Hillary Clinton Press Conference a Big Mess, Ireland Temporarily Legalizes Ecstasy, N.Y. Keeps Ban on Ferrets: P.M. Links

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  Credit: generalroy / photo on flickr

  Hillary Clinton is having a press conference to allegedly discuss the scandal of her using a personal email address for all of her correspondence as Secretary of State. She, however, chose the United Nations as her venue for her press conference, which has lots of rules for credentialing journalists, turning the whole affair into a big mess. Here's a liveblog of the event. (Short version: She says she didn't do anything wrong.)

• A court ruling about how drug laws are crafted in Ireland has temporarily legalized possession of ecstasy and some other drugs in the country until new laws can be passed in an emergency session.
• The University of Oklahoma has expelled two students over racist chants sung by fraternity SAE, claiming they created a "hostile educational environment."
• President Barack Obama said Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin legislators "will weaken, rather than strengthen workers" with its new right-to-work law that forbids private workers from being forced to join unions and pay dues. Walker responded that the president should look at Wisconsin as an example of how to improve the economy.
• New York City's ban on ferrets as pets will remain.
• Two helicopters collided over Argentina, killing 10 people, including three French sports stars.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hillary Clinton is having a press conference to allegedly discuss the scandal...

Only a Clinton could deflect a scandal with a presidencial candidacy announcement.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

I watched Hilary as I pumped some iron. She can't even lie properly. Nothing she said made sense or passed the sniff test.

And she still has the charisma of a paper clip.

[Rich]

Pretty much this.

And we all know we can trust Rufus's objectivity in such matters.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Fucken-a.

[Pro Libertate]

I seriously do not get why people think she's even going to get the nomination. She's a profoundly awful politician, with a shit resume reflecting a record of venality and incompetence. And she's been a misstep/scandal a week for many months now. Not to mention that she projects a very unpleasant personality.

[Sevo]

Pro Libertate|3.10.15 @ 4:40PM|#
"I seriously do not get why people think she's even going to get the nomination."

I do:
1) Fuaxcahantus
2) Joe Biden
3) Shrillery

[Tonio]

Who else they got? Warren couldn't win the general election, and they know that.

At least Hillary wouldn't wreck the economy, but she would get us involved in some costly wars.

[Rich]

At least Hillary wouldn't wreck the economy,

given it's already FUBAR?

[Pro Libertate]

They've got fifty million other people in their party that could run, almost everyone of whom we'd have more appeal than this awful, awful person.

Really, there are a number of Democrats who could (and very likely will) run. We're falling into the trap of letting the media define who is "presidential" and who isn't. The fact is that a lot of them are holding back due to the current circus and the country voting heavily GOP in the last election. But they're politicians and can smell the blood in the water.

[BigT]

Andrew Cuomo could run and win.

[Ted S.]

Until Preet Bharara indicts him, too.

[robc]

Random D governor.

[The Last American Hero]

She has a law degree, name recognition and a vagina. Oh yeah, and a metric fuck ton of wealthy domestic and foreign donors to fund her campaign.

[BuSab Agent]

Don't forget her snuke.

[Tonio]

Both of them do.

[Furburguesa]

Uh, because she has a vagina, duh

[Slammer]

Vote The Vag 2016

[Ted S.]

Hillary Clinton is having a press conference to allegedly discuss the scandal...

I'm reminded of when PJ O'Rourke was being interviewed by Sam Donaldson at the beginning of the Lewinsky scandal and Donaldson kept using the word "alleged", to which PJ finally replied, "Yes, we must only allege that there is an age difference between Clinton and Lewinsky."

[Injun, as in from India]

Politico's headline says: Hillary Clinton: I used private email account for 'convenience'

Who the f*** wants to deal with running their own email server for convenience? Seriously?

Should I use GMail and Outlook or run my own email infrastructure at home for "convenience". What utter hogwash.

[Brett L]

It is convenient because she can misplace any emails That would portray her in a poor light.

[Furburguesa]

And take foreign donations for the CF

[Pro Libertate]

This is correct. What could be more convenient than being able to delete all of the incriminating communications you might send? She's got us there, I have to admit.

[JW]

Plausible deniability is the essence of convenience.

The truth can be a pesky thing.

[Sodomy, Amigos and Erve]

DISASTER: Hillary said she emailed with Bill, but spokesman claims he only has sent two in his life -- both while president

Bill Clinton doesn't use email.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Hillary Clinton said the server that housed her emails while she was secretary of state (that was reportedly housed at her home in New York) was set up for President Bill Clinton. She also said that some of the "personal" emails she deleted were between her and her husband.

But just before Hillary began the press conference at the United Nations building, the Wall Street Journal reported that Bill Clinton does not use email.

"The former president, who does regularly use Twitter, has sent a grand total of two emails during his entire life, both as president, says Matt McKenna, his spokesman," WSJ reported. "After leaving office, Mr. Clinton established his own domain that staff use ? @presidentclinton.com. But Mr. Clinton still doesn't use email himself, Mr. McKenna said."

http://www.washingtonexaminer......e/2561325#!

Toast.

[Scarecrow Repair]

She didn't set up the mail server herself nor maintain it. She hired a peon for that. Her inconvenience was limited to writing a paltry check and she probably whined about that until the peasant got the drift and did it for free.

[Injun, as in from India]

And take a look at the Newsweek headline: Why Hillary Clinton's "Emailgate" Is a Fake Scandal

Remember, kids. Only Faux News is the biased outlet which spews sh1t for the unwashed masses.

[Raven Nation]

Maybe Newsweek has just to go into self-parody to attract readers.

I did read some of the article. Anyone who works for the feds know if the author is correct about the following?

She even cites a place to look, section 1236.22b. With all those numbers and letters, and the information coming out of a document as dull as the Federal Register, the story must be true, right...here is what the section actually says:

"Agencies that allow employees to send and receive official electronic mail messages using a system not operated by the agency must ensure that federal records sent or received on such systems are preserved in the appropriate agency recordkeeping system."

Catch the problem? The regulation itself, through its opening words, "specifically designates that employees of certain agencies are allowed to use non-federal email systems." And one of those agencies just happened to be?drumroll please.? The State Department. In other words, not only was the use of a personal email account not a violation of the rules, it was specifically allowed by the rules.

[Jerry on the sea]

Send and receive. But where do they get stored?

[Injun, as in from India]

More on the FAKE SCANDAL meme, from FiveThirtyEight.com

Democrats See The Media As Biased Against Clinton

[Pro Libertate]

Holy shit, how can anyone say that with a straight face? The media won't even mention that other people are running for the nomination!

[BigT]

Didn't Newsweek go bankrupt? Surprised they still exist.

[Juice]

Now let's look at the real scandal?the one in journalism that's been exposed by this whole episode.

The real scandal is reporting on it!

[Fist of Etiquette]

New York City's ban on ferrets as pets will remain.

They should ban subway rats.

[Tonio]

Ferrets could help with that.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

Subway Ferrets might be a good band name.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

New York City's ban on ferrets as pets will remain.

Too much sugar.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The University of Oklahoma has expelled two students over racist chants sung by fraternity SAE...

Well that's not a very inclusive and welcoming attitude.

[Rich]

"Swing low, sweet chariot ...."

[Carl ?s the level]

Who can we blame for Ferguson PD milking citizens for cash?

Reason, DUH!

As I wrote last year, the blueprint for Ferguson's "offender-funded" criminal justice system was first proposed by one of the men most responsible for creating the modern libertarian movement and taking it to local granular municipal politics: Reason magazine's Robert Poole. Poole ran Reason magazine in the 1970s?a time when Reason ran overtly racist articles defending South Africa's white-supremacist apartheid rule, and ran a special issue in 1976 promoting "the who's who of early American Holocaust deniers" in the words of Holocaust expert Deborah Lipstadt.

At the same time, Poole worked for a DARPA spinoff in Santa Barbara tasked with studying privatizing local government. Why the Pentagon would pay Americans to study privatizing American cities is something that has yet to be answered, but in any event, in 1978, Poole used whatever knowledge he gained working for DARPA to set up (with Koch money) the Reason Foundation: The first American organization dedicated solely to privatizing local government.

FWIW, Ames does quote Poole as writing "Make the users (i.e., the criminals) pay the costs, wherever possible." But it's Mark Ames, who I wouldn't trust to tell me the sky is blue. I tried to find an online copy of the book for context and justification, but couldn't.

[Tonio]

Kochtopus? Check.
Accusations of historical racism? Check
Holocaust denialism for the daily double!

Why, it's almost as if they want to construct strawman, dated versions of libertarianism, rather than discuss the libertarianism of here and now...

[Heroic Mulatto]

Who can we blame for Mark Ames impregnating a minor and then threatening her with murder if she carried the child to term?

[tarran]

Duh! It was Reason Magazine and it's support for free-range kids!

[Heroic Mulatto]

You got me there.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

HM, in case you didn't see it, the answer to your question the other day was 'yes'.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I see. Considering you still have French peacekeepers lining up to bone child prostitutes while stationed in their former colonies of Mali and Mauritania, that was some chutzpah.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

What can you say?

They're French. They have different logic sequences.

[Irish]

I don't know how forcing people to pay for policing through fines is 'privatization.' I was under the impression that privatization meant people choosing to pay for something, but Mark Ames appears to be operating under different definitions than we mere humans.

[Brett L]

I didn't realize the Reason Foundation was solely dedicated to privatizing government. I thought it was more about advocating for Mexicans, drugs, and ass-sex from cushy offices in LA.

[Pro Libertate]

You left out whorin'.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

That's just part of the benefits package of working there.

As an intern, you get to be the whore.

[Pro Libertate]

I meant advocating the profession.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

Me too, that's why they advertise for interns on the site.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Wednesday is *your* turn in the barrel!"

[Carl ?s the level]

I was under the impression that privatization meant people choosing to pay for something

Not really. Privatization, as used in the context of city/county/state services, conventionally refers broadly to private parties performing services usually assumed to be provisioned by the government. In context, the term doesn't say anything about who is paying for the services, or how, or why.

It would be nice if there were separate words for "garbage services that are 'privatized' in that they are performed by a private company under contract with the city" and "garbage services that are 'privatized' in that they are performed by a private companies for people who actually want their trash taken and with no involvement from the city", but if there are (I have not read much "privatization literature" for a while), they are not widely used.

I don't know how forcing people to pay for policing through fines is 'privatization.'

Yes, Ames is playing a parlor trick where he's taking one suggestion out of Poole's book and equating it to privatization as a whole.

[Irish]

I'm also pretty sure that the Ferguson Police Department isn't privatized anyway, so this is an instance where someone is being brutalized by a traditional state authority and Ames is claiming it's privatization because he's an idiot.

[Juice]

Robert Poole

Who?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Walker responded that the president should look at Wisconsin as an example of how to improve the economy.

Burn.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Hillary Clinton is having a press conference to allegedly discuss the scandal of her using a personal email address for all of her correspondence as Secretary of State. She, however, chose the United Nations as her venue for her press conference, which has lots of rules for credentialing journalists, turning the whole affair into a big mess. Here's a liveblog of the event. (Short version: She says she didn't do anything wrong.)

The unbiased, tough-nosed reporters at Politico said Hillary displayed the "the poise and clarity of a mid-campaign politician," so it must be true.

[Injun, as in from India]

(Short version: She says she didn't do anything wrong.)

I did not have sex with that woman?

[Jerry on the sea]

"I did not have classified information on that private server."

[Ted S.]

I certainly didn't have sex with Hillary.

[Tonio]

Well, Injun, there are rumors to that effect frequently posted here.

[Pro Libertate]

You gotta think that if she were really bisexual, she'd use that for this election. I mean, shit's looking grim for her, and this is definitely the last chance she has. Heck, knowing the Clintons, if she is totally heterosexual, I'm surprised she hasn't lied about her bisexual nature or something.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Bill just needs to pull a Jenner. You know, for the team. And I think he has an old dress that probably would fit him now that he's slimmed down...

[Sevo]

What is the meaning of "did"?

[Rich]

Politico said Hillary displayed the "the poise and clarity of a mid-campaign politician."

Spot on.

[Citizen Nothing]

Bad day for ferrets. Good day for weasels.

[Injun, as in from India]

By weasels, did you mean NYC politicians?

If yes, why are you insulting weasels?

[Tonio]

Well done.

[HeteroPatriarch]

What about ferrets under 16 ounces?

[Injun, as in from India]

You can have a ferret under 16 ounces, as long as you starve it an keep its weight under 7 ounces.

If it's over 7 ounces, it will qualify as an assault ferret.

We'll call it the NY SAFE FERRET Act.

[MJGreen]

Don't joke about that. Assault ferrets can bite off your johnson.

[Citizen Nothing]

Keeping an aquatic...mammal...in the city limits --that ain't legal either.

[BigT]

You otter get rid of it.

[Riven]

Nobody needs an assault ferret, MJGreen...

[MJGreen]

I'm glad you went with "assault ferret" for the joke, and not "johnson."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Liberal logic:

http://i.imgur.com/aOWowQO.jpg

[Injun, as in from India]

Also remember, GWB was a C student and therefore sucked.

But you don't have a right to find out what grades Obama got.

[Carl ?s the level]

Could they make the branding on that a bit more overbearing? Sheesh.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A court ruling about how drug laws are crafted in Ireland has temporarily legalized possession of ecstasy and some other drugs in the country until new laws can be passed in an emergency session.

But first, how about a pint or two, lads?

[Robert]

Seriously, though, read the story & see how in this respect Ireland has greater checks on administrative authority over people than some countries (such as the USA) do.

[HeteroPatriarch]

First "surrender" joke in 3...

[Slammer]

NYC should get it over with and ban EVERYTHING.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ban your tired, poor huddled masses.

[Carl ?s the level]

Metal singer to run for legislator [in Taiwan]

Heavy metal band Chthonic's lead vocalist, Freddy Lim (???), also a founding member of the New Power Party (NPP), yesterday said that he planned to run in next year's legislative election.

Leader of PRC's National People's Congress: Hong Kong protests show that students may need "patriotic education"

[Rich]

New York City's ban on ferrets as pets will remain.

I trust it's still OK to own them as this is a link: athletic equipment.

[Bam!]

Following a brief resurgence in popularity during the 1970s, it has been described as a "dying sport"

And now we know why.

[Sodomy, Amigos and Erve]

"Is that a ferret in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

[Raven Nation]

That's illegal in Springfield.

[Robert]

When a friend let a ferret go in my vicinity, it crawled up inside my pants leg. They seem to love that sort of thing.

[MJGreen]

A court ruling about how drug laws are crafted in Ireland has temporarily legalized possession of ecstasy and some other drugs in the country until new laws can be passed in an emergency session.

IT'S AN EMERGENCY!! PEOPLE ARE HAVING! (with something other than alcohol)

[MJGreen]

...Uh, People are having fun.

I'm going to blame the preview button. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Irish]

Popehat explains Bo.

".@thelegalartist QED: people who feel the need to put "Esq." after their names are the LAST ones you should trust for legal advice."

[MJGreen]

The only reason to add "Esquire" is if you're being introduced by a 1920s radio announcer.

[RBS]

Or if you are traveling back to 1988 San Dimas.

[Pro Libertate]

Most excellent riposte, dude.

[RBS]

There's a joke about how you adding it yourself makes you an asshole.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

That is not what makes Bo an asshole. It is quite possible that the correlation works the other way.

[Heroic Mulatto]

AVOIDING FALSE?PERCEPTIONS

The issue of professional designation becomes particularly tricky for lawyers working in fields outside the law.

The concern is that the use of designations like J.D., Esq., lawyer or attorney at law will create a false perception that the lawyer is providing legal services or acting in her capacity as a lawyer in the other job?which may inadvertently create a lawyer-client relationship. And depending on the lawyer's status with the bar, the lawyer in that relationship also may be in violation of the state's UPL rules.

ABA Model Rule 5.7 (Responsibilities Regarding Law-Related Services) defines law-related services as those "not prohibited as unauthorized practice of law when provided by a nonlawyer." Some examples include title insurance, financial planning, accounting and real estate counseling.

...

But the injudicious use of designations such as Esq., lawyer or attorney at law may trigger application of the legal ethics rules because their use suggests that the lawyer is holding herself out as a legal practitioner even in a field outside the practice of law.

That rule can hold true even for lawyers on inactive status, as one Utah lawyer learned the hard way.

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

So, we all have an attorney-client relationship with Bo?

Maybe he can give some advice on financial planning?

[RBS]

No, he's practicing law without a license.

[Tonio]

Now that's a link!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Go big or go home. YOLO!

[JW]

So. Much. Orange....

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

There are exceptions.

M. de Saint ?vremond ?@Evremond 7m7 minutes ago
@Popehat WHOA. Please exclude Bill S. Preston Esquire from the broad brush with which you paint.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hm. Always though 'Esq' meant you owned a watch.

[Pro Libertate]

No. It means you hold the saddle for your lord while he sodomizes a local farm girl. Avert your eyes, damn you!

[John Titor]

It's especially weird to Commonwealth scum such as myself, where it's used purely as douchy aristocratic social/political superiority signalling.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Now that sounds like Bo

[mnarayan]

I've been saving this, but I guess I'll just drop it here.

[Slammer]

Brad Sanders
?@bradmsanders

@iowahawkblog Funny. When the government wants others's email they just come and physically take the entire server then sort it out later.

[Pro Libertate]

Indeed. We have an aristocracy of venal morons that we've allowed to take root. High time we got rid of their special privileges.

[Rich]

The man is a National Treasure.

[Pro Libertate]

He used to comment here every once in a while. Until the coarse discourse of socon christfag libertarians drove him away. Or not. I don't really know.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Actually, you're thinking of Mike Rowe.

[Pro Libertate]

I was talking about iowahawk. Here's one thread.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Then we can dig it!

[Pro Libertate]

Who's the cat that won't cop out
When there's danger all about?

[MJGreen]

I did get a big chuckle out of:

She's saving us from exposure to Bill's dick pix #thewomanisasaint

[Irish]

I saw the one of the dumbest things on twitter today (I know...I know).

Some leftist was mocking the Volokh Conspiracy because they said 'you're not allowed to expel a student for racist speech' and then they were expelled for racist speech. The leftist was basically saying 'LOL look how dumb these people are!'

Of course, what Volokh was saying was that it's illegal and wouldn't stand up in court. Since lawsuits have yet to be filed or resolved, Volokh's point stands.

[Heroic Mulatto]

L'?tat, c'est David Boren.

[Apatheist ?_??]

This whole racist frat thing would be solved if the government got out of the business of education. As is often the case with any school controversy.

[Juice]

How would that solve this particular thing?

[bassjoe]

How exactly would this have been different (or "solved") if this happened at, say, Rice U instead of U of Oklahoma? Other than for the fact the expulsions likely couldn't be challenged (unless they blatantly violated the contract between the students and university)?

[trshmnster the terrible]

If you think that private universities constitute "the government being out of higher education" then I have a few hundred billion dollars of student loans to sell you.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Well the government getting out of education includes the funding. As a Rice alumnus I would have no problem with the university expelling these idiots and there would be no first amendment issue. Of course Rice doesn't have frats in the first place.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

A new low: Charlie Hebdo's murdered staff receive an 'Islamophobe of the Year' award

Although I am assured that the laughter at the IHRC's 'ceremony' in London on Saturday was as raucous as ever, this weekend the IHRC gave their international 'Islamophobe of the Year' award to the left-wing French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. This might be thought laughable in any other circumstances. The IHRC, one should remember, is a registered British charity. But of course it is not very funny, because only two months ago another group of people who thought Charlie Hebdo is 'Islamophobic' went into the magazine's offices and gunned down their journalists and cartoonists. This is the way the pattern works now ? the Islamic terrorists break through the front door with Kalashnikovs and then a whole network of fellow travellers try to sneak in through the back door and explain why the cartoonists and journalists might have had it coming.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, it looks like the "fears" of the staff of Charlie Hebdo concerning Islam were justified, no?

[Pro Libertate]

Ye gods. These guys were murdered by some evil fucks, and someone is talking about them being the aggressors? Nothing they said or did even slightly justifies killing them. Holy shit.

[John Titor]

*Cuts to footage of John Titor in suit and tie in audience, looks up upset and tears up program when Charlie Hebdo's name is announced*

Damn you! I'll be back next year with a whole mountain of Hadith quotes and a dozen more plugs of Timur Kuran's work!

[CatoTheElder]

It seems to me that history proves that Charlie Hebdo staff were quite rational in being phobic of Islamic types.

[End Child Unemployment]

ATF announces they are backing down from the proposed framework that would have banned M855 ammunition, commonly used in AR-15s and many other rifles.

This is pretty neat: letters from the judiciary committees of the Senate and House of Representatives giving the ATF what for on the proposed framework.

Senate Judiciary Committee

House Judiciary Committee

[Alton Knutson]

The phrase "giving ---- what for", did the Greaseman originate that or is it older?

[Bam!]

Clippy had more charisma than Hillary.

[Tonio]

That Windows thing from a few versions back?

[expat]

It looks like you are making a comment....

[Pro Libertate]

I believe the correct term is "unforced error."

[grrizzly]

Shit, I should have ordered it yesterday on amazon.

[Irish]

Man, Iowahawk is always amazing.

"In the core lunatic organs of the left (e.g. Counterpunch) Borlaug is reviled as the father of "Frankenfoods." See, because he supported genetic engineering and the use of insecticides, herbicides, inorganic fertilizers, etc. In the dystopian fantasies of the hard left, secret untold millions are dying from undiagnosed cancers caused by evil Dr Borlaug mad science wheat."

"Right on cue, here come the "slow acting poison" brigade. From the linked article in the commenter's post:

"Taken as a whole, these indicators fairly clearly suggest an overall decline in the quality-- and probably in the length-- of human life associated with the adoption of agriculture."

Got that? Human quality of life, and lifespan, has decreased since the PALEOLITHIC AGE. Because of AGRICULTURE.

Nicely summing up the weltanschauung of the hard left's anti-science idiots."

[Bobarian (hyphenated-american)]

"Unsportsmanlike conduct - taunting an opponent"?

[Dweebston]

Okay, this man deserves the Reason Medal of Honor.

It's stamped from flattened beer bottle caps (the sharp edges aren't ground down, pussy), emblazoned with The Jacket, and embossed the words FREE MINDS FREE MARKETS OR GTFO.

[The Bearded Hobbit]

Plus "Fuck off, slaver"

... Hobbit