Ted Cruz Running for President, DOD 'Looking Into' ISIS Hit List, Flashing Blue Light in Russia: A.M. Links

• 

  YouTube

  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is announcing his candidacy for president at Liberty University this morning.

• The Department of Defense is "looking into" a post made online by a group calling itself the "Islamic State Hacking Division" purporting to be a list of U.S. military service members selected for targeting by ISIS.
• Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) characterized President Obama's comments about Benjamin Netanyahu's commitment to a two state solution—the prime minister promised no Palestinian state under his watch shortly before last week's elections and then walked the statement back after being re-elected—as  "temper tantrum" the president ought to get over.
• President Obama's bracket gets busted and a player from NC State, which defeated #1 Villanova, ripped the president for it.
• The United Nations warns that Yemen, whose capital has been taken over by rebel forces that have expanded their control across the country, is at the "edge of civil war."
• Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, died of pneumonia this weekend, aged 91.
• A mysterious blue flash of light was reported and caught on video near Stavropol, a city in southern Russia.

Follow Reason on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. You can also get the top stories mailed to you—sign up here.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is announcing his candidacy for president at Liberty University this morning.

First a Kenyan, now a Canadian!

[UnCivilServant]

Well, if you're going to outsource executive functions, at least go with somebody nearby.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

You best politely practice your 'ehs'.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Agrippina the Younger died on this day.

Must I INFORM you people of everything?

http://www.historyorb.com/today/deaths.php

[Ptah-Hotep]

Tsar Paul I of Russia (1796-1801) is struck with a sword, strangled, and trampled to death in his bedroom at St. Michael's Castle aged 46

I thought Catherine was crazy one?

[The Last American Hero]

It was a wrong door no knock raid. I've heard that the knights all went home safely to their families that night.

[Ptah-Hotep]

*good trample*

*smooches*

[Mr. Soul]

Are you sure you're not thinking of David Carradine?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Or Bob Crane?

[Rich]

Isn't he *Cuban*-Canadian?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Don't be racist.

[Rich]

I heard he's a crypto-Muslim, too.

[Lady Bertrum]

So, A white-Canadian?

[Col. R C Dean]

I believe the accepted nomenclature is "cis-Canuck".

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hey.

Maybe I can run for President?

First order of business, subsidize poutine and all sports networks must carry 20% curling content.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Hmmm. I am with you on the pouting, but not the curling - make that 40% hockey, and I'll vote for ya.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

*poutine*

[Rufus J. Firefly]

/licks tip of plume. Writes 'Swiss Servator' down on pad.

[Steve G]

I am with you on the pouting

Swiss and Rufus haz a sad...

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Too many narrowed gazes.

[KDN]

Force the NFL to switch to Canadian rules in order to maintain their non-profit status.

[qurenica]

I make up to $90 an hour working from my home. My story is that I quit working at Walmart to work online and with a little effort I easily bring in around $40h to $86h? Someone was good to me by sharing this link with me, so now i am hoping i could help someone else out there by sharing this link... Try it, you won't regret it!......
http://www.work-cash.com

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Obama's bracket gets busted and a player from NC State, which defeated #1 Villanova, ripped the president for it.

Good thing he doesn't get paid, or else he'd be in for a helluva audit.

[Rich]

Good thing the Secret Service is so wasted, or else he'd be in for a helluva visit.

[sarcasmic]

'I'm not paying $50k so I can't sleep at night': Empire star says not sending her son to USC because campus cops stopped him for having his hands in his pockets

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....filed.html
Meh

[Juice]

So she's choosing Howard over USC? Retarded. I'd be profiled every day if I didn't have to go to Howard. It's the worst.

[sarcasmic]

Hidden in the depths of the Argentine jungle, secret Nazi bolthole for fleeing war criminals
Site found in Teyu Cuare provincial park, in Misiones, northern Argentina
Group of stone structures still hold piles of German coins from late 1930s
'Made in Germany' crockery, and Nazi insignia is scrawled across the walls

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

[gaijin]

secret Nazi bolthole

Just beggin to be misread

[Rich]

as a nice band name.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You have to pay the troll toll in Mefo bills.

[Slammer]

"Nazis. I hate these guys."

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

I hate Illinois South American Nazis!

[Libertarian]

You know who else had a secret hideout?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

The Dread Pirate Roberts?

[gaijin]

Al Capone?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

WE FOUND IT!

http://kcchronicle.com/2014/09.....d/ah1lji8/

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

WE FOUND IT!

http://kcchronicle.com/2014/09.....d/ah1lji8/

[UnCivilServant]

Prepare to be doubly disappointed.

[gaijin]

hah! I was disappointed that Geraldo Rivera was not one of the investors.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

+1 vault

[Rich]

Hillary Clinton?

[Slammer]

Batman?

[sarcasmic]

bin Laden?

[Restoras, OWG and RWNJ]

Warty?

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Sex Dungeon

[Rich]

Jimmy Hoffa?

[WTF]

STEVE SMITH?

[trshmnster the terrible]

STEVE SMITH NO NEED HIDEOUT!!! STEVE SMITH BORN THIS WAY!!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Anyone with the name Hussein.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Butch and Sundance?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

+1 dynamite

[Cdr Lytton]

Charlie Rangel?

[sarcasmic]

'Anybody that doesn't arm themselves is asking for trouble': Army veteran, 84, fends off a robber by whipping out his handgun
Doug Jandebeur, 84, was attacked leaving his business in Tulsa, Oklahoma
A robber had been waiting for him, punching Jandebeur in the face
However the thief was scared off when Jandebeur produced his gun
The suspect remains at large and still managed to get Jandebeur's wallet

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

[Steve G]

+1 bitter cranky clinger

[Matrix]

I'm sure the real victim, the so-called robber, just wanted money to buy food. The old man is the real villain, and should be sent for reeducation.

/progtard

[sarcasmic]

Self defense is vigilante justice!

[thom]

Think about how traumatic it must have been to have a gun aimed at him? There's a reason why you're supposed to call the police to handle these things.

[Col. R C Dean]

Indeed. The cops, err, resolve your trauma in short order.

[BigT]

Preoccupation with global warming is harming real environmental efforts.

5) Matt Ridley: Here's How To Bring Our Oceans Back To Life
The Times, 23 March 2015

Ignore the eco doom-mongers obsessed with climate change: over-fishing is the real threat to marine diversity

The decision to create the world's largest marine reserve around Pitcairn Islands seems to have taken campaigners by surprise. Environmentalists and celebrities had been pushing for this reserve and others in British overseas territories (around Ascension Island and the South Sandwich Islands) but their startled pleasure at George Osborne's announcement in the budget implies that they had not expected to win anything.

You can see why. The government's progress in creating marine conservation zones around the British coast has been grudging. Despite being under an international obligation, it has designated only 50 of 127 zones recommended by experts. Worse, the MCZs are not much more than paper preserves: with little enforcement, some fishing still allowed, but budgets galore for landlubber bureaucrats to send memos to each other.

[BigT]

(Aritcle is behind a paywall)

The difference may be that the Pitcairn islanders don't get to vote in the general election. Marine protection annoys a few fishermen disproportionately more than it pleases a lot of nature lovers. But there are four reasons why protected zones in the sea should be far and away the top priority in conservation right now: they are desperately needed; they work; the alternatives don't; and the technology to police them is coming.

On terra firma, I am a conservation optimist. As the world gets more productive, we can (and do) reduce the amont of land we need for food, fuel and fibre, which takes the pressure off wilderness so that we can start to re-green the continents and bring back species from the brink of extinction. In the sea, by contrast, things are still getting horribly worse. What works best on land is to align incentives with conservation. Problems remain where there is free access to a common resource, like bushmeat in African forests.

And that's how we treat the sea: as a free-for-all, with inevitable tragedies for the common good. Stock after stock has been or is being driven to extinction by gold-rush fisheries: Newfoundland cod, North Sea herring, California abalone, Chesapeake menhaden, bluefin tuna, Black Sea sturgeon, Caribbean grouper. Passing laws to ban over-fishing just isn't working, because it's a political process susceptible to lobbying, or because of pirates and poachers.

[BigT]

At sea we are behaving as our African ancestors did on arrival in Eurasia and later in the Americas and Australia: we slaughter our way through the biggest animals first, then shift down the food chain to the next, then down to the next and so on. On land we wiped out the mammoths and sabre-tooths first, then bison, gazelles and rabbits and by the end were left eating grass seeds. In the sea, it was the same and in many areas we are now down to the prawns and shellfish. No other predator has the flexibility to do this "fishing down the food chain", which is what makes our species so lethal.

Just as on land, there is growing evidence from around the world, especially Iceland and New Zealand, that the best way to get fishermen to cherish rather than punish fish stocks is to set up transferable quotas under which they can own, buy or sell the right to a percentage of a total catch set by the government. That turns them into conservationists trying to maximise the overall catch. But politicians have proved reluctant to follow this route, so political control, and political failure, continue to be the story of fisheries.

[BigT]

Fishing has been by far the dominant factor spoiling the oceans. This came out clearly in The Unnatural History of the Sea, a fine book by Callum Roberts, a University of York marine biologist. Professor Roberts looked up the accounts of what each sea was like when pristine: encrusted with reefs of coral and shellfish, boiling with vast shoals of fish, attended by sharks, dolphins, seals, whales and turtles. We no longer even know just what a pristine marine ecosystem looks like, he argues, so we settle for dismal second best when saying that fisheries have "recovered" ? by which we mean moderate shoals of smaller, less desirable fish in an impoverished ocean.

We tolerate the utter devastation of the seabed by nets and dredges, increasingly assisted by powerful engines, synthetic materials, sonar and electronics. Seabeds could be a veritable aquarium of reefs of water-cleansing shellfish and corals, even in the North Sea, instead of a waste of silt and rubble. We would not drag nets through forests.

Over-fishing has been more important than pollution, which ? with the exception of plastic litter in some places and nitrogenous dead zones in others ? has mostly done less harm. Over-fishing has far more impact than climate change or ocean acidification. Indeed, the relentless focus by the "green blob" of environmental lobbyists on the latter has sucked attention and funds from the over-fishing issue.

[BigT]

For example, National Geographic recently examined the plight of Iceland's puffins, kittiwakes and arctic terns, which have failed to breed well for many years for lack of fish to feed their young ? like those of Shetland and Norway, too. It blamed global warming and mercury pollution; it did not even mention over-fishing. Yet this makes no sense: the puffins, kittiwakes and arctic terns of the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast are thriving at the southern, warm limit of their range, and closest to industry, but where sandeels are not exploited. The climate obsession has not served the conservation movement well: it has been a red herring.

We know that marine reserves work: examples from New Zealand, Florida, Chile and elsewhere show dramatic results. A scallop no-take reserve in Lamlash Bay off the Isle of Arran has increased the number and size of scallops inside the reserve and nearby. At Cabo Pulmo on the Mexican coast, where a no-fishing reserve was established in 1995, there has been an explosion in the number of fish, including an eleven-fold increase in large predators such as groupers and sharks: it's a glimpse of what oceans could look like.

It is not too late. The restoration of the oceans can happen. Most populations of great whales ? blues, sperm, humpback, fin, right, bowhead ? are now growing by up to 8 per cent a year. Antarctic penguins and seals are rebuilding their populations.

[BigT]

It is surely not beyond the wit of man to find ways to do the same for bluefin tuna, albatross, sharks, halibut and giant cod. In the days of satellites, it should be possible to insist that every fishing boat has a transponder fitted so it can be tracked. Maybe the green blob could use some of its vast budget on such things

Sorry for the long quote - the article is behind a paywall and I thought it worth a read.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I think Mr. Burns had the best idea yet when he sucked the life out of the ocean.

[KDN]

Just as on land, there is growing evidence from around the world, especially Iceland and New Zealand, that the best way to get fishermen to cherish rather than punish fish stocks is to set up transferable quotas under which they can own, buy or sell the right to a percentage of a total catch set by the government.

It's an improvement but is fundamentally the same idea as what he says doesn't work:

Passing laws to ban over-fishing just isn't working, because it's a political process susceptible to lobbying, or because of pirates and poachers.

I get what Ridley's going for and agree with the thrust of his argument. What we're doing to fish stocks is horrifying. But there has to be a more sensible and less easily circumvented policy to rectify the situation.

[Dweebston]

Privatizi--ahem, why not lease--uh, excuse me, would you quit laughing for a moment?

[John]

This is the point that Bjorn Lumberg was run out of polite society for making. Even if you believe in the cult, there are worse and more pressing environmental issues that are being ignored because of the obsession with it.

[WTF]

I agree, and I love your typos. Lumberg.

[John]

Ah yeah, I am going to need you to drop that global warming project and take a look at this whole malaria thing. We are going to start Saturday at 8 am, okay?

[CatoTheElder]

It's not just CAGW alarmism causes other, genuine environmental issues to be ignored. It's worse than that: CAGW alarmism demands that society take actions that make the real environment worse. For example:

Bio-fuels cause increased acreage for corn and soy beans needed to produce fuel, which reduces habitat, and causes more fertilizer and crop protection chemical run-off into waterways and oceans.
Solar takes vast areas of real estate, which further reduces habitat.
Wind farms kill birds by the thousands. If a petroleum refinery killed as many birds as a small wind farm, it would be shut down faster than you could say "EPA".
Carbon capture and storage is less obvious, but maybe worst of all. From the outset, CCS cuts efficiency of power generation by 35-40% (i.e., power generation efficiency drops from about 40% to about 25%) which means more fossil fuels must be combusted to get the same quantity of electricity. And, of course, that means more SOx, NOx, mercury, and particulate emissions (i.e., real pollution) to produce the same quantity of net electricity. From then on, the future energy requirements for CCS are theoretically infiinite because the CO2 storage reservoir must be maintained in perpetuity.

[sarcasmic]

The moment thirsty 'Ned Kelly' kangaroo gets his head stuck in a watering can and has to be saved by two men with a rope and tin cutters
Kangaroo got its head caught in tin can at Coffin Bay in South Australia
Two men found the roo in a paddock next to a golf course on Saturday
They were pictured tying a rope around can and pulling its tail to set it free
Kangaroo was freed after several attempts and hopped away quickly

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

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

ifh haz missing pet?

[Cdr Lytton]

So they tied me kangeroo down?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

A mysterious blue flash of light was reported and caught on video near Stavropol, a city in southern Russia.

Pro L'? Auric? Anything to tell us, hmmm?

[Fist of Etiquette]

In Russia, Kmart flash you. Or something like that.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

In Russia, Special Blue Lights you!

[Slammer]

Blue lights

[Rich]

Thanks, Slammer! Now I feel like getting lost in the ozone again!

[Lord Humungus]

Attention shoppers, Blue Light Special in the vodka aisle.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

*stampede*

[SugarFree]

You are the bluest light.

[Pro Libertate]

All I have to say is that declining oil prices doesn't free you from your legal and moral obligations to make your premium payments.

[Auric Demonocles]

Those responsible know (or more accurately, knew) what they did.

[sarcasmic]

Return of the woolly mammoth: Scientists take giant step towards recreating extinct beast after inserting 14 genes into elephants
Scientists study structure of DNA from mammoths preserved in Arctic
Exact copies of 14 of animal's genes integrated into elephant genome
New method 'Crispr' helps researchers make accurate changes to DNA

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....hants.html
Just over the horizon...

[UnCivilServant]

Pleistecene Park?

[sarcasmic]

Here saber-tooth kitty, kitty, kitty...

[Charles Easterly]

He was smiled-on.

[Tonio]

+1 Really Big Hairball

[sarcasmic]

Climate change will make food TASTE bad: Global warming will lead to tougher meat and flavourless carrots, study claims
Report by University of Melbourne warns that many foods are under threat
It says that heatwaves will cause livestock like cattle to suffer heat stress
Beef and pork likely to become tougher while chicken will become stringer
Onions and beetroot crops are likely to produce smaller sized vegetables
Carrots will lose their distinctive flavour and take on an unpleasant texture
Milk yields can decrease by 10-25 per cent during heat waves, report warns
Protein levels in milk may also fall meaning cheese will decline in quality

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....worse.html
Climate change. Is there nothing it cannot do?

[UnCivilServant]

So dipshit thinks that farmers won't adjust their crops or treatment of livestock based on prevailing conditions?

[gaijin]

Climate change. Is there nothing it cannot do?

Conform to computer models of climate?

[sarcasmic]

Look! Just because the models are always wrong, that past climate change does not conform to any models, and they have failed to make any accurate predictions, doesn't mean they're like actually wrong! I mean, climate scientists are like experts and stuff! Are you claiming to be smarter than the experts? They're... experts!

[WTF]

What are you gonna believe, the experts, or actual data? Oh, wait.....

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

If you were a real expert, you'd knowwhich data to cherry pick and which data to ignore, and you'd see that climate change is real!

SCIENCE!!!

[WTF]

This is what 'Tony' actually believes.

[mad libertarian guy]

They have that covered already:

Since 2000, the Earth's average surface temperature has increased by 0.06? C; a fraction of what was predicted by the IPCC during the 1990s. This apparent plateau has been used as ammunition by climate deniers who accuse scientists of over-inflating results from climate models. Marotzke and Forster's new paper analyzes the methodologies of climate models, revealing no inherent flaws in the models, even when they don't match observations. They also conclude that this century's slight increase in surface temperature, which deniers are labeling as a "pause," is actually due to natural climate fluctuations. Many other metrics, including ocean temperature, show that the climate is indeed changing.

Even when the science says they're wrong, they're not wrong.

[John]

This is an example of how funding ruins science. If you are studying something like the growth patterns of vegetables, it might be hard to get funding. Take that subject and make it "how climate change affects the growth and taste of vegetables" and immediately you are eligible for all kinds of funding you were not before. And since those grants are given to find an effect, you also have a built in confirmation bias to find some new horror of climate change.

[Bill Dalasio]

If you are studying something like the growth patterns of vegetables, it might be hard to get funding.

My guess is yes and no. There's probably plenty of farmers and food companies that are happy to fund that sort of research. It's just that those guys are "hopelessly tainted" because they're doing privately funded research. So, the actual guys doing the actual research learn to shut up about the hacks doing this sort of crap science.

[Slammer]

Carrots taste like shit already.

[UnCivilServant]

You're supposed to wash them - that's the fertilizer.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

*narrows gaze, munches carrot*

[WTF]

"Ehhh, what's up, Doc?"

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Carrots are divine
You get a dozen for a dime
It is quite magic

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

^Worse than carrot cake

[Rasilio]

So that's how you can see through eyes that narrow

[Charles Easterly]

Now we understand.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

+ Vitamin A

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

With Beta Carotene!

[Redmanfms]

Climate change. Is there nothing it cannot do?

What is, make the Earth warmer?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Correct! And that wraps up the first round of Jeopardy.

[Raven Nation]

Climate change. Is there nothing it cannot do?

Apparently not:

http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm

[Brett L]

The Health Police, haters of anyone enjoying the taste of food, celebrated.

[kilroy]

Cofounder of Greenpeace: Why I am a Climate Change Skeptic

[sarcasmic]

Mother, 55, who turned to younger men after her husband walked out loses two stone having sex with TOYBOYS... but she only sees them twice so they don't get attached
Gaynor Evans, 55, meets younger men on nights out with her daughters
Says sex with toyboys has helped her drop two dress sizes
Now she's an online agony aunt for a toyboy dating website

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/fem.....YBOYS.html
John wishes he was younger...

[Redmanfms]

Her daughter Laura looks pretty good.

Also, who is this person?

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

A random person who the Daily Mail is inexplicably writing about because the Daily Mail is a shady tabloid w/ no standards.

[sarcasmic]

the Daily Mail is a shady tabloid w/ no standards

Which is why I like it.

[Rhywun]

And I guess "toyboy" is the Queen's English for "boytoy". Or maybe just their usual dubious facility for the language.

[DJF]

Somebody needs to teach the English how to speak English. Where is Professor Henry Higgins when you need him?

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Higgins was really Robin Masters.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Twenty-something dudes will stick it in anything. It's a wonder there aren't more women like her.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Isn't that what a "cougar" is supposed to be?

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Cougars are supposed to be attractive.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I think MILFs are supposed to be attractive. Cougars are just women who bang or prefer to bang younger dudes.

[Tonio]

MILF refers to someone who the speaker finds attractive; cougar refers to the observed behavior of an older woman actively seeking younger men.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Then I guess she failed...

[Redmanfms]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is announcing his candidacy for president at Liberty University this morning.

What the fuck is that asstard thinking?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Someone is looking to outsantorum Santorum.

[Tonio]

Either he's delusional, or knows he can't win and is just in the race to keep candidates from moving too far from socon-approved positions during the primary. I wonder how many more crushing defeats it will take before the party realizes the socons are an albatross around their neck.

[Pro Libertate]

About the same as it took for the Democrats to realize that flaming socialists are a bad thing.

[Tonio]

Yeah, but should Warren get the nomination she might coast to the White House on the women vote, and that will be taken as a mandate for progressivism. That is why she's more dangerous than Cruz or Huckabee.

[Pro Libertate]

I don't think anyone that openly socialist can win. Not yet, anyway. Even Obama made noises like he was some sort of moderate. And I doubt any conservative or moderate woman is voting for Warren unless that vote is for her exile to Nunavut.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Locking up the socon donations early.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

I never did understand the heavy expenditure on politics by those more concerned with other-than-Caesar things. Take that politics money and give it to the local food pantry or homeless shelter. My $ sure isn't going to any politician, voluntarily.

[Stormy Dragon]

I still regret giving $100 to Ron Paul in the 2012 election cycle every time I check my e-mail.

[Stormy Dragon]

Sorry, 2008 cycle (it's been 7 years already?)

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I unfortunately know exactly what you mean.

[Bee Tagger]

President Obama's bracket gets busted and a player from NC State, which defeated #1 Villanova, ripped the president for it.

Are we sure? Has the Truth Team checked into the scores from the weekend yet?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Attack Watch! is going after said player as we speak.

[Mr. Soul]

At least Obama did better with his bracket than Ambassador Chris Stevens.

[Bee Tagger]

as "temper tantrum" the president ought to get over.

Mavericks tantrum their tempers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A mysterious blue flash of light was reported and caught on video near Stavropol, a city in southern Russia.

It looked more like a white and gold flash of light.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

-1 dress

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Jeb Bush loves executive power:

http://news.yahoo.com/florida-.....ction.html

[Elspeth Flashman]

A Texas lawyer once jailed for making an obscene gesture in court is back in the news after appearing to take credit for posting "exclusively for white people" stickers on the windows of businesses in east Austin.

In two YouTube videos laced with F-bombs, lawyer Adam Reposa appears shirtless while talking about gentrification and "white hipsters."

Article here http://www.abajournal.com/news.....store_wind

[John]

Say what you want about national socialism, but at least they hate hipsters.

[Redmanfms]

Read the article. Dude's a hipster.

[John]

Then why is he ranting about "white hipsters" if he is one? He is part of the problem isn't he?

[Redmanfms]

Read the article.

[Xeones]

Absolutely NOBODY hates hipsters more than a hipster.

Hipsters hated hipsters before hating hipsters was cool.

[John]

I guess that makes sense. The entire ethos is based on "I did that before it was cool". Pathetic.

[Mickey Rat]

Who else is an SJW in Austin supposed to protest against?

[Brett L]

To be fair, protohipsters exactly like rhis guy were roaming Austin 20 years ago when I lived there.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

"protohipsters" - I like that. Would he be the Ur-Hipster? Or now just a crypto-hipster?

[Dweebston]

Paleohipsters hating on cosmohipsters.

[CatoTheElder]

This is just another variant of "Keep Austin Weird".

[Pro Libertate]

That guy does great commercials.

[Redmanfms]

Douchebag watches too much Shameless.

Also, that beard, whiteness, and preoccupation with poverty chic pegs him as a dipshit hipster.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

http://www.worldometers.info/

In case you need, er, good info. for your first date.

[Elspeth Flashman]

As in, hey baby, let's make that total grow?

[WTF]

Except they believe stupid shit like we are going to run out of oil in 39 years.

[KDN]

A friend of mine began teaching AP Econ this year. He shows them a Stossel video (IIRC) on the subject, explaining how price influences proved reserve calculations, specifically citing Alberta tar sands as an example. Following the video he asks the class what they thought of the argument; the first response (which was entirely agreed with) was, "nobody has ever told us that we're not about to run out of oil."

[Bill Dalasio]

That's why, in a way, I feel bad for kids today. This is an AP Econ class you're talking about. And it's the first exposure any of them got to basic resource economics.

[trshmnster the terrible]

My first "official" exposure to the concepts of supply and demand were in AP Econ, and I went to a very high quality public school. We were literally required one semester of economics and one semester of civics (US Gov) to graduate.

How fucked up is that? What's more important, deriving the theme of 19th century American poetry (7 required semesters of english and literature) or why the founders gave the states their own house of congress (2 weeks in AP US Gov, 2 hours in 5th grade revolutionary war history)? What's more important, anti-smoking propaganda (2 days every year from 5th grade to 12th), or personal finance/budgeting (4 hours at a "resource center" in 6th grade)?

Public schooling is a jobs program for english majors, social workers, and glorified babysitters.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

One of the things that particularly stuck with me was just how much of the English education was ridiculously formulaic idiocy that never applied to my life again after getting out of school--the five-paragraph essay with the three-pronged thesis statement stuff that I did over and over and over again comes immediately to mind.

History classes spent so much time on the sex life of Henry VIII and similar topics that 20th century US history was quite sparse and almost literally not covered at all after the 1960s.

That's not even getting into the environmentalist propaganda (if we don't go along with the Kyoto protocol we're doomed, dooooooomed) that's even worse nowadays.

Homeschool or private school, folks.

[CatoTheElder]

It could be worse. Back in the 70s, Jimmy Carter said his experts thought it was going to happen in 15 years. It is settled science that the world is going to run out of oil in 15-40 years, and it will ever be so.

[Bee Tagger]

A mysterious blue flash of light was reported and caught on video near Stavropol, a city in southern Russia.

Kmart has finally made inroads into Russia, I see.

[Raven Nation]

Since it's not doing so well here...

[Rufus J. Firefly]

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

Molyneux on education.

Another brick in the wall.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I'm A Submissive, Christian Wife And My Marriage Is Blazin' Hot
.
Let me clarify that when I say "submission" in regards to sexual intimacy, I am not talking about a wife automatically doing whatever her husband wants sexually, especially if what he wants flies in the face of what the Bible commands. For example, if your husband wants to have a threesome or wants you to view pornography, this would be adulterous, which certainly is outside the bounds of God's design for sex.

If, on the other hand, your husband simply wants to try a new position or add some variety, I urge you to not instantly say "no" without some legitimate discussion and prayer.
.
Oh yeah, it's so hot to pray about doggy style.

[John]

Wives putting out for their husbands is the key to a successful marriage. Who could have seen that coming?

[Slammer]

Swiss, can we get an eye narrow here?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

*narrows gaze*

[Certified Public Asskicker]

How often is sexy time interrupted with a quick prayer?

[John]

If the sex is freaky enough, what difference would it make?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Go on...

[SugarFree]

"Oh, God! Oh, God!" counts as a prayer, right?

[Rasilio]

Does screaming "Oh God" count?

[Chupacabra]

"Please God, make her do anal!"

[WTF]

"Please God, make her do the Pele of anal!"

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

If it gets her to "yes"...

[Certified Public Asskicker]

I mean, I already prayed dear, and God gave me two thumbs up!

[Rich]

I urge you to not instantly say "no" without some legitimate discussion and prayer.

I take it mutual grunting and "Oh, God, oh, Jesus!" don't count?
.

[Rich]

But "Dammit, SugarFree!" counts as a curse.

[straffinrun]

Holy Father, full of grace
May I sit on his nose
And fart in his face?

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Oh yeah, it's so hot to pray about doggy style.

If you're doing it right, she's praying while she's receiving.

/TIW...

[John]

Assuming that the ISIS hit list is what it seems to be, how is that an act of war? Looks that way to me. And if it is, how can the US government justify not responding in kind? Does every country or group get a free act of war against the US now?

[Redmanfms]

How is a hit list an act of war?

We have/had hit lists John.

[John]

If targeting a country's military for attack isn't an act of war, what is?

[Redmanfms]

If targeting a country's military for attack isn't an act of war, what is?

It's not. Full stop, end of discussion.

Feel free to bloviate ad nauseum and call me Bo-Bo because I think your "point" is fucking moronic.

[John]

So I am an organization that has followers all over the world. I produce a list of military members' names and addresses and instruct my followers to go and kill them. And that is not "targeting the military"? If the US put out a hit list of Iranian nuclear scientists with instructions on how any enterprising Iranian could murder them, that wouldn't be an act of war? I am pretty sure it would be and I have no doubt the people on here would rightfully be outraged by the US effectively declaring war on Iran.

And is screaming "BO" now the new way to not respond to an argument someone doesn't like but can't refute?

[Redmanfms]

And is screaming "BO" now the new way to not respond to an argument someone doesn't like but can't refute?

I don't know Johnny you resort to it PDQ when people don't bow to your infallible logic, you did it to me twice last week.

And your argument is stupid John. We had target lists and agents in the Soviet Union. It's not an act of war unless somebody actually acts on it.

But yeah John, let's spend another couple decades playing whack-a-mole in the Middle East because some dipshit claiming ISIS membership with an internet connection posted a hit list...

[John]

If your argument is "sure it is an act of war but let it go", then make it. I don't agree with that but it is not an unreasonable point. Don't call me Bo for pointing out that it is an act of war. It certainly is.

[Redmanfms]

If your argument is "sure it is an act of war but let it go", then make it

FFS John, my argument is that it isn't an act of war in the first place, and I goddamn well made it in my first response.

Don't call me Bo for pointing out that it is an act of war.

I didn't call you Bo John, learn to read.

It certainly is.

So sayeth John, knower of all things, disagree only ye of ignorance and folly.

It certainly isn't. See, I can play the declaration game too.

[KDN]

Publishing a list of prominent Iranian clerics we would like to die is not an act of war. If some confused civilian goes to Najaf and attempts to kill one in his country's name, it's still not an act of war unless the US government gave him material support in his mission.

If and when ISIS starts actively supporting the maniacs looking to assassinate these folks, that will be an act of war.

[John]

If and when ISIS starts actively supporting the maniacs looking to assassinate these folks, that will be an act of war.

I am pretty sure they are doing that. Moreover, even if they are not it because they haven't gotten the opportunity yet. If you were in Iraq right now and had a US VISA and went to ISIS and said "I want to go to America and kill these people", ISIS would almost certainly help you get a plane ticket or any other assistance you need.

[Fluffy]

Publishing a list of prominent Iranian clerics we would like to die is not an act of war.

Publishing such a list and adding text to the effect of "All US military personnel immediately begin taking action to kill these people as of Monday at 9:00 AM," would be, though.

[Redmanfms]

Publishing such a list and adding text to the effect of "All US military personnel immediately begin taking action to kill these people as of Monday at 9:00 AM," would be, though.

Serious question: How do we know the person or persons who posted the list and made the "declaration" is even affiliated with ISIS?

Assuming they are (and we grant that its a "declaration" [I don't]), then what?

Another decade long round of whack-a-mole?

[Redmanfms]

Serious question: How do we know the person or persons who posted the list and made the "declaration" is even affiliated with ISIS?

Assuming they are (and we grant that its a "declaration" [I don't]), then what?

Another decade long round of whack-a-mole?

Well John?

[Fluffy]

I am not pro-intervention by any means.

But on the purely technical question at hand here, announcing you intend to kill military personnel is certainly an act of war.

Heck, it's a full-blown declaration of war.

ISIS has declared a caliphate and claims to be a state. (Well, not a state exactly, since they place the caliphate beyond mere borders and states, but as a practical matter they are effectively a state.) When a state says, "Starting today we are going to try to kill your military personnel at the following locations!" that's pretty much a textbook DoW.

[Col. R C Dean]

If targeting a country's military for attack isn't an act of war, what is?

Actually attacking is an act of war.

Planning to attack isn't.

Somewhere in between is a place where preparing for an attack amounts to an act of war justifying pre-emption. The cleanest example is the run-up to the Six-Day War.

[VG Zaytsev]

Assuming that the ISIS hit list is what it seems to be, how is that (not) an act of war?

Duh, because it hasn't embaraced Obama.

The only thing that counts as an act of war is making Obama look bad.

[Steve G]

+1 Deck of Cards

[John]

Good analogy. I am pretty sure that was an act of war against Saddam.

[Steve G]

I was just joking, but are you serious about this being some important trigger? We're putting warheads on ISIS foreheads due to any number of offenses to including beheadings, etc, ....but a 'hit list', well that's the last straw let's get those boots on the ground!!

[John]

I am dead serious. Asymmetric warfare is still warfare. If it turns out that ISIS agents or sympathizers start murdering members of the US military, that is an act of war. I don't see how it is not.

[Steve G]

So a threat of force against military in particular is more an act of war than an actual beheading of an AMCIT (Foley)? It seems to me your threshold has already been crossed.

[John]

I agree. Killing American citizens was an act of war too. These guys are waging war against us. Just because they haven't managed to do much damage, yet, doesn't mean they are not waging war.

[Cdr Lytton]

If it turns out that ISIS agents or sympathizers start murdering members of the US military, that is an act of war.

This is dying for a joke about going to war against the Red Army Faction, Revolutionary Cells, Red Brigades, and the like.

[Pro Libertate]

To be fair, ISIS is a very primitive organization, with poor PR management and almost nothing in the way of brand consultants. If they'd called their "Hit List" a "Disposition Matrix" instead, it would clearly not be an act of war.

[Ptah-Hotep]

And if it is, how can the US government justify not responding in kind? Does every country or group get a free act of war against the US now?

John, the US is already bombing ISIS, so the fact that they issued a hit list is really irrelevant as to whether we are in a war with them. We are.

http://www.military.com/daily-.....hters.html

[John]

This is true. That is a good point. Given ISIS' actions, I don't see how you can call our bombing them, anything but legal self defense.

[Ptah-Hotep]

I don't see how you can call our bombing them, anything but legal self defense.

They killed the first American in response to the US bombing them. They could claim self-defense as well.

http://politicalmunchie.com/20.....l-another/

The US should stay out of it. But arguing about what constitutes a declaration of war at this point is ridiculous.

[John]

But they were kidnapping Americans before we ever bombed. They had kidnapped ans where holding James Foley for ransom since 2012. Sure, they killed him after we bombed. That doesn't make that killing in self defense. Kidnapping Americans is an act of war too.

Why is it so hard for you guys to admit these people are crazy and want to attack us? You guys forever just can't admit that. There is always an excuse about how we are at fault and they will leave us alone if we just are obsequious enough. Sorry, but some people are just assholes and don't care how nice we are too them.

[Homple]

"Why is it so hard for you guys to admit these people are crazy and want to attack us?"

Accepting that would legitimize pressing for serious military operations, which are team red war boners and we can't have those because Israel, John McCain or something.

[Ptah-Hotep]

Why is it so hard for you guys to admit these people are crazy and want to attack us?

I never said they were not. I agree these are some nasty crazy bastards and will kill every American they can get their hands on. Happy. But arguing whether a hit-list is an act of war is idiotic when you look at the other events going on.

There is always an excuse about how we are at fault and they will leave us alone if we just are obsequious enough.

I simply answered your self-defence claim, not excusing them for anything. But you probably knew that.

[Redmanfms]

Why is it so hard for you guys to admit these people are crazy and want to attack us?

Ugh. The only people (person?) actually saying shit like that is Richman, who is a 'tard, and gets soundly lambasted by many people other than you for being a 'tard when he posts 'tarded shit.

You guys forever just can't admit that. There is always an excuse about how we are at fault and they will leave us alone if we just are obsequious enough.

Fuck you John, now you are just outright LYING.

I guess since we're playing the "make ridiculous collective accusations because a couple people don't agree with me on this one tangential point" game we can throw you in with the warmongering psychopath chickenhawk Cytotoxic.

[CatoTheElder]

"Why is it so hard for you guys to admit these people are crazy and want to attack us?"

Because less than two years ago, Obama and McCain said it would be a swell idea to arm pretty much the same bunch of scoundrels to overthrow Assad.

US Middle East policy is in such shambles that the best thing it could do would be to get the hell out of there. Well, the same could be said about US foreign policy in general.

Maybe tell Turkey to shut up, and arm the Kurds. But other than that, nothing.

[Mickey Rat]

What was the historical standard for a political entity issuing letters of marque?

[Rich]

More cash-strapped Americans turn to tax refund advances

Currently, refund anticipation checks and prepaid cards make up 10 percent of industry giant H&R Block's revenue and more than 20 percent of Liberty Tax Service's, according to earnings reports.

*** snort ***

And to think some say the tax code is "broken".

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Liberty Tax - filing 1040EZs for non-English speakers of the Chicago suburbs for many years now. They have the temps in the Statue of Liberty (non-weeping version) outfits dancing outside the strip malls their offices are in.

[UnCivilServant]

I always feel sorry for the schlub in the costume when I drive past one. You can see the soul-deadened "I weht to school for this?" look in their eyes as the harsh light of reality and the chill of a New York Spring gets through to them.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Around here, they are rather enthusiastic - they can $12-$13/hr and it is usually someone who is rather delighted to find out they can get paid for doing just that?!?!

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

That is a rather good description, UCS - you can tell you are an author.

[UnCivilServant]

Thanks, that's probably the first time I've been complemented on the composition of an internet comment.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

I could just see the look of despair on the B.A. - Puppetry guy as he waved the sign saying "Verizon Phone Store Sale!"

[Rhywun]

I read that as "strip club" for some reason.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Well, they do have people dancing in costume...

[Somalian Road Corporation]

I managed to really piss off a friend of a friend who complained about getting smaller tax return than usual when I said that it was best to not give Uncle Sam a large interest-free loan. Normally when I say that it's the kind of thing that people will agree with for the moment and then forget promptly because they have a hard time understanding the concept of "return" so I was somewhat taken aback.

[Rasilio]

Was your friend perhaps one of the many whose total tax withholding for the year amounted to less than $2000 but still got a tax return that exceeded $4000 because of refundable tax credits?

In that case he didn't really make all that much of an interest free loan did he?

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

This is what you call 'investing'.

[JW]

it was best to not give Uncle Sam a large interest-free loan.

Agree 100%

Unfortunately, even with minimum dedications on our W4, meaning the maximum tax is withheld, we still end up owing about $2K every year to the Feds. How in the fuck can they not know how much tax we should be paying? It's their own fucking system.

[Emmerson Biggins]

What's "Interest" ?

I think I read about that from the 1930's or something, but I still don't totally get it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Now I'm curious about this "cute emergency" business.

[JW]

OK, good. I'm no the only one confused by that.

[Ghetto Slovak Goatherder]

So maybe Bush told Ted Cruz to run to steal the Libertarian/Conservative vote from Rand Paul and in exchange Bush promised Cruz the VP.

[Pro Libertate]

Ugh, plausible.

[Ghetto Slovak Goatherder]

*HOUSE OF CARDS SPOILERS*

This is the plot of season 3 House of Cards. 😛

[Crusty Juggler]

Is there another Meacham sandwich???????

[Ghetto Slovak Goatherder]

Naw don't think so (still have 2 episodes left) but he does hold hands with his young dashing biographer.

[Crusty Juggler]

Yes, I know, I finished the season already. I did not like it nearly as much as I did the previous two.

[Juice]

What libertarian is going to vote for Ted Cruz?

[Crusty Juggler]

The racist, heartless ones (all of them).

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

But...but...that is all of us!

*adjust monocle, thrashes orphan*

[Lord Humungus]

Listen up, frat boys: You are not Jon Stewart
Just kidding! It's the defense of every idiot frat dude and insane right-wing pundit. Trouble is, you're not funny

How did the frat respond? Did they apologize? Did they recognize that they had behaved like jerks, or even criminals? No. In fact, they laughed the whole thing off as just a satirical joke. Or at least that is what one anonymous member did when he spoke to Philly Mag about the scandal.

First he explained that what happened was no big deal and that, in fact, everyone does it. Turns out, though, that claiming that everyone is a sexist asshole doesn't make you less of one. But then he frosted the cake by saying it wasn't just a no-big-deal part of everyday culture; it was satire: "It was a satirical group. It wasn't malicious whatsoever. It wasn't intended to hurt anyone. It wasn't intended to demean anyone. It was an entirely satirical group and it was funny to some extent."

Dropping the "satire" bomb immediately put this scandal into a larger context, one we have seen building steam for some time now, where outrageous comments and behavior are justified by saying that they are just satire

[Mickey Rat]

OK, they are not funny. How does that make them not Jon Stewart?

[Eorl Restoras, Esq.]

I see Botroll continues with his strategy of avoiding the daytime - like a good troll hiding under his bridge.

Those that insist on engaging him - you do know that it'll never argue honestly and never concede any point that doesn't conform to its rigid interpretation of libertarianism, so maybe pursue a strategy to rid this board of its presence?

Just sayin'.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I see. Bo is a troll but Team Red idiots like John and Mike M are not.

[Xeones]

BUUUUUUTTTPLUUUUUUUGGG

[WTF]

Dreams are a great thing, but you know something? They take a lot of energy. But that's OK. There's a job waiting for you down the block from your house that doesn't require a thought in your head or a hope in your heart. So come on down and work for the artificial flower factory. Why fight it? OK? Thank you.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

Don't mind me; I'm just in a bit of a foul mood today because Matt Yglesias didn't put his dick in our butt this weekend.

[Crusty Juggler]

Bullshit! This man cannot achieve an erection.

[Rasilio]

Of course he can't, Matty's dick is a strap on

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I glanced at the Bat-tard post this weekend and said to myself "Nope, not interested in Bo's appeals to perceptions and appearances, got better things to do like clean the toilets."

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

Or yank the hair clog out of my bathtub drain...

[Lord Humungus]

The NFL is morally reprehensible: As players walk away from brutality, fans must do the same
A star linebacker steps away from the NFL, citing its lethal violence. When will fans do the same soul searching?

After suffering a concussion last pre-season, he spent months researching the neurological effects of the game. He read books and spoke to doctors and researchers and even former players. He came to understand that the risk to his brain resided not just in how many concussions he might suffer, but also in the thousands of sub-concussive hits he was sure to sustain. And he was no doubt chilled by the NFL's admission?after years of denial and obfuscation?that nearly a third of all players will suffer long-term cognitive ailments .

To put this in more prosaic terms: the employee quit because he knew that his workplace was profoundly unsafe.

It's worth noting that, in the course of making his decision, Borland consulted with Dave Meggyesy, a linebacker who quit the NFL in 1969, arguing that football conditioned Americans to tolerate violence in other contexts, particularly the Vietnam War. Meggyesy, who wrote about his experience movingly in the memoir "Out of Their League," was the sport's first conscientious objector.

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

Never happen. There's been too much emotional investment in TEAM! over the past several decades.

Besides - if people can't identify with their local TEAM! they might start identifying with something worse...

[John]

They hate America and they hate masculinity. The NFL is a potent symbol of both. So, it of course must be destroyed. The fact that playing professional football is not any more dangerous than playing other professional sports and is in fact less dangerous than something like boxing or car racing, doesn't matter. It has been declared an enemy of the people and must be destroyed.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

They could just be patient and let the NFL destroy itself with games on 24/7, expanded playoffs, ever changing/confusing rules, fines for celebrations, etc.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah. Eventually that's what will happen.

It's bizarre that given the concussion issue the league is still talking about expanding to 18 games. Mind you, the CFL plays 18 games...but they could use the extra cash.

[KDN]

There's a ready-built trade-off for that: bump the play clock up to 45 - 50 secs. It should probably happen anyway with Chip Kelly attempting to murder every player involved with Eagles games.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

So instead of 12 minutes of actual play in a 60 minute game, there will be about 10?

[KDN]

Pretty much, but I don't think there would be a big effect on the quality of the product. The NFL has a shitload of garbage time as-is.

[Rasilio]

Not a problem.

You drop 2 preseason games (that everyone concedes are unnecessary and basically unwatchable) then add 3 weeks to the regular season so that each team plays 18 games in 20 weeks with 2 bye weeks scheduled so that no team plays more than 10 consecutive weeks without having a bye.

Next, each player on the roster (yes even including the QB) must be designated inactive for at least 1 game per season.

To compensate you expand the roster from 53 to 60 players and the active game day roster from 46 to 52.

Create an actual injured reserve system so that teams can sign/promote a player from the practice squad to replace an injured player without it meaning the injured player having to sit out the majority or all of the rest of the season.

End result it becomes easier for teams to sit injured players and while there are more games players get more time off to rest and will not be playing in appreciably more plays

[John]

I wouldn't get rid of the preseason games. They are unwatchable but they also give players a time to develop and teams an opportunity to evaluate them. Getting rid of preseason hurts the league's ability to develop and evaluate talent, which in turn lowers the quality of the games. I want to keep four preseason games for that reason. The owners just need to stop forcing season ticket holders to buy tickets for them just like regular season games.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

The fourth preseason game is the opportunity for people who will never play in the NFL to tell their grand-kids...

But it does none of those things you're talking about.

[John]

Yes they could. The NFL is the victim of its own success. It has gotten so succesful that it has the false idea that it will make money no matter how crap their product is. They are wrong in that. Eventually a crap product does catch up to you. And the NFL is getting close to that.

It amazes me the contempt they hold their customers. Take Thursday night games. It would be very easy to make every Thursday night game between two teams coming off a by week. Instead, they always have it between teams who just played on Sunday ensure a sloppy, horrible game. It is like they do it because it makes them happy to know they can.

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

I'd like to see the number of players on the field reduced to 9 a side. The game would be so much more wide open - like rugby 7s.

[John]

That would be too radical. I would reduce the number of regular season games to 14. The beauty of football is that there are so few games even the regular season ones are meaningful. They need to accentuate that not dilute it.

In order to keep the TV money rolling in, I would give teams three by weeks rather than one. That would keep the season the same length and the TV money the same. Giving the extra by weeks would reduce injuries and produce healthier teams and better played games.

The other thing I would do is ban the soccer style kick. The kickers have gotten too good. It is just too easy to make a field goal. And it would be hard to fix that by reducing the size of the uprights. Make them go back to kicking it old style head on. They physics of that would make kicking a risky option no matter how good your kicker was.

The last thing I would do is go back to allowing contact with receivers past five yards. They have ruined the balance of the game. You basically can't cover receivers anymore. So that means offensive success is based on having a good quarterback and not much else and defensive success is based on having a pass rush. Let DBs cover again and quarterbacks won't be so important and defenses will have a way to succeed besides just trying to kill the quarterback every play.

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

Agree my 9s idea it is probably too radical but it'd be cool, at least to me.

Good points overall.

[John]

Restoras,

You would turn it into a more open passing game and I would go back to the grind it out running game. I think passing is boring. I love the running game but am in the minority on that.

[Robert]

I like the running game too.

I would have forward passes stay live after the ball hit the ground, but if the offense recovers, it's still incomplete; they'd still have to go for the ball to prevent the opponents from recovering. An incomplete pass would make the next spot the spot of the pass rather than the previous spot. Intentional grounding would thus be abolished.

However, I would make a ball trapped between the front of a player's body from the waist up & the ground (or a goal post or corner pylon) a catch. I would also rule a catch with the player in the air, regardless of where he returned to the ground, as long as he didn't touch out of bounds before touching the ball. If he landed out of bounds w the ball, the dead ball spot would be where the loose ball crossed the sideline.

I'd also go back to the Federation rule allowing any number of forward passes per scrimmage down. The pass would have to originate from in or behind the neutral zone, and, as in the NFL currently, it would not be allowed after the ball had gone past the neutral zone, even if brought or passed back behind it.

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

John,

You are right - but the more I watch football the more I find the running game more interesting. There is so much going on with the offensive line that it seems to me that is where the game is won/lost. I would certainly like to see more camera focus on the offensive line and more focus on it in commentary.

[Robert]

There is so much going on with the offensive line that it seems to me that is where the game is won/lost.

& frequently neglected when coaching children. A lot of technique & subtlety can be taught there, but many children's coaches are just like, "Block somebody!"

[hamilton]

I think it's hard to ban a specific kicking style. I do like the idea of narrowing the uprights to compensate for good kickers. And maybe raise the crossbar a couple of feet also.

I'd keep the number of games the same but move the trading deadline back; it is way, way too early right now for anything interesting like baseball has.

No spot foul for PI.

[John]

Hamilton, it would not be hard to legislate out the soccer style kick. You just make a rule that says that the entire front of the kicker's shoe must touch the football for a field goal to be counted. You can't kick soccer style and also have the whole front of your shoe touch the ball. Requiring that would require the kicker to kick straight on old style, which is a much less effective way to kick a ball.

[Robert]

It wouldn't be any harder to define a place kick as requiring contact with the toe than it would be to differentiate between a place kick, drop kick, punt, or flying kick. Not that I'm advocating such a change, just that it wouldn't be too hard for officials to see.

For PI, I'd actually increase the penalty. Spot + 10 yards, possession to non-offending side. (Yes, that means loss of ball for OPI, because depriving opponent of opp'ty to intercept.) Not only that, but if the spot of a DPI foul was more than 10 yds. behind where the ball came down, make where the ball touched the ground, player, or official, or went out of bounds, the spot for the accepted penalty. Pretty much like obstruction of an opponent after a kick in rugby. And if the spot's beyond the goal line, automatic TD.

[Robert]

I'd also abolish mandatory uniform numbering of eligible receivers. However, I would require the ends to ID themselves by the momentary raising of a hand when they assume the position after a shift or huddle, or after another player's shift or motion leaves them on the end of the line.

I'd allow pyramiding to receive a pass too. The ball would be dead on the catch, though.

[Robert]

I'd allow blocking eligible receivers beyond the neutral zone before the ball is thrown, but I'd restrict use of hands in blocking to less than it is now, but more than it used to be; too much to explain here right now. Receivers would not be allowed to be blocked unless they were either in front of the defender, or between the hash marks & moving toward the midline. And the contact against the potential receiver would have to originate at or above the waist & in front.

[Robert]

The hashes would be 15 yds. from the sidelines, which would be 55 yds. apart; that is, the field would be 5' wider. The end zones, however, would be only 5 yds. deep & the goal lines 110 yds. apart. Teams would be allowed to line up players for a play in the safety zone behind the end line. The ball would still be dead if a player possessed it while touching there, though.

If the ball became dead in a side zone, it would next be spotted on the midline (midway between sidelines).

[Robert]

I'd make a lot of changes in the kicking, scrimmage, & timing rules too. In fact there's no aspect of the game where I wouldn't make some changes, although many of them would be so subtle the avg. spectator might never notice them. Some of them, however, would be very noticeable if & when they came into play, and all would have an effect on play indirectly. And they couldn't be characterized as entirely tilting the game in a particular direction (rougher/gentler, offense/defense, running/passing, faster/slower, harder/easier to administer) either, although there'd surely be some net changes. The biggest net change would probably be a noticeable speeding up of the game, for instance by abolishing the try for 1 or 2 points & abolishing regular season OT.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Robert has put a lot of thought into this.

[Robert]

If I ever get a chance to start an actually $-making minor league, that's where the thought will pay off. I think the time is right for a cheap league that actually puts people in the seats, gets them out of the seats fast (no real-time telecasts, so no commercial time out), appeals to the lovers of the game more than of the spectacle, and is approachable & "human-scaled", a la Kirkpatrick Sale. Minor league non-farm baseball in recent time shows it's possible.

"80% of the quality of NFL play at 20% of the price."

[BigT]

You can reduce the field goals by moving the hash marks back to where they were back in the 60's. Having a tough angle makes long - and very short - kicks much harder. It also creates a wide and narrow side of the field which makes the game more interesting for both running and passing.

Helmets and shoulder pads need to be re-designed to be more elastic, so collisions are not as damaging. You might lose some of the 'pop' noise, but it would reduce concussions.

And reduce the pre-season to one game.

[trshmnster the terrible]

Helmets and shoulder pads need to be re-designed to be more elastic, so collisions are not as damaging.

This is actually a surprisingly bad idea. I forget who did the study (Bill Simpson sticks in my head), but the softer outer shell increases neck injuries, because the pads and helmets deform and grab on to one another, causing more of a yank on glancing blows.

[Robert]

I know that'd been speculated about, but wasn't aware the experiments had actually been done, thanks. Best then to just get rid of head & shoulder gear, then.

[Timon 19]

Rugby 7s is terrible. I cannot express how much I find it totally useless.

[Slammer]

They need to get rid of the PAT. It's a non -football play. No time is even run off of the clock. It's useless.

[Robert]

I agree. See http://users.bestweb.net/~robgood/football/try.txt , which I wrote during the 20th C. Just make the TD 7 points & kick off.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Thursday Night Games:

36-16 (should have been better being first game I suppose)
26-6
56-14
45-14
42-10
33-28 (Colts were up 24-0, so kudos to Texans)
35-21
28-10
24-3
22-9
24-20 (!)
19-3
41-28
12-6 (!)
21-13 (TN vs Jax)

[Crusty Juggler]

I just appreciate getting the chance to hear Mike Mayock talk constantly during a televised game. #eloquence (a word he cannot say).

[Rhywun]

They hate America and they hate masculinity.

There is that, and there is also the fact that the NFL greatly profits by downplaying the damage it causes to players. Sure the players profit greatly too - but would they profit so much if the public got turned off by what it was doing to them?

[John]

Most people have no idea the damage all professional sports does to its players. You pay a huge price later in life for maintaining an elite level of conditioning when you are young, or you can if you don't have just the right genes.

Moreover, people like violence and always have. Boxing, while not as popular as it once was, is still very popular despite boxers sometimes dying in the ring. Indeed, women's boxing has gotten popular mostly because it is just more violent. Women are not as skilled of boxers as men and thus just beat each other senseless as neither has the ability to avoid punches the way an elite male boxer can. And of course MMA, which is much more violent than boxing, has captured a large audience.

So, sorry, the idea that "no one would watch if they knew how violent it was" doesn't wash. People love violence and the NFL has become so big in no small part because they are good at selling violence.

[Rhywun]

People love violence and the NFL has become so big in no small part because they are good at selling violence.

"Good at selling violence" is another way of saying what I just said. And I think boxing is less popular than ever precisely because the public got a good look at what happens to so many of them down the road.

BTW I didn't say "no one would watch". I said fewer would.

[John]

And I think boxing is less popular than ever precisely because the public got a good look at what happens to so many of them down the road.

No boxing is less popular because people realized how often it was fixed and got tired of paying big money to see fights that lasted lest than a round. If it was objection to its violence that caused the decline, MMA, which is more violent than boxing, would not have become so popular. MMA stepped in and took the fans boxing had run off by expensive pay per view and corruption.

[Rhywun]

Admittedly, I could be injecting my own preferences into this. Me and my pal Pauline Kael don't know anybody who watches sports to get off on the violence.

I would be curious to understand, if this phenomenon is real, why is it confined to the US.

[Redmanfms]

I would be curious to understand, if this phenomenon is real, why is it confined to the US.

It isn't.

[Rhywun]

Yes, men like violence everywhere. I'm talking about the phenomenon of a very popular sport being celebrated for its violence. I guess rugby comes close.

[Redmanfms]

And I think boxing is less popular than ever precisely because the public got a good look at what happens to so many of them down the road.

I don't know about that.

It's MHO that UFC/MMA style competition, which is booming, has supplanted boxing because it is much more violent.

Do people really care what happens to retired-due-to-injury athletes? I really don't think so.

Of course, not being a sports fan or spending much time around sports fans (other than observing viewing trends) I can't say for sure and I could, of course, be completely wrong about it.

[John]

In fact REdmanfms, I think the risk of injury makes it more appealing to the public. People are down right nostalgic for the old days in car racing when three or four drivers died every year in F1. People love watching someone risk their lives and health and safety for glory. It is just human nature.

[trshmnster the terrible]

There's a fine line. People like the risk and danger, but they want a noble hero's death.

I read a book called Black Noon that told the story of the 1964 Indy 500, where Eddie Sachs was literally burned alive in front of thousands of spectators. It is generally considered to be one of the worst racing accidents since the 1954 Le Mans disaster, at least as far as affecting the public consciousness.

To hear the reaction to that incident, it's clear that the death isn't appealing, but the risk is.

[Robert]

MMA is not more violent than boxing, let alone much more, unless you've a different idea of violence from mine.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

If they could they'd have us all do the rhythmic ribbon routine at the Olympics.

[Brett L]

I think its great that someone decided that several million dollars -- probably 10M or more in this case -- wasn't worth his long term health. I hope he's using that brain to figure out how to live on substantially less and saved a pile of his rookie salary. Its gonna be a big step down to make $75k a year.

[WTF]

Exactly, he decided the money wasn't worth the risk to him. Others have decided the money they are making is worth the risk. So what?

[Raven Nation]

He's paying back 75% of his signing bonus (about $463k). Hope he's got a good accountant figuring out how to get back the taxes he paid on that.

[Rhywun]

The NFL is morally reprehensible

Why, yes it is - but not for any reason they would admit to. Since they wholeheartedly approve of taxes it's hard to see Salon going after the NFL for repeatedly holding taxpayers hostage.

[Robert]

OTOH, Meggyesy said rugby was fun. So go figure about the violence.

[John]

http://blog.simplejustice.us/2.....d-consent/

So the ATF has dropped all pretensions of being anything but an extortion racket. They now spend their time approaching people at airports, bullying them into consenting to a search of their bags and then taking any cash they find. Lest anyone think they are immune, the practice only came to light after they tried to shake down a black woman who also happened to be a government lawyer working at DOD and traveling on business.

If the country were ever enlightened enough to elect a black President, maybe federal law enforcement would stop targeting black people like this.

[Elspeth Flashman]

"If the country were ever enlightened enough to elect a black President, maybe federal law enforcement would stop targeting black people like this." /John

That would be the hope and change people were looking for, amiright?

[VG Zaytsev]

WTF??

Of course, people can avoid this by not carrying an significant amount of cash on them.

Funny how the progressives don't have any problem with the government stealing from people who prefer cash to credit cards - seem there'd be a lot of overlap with the ID free people that they worry so much about regarding voting rights.

[John]

Expecting people to have an ID is horrible oppression. Expecting them to have a credit card or risk having the government steal their money is just common sense.

Progs hate cash because they can't control it. They want to go to a cashless society because it would allow the government total control over people's transactions.

[Col. R C Dean]

Of course, people can avoid this by not carrying an significant amount of cash on them.

Indeed. Unquestioning and instant obedience to your masters is always the safest thing to do.

[Lord Humungus]

urgh... planning on a vacation, using cash that we had saved up. I prefer cash for many transactions, like going to the bar, since it is a built-in limiter on how much I can drink spend.

[John]

Just don't consent to the search. They can't do it unless you consent. And if they do it anyway, you will have a shitty day but get paid later from the civil rights suit.

[Lord Humungus]

thank goodness I'm traveling with my lawyer (wife).

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Traveler's checks. That way, you can report them stolen after the feds seize them.

[Rich]

Land speed record: British-built hybrid rocket car aims to be the fastest on Earth

Since it's *British*, this just might be your "flying car", guys.

[Brett L]

As long as they buy the electronics from another nation, it has a chance.

[Homple]

Lucas, God of Darkness.

[Lord Humungus]

These 'PlayPants' Give You Easy Access to Your Privates Because Apparently That's Necessary

Ever had the urge to grab your crotch but couldn't because you were in public and that's just weird? Well, these pants are for you!

There's a new pair of jeans in town and they're appropriately called "PlayPants," otherwise known as the Magic Access Jeans. This denim creation, made by Lithuanian designer Robert Kalinkin, is an "exceptional quality low-rise, drop-crotch double button fly jeans with completely unzippable front pockets," which means, yes, your dream of being able to easily access your privates has come true.

The idea originated with a Kickstarter campaign that has now gained enough money to make PlayPants a reality. According to the website, Kalinkin "found a hole in one of his old pairs of jeans?and realized it was a pretty convenient feature to have.

[Pro Libertate]

Ah, the kilt will soon be taking America by storm.

[Tonio]

"...because sheep can hear zippers."

[Pro Libertate]

"Dirty Deeds Done with Sheep."

[Lord Humungus]

World's First Commercially Available Flamethrower is Here

The XM42, made by Ion Productions, can launch flame to a distance of up to eight metres and is readily transportable, with no need for a backpack of fuel. Simply load up the refillable tank with regular, car-ready petrol and away you go.

Chris Bryars of Ion said, "We wanted to bring a device to the market that represents what a real flamethrower should be", while the blurb on the website says that it is a "fun device to enjoy with friends" and ideal for "clearing snow and ice, eliminating weeds, insect control, pyrotechnic event displays and bonfire starting".

Yes, yes that's exactly what people will be using it for.

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

Everyone better hurry up and get an order in before the banners rally to ban it.

[Rich]

Hmmmm....

The IndieGoGo campaign is pending approval by their "Trust & Safety" team. They have asked us to delay the launch to Tuesday, 3/24/2015 to provide time for them to deliberate.

[Rich]

ideal for pyrotechnic event displays

LOL

[Robert]

Hey, why not, if the fuel-air mix can be tuned to provide either a lot of light, or, for coloring the flame, very little? Flame projectors are used in some firework displays. Actually, so are fuel-air explosives, albeit not commercially (see lampare shells). Just about anything that fires & has military applications also has appl'ns to fireworks.

[gaijin]

The founding fathers meant a regulated militia...NOT FLAMETHROWERS! Thus, the fuel is hencforth banned for sale tothe public

/BATF

[Brett L]

"Hey y'all! Watch this!"

[Robert]

I'm imagining the aftermath as like that Bagge Reason cover, "I didn't know the bazooka was loaded!"

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I just got to get me one of those. Everyone will love me at the daycare.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

"Today we are going to play 'Dragon'"

[Lord Humungus]

Russia threatens to aim nuclear missiles at Denmark ships if it joins NATO shield

Russia threatened to aim nuclear missiles at Danish warships if Denmark joins NATO's missile defense system, in comments Copenhagen called unacceptable and NATO said would not contribute to peace.

Denmark said in August it would contribute radar capacity on some of its warships to the missile shield, which the Western alliance says is designed to protect members from missile launches from countries like Iran.

Moscow opposes the system, arguing that it could reduce the effectiveness of its own nuclear arsenal, leading to a new Cold War-style arms race.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

"Moscow opposes the system, arguing that it could reduce the effectiveness of its own nuclear arsenal, leading to a new Cold War-style arms race."

Look guys, we don't want to get into a new Cold War arms race. That's why we're pointing nuclear missiles at countries.

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, that threat pretty much says, "You guys better get under that shield, because there's no telling what we'll do."

[Stormy Dragon]

"aiming" nuclear missiles at someone is like threatening someone by adding them as a preset to your car's GPS. "You better do what I say! I can drive over there any time I want without spending 30 seconds to type your address in now!"

[Pro Libertate]

Yes, I'm thinking I'm viewing Russia as a threat, regardless of where they point their missiles, if I'm in Europe.

[Juice]

The missile shield aims missiles at Russia. They aim missiles back at where those missiles are.

[Pro Libertate]

Probably not going to point many missiles at places you'd like to own later that lack their own nukes.

[John]

The missile shield aims missiles at Russia.

No it doesn't. A missile shield is not an offensive weapon. The missile shield is not a threat. It only prevents Russia from being able to threaten eastern Europe with nuclear affiliation. In other words, the only reason Russia would have to care is because it plans to be aggressive. No peaceful nation should care if another nation builds a missile shield.

[Xeones]

"nuclear affiliation"

I love you, John, no homo.

[Lord Humungus]

Oil slips close to $55 as Saudi output rises to near record

Oil prices declined on Monday, holding near $55 a barrel after Saudi Arabia indicated it was now pumping near a record high of 10 million barrels per day, adding to concerns of global oversupply.

Saudi Arabia has stood firm on output, saying it would only consider cutting it if other producers outside OPEC also joined.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Concerns of global oversupply? Whose concerns? Cheap oil is certainly in my best interests.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Here we go. This might be one of the most clear examples of a dual justice system (one for the King's men/one for the proles) that I've seen in a while.

Yet the left still claims that pubsec unions are a great thing...

http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.2143564

[sarcasmic]

Did the officers go home safely to their families? That's the only thing that matters.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

It looks like they dd fly home to their families after that booze- and attempted rape-filled night of revelry with the rape victim they were supposed to go and interview.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

FTA:

The woman, shown here in silhouette, said that Skorzewski tried to have sex with her the night after they, along with another NYPD officer, went out drinking in Seattle.

Skorzewski was docked 30 vacation days and suspended for 10 days without pay as a result of pleading guilty.

He was transferred to the Medical Division in Queens on a year's probation.

"What the detective did was immoral, certainly," a police source said. "It was wrong. But it wasn't criminal."

At the time of the July 2013 incident, Lamboy was under investigation for getting paid for overtime he hadn't worked.

He pleaded guilty to that charge and was ordered to pay back more than $5,000 for 76 hours. Lamboy was docked 45 vacation days and suspended for 15 without pay ? for both charges. He was transferred to Police Service Area 9 Viper in Flushing, Queens, a public housing unit.

So, looks like grand larceny isn't a crime in NYC anymore. Because I'm pretty sure if I stole over $5,000, the judge wouldn't call my boss and have them dock me vacation pay or let me give the money back and walk away. This fucking sickens me to no end.

[sarcasmic]

My stepson's cop-dad got a new dog. A K9. Now they have to keep the kid's dog crated all the time since the K9 tries to rip its face off whenever it sees it. Such a considerate father he is. Warms my heart.

[Crusty Juggler]

Hey, what they did was certainly not worse than Eric Garner backing up and putting his hands in the air and not immediately ceding to the group of short police officers wearing jorts. He was a criminal, they just made a quick error in judgement.

[SugarFree]

He makes $65 an hour on overtime? With that kind of money he could afford to pay for sex with a terrified girl.

[Crusty Juggler]

You have to pay extra for that.

[Col. R C Dean]

The two most delicious tidbits:

Lamboy lost his command as head of the NYPD's Manhattan Special Victims Division.

One of the unsuccessful rapists was the boss of the NYPD rape prosecution unit.

She tried leaving around midnight, but the cops urged her to call in sick to her job at Starbucks the next morning, she claims.

Of course she works at Starbucks in Seattle. Where else?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is announcing his candidacy for president at Liberty University this morning.

So crazy theory: Cruz is pretty much boxed tightly in among the Evangelical Christian Tea Partiers. He hates the establishment GOP and they hate him.

His purpose in running when he has zero chance of winning might be this: supplant Huckster and/or Shitorum as the Evangelical candidate. He then endorses Rand Paul later down the line, swinging that block over to him and thus giving him a leg up over Jeb or Walker, whoever the establishment pick is going to be.

Rand in turn rewards him with something later if he becomes president.

[Tonio]

Or with the VP spot on the ticket. I commented on this above, but didn't consider the veep aspect.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Hmmm. I have seen worse tickets. And if it gut punches Jeb and Huck and Ricky...good!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I've always imagined Cruz, former Solicitor General of Texas, has Supreme Court aspirations. He probably envies the way Scalia can piss off everyone he doesn't like and not have to worry about elections or kissing anyone's ass.

[John]

Imagine the Dems losing in 2016 and Ruth Bader Ginsberg gets replaced by Ted Cruz. We might drown in the Democratic tears that would be shed over that one.

[Tonio]

That's also a good possibility, GMSF.

[Col. R C Dean]

He probably won't be VP. The establishment still clings to the quaint belief that the VP can swing his home state, so Bush the Minor is the leading candidate, as FL is swing state and TX is deep crimson.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Could be, but IMO, Rand is cozy enough with the evangelicals that he can put Walker on the ticket if he gets the nomination, so this plan makes little sense.

Also, let's not forget that everyone on the GOP side is going to lurch to the SoCon right to one degree or another to shore up that important primary constituency.

[John]

I don't think Cruz has zero chance of winning. I think he is a serious contender. He has a hell of a lot better chance than Jeb. At this point, it will be either Walker, Cruz or Paul or maybe Rubio if Jeb gives up early and Rubio gets the establishment vote. Cruz is in the top four and has a ton of backing. I wouldn't call him the favorite, but he certainly has a shot, especially if Walker or Paul stumble, which is not out of the question.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Jeb is in for the long haul, you idiot. When those other three split the wingnut vote he will cruise to victory.

[Xeones]

Buuuuuttplug

Buuuuuttplug

Buuuuuttplug

[Col. R C Dean]

Walker fits the traditional "swing state" model of a VP.

[Robert]

You think of Scott Walker as an Establishment pick?

[DEG]

For those in the Boston area this week, the Boston area folks will have a drinking session later on in the week.

Contact hamilton and don't be a troll or asshole (but I repeat myself) if you want in.

[hamilton]

Wait, I thought we were calling it something else in order to preserve a patina of style and class.

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

a symposia?

[hamilton]

well, let's start with just one of them.

[DEG]

"Drinking session" and "Boston area meet-up" are interchangeable.

[Tonio]

Has-been entertainer Jon Stewart has a temper tantrum, tells Fox they can't talk about Benghazi until they apologize for Ferguson.

Why, it's just like the trolls here who justify the actions of current politicians because once someone in the Cleveland administration did something similar.

[sarcasmic]

I blame Bush.

[Tonio]

Ha!

[sloopyinTEXAS]

The Cleveland Admin let America down one too many times, IMO.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The House GOP Intelligence Committee final report said Benghazi was a fake scandal.

The Buttplug was right again. Peanuts wrong again.

[Xeones]

B-B-B-B-B-B-BUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTPLUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGG

[Lord Humungus]

Obama Tries to Invent Whatever Excuse He Can to Break with Israel

(Obama gave) a strongly worded lecture [to] Mr. Netanyahu about an Election Day Facebook posting in which the Israeli leader warned that Arab voters were going to the polls "in droves," an assertion widely interpreted as an attempt to suppress the Arab vote. "We indicated that that kind of rhetoric was contrary to what is the best of Israel's traditions ? that although Israel was founded based on the historic Jewish homeland and the need to have a Jewish homeland, Israeli democracy has been premised on everybody in the country being treated equally and fairly," Mr. Obama said. "If that is lost, then I think that not only does it give ammunition to folks who don't believe in a Jewish state, but it also, I think, starts to erode the meaning of democracy in the country."

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Concern trolling Israel and filling out a crappy bracket on TV... can we get him to take a vacation again, soon?

[John]

Oh well. The people with the most interest in maintaining a strong relationship with Israel are American Jews. And they, despite being warned that Obama was antisemitic and would sell out Israel, voted for him anyway. I am sorry to see the US turn on Israel. I can't, however, be that upset about it.

[Palin's Buttplug]

American Jews don't like the Neo-Nazi GOP Party.

If you fuckers would not kowtow to the Wahhabi Christians then Jews might start voting for you.

[Xeones]

BUUUUUUUTTTTTTPLUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGG

[Andrew S.]

My dedicated progressive mother, who has voted straight-line dem in every election since she was old enough to vote, has broken from the Democratic party because of Obama's stance on Israel.

Note that I tried to tell her in 2008.

Though I'll say it's American evangelicals who have the strongest interest in maintaining a relationship with Israel, not Jews.

[John]

The evangelicals don't look at Israel as a place to run if the world ever turns on them. American Jews do or should if they know what is good for them. American evangelicals certainly support Israel. Unless they think they can bring about the end of the world by convincing the Jews to rebuild the Temple, I don't think they have quite the same self interest involved that Jews do.

At this point, I don't see how anyone who supports Israel can in good conscience vote Democrat.

[Illocust]

Evangicals like Israel because American Christianity has come to see Jews as a sort of brother religion. Sure they disagree about Jesus, but the Jews where Gods chosen people and that hasn't changed. Plus, Israel acts as a prime example of how a religious and militaristic nation can function.

[Robert]

Hel, even pagans want a bulwark against radical Islam. Sometimes ya gotta ally w the Reds to fight the Nazis.

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/203970/

Here is why a well armed society is so important to freedom. The video above is of a bunch of Muslim thugs attacking a synagogue in the UK shouting they will kill all of the Jews and attacking people and committing acts of vandalism. Since the UK has disarmed its populace, the Jews there are defenseless against the mob. Give just one Jew there a weapon and let him put a bullet in a couple of those baboons' brains, and I bet they would decide maybe tolerance isn't so bad after all. We are one Supreme Court Justice away from things being this bad in America.

[straffinrun]

Looks like they were using chair legs to defend themselves. Why would anyone need more than 4 chair legs?

[VG Zaytsev]

Jeffrey Goldburg wrote an article in the Atlantic, saying that Jews should seriously consider a mass exodus from Europe because of the rising violent anti-semitism there.

Which he naturally blames on domestic right-wing political movements.

[John]

How could someone write that with a straight face? Is Goldberg so delusional he actually believes that or is he so self loathing and mendacious he is willing to write such a lie?

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

"How could someone write that with a straight face? Is Goldberg so delusional he actually believes that or is he so self loathing and mendacious he is willing to write such a lie?"

Especially given that Jewish support for France's National Front has skyrocketed in the last few elections because Jews are scared of Muslim immigration and want to vote for a party that will put an end to it.

Jews are actually turning to the far-right for protection because the 'moderate' parties refuse to even discuss the subject. There are some far right parties that are borderline Nazis and will never have Jewish support because they're basely anti-semitic (like Jobbik in Hungary) but less Jew-hating far right parties have seen an upswing in Jewish support due to fears about anti-semitism among Muslim immigrants.

[John]

That is what I was thinking. "Far right" no longer means Nazi. It means anyone who is willing to even talk about the Muslim problem much less stand up to them. If I were a Jew in France, I would be voting for LePen's party too. What choice would I have?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Becoming an emigre?

[Raven Nation]

So, since you've been elevated to the peerage, you obviously rendered some service to the crown. I assume it has something to do with killing Germans but are more details available.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

A gentleman does not speak of the horrors of war.

[Raven Nation]

Of course, my mistake.

I assume you are now qualified to join:

http://www.cavgdsclub.co.uk/

or perhaps:

http://www.therag.co.uk/

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

......

[Emmerson Biggins]

cmon it's Europe.

Left Wing in Europe = Socialist or Communist

Right Wing in Europe = Socialist and Racist.

That's why I hate listening to Euroweenies and their state side sycophants complain about how homogeneous our American political parties are.

[Charles Easterly]

I heard Mr. Goldburg discussing his article in an interview. The man had a lot of his cause and effect backward, in my opinion.

[Steve G]

or at least go for a stroll for 40 yrs or so...
*ducks*

[straffinrun]

This time cook the bread before you leave.

[Raston Bot]

We are one Supreme Court Justice away from things being this bad in America.

Possibly. But right now it's strict scrutiny so enjoy the halcyon days!

[Lord Humungus]

Obamacare is 5 years old, and Americans are still worried about death panels

"As that bill is enacted, it's going to become more and more popular," Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) predicted on Meet the Press in March 2010.

"I think that [the law] over time is going to become more popular," David Axelrod, then a senior adviser to President Obama, declared in September.

Five years later, it's fair to declare that prediction dead wrong: 83 percent of Americans still hold the same opinions they did in 2010. And of those who have changed their minds, 58 percent of them have become more negative toward the law, a new Vox poll conducted by PerryUndem shows.

[Tonio]

I'd love to see a reporter ask Schumer to comment on that 2010 statement.

[Libertarian]

I'd love to see a reporter knee Schumer in the groin.

[Rhywun]

There's a moob joke to be made in there somewhere.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Right: bad cop rapist.

Left: bad preacher rapist.

Me: You're right.

http://www.wusa9.com/story/new...../24884313/

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Youth Investigations Division"

I'll take "government agencies which don't use their acronyms" for $500, Alex.

[Slammer]

Kicked dog takes revenge on man's car.

How friggin' cheap are Chinese fenders?

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

That is EXCELLENT. Thanks for that.

[Lord Humungus]

Q: How High is a Chinese Mountain?

A: Yes.

[Xeones]

Q: Has a dog Buddha-nature?

A: MU

[Rich]

"My dogma tore up your karma!"

[Charles Easterly]

Nice.

[sarcasmic]

Top Gear (UK) went to China to drive their cars. They are that cheap. Imagine if Walmart sold a car for five hundred bucks, new. That's what they make in China.

[Tonio]

Imagine if Walmart sold a car for five hundred bucks, new.

Well, the progs would soil themselves, of course. Because the only way Wal*Mart could do that is with an exemption from safety standards. You might get seat belts, lights and mirrors, but that would be it. And of course they would accept absolutely no responsibility for that cash-for-clunkers debacle that took many poor people out of car ownership, thus worsening their plight.

[sarcasmic]

And of course they would accept absolutely no responsibility for that cash-for-clunkers debacle that took many poor people out of car ownership, thus worsening their plight.

So what? We're saving the earth here by pricing poor people out of car ownership!

[Palin's Buttplug]

If Cruz is serious he will become the Newt Gingrich of this cycle by fucking up the other candidates during the debates with his flame-throwing.

[Xeones]

BUUUUUTTTPLUUUUUUGG

[Steve G]

Aside from silence, this is an acceptable response...

[Tonio]

Hear, hear.

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

I am ok with it but defer to tarran

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

I hear that in one of two voices - Kirk's "KHAAAAN!" one or McBain saying "MENDOOOOOZA!"

[Steve G]

Interesting. I imagined it more like Khan's "Buried alive! Buried alive"

[Palin's Buttplug]

Moderate Dem Patrick Murphy to run for FL Senate seat:

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/n.....arco-rubio

He took down the authoritarian asshole Allen West in a GOP district.

[Xeones]

BUUUUUUUTTT

PLUUUUUUUGG

[Charles Easterly]

"A mysterious blue flash of light was reported and caught on video near Stavropol, a city in southern Russia."

Is this proof that the Continuous Cacophonous Cosmic Permutations have arrived?

[sthgrau]

Charles Easterly said:

Continuous Cacophonous Cosmic Permutations

If I am right about what you did there, then the word is 'returned'..

[Lord Humungus]

Monday is Oberon Day

It's practically a holiday for beer lovers in West Michigan: Oberon release day is on Monday.

Bell's Brewery will have the signature seasonal brew available in bars and stores across the country for starting on March 23.

Fans of the wheat beer can go to the Bell's Eccentric Caf? in downtown Kalamazoo starting at 9 a.m. to get the first of the ale on tap.

This beer seems to get more and more watery as time goes on - like some extra filtering process has been added. (used to drink this when it was called SolSun)

[DEG]

This beer seems to get more and more watery as time goes on

I haven't noticed that, but I only discovered Oberon and Bell's a few years ago. I like their products, and it's sad if they're going downhill.

[Lord Humungus]

Or maybe my tastes have changed; but a few other beer snob friends of mine have commented on Oberon's wateriness in the past two years. Hoping this year is better.

[DEG]

I won't have a chance to get it until the summer during a visit to their distribution area. I will gladly find out the hard way what's going on with their quality.

[The DerpRider]

It has really lost something lately. All of their beer has been getting a bit stale, and I find I'm reaching for Founder's most of the time these days. That being said, I'll be at the Cafe in April to relive my college days at the Verve Pipe concert...

[Col. R C Dean]

Speaking of beer, I am eagerly awaiting my Kickstarter Growlerwerks growler.

Looks awesome:

https://growlerwerks.com/

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Oh, hey, this looks interesting. Up until last year growlers here were required by law to be glass.

[Raston Bot]

A Bud commercial last week disparaged the craft beer market. That's the first one of those I've seen. If Bud wants to take off the gloves, then they'll lose badly.

First anti-Bud/pro-craft commercial:

Bud is FOREIGN OWNED

Craft is 100% American ingenuity

End of commercial.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

And the are owned by Belgians!

Those....Sprouts!

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Hah, I saw anti-craft commercial too. I realize that as somebody whose last taste of Bud was almost a decade ago (and was never into crappy beer to begin with; I'd rather not drink at all than drink that) I'm not exactly their target demographic but I thought it was a really stupid ad.

I guess there are folks who are fatigued of beer snobbery and just don't give a shit but I'm still dubious of the efficacy of that particular marketing strategy.

[straffinrun]

Why do people throwing around a ball get paid more than the people we trust to educate our children. I love Reich.

http://mises.ca/posts/blog/rob.....-of-labor/

[Pro Libertate]

He's so well-named. I'm surprised people don't call him Third.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Every teacher should be paid $5,000,000 a year. It would only cost America $1,850,000,000,000,000 a year to pay teachers. We'd turn our country into Zimbabwe because of all the inflation, but at least teachers would be paid as well as ball players.

[straffinrun]

If I still haven't convinced you, consider it this way: Why stop at education? Surely food and clothing are even more important than formal schooling. So how does the pay of migrant farm and textile workers compare to schoolteachers in the U.S.? I think we need a new federal policy lest we all find ourselves starving and naked.

There you go, Irish. Now we gotta pay migrant farmers 6m a year. You see what you made us do?

[KDN]

I'm also going to guess that Mr. Reich failed to factor in the vast majority of professional athletes in this country: the minor leaguers making waaaaaay less than a teacher of comparable age and experience.

[Pro Libertate]

Perhaps if teachers competed in the marketplace, the profession would produce better results--both for students and for the upper-echelon of teachers as well.

[KDN]

I like to make this argument to my (fantastic at her job by any objective measure) teacher wife. It usually causes her to break into hackneyed solidarity arguments.

[Pro Libertate]

If I could get my separation of school and state amendment enacted, then perhaps we could witness the true power of market forces in education.

[CatoTheElder]

Ceterum censeo scholis soli imperium esse delendam.

The government schools must be destroyed.

[Ptah-Hotep]

Perhaps if teachers competed in the marketplace, the profession would produce better results--both for students and for the upper-echelon of teachers as well.

$4mm a year, not bad for a teacher.

http://thediplomat.com/2013/08.....hool-king/

[Steve G]

One comment: "Cynical, arrogant, oversimplified."
*sigh*

[straffinrun]

Someone felt the need to take the time to type that. And they call me "straffinrun".

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Why do people throwing around a ball get paid more than the people we trust to educate our children."

Because the ball-throwers actually do their job, sometimes even getting the ball into the basket.

The teacher are the equivalent of a player who constantly dribbles the ball out of bounds and misses the basket by a mile.

[Tonio]

Also, because the ball-throwers in question are at the top of their game, having passed multiple levels of competitive cuts: high school, college, NFL draft, etc. We're comparing the top people in their field with the rank and file of a, um, not competitive field.

[straffinrun]

Quit refuting my sarc. You're confusing me.

[Col. R C Dean]

"Why do people throwing around a ball get paid more than the people we trust to educate our children."

Because they are better at what they do, than teachers are at what they do?

[Rasilio]

Even assuming he had a valid point, you really have to wonder of Reich recognizes the corollary to this...

" The law of supply and demand isn't repealed at the classroom door. If we want talented men and women to become teachers rather than bankers, we need to pay them far more".

Is that current teachers are NOT the most qualified for the position and are in fact intellectually inferior to bankers and we should replace them with at least some of the pool of people who pursue careers in education.

I mean if there were a Right Wing version of the NY Times the headline on this story would read "Reich calls teachers incompetent, calls for their replacement"

[Rasilio]

"and we should replace them with at least some of the pool of people who pursue careers in education."

err Finance, that should read Finance not Education

[Lord Humungus]

Before Judges, the Godfathers Become Sick Old Grandfathers

Not long ago, Thomas DiFiore cut an intimidating figure. For a time, he was the highest-ranking member of the Bonanno organized crime family not behind bars, despite a long record of arrests on charges of kidnapping, assault, promoting gambling and extortion. Even at 70, Mr. DiFiore did not seem to falter when challenging another aging Bonanno leader in 2013 for more than his share of a loan payment, according to prosecutors' account of a government wiretap.

" 'Without me,' " the other leader, Vincent Asaro, recalled Mr. DiFiore telling him, " 'you wouldn't a got nothing.' " Mr. Asaro, whose words were being recorded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said Mr. DiFiore made a former Bonanno boss "look like St. Anthony."

Yet now, as he faces sentencing for federal unlawful debt-collection conspiracy, Mr. DiFiore's swagger has given way to a shuffle, and he is talking about insulin and statins rather than payback.

[John]

The Italian Mafia is pretty much dead. Organized crime, however, is stronger than ever. It is just run by the Russian, Chinese and Mexican mafias now.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

'Ndregheta, Cosa Nostra and Camorra would like a word with you.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I'll give him an adult diaper he can't refuse.

[WTF]

Meh, the old wiseguys always fake senility and disabilities when it comes time for sentencing.

[Col. R C Dean]

+1 Uncle Junior.

[Jumbie]

Is there a coordinated 'Robots took ur Jerbs' push on the left?

Two articles on it were mentioned in the College students Safe Room thread and now I see CNN put forward their own a few days ago.

BTW, I know there is no Peak Derp, but this guy is the deepest vein of economic illiteracy coupled with 'government should force them to be nice' I've come across on the topic.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/18/.....index.html

Here's where I could use some help. I can tell this guy's full of shit just from what I've seen in other tech leaps - jobs don't disappear and the benefit to regular people far outweighs the turmoil in the job market.

But if someone could lay it out in a more cogent manner for me, I'd be appreciative, like naming the economic phenomena, explaining the alternate mechanism in simple terms, etc.

[John]

The very people who have spent their entire lives doing everything possible to make labor expensive and less preferable to capital, now complain that business is investing in capital at the expense of labor. The entire progressive movement is nothing but a temper tantrum over there being no free lunch.

[Restoras, OWG and RWC]

The entire progressive movement is nothing but a temper tantrum over there being no free lunch.

This is one of the wisest and most prescient things I have heard, ever.

[sarcasmic]

"Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
Bastiat

[Pro Libertate]

Because they have to try to stop the obvious and rational reaction to pricing unskilled labor out of the market.

[sarcasmic]

Yep.

[Pro Libertate]

When force doesn't work, try more force.

[sarcasmic]

That square peg will fit into the round hole if you hit it long and hard enough.

[Pro Libertate]

Send it to reshapification camp.

[Swiss Servator... Switzy!]

Is that a subsidiary of the Hillary "Strength Through Joy" Adult Mandatory Camps?

[Pro Libertate]

Those are out, because they're going to buy her off with commandant of the libertarian dearth camps, where libertarians will be reeducated through the ample use of the lack of stuff.

[Libertarian]

"But if someone could lay it out in a more cogent manner for me, I'd be appreciative, like naming the economic phenomena, explaining the alternate mechanism in simple terms, etc."

Keep an eye on Don Boudreaux at cafehayek.com. Sooner or later, I expect him to address this subject. I'd give anything to see a response from him re yesterday's Mark Bittman column in the NYTimes.

[GILMORE]

"Jumbie|2015/03/23 10:09:41|#5173068~new~

Is there a coordinated 'Robots took ur Jerbs' push on the left?"

My comment yesterday

"among the extra-retarded people, this whole "robots are takin teh jobses" theme seems to be increasingly in vogue...."

lol coincidence?

...'Here's where I could use some help. I can tell this guy's full of shit just from what I've seen in other tech leaps - jobs don't disappear"

The progs focus entirely on the loss of low-skill manufacturing and pretend there hasn't been any commensurate expansion in anything else in the last 100 years. OMG Washing machines! OMG Radio! OMG Email! Employment is *constantly* displaced and replaced with other needs. We have new products and services which never existed before these other tasks were 'automated'. Demand for these new products keeps people employed. Often, the reduced costs in the existing field *expands* that field (e.g. automated bank tellers meant banks could open MORE branches...and hire more people)

Basically, they are historically blind to economic change, and pretend somehow that future change is different and worse than past economic change. They're idiots. And/or liars. Always hard to sort them out.

[bodenlosen Schweinerei]

Progtards are upset that automatons have no need for anyone with an MA in Puppetry.

[Pro Libertate]

What's also interesting about Lee Kuan Yew is that "Lee Kuan" was the name of a future Hitler (future to us, that is) on Star Trek.

[Robert]

Since Jacob Sullum's article non serviam, I gotta ask here: Why should anybody care what a politician's "true position" is?

[sarcasmic]

Rand Paul to kick off presidential bid from home state of Kentucky on April 7
The announcement will take place in Louisville, Kentucky
Paul, 52, had his eye on April 7 for some time, but fellow Republican Ted Cruz's formal entry into the race on Monday helped solidify Paul's plans
Paul wanted to wait until at least one other prominent Republican contender launched a bid before making a grand show of his own
Other probable candidates have launched presidential exploratory committees but Cruz is the first to make a campaign-style announcement

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ril-7.html

[Spaceno42]

Did Reason miss this nugget of wisdom this weekend?

http://www.newrepublic.com/art.....d-taxpayer

No more taxpayer! It's a bad word.