A.M. Links: Birdman Wins Best Picture, Terror Threat Targets Shopping Malls, Obama Prepares to Veto Keystone XL

• 
  

  Birdman won the Oscar for best picture at last night's Academy Awards.

• Heightened security measures are now in effect in shopping malls in the U.S., France, and England in response to a terrorist threat.

• President Barack Obama is expected to veto the Keystone XL pipeline bill this week.

• Congress has until Friday to approve a new budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

• A suicide attack by a young girl believed to be just 7 years old has killed at least 5 in a Nigerian market.

• Joey Logano won the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

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Comments

[Lord Humungus]

Japanese Company Introduces Robot Hat-Backpack That Feeds You Tomatoes While You Jog

In a move likely to be applauded by people who want a robot attached to their body that will serve them tomatoes while they jog, the Japanese company Kagome has introduced a robot you can attach to your body that will serve you tomatoes while you jog.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

I...just...I don't even...

*slowly walks away shaking head*

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"A suicide attack by a young girl believed to be just 7 years old has killed at least 5 in a Nigerian market."

Remember when Christians...?

[Ted S.]

I don't think 7-year-olds can consent to a "suicide" attack, either.

[The Last American Hero]

+1 Children's Crusade

[gaijin]

So this was a documentary?

Attack of the killer tomatoes

[Ted S.]

Gotta love the writing.

[Zeb]

I wonder if it could be modified to feed you other small round fruit such as grapes or mulberries?

[HeteroPatriarch]

I'm sure it could. Anything that's ballistically similar to tomatoes.

[mr lizard]

Slacking mammals

[robc]

Back when I watched NASCAR, they didn't let guys named Joey participate.

[DJF]

Going around and around is boring

They need to return to a traditional NASCAR where the drivers have to head up to the hills, pick up a load of moonshine, and deliver it to Uncle Fred's Restaurant and Bait Shop without the Revenuers catching them.

That would be some good watching.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They should arm the cars with bullets and shit.

[Ted S.]

Ooh, Nascar drivers flinging shit at each other like monkeys. As opposed to the fistfights in pit row?

[Ted S.]

I've reached the point in my life when I only want to watch sports that have people actually competing against each other; not against the clock/gravity/judges' whims.

[KDN]

So you're basically down to track and field? Oh wait, tons of judges' whims involved there.

Ummm....curling?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

LEAVE CURLING ALONE!

[robc]

Is curling the only Olympic sport where participants call their own fouls and award points themselves?

Olympic basketball should switch to that.

[Cdr Lytton]

Oh, like how the British Army does field training?

[Ted S.]

By "judges' whims", I meant things like gymnastics and figure skating; not things with referees. So I'm thinking of sports like football, soccer, hockey, and tennis.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Judged sports are the absolute fucking worst. Olympic boxing and figure skating first among them.

I like sports that race against time. Cycling, speed skating, skiing etc. or sports like squash and tennis. Judges can't cheat in those sports.

Aside from team sports of course.

[Lord Humungus]

I used to watch old Nascar from the 60s/70s - back on Speedvision - when the cars were actually "factory stock". Or at least resembled real cars and were based on models that you could buy off the lot. It was a rougher more hard drinkin' racing.

Now you have a RWD V8 "Camry" or whatever going around the track.

[John]

Whatever character and charm NASCAR had died in the 1990s. It used to be kind of fun.

It has the same problem every race series has; the cars got too fast. Once the cars get so fast, you have to limit the speed to keep from killing the spectators and drivers, you end up with everyone driving basically the same car and all the fun goes out of it.

I think the wave of the future is what LeMans started doing last year. They don't limit the speed, they limit the fuel consumption. A manufacturer can use any engine or car configuration is wants (provided it is closed wheel) in the prototype class, but it has to run the 24 hours on a set amount fuel. This means you get everything from turbo diesels to hybrids. The cars and the tech really are different and it is interesting again.

[Zeb]

I suppose the argument on the other side is that standardized cars make it about the skill of the drivers rather than the cars. But top level racing drivers are all pretty comparable too, so it's still boring.

In either case, while I certainly appreciate why it is something people want to do, I don't see a lot of appeal to it as a spectator sport. Some low budget, dirt track racing is a lot more entertaining.

[Almanian!]

Also, what Zeb said - local racing (esp dirt) is still the best "racing" to be found.

I'm particularly fond of AMA Grand National dirt track. The last of the real-man racing (although teh wimminz are now in the series more and more, which is fine).

[John]

The problem with everyone having the same car is that the drivers at the level are so good, there isn't much difference between them either. So you end up with 30 cars following each other around the track until someone crashes or breaks down.

Uniform cars makes for great racing at the lower levels where there is a real difference in driver skill. At the top levels, it makes for mind numbingly boring racing. Think about the old IROC series. All the best drivers driving identical cars. It was bloody awful.

[Zeb]

It would be fun to see something like F1, but where each company just makes the fastest possible car for the type of racing with no restrictions. That would be something to see.

[John]

It was called the Canadian American Cup or CANAM series back in the 1970s Zeb.

[Almanian!]

I disagree. Yeah, recently it was teh suck - but that "Chase" they instituted last year was the SHIT, and totally made the end of the season seat-of-your-pants exciting.

Looking forward to this year - they didn't change the rules much at all, and the racing has been much better.

[John]

I hate their points system. Who gives a shit how many laps you lead? Award points to the top ten or so finishers of every race, with the winner getting a lot more than anyone else. The only thing that should matter is how you finish. Fuck this giving points for meaningless crap.

[Almanian!]

Guys like "Tiny", "Fireball", and "Junior" did.

You must be OLD.

/just one o' them racin' deals

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Or womenz?

*I have never watched NASCAR for more than 90 seconds*

[PM]

*I have never watched NASCAR for more than 90 seconds*

You've seen all there is to see then.

[KDN]

I had a far greater appreciation for the difficulty level having watched NASCAR live. The event experience is also quite good for the cost involved.

I'm shocked that it is as successful on TV as it is; it's ill-served by the medium.

[Zeb]

If there was a crash in those 90 seconds.

I think NASCAR is so popular mostly because it is like a redneck version of a Grateful Dead show.

[hamilton]

I'd pay to see a race car crash into a Grateful Dead show. That probably goes without saying I guess.

[SugarFree]

Symphorophilia

[gaijin]

A suicide attack by a young girl believed to be just 7 years old

Does she get 40 virgins and a mule?

[robc]

I'm pretty sure that doesn't qualify as suicide.

[gaijin]

no shit

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

Absolutely, murder by parent/guardian.

[Monty Crisco]

See: opening scene of "American Sniper".

[Medical Physics Guy]

Given it's Nigeria, I suspect she was kidnapped and had no idea what she was even doing.

[Slammer]

Heightened security measures are now in effect in shopping malls in the U.S., France, and England in response to a terrorist threat.

They hate us for our Orange Julius.

[mr lizard]

Or our Auntie Annie's pretzels

[Steve G]

Now THATS some hate I can get behind...

[Lady Bertrum]

I'm pretty sure they hate us for our Abercrombie and Fitch.

[Medical Physics Guy]

Be safe, and libertarian - shop Amazon.

[sasob]

I don't think I've seen an Orange Julius stand in almost forty years.

[Slammer]

I haven't been in a mall in 25 years.

[Steve G]

If you've seen a Dairy Queen, you have...

[d3x / dt3]

DON'T TALK ABOUT JUICY

[Zeb]

Sounds like they really want to finish off malls once and for all.

[Lord Humungus]

Porn star Tory Lane arrested after attacking flight crew and cop aboard plane: officials

Porn star Tory Lane was reportedly arrested after going nuts aboard a Delta flight, attacking the flight crew and a cop.

A porn star who played the leading role in the raunchy "When Porn Stars Attack" flick was arrested and kicked off a plane after she allegedly charged at a flight crew and a cop, police said.

Tory Lane went wild on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles on Wednesday, kicking and screaming at passengers on the plane until she was physically restrained, Los Angeles police said.

Someone was shot with the makeup gun.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Lane, described as the "dirtiest girl in porn" on her website, was drunk and when she lashed out during the last 45 minutes aboard Delta Flight 17, cops said.

The "unruly" adult film star from North Carolina, whose real name is Lisa Piasecki, was restrained by flight attendants and then taken into custody, said Delta spokesman Michael Thomas. The FBI also responded.

Sassy gal.

[Raven Nation]

the raunchy "When Porn Stars Attack" flick

"raunchy" appears to be redundant in any description of a porn movie.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Ol' Jeb has hired a ratfucker. It's on, boys.

Political dirt digger joins Jeb Bush PAC

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/20/.....bush-2016/

Rand Paul will have a Negro baby if he challenges a Bush.

[BigT]

Rand Paul will have a Negro baby if he challenges a Bush

You mean Bush will try to get all the single issue and white guilt voters to join the Paul bandwagon? WTF?

You are truly an idiot.

[Irish]

He's also a horrible racist.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I guess you were brain-dead when Poppa Bush and Brother Bush sullied their opponents by using campaign themes that appealed to the racist GOP base. John McCain was actually called out as having a black out of wedlock child by the Bushpigs.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I think he's saying that this Bush might use tactics similar to those his dad's campaign used against McCain here in SC years ago

[Zeb]

That's harder to do when your target doesn't, in fact, have a dark skinned child.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Rand has a fro.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

WHERE IS FIST?!

I am...concerned.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

AND WHERE IS THE ALT-TEXT?!

Is everyone and everything going missing today?

[gaijin]

The Rapture?

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

Oscar after-party hang-over?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Doctor's office. I can't go into more detail due to HIPAA.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Whew...

ALL IS WELL, FIST, HE LIVES!

[Ted S.]

Your cooking sent somebody to the emergency room?

[db]

Fucking HIPAAsters.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

*applause*

[Catatafish]

Well played.

[hamilton]

Fist of Etiquette, meet Finger of Examination.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"I don't ge....OWWWWW! The fuck is wrong with you, doc?"

[Lord Humungus]

tough love, baby.

[Lady Bertrum]

Just get an antibiotic and it'll stop hurting when you pee.

[Pope Jimbo]

Yeah, quit whining about that. We warned you to wrap your keyboard up before responding to PB, but no.... You just had to bareback post because it felt so much better.

[sarcasmic]

Four out of five women don't shower every day
Survey finds almost two thirds can't be bothered removing make-up before they go to bed, and one in eight don't brush their teeth

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....y-day.html

The personal hygiene of Britain's fairer sex - or the lack thereof

Oh, they're British. That explains a lot.

[KDN]

Four out of five women don't shower every day

I regularly fail to shower on Sundays, particularly if I never bothered to leave the house. I don't see why this is a problem.

[Irish]

The teeth brushing thing disturbs me.

[db]

Yeah, it really weird me out if I can't brush at least 2x a day.

[KDN]

Agreed; I have a pathological desire to do so after every snack, never mind meal. Living without it for so much as a week is horrifying.

[Medical Physics Guy]

Ever lived over here? The British are the most hygenic people you're likely to be around, unless you end up in Switzerland, or maybe Scandinavia...

[Zeb]

Showering every day seems unnecesary. Unless you are doing something dirty or sweaty, every other day is plenty.

I don't know how anyone can not brush their teeth, though. Gross.

Oh, they're British. That explains a lot.

You missed a step there. They're British, so they get drunk all the time, which explains a lot.

[sarcasmic]

so they get drunk all the time

I thought that went without saying.

[sarcasmic]

Republicans To Investigate Climate Data Tampering By NASA

http://dailycaller.com/2015/02.....g-by-nasa/

[gaijin]

It's settled...they are politicizing science!

/Dems

[tarran]

We joke, but that's actually what's going to happen.

What the Republicans should be doing is putting in place proper data auditing controls - repositories for the raw data and the processed data sets that are produced from them etc.

Instead there's going to be poo flinging with each group of politicians signaling to their respective bases that they are great at flinging poo at the stupid idiots supporting the 'other' side.

The whole field would benefit from less politicization, not more.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Put Trey Gowdy on that shit. He did so well on Benghazi.

[PM]

FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL FAKESCANDAL

(amidoinitright?)

[sarcasmic]

You forget Bushpig and Christfag.

[sarcasmic]

Woman arrested for maiming after man claims girlfriend tried to bite his penis off

http://www.kjrh.com/news/local.....-penis-off
Warning: auto-play

[Ted S.]

And it's not Florida Woman.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

"Maiming" sounds more assertive than just "tried".

[sarcasmic]

Excuse me, VIP coming through! Oprah Winfrey jumps the security line at the Academy Awards

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....wards.html

[Rich]

Once on the other side, the one-time winner of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award hurried away, almost tripping on her long skirt while a grinning security guard followed closely behind.

However, he quickly lost his grin as Oprah detonated the bomb under her long skirt to protest the lack of Black nominees.

[BigT]

Oprah detonated the bomb under her long skirt to protest the lack of Black nominees.

Black gas attack!

[Medical Physics Guy]

There's a great old MadTV skit with Oprah sprouting demon wings and blasting her audience with poison gas.

[Rhywun]

Dang I miss that show. Unlike SNL it was usually funny.

[Enough About Palin]

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

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The only thing I hate more than Tootsie Rolls are award-type shows and ceremonies.

[Ted S.]

How many licks does it take to get to the center of the Academy Awards show?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Depends how many assholes.

[db]

Licks? Who knows, but is has infinite suck.

[Zeb]

Wow. I don't think I've ever encountered someone who hates Tootsie Rolls. Lots of indifference. Is there some trauma in your past involving Tootsie Rolls?

[Mickey Rat]

Hurricane party went outta control...

[Mustaf Herod Apyur Poup'r]

+1 Cowboy Mouth

[HeteroPatriarch]

What's wrong with tootsie rolls? They have a unique flavor that is very satisfying on occasion.

[Andrew S.]

Congress has until Friday to approve a new budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

Heightened security measures are now in effect in shopping malls in the U.S., France, and England in response to a terrorist threat.

Part of me wonders if headline #2 is related to headline #1...

[BigT]

Even NPR noticed the 'fortunate timing' on its news this am. Of course, they alleged that this was commonplace in the previous administration.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

You mean they did the "BOOOOSHHHHH!"?

[Libertarian]

Remember in late 2001 or sometime in 2002, the widespread rumor that there was evidence that a mall was going to be bombed? It was hilarious: people would whisper to you, "Don't go to the mall -- there's a plan to bomb a mall somewhere?"

[sarcasmic]

Edward Snowden's girlfriend joins director on stage after film about his leaks wins Oscar for best documentary
Lindsay Mills joined director Laura Poitras after Citizenfour won
Snowden said he was grateful Poitras convinced him to be in the film
Said he hopes movie will inspire people to see how ordinary citizens can change the world
Poitras thanked Snowden for his 'courage' during her acceptance speech
Said the film reveals threats not only to democracy but 'to our lives'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ntary.html
Dang she's got some nice legs.

[Ted S.]

I'm surprised they haven't tried to arrest the girlfriend on some trumped-up charges.

[MJGreen]

Every time I feel sorry for Snowden, I remember that he's still with her.

(which was a heartwarming piece of info I didn't learn until the end of Citizenfour)

[Lord Humungus]

Man Arrested After Flying Into Rage Over Haircut at Salon: Police

A man who was unhappy with a haircut faces criminal charges after police say he became enraged and threw things around a Connecticut salon.

Stamford Police Sgt. Kelly Connelly says 47-year-old Alan Becker was angered further when he learned the trim on Wednesday morning was going to cost him $50.

Connelly says Becker kicked a hole in a salon wall, became hostile toward staff and customers and threw a candle display and other items, then left.

Police say Becker returned later and demanded that his hair be "fixed," but the salon refused.

[Slammer]

New data shows drop in interest for law enforcement careers

"Our numbers are dropping," says Capt. Jeff Sanborn, with the Brown County Sheriff's Office.

It begs the question, why?

"I would say negative publicity, law enforcement publicity even in the last two to three years, Ferguson obviously being one of them," says Sanborn.

Between Ferguson and the chokehold death in New York, police say people simply don't want a career scrutinized in the national spotlight.

"After seeing that level of? I don't know what would you call it, oversight? They have decided that perhaps they'd rather do something else,"

"The profession is kind of a calling. It's definitely not for everybody," says newly hired Green Bay Police Officer Tony Decker.

Police cite many other possible factors: benefit and salary decreases, high stress, schedules requiring night, weekend and holiday shifts, and even a career in the military.

"I'm hoping it's just a phase that we're in right now," adds Sanborn.

[Slammer]

That was not a reply to LH. Sorry.

[Lord Humungus]

it works.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

"benefit and salary decreases"

Not where I live.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

Or where anybody lives.

Sounds like 'beltway' decreases...

"My raise wasn't as big as it was last year..."

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

^THIS^

[Libertarian]

What, you're calling that cop a liar?

[Raven Nation]

Between Ferguson and the chokehold death in New York, police say people simply don't want a career scrutinized in the national spotlight.

Or maybe, just maybe, some people are starting to understand that "To Serve & Protect" is not about police helping citizens.

[Rhywun]

"The profession is kind of a calling"

The jokes almost write themselves.

[mad libertarian guy]

"A calling..."

You mean the "Cops Wanted" employment ad is a dinner bell for psychopaths.

[d3x / dt3]

And it doesn't fucking "beg the question!"

/pedant

[Ted S.]

Did he not know the price of the haircut before sitting in the barber's chair?

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

At $50, it was definitely not a barber's chair.

[BigT]

You mean it's not covered in Obumblecare?

[See Double You]

Considering how poorly they analyze policy, I'm not surprised they can't properly cut hair, either.

[sarcasmic]

Solar farm sets 130 birds on FIRE: Extreme glow of power plant ignites creatures mid-air during tests
Around 130 birds have been injured near Tonopah, Nevada
'Streamers' caught alight while while entering an area of concentrated solar energy created by the 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project
Experts think birds may have been attracted by glow of the farm's tower
Experts have previously claimed that a California solar array part owned by Google is killing nearly 30,000 birds per year

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....tests.html
Meh. It's for a good cause.

[mr lizard]

So it's like amazon drone delivery of fried chicken?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Seared.

[hamilton]

Extreme glow of power plant ignites creatures mid-air during tests

OK, while clearly I object to the use of government funds, I presume this invokes the Badass exception to that.

[Cdr Lytton]

"As God as my witness, I thought they could fly through it."

[d3x / dt3]

Now ?that? is an obscure, though good reference.

[The Other Kevin]

I see no difference between the motion picture academy and Adam Lanza.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Both target children.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Sheldon Richman is an Academy voter?

[Almanian!]

excellent

[mr lizard]

Both were used to generate and push an agenda?

[sarcasmic]

How have Marty McFly's house and the Pulp Fiction diner fared with age? Before and after comparisons of some of cinema's most famous locations
Some settings have remained almost identical despite the years that have passed
McFly home from 'Back To The Future' and the Martini residence from 'It's A Wonderful Life' are still intact
The fire escape where Richard Gere declared his love for Julia Roberts in 'Pretty Woman' is also still intact
But the infamous diner from 'Pulp Fiction,' once a 44-lane bowling alley, is now shuttered
And one-time actor hangout Schwab's Pharmacy has been torn down for shopping complex with a Starbucks

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

[sarcasmic]

Scientists shocked after CT scan of 1,000-year-old Buddha statue reveal mummified remains of meditating monk
Mummified remains in the statue date back to the 11th or 12th Century
Researchers knew there was a mummy in statue but were shocked to find that the monk was missing all of his organs
Study determined the mummy was that of Buddhist master Liuquan

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-scan.html

[DJF]

""""but were shocked to find that the monk was missing all of his organs"""

Why are the shocked by that, removing the organs is part of the process to turn someone into a mummy.

[Medical Physics Guy]

They just didn't use the right contrast agent.

/MRI partisanship

[l0b0t]

+1 delicious, artificial strawberry flavor, barium milkshake or rather uncomfortable barium enema.

(son of a Medical Physics Mom)

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

remains of meditating monk

I don't think he was meditating.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

SHHHH! He is just at the peak of true enlightenment!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Limpet Man, Limpet Man, does whatever a sea snail can:

"Spider silk may lose its claim as the strongest known natural material after researchers found that limpet teeth have more mettle.

Spider silk is hailed by scientists for its strength and structure, but researchers in Britain have discovered that limpets -- snail-like sea creatures with conical shells -- have teeth with structures so strong they could be copied and used in making cars, boats and planes."

http://www.reuters.com/article.....0520150218

[Ted S.]

+1 Don Knotts

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I'm of course not a fan of the eminent domain being used to build the Pipeline, but Obama's stance on this is far worse. Eminent domain will be used to trump the wishes of a small (but important) percent of landowners who don't want this built on their land. Obama's position on this prevents the many more landowners who have agreed to have the pipeline built on their land from doing so.

[Andrew S.]

I disagree with the use of eminent domain, but this is at least closer to what eminent domain is actually supposed to be used for.

This is a pointless veto. The most idiotic part of it is, of course, this is just the last part of it. The oil's still coming out of the tar sands, whether or not this ends up becoming law. It's just that if he vetos it, it will be transported in a more dangerous and dirtier way.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

"this is at least closer to what eminent domain is actually supposed to be used for."

I disagree here, it's a third party land take. If the government wants a pipeline to serve the public built using eminent domain they should build it themselves.

[Palin's Buttplug]

TransCanada has constitutional rights too!

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Well, they do. They shouldn't be able to use or benefit from eminent domain like that, but Obama shouldn't be able to stop their dealings with the majority of landowners who want to deal with them either.

[Lord Humungus]

Hillary Clinton's War on Women

Hillary Clinton portrays herself as a champion of women in the workforce, but women working for her in the U.S. Senate were paid 72 cents for each dollar paid to men, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis of her Senate years' salary data.

During those years, the median annual salary for a woman working in Clinton's office was $15,708.38 less than the median salary for a man, according to the analysis of data compiled from official Senate expenditure reports.

SEXXISISITT!

[The Last American Hero]

Of course, the Team Stupid campaign managers will be too stupid to bookmark this and whip it out during a debate in Fall 2016, hence the name Stupid Party.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

My math says ~$56K average for men and ~$40K for women?

Of course, just like all these studies, let's ignore the type of work being done and the number of hours spent doing it.

And I guess Patricia Arquette will not be a Hitlary supporter? *snicker*

[sarcasmic]

'I'm gay. And I want my kid to be gay too': Lesbian CNN pundit admits she does not want her daughter, 6, to be straight and is 'disappointed' that she is already 'boy crazy'
Sally Kohn is a political commentator for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC
She wrote in The Washington Post: 'I'm gay. I want my kid to be gay, too'
'When my daughter plays house with her stuffed koala bears as the mom and dad, we gently remind her that they could be a dad and dad'
Kohn says like most parents she wants daughter to follow in her footsteps
But suspects her daughter, 6, is straight as she is already 'boy crazy'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....y-too.html
Imagine the outrage if a non-liberal said they were upset that their kid was showing signs of being homosexual. But there's no double standard. That's just a myth.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

That strikes me as cutting more the other way.

[sarcasmic]

Of course it does.

[Rich]

'I'm a cutter. And I want my kid to be a cutter too.'

[Almanian!]

"Be a Pepper
Driiiink Doctor Pepper.
Be a Pepper
Driiiink Doctor Pepper..."

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

She doesn't like her daughter being 'boy crazy', she justs wants her to be half that, like her.

[Libertarian]

+ 1 Breaking Away

[Almanian!]

Whoa- nice one!

God, that was a shitty movie....

[sarcasmic]

"Well, I've been lickin' this carpet for 3 whole hours and I don't feel like a lesbian."
-Cartman

[RBS]

we gently remind her that they could be a dad and dad'

They must be a blast to play with.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

+1 Anatomically correct teddy bear

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I've been reading her Tweets.

She's all kinds of stupid.

A master relativist of moronic proportions and horrible at drawing analogies.

[sarcasmic]

A female Bo.

[RBS]

Wow, she really went all in for that Selma movie.

[Ted S.]

It's an Important Movie about The Black Experience! How could you possibly say it's not the greatest movie of the year?

[sarcasmic]

There was another Simpsons movie starring Marge's sister?

[Rhywun]

She's a lesbian too. The circle of life is complete.

[sarcasmic]

No she's not.

[Rhywun]

Is it Patty? I thought one of them is.

#youruinedmyjoke

[sarcasmic]

Patty is.

[Drake]

Exactly why gays weren't allowed to adopt for the longest time.

[Rhywun]

Some straight fathers molest their daughters. It's amazing we even let straight men adopt children.

[HeteroPatriarch]

We don't unless there is a woman involved too.

[Azathoth!!]

I suspect that it's not her child save by adoption.

I'd like to hear what the childs mother--Sally's partner-- and maybe the childs father have to say about it.

[Lord Humungus]

Oh yes they can...

Congress Can't Dodge Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund's Approaching Insolvency

As if stirring, like Rip Van Winkle, from a 20-year snooze, Congress is finally awakened to the teetering finances of the Social Security's disability program. Better late than never, but policymakers have known for years that this day would arrive ? and it has.

While some say the alarms being raised about the projected depletion of the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund by late 2016 is a manufactured crisis easily fixed by accounting maneuvers, it is actually a stark reminder of the need to address the structural imbalance in the Social Security system. We can't afford for Congress to ignore these challenges for another 20 years

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

a manufactured crisis easily fixed by accounting maneuvers

-1 lockbox

[The Last American Hero]

Maneuver all you want - at the end of the day the cash is either there or it isn't. And it isn't.

[CatoTheElder]

Ah ... but if you are a government you can just print some more cash.

Easy as that.

[KDN]

the projected depletion of the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund by late 2016 is ... easily fixed by accounting maneuvers

Sounds like they can dodge it just fine, tyvm.

[Restoras]

Sounds like another Phake Skandull

[Ted S.]

Terror Threat Targets Shopping Malls

"Terror", "Threat", and "Targets" all need to be in sneer quotes. If ISIS were going to carry out a terror attack on a mall, they wouldn't elegraph it like this.

[BigT]

In my experience Target is rarely in shopping malls.

[db]

Maybe they would send a ax. Or a andygram.

[Auric Demonocles]

The Oscar for best alt-text goes to...

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

NOT REASON!

[Steve G]

Alt-text couldn't be here for some tREASON

[Lord Humungus]

Health Care Opens Stable Career Path, Taken Mainly by Women

In 1980, 1.4 million jobs in health care paid a middle-class wage: $40,000 to $80,000 a year in today's money. Now, the figure is 4.5 million.

The pay of registered nurses ? now the third-largest middle-income occupation and one that continues to be overwhelmingly female ? has risen strongly along with the increasing demands of the job. The median salary of $61,000 a year in 2012 was 55 percent greater, adjusted for inflation, than it was three decades earlier.

And it was about $9,000 more than the shriveled wages of, say, a phone company repairman, who would have been more likely to head a middle-class family in the 1980s. Back then, more than a quarter of middle-income jobs were in manufacturing, a sector long dominated by men. Today, it is just 13 percent.

[Medical Physics Guy]

And it will all disappear if King v Burwell ... derpderpderp

[KDN]

How the AIDS epidemic really began
A book theorizes that the AIDS epidemic began with the infection of a hunter by a chimp and spread with health clinics' reuse of needles.

1920s-50s: Colonial officials were conducting massive health campaigns in Africa to treat tropical diseases. Quammen notes that the treatment for one ailment, caused by tsetse flies, required 36 injections over three years. But hypodermic syringes were rare commodities, made out of glass and metal. They were used over and over again. "Once the reusable needles and syringes had put the virus into enough people ? say, several hundred ? it wouldn't come to a dead end, it wouldn't burn out, and sexual transmission could do the rest," Quammen writes.

A government's best intentions lead to terrible results? Not only does that never happen, I'm assured that it can never happen and that we should not extrapolate lessons incidents where it has alleged to have occurred to other areas of public policy.

[Jordan]

Miranda...

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Carmen?

[Andrew S.]

These are just a few of the images we've recorded. And you can see, it wasn't what we thought. There's been no war here and no terraforming event. The environment is stable. It's the Pax. The G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate that we added to the air processors. It was supposed to calm the population, weed out aggression. Well, it works. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped everything else. They stopped going to work, they stopped breeding, talking, eating. There's 30 million people here, and they all just let themselves die.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Plus or minus a few Reavers, aye?

[Andrew S.]

I couldn't find the full quote where she talks about the reavers.

(Has there ever been a more libertarian movie and TV show than Serenity/Firefly?)

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

(Has there ever been a more libertarian movie and TV show than Serenity/Firefly?)

Gilligan's Island?

[SFC B]

Fruity oaty bar is NOT MANDATORY!

[Derpetologist]

Rise and shine with Spot the Not! 3 of the following are real quotes from the Qur'an:

1. Allah made them taste humiliation in the life of the world, and verily the doom of the Hereafter will be greater if they did but know.

2. Those who disbelieved and denied Our revelations, for them will be a shameful doom.

3. We shall cause those who disbelieve to taste an awful doom

4. Let us rain some doom down upon the heads of our doomed enemies.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

4?

[Andrew S.]

Trick question. All four are not, because the Qur'an is not supposed to be translated from Arabic.

Boom.

[RBS]

+1 fatwa

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

4

[gaijin]

Well, to be sure, we'd have to read it in the original arabic, but I'ma guess 4 is the NOT

[Slammer]

Doom

[Almanian!]

Gotta agree with Bo on this - #4

[Rich]

Does the winner get to eat pus and drink boiling water?

[Derpetologist]

+1 Tree of Zaqqum

[Rufus J. Firefly]

4.

Sounds like something Dr. Doom would utter.

[Bardas Phocas]

Crack of Doom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U319VzSqEU

[Notorious G.K.C.]

4

[Notorious G.K.C.]

To be fair, some passages of the Koran are much nicer. Did you know that the song "Shiny Happy People Holding Hands" is translated directly from the Koran?

The More You Know...

[Derpetologist]

No more bets! No more bets!

The not was indeed #4. That is from Invader Zim, a cartoon alien sent to conquer earth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP25UEqquDY

The word "doom" appears many times in the Qur'an:

http://skepticsannotatedbible....../doom.html

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

The word "doom" appears many times in the Qur'an

Is it ever hyphenated with cock?

/The prophet SF

[Lord Humungus]

Why so many Americans still deny racism exists when the evidence is everywhere

CHS: In the film, we see an extension of implicit bias test into the realm of medicine. A group of doctors are asked how they would prescribe certain blood pressure medications, and there's a huge correlation ? blood pressure medication is given much less to black men than to white men with the same symptoms, when everything else is equal.

Another place you see it is in employment and hiring. Legions of studies indicate that identical resumes are treated differently once race is identified. Virtually every realm of human endeavor in US is colored one way or the other by a racial dynamic.

LS: Other research shows that black boys are viewed as older and less innocent than white boys [by teachers and police officers]. It's not that these people are consciously trying to do these things, but they're articulating what is in their unconscious and the unconscious associations they make ... but of course these teachers wouldn't describe themselves as racist, and we wouldn't say they are bad people. We're all drinking the same water, and we're getting the same messages. How these are being articulated in our life is a question we're not asking enough.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I find it hard to believe that hundreds of years of government fostered and enforced racism has just disappeared in a few decades.

[Monty Crisco]

Wonder if in your formulation "government" is the real problem?

The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy. It is the most effective system we have discovered to enable people who hate one another to deal with one another and help one another.

Milton Friedman "Why Government Is the Problem" (February 1, 1993), p. 19

[Rufus J. Firefly]

HAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!

/prog.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Yes, agreed. If not for the coercive government support for racism it would have withered on the vine.

[Monty Crisco]

Man, you are dumb.

[HeteroPatriarch]

He agreed with you

[PM]

From the ratification of the constitution to the emancipation proclamation was 76 years.

From the CRA of 1964 to today is 51 years.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

1789 (and this pedantically elides our colonial history) to the 1960's vs the 51 years from the latter to today. Yup.

[KDN]

We exist in a weird time: the law tends to be biased in a way that favors minorities, but the people and institutions entrusted to enforce the laws are often biased against them.

That's my guess as to why every disaffected member of any group believes they are being discriminated against.

[PM]

It's simpler to examine the actions of the federal government, since the states were autonomous before the Revolution and the Articles of Confederation, and since state policy varied wildly on the issue in both colonial times and after the Revolution, including after the ratification of the constitution. Slavery was illegal in 18 of 33 states at the start of the Civil War. After the ratification of the 14th up until the Wilson administration there was no segregation of the military or federal offices. Jim Crow started being dismantled in the 50's. Before the CRA of '64 we had the CRAs of '57 and '60. Brown v. Board of Education was 1954.

To say there was an uninterrupted period of "hundreds of years of government fostered and enforced racism" is... well, at best it's very incomplete.

[KDN]

On a related note, how sad is it that the first thing I wondered after Friday's episode of Shark Tank is how many stupid white privilege / patriarchy articles could be written about the end of it?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I was thinking the same thing, but I haven't seen any.

[KDN]

It must paint capitalists in too friendly of a light for the SJW crowd to bother tuning in. Blows up too many preconceptions.

[Ted S.]

You watched Shark Tank?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Isn't that a sequel to Sharknado?

WE GOT HAMMERHEADS IN AN M-1 inbound!!!!

[KDN]

My wife fucking loves it, and you can glean a good bit of insight from it. It's probably the best infomercial format in history.

[John]

Its called paternal white supremacy. If you think another race is incapable of making it on its own and needs your help, you are a white supremacist. You don't have to wish someone ill to think yourself superior to them.

Nearly all of the actual racism and sexism I see in this society is of that type. Women encounter this from doctors all of the time. A woman goes to a doctor and says she has a problem and the doctor will blow her off and not take her seriously. Tell her to lose weight, because every doctor knows fat people will magically get healthy if they just get thin. They don't mean women harm. They just don't view them as full human beings.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I'd rather not have any racism directed at me, but if I had to choose I think I'd take paternal patronizing over night riders any day.

[Monty Crisco]

And that's not a false choice or anything. Goddamn, you really are fucking obsessed. Do you see "night riders" in your dreams? And do they get punked by Mel Gibson?

[John]

Good for you. That doesn't make paternal white supremacy any better of an option. It just means it isn't the worst thing in the world. It doesn't mean it isn't bad or is in any way good.

[Bill Dalasio]

over night riders any day

What's your problem with David Hasselhoff? Or KITT?

http://bit.ly/1DKyqfU

[CatoTheElder]

Americans don't know what racism is unless they have lived in a place like Saudi Arabia or China. It's kind of like they don't really understand what poverty is unless they've lived in a place like sub-Saharan Africa or Bangladesh.

Americans tend to be a bit utopian when it comes to matters like minority rights and poverty. The fact is that the world is not amenable to utopia, and much of it is very much farther away from anything resembling an utopian ideal.

Imagine if the Klan formed a think tank back in the 50's to devise a plan to stymie the economic and social progress of the majority of African Americans. I seriously doubt that this evil think tank could devise anything that would better accomplish their insidious objective than the combination of the government schooling system, the war on drugs, and the welfare system created by John's "paternal white supremacists".

Still, the paternal white supremacists weren't as bad as the Klan. They had the best of intentions. The paternal white supremacists did integrate schools and lunch counters, and they did guarantee voting rights. But these good outcomes were inadequate to accomplish economic and social success for many African Americans. Frederick Douglas and George Washington Carver had much better ideas, but they were rejected in favor of what John calls paternal white supremacy.

[BigT]

Racism in America? Ask the 97% of blacks who voted for Obama and they will tell you racism is very much alive.

[PM]

Legions of studies indicate that identical resumes are treated differently once race is identified.

Yes, well, when the law mandates it in many cases...

[Irish]

"Other research shows that black boys are viewed as older and less innocent than white boys [by teachers and police officers]."

Isn't it possible that black boys on average are less innocent and more mature than white boys?

Think about this: African-Americans tend to live in worse neighborhoods, they are more likely to grow up in dangerous environments, they are more likely to have a broken household.

That's all terrible. Of course, those terrible things also could result in a black boy actually being more worldly and less innocent than a white boy of a comparable age. In that case, what's actually being measured is the bad condition of many black communities, not white racism.

[Irish]

And of course part of the reason black people live in worse neighborhoods is because of historical prejudice, discrimination, and racism. However, pointing out the bad legacy of historical racism is vastly different than blaming something on current racism.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

That's a good point in both directions. I'd like to see the left realize the latter is a waning problem and the right realize more the former is one.

[CatoTheElder]

Virtually every realm of human endeavor in US is colored one way or the other by a racial dynamic.

Colored?

Only a racist would say that!

[Lord Humungus]

Tsipras Tamed as Economists Declare Greece Loses Austerity Fight

A "complete political surrender to the world of reality" was how Erik Nielsen, London-based global chief economist of UniCredit Bank AG, put it. Societe Generale SA and Berenberg Bank both labeled it a "u-turn" by Tsipras, who won election Jan. 25 promising an end to budget cutting.

"If the deal holds, it would be a major victory of common sense over populism," said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg in London, who cut his probability of Greece leaving the euro area to 25 percent from 35 percent. "The taming of Tsipras would show that Europe's 'tough love' approach is working."

You know who else beloved in tough love...

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

The Marquis d'Sade?

[Lord Humungus]

*believed - I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue

[Almanian!]

I like it the other way.

*hands Lord H some Testors Model Cement?*

[Lord Humungus]

*Assembles model Sherman Tank*

and

*the world turns purple*

[hamilton]

Pat Benatar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGVZOLV9SPo

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

Mom?

[Lord Humungus]

Poverty in Germany 'at Record High'

Poverty in Germany is at its highest since the reunification of the country in 1990, with 12.5 million residents now classified as 'poor', according to a study by a German welfare organisation.

The report, commissioned by the Joint Welfare Association, identifies Bremen, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as the states most affected by poverty. Residents determined to be 'poor' were people whose household income fell 60% short of the national average.

[Jordan]

What's funny is how many self-styled champions of the poor have no problem with forcing the poor to subsidize their solar panels.

[Palin's Buttplug]

LFP RATE LOWEST EVER!

[John]

It sucks to live in Germany as a German. The taxes are outrageous. Even worse are the fees. It costs over two thousand Euro to even get a driver's license there. Then of course they have a highly regulated economy with a tremendous amount of mandated benefits. This means a very few people have great jobs that pay well and have enormous benefits and everyone else is stuck working part time and doing temp work or on the dole.

One of my neighbors when I live in Germany in the mid 00s was the manager of a high end hotel. In Germany she could barely afford a one room apartment and didn't own a car. She finally got her VISA and took a job managing catering at a large resort somewhere in California. Even moving to a high tax, high cost of living state like California, her standard of living doubled overnight.

I always laugh how woefully ignorant American Progressives are when they talk about how the standard of living in Europe is so wonderful. Remember, Germany is about as good as it gets.

[Jordan]

Don't forget about the highest electricity rates in Europe.

[Irish]

"Don't forget about the highest electricity rates in Europe."

I believe Denmark has higher energy costs. Both Green 'success stories.'

[SFC B]

Living in Germany right now and preparing to finally move back to the states. The lower standard of living doesn't manifest itself in being "poor" as we think about in America, but in how much less you get of everything. For example, German fridges are TINY. They're just as expensive as an American fridge, but you get an item 1/3 the volume. It means you can only store a day or two worth of things that need cooling So everything is so much smaller; milk, juice, eggs, condiments, everything has to be smaller because there would be no place to put a 2L bottle or a gallon of milk. You also wind up spending so much more time grocery shopping since you don't have the pantry space to hold bulk purchases.

Now, I think some of the lower standard of living is because it is far more likely for a German family to only have one income. It is very much a new concept for a mother to work when they have young children.

One of my takeaways from this assignment has been that anytime someone talks about how good it is in Europe and how we must be more like them I will now know that the speaker has clearly spent a lot of time on vacations in Europe and has no idea how frustrating it is to need to find Tylenol on Sunday.

[Jordan]

I also understand that they hold down college costs by having gargantuan class sizes, and making do with older facilities. Also, their schools don't have shiny football stadiums or recreation centers.

[SFC B]

They are also very selective in who goes to college. Your kid does well in elementary school and he's on the path to a full ride at university. Has a rough couple months right around testing time and he gets to enjoy a life working as a checker for Globus or OBI.

Germans don't "take a couple years to find themselves" at college. They either get there knowing what they're going to do, or they're out working the job they will do fo the rest of their miserable Teutonic life.

[Rhywun]

When I was an exchange student in Germany in the 80s we had a normal sized fridge. This was for a family of 4. And they were WAY better off than me and my mom in the States - maybe because the father was a teacher.... Also, I saw few traces of poverty - certainly far less than in the Rust Belt city I grew up in.

Maybe things have changed?

Agreed about the Sunday thing - but if that's what the culture wants, who am I to disagree.

[OneOut]

I backpacked through Germany in the late 70s.

It was a very homogonous society.

I believe the current spike in "poverty" might have a connection to an increase in immigrants, a number of whom don't speak German.

[BigT]

Residents determined to be 'poor' were people whose household income fell 60% short of the national average.

This is an unavoidable result if income inequality increases. Stupid statistics.

[robc]

Calculating poverty as percent of national average is just plain stupid.

[Irish]

The funniest thing I've seen in a long time was when Al Sharpton claimed America has a higher poverty rate than Uzbekistan despite the fact that the average income in Uzbekistan is like 1/5th the American poverty line.

Their per capita GDP is like $4000 a year, so their relative poverty is calculated based on a vastly lower average income. Someone living in poverty in Uzbekistan has to make 1/20th of what someone living below the American poverty line would have to make.

Al Sharpton has difficulty with statistics.

[Virginian]

Well you have to define poverty as the bottom 20%, that way the problem never goes away.

[sasob]

Al Sharpton has difficulty with the truth.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

Al Sharpton has absolutely NO problem with the truth, unless you were to ask him to identify it.

[OldMexican]

with 12.5 million residents now classified as 'poor', according to a study by a German welfare organisation.

"Ah, ausgezeichnet! Let's move ze goldposts over here and ze poverty level shall go up, up, up! Our jobs are now zecu-re!" - said the German Welfare office.

[John]

Karen Tumelty at the Washington Post gives an example of how to be a first rate hack journalist.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

She pretends that how Jeb Bush's wife spends her own money is bad. The elephant in the room in any conversation of the spending habits of political wives is Michelle Obama's spending habits. Your typical hack journalist wouldn't even mention this. Tumelty is better than typical. She mentions Michelle Obama and the criticism of her having a $500 pair of shoes. This serves four purposes. First, it allows Tumelty to pretend she is being even handed. She did mention Michelle you racist tea baggers. Second, it makes Michelle Obama look good and Jeb Bush's wife bad by comparison; five hundred dollar shoes versus tens of thousands of dollars in jewelry. Third, it makes critics of Michelle look petty; really a $500 pair of shoes is a big deal?

Fourth and most importantly, by only mentioning the shoes, it implies that is the only criticism of her and further sends the fact that Michelle Obama lives like Marie Antoinette on the taxpayer dime down the memory hole. Clearly, Jeb Bush's wife spending her own money is a big deal and Obama lavishly spending the taxpayers' money is something only a racist would mention.

That is first rate hack journalism.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

So if she did mention Obama's spending she's a hack and if she didn't she'd be a hack.

What would have proved her even handed?

[John]

I don't even know what to say to that other than did you read the post? Try again because clearly you didn't understand it.

[VG Zaytsev]

Right, because the first klingon taking her 100 person entourage to Spain for two weeks on the public's dime is exactly the same as a private person spending their own money on jewelry.

[Enough About Palin]

He really is that stupid.

[Injun, as in from India]

Leftist tolerance, Indian immigrant edition

[BigT]

Re-run:

Hawking embraces the NAP.

Of course he would advise the state to aggressively enforce it.

[Jordan]

Retired police officer 'shoots dead his two teen daughters, the three family dogs and then himself' at their upstate NY home while his wife is out shopping

This would be one of the guys singled out for exemption from the latest round of gun control idiocy.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

At least he came home safely to his family...oh, wait.

[SFC B]

I'm a terrible person because this made me audibly chuckle.

[Jordan]

Yeah, that was pretty good.

[Andrew S.]

I'm curious as to how long until somebody blames stress caused by national police scrutiny. If we weren't so mean to our heroes...

[Almanian!]

At least one of those was a good shoot.

hth

SMOOCHES

[Jordan]

Fucking brilliant.

[Ted S.]

Westchester County is not upstate.

[Rhywun]

It's the Mail - sure they like to focus on horrible Americans but why should they be bothered to learn our geography.

[Restoras]

Thank you.

[Rich]

Why are girls flocking to ISIS?

"There are women who are going there and finding the reality is not what they were sold on social media by ISIS, and they want to come back, but government policies at the moment are not encouraging return."

Oops!

[John]

How stupid would a woman have to be to want to join ISIS? That really is the same thing as a Western black man joining the old Rhodesian Army.

[Bam!]

ISIS has game, brah.

[tarran]

I think an 80's flashback is appropriate here

[Virginian]

That really is the same thing as a Western black man joining the old Rhodesian Army.

http://vvaveteran.org/32-2/images/97195708_10.jpg

The Rhodesian Army had many black soldiers.

[John]

Wow. Thanks. Didn't know that. But you get my point, even if it is not quite fair to the old Rhodesia.

[Virginian]

Yeah Rhodesia gets lumped in with SA, which is not fair to Rhodesia. They limited the franchise based on wealth, not on race. Rhodesia was a prosperous and safe country. The communists destroyed it, and the so called free world did nothing because they were afraid of being called racist. How many thousands have died under Mugabe's tyranny now?

[John]

I would rather be a black person living in the worst old South African homeland than live under Mugabe.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I bought some of those $100 trillion dollar Zimbabwe bills a few years back to use as bookmarks and as convenient props because I found myself often in conversations about how we could just keep the printing presses running indefinitely with no ill effects. I ended up reading more on Mugabe and the bloody transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe and it's really quite depressing.

The racial policies of Rhodesia were evil, but those in West who were placing pressure on them were utterly deluded or actively intellectually dishonest about the policies of the Soviet-backed communist opposition, who proceeded to implement their own evil racial policies. Rhodesia went from the breadbasket of Africa to a basket case with the so-called "land reform", Mugabe massacred tens of thousands who were members of a different tribe to consolidate his power shortly after coming into it, and that has continued to this day, with him openly pardoning the would-be assassins of political opponent Patrick Kombayi.

I can't find the article with a quick Google right now, but I recall somebody quoted in it saying that construction stopped and infrastructure is no longer maintained after Mugabe came to power, with a black Zimbabwean saying that it was much better before.

Again, I do not mean to be an apologist for some of Rhodesia's policies, but is it certainly no better under Mugabe's boot.

[Virginian]

The racial policies of Rhodesia were evil

Evil is a strong word. Rhodesia had a limited franchise, in which power was shared based on contributions to the treasury. Simply put, if you met certain property, income, and education requirements you were on the A-Roll which elected over 80% of the legislative seats, while the B-Roll composed of poor and less educated people elected

[Almanian!]

"OMG! You guys are, like, totally lying! I totally want, like, OUT! OMG!"

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

"This is like the STEVE SMITH Brigade!"

[Steve G]

You never know, maybe it's a 50 shades/no-means-yes sorta thing. Deep down they know damn well what their role is going to be...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Girl: How's the sex?

ISIS PR recruiter: It's like 50 Shades of Gray. Only we finish it off right.

Girl: Yummy!

[mr lizard]

STEVE SMITH IS ONE MAN BRIGADE... But doesn't mind audience participation

[Irish]

Why should a girl who joined ISIS and found it not to her liking be given special considerations not given to a man?

She's still the sort of person who runs off to join a murderous terrorist organization. So far as I'm concerned, she's a party to murder and terrorism and deserves what she gets.

[SFC B]

Yeah, I'm fairly certain "I wanted to go off and join a terrorist group, but it wasn't my bag so now I'm back," is the sort of warning sign I want the security folks to be investigating.

[Lord Humungus]

Oh yes it does...

Red carpet coverage doesn't have to be sexist

But this year already looks to be a tipping point for the ritual ? a chance, after years of a deep slide toward microscopic scrutinizing of women's bodies, to do it a little better.

It started in earnest a year ago. First, Elisabeth Moss deftly put her own spin on posing for E!'s ridiculous, nail-flaunting "mani cam" at the Golden Globes, slyly showing off her manicure on one finger in particular. Then Cate Blanchett, appearing at the SAG Awards, noted an E! News camera panning luxuriantly up her body and leaned down to meet the lens, asking the instantly viral question, "Do you do that to the guys?" Since then, thanks largely to the Representation Project's #AskHerMore campaign, there's been increased attention on how the media treats actresses, and over the past few months, as awards season has kicked again into high gear, there's been a groundswell of pleas to take red carpet coverage in a different direction.

[Almanian!]

There are still awards shows on TV?

I literally don't know, much less care.

[Lord Humungus]

so much this.

[Jordan]

Yeah, it blows my mind that people watch that dreck.

[expat]

What is this "TV" of which you speak?

[Jordan]

It's the thing I watch Netflix and Amazon and play PS4 on.

[expat]

Oh, right, I gotcha. I have one of those!

[Almanian!]

DAYTONER FIVE DOUBLE AUGHT!!!! GOTTA WATCH NASCAR!!!

Actually, I did, and it was AWESOME!

Plus - "Gotham". And "Justified"....even though Raylen Givens is everything we hate in a LEO here on teh HyR

[R C Dean]

The lap after lap after lap of three-wide racing was incredible, no doubt.

Yeah, my man Raylan is definitely not a serve-and-protect kind of guy, but its damn entertaining.

[Almanian!]

I just love Timothy Olyphant (no homo), and the other characters. Fucking B oyd Crowder should be a real person. Ava's hot, Mister Limehouse is wonderful, Dewey Crowe, that new talkative Merc with the beard...

Just great characters with an entertaining story.

So I overlook Raylen's extra-legal shenanigans for entertainment.

[Jordan]

Agreed. So many great characters (especially the villains). Boyd Crowder is outstanding. Did you know he was originally only meant to appear in a few episodes? But Walton Goggins knocked it out of the park, so they asked him to stay.

[MJGreen]

That Givens line from this week's episode, "They know killin', but they don't know crime," is GOLD.

[Virginian]

I just love Timothy Olyphant (no homo), and the other characters. Fucking B oyd Crowder should be a real person. Ava's hot, Mister Limehouse is wonderful, Dewey Crowe, that new talkative Merc with the beard...

Don't forget Art and Tim.

Art Mullen: Hell of a shot. Did you consider what might have happened if you'd missed?
Tim Gutterson: I can't carry a tune. I don't know how to shoot a basketball and my handwriting is, uh, barely legible. But I don't miss.

[Crusty Juggler]

Raylen lets you know beforehand that if you you pull on him he will put you down.

[Almanian!]

I do respect a man holstering a Glock. Even if it's make believe...

[Rhywun]

Why don't the actresses just show up in potato sacks then? Oh that's right - because they like to be looked at.

[MJGreen]

I'm not sure what E's panning camera was doing to Blanchett, but yes, they do have close-ups and luxurious pans on fellers.

That's where these campaigns really lose me. I'm sympathetic, but I saw some line from (I think) Zoe Saldana where she gets indignant about being asked what her regimen was for Guardians. Chris Pratt's beefing up for the movie was a huge thing, and every actor gets asked how they got or stayed healthy for a role. Christian Bale is asked that for nearly every movie he does. Sometimes the indignation is so mindless.

[Derpetologist]

Bonus round of Spot the Not with more Qur'an quotes! Can you Spot the Not?

1. Allah hath cursed the disbelievers, and hath prepared for them a flaming fire.

2. Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites! Be harsh with them. Their ultimate abode is hell, a hapless journey's end.

3. Now when ye meet in battle those who disbelieve, then it is smiting of the necks until, when ye have routed them, then making fast of bonds; and afterward either grace or ransom till the war lay down its burdens.

4. The clashing of the swords is the song of the reluctant. The path of fighting is the only way to live.

5. Fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other.
Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

4

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

4 sounds like something out of Klingon philosophy.

[Derpetologist]

Sorry, taHqeq, no qapla for you.

Here are some real Klingon quotes:

A running man can slash 1,000 throats in a single night.

Pity the warrior who has slain all his foes.

It is a good day to die!

Only a fool fights in a burning house.

[sasob]

Or Vikings.

[The Last American Hero]

Are you sure these aren't from Game of Thrones speeches?

[Almanian!]

Ima go with #3 this time

[Derpetologist]

Bzzt! That is from chapter 47 verse 4 of the Holy Qur'an.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

4

The actual wording of that passage is "the sheep shall be haram to you, no matter how sexy they look in their sparkling fleeces. Verily, do not look at a sheep with lust in your heart, but Allah will understand if you slip up once in a while, for Allah is just and merciful."

[Derpetologist]

No more bets! No more bets!

The Not is #4 again. Those are the opening words of the ISIS theme song Saleel Sawarim, which is rapidly becoming the Jihadi version of Freebird. Sing along if you know the words!

Saleel sawarim!
Nasheed ul rooba!
wa darbool bitally
qareekool hai-ya!
fa baynamteehamin
yoobeedoo doora
wakaty musawtim
jameela sadaaaaaaa!

[not actual transliteration- just what it sounded like to me]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAzCU29y2-U

The percentage of violent verses in the Qur'an is about 8%, about twice that of the Bible:

http://dwindlinginunbelief.blo.....quran.html

[Warty]

Jesus Fucking Christ I hate tuffgai music. This is like an even-shittier jihadi version Hatebreed. NEEDS MOAR BREAKDOWNS

[Derpetologist]

Oh come now. You know you get a rush of energy from "I kill 'cause I'm hungraaaaaaaay!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYUJ2gq278k

Now slam your weights on the ground and power grunt. It must help build muscle otherwise why else would they do it?

[Warty]

Ugh. Bloated up roidbros are an odd bunch.

[Derpetologist]

Here is a pic of a famous strongman:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_G?rner

He looks almost normal.

[Warty]

Yes. Look at any famous strongman from before the invention of steroids, Grimek, Sandow, etc. They look like strong human males, emphasis on the human. They look like something you could almost attain, right?

Even Arnold in his prime looked nothing like those pinned-up goonbros, and he was famous for taking what were considered at the time absurd testosterone dosages. Pharmaceuticals and muscle magazines have done an excellent job of warping people's perceptions of what a man should look like.

[Pope Jimbo]

Oh, for a second I thought we had a problem. But then I realized you were mocking Hatebreed and NOT Hatebeak. Hatebeak is teh awesome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwXKR9EWhXo

[Rich]

As if all the other insults of Obamacare aren't bad enough, here's a new one I just became aware of. When you go into the exchange to buy insurance the site verifies you're a person, and a citizen. What it actually does is contact Experian to "verify" your identity. If you have no credit record because you've never applied for or held credit in your name, the system refuses to confirm you

The trainwreck continues.

[John]

And remember, the whole point was to get young and poor people to buy insurance. Young and poor people are exactly the kinds of people who won't have a credit report. That is a classic example of some well meaning bureaucrat thinking everyone in the world is just like them. I bet the person who thought of that idea thought it was a brilliant work around to not being able to get the website to interface with the SSN databases. Well just check their credit. Everyone has a credit report. Right?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Sorry, Karl Denninger is a whackjob Doomsday Prepper type. Notice the "story" is not sourced?

[Jordan]

Information about Experian's role in the Health Insurance Marketplace

Experian provides the identity verification component of the Health Insurance Marketplace enrollment process.

[Don Mynack]

Of course, prior to Obamacare, the insurance company could give two shits about who you are, as long as you paid the bill and had your name on the card or policy. Now, since the IRS and "free" government subsidies are involved, identity must be established, as well as "estimation of income". That's right, you have to accurately predict what you are going to make next year to buy fucking doctor insurance. So stupid.

[Ted S.]

You have to have ID to buy health insurance, but not to vote.

[Jordan]

You have to have ID to buy insurance, but not to force others to buy it.

[Don Mynack]

I forgot the worst part about Obamacare - do you have to buy dental insurance, or not? Read this page:

http://obamacarefacts.com/dent.....insurance/

First it tells you this:

"A child must be offered dental, but you don't have to take it."

Ok, so I DON'T have to buy it!

Then it tells you this:

"In general dental insurance isn't a smart buy for individuals simply buying it from an insurer themselves. With dental insurance not everything is covered, maximum amounts that will be covered are low, benefits may take up to a year to kick in, and in general most experts we've heard from recommend simply paying out-of-pocket."

Yup, definitely not buying that!

Then, this:

"After Jan. 1, 2014, all individual and small group market plans ? both inside and outside the exchange ? must be certified as "qualified health plans" except for stand-alone dental plans. QHPs must provide all "essential health benefits". Pediatric oral health services are included in the 10-category EHB package and must be offered."

Wait, what? So you just told me it sucks, but I have to buy it? Or not? WTF DID YOU JUST TELL ME?

[CatoTheElder]

My wife and I, both around 60, have a pediatric dental policy under ObamaCare.

You do have to have such coverage. Blue Cross assures me that our pediatric dental coverage is free, however.

[Rhywun]

the insurance company could give two shits about who you are

Er... no. I work in insurance - every prospective customer gets a credit check.

[HeteroPatriarch]

And 5 hours later, no response from PB

[Rich]

Uh-huh. Better ignore it.

[CatoTheElder]

I have first-hand experience with ObamaCare website. I tried 109 times to use it. It denied that I existed, and required me to send proof of my existence to an address in New London, Kentucky. I never heard back, and was never able use the website.

But I do have an Experian credit report.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

4

[Lord Humungus]

Number 4 Number 4 /Yoko

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

+5

[Lord Humungus]

Fewer than half of Democrats sympathize with Israelis over Palestinians

Gallup's annual World Affairs survey shows that only 48 percent of those identifying as Democrats sympathize more with Israelis in tensions in the Mideast than with Palestinians. In contrast, 83 percent of Republicans side with Israelis. The figure for all Americans is 62 percent.

...snip...

Over the past 12 months, though, there's been a drop of support for Israelis of about ten points by Democrats, a plunge that rivals the decline seen among all parties after a boost of support during the first Gulf War. Gallup suggests that timing may have played a role. The survey was conducted earlier this month, as the debate over Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming speech to Congress began to heat up. The speech and the invitation that prompted it have been criticized in the United States and in Israel as injecting partisan politics into the relationship between the two countries. Gallup's survey suggests that might be true.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Wahhabi Christians love them some Israel.

[Andrew S.]

My Orthodox Jewish brother-in-law, who caused my sister to disown the rest of her family after I had a kid with my Methodist wife, recently started working for a fundamenalist Christian charity that raises money for Israel.

(I'm just surprised he has a job. But still, it's hilarious.)

[Notorious G.K.C.]

That's awful, but did he your Orthodox Jewish brother-in-law at least make money working from home on the Internet?

[John]

At what point do Jews finally realize the Democratic Party just isn't that into them?

[BigT]

The Democratic party - come for the signalling, stay for the self-hatred.

[Andrew S.]

Remember where Jews are concentrated. South Florida, the northeast, California. All deep blue places. That's a lot of why Jews gravitate towards Team Blue.

[John]

Also, culture. It is just what they have done for generations. At some point, they have got to wake up.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Mostly its because the GOP remind them of the Nazi Party.

[John]

No, those are the voices in your head. Actual Jews, not so much.

[PM]

"How, as a socialist, can you not be an anti-semite?"

Sounds snatched right from Mitt Romney's mouth.

[PM]

Remember where Jews are concentrated.

Holy shit man! Phrasing!

[Andrew S.]

Are we still doing the phrasing thing?

(somehow I didn't realize that. And I've been with a Jewish youth group to Poland and visited the camps! I'm a failure as a Jew)

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Do most American Jews vote based on who is most pro-Israel?

[John]

Most American Jews are pro Israel. They, however, apparently do not vote based on that or they wouldn't be Democrats. That being said, there has never been a President as openly hostile towards Israel the way Obama is. The Democrats have largely done a very good job having it both ways with their Anti-Semitic Progressive wing and their Jewish wing. Obama has finally stopped even trying and gone all in with the Progs. Maybe this will finally wake them up. The last guy who was even close to Obama was Carter and Reagan got 40% of the Jewish vote in 1980.

[KDN]

In my experience it's a combination of social signaling and machine politics. Jews tend to be social liberals that cluster in areas where Democrats already control the levers of power, and the Jewish experience is tied to the Democratic party in a similar way that Black culture has been for the past 50 years.

Interestingly, the Hasidim in my neck of the woods are heavily Republican in a heavily Republican area, but I believe their cousins in Brooklyn still vote Democrat.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Well, the Jews in the Democrat ranks have a problem with Israel anyway.

No?

[John]

Some but not most. The majority support Israel. Many have family who live there.

[MJGreen]

Seems like a pointless question. I don't quite know how I'd answer. It's not monstrous to sympathize more with the poorer and less powerful option.

The important question is whether they side with Hamas or similar groups, over Israel's military. Simply asking about "Palestinians," which can include terrorists and the poor people trying to live while terrorists make their lives worse, doesn't say a whole lot.

[Lord Humungus]

Amid a Slump, a Crackdown for Venezuela

For a glimpse into Venezuela's economic disarray, slip into a travel agency here and book a round-trip flight to Maracaibo, on the other side of the country, for just $16. Need a book to read on the plane? For those with hard currency, a new copy of "50 Shades of Grey" goes for $2.50. Forget your toothpaste? A tube of Colgate costs 7 cents.

Quite the bargain, right?

But for the majority of Venezuelans who lack easy access to dollars, such surreal prices reflect a tremendous currency devaluation and a crumbling economy expected to contract 7 percent this year as oil income plunges and price controls produce acute shortages of items including milk, detergent and condoms.

[The Last American Hero]

Birdman won!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgfgLo5qjDs

[Jordan]

Short on machine guns, German army armed turrets with broomsticks

Late last year, as the German Bundeswehr was considering rebooting its expensive, failed Euro Hawk drone program, the army of the country with the fourth largest economy in the world fielded its newest armored vehicles in a major military exercise in Norway with broomsticks painted black and lashed in place of missing machine gun barrels. That detail was part of a German Defense Ministry report leaked to Germany's public television network ARD that exposed widespread shortages of basic combat equipment.

According to the report, the Bundeswehr units deployed as part of a test of NATO's Rapid Response Force in September were far from combat-ready: they deployed with less than a quarter of the night vision gear required. The units were also missing 41 percent of the P8 pistols and 31 percent of the MG3 man-portable machine guns they were supposed to deploy with. And none of the GTK Boxer armored vehicles that deployed were equipped with their primary armament?the 12.7 mm M3M heavy machine gun.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Perhaps it's not that wise to appoint a Defense Minister who appears to have been given the job for identity politics reasons? She's basically a glorified social worker and physician with hard-left politics and zero military experience.

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

In 2013, Von der Leyen unsuccessfully campaigned for a statutory quota for female participation in the supervisory boards of companies in Germany, requiring company boards to be at least 20 per cent female by 2018, rising to 40 per cent by 2023.

Yeah, actions like that really scream competence to me. Her Wiki page is full of other things of that nature.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I would love to have paycheck equality with Patricia Arquette.

[Crusty Juggler]

you're so cool.

[Jordan]

Teen known for 'laser cat' yearbook photo dies in apparent suicide

SCHENECTADY, N.Y., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The 17-year-old high school student whose "laser cat" yearbook photo made him an Internet star has died.
Draven Rodriguez's parents told the Times-Union that their son, a senior at Schenectady High School in Schenectady, N.Y., committed suicide at his home last Thursday.

Damn, that's a shame.

[John]

That is horrible. That ruins my whole morning.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

RIP buddy.

[Ted S.]

Somehow I missed that on the local news. (I get over-the-air channels out of Albany.)

[db]

Goddammit, that sucks.

[Lord Humungus]

As Office Space Shrinks, So Does Privacy for Workers

With rents surging as the Manhattan office market rebounds, many companies are looking to cut costs, and one way to do that is by trimming personal space. The shrinking is happening beyond New York. The average amount of space per office worker in North America dropped to 176 square feet in 2012, from 225 in 2010, according to CoreNet Global, a commercial real estate association. Though more recent figures are not available, real estate experts say there is no doubt that workers are being shoehorned into even less space.

I remember being a little kid and visiting my dad's office. He had his own door that could be locked, blinds to drop across the inside windows, and two secretaries. At least I have a window seat and tons of space (the latter due to department cuts over the years) but it is more of an open office.

[Steve G]

What is this 'secretary' you speak of?

[Rich]

Very well. "Administrative assistant."

[Auric Demonocles]

It's an attractive young woman who gets paid to hang out at the office and break up your marriage.

[Rich]

Very well. "Office wife."

[Steve G]

ugh, I go to the office to get away from the wife!
I'm gonna run off to be plumber so I can lay pipe all day..oh wait

[Ken Shultz]

"A suicide attack by a young girl believed to be just 7 years old has killed at least 5 in a Nigerian market."

Well, I think Obama should invade Nigeria right away, and if he doesn't, then that just proves he's a Muslim.

[John]

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2.....plain.html

Ann Althouse has an interesting take on Scott Walker's non answers to the "Is Obama a Christian and does he love America" questions. I think Walker is doing the exact right thing. All answering these sorts of bullshit questions does is get you off message and make it look like you have something to hide. It doesn't matter what a Republican says in response to these questions, the act of denying it makes you look guilty. The media played this perfectly with the "Romney hates women" meme. Romeney was dumb enough to try and answer it and trotted out all of the women he had hired over the years. That didn't matter because all the public saw was some guy who has to explain why he really doesn't hate women. The proper approach is not even dignify it with an answer. Sure the media is going to scream but they do that anyway. The public largely tunes them out. What they don't tune out is what the candidate says. Once you dignify this shit with an answer and start acting defensive, you are done.

The media is having a fit and pretending Walker is doing the wrong thing here because he is doing the right thing. They want him to be a typical Republican and take the bait and spend his time apologizing and trying to prove he is not like those other Republicans. Fuck them.

[Rich]

That's not Wisconsin style. Get used to it, coasties.

Meet The Press yesterday devoted much time to this crap.

Is MTP a *real* news program?

[John]

No. And as long as Walker doesn't dignify it with a response, it will all just be Washington chatter to the public at large.

The other thing is that it was Hillary who started the "Obama is really a Muslim meme". The clip of her answering the same question with the Clintonian qualification "as far as I know" is all over social media. Walker is smart to stay above the entire nonsense. The media only expects him to give an answer because they know him doing so will hurt him. Don't take the bait. The more he stays on message, the more idiotic the media looks for obsessing over this kind of bullshit.

[R C Dean]

What's even stranger is the way this veered from Giuliani's "Is Obama patriotic?" to "What religion is Obama?". I can't figure out quite what happened, there.

[John]

What happened is they took the Obama Patriotism issue as an opportunity to try and further drag Walker into defensiveness by asking the religion question. The whole point of asking those questions is to get the Republicans to respond and either affirm it and allow them to paint him as a nut or deny it and allow them to make him look defensive and get off message.

The media wants Republicans to spend their time explaining how they are not racist and evil like those other Republicans. This keeps them from making their case to the public and gets the public to assume they must be at least somewhat guilty or they wouldn't be so defensive about it. The way to deal with this bullshit is to not play the game. Just don't dignify it with a response.

[tarran]

I'm starting to think Walker as president and Paul staying in the senate is the best we can reasonably hope for:

To me, the greatest problem with the Federal Government is that the civil service is out of control. Obama didn't tell the justice department to jail that guy for importing lobster tails from Honduras in a plastic bag. Some low level bureaucrat decided to do it, and his bosses either didn't care or didn't want the hassle of stopping him.

And the civil servants have the stronger hand; they are protected from being fired, and have mastered the art of whining to the media in a way that will be reported sympathetically.

To tame these guys, the President has to have
a) nerves of steel
b) executive experience with hostile groups of subordinates
c) the freedom to horse trade and maneuver

Rand doesn't have executive experience, and being ideological has less freedom to maneuver. Walker on the other hand has shown himself to be pretty focused on administration.

I fear that the civil service would chew Rand up and spit him out as a one term president - assuming he even got elected.

Walker, on the other hand could - just by focusing on taming the civil service and undoing the lawlessness of the Obama years - do incredible good.

[John]

We desperately need a President who will tame the executive branch. More than anything, Obama is incompetent. Obama hasn't turned the executive branch into some political weapon. He is too stupid to accomplish that. Obama is lazy and incompetent. He has no clue what the executive branch is doing. He almost never meets with his cabinet or really anyone outside of a few close advisers in the West Wing. The Cabinet secretaries are basically operating on their own at this point.

The most telling event of the Obama Presidency was Bengazi. I say that not because of the results or the incident itself. The telling thing was that while an American consulate and US Ambassador was under attack, the President had a short conversation with the SECDEF and went off to a fund raiser. He really didn't give a shit or if he did had nothing to bring to the problem. The entire thing was handled by Panetta and Hillary. That is the most astounding dereliction of duty I have ever witnessed by a President.

[Rich]

Walker is starting to get beaten up for not having a college degree.

[John]

He does have a degree. He just left college and got it later I thought.

Regardless, I don't think that will stick. He has a successful record as a governor. If anything, the degree thing is a distraction. Let the Democrats argue that. Then come back with his record. If the Democrats want to spend their time talking about his college record, they will end up ceding the point that he was a good governor.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I can't imagine any voter caring about his lack of degree given his accomplishments. He's clearly qualified to run a government.

No, his big weakness is indeed most likely going to be foreign policy. How well he bones up on it will determine how far his campaign goes.

[creech]

But, I'm told by proggie friends, Walker has no foreign policy experience, unlike a certain former Sec. of State, and that will be the number one concern for the U.S. in the next four years. Oh, and he doesn't have a college degree, let alone post-grad studies, unlike them. Have we entered a period in U.S. history where only, say, a former Sec. of State is qualified to be president?

[John]

I think the "I have foreign policy experience" is a real bad argument for Hillary to make. Hillary's case to the country has got to be that she is like Bill and a sane Democrat who is going to work with the Republicans in Congress to solve problems. The way she wins is by convincing the country that electing her is like returning to the 1990s; a Clinton Presidency put in check by a Republican Congress.

All arguing her "foreign policy experience" does is point to her failures. She doesn't have a significant accomplishment to run on. And there are multiple fuck ups on her watch. I really don't think Hillary wants to spend the next two years talking about how she "reset" relations with Russia, intervened in Libya, and helped walk away from Iraq.

[Ken Shultz]

She's going to have a tough balancing act, trying to convince everybody that she's not an extremist like the Republicans--AND that she's not an extremist like Barack Obama either.

I predict Hillary will engage in some sword rattling if and after she wins the nomination. Being associated with Obama's foreign policy certainly isn't going to win her any swing votes.

Check this stat out from here:

"On the matter of foreign policy ? which is in the news a lot lately due to Russia, Ukraine, Iraq, and Gaza ? the president's approval is at a mere 36%, also at an all-time low."

http://www.businessinsider.com.....oll-2014-8

All time low?

36% percent means the Republicans hate your foreign policy, the swing voters hate your foreign policy, and a nice chunk of your fellow Democrats hate your foreign policy, too. Whomever wins the nomination on the Republican side will talking about Clinton's role in the Obama-Clinton foreign policy era, for sure.

...and there's no need for the Republican candidate to even bring up Benghazi. People will bring that up all by themselves.

[John]

And I don't see how she can offer any actual policies without looking like a loon or alienating her loon Prog base. Note, her supporters never talk about anything concrete. They just talk about her "experience" as if that means anything.

[KDN]

Have we entered a period in U.S. history where only, say, a former Sec. of State is qualified to be president?

Just like the early 1800's? Everything old is new again.

[sarcasmic]

Unless you're ignorant of history. Then everything is new for the first time.

[tarran]

I think the unremitting sequence of failure that is the Hillary Clinton legacy is a turd that just can't be polished into gold.

Let's go through them:

Russia - from the infamous 'Reset' button fiasco to the present has been a collapse of grudging cooperation - mainly because the U.S. didn't give a shit about Russian geopolitical concerns and kept rubbing their noses in it.

The Arab Spring - a complete clusterfuck. No, calling it a clusterfuck is being too kind to it; the U.S. govt's policies made clusterfucks appear like efficient competence by comparison. A popular uprising against dictatorships - many of which were U.S. allies was handled by
a) patronizing the dictators and encouraging the rebels
b) surprise when the rebels turned out to be anti-american
c) supporting some rebels while supporting some dictators
d) switching sides when (c) got bad press.
e) blundering around trying to find someone who didn't hate America

As a result:
1) Salafist movements are taking over the mideast and north africa
2) The Russians are going to be the goto ally for support by whichever assholes end up on top in the mideast - note Syria still hasn't fallen!
3) The Gulf Arabs are no longer restrained by wanting US good will.
4) The Obama/Clinton intervention in Libya means nobody trusts any alliance with the U.S. No one wants a knife in their butt.
5) The Obama/Clinton/Kerry fuckups over Syria mean everyone perceives the U.S. as being run by baboons wileding fingerpaints.

[sarcasmic]

Sexist! Fake scandals! Bushpig! Christfag!

[BigT]

Shorter tarran: It's 1979 all over again!!

[GILMORE]

"I'm told by proggie friends, Walker has no foreign policy experience"

Wow.

Thats some weapons-grade self-deluded.

[Ken Shultz]

"The proper approach is not even dignify it with an answer. Sure the media is going to scream but they do that anyway."

And yet somehow it doesn't work that way on the Obama side of the equation.

Walker, Giuliani, and every other Republican in the world that matters could ask the same question, and they wouldn't bother Obama with it for a minute.

The other thing to remember is that at this point, Walker doesn't give a damn what anyone but likely voters in the Republican primaries think. He's scored points with them over this, and every time a liberal hates on Walker in the media, it scores even more points with them.

Someday, he's going to have to live it down if he wins the nomination, but by then, all the Democrats will be trying to distance themselves from Obama, too, and he may rather people were thinking of him in contrast to Obama rather than Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton sure as hell isn't going to be standing with Obama and the Muslims come the general election.

[John]

I think his answers to both questions were pitch perfect. I don't think the voters give a damn about if Obama is a Christian or patriotic. Moreover, one of the reasons they hate the media and Washington so much is that they think the media and politicians spend their time obsessing over bullshit like this instead of doing their jobs.

Walker never accused Obama of anything. All he did was say in police terms "I don't know and I don't care". That is exactly what the country thinks. I can't see how this is a bad thing for him.

Seriously, what is the average voter going to think when he sees Walker up talking about the economy and Obamacare and the deficit and ISIS and the various other problems facing the country and then hears the media yammering on about how Walker doesn't know if Obama is a Christian? I think they are going to think media is a bunch idiots and tune them out.

[R C Dean]

the media yammering on about how Walker doesn't know if Obama is a Christian?

Considering a lot of Americans don't either, according to the polls, this is not exactly an electoral third rail.

[Zeb]

Poll questions like that are just useless.

I can't read minds, so I don't know if anyone is really a Christian, or just keeping up appearances.

Considering how all politicians who want to be president have to go through the motions of being religious, who knows what anyone really believes?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Not to mention the hypocrisy and fakeness of the liberal outrage since these same people (correctly, albeit) rail against the infusion of a candidate's religious beliefs into politics.

Why should any liberal or progressive care if Walker won't endorse Obama's Christian faith? Do they think Walker knows the guy well enough to make that call?

[Ken Shultz]

Yeah, if Walker commented on Obama's Christianity at this point, they'd immediately use it to paint him as a religious extremist.

You'd think they'd go after Walker with the standard union laundry list: he's against the working class, race to the bottom, etc.

But I think the Democrats are going to have some big problems in some important swing states after Obama's Congressless climate change treaty in Paris this year.

I think there are going to be a lot of pissed off coal miners in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. And Obama doesn't give a damn what happens to the Democrats after he's gone. Hell, he didn't give a damn what happened to the Democrats in the midterms. I think he's gonna go balls out on climate change all the way to the finish line.

[David Wall]

Lots of pissed off, high school educated coal miners (e.g., white blue collars) in OH, PA did not bother to get out to vote for anyone. Dems have lost this group & they won't vote for Clinton. Can't see this group getting to excited about Paul, either. They might take the trouble to vote for no-college-degree Walker, though. If so, they could make a difference in these big states. MI, too, perhaps.

[David Wall]

*too excited...dammit

[R C Dean]

Someday, he's going to have to live it down if he wins the nomination,

Are you kidding? A kerfuffle that will be Olde News by this weekend is going to be part of the campaign a year and a half from now?

[Ken Shultz]

Did you know Sarah Palin thinks she can see the Kremlin from her kitchen window?

[Ken Shultz]

Did you know Mitt Romney once strapped a puppy to the top of his car and went on a road trip?

[CatoTheElder]

Rand Paul worships at the altar of Aqua Buddha.

[R C Dean]

Did you know the Palin story hit the news after the nomination, within a few months of the election?

The Romney road trip story does stand as an example, I agree, of the media relentlessly hammering Olde News. For a lot of reasons, though, a story about a dog and a family vacation is going to have more legs, I believe, than this purely inside-baseball fart in the wind from Giuliani.

[CatoTheElder]

If I were in Walker's shoes, my reply would be a bit more responsive to the question. Something like, "The Constitution is explicit that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office. That is one of the truly great advancements of the US Constitution. So, you have posed a really stupid question. Next question, please."

[Libertarian]

"Congress has until Friday to approve a new budget for the Department of Homeland Security."

Or what?! It will be abolished?

[Lord Humungus]

*huzzah*

[John]

80% of the Department are Emergency essential personnel and will show up to work without pay. No one is going to notice or care if it shuts down. Sure, Obama will pull some jackass stunt like trying to shut down customs at JFK or something, but I doubt most of the country will notice or care.

Also, his green card program is enjoined by a federal court right now. The Republicans need to invoke the Reid Rule, pass the budget over the filibuster and tell Obama to fuck himself. He will fold. If he wasn't going to fold and lose this, the Democrats wouldn't be trying to jump on the grenade by filibustering to keep it off his desk.

[VG Zaytsev]

The problem with that tactic is that McConnell and other establishment douchebags support Obama's action.

[John]

Not really. They want amnesty, but they want to be able to take credit for it. They want a full Congressional surrender on it, not Obama doing it on his own.

Regardless, McConnell can't force anyone to vote for it. And they are not getting funding for it through the House. So the question is, who do you want to fight this with, Obama or the Democrats in the Senate? The Democrats themselves give you the answer to that. If they didn't fear a showdown between Congress and Obama, they wouldn't be trying so hard to keep it off his desk.

[VG Zaytsev]

They want a full Congressional surrender on it, not Obama doing it on his own.

Doesn't matter to them. What matters is making the corporate lobbyists happy.

Regardless, McConnell can't force anyone to vote for it. And they are not getting funding for it through the House. So the question is, who do you want to fight this with, Obama or the Democrats in the Senate?

Exactly, which is why they won't pull the Reid card and send a budget to Obama's desk. They think they can play a game of taking it to the last minute and then caving for the sake of national security because it would be too dangerous to defund DHS with ISIS on the march. Then they'll go out and shed crocadile tears about how Obama forced them to concede by putting the country at risk for a terrorist attack.

And of course, Obama's media will never ask them why they didn't just pass a budget with a simple majority.

[John]

The other thing is that it is not going to happen. The judge in Texas is dead right about the APA and it is not really an appealable issue. Moreover, even if you get past the APA, what he is doing is not prosecutorial discretion. Discretion is not deporting people. Obama is giving them legal status. That is directly counter to the INA. It is never going to stand up in court. The entire thing is a publicity stunt that will result in nothing except Obama continuing not to do his job.

In some ways, I can see the case for giving Obama his funding. He still will be enjoined from doing it. He still is almost certainly going to lose in court. Meanwhile, if we do have a terrorist attack, unless it is by a native born American, the public will blame Obama and his unwillingness to do anything about the border and he won't have his "but they shut down DHS" as an excuse.

[Sevo]

"Governors Unprepared for Upcoming Obamacare Ruling"
http://www.governing.com/topic.....uling.html
"For some Republican governors it was a shrug of indifference. They say the onus falls on President Barack Obama and Congress to figure out what to do if the Supreme Court invalidates Affordable Care Act subsidies in their states. And if Obamacare falls apart, well, they say, good riddance."
Couldn't agree more.

[Almanian!]

"...and replace it with WHAT??"

"Nothing."

[VG Zaytsev]

The good news is that we successfully removed the softball sized cancerous tumor from you abdomen.

The bad news is that we didn't have anything to replace it.

[Almanian!]

The perfect analogy.

[sarcasmic]

Fried chicken.

[Almanian!]

Also excellent, as always from sarc

[sarcasmic]

*takes a bow*

[Raven Nation]

Another nice Charles Cooke piece at NRO on the decline of MSNBC:

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....-c-w-cooke

FTA:

Its handful of rather ordinary news anchors to one side, MSNBC's hosts do not so much exist to represent a popular viewpoint as they are put on air to play a set of dramatic roles in what has become a vast and monomaniacal piece of conspiratorial performance art, of the sort that one might see composed by the theater department at Oberlin.

Snip

that the same people who disliked the previous administration on the merits would be keenly interested in watching a bunch of nearsighted know-nothings rail against invisible bogeymen, abstract nouns, and the omnipotent, omnipresent Koch brothers.

[Almanian!]

Can we make Cooke and Mark Steyn Americans in trade for....Marie Harf and Jen Paski?

[Libertarian]

I thought Steyn already became a 'merican citizen.

[Raven Nation]

In progress I think.

And, if we went with Almanian's deal, I suspect we would have to also throw in a lot of cash and/or a few draft picks.

[Almanian!]

Last I knew, he was still a Canuck. He always refers to himself as an "undocumented alien" while in the US.

I can't believe he doesn't have a nationally syndicated radio show, whether AM/FM or the satellite. He's wonderful - smart and funny.

[Rhywun]

They seem to run the in-train videos in NJ's PATH train because every time I look up there's another fawning advert for what's her name Maddow.

"We'd be lost without her!" - HuffPo
"She's a national treasure!" - some other liberal outfit

It's nauseatinging hilarious.

[Lord Humungus]

As I lay dying

We now know that breast cancer is not one disease. What works for one person might not for another: There is no one "cure." We are each, in effect, one-person clinical trials. Yet the knowledge generated from those trials will die with us because there is no comprehensive database of metastatic breast cancer patients, their characteristics and what treatments did and didn't help them.

In the Big Data-era, this void is criminal. Consider what Wall Street does. Even the tiniest companies can see how much stock they sell, compare themselves to cohorts, review history, predict trends. Why can't we create such a database for cancer patients, so we can all learn from patient experiences and make more educated decisions on what treatments will extend and improve lives?

[R C Dean]

Why can't we create such a database for cancer patients,

Well, HIPAA doesn't help, for starters.

[robc]

The FDA shutting down personal genetic info doesnt help either.

[Drake]

Too bad - a few years from now, she may have lived.

http://datarpgx.com/tumor-gene-analysis/

The latest way to treat tumors - do a full DNA and protein analysis of patients tumor and compare to samples of healthy cells. The variations will indicate how to attack the cancer without damaging normal cells.

[Steve G]

Why can't we create such a database for cancer patients

'Cause it'll point back to the metabolic theory and deny doctors all the income from treatment...at least that's my guess. This totally changed my outlook on the disease:
http://www.amazon.com/Tripping.....1500600318

[OldMexican]

President Barack Obama is expected to veto the Keystone XL pipeline bill this week.

"I have my shovel ready right here!"

Birdman won the Oscar for best picture at last night's Academy Awards.

The sun shone on Harvey Birdman.

Heightened security measures are now in effect in shopping malls in the U.S., France, and England in response to a terrorist threat.

Talk about a fire sale....

[Almanian!]

HIYO!

OM weighs in late, but veritably like a sledgehammer!

Morning, OM. Hope all is well with you.

[OldMexican]

The day is still young, but so far so good!

[Lord Humungus]

Mark Steyn: O Beautiful, For Specious Guys...

By the way, I'm growing rather weary of the cheap comparisons of Obama with Neville Chamberlain. The British Prime Minister got the biggest issue of the day wrong. But no one ever doubted that he loved his country. That's why, after his eviction from Downing Street, Churchill kept him on in his ministry as Lord President of the Council, and indeed made Chamberlain part of the five-man war cabinet and had him chair it during his frequent absences. When he died of cancer in October 1940, Churchill wept over his coffin.

So please don't insult Neville Chamberlain by comparing him to Obama. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, because conspiracies are generally a comforting illusion: the real problem with Obama is that the citizens of the global superpower twice elected him to office. Yet one way to look at the current "leader of the free world" is this: If he were working for the other side, what exactly would he be doing differently?

[sarcasmic]

If he were working for the other side, what exactly would he be doing differently?

Good question.

[R C Dean]

I've thought for years that Obama's foreign policy can only be explained one of two ways:

(1) He really is a Manchurian-Muslim mole trying to help radical Islamists into power across the Mideast.

(2) He's just a fucking idiot, advised by morons, and none of them really give a shit.

[sarcasmic]

It's all part of the fundamental transformation.

[John]

He is an idiot. You of all people RC should know what Obama is. Obama is a faculty lounge Progressive. Obama's problem is not that he hates America, though he certainly loathes a large number of Americans. He problem is that he lives in a fantasy world where the facts much conform to his ideology.

Everything he does makes sense when you understand that. Obama honestly thinks that the US and Western Europe is no better than the worst third world dictatorship and anyone who was a victim of imperialism has legitimate grievances that should be addressed. He also thinks that any problem can be solved via negotiation. People like Obama think the only reason there are wars is because war mongers like George Bush refuse to negotiate and be reasonable.

So when he is confronted by something like ISIS, a third world group who demands are not reasonable and can't be appeased, or a nation that isn't interested in negotiation or being reasonable like Iran or Russia, he just pretends the facts are something other than what they are, since he is incapable of admitting his ideology might be wrong.

Islam is a religion of peace and the real threat is racist Americans oppressing Westerners. So, if ISIS is doing horrible unpeaceful things, it must not be Islamic. This is how he thinks.

[Steve G]

Hanlon's razor, baby. All. Day. Long.

[Idle Hands]

2) but with the caveat in that he feels he has to do something for purely political reasons but at the same time doesn't want to do anything. An argument could be made that he's the worst president we've ever had foreign policy-wise. Say what you want about the bibliclally retarded nature of Wilsonian and Neoconservative policy prescriptions at least they were consistent that both our allies and enemies could understand where we were coming from. Obama says one thing and does the opposite in nearly every instance.

[John]

What Idle Hands said. Obama is a wildly dangerous President for the exact reason Idle Hands gives.

Wars are nearly always caused by miscalculation. One nation will miscalculate and do something it thinks it can get away with but in fact can't causing a war.

Obama's unpredictability is what makes him so dangerous. Ask yourself, what does Putin think right now. Does Putin think Obama would never go to war and he is free to go all the way to the Baltic and the Oder if he chooses? He might. No one knows what Obama would do. No matter what, there are some provocations, that no US President, not even one as ignorant and feckless as Obama can ignore. Since no one knows where that line is, we are in real danger of a big war breaking out.

[Ken Shultz]

Again, what makes me leery of the 'Obama is a Secret Muslim' tack is that they're basically using this Manchurian Candidate spiel to argue for war against the Muslim world.

And waging war against 1.5 billion Muslims (99.9% of which are not a security threat to the United States) is not in the best interests of American security.

Yet one way to look at the current "leader of the free world" is this: If he were working for the other side, what exactly would he be doing differently?"

The "other side"? Who is the "other side", and what--exactly--does he want Obama to do?

Is he talking about ISIS, or is he talking about Muslims?

Does he want to start deporting Muslims?

Ban mosques?

Which countries exactly does he want to invade?

He doesn't seem to be suggesting that Obama is a member of ISIS, so when he says Obama is "working for them", he's talking about Muslims, isn't he?

All 1.5 billion of them?

I've got six years of comments bagging on Obama in the archives on this site, but I will say this: Obama might be a better President than any idiot that wants to go to war with 1.5 billion Muslims--millions of whom are American citizens.

[John]

What Steyn wants is for Obama to be honest and admit that the problem is radical Islam. If saying that offends Muslims, tough shit. It does no one any good telling lies.

Styen doesn't understand Obama. Obama is not on the other side. The problem with Obama is that he is a ideological Progressive who refuses to see that reality doesn't conform to what his ideology says it should.

Obama can't understand that Iran or Russia will only respond to coercion and are not interested in being reasonable. He can't understand that ISIS is Islamic and has no interest in moderating or being in any way appeased. Obama's ideology doesn't contemplate such people. So, he just pretends they are what he thinks they should be and acts accordingly.

[Zeb]

The thing that makes me leery about the "secret muslim" bullshit is that it is stupid and has no factual support whatsoever. There are plenty of real things to criticize Obama for. Why invent some stupid bullshit that just makes you look like a bigoted asshole.

I agree with pretty much all of this. There are lots of positions between "Islam is a religion of peace and they are just misunderstood" (which is pretty much what W Bush said too) and "Muslims are the enemy".

If Obama were working for "the enemy", there are lots of things he'd probably do differently. Starting with not bombing them all the time.

[sarcasmic]

Starting with not bombing them all the time.

Seems to have been a great recruitment tool.

[Zeb]

I suppose. But that would mean that all presidents, at least since Clinton, are likely secret supporters of radical Islam.

[Virginian]

that it is stupid and has no factual support whatsoever.

They have his school files from Indonesia with Barry Soetero (mom's second husband's last name) listed as a Honolulu born Indonesian citizen who is a Muslim.

See, it's right there on paper. Whatever your parents fill out on an elementary school form is what you are for the rest of your life, no matter what.

[R C Dean]

The "other side"? Who is the "other side", and what--exactly--does he want Obama to do?

As a hypothesis, the "other side" is radical Islam.

And they want Obama to help them take power in the Middle East.

Personally, I think that Obama is just malevolently inept, but its an interesting exercise to ask, as Steyn does, would he be any worse if he actually were conspiring with radical Muslims to take over the Middle East?

Its a way of illustrating how utterly wrong-headed his foreign policy is.

I will agree that the Mark Steyn in your head, calling for us to nuke 1.5 billion Muslims including the US citizens, is a very bad man.

[John]

He is conspiring with them. If it had been up to Obama, the Muslim Brotherhood would still be running Egypt.

Obama has convinced himself that the way to deal with radical Muslims is to give them power and address their grievances so that they will moderate. We make fun of the cum on my glasses girl at State talking about how the solution to ISIS is to give them jobs, but that is what they think.

I don't think Obama means harm to the US. I think he believes he is making the world safer. He just thinks the way to make the world safer is to reason with and empower our enemies so that they will become more reasonable.

It sounds so insane, I can barely type it. But that is what he and the people in his administration think.

[Ken Shultz]

I denounced Obama for doing it in an unconstitutional way, but if he had asked for Congressional authorization in Libya, I'd have argued we should support him--and apart from adding to the denigration of Congress' role in declaring war, I think the long term consequences of what we did in Libya will be a huge positive for the United States.

The Arab Spring would have happened with or without American (and European) support. Had it not been for American support (and particularly Qatari support on the ground), Libya might just be in a drawn out state of civil war like Syria is.

We're expecting spontaneous order to assert itself far too quickly. There had to be a transition period, and there was no way they could transition with the kinds of vicious dictatorships we had across North Africa oppressing people like that. We lanced that boil in Libya, but it was going to burst with us or without us anyway.

It may take decades for Libya to stabilize and cohere into something peaceful, but the transition phase away from dictatorship was always going to happen. Libya was already a major source of jihadis (a huge chunk of the foreign fighters in Afghanistan, for instance, were Libyans), and that supply of jihadis wasn't ever going to dry up so long as there was a vicious dictatorship in Libya making it impossible for people to live peaceful and prosperous lives.

A

[Ken Shultz]

Authoritarian dictatorships aren't the permanent solution to anything, and in the case of North Africa, they were the ultimate reason why our terrorist enemies came into existence and flourished.

It is now possible for things to get better. Yeah, you lance a boil and pus and bacteria get all over the place for a while. But festering forever was going to be much worse of a security threat to the American people over a longer period of time.

I think Obama got that one right. Broken clocks, twice a day! I don't think getting rid of dictators like Gaddafi, the impetus for terrorism, was in the long term interests of terrorism as a solution to the problems of the Muslim world.

[R C Dean]

I think Obama got that one right.

If it turns out for the best, which is a huge if, it will be in spite of the inept way it was handled by us, not because of it.

The long-term trend in Libya and much of the ME is away from Western-style liberalism and toward Islamic nuttery. What it might take to turn the trend back toward something better, I have no idea. But I'm pretty sure knocking down dictators, without more, in the middle of a trend toward Islamic nuttery, isn't going to reverse that trend.

[Ken Shultz]

They're going to try various things that don't work--because they've never had the experience of trying them before.

We saw that happen in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood seemed like the only honest government possible, but then when they came to power, they tried to use the power of the state to impose fundamentalist Islam on everyone--rewrote the Constitution to entrench themselves permanently.

The MB lost all their support from non-MB voters becasue of that, and the coup that followed was quite popular because of that. Then the army started oppressing the MB--another round of mistakes.

These are mistakes that have to be made because these are people who have never had the freedom to make mistakes.

I'm not guaranteeing success, but I am saying that there was no way success could happen under the vicious dictators. Now they have a chance. Now they can learn from their mistakes.

Americans have learned from mistakes, too. We got rid of slavery. We didn't have mass internment of Muslims like we did with Americans of Japanese ancestry. We didn't have a draft.

Americans learned to be pluralistic. We learned from our mistakes. Yeah, the people of North Africa are making lots of mistakes right now. Let's hope they learn from them, and let's remember that there was no way they were going to stop being a mass production facility for anti-American terrorists so long as they were under the boot of a vicious dictator.

[John]

You are kidding yourself Ken. The problem is that it is often too late to prevent real tragedy once these people get in power. There is no place on earth where Nazism is more discredited than Germany. That still doesn't mean the solution to Nazism in the 30s was to let them have power and discredit themselves.

No where in the Muslim world is radical Islam more discredited than in Iran. That doesn't matter because the Mullahs have control and don't care what their population thinks. And it won't matter if they manage to start a nuclear war.

[Ken Shultz]

"That still doesn't mean the solution to Nazism in the 30s was to let them have power and discredit themselves."

You still don't seem to grok that the Arab Spring was happening with or without the United States' participation.

The question wasn't just whether you'd rather have Gaddafi still in power; the question was whether you'd rather have Libya have a chance to plot its own course or have Libya in a drawn out civil war like Syria.

In addition to the Libyans on the ground revolting, the Europeans in the air and the Qataris on the ground were going in with or without us anyway.

The Arab Spring was not a choice Obama got to make about whether or not it would happen. Not everything thing is about us.

We didn't intervene in Tunisia. We didn't intervene in Egypt. The Arab Spring happened anyway.

Regardless, every single Muslim terrorist group in the region can be traced back to resistance to a vicious dictator coalescing radicalizing around the only ideology no dictator can completely crush--religion.

You can't get rid of the terrorism without getting rid of the dictators whose oppression is continuously plows and waters the field for terrorism to grow.

Libertarians shouldn't have a problem understanding that oppression breeds revolt, and the permanent solution to that problem is not more oppression.

[Ken Shultz]

"You are kidding yourself Ken. The problem is that it is often too late to prevent real tragedy once these people get in power. There is no place on earth where Nazism is more discredited than Germany. That still doesn't mean the solution to Nazism in the 30s was to let them have power and discredit themselves."

I don't think we're talking about giving Islamists the keys to Libya.

We're talking about a state of near anarchy in Libya, where the government that used to be in control of everything is now in control of nothing.

The Islamists there don't have a real government to run--nothing like the apparatus Gaddafi had in place before.

The people in Libya aren't like the Weimar Republic. The question isn't whether they should vote their democracy out of existence. The question is what kind of government they want to have.

They're going to make mistakes along the way and learn from them.

Just like we did.

If they manage to avoid an organized civil war over a no-brainer issue like slavery like we had, they'll be doing a lot better than we did.

[R C Dean]

Your 12:02 describes precisely the cycle that is not being broken, Ken.

let's remember that there was no way they were going to stop being a mass production facility for anti-American terrorists so long as they were under the boot of a vicious dictator.

True enough, but on the whole I think the Islamonutter threat is greater when the vicious dictator is an Islamonutter. And that's the leg of the cycle we are heading into due in part to the Arab Spring.

[R C Dean]

Here's where I think this is going, generally speaking.

Semi-"secular" dictatorships are on their way out in the ME.

To be replaced by dictatorships that are more (much more?) Islamo-nutty (and hostile to us). That's the proximate result of the "Arab Spring", and the one Obama owns.

Which will in turn be replaced by semi-secular dictatorships after they inevitably crash and burn.

This is a cycle that shows no signs whatsoever of breaking, at this point. Seriously, point me to the ME country that is getting out of this cycle. Iraq is about the only one that even had a chance, and its backsliding like crazy.

I don't think its possible to get to anything like a Western-style government directly from an Islamonutter government. You might be able to get their from a semi-secular government. The Arab Spring managed to put us a cycle behind, if something other than dictatorship is your goal.

[Restoras]

I wonder if the ME has to go through the religious convulsions Europe went through before it can even hope to get anything close to a stable set of societies. It seems like they are still fighting the shia/sunni civil war that the Ottomans wouldn't allow and probably should have happened after WW1.

[Ken Shultz]

"I wonder if the ME has to go through the religious convulsions Europe went through before it can even hope to get anything close to a stable set of societies."

Maybe I'm looking for the pony here, but seeing them embrace mass street protests during the Arab Spring should be an encouraging sign.

Mass civil disobedience in the face of snipers and oppression--did anything like that ever happen in the Muslim World before?

Either they imported those ideas from somewhere else, or they discovered it for themselves. Civil disobedience certainly brought about change where decades and decades of terrorism achieved nothing.

We shouldn't judge the fruits of the Arab Spring until the dust has settled, and amid the timescale of social change we're talking about, a couple years ago is the blink of an eye. This story is just getting started.

[Ken Shultz]

"That's the proximate result of the "Arab Spring", and the one Obama owns."

The Arab Spring would have happened with or without Obama.

I think it's important to remember that Islam and Sharia are seen as the only honest form of relatively non-oppressive government.

As I've said before, when Muslims talk about sharia, we should interpret that as what we mean when we say "the rule of law".

The law in North Africa has been the whim of a vicious dictator for so long, no one can remember if it ever wasn't that way. And the alternative to the whim of a vicious dictator is...a religious document full of rules that is written down and memorized and everyone understands.

That's the rule of law to us--and that's what they want. Everyone agrees, these are the rules, and no vicious dictator can alter them or ignore them--and we all know the rules by heart.

Now, their rule of law may look brutal to us--and I think it is brutal. But relatively speaking, it may not look as brutal as the rule of Gaddafi. The real life details of Gaddafi's prisons are so horrific, they seem like they must be over the top.

[Ken Shultz]

In their mind, sharia isn't the alternative to the Fifth Amendment.

In their mind, sharia is the alternative to Gaddafi, and, yeah, it's the merciful alternative in that comparison.

[R C Dean]

Interesting thought about sharia being their rule of law.

Unfortunately, it seems to be at least as liable to being coopted/perverted by a dictator as Western-style rule of law. Lets not forget that sharia is what ISIS is bringing to their victims; the notion that sharia is incompatible with the worst form of Islamonuttery doesn't hold water, IMO.

The Arab Spring would have happened with or without Obama.

Probably, sure. So? He owns how it turns out, because he has stuck his thumb on the scale.

And you'd have to be terminally na?ve to think the Muslim Brotherhood was going to do anything other than what they actually tried to do in Egypt.

How does the cycle get broken in the ME? That's the question. The Arab Spring clearly wasn't the answer. I don't know what is the answer, but I have to tell you, "mass uprisings" may be a necessary condition of breaking the cycle, but the odds that they will actually do so are very low.

[Ken Shultz]

"And you'd have to be terminally na?ve to think the Muslim Brotherhood was going to do anything other than what they actually tried to do in Egypt."

Many of them believed that the Muslim Brotherhood were the only honest people in the game.

The Muslim Brotherhood builds schools and hospitals for people!

Many of them believed that the only reason the system was so broken was that Mubarak was a crook and he was on the U.S. payroll on behalf of Israel.

Turns out, Mubarak probably didn't have a choice! He was working for the Army--not the other way around.

There are probably people in this very thread who think that the problem in this country is Barack Obama, and if we only replaced him and the progressives with honest libertarians--everything would be alright.

The American people's biggest problem is themselves. There are lots of Americans who still haven't figured that out.

I won't hold it against the Egyptians if they fall for politicians' lies, too. Being manipulated and lied to by politicians is a big part of what it means to be in a democracy. But how should they have known that if they haven't had a legitimate election in decades?

[Azathoth!!]

And waging war against 1.5 billion Muslims is not in the best interests of American security.

American security depends on us understanding the while waging war against 1.5 billion Muslims is not in the best interests of the United States, it is in the best interests of the Dar al-Islam. And that is how this is workimg. WE may not be at war with them, but they are definitly at war with us.

(99.9% of which are not a security threat to the United States)

While this assumes facts not in evidence, it also--and this is why I draw attention to it--undermines the point it was placed to make. Are we fighting 1.5 billion people or 2.5 million? because one is far more difficult than the other.

[Steve G]

If he were working for the other side, what exactly would he be doing differently

Why, talking about gay marriage of course! Oh, wrong other side...

[GILMORE]

"President Barack Obama is expected to veto the Keystone XL pipeline bill this week."

YAY! The Earth is saved!

[Zeb]

Damn obstructionist Republicans.

[HeteroPatriarch]

They're really letting this one breathe.

[Steve G]

This can mean only one thing...

[Hyperion]

I'm almost totally convinced now that Obama is a Republican plant out to destroy the Democratic party.

[Hyperion]

And if true, then we can finally say that his presidency was somewhat successful.

[John]

He is no that, but he might be a form of Cosmic or Divine justice inflicted on the Democrats, depending on your metaphysics. Obama is the result of all of the worst instincts of the Democratic Party. He is the perfect result of their race bating and their elitism. They spent decades playing the race card and calling the Republicans dumb bumpkins. So here we have a Democratic President who is black and from Harvard. They can't walk away from him, no matter what he does. If Obama were white, they would have walked away from him after the 2010 midterms. And they sure as hell would have after the last ones. But they can't. They are too wedded to identity politics. So they are going to have to follow him over the cliff. They made a bet that Obama was going to be at least a marginally competent and reasonable President. And they have lost and lost badly.

[Hyperion]

Well, he's doing everything he can to please the true believer progs. But I think he is starting to freak out a lot of long term team blue voters. The problem is, he'll be gone soon and they'll turn their hopes to Hillary as the not so radical true savior.

I think what will happen is that we'll see even larger majorities in congress and at the state levels for the GOP, but the dems will continue to win the white house because the GOP establishment will continue to force in horrible candidates, like Jeb Bush this time. Obama has already set the path forward for a president to behave like a dictator and anyone who opposes Hillary will be labeled sexist by the media and the GOP will hide in the closet like the cowards they are.

About half way through the 2nd Hillary term and we'll all be talking about the good old days when Obama was still POTUS.

[John]

I don't buy that. First, I think the nominee is going to be either Walker or Paul. I don't think Jeb is going to win. You have to get votes to win and Jeb's only constituency is the Washington media.

Second, Obama didn't win in 2012 by that much. I can't see any way Hillary gets the kind of black turnout Obama did. Put black turnout back to normal and his margin of victory is down to less than three million votes. That isn't much.

Third, a lot of Democrats hate Hillary's guts. Everyone assumes they are going to turn out for her. They didn't turn out for Kerry in 2004. Meanwhile, unless the Republicans nominate Bush or Rubio, the Republicans who didn't turn out for McCain and Romney but did turn out in 10 and 14, are likely to turn out.

I agree with you that Jeb Bush is a dead loser. He will won't draw any votes Romney didn't get and the GOP voters who stayed home in 12 will stay home again. I just don't think he is going to get the nomination. I didn't think Romney would either. But he only did because all of his competitors self destructed. That isn't going to happen this time. Walker, Curz, Paul and even Rubio and Perry are not going to self destruct. Someone will come out as the "anyone but Jeb" candidate and win.

[Restoras]

I wouldn't underestimate the general public's lack of short-term memory. Once Hillary gets the Clinton machine rolling it'll all be platitudes, I-told-you-so's, I'll govern like Bill and you remember how great that was, and with the media on her side and the whole it's a woman's turn thing, she's a shoe-in.

[Hyperion]

Yep. The American voter is not done proving how stupid they are quite yet. Peak derp is still achievable!

[John]

No she is not. She is not Obama. She is not a blank slate. She doesn't come across as likable. And "vote for a woman" doesn't hold nearly the appeal that voting for a black person does.

Yeah, I didn't think they would re-elect Obama. But I also said the Republicans were going to take the Senate and take it easily. And pretty much every single person on here said "no way the stupid party will screw it up, they will be lucky to even hold the House".

It is not 2008 or even 2012 anymore. Hell, multiple polls say that if they re ran the 2012 election today, Romney would win. People have serious buyer's remorse over Obama.

Hillary is going to have to do better than "its my turn" and I can't see her doing it. The Clinton machine isn't all its cracked up to be. If it were, she would have never lost to Obama in 2008.

[Restoras]

So if it's Jeb vs. Hillary, Jeb wins?

The Bush name is still toxic. The Clinton name isn't.

[Hyperion]

The Bush name is still toxic. The Clinton name isn't.

THIS

[John]

I think Jeb is the only candidate Hillary might beat.

The other problem is that she can't run away from Obama without really pissing off the Dem Base. They still like Obama. They have way too much invested to admit he is anything but fabulous.

So, Hillary can't run the "vote for me and bring back the 1990s" campaign. If she does, she will alienate her own base. The Democratic base isn't ready to hear that. So she is going to have lock herself at the hip to Obama in order to unite the party. And when she does that, she will lose the rest of the country.

[Restoras]

A fair point on the base still loving Obama, but don't you think they'd rather win than lose regardless of any Obama-bashing Hillary engages in?

[Hyperion]

John, not everyone on here said that the GOP would not take the Senate. I was giving them a 50/50 chance for months before the election, and closer in I said it was looking likely. People were saying that if anyone was capable of screwing it up, that the stupid party would do it. Well, they didn't.

[John]

Regardless, Hyperion, they won and the Reason line is that that should never happen because country is now ruled by single issue gay marriage and pro amnesty millenials.

[Hyperion]

Well, the hardcore progs are only like 15% of the population. There's as many of us as there are of them. The difference is that they've been running a non-stop campaign to turn the country leftward for the last 100+ years, while no one was paying much attention and now they have control of our media, education system, half the federal government and the list goes on.

The problem now though is not the progs. It's team voters. I see these long term team voters around here and I listen to them and I have to tell you, there is nothing that will sway them from voting team blue. Team blue could stand someone up and say that they are the reincarnation of Hitler and they would still vote for that person. Most of them already have a 'I'm ready for Hillary' bumper sticker right beside of their Obama/Biden 2012 and 2008 stickers.

It's the younger generations, now who a majority of claims to be independents that the GOP has to win over. But to do that, they're going to have to run a guy like Rand Paul.

Rand can get the youth vote and a lot of the on the fence independent votes. Jeb can't do that, and I don't even think that Walker can.

[John]

Hyperion,

If the had made the country turn left, Reason would have been right about the Republicans not taking the Senate. The Democrats are in worse shape now than they have been at any time since the civil war.

They haven't turned the country left. Obama won because he lied and pretend he wasn't a leftist. That is why he is doing so much damage to the Democratic Party. He is going full left and the country hates it and is punishing the Democratic party for it. He missed the memo that you don't go full left until you are able to cancel or fix the elections. No full on leftist government ever wins an honest election.

I don't understand how you can square the terrible shape the Democratic party is in with the country now being brainwashed leftists. If the latter were true, every state would look like California rather than even blue states electing Republicans.

[Hyperion]

John, I think you should re-read what I wrote. I said that the left are in control of the media, education system, and half of the federal government. I didn't say that the majority voters are hardcore leftists, I said that 15% of them are.

The problem we have now with presidential elections is that these old school team voters will vote team no matter what, and they actually vote. Getting younger people to the polls is a lot more difficult. Obama did it and I think Rand Paul probably can also, maybe to an even greater degree.

Basically what I am trying to say is that the team blue people will turn out for Hillary, Jeb will inspire people to stay home, angry that once again the GOP have betrayed them. Hillary will also select Warren as her running mate, and that will inspire the insane left to go out and vote. That will put Hillary over the top, cankles and all.

[Hyperion]

Perry will certainly self destruct. Cruz is ok, but he comes on too hard with the religious stuff. That's not going to be very popular with the current public. Sure the hardcore SoCons will dig it, but that won't be enough. Rubio won't make it far either, he's just not that popular these days. He ran for congress as a tea party favorite and he's turned out to be anything but that and the tea party people are not going to forget that.

Walker is interesting and he seems pretty level headed. I don't think he will go down easy. I think that Walker and Paul will be in it pretty much to the end, but the GOP establishment will stab both of them in the back because they're afraid that either of them might beat Hillary, who is the real favorite of the GOP establishment.

It's Bush vs Hillary. And Hillary will win because she will be associated with Bill, who was and still is very popular, and Jeb will be associated with dubyah, no more needs to be said about that. And Hillary will have the backing of half the GOP establishment. And first female potus, war on wiminz. Too much to overcome. This is why Hillary is not even trying.

If I change my mind, I'll say so, but that is they way it stands right now.

[R C Dean]

I think Jeb is unelectable at any national level - nom or election. The Repub base has just had their fill of establishment losers, and he has "Establishment Loser" tattooed on his forehead. I don't think the GOP bosses can drag him to the nom.

Walker presents as such an anti-Obama, that I think he will run well nationally at both levels. I like Rand, and he's doing some very interesting stuff that may get traction over the next year. He needs it to get that traction to be a finisher, but I just don't know if it will or not.

Honestly, I'd give Cruz a hard look as an old-style VP, an enforcer in the LBJ/Agnew mold.

The Dems are so hosed. Warren is utterly unelectable to national office. Hillary? Even her baggage has cankles, for god's sake. And I don't see a dark horse at this point that could displace either of these two as a viable candidate.

[Hyperion]

Hillary is the only choice for the Dems. They know it. They are counting on the GOP running Jeb.

[John]

If won't be Bush. And when its not, I won't gloat, much. Who is the "establishment"? Seriously, have you ever actually met anyone who claimed to be that? Who the hell is going to vote for Jeb? Money doesn't do you any good if you don't have a constituency and Jeb doesn't have one.

[John]

That is the other thing. The Democrats better pray Hillary wins. She is all they have. They have been so badly beaten at the state level, they have no one else and are unlikely to have anyone in 2020.

[CatoTheElder]

Jeb's money is unstoppable. His smear team will take a chainsaw on Walker's lack of education and how he hates teachers. They'll make Aqua Buddha Paul's running mate, and strip the bark off of the little bastard. They'll push poll Republicans about Cruz, asking whether they support nominating an illegal alien for the Republican ticket.

The Bushes know a thing or two about politics. And they have lots and lots of money.

[CatoTheElder]

Don't kid yourself: Obama has a 46% approval rating, which is just one percentage point lower than his career average. http://www.gallup.com/poll/116.....roval.aspx

Though it is abundantly clear to anybody who is reasonably well informed and has an IQ above room temperature that Obama is utterly incompetent, lots of Americans think he's doing just fine.

[sarcasmic]

Red carpet risks that DIDN'T pay off: From Lady Gaga to Solange Knowles, the WORST-dressed stars at the Oscars

Lady Gaga wore a crocodile-textured Azzedine Ala?a frock - his first for Oscars
Solange Knowles turned up looking like she was wearing the red carpet
Boyhood's Lorelei Linklater left outfit choice to last minute - and it showed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....essed.html
I thought Irina Shayk looked just dandy.

[Warty]

Reminder: Peter King is the worst.

c. Coffeenerdness: Too many Starbucks are careless with the milk in the Flat White, I'm finding. It's whole milk, not 2 percent. Only a true coffeenerd would understand the difference.

[Andrew S.]

Before I read the blockquoted part I figured you were talking about the horrible representative from New York, not the horrible football writer.

(but yes. He's the worst. As is the other one.)

[Zeb]

What self-respecting coffee nerd would even show their face in a Starbucks? Yuck. Startbucks is for dick heads who think that burnt is what good coffee tastes like.

[John]

I like their latte drinks. But their regular coffee is awful. And it has to be how they brew it. If you buy their coffee and brew it yourself, it tastes fine. I don't get how they make it taste so bad.

[Restoras]

Ratio of water to coffee.

[R C Dean]

If you buy their coffee and brew it yourself, it tastes fine.

I've never been able to get their coffee to taste better than mediocre, myself.

I do like their milkshakes, though.

[John]

Then you need to learn how to make better coffee. Their Christmas blend is very good and the Casi Cielo they sell every February is outstanding.

My guess is you are over grinding it and putting in too much coffee for the size of your pot. Made properly they sell plenty of good coffee.

[R C Dean]

John, I know how to make good coffee.

I haven't tried theirs in a while, because why would I when I can get some of the best coffee available anywhere in the world?

[John]

John, I know how to make good coffee.

Citation needed

I haven't tried theirs in a while, because why would I when I can get some of the best coffee available anywhere in the world?

Because there Christmas Blend and Casa Cielo are good and sometimes you want something different.

[Zeb]

I've just finished off some Starbucks coffee that someone gave me, and while it was marginally better than Folgers or something, it was still weird and burnt tasting.
I don't know why anyone would go there when there are so many small coffee roasters now who have actually fresh and excellent coffee.

[Hyperion]

I never go there, overpriced underwhelming products.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

It's not exactly Seattle--with a Starbucks on each corner of a 4-way intersection--yet around here but it's getting to that point. I realize their profit margins are quite large because of the hefty markup but I wonder how long this degree of expansion is sustainable.

I didn't use to mind but the most recent ones have taken the place of restaurants that I liked so it became personal, heh.

[Hyperion]

My wife doesn't like Starbucks either. And with me not caring for them and their overpriced coffee, we just don't go.

There's a lot of them around here and they seem to always be full of people.

I get my coffee from out of the country where it's grown. So much cheaper and good. I use a Bunn machine here at home to brew it. I only drink one or two cups a day anyway. When I have to leave home for my office in the city and I don't have time to make coffee, I will use the Keurig machine at work. Stuff is awful. There's 20 different kinds and it all tastes exactly the same, like that Folgers instant coffee, blech!

[R C Dean]

I use one of these to brew:

http://www.moccamaster.com/us/.....ed-silver/

Pricey, but dead simple and thus utterly bullet-proof and delivers excellent coffee.

[Hyperion]

Do they make a smaller version of that?

[R C Dean]

They make a one-cup at a time version:

http://www.moccamaster.com/us/.....ed-silver/

[Zeb]

They are not automatic or simple to use, but I think that this is the best kind of coffee maker.

[R C Dean]

I've heard that about vacuum brewers.

Not for me, though. I put my time and energy into roasting the beans. The last thing I need at 5 am is a technically challenging encounter with a bunch of glassware.

[John]

I don't think so either. The moment people hear him talk and realize he is a smart guy, that issue goes right out the window.

The other problem with the argument is that it makes the Democrats look elitist as hell. They won in 2012 in part by making Romney look like some out of touch rich guy. So now in 2016 they are going to run on a platform of "only people who went to an Ivy League Law school are fit to be President"? Really? In this economy, that is going to be their argument?

[BigT]

If the Walker campaign is smart they can turn this into a positive. He can say: "Are you saying that all those Americans who don't have college degrees are imbeciles? I went to college and then to the school of hard knocks, like so many successful Americans." etc.

[Libertarian]

My own anecdotal evidence is that people without degrees hold them in higher regard than those who have actually gone to college and received them.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I loathe Romney, but the propaganda war on him was mostly being damned for his virtues.

There were quite a lot of people convinced that Milquetoast Mitt, the Republican socialist from Massachusetts, was seriously going to make America turn into something from the pages of The Handmaid's Tale within 15 minutes of taking office.

Admittedly, it's not like they were going to be able to run on Obama's great achievements in office as the rationale to vote for him again.

[Warty]

My own anecdotal evidence is that people without degrees hold them in higher regard than those who have actually gone to college and received them.

Two kinds of people are give a shit about degrees: insecure people who desperately want to retain the status they feel their degrees give them, and insecure people who don't have degrees and are intimidated by them. Both kinds are incredibly tedious.

[John]

They thought that because Romney spent his time apologizing and trying to disprove the allegations rather than make his case. Had Romney just said "that is ridiculous" and went on calmly making his case, they wouldn't have thought that.

Romney and his campaign didn't understand that denying a charge gives it credibility. You can't win denying and trying to disprove the Democratic attacks. It just makes the public think there must be something to them. It also puts the debate on your ground. Even if Romney had won the debate and proven to the country he wasn't what the Democrats claim, what would that have gotten him? He still would not have shown why he should be President. He should have ignored all that bullshit and gone after Obama and made his case.