EPA to Claim More Waterways, Japan Mulls 'Hate Speech' Ban, Your Cable Service Is About to Get Worse: A.M. Links

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  Roadsidepictures/Flickr

  New EPA rules this week will deem a whole lot more streams, tributaries, and wetlands as protected wildlife and water habitats.

• The Justice Department reached a settlement with the city of Cleveland concerning its pattern of unconstitutional and excessively forceful policing; details have yet to be released.
• Charter Communications Inc., America's fourth-largest cable company, has reached an agreement to buy the country's second-largest cable company, Time Warner Cable, for $56.7 million billion. 
• Japan is considering a bill to ban "hate speech." 
• A leaked Council of the European Union document shows plans to thwart the U.K. from directing mobile and internet providers to automatically block porn. 
• Yet more evidence linking diabetes to later development of Alzheimer's disease. 
• A bunch of printouts of other people's Instagram photos sold for $90,000 apiece. 
• RIP John Nash.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

A bunch of printouts of other people's Instagram photos sold for $90,000 apiece.

Everyone is out of printer ink and this is cheaper.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

Lost in the shuffle this greeting I'm sure.

[Charles Easterly]

Bonjour!

[gaoxiaen]

I hope the guy signed his name. It would be terrible to get a fake poster.

[Slammer]

The Justice Department reached a settlement with the city of Cleveland concerning its pattern of unconstitutional and excessively forceful policing; details have yet to be released.

They'll let everyome down

[Charles Easterly]

Nice.

[Lord Humungus]

Forget karaoke: Sketching nude models is the hot new thing in English pubs

We have all come to the bar to do life drawing. No experience or commitment necessary ? just a modest fee of five pounds (roughly $8), which includes pencils and paper. Drinks are extra. Dan Whiteson, the 26-year-old running the show, announces that the model is running late. The leggy brunette sitting next to me volunteers to shed her clothes. Applause erupts. On to the nudity, drawing and drinking.

Move over trivia night. The fashionable way to hang out in a London pub these days is with a pencil in one hand, a pint in the other and a naked person posing a few feet in front of you. From Clapham in the city's south end to Finsbury Park in the north, a growing number of bars attract customers during the week with life drawing classes.

[Atanarjuat]

Drinking and drawing, knowing damn well I can't go...

Link to the Waylon Jennings song rejected by sqwerlz.

[Ted S.]

Uh, this involves seeing naked British people?

[Brett L]

Presumably you can pay extra for a yong woman immigrant.

[Monty Crisco]

But only if they have been groomed by a Pakistani immigrant previously...

[Pro Libertate]

Interesting. How much for lap modeling?

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

The fashionable way to hang out in a London pub these days is with a pencil in one hand

Is that a pencil, or are you just glad to see me?

[R C Dean]

Genius. And, in a civilized country, probably impossible to outlaw as an exercise of freedom of expression.

[Fist of Etiquette]

New EPA rules this week will deem a whole lot more streams, tributaries, and wetlands as protected wildlife and water habitats.

Kind of a slap in the face to Texas and Oklahoma right now.

[Atanarjuat]

Hunting deer in the King's forest!

[Monty Crisco]

The EPA has got to be the embodiment of all the worst traits of a typical government agency - mission creep, overbroad regulations, attempted appropriation of bureaucratic power completely unrelated to it original purview, constantly growing budgetary appetite.
Christ, who invented this mostrosity and is there ANY agency worse (with the exception of the IRS, DEA, ATF, FBI and , um, ....)

[Bo Cara Esq.]

DOD

[Monty Crisco]

Stuff it, commie.

[Griffin3]

No, no. It's a good cop. However much you want to bomb or destroy whatever, you cannot argue that we get $495.6 billion worth of ANYTHING from the DoD. The amount of useless, self-important paper pushing in any part of the non-active military is just obscene. Might be same otherwhere; I've just personally watched multi-millions of dollars spent on training software that were entirely duplicated, not used, obsolete before implemented, or just plain screwed up. And that was because it WAS contracted out: it would have cost more done in-house.

[Drake]

How would our Army fight without 700k full-time, pension eligible, civilians backing them?

[NotAnotherSkippy]

You spend nearly as much every year on medicaid. The latest round of ozone regs from EPA will cost 10-20% of the defense budget. Total regulation costs about $2TT. Defense is a pittance compared to the regulatory redistributionst state.

[Zeb]

Yeah. Change it back to the Department of War and run it with a skeleton crew when there isn't a war on.

[tarran]

I would put the FDA in the same boat as the EPA. I think the FDA has killed more human beings than the number of dead if one were to sum the body count of every masturbatory fantasy of each and every EPA apparatchik over a five year period.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Christ, who invented this mostrosity

Nixon

[Monty Crisco]

Yeah, one more thing he should answer for...

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Japan is considering a bill to ban "hate speech."

And the SJWs will then say, as they do with socialized medicine, "why can't we do what every other 'civilized' nation does"?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

We're on our way to considering criticism of politicians as 'hate speech'.

So get your hate licks in while you can still get them!

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

*extends middle fingers toward all politicians of the world*

FUCK OFF, SLAVERS!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

First, it would create a third-party panel of experts to investigate claims of hate speech against the city's residents. If the claims are considered legitimate, the city would make public the names of individuals or groups engaged in such acts.

SJW community organizers just creamed their pants thinking about that

[Zeb]

It's possible to be too civilized.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

But only for a little while, because, soon, the savages will eat you.

[Zeb]

Or say mean things.

[Mike Laursen]

I don't suppose this means they'll stop calling all of us, gaijin.

[Slammer]

Vox: It's time we have a holiday to honor those who try to stop wars too

Why say stop wars too? We have holidays for war starters?

[UnCivilServant]

Hadn't you noticed the parade last Bonaparte Day?

[Princess Trigger]

President's Day?

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Zing!

[WTF]

So, Vox thinks Neville Chamberlain Day would be a hit?

[Monty Crisco]

DIRECT HIT!!

*tips top hat to WTF, adjusts monocle*

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm sure Vox is reworking the Chamberlain narrative as we speak!

[Drake]

Do we have to slide over to alternative universes to see which wars were actually stopped?

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Ghandi arguably stopped a war. So,did Mandela and de Klerk.

[Pro Libertate]

It's Gandhi Day, dammit.

[R C Dean]

More like, Ghandi transposed one "war" (the ethnic cleansings attendant on the division of India into Muslim and Hindu states) for another (a war of independence from England).

[Azathoth!!]

We have two, Veteran's/Armistice Day and Memorial Day.

Soldiers try to stop wars. Politicians start them.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Fun fact: the Justice Department has investigated and forced these settlement consent decrees from more police departments since 2010 than in the other decade and a half before 2010.

[Agammamon]

Except these settlements are *worthless*.

Its the same mechanic as when a private citizen sues - the police agency pays some money, sometimes has to agree to 'reform' in some way.

And, once the check is cashed, they go back to business as usual.

Except here the money is being pulled from the taxpayers and paid to the federal government.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Seattle "settled" and so did Oakland. They've sat on the settlement for years and have not implemented any changes in their UOF policies or their practical application. These settlements are window dressing on the Obama DOJ's expansion of the police state.

[Root Boy]

Michelle was telling Oberlin grads that they should work to change the Criminal Justice System once they graduate.

Funny, I don't think she mentioned who the highest law enforcement officer in the land is, did she?

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Something something obstructionists.

[Root Boy]

I guess that is the go to excuse even when they had 100% control and a pen and a phone for the rest of the time, right?

[Lord Humungus]

Putin Burns His Dead to Hide Ukraine Aggression

Russia is so desperate to hide its military involvement in Ukraine that it has brought in mobile crematoriums to destroy the bodies of its war dead, say U.S. lawmakers who traveled to the war-torn country this spring.

The U.S. and NATO have long maintained that thousands of Russian troops are fighting alongside separatists inside eastern Ukraine, and that the Russian government is obscuring not only the presence but also the deaths of its soldiers there. In March, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow told a conference, "Russian leaders are less and less able to conceal the fact that Russian soldiers are fighting -- and dying -- in large numbers in eastern Ukraine."

[Monty Crisco]

Well, that's a new and vile thing that I hadn't soiled my consciousness with before... THANKS FOR THE NUTPUNCH!!!

*shakes fist*

[Old Man With Candy]

"I'm not dead yet."

[WTF]

"You're not fooling anyone, you know."

[Charles Easterly]

"I feel happy."

[Old Man With Candy]

"I think I'll go for a walk."

[Slammer]

*MALLET WHACK*

[db]

Yeah, so, about those mobile crematoria. Where can FEMA get some?

[Elspeth Flashman]

I'd guess there's a new business line out there. Just disguise yourself as a mobile shredding unit.
Seriously though, this is very very sad.

[Zeb]

Every new Walmart is being built with a crematorium. True story.

[Fabi]

Drive-thru?

[l0b0t]

Haven't we heard stuff like this before?

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

[Pro Libertate]

I was thinking the same thing. Back to the traditional methods, I guess.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Wow. That's Stalin Era type shenanigans.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A leaked Council of the European Union document shows plans to thwart the U.K. from directing mobile and internet providers to automatically block porn.

A list of proxy servers?

[Lord Humungus]

A Methodist Boycott of the Holocaust Museum?

Recently a longtime United Methodist official, lamenting that Israel's Independence Day obscured the Palestinian "Nakba" or catastrophe, urged boycotting the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. until the Palestinians have their own Holocaust museum.

[Monty Crisco]

HOLOCAUSTS FOR EVERYBODY!!! ITS ON THE HOUSE!!!

-Courtesy of White Males

[Princess Trigger]

It's not enough to just hold a Holocaust. Anyone can have a Holocaust. My commute to work this morning was a "holocaust".
What you also need is MUSEUM to your own personal holocaust. That validates you feelings.
..
..
All paid for by American tax payers, I assume.

[Charles Easterly]

Not giving is denying. Are you a denier?

[Monty Crisco]

Just like my cell phone bill, these Holocausts just get more and more expensive! Damn, I can barely keep up!!

[Old Man With Candy]

Progs will prog, won't they? There really should be a museum dedicated to the huge tragedy that caused the "Palestinian" Arab population to quadruple in 40 years. As a Holocaust, that seems rather backwards, but what the hell would I know about Holocausts?

[Free Society]

Jordan is Palestine. But it's amazing what a name change will do to change the narrative.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

What's probably going to happen is the progs will twist and ruin the facts of history to the point of not being able to distinguish between fact and myth. They will bleed into one. Once that happens there will be a final 'darkening' (there is possibly a Dark Age of sorts at the moment). The truth will wallow in nothingness awaiting rediscovery by people dusting off books thus ushering in a new Renaissance.

It's one way I see this unfolding.

[Old Man With Candy]

Agreed except for tense. Present, not future.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

And then they're gonna conclude Sadbeard, Krugman, Moore, Capehart, Chait, Marcotte, Dowd, Thinkprogress, Salon, Slate, Daily Kos, Klein, Breunig, etc. were all trolls and thrown into a dustbin containing the forgotten part of our intellectual heritage.

[Root Boy]

They could hold a bloodthirsty Jew cartoon contest at the Nakba museum.....and nothing would happen.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

"Advocacy Coordinator for the Middle East" at United Methodism's General Board of Global Ministries in New York, and "Peace with Justice Associate"

Ha.

Never heard of her, she has no authority over anyone and can piss off.

[Palin's Buttplug]

WASHINGTON ? Ignoring the polls and pundits, former New York Gov. George Pataki plans to announce Thursday that he's joining the crowded Republican field for president.

The three-term governor will unveil his candidacy in Exeter, N.H., ? which claims the birthplace of the Republican Party ? and join a group of contenders who are inching toward the 20 mark

http://nypost.com/2015/05/25/g.....-thursday/

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The man who delivered the governorship of NY to the Dems can run against the guy who delivered the governorship of MD to the GOP!

[Xeones]

BBBUUUUUTTTTPPPPLLLLUUUUUUUUGG

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Who would have thought? Statist policies aiming to help women often have exactly the opposite effect!

"these policies often have unintended consequences. They can end up discouraging employers from hiring women in the first place, because they fear women will leave for long periods or use expensive benefits. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05.....0002&abg=0

[Illocust]

Which is why they are trying to push mandatory paternal leave right now. What we've made women more expensive, obviously the solution is to force men to be more expensive too!

[Rhywun]

Mandatory leave for everybody! You breeders shouldn't have all the fun.

[JW]

New EPA rules this week will deem a whole lot more streams, tributaries, and wetlands as protected wildlife and water habitats.

This is keystone of the EPA's new "Without a Paddle" program.

[Lord Humungus]

Almost Half of State Health Insurance Exchanges Are Fighting for Survival

The setbacks are creating fiscal headaches for state officials, just five years after the passage of President Barack Obama's massive health care reform bill.

Many of the exchanges are dealing with rising costs, especially those related to inefficient technology, expensive customer support centers, and unexpectedly low enrollments.

To stave off financial crisis, state officials are considering a number of solutions, such as raising fees on insurers, cost-sharing with other states, and begging state lawmakers for a quick shot of cash. Others are looking at turning over the whole enterprise to the federal exchange HealthCare.gov.

[UnCivilServant]

It's almost as if they've gone into some kind of death spiral. Who could have predicted that?

[tarran]

A system designed to collapse is collapsing. News at 11.

[WTF]

Single payer is the only solution.

[JW]

If it's good enough for sticking buddies with bar tabs, it's good enough for the US health care system.

[Charles Easterly]

Will they provide pencils and paper - and nudes?

[hamilton]

A final solution, if you will.

[tarran]

Which reminds me, I think Slayer wrote the song that captures the attitude of the Obamatrons towards the youth of our society.

[Elspeth Flashman]

You know who else had a final solution?

[Charles Easterly]

Bausch & Lomb?

[WTF]

Albert Einstein?

[Monty Crisco]

THE BLOND BEAST!!!!

[Slammer]

Marduk

[Free Society]

Willy P Hitler

[sloopyinTEXAS]

A dead chemist?

[Xeones]

John Nash?

[Steve G]

Nice (Nash)

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Xerox?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Fermat?

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Excellent!

[Entropy Void]

Herr A. Schickelgruber of Austria.

[straffinrun]

It's kind of hard to go bankrupt when you got the guns and a captive pool of marks.

[MJGreen]

and begging state lawmakers for a quick shot of cash.

Just one more hit, man, and everything will be fine!

[Lord Humungus]

Man Banished From Wal-Mart For Taking Pictures Of Female Customer's Feet

Norristown law enforcement officers were called to the Trooper Road Wal-Mart to confront a man who was asking female customers in the store if he could take pictures of their feet, according to police.

A Wal-Mart employee said he followed the suspect and watched him later photographing the feet of women in the store without their permission, police said.

Police checked the man's phone and found several pictures of feet, confirming their suspicions, according to their report.

[WTF]

This is illegal, somehow?

[Slammer]

Sexy painted toes in sexy shoes have a right to privacy in public

[Charles Easterly]

"This is illegal, somehow?"

They thought he was an unlicensed podiatrist.

Now that he's unavailable we'll have to get the Pikey.

[straffinrun]

*Trooper Road? Hope it's paved with what it's named after.

[l0b0t]

Why, oh why do you hate the cavalry so?

[db]

Charter Communications Inc., America's fourth-largest cable company, has reached an agreement to buy the country's second-largest cable company, Time Warner Cable, for $56.7 million.

Sounds like an incredible bargain.

[Rhywun]

I wouldn't pay any more than that.

[Ted S.]

Ah, those wacky Kiwis:

Rogue seal rounded up from car wash

The infamous Papakura seal has been removed from the car wash where it has been languishing and napping for most of the day.

Auckland Zoo and Department of Conservation staff moved the seal onto a truck and are now heading to a remote beach near Waiuku to re-release it.

Via a parody Twitter account the "seal" posted a message to its fans and followers.

The link includes photos.

[Atanarjuat]

The Caribbean Monk Seal being hunted to extinction has undoubtedly robbed us of many great Florida Man/seal stories.

[db]

LOOK OUT FOR LOOSE SEAL!

[PBR Streetgang]

Loose seal picked a fine time to leave

[hamilton]

Paging switzy.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

*narrows gaze*

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Penguin is driving his car to Vegas, and has transmission problem.

Mechanic says "Looks like you blew a seal."

Penguin:"No, just ate some ice-cream."

[Agammamon]

-1 hand.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No one clubbed it?

[R C Dean]

Oh, you're supposed to club seals?

I thought it was scrub. Hence the car wash.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

*applause*

[Steve G]

Mechanic: It looks like you blew a seal
Penguin: It's ice cream, I swear!!

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Dammit!

Sick minds think alike.

[Lord Humungus]

Carmakers' automated dilemma: How to keep drivers from feeling robotic

Industry officials acknowledge that self-driving cars may never be universally accepted by drivers, especially those who value being in control of their car. In the self-driving mode of Mercedes' F 015 concept car, for instance, passengers can't steer or brake and can use a touch-screen to request the car to speed up or slow down ? but only if the car thinks that's a good idea.

But engineers have made efforts to make the driverless technology act more familiar and human. In some earlier Volvos, for instance, the automatic brakes allowed such a wide and safe distance from the car ahead that the feature annoyed many drivers, who ended up disengaging it altogether.

The updated feature stops the car far closer, Volvo technology spokesman Jim Nichols said, in hopes that "the driver doesn't have the desire to turn the feature off."

[robc]

Why would I want my driverless car to be more familiar? I went to sleep, read, drink, and surf the internet.

[Illocust]

You don't, but the car industry has to convince all the car enthusiast to drive this things too. I imagine that they'll make two classes of cars in the future "driverless" and "classic". Driverless will be what you and I want, and classic will be a car that 'helps' the driver in the least noticeable ways possible.

[SIV]

All the car enthusiast mags/websites are pushing the PoS Golf GTI where you can't even turn the traction and stability control off (cool plaid seats! Audi quality interior! Automatic transmission that shifts faster than you can!). It performs poorly in comparison to competing models where "driver assists" can be fully disabled.

[Rasilio]

Yep and the problem there is that the first editions of automated cars will be very expensive and car enthusiasts are the overwhelming majority of those who buy expensive cars

[SugarFree]

There's no way driverless cars will do the one thing people want them to do, take you home after a night of drinking. The driver seat occupant will have to be sober in order to take over the car "in case of emergencies."

I bet "sleep, read, drink, and surf the internet" will be covered under that excuse as well.

[JW]

"Illegal road head detected. Diverting to nearest police station."

[Root Boy]

More likely it will detect speeding and ask you to insert your CC to pay the fine before the car moves.

Plus it will send milage telemetry to the state so you can be taxed since gas taxes ain't making enough vig for the bureaucrats to feast upon.

[Zeb]

Yeah, that is one of the reasons I'm not excited about driverless cars. You can also be sure of onerous regulations on how the cars are serviced and inspected. Your driverless car will be yours in name only.

Maybe I'm overly pessimistic (I also prefer driving to being a passenger). But it seems to me that cars are one thing where you currently have a lot of freedom. You can fix your own car, modify it, drive when and where you want to. I don't see driverless cars really expanding anyone's freedom. Of course that's not the only good in the world, but it's the one I worry about most. We shall see.

[The Last American Hero]

How about the freedom to go out with your buddies or your SO and not have to worry about who's got to drive home?

[Suthenboy]

I want a flying car that drives itself 100%, unless I want to wander around at will in which case I can disengage and take control.

Same thing for a land sled.

Why does it have to be just one way or the other?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Busting the pernicious myth of the hero cop

"The hero cop narrative is also belied by the facts. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, police work does not crack the top-10 list of most dangerous jobs. Loggers have a fatality rate 11 times higher than cops, and sanitation workers die in the line of duty at twice the rate that police do."

http://www.slate.com/articles/.....about.html

[Rasilio]

yeah but since we are talking about being a hero even just mentioning all fatalities is overblowing things. The overwhelming majority of police killed in the line of duty are killed in car crashes. Last I checked we don't consider truck drivers heroes for the risks they take.

If you limit the numbers of officer deaths to just those who were killed by violence police as a group have a homocide victimization rate of something like 9 per 100,000 in the last decade. Compare that the the murder rate for any major city and it becomes clear that the job is not dangerous.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A policy that encourages preemptively hurting others to protect your own safety? That's what I call heroic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

A policy that encourages preemptively hurting others to protect your own safety? That's what I call heroic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

(I sneezed.)

[Lord Humungus]

Spiders use music to woo partners

Spiders create music to attract their partners, scientists have revealed.

By using leaves to transmit vibrations, the spiders create sounds to serenade females.

A team of scientists set up a small recording studio to capture the sounds made by the spiders when they were on different surfaces.

They discovered the spiders' courting ritual also involved creating vibrations by using a surface, like a leaf, to project the noise.

[Ted S.]

Those spiders are giving me excitations.

[WTF]

They're sending out good vibrations.

[Charles Easterly]

Good vibrations.

[Lord Humungus]

something good something vibrations?

[Xeones]

[theremin sounds] ??

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Justice Department reached a settlement with the city of Cleveland concerning its pattern of unconstitutional and excessively forceful policing...

If only there were consequences to violating the law of the land beyond simply being asked to stop.

[JW]

"Don't make me turn this department around!"

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This is better than nothing. When we go back to a GOP President, unless it's Rand Paul, you can expect even these actions to go away.

[Roger the Shrubber]

I don't know. Is it better to acknowledge a problem and then propose government spending on things that fail to even tangentially address it, or just ignore the problem? I'm having trouble understanding why you think one is so muck preferable than the other.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Until there are criminal prosecutions, I will not take them seriously.

If there are enough violations to the constitution in a police department for the Feds to step I. And force a "settlement," why the fuck have there been no prosecutions for the violations? None. They just call it an "institutional problem" when it's Union cops.

Try calling campus rape an "institutional problem" and forcing universities to change policies without ever prosecuting a single perpetrator of a rape. See how far that bullshit flies.

[Root Boy]

What do you say about Baltimore which has had Democratic control for decades?

[R C Dean]

This is better than nothing.

Pretending to solve a problem, while actually changing nothing, is probably not better than nothing. Its probably worse, in fact.

[Lord Humungus]

China's top banking regulator warns of rising bad loans, credit risk - sources

China's top banking regulator warned of rising credit risk from real estate, local government debt and unconventional forms of finance, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters, highlighting Beijing's struggles to prevent risky debt from engulfing a stuttering economy.

The sources cited a speech given by Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), during a teleconference in early May.

The amount of non-performing loans in the first quarter has already reached 56 percent of the total amount last year, Shang said, according to the sources. Unconventional forms of credit - which usually refers to instruments like entrusted loans and letters of credit - were also on the rise, he said.

[Palin's Buttplug]

COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT!

[Jordan]

"I see no problem here."

- Janet Yellen and every central banker everywhere, ever

[Xeones]

BBBUUUUUUTTTTPPPPPLLLLUUUUUUUUUUUUUG

[straffinrun]

Krugman of 2001-They need to inflate a housing bubble.

[Rhywun]

The giant ghost-towns weren't enough of a clue that something is amiss?!

[SIV]

"In response to mounting criticism against them, hate speech groups nowadays avoid the use of explicit language, such as 'Kill them!' and 'Expel them!' which they used in the past," Kim said. "They now say things like, 'It's unfair for foreign nationals to receive welfare,' making themselves sound as if they are merely expressing their political beliefs."

Redefining "hate" down.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

And given that a solid 95% of the American public opposes giving welfare to random foreigners, this has the added bonus of making virtually everyone into a hate monger.

[Rich]

'It's unfair for foreign nationals to receive welfare.'

'Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, know what I mean, say no more!'

[Charles Easterly]

"Look, are you trying to insinuate something?"

[Lord Humungus]

I own a few acres further up north on the coast of Lake Michigan. This is the big local story:

Three 14-year-old Hesperia boys face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, rape

Hunter Ward faces charges of conspiracy to commit homicide or first-degree murder; conspiracy to commit kidnapping; conspiracy to commit first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC); and two counts of receiving and concealing weapons. Branden Donald Dennis faces charges of conspiracy to commit homicide or first-degree murder; conspiracy to commit kidnapping; and conspiracy to commit first-degree CSC.

The boy who was transferred back to juvenile court faces the same three conspiracy charges.

All of the conspiracy charges carry maximum life sentences, and the weapons charges carry a 10-year maximum penalty.

"It appears there was a sleepover," Bizon said, when the boys "concocted a plan to do something to a 14-year-old girl." The plan was never carried out, he said, and the victim was never harmed. They went to the victim's house in the middle of the night last February, Bizon said, but they became "frustrated by her family dog."

[Old Man With Candy]

They went to the victim's house in the middle of the night last February, Bizon said, but they became "frustrated by her family dog."

There's a few things that need explaining to them. Those boys just ain't right.

[tarran]

It happens more often than one would think.

A Grey Wolves gunman once came to our house intending to assassinate my father, and was sent packing by our very determined half-Beagle family dog/scourge of our enemies.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Good dog!

*pats head*

[Mickey Rat]

So there was no victim. There was an intended victim who was prevented from becoming a victim by a good and loyal dog.

[Monty Crisco]

WTF are they going to prosecute them with?!?! Having a lurid fantasy?!? They didn't actually, ya know, DO anything....

[Illocust]

If you come over to my house with an axe determined to chop me up (and are stupid enough to give video or written evidence of said plan), but decide against it when I point my gun at you, there should be a charge of attempted. It shouldn't hold the same sentence, but the fact is you tried to kill me and failed. Even if it was a pathetic attempt.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Conspiracy.

[tarran]

Oh wow! Taking weapons to a girls house is way out of the harmless if creepy fantasy region and firmly in the attempting to commit a serious crime region.

[Monty Crisco]

Attempting to "commit a serious crime"? How? By thinking about it? Hanging around her house?

[tarran]

If they went to her house for the sole purpose of kidnapping her, then it's not hanging around her house is it?

Was the assassin driven off by our dog just "hanging around"?

Regardless of whether you want to jail them over this; something is very wrong with these kids...

[Illocust]

They attempted and were chased off by a dog. If instead of a dumb animal they had been stymied by the girls father pulling a shotgun on them would you be saying the same thing?

[WTF]

Life sentence for going to someone's house, and then doing nothing? Sure, okay.

[Whole Card]

Thoughtcrime.

[The Unnatural]

Except that it wasn't so much that they did nothing as they we stymied in their attempt to possibly do something by an outside force. They didn't just sit out in the woods for a while to feel like they were doing something nefarious and then leave. They arguably would have done much more if not for the dog. That is likely enough for attempt.

And it makes sense why. If instead they have been about to rob a bank and a cop car pulled up out front, so they left, would they be doing "nothing"? If they had gone to this girl's house, but instead of a dog she wasn't home so they left, is that not attempt?

[Monty Crisco]

" If instead they have been about to rob a bank and a cop car pulled up out front, so they left, would they be doing "nothing"?"

Yes. I'm not getting into intentions for people's behaviour. This is where hate -crime legislation gets us and I am sick and tired of trying to parse what is in a person's heart.

Granted they have copped to all of this and they are sick kids, but they didn't DO anything. I have sat in my car outside of a bank with a gun on my person or in the car. I sure as hell wasn't about to rob it.

Thinking that we can successfully establish a Department of Pre-crime is the way to the gallows...

[Ted S.]

Canterbury (NZ) farmer spells drought frustration in sheep

It's dry humour [sic] as sheep alongside State Highway 1 in north Canterbury are spelling out a farmer's drought frustration.

Parnassus farmer Mike Bowler has has been using his feed spreader to spell out short messages which his sheep then highlight in wool.

The article includes a photo. I'll let one of the wags here make the obvious joke.

[Illocust]

Hahaha, gotta give the guys points for creativity.

[Lord Humungus]

Paul Krugman: America's Apple fetish distracts us from what's really wrong with our economy

You see, writing and talking breathlessly about how technology changes everything might seem harmless, but, in practice, it acts as a distraction from more mundane issues ? and an excuse for handling those issues badly. If you go back to the 1930s, you find many influential people saying the same kinds of things such people say nowadays: This isn't really about the business cycle, never mind debates about macroeconomic policy; it's about radical technological change and a work force that lacks the skills to deal with the new era.

And then, thanks to World War II, we finally got the demand boost we needed, and all those supposedly unqualified workers ? not to mention Rosie the Riveter ? turned out to be quite useful in the modern economy, if given a chance.

Of course, there I go, invoking history. Don't I understand that everything is different now? Well, I understand why people like to say that. But that doesn't make it true.

[Ted S.]

And then, thanks to World War II, we finally got the demand boost we needed,

Let's blow Manhattan to smithereens! Instant stimulus!!

[UnCivilServant]

Can we expand the radius a little? Just enough to erase New Amsterdam.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

+1 Alien Invasion

[straffinrun]

WW2 ended the depression? HTF did we lose THAT argument?

[Rasilio]

Well it sort of did but not for the reason that most economists like Krugman claim.

WW2 ended the depression by blasting the economic ability of all of our competition to little bits

[WTF]

Don't I understand that everything is different now? Well, I understand why people like to say that. But that doesn't make it true.

So, I guess the fact that rest of the world had little industrial capacity remaining after WWII had nothing to do with American economic dominance? Okay, Professor Krugnutz.

[Marshall Gill]

And then, thanks to World War II, we finally got the demand boost we needed, and all those supposedly unqualified workers ? not to mention Rosie the Riveter ? turned out to be quite useful in the modern economy, if given a chance.

Science H. Logic, what the fuck? A demand boost? Useful? Over a hundred million people die but Krugabe looks on the bright side?

This is who Paul Krugman IS. The number of deaths necessary to reach Utopia is irrelevant to him, as long as he believes we are on the path. He only differs from innumerable tyrants past in that he lacks the power to accomplish his evil.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The conscience of a liberal.

They unwittingly glorify death.

[Azathoth!!]

The conscience of a liberal.

They glorify death.

FTFY

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Nailed it

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Shouldn't Professor Krugnuts have penned that on Labor Day instead of Memorial Day? That way the labor movements would have something to jerk off to?

[Free Society]

And then, thanks to World War II, we finally got the demand boost we needed, and all those supposedly unqualified workers ? not to mention Rosie the Riveter ? turned out to be quite useful in the modern economy, if given a chance.

Set the formerly unqualified workers to the task of building bombs to blow up humans, their capital goods and their wealth and then it's economic miracle time.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: dumbest things said in court

1. Lawyer: "Now, doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, in most cases he just passes quietly away and doesn't know anything about it until the next morning?"

2. Lawyer: "Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?"
Witness: "All my autopsies have been performed on dead people."

3. Lawyer: "She had three children, right?"
Witness: "Yes."
Lawyer: "How many were boys?"
Witness: "None."
Lawyer: "Were there girls?"

4. Lawyer: "How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?"

5. Lawyer: "What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?"
Witness: "Gucci sweats and Reeboks."

6. Lawyer: Please tell the court in your own words what happened after you and your husband were ejected out of the restaurant.
Witness: Well, we pretty much went straight home.
Lawyer: Remember that you are under oath.
Witness: We drove around until three in the morning looking for another open all- you-can-eat seafood restaurant.
Lawyer: And when you couldn't find one?
Witness: [crying] We... went... fishing.
Lawyer: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, do these sound like the actions of a man whose had ALL he could eat?

[UnCivilServant]

Is this a trick list? These keep popping up on internet joke sites.

[tarran]

I believe 1 is true.

[Derpetologist]

YOU"RE NOT SUPPOSED TO GOOGLE THEM!

I don't know if any of the other 5 were really said, but the Not is definitely from a work of fiction.

[UnCivilServant]

I didn't, they all sparked my memory because I've seen them so many times before.

[Hey Nikki!]

So...they could all be Nots?

[hamilton]

6 is the simpsons

[l0b0t]

+1 ...beast, more stomach than man.

[Dark Lord of the Cis]

6 is from the Simpsons.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

6

Many of the rest are classics from real transcripts.

[WTF]

6

[robc]

#6 is Homer Simpson.

[Catatafish]

6 is Homer Simpson. "Yahr! Tis not a man! Tis a remorseless eating machine!"

[gaoxiaen]

6.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty

1. I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty, and like Him, I love all of humanity.

2. I turned from my wicked ways and embraced Jesus. The next thing I knew, good times had come my way.

3. My message is to get human beings to love God, love their neighbor and for the life of me I just don't see the downside of human beings not being so mean to one another and actually care for one another and not steal from one another and not murder each other for their tennis shoes. That's the message I have.

4. We never, ever judge someone on who's going to heaven, hell. That's the Almighty's job.

5. I have a God-given right to pursue happiness, and happiness to me is killing things, skinning them, plucking them, and then having a good meal. What makes me happy is going out and blowing a duck's head off.

6. What's done in the dark will soon come to light. You can run on for a long time, but sooner or later, God will cut you down.

[UnCivilServant]

I'm thinking 6.

[UnCivilServant]

Unlike the other commenters, I am not well versed in Johnny Cash Lyrics. It did, however, have a markedly different tone from the others - more of a 'fire and brimstone' than 'love thy neighbor'

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

These are too easy if you're going to put Johnny Cash lyrics in them.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

6 again.

It's Johnny Cash.

[Monty Crisco]

Spotted it almost as fast as you.

[WTF]

6

[Andrew S.]

The video for #6 is historically awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJlN9jdQFSc

[PH2050]

My guess is #5

[Derpetologist]

You've been drinking Camo Black, haven't you?

[gaoxiaen]

3. It's the longest one.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Six of the world's biggest banks will pay $5.8 billion and five of them agreed to plead guilty to charges tied to a currency-rigging probe as they seek to wind down almost half a decade of enforcement actions.

Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Barclays Plc and Royal Bank of Scotland Plc agreed to plead guilty to felony charges of conspiring to manipulate the price of U.S. dollars and euros, according to settlements announced by the Justice Department in Washington Wednesday. The main banking unit of UBS Group AG agreed to plead guilty to a wire-fraud charge related to interest-rate manipulation. The Swiss bank, the first to cooperate with antitrust investigators, was granted immunity in the currency probe.

OBAMA SHAKEDOWN!

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Let me see if I understand this: they did nothing more than trade in large enough quantities to impact a nation's currency and they're being punished for it?

Sounds a lot like your here Soros, except these guys are being punished instead of enriched.

[Brett L]

I think they participated in the LIBOR fixing. Not to defend the Plug, but surely the TBTF banks might have engaged in some collusion.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

There's really no way to "fix" LIBOR though. There is an exchange rate both parties agree to. And if there's collusion going on, it,most definitely,is because the Fed and other currencies involved are made by central banks that also establish the benchmark lending ra the that all others are compelled to use in setting theirs.

The only collusion there is that the central banks hold the purse strings and set the rules their customers must play by. And they have the guns of the government making sure the finger is never pointed at them when shit goes sideways.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Since a small cartel of banks make the LIBOR market several traders can collude by withholding end day bids or asks. We're talking small fractions here.

The SFO alleges Hayes was a central figure in a conspiracy with staff from at least 10 banks and brokers to rig Libor, the London interbank offered rate -- an average interest rate used to price an estimated $450 trillion of financial contracts from derivatives to loans for households and individuals worldwide.

http://www.reuters.com/article.....MD20150526

[sloopyinTEXAS]

So a group of people get together and establish a rate at which they will do business? Does that somehow preclude another bank from offering overnight money at a discounted rate, thereby forcing those other banks to either adjust their rate or lose market share?

Also, that definition of the LIBOR conspicuously omits that it is merely a derivative of the discount rate that is established by...[drumroll]...the central fucking bank.

You want to eliminate collusion? Eliminate the central banks and their rate fixing policies.

[Unreconstructed]

The real issue, IIRC, isn't that they "established a rate". The issue is that the LIBOR is supposed to be fixed based on *actual market rate*, and these traders colluded to lie about these rates in ways that profited them.

[Free Society]

Since when did you dislike banking cartels? Without banking cartels, +95% of your favorite government spending wouldn't be possible.

[Xeones]

BBUUUUTTTPPPLLLUUUUUUUUGG

[Palin's Buttplug]

Actually I think what they did was pretty mild. They conspired with the other banks to juice LIBOR at the end of a trading session to make swap contracts pay off.

I just wanted to get the BP "shakedown" reference in.

[Xeones]

BBBUUUUTTPPPLLUUUUGG

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Soros is a financial pirate who profited off the backs of nations in currency misery.

But. You know. Democrat.

[Palin's Buttplug]

So what? Britain fucked up.

Oh, I get it.

TEAM RED!

[sloopyinTEXAS]

No, Team Consistency.

I don't give a shit what Soros did. Just as I don't care what these banks did. What I do care about is that the real rate-fixers in the central banks and regulatory agencies are never held to account for their manipulation.

But you, you asshole. You hold Soros up as a champion of the market yet decry what these bankers did, which is essentially the same thing. You're an unprincipled partisan twat

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's exactly what bothers me. Soros is good at what he does. That's not the point.

Koch this and that.

Yet, they turn a blind eye to Soros.

Of all the fricken people to admire.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Shorting experts like Soros help mitigate the actions of the central banks, you fool.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

By bankrupting entire nations?

Go fuck yourself you moron.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Currency manipulation is still currency manipulation, isn't it?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No. Currency manipulation is a way to nobly 'mitigate' against the actions of banks.

Apparently.

[Xeones]

BUTTPLUG

[Xeones]

BBUUUTTTPPPLLUUUUGGG

[Ted S.]

The Fed can manipulate the currency all it wants, however.

[Xeones]

BBBBUUUUUTTTPPPLLLUUUUUG

[R C Dean]

Yet nobody is going to jail (as far as I can tell), and no companies are being shut down.

The fines are probably less than their profits on the price fixing.

Yeah, what a big win. That'll show those banks.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Read the stupidest shit you'll read all day: http://inthesetimes.com/articl.....-on-cities

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Temp. unavailable.

[Root Boy]

Derp relief.

[CatoTheElder]

I'm somewhat conflicted by the thesis of the article. On one hand, I favor decentralized government. So the the fact that cities can exert regulatory authority within their limited boundaries that the states and feds cannot seems to be a good thing. If one does not the regulatory oppression of municipal government, its pretty easy to evade by moving ... at least it's much easier than when the states and feds do the same thing. I really wouldn't mind it if a majority Amish town had blue laws, or a municipality bans strip clubs, liquor stores, and porn shops. It is almost a certainty that a nearby municipality will supply the market just to get the sales tax revenue. It really is win-win when local communities have broad autonomy and state authority is constrained.

On the other hand, I really hate the way Californian and Yankee immigrants have messed with Texas. Austin has always been Moscow-on-the-Travis, but even Dallas municipal government has acted to prevent new coal-fired power plants and to ban plastic bags. These weren't caused by Hispanic immigrants, who are good neighbors here, but by Californian and Yankee immigrants who have darn-near fatally infected Texas.

[Lord Humungus]

Last night I finally got a chance to watch GoT: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken; the episode featuring the rape of Sana. Based on the reviews and outcry, I was expecting something horrifying... and uh... wait? It's over? *credits roll*

I mean the rape scene in Death Wish or Clock Orange were much more terrible to watch.

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Something, something, the rape was only used to advance the development of Theon/Reek, and therefore something, was unnecessary.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Not to sound like a heartless unsympathetic female libertarian, but yeah I did feel at least as sorry for Theon, as I did for Sansa.

I guess the only reason why to watch this part of the story line at this point is to hope that Ramsey has some comeuppance, somewhere.

But at the same time, I don't have a lot of respect for Sansa. I think she's too weak-willed, and of course she doesn't "deserve" to be treated badly, but she never - hardly ever- takes matters into her own hands and says "enough."

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Iff Sansa had any decency about her, her dad would be alive, Joffrey would have been put in his place in Winterfell, her brother and mother,would still be alive and her sister would still be taking dancing lessons. She's been a gutless turd and has allowed herself to be manipulated all along.

Her other brother,would still be a cripple though.

[Hey Nikki!]

Yeah, like 90% of the bad shit was Sansa's fault from the beginning. I blame Arya for not killing her way sooner.

[Lord Humungus]

there are no female libertarians!

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

They are all Epi's socks.

[MJGreen]

Nothing heartless about that: the point of the scene is that both Sansa and Theon are traumatized that night. But some idiots out there talk as if a scene can't accomplish two things at once, or that Sansa's trauma is so great that Theon's shouldn't even be considered.

And Sansa is being a lot more active. I'm actually offended by all the people complaining that she's now a damsel in distress, because she's never been more active in the entire series. She's doing what she can to hurt and escape Ramsay.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

vide well my little droog. Vide well.

[hamilton]

Trigger Warning: Ke$ha prototype.

[SugarFree]

What a glorious feeling.

[Lord Humungus]

+1 Milk Bar

[Lord Humungus]

*Sansa

[Notorious G.K.C.]

It reminds me of the rape scenes in the Lord of the Rings.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I mean, that evil Ent...wait, maybe that was *Evil Dead.*

[Charles Easterly]

I can understand the confusion, as an Ash is a type of Ent depicted in the Lord of the Rings and Ash is also the guy with the bang stick in the other movies you mentioned.

Shop smart....

[Monty Crisco]

I have it on good authority from sensitive liberal fags that the writers for the show hadn't EARNED that rape scene, and it was therefore gratuitous.

EARN your rape, people. EARN IT

[Certified Public Asskicker]

Baltimore is back to normal

28 Shootings, 9 Fatal, Over Memorial Day Weekend In Baltimore

[mauricegirodias]

Crabtown rules! Ready for the Ravens, hon.

[Rhywun]

Councilmember Mary Pat Clarke links the violence to a city still reeling from weeks of unrest. "It was an earthquake kind of time and i think we're still dealing with the aftershock," she says.

This might be the dumbest thing I read all week.

"Oh, I'm feeling a tremor... time to go out and murder somebody."

[Free Society]

Since the media didn't specify the race of the victims, we ought to conclude they were non-ethnic white devils.

[sarcasmic]

From boho to beach babe! Bella Thorne dons a floaty maxi dress before swapping it for a bikini at Joel Silver's annual party in Malibu

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....alibu.html
Youth is wasted on the young.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

You leave that poor girl alone, Sarcasmic, she is 17 years old!

[sarcasmic]

She's only seventeen...

[Atanarjuat]

Finally, someone with good musical taste.

[sarcasmic]

My sarcometer just exploded.

[sarcasmic]

'Lucky to be free!' Body-confident Lena Dunham shows off her weight loss as she strips down to lingerie in Instagram snap

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-snap.html
Weight loss? Still looks like a cow to me.

[UnCivilServant]

Will you stop reminding me that thing exists? Everytime I successfully forget about it sharing this planet with us, you mention it again.

[sarcasmic]

Ha ha

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Back ta the Loch wi' *you,* Nessie!"

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Tree-fitty?

[Monty Crisco]

That was nasty.

[Rhywun]

I'll leave the commenting on her to the rest of you, but... her boyfriend is a punch-face.

[Root Boy]

Not going to click, but I did click to watch Taylor Swift's new video and thought I saw Lena in that (only ugly broad in the vid).

Am I seeing things?

[sarcasmic]

From the invention of the selfie to the first image from space (and the world's first picture hoax): Historic moments captured by cameras revealed

Collection includes the first colour photograph, the first photograph from space and the first image of Mars
French inventor Joseph Nic?phore Ni?pce took the world's first photograph of his estate in Burgundy, France
More recently, the USC Institute for Creative Technologies created the first ever 3D presidential portrait

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci.....meras.html

[Brett L]

Greeting from Waterworld nee Houston. Hopefully none of my fellow Houston reasonoids drowned or were swept away. I've been through hurricanes and tropical storms and I've never been rained on that hard for four hours.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Four day weekend!

I overlook buffalo bayou, its crazy flooded.

[Ted S.]

How do Houstonians tell the difference between rain and the normal humidity? :-p

[Brett L]

When we are wet but our cars are dry that's humidity. When both we and our cars are wet, that's rain.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I,was,planning on a trip south of Austin today and tomorrow but there's no fucking way I'm venturing into that wasteland for at least a week. Lots of people need those hotel rooms more than I do.

[Root Boy]

Wimberly was basically swept away. Hopefully the Salt Lick is still around (yes, not in Wimberly, but nearby).

Will be in HOU tomorrow, but staying away from the Bayou.

[Palin's Buttplug]

See? Rick W. Perry and his rain prayers worked.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

gloat over those deaths, asshole. Gloat over them.

[Catatafish]

Here's a bag of dicks, PB. Eat as many as your bitter, twisted heart desires.

[Xeones]

Those poor dicks, though.

[Xeones]

BBBUUUUTTPPPLLUUUUUUGGGG

[Catatafish]

I seriously counted half a dozen abandoned cars sitting in standing water on the small stretch of 59 between Weslayan and 610. The entire 610 off ramp to 59 was covered in what looked like over two feet.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

We obviously didn't get as bad in Fort Worth as you guys got but I've already talked to customers down in the Eagle Ford area and it's completely fucked.

[gaoxiaen]

Call the EPA.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

In order to ensure that the 'completely' part is true?

[Unreconstructed]

My best friend posted pics of 288 with a suburban up to the windows this morning.

[Derpetologist]

Today in rage-inducing idiocy:

The FAA adopted the new test, called a biographical assessment, this year. The 62-question test asks applicants about their abilities, life experiences and work backgrounds. It also asks how they've handled various stressful situations. Only about one-in-12 applicants passed the test.

*****

In 2012, the FAA and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice analyzed the barriers that women and minorities face when trying to get jobs at the FAA. It found only five percent of the air traffic controller applicants coming from the FAA partnership schools were African-American.

http://www.scpr.org/blogs/poli.....new-faa-p/

Real sample question from biographical test: what sports did you play in school?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

You're in a desert, walking along in the sand when all of a sudden you look down and see a tortoise. It's crawling toward you. You reach down and flip the tortoise over on its back, Leon. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over. But it can't. Not with out your help. But you're not helping. Why is that, Leon?

Oh, and have you ever fantasized about flying a plane into a building?

[sarcasmic]

Tortoise? What's that?

[tarran]

Do you know what a turtle is?

[UnCivilServant]

A Senate Majority Leader?

[tarran]

Same thing.

[Agammamon]

Is it like my mother?

[R C Dean]

There's good eating on a tortoise.

[Charles Easterly]

Well done, Notorious.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

The stated intentions are horrible:

Many students spend money and time attending FAA-sponsored aeronautics colleges, such as Mt. San Antonio College in the San Gabriel Valley city of Walnut. The test is controversial because those students, who would normally have a big advantage getting into air controller training, are put on the same footing as applicants off the street who may apply with just three years of solid work experience in any field.

In other words, they're actively trying to find a way to shoehorn in technically unqualified candidates in the name of diversity.

[Illocust]

All depends on how much technical know how is actually necessary for this job. This may be a job where the ability to handle stressful situations is a lot more important than the ability to count.

[Free Society]

It doesn't matter how calm you are in a stressful situation if you're functionally retarded.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

"Calmly Retarded"

Band name? Demographic category?

[Free Society]

Description of the overwhelming majority of people alive today. That's probably why democracy works so damn well.

[Rhywun]

I feel much more comfortable being air traffic controlled by someone who looks like me and shares similar life experiences. The rest of you can learn a lot from being air traffic controlled by someone with different life experiences.

[Zeb]

I don't get it.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Elizabeth, Charter is buying TWC for 56 billion. Billion. It's a thousand million. 56 billion.

[db]

hmmmm

[Ted S.]

Milliard.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

This reminded me of the scene in "Silicon Valley" Sunday night when their benefactor fell out of the three comma club. His reaction was priceless.

[Catatafish]

How incredible was Guilfoyle in this week's episode?

[WTF]

Guilfoyle is pretty much my favorite character at this point.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

He's definitely the one most prepared to go to the mat when necessary. But I just can't help but love Russ Hannemann. That character is absolutely awesome.

[WTF]

Hannemann is hilarious, that's true.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Pure genius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzMUrB-Um1Y

[Pro Libertate]

"Vorga, I kill you filthy."

[MJGreen]

He remembers when he first entered that club. He was sitting naked on the couch over there. He got so hard he blacked out for a solid minute, then nutted all over the cushions.

[Lord Humungus]

Why living on a main road could be making you fatter

Living near a main road causes people to gain weight with the risk of obesity doubling for homes that are also under a flight path and near a railway.

Researchers believe that the stress of traffic din may raise stress levels to the point where the body starts laying down more fat because it thinks it is heading for a time for crisis, when food may be scarce.

Normal traffic noise is around 45 decibels, but for every five decibels above that, the average homeowner gains an extra 0.2cm on the waist measurement.

[Ted S.]

But but but TRAINS!!!111!!!

[Elspeth Flashman]

Couldn't you diet then by wearing noise-reduction headphones all the time?

[Charles Easterly]

The picture ENB chose reminds me of Abby Martin's "Breaking the set": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ3PJpLthL0

[Pope Jimbo]

Oooh, Minneapolis made the Daily Mail because of our asshole cops.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....paign=1490

The guy in the green shirt really looks disappointed that he is being filmed. Watch the video and tell me that he didn't want to pummel that guy but held back when he saw he was being filmed.

This is a tough one. Obviously the cops are complete dicks. But then so are the bikers who shot them with water guns.

I really wish Police One was still open to us plebes. I bet they are jacking off all over the place on this one.

[sarcasmic]

Were those assault water guns?

[UnCivilServant]

High capacity tanks too...

[Pope Jimbo]

I heard about this story on the radio during the morning commute. The guy talking about why it was a good thing to criminally charge these punks for shooting people with a water gun claimed that yeah, sure it was water - this time - but it could have been anything. Maybe next time it will be bleach or acid or urine.

The local radio poll is now running 76% think it is right to charge the bikers with criminal charges.

I give up.

[sarcasmic]

Thing is, if none of the patrons were off-duty cops, and someone had called the cops, they likely would have been laughed at and soundly mocked. Perhaps even arrested themselves for making a non-emergency call.

It's only a crime because some pigs got wet.

[db]

RIP John Nash.

Equilibrium, at last.

[straffinrun]

We all may be hallucinations in his head. Expect to disappear any moment now.

[sarcasmic]

Police: Crowd attacked officer during arrest
Phoenix Low charged with battery on law enforcement

http://www.wesh.com/news/polic.....t/33206602

According to police, this is the second time that a crowd has tried to interfere with an arrest in the past two weeks.

We need more of this.

[Andrew S.]

We do. But at the same time, what's going to come from it, other than more power given to police officers to combat it?

[sarcasmic]

Maybe, just possibly, the people who write these dumb laws may realize that some of them are so unpopular that they should be repealed.

One can dream, right?

[WTF]

If by "repealed" you mean "do it harder", then sure, that is a possibility.

[Sevo]

Paging commie kid!

" It's still possible to buy a gleaming Ford truck in Venezuela, rent a chic apartment in Caracas, and snag an American Airlines flight to Miami. Just not in the country's official currency."
[...]
"The latest sign of an emerging dual-currency system came earlier this month when Ford Motor Co. union officials announced the company had reached a deal with officials to sell trucks and sports utility vehicles in dollars only."
http://latino.foxnews.com/lati.....livars-us/

[straffinrun]

Having the US dollar kick your currency's ass is like getting your ass kicked by a late stage leukemia patient.

[Sevo]

Tallest midget!
Best mouse in the dog show!

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

Best looking turd in the punchbowl!

[sloopyinTEXAS]

How long before Venezuela's currency is on par with Zimbabwe's?

[straffinrun]

Zimbabwe finally is off fiat currency. The first country in the world to go on the wheelbarrow standard.

[Derpetologist]

You could say they went from a Fiat currency to a Yugo currency.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

*golf clap*

[Derpetologist]

OT: just finished a great book about ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians believed that solar eclipses were caused by a demon swallowing the moon. The priests would beat a drum to until they had scared the demon into spitting it out. A few hundred years later, the Babylonians determined the cause of eclipses and could calculate when they would happen. The priests insisted on beating the drum any way just in case.

Traditions: giving stupid people a reason not to think since 4000 BC.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

I've got this tiger repelling rock here...

[Kaptious Kristen]

I've been reading a David Bodanis book and found this tidbit, and I'm not gonna wait for the appropriate time to bust it out:

You know who else was a failed artist who blamed a vast religio-racial conspiracy on his lack of success?

[Xeones]

Several of my in-laws?

[R C Dean]

L. Ron Hubbard?

[Krokko]

It's never enough!

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/26/.....index.html

[Steve G]

Black publications I read such as Essence featured beautiful, plus-size black women

Reader of 'black publications' complaining of lack of diversity in people mag. Hilari-onic.

[Root Boy]

But is she right - does Essence and Jet contain a lot of big booty chicks?

I usually see hot, thin gals on the cover of Jet like Halle Berry and Angela Basset. Don't see many fatties.

[Paul.]

"inkjet prints. According to Vulture, nearly every piece sold for $90,000 each."

Who spends $90k on something they could print out themselves?

[UnCivilServant]

College Graduates?

[prolefeed]

Your Cable Service Is About to Get Worse

Arguably not. Charter doesn't currently compete with Time Warner. Their current service areas don't overlap. The combined company will be better able to go head to head with ATT, bringing them more competition.

Seems like a counterintuitive outcome, but there it is.