It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Democratic National Convention, 50 Shades of Stupid, Homeless Libertarians: P.M. Links

Watch Reason's Lenore Skenazy talk a worried parent into letting his kids walk to the store by themselves.

• 

  FX

  The Democratic National Convention has selected Philadelphia to host its 2016 hootenanny. Now if only it would select a suitable candidate. I suggest one of these highly relevant folks.

• Uh oh: Students at a Pittsburgh school somehow obtained a 50 Shades of Grey word puzzle. Parents are upset. The usual suspects are offended. Quick, call your Congressman!
• The Senate has confirmed Ashton Carter as Secretary of Defense.
• But Republicans are holding up Loretta Lynch's confirmation as Attorney General.
• Homeless libertarians are descending upon Washington, D.C. for the International Students for Liberty conference.
• Watch Reason's Lenore Skenazy talk a worried parent into letting his kids walk to the store by themselves.

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]

The Democratic National Convention has selected Philadelphia to host its 2016 hootenanny.

Perfect choice.

[Winston]

The only they have produced is a boxing movie and a broken bell.

[Enough About Palin]

My friend Laurie licked the Liberty Bell back in 1981. One can no longer do that.

[Rhywun]

That pretty well sums up the state of liberty in the USA.

[Rich]

This. Everyone knows you can't get AIDS from licking a bell.

[paranoid android]

But you can get throat cancer from licking a belle...

[Los Doyers]

Not if you have your HPV shots. Unfortunately only us millennials can get them. So stick that in your poll and smoke it, brah.

[hamilton]

I was wondering about that (for a friend, I mean). Doesn't work on us gen X'ers?

[Careless]

It works fine. People with multiple sexual partners are just highly likely to have already been infected with the virus, so it's generally not worth the effort to get vaccinated at that point.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

hamilton, I think the idea is we've no doubt already been exposed to HPV so it would do us no good. If you haven't had that many partners (and those you've had weren't, all that promiscuous) I don't see why it wouldn't work.

[Coeus]

Insurance won't cover it, unfortunately. and it requires some expensive boosters.

[Los Doyers]

NO. NO SHOTS FOR OLDZ. we r teh fewcher.

[waffles]

So those things you told me about Epi's mom weren't true?

[Enough About Palin]

Yes. Yes it does.

[creech]

The crime rate is already high enough in Phila. without importing thousands of more crooks for a week.

[Los Doyers]

Free cheesesteaks for all college students! Or something.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"The streets are flooded with the ejaculate of the homeless, and you people are counting on the Democrats?"

[Los Doyers]

Well if the rethuglicans hadn't slashed funding for the jizz levees, this whole disaster would've been avoided.

[Rich]

ejaculate of the homeless

Nice band name.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

I'm fine with this as long as they hold it Kensington.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Students at a Pittsburgh school somehow obtained a 50 Shades of Grey word puzzle.

At least they're not in Filthadelphia.

[Tonio]

Did they even understand it? Was it in English or Yinzer?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

"Look, do you want your kids to learn about BDSM on the street corner, where they'll pick up all kinds of wrong information, or here at school, where we practice dominance and submission all day long?"

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Senate has confirmed Ashton Carter as Secretary of Defense.

Punk'd!

[CE]

What does his wife Mila, the Queen of the Galaxy, think about this?

[rts]

Witnesses: Man killed by Pasco police running from officers

PASCO, Wash. - The fatal police shooting Tuesday in Pasco has sparked protests by those accusing police of brutality in killing a man who tried to run after throwing rocks at officers.

Don't watch the video. Just don't.

[Gene]

Damnit and you warned me too.

Fuck, that's murder.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Apologist logic: Why did the dumbass run?

Spin logic: We felt threatened!

Occam's Razor: They killed/murdered an unarmed man without cause looks like.

[Catatafish]

Those rocks must've had a pistol-grip and collapsible stock.

Nope, nope. Can't even joke that one away. Jesus Christ.

[MJGreen]

The message I take from this: if you're running from the cops, keep on running. If you stop, that's a sign of aggression and they will start firing.

[HeteroPatriarch]

If you run far enough that one of the fat fucks gets a stitch, that's also a sign of aggression and they will start firing.

[ace_m82]

It's really hard to shoot someone running away with a pistol after a chase. Just keep running.

[CE]

You know who else was gunned down in the street after throwing rocks at officers?

[Entropy Void]

The Weimar Republic?

[Winston]

http://www.theguardian.com/com.....to-realise

Joe Hockey, the treasurer, now concedes he may not be able to deliver his promised budget surplus any time in the foreseeable future. This news is good for private savings because, when the government runs a surplus, the non-government sector must run a deficit.

This is a simple reality of macro-economic accounting. There are only so many Australian dollars. If the government taxes more than it spends (a surplus), it is taking more dollars out of the private sector than it is putting in. Assuming exports equal imports those dollars can come from only one place ? private domestic savings. Everyone's surplus is somebody else's deficit.

[Rich]

Everyone's surplus is somebody everybody else's deficit.

"F"TFY

[Rufus J. Firefly]

WAIT.

Is his name really Joe Hockey?

AWESOME.

[The Last American Hero]

What is he, Johnny Manziel's Canadian Cousin?

[CE]

Don Mattingly's great nephew.

[Gordilocks]

I arrived in Australia for my latest gig here last May. The relatively new Abbott government had just released it's first budget for fiscal year 2015 (their fiscal year end is June 30. Ozzies ...) One morning I go and get a newspaper (how quaint) and the huge boldface headline was HOCKEY BUDGET RELEASED, and my Kanadian brain was like 'The NHL expanded to Perth?'

[HeteroPatriarch]

This news is good for private savings because, when the government runs a surplus, the non-government sector must run a deficit.

This is Marcotte-level reasoning.

[Injun, as in from India]

The New Spoils System

When public employees unionize, they are driven to try to manage legislators who are supposed to be managing them for the sake of the citizenry. Government unions make campaign contributions and organize get-out-the-vote drives to elect politicians who then act as "management" in negotiations. Politicians agree to generous contracts for public workers; those workers then pay their union dues?a portion of which is funneled back into those same politicians' campaign war chests. This creates a pernicious cycle that is hard to break.

Well worth the read.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I notice we all read and link to conservative publications.

Why is that?

Personally, I've always found them, on average, better than the liberal ones.

[John]

They are the only ones willing to talk about certain issues. If Mother Jones were willing to tell the truth about unions, I am sure someone would link to them.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Most of you are conservatives. Team Red lapdogs.

[Injun, as in from India]

You hit the nail on the head, PB!

We are all mindless drones who are in the pocket of Team Red.

The whole socially liberal, fiscally conservative, anti-war thing is just a charade. The truth is that we are racist, sexist, homophobic, puppets of the plutocracy. Useful idiots as some say.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm conservative.

WHO KNEW?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Look at the assholes who defend Bush here 24/7 and then try to tell me they are libertarian and not Team Red lapdogs.

To Team Red partisans Libya is worse than Iraq, Obama created the PATRIOT Act, Cheney authorized torture and Obama started it, and the deficit is growing each year under Obama instead of shrinking.

It is Bizarro World - Fact Free Conservative Fun Time!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

What are you going on about? I've NEVER seen anyone here defend Bush.

EVER.

[Restoras]

Rufus, Teh Weigel is not sentient. It has no ability to reason or think logically. It merely repeats phrases that generate responses.

Just ignore it.

[Careless]

What I'm getting from your list is that there are no conservatives here. Also, that you really suck at the whole "arguing" thing, probably because you're an idiot.

[lap83]

Even conservatives don't defend Bush that much.

[Enough About Palin]

"Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland by the joint operation of the army and people!"...

[JW]

"Forward! Forward we will march, into the spinning propeller blades!"

[Catatafish]

Eat my red asshole, PB. I won't even do you the courtesy of wearing one of Jesse's mint-flavored bleach rings either.

[Enough About Palin]

You know, I hit the link ysterday from that that led to an Amazon ad for three-ring punch reenforcement rings and now I get ads for them on the side of websites that are not Reason.

[Catatafish]

Does anyone else on here get strange banner ads? I understand why I get kickball league ones (I'm using Chrome and I get WAKA e-mails in Gmail) but I also keep seeing Asian and Russian dating/marriage sites when I'm on Reason.

When I want a mail-order bride I always go the Scots/Irish/Scandinavian route. Google is clearly slacking on their analytics.

[HeteroPatriarch]

WAKA? World Association of Kickball Associations?

[Trouser-Pod]

...an Amazon ad

Er, sorry about that, EAP (my link).

/slinks away

[Winston]

Because they seem to acknowledge that increasing spending taxation, government programs and regulations is not the automatic solution to everything. At least when they don't have the White House that is.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Why indeed?

[John]

There is nothing stopping you from linking to all those leftist publications concerned about government spending, regulation, economic freedom, privacy, and such.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Actually, I read a fair amount of conservative cites and I read liberal ones too. I've always been impressed with the common ground on a place like Think Progress. They're full of stories critical of the police, for privacy and such.

[John]

Then link to the articles that show that or shut the fuck up. I don't read Think Progress. If you do and there is all of this pro small government material in it, enlighten us with it. No one is stopping you. If you are unwilling to make an effort to do that, however, you have no standing to complain about the imbalance of links since you are contributing to the problem.

[tarran]

In my experience conservative publications are batshit insane about 75% of the time.

The progressive publications seem to be batshit insane 98% of the time.

With progressive publications seemingly on a kamikaze mission to editorially deep-throat any idiocy coming out of the Obama administration, I've been finding them particularly worthless for the past few years.

They were far more bearable during the Bush administration when they pretended to care about civil rights.

[robc]

In my experience conservative publications are batshit insane about 75% of the time.

Except for the Weekly Standard, which pushes than 98% plateau.

[Palin's Buttplug]

So that liberal rag 'The New York Times' is batshit insane 98% of the time?

No, you are.

[C. Anacreon]

Awesome, PB! Is your next witty riposte "I know you are but what am I?"

How about "I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you."?

[Restoras]

Teh Weigel isn't sentient. It merely repeats phrases that generate responses. I will admit that last one is pretty rare but it also worked. Clearly it's programmers were very, very tired the day they wrote the code for that response.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Conservatives are famous for living in a fact-free cocoon where the NY Times, CBS, ABC et. al. are "liberal" propaganda and Creationism and Republicanism must never be questioned.

Wikipedia is evil so there must be a Conservapedia. Fox News is fair and balanced (the biggest sham of all) and Obama is a Muslim Kenyan Atheist Socialist Anti-Colonial America-Hating Imposter.

That shit is prevalent here.

[The Last American Hero]

Prevalent? It's probably only about 8% of the posts.

[Old Man With Candy]

True. 8% of the posters are creationist Republicans. Eight percent!

[HeteroPatriarch]

Conservatives are "Famous" for living in a fact-free cocoon! HuffPo, Slate and Media Matters all say so!

[Enough About Palin]

"I notice we all read and link to conservative publications."

You mean like Gawker and Salon and Jezabel and Think Progress and...

[HeteroPatriarch]

Don't forget Vox and Raw Story.

[Juice]

Unlike private sector unions and other interest groups, public sector unions get to bargain collectively with their employers (the first bite) and then they get to influence those on the other side of the bargaining table through electioneering, fundraising, and lobbying (the second bite). Private sector unions only really get one bite (at the bargaining table) as they try to directly improve the material conditions of their members. Other interest groups, such as the National Rifle Association or the Sierra Club, get to electioneer, fundraise, and lobby, but they don't get to bargain collectively.

But that's not right. Private sector unions lobby and contribute to campaigns all the time.

[Tonio]

WaPo Headline: Hey, can somebody in D.C. let this nice young Libertarian crash on their couch?

If only Warty were there.

[Injun, as in from India]

Remember Walker's Evolution punt?

The Federalist's Sean Davis nails self-righteous journos to the wall over Walker evolution non-scandal

The second you ask one of these poorly educated clowns to specifically define their terms, you will be greeted with a blank stare.

Tell us, @morningmoneyben, do you believe in punctuated equilibrium, or constant gradualism? Feel free to use math to defend your view.

Just saying "Evolution good" doesn't make you a scientist or pro-science, @morningmoneyben. It makes you a parrot, w/ similar understanding.

LOL.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The guy wouldn't answer a direct question put to him about one of the most important scientific theories of the past few hundred years. That's hardly laudable too.

[tarran]

Given that it's utterly irrelevant to one's qualifications for higher office, I think it's good he refused to answer.

Simmilarly if someone were to ask a politician if he were gay, and he were to refuse to answer, I'd find that laudable as well.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

If a Democratic had acted in a similarly spineless and stupid way he'd be raked over the coals here. At the least he could have said he didn't believe in it and stood by his convictions.

[robc]

Bullshit.

We also dont care if they have diplomas.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It's a craven thing to do.

'I don't want to upset some of my base, but I don't want to seem non-science, so I will literally say I punt.'

[robc]

How about, "Fuck if I know, I havent taken a biology class since 9th grade. Ask me a plasma physics questions instead."

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It's just such a particularly cowardly response. He gave his opinion on other matters than trade, but on this one literally punted for fear of saying the wrong thing to someone.

This is going to be your conservative white knight?

[robc]

Me?

Im voting for Rand or Johnson.

Why would I need a conservative white knight?

I havent voted for a GOP candidate for Prez since 1988. Im making a big exception for Paul.

[kinnath]

I desperately want to make a big exception for Paul in 2016.

[The Last American Hero]

Unless they claim to have diplomas from Very Prestigious Institutions, in which case it might be nice to see a transcript. Just sayin'.

[John]

So would I. It is such a transparently bullshit question. They just wanted Walker to say something to offend SOCONs and he told them to fuck off instead. They are just butt hurt he didn't take their bait.

How about we start asking Democrats whether they believe in the laws of supply and demand? That should produce some interesting answers.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

If one of them answered 'I'm here to for another reason' we'd rightly laugh at them.

Rush has given his orders so let's all defend this guy.

[tarran]

Rush has given his orders so let's all defend this guy.

That's it. You're done.

Have fun talking to yourself in reasonable you worthless scumbag.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Stop crying, young lady!

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Notice that conservatives here say far worse things along the lines of 'Rush has told you to do X so you're doing X' but it's this that makes tarran 'done.'

These people do a better job of making my point than I do.

[John Titor]

And Bo has managed to devolve to the level of Buttplug.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Watch out there John, you might be seen as expressing a view on evolution with that 'devolved' word!

[John Titor]

Watch out there Bo, you might be seen as an utter cunt for acting like one!

[Entropy Void]

Yup.

[Los Doyers]

Don't show it any attention or emotion. Those with particularly horrid personality disorders go absolutely mad when you ignore them. Imagine Gollum, but tubbier.

[John Paul Jones]

Most useful extension on the chrome store

[C. Anacreon]

I don't defend anyone based on the command of a power trio.

[robc]

It might work in Canada, but not here.

[John]

Yeah. Everyone on here is all about bullshit gotcha questions and credentialism, except when it comes to Walker.

Have you lost your mind? Seriously, you actually think anyone is going to do anything but laugh at you when you say that?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I'm going to have to punt on that!

[Enough About Palin]

Hey Bo, you worthless piece of intellectual excrement, this is for you:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

It's an attempt to paint them as creationist by default you stupid, stupid cunt.

[John Titor]

As I was saying yesterday, every time someone talks about supporting evolution, immediately ask their views on abiogenesis and what their opinion is on panspermia hypothesis and the Clay models.

[Rich]

"Would you please sign this petition to ban meiosis?"

[waffles]

I still don't understand how any of this makes evolution incompatible with creation. If I were a believer it would just show that my God is way more awesome than writers a few thousand years ago could have imagined.

[PapayaSF]

True, but if you are hardcore enough you can interpret the Bible to mean that God created animals as they are, and that evolution didn't happen.

[John Titor]

"Look, God is so awesome, he managed to throw a meteorite just right into the earth to allow the propagation of life and the development of humankind millions of years later. Then he went and got trashed with Xenu on the Planet of the Space Nipples."

You have a point there.

[gaijin]

agree...literalism seems to be the dividing line.

[John]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....rgery.html

Loyal dog tries to save owner from the horrors of the British NHS

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

I hate to criticize anyone's snark, John, but Cedar Rapids, Iowa, isn't part of the NHS.

Yet.

[John]

It was the Daily Fail, I just assumed it was in Britain. Good catch. I never got much passed the pictures of the cute dog.

[tarran]

Loyal dog tries to save owner from the horrors of the British NHS

A dog's nose is truly an amazing thing.

The dog probably smelled the hospital on the clothes of relatives coming back from visits, and had a sense of the direction to the hospital from having that same smell carried by the wind in the past.

[lap83]

that is the cutest thing I've seen all week

[Rich]

The puzzle became public when several parents complained about it at Tuesday night's school board meeting, then word spread quickly.

Word's not the only thing that spread quickly
***wink-wink-nudge-nudge***

[CE]

Like all the moms hadn't already read the book.

[Irish]

Law and Order does episode on Gamergate, hilarity ensues.

"Anyways, these two Icky Gamers sexually assault the same girl in a bathroom stall just a few minutes later in a weirdly empty bathroom for such a crowded event. She's discovered by the female SVU detective who asks her what they did to her.

"They leveled up," the sexual assault victim says"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The episode also contains lines like "They uploaded it through the darknet" and "Shooting a gun in a game is like shooting one in real life."

Oh, and the Gamers are part of a sexist gamer terrorist group that kidnaps a female game developer and they have a flag that is suspiciously similar to ISIS.

[paranoid android]

The Gamers are super high-tech. They use the "Darknet" to make sure everything they do is totally untraceable. Scary! And they post their awful videos to Redchanit which, I mean, come on people is this for real?

Oh God, that is just...I really, really want to have a conversation with the writer who put "redchanit" in that script.

[Rhywun]

Huh, the "loosely inspired" version of Gamergate sounds a lot more interesting than the real thing was.

[John Titor]

This reminds me a lot of that time CSI did a furry episode and a bunch of furries got pissed.

[Tonio]

Did they unleash a furry fury?

[Rich]

I saw that one!

SPOILER ALERT

Mistaken for a coyote and shot.

[Hey Nikki!]

I learned everything I know about furries from that episode.

[Rhywun]

Maybe they'll have a reunion episode - furry terrorist group vs. gamer terrorist group. Two stereotypes walk in, one walks out.

[Catatafish]

I loved that episode.

[MJGreen]

I haven't seen that. I got all my furry knowledge from Bob's Burgers.

[PapayaSF]

Really? I think the real one was (and still is) quite interesting.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Well Done, L&OSVU;, well done.

[John Titor]

Quick, we need to download this air traffic control software, or thousands of planes will just crash!

[Rich]

And *that*, kids, is why we have Wi-Fi!

[MJGreen]

...What the hell was that??

[John Titor]

Downloading air traffic control software, duh. Don't you know how computers work?

/Hacker writers.

[creech]

L&O jumped the shark a long time ago.
Once Mike Moriarity and then Jerry Orbach left, it was downhill.

[The Last American Hero]

I was out when Jill Hennesey left.

[Entropy Void]

Angie Harmon, bitch.

[John Titor]

Mazes and Monsters is a far-out game. Swords, poison, spells, battles, maiming, killing.

[waffles]

*grins ear-to-ear*

[Restoras]

What, no bodice-ripping? I am disappoint.

[Catatafish]

I can remember having a dinner table conversation with my parents when I was nine or so about my wanting to buy a D&D set. My folks are intelligent people but Jesus Christ surer than shit they spouted off all the "that game causes kids to go on ax-murdering sprees" nonsense. Part of me wonders if the second you become a parent you become even more susceptible to that tripe.

[gaijin]

Part of me wonders if the second you become a parent you become even more susceptible to that tripe.

It's like becoming a parent is the anti-teenager when it comes to rationalizing risk.

[Restoras]

No, I think it has more to do with not knowing anything about it. Something new comes along and since they didn't grow up with it, they get all squinty-eyed and skeptical.

See also, jazz, rock and roll, comic books, video games...

[OldMexican]

So these gamers kidnap a high profile female game developer, Raina Punjabi, during her game launch (for her fictional Amazonian Warriors RPG, which is a non-violent game because of course women who play games don't like violence!)

Don't let anybody criticize you again when you argue that little red Marxians on the left and right coast live inside hermetic bubbles because UP THERE IS THE PROOF!

[Catatafish]

"Ripped From the Headlines We've Twisted to Make This a Hamfisted Social Commentary."

(DUHN-DUHN!)

[Stormy Dragon]

I wonder if the guy who wrote the DUHN DUHN gets paid every time they play it.

[Entropy Void]

(DUHN-DUHN!)

Wasn't that Maury Povich's golf swing played backwards or something?

[Fist of Etiquette]

ENB is on it.

[Winston]

Nice to Gillespie is being all anti-establishment in his Jon Stewart post...oh wait no he isn't.

[rts]

RCMP watchdog raps Mounties over High River gun seizures during 2013 flood

Under the Criminal Code, such seizures did not require a court-approved warrant, but officers failed to take the necessary next step of reporting their actions to a judge.

In addition, RCMP members exceeded their authority by seizing some guns that were properly secured or that were not "in plain view," the commission found.

In all, 609 firearms were taken from 105 homes.

What a country.

[Tonio]

They'll just shoot the dog. Oh, wait...but still maybe.

[Libertarian]

Didn't NOLA beat them to it during Katrina?

[Stormy Dragon]

RCMP watchdog raps

NWEh?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

That earned a snort. Well done.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The Peaceful Kingdom y'all.

[Episiarch]

I completely vote for Charlie.

"Hello fellow American. This you should vote me. I leave power. Good. Thank you, thank you. If you vote me, I'm hot. What? Taxes, they'll be lower...soon. The Democratic vote is the right thing to do Philadelphia, so do."

[Riven]

I was just thinking Charlie would make an excellent President.

[Episiarch]

Politics is just one big ass-blast, dude.

[Los Doyers]

He'll get to the *bottom* of who's pooping in your bed.

[Riven]

"Wait a second... who cut taxes?!"

"I did! Wildcard, bitches!"

[Bam!]

This country has a lot of Charlie work needing to be done.

[Bam!]

This country has a lot of Charlie work needing to be done.

[Winston]

So Sheldon Richman uses Gareth Porter as a source in his Brian Williams post. Seriously? The same Gareth Porter was an apologist for the Khmer Rouge and denied that the North Vietnamese massacred anybody when they conquered South Vietnam?

[Irish]

Richman will believe literally any source provided that source doesn't like the US or Israel.

[John]

You act like Sheldon doesn't also believe those things.

[Winston]

Funny that he called the Vietnam War genocidal when more Vietnamese fled North Vietnamese rule than were killed in the war.

[Tonio]

Richman wrote the foreward for Walter Williams' translation of Bastiat's The Law. Was Richman once libertarian?

[Winston]

?

[Injun, as in from India]

But Republicans are holding up Loretta Lynch's confirmation as Attorney General.

I'm waiting for Joe Biden to make a race-baiting comment on that.

[Tonio]

Why just a race-baiting one? Any Joe Biden comment is its own reward.

[Injun, as in from India]

The race baiting part was a reference to this execrable comment of his.

[Libertarian]

Will he say that she's "clean" and "articulate"?

[Tonio]

Don't tease us, L.

[Rich]

"Clean and articulate ever since she been smelling' herself."

[John Titor]

I suggest one of these highly relevant folks.

Check your privilege Reason, some of us live in Canuckistan or Quebexico and can't view that page.

[Entropy Void]

My condolences.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Horrifying Link of the Day.

- A Utah mother pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges she murdered six of her newborn infants over the course of a decade and stuffed their bodies into cardboard boxes in the garage of her home.

[Riven]

... I'm just going to go home and hug my dog now.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

I keep wondering if one day on American Pickers they'll go somewhere and open "Dad's old storage shed - he never let any of us in here" and discover good old Dad was a serial killer.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The Democratic National Convention has selected Philadelphia to host its 2016 hootenanny.

Should be plenty of college drop outs there from whom they can find a great candidate. Heck, maybe they can one up Walker and find a high school drop out?

[John]

Yeah, hiring someone for a job based on their accomplishments and experience rather than what they did in their 20s. That is such a crazy idea, it just might work.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Like I said then, don't skip over those high school grads John. Aim high!

[Irish]

Anyone who thinks a college degree is necessary for any job outside of something technical/medical is an idiot.

You don't need a college degree to write. H.L. Mencken dropped out of high school and took a shitty correspondence class in writing through the mail. Who's been a more important journalist, Bo, Mencken or the the dipshits Colombia Journalism School churns out every year?

The worst thing to happen to this country in a long time is forcing people who don't need college for their jobs to go to college. It sends people into debt and wastes four years of their lives for no reason.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

"Anyone who thinks a college degree is necessary for any job outside of something technical/medical is an idiot."

How many management jobs have 'bachelors degree required or preferred' in the job description?

I guess all those companies are just idiots.

[Coeus]

How many management jobs

Most have master's requirements (outside of service industry)

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Yup

[robc]

Yes, they are.

Blind credentialism == idiotic.

In my old company, of the four partners, two were college dropouts. Both have since moved on to large organizations which value their experience and not a fuck was given about their college experience.

[Restoras]

robc is correct. The 'college required' credential has more to do with the disappearance of aptitude tests (wait for it...because they were unfair!!!) than it does because college prepares you for anything, outside of technical disciplines, of course.

It used to be that you didn't need to go to law school to be a lawyer. Just clerk for several years, learn your trade, pass the bar, and boom, lawyer.

[Irish]

No, they're responding to incentives.

What's happened Bo, and you would know this if you could think rationally rather than just idiotically trolling, is that the cheap money the government gives people to go to college incentives businesses to use a college degree as sifting mechanism. If people didn't have cheap, government financed means of going to college, the business would just train workers themselves rather than relying on college credentials.

Secondly, businesses have actually been precluded from using other means of finding workers. Since Griggs v. Duke Power, businesses have been hesitant to use any sort of aptitude testing due to the possibility of discrimination lawsuits.

So no, they're responding to incentives. The people who put those incentives in place are idiots. And you're an idiot for not realizing these relatively obvious facts and just pulling this troll routine you love so much.

[PapayaSF]

Irish is correct, as he often is.

[Restoras]

Yes, Irish nailed it.

[Irish]

British Bo circa 1750: "I say, good sir, the military's ranking officers are largely taken from the aristocratic classes. If those who were not aristocrats made effective officers, don't you think the army would allow them to advance up the ranks?"

We're basically constructing a second aristocratic class which is as incompetent as the old aristocratic class but fancies itself more legitimate because members wrongfully believe they've 'earned' it.

Bo thinks this is great because he delusionally believes he'll be allowed to join the club.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

And if you had a lick of understanding of management, you would understand that this has nothing to do with the actual skills imparted in your average bachelor's program and everything to do with filtering for candidates. *greater than* High School is a pretty good way to weed out most of the people you wouldn't trust with a shredding machine -- which is most of the people educated in our glorious government-provided low income institutions for success. As dumb as you and most of this college-educated generation have proven themselves, I'm sure y'all could run a scanner, fetch coffee and smile politely at an entry-level position without too much difficulty.

And hey, that's not nothing. Be proud of your accomplishments.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Oh, and not to be politically incorrect or anything but if they were allowed to do so many businesses would probably use race, ethnicity, gender, religion, zip code and any number of impolitic measures as proxies for intelligence over college degrees, excepting degrees which impart specific information relevant to the position (e.g., engineering or accounting degrees for the appropriate position).

That said, I suspect that sans Griggs vs Duke Power (as Irish alludes to), the standard preference would be a given IQ score along the normal distribution + proven accomplishments over bachelor's degrees or other proxies.

[Enough About Palin]

"or preferred"

Christ what a moron.

[Tonio]

Colombia Journalism School

You mean the one in Bogot

[Pro Libertate]

This is the bus to Cartagena.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The same Colombia degree the chick who verbally tongued Soave over that fake rape story had. I forget her name.

[Marshall Gill]

the chick who verbally tongued Soave

Rufus, I realize that you are like 100 or something but usually having yourself "tongued" is a good thing.

Trashed? Tarnished? Transgressed?

[Tonio]

Rufus, dude, seems like that word "tongued" might have a different meaning down here in subarctic North America.

[Catatafish]

It's like Beverly Hills Upstairs Medical College.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

I suppose it's not surprising that a law student titling himself Esquire would be a credentialist, but it is frankly pathetic.

Though by that rubric, I suppose that whenever any of us shits on Bo's pathetic arguments we can simply abandon any attempt to construct a rebuttal and simply say "Masters in statistics, bitch" instead.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

"we can simply abandon any attempt to construct a rebuttal"

You might want to start doing that first before you abandon it.

[Irish]

You know less about credentialism than you do about foreign affairs, and I didn't think it was possible for anyone to know less about foreign affairs than you do.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not slogging into this nonsense except to note that our current president is one of the worst we've ever had, and he has excellent credentials. As did, incidentally, George W. Bush.

[The Laconic]

Bo, you're ignorant of your own ignorance.

Go read, oh, anything at Econlog that Bryan Caplan has written on credentialism, or more generally, education. Then think about it.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Masters in statistics. Bitch.

[Libertymike]

Bo, you as much called me a Rush Limbaugh lemming in the Walker thread. WTF?

You know that I have defended you on several occasions. Sure, I agree with you more than most of the commentariat here, but, my friend, how can you call me a Rush lemming and expect to maintain your credibility?

[tarran]

Sure, I agree with you more than most of the commentariat here, but, my friend, how can you call me a Rush lemming and expect to maintain your credibility?

He can't. That's why every day the pool of people willing to entertain what he has to write shrinks.

[Entropy Void]

Ever so.

[John Titor]

We get it, you're a credentialist snob who's incapable of judging people by their ability rather than their title. Fortunately some people are more mature than you.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The partisanship of the right leaners here has gone into bizarro world.

You'd need a college degree to land a job as a manager almost anywhere. But reporting on a guy who doesn't have one wanting to be the President is just the evil, MSM picking on poor conservatives.

[Tonio]

Bo, I agree with you more (which still isn't much) than any of the other regulars, despite your obnoxiousness. Despite, Bo, remember that.

[John Titor]

And people have repeatably called on you the fact that many non-technical jobs that 'require college degrees' don't require college degrees.

The partisanship of the right leaners here has gone into bizarro world.

Grow up. I'm not a 'right leaner' and your childish strawmanning is pathetic. Stop constructing easy targets and then pretending that you brilliantly destroyed them in debate.

But reporting on a guy who doesn't have one wanting to be the President is just the evil, MSM picking on poor conservatives

Yes, people who don't think a college degree is necessary are just going through a victim complex. Again, grow up Bo.

But apparently Bo the Libertarian is more willing to collectize people based on their credentials than on their individual achievements.

Hmmm, I'm sensing a pattern here. Bo pats himself on the back for his superiority, acts like an obnoxious prick, strawmans his opponents, and then pretends that he's won the debate. It's almost like he's the dysfunctional one.

[Freedom Frog]

I never went to college and I'm the general manager at a very busy, very popular, 2 story, privately owned, Irish Tavern with about $2 million annually in revenue in the Financial District of NYC. I'm 35.

The only post-HS thing I've ever taken was a few courses to be an APICS certified planner when I worked for Intel about 13 years ago (I was 22 then).

I ended up not finishing it because another company....wait for it....made me their fucking Logistics Manager.

IOW, you're an elitist dipshit. I have no idea how the posters here deal with your dumbassery.

[Restoras]

Do you mean to say, Freedom Frog, that you simply worked hard, took advantage of opportunities, and applied your aptitudes - and that made you a success???

I call bullshit! Everyone knows you need a fancy degree in (insert category titles here) Management to get anywhere in Downtown Manhattan!

[Freedom Frog]

Pretty much. I even did a good chunk of it hungover.

I should also add that I started in my current line of work at 28. Became a bar back at a bar in Brooklyn and 7 years later here I am. Hard work slays any piece of paper. but I don't see Bo coming around to that conclusion any time soon.

[mauricegirodias]

I am a huge, huge fan of privately-owned Irish taverns in NYC. I will not be visiting your city until May (Book Expo America), but if you mention a name, I'll certainly put it on the list.

I tend to crash in Long Island City 'cuz half the parties are in the Flatiron District/Soho, and the other half in Williamsburg. Nights usually end at those authentic Irish joints around Roosevelt Blvd. near 60th or so in Queens, and mornings after, other individuals vow never to drink with me (again). A vow that is kept until next BEA.

[Freedom Frog]

Hit me up when you're in town.

A few of my co-workers live in that part of Queens. The cooks in kitchen love that area too, and none of them are Irish.

[MJGreen]

Name the tavern, bro!

Then give Hit'n'Runners a 50% discount!

[The Laconic]

You'd need a college degree to land a job as a manager almost anywhere.

You don't understand why that is, and so you don't understand why it's irrelevant here.

(And in any case, it's flat-out false. Start your own business, and you can get a job as a manager without so much as a high school degree.)

[Catatafish]

No, Bo, you don't "need" it, you are largely "required to have" it. There's a difference. You should know better than most that we used to be able to "read the law" in order to work in our profession. Personally, I probably learned more in one summer of clerking than I did in my entire first year in law school. But without a credentialing apparatus it's harder to charge extortionate amounts of money from people who are trained to believe that's the avenue to success. It also would make it harder to set up the current licensing and market protection racket.

[Old Man With Candy]

work in our profession

It's not his profession. He's still a student, but one who is so enamored with credentials that he faked his degree on his handle. Assuming it's a "he" and not a poor quality AI Troll program.

[CE]

Make all the Dem candidates punch a frozen side of beef and chase a chicken around a boxing ring and I might watch.

[Rich]

Police say longtime "60 Minutes" correspondent Bob Simon wasn't wearing a seatbelt when he was killed in a car crash in New York City. ?. Seatbelts aren't required in livery vehicles.

They will be soon. "Bob's Law."

[expat]

"You don't want double talk... you want Bob Loblaw!"

[Rich]

LOBL

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Why people don't buckle up in "limos" I don't know. Sure, the back seat is safer - if you're buckled. Just ask Princess Diana. Oh, wait.

[Restoras]

Yes, sometimes I take a car service home from work after a late night and I always wear a seat belt in the back set. The drivers are terrifying.

[Freedom Frog]

Same here. I use a Chinatown company for where I'm at now. Some are just fine, others (like last night) think it's the Indy 500.

[l0b0t]

I never wore a seat belt in a service car until I had a ride across Brooklyn from a very young looking driver (who, in retrospect was either using a relation's car or had just stolen one) who seemed to be tweaking pretty hard, blew through most of the red lights/stop signs, and kept up a steady stream of talk about how he was Trini and "Trinis don't play!" and long-winded ethnic slurs about Dominicans. Now I match driver's face to the license and wear my belt.

[Trouser-Pod]

Let's ask a professional!

[Aloysious]

If Fifty Shades of Grey is such a thing, how come there isn't a renewed interest in the Marquis de Sade?

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

The man had a way with women. I'm not saying a *good* way, but he kinda fits in with that crowd.

[Riven]

Because Fifty Shades is BDSM-lite.

Handcuffs, tape, and a little rope do not a Dom-sub relationship make.

[Aloysious]

I confess to being unfamiliar with that whole scene. thing.

I do understand the fantasy aspect of it, a little, I guess.

[Coeus]

Ehh, lifestyle seems to be quite a chore. If you want to tell someone what to do all the time and do all their thinking for them, just have children and run them out of the house when they're teenagers.

Seems better just to keep it to the bedroom.

[mauricegirodias]

de Sade's far too literate for the 50 Shades audience. That said, my sales are up a lot this month. Thanks, mommy porn!

[Aloysious]

The first two books on your site: Taffy Truelove and Slaves to Oral Sex? I know where I am hanging out this evening.

[mauricegirodias]

Got eight more coming. Taffy wasn't bad, a knockoff of Candy, one of 30 such.

[Irish]

De Sade was too good a writer.

"There is no more lively sensation than that of pain; its impressions are certain and dependable, they never deceive as may those of the pleasure women perpetually feign and almost never experience."

The type of person who reads Fifty Shades would be confused by this. Also, De Sade was a pervy libertarian!

"Social order at the expense of liberty is hardly a bargain."

You tell them, Marquis!

[John]

De Sade was a nut but an interesting one.

[Aloysious]

Interesting points. Yes, he could write rather well, and talking about liberty would chase off most of the bed-wetters...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

De Sade: Well, fuck I didn't think th'idiots woulda stormed the Bastille! Who listens to crazies anyway?

[The Other Kevin]

Mrs. The Other Kevin read about half of 50 Shades of Grey, then had to put it down because she thought the writing was terrible, and was frustrated that the main character was so stupid. Maybe that is an indication of the type of people who love the book.

[Rich]

Just tell her to relax and enjoy it.

[Restoras]

I see what you did there...

[John]

My wife downloaded the free sample on Kindle. The writing is awful. It is bad even for a soft core porn book.

The only reason the book sold so well is because it was the only place where women could find something besides boring genderless sex. It had a monopoly on a huge pent up demand.

[paranoid android]

The only reason the book sold so well is because it was the only place where women could find something besides boring genderless sex. It had a monopoly on a huge pent up demand.

Wha? I think the hard-working smut-smiths at Harlequin Enterprises would object to that!

[Rich]

genderless sex

Do tell.

[John]

Feminist approved female empowering sex Rich

[John Titor]

Well, it was originally bad Twilight fanfiction, so those qualities are kind of a required part of the narrative.

[John]

No shit?

[John Titor]

Yep.

[John]

Wow. Didn't know that. Thanks.

[mauricegirodias]

And an amazing triumph of marketing. They had the huge Twilight base, people were wondering if fanfic was even legal. Then a tiny publisher in Australia "Took A Chance" (likely owned by her agent.) But, out of the blue, Random House just had to snap it up. Squeee!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I wish I could find such a girl.

Not that I know anything about the shades in the book.

[Enough About Palin]

"then had to put it down because she thought the writing was terrible"

Gilbert Godfried reading it aloud proves it's Penthouse Forum at best.

[BardMetal]

The writing is just fucking awful. How come my erotic stories never get made into a movie?

[Warty]

Did anyone else ever read any of Tagliaferro's terrible Suki BDSM porn? Even that was slightly better than This crap.

[MJGreen]

Apparently, the redeeming feature of the movie is that the heroine is not such a submissive idiot. The AV Club's reviewer argues that she actually appears in charge of the situation and an equal to Grey.

[The Immaculate Trouser]

Guess who paid money to have this paragraph published?

I thought long and hard before selecting Andrew for the designation of most influential public intellectual. Perhaps Paul Krugman has changed more minds, but his agenda hasn't much changed the world; we haven't, for instance, gone back to do a bigger fiscal stimulus. Peter Singer led large numbers of people into vegetarianism and veganism and gave those practices philosophic respectability; he is second on my list.

Everything about this is wrong, but I do take some small pleasure in the fact that a gay blogger who spent the better part of a year obsessing over Sarah Palin's vagina won out over Krugman and Singer.

[Tonio]

You can take additional joy in the outrage this will provoke in gay proggie circles. If you think the SnoConez here were rough on Sully, you should have seen the filth which the SJWs heaped upon him.

[John]

Peter Singer led large numbers of people into vegetarianism and veganism and gave those practices philosophic respectability; he is second on my list.

He also advocates infanticide. That is like putting Adolf Hitler second on your list of favorite 20th Century leaders because he encouraged German people to buy cars.

[Winston]

He also advocates infanticide

Cytotoxic should be happy with that.

[Libertarian]

You know who else -- OOPS -- never mind.

[The Late P Brooks]

I notice we all read and link to conservative publications.

Why is that?

ECHO CHAMBER!!11

[Libertarian]

After spending most of my life in a world where I spun around anytime I heard the very word "libertarian", because it was so rare, I welcome this echo chamber!

True story: I had to make my own Ed Clark bumpersticker in 1980 with a stencil kit and construction paper.

Interesting trivia: Ed Clark's VP now helps fund Hit and Run!

[Coeus]

It's good that John Stewart is stepping down.

Again, there are times when this basic perspective is vital, when we need someone to bathe our government in light and mockery and challenge the dishonesty, incompetence, and self-seriousness of our leaders and elites. But this approach, which worked wonders during the Bush administration, isn't always the best one.

[Stormy Dragon]

But this approach, which worked wonders during the Bush administration, isn't always the best one.

Like any time a Republican isn't President.

[Coeus]

bingo

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Wow, so Stewart's flaw was that he didn't propagate hard enough for Democrats and liberals when they controlled government?

[John]

It almost makes you feel bad for Stewart. The guy gives up every shred or dignity and shame for the cause and it still wasn't good enough. He still didn't prog hard enough for these people.

[Mad Scientist]

They haven't won the day, despite their obviously superior ideas, and someone's to blame. It must be John Stewart!

[Stormy Dragon]

Mr. Vice President, I don't think that means what you think it means...

Biden Gives Shout Out to 'Old Butt Buddy' in Iowa

[Carl ?s the level]

China's Internet Censors Now Have Their Own Theme Song, And It Is Glorious

Keeping faithful watch under this sky, the Sun and the Moon
Undertaking this mission for the break of dawn [in the East]
Creating, embracing everyday clarity and brightness
Like a beam of incorruptible sunlight, touching our hearts
Uniting the powers of life from all creation
Offerings to the global village become the most beautiful of scenery
Internet Power! The Web is where glorious dreams are
Internet Power! From the distant cosmos to the home we long for
Internet Power! Tell the world that the China Dream is lifting Greater China to prominence
Internet Power! One self represents the nation to the world
In this world, all rivers loyally seek to return to the sea
Bearing the measure of Chinese civilization
5,000 years settle and give light to creative new thinking
Incorruptibility is the clear rippling of a nation
We unite at the center of Heaven and Earth
Belief and giving flow for thousands of miles down the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
Internet Power! The Web is where glorious dreams are
Internet Power! From the distant cosmos to the home we long for
Internet Power! Tell the world that the China Dream is lifting Greater China to prominence
Internet Power! One self represents the nation to the world

[Carl ?s the level]

From the comments (I can't say anything, of course):

Let me explain "????"?
???Network
??Strong or coerce or forceful or superior
??State or country or Nation

I think the author of this post use Google translator to have done this job, the "Internet power" is wrong. The possible positive translation of "????" can only be "Network superior State"."Internet Power" is misleading.

Because "Internet Power" makes Jasmine Revolution,which China's leaders are reluctant to talk about.

[Warty]

It's another Bopocalypse, I see. Remember, people, you don't have to inflict him on yourself. There can be an end to the horror. Just walk away.

[John]

They must really be terrified of Walker. This board isn't even that pro Walker. But all of the sudden it is all Bo can talk about. Must get the talking points out I guess.

[Irish]

Bo's just an ignorant snob who believes his law school graduation will prove he's super brilliant.

That's why he's such a credentialist. He can't prove his value through his wits, so he thinks that if he just gets the proper credentials, that will make up for the fact that he doesn't actually know anything.

[Libertymike]

You guys are being a little harsh, but in the Walker thread, he practically accused me of being a Rush Limbaugh lemming!

I demand a retraction!

[The Laconic]

he thinks that if he just gets the proper credentials, that will make up for the fact that he doesn't actually know anything.

He's not entirely wrong about that...

[John Titor]

Hell, I don't really have a position on Walker, Canadian and all that, Bo's empty elitist bullshit is just pathetic.

[Winston]

Jon Stewart's replacement should be a woman. It's time.

http://www.theguardian.com/com.....late-night

[paranoid android]

I bet they've already written the future-articles about how the show's tanking ratings reveal America's pervasive sexism.

[The Late P Brooks]

Wow. MNG jr has really covered himself in glory, today.

Keep gnawing on that shoe, little doggy.

[Warty]

I wonder why he's become so much more hostile lately. He was always a niggling cunt, but now he's a hateful niggling cunt.

[Pro Libertate]

Philadelphia. Where America declared independence and formally articulated the principles of limited government and inalienable rights.

So this means the Democrats are going to become state-hating libertarians? Excellent!

[hamilton]

What? No, no, it's because of that Tom Hanks movie where he had teh gay aidz and all that and died because there wasn't Obamacare.

[Pro Libertate]

No, no, they've finally seen the light and are going to announce it at the convention. They're merging with the LP and will issue they're Statement of Fundamental Liberties, starting with, "1. No, fuck you, cut spending."

[CE]

I thought they picked Philadelphia because 95 percent of the population voted for Obama, even though turnout was only 55 percent.

[creech]

Just heard Philly mayor Nutter on the news pontificating about how profound it was that Democrats meet in the city that hosted the guys who wrote a famous document in 1776. Wouldn't you love to read a copy of the Declaration as edited by Lizzy, Hill, Debbie, Nancy, Joey, Barry, and Harry?

[Pro Libertate]

If I ever moderate a debate for the Democrats (actually, for either major party), I may just read each proposition to the candidates, asking them for their thoughts. So, when would it be okay for Americans to revolt or a state to secede? Are any rights unalienable? Which ones? And so on.

[Mike M.]

Just saw the article on Walker from earlier.

It's very interesting that the JournoList is already going after him almost a year before caucuses get underway. You don't have to be Einstein to figure out who really scares the shit out of them.

[Enough About Palin]

Ann Althouse wrot about the Washington Post piece where the professor said he seems to remember giving Walker a D in his class. Ann said that was unethical of the professor and likely illegal.

[John]

It is completely illegal. College transcripts are covered by the privacy act and grades can't be released without the permission of the person.

Imagine if some Columbia professor said that about the Chocolate Nixon. The Post would want him publicly flogged.

Only the right people have privacy rights I guess.

[Entropy Void]

Principals vs Principles as always.

[John]

They are terrified of him. I think he is likely to be the next President.

The thing is that it might not even be the Journolist going ape shit. The Post wouldn't be above doing Jeb's dirty work as long as it involved attacking another Republican.

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

So the west coast ports and the dockworker's union are having a pissing match. The union has been having slow downs to the point that on any given day two dozen container ships are anchored outside Los Angeles-Long Beach waiting for berths. The port management has announced they are closing the ports for several days. You can expect this to have a ripple effect through the economy. Zero Hedge has a good article on it with some really cool pictures of the ships and tractor-trailers, etc.

I did not know this: "this is what the average dockworker makes: $147,000 a year in salary, plus $35,000 a year in employer-paid health care and an annual pension of $80,000 (according to an association press release). It is the overtime compensation to the total shown here, which grosses to over a quarter of a million dollars, that dockworkers are negotiating to raise or else the key US supply-chains gets it."

Personally seems like an incredibly sweet deal to me since I've never made anywhere close to that. The unions even get a day off to celebrate one of their (deceased) leader's birthday.

[Restoras]

Jesus. And that's average. How do I get that gig?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

As somebody not near the Pacific Ocean, couldn't say. Since it's a union, I would be shocked - shocked I tell you - to learn you have to know somebody already in the union.

Oh, and it looks like California, Oregon and Washington are all force-union states, so you can't be a scab even if you wanted to.

And of course it could be that new hires don't get all that much, but once you have the seniority the pay increases dramatically.

[John Paul Jones]

The longshoremen are fighting automation, mainly those that work on the gantry cranes. Essentially they're the last Americans working at our container port terminals, since US ship officers are only found in the oil patch.

[John Paul Jones]

Those pictures of ships anchored off LA-Long Beach looks like a normal day off Galveston.

[creech]

My wife worked for a shipping agent in Norfolk back in the day. The Stevedore's Union had a guy whose sole job was to sit with a bucket of water and dip out a drink to any worker who was thirsty. And he got the equivalent of about $80K in today's dollars to do it!

[C. Anacreon]

I used to have a colleague who swore that her husband's job was poet laureate of the Stevedore's Union.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

There was a scab, filthy and stinking
Who reported his shop steward for drinking
blah blah blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah
So they tossed that fink's body in the ocean.

[The Late P Brooks]

Personally seems like an incredibly sweet deal to me since I've never made anywhere close to that.

If not for unions, you'd be working 15 hours per day, seven days per week, and walking 20 miles each way, barefoot!

Bow down and be grateful!

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Thank you, oh dockworkers, for making everything more expensive.

Now, I'm not saying they don't work hard, I'm just wondering a bit about the compensation.

[John]

I am pretty sure most people would take that job.

[Libertymike]

Bo, college, credentialism and real life:

Some 10 years ago, I represented a friend of mine in a divorce. Although I am not a domestic relations practitioner, I do take pride in knowing how divorce affects what I do, asset protection and estate planning, business succession planning and general business practice.

Any ways, my friend had been separated from his wife for 8-9 years and the two of them finally decided to secure the state's permission to divorce. They had one kid, about 16 at the time of the divorce. There was no acrimony whatsoever regarding the kid, custody or division of assets.

I wrote the Separation Agreement to which they both agreed. Regarding higher education, this is what I drafted:

[Libertymike]

The Husband and the Wife agree that they have raised their minor child in an environment that has fostered a love of intellectual curiosity.

The Parties also agree that a post-secondary education may be valuable to their minor child.

However, contrary to the prevailing propaganda and crass credentialism, the Parties agree and understand that matriculation at, and graduation from, an institution of higher learning is not a prerequisite for a happy and successful life.

Therefore, the Husband and Wife agree that the decision to attend an institution of higher learning shall rest exclusively with their minor child and not with the legislature or the judiciary.

[Libertymike]

In Massholia, like most other states, the probate court judge must approve of the Separation Agreement - even if the parties mutually consent to the same.

The probate court judge actually read the portion of the higher education provision I just posted.

Guess what he did?

He asked, "where the fuck did you get this? Did you write this non-sense? Take it out!"

My friend gripped my arm with some force because he could sense me getting pretty peeved and he thought that I might go all Libertymike on the judge.

Yes, I had to hold my tongue and rewrite the provision.

The upshot: the fucking judge would agree with Bo.

[PapayaSF]

Wow. Both to that and to "like most other states, the probate court judge must approve of the Separation Agreement - even if the parties mutually consent to the same."

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"...Republicans are holding up Loretta Lynch's confirmation as Attorney General."

How can they reject a coal miner's daughter?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9eHp7JJgq8

[Notorious G.K.C.]

ALTERNATE JOKE: Her name used to be Stan.

[Pro Libertate]

Where's the fetus going to gestate?

[Pro Libertate]

Take off,
To the Great White North.
Take off,
It's the beauty way to go.

[John]

It is a Walker thing. Progs have decided to go full Palin on Walker. All they have is his college record. Bo is nothing if not loyal and willing to die on the hill he is told to.

[Warty]

There's no fucking way Bo has ever had anything resembling girl troubles, unless you count being a 24 year old virgin as being girl troubles.

[hamilton]

That was one of his best takes. Still makes me tear up.

[Pro Libertate]

Awesome. And I thought people had forgotten that song.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Walker is not an incoherent babbling idiot like Sista Sarah is.

Of course you wouldn't know that.

[Los Doyers]

Well, he did grow up around sheep...

[John]

What are you even talking about? Take your meds.