A.M. Links: Federal Judge Blocks Obama's Immigration Order, Egypt Seeks Coalition to Battle ISIS, Ukraine Truce Falters

• 

  Credit: C-SPAN

  In response to a lawsuit filed by 26 states, a federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration.

• Millions of Americans are now facing Obamacare tax penalties.

• Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is calling on U.N. member states to form a military coalition in order to defeat ISIS in Libya.

• The military truce in Ukraine is on the verge of collapse.

• "The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives."

• A train carrying over 100 tankers of crude oil derailed in West Virginia yesterday causing a colossal fire and prompting evacuations.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...a federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration.

What's even the use of being emperor then?

[Doctor Whom]

Guten Morgen.

The fact that the Obamessiah (swt), despite being a brilliant Constitutional scholar, so often loses in court just shows that an entire branch of the U.S. Government is just a racist hate group.

[BardMetal]

That or Obama is just too smart for the Supreme Court.

[Doctor Whom]

Even those justices whom he appointed.

[VG Zaytsev]

He's a better constitutional jurist than his constitutional jurists.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Did anyone catch SNL dissing Fox?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_oYV-o68L4

WTF? After Williams they pull this shit?

[creech]

Yes, Jane Curtin did it...false news.
What did everyone think of SNL show? I turned it off after about 40 minutes as it was pretty lame. Skits I laughed at 30 years ago seemed dumb today, too much "inside New York City" humor, and even the audience seemed like they were sitting on their hands.

[UnCivilServant]

I never found it funny, so I haven't seen one in years. Might even be decades now.

[Bill Dalasio]

A friend once explained their theory to me. Any given iteration of Saturday Night Live is funny until you reach about 18. At that point you have better things to do with your Saturday nights and stop watching it. When they tune in again later in life, there's a new iteration that the viewer will recognize as unfunny. Of course, they'll still remember the stuff from their youth as being funny, even if they wouldn't on seeing it fresh.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It was meh.

[Derpetologist]

The last funny thing on saw on SNL was a news skit about Mitt Romney:

"Mitt Romney is considering running for president again. In other news, Charlie Brown is planning to finally kick that football."

[Rhywun]

It goes through cycles - I guess depending on who the head writer is. It was decent under Tina Fey. It got totally unwatchable under Seth Meyers and I haven't seen it since. But mostly it's best days were a couple decades ago.

[VG Zaytsev]

IMO the early 90s iteration was the best.

A lot of the skits from then are still funny. (Church lady, Mr subliminal, their take on Clinton and Bush the elder, their skits about the 1st Gulf War etc).

[Auric Demonocles]

I don't really watch SNL, besides the occasional clip on youtube, but my girlfriend was over and wanted to watch. I spent pretty much the whole time thinking "this made it 40 years?" it was just a bunch of inside jokes, patting itself on the back, and the occasional shot at a conservative.

[Drake]

I stopped watching when they fired Norm McDonald.

[AlmightyJB]

Same here.

[VG Zaytsev]

Their purpose isn't to create comedy but score political points and deflect attention from their corporate masters.

Succeeded on both levels.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Millions of Americans are now facing Obamacare tax penalties.

The price of universal healthcare.

[Auric Demonocles]

Obama fixed the deficit! Now if he could just tackle the alt-text deficit...

[Almanian!]

This totally will NOT be an issue for Dems in 2016, except as a platform on which to take back both the Senate and the House.

/shriek

[Doctor Whom]

Phony scandal! Something about Bush! Look over there!

[The Other Kevin]

Only a very few people are affected!

[gaijin]

It's not a tax...it's a shared responsibility payment, comrade!

[Almanian!]

Government is just the costs we share!

[Spencer]

no. the price of universal health insurance.

[CatoTheElder]

CNN also reports that millions also have had their 2014 subsidies cut:

I have to pay back my Obamacare subsidy

Warning: CNN Autoplay has nothing to do with story.

just because someone qualified for a certain subsidy at the beginning of the year doesn't mean they are ultimately entitled to it. It's the total annual income that matters, so if an enrollee got a big raise mid-year, his entire subsidy may have to be repaid.

Early data is in from some tax preparers. Some 53% of Jackson Hewitt clients who received subsidies have to repay part or all of it, with the largest being $12,000

As predicted, ObamaCare "navigators" were overselling the wonders of ObamaCare, and people with real, full-time jobs do not get subsidies.

These people have been well and truly grubered.

[UnCivilServant]

This just in: San Fransisco admits to being a literal shit stain. All of which will eventually wash into the bay or the ocean.

While there are conflicting opinions on how to deal with this problem, I propose yet another one - encircle the city in a retaining wall and use it as a giant septic tank. While this wall would eventually need to be higher than the upper hills, the rate of construction merely needs to exceed the rate of fill. I would also invite any environmentalist concerned about the impact to observe proceedings from a viewing cage we'll set up in downtown san fran. Don't worry about what happens when the fill reaches the cage, it is, after all, organic.

This project, though expensive, will alleviate California's employment problem, and if we muster enough observers, its long-term problems as well.

[Shirley Knott]

The san fran san, in other words?

[Almanian!]

Santorum Francisco

[Bones]

Ew. That's even more disgusting than normal San Francisco.

[Enough About Palin]

PortaSanFran?

[Charles Easterly]

Nice.

[pagal]

Scientists have discovered where butterflies really come from.

[gaijin]

where butterflies really come from.

Well, first the mommy butterfly and the daddy butterfly love each other very much. Then...

[UnCivilServant]

They're insects, it probably has more to do with pheromones than love.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Check your non-insect privilege!

[UnCivilServant]

Endoskeleton intact, neurons firing, thermoregulation functional... It's doing just fine, thank you very much.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Roger, you are a go.

LAUNCH!

[AlmightyJB]

You must have had your coffee this morning

[Injun, as in from India]

Well, first the mommy butterfly and the daddy butterfly love each other very much. Then...

...a stork drops off the baby butterfly?

[gaijin]

the baby and a Vlasic pickle!

[l0b0t]

Unless the stork is drunk. Then he just leaves a mouthy, Brooklyn-born rabbit.

[UnCivilServant]

Does it have much in common with a dog?

[Bill Dalasio]

If I'm not mistaken, I think the rabbit in question, if born in Brooklyn, was actually raised in the Bronx.

[Charles Easterly]

I don't know how or where you found that, pagal, but I for one can appreciate your amusing contribution.

I know a couple of fellows who will laugh aloud at the pulling of the finger (around the 1:48 mark).

[UnCivilServant]

Lib Dems accuse women of being unpatriotic, unable to handle examples involving men and finance. The shrieking eels had no comment.

This has been Contrarian Bias News. CBN - your source for spin of the opposite polarity.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers...

None of which the IRS uses.

[Redmanfms]

THE BATFE IS CONSIDERING A CHANGE OF EXEMPTION THAT WOULD BAN THE MANUFACTURE, IMPORT, AND SALE OF M855 5.56mm BALL AMMUNITION. This is currently the most widely available inexpensive "mil-surp" ammunition in 5.56mm.

IF YOU GIVE A SHIT ABOUT FIREARMS RIGHTS START BITCHING *LOUDLY* NOW

Link to batfucker proposal.

[WTF]

Where does the federal government, much less the BATFE, derive the constitutional authority to ban any ammunition? Oh yeah, FYTW.

[Drake]

Back door way to make sport shooting far more expensive because fuck you.

[Almanian!]

And here I was FINALLY going to get an AR chambered in 5.56...\

fucking government

[Drake]

Since this could be fixed with an Executive Order, it will be a good shit test for Republican candidates. One I bet Christie and several others will fail.

[Monty Crisco]

Me, too. Gonna get a kel-tec. Wonder if I can still get the .223 right now before the ban goes in effect.

This was the anti-gunner's plan all along. By hook or by crook. Hope the NRA and the GOA step up...

[db]

They don't appear to be banning 5.56x45mm. It sounds like they want to shut down m855 green tip importation. In any case, you can.safely shoot .223 rem ammo in a 5.56 chamber.

[Monty Crisco]

What makes the ballistic tip type of ammo so evil, anyway?

[db]

It is not "ballistic tip" ammo like a V-Max or A-max. Those just have a plastic tip that fills a hollow point. The SS109 projectile is a combination projectile with a steel penetration core at the tip that gives it armor piercing capabilities while keeping the bullet length down and maintaining the balance by having a lead core at the back.

The only reason M855 survived George Bush's 1993 or 1994 executive order banning importation of armor piercing ammo is that that order specified steel core, which SS109 technically doesn't have.

This goes all the way back to the shitty days of GHWB who was no friend of gun rights at all.

[Monty Crisco]

Alright, then. Duly noted.

And I knew GHWB was a shit already,

[Redmanfms]

The only reason M855 survived George Bush's 1993 or 1994 executive order banning importation of armor piercing ammo is that that order specified steel core, which SS109 technically doesn't have.

This is only tangentially related to the Bush "sporting use" EO of '89.

Read the white paper, this is a BATFE ruling based on the 1986 ban of AP ammunition in handguns.

[db]

So they're just reclassifying the SS109 projectile as "armor piercing?" This is what we get for the NRA being a bunch of pussies back in the 80s and 90s.

[Agammamon]

They're not reclassifying it as AP.

It's a *rifle* round that can now be used in firearms that are, legally. *pistols*.

As a 'pistol round' its *always* been AP - defined in this case by either having a steel-core or more than 25% of its eight being jacket.

That's all it requires for pistol ammunition to be 'armor piercing'.

[Agammamon]

What they're doing is simply reclassifying it as a *pistol* round now.

A dick move, but, with the rise of 5.56mm pistols, its been, again legally speaking, a pistol round for years now.

[Cdr Lytton]

George Bush's 1993 or 1994 executive order

Alternate universe second term GHWB?

[Cdr Lytton]

Not just importation, also domestic manufacture and all sales.

However, with few exceptions, manufacturers will be unable to produce such armor piercing ammunition, importers will be unable to import such ammunition, and manufacturers and importers will be prohibited from selling or distributing the ammunition.

[BardMetal]

I didn't even know there was surplus 5.56mm

They used the same bullshit reasoning to block the import of surplus 9mm Makarov rounds from the east block. Makes shooting my CZ-82 more expensive then it could be.

[db]

I don't know how much surplus there is but Prvi Partisan, among others, imports shitloads of 5.56x45mm M855 and M193 into the U.S.

[Injun, as in from India]

F*** the "sporting purpose".

[db]

M855 is not "ball" ammunition. M193 is 55 grain lead core "ball." M855 uses the SS109 62 grain penetrator projectile. That is likely why they want to ban it.

[Redmanfms]

No dude, it's ball ammunition.

Cartridge, Caliber 5.56 mm, Ball, M855

M995 is AP.

[db]

Whatever. It is semantics. Originally the ball definition was reserved for lead core ammo only. M855 may in name be "ball" but only because until this proposed change it did not meet the criteria for AP designation, even though its steel penetrator tip gives it light AP qualities.

[Redmanfms]

Whatever. It is semantics.

You do not know what you are talking about.

The above is the US military designation for M855.

[db]

Redman, with all due respect, I think we both know what we are talking about, but from different perspectives. M855 does not meet the traditional definition of ball ammunition but it also cannot be classed as AP.

I have done a tremendous amount of research over the years in ammunition development and while the US military may call it "ball" it does not follow the designation system that was developed in the early 20th century, because of the technological advancement that allowed it to be developed.

Maybe if we agree that the SS109 is neither a traditional "ball" projectile nor a traditional "armor piercing" projectile our difference here will resolve itself.

The military makes many designations that don't make perfect technical sense.

[UnCivilServant]

Clearly the answer is to legalize AP ammunition so these liminal forms don't need to be classified.

[Redmanfms]

Maybe if we agree that the SS109 is neither a traditional "ball" projectile nor a traditional "armor piercing" projectile our difference here will resolve itself.

So you can save face?

[db]

Tell you what, it isn't about that. You go ahead and post the last word.

[Redmanfms]

You know what, that was shitty of me.

You're still wrong about your definition of ball, but I didn't have to be an asshole about it.

Sorry.

[Monty Crisco]

Thanks. Feels like a perfect day to stock up on about 1000 rds of SOUTH KOREAN .223!!! (That would be PMC, and they make good shit.)

[Florida Man]

I like PMC. I've fired thousands of rounds through my Sig 516 without any problems.

[Monty Crisco]

I get positively misty if you get me talking about PMC Starfire .45 loads.

[Almanian!]

I got a couple 500 rd cans of 30-06 150 gr PMC for my M1 - good shit.

Will buy MOAR.

[db]

PMC is good ammo the first time, but the cases are hell to deprime, ream, and reload. They use the world's most overly capable primer crimped in manufacturing.

[Monty Crisco]

Yeah, don't load my own but heard that their cartridges were ideal for it.

[Catatafish]

I've only skimmed the white paper but what's with the repeated mentions of armor piercing ammunition "for handguns?" I'm not aware of any widely available/used handgun that employs 5.56.

[db]

Dude this goes back, again, to George Bush's executive order, which banned importation of armor piercing ammo in calibers commonly used in handguns. The Thompson Contender is a handgun.. there are hundreds of thousands if not.millions of AR pattern handguns chambered in .223 OR 5.56x45mm that make this cartridge fall under the shitty rule.

Again, if it weren't for GHWB and his shitty order, this.wouldn't even be a thing now. The thing to do is to rescind the order 8n its entirety but good luck getting a Dem president to do it. GWB had eight years to do it and nobody who mattered tried to get it done.

[Redmanfms]

You need to read the white paper.

[db]

Duly noted. I will. I was just going off of what you wrote above.

[Redmanfms]

Duly noted. I will. I was just going off of what you wrote above.

You were wrong about that too.

Bush's '89 "sporting clause" EO had nothing to do with AP or rifle-caliber handguns and is not the what lead to this proposal or the 7N6 ban from last year. It is the Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act of 1986.

And M855 is ball ammunition.

[db]

Explain to me then how the GHWB order resulted in the banning of steel core 7.62x39mm importation. Or was that a separate order by Clinton classifying it?

[Redmanfms]

Law Enforcement Officers Protection Act of 1986.

Steel-core M43 (also ball ammunition, BTW) was apparently banned because an importer catalog hinted at an AK pistol and the Clinton ATF decided to fuck gun owners by taking the cheapest centerfire ammunition off the market (Chinese surplus). At least that's how I remember it.

This looks to be a fairly accurate summation.

I remember when new, never-fired Chinese SKS rifles were $80/per, Chinese AKs were $300-$400 (even after the '89 import ban) and a thousand rounds of
Chinese surplus M43 was $35 shipped.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Again, if it weren't for GHWB and his shitty order, this.wouldn't even be a thing now.

But, but, James Brady!

[Cdr Lytton]

http://www.sigsauer.com/Catalo.....istol.aspx

http://www.keltecweapons.com/o.....16/pistol/

Among others.

[Agammamon]

Its a ban on of *importation of steel-core* - and its a direct response to the rise of 5.56mm 'pistols'.

Accordingly, under the original bills, if the manufacturer of the ammunition "designed [it] to be fired from a handgun" and it was "capable of penetrating body armor", then it would meet the definition of "armor piercing."

If the manufacturer designed and intended the ammunition to be used in rifles (or if it was not capable of penetrating body armor), it would not meet the definition.

See, the thing is, its illegal to have 'armor-piercing' ammunition for *pistols*.

the final bill did not include a performance-based standard, or limit the definition of armor piercing ammunition to ammunition " designed" for use in a handgun.Instead, the definition has two alternatives: the first focuses on the composition of the ammunition, and whether it "may be used" in a handgun

The last part is the kicker - before, 5.56 was a rifle only round, now there's a proliferation of 5.56 mm pistols and that gives the ATF the window to attack this.

As they did with 7.62 WP imports years ago.

However - you won't see your M855 ammo go away - you just will see and end to the importation of cheap foreign-made 5.56 mm ammo.

For some reason, steel-core is considered AP (its not, just slightly more so than lead-core - but lot's cheaper to produce).

[Redmanfms]

Read the white paper, it's more than importation.

The first sentence of the first paragraph:

To protect the lives and safety of law enforcement officers from the threat posed by ammunition capable of penetrating a protective vest when fired from a handgun, the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), as amended, prohibits the import, manufacture, and distribution of "armor piercing ammunition" as defined by the statute

I'll also note that nearly all centerfire rifle ammunition is capable of penetrating soft body armor, even when fired from a pistol. Which is why both the sponsors of the bill specifically stated in Congressional testimony that LEOPA '86 (the amendment to GCA '68 that is being referenced) didn't apply to rifle ammunition even when fired from pistols.

[Agammamon]

If they were able to actually ban the 'manufacture and distribution' (separate from 'importation') then there would be no 7.62x39 mm available in the US.

[Agammamon]

And as for what the sponsors *intended*, we know that that is meaningless if it goes against what government *wants*.

The law as written trumps 'intent' (except for Obamacare apparently).

And, personally, I'm OK with that - I don't want these fuckers parsing *intent*.

And I know that virtually all rifle ammo can penetrate armor when fired from pistol length barrels (sub-12 in).

That's not been an issue. The issue here is that there are now *pistols* that fire this ammo, which is what has opened us up to this pain.

Get a production pistol that can fire .50 BMG (substitute your favorite rifle round) and you'll see the exact same thing happen to that ammo.

[WTF]

SOCONS!!11!!!SOCONS EVERYWHERE!!11!!! YOU ARE ALL SOCONS, DON'T DENY IT!!11!!!
There, I saved Botard the trouble of shitting up the thread with multiple elitist progressive concern troll posts.

[Ted S.]

Ah, but did you graduate college?

[WTF]

+1 BS degree

[UnCivilServant]

Hay! They're just giving those out on H&R these days? Why did I take on so much debt for mine then?

[WTF]

It's only the credential that matters after all, nothing else in life is important.

[Mickey Rat]

Not even driving your enemies before you and hearing the lamentations of their women?

[Injun, as in from India]

Why stop at a BS degree when you can get a "Master's" in Journalism from Columbia University and use the authority of the degree to shriek at everyone?

[Almanian!]

YEAH, THANKS ALOT, SOCON JOHN'S COUSIN WITHOUT A DEGREE AND IMA ACCUSE YOU OF MOVING THE GOALPOSTS AS I MOVE THE WHOLE FUCKING STADIUM!!!1

/botardation

[tarran]

Guys,

I know that mocking Bo is the latest in thing; his lack of manners, the mismatch between how smart he thinks he is and his intelligence as perceived by others etc., make it particularly easy - like beating up a six-year-old.

In the end, it really diverts us from more worthier tasks and conversations. And, frankly, it really doesn't bother him as much as you guys wish; half the time he doesn't understand what's happening, and half the time he thinks he's getting flack because he is over the target.

I long felt that the most appropriate way to deal with annoying retards like him is to stop being annoyed by him ie stop interacting with him.

It saves time, and allows one to focus on more interesting and intelligent comments such as Episiarch defense of Robin Williams' movies.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Episiarch defense of Robin Williams' movies

We need to sic STEVE SMITH on him for that!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Is Epi's new nickname 'Patch' now?

[Almanian!]

That's normally what I've done, but I decided to kick the retard the last couple days.

Anyone doesn't like it - fuck 'em.

[BardMetal]

I don't know that doesn't sound very moral, but there is an easy way to find out. Quick what do dogs and rabbits have in common?

[Charles Easterly]

Watership Down?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

+1 Dogs aren't dangerous

[Agammamon]

Jimmy Carter's afraid of both?

[Rhywun]

+1 reasonable. Install it, use it. (If you're on Chrome.)

[Bill Dalasio]

As one of the early Bo-bashers, let me see if I can explain. If Bo limited his antics to people he was addressing at the time, I'd completely agree with you. But, he doesn't. He has a habit of tarring people not even in the conversation to delegitimize them personally (John seems to be his target lately). He keeps attacking his targets as not libertarian, rather than addressing the substance of their arguments. And given that his own libertarianism is...well...idiosyncratic, he really doesn't have much room to attack. Really, what he's doing is the sort of shit you'd expect from a 15-year-old girl.

The thing is, I don't think Bo is a troll and I don't think Bo is necessarily a bad kid. He just has some extreme blind spots. A lot of us have tried gently pointing those blind spots out to him. His response is to lash out with more of the personal attacks. At a certain point, there's not really much point in trying to be civil in addressing him and it's a lot more worthwhile to show other readers Bo for what he is.

[tarran]

But he has shown no capacity for learning. It's a complete waste of time. Everyone who interacts with him sooner or later comes to the conclusion that he is pretty ill-mannered and callow.

It's one thing to punish someone who has the capability of improving their behavior. It's another to do it to someone who has no capacity to change at all. The slamming of Bo is striking me as being about as productive as spanking an autistic kid for being rude.

You don't need to prove anything to Bo; you don't need to prove anything to other people who are reading Bo's comments.

The world will go on if he comments without anyone shrieking abuse at him; Bo will continually demonstrate himself to be a poorly-socialized shallow thinker to those who can discern such things and a deep thinker to the sorts of person who think that "God is Dog spelled backwards" is a profound statement.

There will always be rude morons writing idiotic things on the Internet - humanity, always breeding, is producing an inexhaustible supply of them.

[Bill Dalasio]

you don't need to prove anything to other people who are reading Bo's comments.

You're more optimistic about group dynamics than I am. My impression is that the likes of Bo can destroy the tone of a conversation quite easily. Unaddressed, they inevitably bring more of their own and drive away a lot of people who could contribute.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Are we still sure he isn't just MNG coming back for a second helping?

The argumentation style really reminds me of him.

[Slammer]

Since finally being called out on his shit I've noticed over the last few days his posts are becoming a little weird. They used to be fairly long, and very polite. They're getting short and nasty, now.

[WTF]

Yeah, the progtard mask is coming off.

[RBS]

Easy on Bo, he's a 2L at either a lower lever tier 2 school or a wildly overpriced diploma mill that can't consistently produce students that can actually pass the bar exam.

[Ted S.]

He's gotten into Agile Cyborg's stash.

[MJGreen]

It felt like a different person sometime last week. He suddenly went full Shriek and said we were all just repeating what we heard from Rush Limbaugh.

Bad midterms or something? Not a winter person? Something has made him crack.

[FUQ]

/making popcorn

[Slammer]

A train carrying over 100 tankers of crude oil derailed in West Virginia yesterday causing a colossal fire and prompting evacuations.

FALSE FLAG perpetrated by Keystone supporters!

[Drake]

Proof that transporting oil is too dangerous and we would all be better off living as medieval serfs.

[Slammer]

We could use serfs or orphans to drag wagons full of oil barrels, though.

[Drake]

No! Their heavy breathing would accelerate global warming. Better to have them grow organic vegetables and press them into oil.

Best would be to render excess peasants into oil to light the houses of enlightened environmentalists and statists.

[UnCivilServant]

Peasants don't have a high enough fat content for oil rendering without the easy energy that precludes manual labor.

[Enough About Palin]

This is why I have a hard time buying into that whole Nazis made soap out of Jews thingy.

[BardMetal]

This why oil pipelines are too dangerous!!!!!! oh wait...

[UnCivilServant]

But how will we get the whales into the pipes?

[Doghouse Riley Jr.]

Whale-a-matic '15.

[Mike M.]

I think Warren Buffett just had heart palpitations.

[Lord Humungus]

Turn it off!! Turn it off!

Seriously a feel good story:

Man gets bionic eye, sees wife for first time in decade

A blind Forest Lake man's sight is restored after he became the first person in Minnesota, and 15th person in the country, to receive a bionic eye.

Allen Zderad, 68, hadn't seen his wife or grandchildren in more than a decade, until the new device was turned on at Mayo Clinic earlier this month.

"Yeah," Zderad exclaimed, as his wife of 45 years slowly came into focus.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Did it make the cool bionic sound?

[Almanian!]

+ doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo

(ya gotta say that really fast = 6 Million Dollar man in slomo)

[Florida Man]

And yet they can't cure tinnitus!!!
/Archer and me

[Suthenboy]

WHAT?

*leans forward while inserting tin-horn*

[Florida Man]

Mwaap. Mmwap.

[Ted S.]

Some people would rather not see their wives.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

His first words:

"Yeesh!"

[UnCivilServant]

His follow up, "Well, she's stuck around this long, and I can always turn the camera off when I need to."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Or he pulled the eye out, threw it on the ground, a quietly went back to rocking in his chair.

[Brett L]

About 15 minutes into a visit with my mom's parents my Grandfather says, "Hold on, let me turn on my hearing aid." We were visiting for thwir 60th wedding anniversary.

[Pope Jimbo]

"Geez, you've put on a few pounds honey" would have been a great line.

[Redmanfms]

I cried a little.

That's really awesome.

[Matrix]

Both of my maternal uncles have RP. One is going completely blind. Hopefully this can help him.

[Charles Easterly]

Thanks LH.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is calling on U.N. member states to form a military coalition in order to defeat ISIS in Libya.

Unfamiliar as he is with the U.N.'s track record.

[Caleb Turberville]

http://www.cracked.com/article.....worse.html

We're making pedophilia worse than it needs to be. And by "we," I mean the government.

[Ted S.]

I presume that the link being from Cracked means the article runs to three pages?

[Caleb Turberville]

2 pages.

[Caleb Turberville]

Remember what we said about Germany's Prevention Project Dunkelfeld? Well it's only possible because, unlike most countries, Germany has no mandatory reporting law for pedophilia. Does it work? Well, it's kind of impossible to know right now. But it's worth noting that for every two kids who die of abuse in Germany, 27 die in the United States.

[BardMetal]

Maybe the Germans are just preoccupied with other perversions.

[Catatafish]

Or they have created a highly efficient process to dispose of the evidence.

[Agammamon]

Schei?ekopf!

[UnCivilServant]

Are those numbers adjusted for population?

[Caleb Turberville]

Fair question to ask. Though it still seems pretty clear that Germany's method of treating pedophilia as a treatable condition produces far better results than the American method of turning a blind eye until it's too late.

[WTF]

Is that because the Germans prefer Schei?eporn to child porn?

[BardMetal]

Ugh, I bet a lot Germans wish they could go back to being stereotyped as Nazis instead of toilet porn lovers.

[Irish]

Germany has a population of 80 million compared to America's population of 315 million. It doesn't seem to be adjusted for population, but even if you adjust America would be about 3 times worse.

Of course, America's also about 3-4 times worse on the overall homicide rate. As a result, the death from child abuse number lines up with the homicide rate numbers, so it's not clear if the policies make a difference or if Germany just tends to be less violent.

[Florida Man]

Those peaceful Germans. Seriously though, losing WW2 did something to the German and Japanese psyche. I spent 6 weeks in Japan and they all seem to be peaceniks. I had some German exchange students friends in high school and they were very anti-war. Not scientific just something I noticed.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

"The Germans are always at your feet or at your throat."

[Charles Easterly]

Hello Winston.

[Rhywun]

I noticed that when I lived there ages ago. Hard to say whether it's because of the war, or because they're Europeans. They were also crazy into eco-everything long before that became a religion in the US, if that says anything.

[Caleb Turberville]

Amazingly, it's hard to find comparable statistics for each country.

[Caleb Turberville]

Both the United States and Germany have experienced decades-long declines in the rate of child sexual abuse. But in both cases, the decline started in the late 80s or early 90s.

The Prevention Project in Germany was started in 2005, but I can't find a study on the comparable rates of decline between the two countries since 2005.

[Heroic Mulatto]

There is some evidence from the Czech Republic that an increased availability of child pornography leads to a drop in actual child abuse.

So, basically, the Czechs lowered their rates of domestic child molestation by merely outsourcing it to Cambodia. Brilliant! Why can't we be more like those enlightened, tolerant Europeans!

[Caleb Turberville]

"They took our jerbs!"

[Heroic Mulatto]

We could take that line far beyond the boundaries of good taste. I, for one, shall refrain. But I'm jus' sayin' we could.

[Caleb Turberville]

No. No. I'm just looking for an excuse to make a South Park reference. We'll leave it at that.

[UnCivilServant]

The data from normal porn shows an inverse relationship between availability and assaults, that is the more porny a country is, the less rapey they are. So, if improved simulated content were available as a diversion component (like giving methadone to a heroin addict) would we see a decrease in assaults?

[Caleb Turberville]

I think the psychological evidence certainly indicates that diversionary activities can be effective behavioral modifiers.

The problem is that you'll have somebody making the labored claim that such activities tend to fuel the market for the real thing. Although, I've never seen any real evidence of such an effect.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A train carrying over 100 tankers of crude oil derailed in West Virginia yesterday causing a colossal fire and prompting evacuations.

Mmmmmmm, I can almost feel the warmth.

[Slammer]

GMO Spider Venom may be the next Viagra

[Almanian!]

Mmmmm - "wanna get a load of my 'spidey sense', baby...."

[Ted S.]

Black widows kill and eat their sex partners.

[Almanian!]

Don't I know it!

[UnCivilServant]

Fun fact, a lot of the cases of observed invertibrate cannibalism which have become famous were a result of the conditions of captivity under which they were observed. Especially the praying mantis. A lot of this behaviour vanished when more ntaural settings were utilized for observation.

Don't know if the black widow falls into that category.

[Beautiful Bean Footage]

Black widows kill and eat their sex partners.

RAAACCCIIIISSSSTTTTT!!!1!1

[Florida Man]

Screw that noise. I want my GMO spider silk body armor.

http://news.discovery.com/tech.....121015.htm

[Lord Humungus]

What ISIS Really Wants
The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here's what that means for its strategy?and for how to stop it.

The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), follows a distinctive variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment matter to its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its behavior. Its rise to power is less like the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a group whose leaders the Islamic State considers apostates) than like the realization of a dystopian alternate reality in which David Koresh or Jim Jones survived to wield absolute power over not just a few hundred people, but some 8 million.

[Suthenboy]

So, a death cult.

[Catatafish]

It's all a death cult. These twats just wear different robes.

[Lord Humungus]

Happy Couples Are Probably Deluding Themselves

What makes for a happier relationship: Seeing your partner as they truly are? Or seeing your partner as you wish they were? A surprising body of research in social psychology suggests it's the latter: People who believe their partner lives up to everything they've always wanted in a significant other tend to be happier and more satisfied with their relationships ? even if (or perhaps precisely because) they're totally deluding themselves.

[Drake]

Of course. Who would want to be married to a pudgy middle-aged man or woman?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Happy loving couples ain't no friends of mine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RntN9EfGUvI

[Ted S.]

Two people gotta stay together

[lap83]

"Seeing your partner as they truly are?"

I'd argue that this is impossible. We are talking about people, not surveillance cameras.

[lap83]

I mean, you can have degrees of objectivity, obviously. But it's not what allows you to like or dislike someone.

[Stormy Dragon]

I've seen a number of studies indicating that depressed people are much better at evaluating both themselves and others, as well as predicting what the likely outcome of actions are going to be.

[Derpetologist]

Some slug from the NYT was on MSLDS the other night. He was asked about the Brian Williams scandal and his response was "But Bush lied about Iraq, so who is worse hmm?"

herpherpherpaderp

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Yeah, this seems to have been firmly established as the proper narrative whenever it gets brought up. I often wonder just how long "but Bush!" is going to endure as a universal retort.

[Doctor Whom]

The heat death of the universe. Heck, I'm still seeing "But Reagan!"

[Somalian Road Corporation]

My government/civics teacher in high school around the turn of the millennium used to spend an inordinate amount of class time bitching and moaning about Reagan. Years later I dated a girl whose younger sister was still in high school and had him as a teacher. From her I learned that he was now spending all his time bitching and moaning about Bush.

Not sure if that's progress, but one might deem it progressive.

[Irish]

Britain will be a totalitarian prison colony in 50 years and they'll be saying it's Thatcher's fault for de-regulating the coal mines.

[Virginian]

+1 Airstrip

[WTF]

Of course he had to reach back to BOOOSH!!11!! It would never occur to him to say "But Obama lied about keeping your health insurance plan and your doctor, which is worse, hmmm?"

[Almanian!]

It's the Progderp version of "Simpsons did it!"

[Suthenboy]

Except......

http://www.breitbart.com/natio.....-iraq-war/

[FUQ]

You must be a conservative if you're linking right wing sources. Your point is invalid now.

[Lord Humungus]

Putin Paradise Becomes Economic No-Go Zone Where Cash Rules

Nearly a year after Russia annexed Crimea, Moscow's man here, Oleg Saveliev, is struggling with a seemingly mundane task: paying bills.

Like everyone on this disputed Black Sea peninsula, the minister for Crimea is living in an economic no man's land.

International banks like UniCredit SpA, credit cards like MasterCard and Visa, global brands like McDonald's -- all vanished with Russia's adventurism in Ukraine and seizure of Crimea. In their place has come a cash-only society of runaway inflation, chronic shortages and growing anxiety over the conflict. Even Russian companies are staying away.

Before Saveliev flies in, he packs wads of ruble notes to pay for his hotel. Everyone, even ministers, must pay cash.

[Redmanfms]

Everyone, even ministers, must pay cash.

The horror.

/COL Kurtz

[Ted S.]

LIBERTOPIA!!!111!!!

/sarcasm

[Derpetologist]

Harry Reid and the Real Iguana Leather Sex Swing

Harry Reid returned to his office. His bruises were still throbbing from the wild night 3 days ago. He told everyone he had been hurt by malfunctioning exercise equipment. But that was merely a face-saving lie, which did nothing to help his actual face.

It happened near Pahrump NV, on a clear white night with a clear bright moon. Reid had been rocking out to Winger during the long drive. He mouthed the words, drummed the steering wheel, and stomped in rhythm with it left foot. He loved Winger. They were the wild, lawless yin to his straight-laced Mormon yang. But he had to keep his love secret. He kept the Winger CD concealed in a box under a pile of For the Strength of Youth pamphlets.

In the pamphlet, Reid had read:

"Satan uses media to deceive you by making what is wrong
and evil look normal, humorous, or exciting. He tries to mislead
you into thinking that breaking God's commandments
is acceptable and has no negative consequences for you or
others. Do not attend, view, or participate in anything that is
vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not
participate in anything that presents immorality or violence as
acceptable. Have the courage to walk out of a movie, change
your music, or turn off a computer, television, or mobile device
if what you see or hear drives away the Spirit."

[Lord Humungus]

Plan to broadcast messages to alien worlds leaves cosmologists worrying

These signals will be aimed at the parts of the galaxy where Earth-like planets and life may exist, based on the growing number of "exoplanets" beyond our solar system identified by the Kepler space telescope, which include many in the so-called "habitable zone" of a star.

However, critics say the proposal betrays the founding principles of Seti, which were about listening rather than transmitting. They fear that sending signals of our existence could lead to visits from malign extraterrestrials intent on doing harm to humans. They also argue that the plans are being formulated by a close-knit group of Seti enthusiasts who have not consulted the wider public and who are personally frustrated that half a century of trying passively to detect signals of extraterrestrial intelligence has failed to bear fruit.

[Drake]

Exactly how half the military sci-fi novels start - we invite them.

[Florida Man]

Is this the ultimate first amendment test?

[Florida Man]

If they have the technology to get here, they probably already know about us and don't care.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I thought I learned from Contact that Hitler already blazed this trail?

[WTF]

We've been broadcasting out to the stars ever since radio was invented.

[Ted S.]

How long will it take for the signals to reach these other planets, anyway?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Those radio waves are just leaving the solar system! Right ahead of Voyager!!!

[Redmanfms]

Yeah, I can totally see radio signals not degrading to the point of meaningless static and then not being drowned out by that huge, yellow RF generator in the sky...

I'm opposed to it for the same reasons I thought SETI sucked, the asshats behind it get taxpayer money to do bullshit.

[WTF]

I'm opposed to it for the same reasons I thought SETI sucked, the asshats behind it get taxpayer money to do bullshit.

That right there is the real reason to oppose it.

[CatoTheElder]

If the asshats want to do it with their own money, I say, "Fine."

However, using coercion to fund their bullshit hobby is immoral.

[Brian D]

Thanks to the original War of the Worlds broadcast chugging its way through space, most hostile aliens would believe we've already been annihilated.

[WTF]

Or thanks to the militaristic shows like Star Trek and Star Wars chugging through space, they don't want us to find them.

[BardMetal]

Fermi's paradox. Maybe we really are effectively alone in the galaxy. Not sure why this has become a difficult concept to accept.

Anyone ever see the documentary "How beer saved the world" it basically claims that civilization started on Earth because people needed to settle down to start brewing beer.

Now consider other planets where yeast doesn't exist, maybe the reason for Fermi's paradox is that they never invented beer, and never had a reason to settle down to start growing grain.

There could be thousands of planets out there living in a stone age stasis because that never discovered that most perfect of all beverages, beer.

[WTF]

Beer: is there anything it can't do?

[UnCivilServant]

Taste good?

[BardMetal]

Quick kill the infidel.

[robc]

Anyone who says that hasn't tried enough beer.

[robc]

Adding to my post, Im serious.

Ive known a number of people who claim they dont like beer who after experimentation by me, find beer they like. Its not 100%, but close enough.

The wide range of flavors available in the beer world make it hard for it to miss entirely.

Other alcohols have a much tighter flavor profile range, so its possible to not like Scotch or Bourbon or Gin or even wine (which has a wide range too, but nothing like beer).

[Beautiful Bean Footage]

I'm guessing that a lot of those people's only exposure to beer is the junk put out by the BudMillerCoors cabal...

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Lindeman's Framboise is what I bring out when I run into somebody who doesn't like beer.

Before somebody kneejerk lambic snobs me, I will say that I've tried quite the range of them and my personal tastes more so run to the brutally sour.

[robc]

I was going to lambic snob you, but Ive found that while Lindeman's Framboise often works, real lambics work even moreso.

And I too run to the brutally sour preference, preferably no fruit.

Give me a nice Gueuze (sp?).

[robc]

I *wasnt*

[CatoTheElder]

I attempted to make a Framboise in the Lindemann style for my mother-in-law. Took about a year in secondary fermentation. I simply could not replicate the sweet Lindemann taste. Instead, it was typical lambic. I loved it, but it would have failed with mother-in-law if I had not poured it over cane sugar before serving.

[Lord Humungus]

You're dead to me. DEAD!

(though these days its been Gin and Vodka in various concoctions)

[Clich? Bandit]

The problem with the Fermi Paradox is it makes assumptions based solely on our capabilities. Understandable but short sighted. The more likely situation is there are millions of species in our galaxy alone. They fall into two categories, interstellar and non-interstellar. The non-interstellar will certainly satisfy the Fermi Paradox and we will quite possibly never know of them. The interstellar will operate outside those assumptions (distance, time, relativity, pose no issue for them) and therefore we would be unnoticed or uninteresting to them.

Seti is listening in the RF, a speed limit of c. How often does the NSA monitor the pony express these days?
No body who can respond is even listening to something so quaint as RF (limited by c).

Numbers clearly dictate something is out there but the Paradox is incomplete due to overly restrictive assumptions about capabilities of highly advanced civilizations.

[Heedless]

The radio has made the town crier obsolete, but that doesn't mean we don't still use loud noises for communication from time to time. Sometimes it's just more efficient to use the more primitive technology, if only because it's cheaper. If and when we find a means of FTL communication, radio will still work just fine on a planetary scale. Someone will still be using it, if only as a hobby.

[Lord Humungus]

Website glitches extend Obamacare enrollment

The regular open enrollment season ended at midnight Sunday but the Department of Health and Human Services on Monday announced a one-week "special enrollment" period ending Feb. 22 for people trying to enroll through HealthCare.gov who encountered technical glitches or faced long waits through the call center on the final weekend. Most states have outlined similar policies.

There's also a growing chorus urging a separate special enrollment period around the April 15 tax filing deadline. That would be for people who do their 2014 taxes, discover they must pay a penalty for going without insurance without an exemption ? and face an even bigger fine for going uncovered in 2015. HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell told POLITICO the agency is considering giving them another chance to sign up, and several Democratic lawmakers have urged precisely that.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

What's happening with the chick who took over from Sebelius? She's supposed to be super smart and fix things!

Also, I keep hearing liberals claim Obamacare is the GOP health plan. True?

[tarran]

Also, I keep hearing liberals claim Obamacare is the GOP health plan. True?

Apparently during the debate over Mussolinicare Hillarycare, someone at the Heritage foundation published a piece arguing for mandatory health insurance.

Back when Mitt Romney was running (and the proggie-herders didn't want to puff him up) that was their argument as to why it was a GOP plan.

Not that Mitt Romney is not a threat to King Barack, they just point to the abomination that is Romney Care.

[KDN]

It actually predates Hillarycare by some time. James Taranto of the WSJ was working at Heritage at the time, he wrote a couple of articles about it back in 2011 and 2012.

The plan was introduced in a 1989 book, "A National Health System for America" by Stuart Butler and Edmund Haislmaier. We seem to have mislaid our copy, and we couldn't find it online, but we did track down a 1990 Backgrounder and a 1991 lecture by Butler that outline the plan. One of its two major planks, the equalization of tax treatment for individually purchased and employer-provided health insurance, seemed sensible and unobjectionable, at least in principle.

But the other was the mandate, described as a "Health Care Social Contract" and fleshed out in the lecture ...

The Heritage mandate, at least in theory, would have been less burdensome than the ObamaCare one. You'd have to be covered against catastrophically costly conditions but could choose to buy additional insurance or pay out of pocket for everyday medical needs. On the other hand, Butler's vague language--"it might also include certain very specific services . . . and other items"--would seem to leave the door wide open for limitless expansion.

[Lord Humungus]

The case for treating sugar like a dangerous drug

Once upon a time, sugar was a condiment. Now it's a diet staple. That's a problem, because as it turns out, we as human beings have a limited capacity to metabolize it. There are things you can do to up your metabolism, like vigorous exercise. But the bottom line is we have a limited capacity to metabolize it ? virtually like every poison, kind of like alcohol. So a little is okay; a lot is not.

The dose determines the poison. The data says that the dose on average that is safe is six to nine teaspoons of added sugar per day. Currently, Americans are at 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day. That excess is driving obesity, diabetes, lipid problems, heart disease, cancer, dementia, fatty liver disease ? virtually every chronic metabolic disease that you can think of is being driven by this excess of sugar.

[UnCivilServant]

Vox.com is distillate of stupid.

[NebulousFocus]

This.

[Ted S.]

Ah, the mead tax.

[Irish]

Why does everyone at Vox write like a high school student?

Clipped sentences, an atrocious vocabulary, trying to sound smart about something you know nothing about - it's basically like my entire class in 10th grade.

[Ted S.]

Sounds like Ernest Hemingway.

[Restoras]

It doesn't matter, they all went to college.

[Injun, as in from India]

Moral busybodies who can't tolerate others doing what they want. End of story.

[Derpetologist]

Much as he wanted to obey these words, he couldn't tear himself away from his guilty pleasures. These included his Winger CD and what he was about to do with two women in the desert.

He had told his female companions to dress in the wildest, sexiest outfits they could think of. Rachel Maddow came wearing nothing but a pair of black thigh boots, a studded leather chest harness which covered two of her nipples, and a Nazi peaked cap. She had replaced the skull and bones emblem on the cap with a Venus symbol. Her distended labia hung loosely like slices of bologna. From her crotch came a scent that was a combination of cinnamon, lavender, and rotting eels.

Melissa Harris Perry was dressed as Velma from Scooby Doo, as she believed this character was the epitome of female beauty and would not rest until all of mankind agreed.

Maddow and Perry stood on opposite sides of the totem pole in the ceremony circle. The totem pole had been a gift from Elizabeth Warren, who had recently become a certified medicine woman from the Heckawi Indian Nation Online Shaman College. The totem pole had the faces of the four noble beasts: a buffalo, a bear, an eagle, and Hillary Clinton, who was 1/64pureblood Heckawi. There was also a little button that would light up Hillary's fake wooden eyes and play "I am woman, hear me roar!"

[gaijin]

Heckawi.

Who? The Heckawi

Cousins to the Fukawi.

[Derpetologist]

Reid parked his Chevy Suburban at the base of the secluded mesa and stripped to his Mormon temple garments. He paused to take another glance at the vast stick figure family sticker on the rear window. He may not have been a great Mormon, but he was a proud Mormon, gosh darnit, and he wanted the depraved gentile harridans waiting for him to know it. He huffed and puffed up the steps carved in the rock.

As he reached the ceremony circle, Maddow's creaky voice bellowed "Halt, Herr Reid! You haff failed me for zeh last time and must be punished!" She pointed menacingly to the Real Iguana Leather Sex Swing from sodomandgomorrah.com.
Reid was pleased with dedication and energy Maddow brought to the role play.

"Jinkeeth!" Perry blurted out, "leth jump in the mythstery machine and find thome ghothts!"

Maddow snapped her head at Perry and hit her on the lips with a riding crop. The force of the blow nearly knocked off Perry's coke bottle glasses. "SILENCE!" Maddow shouted.

Maddow strapped Reid into the the swing as Perry frolicked with her imaginary friend WigglePuppy, a dog that flies by wagging its tail. She brought some colored chalk and wrote MELISSA & RACHEL BFF in Hot Pink near the base of the totem pole.

[Lord Humungus]

Jonah Goldberg: The Right Wing Scam Machine

It's also worth noting that there were a lot of interesting details our researcher turned up that won't be shown in the numbers. For example, did you know that despite the fact that it raised a staggering 13 million dollars, The National Draft Ben Carson for President isn't affiliated with Ben Carson and the small percentage of money they spent on independent expenditures didn't go to him? Now you know why Ben Carson's business manager, Armstrong Williams wouldn't allow the group's campaign director to take a picture with Carson and said, "People giving money think it's going to Dr. Carson and it's not. ?Our hands are tied. We don't want people exploited."

[Irish]

Well, this guy is clearly committing fraud then, correct? Why not just have him arrested?

I don't know how you can call yourself 'Draft Ben Carson for President' when you aren't supporting Ben Carson for president.

Incidentally, this isn't only a problem with campaign groups, you see it all the time with non-profits. Kanye West's charity spent $500,000 a few years back and zero of it was actually donated where it was supposed to go.

[Derpetologist]

"Now ve sing Herr Reid!" Maddow screeched. Maddow gave him a push and Reid kept swinging by pumping his legs. Reid began his jerk-off anthem: Fappin' feels good! Fappin' makes me happy! Ain't nothin' better than fappin' with my pappy! He continued to sing it like an Army cadence. When he got close to Maddow, she struck him on his tush with the riding crop.Reid groaned with each blow. He rubbed and squeezed his withered member with all the strength in his arthritic hands.

Meanwhile, Perry decided she wanted to play lumberjack with the totem pole. She would later blame WigglePuppy for this idea. She carefully tipped the plastic pole over, stood on it, and began rolling it with her feet. She was so focused on her feet that she failed she was careening straight towards Reid and Maddow. Soon all 3 were tumbling down the side of the mesa.

[Lord Humungus]

Uncivil Servant: I dredged up info on fascr:
http://reason.com/archives/201.....nt_5092863

[UnCivilServant]

Thanks.

I spotted it in the other thread before snarking in the links.

[UnCivilServant]

I have it installed and working, I'm seeing if I care for it.

[Derpetologist]

As the Real Iguana Leather Sex Swing disintegrated around him, Reid kept singing: Fappin' feels good! Fappin' makes me happy! Ain't nothin' better than fappin' with my pappy!

Maddow sang the Horst Wessel song punctuated by grunts and muttered English swear words.

Perry repeatedly pushed the button on the totem pole and sang along until the electronic voice died like the crippled
HAL 9000.

At long last, they came to rest at the bottom. The metal rods of the Real Iguana Leather Sex Swing had pummeled Reid. The women survived with bruises and scrapes. Before passing out from pain, Reid managed to say "next time, we do this on level ground."

"Jin...keeth" Perry whispered.

THE END

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

*Paging SugarFree, SugarFree please pick up the red courtesy phone*

[SugarFree]

His legacy secure, SugarFree moved on to working as a foley in the porn industry.

[Derpetologist]

Sugarfree Kenobi stood at guard while Derp Vader menaced him with his red neon pike dildo.

"I've been waiting for you, Sugarfree. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the master."

"Only a master of evil, derp."

"Your powers are weak old man."

"You can't win , Derp. If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can possible imagine."

"You should not have come back."

The neon pike dildos clattered and thudded. Then, Sugarfree dropped his guard and let Derp bludgeon him. Sugarfree let out a loud, squeeking fart and vanished. His empty fuzzy blue bathrobe fell to the ground.

In the distance, Swissy screamed "NO!" before being pulled by Nicole into a waiting Honda Accord.

[Lord Humungus]

empty fuzzy blue bathrobe

stained with the fruits of his labor

[Lord Humungus]

I think we could improve those numbers.

At Least 1000 Californians Would Commit Legal Assisted Suicide Each Year

If California's assisted suicide numbers were the same as Oregon's, more than 1000 people would commit assisted suicide each year. That's roughly 85 a month, or nearly 3 every day.

That number would steadily rise as people came desensitized to doctor-prescribed death.

Currently, about 3300 Californians commit suicide each year. Add the assisted suicides, and there would be a 1/3 increase, to about 4300 per year (although the legislation would require doctors to lie on death certificates by stating that the demises were caused by underlying disease rather than overdose).

[Ted S.]

Why can't they just jump off the Golden Gate Bridge?

[UnCivilServant]

They determined that the environmental impact of unwashed californians landing in the bay would be a disaster for some species of liminal plankton.

[The Late P Brooks]

The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse

We'll just have to slaughter them.

[The Late P Brooks]

Plan to broadcast messages to alien worlds leaves cosmologists worrying

*Cue Pro Lib with Monty Python How Not to be Seen sketch*

[Lord Humungus]

How to Come Out Like a Porn Star: A sex-industry veteran shares advice on the risks and rewards

When most of us think of coming out, we think sexual orientation. But for 34-year-old genderqueer porn star Jiz Lee, who's been starring mainly in queer, independent porn for a decade, it's about more than that. Hence they (Lee's preferred pronoun) are editing "How to Come Out Like a Porn Star," an anthology of essays exploring exactly that, to be released in November by ThreeL Media. The book is not a how-to manual, but in more than 50 essays, readers will find various approaches to coming out that, while specific to porn, will likely be appreciated by those struggling to reveal other kinds of sex-related secrets to loved ones. It is also, in its way, a manifesto, a reclamation by Lee of the role of porn as a positive artistic form. "It is actually the stigma from having performed that proves to do the greatest damage, and is our largest obstacle," Lee writes, a stigma this book clearly seeks to minimize.

[Ted S.]

Hence they (Lee's preferred pronoun)

If Lee is an individual, wouldn't "it" be more appropriate?

[UnCivilServant]

No, 'they' was traditionally a pronoun for one or more persons of gender unknown. Only in the 19th century when people because obsessed with 'normalization' of english did they campaign against use of the singular 'they'. But English was relilient, and the traditional use is coming back.

[BardMetal]

Tip # 1 If you enjoy urinating on people during sex, it's best to talk about it first with your partner instead of just doing it.

[Coeus]

But it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

[Pope Jimbo]

R Kelly begs to differ.

[Lord Humungus]

Dems' scary electoral future: Why the progressive sales pitch is getting harder
Economic data shows that left-leaning parties are better for the middle class?but voters have trouble seeing it

Princeton University's Larry Bartels has two studies on politics and income distribution, and together they encompass almost a century. His finding: under Republicans, the poor and middle class see almost no income growth, while under Democrats, they see dramatic growth (see charts). As he notes elsewhere, even after numerous controls, these partisan differences remain. "Every Republican president in the past 60 years has presided over increasing income inequality, including Dwight Eisenhower in the midst of the 'Great Compression' of the post-war decades," Bartels writes. "And every Democratic president except one (Jimmy Carter) has presided over decreasing or stable inequality."

[UnCivilServant]

Microtext correction: "Oh, sorry, we had the graph upside down."

[UnCivilServant]

Also, why the focus on presidents?

[WTF]

Just because congress holds the purse strings and controls legislation? The hell you say!

[Irish]

It's especially idiotic to focus on presidents given that modern democratic presidents have nothing in common with historic democratic presidents.

JFK was not Barack Obama. The party has moved drastically to the left in the last 10 years, so it's immensely disingenuous to claim Kennedy's successes as your own when he wouldn't have even been allowed into the Democratic party today.

[tarran]

... aaaaannnd it's shit like that that leads me to conclude that Princeton is to econ what Bob Jones University is to paleontology: a backwoods hick college whose diplomas are a signal that one is dealing with someone that shouldn't be hired lest he corrupt your organization's decision making.

It's a pity - it's a top school for Physics. The econ department really drags down what could be a great school.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yet, haven't most welfare policies been introduced by the Republicans?

[WTF]

Medicare, social security, the Great Society? Mostly democrats, no? Not that Bush II didn't expand Medicare entitlements with prescription drug coverage.

[Free Society]

They've had some big ones but the pioneers have always been the Dems. The poverty rate in the United States was declining at a rate of 1% per year after the industrial revolution, that is right up until LBJ's Great Society programs were started in the 60's.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

I blame Nixon ending Bretton Woods in '71 more for that.

[Charles Easterly]

"We're all Keynesians now."

Tragic.

[WTF]

I like how he steals a base by conflating "income inequality" with lack of "income growth".

[UnCivilServant]

Cue Thather's quip to parliment?

[Derpetologist]

Voting against their own interests!
What's the matter with Kansas?

WHY WON'T THESE STRAW CHEWING YOKELS VOTE FOR THEIR BETTERS?!

[Auric Demonocles]

Every Republican president in the past 60 years has presided over increasing income inequality

What does this have to do with your original point about the poor making more money?

[Irish]

I think it's hilarious that they conveniently ignore that the last two Democratic presidents have presided over the fastest growing income inequality in American history.

Income inequality under Bush grew less quickly than under Obama or Clinton.

[Free Society]

Bandying about the issue of 'income inequality' veers dangerously close to accepting the fallacious premise that income inequality is necessarily a bad thing.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Obsession with income inequality over actual standards of living, shocking. When the poor have smartphones, big-screen TVs, cars, and their obesity rather than their starvation is something that many fret over, who gives a fuck about how much more somebody else earns except for the terminally envious?

[Free Society]

who gives a fuck about how much more somebody else earns except for the terminally envious?

Statist predators and their legions morally confused drones.

[MJGreen]

Because eventually those fat poor people will rise up and overthrow civilization! We must make sure they are paid off and keep their envy in check!

[Irish]

"Economic data shows that left-leaning parties are better for the middle class?but voters have trouble seeing it"

Wait, really? That must explain Venezuela's booming middle class.

I'm sure with Syriza in charge, Greece will have a massive middle class any day now!

The most affluent middle classes on Earth are America, Canada, and Australia. None of those countries are particularly left-wing on a global scale.

[Injun, as in from India]

I, for one, call for abolishing the phrase "income inequality" and replacing it with "income diversity".

"Income equality" is basically a term that is designed to make someone who opposes government intervention look bad. You support inequality! OMG!

The counter to that is "income diversity". You oppose diversity? OMG! You turd!

[BardMetal]

That is genius, I can already see the looks on the "embrace diversity" crowd has their minds go through all sorts of mental contortions.

[robc]

If you shift the dates by 18 months, to account for lag time in presidential policies, it probably evens out.

I know it did for things like stock growth.

[Auric Demonocles]

Given the insane amount of snow we've gotten the past month, I'm curious to get your opinions on the use of space savers. It's a pretty contentious issue around Boston, and not one that I've seen discussed here (though it is similar to the food truck-in-public-parking arguments). For background, the basic theory behind them is that if you shovel out your car after a storm you should be able to keep that parking spot. So people will shovel the spot where their car is parked, then when they go to work and put something (a chair, a bookshelf, whatever) in the spot to save it. To be clear, these are on the street public parking spots.

The city has basically taken a non-enforcement approach. They've only said that space savers should not be used 48 hours after a snow emergency ends. However, during those 48 hours, the city also will not enforce your "right" to the spot (i.e. if someone moves your saver and takes it, the city doesn't care). The only enforcement is from the person who put the saver up. Depending on the person it can range from nothing, to a note under your windshield, to getting your car buried under snow, to slashed tires or broken windows.

[Auric Demonocles]

The arguments I've seen for them include: 1) the use of a spot incentives people to shovel out the spot in the first place, thus increasing parking 2) you put the labor in so you deserve something in return 3) some people don't move their car at all, so they take a spot continuously 4) the city has implicitly approved of them for a limited time by saying that you can't use them after 48 hours 5) this is how it's been done for decades

The arguments against include: 1) It's a public spot, not yours 2) You aren't letting other people use the spot when your car isn't in it so you are actually decreasing parking while your car is elsewhere 3) You aren't digging out the spot, you're digging out your car 4) If someone was out of town or parked in a garage during the storm or is visiting a friend in another neighborhood they should be able to park somewhere, since they can't shovel out a spot before they park their car 5) The threat of force and vigilante justice is a barbaric method 6) people abuse the system by using space savers for too long, in spots they didn't shovel out themselves, or before the storm even starts

I think we can all agree the property damage retaliation is wrong, but what do you all think of the rest of the idea of space savers?

[UnCivilServant]

I think unless the bostonians can buy the streetside spot and have ownership of it, they can't deny usage to others when they're not in it.

[Restoras]

Agree.

[Derpetologist]

Space saving was the norm when I lived in Chicago. They called it Dibs.

I thought it was silly and childish. None of the people on my street had fixed parking spaces so they can't claim to own anything. Nonetheless, empty spots would quickly fill up with plastic chairs.

I solved the problem by parking by parking somewhere else.

[Auric Demonocles]

That doesn't really solve the problem unless 'somewhere else' does not use space savers as well.

[lap83]

My husband saves a spot for his mini with his motorcycle (and vice versa). In his case I don't think the other people in our apartment can get too mad because both vehicles can fit in the same spot.

But the examples you give, with putting chairs or whatever in parking spots that belong to the city, that doesn't seem ethical.

[tarran]

It's a Lockean form of property acquisition - mixing one's labor with the natural state of snow-covered road shoulder to create a piece of real estate.

Personally, I think good luck getting people to stop; especially now. My GF lives in Hyde Park, and the people there are getting pretty crazy with the snow. Lot's of wild eyes and threats to call 911 if someone violates the code of the side-street. My gf even reports having witnessed the occasional fistfight.

[Auric Demonocles]

That doesn't really answer my question though. We can't get people to stop murdering, but that's a separate question of whether it's right or not.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Well, if it's any worth, Montreal historically gets double the snow Boston gets and this sort of thing doesn't exist.

People shovel out the snow and that's the end of it. No fights over parking spots. When I lived in the city I was in the same predicament but it is what it is as they say.

[UnCivilServant]

Bostonians use the spot blockers even when there isn't snow around. Things are just that bad there.

[Mickey Rat]

Bostonians are entitled dicks? How about that?

[Auric Demonocles]

Isn't Montreal's snow removal budget something like 10 times the size of Boston's?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Probably. Because we get that much more snow.

But people in the city always have to shovel their way out anyway.

[Auric Demonocles]

No you don't. You get about double the snow. Not 10 times the snow.

[Rhywun]

I don't think I've ever seen this phenomenon in NYC.

[GILMORE]

There's a reason for that. (see below)

Also = in manhattan? no one would fucking put up with that. Parking spaces are worth $100,000 a year in some neighborhoods. In brooklyn? if it was the space right in front of your place and your neighbors all knew it? *(and you were the guy that dug the others out the past 5 years?) Yes. that could happen. In fact, it did very often in my neighborhood. But it was a "No parking" sign placed in the snowbank, not a freaking piece of furniture.

[GILMORE]

I think the best possible argument in favor for these things is =

"It will result in faster beatings-to-death of incurable assholes"

You ever gone to a movie theater with your 5 friends, happy to find that the place was 3/4 empty... and only sparsely populated by singlets in every row...?

...only to discover that each of them had brought 8 pieces of clothing which they'd draped over seats in the row, saying, "Oh, i'm saving these for people!"

This is a thing that started with "cell phones". No one would ever arrive anywhere together on time, so first one to show up? needed to "save everyone's seat". Usually when the previews were running, people would start to show up.

I was once the guy who picked up their clothes and threw them in the sticky aisle saying, "please, go ahead = go get a cop. It will be funny to watch". Even funnier was when the 'seat saver' in the next row tried to argue in their defense... but then decided their emotional support still didn't trump 6 guys. One even said, "Sucks to be you."

The unspoken law of courtesy is that you can *try* and claim right of possession - but it depends on the grace of others to respect it. You have no real title. If you ask kindly for consideration, you deserve the favor, and it ennobles both people.

If you *insist you deserve it*. however... and start whining... you deserve nothing but scorn.

[Florida Man]

I'm not familiar with the culture there, but it seems to me you can't "save" a public space. Now if it is on business property they can/should write a workplace policy that allows saving a space you maintained.

[Auric Demonocles]

Perhaps a clearer way of stating the current legality of using a space saver:

They may be legal in the sense that you don't get in trouble for doing it and the city won't throw out your space saver, but it is also legal for someone to remove your space saver and take the spot.

[All-Seeing Monocle]

If the only place you have to park your car is a public parking space, you live in a dystopian hell-hole and the details don't really matter.

[Clich? Bandit]

A mobile garage would solve this. No shoveling, space saver is heavy and big, and your car is clear.

Seriously though, property rights would solve this instantly. Michael Badnarick had a saying on the campaign trail, "Property is the answer, now what is the question?"

[Sevo]

I'm in agreement.
You own a car without someplace to keep it? Why do the taxpayers provide a storage space for your property?
Go rent a garage.

[Michael]

Peak derp, meet hockey stick chart.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/a.....ains-3.php

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Harf to Kurds: Stop your killing! Don't you see these people need jobs!

Long pause.

Then laughter.

[Free Society]

"The U.S. National Security Agency has figured out how to hide spying software deep within hard drives made by Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba and other top manufacturers, giving the agency the means to eavesdrop on the majority of the world's computers, according to cyber researchers and former operatives."

What a sinister bunch of fucks. This is why the state's continued existence is a bigger and bigger threat to civilization with each passing day.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Don't worry, the most transparent administration ever will be hot on the case cracking down on the "former operatives" that whistleblew on these Constitutional and legal violations.

[Free Society]

It really doesn't seem to matter who's in charge. They're all content to commit constitutional and legal violations in the quest to expand state power. Even if we elected an incorruptible president and even if he could miraculously rein in the vastly powerful edifices of federal power, by the time the next administration rolled around we'd be at least back to the usual expansion of tyranny within 8 years. The state cannot be limited. It's a tumor that must be removed from society in it's totality.

[Coeus]

C'mon, We Shouldn't Have To Tell The Daily Show To Hire A Woman

I really don't want to have to write this. I don't want to say that The Daily Show "needs to," "has to," "would be wise to, "must," "will hopefully" hire a female comedian to replace the irreplaceable Jon Stewart.

I'm not reluctant because I don't want a female host. I know that the argument that women just aren't as funny as men is absurd. As a female comedian, I get to spend time with lots of funny and smart ladies and I am confident that The Daily Show could find a hilarious woman to host the show. But I wish I didn't have to urge them to.

I wish you didn't feel compelled to, either.

[UnCivilServant]

Can't the show just go off the air already? It had pitable ratings and was never really any good.

[lap83]

They should hire a feminist comedian so the ratings plummet and the show is taken off the air forever. That would be funny.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Oh, a *feminist* comedian, I can write jokes for them easily.

"Why are you laughing at me? All this &%$# misogyny in the world, and you think it's a &%*@ *joke*?"

[lap83]

If that's her shtick it could be good.

[Illocust]

You know what. Now I want to do this. I'd have to find a way to disguise my appearance though. Know how the feminist horde likes to get people fired, I'd have to make sure there isn't a chance in hell they could figure out who I was.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

If they challenge you, accuse them of transphobia. Insist that they call you Loretta.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Presto - no disguise required!

[Illocust]

Uhhh, I am female.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

See, that wasn't hard at all, was it?

[Charles Easterly]

Nice.

[WTF]

Q: How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: "That's not funny!"

[UnCivilServant]

A: "One to whine about the patriarchical oppression of the darkness until someone else comes along and does it for them, at which point they whine about being infantalized"

[sarcasmic]

A: "ONE GOD DAMMIT!"

[Rufus J. Firefly]

A: None. They ask the man to do it.

[UnCivilServant]

A: None. They ask the man demand society force a man to do it.

I've never met one who'd ask for anything.

[Slammer]

A: Two. One to change the lightbulb and one to suck my fucking dick.

[WTF]

LOL - WINNAH!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Winner!

[DK]

Wait, you have more than one dick?

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

Q: How many women does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, but one will form a support group and another will write a book on dealing with darkness.

[Irish]

Actually, a parody feminist fake T.V. show would be hilarious.

The outraged squealing online would be even funnier.

"They're telling jokes at my expense! RAPE CULTURE, RAPE CULTURE, DUDEBRO MISOGYNY!"

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Oy, let me tell you about male comedians - they can't sustain a joke for more than two minutes. They're like, 'that's the joke,' ba-da bing, ba-da boom. Female comedians are like, no, you gotta gradually work up to the punch line, it's more satisfying, am I right, ladies?

"And don't get me started on how they leave the toilet seat up..."

[WTF]

I know that the argument that women just aren't as funny as men is absurd.

No it isn't.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"So a man walks into a bar. Then he says to himself, 'I shouldn't be drinking, I should go home to my loving wife!'"

[UnCivilServant]

Bartender takes his keys as he's clearly too drunk to drive.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"So a salesman stops over at a farmer's house for the night. The farmer's daughter makes the salesman a heart-healthy dinner, and the salesman has a good night's sleep."

ALTERNATE JOKE:

"The farmer's daughter is too busy studying to be an engineer to fix any man's food, so the salesman cooks his own dinner and then has a good night's sleep."

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"So the Pole is about to bet on the instant replay, but he remembers he told his wife he'd take her to the theater, so he sets aside his gambling money for that purpose."

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"So the sailor goes to the whorehouse, but one of the girls reminds him of his sister, so he gives her bus fare to leave town and get an honest job, and by that time he's lost interest in sex."

[MJGreen]

Yes it is.

[lap83]

"No it isn't."
I don't know, I think plenty of feminists are funnier than Jon Stewart.

[Illocust]

Why would any sane women want the job? The Daily Show was popular because of the Stewart brand. Whoever comes in after him will be doing nothing but trying to live up to the idealized image his audience had of him.

[Derpetologist]

The thing is, he never really told jokes. They would play a clip of someone saying something dumb or unproglike, and then Stewart would stare blankly at the audience.

[Sevo]

A shtick stolen from Tosh.0

[Rhywun]

I think Stewart was doing it 15 years ago.

Thing is, when Stewart started, all the cool kids were like, "No one can replace Craig Kilborn!" SSDD.

[Free Society]

I know that the argument that women just aren't as funny as men is absurd.

Actually it's been scientifically validated as a theory. Women are programmed to be attracted to funny men and men are programmed to try an impress a potential mate with humor. There's a much reduced biological imperative for females to develop their sense of humor.

[WTF]

Actually it's been scientifically validated as a theory.

Stop mansplaining and trying to invalidate women's ways of knowing, and check your damn privilege, you heteronormative cis shitlord!

[Free Society]

Fair point.

[MJGreen]

You are now prohibited from using, "science must be reproducible!" complaints in climate change threads.

[lap83]

It's too hard to say equivocally who is funnier. There are different styles of humor and just because someone's laughing doesn't mean they think the person is funny. A woman may laugh at a guy's bad joke if she likes him.

I would definitely say that men try harder to be funny, however. Whether they always succeed is a different matter.

[lap83]

There's also the awkward "laughing at you and not with you".

[Jordan]

In totally unexpected Obamacare news, Discount and Department Stores Boost Manager Ranks by 46% in Two Years, Hours Up 88%

In the last two years, hours worked by managers at discount and department stores are up 86% while hours worked by nonsupervisor employees is down.

Why? Supervisors, don't get paid overtime. It's yet another artifact of Obamacare.

Congratulations, you are now a manager, but don't expect any more money. Instead, expect to work 50 hours for the same or slightly more pay.

Obama wants to put an end to that by revamping overtime rules for the first time since 2004.

[Suthenboy]

I was assured right here on these boards that no one, but no one is cutting hours over Obumblecare and I believe it.

[Sevo]

Naah.
8% are!

[Auric Demonocles]

Just the racists who are trying to make Obama look bad.

[Medical Physics Guy]

The fact that the US even considered arming Ukraine has angered Putin and undone the fragile peace efforts of Angela Merkel and the other EU geniuses.

/Euroderp

[The Late P Brooks]

Every Republican president in the past 60 years has presided over increasing income inequality

Call me crazy, but isn't that an indicator of economic expansion?

[sarcasmic]

Yes, yes it is. Which is precisely why the government needs to put the brakes on economic expansion. It is better for people to be equally poor than unequally rich.

[WTF]

That's the proglodyte way.

[The Late P Brooks]

The "business news" channels (Bloombergers, CNBC MSNBC Business Channel) have stumbled onto the West Coast Ports story. Oddly enough, any reference to a "strike" seems to be verboten.

It's just a bottleneck in the supply channel, apparently.

[UnCivilServant]

I can't wait for the shipping companies to just start re-routing to other ports so that half the striking workers get laid off due to lack of business.

[Suthenboy]

Has this been covered yet? I can't keep up anymore.

Surprise! Head watermelon outs herself- http://news.investors.com/ibd-.....talism.htm

"At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.'s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism."

[sarcasmic]

But, but, but... capitalism is an ecological calamity!

[WTF]

Here is my shocked face.

[Ken Shultz]

"In response to a lawsuit filed by 26 states, a federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration."

I don't see how an educated person could let this Constitution thing the rednecks keep talking about get in the way of the President doing what he needs to do to run the country.

What, is this judge watching Fox News? Did the Koch Brothers get to him or something? If we don't do something to stop the racists, I swear, the crackers are gonna take over this country.

[Coeus]

Arguments through asertion

Fair process for the accused is a critical component of Title IX. Counter to Ms. Shulevitz's representation, the Department of Education provides the most robust protections for students accused of sexual assault, more than classmates facing any other disciplinary charges. Let's encourage schools to follow Title IX rather than destroy a safety net that many survivors of abuse or assault need to stay in school.

and another:

Adjudication of sexual assault on a college or university campus is not a criminal trial; it is to determine if there is a violation of student conduct. Many victims don't want to endure the stress and emotional impact of a criminal trial but have the right to be safe on campus.

Bullying, verbal harassment, drinking, vandalism and racism all fall under behaviors that schools address to make their campuses safe and productive places to learn. Sexual assault should be no different.

[Suthenboy]

*Notes that they use the term 'Fair Process' in place of due process*

[WTF]

"Fair" of course meaning they get whatever their desired result is, regardless of fact or evidence.

[Auric Demonocles]

*alleged* victims

[Sevo]

From strength to strength:

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....extension/
"Uh oh: Democrats want an Obamacare enrollment extension"
[...]
"This might come as a shock, but it seems that the Affordable Care Act's federal web portal encountered some technical hurdles in the crucial final weekend before the close of the latest open enrollment period.

OK, we already know the web work was done by somebody's uncle who once owned a Commodore, but in the immortal words of Billy May: "But WAIT! There's MORE!"
"Buried in the fifth paragraph of a Fiscal Times story surrounding Healthcare.gov's persistent inability to function is the costs that taxpayers are expected to shoulder for this debacle. The construction of the ACA's federal web portal and the subsequent repairs this site required have to date cost the country? wait for it? $2.2 billion. For a website. As recently as last summer, Healthcare.gov had only cost the government $840 million. Apparently, the costs associated with maintaining this site have nearly tripled."

Yes, folks, this fine piece of legislation would get the sponsors fired from the worst-run business in the land, and instead the two assholes most responsible for it still sing its praises!

[Suthenboy]

"... $2.2 billion. For a website."

This administration has done nothing but loot the treasury. They are cronyism personified. All of the other fuck-ups, which are legion, are just symptoms of this single factor.

[lap83]

Austerity doesn't come cheap

[GILMORE]

"$2.2 billion.

You could repaint an aircraft carrier with that kind of money.

[Derpetologist]

On Vox, they did an interview with Matt Y. and the Great and Powerful O. As he gestured, magical sparkles danced from his fingertips.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Comment: "Obama is the greatest modern president US has had, and it's sad that a majority of Americans don't even know it.?"

Also, he claims 'military solutions to our problems' is not the way to go.

If I were editor I would have cut the video right there and gone straight to the Indian guy we see on late night Telly just after the anthem when all the shows are done.

[Suthenboy]

That wasn't an interview. It was an infomercial selling the Obumbles cult of personality.

Every time I think they can't get any creepier....

[sarcasmic]

Moment cop told her comrades she was 'turning off the dashcam' as they beat and Tasered 18-year-old suspect
Cortez Bufford, 18, has brought a lawsuit against St Louis Police Department for allegedly using excessive force during a traffic stop
He refused to get out of car after officers said they saw drugs and a gun inside the vehicle last April
One cop appears to kick him in the head and he can be heard screaming as he is Tasered - then the dashcam screen goes blank

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....spect.html
It said she may face discipline.

[WTF]

Did the cops heros go home safely? Because that's all that matters.

[Irish]

DUMBASS ARGUMENT INBOUND

Alex McGillis says St. Louis should move to Illinois because it would be made safer by Illinois' noble gun laws.

Because there clearly are no violent cities in Illinois. None that I can think of. Also, the most dangerous place in America per capita is East St. Louis...which is already in Illinois.

I don't quite agree with his argument here.

[UnCivilServant]

I vote we relocate Alex to Chicago.

[Auric Demonocles]

Animists.

[Stormy Dragon]

While the arguement is certainly dumbass, I'm willing to go along with it so as not to spoil Missouri's chance of getting rid of St. Louis.

I'm hoping Pennsylvania can get New Jersey to take Philadelphia County under similar illogic.

[sarcasmic]

Woman, 24, caught on camera throwing bacon at police shouting 'it's time to feed the pigs' goes missing
Lindsey McNamara in December visited a police station with a box of meat
A charge of malicious destruction of property was dismissed last week
She was last seen on Valentine's Day at dinner in a Chinese restaurant
Her family said they do not recognise the acquaintances she was with
She told the judge at her hearing she thought 'someone was out to get her'

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

[UnCivilServant]

You don't feed bacon to pigs! I don't care if they'd eat it, it's not profitable.

[sarcasmic]

'Men don't fancy skinny girls, they like an hourglass figure': Woman with world's largest bottom which is 8ft around says being fat is fabulous

Mikel Ruffinelli, 39, is the owner of the world's largest backside
Says she loves her 8ft bottom - and so do the majority of men
Appears on new documentary looking at lifestyles of supersized women
Claudia Floraunce, a plus-size model from Austria, also appears
She says it is time to redefine the criteria for beauty
Mrs Ruffinelli says society should work with her and make things bigger

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....ulous.html
I'm without words...

[Slammer]

*takes out bionic eyes*

[RBS]

I think a warning about the redhead would have been nice.

[Heroic Mulatto]

A church bell does not have the same shape as an hourglass!

[Suthenboy]

"She says it is time to redefine the criteria for beauty"

Shorter Claudia - "I will tell you what you like."

[WTF]

I just love how they think they have the right to dictate what other people must find attractive.

[Brian D]

I've never seen an hourglass shaped like her.

[UnCivilServant]

I've seen people with that kind of tumor before. They were usually raising money to have it surgically removed.

[Illocust]

I hate to break it to her, but she is a specialty brand. She gets the attention of guys because she is biggest of her kind, not because that kind is particularly popular in general.

[UnCivilServant]

"Attention" is too generic of a term. Those on display in a circus freak show got "attention" from the crowds, but it was not because they were extraordinarily attractive.

[Derpetologist]

In Swahili, there is a word wowowo.

It means "a woman with an enormous rear end".

Such are the joys of learning Swahili.

[UnCivilServant]

I transliterated that as "whoah, whoah, whoah" in a hesitant, retreating tone.

[WTF]

We already have a word: badonkadonk.

[sarcasmic]

How global warming is making us ILL: Infectious diseases will spread faster because of climate change, claims scientist

This is according to Nebraska-based zoologist Professor Daniel Brooks
Warm habitats mean animals are exposed to new parasites and disease
Scientists had assumed parasites don't move rapidly between species
But new research reveals these parasites evolve faster than expected
Society will not keep up with pace of change, warns Professor Brooks

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....ntist.html
Global warming... is there anything it can't do?

[Auric Demonocles]

Cause more snow. Wait, yes it can. Cause less snow. Wait, it can do that too. Cause exactly the average amount of snow?

[UnCivilServant]

Be man-made?

[Suthenboy]

Current claims on ThinkProgress environment page -

Southwest and Great Plains will suffer Megadroughts

There isn't enough snow for the Iditarod

Grizzlies coming out of hibernation early

Australia's extreme heat due to global warming

Ocean is acidifying

Climate talks not going to keep warming below 2degC

Albania experiencing extreme flooding

Make yourself a 'climate change bucket list' (places you want to see which will soon disappear)

Groundhog Decade: We're Stuck In A Movie Where It's Always The Hottest Decade On Record

Unseasonal Toxic Algae Bloom In California Lake Kills Three Dogs

If you don't believe in global warming now, you will in 30 years

It's Not Too Late To Stop Climate Change, And It'll Be Super-Cheap (photo of steeple disappearing under flood waters)

Decline in bees will cause famine

Can Koch Brothers Lock In Fatal Climate Delay For $889 Million In 2016 Election?

The Climate Science Behind New England's Historic Blizzard

'Hottest Year' Story Obscures Bigger News: Ocean Warming Now Off The Charts

-----------

I give up. It is like Paul Erlich is their managing editor. Sprinkled amongst all of those claims of the sky falling are numerous plugs for wind and solar power. I assume Soros is heavily invested in those and collecting checks from the fedgov to develop them. Too lazy to look it up just now.

[UnCivilServant]

Unseasonal Toxic Algae Bloom In California Lake Kills Three Dogs

So the algae reached out and grabbed the dogs? Or pulled them under while they were swimming in slime?

Oh, it said 'unseasonal' instead of 'unusual'. If it has a season for algal blooms, then how many dogs die by drinking the toxic water when it's in season?

[UnCivilServant]

Also, does it have the same effect on rabbits?

[GILMORE]

"I assume Soros is heavily invested in those"

No, its more straightforward = US Taxpayer money subsidizes solar power, which in turn pays CAP... which in turn owns ThinkProgress.com as their propaganda wing.

Think of it as a Green Energy Trade Association publication that pretends to be journalism. Its a virtuous cycle of cronyism

"The Center for American Progress, Washington's leading liberal think tank, has been a big backer of the Energy Department's $25 billion loan guarantee program for renewable energy project. CAP has specifically praised First Solar, a firm that received $3.73 billion under the program, and its Antelope Valley project in California.

Though the think tank didn't disclose it, First Solar belonged to CAP's Business Alliance, a secret group of corporate donors, according to internal lists obtained by The Nation."

[sarcasmic]

Cops: Denied Sex, Woman Pulled Gun On Boyfriend

http://thesmokinggun.com/docum.....ces-786451
Does not compute. Seriously.

[Coeus]

Briana Wu. Unhinged is a nice way of putting it.

Wu has published unhinged op-eds in a number of online outlets that are seemingly not fact-checked or even subjected to basic common sense examinations. The increasingly hysterical tone of her recent writing, in which she makes direct appeals to President Barack Obama, has led some concerned observers to speculate she may be a danger to herself or those around her, especially when viewed alongside a Twitter account that is also spinning off the rails into ludicrous claims and grandiose language about imaginary attackers and her own bizarre self-image.

In just one unsettling example, Wu compared herself two months ago to Batman in a string of very peculiar posts on Twitter.

Not only have Wu's feverish imaginings smeared the reputation of gamers, but they risk doing harm to Wu herself: an army of enablers and useful idiots have formed around her which even includes some journalists. Mystifyingly, no one in the press seems prepared to call out Brianna Wu's obvious fabrications, preferring the "listen and believe" approach so beloved of modern feminist critics.

But it is not the job of journalists to enable delusions, or provide a platform for habitual trolls to rehabilitate themselves off the back of innocent gaming fans.

[UnCivilServant]

I'm sorry, but why is any attention being given to someone who has problen themselves an insane attention-seeker in the past?

[GILMORE]

"one of the movement's leading feminist detractors, it can now be revealed, used to be a man"

Which is really just more reason to prevent sun from ever hitting the snowflakes. The cruelty of this hit piece knows no bounds!?

"There are hints of the mannerisms that would later become so-called social justice policing in her wrongheaded outrage over the word "sammiches," which she mistakes as a racist word"

Well, she told me she was a woman, so.... I asked where my sammich was??! It was an honest mistake.

[Derpetologist]

Here is all you need to know about Wu & Sarkeesian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afgtd8ZsXzI

"I'm not a fan of video games. I had to learn a lot about video games in the process of making this. And also, video games, I would love to play video games, but I don't want to go around shooting people and ripping off their heads, and it's just gross, so...""

-Anita Sarkeesian, gamer

[Suthenboy]

A person who doesn't know what gender they are is mentally unstable? That seems unlikely.

[Coeus]

Climate change likely to fuel stronger and more frequent Ebola outbreaks: researchers

As the catastrophic Ebola outbreak showed the world recently, the modern age of global air travel has made it far easier for disease to spread. But climate change, which is shuffling habitable zones for pathogen-carrying animals, is poised to make future outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola, H1N1 and TB worse, and more frequent.

[The Late P Brooks]

I'm sorry, but why is any attention being given to someone who has problen themselves an insane attention-seeker in the past?

TAKE BACK WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT THE PRESIDENT, YOU RACIST!!!!!11

[Derpetologist]

This derp deserves a re-run: feminist claims PTSD from mean tweets

[The Late P Brooks]

A person who doesn't know what gender they are is mentally unstable?

*backs away from computer*

[Suthenboy]

I know who I am. I look in the mirror and I see male attributes. I was born that way, but it is only tangential to who I am. How I dress or wear my hair is not who I am either.

I am the person that a lot of people depend on. I am the father, the friend, the husband, the guy people can lean on. I am the guy they come to when they have problems. I don't sit around wondering who I am because I don't think about myself that much. I think about those other people.

I know a guy who dresses in costumes. For a year or two he dressed and played the part of the 'English country gentleman'. Then he spend a couple of years being 'the biker'. Now it is 'the coach'. It is pretty creepy.

I asked a psychiatrist that I used to work with about that. He said some people really do not know who they are. This didn't compute for me. He explained that some people look in a mirror and don't recognize the person they see. They take on different identities in a desperate search for who they are, but none of those identities feel like 'them', so they are constantly changing to find one that fits.

I guess the technical term is that they are nuts.

[Warty]

I just read over last night's Bofest. I told you people that you didn't have to do that to yourselves. But you never listen.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Oh, I learned a time back. Same with shreik.

[robc]

Im on the verge of filtering him away.

It take me a long time for joe and MNG too.

Tony was very quick. Shriek a little longer.

[Warty]

42. When you are outraged by somebody's impudence, ask yourself at once, 'Can the world exist without impudent people?' It cannot; so do not ask for impossibilities. That man is simply one of the impudent whose existence is necessary to the world. Keep the same thought present, whenever you come across roguery, double-dealing or any other form of obliquity. You have only to remind yourself that the type is indispensable, and at once you will feel kindlier towards the individual. It is also helpful if you promptly recall what special quality Nature has given us to counter such particular faults. For there are antidotes with which she has provided us: gentleness to meet brutality, for example, and other correctives for other ills. Generally speaking, too, you have the opportunity of showing the culprit his blunder--for everyone who does wrong is failing of his proper objective, and is thereby a blunderer. Besides, what harm have you suffered? Nothing has been done by any of these victims of your irritation that could hurtfully affect your own mind; and it is in the mind alone that anything evil or damaging to the self can have reality.

[Warty]

What is there wrong or surprising, after all, in a boor behaving boorishly? See then if it is not rather yourself you ought to blame, for not foreseeing that he would offend in this way. You, in virtue of your reason, have every means for thinking it probable that he would do so; you forgot this, and now his offence takes you by surprise. When you are indignant with anyone for his perfidy or ingratitude, turn your thoughts first and foremost upon yourself. For the error is clearly your own, if you have put any faith in the good faith of a man of that stamp, or, when you have done him a kindness, if it was not done unreservedly and in the belief that the action would be its own full reward. Once you have done a man a service, what more would you have? Is it not enough to have obeyed the laws of your own nature, without expecting to be paid for it? That is like the eye demanding a reward for seeing, or the feet for walking. It is for that very purpose that they exist; and they have their due in doing what they were created to do. Similarly, man is born for deeds of kindness; and when he has done a kindly action, or otherwise served the common welfare, he has done what he was made for, and has received his quittance.

[Stormy Dragon]

Republican Party continues prepartory autopodectomies in the run up to the Presidential election:

Phil Robertson to Receive Free-Speech Award at CPAC From Citizens United

[The Late P Brooks]

I guess the technical term is that they are nuts.

That was just a reference to the other night's Jenner thread, and the resulting Botardation.

[JillCSmall]

my co-worker's aunt makes $84 every hour on the internet . She has been out of a job for 7 months but last month her pay was $15545 just working on the internet for a few hours. visit this site............

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

[PamelaAPine]

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Useful Site.....
?????? http://www.netcash50.com

[Rufus J. Firefly]

A girl I was madly in love with (and vice versa) went with a guy that fit the song perfectly. Never understood why.

/stares out window longingly while running finger gently along.

[Charles Easterly]

There are some mysteries better left alone, Rufus.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I know.

Sigh.

[Pope Jimbo]

I agree. This is along the lines of the videos where deaf kids hear their parents for the first time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m3r5xoYod8

[Rhywun]

In the middle of it now. What is it with "true believers" and their need to mimic their heroes down to every last detail? E.g.:

Leaders of the Islamic State have taken emulation of Muhammad as strict duty, and have revived traditions that have been dormant for hundreds of years.

It's like a giant fantasy RPG. Fucking grow up, assholes.

[Charles Easterly]

Wow.
The cynicism was driven out of my brain for the length of time that child was smiling in elation.

Thanks PJ.