Nontroversy Over Dylann Roof's Background Check, OPM Director Out, Brewer Defends Trump: P.M. Links

• 

  Public Domain

  The FBI says Dylann Roof shouldn't have been able to buy a gun and a "loophole" is to blame. Looks more like mere government incompetence to Brian Doherty, though.

• Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's appeal went nowhere.
• Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer defended Donald Trump over racist comments.
• It's not been the best week for walking Subway mascot Jared Fogle.
• Additional child pornography news: Six minors were charged with posession of child porn because they sexted each other.
• OPM Director Katherine Archuleta resigned in the wake of revelations about the data breach.
• The Confederate flag no longer flies over South Carolina state house grounds.
• Watch Reason TV's latest interview with Peter Schiff.

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

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Confederate flag no longer flies over South Carolina state house grounds.

They were flying it incorrectly anyway. It was upside down.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Yeah...what?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

I was ID'd ordering a beer at Wrigley.

You Americans.

[Pro Libertate]

Frankly, no one should be allowed to drink at Wrigley or in Chicago. At least, not anyone from there.

[Gojira]

People from Chicago are...

...wait for it...

...wait for it...

...the best!

*BOOM* Expectations inverted!

[Pro Libertate]

No. I lived there. I know. Except for Jake and Elwood, of course. And Bill Murray and his brothers.

[Gojira]

I grew up in western Kentucky, but the bulk of my family lives just across the river, in southern Illinois. "Chicago" is used interchangeably with "the Devil" in casual conversation.

[Pro Libertate]

Of course. It's the enemy of the entire rest of the state.

[Aloysious]

The Night Chicago Died

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-L0NpaErkk

[Pro Libertate]

Ye gods, that song.

[Ted S.]

It gets worse. 🙂

[C. Anacreon]

......and he kissed my mother's face.......

[Aloysious]

Fitting. For Chicago, I mean.

[Mr Lizard]

Deepdouche pizza

[Mr. Paulbotto]

You watch yo mouf. Besides, WTF do reptiles know about pizza, anyways?

[Old Man With Candy]

Frozen margaritas at Wrigley.... mmmmmmm.......

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

How much cash did you bring?

[Old Man With Candy]

About $50. Got both of us pretty toasted. Ditto a few hard lemonades.

[Rhywun]

I was ID'd at NY Red Bulls Arena last year. I was 45 years old at the time. "Just following orders, sir."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It was so surreal my daughter began to laugh. 'Do I really look under 21?' I asked out of sheer shock.

I mean, my wife and I do look young for our ages - I mean we can easily pass for early 30s - but that was nuts.

Here IDing is a mere suggestion or formality.

[Mad Scientist]

In America, the cops try to convince libertarians to help them sting alcohol sellers. Then they fine the snot out of them. It's all about the fine.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Are you in Chicago right now?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

No. Get with it, Playa.

Can't you see I'm in my undie-wear?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

How can I be "with it" if you don't tell me?

A certain Reason commenter is at the Chicago food fair right now, whatever it's called.

He's probably drunk by now.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Taste of Chicago in Hyde Park.

I was there.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He's there right now, getting drunk and fat.

[Old Man With Candy]

Little dipshit refused to meet me. Fuck him and his leucoherp.

[C. Anacreon]

Taste of Chicago in GRANT Park, you fucking Philistine.

If it was held in Hyde Park it would be called 'Taste of Street-Gang Murder'.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Ha. My mistake.

Yeah, Grant.

[Mad Scientist]

He wouldn't have much cred around here if he wasn't drunk when he arrived.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

"A certain Reason commenter is at the Chicago food fair right now, whatever it's called."

Taste of Chicago, you fucking Philistine.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Californians.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Taste these nuts.

[blighted non millenial]

It's a growing thing now where restaurants and bars are required to check everyone. Not sure if it's insurance, state, county or local.

[Antilles]

But isn't that racist against minorities who apparently are too stupid to get IDs?

[Overt]

Whenever someone cards me for booze (it is usually a waitress at a craft brewery) I just say, "aww, shucks. Thank you." And hand them my ID. I know it's their job, but I can pretend they think I look young. Also, my mom says I'm cool.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yeah. I told her it made my day. It was all cool. No sense in making a stink of it.

[Pan Zagloba]

You were racially profiled! Buying beer while looking Canadian.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It's weird. We got our fair share of 'stares' while there.

I kept smelling my arm pits.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I can smell you from here, frenchie.

[RAHeinlein]

Are you in Chicago over the weekend? I'm there for a convention Sat/Sun...

[Whahappan?]

I'm 46. I'm also prematurely grey, although otherwise somewhat young looking for my age. I've been carded a couple of times in the last few years. Welcome to the USA.

[Bam!]

Alt-text: "Excellent"

[Hamster of Doom]

Excellent.

[Gojira]

I just put in my 2 weeks notice for a job I've only been at for...two weeks.

It's for a much, MUCH better opportunity, but I still feel like a complete schmuck.

Capitalism, ain't it a bitch?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It would be better if you put in your 2 weeks on your first day.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Speaking of which, highly paid consulting gigs always look better than a full time permanent position. You look like a baller and a fixer on your resume.

[Gojira]

Really? This'll be my first time *nervous virgin blush*. I kind of had that thought, but wasn't sure if it was just the seduction of money overriding common sense.

[Derpetologist]

I worked at a liquor store for 2 whole days once.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Pinching the hooch, eh?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

'Where's Derp?'

/looks around. Spots him.

'Are you drunk again'?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He's cuddling with a bottle of whiskey in the corner again.

[C. Anacreon]

A friend and I once wrote prospective personal ads for each other. His for me included this line of what I presumably would want in a woman: "Father must own liquor store."

The wacky end to the tale: I married a woman who works in the wine industry. We didn't meet through the personal ads though -- introduced by friends as God intended.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I read the funnies today in my local alt paper.

I'm still angry at you for Tom Tomorrow.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I read the funnies today in my local alt paper.

I'm still angry at you for Tom Tomorrow.

[Medical Physics Guy]

recalls the 80s era bumper sticker: "I'm looking for the perfect woman -- a nymphomaniac who owns a liquor store"

[C. Anacreon]

Do you remember much of those days, or is it a complete blackout?

[Igor]

I worked at a bonded warehouse doing some overtime leading up to Christmas. It was shocking just how many bottles of quality liquor were 'slightly damaged' during the process of stocking and unstocking pallets.

I think my liver recovered by the following Easter.

[Derpetologist]

So, at the time, I lived in Chicago and my main job was my tutoring business. Since that wasn't making quite enough, I got a part time job working the night shift at a liquor store. After the second day, they said they changed their mind and needed somebody who could work full time during the day. Since I couldn't do that, that was the end.

The first day went great though. I drank some beers with the cashier and the boss at the bar in the back when the store closed at 4 AM.

It was a bitterly cold February that year and I got in the habit of wearing a ski mask. They were in bit spooked the first day when I walked in while wearing it.

[Spencer]

I just put in my 1 months notice after 3.5 years... I think if you put in 2 weeks after working for me for 2 weeks I'd tell you that you could just leave today if you wanted. NO hard feelings.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I had a boss who always took it personally. Every time somebody gave their 2 weeks, he'd have them escorted to the parking lot. It was a very expensive habit.

[Spencer]

You can't quit- YOU'RE FIRED!

[Igor]

Well, in some industries, it's a reasonable response, even if it is "security theater".

There is nothing worse than having a subordinate wandering around, unproductive, fucking up the morale of the remaining workers.

[Gojira]

I think you'd have to judge on an individual basis. I don't like the idea that it's just assumed that everyone who puts in notice is now going to wonder around being worthless.

Like I am, commenting on here instead of working.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

*Beer burps into hand, pats belly*

[Igor]

It's more a matter of team dynamics (or lack of them) than it is of the person who resigns behaving in an unproductive (or negative) manner.

Sometimes, the departure of a team member is like the birth of a mighty hurricane; the child of the tiny sussurations of an insignificant butterfly's wings on a humid summer day.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

These were lawyers who had agreed to continue working up cases until they were gone. Not smart.

[Gene]

Last September I gave two weeks notice at the factory I had worked at for the previous five years. I tried to beat every production record I could (most of which were mine anyway) I'm funny that way.

[Old Man With Candy]

Mine does the same thing, but on the cheap- you give two weeks, you're out the door immediately and no pay past this morning. And he'll go through your stuff and send along later what he decides is your personal property and not company biz.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

In CA, you get unemployment if you're fired. 99 week club, here I come!

[Old Man With Candy]

Yeah, but you can't get that when you quit, can you? I was amazed at the things you COULD get that for, though. We had one woman who took a break, went out to her car, took some sort of heavy duty opiate, passed out. When we went to look for her, she was so fucked up, she couldn't move. We called an ambulance. Her firing was deemed by your great state as "without cause."

[Gojira]

Yeah I just can't help but feel like an asshat. I actually do like working here. But I'll be more than doubling my income (even if only for a set period of time, as it's a contract gig), so I gotsta go.

That's the free market. Make with the stacks, or suck my dick.

Preferably both.

[Igor]

Look at it this way.

In general, the moment your paycheck hits your bank account, you, and your employer are even.

You have a business to run. Your best interests.

[Spencer]

unless the boss is a dude... right?... I'm not judging, but... right?...

[Gojira]

No man, he sucked my dick, so I'm not gay, he is.

It's too bad, b/c he looks and acts like Hank Scorpio.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Speaking of which, now that you have disposable income, you should pay a visit to the hammock district.

[Gojira]

I've been meaning to pay a visit to Mary Ann's Hammocks...

[jesse.in.mb]

Banana?

[waffles]

No Jesse, cripes man. Some of just want to relax in a suspended fashion.

[jesse.in.mb]

This doesn't seem that relaxing to me.

(mildly nsfw)

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

NSF people with taste

[jesse.in.mb]

I figured the wikipedia image selection would be the most restrained. I wasn't going for best looking.

[waffles]

Some people just like being tied up.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Restrained? I see what you did

[Fist of Etiquette]

Six minors were charged with posession of child porn because they sexted each other.

That will teach them to sexualize each other.

[paranoid android]

Six sick squirts slapped in sext sting!

[Gojira]

Did any of them use a rubber cup without a permit?

[Rhywun]

Rubber baby buggy bumpers.

[C. Anacreon]

Toy Boat.

[perlchpr]

I don't see that the story actually indicates they were sexting each other. The focus on both the story linked here, and the story linked from that story, focus more on the 14 year old (who had presumably sexted someone at some time) who was being extorted (what's the proper tense for an extortion attempt that doesn't net anything?) for sex.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

OPM Director Katherine Archuleta resigned in the wake of revelations about the data breach.

The buck stops there. /Obama

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Notice how it's always the *woman* executives who keep resigning and the men who either stay on or else get to postpone their resignations for an unconscionably long time (Clapper, Holder)

...is what people would say if Obama was a Republican.

[Rich]

Not only that, she's *Hispanic*! This is OUTRAGEOUS!

[expat]

--- points to guys standing next to him ...

[B.P.]

Wearing the "I'm with stupid" 3-piece suit.

[Protagoronus]

It's not been the best week for walking Subway mascot Jared Fogle.

He probably needs more Aides.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

That's how he lost all that weight.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"The FBI says Dylann Roof shouldn't have been able to buy a gun and a "loophole" is to blame."

Loophole, meaning the law as written?

[Rich]

Ah, but what was the *intent*?

[Jerryskids]

Exactly my thoughts - the intent of the law is what is legally binding and the intent of this law is to keep bad people from getting guns. Roofie was violating the law by getting a gun and violating the law is hardly a loophole.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The FBI says Dylann Roof shouldn't have been able to buy a gun and a "loophole" is to blame. Looks more like mere government incompetence...

Which means the database is an accomplice?

[Rich]

Looks more like mere government incompetence to Brian Doherty, though.

"Mere" compared to certain other massive fuck-ups.

[Hamster of Doom]

To err is human, to really fuck up and blame someone else for it shows government work potential.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

To err is human

Tsk, tsk, HoD. You'll never be a Reason write with that....that "correct" shit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

OPM Director Katherine Archuleta resigned in the wake of revelations about the data breach.

Hopefully she took her IT admin with her.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Coincidentally, also a donor and a bundler.

/Just a guess

[Gojira]

Oh well in that case, please resign right into a cush ambassadorship to some 1st-world country with lots of luxury.

[blighted non millenial]

Even better, she was a 2012 campaign muckety muck.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's appeal went nowhere.

He and his wife really must have failed to grease the right palms while in power.

[Rich]

The FBI says Dylann Roof shouldn't have been able to buy a gun and a "loophole" is to blame.

Put the flag right back up, then.

[Hamster of Doom]

Wait. They very clearly blamed Dukes of Hazzard. God only knows what Roof might have wrought if he had watched the A-Team.

[Ted S.]

Mr. Zhivago is dead at 83

[Pro Libertate]

That sucks. I always liked Sharif. RIP.

Zhivago was a doctor, by the way.

[Rich]

But Sharif only *played* one.

RIP

[Pro Libertate]

But the character is a doctor. It's quite well established in the movie and in the novel.

[Ted S.]

I've never liked the movie. It starts with the book's epilogue, and ends with socialist realism propaganda.

[Pro Libertate]

I like it okay, but it's not as good as most of Lean's other films.

[The DerpRider]

Dr. Zhivago was good and all, but it's no Top Secret!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPB2g1y2VFk

[Pro Libertate]

I was thinking of that, too. And Lawrence of Arabia.

[Jerryskids]

Kenny Stabler was an actor, too?

[Pro Libertate]

Also sad. Colon cancer, I think.

[iCarl]

Trigger warnings: old news, redundancy, obvious joke about Japanese porn

Japan bathing facility shuts down after group orgies reported

Wait, aren't the group orgies normal?

[Ted S.]

As opposed to non-group orgies.

[Spencer]

I have those all the time!

[Rich]

What are Madame Palm and her five daughters, chopped liver a non-group?

[Mindyourbusiness]

Don't complain to me, Mr. Portnoy!

[iCarl]

I provided a trigger warning for redundancy, and yet here you are, triggered anyway. Drat!

[jesse.in.mb]

Patiently waits for sarcasmic to come and complain about heterosexuals having sex in semi-public places.

*watches beard grow long and white*

[Suthenboy]

No pics?

Dammit.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

The screams must have been deafening.

[Ted S.]

Bear photo for Jesse, taken out of my bedroom window yesterday afternoon.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Ted S lives in squalor. I knew it.

[Ted S.]

After Mom died, my sisters came up to help me and Dad clean out the kitchen and living room. Mom was a hoarder, and when the one sister came up to clean out the back bedroom while mom was still alive in the nursing home, she cleaned out 40 big-sized garbage bags' worth of stuff. This not including clothes that could be donated or other things. And that in a 12x12 room plus closet. We're taking a one or two bags a week down to the trash because we can't just take it all down in one go.

We didn't realize there was any foodstuffs in what we left out there.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Wow. I'm sorry. I was just talking potshots.

Withdrawn.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Didn't you see the episode on 'Hoarders'?

[Ted S.]

You weren't around for the thread where I mentioned mom's death. It's the Napolitano post from March 19 if you want to look it up.

Mom had Alzheimer's, and I helped Dad be a caregiver. But Mom hoarded before getting Alzheimers. When Dad cleared out the safe deposit box, he found Mom had left each of us a $50 savings bond, four $2 bills, and a commemorative New York State bicentennial coin. With the $2 coins, I can make it sprinkle at the skrip club, I suppose.

[jesse.in.mb]

Bears!

Grrizzly is going to be jealous of your views.

[grrizzly]

I have one in my living room. On the floor.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm tickled thinking you have a Joe.My.God rug.

[grrizzly]

It looks more like this.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You have a stuffed Putin on your floor???

[perlchpr]

I'm not clicking that link. I know what kind of "bears" Jesse is into... 😉

[NidhoggRocketman]

Ladies, Gentlemen, Warty.

I have a story. My girlfriend was driving along 8 in Arizona. The speed limit in the area she was in was 75, and she was doing around 80. She was pulled over by a police officer for speeding.

Yes, yes, being pulled over for speeding when you're doing five over is bullshit. Here's the thing though: the officer told my girlfriend that doing 80 or more was a misdemeanor in Arizona, and threatened to arrest her. She was understandably frightened and started crying at that, and ended up with a speeding ticket.

I attempted to confirm whether what the officer said was true via google, but have been unable to find any evidence that he was doing anything other than getting his rocks off by threatening a woman with arrest. I know there are a few AZ people on here, so I wanted to ask if they could confirm or disconfirm that you can actually be arrested for doing 80 or more. I know it's probably a stupid question, but I'm really curious.

That said, based on mine and my girlfriend's experiences in Arizona, it is a state run by thieves who will use any excuse to fine you. Fuck Arizona.

[Hamster of Doom]

Hey, guys, he's got a "girlfriend".

[NidhoggRocketman]

Hey if (Heroic Mulatto? I can't remember now. One of the regulars) can have an Asian wife, I can have a girlfriend.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm not the only one.

We are legion.

[Gojira]

Well, we are two, at least. That's...kind of a legion?

[Heroic Mulatto]

A Legion...OF DOOM!

[Gojira]

Excellent, as always.

[Ted S.]

The popo don't need an excuse to arrest you. Because fuck you, that's why.

[TeamBarstool]

IIRC you need to be doing at least 11 over the limit to trigger a "speeding" ticket. 10 or less over is "wasting a finite resourse" and the fine is $15 - &20;.

[NidhoggRocketman]

Thing is, a little fine like that doesn't seem like such a big deal, until you see all the court fees and processing fees and other bullshit they tack on to it in Arizona. A $20 fine quickly becomes $150 or more.

[TeamBarstool]

I'm surprised they bothered. You can pretty much cruise right by if you are doing 10 or less over. That's been my experience here for 25 years. Exceptions are school zones and any Rez land.

[TeamBarstool]

Damn, I stand corrected. I,driven by cops doing 80, must have just been lucky all these years.

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com.....ts-6642431

[perlchpr]

I've gotten that ticket, too. (Hey, I live in NM. When I'm in AZ, I just wanna get home, finally. 😉 ) I have to admit, it really burned the fuck out of my libertarian sensitivities. I paid for that fuel, and I'll waste it however the fuck I want!

Not to mention, I had been pulled over in the recently acquired 2010 Jetta Sportwagen TDI, which averages 45 mpg, by a county sheriff in a Ford Exploder, which averages 15 mpg.

Then again, since, due to a mix-up at the house with the folder for the user manuals for the vehicle, the lady of the house (whose vehicle this was, primarily) had managed to send us out on this road trip sans both registration and insurance paperwork... I shut my goddamned pie-hole and took the ticket.

[CatoTheChipper]

I got one of those bullshit tickets in my first and only time driving through Arizona.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Can't answer your query but two things I saw on my trip to Chicago.

1) Apparently, they throw you in prison in Michigan if you buy cigarettes for a minor.
2) They seize your car on the spot if you drive 50 km/hr over the speed limit in Ontario.

How's that for bull shit?

Canada going metric, if I may rant, is silly.

[NidhoggRocketman]

We're sane people living in a mad world. *sighs, drinks*

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

RC Dean is both a lawyer and an Arizonian. I'll wait for him to weigh in.

[A special place in JW's Hell]

I thought he was that new kind of Mexican.

[Rhywun]

A rapist?

/The Donald

[chipper me timbers]

You should follow this guys example

[NidhoggRocketman]

I remember that guy. A hero if I ever saw one.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

(It was actually his real face)

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Awesome. Though I'd probably go with a Clinton mask.

[perlchpr]

I was told a similar thing by a policeman in AZ when I was ticketed for doing 84 in a 75. Which was actually pretty nice of him, since I'm pretty sure he actually clocked me doing like, 92 or something. :-/ *cough*

This was a while ago. I have since slowed down in my old age. 😉

[FNU MNU LNU]

In Virginia, going over 80 or 20 over the speed limit is reckless driving, a Class 1 misdemeanor with a minimum fine of $250. The state police get a lot of people on the stretches of I95 that are posted for 70.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Wisconsin's Friend at the IRS: Emails Show a Common Cause in Restricting Political Speech
...Former IRS tax-exempt director Lois Lerner ran the agency's policy on conservative groups. Kevin Kennedy runs the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) that helped prosecutors with their secret John Doe investigation of conservative groups after the 2011 and 2012 recall elections of Governor Scott Walker and state senators.

Emails we've seen show that between 2011 and 2013 the two were in contact on multiple occasions, sharing articles on topics including greater donor disclosure and Wisconsin's recall elections. The emails indicate the two were also personal friends who met for dinner and kept in professional touch. "Are you available for the 25th?" Ms. Lerner wrote in January 2012. "If so, perhaps we could work two nights in a row."...

[paranoid android]

Lois Lerner and Kevin Kennedy? I didn't realize we had so many high-ranking government officials that were created by Stan Lee.

[Spencer]

I believe it's more likely Jack Kirby.

[Mr Lizard]

"If so, perhaps we could work two nights in a row."...

My weak grasp of mammal mating trends indicate an implied stretching out of this females breeding organ.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

in her case, it is called a cloaca, my reptilian friend.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Vicious bigoted bill forbids discrimination against uncool people:

http://dailysignal.com/2015/06.....ge-ruling/

[Longtorso, Johnny]

MTV's New Documentary Wants White People To Feel Bad For Being White

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

*looks at both arms*

Nope, still don't feel bad.

[jesse.in.mb]

You should at least feel bad for bogarting so much pallor.

[Mad Scientist]

Hey, he tries to change that by hanging around the pool a lot.

[jesse.in.mb]

I believe there was some flirtation with dubious Chinese pharmaceuticals as well, but I could be thinking of someone else.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Dubious? My portfolio would tend to disagree.

[jesse.in.mb]

No, injecting Chinese knockoffs of drugs is the dubious part, not the science of the drug itself.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'm getting a nice glow in anticipation of Hawaii.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

I have a new mole on my forearm that is causing some anxiety, but I don't think that's the kind of "bad" they're going for.

[OldMexican]

MTV's New Documentary Wants White People To Feel Bad For Being White

"I'm not white. I'm light pink."

I have the suspicion that the documentary director is not going to include any footage of any white kid who asks him defiantly "Why are *you* so obsessed with race, huh?"

[Rich]

The show asks "What does it mean to be white?"

Oh, FFS! Just ask Rachel Dolezal and be done with it.

[Mr Lizard]

Still green, however I feel a little guilt when feeding on white meat. Discrimination of taste is a heavy burden.

[Rhywun]

I wonder what you taste like. Chicken?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Chris Matthews Admits What Every Democrat Believes About Immigration

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Which makes them cynical assholes. It has nothing to do with being progressive or compassionate.

[Suthenboy]

Their only motive is to achieve absolute power. None of their causes are about progress or compassion. They are jackboots, that is all.

[Drake]

Everything to do with being "progressive".

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

It also never occurs to them that if people from third world countries overwhelmingly favor their economic policies, that might be a bad sign.

[Drake]

They are going to get it right this time.

[Pan Zagloba]

They genuinely believe small juntas and US commercial interests are what turned all those countries into capitalist hellholes.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

It really doesn't take much to get many of them to admit this. Just prod a little bit any time they talk about "changing demographics" and a "Democratic majority."

[Drake]

What everyone since Boss Tweed knows about immigration.

[OldMexican]

Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer defended Donald Trump over racist [???] comments.

"Mexican" is a nationality, not a race. Nevertheless, Trump's comments were outrageous, defaming and false; they evidenced his ignorance. Jan Brewer is just another pea of the same pod.

[OldMexican]

"serve as evidence", not "evidenced".

[Spencer]

I would make the argument that there is a "mexican" ethnicity. Nah, just kiddin'. Everyone south of the border is mexican. It's in the dictionary.

[OldMexican]

Re: Spencer,

I would make the argument that there is a "mexican" ethnicity.

Just like there's a Canadian ethnicity, I guess... 😉

[Heroic Mulatto]

Well, ethnicity is a group of people who possess certain traits in common. These traits can be any combination of genetic, linguistic, or cultural. Personally, I find Mexicans to be rather distinct from their Hispanophone neighbors in Latin America. Similarly, I think a good argument can be made for both Anglo- and Franco- flavors of Canadian ethnicity.

[paranoid android]

Sonar, sonar, sonar, sonar, sonar...Hispanophone!

[gaoxiaen]

Poutine causes chromosome damage.

[Swiss Servator, rudert schwer!]

YOU LEAVE TASTY POUTINE ALONE!

[Jerryskids]

CNN was really doing a hatchet job on Trump this morning - they deliberately interviewed him with some sort of weird lighting angle that made him look old and fat and bloated with strangely orange skin, puffy eyes, saggy jowls, really bad hair and with stupid shit coming out of his mouth. It was disgusting.

[perlchpr]

I think that's just Trump, yo.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Great news, Oregon. 15 year olds can now get govt funded sex change surgery without parental permission

[Pro Libertate]

What.

[Hamster of Doom]

But they can't decide to control their own cancer treatment.

Sure. Why not.

[Pro Libertate]

With all due respect to the children, they aren't competent to feed themselves properly, let alone make life-lasting decisions.

[A special place in JW's Hell]

You're SO stupid, dad!

[Pro Libertate]

The beauty is that once they move out, the steady stream of "Oh, yeah, I guess you were right" is positively endearing.

[A special place in JW's Hell]

I'm actually looking forward to the Great Epiphanies.

[Pro Libertate]

I read something once that said that kids had incomplete brains until the early 20s or so. I totally believe that. And not just from my kids--goes for young me, too.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Well, a viral facebook post told me that 8 year olds often cry because they're totally gay and are worried how their gayness might impact their lives, so if 8 year olds are inexplicably having vivid sexual thoughts such that they can know they're homosexuals, I suppose anything is possible.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I dunno. I taught 3rd grade for a year while I was in Thailand. In my class there were two boys of that age who were no question gay. Like G A Y gay. Like listening to the Gipsy Kings while antiquing gay. Because it was Thailand, there was no cultural imperative for these kids to hide being gayer than Travolta gay as the other boys didn't bully them. The two kids just played with the girls and were, for all intents and purposes, treated as girls in the 3rd grade social world.

Just my 0.02.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Thailand doesn't really seem to have a lot in common with the rest of the planet as far as that goes though.

I don't know what's in the water over there, but there are like tens of thousands more transsexuals in Thailand than you'd expect based on the population.

[paranoid android]

I'm guessing a Thai reads a story like this and goes "What the hell is up with making them wait until they're 15?"

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm guessing a Thai reads a story like this and goes "What the hell is up with making them wait until they're 15?"

Actually, pretty much. Since they sell birth control pills OTC there. When puberty hits, future ladyboys just buy those pills (and yes, the average pharmacist sees nothing wrong with selling 12 year olds birth control pills, just as they see nothing wrong with selling 7 year olds whisky and cigarettes because they figure dad sent them down to the corner to get it...basically the whole country revolves around a "not my problem" ethos) so the estrogen counters any yuck hair and sharp chins that might grow.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

YOU TAUGHT 3RD GRADE?

Those poor, poor kids.

[Heroic Mulatto]

YOU TAUGHT 3RD GRADE?

Well, it went like this. I was contracted to teach in a high school's bilingual bridge. When I arrived in country, I was told that the high school wouldn't be built until next year, so either teach 3rd grade or go home. So I decided to stay. Within the year, I got a job lecturing at a university. And the rest is in my INTERPOL file.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

DONT YOU DARE TALK SHIT ABOUT THE GIPSY KINGS.

[Mr. Anderson]

I find it unbelievable that you identified 3rd grade children well before puberty as homosexuals. It probably reveals more about you then you revealed about them.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You didn't know you liked girls in 3rd grade?

[Mr. Anderson]

I didn't have sexual thoughts at eight, nobody does. That's why eight year olds don't fuck when left alone, and post puberty children/adults do.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I didn't have sexual thoughts at eight, nobody does.

That's news to the two other commenters who posted down thread. Regardless of that, are you telling me that as a kid you pretended to be daddy and shaved your soap bubble beard and then pretended to be mommy equally, as you had no sexual identity until that magic day puberty granted you your first armpit hair and boner?

And you have the chutzpah to use the term "unbelievable" toward me?

[jesse.in.mb]

My understanding is that was around when my birth mother started worrying about me growing up gay. It would certainly explain why I was suddenly sent on a flurry of outdoorsy/manly activities around that age.

Oddly, learning how to throw a knife well didn't stop me from becoming an inveterate sodomite.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Oddly, learning how to throw a knife well didn't stop me from becoming an inveterate sodomite.

+300 Thebens

+300 Spartans while you're at it.

[jesse.in.mb]

So I've been out of town most of the week, but did anyone link this for your entertainment while I was away?

[Heroic Mulatto]

I believe that properly belongs in this thread.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

I knew I liked boys by the 3rd grade, but I was a slutty tease, so there's that.

In fact, I'd say many girls start to understand sexuality and its power around that age.

[Jerryskids]

What are you talking about, 8 year-olds?
.
Best part of the story? "Look I'm a burrito," Chloe shouts. And for some strange reason her mother doesn't immediately start dressing her as a Taco Bell. But when the 3-year old boy sees the attention his older sister is getting and decides he wants to be a girl, well....

[Rich]

But they have to be in juvie, right? RIGHT?!

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

But if the 15 year old lies about their age and has sex with someone who thought they were 18, that person will go to jail and end up for life on the sex offender registry.

So a 15 year old isn't old enough to consent to sex but is old enough to get life changing and unnecessary surgery. Brilliant.

[Pro Libertate]

Honestly, aren't people worried about how this is going to look in the history books? Most-whacked-out-culture-in-history award is starring us in the face.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

The Pashtuns have sex with little boys and justify their pederasty by arguing that it's not gay if you're just getting off and aren't actually in love with your child sex slave.

We're not in the top ten craziest current cultures.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm talking overall, not in particular crazy mores. And fuck have we become self-destructive and self-hating. Has any culture hated itself more than us? We're catching up with Jewish mothers.

[iCarl]

Princesses or Patriots? China Girl Group Seeks AKB48?s Pop-Idol Crown

"China, China, I love you. The Chinese nation enjoys longevity," the girls sang while traipsing to their theme tune, "China Dream, Most Beautiful," in Communist-style mass-dance choreography. "Red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, violet. Who is dancing with these color ribbons in the sky?" they crooned, rendering the opening lines to Chairman Mao's 1933 poem, "Dabaidi."

Apple now supports the Taiwan flag emoji, risking a backlash from China

OH NO

[iCarl]

And because apparently we are back to only being able to post two links per post...

Finally, on a sad and more serious note, Thomas Friedman jizzes his pants: How China stopped its bloggers

Just after lunch on an autumn day, two plain-clothed police officers approached a slender young man from opposite directions, unfazed that the lobby was busy with foreigners and local business people.

Showing good field craft, the officer approaching from behind called out the blogger's name. As he turned, the other slipped on the handcuffs.

[...]

At a nearby police station, in addition to the handcuffs, shackles were placed on his ankles. They would remain in place for 24 hours while he was interrogated.

[...]

Although never charged with any crime, the blogger was forced to leave his high-paying job ? he was earning upwards of 1 million yuan ($200,000) a year ? and authorities went through all his financial records looking for anything that could be used against him. The dirt they sought was never found but the harassment continued.

In the months after his detention, the man's father has been threatened and the blogger has been beaten up twice by hired thugs, once outside a public building watched over by security guards.

[Suthenboy]

Friedman loves that shit because it will never happen to him. No Sir, his side will always be in power.

He is functionally retarded, right?

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Friedman didn't actually say anything about this, Carl was just making fun of him because of his earlier China-fetishism.

Every New York Times columnist has to have a subject they embarrass themselves over. For Friedman it's authoritarianism, for Kristof it's...well, everything, for Maureen Dowd it's...also everything.

[Suthenboy]

I didn't read the link. Too many distractions here. Plus preparing to fry some chicken livers.

I still stand by that comment.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

RECIPE PLZ

[Heroic Mulatto]

I give 56 Flowers the HM Seal of Approval.

[iCarl]

Heh, I went to check out their website and it seems that they ran out of bandwidth. Good job, CCP propagandists.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Those uniforms tho.

[iCarl]

Never been a huge uniform guy myself.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

"The American's Left's blond-haired, blue-eyed fantasyland
The Left occasionally indulges in bouts of romantic exoticism ? its pin-ups have included Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Patrice Lumumba, Mao Zedong; we might even count Benito Mussolini, "that admirable Italian gentleman" who would not have been counted sufficiently white to join Franklin Roosevelt's country club ? but the welfare states that progressives dream about are the whitest ones: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, etc. The significance of this never quite seems to occur to progressives. When it is suggested that the central-planning, welfare-statist policies that they favor are bound to produce results familiar to the unhappy residents of, e.g., Cuba, Venezuela, or Bolivia ? privation, chaos, repression, political violence ? American progressives reliably reply: "No, no, we don't want that kind of socialism. We want socialism like they have it in Finland."

Translation: "We want white socialism, not brown socialism!"

[PBR Streetgang]

Kevin Williamson is a national treasure. That cat can rage.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

They like those folks because they made an attempt to fix injustices due to imperialism, the wealthy and whatever excuses you care to insert here. Hence, you get stupid comments like 'Mao did good things for China'.

They're idiots. Nothing more or less.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The Confederate flag no longer flies over South Carolina state house grounds.

Say, darkies, hab you seen de massa, wid de muffstash on his face,
Go long de road some time dis mornin', like he gwine to leab de place?
He seen a smoke way up de ribber, whar de Linkum gunboats lay;
He took his hat, and lef' berry sudden, and I spec' he's run away!

De massa run, ha, ha! De darkey stay, ho, ho!
It mus' be now de kingdom coming, an' de year ob Jubilo!

[The Unnatural]

Robby, you fucking retard, "Mexican" is not a race, ergo derogatory comments about Mexicans are not racist. "Racist" is not a synonym for "bigoted" or "stupid."

[Derpetologist]

For people Robby's age, "racist" is a synonym for words like that.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Wow, this post seems irrationally angry over what's basically a minor difference in semantics.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

There is definitely some hurt of the butt persuasion.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

On the other hand, "Mexican" is often used as a synonym for "anyone south of the border," aka Hispanics.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Mohamed Atta's instructions to 9/11 hijackers & final thoughts

1. When the confrontation begins, strike like champions who do not want to go back to this world. Shout, "Allahu Akbar," because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers.

2. Everybody hates death, fears death, but only those, the believers who know the life after death and the reward after death, would be the ones who will be seeking death.

3. Keep a very open mind, keep a very open heart of what you are to face. You will be entering paradise. You will be entering the happiest life, everlasting life.

4. I pray to you God to forgive me from all my sins, to allow me to glorify you in every possible way.

5. God, I trust in you. God, I lay myself in your hands. There is no God but God, I being a sinner. We are of God, and to God we return.

6. Remember, if you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for the sake of God and his prophet, you will save it.

[Rich]

Ima say 6, because of the blasphemous non-capitalization.

[John]

Number 2. It is my understanding that most of those retards didn't know they were going to fly the planes into buildings.

[Derpetologist]

During my research for this, I found this quote:

The cruel character of the Japanese military is evident from the beginning of its modernization at the end of the nineteenth century. In the military code for the imperial navy and army (Kairikugun Keiritsu), issued in 1872, surrender, escape, and all other actions by which soldiers might save their lives in situations of unavoidable defeat were punishable by death. The system made no allowance for conscientious objectors. Any soldier who would not obey military rules and his commander's orders was shot on the spot, without a charge against the one who shot him. Furthermore, people feared that such an offense by a soldier would lead to the punishment of his immediate and extended family members, just as during the Edo period the government warned that "crime extends to five generations and punishment to five affinal relationships" (tsumi godai ni oyobi batsu gozoku ni wataru)?that is, the punishment of a large number of people related to him by blood and marriage.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/.....19508.html

Further proof that there is no peak derp.

[Derpetologist]

6 is the Not. That is a disguised version of Mark 8:35.

http://biblehub.com/mark/8-35.htm

[commodious spittoon]

Additional child pornography news: Six minors were charged with posession of child porn because they sexted each other.

No raids on households to cart away computer equipment? Fucking amateur hour.

Oh, but this isn't mentioned:

Back in March, a Plymouth mom wanted her's daughter's school to do more to keep her safe after someone sent the teen explicit, threatening messages ... The person was threatening to post nude photos and explicit videos and said he'd tell everyone they were of her. To prevent the pics from getting posted, the texts demanded the girl go to a room inside Plymouth North High school and meet the person for sex.

Sounds like a legitimate crime, right? Well, after roping several other kids on the child porn charges they eventually got around to charging the harasser with "annoying a person of the opposite sex." I hope Plymouth feels safer with all these would-be pedophilia-enablers being punished.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So. Now that I've had deep dish a couple of times.

Do I dare start a debate?

[Pro Libertate]

Where did you go? Gino's? Lou's?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Lou's.

Had Uno's in Boston.

[Pro Libertate]

Uno is all chainified now. Lou's is good. Or was. I haven't been back to Chicago in a long time.

[Swiss Servator, rudert schwer!]

Lou's is still good.

[Old Man With Candy]

Lou's is great. It's not pizza, though.

[Mad Scientist]

There's no debate, Rufus. Deep dish PIZZA is the clear winner.

[commodious spittoon]

Deep-dish is delicious, which I don't think anybody denies, but to go by the pizza jihadis here, if you serve anything thicker than a wafer and attempt to call it pizza you've committed an unforgivable faux pas.

[Pro Libertate]

Episiarch likes ketchup on very thin cardboard. Sprinkled with pre-shredded mozzarella-cheese food product. Microwaved to perfection.

[commodious spittoon]

Carb-free is a way of life, man.

[Pro Libertate]

De gustibus non est disputandum.

[Robert]

Carb-free or card-free?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

My brother in laws mother made the best 'deep dish' (ie thick focaccia) pizza I've ever had.

[Old Man With Candy]

If I take a tire off my car and call it a piston, that doesn't make it one. Even if it's a perfectly good tire.

[Rich]

Do I dare start a debate?

"Deep dish" ...... what?

[Pro Libertate]

Lasagna. I prefer thin lasagna myself. Deep-dish lasagna isn't real lasagna.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Technically spelled 'lasagne', Pro.

Lasagne.

Say it with me.

La-sa-nyeh.

Then kiss the guy next to you.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You were wondering why people were staring?

[Pro Libertate]

Not in the United States, it isn't. Do you really want to be deported?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Just trying to class the joint up, Philistines.

[Pro Libertate]

Call us when you have no class.

[Pan Zagloba]

Yes! We need genuine Italian opinion on the subject.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Raises hand.

I don't count?

[Pan Zagloba]

You do, that's why I wanted to hear your opinion.
Or rather, definitive verdict. I don't think there'd be anything to add or argue.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I have my thoughts since I make pizza often and have my 'rigid' take on what makes a real pizza. I touch on it a bit from time to time and little here.

Don't want to anger the deep dish gods around here.

[Aloysious]

How deep was your deep dish?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

WHY IT CAN GET DEEPER?

Shit, it was deep enough as it was. It was tasty but not sure if it was the 'best'.

If you ask me, Rufus, you must choose which is better I'm going with non-deep dish. You can make a 'thick' pizza and be awesome. Part of the ritual of eating pizza is to pick it up with your hands with the triangle tip remaining sturdy and not floppy while being slightly flavored with charcoal in its underbelly . If it does that, you have yourself a proper pizza.

But I'm not gonna be a nut about it.

[Aloysious]

Sometimes I will actually top the deep dish with another layer of tasty, tasty crust (home made, of course).

At that point, it truly is a pie.

[Old Man With Candy]

At that point, it's a CALZONE.

[Ted S.]

Do you dare to eat a peach?

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

So what did Robby do that got a bunch of people pissed off at him? Anything actually dumb, or are some people just picking on him because they're jealous of his glorious hair?

[X[redacted]s]

It's mostly the hair envy one. Also, he said some borderline-nice things about Paul Krugman.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

So it's a situation where Robby failed to mindlessly howl at the Self-Evident Evil of Paul Krugman?

Robby, don't you know that if you wouldn't murder Paul Krugman with a pickax if you ever saw him on the street H&R will get really mad at you?

For shame.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

Nobody asked for your opinion, butterface-lover!

[Rhywun]

*finally checks the bio*

WOW that is some magnificent, early nineties hair. I like.

...

What were we talking about?

[paranoid android]

Well there's that Corning guy who shows up and acts like Robby killed his dog because he once committed the unspeakable crime of trying to sound even-minded about Gamergate.

Also he once said that Emma Sulkowicz is almost certainly a liar, instead of calling her a liar-liar-pants on fire and demanding she be paraded naked through the town square and placed in the stocks.

[commodious spittoon]

Yeah, the gamergate bullshit really lit a fire for some people. I don't even understand the complaints: yeah, sure, rah rah kulturkampf, and certainly, people like Zoe Quinn/Brianna Wu/Anita Sarkeesian are toxic personalities and all Marxist critiques should be strangled in the crib, but to pretend that there's any unified front to the gamergate nontroversy (I swear I read that somewhere), or that failing to pull for gg is a sign of anti-gg sympathies, is just childish. Taking umbrage with something someone didn't say is the strategy of grievance-peddlers, not rational debaters.

[commodious spittoon]

I read your piece on eyebrow threading. I wonder whether Mark Joseph "Texas Could Become an Even More Dangerous Place" Stern really wants to debate public policies as they relate to public safety, given what sanctuaries of progressive thinking like Cleveland, Detroit, Oakland, Minneapolis, or Baltimore look like.

Good stuff.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

My favorite part was that it fucks over immigrants in favor of pre-existing beauty salons and our darling progressive doesn't give a damn.

My favorite part of his stupidity:

"Of the 750 hours of training threaders must undergo to become fully licensed, about 40 percent is not directly related to threading. That may be a problem?but it is clearly a legislative problem, one that threaders could seek to solve through the democratic process by petitioning the legislature to reduce their training hours. Texas is not depriving threaders of any fundamental rights, like the right to vote or marry, which courts properly shield from popular prejudices."

Got that? Your right to get a government marriage license is more important than a poor immigrants right to FEED HIS FUCKING FAMILY. This is why I'm beginning to despise the 'progressive' wing of the gay rights movement - they seem to think their right to get government marriage licenses is a more important civil liberty than the right not to be hurled into poverty because the government took away your livelihood.

Can't be said enough: Here are the names of the plaintiffs in the eyebrow threading case:

"ASHISH PATEL, ANVERALI SATANI, NAZIRA MOMIN, MINAZ CHAMADIA,AND VIJAY LAKSHMI YOGI"

Clearly white libertarians.

[commodious spittoon]

When have they ever treated with reality? When has engaging with the facts ever been an issue for these insipid busybodies? It doesn't matter that with one hand they're boosters for minorities because they're not icky white people while with the other hand they're fucking minorities over for acting white and starting business and accumulating wealth and fostering independence. Narrative surmounts every other piddling concern, like who can choose what schools their children attend or who's permitted to start a business or escape the ghettos.

Mark Joseph "Fuck The Asian N---ers" Stern.

[paranoid android]

Texas is not depriving threaders of any fundamental rights, like the right to vote or marry, which courts properly shield from popular prejudices."

This is so monstrously backwards it actually makes me angry. Elevating government-issued permission slips as "fundamental rights" above the most basic freedom to ply your trade and earn an honest living. Despicable.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

"Texas is not depriving threaders of any fundamental rights, like the right to vote or marry"

Barf.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

I Lakshim Vijayjay myself.

[Aloysious]

So what did Robby do that got a bunch of people pissed off at him?

I thought we just teased Rico Suave for the fun of it.

[Derpetologist]

Someone posted a really great video the other day called The Death of Yugoslavia. It's basically Game of Thrones minus the dragons and boobs. And with a worse theme song.

What weird place. A country of smoldering hatreds founded and held together by a violent womanizer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzvNZz-X-50

In the Game of Serbs, you win or you die.

[Pan Zagloba]

Eh, "smoldering hatreds" is overblown. Problems between Serbs and Croats started all the way back in 1919, and were completely manageable until Croats committed genocide. Even after, 90s was straightforward fight for plunder and territory.
And it say what you want about King Alexander, he wasn't a womanizer. Yes, lots of people forget the country was created in 1918, and fell apart in 1991, lasting about as long as Soviet Union.

[Derpetologist]

I meant Tito was the womanizer.

[Pan Zagloba]

I know, but he founded the country as much as Lincoln founded the US. It's a common blind spot in histories of Yugoslavia, and not that surprising, given that the Communist government of the country was the first to bury the entire 1918-1941 history except for a few parts about how it oppressed them*.

*Spoiler: hilariously badly, especially compared to how they oppressed their opponents

[John]

Black Lamb Grey Falcon is one of my favorite books, even though West was a total sucker for the Serb view of things.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

Rebecca West is a tremendous writer though.

"Were I to go down into the market-place, armed with the powers of witchcraft, and take a peasant by the shoulders and whisper to him, 'In your lifetime, have you known peace?' wait for his answer, shake his shoulders and transform him into his father, and ask him the same question, and transform him in his turn to his father, I would never hear the word 'Yes,' if I carried my questioning of the dead back for a thousand years. I would always hear, 'No, there was fear, there were our enemies without, our rulers within, there was prison, there was torture, there was violent death."

And:

"Only part of us is sane: only part of us loves pleasure and the longer day of happiness, wants to live to our nineties and die in peace, in a house that we built, that shall shelter those who come after us. The other half of us is nearly mad. It prefers the disagreeable to the agreeable, loves pain and its darker night despair, and wants to die in a catastrophe that will set back life to its beginnings and leave nothing of our house save its blackened foundations."

In which Rebecca West explains ISIS.

[John]

Tremendous isn't the half of it. Black Lamb Grey Falcon is the greatest travel book ever written. There isn't even a close second to it.

[Derpetologist]

I'll have to read it. The funniest travel book I've ever read was Hokkaido Highway Blues by Chris Ferguson.

[John]

That second quote is what pretty much the entire staff of Reason and most of the Washington media does not understand. They just don't get it that some people like violence and the violent life and thus can't be appeased or bought off.

[Igor]

My copy arrived on Tuesday.

She writes the way Napolitano would write, if he were prepared to answer the rhetorical questions he puts in his Reason pieces.

[Pan Zagloba]

I only recently read it, and it is awesome.

And while she's a sucker for Serbs, the "Grey Falcon" and her attitude to it is kind of like having someone be sucker for Americans, except for that whole "American Revolution" thing. She's basically saying that foundational myth of Serb nation is insane. Which, yes, yes it is. But it took another 70 years for the majority of nation to start getting over it.
Serbs had one of the best ambassadors for their nation being her guide. The guy Constantine is based on is one of the awesomest people in Serbian history (it's lovable how he's such a Serb, despite his parents being Polish Jews). It takes a huge talent to make Tom Sawyer funnier in translation than in the original.

[John]

Richard Fernandez of the Belmont Club sums up the state of our elites.

The great benefit of paper clearance forms (and one might add, paper ballots) is that it limits the ability of bureaucrats to play games with data. The lower tech medium puts the kibosh on all the plans, mandates and improvements they are just dying to implement. All that gender stuff is hard to implement when you're faced with a stack of paper reaching to the ceiling, besides making the information harder to leak, misuse or steal. It disempowers the bureaucrats.

The fact that reverting to lower tech may actually improve security suggests that lack of money isn't the problem, nor are the shortcomings of computer hardware. The biggest shortage plaguing the elites today is a deficit of intelligence. They are a menace to themselves and to the public; and are not even smart enough to know how dumb they are.

The reason why reducing OPM to low tech paper may help things is akin to why taking the Bugatti keys away from an irresponsible teenager prevents an accident from occurring. "Just take the skateboard kid. It's really all you can handle."

http://pjmedia.com/richardfern.....lp-us-all/

[John]

Hee is what Trump actually said.

They're sending people who have a lot of problems," Trump said from New York City's Trump Tower. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists," he added. "And some, I assume, are good people

Factually speaking, that is true. Lots are good people but a good number are not. At worst you could say trump overestimates the number of criminals crossing the border, but you can't deny that these countries have enormous violent crime problem and that spills over into this country via immigration.

I am not seeing how this is so racist that everyone must ritually condemn Trump.

[Derpetologist]

If you interpret the phrase "they're rapists" to mean "all Mexicans/illegal immigrants are rapists", that would be true bigotry. However, Trump made it clear both during the speech and after that he was referring to illegal immigrants and has no ill will towards Mexicans or any other nationality.

These days, calling someone a racist is basically the prog equivalent of shouting allahu akbar.

[John]

I guess it is too much to ask of Reason to actually look at what he said and examine the claims of racism. Nope, Instead they will send the Jacket out to dismiss them as "racist and incendiary" and then make it about Amy Schummer.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

If you interpret the phrase "they're rapists" to mean "all Mexicans/illegal immigrants are rapists", that would be true bigotry. However, Trump made it clear both during the speech and after that he was referring to illegal immigrants and has no ill will towards Mexicans or any other nationality.

1. Uh, what?

2. So he's only saying the 12 million people living illegally are rapists, not all immigrants? That's reasonable, then.

[John]

No. He is saying that a large number of criminals are coming here illegally. And since you can't come here legally if you are a criminal, that is pretty undeniable.

[Agammamon]

You can't really come here legally if you *aren't* a criminal either.

17,000 *worldwide* non-skilled work visas issued per year.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

*Hands Agammamon a mike to drop*

[Derpetologist]

Fine, whatever. All undocumented immigrants are model citizens and represent the best and brightest of their original countries. Happy now?

[John]

They just want to drive for uber and open up organic taco trucks. Is that so wrong derpologist?

[Derpetologist]

That post of mine above borders a straw man argument. I try hard not to use them, although sometimes the only way to make a point is through exaggeration.

[paranoid android]

I think a large part of the problem lies in the "they're sending" formulation as well as appending "some, I assume, are good people" as a kind of afterthought. The former implies a concerted effort on behalf of the Mexican people to round up all the rapists and murderers to point them northward, which I do not have any reason to believe is happening. The latter suggests that the "good people" are few and far between, hidden in an army of banditos streaming over the border to rape all the white women.

If Trump has statistics about crime rates among segments of the immigrant population relative to other demographics in the US, he's free to make that case. But I think if we're all honest, we can acknowledge that neither Trump nor his detractors in the media are interested in having that discussion. Trump just sees in this issue a means of getting his name in the papers, which is the entire point of everything he's ever done in his public life. The media types just see an easy opportunity to paint Trump as wholly representative of their political demons. Let's stop pretending either side cares about the actual welfare of Mexicans or Americans.

[Derpetologist]

Well said.

All I can add this that it would be nice if people who oppose illegal immigration were not immediately branded as racists.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

It would be nice if people who opposed illegal immigration could support their arguments in ways that were not racist.

[Antilles]

Nope. Only straight, white, affluent college guys are rapists. Everyone knows that and to suggest otherwise is racist, or something.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

90th anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial - have some Mencken on the subject:

"?Well, what could be of greater utility to the son of a Tennessee mountaineer than an education making him a good Tennesseean, content with his father, at peace with his neighbors, dutiful to the local religion, and docile under the local mores? That is all the Tennessee anti-evolution law seeks to accomplish. It differs from other regulations of the same sort only to the extent that Tennessee differs from the rest of the world. The State, to a degree that should be gratifying, has escaped the national standardization. Its people show a character that is immensely different from the character of, say, New Yorkers or Californians. They retain, among other things, the anthropomorphic religion of an elder day. They do not profess it; they actually believe in it. The Old Testament, to them, is not a mere sacerdotal whizz-bang, to be read for its pornography; it is an authoritative history?. So crediting the sacred narrative, they desire that it be taught to their children, and any doctrine that makes game of it is immensely offensive to them. When such a doctrine, despite their protests, is actually taught, they proceed to put it down by force."

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Yet now we are asked to believe that some mysterious and vastly important principle is at stake at Dayton - that the conviction of Professor Scopes will strike a deadly blow at enlightenment and bring down freedom to sorrow and shame. Tell it to the marines! No principle is at stake at Dayton save the principle that school teachers, like plumbers, should stick to the job that is set before them, and not go roving about the house, breaking windows, raiding the cellar, and demoralizing the children. The issue of free speech is quite irrelevant. When a pedagogue takes his oath of office, he renounces his right to free speech quite as certainly as a bishop does, or a colonel in the army, or an editorial writer in a newspaper. He becomes a paid propagandist of certain definite doctrines and attitudes, mainly determined specifically and in advance, and every time he departs from them deliberately he deliberately swindles his employers."

http://www.thenation.com/artic.....tennessee/

(This citation is designed to give a well-rounded view of Mencken's views on this topic, not to put his views forward as authoritative.)

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

I'm well aware Mencken felt Tennesseans had the right to have whatever they wanted taught in their classes, he just viciously mocked them because what they wanted taught in their classes was ludicrous.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Sure, but it's interesting that this passage gets left out of all the anthologies I know of, as is the preceding passage about how many states which made fun of Tennessee had themselves conducted ideological purges of teachers.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Mencken had a vicious racist streak toward Scots-Irish, Celtic-Americans, hillbillies, whatever you want to call them. His publicly-expressed views on that group were much more vile than his private remarks on Jews and blacks.

And in general he was no fan of the common man.

Fortunately, Mencken *was* willing to give credit to the common people in their capacity as jurors. Mencken couldn't help notice that juries of ordinary people frequently released Prohibition offenders and others whose behavior was basically harmless. So like a true populist, he deplored any shortcut around trial by jury.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Ellen Pao out as CEO of Reddit.

http://gizmodo.com/angry-reddi.....1717117695

[Igor]

Another scalp!

/SJW

[paranoid android]

Get ready for the impending narrative about a victory for the racist, misogynist, right-wing lynchmob.

[John]

The reddit users were supposed to convert and be happy Sister Pao deleted their offensive communities and showed them the error of their ways. They only didn't do so because they are racist and mysogynist.

[John]

Good for the reddit trolls. And the lesson is don't hire a committed Prog as your CEO. Progressives are totalitairanis who destroy anything organization they touch by subverting it to become a weapon to advance their politics. Pao didn't view her role as CEO to make money for Reddit. She thought her role was to advance the Prog cause by deleting any community that offended her prog sensibilities. And that is just what she did to the great detriment of the company.

[Theoretical Bi Irish]

The other lesson is don't hire someone who pisses off your user base when your entire business model is based on user created content which is provided for free.

Reddit should be a ridiculously easy CEO job compared to the other jobs in the tech industry. You basically have all the content created for your by unpaid moderators, admins and users, and Pao managed to fuck that up in like 2 months.

[John]

That is because she came there to turn reddit into a tool to advance Prog ideology instead of what it is; a company that makes money by providing people a platform for content. Running the company as you describe makes reddit money but does nothing to advance prog politics. So, doing that was of no interest to Pao.

[Old Man With Candy]

I think it's entirely possible that she honestly believed she could make the company a fuckton of money by going full Prog. She fell for the "no-one I know voted for Nixon" fallacy. "If we provide a hate-free space, users will FLOCK here in droves!"

[waffles]

I go to reddit solely for the hate. This woman is delusional. I only started hating her when she began censoring criticism of her. Nobody that thinskinned should be in a leadership position.

[Agammamon]

The other lesson is don't hire someone who pisses off your user base when your entire business model is based on user created content which is provided for free.

Hey! That's my line. You're stealing my comments from Ars Technica.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Good for the reddit trolls. And the lesson is don't hire a committed Prog as your CEO.

Especially not one who got her ass kicked in court over a bullshit sexual harassment lawsuit.

[C. Anacreon]

I liked this comment:

"Pao! Right in the kisser."

[Antilles]

Does that also mean her idiotic, anti-male 'no salary negotiation' policy is out as well?

[John]

If her successor has the sense God gave a goat, yes, yes it does.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

Is she going to sue again?

[Agammamon]

Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer defended Donald Trump over racist comments.

There's a reason she's *former* Governor.

[Jayburd]

"The FBI says Dylann Roof shouldn't have been able to buy a gun and a "loophole" is to blame. Looks more like mere government incompetence to Brian Doherty, though." They are going to start letting the Chinese Government do our background checks.

[jamicanlorneica]

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