Carly Fiorina Shoots to Second Place in Latest Poll, Selma Pastor, Congregation, Thwart Gunman, Game of Thrones Breaks Emmy Record: A.M. Links

• 

  they should coronate presidents this way too

  The latest Republican presidential polling shows Carly Fiorina reaching second place, just behind Donald Trump.

• A pastor in Selma and his congregation were able to subdue a gunman allegedly trying to kill his girlfriend and infant son.
• U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan were reportedly ordered to ignore child sex abuse perpetrated by local security forces.
• Pope Francis met with Fidel Castro while visiting Cuba. In a speech, the pontiff warned of the dangers of ideology and selfishness.
• Iran says it has submitted samples to the United Nations Iranian inspectors collected from a military site in Parchin alleged to be the location of nuclear weapons research.
• Ministers from a number of Eastern European EU members met in Prague to talk about their opposition to migrant quotas and other immigration polciies on the agenda for the EU summit that starts Wednesday.
• HBO's Game of Thrones set a record at last night's Emmy's in Los Angeles, surpassing the awards total for a single year previously set by West Wing.

New at Reason.com:

Brickbat: Baby Face By Charles Oliver

Marijuana Legalization: Disaster or Catastrophe? Drug warriors are desperate to show that repealing pot prohibition in Colorado was a terrible mistake. By Jacob Sullum

'Je Suis Charlie' Now? Of Course To those of us who have a genuine commitment to freedom of speech, it's not only nice stuff that should be publishable. By Brendan O'Neill

Fiorina's False Pitch She's a great seller, but her actual plans aren't up to snuff. By Steve Chapman

The Return of Roger Fuckebythenavele Oldest use of the word fucke sexually in writing pushed back 150 years ago. By Charles Paul Freund

Pope Francis Doesn't Understand Economics: Judge Andrew Napolitano

Pope is a "communist and a Marxist" who has "assaulted matrimony" in a "rejection of his papal role," says leading Catholic libertarian.

By Matt Welch and Anthony L. Fisher

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

NO SPOILERS.

[UnCivilServant]

But without a spoiler, how can I make a 2008 FWD Honda look ulta-douchey?

[Swiss Servator]

Fist, UCS makes a good point.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I used to drive a Mercury Merkur XR4Ti. It had TWO spoilers.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

How often was it in the shop before you got rid of that lemon?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I loved the thing but it was useless in winter, and the second turbocharger replacement was the end of that business.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

My dad was a dealer and my mom drove a Scorpio briefly. I had some fun driving it when I was 17. The few that he sold were soon back in for warranty work. Then traded in. There's a reason the model didn't last long.

[Juan Segway, Sidewalk Avenger]

I still do. '87 Xr4ti. Mine has been pretty solid.

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

Neon lights, dropping the suspension, sub woofers...

[UnCivilServant]

But without the spoiler, you'd look at that and go "Douchey, but something's not quite right. Something's missing."

[Juan Segway, Sidewalk Avenger]

You need the camber at like negative 45 degrees. Also tires that are way too narrow for the wheels.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"...The danger in all too many cultures is that popular mandates over social welfare are employed in order not only to overthrow liberties but also to redefine freedom. The guarantees offered to freedom and liberty by a proper understanding of the two great bases of Western civilization, law and history (both secular and religious), are under threat from the combination of statism and liberalism, a combination that makes for illiberalism..."

http://www.newcriterion.com/ar.....arter-8205

[Zeb]

You are not free unless you are free to sit around all day watching TV at someone else's expense.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The latest Republican presidential polling shows Carly Fiorina reaching second place, just behind Donald Trump.

I foresee running mates!

[BigT]

Dunno, Trump wouldn't be able to face her every morning.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[Rich]

Fiorina Shoots to Second Place

PHRASING!

[Elspeth Flashman]

All the headlines in the links could benefit by the use of a semicolon. The comma usage makes it sound too breathless, and the meaning is confusing.

[Bee Tagger]

I like to think of the AM links curator being told of his, or her, duties at 8:57am and the ensuing panic to post the links by 9 leaving them breathless. So the commas work for me.

[Atanarjuat]

That would also explain the typos.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

And the lack of alt-text.

Putting in a caption doesn't count, Ed!

[Elspeth Flashman]

They should always end with an exclamation point though !! like that.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

MULTIPLE EXCLAIMATION POINTS !!!11!1!11!1 !!!!!!!!!11ELEVENTY-LEVEN!!111!11

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else liked to exclaim - alot.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Insurance fraudsters?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Did they like to ride the tram-a-lot?

[Free Society]

As if they're worried about what the commentariat will do without their cake. *woodchipper hums*

[Just a thought not a sermon]

93) I wanted to see if any of my Senators (in Virginia) had voted to revive funding for the ExIm Bank. But in checking this, I noticed that every single democrat in the Senate except one voted for it! The only Dem who didn't vote for it was Bernie Sanders, who didn't vote at all (although apparently in the past he's voted against it). Keep that in mind the next time you hear a liberal claiming their party is against corporate welfare. Well, here's corporate welfare in its purest form, and no single Senate democrat (except one, possibly) sees this as a problem.

[Palin's Buttplug]

The Ex-Im bank makes a profit every year. That is the best type of "welfare" I can imagine although it is meddling in the markets.

[BigT]

The Ex-Im bank makes a profit every year.

In the real world those are referred to as kickbacks.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Plenty of state-owned enterprises in China are money-makers. Doesn't mean it's the best use of those resources.

[Lee G]

GO TEAM DEMOCRAT
YOU'RE SO LIBERTARIAN
BARACK IS TOTES RAD

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

A lie, confirmed by the fact that corporations don't want to handle its function themselves.

The idea that any company would turn down extra profits off what they already do is preposterous. A perfect claim for ShitSieve.

[Swiss Servator]

See, in chimes the leftist in favor of corporate welfare!

[Monty Crisco]

Swiss makes a good point...

[Vampire]

Anything their benevolent master does is ok, hence PBP's promotion of the violent state....while engaging in none of it himself.

[Atanarjuat]

Keep that in mind the next time you hear a liberal claiming their party is against corporate welfare.

I'll be too busy stumbling out of the room laughing to argue.

[Mickey Rat]

Private sector unions need Big Corporations to host them. The only time Big Business interests are at odds with Big Labor are contract negotiations. The Dems have great incentive to support corporate welfare.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Well Sanders isn't a Senate Democrat, so your comment is accurate regardless of how he would vote.

[Swiss Servator]

"Selma Pastorm"

Wasn't she in Saw IV?

[WTF]

I think Ed got into Agile Cyborg's stash.

[Elspeth Flashman]

The "M" should have been a comma.

[Swiss Servator]

Sel'a?

*ducks*

[Elspeth Flashman]

My gaze did narrow for that one.

[BigT]

New book refutes global warming alarmism.

The conclusions from Longhurst's analysis are presented in section 11.2:

While I am aware that the general opinion of the relevent scientific community is that no further debate is necessary after five successive assessments by the IPCC, I suggest that this is premature because these conclusions concern topics that have not yet been properly addressed by that body, and so should be accorded status in a continuing debate concerning the influence of anthropogenic effects on regional climates.

If the peer-??reviewed scientific literature, with all the levels of uncertainty associated with individual contributions, has anything to say collectively in assessing the standard climate model, then a small number of conclusions may be drawn from the 600 peer-??reviewed papers that I have consulted:

[BigT]

? -?? the global archives of surface air temperature measurements are unreliable estimators of the consequences of atmospheric CO2 contamination, because they are already themselves contaminated by the effects of deforestation, land use change, urbanisation and the release of industrial particulates into the lower atmosphere (Sections 6.3, 6.4, 6.5).

? -?? users of these data are not able to judge the consequences of the adjustments that have been made to the original observations of surface air temperature ashore, although the limited investigations now possible show that the adjustments have changed the long-??term trends that had been recorded by some reputable national meteorological services (Sections 4.1, 4.2).

? -?? sea surface temperature is not a substitute for air temperature over the oceans because it responds to changes in vertical motion in the ocean associated with coastal and open-??ocean upwelling; the resultant change in surface temperature is independent of any changes in atmospheric temperature caused by CO2, yet these changes are integrated into the GMST record which is used to estimate the effects of CO2 (Section 4.3)

[BigT]

? -?? surface air temperatures respond to cyclical changes within the Sun, and to the effect of changing orbital configurations in the solar system: the changes in the resultant strength of received irradiance (and of tidal stress in the oceans, which also has consequences for SAT) are both predictable and observable (Sections 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4),

? -?? our description of the evolution of the global heat budget and its distribution in multiple sinks is inadequate for an understanding of the present state of the Earth's surface temperature, or to serve as the initial state for complex modelling of climate dynamics. Future states are therefore unpredictable, cannot be modelled, and will certainly surprise people living through the next century (Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 4.5),

? -?? the planetary heat budget is poorly constrained, perhaps principally by our inability to quantify the mechanisms that control the accumulation and loss of heat in the ocean, where most solar heat accumulates; the quantification of changes in cloud cover is so insecure that we cannot confidently describe its variability -?? yet clouds are the most important control on the rate of heat input at the sea surface (Sections 5.1-?? 5.4),

[BigT]

? -?? the evidence for an intensification of extreme weather events and, in particular, tropical cyclones is very weak and is largely due to the progressively-?? increasing reliability and coverage of weather monitoring: todays frequency of cyclones and other phenomena does not appear to be anomalous when longer data sets can be examined (Sections 9.1, 9.2),

? -?? global climate in the present configuration of the continents falls naturally into a limited number of patterns that are forced externally and patterned by internal dynamics. Some of these climate patterns will tend to conserve global heat, some will tend to permit its dissipation to space, while all move heat from one region to another. Two dominate the whole: the North Atlantic Oscillation that describes the flux of tropical heat through the North Atlantic Current into Arctic regions, and the Southern Oscillation that describes the strength of trade winds, especially in the Pacific, and thus the relative area of cold, upwelled water that is exposed to the atmosphere (Sections 7.1, 7.2),

[BigT]

? -?? the recent melting of arctic ice cover over larger areas than 20 years ago in summer is not a unique event, but is a recurrence of past episodes and is the result of cyclically-??variable transport of heat in warm North Atlantic water into the Arctic basin through the Norwegian Sea; the present episode will likely evolve in the same way as earlier episodes (Sections 8.1-??8.3),

? -?? sea level is indeed rising as described by the IPCC and others, but the causes -?? especially at regional scale -?? are more complex than suggested by that agency and involve many processes other than expansion due to warming. Had the human population of some very small islands remained within carrying capacity, their occupation could have been permanent, but this is not the case (Sections 10.1, 10.2),
.

[BigT]

? -?? the consequences of acidification of seawater is one of the most enigmatic questions, and may bring serious biological problems, although it seems now that (i) marine organisms are more resilient to changing pH than was originally feared, because of the genetic diversity of their populations and (ii) the history of pH of seawater during geological time suggests that resilience through selection of genomes has emerged when appropriate in the past (Sections 10.3, 10.4).

Unfortunately, the essential debate on these issues will not take place, at least not openly and without prejudice, because so many voices are today saying ? nay, shouting -?? 'enough, the science is settled, it is time for remediation'. In fact, many have been saying this for almost 20 years, even as fewer voices have been heard in the opposite sense. As discussed in Chapter 1, the science of climate change -?? like many other complex fields in the earth sciences -?? does not function so that at some point in time one can say "now, the science is settled": there are always uncertainties and alternative explanations for observations.

[OldMexican]

surface air temperatures respond to cyclical changes within the Sun

DENIER!

[Rich]

IPCC

pronounced "ipecac".

[Swiss Servator]

+1 induced vomit

[Zeb]

That's very interesting, I might try reading the whole thing. It's always good to see a serious scientist willing to actually look at this stuff and not just tell everyone to shut up because "consensus".
I'm inclined to believe that humans have some effect on climate and atmospheric temperatures, but I don't think the supposed consensus among scientists on the question of how bad it is likely to be is worth shit.

[BigT]

You can download the entire book for free. I posted the conclusions since I know there are one or two of the mob, ... er commentariat, who might not have the time/desire to read it.

[Lord Humungus]

We don't read the links! /worst person ever

[Atanarjuat]

Pastorm? PaSTORM is more like it.

[Monty Crisco]

Let's lock up climate-change skeptics!!

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....-skeptics/

Once again, for the Bo-trolls and their ilk : leftists seeking to jail people for their speech. This happens with such less frequency on the right side of the political spectrum as to be a non-issue. But it happens WEEKLY from the precincts of the left.

Wonder what it is about leftard arguments that they hold up so poorly under debate and scrutiny that the left doesn't want any arguments at all?

Bo?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Sickening fucks.

[Lee G]

6 of them are from George Mason. That's surprising.

[Monty Crisco]

I thought the same thing. Wonder what the econ dept there thinks of their academic brethren.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

I'm expecting a Mercatus Center beatdown.

[Zeb]

They (the ordinary voters, I'm sure the leaders are much more cynical) manage to convince themselves that we are on the edge of a major crisis on every issue to the extent that they think that any means necessary to defeat their opponents because if they don't the world will catch fire, women will be forced to be constantly pregnant, gays will be gunned down on the street like animals, blacks will be enslaved or hunted for sport and Monsanto will force us all to eat nothing but GMO corn syrup with lashings of Roundup.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

RICO? Fuck off.

We appreciate that you are making aggressive and imaginative use of the limited tools available to you in the face of a recalcitrant Congress.

Nice bit of honesty there.

[All-Seeing Woodchipper]

We're all about will of the majority, except when we aren't.

[Vampire]

They ADVOCATE the state lock people up. I'd like to see them try to detain someone they are engaged in a conversation about climate change with themselves.

Just like they advocate downright theft of property, liberals, etc. don't have the balls to do it themselves, but must rely upon the state to do it.

[Rich]

Pope's visit will produce largest security operation in U.S. history

Sheesh, can't we just pray for him like he requested?

[Free Society]

I wonder, is he flying commercial or does the Vatican have it's own plane? If commercial, is the carrier making icky profits off his travels? If private, did the Vatican build the plane themselves from scratch or is the Pope relying on the division of labor and a multitude of individuals seeking icky profit?

Anyway you slice it, Pope Marx is going to hell.

[Zeb]

His utter economic retardation is pretty sickening. Going to Cuba and bitching about capitalism?

Too bad. I thought he was a fairly amusing and charming Pope at first.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Someone here speculated a few months ago that his appointment was essentially a PR stunt by the Church to try and take attention off the diddling priest scandals. If so, it was a brilliant move because his obvious Marxist sympathies have given the press license to exercise total amnesia about that subject.

[Free Society]

I knew from the earliest rumbling of the People's Pope that this guy was going to wear his ignorance like a badge of honor.

[some guy]

I wonder... does the Vatican have it's own plane

Of course they do! Its an Emprayer E-195 variant.

[Timon 19]

Consider my gaze narrowed.

[Swiss Servator]

Seconded.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

It's ridiculous. My parents live on 67th street off Central Park, and parking is forbidden from Tuesday through Friday. They said that you need to show ID to get on to their street. And the fucking Pope isn't even planning to go down that street.

[Bee Tagger]

HBO's Game of Thrones set a record at last night's Emmy's in Los Angeles, surpassing the awards total for a single year previously set by West Wing.

I like to think of West Wing as the writers following Republicans around shouting "Shame! Shame!"

[Lee G]

I think of The West Wing as a Sorkin wankfest.

[Swiss Servator]

The fantasy-masturbatory Cuomo administration that never was...

[Crusty Juggler]

Jed Bartlett was never as boring as Mario Cuomo was.

[Rhywun]

I have never thought of The West Wing, ever.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I didn't think of Stannis as a Republican until he [REDACTED] his [REDACTED] just to win a war.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I thought it was the act of a democrat to be utilitarian and sacrifice one for the good of the many (I mean, that was what he was trying to do, right?)

[Mickey Rat]

A Stannis was always a law and order guy. That incident was the first time we see him violate his own moral code and kill someone who was innocent by his standards (Davis had prevented him from doing that before when he had such a notion).

[Free Society]

Uhhhh no. Stannis killed a ton of non-believers who were otherwise his loyal followers from time to time. Shit, he even murdered his brother using blood magic. He violated his moral code many a time.

[Mickey Rat]

By his lights all those people deserved it because they were opposing their rightful king. Including Renly, especially Renly. Stannis did whatever Robert had required of him because that was his place as the younger brother. Renly was offering him the same deference.

The person killed was perfectly loyal and supportive of his cause.

[Free Society]

By his lights all those people deserved it because they were opposing their rightful king. Including Renly, especially Renly.

He killed him with blood magic. Stannis, once upon a time, reviled magic and mysticism. Until it served his purpose. Stannis' entire story is one of upending his strong moral convictions in pursuit of enforcing his "rights", beginning to end.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Fuck Stannis.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

He ended up pretty fucked.

Which wasn't in the books, but looked about to happen.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

The writers did a pretty good job of making him a sympathetic figure for most of the season and then yanking the rug out to such an extent that people actually considered rooting for Ramsey Fucking Bolton in their clash.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Iran says it has submitted samples to the United Nations Iranian inspectors collected from a military site in Parchin alleged to be the location of nuclear weapons research.

Hans, you're breaking my balls here. Hans, you're breaking my balls!

[WTF]

"Why do these soil samples have vermiculite in them?"

[Free Society]

"Hans you're breaking my balls" would have been a fitting reference to make in the child molesting love story posted on Salon that is linked further upthread.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Free market economist destroys Peanut myth that the Fed is causing bubbles. (This is for Jordan and Old Mexican in particular)

H/T to the Grumpy Economist

The central point came to me hours later, as it usually does. Is the Fed in fact "holding down" interest rates? Is there some sort of natural market equilibrium that features higher rates now, but the Fed is pushing down rates? That's the conventional view, clearly expressed in Mary's questions.

Well, let's think about that. If a central bank were holding down rates, what would it do? Answer, it would lend a lot of money at low rates. Money would be flowing out the discount window (that's where the Fed lends to banks), to banks, and through banks to the rest of the economy, flooding the place with low-rate loans. The interest rate the Fed pays on reserves and banks pay to borrow from the Fed would be low compared to market rates; credit and term spreads would be large, as the Fed would be trying to drag down those market rates.

That is, of course, the exact opposite of what's happening now. Banks are lending the Fed about $3 trillion worth of reserves, reserves the banks could go out and lend elsewhere if the market were producing great opportunities. Spreads of other rates over the rates banks lend to or borrow from the Fed are very low, not very high. Deposits are flooding in to banks, not loans out of banks.

http://johnhcochrane.blogspot......shing.html

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Congratulations on your article appearing on the front page of the WaPo last week. Shouldn't you go start working on your next one?

[BigT]

Banks are lending the Fed about $3 trillion worth of reserves, reserves the banks could go out and lend elsewhere if the market were producing great opportunities.

The market is so flooded with cheap money the banks can't find low risk parties to take loans. But if they loan to the Fed, the chimps, er taxpayers, will back them up at NO RISK.

[Palin's Buttplug]

IOR are only .025%.

A small cost considering the capital safety cushion they provide for banks.

[OldMexican]

Is the Fed in fact "holding down" interest rates?

Is Janet Yellen playing a parlor trick on all of us?

Even you can't be that stoopid, Peter Caca.

[Free Society]

The central point came to me hours later, as it usually does. Is the Fed in fact "holding down" interest rates? Is there some sort of natural market equilibrium that features higher rates now, but the Fed is pushing down rates?

By the same logic, you would exonerate the Soviet State Planning Committee for any culpability in problems associated with it's overproduction of tractors and instead lay the blame at the feet of consumers and the non-existant free market.

Of course the Fed is "holding down" interest rates. Regardless of where interest rates are, it's because the Fed set them up that way. That's how central planning works.

[OldMexican]

Re: Free Society,

Looks like Peter Caca is too dumb to see the obvious question-begging behind his "free-market" economist's argument, that the natural interest rate is somehow the same as the Fed rate and tgus we're just a bunch of dumb yokels for thinking otherwise.

[Free Society]

There's just too many numbers in the universe for the natural market rate and the Fed rate to align. But I guess if one's faith in central planning is strong enough, despite ALL evidence, then it seems highly probable.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Hooray, another example of PB posting links that don't say what he wants them to say.

As is the case with at least 8% of his posts.

[Free Society]

That number seems a little low. Damn near every other OP he makes puts forth a range of wonkery filled assertions to be supported by a link filled with circle jerking wonkery that doesn't exactly make his point.

[Monty Crisco]

What those of us who have been over there have known for years:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09......html?_r=2

The beauty of MULTICULTURALISM!!!

Just pisses me off that we have to do "Human Trafficking Awareness" training FOUR FUCKING TIMES A YEAR!!

[Monty Crisco]

"U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan were reportedly ordered to ignore child sex abuse perpetrated by local security forces."

Yeah, that...

[BigT]

We must be sensitive to the local culture! Or we will be cultural imperialists!

[Monty Crisco]

"DE-COLONIZE YOUR MIND, DUDE!!!"

[MetalBard]

That will be the next thing on college campuses (assuming they're not already do it) since most of our historical knowledge of other cultures comes from a Western perspective then they'll deem it illegitimate, and we'll have to throw it, de-colonize our minds. Afterall it's easier to have warm fuzzy feelz about other cultures if you're first made completely ignorant of them.

Colleges teaching, and encouraging ignorance? Yeah I could see it happening.

[Rhywun]

There's probably a "cultural appropriation" joke in this somewhere.

[MetalBard]

An excellent example of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is all about having a warm, fuzzy feeling toward other cultures, and believing them to be equal or superior to our Western Civilization. It doesn't require someone to actually know anything about other cultures, in fact the less you actually know about them the better, because you might learn about some icky aspects of their culture like for example their love of raping underage boys.

This is why multiculturalism sticks to teaching people about the clothes, and food, and other completely superficial aspects of foreign cultures, and never anything of substance.

[WTF]

"Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs. "
-Sir Charles James Napier

[Palin's Buttplug]

Astute post. Western culture is superior to other cultures. Not from an ethical viewpoint though. Rather a creative one.

[OldMexican]

Re: Peter Caca,

Not from an ethical viewpoint though.

You know nothing of what you talk about.

[Free Society]

No. Empirically better.

[Free Society]

ALL CULTURES ARE LIKE EQUAL AND STUFF

[Antilles]

Meanwhile, the leader of a pedophile cult visits the White House. Clearly the lesson here is that no one cares about child rape so long as you only prey on little boys.

[Citizen X]

so long as you only prey on little boys

Something something male privilege.

[Bee Tagger]

the pontiff warned of the dangers of ideology and slefishness.

He speaks yiddish?

[Rich]

LOL

[Swiss Servator]

Oy.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Has anyone ever noticed Napolitano has a similar hair style to Eddie Munster?

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

[Elspeth Flashman]

Have you ever seen the two of them together? Thought not.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

OMG!

[Jimbo]

You're just jealous because he HAS hair!

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Pope Francis met with Fidel Castro while visiting Cuba. In a speech, the pontiff warned of the dangers of ideology and slefishness."

Just two old comrades. Bet Sean Penn regrets he couldn't have been there for this historic meeting.

[Old Man With Candy]

Note that Frankie-boy avoided meeting with dissidents there so he could spend time hobnobbing with dictators who are exemplars of his political and economic vision.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Dissidents? What dissidents?

[UnCivilServant]

The correct term is 'Heretic'.

[Old Man With Candy]

Exactly. We are all one in Landru Castro.

[Bee Tagger]

The latest Republican presidential polling shows Carly Fiorina reaching second place, just behind Donald Trump.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think these polls don't mean anything.

[Swiss Servator]

Say, you may be on to something there!

[Monty Crisco]

BUT WHAT DO THE MILLENIALS THINK?!?!?

[UnCivilServant]

They don't think, that's the problem.

[Swiss Servator]

HAVE YOU SEEN A POLL ON THAT YET?!?!?!?!

[Rasilio]

I've yet to see much evidence that they do

[Swiss Servator]

U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan were reportedly ordered to ignore child sex abuse perpetrated by local security forces

Its a lot more than "local security forces" [we did have one militia dude we dubbed "Baron Harkonnen" and not just because he was fat and evil] - the locals have a saying "boys for pleasure, women for babies".

[Free Society]

So you called him that because he was a ginger or because he floated around on gravity suspensors?

[Swiss Servator]

-1 slave boy from Gamont

[Free Society]

Guerney had no right to complain. Kids were being carpet bombed on Grumman while he was living the good life on beautiful Geidi Prime. So he had let a little Harkonnen into his Baron hole every now and then, big whoop.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

The prepubescents must flow.

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: weird on-stage deaths

1. Famous for pretending to have heart attacks, he died of a heart attack on set

2. Died of a heart attack while portraying a heart surgeon in an operation

3. Died of a heart attack during the roast of another comedian; the band played "There's No Tomorrow" in an attempt to distract attention

4. Died of a coughing fit while playing the part of a hypochondriac

5. Died of a heart attack while portraying a character who dies of a heart attack

6. Died of a heart attack after singing his last note in an opera

[Old Man With Candy]

You left out the Best Stage Death Ever - electrocuted by his own guitar.

[Derpetologist]

That happened in a basement, not on stage.

[Prof. Mondo]

Les Harvey of Stone the Crows was electrocuted by his guitar onstage at Swansea, Wales.

[Derpetologist]

Wiki says it was a microphone, not a guitar

[straffinrun]

6. He died before singing his last note.

[Prof. Mondo]

1) is Redd Foxx, so that's out. I'll go with #4.

[Swiss Servator]

+1 Comin' to join you 'lizabeth!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Imma say #5.

[Derpetologist]

And the Not is #2. As far as I know, that has never happened. The rest in order are Redd Foxx, Harry Einstein, Moli?re, Gareth Jones, and Frederick Federici.

source

[Jordan]

U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan were reportedly ordered to ignore child sex abuse perpetrated by local security forces.

That article is maddening. We should have left that shithole after the first 6 months. As a bonus, a Marine was court-martialed for warning fellow marines about a corrupt, child-molesting criminal in their midst because "classified info". Should have used his private e-mail account, I guess.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

It's arguably the shittiest shit hole on the planet. I don't know why you'd want to get involved, as it seems like the only "solution" would be to slaughter the entire male population and import a new one.

[MetalBard]

Yeah, but who would actually want to live there?

[Krokko]

Giant dirt bike park!

[Drake]

Really does highlight the stupidity of spending a Trillion dollars to try to remake that dump into a western democracy. We should have raided it after 911 then fucking left.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Iraq or Afghanistan?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Your fucking messiah wasted more lives in Af in less than 3 years than GWB did in 7.

Going into Iraq was a stupid idea, but so was completely pulling out.

At least in Iraq, the populace had some idea of what civilization is supposed to look like.

[MetalBard]

Agreed.

We're going to make it a western democracy while at the same time respect the native culture... Um yeah how exactly does that work?

Hell the fucking British weren't even able to civilize that shithole at the height of their empire, at a time when every Briton believed in the superiority of Western Civilization. So what hope does the anti-imperialist United States have, been lead by a bunch of squishy multicultural pussys with zero understanding of the native culture or history, at bringing civilization to Afghanistan?

All we have is money, and all we do is throw it at problems hoping that it magically makes them better.

[Free Society]

The ability to civilize Afghanistan requires a willingness to exterminate the present inhabitants. It's a real shame the nation-builders did their trial runs in Germany and Japan, two countries that are a hundred times more civilized than the Afghans ever were. The nation-builders and liberal interventionists seem to think those results are reproducible in middle-eastern societies. They believe this myth at everyone else's peril.

[MetalBard]

Good point. The common narrative we hear is that the United States rebuilt Germany & Japan, but these nations were already civilized (Well at least Germany was, Japan slightly less so in my opinion) This narrative is false. Germany already had all the prerequisites for a functioning democracy, (Courts, rule of law, etc) we just had to take the next step, same with Japan to a lesser extent.

These people don't seem to realize that you can't go from a primitive tribal society to an advanced western democracy in one step. It takes a long time to develop. It took centuries for the West to develop the concepts that lead to a functioning democracy (And most western countries still haven't quite figured it out in fact it seems like just the Anglo-saxon countries, Switzerland, and Holland have a good track record.) the beliefs in limits on power, individual rights, separation of church and state, rule of law, etc etc.

There are a lot of ideas your culture has to believe in first, before you can transition toward a democracy. Germany had most of them, Japan had a lot of them, Afghanistan has none of them.

[Free Society]

It took every bit of 2500 years of philosophy, social and institutional development to get where we are today. You can't just dress up a genocidal tribesman in western garb and shove a constitution up his ass to reproduce the results of western civilization.

[Frank Frankelson]

I have always thought that Afghanistan should have been a short duration punitive campaign. A friend of mine artfully called it the "Smack Down" or "Bitch Slap" school of foreign policy.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

GWBs war in Af was basically this. We continued the slap-down because:

1. the Taliban was hard-headed and

2. OBL was still alive.

[Fist of Etiquette]

In a speech, the pontiff warned of the dangers of ideology and [selfishness].

Theology and redistribution is where it's at.

[gaijin]

I'm just curious...what makes a pope an 'authoritative voice' on any topic outside the liturgy of the Catholic Church?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Progtardism.

[Rasilio]

Well technically he has that whole infallability thing going for him

[Antilles]

Then he should liquidate all the assets of Vatican City and distribute the money to the poor he claims to love. I'll help.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

HBO's Game of Thrones set a record at last night's Emmy's in Los Angeles, surpassing the awards total for a single year previously set by West Wing.

Last season sucked.

[Monty Crisco]

Post on facebook, decide on a hashtag, and assemble a twitter mob.

BURN THE HERETIC!!!

[UnCivilServant]

What are you talking about? That show ended with the death of Charles Dance's character.

[R C Dean]

#BurnTheHeretic

[Fist of Etiquette]

YOUR FACE SUCKED. I thought that last season was pretty good. Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits did a decent job taking over from the regulars.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Meh, nothing this season was really compelling, at least not in a way other storylines in past seasons have been.

The time spent in Dorne was completely pointless and I already dislike Danerys and Jon Snuuu as characters so spending even more time with them didn't help.

[Drake]

They should have stuck to the book - would have been longer but it also would have made sense.

[Auric Demonocles]

The book version of Snow's arc at the end of the season made so much more sense.

[Drake]

If they had included the Greyjoys or Aegon plots, they wouldn't have got there yet anyhow.

[Free Society]

Judging by some of their casting calls, the Greyjoy plots are coming next season and the Aegon plot might still come into being.

[Drake]

It sounds like they are combining Euron and Victarion into one character.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Apparently everyone missed the SPOILER ALERT giant zombie battle.

[Citizen X]

'Hardhome' covers a lot of sins.

[Drake]

It sure did. Have your shittiest season ever - win the most awards. Confirms my choice to never watch award shows.

[Auric Demonocles]

I don't know if would quite go so far as "sucked', but it was definitely one of the poorer seasons. Certainly not the best, as these Emmy's would suggest. And the "Best Writing" makes about as much sense as Ed winning "Best Alt-text" (though at least he's trying, I guess).

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I get the impression that they are treading water to buy time so they can better incorporate the next book into the show.

They realize they can't come up with an ending for a story this big and complex. Does anyone really want to keep watching this for another 5 years?

I think one of the biggest reasons we're in a "Golden Age" of television is because shows wrap-up after 5-6 seasons now. Or they're anthology series that can keep telling new stories. Running too long is a sure-fire way to disappoint.

[Mickey Rat]

All the significant plotlines are pretty much caught up to the last published book, even if they got there by bizarre and nonsensical means.

[Rich]

Carson doubles down on no Muslims in the White House

Carson mentioned "Taqiya," a practice in Shia Islam in which a Muslim can mislead nonbelievers about the nature of their faith to avoid persecution. "Taqiya is a component of Shia that allows, and even encourages you to lie to achieve your goals," Carson said.

Is it true that when a Muslim woman says "no" she really means "yes"?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Muslims, much like Christian conservatives like Carson, but their fucking Holy Book above the US Constitution.

So when I vote they are indeed unfit to be POTUS.

[Rich]

I'm generally, um, amused by pols who say "My faith is the most important thing in my life" , yet "I will put aside my faith to perform my duties".

[VicRattlehead]

Muslims are socialists you dumbfuck, its part of the zak?t, and they have a desire to meddle in the affairs of others from a top down position in this aspect they more closely resemble the actions of the "2" Parties and the expressed ideology of the Democrats (which is still republican doctrine as well just obfuscated by pretend capitalism and pretending to give a rats ass about individuals)

[Drake]

I don't think Muslim woman are asked.

[VicRattlehead]

they were but their testimony counts for half that of a mans

[SusanM]

Speaking of Ben - I know this is wrong, evil, idiotic and just plain wrong on many levels - which is why it's perfect for H&R:

Ben Carson as Republican nominee:

[Palin's Buttplug]

Nice. And SO wrong. Apt as well.

[Citizen X]

Jesus, history was awful.

[Atanarjuat]

So Obama really *is* a secret Muslim.

[Rich]

Now, *that* is logic.

[Drake]

As his father and step-father were both Muslims, he would have to disavow the faith to not be considered a Muslim. Has he ever done so?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Would that not make him an apostate?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

The Imperator also attended Madrasa, yes?

[Zeb]

"be considered a Muslim" by whom?

[Drake]

Muslims

[Zeb]

Well, who gives a shit what they think?

It would be amusing if some people started calling for his head for his apostasy.

[Drake]

I think Obama is your basic liberal atheist. But he plays games with his heritage - neither disavowing his Muslim father and slaver grandfather, nor confirming any adherence to Islam - while talking about how cool it was to be a raised Muslim in Indonesia.

It's a game to bait people like Carson in the mainstream media.

[Just say Nikki]

You skipped over the parts where he continually invokes the Christian God.

[Zeb]

Yeah. I think he's really your basic casual Christian playing the usual politician's game of pretending to be more religious than you are.

[Antilles]

In spite of his heritage, Obama is waaaay too gay-friendly to be a Muslim. It's clear that his religion is Progressivism. I just wish he'd have the balls to come out and admit he doesn't believe in fairy tales rather than continue the charade that he's a Christian.

[straffinrun]

That works better as mislead believers.

[Antilles]

ALL religion is incompatible with the Constitution. And why I would never vote for Ben Carson for president.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Scott Walker down to 0% in the weekend CNN post debate poll.

The Buttplug said he would be the Tim Pawlenty of this cycle here back in July. Don't ever doubt the Buttplug.

[WTF]

The buttplug also said Yeb! would win the nomination.

[Palin's Buttplug]

I stand by that prediction. I'll bet even money against your choice.

$20 to the Reason Foundation.

[WTF]

I'll bet you $20 to the Reason Foundation that Jeb Bush will NOT win the nomination.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Pussy.

I want to bet on my prediction vs yours.

[VicRattlehead]

lol Voting is a charade, the next president was picked years ago, just like your messiah barry.
I read it when i was a wee lad in a book called "behold a pale white horse" Written by Ex-CIA which basically exposed the entire plot leading up to WW3 and terrifyingly enough most all of it has come true so far except the First black presidents 3rd term which is initiated due to the start of WW3.
I'd put 20$ on the Hoover Dam being intentionally destroyed in a "terrorist" attack

[Palin's Buttplug]

I stand by that prediction. I'll bet even money against your choice.

$20 to the Reason Foundation.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Plopper is writing for Salon now: I'm a pedophile, but not a monster

Though skimming it over, I tentatively agree with the guy that so long as he hasn't acted on any of his urges, I won't judge him. Well... I'll try not to judge him.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Not going to Salon to read this, but I agree just because you have urges doesn't mean you have to act on them. it's what we do that defines us, not how we think. Having said that, it sounds like this guy may want to go into counseling to see if it's possible to redirect his thought patterns.

[Auric Demonocles]

Bruce?

[Auric Demonocles]

Commenting just on your summary, but I think it should be obvious that being a pedophile doesn't make you a bad person (unless you actually act on it). You can't control what you like, just what you actually do about that desire. But many of the people who recognize that when it comes to sexual orientation seem to immediately forget that in this case.

[MetalBard]

Isn't this like having a fetish or something? I mean there has to be a way to change it, or at least find something else you're into right?

[Florida Man]

I imagine there are models that are 18 but look younger you could wank to. Unless he is into prepubescent stuff then I guess animated stuff, though I think that might be illegal.

[Free Society]

What an awful article. I agree that simply being a pedo, and having not acted on it, isn't necessarily evil. But the author of this article goes on to describe in lurid detail how he got molested as a 7 year old and how he basically loved every second of it. Fuck you, Salon.

[Florida Man]

I didn't get that he loved it. He just didn't find it overly traumatic. He even refered to it as abuse and told his grandmother. She's the real monster by telling him to just shut up about it.

[Rich]

"I cannot imagine anyone being more of an outsider than the first woman president, I mean really, let's think about it," the Democratic presidential candidate said during an interview on CBS News' "Face the Nation."

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

OK, but there are probably women who are more of an outsider than the woman who lived in the White House for 8 years.

[Rich]

"I mean really, let's think about it."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"I mean. Come on. Think."

To the extent progressives think.

[Auric Demonocles]

What about someone who hasn't already been in the white house for 8 years?

[Elspeth Flashman]

Or in the past 30?

[BigT]

Next week on Face the Nation - Carly Fiorina!

[Atanarjuat]

Well, when she was SoS Obama certainly treated her like an outsider, if those reports are correct.

[Citizen X]

That shows some sense on Obama's part, given what a fuckup she was.

[Lord Humungus]

Somehow none of Hillary's shenanigans have been blown back on Obama - that is to say that he is such a shitty administrator that he can't keep tabs on what his SoS was doing.

Or more likely he just didn't care.

[Zeb]

What? That doesn't make sense.

[Free Society]

"The video can't be played because the file is corrupt"..... which is fitting for a video containing images of the Hilary.

[The Last American Hero]

Good for the pastor in Selma. It must have been difficult taking that guy down, especially since clerics aren't allowed to use edged weapons in combat.

[MetalBard]

It's cool though he still had his +1 mace.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well he needed a weapon to fight off drunken robots when he wakes up.

[Rich]

"In the name of Jesus, I cast out this demon!"

[Drake]

The mace and staff can do many hit-points of damage.

[SusanM]

And priests can heal too. Saw one tank HoR when the tanking Paladin went down.

[VicRattlehead]

Technically they can they just have to worship a deity that favors edged weapons, typically this is in the realm of Evil deities, which will also give them the Inflict wounds spells as opposed to healing. This is especially true of a War Domain cleric who can summon a wall of blades and gets martial weapon proficiency as a freebie feat .

[VicRattlehead]

Dont fux with the Dungeon Master bruh!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

HBO's Game of Thrones set a record at last night's Emmy's in Los Angeles, surpassing the awards total for a single year previously set by West Wing.

Aww, two black women won in the Lead and Supporting Actress categories and a show about transgender people also won top awards.

All negated because they showered a show about rape culture with statues.

[Irish ?s ESB]

And it surpassed a total won by a show based on a leftist fantasy version of the Clinton Administration.

[Free Society]

I'm genuinely surprised they didn't find some excuse to give Bruce Jenner an Emmy or two.

[Crusty Juggler]

Bruce Jenner? No inclusion of an honorific? PC Principal is gonna get your ass, bro.

[Free Society]

Calm down. He's stunning and beautiful. And also a hero.

[Crusty Juggler]

He's stunning and beautiful

Oh. Em. Gee.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Carly Fiorina would deserve to be on the $10 bill on the basis of ridding us of Trump alone.

If anyone stays within 10% of Trump, he's fucked. He's no one's second choice for president, so all the Bush supporters and all the Rubio supporters etc. are going to fall in behind whatever candidate isn't Trump. I think Fiorina has to be the front runner at this point as a result.

[straffinrun]

Soon enough it will be the $100 bill on the $10 bill.

[VicRattlehead]

Or the Billion dollar bill with Triple H's face
"haulin ass n makin cash"

[Palin's Buttplug]

Very logical.

Carly can't win it either. The GOP ratfuckers will destroy her if she is close in January. Mitt's 47% will be tame when her job-killing past comes to light.

[OldMexican]

Re: Peter Caca

Because we all know that the role of a CEO is to play Santa Claus of jobs...

Idiot.

[Irish ?s ESB]

I don't know about that. She'd be the best candidate the GOP has run for president since Ronald Reagan.

(I'm talking just about as a candidate, not about governing. I'm sure a Fiorina presidency would not be appreciably different than the average Republican, but she's a brilliant campaigner.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

(I'm talking just about as a candidate, not about governing. I'm sure a Fiorina presidency would not be appreciably different than the average Republican, but she's a brilliant campaigner.

Dude, her foreign policy is terrifyingly dumb. Yes, I'm hopeful it's just campaign bluster, but not talking to the other powers in the world like Putin and China because they're big meanie heads is not just juvenile, but also dangerous.

Especially when combined with the massive military buildup she apparently wants to implement in Europe and with our Navy.

She has show no indication to me that she's qualified to be in charge of nukes.

[Irish ?s ESB]

This is different from every Republican in the field not named Rand Paul how? Did you see everyone else's responses to the foreign policy questions? The entire Republican foreign policy is just 'HURR DURR, PUTIN IRAN BAD.'

[WTF]

She has show no indication to me that she's qualified to be in charge of nukes.

You do know who's currently in charge of nukes?

[straffinrun]

And thanks for bringing that to my consciousness. I had that securely suppressed. Bastard.

[Free Society]

Our future is bright, or at least less bleak. They don't come anymore incompetent or unqualified as the present occupant of that office. I'm an anarchist through and through and still he manages to embarrass me.

[VicRattlehead]

Bernie Sanders is at least twice as incompetent, he actually believes in socialism.....

[Red Rocks Rockin]

she's a brilliant campaigner.

Someone who's run for (and lost) all of one political campaign isn't a brilliant campaigner.

I realize she's giving you sparkles because of her Carly the Trump Slayer persona, but please be realistic.

[Robert]

How do you know he's no one's 2nd choice? He's already picked up support from others, why wouldn't he continue to?

[Mazakon]

Stalin's Daughter Svetlana Alleluyeva Was Touched By Greatness

These were members of Nadya's family. Stalin had taken her suicide, quite naturally, as a gross insult and betrayal. He punished her family for it. In one of those memoirs, Svetlana writes that it was hard to think of her relatives as "enemies of the people," as the official propaganda had it. "I could only assume that they must have become the victims of some frightful mix-up, which 'even Father himself' could not disentangle." There would come a time, however, when she realized that it was all his doing. And he had an explanation for her: "They knew too much. They babbled a lot. It played into the hands of our enemies."

[Atanarjuat]

Svetlana's mother was Stalin's second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva ("Nadya"). She was not the maternal type. She was the Bolshevik type, devoted to Party and work, not to "bourgeois" interests such as family. Later in life, Svetlana could not remember that her mother had ever hugged, praised, or kissed her. Nadya thought that her husband coddled their daughter. Imagine, if you can, a household in which Stalin is the more loving parent.

I'm going to call my mom later.

[Warty]

So are the yokels still going on about Bombghazi? WHYCOME AINT NO ONE SAYIN THAT THERE MUSLIM KID DONE GOT ARRESTED ON PORPUSE

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I didn't think contemporary political discourse could become even more farcical until the emergence of Clock Truthers, led by Richard Fucking' Dawkins.

[Warty]

Oh god, really? "Twitter: helping smart people be as stupid as the rest of you since 2008."

[Juvenile Bluster]

The funnier thing isn't the far-right claiming that, it's the far left, now that Maher and Dawkins have gotten in on the conspiracy.

[Rasilio]

OMG that argument is so fucking dumb.

So they are claiming that the school and the police knew the entire time that it wasn't a real bomb but rather a hoax and the purpose of the hoax was to get the kid arrested so the school and the police would look bad.

Lets assume for the sake of argument that all of this is true.

Do you really think it was a good idea to give him what he supposedly wanted and arrest the kid? What kind of a fucking moron are you?

No, the simple matter is the school and the police in that case were ALL mind numbingly stupid, there is no excuse or explanation for it,

[Warty]

And apparently it somehow changes things that the kid didn't actually breadboard his own clock, or something. I don't get it. Any of it.

[OldMexican]

Pope Francis met with Fidel Castro while visiting Cuba. In a speech, the pontiff warned of the dangers of ideology and selfishness.

I guess there's no danger in an ideology that holds as its main tenet that selfishness is "bad"...

[straffinrun]

It's not just "selfishness", it's basically "self". You are bad therefore...

[BigT]

I guess there's no danger in an ideology that holds as its main tenet that selfishness is "bad"...

Selfishness bad, charity good. Thus the state will force you by threat of violence to be charitable and take your money so you can't be selfish. A heartfelt 'Thank You' is all that is necessary in response, comrade.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Via the noted racists (and unsurprisingly, Trump fans) at VDare, Donald Trump, leader of the horde. Or something like that. This picture's great, at any rate.

[Juvenile Bluster]

oops. Sf'd the link

[UnCivilServant]

The worst part of the mess is that's not even a good photoshop job.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That better be because they're getting used to Kelly's offense. Because what I saw yesterday was downright brutal.

Meanwhile, back at the Death Star, the Patriots are awesome.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I'm not sure if you replied to the correct thing, but I'm just numb about the Eagles. That was terrible. That was the worst performance I've seen from the Eagles since the dark days of the mid-late 90s.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I just replied knowing you're an Eagles fan.

I agree. Unreal. Wtf?

[WTF]

Don't worry, they still get to play the self-destructing Giants twice.

[Lord Humungus]

Take the Long Way home?

[Certified Public Asshat]

Aaron Rodgers trolls Russell Wilson:

"God was a Packer fan tonight," said Rodgers. "He was taking care of us."

Rodgers was trying to hide a grin as he made his religious references and could barely contain himself.

So why the notion he was taking a shot at Wilson? Remember the sobbing, on-field interview the Seahawks quarterback gave immediately after beating the Packers in the NFC Championship Game in January? Watch this to refresh your memory. Wilson also spoke of God's impact on that comeback victory with Peter King later in the week, saying "That's God setting it up, to make it so dramatic, so rewarding, so special."

Rodgers reacted to that comment in an answer to a fan question at the time: "I don't think God cares a whole lot about the outcome. He cares about the people involved, but I don't think he's a big football fan."

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Rodgers is awesome. He's the best quarterback in the league by far and yet also underexposed and underhyped (outside of the State Farm commercials), which is so very refreshing.

Read a terrific Sports Illustrated piece about him while waiting at the barbershop on Saturday. Very smart, interesting guy with unlikely success story.

[Irish ?s ESB]

Rodgers also seems like a good guy, which just makes me hate him more because HE'S A GODDAMN PACKER AND I WANT HIM TO BE MY QUARTERBACK.

*sobs quietly*

[Certified Public Asshat]

Russell Wilson at this point has become insufferable, so any shot at him is nice.

Top 5 annoying NFL Players:

1. Russell Wilson
2. JJ Watt
3. Peyton Manning
4. Drew Brees
5. ?

I only have a list of 4 for some reason.

[Juvenile Bluster]

How is Tom Brady not on your list? Even without him endorsing Trump.

[Idle Hands]

lol I forgot about that.

[Certified Public Asshat]

More hated than annoying.

[Idle Hands]

um Brady?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Not as long as Tom Brady is in the league.

I can't see how it can be otherwise.

Rodgers, Manning (the real one), Brady - all great. But Tommy is top.

Rivers is under rated. Just to add.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Brady may be the best of all time.

Rodgers is the best QB in the league right now, easily.

[R C Dean]

Yeah, this here.

[LoneWaco]

whoa there. Weeden is perfect so far this season. we already know that guys who take over for Bledsoe are great. now we get to find out about guys who take over for guys who took over for Bledsoe. going out to get my #3 jersey...

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Brady may be the best of all time.

Montana by far.

[BigT]

Otto Graham

[VicRattlehead]

Sportsing - the non-participatory often sarcastic viewing of sporting events in which the viewer (who cares about things where the outcomes actually matter) gets dragged to an obviously rigged sporting event with his less intellectual counterparts to watch them get shitfaced and shout at the TV as though someone can hear them if only they're loud enough. This is usually coupled with the relief of not having to hear about it for a few days while the idiots that lost their voices shouting at inanimate objects recover.

[Slammer]

Paul Ehrlich gives Mark Steyn's book 1- Star on Amazon

It is sad that with humanity facing catastrophic climate disruption as part of an existential threat that there are still people willing to attack Mike Mann, one of the real heroes of climate science, outrageous lies.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

That's AWESOME.

That guy has no shame. None.

[UnCivilServant]

Is Ehrlich ever tired of being wrong?

[OldMexican]

"Existencial threat", as in "Volcano God angryyyy!"

[0x90]

With friends like that, who needs....

[Irish ?s ESB]

Donald Trump tried to attack Fiorina this weekend by saying 'how can she win the presidency when she couldn't even beat Boxer in California?'

Smart take - how can someone win the presidency in an open field when they weren't able to beat an incumbent democrat in the bluest state in the country?

[lap83]

I don't think Trump is a stupid man. But he says some remarkably stupid things.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Pointing out that Carly got her ass kicked by Boxer was reporting factual history, not a stupid remark.

[lap83]

By his logic, no Republican should run for president since no Republican would have beat Boxer in that race.

It's fucking stupid

[Red Rocks Rockin]

By his logic, no Republican should run for president since no Republican would have beat Boxer in that race

Like I said below, what does it say about Fiorina's political acumen that she ran for an office she had no hope of winning?

This "well it was California she didn't have a hope in hell" is the fucking stupid argument.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

when they weren't able to beat an incumbent democrat in the bluest state in the country

Jesus Christ. This lame-ass excuse again? If Fiorina can't beat a vulnerable incumbent in a Republican wave year, then how the fuck is she going to win a general election when several states have been trending blue in presidential elections? And what exactly does that say about her political instincts if she ran for a seat that she was going to lose anyway?

The Republicans wouldn't have taken the Senate or House, or won governorships, without beating Democrats in Democrat strongholds. This "BUT MUH HARDCORE BLUE STATE!!" reasoning is fucking desperation.

[lap83]

You know the reason he said that is because he's feeling threatened by her, right?

[lap83]

All he has is "I'm popular and she isn't", because she is smarter and more articulate on the issues

[Red Rocks Rockin]

Who gives a fuck if he said it because he's feeling threatened? It's 100% accurate.

She got her ass beat by a vulnerable incumbent during a Republican wave year. What makes her sudden claque of groupies think she's going to beat Clinton or even Sanders when she couldn't even win the ONE political race she actually attempted?

[R C Dean]

So, the new rule is, if you've ever lost an election, you shouldn't ever run again?

You know, if that were applied across the board, I could get behind it.

In 2000, [Obama] lost a Democratic primary race for Illinois's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B......80.932008

Applying it more selectively, meh.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

So, the new rule is, if you've ever lost an election, you shouldn't ever run again?

If the election you lost was supposedly unwinnable, why not? Isn't the fact that people here are essentially arguing that Fiorina wasted her supporters' time and money in a Senate race a concern going into a Presidential election? What does that say about her ability to manage the nation's budgets, to say nothing of her overall political judgment, if she basically flushed money down the toilet running for Senate?

And considering that Obama actually won his Senate election before running for President, the analogy doesn't really apply.

[Matrix]

Internalized Misogyny

[straffinrun]

Inappropriate but, nice t****. I rather liked "false consciousness" better. They just keep rolling out the same lies with new names. MRA is men's rights activist or apologist?

[Matrix]

activists

[Lee G]

And we have a competitor for Salon

Vaping Could Save the World, but Toxic Masculinity Is Holding It Back

The tropes of vaping culture drip of toxic masculinity. In fact, women are more likely to try vaping than men, and more likely to want to. Mic spoke to several vape shop employees who said women and men are equally represented in the real-life vaping community. But looking at vaping's most visible ambassadors, you'd never know it.

The hypermasculine image that vape marketers are selling is a self-fulfilling prophecy that could lock vaping out of the mainstream if the community can't overcome the stigma.

[WTF]

Ah, yes, masculinity is now a "stigma". You can't even parody these idiots.

[Just say Nikki]

In the brave new world, not-smoking is masculine.

[SusanM]

I had better pass all this along to the Korean lady who runs the smoke shop where I get my ejuice from. Evidently, she missed the memo that vaping belongs only to white dudebros.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Every man is a vapist.

[Swiss Servator]

*strongly applauds*

[bacon-magic]

I'm a white male and I vape. Oh no! I'm now a stereotype. Fuck you Mic.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

So Stephen Dorf vaping on teevee is supposed to...what? I'm supposed to be so dumb that I see some crusty dude vaping that I think I am not allowed? Fuck, I hate these fuckers. Unless an ad is explicitly and specifically targeted to over-educated, under-employed, hipster female, professional victims, then they won't use it? Do they not use toilet bowl cleaner because the ads target middle-aged soccer moms?

[Crusty Juggler]

I laugh every time I see Stephen Dorf.

[Antilles]

The video where he plays golf is hysterical!

[SusanM]

Dirty Vapists!

[Irish ?s ESB]

Ever since that Tanya Cohen woman who wanted people thrown in jail for hate speech in America was revealed to be a troll who got arrested for trying to goad a fundamentalist Muslim into committing a bombing, I assume all of these are trolls until proven otherwise.

All of that guy's posts are hilarious nonsense.

"Can Basic Income Bring About the Next Creative Renaissance?"

We need basic income so that people can fucking paint.

[Lee G]

I need a basic income so I can watch the entire Netflix library

[VicRattlehead]

Dont worry you can get all the Strawberry Shortcake in in about 1 day

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Helpful hint: don't pan sear a steak when your hood fan is ineffective and your kitchen is tiny & enclosed.

The resulting lung cookies are not pleasant.

[Antilles]

Thanks for reminding me why I stopped cooking years ago.

[Rhywun]

"Germany backs mandatory refugee quotas for each nation but Eastern European nations strongly oppose the plan."

Fear not, Eastern Europe - the refugees don't seem terribly interested in you either.

[Ken Shultz]

"The latest Republican presidential polling shows Carly Fiorina reaching second place, just behind Donald Trump."

Scott Walker dropped to less than 1/2 of one percent.

We're going to see people start dropping out. That may help Paul.

Gimmie a break. I'm lookin' for the pony over here.

[Ken Shultz]

"Pope Francis met with Fidel Castro while visiting Cuba. In a speech, the pontiff warned of the dangers of ideology and selfishness."

Again, 80% of Americans are in no way Catholic.

I don't understand why it matters where the Pope went, who he spoke with, or what he said.

It's like keeping up with what the Kardashians are doing, except I understand that a little more since one of them used to be hot.

[Ken Shultz]

"Iran says it has submitted samples to the United Nations Iranian inspectors collected from a military site in Parchin alleged to be the location of nuclear weapons research."

Well if that's where they say they got it, then I guess we'll just have to take their word for it.

[straffinrun]

Not going to happen, but I'd love to see both Trump and Sanders make third party runs.

[Citizen X]

I'd love to see both of them run from a grizzly bear.

[Drake]

Old man race!

[straffinrun]

Putin?

[Drake]

Well, they have basically the same tax and economic policies. Who would be the top of the ticket?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

I think Sanders is a Bottom.

[Zeb]

As the numbers of active Catholics wane in most places where it was once dominant, it seems like he shouldn't get so much attention.
He is still sort of a major world leader, but we don't hear nearly so much about leaders of real countries who can actually do things and all of their trips.

[OldMexican]

Re: Zeb,

His more canonical comments and opinions do not get the same press as his Marxianish opinions. The Marxian journalists are quick to cherry-pick the stuff they believe is useful to shame Catholics and conservative Christians while ignoring the more conservative and orthodox stuff said by Francis.

[Citizen X]

I've said this before, but electing a commie Pope was a genius PR move on the part of the Church - there is no better shiny object to distract leftist media from that whole pedophilia thing.

[Citizen X]

Catholicism is growing in Africa and Asia, though. It's one of the fastest-growing religions in the world. It's sort of a big deal.

[Free Society]

At least every new Catholic isn't a new Muslim.

[Ken Shultz]

Catholicism is growing a little faster than population growth.

Islam is growing faster than Catholicism.

Various flavors of Protestant, especially evangelical Christianity, are growing much faster than Catholicism--especially in Africa.

Why would you expect otherwise?

Protestants tend to take conversion very seriously. That's a big part of what being "evangelical" is all about. Because Catholics tend to avoid birth control more than the average bear, their population growth tends to be a little higher, and that's why the growth of Catholicism is still a little higher than average population growth.

[Ken Shultz]

The media seems to want to use him as some kind of club to hit American Christians with. See? Here's what you Christians should be doing. This is your spokesman.

Never mind that 80% of American Christians are not Catholic (by choice). Fundamentalists think of him as the Beast of Revelation 13. Never mind what he thinks of divorce, gay marriage, or abortion either!

If you're a Christian, then he is your spokesman--according to the media. You must defend him and his church, and you must accept what he says as truth. And what he says is that we all have to make sacrifices for global warming and that capitalism is evil.

In chapter 14, Jesus comes back and throws the Pope into a lake of fire. As someone who was raised a Christian, that gives me great comfort.

[Frank Frankelson]

From the progderp files (Sorry Derpy, if I am horning in on your turf) So apparently it is an affront to the collective if you teach your children to dress well. This was offered as an example of what white privilege means.

[Antilles]

White Privilege means you can't blame anyone else for your failures, and knowing your accomplishments will always be dismissed.

[Derpetologist]

"Sorry Derpy, if I am horning in on your turf"

No worries. There's plenty of derp to go around:

How I Became a Breastfeeding Dad ? And Learned I'm Providing More Than Food

My name is Trevor, and I am able to be pregnant because I am transgender. This means that I was born female but transitioned to male by taking hormones and having chest surgery. When my partner and I decided to start a family, we got advice from my doctors, and I stopped taking my testosterone. My baby is due in April. Because my surgery removed most of my breast tissue, I don't know how much I'll be able to breastfeed, but I really want to try.