USA Freedom Act Lurches Forward, FIFA Chief Resigning, Sex-Crazed Marsupials: P.M. Links

• 

  Youtube

  The latest developments in the USA Freedom Act vote.

• Jon Stewart on the Patriot Act.
• FIFA chief resigning.
• Scientists discovered some marsupials who have so much sex it brings them to the verge of suicide (the marsupials, not the scientists).
• You can make me call her Caitlyn, but you can't make me care. And you really can't make me watch her new show.
• Ted Cruz wants more Iran sanctions.
• My latest on the media getting fooled by high-profile false rape cases.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Comments

[rts]

Filming public property in New York looks like fun. (Video)

Synopsis: Guy is filming ferries with a tripod from public property. Gets harassed by various respect-my-authoritah figures. At one point he is told he can film, but not with a tripod. At 2:45 of the video the security guard shows him the rules from a book, which explicitly allows tripods. Then they close in on him.

Freedom!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"FIFA chief resigning."

Good riddance.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Good day to you Rufus.

[Matrix]

The comments make me feel ashamed of my countrymen.

[Cis-Gendered Shitlord]

I had to respond. It's fucking pathetic how many people were saying "You're being a dick" "Why didn't you just do what they said?" "You didn't have to be so disrespectful!"

Fucking Americans- bunch of goddamn pussy bootlickers nowadays.

[Cis-Gendered Shitlord]

I had to respond. It's fucking pathetic how many people were saying "You're being a dick" "Why didn't you just do what they said?" "You didn't have to be so disrespectful!"

Fucking Americans- bunch of goddamn pussy bootlickers nowadays.

[Andrew S.]

Ohhhh... ferries. I read that three times. Saw "furries" the first time, was very confused.

[db]

Fallout 4 to be announced tomorrow.

[Hamster of Doom]

We can feel your tightly restrained excitement.

[jesse.in.mb]

...lies?

[db]

Would I lie about something as important as Fallout?

[jesse.in.mb]

I can't think of any particular reason...

[db]

That was, uh, *other* kids.

[Catatafish]

9:00 Central tomorrow. I will haz a giant sad if they pull some sort of George R.R. Martin shit and announce "Fallout 4 will be available...Christmas of 2016!"

[db]

Why 9 central? Are they hinting it won't be set in Boston?

[ant1sthenes]

Well, it almost certainly won't be out earlier than Christmas 2016.

[Juice]

no1curr

[Fist of Etiquette]

FIFA chief resigning.

You know, even their scandals are boring. Did anyone even get his dick wet wrong?

[Hey Nikki!]

Cash is liquid, so probably.

[HeteroPatriarch]

My latest on the media getting fooled by high-profile false rape cases.

You know who else promoted his own work ad nauseum?

[Tonio]

Orson Welles?

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Matt Welch?

[John]

Didn't he write a book about John McCain?

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

I know he's been working on a future obit for Lou Reed.

[Enough About Palin]

Nick and Matt?

[Hamster of Doom]

Phillip Fitzroyce?

[HeteroPatriarch]

The correct answer is L. Ron Hubbard.

[Scarecrow Repair]

Bavaria's favorite non-son?

[Sudden]

Kanye West?

[Bam!]

Frustrated NSA Now Forced To Rely On Mass Surveillance Programs That Haven't Come To Light Yet

[Rich]

The least untruthful way of portraying this.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Scientists discovered some marsupials who have so much sex it brings them to the verge of suicide...

Yeah, sexaholics can wake up to some real uggos in the morning.

[Episiarch]

You really shouldn't say things like that about your mom. Only I should say things like that about your mom.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

She does have that handy pouch for storing a six pack.

[Libertarian]

She sounds perfect. What is the shape of her head? How big are her ears?

[Ska]

Her ears are thoroughly grippable.

[Sudden]

Grab its fucking ear?

Doesn't quite sound right.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Who let you in.

[Episiarch]

We are creatures of duty, FoE...I have lived my life by it...just one more duty to perform. Your mom.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't like reading the thoughts in your brain.

[Jerry on the sea]

The antechinus is best known for the frenzied -- and suicidal -- sex habits of its males. For a period of two to three weeks, males mate with as many females as possible, sometimes having sex for 14 hours straight.

"They'll bleed internally, they have ulcers, their fur falls off in patches, sometimes they're stumbling around blind and still trying to mate..."

[Episiarch]

Huh, sounds like Warty's Saturday night. Or maybe NutraSweet's.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Marsupials scare me!

[Libertarian]

I was going to go for Furry convention.

[rts]

The victim industry kicks it up a notch:

Becoming disabled by choice, not chance: 'Transabled' people feel like impostors in their fully working bodies

When he cut off his right arm with a "very sharp power tool," a man who now calls himself One Hand Jason let everyone believe it was an accident.

But he had for months tried different means of cutting and crushing the limb that never quite felt like his own, training himself on first aid so he wouldn't bleed to death, even practicing on animal parts sourced from a butcher.

His goal was to become disabled.

People like Jason have been classified as ''transabled'' ? feeling like imposters in their bodies, their arms and legs in full working order.

[Crusty Juggler]

I am glad we do not qualify that example as mental illness.

[Hey Nikki!]

Um, "we" do. That's why he lies and says it was an accident.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Baldwin says this disorder is starting to be thought of as a neurological problem with the body's mapping, rather than a mental illness.

[Enough About Palin]

This. In the book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat Oliver Saks write about people with this. One guy kept tossing his leg out of bed wondering what sort of person would have put something like that in his bed.

[Tonio]

Reason has actually covered this. One school of thought is that since they're going to do it anyway, that it's best to allow them access to doctors rather than have them do at-home amputations and risk complications or death. As much as I wish these people simply didn't exist, they do indeed exist and provide a vexing dilemma for libertarians.

[Crusty Juggler]

If refusing to use your legs which work just fine is something that is legitimate, then what is not legitimate?

[Scarecrow Repair]

Denying SJW their due. Debating Title IX.

[Libertarian]

There is something, objectively, I believe, that can be labeled "mental illness." Surely, even in a libertarian society, there is a moral way to keep the mentally ill from harming themselves.

[Dweebston]

Not especially. Let them and their doctors devise a treatment. If the treatment involves willful amputation, then amputate.

[paranoid android]

As much as I wish these people simply didn't exist, they do indeed exist and provide a vexing dilemma for libertarians.

I don't find it so vexing. Let them do what they want; if they find a doctor who is willing to assist them then I see no reason to intervene in whatever agreement they come to; and of course under no circumstances should such a person ever qualify for disability. The incentives should work themselves out.

[UCrawford]

Exactly. How is it really different from people who want to split their tongue in half, or file down their teeth to fangs, or cut giant holes in their face to insert spacers?

If people want to cut off their arm because it makes them happy, then that should be their choice. The only problem with this particular (actually legitimate) mental issue (called Body Integrity Identity Disorder...where someone feels a healthy limb is somehow extra and needs to be removed) is that sometimes the feelings don't go away with the removal of just the one limb, so a doctor performing surgery isn't necessarily solving their issue or making the patient better. But most of these people are capable of recognizing (and do recognize) that their issue is psychological and irrational, so if they opt for amputation over treatment then I think that still falls under the auspices of personal choice.

[CatoTheElder]

Okay, but disability and other welfare laws need to be re-written to exclude the transabled. These freaks created their own poverty.

[Trigger Warning]

That there is some stupid bullshit. Yeah, yeah, people own their bodies and all that happy horseshit. But come on. That's a major neural wiring problem. Some extreme form of body dysmorphia, maybe, with overtones of delusion. Not cool.

I think if I could treat somebody, somehow, and stop him from mutilating himself, I would.

Reminds me of those crazy "pro-ana" fuckers who try to normalize being a walking skeleton. I don't think anybody would say those people are all right.

[Trigger Warning]

And yes, if somebody really wants to do it, more power to him. I'd only interfere using force if he was clearly psychotic. But fuck that noise.

[Tonio]

No, they are not alright. Not by a long shot. But the question is not whether they are alright, but what standard do you use for involuntary commitment and treatment. Is being a street person in cold weather engaging in self-harming behavior? And remember that when you make definitions like that you have to follow them up with coercive, taxpayer-funded action.

[ant1sthenes]

"As much as I wish these people simply didn't exist, they do indeed exist and provide a vexing dilemma for libertarians."

Eliminationist rhetoric! Anyway, it seems like an odd position to take for a socially liberal person to take.

"My brain tells me I should be a chick, so I'd like to have a doctor turn my dick inside out."
"You go, girl! Way to stand up to the cisarchy!"

"My brain tells me I should be a cripple, so I'd like to have a doctor cut off my leg."
"Uh, what the fuck is wrong with your crazy ass?"

Doesn't seem meaningfully different to me.

Anyway, if we're now calling people who want to maim themselves normal, and celebrating our differences and shit, doesn't that mean that we should stop committing people simply because they might harm themselves? I mean, maybe make an exception for people who might -kill- themselves, it's a different degree of harm, and hurting others is still a no-no, but if people ever stop to really think about it, then the trans cause will have inadvertently normalized a fair bit of moderate mental illness.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Once upon a time these people were plainly called "crazy".

[Heedless]

And one upon a time we thought that their condition was caused by evil spirits or an imbalance of the humors. Time honored folk hokum is a poor refutation to modern medicine, even to the less rigorous branches.

[Acosmist]

Crazy people are crazy is hokum?

It takes a really smart person to be that fucking stupid.

[Bam!]

There was an interesting article in The Atlantic way back in 2000 about this.

[John]

That is the most fucked up thing I have ever read.

[db]

http://youtu.be/PKgxzsH0zkQ

[db]

...

[Andrew S.]

This is nothing new, it just has a new name to maybe garner more sympathy. I remember reading at least a decade ago about controversies regarding people with this disorder and whether otherwise healthy people with this disorder should be allowed to have limb(s) amputated by a doctor.

[Rich]

He limps, but it's not the disability he wanted.

Good Lord.

[Jerry on the sea]

it's not the disability he wanted.

He wanted to be a woman and cut off the wrong limb?

[rts]

Brian: Well, why don't you go and tell him you want to be a leper again?

Ex-Leper: Uh, I could do that sir, yeah. Yeah, I could do that I suppose. What I was thinking was I was going to ask him if he could make me a bit lame in one leg during the middle of the week. You know, something beggable, but not leprosy, which is a pain in the ass to be blunt and excuse my French, sir.

[Enough About Palin]

So next year Mx. Jenner will be lopping off an arm?

[HeteroPatriarch]

But victimhood confers no privilege or advantage whatsoever, and it is racist to suggest that anyone would want to be one.

[Migrant Log Picker]

Now I have surely seen the proverbial EVERYTHING. I've seen a lot of stupid and tried to understand, but is the stupid Hall of Fame. Really....fucking, really.

Considers the xacto knife in the cupboard....

[Crusty Juggler]

I am now the president of all of you.

[HeteroPatriarch]

What about those of us who hate soccer?

[Rhywun]

Be sure to inform us of that fact every time a soccer-related item comes up.

[Libertarian]

Because, IT'S MY JOB.

Kung Fury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg

[jesse.in.mb]

Is it weird that this is exactly how I imagine 1985 Miami?

[Crusty Juggler]

You would need to be wearing loafers with no socks.

[ant1sthenes]

Eh, Blood Dragons sort of already scratched that itch.

[Pro Libertate]

Oddly terse links this afternoon.

[Episiarch]

You're acting like that's a bad thing.

[Crusty Juggler]

Did you see there is going to be a remake of Big Trouble in Little China with The Rock as Jack Burton?

[Episiarch]

DUDE TRIGGER WARNING

Do you realize how dangerous bringing that up to him is?!?

(gets under table)

[Pro Libertate]

Now this really pisses me off to no end!

[Episiarch]

Everybody relax, I'm here.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is this true?

[Episiarch]

It is very, very true.

[Crusty Juggler]

Yes.

Chosen for the headline.

[Pro Libertate]

Right, it's going to be better the second time around. You can't improve on perfect. Isn't this legally blasphemy? Can I have the Pope ban this?

[Fist of Etiquette]

YOU ASSHOLES COULDN'T LET ME LIVE IN BLISSFUL IGNORANCE FOR JUST A LITTLE WHILE LONGER?

[Pro Libertate]

It's the Hell of the Upside-Down Sinners!

[HeteroPatriarch]

Sweet. I can't think of a single movie that couldn't be improved by replacing a major character with Dwayne Johnson.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, stop it. Even for trolling, that's bad.

And I like some of his movies. This is just a bridge too far. Which they can remake with the Rock, if they want.

[Heedless]

Nirvana will be achieved when he reaches the age of 67 and plays Sean Connery's role in a reboot of The Rock.

[Episiarch]

You joke, but I'd put even odds on this actually happening. Of course Michael Bay will also direct the reboot.

[Crusty Juggler]

Tango and Cash starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.

[Catatafish]

STOP. IT.

[Crusty Juggler]

At least there hasn't been an Evil Dead remake

[Heedless]

You mean besides Evil Dead 2?

[BakedPenguin]

Pretty sure I wouldn't want to see remakes where he took the place of Jesse Jane or Sasha Grey in any of their movies.

[Warty]

Oh come on. The Girlfriend Experience would be watchable with him starring.

[Trouser-Pod]

Holy crap-what have I wrought?

CJ, I thought I only ruined your day when I linked it. Turns out I'm probably worse than Nichole in some way.

[Crusty Juggler]

I would never shoot the messenger (well, with a gun).

[Jerry on the sea]

As you may know, the law allowing the National Security Administration (NSA) to collect and
analyze information on the phone calls of most Americans in order to locate suspected terrorists is
set to expire on Monday, June 1. Do you think Congress should or should not renew that law and
allow the collection of telephone data to continue?

OMG, terrorists.

[Enough About Palin]

Dear Reason,

Please stop posting pictures of Mx. Jenner. Mx. Jenner looks hideous and there are pictures of Mx. Jenner all over the fucking Internet. Just. Stop. It.

[Crusty Juggler]

Speak for yourself, bucko.

[Hamster of Doom]

Would.

[Crusty Juggler]

I know, right!

[Andrew S.]

I dunno. If I was going into this blind and didn't know that s/he had a penis, I'd probably say that she's better looking than her ex-wife.

[Tonio]

I haven't been keeping up with the details, but if she is post-op then her penis has been removed and she has a resonable, though non-working, simulacrum of female genitalia.

[Tonio]

Non-working in the sense she cannot conceive or bear children. Very much working in the sense that she's able to engage in sexual activity.

[Libertarian]

Sorry, but "oh baby, your simulacrum makes me hot" doesn't resonate with me.

[Episiarch]

What are you talking about, dude? That's Jessica Lange fresh from the latest season of American Horror Story. Right? Right?!?

[AceDroman]

Holy shit. That IS Jessica Lange isn't it???

[Rich]

Sheesh, EAP. At least this one shows her baby bump.

[Hey Nikki!]

Is there any reason to believe she wants to be called Mx.?

Or did the commentariat hear about one person who wanted to be called Mx. and assume that was what all trans people wanted?

[Warty]

Isn't she still married? I believe that would make her a Mxs.

[Warty]

Or would that be Mrx.?

[Warty]

Replying to myself.

[Warty]

Because of Jesus.

[Warty]

KNIGHT OF MALTA

[Los Doyers]

MX13?

[kbolino]

Or did the commentariat ... assume that was what all trans people wanted?

I don't think "what other people want" really entered into the matter.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Looks like Rene Russo.

[Crusty Juggler]

Riggs would.

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

I was reading through some earlier threads and noticed John was back. Was there a welcome back party I missed?

[Lady Bertrum]

Yes.

We rolled him around in whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles. He was delicious.

[Hamster of Doom]

That was a cartoon in Penthouse once.

[Lady Bertrum]

I know.

[Hey Nikki!]

Yes.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes. They had the obligatory TEAM RED circle jerk.

[Episiarch]

You're firing on all cylinders today, Tulpa! Just like every day, amirite?

[HeteroPatriarch]

Goddammit, if PB really identifies at TransTulpa, you should respect that and not call him out on it, you CisName bully!

[Tejicano]

And they even let you eat the cookie. Happy now?

[tarran]

Popehat's satirical Title IX letter, "Leaked Northwestern University Email States Rules For Title IX Investigations" prompted an official disavowal by Northwestern University.

Dear Northwestern administrators and faculty:

Many of you have expressed concern and upset at Professor Laura Kipnis' latest article, this one attacking Northwestern's Title IX investigation of her based on a past article. (Those of you who have not read the article can find it here. Trigger warnings for victim-blaming, sexual assault issues, cultural prejudice.)

As you know, we have a strict policy against commenting on pending Title IX investigations except to Northwestern administrators, victims, witnesses, victim advocates, student-administration liasons, and victims' emotional support companions. Therefore, I cannot state whether or not several more students have filed complaints against Professor Kipnis based on her writing an article discussing her experience with students filing complaints against her based on her writing an article. I also cannot state whether we have commenced a new proceeding, a more comprehensive one this time, against Professor Kipnis.

Like all Popehat articles well worth reading in full.

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

My fave from Kipnis is:

We recognize that these concepts [whatever floats through her mind, evidently] can be difficult to understand for some, particularly those in the physical sciences.

[Lady Bertrum]

Rand Paul's new crusade:

Graham led the Senate inquiry and drafted the pages that have been kept under wraps. Without violating his oath of secrecy about specifics, the Democrat has been quite outspoken, saying the redacted pages "point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as being the principal financier" of the 9/11 attacks. He has also said the U.S. government's protective stance toward the Saudis allows them to continue spreading the extreme Wahhabi version of Islam that has led to the rise of ISIS.

Keep it up, Rand.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

This Rand guy, I like him.

[Lady Bertrum]

I know, right? I wish he'd run for office or something.

[Tonio]

The Graham referred to in LB's quote is Bob Graham, former US Senator from Florida.

[HeteroPatriarch]

It's a shame he throws away his presidential campaign several times a day, according to Instapundit.

[Brett L]

I couldn't get through that linked article headlined that way. How about this guy deserves to be President because he has principles?

[John]

Here is what I want to know, who will be the first person (or already is the first person) to screw the new Jenner? Don't tell me there are not a ton of people out there into such things.

[Bam!]

Mac?

[Dweebston]

+1 you said you'd call me first

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

Don't tell me there are not a ton of people out there into such things.

With 6+ billion people, there are "ton" of them into anything you can imagine.

[John]

Yes. Isn't that pretty much the great truth of the internet era? No matter how fucked up your interests and tastes, you are not alone.

[Rich]

"You're special and unique, just like everyone else."

[Hamster of Doom]

There's even a rule for just such an occasion.

[Enough About Palin]

So I'm not the only person willing to pay ten grand to fuck Dora the Explorer up the ass? Ten Grand.

[Hamster of Doom]

What you did there...

[Andrew S.]

The "shemale" category is always quite prominent on pornhub. I'm sure there are lots of people out there into such things.

[Tonio]

I think shemales are different - womanly breasts but intact male genetalia. Also, some intersexed people (what used to be called hermaphrodites).

[tarran]

Here is what I want to know,

I didn't have you down as a voyeur, dude.

[John]

I didn't say I wanted to watch. But I have a morbid curiosity as to whom.

[Rich]

Just ask her, John. "Caitlyn has no secrets."

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Well, if Kardashian history is considered, I would guess it would be a black guy. And a celebrity. Age appropriate.

Morgan Freeman!!

[Wasteland Wanderer]

You seem awfully interested in such things for someone who professes not to be into such things...

[Pro Libertate]

I wonder where Fallout 4 will be set?

[Episiarch]

Orlando. Think about it. The ruins of Disney World.

[Pro Libertate]

I love it. I'll pay double for that.

[Episiarch]

One mission could let you blow up the EPCOT sphere. And then it could roll over the It's a Small World After All ride and silence it...FOREVER.

[Pro Libertate]

I really do love this idea, but I can't see Disney not suing the shit out of EA for using one iota of Disney iconography. Thought they could just call it, I dunno, Wally World.

[Episiarch]

When Disney sues the shit out of them, they can just say it was satire. You can represent them. That would be part of the joke.

[Pro Libertate]

Listen, and understand. Disney is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead broke.

[HeteroPatriarch]

And incur the wrath of National Lampoon's lawyers?

[Pro Libertate]

EA can crush them. But no one defeats Disney.

[db]

+1. But the first weapon you pick up has to be a pellet gun, and your first adversary has to look like John Candy.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

It will be in Toronto. They have the nicest Super Mutants ever.

"Mind if I hit you with this nail board, eh?"

[To the air as you sneak up on them] "My pantaloons have a grenade-sized pocket, eh."

"Is that a bottle cap mine, eh? Mind if I test it out for you?"

And so on...

[Pro Libertate]

Why would anyone want that?

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Would the mutants have oranges and panty-hose on their heads?

[Pro Libertate]

No. They would all be giant lumberjacks.

[Pepperjack]

I'm going with formerly US occupied Canada.

[John]

Instead of the hideous Jenner photos, can Reason just put this up instead whenever they are talking about the story?

http://www.kappit.com/img/1723.....er-in-law/

[Rich]

FIFA chief resigning.

'Sepp, Blatter?

[The Late P Brooks]

Living amongst the Kardashians would make a normal man *merely* suicidal. It really took a toll on Jenner, I guess.

[Libertarian]

The Kardashians are marsupials? It all makes sense now!

[jesse.in.mb]

Russia finally goes too far!

St Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov, known for his orthodox stance and anti-gay campaigning, has prepared a bill imposing fines for "nudity or unethical attire" in public places.

The bill elucidates this as "either absence of clothes or nudity of either upper or lower parts of the body" for men and women alike. The list of "unethical clothing" includes men's and women's underwear and swimsuits. Milonov noted in explanations that the definition of swimwear and underwear can be found in the state register of industrial standards. Violation of the bill must be punished with an administrative fine between 1,000 and 3,000 rubles ($20-30)

Shirtless Putin hardest hit. Incidentally Milonov is an pasty chubbalub and I have no qualms with him never being shirtless in public.

[Lady Bertrum]

I wonder if this photo will be forbidden

[jesse.in.mb]

I certainly hope not.

I'll be in my bunk.

[Warty]

Dmitry and Misha will never tolerate it.

[jesse.in.mb]

You know how I feel about Dmitry...

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

Violation of the bill must be punished with an administrative fine between 1,000 and 3,000 rubles ($20-30).

Which is not the same throwing them off of a tall building.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYwVAc8aWj8

How's that "Islamaphobia" thing working out for your lefty gay friends? Serious question, jesse. I have been reading your posts for a few years and think the world of you. Is there any sense of impending doom in the Progressive Victim Stack that's starting to make them wonder?

[Warty]

I think most politically aware gay men tend to be fully aware of which religions require them to be stoned to death. #heterosplaining

[Episiarch]

Why would jesse have any idea what's going on in the "progressive victim stack"? Last I checked, he is a libertarian.

[Hamster of Doom]

There's an awful lot of women around here lately. It throws the libertarian street cred into serious doubt. You are all now potential Republicans.

[Episiarch]

I just figured you were all Tulpa socks. Especially because those really like to accuse people of being Republicans.

[Warty]

Fuck off, Tulpa.

[Episiarch]

They're on to me! I'd better have Bo and shriek show up in this thread at the same time to distract them! Because that's not obvious or anything!

[lap83]

What if Tulpa is really a hot woman? What if all hot women are really Tulpa?

[Episiarch]

Pix or GTFO

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

I think jesse socializes with gays more than I do. I socialize with Chinese a lot. I would take no offence if you asked me a question in that vein.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm having a really hard time responding to this. I probably do spend more time around gays than you, but I don't spend a ton of time around SJWs or people obsessed with victimhood. Most of my really left-leaning friends are straight. My gay friends who are ultra-lefty all live in SF where EVERYONE is ultra-lefty and it's a total echo chamber that makes that seem normal and rational. We actively avoid talking politics, and when they leave SF they have entertainingly awkward moments like saying "I'm so looking forward to Elizabeth Warren running" and having a large group of gay men who own businesses or work in global trade glare them down.

I realize that there's an extremely vocal group of gay activists who are very very liberal, but I'm constantly surrounded by business-minded individuals who want to be allowed to do their own thing, so I don't have a good answer to your question.

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

I learned a little something from that. Thanks. The 'squeaky wheel get the oil' proverb is just hard to put down.

[Hey Nikki!]

Impending doom? So...ISIS is coming to America?

[HeteroPatriarch]

Only if they don't reauthorize the Patriot Act and increase Amtrak's funding.

[Libertarian]

Moose and squirrel hardest hit.

[The Late P Brooks]

victims' emotional support companions

This is a complex euphemism for "dog", right?
RIGHT?

[Rich]

Not so fast, P. It could mean "wife".

[tarran]

You're on the right track, but slightly off. It means any kind of animal. See Tumult At Oberlin In Wake Of Emotional Support Animal Companion Initiative

Oberlin administrators announced the Emotional Support Companion Animals Program for Everyone, affectionately known as "ESCAPE," last week to an eager student body. "This is a safe space," said Walter Green, the college's Executive Vice-President for Redress of Grievances. "And we choose to make it safer with the help of the nonhuman companions with whom we share Mother Earth."

"The nonhuman companions' choices will also be part of our community dialogue," he added.

With that, Oberlin launched an ambitious plan to supply each student and faculty member with an animal companion to support their emotional, spiritual, and socioeconomic needs, drawing from a large population PETA recently liberated from various forms of servitude across the midwest.

...

Unfortunately, ESCAPE has not provided the solace for which it was designed. Problems began the first day when Little Mister Derrida, a wolf hybrid companioned with popular Classism Professor Forrest Moore, savagely attacked senior Pietro Salvador's emotional support rabbit Che.

[Andrew S.]

Popehat is truly the best.

[Andrew S.]

Popehat is truly the best.

[Andrew S.]

Squirrels, however, are the worst.

[Libertarian]

This is a complex euphemism for "dog", right?
RIGHT?

What are helper monkeys, chopped liver?

[Libertarian]

FYI, "apply for a helper monkey" would be a great name for ............... an album.
http://www.monkeyhelpers.org/meet-our-monkeys

[EDG reppin' LBC]

^^^^^ This guy gets it.

[Warty]

Leprous

[GILMORE]

- that's a Boss Octave (OC2) pedal
- i bet the singer has really great hair

[Warty]

He looks surprisingly Scandi-dad.

[Warty]

No musician will ever look more like a suburban dad than Tim Sult, though.

[GILMORE]

Those jeans do not say "rock & roll" to me.

[GILMORE]

I am surprised. the theatrical singing-style said, "Flowing locks" to me.

[jesse.in.mb]

Texas flooding caused by witchcraft and sodomy. To his credit, even AFA-spokesidiot balked at what the woman was saying, but it's entertaining.

[John]

If Sodomy caused flooding, San Fransisco would have fell into the ocean decades ago.

[db]

A frothy ending for sure.

[Libertarian]

Stand by for an illuminati analysis of SAN Francisco and SANtorum.

[jesse.in.mb]

And think of the British Navy!

[GILMORE]

The rumors of aberrant behavior in Her Majesty's Navy is utterly baseless

[GILMORE]

as he points out, 93% of all wounds sustained in Naval battles are to the penis

[db]

Swordfights?

[Hamster of Doom]

That lady's going to be pissed when she realizes how much she has in common with Al Sharpton.

[John]

More proof that feminism is just a war waged by ugly women against the hot ones. I don't know who the chick holding the sign is, but damn.

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/192629/

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Its tumblr is constructed of selfies of young women, dressed and posed like ads for DIY escort services, holding up bits of notebook paper on which they've scrawled screeds against feminism

As opposed to glorified strippers Beyonc? and Miley Cyrus, who are paragons of GRRRL POWER!

[Andrew S.]

Rep. Peter King (R - Irish Republican Army) is truly the worst (already posted this in the story about the "USA Freedom Act" as well)

Rep. Pete KingVerified account
?@RepPeteKing
Today's Senate NSA vote is a victory for America, for freedom over ignorance and defeat for ISIS, Edward Snowden & Rand Paul

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

ESPN gives courage award to Jenner instead of college basketball cancer activist

The network announced Monday afternoon that Caitlyn Jenner would receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at next month's ESPYs award show in Los Angeles, honoring the person formerly known as Bruce Jenner for "(showing) the courage to embrace a truth that had been hidden for years, and to embark on a journey that may not only give comfort to those facing similar circumstances, but can also help to educate people on the challenges that the transgender community faces," ESPYs executive producer Maura Mandt said in a statement announcing the award.

While Jenner has been celebrated for her choice, ESPN has been criticized for making Jenner its choice.

Many sports fans are accusing ESPN of chasing the day's trend and forgetting the not-so-recent past.

College basketball player Lauren Hill, who battled a brain tumor during her freshman year at Mount St. Joseph's before dying, is the name being bandied about on Twitter as the person ESPN should have honored on July 15.

Hill dedicated the final months of her life to raising funds to help fight cancer ? she was afflicted with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Giloma, a type of brain tumor that normally affects children and has a low cure rate ? and raised more than $1.5 million before she died on April 10.

[Pro Libertate]

We've really descended into madness. People centuries from now are going to speculate on why we went insane. Was it lead pipes? Latex? What?

[John]

Birth control in the water supply.

[Libertarian]

That, or progressives in positions of power.

[ant1sthenes]

Yeah, basically it was the fact that a particularly (socially) vicious and deranged cult managed to worm its way into positions of power and influence throughout society.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, yes, and fluoride.

[John]

I am not sure if it is real, but there is a facebook meme running around about some guy who got blown up in Iraq losing an arm and a leg and now does crossfit games who was nominated as well. ESPN is just sickeningly PC. I really rooting for the new Fox or NBC sports channels to run it out of business.

[Crusty Juggler]

The last time I watched the Fox one it was like the poor man's ESPN but without Lindsay Czarniak

[John]

I like Lindsay. She actually got better looking after she had a kid. Filled out a bit and got better curves.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I have my doubts since I've only seen that as a meme on Twitter and not in any news articles, at least none that I can find through Google.

But even so, a 19 year old fighting cancer is a hell of a lot more courageous than getting your own reality show.

[Andrew S.]

Do we really, honestly care about a made up "award" delivered by a nearly obsolete company whose channels nobody watches except for live sports?

[Hamster of Doom]

A rich white man had surgery to become a rich white woman, to wild applause and fame and magazine covers and breathless 'exclusives' about what new name she would select.

'Courageous' is not the word that springs to my mind.

[Crusty Juggler]

The word you are looking for is "the most important thing to ever happen in the history of cable news for the rest of the week."

[Pro Libertate]

That this is news at all strikes me as problematic. We have all sorts of hugely important things, like unindicted felons running for office, for instance, but this is the news of the week?

[Episiarch]

Bread and circuses, ProL. Bread and circuses.

[Pro Libertate]

You say it like there's a plan. Are you a Cylon? Oh, wait, they didn't really have a plan.

[Episiarch]

Sure they did. Starbuck was, like, an angel or something. That's a plan!

[Pro Libertate]

I mean, how do you say at the beginning of every single episode that there's a plan then there's no plan?

[Episiarch]

Oh ProL, don't you get it? THAT WAS THE PLAN!

[Pro Libertate]

I thought the plan was to work in Jimi Hendrix's cover of "All Along the Watchtower."

[lap83]

I don't get the priorities of journalists either. But then I know a bunch of people who lap it up. No idea why. I hate entertainment news so much that I make a concentrated effort to avoid even looking at the covers of magazines while I am checking out at the grocery store. It bores me to death.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

There's also the fact that she currently has a wrongful death lawsuit pending from the family of a victim of car accident she was involved in last year in Malibu.

I don't doubt she's always felt this way but the timing is....convenient.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

California Senate votes to raise smoking age to 21

21st Century Puritans.

[Lady Bertrum]

Nice. A whole new group of criminals to incarcerate.

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

I am in escrow for condo in CA. I'm an Epi kind of smoker, but I light one pack off once a week rather a 3 or 4 cigs a day. I have scoured the HOA agreement for smoking related injunctions. There's a lot verbiage about being a nuisance to my neighbors, but none specifically related to smoking. I'll have to buy some industrial strength air purifier, I suppose, just to fly below the radar.

[GILMORE]

"I'm an Epi kind of smoker"

bong hits followed by Capri-100s?

[Episiarch]

How dare you! They're Virginia Slims!

[Warty]

I think he means, like, American Spirit Lights and kale smoothies.

[Hamster of Doom]

Dave's and a can of Arizona.

[GILMORE]

"American Spirit Lights"

Those are actually pretty good cigarettes

(and were even better before RJR bought them and starting putting filler in to keep them burning. Yes, I know they are the Hipster brand of choice.)

I still like them if i ever smoke (I more or less quit 2 years ago, but will still have one every now and then if offered).

[GILMORE]

that said, if i ever smoke again, it will be Winstons all the way.

Because I want my cancer to be able to beat the shit out of other people's cancer.

[db]

Prissy. My uncle met his end at the tail of a sixty-year-long chain of unfiltered Lucky Strikes.

[GILMORE]

I don't even think you can get unfiltered Lucky's in the US anymore.

they're mostly sold in the Philippines or to the Chinese now anyway (the brand). I think British American Tobacco owns it.

Unfiltered camels are meaty, but the taste is pretty shit, IMO.

[GILMORE]

There should be a PM links rule = you can't pimp your own article in the links if its *still visible on the same page* at 4:30

[Lady Bertrum]

ISIS and Assad teaming up together.

The United States has accused the Syrian military of carrying out air strikes to help Islamic State fighters advance around the northern city of Aleppo, messages posted on the U.S. Embassy Syria official Twitter feed said.

Who could've seen that coming?

[jesse.in.mb]

Meanwhile in Russia: The Agency: From a nondescript office building in St. Petersburg, Russia, an army of well-paid "trolls" has tried to wreak havoc all around the Internet ? and in real-life American communities.

The agency had become known for employing hundreds of Russians to post pro-Kremlin propaganda online under fake identities, including on Twitter, in order to create the illusion of a massive army of supporters; it has often been called a "troll farm." The more I investigated this group, the more links I discovered between it and the hoaxes. In April, I went to St. Petersburg to learn more about the agency and its brand of information warfare, which it has aggressively deployed against political opponents at home, Russia's perceived enemies abroad and, more recently, me.

The internet has finally shifted from troll hunter gatherers to settled troll agriculture. It's an interesting article on a new generation or state propaganda.

[GILMORE]

Lindsey "Naughty Boy" Graham says, Hillary Would 'Tear Rand Up'

i didn't even WTFV, but it seems that statement presumes that Rand would/could actually beat all the other GOP primary contenders.

Which i agree, he could.

Wittle Windsey Gwaham is wuwweeed he'd woos to Hiwwawy?

While polls at this point are pretty bullshit = the ones they've done show Rand being one of the two most likely to beat the Hillinator

The National Security pants-wetters, in my opinion, create the very environment where nuance on national security issues becomes impossible. If the fucking GOP would stop pretending everything is an all-or-nothing, Total Security or Doom!!-scenario, they could be promoting Rand as the champion of the party, and not some freak who dares to show some respect for the constitution.

[Raven Nation]

Odds on Graham being the first one out of the GOP race?

[GILMORE]

I don't know. I do know that the ones waiting to enter last are doing so because they wanted to save money. But as far as 'bowing out', I think it will be late this year before anyone really starts cashing in.

[Kaptious Kristen]

In other soccer news, idiot fucktard Terry McAuliffe thinks it would be a great move to have DC United move to Loudoun County. Literally only people who live in Loudoun would ever go to a game. A healthy chunk of United's fans are actually in DC, and would see trekking to Loudoun as a worthless nightmare.

If MLS and United go for these shenanigans, they deserve what they get (a 1/4 full stadium)

[Pro Libertate]

Moving things out of DC is a great idea. We should totally clear it out and fumigate the area.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Except moving United out of DC would make my taxes go up to build them a stadium that no one will ever go to. Part of me wants to see United on TV with an empty stadium, but then I realize I'd have to actually pay to see that.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, that would suck. I say no taxes, either, to go with the no DC.

[Rhywun]

I thought they already settled on a site in (some neighborhood in the city that I don't know the name of - south of the Capitol)?

[John]

Episiarch.

[Crusty Juggler]

I'd eat her Wheaties, know what I mean?

[Pro Libertate]

All I know is, this Lo Pan character comes out of thin air in the middle of a goddamn alley while his buddies are flying around on wires cutting everybody to shreds, and he just stands there waiting for me to drive my truck straight through him with *light* coming out of his mouth!

[Catatafish]

We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we Wang?

[Libertarian]

Oops, didn't know that. Funny how the web works. I think I ran across this from a link I found on......wait for it............cafehayek.

[Rhywun]

Damn you. I can't unsee that.

[Episiarch]

Would you stop rubbing your body up against mine, because I can't concentrate when you do that.

[Pro Libertate]

Shut up, Mr. Burton! You are not brought upon this world to get it!

[Episiarch]

There's no way I'm going to be able to be the first. That's FoE's job.

[Dweebston]

It's brand spanking new and absolutely needs to be shared. I want to see more from the creators.

[Libertarian]

you misspelled "excellent"

[Pro Libertate]

There have been others, to be sure. There are always others. But you know, Mr. Burton, the difficulties between men and women. How seldom it works out? Yet we all keep trying, like fools.

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

He always first.

/scuffs dirt

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

Do not know... Do not want to know.

[HeteroPatriarch]

I...don't.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Crusty Juggler?

[Crusty Juggler]

🙁

[Pro Libertate]

Nothing or double, Jack.