Speculation Unspools over Reasons for Murder of N.C. Muslims, Obama Considers Slowing Afghan Troop Withdrawal, Powerball Lottery Jackpot Madness: P.M. Links

• 

  Mugshot

  A Chapel Hill man, Craig Stephen Hicks, in North Carolina has been arrested and charged with killing three Muslims near the campus of University of North Carolina. Police are investigating whether it was a hate crime (Hicks posted extensively about his atheism on social media) or the violent result of a parking space dispute. People have already made up their minds on Twitter, obviously.

• Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed an executive order rescinding antidiscrimination protections for gay and transgender state workers. The policies were first implemented in 2007 via executive action by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. In a statement, Brownback said expanding the state's antidiscrimination policies should be handled by the state's legislature.
• Yemen continues to deteriorate. Rebels seized U.S. embassy vehicles as diplomats flee the country and embassies shutter.
• President Barack Obama is reportedly considering slowing the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan even further.
• You may well be reading these links on your smartphone while standing in line to buy a ticket for tonight's $500 million Powerball lottery jackpot drawing.
• Possible presidential contender Jeb Bush released a whole bunch of e-mails from his days as governor of Florida. Unfortunately, the original release failed to redact some private information, like people's Social Security numbers, and now they're scrambling to fix it.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Barack Obama is reportedly considering slowing the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan even further.

That’s what Afghanistan gets for being the good war.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

I’m gonna make my own news.

“The Quebec police ethics commission announced on Tuesday that it has suspended Sgt. Michel El-Khoury for five days and Constable Simon Jett? for two days after the police ethics committee ruled last year that the officers used illegal force when arresting Dr. Jeffrey Sirzyk.

The incident began in February 2012 when police called the emergency room requesting information about a child who had been taken to the emergency room.

Citing privacy rules, a nurse refused to give details about why the child was brought to hospital, but said the child had been transferred to another hospital.

A short time later, two officers turned up and arrested Sirzyk. One of them grabbed him by the arm, pushed him against the wall and tried to drag him out of the busy emergency room as shocked patients looked on. Other police officers then arrived and instructed the officers to release the doctor. He was never charged.”

http://montrealgazette.com/new…..ing-doctor

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The doctor was so disgusted he left Quebec and now works in Ontario.

Also, the SQ (Surete du Quebec) are just about as unrefined a bunch as they come.

[Tonio]

With or without pay? (Too lazy to RTFA, obviously).

[Ted S.]

At least I scrolled down before I posted the same thing. Damn Tonio’s nimble fingers!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

One was suspended two days with pay. The guy who did the stupid shoving five days without.

What blows my mind is the action of these fuckers could have had serious consequences on someone’s life.

Serve and protect my fucking ass.

[Ted S.]

It’s single payer. Shouldn’t the government already have the information?

/sarcasm

[Hyperion]

Bah! I’ve been ensured by all my leftist friends that we’ve been out of Afghanistan for like a really long time!

[Hyperion]

Thanks to the Light Bringer, of course. He did that right after we left Iraq and right before we closed Gitmo.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You may well be reading these links on your smartphone while standing in line to buy a ticket for tonight’s $500 million Powerball lottery jackpot drawing.

Trying to collect money I didn’t earn? I don’t think so.

[hamilton]

The odds of winning the second-highest prize in the multistate lottery’s history are 1 in 175 million ? while the chances of dating a supermodel like buxom blond Kate Upton are 1 in 88,000

Hmm. If at first you can’t succeed, try try try try try …(87997)… try try try again.

[Tonio]

You can have my slot, ham.

[expat]

87996….

[This Machine]

What about ham slots, now?

[hamilton]

It was Kate’s I was shooting for, but I appreciate the offer!

[Ted S.]

Why would he want your slut?

[Pro Libertate]

Slot slit slut
Doth sloth sluttily.

[DEG]

How did anyone calculate the chance of dating a supermodel?

[Cdr Lytton]

They didn’t. They just calculated the odds of winning the jackpot. Net worth of $500M should be able to bag a supermodel or near supermodel by itself.

[DEG]

Ahh.. so they pulled the number out of their ass. It makes sense now.

[The Last American Hero]

On the other hand, if you win you could have a whole hotel full of Uptonesque girlfriends.

[Careless]

So you’re saying “two chicks at the same time” is thinking small

[CE]

So if the odds are really 1 in 175 million, and you can win 500 million bucks, isn’t the smart thing to do to buy a ticket, given the expected value?

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

/the smart thing to do is buy 175 M tickets, if the cash pay-off is more than 175.

That’s a good investment.

Unless someone else wins.

[CE]

…while the chances of dating a supermodel like buxom blond Kate Upton are 1 in 88,000

So you’re saying there’s a chance…

[Steve G]

Lottery? Is that the tax on people who failed stats in school?

[Rich]

“Someone has to win. It might as well be me.”

[Careless]

At $500 million it’s positive value.

[kbolino]

The jackpot gets split if there are multiple winners, which is very likely for large jackpots. With two winners and taxes, the expected value returns to being negative.

[Careless]

Except A) we just had a $400 and some odd million jackpot that not just not multiple people won, but no one won, and you have decent odds of winning something other than the jackpot.

[Stormy Dragon]

The marginal utility of a few bucks is almost zero for most people and in exchange you get to fantasize about what you would do if you won.

For some people that’s a net gain in utility.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

that’s a net gain in futility.

[Pro Libertate]

Huh. $500 million. That’s what, about $175 million in lump sum, after tax money? I could use that. Could everyone in the world agree to hand that over if they win? Less a 10% commission, of course.

[Juice]

Fuck that. When it’s that high you take the annuity and move to a state the doesn’t tax lottery winnings.

[Pro Libertate]

That’s easier said than done. You can avoid some of it, but the feds and other governments will have their bond.

In any event, whatever of the hundred plus million I can keep would be nice. Too bad I can’t win.

[Stormy Dragon]

No, first you set up a blind trust and then have the trust take the annuity, so that the general public can’t tell you won and start pestering you to give them money.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

There is a lottery pool at work that I did not join, email sent around said winners would get $2.2 million after tax (lump sum). It then said anyone under 40 would not be able to retire just yet.

Withdrawing 100k a year is about a 4.5% withdraw. Assuming you leave the money in a decent investment, in theory you would never decrease the total balance.

How is that not enough to live on comfortably? Granted there is no buying planes in this scenario, but fuck.

And at the very least, no one is going to stick around doing accounting work.

[CE]

2.2 million is plenty to retire on.

[Pope Jimbo]

I’m going to go out on a limb here. My guess is that if you beat the odds and won the powerball lottery, your odds of dating Kate Upton improve significantly.

[Pope Jimbo]

http://s262.photobucket.com/us…..1.jpg.html (Probably NSFW)

[Restoras]

Or someone even hotter than her.

[CE]

When I win Powerball, I will buy Reason and put in some good spam filters. And stop requiring log ins.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

A website for the 1%!

[Injun, as in from India]

Why Jon Stewart Was Bad for the Liberals Who Loved Him

For a generation of young liberals, Jon Stewart’s chief influence has been to make outrage, cynicism, and condescension the language of the left.

Seriously. Why blame Jon Stewart when you have plenty of examples?

Jonathan “stupidity of the American voter” Gruber.
Barack “cling to guns and religion” / “you didn’t build that” Obama.
Nancy “pass it to find out what’s in it” Pelosi.

Isn’t the left’s entire approach based on condescension towards the unwashed masses?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

I thought outrage, cynicism and condescension had been the language of the left since the early 70s if not before.

[PapayaSF]

The whole point of progressivism is that individualism is flawed, and so we need the guiding hand of government. It’s inherently condescending.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I actually hear them say conservatives and libertarians are angry all the time.

[PapayaSF]

The angriest people I know are liberals and leftists. They can get livid over polite disagreements about politics. (“HOW CAN ANYONE NOT BELIEVE IN SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE?!?!”) Maybe it’s selection bias based on where I live, but maybe not.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

But “if you’re not outraged you’re not paying attention”.

[John Titor]

Implying that the language of the left is actually more than outrage, cynicism and condescension.

Well, I supposed there’s emotional validation and whining too.

[Hyperion]

Someone is saying that not all millennials idolized Stewart:

Not all millennials love Stewart?

Next thing you know, some right wing zealot will be claiming that not all millennials love Obama and that they aren’t all socialists.

Koch brothers are behind this lie, I’m sure.

[waffles]

I’m a millenial progressive capitalist socialist anarchist communist objectivist and I enjoyed the daily show. I still think Jon Stewart’s best work was in Half Baked though.

[Irish]

Holy hell, that article’s by Ethan Epstein?

How many Epstein’s are there? I can’t even tell which Epstein’s are related to other Epstein’s anymore, since every Epstein is an irritating neo-conservative and they all seem to write for the Weekly Standard.

[Hyperion]

Juan Epstien, toughest kid in school.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

…always with a note from his mother.

[John]

That is the most intelligent thing slate has published since maybe ever.

[Pro Libertate]

Craig Kilborn was funnier. There, I said it.

[Irish]

How about Karl ‘Petite Bourgeoisie, Opiate of the Masses’ Marx?

Come on – the left was founded on mindless condescension based on unearned feelings of intelligence. It’s just who they are.

[hamilton]

Via a link on Tyler Cowen’s blog…

Tablet, a daily online magazine of Jewish news and culture, is introducing a new policy charging its readers to comment on articles.

As of today, a reader visiting the nonprofit site that is otherwise paywall-free will have to pay at least $2 to leave a comment at the foot of any story. The move is not part of a plan to generate any significant revenue, but rather to try and change the tone of its comments section.

Luckily the tone of the comments on this blog is super-awesome, right guys?

[Ted S.]

This has to be a hoax.

Getting rid of comments would certainly change the tone of the comment section, however.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Some people’s $.02 isn’t worth a plugged nickle.

[waffles]

I think everyone here makes intelligent and thoughtful comments pertinent to the article being discussed. Disagreement results in deliberative debate resulting in both sides gaining a stronger appreciation for the other side of the argument. Of course.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Thin crust pizza is overrated.

[Buddy Bizarre]

Them’s fightin’ words!!

[Warty]

FUCK YOU IDIOT

[hamilton]

Please mail your check or money order for $2 to:

reason
c/o Virginia Postrel Quality Improvement Fund
5737 Mesmer Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90230

[John]

^^AWESOME^^

[Scarecrow Repair]

BAK TO YOUR ROOM, you mongrel cur sonovabitch you.

[John]

That is what your mother told me last night, FAG!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know who else stole gold from the Jews?

[Scarecrow Repair]

Pharoah?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Robin Yehud?

…I’ll go ahead and narrow my eyes at myself.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The mohel took Robin’s hood.

[Rich]

Jerry!?

[Marshall Gill]

Cromwell?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Other Jews?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I lol’d

[Tonio]

Tax collectors?

[seguin]

Chief?

[TheZeitgeist]

Tablet, a daily online magazine of Jewish news and culture, is introducing a new policy charging its readers to comment on articles.

Leave it to Jews to try summoning two bucks from vacuum energy of the internet.

No stereotypes here. Move along.

[Irish]

That’s idiotic since no one will pay $2 for a comment.

It makes much more sense to do what Ricochet did which is have people buy memberships that allow them to comment as much as they want. That way you end up with a civil comment section since trolls won’t pay $5 a month, but it’s vastly less stupid than a $2 per comment fee..

[Pope Jimbo]

It is sort of a reverse troll by the web site. I’d love to see Reason do something similar during their beg-a-thon. Then run nothing except vaccination, abortion, circumcision and pizza stories.

My guess is that there are a lot of commenters who would be unable to lay off the high heat and would drop big money defending themselves.

Fuck, Bo would be unable to resist commenting and would drop at least a grand whinging.

[mauricegirodias]

There’d have to be something about Lou Reed for that to work, though.

[Injun, as in from India]

Possible presidential contender Jeb Bush released a whole bunch of e-mails from his days as governor of Florida. Unfortunately, the original release failed to redact some private information, like people’s Social Security numbers, and now they’re scrambling to fix it.

The most transparent administration, EVER!

[Pro Libertate]

That’s fucking serious transparency. Does this mean Bush will announce sneak attacks and the people involved in them before we launch such attacks? Ballsy.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Police are investigating whether it was a hate crime (Hicks posted extensively about his atheism on social media)

Christian violence!

[Heroic Mulatto]

You just know the Progs are masturbating over the unfortunate victims’ deaths as they believe they finally have their unicorn, an honest-to-goodness anti-Muslim hate crime that was conducted by a fat, disgruntled, Southern, gun-owning, White guy.

Too bad he had to be one of those “I Fucking Love Science!” guys, but they’ll find a way to spin it.

[Coeus]

Well, if the Elliot Roger treatment was any indication, his hate for southern religious types just means that he was “heavily influenced by them”.

[MJGreen]

If they were just less extreme, he wouldn’t have been so unhinged.

[PapayaSF]

If he’d been a Tea Party/Christian/right-winger, we’d never hear the end of this. But because he’s an anti-Tea Party/atheist/progressive, we will hear the end of this shortly. “Nothing to see hear, no connection with his ideology, move along.”

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

You kiddin’ me? Muslims were victimized, so naturally he was a Tea Party/Christian/right-winger. It doesn’t even matter what he says he is; his actions reveal the truth.

[PapayaSF]

“Atheist progressives aren’t violent! Just look at 20th century history! Oh, wait….”

[Tonio]

The fact that he was an atheist may temper their joy, though.

Will somebody check in with Myers and report back on his butt-hurt level?

[John]

One of them doesn’t count. They are apparently saying this was over a parking spot. Nothing to see here.

[The Laconic]

And, let’s not forget, a fan of the SPLC and Rachel Maddow.

[Irish]

‘Too bad he had to be one of those “I Fucking Love Science!” guys, but they’ll find a way to spin it.’

I’d love to see how they spin it if it turns out that this actually was over a parking dispute, which is what people are now saying.

[mauricegirodias]

Apparently, they were shot execution style…

[John Thacker]

What would “actually” mean? I find it easy to imagine, for example, someone who is both racist and crazy, and is more likely to shoot Muslim people (or black people, or people blaring country music, or whatever he hates) over a parking spot than other people, and who equally would not have done it except that they really pissed him off over the parking spot. And maybe he was having a bad day, so that’s the “actually” reason.

Causation is rarely so simple as to be boiled to down to one simple “actually” reason.

[Hyperion]

Dude was on a crusade, man. That Obama is like a prophet!

[Enough About Palin]

I find it odd that right from the get-go, the headline were NC man kills three Muslims. Of course what he did was terrible, but why mention their religion? Black folk in my neighborhood get shot all of the time and I don’t see headlines reading “Man Shoots Three Blacks” or “Man Shoots Three Baptists” So, WTF?

[Irish]

They assumed it was a hate crime before the evidence was in. It very well could be a hate crime, but there’s an awful lot of evidence that this guy might have been nuts and their religion was irrelevant.

[Calidissident]

I think that’s also too early to say. According to the father of two of the victims, they had told him that this guy really disliked them because of their religion. Like I said, to early to say for sure, but my gut feeling is that it’s a combination. The guy is probably nuts, and disliked these people because of their religion, and the parking dispute may have been the immediate spark or last straw that pushed him over the edge.

[JeremyR]

Muslims constantly say they are persecuted, even when it’s not.

It’s part of their playbook to take over countries.

[Calidissident]

I’m sorry the lack of self-awareness in this comment is too much. I had to struggle to not laugh out loud in a crowded, quiet room.

[Fist of Etiquette]

In a statement, Brownback said expanding the state’s antidiscrimination policies should be handled by the state’s legislature.

That’s an odd way to hand off a problem to another branch.

[John Thacker]

It is, because usually status quo bias applies. There’s a big difference in most minds between “I won’t issue an executive order, since it’s the legislature’s job,” and “I will revoke this executive order, since it’s the legislature’s job.”

[CE]

Revoking an executive order that overstepped the executive’s role makes perfect sense for a constitutional conservative. Trash the “status quo bias”. The status quo was reached by “progressives.”

[Fist of Etiquette]

Unfortunately, the original release failed to redact some private information, like people’s Social Security numbers, and now they’re scrambling to fix it.

He can be the transparency candidate.

[waffles]

Powerball? Someone told me once that if a private company ran a lottery like the government does they would be shut down for fraud. I can’t say for sure if that’s true but I’m happier with the dollar in my pocket than the 500×10^6 of fantasy ones.

[Bam!]

Private “companies” did run numbers and were shutdown.

Construction of Harvard was originally financed with a lotto.

[PapayaSF]

I did an experiment a few years ago and actually won about $45 with CA Scratcher tickets with zero dollars spent. My neighborhood is littered with them. I started picking them up and entering them in the Second Chance lottery online. I never won that, but about $45 worth of the tickets were mistakenly-discarded winners good for small amounts (e.g. another free ticket, which they’ll give you in cash), and one for $25.

It was too much work for the payoff, and made me feel poor, but it was fascinating that so many people (a few percent of the tickets I found) would play the lottery but not pay full attention enough to know that they had won.

[Rich]

The fascinating thing to me is how many people use elaborate schemes to play a lot of numbers.

[Brett L]

When the Mafia was running the numbers, their cut was $1 in every $3. Government lotteries take $0.50 in every dollar. Also, the numbers were usually out of 1000, being, for example the last three numbers in the published take at a given weekly horse race.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Government is greedy.

Back in the day when the mob were running the lotto machines in bars the government threatened to shut them down unless they got their cut.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

At least here in Montreal that’s how it went down.

[Tonio]

People have already made up their minds on Twitter, obviously.

And on here. Eddie positively jizzed himself over that one. Would be wonderful if it turned out to be over a parking space.

[John Thacker]

Quite possible that it’s both. Even prejudiced people don’t kill all the people that they hate; it generally requires some of spark.

Most lynchings in the South had some sort of pretext, and insults that would be forgiven in others became reasons to kill.

[John Thacker]

And of course most racists in the South did not lynch, just as the vast majority of any X that hates group Y doesn’t actually kill them.

[SIV]

Most lynchings in the South had some sort of pretext,

Like murder or rape/murder or robbery murder.Almost all lynchings were of persons known to have committed heinous crimes.

[Calidissident]

SIV, defending the good ole days when you could keep the Negroes in line by torturing and hanging them from a tree if they step out of line. What a wonderful shining example of due process and evidence-based justice that was. Too bad the Damn Yankees had to ruin it.

/s

[John Thacker]

Sure, if you consider “bumping into a white person” or “talking to white girls” a heinous crime as well.

Others were “accused” of heinous crimes, but there was as much of a rush to judgment about black men raping white women as there is about college frat boys raping college women. So “known” as much as the UVa frat boys were “known” to have raped.

[Ted S.]

Eddie, being a devout Catholic, thinks that jizzing without an attempt to procreate is negative, of course.

[Tonio]

Involuntary emmissions are OK!

[Warty]

Didn’t Bo shit himself in joy over it too?

[Ted S.]

Bo just shits all over comment threads.

[John Titor]

Bo ‘Christianity had a 700 year head start on Islam’ Cara?

[Tonio]

Esq, never forget the esq.

[John Titor]

Esquire is traditionally a title of respect for a person of good social statue, Bo has neither of these.

[John Titor]

EDIT: Apparently it’s just used as a title for a lawyer in the U.S. My Commonwealth background is showing.

[Warty]

He’s a law student who fancies himself a good arguer, which makes it even more pathetic. Did you catch him getting comprehensively out-Boed by Eddie the other day, and neither one realizing what was happening? It was spectacular.

[Pro Libertate]

It’s actually considered bad form in many legal circles to use it in reference to yourself, though I doubt that’s generally known, even among lawyers. It’s supposed to be used as a courtesy when referencing other attorneys. Also, of course, Bill S. Preston, Esq.

This is also supposed to be true with PhDs, though they abuse that even more.

[Pro Libertate]

PhDs and “Dr.”, that is.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Lawyers who use “Dr.” are the worst. Thankfully there are not many of them.

[Pro Libertate]

When I was in academia, I got a letter from the University of Michigan that addressed me as “Dr. Libertate.” I was all WTF? until one of my colleagues said that was the old-school methodology. If you have a doctorate, whatever it was, you get “Dr.” in formal communications.

[John Thacker]

I don’t put “PhD” after my name, but I find it ridiculous that physicians have seized the title. It’s right there in the word doctor, it means “to teach.” Unless they’re only faculty at a medical school or at least publish, they’re physicians, not doctors.

[Juice]

On resumes I do not put the letters back there. They can look down at the education section. I also cringe when people call me Dr. I know they mean well, but titles seem so outdated to me, like wearing suits.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, I don’t mind being referred to as Lord Libertate in formal settings.

[Irish]

“Bo ‘Christianity had a 700 year head start on Islam’ Cara?”

I’m still laughing at this argument. By that logic, since Scientology has only been around 40 years they should currently be burning people at the stake.

[John Titor]

The dumbest part was when he anthromorphized religions into people claiming that you wouldn’t be comparing a 23 year old to a 30 year old. Because dumbing down complex social phenomena and ideologies into single people makes perfect sense.

[Injun, as in from India]

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has signed an executive order rescinding antidiscrimination protections for gay and transgender state workers. The policies were first implemented in 2007 via executive action by former Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. In a statement, Brownback said expanding the state’s antidiscrimination policies should be handled by the state’s legislature.

NEWSFLASH! Brownback is anal-retentive about rules when it comes to TEH GAYZ!

[This Machine]

Does anal retentive have a hyphen?

[expat]

I think it’s spelled hymen, and no.

[Scarecrow Repair]

+ No. 2

[Injun, as in from India]

Does anal retentive have a hyphen?

Hyphenating it simply shows the strength of the retention. It’s like the 1st word does not want to let go of the 2nd.

[Pro Libertate]

It does if you use it as an adjective.

[Bill Dalasio]

As much as I suspect his motives, at least in principle, I think he’s probably right.

[Aloysious]

Yemen continues to deteriorate. Rebels seized U.S. embassy vehicles as diplomats flee the country and embassies shutter.

Another foreign policy success. I can not wait to be told what to think of this situation. Hopefully Joe Biden will pontificate.

[jesse.in.mb]

That dude’s beard makes him look like he’s painting on a jawline where one doesn’t really exist.

[John Titor]

It looks like someone drew a very detailed portrait on a thumb.

[Tonio]

That’s why fat dudes have beards, Jesse.

[Bill Dalasio]

Honestly, I’d say it makes him look like Comic Book Guy…

http://media.punchingkitty.com…..?page=auto

[Fist of Etiquette]

Meow.

[jesse.in.mb]

Ok, that was catty of me, but in all fairness his total lack of jawline is freaking me out.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, I suppose at best he has a face for a goatee.

[db]

“Dude! A beard is no substitute for a jawline! No matter *how* you trim it!”

[Trouser-Pod]

+21

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Does anyone here own or know someone who owns a Jeep Renegade?

[HeteroPatriarch]

Thankfully, no.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Why? Looks fine to me.

[Wicked Skin]

Why did they leave their lights on?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It’s hit or miss around here.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Apparently Fiat Chrysler is polling millenials. Or something.

Kim Adams House, Fiat Chrysler’s head of Jeep brand advertising, said in a statement:

“We know that our millennial audience looks to multiple engagement platforms for their consumption to include television, music and social media channels, to discover what’s new and share this content. Through this partnership, we’re able to offer this group the opportunity to learn more about our vehicle through channels in which they are familiar.”

Multiple. Engagement. Platforms.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://m.timesdaily.com/news/l…..l?mode=jqm

Lyle Lanley comes to Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

[waffles]

Spectacular.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

He also just came here to Milwaukee. What a boondoggle. Well, here’s hoping Spock turns up for the maiden voyage.

[Injun, as in from India]

This terrible poll shows Elizabeth Warren beating Hillary Clinton

Submitted without comment.

[Aloysious]

What is she beating her with, that is the important question that needs answering.

[Tonio]

Don’t give Sug any ideas!

[Aloysious]

SF probably has a three part series already written about a Warren vs. Clinton ‘encounter’.

[Puddin' Stick]

Why, will Sug send Warren more canes?

[Injun, as in from India]

What is she beating her with, that is the important question that needs answering.

A giant dildo, modeled after Bill’s member?

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

Bill is a giant dildo, he does not have to be modeled.

[Tonio]

It’s from MoveOn dot org, so LOL. Yeah, they’d love that.

[Coeus]

Tell me feminism isn’t a religion:

A task force of students convened by the administration has done exhaustive research on best practices for prevention education. Studies unequivocally demonstrate that “brief, one-session educational programs? are not effective at changing behavior in the long-term.” The White House Task Force to 1 Protect Students from Sexual Assault reported that the absolute minimum amount of programming necessary to prevent sexual and dating violence is between 6 and 10 interactive workshops. Columbia’s new 2 program clearly ignores these findings, instead allowing 8th-grade level homework assignments to take
the place of meaningful, participatory education. Each school can choose whether their students are required to participate. The program allows students to fulfill the requirement by simply watching a TedX
Talk and writing a brief reflection.

And 10 Hail Marys

[This Machine]

absolute minimum amount of programming necessary

So they let the mask drop and they’re out-and-out calling it “programming” now, huh? Aldous Huxley was way ahead of his curve here.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

between 6 and 10 interactive workshops.

Sounds more like a racket.

[Coeus]

Like church.

[Ted S.]

They’re not interactive either; it’s going to be the people running the workshop hectoring the people forced to go.

[Coeus]

Like church.

[The Laconic]

It’s most effective if you start with a personality test designed so that everyone fails.

[Coeus]

Like church.

[OldMexican]

The White House Task Force to 1 Protect Students from Sexual Assault reported that the absolute minimum amount of programming necessary to prevent sexual and dating violence is between 6 and 10 interactive workshops.

I just love how little red Marxians throw numbers at us as if they meant something.

What happens when they find out that the absolute minimum was not enough to stop sexual and dating violence? Will the government simply raise the minimum?

[Rich]

I like that “the absolute minimum” “is between 6 and 10”, too.

Not “6”, mind you (assuming inclusive “between”).

[Winston]

Whatever happened to those libertarians who thought Obama was going to be a return to Clintonesque (never mind how that was all triangulation) sanity after Bush?

[Jerryskids]

I don’t know about thinking Obama would de-Bushify a lot of shit, I just knew McCain would be the absolute worst of all possible choices and therefore hoped Obama would be better than Bush. McCain is Donald Trump minus the hairpiece. An ignorant, egotistical blowhard believing his own bullshit that I wouldn’t trust to run a vacuum cleaner much less the executive branch.

I didn’t vote for Obama, of course, as I said that if you put a gun to my head and told me I had to choose between Obama and McCain I would not have hesitated to pick Obama. Given the same gun to the head and the choice between Obama and Romney, I would have told you to go ahead and pull the trigger.

[Hyperion]

Has anyone watched Kennedy? I watched it last night for the first time, wasn’t planned. I’m not sure what really possessed me to do so. I was just channel surfing and there it was, so I had to take a look.

It’s sort of … weird. Which I guess is what should be expected. She did ok.

I swear they are doing some type of odd voice overlay when she interrupts people to make it less abrasive, noticeable. It’s like they soften her voice when that happens.

I did note, for the first time that Kennedy has a really nice body. First time I ever really saw her not behind a desk. Really nice legs on that girl.

I give the show 5 out of 10. +1 for the legs, so 6 out of 10.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

You never looked at her book cover?

[Hyperion]

Nope.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Unleash your male gaze.

[Rich]

*** dials human trafficking hotline ***

[Restoras]

Ooooo and she’d get a sexy little tat!

[Hyperion]

Ohhh, yeah, I remember that now. She looked really good in a blue dress she was wearing last night. I think the milf factor is working out for her.

[OldMexican]

Re: Hyperion,

Has anyone watched Kennedy?

Yes.

It’s sort of … weird.

I miss Kmele. And Matt’s eloquent rants.

[Hyperion]

Agreed. All libertarians are now represented in mainstream media, by Kennedy. Think about that, or better, try not to.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

+1 Libertarian moment

[Juice]

Don’t forget about the mustache.

[Tonio]

What, she’s Catholic?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Does she still have the Kennedy sign up reminiscent of a strip joint?

Et voila la belle Chantal!

[Warty]

Oh my god I love hating Vox. The problem with home-cooked meals

“The idea that home cooking is inherently ideal reflects an elite foodie standpoint,” they write in the journal Contexts. “Romantic depictions of cooking assume that everyone has a home, that family members are home eating at the same time, and that kitchens and dining spaces are equipped and safe. This is not necessarily the case for the families we met.”

[Hyperion]

and that kitchens and dining spaces are equipped and safe

Oh for the love of bejeebus. Fuck these assholes. My wife and I cook almost every day, we eat out maybe once or twice a month.

What are they advocating that everyone eat out every meal, or that we each need a government sponsored nanny in our kitchen to make sure it’s safe?

I hate these people with the burning passion of a super nova.

[This Machine]

The way I read it, it seems like they’re saying it’s just not fair that some families don’t have access to the things they listed, and so it’s wrong to say that home-cooked meals are ideal. Because that might make those families feel bad.

[Hyperion]

Is there anything that we can say these days that doesn’t make someone feel bad? I guess not.

It’s not wrong to say that home cooked meals are ideal. Honestly, even if you can afford to eat out at decent restaurants every meal, some people enjoy cooking, and if you know how to do it, it’s hard to beat.

[Hyperion]

And I know poor people who love to cook and would not trade it for restaurant food every meal.

[PRX]

I ate out every meal for over a year while I diyed the worlds longest kitchen remodel. It really sucks after a while

[Ted S.]

I thought we were supposed to hate all the processed fooda and fast food that fat poor people eat.

These progs can afford the right sort of takeout every night, so anybody who doesn’t eat like they do is morally corrupt.

[Warty]

It’s not the fault of these poor fat idiot Poors that they’re poor and fat. They’re just too stupid to figure out how to cook without setting themselves on fire, you see.

[John]

The biggest thing most people waste money on is eating out. And these assholes hate that. They really hare poor people.

And I love the kitchens that are equipped and safe. You can’t make these people up. You and I couldn’t publish a satire site that would be as idiotic as these people actually are.

[Warty]

What’s it really take in terms of equipment to cook every meal for yourself? A sink, running water, a hot plate, a pan, a pot, and a fridge, right? And you really don’t even need the fridge. Show me a non-crackhouse domicile in this country that doesn’t have that stuff.

[John]

If you can’t do it like a hipster living off his parents checks every month, you shouldn’t be able to do it at all.

[Restoras]

What? No Calphalon cookware? Are you mad?

[CE]

All I need is a microwave and a refrigerator.

[Hyperion]

Well, if it wasn’t for the greed of one percenters like you who don’t want to pay your fair share, the poor could afford to live in neighborhoods where they could eat out at the best restaurants with the most healthy organic only food, every meal, and not have to worry about injuring themselves in dangerous kitchens without government supervision.

The evil of you anarchists knows no boundary.

[Restoras]

You and I couldn’t publish a satire site that would be as idiotic as these people actually are.

I really wish I had the brilliance of Jonathan Swift and could write a satire of these people.

[John]

It would be a challenge for even him.

[Warty]

It’s been done

Next week we’re taking up Syndicalism?it’s frightfully interesting, they say, and awfully advanced.

I suppose it’s a new kind of philosophy or socialism, or maybe anarchy?or something like that. Most of these new things that come along nowadays are something like that, aren’t they?

I’m sure the world owes a debt to its advanced thinkers which it can never repay for always keeping abreast of topics like that.

Not that I’ve lost my interest in any of the older forms of sociology, you know, just because I am keeping up with the newer phases of it.

Only yesterday I rode about town in the car and had the chauffeur stop a while every place where they were shoveling snow.

The nicest man was with me?he is connected with a settlement, and has given his life to sociology and all that sort of thing.

“Just think,” I said to him, “how much real practical sociology we have right here before us?all these men shoveling snow?and how little they realize, most of them, that their work is taking them into sociology at all.”

He didn’t say anything, but he seemed impressed.

And I’m sure the unemployed should be grateful to the serious thinkers for the careful study we give them. Don’t you think so?

[lap83]

Man, I can’t remember the last time I heard the term Syndacalism. You have to be a special kind of liberal douche to use it in a sentence. Good satire.

[hamilton]

“I told you. We’re an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week….”

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

roasting a chicken requires time between finishing work and serving dinner.

That’s the kind of ‘splainin you just don’t get from traditional news.

[John]

Sidd,

It is just proof that these people really are too stupid to feed themselves.

[PRX]

Tell me how to eat fatbeard

[Brett L]

For fuck’s sake. Until we moved I regularly got home from work at 6:15 and had dinner on the table by 7:00. Now that my witis not working, she regularly entertains a toddler while making dinner. It doesn’t get much harder than that. You do have to plan a little. But not much more than most people put in to buying lottery tickets.

[HeteroPatriarch]

The problem with idealizing home cooked meals is that they are not as good as restaurant meals, generally. But this has nothing to do with some inequality SJW bullshit that Vox invariably spouts.

[MJGreen]

Unless you’re going to spend a lot of money out, I’d say they are better than restaurant meals. Or my mom is just a really good cook that taught me some secrets.

A 1/2 lb of ground beef costs less than a Big Mac, and will make a much, much tastier burger with some garlic salt and pepper than any burger you’d get for less than $20 in a restaurant.

[lap83]

This. Unless you’re going to a world class restaurant, it’s not that hard to make a great meal.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

We’ve interviewed 120 low-income mothers about the social, economic, and cultural factors that affect how they feed their families. We also have 30 interviews with middle-class mothers as part of one of my co-authors’ project. The interviews usually last about two hours, and we also selected 12 of those families to do more intensive ethnographic observations. With them, we’d visit them at least 10 times over a month, watching them as they made dinner, went grocery shopping, went to the WIC office and doctor appointments. We tried to get a better picture of their daily lives.

Yes, it is hard to get things done when a researcher is constantly following you around.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Wow, 12 families! What a sample. Perfectly randomly selected, I bet.

[Puddin' Stick]

Nothing about home kitchens and dining rooms are individualistic and isolating?

[Warty]

But I still love hating The Guardian more. Jon Stewart made fake news meaningful without sacrificing comedic bite

“People in comedy believe that the best comedy has that one-two punch,” McGraw said. “It has this ‘ha-ha’ and ‘aha’ moment to it.” McGraw said that even for an audience that is politically homogeneous, Stewart does it well. “He gets big laughs and he makes you think.”

[Bam!]

Every time I watched “The Daily Show,” he got more applause than laughter.

[MJGreen]

He makes you think, “Hey, yeah! FOX News is terrible! Especially their morning gossip show!”

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Never got the appeal. Yeah it was ‘fun’ but to the point people would brag about watching it?

Pass.

[Puddin' Stick]

It’s a positional good.

[Pro Libertate]

What little I saw was generally not very funny. I did see a couple of funny segments, but those were exceptions. Overtly partisan humor often misses.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

The Layover was on in the background earlier and Anthony was on a celebrity death tour. I thought I heard something especially lurid about Albert Dekker and holy shit:

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

The 6 feet 3 inch, 240-pound Dekker was kneeling nude in the bathtub, a dirty hypodermic needle sticking out of each arm. A hangman’s noose was around his neck but not tight enough to have strangled him. A scarf was tied over his eyes and something like a horse’s bit was in his mouth. Fashioned from a rubber ball and metal wire, the bit had chain “reins” that were tightly tied behind his head. Two leather thongs were stretched between the leather belts that girded his neck and chest. A third belt, around his waist, was tied with a rope that stretched to his ankles, where it had been tied in some kind of lumber hitch. The end of the rope, which continued up his side, wrapped around his wrist several times and was held in Dekker’s hand. Both wrists were clasped by a set of handcuffs. Written in lipstick, above two hypodermic punctures on his right buttock, was the word “whip” and drawings of the sun. Sun rays had also been drawn around his nipples. “Make me suck” was written on his thorax and “slave” and “cocksucker” on his chest. On his lower abdomen was drawn a vagina. He had apparently been dead since Friday and his awkward position had colored his lower body a deep blood purple. “This one has everything but a vampire bite,” remarked a deputy coroner.

[Warty]

“I really don’t want to promote autoerotic asphyxiation. It’s an…embarrassing death. You always have to color it differently in the media.”

[Beautiful Bean Footage]

I scrolled past this post super quick b4 closing the links so I could rotate top the next post at work, and I totally thought it was NutraSweet’s magnum opus about the Clinton-Warren “encounter”…

[Sevo]

“President Barack Obama is reportedly considering slowing the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan even further.”

But he promised to keep us out of Brazil, and so far he has!

[Rich]

+1 new duct design

[MJGreen]

I saw somewhere today that there were 13 articles about Jon Stewart on Salon.com today. I tried to confirm, but I can’t make heads or tails of the Salon website. It’s just a bunch of stories and pictures thrown together.

I did see that Elizabeth Warren “called out” Rand Paul on vaccines. I don’t know why one senator is questioning another senator about something that has no influence on any policy, but that’s Warren!

[Rich]

Democratic Chairwoman Ann Ravel, who called the hearing, has said she wants to regulate politicking on the Internet, though she has pulled back amid a public outcry

“Ann Ravel”, eh? That’s almost as good as “Josh Earnest”.

[Caleb Turberville]

So, why did the Borg send back only one Borg Cube during both the Battles of Wolf 359 and Sector 001*? Seems like it would be much more effective send back at least two.

*Also, how chauvinistic is it to label the Terran System as “Sector 001.” Also, how about the Federation policy of using English script to label the hulls of Starfleet vessels? Seriously, Terrans, check your privilege.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Well, they were going to make Vulcan 001, but then it got, you know…

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Borg sequestering.

Maybe Earth is centrally located for Federation space? And maybe the other languages aren’t visible at the wavelengths human eyes perceive.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://www.sttff.net/images/AST_MAP0012.jpg Vulcan is just as good a place as any to label as Sector 001.

[John Titor]

Eh, if Enterprise is canon *shiver* the origins of the Federation come from United Earth legislation, so its the ‘center’ of their little empire.

[Caleb Turberville]

After the discovery of Warp 1, humanity made great strides in terms of technological advancement. Based on First Contact, we can only assume that the Vulcans were the catalyst.

Earth needed Vulcan more than the Vulcans needed Earth. If that is the case, then the Federation as much a Vulcan organization as a Terran organization.

[John Titor]

Yeah but Earth’s apparently got all their important institutions too, like Starfleet Academy (isn’t there Parliament or whatever it’s called on Earth too?).

[Caleb Turberville]

Yeah, San Francisco of all places.

[Caleb Turberville]

Wait, I’m sorry. Starfleet Academy is in San Fran. The Federation Council is in Paris, France.

[Pro Libertate]

Something weird happened to France, though. I mean, they all speak English and with English accents.

[John Titor]

I get the feeling that the early days of the Federation were a lot like ‘Year Zero’ in Cambodia. Lots of people not into the whole idea being ‘removed’ or ‘reeducated’.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Well, the ST:Enterprise had the Andorians and the Vulcans in a bit of a cold war. The Federation in part was meant to resolve that so Earth was probably made the capitol so neither would get in a snit.

[Caleb Turberville]

Okay, fair point. Still doesn’t explain why English script became the default script for all Starfleet marking.

[John Titor]

Look, Roddenberry wasn’t exactly the brightest when it came to making logical futuristic organizations based on human culture. Some of it was deliberate, like all the Original Series stuff where the Romulans and Klingons clearly represented China and the Soviet Union, while other stuff was just his own arrogance (religions having absolutely no influence on individuals in the Federation, even just agnostic cultural identities). Roddenberry’s future is pretty much his own idealized, Western communist society so English script as base language is not surprising.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Apparently it isn’t English, it’s Federation Standard.
“On many worlds with unified governments, one language tends to dominate that society and may become known as the language of that people, or even overall organization as in the case of Federation Standard, an apparent descendant of the English language.”

[The Last American Hero]

Union rules.

[Pro Libertate]

Yep, what are you going to do?

[John Titor]

Because when the Borg use more than one Cube, you get Voyager. Is that what you want Caleb? More Voyager? More Janeway and bullshit technobabble to beat the hordes of supposedly terrifying Borg?

Also I thought that humans referred to themselves as human in Star Trek, and Terran was only used in the mirror universe.

[John]

Grantland takes on Jon Stewart’s legacy.

http://grantland.com/hollywood…..ve-legacy/

It is as stupid as you think it would be. Stewart is retiring because it is just too easy to make fun of silly old right wingers.

[Caleb Turberville]

I’ve never been a big fan of Stewart’s comedy. But even if you are, you have to admit, he hasn’t been very energetic lately. If 2004 was his peak, he’s long since made his descent back to base camp.

[John]

He was done the moment Obama got elected. When that happened he just became a mouth piece for the government. And nothing is more boring than government propaganda.

[PapayaSF]

Ha, I took too long to compose the reply below.

[PapayaSF]

I think it’s the huge and growing and undeniable failure of Obama. It was easy for Stewart to mock a Republican president. Then when the GOP took over the House, he could target them. And he could mock Romney in 2012. But after 2014, he doesn’t have the “if only liberals/progressives were in charge” assumption to base the humor on. It’s a lot harder to mock the other side when your side is an obvious failure.

[OldMexican]

A Chapel Hill man, Craig Stephen Hicks, in North Carolina has been arrested and charged with killing three Muslims near the campus of University of North Carolina. Police are investigating whether it was a hate crime (Hicks posted extensively about his atheism on social media)

Goes to show you that, yes, just about everybody hates Muslims. Because otherwise the reporting would’ve said instead that Craig Stephen Hicks gunned down one man and two young women.

[John]

Just like those guys in France killed some random people in a deli.

[OldMexican]

They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, John! Josh Earnest’s vacillations notwithstanding, of course.

[John Titor]

When the Parliament Hill shooting happened up here, there were claims of ‘Islamophobia’ because everyone was focused on the Muslim who killed one soldier instead of the recent gunman in Moncton who killed three RCMP officers. Because it’s not like a nation state, which gets its legitimacy from promising protection from harm, would stress the dangers of a man invading an important national symbol over a man who killed cops, people who are expected to be in dangerous situations.

[OldMexican]

Little Brownies Learn About Social Justice Through Urban Mythology

These girls are called the “Radical Brownies.” And instead of learning sewing, they’re learning social justice.

They look like Girl Scouts, but it’s not just fun and games.
And it’s not just fun and games. “White policeman are killing black young folks such as women, men and children,” one of the girls said.

Another girl said, “Mike Brown. He was shot because he didn’t do nothing. Only the police officer shot him because of his skin color.”

But [Radical Brownies co-founder Marilyn] Hollinquest said they are not telling the girls what to think. “Kids already understand fairness and unfairness, so we take that understanding at an age-appropriate level,” she said.

Gotta love that last statement. I don’t know if she really believes it or she’s pulling credulous reporter’s leg.

[John]

Hey. it looks like WARTY beat the rapp.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_…..art-modell

[Warty]

If I pissed on that disgusting old scumbag’s grave, I’d at least expose my cock so he could look up at it. Fuck him. You know he moved the team and Maryland’s dirty money because he was about to go personally bankrupt and the NFL takes away teams when their owners go bankrupt? And then he was about to go bankrupt again 5 years later and the NFL made him sell the team to Biscotti. Fuck him. I hope he suffered a lot while he was dying.

[John]

How the hell did he go bankrupt again?

[Warty]

Well, first of all he was never solvent. He bought the team in 1962 or whenever it was for like $2 million, of which $25k was his own cash. He became more and more indebted as time went on, and it got worse in the 70s when he bought the shitty old stadium from the city and really started hemorrhaging money. Things got so bad that, by 1995 when he signed Andre Rison because he thought that would put the team (which was very good the year before) over the hump, he had to take out loans in his wife’s name to pay the signing bonus. He had something like $170 million, I think, in personal debt when he moved the team.

Basically, he was a wildly successful confidence man who desperately wanted to be a beloved rich man but never was. Fuck him.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Holy shit. And I thought my law school debt was bad.

[Mike M.]

Yemen continues to deteriorate. Rebels seized U.S. embassy vehicles as diplomats flee the country and embassies shutter.

How’s that “Arab Spring” of yours coming along, Reason?

[Warty]

How’s being an abject moron coming along, Mikey? Good, right?

[Pro Libertate]

Though I have to agree that the whole glee about the Arab Spring does seem hopelessly naive from today’s vantage. Except for Tunisia. Haven’t heard much about that one going wrong, though that may reflect my ignorance more than actual fact.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Just listened to Electric Wizard Dopethrone this afternoon. Thanks (again) for turning me on to them.

[Matrix]

Cop leaves grandfather nearly paralyzed for walking around outside

Again, people who call the cops should be made aware that their call may lead to the death of someone.

Oh, and copsuckers are defending this, naturally. They always do.

A cop could walk up to a woman pushing her baby in a stroller, shoot the baby in the head, rape the woman, and then beat her senseless and copsuckers would say “well, what did she do to provoke him?”

[Matrix]

NYPD detective storms into a Brooklyn house and tackles a woman after he mistakes her lollipop for drugs

Let’s see copsuckers defend this shit.

[Calidissident]

4 strippers arrested by undercover cops in San Antonio for allegedly showing butt cracks

http://www.mysanantonio.com/ne…..073086.php

[Zeb]

That’s a good use of resources. I assume this means that they have solved all of the murder and robbery and rape cases.

[CE]

If they need free-lance help for additional investigations, they can contact me.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

From the article about the killing of three Muslims by an avowed atheist:

“Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said police were working “to determine whether hate was a motivating factor” in the shooting.”

Yeah, it may have been one of those routine disputes over parking spaces – the kind of dispute that ends up with three people shot dead.

You know, a love crime.

[Zeb]

The use of the word “hate” in things like “hate crime” is weird. “Bias crime” or something like that is probably more accurate. Most real hate is personal and has nothing to do with race or religion or anything like that. I suppose I might be underestimating the hatefulness that is out there. But still “hate crime” is a bit too general for what the laws are really about.

[Paul.]

Yemen continues to deteriorate. Rebels seized U.S. embassy vehicles as diplomats flee the country and embassies shutter.

Fake Skandal!

[MarySHolton]

my best friend’s ex-wife makes $65 an hour on the computer . She has been without a job for seven months but last month her check was $13740 just working on the computer for a few hours. try this…………..

????? http://www.netpay20.com