A.M. Links: Democrats Debate Tonight, Russian-Made Missile Brought Down Malaysia Airlines MH17, U.S. Airdrops Ammo to Syrian Rebels

• 

  Credit: White House / Flickr.com

  White House hopefuls Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley, and Lincoln Chafee will share the stage tonight in Las Vegas for the first Democratic presidential debate of the 2016 race.

• Dutch investigators have confirmed that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired from eastern Ukraine.

• Is billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson preparing to endorse Marco Rubio for president?

• "Sen. Rand Paul praised House Republicans' most conservative members for effectively ending one Speaker's tenure and sending the party into disarray as it looks for another."

• The U.S. is airdropping ammunition and other supplies to Syrian rebels fighting against ISIS.

• A Connecticut school district has cancelled Halloween on grounds of political correctness. The decision arose, the district informed parents, "out of numerous incidents of children being excluded from activities due to religion, cultural beliefs, etc."

New at Reason

• Brickbat: Too Much, Magic Bus By Charles Oliver

• A Libertarian-Gay Divorce? Government-sponsored discrimination is nearly eradicated. So what's left to work together on? By Scott Shackford

• Baby Boomers Share Blame for Today's Censorship-Happy Students The students of today aren't super-coddled, they're just following the logic of censorship that earlier liberals either helped to set in motion or shrugged their shoulders at. By Brendan O'Neill

• Sloppy U.N. Cyberviolence Report Uses Damsels in Digital Distress to Cheer Censorship Why did the U.N. feel justified in recommending such illiberal censorship policies while providing such shoddy evidence to back their claims? By Andrea Castillo

• New York's Unlicensed Cabbies, and Their Passengers, Get a Long Overdue Break As the city's assault on gypsy cabs gets a slap, and restrictions are eased, maybe it's time for officials to just get out of the way. By J.D. Tuccille

• How Silicon Valley Is Abetting Anti-Beef Hindu Barbarians in India Mark Zuckerberg can atone for embracing Narendra Modi by sponsoring for asylum the family of the man lynched for eating beef. By Shikha Dalmia

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

...share the stage tonight in Las Vegas for the first Democratic presidential debate of the 2016 race.

Hillary vs. The Also Rans

[LynchPin1477]

The CNN commercials are awful. They are trying so hard to dramatize it. But they are giving Sanders top billing as well.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Hello.

[BigT]

Let the Donkey Judging begin!

[VicRattlehead]

Jim Webb is actually better than most of the GOP field, too bad the Dems dont give a shit about principals or economics

[Fist of Etiquette]

The U.S. is airdropping ammunition and other supplies to Syrian rebels fighting against ISIS.

Or, you know, whoever picks them up.

[PM]

I propose we indiscriminately drops ammunition all over the country and make a trade deal with whoever comes out on top. We can televise it to pay for the supplies.

[d3x / dt3]

...IN A STEEL CAGE!

[VicRattlehead]

Yes! finally a reality TV show i would watch
Survivor; Syria edition

[Jerryskids]

It doesn't matter who picks up the ammo - if I know the Top. Men. it's 9mm ammo they're dropping. The supplies are ham and cheese sandwiches, pork rinds and beer.

[commodious spittoon]

I'm prepared to take delivery of these provisions.

[Free Society]

Doesn't really seem to matter who picks them up. Unless it's Kurds getting the loot, I'm cynical enough to assume that about half it gets sold or paid as tribute to ISIS anyways.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

100) There's an article today in the Washington Post on Hillary's chief of staff at State, long-time friend and advisor Cheryl Mills, who was busy organizing a new campus for NYU in the United Arab Emirates while she was working at the State Department. Ho-hum, another day, another Clinton scandal.

What struck me, though, was this bit buried in the article: Mills as chief of staff at State "oversaw key priorities such as food safety, global health policy and LGBT rights." WTF? These were Clinton's priorities? Not communication with US allies, advancing US diplomatic goals in the world, or anything like that? But food safety? LGBT rights? No wonder US diplomacy was so ineffective under Hillary, instead of concentrating on State's actual mission, she used the department as a resource for her pet projects! Can you imagine giving her the resources of the entire federal government for this nonsense?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

#100 huh.

What will you be doing to celebrate?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Party at Rufus's house!

[Charles Easterly]

Well, he is a pretty decent cook from what I can tell.

[Crusty Juggler]

I'm there! Rufus, what is your address?

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I'm in a suburb of Montreal. Look me up. You can't miss me. I'm the one with a giant 'Reason' flag draped over my roof.

Charles, I must say, I can hit them out of the park as I did this past week-end.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

BYOW!

[Swiss Servator]

Bring Your Own Whisky?

Bring Your Own Waffles?

Bring Your Own Women?

Bring Your Own Wine?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

E) All of the above.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Not quite. But it will do. He had women in there.

/grins.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

F) BYO Woodchipper.

[bacon-magic]

E!) Warty.

[Whahappan?]

Bring Your Own Woodchipper. Come on people, that was a gimme.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

BYOWandW.

/Amended.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Argh, curses!

[Rich]

So-called "Secretary of State"

[Lord Humungus]

and so it begins:

'Lizard men abducted me to the moon for sex,' woman claims

A former U.S. air force radar operator was abducted to the moon by lizard men for nightly sex ? and was also forced to stack boxes.

What our reptilian overlords want with these sinister boxes can only be guessed at.

Niara Terela Isley is just one of several witnesses quoted by Alien UFO Sightings in an expose of the U.S. military's secret moon bases ? where reptiles rule, and humans are passed around like sex toys.

Isley believes her mind was wiped after the horrible events in 1980 (described in her books) ? and she only remembered under hypnosis.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Horrific recovered memories, or wishful thinking?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Horrific wishful thinking.

[Swiss Servator]

Mr. Lizard - you got some 'splainin' to do!

[Mr Lizard]

Guilty as charged, except we used that fake Hollywood set. Orgies get expensive if you actually have to leave orbit.

[Charles Easterly]

+1 Capricorn One

[PBR Streetgang]

CapriPorn One

[Lord Humungus]

also forced to stack boxes

Why. Mr. Lizard? Why?

[Mr Lizard]

I have found your females to be quite amenable after mating, and we had some organizing to do. Win/Win

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Crusty would do her.

Not me, man.

[Rich]

Isley believes her mind was wiped after the horrible events

Like, with a cloth or something?

[Charles Easterly]

Nice.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[AlmightyJB]

That made me laugh

[Monty Crisco]

So, California on the Anti-Redskins bandwagon. The left wants to ban speech. And in late breaking news, water is wet.

http://hotair.com/archives/201.....s-mascots/

I'm sure Bo will be by any time now to trollishly lecture us about conservatives wanting to ban flag-burning in the nineties?

How does this not run afoul of the first amendment again?

[Antilles]

Between the Left's attempts to ban speech they consider mean or insensitive, and the Right's desire to eliminate speech deemed too sexual or blasphemous, free expression is under attack like never before. Don't let them win and don't ever compromise to appease them.

[Lord Humungus]

Extreme dirty protest sees angry sanitation worker 'spray three tonnes of sewage on politician's office'

A disgruntled sanitation worker has apparently carried out an extreme dirty protest by spraying a politician's office with human excrement in the dead of night.

CCTV footage captured the man driving the truck into the front of the ornate building, the head office of the Liberal Democratic Party in Moldova, Ukraine.

Moments later, the driver pulls his truck to a halt - then releases a flood of dark-coloured sewage across the front steps.

[Illocust]

Isn't that a felony? I'm pretty sure that biological waste is considered a biohazard.

[PM]

Pee is a 'deadly weapon', so...

[UnCivilServant]

Naw, he's a temporary EPA contractor.

/end sarc

[Brett L]

This man is my hero.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Roosh: Men Should Start Recording Sex With A Hidden Camera
False rape accusations have reached such a fever pitch, as recently signified by a mattress-carrying attention whore and liar being rewarded for her phony story with an invite to the State Of The Union address, that it's time men take extra-legal measures to protect themselves from Western women.

Not only is a woman's word being taken above that of a man's, often with full media encouragement and provocation, but 1 in 4 women are now certifiably mentally ill, at nearly double the rates of men. We've just started a storm of male persecution that may take years to resolve, and instead of waiting for everything to become rosy again, you must take the proper precautions today to not be victim of a bogus accusation that could ruin your life....

[gaijin]

Roosh: Men Should Start Recording Sex With A Hidden Camera

And then post the videos to the Cloud....for safekeeping.

[Crusty Juggler]

Roosh is Dennis Reynolds?

At the very least men should call me and leave the phone on so I can listen in.

[Warty]

"Because of the...implication."

[Je suis Woodchipper]

Start?

Oh, right, start. Yes, men should start doing that. And it's currently not yet happening, nor in the past. Especially not last night.

[Slammer]

Florida Woman live streams her drunk drive home.

[Mr Lizard]

See my comment on the 7:30 post...jerk

[Slammer]

There are posts in the morning before the AM links?

[d3x / dt3]

Yes?

[Atanarjuat]

Surprisingly, Beall did not hurt herself or anyone else through the drunken ride.

Oh, fer fuck's sake. Now we're pretending every drunk who drives causes an injury or fatality every time?

[Crusty Juggler]

Yes.

[Antilles]

In California, drunk drivers who kill someone are charged with murder. Because as everyone knows, having a few too many and trying to drive home is exactly the same as putting a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger.

[Careless]

Close enough.

[Mr Lizard]

OT and already posted: we need sensible bulk cellulose processing regulations

http://www.tbo.com/news/florid.....-20151013/

[Fist of Etiquette]

The decision arose, the district informed parents, "out of numerous incidents of children being excluded from activities due to religion, cultural beliefs, etc."

A vampire is not who I am and pretending to feed off the living is not okay.

[d3x / dt3]

Plus, undead cultural appropriation.

[Tonio]

...numerous incidents of children being excluded from activities due to religion, cultural beliefs, etc.

That is poorly worded and makes it seem like other, Halloween-celebrating, kids were excluding other children. I guaran-fucking-tee you that it was fundie, muslim and jewish parents asking that their kids be excluded. Which is a different thing.

[Zeb]

It does seem awfully misleading.

I bet it's being pushed by some jerks who have wanted to do away with it for a long time and have finally found just the right argument.

[Tonio]

Assume you mean the nannyist school employees who don't like the hassle of the events, and disapprove of the candy. The fundies would like to do away with it, too.

[Zeb]

I'm thinking of all of those people.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"A Connecticut school district has cancelled Halloween on grounds of political correctness."

Why was Halloween being celebrated at the school in the first place? I'm trying to remember, but I don't think my schools ever had any Halloween activities.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Mine always did. My daughter's school had a Halloween parade last year. Think it might've just been for the Kindergarten kids though.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Mine did.

And it was fun.

PC is evil.

[d3x / dt3]

You ... monster.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I just decorated the front of my front house.

I wanted to do something really evil and creepy but my daughter (backed up by her mother) nixed everything I wanted to buy at the Halloween store.

They wouldn't even let me buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/Fun-Worl.....B00N33U6CI

[Zeb]

When I was a kid, there was a Halloween window painting thing in town where kids could pain the windows of various businesses.

One year my friend and I painted a horrible scene with a decapitated body lying on a guillotine. On the front of someone's baby clothing store. That one didn't stay up too long.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Nice! Very macabre of you.

[Zeb]

I've always been of the opinion that Halloween must be scary and not just dress up as whatever day.

[Jerryskids]

You only decorated the front of the front house? What's going on in the back house that you don't want to draw attention to?

[Zaytsev]

JIm Carville mask?

[SugarFree]

Is that where you ejaculate on someone's face and then throw a handful of old crazy on them?

[Enough About Woodchippers]

Love the dog mask.

[Pope Jimbo]

"PC is evil."

Please let's not turn this into a flame war between apple fan bois and PC fan bois.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Growing up from K-12 all my schools let people dress up on Halloween as long as the costume wasn't inappropriately graphic or offensive.

In high school so many girls got dress coded for wearing revealing costumes.

[UnCivilServant]

Because I'm not bound by Political Correctness, I had my cover artist mock up This adorable trick-or-treating Naga.

We had holloween in school, and no one was "excluded due to religeon or cultrual beliefs".

[Antilles]

I don't think my schools ever had any Halloween activities.

Neither did mine, but we were still allowed to dress up for the day. These kids can't even do that.

[Lord Humungus]

Love Beer And Coffee? You Might Be A Psychopath

In the study, 500 participants were asked how much they enjoyed different examples of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter foods. Then, they were asked to take a series of personality assessment quizzes to evaluate their aggression, each of the Dark Triad measures (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism), everyday sadism (verbal, physical, and vicarious), as well as Big Five personality traits, which include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness.

The researchers found that people who liked bitter foods were also more likely to score highly in measures of psychopathy, sadism, and aggression. In fact, they write, an affinity for bitter foods was a better predictor of personality than any of the other tastes. "Taken together, the results suggest that how much people like bitter-tasting foods and drinks is stably tied to how dark their personality is," the study authors write.

[Mr Lizard]

Yes, next question

*irishes up second cup of coffee*

[SugarFree]

Interesting. I hate bitter foods. I guess I am the Bliss Buddha of H&R.

[Swiss Servator]

You just let the demons out in your writings...that invade our dreams and haunt our days.

[SugarFree]

I am just a doorway.

[Enough About Woodchippers]

+ 1 Huxley

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Wow. I must be some special type of psychopath.

I like beer (just picked up some nice German beer), espresso, dark chocolate and bitter!

Either in liquor form:

http://bit.ly/1MvXQBB

Or carbonated (in red, white or gold):

http://bit.ly/1Oz4LdA

[gaijin]

Dark Triad

I'm changing my band's name immediately.

[The Last American Hero]

And if you drink Rogue's chocolate stout?

[Lord Humungus]

Worse than Hitler?

[Careless]

So they have 11 things they're looking for with four different tastes, and come out of their 44 experiments with something at least p.05?

I'm skeptical this will reproduce.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

RoK: Behave With Girls As You Would With Horses
...The horse has a primary function: riding. Bring it around, it comes, you ride. Then a bit of straw and see you tomorrow....

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Geez, Johnny, giving us a tour of all the Web's best misogyny sites today?

[That's A Bingo!]

And when she gets sick, shotgun.

[sarcasmic]

I prefer it when she does the riding, but that's just me.

[Atanarjuat]

Yes.

[Swiss Servator]

Lord Flasheart: All right men, let's do-oo-oo it! The first thing to remember is: always treat your kite
[Flashheart taps the picture of the Sopwith Camel with his cane]
Lord Flasheart: like you treat your woman!
[Flashheart whips the air with his cane]
Lieutenant George: How, how do you mean, Sir? Do you mean, do you mean take her home at weekends to meet your mother?
Lord Flasheart: No, I mean get inside her five times a day and take her to heaven and back.
Captain Blackadder: I'm beginning to see why the suffragette movement want the vote.
Lord Flasheart: Hey! Any girl who wants to chain herself to *my* railings and suffer a jet movement gets *my* vote!

[SusanM]

WOOF WOOF!!!

[Jordan]

Please tell me you're posting this shit in the same vein that people post Salon links.

[Warty]

The amazing thing, Tagliaferro, is that this stupid PUA bullshit actually improves your personality. Do you ever stop and consider that? Like, really consider it? Of course you don't.

[Juice]

Don't stand behind them when you're changing their shoes.

[PM]

The Things I Cannot Change

My name is John. I am a 36-year-old medical doctor, I am nearly unemployable, and last year I moved back in with my parents. I am writing this post to give the reader a concrete example of how severely the war on drugs hurts real people, and to show how even the recovery community, despite good intentions, can cause harm when used improperly.

tl;dr: guy voluntarily went to rehab for opiate abuse as a medical resident, now can't practice medicine or work in research.

[PM]

tl;dr, close your tags properly or your tl;dr will end up in a blockquote.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

This is almost the plot of The Knick.

[Juice]

Should have thought of that before you tried to get help! Should have just stayed a high performing addict.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Is billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson preparing to endorse Marco Rubio for president?

So Lil' Taco promised him a war with Iran?

[PM]

Yeah, it's definitely that. Sheldon Adelson, after all, has a lot to gain from a war in Iran. Rubio's support for a federal online gambling ban and stiff regulation of the casino industry that further entrenches Adelson's regulatory capture empire has absolutely nothing to do with it.

[Swiss Servator]

Shriek is too busy marinating in his bigotry to pay attention to simple things like that, PM!

[Palin's Buttplug]

PC for me but not for thee.

[Swiss Servator]

Do point out where I refer to people like "Lil Taco" or the like?

You have long admitted you hate Christians, Muslims (or any other faith) you apparently can add Hispanic to that ever growing list - I guess you are left liking white atheist leftists and hating everyone else.

There may be a future at Stormfront Comics for you!

[Tonio]

Adelson is an Israel-firster, and, yes, Israel would love to so us go to war with Iran. Time for Israel to take care of herself and stop leeching foreign aid from the US taxpayer.

[Charles Easterly]

*sends Tonio a stout shield and well made helmet*

[Monty Crisco]

Once again, the sort of RAZOR-sharp, brilliant analysis filled with political acumen that we have come to expect from the dipshit!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Bought and paid for:

Adelson's attraction to Rubio is in no small part centered on the Florida senator's outspoken support for Israel, an issue near and dear to the billionaire's heart. Rubio has reached out to Adelson more often than any other 2016 candidate, sources close to Adelson say, and has provided him with the most detailed plan for how he'd manage America's foreign policy.

Since entering the Senate in 2011, Rubio has met privately with the mogul on a half-dozen occasions. In recent months, he's been calling Adelson about once every two weeks, providing him with meticulous updates on his nascent campaign. During a recent trip to New York City, Rubio took time out of his busy schedule to speak by phone with the megadonor.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/.....z3oSCafes3

A despicable whore.

[Monty Crisco]

Yeah, and Hillary's TWO BILLION from foreign governments is there to INSURE her INTEGRITY.

Jesus, what are you smoking? Calling a politician a whore? No shit, and the sun is gonna rise in the east tomorrow too, just so's you know...

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

I, for one, am psyched about the Democratic Debate tonight. After seven years of spouting platitudes and smugly congratulating themselves for how great they are, the complete dysfunction and intellectual bankruptcy of the party will be on full display.

[UnCivilServant]

I will expend as much effort to watch this press conference as I did the GoP press conferences - none whatsoever.

[Mazakon]

Well, CNN has already said it won't pit the candidates against each other, so it's just going to be which one can prove they are the biggest expansionist.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

And O'Malley, who is desperate for any airtime whatsoever, is totally going to listen to that

[BigT]

Trump will be live-tweeting the debate!

That will boost their ratings. It will be interesting to hear how he cuts them up.

[Rhywun]

Damn, that's clever.

[BigT]

Trump's greatest skill is marketing himself. Great for getting attention, and maybe for getting elected, but not so useful as Prez.

[gaijin]

I heard Sheryl Crow will be playing at the debate tonight. My question is why is there an opening act for the debate?

[PM]

why is there an opening act for the debate?

So that people will actually show up?

[Antilles]

So that people will actually show up?

Then why use Sheryl Crow?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Run Baby Run Baby Run

[straffinrun]

Make the audience jam ice picks their ears so they don't have to listen to the debate?

[Charles Easterly]

"I heard Sheryl Crow will be playing at the debate tonight. My question is why is there an opening act for the debate?"

Because it's the Tuesday Night Music Club?

[SugarFree]

I wonder if Cheryl Crow has gotten any younger.

[gaijin]

if Cheryl Crow has gotten any younger

well she did date Owen Wilson for a while.

[SugarFree]

So, the answer is "no."

[PM]

Leaked docs reveal TPP will force ISPs to hand over copyright infringers' identities

Oh goody: A recent WikiLeaks document dump of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement reveals that the deal compels Internet service providers to hand over the identities of copyright infringers to rights holders. ZDNet has done a very thorough deep dive through the leaked documents and has found that ISPs are about to be responsible for keeping track of which of their customers frequently infringe upon copyrighted material and for reporting those infringing users to content creators.

[Juvenile Bluster]

So basically they're passing SOPA, only worse, and without any transparency. Wonderful.

[d3x / dt3]

What about OPP?

[Swiss Servator]

Yeah, you know me.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

I'm down

[Rhywun]

Our Canadian friends are not down with the OPP.

[Lord Humungus]

Hillary Clinton Doesn't Need to Be Likable or a 'Real Person'
She just needs to convince Democrats that she's Republicans' fiercest enemy

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has been obsessed over her likability over the last few weeks, spawning appearances on Ellen and awkward statements about being a "real person." The running assumption is that Clinton needs to be defanged and put into soft focus so that her favorability ratings, which have slumped over the last few months, finally rise. But the charm offensive also plays into the old notion that women can't come off as powerful or threatening if they want to seem relatable, downplaying her real strength as both a politician and a feminist: her reputation as a tough leader who isn't there to be liked, but to win.

At Tuesday's Democratic presidential debate, the strongest case that Clinton can make is that she can prevail in the messy arena of politics where these fights actually happen?against Republicans in the 2016 general election, and against those in Congress who will oppose her presidency from Day One.

[BigT]

he strongest case that Clinton can make is that she can prevail in the messy arena of politics where these fights actually happen

"I'll lie and cheat and steal just like I have for the past 30 years. I am the most qualified candidate! You can count on me!"

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

'You know that saying saying of 'why you don't wrestle with a pig?'. I'm the pig!'

[Mazakon]

Bastiat: "I Told You So!"

And this is where conceptions of government can get us in trouble. Whenever I hear people saying that our problems would be solved without government, I always want to tell them you need to go to some other countries where there really is no government, where the roads are never repaired, where nobody has facilitated electricity going everywhere even where it's not economical, where?

Robinson: The postal system.

The President:?the postal system doesn't work, or kids don't have access to basic primary education. That's the logical conclusion if, in fact, you think that government is the enemy.

[Juvenile Bluster]

And this is where conceptions of government can get us in trouble. Whenever I hear people saying that our problems would be solved without government, I always want to tell them you need to go to some other countries where there really is no government, where the roads are never repaired, where nobody has facilitated electricity going everywhere even where it's not economical, where?

ROADZ!!11!!!11!!!!

It would be funny if it wasn't so predictable.

Also, this *shakes head*

Robinson: And also, one of the things that doesn't take into account is that local governments can be great systems of oppression. And it's a wonderful thing to have a national government that can intervene in the name of national values.

The President: Well, that was the lesson of the entire movement to abolish slavery and the civil rights movement. And that's one thing?I mean, I do think that one of the things we haven't talked about that does become the fault line around which the "us" and "them" formula rears its head is the fault line of race. And even on something like schools that you just discussed, part of the challenge is that the school systems we have are wonderful, except for a handful of schools that are predominantly minority that are terrible.

[gaijin]

...kids don't have access to basic primary education. That's the logical conclusion if, in fact, you think that government is the enemy.

It's the logical conclusion if you have a mind devoid of imagination and the creative, messy experience of having to build cooperation among people who do not agree on everything.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

SOMALIA!!!!

[Rich]

"respecting the District's diversity comes first."

BOOOO!!

[Lord Humungus]

Meth isn't an argument for drug prohibition. It demonstrates prohibition's failure.

Of course, our maddeningly repetitive response to evidence that prohibition of an intoxicating substance is causing people to turn to more potent and dangerous intoxicating substances has always been to then crack down on those substances too. Imagine for a minute if instead of fighting meth addiction by punishing cold and allergy sufferers, these dry counties lifted their ban on alcohol sales. Better yet, imagine we made it easy to obtain legal amphetamines, which we did for a long time in this country. Now imagine that we spent, say, even a fourth of the money we spend on the drug war on facilitating treatment for addicts. The Portugal example suggests we'd have less addiction, less crime and fewer overdoses.

Meth is often the example prohibitionists pull out when someone points to an example like Portugal. "So you'd legalize meth, too?" But as the Economist piece suggests, meth is a product of prohibition (in this case alcohol, but also restrictions on amphetamines more generally), not an argument in favor it. We have a meth problem because we have drug prohibition. Without it, meth wouldn't go away, but it almost certainly wouldn't be as prevalent as it is today.

[PM]

I've always thought heroin had the most impact. As in "Yes, I support heroin vending machines in elementary school lunch rooms", but I suppose meth works as well.

[Gray Ghost]

Dead thread, but I've wondered if one of the big reasons behind the "meth epidemic" in the Midwest and Rust Belt is that old-economy, well paying jobs went away and were replaced by people working two or three shitty jobs for the same money. When I worked a lot of those jobs---hotel work, food service---most of my coworkers would get off work, and go to working another job just like it.

The problem, as anybody who's had to work two plus jobs will tell you, besides literally living to work, is that you get tired. I had a boss who'd nap in one of the empty rooms in the hotel. For those without that, I can see trying crank or crack as a 'cheap' way to stay awake and alert. Another hotel co-worker tried smoking crack, got caught mid-inhale while working, and that wa that.

Being on those drugs would suck a lot less than looking around at a shitty 70-80 hour a week dead end existence.

I don't think legalization for meth or crack will have that dramatic an effect on lowering usage rates. Still worth doing though.

[Lord Humungus]

Obama: 'Easier to Buy a Gun Than Buy a Book'

On Saturday, President Obama spoke before a crowd at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser with Jamie Foxx in Hollywood. There, he told the Hollywoodites ? few of whom own guns, but virtually all of whom have utilized expensive armed guards in public places ? that "It is easier to buy a gun than buy a book."

This is only true if you have never bought a gun or a book.

In the state of California, buying a book requires no form of identification, background check, or waiting period. Buying a handgun requires all three, as well as passing a license test; buying a shotgun requires a waiting period and identification. But facts have never gotten in the way of Obama's idiocy.

[UnCivilServant]

You mean, I could have Amazon overnight me guns too?

[Enough About Woodchippers]

Just one hour in Minneapolis now.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I could even download a gun electronically to my kindle assault reader (I have the black one with the thing that goes up).

[Just a thought not a sermon]

In my wife's hometown in Oklahoma, the last bookstore closed town a couple years ago, but the town has at least three gun shops.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Admittedly, it's still possible to buy books at the Wal-Mart and probably other places as well....

[R C Dean]

I'm betting there's a lot more books for sale than guns in that town.

[Agammamon]

The reason there's still gun stores is because you can buy a book online and have it shipped directly to you.

When that happens for firearms your gun stores will close down also.

[Illocust]

You don't even have to leave your home to buy a book. Amazon will get it to you the next day or instantly if you have a kindle. That was an incredibly stupid comparison. I can't believe he actually made it.

[Rich]

Well, to be fair, the whole quote was "If I had a son, it is easier to buy a gun than buy a book."

[Jerryskids]

And I'm sure there's a thousand people defending the truthiness of his statement: the evil right-wing extremists are more interested in making sure The Children have unrestricted access to guns than seeing to it that The Children have access to education. Which is totally what Obama meant by it, he just didn't have access to a teleprompter so he did a really shitty job of saying what he meant speaks more eloquently than mere mortals are capable of comprehending. Really, what he said was once again a brilliant stroke of rhetorical genius.

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Can I buy a bag full of guns for $5 from the church flea market?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

To be fair, I can't sell a really shitty book to the government for $100 at a book buyback program.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

he said what?

[Rhywun]

Something completely untrue. Move along.

[Lord Humungus]

Sanders gets comic book treatment

VERTISEMENT
The Democratic presidential candidate is the latest of the 2016 White House hopefuls to get the comic book treatment in "Political Power: Bernie Sanders."

According to the publisher, StormFront Entertainment, the $4 comic book will detail the "grassroots-level groundswell of support" that has "catapulted Sanders into the national spotlight, forcing his competitors to, 'Feel the Bern!'"

The tale's illustrator called Sanders's White House bid "the most interesting story of this campaign season."

Preview images from the comic book show an illustrated version of Sanders sporting a bold expression as political pundits, and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, are all seen saying, "You can't win?"

say what now?

[Juvenile Bluster]

Well, he is a socialist, and we've found out before that he's a nationalist as well...

[Tonio]

Many people, both inside and outside his own party, want to see Bernie nominated. Just sayin'

[Trump-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, there was a big scandal when that company debuted. Apparently, no one in the entire office was aware of the neo-Nazi connection or bothered doing a Google search when they came up with the name.

[Agammamon]

Or they did and decided to nab it to tweak the nose of the Illinois Nazis.

[Derpetologist]

Derpy's Army Countdown: 5 weeks

Motivational thought: Never give up! Never surrender!
Motivational song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etDon1LH1vA

[Slammer]

We See Fire

[Lord Humungus]

Bearded hipsters mistaken for ISIS terrorists

A group of beard aficionados were caught in the crosshairs of the law when people mistook the hirsute group for ISIS members, and called the cops.

But when the terror police arrived, they found the Swedish chapter of the "Bearded Villains" congregated at a remote castle for a photo shoot, excitedly posing with the organization's black and white flag.

"Yesterday, we had our Bearded Villains photo shoot," member Andreas Fransson and founder of ratemybeard.se wrote on Facebook.

"In the middle of the shoot, two cops showed up, telling us they got a call from someone saying they drove past and saw about 30 terrorists waving an ISIS flag."

[PM]

If I was a Swede I'd be more upset about the hipsters, honestly.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Time to call this guy.

[Lord Humungus]

Indy woman uses medieval combat training, sword to stop intruder

She leapt out of bed, turned on the lights and saw him standing in her living room, she said. Then her instincts kicked in.

Dolley, standing 5-foot-6, said she immediately attacked, punching him about 10 times and cornering him in her bedroom.

She reached for her gun in a nearby drawer, but she accidentally opened the wrong drawer during the chaos of the moment, so her gun wasn't there.

She reached for her backup weapon, a Japanese-styled sword called ninjato, which she keeps near her bed. Her intruder crouched in the bedroom as she held him at sword-point until police arrived, she said.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

....and put the cuffs on her as they said with a wink, "Nice job. But you know. the law. Criminals have rights".

[Juvenile Bluster]

Fights off criminals with a sword and does roller derby? I'm in love.

[Warty]

A sword is no fucking joke. Someone who has a sword and knows how to use it is basically invincible unless you have a gun and are a safe distance away.

[gaijin]

+1 Indiana Jones

[commodious spittoon]

Roller derby, swords, and whips too?

[R C Dean]

No kidding, Warty. While having a gun pointed at you is scary, I'm sure, I'm betting facing down a three foot razor blade would be even harder, psychologically.

[Lord Humungus]

Should We Bank Our Own Stool?

My son was off to a worrisome start. Why, I wondered, didn't doctors work harder to prevent this collateral damage, not with store-bought probiotics, but with "microbial restoration"? Why didn't we reinfuse patients with their own microbes after antibiotics?

The scientific term for this is "autologous fecal transplant." In theory, it could work like a system reboot disk works for your computer. You'd freeze your feces, which are roughly half microbes, and when your microbiome became corrupted or was depleted with antimicrobials, you could "reinstall" it from a backup copy.

That damage from antibiotics may not be trivial. Studies have linked antibiotic use early in life with a modestly increased risk of asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, obesity and rheumatoid arthritis. These are associations, of course; they don't prove that antibiotics cause disease.

[Rich]

Should We Bank Our Own Stool?

Sure. Let the Federal Reserve do *something*.

[gaijin]

Whatever...Just don't sit on your own stool

[Enough About Woodchippers]

"Bank of America Overtakes Wells Fargo to Become Metro Atlanta's No. 2 bank"?headline, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Sept. 28

[Zeb]

It seems like a legitimate and good idea. But "fecal transplants" is a hilarious concept.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Dutch investigators have confirmed that Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired from eastern Ukraine.

What are you gonna do about it?

[Swiss Servator]

Become very angry and write a memo?

[SusanM]

Look for a giant sling-shot and a pile of Stoli empties.

[gaijin]

"Sen. Rand Paul praised House Republicans' ...for...sending the party into disarray ...

Libertarian leanings always lead to Somalia...amirite?!

[BigT]

The media have painted this as a big problem, showing dysfunction. But it seems to me that this is really a 'soul-searching' moment for the Heffalumps. My hope is that they come up with someone with a real interest in cutting spending.

[Lord Humungus]

The Source of Trump's Strength

The new CBS poll provides some insight into why Trump is holding up so well (and Carson, too). Republicans say honesty (39 percent) and being a strong leader (36 percent) are the most important qualities for a candidate. Carson is off the charts on honesty (by 81-7 he's considered honest and trustworthy) and Trump is considered a strong leader by an overwhelming majority of Republicans (84-14). What Republicans aren't looking for right now is someone who cares about them (only 13 percent say this is an important quality), who has the right experience (8 percent), and can win a general election (2 percent?yes, 2 percent). And what is the right experience, by the way? 55 percent of Republicans say it is business and the private sector, and only 10 percent say politics and government. It's possible that this landscape will shift, and, say, electability take on more salience. But what Republican voters want right now?strong leadership from outside of politics?is exactly what Trump is projecting.

[OldMexican]

Republicans say honesty (39 percent) and being a strong leader (36 percent) are the most important qualities for a candidate.

Which is why they keep pushing shysters and mountebanks to the White House. And so do the Demo-rats.

In the end, what they say they want is not reflected by their actions.

[Charles Easterly]

"The Source of Trump's Strength"

Clearly it's not his hair.

[Zaytsev]

Lowry's hit the depression stage of grief.

[Jerryskids]

You know who else wanted a strong leader to make their country great again?

[Lord Humungus]

Donald Trump is packing heat! 5 alarming reasons why the Second Amendment needs a major facelift
When this guy is walking around with a concealed glock, how comfortable can you really be?

In the debate about guns and control, everything comes back to the validity and applicability of the Second Amendment in our modern context. What's its purpose? Why is it still necessary? Honestly, while I understand the arguments of the gun culture, I don't grasp why firearms need to be an intrinsic part of our Constitution and therefore untouchable as a product. The only legitimate reason it exists in 2015 is to provide a disproportionately sacrosanct, nearly biblical cover for the corporate, for-profit gun manufacturing industry. There's simply no other use for it, especially in a document filled with timeless and fully legitimate human rights.

Put another way: The Second Amendment is no longer a necessary means of self-preservation, as perhaps it might've been in an agrarian post-colonial America. Absent the hazards of the late 18th century, it has strictly become a means of protecting the availability of a retail product.

TW: Salon

[Rich]

I assure you that James Madison, George Mason, Patrick Henry and the framers of the Bill of Rights never intended to codify an enthusiasm or a hobby as a human right.

Argh! The stupid -- it BURNS!

[Warty]

corporate, for-profit gun manufacturing industry

Ah, there's the real problem.

[PM]

The gun industry should collectively agree to re-organize their companies as not-for-profit organizations and then the 2nd amendment can be applicable again!

[Zeb]

They really hope they can use the same strategy with gun makers that were used on tobacco companies.

[SugarFree]

timeless and fully legitimate human rights

Self defense is not a timeless and fully legitimate human right.

I hope Bob Cesca isn't a hypocrite and fights back when I'm beating him to death with his own smug face meat.

[Warty]

You've been manipulated into your opinion by cynical, for-profit corporations, therefore I can safely disregard it without thinking about what you're saying. Dumbass.

[SugarFree]

Free me from the deathly grip of false consciousness!

[sarcasmic]

Don't forget the NRA. That despicable organization that claims to represent gun owners, but in fact represents the for-profit corporations. All the NRA cares about is corporate profits. Did I mention corporate profits?

[Charles Easterly]

Be nice to SugarFree. He could write you into a story where your biceps are flabby and your belly is so huge that it hides your, um, feet from view.

[Warty]

Warty Hugeman and the Mystery of Low T

[Swiss Servator]

*applause*

[sarcasmic]

You can't use violence. Using violence to defend yourself is vigilante justice. Only government can do that. Government has the monopoly on legal violence. Period. That includes self defense. You're supposed to lay down and take it like a good civilized boy, then let the police sort it out. Because that's what the police do. Duh. Everyone knows this.

[OldMexican]

The Second Amendment is no longer a necessary means of self-preservation

I am thinking the Salon critters are incapable of ever obtaining some wisdom. The Constitution does not create a special right to bear arms. We can possess and use firearms whether the Constitution mentions it or not, because we have the freedom to do it.

[commodious spittoon]

The first amendment is no longer a necessary means of self-expression: all the rightthink is already known, all that's left is forbidding wrongthink.

[Raven Nation]

I don't grasp why firearms need to be an intrinsic part of our Constitution

This part of leftist thinking never gets old: "If I don't understand something, it must be a dumb idea. There is no other possible reason for me not understanding because I am so smart and educated."

[Bee Tagger]

"Sen. Rand Paul praised House Republicans' most conservative members for effectively ending one Speaker's tenure and sending the party into disarray as it looks for another."

Things had been going so well for the beloved House Republicans.

[Bee Tagger]

A Connecticut school district has cancelled Halloween on grounds of political correctness.

Teach these kids early what the true scary things are.

[Free Society]

The U.S. is airdropping ammunition and other supplies to Syrian rebels fighting against ISIS.

"fighting against"

[straffinrun]

Maybe this? Have those in the US?

[Free Society]

Something tells me that Toyota stopped selling those in North America if they ever did sell them here.

[straffinrun]

Parked next to one the other day. I want one so I can put an Obama/Bush bumper sticker on it.

[Bee Tagger]

Is billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson preparing to endorse Marco Rubio for president?

It might take a billion dollars for me to care.

[Lord Humungus]

The Bro Job: Why "straight" men have sex with each other
Sexuality is one of the few areas where women are afforded more leniency than men

LaBlanc explains, "I tend strongly towards being dominant with women and submissive with men. Not totally in either direction, it's not that simple? But it is clear that I take on different roles with different genders."

"To me, no man has the soft indescribable beauty of a woman. And no woman can 'take me' the way a man can."

There are other reasons self-identified straight men might have sex with each other. Block explained that some men are looking for the BDSM element, which can involve humiliation by means of another penis, a larger penis. There's the curiosity bit, the desire to be with someone 'who looks like me.' There's also mutual masturbation. And then there's the simple fact that males manifest their sexual excitement in much more obvious ways than women, and that's something a lot of guys find arousing, even relieving. Of course, condensing the scope of sexual desire isn't something that can be done in a thousand words or so.

[gaijin]

There are other reasons self-identified straight men might have sex with each other.

Reason #3...because they are gay and refuse to admit it?

[SugarFree]

Now, now... they could be bi... Hey! Stop laughing! They could be!

[gaijin]

True, some of my best friends...um, nevermind

[Tonio]

Well, that's kind of definitional. But bi covers a pretty wide range of sexual response. Those who are only mildly attracted to other men generally end up in relationships with women and have gay sex on the DL, or just fantasize.

[SugarFree]

I told them to stop laughing, Tonio. It's not my fault they won't listen.

[Rhywun]

Reason #3...because they are gay and refuse to admit it?

You misspelled "1".

[Tonio]

So, more no-strings sex for gay men? Yay!

[SugarFree]

And more devastated divorced women with deep-seated trust issues for... well, someone.

[Warty]

Cats.

[Tonio]

Yeah, that, too. That's one of the saddest features about our puritanical hangups.

[Idle Hands]

Sexuality is one of the few areas where women are afforded more leniency than men

First off there is nothing more heterosexual than watching two chicks get it on. Secondly, of course they do it's a pretty mainstream porn category.

[Free Society]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (of my penis)

[R C Dean]

That's not what's in their eye . . . .

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Why straight men have sex with other men:

1) There are no women available to them

2) They're really gay

I think that covers it.

[Atanarjuat]

There really are people who are attracted to both sexes.

[Brett L]

"A husband to women and a wife to men"

[Mindyourbusiness]

+1 Hail, Caesar.

[KDN]

We're teaching driverless cars to break the law

Well, good.

"People often say the technology is solved, but I don't quite believe that," [Stanford Engineering Professor Chris Gerdes] said in the conference room as his students nearby buried their heads under the hood of an autonomous Ford Fusion nicknamed Trudy. "There's a lot of context, a lot of subtle but important things yet to be solved."

Gerdes, 46, who is training to be a racecar driver, initially dismissed the need to grapple with philosophy.

"My first thought was, 'Ethics? Automated cars? This seems like a bit of a fringe topic,'?" Gerdes said.

He soon came to see both its significance and its painful complexity. For example, when an accident is unavoidable, should a driverless car be programmed to aim for the smallest object to protect its occupant? What if that object turns out to be a baby stroller? If a car must choose between hitting a group of pedestrians and risking the life of its occupant, what's the moral choice? Does it owe its occupant more than it owes others?

[UnCivilServant]

Why is it, everyone posing these hypotheticals with regard to automotive 'ethics' always assume the car has the capacity the steer but has lost the capacity to stop? If anyone looked at the numbers, I'd wager that the number of circumstances where "a collision is unavoidable" is because of a loss of traction, which takes out both steering and braking to the same degree.

[KDN]

I don't think that's necessarily the case. Pedestrians running into the street or blind spot collisions in heavy but fast-moving traffic spring to mind.

[UnCivilServant]

Also in those cases, the laws of physics still apply, so how is the car supposed to avoid the suicidal pedestrian any better than the human driver?

(Blind corners with other traffic can be addressed theough networked local communications to mitigate incidents without snap judgements.)

[Zeb]

I don't think that is the main question. The question is about liability and responsibility and ethics. There are pretty well established standards for when a human driver is at fault in an accident. But a computer works very differently than a human mind in such a situation, so I can see the need to reexamine these things.

[KDN]

Exactly, Zeb. Plus, these things are going to coexist with human drivers for at least a generation so it's important that their introduction doesn't don't fuck up what is usually a pretty stable system. It's this sort of critical thinking that is going to ensure that the robots will be competent and flexible operators instead of the overly cautious automatons that are currently screwing up traffic flows all over Palo Alto.

[R C Dean]

it's important that their introduction doesn't don't fuck up what is usually a pretty stable system.

There are some interesting questions at the margin, but so far, their introduction has led to them getting wrecked by meat-driven vehicles, not the other way around.

[Zeb]

I think you describe the most likely scenarios. But there are situations where braking could be more dangerous than not. As well as situation caused entirely by other people that might make some crash inevitable.

[Swiss Servator]

"Gerdes, 46, who is training to be a racecar driver"

Might be a bit late for that, Per'fesser.

[PM]

"Shaquille O'Neal, who is training to be a jockey..."

[KDN]

I don't see why. Seems like a fun hobby for rich old men.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Sheldon Adelson is the piece of shit who donated millions of dollars to scare old people in Florida into defeating the medical marijuana bill last year. I hope a poker table tips over and falls on him.

[Swiss Servator]

Craps table - they are heavier, no?

[Warty]

Clutch

Enjoy.

[Atanarjuat]

Nice. I will listen later today.

[GILMORE?]

That's nice.

[IndyEleven]

+1 Energy weapons!

[The Late P Brooks]

Krugabe beats his favorite dead horse some more.

Predictions aside, however, the Ryan phenomenon tells us a lot about what's really happening in American politics. In brief, crazies have taken over the Republican Party, but the media don't want to recognize this reality. The combination of these two facts has created an opportunity, indeed a need, for political con men. And Mr. Ryan has risen to the challenge.

Yes, Paul, we get it. Republikkkinz are all kkkrazy. Nothing else could explain thei bafflingr refusal to accept your point of view uncritically.

[Lee G]

Don't read the comments

[Frankjasper1]

Haha why is that?

[Rhywun]

Because it's the NYT?

[JD the elder]

Was there ever a time when Krugnuts didn't think the Republican party was run by crazies? Let me guess: some time in the mythic past, they were "reasonable" and "knew that politics is about compromise". Of course, if you look back then, commentators were saying the exact same thing they are now, and I predict that if you look at op-eds 25 years from now, the commentators will be saying the exact same thing they are today, only today's politicians will be the "sane" ones.

[Warty]

I think we talked about this a few days ago, but The Great War is one of the better things youtube has ever produced.

[Jordan]

Dan Carlin has an amazing 5-part podcast about WWI called "Blueprint for Armaggedon" as part of his "Hardcore History" series.

[Warty]

I listened to that over the past year or so. It's spectacular. If you haven't listened to his series on the Mongols, it's very good as well.

[Lord Humungus]

Thanks, Warty - I'll check it out. I'm a big WWI fan. I can also recommend John Keegan's book "The First World War"

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I own a couple of Keegan books. Great stuff.

[Mindyourbusiness]

LH, if you're ever in Kansas City, take time to visit the World War I Memorial and Museum. Fantastic exhibits. The tableau on trench warfare is authentic- and downright scary.

[Idle Hands]

Now we will really find out if anyone reads it for the articles:

Playboy to Drop Nudity as Internet Fills Demand

Last month, Cory Jones, a top editor at Playboy, went to see its founder Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion. In a wood-paneled dining room, with Picasso and de Kooning prints on the walls, Mr. Jones nervously presented a radical suggestion: the magazine, a leader of the revolution that helped take sex in America from furtive to ubiquitous, should stop publishing images of naked women.
Mr. Hefner, now 89, but still listed as editor in chief, agreed. As part of a redesign that will be unveiled next March, the print edition of Playboy will still feature women in provocative poses. But they will no longer be fully nude.

[Lord Humungus]

Truly a sad time to be living... of course I always preferred Penthouse

[Warty]

The sad thing is that the magazine had greatly improved after Hefner stopped actively running it. There've hardly been any fake-tittied bleached blondes of the mid-90s variety in recent years.

[sarcasmic]

You serious? My neighbor subscribes to that thing so I get to thumb through them, and it's nothing but fake tits and liposuction. Implants that look so bad you can practically see the seams on the bags. It's like a parody of itself.

[Warty]

http://www.playboyblog.com/

You are seeing what you want to see.

[Free Society]

That's true of most professional porn vids and such. That's why I can't stand basically anything published by Brazzers, it's all big fake tittied screamers.

[straffinrun]

Should be easier to thumb through without the pages being stuck together.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Hustler is better anyway.

[kinnath]

They just can't stop destroying my childhood memories.

[Tonio]

If you're old like me you remember when Playboy only showed breasts, then a bit of bush...

[Antilles]

I remember. And in the early 70s they were allowed to show nudity on the front cover and sold them in grocery stores. Looks like the Sexual Revolution has failed and is now in full retreat.

[AlmightyJB]

Hard to compete with the internet

[PM]

Que sera. Technology marches on. Milton Bradley gave way to the Playstation.

[Warty]

So Cleveland is a madhouse lately. Sample headline: Special night for 10-year-old Cleveland boy shot in ambush that killed his dad

Spoiler alert: they're taking him to a Browns game.

[SugarFree]

So he can be sad, in pain and disappointed?

[Lord Humungus]

Will he be let down one last time?

[Brett L]

But they broke the old Browns in a painful and embarrassing way AND won me the office pool last week. (No, seriously, I put heavy points on Cleveland and won $400. You will probably never see that sentence again. )

[Palin's Buttplug]

"Playboy to stop publishing fully nude photos of women"

http://www.latimes.com/busines.....story.html

[Rufus J. Firefly]

"A Connecticut school district has cancelled Halloween on grounds of political correctness. The decision arose, the district informed parents, "out of numerous incidents of children being excluded from activities due to religion, cultural beliefs, etc."

PC Principal strikes.

'You PC, bra?!'

[Lord Humungus]

Hollywood can't handle the truth

Before the advent of the movie "Truth," no one would have thought broadcasting a shoddy and immediately discredited report that ruined the careers of the journalists involved and gave their storied network a black eye would make the list.

"Truth" is "All the President's Men" for reporters who botched their story about the president.

In their perversely titled film, Robert Redford plays Dan Rather and Cate Blanchett plays Mary Mapes, the erstwhile CBS News anchor and producer who collaborated on a spectacularly flawed September 2004 story about George W. Bush's National Guard service. Their report should be taught at journalism schools for a long time to come as an object lesson in how not to attempt journalism.

[Warty]

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise

[B. Woodrow Chippenhaus]

She is charged with 15 counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud.

Three Felonies a Day taught me to be suspicious of criminal cases in which people are only charged with mail fraud and wire fraud. Catchall charges for when prosecutors just want a conviction.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Enough of this shit. I'm gonna go trim my stubble and rose bush.

[PM]

I presume, of course, by "rose bush" you mean this.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

I...wish.

[Derpetologist]

Hillary Clinton jokes(?!) that she was constructed in a garage in Palo Alto and this is why she does not sweat.

I thought he threw away the plans, at least that's what he told me when he programmed me -- that there would be no more. I've seen more people that kind of don't sweat, and other things, that make me think maybe they are part of the new race that he created: the robot race.

I lean towards Cyberdyne as the manufacturer.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

I'll watch the debate tonight only if a rouge unit of special forces zip-line onto the debate stage and ritually massacre Hillary, Bernie, and, hopefully, Biden with machetes and/or katanas River Tam style.

Otherwise, I'm out.

[SugarFree]

Slate asks the hard-hitting questions!

Why Do We Say Someone Is "On" a TV Show, but "In" a Movie?

[Zeb]

Because TV refers to the platform as well as the content. You also say people are "on the silver screen" and things like that.

[Idle Hands]

I'm going assume that the article isn't this informative or succinct.

[Lord Humungus]

If a woodchuck could chuck wood...

Bernie Sanders isn't socialist enough for many socialists

"He is for reforming capitalism, not changing capitalism," Stephen Durham, the 2012 presidential nominee of the Freedom Socialist Party, told Bloomberg. "He is really a lot closer in ideology to Hillary Clinton than he is to me." Bloomberg speaks to others and finds an endless debate over whether the Vermont senator challenging Clinton for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination is a bona fide socialist. "I don't think he is a socialist. He ignores socialist countries," said Gloria La Riva, the 2016 presidential nominee for the Party of Socialism and Liberation. Sanders will debate Clinton and three other Democratic presidential hopefuls Tuesday night.

[B. Woodrow Chippenhaus]

"I don't think he is a socialist. He ignores socialist countries," said Gloria La Riva, the 2016 presidential nominee for the Party of Socialism and Liberation.

Why wouldn't you ignore socialist countries, as none of them can boast anything remotely successful other than being effective at combating the scourge of overpopulation?

[OldMexican]

"I don't think he is a socialist. He ignores socialist countries," said Gloria La Riva, the 2016 presidential nominee for the Party of Socialism and Liberation.

Like Venezuela, perhaps?

I would ignore it, too - IF I were a more pragmatic Socialist like Bernie instead of a blind ideologue like Gloria La Riva there (whose name sounds like the nom de guerre of an exotic dancer.)

[R C Dean]

He is for reforming capitalism, not changing capitalism

Words mean nothing anymore, do they?

[Derpetologist]

Remember that Green Beret they're trying to drum out of the Army for roughing up a child rapist? The new spin is that the Army is worried about a repeat of Abu Ghraib, so that's why the guy is being punished.

He thwew the wapist to the fwoor. Woughly!

[DEG]

Pictures from the Hong Kong Classic car show

[GILMORE?]

The new Eagles of Death Metal is pretty good.

[What's that smell?]

Wait...is crazy Uncle Joe sneaking a peek down Hilldogg;s top?!?! He truly is a SICK bastard