Iraq Doesn't Want U.S. Boots on the Ground, GOP Round Three Airs Tonight, Big Day for Paul Ryan: A.M. Links

Program Executive Office Soldier/Flickr

• Iraq's government said it doesn't want or need the "direct action on the ground" promised by the Pentagon. 
• Buzz-worthy things to expect from tonight's Republican presidential debate, which marks the third such round of spats and spectacle from the GOP horde this year. Some are heralding it as Jeb Bush's last chance.
• Rep. Paul Ryan is expected to be nominated today to take John Boehner's place as speaker of the House. 
• Christina Hoff Summers on how Carly Fiorina is "redefining feminism." 
• Hillary Clinton talked Wall Street reform on The Colbert Report last night. 
• Should SXSW have given into threats and canceled two GamerGate-related panels? 

New at Reason:

Brickbat: They Could Be Twins —By Charles Oliver

Hillary Clinton's Dumb Power: Will the Republicans nominate someone who can challenge the former secretary of state's reckless warmongering? —By Jacob Sullum

Government Thrives on Fear: What do you fear? —By John Stossel

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

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Iraq's government said it doesn't want or need the "direct action on the ground" promised by the Pentagon.

Like that opinion matters.

[Rich]

Indeed. We broke it, we bought it.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Hello.

[Suthenboy]

Iraq's government.

No such thing exists.

One tribe living in the place we refer to as Iraq says they don't want us there. I don't want us there either, but if we are going to go those are obviously the first people we should shoot.

[Swiss Servator]

Which tribe?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

105) Let's say you were a president who some minority of your country suspected of being a secret Muslim. Would you:

A) Run your administration in such a way as to put you beyond suspicion of such accusations?

B) Ignore them and govern the same way you would have anyway?

Or C) Ban pork in the prison system claiming a survey showed prisoners didn't like the taste, then reverse yourself when that turned out to be a complete lie, without providing an explanation for why you actually had banned it?

(Link courtesy of that noted wing-nut right-wing conspiracy-monger rag, the Washington Post.)

[Rich]

without providing an explanation for why you actually had banned it?

ExCUSE me -- it was an "error"!

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

The only thing Barry's been good at as president is trolling Republicans in the pettiest ways possible.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

From comments:

"Luftigus
10/27/2015 11:48 PM EDT
I'm surprised nobody points out this was an attempt at Islamization. But the pork industry was too big for it. Recently some Muslim truck drivers won a 240K judgment because they were fired for refusing to haul liquor. But if you are a baker who does not want to provide cake for a same sex wedding, don't think you can get away with being "bigoted."

Touche.

[Juvenile Bluster]

"One out of every three pigs in the U.S. lives in Iowa," the senator said in an interview last week.

The other two live in DC.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Hey-oh!

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Iowa has a lot of rapists?

[Swiss Servator]

STEVE SMITH LIVE IN GREAT NORTHWEST. OUTNUMBER IOWANS IN RAPE ALL BY SELF.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

GREAT NORTHWEST HAVE LOT OF RAPIST

[Illocust]

Why has the left latched on to pleasing Muslims so much? It makes sense that they like people who aren't Christian, but that includes the Jews who they don't particularly like either.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

They're seen as victims. Israel and The Crusades = sympathy.

That's why.

[Drake]

They pander and buy votes from anyone they can. Recent immigrants have always been a good target.

[straffinrun]

They want those cages after ISIS is done with them.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

It seems particularly odd given their normal tirades against "rape culture" and "patriarchy," doesn't it...

[Zeb]

Yeah, every bad thing you can accuse Christian European civilization of, the Islamic world has done worse.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

And more recently

[Drake]

Which they love secretly and resent white men for stopping.

[Zeb]

I'm not sure I'd go quite that far. It think it's more that they resent white men/western civilization and then go for some kind of "enemy of my enemy is my friend" sort of reasoning.

[Tonio]

^This. And it pains me to say this but Friedman (or von Mises, can't remember) was right - the white, christian, hetero male is the enemy. Anyone who hates on the enemy is a friend.

[LynchPin1477]

There was some article posted a while back arguing that it's easier to criticize people that are closer to your own social group. I think there is something to that. They can criticize Western civilization because they are a part of it. They don't feel like they can criticize other cultures because they are outsiders. I think there is some moral relativism under the surface there, too.

[Tonio]

That's a good point, too, LP. They are also deathly afraid of being called racist, so refuse to criticize arabs, or any other notionally "brown" people.

[LynchPin1477]

I try to be generous to people I disagree with. I think you're average progressive-leaning individual wants to be (and be seen to be) a good person, and they define goodness largely in terms of fairness and minimizing suffering. This is what leads to their emphasis on imbalances of power and victimization. The West is responsible for most of the advances in human well being, technology, etc. over the centuries, which has given it a lot of power. It's use of that power is a very mixed bag. A lot of people were abused and exploited by the West in the past. I think there is a lot of collective guilt over that among progressives, which simultaneously makes them very critical of the West and very deferential to historically maligned groups. Unfortunately, this leads some to an extreme where they actively deny the great things that the West has done and ignore some of the awful things done by other people. I think there is also an extreme level of romanticization of other cultures. They see what they want to see in them.

Just some armchair psychology on my part.

[Zeb]

I think that's some pretty good armchair psychology.

People are way too hung up on the past. It's important to know about history and learn what you can from it. But the past is done and can't be fixed, and we are not our ancestors.

[LynchPin1477]

we are not our ancestors

This is the part of the progressive mindset that I think is most harmful. They feel guilty about benefiting from things that may have had a pretty shitty past even though they themselves have no moral culpability for it. They wouldn't just cut off their noses to spite their faces, they'd cut off their noses to spite the faces of dead people that looked like them. This is closely connected to collectivism.

Of course for many it's superficial. Like I said, they want to be seen to be "good', but most aren't willing to go back to a pre-colonialism standard of living to soothe their consciences.

[bacon-magic]

Spot on observation.

[LynchPin1477]

The romanticization also gives them a really distorted view of things. I was recently at a museum with a First Nations exhibit, and someone in my group asked if the different native tribes ever fought wars with each other. I couldn't help but chuckle. As if everyone just lived peacefully until Europeans showed up! But they honestly didn't seem to know.

[Tonio]

And a crap-ton of people were also abused and exploited by non-westerners but you don't hear about that because they didn't keep any records (ie, pre-literate societies), or those records are not in English.

But, yeah, the romanticization of other times and cultures.

[Detroit Linguist]

Actually, this is illustrated simply by comments on this blog. Some of my co-commenters go after others here in ways that I think illustrate this point. Anybody who engages in 'you're not a libertarian if you believe X' is probably doing this.

[Zeb]

And people can't seem to separate criticism of an ideology or belief system from criticism of the people who subscribe to it. There are plenty of perfectly decent people who are Muslim, just as there are Christians, leftists, Buddhists, agnostics and adherents to just about every religion or system of beliefs. I'm still going to say what I think about the beliefs they hold.

[Zeb]

I don't get it either. Something to do with misguided multiculturalism and a reflexive disdain for Western civilization.

[Suthenboy]

He is not a secret muslim, but he is an America hater. Everything he has done is motivated by his desire to fuck us.

Obumble's voters are equivalent to the idiot that made excuses for the idiot who blamed herself for being robbed at gunpoint.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Hillary Clinton talked Wall Street reform on The Colbert Report last night.

I think you mean The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

[Swiss Servator]

Poh tay toe - poh tah toe

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Just because ENB failed to use a /sarc tag doesn't mean it wasn't spot on.

[Restoras]

So, the House moves to impeach the current director of the IRS - and bubkis from Reason?

[Swiss Servator]

"Elizabeth Nolan Brown"

[Rich]

the House moves to impeach the current director of the IRS

[Tonio]

A group of House Republicans led by the chairman of a powerful committee moved Tuesday to impeach the head of the Internal Revenue Service, saying he violated the public trust and lied to Congress as it investigated the treatment of conservative groups. [...]

Chaffetz was joined by 18 committee Republicans in sponsoring an impeachment resolution, which now goes to the House Judiciary Committee.

No, the House of Representatives did not, as a whole, vote for impeachment. This wasn't even a vote by the entire Judiciary Committee. So, interesting, but not terribly newsworthy at this point.

[Restoras]

Thank you for correcting me, but as far as it not being terribly newsworthy...I disagree, especially when this...

Should SXSW have given into threats and canceled two GamerGate-related panels?

...apparently is?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Christina Hoff Summers on how Carly Fiorina is "redefining feminism."

Oh, my, no. She has an R after her name. She's no where near being a feminist.

[Shirley Knott]

There is no 'R' in 'feminist', everyone knows that.
Oddly, there is no "R" in 'fascist' either, but that doesn't slow anyone down.

[lap83]

You know who else had an r in their name?

[Fist of Etiquette]

National Socialism was right wing, so obviously Hitler had an R after his name.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Hitle (R-DE)?

[Swiss Servator]

Mussorini?

[See Double You]

Hillary?

[Michael]

Bushitler?

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Christ?

[Pope Jimbo]

Since Hillary said (in her last debate) that the main reason to vote for her was because she had a vagina, what happens if the GOP nominates Fiorina? Since both of them have v's, wouldn't she need some other reason to get votes?

But yeah, Fist is right. There will be millions of acres of electronic trees pulped to write all the articles about how Carly's vagina is more of a fleshlight than a "real" vagina.

[Suthenboy]

Hillary's pussy is deserving. Fiorina's doesn't count.

*For the record, Fiorina - would. Hillary? Not if she were the only woman on earth.

[Crusty Juggler]

Hillary's pussy

Pics? Anyone?

[Juice]

There's a snuke in that snizz.

[bacon-magic]

Go to your local sewage treatment plant, look in the darkest, deepest, widest hole. There's your image.

[Bee Tagger]

Buzz-worthy things to expect from tonight's Republican presidential debate

I hear a loud buzzing in my head when I hear politicians talk, so this is probably a long list.

[Anomalous]

All debates are worthy of getting a good buzz going. I'm partial to Irish whiskey.

[sarcasmic]

EXCLUSIVE PICTURES 'I love them all - plump, skinny, tall or short.' John Wayne's insatiable love for the ladies, devotion to his seven children and advice to President Nixon revealed in personal letters and photos

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....hotos.html
Looks like John has something in common with the Duke: chubbies. At least Wayne liked skinny ones too.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

But did he like them black, white, Puerto Rican or Haitian, Japanese , Chinese, or even Asian?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

John Wayne was a fag!

Obligatory!

[Libertymike]

Maureen O'Hara (RIP) would have told you that he like the redheads, too.

I remember her speaking in front of Congress in the spring of 1979 when the Duke was dying. She told the committee that "John Wayne IS the United States of America."

[Suthenboy]

I can list the actors that aren't gay on the fingers of one hand. Wayne is on the list.

[Apple]

Most golden age Hollywood actors weren't gay. Don't let modern LGBT revisionism fool you. The acting community almost certianly has a higher percentage of gays/lesbians than the general population, but that doesn't come anywhere close to being most of them.

[Eric Bana]

Whatever his personal life, John Wayne really nailed the part of Genghis Khan in The Conquerer. Acting at its finest.

[Swiss Servator]

*sardonic applause*

"Ok you Mongols, mount up!"

[Anomalous]

A waist is a terrible thing to mind.

[Lord Humungus]

Texas Man Found Eating Teenage Boy In Haunted House Attraction

Fright junkies discovered more than they bargained for at a haunted house attraction over the weekend, when they stumbled upon what they thought was part of the show. The Fright Night Haunted Dreams attraction in Austin, Texas brought in hundreds of people looking for a good scare this Halloween season. But on Friday night, this "Haunted Dream" maze turned into a reality for one teenage boy.

Eyewitnesses say they were halfway through this macabre haunted house when they came across a scene with a crazy looking man biting into his victim that lay in a dirty bathtub. At first, it was just another scene within the haunted maze, but as they looked closer they saw the young boy that was screaming for his life was really in excruciating pain. For one witness, Paul Callaway, it was much too real. "I don't think I can put into words what I saw. It will haunt my dreams forever," said Calloway. "This sick ass man bit into this dude's arm and I could literally see tendons being pulled out.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Dear Lord me.

[Lord Humungus]

uh - it's a hoax - sry ladies and gents

[Rich]

BAN HAUNTED HOUSE ATTRACTIONS ANYWAY!!

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

JUST IN CASE!

[Jerryskids]

In July 2015 the site released articles about a man purportedly arrested for having sex with a pig in a Walmart bathroom, another suggesting aborted fetuses were used in making Chicken McNuggets, and a third reporting (falsely) that bananas from Walmart were infested with parasitic worms. In October 2015, Now8News spread stories about a woman who purportedly was caught while engaged in a sex act with a breakfast sausage (and another claiming a woman was arrested for sampling feminine hygiene products in Walmart).

Isn't this the same site that released some "investigative reporting" about nail salon employees routinely being forced to work for ten dollars a day?

[Swiss Servator]

Nice tie in.

[Suthenboy]

That is a fake news site. Like They Onion but different niche.

[sarcasmic]

What could possibly go wrong? The idiotic moment two men play baseball after loading a MORTAR with fireworks

Pair of daredevils decided to 'up their game' with dangerous stunt
One lit the end of the mortar fuse with his cigarette and stood back
Firework-style missiles flew towards man, who swung his bat wildly
Later grenade-like mortars were launched at him and exploded in air

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....works.html
I've seen some dumb shit in my life, but that takes the cake.

[Juvenile Bluster]

The good news is that these two are likely too stupid to breed.

[Swiss Servator]

+1 hold my beer and watch this!

[Just a thought not a sermon]

But who was holding his beer?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

OK, Swissy, you win this round

[Swiss Servator]

Mu hu hu hu wha!

[Rhywun]

I bet they were on the spice or something.

[Suthenboy]

Saki and Boo. I really didn't have to read past that.

*Disclaimer - my friends and I used to shoot at each other with 12gauges. No. 7 1/2 shot at 60 yards.
You can actually jump out of the way after the shot is fired. If you don't move fast enough it will knock the shit out of you but not penetrate your skin.

We were young and stupid.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hillary Clinton talked Wall Street reform on The Colbert Report last night.

We should probably be looking at Clinton Foundation reform.

[Restoras]

Why would you want to reform a charity, you meany?

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

He hates poor people, obviously.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Duh.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Clinton Foundation reform.

Too big to fail!

[Pope Jimbo]

Was this the transcript of the interview?

http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/i-am-fun-51731

[Suthenboy]

Every politician, especially this one, who talks about 'wall street reform' ends up exponentially wealthier after their 'reforms' are enacted.

I wonder what this means?

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

It's probably a coincidence.

[sarcasmic]

Which Bond is REALLY the baddest? Graphic shows how many kills, women and martini each version got through - and the answer might surprise you

Sean Connery's 007, who he portrayed six times in the 1960s and 1970s, came second with number of martinis drank and women slept with
Daniel Craig's Bond only sleeps with an average of 1.33 women per film and kills 2.66 bad guys - the lowest of all Bonds across the two categories
By a large margin, Pierce Brosnan's 007 kills the most adversaries - he massacres 21.25 bad guys per film, with Connery in second place on 7.33

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....e-you.html

[Just a thought not a sermon]

George Lazenby has to have the highest average for the ladies. In his one film, he plowed through half the chicks in Blofeld's chateau.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Heh. They're trolling Jezebel and the SJW crowd.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Bond is awesome. He kills people and objectifies women.

I can see why the Jezzie crowd would hate him.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I expect you to die (from an STD), Mr. Bond!

[B. Woodrow Chippenhaus]

"Connery in second place on 7.33" followed by a graphic showing Roger Moore killing 7.71 bad guys per film and Daniel Craig 12.66.

Math are hard.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

I knew Pierce was the awesomest!

[sarcasmic]

MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry claims the term 'hard worker' is an insult to the experience of slaves

Harris-Perry was interviewing American Principle Project's Alfonso Aguilar
When Aguilar said Paul Ryan is a 'hard worker', Harris-Perry objected
While she agreed with his sentiment, she objected to the 'offensive' term
She explained she kept a picture of slaves working in cotton fields as a reminder of what 'hard work' looks like
Her comments sparked online backlash with many calling them ridiculous

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....laves.html
Dumb, da-dumb, dumb, duuuuuuuumb...

[Rich]

She explained she kept a picture of slaves working in cotton fields Ron Jeremy in action as a reminder of what 'hard work' looks like

FTFH

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

It's not so hard anymore.

[Eric Bana]

Anybody else think Ron Jeremy is disgusting?

[Swiss Servator]

She explained she kept a picture of slaves working in cotton fields as a reminder of what 'hard work' looks like

Well, nobody could ever accuse her of being "a hard worker"!

[Zeb]

In one of the few clips of her show I have seen, one of the guests said something about people taking risk in the context of investments and building companies and MHP went off about how wall street people don't know anything about risk and that black people are the ones who take risks simply by existing (or something along those lines).

Seems to be her thing. She has to be the stupidest person on TV (and that's saying a lot).

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Did all the guests laugh at her after that?

[Zeb]

More of a stunned silence, I think.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, she's one of the derpiest on MSNBC, a network notorious for its derptitude

[VG Zaytsev]

She makes like $3million a year (or something) so she's more evil con-man than idiot.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

There is absolutely no way she is stupider than Nancy Grace. No way.

[Zeb]

I forgot about Nancy Grace.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Who or which publication claimed this idiot was one of America's greatest public intellectuals?

Wow, what a vapid moron this woman is.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

She teaches at my undergrad university; one of the many reasons I refuse to donate to them.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

She.....TEACHES?!

Dear God.

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

No, she gets paid to teach. There's a difference.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Sitting in a room hearing her talk should teach you something...

Such as: This school is stealing my money.

Or: It is possible to walk and talk with brain cancer.

Bad examples are still examples.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I call bullshit. Someone needs to ask her to produce the picture, in short order, to substantiate her claim.

Seeing as I can't find a picture of slaves, real slaves working in a cotton field online, I'm going to call bullshit on this.

That woman is a fucking moron.

[Suthenboy]

I have known that particular flavor of useful idiot before. No matter what the subject, no matter what you say, it will result in some bullshit about slavery, black vs. white, etc.

Questions: Was MHP born into slavery or was she captured and sold and at what age? How long was she held as a slave? How long ago was she liberated?

[VG Zaytsev]

Her momma was a white mormon girl - so she probably has as many slave owners, as victims, in her ancestry.

[Free Society]

This bitch owns your kids, lookout.

[Mindyourbusiness]

IMHO, she's a poster child for Loud Stupid.

[sarcasmic]

Is that a mountain... or are you just pleased to see me? The world's most erotic natural tourist attractions revealed

Mollie's Nipple is a suggestive basalt-capped hill in Utah's Hurricane Valley
The Yangyuan rock formation in China looks much like something else
While the 'dual breast' mountain in Guizhou Province speaks for itself

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tra.....tions.html
I think we have found the setting for SF's next story.

[Swiss Servator]

Warty Climbs Dual Breast Mountain?

[Elspeth Flashman]

Not flatulent enough.

[Restoras]

Climbs, or motorboats? We're talking Warty Hugeman here, ya know...

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

If anyone could and would tittyfuck a geological rock formation, it's Warty.

[Lord Humungus]

something something the Doomcock rocked back and forth, cracking the once mighty stone breasts in twain.

[Swiss Servator]

^THIS^

[The Shrubber's Woodchipper]

something, something, climax, something, raging river, something something. And that's how the Grand Canyon was formed.

[Lord Humungus]

The mighty wash of the white semen cascaded down onto the unsuspecting town. There were a lot of pregnancies that year.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Wait wait:
"the corresponding orgasm rippled through the formation, earthquaking . . . trees suddenly uprooted . . . ."

[Elspeth Flashman]

Yes.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Yes!

YES!

[Elspeth Flashman]

Ok, I lol'd.

[sarcasmic]

Shocking moment NYPD officer uses 'chokehold' and pepper spray to wrestle skateboarder to the ground

Yibin Mu, 22, shared a video of his arrest on YouTube on Monday
Video shows a NYPD cop locking his arms around Mu's head and taking him to the ground in the center of Columbus Circle on Sunday at 5pm
The officer levels Mu on the ground before sitting on top of him and pepper spraying him the face, the video shows
Mu said that he thought he was going to be questioned by the officer about skateboarding in the area, which prohibits such activity
A police spokesman said Mu was stopped to be ticketed, but Mu 'refused to sit down...and the defendant fought with the officer'
Mu was charged with three misdemeanors: resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to comply with posted signs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....round.html
About the only thing the cops could do that would shock me is be respectful and investigate crime.

[Rhywun]

To be fair, I have often desired to smack around some mouthy skater punks - hard to choose a side here.

[Krabappel]

He was Asian so this will get completely ignored by American media, the hordes of facebook SJW retards, etc.

[Rhywun]

I don't see anything at the NY Post. It is funny the way the UK lacks America's racial sensibilities.

[JD the elder]

The Daily News does have an article on it. Of course the comments are full of mouthbreathing garbage like "I guess the liberals think that cops should just let people walk away from lawful arrests" and "if I were a cop I would do whatever I had to do to make sure I got home at night".

[Krabappel]

Plenty of derp to go around!

[Brett L]

Waiting for Christian Slater to assemble the ultimate skate board and go looking for revenge.

[Lord Humungus]

Amish man sues to buy firearm without photo ID in gun rights, religious freedom lawsuit

In a suit that brings together the Second Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), an Amish man filed a federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania last week because he wants to buy a gun without the required photo ID ? and because getting that photo ID would violate his religious beliefs.

Andrew Hertzler, according to the suit, is from Lancaster County, Pa., and is an "active and practicing" member of the community; his "parents, grandparents, and siblings are all active and practicing Amish"; and he "has a sincerely held religious belief that prevents him from knowingly and willingly having his photograph taken and stored."

[Rich]

Obviously the solution is for Hertzler to wear a burqa.

[LynchPin1477]

Hometown represent!

[Rhywun]

he "has a sincerely held religious belief that prevents him from knowingly and willingly having his photograph taken and stored."

I'm going to try that next time at the DMV.

[Illocust]

Eh, part of his religion is also against driving cars, so it might not fly.

[Rhywun]

You have go to the DMV to get a non-driver ID too.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Can't he sign an affirmation? I know that works for people without a government ID that want to fly. I can't imagine it not working for the background check form to purchase a firearm.

[spqr2008]

Why would he need a background check to buy a flintlock musket or rifle? Considering the Amish restrict themselves to 17th century tech, that's the most advanced firearm he could buy and be in compliance with his religious beliefs.

[spqr2008]

And even under the most proggie of gun control regimes, the RKBA clearly applies to flintlock muskets and rifles, since those were the weapons of choice at the time of the founding, right?

[Arizona_Guy]

The progs should support his suit, since requiring ID is racist and stuff.

[Bee Tagger]

Some are heralding it as Jeb Bush's last chance..

Most are not caring, though.

[Swiss Servator]

Seconded.

Shriek will be clutching his JEB! rally towel, however.

[Lord Humungus]

Russian Orthodox Official Warns Eating Potato Chips Is 'Sinful'

"The Church has laid down a strict rule ? sin is that which harms human health," Bogdasarov said.

Problematic products include foods containing "various trans fats, alcoholic beverages of poor quality, potato chips, energy [drinks] ? everything that negatively affects a person's health," he was cited as saying in the report.

Genetically modified products are also included on the list, Bogdasarov said, adding they "not only severely harm a person, but also their offspring."

The Orthodox official added that even seemingly healthy products could fall into the red zone "if the price ? includes a bribe or kickback for a corrupt official," he said.

[Restoras]

But vodka is fine, I'm sure...

[Zeb]

As long as it is not of poor quality.

[Swiss Servator]

"alcoholic beverages of poor quality"

As long as it is the good stuff...

[Elspeth Flashman]

But wait, they're both made from potatoes . . . so . . .

[Drake]

That is the cornerstone of their religion. The real sin is wasting potatoes on anything other than vodka.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

How are sales of Mr. Potato Head in Russia?

I don't want to ask what they do with the spud though.

[Lee G]

A crime against the body is a crime against the State God Church

[Suthenboy]

Your body is a temple. It belongs to Jesus, not to you.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Should SXSW have given into threats and canceled two GamerGate-related panels?

I don't see how there isn't already enough security to prevent any attacks. As if any attacks are likely when the invested parties are nerds and feminists. Hardly Al-Qaeda or the IRA.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Should SXSW have given into threats and canceled two GamerGate-related panels?

Threats aside, this might be the silliest -gate ever.

[Bee Tagger]

To this day, I still have no idea what gamergate is. Can anyone get a let me google that for you link for me?

[Restoras]

Something to do with video gaming journalists being co-opted by PC bullshit, while the actual gamers only care if a game is actually any good or not, or something. I think.

[UnCivilServant]

The short form is, SJWs infected gaming media, decided that ethics and objectivity were for chumps, shilled their friends and got pissed off when the gamers called them on it, then declared war on the people whose money kept their industry afloat.

I wish I had links to give people the long form, but I'm at work

[Restoras]

This is a better summation than mine.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

I still don't get it.

[Crusty Juggler]

Gamergate is The Most Important Issue To Ever Happen In the History of Ever, so you better start to get it.

[Elizabeth Nolan Brown]

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

[SusanM]

It's the maturation of video game journalism into being the same kind of bought-and-paid-for shill of industry hacks and publicity hounds that journos covering music (Rolling Stone), movies (Variety, People, Rolling Stone) and all other entertainment media have always been.

[UnCivilServant]

Well yeah, when your openly corrupt media declares their target audience to be "dead" and all-around losers, they do look kinda silly. No surprise the consumers turned against them.

[Jerryskids]

Should SXSW have given into threats and canceled two GamerGate-related panels?

What are the Muslims offended by this time?

[Bee Tagger]

Iraq's government said it doesn't want or need the "direct action on the ground" promised by the Pentagon.

Haven't they read Nudge by Cass Sunstein? HAVEN'T THEY?

[Lord Humungus]

Former boxer claims he was drugged for gay porn romp

But Mack, a father of 10, denied any knowledge of making the adult film.

"My whole life, I've been what they call a whoremonger. I love females," Mack told the website. "The only time I touch a man is when I'm in the ring fighting."

Mack said he does not remember the location in the Bronx where he went to film the scene, and he cannot reach the account that contacted him on Facebook because he forgot his password, according to Philly.com.

He is convinced that the pill he took upon arriving at the apartment was a drug, possibly GHB ? but it wasn't immediately clear if he was preparing to take any legal action.

[Rhywun]

Wasn't this published at The Onion already?

*bookmarking "dawgspound usa" for later research*

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

My friend in Holland emailed me telling me Arab refugees are demanding $2000 euros a month. He pointed out that's more than what some working Dutchmen make. Nuts, crazy, nuts.

[Restoras]

Cool story, bro, but obviously false. I have been assured that all refugees from impoverished and war-torn places are only seeking an opportunity for a better life.

[MetalBard]

Exactly immigration from Muslim countries is an absolute good. Cyto told me so.

[MetalBard]

Wait is Cyto and Cytotoxic a different person? I meant Cytotoxic. That guy.

[straffinrun]

Yes.

[Tonio]

Yes, Cytotoxic is a Canadian objectivist who works in biological sciences. Can't remember what the deal with the other guy is.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

"Cytotoxic is a Canadian objectivist who works in biological sciences. "

A comic villain in the making?

[Suthenboy]

Exactly.

[Cyto]

It is my fault. I have been Cytotoxic on BBS systems and later on the internet since I was doing sequencing gels back in 1989. When I had to give my libertarian online presence a name several years back I was lazy and didn't bother to type the whole thing. I kept letting it slide because I generally keep politics out of my other online discussions and rationalized my laziness based on that segregation.

Then Cytotoxic started posting and I was stuck with the abbreviated version.

In all honesty it isn't a terrible thing.... Cytotoxic was a great handle 15-20 years ago playing Quake deathmatches. It is a little silly at my age, particularly when discussing foreign policy or economics. Not that Cyto is any better.

Happily Reason is a safe place for semi-serious discussions while using ridiculously juvenile handles.

[bacon-magic]

You seem to be the less "toxic" of the two...

[Mickey Rat]

One lab accident away...

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Often seen in the Dudley Doright documentary, tieing Nell to the tracks.

[Princess Trigger]

You see that picture of the drowned child?
How can you NOT give them anything they ask for, you heartless bastard?
They have complete moral authority on this.

[Marshall Gill]

Why do you hate immigrants, Rufus?

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Because.

I have no love in me.

None.

[Elspeth Flashman]

So you fit right in here, then.

[Lord Humungus]

Sugar Babies: Students Selling Sex

Thousands of British students are funding their way through university on so-called "sugar daddy" websites.

The sites advertise themselves as a way for "beautiful, ambitious people to graduate debt free" through "arrangements" with older "sponsors".

One site, SeekingArrangement.com, claims 12,600 UK students have signed up with proof of university enrolment.

A 20-year-old student on the website told us she earns ?2,000 a month from her "arrangement", which has become sexual.

She said: "I've saved quite a lot. It pays for my travel, my books, I haven't had to take out a student loan. I've been quite well off."

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"A 20-year-old student on the website told us she earns ?2,000 a month"

I sense a job possibility for the Arab refugees here....

[Agile Cyborg]

If she's fine and adventurous a sugar milf can also pull in some decent change. Know several people plumbing the playgrounds on arrangement sites. Very dirty nasty lovely world that.

[Swiss Servator]

Go on...

[Agile Cyborg]

I'd ruin this thread with filth- so I shall abstain to avoid deletion.

[Tonio]

When I read "Sugar MILF" I thought you meant an older woman paying a younger man for sex. Normatively it's Sugar Daddy (payer) and Sugar Baby (payee). If you're an even normally attractive MILF you shouldn't have to pay.

[Crusty Juggler]

So you would not believe that older, attractive milf's pay me to give them a right rogering?

[Free Society]

the term is "right ole rogering"

[Tonio]

I don't know you well enough to make a judgement on that, CJ. But you're competing against any number of frat boys willing to do that for free.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Jesus this 'school debt' story is tiresome.

'Look! See how much debt I've incurred? I've had to swallow! Hard. Many times! It's not fair! Because Kock. Or something. Or the I-raq and such.'

Man.

[Agile Cyborg]

The cunts can clean toilets or wrap their cherry lips around honey pipe. If I were them I'd be happy opening my pretty face up to some vigorous shaft spillage. Cum on the lips in 30 or working 10 tables with shitty customers lugging screaming babies and nit-picking grannies all fucking day long at the local grimy pub. Take your pick, sweethearts.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Please send to Playboy.

Or Letter to the Editor of your local paper.

If you won't, I will.

[lap83]

What I don't get about the prostituting yourself through college thing is, why even go to school? It's the highest paid low-skilled position. If you don't have a moral issue with it, what's stopping you from doing that the rest of your life?

[R C Dean]

If you think prostitution is a low-skill profession, you're doin' it wrong.

[lap83]

Yes, I'm sure young female college students who make 2,000 a month are very highly skilled, it has nothing to do with being in-demand and willing 😉

[Lord Humungus]

Germany to oblige banks to offer accounts to refugees

Under the new rules, everyone will have the right to access basic banking services, including the homeless and people who fall under the protection of the Geneva Convention on Refugees.

This means that migrants will be able to open accounts at any bank, enabling them to deposit and withdraw cash, carry out bank transfers, set up direct debits and make payments with cards.

Germany expects between 800,000 to one million people, many fleeing war zones in the Middle East and Africa, to arrive this year, although not all of them will be given asylum. Giving refugees access to current accounts is seen as a vital first step to help them integrate them into society.

[Illocust]

As long as they aren't requiring them to offer credit, it doesn't seem to bad. I'm going to guess the banks had a reason not to want to open accounts for these people that I don't know about though.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Tickle me skeptical, but giving them stuff may not go as intended.

They'll demand a TFSA and a loan and a helicopter and....

[commodious spittoon]

+1 If You Give a Migrant a Debit Card

[Swiss Servator]

*standing ovation*

[Tonio]

That's why PO banking is a better solution. Since PO banking doesn't do credit/loans there is less possibility of mission creep. SLD's, of course.

[Tonio]

I thought they had Post Office banking, or is that just England?

[Rhywun]

Yes, Germany has that.

[Free Society]

Now if only Americans could open a bank account in Germany...

[Lord Humungus]

Senators dare Obama to veto climate rule bills

A bipartisan group of senators opposed to the EPA's new climate rule for power plants said Tuesday they'll push forward with resolutions to undo it despite a certain veto from President Obama.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) led a group of members in introducing two Congressional Review Act resolutions against new rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions on new and existing power plants. On Tuesday, he called the rules an "arrogant, single-handed messianic goal to deal with worldwide climate."

The climate rules are deeply unpopular among most Republicans and coal-state Democrats, who have warned that they will drive up energy costs and hurt energy industry jobs. McConnell has said he will call up the CRA resolutions ? which would undo the regulations by a majority vote in Congress ? to give members a chance to stop the rules.

[Suthenboy]

Did McConnel have any Obumble's spunk on his chin when he made that announcement?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Backstage at GOP debate, Trump gets presidential suite, Rand Paul gets a bathroom

During a tense 30-minute meeting at the Coors Event Center, which was described by three sources present, several lower-polling campaigns lashed out at the RNC. They accused the committee of allotting them less-than-hospitable greenroom spaces while unfairly giving lavish ones to higher-polling candidates, such as Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

The drama began Tuesday afternoon as RNC officials led campaigns on a walk-through of the debate site. After touring the stage, candidates got a peek at what their greenrooms looked like.

Trump was granted a spacious room, complete with plush chairs and a flat-screen TV. Marco Rubio got a theater-type room, packed with leather seats for him and his team of aides. Carly Fiorina's room had a Jacuzzi.

Then there was Chris Christie, whose small space was dominated by a toilet. So was Rand Paul's.

Look, we all hate Christie, but forcing his staff to share such a small room with him is just inhuman.

[Swiss Servator]

Yeah, that might terminate the entire effort right there.

[Old.Mexican]

Look, we all hate Christie, but forcing his staff to share such a small room with him is just inhuman.

The staff will have to spend real money on the Poo-Pourri, just to make the place habitable.

[Derpetologist]

Derpy's Army Countdown: 3 weeks left

Motivational Thought: I gotta pocket fulla horses; I fuck the shit outta bears; I throw knives into heaven; I can kill with a stare.

Motivational Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPiuoKBNAZM

A sincere "thank you" to all you tax payers for paying my future salary.

[Swiss Servator]

I had my turn, now it is yours!

[commodious spittoon]

I gotta pocket fulla horses

Trojan, and some of them used?

[Pope Jimbo]

My favorite cadence to run to during my stint with Uncle Sam's Misguided Children.

It was starting to get flack from some for being so un-PC back in '86, so I'm not sure if anyone will be using it now.

http://www.hmhhh.com/index.php?log=s_mygirl.con

[Tonio]

"I fuck the shit outta bears..."

Always glad to do my patriotic duty for a serviceman, Derpy. Just sayin'.

[Free Society]

So an armed agent of the US federal government you shall be. Good luck with that.

A sincere "thank you" to all you tax payers for paying my future salary.

Meh. You're cheaper than a cruise missile at least.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

Don't thank me, thank your recruiter.

[SFC B]

I would like to point out, for the Army at least, your Guidance Counselor is the one who actually assigned you to that job you hate, in the unit that is so fucking stupid, at the location which is the armpit of the world.

[Lord Humungus]

Inequality in Flight
Half of American Airlines' revenue came from 13% of its customers

On an Oct 25 conference call with stock market analysts, American Airlines president Scott Kirby gave a peek into the lopsided economics of his company, saying half of its revenue last year came from the 87% of its customers, who only flew the airline once.

...

On the other side of this equation are the 13% of American's customers who give the airline an equal sum of money. These passengers are generating on average of 6.7 times more money for the company than the "commodity" flyers. With that kind of inequality it should be no surprise why some customers are treated better than others at the airport.

[LynchPin1477]

Inequality! Inequality everywhere!

[Free Society]

Egalitarianism is a disease.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

With that kind of inequality it should be no surprise why some customers are treated better than others at the airport.

I didn't pay for Bidness Class to Denver to be treated like a goddamned prole!

[Lord Humungus]

Our View: No, Hillary, VA woes are not overblown

In September, VA investigators reported concerns about delays, a larger and less responsive agency bureaucracy, key medical slots remaining unfilled and fast-growing costs.

The last thing vets need? Presidential aspirants playing partisan politics with their predicament.

Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton told MSNBC talk-show host Rachel Maddow that the VA scandal has "not been as widespread as it has been made out to be."

"Now, nobody would believe that from the coverage that you see," she said, "and the constant berating of the VA that comes from the Republicans."

[commodious spittoon]

"Now, nobody would believe that from the coverage that you see," she said,

Nobody believes it because your lips are moving.

[Rich]

Man In Coma After E-Cig Blows Up In His Face

Still claim vaping is a "safer alternative", Reason?

[Drake]

Was Florida Man using a homemade e-cig?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Ah, the old exploding e-cig gag.

[straffinrun]

Monica is lucky Bill preferred cigars.

[Rhywun]

"when the cigarette exploded it went down his throat and exploded again"

Wut?

Anyway the commenters are saying he wasn't doing it right.

[paranoid android]

The CIA is working on a way to leverage this man's experience to kill Castro.

[bacon-magic]

I didn't click the link, but if it's the same guy in Florida(I believe it is), the idiot put two batteries in series and didn't use ohm's law. That's not a problem with vaping, it's a feature of natural selection.

[Cyto]

The brickbat is just one more piece of evidence as to the notorious unreliability of eyewitness testimony.

An anecdote on the other side of the "it wasn't me" scale: My wife had jury duty and was chosen for the panel on a warehouse robbery case. The accused was about 6'9", skinny as a rail and had a very distinctive look and walk. The surveillance video showed a tall, skinny, distinctive looking guy who looked exactly like the defendant, who was found in possession of items stolen from the warehouse. He was also known to the people who worked there and recognized from the video.

He claimed in court that it wasn't him on the tape. On cross he said it didn't even look that much like him and it must be because racists think all black people look alike. That gambit didn't work for him. Possibly because the warehouse workers and the prosecutor were black. Possibly because it was pretty good video and it was clearly him and no one else on the planet.

Still, it takes balls to say "that ain't me" when caught on tape.

[Restoras]

I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.

[sarcasmic]

He should have been a cop. Then he could rob people, say "that ain't me," and get away with it.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

You sure it wasn't Manute Bol's ghost?

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[Free Society]

It's just so easy to cry about racism. There's just no negative situation where it's not possible to play that card.

[Lord Humungus]

How Congress lost control of the regulators

Regulation has its tentacles in almost every aspect of our lives and our economy. With few exceptions, the everyday business decisions of American companies and entrepreneurs, small and large, must adhere to an ever growing body of regulations. In many cases, permission must be obtained from the government to conduct business. When a business wants some regulatory relief or needs approval to acquire or merge with another, it is reasonable to expect that a regulator would dispassionately view such a request on the merits and, assuming all is well, ultimately grant permission. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work this way. Instead, regulation "as practiced" often means that if a business needs permission from a regulator, then it is going to have to bargain with the government by offering up some concessions to grease the proverbial skids. American regulation has gone "third world."

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

It's largely a post-WW2 phenomenon, but Congress and the Supreme Court of more or less abdicated their duties and ceded all control to the administrative state.

[LynchPin1477]

This. They didn't lose control, they gave it away.

[sarcasmic]

When regulation has the power of law, you effectively have legislation without representation.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Yep. Plus, you get the benefit of not having most of the usual Constitutional protections that due process would normally require.

Congress prefers it this way because they are shielded from any responsibility for what happens.

[VG Zaytsev]

It's largely a post-WW2 phenomenon...

It's mostly a post-Vietnam phenomenon.

Another gift of Nixon and the rabid early 70s democrats.

[Illocust]

Huh, so the companies can't sue the regulators for tacking on requirements that have nothing to do with what they are asking for because the requirements are 'Voluntary'. Maybe make it illegal for regulatory agencies to make requests of companies? Strip them of any power and negotiation abilities beyond enforcement and creation of their regulations?

Doubtful it would work. They are too power mad, and no administration would prosecute a bureaucrat for backroom deals done at their behest.

[R C Dean]

Strip them of any power and negotiation abilities beyond enforcement and creation of their regulations of federal statutes?

The entire Code of Federal Regulations is a Constitutional abomination, and should be voided in its entirety.

[Jerryskids]

There is at least some evidence SCOTUS is looking to revisit Auer and Chevron, pulling back on their idea that legislative-branch agencies are owed deference in their interpretations of their own statutes rules and regulations. Odd to think that once upon a time SCOTUS ruled that legislative-branch agencies were an unconstitutional delegation of powers by the legislative branch to the executive branch. And now you have executive-branch agencies all but asserting that Congress has no authority over them at all.

I keep saying it: we're seeing the federal government devolve into a bunch of warlords with their own little fiefdoms accountable to no one. It's why they're all pushing to have their own SWAT teams and their own revenue sources - if the President doesn't have to obey the Constitution, why should they have to obey the Constitution? Or obey the President? If they've got their own lawyers, guns, and money they can tell everybody else FYTW just as they please.

[Tonio]

Meh. At one time SCOTUS held that separate but supposedly equal public accommodations were just fine. And until Miranda, SCOTUS was just fine, although passively so, with not reading suspects their rights. ETC.

Despite all the yammering about originalism vs living constitution, SCOTUS is really just a bellwether for public opinion. It does remain a useful check and balance, though.

[Cyto]

But wouldn't it be interesting to have a check n' balance that actually adhered to the letter of the law. Note that I said interesting, not necessarily good. I wonder how long we'd last with "letter of the law" supreme court rulings.

Pretty much everything the Feds are doing right now would require a new constitutional amendment, based on the 9th and 10th amendments and a reading of the constitution that says the Feds only have exactly those powers delegated to them by the constitution.

In that version of reality we'd be working on amendment #500 by now - if we hadn't just given them a blanket "they can do whatever they want" amendment.

[Tonio]

^This. Thanks, non-toxic Cyto.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Lena Dunham plans on being a Planned Parenthood doctor for Halloween

After detailing all her Halloween "failure," Dunham writes, "I want to be accepted and to WIN BIG! And this year, I think I may have finally nailed it. I'm going as something newsy, sexy, and cool: a Planned Parenthood doctor!"
The 29-year-old is a vocal advocate for Planned Parenthood. In October, she showed up at the Planned Parenthood Champion of Choice event in a sweater with an image of the female reproductive system, which she ended up "spontaneously" auctioning off for $4,000 in support of the organization.

Similarly, in a 2014 interview with Vanity Fair, Dunham said she considers the men and women who work at Planned Parenthood centers across the country to be her real-life heroes.

Excellent idea. I'd add that she should give away sacks of baby parts at her party.

[UnCivilServant]

Well it's hard for her to find something more vile than she is to dress up as. Sort of limited her options.

[VG Zaytsev]

She could always go as a tea-partier.

In her circles, that's way worse than an abortionist.

[LynchPin1477]

If she's going for authenticity she should be selling those baby parts, not giving them away.

[UnCivilServant]

No, she's "Donating" them, but you still have to pay "expenses" for "delivery and storage"

[Elspeth Flashman]

You mean molesting.

[Crusty Juggler]

Let her who did not write in their autobiography about masturbating in a bed while next to their little sister cast the first stone.

[CampingInYourPark]

Maybe she can get a sidekick to ram a big pair of scissors up her vagina to complete the effect.

[Old.Mexican]

Lena Dunham plans on being a Planned Parenthood doctor for Halloween

I guess her portrayal of a fat slut is not scary enough for her...

[Banjos]

Is her career going to play the part of an aborted fetus?

[Crusty Juggler]

Not when she receives attention for doing anything and everything. She even has a newsletter that receives a lot of attention. I blame the internet.

[Tonio]

Clever, Banjos, clever.

[Free Society]

Inside the Secretive World of Tax-Avoidance Experts

Tax avoidance?the perfectly legal practice of minimizing one's tax obligations?is really the least of the wonders that wealth managers achieve for their clients. They can also help clients swap nationalities when holding the passport of a particular country means submitting to undesirable requirements. Remember when the Facebook founder Eduardo Saverin renounced his American citizenshipfor a Singaporean passport? Classic wealth-management strategy. And thanks to the expanding number of practitioners, U.S. citizenship renunciations are at an all-time high, and growing.

So the inequality obsessed author claims that the expanding ranks of sinister financial advisers, is why so many Americans have been renouncing their citizenship. He never even stops to think about why financial advisers are in such high demand to begin with.

This article completely ignores FATCA and the increasing hassle that banks banks and employers have had to go through just to do business with Americans. In fact he ignores it so hard, that the links he provides to support his conclusions actually argue against the author's claim.

This bullshit article is ponderously long but if anyone cares to dive in and recover some gems of pure delusion, please feel free. There's plenty of derp for everyone.

[Free Society]

(those links)

http://www.cnbc.com/2014/02/11.....nship.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB.....0162556670

[commodious spittoon]

Wealth inequality is a major problem for the bottom 99%, because reasons. The top 1% want to expatriate their inequality-producing wealth. Without their unequal wealth polluting the wealth of the bottom 99%, America will be a much more equitable place. Rinse and repeat until we're all equally poor. What's the problem?

[Agile Cyborg]

I fear the cycles of history, Stossel.

[LynchPin1477]

Hillary Clinton talked Wall Street reform on The Colbert Report last night

The Colbert Report is still a thing?

[Rich]

Hillary Clinton is still a thing?

[Sevo]

You're unfair to things everywhere.

[Tejicano]

Well, I don't remember ever hearing her claim to be human and I have seen scant evidence to support that claim had she made it so for the mean time I put her in the'thing' column.

[R C Dean]

I don't remember ever hearing her claim to be human

She has actually denied being human.

http://thehill.com/blogs/in-th.....im-a-robot

[Old.Mexican]

Nolan is just being tongue-in-cheek.

[Irish ?s ESB]

So is Salon institutionally pro-pedophilia now?

Dude gets arrested for trying to meet with a 10 year old who was actually a cop (I'm sure his intentions were completely above board) and Salon claims he was just a good guy caught up in a bad system.

Here's what the guy did:

"But Jacob had not touched a child. He had contacted whom he thought was a 10-year-old girl in a chat room and made plans to meet up with her. When he arrived, he discovered he had been corresponding with an undercover police officer, and was arrested for luring a minor."

Poor Jacob! All he intended was to groom a 10 year old to be his sex partner! Clearly he is the victim here.

[sarcasmic]

"This online dating thing is hard. Every time I meet someone he goes to jail."

/ten-year-old girl

[commodious spittoon]

NOT FUNNY.

*chortles*

[Tonio]

Where is OMWC when we most need him?

[Swiss Servator]

WAS IT HE, WHO WAS ARRESTED?!?!?!

[Lord Humungus]

You SF'd the link

[Irish ?s ESB]

Oops.

[commodious spittoon]

Apparently they're spontaneously pro-due process. Or maybe anti-entrapment. I wonder how they feel about male students being drummed out of public life by unsubstantiated accusations, or johns being arrested and incarcerated for soliciting sex. I doubt any newfound compassion they're feeling for the accused extends to heteronormative men.

[Lee G]

They don't get it, they're not going to get it.

[Irish ?s ESB]

I mean, you could worry about this kind of thing from an entrapment angle, but regardless of that, this guy was clearly intending to act on his desire to molest children. It's ridiculous to paint him as a kindly victim.

[sarcasmic]

I remember back in the days of Yahoo Chat, there were lots of persistent children trying to pick people up. Very persistent. I can only assume they were cops. But yeah, only a creep would agree to meet one.

[Crusty Juggler]

I only agree to meet children if they offer to bake cupcakes.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

You'll bring the wine coolers?

[Illocust]

Its an extension of everything you can't help must be celebrated. It why bakers must bake cakes for gays but its not wrong to fire a Mozilla CEO for donating to a traditional marriage cause. Also why polygamy hasn't been picked up as the cause dejor yet.

Pretty sure this is going to bite the progs in the ass. The only thing more ideologically pure than a 16 year old girl on a fad is parents trying to protect their children.

[Old.Mexican]

So is Salon institutionally pro-pedophilia now?

When haven't they?

[Suthenboy]

Well, the point of demoralization is to scramble people's brains to the point where they will believe any nonsense imaginable. Pedophelia being accepted by society would be a real triumph for them. Then they can make any claim they want and people will swallow it.

It is impossible for me to believe that they aren't doing that very thing in a deliberate, calculated way.

[Tonio]

Look, they're just changing public opinion to make America more welcoming for those ISIS sleepers Syrian refugees.

[ant1sthenes]

Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you want about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

[ant1sthenes]

Too bad; if he had just waited three or four years, Reason would have his back too.

But it's just a reminder -- the slippery slope isn't a fallacy with progressives, it's their modus operandi.

[lafe.long]

spats and spectacle

Excellent.

/ adjusts spats and polishes monocle

[See Double You]

Alt-text: Here's a boot. On the ground.

[Sevo]

"Walmart is under fire for selling an 'Israeli soldier' costume to kids"
[...]
"extremely offensive and highly insensitive, not only to the millions of Palestinian-Americans that shop in your stores, but to anyone who has an ounce of humanity in their bodies,"
http://www.sfgate.com/technolo.....593410.php

[Free Society]

So Israelis then, who are in all likelihood not offended at the sight of those uniforms, have less than one ounce of humanity? "Evil jooos!"

[Free Society]

and there's only a couple hundred thousand Palestinians in the US, so I don't know where they get the "millions of Palestinian-Americans that shop in your stores"

[Sevo]

AFAICT, the only way to be 'offended' is to presume those soldiers are somehow evil. Like any army, I'm sure there's a father-raper and mother-stabber in there someplace, but by and large, they're doing nothing other than defending their country.
If ya wanna be offended, get pissed at a suit-and-tie; *that's* the uniform of the guys directing the military.

[Free Society]

And however evil that evil jooo army really is, it pales in comparison to Hamas who fortify their military bases and rocket sites, not with sandbags or concrete, but with women and children.

[Free Society]

And why not express outrage when you see those hipsters wearing the palituch (Palestinian style scarves)? How insensitive to all the evil jooos who were blown up on school buses or stabbed randomly in the street.

[Sevo]

Che T-shirts, anyone?
Celebrating a mass-murderer!

[Tonio]

Neither side can reasonably claim moral high ground in this, FS. Sorry.

[Free Society]

I was making a point about the supposed offensiveness of attire. Derp.

[R C Dean]

I dunno, Tonio. The high moral ground is relative, after all, and I don't have much trouble awarding it to the Israelis over the Palestinians.

[bacon-magic]

Moral high ground? Research how both sides treat their own children. Palestinians are brainwashed savages and that fact can be thrust into the face of all the jooos haters and they will only blink and say "Israel shouldn't be so mean to the people that want to wipe them off the map." /neither a Jooooooo or a Palestinian

[Free Society]

This is a great pictorial explanation of which side does, relative to the other at least, hold some moral high ground.

[bacon-magic]

That is awesome.

[Lee G]

I heard they're also selling an ebook version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion

[Sevo]

"Mein Kampf (Vol. I and II; Unabridged) by Adolf Hitler.

Caveat Emptor:

There are reviews here that talks of the special character and other errors/mistakes but you should know that these reviews are posted for other editions of Mein Kampf and not for Mein Kampf (Banned and the Bestseller)

This is a US/Canada only edition and shall/must only be sold in US/Canada. This edition should not be sold outside of US/Canada/New Zealand/South Africa/Japan."
http://www.amazon.com/Mein-Kam.....mein+kemph

[R C Dean]

the millions of Palestinian-Americans

Millions? Really?

Even if you grant that there is such a thing as a "Palestinian" (as opposed to a Jordanian that Jordan threw away and doesn't want back), how many people from "Palestine" actually live in the US these days?

[Lord Humungus]

Lion turns the tables on illegal hunters by killing man looking to shoot him

Authorities reported a group of five men hunting without licences was attacked by the big cat at a private game farm near the Kruger.

Matome Mahlale, 24,was killed along with two dogs, who were accompanying the group.

Local police spokesman Colonel Ronel Otto said: "Three men managed to climb into a tree and another managed to escape, but the deceased and two dogs were mauled to death."

A local said: "There won't be many people feeling sorry for him. This is seen as poetic justice for the death of Cecil."

[Zeb]

That's a bit of a convoluted idea about justice.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

No, see, one guy did something wrong, so another completely unrelated guy has to die for the collective guilt of all man. It's JUSTICE, damn it! Why do you hate justice?!?

[commodious spittoon]

"After all, Walter Palmer was only one of many hundreds of trophy hunters before him who hunted at the thin edge of the law.

"If Zimbabwe had decided to prosecute Walter Palmer it would have established a procedure by which future Walter Palmers could be prosecuted."

The "thin edge of the law" which is, you know, actual law in Zimbabwe.

[Suthenboy]

The point of hunting lions is to hunt something that hunts you back. In that case some days it will be you and some days it will be the lion. That is how it goes.

I have done that, but not with lions. I am glad I had that experience, but I won't do it again.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Suthen was hunting the most dangerous game...

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Gator hunting from a pirogue?

[Rhywun]

A local said: "There won't be many people feeling sorry for him. This is seen as poetic justice for the death of Cecil."

Looks like locals have figured out how to troll the West. They didn't give a shit about Cecil the Beloved Lion before.

[R C Dean]

So people are cheering that an African worker was killed by a lion?

Jeebus.

[bacon-magic]

A local person who deals with lions killing fellows & livestock everyday shows empathy for the lion? Is this the Onion?

[CampingInYourPark]

Some are heralding it as Jeb Bush's last chance.

I hope this is true, but....
The first caucus is in February of 2016. Democracy via polling and media coverage is insane

[R C Dean]

Well, Jeb's one claim on the nom is that the big money guys like him.

If they leave, and they are getting close, he's got nuthin'.

[Matrix]

University of Kansas decides to follow University of Tennessee-Knoxville to push for eliminating gender pronouns

The doom of the United States marches on.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

I'm surprised that BS originated in Tennessee. Xey usually have more sense than that.

[Zeb]

Almost everyone has more sense than that.

It's perhaps a little ironic, given the stated intentions of being inclusive, that so many college students see to be trying to hard to exclude reality from their lives.

[Zeb]

That whole thing is just fucking weird. How many people actually don't identify as one gender or the other? Seems like even among transgender people it is a small minority.

[Illocust]

There is a trend on Tumblr of being Gender Fluid or non-gendered. The first part being kids who feel like a girl one day and a boy the next, while the second is kids who feel like neither. It doesn't involve body dismorphia and it doesn't have to do with what they like (you can have extremely girly girls who love pink claiming they feel like a boy while putting on their Barbie makeup).
Seeing as college seems to be an extensions of childhood for these folks I'm not surprised they are demanding non-gendered terms. They've yet to get real problems and they are still trying to prove they are cool and special to their peers.

[Tonio]

No, Zeb, TG people definitely have gender identity. Also, everything that Illocust said.

[Zeb]

Isn't that what I said? That for the most part transgender people identify as one gender or the other.

[Tonio]

Sorry, low-caffeine.

[Old.Mexican]

Re: Matrix,

University of Kansas decides to follow University of Tennessee-Knoxville to push for eliminating gender pronouns

Maybe students who find the move by these puritanical institutions silly and annoying can turn the tables by bringing back declensions.

[DEG]

Judge in PA AG Kathleen Kane case says he and his family have been under surveillance.

"I would like to disclose to the defense something that is known to the prosecution, but likely is not known to the defense and that is that last fall I was followed and our house was under surveillance," Carpenter said at the start of Tuesday's hearing. "And when my wife drove the car that I normally drove she was also followed.

"Now, I don't know who did that. I have an open mind about it. I in no way attribute it to Mr. Reese or to anyone else. But I felt that under the code that should be disclosed to you," Carpenter added.

Reese and Kane have not been charged with any crimes in connection with the alleged surveillance of the judge.

As he disclosed the information, the judge made reference to rules of judicial conduct that say "a judge should disclose on the record information that the judge believes the parties or their lawyers might consider relevant to a possible motion for disqualification even if the judge believes there is no basis for disqualification."

[Lee G]

I believe her office is also charged with accessing his emails illegally and offering them up to news reporters. Kane appears to be a Grade A corrupt pol, typical for Pennsylvania.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I think Kane's worse than that. She's Illinois-level corrupt.

[bacon-magic]

Hey! How dare you besmirch my home state...oh wait, you're right. Carry on. We got mo' Gansta Guvnas than all the rest of you 49 bitches combined.

[DEG]

I guess it's better than getting a ticket, being tased, being beaten, or being shot

Police officers were handing out something much more appealing than a traffic citation Tuesday morning.

Drivers were all smiles Tuesday when New Hanover Police showed their appreciation to the community by handing out soft pretzels instead of the usual traffic tickets. Pretzels were given to drivers in the area in appreciation for obeying traffic laws and wearing seat belts, police said.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

However, declining to stop for a police officer offering you a free pretzel constitutes suspicious behavior and is grounds for a search.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Which, of course, gives cops a free look into peoples' cars.

[The Grinch]

If you're driving ultra cautiously because you've had a couple they let you go right?

[DEG]

You'll be here all week, right?

[Zeb]

Smiles or gritted teeth?

I wonder if anyone would have standing to take this to court and make them stop it. Seems awfully close to a false arrest.

[lap83]

My guess is they'd be more likely taken to court for othering the gluten-free drivers

[DEG]

Nowadays, probably more smiles than gritted teeth.

[Crusty Juggler]

Evidence from 1895 that alien 'Greys' walked among us and practiced gynecology?

The illustrations are German, so it is probably NSFW.

[Zeb]

Looks more like chiropracty.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

On the morning teevee- Hobby Lobby owners being investigated for illegally importing antiquities.

Maybe the original investigation is legitimate but showing up in the national news sounds unlikely to me.

[Bern-o-Matic 5000]

Maybe the original investigation is legitimate but showing up in the national news sounds unlikely to me.

Maybe, but that's the problem with the hyper-criminalization of our society. They had the wrong political beliefs, so we'll find something they've done wrong. Because everyone has.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

We're officially headed to Copper Mountain in February. Looks like I can get some edibles in Frisco to make hanging out in a condo with my dad & his wife bearable.

Anyhoo, things are looking good so far.

[Idle Hands]

I've been told El Nino could make things really good or really bad this year.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Northern CO looks to be about average. The real action is gonna be southern CO, southern UT and northern NM from the look of it. Vermont, I think, is gonna struggle after their epic 2014-15 season.

[R C Dean]

I hope so. Northern NM, at least, has been in a pretty severe drought. My trout fishing has been affected, dammit.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Taos's webcams show a decent amount of snow up there. There was a bit of snow at Santa Fe Ski Basin when I was there over Columbus Day.

[Old.Mexican]

That is what revisionist history should look like!

[Free Society]

It's racist for a piece of fiction to have Marty McFly invent rock n' roll?

[commodious spittoon]

We would be lucky to have such a man in our own time?a hotel and casino magnate with fabulous hair who could lead us into the future and Make America Great Again. If only such a hero would arise from the ashes of Barack Obama's America.

Boom.

[Old.Mexican]

Besides, to this day I still don't understand why Hill Valley was turned into some sort of post-Apocalyptic hell-hole only because Tannen made money. The logic of it escapes me.

[commodious spittoon]

"Fun fact: Denmark has many cultural links to the Muslim world. For instance, the Prophet Mohammed was originally from a suburb of Copenhagen. This we know because the first drawings of the prophet were found here," the narrator states.

Har! I like me humor like I like my coffee, black and gritty.

[Illocust]

Oh that's glorious. Kudos to the guys who came up with it.

[KeithC]

Tundra - the video from that link is hysterical.

[Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton]

From the bottom of the page:

Immigrants to Denmark to be taught about sex

http://www.thelocal.dk/2015102.....ual-morals

[The Grinch]

Huh, me too, for the first time in ten years or so. One of my favorites from the 90s-right up there with Dirt.

[Ska]

Have you ever driven through the part of Atlantic City that isn't the main strip? That will help make it seem feasible.

[Mickey Rat]

Because Tannen was an incredible bully and appetite on legs. It was not just that he made money, he took over the town and made it reflect his personality.

[Old.Mexican]

Was Atlantic City an idyllic, bucolic paradise before the casinos? I am skeptical.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

You're saying that Donald Trump is Tanner?

[Rhywun]

Maybe he should have worn blackface.

[Free Society]

Maybe if he were inventing jazz.