A.M. Links: Carson Beats Trump in New National Poll, House Republicans Offer Tentative Budget Agreement, Baltimore Cops Get Body Cameras

• 

  CNN

  According to a new national poll, Ben Carson is now beating Donald Trump among Republican primary voters.

• House Republicans have offered a tentative two-year budget agreement. Will it avert a government shutdown?

• Police officers in Baltimore are now wearing body cameras.

• "Cops in a northern California town are to be equipped with nunchucks—the weapon mastered by Bruce Lee—in order to 'more compassionately gain compliance' from suspects."

• The Pentagon is considering embedding U.S. troops in the Iraqi military to battle ISIS.

• Wal-Mart has applied for permission to test the use of drones for home delivery and pickup.

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• Why Intellectuals Hate Capitalism Whole Foods CEO John Mackey on entrepreneurship, snobbery, and the minimum wage. By Nick Gillespie

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Pentagon is considering embedding U.S. troops in the Iraqi military to battle ISIS.

So then basically fight ISIS for them.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Hello.

"Cops in a northern California town are to be equipped with nunchucks?the weapon mastered by Bruce Lee?in order to 'more compassionately gain compliance' from suspects."

Numbskulls with nunchucks.

I see a movie.

[MetalBard]

Wow talk about your mall ninja mentality. Nunchucks are one of the most impractical weapons ever invented, I can't wait til one of these idiots smacks themselves in the nuts with one.

[straffinrun]

If that's our goal, how about this?

[some guy]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Those take a lot of practice and training to master. Why not just give them nightsticks?

[Rich]

'more compassionately gain compliance'

"I see you are a fuck-up, just like me."

[Zeb]

The article seems to say that the police nunchucks are not so much for swinging around and more for wrapping around wrists or ankles to subdue people. Doesn't sound much better or less aggressive than a nightstick.

[Gray Ghost]

Chucks aren't new to law enforcement. IIRC, they tried them out in many departments in the 90s---CA is where I saw them---as a tool to help gain compliance of subjects through pain. The chucks are used to gain leverage on the subject's limb or joint, not as a striking tool.

See, e.g., this TV blurb on Orcutt Police Nunchaku. The cop in the video doesn't strike the subject with the chucks; he uses them in this example to clamp on the subject's ankle, and use his increased leverage to take the subject to the ground. They hurt quite a bit when used that way---I had a cousin who liked tormenting his younger relatives with his homemade chucks.

No idea why cops went away from them, or why they're going back to them.

[Illocust]

Huh, if they use them to twist limbs, it would seem it would decrease spinal and head injuries and increase limb injuries. That seems like a good thing. I'd rather have a broken wrist than neck.

[Rhywun]

as a tool to help gain compliance of subjects through pain

I thought that's what BLAM BLAM BLAM was for?

[Eric L]

It is in Anderson, CA just south of Redding. Anderson is one of the places they drop off homeless and people just out of prison. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

[LynchPin1477]

So then basically fight ISIS for them.

I presume they'll be on hover-boards, both as an homage to Back to the Future and to avoid that whole "no boots on the ground" thing.

[Jerryskids]

Huh. I assumed "embedding" was a euphemism for "fucking them in the ass".

[Fist of Etiquette]

Police officers in Baltimore are now wearing body cameras.

First chapter in the training manual? Off switch location.

[Swiss Servator]

"How to remove the battery"

[some guy]

... and make it look like an accident.

[Juvenile Bluster]

You don't have to do that. It just has to "accidentally" come off the officer's uniform in the "struggle".

[Atanarjuat]

Or get flipped around backwards.

[Brett L]

"This end away from enemy"

[Rhywun]

LOL

[gaoxiaen]

Well, they just need the sound to work. "Stop grabbing my gun!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Wal-Mart has applied for permission to test the use of drones for home delivery and pickup.

The drones cost less than all the mobility scooters.

[Swiss Servator]

*polite applause*

[Lord Humungus]

As large animals disappear, the loss of their poop hurts the planet

It only takes a glance at a history book and a look out the window to know that our planet has lost many of its biggest creatures: The world that was once home to mammoths and towering dinosaurs can now barely maintain stable populations of rhinos and whales. But according to a new study, we've got more to mourn than just the animals themselves. We've lost their feces, too ? and that's a bigger problem than you might think.

Why should we miss steaming piles of dinosaur dung? According to research published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, megafauna play a greater role in the spread of nutrients across the planet than scientists ever realized.

[Zeb]

I'm pretty sure the world has adjusted to the lack of dinosaurs by now.
Good thing we have other ways of spreading nutrients around now. Large animals tend to make agriculture more difficult.

[DrZaius]

If a dinosaur shits in the woods, and humanity isn't there to see it, did it really shit in the woods? The Philosoraptor would like to know.

[Zeb]

Yes

[SugarFree]

Humpback whale pooping

[Rich]

That whale needs to eat more fiber.

[SugarFree]

Cheetah shits in Jeep

[SugarFree]

Monkey poops on crowd

[Lee G]

But enough of PB's home videos

[gaoxiaen]

More home video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwLHZUIh8f4

[dan'o en barrel]

Not a monkey- its a damned, stinking ape!

[wareagle]

now wait a minute. The anti-meat crowd has been active for a long time telling us how all those cow farts and such are horrible things. While cows and bulls are not the size of whales, there are a lot more of them. So which is it - are they good or bad?

[commodious spittoon]

Yes.

[Atanarjuat]

Well, this article, which I have not clicked on, is probably referring to organic nitrogen-containing compounds deposited on the ground, rather than the various compounds released in gaseous form. For example, I heard that forests in the Pacific Northwest obtain a significant chunk of their nitrogen from partially-eaten salmon discarded by bears.

[CatoTheChipper]

There is a simple criterion to determine whether anything is good or bad to environmentalists: Does it serve in any way in the pursuit of happiness of ordinary people in their everyday life?

Rhinos and humpback whales have very little to do with the everyday life of ordinary people, so obviously the planet needs more of rhino and whale shit.

Beef and dairy cattle contribute greatly to the quality of life for ordinary people, so obviously their husbandry must be curtailed to save the planet.

[Rich]

Seagulls on laxatives

[Lord Humungus]

New Miniseries: Warty and the Difficult Protein Shake

[Frank Frankelson]

Stop giving SugarFree more material!! His fiction is disturbing enough as is.

[bacon-magic]

2 Warties and a Cup.

[The Last American Hero]

The world isn't sentient or living. It isn't hurt by anything. Even if there were nuclear war, the Earth don't give a damn.

[LynchPin1477]

Who mourns for the dinosaurs? Or mammoths?

Giant sloths, well, that's a different story
/sheds single tear

[Jerryskids]

Dinosaurs are just overgrown lizards and I can't imagine anyone around here mourning the loss of a lizard.

[G?C]

Actually, I would be quite sad if I lost my lizards. I love watching the green and brown anoles and the five-line skinks sunning themselves on the pool cage as I float in the pool. And watching the little buggers puff themselves up to scare off my 80 pound pit bull is quite entertaining...

[Mickey Rat]

The emergence and exinction of megafauna is a cylical thing. There have been a few iterations since the majority of dinosaur species died out.

[Juvenile Bluster]

House Republicans have offered a tentative two-year budget agreement. Will it avert a government shutdown?

If anybody didn't think that the Congressional Republicans would cave in and raise the budget and raise the worthless "debt limit", raise your hand. And then put it back down, because you're an idiot.

[Brett L]

I am optimistic that this will finally fuck the statist wing of the party. Hopefully, Paul Ryan needs all the Dem botes to be elected Speaker now. I'm hoping for a crowd pf angry Congresscritters to take turn stabbing Boehner while saying, "For the Republic." If Paul Ryan led them to that, I'd be a little optimistic about the future.

[some guy]

Anybody else getting ads on this site to "stop Paul Ryan, the homosexual lobby's Trojan horse for Speaker"? Talk about not knowing your audience...

[Gray Ghost]

Don't those kind of ads also look at the browser's previous browsing history to determine which set of ads to push to you?

Thanks goodness for Ghostery and Adblock.

[some guy]

Reason is the only political/entertainment website I go to on this browser... sooooo.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Big Homo is targeting "some guy".

[gaoxiaen]

Bullseye!

[CatoTheChipper]

Maybe its a reverse push poll that appears to smear Paul Ryan as a tool of the homosexual lobby to make an otherwise unappealing candidate more acceptable to politically acitive, gay-friendly people on the right. The ad might be extraordinarily well targeted.

[Trigger Hippie]

Hell, I get donate to Hillary! pop ups after reading a story about her here. However, due to my gaming habits, I do get to see Kate Upton's tits falling out of her dress on occasion. So I guess it's a wash.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Will it avert a government shutdown?

Will it avert spending cuts???????

[some guy]

It's a budget increase, so yes.

[Lord Humungus]

California's Prop. 47 revolution: Voters were sold a bill of goods

As crime rates rise, Californians are realizing that they were sold a bill of goods on Proposition 47, the 2014 ballot measure that converted some felonies to misdemeanors. The campaign spin was all about reducing the punishment for drug possession. But proponents played down its dramatic softening of penalties for many non-drug offenses.

Under this law, more than 3,700 inmates have had their sentences reduced and been released from state prison. Drug addicts now often escape punishment for crimes they commonly commit to support their habits: shoplifting, writing bad checks and any thefts under $950 ? even of guns. And most semiautomatic pistols and revolvers are purchased new for less than $950. This leniency just facilitates continued addiction.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Sorry, I'm still not following how any of that is bad.

[Brett L]

Obviously the California Penitentiary Pensions Fund doesn't own a chink of your paper.

[Zeb]

Racist?

[Brett L]

Whoops. Chunk. /no sizist

[Gray Ghost]

Reducing sentences for drug possession is good. (Legalization would be better) However, this Proposition evidently also reduced sentences for theft and vandalism, to the degree that jail doesn't enter into the equation at all for the criminal. What used to be a case of catch and release is now supposedly even worse, at least from the people I talk to who still live in CA and do CJ work.

Even in Libertopia, I'd think we still want the police to punish people enough who commit property crime to deter those people from continuing to do it.

[Brett L]

We have two charges: petit theft and grand theft. The Prop seems to state that petit theft of less than $950 isn't worth jailing someone for. This doesn't rule out fine and restitution or civil judgement. Same thing with property destruction.

[Atanarjuat]

Considering that cops don't seem to give a shit about investigating small property crimes anyway, I can't see it causing a huge social upheaval.

[Brett L]

Oh come on. College kids deserve to have their shit regularly stolen from their cars and apartments. You can bet the cops show up in Southwood to a vehicle break in.

[MetalBard]

How come we can only be soft or hard on crime in politics? We can't just get rid of laws against victimless crimes and be tough on crimes that actually hurt people.

Why do we only get to choose between two shitty alternatives in politics?

Right now in Ohio I can vote for either creating a state supported Marijuana cartel controlled by well-connected moneyed interests, or I continue to keep marijuana illegal.

Why can't I just legalize marijuana?

[Juice]

So your choice is between empowering the state or empowering the state and you don't have a choice to dis-empower the state? Interdasting.

[Zeb]

This leniency just facilitates continued addiction.

Therefore, it's OK to lock people up in overcrowded cages.

[wareagle]

addiction is a problem, but more of public health than criminality. Get these folks some help; putting them in prison is not working.

[Jerryskids]

Are we talking about people addicted to sticking their nose in everybody else's business? I agree they need help but I don't think sticking them in prison is a bad idea either.

[Lee G]

Try them for the other crimes. Ignore the drugs.

[Pope Jimbo]

If the drugs were legal, they'd be cheap enough that most addicts wouldn't need to steal to support their habit.

When is the last time you saw a drunk robbing people so he could get his 40 of malt liquor?

I'm sure it would be the same with other drugs. Legalize them and the worst addicts could get their fix by panhandling.

[VG Zaytsev]

That assumes that drug us 'causes' criminal activity on a large scale. More likely, it is just a loose correlation of assholes that are criminals who also use drugs. In which case drug legalization would not reduce property and personal crime much.

[Zeb]

I'm pretty well convinced that a lot of petty property crime is caused by desperate junkies looking for easy money. It seems ridiculous to suggest that every bit of street crime would exist even without the enormous incentives produced by drug prohibition. OF course it won't be eliminated.

I've known some junkies and in many cases people who would not have stolen or cheated you can quickly become scheming, untrustworthy jerks who are willing to shoplift, steal from friends and often worse to get some cash.

[Pope Jimbo]

I think there is also an element of being able to buy black market drugs with actual stolen goods too. A drug dealer might be willing to trade you a bunch of your drug of choice for a stolen firearm.

If it were legal, I doubt the clerk at the store would be willing to make the same trade.

[Zeb]

Yeah, that too. It's not necessarily just cash.

[dan'o en barrel]

Cash via theft is easily accomplished. I knew of a handful of stores who would purchase batteries, mach 3 razors, levi's and other goods at 75 cents on the dollar. Many career junkies I've known started their day taking a bus to neighborhoods where its easy to steal, using a transfer to get downtown to fence their acquisitions, then walk to the spot to cop their fix.

[Pope Jimbo]

The conservatives over at Powerline have been freaking for a month or two about the mandatory sentencing reforms being passed in the Congress.

I'm really fucking stunned at how rabid some people are to lock others up.

[straffinrun]

+1 Ronda Rousy.

[Swiss Servator]

Heh.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Ben Carson is now beating Donald Trump among Republican primary voters.

What is to blame for all of this? The quality of GOP candidates or of GOP primary voters? You decide.

[MetalBard]

I think the quality of politics in general.

[Zeb]

Pretty much. I continue to be astonished at just how terrible everything about this presidential election is. Politics is always awful, but even from a more mainstream point of view, the candidates this time are just ridiculous (and not in a fin way).

[Atanarjuat]

Yeah, there's definitely something fishy going on this time around.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Fin way?

Is that where the BloSux play?

[Zeb]

Gay fish.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

While there is something different about having Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders pulling big numbers, it wasn't long ago that we had Obama v McCain, or Kerry v Bush, or Bush v Gore. Those are all astonishingly terrible election choices.

[Zeb]

Terrible, but expected.

[Juice]

It's only a hair worse than last time. I mean last time you had Rock You Like A Herman Cain and Santorum, Huckabee and all the rest of the joke candidates. This time Trump is making it more of a joke and that's about it.

[some guy]

We're going from a terrible candidate who is entertaining to a terrible candidate who is boring. This is lose-lose for the country. On the bright side, though, it might encourage Trump to up the crazy entertainment to 11.

[The Last American Hero]

Since most of Trump's platform has been "Say what you will, I'm Winning". It will be curious to see him try to appeal to voters when he's not.

[Atanarjuat]

I don't see him being a gracious loser.

[some guy]

If you support him you're a smart winner. If you don't you're an idiot loser. His collapse will be rapid and epic.

[SFC B]

Damn racist Republicans.

[MetalBard]

I'm sure all the non-racist tolerant progressives can explain to us how Ben Carson isn't a real black.

[Zeb]

The same people who explained how it's racist to suggest that Obama isn't.

[Gray Ghost]

I wouldn't get used to seeing a guy as the GOP frontrunner, who out and out said that he opposed abortion in all cases, except maybe if the mother's life was in danger.

Yes, the President doesn't get to decide Supreme Court cases. No, it won't matter to the electorate. Yet Carson probably will win Iowa, given their past love for the Huckabees and Santorums of the world. He's still not winning the nomination.

[gaoxiaen]

He needs a sweater vest.

[Rich]

One of the options presented was embedding U.S. troops with Iraqi security forces; even without a role in direct combat, that option would skirt close to having "boots on the ground" in Iraq

So, "skirts on the ground"?

[Lord Humungus]

A guaranteed national income would lift almost everyone out of poverty

here is a growing recognition that current social welfare programmes are inadequate at best and counterproductive at worst. The debt and taxes needed to finance these programmes continues to rise, yet far too many people remain trapped in poverty. As a result, there is a growing search for alternatives.

One idea drawing renewed interest across the ideological spectrum is some form of guaranteed national income (GNI). At its most basic, a GNI would provide a flat cash payment to all citizens with few, if any, strings attached. Many on the Left see this as a supplement to existing social welfare programmes, while those on the Right envision it as a replacement.

Switzerland will hold a referendum next year on whether to replace its welfare system with a basic income of 2,500 Swiss francs per month for all adults and 625 Swiss francs for children and young people. In Finland, a right-of-centre government is preparing legislation for a pilot GNI programme. And multiple cities in both the Netherlands and Canada have expressed interest in a GNI experiment.

[Juvenile Bluster]

GNI as a replacement for welfare would be a net positive. The issue is that we'd later decide that GNI "isn't enough" and reinstate welfare programs on top of a GNI.

[Raven Nation]

^This^

Same problem with a flat tax or national sales tax.

[Zeb]

Yeah, if it replaced welfare, SS, medicare, it would definitely be an improvement, as much as I don't like the sound of a massive redistribution program. But the terrible "injustice" of some people being smarter with money than others will surely mean that it won't stop there.

I also think some kind of national sales tax would be much better than the income tax if federal income tax were completely banned. But that's not going to happen either.

[LynchPin1477]

I think it would be an improvement. I think there would still be unintended consequences that would make it less of an improvement than we tend to think.

[gaoxiaen]

It would work if supplemented with free liquor, dope, and cigarettes. Hell, I'd probably quit my job for that.

[Illocust]

And let me guess, the basic income in the states would be set nationwide by what it takes to live in a chic location in New York and eat nothing but free trade and organic food.

[SFC B]

It'll either be one standard minimum income which will be insufficient to live in the high-cost areas, so it'll need to be further supplements by the states, or it will vary by location which will lead to people flocking to the locations with the most generous GNI.

Regardless it will quickly be found to be insufficient and will need to be further supplemented. Undoubtedly costing even more, coming with more regulations, and it will probably not even replace the welfare state.

[Rhywun]

the basic income in the states would be set nationwide by what it takes to live in a chic location in New York

Current welfare (cash assistance) programs not tied to cost of living - I don't see why this would be either.

[some guy]

2500 francs a month is about $2500 a month. That's a lot of money. In the US that would cost roughly $700B annually. If it replaced all redistribution programs, including social security and all the welfare programs, it would probably be worth it. Of course, as JB points out... that "replacement" might not last too long. Also, this would never work because seniors would demand to keep their social security on top of the guaranteed income because "it's their money".

[Free Society]

If it replaced all redistribution programs, including social security and all the welfare programs, it would probably be worth it.

It would probably be worth it to not fucking steal from people and pretend that it makes economic sense.

[some guy]

It would probably be worth it to not fucking steal from people and pretend that it makes economic sense

Yeah, in a perfect world where people didn't try to live at the expense of each other. But don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, etc.

[Free Society]

And "the good" is making a deal with the welfare statists that they will absolutely not live up to even if it were within their power to do so. This policy proposal is so far removed from reality that it can only properly be called "fantasy". And I've never seen a "fantasy" worth selling out my principles over. But I suppose if your principles come cheaply then why not.

[Swiss Servator]

That is pretty basic in the ol' Confederatio Helvetica. Things is mighty pricey over there.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

No, it would cost $700BB per MONTH. The swiss proposal pays that amount to every adult. This program alone would more than double the size of government.

[straffinrun]

This was Tom Woods topic today. Wouldn't you get more overall wealth in society by not confiscating the capital of productive members? More wealth means more jobs, fewer people needing assistance and more money available to be given as charity.

[The Last American Hero]

No, because rich people put their wealth in gold coins in vaults and use them to go swimming Scrooge McDuck Style. This removes the wealth from the economy.

[straffinrun]

Bleeding heart libertarian smack down.

[Free Society]

We can call them "kleptolibertarians" or maybe "non-libertarians".

[Swiss Servator]

"slavers"

[commodious spittoon]

What, has STATIST SLAVER lost its cachet?

[commodious spittoon]

I guess not!

[Free Society]

No. But the term doesn't quite capture the essence of the guy who supports liberty and libertarianism 364 days a year, until you raise the issue of a "negative income tax" and he ejaculates in his pants claims such a policy makes economic and/or moral sense.

[Free Society]

This was Tom Woods topic today. Wouldn't you get more overall wealth in society by not confiscating the capital of productive members?

I don't see how it's even possible to argue otherwise. But to see so many self-described libertarians support this policy either on principle or practicality is just astounding. It's welfare that's good enough for Milton Friedman, so the thought goes that it must be enough for them too.

[straffinrun]

Negative income tax. Say it twice and it starts sounding better.

[Free Society]

It still sounds like stupidity and thievery no matter how many times I say it.

[straffinrun]

You and your insistence on calling things by their proper names. Nobody will like you if you do that.

[Free Society]

Fair point.

[Illocust]

It's the same as vouchers. I can't convince people they are better off without the government fucking up the market, but I can convince people they are better off with the government fucking up the market less.

[Free Society]

So you'd be lying then? Or do you literally believe that libertarians, with their non-existent bargaining chips are going to sit the welfare statists down at the table and strike a deal to end handouts in exchange for a different a species of handouts? And you expect the leftoids to live up to the deal? To be able to live up to it even?

[Illocust]

I'm an individual who is not a politician. I speak to other individuals not in politics who are in my social circle. They are the non-libertarians I am trying to convince. I know them well enough to know that they cannot be convinced completely moving the government out of an arena is for the best, but I can convince them that lessening the governments impacts is a good thing. What I'm trying to convince them of is true, I am not lying.
My sphere of influence is what it is. I can't change that, but I can tailor my arguments to move my social environment in a more liberty friendly direction.

[lap83]

I do the same thing. You persuade people incrementally by finding some common ground. Not by taking an extreme position and calling them stupid and bad for not agreeing.

[LynchPin1477]

You persuade people incrementally by finding some common ground. Not by taking an extreme position and calling them stupid and bad for not agreeing.

But how will they know that I'm morally superior to them?!?!?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I find your position to be stupid and bad. Just like everyone else's!

[Free Society]

If you want to "incrementally persuade people", great. Go be a centrist, go be a moderate. It's not like we have enough of those or anything. I'm not sure why you'd call yourself a libertarian or support such pro-liberty "extremism" if persuasion of the average intransigent dumbfuck is your mission.

[LynchPin1477]

If you want to "incrementally persuade people", great. Go be a centrist, go be a moderate...I'm not sure why you'd call yourself a libertarian.

Despite being well armed, I think libertarians would lose horribly in a war thanks to intransigent dumbfuck strategy.

[Free Society]

And you're sure to see the ranks of libertarians swell if as a group they are so philosophically convoluted and inconsistent that they are fighting for their own welfare schemes. Fast forward 50 years and progressives will also call themselves liberals and libertarians.

[T]

And here's why we never break 1% in elections. The average intransigent dumbfuck votes, but not for you or people like you if you call them that.

[Free Society]

I'm not asking for votes. I'm asking libertarians not to become the new "liberals" who are basically just progressives by another name. Like a farmer who eats all his seeds, we have nothing to sell, morally or practically, if we eat our principles from which we grow our philosophy.

[LynchPin1477]

I'm not asking for votes

That's fine. You want to be moral compass of the movement, more power to you. I think that is absolutely necessary.

But realize that without people who are asking for votes, you'll be the moral compass of a movement that never grows beyond armchair philosophy. If you want to actually have an impact on the world at large, you need votes.

[Free Society]

And if you get votes by becoming what we today call "liberals", then your impact on the world at large will be a bad thing and entirely defeating the purpose.

[LynchPin1477]

Then I guess it's a good thing no one here is saying that libertarians should become liberals!

[Free Society]

Then I guess it's a good thing no one here is saying that libertarians should become liberals!

I could have sworn I've been reading some libertarians on here defend the idea of a "negative income tax". My mistake.

[R C Dean]

How do you tax negative income, anyway?

[LynchPin1477]

If you're definition of "liberal" is saying "Our welfare system sucks, but there isn't enough political support for scrapping it entirely, so here is a welfare system that would at least be less bad, and does have an increased role for markets that libertarians might like", then you have a useless definition of liberal.

[Free Society]

You entirely miss the point. The people popularly called "liberals", have their roots in a political faction that once upon a time decided to water-down their individualist principles and become more "progressive" to attract more votes and support. The end result is this squishy group of state-centric goons using the term "liberal" to describe their political inclinations. That's what you would have of modern libertarians.

Rationalize your squishiness however you want. But I'm not going to participate in or enable your fantasy.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Many of us don't call ourselves libertarians (or at least big L), because that just gets into more 'team sports' and that particular team is a loser.

Moving everyone in a more libertarian direction is the only way to win.

[Free Society]

"I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market."

Where have I heard that one before?

[Jerryskids]

We do get more wealth that way. It's why poor people in America still can afford luxuries like running water and electricity and a home that isn't made out of cardboard that poor people in poor countries would kill to have. It's just that "poor" is a moving target and it's not fair that poor people have less than rich people. Everybody should have an above-average amount of stuff.

[Rhywun]

But they're trapped in poverty. Poverty!

Seriously, this is getting ridiculous. Even just 30 years ago what we called "poverty" was much worse than anything I see today (if still not by worldwide standards, of course). I went to school with kids in ragged clothes who didn't wash themselves. You don't see much of that anymore.

I honestly think we are near (or at) the point where any remaining poverty in this country is largely by choice or stupidity.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I went to school with kids in ragged clothes who didn't wash themselves. You don't see much of that anymore.

Do you even visit your orphan factories anymore?

[CatoTheChipper]

Au contraire. Confiscating the wealth of the most productive is the surest way of creating more jobs. In antiquity, just about everybody other than an aristocracy labored just about all the time. The accumulation of capital over many generations led to an economy that allowed for a shortened work day, a shortened work week, and the very concepts of retirement and vacation as well as material abundance for people other than aristocrats. Only government's unique knack for destroying capital has potential to create many new, dehumanizing jobs. History does not move in a straight line. By squandering capital, government could very well create many of the miserable jobs that existed in antiquity.

[wareagle]

The debt and taxes needed to finance these programmes continues to rise, yet far too many people remain trapped in poverty.

normal people see bug, the entitlement machine sees feature.

[Free Society]

This is exactly why the the Chicago school is not the free market school of economics that they are credited with being. Add to that their concept of justice, and acceptance of Keynesian false premises and institutions.

[LynchPin1477]

I was listening to an old Econ Talk on the future of work in the age of increasing automation. The big concern, of course, was how people make a living if most jobs are done by machines. I expected a guaranteed income to come up in conversation, but it didn't. The focus was largely on how the job market might adapt (or not) and what sort of changes to education would help.

But it got me thinking - most politicians, pundits, economists, and every day people are working off of an assumption that that majority of people will need to earn a "middle class" income to have a high standard of living.

That seems really short-sighted to me. Who's to say that automation and technology won't lower the cost of pretty much everything to the point where you can be income-poor but materially wealthy with a very high standard of living? Maybe most people will be able to lead the life they want while working only 20 hours a week. What did Obama say about being freed from work? We could be closer to that reality than we think.

But I suspect that such a world would be very unequal. You'd have people that work little and command a low income, and highly skilled people that work a lot and command a very high income. The disparity in wealth would probably be much less than the disparity in income (that's my main point), but I'm not sure such a world would fly with most people's values and political preferences.

[Free Society]

ho's to say that automation and technology won't lower the cost of pretty much everything to the point where you can be income-poor but materially wealthy with a very high standard of living?

That's pretty much what will happen. Back in the day, people were shitting their pants at the thought of having less than 95% of the population laboring in the fields. What will they do to support themselves? It's counter-intuitive to recognize that people will be better off than before because we can't see the future and can't wrap our heads around the entirety of the division of labor even in the present.

But I have no doubt, it will free up more labor for other things and people will be better off, that is if there isn't a welfare state to subsidize indigence.

[Scarcity]

Who's to say that automation and technology won't lower the cost of pretty much everything to the point where you can be income-poor but materially wealthy with a very high standard of living?

This is already happening, repeatedly, practically every generation from the late 19th century on. How do you think the life of a person living at the poverty level in 2015 looks to a person living at the poverty level in 1980. People are largely choosing to increase their material wealth while working about the same hours rather than work less, hence we don't see the rise of the 20-hour workweek. But that doesn't mean this isn't happening.

[Scarcity]

Who's to say that automation and technology won't lower the cost of pretty much everything to the point where you can be income-poor but materially wealthy with a very high standard of living?

This is already happening, repeatedly, practically every generation from the late 19th century on. How do you think the life of a person living at the poverty level in 2015 looks to a person living at the poverty level in 1980. People are largely choosing to increase their material wealth while working about the same hours rather than work less, hence we don't see the rise of the 20-hour workweek. But that doesn't mean this isn't happening.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Cops in a northern California town are to be equipped with nunchucks?the weapon mastered by Bruce Lee?in order to 'more compassionately gain compliance' from suspects."

Hopefully we'll be treated to dashcam video of cops hitting themselves in the nuts.

[Pope Jimbo]

Followed shortly by dashcam video of the cop beating the shit out of some poor guy who happened to be passing by when said cop hit himself and accidentally laughed at cop.

[Lord Humungus]

LEGO wouldn't sell bricks to Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, so fans are donating theirs

Ai is working on an art installation for an exhibition called "Andy Warhol/Ai Weiwei," which will open in December at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. The piece, he said, will use LEGOs to construct more than 1,000 images celebrating Australia's freedom-of-speech defenders.

"They said they cannot support a project like that," he told The Washington Post from his studio in Berlin. "I think it's funny to have a toy company that makes plastic pieces telling people what is political and what is not. I think it's dangerous to have our future designed by corporate companies. They are not selling toys but selling ideas ? telling people what to love and what to hate."

[UnCivilServant]

I think it's more that they'd run into trouble with the Chinese government that would cost them a lot more.

[Zeb]

I've heard that when Lego does donate millions of bricks for some big art project or whatever, they require that they be destroyed afterwards. I guess giving them all away would cost them too many sales.

[Lee G]

They're not supporting crap. They're participating in a transaction. Chickenshits.

And Legos are overpriced shite these days.

[straffinrun]

Overpriced and way too specialized. I bought my daughter a Cinderella buggy and the only thing you can build with it is... a Cinderella buggy. They forgot why people liked legos in the first place.

[Lee G]

It's difficult to find a general set of bricks at the toy store. It's all Star Wars kits and other branded junk.

[UnCivilServant]

It took me way too long to find a simple bucket of bricks on their web store.

As a result, I didn't buy it.

[straffinrun]

I wish I hadn't. I've got half the pieces from that buggy embedded in the soles of my feet.

[Zeb]

That's a real shame. Lego was the best toy ever exactly because you can make whatever you want.

[Rhywun]

They forgot why people liked legos in the first place.

Or more likely, they discovered that focusing on movie tie-in crap makes them piles of money.

Would kids today even know what to do with a 70s box of Legos?

[The Last American Hero]

Lego is about one 3D printer away from obsolesance.

[Illocust]

Minecraft has really already made it obsolete. If I want to build something in the real world there is K'nex. If I want to build something out of colorful blocks Minecraft all the way.

[MetalBard]

I see your minecraft and raise you 1 Terraria.

[lafe.long]

Windows: ldraw.org

Mac: Bricksmith (based on ldraw)

[Zeb]

Maybe. It's still nice to have neat, reusable parts like that.

[Free Society]

It's almost certainly their fear of the men with guns, in this case, the Chinese men with guns who keep those guns pointed at their factories in China. But leave it to a leftoid to totally miss the source of coercion.

[Rhywun]

They are not selling toys but selling ideas ? telling people what to love and what to hate

Yes - what an condescending, insulting line of horseshit. Seems like Mr. Ai has lost the plot.

[Lord Humungus]

Car ends up on roof of home following accident

Officials had their hands full Monday afternoon after a car ended up on top of a home.

It all started Monday afternoon along I-69. A witness says the car accident started in the eastbound lanes of I-69. After some twists and turns, the car ended up on top of a home in the 7700 block along M-78 near Woodbury Road.

[Lord Humungus]

Sweden's Period Song: dancing tampons used to destigmatise menstruation ? video

A Swedish educational video intended to teach children about menstruation. Alex Hermansson, one of the Barnkanalen children's channel's young hosts, sings The Period Song, which will air on Friday. The public service broadcaster STV says it hopes the video will help to destigmatise the subject and explain menstruation to children.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

They could have saved money and just shown this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppuMaQ4hZE4

[What's that smell?]

Wow, That made periods look so cool! Now I want one!!! And I'm a 56 year old man.

[Jerryskids]

I never have understood women and their periods. Bitch like hell when they get them, but then one month it doesn't show up and they bitch like hell about that, too. Like they think I had something to do with their misssing period.

[gaoxiaen]

Next comes the Boy Scout Red Wings merit badge.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Not near as bad as earning your grey wings, though.

[lap83]

It's an unholy abomination, but those puppets are pretty cute, I have to admit.

[lafe.long]

Despite Farrah's successful poster, I always thought Jaclyn Smith was by far the hottest angel

Jaclyn Smith: Actress Celebrates 70th Birthday on Oct. 26

[Swiss Servator]

At least put something up, man!

http://www.spokeo.com/Jaclyn+S.....her+Photos

[lafe.long]

+1 thanks for helping me "put something up".

[Colonel Slanders]

^^^^This X 1000

[Lord Humungus]

Surprise: Florida and Texas Excel in Math and Reading Scores

But these raw scores, which receive widespread attention, almost certainly present a misleading picture ? and one that gives short shrift to both Florida and Texas. In truth, schools in both states appear to be well above average at teaching their students math and reading. Florida and Texas look worse than they deserve to because they're educating a more disadvantaged group of students than most states are.

A report released Monday by the Urban Institute has adjusted the raw scores for each state to account for student demographics, including poverty, race, native language and the share of students in special education. The central idea behind the adjustments is that not all students arrive at school equally prepared, and states should not be judged as if students did.

[SFC B]

I remember this topic a couple years ago comparing Wisconsin to Texas; I think it was Krugman who said that clearly Wisconsin's union-based teachers were better. It was destroyed when digging in to the results and comparing like-to-like. In something like 16 of 17 race and income cohorts Texas students out-performed their Wisconsin peers.

[The Last American Hero]

Yes. Texas had a disproportionate share of ESL students. No shit overall their scores were lower.

[John]

Krugman is a PHD trained economist. He knows very well how to correct for such differences. He is just that much of a lying prick and knows or thinks his readers are just that stupid.

I read a while back where Krugman has become an outcast amongst even liberal academic economists. His peers read shit like that and even though they agree with him politically even they cannot stand his mendacity.

[Aloysious]

...or thinks his readers are just that stupid.

This.

[Scarcity]

...or thinks his readers are just that stupid.

Hey, I agree with Krugman for once!

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

According to a new national poll, Ben Carson is now beating Donald Trump among Republican primary voters.

Will Trump now continue his long, proud tradition of quitting when he stats to lose? See AC casinos, USFL, marriage, etc.

[lafe.long]

Jesse Watters: Fox News Personality Removed From Cornell Campus After Interviewing Students

The "O'Reilly Factor" contributor asked students about liberal "indoctrination" after a report claimed that 96 percent of professors donated to Democrats. Media relations asked him to leave.

[Rhywun]

Maybe it was one of those 9/11-changed-everything things. You can hardly point a camera anywhere these days without officious types getting snippy about it.

[Lord Humungus]

Inside the Secretive Circle That Rules a $14 Trillion Market

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Fifteen of the biggest players in the $14 trillion market for credit insurance are also the referees.

Firms such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. wrote the rules, are the dominant buyers and sellers and, ultimately, help decide winners and losers.

Has a country such as Argentina paid what it owes? Has a company like Caesars Entertainment Corp. kept up with its bills? When the question comes up, the 15 firms meet on a conference call to decide whether a default has triggered a payout of the bond insurance, called a credit-default swap. Investors use CDS to protect themselves from missed debt payments or profit from them.

Once the 15 firms decide that a default has taken place, they effectively determine how much money will change hands.

[Lord Humungus]

apologies for the extra text

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I thought they were all members of the secret circle

[Brett L]

Wait, the people who lend all the money make the rules? When did this happen?

[The Last American Hero]

Jekyll Island, about 100 years ago.

[Illocust]

I read the article and I don't see what they are worried about. They've got people who will win and people who will lose on the same committee. They require a unanimous vote. It seems like a pretty good solution to the problem they were having.

[Rich]

http://www.wdrb.com/story/3030.....minorities

Judge Olu Stevens halted a drug trial and dismissed the entire jury panel .... Stevens [said,] "There is not a single African-American on this jury and (the defendant) is an African-American man. I cannot in good conscious go forward with this jury."

"Moreover, not one of the so-called 'jury' members is named 'Olu'."

[Rich]

Louisville judge questioned for dismissing juries based on lack of minorities

Comment fail!

*** gets coffee ***

[gaoxiaen]

Sammy Davis Jr. agrees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hIcKkKID8k

[Lord Humungus]

Yemen hospital hit by Saudi-led air strike: Medecins Sans Frontieres

A Yemeni hospital run by medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was bombed in a Saudi-led air strike, wrecking the facility and wounding several people, the hospital director said on Tuesday.

A Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in Yemen's civil war in March to try to restore its government after its toppling by Houthi forces but the civilian death toll has escalated since then, alarming the United Nations and human rights groups.

"The MSF facility in Saada, (north) Yemen was hit by several air strikes last night with patients and staff inside the facility," Medecins sans Frontieres said in a tweet.

[SugarFree]

Obama set the precedent of them being fair game.

[CatoTheChipper]

The "Saudi-led Arab coalition" is coordinated with the US. US AWACs planes pretty much run the show over the Arabian peninsula.

It's probably fair to conclude that, as a matter of fact, US military policy regards MSF facilities as legitimate targets if they provide treat hostile forces.

[Frank Frankelson]

Now that the Saudis are getting involved, does this mean we can reduce.... pffft... who am I kidding, the interventionist ratchet only goes one way.

[Lord Humungus]

Al Gore: Optimist?

In a Miami conference center the size of a football field, 1,200 climate activists are getting ready to watch a slide show. "Wow," says Mario Molina, the director of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps, by way of introduction. "This is a big room." The activists have come to this room from all over the nation and all over the world?Bangladesh, Mexico, Nigeria, 80 countries in all?so that they can learn to present the same slide show back in their own communities. And when Al Gore walks on stage to teach them how to do it, they leap to their feet and cheer.

"OK, sit down," he says in that familiar professorial tone. "We've got a lot of ground to cover."

Yes, it's that slide show, the one that thrust climate change into popular culture, generating the 2007 Academy Award and Nobel Prize in the process. Gore is still doing it, and training a global cadre of mini-Gores to do it as well; there have been 30 Climate Reality trainings, from South Africa to Australia to India.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Ban slide shows.

Or at least keep them out of Al's hands!

[Zeb]

"Mini-Gores"

I'm picturing a fleet of tiny cars driven by dwarfs who look disturbingly like Al Gore.

[Tonio]

In a Miami conference center the size of a football field, 1,200 climate activists...

Yep, I'd love to see the electric bill for the HVAC for that conference. Also, the carbon "footprint" for flying those people in from Bangladesh, Mexico, Nigeria etc. They could have done that via teleconference.

[SFC B]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the environmental impact of flying conference attendees from fucking Bangladesh and Nigeria so they can view powerpoint slides will offset any reductions the attendees could have possibly learned.

Have they never heard of Skype or Google Docs?

[Crusty Juggler]

You can't network/scheme while looking important on Skype.

[The Last American Hero]

I'm pretty sure the guy who created the internet is aware of what Skype is.

[Frank Frankelson]

I cannot imagine a more miserable experience than sitting through a PowerPoint presentation delivered with with Al's signature charisma.

It would probably would be a good homeopathic alternative to ambien though...

[The Late P Brooks]

Truth escapes

But the NRA is facing unlikely opponents in their mission: some of the very police officers confiscating the guns in the first place.
"My job is to keep my officers safe," said Fred Fletcher, the police chief of Chattanooga, where there have been more than 100 shootings this year. "To send them out to face the same guns they risked their lives to get off the street is a big concern."
While some law enforcement officials support the sale of confiscated guns, a number of police chiefs like Fletcher are speaking out against the practice -- arguing that the risk of selling a gun back to a criminal far outweighs the amount of money they could make.

"Protect our asses and serve our own interests."

Fuck you, plebs.

[Brett L]

Uh, maybe you should prosecute the guys selling them out of the evidence room then?

[Zeb]

Maybe the NRA should stop sucking so much cop dick all the time.

I would assume that the police conduct background checks when they sell seized guns. So not sure why this makes anything more dangerous when people can also buy used guns from many other places.

[Sapient Mulch]

I agree, other than the fact that their records are likely so screwed up that any weapon you purchased would probably come with a rap sheet.

[R C Dean]

This is why I am no longer an NRA member - I got tired of wiping cop splooge off of the fundraising letters.

[Warty]

Big-city police chiefs are and always have been Democratic machine career politicians. How extremely shocking to hear this one saying Democratic machine career politician things.

[R C Dean]

the risk of selling a gun back to a criminal

Perhaps they could run a background check first? Just a thought.

[CatoTheChipper]

"Behind this trend [of selling confiscated firearms] are powerful special interests like the National Rifle Association (NRA)."

In other stories, CNN portrays the NRA as the "gun lobby" for firearm manufacturers. Why on earth would firearm manufacturers support anything other than the destruction of confiscated firearms. By supplying the market with used firearms, the cops are reducing the demand for new firearms.

[Rich]

Man camps out for Black Friday 33 days early

Kevin Sutton also raises awareness of homelessness

and of mental illness.

[lap83]

So homeless people participate in Black Friday too?

[UnCivilServant]

Professional line-waiter pays better than other jobs they are qualified for.

[R C Dean]

If you're going to lay around on a sidewalk all day anyway, might as well pick up a little MD 20/20 money, right?

[Lord Humungus]

Brave Portland Woman Breaks Up Planned Parenthood Protest by Chanting Yeast Infections!

During her shift at Portland, Oregon's Purringtons Cat Lounge on Sunday, Mary Numair looked out the street-facing windows and saw a woman carrying a sign that read "Abortion Kills Children." Numair had noticed a group of protesters about a block away, gathered outside one of Portland's Planned Parenthood health care centers. "I thought [the woman] might be lost. I said, 'Hey, you're gonna feel real silly. The protest is down that way,' " Numair, 29, told me. "She said 'No, I need to stand here.' I said, 'Fuck this shit,' went back inside, and started making my sign."

The sign, which Numair crafted out of masking tape and a piece of cardboard from the dumpster, praised Planned Parenthood for treating her chronic yeast infections when she was in her early 20s and uninsured. It also included a delightful cartoon of a vagina with a smiling clitoris and a stick figure with pigtails and prominent breasts.

[Sapient Mulch]

She plans on making a bigger sign, too, and perhaps a few props. "If someone wants to help me make a giant wooden labia, that would be great."

"Just a little sliver of a girl..."

[lafe.long]

piss clackers?

[Derpetologist]

During a search for the boasts of Beowulf, I found this:

I, Donald of Trump, from the land of the green-god
High on the Hudson, son of a robber baron slumlord,
Who, generous to all his thanes, rewarded them lavishly
With subway tokens have come to wipe out the weak
And establish high-halls of gold.
I have conquered condos and toppled towers,
Erected edifices by shining seas.
Now I will conquer the city of wind and Oprah
I will smite the descendents of Capone, start a new world order
With apprentices who grovel before my grim words:
"Fie on you! You're fired!"

[Swiss Servator]

I likes it!

[Lord Humungus]

Rubio Opens Wide Lead in Prediction Market

Marco Rubio now has a 2 to 1 lead over both Jeb Bush and Donald Trump in the Predictwise prediction market of who will likely be the Republican presidential nominee.

[UnCivilServant]

I keep hearing that, but I also keep seeing his polling numbers and hearing the primary voters espose opposition to rubio.

So far I've failed to find anyone who actually supports the guy. What are they basing these odds on?

[Gray Ghost]

My guess is their basing it on: He's Hispanic, young, and might give the GOP Florida. Hispanic matters if it'll help the ~25 point plus drubbing the GOP usually gets among Hispanic voters during presidential elections. He brought in over 50% of the Hispanic vote when he won his Senate seat. Oh, and he co-sponsored the 2013 immigration bill that had some amnesty provisions, so that'll keep the CoC elements in the GOPe happy.

I don't care for him at all, but I can see why the sharps think he's got a good chance.

[R C Dean]

Rubio is the establishment's fair-haired boy. Yeah, he and the establishment's first pick, Bush the Duller, are pissing on each other's legs, but the establishment has no strong objections to Rubio.

Probably not a bad call by the, well, whoever these people are.

[lafe.long]

Indian Ocean: Mysterious Object Dubbed 'WT1190F' on Collision Course With Earth, Report Says

The expected 13 November reentry of what is likely to be a rocket body poses very little risk to anyone but could help scientists improve our understanding of how any object ? man-made or natural ? interacts with Earth's atmosphere.

[Swiss Servator]

Um...friction, heat , burn?

You are welcome, scientists.

[MetalBard]

Thats it Eureka!! Coat all asteroids with lube to protect the Earth.

[Tonio]

It's not called AstroGlide for nothing, MB.

[Swiss Servator]

DAMMIT! REFRESH - Curse you Tonio! MetalB lobbed that nice, fat pitch over the plate and you hit it first.

[Swiss Servator]

"Astroglide"

[Derpetologist]

Fun fact: meteorites tend to be cool to the touch. The reason they flame in the atmosphere is from adiabatic heating from the compressing air in front of them. It's the same reason a bike pump gets warm when you use it.

[Lord Humungus]

bike pump gets warm when you use it.

go on...

[gaoxiaen]

The jockstrap company makes a pump! I have to write a letter to Santa.

[Free Society]

The Pentagon is considering embedding U.S. troops in the Iraqi military to battle ISIS.

I wonder how many of those troops will be murdered by Islamist turncoats in the Iraqi military. It's a given.

[Swiss Servator]

I doubt that many - the IA that remains are fairly loyalist to the ruling clique in Baghdad.

[Free Society]

In Afghanistan, green-on-blue attacks account for 15% of casualties in 2012. I couldn't find any numbers, let alone recent ones, for Iraq.

[gaoxiaen]

Well, what would you do if your commanding officer told you that you can't smoke hashish when on patrol?

[Free Society]

I guess...honestly... I'd shoot him in the back of the head and die in a hail of bullets. That's really all you can do when someone says to stop taking hash and opiates while at work.

[Swiss Servator]

I am aware of the ANP/ANA difficulties - Iraq is a different set up. The IA that was in place when I left at the very end of 2008 was hollowed out and replaced with cronies, lackeys and hangers on - a goodly number beat feet when the fighting started, but the ones that stayed are pretty loyal to the current bunch of mopes running the rump Iraqi state.

The ANA/ANP have a much harder time, and due to their recruiting methods and such, are always going to be vulnerable to folks strolling in from one of the bad guy groups.

[Free Society]

I don't personally have any first-hand experience in Iraq or Afghanistan. But a good friend of mine did 3 tours in Iraq and was himself the target of a green on blue attack at a base in Al-Anbar. He was saved by a security force on the base whose sole task was protect US servicemen from rogue Iraqi Army betrayers on the base. From what I've read though, those attacks are far more common in Afghanistan than Iraq.

[Lord Humungus]

Lisa De Pasquale @LisaDeP
In her newsletter today, Lena Dunham says she dressing as a PP doctor for Halloween. How sad and one-dimensional. pic.twitter.com/C69NOdT8eX

Chris Barron @ChrisRBarron
@LisaDeP and creepy. So creepy.

http://twitchy.com/2015/10/27/.....ume-photo/

[Crusty Juggler]

Let's keep giving Lena the attention she desires.

[SugarFree]

Lisa De Pasquale

I see they've decided the best course of action is to fight fat with fat.

[Lord Humungus]

https://vimeo.com/26926279

[SugarFree]

Serena Williams is lookin' good in that video.

[R C Dean]

dressing as a PP doctor for Halloween

I wonder what the outfit will include? Blood-soaked scrubs? A bag of dismembered baby parts?

Or go for a little more restraint, and just have a glass of wine and money stuffed in her lab coat pockets?

[The Late P Brooks]

A Yemeni hospital run by medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) was bombed in a Saudi-led air strike, wrecking the facility and wounding several people, the hospital director said on Tuesday.

Second-in-Command hardest hit?

[lafe.long]

Hobby Lobby: Owners Under Investigation for Alleged Smuggling of Artifacts From Iraq, Official Says

A senior law enforcement source with extensive knowledge of antiquities smuggling confirmed that these ancient artifacts had been purchased and were being imported by the deeply-religious owners of the crafting giant, the Green family of Oklahoma City. For the last four years, law enforcement sources tell The Daily Beast, the Greens have been under federal investigation for the illicit importation of cultural heritage from Iraq.

[UnCivilServant]

The irony being, that, if left in Iraq, these artifacts would be destroyed by ISIS.

[MetalBard]

"It belongs in a museum!!"

[Tonio]

No, this is ancient biblical stuff, not pagan stuff.

[lap83]

they regard all artifacts as sacrilegious

[Free Society]

Yeah they blow that shit up too. Do you think ISIS gives Christians or their ancient artifacts a pass?

[R C Dean]

I'll bet that the feds confiscate all the goodies, send them back to Iraq, where they will be destroyed, and this will be hailed as a great victory for anti-colonialism and multi-culturalism.

[Pope Jimbo]

In another episode of lack of self awareness, an article by progs that laments politicians getting in between doctors and patients.

http://www.minnpost.com/second.....-exam-room

Of course they are mad that docs can't lecture their patients about guns or are forced to tell them bad stuff about abortion.

Principals vs principles.

[widget]

"Cops in a northern California town are to be equipped with nunchucks?the weapon mastered by Bruce Lee?in order to 'more compassionately gain compliance' from suspects."

Mrs. widget purchased a set nunchucks for junior a few weeks back and has been encouraging him to practice with them on me. Sometimes I wonder about her.

[Lord Humungus]

Vox: Obama and Boehner made one last budget deal. Here's what we know.

pending will increase by $112 billion over two years. Next year, both defense and non-defense will get $25 billion more each, while the year after each will get $15 billion. Additionally, $32 billion will go to the "overseas contingency budget," a kind of war-related slush fund that the Pentagon gets to play with.

One of the main expenses: the deal would slow the rollout of scheduled hikes to Medicare premiums.

To pay for the additional spending, the deal would extend the sequester's cuts to Medicare, sell off some of the country's strategic petroleum reserve (even though oil prices are near rock bottom), do more telecommunications spectrum auctions, and change the crop insurance program which provides subsidies for farmers.

more in the link

[R C Dean]

the deal would extend the sequester's cuts to Medicare

Read: hospitals. Congress already lifted the cap on doctor payment under Medicare.

[Palin's Buttplug]

According to a new national poll, Ben Carson is now beating Donald Trump among Republican primary voters.

Republican primary voters are complete idiots.

But we knew that.

[The Last American Hero]

But but but JEB is inevitable!!!! JEB!!!!!!

[straffinrun]

JEBITABLE! But in fairness to PB, Jeb is polling at 8%.

[R C Dean]

Sweet.

[The Late P Brooks]

[S]pending will increase by $112 billion over two years. Next year, both defense and non-defense will get $25 billion more each, while the year after each will get $15 billion. Additionally, $32 billion will go to the "overseas contingency budget," a kind of war-related slush fund that the Pentagon gets to play with.

Oh, teh austeriteez!

[R C Dean]

The Republicans can't cut a single penny unless and until they hold a majority of the House, a supermajority of the Senate, and the White House.

While the Dems, somehow, can increase spending with control of, well, nothing.* Its a puzzler.

*When W was prez, spending went up every year. Some of those years, the Repubs controlled both Houses.

[Lord Humungus]

Report: One in 14 children has had incarcerated parent

One in 14 children have at least one parent behind bars and children in these situations suffer from low self esteem, poor mental and physical health, and other problems, a national research organization says.

Child Trends, an organization based in Bethesda, Md., is releasing its report Parents Behind Bars: What Happens to Their Children? on Tuesday. The group hopes the findings will prod prisons, schools and lawmakers to make changes that will help young people who have incarcerated parents.

[The Last American Hero]

To be fair, some of those inmates have spread their seed far and wide.

[MetalBard]

Somewhere Darwin has a sad.

[Illocust]

Is the parents being in jail causing the problem for the kids, or is it the parents being the kind of stupid that gets you thrown in jail causing the problems for the kids. The majority of criminals are dumb as a sack of bricks. They have to be or the cops wouldn't stand a snowballs chance in hell of catching them.

[lap83]

The group hopes the findings will prod prisons, schools and lawmakers to make changes that will help young people who have incarcerated parents.

everyone but parents themselves

[Lord Humungus]

These Cities May Soon Be Uninhabitable Thanks to Climate Change

A number of cities in the Persian Gulf region may be unlivable the end of the century due to global warming if humans do not curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research.

The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, projects that by the end of the century heat waves in Doha, Abu Dhabi and Bandar Abbas could lead to temperatures at which humans physically cannot survive over a sustained period of time by around 2100. The threshold, estimated around 170?F, takes into account heat and humidity that prevent humans from exercising natural functions that allow the body to cool.

"Such severe heat waves are expected to occur only once every decade or every few decades," said study author Elfatih A. B. Eltahir, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "But when they happen they will be quite lethal."

Air-Conditioning, how does it work?

[John]

The world was something like 4 degrees warmer when civilization arose about two hundred miles north of there in the fertile crescent. Moreover, just because the climate is warmer doesn't necessarily mean the high temperatures in the summer are 35 degrees warmer.

That claim is facially absurd.

[MetalBard]

Besides all that wouldn't the world be a little better off without a middle east anyhow?

[Restoras]

Not too mention that, generally speaking, warmer is a better environment to thrive in.

[VG Zaytsev]

The highest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth, is either 136? in Lybia in 1922 or 134? recorded in Death Valley CA in 1913 (there some controversy over which thermometer was accurately calibrated).

So yeah, the prediction is bullshit.

[John]

It gets to be about 125 or 30 over there in the summer. The idea that even a five degree increase in the overall temperature of the earth, if there even is such a thing, could cause the highs to increase by 50 degrees is utterly absurd on its face.

[Scarcity]

They're talking about a heat index or misery index:

The threshold, estimated around 170?F, takes into account heat and humidity

It's hit that a couple of times

[Lord Humungus]

Turkey says it fired at Kurdish forces in northern Syria

Turkey has confirmed that its military has attacked the main Kurdish force in northern Syria, a key ally of the United States in its efforts to defeat the Islamic State group.

The U.S.-supported Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, said the Turkish military shot at its forces deployed in the town of Tal Abyad twice on Sunday, using mostly machine guns. No one was injured in the shooting and the Kurdish forces didn't return fire.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed that the military targeted the Kurdish forces in an interview with Turkey's ATV television late Monday.

"We said the PYD will not go west of the Euphrates and that we would hit it the moment it did. We hit it twice," Davutoglu said. The YPG is the fighting force of the PYD, or the Kurdish Democratic Party.

"Turkey cannot abandon its border, its fate to any country," Davutoglu said.

[John]

The cold war is over. Why do we continue to be allied with Turkey? Especially given the appalling state of their government.

[straffinrun]

The cold war is over? No, it just changed it's name to climate change.

[MetalBard]

From cold war to the war on cold

[tarran]

Why do we continue to be allied with Turkey?

NATO!

Entangling alliances FTW!

[MetalBard]

Ah yes that brings up the next question. Why does NATO continue to exists when the Soviet Union does not?

[gaoxiaen]

I may be a little fuzzy on the geography, but isn't Turkey a fair distance from the North Atlantic?

[tarran]

I may be a little fuzzy on the geography, but isn't Turkey a fair distance from the North Atlantic?

Yes, a feature it shares with fellow NATO members Greece, and Italy. 😉

[Atanarjuat]

The YPG is the fighting force of the PYD, or the Kurdish Democratic Party.

Where was the Kurdish People's Front in all this?

[Swiss Servator]

Those splitters?!

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/217417/

This article is both depressing and in its own dark way funny as hell. Various GOP bigwigs just don't understand the electorate anymore. Apparently, they just can't understand why the electorate won't forever put up with being ignored and told to go fuck themselves on the size and scope of government and immigration. I mean, who could have guessed that? Don't those people understand that the GOP leadership knows what is best?

[Palin's Buttplug]

Those GOP mad as hell voters are idiots.

If Donald Trump weren't a total liar I would love to see him elected POTUS and follow through on his promises to start a massive trade war, steal Middle East oil, and wall off the southern border. He would really wreck the economy.

[John]

The Trump supporters are just the flip side of the Sanders supporters. Trump gets support because of immigration. The public has told the politicians to do something about immigration for years and been ignored. Now the public is saying "okay, you don't want to listen to us, we will put this guy in who says he will deport 11 million illegals in two years".

Sanders is the same phenomena happening on the left. On the left voters have been telling the Democratic party to do something about Wall Street and the rule of law and corruption for years. Their reward was 8 years of Obama doing absolutely nothing but enabling Wall Street. So now the voters are saying "you don't want to do anything about Wall Street, fine, we will elect a socialist, he will do something". And of course Sanders is virtually the same views on immigration as Trump.

Both candidates are nothing but the voters supporting an extreme option because the establishment of both parties make the only other option doing nothing.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Well, Sanders supporters are idiots too, no question.

But Obama has fined banks over $50 billion for selling non-conforming loans to Fannie/Freddie and collected all the TARP money back plus $40 billion in interest.

Of course they don't know that and neither does your GOP voter.

[VG Zaytsev]

But Obama has fined banks over $50 billion ...

Yes, the bastard fined them 2% of the money that Uncle Ben shoveled at them with QE.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Banks don't get QE, you ignoramus. QE is sitting in an account at the Fed in the form of US Treasuries.

Bank of America's balance sheet looks like shit compared to 2007. If banks were soaking up $4 trillion in QE their stock prices would be up astronomically.

[R C Dean]

QE is sitting in an account at the Fed in the form of US Treasuries.

Well, if QE is sitting in an account at the Fed, it has failed, because it was supposed to increase lending and money in circulation.

But, money sitting at the Fed isn't just laying there like Scrooge McDuck's swimming pool o' gold. It holds rates down, is available for (wait for it) loans and repos with banks, etc. Some of that QE is in bank accounts, you can be sure.

So, incredibly it is true both that QE is supporting bank finances, and that QE has failed to achieve its stated purpose.

[widget]

Interesting BP. Can you give a linky to that?

[widget]

P/B/r

[Palin's Buttplug]

oops, the profit on TARP is up to $65 billion.

https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/

Way to go Obama!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

From your link:

$617B has gone out the door?invested, loaned, or paid out?while $390B has been returned.

The rest of your 'profits' are paper, mostly sitting under the Freddie/Frannie re-inflating bubble.

If the government actually tried to profit, they'd have to pull $239B out of theat sucking black-hole and recollapse the market.

You're either a liar or an idiot, but it could be both.

[tarran]

Bobarian,

Let me explain. Shriek isn't sentient. It has no conception of money, securities, investments, rates of return etc.

All it knows is that when it spews certain strings of words into a comment, it elicits a larger number of words in response from other commenters. IT craves this simulacrum of conversation, much like ants crave the nectar they harvest from aphids.

To be a liar, it would have to understand what it writes, but it doesn't. To be an idiot, it would have to be something that could take an IQ test and score above 0, But it can't comprehend the questions anymore than an ant can.

It's just the shambolic mush of a neural net, the remains of what was once a human, trying to ape human activity and failing miserably.

[DEG]

Last original Voyager engineer retiring

Imagine if you were working on a 40-year-old computer at your office. Your IT department wouldn't even know what to do with it.

That's the problem NASA's Voyager mission faces. The spacecraft was built in 1975 and has a computer from the Atari age. The last guy who truly understands how to program it is 80-year-old NASA engineer Larry Zottarelli.

And he's retiring.

[John]

At what point, if they haven't already, do IT people get into classic computers the way car guys get into classic cars? I am not a computer guy so forgive my ignorance. Aren't there hobbyists out there somewhere writing Basic on the TRS 80s and such?

[Frank Frankelson]

I read a piece about a guy putting a old Mac Plus on the modern interwebs... linky. The gyrations the guy had to go through to get it to operate beyond the BBS age is kind of entertaining.

[John]

Old computers, like old are comparatively simple machines. If you just like to screw with stuff in your spare time and have some aptitude at computers, I would think messing around with old computers would be a pretty entertaining hobby.

[DEG]

I have friends that still reminisce about their C64 days. One of them still has working C64s.

A former coworker of mine had a collection of old computers. I forget how far back it went, but I think he had a TRS 80 in there. I don't remember how many still worked.

Some folks have moved on to use emulators. You can find emulators for all sorts of old computers to run old software on modern systems. The CRPG Addict uses them to run old games from Amiga, old MS-DOS, and Apple systems.

[widget]

There is a project to virtualize a VAX/VMS computer. I don't if it works or not, but yes, hobbyist do that. There are some very successful visualization projects like VMWare and VirtualBox that really do matter.

There is surprising amount of industrial equipment that was built in the early 1990's, and is still in service, that can only be connected to with a Win98 or less OS..

[widget]

s/visualization/virualization/

[Pope Jimbo]

I'm sure there are some guys who actually like the old computers, but most of the programming geeks I know are always buying/upgrading to the very newest stuff.

The guys who like a challenge of running stuff on limited resources all tend to gravitate to the embedded devices like ARM or Freescale.

Every spring my wife lures me out of the house so she can sneak all my old computers out of the basement and bring them to our town's free recycling day. Every year I fall for it too.

[Matrix]

FBI thinks that ransomware victims should just pay up

That'll show 'em!

[John]

Just think, in a few years hackers will be able to kidnap your car, if they can't already do that. Think about the money to made doing that. Ron Bailey goes out and gets in his shinny new robotic car only to have an error message flash telling him to deposit several thousand bit coins into a specified account if he ever wants his car to run again.

[commodious spittoon]

Pfft. Why bother owning the car? Just call one up from a company with the resources to handle IT security and swallow the loss of a few fleet vehicles. And while we're at it, why bother leaving your house at all? Just have Walgreens deliver your prescription by driverless moped. Send a driverless courier around to pick up your groceries and bring them to you. The future will be so much less personal, thank God.

[John]

Sure because hacking entire fleets of cars or shutting down the entire transportation system would never happen.

[widget]

I've heard that you cannot bring your smartphone into a strip club these days. The Russian mafioso who tends the door will even pat you down to make sure you didn't forget to leave in your glovebox.

Could it be that the Russian mafia has more druthers against blackmail than the FBI?

[MetalBard]

And always comply with hijackers when they take over a plane....

[Pope Jimbo]

If I was a craft beer brewer I would fire fucking Bob Pease, CEO of the Brewers Association.

He's worried that the merger of Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller would harm small brewer's access to distribution networks

Hey Bob, how about letting them merge and instead pushing for the abolition of the 3 tier distribution system? Why not let your member sell directly to whoever they want? FUCK!

[John]

If the courts would read the commerce clause to be what it is, a prohibition against the states protecting their local markets, the entire state liquor apparatus would end. The 23rd Amendment was supposed to mean states could still ban liquor if they wanted to not that they could construct elaborate crony systems to fuck out of state businesses.

[Pope Jimbo]

BTW

Welcome back John.

[John]

Thank you.

[Pope Jimbo]

So did you get PB any Huckabee autographed merchandise? 😉

He's convinced that is where you were and will be crushed if didn't get him something. You know he sort of looks up to you like a big brother, right?

[John]

I got PB a personally autographed bible. Don't worry. I didn't forget him.

[Pope Jimbo]

Kids' version right? You know his lips tend to cramp up trying to sound out the big words in adult books?

[Sevo]

"Scientists' warning: Extinction of big land animals forever alters environment"
[...]
"Nowhere has the change been more dramatic than in the Bay Area. Columbian mammoths were among thousands of now-extinct animals that roamed the region as late as 12,000 years ago. The shoreline was 12 miles farther out at that time, and a vast plain stretched from the Golden Gate, where a fast-moving river flowed, to the Farallon Islands."
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/.....591471.php

Yeah, the fact that there was pasture where the ocean is now didn't have any effect; it all changed with the extinction of the large animals.

[Steve G]

In other news red meat causes cancer so we may as well cul all them cattle herds.

[Sevo]

Just checked and the e-version of the Chron has the AP feed on the "Red Meat will KILL You!" WHO story.
The paper version this morning has comments that the state regulators are now going to push to have the Prop 65 stickers applied to meat.
CA: First in the nation in regulations!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Prop 65 stickers are known by the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects.

[John]

http://www.thegatewaypundit.co.....of-pilsen/

It is going to be interesting to see how gentrifying hipsters deal with actual black racism. The fact that the sacred brown people don't like them must come as quite a shock.

[commodious spittoon]

Don't white people realize the only people allowed to run businesses in black neighborhoods are Asians?

[Free Society]

The 1990's LA rioters disagree.

[Free Society]

What those gentrifies are doing is terrible. What could possibly do more harm to the black community than to raise their property values? *rabble rabble rabble*

But it's totally different when blacks move into an area which then undergoes 'white flight'. Whites are racist if they move in, racist if they move out. Probably racist if they sit still too.

[John]

Totally. And of course the fact that neighborhoods in this country are segregated is a huge problem. So if neighborhoods are segregated, that is white racism and must be stopped. If white people move into black neighborhoods making them less segregated, that is gentrification and must be stopped.

[Free Society]

Far be it from us to suggest that communities form organically, without the hand of the state creating perverse incentives or multicultural sophistry that sows mistrust and conflict.

[commodious spittoon]

Sitting still is, like, culturally appropriative from Chinese Buddhists, and that's Not Okay.

[Sapient Mulch]

SUPINE RULLEEZZZ!!!!111

/Reclining Buddha