Lindsey Graham Running for Prez., SCOTUS Finds Religious Discrimination at A&F, Mitch Fiddling with USA Freedom Act: P.M. Links

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  Credit: Gage Skidmore / photo on flickr

  Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is running for president, guaranteeing a lock on the pivotal John McCain vote.

• Hillary Clinton is also going to announce she's running for president at a launch rally on June 13 in New York City. Except, um, she already announced she's running for president with a video.
• The Supreme Court overturned a man's conviction for his violent writings on Facebook, but did it in such a way as to avoid dealing with the underlying First Amendment issues. The court also ruled, 8-1, that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against a Muslim applicant for a job because she was wearing a head scarf, and that she didn't need to have asked for an accommodation and have it refused in order to claim discrimination.
• Now that Section 215 and a couple of provisions of the PATRIOT Act are expiring, all eyes are on the USA Freedom Act, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is working on getting amendments that will likely weaken its power moving forward. And he has blocked Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) from pushing his own amendments forward to make it stronger. But an amended Freedom Act will have to go back through the House, where several members of Congress were concerned it wasn't strong enough already (and many of those who voted against it in the House did so for the same reason as Paul).
• Bruce Jenner will henceforth be known as Caitlyn Jenner and posed for the cover of Vanity Fair.
• ISIS suicide bombers targeted a police base in the Anbar Province in Iraq and killed dozens. Meanwhile, U.S. forces continue assisting with airstrikes.
• It turns out one of the gay hoteliers who hosted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) actually did give him a $2,700 donation after all, but then asked for it back after news got out about the meeting and the backlash began. He said the donation was because of the senator's support of Israel.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is running for president...

NOT NEW FRONTRUNNER.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Aloysious]

Of all the people whom I would like to come in dead last, he is one of them.

[This Machine]

Of all the people whom I would like to come in dead last, he is one of them.

That looks better to me.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

I thought the expression was 'come out'?

[Lady Bertrum]

Of all the people whom I would like to come in dead last, he is one of them.

Better yet.

[Rich]

OTOH, I think he'd be on board with "an AR-15 in every pot, just not pot".

[HeteroPatriarch]

Goddammit, I want to smoke my j in my wifebeater while firing my select-fire AR into various things that I think will explode interestingly in peace! Why can't you fuckers just leave me alone?

[Jerry on the sea]

Does the GOP really think that by putting 10 sockpuppets on stage suddenly the general public is going to believe its policies towards drugs, terrorism and crime make sense?! I think they will at least need to stuff the debate with 30 more candidates for this to work.

[Robert]

The GOP doesn't think or believe anything. It's not a person. The best that can be said is that you can avg. the responses its people have to poll Qs. It's not like there's a puppet master pulling the strings of those 10 "sockpuppets" or of the millions in their grass roots.

[Jerry on the sea]

What's the point of having 10 people on stage saying all the same words...

[Hyperion]

No, it's still Jeb, no wait, Walker, no wait... Rubio, no it's Jeb. I'm confused. Who should I vote for?

[Spencer]

Caitlyn Jenner.

[Hyperion]

Catey 2016! Libertarian moment!

[Hyperion]

We have to get some good nicknames for the campaign.

Catty Jen?

Jenny Cat?

[Spencer]

Isn't libertarian the L in LGBT?

[C. Anacreon]

No, that's for Lucky Strikes.

[a better weapon]

No, that's for Lucky Strikes.

They're Toasted!

[Pathogen]

Legate. Gaius. Brutus. Tiberius
He's from a group of disgruntled roman empire LARP fanatics who were miffed because S.P.Q.R was already taken.. Read a book, man..

[Injun, as in from India]

Bruce Jenner will henceforth be known as Caitlyn Jenner and posed for the cover of Vanity Fair.

Finally, Vanity Fair puts a Conservative Republican on the cover. Times are changing.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Guaranteed election day victory: Every Republican should have a sex change. I think Maria Rubio would be quite fetching.

[Florida Man]

He gets an automatic +2 for becoming a Latina.

[waffles]

Florida Man is Jeb Bush now! You're a kitty kat!

[Florida Man]

What?!? You didn't actually install that plug-in did you?

[Xeones]

I did... Jeb?

[waffles]

Well I already have reasonable it just seemed like an overall improvement.

[Florida Man]

Drat!

[a better weapon]

So wise...

[Migrant Log Picker]

A "wise" Latina.

[Tonio]

Eeeew! Now stop that, Irish.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Don't worry, there's something for you too. Carl Fiorina would have a certain spark to him, don't you think?

[Tonio]

You're making it worse, Irish.

[Libertarian]

It's a hard rain gonna fall.

[The DerpRider]

That may be the most retouched picture in the history of the universe.

[jesse.in.mb]

You've clearly never seen this video on the power of photoshop.

[Enough About Palin]

HO. LEE. FUCK!

[C. S. P. Schofield]

I wish, for her(?) sake that (s)he looks that good. And I still hope that the swine surgeon who mutilated her(?) rots in hell.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Except, um, she already announced she's running for president with a video.

That just means she can charge twice. (Hope that video didn't cause any Libyan protests.)

[Fist of Etiquette]

The court also ruled, 8-1, that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against a Muslim applicant for a job because she was wearing a head scarf...

Next up: Super-ripped "Mohammed" grinding on a scantily-clad gal in the A&F catalogue.

[Rich]

God is Great.

[Xeones]

Yo, Allahu totes akbar, brah.

[Spencer]

mcgoats

[Tonio]

So are we supposed to decry this as a blow to freedom of association, or celebrate this as upholding of the rights of the religious to force others to accept them?

[Florida Man]

The first one Tonio.

[Libertarian]

A right to be accepted? HA!

[Pro Libertate]

Well, soon men will be employed as waitresses as Hooters. According to Nostradamus, the world ends at that moment.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Will you get off the Jenner thing already?

[Tonio]

Phrasing!

[Pro Libertate]

Not qualified.

[Florida Man]

About time! I didn't sharpen a box full of cane machetes for nothing.

[jesse.in.mb]

Have you ever been to a Tilted Kilt? Busty waitresses in tiny tops and miniskirt kilts, and busboys wearing dress shirts and knee length kilts.

I feel like it's a win for everyone*. Yay tits and legs!

*Except for sarcasmic of course, NTTAWWT

[DEG]

Busty waitresses in tiny tops and miniskirt kilts

That depends on the Tilted Kilt. Some of the waitresses aren't so busty.

[Tonio]

Lads, lads, I was trolling... Carry on.

[some guy]

So just how dead is freedom of association? Would Miracle Max be of any help?

[Spencer]

no, because she clearly said, "to blave."

[some guy]

Maybe its only mostly dead.

[Ska]

Only as a critic of MLT sandwiches.

[jesse.in.mb]

Y'all can't make these jokes until Los Doyers gets back. He just watched it for the first time two weeks ago and needs to have it rubbed in his face that he's been missing salient pop-culture references for years.

[JW]

jesse, gaff taping him down and propping his eyes open with toothpicks, while you violate him, isn't "watching."

[jesse.in.mb]

DO YOU FUCKING HAVE CAMERAS IN MY HOUSE OR SOMETHING!?

[JW]

Just a lucky guess.

Go ahead and mention "Iocane" to him. Watch the reaction.

[Los Doyers]

I have, much like the case with iocane, built up an immunity to Jesse's constant rohypnol druggings.

[JW]

Inconceivable!

[jesse.in.mb]

It's terrible. I have to get the brute squad to subdue him now.

[seguin]

I'm on the brute squad.

[GamerFromJump]

I am the brute squad.

[Pro Libertate]

That film was marketed so badly when it was released. I got dragged to it (first run, but weeks later, when it was doing the dinner theater run) by a girl I had just started dating, and I remember protesting that it was a chick-flick and not anything I needed to see. I gave in, being young and, well, young, and, of course, I loved it.

[Pro Libertate]

Did I mention that I was listening to the audio version of Cary Elwes' book on his experiences with the filming of The Princess Bride. It was fairly entertaining, and a good number of other actors (and Rob Reiner) read their own comments. Funny how movies like this seem to transcend a lot of the normal Hollywood bullshit, even while they're being filmed.

[Homple]

I'm buying up all the issues I can of the Victoria's Secret catalogs so as to sell them at a profit when all their models are covered in burqas.

You laugh.

[mad.casual]

Next up: Super-ripped "Mohammed" grinding on a scantily-clad gal in the A&F catalogue.

In an ad for Burqeggings and dick turbins, right?

[mad.casual]

Crotchless burqua, dammit

[Injun, as in from India]

It turns out one of the gay hoteliers who hosted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) actually did give him a $2,700 donation after all, but then asked for it back after news got out about the meeting and the backlash began. He said the donation was because of the senator's support of Israel.

Hahaha!

What a lame excuse.

You're gay, you can come out of the closet.
You're gay conservative, you go back into the closet.

[grrizzly]

Those gay hoteliers were prone to stereotypes in their own way. From Weiderpass's interview with Taranto.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/ou.....1430503367

"Sen. Cruz came into a gay household. He had a fireside chat with a gay person, bragged about how many gay friends he had, said that he wouldn't have had any problem with his daughter being a lesbian." The photo, Weiderpass says, "wasn't intended for the gay community. It was intended for the straight community?the straight community that's antigay?to see: 'What the hell is Ted Cruz?I thought he was so antigay. Why is he in a gay household having a fireside chat that's not a fundraiser?"

He adds: "I had that picture, plus I had the picture of the senator with an entire racial mix of people, from black to brown to immigrant?my Jamaican maid?and whites. I had them all in there, because that covers the racial issues, that covers immigrants, and it covers women. . . . I wanted to get anything in there that he was against."

[Injun, as in from India]

Now that Section 215 and a couple of provisions of the PATRIOT Act are expiring, all eyes are on the USA Freedom Act, and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is working on getting amendments that will likely weaken its power moving forward.

USA FREEDOM Act, as in the type of "Freedom" is what the government allows us.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is running for president, guaranteeing a lock on the pivotal John McCain vote.

I say the more hawks the better. Let them split the vote in that wing of the Republican party and let Rand clean up the rest.

[Jerry on the sea]

This will cut into Paul's debate time. That's why the GOP is adding all these con artists.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It turns out one of the gay hoteliers who hosted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) actually did give him a $2,700 donation after all, but then asked for it back after news got out about the meeting and the backlash began.

Gay uber alles?

[Spencer]

et tu gayz?

I mean, I wouldn't give that dude a dime, but if I did I wouldn't back down due to the glitterati.

[Lady Bertrum]

Don't you mean 'gayterati'?

[Spencer]

I assume, deep down, those are synonymous.

[Matrix]

Like we've all said, TSA is pretty much worthless. They failed to find fake explosives and weapons 96% of the time.

Statist derp: Well, there's room for improvement! More funding is needed! What are you, a terrorist?!

[Pro Libertate]

I thought it was only 95% of the time, which means they save us from terrorists 5% of the time. Isn't that worth it to protect American jobs? Wait, I'm getting fuzzy on all of this.

[Spencer]

NO, they save us from FAKE terrorists 5% of the time.

[Pro Libertate]

I was making an analogy. If 5% of fake terrorists are stopped, it follows that 5% of real terrorists are stopped. Why are you pro-5% terrorists?

[Spencer]

No, that doesn't hold true. Fake weapons are different than real weapons, right? So, who knows how many real weapons they catch. They aren't even graded on that. It's like saying he hits 30 home runs off a tee, so he'll hit 30 off live pitching.

[Pro Libertate]

I dunno, how fake were the fake weapons? Like drawings-of-weapons fake, or indistinguishable-from-real-weapons fake?

It's un-American to deny the TSA their 5% success rate.

[some guy]

Wasn't there a report that claimed the TSA has never stopped a credible threat in its history?

[JW]

Wasn't there a report that claimed the TSA has never stopped a credible threat in its history?

What!? Do you have any idea how much it stings to get some shampoo from a 6 oz. bottle in your eye?

[Pro Libertate]

Look, we've had few attacks, thanks to our brave TSA members milling about, fondling and probing us.

[Rich]

"But the undercover agents *know* our systems! Understand why we don't allow photographs?"

[Injun, as in from India]

A frequent traveler friend of mine says that the TSA is "Terminally Standing Around".

It's basically another government jobs program.

[Trigger Warning]

"Terminally Stupid Assholes."

And yes, a jobs program. Like Congress, but more prestigious and respectable.

[Invisible Finger]

You want MORE false positives?

[Certified Public Asskicker]

They checked the shoes, what more do you want?

[some guy]

I bet a 0% success rate is within the error bars. How do we know the threats they found weren't completely by accident? The fake devices happened to be in the one of the bags that a TSA goon had decided to steal from.

[Spencer]

can they, potentially, have a negative success rate? Where they catch things that aren't weapons at all?

[some guy]

That would be a false alarm rate. And we know they have a huge false alarm rate. Every time they make you throw out a bottle of water or confiscate your pocket knife they are upping their false alarm rate.

[Spencer]

so, with a potential 0% success rate, and a high "false alarm rate", could we say that they are literally worse than if they didn't exist at all?

[Raven Nation]

Yes, yes you could.

[some guy]

Oh absolutely. With apologies to Nikki, it's the worst of everything.

[Ted S.]

The NSA would have found those explosives!

[Robert]

Would you agree that they've discouraged a lot of people from flying? & from taking other forms of public xport'n? Since a certain fraction of the public is terrorists, it stands to reason that they're decreasing the amt. of terror in xport.

[Robert]

Hey, it works for narcotics policy, doesn't it?

[Hey Nikki!]

Die Zeit reports on l'affair Sulkowicz. By far the best and deepest reporting so far, with more info than I had had before about the timeline. Too much good stuff to quote. Page 3 is my favorite.

[Injun, as in from India]

Hey Nikki!

You can't post a German paper's article about a German perpetrator!

It's biased!!!

[Hey Nikki!]

They even call him "Nunge?er"!

[Ted S.]

[pedantic bastard mode]Both of those vowels are short, which means you can't use the ?.[/pedantic bastard]

[Hey Nikki!]

I was super confused about that, Ted! But I figure they must know?

[grrizzly]

It's a last name. Standard rules don't always apply.

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

The orthography of personal names (first names and family names) and of names for locations within Germany proper, Austria and Switzerland were not affected by the reform of 1996, however; these names often use irregular spellings that are otherwise impermissible under German spelling rules, not only in the matter of the ? but also in many other respects.

[Ted S.]

Now I'm confused too. I was under the impression that all of the words in the "essen" (ie. that rhyme with that) category had a short e for the first one. It's the other thing about German that drives me no end of nuts.

[Tonio]

Thanks, Nikki.

[Warty]

Their actions confirmed Mrs. Allison Strange's feeling that her country was edging toward madness. One must only watch American sitcoms, with their dim-witted fathers and smart mothers, she said. "Equal rights are great, but the neo-feminists want to clobber men," she said. And, she added, the government is contributing by releasing numbers such as the 1 in 5 statistic. "A ridiculously biased study."

The idealism, the intelligence, the origins ? Becca and Paul should surely be on the same side. But Paul's allies are elsewhere, not among the liberals at the universities or the big cities, but where America is so big and empty that only guns help. And the Bible.

It's funny that that piece is simultaneously so incisive and so retarded about what America is like.

[JW]

You mock? Turn in your bible gun.

[Lady Bertrum]

It's funny that that piece is simultaneously so incisive and so retarded about what America is like.

Some Europeans don't seem to get the whole rugged individualist (i.e.libertarian) aspect of American identity. They use the old left/right paradigm with no civil libertarian strain at all.*

*I visited Germany once, therefore I'm kinda an expert on all things German.

[Warty]

I suppose if your conception of politics is monarchist vs. communist, you'll have trouble understanding America. But, I mean, they could at least try.

[JW]

America is a fat Ronald McDonald wearing a cowboy hat while shooting an M-16 into a school, right?

[Lady Bertrum]

Germans interpreting American culture

[Homple]

So the Passion of St. Maria Goretti of the Posturepedic isn't playing so well in Germany?

[Tonio]

Good one, Homple.

[Trouser-Pod]

+1 "Down with this sort of thing"

[Invisible Finger]

Perhaps the entire affair is performance art showing the stupidity of Title IX and the college administrations that can't get enough of that sweet taxpayer money. That is the only excuse Sulkowicz has left.

[mr lizard]

Meh, we do not agree about your worst designation. Of course it's just a matter of taste

[Warty]

Don't give her a reason, dude. You've been warned.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

These are stories as though from a Kafka novel. Or from a country that is prepared to sacrifice the rights of individuals for the larger goal, such as after 9-11.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." -Lindsay Graham.

[DEG]

Thanks. That is an awesome article.

[Injun, as in from India]

Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is running for president, guaranteeing a lock on the pivotal John McCain vote.

Sorry Lindsey Graham.

I'm voting for Lindsey Vonn. She's at least hot.

[Spencer]

"The court also ruled, 8-1, that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against a Muslim applicant for a job because she was wearing a head scarf, and that she didn't need to have asked for an accommodation and have it refused in order to claim discrimination."

Need she have even applied? I wouldn't get a job there because I'm old(er) and fat. Can I sue? If so, do I need to go through the dog and pony show of applying?

[Rich]

Hey Spencer, make it a class action suit and bankrupt A&F.

[Spencer]

Let's do it! Fat 30 somethings unite!

[Pope Jimbo]

You are doomed. Dad bods are now in.

http://www.people.com/article/dad-bod-body-trend

You'd get hired and would have to stand around in the shop trying to sell that crap.

[Pro Libertate]

Wouldn't a reasonable accommodation be something like requiring her to bare her chest instead?

[Spencer]

while wearing the headscarf? I see money in your future!

[Pro Libertate]

I have so many cunning plans that I'm full of potential wealth. Just like potential energy, only not released yet.

[jesse.in.mb]

I wouldn't get a job there because I'm old(er) and fat.

Just work at The Gap.

[Pope Jimbo]

She's doing way better than the muslim chumps who were working at Target. They tried to cash in by refusing to handle pork in their duties as a cashier, but they had to actually go work there first.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/1766.....WzHPc9VhBc

This gal is just sitting at home getting ready to collect money.

[Matrix]

Oh the pearl clutching that is about to happen... Vince Vaughn says he wants guns in schools

Prog derp: That monster hates children and wants to see them massacred!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why do you hate Hit & Run?

[Spencer]

what do you mean ABOUT to happen? you must not go on twitter...

[Injun, as in from India]

Vince Vaughn = Adam Lanza

[Invisible Finger]

If by "children" they mean "progs" then I don't see the problem. Progs like to think of themselves as innocent children, even after 16 years of education.

[C. Anacreon]

And to think, Vince Vaughn and I went to the same high school (though ten years apart). He did briefly date my little sister, though (if you call drunk making out in the bushes at a kegger 'dating', that is).

[Suthenboy]

Am I missing something here? The EPA can, by fiat, designate United States territory outside the United States and put US citizens outside the jurisdiction of US law? What the hell? How is this even remotely legal?

Is this part of that fundamental transformation I keep hearing about?

http://pjmedia.com/blog/obama-.....al-battle/

[Spencer]

EPA has no limits. Everything you own is theirs via regulation.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, technically, each of us is a wetland.

[Spencer]

Especially after the ladies get a look at me working at A&F... am i right?!

OOOOOH YEAHHHH!

[Hey Nikki!]

+1 dirty novel

[Pro Libertate]

See? The legal scholarship is in.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That is not a "dirty novel". This is a dirty novel.

[Pro Libertate]

Three stars.

[Brett L]

Remember when we told you this was your land? We lied. FYTW.

[JW]

I think we should call it... your grave!

[Robert]

Hmmm...so US EPA can make the hosp. a foreign jurisdiction, Homeland Security can treat just about anyplace as a national border, and US DOJ can prosecute FIFA officers for not acting nicely in their own business anywhere in the world.

"Where the fuck are we?" Where would a convenient US att'y like you to be??

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Amanda Marcotte is breathtakingly dumb.

She wrote an article about the 'worst state of the week' but her definition for 'worst state' basically amounts to whether or not some random person in that state said something she disliked. It doesn't even have to be a representative of the state government. For example:

"In second place is West Virginia, where anti-choice forces are trying to hunt down the next Kermit Gosnell. Pro-choicers in the state are demanding the removal of anti-choice activist Byron Calhoun from his job at West Virginia University's Health Sciences Center because of the role he played in a nuisance lawsuit against the Women's Health Center of West Virginia."

So West Virginia is the second worst state in the country last week because...a random activist at a University Health Center took part in what Marcotte alleges is a nuisance lawsuit. Apparently nothing worse than a nuisance lawsuit happened last week. It sure is a good thing there were no murders anywhere during that seven day period, huh?

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Holy shit, worst state of the week is apparently a recurring feature and it is fabulous.

Here's Amanda Marcotte acknowledging that overregulation can shut down businesses - you'll never guess which kind!

"The governor just signed a bill requiring clinics to meet a bunch of expensive and medically unnecessary building requirements that will no doubt shut many clinics down. Now it looks like he's going to sign another bill attacking patients themselves, making them wait 48 hours for an abortion."

I feel like there are places we could apply this argument elsewhere in the economy, but Marcotte would call me a right-wing rethuglican if I brought those up.

"This week's winner, however, is Wisconsin, where Republicans?undeterred by a federal court striking down their most recent law restricting abortion?are at it again with a proposed ban on abortions after 20 weeks."

Oh no! A ban after 20 weeks! That's a whole 8 weeks after the no-questions asked period of time you're allowed to get an abortion in France, so France must be the Worst Country in the World or something.

[Old Man With Candy]

Wow, you actually waded all the way through one of her columns? And then clicked on more?

You are one sick little fuck.

[Mickey Rat]

Do clinics not involved with that certain procedure have to abide by similar unnecessary regulatory standards?

[Tonio]

Progs hate poor whites, and nothing says poor and white like WV.

[rts]

Tobacco companies ordered to pay $15B in damages

Three tobacco companies have been ordered to pay $15 billion in damages after losing a historic class-action lawsuit.

Justice Brian Riordan on Monday ruled in favour of two groups representing Quebec smokers, ordering Imperial Tobacco, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI-MacDonald to pay for punitive and moral damages.

[Ted S.]

If those smokers were too stupid to know that smoking can harm your health, they need to be made wards of the state. (Or province, in this case.)

[some guy]

Moral damages? The only person who can compromise your morals are you and maybe whoever raised you. Did the tobacco companies raise you?

[Mike M.]

Watchdog: EPA managers let workers get away with timesheet fraud, watching porn at work.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm for them doing anything but their job.

[Brett L]

Meh. Nearly every large organization has near if not outright systemic timesheet fraud. Its breath-taking to me how many people just straight up lie on their time.

[Mickey Rat]

They still find time to arbitrarily designate large parts of states Indian reservations.

[Agammamon]

. . . did give him a $2,700 donation after all, but then asked for it back . . .

That's not how donations work.

[Injun, as in from India]

[insert offensive Indian giving joke here]

[Tonio]

[Narrows gaze at Injun]

[Pro Libertate]

Can India-Indians make jokes about American Indians? You know, like how blacks are allowed to use disparaging words denied the rest of the world?

[Andrew S.]

Things I learned while out to lunch with my progressive baby boomer dad and my even more progressive younger brother:

Rand Paul: Just showboating. And it's just awful that Rand took a picture with Josh Duggar before it came out that he's a sister diddler, because "he should have known what kind of person he is".

Hillary Clinton: Never sold out the State Department. Everything she did was above water.

Sometimes I wonder how I turned out sane. Well, I'm not sane, I'm an anxious depressed brony. You can pick which one of those is the worst. But I'm sane compared to them.

[Injun, as in from India]

Showboating is new swift boating.

[Warty]

anxious depressed

Squat more. That's only kind of a joke. Add 50 pounds of muscle and you'll change your brain too.

[Spencer]

don't tell me what to do with my glutes!

[some guy]

I was more concerned about his bronyism. Can lifting help that?

[Warty]

Fuck that shit, let your freak flag fly. If he doesn't lift in his Brony costumes, I will personally break his arms and legs.

[Crusty Juggler]

glute shamer.

[Riven]

Squatting is always the answer. Always.

[Andrew S.]

Oh, also, I shouldn't bother to support Rand because "he's not going to win" and therefore, why should I bother?

[Lady Bertrum]

Sounds like my Thanksgiving every year with my in-laws who are quite the teachers' union enthusiasts. That secret ingredient in my green bean casserole is not mushroom soup. I kid.

[califernian]

Facebook drops the glove on NSA

Not really but getting closer. They may be more even than Microsoft and Google combined but this is still pretty cool.

[Hyperion]

Good gawd, look at Suckerburg in that photo. Punchable face if I ever saw one.

[Loki]

It turns out one of the gay hoteliers who hosted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) actually did give him a $2,700 donation after all, but then asked for it back after news got out about the meeting and the backlash began. He said the donation was because of the senator's support of Israel.

God dammit, how hard is it to tell the progtards "Yes, I gave money to Ted Cruz because even though I disagree with his stance on gay marriage, despite being directly impacted by it, I feel his position on Isreal is more important. Furthermore it's my money to give to whom I choose. Fuck off."

Christ, stand up for yourself you fucking pussy.

[Hyperion]

Standing up for oneself is not the proglodyte way, comrade. That's why they need a strong government to stand up for them.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I can somewhat sympathize with them since apparently their entire business is dependent upon the patronage of people easily whipped into a frenzy by aspiring totalitarians.

I was rather hoping they'd stick it out just to see if Christians and Cruz supporters would contribute to them like they did to Memories Pizza. Imagine the reaction from the progs if they did.

[Hyperion]

They'll be tossed out of the club if they harbor any dissenting opinions. And donating to conservative candidates is a definite out and stay out. But you already know that.

[Raven Nation]

I don't think I'm going to remember this precisely but, sometime in the 1980s, the Log Cabin Republicans made a donation to Reagan. Some smart-ass reporter thought s/he'd caught Reagan in a contradiction and asked him something along the lines of, does this mean you support their position on X because you accepted their money. Reagan's response, was "I assumed since they gave me money they supported my positions."

[bacon-magic]

+1 yeeeeeeeeeeeesssssss

[bacon-magic]

this was for another comment...get your shit together Reason!

[Rasilio]

I thought the whole issue was that they weren't into fucking pussy?

[Hyperion]

I think Lindsey needs to convince us to give him our vote by parachuting into Syria and single handedly taking out ISIS.

[Hey Nikki!]

Peak Salon:

[Rand] Paul never had to fight assumptions based on his color or ethnicity. If he had, he'd feel different about bulk data

[Hyperion]

WTF? I don't even ...

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

"Perhaps to those like Sen. Rand Paul who've never had to fight assumptions based on one's ethnicity or the color of one's skin, the thought of cell phone data being pooled and analyzed is disconcerting. However, as someone who regularly puts up with extra scrutiny, whether it's at an airport or a shopping mall, I welcome the leveling of the playing field that bulk data collection brings. I urge our government not to follow the Russian method of profiling, but, instead, to use bulk data collection to arrive at objective analyses."

So let me get this straight - Salon.com is so unprincipled that they published an article from an FBI mole (the exact type of person they would despise in any other instance) supporting the unlimited surveillance state (which they opposed during the Bush years) for the express purpose of race-baiting Rand Paul.

That is the sleaziest website this side of Gawker.

[Hyperion]

This would be surprising if today's so called liberals where actually liberals and not authoritarian statists. They're pretty much totally out of the closet now.

[Hey Nikki!]

Pretty much.

[Loki]

Holy fucking shit. Yep, that's pretty much full retard times 1000. More proof that there is no peak derp.

[Andrew S.]

Salon has surprassed Gawker at this point. Gawker is stupid. Salon is indistinguishable from parody.

[Catatafish]

The derpshark has been jumped. Congratulations, Salon.

[CatoTheElder]

"Perhaps to those like Sen. Rand Paul who've never had to fight assumptions based on one's ethnicity or the color of one's skin..."

The problem with that statement is that Paul does have to fight the assumption that he is a racist, an assumption that is indeed based entirely on the color of his skin. (Of course, if he were black, he'd have to fight the assumption that he was an Uncle Tom or one of the vile invectives hurled at people like Clarence Thomas and Walter Williams.)

Salon is not just dishonest and sleazy; it's also stupid.

[Loki]

What?! Wait... WHAT??!!!

Just that one small excerpt almost my head explode like that guy from Scanners. I don't dare go read the whole thing.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Shorter Salon: If you don't love Big Brother check your privilege!!!

[Brett L]

You can't fool me, that's a failed Turing test candidate.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Even Salon's commenters are not having it:

"A Republican gets credit for sunsetting The PATRIOT Act, and Salon turns around and runs an article defending bulk collection. Unreal. "

"Hey, Naveed, I am sorry that people make racist assumptions about you. But you are nuts to think that somehow spying on everyone equally levels the field. Let's fight the racism by fighting the racism, not by subjecting everyone to suspicions."

"So...now that a Republican is more concerned than any Democrats are about bulk data collecting and the Patriot Act, Democrats are going to start coming out in support of it??? Jeezus!"

[Loki]

Wow, so Salon has finally managed to write something so stupid that even their commenters have noticed the derp. That's impressive.

[Loki]

Wow, so Salon has finally managed to write something so stupid that even their commenters have noticed the derp. That's impressive.

[Robert]

Even the squirrels are making their rxn known.

[Raven Nation]

On the Patriot Act...

Harry Reid, 2005:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUwT0kSrxXE

Harry Reid, 2011:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwJ74uBV660

[Hyperion]

Good grief, Reid is actually reading pre-written drivel, he's not even responding to Rand.

[C. Anacreon]

Reid deserves to be removed from office just for wearing that tie. Sheesh.

[Heroic Mulatto]

After his successful run as a civilian double agent, Naveed Jamali accepted a reserve commission in the U.S. Navy. He has spent more than a decade in technology management at a senior level. His notable projects include the completion of two Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) with US Navy medical staff to test the use of electronic content in a deployed setting (Afghanistan) and afloat (USNS Mercy). He speaks regularly on the subject of predictive system analysis, security, counter-intelligence and understanding the motivation to spy. A life-long New Yorker, Naveed lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

Mr. Jamali has absolutely no biases and his stance is not motivated by self-interest. Not at all.

[Migrant Log Picker]

That nears peak fucking derp...thanks Nikki (you ARE the worst).

[Suthenboy]

Still on PJ here. I couldn't resist this one.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015.....ge-speech/

"I must admit I find it fascinating that so many people commenting here are voicing their outrage at my editing of the subtitles in this clip from MEMRI. For those that don't know who they are???..they are an invaluable site that documents and translates much of what goes on in Middle East media. This clip was from their site. Every day they post videos with leading Islamic figures and personalities making hideous statements about Jews and Christians. About killing gays and beating women. I wonder how many of those outraged by my use of the clip in this way are equally outraged by the real sentiments expressed on these program's? Not enough I would guess."

Well, it works out that way when your agenda is not what you profess it to be.

[Hyperion]

Muslim World Reacts to Obama's Latest Climate Change Speech

That's their #1 security threat? Is he insane?!?!?

He's not insane, but he does enjoy him some green crony bucks just as much as any other corrupt politician.

[Robert]

You had to look carefully at that video to tell Hillary was announcing her campaign. I'm more interested in the plans the other people announced in it.

[IceTrey]

So if the Flying Spaghetti Monster comes to me in a vision and tells me I must only work naked they have to accommodate me?

[Hyperion]

You're going to need more spaghetti.

[Warty]

Vince Vaughn's baffling guns-in-schools vision: Gun control is "like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat"

It's too bad about Vaughn. By all appearances, a formerly charming, once-promising actor has become a kind of jock/ fratboy/ dumbass. But maybe we misread him early on ? he played a shallow, macho manipulator in "Swingers," and about the same in "Wedding Crashers," in a way that made him seem like he knew better, like he was playing some of the bros he knew back home in Chicago. But maybe these roles weren't parody ? Vince was just being straight with us all along.

Mmmm. Fine smug.

[Raven Nation]

Seems to be prog trait: once you disagree with them, you must go back through their lives and trash everything they've done. The 21st century version of non-persons.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I would construct a game "Methodology of Secret Police or Things Progressives Have Done to Ideological Opponents (Real or Perceived)" but that Venn diagram is just a solitary circle.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I would construct a game "Methodology of Secret Police or Things Progressives Have Done to Ideological Opponents (Real or Perceived)" but that Venn diagram is just a solitary circle.

[tarran]

Yep... and then they get all butthurt when you laugh it off with a "takes one to know one" comment. 🙂

By the way, nothing pisses off a prog more than seeing that you are joyful. They are full of hate and are miserable. The smug is often an attempt to make you feel worse than they do. And if you are joyful despite being aware of their contempt it turns their rage into a helpless rage, which is the worst rage of all.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Yeah, he's in the next season of True Detective.

Clearly his life is miserable and horrible and he needs you to concern troll him.

[MJGreen]

A "once-promising" actor starring in one of the hottest TV shows of the year.

I hope things turn around for him.

[MJGreen]

By all appearances, a formerly charming, once-promising actor has become a kind of jock/ fratboy/ dumbass.

You might even say he's a psychopathic GamerGater.

[Ted S.]

I believe anybody should be allowed to end his life at a time of his choosing, but:

Don't try to take anybody else out when you do it

Woman commits "chemical suicide" [sic] in her car

TOWN OF NEWBURGH ? A Town of Newburgh woman committed suicide late Sunday night by mixing poisonous chemicals while in her car.

When Newburgh officers were called to the scene at around 11:20 p.m. and opened the car door, two officers were overcome by the fumes and collapsed. Three other officers were also affected by the fumes resulting in all five being taken to St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital for treatment for illnesses and symptoms related to the inhalation of the poisonous fumes.

[tarran]

Yeah, killing yourself in an enclosed space with a non dispersing form of poison gas is a really shitty thing to do.

[Crusty Juggler]

At least they did not send them to St. Lukes in the city of Newburgh.

[Viscount Irish, Slayer of Huns]

Normally I like Ace, but once in a while he throws a hissy fit and I think he should probably make sure to take his meds.

"I don't like capital-L Libertarians because they approach conservatives like myself with actual open contempt Rather, and this is the important thing, I believe that that open contemptuousness is not merely a defect, but an essential, foundational part of capital-L Libertarianism.

We define ourselves not just by our heroes and devotions, but even more by our enemies and our anathemas. I believe that it is foundational to the capital-L Libertarian creed, whether they realize it or not, that conservatives are enemies on an emotional level and to be treated with contempt and jeering. A large part of capital-L Libertarianism, many have noted, seems to be a sort of performance art of ritualized disdain for the Squares and Stiffs of the right.

It's not the Libertarians' fault they treat conservatives with performative contempt; playing the role of Goth Fonzie is how they show they're not with the squares."

Man. Just the other day Bo was telling me I'm an uber-conservative who reflexively sides with conservatives. I get so confused when other people tell me what I secretly believe.

[Hyperion]

It's not the Libertarians' fault they treat conservatives with performative contempt

I agree, it's the conservatives fault for being socon douchebags and supporting things like the war on drugs and nation building.

The real question is, does Ace get all wee-weed up when mean old big fucking L libertarians call him a sheep?

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not fond of statism, whether it comes from the left or the right. I might fear the left's version more, but if there's contempt coming from me, that's the basis. The more free market, limited government, and pro-civil liberties the conservatives get, the more warm fuzzies I'm willing to send their way.

[Hyperion]

Most of our conservative public servants do not seem to care much for Rand Paul and his libertarian leaning ideas, so I'm guessing you're not going to receive much fuzzy lovin from them either.

[Pro Libertate]

I know we're enemies. I want to take away the lucre. And the power.

[Hyperion]

Don't we all. I mean we libertarians.

[Pro Libertate]

From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

[MJGreen]

I don't normally like Ace, because this reads like normal Ace to me.

[Andrew S.]

This. This is very normal for Ace.

[jesse.in.mb]

I have no idea what to do with this article.

A woman was fined for letting her kids swim at a nature preserve where no swimming was allowed because of e-coli contamination from manure farm runoff upstream, tries to make it a free-range-kids/nature is good argument and is taking it to court.

Their mother, a blogger who has requested anonymity for this story, asked the police officer why kids aren't allowed to play in the water anymore. He gave an answer that any outdoors-loving parent would find utterly absurd:

"[Swimming was allowed] a long time ago, before this became a nature preserve. The only thing you're allowed to do here now is walk on the trail. That's it. We have these rules to keep you safe too. There are some loose rocks, and other dangers. The creek is a health hazard as well. Manure from the farms upstream gets in the creek and the kids can get infected with e-coli."

I'm willing to bet cash-money that she was told "DON'T LET YOUR KIDS PLAY IN INDUSTRIAL GRADE POOP" and softened it by restructuring the "quote". If her kids got sick after swimming there without being told she wasn't allowed to, I'm wondering if there would've been a lawsuit for that.

[Warty]

DEY EAT DA POO POO

[jesse.in.mb]

Why do you ruin everything by reminding me of the execrable Martin Ssempa!?

[Warty]

Oh please. Look at the deep thoughts he's thinking. That's what a wise man looks like.

[jesse.in.mb]

Joey: [holding up headshots] Which one do you like better?
Bianca: Umm, I think I like the white shirt better.
Joey: Yeah, it's-it's more...
Bianca: Pensive?
Joey: Damn, I was going for thoughtful.

[Hyperion]

"There are some loose rocks"

Loose rocks? Loose fucking rocks? This is a reason why kids cannot be kids? We're doomed as a society. Have you seen that film, 'The Giver'? It's apparently a simplified version of where we're actually headed.

[Heroic Mulatto]

"There are some loose rocks" is the last-ditch effort of someone trying to reason with a mother who thinks it acceptable to let her children swim in a pool of cow shit.

[Hyperion]

When I was a kid, we all swam in creeks and rivers, cow poo and all. No one died.

[jesse.in.mb]

Counterpoint

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Counter-counterpoint: I caught E. Coli once when I was 4 and it didn't stop me from becoming the successful man I am today.

[jesse.in.mb]

I got sprayed by transgenic e-coli in a HS bio experiment gone wrong. The teacher thought me FREAKING OUT was hilarious. I didn't even get sick, but look at how I turned out.

[Heroic Mulatto]

A college buddy of mine's "rap name" was "E. Coli". He never approached this level of wizardry, however.

[jesse.in.mb]

That video is skinny white boys dick-slangin' short of perfection.

[Heroic Mulatto]

They're as straight as this guy.

If I had to get Bang Bus ruined for me, you deserve the same.

[jesse.in.mb]

"He accused me of sleeping with the ENTIRE Wu Tang Clan"

"She did...she did"

[Heroic Mulatto]

There's a difference between "this creek is out in nature, so animals poop in it" and "farm runoff consisting of fertilizer and manure."

[Hyperion]

Ok, you win.

[JW]

DOODIE!!!!

[bacon-magic]

That's bullshit.
How shitty.
What a bunch of crap.
Swimming up shit creek without a paddle.
Ok I'm done...crapped out.

[Sevo]

"[...]Meanwhile, U.S. forces continue assisting with airstrikes."

Who is getting assistance is open to some dispute.

[cavalier973]

If I could make a book recommendation: Priest by Matthew Collville.

It's a hard-boiled fantasy novel, and I have found it quite enjoyable, so far. It's a self-published work. I found out about it while watching his series of videos "Making a Fighter in every edition of D&D".

[Rasilio]

"Bruce Jenner will henceforth be known as Caitlyn Jenner and posed for the cover of Vanity Fair."

So would that make her Lady Stoneground Wheaties Heart?

[Warty]

Anyone who's ever had a cat should know better than to go anywhere near a 300 pound kitty. The last thing you want to look like is a Fun.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Most of us manage to avoid death. Others can't seem to get out of its way.

[Suthenboy]

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

- Clemens

[Injun, as in from India]

The victim is going to end up at least as a nominee for a Darwin Award.

[Pro Libertate]

I wonder if it is possible to take on an outward persona that, to a cat, would signal neither fun nor prey. One could train oneself in this Cat-Fu.

[Warty]

The nervous dog on the stairs is the best so far. OH NO OH NO OH NO

[Invisible Finger]

Except for the one taking a shit, and possibly the very last one, the cats all seemed like the normal ones in the videos, the people filming them seemed like the biggest assholes.

[Old Man With Candy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fYuYPViw_c

[Tonio]

A large boulder?

[Warty]

The problem is that cats will stop at nothing in their quest for fun. They're basically Hunter S. Thompson. "But there is also Fun, the deadly element."

[Warty]

And all the ones testing gravity. Tap. Tap tap tap. Tap. Crash! Yep, still works.

[Pro Libertate]

No, this is purely without props.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm exceedingly familiar with cat behavior, now that we're years into fostering cats. Kittens in particular will pursue fun in the oddest places, but they do not see fun in all things. What's interesting in dealing with ferals and other less-than-tame kitties is how much they fear us. That makes sense, but people who deal with only tamed cats seem to think the natural state of the cat is indifference. It's not.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I liked the cat that knocked the remote off, then started to knock the glass candle off, got caught, looked back at its owner and then "sneakily" continued to knock it off.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Ace also needs to take the beam out of his eye. Stentorian ranting about libertarians is just the mirror image of what he claims to decry. But the joke's on him. Fusionism was never really a "thing", and people on both sides are just starting to wake up and realize that.

[Old Man With Candy]

Never mind, it was in the compilation. Best cat vid ever.

[VG Zaytsev]

The coloreds do as they're told by progressive top men.