S.C. Legislature Begins Flag Debate, Christie Attacks Cruz, Aid Not Forthcoming to Greece: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: Jason Lander / photo on flickr

  South Carolina legislators have begun debate over whether to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol in Columbia. The move could be approved by Thursday.

• Reddit users and moderators protested the termination of a popular employee who helped manage the "ask me anything" section with temporary subreddit blackouts.
• We noted over the holiday weekend Gov. Chris Christie targeting Sen. Rand Paul for criticism over the senator's positions on surveillance reform and privacy rights. Today, Christie criticized Sen. Ted Cruz for supporting a conservative group that backs challenges to Republican Senate candidates, a group that helped Cruz win his own race.
• The White House wants Greece to remain in the eurozone, somehow, but it's Europe's responsibility to figure it out.
• The European Central Bank announced today it won't be helping Greece's situation. Today they declined to expand an emergency assistance program. Greece could run out of money in days.
• An Italian surveillance company that sells snooping software to police, and spy agencies in countries like Ethiopia and Sudan appears to have been hacked.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

South Carolina legislators have begun debate over whether to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol in Columbia.

Is this like issuing a work order to maintenance?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

This is much faster.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The European Central Bank announced today it won't be helping Greece's situation.

Soon the Greeks will be able to celebrate their independence!

[R C Dean]

Arguably, the ECB has never helped Greece's situation.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Neither have the Greeks.

[Jerryskids]

The European Central Bank announced today it won't be helping Greece's situation. Today they declined to expand an emergency assistance program.
.
Let me try that: "The ECB announced today it won't be helping an alcoholic's situation. Today they declined to buy him another bottle of booze."
.
Nope, still sounds like those two sentences might contradict each other.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

We noted over the holiday weekend Gov. Chris Christie targeting Sen. Rand Paul for criticism over the senator's positions on surveillance reform and privacy rights. Today, Christie criticized Sen. Ted Cruz for supporting a conservative group that backs challenges to Republican Senate candidates, a group that helped Cruz win his own race.

I think Christie/Trump could give Hillary a run for her money.

[SugarFree]

Fat Shit/Bat Shit 2016

[BiMonSciFiCon]

They'd make great (D) candidates. And the headlines would write themselves.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Christie/Trump: Because, unbelievably, we might still be the lesser of two evils.

[kinnath]

Christie/Trump: the evil of two lessers.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I just had a nightmare.

Christie/Trump vs. Clinton/Warren

[PBR Streetgang]

That's not even a little bit funny

[kinnath]

Clinton/Trump vs. Christie/Warren

[Libertarian]

Just realized that the phrase "mad libs" can have two meanings.

[PBR Streetgang]

George Clinton/Ivanka Trump v. Julie Christie(?)/Michael Warren?

[Tejicano]

For years I've been telling people that, to me, the choices I am being given to vote for in presidential elections are like choosing between a mouthful of dung and a mouthful of warm dung. Now it seems that fate has heard my lament and intervened to remove the warm option.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

Would warm be better?

[2ndClassProle]

Whoever wins, we all lose. I believe, I may have to pull a Hunter S. Thompson.

DISCLAIMER: Someday the mountain may get me, but the law never will.

[R C Dean]

You can play that nightmare using all but one, maybe two, major party candidate names, pretty much at random.

[AceDroman]

*shiver*

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Gov. Chris Christie targeting Sen. Rand Paul for criticism over the senator's positions on surveillance reform and privacy rights.

Christie might want to put his greasy finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You can't feel the wind at all that way.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Christie creates his own climate, so that may not be an accurate way to gauge things...

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

And the wind in that climate could knock a buzzard off a shit wagon at a hundred paces.

[JMC1607]

Young, white, affluent progressive lives matter? Time to ban knives? Since this murder occurred in broad daylight, minutes away from the National Mall and 4th of July festivities, yet the story doesn't seem to be gaining much traction, it's tough to say:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

Regardless, RIP to this young man and my heart goes out to his family. I have taken the DC Metro and used this particular stop countless times, looks like the kind of positively senseless crime that could happen to just about anyone.

[John]

Horrible. But no, not even nice elite right thinking white lives matter if they are ended at the hands of a preferred minority. Nothing to see here.

[Heroic Mulatto]

not even nice elite right thinking white lives matter

Really? Do you think if you were killed in a botched mugging the Washington Post would compose a hagiography for you?

#LeftyCampaignWorkerPrivledge

[John]

Or some redneck tourist? Of course the redneck tourist might have been armed and kicked the guy's ass, in which case the Post coverage would have been about the poor victimized black teenager.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Of course the redneck tourist might have been armed

Is that even possible under DC law?

[John]

Nope. So the redneck would have been a criminal as well. The post coverage would have been "criminal redneck attacks innocent black teenager."

[Lee G]

Bernhard Goetz wasn't a burly guy, but I guarantee his attackers regretted it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

NYC tried to railroad Goetz, if I remember.

[Lee G]

Yeah, and he lost a civil suit. Goetz didn't help himself by running his mouth.

[John]

Geotz's problem was he did more than defend himself. He kept shooting after the people who tried to rob him were no longer a threat.

[Terc]

One of the guys he shot, James Ramseur, went on to rape and sodomize a pregnant woman two years later.

[JMC1607]

The same teen who was walking around the city despite being arrested two days earlier. Also for mugging. Charges were reduced to misdemeanors. Metro PD is gonna have a fun time explaining that one. Now where's that clip of Prezbo explaining "juking the stats" in The Wire...

[Spencer]

http://giphy.com/gifs/charles-.....e67EnbVkxG

I got slim charles above and bump below.

http://giphy.com/gifs/someone-wire-Lsn6R0xjdstnG

[Rhywun]

hagiography

Yeah, right? That was about 1,000 more words than any other 24-year-old murder victim gets.

[GILMORE, LVL20 Blowhard]

I'd probably get a note saying, "Area Man Says Wrong Thing, Now Dead"

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"Teen"? Is that a code word for "thug"?

[Tak Kak]

"Youth" had become too obvious.

[MoriahJovan]

Utes.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

the what?

[MoriahJovan]

Oh. Excuse me, Your Honor. Two yooooooothz.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

"Hey! It's factually correct!"

/everyone @ WaPo

[BiMonSciFiCon]

The European Central Bank announced today it won't be helping Greece's situation. Today they declined to expand an emergency assistance program. Greece could run out of money in days.

How will this affect shawarma supplies?

[Juvenile Bluster]

An Italian surveillance company that sells snooping software to police, and spy agencies in countries like Ethiopia and Sudan appears to have been hacked.

Because their head of security's password was... password. Which is hilariously sad.

[Jerry on the sea]

Less sad than selling your snooping software to some third world dump?

[Juvenile Bluster]

That's just good old fashioned greed. A security expert wih a password of "password" (or a variation thereof, as I read somewhere else) is sad.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Rosie O'Donnell

1. I do believe that it's the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel.

2. I think there should be a law -- and I know this is extreme -- that no one can have a gun in the U.S. If you have a gun, you go to jail.

3. I don't think BushCo wanted New Orleans to drown; I don't think it was deliberate.

4. Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers.

5. I know I'm a really good mother. I know it. I'm a really good mother.

6. We will never bring peace at the hands of war. As a species we have to rise above it.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Tres. I know 1 and 2 are true, 3 seems like the least batshit of the rest, so that's probably it.

[Tonio]

Ima say 6. "Species" doesn't sound like the type of thing she'd say.

[Derpetologist]

The Not is in this video if you want to check your answer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcNbv-7sNLw

[Juvenile Bluster]

What do I win?

In context, I can't say I'm shocked that it was Amanduh who in fact said that.

[Derpetologist]

OK, you can have a prize

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

That... was like the worst prize ever.

Her cups spilleth over.

[Mazakon]

Canadian libertarians back former candidate Lauren Southern after being ousted by party leadership

Members and candidates are now in open revolt amid concerns that the party has been co-opted by a small group of left-wing culture warriors whose socially authoritarian agendas are alien to the majority of libertarians and toxic to the general public.

Southern, a libertarian activist and commentator for The Rebel Media, rose to global prominence last month when a video emerged of her challenging feminist campaigners at a "Slutwalk" demonstration in Vancouver.

[Ted S.]

All two members?

[Jerry on the sea]

All three of them?

[Pan Zagloba]

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

(wish I could claim credit, but saw it couple years on this very board)

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Well their membership went from 2 to 3 in a matter of seconds, so at this point there ought to be thousands of them.

(and that's an Arrested Development reference, fyi)

[Pan Zagloba]

I know, but posting from works leads to brevity over clarity.

[DesigNate]

Fucking SJW's.

[SIV]

The Cosmotarian Menace strikes again.

[OldMexican]

South Carolina legislators have begun debate over whether to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol in Columbia.

"Tax-payer dollars at work!"

The European Central Bank announced today it won't be helping Greece's situation.

The Masochist: Hurt me! Hurt me bad!
The Sadist: No.

The White House wants Greece to remain in the eurozone, somehow.

The Enabler: Hurt him!
The Sadist: It's really not up to you, is it?

[R C Dean]

The Enabler: Hurt him!

The Sadist: It's really not up to you, is it?

The Enabler: No, but hurting you could be.

[tarran]

Kind of sad video.

Judge in Florida is conducting a bail hearing for a prisoner arrested for stealing a bunch of stuff....

... and the judge recognizes that the defendant is one of her best friends from middle school...

... and the prisoner goes from defiantly disinterested to a sobbing mess as the shame kicks in.

[waffles]

Greece could run out of money in days.

Wake me up when it's in hours. No, minutes. The anticipation is killing me.

More seriously, I want to know what the socialists will rationalize from this episode. Wrong top men? Cultural issues? Greedy banks?

[Juvenile Bluster]

3, then 1. Not 2.

[PBR Streetgang]

My money is on "mindless austerity" and/or "The free market"

[Pan Zagloba]

Hopefully Germans send Joe Pesci to negotiate.

[lap83]

God, they might have to start trading *gasp* goods and services for money. *shudders in horror*

[2ndClassProle]

Faucahontas

Although Smith's deception may have been something of an open secret among groups of Native American scholars and activists, the news comes as a shock to a broader academic community that has long hailed her as a Cherokee voice.

[Lee G]

These people have serious issues.

[Tonio]

Oh, this is so delicious. Now, if only the left would turn against a certain other wannabe.

[Rhywun]

academic community that has long hailed her

I think we have our motive.

[waffles]

This is why the modern SJW-framework is so much worse than plain old fashioned racism. It turns into incessant squabbling about true-victimhood and leads to duplicitous creatures like this woman. It makes everyone hide their real feelings and intentions. At least with overt racism we could know who the racists were.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"..."and when she was denied tenure by the University of Michigan, students and faculty rallied around her, suggesting discrimination on the basis of her Native American descent."

That's a huge win for UMich. Good work, guys.

[John]

http://therationalmale.com/201.....-the-bull/

Johnny Longtorso linked to this in the AM links. I didn't have a chance to comment on it. The truly idiotic thing about the whole "alpha" and "bull" bullshit is that it for the most part doesn't actually exist. Are there men out there who are honest to God pathetic and women abusive enough to take advantage of them? Sure. There are a few of almost anything. They are however rare. Mostly what is going on in couples who are into other men or cuckolding and such is the husband is either bi and doesn't want to admit it, is a masochist and derives sexual pleasure from being humiliated or has no respect for his wife and wants to treat her like a whore but doesn't have to balls to do it so lives vicariously through someone else. In all cases the wives are basically whoring themselves out to please their husband's sexual kinks.

As long as it is consensual, that is of course their business. But don't tell me it is about female empowerment or dis-empowerment of men. Bullshit. It is totally about wives going the extra mile to please their admittedly devient husbands.

[Rhywun]

I couldn't follow a quarter of that.

[John]

The bottom line is that the men who appear to be the "betas" are really in complete control and getting their wives to whore themselves out to feel their sexual perversions.

[Overt]

Sadly I have met too many "betas" (as described in that article) to think your read on these relationships is real.

Through social awkwardness in their younger years, a culture that prizes a man who provides for-, accepts and forgives women "exploring their sexuality", and various other social cues, there are a large number of men who think this is the best strategy for them to land a mate.

In my experience, these guys do not fetishize their second-class status in a relationship- and that is where I depart from the reasoning in that article. Rather, they live in constant anguish. They think that they can change the woman. They think that if they just show their devotion enough, the woman will finally settle down for them. And in some cases that happens, but in most other cases it takes them better part of a decade to realize that they are being used, at which point there are kids involved and everything becomes that much more complicated.

I would not be surprised to find that among those who have fetishized this relationship- watching as their mate accepts pipe from countless brawny men like an oil well in South Dakota- most are indeed bi or secretly whoring out their wife. But there are also those who are very confused. Many men want to have sex with porn stars, and when they see them plowed on a porn site, they are aroused- not because they are bi or want to see the woman used. They are aroused because they project themselves into the role of the male in that video.

[Overt]

(cont'd)

Among those confused men, watching their supposed mate having sex with another man is the closest thing to sex they are going to get with their wife. Just as the majority of men who will ever have sex with Paris Hilton find her sex tape to be the next best thing, these cuckolds find that watching their wife plowed is the next best thing to having sex with them. And since they've already rationalized the behavior of their wife, they can easily rationalize this fulfillment of their wife's desires as a good thing.

[Sudden]

I think everyone is getting a bit too caught up on the internet porn sexual fetish of cuckoldry instead of what is referred to in the linked article. When Rollo says that future of relationships is cuckoldry, he's not talking about dudes actually watching their wives/gfs get reamed by another guy, he's talking about the future of relationships that the feminist worldview is working towards is open relationships. And as a general rule of thumb, it is far easier for a woman to get laid than a man, so most open relationships will result in polyandry.

The red pill view of women's mating strategy is summed up by a juvenile though accurate term: alpha fucks/beta bucks. Namely, women spend their prime sexual market value years getting the most bad ass genetic seed they can (even if consciously choosing not to actually procreate) but once they see the "wall" coming into view, they quickly seek to consolidate a beta "provider" to provide a level of economic security as they age and beauty fades.

A cuckold is merely a term for a man who is raising another man's child. The single mother who gets knocked up at 24 and keeps the kid (while the sperm donor himself flees post haste since he presumably has no lack of other willing partners) but then around 30 starts prioritizing finding a dependable and successful "beta provider" is preemptively cuckolding that man. That is what Rollo is referring to. Not some niche sexual kink.

[paranoid android]

Johnny Longtorso linked to this in the AM links. I didn't have a chance to comment on it. The truly idiotic thing about the whole "alpha" and "bull" bullshit is that it for the most part doesn't actually exist.

This from a guy who never misses an opportunity to shame and belittle people he considers "nerds".

[John]

Well so? And no it doesn't exist. And "nerd" doesn't mean beta male. It means an egghead who doesn't appreciate or understand the material world, at least as I use it.

[waffles]

So the alpha and bull stuff doesn't exist. However sexless marriages with extramarital affairs certainly do exist. Divorces exist. Men mostly getting reamed by family court exists. I think you are just resisting the cute labels. I think the fetishists are an extreme minority here.

[John]

This is true. There was an article in the Huff Post I think a couple of years ago about women who wanted their husbands to cheat. They were all just nasty awful people who wanted to dump what appeared to be good husbands but wanted them to take the blame for it. So they would stop having sex with their husbands in hopes the husbands would eventually cheat allowing them to divorce and take everything. These women were pure evil.

I don't think women cut their husbands off because they are not alpha enough. I think they do that because they really do have no sex drives or they are the kind of evil bitch described in the Huffpost piece.

[tarran]

I didn't make it halfway through the article before I completely lost interest; the level of maturity of both the writer and the characters peopling his moral fables was mind-numbingly childish.

Relationships take work. My fiance and I disagree on a lot of things. Some of the disagreements have us taking unbridgeably differing positions that we both feel are very important. We have a system we have worked out for tackling these questions, and so far it's worked out OK. It's not emotionally easy, and sometimes we find ourselves talking about things we'd prefer to keep secret.

The truth about love is that when we love someone and unite with them in a family, we are making ourselves vulnerable to being hurt by them and we must establish a system of making collective decisions that avoids injury for both parties. You can't have invulnerability and love simultaneously in a relationship. The PUA's don't love; they want invulnerability and so discard love. The betas don't love either; they neglect that most important aspect of the relationship - setting up the system that avoids wounding both parties and therefore go through life being wounded over and over again.

It's easy to be in asshole. It's easy to be a doormat. It's hard to stick up for oneself while being respectful to another's needs and desires.

[John]

Pretty much all of that.

[SugarFree]

As for readability, maybe don't fill an article with a tornado of unexplained acronyms.

[tarran]

Stop slutshaming, you cisnormative shitlord!

[SugarFree]

Yeah, the same sort of insular paranoia is evident in both extremes. What a depressing way to live your life.

[John]

The PUAs are in their own way the most pathetic of the lot. Seriously, who is so bad at picking up women, they have to dedicate their entire life and personal identity to it in order to succeed? I don't care who you are, someone out there will go for you.

And even if you could succeed, which they don't, who the hell wants to bang some chick who only went for you because you played some idiotic game with her? Maybe if you 16 and had never gotten laid, sure. But for your entire adult life? That would never fucking get old or tiresome?

[SugarFree]

Exactly. Get a Fleshlight and let go.

It's really too bad that PUAs and non-lesbian RadFems can't recognize how much they have in common. If you are going to go through life thinking that half the world is out to get you, won't it be better to do it together?

[John]

It is a match made in heaven SugarFree; two groups that if they were honest with themselves, just need to get laid.

[Sudden]

And even if you could succeed, which they don't, who the hell wants to bang some chick who only went for you because you played some idiotic game with her? Maybe if you 16 and had never gotten laid, sure. But for your entire adult life? That would never fucking get old or tiresome?

Jesus, John, there is some serious misunderstanding/failure to actually read and process the damn site that longtorso linked to here. There's a lot to be said about some of the absurdities of the PUA culture early on and its tactics and scriptedness, but the broader "redpill" sites, like The Rational Male are far less concerned with "pickup" or "game" in particular and more a critique of cultural trends and what feminism has wrought on the sexual/dating marketplace. And the ethos is one that is more geared towards self-improvement in all areas of a man's life, not merely seeking validation through getting laid.

The original PUA community of Mystery and Neil Strauss and all that was focused on the socially retarded smart kid who could never get laid. The modern red pill community finds far more guys who have had typical lifelong partners and then got married only to find themselves years later being left by their wife and taken to the cleaners in divorce and custody hearings and had to assess what happened.

I'll not tell you read the other voices within the manosphere, but I'd encourage you to actually give The Rational Male more of a viewing. You may find yourself surprised.

[John]

You have to be who you are and also be willing to accept who the other person is. Both the PUA and the self professed Beta's reject being who they are and try to morph themselves into something else in order to please women. They are both profoundly insecure and enslaved to women, just in opposite ways. Say what you want about the "betas" at leas they are self aware. The PUAs let their desire for approval from women rule every aspect of their lives up to and including their own identity, yet claim to be the ones in control. I guess they skipped that day in college when the prof discussed the master slave dialectic.

[tarran]

You have to be who you are and also be willing to accept who the other person is.

That occurred to me as I was writing my comment above. Can you imagine the amount of psychological energy one would have to expend to act like a PUA if your personality wasn't naturally inclined in that direction?

It would be like living in 1984, whereas instead of Big Brother scrutinizing your every move for signs of badthink, you imagine women are scrutinizing you for signs of weakness.

The more I think about it, the more repellent the whole idea is; I don't know whether I should loathe these sad creatures for the misery they cause or pity them for the misery they impose on themselves.

[John]

You shouldn't loath them. You should laugh at them and feel sorry for them. Understand, they never actually pick up women. If they did, they would be out doing it instead of writing on the internet about it. None of the clowns in the PUA community could get laid in a morgue or a whore house with a brand new American Express card.

[Old Man With Candy]

Can you imagine the amount of psychological energy one would have to expend to act like a PUA if your personality wasn't naturally inclined in that direction?

It's actually trivially easy. I just tell girls that I have to find my lost puppy and that I need their help, and could they please get in the panel van with me, then when we find the puppy, they can have one too if their mommy and daddy say it's OK.

I really don't get the difficulty here.

[waffles]

Good response Tarran. I think you nailed it. This stuff is the voice of angry men waking up from being a doormat and thinking the solution is to be an asshole. I think getting steeped in the feminist/SJW language just makes it worse.

[chipper me timbers]

The beautiful irony is that the PUAs *ARE* the Betas. That's why they're studying the 'rules' and trying to figure out how to pick up women! Lol

[John]

Exactly. Is there anything more submissive and degrading than measuring your entire self worth by how much approval you receive from women?

[AceDroman]

Dennis Reynolds, the ultimate PUA

[Sudden]

What the hell was written in the entire article longtorso and now john linked to that has anything to do with being an asshole, suggesting relationships should be easy and pain free, or anything else you just said?

Seriously, there's a lot of straw men in that comment tarran, none of which apply even remotely to anything Rollo (the author of the rational male) has ever written. The guy is himself married and a father. But he's not blind to the increasing difficulty in maintaining that in a culture is increasingly friendly to female violations of monogamy.

[John]

Not every woman is a nasty whore looking to cheat on you and take you to the cleaners. The lesson men need to learn is twofold; stop thinking with your dick and judging a woman's character by her looks and grow the fuck and be a man and have some self respect so that you are not worried if any individual woman doesn't want to sleep with you.

I bet you dollars to doughnuts every single one of r guys bitching about their wives screwing them over, if they honest with themselves, would admit that the signs of the wife being a bitch where there but they ignored them because she was hot and they liked the social status of having a hot wife. Not every woman is a whore and you don't have to be some alpha male asshole to get a good one. If fact, you have to be in ways the opposite. By that I mean not pathetic submissive but an actual adult who reizss there is more to life than a piece of ass and more to being married than getting some pathetic for of self affirmation because of how hot your wife is.

[Sudden]

There's so much that you wrote there that does not even remotely relate to anything ever penned by the author of The Rational Male blog. Acting like an asshole, getting worried if a woman doesn't wanna sleep with you, thinking every woman is a whore, or prioritizing a hot ass over all other components of a human being are total strawmen, red herrings, and do a great disservice to what this guy has actually written.

Are there people who identify with the red pill/manosphere community that do? Sure. Though some of it may also be over the top woodchipper level parody and you're just not picking up on the parody on your occasional glance. But there's a whole lot of really well thought out critiques of broad cultural trends and how they foster, reinforce, or reward some of the fundamental aspects of male/female natures.

Seriously John: give the rational male a view. Check out a few entries from his best of and come back to me with any evidence you can find that he suggests any sort of callous disregard for the feelings of women or assholishness that you seem to be ascribing to him.

[chipper me timbers]

I'm thinking of starting my own PUA class. Here's the syllabus:

8 steps to getting laid (and being awesome)

1. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
2. Don't whine.
3. Get a job.
4. Learn some manners and have some taste, but don't be a snob. There's a fine line but you can figure it out.
5. Don't be lazy. Dont. Be. Lazy. No one likes a lazy fuck least of all women who might consider dating you. It's even worse than whining.
6. Don't be a cheapskate. Treat your friends and family when you can but also don't overdo it. No one likes a showoff, least of all women who might consider dating you.
7. Get yourself educated. No one likes a dumbass, least of all women who might consider dating you.
8. When this isn't enough for her she's the wrong girl. Move on with grace. Don't be vindictive and shallow.

Bonus: Turns out that being this kind of man will get you connected to solid folks in general, not just the ladies.

Bonus 2: SJWs will not appreciate these qualities, avoid them like the plague.

If you follow my 8 step course you'll be ahead of 90% of the competition and very likely have a woman on your arm who has laughingly rejected the pathetic advances of many a pick up artist. Good luck sir.

[Sudden]

I hope you realize that this list is mostly what the modern manosphere actually preaches. It's become more broadly about self-improvement than any particular tactical things in getting laid. The only thing that would be added to that list is to actually approach women in daily life that strike your fancy and risk the rejection. Because most of that subculture today isn't populated by guys that have been celibate for their entire lives due to social awkwardness, its populated by guys who've had approximately average life long sexual partners and then got burned in a long term relationship or marriage and then became generally distrusting of women.

[Overt]

I agree with this, and sadly it isn't the story that kids have been sold their entire life.

Popular culture has re-enforced these shallow archetypes of men with montages and stupid RomCom and Teen movies. They are convinced that the real good guy is the nerd who is there when the woman realizes those jerks aren't a long term prospect. Of course when they realize life is much more complicated, they over correct and think they need to be one of the jerks.

[Jerry on the sea]

Tour de France: Chute Alors.

[RAHeinlein]

Not looking b/c haven't watched today's race...great finish yesterday, but disappointed Cav didn't take the stage!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Have some Heinichen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tABk0Cf9Lg

[Juvenile Bluster]

Why did the EU allow Greece into the Euro in the first place, anyways? That was never going to work out well. A limited cash supply in a country with insane spending and where tax evasion is considered a national sport?

[John]

Because they were stupid. It is really that simple.

[Lee G]

Hubris, and it created an export market for German goods.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

To encourage Greece to support the West in the Cold War?

[Pan Zagloba]

Yes, because Germany never exported cars, electronic goods or machinery to South Europe before.

That whole thing is so irritating. "Oh Germans wanted cheap currency" - yes, that's why German Mark was one of the most stable currencies around, and the people were basically guilted into backing Euro. "They loaned the Greeks money so Greeks would buy their goods" - in other words, given Greeks items then for promises of payment later, and this is some weird evil plan.

[Lee G]

Not an evil plan, anyone could see that with the lesser members having access to the funds there would be a better market for goods. It certainly didn't make it less attractive to the French and Germans.

[Overt]

It is also important to note that these weren't monolithic groups of Germans. You had pan-europeans looking for a unified counterbalance to the USA and they were joined by industrialists who saw an upside in their exports.

No industrialist thought he would be lending money to Greece to buy German cars. He thought some French dude would be lending the money.

Whenever someone talks about governments propping up someone else, he never thinks he is going to pay. It is those other people who deserve to be taxed more.

[tarran]

The elites wanted all the countries in the continent (except Turkey & Russia) to be in the union as part of building a new superpower capable of standing up to U.S. hegemony.

At the time I thought the enterprise was entirely aspirational and not at all rational.

[Tonio]

Why did the EU allow Greece into the Euro in the first place, anyways?

Cheap mediterranean vacations?

[Ted S.]

Vanity. The Brussels Class needed their pet project to work, which is why they've never countenanced a Grexit.

[Cytotoxic]

This. We are lead by children.

[Bam!]

Greece reportedly cheated to get into the EU.

[rts]

Uber drives off city's attempt to ban it

In a decision handed down late Friday, Superior Court Judge Sean Dunphy rejected its request for an injunction, ruling that the California-based company does not need a licence to operate under current [city of Toronto] bylaws.

The act of ordering a ride with the Uber smartphone app is automated and involves software downloaded ahead of time, Dunphy ruled, so drivers don't "accept" communication from passengers. Accepting calls to arrange transportation does require a licence but "Uber does not do that," his 30-page ruling finds.

[Matrix]

booyah

[Mr. Paulbotto]

smooches

hth

[Cytotoxic]

PWND

[Almanian - Wood Chipper-ish]

WE ARE WINNING! Eh!

[John]

http://www.businessinsider.com.....013-4?IR=T

Any number of leftist idiots who have been wrong literally every time they have made a prediction are still lauded as geniuses by the media. Meanwhile, Thatcher sounds like just returned from taking a time machine to 2015 and is of course given no credit.

[tarran]

Thatcher is one of those people that you could have put anywhere in any condition as a youngster and by the time they reach old age they are going to be running the show.

She was fucking brilliant. Even when she was wrong, she was brilliant.

[Rhywun]

I can't think of any politician in living memory that gets more venomous hatred from the all the right people than her. I guess Reagan comes close but how many American bands sang about murdering him?

[John]

It is not even close. The left hates her guts. She had the nerve to make liars out of them and show that things really could get better. They can never forgive that.

[lap83]

And you know prejudice plays a big part too. The left thinks they own women, like they think they own minorities. No one in either group is allowed to think for themselves.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Very true. Look at the absolute, frothing-at-the-mouth rage they direct toward someone like Mia Love, who escaped from both plantations.

[2ndClassProle]

I would love some more Mia Love in my life. I have not voted in 20+ yrs, but I would vote for her just for the smile. Do not forget Heroic she is also Mormon, which infuriates the Left, too.

Jesus and I love you America
Love/Bush 2030

[BigT]

Love/Bush 2030?? Why not love some bush right now!

[John]

That too. It is just an example of how everything they say is a lie. They claim to like powerful women, yet they loath and barely acknowledge the most powerful female political leader the world has seen since Catherine the Great.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

"The left thinks they own women, like they think they own minorities."

The left's belief that they own women is particularly funny since unlike certain ethnic groups women don't even vote for the left in overwhelming numbers. Women are normally like 53% Democrat in an average election.

[Pan Zagloba]

Also, she was everything left claims women can't be, and did it opposing them. It looks like finally, 40 years after her, Labor might elect a female leader.

[SugarFree]

A few. There was even a skate punk band called JFA (Jodie Foster's Army) to express support for Hinkley.

Of course most anti-Reagan songs were about him leading us into a nuclear war that would wipe out the entire human race.

[Terc]

Didn't the Crucifucks have a song entitled "Hinkley Had a Vision"?

[Terc]

Why yes they did Terc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ldBpQkIVv8

[Rhywun]

Heh, I stand corrected. America's leftists are just as horrible as England's.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

I really don't know much about her reign, other than the vague idea that she was the wet blanket that reversed the left's dominance over England (that is, reality set in), but the vitriol directed at her has always been so outrageous. When she died two years ago, you'd think that UK's Stalin had finally croaked.

As I understand it, she broke up some unions and sold off some public assets. While none of the "market-based" policies I've read about have struck me as good, the UK did not turn into some third world shithole. Most of the complaints I've seen amount to: it costs more to ride the train now.

OTOH, when FDR was in office, people were starving and living in tents in Central Park, and a segment of the population was locked up in camps. But he's one of the world's greatest leaders!

[John]

Breaking up the unions and selfing off the nationalized assets was as our VP says, a big fucking deal. And she was prime minister not King. So you have to judge her accomplishments in light of the political realities of the UK. No one was going to turn the place into libertopia.

[Pan Zagloba]

Here's the good primer on the awesomeness of the woman, one of her last times out as the Prime Minister answering question in the Parliament. From small questions to large, she just towers over any other English-speaking politicians in last half-century at least.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6CJWiaaEOU

This is where the famous "they want poor to be poorer if rich are less rich" quote comes from.

[lap83]

She was a genuinely great female role model. The polar opposite of Hillary. But I'm supposed to want the latter to run this country, because it's her turn.

[lap83]

She was a genuinely great female role model. The polar opposite of Hillary. But I'm supposed to want the latter to run this country, because it's her turn.

[lap83]

grrr

[Pan Zagloba]

It's worth repeating!

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

What?!? You already want Hillary to have a second term?!?

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

"I also thought that the Germans' anxiety about the weakening of their anti-inflationary policies, entailed by moves towards a single currency and away from the Deutschmark, could be exploited in negotiations."

Holy shit, that's amazing.

[Medical Physics Guy]

Panzer tank found hidden in basement of German villa

Know who else...um...hid stuff in his basement?

[2ndClassProle]

Ariel Castro

[PBR Streetgang]

John Wayne Gacy?

[Libertarian]

The elderly sisters in Arsenic and Old Lace?

[lap83]

+1 "Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops."

[Pan Zagloba]

1943 vintage Panther? Guy is lucky his house didn't burn down!

[Ted S.]

Warty

[GILMORE, LVL20 Blowhard]

Zed?

[Almanian - Wood Chipper-ish]

Zed's dead, baby.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Wayne LaPierre

1. There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people through vicious and violent video games

2. We have blood-soaked films out there, like 'American Psycho,' 'Natural Born Killers' that are aired like propaganda loops on splatter days.

3. We fear for the safety of our families. It's why neighborhood streets that were once filled with bicycles and skateboards and laughter in the air now sit empty and silent.

4. We know in the world that surrounds us there are terrorists and there are home invaders, drug cartels, carjackers, knockout gamers, and rapers, and haters, and campus killers, airport killers, shopping mall killers and killers who scheme to destroy our country with massive storms of violence against our power grids or vicious waves of chemicals or disease that could collapse our society that sustains us all.

5. Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?

6. Kids took guns to school for 200 years in this country without turning them on one another. President Clinton understood that if we want to do something about gun violence, we need also to look at the stimuli to use those guns. 3000 gun laws on the books. Not a single law on the books to stop the sale of murder simulators to kids. Idiotic.

[Almanian - Wood Chipper-ish]

5

[Derpetologist]

Bzzzt!

[Derpetologist]

The Not is 6. Jack Thompson said that.

[John]

Tammy Baldwin throws her hat in the ring for the title of America's dumbest public official. And she lays down a pretty good mark.

http://mediatrackers.org/wisco.....ndividuals

Certainly the First Amendment says that in institutions of faith that there is absolute power to, you know, to observe deeply held religious beliefs. But I don't think it extends far beyond that. . . . [I]n this context, they're talking about expanding this far beyond our churches and synagogues to businesses and individuals across this country. I think there are clear limits that have been set in other contexts and we ought to abide by those in this new context across America."

So the free exercise clause doesn't apply to individuals, just groups. Needless to say Baldwin is not a fan of Citizens United. So, the free expression clause only applies to individuals not groups. Those founders were a sly bunch apparently.

[OldMexican]

Fascinatingly, Baldwin is on the record claiming that another portion of the 1st Amendment shouldn't apply to institutions [landmark case Citizens United v. FEC (2010)] and should exclusively apply to individuals; a contradiction with her present arguments.

A Marxian, contradicting herself on the same issue?

Say it ain't so, Shoeless!

[Old Man With Candy]

Surprise, a politician is a dumb cunt.

She should be fed into a woodchipper following her being taken out back and shot. Just sayin'.

[Mazakon]

NYT finds people in Cuba who don't like Rubio

"If Marco Rubio becomes president, we're done for," said H?ctor Montiel, 66, offering a vigorous thumbs-down as he sat on the Havana street where Mr. Rubio's father grew up. "He's against Cuba in every possible way. Hillary Clinton understands much more the case of Cuba. Rubio and these Republicans, they are still stuck in 1959."

[John]

They really are terrified of Rubio. Just when you think their hit pieces can't get any more desperate or pathetic, they prove you wrong. Next up, "The Truth about Marco Rubio's time as graham cracker monitor in pre school".

[Mazakon]

It's amazing how their minds work. Try and find something to stick to Rubio, and go to another country to do it.

[John]

It is part of the "Rubio is not a real Hispanic" narrative. Remember, Warren is a real native American and anyone who says otherwise is a racist but Rubio isn't a real Cuban and Nikki Haley and Bobby Jindal are not real Indians.

[Cytotoxic]

But why are they scared of him?

[John]

Because they are desperate to turn the Hispanic vote into the new black. And the truth is that most Hispanics don't consider open borders to be their fist priority and at least a third of them oppose open borders. So there is a good chance an Hispanic GOP nominee could capture enough Hispanic votes out of ethnic solidarity to completely destroy the Democratic nominee without even having to destroy the Republican coalition by going open borders.

[2ndClassProle]

Rubio and these Republicans, they are still stuck in 1959."

Fucking hilarious!!!!

[Rhywun]

So... the Times is pro-opening up to Cuba? I'm a little confused because I am too but not if the NYT is.

[Cytotoxic]

Is it a good idea to buy a used computer off of Kijiji or Craigslist? Anyone here done that before?

[lap83]

I bought a monitor off craigslist once. Just make sure you test it, try to negotiate, and be willing to walk away. Also, if you're meeting at their home or yours you probably want to have someone else there too.

[lap83]

Also, like a car, you want to get as much info as you can before actually going there to avoid a wasted trip.

[Rhywun]

And make sure it's not underaged.

[Cytotoxic]

Here is an interesting take on Bolivia's 'socialist' government (it's from Mises). Basically, there was some very bad expropriation back when Morales took power in 2006 and the public sector is bloated but he is very free market in the informal sector.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/07/bolivia-economy/

Thoughts?

[John]

Allowing an informal sector while killing or regulating the larger and more formal sector of the economy is a fools errand. Is it better than trying to stop everything? Of course. At best it only will prevent people from living in complete poverty and misery like Cuba. The problem is that the "informal" sector has to stay small and loosely organized or it runs the risk of coming under government scrutiny. So economies of scale will always limit how much wealth an informal sector can generate.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

the problem is that the "informal" sector has to stay small and loosely organized or it runs the risk of coming under government scrutiny

or it gets corrupted and under the control of criminals.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Yeah, I'm very skeptical of these socialist governments that have high economic growth for like 7 years but haven't really shown sustained success. That reminds me a lot of China (which is currently in serious danger of imploding) and Brazil (which was totally going to be the next economic superpower about 30 years ago and then largely stagnated).

[Cytotoxic]

China is getting scary weird. It's like there is so much good that could happen there but so much short-term bad that has to happen. They are desperately propping up their stock market for no good reason.

Brazil's leftists got greedy and spent too much [insert shocked face]. They won an electoral battle recently and lost the war: Dilma is now, loathingly and haltingly, implementing the policies she railed against. Delicious.

[kbolino]

The winning socialist formula appears to be:

1. Keep regulation low
2. Milk the shit out of natural resources and/or extant industries
3. Avoid taking on large debts

It's better than a lot of alternatives, to be sure, but it is wrought with structural problems that tend to manifest at the most inconvenient times.

[Cytotoxic]

The best case scenario is the Nordics, which are just...poor compared to us.

[kbolino]

Indeed, there is such a thing as "good technocracy", and Morales seems (at least, from the author's portrait of Bolivia) to be in that camp. However, even "good technocracy" generally only lifts you up to a higher baseline, it doesn't make you a leader in the world. Bolivians might be content with that, especially relative to their South American peers, but if so I do wonder what happened to ambition.

[Cytotoxic]

I don't think Morales is so much leading a technocracy, he's just a lot more pragmatic on the inside than his act lets on.

[Raven Nation]

One way to help impoverished Greeks.

[LynchPin1477]

I keep reading that Greeks "overwhelmingly" rejected the bailout terms. Overwhelming...I don't think that word means what they think it means.

60% vs 40% means that, in a group of 5 people, 2 will have voted no and 3 will have voted yes. That's not overwhelming at all. It's actually a pretty thin margin.

This type of language seems fairly common in elections, though. 5% above majority is billed as being "decisive". Why is that? I suspect it's because people who live and die by democracy need to emphasize the legitimacy of these types of elections. If anyone bothered asking why 3 people can tell 2 others what to do, the whole facade could come crashing down. But you don't get to ask those types of questions. The results were overwhelming. Elections have consequences. Time to accept your fate.

[Rhywun]

It's like Deblasio's "landslide" victory in NYC with like 17% of eligible voters.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

Here's some read meat.

Discuss everything they got wrong.

[GILMORE, LVL20 Blowhard]

2600 years later - Tower of Babel Being Rebuilt

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

The White House wants Greece to remain in the eurozone, somehow, but it's Europe's responsibility to figure it out.

Pick your joke: Because they don't want union teachers/black Dem voters/the South/US citizens to start getting ideas.

[Agammamon]

The White House wants Greece to remain in the eurozone, somehow, but it's Europe's responsibility to figure it out.

1. Why would the 'White House' even think its its place to comment on this?

2. The 'White House' is an idiot. Half of the EU's reason to exist is solely to be a foil to American power. The White House should be hoping for a Grexit, followed by the UK leaving and Italy, Spain, etc being kicked out.