A.M. Links: Obama Plans More Executive Action on Immigration, Bill Cosby Forced to Testify, Scott Walker Says U.S. 'Should Not Be the World's Policeman'

Damon Root | 7.23.2015 9:00 AM

Credit: White House / Flickr.com

The Obama administration is planning to take additional executive action on immigration.

House Speaker John Boehner is promising to do "everything possible" to stop the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran.

Bill Cosby will be forced to testify under oath as part of an unfolding sexual assault civil suit filed against him.

Are Republicans becoming friendlier towards the idea of easing restrictions on marijuana?

Scott Walker: The United States "should not be the world's policeman."

"Greece's most influential think tank warned on Thursday of a sharp drop back into recession in a report that came hours after parliament approved a second package of reform measures aimed at securing a new bailout from international lenders."

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Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago

The Obama administration is planning to take additional executive action on immigration.

Judges, start your gavels.
1. WTF 10 years ago
  
  You misspelled "rubber stamps".
  1. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
    
    ^This, depending on the circuit and the partisan makeup of the court.
    
    Obama is trying to lock in the Hispanic vote for the Democrats in 2016. That's all. This isn't about legacy or fairness or anything.
2. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
  
  Hello.
UnCivilServant 10 years ago

The Swiss offer to Trade Debt forgiveness for Greek Islands

http://www.breitbart.com/londo.....our-debts/

Weren't we only mildly joking about this solution before?
1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
  
  A new Delian League run from Geneva?
  1. jester 10 years ago
    
    So Oracle will relocate from Redwood City?
    1. np 10 years ago
      
      I dunno, it's tough to beat Larry's Hawaiian island.
      1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
        
        FUCKING HE BOUGHT 98% of LANAI!!!! I didn't think you could do that... but ole Larry proved me wrong.... What a dick. I know he is going to open it up to development and it will probably be awesome.... but what a dick.
        
        " I JUST BOUGHT A HAWAIIAN ISLAND!! LEARN THIS ONE STRANGE TRICK TO MY SUCCESS!!!"
        
        Pope Jimbo 10 years ago
        
        If it gives you any solace, remember if he hadn't had to give away so much of his wealth to his ex-wives he'd have been able to buy 98% of Oahu.
        
        Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
        
        he can have oahu, Maui is where it's at.
        
        Monty Crisco 10 years ago
        
        Maui is expressly NOT where its at. There is a reason a $50 bill is called a "Maui Twenty"...
        
        pan fried wylie 10 years ago
        
        There is a reason a $50 bill is called a "Maui Twenty"
        
        Mauiites are bad at math?
        
        (Mauitians? Mauicans?)
2. Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker 10 years ago
  
  Great news for Switzerland. They were always at a disadvantage being a landlocked country, or at least they were whenever I played Europa Universalis.
3. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
  
  I think Finland made a similar offer a few years ago and the Greeks were p1ssed off big time.
Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago

Are Republicans becoming friendlier towards the idea of easing restrictions on marijuana?

They can hardly get less friendly.
1. UnCivilServant 10 years ago
  
  Whelp, there's always "Death Penalty for possession"
  1. Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago
    
    Unofficially, they already have it.
    1. jester 10 years ago
      
      Hell, there's a death penalty for not respecting authority.
  2. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
    
    Whelp, there's always "Death Penalty for possession"
    
    Nothing like modeling your policy after Indonesia or Saudi Arabia.
    1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
      
      Don't forget Singapore.
      1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her) 10 years ago
        
        How do you know they didn't model their policy after us?
Bee Tagger 10 years ago

House Speaker John Boehner is promising to do "everything possible" to stop the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran

He can try until he's orange in the face, I don't think it will matter.
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

Science reveals what makes trolls so nasty

Most respondents said they liked to do benign things online, such as chatting and debating issues, but 5.6 percent reported that they enjoyed trolling. The personality tests for this group were striking.

People who enjoyed trolling had much higher rates of dark traits such as sadism, narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism ? so much so that "it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists," the authors concluded.

The study also found a correlation between enjoyment of trolling and the amount of time a person spent commenting online ? perhaps explaining why so many corners of the Internet seem overrun by trolls.
1. SugarFree 10 years ago
  
  People who enjoyed trolling had much higher rates of dark traits such as sadism, narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism ? so much so that "it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists," the authors concluded.
  
  As reported in The American Journal of No Fucking Shit, Really?
2. Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago
  
  Explains Red Tony.
  1. WTF 10 years ago
    
    Add in "stupidity" and it explains you as well.
  2. KDN 10 years ago
    
    Even bots are more self aware than this.
  3. WoodchipsandDerp 10 years ago
    
    You're not supposed to show up. The Dow is down today.
  4. straffinrun 10 years ago
    
    You probably think this song is about you.
  5. jester 10 years ago
    
    Change your handle. Who the fuck is Palin? How did that work for you?
    1. John 10 years ago
      
      Shouldn't he be Trump's butt plug now?
      1. jester 10 years ago
        
        I'd say Santorum. He's been the real SoCon all of these years and fer godssakes change the device as well...but either way, it's super lame shit.
        Libertarians are sooo socially conservative and they are sooo about curtailing about what goes on in your sex life.
3. Bee Tagger 10 years ago
  
  "it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists," the authors concluded.
  
  Passive tense AND the word "might"?
  1. Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago
    
    They don't want to be flamed.
4. db 10 years ago
  
  People who enjoyed trolling being politicians had much higher rates of dark traits such as sadism, narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism ? so much so that "it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists," the authors concluded.
  1. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
    
    +1
5. Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker 10 years ago
  
  But who doesn't enjoy occasionally fucking with people on online games? People get so pissed off over nothing it's funny.
  1. Trshmnstr doesn't recycle 10 years ago
    
    I would hope that they delineated between people who occasionally fuck with the all-too-serious types and the trolls who spend their lives shitting on comment sections.
Bee Tagger 10 years ago

Scott Walker: The United States "should not be the world's policeman."

How about the world's SWAT team?
1. KDN 10 years ago
  
  That's actually not a bad idea, if only we could get the rest of the world to foot the bill.
2. MJGreen - Docile Citizen 10 years ago
  
  That's better. We need something like a SWAT team to take care of Syria. *starts bombing Turkey*
3. SoGrimSoTrueSoReal 10 years ago
  
  At least repubs make the right noises sometimes. If only they actually meant and believed what they say.
  
  Arguing with R's is like a baptist-vs-catholic or a christian-vs-jew argument. It used to be that way with the D's as well, but they've went so far socialist it's more of a christian-vs-budhist argument now.
Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago

The United States "should not be the world's policeman."

As police, at least we would have an enforced bill of rights.
1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her) 10 years ago
  
  You're talking about the "Policeman's Bill of Rights" and not some antiquated document written by slave-owners, right?
  1. Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago
    
    Doy.
    
    400TH COMMENT! No one else comment.
Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago

No Trump links? WTF?
1. Bee Tagger 10 years ago
  
  I can only assume we're in the amber universe.
  1. Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
    
    I want a movie. Maybe Spielberg, not Bay, possible Abrams. Random should be played by Aaron Paul, and Corwin should be played by Chris Pine.
    
    There NEEDS to be a movie, but only for the first 5 no the second, they were dumb.
2. jester 10 years ago
  
  Can you imagine if Trump had owned the Twin Towers?
PM 10 years ago

Ben Shapiro Files Police Report Against Transgender Reporter Who Threatened Him On-Air

Remember last week when Breitbart's Ben Shapiro sparred with transgender reporter Zoey Tur for a segment of HLN's Dr. Drew On Call? If you do, you most certainly remember the moment Tur scruffed the conservative commentator and told him "You cut that out now, or you'll go home in an ambulance," after Shapiro pointedly called her a "sir."

Well, that moment ? plus other alleged threats of physical violence ? have led Shapiro to file a police report with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Following the show's taping, Shapiro alleged that Tur said, "I'll see you in the parking lot," and CNN security reportedly escorted the commentator to his vehicle.
1. PM 10 years ago
  
  And since we apparently can't evaluate sources like grown ups in Reason comments anymore, here's the left-leaning take and the right-leaning take.
2. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
  
  Proving once and for all who is the bigger pussy between those two...
  1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
    
    What you did there...
  2. UnCivilServant 10 years ago
    
    Did you see the video? Tur has about twice the muscle mass of Shapiro and no self-control. Charges are appropriate, if only to return to basic rules of debate - such as no threats of direct violence while looking like you're about to snap your opponent's neck.
    1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
      
      I guess that could be argued. This is the new tolerance the left keeps talking about,
3. Bee Tagger 10 years ago
  
  Unless he truly feels he's in danger, this isn't a good look for Shapiro.
  1. WTF 10 years ago
    
    I don't know, I think someone should not be allowed to place hands on you and make credible physical threats. Part of the NAP and all.
    1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
      
      Not to mention it actually is assault and battery. Can you imagine the uproar if the roles were reversed?
      1. straffinrun 10 years ago
        
        Nice.
        
        Monty Crisco 10 years ago
        
        And totally true. The media hypocrisy on this would be unbelievable if it didn't happen every fucking day to the point where not believing it basically equates to living in some alternate reality a la Buttplug the dipshit...
    2. Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago
      
      Most would agree, but in this case I doubt it will matter. He's being a sexist or genderist or whatever, and the left generally forgives its own righteous violence.
      1. WTF 10 years ago
        
        This is why they want gun control. You can't have effective socialist mob violence if the intended targets are all armed.
        
        Monty Crisco 10 years ago
        
        This x 1000
      2. Princess Trigger 10 years ago
        
        Xxi is one of the oppressed.
        This is righteous violence.
    3. Bee Tagger 10 years ago
      
      I agree about NAP, but I don't think that means every violation should be met with a police response.
      1. Trshmnstr doesn't recycle 10 years ago
        
        If a stranger threatened to beat the shit out of me while grabbing my neck, all because I called them "sir," I'd seriously consider calling the cops.
4. Irish ?s ESB 10 years ago
  
  This is the lamest story of all time. Whiny, easily offended transsexual gets pissed at shrimpy conservative firebrand, puts hands on firebrands neck, shrimpy conservative firebrand files lawsuit.
  
  This is the sort of thing I'd expect to occur if all testosterone were drained from the universe.
  1. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
    
    I wonder if Shapiro is doing it to make a point.
    
    I hope he is anyway.
    1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
      
      Pretty sure he is...
5. Red Rocks Rockin 10 years ago
  
  Anyone else note the irony that Tur wouldn't have dreamed of making those threats if xe was actually born with the body of an average woman?
  1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her) 10 years ago
    
    Apparently, a penis is just a vagina that hasn't been turned inside out yet.
    1. Pope Jimbo 10 years ago
      
      A penis is just a prolapsed vagina.
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

These Burgers Are Made of Flies and They Are Amazingly Nutritious

Some bird species migrate to Lake Victoria during the rainy season so they can take advantage of this free feast. The flies create a sort of constantly buzzing living smog and cover every available surface as they break off from their mating ritual. But no matter how many of them are gobbled up by birds and other natural predators, there are always more than enough for the locals. As disgusting as eating flies may seem, the reality is they make up a huge quantity of biomass equivalent with large herds of big game. People living on the shores of Lake Victoria simply can't ignore the nutritious protein flying all around them, so they catch the flies and cook them as charcoal-black fly burgers.

With the flies literally filling the air, catching them is not a big challenge and requires only rudimentary tools like pots and frying pans. Entire communities take part in the hunt for midges, dampening their pots to make the flies stick and simply flinging them through the air. They are then clamped together to make fly patties, which are cooked like regular burgers. Each patties contains around 500,000 flies, but is up to seven times more nutritious than the average beef burger.
1. UnCivilServant 10 years ago
  
  No thanks.
  1. Ivoted4KODOS 10 years ago
    
    Was watching the video in the link for 2 minutes before i realized it was Dr. Who doing the narration. Tenant's smart and enjoyable English accent did nothing to dampen my disgust at nasty fly burgers.
2. PM 10 years ago
  
  I seen a documentary of this process like 10 years ago on Discovery Channel I think it was.
  
  I mean, A+ for creativity, but there's no way that tastes good.
  1. John 10 years ago
    
    Note they say the are nutritious not that they taste good.
    1. PM 10 years ago
      
      True, but I can picture some vegan hippie in Brooklyn insisting these are as good as the beef I normally eat.
      1. John 10 years ago
        
        Yes. I still want to go out and shoot squirrels and raccoon and sell the meat to DC hipsters at an obscene profit as "free range organic"
        
        Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
        
        Don't forget woodchucks and skunks.
        
        Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
        
        uhh squirrel is tasty. I would buy it. But in NYC you would need to trap, cause the Ozark way is to hit them with bird shot. That would make YOU the dinner in NYC.
        
        Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
        
        for the record most rodents aren't tasty to me but squirrel is. Opossum isn't. Never had raccoon.
        
        Unreconstructed (Sans Flag) 10 years ago
        
        Had raccoon once, baked. Not bad, but not worth any premium price.
      2. SIV 10 years ago
        
        lol
      3. Zeb 10 years ago
        
        Probably not a vegan.
        
        lap83 10 years ago
        
        Flies aren't cute and fluffy so they don't count
        
        Zeb 10 years ago
        
        That has not been my experience with vegans. They will argue about whether eating honey is OK.
        
        lap83 10 years ago
        
        Well, that is a tricky one. Bees are cute but not very fluffy.
        
        Trshmnstr doesn't recycle 10 years ago
        
        Fluffy Bee
3. Zeb 10 years ago
  
  I wonder how it tastes.
  
  It's funny how often you see these stories presenting insect eating as if we have never been told before that bugs are nutritious and that people eat them in lots of places.
  1. UnCivilServant 10 years ago
    
    "We're only putting up with it until we can con dumb white people to buy the bugs so we can afford real food."
4. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
  
  IF they fucking process it well I will eat anything. Christ, if you have ever had surimi or kamaboko (which are basically fish lips and assholes and called affectionately "chum loaf") or a HOT DOG, then you are down with this stuff. AFter all, by biomass, insects are the largest percentage on the planet...
  
  Tho I did see a story on a Chinese cockroach farmer and it was fairly disgusting...
  1. Zeb 10 years ago
    
    I'm with you. I certainly am not about to give up proper meat. But alternative sources of protein are a good thing. If it can be processed so it tasted good and is cheap, great.
    The fact is, unless or until lab meat is a practical thing, the whole world eating meat like your average American would be a pretty inefficient use of resources. I suspect meat, especially beef, will become more and more of a luxury good.
    1. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
      
      Do you put mayo on that too?
      1. Zeb 10 years ago
        
        I probably would on a bug burger. Or a roast beef sandwich.
        
        Bobarian (Would Chip Her) 10 years ago
        
        Roast Beef requires horseradish.
        
        Not to sure about the proper condiment for fly-burger, though.
        
        Plush Cthulhu 10 years ago
        
        Wasabi.
        Or drano.
    2. Heroic Mulatto 10 years ago
      
      If it can be processed so it tasted good
      
      Fried and salted grasshoppers were an awesome Thai bar food. No processing necessary.
      1. Zeb 10 years ago
        
        Frying and salting is processing.
        
        Point is, if it's food that tastes good and/or is nutritious, that's good, whether or not hippy enviro-weenies think it's a good idea too.
        
        Heroic Mulatto 10 years ago
        
        Frying and salting is processing.
        
        The connotation of processed food used by real people in an everyday context is packaged convenience food. You know that. Don't do the whole "Internet-induced autism" thing, you're better than that.
        
        Point is, if it's food that tastes good and/or is nutritious, that's good, whether or not hippy enviro-weenies think it's a good idea too.
        
        Sure. And the corollary is just because a food is strange or weird to mushroom soup and tater-tots hotdish-consumers doesn't mean it tastes bad either.
        
        Zeb 10 years ago
        
        Yeah, yeah. I followed Monte Crisco in using "processed". "Prepared" would be the better word for frying and salting.
        
        I was thinking a bit more broadly than packaged foods with "processed", though. Some kind of protein cake made from flies that you could use as an ingredient as you would meat or tofu, for example.
  2. straffinrun 10 years ago
    
    Give me a baagaa and flies.
5. Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago
  
  For people who normally have little protein in their diet, fly burgers are a godsend, and in times of famine they can prove lifesavers. Every village has its own fly burger recipe, but no matter how they are cooked, they always go like hot cakes.
  
  NOT MUCH OF A FAMINE IF THEY'RE ALL EATING HOT CAKES, TOO.
6. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
  
  Behold progs: Your future diet if you keep it up with your quackery.
John 10 years ago

Sally Cohn is butt hurt because she can't get a Lamborghini for parting out her aborted fetus. Because of white supremacy or something.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/c.....rchy-white
1. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
  
  That idiot is one of the biggest idiot in the idiot pool.
  
  I wonder, given her concern for editing, if she gave a shit when NBC edited the video of Zimmerman.
  
  I'm going to guess the idiot didn't care because she's the queen of idiots.
  1. John 10 years ago
    
    Yes she is. She makes Marcotti seem smart and reasonable by comparison
    1. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
      
      Marcotti is a good soccer writer!
      1. Timon 19 10 years ago
        
        Correct.
2. Peaceboner 10 years ago
  
  So the current talking point seems to be that the video was made with bias so it can be ignored.
  
  When analyzed with a properly unbiased perspective they're actually talking about a Yankees baseball game I think.
3. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
  
  All I'm seeing in my Derpbook feed is complete silence, with the exception of one link to a biased NY Times op-ed defending Planned Parenthood.
  
  It's "la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you" all the way.
  1. straffinrun 10 years ago
    
    I put this Molyneux rant on my DB page. It managed to offend everyone.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yv9aJiVVLg
    1. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
      
      Wow. That was a serious rant. He was spot on about conscience. The left is turning ever more overbearing and need to stopped from making any further "progress".
Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago

Good Morning Peanuts!

Got to hand it to Rick W. Perry for fighting back against The Donald. Best move of the campaign so far.
1. PM 10 years ago
  
  With his demonstrated political acumen and your endorsement, there's simply no way he can lose.
Bee Tagger 10 years ago

Are Republicans becoming friendlier towards the idea of easing restrictions on marijuana?

We've reached the part of the election cycle where the two major parties briefly consider flirting with libertarians.
Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago

Greece's most influential think tank warned on Thursday of a sharp drop back into recession...

Wait. They're not in recession now?
1. straffinrun 10 years ago
  
  In Sparta is life as usual.
2. WTF 10 years ago
  
  Yeah, but not "recession-recession".
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

Florida man shoots teen daughter's boyfriend after boy dares him

"The father and victim do not have a good relationship," Lt. Paul Hopkins, of the Orange County Sheriff's Office, told WFTV.

Determined to see his girlfriend nonetheless, the boy drove up to her home at about 4 p.m. on Sunday and was confronted by two shotgun wielding men; her stepfather, Alvin Knight, and his friend. Instead of leaving, the 16-year-old placed the barrel on his face and dared Knight, saying he was unafraid.

The blast only grazed the youngster's face, the Sentinel reports. The boy is expected to recover. Authorities told WFTV that the gun discharge was accidental.
1. John 10 years ago
  
  Who is dumber him or the kid who dared someone pointing a gun at him to use it?
  1. Zeb 10 years ago
    
    Tough call. I'm going to go with the kid. Telling an angry man with a gun to shoot you is never a wise decision.
    1. John 10 years ago
      
      Especially when it is a father angry over his daughter. That is a Darwin Award there.
    2. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
      
      Obviously I don't condone the actual shooting but yeah, daring an angry father to shoot you when he is already pointing a gun at you is pretty stupid.
2. TwB 10 years ago
  
  Funny story related to this: my friend Ryan's father in law is a retired US Marshal. Back when Ryan started dating the USM's daughter, the USM pulled out a .45 bullet and signed Ryan's name on it w/ a Sharpie. The USM said that if Ryan did anything to his daughter, he had a bullet w/ his name on it waiting for him. Fast forward a few years and Ryan marries Mr. USM's daughter. At the wedding, the USM gives a great speech and at the end of it, he pulls out the .45 bullet from his jacket and says, "Ryan, I am proud to call you my son in law. I don't think I will be needing this anymore" and he hands the bullet to Ryan.
  1. Lord Humungus 10 years ago
    
    +1 Bullet with your name on it
  2. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
    
    You Americans and your gun stories.
    
    /licks soft ice cream.
  3. Illocust 10 years ago
    
    Didn't a comedian suggest that as a method of intimidating boyfriends?
3. R C Dean 10 years ago
  
  Florida Man shoots Florida Man-To-Be on a Dare.
  
  Now, remember that meme going around, substituting Marco Rubio and/or Jeb Bush for "Flordia Man"?
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

Paradise by the dashboard light! New York City tourists can book a van down by the river on Airbnb ? for $22

Guests who reviewed the $35 per night "Van Down by the Water," parked on a Long Island City street corner near the East River, pointed out there was no bathroom or shower in their, um, room.

"Okay I really had a great time living in the van, but I think it is important for potential guests to realize that this really and truly is a van," a reviewer named Anshuman wrote earlier this month.
1. PM 10 years ago
  
  Time was you could get a handy in a van down by the river for half that.
  1. KDN 10 years ago
    
    And links were posted correctly. Ah, the good old days.
    1. Lord Humungus 10 years ago
      
      Philistine!
      http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.2299913
2. jester 10 years ago
  
  Take a dip in the stream moron. Cannot you read?
Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago

Bill Cosby will be forced to testify under-

Sedative?
1. John 10 years ago
  
  Didn't they stop making Lise's back in the 80s?
John 10 years ago

Carly has balls. No wonder the nerds at HP hated her.

http://m.townhall.com/tipsheet.....OnTownhall
1. jester 10 years ago
  
  If she couldn't win California, she can't win America. If you're a Republican, you have to be like Arnold or Bush to win ie who really fucking knows?
  1. R C Dean 10 years ago
    
    If she couldn't win California, she can't win America.
    
    That's like saying if you can't win Massachusetts, you can't win America.
2. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
  
  I feel bad for Carly. By the way, I saw a whine in my Derpbook feed yesterday about how America has not had a female president ever because "a lot of people think women aren't good enough".
  
  I was tempted to respond with "Is that why you voted against Palin, you sexist?"
  
  And speaking of corporate performance, Ellen Pao getting fired is because of sexism, but Carly Fiorina getting fired is because the b**** deserved it.
  
  Proggie double standards are incredible.
3. Hyperbolical (wadair) 10 years ago
  
  I love how she pointed out Hillary's inconsistency regarding parental permission.
  
  Recently I read that in some US city abortions outpaced births. This makes abortion services a huge industry. If the demand for fetal tissue is significant, PP could make several hundred dollars--maybe even a thousand--in revenue per abortion. It's beginning to look like there is a business reason for late-term abortions and that Planned Parenthood's business model depends on it.
4. R C Dean 10 years ago
  
  She'd be an excellent VP candidate:
  
  The traditional VP role in an election is the attack dog. She is most excellent in that role.
  
  So, its pretty much guaranteed the Reps won't pick her. I would bet the current conventional wisdom in Rep consultant circles is that McCain lost because his VP was a woman. Yes, I think they are that stupid.
Old Man With Candy 10 years ago

Are Republicans becoming friendlier towards the idea of easing restrictions on marijuana?

Let's please remember that some of the earlies legalization advocates were William F. Buckley, George Schultz, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell...
1. John 10 years ago
  
  And a democratic congress passed minimum mandatory sentencing at the behest of black community leaders
  1. WTF 10 years ago
    
    For which Republicans now of course get blamed.
    1. Free Society 10 years ago
      
      And Bill Clinton gets a pass.
      1. Old Man With Candy 10 years ago
        
        So does Obama.
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

I was going to post this a few days ago but it fell off the radar...

so without further ado:

How to Come to Terms with Your Attraction to 'Fat Girls'

My confidence boosted the day I came to the simple realization that my fatness is not something I can hide, so why try? I never went into sex under the impression that my partners knew what they were in for, as if our entire time together before getting undressed was spent solely looking at each other's faces. Plus, most of the men I sleep with tell me they like my body. They'll say something like "I love curvy women," or "I like thicker girls." I always took these comments as them trying to do me a favor?like, I'll call her curvy, not fat. But I don't see fat as a bad word, and I don't see the point in avoiding it.

I mentioned this to a guy recently, after he called me "curvy" in bed. "Just call me fat," I said to him. "I don't mind?it's what I am."

His response to this took me surprise. "Trust me, you're not fat. I'm not attracted to fat girls."
1. PM 10 years ago
  
  Whatever helps you sleep at night, I say.
  1. John 10 years ago
    
    What was the old saying about fat girls and mopeds?
    1. SugarFree 10 years ago
      
      No matter what the relationship, I don't want to see two guy riding either.
      1. PM 10 years ago
        
        Prude.
        
        SugarFree 10 years ago
        
        I prefer "aesthete."
2. SugarFree 10 years ago
  
  In Mauritania, obesity is viewed as a sign of wealth and prestige in a woman. To attain these standards of beauty, many Mauritanian women undergo the practice of gavage, or "fattening up."
  
  Then move to Mauritania, dipshit.
  1. Zeb 10 years ago
    
    Mauritania is also the worst country in the world in almost every way, starting with about one person in 20 being enslaved.
    1. Old Man With Candy 10 years ago
      
      So 19 out of 20 have it pretty good.
    2. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
      
      Hm. Sounds like a good place to get me some orphans.
      
      Production is way down around here.
  2. Irish ?s ESB 10 years ago
    
    "In Mauritania, obesity is viewed as a sign of wealth and prestige in a woman. To attain these standards of beauty, many Mauritanian women undergo the practice of gavage, or "fattening up.""
    
    And then they have massive heart attacks because their way of life is staggeringly unhealthy.
    
    In Mauritania they literally force feed child brides and they sometimes die when their stomachs explode.
    
    That's not the country you should be using to make your case.
    1. SugarFree 10 years ago
      
      Expecting writers to know what they are talking about is the worst form of sexism possible.
3. Grand Moff Serious Man 10 years ago
  
  Well, she's not obese, at least. That being said, if you click on her name and go see her history of columns for Vice you'll see headlines about why being single sucks and then one that says Why I Don't Give Blowjobs.
  1. SugarFree 10 years ago
    
    Read that one. She demands that any guy she is having sex with still has to go down on her. Because patriarchy or something.
  2. KDN 10 years ago
    
    A fat girl that doesn't give blow jobs? What's the point?
    1. sarcasmic 10 years ago
      
      And here I thought fatties gave the best bjs because no one except John wants to fuck them.
      1. Free Society 10 years ago
        
        John has delicate little feelings and lots of black friends with whom he shares a common interest.
        
        Free Society 10 years ago
        
        so just be careful...
        
        sarcasmic 10 years ago
        
        John has friends?
        
        Free Society 10 years ago
        
        Just other men who share his....affliction.
        
        sarcasmic 10 years ago
        
        Gotcha.
        
        Free Society 10 years ago
        
        In yesterdays AM links I made myself laugh. I know it was funny because John got pissy. He even congratulated me 😀
        
        John 10 years ago
        
        Let it not be said I won't give credit for a personal best.
        
        Free Society 10 years ago
        
        Let it not be said I won't give credit for a personal best.
        
        I'm throwing a party at Chuck E Cheese to celebrate my achievements.
        
        sarcasmic 10 years ago
        
        In yesterdays AM links I made myself laugh.
        
        Thanks for the linky. I got got a chuckle myself.
        
        Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
        
        If there weren't guys that liked curvy women there would be more competition for the lithe ones. Just a thought.
        
        Free Society 10 years ago
        
        The number of fat women far exceeds the number of men who prefer to have sex with them. What we should be thankful for are low standards and poor self-esteem .
        
        sarcasmic 10 years ago
        
        What we should be thankful for are low standards and poor self-esteem
        
        Whenever I see a tall, skinny guy walking hand-in-hand with a short, fat woman, I want to yell "Do you ride your moped to work?"
        
        sarcasmic 10 years ago
        
        If there weren't guys that liked curvy women there would be more competition for the lithe ones.
        
        Good point.
        
        Lord Humungus 10 years ago
        
        Doctor: I see. So you started fancying boys then, have you?
        
        Blackadder: Not boys. A boy.
        
        Doctor: Yes, well let's not split hairs. It is all rather disgusting and naturally you're worried.
        
        Blackadder: Of course I'm worried.
        
        Doctor: Well, of course you are. It isn't every day a man wakes up to discover he's a screaming bender with no more right to live on Gods clean earth than a weazle. Ashamed of your self?
        
        Blackadder: Not really, no.
        
        Doctor: Bloody hell! I would be. But still why should I complain? Just leaves more rampant totty for us real men, eh?
        
        IndyEleven 10 years ago
        
        +1 Leeches
4. jester 10 years ago
  
  If fat women never got laid, human life would have self extinguished a loooong time ago.
  1. straffinrun 10 years ago
    
    Or they would have lost weight.
  2. WTF 10 years ago
    
    Not true. Until fairly recently, it was pretty uncommon for women in their prime reproductive years to be fat. The explosion of fatties seems to be a fairly recent phenomenon.
    1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
      
      Yes, basically the last 50 years or so and almost solely in westernized economies.
      
      Our troops in Somalia didn't call the locals "skinnies" for nothing.
    2. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
      
      "Explosion of Fatties"
      Good ALBUM name...
      1. Citizen X 10 years ago
        
        "Oh shit, it's Mr. Creosote!"
  3. Zeb 10 years ago
    
    Any woman can get laid at any time if she is willing to lower her standards enough. And there are plenty of men attracted to fat women. Whole countries full of them, in fact.
    
    I find it really interesting how culturally determined standards of attractiveness seem to be. It really seems like what I find attractive is something innate, but it does vary a whole lot over time and among different cultures.
    1. Auric Demonocles 10 years ago
      
      There also seems to sometimes be this weird repulsion to the idea that the man is attracted to her because she's fat.
    2. Free Society 10 years ago
      
      I want a girl with a lip plate, a neck stretcher and banana tits.
      1. Zeb 10 years ago
        
        I can understand finding more plump women attractive, but a lot of that body modification stuff is just weird. Foot binding is another good example.
        
        Banana tits are just what you get with no bras and lots of babies, I thought. Or is that something that some people deliberately cultivate too?
        
        Free Society 10 years ago
        
        Men's preference for round and symmetrical tits was fabricated by Big Tit-slings, like Mothersday and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, formerly known as "October".
      2. Trshmnstr doesn't recycle 10 years ago
        
        +2 dinner plates in the earlobes
5. Auric Demonocles 10 years ago
  
  I never went into sex under the impression that my partners knew what they were in for, as if our entire time together before getting undressed was spent solely looking at each other's faces.
  
  Well selected clothing can be surprisingly flattering.
  1. Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
    
    That is not a bad thing. I shows she at least cares about her appearance.
6. Rasilio 10 years ago
  
  If the first picture is the author then I agree, she is not fat.
  
  She's certainly not skinny but she's not really fat either
7. lafe.long 10 years ago
  
  That's when it all hit me: Oh, you're not doing this for my sake. You're doing it for yours. This guy, and probably a lot of the others, didn't want to come to terms with his attraction to a fat woman.
  
  Well... I dig thicker, voluptuous, curvy chicks.
  
  I'm sure that some guys who like their women built like 12 year old boys would consider my preferred body type "fat".
  
  I'm also sure there are others with my preference, and it has nothing to do with "coming to terms with having an attraction to fat girls". No need to project your insecurities on my tastes.
  
  I personally have no interest at all in "BBWs". At all. Some guys do. *shrug*
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

Oil Rigs Left Idling Turn Caribbean Into Expensive Parking Lot

Imagine parking your $300 million boat for months out in the open sea, with well-paid mechanics hovering around it and the engine running.

The Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea have become a garage for deepwater drillships -- at a cost of about $70,000 a day each. It's either that or send your precious rig to a scrapyard.

The dilemma underscores how an offshore industry that geared up for an oil boom is grappling with a bust. Rig owners are putting equipment aside at unprecedented numbers as customers including ConocoPhillips pull back from higher-cost deepwater exploration. That's helped make Transocean Ltd. and Ensco Plc two of the three worst performers in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index over the past year.
1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
  
  FATCAT ONE-PERCENTER KOCHTOPUS KORPORASHUNS NOT PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE
  
  /progderp
  1. Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
    
    lol...Reasonable got your comment.
    1. Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
      
      Speaking of Reasonable, is the source on github? I want to port to Safari.
    2. Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
      
      Speaking of Reasonable, is the source on github? I want to port to Safari.
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

These Are the Top 20 Cities Americans Are Ditching

Interestingly, these are also the cities with some of the highest net inflows of people from outside the country. That gives many of these cities a steadily growing population, despite the net exodus of people moving within the U.S.

So what's going on here? Michael Stoll, a professor of public policy and urban planning at the University of California Los Angeles, has an idea. Soaring home prices are pushing local residents out and scaring away potential new ones from other parts of the country, he said. (Everyone knows how unaffordable the Manhattan area has become.)

And as Americans leave, people from abroad move in to these bustling cities to fill the vacant low-skilled jobs. They are able to do so by living in what Stoll calls "creative housing arrangements" in which they pack six to eight individuals, or two to four families, into one apartment or home. It's an arrangement that most Americans just aren't willing to pursue, and even many immigrants decide it's not for them as time goes by, he said.
1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
  
  #2 is NYC area.
  
  This is Jack's complete lack of surprise.
  1. PM 10 years ago
    
    I have it on the authority of Episiarch that a near-Stalinist level of government has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on quality of life in any given city, and anybody who disagrees is a yokeltarian TEAM loving regionist.
    1. Free Society 10 years ago
      
      I read that in People Magazine.
2. TwB 10 years ago
  
  They are able to do so by living in what Stoll calls "creative housing arrangements" in which they pack six to eight individuals, or two to four families, into one apartment or home.
  
  -I see this all the time in Fairfax County, VA and in Montgomery County, MD. Sure, it's not legal according to county housing codes but obviously the residents don't care and I don't think the county housing departments do either, at least for the houses I drive by every day to and from work, that is.
  1. R C Dean 10 years ago
    
    Its incredibly common throughout the Southern border states as well.
    
    The joke in Dallas went something like this:
    
    "We don't have twelve people living in this bedroom! Look, everyone who gets mail here has one of two names and one of two Social Security numbers."
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

Conservatives are too quick to dismiss the rise of the robots

Just think about the progress made in autonomous vehicles and the fact that the most common job in most states is that of truck driver. A rising technological tide may not lift all boats, at least over the short and medium term. And even if most Americans eventually prosper, many Americans may not. That matters. Indeed, if you believe the Great Stagnation scenario put forward by Tyler Cowen, a large majority will not flourish in the new economy. Sherk and Burke do offer a few solid policy ideas such as occupational licensing and education reform. But if markets do not provide a societal acceptable living standard, then society through government may need to respond more directly, such as through large income subsidies that make work pay more. It is a policy direction that many on the right are squeamish about, despite the success of our existing wage-subsidy program, the Earned Income Tax Credit. And that may create a bit of a blind spot when thinking about the challenges ? as well as the opportunities ? from advancing technology.
1. Not a Libertarian 10 years ago
  
  But isn't one (if not the) major issue with Basic Incomes is what incentive would there be to work at all?
  
  And of course, "why should I work, when that laybout neighbor of mine just sits at home playing video games and writes poetry all day and collects his monthly check?"
  
  And wouldn't income taxes have to be at some extraordinarily high level?
  1. KDN 10 years ago
    
    You would have to make the basic income low enough that it couldn't be treated as a substitute, merely a supplement (note that this means not subsidizing children: the baseline basic income should be a flat rate for each adult). Work also has to be taxed (and income supplements removed) in such a way that it is always a substantial benefit to actually have a job and those benefits are obvious: one idea is instead of having taxes withheld from a paycheck, it is removed from next year's stipend and the worker keeps their entire paycheck.
    
    One of the major problems with the existing welfare structure is that, due to the combination of taxes and benefit disqualification, getting a job is often a poorer financial decision (or not enough of an improvement when accounting for time spent working) than staying on the dole.
2. Je suis Woodchipper 10 years ago
  
  which is why i'm siked my son is addicted to lego robotics at the ripe old age of 5.
3. Peaceboner 10 years ago
  
  The underlying premise that new technology will render people unemployed is flawed. Nearly all American jobs today didn't exist 200 years ago, and the jobs from 200 years ago are greatly reduced and changed. Just because the car got rid of the horse dung shoveler didn't leave the economy riddled with unemployed dung shovelers.
  
  Every problem some people see needs the same solution, more govmint. And when they run out of problems to justify that, they invent new ones.
  1. Zeb 10 years ago
    
    I think that is true over time. But if things change very quickly (especially if helped along with things like big minimum wage increases), there may well be a difficult period of adjustment. But i am confident that when lots of low skill jobs are replaced by robots, people will find new things to do.
4. MJGreen - Docile Citizen 10 years ago
  
  But if markets do not provide a societal acceptable living standard, then society through government may need to respond more directly, such as through large income subsidies that make work pay more.
  
  Fuck off.
Not a Libertarian 10 years ago

Martin O'Malley: Unknown but Not Implausible
He may not be polling well, but the Democratic candidate made a good impression in Iowa.
By Steve Chapman

Presumably Mr Chapman is having some difficulty justifying his eventual vote for Secretary Clinton.
1. John 10 years ago
  
  Has any Democrat ever not made a good impression on chapman?
  1. Not a Libertarian 10 years ago
    
    For signaling purposes I imagine that Senator Webb is considered outr
2. Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago
  
  O'Malley the police lover is worse than Brooklyn Bernie. That's bad.
  1. Not a Libertarian 10 years ago
    
    Other than he has a nice body for a man his age, just what exactly is the justification for the O'Malley candidacy?
    
    And for his own political future, he could presumably just stride into the Senate, why antagonize the Clinton machine?
    1. Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago
      
      Nothing. Democrats are as bankrupt as Republicans are on innovative political ideas.
      
      Mostly due to Obama's successful incrementalism on gay rights, pot, immigration, health insurance reform, deficit cutting, free trade, and anti Big War policies.
      
      (Key word = incrementalism)
      1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
        
        Obama is SO BIG on free trade!! Just like you!! Why, I would even go so far as to call him "clasically liberal"...
        
        Dipshit.
        
        Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago
        
        The two largest free trade agreements in US history will be completed by 2016.
        
        Pacific rim - Japan, Australia etc
        
        and
        
        Europe.
        
        It is a bug fucking deal as Joe would say. I know you have a false narrative you believe in though.
        
        R C Dean 10 years ago
        
        And those free trade agreements will almost certainly contain "regulatory harmonization" provisions that will be profoundly anti-freedom, at every level, in this country.
        
        Just as regulatory harmonization in the EU has been.
        
        The ratchet only turns one way. "Harmonization" never means "repeal local laws that are unduly restrictive". It always means "layer on new regs until everyone is equally repressed."
      2. Free Society 10 years ago
        
        Mostly due to Obama's successful incrementalism on gay rights, pot, immigration, health insurance reform, deficit cutting, free trade, and anti Big War policies.
        
        lol. Supreme Court Justice Obama sure done good for them gayz.
        
        Clearly Obama's health insurance reforms will keep the insurance markets flourishing for generations.
        
        His incremental assault on legal marijuana industries has been a boon for pot reformers.
        
        His deficit cutting has been unprecedented! His free trade is so free that we aren't allowed to know how free it really is.
        
        And his warfare policies are so restrictive and limited that he's only responsible for a small number of insurgencies, civil wars and resurgent terrorist groups.
        
        Best president eva!
        
        Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago
        
        DADT repeal?
        
        You're wrong on every count. Wait and see when a Scott Walker type enforces federal pot laws in CO and WA.
        
        Or enters a ground war in Iran.
        
        Your GOP is anti-libertarian. Admit it.
        
        Free Society 10 years ago
        
        I had no idea that I supported the GOP and specifically Scott Walker, until now. Your strawmen know me better than I know myself!
        
        Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago
        
        OK, you're not GOP then.
        
        Just admit I was right about Obama's pro-liberty incrementalism.
        
        Is it enough? No. But we're headed in the right direction.
        
        Monty Crisco 10 years ago
        
        Goddamit you just made me spew coffee all over my keyboard!!!!
        
        " pro-liberty incrementalism."?!?!?
        
        BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAAH
        
        You should take that on the road...
Derpetologist 10 years ago

Spot the Not: Donald Rumsfeld

1. I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that.

2. I don't do quagmires.

3. People call me old-fashioned. I prefer to think of myself as aged to perfection.

4. Oh my goodness gracious, what you can buy off the Internet in terms of overhead photography.

5. Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.

6. A trained ape can know an awful lot of what is going on in this world, just by punching on his mouse, for a relatively modest cost.
1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
  
  4
2. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
  
  Imma say 3...
3. WTF 10 years ago
  
  1
4. straffinrun 10 years ago
  
  3?
5. straffinrun 10 years ago
  
  3?
  1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
    
    The number so nice that he guessed it TWICE!!
6. Derpetologist 10 years ago
  
  The Not is #3.
  
  Prize for the winners: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w5JqQLqqTc
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

Gay Pride Event Bans Drag Because It Offends Transgendered

Free Pride Glasgow is scheduled to take place in August, and bills itself as an alternative to the city's main Pride event, which has allegedly become too commercialized.

"It was felt by the group within the Trans/Non Binary Caucus that some drag performance, particularly cis drag, hinges on the social view of gender and making it into a joke, however transgender individuals do not feel as though their gender identity is a joke," organizers said in a statement.

According to the statement announcing the policy, some transsexuals found drag performances offensive because it "hinges on the social view of gender and making it into a joke."

Taking the fun out of gay...
1. John 10 years ago
  
  If we can't have drag queens just what was the point of this whole gay rights thing?
  1. Not a Libertarian 10 years ago
    
    Just imagine at a Glaswegian Drag Show, trying to figure out if she has anything tucked under her kilt.
2. Illocust 10 years ago
  
  So basically, progs start to push the same policies as socons for different reasons once again.
3. SugarFree 10 years ago
  
  It was bound to happen eventually. Drag has always been horribly sexist and bigoted toward women; it makes sense for the serious cosplayers to hate the casuals.
  1. Auric Demonocles 10 years ago
    
    it makes sense for the serious cosplayers to hate the casuals.
    
    That's a really good summary.
4. Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago
  
  Neither drag nor transgendered equals gay. KICK BOTH GROUPS OUT.
  1. Auric Demonocles 10 years ago
    
    The apparent need to connect the two baffles me.
    1. John 10 years ago
      
      I am pretty sure a good number of gay men like drag queens and trannys. Tranny hookers are getting business from someone.
      1. Free Society 10 years ago
        
        Larry Craig?
5. straffinrun 10 years ago
  
  Why all the weird categories? Drag, Queer, Trans. Just name them by the acts they prefer.
6. Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker 10 years ago
  
  Is it wrong that I want to see all these groups just completely destroy each other?
7. Free Society 10 years ago
  
  At least we still have assless chaps
8. Citizen X 10 years ago
  
  Live by the identity politics, die by the identity politics.
9. Zeb 10 years ago
  
  I thought transvestite was its own special category too.
  1. Free Society 10 years ago
    
    I thought transvestite was its own special category too.
    
    I pride myself on my unfamiliarity with women studies, gender studies and other fields of victimology. A tranny is a tranny is a tranny. And that's fine, knowing the subtle PC distinctions is their game, not mine.
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

Britney!

Black America's terrifying truth: Any of us could have been Sandra Bland

White power. Black submission. It's the oldest trick in the white supremacist handbook. The officer might think he wanted Sandra Bland's respect. But what he really wanted was her fear. And the fact is: He is entitled to neither. She did not owe him either her respect or her fear. When his white maleness and his badge didn't elicit the first, he used the power of that badge to compel the second.

Now Sandra Bland is dead. She isn't dead because of suicide. No matter what they say, justice, reason, fairness and good damn sense compel us to believe differently. She is dead because she wouldn't go quietly. She is dead because she asked questions. Dead because she knew her rights. Dead because she demanded to be treated with dignity. Dead because she wouldn't submit. Dead because she wouldn't shut up.

Black people, of every station, live everyday just one police encounter from the grave. Looking back over my encounters with police, it's truly a wonder that I'm still in the land of the living.
1. John 10 years ago
  
  I wish these people would understand the cops treat a lot of white people that way. Cops hate everyone.
  1. sarcasmic 10 years ago
    
    Cops don't hate everyone. Just those who fail to grovel in the dirt.
    1. straffinrun 10 years ago
      
      You know who else failed to grovel in the dirt?
    2. straffinrun 10 years ago
      
      You know who else failed to grovel in the dirt?
      1. WTF 10 years ago
        
        William Wallace?
      2. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
        
        Nathan Hale?
      3. Lord Humungus 10 years ago
        
        the squirrelz?
        
        straffinrun 10 years ago
        
        Got me twice today. Guess they both wanted a nut.
  2. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
    
    Every time I hear people shouting down #AllLivesMatter, I think of that poor schizophrenic white guy Kelly Thomas. Was his life any less valuable? What about that old Indian guy visiting his son in Alabama who got beat up by the police? Or that Hmong immigrant in Minneapolis who nearly got killed by a wrong-door SWAT raid.
    
    The left is divisive and, in my mind, appears to intentionally stoke racial animosity.
    1. Free Society 10 years ago
      
      I'm offended when you say #AllLivesMatter. Everyone knows only the black ones matter, you racist.
    2. Zeb 10 years ago
      
      It's fuckiogn bizarre. Especially that people are still getting mad about "all lives matter". I could see people objecting when the black lives matter protests were a new thing.
      1. Free Society 10 years ago
        
        It's fuckiogn bizarre. Especially that people are still getting mad about "all lives matter". I could see people objecting when the black lives matter protests were a new thing.
        
        That sort of outrage against the statement "All lives matter", dances around the edges of being pro-genocide.
        
        Zeb 10 years ago
        
        I'm really not much for conspiracy theories, but sometimes it's hard to imagine what else the point could possibly be but to perpetuate and create racial divisions.
        
        Free Society 10 years ago
        
        Oh I'm not saying it's a giant conspiracy. I'm saying it's the logical conclusion of that "ideology" if you can call it that. In all likelihood, they are not even aware of what the spread of their beliefs is building towards.
2. WTF 10 years ago
  
  The Shame of Rutgers strikes again.
Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago

Oil Rigs Left Idling Turn Caribbean Into Expensive Parking Lot

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/.....arking-lot

commodity bust continues.....

oil $49/bbl

King Dollar reigns.
Grand Moff Serious Man 10 years ago

I'm feminist. I'm a dude. And I hate that I love to grill

I ate how much I love to grill. It's not that I'm inclined to vegetarianism or that I otherwise object to the practice itself. But I'm uncomfortable with the pleasure I take in something so conventionally masculine. Looming over the coals, tongs in hand, I feel estranged from myself, recast in the role of suburban dad. At such moments, I get the sense that I've fallen into a societal trap, one that reaffirms gender roles I've spent years trying to undo. The whole business feels retrograde, a relic of some earlier, less inclusive era.

I take food prep a little too seriously, curtly brushing others out of the way when I step up to the kitchen counter. In my online dating days, I tried to spin this fault as a feature, describing myself as "a finicky, meticulous cook." On reflection, I'm probably just kind of a jerk, but when I'm grilling I worry that I've become something even worse. Am I shoving others out of the way because it makes me feel like a man? Have I become some sort of monster?

Nice try, but that's not going to out-Salon Salon.
1. PM 10 years ago
  
  It's always fun to listen to these type of people whinge about their cognitive dissonance without recognizing it as such.
2. Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago
  
  At such moments, I get the sense that I've fallen into a societal trap...
  
  You have, but not in the one you think.
3. sarcasmic 10 years ago
  
  What a pussy.
  1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
    
    But is he a bigger pussy than Ben Shapiro?
    1. sarcasmic 10 years ago
      
      Who?
4. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
  
  What the fuck-heck is wrong with these little babies? First the moron who embarrassed himself to the world about having a whoring wife claiming he's cool with it, and now this clown?
  
  Are we emasculating men?
  1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
    
    Do YOU HAVE TO ASK?!?!?
  2. SugarFree 10 years ago
    
    Mostly they seems to be emasculating themselves. He'll get an awful shock when he finds out his wife is fucking someone else.
    1. Warty 10 years ago
      
      He'll be upset, but he'll understand. They'll sit down at the kitchen table, have a long talk about feelings and gendered power imbalances, and then he'll raise other men's babies for her.
      1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
        
        Yup.
      2. SugarFree 10 years ago
        
        Maybe he'll even come to love the taste of a another guy's jizz when she makes him go down on her.
        
        Idle Hands 10 years ago
        
        gross.
        
        Monty Crisco 10 years ago
        
        That was almost too far... yet so very true...
      3. ant1sthenes 10 years ago
        
        I don't have time to wait for evolution to fix this.
  3. Dark Lord of the wood chipper 10 years ago
    
    That's been going on for a long time.
5. lap83 10 years ago
  
  Nope. Not a real guy. The formula is too obvious to be real. "I'm a feminist. I'm a dude. And I hate that I love to leave the toilet seat up/ belch loudly/ wear wifebeaters around the house"
6. lap83 10 years ago
  
  Nope. Not a real guy. The formula is too obvious to be real. "I'm a feminist. I'm a dude. And I hate that I love to leave the toilet seat up/ belch loudly/ wear wifebeaters around the house"
7. Warty 10 years ago
  
  Men, this commercial suggests, come together as men when they do a manly thing. Their grills become symbolic meeting points. They enable what scholars call homosocial contact, a kind of same-sex intimacy that deflects the supposed dangers of sexual contact between men but allows them to confirm their masculinity by excluding women. Grilling, in other words, allows these characters to cozy up to one another while still maintaining their understanding of themselves as truly manly men.
  
  Maybe we need a world war, or a famine, or, like, a meteorite strike, or something, after all.
  1. Certified Public Asshat 10 years ago
    
    My wife refuses to grill and makes me do it. That patriarchal bitch.
    1. Clich? Bandit 10 years ago
      
      Not only this (she is a feared of the propane) but, and I am going to brag here so get ready, I can actually cook really well.
      
      A lot of guys say they are awesome grill masters but they suck. Overcooked burgers, leather steaks, dry chicken. FOR FUCKS SAKE! If someone offers up a BBQ or party I will offer my house. I take my cooking seriously. I take my grilling seriously. Not as some masculine pastime but as an important method of cooking. I also smoke. So when my friends say they are great behind a grill i scoff at them..and guess what, they all love the shit I cook. So if you are going to say you are good at grilling then you better mean it otherwise admit to having a knitting party for boys and let ME do the cooking.
      
      Last weekend, some friends and their kids, lots of vodka and champagne:
      
      I made my own brioche hamburger buns
      I made my own chipotle aioli
      I made my own ranch spread
      Burgers were my own mix (and formed in ring molds and chilled slightly for 12 hours)
      I made my own Cesar dressing (i don't care if anchovies are traditional they are tasty)
      Grilled romain hearts
      Prosciutto (i didn't make that...takes a lot of time and a villa in Tuscany)
      Heirloom tomatos
      Grilled Poblano and Anaheim Chilies
      Grilled bacon
      Avocado
      and homemade chicken nuggets for the kids
      
      Who else puts in that kind of effort.
      
      NO ONE I TELL YOU!! NO ONE!
      /rant over
  2. TwB 10 years ago
    
    This "man" in the article just bothers my soul. I feel like going to the firing range. Oh wait, I am on Sunday! Score!
    1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
      
      Yeah, me too!
      1. Plush Cthulhu 10 years ago
        
        Me three! Monday and Tuesday!
  3. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
    
    A world war would be more of a shock to them than anything else. They might need an extended period of boot camp to beat the emasculation out of them but they'd emerge as men.
    
    The other scenarios would just mean they die first.
    1. Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker 10 years ago
      
      I think they would literally need the emasculation beaten out of them.
    2. Trshmnstr doesn't recycle 10 years ago
      
      A world war would be more of a shock to them than anything else. They might need an extended period of boot camp to beat the emasculation out of them but they'd emerge as men.
      
      I question that. I bet they'd be the ones cowering in the bombed out remains of a building, slowly starving to death because they can't summon the courage to uncurl from the fetal position. Not saying that I'd do too much better, but still.
      1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
        
        If they weren't conscripted to fight, then yes I agree with you 100%.
  4. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
    
    GENDER PURGE!
8. Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker 10 years ago
  
  Well at least he seems to have enough sense to use charcoal instead of propane.
  1. Fist of Etiquette 10 years ago
    
    PROPANE IS EASIER.
    1. PM 10 years ago
      
      Taste the meat, not the heat.
    2. Mr. Paulbotto 10 years ago
      
      PROPANE IS EASIER.
      
      What did JFK say about easy stuff?
      1. Brett L 10 years ago
        
        It all feels the same when you're balls deep in it?
9. ant1sthenes 10 years ago
  
  You should make your chick grill you up some steak, to be feminist and shit.
10. Certified Public Asshat 10 years ago
  
  It's not that I think we're doing anything consciously sexist
  
  You're not. Shut the fuck up.
11. crab_apple 10 years ago
  
  Still should require a Slate trigger warning.
  
  So many words wasted to say absolutely nothing of value.
12. Hyperbolical (wadair) 10 years ago
  
  "I'm victimized by my lack of victim status."
Lord Humungus 10 years ago

I was slimed by Gawker: In the worst year of my life, I became a regular target ? and it was devastating

On the penultimate day of the year, I appeared on a Gawker list of people who should quit the media in the coming new year. In it, the writer described my style by noting, "Be sure to throw in some irrelevant tidbits about your personal life designed to short-circuit any criticism of your work in advance?. We're not being mean. We're being honest." The words appeared, again, next to the photo from my cancer story. This time, I cried. And you can laugh at me if you want, Gawker, but when you're actively in the midst of a grueling medical experience and uncertain how much time on earth you have, a cruel reference to your imagined fate for the coming year pretty much sucks.

Salon.
1. PM 10 years ago
  
  "I wrote things that were published for a general audience and not everyone received me warmly in their bosom and affirmed all of my feelings for me"
  
  Sad it took until well into adulthood for that to happen for the first time, but better late than never.
  1. Illocust 10 years ago
    
    Hey now, being emotionally unstable and unable to think rationally is a forgivable response to thinking you are going to die. I'm not saying roll over and let her trample you and your rights, but recognize she has a legitimate excuse for her behavior. (think combat vets triggered by fireworks. Don't let them rewrite the city laws to ban firework use, but if one lives next door to you the decent thing to do is see if you can do fireworks at a friends or at least give them a heads up about how you're spending the fourth of July.)
    1. PM 10 years ago
      
      being emotionally unstable and unable to think rationally is a forgivable response to thinking you are going to die.
      
      In this case, something tells me it was a pre-existing condition.
2. Dark Lord of the wood chipper 10 years ago
  
  "And you can laugh at me if you want, "
  
  OK. HAHAHAHAHA!
3. ant1sthenes 10 years ago
  
  Gawker versus Salon. Man. I can't even decide which is worse.
4. Irish ?s ESB 10 years ago
  
  Eh. So far as Gawker goes her complaints are pretty mild. That's like the 327,000th worst thing Gawker has ever done to someone.
Grand Moff Serious Man 10 years ago

July 22, 2015: Fast-food Jubilee!

July 22, 2015. Remember this date. It marks a huge shift in mainstream thinking about the economy. It proves that people aren't buying Wall Street CEOs' trickle-down lie any more. It proves that people really understand that workers are the engines of the economy and that paying fair wages to workers based on the wealth that they are generating is what will make a prosperous economy for everyone.

[snip]

Higher wages in the fast food industry mean a stronger economy for everyone. When workers have more money in their pockets, they can spend more at local businesses, driving up demand and creating new jobs. This is really how the economy works -- not the myth perpetuated by Wall Street for decades that allowed them to steal all the wealth that we create through our work. A $15 fast food wage means no more subsidizing the industry's low wages with $700 million in public assistance programs. Instead, fewer people will need to rely on welfare programs and New York will generate more income tax revenue that can be reinvested into our communities. The economy grows when worker income grows.

A $15 fast food wage will create pressure for higher wages for all workers. From adjunct professors to car wash workers, and crossing guards to home health aides -- we won't stop fighting until all workers win higher wages as the movement grows stronger.
1. PM 10 years ago
  
  A $15 fast food wage means no more subsidizing the industry's low wages with $700 million in public assistance programs.
  
  Perish the thought. It means subsidizing the unemployed with several hundred million more dollars in public assistance programs.
2. Auric Demonocles 10 years ago
  
  I can't wait to buy my $20 fast food burgers.
3. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
  
  I was thinking about this on my way to work today. I won't be able to afford to go out and pick up my lunch from Chipotle or Hale and Hearty any more. I'll have to bring my lunch to work - creating more work for me but saving me about $2k a year. So, although I'll have to plan out my shopping in advance more and will have to spend more time prepping food it'll be a windfall for me in terms of cash if not time and effort.
  1. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
    
    Think of the possibilities! Make your own capicollo or culatello provolone sandwich with giardinieri.
  2. Mr. Paulbotto 10 years ago
    
    I won't be able to afford to go out and pick up my lunch from Chipotle
    
    This is Playa Manhattan's complete lack of empathy.
4. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
  
  This is what happens when you fuck a duck.
  
  You start to believe in quackery.
  1. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
    
    USIN' IT!! Consider it stolen...
5. Grand Moff Serious Man 10 years ago
  
  The thing is, not only do these people not understand economics at all, they very clearly also do not know or understand what money actually is.
  1. sarcasmic 10 years ago
    
    Money is wealth that the government magically creates from thin air. Duh. Everyone knows this.
  2. Trshmnstr doesn't recycle 10 years ago
    
    A dollar is a dollar is a dollar to them. It's the evil corporashuns that make everything more expensive, because of the evil Kochtopus!!!
6. Juvenile Bluster 10 years ago
  
  I'm generally against government mandates, but every American should be required to take a basic economics class so they don't stay stupid things like this.
  1. Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker 10 years ago
    
    The government trying to teach Americans economics? How stupid do you want Americans to get?
    1. Juvenile Bluster 10 years ago
      
      Good point. It would probably be taught by Paul Krugman. He's a Nobel Prize winner after all. That wouldn't solve anything.
7. Monty Crisco 10 years ago
  
  The question they can never answer is that if 15$ minimum wage is such an unalloyed good for the economy, why not $20? $25?
  
  Maybe because they don't "think" about it at all... just emote.
8. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
  
  Some of the comments are interesting for HuffPo...
  
  They didn't win anything or at most won the battle but lost the war. All those companies are already implementing technology, apps, order kiosks and robots that prove to be cheaper than $15/hour which are more accurate, efficient, can't have accidents and that the customers like dealing with more.
  
  College-level idealism is cute.
  
  Thinking that its just that easy to erase income equality foolish.The unintended consequences that follow will negate the gains.
  
  Having worked in industrial automation for nearly 30 years, it's estimated that 12 an hour is our "in" to the fast food industry, as it drops the r.o.i. in automation for the average franchisee to under 5 years. Accordingly, we've been advocating higher wages for these employees for years. Anyone who misses this investment opportunity has no one to blame but themselves.
  1. RAHeinlein 10 years ago
    
    And guess which food service establishments WON'T be able to afford this technology...say goodbye to the local coffee shop near you!
    1. Restor-woodchipper-as 10 years ago
      
      Yes, that and the local pizza places which are hands down far superior than Pizza Hut and Dominoes.
  2. Pope Jimbo 10 years ago
    
    This. I have done a lot of IoT apps over the last 10 years for quick serve restaurants.
    
    Everytime they fuck with the minimum wage it means more money for me. Put in more big brother monitoring to make sure the kids are really working.
Auric Demonocles 10 years ago

House Speaker John Boehner is promising to do "everything possible" to stop the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran.

It appears that he has already started the alt-text sanctions.
JMC1607 10 years ago

Apparently MTV has produced a documentary entitled "White People" that focuses on white privilege in our society. Hey, it's from the same network that brought us Jersey Shore, the Jersey Shore spinoffs, Laguna Beach, My Super Sweet 16, MTV Cribs, The Hills, 16 and Pregnant, and on. So I guess this is some kind of perverse penance for exploiting so called "white privilege" for ratings over the years? Yeah, I think I'll leave the TV off and maybe talk to my parents about how both sets of their grandparents immigrated from Ireland in the early 1900's with little to no money, were not treated well despite their race, yet managed to form families that still exist and are doing well today.

http://www.theroot.com/article....._zone.html
1. Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago
  
  I thought it was called 'White Reign'?
  
  Whatever.
  
  I heard an interview about the film and 'white privilege' on the radio with one Shirley Steinberg (a Maryland native) out of the Univ. of Calgary. At one point, she couldn't understand the angry texts. It was all so bizarre. Maybe because she said something along the lines that whites did fuck up the world. Talk about neglecting, you know, history.
  
  Have a listen:
  
  http://bit.ly/1Ifcoio
  1. Free Society 10 years ago
    
    White people never done nothin for nobody.
2. Not a Libertarian 10 years ago
  
  Wait?!? The Irish are considered White now
  1. The DerpRider 10 years ago
    
    My Irish grandparents said the same thing about Italians.
3. John Titor 10 years ago
  
  "Grandpa, can you tell me how white privilege helped you when you spent five years under the Nazis?"
generic Brand 10 years ago

Morning Commentariat. Long time lurker, infrequent commenter (of late) here.

I've been wanting to suggest a Chicago area meet up for a while and finally posited the idea yesterday in the PM links. There seemed to be some interest in, if nothing else, finding out which like minded Reasonoids are A) smart enough to be/lean libertarian, yet 2) dumb enough to carry those beliefs to the political and economic cesspool that is Chicago.

I was thinking of going to one of the many breweries here (Lagunitas, Revolution, Half Acre, Begyle, etc) or Old Man With Candy suggested a distillery north of the city. Because let's face it: 5 months of winter and ever-increasing taxes don't leave us with a lot of enthusiasm to do much else but drink.

Feel free to comment here or email me if you're interested. Also feel free to do either if you're not. I was thinking early September might be best, since it's before football really gets started, the weather should hopefully be gorgeous, and I'd actually be able to go (I'll be in Europe for 24 days starting next Thursday).
1. generic Brand 10 years ago
  
  P.S. I definitely thought the breakfast links posted at 9:30.
2. SugarFree 10 years ago
  
  I want to think about what a mistake you have made when Nikki is eating the remaining flesh off of your ruined face.
3. Lord Humungus 10 years ago
  
  That would be a 3-4 hr drive for me - all the meet some cis white-privileged shitlords? Hmm.
  1. PM 10 years ago
    
    Is that your RSVP?
  2. Old Man With Candy 10 years ago
    
    You could even get a chance to visit my fabled Vacuum Dungeon...
    1. Old Man With Candy 10 years ago
      
      And you have a place to stay if you need it.
    2. Lord Humungus 10 years ago
      
      oh ho!
4. Free Society 10 years ago
  
  Don't do it. He's trying to amass a fortune from selling libertarian kidneys.
  1. Dark Lord of the wood chipper 10 years ago
    
    I can't imagine any of our organs are worth a damn at this point.
    1. Lord Humungus 10 years ago
      
      +1 Gin & Tonic... beer chaser... and one for the road
5. Irish ?s ESB 10 years ago
  
  Well, Nicole did vouch for the fact that you're not a rapist, though she's an unreliable source.
6. Dr. Fronkensteen 10 years ago
  
  Don't know if you will see this but I was actually thinking of a Bar Louie on the North Side right by the Cumberland exit on 90. You also have a Blue line stop across the street. They have or had at any rate a $2.00 Tues burger special so cheap and acessible.
Warty 10 years ago

"It's pronounced "Skyrim".

"Racist, I says."
1. KDN 10 years ago
  
  Nothing says white supremacy quite like a society where Vikings and Latins are subservient to elves and the Moors have managed to throw off their yolk. Look how great those white people are at getting conquered! Those assholes!
  1. Ein Barde und ein Holzhacker 10 years ago
    
    Not in my newly independent Stormcloak ruled Skyrim. Fuck the empire.
    1. KDN 10 years ago
      
      Playing right into the Dominion's hands.
      
      Ulfric's an idiot. Who in his position could possibly think it's a good idea to trade Riften for Markarth?
      1. UnCivilServant 10 years ago
        
        The funny thing is, my first playthough, I couldn't find the way up the mountain, so I ended up ending the civil war before finding the annoying old farts on the hill.
        
        KDN 10 years ago
        
        I thought they were both annoying so I never bothered in mine.
        
        I've been playing New Vegas recently, and in retrospect I wish they included faction reputation in Skyrim. It's kind of stupid that I, the Dragonborn Archmage of Winterhold, can freely traipse about the Blue Palace searching for some awesome staff when I just spent the past week exploderating legionaries in and around Whiterun. Really, word of that never got back to General Tullius and the Jarl?
        
        John Titor 10 years ago
        
        Skyrim has a lot of aspects that seem really rushed, and the civil war questline suffers a lot because of it. Vegas does have the benefit of being able to focus on the factions since its the main quest, rather than go murder the Super Dragon. New Vegas does railroad you at the start a lot more, but it gives you an openness to complete the main quest in whatever way you want. You can murder every human being in New Vegas and still be able to complete the game.
    2. UnCivilServant 10 years ago
      
      I couldn't stand the thought of Maven Blackbriar ruling Riften. Since I couldn't kill the character, I supported the Stormcloaks and left the other Jarl in place.
  2. John Titor 10 years ago
    
    And when you get down to it, really the Empire and Tamriel culture in general is a hell of a lot more 'modern' than medieval. It's a pluralist multicultural empire where gay marriage is not only legal but embraced by the majority religion. The bad guys over the past three games have been racist religious fanatics, cultists/demons from another reality and a racist volcano god. Clearly, Elder Scrolls is all about 'right wing racist nationalism'.
  3. John Titor 10 years ago
    
    Also, am I not a racist because I play Dark Elf? Or am I going to get a lecture on Edward Said because of it?
    1. John Titor 10 years ago
      
      The Crusades also attracts people to these types of games. Players create their own religions so as not to cause offense or appear bigoted. They cloak Christianity with an invented religion, yet one that mirrors reality.
      
      Crusader Kings 2 completely discredits this. Pagans are extremely popular, and the subreddit is filled with people doing insane bullshit like Zunist Super-Afghanistan and Zoroastrian Norway. Hell, for the past two weeks everyone's been playing as Central Asian steppe peoples.
Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago

Despite a Strong Dollar, the U.S. Retains a Big Manufacturing Cost Advantage Over Europe, Japan, and Other Developed Countries

http://www.marketwatch.com/sto.....2015-07-23
1. crab_apple 10 years ago
  
  Kind of speaks to how terrible the laws in those countries are, doesn't it? Also "Europe" is not a country.
  
  One of our biggest issues, though, is really our absurdly high corporate tax rate. Small locally owned manufacturers lose 35-40% of net income to taxes.
Grand Moff Serious Man 10 years ago

The Hypocrisy of Rand Paul on Voting Rights

Paul has sponsored legislation which would restore the voting rights of non-violent felons across the country. Currently, four states ? Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Virginia ? prohibit felons and ex-felons from ever regaining their right to vote without a pardon from the governor. Across the country, one in every 13 black adults is disenfranchised ? in Paul's state of Kentucky, that number rises to one in five African Americans ? so his legislation would significantly increase the number of people eligible to vote in federal elections.

But when it comes to those without a criminal record or those who have been disenfranchised or discouraged from voting by state policies, Rand is no longer a supporter of reform.

No Republican members of Congress have signed on to legislation to restore the VRA, which the U.S. Supreme Court gutted in 2013. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) introduced a bill last month which would require states with a history of voting discrimination to clear their voting changes with the federal government. The bill would also require federal approval for voter ID laws and outlaw new efforts to suppress the minority vote.

Rah rah, Team Blue! Hillary could come out in favor of an amped-up drug war and they'd still vote for her over Rand Paul.
1. Auric Demonocles 10 years ago
  
  Is Paul suggesting that felons should have not have to show ID to vote? Because if not, there's not hypocrisy.
2. Irish ?s ESB 10 years ago
  
  HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH
  
  The Supreme Court decision on the VRA has limited the ability for approximately 0 people to vote. Felony convictions disenfranchise millions. So of course Think Progress attacks him for not supporting something stupid while he supports something that actually matters.
3. Trshmnstr doesn't recycle 10 years ago
  
  I had the "privilege" of sitting for 8 hours at a precinct here in Dallas during the last election, watching for anybody who was turned away for not having ID. Out of the 3 or 4 thousand voters, all of three had issues voting. One was because he forgot his ID at home (he declined to vote provisionally and came back at the end of the day to vote). Two were because they had just moved and their IDs still had their old addresses, so they had to do some DMV work before they were eligible in our county. They still got to vote provisionally, and just had to submit their change of address by the end of the week to have their vote count.
  
  There were a helluva lot of poor people, black people, hispanics, elderly, infirmed, and even one or two with dementia. Shock of shocks, they were all able to vote because they all had some form of ID.
Grand Moff Serious Man 10 years ago

Time critic convinced Ayn Rand would have loved Dylan Roof

Which brings us, with almost poetic symmetry, to a review of Ideal in Time magazine by Anne Heller, the author of a moderately inaccurate 2009 biography of Ayn Rand. The review is behind a paywall, which is odd because I can't think of a reason why anyone would pay to read Time. But a version is up on Heller's own site, so we can go from that. Heller reviews Ideal by using it to argue that idealism is dangerous. Isn't that perfect?

In fact, she concludes by projecting onto Ayn Rand responsibility for the crimes of two recent mass shooters: "reading Ideal today, I can't help glimpsing Dylann Roof, James Holmes, and all their murderous kind in the undoubting fanaticism of Johnny Dawes" from Ideal. Dylann Roof you may recognize as the racist who recently shot up a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Holmes shot up a theater in Aurora, Colorado, a few years ago. (Newsbusters notes that Holmes was edited out of the version published in Time, presumably because one of the editors realized that he was not any kind of fanatic but killed because the voices in his head told him to.)
1. John 10 years ago
  
  That got posted a few days ago. I am not even close to being an Objectivist. Criticizing Rand's philosophy is not particularly difficult. These people are so stupid they still manage to do it in an appallingly stupid and insulting way.
  
  The funniest part of all is that if you listen to what most of them say in other contexts, they are really just Objectivists who are too stupid to make the proper logical conclusions from their philosophy. If you think "reason" can get you to the ultimate truth about things and feel that some people are better at it than others, I have a philosophy for you; Objectivism.
  1. Irish ?s ESB 10 years ago
    
    "That got posted a few days ago. I am not even close to being an Objectivist. Criticizing Rand's philosophy is not particularly difficult. These people are so stupid they still manage to do it in an appallingly stupid and insulting way."
    
    I personally really dislike Ayn Rand because her whole Objectivism thing feels way too much like a fucking cult. Especially given that she tried to come up with 'objective' reasons why her musical taste was individualistic, unlike all those fucking collectivist classical composers like MOZART.
    
    This is an actual quote from someone who knew Rand:
    
    "She said she thought that when the ultimate aesthetics of music was someday worked out, each song would be represented by an equation or a series of equations. The difficulty of the equation would be what made the complexity of the music."
    
    She thought music could be explained via equations. There is so much to criticize just in her opinions of music, that it's amazing people have to go off and invent ridiculous reasons to critique her.
    1. WoodchipsandDerp 10 years ago
      
      Herman Hesse explores the idea of music being a product of mathematics in "The Glass Bead Game" as well. It's not a novel concept
    2. Citizen X 10 years ago
      
      She was a lousy novelist and (apparently) a very unpleasant person who had some good things to say about self esteem and individualism. Why leftists find her so worthy of demonization, as an archetypal libertarian no less, i will never understand.
      1. John 10 years ago
        
        They hate her because she absolutely tore apart the post war left. Her good writing is not her novels but her essays on communism and leftism. Those things are devastating. The left wants to talk about her novels so no one notices or reads those.
Derpetologist 10 years ago

I think this pic best captures the essence of Episiarch:

http://www.thepaincomics.com/weekly020320a.htm
1. Citizen X 10 years ago
  
  Epi would never sell his drugs for ANY price, let alone a mere $.05.
Rufus J. Firefly 10 years ago

I can't believe no one has asked Cosby if he fucked Lisa Bonet.
1. Ken Shultz 10 years ago
  
  There's no way Lisa Bonet could have kept her mouth shut for so long about that. That's also how we know Robert De Niro didn't--in spite of his preferences.
  
  P.S. Angel Heart was an awesome flick.
  1. straffinrun 10 years ago
    
    Louis Sipher. Even your name was a dimestore joke.
Ken Shultz 10 years ago

"Are Republicans becoming friendlier towards the idea of easing restrictions on marijuana?"

"Scott Walker: The United States "should not be the world's policeman."

In addition to whatever other reasons there are for why Rand Paul's campaign doesn't seem to be inspiring the same kind of enthusiasm his father's campaign did, it is also true that there is less of a contrast between Rand Paul and the rest of the field than there was between his father and the field Ron Paul was running against.

In other words, it isn't necessarily that Rand Paul isn't libertarian enough. It's also that his competition is a lot more libertarian than his father's competition was.

Ron Paul would have been the only Republican saying that America "should not be the world's policeman". To Ron Paul's competition, easing restrictions on marijuana was insane.
1. Irish ?s ESB 10 years ago
  
  This Republican field is definitely less crazy than those in the past, except for TRUUUUUUMP!
  
  Who's the craziest non-Trump person running so far? We don't have any Herman Cains or Michelle Bachmanns around this time. Bachmann said she might run, but no one will pay any attention to her because she'll be one of 15.
  1. Ken Shultz 10 years ago
    
    I'm hopeful that Trump being the crazy one will deflect that sort of criticism away from Rand.
    
    Going in, I thought Rand Paul getting branded a kook like they did his father was his biggest vulnerability.
    
    When you look at the print out from the kook-a-meter, Rand Paul isn't even on the same graph as Trump.
  2. IndyEleven 10 years ago
    
    Carson
2. Injun, as in from India 10 years ago
  
  The GOP will talk libertarian to win the election. Libertarians may even vote GOP, especially with the left now demanding that the religious violate their conscience to accept gays, and threaten tax-exempt status for churches.
  
  Once they win elections, they will go back to spending, war mongering, and making the government bigger.
  
  That's what the GOP does. They are NOT Democrats in name only.
  1. Ken Shultz 10 years ago
    
    No question, the rest of the Republican field are not libertarian like we're libertarian.
    
    But when Ron Paul was running, the rest of the field were all still legitimate necons.
    
    Legalizing marijuana was positively nutty.
    
    Ron Paul had those issues all to himself--and all the inertia behind them.
    
    To whatever extent, Rand Paul has to split those issues with other candidates.
    
    I think we libertarians in general may suffer from that "problem", too. There are plenty of progressives who imagine that gay marriage is a victory for progressives over libertarianism. If and when the world comes around to seeing things our way on various issues, it's going to become increasingly difficult for us to leverage those issues, as well. So what if we're against the drug war--if everyone else is, too? We haven't gotten to that point yet, but our positions don't seem anywhere near as kooky to people as they did four or eight years ago. I guess that means we're winning, but it comes with certain challenges. And I think Rand Paul's campaign is probably illustrative of that.
  2. Palin's Buttplug 10 years ago
    
    You'll give Red Tony a case of heartburn talking like that.
    1. Citizen X 10 years ago
      
      Hush up, Blue John.
3. Trshmnstr doesn't recycle 10 years ago
  
  In addition to whatever other reasons there are for why Rand Paul's campaign doesn't seem to be inspiring the same kind of enthusiasm his father's campaign did, it is also true that there is less of a contrast between Rand Paul and the rest of the field than there was between his father and the field Ron Paul was running against.
  
  I don't know that I'd go that far this early. Rand appears to be playing the long game. He's doing just enough to stay in the top 5 or 6, but he doesn't want to peak now *cough*Trump*cough* and fizzle out in a month. The candidates that you're not hearing tons about, but are still pulling top 5 or 6 polling numbers are the ones that will still be around in 4 or 5 months when the race really heats up.
  
  Regarding a more libertarian field, I think that's just due to size of field. we have 16 in the race currently, so there's bound to be a few people who say a few good things.
  
  I see the race split into 5 factions. Conservatarian/Tea Party: Paul, Cruz, Walker, Perry, Carson; SnoCones: Huckabeez, Santorum; Diversity Hires: Fiorina, Jindal, Rubio; Establishment: Kasich, Bush, Christie, Pataki, Graham; Rabbit: Trump.
  
  I think it'll shake out to 10 by the second or third debate: 3 from the Conservatarian/Tea Party side, 1 SnoCone, 2 Diversity hires, 3 from the Establishment and Trump.
Sevo 10 years ago

There's a coastal town in No. CA named Fort Bragg:

"Black lawmakers say Fort Bragg should lose rebel's name"
http://www.sfgate.com/news/art.....392054.php

The claim is he supported slavery, sorta like, oh, Thomas Jefferson, I'd say.
AlmightyJB 10 years ago

Do you know who else said the U.S. should not be the world's policemen?
1. Citizen X 10 years ago
  
  Charles de Gaulle?
  1. AlmightyJB 10 years ago
    
    I was thinking specifically of George W Bush when campaigning for his first term. He was applauded by conservatives for saying that. 8 years later Giuliani was applauded by conservatives for saying the U.S.should be the world police. Bush was responding to Clinton's policy. Giuliani to Bush's and Walker to Obamas. I see a trend.
Warty 10 years ago

This Is The Most Important Passage In Ta-Nehisi Coates's New Book

Never mind Ta-Nehisi's gibberish, the Gawker gibberish is much better.

In tracing a line from America's original sin of slavery to sharecropping to redlining to white flight and a car-centered culture that is warming and destroying our planet, Coates is saying quite literally that white supremacy is destroying the world. This outlook is bleak, and terrifying, and crushing, especially because Coates's philosophy doesn't allow for God, or afterlife, or escape. It doesn't absolve whites who aren't racist, or know not to use racial slurs; it doesn't save blacks who have suffered in hopes that it magically gets better; it doesn't permit any escape from history, even if the heart of every man, woman, and child were to change tonight. It's bigger than that. It is also elegant in its way. White supremacy, the most destructive force in the world, will be what ultimately destroys it.

Cars are racism, racism is global warming, crackers are cars. SYLLOGISWND
1. Warty 10 years ago
  
  Don't miss the comments.
  
  No. Through colonialism & imperialism white supremacy touches all parts of the globe. Asia is are both a benefactor and victim of it. Capitalism was made possible by the oppression of white supremacy, Asia, even China are beholden to the western world more than we want to admit. They've adopted oppressive economics based in capitalism. The language of business in China is English, they, in their own way, are taking part in the robbing of bodies and wealth of Africa and South America. I'm sure many are just as racist as white people here in the US and those in Europe, especially against the African diaspora. White supremacy, the mindset, impacts every race. That is why we have the Clarence Thomas's of the world. The strive to be white, or white like, the strive to adopt to white/Eurocentric culture. White supremacy knows no borders, it touches all lands, all nations, all people.
  1. Citizen X 10 years ago
    
    Jesus. It's amazing that people can hyperventilate that much without losing consciousness.
  2. straffinrun 10 years ago
    
    If you keep posting that stuff I'm going back to zerohedge.
  3. Juvenile Bluster 10 years ago
    
    At least the current top comment calls the author out on his bullshit.
    
    This passage is complete bullshit.
    
    Nobody, and I mean nobody, raped the environment like the Soviets did...except perhaps the Chinese under Mao. You think mountaintop removal mining and Glen Canyon Dam are bad? Take a look at photos of Norilsk sometime, or the denuded hillsides that choked the reservoirs behind Yangtze-basin dams meant to prevent flooding that instead just pushed the problem further upstream, with bigger body counts.
    
    White supremacy played zip, zero, zilch role in the Communist superpowers' industrialization, unless you're going to try to argue that they were doing so to protect themselves against imperialist Western and Western-influenced states?never mind that imperialism existed thousands of years before the invention of whiteness, and will exist for thousands of years thereafter.
    1. crab_apple 10 years ago
      
      Marx was a white guy, though.
    2. Don Mynack 10 years ago
      
      Reading that, I was wondering if Coates actually got an entire book out of that kind of gibberish. Because I have liked a lot of this stuff in the Atlantic, and his famous "reparations" piece is the best thing about the blatantly racist policies of the FHA that I have ever read.

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