$15 Minimum Wage Proposed for D.C., Dems Want Huge Expansion of LGBT Discrimination Protections, White House Nearly Done with Plan to Close Gitmo: P.M. Links

• 

  Credit: Fibonacci Blue / photo on flickr

  A ballot initiative has been approved for circulation in Washington, D.C., that would raise the minimum wage there to $15 per hour by 2020.

• Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, is pushing for a $12 federal minimum wage.
• Democratic politicians and gay and lesbian community leaders are pushing the newly announced Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to extend the protections to gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
• Ikea is recalling millions of dressers because two children died last year when said dressers tipped over and crushed them.
• The White House is reportedly in the final stages of drafting a plan to close Guantanamo Bay's prison.
• The European Union has filed anti-trust complaints against Disney, Fox, and other movie studios over restrictions that prohibit their movies from airing on some pay TV channels overseas.
• Get to know Kepler-452b, a planet 1,400 light years away from our solar system that may be able to support water and life.

New at Reason

'Sexist' Scientist Tim Hunt: The Real Story. The "Tim Hunt, misogynist scientist" narrative has been falling apart piece by piece over the past month. By Cathy Young

You Have a Right to Buy and Sell Sex Will the courts protect it by legalizing prostitution? By Zach Weissmueller

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, is pushing for a $12 federal minimum wage.

NEW FRONTRUNNER

[Pan Zagloba]

From your mouth keyboard to God's ears! He'd still be better than Hilary.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He was here today. I saw Airforce 2 at LAX along with a bunch of C-17 cargo jets. What an asshole.

[Jimbo]

He needed the cargo jets for his hair stylist.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Stylist? Is that the guy who sets the plugs?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Fine. Gardener.

[TheZeitgeist]

The Westside has been a patchwork of road closures and cops strutting around for past couple days, as Joe goes to various libtard palaces and blows their occupants for money.

[Sudden]

This is why some of us remain downtown.

[jesse.in.mb]

Do you have interest in socializing in meatspace? LA is unusually good about IRL meetups that only rarely end up in someone betting their ass (literally)

[Sudden]

Do you really wanna gamble on my ass not being infested with all manner of viruses, infections, and toxins that would cause any 6"-8" piece of manflesh to melt immediately upon contact?

That's what I thought.

[jesse.in.mb]

You make your butt sounds like a capitalist plot from Captain Planet.

[Sudden]

It does resemble Hoggish Greedly in appearance.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Yes. Yes he does. You have a really nice haircut.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Not as bad as Obama, but still irritating

[Rich]

Make it a $12 federal maximum wage and he's got my vote.

[Injun, as in from India]

I had to read that twice to see that you said "maximum".

Good one.

[William C.]

Ha!

[creech]

Joe's in the pocket of Big Fast Food. If he was a real progressive, he'd be pushing for minimum wage of $50,000 per year for a 36 hour week, and demanding it be done by midnight Nov.1, 2016.

[JWatts]

"and demanding it be done by midnight Nov.1, 2016."

No. that would be before the election. It's got to be January 20th 2017, so he can say it happened on his watch. Assuming, this is the opening move before he announces his Biden for President campaign.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ikea is recalling millions of dressers because two children died last year when said dressers tipped over and crushed them.

Dresser? Or chest of drawers? There's a difference!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Weird. A dresser suddenly tipped over out of nowhere?

Every ikea piece I've ever owned had a wall strap

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maybe the walls came down with them.

[Mad Scientist]

Were they blowing horns?

[Mr. Paulbotto]

+7 laps around the city

[C. Anacreon]

Maybe the walls came down with them.

Was John Cougar Mellencamp aware of this?

[PapayaSF]

Do you mean The Call?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Hey! That's not the Beach Boys!

[Paul.]

That's what SHE said!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

+1 Some people say I'm obnoxious and lazy, that I'm uneducated and my opinipn means nothin'.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Or maybe they were too proud to use the strap-on.

[The DerpRider]

I think you pegged it.

[Sudden]

*Narrows gaze*

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

The ones that we used when our kids were little came with attachments to anchor them to the wall. So, I'd go with improper installation as the cause before faulty design.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Maybe the walls came down with them.

[Tonio]

How dare you blame those grieving parents to excuse corporate greed!

Obviously, consumers cannot be trusted to understand the complex safety features and all furniture needs to be professionally installed by government-certified, union labor.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

professionally installed by government-certified, union labor

In my office building, you aren't allowed to hang a picture in your office by yourself. You have to have it done by union labor. If they catch you hanging anything in your office they will come in and take it down.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

Is the guy who comes in and takes it down a different guy from the one who puts them up? He should be, otherwise he's stealing somebody else's job.

[Jerry on the sea]

Well if they would have just bolted the kids to the wall they would have been fine.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Well, it's Ikea, so the design is faulty by definition.

[Zeb]

Or faulty children doing dumb shit without proper supervision. Somehow as a child i managed never to tip a piece of furniture over onto myself, even without the benefit of wall anchors.

[The Last American Hero]

My kid actually has one in his bedroom. It seems stable enough, but I installed the strap. It came with a wall strap and several warnings/pictures indicating the need to use the strap. I guess people can't read?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Or understand pictures?

[RBS]

My wife worked in a baby store while I was in law school. She used to tell me about all these recalls that ultimately came down to parents not reading the directions, ignoring warnings and just plain old stupidity.

[Granny Weatherwax]

It's this. This and the complete unwillingness of litigation judges to tell grieving parents, "Sorry your kid is dead, but it's your own damn fault. Now quit cluttering up my court."

[Pope Jimbo]

Ben Shapiro approves of this.

The menace of cross dressers is a scourge upon this land. How are children and men with childlike strength (cough-Shapiro-cough) supposed to survive?

[Bam!]

Ikea is recalling millions of dressers because two children died last year when said dressers tipped over and crushed them.

Think of it as god recalling the children.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Just the ones who can only afford shitty disposable furniture.

[WayfurrinStranger]

Did they save the liver? A lot of people want livers.

#BlackLiversMatter

[Tonio]

Nice one, Stranger. You're fitting in well, here.

[Zeb]

Or would be if he had any jokes besides that one.

[The Hyperbole]

So you're not a fan of beating a dead foal?

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

I laughed.

[Lee G]

When do we get to invest in 452-b real estate?

[Citizen X]

By fortuitous circumstance, i happen to have some prime 452b real estate for sale right now!

[Lee G]

I'm only interested in time shares, do you have that?

[Rich]

Do you factor in the relativistic effects?

[Lee G]

No, but I do expect to get my first presentation visit for free.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It's a great investment.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Does it come with mineral rights?

[Aresen]

Starfleet has reserved the Latinum and di-lithium crystal rights.

[Tonio]

1,400 light years is a bit long to travel for yearly inspections.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

With that attitude it sure is.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...would raise the minimum wage there to $15 per hour by 2020.

Other bills out of DC will devalue the dollar so it won't bite as much, don't worry.

[Mr. Paulbotto]

I thought that was the Fed's job?

[R C Dean]

Its a team sport.

[Pan Zagloba]

The public has spoken and you want glamour shots of Accomplished Eastern European Female Athletes. Fie and shame. But, I aim to please.

Anna Sidorova

Captain of the Russian Olympic female curling team, who sadly didn't do well in 2014 games. However, she did win European championship in 2012, took silver in 2014, as well as World Bronze in 2014 and 2015.

[jesse.in.mb]

In the interest of equality: someone from the Western hemisphere

So when I first saw Canadian-born hockey player Tyler Seguin in the ESPN body issue I skipped merrily forward with little interest. The next picture in the set caught my interest. As we might have guessed from my interest in Chris Pratt, attractive goofballs are a thing for me.

Bonus: he cleans up nice, AND he likes popsicles

[Just say Nikki]

I'd definitely like his...you know.

His face, mostly.

[Crusty Juggler]

I think you meant lick.

Disgusting.

[Granny Weatherwax]

His rubber ducky definitely peeked my interest.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Take it easy, Jess.

I can smell your pheromones all the way up here.

[jesse.in.mb]

Can't you just be happy Canadians are getting repped?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

If it's not me being repped I DON'T CARE.

[Pan Zagloba]

He's from Quebec. He's never happy!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Canadians are getting repped?

That's spelled 'raped'

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Rufus, you can smell gay pheromones?

Uh Oh

[Tonio]

Thanks, buddy. Also, yes, Chris Pratt is a total hottie.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Jesse likes goofy, chubby Chris Pratt.

[jesse.in.mb]

Partially correct. I like hot Chris Pratt, but think he's charming enough that I'd take chubby Chris Pratt even with his erectile issues

[crab_apple]

*I* liked the chunkier Chris Pratt.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Wait, we can do four links now?

This is the greatest day in Reason history! (Other than the Salty Ham Tears thread or the time Epi got called a racist for using the term 'slant slit' or the time Tony said Asians don't count as minorities).

[jesse.in.mb]

Special rights for homotarians, yo. Reason is out to get you filthy heterotarians just like everyone else.

[RAHeinlein]

You're link agility is impressive.

/unworthyimacuser

[Fist of Etiquette]

BREEDERS UNITE.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Day of the Commenters is generally thought to be the Best. Day. Evar.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Was that the day they somehow allowed the posting of pictures and everyone spammed reason's comment section with pornography?

[Hamster of Doom]

If we get pictures and there isn't a boobie thread thirty seconds later, you will all be dead to me.

[Crusty Juggler]

A mulatto boobie.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

You are a terrible person for posting that.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Thatr is not a mulatto boobie.

This is a Mulatto Boobie!

[Hamster of Doom]

The duck. MOVE THE DUCK.

He is so coy.

[jesse.in.mb]

It's a surprisingly large duck, no?

[fish]

Duck fetish.....typical!

[Pope Jimbo]

How do you know he has goofy balls? That fucking duck is in the way!

[C. Anacreon]

She appears to have matching bookend breast moles.

[Rich]

matching bookend breast moles

Nice band name.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

A clear sign of photoshop.

#freethebreasts

[John]

Great body. She has breasts and looks like a woman rather than a 12 year old boy. You should be sure and give Sarcasmic a trigger warning. He can't handle the site of actual women.

[Pan Zagloba]

Please, John, have you not been following my magnum opus? All women here, especially since I deliberately exclude gymnasts. You can't starve yourself and still be good at sports.
And more people need to know about glory that are Slavic women (and also Hungarians) - the "starving waif" is not popular in any of their cultures.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

I know a woman from Budapest and OMG is she effing hot...

[Pan Zagloba]

Pics? Phone numbers? Facebook Id?

[Inigo "Chip" DuBois]

There are two kinds of women gymnasts. The starving waif and the stocky, muscley dynamo.

[PapayaSF]

I prefer longevity activist Maria Konovalenko.

[Hamster of Doom]

The White House is reportedly in the final stages of drafting a plan to close Guantanamo Bay's prison.

The planning of the plan is almost out of committee. SO. CLOSE.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

That was one of his campaign promises in '08, right?

[WayfurrinStranger]

Are they finally going to re-locate them all to Illinois?

[Hamster of Doom]

Yeah, that, and like, "yo no se pendejo" or some shit.

[Crusty Juggler]

"yo no se pendejo"

What does your dislike of pants have to do with anything?

[Hamster of Doom]

You know who else wore pants, Crusty?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Archduke VonPantsfan?

RIP

[Crusty Juggler]

Katharine Hepburn?

[Anomalous]

Not Jonah Goldberg, according to Trump.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Michele Obama?

[Bam!]

I'm disappointed in you, Reason: Not a single mention of Trump. Probably could have polled some millennials about Trump.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I thought Matt has the Penske-Trump file.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

More like a binder.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...a planet 1,400 light years away from our solar system that may be able to support water and life.

It's probably where the Empire is buying all its clones.

[WayfurrinStranger]

"Ikea is recalling millions of dressers because two children died last year when said dressers tipped over and crushed them."

Are they going to use a dresser that's less crunchy? A lot of people want livers.

[Just say Nikki]

Because it's totally impossible for parents to have donated these kids' organs when they died.

[WayfurrinStranger]

Did they break even? If they can do a little better than breaking even, that's good too.

A lot of people want livers. Hearts are in big demand also.

I want a Lamborghini.

[Just say Nikki]

I'm sure the hospital did it's best to do better than breaking even.

[WayfurrinStranger]

Then you know they're lowballing you.

[Pope Jimbo]

+1 fava beans and Chianti

[ace_m82]

Get to know Kepler-452b, a planet 1,400 light years away from our solar system that may be able to support water and life.

Another? Boy, they're going to be really disappointed when the aliens don't show up.

Spoilers: We're all alone in the universe. Kinda makes you want to treat other people better, no? Maybe stop using force of arms against them?

[Hamster of Doom]

I think we should locate a habitable planet and send all the political dissidents there until the current crisis is over.

[Pan Zagloba]

Or maybe we build three colony ships. Let's call them Ark A, B and C...

[SusanM]

+42

[Juvenile Bluster]

Which one would H&R regulars be on?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

#1 with the Hairdressers and Phone Sanitizers

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

All colonial ships will be named Botany Bay.

[C. Anacreon]

Captain! They put creatures in our rears!

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

No no, that was on the Botany Gay

[Mad Scientist]

Will they come with complimentary ear creatures?

[ace_m82]

I think we should locate a habitable planet and send all the political dissidents there until the current crisis is over.

Well, to be fair, the voluntary expatriation of political dissidents got us these united States of America. So it could be worse...

[Pan Zagloba]

Well let's see. I don't think we are top scientists, leaders, entertainers etc. Top Men, basically. So A is out.
Ark C? Plumbers, factory workers, farmers, basically doers? Dunno.
Ark B? Middle management, phone cleaners, office drones, etc? Sounds about right. I hear they will send us out first to prepare everything for arrival.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

I hear they will send us out first to prepare everything for arrival.

As long as we can smuggle some missile engineers in the Ark so we can build SAMs to shoot down all the other fuckers that try to land and ruin our Libertopia, I'm ok with that.

[Pan Zagloba]

Trust me, not a problem.

/Spoiler

[Inigo "Chip" DuBois]

Extremely unlikely we're alone. But that doesn't mean any of the neighbors are flying around here looking for people to anally probe, however.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Take off, hoser.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's what she said last night.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Ewww

[Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)]

No, she told you to take off your (panty)hose!

[Pope Jimbo]

No, she wanted Rufus to take off her pantyhose, but he refused because -finally- he had found a gal who wasn't too loose!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to extend the protections to gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

So suck it, eunuchs and pansexuals. No civil rights for you!

[Rich]

LOL

[Rockabilly]

Thank you Fist, I was wondering about eunuchs and eunuchs who have had sex change operations. What about their special super duper rights?

[grrizzly]

Democratic politicians and gay and lesbian community leaders are pushing the newly announced Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to extend the protections to gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Johnbait.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm actually surprised Ted Olson and David Boies are both lining up behind this.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

They worked together against prop 8 too.

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm aware. But Olson is all up in the Kochtopus. I wouldn't expect him to jump on this.

[John]

He has always been a compassionate conservative we love government to do God's work kind of a guy.

[John]

Is it just me or do they look like a REALLY unattractive gay couple in that picture?

[jesse.in.mb]

No, that's an entirely fair take on that picture. I thought the same thing.

[Zeb]

Ha. I had to look at the picture to see what that could mean. And I'll be damned, it really does look just like that.

[Pope Jimbo]

I think it is just the pistol grip ears that they both have.

[Injun, as in from India]

You didn't build grow that - Venezuela edition.

Venezuelan farmers ordered to hand over produce to state

Farmers and manufacturers who produce milk, pasta, oil, rice, sugar and flour have been told to supply between 30 per cent and 100 per cent of their products to the state stores.

All in the service of the greater good! Everyone who had their stuff confiscated should be happy and grateful!

Venezuela's official rate of inflation hit 64 per cent last year ? the highest in the world. The government hides the scale of shortages, but angry consumers regularly post photos of empty shelves on social media.

Control of the supply chain. Control of money. Control of information. Control of the people.

Control, control, control. F***ing bastards.

[Lee G]

I didn't know Wickard applied in Venezuela.

[C. Anacreon]

I'd like to visit one of these Venezuelan pasta farms.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'd like to visit one of these Venezuelan pasta BREAST farms.

For, ummm, research.

[Ted S.]

Will a Swiss farm do?

[Juvenile Bluster]

Pasta trees only grow in Switzerland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVo_wkxH9dU

[Juvenile Bluster]

Dammit Ted!

[Clich? Bandit]

WOW, Ted was first? A miracle. Ted, go buy a lotto ticket RIGHT NOW!

[Hamster of Doom]

And yet somehow, they aren't responsible for any of it. Totally had nothing to do with them. Baffling.

[Juvenile Bluster]

It's the fault of capitalism and the imperialist west. Duh.

[pan fried wylie]

Imperialist North, dumbass.

[pan fried wylie]

(consults location of equator in respect to Venezuela....)

[Libertarian]

Nah, it's this:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded ? here and there, now and then ? are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as "bad luck."

ROBERT HEINLEIN

[Mindyourbusiness]

+1 RAH

[Pan Zagloba]

Fucking Stalinist fucks. Next, when farmers drop production, they are going to send their armed thugs into the country to round them up, steal the food and probably confiscate all the estates.
And the worst part is, that vile piece of shit Chavez got to die before his shittery exploded in full. So, like Lenin, he'll get off scot-free and inspire generations of shitty thugs to continue.
Fuck everything. M1911 and AK-47 in every home!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Exactly.

[Inigo "Chip" DuBois]

An acquaintance of ours with family still in Venezuela was saying that Chavez is in the process of being "sanctified."Posters of him are appearing with a halo around his head, and his sucessor Maduro invokes Chavez in speeches and claims his spirit is contacting him with words of advice.

I wonder what Sean Penn makes of this.

[Clich? Bandit]

My favorite is when the Soviets confiscated the seeds for the next seasons crops, you know...the hold backs, and claimed the Kulaks were hoarding the grain. The hilarity/tragedy of moron top men.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I love Venezuela. It's always nice to have a cautionary tale handy for debates.

[Injun, as in from India]

My fear is that in 50 years America will become a cautionary tale for the formerly socialist India. Let's hope it doesn't happen.

In the meantime, as Pan Zagloba said, M1911 and AK-47 in every home!

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

Like Somalia??
*ducks*

[See Double You]

Socialism as a road to serfdom. If only someone had warned of this...

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Is there a new Walter Duranty at the NYT whitewashing this?

[Injun, as in from India]

Professor Krugabe?

[Aresen]

Sean Penn will be along shortly.

And someone at the Guardian will say it is because of the US subversion.

[Pan Zagloba]

Now for your moment of optimism.

Venezuela's official rate of inflation hit 64 per cent last year - the highest in the world

This is actually awesome. 64 percent is bad. But, according to Alistair Horne's Small Earthquake in Chile, under less than three years of Allende, currency devauled 10,000 percent! So, progress.

[Aresen]

The arrest of the kulaks will follow shortly.

[Lord at War]

Socialism at work.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Nutpunch via Balko:

What exactly does it take for a Boston cop to be fired?

Court orders cop re-instated after he beat up a motorist and was fired in 2012. This is the second time he's been reinstated after being fired for brutality. Last time he got $500,000 in back pay. This time it's going to be $400,000. He's also cost the city $2.2 million in brutality settlements.

NO DOUBLE STANDARDS!

[ace_m82]

Wow, I could be so rich if I could shut of the morality chip in my brain.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

According to the article the people he beat up were cops?

[Juvenile Bluster]

One an off duty cop and one an off duty CO it looks like.

[thrakkorzog]

I wish I could get a mil for beating up my coworkers.

[Pope Jimbo]

Two weeks ago the only reason I didn't assault my coworkers was because I couldn't choose which one of the assholes I should hit. I realized I'd probably only get a few good licks on one of them before I was overpowered (I'm getting older) and I just couldn't choose.

Turned in my notice the next week. Who needs that shit?

[Wasteland Wanderer]

So now we know what an officer has to do to get fired...temporarily, anyway.

[Injun, as in from India]

Get to know Kepler-452b, a planet 1,400 light years away from our solar system that may be able to support water and life.

Libertopia, here we come!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The White House is reportedly in the final stages of drafting a plan to close Guantanamo Bay's prison.

Haven't we heard this noise before?

[Juvenile Bluster]

In 2009. Will he blame obstructionist Republicans again when it doesn't happen? Of course he will.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Ex-Baltimore cop planning blackface fundraiser for cops who killed Freddie Gray, says it's not a racial thing. Even the police union is distancing themselves from him, which should tell you how terrible an idea it is.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The union is against it? Then I'm for it.

[Rockabilly]

What - only $15.00.

How about $15,000.00 an hour !!

[JWatts]

Come on be reasonable. We don't need a minimum wage of more than $30 per hour. Though of course, $15 per hour is just a starvation wage.

[Injun, as in from India]

See kids? This is why we need government to regulate markets, so that the EVUL KKKORPORASHUNS don't become a monopoly!

Taxi Mogul, Filing Bankruptcy, Sees Uber-Citibank Plot

[Rich]

A child dies every two weeks and one is injured every 24 minutes in the U.S. from furniture or TVs tipping over

Ban furniture and TVs -- FOR THE CHILDREN!

[Antilles]

Or better yet, ban children!

[pan fried wylie]

Ban Furniture OR TVs. The statistic didn't say AND. Pay attention.

[Rich]

Hillary Clinton said Thursday that even "open-minded" white people get nervous when they encounter a black male wearing a hoodie.

Why does anyone *need* a hoodie?

[WayfurrinStranger]

They're light, breathable, and keep the sun off you, that's why I like 'em. I've been wearing them for twenty-five years and it bugs me that they've been become some weird cultural thing.

[Rich]

Oh, very well. But nothing with that shoulder thing that goes up.

[WayfurrinStranger]

During that ridiculous Zimmerman fiasco I always felt people were looking at me weird. "Million hoodie march." I felt like wearing a sign that said "I Don't Care, Fuck 'em Both" on my back.

[See Double You]

I find I get nervous whenever I see a large group of young men of any color. I guess I'm ageist and sexist, but only at the same time.

[Antilles]

I hate hoodies because in my school all the bullies and thugs (all white!) wore them. As one of their frequent targets I will always have a negative association with 'Hoodies.' Plus the name is of the garment is lame and juvenile. Does that make me racist?

[lap83]

"Hillary Clinton said Thursday that even "open-minded" white people get nervous when they encounter a black male wearing a hoodie."

Self-proclaimed "open-minded" white people usually don't encounter black people that often, much less people wearing such uncouth attire as hoodies. So I can imagine it would be pretty scary to see both at the same time.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Sandra Bland ate like 10 marijaunas before she died!

Let's count the ways this story is implausible, shall we?

Sandra Bland, the black woman found hanging dead in a Texas jail days after a traffic stop, smoked or possibly swallowed a large amount of marijuana while in custody, her family's attorney reported the district attorney as saying.

Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis made the disclosure in a text message to attorney Cannon Lambert, who has called the state's autopsy on the Chicago-area woman defective, Lambert said.

"Looking at the autopsy results and toxicology, it appears she swallowed a large quantity of marijuana or smoked it in the jail," Mathis said in a text message to Lambert that the attorney provided to Reuters.

Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the text. Repeated calls to Mathis' office were not returned.

"This will of course be very relevant in any future criminal or civil litigation," the message from Mathis to Lambert said.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

""This will of course be very relevant in any future criminal or civil litigation," the message from Mathis to Lambert said."

You mean the government will be held liable for giving a prisoner in its custody access to the evil weed?

[WayfurrinStranger]

I went to the hotel breakfast area this morning and they had CNN on. Over the course of two hours I went down four times and every single time was Trump or Bland.

Then I sat there for like twenty minutes, nothing but Trump and/or Bland, and then they showed like a two-minute segment on this http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/.....intercept/

Then back to Trump and Bland.

[Rich]

Over the course of two hours I went down four times and every single time was Trump or Bland.

Got that, NSA? WayfurrinStranger went down on Donald Trump.

[WayfurrinStranger]

I mean, he's a billionaire, and he's going to be president. He promised me a diplomatic pos--oh shit, I bet that was a sex thing too. Damn his shrewd negotiating hide!

[Rich]

You're a good sport. You'll do well as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Lesotho.

[Hamster of Doom]

So... she had access to fire. In her cell.

They're just openly fucking with us now, aren't they. "Hey. Hey, put in there that a purple moon caused by Colombian drug lords made her do it. Who'll give me twenty someone buys that?"

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

If they want to go down that road, they are going to have to fire a few people first. Smoking large amounts of weed in a cell??????

[Hamster of Doom]

Six question marks is the sure sign of an unhinged mind.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I plead no contest. Watch your 6.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Yeah. I was skeptical that the police had anything to do with her hanging (besides being incompetent and not checking up on her as they should have been and the fact she should not have been arrested in the first place)....until now.

Now, I wonder just what the fuck they did that they have to invent a story like that.

[Tonio]

They are so obviously desperate. This one might be egregious enough to get a meaningful conviction.

[C. Anacreon]

The thing that's been lost in this whole story is how she got pulled over for not using her turn signal. Hooray for that!

If I were king, there would be severe penalties for anyone not using turn signals.

OK, that is all, back to your normal posting everyone.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Like, a 5 dollar fine?

[Dobranoc]

Based on what evidence?

[John]

And eating stuff causes a rope to miraculously wrap around your neck and kill you how?

[John Titor]

Obviously the rope was hemp and she accidentally hung herself trying to roll a particularly dramatic joint. That's how marijuana works right?

[Rich]

The rope was made from the plastic bag the weed came in.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

I have that same problem with my dime bags.

[See Double You]

They claim she made the rope out of the plastic liner from a garbage can in her cell.

[PapayaSF]

Supposedly she had tried to commit suicide once before.

[Dobranoc]

Swallowing a lot of marijuana all at once could play some very odd games with your brain. Not saying I believe that's what happened, but it's plausible if she was trying to dispose of the evidence during the traffic stop.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

Arrested July 10, found dead July 13th. Nice apologetics, but I don't think you know how marijuana works.

[Antilles]

Democratic politicians and gay and lesbian community leaders are pushing the newly announced Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to extend the protections to gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

How about they extend these basic protections to everyone?

[Rich]

"Everyone"?!

Why do you hate lawyers, activists, and politicians? WHY?!

[Juvenile Bluster]

Because civil rights laws still only apply to human beings. Duh.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

How aboutextendig to everyone except lawyers, activists and politicians?

[Rich]

*** pounds gavel ***

Done.

[Injun, as in from India]

The Left Doesn't Care Whether Minimum-Wage Laws Actually...

One of my own pieces of good fortune, when I left home at age 17, was that the unemployment rate for black 17-year-old males was in single digits that year ? for the last time. The minimum-wage law was ten years old, and the wage specified in that law was now so low that it was irrelevant, after years of inflation. It was the same as if there were no minimum-wage law.

Liberals, of course, wanted the minimum wage raised, to keep up with inflation. The result was that, ten years later, the unemployment rate for black 17-year-old males was 27.5 percent ? and it has never been less than 20 percent in all the years since then.

As the minimum wage kept getting raised, so did the unemployment rate for black 17-year-old males. In 1971 it was 33.4 percent ? and it has never been under 30 percent since then. It has often been over 40 percent and, occasionally, over 50 percent.

But people who advocate minimum-wage laws seldom show any interest in the actual consequences of such laws, which include many idle young males on the streets, which does no good for them or for their communities.
...

Advocates talk about people who make minimum wages as if they were a permanent class of people. In reality, most are young, inexperienced workers, and no one stays young permanently.

[John]

The left lies about everything. They never care about anything they claim to. They just care about power.

[John]

You missed the money quote.

T. S. Eliot once said, "Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm ? but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves."

Wow does that describe every Prog I know.

[PapayaSF]

Great Eliot quote.

I'm surprised Sowell didn't mention my favorite angle: According to the original progressives who invented the minimum wage, disemploying blacks was not a bug, but a feature. The minimum wage was a eugenics measure to "purify" society of the unfit. By requiring a "white man's wage," such laws made employers less likely to hire black or disabled workers, and thus (in the days before welfare) made it more difficult for them to afford to have children. Such laws were also intended to reduce the employment of white women, so they would stay home and have children.

Today's progressives should be forced to respond to this fact. How they claim that the effects will be the exact opposite of what the inventors contended?

[Antilles]

It won't matter. They make excuses for Margaret Sanger's racist and eugenics attitudes that encouraged her to found Planned Parenthood. They say it doesn't matter how it started because PP does so much good today. Of course, their perceived enemies never receive such latitude.

[PapayaSF]

But they will have to argue that minimum wage laws don't create unemployment, when they manifestly do. And they create unemployment among "the most vulnerable": minorities, the young, the unskilled, etc.

Also, while they may make excuses for Sanger, I don't see much public mention of her beliefs. Sure, conservatives and anti-abortion types know, but why doesn't a GOP presidential candidate say: "The federal government should not fund Planned Parenthood because Sanger was a racist eugenicist. And because we're broke."

[C. Anacreon]

But Sanger is still practically considered a saint by many. She was one of the fifteen finalists for 'first woman on U.S. paper currency", for crying out loud (along with mass-murderer Rachel Carson, it was really quite a finalists list).

[Antilles]

Further proof that Proggies come from the Bizarro World. Rachel Carson is directly responsible for millions of deaths (mostly in impoverished countries) and she's a hero. But Norman Borlaug literally saved millions (mostly in impoverished countries) from starvation and he's a monster. Facts don't matter with them; it's all knee-jerk reactions based on what they've been told.

[PapayaSF]

But most voters aren't progs. Many moderates, uninformed, old-fashioned Democrats, blacks, etc., would recoil at the thought of funding an organization founded on racist beliefs. And they'd think twice about raising the minimum wage if they knew what it was invented to do.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

I brought this up to Jamelle Bouie on twitter once. He didn't have much of a response.

[jesse.in.mb]

In America, mass incarceration has caused more crime than it's prevented

A new paper from University of Michigan economics professor Michael Mueller-Smith measures how much incapacitation reduced crime. He looked at court records from Harris County, Texas from 1980 to 2009. Mueller-Smith observed that in Harris County people charged with similar crimes received totally different sentences depending on the judge to whom they were randomly assigned. Mueller-Smith then tracked what happened to these prisoners. He estimated that each year in prison increases the odds that a prisoner would reoffend by 5.6% a quarter. Even people who went to prison for lesser crimes wound up committing more serious offenses subsequently, the more time they spent in prison. His conclusion: Any benefit from taking criminals out of the general population is more than off-set by the increase in crime from turning small offenders into career criminals.

Huh, I knew imprisoning non-violent drug offenders and whatnot was bad policy, but it's interesting to see it quantified.

[John]

Hey Jesse. How could anyone have thought that throwing millions of people in prison and making sure their criminal record made them well neigh unemployable could possibly have caused those people to commit more crime once they got out?

[Injun, as in from India]

Fears on the left growing for Planned Parenthood

Credo launched a petition on Tuesday calling on Democrats to speak out more forcefully in Planned Parenthood's defense.

Asked about the videos at a press conference, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) turned to a prepared statement, saying he wanted to be "precise" in his language.

"These politically motivated videos raise questions, but nothing I've seen indicates that Planned Parenthood violated federal law," Reid said.

Yeah, Harry. They were just negotiating the costs for shipping and storage. They were not in any way negotiating a sale price.

[WayfurrinStranger]

She'll try to use a less crunchy technique.

And if they can do a little better than break even, it's all gravy.

I wonder what a 21-week old, viable, pre-natal baby feels as its being "crunched" in just the right spot to preserve its heart or its liver.

But hey,what are you gonna do? "A lot of people want livers."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It's the optics of it all that's bad. The way they spoke, the eating of the salad etc. while discussing it just rub people the wrong way.

I can understand why people are freaking a little at the crunchy part. It just seems to lack humanity.

And maybe I'm wrong here but how can a 'collection of cells' be considered disposable but its organs not? If the organs are important does it not follow the fetus is too?

[Injun, as in from India]

Avoiding the abortion aspect, I have a problem with ANY government funding for Planned Parenthood.

Imagine what the left would do if the NRA was geting $500 million in money from the feds.

The NRA doesn't kill anyone. Most of its work is in education and training. (Planned Parenthood claims that 97% of its work is in cancer screenings, contraception, etc.)

After any random shooting, the left would demand that the NRA be defunded. But they will never do that to Planned Parenthood, which a lot of people argue actually kills unborn human beings.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

You're asking intellectual consistency from hysterical people about two organizations that serve as leitmotifs for various social justice nonsense.

Aside from that, my ass PP is now making cash on the side off this.

[wareagle]

yup, but it's an argument the left does not want to have. It bends over backward to justify the funding and in the video caper, lot of accusations about the people who shot it, no defense at all of PP. It's like they don't think parts-is-parts needs defending

[WayfurrinStranger]

Dude, I don't want to open the can of worms here, but you know you're wrong.

That's a 22-week old baby. If you killed a woman who was 22 weeks pregnant you'd rightly be charged with double homicide. It's got eyes, ears, fingers, toes, a brain, a mouth...it's a baby. It's viable. It could live outside the womb.

"I'll try to use a less crunchy technique."

"A lot of people want livers."

"If they can do a little better than break even that's good too."

"I want a Lamborghini."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Who is wrong?

And I agree the language used was distasteful if not inhumane.

My first reaction when I saw it was one of disgust.

[wareagle]

that's not always true. Plenty of cases where the murder of a pregnant woman led to a single charge.

[Mr Lizard]

Well in all fairness the Comentariat here routinely negotiates both sales price and shipping costs at their orphan market.

And my people occasionally eat them

[WayfurrinStranger]

Just don't use an overly crunchy technique. A lot of people want livers.

I want a Lamborghini.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I want an extra liver... I'm pretty hard on this one.

[WayfurrinStranger]

If I can do a little better than breaking even, then that's okay.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'm not getting the point. Can you drill it home a little harder?

[Lord at War]

Playa-

Is it legal for me to sell my own kidney? At least the "profit" would go to me...

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Nope. No more so than selling sex. Things become illegal when money is involved.

[John]

Democratic politicians and gay and lesbian community leaders are pushing the newly announced Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to extend the protections to gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Because that is what the public is longing for, more fighting about gay rights. Every American voter wakes up and doesn't worry about the economy, Iran, Islamic terrorists, the debt. No. They think "you know we haven't sued enough bakers out of business. We need more culture war nastiness only this time with monetary judgements for the losers."

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Where is Thomas Frank to criticize the Democrats for using culture war issues to trick voters into ignoring their economic interests?

[John Titor]

Hey, panem et circenses works.

[Just say Nikki]

Democratic politicians and gay and lesbian community leaders are pushing the newly announced Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to extend the protections to gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

I thought trans issues had nothing to do with sexuality. But if we're just going to throw in whatever, I'd like some protections for left-handers. We demand scissor-and-desk accommodation!

[Lee G]

You're already covered under the ADA. Freaks.

[Injun, as in from India]

Why just the ADA?

Why not pass yet another law to strengthen the protection?

We know it works, based on layers and layers of gun control laws.

[grrizzly]

You don't need any protection. I'm as right-handed as they come, yet a few months ago I started using a computer mouse with my left hand. For no reason. Now I can do it equally well with either hand.

[Mad Scientist]

Sorcerer!

[Lee G]

Do you weigh the same as a duck?

[jesse.in.mb]

Umm, I'm left handed and use a mouse with my right hand all the time. It's hardly an indication of ambidexterity.

[Just say Nikki]

Yeah, for one thing, mice don't weigh anything.

Try pouring water out of a pot made for left-handers.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

It's also a granularity of task thing. Nothing about using a mouse pushes my muscle memory or dexterity to the limit. Generally, I just need to be within 30 pixels and have 20 years of muscle memory to help.

However, in situations where you need skill and dexterity, your natural inclination kicks in. I learned to golf right-handed. However, once I got lefty clubs I picked it up really quickly and outperformed my right-handed scores.

You want awkward, try shooting a bolt-action rifle wrong handed. There are about 10 steps to reloading because the ergonomics are all designed for your hands to be opposite.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

You want awkward, try shooting a bolt-action rifle wrong handed. There are about 10 steps to reloading because the ergonomics are all designed for your hands to be opposite.

It depends on how you do it. If you're reaching over the scope with your trigger hand or shooting prone, yeah, it's a pain in the ass.

Offhand or off a rest/bipod? Use your support hand to cycle the bolt. It's the way I've been shooting them for ~20 years. Helps if your rifle is well balanced; it keeps you from going too far off target with each cycle.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

I need to get out and get some time in at the range. Half the awkwardness is just lack of experience/muscle memory.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

Try throwing a football with your left hand and not looking like a pussy.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It takes about 2 weeks.

You don't throw a football with just your arm.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

Yep, it's a whole body thing like riding a bike

(I forget if somebody else posted this link here, but still an interesting link)

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I am a lefty. If I throw a football with my right, I do not look like a pussy.

I look like I'm having a seizure.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

Geez, how many of us H&R regulars are lefties? Does libertarianism attract the left-handed for some reason?

[RickC]

"I know something you don't. I am not left handed!"

[RAHeinlein]

Lefties, it's like they need an amendment to justify their existence...

[Pope Jimbo]

I'm pretty ambidextrous and my father and uncle are very ambidextrous. Two of my kids write left handed and play sports (and shoot) right handed.

The most "sportsy" of my kids though is very right handed.

My wife has two left handed siblings (although being Korean they were forced to learn how to be right handed).

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"For no reason"

SUUUURE!!!

[lap83]

"I thought trans issues had nothing to do with sexuality."

Sexuality is fluid, which means some days things are sexual and some days the same things are not sexual, depending on how open-minded and experimental you're feeling.

[Ted S.]

I always knew you had a sinister nature.

[Pan Zagloba]

No ,they have to do with brain chemistry. Because male and female brains are vastly different. Also, gender is a social construct and there are no physiological differences between men and women of note.

[Trshmnstr doesn't recycle]

I want a pen that doesn't leave smudges on my hand after I'm done writing!

[John]

I guess I will be unhelpful and point this out.

Most interesting news of #Iran hearing: IAEA will have to rely on #Iran to take samples at Parchin and other sites for its PMD investigation

? Jackson Diehl (@JacksonDiehl) July 23, 2015

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....d-by-iran/

[tarran]

Wow! Obama gave them that without getting a single hostage in return?!?

Truly a 7 dimensional chess-player of a negotiator!

[John]

He is demanding the hostages release, after he made the deal. It is how you negotiate in Bizzaro World, as one person said today.

[Ayn Random Variation]

Is there any doubt that Obama didn't even consider the hostages until that reporter asked that unhelpful question?

[Suthenboy]

^This.

You know damn well he didn't.

[Pathogen]

Nuance, Suthenboy.. Nuance... Never doubt Chicago Jesus's altruism..

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Give or take 6 dimensions.

[TwB]

So, does Obama and his ilk actually WANT Iran to get nuclear weapons? Because if this information is true, it sure sounds like Iran will get to do whatever they want in the near future. Oh and to top it off, Iran, here's your money back, too. Have fun buying a full arsenal of weapons. Idiots, all of them.

[John]

Yes they do. They figure Iran can dominate the middle east and be extremists who can be dealt with. They are that fucking delusional and stupid.

[Pan Zagloba]

Yes, they do. That way there will be balance of power with Israel, and US will never dare invade. And screwing over Israel and weakening the power of US abroad is what he and his ilk want.

[TwB]

It's insanity. Because here's the thing: the Saudis, Israelis and Jordanians will not tolerate Iran getting a nuclear weapon. They will either come together and bomb the fuck out of Iran with all of their combined power or the Saudis or Israelis may do it solo.

[John]

Exactly. They are going to cause a region wide war.

[wareagle]

we're talking about Obama. Why do you act like this was thought through?

[Pan Zagloba]

That's why it's important for Iran to get their air defence systems online fast, with latest Russian technology. If they can keep control over Iraq as well, it will be impossible for any country short of US to hit their nuclear sights without punishing losses.

[Palin's Buttplug]

U.S. jobless claims lowest since 1973; leading index rises

The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits last week dropped to its lowest level in more than 41-1/2 years, suggesting the labor market maintained a sturdy pace of job growth in July.

Other data on Thursday also offered an upbeat assessment of the economy. A gauge of future economic activity increased solidly in June and another measure suggested growth picked up slightly last month.

The bullish jobs picture, together with a firming housing market brings the Federal Reserve a step closer to hike interest rates this year.

http://www.reuters.com/article.....EO20150723

[Juvenile Bluster]

Shriek, please tell me which is more important: (a) The unemployment rate, (b) The number of people filing for unemployment benefits, or (c) The labor force participation rate. I'll hang up and listen to your answer.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Not the LFP rate.

Fujita demonstrates that "discouraged workers" only made up about a quarter of those leaving the labor force between 2007 and 2011, while "the decline in the participation rate since the first quarter of 2012 is entirely accounted for by increases in nonparticipation due to retirement."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com.....z3gkd4wnxz

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Reread what you just wrote, and tell me why you aren't dishonest. Go.

[wareagle]

horse-fucking-shit. If you are retired, then by definition you are no longer part of the labor force.

[Christophe]

Only if you don't retire early. Clearly the economy is doing so well that people are retiring at 55 and moving to Florida.

[The Last American Hero]

Is the labor participation rate as high as it was in 1973? Just curious.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

It hasn't recovered from the Bush-era highs - but I know you know that.

[PapayaSF]

Many unemployed are probably on vacation now.

[wareagle]

are they driving Lamborghinis?

[Suthenboy]

Bullshit and lies never end with you shreek.

Do you really think anyone buys your shit?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Reuters, jackass.

[Suthenboy]

You have no idea what I am talking about. You are unable to distinguish between talking points and actual truth. Lakoff fan, are you?

Figures.

[Rebel Scum]

extend the protections to gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

By "protections" they mean coerced association/trade/labor/etc.

[Injun, as in from India]

Next up: Quota for gay p0rn in the p0rn business, like Canadian laws requiring home-grown Canadian entertainment.

[John Titor]

The worst part of the moronic Canadian entertainment laws is that the CBC promotes its absolute worst content way more than their decent stuff. There was a pretty good black comedy they ran making fun of the television business in the 90s called Made In Canada. You can only get the 1st season, and it's on VHS. No DVD releases, no season available accept the first one. While Little Mosque on the Prairie, CBC's utterly awful 'comedy' about rural Canadian Muslims and multiculturalism, gets every season released and all the episodes posted online. This is what happens when a government body tries to control cultural achievement, it just spews out the worst as long as the 'message is right'.

[Irish ?s ESB]

"Little Mosque on the Prairie"

This sounds like the worst T.V. show of all time.

[jesse.in.mb]

I made a joke about it once on here and a couple of the Canadians were horrified I'd heard of it.

[John Titor]

CBC programming in general tends to be godawful (although the Newfie Cop show is so stupid and cheesy it works). Trailer Park Boys ending up on Netflix is a point of national pride though.

[Pan Zagloba]

TPB wasn't a CBC show, of course. Which is why it's 100% Canadian and yet as far from usual Canadian stereotype as you can get.
Retarded CanCon laws did give us that great Canadian Duo, Bob and Doug McKenzie.

[John Titor]

Oh not only is it utterly terrible, and it comes with great moral messages too! Like the one episode where one of the female Muslim characters is moderately attracted to, and then *gasp* is asked out on a date by a non-Muslim! The entire episode afterwards is all the other Muslim characters passive aggressively shaming her for it. There's some really uncomfortable, unspoken things that show accidentally conveys.

[Pan Zagloba]

here you go

http://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque/

All the Little Mosque info anyone would ever need and more.

[John Titor]

Fucking hell Pan, that's like opening the Ark of the Covenant. You can't show it to non-Canadians, they'll get all melty-faced.

[Pan Zagloba]

They need to know what lurks to the north, John. They have the right.

[John Titor]

You still have to ask the King Beyond the Wall before you show that to outsiders Pan.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The CBC was obnoxiously proud of this program because pioneer or something.

Personally, if I was a writer on that show I would have taken the show into a different (if not darker) direction.

But that's me. Rufus is badass.

[John Titor]

That's pretty much the only reason why a bunch of their 90s shows were any good. Made In Canada was great because every character was an absolute scumbag tv executive and completely unapologetic. I mean Ken Finkleman made a weird, nihilistic series called the Newsroom that was all about how CBC news was evil/stupid/incompetent. You'd never see that on CBC today, sends the wrong messages.

[Irish ?s ESB]

"Personally, if I was a writer on that show I would have taken the show into a different (if not darker) direction."

A dark comedy about the bad aspects of Islam can work very well, as Four Lions showed.

God, that movie is awesome.

[John Titor]

No, see Irish, you have to make the guy who spews the (not even that) extremist Islamic views a goofy bumbling old man with a heart of gold.

"In the episode "The Letter", Baber takes an interest in a female motivational speaker (played by Andrea Martin) who is stranded in Mercy, who in turn becomes interested in him. Everything goes well until Baber utters some anti-Semitic remarks. The motivational speaker takes offense, and reveals to Baber that she is Jewish. Baber comes to Amaar for guidance. Amaar reminds him that anti-Semitism is not tolerated in the Muslim faith."

/Actually the closest Little Mosque ever gets to dealing with the 'darker' side of Islam.

[Irish ?s ESB]

"O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust."

- Qur'an 5:51

[John Titor]

Quiet Irish, we can't have an actual theological discussion going on in our touchy-feel good story about how Muslims are the bestest and improve small towns just by existing!

[Pan Zagloba]

Quiet Irish, we can't have an actual theological discussion going on in our touchy-feel good story about how Muslims are the bestest and improve small towns just by existing!

Oh my god, this explains Cytotoxic!

[Suthenboy]

"anti-Semitism is not tolerated in the Muslim faith."

I assume this is another example of lefties lying, trying to convince people that up is down.

[Azathoth!!]

taqiyya

[Rufus J. Firefly]

John Titor speaks truth.

LONG LIVE CANCON!

It's like the import rules in the CFL. If a team gets whacked with injuries - especially at QB - they're often forced to go with Canadian players when they are much better American players in the depth chart. It's ridiculous and hurts the overall quality of play. It's nice to see Canadian players but I want to see the ones who can really compete with American players.

I want quality and couldn't care less where they're from.

[John]

Yes but gays are special. Didn't you know that?

[Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)]

Yes but gays are sthpecial.

FTFY

[jesse.in.mb]

Comedy GOLD!

/3rd grader

[Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)]

Hey, if you're gonna be sarcastic and snarky, why not go all the way?

[Dobranoc]

Yes, they need protection from the predations of a pizzeria they never heard of in a town they've never been to refusing to bring pizza they would never order to a wedding they'd never have.

NOW!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Amazon up $84 per share after hours - now worth more than Wal Mart.

http://fortune.com/2015/07/23/.....oo_fortune

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I don't see what this has to do with your infatuation with Obama.

[Juvenile Bluster]

You forget that according to Shriek, if the stock market goes up, it automatically means the economy is doing great.

[Suthenboy]

Just like the actual number of people not working doesn't matter.

For shreek there is no difference between talking points and truth.

[Christophe]

Good for Amazon. My inner anarcho-capitalist always hopes that Amazon just declares itself outside the control of the government one day: "What are you going to do about it? We run the supply chains for the entire nation."

[Rebel Scum]

A ballot initiative has been approved for circulation in Washington, D.C., that would raise the minimum wage there to $15 per hour by 2020.

I'd wager that burgers made in an automated system taste just as good as those made by a frycook.

[Juvenile Bluster]

But if Five Guys has to install automatic frycookers, they won't taste quite so awesome, and you won't get two pounds of fries in your bag!

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

Five Guys fries suck. There, someone had to say it.

[Tonio]

Well, if anywhere deserves a $15 minimum wage, it's DC. Let's see how the government workers like it when they can't afford lunch out anymore.

[Antilles]

I'm sure they'll get a new subsidy to make their lunches more affordable. They are selfless, civil servants and deserve it.

[Christophe]

They already have massive expense accounts. There's no risk of actually having to pay out of pocket for anything.

[jester]

I don't tip at Starbucks.

[Irish ?s ESB]

So Injun from India, a question that may seem offensive: Is there something weird in India regarding lots of bizarre porn fetishes? The reason I ask is because in the last week I got two hits to my blog from Google India. One of them was to a post I made about a 10 year old boy that was charged with adultery in Pakistan when a 40 year old woman molested him and the search terms the guy from India used to find it were "10 year old child naked 40 year old woman."

Then today I got another hit from Google India to a post about sex-trafficking hysteria and the search terms were "kings cum on prostitute."

Now, this has only happened to me from India, so either Google India just has bizarre search algorithms where they redirect porn seekers to a blog about politics, or Indians just search for shitloads of pornography using bizarre search terms.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Also, what struck me about the pedophile was that his search terms were strangely specific. He apparently knows what he likes - 8 year olds are right out and don't even try to show him a 35 year old molesting someone. It must be a 10 year old and a 40 year old, or he is not interested.

[Lee G]

People are fucked up

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

They also suck.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

No thought that he could've just been looking for details on that specific case?

[Injun, as in from India]

No idea bro. I never use the Google India site.

I don't know much Internet censorship the government does there. That could be a possible explanation for the bizarreness of the search results. I trust Google's algorithms far more than the Indian bureaucracy's rules.

[lafe.long]

But this is the REAL news story of the day:

Converse Redesigned Its Iconic Chucks for the First Time in 98 Years

I've worn Chuck T's my whole life..
These look great.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

DAMN those look fine.

I think I'm gonna buy a pair once I hit the outlets in Delaware in August.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

You're not one of those weirdo Canadians that wears a Speedo, are you?

[Pan Zagloba]

He's Italian. Of course he parades around in nothing but a Speedo, sunglasses and hair cream.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

If only!

I'm thinning out up there!

[Pan Zagloba]

I said nothing about where hair cream is applied!

[PBnHugh's Woodchipster]

Imagonnaneeda pair of those!

[John]

http://www.judicialwatch.org/p.....et-audits/

Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that confirm that the IRS used donor lists to tax-exempt organizations to target those donors for audits. The documents also show IRS officials specifically highlighted how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce may come under "high scrutiny" from the IRS. The IRS produced the records in a Freedom of Information lawsuit seeking documents about selection of individuals for audit-based application information on donor lists submitted by Tea Party and other 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organizations (Judicial Watch v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:15-cv-00220)).

[John]

A letter dated September 28, 2010, then-Democrat Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) informs then-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman: " I request that you and your agency survey major 501(c)(4), (c)(5) and (c)(6) organizations ?" In reply, in a letter dated February 17, 2011, Shulman writes: "In the work plan of the Exempt Organizations Division, we announced that beginning in FY2011, we are increasing our focus on section 501(c)(4), (5) and (6) organizations."

In 2010, after receiving Baucus's letter, the IRS considered the issue of auditing donors to 501(c)(4) organizations, alleging that a 35 percent gift tax would be due on donations in excess of $13,000. The documents show that the IRS wanted to cross-check donor lists from 501(c)(4) organizations against gift tax filings and commence audits against taxpayers based on this information.

A gift tax on contributions to 501(c)(4)'s was considered by most to be a dead letter since the IRS had never enforced the rule after the Supreme Court ruled that such taxes violated the First Amendment. The documents show that the IRS had not enforced the gift tax since 1982.

But then, in February 2011, at least five donors of an unnamed organization were audited.

How does Reason not find the time to have a single post on this?

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

It's a fake scandal, duh.

[TwB]

And? Nothing will be done about it. Nothing. It's a huge fucking deal, yet nothing will be done because it's almost the 2016 election and the IRS scandal will get swept under the rug. It's a travesty.

[John]

You are right. But ignoring it doesn't help. Nothing can be done about cops shooting people's dogs, but reason rightly still reports on that.

[TwB]

Good point. I guess the editors figure that the IRS scandal is a horse that has already been beaten to death, so why continue with it?

[John]

Because this is news and it provides definitive proof that people were targeted for audit for the crime of donating to the wrong group. They have emails that show the IRS took donor lists to conservative groups and audited the people on them.

That is a big fucking deal. And screw the hipster fucks at Reason for not covering it.

[Peaceboner]

The government persecuting people for politics isn't really this sites thing.

[Crusty Juggler]

Obama told Jon Stewart it did not happen. So, now it is time to move on.

[Pan Zagloba]

Look, dogs are cute and cuddly. These...people... who were targeted, well, they are, just, not quite our sort of people, you know. I mean, it's terrible what was done, in its own way, but one wouldn't want to be tarred with the same brush, now does one?

[Stephdumas]

Speaking of LGBT expansions, I spotted this "politically incorrect" article from an upcoming event planned in Sweden from the blog Blazingcatfur. http://www.blazingcatfur.ca/20.....as-racist/

[Irish ?s ESB]

That is amazing. As France has shown, gay people will be gleefully sacrificed to authoritarian Islam, so it's unsurprising this is happening in Sweden too.

[John Titor]

It utterly amazes me how quickly some people are able to hold up something like gay marriage as 'the most important issue of our time' and then suddenly drop it to placate a representation of everything they supposedly hate.

I mean, say what you want about the old school Marxists of the Cold War, they didn't suddenly drop their supposed principles because a couple imams thought they were assholes.

[John]

They dropped their principles all of the time. You just forget.

And Progs don't care about gays. They never cared about gays. They only started "caring" about gays when they figured out taking up the gay cause was a good way to gain power to fuck with their political enemies. If Muslims ever become a powerful element in the Democratic coalition, the Progs will tell the gays to go fuck themselves and quit being such racists and get back in the closet.

[Stephdumas]

Could be possible then the gays will be the sacrificial lamb then the "progs" will offer from what I read at Dave Hodges Common sense show.

I quoted an exterpt: "South Africa is known as both the rape and murder capital of the world. American gay rights activists may want to pay close attention to what it is like to live in an Agenda 21 society. In South Africa, gays are murdered, particularly lesbians." http://www.aljazeera.com/indep.....59974.html

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It blows my mind how progressives can argue as they do here for gay and women's rights and simultaneously ignore what goes on in the Muslim world in order to defend them.

It's incredible.

[Irish ?s ESB]

I just read a Glenn Greenwald article where he denounced Sam Harris for claiming Islam is a 'uniquely' bad religion.

You know, just forget the fact that the top ten countries with the most terrorist attacks are all the victims of Muslim terrorism. That means nothing, bigot.

[John]

Gleenwald is certifiable. That crazy stupid mother fucker will defend Muslims right up through when the blade goes through his neck and when it does his last thought will be how Israel and the US made these poor people do this.

Greenwald is such a fanatical leftist and so self loathing about being a Jew, he literally will happily die at the hands of Muslims.

[Irish ?s ESB]

That's a bit extreme. The real issue with Greenwald is that he was rightfully upset that he couldn't move to the US with his gay Brazilian partner because the US didn't recognize gay relationships, but meanwhile he criticizes those who don't like Islam even though there are literally 0 majority Muslim countries that treat gays as well as America does.

So America is evil because of the defense of marriage act, but how DARE you declare that Islam is uniquely bad just because every country on the planet that executes gay people is Muslim! How dare you!

[John]

The real issue is that Greenwald is Jewish and thus suspect among the European left. So he spends his entire career doing anything to prove he is worthy. The European left is much more openly anti-Semetic than the American one.

[Hamster of Doom]

That, sir, is a pertinent argument!

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

And also not particularly esoteric.

[PapayaSF]

I hate to think it's the case, but those positions can be reconciled if you see the left's goal as destroying traditional Western civilization. So they are pro-gay because that's anti-Western tradition, and they defend Islam because they were colonized by the West and are anti-Christian (and anti-Jewish).

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Well you can't build a new society unless you destroy the old one first.

[jester]

I don't think Islam is any crazier as a whole than any other religion. When you examine the fringe sects of just about every religion, you find a common thread: craziness.
Most people who by accident of birth are Muslims don't center their lives around religious devotion. Most Christians don't want to live in a polygamist Mormon community with prairie dresses either. And yes, Mormonism is a Christian derivative.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

And yes, Mormonism is a Christian derivative

But, not a denomination, or even a sect. It stands apart.

[Peaceboner]

Then frankly your not paying attention. The mainstream of Islam is pretty fucking crazy, millions of followers.

[Irish ?s ESB]

"I don't think Islam is any crazier as a whole than any other religion."

Jesus Christ, 97% of terrorist attacks every year are Muslim terrorist attacks. The top ten countries with the most terrorist attacks are all caused by Muslim terrorism. There are 22 countries on Earth with anti-apostasy laws and every one is Muslim. The most moderate Muslim country on the planet is Indonesia where they throw atheists in jail for making fun of Mohammad and where mobs of Muslims burn down churches because they're angry people didn't get the death penalty for passing out anti-Muslim pamphlets.

In Morocco it is illegal for anyone (Muslim or non-Muslim) to fail to fast during Ramadan and Morocco is a relatively moderate country. There are literally 0 Muslim countries that have actual freedom of worship and which allow any criticism of Islam.

Islamic insanity is mainstream Islam. Maybe not in America (where we have probably the most moderate Muslims on the planet), but in every majority Muslim country, the mainstream is bugfuck crazy. It is provably worse.

"Most Christians don't want to live in a polygamist Mormon community with prairie dresses either."

The difference of course being that Mormons don't force anyone to live in these communities and that they don't tend to put apostates to death in Utah.

[PapayaSF]

+1

[John]

The Muslims are higher on the Progressive victim group pecking order than the gays if for no other reason than the gays don't cut people's heads off when they lose an argument. So the gays need to understand that if their presence offends Muslims, they are going back in the closet for the good of the party. Such are the wages of aligning yourself with fascists.

[jester]

Being a Muslim does not automatically qualify you as a fascist. It qualifies you as belonging to a faith. You can be a fascist and religious, you can be a fascist and not religious, you can be not a fascist and religious. Something like that.

[Dobranoc]

"New strategy: Let the Wahhabi win."

[Ken Shultz]

Speaking of LGBT expansions, I spotted this "politically incorrect" article from an upcoming event planned in Sweden from the blog

Pro-gay being anti-Muslim has a long pedigree on the Continent, going back to Pim Fortuyn and his assassination in 2002, at least.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn

[John]

And the Left despised Fortuyn and didn't care a wit when he was murdered. Like I say above, the left couldn't care less about gays.

[Irish ?s ESB]

The best part about Fortuyn was that he wasn't even murdered by a Muslim, he was murdered by a leftist loony on behalf of Muslims.

[Pan Zagloba]

Which at the time was reported as "animal rights activist angry about racism"!

[*GILMORE*]

"Fortuyn was that he wasn't even murdered by a Muslim, he was murdered by a leftist loony on behalf of Muslims.'"

His name was Volkert van der Graaf

" An environmental and animal rights activist,[2][3] he said at his trial that he murdered Fortuyn to stop him from exploiting Muslims as "scapegoats" and targeting "the weak members of society" in seeking political power.[4][5]"

Also notable -?

"He was released on parole in May 2014 after serving almost 12 years in prison.[6]" (originally sentenced to 18)

Is premeditated murder normally just a 10yr-and-change bid? Maybe its a dutch thing.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Not just that - Europeans pat themselves on the back for being less punitive and cruel than the U.S. Bear that in mind before endorsing wholesale reductions in American criminal sentences.

[*GILMORE*]

The reductions in criminal sentencing people have tended to call for have almost been exclusive to Drug Crime, Ed. No one is agitating for the speedy rehabilitation of mass murderers.

you can go back to moaning about pre-marital sex now.

[Sudden]

you can go back to moaning about pre-marital sex now.

I prefer moaning during pre-marital sex thank you very much

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Gilmore, maybe we've been reading different articles, but I've been reading plenty of "OMG America locks up so many people" articles which don't distinguish between drug crime and regular crime.

I've made clear my support for the President using his clemency powers to let out *lots* of drug offenders, thank you.

(incidentally, my comments about premarital sex were...responding to an article about premarital sex.)

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"No one is agitating for the speedy rehabilitation of mass murderers."

Who said anything about mass murderers? You just got to talking about how this van der Graff fellow got sprung after 12 years. Is that OK because he just killed the one victim?

[*GILMORE*]

No, I was just pointing out that the movement for "sentencing reform" is largely confined to drug crimes.

People who say "we have too many people in prison" do have a point as well = we have too many 'crimes'.

Your comment conflated the two and suggests there's some activist movement for "wholesale reduction of sentences". There's not.

The article you mention was about "Sex". People who don't give a shit about the pre-marital part don't really make that distinction.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Numero uno, you ought to pay more attention to the millennial sex article:

"New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the number of *(unmarried)* 15- to 19-year-olds who've had sex dropped by 14 percent for girls and 22 percent for boys in the period between 1988 and 2013." [emphasis added]

Again - *unmarried* 15- to 19-year olds.

So if even ENB herself makes the distinction, why can't I?

http://reason.com/blog/2015/07.....al-teens-h

Numero two-o, you haven't had the pleasure of reading left-wing prison propaganda, and I'm happy for you, but it exists.

Here's an article about how the U.S. should totally imitate Europe's enlightened punishment policies - specifically referencing the Netherlands:

(from nextcity.org)

http://ow.ly/Q15JC

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Numero uno, you ought to pay more attention to the millennial sex article:

"New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the number of *(unmarried)* 15- to 19-year-olds who've had sex dropped by 14 percent for girls and 22 percent for boys in the period between 1988 and 2013." [emphasis added]

Again - *unmarried* 15- to 19-year olds.

So if even ENB herself makes the distinction, why can't I?

http://reason.com/blog/2015/07.....al-teens-h

Numero two-o, you haven't had the pleasure of reading left-wing prison propaganda, and I'm happy for you, but it exists.

Here's an article about how the U.S. should totally imitate Europe's enlightened punishment policies - specifically referencing the Netherlands:

(from nextcity.org)

http://ow.ly/Q15JC

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Eh, I guess you've moved on.

[*GILMORE*]

You win on both counts. (hand over sword) this ship is yours.

[Ken Shultz]

Actually, it's progressives in the U.S. sticking up for Muslims that should be seen as surprising.

Most of the progressives support for Muslims is rooted in: 1) Bush era opposition to Republican scaremongering and 2) Hatred of fundamentalist Christians.

Apart from that, progressives would hate Muslims just as much as they hate Christians.

Sometimes, I think even progressive hatred for Israel is really about their hatred of fundamentalist Christians. All you have to do to convince a progressive to support something is tell them that fundamentalist Christians oppose it, and the progressives will go to the wall for that cause.

[John]

No Ken. Muslims are a victim of Imperialism. So while they should hate them, Progs love for any victim of imperialism and any non western culture outweighs their normal hatred of religion.

Their hatred of Israel is because it is a capitalist and successful society. They loved Israel in the beginning when it was socialist.

The left is insane Ken. Don't expect them to be consistent or rational.

[Irish ?s ESB]

There was a Muslim woman arguing with Douglass Murray who claimed everything wrong with her religion was the West's fault because of Imperialism. Things got awkward when Murray brought up the Ottoman Empire, the tens of millions who died during the Muslim invasion of India, the conquest of North Africa and Spain, the battle of Lepanto, and the time the Ottomans put Vienna under siege.

Apologists for Islam don't like when you point out that their religion has been violent continuously since the day it started completely without break.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Not just violent, but also the aggressor. The first time Muslim conquest was ever really halted, and pushed back was during the Crusades, and they haven't stopped whining about that since.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Oh shit I forgot about Charles Martel, that would have been the first time the West really pushed back against Islam.

[Pan Zagloba]

Well, if you want to get technical, 676 AD Siege of Constantinople was the first time Islam was given a serious setback. But yes, Martel was the first time Western Christendom defeated a Muslim expedition.

[Raven Nation]

Yeah, the whole Crusades thing is kind of bizarre. I have no quarrel with people decrying the Crusades in general and the violence inflicted among various peoples.

However, it seems that many people think that Islam was just born in the Holy Land and they have always been in possession of it.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Technically, they started.

Technically.

[Ken Shultz]

The musllims I've talked to find it very hard to imagine that what we did over there during the Cold War was about the Cold War and oil and not much else.

The Iranians and the Libyans and the Palestinians aligned themselves with the Soviets--our enemy--during the Cold War. And we lined up against our enemies.

It really is that simple. Before the United States became Egypt's largest foreign donor, that position belonged to the USSR. It was all about the Cold War.

Even our support for Israel was about the Cold War.

The Middle East was just one battleground in a war that spanned the entire globe. Somehow, they've gotten the impression that the whole Cold War was about the Muslim and Arab worlds.

No one wants to think of themselves as having been collateral damage, but sometimes that's what people were.

[Ken Shultz]

Even the Iranian coup in 1953 that the CIA orchestrated...

It was the Cold War--hello?!

You think we're not going to protect ourselves during the Cold War just because the ally of the Soviet Union you elected won an election fair and square?

You know who else won an election?

[Raven Nation]

Although the USSR did wait to pick sides. They backed Israel in 1948 mostly to stick it to the British. And they didn't really back Egypt until after Suez.

[John Titor]

Hell, when your religion's expansion into the Indian subcontinent actively increases the amount of sati (widow burning) the Hindus did because the enslavement and rape of women after the deaths of their husbands was so common you can't really blame 'the West' for that.

[John Titor]

and the time the Ottomans put Vienna under siege.

And the best part about that is that no one in the West cares about the Siege of Vienna anymore, but fanatical Muslims are obsessed with it. 9/11 happened on 9/11 for a reason.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Oh they're consistent John. The white heterosexual christian male is always the bad guy, corporations are always pure evil, and Western Civilization is always responsible for all the world sins, and has to make up for them.

Everyone else gets a pass.

[Stephdumas]

I wonder what if there's no Western Civilisation and their life is still hit by the "stuff" or "road apples" who hit the fan? Who they'll blame for all the world sins?

I'm tempted to said: "Is there a civilisation who didn't commited a sin, throw the first stone".

[*GILMORE*]

"Muslims are a victim of Imperialism."

Uh, Islam didn't become the world's largest religion and cover nearly 1/3 of the planets surface all by mere "proselytizing"

[Ken Shultz]

Incidentally, I don't buy that progressives support Muslims because they were victims of imperialism.

It's about tweaking the noses of fundamentalist Christians, and it's a reaction to Republican scaremongering during the War on Terror.

[*GILMORE*]

I think you are generally correct.

its the "enemy of my enemy" thing at work. At least in the abstract.

Most of the people moaning about "islamophobia" are less interested in actual muslims than they are the 'idea' of a new category of Oppressed People they can speak on behalf of. Because that's what they love = speaking on behalf of others.

[Ken Shultz]

I'm hopeful that as gay marriage becomes less of an issue, maybe some of the inertia for that kind of thinking will dissipate.

I don't know. It probably works the other way, too. I'm sure there are people who support the Second Amendment and Donald Trump because they can't stand gay marriage, too.

I hope somebody invents a warp drive soon.

[jester]

I'll agree with that. It's really the only way to explain it. It's not like they are libertarians who could give a rats ass what your religion is as long as you don't imperially decree it on them.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

They hate Israel because the inhabitants are white and fairly wealthy, while their opponents are seen as brown and poor.

I suppose Team Red's support of Israel doesn't help things either.

[wareagle]

because Israelis and Arabs look so noticeably different.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Dress a Israeli and a Arab the same way, and I doubt I could tell them apart, Arabs, Persians, Egyptians, etc have all been considered white since before I can remember, but I don't think the leftists see things that way.

[wareagle]

you left out hatred of Israel. Given the choice, the left always sides with the Arabs.

[Ken Shultz]

No I didn't. Read it again.

I wrote, "Sometimes, I think even progressive hatred for Israel is really about their hatred of fundamentalist Christians."

It isn't about supporting Arabs. It's about hating fundamentalist Christians.

[SusanM]

FWIW, I think it's pretty low to use one group of people you don't like to piss off another group you don't like. I guess I should be grateful that they didn't try to organize a muslim parade through the gay part of town. It's nice being the lesser evil 😉

[Irish ?s ESB]

What makes you think they don't like gay people? The fact that they're 'far right?' In this case, far right basically means 'opposed to Islamic immigration,' and, as the case of Pim Fortuyn shows, there are a lot of gay friendly anti-Islamic politicians in Europe.

Geert Wilders is also very pro-gay. In fact, most of the anti-Islamists in northern Europe are gay friendly feminists who oppose Islam because they accurately view Islam as it is practiced in most of the world as a misogynistic, anti-woman religious movement.

The National Front has strong support in many cities from gays because of recent hate crimes directed towards homosexuals by Islamic immigrants.

There's a strong alliance growing between a lot of gay activists on the continent and certain right-wing groups due to the danger posed to gays by homophobic immigrants.

And that's just the gay people in Europe who are lucky enough to not be Muslims themselves. How about the time a lesbian Muslim woman in Britain was almost forced into an arranged marriage and her parents then tried to force her to kill herself when she didn't go through with it?

[Irish ?s ESB]

""Far from ending, her ordeal intensified. The troubled teenager was taken to her grandmother's house in the Middle East where, as she recalls with a chilling lack of emotion, her parents tried persuading her to take her own life.

"I was damaging the family honour. I was making the family looking like a modernised, westernised, filthy family. So what they wanted to do is get rid of what is damaging the honour.

"They put you in a room on your own, I don't get any food, or any water, and I have to just sit there and wait to die or kill myself."

To aid the process, a gun, a knife, and pills were left in the room, along with a can of petrol and a box of matches. In her view, Reviva says it would have amounted to murder, not suicide, should she have decided to kill herself.""

[SusanM]

Oh, crap! Someone actually responded. What can I say, though? It's a depressingly typical tactic over here where RWNJs, in order to gain some gotcha points against progressives, rant about how homophobic muslims are (and they really kinda are, not saying otherwise) when, left to themselves, they'd be cheering on they things being done.

But, you're right about the situation in Europe. It's a lot more complicated that I'm making it out.

[commodious spittoon]

Randomly clicking through youtube videos brought me to cats on a plane (not the glider cat from a few weeks ago).

Bonus: unnecessary cruelty.

[Ken Shultz]

I suppose these PM links are interesting in a way, but they're confusing.

I don't understand what any of them are supposed to have to do with Trump.

P.S. Trump.

[John]

And millenials. Don't forget them.

[waffles]

Trump! Trump, trump trump, trump trump trump. Trump trump.

[Ayn Random Variation]

"...final stages of drafting a plan....."

After 7 years.

classic

[John]

And in total violation of the law. The law says he can't release anyone without consulting Congress. But he doesn't give a fuck and the Democrats will defend anything he does.

[jester]

They'll release them, but revoke their passports. They ain't going anywhere.

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

It's brilliant. He gets to say he kept his promise, he can build his legacy, and he can stick whoever is next in the white house with the fallout of his decision.

[PapayaSF]

Just like Obamacare. Just like the Iran deal....

[Raven Nation]

You clearly don't understand the way America works. Everything that has gone wrong during Obama's presidency, and everything that will go wrong in the next 18 months is Bush's fault. Anything that goes wrong after Jan 20, 2017 will be the fault of the next incumbent - even if it's a Democrat. BHO will not hesitate to throw HRC or any other D under the bus.

That's the way it works: the effects of Republican policies start the minute they are inaugurated and last forever.

[jester]

I'd say a lot of what's fucked up in America is Bush's fault. What the Left isn't telling you, is that they're actually cool with it all and a ego hurt that they didn't come up with it. It's all about doing things my way with political people. Assigning credit.

[jester]

If Gitmo is closed, where will the prisoners go? I mean, they don't even have passports.

[Zeb]

They could become pirates. Or Scientologists.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Welcome to Sunni, I mean sunny Cuba, I am Achmed, your tour guide. Today's walking tour of Havana comes about because our bus broke down. Now, follow me, please..."

[DRM]

I note that, per the same moronic IAU definition that demoted Pluto, Kepler-452b is not a planet.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Pluto was the god of the underworld...so he could sic the mafia on those haters.

/just a joke

[Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker]

Kepler-452b is 60% larger then Earth how would it not be a planet under the IAU definition.

[DRM]

Well, you see, if the IAU weren't being pants-on-head stupid about things, it would have defined "planet" solely in terms of size, and Kepler-452b would be one, because it's big enough.

But because the IAU was being asinine, the definition it ratified, among other things, specifies that a "planet" must be in orbit around the Sun.

Since Kepler-452b does not orbit the Sun, it, by IAU definition, is not a planet.

[Agammamon]

I think you're reading too much into the IAU's definition.

This definition, which applies only to the Solar System . . .

1. Does not preclude other astronomical objects in orbits around stars other than the Sun from being planets.

2. The IAU is not the Emperor of Astronomy. Call Pluto a planet if you want. Kepler a planet. Call Ceres a planet. Call your mother a planet. Its a free country.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Are these links going to stay at the top long enough for Cyborg to have a bite at the apple?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Are these links going to stay at the top long enough for Cyborg to have a bite at the apple?

[SIV]

Nathan Bedford Forrest's corpse is responsible for racism and hate:

"If he's gone, some of this racism and race-hate might be gone,"

[Heroic Mulatto]

The story represented through song.

[SIV]

Ain't No Haint Gonna Run Me Off

[Dobranoc]

In that case shouldn't they just crucify and incinerate his bones?

Oh wait, the optics of that might not be good...

[Granny Weatherwax]

And for their next trick they are going to blow up an ancient statue of the buddha...no wait that's completely different.

[Sevo]

Are they gonna run the Dalai Lama out of town on a rail?

[Christophe]

Sounds like the North Korean guy who had his corpse posthumously dug up and shot for treason IIRC.

Some people are insane.

[Sevo]

Late to the morning links, so phbpbpbpb!
Fort Bragg is a worn out fishing and logging town on the northern CA coast, now existing on tourism. And if that isn't enough injury, some grievance-meisters will add insult:

"Black lawmakers say Fort Bragg should lose rebel's name"
[...]
"The fight over symbols and namesakes invoking the legacy of the Confederacy moved to the coast of Northern California on Thursday after members of the California Legislative Black Caucus sent a letter to the mayor of Fort Bragg asking him to change the name of the city."
http://www.sfgate.com/news/art.....392054.php

[Dobranoc]

Hopefully Congress can get its act together and pass a bill disbanding any government whose central functions are carried out in a city named after a notorious slaveholder. We have to send a message.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

DeBlasio should sponsor a similar bill.

[Winston]

I assume this is a reference to something I have pointed out many times?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

yes

[Sevo]

How about a "district" rather than a city?

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

I say any land mass named after racist tea party slaveholders.

[Winston]

Know, that on the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons.

The name of Calafia was likely formed from the Arabic word khalifa (religious state leader) which is known as caliph in English and califa in Spanish. Similarly, the name of Calafia's monarchy, California, likely originated from the same root, fabricated by the author to remind the 16th-century Spanish reader of the reconquista, a centuries-long fight between Christians and Muslims which had recently concluded in Spain.

Better rename the whole state too.

And will Rhode Island finally shorten its name?

in 1664, under the governorship of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, the Assembly ruled that all slaves should be slaves for life, and that the children of slaves should also be enslaved for life.

And Baltimore too...

[Pope Jimbo]

Hah! We want to rename one of our famous lakes because it might be named after John Calhoun (notorious slave holder).

http://www.startribune.com/min.....309393471/

Or maybe it was named after a Lt. who was one of the first settlers at Fort Snelling (who knows what crazy shit that cracker believed in?).

http://www.startribune.com/dec.....126046668/

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Fort Snelling? You mean where Dred Scott used to live?

http://www.historicfortsnellin.....s-quarters

[Notorious G.K.C.]

This article should give you a nut massage and spare you the expense of a high-end masseuse:

"North Carolina Supreme Court Rules Vouchers Constitutional...

""The battle to save the Opportunity Scholarship Program was hard-fought for over a year," said IJ [Institute for Justice] Attorney Ren?e Flaherty said. "This fledgling program can now serve North Carolina citizens for years to come by ensuring that parents have the freedom to choose educational options that meet their needs."

"IJ client Cynthia Perry says she will be sending her daughter, Faith, to a private school with an Opportunity Scholarship.

""This program has made it possible for Faith to leave the public schools and to attend a school that is right for her, and we could not be happier that the Court recognized parents' right to choose the best school for their child," said Perry. "Faith's future is now brighter because of the Court's decision.""

http://news.heartland.org/news.....titutional

[*GILMORE*]

Movie theater shooting in Lafayette Louisiana - 8 in hospital

Film was "Trainwreck". No word yet on how not-funny the shooter found it.

In other "White People Go Nuts" stories, 2 teenage boys in Oklahoma today decided to hack their entire family to death with hatchets, including both parents and three siblings, ages 12, 7, and 5.

And while the M.O. sounds pretty white trash... they were rich and lived in a gated community surrounded by a golf-course.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"And while the M.O. sounds pretty white trash... they were rich and lived in a gated community surrounded by a golf-course."

Holy shit! I'd better make sure my kids are still in bed!!!

Oh, Oklahoma. Tony did it.

[*GILMORE*]

Should probably take out "Rich". Lots of people live in gated communities surrounded by golf courses.

Also, the white-trash theme is still apparently in play = stories are hyping up the details that "kids were home schooled", family was reclusive... and, boy, they really got a great mugshot to go with it. All that's missing is the banjo and the overalls.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I don't see what Macaulay Culkin has to do with this.

[Granny Weatherwax]

I'm going to predict they were on psychiatric meds.

[PapayaSF]

And meth.

[Winston]

Lafayette helped treasonous slave-owners in their treason and was behind the Champs de Mars massacre.

And Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes...

[Winston]

At least ISIS doesn't destroy monuments of regimes that practiced slavery...oh wait.

[Winston]

We are so superior....

On 30 January 1661, (the 12th anniversary of the execution of Charles I), Cromwell's body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey, and was subjected to the ritual of a posthumous execution, as were the remains of Robert Blake, John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton. (The body of Cromwell's daughter was allowed to remain buried in the Abbey.) His disinterred body was hanged in chains at Tyburn, and then thrown into a pit. Cromwell's severed head was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685.

On the other hand the Carolinas and Charleston are named for Charles I....wait shouldn't they be renamed too?

[Winston]

Better Rename Pennsylvania too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Jamaica

[Granny Weatherwax]

But leave Intercourse, Blue Ball, Virginville, Paradise, Bird-in-hand, and Orgasm alone. The road signs in Pennsylvania Amish territory are delightful.

[Pope Jimbo]

And don't you dare change the names of either Fertile, MN or Climax, MN or risk losing fantastic headlines about car crashes like:

Fertile woman dies in Climax

[Winston]

Penn also supported James II, so an additional reason to rename it.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Winston - if you're named after the 17th century Churchill, then your son John became the Duke of Marlborough. And he founded a dynasty - you could almost say he gave rise to

[puts on sunglasses]

a pack of Marlboroughs

[Winston]

Among the projects built by Stuyvesant's administration were the protective wall on Wall Street, the canal that became Broad Street, and Broadway.

Better rename them too...

[Granny Weatherwax]

Ah hell, just rename everything everywhere MLK [whatever]. It's not like it's unprecedented.

[Winston]

Except he's named for the guy who wrote "On the Jews and Their Lies"...

[Granny Weatherwax]

Shhh. The guys that want to rename everything and dig up corpses don't know that.

[Winston]

Better rename Yale. Elihu Yale was an East India Company governor in Madras who was removed for corruption. Oh and there was slave trading going on there too.

And rename Harvard too. John Harvard probably had some un-PC attitudes being a minister in Colonial Massachusetts.

[Winston]

Oh there's a petition to rename Riker's Island for being named after a slavery supporter. And Wall Street is brought up too! Presumably the name of the city, state and capital city will be next.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Hey, you're right!

http://pix11.com/2015/07/22/pe.....onnection/

Just rename it Picard's Island. Or Kirk's Island. Hold a vote to see which name the public prefers.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And don't get me started on the Grand Tetons.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Oh, you know that Saint Francis was a hippie weirdo, right? Do you want the name "San Francisco" to remind you of hippie weirdos?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And both Virginia and West Virginia are named after a queen who liked to disembowel and murder many of my people.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

And both Virginia and West Virginia are named after a queen who liked to disembowel and murder my people.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Ooh, don't let the PETA people know about Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump - a UNESCO Heritage site!

http://www.history.alberta.ca/headsmashedin/

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Dave Barry on this historically-important site:

http://articles.philly.com/198.....-cole-slaw

[Winston]

The word "Guy" should be banned for honoring a papist theocrat terrorist. Not sure about his attitudes toward slavery but his attitudes toward women, gays and Muslims...

[Winston]

Shouldn't we ban all commemorations of MLK? His name honors Martin Luther, a treasonous fundie who wrote a lovely book called "On the Jews and Their Lies".

[Winston]

Should StarCraft be banned? In the first game the evil government is called the Confederacy and their flag is the Confederate Battle Flag. We even see it in some of the cutscenes!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Next thing you know, they'll want to rename the town of La Mort aux Juifs, France:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mort_aux_Juifs

[Notorious G.K.C.]

OK, I think I win this one.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Next thing you know, they'll want to rename the town of La Mort aux Juifs, France:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Mort_aux_Juifs

[Winston]

I should point out the anti-CSA purge is now going after John Calhoun who was not a Confederate. I did not see this coming. Whoever realized that giving the progs an inch will cause them to take a mile?

[Winston]

Oh and Amerigo Vespucci enslaved some people. Should the Americas be renamed? Should the Pan-Am games be banned?

[Notorious G.K.C.]

A real town, but I suspect the Wikipedia entry has been creatively edited:

(from Wikipedia)

http://ow.ly/Q1tkO

[simplybe]

Labor cost for food industry is about 30% so the price of hamburger if it was 10 dollars will cost 13 dollars. In a year the poor will still be poor because all prices will jump probably more than 30%. And on the issue of of equality for various subsets of the population they don't want equality they want special treatment. It is the progressive wing of the Democratic party that manufactures all these form of discrimination because otherwise their political agenda would fall flat on its face. This is a fact " NO ONE WILL EVER ADMIT SOMEONE ELSE IS SUPERIOR TO THEM" so as long you run around hollering you are black or gay then you are saying you are not equal but inferior. Just shut up and live your life of quiet desperation like all of us white males do.

[Pan Zagloba]

Well played, sir. Well played!
And I'm serious, Archer guys need to get her onto the show!

[jesse.in.mb]

I dunno, HoD seems displeased with the duck. Maybe just send a naked picture, but whatever you're comfortable with of course.

[John]

I am totally sure they would not have been running six posts a day for three years straight had this happened during the Bush Administration. No. They would have taken a low key, well these things happen but what are you going to do about it approach then as well.

[JWatts]

"And you think using the IRS to punish political enemies is newsworthy? Really?"

Well, are the enemies Republicans or Democrats? Because one of those is fine, but the other would be a Constitutional crisis.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

So fine I dance it hurts so good!

[Hamster of Doom]

He's allowed any book which can be held in one hand. That way, it's tasteful. Classy bunch like us, it needs to be tasteful.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don't want to break the internet. You understand?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I think the book is relevant. Make your choices.

[C. Anacreon]

For our millennial friends, here's what they're talking about.....