A.M. Links: WDBJ Shooting, Joe Biden vs. Hillary Clinton, Trump Vows to Tax the Rich

• 

  Credit: White House / Flickr.com

  "The disgruntled former television reporter who murdered two of his former colleagues during a live interview Wednesday morning had a long history of erratic behavior at various workplaces, including acting aggressively toward co-workers and claiming racism was behind uncomplimentary evaluations."

• What does Joe Biden know about Hillary Clinton's emails and is he planning to use it against her in the 2016 race?

• A filibuster on the Iran deal looks increasingly likely.

• The Los Angeles Police Department will begin employing body cameras on many of its officers next week.

• Donald Trump says that if he's elected president, he will raise taxes on himself.

• Vermont socialist Bernie Sanders is now actively courting establishment Democrats. "Smart members of the establishment will perceive where the excitement is, where the energy is, where the enthusiasm is, where the potential voter turnout is," Sanders told The Washington Post.

New at Reason

• Brickbat: We Know Who You Are By Charles Oliver

• The Affordable Care Act and the GOP: Reform, Replace, Restart, or Innovate? Gov. Scott Walker's approach is merely "Obamacare Lite." By Veronique de Rugy

• Outlawing Prostitution Is a Crime Forbidding paid sex just pushes it underground and makes it dangerous. By Steve Chapman

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Late.

[Lord Humungus]

This doesn't count as a first post.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I meant I was late. I literally just sat down at my desk. You people really are terrible at this.

[Lord Humungus]

You people

don't other me.

[gaijin]

don't other me.

heh, some of my best friends are other people!

[commodious spittoon]

*smacks gaijin*

That's our word!

[Florida Man]

Sorry. Pass me that paddle N-word Swiss.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

*narrows gaze*

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Indeed - and you still got in first.

[d3x / dt3]

What do you mean, "you people"????!!??

[UnCivilServant]

What do you mean "Whar do you mean"?

[Colonel Slanders]

And what do you mean "Whar do you mean"?

[UnCivilServant]

I don't know!

*breaks down sobbing*

[Charles Easterly]

"And what do you mean "Whar do you mean"?"

Thar wolf?

I thought that's the way you wanted to talk.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[UnCivilServant]

You're late, Canukistani

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Been sleeping in this past couple of days!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

these

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Another Reason baby on the way??

[Fist of Etiquette]

The disgruntled former television reporter who murdered two of his former colleagues during a live interview Wednesday morning...

Actual workplace violence? Huh.

[UnCivilServant]

No, this was clearly a case of malignant gun spirits possessing the poor man's mind.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...had a long history of erratic behavior at various workplaces, including acting aggressively toward co-workers and claiming racism was behind uncomplimentary evaluations.

Sounds like he was triggered or microaggressed or something.

[Karl Hungus]

Sounds like he was triggered or microaggressed or something.

Maybe, but I think this whole thing reeks of othering.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

I think Karl has it!!!

[wareagle]

I want to say there was triggering, but it's probably too soon.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Most likely.

[Illocust]

I actually saw a couple of comments on Think Progress and Gawker from people saying that obviously the station and coworkers were bullshitting when they said his racism claims had no merits.

[WTF]

All racism claims have merit because White Privilege.

[Fist of Etiquette]

If there wasn't at least some degree of victim blaming here I was going to be very disappointed in my social justice warriors.

[Jerryskids]

Some degree of victim blaming? All over the news they're blaming the guy with the gun for the shooting, so it's about 100% victim blaming.

[Azathoth!!]

what you did.

I see it.

[Tonio]

Um, even the EEOC booted his claims. And when you can't make a case with someone like EEOC or CPS, who are mostly unaccountable and exist to fuck with the lives of others...

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Unfortunately for them, the EEOC agreed that his claims have no merit...

[WTF]

This just means the EEOC must be made more sensitive to instances of microagressive racism.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Were the EEOC people white?

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

Almost definitely.

[Krokko]

...claiming racism was behind uncomplimentary evaluations.

Presidential material!

[Zeb]

Reason and all the rest of the cosmo-fago-media is going to ignore this story and bury the race angle because the guy was black. Or so I have been told.

[Private Chipperbot]

Was he even a colleague? At least to the woman? I read somewhere he was fired in 2013 and she was hired in 2014.

[commodious spittoon]

They had one run-in, apparently, after which she took it to HR. Just like a racist would.

[CatoTheChipper]

I blame global warming.

[american socialist]

I blame the fascist gun control laws in Virginia. I'm a libertarian so I think the government should just mandate that we all pack concealed handguns in our trousers. We'll all be safer that way. It's really a public health issue for me.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

Government mandate and Libertarian don't belong in the same sentence. IOW, it's not libertarian to ask for a government mandate that everyone carries a weapon. Your socialist self is strangling whatever libertarian parts you may have.

[american socialist]

More guns=less crime. Jeebus, don't you know anything?

If you think that 5 year olds shouldn't be handling a 30-30 or that crazy people shouldn't be handed out an assault rifle, or that people should have to have a license for a gun that a soldier might be carrying in Afghanistan than you are a fascist and probably run a gulag or something.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

30-30 is a lot of gun for a 5 year old. I'd start them with .22's until they're 8 or 9. And do you understand that "a gun a soldier might be carrying in Afghanistan" most likely fires a shell the size of a .223, or do they not include that kind of detail in your talking points?

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

Very few people can obtain the weapons that soldiers use in Afghanistan. The AR-15 is not what soldiers use in Afghanistan/Iraq, etc.

[d3x / dt3]

I got a handgun in my trousers for ya, AmSoc.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

85) Here's how the progressives are going to go after home-schooling: "home schooling is barely regulated?[and] neglect?and even abuse?is falling through the cracks." No statistics provided on whether home-schooled children are more or less likely to be physically abused, and the single anecdote provided on an abusive situation is from 2003 (!). But you know it's happening, 'cause those homeschoolers are Christian and stuff.

I think my favorite part is the home-schooling mom in Pennsylvania who would love to have more oversight from the state. You know she's trustworthy because she assigns her children Howard Zinn to read for their history lesson, and the Christian homeschool parents she knows don't approve of her!

This one's good too though: "'I've never seen a lobby more powerful and scary,' said Ellen Heinitz, the legislative director for Michigan state Rep. Stephanie Chang, who ran up against HSLDA backlash when she tried to pass home-schooling regulations a few months ago."

[Illocust]

Well the homeschooling lobby is a little scary for a politician. Mama Bears/Tiger Moms who can use protesting your office as civics class for their kids. It's really the only way they've held out this long against the teacher's unions.

[Crackers Boy]

In Closed Shop states, do homeschooling parents have to join the Teachers' Union?

CB

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Fuckin SCABS!

[commodious spittoon]

"'I've never seen a lobby more powerful and scary,' said Ellen Heinitz, the legislative director for Michigan state Rep. Stephanie Chang professional pantsuit wetter and gormless busybody.

Really, Ellen, people with not only a personal but an intimate stake in an issue come out vehemently against your political intrusion? Did you consider whether they'd want the same people who ran public education aground butting into their private arrangement?

[Certified Public Asshat]

The first scare story about how one family of homeschooled kids were found with no food:

The family was known to social workers..

So, useless bureaucrats in charge of keeping kids safe failed, so now we need to regulate homeschool.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

How many homeschool kids are sleeping with their teacher?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump says that if he's elected president, he will raise taxes on himself.

Well, since he's part of everyone, yeah, probably.

[Jerryskids]

Donald Trump knows that as President his investments go into a blind trust and - since the accountants he hires are the very best, I mean just the classiest Jews you'd ever want to meet, there's no comparison, yuuuuge amounts of classiness just coming out of their eyes, coming out of their....wherever - he ain't paying taxes on nothing.

[PM]

Babysitter Confesses to Crime, but Parents Still Can't Regain Custody

Missouri parents Mariah Ramirez and Derek Podany have been living a surreal nightmare since late July, when their 5-month old son was mysteriously diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome ? and removed from their home by Child Protective Services as a result. Now, even though a babysitter has confessed to the crime, baby Daniel remains in protective custody.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Maybe I'm not a good person, but I feel sure that if this scenario happened to me, there would be dead social workers. Maybe not at the time, but nobody's taking a five-month-old baby from my house without consequences. I honestly don't understand why that's not the usual outcome.

[Griffin3]

How would you find out, in the gargantuan bowels of the CPS system, where your baby was being held? What would you do when your face was splashed across the news as a deranged killer and probably molester, as the media is wont to do when it fits their objectives? How would any of this help when your baby was then an orphan?

If you don't stop the process before it gets off your property, then you would need a fairly organized team to make things turn out right.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Yes, I get that you have to play along while they are holding your baby hostage.

[Griffin3]

It's something for anyone with kids to think about. If I leave my kids (11 yo, perfectly capable of using his cell phone) at home to walk to the neighbor's house, is that child abandonment? What about if I drive four houses down to the house we are remodeling? What if I have the oldest wire electrical outlets for me? Pull a wire through the attic? In the morning, or in the afternoon?

There are so many judgment calls, which the average CPS worker thinks they are more capable of making than the parent. In this space, we see kids taken away from their parents because they walk 3 blocks away from the house, or are just playing in the front yard while mom is cooking dinner in the kitchen. And the parent has absolutely no defense in this situation: anything they do to keep the child out of the provably dangerous CPS/foster system will pretty much result in the law being called ... with worse consequences.

Pay the courts and lawyers $15K in fees, and hope they aren't buggered before the judge finally awards them back to you, for counseling and probation.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

If this is all it takes to take a child away, then CPS is a kidnapping operation.

These people are quite literally fucked up in the head.

[CatoTheChipper]

"CPS is a kidnapping operation."

This is true by definition. Whether that's a good or bad thing is up for debate.

Like every other government bureaucracy, CPS is a f*****-up mess riddled with perverse incentives. Like law enforcement in particular, it attracts bullies.

Unfortunately for us all, there really are a few child abusers out there and justice demands that the abuse be stopped, by coercion and kidnapping if necessary.

[commodious spittoon]

How would you find out, in the gargantuan bowels of the CPS system, where your baby was being held?

This should be the next Taken plot.

[Zeb]

Maybe because people realize that revenge is dangerous and likely to make things much, much worse for you and your child? Maybe you could get away with it, but do you want take that risk and gamble on having your kid in state custody for good after you go to prison?

[Griffin3]

So, what is the solution? People have been trying to reform the CPS system, and the zone of allowable behavior just keeps getting tighter and tighter. State AGs everywhere are salivating at the chance to regulate homeschooling. How do we fix this 'rule of man' system, before someone draws down on a police officer trying to take their kids away?

[Zeb]

I don't know. But most people seem to assume that CPS and other government agencies do just fine for the most part and that incidents like this are rare and the result of bad actors. I don't think that a few wronged parents taking matters into their own hands is going to change the minds of many of those people. If anything, it will reinforce their conviction that such government programs are necessary. "See, they were violent maniacs who deserved to have their children taken."

The other problem is that there are cases where CPS stepping in probably is appropriate. Some people are so abusive or neglectful of their children that something needs to be done unless you believe parents should have absolute control of their children. So part of the problem is the usual mission creep.

It's a shitty situation. And makes me feel pretty good about not having kids. It would be too awful to find yourself in a situation where you have to decide between standing up for your rights and principles and having your kids taken.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Fear of a government agency is not a reason to not have kids.

I understand your point and can agree with it but they fucken know if the parents are bad and they should return a child IMMEDIATELY as soon as they find out.

It's immoral what they do in such circumstances and does more harm than good. It erodes trust in the system and screw those who think they do good work in all instances and dismiss it as a 'one-off'. Add up the one-offs and see how many good families have been affected.

Just look, as one small example, how insane and criminal things can get with the Pelletier girl in Massachusetts.

If that isn't a 'wtf' moment for the average person, then the problem lies with them if you ask me.

[Zeb]

It's not so much a reason not to have kids as a reason to be happy not to have kids. I wouldn't say it's a primary reason why I don't. It's mostly just how life has worked out so far. But it is something I am glad not to have to worry about.

The problem definitely lies to a large extent with the average person not being more shocked and pissed about things like this. But I don't know how to start fixing that beyond trying to convince people that it is an inherent problem with the system and not just a few isolated incidents.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yes. Cato touches on your last point.

[Jerryskids]

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

I'm sure if I'm not on the list just for being here, posting dangerously subversive nonsense like this will put me there, but some radicals in a far-off land once overthrew the legitimate government of their country and installed themselves as the sham government, pretending to be themselves a legitimate government. It took a while, but the legitimate government has almost completely managed to get rid of those terrorists who seized power and are now firmly back in control of what is properly their government.

[Zeb]

"legitimate government"

I'm not sure that's a thing.

[Teaching Student]

I don't know, as a Teacher, I had to take a Mandatory Reporter course. It was quite frustrating, because there was the definite vibe of when in doubt, report. Additionally Mandatory Reporters who don't report something can face large fines and jail time, as well as losing their job and credential. They also have immunuty if they report wrongly... some incentives there, right?

I have reported once, because the parent flat out hit the kid in front of me. Oddly, nothing came out of it. Meanwhile, you get the stories of kids playing outside alone....

[Tonio]

Let's say an interested third party took an interest in one of those cases, and decided to confront a CPS worker. It would immediately be presumed that the family was behind this, even if they had no prior knowledge. The only answer is to defund those agencies, and that's going to be a long, hard road.

[tarran]

five-month-old baby from my house without consequences. I honestly don't understand why that's not the usual outcome.

Do you want your baby to grow up an orphan?

Perform a boolean not operation on your answer to the orphan question, and you will understand why people don't lash out.

Most people just want the ordeal to end and to have a normal life again.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Oh I see that people cooperate so it will end as soon as possible. And I know I'm coming off as trying to present myself as some kind of bad-ass. I'm not, I'm really pretty nebbish, But when I imagine something like this happening to my own family, I know for sure in this situation I would not be rational, and would not calm down for months afterward.

Fortunately this is highly unlikely to ever happen to me.

[Jerryskids]

Fortunately this is highly unlikely to ever happen to me.

First they came for the Socialists.....

It's not only not 'highly unlikely', it's a dead certainty.

[Lord Humungus]

Selfie with rattlesnake turns out exactly like you think it would

Alex Gomez, 36, was picking up trash with his nephew at his family's ranch in Lake Elsinore, California, when he picked up a rattlesnake, put it around his neck and took a selfie. He was rushed to the hospital and treated with anti-venom, but the swelling may cause doctors to amputate his hand.

[JW]

I know I shouldn't laugh, but I did.

[Karl Hungus]

I know I shouldn't laugh, but I did.

Why shouldn't you? I laughed and am still kinda chuckling now. As I see it, people like this exist for our amusement.

[JW]

As much of an idiot as this guy was, he lost a hand as a result. That's serious fucking business and not just a nut shot or a skateboard wipe out on video. I'm a little irked lately at how detached many of us have become at the suffering of others, even "here, hold mah beer" types.

But yeah, it's still funny. Still working through the ethos and pathos.

[Rhywun]

how detached many of us have become at the suffering of others

Relax. It's human nature to not care about people we don't know. When people are moaning that you don't "care" enough, feel free to tell them to stuff it.

[JW]

When people are moaning that you don't "care" enough, feel free to tell them to stuff it.

Nah, this is a completely personal thing for me. If anyone would try the guilt trip, I have plenty of spite in my back pocket.

It's human nature to not care about people we don't know.

This is new with me, so I must be going through The Change. Hopefully, I'll come out at the other end as a superpowered energy being. You know, for the chicks.

[robc]

Tragedy is when I stub my toe. Comedy is when you fall in a open manhole and die.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I know right. Picking up trash? Just wait for the wind to blow it onto the neighbor's property.

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

What a moran.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

NEEDZ MOAR SPELLCHEK!!!11!!!1!

[Mickey Rat]

Should the punishment for a mistake be the death penalty?

It depends on the quality of the mistake.

[Citizen X]

BRING BACK DARWINISM!

[d3x / dt3]

I don't know what the appeal of rattlesnake-selfies is, but there was a similar case in July where a guy was bitten on the arm whilst trying to pose with a rattlesnake.

His hospital bill came to something over $150,000. The Washington Post then had an article about how this bill showed "everything wrong with healthcare today."

Cause it would be way better to lose his arm, I guess.

[AlmightyJB]

First of all, reporter in blue dress. Definitely would. Second, is it a selfie if someone else takes the pic? I though a selfie was technically you holding the camera yourself? Or is any picture taken of you a selfie? Or are all pictures now called selfies?

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

This is what I don't understand. Now people are referring to pics other people take of you as "selfies". Makes no sense. Whippersnappers. Get off my lawn. Goddammit.

[Episteme]

He'd have been safe it actually WAS a Rattlesnake Selfie ?because the rattlesnake would have probably been holding the phone in its mouth and couldn't bite him!

[Rhywun]

the swelling may cause doctors to amputate his hand

I read that as "amputate his head", and then I laughed.

[AlmightyJB]

Well he probably uses in hand more.

[Citizen X]

Well, it's not like it's doing him any good.

[Mindyourbusiness]

Another candidate for the Darwin Awards!

[Slammer]

Donald Trump says that if he's elected president, he will raise taxes on himself.

Well, Hillary could pardon herself.

[straffinrun]

You know what else she could go and to do herself?

[Slammer]

"Let's ask SugarFree!"

[Citizen X]

No.

[Charles Easterly]

Seconded.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

NO!

[Old Man With Candy]

GODDAMIT, YOU CALLED OUT HIS NAME AND HE APPEARED! GODDAMN YOU TO HELL!!!!

[SugarFree]

"But I need it," Bernie pleaded.

"It's not easy, Bernie. It takes a minute," Hillary said. She reared up from her squat and dropped back down, a low gruntle rumbling forth.

"Is it coming?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder. "I need it. You have it. I want it. Give it to me." He was whining. His weakness made her sick and aroused. She strained again and something inside her snapped like cheap sunglasses.

"OK, Bernie. It's starting," she said.

"Oh, thank Atheist God! Thank you, Atheist God! You have bestowed your nonexistent blessings upon us this day!" Bernie started to sway, still on his hands and knees.

"Shut that shit up. I still need to concentrate!" Hillary screamed. She waddled forward in her squat. Her prolapsed vagina slowly inflated into a rigid pseudopenis.

"I'm going to core you, Bernie. Core you like a crisp Vermont fuckapple."

[Citizen X]

Goddammit, there goes my breakfast.

[WTF]

"I'm going to core you, Bernie. Core you like a crisp Vermont fuckapple."

Beautiful, just beautiful.

[Episteme]

You know what else she could go and to do herself?

You mean, like, with a cloth?

[Lord Humungus]

Man Arrested For Masturbating In Chip Aisle Of Uniontown Sheetz Store

Employees at the store said they noticed the 18-year-old walk into the store around 2 a.m. and he started behaving in a suspicious manner.

The employees thought he may be trying to shoplift.

One of the workers walked to where he was and noticed that he had his genitals exposed and he was masturbating in the chip aisle.

"I think it's horrible. Unfortunately, it's sad and a lot of this has been going on lately. Fayette County has been in the news quite a bit and it hasn't been for good reasons," Bob Siple said.

[Idle Hands]

while you can pay at the pump, you don't get paid to pump. I could see how this could be confusing to some.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Maybe the onion dip was too expensive?

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

He couldn't get laid, so he tried to get Lay's?

[commodious spittoon]

Maybe the Pringles gave him tingles.

[bacon-magic]

Once you pop, you can't stop.

[Not a Libertarian]

But have you ever really looked at Chester Cheetah?

DAT AZZ THO

[Not a Libertarian]

Those RUFFLES have RIDGES...for her pleasure.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Unfortunately, it's sad and a lot of this has been going on lately

!!!!

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Yeah, that was the remark that caught my eye. WTF is going on out there?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

a lot of this has been going on lately

Fayette County, maturbation capital of Amerca?

[Chupacabra]

WELCOME TO AMERICA'S JIZZ TOWEL!

[straffinrun]

Met a my old lover in the grocery store,
Stuck his wang in Nacho cheeeeez.

[0x90]

Take a load off, Fannie...

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Fanny May Pretzels, in the chip aisle!

[Suthenboy]

"Unfortunately, it's sad and a lot of this has been going on lately."

Is there something in the water there? Viagra? What the hell?

[straffinrun]

The store is named 'Sheetz'.

[Jerryskids]

Really - this scab ain't even a member of the pipefitter's union and he wants to just waltz in here and take our jobs?

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Smart members of the establishment will perceive where the excitement is, where the energy is, where the enthusiasm is, where the potential voter turnout is," Sanders told The Washington Post.

Where the lack of indictments is.

[Raven Nation]

The "smart members" line just comes across as Stalinist.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Yes, DNC, please come out in favor of an unabashed socialist. I would love to see your party not get elected for another decade.

[Raven Nation]

Remember, if you support trump you're an idiot. If you support Bernie you're an intellectual.

[Tonio]

^This.

[Princess Trigger]

There's a very good reason we don't get a constant stream of quotes and bonmots from Bernie's speeches but we do get them from Trump.

#feelthebern

[Citizen X]

You should see the proggier parts of my Facebook feed. It's endless Bernie memes that are so banal and generic they make a sheltered high schooler's political opinions look astute.

[Jerryskids]

The 'very good reason' is that while the media is happy to tell you how many people are enthusiastically showing up to hear Bernie speak they don't want you to bother your pretty little head with what he's saying. The media is the smart members of the establishment Bernie is talking about.

[0x90]

Excitement, energy, enthusiasm, Sanders... one of these things is not like...

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Sanders, because it starts with "S"!

/Sesame Street watcher

[JW]

"The disgruntled former television reporter who murdered two of his former colleagues during a live interview Wednesday morning had a long history of erratic behavior at various workplaces, including acting aggressively toward co-workers and claiming racism was behind uncomplimentary evaluations."

Just to note it, something about this whole thing is making the tiniest portion of my bullshit detector go off. The perfectness of the horror of the event and video is screaming scripted event. What if this is the greatest social experiment/prank ever?

I'm 99.9% sure it's real and not staged, but I can't shake off the nagging doubt.

[JW]

And yes, I get that he planned it out, but that's not it.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Are you helping that Reason person sell conspiracy books?

[JW]

WHO TOLD YOU? WHAT'S HIS NAME?

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

"JW" is a little on-the-nose, don't you think?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I was in a semi-serious car accident one time and no time of my life has seemed less real and more like I was watching a movie.

[CatoTheChipper]

I have had the same experience a couple of times. It is very weird.

[Karl Hungus]

I'm 99.9% sure it's real and not staged, but I can't shake off the nagging doubt.

How many people would have to be in on it in order to pull it off? An entire newsroom, the Virgina State Police, and all the shooter's previous employers, for starters. To me, that automatically negates the possibility that this was anything other than a double murder caught on camera.

[JW]

Never underestimate the power of herd journalism. All you need is a source of information that sounds authentic and the rest run with it, repeating what other outlets have said.

[Karl Hungus]

They may run wth it initially, but in the following days, when subjected to scrutiny, the whole thing would fall apart. I love a good conspiracy theory as much as anyone, but I honestly think that 99 percent of the time, it's all smoke.

[JW]

It's only been 24 hours and that's usually not enough time to sort out bad reporting. But I agree, the truth eventually comes out.

It's not a conspiracy theory as much as a "something just is just off" feeling. I am most likely completely wrong about this hunch. I was more wondering if anyone else had this feeling.

[Karl Hungus]

I am most likely completely wrong about this hunch. I was more wondering if anyone else had this feeling.

I don't have this hunch at all. But I have had it before, with other, similarly sensational tragedies, so I don't think you're off kilter or anything.

[Illocust]

It's the too good to be true vibe. Not too good to be true that two people got shot, but too good to be true that if two people were going to be killed, it would be followed up by someone on top of the progressive stack video recording and writing down his motivation as one of the biggest progressive issues of the day.

It's custom made to be impossible for a prog to blame their enemies for the killing, and it was done in such a way that it got exposure without having to first go through prog gatekeepers. Things like that are too good to be true.

[Karl Hungus]

It's custom made to be impossible for a prog to blame their enemies for the killing--

I dunno, I don't think you can overestimate these people's capacity for blame-shifting. According to others here, people on HuffPo and ThinkProgress are saying there simply must have been merit to this guy's claims of racism.

[Illocust]

That's different than the approach they were originally trying though. At first they were trying to claim it was male on female violence because the reporter rejected him (before we found out he was gay). That fed into the war on women narrative and let them claim our culture was encouraging men to kill women.

Now they are stuck trying to justify the murder, because culturally he is everything they support. The first allows the attacking of opponents. The second is a defensive maneuver that turns even their own allies off.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Well, there's always the gun control meme

[commodious spittoon]

According to others here, people on HuffPo and ThinkProgress are saying there simply must have been merit to this guy's claims of racism.

Which, at least from a position of wanting to see the knee-jerk personal-is-political class thoroughly and earnestly discredited, suits the purpose well enough. I hope they come out swinging for the fences on the racial issue.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Progs have no intellectual consistency or curiosity beyond their emotions. That's why they can apply any justification to any crime to suit their narrative.

It's nice little racket they have going.

[Somalian Road Corporation]

Honestly, I've always had a sneaking suspicion that the whole Zimmerman/Martin thing snowballed from somebody going off the assumption that "he's named Zimmerman? Gotta be a white guy, go go pre-established narrative!"

It's just moronic enough to be entirely plausible.

[Tonio]

Oh, I'm sure it was scripted, just not by the victims. Srsly. He knew exactly what he was doing.

[JW]

Refresh, baby.

Already noted.

[Tonio]

Yeah, sorry, but whatever.

[JW]

[Makes 'L' symbol on forehead at Tonio]

[Karl Hungus]

Oh, I'm sure it was scripted, just not by the victims. Srsly. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Yep. For him, the whole thing went down as planned, without a hitch.

[commodious spittoon]

without a hitch

Yeah, they'd only been affianced.

[CatoTheChipper]

Well, it hasn't ignited the race war that the shooter wanted.

[Suthenboy]

I get that same thought every time there is one of these and the gun grabbers immediately start banging their drums. My doubt would be greater than 0.1% if I didn't know how many lunatics are out there. Still, when we have a president who has no problem dumping thousands of guns into the hands of violent gangs in the hopes of more events like this...there really is nothing I wouldn't put past him.

[commodious spittoon]

Que?

[CampingInYourPark]

He's coming at us fast and furious

[Zeb]

We see lots of fake violence and (thankfully) most of us see very little real violence. The fact that the videos both cut off before you can see any blood and death do make it feel like a movie or video game where shootings are a lot cleaner than in real life.

I can't imagine any reason for staging it. Especially since people would definitely figure it out pretty quickly. But I do see what you mean about it feeling weird or off. But I think that's probably just because the reality is really weird.

[JW]

But I do see what you mean about it feeling weird or off.

It's the "too perfect" bit. It really reads like it was ripped from a slasher flick.

I won't say that I'll happily be wrong, since that means that 2 people were murdered in one of the most fucked ways in recent memory, but I'll easily eat my words.

[Lord Humungus]

Possible Biden run puts Obama fundraising network on high alert

The possibility that Vice President Biden may jump into the 2016 presidential campaign is convulsing the network of wealthy Democrats that financed President Obama's two White House bids, galvanizing fundraisers who are underwhelmed by Hillary Rodham Clinton's performance.

A wide swath of party financiers is convinced that Biden will make a late entry into the race, and a sizable number are contemplating backing him, including some who have signed on with Clinton, according to more than a dozen top Democratic fundraisers nationwide.

Their potential support ? driven in part by a desire to recapture the passion they felt in Obama's campaigns ? could play a key role in helping the vice president decide whether to make a third White House bid. The chatter among a cadre of well-connected party fundraisers suggests that he could benefit from an early jolt of money should he run.

[Tonio]

Yeah, I can only imagine the pants-shitting that's going on. The Clintons are known to be vindictive so that makes people afraid to donate to Biden. If Biden wins those who donated to Clinton will not be viewed favorably.

The ray of hope in all this is that if the establishment decides that Biden is a better choice, the many Clinton scandals will start to gain traction since that will be the only way to get her off the stage.

[Illocust]

That's really the thing isn't it. The Clintons may be vindictive and powerful, but Hillary has openly committed a federal crime. If Obama decides to give the go ahead to prosecute her for it, she will lose all power to get revenge on her opponents. No one wants to be associated with the has been in a jail cell, and her favors won't mean anything.

[Tonio]

Buuuuut...and this is verging on the tinfoil here...perhaps the Clintons have something on Obama which could torpedo his presidency. Deploying that would have the net effect of installing Biden as president, putting him in a better position to run for re-election.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

the Clintons have something on Obama which could torpedo his presidency.

That boat is already sitting on the bottom of the harbor; he is the lamest of ducks.

[Jerryskids]

I seriously believed there was no way in hell Obama would beat Hillary in 2008 even if it took an unfortunate accident involving Vince Foster's gun and a case of Roger Clinton's favorite beer to remove Obama from the race. Whatever the Clinton's have on Obama, it ain't as good as what Obama has on the Clinton's. Or the Arkansas mafia ain't got shit on the Chicago mafia since the Chicago mafia are the, you know, Mafia mafia.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Their potential support ? driven in part by a desire to recapture the passion they felt in Obama's campaigns

Calling bs on this claim: Bernie's inspiring more passion than Biden ever would. But they're establishment enough to think Bernie's got no chance in the genera.

After 8 years with their man in office, fuck the hope and change. Obama's network of wealthy Dems just wants to back a winner.

[PM]

Cancer cells programmed back to normal by US scientists

Cancer cells have been programmed back to normal by scientists in a breakthrough which could lead to new treatments and even reverse tumour growth.

For the first time aggressive breast, lung and bladder cancer cells have been turned back into harmless benign cells by restoring the function which prevents them from multiplying excessively and forming dangerous growths.

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, US, said it was like applying the brakes to a speeding car.

[UnCivilServant]

How long do they stay benign?

[commodious spittoon]

As long as you don't roll back the firmware you should be fine.

[Restoras]

the Mayo Clinic

Is this clinic made with eggs and thus a real Mayo Clinic?

[UnCivilServant]

+1 FDA Compliant Sandwich Spread

[WTF]

Mayo or any other thing can consist of anything at all because things can change so words really HAVE NO MEANING!!11!!!!
/Botard

[JW]

Scientists discovered they could switch on cancer in cells by removing the microRNAs from cells and preventing them from producing the protein.

Frankendrugs!

[Tonio]

My fantasy: "Sorry, Hippie, you've conspicuously railed against genetic modification so no gene therapy for you."

There's also a fundie version, of course.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

"We are merely fulfilling your wishes regarding gene modifications!"

[JW]

I have many such fantasies.

"Did you repeatedly vote for all of the venal, corrupt assholes who created this economic collapse? Sorry, neighbor, you don't get into my bunker. Good luck the Obamanomicslypse."

[Jerryskids]

That's your fantasy? Not even thinking "hmmm....microRNAs. Is that another word for midichlorians?"

[WTF]

Holy shit, that is a real breakthrough if it pans out.

[Restoras]

I wonder how the anti-GMO clowns come down on something like this.

[WTF]

No FRANKENGENES!!1!!!

[Tonio]

Dammit.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Great minds, etc.

[Karl Hungus]

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, US, said it was like applying the brakes to a speeding car.

Someone close to me was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Hers is apparently the best-case scenario for such a diagnosis, and they think they'll be able to treat is surgically and with radiation, and without chemo. BUT, her MRI just found a spot on her lung . . . BUT it might just be a calicified spot on her rib near the lung . . .

God, I can't even inagine the emotional rollercoaster she's on right now. She's handling it like a champ though.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

This is how cancer goes. LOTS of ups and downs. Lots of hope, then crushing disappointment.

[Karl Hungus]

This is how cancer goes. LOTS of ups and downs. Lots of hope, then crushing disappointment.

I just hope the spot on the MRI is nothing. Everything else seems to indicate that it hasn't metastasized. Indeed, if that's the case, her outlook is really good.

[Charles Easterly]

"Scientists at the Mayo Clinic in Florida, US, said it was like applying the brakes to a speeding car."

This indeed is a wonderful development.

Now, if only they find a way to help passengers trapped on a crew-disabled airplane.

[Karl Hungus]

Now, if only they find a way to help passengers trapped on a crew-disabled airplane.

That's a no-brainer: ejection seats for every passenger.

[Slammer]

Dear Yellowstone, please train your bears

[Ivan Pike]

"There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the stupidest tourists" ~ Yellowstone Park Ranger.

Just about sums it up.

[Karl Hungus]

"There is considerable overlap between the intelligence of the smartest bears and the stupidest tourists" ~ Yellowstone Park Ranger.

I like this guy. I hope he's not in hot water for saying that on record.

[Charles Easterly]

Hot water & Yellowstone.

What you did....

[BigT]

No discipline for faithful employees.

[Mike Laursen]

"Heh heh. I'm stupider than the av-ah-rage tourist!"

[SusanM]

"And stock the cabins with more Brawndo"

[WTF]

"It's got what bears crave!"

[Lord Humungus]

Buddie the marijuana mascot draws complaints from children's advocates

Part Superman, part cannabis plant, "Buddie" has a green marijuana bud for a head, sports six-pack abs and wears a cape. On his chest: The letter B over a cannabis leaf and the state of Ohio.

ResponsibleOhio posted photos of the mascot to Facebook. Followers drew instant comparisons between Buddie and Joe Camel, the cigarette mascot that was retired to settle a lawsuit alleging R.J. Reynolds used the cartoon character to market to children.

Nick Lashutka, president of the Ohio Children's Hospital Association, said he's shocked that ResponsibleOhio appears to be marketing marijuana to kids before voters even see it on the ballot. Lashutka said it's disappointing the group would choose a superhero character to represent a substance that has proven to be dangerous for children.

[Idle Hands]

there are so many things I find humorous here I don't even know where to start.

[Slammer]

disappointing the group would choose a superhero character to represent a substance that has proven to be dangerous for children

there's nothing more dangerous for children than comic books

[commodious spittoon]

Reading comic books may result in atomic wedgies and spontaneous locker imprisonment.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Well, weed doesn't usually lead to having six-pack abs. Usually it leads to having a six-pack of Mountain Dew and a bag of Doritos.

[Fist of Etiquette]

What does Joe Biden know about Hillary Clinton's emails and is he planning to use it against her in the 2016 race?

Nothing. He spotted a squirrel outside his window.

[Charles Easterly]

I remember that picture.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Best caption: "This is a mighty strange place for a urinal".

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

BIDEN IS IN LEAGUE WITH THE H&R SQUIRRELZ?!?!?!

[Jerryskids]

Best line in the article: Biden forged many relationships during his long tenure in the Senate. Biden forged a lot of things. Hillary forged an entire human-like persona.

[Jerryskids]

Best line in the article: Biden forged many relationships during his long tenure in the Senate. Biden forged a lot of things. Hillary forged an entire human-like persona.

[Lord Humungus]

A chicken sandwich cannot be copyrighted, court rules

Because of the ruling, a former employee of a fried chicken franchise is not entitled to a percentage of the profits from a sandwich he "authored," wrote Chief Judge Jeffrey Howard in the decision of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The plaintiff, Norberto Col?n Lorenzana, had filed a complaint seeking "All the earnings produced by his creation"?an amount not less than $10 million.

"The sandwich consists of a fried chicken breast patty, lettuce, tomato, American cheese, and garlic mayonnaise on a bun," the judge wrote. Col?n had claimed that both the recipe and the name of the so-called Pechu Sandwich "is a creative work, of which he is the author," the judge noted.

Col?n failed to persuade a district court, which pointed out that the Copyright Act protects works of authorship in eight categories, none of which includes chicken breasts placed between two slices of bread. The appeals court upheld the ruling.

[Tejicano]

Jeez, at a sandwich shop I used to ask for one of their menu items - but made with turkey instead of the usual beef. One day I noticed that they had added it to the menu. Never did it occur to me that I was supposed to contact a lawyer or even get indignant.

If I had been working there being paid for my efforts I believe I would have felt even less so inclined .

[Citizen X]

When you start working at Starbucks, you specifically sign away your right to take credit for any drinks you invent that go on to become menu items. I knew the guy who invented the caramel macchiato in college - i think he's a minister now.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

When my dad worked for IBM as an engineer, IBM had rights to anything he invented during his tenure. It's pretty standard, and an excellent incentive for non-innovation.

My dad didn't invent jack shit until he retired.

[Tonio]

The polite thing, under those circumstances, is to name the sammich after the customer.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

"I'll have the Tejicano, please. On whole wheat."

[__Warren__]

Can I get the Swiss Servator, but with cheddar?

[Atanarjuat]

Does the Swiss Servator sandwich have a single kidney bean on it?

[Mickey Rat]

How many pubs have that sandwich? The only thing that may be close to innovstive is garlic mayo instead of plain mayo.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's his creation?

Man, he should see the crap I come up with.

Maybe I should copyright myself!

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

"I'll have two Rufus J. Fireflies on Texas toast, please. Oh, and hold the maple syrup."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

DON'T GIVE ME IDEAS!

[bacon-magic]

Poutine sandwiches! Get your Poutine sammiches!

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Maybe I should copyright myself!

Then sue your kids for copyright violation.

[Jerryskids]

This is why so many foods have 'secret recipes' - you can't patent food. Mars comes out with a new candy bar and a week later Hershey and Nestle have the same thing. There's no law against copying a recipe, it's assumed that mixing up food ingredients is not a 'novel' use of food.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Los Angeles Police Department will begin employing body cameras on many of its officers next week.

They'll put batteries in them sometime in 2017.

[Tonio]

^This. Because until it's 100% mandatory for all cops whenever on duty then the cameras of the problem cops will always be malfunctioning, or something.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

*cynical applause*

[Jerryskids]

When they begin employing the batteries on many of their officers I've got a nice big sock they can borrow. Already has a fistful of batteries in it, too.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Gross domestic product expanded at a 3.7 percent annual pace instead of the 2.3 percent rate reported last month, the Commerce Department said on Thursday in its second GDP estimate.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/27.....ected.html

Bulls running! USA!

Good Morning Peanuts!

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Does this mean the Fed can raise rates in September, or do we still have to accommodate (i.e. prop up) the falling stock markets?

[Palin's Buttplug]

So you think if the Fed tightens stocks will fall?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

No, I think raising rates modestly will signal the economy is back to normal and be stimulative. But does Janet Yellen think that?

[Palin's Buttplug]

She has said a rate hike is imminent. And I agree that it would be stimulative.

[Lord at War]

Cute little plug, ain't he?

Tell us how much the deficit will increase for each 100 basis point hike...

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

It'll be revised down later--as usual. But you knew that already.

[WTF]

Doesn't matter, he'll just keep lying.

[Palin's Buttplug]

"Lying" = not singing from the GOP hymnal.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

This has nothing to do with the GOP. The Obama administration seems to have made a habit of inflated GDP growth estimates only to revise them down later.

But again, you know that. It is you who is signing the Team praises.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The original GDP number was revised upward, dipshit.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

You're cherry picking--dipshit.

[WTF]

Let the strong wind of mushroom country blow across the annihilated enemy fairyland!!

[LoneWaco]

give him a break. he only lies as much as Obama. it's not his fault that is all the time.

[Lord Humungus]

China Sells U.S. Treasuries to Support Yuan

China has cut its holdings of U.S. Treasuries this month to raise dollars needed to support the yuan in the wake of a shock devaluation two weeks ago, according to people familiar with the matter.

Channels for such transactions include China selling directly, as well as through agents in Belgium and Switzerland, said one of the people, who declined to be identified as the information isn't public. China has communicated with U.S. authorities about the sales, said another person. They didn't reveal the size of the disposals.

The People's Bank of China has been offloading dollars and buying yuan to support the exchange rate, a policy that's contributed to a $315 billion drop in its foreign-exchange reserves over the last 12 months. The $3.65 trillion stockpile will fall by some $40 billion a month in the remainder of 2015 because of the intervention, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

[Idle Hands]

I'm sure it will work out for those crazy kids.

[Palin's Buttplug]

King Dollar fucking the Reds hard.

[Idle Hands]

I have to say I'm kind of excited for a Trump vs Biden presidential race, the level of derp showcased during those many months may never be surpassed in my lifetime.

[WTF]

Jesus, we might all be sucked into a black hole of derp.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

That derp meld could mass as much as our nearest star. The gravity well would fuck up the news cycle for years.

[Nick H]

is this shooter being called a thug by anyone? remember the memes we saw last shooting where the media supposedly always calls black killer thugs and white killers loners?

[Slammer]

New Oxford words

Awesomesauce. Manic pixie dream girl. Manspreading. Mic drop.

[PM]

If the definition of manic pixie dream girl is anything other than a picture of peak-cute Natalie Portman in Garden State then the entire dictionary is useless.

[commodious spittoon]

What? Ramona Flowers is the ur-MPDG.

[WTF]

I thought it was Zooey Deschanel.

[JW]

How can you cads leave out Lori Petty? [ducks]

[Lord Humungus]

What some of the richest people in America say about the poor when they think no one is listening

Normally, petite blondes and slumbering dogs don't shake people to their very core, but on this Facebook page, the pair portends the breakdown of law and order, maybe even the end of civilization. "I think this war is lost now. Destruction by design," a member of a Facebook group called Third and 33rd (and Beyond!) commented in response to the photo. "Those who should represent the taxpayers and law abiding have another agenda. That's obvious. They are actively using the rule of 'law' to reduce the power of the police to halt this. This is not incompetence. It's being engineered. See how fast it's happened? It will take years now even if a clean up started today."

Someone else on a different thread captures the true meaning of grave injustice with his complaint, "Just be thankful you don't live in the Future condo. I pay $20K in property taxes to have disgusting homeless people all over our public courtyard around our kids. And God forbid you personally say or do something then you are labeled a racist or prejudice [sic]."

TW: Salon

[Tonio]

disgusting homeless people all over our public courtyard

The problem, I see it.

[lap83]

That comment sums up limousine liberalism. They imagine an immaculate commons that will enrich their lifestyle and then it's immediately filled with hobos. "My beautiful view!"

[Rhywun]

Yep. I'm looking at pictures and it looks to me like one of those "public amenity" bribes in exchange for letting them add extra floors or something. They probably have some lottery-poor living there, too.

[OldMexican]

What some of the richest people in America say about the poor when they think no one is listening

Why most of us already know thanks to Mexican telenovelas...

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

*grins, gives OM thumbs up*

[wareagle]

the lack of self-awareness is epic. The Salon crowd does not realize that the participants in those comments are just like themselves. It's Manhattan we're talking about here, not some Red place.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

I've told this one before, but it bears repeating: uberliberal friends of mine are pissed off that a developer wants to build section 8 housing right up against the border of their pristine subdivision.

I told them I was withdrawing their liberal cards.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Liberals like the poor? far from them.

[Rhywun]

I'm only half-scanning this derp but I'm failing to see the promised "cesspool of racist vitriol".

[Lord Humungus]

Why the rich love Burning Man
The festival has become a playground for wealthy libertarians. Maybe it was never a socialist utopia to begin with

Introduce "radical inclusion," "radical self-expression," and "decommodification" as tenets, and designate the alternative society as a free space, where sex and gender boundaries are fluid and meant to be transgressed.

These ideas ? the essence of Burning Man ? are certainly appealing.

Yet capitalists also unironically love Burning Man, and to anyone who has followed the recent history of Burning Man, the idea that it is at all anticapitalist seems absurd: last year, a venture capitalist billionaire threw a $16,500-per-head party at the festival, his camp a hyper-exclusive affair replete with wristbands and models flown in to keep the guests company.

Burning Man is earning a reputation as a "networking event" among Silicon Valley techies, and tech magazines now send reporters to cover it. CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Larry Page of Alphabet are foaming fans, along with conservative anti-tax icon Grover Norquist and many writers of the libertarian (and Koch-funded) Reason magazine. Tesla CEO Elon Musk even went so far as to claim that Burning Man "is Silicon Valley."

TW: Salon

[Palin's Buttplug]

LIBERAL LIBERTARIANS DON'T COUNT!

[Free Society]

LIBERAL LIBERTARIANS

What is that? Is it more redundant or oxymoronic? I can't decide.

[straffinrun]

You're built too low, FS

[Free Society]

My feelz...

[Palin's Buttplug]

You probably know this but the Paleo's here say there is no such thing as a "liberal" libertarian - that if you don't vote GOP that you're not a "true" libertarian.

[PM]

I'll take "things nobody has ever actually said that buttplug made up on the spot" for 800, Alex.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

Liberal Libertarian is actually redundant.

[Free Society]

Depending on if you define 'liberal' correctly or not. If you define it how Anal Beade does, then it's an oxymoron.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

Right you are.

[PM]

It's almost like freedom doesn't necessarily mean rigid adherence to a social orthodoxy.

[Tonio]

Kochtopus!!1!

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

many writers of the libertarian (and Koch-funded) Reason magazine.

I love these idiots.

[Timon 19]

Memo to Salon: Doherty has been writing about Burning Man since forever (at least into the 90s, as I recall).

[SugarFree]

"Why do you put the hat on me, Donald?" asked Donald's hair.

"Don't listen to him, Donald," Donald's hat whispered. "He's always hated me. You know he's always hated me. I am truth, Donald. I love you."

Donald's pubic hair rustled in agreement. Or maybe the limo just lurched.

"Would you two fucking shut up for just a minute?" Donald screamed. "I need to concentrate!" He squeezed the tip of his glans, forcing his urethra to gape open. He guided the 100mg Viagra in with forceps and pushed it down the shaft of his penis as far as he could.

"Are you sure that's how you are supposed to do it?" Donald's hair asked.

"Pipe down, feathery," Donald's hat growled. "The man knows what he is doing."

"I have to be ready for Iowa. Iowa is YUGE! I need to be YUGE!" Donald told his hair. He grabbed a handful of the blue pills from a candy dish and shoved them in his mouth. He chewed him into a paste and washed them down with 20 year cognac cut with Bud Light Lime.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Is this a quote from the new Jonathan Franzen book?

[Tonio]

Sug is our poet laureate here, JATNAS. You could learn something.

[Slammer]

SF is our author-in-residence, Agile is our poet laureate

[Tonio]

My bad.

[SugarFree]

Is this a quote from the new Jonathan Franzen book?

I don't know. Is Jennifer Weiner stalking me on Twitter yet?

[Warty]

Excellent.

[Don'tTreadOnMeChipper]

Ok, we're done here. Shut it down!

[Slammer]

I'm afraid. There's probably more.

[Warty]

I just now got to the new Horrendous you linked me. It's outstanding.

[Slammer]

Yep. I love the cover art, as well.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

I, too, fear this, Slammer.

[WTF]

MOAR PLEEZ

[straffinrun]

Thank you for this.

[Lord Humungus]

George Zimmerman: Virginia "hate crime" shootings committed by "pansy" and condoned by "ignorant baboon" Barack Obama
The deaths of Alison Parker and Adam Ward gave Trayvon Martin's killer an excuse to vent, and he used it with gusto

George Zimmerman, the killer of Trayvon Martin who was last seen hawking paintings of the Confederate battle flag that praised the Second Amendment, took to Twitter in the wake of yesterday's shootings of Alison Parker and Adam Ward to condemn the "Black [piece of shit]" who murdered them and the "Ignorant Baboon" in the White House who mentioned gun control in his comments about their murders.

Presumably because he knows a thing or two about killing people in cold blood, Zimmerman expounded at Twitter-length on the murders of Parker and Ward, writing first that:

Pansy Fester lee Flanagan, too much of a daisy to deal w/racism. Murders 2 whites. Hate crime, 100%. Racist Obama says nothing condeming.

[OldMexican]

Presumably because he [Zimmerman] knows a thing or two about killing people in cold blood[...]

A funny thing to say about the man who was acquitted of the charge of murdering Martin thanks to overwhelming evidence that pointed to a justifiable homicide.

[Lord Humungus]

yeah - I know libel laws in the US aren't anything like the UK but this isn't something I would publish.

[Tonio]

Salon isn't known for their smarts. Someday things like this will come back to haunt them.

[SugarFree]

I think someone is feeling a little neglected. Maybe Zimmerman and Caitlyn Jenner can form some sort of attention whore support group. Or make a sex tape.

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

I loathe you.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

You...you...

*gulps, holds back rising gorge*

[tarran]

He no longer can narrow his eyes! Switzy's down! We're doomed!

[SugarFree]

I think I broke him. Yikes.

[Citizen X]

Oh, NOW you feel regret?

[SugarFree]

He's recovering from surgery. What's your excuse, Nancy?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

C'mon, Sug, he's down to one kidney, how's he supposed to purge that out?

[Juvenile Bluster]

Why do people still pay attention to Zimmerman? He's about the biggest attention whore in the media right now. I'm waiting for him to start dating a Kardashian.

[Rhywun]

I dunno - but he's turning into a master Salon-troll, isn't he.

[SIV]

"The fact that he kept his job was because he was an African-American gay man," Sextro told the site. "That's pretty hard to say no to."

Diversity=Death

[Free Society]

Diversity is pure goodness, for it's own sake. Self evident. Science. Fact.

[Derpetologist]

I was listening to a Christian radio show yesterday and they blamed the shooting on the lack of prayer/bibles in schools. The SJWs blamed it on racism; the anti-gun folks blamed it on the NRA.

Yep, whenever a bad thing happens, it proves what they already believed is true.

Today's derp offering comes once again from everydayfeminism

Yet as people who are inscribed with Whiteness, it is possible for us to act in racist ways no matter our intentions. Uprooting racism from our daily actions takes a lifetime of work.

OK, pal, whatever you say...

And if that isn't enough, try this: http://vocserve.berkeley.edu/f.....teFolk.pdf

[PM]

Apparently if Original Sin didn't exist, we would have to invent it.

[Derpetologist]

The SJW version of Total Depravity.

Total depravity (also called radical corruption, or pervasive depravity), is a theological doctrine derived from the Augustinian concept of original sin. It is the teaching that, as a consequence of the Fall of Man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin and, apart from the efficacious or prevenient grace of God, is utterly unable to choose to follow God, refrain from evil, or accept the gift of salvation as it is offered.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Inscribed with Whiteness

I'm conflicted! This just screams for a new handle, but I'm not ready to relinquish the (would chip her).

[Rhywun]

It's already the side-project of Guided by Voices.

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

White guilt. I just don't understand it. Just be a decent person, and it's okay if you're white. Live life free and happy.

[WTF]

No white person can be a truly decent person due to their whiteness, but they can achieve some small grace if they are willing to confess their depravity by admitting to their racism and White Privilege.

I wish I was only making this up.

[Free Society]

You must be willing seek forgiveness for your privilege and you must atone for the actions of other people who look like you and you absolutely must curse your grandfathers. There's hope for you yet, white scumbag.

[Jerryskids]

Don't forget the lifetime of work to uproot the racism from your daily life. Next lifetime, sexism. The one after that, homophobia. Fourth lifetime? The cripples and the retards are still fighting over who gets that one. (And yes, the fight is just as much fun to watch as you imagine.)

[LynchPin1477]

Again, the progressive left is largely built on a foundation of envy. It manifests itself with a focus on exploitation and oppression. Those are very valid concerns but since we have made a lot of progress towards rooting out institutional oppression, and to some extent changing cultural prejudices, progressives need to find (or invent) new ways that people are being exploited so that they can be relevant.

If you happen to be part of the "oppressive" power structure rather than a victim of it, and you want validation from the progressive left, then you need castigate yourself.

It doesn't matter if you personally live a decent life. You are either a victim or oppressor, and that is largely determined by which group you belong to, not what you individually do.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Built on envy AND projection.

[Suthenboy]

No shit. Their rantings are as horrible as any racist shit I have ever heard. It is exactly equivalent to the old "stealing is in the nigger's blood" bit. Why no one ever publicly calls them out on it I have no ide.....Oh, I just did.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Built on envy AND projection AND ruthless efficiency.... AND a fanatical devotion to the Pope progressive talking points!

[Free Society]

Yet as people who are inscribed with Whiteness, it is possible for us to act in racist ways no matter our intentions. Uprooting racism from our daily actions takes a lifetime of work.

If that were true, and it's not, who in their right mind would put a lifetime of work into not offending a class of easily offended people?

[WTF]

Guilty white SJWs?

[Free Society]

I did preface that by saying "in their right mind"

[WTF]

Ah, yes, missed that. Good catch.

[Citizen X]

He said "right mind," so no.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Guilty white SJWs?

Isn't that redundant (and add rich)?

[LynchPin1477]

People who believe that therein lies salvation.

[Suthenboy]

"As capitalism stretches across nations, its partnership with race relations also evolves into a formidable force."

It is always there, all you have to do is dig a little.

[Certified Public Asshat]

Intentionally or Unintentionally Mispronouncing Names

Fuck.

[Citizen X]

Uh oh!

[OldMexican]

"The disgruntled former television reporter who murdered two of his former colleagues during a live interview Wednesday morning had a long history of erratic behavior at various workplaces, including acting aggressively toward co-workers and claiming racism was behind uncomplimentary evaluations."

"And for that reason, we should repeal the Second Amendment. Makes sense, right?"

/Marxian, from planet Marx.

[WTF]

No, no, we should teach white people not to be racists.

[Charles Easterly]

Okay you two. First we'll repeal the Second Amendment and then we'll teach white people not to be racists.

Afterward we can all have a biscuit.

[Mindyourbusiness]

And then everyone gets a free pony.

[widget]

Donald Trump says that if he's elected president, he will raise taxes on himself.

I didn't know much of anything about Donald until a few weeks ago. I haven't watched the teevee for about 15 years. (Aside from watching cartoons with my boy). Name recognition was about it. The billionaire has flat out admitted that he donated to Dems for purpose of rent seeking and calling in for a favor later.

Close the windows! The fresh air is suffocating me.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Read this. http://www.theguardian.com/us-.....al-economy

High tariffs, higher taxes, more spending, more GOP Bush security programs. The only good thing would be watching McConnell wipe blood from his ass after Trump had his way with him.

[Lord Humungus]

So Obama.

[widget]

Thanks for missing my point.

[Tonio]

You assume that commenter is rational and honest. Suggest you recalibrate.

[Palin's Buttplug]

widget commented on himself.

[straffinrun]

Better than what you did on yourself.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

At least Buttplug is honest about what he is.

[Mickey Rat]

And the favor was having Hilary Clinton at his wedding, which seems about the opposite of a favor.

[Free Society]

The billionaire has flat out admitted that he donated to Dems for purpose of rent seeking and calling in for a favor later.

Yeah and he's the only candidate talking about what he truly believes to be the truth. I have no doubt that the focus groups utilized by Jeb et al probably didn't advise them to talk about political corruption.

[Azathoth!!]

The billionaire has flat out admitted that he donated to Dems for purpose of rent seeking and calling in for a favor later.

Well, that--or maybe the billionaire is lying to try to justiy his extensive donations to the Democrats while he shits all over the primary process.

[Derpetologist]

Learning Language with Derpy

Decoding dead languages is hard work, but there is a trick to it. Whatever language is on a tombstone, the name of the person buried there is always big and on top. If the name is known in some other language, that gives many hints to matching the symbols on the tombstone with a letter or syllable. Ancient Persian was decoded by examining the tombstones of Persian kings and comparing the writing to the Greek versions of their names.

[Tonio]

+1 Rosetta Stone

[Derpetologist]

Of course, finding a stone that has the same message in 3 writing systems also helps.

[Illocust]

We should really do something similar with all our written languages. We're less likely to lose languages to time than in the past, but it is still possible.

[Tonio]

We already do. Future people are going to someday decode contemporary languages by reading "do not line baby crib with this wrapper" in multiple languages. Or, "pull ribbon and gently rotate toner cartridge before using."

[Jerryskids]

Future people are going to decode our tributes to royalty based on the Nosmo King signs everywhere.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Many ancient cuneiform texts are shopping lists or inventories?

[Episteme]

The first person in history of whom we know the name? A Sumerian accountant named Kushim, from one of tens of thousand of daily business records preserved on cuneiform tablets.

We also get a bunch of names of folks involved in the salve economy ? we know the names of multiples slaves close to a century before we know the names of any kings (business records, such as receipts for purchase in this case, being more important than monuments to Top Men)...

[Derpetologist]

Some guy in Georgia built a Stonehenge type monument engraved with a message in various languages. It was vandalized by people worried about the Illuminati:

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

[Rhywun]

It was vandalized

Considering that its creator advocates the mass murder of 6.5 billion people, I'm OK with that.

[Heroic Mulatto]

We're less likely to lose languages to time than in the past,

That's not quite true. Stone and clay tablets last longer than paper, or even CDs...and especially longer than magnetic media.

[Illocust]

Our storage mediums don't last as long, but they are more distributed and have more resources dedicated to their preservation.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That may be true, but if and when the next Dark Ages come, unless the information is locked and hidden in a vault somewhere, the institutions that house this documentation are probably going to be burn to the ground.

[Irish ?s ESB]

They took it down now, but did anyone else see the Gawker post from one of their shitty group blogs where someone said she was "sorry that the shooters life will be ruined" and said "rest in peace to the victims even though they were racists?" Of course, the only evidence they were racists was a crazy murderer, but whatever.

The woman who wrote the post is now holding a pity party in the group blog dedicated to people of color and everyone agrees that she was in the right and that Gawker shouldn't be banning her from the forums just because she said murder victims kind of had it coming.

You know, this was my main concern about TSB: how long will they let us speak our peace, call folks out before they shut us down? So aggravating. Because someone is uncomfortable, I have to shut my mouth? Not on my watch. Fuck that!!

Yes, clearly the person who said their primary concern was the well-being of a racist murderer is the real victim here.

[Tonio]

Nobody is forcing her to shut up; they are just denying her the use of their microphone. That's different, but I expect the difference is lost upon her. And totally ironic that some of the people she probably hates the most have her back on 1A issues.

[Warty]

Nobody is forcing her to shut up; they are just denying her the use of their microphone.

Stupid people are completely unable to distinguish between the two. It's always amazing to me.

[0x90]

If we all own each other, there is no distinction between public & private microphones.

[Free Society]

If we all own each other, then no one has permission to use their own vocal cords and must seek permission from someone else who in turn does not posses enough ownership in themselves to even give that permission.

[WTF]

This is why we need Top Men to make the rules for us.

[Florida Man]

It bothers me when reason removed offensive comments for two reasons.

1. I look crazy responding to a comment that isn't there.
2. If anyone stumbles by H&R comments, they would see how to deal with people with horrible opinions without violating the 1A.

(Obviously reason can do whatever they want with their private site)

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

"1. I look crazy responding to a comment that isn't there."

You're Florida Man. You look crazy all the time. Because of the meth and moonshine.

[Tonio]

^This. Sorry, FM.

[Florida Man]

*unsheathes filet knife*

*cuts palm of hand and wipes on Tonio's shirt*

[Tonio]

No, no, we're supposed to each cut our hands and rub the wounds together. [Shudders at the thought of having to explain that during next Bloodborne Pathogens unit]

[Zeb]

I sort of wish they would leave them too (or at least delete the responses as well).

But I think the fear is that leaving the comments would give stupid or unprincipled lefties an opportunity to link to comments to illustrate how racist and horrible libertarians are.

[SugarFree]

Leaving them up emboldens the trolls. They love nothing more than to be immortalized "in print."

[Zeb]

On balance, i think that is best. But they should delete the responses, or put in a placeholder for the deleted comment because it does confuse things and ruin the flow.

[SugarFree]

Maybe leave the poster, but replace the comment with "blah blah blah."

[Florida Man]

Or cover them with a button that says: "this comment is offensive and has been censored. If you wish to view it click here."

Also an edit button and bring back Lucy!!!

[Charles Easterly]

"This comment has been removed for its content, which violates the website's policies."
A link to the website's policies could follow the explanation.

[SugarFree]

Or cover it with a button that says "There's an asshole under here. Click if you really want to see a close-up of an asshole."

[Zeb]

And then link to goatse.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Would the link then forward the reader to some of your prose?

[db]

"[redacted for impolite content]"

Then people who read the normal comments here will be like "whoa, just how bad did *that* comment have to be to get redacted?"

[wareagle]

isn't 'stupid and unprincipled lefties' redundant?

[Zeb]

Nah, they aren't all stupid.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Re: #2 - Totally agree. Contrary to all the Reasonoid-bashing that went on during the woodchipper controversy, the commenters here are far and away the most civil and engaging lot I've encountered on any website (save when Tony, amsoc, that Hinh douche, and a few other regular trolls show up).

[Lord Humungus]

Fuck you, ToM5000.

[Zeb]

I think this is a good assessment of H&R comments. But I can also see how a casual visitor might not get that on a quick read.

[Free Society]

Civility FAG!

[Libertymike]

When Reason removes "offensive" comments, it demonstrates that it is not so committed to a robust exchange of ideas and that is offensive.

[Illocust]

Wow, so even Gawker has a non-lawsuit step to far. Good on them, and also fuck that woman. That shooter lost all pity when he murdered two innocent people in cold fucking blood.

[Warty]

He also had no reason to be pitied in the first place. He was a giant asshole who was unable to take responsibility for his own actions.

[Illocust]

Well that's true. He did have a six year olds understanding of cause and effect beforehand too. Misplaced my toy, obviously you stole it. I despise people like this.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

He deserves his spot in Hell. Don't worry SJWs losers. I don't believe Hell is segregated.

[Libertymike]

Dante can tell them that.

[Irish ?s ESB]

No, Gawker actually doesn't have a non-lawsuit step too far. Another post from their group blog from one of the moderators.

You may notice that we pulled an earlier piece and we did so in order to try and keep some semblance of sanity. The trolls were coming in faster than we have time to monitor and block. This is to keep our community safe and it does not in any way intend on silencing our authors.

Please do not engage trolls, flag them for us and give us a heads up for us to ban.

They didn't cut the original post because they thought the post was horrible, they cut it because people who told them it was horrible were 'trolls.'

And the idiot commenters on this site think it's because of racism:

And once again everywhere is a mess. The racist are out in full force on this, i even went on tumblr and most of the posts were full of people attacking black lives matter, normally it not that bad. Thanks Mods for all the hard work you do from keeping this place safe from racists and trolls.

And Bo thinks it would be racist to point out that black activists are nutcases who are just as bad as white racists. When you're feeling sympathy for the murderer and not his victim because the murderer shared your skin color, you're the worst kind of racist and should be called out on it.

[wareagle]

it never dawns on people like this that they create their own backlash. When you constantly accuse people of racism for not clear reason, or call them anti-gay or women-haters or whatever without justification, don't act shocked when they call bullshit. And wow, to blame the victims just wins the prize for douchiest comment of the year.

[John]

It never dawns on people that decades of telling black people all white people hate them might cause block people to return the favor.

[SusanM]

"block people to return the favor."

#SphereLivesMatter

[Frank Frankelson]

I was thinking that this was some sort of Minecraft thing...

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

Block Insane Yomamma.

[Free Society]

People in this very thread would accuse you of using the same logic that the SJWs used to condemn the Confederate Flag. Because you know, ideologies and world views are exactly like inanimate objects and have no effect on a population's behavior or something...

[Irish ?s ESB]

People in this very thread would accuse you of using the same logic that the SJWs used to condemn the Confederate Flag. Because you know, ideologies and world views are exactly like inanimate objects and have no effect on a population's behavior or something...

No, what I said is that SJWs would claim the confederate flag is a PART of an ideology that demeans and dehumanizes black people by denying the reasons the Civil War occurred and by constructing a pro-Confederacy worldview that is used by white supremacists to justify their actions.

They claim it's a representation of anti-black white supremacist thinking. They're wrong, but you're misrepresenting what I said.

[Free Society]

No, what I said is that SJWs would claim the confederate flag is a PART of an ideology that demeans and dehumanizes black people by denying the reasons the Civil War occurred and by constructing a pro-Confederacy worldview that is used by white supremacists to justify their actions.

And yet you use the confederate flag as an analogy to dispute the claim that SJW agitation and indoctrination leads to this sort of racist violence against the supposed "oppressor" class.

They're wrong, but you're misrepresenting what I said.

I'm not misrepresenting anything. You said that I was stooping to the SJWs level and you took their desire for censorship of Confederate flags and compared it to me saying that social justice grievance mongering and indoctrination leads to this kind of violence. I wasn't even attacking any symbols or objects, I was attacking the spread of a destructive culture and belief system. The analogy doesn't work on any level.

[WTF]

"block people to return the favor."

Like Block Yomamma?

[egould310 reppin' LBC]

I shoulda' scrolled down. Shit.

[Illocust]

That's insane. That's bugfuck insane. I'm actually scared of progressives now. I thought the dehumanization of the other was a theoretical thing. The white man is evil, but this specific one is an exception. I didn't realize it had gotten to the point of this specific innocent victim of violence deserves it because she's was accused therefore she must be racist. Does anyone have an estimate on how much of the population progs make up? Is this something like the KKK, tiny minority made louder by the internet, or are they something closer to ten percent?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I don't believe the average SJW prog represents many people but they have a loud, annoying, sickening voice.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Don't forget - That line of reasoning is also applied to accused rapists in ProgWorld

[Restoras]

It depends where you are. Any urban center will have a higher concentration than a non-urban center, and if it is an urban center with a lot of higher education the concentration will be higher still. Wealthy liberals will also add to the concentration effect. They will also be over-represented in government.

*books move to Montana*

[CatoTheChipper]

They elected the current president ... twice.

[Tonio]

Don't forget the third victim, the Chamber of Commerce woman.

[Illocust]

Last I heard she was in critical condition in the hospital. I she still with us?

[Charles Easterly]

Vicki Gardner, the surviving victim, is doing better and in a fair condition, her husband says.

[John]

First they came for the people who wanted to kill whitey. But I didn't want to kill whitey so I said nothing.

[Suthenboy]

"Because someone is uncomfortable, I have to shut my mouth? Not on my watch. Fuck that!!"

I can't help but wonder if this SJW subscribes to the othering/microaggression/speech code school of thought.

[WTF]

Doublethink is real.

[Derpetologist]

Learning Language with Derpy: Tone and Rhythm

All languages are tonal, it's just a matter of degree. In English, the tone of voice rises at the end of a question. Words in a sarcastic statement are spoken with a falling tone and at a slower speed.
Female speakers tend to raise the tone of their voice multiple times within a sentence.

In many languages, like French and Hindi, each syllable is the same length. This makes those languages sound fast to an English speaker who is used to the rhythm of alternating short and long syllables. When a Hindi speaker speaks English with a Hindi rhythm, it is hard for an English speaker to understand.

In Japanese, syllable length is called a mora. Oba-san means aunt/middle age woman but obaa-san (doubly long ah sound) means grandmother/old woman.

[Tonio]

When a Hindi speaker speaks English with a Hindi rhythm, it is hard for an English speaker to understand.

So that's what it is. Thanks for the explanation.

And good luck.

[Heroic Mulatto]

All languages are tonal

Eh...not really. What we mean by a tonal language is that the toneme carries lexical information. Sure, stress-based languages like English have pitch, but they use intonation to carry information about speaker attitude or other mainly prosodic information.

Furthermore, tonal languages also use intonation as they posses prosody, though they more often use particles for the same purposes (emotion, modality, emphasis, etc.).

[Warty]

Women's Sexuality May Depend on Romantic Options

Women in the study who were rated as more attractive ? and so, presumably, could attract sexier mates ? were more likely to identify themselves as completely straight than the women who were less attractive, according to a comprehensive survey of health and sexual behavior among teens and young adults.

Standard disclaimer about bullshit social studies survey based pseudoscience, but...duh.

[PM]

That can't be true. All the lesbians in porn are hot...

[Tonio]

I think you mean "lesbian" porn created for straight men.

[Warty]

Nonsense. The Sapphic Erotica girls are totally into each other and totally not just doing it for a paycheck.

[PM]

That's the joke. The internet sucks at translating sarc.

[Tonio]

Sorry, bro...

[John]

Everyone has known a lesbian who was so not because she liked other women but because she hated men. This study, while not conclusive, is not surprising and is another nail in the coffin of the whole "homos are born that way" fantasy.

[Karl Hungus]

Everyone has known a lesbian who was so not because she liked other women but because she hated men.

I would agree that some women hate men so much that they feel driven to other women, but I don't think such a relationship would occur if there wasn't some innate attraction to begin with. Some women who hate men simply do without.

[Warty]

Women are known to be more clustered in the center of the Kinsey scale than men, so the ones who have trouble attracting men are more likely to go to women. That seems like the obvious interpretation of this to me.

[John]

It means there is less social stigma on women for going to the other team than men who do so.

[tarran]

Last night, I decided that this morning, I was going to post this you tube video in response to one of your comments John.

And whadya know, it will be actually topical!!! 😀

Everybody loves a lesbian!

[tarran]

If you're uncomfortable with coming out
Just listen to what I says-bian
Whatever anyone thinks of gays
Everyone loves a lesbian

Everybody loves a lesbian, honey
Norton's passe, Ellen's funny
Let those Baptists think what they like
There's nothing, no, nothing quite like a dyke

It's so wrong when you see boys kissing
But girl on girl See what you're missing
Lindsay Lohan never stopped traffic
Till she rode Sam Ronson and came out Sapphic!

Everybody loves a lesbian, baby
You'll shout "Yes!" during sex not "Maybe!"
Camp is cliche Lezzers have class
You'll never find us cottaging for George Michael's ass

So what if our haircuts make us all look the same
At least we don't give the Catholic Church a bad name
No gay looks great in a girly frock
All ladies look lovely in a strap-on cock...

One more time!

Everybody loves a lesbian, baby
A muff-diving, rough-driving, car-fixing lady
Come on out, join us in heaven
We'll soon be eating brunch off Pam St Clement!

[AlmightyJB]

It's funny because it's true.

[Karl Hungus]

Women are known to be more clustered in the center of the Kinsey scale than men--

I should read that sometime.

But yeah, that seems a valid interpretation. At least it's been my observation that many women who hate men are the ones who've spent their lives being rejected by men as unattractive. The hot lesbian exists, but in my experience, she's a rare bird.

[AlmightyJB]

It's not one or the other. I've known a quite beautiful girl her whole life from a small very conservative city with no real family influence that direction who has never shown any interest in boys and recently wed another girl. It was pretty obvious to me from about the time she hit adolescence she was going to be playing for the all girl team. I know another girl quite well who for years talked about boys all the time but was increasingly becoming frustrated by them who ended up with another girl. Its almost like people are individuals and quite complex.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

My Lesson Learned over my lifetime = da fuq if I can figure out humans.

[Suthenboy]

Not being born that way, though I think at least some are, does not mean that homosexuality is not an innate part of a person's nature.

[Warty]

The pope vs. the scourge of libertarianism

In current political discourse in the United States, the unalienable rights of the individual have been transmuted into the modern doctrine of libertarianism. This doctrine not only puts individual rights on a pedestal above all others but also actively denies any claim by society to hold individuals to account for their behavior toward others, other than to respect their liberty. In today's America, the very idea of virtue has been privatized, individualized and increasingly commercialized. Each individual is at liberty to define virtue as he or she sees fit.

The results are disturbing. Trust between Americans is waning, as is recorded each year in survey evidence. A pall of corruption hangs over government, banking and other parts of the economy, even the health care sector. Americans are richer but no happier. Yet even as the United States has become more unequal in income and wealth than at any other time in its modern history, libertarians argue that the widening gulf between rich and poor gives no cause for any policy response. In the name of individual rights, the poor are left to suffer and the super-rich are excused from the requirements of virtue and common decency.

I can't wait to read ESB's retarded take on it when the pope and his silly hat come here.

[John]

The idea that capitalism destroys values by commercializing them is straight out of Marx. I am so glad I am not a Catholic and have to defend this pinko bastard.

[Warty]

And the idea that the liberal tradition doesn't say anything about moral responsibility is laughable. Where do they dig up these ignoramuses?

[tarran]

Stupid people are like radon atoms. The earth is constantly producing them.

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Can we vent them out pipes?

[Libertymike]

John, you know that there are devout Catholics who are stout defenders of free enterprise - like Tom Woods and Judge Napolitano.

[John]

I know. I am saying I am glad I am not one of them and being forced to either lie or call out the pope.

[Libertymike]

Recently, I met up with an old high school / hometown friend who is a scream and teaches at a catholic elementary / middle school. He kept saying of the pope, "what a breath of fresh air", "what a breath of fresh air", and "he is going to save the church" and "he is what we have needed for a long time".

Do you know how hard it was for me to basically side-step his questions of what I thought of the pope? Although we all love to argue around here, we can't be our H & R persona all the time, right?

If I didn't love him to death (my friend), I would have unleashed my crazy H &R on him.

[Free Society]

I'm no longer friends with a Catholic friend of mine after I asked him what he thought about Old Testament god's proclivity for killing women and children. Up to that point we always had theological/mythological discussions without any butthurt. All I asked for was a philosophical justification for child murder, why is that so hard?

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

It's hard because too many people--both Christian and Atheist--take scripture literally. There are several kinds of literary genre in scripture and each needs to be read differently. Furthermore, scripture was written by human beings who tend to justify their actions by claiming that God told them to do it. This idea that human beings wrote the passages is anathema to many believers, leaving them trying to justify something with no good justification.

[Free Society]

It's hard because too many people--both Christian and Atheist--take scripture literally. There are several kinds of literary genre in scripture and each needs to be read differently.

How should I take when text explicitly describes how god told the Israelites to go to towns X, Y and Z to kill the men, rape their women and enslave their children. Though I guess it's fair to say that was all just poetry about loving thy neighbor.

Furthermore, scripture was written by human beings who tend to justify their actions by claiming that God told them to do it.

Which casts some reasonable doubt on all the supernatural claims contained in that book.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

Which casts some reasonable doubt on all the supernatural claims contained in that book.

Yes it does. But it doesn't need to be supernatural to be useful. Also, there are no direct claims within scripture that it is supernaturally created. Paul claimed that scripture was inspired, or God-breathed, but that is not the same as claiming that it was written by God. That notion came much later.

The claims of infallibility of scripture is actually very recent. It came about as a push-back against science. Many religious leaders felt the need to map their arguments onto a scientific model whereby they start with a known fact and build an argument from that. Without the scientific method they needed to define scripture as a sort of fact. And so they proclaimed it to be infallible. But this was not an historical assumption. In fact, historically scripture has been assumed to be highly open to interpretation.

[Libertymike]

How did he respond? Did your argument / discussion get heated?

[Free Society]

How did he respond? Did your argument / discussion get heated?

He said that his feelings were hurt and we really haven't talked since. The guy is a sort of Catholic priest for a college campus, I was genuinely interested in his take on those various texts in Leviticus and others.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

I'm not saying that it's poetry. Not at all. What I'm suggesting is that the writers were justifying their actions.

Another way to look at scripture (the historical parts) is as a process of humans learning to build a viable civilization. I'm convinced that some parts of scripture were preserved to show what not to do. The chapters about David and Bathsheba come to mind. Too many believers justify their hatred of others, and their actions toward others, with scripture while missing the depressing irony. Bashing the heads of babies against rocks is not a model of what to do to your enemies children. Jesus of Nazareth would come along later and turn these teachings on their head. These contradictions are actually points of shifting understanding (see Karl Jasper's Axial Age) rather than inconsistencies. IMHO.

[Free Society]

I'm not saying that it's poetry. Not at all. What I'm suggesting is that the writers were justifying their actions.

Well that I agree with. I'm not exactly going into these conversations accepting any supernatural claims at face value. But what's important about these passages, is that they describe these acts as examples divine morality. And more importantly, this is no mere historical record of the events nor necessarily a work of fiction, it's a handbook for living one's life according to the tenets and rules given to us by a great child murderer in the sky. And if child murdering isn't representative of the real god, then what else in that book is completely erroneous to god's character?

I'm convinced that some parts of scripture were preserved to show what not to do.

True. The story of Isaac is about not disobeying your god no matter what atrocious crime he would have you commit because in the end he'll make it all better, you must blindly trust that voice in your head.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

Well, hoping not to be pedantic, but the story of Abraham and Isaac (if that's what you're referring to) is considered by some scholars to be an attempt to teach against child sacrifice. That is, according to their opinions, the story is meant to show that God does not want the child sacrifice that was so prevalent at that time in history. Hence by point that some scriptural stories are meant to teach what not to do.

[Free Society]

Hence by point that some scriptural stories are meant to teach what not to do.

I get the argument and can see why you'd make it, but I don't see that lesson there at all. It seems to be all about obeying uncomfortable commands. Abraham was rewarded for his willingness, after all.

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

Abraham was rewarded for his willingness, after all.

That's a good point and I don't have a good answer for it. The blind faith teaching is most problematic for me--even though I do find scripture useful and instructive.

[Free Society]

Jesus of Nazareth would come along later and turn these teachings on their head. These contradictions are actually points of shifting understanding (see Karl Jasper's Axial Age) rather than inconsistencies. IMHO.

Jesus iterated his own consistencies that I'm always being told is just poetic license. Among them "Hey dudes, the Old Testament stuff is not an issue. My dad was totally just joking about all that hardass shit that generations of people lived and died under." and then he also said basically "Hey dudes, that Old Testament is still gospel and law. I'm the continuation of all that awesome shit."

[Free Society]

inconsistencies*

[Hyperbolical (wadair)]

"Hey dudes, the Old Testament stuff is not an issue. My dad was totally just joking about all that hardass shit that generations of people lived and died under." and then he also said basically "Hey dudes, that Old Testament is still gospel and law. I'm the continuation of all that awesome shit."

Remember that what we call the Old Testament did not exist until a couple of centuries before Christ and that he, himself, referred to writings that were not in that canon. IOW, there were many books (or scrolls) studied in those days that were not part of the canon, and that those included in the canon were not necessarily given any more weight than those other writings excluded. Still another way of looking at it is that we cannot today assume that the thinkers of 2,000 years ago were reading the same writings and coming to the same conclusions that we do today.

It's a lot messier than many want us to believe. If you're familiar with the Gnostic writings then you probably know what I mean.

[Free Society]

Remember that what we call the Old Testament did not exist until a couple of centuries before Christ and that he, himself, referred to writings that were not in that canon.

Fair point and the New Testament didn't exist until after his death, with much of those writings not being made canon until nearly a century after his death and some controversy within the early church.

Still another way of looking at it is that we cannot today assume that the thinkers of 2,000 years ago were reading the same writings and coming to the same conclusions that we do today.

I think that's almost certainly the case. Especially considering that many of these works were translated and then retranslated and not always directly from Hebrew or Aramaic but instead usually from Greek, which doesn't bode well for the claims of it being the infallible word-o-god.

It's a lot messier than many want us to believe. If you're familiar with the Gnostic writings then you probably know what I mean.

I'm no Christian, but I do think the suppression of the Gnostics was a genuinely bad thing for civilization and freedom in particular. They borrowed a lot from Greek philosophy and the western tradition that would have made it more conducive to individual liberty than the doctrinaire forms that ended up winning out. But even before the Gnositcs, Judaism itself was fraught with controversy. Early Jews were basically polytheists.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm Catholic and don't defend him.

[Suthenboy]

Yep. Imagine the pain Eddy feels. He has done some pretty impressive mental gymnastics defending other nonsense this commie bastards shits out, but you know in the back of his mind he knows...

[Slammer]

the requirements of virtue

There it is. Requirements.

[Karl Hungus]

There it is. Requirements.

That's what it always boils down to in the end: requirements to be enforced under the threat of lethal violence.

[PM]

This doctrine not only puts individual rights on a pedestal above all others but also actively denies any claim by society to hold individuals to account for their behavior toward others, other than to respect their liberty.

I kept waiting for him to get to the point, and then I realized this was it.

[Irish ?s ESB]

I'm still waiting for Brittany Cooper's take on yesterday's shooting. It should be the worst and most tasteless thing I've ever read.

[Warty]

I don't know who that is, but I hate her name.

[Libertymike]

She probably doesn't even like Bradley Cooper.

[SugarFree]

Brittany Cooper is The Shame of Rutgers, Warty.

[Warty]

Oh my

[Libertymike]

She needs some P90X.

[Karl Hungus]

Dr. Brittney Cooper is Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies--

That right there lends great weight to her opinions, and I for one am eager for her to bring her steady wisdom to bear on this tragedy.

[Warty]

Note the capitalization of "black". It's a good indicator of duhtardation.

[Karl Hungus]

Note the capitalization of "black". It's a good indicator of duhtardation.

I would delve into her writings to see if "white" is also accorded proper-noun status, but I'm not going to.

[Libertymike]

"lends great weight to her opinions"

Pun intended?

[Karl Hungus]

Pun intended?

It wasn't, no. In retrospect, though, I do kinda wish I'd put "weight" in quotes.

[Suthenboy]

The shame of Rutgers? A university that officially declared there is no such thing as free speech?

They have no shame.

[wareagle]

but also actively denies any claim by society to hold individuals to account for their behavior toward others,

Huh. I must have missed that part. Someone point me toward the threads where people have justified behavior by one person that infringed upon the rights of another, or the threads where bad behavior was hand waved away.

[WTF]

That's just weasel code for claiming that others have a right to the fruits of your labor. In other words, to deny that "society" has a right to impose obligations upon you to the benefit of others, you are not being held to account for your behavior toward others. That's my guess, anyway.

[0x90]

"the very idea of virtue has been privatized, individualized, and increasingly commercialized."

To say that virtue has been individualized is to imply that it started out being an attribute of the collective. To cast this individualization as a bad thing is to say that good can only come about through the action of the group. But, if we say that good acts are attributable to the group, then we can also say that bad acts are too, and herein lies the value of the proposition: to trade the opportunity of transferring your own blame onto the group when convenient, at the cost of foregoing recognition for any good thing you may do yourself. Of course this is a small price to pay, if you come from a position of self-loathing, and find it difficult to conceive of ever doing much of anything good, yourself.

[Libertymike]

Awesome sauce!

[Suthenboy]

Every time that commie fucker opens his mouth I hate him more.

That is one hell of a straw man he has constructed.

[LynchPin1477]

This attitude is one of the most frustrating among those that (willfully?) fundamentally misunderstand libertarianism. They think that because we insist on treating people as individuals, that a libertarian society will inevitably fragment until there is no shared society or culture. Or that we *want* this to happen.

It's just fundamentally wrong. Human beings are still human beings. We are naturally going to form groups with shared cultures and values. All libertarians argue for is not using force to make one group live like another.

Individualism is not eroding trust. What erodes trust is when the institutions that supposedly administer justice blatantly fail to do so for the power and connected. When people see others being exploited without consequence. So much of that has to do with government being captured by powerful interests, and libertarians are the ones with actual solutions to that problem.

[Jerryskids]

This doctrine not only puts individual rights on a pedestal above all others but also actively denies any claim by society to hold individuals to account for their behavior toward others, other than to respect their liberty. In today's America, the very idea of virtue has been privatized, individualized and increasingly commercialized. Each individual is at liberty to define virtue as he or she sees fit.

I think Pope Leo X said pretty much the same thing about Martin Luther. Top. Men. think letting individuals think for themselves is a dangerous thing for Top. Men.

[John]

So Joe Biden is tanned and ready and trouncing Hillary in the latest polls. Do you think reason has a "Libertarian case for Joe" article on the shelf or are they assigning it to Chapman or Doherety as we speak?

[Warty]

This should not be construed as praise for Joe...but there are a lot worse options than him. I mean, he'd be an improvement over the status quo.

[Zeb]

Sad but true.

[John]

I have always said that. I have never understood people who said you can't impeach Obama because it would make Biden President. Whatever his faults Biden at least doesn't affirmatively loath the country. That alone makes him better than Obama.

[Suthenboy]

^This

The first time I said that to my father and to my brother I saw the light come on in their eyes. I guess it never occurred to them before that Obama is so fucking terrible that anyone or anything would be better.

[Zeb]

I don't see anythign the least bit libertarian about Biden. But he'd be a lot less terrible than any of the D's and most of the R's running, i think. Biden with a Republican congress might be the best likely outcome.

[John]

If it wasn't for the courts I would agree. But Kennedy won't make it four more years and a President Biden would flip the court and mean the end of heller and Citizens United. The various lefty trolls on here claim that couldn't happen because I guess the next Dem President will appoint Janice Rogers Brown or something.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

Yep.

[wareagle]

I keep hearing "the Court" argument, yet every time a decisions seems to go haywire, it's someone on that cabal of five allegedly fire-breathing crazed right-wingers who swings the other way.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

They're all shit on economic liberty and 4A issues. They're good on 1A and 2A.

[John]

The current ones are not perfect. But Heller and Citizens United were 5-4 decisions. I don't see anyway those cases survive a another democratic White House. Do you?

I keep hearing how there is no difference between the parties but somehow the Democrat winning is always the best available option.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

Kennedy, Scalia, Ginsburg, Breyer. All born in the 30s. All so very, very old. A vicious influenza strain in their cafeteria would shake it all up.

[Zeb]

Yeah, overturning Heller or CU would be terrible. But I hate reducing things to a single issue like that.
I wish people would just accept that abortion, guns and free speech are things that we are going to have so we can stop playing this game.

I think what we really need is a string of one term presidents of whatever party. But people keep deciding that these assholes deserve a second term for some reason.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Biden doesn't seem to have the arrogance Obama possesses. He strikes me as the sort of guy you can work with. I bet Obama has left a lot of people with glazed, stunned looks with some of his decisions.

Just my perception. I could be wrong.

[Citizen X]

I'll take a swing at the libertarian case for President Diamond Joe: because it would be hilarious, that's why.

[John]

Just run a Biden Trump unity ticket.

[Citizen X]

Biden/Trump 2016: Let's Stop Pretending It's Not Over

[lap83]

Biden/Trump 2016: They Cherish Women

[Citizen X]

Biden/Trump 2016: They Cherish Women, If You Know What I Mean... Ladies

[An Innocent Man]

Wait. White Privilege isn't tough enough to stop bullets? Well, I'll be...

[straffinrun]

Ask a Zulu.

[Tonio]

Didn't they mostly use more primitive weapons like the assegai? The Zulus were able to overrun the Brits at Isandlwana because the Zulus had vastly superior numbers.

[Citizen X]

As part of his reforms of the Zulu warrior system, Shaka specifically rejected the musket as a dishonorable/unmanly weapon.

The type of assegai the Zulu used was called an "ixwa," after the sound it makes when you stab it into somebody and then pull it back out.

[Tonio]

Thanks, Citizen. Everyone loves a good onomatopoeia!

[Citizen X]

Not the Brits at Isandlhwana.

[straffinrun]

I had that backwards, didn't I. I blame the beer.

[Irish ?s ESB]

I found part of the Gawker post where they basically blamed the victims. Scroll down this forum thread and you'll find a screenshot.

I can understand being frustrated by racial discrimination at his job but it was not worth throwing his life away and I have the bad feeling he's going to commit suicide.

RIP to the victims even though they may have been racists.

Yeah, that's the real tragedy. Also, consider the following horrifying thing that could conceivably have been written after the Charleston shooting:

I can understand Dylan Roof being frustrated by black on white crime, but it was not worth throwing his life away. RIP to the victims even though they may have been criminals.

I wonder what the reaction of the writer would have been to someone who wrote that?

[John]

The FBI would have investigated them.

[straffinrun]

Irish, you can't turn the tables. Unless you have two and a microphone.

[PM]

Where it's at!

[Free Society]

something something razor blade shoes or something.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

Trump's hat is a normcore fashion trend. No, I have no idea what normcore means.

http://www.esquire.com/news-po.....trump-hat/

I would drink 17 Bud Light's by the pool while wearing this hat and blasting Van Halen.

By associating Van Halen with Bud Light and Trump's hat, is this mofo implying Van Halen does not kick all that is ass?

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

Considering Van Halen is the them song for THIS beer , I think we all know that VH likes ass, maybe doesn't kick it....

[Crackers Boy]

On topic -

More local television station on air personalities have died in the line of duty in Virginia this year than Law Enforcement Officers. 1 versus 0

More local television station camera men have died in the line of duty in Virginia this year than Law Enforcement Officers. 1 versus 0

Just sayin'.

CB

https://www.odmp.org/search/year/2015?ref=sidebar

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Well, you could even say the count for on-air personalities killed is 2, since the murderer himself was one at one time.

[Crackers Boy]

My counts don't include suicide; for either television staff or Law Enforcement Officers.

CB

[Suthenboy]

Louisiana has had two LEOs killed this year in the line of duty. That I know of.

[Crackers Boy]

ODMP shows 9 for Louisiana so far this year. But still 0 for Virginia.

CB

[Ken Shultz]

"The disgruntled former television reporter who murdered two of his former colleagues..."

He didn't just murder them because of where they worked. The murderer also murdered these people because he had a bizarre sense of entitlement about his race. Apparently, he tried to use his race as a means to bully people and employers, and on top of that, the murderer is said to have described himself as racist against white people. It's no great leap to suspect that he chose his victims specifically because they were white.

Would he have done the same thing to a black reporter?

Just because I despise what the progressives want to do in the name of global warming doesn't mean I have to pretend that global warming is wrong.

Just because I support the Second Amendment doesn't mean I have to pretend that kooks will never turn their guns on school children.

And Just because I despise racists and racism doesn't mean I have to pretend that this murderous fuckface didn't play into every sick white supremacist stereotype about an ongoing race war.

There are a number of things that are wrong about blaming racism on "white people", and one of them is that it holds individuals responsible for things they never did. Collective guilt implies collective responsibility, and it probably lends itself to psychosis. The purveyors of collective guilt should be admonished for spreading it and publicly pressured to apologize.

[Ken Shultz]

None of us are responsible for things we've never done--not because we're white or any other race. This murderer couldn't accept that--not even from a judge--and so he murdered these people because of their race. Doesn't his murderous conclusion flow naturally from his beliefs about white guilt and collective responsibility? Why aren't the purveyors of those sick ideas being pressured to apologize?

[wareagle]

I wonder where and how he got the idea of using his race to bully people. Seriously, if the BLM types were to whine to their parents, grandparents, and any remaining great-grands, would the sound that followed be laughter or crying?

[commodious spittoon]

Why aren't the purveyors of those sick ideas being pressured to apologize?

Because it's a pointless and obscene gesture to coerce out of someone. That's the domain of the left, wherein a horrible act of violence is met with calls for a completely unrelated and symbolic act.

[Ken Shultz]

If this guy murdered these people because of his sick ideas about the collective responsibility of another race and because of his own sick sense of entitlement because of his own race, then it isn't unrelated--and it sure as hell isn't symbolic.

What was being gunned down because their race supposed to symbolize?

[commodious spittoon]

The coerced apologies from unwilling third-parties is the symbolic gesture. The left loves that shit because it's a way of counting coup and punishing ungoodthinkfulness.

[Ken Shultz]

In this case, I think it would be productive.

We're talking about collectivism at its most basic level. The idea that individuals are responsible for what they do is pretty damn fundamental, and collective guilt/responsibility shoves all that out the window.

Meanwhile, the progressives are all about social justice--except for when it runs against the interests of the police unions? Why get rid of the racist drug war when they can simply denounce the racism of white people generally? Why talk about jury nullification if the problem is white people?

Using white people everywhere as a scapegoat substitute for addressing a lack of liberty, a lack of respect for individuals and their rights, and to build a BS justification for minority privilege--because of their race--is at the center of all sorts of problems. Once we kick the legs out from under that phony social justice chair they've built, we can start addressing the real causes of some real serious non-symbolic issues.

And that won't ever happen until we start demanding it, and if we can't start demanding it--even after their sick ideology leads directly to racist murders live on camera--then when can we start demanding it?

A disgruntled employee? He was a hell of a lot more than that!

[Derpetologist]

Learning Language with Derpy: Gender & Classes

Romance languages classify all nouns as masculine or feminine. Germanic and Slavic languages have masculine, feminine, and neutral genders. English is Germanic and has 3 genders (he, she, it), but speakers made most common nouns neutral hundreds of years ago.

Languages that lack grammatical gender often have noun classes instead. For example, in Swahili, the word for "eye" is in the ji-ma noun class, because words in this class usually start with ji in the singular and ma in the plural: jicho means eye and macho means eyes. Swahili has 10 noun classes. Other Bantu languages like Zulu are similar. In Swahili, verbs and adjectives must agree with noun class of the related noun. For example:

Hiki ni kitabu changu cha hisabati. Ni kizuri kuliko chochote chingine.
This is my math book. It is better than any other.

The kis and chs are there to agree with the k in kitabu.

In Japanese, the words used to express quantity depend on the thing being counted. 2 beers is nihon no biiru but 2 dogs is nibiki no inu.

[Libertymike]

You and HM ought to get together.

[Derpetologist]

I've asked him linguistics questions on here from time to time. He really knows his stuff.

[Libertymike]

Last week, a 93 year old linguistics scholar client of mine passed away. Gosh, I loved the guy. He was brilliant - probably like you and HM.

He really enjoyed engaging me in sesquipedalian logomachy.

[Derpetologist]

I prefer to eschew obfuscation, because while you may think you know you believe you understood what you thought I said, I'm not sure you realize that what you read is not what I meant.

Or something.

[Libertymike]

Obfuscation has its place.

[commodious spittoon]

In gender or culture studies programs, for example.

[SusanM]

Yes, but what's best language to curse in?

[AlmightyJB]

The Merovingian says French "like wiping your ass with silk"

[Swiss Servator, ...hat nichts]

Yiddish.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Turkish has no gender, not even for actual males and females. If you want to say "there she is", it's o orada. If you want to say "there he is", it's o orada. I get a kick out of talking to Turks in English, because they often say "he" when they mean "she" and vice versa.

[Derpetologist]

But I presume there are words for man and woman?

In Swahili, it is similar. Yupo means "he/she is there". Anakula means "he/she is eating" or "he/she eats". Yeye ni mwalimu means "he/she is a teacher".

But, there are separate words for man, woman, boy, girl, mother, father, sister, brother, etc just like English.

[tarran]

Adam = man (really)

Han?m = woman.

[Karl Hungus]

In Portuguese, to say "thank you," you say "obrigado" if you're a man, and "obrigada" if you're a woman. As in, men and women are expected to use different words. I always thought that was odd.

[Rhywun]

I think that is an adjective which therefore must decline for gender.

[Rhywun]

(Or more specifically, a past participle.)

[Ivan Pike]

Turkish has no gender, not even for actual males and females.

Same with I?upiaq for pronouns*. Although it does have words for man (A?un) and woman (A?naq).

*They are placed at the end of a "word:"

igluqpaniktuq = (He/She) acquired a big house.

He/She/It are all the same pronoun, but he/she are for humans and it is for non-human.

[Whahappan?]

Tagalog is the same, at least for he/she, which is sha. My wife is constantly saying she when she means he.

[straffinrun]

nihiki no inu.

[Derpetologist]

oopsy. I blame Google Translate.

[straffinrun]

a two stroke dog was funny, though.

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

Nikki IS the worst, I know....

[widget]

With latin languages you get a hint of a noun's gender by the way it's spelled and pronounced. Spanish words that end in 'o' are masculine, words that end in 'a' are feminine. Not always, but mostly. German has no such convention and requires rote memorization. You are interested in learning Arabic in your new job, What's the deal with that?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Same with Italian. In fact, I think Italian has more words than end in vowels than most languages.

And Italian is pretty much very easy to learn. You spell it as you pronounce it and pronounce it as you spell it.

[Karl Hungus]

And Italian is pretty much very easy to learn. You spell it as you pronounce it and pronounce it as you spell it.

I've read that if you're fluent in Spanish, then you're 90 percent of the way to being fluent in Italian. A high degree of "mutual intelligibility,' I think they call it.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Dunno about the 90% bit, but they are sister Latin languages.

I which of the two is 'closer' to (Vulgar) Latin though. Our resident professors may be able to shed some light.

Personally, I adore the mellifluous cadence of Northern Italian; particularly in the North east (Veneto region).

[Karl Hungus]

Personally, I adore the mellifluous cadence of Northern Italian

I can't distinguish regional differences, but yes, Italian is a beautiful language to listen to, even if you don't speak it.

[Derpetologist]

Arabic has masculine and feminine, but it applies to verbs mostly. For example, a man says ana esmi "I am called..." or "my name is..." but a woman says ana esmak. Arabic plurals are also tricky. Most come from vowel changes like tooth/teeth in English. Kitab is book and kutub is books. Purals for people usually have -een at the end. Mujahid is holy warrior and mujahideen is holy warriors.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

ana esmak rhymes with...

Sumac!

Hm. Sumac.

/breaks out Lebanese cook book.

[AlmightyJB]

I have a bunch of Sumac I need to start using. I bought it to make Zaatar.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Za'atar on bread.

Dee-lish.

But I use the green za'atar never added sumac.

Tough spices to digest though.

[AlmightyJB]

We have a great Lebonese place not far. Might have to get there sometime this weekend:)

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Sumac on lahmacun....nummy!!

[AlmightyJB]

I love Naan and Roti but have never had lachmacun. I'm going to have to rectify that.

[Timon 19]

Lahmacun is da best.

[Rhywun]

German has no such convention and requires rote memorization.

There are, thankfully, some patterns that help with this. With enough experience you can guess and get it right most of the time. Of course there are many exceptions.

[AlmightyJB]

That's very interesting. I had a couple German classes in high school but it never took. Been wanting to learn Spanish for quite some time. Maybe I'll buy myself Rosetta Stone Spanish for my birthday tomorrow.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Indeed. Nothing brings home the arbitrariness of language like grammatical gender or counting words (classifiers).

What is it about "glasses" that makes them feminine in French? Why are they masculine in German?

Why do you use the same word in Thai to count knives and belts?

[Free Society]

A lot of these arcane gramatical rules are the leftovers from previous iterations of the mother languages. What I find absolutely fascinating, is the way language become more simple over time. If we go back to Proto-Indo-European, the mother language of almost all European languages, the grammatical rules were so intense it's just amazing that ancient uneducated people could learn and teach such a complex language.

For example now in German, there are four grammatical cases still in use Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive. And Genitive is currently on it's way and is becoming archaic. But in 'Germanic' as it was spoken about a thousand years ago, there were at least eight grammatical cases you needed to use in order to be understood.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

A lot of these arcane gramatical rules are the leftovers from previous iterations of the mother languages.

I remember reading that in one Austronesian language, the moon and sun both looked like they should be grammatically male but the moon was actually female because in their mythology, the moon was a goddess.

Or something like that.

[Derpetologist]

Brille is feminine.

/Deutschhaarspalter
/German hair-splitter

But the word for beard is feminine in French: une barbe

[Rufus J. Firefly]

WRITE A BOOK, HM.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

In Austronesian (and some African, IIRC) languages, nouns are divided in classes like round things, big things, long things, etc. The same word can be used in the different classes to change the meanings, like a word in the round things class would be the seed while in the big things class it would be the tree, and in the long things class it would be a stick from that tree.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Not three hours after the news people were murdered, that fucking scumbag Terry McAuliffe was on WTOP talking gun control. He's just as mentally deranged as Vester Flanagan.

[wareagle]

and Hillary was part of that amen chorus, too, abetted by a fair chunk of the usual leftosphere.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Fortunately, Hillary is not an elected official with the ability to do anything at this point. McAuliffe is.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

A reporter asked him for details and Terry admitted he didn't know anything.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Typical. "I know nothing about who, what, where, when, or why, but gun r bad, mmmmkay?"

[Tonio]

Never let a crisis go to waste!

[AlmightyJB]

Well if you're going to outlaw guns you're going to have to turn this whole country into a prison. Just built barb wire fences along the borders. Hey, maybe that's why Bill told Trump to run. He should easily get the progressive vote. Just tell them it's to keep the rupes in line.

[Almanian - Trump's Woodchipper]

What difference, at this point, does it make?

[Sevo]

"Donald Trump says that if he's elected president, he will raise taxes on himself."

Why wait? Just hand over the dough now!
(I'll bet I'm late on this one)

[AlmightyJB]

and on Megyn Kelly

[Sevo]

Yeah, it'll be the 'Raise Taxes On the Rich and Megyn Kelly Really Gets It' act.

[AlmightyJB]

Will it say Megyn Kelly or will it read That Bimbo You Know Who I'm Talking About.

[Sevo]

Who was a bleedin', uh....

[straffinrun]

Bernie Sanders would "ask" the rich to pay more in taxes.

We need a tax system which asks the billionaire class to pay its fair share of taxes

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

There's nothing stopping billionaires from voluntarily contributing to the Federal government.

That's why I wish fucktards like Warren Buffet would just shut the hell up. If you're not happy with what you're paying, pay more, but his claims that "I WANT my taxes to be higher" are bullshit and reveal his selfishness - he'll only do it if compelled at gunpoint and if everyone else is also doing it. Fuck him.

[Certified Public Asshat]

And away we go:

Men Who Kill

This guy reminds me of many other men who kill?off the top of my head I can think of at least five mass murders where the killer was fired from a job, dumped by a girlfriend, or rejected. Ending lives essentially because they didn't feel like they were getting what they deserve. Entitlement.

Patriarchy does all of us dirty in varying ways. This includes men.

[Karl Hungus]

So men commit mass murder because they weren't taught when young to be "sensitive." There's no such thing as "evil" or "crazy"; it simply has to be society's fault. We let these people down, it's as simple as that.

[Zeb]

Seems like if anything, this guy was taught to be hypersensitive. If anything, the problem is people not being taught to toughen the fuck up and accept that life isn't fair a lot of the time.

[Karl Hungus]

Seems like if anything, this guy was taught to be hypersensitive. If anything, the problem is people not being taught to toughen the fuck up and accept that life isn't fair a lot of the time.

Exactly. By all appearances, he was thoroughly and irredeemably inculcated into the victim mentality. Still, lots of people feel this way, and only the tinest fraction of them ever express it through violence. So to me, that leaves "evil" and "crazy" as the only possible explanations for his crimes.

[Zeb]

Oh, the irony.

[PapayaSF]

Hey, my comment got featured at the Atlantic story about Biden! It wasn't particularly insightful or clever, though, compared to my usual....

[Karl Hungus]

Hey, my comment got featured at the Atlantic story about Biden! It wasn't particularly insightful or clever, though, compared to my usual....

Link? All I see is a story about Biden possibly having dirt on Clinton, which he could parlay into a run at the White House, but ne mention of anyone named Papaya in that one.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

That shouldn't come as a surprise, really. Everyone has dirt on Clinton. That's what happens when you a thoroughly corrupt politician for three decades.

[PapayaSF]

Here you go. At The Atlantic you have to click on the "Jump to comments" button at the bottom to see comments. As a "featured comment" mine is at the top. But as I said, it's nothing special.

[Karl Hungus]

Ha, I had it in my head that they'd gleaned your comment from elsewhere and included it in the body of the article. Still, good job. I left you a "like." My personal best so far is a comment that I left on a Yahoo article a few months ago that generated about 8,000 thumbs-up. I was disappointed when the interview requests didn't come pouring in.

[PapayaSF]

Thanks, I thought that was you! And 8,000 - wow. Impressive.

[marjorie567]

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[commodious spittoon]

One thing I'm hoping to see made possible with those wraparound VR rigs is semi-realistic disaster simulation. No tactile or proprioception feedback, sure, but the visual and audio cues could be horrible and fascinating.