attitudes and perspectives in general.
I believe video games can perpetuate sexism

. Play this 10-minute video TEDxWomen Talk About Online Harassment &Cyber; Mobs with Anita
Sarkeesian, who speaks about her experiences with sexism and online harassment. Explain that Anita
Sarkeesian is a media critic, blogger and author of the video blog "Feminist Frequency," in which she
examines the depiction of women in popular culture.

[Coeus]

I believe Milo says it best:

HERE'S EVERYTHING FEMINIST FREQUENCY CAN TEACH US ABOUT THE EFFECT OF VIDEO GAMES ON SOCIETY

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Nice. Brevity is indeed the soul of wit.

[BigT]

I appreciate the pic of Mohammed Milo included. Classy.

[MJGreen]

I don't recall how, but I wound up watching one of thunderfoot's videos on Anita last week. Ended up playing a bunch of them in the background over the weekend. I knew Sarkeesian was a shyster, but I didn't realize the extent of it. I can't believe how many people buy her shit. And the amount of money she raised on kickstarter is seriously depressing.

[Real American]

no one argues that gay marriage will immediately destroy society. Like most bad left wing ideas, it will gradually destroy it.

[Warty]

Fuck off, sockpuppet.

[Calidissident]

Lol

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don't see this as a left/right issue.

[OldMexican]

It's more of a top-down issue. Who's on top, and who's...

[OldMexican]

Re: Reel American,

Like most bad left wing ideas, it [same-sex marriage] will gradually destroy it [society].

I thought Rock-And-Roll was going to destroy society.

[Matrix]

Cops threaten 6 year old boy with a gun

Gotta put the fear of police in them at a young age. Officer safety and all... 6 year olds are very dangerous creatures, donchaknow?

[SusanM]

Hey, the kid was hulking up! Give the guy a break, willya?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

From comments:

"too seriously? YOU do their job. They are threatened, beat up, shot at, ambushed and can be killed in an INSTANT, any time of the day, ANYWHERE, all while protecting YOU and your family. I'd take my job WAY too seriously If I did what they did. You should THANK them! Ashton Elizabeth Arnold, JUST drug paraphernalia? Look up the law. Under the right circumstances JUST drug paraphernalia is a class A Felony with a MANDATORY 15 years in the penitentiary. If they didn't want the police in their home, they shouldn't have allowed that trash there to begin with! paraphernalia in a house with a child *SMH*. They are lucky the child wasn't removed by DHS."

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Sometimes I really wonder just how much all those fucking police procedurals are to blame for these utterly fantastical viewpoints.

[Winston]

So TV really does influence people's attitudes after all?

[Virginian]

Sometimes I really wonder just how much all those fucking police procedurals are to blame for these utterly fantastical viewpoints.

I think they are the main culprit. Even a show like The Wire paints police officers as mostly competent people looking to do good work.

[kbolino]

If the job is that bad, then why don't they seek employment elsewhere?

What is it about police work that it has ceased to be understood as just another job by mouth breathers?

[Catatafish]

I think you meant "...just another gang."

[Rich]

The kid's making a furtive gesture right in the *photo*!

[OldMexican]

NBC executives are split over whether to fire Brian Williams.

"I am really torn between letting him go or giving him another chance. Whaddya say?"
"Well, he does have the goods on us, ya know... Those pictures... Howd'ya think pretty boy got the job in the first place, huh?"

[bassjoe]

House financial records also show that [Rep. Schock] has spent thousands of dollars in taxpayer money on private planes, which his office says helps him get around his Illinois district.

According to the Google, it doesn't take longer than about 3 hours to go from one end of his district to another. Why a Representative would need a plane to get around any district (except for those in Alaska and Hawaii) is beyond me.

[Rich]

Time is money! That's why all the muckety-mucks use video teleconferencing.

[bassjoe]

A 3 hour commute still allows him to easily make 3-4 personal 1 hour appearances across the length of his district.

Also, "time is money"? We're talking about government here...

[Old Man With Candy]

Didn't he comment here at one time?

[Pope Jimbo]

Sigh. No mention of Colin Peterson (D)? He's the congress critter from the district I grew up in. He was in big trouble this go round because he pocketed $30K in reimbursements for use of his private plane to get around his district.

http://www.citizensforethics.o.....n-peterson

[bassjoe]

Eh, Rep. Peterson used his campaign funds, which is not as bad (to me) as using taxpayer money. If his campaign supporters are idiotic enough to continue to support him, that's their problem. It's a national problem when taxpayer money is used for questionable reimbursements.

[Stormy Dragon]

If his campaign supporters are idiotic enough to continue to support him, that's their problem.

It's only idiotic if the "return on investment" isn't high enough to justify it.

[Catatafish]

And in Hawaii they should use outriggers.

[Warty]

Ew.

[Pope Jimbo]

So I see the pic of her 51 year old slave with the big french hairy armpit and have to wonder if she shaves her muff?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Right, like I'm going to go to a link which makes *Warty* say "ew."

[DEG]

In between work and clearing snow, I read last night's Agile Cyborg thread.

Wow.

[Bwana]

Wow

[Stormy Dragon]

Bill Donohue is tired of people criticizing the Catholic Church for the Crusades and the Inquistion. In fact, the Crusades were pretty awesome:

http://www.catholicleague.org/.....hristians/

Bet remember, don't anyone suggest that socons would ever get violent toward non-Christians if they thought they could get away with it.

[kbolino]

Your descent into Tony levels of derp is saddening.

[John]

It kind of is. He was the last half way reasonable lefty.

[Juice]

When you find out what sorts of hellish barbaric things went on during the Crusades, calling them "just wars" is, let's say, disingenuous.

[kbolino]

I did not mean to imply that Bill Donohue isn't an asshat or that his Crusade apologetics are justified. I only take issue with Stormy's baseless histrionics.

[John Titor]

Not that I'd call the Crusades 'defensive' in any way, but Obama pulling them out as a criticism of Christianity in contrast to Islam is incredibly stupid. Because you'd have to ignore that whole thing about the Rashidun Caliphate conquering all those Christian kingdoms and Byzantine land.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Why do you guys keep stealing my material?

[Stormy Dragon]

Given the time between the Rashidun Caliphate and the start of the Crusades, this would be like France invading the UK tomorrow and going "well, to criticize us for this, you have to ignore that whole Hundred Years War thing".

[John Titor]

Really, France has been under the control of the English for hundreds of years after an invasion? Oh no wait, they fought a bloody war over it. And the Hundred Years War was over dynastic feudal argumentation over claims, not religious in nature.

Again, this is a shitty distraction argument. He cites the Crusades to chastise modern Christians but completely ignores similar actions by Muslims in the same period. Funny how he's not collectively chastising Muslims for the same shitty behaviour. It's a historically illiterate statement to make in the context of modern Islamic terrorism.

[John Titor]

In fact if Obama had any balls he'd be pointing to more recent horrible actions by Christians in Africans conflicts, not selectively citing history. Or asking why modern Christians aren't engaging in their traditionally poor way while Muslims are. Instead he just makes a childish and ignorant comment about things he probably knows nothing about. But I'm sure Obama has a rich knowledge of Middle Ages Middle Eastern history.

[Stormy Dragon]

Mike Huckabbe, Rand Paul, Louie Gohmert, and Steve King appear in documentary by Christian Dominionist Janet Porter:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the.....nt_to.html

[John]

He is an ignorant hillbilly who hates civilization and the liberal arts.

[Warty]

Chemtrails.

[Old Man With Candy]

I have a friend who actually believes that shit. You cannot shake his faith using reason.

/drink