A.M. Links: Trump Is Now GOP Frontrunner, More Email Troubles for Hillary Clinton, Thai Police Seek Prime Suspect in Bangkok Bombing

• 

  Credit: Todd Kranin

  According to a new poll, Donald Trump is now the clear frontrunner in the GOP presidential race.

• Thai police are searching for a man caught on video who may be connected to yesterday's Bangkok bombing.

• "More than 300 of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails—or 5.1 percent of those processed so far—have been flagged for potential secret information, the State Department reported to a federal court Monday."

• Jeb Bush: "There are like 10 things I would change in the Constitution with a magic wand."

• Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Chaka Fattah is scheduled to make his first court appearance today in his federal racketeering case.

• Police in Bangladesh have arrested three men in connection with the brutal murders of secular bloggers Avijit Roy and Ananta Bijoy Das.

New at Reason.com

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• Can Even the President Reverse the Destructive Trend Toward Occupational Licensing? Restrictions on entering trades and professions are so bad that even the White House acknowledges the damage they do. By J.D. Tuccille

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Donald Trump is now the clear frontrunner in the GOP presidential race.

He's your next president!

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I'm sorry, am I insane for thinking a poll in August the year before an election is completely irrelevant? I can't be the only person who sees this, right?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Maybe Ben Carson will split the Tea Party vote with Trump and Jeb Bush will glide to victory.

[lap83]

I hope it's irrelevant. Trump and Bush in the top two? Great.

[expat]

No, you are not insane. And the "fall" will be in typical Trump style... it will be SPECTACTULAR. I will enjoy seeing it. Unfortunately, it will also damage the GOP brand to the point that it will be impossible for the party to produce a candidate that has any chance to beat Hillary. But then again, the party is probably not capable of doing that even with Trumps "help"!

[lap83]

Every candidate has a chance at beating Hillary. The problem is whether they'd be much better.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Trump is far better suited to handle campaign adversity than the other recent GOP dumbass frontrunners like Michele Bachman and Flava Cain.

If it were Ben Carson there would be a 100% chance of a flameout. Trump is only about 25%.

I look forward to when it is paired down to Jeb Vs Trump and the insults get personal.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Hillary won't win the nomination. At this rate, she'll be lucky to stay out of prison.

Joe Biden should be the man you're afraid of.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

It's always the quiet ones you have to be wary of.

[Greg Loves His Woodchipper]

"And if you noticed, I ain't said shit for a couple minutes now!"

[Emmerson Biggins]

whoa.

NWH?

[Greg Loves His Woodchipper]

We got some hats now, muthafuckas!

I haven't seen that movie in over 10, maybe close to 15 years. Might be time for a re-watching. Love it.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Afraid? Holy shit Biden will be an epic president. I will totally vote for him. The freaking LULZ will be beyond awesome.

[Florida Man]

At least Joe has some humility.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Really? Joe "I am smarter than you!" Biden?

[Florida Man]

I didn't hear that one. From what I've heard, he is pretty decent to the help. Obviously I don't know that for sure.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

I've never heard that, but makes me detest him a little less, if true.

I always heard that Gore was terrible toward staff, and I get the impression that the Obamas are, as well.

[dan'o en barrel]

Here's a Gore scene that will never make it to print: (picking up his son from the local county lockup) "If you don't get your life together, you're going to wind up like them! (Pointing to secret service detail, who mentally rebut that this dui would bar young Gore from ever joining their ranks.)

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

As revealed by a video shown on C-SPAN,[32][33] when questioned by a New Hampshire resident about his grades in law school, Biden had replied "I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect,"[34] and then inaccurately recollected graduating in the "top half" of his class when he actually graduated 76th from 85, that he had attended law school on a full scholarship, and had received three degrees in college.[35] In fact, he had earned a single B.A. with a double major in history and political science, and had received a half scholarship to law school based on financial need with some additional assistance based in part upon academics.[35] During this time, Biden also released his undergraduate grades, which were unexceptional.[29]

[Frank Frankelson]

This seems to be true, my boss did a "military child" thing with the Veep and Levar Burton at the Naval Observatory a few months back. His description of Biden made him seem like a pretty decent guy. Of course, that doesn't make me like his politics anymore than I did before, but it does cause me to have a little more respect for the guy.

[Bill Dalasio]

The freaking LULZ will be beyond awesome.

They would be. If they were happening to someone else.

[Mickey Rat]

It is the silly season, I think .

[commodious spittoon]

I posted last night a Fox poll from August 2011 that had Perry far and away ahead of Romney, who was polling just ahead of Paul.

They're completely irrelevant.

[Episteme]

I don't know ?let's check in with President Bachmann and see what she thinks!

[Swiss Servator, zum Haus]

MOAR TRUMP!!!!\

/Reason

I find myself skipping posts now....do you want that Reason?

[gaijin]

Who Is Donald Trump?

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

It's more of a what than a who.

[Mickey Rat]

Reason Hears a What.

[straffinrun]

The main character in Atlas Trumped.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

*blinks...begins applause*

[Medical Physics Guy]

In which a high-security wall impenetrable to immigrants is built around a small remote section of Colorado named "Trump's Gulch".

[gaijin]

well done!

[Bill Dalasio]

Can we please get to the part where Donald Trump withdraws from the world and takes a job as a day laborer?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"Jeb Bush: "There are like 10 things I would change in the Constitution with a magic wand."

When they start to talk this way...watch out.

[WTF]

By "magic wand" he means "appointments to the Supreme Court".

[UnCivilServant]

My list isn't that long - atrong balanced budget requirement. One term term limits for all levels of government, and candidates for office must be chosen by sortition (then the election is held once they state their opinions for the public to contemplate)

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

Not a Jeb fan, but it was a throw away line. He was merely pointing out that revoking birthright citizenship would require a constitutional amendment. Yes, the statement is a 'dog whistle' to a segment of readership here, myself included, but RFA. There is no substance to the statement.

[UnCivilServant]

No, it would only take five votes.

[Zaytsev]

IOW a typical Jeb!ism.

[DJF]

Bush says he has ten things he would like to change but does not say what they are and nobody bothers to ask.

[Episteme]

Rick Perry, on the other hand, only has three things...

...he remembered two of them when asked.

[SimonJester]

I dunno. I glanced at (not read) the article and I didn't see his 10-things, list. So, really, it depends on what they are. I am sure that, if we brainstormed, we could come up with 10 changes that would make the US more explicitly libertarian. Amendments about legal contracts? Amendments restricting forfiture and policing for profit? How about more restrictions of government power? These are changes that, I think, most libertarians could get behind, and they would be changes to the US Constitution.

Now, given, I dont think this is what bush has in mind. His changes are likely more along the lines of "Give me your stuff" and "Stop bitching about my lordship," but, still, until he enumerates them, I don't want to throw him under the bus for this. (Other things, yes, but not this.)

[Fist of Etiquette]

More than 300 of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's emails?or 5.1 percent of those processed so far?have been flagged for potential secret information...

Who here thinks email will be the thing that's Hillary's undoing?

[Swiss Servator, zum Haus]

35% chance Teh Lightworker sticks to her on the way out the door... because spite.

[ScoobaSteve]

What do you think of this scenario?
Hillary gets elected
Prior to inauguration Hillary is arrested by FBI
Hillary cannot be sworn in a president
Obama claims he must remain president

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Delightfully fit for the old conspiracy boards.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

5%

I'm reminded of the election of 1800 when a small contingent of Federalists were hoping to play out the clock to inauguration day

[SimonJester]

This is only possible if we are ALSO at war.

I like this theory and have put it forward elsewhere. However, as somebody mentioned to me, if Hil is arrested, we get her VP as president and the speaker of the house as VP. It would take some really incredible legal footwork for Obama to remain in power for a third term.

However, if we are at war -- a possibility -- becuase emergency powers and keeping the country safe and right man for the job and FYTW, Obama might be able to swing it.

[ScoobaSteve]

Say this scenario played out, how long would it take to actually get Obama out, if he wouldn't go willingly? Who would have the authority, power, and/or will to physically remove him?

[UnCivilServant]

I'd bet that the Secret Service would drag him bodily from the building. After all, he's a security threat to the incoming president.

[UnCivilServant]

*even if they don't know who that is yet.

[SimonJester]

That depends on how long we are at war. The longer the war, the longer the american people can be kept in a state of fear, the longer he can consolidate his power and, thus, the longer he will stay in power after the threat vanishes.

Truthfully, I don't think he WANTS to be president anymore. He kinda sucks at it and everyone knows it. I think he wants to back down quietly and start making his billions of dollars. He isn't a fool, he knows that if he backs down and starts living on speaking fees and community organization and so forth he can say a lot more, worry even less (shocking!) about facts, and make gobs and gobs of money.

[CatoTheChipper]

And with Speilberg managing his "narrative" and the inherent nature of government education, his position in history is secure. Everything bad will be remembered as the fault of Bush, recalcitrant Republicans, or his successor. Everything good will be due to the One's visionary leadership to inspire HopenChange and the spirit of YesWeCan necessary to fundamentally transform America.

[CatoTheChipper]

How about this scenario?

Hilary is disqualified due to indictment and arrest, but before the Democrat convention.

Her delegates are released, and after much political machinations, Michele Obama emerges as the nominee to become America's Evita.

Trump gets the Republican nomination, so the race would be between an American Evita and an American Berlusconi.

[bacon-magic]

In reality Fauxcahontas Warren will be the nominee. Just going to be close to election time so they can weasel any truths out of her. She will be worst than Obama.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Maybe she'll be buried under an avalanche of them.

[gaijin]

She will be found to be above the law by the current DoJ...because...D

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Well you can't spell DoJ without D.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Or "OJ"!

/Orenthal James Simpson

[WTF]

Did he ever find the real killer?

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

He deputized the Lightworker to continue searching golf courses, what with him being in prison and all.

[Episteme]

The deleted emails? It's a diary about the search for the real killer!

[Princess Trigger]

Probably... but the counter-intelligence guys will want some blood for this.
That's why her loyal minions should be lawyering up (not Clinton-provided lawyers either) since they're the ones who are going to end up with their heads on pikes.

Of course, the D tribe has a problem with their front runner having a campaign slogan of "Hillary! Technically, she's not under investigation for undermining national security!"

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

I read somewhere yesterday that her loyal minions ARE lawyering up. As they should, because it's going to be hitting the fan soon.

I don't trust DoJ to handle this, but if any segment is going to go for blood, it will be the intelligence crowd.

Part of me also suspects that Barry, who it known to have never been a fan of the Clintons, will exact his revenge when the moment is right.

[SimonJester]

Only if he is also implicated. If there is evidence that turns against him, yes, he will F her like a cigar, but, short of that, he knows that her coming to power means cash and spotlight for him.

[ant1sthenes]

Or, that nature abhors a vacuum, and putting the Clintons in jail and shutting down their foundation means more room and $$$ for the new Obama foundation.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, if the Clintons are sidelined, the Obamas are the undisputed leaders of the Democratic party for the next 4-8 years.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

I do love, however, that her supporters' argument has essentially come down to "Yeah, but there isn't any incontrovertible proof that she's a criminal!"

[Princess Trigger]

"Yeah, but there isn't any incontrovertible proof that she's a criminal!"

That just screams 'Presidential Material'

[gaoxiaen]

She must have been inspired by "Lamar!"

[Jerryskids]

What should disqualify Hillary is the shit like what I heard her saying yesterday, that the whole Benghazi scandal was just her critics using 4 dead heroes to play politics and that she refused to get down in the mud with them because her only interest in Benghazi was seeing to it that this sort of thing never happened again.
.
"My only interest in Benghazi is seeing to it that this doesn't happen again." No, the whole scandal is that you insisted for weeks that Benghazi was a crowd of demonstrators pissed off about a Youtube video that got a little out of hand while your own people - while the attack was going on - were saying this was an organized military-style operation. Suggesting there was some sort of serious intelligence or security breakdown that needs to be fixed if you want to see to it that this sort of thing doesn't happen again and that you're not going to fix the problem by going after a Youtube videomaker. The big deal about Benghazi is that your only interest was in covering your own ass rather than 'seeing to it that this never happens again' as it should have been. But sure, you're the victim here.
.
And her audience applauded that line like a pack of trained seals.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"My only interest in Benghazi is seeing to it that this doesn't happen again."

Which is why when the investigation tried to pin down what happened she turned on the waterworks instead of relaying what she knew.

[R C Dean]

WDATPDIM and "I don't want that to ever happen again" being mutually exclusive, of course.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

82) I think the main quality in myself that I see as leading me to libertarian thought is humility. I can't say what's good for anybody else. I turn 40 tomorrow, and even after four decades I barely understand myself, my own marriage, my own relationships with children and family and employers, or what makes me happy. How then do I have any authority to tell others what to do? I don't have that knowledge, that level of insight into human nature. There are any number of things that don't seem like they'd be right for me?meth or coke; polyamory; owning a boat, horse, or plane; gay sex; nudism; devil worship; drag racing; homelessness; Scientology or Raelism; homeschooling or living off the grid; whatever. But I can't say these things aren't right for other people. If somebody else reports these things are just what they need, how can I say they are wrong?

[Jerryskids]

Does that same humility lead you to believe that some people are maybe wiser than you, that maybe if these wise men wrote a Constitution that has endured for almost a hundred years, maybe you should hesitate to wave your magic wand and just start changing stuff in it?

[Free Society]

They might be. But I don't think Alexander Hamilton was so much wise as he was a lying sack of shit who sacrificed our liberties early on to facilitate an empire. He even came right out and admitted that he lied to legislatures about the meaning of the Commerce Clause and General Welfare so that they would ratify it.

They got some things wrong in the Constitution, clearly. It's not exactly a manifesto of liberty, the one or two amendments in the BoR that are still consistently applied notwithstanding.

[WTF]

So, you're a fan of Aaron Burr, I take it?

[Free Society]

Admittedly I don't know much about Aaron Burr, but he did shoot the guy. So he can't be all bad.

[Jerryskids]

Alexander Hamilton's best known writing is probably "Report on the Subject of Manufactures", which called for the government to guide the economy through tariffs and subsidies toward producing the 'right' stuff. Yeah, I ain't shedding any tears for that particular anti-free market proto-crony capitalist who wasn't wise enough to see the limits of his wisdom. (I have no doubt Hamilton meant well, and in theory it's good to have the government promoting good stuff and discouraging bad stuff, but where are the omniscient angels we can trust to make the decision as to what's good or bad with no concern for lining their own pockets? Giving government the power to do good things necesssarily gives them the power to do bad things and we all know which way that tree leans.)
.
What flaws in the Constitution would I change if I had a magic wand? I accept that Madison was a hell of a lot wiser than me and that if he couldn't produce a flawless document my attempts would almost certainly be worse. However tempting it might be, I've learned the hard way that you're generally better off leaving good enough alone, trying to fix shit that don't really need fixing only makes things worse, so I'd just go toss the magic wand in the fire.

[Free Society]

I accept that Madison was a hell of a lot wiser than me and that if he couldn't produce a flawless document my attempts would almost certainly be worse.

You posses a couple hundred years of hindsight, I don't see how that could be. The Commerce Clause isn't good enough. The General Welfare Clause isn't good enough. The thousands of liberty stifling, wealth destroying policies predicated on those clauses is ample enough evidence of that.

[CatoTheChipper]

"the one or two amendments in the BoR that are still consistently applied"

Amendment III is still pretty much consistently applied. Beside that I can't think of any.

[Free Society]

I would have said Amendment II. And aren't LEOs still taking over people's home with impunity to conduct surveillance etc?

[ace_m82]

"Shall not be infringed"? Really?

[Free Society]

I would have said Amendment II. And aren't LEOs still taking over people's home with impunity to conduct surveillance etc?

[Free Society]

I would have said Amendment II. And aren't LEOs still taking over people's home with impunity to conduct surveillance etc?

[WTF]

Amendment II is not consistently applied. Various states are allowed various levels of infringement, up to and including prohibition of carry.

[Free Society]

More or less. There's a window of variability, but unlike the other Amendments, I know of no loopholes that can be applied to almost any situation, unlike "3rd party disclosure" or "I smell marijuana" on the 4th Amendment.

[R C Dean]

You realize that's a hell of a long way from "shall not be infringed", right?

[Free Society]

You realize that without the 2nd Amendment, we wouldn't have any enforceable gun rights whatsoever in the US? When talking about the enforcability of the BoR, it's relative. None of those Amendments is more applicable than the 2nd.

I'm not a constitutionalist. I take the Spooner position on it's usefulness. But it's hard to imagine that I'd have a closet full of guns if it weren't for that one constitutional provision that has held up remarkably well compared to others.

[Warren's Strapon]

I more or less agree with you, and go a step further: it is distasteful to me to try to control the lives of others, just as it would be if I stepped in a pile of horseshit or found a dead mouse on my sandwich.

[Fist of Etiquette]

There are like 10 things I would change in the Constitution with a magic wand.

No doubt that list would grow if he became president.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"magic wand"

Is that what we're calling the signing statement pen now?

[gaijin]

But wait, aren't there 26 unique amendments?

[Jerryskids]

And this is exactly why the Constitution is designed to ensure that no man has that sort of power - because sooner or later that power falls into the hands of somebody stupid enough or arrogant enough or evil enough to think they are fit to wield that sort of power. You don't think Hillary has a little list as well, Jeb?
.
Besides which - you got a magic wand and you're going to use it to change the Constitution you sick bastard? How's about you use it to cure cancer, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, let the Browns win a Superbowl, that sort of thing?

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

How's about you use it to cure cancer, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, let the Browns win a Superbowl, that sort of thing?

Whoa, whoa, whoa....lets keep it realistic, eh?

[commodious spittoon]

Who's a likelier candidate, Bears or Browns?

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

This century?

Neither.

[Enough About Woodchippers]

Here's the better question: Vikings / Browns Superbowl, who loses?

[commodious spittoon]

The stadium hosting it.

[The Last American Hero]

I'd use it to become admissions director for that sorority video we were watching earlier, but that's just me.

[gaoxiaen]

First, he'd use his magic wand to exchange wives with Trump.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Jeb Bush: "There are like 10 things I would change in the Constitution with a magic wand."

And You Just Won't Believe Number 6!

[Swiss Servator, zum Haus]

Number 4 will shock you!

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Free shit for everyone!

[straffinrun]

Roberts reads that as "five".

[Fist of Etiquette]

This one weird trick for shedding those unsightly constitutional protections.

[SimonJester]

Read the list before it is banned! (Civil Liberties advocates hate him!)

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Jeb Bush would change the Constitution. That's not okay.

[R C Dean]

So would I, at this point.

The multitudinous de facto amendments and pretextual interpretations that unleashed the total state need to be nullified.

Plus, I think we would benefit from a few structural changes as well.

All, really, just to restore the original scheme (only with less slavery this time).

[SimonJester]

Restore the original scheme and be more clear about what folks are and are not allowed to do.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Chaka Fattah is scheduled to make his first court appearance today in his federal racketeering case.

And then onto re-election by landslide.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Lucky for him he didn't get caught sending a dick pic to a random woman. That shit gets you kicked out of Congress.

[Mickey Rat]

Sending dick pics offends a Dem cpnstituency group, racketeering does not.

[ant1sthenes]

He embarrassed the wrong politician's girlfriend.

[CatoTheChipper]

I see what you did there.

[Idle Hands]

I wonder what their recruitment video will look like:

Two women have completed the Army's tough Ranger School, officials say. Both are in their 20s and are lieutenants. NPR's Tom Bowman reports that the women, whose names haven't been released, attended West Point and will graduate with the rest of their Ranger class on Friday. The Pentagon has not decided whether they will be approved for ground combat.
"They'll now wear the Ranger tab on their uniforms," Tom says. "A coveted award among infantry soldiers."

[Monty Crisco]

Wonder how they tortured their standards to graduate them?
There is no shame or sexism in saying it: Men are physically stronger than women. And women are better at birthing children than men.

I did not make these rules.

[WTF]

Wonder how they tortured their standards to graduate them?

My thought as well. Affirmative Action Rangers?

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

Just off the top of my head, using the PT standards for women and lighter pack loads, er loads based on physical stature or such. I would say on the whole Ranger School is more about stamina and endurance that raw physical strength other than a couple of places. Going with little sleep for an extended period and still put one foot in front of the other AND make good decisions.

[JeremyR]

Are you kidding? SJWs are still bitching about how sexist and evil it was for AD&D to limit female fighters strength to 18/50 as opposed to men who go up to 18/100.

Many of them tell tearful stories about how this shattered their self image.

(I am not kidding, go to RPG.net, the bastion of SJWs in gaming and see for yourself)

[Frank Frankelson]

This has been all over the vet sites on my derpbook. From what I have read it seems that they did not lower the standards, I am skeptical, but who knows. All of this is really clouded by "girl power!" the political agenda. I smell a Jessica Lynch situation.

[Lord Humungus]

Painted, near-naked ladies on the prowl for cash in exchange for pictures in Times Square angering tourists

No not naked ladies!! Get away, you jezebel!

[Atanarjuat]

If you were thinking of clicking on the embedded YouTube video with the intention of seeing some pert young breasts in action... Don't.

[Lord Humungus]

August 18 is the anniversary of the death of Genghis Khan: founder of Mongolian Empire, prolific spreader of DNA, and climate change hero

Today is the anniversary of the death of Genghis Khan (wiki) (ca. 1162-1227), the founder and emperor of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history. Born in the Khenti Mountains of modern-day Mongolia, Genghis rose to power amid a grouping of warring tribes in northwest Asia and eventually united them into a powerful nomadic army that conquered most of the Chin empire of northern China (1213-15). Subsequently, from 1218 through 1224, he subjugated Turkistan, Transoxonia, and Afghanistan and raided Persia and eastern Europe. (For a generation after his death, his sons and grandsons pushed the Empire even farther, but ultimately, it fractured into several khanates and faded away.) Genghis Khan was one of history's most inspired - and ruthless - military leaders, yet he is buried in an unmarked grave at some unknown location. At one point in his ascendancy he is said to have remarked,

[Lord Humungus]

"Conquering the world on horseback is easy: it is dismounting and governing that is hard."

[Mike M.]

KHAAAAN!

[The Last American Hero]

Hardcore History's series in Genghis Khan is well worth the listen.

[CatoTheChipper]

Not just worth the the listen, it is also quite enjoyable. Dan Carlin is a great storyteller when he's not talking about modern politics.

[Lord Humungus]

Agree on that. I downloaded some of his political podcasts... and was disappointed.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

My sun and stars!

[bacon-magic]

Khaleesi, get back in the tent and get me some horse meat woman! *smacks her on cute round ass

[Lord Humungus]

Hillary Clinton is her own worst enemy

So I wish Hillary Clinton would be respectful enough to say, "I'm sorry. I was wrong." I wish she wouldn't insult our intelligence by claiming she only did what other secretaries of state had done. None of her predecessors, after all, went to the trouble and expense of a private e-mail server.

I wish she would explain why, after turning over to the State Department the e-mails she deemed work-related, she had the server professionally wiped clean. The explanation that she didn't want people prying into private matters such as "planning for [daughter] Chelsea's wedding .?.?. as well as yoga routines, family vacations, the other things you typically find in inboxes" is unconvincing. Does she have some secret yoga move she doesn't want the world to know about?

[straffinrun]

Clinton is NOT her own worst enemy.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

She is is the Amercan People's worst enemy.

She may, in fact, be the devil.

/Doc Holiday

[Mickey Rat]

But Robinson will support her anyway, thereny vallidating her insults to his intelligence.

[Lord Humungus]

Ahead of Obamacare Repeal Rollout, Scott Walker Stocks Up On Policy Advisers Familiar With Capitol Hill

After appearing at the Iowa State Fair Monday, Walker is set to detail his health care proposal Tuesday at a screw machine products company in the Minneapolis-St. Paul suburbs.

What he says should be largely familiar to those familiar with efforts by congressional Republicans to craft replacements for Obamacare. An outline obtained by CQ Roll Call shows the plan features turning much of the power over Medicaid decisions to state governments.

But it says it would maintain tax credits for those who do not get employer-provided health care, a provision allowing health insurance to be purchased across state lines and expanded health savings accounts.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Walker is the Tim Pawlenty of 2016.

[SusanM]

Is it wise for any politician to make an announcement at a screw-related factory or is the joke so overdone by now?

[Lord Humungus]

Tony Abbott is a climate change 'villain', says Canadian author Naomi Klein

"One part I find particularly shocking is that Australia is very much on the frontline of climate change," she said.

"Also, being a Pacific nation, your closest neighbours are facing a truly existential threat. So I find it even more shocking that Australia is a hotbed of climate denial."

Klein said climate change would exacerbate social problems such as racism and inequality, predicting Australia would become "meaner" as it gets hotter.

"You see that in Australia where the treatment of migrants is a profound moral crisis," she said. "It's clear that as sea levels rise that this mean streak and open racism is going to become more extreme ? climate change is an accelerant to all those other issues."

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Man, she is getting even more daft as the years roll by.

[SugarFree]

If all you ever had was sex with half-gay Canadian activiboys, you'd be daft too.

[gaijin]

half-gay Canadian activiboys

Is this some kind of slang term for a dog?

[UnCivilServant]

Dogs have more dignity

[tarran]

I don't think Naomi Klein actually said this. I believe it wo be a made up quote.

Nowhere in it does she mention how Satan Milton Friedman is behind this current evil.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"frontline of climate change"
"hotbed of climate denial"
"profound moral crisis"

Sometime I'm going to try to spend an entire day speaking in nothing but cliches so I can be a great thinker like Naomi Klein.

[Warty]

Nothing ever changes

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Man, oh, man.

And she has supporters.

[Medical Physics Guy]

in Australia where the treatment of migrants is a profound moral crisis,

This is not Europe's view. AFAICT the entire EU is trying to figure out how they can emulate Australia's migrant policies, and how quickly.

[Lord Humungus]

Police: Drunk NY man has his 10-year-old drive him home

The Times Union of Albany reports police in the Saratoga County town of Stillwater were contacted by a motorist on Saturday who saw the child driving the truck on Route 9P.

Police say officers pulled over the truck and found that the 10-year-old was behind the wheel while his father, 46-year-old John Barling of Saratoga Springs, was intoxicated in the passenger seat.

Police say the child was picked up by a relative and Barling was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and permitting unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Driving a car is not really that hard. If a ten-year old can see over the windshield, and has a parent in the car to supervise, is it really a big deal for him to drive?

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Why do you hate the chillinz, Sermon?

[tarran]

I had an elderly neighbor who had learned to drive in the era before driver's licenses. She said she was driving on her own at age 13.

[Mickey Rat]

If the parent is too drunk to drive, he may be too drunk to supervise?

[DrZaius]

No, I don't even understand why states require drivers licenses. That was funny, I realize why they do. It's the closest they can get to mandatory papers for the citizens.

[tarran]

Back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the proggies basically wanted to license any new profession under the sun.

Had the Model T hit the country in 1870, I doubt there would be drivers licenses except for teamsters driving trucks.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

I spent a college summer working for my older brother in NC. We spent an afternoon imbibing at the home of a friend of his who was a 'collector' of cars. He had 50 or more vehicles in various states of rust parked in the woods of his property. Some of them ran and his 10-year old daughter would drive them on the oval track that was worn into a field. In my inebreated state and the peculiar (to me at the time) circumstance in which I found myself, I very much enjoyed the conservation we had as she took me for a ride around the track.

Sorry, Old Man w/ Candy. That is all there is to the story.

[The Last American Hero]

It worked for Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom film.

[Lord Humungus]

Dublin Airport seized a Minion 'fart gun' from a toddler, called it a security risk

Sure, it might be a pain to separate liquids into a bag and having to go through scanners and so forth, but it's all to put your mind at ease. However, Dublin Airport's security might have taken it one step too far.

When passing through security at the airport, a Minion fart gun - seen below - was seized from a young toddler and taken away. The security officers claimed it was a 'threat' and took the toy gun away from the child.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I smuggle my fart gun inside of me.

Interpret that how you wish.

[Elspeth Flashman]

It's also a security risk, though.

[Jerryskids]

it's all to put your mind at ease is the most telling line in the story. Unfortunately, I don't think the writer actually meant it the way I interpreted it.

[Lord Humungus]

Kentucky woman fires gun at two 8-year-old children while babysitting them, blames alcohol

Deputies responding to the call said that they believed the children because Cornett greeted them with a cocked pistol.

"She met him with a loaded pistol, and it was cocked," Sheriff Colan Harrell told WKYT, adding that "her explanation was that she had been on medication and had been drinking."

"The deputies took the gun and it had two spent cartridges in it and three empty cartridges were laying on the table inside. The kids were not hit fortunately, but they went through a lot," Harrell explained to WLEX.

Investigators suspected that three other shots were fired inside the home.

Neil Diamond hit hardest.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Crackshot (not) Rosie?

[sarcasmic]

She answered a knock from the cops with a gun in her hand and lived to tell the tale? Wow.

[PM]

Blame it on the alcohol

[Atanarjuat]

Proposal in 2016 Obama budget could end taxpayer-subsidized stadiums

The item, which seeks to "repeal tax-exempt bond financing of professional sports facilities," would the end construction of new stadiums being funded by taxpayer-financed, tax-free bonds.

I'm not sure what to think of the method the administration is going about this (how do they have authority over local government issuing bonds?), but the end result--not raping taxpayers for private gain--is desirable.

Which brings me to the obviously very short list I've been working on, things Obama has done that I and other libertarians don't hate. Maybe some of you can add to it.

1. Cancelling the Constellation boondoggle.
2. Opening relations with Cuba.

[UnCivilServant]

Fun fact - the administration will make no attempt to get back the $7 billlion in assets of US citizens seized by the castros, nor pressure them to release political prisoners, and hasn't (to my knowledge) repudiated the claims that we owe them millions.

Also, the cubans still haven't cashed their rent checks on Guantanimo.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Castro accidentally cashed one.

[Free Society]

I have no doubt that he will cower and capitulate on all those aforementioned issues, then get in front of a camera and talk about what a negotiating badass he is.

[Episteme]

Via Hanlon's Razor, I've taken to explaining Obama's haste in reopening relations with Cuba and Iran ?while ignoring the political situations in both countries that actually led to the suspension of relations in the first place ?to the man having a mid-life crisis rather than any actual politics or philosophy on his part. It's no surprise that he signed up for Spotify and told everyone who would listen about his new hipster playlists just in time for the Cuban Embassy opening...

[The Last American Hero]

3. Playing golf instead of coming up with more bone headed legislation.

[Medical Physics Guy]

Proposal in 2016 Obama budget could end taxpayer-subsidized stadiums

Stepping in to restrain, when local governments rape their taxpayers. This is what the FedGov should actually be doing.

[Free Society]

If they have the authority. The federal government is just a central government when it can simply tell the lower orders what to do.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

The feds can say what is federally tax free as far as bond interest...I assume the state would still leave that tax free as far as they are concerned.

I applaud this, if it is submitted to Congress and passed into law.

[Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)]

If I understand it, the proposal is to end the tax-free (at the federal level) status of the bonds issued by municipalities (when used to finance stadiums only?). This would put them on an equal footing with corporate-issued bonds, and, I suspect, make them less desirable because you'd still have to deal with politicians (and the inherent graft that involves) to get them, where corporate bonds could be issued without such sleaziness.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

They killed the rockets and kept the $8BB capsule. I'm not willing to call that a win.

[Atanarjuat]

My understanding was the rockets were a massive pork-spending waste that was never going to fly due to integral design flaws.

[Lord Humungus]

Maybe Hillary Clinton just isn't a very good candidate

And yet, here we are. Clinton is in the midst of a full-scale Democratic freakout due to her faltering poll numbers and ongoing questions about how she has handled her private e-mail server. Joe Biden is considering running. Al Gore's name -- yes, Al Gore -- was even floated!

What gives? Increasingly, Democrats -- privately, of course -- have begun to wonder whether the problem is not the campaign but the candidate.

"She has always been awkward and uninspiring on the stump," said one senior Democratic consultant granted anonymity to candidly assess Clinton's candidacy. "Hillary has Bill's baggage and now her own as secretary of state -- without Bill's personality, eloquence or warmth."

[Mickey Rat]

This has been known for at least 23 years, and they are just twiggibg onto it now?

[Zeb]

No shit. She's always been terrible and just comes off as phony and wooden. And she seems to be getting worse.

[Jerryskids]

I have seen more than one reference to the fact that Joe Biden's 'gaffes' make him more appealing and likeable and 'regular Joe-ish' than Hillary to the average voter. You gotta have a seriously flawed personality if people prefer 'dingus' as a Presidential trait to whatever you've got.

[Jerryskids]

I have seen more than one reference to the fact that Joe Biden's 'gaffes' make him more appealing and likeable and 'regular Joe-ish' than Hillary to the average voter. You gotta have a seriously flawed personality if people prefer 'dingus' as a Presidential trait to whatever you've got.

[Lord Humungus]

China stocks slump 6 percent on fears of further yuan depreciation

Chinese stocks plunged on Tuesday as the yuan weakened against the dollar, reigniting fears that Beijing may be intent on a deeper devaluation of the currency despite the central bank's comments that it sees no reason for a further slide.

Concerns that companies may pull more money out of China as the economy slows and speculation that the government may begin to scale back its massive support for the country's stock markets also prompted investors to take profits after a run-up in prices over the last few weeks, traders said.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC closed down 6.1 percent at 3,749.12 points in its biggest daily decline since July 27, snapping a three-day winning streak.

[John]

I think we can now refer to China as one giant majong piece about to topple the rest of the world's dominoes. All of the knuckle dragging nuts like me have been saying for years this was going to happen. The top men of course assured everyone this was crazy and everyone should "be China for a day".

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Meh.

Personally, I'd rather be Somalia for a day.

[LynchPin1477]

I would really like to hear more about this from Reason.

Absent that, if anyone has a good summary of the situation to date, I'd be much obliged if you'd pass it along.

[Jordan]

Michael Pettis is a good source.

[Idle Hands]

Does Veronica Rugby still contribute here? Frankly, I was surprised they didn't have an article on the death of Robert Conquest.

[Idle Hands]

*Veronique de Rugy

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Damn you, Idle - there are moar Trump articles to be written!!!!

[Je suis Woodchipper]

mish writes for the layman and has been covering China for as long as i've read him. possibly a decade. it's been a long, slow build-up. their central bank's actions which will compound the reset. if their commies got out of the way, China's entrepreneurs would really flourish.

[Episteme]

On the topic of the yuan collapse, Kevin D. Williamson had a good piece last week dealing with malinvestment in both China and the US, including involvement the Ex-Im Bank's "investments" overseas amid renewed industrial contraction.

What's Happening in China Is Happening Here

[some guy]

Hey Shriek! Are you still betting that gold with hit 600$/oz. at some point?

[Palin's Buttplug]

$700/oz is my direct quote.

[some guy]

Pretty sure it was 600$, but there's no way I'm going to find that comment. I mean, you made that prediction so long ago...

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

He already shorted gold and made a huge fortune WHEN IT WENT UNDER $600 OZ LO THOSE MANY MONTHS AGO!!!!

[Mike M.]

The vile scumbag Weigel doesn't have two nickels to rub together.

[John]

http://www.sandiegouniontribun.....n-workers/

There is a political undercurrent to Qualcomm's pending workforce cuts. The company has supported immigration reform for highly skilled workers ? saying it can't find enough qualified Americans to meet its needs. Qualcomm has applied for thousands of H-1B temporary work visas for foreign workers over the years, and has received hundreds of approvals.

Remember kids, supply and demand has no effect on wages or employment. Creating an endless supply of foreign workers would have only positive effects on wages and employment in this country.

[Zeb]

Perhaps it is true that Qualcomm can't find enough qualified workers because supply is artificially constrained.

Creating an endless supply of foreign workers would have only positive effects on wages and employment in this country.

Nice straw man. Who thinks that? Seems to me that lefties understand that which is part of why they want a high minimum wage. And libertarians who like open immigration on principle don't really want immigration policy to be used for social engineering.

[John]

Nice straw man. Who thinks that?

So if you don't think that, good for you. Now tell me, given that you admit this, do you think there should be any limit placed on immigration into this country? If not, then explain how exactly you expect the country to agree to forever having lousy employment levels and low wages. If so, then explain what limits you support and why.

[Zeb]

I expect nothing. It is simply none of my or anyone else's business who Qualcomm or any other employer wants to hire or do business with.

If there are any restrictions they should be to keep out disease and dangerous criminals and that's it.

I don't expect it to happen, of course. My compromise position would be to allow anyone in who can demonstrate that they have a job offer or someone willing to sponsor them.

[John]

I generally agree with you about that. Understand, however, to keep the dangerous criminals out, you have to be willing to patrol the border. it is not like the smugglers check ID or do background checks.

[Zeb]

We will have border control. As a practical matter that is something that won't and probably shouldn't go away. It seems to me that the border is a lot easier to control when the vast majority of people who want to cross can do so easily at official crossings and not sneak through in the middle of the desert. People are also more likely to leave on their own if they can easily return.

[Mike Laursen]

There's a natural self-limitation. Immigration would taper off as employment opportunities become harder to find.

[Mickey Rat]

Perhaps it is not the supply of qualified workers but Qualcomm trying to bypass local market conditions on the price of hiring qualified workers?'

[Zeb]

Maybe it's that too. I don't know.

[Rhywun]

Of course that is what it is. On the "inside" nobody claims any differently.

[Mike Laursen]

No, it is just really hard to find enough skilled, high-tech workers without importing many of them.

You can blame that on our anti-intellectual culture or lush schools, but for someone I high-tech trying to staff their company, it's a hard reality.

[Mike Laursen]

Lush schools? Thanks autocorrect-- supposed to be, lousy.

[Rhywun]

it is just really hard to find enough skilled, high-tech workers without importing many of them

I would need to see proof of this, cuz I'm not buying it.

[R C Dean]

IOW, local skilled high-tech workers are expensive, and so they want to import cheaper ones.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Go to the graduate schools and look at the students. You won't find Americans. Much easier to do a lib arts degree. Math is harder than Bronte or social justice and aside from climastrology isn't as pliable.

[Zeb]

I don't know how representative a sample it is, but I deal with a lot of grad students and professors for work and I would guess that half of the actual researchers at American schools that I interact with in that context are Chinese or Indian.

[mousefeathers]

Forty years a tech in academic biomedical research agrees with that assessment. Early decades, most foreigners were European or British Empire. Now it seems most are Asian.

I always liked that I got to work with, for and around people from everywhere on the planet, but Asians have made more inroads into scientific academia than US-born minorities (at least the non-Asian-descended). It's sad, but that's one of the places the Great Society has led us.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

climastrology

I'm stealing that.

[Mike Laursen]

Believe what you like. I have been workin in Silicon Valley high-tech for 25 years, and have been involved in the hiring of a lot of software engineers.

If you cut off the ability to bring immigrants here, you incentivize foreign development centers and make it harder for domestic high-tech companies to produce products.

Don't know why anyone in a libertarian online community wouldn't get that limiting immigrant skilled workers is interfering with voluntary employee-employer arrangements that aren't any of your business.

[The Last American Hero]

Is it really a big difference between getting H1-B's and opening an office in India? I understand Qualcomm will spend a bit more on airfare, but other than that?

[John]

Yes. There is a huge difference. First, you don't have to deal with Indian laws here. Second, you don't have to deal with the problems of time and distance. Your customers are here.

If there was no difference between an HB1 and going to India, they would just go to Indian and not bother with begging the government. HB1s allow US companies to get all of the wage advantages of going overseas without having to go there. They also allow them to have enormous leverage over their workers since losing your job as an HB1 worker means going back home. They can treat HB1 workers in ways they could never treat employees in a truly free labor market.

[PM]

The wage difference isn't terribly significant in most cases for workers of comparable skill and experience. As I said below, often these are older, more experienced workers being replaced with younger, less experienced workers, and that accounts for most of the wage discrepancy, if any. H1-B sponsors are legally required to demonstrate that they are not paying sub-prevailing wages to their sponsored employees (aggregating by industry can make this advantageous to certain companies, but not all, and the wage difference usually isn't large enough to justify retraining and rehiring costs). You can see what H1-B sponsors are paying by job title/industry here. Compare it to averages for the job/industry and you'll find it's usually not significantly lower.

[John]

But American workers don't get deported if they lose their jobs. HB1 workers do. They are effectively indentured servants. HB1 VISAs are worse than pure open borders. At least with an open border American workers are not disadvantaged.

[PM]

True, and job hopping is more prevalent in the tech industry so it's probably a bigger consideration there. It's not as simple as just saving money though. Often, by the time you factor in the cost of regulatory compliance, the cost of hiring an H1-B probably exceeds that of a similarly situated American.

On the other hand, I wonder how many tech companies with non-compete contracts have been burned by H1-B hires when they return to a jurisdiction that doesn't give a shit about American IP or contract law.

[PM]

H1-B's are considerably better paid than their offshore counterparts for the most part. Depending on the nature of the work, it's hard to manage cross-continental groups. There is often a cost component as well, but it's more to do with experience. Lay off older workers who expect higher pay, replace them with younger workers who can't command the same wage at their professional level. As long as they can do the job at least as adequately as the former employees at a reasonable training cost you can still realize savings (particularly if you use an outsourcing *not offshoring* company that warehouses H1-B's).

[grrizzly]

John, an H-1B visa is a standard, essentially unavoidable step for any would-be immigrant in the US who isn't sponsored by a relative. In other words almost 50% of legal immigrants in the US had at some point an H-1B visa or its derivative. Yes, there are serious problems with the concept of this visa and the practice of its use and abuse. However, an unqualified attack on H-1B visas sounds to those who know how the system works as an attack on the entire idea of legal immigration. Have this in mind.

[Atanarjuat]

Bloom County weighs in on you-know-who.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hilarious!

Not.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Not going to click.

[Atanarjuat]

Bloom County weighs in on you-know-who.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Still not going to click!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hilarious!

Not.

Still.

[Lord Humungus]

The ballad of Bernie & Donald: How two unorthodox candidates caught fire ? because Americans are mad as hell

When Sanders talks about the need for a "political revolution," he knows what he's talking about. When Trump regales his audiences with accounts of the political class lining up at Trump's trough for their regular feeding, he doesn't need a speechwriting staff to tell that truth. The crowd roars with laughter because, in that one collective moment, the betrayal of America is put out there for C-Span viewers to see unfiltered by snarky comments from "journalists" on Twitter.

The American Dream has been dead for awhile now, but our hubris and national chauvinism, stoked by a feel-good media, keeps us blind to our own deteriorating economic circumstances. We can't handle the truth; our political process is built on deception: Tell the folks what they want to hear, and once you're in office serve the interests of those who paid your way. Retire, build a Presidential library by shaking down the folks that funded your campaigns, and make sure that a relative gets the job next.

[John]

I have never believed the push polls about the majority of the country wanting open borders. Even if they were true, they don't tell the entire story. Just like with gun control polls that are trotted out to show how mainstream America wants "common sense gun control", these polls are trotted out to show how everyone except evil racists wants border controls, ignoring the fact that what people say on a poll does not mean they vote on the issue. What matters is how many people change their vote based on an issue not how many people express some vague support for it in a push poll. Both Sanders and Trump are doing well because they are the only candidates in their parties willing to say something about the immigration issue.

[tarran]

I have never believed the push polls about the majority of the country wanting open borders.

If I had seen such an animal, I wouldn't believe it either.

Frankly, I've never seen any indication that any American supports open borders. It has 0 political support. There are 0 pressure groups arguing for it.

So, I am really baffled as to why you keep announcing that Americans are in revolt against a movement hijacking the government where there is no sign that the hijacking movement exists.

Obama giving amnesty to illegal alliens isn't an Open Borders position. It's an incoherent policy at cross purposes with his support for aggressive border interdiction efforts and continuing to make it difficult to legally immigrate into the U.S. I bring up Obama solely because when I last asked you to tell me who these politicians who supported Open Borders were, John, after much hemming an hawing his was the only name you could come out with.

[John]

obama is incompetent and has no idea how the government works much less how to run it. Obama most certainly wants open borders and dreamed up his fake green card program to do it. He has also been violating the law handing out many more HB1 visas to his cronies than allowed by law. He also has been aggressively resettling refugees and making sure CIS grants anyone who claims refugee status. He has done everything he can to open the borders. The problem is that he has no idea how the government actually works and has ignored the parts of the government that are working at cross purposes. What you think is him being closed border is really him being incompetent.

As far as the rest of the political establishment. The preferred policy is to let illegals stay here and hten every ten or twenty years grant them all citizenship. That is an inefficient way to open the borders but the effect is the same. Anyone can move here and remain. They just have to hang out until the next big "there are too many people here to deport" amnesty comes. We could give amnesty tomorrow and people like you would be screaming for a new one the next day.

[gaijin]

Americans are mad as hell

And we're not going to take it anymore!

/Howard Beale-2015

[Lord Humungus]

George Zimmerman partners with Florida 'anti-Muslim zone' gun shop owner to sell customized Confederate battle flag paintings

In what can best be described as a match made in clickbait Heaven, the Florida gun store owner who wanted make his establishment a "Muslim-free zone" is teaming up with Trayvon Martin's killer, George Zimmerman, to sell prints of the Confederate flag with the words "the 2nd protects the first" on it.

According to Zimmerman, that caption is a "double entendre, because the first flag I painted on this canvas was an American flag, but I decided to repaint over it with the Confederate Flag when I heard [Florida Gun Supply owner] Andy Hallinan was getting sued by [the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The second flag I painted was the Battle Flag [of the Confederacy] ? which we need in America in order to protect the first."

He added that it also means that the Second Amendment protects the First Amendment, because that's the kind of deeply veiled artistic statement the average person wouldn't be able to suss out on their own.

[John]

That is called making the culture war work for you. Good for him.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

All this story needs is a derogatory comment about transgendered people, and it will be trending on the Progosphere for the next week

[straffinrun]

He was popping skittles in his mouth during the interview.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

... and sipping tea whilst fondling his firearm.

[Irish ?s ESB]

This is the greatest story I have ever heard.

[PM]

'Peace-loving aliens tried to save America from nuclear war,' claims moon mission astronaut Edgar Mitchell

The sixth man to walk on the surface of the moon has made the astonishing claim that aliens came to Earth to stop a nuclear war between America and Russia.

Edgar Mitchell, a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission in 1971, told Mirror Online that top-ranking military sources spotted UFOs during weapons tests.

The astronaut has been outspoken about his belief in aliens ever since he landed on the surface of the moon, becoming one of the most prominent figures in the worldwide UFO community.

He told us military insiders had seen strange crafts flying over missile bases and the famous White Sands facility, where the world's first ever nuclear bomb was detonated in 1945.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Niiiccce.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Did sloopy bash him over the head, instead of his mailbox?

[gaijin]

'Peace-loving aliens tried to save America from nuclear war,

Was the alien named Mr Gary Sevin?

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

Gary Seven?

[gaijin]

oops. yes, 'Gary Seven'

[Atanarjuat]

Today in classic 90s country. One of my favorites.

[Florida Man]

90's country was really good. My wife has actually started listen to some country after I showed her the good stuff.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

Ditto. I've been listening to the Prime Country channel on SiriusXM and it's painfully clear how far the genre has fallen in recent years. Country isn't the only one either. It's all one pop smorgasbord now.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

I still think 25-30% is the upper threshold of Trump's appeal. Anyone not supporting Trump at this point isn't going to suddenly come around.

Once a few of the other R's drop, and it's Trump vs. Walker, Kasich, and Paul, I think Trump's numbers will still be where they are.

[PM]

It doesn't really matter anyway - the party will post snipers on the roof of convention building and pick off all his delegates as they try to enter if that's what it takes, but they're not giving him the nomination.

[Palin's Buttplug]

and Paul

Keep dreaming. Rand Paul will never clear 5% and who exactly would he gain new supporters from?

Peak Paul was in 2012.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

I LOVE YOU PB!!! NEVER FORGET THAT!!!!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Not that these polls matter, but he's in 6th place at 6% according to CNN

But hey, it isn't 8%, right asshole?

[Irish ?s ESB]

Don't criticize PB just because he said Paul will never clear a number he has already passed.

PB is not very smart.

[Monty Crisco]

LMFAO

[Palin's Buttplug]

4.3% RCP average.

http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....-3823.html

It is a shame since he is the only decent GOPer. But this is the GOP we're talking about. Bush country.

[Monty Crisco]

I CAN CHERRY PICK POLLS BETTER THAN YOU!!!!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Averaging all the polls is not "cherry picking", you idiot.

It is the opposite.

I WANTED Rand Paul to be the nominee. But it is not about to happen. The GOP prefers some hideous top man instead.

[Irish ?s ESB]

LOL, the RCP Average for a single week has him 0.7% away from a number you claim he'll 'never clear.'

He doesn't even have to move in the polls, all that has to happen is for there to be a random week where the sampling coincidentally tilts Paul and he's already at 5%. If Huckabee, Christie, and Perry drop out, Paul is already at 5% since he barely needs to pick up any of those voters to go to 5%.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

You really are politically shallow. Bush is not a conservative--he's a liberal (and I don't mean the classical kind). No Child Left Behind?. Medicare Part D. The Iraq war.

Bush did a great job of fooling the socons with his Born Again Christian routine, but he's still a statist, northeastern liberal like his ("read my lips, no new taxes") dad.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

I should have said that Bush is a neocon rather than a liberal.

[R C Dean]

A liberal with a warboner is still a liberal.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

You may be right about Rand Paul's prospects this for election cycle but he's got staying power. More importantly, he will change the Republican party for the better. The GOP has already shoved some of its socon element aside. If it moves more Libertarian, then Paul will been a success.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Also, thank you for completely missing the entire point of my post, which was that I believe Trump has more or less maxed out his support. I threw three names out there just to make a point. I was not in any way claiming that those would be the final three in the race. My point was that, right now, most R's are split between one of about 4-5 candidates, but the asshole vote has already coalesced around Trump.

Are you that bad at reading comprehensive and critical thinking or do you just act like a dickwad on purpose?

[SugarFree]

Can anyone tell me what the point of Winston is? I mean, has he ever really said anything different from the first whiny post he made on his first whiny day here?

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

?....

Does he even have a post here yet?

[SugarFree]

I was referring to his temper tantrum last night. He's just one big butt that hurts.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

Ah, I faded out real quick yesterday - missed it.

[Lord Humungus]

I started reading it... but then had something more important to do... like practice breathing through my nose.

/closes down ellipses factory.

[Jordan]

That sounds about right.

[Lord Humungus]

Winston is what Winston is... why do you hate, er... whatever that is?

[SugarFree]

It isn't hate. I can't hate anything so pathetic. It's just bafflement.

[Zeb]

I can't even remember what he says. Just whiny bitchiness.

[Warty]

Winston is the Winstonest of the Winstoners. We shouldn't complain that he Winstons. It's just what he is.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

First female soldiers graduate from Ranger School

The two unidentified soldiers, both graduates of New York's Military Academy at West Point, were part of a group of 19 women who started the course when it was opened to women for the first time in April, USA Today reported.

Over the next few months, those 19, plus 380 male soldiers, were whittled down to the two women and 94 men who will receive the Ranger Tab in a ceremony at Fort Benning, Ga. on Friday, The Washington Post reported.

"Each Ranger School graduate has shown the physical and mental toughness to successfully lead organizations at any level," Army Secretary John McHugh said in a statement. "This course has proven that every soldier, regardless of gender, can achieve his or her full potential."

The exhaustive course includes grueling physical tests involving 49 push-ups, 59 situps, six chin-ups, and a five-mile run in 40 minutes, The New York Times reported. Soldiers must then survive on minimal food and sleep, carry more than 100 pounds through mountains and swamps and endure obstacle courses, parachute jumps and other rigorous tests.

Despite clearing the course alongside their male peers, these women will still be barred from joining the infantry or the elite 75th Ranger Regiment.

Go ahead, let them go into combat roles. They earned it.

[PM]

Bear in mind though that this is their third crack at it. There's a certain cynical part of me that suspects similarly situated men who washed out wouldn't necessarily have been given that many chances.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

I knew a bunch of ROTC guys that did Ranger School. I don't know of anyone that washed out and got another chance.

[PM]

From what I understand, you can get a "Day One Recycle" if you were weak in one particular area but excelled at most others. 3 tries though... I don't know. It reeks a little bit of special consideration.

[Swiss Servator, Kaffee bitte!]

A "little"?

"You will continue to readmit these women until they pass, do you understand me, Colonel?"

[Monty Crisco]

Yeah, seriously. First of all, these two gals AREN'T 11Bs, because they can't be. They are officers who failed, then failed, then after having the standards TORTURED beyond recognition, were given the stylish and politically-correct award of "Ranger".

I wonder how real Rangers feel about this?

[Steve G]

http://www.havokjournal.com/na.....-graduate/

[Steve G]

http://rhinoden.rangerup.com/t.....f228bc5e94

[Crusty Juggler]

I believe one of the reasons they failed the first two times was that they had poor peer reviews, which would easy to change.

If they are put into the Ranger battalion they could become injured easily, because I would think it would be difficult for a woman's body to hold up during the strenuous and constant Ranger training.

[Steve G]

"Sick my dick!!"

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

I do, but wasn't just recycled into the next class. My platoon sergeant got booted after wrong compass reading (due to a bum compass). Went back as year later and did just fine. Also took one a wrist compass too.

Recycling immediately into the next class for other than physical injury sounds like basic training where they're trying to make sure the soldier can be deemed a graduate whatever it takes.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Somewhat OT: An episode on Deadliest Catch had a female greenhorn working on the Wizard. While she worked as hard as she could and was a strong employee (better than some men), she simply could not keep up with the pace and grind. And she admitted as much.

[Free Society]

Inequality OMG

[PM]

Sig Hansen had his 18 year old daughter out on his boat for part of a season as well. She got the kid glove treatment the entire way (to the point of ridiculousness) and still ended up crying on deck. I don't doubt there's some woman somewhere who could kick ass on a crab boat, but a 100 pound 5 foot tall high school girl wasn't it.

[Irish ?s ESB]

"I don't doubt there's some woman somewhere who could kick ass on a crab boat, but a 100 pound 5 foot tall high school girl wasn't it."

Why the shit did he even think this was a good idea?

[PM]

I'm guessing spending 9+ months a year at sea leaves you feeling a little guilty about your home life and more inclined to grant your children's ridiculous requests.

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah, the kid probably wanted to be on TV.

[Mickey Rat]

Maybe she had been giving Dad grief and it was a sink or swim object lesson?

[Lord Humungus]

I don't think I could handle working a crab boat - not anymore. Even with working out and staying (relatively) fit for a middle-aged Dutch guy, I just don't bounce back from physical labor like I used to.

[R C Dean]

That's the problem with female soldiers.

There was an article about a female Marine officer who pulled combat patrols in the ME. Her take on it was that women just don't have the resilience for that kind of work. Even when you cut back on their loads and help them with the raw strength, when they wear down they just don't bounce back like males do.

[John]

People recycle a lot. I know a fair number of guys who got recycled a couple of times. Ranger school has always been known to be harder than Marine Infantry training. No woman has yet graduated from Marine Infantry training. So either these women are tougher than the Marine women or the Army rolled over and lowered the standards. I would bet a lot of money on the latter. Obama is doing everything he can to destroy the military and turn into to a social welfare program. Some day a lot of people are going to die for that if we are not lucky.

[Rhywun]

Same with the FDNY. They just let a woman graduate who couldn't handle the physical test. Oh, well.

[creech]

Sounds pretty tough until you realize that almost every member of the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac could pass these tests in 1863.

[John]

They could pass a lot more than that. Put a wool uniform on and boots with leather soles and no padding, a 50 lb pack and carry a 10 pound rifle and go out in the July Virginia heat and hump about 25 miles sometime. That is what those guys called "Tuesday".

[creech]

But many of Lee's soldiers did it in their barefeet too (until they found a Billy who no longer required his shoes.)

[John]

Yes they did. And they did it starving too. A confederate veteran was once asked to do a rebel yell. He said he could not do it because to do it properly, he would have to have eaten nothing but a couple of biscuits for the last five days while marching sixty or seventy miles.

[WTF]

I am a little skeptical that these women were doing 49 pushups, and carrying 100 pounds through rough terrain as well as the qualifying men. Now I am certain they cut them some slack to make sure at least one woman would pass.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Maple Dawn: Canadians file patent for space elevator

Thoth Technology of Pembroke, Ont., is developing a 20-kilometre-high free-standing space elevator that would allow astronauts to launch into space from a platform high above the Earth.

In July, Thoth was granted a U.S. patent for the technology.

"From the top of the structure you would be able to launch using a single stage space plane directly into low Earth orbit, and the return to the top of the structure and you wouldn't need any expendable rockets that would come off during the flight," inventor Dr. Brendan Quine said from the Algonquin Radio Observatory in Pembroke, Ont.

Quine says the structure would be pneumatically pressurized and guided over its base to allow it to stand freely.

"The centre of the patent is how to control such a huge and slender structure," Quine said. "We basically null out the external forces on the tower using pneumatic pressure and actually lean the tower, actively guide the centre of gravity towards things like hurricanes so that the tower won't fall down."

He said the company intends to use pneumatic cells composed of materials like polyethylene and Kevlar and leverage the power of gas pressure to create a strong, rigid structure capable of holding up the immense mass.

Mr President, we cannot allow a space elevator gap!

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

MOON ELEVATOR!!!!

[UnCivilServant]

Last I knew the issue was tensile strength. Are they designing a short elevator where centripedal force isn't pulling on the cable enough to overcome gravity?

[Zeb]

Yeah, I think that is the plan. They want to build a really tall tower that they can launch space planes from horizontally. It's like a halfway to space elevator.

[SugarFree]

Yes. Centripetal force wouldn't hold it rigid until it was 35,000K long. You can make them shorter with a counterweight, but you can't sustain geostationary orbit at 20K, so it would have to support itself.

[tarran]

Yes. This isn't a cable with its center of gravity in geosynchronous orbit with ginormous tidal forces caused by having a length on the order of tens of thousands of miles.

Rather it's a structure like an antenna that is resting on the Earth's surface. IF anything tidal forces would reduce the weight a fractional amount.

Their notion of using pneumatics to support the weight is interesting. Basically, the structure itself will be in compression, and the compressive forces will be staggeringly huge. To support such loads, they seem to be planning on using bladders filled with high pressure air. This introduces a new problem; the bladders themselves have to hold that pressure in, and now you have a material that's under incredible tensile stress.
Moreover, you have all sorts of problems to confront; how do you get cargo and ships to the launch pad? Do you fuel the ships up there, or down on the ground? How do you evacuate if there is a fire or other disaster? How do you prevent the active control system from failing to the point where it unbalances the tower?

[SusanM]

For your Kindle:

http://tinyurl.com/q86r3sf

The Fountains of Paradise is a Hugo[1] and Nebula[2] Award?winning 1979 novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Set in the 22nd century, it describes the construction of a space elevator. This "orbital tower" is a giant structure rising from the ground and linking with a satellite in geostationary orbit at the height of approximately 36,000 kilometers (approx. 22,300 miles). Such a structure would be used to raise payloads to orbit without having to use rockets, making it much more cost effective.

[tarran]

Yeah, I actually have that book in the boxed up portion of my library. Not one of Clarke's better works, sadly.

[Palin's Buttplug]

US housing starts approach eight-year high in July

10 Mins AgoReuters

Let's see. The GOP can't run on the economy so that leaves ISIS and the scary Mexican hordes.

Trump is ready when you are!

[straffinrun]

Are you waiting for our comeback?

Give us a minute. We're scrapping it off your mom's toothbrush.

[Palin's Buttplug]

What the hell else is the GOP going to run on? 5.3% UE? Record market highs? The strong US Dollar?

No.

It will be ISIS, Benghazi, emails, abortion/Planned Parenthood, scary Mexicans, and godless liberals.

[Monty Crisco]

Could you tell me of a single time during his two terms when more people were in the workforce than the day before Obama came into office?

[PM]

What the hell else is the GOP going to run on? 5.3% UE? Record market highs? The strong US Dollar?

Why not, the Democrats retook congress that way.

[R C Dean]

Well, they could run on record low employment participation, record high welfare rolls, and even the fact that a big percentage of the "job creation" under Obama has gone to . . . wait for it . . . immigrants!

[ant1sthenes]

"The GOP can't run on the economy"

Aside from debt, labor force participation, and fears of a global meltdown prompted by China's problems.

[R C Dean]

US housing starts approach eight-year high in July

Yet mortgage applications have crashed and new home sales have rolled over.

Where have I seen this movie before?

[Warty]

Its was it's and it's was its. MIND=BLOWN

[PM]

It's it. What is it?

[DEG]

Economist Intelligence Unit releases world's most and least liveable cities list

Top five most liveable:

1. Melbourne, Australia

2. Vienna, Austria

3. Vancouver, Canada

4. Toronto, Canada

5. Adelaide, Australia

5. Calgary, Canada

Least five liveable:

136. Tripoli, Libya

137. Lagos, Nigeria

138. Port Moresby, PNG

139. Dhaka, Bangladesh

140. Damascus, Syria

Vienna is a great city to visit (as long as you don't visit during one of their rare heat waves), but I'd never want to live there. I thought Adelaide itself was boring, but there was neat stuff around it. Melbourne is OK.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

YOUR PRO-CANADA PROPOGANDA ISN'T WELCOME HERE, MOUNTIE!!!!

[Jordan]

Vancouver? Don't they have one of the most expensive housing markets in the world?

[SugarFree]

Vancouver: Come for the plentiful heroin, stay for the expensive houses.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Sounds a lot like DC, actually....

[PM]

Possibly the most hipsters per capita as well.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Not sure why Vcr consistently ranks ahead of Montreal.

I don't think it's 'better'.

[But Enough About Me]

As someone who just bought a house here, I can answer that with an unequivocal "Yes."

And right now we're in an historic drought and Stage 3 watering restrictions.

Blargh.

[Zeb]

I don't think they take fun into account too much when ranking livable cities. More like whether it's a nice place to raise your kids or something like that. I remember several years ago a ranking of US cities and Manchester and Nashua were near the top.

[DEG]

See my response to Irish below.

[UnCivilServant]

I'm too lazy to rtfa, what were their criteria?

[Irish ?s ESB]

They don't actually say. For example, how could you factor one time protests into your criteria and conclude it caused a '3.2% decline in liveability?'

That's retarded.

[DEG]

The full report is behind a paywall. I found a PDF of an older report with a little Google searching. They look at things like sprawl, cultural institutions, green space, stability, healthcare, infrastructure, and education. I don't see cost of living.

[DEG]

Also, education was ranked lower than cultural "stuff".

[DEG]

Sorry, registration wall, not a paywall. I rushed reading the page and thought, "This is the Economist and they want information from me, they must want me to pay".

[R C Dean]

With that list, its like they are sorting for the biggest government.

[Irish ?s ESB]

I don't particularly trust this poll because:

But Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests last year resulted in a 3.2% decline in liveability. Though the protests were largely peaceful, some parts of the city were brought to a standstill for several months.

How do one time protests impact a city's 'livability' going forward?

[The Last American Hero]

Beijing is number 69? Seriously, the place where the air is hard to breathe and there is no free speech cracks the top 100.

[PM]

It wasn't the protests, it was the democracy.

[The Last American Hero]

So is the EIU explicitly racist or did they subtly rig their evaluation criteria to pick the half a dozen whitest cities on the planet?

[Irish ?s ESB]

The fact that the top Asian city is 46th strikes me as very suspect. There are some awesome Asian cities and some of them have like 2.7 billion residents, so clearly people are okay living there.

Oh, and where are the Japanese cities? Apparently Hong Kong is first in Asia at 46 and Singapore is 2nd at 49. Are you seriously telling me there are no cities in Japan that break the top 50?

[UnCivilServant]

I wonder - was population density a negative factor?

[Rhywun]

Seems that way. The top 5 are not particularly dense cities - esp. the Australian ones.

[Mike M.]

There are no Asian cities with 2.7 billion residents. China doesn't have a population that big.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Hello, Mike, let me introduce you to my friend exaggeration. Exaggeration is where we say something we know to be untrue in order to accentuate a point.

[Rhywun]

Have you been to Toronto? It's like half not-white.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm pretty sure Montreal is not too far off from the other Canadian cities.

[Mickey Rat]

Thete is an automatic deduduction for being frenchified.

[Medical Physics Guy]

You wouldn't want to live in Vienna??? That is a damn nice city. I was just there again. I like history in a city so I would put it above all those others.

This list seems pretty weird -- usually Geneva and Zurich and some Scandinavian places are at the top of these lists, and in my experience for good reason.

If I didn't like history in a city I would go for Berlin before any of those, anyway.

[DEG]

No, I wouldn't want to live in Vienna. Expensive, crowded.

I want to visit Vienna, and visit Vienna again. It is a great city to visit.

[Medical Physics Guy]

You think Vienna's crowded? Try going a few blocks away from the Stephansdom. There is no QOL like that in American cities in my experience.

[DEG]

I stayed about a kilometer away from Stephansdom and traveled over a good chunk of the city. I did not make it out to the Wienerwald as I ran out of time. If you're referring to that part of the city, I can see that part not being very crowded. Everything I saw was too crowded for my tastes.

[DEG]

I just realized something. I think you and I have different definitions of "crowded".

The neighborhood I live in is too crowded for me but bearable. The exterior wall to exterior wall distance from my house to my closest neighbor's house is about 150 feet. This neighbor is on the same side of the street as me.

[John]

Did you notice the women in Vienna? I think they would make living there quite pleasant, even during a heat wave.

[DEG]

Yes, yes I did notice.

[DEG]

And prostitution is legal in Austria.

[grrizzly]

Toronto? Really? This is the most uninteresting city in Canada. It's Chicago with less charm.

[Medical Physics Guy]

I agree. I was there in April. Its best feature was that it had a very sort of open internationalism about it, like everyone was welcome there. But otherwise it struck me as a snooze.

[Rhywun]

They used to call it "Toronto the Good" for a reason.... I quite like it, but I grew up in Rochester so it was always exciting for me to visit there.

[Warty]

Eunoia. The more you listen, the crazier and better it gets.

[DEG]

Cars can be hacker through insurance trackers

The latest way to remotely hack a car? By tapping into one of those plug-in tracking devices from insurance companies.

In some cases, hackers can send a text message -- and disable a car's brakes, according to research presented by computer security experts on Monday.

It's a relatively simple hack. And while researchers only tested one type of device, it raises serious questions about how dangerous it is to use them at all.

[Monty Crisco]

Anyone that would sign of for Progressive's "monitor me 24/7" program is a fucking idiot anyway who deserves to have their brakes disabled...

[UnCivilServant]

True, but I'd rather not be on the road with people who don't have brakes. Too much chance of them hitting me.

[Lord Humungus]

I have a young co-worker with it. He's a terrible driver, thinking his new Dodge Dart is the fastest car on the road. Apparently his 80mph bursts in a 45 zone hasn't helped his insurance ratings.

[Monty Crisco]

He sounds like a total fucking idiot. I have never understood why people think that voluntarily revealing all of their behavior to monitoring by THEIR INSURANCE COMPANY (IE not your friend) will turn out well for them. Do you want your insurance company to monitor your website viewing habits as well?

[Lord Humungus]

Well he's only 25 - idiocy rates are sky high at that age. Think hipster, self-absorbed a-hole who thinks climate change is the largest threat to humanity,

[R C Dean]

But he's perfectly happy pumping carbon into the air with his lead foot.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, 3rd party disclosure = waiver of 4th Amendment = anything you do in your car can and will be turned over to the police

[John]

BINGO See also driverless cares.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Coming this fall to MSNBC: The Uncle Joe and Chief Lizzie Show!

This is the political situation that compels Joe Biden to run. He may not be a great candidate -- too old and too loquacious -- but he can win. Most important, he is well liked and even loved by many. His family is a source of support, while Hillary's is only a source of potential problems. He is a traditional Democrat, meaning that he represents the center left, which is where the votes in the swing states are. He speaks to the working class in a way that neither Hillary nor Sanders can match. Tactically, he can run on the promise of finishing the work of the Obama/Biden administration. There remains much to be done to secure universal health care, the economic recovery, reform of the criminal law and policing, as well as carbon reduction. Such a campaign positions him to profit greatly from Obama's support, which will be crucial for motivating minority groups upon which a Democratic victory must depend.

A Biden campaign, however, will disappoint millions of progressives who believe this administration has been too conservative and it will disappoint millions of women who support Hillary in part because they believe it is time for a woman president.

A ticket that included Elizabeth Warren would speak directly and convincingly to both.

[creech]

This would be great news for Pennsylvanians upset that Buchanan, the only president born in Penna., will no longer be at the bottom of the "worst president" lists. Bad news is that Joe Biden was also born in Penna.

[John]

I think it is safe to say that until someone not on the scene now becomes President, Obama will be safe in the spot of worst President ever. Even Biden or Warren would be a significant improvement.

[creech]

Somehow I don't believe the list makers - usually history professors - will have the guts (at least in the next 100 years) to put Our Glorious Leader at the bottom of the list.

[John]

They will put him in the top 20 and rewrite history as best they can. Eventually they will likely just write him out of history a bit like they have Wilson.

[DEG]

Yes, I predict the same thing.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

That sounds about right to me...

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

I think it's hard to put into historical perspective anyone who was president during your political consciousness. I don't trust opinions from baby-boomers on JFK, LBJ, or Nixon. I won't trust the next generation of historians to opine on Reagan, Clinton, or the Bushes.

Obama was, in my opinion, a terrible president. Was he the worst? Well, he didn't sit around with this thumbs in his ass while shots were being fired on Fort Sumter, so "worst" is a tough sell.

[Monty Crisco]

OR do nothing while enemy troops marched into the capitol and set it on fire...
OR cut off all foreign trade...

It could be a long list...

[Sevo]

"...too old and too loquacious..."

Yeah, that, too.

[lap83]

Thomas Sowell Random Thoughts
http://townhall.com/columnists.....s-n2039800

some gems:

Barack Obama wrote a book titled "The Audacity of Hope." His own career, however, might more accurately be titled "The Mendacity of Hype."

Donald Trump has credited his political donations with getting Hillary Clinton to come to his wedding. What kind of man would want Hillary Clinton at his wedding, much less boast of having her there?

Ronald Reagan won two landslide victories with the help of "Reagan Democrats." These were voters who usually voted for Democrats but were now voting for Reagan. He got these voters by winning them over to his policy agenda -- not by adjusting his policy agenda to them, as the Republican establishment today seems to think is the way to expand their constituency.

[Notorious UGCC (N? GKC)]

Sowell did lots of awesome top-notch scholarship and produced excellent analysis of our culture.

With columns like these, though, he's basically becoming Cranky Old Grandpa yelling at the TV.

[lap83]

He's an entertaining cranky old grandpa though.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Sowell has been doing "Random thoughts from the passing scene" articles for the past 3 decades.

[Notorious UGCC (N? GKC)]

Well, so he's been doing it at the same time as his serious stuff.

As far as I'm concerned, if I was paid to do scholarship and *also* paid to yell at the TV, I'd do both.

[Notorious UGCC (N? GKC)]

"What's this? It looks like an ATM with a built in microphone."

"This, Dr. Sowell, is a present from all your friends in honor of all your scholarship and your courage in standing up to the Establishment. Just speak into the microphone."

"What should I say?"

"Anything that comes to mind."

"Those clowns in Congress..."

KA-CHING!

"Hey, it dispensed money! Ahem...Hillary Clinton is a liar..."

"KA-CHING!"

"I wouldn't trust those bozos in Washington to scratch their own nuts, much less run the economy."

"KA-CHING! KA-CHING! KA-CHING!"

"Wow, you guys really like me, thank you so much!"

[Lord Humungus]

Route 29 Batman is killed after his Batmobile breaks down in Maryland

The Batmobile pulled into a gas station Sunday night and, as usual, the children who spotted it gawked.

Lenny B. Robinson was used to that. The Maryland man, better known as the Route 29 Batman, had for years dressed as the Caped Crusader and driven his custom-made car to deliver moments of happiness and distraction to hundreds of sick children at area hospitals.

His costume stored in the Batmobile but his alter ego never entirely switched off, Robinson gave the kids at the gas station some superhero paraphernalia before driving off.

Minutes later, Robinson pulled over with engine trouble on an unlit stretch of Interstate 70 near Hagerstown, Md., police said. The people he had just met parked behind him, turning their emergency lights on.

His car was stopped in the median but still "partially in the fast lane" when he got out to check the engine, according to state police. Around 10:30 p.m., a Toyota Camry slammed into the Batmobile, propelling the steel-framed hunk of black metal into his body. Robinson, 51, died at the scene.

[straffinrun]

That sucks. RIP.

[PM]

No good deed goes unpunished 🙁

[SusanM]

Tasteless, sacrilegious, too soon, or just goofy?

http://6abc.com/entertainment/.....ea/940655/

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) --
A few weeks ago, hitchBOT's journey may have ended in Philadelphia, but a new robot has set out to prove the city is safe for all robotkind. Meet Pope Bot.

[John]

I believe the city is safe for all robotkind when I see a Muhammadbot.

[straffinrun]

Did Vatican City raise the minimum wage?

[John]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/.....ar-Alkhani

Anyone else remember when protecting its citizens abroad was a core function of government? Yeah, neither do I. And any of you peacenik bastards want to explain exactly how kidnapping, raping and murdering American citizens is not an act of war? I guess it was just her duty to die so her betters back in America can feel smug.

[lap83]

That is one of the biggest problem I have with isolationism too. How do you reconcile it with globalization? As libertarians we obviously embrace global trade and all that comes with it, but where and how do you draw the line when Americans are targeted just for being overseas? Is free movement only for Mexicans?

[John]

The problem is that our political establishment has repudiated the punitive expedition. this kind of shit calls for a punitive expedition. You go over there and murder the miserable bastards to such a degree that the remaining vermin decide kidnapping and killing Americans is really a bad idea.

[Heroic Mulatto]

As libertarians we obviously embrace global trade and all that comes with it, but where and how do you draw the line when Americans are targeted just for being overseas?

See: War of 1812

[Zeb]

I don't really see so much of a contradiction. Some parts of the world are dangerous. The US government can't go making the whole world a safe place to travel. Telling people that certain places are dangerous and that bad shit might happen if you go there is part of the way the government protects its citizens abroad.

That said, if military action in response to things like this is ever warranted, then it probably is in the case of ISIS.

[lap83]

"That said, if military action in response to things like this is ever warranted, then it probably is in the case of ISIS."

Especially given the fact that they've got their sights on controlling as much of the world as possible.

[Azathoth!!]

Is free movement only for Mexicans?

Yes, if by 'Mexican' you mean any person, regardless of actual country of origin, who enters via the US southern border, and can, with only a bit of stretching, be referred to as 'brown' by right-thinking people.

[Zeb]

I don't know that I would call it an act of war. But what constitutes war seems to be changing in some ways.

What do you think the response should be?

[John]

Punitive expedition. This is not the act of some random criminal. This is the act of a defacto government. And killing another country's citizens is an act of war. We cannot let such things go unpunished. I don't mean nation building or regime change. I mean go over and erase ISIS off the face of the earth and go home.

[Mike M.]

This. Treat these fuckstains the same way Atlanta was treated during the Civil War.

That's how you win wars. By killing the enemy until they decide they've had enough.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Let ISIS flew and burn the city in their retreat?

[In League with the Dark Ones]

flee

[Libertarian]

What do you think the response should be?

We could send them Trump. That's called a win-win.

[Zeb]

I'm not wild about foreign adventures, especially since if we went over there with any kind of force we would likely end up being involved for a long time again and not do the simple thing like John suggests and just kill an bunch of them and leave.

[Heroic Mulatto]

A first step would be recognizing IS/ISIS/Daesh etc. as a state. Unfortunately, that would be diplomatically "awkward", so we're stuck with this farce.

[John]

They are a defacto state. You don't have to put them in the UN to hold them responsible for their crimes. Were the Serbian militias in Bosnia "state actors"? Not technically but they were close enough to be held accountable for their crimes.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I agree with you. Hell, they're minting their own gold-based currency! Yet, we're not going to change that de facto to de jure because our "friends" the Saudis would have a hissy fit. Not to mention the PSYOPS angle of admitting that, yes we're fighting a Caliphate. It's almost as if we know which side the Muslim street would choose, and we're just afraid to face the fact.

Welcome to the first "workplace violence" war.

[Zeb]

It is interesting to hear how carefully a lot of politicians and news media people make sure to say "the so called Islamic State."

Of course from my weirdo political perspective, all governments are "so called". I wonder if, in addition to the diplomatic issues, government leaders are also uncomfortable with the fact that all you need to have a state is enough people willing to do violence in a somewhat coordinated way.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's also interesting that ISIS itself has, so far, limited itself to being a "state" (dawlat), as in ad-Dawlah al-Islamiyah. While they indulge in the rhetoric of being a caliphate, it seems as if they know that if they pulled the lever and began officially calling themselves something like al-Khilafah al-Ibrahimiyyah, then the wrath of collected Arab governments, if not the entire OIC would be upon them.

[R C Dean]

I dunno, John. If you go to a dangerous place and get yourself in serious trouble, to me a lot of that is on you.

We've had American citizens do stupid shit all over the globe and get locked up and abused for it (albeit not as bad as what happened to her, as far as we know). If we went to war every single time, we'd be at war across the mideast and in North Korea right now. Oh, and we'd have been at war with Israel over that stupid twunt who got run over by a bulldozer.

[John]

That works if you are talking about a gang or criminals. Your idea doesn't work if you are talking about a government. If governments attack our citizens, they have attacked us. That should not be allowed to go unpunished.

[R C Dean]

So, we should have bombed Israel after Rachael Corey got runned over by an Israeli bulldozer?

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Jeb Bush: "There are like 10 things I would change in the Constitution with a magic wand."

Good grammar, being necessary for clear understanding, the comma errors in Amendment II, shall be removed.

[Zeb]

People really loved commas in the 18th century.

[sarcasmic]

Charged doesn't mean convicted.

[PM]

I kept waiting for the nut punch, but it never arrived. Everything went better than expected.

[John]

Witnesses have alleged that Torres shot Geer as he stood inside his doorway with his hands raised talking with officers.

Police have said Geer had been reported to have firearms in his home and had threatened to use a weapon against officers. A loaded holstered handgun was found near Geer's body.

Police said this month that Torres had been fired. Geer's family settled a wrongful death suit against the county in April for $2.95 million.

Torres surrendered to detectives and was charged with second-degree murder, the police statement said. He was jailed with no bond.

Holy Shit. Seriously, what was he thinking? He just shot the guy. Wow.

[Restor-woodchipper-as]

Holy Shit. Seriously, what was he thinking? He just shot the guy. Wow.

I'm shocked that you're shocked by this.

[NoVAHockey]

well, this has been dragging on for 2 years.

[John]

Yes. Even the reason horror stories usually involve a cop overreacting to a stressful situation. They almost never involve a cop just rolling up and shooting someone. This guy didn't even try to run away or have something in his hand that might have been a gun. This case is appalling even by cop shooting standards.

[PM]

I mean, they caught a cop on camera literally shooting a guy in the back as he's running away. Nothing can shock me anymore on police overreach.

[some guy]

This case is appalling even by cop shooting standards.

And even after that the PD stonewalled prosecutors for over a year. They wouldn't even tell anyone which officer had done the shooting. In my mind everyone in the leadership chain should be brought up for obstruction of justice.

[some guy]

From the article:

Police initially refused to release information about the shooting or to turn over records to prosecutors. For more than a year, police would not say which officer had shot Geer.

Yeah, the police department did all they could to protect this guy. The prosecutor couldn't get any information out of them until he turned to the US Justice Dept. for help. Now that the pressure is on they've thrown the ex-officer to the wolves. He'll probably get convicted of something, but the culture of the Fairfax Co. PD won't change a bit.

[sarcasmic]

Makes you wonder how many similar situations have been swept under the rug.

[R C Dean]

How the fuck can anybody just . . . refuse to turn over evidence to prosecutors?

Assuming, of course, that the prosecutors asked for it for reals, with a subpoena and everything.

There is no way there is a good explanation for that. Either the cops can, and do, just ignore inconvenient court orders, or the prosecutors are conspiring with the cops to submarine an investigation.

[some guy]

Cameras are slowly changing everything. Eventually the officers will have to start changing their attitudes, simply for self-preservation. (Unless, of course, they manage to convince a malleable legislature to make filming the police illegal.)

[some guy]

Like in Spain!

[sarcasmic]

Eventually the officers will have to start changing their attitudes, simply for self-preservation.

Only if they actually face consequence for their actions. This took two years and action from the federal government before anything happened. That's a big deal. And rare enough for cops to not have to worry about it.

[Warty]

Nothing serious. We're so far from any kind of real AI that it's completely pointless to worry about it. And if we do get annihilated by some kind of sentient AI, it'll kill us by turning off the power grid or something. Terminators that have to be on leashes are way down the list of worries.

Bipedal locomotion is a famously difficult control problem. I'll have to look up their papers and see how well they've claimed to solve it.

[Warty]

*on leashes because battery technology is still so bad.

[John]

yeah. And we are more likely to be killed by some hacker or natural disaster like another Carrington event shutting off the power grid than by some evil AI doing it. Killer AI is about the dumbest worry you can have.

[WTF]

They have a video of one going through the woods. It kind of reminded me of the way a toddler moves.

[sarcasmic]

In my mind everyone in the leadership chain should be brought up for obstruction of justice.

Obstructing justice is the job description of being in a position of leadership in a police department. Seriously.

[Crusty Juggler]

In my mind everyone in the leadership chain should be brought up for obstruction of justice.

Yes. But in reality they will somehow make a profit from the overtime and Torres will be sentenced to time served.

[R C Dean]

Shot him in the back as he ran away, and then carried his taser over and dropped it by the body.

While another cop just stood there and watched, and did nothing.

And then there's the cop who rolled up on the kid in the park and just gunned him down.

Oh yeah. It happens, and you almost never hear any other cop call them out for it. As far as I am concerned, its bad cops all the way down until proven otherwise.

[sarcasmic]

The cops are the officers of the court. They are the ones who enforce the court's orders. So of course they can ignore inconvenient orders. Who will enforce a court order on enforcers of court orders?