A.M. Links: South Carolina Votes to Remove Confederate Flag from State Capitol, Baltimore Mayor Fires Police Commissioner, Greece Seeks Last-Ditch Bailout

• 

  Credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr.com

  The South Carolina legislature has voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from statehouse grounds.

• Jeb Bush "is enjoying an unmistakable spike in the polls."

• Oklahoma has set execution dates for the three inmates who lost before the Supreme Court in last month's Eighth Amendment case Glossip v. Gross.

• Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired the city's police commissioner yesterday.

• What went wrong yesterday at the New York Stock Exchange?

• "Facing a midnight deadline from European creditors, Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras huddled with government and political leaders Thursday to finalize details of the debt-laden country's last-ditch request for a fresh bailout."

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The South Carolina legislature has voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from statehouse grounds.

Good thing there aren't any more pressing issues for them to address.

[sarcasmic]

What are you talking about? That flag causes murder! It kkkills people!

[gaijin]

kkken is going to kkkill me

[Proud Infidel]

+1 For A Fish Called Wanda

[Michael]

"Don't eat the green ones. They're not quite ripe yet."

[Derpetologist]

That is the gist of this woman's speech. Oh, wow! Like isn't it amazing how she's being all emotional and stuff?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5RazQHulp4

[Rich]

Jenny Horne for President!

[Rich]

At least "Boehner/Horne 2020".

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

Symbol of hate--because I hate it.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

How exactly did we go from a shooting at a church to the Confederate flag must go again? It all happened very quick, and I honestly don't see the connection between the two.

[UnCivilServant]

"Never let a crisis go to waste"

They wanted to ban speech and saw an opening.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

Removing a flag from the state capital dome is not a ban on speech but, hey, never let a crisis go to waste.

[sarcasmic]

There was a picture somewhere of the shooter holding a Confederate flag. Obviously the flag caused him to go on the shooting spree. Ban the flag and you will prevent further shootings. Duh.

[AlmightyJB]

I have it on good authority he spent a lot of time at jezebel so.....

[sarcasmic]

That doesn't count since jezebel has good intentions.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

It's not just that Sarcasmic, based on talking to some older Progs, the Confederate flag is something that has pissing them off for a very long time. I guess I don't really understand why they give a shit.

[sarcasmic]

It's a symbol of rebellion against their god Government.

[SIV]

flag of treason

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Yes the progs I talked to used that word a lot, but somehow think the United States leaving Great Britain was perfectly acceptable.

[AlmightyJB]

Actually someone here actually posted a prog article about how the world would be better off if we never left GB.

[CatoTheChipper]

^THIS.

The Stars and Bars was indeed a symbol of rebellion against the Union. Distinct from their reprehensible policies regarding chattel slavery, the Confederates were federalists who favored a federal arrangement of several states while the Unionists were nationalists who insisted upon a singular nation with inferior states.

Likewise, Progressives are nationalists. So, of course, they cannot tolerate the
Stars and Bars. However, unlike the Unionists, they are also socialist.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

You know who else were nationalists and socialists?

[X[redacted]s]

Bernie Sanders supporters?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Illinois Nazis?

[ant1sthenes]

Hey, the Germans banned the symbols of the Third Reich, didn't they? Of course, they also banned the party of the Third Reich and purged them from public life, IIRC, so maybe we haven't gone far enough with this anti-Confederate stuff.

[Injun, Wood Chipper Vindaloo]

Here is Cato's David Boaz, originally from Kentucky, on the Confederate Flag.

South Carolina Should Move the Confederate Flag

[Free Society]

The confederates were wrong to secede because about 4% of the white population were slave holders. But the slave holding American Revolutionaries weren't wrong to secede because liberty or something.

[Tak Kak]

Kentucky!? Those cowards joined the Confederacy after the war.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Magic totems are responsible for all the ills in the world.

It was important to exorcise the demons haunting the SC capital.

[gaijin]

the gun control debate is a non starter (I mean if dead kids wont do it)...but they have to DO SOMETHING. So this is something?

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Well it's not chopped liver!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

I presume the Democrats want to pummel the Republicans over the Confederate flag for the whole campaign season. Better than discussing Obamacare or ISIS.

The Republicans realize this, so they try to lance the boil by taking down the flag from public buildings - that way they can have the whole wretched subject over with in a few weeks. Or so they hope.

Of course, the media and/or Democrats will try to keep the story on the front page by saying the Republicans weren't *sincere* enough about hauling down the flag, etc.

[ant1sthenes]

Republicans should just call it the Democrat flag.

[Free Society]

Republicans would be wise to avoid the subject of ISIS as well. As a certain Republican president that is lauded and defended by several of the GOP candidates, played arguably the most important role in causing it's formation.

[Bee Tagger]

Yes, and they would undoubtedly address those issues in a preferred way.

[Fist of Etiquette]

What went wrong yesterday at the New York Stock Exchange?

Maybe the FBI can blame this one on the Norks, too.

[UnCivilServant]

Naw, this one was the Eldar.

[Juvenile Bluster]

You face Jaraxxus, Eredar Lord of the Burning Legion (and hacker of the NYSE)?

[thrakkorzog]

Pretty sure the warlocks running the NYSE are smart enough to just drop a sacrificial pact card to defeat Jarraxxus.

[gaijin]

It was workplace violence. Machine on machine.

[A special place in JW's Hell]

http://www.northkoreatech.org/.....y-account/

Popehat claims another scalp.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired the city's police commissioner yesterday.

Problem: FIXED

[goneGalt]

Commissioner Batts last seen entering Golfer's Warehouse, pension in tow.

[Bee Tagger]

Jeb Bush "is enjoying an unmistakable spike in the polls."

Just give it time to turn that "k" into a "t"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is unmistatable a word his brother made up?

[DJF]

Polls for President of Mexico?

[Lord Humungus]

Drinking with London's Furries Taught Me Some Valuable Life Lessons

The first thing that strikes me is how young a lot of the people are, with many either 17 or 18. One 24-year-old tells me he feels ancient, though in reality there are plenty here in their 30s, 40s, and above. The second thing I note is the scene's inherent geekiness. This is a room full of desperately nervous young men, the snaggle-toothed, soft-bellied, and pony-tailed. It's a room in which Game of Thrones viewers will have already read all the books, a fact they will remind you of regularly.

The so-called "furry fandom" itself is relatively new, born out of sci-fi and comic conventions in the 80s and then disseminated via fanzines and the internet. Furriness is an 80 percent male persuasion, though girls are increasingly getting into the scene, with some here today. Like all subcultures, this one has its own vocabulary. Terms include "scritching" (mutual grooming); a "fur pile" (when a bunch of furries lay on top of one another); "yiffing" (having sex) and "spooging" (ejaculating).

[Lee G]

Of all the fetishes, I find this to be one of the strangest.

[UnCivilServant]

You ain't been on this internet thing long, have you?

[Lee G]

Maybe I should have excluded Germans first.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

At least it involves people.

[Idle Hands]

Maybe people just like anonymous sex?

[Lee G]

Goes beyond that:

"I've never had relations with a snake-lion before. There's something about raccoons, though. And wolves, too. They're kind of sexy."

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

These are basically people who want to have sex with mythological creatures. How on earth does such a desire develop?

[tarran]

Real humans never live up to platonic ideals. Real humans inevitably will disappoint one, whereas a mythological creature will always be perfect.

Her breasts will always be pert; she'll always smile when you want her to smile etc;

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Well i guess I could see a mythological goddess, or siren, or Amazon or something, but I never could imagine looking at a cartoon mouse, and going "Damn thats one fine piece of ass there."

[Lord Humungus]

This does nothing for you?

😉

[Elspeth Flashman]

The costume will hide a lot of body image "problems" whether self-perceived or real.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Maid Marian from the Disney Robin Hood animated movie made half the furries in existence. Nala from Lion King made the other half.

(or so I've heard...)

(yes, I know that I'm part of a fandom that has its fair share of furries. They're pretty harmless at least. Keep to themselves.)

[Lord Humungus]

Maid Marian

go on...

[Whahappan?]

Well, she's on her tiptoed feet...

[Idle Hands]

If that's all you have say to gain acceptance to a realm of suited anonymous orgies than you can count plenty of people in. The lengths people will go for dick/vag is immeasurable.

[Juvenile Bluster]

http://www.xkcd.com/471/

[Libertarian]

"One 24-year-old tells me he feels ancient..."

Then perhaps it's time that he starts acting like an adult.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Don't judge him, man, he's already read every book in Game of Thrones.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

But even if he acts like an adult, would he still have to get off your lawn?

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Whats funny is that people like Bruce Jenner probably find these guys strange.

[sarcasmic]

The cat that got too close for comfort: Alarming moment tourist came face-to-face with a cheetah when it jumped in his jeep
A curious wild cat got up close and personal with an Irish tourist on a game drive safari in Kenya's Masai Mara
The bold animal shocked everyone as it hopped into the back seat of a jeep driving through the African plains
Once inside, it sauntered over to holidaymaker Mickey McCaldin, looking as though it might curl up on his lap

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tra.....-jeep.html
I got to pet a cheetah once in Oregon at Wildlife Safari. Their hair is surprisingly coarse. Not soft at all.

[Swiss Servator, rudert schwer!]

STEVE SMITH FUR NICE AND SOFT! STEVE SMITH WANT TO HOP IN JEEP WITH TOURISTS TOO!

[straffinrun]

A furrie may have spooged on it.

[RAHeinlein]

Cue to sing "Soft Kitty"...

[Mike Laursen]

Cheetahs are dog-like and not particularly wild.

[sarcasmic]

Lawsuit claims NYPD cops smashed autistic teen's head into sidewalk and punched him when he 'failed to make eye contact'
Troy Canales was standing outside his home in The Bronx in November 2014 when two cops asked him what he was doing
Federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the 18-year-old claims officers threw him to the ground, smashed his head against concrete and punched him
Canales' mother told cops her son was autistic but they arrested him anyway
Canales was released an hour later without any charges after a police captain apologized to his mother saying 'things like this happen'
Alyson Valentine believes her son's difficulty making eye contact with strangers may have raised alarm with cops
One of the arresting officers said he 'feared for his life' while talking to the 17-year-old

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ntact.html
The officer feared for his life? The kid is lucky to be alive.

[WTF]

Did the Heroes go home safely? Because that's all that matters.

[WTF]

I wonder why this is in the Daily Mail, and not any of the NYC papers? Can't criticize the Heroes in Blue, I guess.

[Juvenile Bluster]

It's in the NY Post, but htey made sure to put a prominent sidebar with all kinds of stories showing how awesome cops are. http://nypost.com/2015/07/08/c.....k-lawsuit/

[Whahappan?]

It was on the local evening news, so there's that.

[Lee G]

And they wonder why people don't trust them.

[Rhywun]

C'mon - he was standing outside his house. He had to be guilty of something.

[Libertarian]

"Canales' mother told cops her son was autistic but they arrested him anyway"

Of course they did. Otherwise the fact that it was a simple assault would have been a bit too obvious.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

According to a lawsuit filed at Manhattan Federal Court, the teen was 'extremely scared' but replied that he was 'chilling' and not doing anything.

Shit, sarc. I fear for my life just reading that.

[sarcasmic]

The kid wouldn't make eye contact with the cops. That's why they beat him up. If you make eye contact you're threatening them, and if you don't then you're threatening them. Heads they win, tails you lose.

[Igor]

So, when they shoot you in the back for running away, the root cause is that you weren't making eye contact?

Being a law-abiding citizen is so damned hard nowadays.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Don't forget, if you are making eye contact that's the same as running toward them so Bang Bang

[Igor]

Towards, away from, details, details.

And anyway, after all this time, what difference does it make.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

Did you see that cheetah story above? It's approximately the same thing... just act as calm as possible until the beast with the killing implements goes away.

[X[redacted]s]

"Law-abiding" is just another way to say "not yet assaulted by a government goon."

[Princess Trigger]

"things like this happen" = Government thugs beat the shit out of disabled people - what ya gonna do?

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras huddled with government and political leaders Thursday to finalize details of the debt-laden country's last-ditch request for a fresh bailout.

"How do you say pretty please in European?"

[UnCivilServant]

"How do you say pretty please in European?"

NOW!

[sarcasmic]

"Me suck you long time." Oh, wait. That's Vietnamese.

[Muzzled Woodchipper]

Apparently it's "fuck you, hard working Germans, we're NOT gonna stop spending your money, you're going to give us more, and you're gonna celebrate it because we didn't destroy your precious delusion of a united Europe."

[WTF]

You know what other German had delusions of a united Europe?

[X[redacted]s]

Charles V?

[PBR Streetgang]

Nena?

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Do Austrians count?

[WTF]

Only if they speak German, and not the Austrian language.
- /Obama

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Know who else had a vision of a united Europe?

[sloopyinTEXAS]

William Boeing?

[straffinrun]

Final Countdown fans?

[gaijin]

oh...my...stuck...in...my...head...arrrrgggghhhhh!

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

WTF?

[Princess Trigger]

Oh the Austerity! The viscious Austerity!
/internet greek chorus

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Konnen Sie bitte habe etwas Geld bitte

[Timon 19]

That's one polite German.

[Rhywun]

That's one polite German Google Translate-bot mangling the German language.

FTFH

[Bee Tagger]

The South Carolina legislature has voted to remove the Confederate battle flag from statehouse grounds

As usual, the government leading the charge on social change.

[Drake]

Think of all the trouble they could have saved if they had done this 155 years earlier.

[Rich]

Beautiful.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

The left really does some to get worked up over symbols. Maybe I'm weird but all I see is a piece of cloth that has no more meaning or significance that what people choose to give it.

[Libertarian]

I'm about as far from a civil war buff as you'll find, but I was in a CW museum the other day and they had a dozen or so confederate flags displayed (there was no such thing as "the" confederate flag). Some of them were obviously prototypes of current state flags (see N. Carolina, for example). But the docent explained that the Confederate flag is properly called a Confederate "battle flag" and was used to position troops. I found it all interesting........especially in light of the current, politically correct brouhahas.

[Muzzled Woodchipper]

I've seen speculation, based on a Tweet from Anonymous, that they may have had something to do with it.

[Woodchip-o-Matic 5000]

Taking down the flag? Good for them!

[Jordan]

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake thanked Police Commissioner Anthony Batts for his service ? and praised the job he had done ? but said growing criticism of his performance had become a "distraction" that was preventing the city from moving ahead.

"You ungrateful louts just didn't deserve Anthony Batts."

[Muzzled Woodchipper]

It wasn't his job performance that list him the job, it was the criticism from the little people. Every once in a while you need to throw some fresh meat to the ingrates, and the mayor is the butcher.

[Lord Humungus]

A clever post-modernism paper generator

Refresh to get new ones:

Marxist class and constructivist predialectic theory
Catherine Tilton
Department of Future Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Reading Baudrillard: Cultural theory and Derridaist reading
G. Andreas Buxton
Department of Politics, University of Illinois

etc

[Lee G]

Derridaist reading

It means what I say it means.

[Lee G]

I think I just figured out John Roberts.

[Lord Humungus]

Hillary Clinton deletes photo of Her Shaking Hands with Man with White Power Tattoos

[Muzzled Woodchipper]

The memory hole lives!

[gaijin]

Looking at the picture, the guy appears to be an amputee. Why does Hillary hate teh disabled? Does she want to disappear them?

[DJF]

I am wondering if the guy in back right of the picture has a bar code tattooed on the back of the neck?

[Lord Humungus]

Nevada brothel owner says he might run for U.S. Senate

Dennis Hof, easily the most well-known pimp in Nevada, has joined the Libertarian Party and said Wednesday he's weighing a run for the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Hof, the owner of seven legal brothels, including the well-known Moonlite Bunny Ranch in the Silver State, says he has formed an exploratory committee to look into a potential run as a Libertarian candidate.

Hof, 68, moved to Nevada from Phoenix in 1975, operating gas stations before venturing into the brothel business in 1992. The holder of more brothel licenses than anyone else in Nevada, Hof is media savvy and open about his business empire, which stretches from Lyon County to Nye County.

[UnCivilServant]

I thought politicians were supposed to be whores, not pimps

[WoodchipperFocus(ed)]

Winner.

[thrakkorzog]

They both get rich from having other people get fucked. At least the pimps are more honest about it.

[sarcasmic]

A brother owner formed an exploratory committee? Sounds like fun.

[Swiss Servator, rudert schwer!]

*narrows gaze*

[Jordan]

A brother owner

He's a slaver?

[sarcasmic]

auto-correct strikes again

[WTF]

I thought it meant the owner is a brother.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Sarc's brother is a pimp, which is how he ended up working the streets?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

A brother owner?

Hey man, slavery ain't cool. Check your privlege.

[Lord Humungus]

Price tag for Syrian rebels: $4 million each

How much has the United States spent to train that whopping force of 60 Syrian rebels to take on the Islamic State? Well, according to basic math, about $4 million for each of them.

POLITICO has learned that of the $500 million requested last year for the "train-and-equip" program, roughly half has been spent.

"About half of the $500 million has been obligated thus far, mostly on equipment required to train the Syrian fighters," said a congressional aide who was not authorized to speak publicly.

[Rhywun]

This time our meddling in local middle east affairs will work out right! Especially if we throw a few more billion at it.

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

"Facing a midnight deadline from European creditors, Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras huddled with government and political leaders Thursday to finalize details of the debt-laden country's last-ditch request for a fresh bailout."

From what I've heard about the Greek negotiating style, I assume that means Tsipras got drunk and emailed a photocopy of his ass to everyone in Brussels.

[gaijin]

Alexis Tsipras huddled with government and political leaders

"You gotta reach deep down, right down to your creamy center- that place, that place inside of you where all the gooy happy loving goo sits and you just gotta to use that to be the nicest most compassionate player you've ever been and let the world know you will not go down that easy!

[lafe.long]

Lawsuit Accuses Tom Selleck of Stealing Water, but Cops Come Up Dry

Eric Bergh, the water district's manager of resources, said the suit wasn't meant to be an example of "drought shaming," a peculiarly California activity in which people suspected of hogging water are publicly called out.

[Muzzled Woodchipper]

Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

We are doomed.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

"It was my little daughter," said Parsons with a sort of doleful pride. "She listened at the keyhole. Heard what I was saying, and nipped off to the patrols the very next day. Pretty smart for a nipper of seven, eh? I don't bear her any grudge for it. In fact I'm proud of her. It shows I brought her up in the right spirit, anyway."

[Princess Trigger]

Magnum's a water gangsta.

[Pro Libertate]

Did you see the sun rise this morning?

[bacon-magic]

Higgins will be pissed.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

Cops Come Up Dry

An Innocent Man.

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

"Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired the city's police commissioner yesterday."

Oh splendid. This clown has been run out of yet another job. He's a certified scumbag. Wife beater. Serial liar. Opportunistic, scheming, deadbeat.

I'm sure he'll return to Long Beach and run for city council.

[Lord Humungus]

Woman bites off would-be rapist's penis

According to http://www.myzimbabwe.co.zw, the young 'couple' met few days before he decided to take her to his friend's place, with the intention of having sex with her.

But the woman turned down his sexual advances.

He then tried to force himself on her, but she managed to get her teeth on his penis and bit off the head.

I once had a girlfriend who was very er, toothy but nothing like this...

[Idle Hands]

Vagina Dentata!!

[Woodchip-o-Matic 5000]

+1 Teeth reference!

[Drake]

Real rape (not campus regret-rape) sounds pretty damn difficult.

[WTF]

"That's why ya gotta put roofies in the Puddin' Pops!"
-/ Cosby

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

Flizzle flazzle scaboppity doo dop.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Oh he just tried to forcibly have sex with her against her will. It's not like he committed real rape by saying something offensive that made feel uncomfortable or othered. - Modern feminist derp.

[MoriahJovan]

What idiot would think his dick's safe in the mouth of a woman he's raping?

SMH

[ant1sthenes]

On a related note, I've never really understood why vagina dentata is supposed to be (at least for non-rapists) this sort of terrible unconscious male fear. Men will happily put their dick in an orifice with teeth.

[MoriahJovan]

They can't fall in a mouth and get their souls ripped out?

Honestly, if dudes are thinking about this, they probably ought to stay in mommy's basement or go pound their chests on PUA websites.

[Lord Humungus]

Meanwhile in Australia:

Prison Cook Breaks The Eye Sockets Of Man Who Critiques His Chicken Parma

Matthew John Horner was sentenced yesterday following the incident, which occurred in 2011. Horner was working as the unit cook when another inmate critcised the way Horner made his chicken parmigiana, ABC News reports.

"He said there was too much tomato on top of the chicken parmigiana," Constable Reed said.

Later in the day, the pair ended up back in the unit and a fight broke out - resulting in the unidentified victim's two broken eye sockets.

[Libertarian]

Wow, only four years from crime to punishment. Who says the justice system is broken?

[Lord Humungus]

People Are Now Getting Themselves Branded Because Tattoos Weren't Permanent Enough

Body-branding is a painful practice often regarded as too cruel to inflict on animals, but that hasn't deterred tattoo enthusiast Kerri, who let Channel 4 film her first foray into more extreme body modification.

Sometimes called scarification, body-branding has a long and varied history, from Viking warriors who used to burn runes and symbols into their flesh, to branding thieves and criminals, and the colonial slavers who used hot irons to mark people as their own property.

The body artist in the the short video, called 'Burning Desire', said he normally works at between 500C-700C when branding someone, depending on how sensitive the client's skin is.

[Lee G]

It was big in the black fraternities when I was in college. They justified doing it to pledges with some tripe about being brothers in slavery.

[WTF]

Because they were all former slaves?

[Lee G]

I don't know. There was a lot of pressure to the point of being coercive. They would isolate the pledges for months and forbid them to interact with other students when on campus. It was weird.

[ant1sthenes]

Sounds like a cult.

[TwB]

A friend of a friend was an Omega at VCU, and they got branded as part of their pledging process. The guy said: "See, this brand means I'm in a REAL fraternity, unlike the one you're in." I just laughed at the utter stupidity of his comment. If you have to get branded to be part of a fraternity, or part of any organization for that matter, who in their right mind would willingly go through with it?

[PBR Streetgang]

Qs and Kappas at U.Va. Virginia State and Virginia Union all did branding. Never made sense to me.

[Rhywun]

who in their right mind would willingly go through with it?

The kind of maladjusted losers that want to join a frat?

[Medical Physics Guy]

A hipster friend told me that you can now get tattoos that are designed to be easily removable.

That does seem to miss the point.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I know that some gangs do that as a more permanent marker than a tattoo, but... seriously, why would anyone voluntarily do that? What level of idiocy is necessary?

[Lee G]

Occasionally, someone will poison themselves by branding with a coat hanger. The burned coating on the hanger gets absorbed into the skin.

[Matrix]

One of the guys in my office has his fraternity symbol branded on his upper arm. You see several guys in college and NFL that have Omegas branded in their arms.

I would never do it. Nor would I get a tattoo. But some people just do stuff like that.

[thrakkorzog]

Branding isn't exactly a new thing on the body mod scene. I knew people who had been branded over a decade ago.

[Lord Humungus]

Prosecutors: Knife trumps all in rock-paper-scissors game

Prior to the incident, the alleged victim had been soliciting rock-paper-scissors opponents near the intersection of Broadway and East Pike Street in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.

A friend of Langley apparently took the gambler up on a game shortly after 3:20 a.m., and lost his dollar. While Langley's friend was sanguine after the loss, police say Langley saw red.

"I'm going to stab you in the (expletive) neck," Langley told the other man after demanding a refund for his friend, according to charging papers.

Langley then pulled a folding knife and lashed out, slashing inched from the other man's body and slicing his "rock-paper-scissors for a dollar" sign, a Seattle Police Department detective said in charging papers. The alleged victim gave the other man back his dollar and fled.

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

No. The pentapus trumps all in rock-paper-scissors.

[UnCivilServant]

Isn't that a disease vector for pentapox?

[Lord Humungus]

Turns Out the EPA Didn't Come Up with the Talking Points for Its Controversial Power Plant Program

Newly-surfaced emails revealed that a prominent left-wing group played a large role in the creation of the talking points for the Environmental Protection Agency's controversial new power plant regulations.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Joseph Goffman, senior counsel for the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, circulated talking points drafted by Center for American Progress Climate Strategy Director Daniel Weiss in an effort to sell the agency's new program to a reporter from the New York Times back in September 2013.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Koch Industries helping draft oil regs=bad
CAP helping draft EPA regs=good

Why do you people hate the earth and want minorities, women and children to be hardest hit?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Finally! Some guy at The Week takes down libertarianism once and for all

Nozick's book constructs a detailed procedural account of justice, arguing that redistributive taxation is theft because it is a coerced transfer. He was a smart guy, and it's very hard to get one's hooks into his argument. The weakness, as with all extremist accounts of property rights, is not with the logic but the premises ? particularly when it comes to the very beginning of property.

Go back far enough in history, and there would have been no property of any kind. The moment somebody fences off a piece of land, it necessarily destroys the liberty of everyone else in the world, since they no longer have the right to access that land. Nozick admits this is the case, but still wants to set up initial property rights. So he embraces a concept that he calls the "Lockean proviso."

This proviso allows appropriation of unowned things, so long as it does not worsen the situation of anyone else. And what about people last in line, so to speak, who can't appropriate anything because everything is already taken? Well, they will benefit from the general prosperity brought on by market capitalism.

Note what kind of argument this is: It rests on the overall welfare-enhancing consequences of adopting Nozick's ideas.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

As someone else pointed out, progressive idiots have been referring to having to work for a living as 'wage slavery' pretty much since Marx.

So apparently slavery is an okay metaphor if you're attacking capitalism but not supporting it.

[sarcasmic]

If you voluntarily work for a capitalist, then you are a slave.

If you must ask permission and obey orders from governmental authority before doing anything, then you are truly free.

[CatoTheChipper]

One of the ten planks of the Communist Manifesto (1847):

"Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture."

Coerced state slavery = good. It worked so well in the USSR, PRC, Khmer PDR, PDR of Korea, and several dozen other nations that it should be emulate it. Indeed, this system achieved genuine equality for the overwhelming majority of inhabitants. In death, the pauper and the king are equal.

Voluntary wage "slavery" = bad. It has failed to attain utopia, so we should rise above our false consciousness and demand that the state establish industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

Of course, pretty much everybody agrees that coerced private slavery is bad.

[sarcasmic]

Of course, pretty much everybody agrees that coerced private slavery is bad.

Private slavery is done for profits, so it is bad.

Government slavery is done for the common good, so it is wonderful.

Slavery itself is not bad. What matters is who the slaver is.

Principals, not principles.

[ant1sthenes]

One of the ten planks of the Communist Manifesto (1847):

"Equal liability of all to work."

Once upon time, the Democratic party stood for the notion that all black men should be enslaved to serve the needs of their party's elite.

In the modern era, however, they've learned to embrace racial equality.

[straffinrun]

I made the mistake of watching an anarcho socialist video on youtube. That is basically their position, too.

[X[redacted]s]

I had a self-described anarcho-socialist try to explain to me how those two ideas are not mutually contradictory. He failed.

[sarcasmic]

Well, yeah. All property is theft. Not taking is giving and not giving is taking, since everything belongs to everyone.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

I personally love the argument that the first person to fence off territory has somehow stolen that territory from other people, even though no one was there.

[tarran]

The shade of Henry George spits his scorn at you from the pits of hell.

[sarcasmic]

But what if they wanted to be there? It's not fair!

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I'm gonna use this argument the next time I try to scale the fence at the White House. And just wait on all the progressive shitheads to come out of the woodwork and support me.

[sarcasmic]

That's different. The White House belongs to The People, which is Everyone But You.

Besides, progressives believe "What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine." They don't want to actually share their own property, they only want a piece of yours.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

But-but-but... they could have been there!

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Go back far enough in history, and there would have been no property of any kind. The moment somebody fences off a piece of land, it necessarily destroys the liberty of everyone else in the world, since they no longer have the right to access that land.

Oh WTF. You can't claim to reference history, and then fall back on Rousseau's hypothetical thought experiment. There was no goddamn point in actual history where a person "fenced off" a piece of land and, boop!, private property started.

Nor is it established that everyone has an equal right to all land, it's simply assumed to be the case. Why does someone have the right to the land they fenced? Well, why does some stranger have the right to that land? The Lockean idea that it belongs to the person who actually worked the land is not a bad justification of the former question, while the latter is never answered.

[Free Society]

Go back far enough in history, and there would have been no property of any kind. The moment somebody fences off a piece of land, it necessarily destroys the liberty of everyone else in the world, since they no longer have the right to access that land.

And that person who fenced off that particular piece of land was the first one to do so for a reason. He apparently valued the ownership of that parcel more than anyone else in the entire world, otherwise someone else would have fenced it off first. The rest of humanity who didn't fence it off expressed their preference for other things, like their leisure time or a parcel of land closer to where they currently live et cetera. The homesteader has more right to that property than any other member of humanity, all else being equal.

[ant1sthenes]

There are plenty of libertarians or libertarianish groups (Geoists, for example) who fully accept the notion that unaltered natural resources belong to the commons, that privatization of the commons is still very good for everyone, but that the commons needs to be made whole for privatizing them through a payment for use -- they usually derive a land value tax from that, and consider it the only noncoercive form of taxation.

So, at best, it's only a rebuttal to certain strains of libertarianism.

[Free Society]

Geoists, for example, are not libertarians. All the ones I've talked to favor a world government type institution to collect this "non-coercive" tax but avoid calling it a "government". Secondly, for such a tax to be non-coercive, it must be able to qualify as a rent. And by what right does this world government purport to own all the resources in the world? The rather childish "who died and made you king?" argument is enough to handily refute their position, which says something about the naivete of that ideology.

[ant1sthenes]

All worthwhile points, which is why it tends to make more sense as justifying tax reform for existing, already-coercive, already-taxing governments; rather than any sort of global revolution.

[Free Society]

Well I'm not familiar about the geoist methodology for achieving this, I'm not sure they have much of one that doesn't include world conquest since their non-government government claims to effectively own the entire earth, it's inhabitants and all of it's real property.

Minarchist and anarcho-capitalist theories however can actually be played out in small areas unlike the all-encompassing world domination varieties.

[Lord Humungus]

OK, so what would convince you that racism is real?
I don't hang out with white people I need to educate about white privilege. And then I started dating one

It was a summer of fucking and civic unrest, and of thinking about 1981. I was researching Obama's time at Columbia University for a screenplay I'd been hired to write, reading everything I could get my hands on about that relatively opaque and unsettled period of his life. One of the jewels? the kind of line you can't even use, because it's too on-the-nose?was that his white girlfriend, Genevieve Cook, had broken up with young Barry by telling him that what he needed was a "strong black woman." There was a strange duality for me, in watching the strained, embattled man calling for calm on my television screen?the soon-to-be lame duck president whose tenure, whose very being, had kicked the hornets' nest of American racism far harder than any of us had come close to anticipating?and trying to project myself backward in time and understand who Obama had been when he was only slightly older than Mike Brown.

Jessie and I never really recovered from that first Ferguson fight, but I kept trying to make it work, for good reasons and bad.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

I think it's very funny that they think arguing against the concept of white privilege or saying it's improperly applied means you think racism does not exist.

Reminds me of Amanda Marcotte calling people rape deniers because they argued her statistics about rape were inaccurate.

"One of the jewels? the kind of line you can't even use, because it's too on-the-nose?was that his white girlfriend, Genevieve Cook, had broken up with young Barry by telling him that what he needed was a "strong black woman.""

Was this one of those stories Obama just made up using composite girlfriends that didn't exist, but never got called on by the mainstream media?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Composite girlfriends from Canada?

[UnCivilServant]

what would convince you that racism is real?

The mere existence of salon and it's horde of racists is enough for me. I don't need to hea rthe drivel that pours from your gob to be convinced you're racist.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

what would convince you that racism is real?

Affirmative Action policies that automatically deem minorities inferior on merit.
Gun control advocacy.
Labeling only people of certain colors as "________-Americans" even if they're 10th generation Americans.

Those are for starters.

[Lady Dalrymple]

They both looked at me like I was that dude Paris and they were the goddesses laying claim to the golden apple that started the Trojan War. I had no idea what had happened while I was taking a piss, but I said, "It's never a good look to be the white girl claiming it's not about race."

This guy is an insufferable prick and a terrible writer. He drips pretentious hipster, and he possess zero self awareness. It's like he's playing the part of "douche bag".

"It's never a good look..." What an asshole.

[Lady Dalrymple]

His social circle is small because very few people can tolerate interacting with him without the urge to murder.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Shut up, white woman, it's never a good look to call a black man a douchebag.

[Lady Dalrymple]

He's white and Jewish.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Shut up, anti-semite, it's never a good look to call a member of the Tribe a douchebag.

[X[redacted]s]

The writers of New Girl are in trouble, then.

[Lee G]

But it wasn't really okay. We kept talking about it. Jessie admitted that she'd never really grappled with this shit, and expressed a beautifully sincere desire to try.

In other words, it all sounded like bullshit to her, but because she wanted to send the right signals, she's was going to try and ignore all of that.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"She thought that maybe if she didn't argue, I would eventually shut up and bone her while she fantasized about having sex with a better man."

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I don't hang out with white people I need to educate about white privilege. And then I started dating one.

He can't even keep in the present or past tense for two sentences, the lede no less, and he calls himself a serious writer? What a maroon.

[Lee G]

This is a miniscule cohort, invisible on the national radar, but for all intents and purposes it's the sum total of my white community.

But I've constructed a life and a career that keeps me completely isolated from those white people?"real" white people. I don't even have awkward Thanksgiving conversations with some crotchety old-fuck uncle who thinks the president is a secret Muslim.

Establish hipster and SJW cred. Proceed with unintelligible argument. Profit.

[Rhywun]

Please tell me Salon doesn't make a profit.

Besides, profits are bad and stuff.

[Lady Dalrymple]

He intentional conflates the generally accepted definition of racism with structural racism.

Many, most even, Americans think racism exists. They just don't necessarily accept the radical concept of structural racism and white privilege.

[PH2050]

Wow. That is possibly the dumbest shit I've ever read. Thanks.

People who share links to Salon are disgusting and should be fed, feet first, into industrial woodchippers.

[Lord Humungus]

hey!!!

[Medical Physics Guy]

Paedophilia is natural and normal for males

I would say the cretins described in the article provide a good demonstration of why a natural rights approach is preferable to a "science says so" approach in establishing legal boundaries. A couple of bad neuroscience studies, and people start agitating for the legal right to prey on children.

[Woodchip-o-Matic 5000]

Agreed. The SCIENCE!! approach is also what led progressives to support eugenics back in the day.

[CatoTheChipper]

The public, wrote Dr Taylor, "generally thinks of paedophiles as sick or evil men who lurk around school playgrounds in the hope of attempting unspecified beastliness with unsuspecting innocent children". That, he reassured readers, was merely a "stereotype", both "inaccurate and unhelpful", which flew in the face of the "empirical realities of paedophile behaviour". Why, most adult-child sexual relationships occurred in the family!

So, assuming this is correct, most paedophilia is incestuous, and that's supposed to make it more acceptable?

[Lady Dalrymple]

Jared agrees.

[WTF]

"Eat fresh!"

[Injun, Wood Chipper Vindaloo]

So if the CDC says that guns are bad and pedophelia is good, you know what our "science-loving" proggie friends would have us under the threat of government violence.

[ant1sthenes]

So, what's the next social justice crusade after trans shit is played out? It's either pedos or furries, right?

[Free Society]

NAMBLA was advocating before this study...

[ant1sthenes]

26-year-olds, dude.

[ant1sthenes]

or Dude, even.

[Free Society]

I don't think this "finding" so much supports the "pedophilia is good" argument as it does the "men are inherently evil and predatory" argument.

[Lord Humungus]

Watch white people cry about white privilege in a new MTV documentary White People

A new MTV documentary called "White People" purports to ask the "very uncomfortable" questions about white privilege and white frustration.

It documents the perceived struggle that White teens and twenty-somethings have in coming to terms with their identity. Dakota, a 22-year-old from a small town in Virgina, for example, has a moment of awakening when he joins a historically black college. Another student by the name of Katy is convinced that being white prevented her from receiving a scholarship to Grand Canyon University.

[Idle Hands]

that was posted yesterday, we are doomed.

[Idle Hands]

and also I'm totes going to hate watch this.

[TwB]

Can the citizens of the USA just start looking like folks from Brazil or Argentina yet? And let's say that happens in the next 300 years or so, what will the next issue be after we all look pretty damn similar? I'm just tired of this race baiting crap.

[UnCivilServant]

You overestimate the amount of actual mixing that took place. There were studies conducted, and they deliberately phrased it to over-emphesize the hybridization. The categories were marked like something out of the worst of the jim crow categories, where someone with less than 1/8th native heritage would be labeled as 'mixed' despite all of the phenotype markers and self-identification. Even then, they were only able to reach a 56% mixing value.

[Lord Humungus]

As time goes on the population will begin to look more and more like STEVE SMITH

[X[redacted]s]

...AS PROPORTION OF POPULATION RAPED AND IMPREGNATED BY STEVE SMITH APPROACHES 1.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Next the German College of Aryan studies produces a film on "Jewish privilege"!!

Seriously is anyone else creeped out that our entire academia wants to blame all the world's ills on an entire race of people? It's creepy and profoundly evil.

[Free Society]

Much less a race of people whose members have made countless and profound contributions to the betterment of all of man kind.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Does Grand Canyon University even have scholarships? I thought they were the next version of University of Phoenix.

[Rhywun]

Dakota, a 22-year-old from a small town in Virgina, for example, has a moment of awakening when he joins a historically black college.

Whereupon they beat the crap out of him for a having a girl's name.

[Igor]

Then there's the whole issue of him appropriating a Native American name.

Because White Privilege

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: wacky military blunders

1. At the battle of Tarawa, the Marine's landing crafts got stuck on the coral reef surrounding the island because the attack was mistakenly ordered at low tide.

2. During the Soviet assault on Berlin, powerful spot lights were aimed in the direction of the city at night to direct Soviet troops. The Soviets were silhouetted by the lights and became easy targets for German gunners.

3. In 1951, the US Army ordered that its tanks in Korea be painted to look like tigers because 1951 was the year of the tiger and US Army psychologists believe it would terrify the Chinese. The tanks merely became easier to spot and shoot by the enemy.

4. The Russian Army showed up 2 weeks late for the Battle of Ulm because they were still using the Julian calendar when the rest of Europe had switched to the Gregorian calendar.

5. At the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the Indian coalition fasted before the expected day on battle. When that passed without event, the fasted the next day. On the morning after, they chose to eat. It was at this moment the US Army attacked and quickly routed the Indian warriors.

6. At the Battle of Zama, the Romans dodged the Carthaginians' elephants by opening gaps in the their lines at the moment the elephants charged. The elephants ran into the gaps and kept going without harming the Romans.

[UnCivilServant]

While this was part of the real events at Zama, how can you classify #6 as a blunder? Up to that point, the elephants had been quite effective for the carthaginians. The romans adapted their tactics (this was not the first thing they tried to counter the elephants) and this time it worked.

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

And to think I left a very kushy job with the military to work in the commercial private sector when I could have stayed and come up with "elephant launcher".

[UnCivilServant]

Speaking of, where did you get "elephant launcher"? You lost me.

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

From you.

[UnCivilServant]

I'm not seeing it, can you provide the relevent quote?

[Muhammad Finkelstein (widget)]

Sorry, I installed the 'elephants' plug-in on my browser and it inserts this word in every post I read. I generally find this helpful.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

I'll go with 3.

[WTF]

I know 3 is real, so I'm gonna go with #2, just because I don't remember that happening in any of the WWII history I've seen.

[Derpetologist]

[game show buzzer]

Note Zhukov's use of massed searchlights....The calamitous result was merely to silhouette Russian troops in their own beams, the corps losing 8,000 men in one night,

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

#3

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

I'll go with 4

[Derpetologist]

Winner! That is popular myth.

Your prize

[Pan Zagloba]

#2 happened at Seelow Heights outside Berlin. And #4 is plausible, coalition against Napoleon had issues with Russians on different calendar.

So if #3 is true....

Let's go #4 - there's late, and there's two weeks late!

[Monty Crisco]

I find all of these believable, having been in the army. Anyway, Imma say 3 because I am pretty sure that 1951 was NOT the year of the tiger...

[LynchPin1477]

So what's the latest from China? I still find it annoyingly difficult to find a good analysis of what's happening over there, and the story is basically non-existent in major news outlets. It sort of seems like the slide slowed down yesterday, but that is just one day.

[Lee G]

About half of companies have self-suspended their stock trading. They had a slight bounce overnight, but they're still a long, long way from the bottom. I expect oil is headed for the 30's, which will create turmoil in the US exploration/drilling market.

[UnCivilServant]

Last I heard, a lot of the domestic fields have a production break-even point of $29. Yes, a drop to the $30s will end new leases for a while, any field with sunk costs will still operate. But it'll be worse for OPEC. The average OPEC country needs $104 to cover the budgetary load placed on oil revenues (the worst needs $184).

[gaijin]

I read that the Chinese government was threatening to jail short sellers. That's one way to have Government intervention in the markets I guess.

[goneGalt]

Next week: Cab driver tells Thomas Friedman why that is such a great idea.

[LynchPin1477]

Well, I'll say this much: the government is certainly willing to pull out all the stops to try and prevent a catastrophic crash. Whether they'll be successful in the short term remains to be seen.

What I still don't understand is what precipitated this? Say what you will you about the Chinese economy, but that huge cheap labor market that fueled their growth over the lat 20 years isn't fake. Seems like there is a lot of legitimate value in China, so why the sudden fall? And why shouldn't I bet** on a bounce back? U.S. markets experienced crashes that they recovered quickly from prior to 1929. Is there some reason to think this is going to do real, long term damage to the Chinese economy?

**I'm not actually in the Chinese market in any significant way.

[UnCivilServant]

U.S. markets experienced crashes that they recovered quickly from prior to 1929.

Well, there's your problem. They recovered because the government didn't get involved. The Chinese, by definition, will always have the government in the thick of it, mucking things up worse.

[LynchPin1477]

Agreed, but if the fundamentals of the economy are sound it will be harder for the government to muck it up. The Chinese also seem to be a bit more sensible in how they meddle than say, oh, the Greeks, just to choose an example at random. Though if the Greeks had the same surplus of cheap labor as China has had, they might look a lot less incompetent. A vast, untapped market with huge potential tends to provide nice cover for fuck ups. Up to a point. Has China reached that point? That's what I'm waiting to see.

[Lee G]

The stock market bubble is one thing, but it's the real estate bubble that's going to sink them for the time being. Speculation has been rampant over the last 2 decades.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Maybe the fundamentals of the economy aren't sound.

The Chinese also seem to be a bit more sensible in how they meddle

No. They are in full on panic right now. Not sensible at all when you ban short-selling, ban outright sales, allow private companies to halt trading on thier shares, and limit how much a stock can go down in a single trading session.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Well, I'll say this much: the government is certainly willing to pull out all the stops to try and prevent a catastrophic crash. Whether they'll be successful in the short term remains to be seen.

It won't succeed. The only thing that will succeed in halting the crash in equity prices is a permanent halt to trading.

[Lee G]

You shouldn't bet on a bounce back in the near term because the P:E ratios on the Shanghai market were 250:1 (on what I would consider suspect earnings reports) and margin lending increased 5 fold over the last year.

Their total public and private debt was 200% of GDP a year ago and has only grown since then. That may not seem like much compared to the US, however China is still an emerging market and the rate of increase has been skyrocketing.

[Tybus]

My anecdotal observation is upon taking a train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, once you left the city it became a third world shithole with pockets ( maybe size of say downtown Atlanta) of newish but abandoned skyscrapers rapidly deteriorating. I surmised that people like Tom Friedman are either lying or stupid. It's one big Potemkin village imho.

[MOFO.]

that huge cheap labor market aint so cheap anymore.

[chipper me timbers]

The US did the same thing in 2008

[TwB]

Here's my two cents on it: the Chinese government stepped in and pumped the breaks on the stock sell off by threatening wealthy citizens who wanted to get out of the market and forcing some of them to buy more stocks to prime the market, then suspended about 40% of the funds on the market itself to make the overall numbers look great. Hence, a 5% increase in the value of the Chinese stock market since yesterday's close. Basically, the actions the Chinese gov't took overnight were a bandaid on top of a cut artery. China's stock market will still fall a lot more, and there is not a whole helluva lot the Chinese government can do to completely stop it.

[gaijin]

yeah, one other point...the shanghai composite index is still up 72% from a year ago..even after all the falling from the last few days.

[Lee G]

There's still a lot of margin calls to be made

[Lady Dalrymple]

I'd guess that it will regain some of the loss or stabilize for several weeks. PBoC just backstopped the market. They've basically guaranteed price stability for the near future. Everyone will pile in to take advantage similar to the bounce in American markets after QE. Don't fight the FED and don't fight the PBoC.

This will work until it doesn't work anymore.

[Lee G]

Unfortunately for the PBoC, they don't have quite the same level of trust that the Fed has, right or wrong. The US dollar benefits mightily from being the best looking turd in the punchbowl.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Well, it is still a communist dictatorship. If it can't stop a free fall in the share prices there isn't anything stopping it from declaring it the work of evil speculators, foreign devils, and other assorted kulaks and wreckers, and just nationalize everything.

[Medical Physics Guy]

I agree, the liberal press is still mostly in denial that their beloved paragon of "anti-austerity" is in big trouble. I find the Telegraph is doing okay with the story. Financially oriented publications (FT, maybe WSJ) will probably be more reliable.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Tinder: Making it Easier than Ever to Date a Celebrity

The popular dating app just launched verified profiles, following in the footsteps of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The profiles of "notable public figures, celebrities and athletes" will now be marked with the recognizable white-and-blue checkmark badge, Tinder announced in a blog post on Tuesday.

"Many celebrities were telling us that no one believes it is really them on Tinder, so we launched verified profiles to authentic users who are notable public figures," Rosette Pambakian, vice president of global communications and branding at Tinder, told The Huffington Post.

The dating app has seen problems with scammers, bots and fake profiles in the past, raising concerns of cybersecurity and catfishing. On the other hand, real celebrities using the app often made few matches, as people automatically assumed they were fake, former Tinder CEO Sean Rad told The Hollywood Reporter in March.

Casual Tinder users might come across profiles bearing the names of popular figures, artists or athletes who have spoken about using the app, including Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Hilary Duff, who recently chronicled her Tinder adventures in a music video.

Pass.

[LynchPin1477]

Intercepted.

[Mr. Paulbotto]

Strips ball from interceptor, runs back for touchdown

[Rhywun]

recently chronicled her Tinder adventures in a music video

What is that I can't even.

[Mike M.]

Joseph E. Stiglitz: the U.S. must save Greece.

Fuck Greece, and also, fuck you, Joseph E. Stiglitz.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Yes, let's completely internationalize bailouts. And why do we only have to bail out Greece? Why not bail out every African country that has an economic crash? Do only white people deserve the Magic Bailout? Also, Stiglitz is an idiot:

""The facts prove otherwise: From the mid-90's to the beginning of the crisis, the Greek economy was growing at a faster rate than the EU average (3.9% vs 2.4%).""

Yes and it was all financed by debt. And they lied about their deficit in order to be allowed into the EU.

Here's a hint: when you are running 8% deficits (which the Greeks were in early 2000) and getting 3.9% growth, you're actually going backwards economically.

[Pro Libertate]

That's very telling that growth=increased use of debt in his mind. So when someone who earns $25K runs up $500K in debt in a year, that's a good thing.

[Jordan]

Stiglitz is one of the high priests of Keynesian clownery. No amount of debt is too great for him. What a maroon.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Hugo Stiglitz?

[Princess Trigger]

And the Germans, Canadians and Chinese should "save" Puerto Rico?
Yeah, that'll fly puta.

[Injun, Wood Chipper Vindaloo]

Yeah b****.

Empty your own piggy bank and go charge at the windmills.

[Lord Humungus]

Closed on my new house yesterday... feels weird since I'm still renting for two more months and the new place is only five blocks away. At least I can get some rooms painted, some trees chopped down, and get some other stuff done before we have to move in.

[Lord Humungus]

There is also a nearby private pool that is owned by the neighborhood - you have to pay in $400 a year to use it. It was started in 1960ish since a number of people wanted to have a pool but didn't have a space for one in their backyard. So they all got together, bought a lot, and built a pool + changing room. Been going that way for fifty years now,

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

Are you one of the yinzer posters? There's one of those arrangements in a neighborhood near mine.

[Lord Humungus]

Yinzer? Had to google that. No, not from Pittsburgh.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

Regardless, if you ever make it to da burgh, we'll have to meet up dahntahn before a Stillers game.

[Swiss Servator, rudert schwer!]

And have a Yeungling!

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

Arn City, ya jagoff.

[Stormy Dragon]

It was started in 1960ish since a number of people wanted to have a pool but didn't have a space for one in their backyard.

Yeah. No room in their backyards. That's the reason why a group of people people suddenly decided the needed their own communal yet private pool in the 1960s.

[Lady Dalrymple]

Enjoy the new house and remember to hang window treatments; wood and/or bamboo shades are nice.

[Lord Humungus]

I prefer to walk around starkers with only the thinnest gossamer curtains to protect me from prying eyes.

[Igor]

I never had you down as a 'curtain twitcher', LH ...

[Lady Dalrymple]

NSFW

[Igor]

Ewww. That was truly NSFA

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Mobster being charged with participation in Lufthansa heist demands 'Goodfellas' poster be taken down from courtroom

A reputed member of the Bonanno crime family who is charged in the 1978 Lufthansa heist wants a federal judge to remove an exhibit from the courthouse in Brooklyn where he is on trial.

The exhibit, titled "The Eastern District in the Headlines," depicts a number of cases that have been argued and won by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. The exhibit includes, among other things, movie posters for "Goodfellas" under a section called "EDNY in the Movies." That film includes a fictional account of the crime -- the more than $5 million theft at JFK Airport -- with which Vincent Asaro is charged.

Defense attorneys asked Judge Allyne Ross to remove the exhibit, writing in a letter it "seemingly endorses the Government's current prosecution of an alleged member of the Bonanno family."

"The resulting effect is that the Exhibit functions to bootstrap the prosecution of Mr. Asaro," Elizabeth Macedonio and Diane Ferrone wrote in the letter.

Prosecutors are not expected to oppose the request to remove the exhibit.

When he's found guilty and sentenced will the judge tell him to go get his fuckin' shine box?

[WTF]

I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to fuckin' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?

[BearOdinson]

I'll dig the fuckin hole. Think I never dug a fuckin hole before?!

[Rich]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said there were no signs that the problems at NYSE and United Airlines stemmed from "malicious activity."

Right.

[Chip Morningwood Esq]

beware of greeks bearing no income verification loan applications

[Rich]

Jade Helm 15, heavily scrutinized military exercise, to open without media access

"We are dedicated to communicating with the public, while balancing that against the application of operations security and other factors."

"Other factors", huh? Nice band name.

[Sevo]

Why they stick this guy behind a paywall, I have no idea. Today, he makes the amazing assumption that since the Chinese government can't keep the Chinese market from tanking, no one in the US should gripe about regulations!

"China's stock market crash shows limits of government control"
[...]
"To those companies that whine about the feds suffocating our once great capital markets, I say this: Feel free to go public in Shanghai right now."
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bus.....374013.php

No, I'm not going take one for the team and read the comments.

[UnCivilServant]

Because if he were in front of the paywall, people would know that the tripe behind the paywall isn't worth paying for.

[Mike M.]

Former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley falls for fake news story and cites it in his Wall Street policy document.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Doesn't that violate the Geneva Convention?

[Drake]

1. Hollow-points are not banned - expanding ammo is. Our snipers are already allowed to use match-grade hollow-point ammo which does not expand.

2. The Army pistol competition is a joke. Pistols are worthless in combat. Hollow-point, FMJ makes no difference if it is stopped by the cheapest body armor. Look for nothing to come out of this.

If they start testing 5.7mm pistols and submachine guns, that may be an indication of them getting serious.

[UnCivilServant]

A lot of the people we've been fighting don't have body armor.

[Swiss Servator, rudert schwer!]

"Pistols are worthless in combat."

Speak for yourself!

[thrakkorzog]

Nope. It's a violation of The Hague convention, but the U.S. didn't sign the part limiting ammo types, so it's not really a violation of any treaty.

[Igor]

I think they'll just adopt JHP for 'domestic use'.

After all, that's where all the credible threats to US National Security seem to be coming from, and when you're shooting some uppity rancher in Idaho, the GCs don't apply.

/derp

[Drake]

Sure - but...

1. We rarely (never intentionally) fight them with pistols.

2. Look at some ISIS photos - many of them do wear armor.

3. It's the Army's job to plan for future wars - including possible conflicts with real armies such as Russia - not previous wars.

[UnCivilServant]

The sidearm, like the bayonet, it a "just in case" weapon, not the primary arm of any of the troopers. Making sure it is a good one is still a valid use of resources (far more sensible than the F-35 anyway).

Also, the pevalence of armor among the forces you cited is not that high. The biggest probable combatant for the next war is China, given their posturing in the South China Sea and the cauldron of economic issues making the current leadership look weak.

[Drake]

I think a ground conflict with Russia is more probable. Their better units do have body armor.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

I'd bet a lot that we never get into a shooting war with China.

[Injun, Wood Chipper Vindaloo]

The biggest probable combatant for the next war is China, given their posturing in the South China Sea and the cauldron of economic issues making the current leadership look weak.

Spot on about their leadership, except that they are going to start a war against India or Viet Nam - someone weaker than them militarily to ensure victory and a surge of patriotism to help the leadership.

Basically, a violent version of the "Look, a bird!" distraction.

[Drake]

Haven't they already had their short, bloody conflicts with both? Their Vietnam adventure was kind of an embarrassment they may not want to repeat. The Indian military is a lot better now than it was in 1962 - and they have nukes.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

In any major military operation, if it comes down to what pistol round you are shooting, you have already lost.

At that point, you are just working on making their victory a little more expensive.

[X[redacted]s]

They have nukes AND they believe in reincarnation. Do not fuck with India.