A.M. Links: Carson Beats Trump in Iowa Poll, Mets Beat Cubs to Advance to World Series, Hillary Testifies Before Benghazi Committee

• 

  CNN

  Ben Carson is now polling ahead of Donald Trump in Iowa.

• The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs to advance to the World Series.

• "Democratic Presidential frontrunner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to spar this morning with Republican members of the House Select Committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans."

• CNBC has announced the line-up for next week's Republican presidential debate: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Rand Paul.

• A masked man wielding a sword attacked a school in Sweden, killing one teacher and seriously injuring several students.

• Marijuana use among U.S. adults has more than doubled over the past 12 years.

New at Reason

• Brickbat: Little Pride By Charles Oliver

• More Questions for Hillary Clinton Clinton, haven't you stated a few dozen times that you never sent or received emails marked "classified"? By Judge Andrew Napolitano

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Should Stop Hurting the Poor Why over regulation of payday lenders is a bad idea. By Veronique de Rugy

• Is Instability the Goal of U.S. Policy in the Middle East? Our lethal and self-defeating Middle East policy appears more aimed at Iran and its allies than at the radical jihadi network that perpetrated 9/11. By Sheldon Richman

• The Surprising Disappearance of Inflation Venezuela stands tall as a socialist outlier. By Steve Chapman

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Comments

[Joe M]

Carson might actually be worse than Trump, as amazing as that sounds.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Hello.

Yes. Yes, it was time for a change.

I felt the threads weren't about me enough.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Yes, finally FoE's long reign of terror is over. Or were you referring to some other change?

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

No, that's it.

[Clich? Bandit]

I am afraid not. I regret to inform you there is not formatting. 1. First 2. On topic 3. At least one form of formatting.

I don't make the rules folks I just enforce them...but not like nikki.

[Joe M]

Fuck your rules. You're just a tool of The Man.

[DEG]

"The Monocled Derp Slayer"? I hope you've been studying under Derpetologist to prepare.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

You can never be prepared to face the derp as there is no peak derp. It is omnipotent swirling and flailing around in our midst. I'm afraid you must just join the fray and fight! FIGHT DAMMIT!

Who you gonna call?

DERP BUSTERS!

[DEG]

Don't cross the streams!

[AlexInCT]

If you cross the derp-fighting streams does it result in the Derppocalypse?

[Seguin, the Mighty Monoclops]

I completely understand.

[Fred Zuccini]

Idiots
Out
Walking
Around

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ben Carson is now polling ahead of Donald Trump in Iowa.

Donald needs to start stopping the blacks at the borders, too.

[Pope Jimbo]

Donald needs to get behind the #boycottstarwarsvii movement.

http://cheezburger.com/659205/.....-freak-out

It amuses me to no end that the SJW's are so easily trolled.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Oh, there were really people who believed in it. Including known idiot Chuck C. Johnson, who wrote an entire article about it (while admitting that "James L. Jones" was the voice of Vader), and then added the LOL I TROLL U statement at the end after several hours.

[Rich]

And Vader was a *villain*!

RACIST!

[Crusty Juggler]

I'd pee my pants and post photos of it on the internet to support the #boycottstarwarsvii movement.

[Lee G]

You'd do that anyway

[Rhywun]

I have no idea what that was about but I just assumed everybody was going to boycott it because it is going to suck.

[Restoras]

The new Star Wars movie?

[Rhywun]

Yes.

[Joe M]

Not me. I'll be first in line to have my hopes dashed.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

103) True story: Two years ago, when my son was in the third grade, he told a group of girls he was going to kill the class guinea pig. (He told us later this was a stuck-up clique of girls who had snubbed him and he was trying to get a reaction out of them.) Well, the reaction was they told the teacher, who sent him to the vice-principal.

The vice-principal recognized my son's serious threat to the school and sensibly sent him to the school psychologist, where my son underwent a threat assessment according to county protocol. During this assessment, my son said if he were to kill the class guinea pig he would probably use a sword. From this, the psychologist came to the astute conclusion that my son not only had made a threat, but had a plan to carry it out!

It was only at that point that the school bothered to contact my wife and me, informing us that my son was suspended from school for one week.

Not to excuse my son from anything (and believe me, he was in big trouble at home), but this entire episode struck me as the most ridiculous and disproportionate possible response to what was essentially a smart-ass remark.

So now my question is: Where is our national media response? Where's my family's meeting with the president? Where are my son's offers of free tuition from petrostate private schools?

[SugarFree]

Big Guinea Pig squashed it in the media.

[Lee G]

He should have said he was going to sacrifice it to his preferred deity, thereby gaining a religious exemption.

[Notorious UGCC]

He should probably join a chicken-worshipping religion something something Colonel Sanders.

[Notorious UGCC]

(Sorry I didn't have the time to polish that joke)

[Notorious UGCC]

(lowercase "p")

[Jimbo]

You Polish'd it pretty good.

[Rich]

He should have claimed he was trying Peruvian food and gotten diversity points.

[The Last American Hero]

If there were pictures of the cops cuffing him, you might have gotten a mention. Also, clock maker kid did not actually make a bomb threat and was not charged with making a bomb threat. Your kid threatened violence, and yes, the school's reaction was over the top.

[Zeb]

I agree that the reaction was a bit out of proportion, but it sounds like a pretty routine disciplinary matter. Your son did make a threat (even though it probably should have been more obvious that it wasn't too serious). And didn't get arrested. Many similar incidents happen every day, I am sure.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Shoulda used a clock to kill the guinea pig.

Then y'all would get an invite to the White House, amiright?

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Hey-oh!

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Important question: Does your son own a sword? Or a woodchipper?

[AlmightyJB]

Did it have a name?

[EMD]

Was the Guinea Pig gay? If not, then your son blew it.

The opportunity, not the guinea pig. Although, that might turn him gay.

[Old Man With Candy]

What this country needs is common-sense sword regulation.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

One thing I like about Arizona is that there are virtually no blade laws. I could conceivably walk around with a katana or a broadsword in public.

[Zeb]

Same in NH. Remarkably, there is no epidemic of rapier stabbings.

Only problem is I have to remember to take the switchblade out of my pocket when I leave the state.

[DEG]

Same in NH.

That is only a recent change. It wasn't that long ago that some military surplus sellers wouldn't ship bayonets to NH because of NH's now-repealed knife laws.

[Zeb]

Yes, I remember being slightly surprised that it passed so quietly.

[DEG]

I think Lynch being the governor the signed the bill into law might have something to do with that. Lynch didn't strike me as being as fucked in the head as Hassan is.

[Zeb]

Yeah, Lynch was tolerable.

[Old Man With Candy]

I would love to walk around with one of those executioner axes you see in cartoons, with curved edges on both sides.

[AlmightyJB]

One thing I found out researching knife laws in Ohio is that what constitutes concealed carry for a pocket knife is completely arbitrary. It's a weapon if they say it's a weapon. I was trying to get clarification on blade length but could find nothing. Guess it depends on how scary if looks.

[Drake]

Was it a Viking sword?

[Mickey Rat]

He was trying to get a reaction from girls who snubbed him. It should obvious it was a rapier.

[The Last American Hero]

That would probably put my Miaodao Combat Sword on a no-no list. I mean, the word combat is right there in the name.

[spqr2008]

Hell, I have a friend who vacationed in Spain as a teenager, and his parents bought him a Spanish-style Gladius from one of the top swordmakers in the world in Toledo. The only reason the customs agent let them back with it? Both his parents worked for the Feds in various capacities. It was so incredibly indescribably dumb.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

We need Common Sense Knife Control.
Waiting periods for Wusthoff.
Close the Williams-Sonoma loophole.
Blender Buy-Backs.
Ban High-Capacity Kitchen Drawers.
For the Chirruns.

[Anomalous]

Someone sounds edgy.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

The Founders were only thinking of sabres! They never envisioned the semi-automatic assault swords of today!

[AlmightyJB]

Obviously they are not smart enough to create No Sword Zones.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs to advance to the World Series.

The Cubs will be reporting for pallbearer duty this weekend.

[Idle Hands]

ugh. It pains me to see the Mets win anything.

[Matrix]

This Braves fan agrees!

[Restoras]

Suck it, John Rocker!

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

I saw Rocker's first appearance after his suspension at Three Rivers Stadium. He was booed vigorously during his sprint to the mound and again during his slow retreat to the dugout after throwing 8 consecutive balls.

[Idle Hands]

fuck you too.

[Restoras]

Just be glad the front office sucks. With all that pitching the Mets might be teed up for several years of strong contenders with a few smart moves - but they won't make smart moves, they will make dumb ones and be back in last before you know it.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

LOL@Braves

[Pope Jimbo]

Screw the Braves. Win 1 World Series title in the 90's and proclaim themselves the "Team of the Decade".

You can't be the Team of the Decade (for any decade) as long as you have Lonny Smith running bases for you.

Besides I travel to Chicago for work a lot and I'm tired of hearing about the Cubs.

[Zeb]

Huh. I didn't know that people hated the Mets.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

We Nats fans are pretty anti-Mets these days, as they (with help from Jonathan Papelbon) won the division and have been trolling pretty fiercely on various Nats blogs.

[Restoras]

I can understand that. It's just too bad it wasn't the fans of the Phillies or the Braves the Mets dashed the hopes of...

[Clich? Bandit]

Well, if the Nats had more than Harper it would help. I mean when your whole team consists of one actual play who actually shows up yeah it is gunna be tough.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, pretty much. The season was sunk by a terrible bullpen, an incompetent manager, a slew of injuries that all turned out to be much worse than initially reported, and, of course, Jonathan Papelbon.

[Rhywun]

Duh, they're in NYC.

[Zeb]

I thought they were the team that people not from NYC don't have to hate.

[Rhywun]

The not-Yankees? I dunno. I don't follow baseball and I live in NYC so I'm probably not the best judge of these things.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

What's this 'pain' shit Mets fans keep harping about?

[Certified Public Asshat]

I guess that in general, no one cares about the Mets.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

It's nauseating. Like how a rich person laments the sinking of their yacht or something.

[Restoras]

Hey, all monocle-wearing libertarians have had a yacht sink from time to time - and it's very distracting to have your orphans build you a new one when they should be deep in the mines, digging for gold with their bare hands.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

If you whip your orphans harder, they can get it done with very little loss in productivity. They'll be back to grueling factory work in no time!

[Agammamon]

That's how I got the construction flaws that sunk the last one. Pissed off orphans don't care about *craftsmanship* - and you only find out that you need to execute the overseer *after* the boat is sinking.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I know. Inefficient use of human resources.

[Citizen X]

Wait a minute, am i the only one who stages reenactments of major naval battles with my yachts?

[Fist of Etiquette]

A masked man wielding a sword attacked a school in Sweden, killing one teacher and seriously injuring several students.

Does this mean we need a ban on swords, masks, schools or Sweden?

[Rich]

the attacker was in his 20s and carried more than one weapon, including "at least one knife-like object."

Why does anyone *need* more than one knife-like object?

[SugarFree]

Not to be all Aristotelian, but how is a knife-like object not a knife?

[Rich]

When it's ajar!

[Juvenile Bluster]

I see you've played knifey-spooney before.

[Brett L]

edged spears, long daggers and short swords are all kinfe-like, but not commonly knives.

[SugarFree]

OK, I guess. It just still seems aggressively stupid.

[Cyto]

edged spears, long daggers and short swords are all kinfe-like, but not commonly knives.

And point-ed sticks!

[Swiss Servator]

Does it identify as a knife, Mr. Know-it-all?! Huh?! Cis-shitlord!

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

+1 categorization

[Fist of Etiquette]

You built your house on the North Pole.

[Restoras]

That's not a knoyife...this is a knoyife!

[Limpee Wiltstock]

"Why does anyone *need* more than one knife-like object?"

Well, you'd see in JOMFRUK?LLAN that von Sydow's character needed a sword for cutting limbs off a birch tree for his purification ritual in preparation of slaughtering everyone, and then he needed his slugknife for actually killing people (though he mostly just beats them to death). So conceivably somebody whose daughter got raped to death while picking flowers on her way to church after getting curst by her allfatherloving heathen slave girl and ends up with the rapekillers later stopping off at his homestead for a snack would need both a sword and a slugknife, which is more than one knifely object, provided the bladesman was also sufficiently immense in Swee culture that he needed to go through the purification bit before killing people.

[Certified Public Asshat]

I vote schools.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Does this mean we need a ban on swords, masks, schools or Sweden?

And why choose just one?

[Joe M]

Marijuana use among U.S. adults has more than doubled over the past 12 years.

In unrelated news, replacement car key sales have doubled.

[Tejicano]

I dunno. I seriously doubt that actual mj use has doubled. It seems much more likely that a lot more people are now willing to admit it.

[Crusty Juggler]

The drugs are just so much stronger now, so more people are being overwhelmed by the effects of the drugs and are losing all self-control. Also, video games.

[Zeb]

That's what I was thinking. And if it has increased, I really don't see a big problem there.

I bet more adults do use pot more in the states where it is legalized. I know a good handful of people who would if they didn't have to worry about breaking the law.

[IndyEleven]

Saw Willie and Merle live last night--there were approximately as many pro-pot references as you'd expect to hear at a Cypress Hill show.

[IndyEleven]

Saw Willie and Merle live last night--there were approximately as many pro-pot references as you'd expect to hear at a Cypress Hill show.

[SugarFree]

"A redhead like me is goin' insane"

[wareagle]

squirrlz sold separately

[Troy muy grande boner]

This is was my thought as well. Now that, in some places, you don't have to worry about storm-trooping pigs knocking down your door grenading an opening in your grandson's chest cavity, some might be a little be more willing to admit that they partake

[AlmightyJB]

How is this possible since pot is now 1000 times more potent tiday?

[PM]

Texas: Neutering Democracy

In Texas liberty trumps democracy. The Texas Supreme Court itself says so.

In a recent decision, three of the five Justice majority bluntly declared, "(O)ur federal and state charters are not, contrary to popular belief, about 'democracy.'" They are about "liberty's primacy."
...
Texas politicians love to sprinkle their orations with words like liberty and freedom but even they must concede that all societies establish formal and informal rules governing individual behavior and virtually all interfere to some degree with someone's freedom of action. No matter how extreme our libertarian bent, most of us accept the need for driving licenses and the restrictions one-way streets and stop signs impose. And however reluctantly we agree that the government can take our money even while profoundly disagreeing on how public money should be spent.

ROOOOOOOOADS!!!!11eleventy!1!!

[This Machine]

And however reluctantly we agree that the government can take our money even while profoundly disagreeing on how public money should be spent.

FOAD kissy kissy. That is all.

[Zeb]

Neutering democracy is kind of the whole point of the American constitutional republic.

Roads and traffic rules, fine. Not sure how drivers' licenses are on the same level of public good, though.

[SugarFree]

Not sure how drivers' licenses are on the same level of public good, though.

Part and parcel of the "Guns should be registered and licensed like cars" argument.

Concede no ground, work all fronts.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

"Well-regulated militia" means government can ban guns!!!!

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

"(O)ur federal and state charters are not, contrary to popular belief, about 'democracy.'"

I love when people point this out to progtards. The Constitution is emphatically NOT democratic. It's a republic with numerous procedural safeguards to prevent democracy and pure majoritarian rule. Moreover, "democracy" is not even an end unto itself. It's regarded as one of the better forms of government only because it has a greater tendency to protect liberty and prevent encroachment of personal rights. (Of course, this belief is demonstrably false, as we have seen time and again.)

[Zeb]

Not sure if it is false. At least when it comes to democracies as they exist in the real world. True democracy would probably be a disaster. But the democratic republic type governments that are common do seem to be slightly better than the existing alternatives.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Fair enough. I was being a bit flippant in that last sentence. It is true, though, that in a democracy, people are sometimes susceptible to voting against their long-term interests in favor of some perceived or transient short-term, or getting wrapped up in mob hysteria. There's a reason we shouldn't govern by what's trending on the Twitter.

[Free Society]

And the Constitution sure got a lot more democratic when they introduced the 17th amendment as well as the amendments that broadened suffrage beyond real property owners.

[Rhywun]

I think the root of the problem is that a lot of people don't know what "democracy" even means.

[Clich? Bandit]

I see the issue as our founders knew the dangers of Theocracy, Monarchy, and Democracy but decided a strong republican government would best be facilitated by a democratic process (rule by law, choose law democratically). However, the marxists don't see democracy as a method of selection, they see it as the ends. The unfortunate conflation of the two idea about democracy is a direct result of the marxist approach. It is too bad we don't have another method we can use to choose things that would give us even this much protection because the proximity to communism causes confusion.

[Emmerson Biggins]

It's just a synonym for "goodness" isnt' it?

Sort of like "awesomeness" or "diversity"?

[kbolino]

People think "democracy" means they get what they want (see: Tony). Because, of course, at heart, everyone else agrees with them. Except some irascible but irrelevant contrarian obstructionist saboteurs. If we just democracy hard enough, we'll achieve the utopia of consensus.

Never mind that if you re-drew the lines, or changed the electoral rules, or assassinated a politician, or any number of other changes to the process or the people involved, that you could drastically alter the alleged "consensus".

When "democracy" doesn't deliver people what they want, it stops being such a good thing. But it would be impolitic to admit this. Those "stupid" people--whose votes we depend on while making fun of them--won't like that. Instead, Emmanuel Goldstein rears his ugly head. The corporations are telling people how to vote! The political messages are too extreme! The signposts that are too close to the door at the polling place are swaying peoples' opinions! If people had to have ID to vote, they wouldn't show up!

It's all a fucking joke but most people are not honest enough to admit this. Democracy uber alles is not just a foolish idea; it's a lie. Nobody really believes it.

[Zeb]

I like to put Athens out there as an example of what democracy gets you.

[Suthenboy]

We all agree on the need for driver's licenses, therefore the state can mandate anything at all.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

When I forget my wallet at home, it's like hell opened a portal right on the highway. Terrifying.

[OldMexican]

In Texas liberty trumps democracy.

I am thinking that maybe, possibly, the smart people are no longer entering journalism school.

Texas politicians love to sprinkle their orations with words like liberty and freedom but even they must concede that all societies establish formal and informal rules governing individual behavior and virtually all interfere to some degree with someone's freedom of action.

People are just too evil, so government must be free to control us.

See? LOGIC!

[Joe M]

Written by "David Morris, Director, The Public Good Initiative, Institute for Local Self-Reliance"

VOMMMMMMIT

[The Late P Brooks]

Maybe they're just becoming more willing to admit it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Democratic Presidential frontrunner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to spar this morning with Republican members of the House Select Committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans."

Cameras and politicians together always means stuff gets done.

[Rich]

Maybe she'll be able to remember Chris Stevens name this time.

[Rich]

*Stevens's*

*** gets coffee ***

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

What difference, at this point, does it make?

[Clich? Bandit]

Rich is Nicole's name post-op.

[Mostly moist]

Oh, yeah. More Hillary close shots. That's what I like.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

104) My earlier Thought Not Sermon reminded me of this incident from my own school days:

A tenth-grade JATNAS sits in vice-principal's office, not sure why he's there.

Vice-Principal: So, JATNAS, how do you explain this? (Holds out Spanish test JATNAS took previous week with a grade of 81).

JATNAS: Um, well, I guess I could've studied harder, but an 81 isn't too bad?

Vice-Principal: Don't get smart with me young man. I'm talking about, why did you rip this up on the bus?

JATNAS: Wha? (Looks at Spanish test, realizes paper has been ripped up and carefully taped back together.) Um, I don't know?

Vice-Principal: Your bus driver found the pieces to this on the floor of the bus and put it together to find out who did it.

JATNAS: Oh, okay? (Wondering why bus driver would take 20 minutes to tape paper together instead of three seconds to sweep it up)

Vice-Principal: So you don't have any explanation for this?

JATNAS:

Vice-Principal: Well, in that case, I have no choice but to suspend you from the bus for five days. That will be all.

JATNAS leave office in confused state, but determined never to ride bus again now that he knows driver is psycho.

[Certified Public Asshat]

I was accused of plagiarism as a senior in high school.

My crime? I borrowed my girlfriend's copy of The Great Gatsby that she had written in with notes (she went to a different high school, may be important to the story). Little did I know, that at the end of reading the stupid book, my teacher was going to take our books and grade us on our note taking.

So the night before, I slapped some sticky notes in the book to kind of make it look like I took notes in the book. I also left a note at the beginning of the book, disclosing that all of the notes that were not stickies in the book, were not mine.

I still received a 0 and told I was trying to take credit for someone else's work.

[UnCivilServant]

What sort of Heathen Writes in a book and expects students to deface a book likewise?

Notes are not to be written alongside the text - they should be written in separate - text-free notebooks.

[Certified Public Asshat]

I had also made it through 12 years of school without taking any notes in general, with good grades.

I am thankful this woman was around to save me from myself.

[Zeb]

I rarely ever read my notes, but I always found that note taking helped keep my mind from wandering and helped with retention of the material.

[Clich? Bandit]

Freshman in college, first class (since I came to college with 2 years of credit anyway) was Junior Level major course. Teach says there are only two grades, midterm and final. Begins writing on board and talking for the next two months. I furiously write everything I can, go through two legal pads (as a side not I have no idea what college would be like today since I can't take a crap without some electronic device). Midterm arrives, it is one question. I answer it in 20 pages simply by recapping all my notes, sprinkled with some Austrian econ dust. Got highest grade in class. God bless note taking cause I never once cracked a single book on the required list, I only read the Wealth of Nations which was recommended but not required.

p.s. teacher was an avowed Marxist, his PhD thesis was on Marxism. I was a young conservative (before my genetic transmutation to libertarian) and he said while he disagreed with almost 100% of my answer it was the best argued paper he read. I made him my adviser cause I like challenges.

[Gray Ghost]

Great story. You are profoundly lucky you found an intellectually honest instructor. No end of horror stories out there about professors, left and right, who cracked students that didn't toe the ideological line.

[Clich? Bandit]

Agreed, hence I chose him. How often do you find one that intellectually honest. Wrong, but honest.

[Citizen Nothing]

Learning that your teachers and school administrators are all morons is an important part of childhood.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, I think public schooling is an important lesson in the arbitrariness and capriciousness of unchecked authority. Being under the rule of those idiots and zombies was probably a major impetus to my becoming libertarian

[EMD]

Learning that you're smarter than your corporate leadership is an important part of adulthood, too.

[Zeb]

Now that's ridiculous.

There were always a few bus drivers who decided they should be disciplinarians. Dreary mean little people.

[Pope Jimbo]

We had a great bus driver when I lived out on the farm in elementary school.

When the acorns dropped in the fall, our bus was a constant acorn war. His only rule was don't hit him. Wimps who didn't want to get hit would sit right behind the driver.

He was also good for running out of gas at least a couple times a year. Those were great days that you got to sit out in the country for an extra hour or so waiting for help. Then saunter into class late.

[PM]

Why are placebos getting more effective?

When new drugs are put on the market, clinical trials determine whether they perform better than inactive pills known as "placebos". Research shows that over the last 25 years the difference in effectiveness between real drugs and these fake ones has narrowed - but more in the US than elsewhere. Are Americans really more susceptible to placebo effects, or is something else going on?

[Drake]

Time to start regulating these powerful new placebos?

[Idle Hands]

people are getting dumber? Or is larry getting larger?

[Idle Hands]

*leon
I will now prepare for seppuku.

[Swiss Servator]

*hands over sake bottle, rice paper and ceremonial blade*

[Jimbo]

I'll back you up (sharpens sword).

[Rich]

Real drugs are getting weaker?

People are developing drug-resistance?

[Lee G]

People are becoming more hypochondriacal

[Illocust]

Possibly problems are getting less severe and more mental? Take back pain, a lot of back pain (not all or even a majority) is caused by mental stress. If you can convince someone that what your giving them will get rid of the back pain then it will show similar results to actual pain killers (just because the pain is mental doesn't mean it's not real).

[Idle Hands]

agreed. Case and point percentage of people that have Celiacs disease and number of people who actually have Celiacs disease.

[Idle Hands]

* think that they have Celiacs

[Crusty Juggler]

GLUTEN IS A KILLER

[Agammamon]

A 'cereal killer'?

[Citizen X]

Swiss? SWISS. GET OVER HERE.

[EMD]

Glueleven is even worse.

[Illocust]

So now having read the article, this could mean wonderful things for pain management. They discuss how little things the doctor can do while prescribing medication can make a huge difference in how the patient responds to it. This would be great. I don't care if it's my happy thoughts or the pain meds that cause the pain to go away as long as the pain goes away.

[Brett L]

Was listening to the book "13 Things that don't make sense." The author's analysis and discussion with experts on placebo efficacy conclude that 1) placebos mostly work on pain/anxiety relief 2) there is probably some biosimilar brain chemistry involved.

[Brett L]

Sorry. So efficacy is increasing because people believe the pain medication works well, and their brains manufacture the chemicals to makeit so. The book does a far better job of laying out the evidence. It was pretty convincing.

[Atanarjuat]

If that's true, all the money my coworker spends on homeopathy isn't totally wasted.

[Zeb]

I was thinking of that as well. It's a big ethical mess to promote placebos as treatment. But the homeopathic stuff and other similar woo-woo stuff probably does "work" in some sense because of this. And as long as it is OTC, you only have to lie to yourself.

[Brett L]

He covers homeopathy, too. It is slightly more effective than placebo, enough to probably be statistically significant. Depending on the study. I'm not sold.

[Zeb]

Maybe belief in nonsense makes the placebo effect even stronger.

[Suthenboy]

Religion.

[Zeb]

Yeah the "power of prayer" seems to have similar effects in some people.

[Robert]

But in homeopathic provings these days, the putatively active compound is tested blind vs. placebo. The placebo is prepared the same as the active matter, but starting w no "mother" material.

The efficacy of homeopathy is a bit of evidence for that of intentionality&mdashof; mind over matter. Not just psychologically, because the mind appears to affect the matter even when the observer is kept unaware of what's going on. That is, the difference in the homeopathic prep from inactive placebo can't be in matter, because they each contain "nothing", but in the will of the preparer that a certain "nothing" have characteristics that another "nothing" will not. That was also the basis of use of the Interro device to prepare materials vibrationally, without any mother substance ever touching any of the dilutions directly, but being conditioned only thru the machine.

[Propaganda Czar]

Some of this is due to changes in testing methodology. Double-blind testing is a relatively recent advance and can still be limited. Doctors and patients can often figure out whether they received the drug or the placebo if side effects are experienced. This knowledge alone will influence efficacy. Testing is not straightforward. Changes in method to reduce this event will also influence the results.

Still this is a strong reason to support alternative medicine. Often it is cheaper than tradition options with little to no side-effects. Who cares if the mechanism is the placebo effect! Too many doctors get hung up on this. We should fully exploit placebos for treatment.

[Propaganda Czar]

Some of this is due to changes in testing methodology. Double-blind testing is a relatively recent advance and can still be limited. Doctors and patients can often figure out whether they received the drug or the placebo if side effects are experienced. This knowledge alone will influence efficacy. Testing is not straightforward. Changes in method to reduce this event will also influence the results.

Still this is a strong reason to support alternative medicine. Often it is cheaper than tradition options with little to no side-effects. Who cares if the mechanism is the placebo effect! Too many doctors get hung up on this. We should fully exploit placebos for treatment.

[Propaganda Czar]

Some of this is due to changes in testing methodology. Double-blind testing is a relatively recent advance and can still be limited. Doctors and patients can often figure out whether they received the drug or the placebo if side effects are experienced. This knowledge alone will influence efficacy. Testing is not straightforward. Changes in method to reduce this event will also influence the results.

Still this is a strong reason to support alternative medicine. Often it is cheaper than tradition options with little to no side-effects. Who cares if the mechanism is the placebo effect! Too many doctors get hung up on this. We should fully exploit placebos for treatment.

[Propaganda Czar]

Some of this is due to changes in testing methodology. Double-blind testing is a relatively recent advance and can still be limited. Doctors and patients can often figure out whether they received the drug or the placebo if side effects are experienced. This knowledge alone will influence efficacy. Testing is not straightforward. Changes in method to reduce this event will also influence the results.

Still this is a strong reason to support alternative medicine. Often it is cheaper than tradition options with little to no side-effects. Who cares if the mechanism is the placebo effect! Too many doctors get hung up on this. We should fully exploit placebos for treatment.

[Propaganda Czar]

Wow, quadruple post!

[Propaganda Czar]

What do I win?

[Clich? Bandit]

a Squirrl hunting kit.

[bacon-magic]

4 Squirrels and a basket full of nuts.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

I thought it was done on purpose. Repetition is a primary method of propaganda dissemination.

[Emmerson Biggins]

Conjecture:

more of the things the placebos are "treating" are bullshit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Rand Paul.

They could do without Cruz, Huckabee, Christie and Kasich. They add nothing.

[Drake]

Cruz is fourth or fifth. I'm surprised they haven't dropped Paul and Huck.

[Idle Hands]

I really dislike Cruz's mannerisms and his face. I do agree with him from time to time, but boy he's a hard pill to swallow.

[Drake]

Only conservative other than Paul. Only conservative who actually fights rather than just Randsplaining shit.

[Restoras]

I like the way he trolls - could be entertaining as President.

[Atanarjuat]

And he at least claims to want to get rid of some Federal departments and the IRS.

[Restoras]

I've no illusion that any part of the government can be gotten rid of, no matter how unconstitutional or tyrannical - all real power in DC is in the Capitol Building. Until the composition of the cesspool is changed, we will still be merrily headed towards more government, more tyranny, more debt, etc. etc.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

I can't get past his smarmy face. I just get the urge to punch it every time I see it.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Rand Paul suggests Israel could defuse violence by giving Palestinians more freedom

The Republican presidential candidate said in a Monday appearance on CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" that a trip to Israel in 2013 had convinced him that there is "no easy answer" to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He said he does not believe a comprehensive agreement brokered by the United States -- a "grand sort of bargain" -- would bring a lasting end to the violence.

"But I do think that part of the answer is maybe incremental change," Paul said. "And I think Israel holds a lot of the cards."

Jake Tapper asked Paul whether he thought Palestinian incitement or frustration over Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories is driving Palestinian acts of violence.

"I don't think there is an easy answer," Paul said. "And it's hard for me to actually know the truth of everything. We can see on the news and there's probably both sides to things, but I think it's not my role or the role if I were president or as a U.S. senator to say to Israel or to say to those who live in the West Bank that I know what's best for them and I'm going to tell you how to behave."

He's just waaaayyy to rational to be president. How dare he not have narcissistic delusions of brokering "peace" agreements like Obama, Clinton and Kerry?

[Drake]

For once I completely disagree with Paul. They tend to use freedom to try their best to kill Jews.

[SFC B]

Yeah. I'm not a big fan of collective punishment or guilt, but the Palestinians are the population which really tests that for me.

[Zeb]

So, what's the easy answer?

[wareagle]

the easiest answer may be kicking the Palestinians out of Israel altogether. But that won't happen because too many feeling will be hurt. As it is, the Middle Eastern Arabs with the most liberty are the ones living in Israel, but it's not liberty they want. It's dead Jews that they want. When one side's premise is based on your being dead, kinda tough to negotiate from there.

[Zeb]

There is also the problem of forceably removing a bunch of people, many of whom are certainly innocent, from their homes. I think that hurts a bit more than feelings.

[wareagle]

And yet, that is the easy answer. Nothing else has worked. Every potential two-state solution has been killed by the Palestinian side. Eliminating Israel remains the foundation of Palestinian leadership.

I'm not saying it's a great idea, a good one, or even one worth trying. I'm just saying it is the easy answer, mostly because nothing else has worked. Where Rand is wrong is the notion that more freedom is the answer. Again, the Palestinians in Israel have more freedom than any Muslim in any Middle Eastern country but freedom is not what they want.

[Calidissident]

There's a pretty big distinction between the level of freedom enjoyed by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Partly due to restriction placed by Israel on the latter group, but also due to restrictions in place by Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.

[Zeb]

If that really is The Easy Answer, then there isn't one. Arabs make up a significant minority of the Israeli population. Even putting the morality aside, there is nothing easy about that.

[Zeb]

I just can't find a good guy in the whole thing Israel is certainly less bad overall than the people running the Palestinian territories. But there are plenty of Israelis doing everything they can to make things worse too.

[Homple]

We decided we were heroic for kicking people out of their homes with incendiary, high explosive and atomic bombs, killing them by the tens of thousands in the process. What's wrong with enforcing a bunch of eviction notices?

[Calidissident]

Yeah, what's wrong with a little ethnic cleansing?

[Drake]

One reason that it is unlikely that Israel's neighbors will ever try a conventional war against them again (along with the fact that they kept getting their teeth kicked in).

If Jordan, Syria, Egypt ever did start another one - the aftermath would include all the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza being deposited in those countries and the borders closed.

[Calidissident]

It's not like he said Israel should just give the Palestinians whatever they want. If things ever get solved there, I think it will happen incrementally, not in one fell swoop. And while ultimately the Palestinians need to give up the desire many of them have to destroy Israel, things like expanding settlements in the West Bank aren't exactly helping to quicken the day that comes. Nor is the Israeli Prime Minister spewing historical bullshit about how a Palestinian convinced Hitler to commit the Holocaust.

[Atanarjuat]

In case you were wondering what dunphy has been up to.

[Juvenile Bluster]

That's not Dunphy. He's currently busy boinking all the former Playboy centerfolds after winning a powerlifting and surfing contest.

[Rich]

Sixty men in 18 months fell for this ruse.

"Oh, what the hell! I'm here anyway!"

[SugarFree]

Missouri Cop Who Lured 60 "Straight" Men to His Home for Fellatio-Through-a-Door Pleads Guilty

Fixed that headline for them.

[Lee G]

Obligatory

[Swiss Servator]

That one is a timeless classic.

[Fist of Etiquette]

They did it through the door's male slot?

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[Fist of Etiquette]

All gazing through the male slot is narrowly done.

[Swiss Servator]

*blinks, walks over to rack of pikes and crossbows, calmly selects weapon*

[Clich? Bandit]

I am afraid you need artillery for that one Swiss...perhaps a trebuchet.

[straffinrun]

Glad they caught him before Halloween.

[SugarFree]

"You don't have to do this," Joe pleaded as Hillary shackled his left leg. "I did what you wanted. You saw the news conference!"

"Too late! Too late! You lingered like the stink you leave in Amtrak bathrooms!" She moved in, the hot corruption of her breath in his face.

"Good old Joe," she whispered. "Everyone loves Joe. Everyone loves Joe's wife." She pulled off his tie and slit the neck and arms of his sweat-stained dress shirt.

"Everyone love Joe's kids, especially the dead one." Hillary gathered up the crotch fabric on his dress pants and pulled. She used the razor to cut along the inseam on both sides and then ripped them off his waist. Joe began to sob.

"No one loves Hillary's beautiful baby, not even that moron we paid very well to marry her and knock her up. Why is it, Joe? Why does everyone love you so much?" She cut his boxers off and stuffed them in his mouth.

"This is some fucked up shit, yo," Donald's hat whispered.

"Shut up you idiot. She might hear you," his hair replied.

"I don't know why I have to be here," Donald said, to no one. Hillary turned on him, slashing the air with the razor.

"Because I want you here. I want you to witness what happens to those who betray me!" she screamed. She pounced on Joe and sliced off his right nipple with a single motion of the blade. He screamed through his underwear. She picked the nipple off the floor and ate it.

[SugarFree]

"Um. Meaty. I wonder what other parts of you are good?" She squatted in front of him and smelled his genitals intently, like a dog getting that last whiff of old piss from a hydrant.

"God, Joe. You're balls smell so good. Like honey and old Bibles." She made a small, careful cut along the seam of his scrotum and licked. "But your blood, Joe. Not so good. Are you dying Joe? That would be a real fucking shame, right, Donald?"

"Yes, Mommy. Whatever you say," Donald said. He farted wetly and a long string of anal beads clattered on the warehouse floor.

"Pick those up!" Hillary screamed, her pendulous breasts wobbling with rage.

"Yes, Mommy."

"You know what, Joe?" she asked, turning back to him. "You did do what I asked. Maybe a little late, maybe not when I told you too, but you did OK. I think you deserve a reward." Joe's eyes went wide with terror. He began struggling to free himself, straining at the shackles.

"Yeah, Joe. You know what's coming, don't you? You're going to get the ass, Joe." She turned and bent over. Joe screamed again, a pathetic sound. Underneath it Donald could hear the eager gnashing as she backed toward him.

"I wish he had left me in the car," the hat said.

"He never leaves me in the car," the hair moaned.

"Who said that?!?" Hillary screeched. In the rafters of the warehouse a bird died and fell to the floor.

[Rich]

honey and old Bibles

More, please!

[Crusty Juggler]

Agreed. A masterpiece. I lost it at "She picked the nipple off the floor and ate it."

[R C Dean]

For me, it was the anal beads.

[Citizen X]

I bet you don't get to say THAT more than four or five times a day.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Beautiful.

[Citizen X]

I don't feel so good.

[SugarFree]

Not a whit, we defy augury. There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come?the readiness is all. Since no man, of aught he leaves, knows what is't to leave betimes, let be.

[straffinrun]

She picked the nipple off the floor and ate it.

Placebo effect, X. Try it.

[Citizen X]

I got the taste of pepperoni in my mouth. Not good pepperoni, either - room temperature, the kind that comes on a cheap frozen pizza.

[SugarFree]

That means you're almost ready.

[Citizen X]

Oh god

[straffinrun]

That's about the taste and texture I'm guessing. Top it off with some Ben Gay and Old Spicy and you've got it down.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I feel dirty that I laughed out lout during this.

[Rich]

You lousy lout!

[Swiss Servator]

Oh dear God.... I feel like I just read too much of the Necronomicon...I will never be sane again...Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

[Fist of Etiquette]

He screamed through his underwear.

I was doing that very thing by the end of this story.

[Swiss Servator]

You screamed through Joe Biden's underwear?!?!

*gags*

[SugarFree]

Many vending machines in the DC area sell them.

[Swiss Servator]

-1 Tokyo

[Atanarjuat]

Is it a curse to have this gift?

[SugarFree]

Not really. It usually only takes me 10 minutes or so to write one. And I don't remember much afterwards.

[Citizen X]

Fugue states are a bitch.

[Troy muy grande boner]

America's greatest comic since Carrot Top and Dane Cook.

Seriously though....

"This is some fucked up shit, yo," Donald's hat whispered.

Genius. Fucking genius. The Mark Twain of the 21st Century.

[Crusty Juggler]

"Karate? The Dane Cook of martial arts?"

[Troy muy grande boner]

No, your mom Dane Cook.

[RBS]

"Yeah, Joe. You know what's coming, don't you? You're going to get the ass, Joe." She turned and bent over. Joe screamed again, a pathetic sound. Underneath it Donald could hear the eager gnashing as she backed toward him.

I'll be in my bunk.

[Swiss Servator]

I'll be in Arkham Asylum.

[bacon-magic]

Pure unadulterated Lovecraft right there. +1000 nightmares.

[Certified Public Asshat]

South Park was killing it again last night.

[The Late P Brooks]

Are Americans really more susceptible to placebo effects...?

Yes. See, also, "public education".

[Atanarjuat]

Ugh.

The 'This Is Not What a Rapist Looks Like' Guy Tries to Explain Himself
We met with the author of the viral "Why I don't need consent class" article. Surprise?he identifies as a libertarian!

[SugarFree]

George Lawlor is a classic college libertarian, with absolute and abstract beliefs that might not really reflect how life actually works.

I wish irony was fatal.

[Zeb]

What the hell else would the sign have meant?

[Cyto]

Yeah, pretty clear that he isn't arguing for "appearance-based rape trials".

The irony was particularly palpable as she grappled with the knowledge that her quarry was intelligent, mild-mannered and thoughtful. She downplays his interpretation of "consent education" thusly:

I couldn't see any assumption that men are rapists in there, or really anything at all offensive

Which she then wraps up with:

Too many women have been assaulted or taken advantage of or had their needs ignored to fully trust a man's assessment of his own understanding of the situation....We know men, we live with them, and we're telling you: you all need to go back to school.

Err... nope. No sexist assumptions about any one particular gender at all....

[Zeb]

I like how they throw in "had their needs ignored". Now that probably is a problem that lots of men do have when it comes to sex. But does that really belong there? Is the next thing going to be to punish men if their sexual partners don't have an orgasm?

[Suthenboy]

So the English proggies, Fabians, or whatever they call themselves, are as fixated on the illusion of 'rape culture' as the ones here. Criticize them for importing millions of real, no-shit rapists and you will be called a racist.

It really is impossible to parody those people.

[Certified Public Asshat]

Paul Ryan Is a Hypocrite, Charlatan, and Right-Wing Extremist

Let's start with Ryan's outrageous hypocrisy. Ryan worships at the altar of novelist Ayn Rand, the philosopher of you're-on-your-own selfishness, whose books have been required reading for his Congressional staffers. Like Rand, he consistently demonizes people who improve their lives with the help of government. Ryan seems to be unaware of how much his own family and his own financial success has been influenced by "big government."

Despite Ryan's persistent attacks on government spending, his family's construction business has been anchored in building roads on government contracts. Despite his worship of private-sector entrepreneurs, he's spent his entire career as a government employee. Despite being a crusader against anti-poverty programs, Ryan is a millionaire who made his money the old-fashioned way: by marrying a woman who inherited a fortune.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I'm not following how the bolded sentence constitutes an argument.

[Certified Public Asshat]

Because anti-poverty programs are all about marrying into money?

[Lee G]

They can't even keep their tu quoques and ad hominems straight.

[Doctor Whom]

You're expecting clarity of thought from that source?

[Drake]

Because they hate John Kerry? No, that can't be it.

[Idle Hands]

It's like they've never actually have heard Paul Ryan talk about anything, read about any of the bills he's suggested passing or really researched anything about his policy postitions. It's almost like they read his personal section in Wikipedia and drafted an opinion on his positions based on daily kos comments.

[Matrix]

How is marrying someone marrying a rich person hypocritical in a person that criticizes forcefully taking money from some people and giving it to peopled deemed by the government to be "in need"?

Did Paul Ryan force his wife to marry him?

[sarcasmic]

She didn't earn the money, and neither did he. It was inherited. So if he opposes welfare on the grounds that the people receiving the money weren't the ones who earned it, then he's being a hypocrite. Duh. And don't give me any nonsense about force. Assuming the original fortune was made through profits, then there was plenty of force involved. People have to work to survive, don't they? So they are forced to work. When they work for capitalists then they are always exploited for profit. That means that capitalist fortunes are amassed on the backs of exploited workers who are forced into their jobs. Duh.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE*!

*By people I mean government, since government is the people. The more power the government has, the more power the people have.

[straffinrun]

That's one way to make money

[straffinrun]

A FB post of my loser friend.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

You have friends like that?

Holy shit that's retarded.

[straffinrun]

He makes up for being such an idiot by being adamant that he's right.

[Zeb]

Neat. He manages to get absolutely everything wrong in that.

[Rhywun]

Like Rand, he consistently demonizes people who improve their lives with the help of government.

Is that what we're calling bribery, cronyism, and theft now?

[EMD]

So he's John Kerry?

[Rich]

UK Migrants TORCH tents and take SELFIES of carnage in protest at ONE DAY transfer wait

Ari Omar, a migrant from Iraq, bemoaned his treatment at the hands of Europeans, saying: "I am sorry for Europe. We did not think Europe is like this: no respect for refugees, not treating us with dignity. Why is Europe like this?"

You know who else had no respect for refugees?

[Lee G]

Give us free shit or else

[lap83]

and definitely don't make them wait a whole day for it!

[Lee G]

I know! That's like forever!

[Drake]

In an actual patriarchy, those idiots would be sleeping outdoors all winter to learn a lesson.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Tom Petty?

[EMD]

I need to learn how to scroll.

[Citizen X]

Wyclef Jean?

[Brett L]

Saddam Hussein?

[straffinrun]

Pilate?

[MetalBard]

Those evil Europeans, letting you into their countries so you can escape death at the hands of ISIS. How dare they not give you first class accommodations.

It's like a homeless guy bitching about the food the serve at a soup kitchen.

[Rhywun]

Why is Europe like this?

I have a feeling Europe isn't going to be Mr. Nice Guy for much longer if this shit goes on.

[Suthenboy]

yeah. I have been waiting to see how far it has to go.

I had a conversation with a Limey the other day who, after I got him started, admitted he wants them dead and gone. He didn't mean that metaphorically.

[Drake]

Charles Martel?

[bacon-magic]

+The Hammer

[Suthenboy]

Uh....so haul your worthless ass back to Iraq.

[EMD]

TOM PETTY?

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Wow.
Proggies hate us nearly as much as we hate them.
Do read the comments ... but put the coffee down first. Your cube-farm-spouse would appreciate it.

http://www.motherjones.com/kev.....mostly-men

[Lee G]

Few women share this fantasy. I don't know why, and I don't really want to play amateur sociologist and guess. Perhaps it's something as simple as the plain observation that in the more libertarian past, women were subjugated to men almost completely. Why would that seem like an appealing fantasy?

I'm not going to take a guess, but here's one anyway.

[lap83]

"in the more libertarian past, women were subjugated to men almost completely"

and yet their shrieks about the war on women and rape culture only get louder, along with cries to make women more subjugated to daddy government. They'd hate it if women were more independent.

[Suthenboy]

+1 Julia

[Idle Hands]

FThumb Guest ? 5 months ago
Libertarians want everything for free.

[Brett L]

Love how they get it backwards. We want to buy and sell things and leave people free. They want to control people and have stuff be free.

[sarcasmic]

If you don't want to be forced to pay for things that you neither want nor need, then you want everything for free. Duh.

[Certified Public Asshat]

I usually frequent Gawker for my derp, but damn, Mother Jones is pretty heavy in it.

[Lee G]

Shit. Somalia got replaced.

There is one--Honduras, a libertarian wet dream! It's the most violent country in the world outside of middle eastern war zones. Armed guards everywhere, yet no one is safe. But it has special economic zones where big corporations get to make up the laws they like, exempt from national laws others must follow. From a former libertarian writing on salon.com: "The greatest examples of libertarianism in action are the hundreds of men, women and children standing alongside the roads all over Honduras. The government won't fix the roads, so these desperate entrepreneurs fill in potholes with shovels of dirt or debris. They then stand next to the filled-in pothole soliciting tips from grateful motorists. That is the wet dream of libertarian private sector innovation."

[Certified Public Asshat]

I suppose Honduras is more successful than Somalia...I'll take it!

*packs up stuff, moves to Honduras*

[Rhywun]

a former libertarian writing on salon.com

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Citizen X]

Salon runs those "Confessions of a Former Libertarian" stories every few months. They don't vary very much - some toolbag who doesn't actually know what 'libertarian' means realizes that calling himself that means he can't make other people do what he thinks they should do.

[Idle Hands]

Corey Yates Guest ? 5 months ago
So in a libertarian society, if a wealthy man is poisoning the river that is ruining the farms of 1,000 families. What happens?

[Lee G]

Much awesomeness happens, that's what. Survival of the fittest baby.

*adds star to official libertarian epaulets*

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Hey, for that one, you get an additional monocle polish and mustache twirl ...

[Brett L]

In a Coasean society he pays their cost. In a non-Coase society they watn him about violating the NAP, seek to find a mediator who can settle competing claims as positively as possible, and failing those solutions, burn his plant and poison everyone downwind AND downstream.

[lap83]

The Koch brothers celebrate another wildly successful financial quarter

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Dancing on a pile of orphan corpses

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

He takes the children of those families and promptly either A) sells them or B) keeps them for mineral extraction from properties owned elsewhere - usually expropriated through committing genocide of people.

DUH.

[Lee G]

I think this is my favorite comment:

Which begs the question, who made the drones? Libertarianism MUST always fail as an argument because it assumes fundamental self-sufficiency on the part of man, when in reality ALL mankind is interdependent in the modern age.

ANY society more advanced than hunter/gather-ism cannot be maintained by libertarian philosophies.

[The Last American Hero]

Oh dear Lord, they actually have it backwards. It's anything larger (or more advanced) than a hunter gatherer tribe cannot be maintained by communist philosophies.

[Lee G]

People cannot voluntarily interact. Nothing good ever happens without force.

[Sapient Mulch]

Like Tony said a while back,"Without government there can be no society."

[SugarFree]

I guess cancer really doesn't cure stupid. Too bad.

[lap83]

I like how you can occasionally see the deleted comments quoted in the remaining comments, and of course the only thing wrong with them is that they are the wrong side. But there's no way that can be allowed.

[sarcasmic]

I assume the deleted comments are cogent libertarian arguments. Can't tolerate such intolerance.

[Rich]

A short story about the Libertarian Police Department surfaced in the comments. Some of us might find it amusing.

[Idle Hands]

I was losing him. "Listen, I'll pay you to stop!" I yelled. "What would you consider an appropriate price point for stopping? I'll offer you a thirteenth of an ounce of gold and a gently worn 'Bob Barr '08' extra-large long-sleeved men's T-shirt!"

He turned. In his hand was a revolver that the Constitution said he had every right to own. He fired at me and missed. I pulled my own gun, put a quarter in it, and fired back. The bullet lodged in a U.S.P.S. mailbox less than a foot from his head. I shot the mailbox again, on purpose.

"All right, all right!" the man yelled, throwing down his weapon. "I give up, cop! I confess: I took the bitcoins."

"Why'd you do it?" I asked, as I slapped a pair of Oikos? Greek Yogurt Presents Handcuffs? on the guy.

[Idle Hands]

that was quite funny actually.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

They may hate us, but a brief survey of the comments also reveals that they do not understand libertarianism in the slightest

[Crusty Juggler]

They hate us 'cause they anus.

[Zeb]

Wow. And I thought the article missed the point badly.

[Zeb]

Here is a real winner from the comments:

So in a libertarian society, if a wealthy man is poisoning the river that is ruining the farms of 1,000 families. What happens?

They really seem to believe that the EPA actually prevents things like this from happening. And that libertarians think that it is just fine to damage other people's property, apparently.

[Suthenboy]

Yes, they hate us, yet all of their arguments are pure projection.

Still, they are head over heels in love with libertarians compared to how I feel about them.

[Zeb]

Oh, god. Does anyone even know what libertarian means?

The author seems to think that we all imagine that we would be rich and powerful in a libertarian society. I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly don't have that fantasy. But I'm also not a fucking moron who believes that for some people to succeed, others must fail.

[RBS]

Probably because the author imagines he would be one of the rich and powerful in his preferred society.

[Rhywun]

Does anyone even know what libertarian means?

Sure, they read all about it in Salon.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

IT MEANS SOMALIA!!!!!

[Jackand Ace]

Let's go Mets!

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Fuck the Mets.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Fuck the Mets.

Go yet-to-be-decided American League team!

[DEG]

Seen on the road today: A Tesla with Vermont plates and a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker.

[Jordan]

How to identify yourself as a welfare queen in 2 easy steps.

[John]

But Jordan he has the right views. The fact that he is wealthy and taking tax money that came from people with less money and could be used for various things to help less fortunate people that owner of the car claims to support. Those sins are washed away by his adherence to the proper beliefs.

Instead of going to church and obtaining God's forgiveness for his sins, this guy sends a check to Bernie Sanders and signals his support for the right views by having that bumper sticker and voting for the right candidates to wash away his sins. Leftism really is a new religion.

[DEG]

Fat lot of good that will do him when Bernie gets in power and actually does things.

[John]

As big of an idiot as Bernie is and as horrible as a Sanders' presidency would be for the country, you have to admit there are a good number of people in this country who richly deserve a Sanders' presidency. Such a thing would do untold harm to the country but no one could say that at least in some cases justice wasn't served.

[DEG]

Yes, unfortunately they'll hurt those don't deserve a Sanders presidency.

[John]

Of course. You have to admit the stampede of millionaire leftist celebrities going into tax exile would be quite entertaining.

[Libertymike]

You know what is also funny?

How about 80 year olds, surviving on their social security and a modest pension, who are gung-ho Democrats, who "threaten" to go to Canada if Trump is elected prez? I was talking to an 80 year old woman yesterday who is insisting that she will do it.

[John]

I know the media are the lowest form of life there is and do nothing but lie. I still however cannot understand how anyone could think Trump or any candidate is going "end Social Security" at all much less for people who have little or no other income. How can someone be that out of touch with reality?

[Drake]

I would have offered to drive her.

[Isaac Bartram]

How about 80 year olds, surviving on their social security and a modest pension, who are gung-ho Democrats, who "threaten" to go to Canada...

As if Canada would even take them. Canada's welfare state might be generous but it's not like they are recruiting people to use it.

Also, as if they would actually even like it there. Even the most liberal of American expats get tired of the constant drumbeat of Anti-americanism, especially in the social circles they are likely to mix with.

[DEG]

I smell a business opportunity.

[wareagle]

that's one of the curiosities of people attracted to Bernie - they applaud what he says but seem to believe he doesn't mean them, too. He does. He's the only honest lefty going and I'll give him credit for that. He's wrong about everything he says, but he is at least honest which is why the DNC will torpedo his candidacy if need be.

[John]

I know wareagle. It is amazing. It is like if millions of illegal aliens came out in support of Trump. "Sure he is going to deport everyone, but not me, he doesn't mean me".

[EMD]

Bernie would be completely unable to get anything done if the status quo is maintained in the House and Senate. Do you think anyone wants to work with a crank like him? He's not even a fucking Democrat yet he's seeking their nomination.

Of course, the feckless GOP wouldn't be able to either ...

[John]

http://thewilderness.me/how-to.....-elephant/

I am not sure I buy this. I wonder if the tech people are getting their causality wrong. Maybe the targeted emailings and pushes in social media only seemed to be effective because people were excited to vote for Obama and were not excited to vote for Romney and McCain. Suppose Romney had had the digital team Obama had. Is it really the case that various conservatives who stayed home in 2012 would have decided to vote if only they had gotten enough social media and email push to do so? Maybe I am just too simple minded to understand analyitics and the effectiveness of such things but I really doubt that would have been true.

That said, Eric Schmidt is the closest thing to a real life Bond villain there is. Maybe they have the causality wrong but Schmidt doesn't think so. He is happily using all of his corporate power in support of controlling and manipulating the population. And of course Google is one of the big driver behind networked robotic cars, which if they ever get implemented the way people like Schmidt want (no human drivers and only networked and thus controllable robotic cars) will be the greatest reduction in privacy and freedom in human history.

[Restoras]

(no human drivers and only networked and thus controllable robotic cars)
Except for Schmidt - he'll still be able to drive a real car...

the greatest reduction in privacy and freedom in human history
But think of the progress!

[John]

I shouldn't have to risk my life on the roads just so you can have your fun driving Restoras.

It is also a massive threat to national security. Imagine if a hostile power could hack into our network and shut down the entire or large portions of the transportation system. I have always been skeptical of the real effects of cyber warfare. Put every automobile on the web and make it robotic and the threat of cyber warfare becomes very real. Who needs and EMP attack when you can shut down every car and truck in the country?

[Libertymike]

It is just another example of how, almost always, centralization just sucks. It is a massive threat to your personal security and that of each of us on this blog.

[John]

Yes it does. And digital is not always better than analog. It is like the Chinese hack of the security clearance files. For decades they did security clearances using paper. Yes, it was a pain in the neck, but it was also secure. A foreign power might be able to steal a few dozen or even a few hundred files but there volume of paper made it impossible for them to steal all of the files. Once they became digital, it was now possible to steal all of the files. People are so in love with digital technology it never occurs to them that for somethings analog is better. And decentralization is almost always better.

[Libertymike]

Agreed, but we are dinosaurs though.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

It also allows a great deal of micromanagement. Exception reports automatically roll up to the SVP about whose on a performance plan and who isn't but should be. Meanwhile, supervisors still know who's a shitbird and who isn't but now they have to put the non shitbirds on plans lest it get flagged, they get reamed, and still have to put them on.

Lots of sound, not much difference overall. Before it would all stay in the immediate supervisors desk file unless some actually needed to be done.

[Propaganda Czar]

Alot of this is due to our simplistic view of cybersecurity. Put it on a server and slap a password on it - the usual method of security.

But you wouldn't just put a bunch of highly sensitive papers in a locked file cabinet in a public location, so why do we do the same for cybersecurity? Maybe because it isn't tangible?

Behavioral monitoring of the network could have spotted the massive downloads it would take to get those files. The tech exists, it just isn't considered a priority.

Thanks to incompetence, China now has almost every piece of my personal identifying information, and even some from my family. Thanks government! I've protected your secrets now you've given mine to China. Reason #645 why I'm a Libertarian. Why people recognize gov as incompetent but implicitly trust gov to make good decisions on their behalf, just baffles me.

[Propaganda Czar]

That was a reply to the top comment.

[Gray Ghost]

I had heard they got the SF-86s. Did they also get stuff from things like, e.g., the polygraph exams, where the most intimate questions are deliberately asked to, one, rattle the subject, and two, see if the subject will tell the truth? I've never taken a polygraph, but my understanding is that during them questions are asked relating to sexual proclivities, drug use, past crimes committed: IOW perfect blackmail material.

It's hard to think of a bigger intelligence coup than this OPM hack.

[SFC B]

Shit, they didn't even steal it. We gave access to the whole shebang to a guy with ties to the PRC.

[Private Chipperbot]

Shit. Ask Jeep/Fiat. I just received a USB drive to update my car so it can't be taken over by someone using the internet.

[John]

Imagine if a virus like the heartbleed one that came out a few years ago got lose in robotic cars. A hacker taking over your car could not just render it worthless, he could have it kill you.

I read things like Ron Bailey dreaming of getting in a robotic car and whizzing down the highway at 140 mph and I just laugh. What the hell kind of a nut would place their life in the hands of a machine that is only as good as its virus software?

[AlexInCT]

Check that drive for malaware first..

[Rich]

GOP candidates are facing a mammoth two-pronged problem: 1) the failure of will and lack of funds to field large data-driven get-out-the-vote operations, and; 2) Hillary Clinton's well funded allies in Silicon Valley, specifically Eric Schmidt and Google.

Emphasis added. Clever!

Perhaps the Republicans don't *need* to waste money on "getting out the vote", because their voters know about midterm elections, educate themselves about the candidates, and vote anyway when it rains.

[John]

That of course is the other question, if analytics are so effective, why haven't Democrats used them to the same effect in off year and state elections. Are the Democrats just being merciful to the Republicans or something?

I get it that it would be hard to deploy them to great effect in every election. But I find it difficult to believe that Obama's analytics people did not provide candidates like Hagen in North Carolina a lot of help considering that control of the Senate came down to a few key races like that one. And it didn't seem to do much good.

[TwB]

Also, let's be honest here, older folks like to get out and vote. Even for off year and state elections. And quite a few of them don't bother w/ online campaign information. They get their info from TV news and newspapers. And after that, they will vote for D or R and keep doing it each election cycle. If the Republicans do have hope in 2016, it is the scenario I just described and the fact that a lot of young people will probably not vote for Hillary if she wins the D nomination. But Sanders? He could be a wild card IF he wins the D nomination.

[John]

I still think it comes down to the candidate. All of those targeted mailings and such are likely to be a lot less effective for Hillary than they are for Obama. They only work if you are pre disposed to vote for the candidate in the first place. They are not magic. If you don't like the candidate or don't care about the candidate they are not going to get you to vote. I understand they work on the margins and don't magically affect every voter. But how big those margins are and how many people are actually going to change their mind and turn out is dependent on the candidate. If the candidate sucks, there are not any or enough voters who are susceptible to being motivated by such things.

[TwB]

True, but some voters just vote D or R, it doesn't matter who the candidate is. The question is, will that happen often enough next year to make a difference? Especially in Hillary's case because let's face facts here, I think she gets the Democrat's nomination no matter what. Bernie Sanders may talk big and be popular now, but I just don't see Hillary letting him get the nomination. Remember, it's Her Time Now.

[John]

She is going to get the nomination, God help us. I don't think she can win a two candidate race. Sadly for America, there likely won't be a two candidate race. If she gets in, she will get in the same way Bill got in, with a minority of the votes and a divided opposition.

[Gray Ghost]

Who'll the third candidate be, this time around? Webb has very little support, the LP/Gary Johnson would be lucky to pull 0.5%, Sanders won't run third party. Are you anticipating Trump'll do it?

[John]

I was thinking Webb. But I thought Webb had more support than that. I don't think Trump will do it. He is too much business sense to trust any promises Hillary makes him and running as a third party and putting Hillary in would make him loathed by at least 40% of the country who otherwise would like him.

So maybe not anyone. Again, I don't see how Hillary can win a two party race. She is just awful.

[Gray Ghost]

Again, I don't see how Hillary can win a two party race. She is just awful.

Someone better at Excel and polling than me should rerun the 2012 exit Presidential election poll numbers, adding in however many Hispanics have entered the country in the preceding four years, and weighting that number by the usual twenty-five plus points they swing Democratic, and see what does to the results.

As for the near certainty that black turnout will be less for Hil than for O, how much of the black turnout, especially in heavy Dem precincts, is due to a desire to vote, and how much is due to having enough "walking around" money?

I can't see the American public voting for someone who should already be sitting in a federal prison cell for violating just about every open records and classification regulation the .gov has, never mind the bribery that I'm near certain was the reason she had the server in the first place. And yet they are.

I think she can win despite the tremendous unfavorables numbers she has with white men. The wild card, as I see it, is whether her statements on gun control will inspire GOP voters to get out and vote against her in numbers that they weren't inspired to do four years ago.

[John]

Ghost,

I think statements on gun control inspiring people to come out and vote is a very good bet.

As far as Hispanics, I know voter fraud is endemic but the number that matters is the number of new Hispanic voters not new Hispanics in the country. That number is a lot lower. The other thing about Hispanics is that the Democrats do not and will never have the same hold over the Hispanic vote that the Democrats do. Something like a third of Hispanics oppose further immigration. Being open borders doesn't get you 90% of the Hispanic vote and never will. Also, unlike blacks, Hispanics and whites intermarry at very high rates. So a whole lot of people that we call "Hispanics" are half or more native white. Hispanics really are being absorbed into the country and are always going to be a heterogeneous voting block as a result.

It is an interesting question about the black vote.I agree with you about a good part of the turnout being walking around money and such. Is it really the case, however, that the Democrats in 08 and 12 just went into a different gear for vote fraud and turnout machine than they were in 2000 and 2004? Maybe. It still puzzles me why they didn't use that machine to the same effect in the midterms. If you are just paying people to vote in someone else' name or to show up and vote at all, why does it being a midterm make a difference?

[Gray Ghost]

I am wishy-washy as to whether gun control will actually drive the GOP base to get off their ass and vote. It's not like Obama was pro firearms-rights. OTOH, I don't recall him making statements like we're going to take your shit whether you like it or not (but we will pay for it). And, really, were people supposed to think that a MA Governor was going to be all that pro-gun rights either? So I'm not sure what to think about how much Hillary's statements will drive GOP turnout.

If you have to shell out money for the mid-term elections too, that doubles your expenses. If we assume that, say 30% of the minority vote requires walking around money, and we assume that's about 20 bucks (no idea whether I'm in the ballpark or not there), then we're looking at [17.5 million Hispanic + Black reported voters OR 27 million Hispanic + Black reported voters + nonresponding as to whether they voted or not] * 30% * 20 bucks or somewhere between 100 million and 150 million dollars. (Voter numbers from the Census, available here, at Table 2) FWIW, those minority voting numbers are a LOT lower than I thought they'd be. Especially compared to the 70 million reported white voters and 22.5 million nonresponding.

[Gray Ghost]

I think you meant that the Dems do not have the same stranglehold over Hispanic votes as they do over the Black vote, and I'd agree. I agree that voter fraud is endemic, and I'm not sure what swing states are doing to minimize it. I agree that legal immigrants often despise illegal immigrants, considerably above and beyond the proportion of native-born citizens that hold those views.

It's inescapable though that Hispanics just pull the lever for Democrats in Presidential campaigns way more than they do for other parties. The link goes back to the 1980 election, but I'm pretty sure I've seen numbers that show the same thing going back to 1964. Adding more Hispanics and not taking care to ensure that non-citizens can't vote, will increase poll numbers for Democrats. Whether that flips red states to blue, I don't know.

[John]

They definitely do Ghost. But Hispanics don't turn out in that high of numbers and the Republicans still get a fair percent of those who do.

The interesting thing about 2016 is that Hillary and the Dems are for the first time telling all middle class and lower middle class white people and white men in particular to just go fuck themselves. Hhillary makes no secret of the fact that she doesn't care about their interests and never will. The question is can a white candidate who totally writes off all but about 20% of the white vote win simply through voter fraud and turnout efforts among minority groups.

I am not saying she can't, but it will be hard. And if she does, then the country at large is in a lot of trouble.

[Free Society]

Yeah I've been told that white men belong in the political wilderness because of racism and misogyny and all that.

Given the popular vitriol directed towards whites, I shudder to think of the political outcome of when whites are fully out of the electoral majority in a leftoid society where it's okay, both legally and ethically, to hold racist attitudes and policies against them.

[John]

The other thing about Hillary is how much will her obvious sell out to Wall Street and the big corporations hurt Democratic turnout. We make fun of Bernie Sanders but a good number of his supporters have legitimate anger about how Obama just sold out to Wall Street. And Hillary is more obvious about it than Obama is.

I know most of those people will suck it up and vote for her because hating the other side is their personal identity. But I wonder how many will stay home. Hillary strikes me as being a bit like Romney in that she has virtually no appeal to the base of the party no matter how hard she tries to pretend to agree with them.

[Free Society]

We make fun of Bernie Sanders but a good number of his supporters have legitimate anger about how Obama just sold out to Wall Street.

I guess that depends on how your defining "legitimate". Yes a person could have legitimate anger about political horse trading with Wall Street, but that assumes the person understands what Wall Street is, what they do, why they do it and the source of corruption. In all likelihood, Bernie supporters skew economically illiterate, and therefore will pin the rent-seeking problem on free enterprise instead of the state which is selling political favoritism in the first place.

They are mad that Wall Street maliciously conquered their otherwise angelic social institution called "the federal government", and forced it to do evil things they call "capitalism". So yes I'll agree that Bernie supporters are angry, but they don't have the wherewithal to have legitimate anger.

[MetalBard]

The driverless car. Like any other technology can be used for good or evil. You can't stop the progress of technology though, the only thing you can do is learn to adapt to it.

[John]

No. you can control technology and ensure that it does less harm. You make sure every car can be driven manually. You never under any circumstances ban human drivers. And you do not allow all cars to be networked together and thus vulnerable to cyber attack.

If you want to buy a car with a self driving mode, knock yourself out. The problem is not the technology. The problem is the desire among its supporters for it to become compulsory.

[Zeb]

And it is going to be quite difficult to coordinate a lot of driverless cars without some centralized control. That may be a problem that is solved soon. Or it may take a long time for them to get good enough. Part of the reason behind wanting to make driverless cars mandatory is probably to do with this difficulty. Taking out all human drivers would make it a bit easier. But I have no doubt that control is the biggest motivation for many supporters of the idea.

[John]

I think there are enough people who like driving and who like their cars that they will not get human drivers banned. I am cautiously optimistic they are not going to get what they want.

That said, they are playing the long game. There are a lot of articles around about how teenagers are not getting drivers' licenses these days and how that means they just don't want to drive and are in love with texting instead and such. That is not what is going on. What has happened is states have made getting a license much more difficult than it used to be and schools, despite being endless money pits, have stopped teaching drivers' ed. So fewer and fewer kids have the ability to obtain a drivers' license. I honestly believe that is by design. Progressives hate cars because cars give us so much freedom. But if you make it so kids never get licenses, people lose their attachment to cars as time goes on.

[sarcasmic]

Maybe kids aren't getting licenses because they don't have jobs, and their parents aren't willing or able to buy them a car, so they see no point in getting one.

[John]

There is certainly some of that too. But even if the kid doesn't own their own car, it is still handy to have them be able to drive. And many states have made that very difficult I am told. They give very long and difficult written exams and have strict driving tests. How does a kid pass that when there is no drivers' education in schools and their parents don't have the money to send them to a private driving school?

[sarcasmic]

How does a kid pass that when there is no drivers' education in schools and their parents don't have the money to send them to a private driving school?

Get the rule book. Read it. Read it again. Get a permit that allows them to drive with a licensed driver in the car. Practice with friends and family. Take the test. Get the license. Badda-bing badda-boom.

[John]

Yes it is possible but it is hard and a good number of kids don't bother. That is the entire point.

[sarcasmic]

Yes it is possible but it is hard and a good number of kids don't bother. That is the entire point.

Why is that a bad thing? Do you want to share the road with someone who is too immature and irresponsible to do that?

[Zeb]

That's how I did it. Though I did have to wait until I was 18 to get a license without driver ed.

[CatoTheChipper]

My kid took driving test a few months ago. If had taken it locally, he'd have to make an appointment six weeks in advance. He and Mom went to visit relatives about 150 miles away, after getting an appointment there one week in advance.

When I was a kid, you just showed up at DPS and took the test.

[Rhywun]

I can't imagine it being any worse than NY and here the written test takes 10 minutes and only an absolute moron could fail it. And drivers ed is like a 5 hour course that costs 50 bucks.

[John]

Maybe it is not true Rywun. I forget where I read about drivers' tests being really hard today. I have no experience with them so maybe the claim is wrong.

[Zeb]

It's up to each state too, so it's possible that there is significant variation.

Another thing that a lot of states have done recently is restrict how and when younger drivers can drive. Which might also discourage them from getting a license as soon as they can.

[Zeb]

This is the first I've heard about a trend of young people not getting driver's licenses. Interesting.

Even if there is a deliberate attempt to make driving licensing more difficult and expensive, I suspect it will mostly delay when people drive. It's been a lot more expensive and difficult to get a license in most of Europe for ages. There probably are more non-drivers there, and people tend not to get a license or their own car until they are older. But they still have a pretty vigorous car culture.

[sarcasmic]

Why do they need centralized control? All they really need to know is where the nearby cars are and where they are going. Pick some arbitrary radius for this. Have every car broadcast its location, planned course, and velocity within that radius. Then create some algorithm to process that information to adjust the planned course and velocity to ensure no collisions. Just like drivers do.

[Zeb]

Yes, good point. I was thinking about how we manage a fleet of robots. But when they are all your robots, central control is a good thing. What I should have said is that it will be very difficult to make them entirely autonomous. There needs to be some means for the cars to know the locations of other nearby cars, and that is tough to do without some communication among the cars. It still creates some security problems and requires some degree of standardization. But doesn't quite add up to central control.

I'm sure these problems will all be solved in time. I'm still not terribly excited about self driving cars and I think fears about them leading to more control and less autonomy are valid.

[Rhywun]

The problem is the desire among its supporters for it to become compulsory.

I think the opposite is much more likely. All driverless cars will require a driver to take over "just in case".

[John]

We can only hope. Also, I think they are greatly underestimating the liability issues involved. Any accident involving a robotic car will automatically be a product liability issue with a defendant with very deep pockets.

[Zeb]

And therefore, you can't have your car drive you home when you are drunk. Which kills about 90% of the utility of the whole thing.

[Rhywun]

Yeah, the whole point for me would be I don't want to drive.

[DEG]

Three Dog Night singer Cory Wells dead

Mama told him not to come.

[Brett L]

Three Dog Night now Two Dog Night.

[Gray Ghost]

Three Dog Night now Two Dog Night.

And people say climate change isn't happening.

[straffinrun]

Glad to see he wasn't killed by a cop.

[DEG]

Danes filing sperm shortage

It may sound crazy, but there's a global sperm shortage right now. Women are visiting fertility clinics in ever greater numbers and supplies can't keep pace.

It's gotten so bad that the British government set up a national sperm bank last year, but the organization still can't meet demand. It recently began advertising on the radio to recruit donors.

Shortages have also been reported in countries such as the U.S., China, New Zealand and Israel.

This is all good news for Ole Schou, who has spent nearly 30 years building a business that exports sperm around the world.

Schou runs Cryos International -- one of the world's biggest sperm banks -- in Aarhus, Denmark. It sends vials to over 80 countries and more than 27,000 babies have been born from its donors.

[Brett L]

All the money I'm wasting on screwing my wife... Damn.

[DEG]

You'd have to abstain from all sorts of fun stuff which hopefully your wife doesn't make you abstain from:

Many potential donors are scared off when they hear about the time commitment -- they are generally required to attend a clinic twice a week over a period of months. And there are rules on abstaining from sex, smoking and drugs while they are donating.

[John]

Maybe if the method of donation were changed from self pleasure to a more old fashioned way, they would get more volunteers?

[MetalBard]

Less efficient process. However perhaps they could grade the quality of sperm. Grade A for people that abstained from fun stuff while they donated, and grade B or C for those who did not. Prices could vary accordingly.

[Rich]

Aldous Huxley FTW!

[Palin's Buttplug]

Did the Huckabee campaign fire you or just run out of money?

[John]

Have you apologized for your whiteness today Shreek?

[DEG]

That sounds like a lucrative side-business for a German mega-brothel.

[John]

The pull out and finish in the collection cup method.

[Rich]

Sperm is often in short supply because it's surprisingly difficult to attract donors. "The hard part is recruiting them," said Laura Witjens, head of the UK National Sperm Bank.

They should try this.

[straffinrun]

Head of the UK National Sperm bank. Must look nice on a business card.

[Rich]

on a *sticky* business card.

[The Last American Hero]

Don't worry, I'm sure there are plenty of young Syrian refugees looking to make a quick buck.

[Swiss Servator]

NOBODY ASK STEVE SMITH TO HELP - HIM END SHORTAGE IN ONE WEEK!

[OldMexican]

Re: DEG,

It may sound crazy, but there's a global sperm shortage right now.

I make personal deliveries - no questions asked.

[SFC B]

I seem to recall that the British national sperm bank exacerbated the shortage, not was a response to it.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Lee County, FL Sheriff's Dept. and idiotic mugshot site post 9 year old arrestee's photo online, make fun of him, defend posting the photo

And another family learns to never call the cops.

[SugarFree]

Hey, now. His 11-year-old sister gets a full ride to college this way. All his college fund it forfeit.

[Crusty Juggler]

Oh Facebook comments.

[SugarFree]

They really undercut the idea the internet would be a magical place full of rainbows and unicorns if we just got rid of anonymity.

[Sevo]

The US is prosperous and at an average temperature of ~55*C, therefore ~55*C is required for prosperity, and global warming will cost a lot of money! Don't bother asking what the proposed solutions will cost; we'll keep that to ourselves:

"Study finds the warmer it gets, the more world economy hurts"
[...]
"The authors calculate a warmer U.S. in 2100 will have a gross domestic product per person that's 36 percent lower than it would be if warming stopped about now."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....TE=DEFAULT

[John]

The correlation equals causality fallacy for the win. I think the problem is baseball teams from Philadelphia winning the world series. What happened in 1929? The Philadelphia As won the World Series. In 2008? The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series. Coincidence? I think not.

[Libertymike]

What about 1980?

[John]

The Carter recession. It is Philadelphia baseball. I am telling you Mike.

[Libertymike]

Do you remember the misery index?

Speaking of the Carter recession, Reagan's best debate line was rooted in the on-going debate throughout the 1980 campaign as to what constituted a recession.

Reagan: Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose your job. Recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.

To this day, I still get a chuckle out of that line. He did nail it, timing and all. The little boy in me would like to think that it was impromptu.

[John]

He was brilliant. What he did best that no one seems to be able to do today is absolutely pulverize his opponent and look like a funny nice guy doing it. That comment if you think about it is really pretty mean to Carter. But Reagan could deliver it in such a way that it made people laugh and him look like a nice guy.

That is what the Republicans have forgotten. You can't just be pissed off all of the time. Obama is more than anything a master troll artist. He does shit that he knows is going to piss the Republicans off for the single purpose of making them angry and negative. To win, you have to be positive and likable. No one likes the pissed off gadfly even if they are right.

[Raven Nation]

My favorite Reagan debate quote was:

"I refuse to take advantage of my opponent's youth and inexperience" in 1984.

I was still in Australia at the time, thought Reagan was an ass but still thought that was hysterical.

[Libertymike]

That was the second debate. IIRC, he had stumbled in the first debate against Mondale and needed to rebound. That line certainly helped.

[See Double You]

I guess nothing else will change in 95 years that would cast that percentage into doubt.

[See Double You]

Christ, that should be 85 years.

[Sevo]

"I guess nothing else will change in 95 years that would cast that percentage into doubt."

Yep, humans won't do anything to adapt.

[Brett L]

Here's the thing. If you analyze the projections for economic growth in the US south of, say, the approximate line between Atlanta and Los Angeles five years before the air conditioner was invented, and then look at it 95 years later, do you think they correlate at all? That people were predicting the rise of Miami, Tampa and Tuscon? Or Houston being the size of Chicago? No.

[See Double You]

Trump: "Talk to the hand."

Carson: "Alright. Like talking to the hair was any different."

[Suthenboy]

"A masked man wielding a sword attacked a school in Sweden, killing one teacher and seriously injuring several students."

The name of the attacker is curiously missing from the article.

[Raven Nation]

Some more info here:

http://www.thelocal.se/2015102.....with-sword

One of the students has died.

[Raven Nation]

Ahh, BBC, never change:

t shows a man wearing black, with a helmet, a mask and a sword, possibly resembling a Nazi SS outfit.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34602621

[OldMexican]

It shows a man wearing black, with a helmet, a mask and a sword, possibly resembling a Nazi SS outfit.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Nazis.

[Swiss Servator]

*Teenage Mutant Narrowed Gaze*

[Zeb]

The name of the attacker is curiously missing from the article.

Right to be forgotten?

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there is some law there that forbids releasing the name right away because he died.

[Rhywun]

They're calling him "right wing" so that is curious. This is the one the media have been waiting for.

[Citizen X]

Swedish national sword registry in 3... 2... 1...

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

"The name of the attacker is curiously missing from the article."

Could it be ... Oh, I don't know ... maybe it's ... MOHAMMED???

[Swiss Servator]

Try "Darth Vader"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-shot.html

[CatoTheChipper]

Don't know, but the school is around 75km from Gothenburg.

[Zeb]

Kind of looks like more like that guy in Norway who killed a bunch of people because of too many Mohammeds.

[Rhywun]

Yeah, more like "Sven".

Hearing Europe lecture the US about "race" while race relations there are about a hundred years behind is getting a little old.

[Zeb]

In my experience, Europeans are way more overtly racist than any Americans I have encountered.

[lafe.long]

Kepler Space Telescope: NASA Scientists Spot Planet Being Torn Apart by Gravitational Pull of White Dwarf

Astronomers have used the telescope to spot a large rocky object getting pulled apart as it moves towards a white dwarf star.

[Crusty Juggler]

Greg Gutfeld keeps becoming more powerful.

[Citizen X]

Either that, or joe from lowell is MAD.

[AlexInCT]

Astronomy is racist.. White and brown dwarfs, blue and red giants, black hos.... WTF?

[lafe.long]

University of Virginia: Student Files Lawsuit Against Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control

Martese Johnson, who was thrown to the ground and arrested by the department's agents on March 18, filed a $3 million lawsuit on Tuesday, saying the attack left him "permanently disfigured."

[John]

He will likely get a big check and the officers who did it don't and won't give a shit and will continue to do the exact same thing to others.

[sarcasmic]

University of Virginia: Student Files Lawsuit Against Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control the taxpayers

[See Double You]

Yeah, this is the biggest problem with using lawsuits against the state to effect change. Nothing changes, but you do get a check courtesy of the unwary public.

[Crusty Juggler]

I know the answer to this, but what kind of a person is an aggressive Alcohol Beverage Control cop?

[Juvenile Bluster]

I think it goes like this:

There are cops, who are stupid bullies

There are correctional officers, who are stupid bullies too stupid to be cops.

There are mall cops, who are stupid billies too stupid to be correctional officers.

A few steps down, you get to the ABC cops.

[Sevo]

"The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs to advance to the World Series."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xBxZGQ1dJk

[John]

On Back to the Future day no less.

[Sevo]

forgot...

[See Double You]

Seems too coincidental, doesn't it?

[Brett L]

The Cubs need a new stadium. Its their only hope. Too bad Chicago can't afford to build them one.

[Sevo]

"Former UK telescope to be removed from Hawaii mountain"
[...]
"The University of Hawaii announced Wednesday that a third observatory will be taken down from Mauna Kea ? a move that fulfills the governor's request to remove 25 percent of telescopes from the mountain considered sacred by many Native Hawaiians"
http://www.wsbtv.com/ap/ap/for.....-mo/nn7LL/

[John]

Seriously? Words fail.

[SugarFree]

Looking at things is racist.

[Ken Shultz]

Isn't the University of Hawaii somewhere to the left of Berkeley?

[OldMexican]

Re: Ken Shultz,

Isn't the University of Hawaii somewhere to the left of Berkeley?

The only thing left of Berkeley is a 300-feet drop.

[Ken Shultz]

I dunno.

I'd put UC Santa Cruz or Hawaii up for that contest, too.

[wareagle]

and at the bottom of that drop, you land in Hawaii?

[See Double You]

Separation of church and state...wait, carry on.

/prog

[Ken Shultz]

"Ben Carson is now polling ahead of Donald Trump in Iowa."

Again, the story in this election is all about the negatives, not who's in front of whom.

Last poll I saw suggested that for every registered Republican with a favorable view of Trump, there were two with an unfavorable view. As candidates start to drop out, that means Trump isn't picking up that support.

It's the same thing on the Democratic side. Nice story this morning at the WSJ about Hillary's negative numbers...

"As WSJ's Peter Nicholas wrote on Tuesday, this week's Journal/NBC News poll found that 64% of white men hold an unfavorable view of Mrs. Clinton, compared with just 26% who see her in a positive light. That's a gap of 38 points.

It's about as poor a rating as Mr. Obama received at one of the lowest points of his presidency: In December 2013, amid the troubled rollout of healthcare.gov and after the government shutdown that year, Mr. Obama was viewed unfavorably by 67% of white men and favorably by 29%?a 38-point difference that matches Mrs. Clinton's gap today.

If Mrs. Clinton's favorability numbers translate into voting behavior, she would be in a pretty deep hole: Her 26% favorable rating among white men is lower than the 35% share that Mr. Obama won in the 2012 election."

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/.....s-and-win/

[Ken Shultz]

Ben Carson is beating Donald Trump in Iowa, and among white men, Hillary's favorable rating is lower than Obama's was--so what does that mean?

That's right. It means the Republicans are a bunch of racists.

[OldMexican]

Racists and misogynists!

Or something.

[Ken Shultz]

So that's what it means--Republicans are even more misogynist than they are racist?

I knew it mean something bad!

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

"Or something."

Islamophobes!

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

As candidates start to drop out, that means Trump isn't picking up that support.

This is about what I expected. Trump may be leading the polls, but I think he has a pretty low ceiling. The people who support the various dropouts (currently just Perry and Walker, if I'm not mistaken) are going to gradually coalesce around one of the more palatable alternatives. I honestly doubt there are many Republican voters out there whose first choice is, say, Perry because they like his foreign policy plan, but would otherwise support Trump because Amurka needs to be great again!

[OldMexican]

A masked man wielding a sword attacked a school in Sweden, killing one teacher and seriously injuring several students.

We must have a real conversation about fencing violence!

(Get it? Fencing? Eh? Never mind.)

Marijuana use among U.S. adults has more than doubled over the past 12 years.

Reefer Madness!

[Ken Shultz]

I admit my first question was whether he was a Muslim terrorist. ...especially with lone wolf knife attacks being the big fad among fashionable Palestinian terrorists this fall.

I don't think they usually go for masked, though.

[Swiss Servator]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-shot.html

[Ken Shultz]

"Kronan is located in an area of Trollhattan with a diverse population and many of the pupils are first or second generation immigrants."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z3pJrdlKof

Yeah, looks from the photos like a lot of African immigrants attend that school.

[CatoTheChipper]

Evidently you haven't been paying attention to the ISIS propaganda photos. All of the beheaders are masked. They don't use Darth Vader helmets, though.

[Crusty Juggler]

In hunt for US terror recruits, FBI agents set traps

Critics say the Federal Bureau of Investigation's growing army of undercover agents tasked with hunting down terror recruits on US soil sometimes unduly pressures young, impressionable people to plan and move forward with acts they may otherwise not have conceived on their own.

You don't say.

[John]

As best I can tell, the FBI's two main activities are distributing child porn and recruiting people into terror plots. Makes you proud to be an American doesn't it?

[commodious spittoon]

It's not all bad, though.

[John]

And I read on instapundit where some guy had 3d printed his own rail gun. That made me pretty proud to be an American. I would like to send a copy of that article to ISIS with the subject line "your plans to invade America" and body of, "in America people 3D print their own rail guns. Americans are nuts. Just leave them alone."

[commodious spittoon]

The best part about your plan is the vapors it would give lefties. Congressional Republicans issue a statement to Iran making the immanently credible case that an illegal deal with the sitting president will likely not be honored by future administrations, and the left collectively lost its shit. Could you imagine the hysterics if the NRA began propagandizing in Syria and Iraq about the many, many gunowners in America?

[John]

Give examples of the various mass shootings with the caption "this is what one motivated American with a gun can accomplish. Imagine what all of the hundred million American gun owners could do."

[commodious spittoon]

My God, the Gawker posts would be amazing.

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

"There is a gun behind every brade of glass...." - some Japanese leader in WWII

[Gray Ghost]

Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be a Benghazi hearings post yet, so I'll ask my questions about it here. What do you all expect Hillary to say at this hearing? In a perfect world, what would you like her to say? What do you all think she actually did, that night in 2012, and was any of it illegal?

[commodious spittoon]

WDATPDIM?

[Crusty Juggler]

How does Patrick Kennedy still have a job?

[Ken Shultz]

Is he a Kennedy?

[Crusty Juggler]

He is the asshole who actually runs the state department.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, the latest Hillbot email dump revealed that she micromanaged how she was presented in the media and pushed all the actual work to the (slightly) more competent State Department members.

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

What difference, at this point, does it make?

[John]

I really have no idea what she can or is going to say. At this point I am not sure she is going to change any minds no matter what she says. I can't imagine her admitting the full truth about whatever the hell Stevens was doing in an unsecured compound in the middle of a war zone. And everyone knows once the attack started her and Penetta told the military to stand down and left the guy there to die. Other than "what difference does it make" what can she say?

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

I think it's suspected that the CIA was covertly arming the Syrian rebels, using Benghazi as its base of operations. I saw a report a couple years back that hundreds of surface-to-air missiles had been stolen during the attack, but there was never any follow up on that.

The bigger scandal with respect to Benghazi, in my opinion, is that the MSM completely covered up and/or lied about it as it happened because they wanted to protect Barry in the heat of a re-election campaign. But, of course, the media isn't going to report on its own dereliction of duty.

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

^^ this, totally

[John]

There is the arms smuggling thing and the fact that Petreus' mistress said he told her that the compound was a CIA prison. That little tidbit got covered up real quick. That is certainly not something that the mistress would misunderstand if Petreus told her that and I can't see why she would have made it up. And it being a CIA prison would explain why they attacked the compound.

What has never been explained is why the militia attacked the compound in the first place. We had helped them win the war. Even under Obama, attacking US assets has a way of ending with you on the wrong end of a cruise missile or JDAM. So why did some militia in Libya decide to risk attacking a US diplomatic compound? It makes no sense. And clearly the administration didn't want anyone to know the real reason or otherwise why did they engage in the whole "it was in response to the video" charade?

And yeah, the media's handling of that and especially Candy Crowley shoving her fat ass in front of Romney during the debate to save Obama is a disgrace.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

All important questions that no one is even bothering to ask.

[Gray Ghost]

There was a, IIRC, German documentary that filmed inside the compound some time after the attack. Notable were all of the interior room doors that locked from the outside.

I had thought that Gilmore here had the idea that it was a Turk or Syrian-backed attack, that they were irritated the U.S. was funding/supplying groups that were trying to destabilize Assad and/or build up the peshmerga. They told us before hand to knock it off, we kept up the arms shipments, and they played 'hire-a-militia' to hit the compound with about two platoons' worth of guys with belt feds and mortars. I'm sure I'm butchering his explanation, which made sense to me at the time.

As to the events of the night, I am surprised that the designated QRF, on fucking 9/11, was busy traipsing along the mountains of Croatia, hours away from air transport, instead of sitting alert 30 at some place like Sigonella or Herliakon. I know, somewhere, there's an audiotape of the radio traffic between wherever the command post handling the crisis was, and the two guys on the rooftop, trying to designate targets, and I'd bet that radio traffic was something like, "Hold tight, help's on the way." Was that rumor ever confirmed, that an impromptu rescue mission was scrubbed, and that an officer who took umbrage with the stand-down got himself relieved?

[John]

That all makes sense. The lack of a QRF and complete lack of security is still inexplicable. But it is easy to forget just how stupid and incompetent Hillary is. It is amazing and shocking but entirely possible that Hillary was so stupid and so incompetent that she left a US ambassador completely unprotected in such conditions. Hillary is so craven and ambitious it is easy to forget that she is really stupid. She isn't Bill. Remember, very few women went to law school in the late 60s. She is an original affirmative action baby.

[Gray Ghost]

And truthfully, has the U.S. ever reacted the way you expect, say, the Mongols did, when one of our ambassadors gets whacked? We didn't declare war on either Black September or the Sudan when Cleo Noel got killed. We didn't do much at first when Adolph Dubs got killed by Afghan cops (who were taking their orders from the KGB). So why would an adversary think that killing Stevens would inexorably mean their death or their organization's destruction?

[CatoTheChipper]

Why did the US have a consulate in Benghazi in the first place? Seriously. It is not a national capitol, had virtually no trade with the US, virtually no US residents in the vicinity, and absolutely nobody nearby who should get a US visa. In other words, there was no legitimate reason for a US consulate to be there. There are hundreds of cities around the world that are more worthy of a consulate.

Obviously, it was not a consulate but a CIA outpost engaged in some sort of nefarious activity.

Why did the jihadis who the CIA advised and armed and for whom the USAF provided air support turn on the US? That's simple: they are jihadis. There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim militant. And, unless you're a jihadi too, you're always an infidel no matter how much you you supplied them with training, arms, and air support. But the bozos in the State Department have a different model of the world; they are, in fact, insane and make the same mistake over and over.

[Raven Nation]

Good point. Once again, a Clinton scandal has been spun to make it look like the argument is over some innocuous issue. The key points, to my mind are:

1. Did the administration deliberately lie about the causes of the attack in order to protect the re-election narrative?

2. Why was Obama MIA (less important but may point back to 1)

3. As John points out above: why was the ambassador in Benghazi?

4. What was the purpose of the post in Benghazi?

5. Was a rescue mission called off and, if so, why? Personally, this seems unlikely but it might be worth asking about.

[Ken Shultz]

Also, in regards to Mumbly Joe not running for President, some enterprising young reporter should ask both Biden and Hillary whether Biden was promised anything by the Hillary campaign in exchange for dropping out.

After all, that's how Hillary got to be Secretary of State--she horse-traded for the job with Obama in exchange for dropping out so he could move to the center rather than fight her off from his left.

If Biden didn't ask for anything in exchange for a promise not to run, then he's an idiot. If she wins, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts he ends up in a major cabinet position. I doubt he'll be her vice--because as I alluded elsewhere, she needs a running mate who can help her negatives with the melanin challenged.

[Raven Nation]

I doubt he'll be her vice--because as I alluded elsewhere, she needs a running mate who can help her negatives with the melanin challenged.

Also, I can't imagine he would want to be veep for another 4-8 years.

Assuming Hillary gets the nomination, I could see her picking a less experienced black Democrat like Cory Booker.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

My money is still on Julian Castro

[Almanian's Rusty Woodchipper]

A goddamned commie. Too bad his brother still run Cuba....

/reverse derp

[Raven Nation]

That seems more likely. Booker being from NJ doesn't really help a D candidate.

[commodious spittoon]

But Biden's beloved by blacks.

[EMD]

They gon' put you all back in chainz!!1111!

[Enough About Woodchippers]

"Democratic Presidential frontrunner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to spar this morning with Republican members of the House Select Committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans that had no names."

[sarcasmic]

+ 3 Robert Paulson

[Free Society]

But in death, in Project Arab Mayhem, you do have a name.

[onebornfree]

Avast thar mateys, landlubbers and perpetually hallucinating "limited government" statist automatons! I see the matrix still "has" you all .:-)

I don't care which scam artist finally gets elected, or which doesn't, nor what the Fed does/does not do, nor whether, according to Mr "investment advisor with a claimed "near perfect prediction record" [insert advisor name of choice] , we are supposedly in for recession, depression, deflation, hyper inflation, a stock market boom, or whatever .

Why? Because whatever happens, my entirely self-managed, fully diversified, once per year adjusted long term savings plan will be safely protected and will , 9 times out of 10, grow at an average of 8% per annum over and above the prevailing inflation [or deflation], rate, year in, year out, as it has since 1986 when I started using it.

Savings plan results 1972-2011: http://onebornfreesfinancialsa.....gspot.com/

Regards,onebornfree
Personal Freedom consultant
onebornfree.blogspot.com

[Crusty Juggler]

This. So much this.

[Citizen X]

YESSSS

[commodious spittoon]

I, too, have a long-term savings plan: in the long term I plan to start saving.

[See Double You]

Sorry, dude, but nobody's buying your snake oil.

[Citizen X]

YARR BUT WHERE ELSE ARE YE GONNA GET BOTH SOUND ADVICE ON THE HANDLIN' O' YER DOUBLOONS AND PROOF THAT ALL THE JEWS WHO WORKED IN THE WTC STAYED HOME ON 9/11

[Crusty Juggler]

ARRGHHHHH JOO MAGIC MELTS STEEL

[Citizen X]

YAR BUT JET FUEL CANNOT

[Heroic Mulatto]

You mock, but burying your booty on a sandy beach somewhere in Tortuga has like a 20 percent rate of return.

And Jews did 9*/25.

*Kislev

[Crusty Juggler]

His plan involves placing all of your savings into a trunk or two, and then buring those trunks at a remote location. Then, crudely draw a map showing exactly where the trunk is buried - marked with a big, red X - so that you, and only you, can access your savings.

Who could argue with that plan?

[Heroic Mulatto]

You are now my favorite commenter.

[sarcasmic]

If it looks to good to be true, buy it!

[VictoriaAnker]

I bought brand new BMW by working ONline work. Six month ago i hear from my friend that she is working some online job and making more then 98$/hr i can't beleive. But when i start this job i have to beleived her

??????? ------ http://www.HomeJobs90.Com

[SugarFree]

Like a free ride when you've already paid.

[Idle Hands]

well we do kind of all own guns.

[Lee G]

Every political movement needs a whipping boy

[The Last American Hero]

People that argue from logic, reason and that point to historical examples of their failed ideology rather than just emoting freaks them out.

[Invisible Handjob]

My guess is that they know when they write these kind of mindless "10 Ways Libertarians are Worse than Hitler, You'll Never Believe #4" screeds someone like Entropy will post a link in one of our blogs and a bunch of us will click on it so we can be outraged, maybe engage in the comments. It's pure clickbait nonsense.

[Citizen X]

Like some good advice that you just didn't take.

[Crusty Juggler]

Would she go down on you in a theater?

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

And who would have thought
It figures

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

To quote a favorite movie: "LOT'S of guns."

[MetalBard]

I got a handy in a theater once..

[Citizen X]

I took a shit in a theater once.

/Sandi

[SugarFree]

Did you employ the popcorn bucket?

[Citizen X]

That, and other ideological foes to progressivism are really just arguing with the progs over how the loot should be used - libertarians say there maybe shouldn't be looting in the first place. Libertarianism is an existential threat to all forms of authoritarianism.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

Are you saying I am a "Useful Idiot" there, Handjob??

[Citizen X]

Come on, there aren't enough libertarians to make up a marketable demographic.

[Sapient Mulch]

Libertarianism is an existential threat to all forms of authoritarianism.

And it erodes the general trust in conformity and herd thinking they peddle.

[Invisible Handjob]

Everyone does it on all sides. I mostly can't help myself clicking on these articles either. These kind of articles are deliberately crafted so that guys on the opposite side of the political spectrum give their site clicks. And it's very effective. Posting links to this kind of pap just drives traffic to their sites. The arguments are always completely vacuous, it's the same shit every time. Easy strawmen for them to knock down and even easier for us to refute.

[CatoTheChipper]

Lenin and Stalin were in complete accord on one thing: they hated liberalism with a passion.

And, when they castigated liberalism, they meant classical liberalism, which is now known as libertarianism.

"He who now talks about the 'freedom of the press' goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism." - Lenin (echoed by politically correct progressives everywhere)

[CatoTheChipper]

They are, however, very useful for a two-minute hate.

[Tonio]

^This.

Thanks, Sug, for another masterpiece.