Loretta Lynch Confirmed, Petraeus Sentenced, Rand Paul Winning the Internet: P.M. Links

• The Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Loretta Lynch as U.S. Attorney General. Ten Republicans voted for her.

• But now for the really important news: Jeremy Renner called Scarlett Johansson's Avengers character "a slut," because she had multiple love interests. Internet, attack!
• Gov. Bobby Jindal penned a New York Times op-ed proposing a freedom of conscience bill for religious entities.
• General Betray-us (will that ever get old?) was sentenced to probation for two years and must pay a $100,000 fine.
• Hillary Clinton gave reporters the silent treatment (per usual) regarding her foundation's mysterious finances.
• Here's an in-depth look at Rand Paul's internet presence.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hillary Clinton gave reporters the silent treatment (per usual) regarding her foundation's mysterious finances.

They're going to make her cry.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"This would be where the tears would be if I could cry. But I can't. Botched facelift."

[Raven Nation]

Simpsons?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Yep. Season 9.

[Rhywun]

I think that's Patsy Stone.

[Rhywun]

Or not.

[Raven Nation]

No, it's the blonde super-CEO/motivational speaker who's also in MENSA, I think.

[Zeb]

Lindsey Nagle.

[Ted S.]

Toughest woman in America, don't you know.

[The Last American Hero]

She is Cimmarian. She cannot cry. So I will cry for her.

[Pro Libertate]

No, I think she's in the snake cult.

[Suthenboy]

As in the object the snake cult worships? If so, then you are correct.

[Pro Libertate]

No, just one of those mindless snake chicks, who got so high that she thinks she's in charge.

[DEG]

Cimmarians have honor. She doesn't.

[AlmightyJB]

Why does the media hate women.

[Injun, as in from India]

Here's an in-depth look at Rand Paul's internet presence.

Starting with Ru Paul!

[Jerry on the sea]

Ru Paul and the Randbots was actually a great punk band from the early days of pogo dancing.

[Injun, as in from India]

Around the time of Ron Paul's 2012 campaign, I noticed that Google kept serving "Ru Paul for President" search results for Ron Paul.

I don't think it was sheer coincidence that the search results were that way.

[Free Society]

Mark Levine, the professional ad hominem slinger referred to Ron Paul as Ru Paul exclusively for pretty much the whole 2012 election cycle.

[Libertymike]

He chickened out of debating Prof. DiLorenzo on Lincoln. Of course, he would have been eviscerated because folks like Levin, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity et al do not debate very well.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

But now for the really important news: Jeremy Renner called Scarlett Johansson's Avengers character "a slut," because she had multiple love interests. Internet, attack!

So you're saying there's a chance.

[Brett L]

for Hawkeye? No. He has the sorriest superpower this side of Mr. Fantastic. Who at least has something women might want.

[Pan Zagloba]

Oh come on, he might have something they want in that quiver!

[Brett L]

I mean, I guess if he could hit any tarhet with any weapon...

[The Last American Hero]

+1 Humming Bulb Arrow

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I figured they'd go down the Captain America/Black Widow road after The Winter Soldier. I thought they could have done some funny stuff with the contrast between him being a boy scout and her being "comfortable with everything" (Nick Fury's words, not mine, internet outrage machine).

[Marshall Gill]

her being "comfortable with everything"

So she is a Libertarian?

[a better weapon]

I am sorry that this tasteless joke about a fictional character offended anyone.

That's one of the better non-apologies I've read in a while. I laughed.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Let the punishment fit the crime - they insulted an imaginary character, send them to imaginary sensitivity training.

[Catatafish]

Well done, Renner. Well done indeed.

[Ted S.]

I call Tiger Woods a slut. Does that make me sexist or racist?

[Injun, as in from India]

I call Tiger Woods a slut. Does that make me sexist or racist?

Obviously you're not a golfer.

[Protagoronus]

-1 tile

[Tejicano]

+1 black tie affair

[NebulousFocus]

+1 Lebowski

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

When criticized he should say 'In fairness, some of my best friends are sluts.'

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Let the marketing commence!

[Zeb]

Who the fuck is Jeremy Renner and why should I care?

Maybe we should stop assuming that being a slut is necessarily a bad thing

[AlmightyJB]

Hulk wants to tear that up. As do I.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Uh oh. Does Reason have pop up ads now?

[a better weapon]

They already have auto-play. Might as well go for broke.

[Pan Zagloba]

We might get blink tag in comments, then?

*waits anxiously*

[Aloysious]

Watch out for Malware, I'm sure you know. Recently had to fight off some wierd program that manifested as double underlined blue hyperlinks. It sucked.

[Ted S.]

Sites still use those?

[Rhywun]

Ah... underlined hyperlinks. I remember when it was considered bad form to disguise your links under random colors (like *ahem* orange) or other irrelevent effects. Boy that ship sure sailed a long time ago.

[Ted S.]

No; the double-underlined things that pop-up some ad-like thing when you accidentally hover over them. Extremely obnoxious, and difficult to turn off.

[Rhywun]

Ah. Well, still. Get off my lawn!

[Zeb]

I don't think you can really call Reason's orange links "random colors". I like it as a style choice and no one is deceived unless they really lack imagination.

[Rhywun]

Well, it's random in the sense that across various sites, something "not black" may (or may not) be a link. I had an early interest in "usability" back in the day but most of the old standards have pretty much gone out the window.

[Aloysious]

Avast named it a PUP, labelled it malware, and did a boot scan. Performance pre-scan was major suck.

[Zeb]

I had that for a while. It seemed to go away without my doing anything. I figured it was some new annoying ad thing put up by Reason.

[Timon 19]

Hahaha...Malware. Ads. Scripts. Autoplay. What are those?

[Sudden]

Gotta make money somehow. Not everyone can sell the entire global supply chain of fissible material to a country aggressively waging war on its neighbors, y'know.

[jesse.in.mb]

IT STILL WON'T BE WARREN.

[Sudden]

As long as Hillary Clinton is not the democratic nominee for president, I'll smile and power bottom my way through the whole ordeal.

[jesse.in.mb]

It seems to me like you've now set the terms so that as long as both Hillary AND Warren aren't the Democratic nominee you will consent to be buggered.

[Sudden]

No

[jesse.in.mb]

Fine.

[Zeb]

Is this something the two of you have been discussing a lot? Buggery, that is.

[jesse.in.mb]

"a lot" might be an exaggeration. It has been discussed in the context of settling a friendly wager.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I forgot the terms, but Sudden is getting railed on way or another.

[Zeb]

It's all just one big ass blast.

[Sudden]

I'm now just realizing that the both Hillary AND Warren not getting the nomination didn't really change the context of the bet at all. Or that it potentially opened up (no pun intended) a path for me to escape sodomy by Hillary winning the election.

But after this morning's bombshell news about nukes for cash, I'm what Hannity would call a "great American." There is not a single thing I would not do if in kept her from becoming president.

[Zeb]

Including sodomy? I can't think of how that could help at the moment. But you never know!

[Injun, as in from India]

Gov. Bobby Jindal penned a New York Times op-ed proposing a freedom of conscience bill for religious entities.

What about freedom of conscience for the irreligious, Bobby?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Generally, religion is defined broadly enough as to include non-theistic belief systems.

Atheists and agnostics have been able to get religious draft exemptions. The Secular Humanist church was able to get a religious property-tax exemption. Etc.

[Zeb]

The Secular Humanist church was able to get a religious property-tax exemption.

I thought that was a stunt after some judge declared that secular humanism was a religion.

I suppose some religions, Buddhism comes to mind, can be non-theistic. But I wouldn't call just any non-theistic belief system a religion. I think religions necessarily at least include some sort of mystical woo, if not proper deities.

But I suppose maybe you are just talking about what the law considers a religion. I don't think religions should get any special tax exemptions that don't apply to any social or charitable organization.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"I don't think religions should get any special tax exemptions that don't apply to any social or charitable organization."

They don't, except that on the federal level churches get more due-process rights vis-a-vis the IRS than non-church charities. So the government has to go through more hoops to revoke a church's exemption. Also, a church doesn't have to file to request an exemption, if they're qualified they can claim it right away.

As to secular humanism, here's the California case (later famously cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, but let's not go into that right now)

http://ow.ly/M2rne

And "for the purposes of this opinion, in order to meet the issue directly, we will assume that the findings, properly interpreted, are to the effect that the adoration of, and reverence to, a deity have no place in the beliefs of respondent."

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Religion simply includes: (1) a belief, not necessarily referring to supernatural powers; (2) a cult, involving a gregarious association openly expressing the belief; (3) a system of moral practice directly resulting from an adherence to the belief; and (4) an organization within the cult designed to observe the tenets of belief. The content of the belief is of no moment."

[Zeb]

Then how is there such a thing as a religious property tax exemption?

[Puddin' Stick]

I don't think religions should get any special tax exemptions that don't apply to any social or charitable organization.

Or you could get rid of corporate income tax since they money gets distributed to persons where it can be taxed as income tax or dividend tax.

Then the profit/non-profit distinction wouldn't matter as much any more.

[Zeb]

Yes, that would be my preferred way of making that happen.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Jeremy Renner called Scarlett Johansson's Avengers character "a slut," because she had multiple love interests.

That's her super power.

[Drake]

Am I supposed to know who Jeremy Renner is?

[Brett L]

He's the guy they bring into a franchise after the franchise actor quits. The 4th Bourne movie, for example.

[Drake]

Oh okay. He's one of the super-hero guys in the movie. I thought he was some kind of SoCon.

[GILMORE]

The Hurt Locker guy who keeps getting roles for some reason.

[Cytotoxic]

Why wouldn't he get roles? He does his job.

[GILMORE]

Meh, I wasn't dissing him (that much). I think he's a very decent actor, albeit one who probably isn't A-list action-star material.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The bad? guy from SWAT.

[mauricegirodias]

Naw, that was the dude from unfaithful. I always get Renner confused with Gerard Butler, who was in 300 and nothing else.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt02.....fn_al_tt_3

He's in there.

[mauricegirodias]

Oh, he was the hothead who shoots a hostage to save her. Wasn't the baddie unless he changed sides at the end for Olivier Martinez's money. I've thankfully blanked out most of the film.

[Crusty Juggler]

You bite your tongue! That movie is an FX classic! What, am I just supposed to leave my couch and talk to humans on a Saturday afternoon? NO! We watch SWAT!

Disgusting.

[mad libertarian guy]

Gerard Butler was also in Beowulf and Grendel, a very excellent movie.

[Crusty Juggler]

Jeremy Renner, entrepreneur.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"Restored to its original 1921 condition, complete with 3D LED TVs...."

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Resident Hollywood Horndog AFAICT

[Free Society]

He was in the hit film Senior Trip. After which he spent a decade doing commercials and then became a B+ list actor.

[Steve G]

His fingernails creep me out

[Injun, as in from India]

But now for the really important news: Jeremy Renner called Scarlett Johansson's Avengers character "a slut," because she had multiple love interests. Internet, attack!

And I thought slut was a complement!

[a better weapon]

Feminists don't like complements. Say that it's "empowering."

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It is, slut!

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

And I thought slut was a complement!

Is that what your Mom told ya?

[Free Society]

Sluts make the world a better place.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ten Republicans voted for her.

Ten non-racists, you mean.

[Injun, as in from India]

Here is a follow up from my poking around on some leftist news sites about the Melissa Harris-Perry tax delinquency affair.

Salon
All time results.
In the past week - STILL NOTHING on her tax delinquency!

Slate
All time results.
In the past week - NOTHING!

The Nation
LOTS of results going way back! She is apparently an author there.
In the past week - NOTHING!

[Injun, as in from India]

Mother Jones
All time results.
In the past week - NOTHING!

Think Progress
All time results.
In the past week - NOTHING!

Vox - Nothing

Gawker - Nothing

[Derpetologist]

You forgot alternet- which also said nothing and runs MHP columns.

[waffles]

So it's almost as if these outfits aren't journalists at all but rather some kind of talking point mouthpiece.

[Ted S.]

When did H&R start allowing people to put more than two links in one comment?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Anyone not named Ted can do it.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Thomas Sowell

1. It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.

2. There are few talents more richly rewarded with both wealth and power, in countries around the world, than the ability to convince backward people that their problems are caused by other people who are more advanced.

3. The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

4. It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

5. There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs.

6. People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.

[Aloysious]

Those all sound completely true.

[Derpetologist]

Yes, but one quote is not from Sowell.

This is an advanced game of Spot the Not since the Nots are from other libertarians.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Nots? More than one?

[Derpetologist]

Still only 1 Not per round.

[The Hyperbole]

2

[Emmerson Biggins]

What if #1 was written by some judge guy?

[Derpetologist]

What if the judge was ripping off more famous guy every time he said that?

[Emmerson Biggins]

then I wouldn't really know the answer.

[Emmerson Biggins]

and I broke character first. So I double lose.

[Libertymike]

That judge should tell Pat Riley he will kick ass once, twice and then go for the threepeat.

[PBR Streetgang]

If he didn't say #2, I'd like to know who did, b/c that is solid analysis.

[HeteroPatriarch]

5?

[BakedPenguin]

That's definitely Sowell.

[Ted S.]

Isn't #1 Solzhenitsyn?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

3 and 5 are direct quotes; 2 and 4 state views I've heard him express, so that leaves 1 and 6 - I'll just randomly guess 6.

[Emmerson Biggins]

6 does actually sound more out of character for him. Sounds more like Dilbert.

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah 6 is my guess as well

[Catatafish]

6?

[Derpetologist]

The Not is #1. Voltaire said that.

[lap83]

damn my lateness

[lap83]

1

[gaoxiaen]

6. Doesn't seem to be directly related to the other five.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...and must pay a $100,000 fine.

Who gets the dough?

[Drake]

The Clinton Foundation?

[Sudden]

$100,000? That only gets you a tactical briefcase nuke.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Snuke.

[Almanian!]

Hitler?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Happy 451st birthday to William Shakespeare!

Shakespeare was born on April 23rd and died on April 23rd. Which means he decided to be and not to be on the same day!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Did he actually decide either of those?

[Mad Scientist]

According to the extensive calculations I've done using measurements from a phone booth, it's almost certain that he did.

[mauricegirodias]

Lies. There are no more phone booths.

[Catatafish]

Not in THIS dimension.

[Crusty Juggler]

For my money, the best dimension is the Fifth Dimension.

[Libertymike]

Last night, I didn't get to sleep at all because I was listening to them.

[C. Anacreon]

I always liked the chubby guy in the 5th Dimension. I always figured he was the "5th" one, the black Burl Ives.

[db]

That's a good question.

[Injun, as in from India]

Happy 451st birthday to William Shakespeare!

Why was there no TRIGGER WARNING?

Shakespeare has a lot of racist, sexist sh1t in his novels man.

Next time, give us a trigger warning before saying Shakespeare, will ya?

[Doctor Whom]

Also, he's a dead white male who isn't part of the holy trinity of Marx, Freud, and Derrida.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled-
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience-
Too little payment for so great a debt.

Like this?

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

"Shakespeare has a lot of racist, sexist sh1t in his novels man."

/pedant on

Shakespeare didn't write novels.

/pedant off

[jesse.in.mb]

Can you ever truly turn your pedant off?

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

I don't need you to homo-splain pedantry to me, Jesse.

Also, no.

[Ted S.]

Did you take the change from the Julian to Gregorian calendars into account?

[Spartacus]

I was about to say this. If you are counting whole years, then you need to back up 12 days, so the anniversary of his birth should be April 11.

[Spartacus]

Sorry, 11 days. Or so. Somebody who cares more than I do can look up the Julian day count and work it out.

[Puddin' Stick]

Shakespeare was born on April 23rd and died on April 23rd. Which means he decided to be and not to be on the same day!

So he lived a perfect life!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

How did Petraeus ever get that high up in the military in the first place?

He seems like a complete goober.

[Brett L]

He seems like a highly competent soldiwr and a terrible politician.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

This X 100.

[GILMORE]

"Upon promotion to lieutenant colonel, Petraeus moved from the office of the Chief of Staff to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where he commanded the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)'s 3rd Battalion 187th Infantry Regiment, known as the "Iron Rakkasans",[46] from 1991?1993. During this period, he suffered one of the more dramatic incidents in his career; in 1991 he was accidentally shot in the chest with an M-16 assault rifle during a live-fire exercise when a soldier tripped and his rifle discharged.[47] He was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, where he was operated on by future U.S. Senator Bill Frist. The hospital released him early after he did fifty push-ups without resting, just a few days after the accident.[48][49]"

his bio is actual worth reading.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You just like him because he was treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center,

[GILMORE]

I didn't even say i liked the guy, i just said his bio was worth reading.

(tho i do)

FWIW Vandy medical center is like 5X the size of the actual university, and has zero real relationship with the 'school' so much. A lot of schools have their associated "med center" and there's not really any connection beyond the name.

The only connection i recall during my time there was that a fraternity managed to bribe some med student into helping them steal a nitrous tank.

[C. Anacreon]

a fraternity managed to bribe some med student into helping them steal a nitrous tank.

Huh. When I was in med school it seemed only the dental students had access to the nitrous tanks.

[Cytotoxic]

I would say that winning the Iraq War (which he did) is pretty competent for a 'complete goober'.

[Libertymike]

If a 25 year old male 6'4 250 pound beast beats a 75 year old 99 pound skinny weakling, would you say the younger guy's manager is competent?

[Cytotoxic]

If the previous managers failed to get even those results then I would say he's an improvement.

[Libertymike]

Okay, I'll buy that.

But, from a military command perspective, how well do you think Petraus would have fared if he was the military leader of the Taliban in the fall of 2001?

Invoking and paraphrasing O.A. "Bum" Phillips, the operative question should be, "can he take his'n and beat your'n and can he take your'n and beat his'n?"

[Cytotoxic]

Uh I don't know. We never will.

[mad libertarian guy]

Talking about The Don!

[Invisible Finger]

I assume by winning you mean not getting rid of the targets.

[Cytotoxic]

He got rid of the vast majority of them. The Iraq Insurrection was defeated.

[GILMORE]

"General Betray-us (will that ever get old?) was sentenced to probation for two years and must pay a $100,000 fine"

...for the same shit Hillary Clinton did! SEXIST

[Sudden]

Hillary also did the same shit Ethel Rosenberg did. How much you wanna bet she doesn't get the ole Ethel sentence?

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Frederic Bastiat

1. The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.

2. If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?

3. When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.

4. When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will.

5. In short, is not liberty the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as he does not harm other persons while doing so?

6. One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

6

[Pan Zagloba]

Agh, I should know this!

5 or 6, 5 or 6...

Let's go 6, although he'd agree with the sentiment.

[GILMORE]

uh, either 1 or 6. 1 seems like it was phrased wrong, and i think someone else said 6.

[Jerry on the sea]

Isn't there a Mencken quote in there?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

4. That dude was an amazing quote machine.

[AlmightyJB]

Im going with 4 as well but I really dont know. They're all good.

[HeteroPatriarch]

6

[Protagoronus]

3 was JS Mill, right?

[Derpetologist]

6 is the Not. Milton Friedman said that.

prize for the winners

[gaoxiaen]

2. Too long.

[The Late P Brooks]

The Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Loretta Lynch as U.S. Attorney General.

A stunning victory for Do-Somethingism, and deference to the President's prerogatives.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: H L Mencken

1. The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

2. Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

3. In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one
party of the citizens to give to the other.

4. The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended,
again like the Salvation Army, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace.

5. The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed - and hence
clamorous to be led to safety - by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all
of them imaginary.

6. When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he
faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite
incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental ? men
whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of
what they cannot understand.

[GILMORE]

I thought 1 was Eric Hoffer

[GILMORE]

sorry, my bad

[Derpetologist]

Think again. The quote is similar to what Plato said:

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

[gaoxiaen]

Nowv it's too easy. I recuse myself.

[Jerry on the sea]

Either 1 or 6.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I recognize 2 thru 5. I say 1.

[mauricegirodias]

I think 3's be the not.

[Derpetologist]

Winner! Voltaire said #3.

Your prize

[mauricegirodias]

Joy.

[gaoxiaen]

Oh! Not too easy.

[a better weapon]

The Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Loretta Lynch as U.S. Attorney General. Ten Republicans voted for her.

It's been years since I watched Family Guy, and still, every time I read the name Loretta, I read it in Cleveland Brown's voice.

[Drake]

Anyone ask her if deleting government emails is illegal?

[a better weapon]

When the Attorney General does it, it's not illegal!

[Raven Nation]

I dated two women named Loretta. Yes, at different times but one after the other separated by a couple of months.

[Drake]

I keep thinking of the country singer.

[Enough About Palin]

I think of Nick Tortelli from Cheers.

[PBR Streetgang]

Some commenter weeks ago noted that "Loretta Lynch" sounds like a kick-ass roller derby player

[Pro Libertate]

"Loretta" reminds me of this:

FRANCIS: Why are you always on about women, Stan?
STAN: I want to be one.
REG: What?
STAN: I want to be a woman. From now on, I want you all to call me 'Loretta'.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Are comments fucked up?

[Pan Zagloba]

Commenters certainly are.

[waffles]

We are all agile cyborgs here.

[Marshall Gill]

We are all agile cyborgs here.

Thankfully, not. I am too old to handle those kind of hangovers any more.

[Emmerson Biggins]

seems like more stuff has to be enabled in NoScript for them to work now.

[Auric Demonocles]

Yeah, this seems to be the case. Anyone take the time to figure out exactly which things, so I don't have to just allow all on the page?

[Emmerson Biggins]

I will eventually. Probably not today though. Will put it into some A.M. or P.M. links.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Lysander Spooner

1. The fact is that the government, like a highwayman, says to a man: Your money, or your life. And many, if not most, taxes are paid under the compulsion of that threat.

2. A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years.

3. All governments, the worst on earth, and the most tyrannical on earth, are free governments to that portion of the people who voluntarily support them.

4. There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to
crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One
declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking
laws.

5. The secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is a secret band
of robbers and murderers.

6. Any number of scoundrels, having money enough to start with, can establish themselves
as a 'government'; because, with money, they can hire soldiers, and with soldiers extort
more money; and also compel general obedience to their will.

[Mike M.]

This one was too easy, #4.

[mauricegirodias]

I spot Eric Blair.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

4

[Libertymike]

#2 is in Constitution of No Authority.

He would absolutely demolish any person who took the pro-constitution side in a debate.

God, he was so much the superior human being to any milquetoast minarchist.

[Derpetologist]

4 is the Not. prize for the winners

[HeteroPatriarch]

4.

[gaoxiaen]

I give up. So far 0 for 3.

[NidhoggRocketman]

Car Companies Say Home Repairs Are 'Legally Problematic,' Seek Copyright Restrictions

Seriously, do I own my car or not?

[GILMORE]

While i'm with you, they do have a point about the fact that automobiles increasingly are designed to be controlled by ECU, and replacing components or tweaking the ECU itself is effectively 'hacking' the car, like software, and exposes the companies to potential liability.

" automakers have expressed concern that allowing outsiders to access electronic control units that run critical vehicle functions like steering, throttle inputs and braking "leads to an imbalance by which the negative consequences far outweigh any suggested benefits," according to the Alliance of Global Automakers.
...
Industry concerns are mounting that modifying these ECUs and the software coding that runs them could lead to vulnerabilities in vehicle safety and cyber security. Imagine an amateur makes a coding mistake that causes brakes to fail and a car crash ensues. Furthermore, automakers say these modifications could render cars non-compliant with environmental laws that regulate emissions."

as hardware becomes increasingly integrated with software, the DCMA starts to apply in areas no one ever expected.

I don't think they should be able to legally threaten customers, but i do think companies have a legitimate beef if they face legal liability from how customers choose to tweak their property. The DMCA should be repealed/modified to reflect changes in the marketplace.

[Not an Economist]

companies have a legitimate beef if they face legal liability from how customers choose to tweak their property.

I think that is the crux of the matter. The companies are worried that they will have to spend big bucks defending themselves against lawsuits arguing it was the fault of the owner who erased his brake module software and not a poor design on their part. I've read and heard about too many cases where the plaintiff pretty much intentionally hurt themself and still won a big settlement from the company that built the product.

[Puddin' Stick]

Also, you could build two engine "models" with the same hardware ? the only difference is that the software is tuned so that the lower price model has reduced performance.

Car companies are also worried that you could hack the ECU to enable the higher performance version.

[GILMORE]

Yep - there's definitely some of that too.

i'm dont think sure "aftermarket-modding" eating into their product-marketing strategy is as significant as the liability-exposure issue... but its definitely part of it.

This relevant segment Chris Harris @Drive shows that the differences between an Audi S4 and RS4 (the faster, more expensive version) could be more or less obviated by a simple tweak of the ECU.

[kinnath]

I'm tired of seeing this meme all over facebook.

You own your fucking car. The question is whether or not you have the right to read and alter the embedded software that runs in the many computers that make your car work. Under the DCMA, the answer is probably not. Which is just another reason why DCMA is utter bullshit.

But this is a issue that will come to a head very quickly. Car companies (as in most industries) are investing big bucks in software development. Under the current copyright regime, they own the rights to that software until such time as they give it up.

I don't remember reading any EULA agreement when I bought my latest vehicle. So I imagine the car companies are on shaky legal ground with anything already in the field. But you can be certain, there will be legal language in terms and conditions on future sales very shortly. Just like all the bullshit you see when you boot up a new smart phone.

[Invisible Finger]

Your argument bumps into fair use.

As long as I don't tweak and then re-sell copies, I should be able to do whatever I want to with my copy of their software. And I should have no legal restriction from telling people how to tweak just like I did.

The problem is when legislation/regulation of car companies and road use REQUIRES software and on-board computers. If not already, kit cars will be illegal. Hell, air bags and other safety requirements pretty much forces people to pay more for cars than they otherwise would. These are essentially taxation, which is how the poor get poorer.

I don't remember reading any EULA agreement when I bought my latest vehicle.

I bought one last year and there were several EULA's. All of them were in regards to on-board entertainment/smartphone interfaces.

[Brett L]

You know who is fucking crazy about this? The small tractor makers. John Deere has basically told owners it is illegal to mod the electronics/computer. Fuck off, slaver.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I didn't think Deere was doing that on anything that's not "drive-by-wire" like the 9000 series. I hopped in a 6000 series the other day and it looked pretty mechanical in all of the operations (drivetrain and brakes), with the only electronics being for attachments. I don't understand why they's do that with their lower HP machines when NH, AGCO and Kubota offer mechanical tractors already that are pretty reliable in the 50HP and down range.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Deere is crap. I deal with equipment for a living and I can't stand their stuff.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Some is. Some is the tits.

You deal with green or yellow iron?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

That software almost killed me 2 weeks ago. I was on a very bumpy stretch of I-10, and the ECU read the vibrations as engine misfires. It shut down 5 of 6 cylinders while I was in the left lane going 85. I barely made it to the side of the road.

[Rich]

Damn. Are you telling anyone about this besides us?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The dealer knows all about it. They are the ones who figured out what happened. When I had the sudden loss of power, I thought it was the transmission slipping.

[Invisible Finger]

I usually notice ABS to automatically CEASE braking when I hit bad bumps. I'm aware of it now so I can see when I have to basically pump the brakes to override the software default, but most people never had to pump the brakes in a '67 Satellite to get it to brake so they don't even THINK about pumping the brake pedal. And they'll probably wind up dying because of it.

[Emmerson Biggins]

yes. the same way you own those 2 sticks before the estate of Grok Inventor or Fire seeks to claim damages because you are infringing on their "Method to Induce Heat Producing Rapid Oxygination with Friction" patent.

The patent was supposed to only last 17 years, but the keep managing to get extenstions somehow, so you can't really blame IP per se, just our current implementation of it.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Inventor of Fire

[Invisible Finger]

Only if you die from an ignition malfunction.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Kansas City DA says fuck you to Grand Jury that said a cop should face charges for shooting someone in the back.

[Loki]

But now for the really important news: Jeremy Renner called Scarlett Johansson's Avengers character "a slut," because she had multiple love interests. Internet, attack!

Hold on a second. What are his political views? If he's a leftist then I'm sure it was just a tastless joke and everyone should just relax. If he's a conservative or a libertarian, OTOH...

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

But now for the really important news: Jeremy Renner called Scarlett Johansson's Avengers character "a slut," because she had multiple love interests. Internet, attack!

What is this quintessence of dust?

General Betray-us (will that ever get old?) was sentenced to probation for two years and must pay a $100,000 fine.

Tell me where is fancy bred, in the heart or in the head?

Hillary Clinton gave reporters the silent treatment (per usual) regarding her foundation's mysterious finances.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

Here's an in-depth look at Rand Paul's internet presence.

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!

[Rich]

Well done!

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.

[GILMORE]

Jokes die many times before their death

[Crusty Juggler]

*hogs of war.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Looks like dunphy is back on the job.

Protip: when the polie refure to say whether a victim of theirs was armed or not, then its safe to assume that victim was not armed.

[Aloysious]

I, for one, don't miss that guy.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He's been gone for a long time. Somebody decided to troll with the handle a few times.

[Libertymike]

He probably would have liked the take down of Eric Garner. There were a couple of his posts where he praised the technical execution of a cop taking down a mundane.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Gov. Bobby Jindal penned a New York Times op-ed proposing a freedom of conscience bill for religious entities.

It would be nice if just once one of these guys would propose a freedom of conscience for everybody bill.

[Pro Libertate]

That's been my problem all along. Hugh Hewitt was talking about how the RFRA was the only possible argument against the compulsory gay cake/pizza "right," totally dismissing the idea that freedom of association or any other freedom couple possibly come into play.

I so loathe the statist right.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Philly cops living up to their reputation as scumbags.

[Cytotoxic]

Sheldon Richman: neocon plant sent to Reason to discredit its foreign policy stances or honest-to-goodness cunt-faced moron with and odd number of chromosomes?

[Sudden]

I would trust him in charge more than Hillary.

Let that marinate.

[Cytotoxic]

I would rather be set on fire than die of a necrotizing fasciitis infection in my dick. Still avoiding flames.

[Sudden]

Point taken. I also like how Hillary Clinton is now the functional equivalent of a necrotizing fasciitis infection of the penis.

Well played.

[Cytotoxic]

That wasn't even intended on my part but I guess my subconscious works better than I thought.

[lap83]

Hillary has definitely had more practice with her theories and she hasn't found any of them lacking.

[Mazakon]

Can't it be both?

[Cytotoxic]

I like the idea that he's so retarded that he doesn't even know that he's working for and helping the WSJ editorial board who have finagled to have him posted here. It's fitting.

[creech]

Planted when? Back in college in the sixties?

[Free Society]

The Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Loretta Lynch as U.S. Attorney General. Ten Republicans voted for her.

As you can imagine, it was all the shittiest shitbags of the GOP.

Mitch McConnell (Ky.) Orrin Hatch (Utah) Lindsey Graham (S.C.) Jeff Flake (N.M.) Thad Cochran (Miss.) Susan Collins (Maine) Mark Kirk (Ill.) Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) Ron Johnson (Wis.) Rob Portman (Ohio)

[Cytotoxic]

I thought Flake wasn't that shitty?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Flake is a bit, uh, flaky on some issues.

[Cytotoxic]

-_-

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I've already shown myself out.

[Free Society]

I hadn't actually heard of him. But if your on the same shortlist as Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham, you're doing something wrong.

[Rich]

No, shit isn't that flaky.

[C. Anacreon]

Rob Portman should have stayed on "The Daily Show" instead of running for Senate.

[Raven Nation]

If I've got my pols right, he's good on some things but he's a hard-line law-and-order, pro-surveillance guy.

[Sudden]

I would refuse to vote to confirm anyone until this administration brings an indictment for treason against you know who.

[Crusty Juggler]

Sidney Bleumenthal?

[HeteroPatriarch]

Senate Republicans?

[Pro Libertate]

Flake? WTF?

[Arizona_Guy]

Did Flake move?

I liked "congressman Flake". I'm not too sure on "senator Flake."

[Rich]

The Senate voted 56-43 to confirm Loretta Lynch as U.S. Attorney General.

Now we can have the embarassing begin in earnest!

[Cytotoxic]

Bummer from Liberland: "These two things we consider the most important roles of the state," he [Jedli?ka, founder of Liberland] said, adding that drugs will be illegal "to maintain good relations with neighbouring countries."

Still better than anything else and I highly doubt this restriction is going to be strictly enforced in a country with optional taxation.

[Cytotoxic]

Oops. http://www.businessinsider.com.....ven-2015-4

[Free Society]

I want a Liberland passport and the ability to someday relocate there. Once I have actually have money to squirrel away I will...

[Cytotoxic]

You'll have to sneak past Croation border guards because apparently they aren't too keen on letting people in.

[Illocust]

Well lets be honest. If they allowed drugs they'd be either quickly taken over by drug lords looking to export to other countries or killed by other countries' armies who are pissed about the drugs. Its self preservation from other people's drug war.

[Cytotoxic]

Yeah, good thing Mexico's kept drugs illegal or they'd have drug war all over the place killing tons of people!

[Free Society]

The only reason to keep drugs illegal is to not create a casus belli from a drug warring neighbor. The only reason drug lords are drug lords is precisely because their businesses are excluded from the dispute resolution market which is monopolized by the state.

[Robert]

Why does the nx have to confuse me so? Couldn't we change Loretta Lynch's name to something that sounds less like Loretta Lynn's? Couldn't we change The Avengers movie to something that doesn't mix me up w the TV show?

Petraeus, though, that name we keep, it's practically letter perfect.

[Robert]

A Z.Z. von Schneck productionnnn!

[AlmightyJB]

They could change Avengers to The Whore of Babylon

[HeteroPatriarch]

The Whore of Babylon: Age of Ultron

[Robert]

Baby Lon Horiuchi?

[Enough About Palin]

Tracking Hillary Clinton's Use of Every American Accent East of the Mississippi

You have to go to Drudge for the link as the squirrels are rejecting it.

[greasonable (was sthgrau)]

Really?

[AlmightyJB]

Warren running.

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....ng-to-run/

[Crusty Juggler]

Commence Native American jokes!

Rich Woman Who Runs

[Pro Libertate]

You know, why isn't the left clamoring for a Native American candidate? Seriously, they got their token black, but next up in oppression isn't women, it's Indians.

[Cytotoxic]

Citing HotAir with Frum as the source?

[Pro Libertate]

Of course she is. Scandalpalooza made that inevitable. And she'll get annihilated, as we're not quite that fucked up just yet.

[jesse.in.mb]

Noooooooooooooo

[Pro Libertate]

No, this is good. We need the crazies to come out even more openly crazy.

[Aloysious]

Stepping on sarcasmic's toes, but here we go:

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

Anger after white people and men are banned from 'anti-racism' rally at British university by its own student union DIVERSITY OFFICER

fta:Students have hit out after white people were banned from an event supposed to be against racism.

Those studying at Goldsmiths University in south London were invited to the student union event to call on academics to 'diversify the curriculum'.

But many were left shocked when an organiser told white people and men 'not to come', as it was only open to black minority ethnic (BME) women.

[Sudden]

Hillary Clinton is the front runner for president still. And now this....

Seriously guys, this has to be peak derp right?

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Hillary is still front runner because she's got tons of name recognition. Once that evens out, I don't think Hillary even wins the nomination.

[Sudden]

I would seriously vote for a Mao/Pol Pot or even a Huckabee/Santorum ticket if I knew my vote would keep her out of office.

Jesus, I gotta go bathe in HCl now.

[Cytotoxic]

Really? Because I would take her over Warren or even Huckabee and Santorum. I hate her but I still think she'd be better than Obama or those 'people'.

You'll want to bathe in NaOH. The alkalinity will dissolve organics better, including you unfortunately.

[Sudden]

There is something beyond ideology or policy preference at play for me here. What she's done at the State Department and using the Clinton Foundation as a money laundering racket is corruption of the highest magnitude. I said in the previous thread that I don't care if it was a candidate that was a carbon copy of me on every single policy issue and my vote was sure to be the deciding vote cast, this sort of corruption is vile beyond anything I can wrap my head around. It is akin to Caesar crossing the rubicon. Her election after something of this nature is the definitive death of the Republic and every enlightened tenet for which it once stood.

I'm frankly astonished that you of all people here, Cyto, would have a stated preference for her. You take a lot of shit for being more aggressive on foreign policy matters than the libertarian consensus. If anyone would here share my sentiment that selling control of the global supply chain of uranium to the Russians is treason, I figured it to be you.

But hey, if you'd prefer Ethel Rosenberg to asscum, we can trade citizenships. I'll be petitioning every country on this planet for political asylum should she win the election.

[Pan Zagloba]

I'll sponsor your petition!

"Faces relentless railings by a guy from SF if not allowed in, genuine refugee in need"

[Sudden]

He's in Manhattan Beach, southern California. But I'll accept any sponsorship I could get.

[Pan Zagloba]

My bad, I was too lazy to look up, and all of California looks the same to me.

Also, if you can work some kind of trade for Cyto, with supporting documents, your chances will go up considerably!

[Sudden]

Where in Canada are you? I'd say my ideal landing spots in no particular order would be Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver.

[Pan Zagloba]

I'm right in your #3, the cuntiest city in Canada. Best weather by far, though. Also, jobs (NL is slightly improving on that count, at least).

[Sudden]

I'm right in your #3, the cuntiest city in Canada

I've heard horror stories about Toronto actually. I was actually supposed to travel to Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto for work recently, but ended up contracting the research to local Canucks.

Damn Canadians stealing my jobs.

[Pan Zagloba]

Everyone loves to hate Torontonians, and for good reason. But they're just arrogant jerks (basically a whole city of Cytotoxics, if you can imagine that).

Vancouver is less evil and self-confident, more of a slimy, phlegmy sort of shittiness. For example, when last year Seattle started doing well in playoffs, city that never cared about NFL before started noticing and cheering. So this year, full press - shirts, pictures, full bars showing the games and more whining about Tom Brady than Reason boards. They call themselves 12 North, for fuck's sake!

[Rhywun]

I've always liked Toronto. Then again, I do live in NYC.

[Cytotoxic]

I didn't know Toronto was so awesome!

You forgot the time Vantards rioted and trashed their city over the Canucks.

[Cytotoxic]

Best weather by far, though.

Maybe if you have gills.

Also, jobs (NL is slightly improving on that count, at least).

Sure if you hate being employed.

Calgary kicks Van's ass in weather, cost of living, and jobs and everything else.

[jesse.in.mb]

"relentless" is such a harsh word...

[Pan Zagloba]

Harsh, accurate word...

[Sudden]

I think he was hyperbolizing to assist me with my asylum application. You've been positively polite about the whole situation and I bet you'd be a gentle giver. I just don't think the Canadians would let me in merely for fear of Hillary.

[Cytotoxic]

I understand where you're coming from completely. I'm just more scared of those who sincerely believe their evil ideas than corrupt politicos. I think she could do the right thing for the wrong reasons whereas the others we've mentioned just do the wrong thing.

Where in Canada are you? I'd say my ideal landing spots in no particular order would be Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver.

The only thing those places have is unemployed drunks (Nova/NFL) and high costs of living in an overrated city (Van). Go to Kelowna or better yet Calgary! You'll be close to me.

[Sudden]

Many of the best Canadians I've met personally have been from Calgary or the larger Alberta province. That said, climate and geography wise Nova/NFL seem right up my alley. Plus not working and being drunk all the time sounds kinda like the dream life.

[Cytotoxic]

You like mounds and mounds of snow?

[Sudden]

Is this a cocaine reference?

[Cytotoxic]

No. They get crazy snowstorms there.

[Sudden]

I'm just more scared of those who sincerely believe their evil ideas than corrupt politicos.

I used to feel the same way, far more scared of the true believer than the craven power seeker. But the Hillary/Warren dichotomy forced me to re-examine that. Also, look at it from the perspective of the Soviet Union: who was worse, Stalin (corruption and powerlust) or Lenin (true believer)? I think Stalin wins that by a mile, even if he was right for the wrong reasons with Hitler (though noting at first he was wrong and allied with Hitler).

[Cytotoxic]

Are you sure Stalin wasn't a true believer? Pretty sure he got where he was with the state Lenin built anyway.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Stalin was definitely not a true believer, though he could do a perfect impression of one. His signature play was to be more Leninist than Lenin while channeling his inner Peter the Great. If Lenin had lived another year or two Stalin probably would have been purged, as Lenin was very aware of the danger posed by Stalin's growing power.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not sure she'll even make it halfway to the nomination. She's got a lot of real problems, with more to come.

[Sudden]

Cannot wait for Schweitzer's book now. There is sure to be so much stuff in there that makes me vomit that I'm positive I'll die of dehydration before completing the fifth chapter.

[Aloysious]

fta cont'd:The University's student union Welfare and Diversity Officer, Bahar Mustafa wrote on Facebook: 'Invite loads of BME Women and non-binary people!!

'Also, if you've been invited and you're a man and/or white PLEASE DON'T COME just cos (sic) i invited a bunch of people and hope you will be responsible enough to respect this is a BME Women and non-binary event only.'

'Non-binary' is a term used to describe people who do not consider themselves exclusively male or female.

My response to this is to laugh, preferably in the face of people like Bahar Mustafa

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"if you've been invited and you're a man and/or white PLEASE DON'T COME"

So...only come if you *haven't* been invited?

Me and my buddies will be right over!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

It's harder to get your full hate on when the target is in the room.

[Sudden]

Toni Morrison was hoping for lots of white teenagers to get shot for violating this policy.

[Rich]

black minority ethnic (BME)

Yeah, I suppose it couldn't be just "black minority".

[Drake]

Look out for the BM's!

[Pan Zagloba]

In UK? Call a Pakistani "Black" and you are gonna get Lee Rigby treatment.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Goldsmiths University

I take it Jooz were still welcome?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Goldsmiths weren't Joos, they were simply early bankers.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Palestinian university students declare that Israel celebration makes them feel unsafe.

[Aloysious]

My first thought was that this was another Sheldon Richman column.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Paying taxes makes me feel unsafe. Can I get out of those?

[Warty]

The spawn sits unaided now. Your doom approaches.

[GILMORE]

I wondered for a second if this was a shakespeare quote, or death metal, or both.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

How long until Vigo takes over the world?

[Brett L]

Doom yes, ours no. Someday in about 6-8 months you'll recall this is the best of times. She sits, but does not move very far or fast. I have a running 16 month old. And hes low to the ground so he changes direction quickly for being uncoordinated.

[Cytotoxic]

Member of Syria's FSA sends letter to Israel expressing hope that they will celebrate Israel's next independence day at the Israeli embassy in Damascus. Sheldon Richman reported to join Hezbollah in response.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-Ea.....cus-399005

[Pan Zagloba]

Proof! Proof that ISIS is a Zionist Conspiracy!

Oh you better bet there'll be a Richman article about this, how US should support Iranian liberation of Syria from these puppets of imperialism.

[GILMORE]

Yeah, but when you compare contrast politicians abroad with our own domestic politicians...

e.g. "businesses don't create jobs", or "guam might tip over"...

...you realize that they're just as stupid and dishonest in the same way, just for different reasons.

[GILMORE]

For Warty

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Not even one cat got hurt. Lame.

[Enough About Palin]

China to crack down on strippers at rural funerals

http://www.startribune.com/world/301057961.html

[GILMORE]

Your linking skills leave much to be desired

[Steve G]

That stripping needs moar ...stripping...

[Emmerson Biggins]

Yep. You know that old saying, about how you haven't really been to a party til you've been to a Redneck Chineese Stripper Funeral Party.

[Stormy Dragon]

The Libertarian Momment

Latest poll results put Paul behind Bush, Cruz, Walker, and Rubio among Republican voters.

Among tea party voters, Paul does worse than he does among Republicans in general, losing to Cruz, Rubio, and tying HUCKABEE.

When asked what candidate they "would definitely not support", Paul comes in third, behind only Bush and Christie.

[C. Anacreon]

This doesn't surprise me. The folks who just barely pay attention have been told that Paul is "crazy" and they've bought it. I've had people who I otherwise like tell me that Paul is crazy, and then get pissed when I ask them to give an example, because "everyone knows he's crazy."

I don't recall ever seeing such a major smear campaign start against a candidate 18 months ahead of an election. Some of the powerful really were frightened by him, and are doing all they can to make him a non-factor. Unfortunately, it looks like they are winning.

[GILMORE]

Have you ever compared these polls over time?

[Andrew S.]

Rep. Steve King (R(etarded)-Iowa), pissed off that everybody thinks Peter King is the worst person with the surname King in Congress, decides to try to one-up his counterpart with a bill that would strip the federal courts of jurisdiction in gay marriage cases. It won't pass, it won't even get to the floor, and he's going to give Team Blue a fuckload of ammunition.

It ain't called the stupid party for nothing, ladies and gentlemen.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I dunno - let the state courts decide these cases, and let the voters decide if they like the judges' decision.

Since the courts have made this a political not a legal issue, it follows that elected, not appointed officials, should be making the decisions on this issue. State court judges are elected, federal judges are appoionted. Ergo, state judges should decide this based on what the voters want.

The reason we have appointed judges is to enforce impartial legal standards without reference to public opinion. Obviously, the gay marriage movement has nothing to do with impartial legal standards. The judges are simply courting popular approval. So let them be accountable to the public on this particular issue.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I mean, the public *loves* state-supported SSM, doesn't it? So the polls inform us.

Why would voters object to court decisions in favor of a policy they support?

[Cytotoxic]

Obviously, the gay marriage movement has nothing to do with impartial legal standards. The judges are simply courting popular approval.

Yeah! Beg that question!

Better idea: 1) protect my individual rights, popular opinion be damned and 2) NEVER ELECT JUDGES

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The Republic survived for years without judges or anyone else being aware that government-recognized SSM was an individual right.

Now the matter is being introduced into the realm of public policy debate. Let the issue be decided like any other public-policy matter - by elected officials.

On the other hand, the Republic has always recognized certain constitutional standards existing independent of public opinion - free press, right to bear arms, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, etc. Here, judges should act as a backstop to prevent these rights from being diluted, in case an unfortunate lapse in public support for civil liberties leads to violation of these recognized rights.

[Cytotoxic]

The Republic survived for years without judges or anyone else being aware that government-recognized SSM was an individual right.

So what?

Now the matter is being introduced into the realm of public policy debate. Let the issue be decided like any other public-policy matter - by elected officials.

No. Protect my individual rights. Take your 'democracy' crap elsewhere.

Here, judges should act as a backstop to prevent these rights from being diluted, in case an unfortunate lapse in public support for civil liberties leads to violation of these recognized rights.

And you divinated this magical line from...what again? The Holy Word of your cult leader? Sure isn't the constitution.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Wow, did you just say that "free press, right to bear arms, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures" aren't in the Constitution?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And that govt-recognized SSM is *in* the Constitution?

Where was it hiding all this time?

[Cytotoxic]

The 14A.

[Cytotoxic]

No I didn't but you implied that equal protection under the law ie the 14a isn't.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

So govt-recognized SSM has been hiding in the couch cushions of the 14th amendment for about a century (1868-1968), and nobody found it - nobody was even looking for it?

[Cytotoxic]

Yup.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

So, like Hilkiah the High Priest, you were doing some construction work on the Temple, and discovered an old Book of the Law? (2 Kings 22)

If you read that in the Bible, you'd laugh at the gullibility of the people and say the high priest was imposing on them.

But if our secular high priests suddenly say, "we discovered a long-established constitutional right!" you believe them.

[Cytotoxic]

No I came to that conclusion without the help of judges. You're projecting your own need for guidance onto me.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I said you believe the secular high priests rather than scoff at them, which would be a more appropriate reaction. I'm sure you came to your own independent conclusion that the judges had found a long-lost constitutional right in the 14th Amendment. I'm just suggesting you and the judges are wrong.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

No need to discover any right Eddie, the right to equal protection of the law has been there for over 100 years.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Just waiting to be discovered by people with greater perception than John Bingham, Charles Sumner, and other idiots who missed SSM in the amendment they were adopting in 1868.

[Free Society]

I don't think you understand how rights work if you think it's a thing the government gave us.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

*facepalm*

Yes, *I'm* the legal positivist.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Notorious G.K.C.|4.23.15 @ 6:54PM|#

So govt-recognized SSM has been hiding in the couch cushions of the 14th amendment for about a century (1868-1968), and nobody found it - nobody was even looking for it?

reply to this
Cytotoxic|4.23.15 @ 6:56PM|#

Yup.

[Free Society]

*sarcastic facepalm* I was talking to Bo who wrote;

No need to discover any right Eddie, the right to equal protection of the law has been there for over 100 years.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Oops, I'm sorry for the confusion. I *may* be a tad defensive, I apologize.

[Free Society]

no worries. the threading on Reason is not particularly bueno.

[Free Society]

Now the matter is being introduced into the realm of public policy debate. Let the issue be decided like any other public-policy matter - by elected officials.

Because they've been doing just so well for so long.

[Free Society]

threading fail

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And the federal judges have been doing so well enforcing the Constitution.

[Free Society]

You'll get no argument from me there. Government judges are government people.

[Cytotoxic]

They are infinitely better than the pols elected by the idiot masses.

[Free Society]

And now we've come back full circle.

[Libertymike]

They are? They tend to be more the public sector lifers than the pols.

[Fist of Etiquette]

So as I sit here watching Escape from New York, I wonder if there were any popular films set in a future that correctly anticipated the fall of the Soviet Union.

[Brett L]

I just watched Rambo III. Its fun to imagine that the little kid grew up to be a warlord who fought with the US in 2002.

[GILMORE]

That was the winner of the "highest solo-kill death-count" action-movie contest I held with my friends in the 1980s.

Although these experts* rank some others higher, they are actually counting "total kills" and not individual achievement.

Over 70+, you're in league with the best of the best, and Rambo III brings in a respectable 72 personals, which is John Woo-level-respectable

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

And yes.

[GILMORE]

Lots

http://arstechnica.com/securit.....ew-how-to/

[kinnath]

Many. Traction control systems use computers to brake each wheel independently whether or not you have your foot on the brake.

[Jerry on the sea]

If you can make a coding mistake that causes brakes to malfunction there is something wrong with the whole system itself.

[Mad Scientist]

The brakes are still a hydraulic system, activated by the brake pedal, in every new car I can think of. You could certainly make a coding mistake that doesn't activate the brakes autonomously (ABS for example), but I can't think of any way you could cause the system to fail in such a way that the driver couldn't apply the brakes at all.

[kinnath]

But the computer can control the hydraulics to each wheel. This means that it can apply the brakes when your foot is on the gas to prevent the wheels from slipping. It also means the computer can release the pressure on the brakes while you are braking to prevent the wheels from locking up on ice.

The question is what the failure modes analysis of the system looks like. The two modes of concern would be full brakes when you don't want them and no brakes when you do.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Brakes, in most cases are electrically assisted in cars with any type of ABS, and many traction control systems work by modulating brakes.

At the heart of most brake systems, there is still the simple manual system; push hard on the brake pedal, the car will stop.

The real danger in someone hacking the brake system would be in those stability controls.

[Mad Scientist]

They love to say in commercials that your car can change the brake pressure you're applying to optimize braking when you're swerving into a school bus. All that really means is the car cycles the ABS pump. Depending on the model, it may be able to do this independently for each wheel. But it's not releasing the brakes by any means.

[kinnath]

I had a friend that was a safety analysts. He refused to drive any care with ABS when they came out. He had the statistics that said ABS reduced the number of multi-vehicle accidents, but significantly increased the number of single vehicle accidents. His theory was they worked, when they worked. But when they failed, people lost control of their vehicle.

I've never spent any time worrying about it. I figure the odds of being killed by a jackass texting someone were at least a couple of orders of magnitude higher that the ABS killing me.

[GILMORE]

As per my original comment - i'm not saying that cars are robots - but that auto companies increasingly electronically integrate systems to the point where modifications can have dangerously unexpected side effects.

more and more often now when the higher end cars turn all their 'control systems' off, they're notoriously more dangerous and unpredictable. Consequently many are trying to make it harder and harder to make those sorts of adjustments.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Absolutely, and in some cases they're using these advanced controls to hide some inherent design flaws.

[Mad Scientist]

The first ABS systems emphasized stability or maneuverability, but couldn't do both. In other words, you could brake hard, but only in a straight line with the first sort, or you could swerve all over the road, but not get in much braking with the second sort. Those old systems could be outperformed by a competent driver every time, and could potentially make the car perform worse than expected. Modern systems can beat the best drivers in the world in braking performance, and they adapt if you need to swerve. They're quite astounding.

[Invisible Finger]

I had a friend that was a safety analysts. He refused to drive any care with ABS when they came out.

That would be my dad. And he rebuilt several cars from the 30's to the early 70's. Then he stopped. And refused to teach me a damn thing about them unless I had an actual car-won't-run problem. Said it was more trouble than it was worth because you could never fix a modern car properly and economically.

And he was right. And boy did I have fun throwing that back at him 20 years later when he wanted help with a PC problem.

[GILMORE]

" they're using these advanced controls to hide some inherent design flaws.'

Right. more often now, they can "fix" some of the odd behaviors of a sub-par chassis/suspension with electronic controls of the powertrain and brakes...effectively trying to 'dial out' things like snap oversteer by preventing the car from getting into those situations.

When you bypass those things, you suddenly have a barebones "car" that was never meant to be driven in its "untweaked" state.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Modern systems can beat the best drivers in the world in braking performance, and they adapt if you need to swerve. They're quite astounding.

Yeah, this is a load of shit. They come close, but they can't beat the best drivers in the world. That's been tested a lot and never been true.

[Mad Scientist]

Formula 1 banned ABS (along with a bunch of other electronic driver aids) way back in 1994. They didn't have it on the cars just for giggles. They had it because when a driver got into trouble it did a better job than the driver could. If your position is that a good driver can threshold brake better than an ABS system can, I'd agree with that, but that's not what ABS is there for. It's there to keep the wheels from locking after the driver exceeds the available traction.

[DaveSs]

Modern engines aren't so bad.

I'd rather work on an engine from the 2000s on than anything from the 80s.

True they aren't as simple as the engines from before the mid 70s, but any mechanical problem on a modern engine is not beyond the abilities of anyone who understands how a 4 stroke engine works. Most of the electronic stuff is also well within the capabilities of the DIYer with a code reader, multimeter and a test light, provided you can get your hands on a technical manual.

Not quite as good as having a the OEM scan tools, but still doable.

If you own a VW/Audi, you can get VCDS and gain access to almost everything the OEM scanners will tell you.