Obama Says Things About Extremism, Wal-Mart to Increase Wages, Oliver Sacks Has Cancer: P.M. Links

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(MikeKalasnik / photo on flickr)
  • Of course, it's not enough for some folks.
    Credit: MikeKalasnik / photo on flickr

    President Barack Obama today on violent extremism: "These terrorists are desperate for legitimacy. And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam, because that is a falsehood that embraces the terrorist narrative." I suspect the Islamic State does not care whether you or I believe that their representation of Islam is inaccurate.

  • Wal-Mart will be spending $1 billion to improve the wages of half a million of its employees.
  • The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee says Americans should pay more taxes on sugary drinks and snacks to increase the size and scope of black markets. Oh, my mistake. They think it will help fight obesity.
  • A hacker claims the Department of Justice threw the book at him, charging him with dozens of crimes, after he refused to be recruited by the FBI.
  • Here's part two of The Guardian's expose on Richard Zuley, the Chicago Police detective who brought his harsh interrogations methods to Guantanamo Bay. We noted part one yesterday.
  • The world's most famous neurologist/author Oliver Sacks has terminal cancer.
  • A county clerk in Texas has handed out the state's first licenses recognizing same-sex marriages.

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  1. And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam…

    Good luck with that.

    1. Slammer

      Burn that strawman, Obama, burn it!

      1. Enough About Palin

        In a cage no less.

    2. Brett L

      No more than the Knights Templar represnted Christianity. While they certainly don’t represent the views of every Muslim, they didn’t get where the are without a constituency.

      1. gaijin

        But Obama is the imam in chief…so clearly he understands what the one true religion is really all about.

        Oh, and “Godd@mn America!”

        1. Mike M.

          I love it when someone really gets it.

      2. Knarf Yenrab!

        Look, religions are designed to be bland and homogeneous props for political posturing. Outside of that, they serve no real purpose other than embittering gun-toting whackos who are also probably racists.

    3. Tman

      Why do I have any responsibility to this?

      Jesus that is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. I could care less if they represent Islam, Christianity, Buddhism or whatever.

      They are psychopathic degenerates, period. Kill them until dead.

      1. Number 2

        No, we do not “all” have the responsibility to say that ISIL/ISIS/WHATEVER does not stand for Islam. Islam has the responsibility.

        1. Knarf Yenrab!

          That’s a heavy burden for one man to shoulder, even a man as strong as Cat Stevens.

    4. Somalian Road Corporation

      Yeah, I’m sure the same President who in an official statement eulogized King Abdullah for the “courage of his convictions” when said convictions involve being more or less indistinguishable from ISIS knows what he’s talking about when it comes to this.

      1. Brett L

        Oh he does. He’s just lying in this speech because he would have to admit that his foreign policy has been entirely wrong if he didn’t.

      2. Rufus J. Firefly

        “In his message to Muslims on their holiday Eid al-Fitr, issued Sunday, Barack Obama asserted that “Eid also reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.” He did not, unfortunately, provide even a single example of these “many achievements and contributions” that Muslims have made to “building the very fabric of our nation,” but he said that there were many, so they shouldn’t be hard to list a few, right?”

        http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014…..ng-fathers

        1. I bet he pronounced the ayn letter all wrong when he said Eid.

          1. C. Anacreon

            Is it pronounced the same way as Ayn Rand?

    5. On the other hand, when Rudy Giuliani says he doesn’t think Obama likes America, all those filthy Republicans must be required to repudiate this disgusting example of lese majeste.

      1. expat

        Had to look that up to agree with you.

  2. A county clerk in Texas has handed out the state’s first licenses recognizing same-sex marriages.

    To a politically-connected individual?

    1. Brett L

      Terminally ill, actually. If I understand the story.

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.

        God’s punishment

        /Eddie

        1. Brett L

          i agree. Fanatics are God’s punishment for creating man.

      2. I didn’t read that it’s terminal. But Goodfriend is policy director for state Representative Celia Israel.

        1. Dances-with-Trolls

          Question, what do gay couples do about the whole married last name thing? Are we due for an explosion of hyphenated hyphenated Americans?

          1. Florida Man

            I like the idea of choosing a new last name

          2. That’s a pretty heteronormative question, homophobe.

          3. Some hyphenate their last names, and a few choose a brand new last name, but most just keep their last names. My father just assumed that we hyphenated our last names; we didn’t.

      3. Why not both:

        The newly married couple, and their daughters, met with reporters in the afternoon at the law office of Jan Soifer, chairwoman of the Travis County Democratic Party, which will be throwing a party for the couple later in the evening.

    2. Dances-with-Trolls

      Apparently that didn’t last very long.

      The Texas Supreme Court has issued an emergency order blocking gay couples from obtaining marriage licenses after a lesbian couple wed in Austin.

      Thursday’s ruling doesn’t invalidate the marriage of the two women who were allowed to marry hours earlier based on a one-time court order issued for health reasons. One of the women has cancer.

      1. Injun, as in from India

        I applaud the license that was given out. Freedom wins. But pardon my cynicism – I really hope this does not turn out be a terminal case of cancer like the one the Lockerbie Bomber had. The last I heard, he was alive and kicking his prostate gland with joy.

        1. Doghouse Riley Jr.

          He married his prostate gland?

          1. C. Anacreon

            Yes, and on the wedding night he made his prostate lie prostrate.

            1. Doghouse Riley Jr.

              “Lie back and think of exocrine.”

      2. Mickey Rat

        “The Texas Supreme Court has issued an emergency order blocking gay couples from obtaining marriage licenses…”

        …and the world did not end.

  3. A hacker claims the Department of Justice threw the book at him, charging him with dozens of crimes, after he refused to be recruited by the FBI.

    I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT; IT WOULDN’T BE JUSTICE.

  4. Rufus J. Firefly

    Hello.

    “These terrorists are desperate for legitimacy. And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam, because that is a falsehood that embraces the terrorist narrative.”

    Who is saying that and why is he obsessed with the details?

    Just DO YOUR JOB.

    1. Bobarian (hyphenated-american)

      Why the fuck would you consider ISIS to be terrorists?

      My understanding is they are an actual army, with flags and insignia and fighting what some would consider a civil war.

      They are barbaric savages, yes, but not terroists.

      Maybe it’s because of the brown skin?

      1. Rufus J. Firefly

        You talking to me? Or the President?

      2. kinnath

        This is one case where I could see calling them army regulars and then hanging them for war crimes.

        But we are not at war with ISIS, so they ain’t our problem.

        1. Rufus J. Firefly

          When I say ‘do your job’ it doesn’t necessarily mean militarily. I’m just asserting do what you need to do and spare people the stories.

          1. Libertymike

            Actually, isn’t there a guy in Foxboro who has made the phrase popular?

    2. Mike M.

      Who is saying that and why is he obsessed with the details?

      All this stupid bullshit is all intended for two main purposes: the first is to shut normal people up and get us to stop criticizing both him and the Muslims he loves so damn much, and the second is to justify doing nothing.

      1. TheZeitgeist

        As I understand it, this ‘conference’ was a sop for El Presidente not showing up in Paris to emote in that dumb march after the ethnoculturally alien ‘French’ Islamic terrorists disadvantaged minority youths gunned down the cartoonists.

  5. HeteroPatriarch

    Wal-Mart will be spending $1 billion to improve the wages of half a million of its employees.

    $1 billion spent, of which $380 million goes directly to the federal government.

    1. De Oppresso Liber

      Should be $400 million, but “loopholes”. Kulaks!

      1. C. Anacreon

        The way I calculate this, if the $1 billion goes directly and equivalently to the 500,000 employees, they’d each get $2000 more per year, or about $1 per hour more.

        And that should be very sobering for all these math-addled screamers who insist you should just take the CEO salary of $5 million and divvy it up between employees, and they’d all be able to make $15/hour: it takes a billion dollars to give a portion of Walmart employees a dollar an hour raise.

        1. Knarf Yenrab!

          It would be sobering if they were interested in anything other than complaining about wage-slavery, which is (still) the only thing standing between humanity and utopia.

          Me, I’m going to picket Wild Oats for not buying out every Wal-Mart and then doubling worker salaries. If Wild Oats would fulfill its social obligation to those workers, they’d all receive $15 an hour!

    2. You think people working at Walmart have pay a 38% tax rate…

      1. some guy

        Maybe the total tax is 38%. SS/Medicare, income, state and local taxes, lottery tickets, excise taxes on gas and cigarettes… It adds up quick.

        1. Almanian!

          Yep. Whatever my annual increase, bonus, etc. is, I multiply it by .6 to see roughly what I’ll *actually* be allowed to take home.

          And then get taxed further on purchases, healthcare (sorry – PENALTY), etc. etc.

          Thank God this government is TOTALLY WORTH 40%+ OF MY INCOME!

          1. Oh of course there are people who pay 38% in tax. I’m just betting Walmart employees aren’t among them.

            1. robc

              15.3*% FICA only leaves 22.7% left.

              If we include state and local, this doesnt seem unlikely.

              Including things like unemployment which isnt withheld but also isnt paid to the last dollar, its very hard to keep marginal taxes below 50%.

              *yeah, yeah, technically 14.2 if you add the extra 7.65% onto the denominator too.

              1. If you think minimum wage/near minimum wage employees at Walmart are paying a 50% marginal tax rate, you’re a fucking nut.

            2. You do not think the Fed, State, County, Local, property, sales, excise, utility, phone, “shared responsibility payment” and other taxes add up to 38%?

              Check your tax privilege!

              1. C. Anacreon

                I’m sometimes amazed I get anything left over at all.

              2. Mock-star

                What Swiss said. All those, plus the fact that all corporate tax is passed on to the end consumer. Those making minimum wage pay a higher percentage of their wages towards taxes – directly or indirectly – than anyone else, I’d wager.

      2. I suspect the money’s going to go to create more “managers,” as is happening at Staples and other places. But I’m cynical. Also, Target has all the MiLFs, so I’ll pay an extra $1 for my soda.

    3. Certified Public Asskicker

      And more money to spend at Wal-Mart.

  6. Pl?ya Manhattan.

    “And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam”

    I get why Bush did this after 9/11. There were sihk gas station workers getting attacked.

    But to push this so hard, now, is just retarded. And exactly what I expect from Obama.

    1. John

      It is really kind of racist when you think about it. Who are non Muslims to tell Muslims what their religion means?

      1. [insert ‘But that doesn’t apply to Obama’ joke here]

        1. Dances-with-Trolls

          If Obama wants to get his takfir on who are we to stop him?

          1. John

            Doesn’t this make him an Imam? He does seem to be issuing a Fatwa here.

            1. You call it fatwa; we call it disposition matrix.

      2. John Titor

        Who are non Muslims to tell Muslims what their religion means?

        That’s the whole thing, Obama is stupid enough to believe his opinion on what constitutes Islam matters. You are already an apostate/unbeliever idiot, and in Islamic belief you specifically have no say what constitutes Islam.

        1. John

          I find it insulting and I am not even a Muslim.

          1. John Titor

            Attempting to get people to collectively lecture Muslims on what is ‘true Islam’ is almost dangerous. Think about it, you have all these people who largely know nothing about Islam or the Quran going up to (in the case of those likely to turn towards extremism)Muslims who are far more educated on the subject and have studied it at length. And telling that kind of person “you’re an apostate, and this is the real Islam, even though your religion specifically states I’m not allowed to have an opinion” isn’t going to make those people, I don’t know, furious that kaffir are telling them what their religion is? Unbelievable.

      3. A religion can’t have A meaning. Meaning isn’t intrinsic.

        1. John

          That is a good point. If the ISIS calls itself Islam, then they are.

          1. TheZeitgeist

            Its also kind of stupid for a professed Christian to claim the ‘true’ meaning of Islam. What a clown.

    2. PapayaSF

      Obama isn’t retarded, he’s just saying stupid things because diplomacy and ideology require it.

      His worldview rests on the well-intentioned, small-l liberal idea of equality. This means not just legal equality: e.g. treating all religious beliefs equally. No, it means the stubborn insistence that all religions, on average, are “the same,” down to the statistics and behavior patterns. You’re not allowed to judge one as better or worse than any other, because it might hurt feelings and would be “privileging.”

      To admit that any one religion might have less desirable behavior patterns than any other religion is a dagger at the heart of a central, cherished belief. It must be rejected as the most appalling crime think, because the next thing you know, there might be a basis for… discrimination, which as we know is the worst possible thing, ever. So we must not only avoid bigotry, we must be indiscriminant. At airports we must examine grandma with no less scrutiny than we give to Abdul, 25, who seems to be sweating a lot as he clutches his one-way ticket.

      Better to talk about the Crusades or “extremism” or poverty or injustice or pretty much anything else. Otherwise people might get the idea that it’s OK to examine the relative merits of different religions, and different cultures, and genders and sexual orientations and races, and then where would we be?

      1. John

        Yes pretty much this. Obama’s ideology says nothing that is third world or part of the anti-colonial struggle could be bad. Islam is that. So Islam can’t be bad. When the facts say otherwise, Obama just pretends that is not really Islam.

      2. Somalian Road Corporation

        Some cultures are indeed objectively superior to others.

        1. PapayaSF

          You wouldn’t think that would be controversial, but it is.

          1. TheZeitgeist

            Some cultures are indeed objectively superior to others.

            Cultures that control their religions are vastly superior to cultures controlled by their religions.

            RACIST!

  7. Injun, as in from India

    The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee says Americans should pay more taxes on sugary drinks and snacks to increase the size and scope of black markets. Oh, my mistake. They think it will help fight obesity.

    Raising the price of anything will curtail its use.

    Except for wages, especially minimum wages. Those are magical.

    1. gaijin

      They think it will help fight obesity.

      And if not, well at least all of them will get big grants for their non-profit organizations to do public education on healthy eating.

      Also, see “cholesterol!”

    2. Intent is magic.

    3. Brett L

      Why not just stop subsidizing corn production? Same effect, higher sweetener prices.

      1. PapayaSF

        How much do crop subsidies raise prices, and how much do they lower them? I really don’t know. I thought the original point was to raise prices.

        1. jesse.in.mb

          A few years ago when the soda tax was first being passed around the tax proposed would basically offset the cost of the subsidies given to farmers to grow the corn to make the sugar. I don’t know if that’s still true, but it was maybe 2-3 years ago.

        2. TheZeitgeist

          How much do crop subsidies raise prices, and how much do they lower them? I really don’t know. I thought the original point was to raise prices.

          In the case of corn specifically, the crutch is the ethanol fuel mandate. Not a price, but a synthetic market in this case. And it indeed has driven up the price for maize.

    4. JW

      Are they considering taxing hot steaming cups of Mind Your Own Fucking Business?

  8. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee says Americans should pay more taxes on sugary drinks and snacks…

    But it’s the only nudge they have available to them!

    1. Knarf Yenrab!

      Prof. Sunstein says that it’s libertarian paternalism, so quit your whining.

      Next up, libertarian taxation and libertarian concentration camps.

  9. Injun, as in from India

    Rodent feces and flies shut down Labor Department cafeteria

    Given that this is a Department of Labor cafeteria, I will bet you 5 Federal Reserve Notes that:

    1) this cafeteria was NOT contracted out
    2) it was run by unionized, overpaid government employees who could not bother to clean up rat sh!t

    And here’s the icing on the rat sh!t cake:

    We recall first lady Michelle Obama visited the agency in 2010 to read “Green Eggs and Ham” in the child-care center. She also noted that culinary students in a training program had “prepared a delicious and, hopefully, healthy snack for our children.”

    We hope the food wasn’t prepared in the Labor cafe. Still, gives a whole new meaning to green eggs.

  10. Wal-Mart will be spending $1 billion to improve the wages of half a million of its employees.

    Hashtags work!

    1. some guy

      Let’s see. $1B / .5M is $2000 per person. That’s about a dollar an hour, assuming full time employment.

      Don’t bash the hash, man. I’ll take this over a government mandate any day.

  11. Injun, as in from India

    While the US is bogged down for the long-term in the Middle East, China Expands Island Construction in Disputed South China Sea

    What a f***ing shame.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.

      China is building an awesome hotel in the Bahamas too. Might put Atlantis out of business.

      1. Doghouse Riley Jr.

        Awesome hotel, or staging ground for an invasion of Florida?

        1. Bobarian (hyphenated-american)

          invasion of Florida?

          Isn’t this what the pythons are for?

        2. Brett L

          We’ll need the Chinese to run the bodegas once the Cubans go home.

        3. Pl?ya Manhattan.

          I dunno, but I’d pay to be part of the invasion.

          1. Pl?ya Manhattan.

            http://www.miamiherald.com/new…..66028.html

          2. Doghouse Riley Jr.

            Here, watch this movie to help you prepare.

    2. What? That we’re not getting into a pissing match over the Pacific?

  12. thom

    I don’t really understand why Wal Mart would increase the wages of the workers they’re exploiting. It’s almost like their afraid of retention i
    ssues, which makes no sense, as I’ve been assured that low income workers are trapped in their jobs and have no choice but to accept the wage they’re offered.

    1. BiMonSciFiCon

      Right??? Thank god these geniuses are on the case.

    2. JW

      The joke’s on you! These are wage slaves!

      A 10% raise of nothin’ is still nuthin’.

  13. Injun, as in from India

    Awesome story, brought to you by courtesy of Global Warming.

    The Utopia Experiment

    Evans couldn’t wait to create his retrograde society, where waif-like girls ‘with long, tawny dreadlocks’ would be doling out ‘bowls of bean stew from a steaming cauldron’. He sold his house, gave up his academic career and moved to a field near Inverness. He looked at an adjacent waterfall and thought it could ‘generate electricity’. He gazed at an acre of scrubland and believed he could ‘keep a few pigs and chickens’. He spotted a deer and, though he had no butchery or tanning training, imagined turning its hide into shoes and gloves.

    …

    What Evans calls ‘preparing for the end of the world’ was in actuality deadly boring ? getting fires going, keeping dry, trying to prevent small cuts from becoming infected and eating nothing save thick lentil soup. It soon became apparent that ‘the whole experiment had been a huge mistake’.

    1. Dances-with-Trolls

      Loop-de-looped the link.

      1. Florida Man

        Ok. I thought it was just me.

      2. Injun, as in from India

        Oh sh**. Here you go.

        http://www.spectator.co.uk/boo…..osquitoes/

        1. Medical Physics Guy

          Spectator is awesome. A find of the last few months. I think I am picking up a print subscription.

    2. Brett L

      If you want waifs with tawny dreadlocks just go to a festival concert.

      1. Hey, when I had tawny dreadlocks I was solidly in chubby college senior mode.

        1. Florida Man

          But did you have tawny port? That is the more important question.

          1. Waaaaah, no.

      2. Bobarian (hyphenated-american)

        waifs with tawny dreadlocks usually have body odor issues.

        /smelly hippies

        1. Slammer

          They like their pubic dreads, though. Makes their bush look like Cthulhu.

    3. John

      What Evans calls ‘preparing for the end of the world’ was in actuality deadly boring ? getting fires going, keeping dry, trying to prevent small cuts from becoming infected and eating nothing save thick lentil soup. It soon became apparent that ‘the whole experiment had been a huge mistake’.

      So he had to actually live off the grid before he understand that life without modern conveniences is really hard. These people are full on retarded. There is something not right about every one of them.

      1. gaijin

        So he had to actually live off the grid before he understand that life without modern conveniences is really hard.

        Well, the post apocalyptic movies they’ve learned everything from were all viewed inside an air conditioned shelter.

      2. Suthenboy

        “Jittery, with a permanently wide-eyed expression and wanting only to kill himself, Evans was eventually detained under the Mental Health Act in a maximum security psychiatric hospital.”

        Uh…yeah.

    4. Somalian Road Corporation

      Don’t leave me stranded here
      I can’t get used to this lifestyle

    5. Suthenboy

      Reality is one mean bitch.

      1. Dances-with-Trolls

        The lesson is that what Nature wants is to kill you.

        1. Florida Man

          You have to take nature by the haunches and hump it into submission!

        2. Suthenboy

          I was just laughing at the ‘wildlife will make a comeback’ line.

          No shit. Cholera, dysentery, staff, legions of worms, malaria, yellow fever, blackwater fever…….yes, wildlife will make a comeback alright.

    6. Florida Man

      I think it is funny that because pampered spoiled progs can’t survive in the wild, it is proof primitive living is impossible. I would would like to draw your attention to exibit A: 10,000 years of human history.

      1. John

        Oh its possible. But it will thin the herd considerably.

        1. Florida Man

          I think this graph tells the story best.

          http://www.sthopd.net/step_2_S…..n+Science+

          1. JW

            Our air is clean, our water is pure…

            1. Florida Man

              Awesome

    7. Redmanfms

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!:

      Though he had no difficulty recruiting like-minded eccentrics to join him in his ‘experimental community’ (a former Royal Marine who had ambitions to be a cobbler; a computer-programmer ‘passionate about vegetables’; a teacher who’d once met an Inuit; a graffiti artist from Belfast; a Cambridge student keen on the recorder), Evans admits that his utopia was doomed to failure.

      If that doesn’t just about completely describe every primitivist sloped-forehead I’ve ever met I don’t know what would.

    8. Pathogen

      “..the children gamboling happily ‘amidst the bracken and the trees’.”

      Hmmm…

  14. Injun, as in from India

    David Letterman imagines 10 creepy things Biden whispered to Ash Carter’s wife

    3. “Ever heard of a second Second Lady?”
    2. “I don’t have a time machine but I do have a hot tub.”

  15. Utah woman sues herself over fatal car accident

    Technically, she, as the executor of her husband’s estate, is suing her, as the negligent driver, pursuing damages so that the insurance company will have to pay out to the estate, of which she is the sole heir.

    But… kkkorporations are people! And that’s bad… right?

    1. Is she going to examine/cross-examine herself as counsel and witness?

      1. Injun, as in from India

        +1 Me, Myself, and Irene.

        1. + 2 Harvey Dents

    2. This sounds like the plot of a bad courtroom comedy.

    3. It’s weird, but I don’t see what the problem is.

    4. PapayaSF

      Any judge who allows this should be removed from the bench and disbarred.

      1. Why? If the woman’s liability insurance doesn’t preclude claims by spouses, it’s not the court’s job to save the insurer from their mistake.

        1. PapayaSF

          Because this is an obvious trick for money, and bears no relation to justice.

          1. The purpose of the court isn’t justice, it’s to enforce the contract.

  16. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee says Americans should pay more taxes on sugary drinks and snacks

    The taxes are meant to increase the cost of eating unhealthy snacks, which has proven to discourage their consumption.

    The increase in minimum wage levels serves to increase the cost of labor but it is not proven it discourages employment.

    ? One of these things is not like the other… ?

  17. Winston

    http://www.theguardian.com/bus…..-extension

  18. Slammer

    For the metal fans here: Tribulation release new track.

    1. EDG reppin' LBC

      It’s pretty good. And I liked it okay. But I just can’t get into black/death metal or whatever they call it today because the vocals are just stupid. The “demon growl” affectation rubs me the wrong way. Vocalists should just sing in their natural voice and I’ll listen.

      Thanks for the link, though!

      1. Slammer

        You’re welcome. I love extreme vocals as long as they fit well. Definitely an acquired taste, though.

      2. Warty

        LOLZ HE CONFUSED BLACK AND DEATH METAL LOLOLOLZ

        There are even different styles of growls. Black metal growls are different than death metal ones. Ridiculous, right?

        Warbeast

      3. NebulousFocus

        This. I love metal but death metal vocals leave me cold.

    2. Not death metal. Definitely not death metal.

  19. John

    Here’s part two of The Guardian’s expose on Richard Zuley, the Chicago Police detective who brought his harsh interrogations methods to Guantanamo Bay. We noted part one yesterday.

    I have always thought that one of the biggest uncovered stories of the war on terror was the fact that the miscreants at Abu Gharib were prison guards in civilian life. I would love to know what kinds of things go on at the prisons they worked at in the US. I bet there are things that are as bad or worse than what they did. Those people didn’t just become sadists. They were sadists to begin with and did what they did because they thought that was what prison guards do.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.

      I may offend some by saying so, but what happened at Abu Gharib while the Americans were in control is nothing compared to what we’ve done elsewhere.

      Humiliation is not torture.

      1. John

        That is not offensive, that is the truth. The really shocking abuse happened at Baghram in Afghanistan. And people were court maritaled over it and the panels either let them off or gave virtually no punishment. It was a total disgrace.

        Even more disgraceful is the fact that the media didn’t cover it and very few people know anything about it. Bagrim was in Afghanistan and didn’t have any sexy pictures. The only reason the media went ape shit over Abu Garib was because it was in Iraq, which the media was trying to discredit, and it had sexy pictures. That is it. The media who threw moral fits over Abu Garib didn’t give a flying fuck about the real abuse.

        1. Pl?ya Manhattan.

          The Los Angeles County Sheriffs department treatment of prisoners at the Men’s Central Jail is far worse that anything that happened in either place.

          1. John

            I am familiar with those cases, but I don’t doubt you are correct. Our prisons in this country are a national tragedy. They are just horrifying.

      2. Carl ?s the level

        Humiliation is not torture.

        Weren’t some prisoners raped?

        1. John

          No. They were just tied up and humiliated. They save the rape for American prisoners back home.

      3. Suthenboy

        What happened at Abu Gharib was ridiculous. Those fuckers are lucky it was us that had them in captivity.

        Look what is going on there now. Human slaughterhouses, holding children down and drilling their brains with power drills, flaying, burning, beheading….

        Having said that, I agree with what John says.

  20. Caleb Turberville

    What is the best Oliver Sacks book to read? I’ve only read Awakenings. Is there something I just have to read?

    1. Warty

      I remember enjoying The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat.

      1. gaijin

        I always thought he should have written about ‘The woman who mistook her husband for a lawn mower’

        1. Brett L

          Mistook? Somehow the lawn gets mowed.

          1. gaijin

            True…and there are probably a few men who mistake their women for washing machines!

    2. Medical Physics Guy

      I liked Musicophilia as well

    3. Jerryskids

      An Anthropoligist on Mars.

      Oliver Sachs informed my drug use – the brain does some weird shit. You’re not talking to God or having some transformative revelation, it’s just the brain fucking around.

      1. Knarf Yenrab!

        At first I thought I was reading a post by Jerryskids, then I realized that it was just my brain fucking around.

  21. Injun, as in from India

    I wonder if our magical government bureaucrats thought of this before ordering GM to make the Volt.

    Electric car benefits? Just myths

    It is time to stop our green worship of the electric car. It costs us a fortune, cuts little CO2 and surprisingly kills almost twice the number of people compared with regular gasoline cars.

    1. Emissions trading: $27
      Tax incentive: $7,500
      Social signaling: Priceless!

    2. Suthenboy

      The generation of electricity is the number one producer of greenhouse gas. Greenies pushing electric cars is one of the dumbest fucking things they do, and that is saying a lot. It is a hair worse than their opposition to the Keystone Pipeline.

  22. An analogy:

    Suppose a large, rabid dog is on the loose and has already attacked someone.
    The sensible thing to do is find the dog and kill it as quickly as possible.

    It would make absolutely no sense to make a speech about how the rabid dog is an extreme case and that the vast majority of dogs are not dangerous and we must be careful to avoid stereotyping dogs. Everyone would already know and agree with that so there would be no need to say it.

    1. MJGreen

      Maybe not the best analogy to use, as such a speech might be necessary for police officers…

  23. Obama, as is typical, fucks up something that actually wouldn’t be insane if he was consistent and not stupid about it. We should make it clear that we’re not out to exterminate all Muslims and that we don’t think that ISIS is a representative sample of general Islamic thought. Bush did a lot of that, too.

    Where Obama keeps going wrong is in trying to score domestic political points and in doing other things rather than focusing on ISIS, who we clearly intend to blow the fuck up. Der, der, der, Fox News, der, der, der Crusades, der, der, der.

    1. It doesn’t help that explaining Obama’s policy has fallen to Marie Harf, et. al.

      1. Dances-with-Trolls

        Hey, Jen Psaki just got promoted for being willing to constantly beclown herself. I’m sure Harf has been paying attention.

      2. BiMonSciFiCon

        America’s foremost public spokesperson.

  24. Winston

    ISIS is blowback from Alexander the Great.

    1. Injun, as in from India

      No man. That would have been The Wrath of the Zoroastrians. But the Religion of Peace killed Zoroastrianism before the latter could exact revenge on the Christian descendants of the polytheistic Greeks.

      1. I wonder how many Zoroastrians remain in Iran? Surely there are some. Most are in India, these days, of course.

  25. John Titor

    As the Atlantic article correctly pointed out, Obama’s (and all of us non-Muslims) opinion on what constitutes Islam doesn’t matter. The only people who can engage in takfir, or determining apostasy, are Muslims themselves. Due to already being an apostate or unbeliever (based on his background), Obama’s opinion on what constitutes ‘legitimate Islam’ is worthless due to core theological positions of Islam.

    Shackford’s comment that “…the Islamic State does not care whether you or I believe that their representation of Islam is inaccurate” is spot-on.

    1. De Oppresso Liber

      That was the best article the Atlantic has run in a long, long time.

    2. PapayaSF

      The trouble is, ISIS has plenty of theological justification for what they do. It’s not like they are “distorting” Islam. They are simply following it to the letter, which is what they are supposed to do, according to large amounts of Islamic scholarship and tradition.

  26. Carl ?s the level

    China’s Corruption Crackdown a Boon for Lingerie

    Chinese consumers?famous for their appetite for designer bags and gold-plated iPhone cases?are now shying away from flashy logos and displays of wealth as a government austerity campaign shames officials who buy them. Sales of luxury goods, which include glitzy jewelry and couture, were down 1% last year in China, according to consulting firm Bain & Co.

    But many Chinese appear to be flaunting their wealth under their clothes. Sales of high-end undergarments?encompassing bras fetching 300 yuan or more, among other items?have increased since 2012 and last year accounted for 30% of lingerie sales, said Neil Wang, Greater China managing director of consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

    Don’t Wear Pig T-Shirts in Dubai: Xinhua’s Official Online Guide for Chinese Tourists

    In a “Mommy-knows-best” tone, the article offers travelers a few other tips:
    ?Don’t smoke if you cannot see the sky
    ?Littering is low
    ?There’s no need to shout when talking
    ?Not every flight offers food
    ?Line jumping is pass? ?these days it’s popular to line up
    And our favorite:
    ?Don’t snap your fingers at waiters?that’s for dogs

    1. How dare you! My family’s dog never snapped her fingers at waiters.

  27. Jerry on the sea

    Needs more whining: America’s “visiting professor” scam: How colleges are watering down higher education.

    1. Medical Physics Guy

      The only way academia will treat you decently is if you can walk off any moment into a productive job in the private sector. If you are groomed for academia, you will work maternity covers until you are in your 40s and give up. When you can go work for Siemens Healthcare tomorrow, they will cut you a decent job.

    2. Migrant Log Picker

      Some serious whining that. That the bitch is otherwise unemployable I’m not really giving a fuck about her plight.

  28. And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam…

    Doesn’t their supreme religious leader have a PhD in Islamic theology?

    Who am I to question him about what their religion that they were all raised in actually says and stands for?

    1. John Titor

      And again, unbelievers and apostates have no right to determine what constitutes ‘Islam’ in Islam itself. As one jihadist twitter feed put it (as quoted in the recent Atlantic article): “”Like a pig covered in feces giving hygiene advice to others.”

      1. This line of reasoning is fucking bonkers. Only Muslims can judge who is or isn’t Muslim is true according only to Muslims. It’s like a cop determining only cops can determine what is and isn’t acceptable behavior for cops. I can make my own determinations, thank you.

    2. BiMonSciFiCon

      That Atlantic article was pretty eye-opening. I’ll admit I didn’t know too much about the group before reading it. Highly recommended.

  29. np

    92-year-old man crashes into ten cars while trying to leave parking space

    Security cameras spot the 92-year-old as he backs his 2007 Chrysler Pacifica out of his parking spot and then pulls forward, striking a car. He plows into the car and keeps driving, pushing another car out of its space and into the path of a vehicle driving around the lot. At this point, police say, he panics, reverses and slams into cars parked behind him. He then hits another parked car and a truck looking for a spot. Ten cars were involved in the accident, seven of which were parked. Police are still investigating, but no charges have been brought against the driver.

    1. He was trying to find Country Kitchen Buffet.

  30. Winston

    I suppose we shouldn’t care about Charlie Hebdo because of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes and the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre?

  31. The Immaculate Trouser

    We may enjoy beating Tony and PB like cheap pi?atas around these parts, but let’s not forget that the real derp is coming from Washington DC:

    The trajectory of this planet overall is one toward less violence, more tolerance, less strife, less poverty. I’ve said this before and I think some folks in Washington were like, ‘Oh, he’s ignoring the chaos of all the terrible stuff that’s happening.’ Of course, I’m not ignoring it. I’m dealing with it every day. That’s what I wake up to each morning. I get a thick book full of death, destruction, strife, and chaos. That’s what I take with my morning tea.

    A little SAT prep for y’all — to which of the following is our badass President Obama referring in the bolded section of the text?

    A) The Qu’ran

    B) His “Cool places to drone” pop-up book

    C) Amanda Marcotte’s “It’s a Jungle Out There”

    D) A copy of the NY Times

    1. Injun, as in from India

      How about:

      E) A magazine of sado-masochistic German scheise-p0rn?

    2. Winston

      D, Obviously.

    3. Why does Obama let bad things happen to good people? Or, for that matter, good things to bad people?

  32. Winston

    If you go around poking people in the chest by insulting Mohammed, don’t be surprised when someone punches you in the nose.

    1. Injun, as in from India

      +1 Satanic Verse

    2. kinnath

      You know the concept of an eye-for-an-eye was to limit revenge not approve it. If a guy pokes out your eye, you’re allowed to poke out his. Not cut off his head, murder his wife, and rape his daughter.

      So go fuck yourself if you trying to imply that insulting mohammed justifies a death sentence.

      1. Winston

        No, I’m having fun with this: https://reason.com/archives/201…..nt_5099511

        1. kinnath

          sorry then

      2. Migrant Log Picker

        Recalibrate the sarcmeter, kinnie poo.

    3. Suthenboy

      If you punch someone in the nose, dong be surprised if they pull out a Colt and blow your fucking head off.

      1. Winston

        I was mocking sarcasmic: https://reason.com/blog/2015/02…..nt_5101294

  33. Doghouse Riley Jr.

    So, the Fulton County (GA) Police Department used to have a full time paid pastor. The Fulton County Commission decided it was a waste of money and told them to knock it off. The chief responded by making the pastor a detective, complete with badge, gun, and car. I hope a religious channel uses this to come up with an awesome show I’ll never watch, about a pastor-detective, solving crimes and saving souls.

    1. Dances-with-Trolls

      For some reason that idea strikes me as so 70s.. dunno why.

      1. Doghouse Riley Jr.

        Well, there was this.

        1. Crusty Juggler

          There was also this.

    2. Crusty Juggler

      Liam Neeson stars in “Father Dempsey, S.J.P.I.” Tuesdays on T.N.T.

      1. EDG reppin' LBC

        He wears the white collar…

        And chops bad guys in their collars!

    3. Father Brown (1974 TV series)

      Father Dowling Mysteries

    4. Doghouse Riley Jr.

      I’d note that none of the fictional clergy-detectives were cops. I’d also note that from the report the FCPD pastor doesn’t seem to do anything but draw a salary and burn taxpayer gas.

  34. Winston

    So How Come no one’s talking about Greece? Is Grexit inevitable or will a last-minute compromise occur?

    1. I think Germany has decided to make an example of Greece “Pour encourager les autres”.

      1. Winston

        So you think the Germans are willing to risk Grexit is Syriza doesn’t cave.

        1. I think Germany doesn’t care if Greece stays or not and is more worried about Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Italy getting ideas. Whatever the outcome, Greece needs to be seen to suffer the consequences of even thinking about renegotiation.

          1. Winston

            Yes, this has been my feeling as well.

            1. Syriza essentially has caved, albeit wanting to do it in a face saving way, and Germany rejected the proposal:

              http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31532755

              Germany doesn’t just want Greece to lose, it wants Greece to be seen to be losing.

          2. NebulousFocus

            This should be like the Fed with Bear Stearns and Lehman. The Fed bailed out Bear leading Lehman to believe they would get the same. The Fed should have stood firm the first time with Bear- then Lehman would have figured their own way out instead of waiting for a bailout (which didn’t come).

    2. Anonymous Coward

      The Greeks are dead weight to the Eurozone, but the question is not if they get another line of credit, but where will it come from. The Germans may relent and extend their loan; Obumbles might make another of his brilliant foreign policy calls and bail the Greeks out to make himself look good; the Chinese are unlikely because they know Greece is a deadbeat country.

  35. gaijin

    OT: Why am I seeing an ad for astro-glide on here?

    1. I’m at work and I’m getting banner ads featuring teenage girl in a bikini for Victoria Secret’s spring break Pink line.

    2. Brett L

      The newer, more humane Warty’s basement.

    3. Injun, as in from India

      OT: Why am I seeing an ad for astro-glide on here?

      So you can prepare for your tax audit come April 15.

      1. gaijin

        confirming all my worst fears…guess I better start clicking that ad.

      2. Shirley Knott

        And the first line out of the auditor’s mouth will be “How can you afford lube? Who told you you could have lube? If there’s going to be lube, we’ll distribute it after determining your tax penalties.”

  36. GILMORE

    re: Scott’s first link-point

    Obama insists = Victory Against Terrorism is About Promoting Understanding and Cooperation

    In a riposte = ISIS murders a few more prisoners and then drags their bodies behind motorcycles while cheering

    1. John

      Papaya SF nails it above. Obama is incapable of admitting fault or changing or even altering his ideology. The ideology says no one is ever really evil and everyone has legitimate grievances and can be bargained with. So Obama talks and acts like ISIS is reasonable and can be bargained with and appeased evidence to the contrary be damned. The ideology is never wrong because that would mean Obama might be wrong and we can’t have that.

      You put that with Tarran’s observation that he has narcissistic personality disorder and his actions start to make sense.

      1. gaijin

        everyone has legitimate grievances and can be bargained with

        haha. Except republicans in congress

        1. John

          Yes, except his American political enemies. They are irredeemable bitter clingers.

          1. PapayaSF

            Obama has spoken and behaved as if Tea Party types are a greater threat than, say, Iran. That’s probably Valerie Jarrett’s view.

          2. Doghouse Riley Jr.

            So, some district needs to elect a Muslim immigrant Republican to work with Obama.

    2. Suthenboy

      So basically, today, Obumbles gave his ‘Peace in our time!” speech.

      Lovely.

  37. Doghouse Riley Jr.

    Splitters!

    1. PapayaSF

      LOL

  38. Rufus J. Firefly

    I’m surprised no one has yet offered an opinion on ‘Better Call Saul.’

    1. Brett L

      Meh. I mean, it’s classic Vince Gilian/ Breaking Bad, but not as compelling as yet.

    2. MJGreen

      It’s fun. It is cool to see the Breaking Bad style applied to a wackier premise.

      I am very glad his beef with the law firm is that they are cheating his father brother, not that they kicked Jimmy out and hurt his ego (like Walt).

  39. Winston

    The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee says Americans should pay more taxes on sugary drinks and snacks

    Libertarian Moment!

  40. The Immaculate Trouser

    In Loving Memory of Bo Cara, not-quite-Esq, I leave this link:

    Adjunct Professors Demand That Their Pay Quintiple

    Last night, on a conference call with organizers across the country, the SEIU decided to extend the franchise with a similar aspirational benchmark: A “new minimum compensation standard” of $15,000. Per course. Including benefits[…]

    At the moment, the $15,000 number sounds even more outlandish than $15 did when fast food workers started asking for twice the federal minimum wage. But organizers argue that if you’re teaching a full load of three courses per semester, that comes out to $90,000 in total compensation per year ? just the kind of upper-middle-class salary they think people with advanced degrees should be able to expect.

    Hopefully this union can also negotiate that these degreed adjuncts should have unchallenged right of prima noctis over all students who enter their demense. It’s the sort of thing upper-middle-class folks with advanced degrees should be able to expect.

    1. John

      They are so fucked. There are so many people with real jobs and expertise who would happily pick up a few thousand dollars teaching a couple of classes a semester. They are totally replaceable.

    2. GILMORE

      What’s the connection with Bo?

      While he maintains some incredibly idiotic notions, i didn’t think anti-economic assertions like ‘more worthless degrees that the market doesn’t need are economically beneficial‘ was among them.

      Then again, i don’t actually read anything he says.

      1. The Immaculate Trouser

        Bullshit credentialism RE: the value of degree as filter as opposed to the value of a degree’s imparted knowledge, in reference to Scott Walker dropping out a semester early.

        Short version: usual Bo stupidity

      2. Bo would be outraged if Scott Walker, a man with no degree(!), were offered an adjunct professorship on the basis of his real-world experience.

        1. GILMORE

          because the last thing college students need is *someone with real world experience* bursting the bullshit-bubble that tenured professors spend so much effort cultivating.

          1. Juice

            Adjuncts aren’t tenured.

            1. GILMORE

              exactly my point

              how can you have un-tenured people demonstrating the utter uselessness of the heavily-credentialed?

    3. De Oppresso Liber

      Has bo left us? I watched him implode over some inconsequential semantic argument a week or two ago …

      1. The Immaculate Trouser

        I… don’t know. Haven’t seen him around in a while since then so I assume that he pulled a Tulpa.

        1. Winston

          Nah, he’s still here:
          https://reason.com/blog/2015/02…..y-movement

        2. Redmanfms

          He was here today shitting up the slavery thread.

        3. EDG reppin' LBC

          Good ol’ Tulpa.

          My Tulpa.

    4. Juice

      $7,000 per course is reasonable. $15,000 is out of the question. And I’ve done adjunct teaching.

  41. So I’ve been spending a lot of time walking uphill on the treadmill. I walked 12 miles yesterday and 12 more on Monday. Walked 6 so far today. I’m down to 185 pounds from the 207 I was on Jan. 5th.

    I pass the time by watching “I almost got away with it”. It’s a show about fugitives. I made a checklist game out of it:

    1. Florida
    2. Bus depot
    3. Prior arrests
    4. Ratted out by a friend/girlfriend
    5. Bragged about crime
    6. Gets away at least once because cops were dumb
    7. Flees to Mexico

    Each episode usually hits at least 4 of those. Cop stations should be built next to bus depots. So should donut shops. It would save a lot of time for the cops.

    1. GILMORE

      I’ve ridden long-haul busses a few times in my life (by ‘long’ i mean, 8 hours or more)… admittedly, a long time ago.

      in every instance, the percentage of people either on the bus or waiting in the bus station that were either =

      a) very-recent ex-convicts with a free bus ticket to wherever

      b) people very likely to be Convicts in the very near future

      was well above 50%. it made for some extremely colorful bus-ride conversation. Its where i first learned about Meth Cooking being ‘a thing’. This was the 1990s. Also, that shoplifting was most-often done by criminal rings which employed women. The things you learn!

      *noted = both/all the bus-rides were to/from locations in the South. which may have had something to do with it, or not.

      1. EDG reppin' LBC

        I rode a Greyhound from Raliegh, NC to Cleveland, OH one Christmas Eve when I was 4. There was a Vietnam vet in the seat next to me. He didn’t have legs. When he told me how he lost his legs I started crying really loud. My mom made me change seats with my brother. He was a pretty nice guy, though.

    2. PapayaSF

      How often are they caught because they committed more than one crime at the same time? An old friend once warned me about that, and it’s remarkable how often I see it happen.

      1. Doghouse Riley Jr.

        “One crime at a time” is a great mantra. If you have a vehicle full of drugs, it’s the wrong time to speed or drive erratically.

        Granted, in today’s “3 felonies a day” existence, you can slip up easily without intending to.

        1. PapayaSF

          If you have a vehicle full of drugs, it’s the wrong time to speed

          As an ex-friend of mine once discovered, after I had told him this truism. He told me he thought of me while being arrested.

          1. Doghouse Riley Jr.

            I’ve watched a few Cops like shows over the years, always surprised at people transporting in crappy, falling apart cars, weaving all over the place, instantly agreeing to a search when the cop asks. It’s almost like some people want to go to prison and this is their big chance.

      2. Many of them commit more crimes while they are on the run for initial crime. This is especially true for the jail breakers who have to steal money, clothes, and cars in order to get away.

        One episode had a meth head who stole and crashed 2 cars within a 1 hour period. He burned the first one to destroy the evidence before stealing another one.

        None of them could think more than about 1 or 2 steps of ahead of any of their actions.

        They all had a long history of getting in trouble and getting hit with harsher punishments.

        It shows also that ending the Drug War will not be a panacea. I’m sure it would decrease crime, but there will always be impulsive people who will get high and make trouble.

        1. Doghouse Riley Jr.

          I’m sure it would decrease crime, but there will always be impulsive people who will get high and make trouble.

          This is true, but arresting someone for doing something which objectively harms others is a lot better than just arresting people because they possess a substance the government doesn’t like.

        2. My favorite one was about a guy who was recaptured 28 years after escaping. He had be using a fake name for so long he had trouble remembering his real one.

          He got arrested a bunch of times after escaping, but there was no database to show prior arrests. One time, he got his fingerprint scanned when he was booked, and his mugshot from 20 years ago pops up on the screen. The cop told his supervisor but the guy got released anyway after making bail.

  42. Repeat from this morning:

    Over the past four years, Earl Sampson has been arrested 62 times for being at the convenience store where he works:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/new…..-1.1526422

    1. PapayaSF

      That’s so outrageous that I wonder if there isn’t something else going on. Did this guy do something to piss off a policeman who now has a grudge? Did he date somebody’s sister? Because otherwise this makes no sense. When the store owner says “He works here,” that should be the end of it.

      1. Comments suggest the police may suspect the owner of dealing drugs out of the store and being unable to prove it have taken to harrassing his employees and customers.

    2. De Oppresso Liber

      This American life has a segment on this story in their latest episode. It is hazardous to your blood pressure.

    3. MJGreen

      Good on his employer for bringing the civil rights suit. That’s admirable.

  43. Anonymous Coward

    Reports of her death have been greatly exaggerated: Sasha Grey confirms she was not kidnapped and chopped to pieces by Ukrainian soldiers

    Former American porn star Sasha Grey ditched her acting career and worked as a nurse for pro-Russian rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine until she was brutally murdered by Ukrainian government forces.

    That, at least, is according to an anti-Kyiv propaganda campaign featuring a photo of Grey that has appeared on Russian social media networks, including Odnoklassniki, a social media site popular among people over the age of 30.

    1. GILMORE

      “worked as a nurse for pro-Russian rebels”

      Wha

      You’d think the russians would have a surplus of porn actresses that they wouldn’t need to recruit *ours*

      Wasn’t she also in a ‘regular’ movie, that wasn’t half-terrible, but in which she pretty much sucked as an actual actress? I’m thinking Soderbugh was involved? (*faint memory)

      1. John Titor

        I believe she does some video game voice acting as well.

        1. Anonymous Coward

          I would post some samples of her past acting work that I liked but…aw hell, you know why.

      2. MJGreen

        Yes, a Soderbergh film. “The Girlfriend Experience,” I think.

    2. Winston

      Unpossible. America’s allies lie all the time but America’s enemy always tell the Truth.
      /Richman

      1. Anonymous Coward

        America’s allies lie all the time but America’s enemy always tell the Truth.

        Who have we always been at war with? EastAsia? Or Eurasia?

  44. Winston

    Does Denmark have a militarist foreign policy aggressing against Muslims?

    1. GILMORE

      you mean aside from their contributions in Afghanistan?

      1. Jerry on the sea

        …and Iraq.

        1. Winston

          Well I didn’t really know, so thanks. Did the Danes learn nothing from Schleswig-Holstein?

          1. GILMORE

            Is that when the Nazis invaded them while the tried to remain “neutral”?

            1. Winston

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

              1. GILMORE

                I was kidding.

                That said…

                I actually just glanced through that and i still have no fucking clue what ‘lesson’ the Danes were supposed to have learned from their 19th century ethnic/regional constitutional conflict with the Germans.

                1. Raven Nation

                  I think the Danes were primarily a convenient whipping-boy for Bismarck to demonstrate which central European state would be the best leader for the German people.

                2. No blood for dairy cows?

                  1. GILMORE

                    lol

                  2. I laughed.

                3. Winston

                  Well according to Wikipedia: “The Second Schleswig War shocked Denmark out of any idea of using war as a political tool. Danish forces were not involved in war outside their frontiers until the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.”

                  1. GILMORE

                    “”The Second Schleswig War shocked Denmark out of any idea of using war as a political tool.”

                    I’m sure the Nazi occupation helped remind them that the “idea” would still be employed by others whether they liked it or not.

  45. Sevo

    “Immigrants feel stuck after judge blocks Obama orders”
    http://news.yahoo.com/immigran…..42016.html

    Maybe if the president hadn’t acted so ‘kingly’….

    1. Winston

      Maybe if the president hadn’t acted so ‘kingly’….

      Pshaw, it led to more immigrants. If it led to net neutrality, war or more taxes then that would be bad.

  46. Ken Shultz

    “I suspect the Islamic State does not care whether you or I believe that their representation of Islam is inaccurate.”

    That statement probably wasn’t made for the benefit of ISIS.

    It was made for the benefit of Americans here at home.

    Obama’s losing his audience over some of his stupid statements, real quick.

    He’s gonna be a lame duck, eventually, anyway, but the curve between where he is now and lame duck status can have a gentle slope–or it can be really steep.

    Meanwhile, he has a climate change treaty agreement to sign in Paris (sans Senate consideration) come December.

  47. TheZeitgeist

    “I suspect the Islamic State does not care whether you or I believe that their representation of Islam is inaccurate.”

    That statement probably wasn’t made for the benefit of ISIS.

    It was made for the benefit of Americans here at home.

    I think that actual quoted part was appended on by Scott Shackford. Obama said no such thing – you inadvertently gave the moron too much credit.

    1. Ken Shultz

      I wasn’t quoting the statement, I was taking a bit of an issue with its interpretation.

      “President Barack Obama today on violent extremism: “These terrorists are desperate for legitimacy. And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam, because that is a falsehood that embraces the terrorist narrative.” I suspect the Islamic State does not care whether you or I believe that their representation of Islam is inaccurate.

      There’s the whole statement.

      What Obama said?

      I don’t think he said that for ISIS’ benefit.

      I think he’s taking a beating in the polls for being unwilling to call a spade a spade, and I think his statement was addressed to a domestic audience.

      It reads like a feeble attempt to recover from the things he’s said earlier. If he were a comedian instead of the President, he’d have gone on a late night talk show like Michael Richard or Hugh Grant and said it to try to buy himself back some forgiveness.

  48. Juice

    A hacker claims the Department of Justice threw the book at him, charging him with dozens of crimes, after he refused to be recruited by the FBI.

    Could this be argued under 13th amendment grounds to maybe set a precedent? Sounds a lot like they were trying to get him into involuntary servitude.

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