Nobel Peace Prize Winner Apologizes for Bombing Nobel Peace Prize Winner, U.S. Says It Avoided Collision With Russian Aircraft in Syria, NASA, ESA Working on Asteroid Deflection: P.M. Links

• 

  NASA

  Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama called Nobel Peace Prize winner Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U.S. bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan.

• The Pentagon says the U.S. had to divert two aircraft operating over Syria in order to avoid a collision with a Russian jet fighter.
• The Joe Biden draft campaign released its first television ad today.
• California's Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, signed a climate change bill into law hopes to increase the use of renewable energy and the energy efficiency of already built homes.
• Militants from Al-Shabaab shot and killed the nephew of Somali President Hassan Mohamoud in an ambush in Mogadishu.
• NASA and the European Space Agency announced they'd be working together on an Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment meant to study the means humans have to deflect large Earth-bound asteroids.

New at Reason.com:

Today's Big News Won't Be Known for Years: There's a lot of great news happening right now. We just won't know about it for a while. By A. Barton Hinkle

How to Create a Gun-Free America in 5 Easy Steps: Guns - and the Second Amendment - won't just disappear. By Austin Bragg

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama called Nobel Peace Prize winner Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U.S. bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan.

And took responsibility?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

"Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama called Nobel Peace Prize winner Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U.S. bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan."

What a bunch of idiots the Nobel people are.

[AlmightyJB]

Yasser Arafat and Al Gore have won so you can decide what it's worth.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

The day they handed one to those boneheads was the day I stopped taking that organization seriously.

Arafat for fuck sakes!

[Antilles]

Arafat for fuck sakes!

Winning the Nobel prize is only about saying the right things. A person's actions--even when they conflict with what they're saying--don't matter.

[PapayaSF]

Actions matter if they are "well-intentioned" but incredibly stupid actions. There is talk that Merkel might get it, for her role in destroying Germany by letting in millions more Muslims.

[RBS]

The Nobel Feelz Prize

[Antilles]

Actions matter if they are "well-intentioned" but incredibly stupid actions.

This only applies to people on the Left. When the good intentions of people on the Right fail it's because they're horrible, evil people who only want to inflict pain and death on others.

[JD the elder]

Wow, millions of Muslims are going to destroy Germany? How many millions are we talking about? Two? Four? Eight? Please explain how they're going to overpower Germany's 24 million Protestants, 24 million Catholics, and 27 million non-religious people.

[PapayaSF]

Oh, it'll take some time, but it's started. See also the economics of Third-World immigrants Norway.

Finansavisen [Norwegian financial newspaper] has gone through figures released by SSB [Norwegian Bureau of Statistics] and concludes that each non-Western immigrant, on average, costs Norwegian society NoK 4.1 million ($700,000).

[PapayaSF]

And it doesn't take a majority of Muslims to make it uncomfortable and unsafe for citizens. Just ask some French Jews, or Dutch gays, or some of the many rape victims in Rotherham or Sweden.

[Ted S.]

For me, it was when they gave it to Rigoberta Mench? instead of the people who peaceably split Czechoslovakia.

[Ted S.]

That, and Gorbachev sending tanks to kill peaceful Lithuanians.

[grrizzly]

They grade on a curve. A Soviet leader could have done much worse.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Did Menchu also win a truth telling contest?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Does Mandela have one too?

There's another one.

[Antilles]

Does Mandela have one too?

To his credit, Mandela didn't use his eventual seat of power to enact revenge on his previous foes. I realize that he and his people were terrorists who did unspeakable things to innocent people. But once in charge he apparently struck a conciliatory tone and tried to bring the whole country together.

[PapayaSF]

He didn't, but many of his supporters did.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I guess.

I believe he was a commie too.

In any event, I won't be celebrating international Mandela day anytime soon and I'll be sure to remind my daughter of his full bio; not just the fucking romanticized one. Like we do with Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Che.

FULL PICTURE AND DISCLOSURE.

Then make up your mind.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Maybe he let other people carry on the dirty work while he played the Angel?

"Mandela had the world's ear, and he used it to present himself and his followers as innocent victims of the racist regime and its Zulu allies. Aside from attracting sympathy, such claims served to justify Mandela's refusal to stop arming ANC-sponsored "Self-Defence Units" who were by most accounts running amok, purging enemies from their strongholds and butchering Inkatha followers at least as enthusiastically as Zulus were butchering Mandela's. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....d-man.html

[Antilles]

I've always had a dim view of Mandela too, but after his death many people I admire spoke of how he acted as President. Does that make up for all the atrocities committed by him and his followers? I don't know. But he's not quite the monster I assumed he was. And I agree, people should know his whole story before deciding what they think of him.

[PapayaSF]

I once met someone (a white African women) who ran into Mandela at a shopping mall in South Africa. He didn't even have a bodyguard. He greeted her and asked her to vote for the ANC. She was astonished when Obama visited, and it involved fleets of armored limousines and a Secret Service demand that some historic tree near his hotel be cut down (request denied).

[VG Zaytsev]

The thing about Mandela and apartheid in SA is that people in the US assume that it was some old tradition there stretching back to the early 19th century colonial past.

The reality is that it was violently imposed in the 1950s. Mandela was a lawyer at the time that believed he could peacefully stop it's implementation via public opinion and court action.

He was obviously very mistaken. It was imposed with great violence done to the african and mixed race people. So it is completely understandable the reaction / resistance to it became violent in turn and that it sought help internationally where it could find it, which was only from communists.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Yes, his story is quite nuanced isn't it?

[perlchpr]

Wait, really? I knew the bit about getting help where it would come from, but I thought apartheid went back to Cecil Rhodes.

[perlchpr]

Hunh, holy shit.

"Apartheid; (an Afrikaans word meaning "the state of being apart", literally "apart-hood") was a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced through legislation by the National Party (NP), the governing party from 1948 to 1994."

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

[Free Society]

Actually Mandela was a fucking monster who burned children alive and participated in many torturous deaths of white south Africans. Fuck him. And for what it's worth, quality of life was better before they broke down Apartheid, because they went about it's dismantlement entirely the wrong way.

[PapayaSF]

It's also forgotten that apartheid was pushed by left-wing South African trade unions.

[Free Society]

To his credit, Mandela didn't use his eventual seat of power to enact revenge on his previous foes. I realize that he and his people were terrorists who did unspeakable things to innocent people. But once in charge he apparently struck a conciliatory tone and tried to bring the whole country together.

His ending of Apartheid has been an unmitigated disaster. Like so many products of one-party communist rule.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

How can you argue against this?

[Agammamon]

nah - he and Winnie had a 'Bill and Hillary' thing going on.

He looks good for the cameras, she tires you.

[PapayaSF]

"Tires," ha! I see what you did there.

[AlmightyJB]

To be fair, Arafat did die which was technically a contribution to peace.

[CatoTheChipper]

Jimmy Carter, for brokering a deal with North Korea that propped up their economy so that they could develop an atomic bomb in return for the promise that they would not develop an atomic bomb.

[CatoTheChipper]

The Nobel Peace Prize committee has been off-kilter for a very long time. It award the prize to Teddy Roosevelt, of whom Mark Twain said, "I think the President is clearly insane in several ways, and insanest upon war and its supreme glories."

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Nobels and explosives belong together, since that's where the money came from.

[Agammamon]

*Full and complete* responsibility!

And is remarked to have said, under his breath, 'what the fuck are you going to do about it anyway?'

[Woodys mom]

Maybe he said something like:
Even well-intentioned wars ? those designed to remove a tyrant from power and liberate an oppressed people, unleash chaos and violence that cannot be limited solely to those deserving of punishment...blah, blah, oops!

[Fist of Etiquette]

...the means humans have to deflect large Earth-bound asteroids.

Well, hurry up. Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis ain't getting any younger.

[Los Doyers]

God damn you old fool.

[Fist of Etiquette]

And begging your pardon, sir, but it's a big-ass movie!

[Ted S.]

I think you mean it's a big ass-movie.

[some guy]

What are the odds that our first practice run at deflecting an asteroid deflects it right into the Earth?

[Rhywun]

There's one for the blooper reel.

[some guy]

Don't worry, thanks to recent foreign policy decisions its more likely to hit one of our enemies than one of our friends.

[Agammamon]

thanks to recent foreign policy decisions its more likely to hit one of our enemies than the fething *ocean*.

[PapayaSF]

If it hit Mecca, it would totally be worth it.

[Los Doyers]

I'll wager your seat on the shuttle to Mars.

[AlmightyJB]

Bruce Willis will always be around to save the day from asteroid terrorist.

[Free Society]

Listen, we still have Justin Beiber. If we can't be saved by Bruce WIllis, we can at least take solace in making sure that Justin Beiber is the first to die.

[Sevo]

AM links?
Fist! Paging Fist!

[Citizen X]

Dammit! I thought it was almost time to go home. LONGEST DAY EVER

[Aloysious]

😛

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's AM somewhere in the world, you West-centric racist prick.

[Sevo]

The sun's over the yardarm somewhere, too.

[Ted S.]

Everybody knows that Eastern is the only time zone that matters.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, obviously, but bones must be thrown.

[waffles]

It's true. I say this living in PST. But truthfully living in PST is nice. The business day basically ends at 2 in the afternoon. This leaves my evenings free to do whatever hippy shit I feel like doing.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

1, unless you have paperwork.

[Ted S.]

Well, I work 6 to 2:30 so I get evenings free too. It's just that I have to her up pretty damn early.

[Pan Zagloba]

Yeah, bitches always asking for it up too damn early...

[Ted S.]

Well, my dog is female....

[Jordan]

Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama called Nobel Peace Prize winner Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U.S. bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan.

He called to apologize? Good enough for the Nobel committee hacks. Second prize incoming.

[some guy]

To be fair, when Obama received his prize he was a blank slate with no achievements (good or evil) to speak of. So he was probably more deserving at that time than most Peace Prize recipients.

[AlmightyJB]

He's so selfless

[Ted S.]

He's so selfies.

[JW]

"Hey, my bad, OK? Fist bump."

[Pan Zagloba]

Ha, you think he'd ever call it his fault?

"Hey, I had nothing to do with it, it's those gun-totting savages. You know how out of control they get, right? If I had a hospital, it would look a lot like your facility in Kunduz. In conclusion, until they give me common sense gun regulation I asked, all I can do is apologize and wait for another pile of corpses to clamber on."

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

"The general who did that is so sorry."

[Rufus J. Firefly]

WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT?!

HE APOLOGIZED!!!!!!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

California's Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, signed a climate change bill into law hopes to increase...

...the cost of living for Incans and therefore drive more of them out of the Golden State?

[Rhywun]

Homeless people are energy efficient too.

[Tonio]

I see what you did there....nice.

[PapayaSF]

We drive them out in multiple ways.

[BigT]

And now we have the Ministry of Truth.

As President Obama doubles down on climate change as a legacy issue, the White House has appointed Thomas Reynolds, a top communications strategist at the Environmental Protection Agency and a seasoned political operative, to a new position dedicated solely to messaging Mr. Obama's global warming agenda.

BTW, it's AGW (global warming) not climate change. Don't give in to them.

[Tonio]

Congratulations to commenter Almanian whose fictional cocktail, the Rusty Woodchipper, will apparently be served at the upcoming LA Reason reception. Well-done, and better than a hat tip.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

In other words, he still won't get a hat tip.

[Tonio]

But he got mentioned, which is enough.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It's in the RSVP email. He got more than a hat tip

[Tonio]

Well, do tell us.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Hang on, lemme pull it out of the email.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"....no double parking will be allowed. Sad, isn't it? You can drown your sorrows with our signature cocktail for the evening, The Rusty Woodchipper (thanks, Almanian, just Almanian!)"

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

MOAR FREE BOOZ IN DC!~!11!!!!

[Aloysious]

A.M. links?

[Los Doyers]

"the means humans have to deflect large Earth-bound asteroids."

Well, Bruce Willis isn't dead *yet*!

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Militants from Al-Shabaab shot and killed the nephew of Somali President Hassan Mohamoud in an ambush in Mogadishu.

Damn libertarians.

[some guy]

Somalia has a President? There goes the last Libertopia.

[Pan Zagloba]

I know, what was wrong with Grand Plutocrat?

[PapayaSF]

Ambushing a nephew seems so bush league....

[some guy]

The Pentagon says the U.S. had to divert two aircraft operating over Syria in order to avoid a collision with a Russian jet fighter.

Does Russia still operate prop fighters?

[The Last American Hero]

No. They've been flying jets using mind control helmets since the mid-80's, as seen in the Clint Eastwood documentary, Firefox.

[Antilles]

I know they still had prop bombers in the 80s, which had some advantages over our B-52s. But I'm sure they've had jet fighters for a long time.

[kinnath]

I got to see Sukhois and Migs at the Moscow airshow in the late 90s at an airfield that wasn't on any public map just a few years before.

[Antilles]

Interesting. Did they let you take pictures?

[kinnath]

It never occurred to me to carry a camera in to secured Russian Facility.

[Citizen X]

Secured Russian facility takes camera into YOU.

[Timon 19]

They still fly the Bears when they're out pissing off NATO/California/Alaska.

Tu-95s are their B-52s.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Fighters? No. Bombers? Yes.

[Sapient Mulch]

No, but they do still operate turboprop bombers.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

NASA and the European Space Agency announced they'd be working together on an Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment meant to study the means humans have to deflect large Earth-bound asteroids.

Saturn V stuffed with H-Bombs. Boom problem solved.

[Tonio]

I don't think even the mighty Saturn V could get beyond LEO, and they aren't made anymore.

But, you want to talk about a real free rider problem, try getting all those other countries to reimburse the US taxpayers for asteroid defense.

[Sapient Mulch]

I don't think even the mighty Saturn V could get beyond LEO

That rocket got us to the moon.

[Tonio]

Yes, and no. The Saturn V was the first stage of all the Apollo moon missions, but only the first of three stages.

[Sapient Mulch]

The Saturn V remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status and still holds records for the heaviest payload launched and largest payload capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO) of 140,000 kilograms (310,000 lb).

Disqualified on condition of stages?

[LoneWaco]

but only the first of three stages.

yeah, no.

[Tonio]

The Saturn V was the first...of three stages.

Sorry, Sappy, I was wrong. You were right.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Other problem with this plan? An H-bomb would only move the dirt around, we'd still have an enourmous mass slam into our atmosphere. Our atmosphere would, in effect atomize the object, converting it into a massive blast of plasma that then will wipe us all out.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

You want to move the dirt around. That's called orbital maneuvering. You're referring to a rubble pile which would not deflect as a rigid body.

[Warty]

Choose your own adventure. Which link will leave you a gibbering shell of a human? Which will merely annoy you? There's only one way to find out.

Stasi: State Department must list gun-loving NRA as terrorist organization

Why we're still debating guns in 2015

[Citizen X]

THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IS NOT TO PLAY.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Fuck you. That's the worst CYOA since The Mona Lisa is Missing!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

http://seanmunger.com/2013/08/.....adventure/

[Aloysious]

#2. The picture gallery was enraging.

[Ted S.]

Don't click through the galleries.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

Stasi: State Department must list gun-loving NRA as terrorist organization

Damn...talk about living up down to your name!

[AlmightyJB]

Think I'm going to rent a Storm Compact at the range this weekend to evaluate. I'm overdo.

[Juvenile Bluster]

#1 is clearly the not. I mean, it just seems to absur..

::sees this isn't Spot the Not::

::clicks::

::stabs self in eye with scissor::

[Juvenile Bluster]

TOO, not to. Dangit, I should've typed before stabbing myself in the eye.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Hmmm. That's weird. I'm not debating guns at all.

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

Well let's debate guns then. Do you prefer pump action or semi auto shotguns.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I like to pump it good and hard.

[perlchpr]

Full auto.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

The best answer is a semi-auto with pump action:

Benelli

Beretta used to make one, and I believe Tristar makes one now.

[Pan Zagloba]

Semi-Auto because ABOMINATION!
Well, Abomination is modded to have full-auto mode, too...

[some guy]

So after I choose a link and read an article, I then have to choose a link from that page and read its article, repeating this until I die, or find a 404 page? Sounds miserable.

[some guy]

We require every single person in every state in this country to pass a driving proficiency test before they're issued a license to get behind the wheel. So why not require that wannabe gun owners pass a gun proficiency test before they are issued a license to obtain and shoot a gun?

There's so many things wrong with that analogy.

[some guy]

Actually, the CNN article is a round-up of op-eds from both sides of the issue, so some of them are actually ok-ish. The NYDailyNews article must be the "bad" one.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

So, um, we want our deranged killers to be more proficient with firearms?

[Agammamon]

Even better - remove the license requirement for driving.

Its plainly not needed.

[Agammamon]

But the answer is always 'more regulation', never less.

[Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)]

I sparked some outrage on FB the other day when I countered this argument by saying that just means we should stop licensing and regulating cars so much.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Right after we have an economics proficiency test before they're allowed to vote.

[Pan Zagloba]

#2. Just looking at the smug faces and reading first paragraph made me want to go on a spree.

#1 just made me go "you live in Canada, too?"

[Sapient Mulch]

From the first link.

Between 2012 and 2015, according to University of Maryland's Global Terrorism Database, ISIS has murdered approximately 12,138 civilians, Boko Haram,10,092, the Taliban 9,427 and Hamas, 85.

In that time, Americans have murdered or spree killed via gun and assault rifle, 87,423 people in the United States.

In contrast, terrorism killed 28 Americans per year on both U.S. soil and abroad according to the Global Terrorism Database.

So gosh Ms. Stasi, WHAT IS THE FUCKING COST PER DEATH FOR EACH OF THESE? TSA, DHS, all the rest of the bullshit included, and you're gonna tell me you think we should designate a CLUB; a fucking CLUB as a terrorist organization?

Well Warty, they both annoy me. Do I win?

[Warty]

You win the prize of annoyance. Here's some food animals fighting for your amusement.

[GILMORE?]

"Guinea pigs"

Look, i dislike Italians as much as the next guy, but that seems to be taking things a bit far

[Sapient Mulch]

prize of annoyance

Geez Warty. It's not my intent to annoy.

[ant1sthenes]

Dude, even Rand wouldn't be so heavy-handed as to name a character Stasi. This world is kinda jumping the shark.

[CatoTheChipper]

Stasi. What a wonderful name for a totalitarian cunt.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Pentagon says the U.S. had to divert two aircraft operating over Syria in order to avoid a collision with a Russian jet fighter.

The Russki pilot's name? Wong Wayskovich.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I thought we weren't in Syria. Whoops.

[Ted S.]

We're *over* Syria, not *in* it.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

+1 Macho Grande

[Sevo]

Re: mo0nbeam's fantasy:

"...Brown tried for an even stronger measure that would have also directed state regulators to enforce a 50 percent drop in petroleum use in the next 15 years, but oil interests defeated that part of the package...."

Those "oil interests" included anyone who drives and knew full well that the only way to accomplish that would have be government rationing or horrendous tax increases.
That tired old moralist is welcome to his hair shirt; I can only hope he dies soon.

[Juvenile Bluster]

He did have an awesome veto message to the legislature trying to create a bunch of new crimes though.

[Antilles]

Shows you how radical the Dems have become when Moonbeam has to chastise them for going too far.

[waffles]

Serious. The D supermajority is nuts and is only restrained by an insane governor. I don't really see this changing in California.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

It is sad that such a beautiful place is ruled by such massive statist morons.

[PapayaSF]

Yes, indeed.

[Spoonman.]

Seems like the Russian/Assad advance isn't going that well. Lots of videos of blown-up regime tanks and it doesn't seem like Russia is trumpeting gains. Maybe this all plays into Putin's grand plan, but my guess is that it's just as stupid and difficult for Russia to intervene in the Middle East as it is for us.

[Tonio]

^This. It's a sticky trap.

[Agammamon]

As I've said before - Russia's military is more known for being ground into hamburger than actually #Winning.

[ant1sthenes]

Yeah, you want to fucking throw hordes of disposable people into a grinder, you better have a birthrate to back that up.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Has anyone thought of setting up a soiree whereby we - figuratively - feed an assortment of scumbags and douches into a woodchipper? I can just see the hootin' and hollerin' now.

[AlmightyJB]

Sounds like a great video game

[Libertymike]

Where has John been? I haven't seen a post from him in weeks.

[Citizen X]

John vanished around the same time as Kim Davis went to jail. Coincidence? You decide!

(I will not stop pushing this rumor.)

[Florida Man]

I think he got gay married and is on his honeymoon.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Was there cake?

[kinnath]

He has talked about having a wife for years now. So unless he is doubling up, I don't think that's the case.

[Florida Man]

It was a joke Kenny.

[kinnath]

I missed the "gay" married. oops

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

I miss the guy.

[Pan Zagloba]

This is very relevant to the Eminent Domain discussion, which we can't have enough of when it features Trump.

3 Common Myths About Gentrification

"Well, neighborhoods always change" is a common response to the subject of gentrification.

But if you really understood what gentrification means, you wouldn't be saying that. So here's University of Illinois professor Stacey Sutton with a TEDxTalk that breaks down how gentrification is a manifestation of inequality ? and far worse than many people think.

[Ted S.]

More segregation, please.

[lap83]

I think I hate everyday feminism more than Jezebel

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Ahh, of course it's everyday feminism. The "you don't really understand what the word means" cliche should've tipped me off.

Is there an MSPaint-quality comic attached to explain gentrification's faults?

[Pan Zagloba]

No, it's a link to video.

You're a comic fan? Then certainly you should know OCD isn't cute.

[Doctor Whom]

Since you didn't, I will.

CW: Everyderp Feminism.

[Pan Zagloba]

No spoilers!

God, I love this video. I intend to use the phrase "Predatory Investment Schemes" as much as I can.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Whites leave a neighborhood = white flight = bad
Whites move into a neighborhood = gentrification = bad

Hmm...I'm noticing a pattern here...

[Antilles]

Yes, white people are bad no matter what we do. And ethnic cleansing is OK so long as you're just targeting whites and Jews.

[Sapient Mulch]

Hmm...I'm noticing a pattern here...

Add a thumping bass soundtrack and you've got it!

[PapayaSF]

how gentrification is a manifestation of inequality

Jeebus, nearly everything in human life and society is a "manifestation of inequality." And I thought it was stupid to look for racism and sexism everywhere. They have found something even more stupid to obsess about.

[Libertymike]

Egalitarianism is evil, per fucking se.

[Pan Zagloba]

I will certainly say that everyday feminism is keeping me educated about stuff I never thought about.

Unironically, there were articles where I just went "nah, not worth posting, it's such a pile of obvious." Like the article about 'nice guys', which has a intro, list of seven reasons (because of course there's a numbered list of reasons) and a conclusion for something that's simply summed up in the article as

But even if someone actually is nice, you may not want to date him for a number of reasons: You have nothing in common, you're not attracted to him, you don't really want to date anyone, and so on.

[Antilles]

For most women, 'nice' is just a euphemism for boring. But I consider 'nice' to be a good quality and enjoy spending time with nice women. Too bad there are so few of them around...

[Pan Zagloba]

"Nice" is not something you should to call yourself, hence the quotes. Like "generous" or "brave", only other people can attribute it, based on your actions.

[Antilles]

only other people can attribute it, based on your actions.

I would add to your examples "cool" and "artist." I happen to be a professional Graphic Artist, but generally just refer to myself as an illustrator because art should be defined by the audience--not the person who makes it.

[Juvenile Bluster]

As a general rule, any guy who says "I'm a nice guy" (especially in whining about how women won't pay attention to him) is almost certainly a complete asshole.

[Antilles]

Absolutely. It only takes a few minutes at ROK to understand why those losers can't get dates. Yet they insist it's the fault of women for not recognizing what catches they are.

[Migrant Log Chipper]

It works with hookers...

[GILMORE?]

Breaking News = Kids Are Cute, Therefore Extremely Useful for Marketing Purposes

Also - "More compliant than puppies, kittens" says PR executive

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

"More compliant than puppies, kittens"

And you can feed em the same things?

[Mazakon]

California's Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, signed a climate change bill into law hopes to increase the use of renewable energy and the energy efficiency of already built homes.

California's solved all of its other problems, right?

[Warty]

OMG CARACAL KITTENS!!! CARAKITTENS!!!!!!

[lap83]

very cute, they don't look very happy in most of those pictures though

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

They're cats.

[Slammer]

They look like little John Wayne Gacys

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

So, basically cats with Down Syndrome?

[GILMORE?]

In related news.... Experienced NZ zookeeper killed by tiger

Everything's cute until it grows up and tears your throat out.

[Pan Zagloba]

Always relevant, even though it was removed from The Onion's site.

[Suthenboy]

Well, it is a tiger. With tigers it isnt a matter of if.....

[Riven]

LOOK AT THEIR LITTLE TUFTED EARS!!!!

[JW]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2oZwrdIZyU

[This Machine]

*ADORABLENESS INTENSIFIES*

[GILMORE?]

Obama = Counters Labor-Complaints Over Trade Deal with Bullshit Sloganeering

"""I believe when people attack unions, they're attacking the middle class," Obama told attendees of the first-ever White House Summit on Worker Voice.

""We've got to make sure as we continue to move forward, both in this 'on-demand' economy and in the more traditional economy, that ... working Americans don't get lost in the shuffle," he said. "They can come together and they can win.""

""Corporations suck!"" he added helpfully.

[Libertymike]

"The worst crime against working people is a company which fails to operate at a profit."

Do you think Obama knows who said that?

[Pan Zagloba]

Hitler?

[Libertymike]

No, Samuel Gompers.

[Rhywun]

Some working Americans are more equal than other working Americans.

[Certified Public Asshat]

What the fuck? In New Republic? MATT BRUENING?

The Case Against Free College

Without understanding and presenting student benefits as welfare handouts, a free college agenda has no real egalitarian purpose. Giving extra money to a class of disproportionately well-off people without securing any reciprocal benefit to poor and working-class people who so often do not attend college, all while valorizing the college student as a virtuous person individually deserving of such benefits, would be at worst destructive, and at best, totally pointless.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Plus, like, how can colleges really own land, you know?

[GILMORE?]

Baltimore mayor likens police-community relations to struggling marriage

"I remember my first husband", she recounted, "handcuffed me, threw me in the back of a van, drove me all over town, slamming on the brakes, and swerving violently.... planted a bag of crack on me while I was sleeping. Relationships can be complex if you keep resisting."

[Juice]

LOL

[Rich]

Obama called Nobel Peace Prize winner Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U.S. bombing of a hospital

With all due respect, why is this kind of stuff "news"? What's he *going* to say? Nothing?
"Fuck you, I'd do it again given half a chance"?

[Certified Public Asshat]

"Fuck you, I'd do it again given half a chance"?

I mean, he's good at it Rich, he's good at it.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

"My bad, but if Congress wasn't so obstructionist this wouldn't have happened."

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

BOOOOSH!!!!

[Sapient Mulch]

"You'd think people who had just been saved from the Taliban would be more grateful."

[Woodys mom]

"The "mistake," may have exceeded the rules American forces have operated under" = don't take responsibility & fry some low-level soldier pukes.

[GILMORE?]

Obama admin condemned Israel when it shelled a UN School in Gaza in 2014.... described actions as "Totally Indefensible"

State Department Insisted = ""The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.""

Following Kunduz attack, reporter asks State Department, Has That Policy Changed?

[Juice]

I love how the headline calls it Israel bashing.

[GILMORE?]

they likea the juice, eh?

[Pan Zagloba]

So not like that new transfer student, then?

[Agammamon]

U.S. Says It Avoided Collision With Russian Aircraft in Syria

Yeah, yeah - so have I.

As a matter of fact, I *just* avoided collision with Russian and Chinese aircraft while simultaneously avoiding blowing up a hospital.

Avoiding a collision is not news - its what you're *supposed to do*.

[Notorious UGCC]

You know who takes credit for stuff they *supposed* to do?

[Woodys mom]

Tooth Fairy

[Agammamon]

Here's another thing with that - ships maneuver to avoid collision all the time and its not a big deal. Every captain has his own 'personal exclusion zone' that he tries to keep other ships out of, buy changing course.

Depending on the conditions, I've seen us change course when there was only one ship in sight - and that's because in an hour and a half it would have come within a couple NM of us.

So I highly doubt these aircraft were *forced* to change course - only that the other pilot got closer that the American pilots deemed prudent (probably to get a pictureselfie), so they maneuvered to fix that.

[GILMORE?]

File Under = Don't You @#$*(@& Shush Me

"At first, everyone was having a great time as the Sistahs on the Reading Edge book club took their seats on the Napa Valley wine train, a luxury excursion through the nation's most famous wine-growing region.

"We were all enjoying ourselves. We weren't any louder than anyone else, there were people who were sitting next to us who were laughing and drinking just like we were," said one of the women.

But the women said they were repeatedly told to keep the noise down because they were upsetting other passengers."

yadda yadda yadda LAWSUITS and major media coverage ensue

[Notorious UGCC]

I remember talking loudly with a friend in a restaurant and the manager politely asked us to keep it down, and we did, and we finished our meal, and everyone got what they wanted (food for us, profit for them).

You're saying I could have sued?

[GILMORE?]

Depends. Are you a trans-sexual indigenous person?

One of my favorite places in NYC (*which i hope still exists) is Burp Castle = a dimly-lit, tiny little bar which serves high-end beer, plays Gregorian chants, and which (used to) insist its patrons not speak above a whisper. Now they're cooler with 'speaking volume'.

It generally worked, though after midnight, there would inevitably be someone thrown out for not shutting up.

(*they were next door to McSorley's, so they would sometime attract very-drunk people who couldn't travel 10yards without needing another drink)

[Suthenboy]

A clash of cultures that I have seen many times.

[Rhywun]

Everybody knows the basics here but nobody is allowed to talk about it.

[Antilles]

Where's Dylan Toback when you need him?

[waffles]

"No, it's not racism, it's acute insensitivity," he said, adding that staff members will undergo additional sensitivity training.

Procedures were followed. Oh wait they're not cops? Well take em to the cleaners then!

[PapayaSF]

The comments on SFGate about the incident and lawsuit have not been sympathetic to the women.

[GILMORE?]

" jaiai Rank 2230

Wow, San Francisco Gate, the liberal city. Based on the comments I see on this blog it looks more like the KKK headquarters of america."

Yes, it seems like the majority are not sympathetic.

However, i expect that anonymous comments are one thing, and how the media & public treats it another. No one will challenge the validity of intersectional victimhood in the context of something as "White Privilege" as a Napa Wine tour.

[Austrian Anarchy]

OT: Halloween pro-tip
Pro tip: If you want to go out for Halloween as Yassir Arafat, get a Ringo Starr mask and a dish towel.

[Austrian Anarchy]

If you want to go out for Halloween as Nobel Peace Prize Winner Yassir Arafat...

[Free Society]

You sir, are a national treasure.

[Derpetologist]

OT: I watched American Sniper the other day. I don't get why it made people upset. The violence was fairly mild and not that many deaths were shown. The part with the amputees at the VA was a little disturbing since I presume they had actually been wounded in battle.

Way more extras got "killed" in Black Hawk Down, but I heard few complaints about that. I guess the war in Somalia was too short to leave much of an impact on the popular imagination.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

The extras were all libertarians, so nobody cared.

[Woodys mom]

Maybe because it was about a soldier & not a drone?

[Derpetologist]

Bill Maher and Reason's very own Sheldon Richman compared Chris Kyle to mass murderers. I don't see how killing with a sniper rifle is less noble than killing with drones or gunships or artillery.

If snipers are cowardly because they kill from a distance, then practically everyone who fires a shot in a war is a coward. Snipers are usually a lot closer to the enemy than artillery, but I never hear anyone accuse artillery guys of being cowards.

[Derpetologist]

And if hiding is what makes snipers cowardly, then anyone who wears camouflage is being a coward. In war, the best thing is to kill the other guy before he even knows you're there.

[Agammamon]

Camouflage is the color of fear. I have no need to hide from my foes. I have no fear of death. My colors I wear openly, they proclaim louder than any words 'I am proud to live- I am proud to die'.

The uniforms of the Imperial Guard are camouflaged in order to protect their wearers by hiding them from sight. The principle is that what the enemy cannot see he cannot kill.

This is not the way of the Adeptus Astartes.

A Space Marine's armour is bright with heraldry that proclaims his devotion to his Chapter and the beloved Emperor of Mankind. Our principle is that what the enemy can see, he will soon learn to fear.

[Derpetologist]

I had an idea for a sci-fi short story about alien invaders who have a taboo against ranged weapons. They rely on overwhelming numbers to win. So the humans get their asses kicked for a while, until they aliens discover a military museum and see that humans once fought like "civilized" beings. They offer to spare earth in exchange for a steady supply of katanas, morning stars, and such.

[ant1sthenes]

I had an idea for a sci fi story where a guy in 2015 says goodbye to his friends and travels forward in time using a time machine of his own devising. He finds that future civilization largely consists of two humanoid groups: the first a group of pampered, craven, childlike lunatics obsessed with narcissistic introspection, pointless social jousting, and arcane and meaningless philosophies. They are essentially helpless and survive only by the efforts of the second group, a set of violent, xenophobic savages who actually perform all the labor in society and treat the first group as a sort of free range food source. After many harrowing adventures, he runs into his friends from 2015, and asks how they were able to replicate his time machine. And they're like, "Time machine? Dude, it's only 2017".

[Austrian Anarchy]

I never hear anyone accuse artillery guys of being cowards.

Some folk from other branches find the red and white checkered tablecloths a bit pretentious.

[Derpetologist]

I don't know about that. I do think the OCS neckerchiefs are silly.

[Antilles]

Most people on the Left despise our military and will complain against anything they believe glorifies the people who defend their rights. Guarantee that if the movie had been about an Iraqi sniper killing Westerners invading his sacred homeland it would have received wide acclaim.

[Derpetologist]

I was surprised that the movie Argo got so many awards even though it portrays the CIA as the good guys. You'd think if Hollywood hates the military, they'd hate the CIA even more.

I think the main reason the left hated the movie is because it portrays a real person who thought the 2nd Iraq war was a just cause.

[GILMORE?]

" the main reason the left hated the movie is because it portrays a real person who thought the 2nd Iraq war was a just cause."

yes. Even when the movie doesn't portray the war as one... the left was livid that anyone should ever be expected to sympathize with someone other than Matt Damon railing against the miltary-industrial complex and insisting "bush lied"

They're like 4 year olds who are given the wrong-flavor of juice-box.

[Antilles]

because it portrays a real person who thought the 2nd Iraq war was a just cause.

Ah...I'm sure that's the reason. I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know the details. But the Left has a peculiar disdain for Patriots.

[GILMORE?]

"the Left has a peculiar disdain for Patriots."

Its not even like Kyle is running around wrapped in a flag saying RAH RAH BOOOSH, GO 'MURICA. which is what i was expecting.

Its not even "patriotism". Its that he's an simple country boy who wants to serve his country and isn't pissing and moaning about "Where are the WMDs?" or feeling terrible that the people he's shooting are from an is unappreciated, exotic culture which has so much to offer. There's no scene where the local Iraqi shares wisdom with him that causes him to reflect on the complexity of war and question the oil-based motivation for American policy in the middle east. No, to people's great surprise they mostly turn out to be dirty, murderous, lying arabs who he has no regrets shooting.

[Antilles]

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Well said...

[ant1sthenes]

Well, people tend to dislike those who hold opposing views. It's understandable that the Left would have a problem with those who are loyal to their people.

[Agammamon]

They're also often closer and with far less support than regular troops also.

[PapayaSF]

Sheldon Richman is the sort of dogmatic fool who makes it easy for people to laugh at libertarians.

[GILMORE?]

"OT: I watched American Sniper the other day. I don't get why it made people upset. "

Seriously.

I watched it a few months ago and couldn't believe people had freaked out about the movie. It was, if anything, a bit dull. I thought cooper played the role well, but otherwise saw little that people were describing as "Jingoistic" that wasn't exactly the same as any other war movie (*including the more left-friendly ones like Green Zone, Hurt Locker, et al). The portrayal of the baddies was - yes - one-dimensional. So was the portrayal of everyone except Kyle. Particularly the other soldiers, who were a bit nauseatingly "YOURE THE BEST, MAN" all the time. I thought Generation Kill was probably a better portrayal of Iraq and its complexities, but that's not really what the movie was trying to do. Overall I think it was neither nearly as good, or as awful, as the political-pundits tried to make out.

[Woodys mom]

The Hurt Locker is a movie that we show to civilian psychologists working with the troops to facilitate an understanding of the complex situations & disenfranchisement that can happen. Not what hollywood expected.
American Sniper was a better read.

[OldMexican]

Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama called Nobel Peace Prize winner Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U.S. bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan.

That's all that is needed. Who cares if the bombing was a war crime? It is not like we are losing, or is it?

The Pentagon says the U.S. had to divert two aircraft operating over Syria in order to avoid a collision with a Russian jet fighter.

"Mom! They're hogging the playground!"

California's Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, signed a climate change bill into law hopes to increase the use of renewable energy and the energy efficiency of already built homes.

And He opened His hand, and showered the Earth with all the blessings from His legislation.

NASA and the European Space Agency announced they'd be working together on an Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment meant to study the means humans have to deflect large Earth-bound asteroids.

It will be called World Huge Object Agency or WHOA!

[Agammamon]

Keanu Reeves to be appointed spokesperson?

[Migrant Log Chipper]

You hit it out of the proverbial ball park there, OM, fucking awesome sir.

[SamDod598]

Summeritme in the woods dude. Wow.

http://www.CompletePrivacy.tk

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama called Nobel Peace Prize winner Doctors Without Borders to apologize for the U.S. bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan.

Afterwards, Obama called Nasser al-Awlaki and apologized for using his Star Chamber to murder his son and grandson extrajudicially.

[The Last American Hero]

more appropriate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPxDoFbsvWA

[Tonio]

I did not declare a winner (my bad). Nor did the revised H&R announcement of the event say anything about what it was.

[some guy]

Sounds like it would be wood shavings floating in whiskey with a dash of light machine oil.

[lap83]

vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice and a splash of lime juice

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

How does Youtube not have the related scene from Hot Shots?

Oh well, this is funnier (if less relevant): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbr9akNELdc

[AlmightyJB]

https://youtu.be/InaRIYFPMiY

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I thought it starts tonight! Habs/Leafs.

[Ted S.]

Should be Leaves, of course.

[JW]

Where's the rust?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

No, meat and bones, remember?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Actually, the plural of Leaf is Laughs. As in Maple Laughs.

I asked this question to a teacher years and years ago. Silence ensued because no one could explain how it came to be.

[Tonio]

It was a play on the Rusty Nail, which is scotch and Drambuie. Terrible waste of scotch in my opinion, but whatevs.

[some guy]

Only used a dash of machine oil when he should have slathered it on.

[waffles]

He was threatening to go to Turkey and join up with the Kurds to fight ISIS in Syria.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

He might be dealing with an illness in the family.

[Certified Public Asshat]

One of these?

[lap83]

You don't get it do you? Just for that I'm adding an umbrella and a straw

[Florida Man]

Well now I feel like a dick.

[Suthenboy]

This is true. Mixers came about during prohibition when booze quality was often terrible.

[Tonio]

So, during prohibition?

[Libertymike]

John is such an H&R institution, one cannot help but notice his absence. I hope it is not something like a family illness or some other emergency.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

What ever it is, it should include bacon drippings.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I can't find the comment, but I remember hearing something about his mom being sick.

[lap83]

That explains why they are upset. They're too small but they want to destroy something.

[perlchpr]

So, only get Caracals after I get my ranch down by Magdalena, and can turn them out to hunt me up some antelope?

[Crusty Juggler]

Lee is a pretty good reporter (at least in that world), but I am surprised he asked, too.

[GILMORE?]

I can imagine that anyone whose job it is to write down the Things Officials Say begins to grate at the glaring, blatant hypocrisy after a while

[perlchpr]

Now that I'm getting an unwanted divorce, I've been contemplating similar.

Sadly, I'm an out-of-shape middle-aged computer jock. But, fuck. Those ISIS pricks really need some shooting, if for no reason than all the rape. I guess it's probably my patriarchy upbringing talking, but damn it if reading about what they're doing to the Yazidi women doesn't just fucking piss me off like crazy.

[Libertymike]

Hope that everything will be fine for he and his mom.

[Pan Zagloba]

I did not - that's awesome.
And yes, I love the books. I wish he'd write one or two where END OF THE WORLD wasn't the threat. MH:Alpha was almost there, his characters at this point are strong enough to carry a novel on personal threat (and not necessarily even to their lives) while the Big Shit is still brewing in the background.

[Migrant Log Chipper]

That's alcohol abuse.