Obama Orders Wait on Criminal Background Checks for Employees, EPA Eyes More Diesel Inspection Fraud, Larry Lessig—OMG! NEW STAR TREK SERIES!: P.M. Links

• 

  "Star Trek: Deep Space 9"

  President Barack Obama is ordering federal agencies to wait until further in the hiring process to make potential federal employees reveal any criminal background to give those who have records a potentially better chance of getting hired.

• You don't have Larry Lessig around to completely ignore anymore. Well, I suppose technically you still do. But you won't be ignoring his run for the Democratic presidential nomination anymore because he has ended it.
• The Environmental Protection Agency claims Volkswagen cheated deisel emissions regulations not just on its cars but with some SUVs as well.
• You don't need to be one of those people who thinks everything is "problematic" to think that dressing up as KKK members for Halloween is perhaps not a good idea. But in addition, Anonymous is unveiling names of people it says are actual members of the KKK.
• Obama has signed the two-year budget and debt deal.
• OMG! THERE'S A NEW STAR TREK SERIES COMING! OMG! OMG! In a sign of what television programming has become, it will be available through CBS' digital subscription streaming service.
• The producer of The Godfather has landed the rights for Atlas Shrugged and is planning a miniseries version of the novel.

New at Reason.com:

• The Parties Turn It Up to 11
  Republicans are moving rightward while Democrats are moving leftward.
  By A. Barton Hinkle 
• You'll Never Guess Which Presidential Candidate Is Running on Tax Simplification and Deregulation?
  This candidate promises to "take a hard look at licensing requirements from state to state" and simplify small-business taxes.
  By Ira Stoll 
• A New Sexual Revolt Is Underway at British Universities
  Could this be the start of an uprising?
  By Brendan O'Neill
• Gay Activist Jimmy LaSalvia: "Why I Left the GOP (And You Should Too)"
  Conservative GOProud co-founder tells all about Andrew Breitbart, Ann Coulter, and break with Republican Party in new book.
  By Anthony L. Fisher

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]

OMG!

They better find a way to shoehorn Bill Shatner in there somewhere.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

They'll have Priceline commercials, and maybe a roast or two...

[Brett L]

Maybe the new Enterprise can visit "The Clangers" - a stop-motion kids show he narrates for the Sprout network. It's amazing what you can sell ads with. A couple of puppets, a claymation backdrop and a tin whistle. And The Shat.

[Fist of Etiquette]

While the original series will always be special because it had Shatner, I will agree with Shackford somewhat in that DS9 really got good with its war arc.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I will agree with Shackford somewhat in that DS9 really got good with its war arc.

DS9 was the series that had the best acting. Perhaps in part due to the fact that as a less episodic series, longer running arcs gave the actors something to bite into.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Besides Shatner, you mean. RIGHT?

[Brett L]

Chewing the scenery doesn't count

[LynchPin1477]

DS9 was the series that had the best acting.

Um, Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, and Johnathan Frakes would all like a word. And there is a line behind them.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

You'd think Scott would have picked STTNG since it was the first series to ponder same-sex marriage.

[The Last American Hero]

And of course, they are in line behind Scott-freaking-Bakula, but that which is understood need not be discussed.

[some guy]

The war arc was probably the best thing out of all the Star Treks, but TNG had Patrick Stewart and the guy from Reading Rainbow.

[Ted S.]

TNG also had Deanna Troi.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

If we're talking fap material...

Seven of Nine and the vulcan on Enterprise

[Sapient Mulch]

Oh yes! You mean Jolenbe Blalock. Yum.

[Sapient Mulch]

Jolene, dammit.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Maybe they can bring him in to solve the problem in every episode, as Nimoy did in the new movies.

[Crusty Juggler]

I want to know if Janeway ever re-married.

[Idle Hands]

yes good question, Voyager was always the best edition.

[Idle Hands]

yes good question, Voyager was always the best edition.

[some guy]

A double wrong is still wrong. No one liked Voyager.

[The Last American Hero]

Was that the one with Jar Jar Binks?

[Sapient Mulch]

*vodka vapor explodes throughout kitchen*

[Fist of Etiquette]

SHE WAS NEVER MARRIED IN THE FIRST PLACE. CANON.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Hello.

[Rhywun]

"In a sign of what television programming has become, it will be available through CBS' digital subscription streaming service"

Since I am never going to pay extra for another goddamn "subscription streaming service", good luck with that CBS.

[SusanM]

Shoehorn Berman, Braga and Taylor into a woodchipper - just to be safe/

[Bee Tagger]

In a sign of what television programming has become, it will be available through CBS' digital subscription streaming service.

Did they all of sudden change target demos?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The producer of The Godfather has landed the rights for Atlas Shrugged and is planning a miniseries version of the novel.

I knew it was you, Dagny.

[Crusty Juggler]

I am disappointed that it was not Robert Evans, as I was hoping he would narrate the film. Now I want Robert Evans to narrate the film.

[GILMORE?]

"Now I want Robert Evans to narrate the film."

As He did with God's Audio-Biography

[Crusty Juggler]

That is exactly what I was thinking about.

[GILMORE?]

Great. Minds.

[some guy]

Didn't someone just do this a few years ago? Didn't it suck?

[Atanarjuat]

They did movies, not a miniseries. And if we can have a new Spiderman every 2 years, why not a show no one will watch?

[d3x / dt3]

He'll make the viewers an offer they can't understand.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Is there anything that CAN'T be done with an executive order?

[Rich]

Make a rock so big Obama can't pick it up?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Make a rock so big Obama can't order someone to pick it up?

No way he's picking anything up himself.

[Suthenboy]

It is good to be king.

[juris imprudent]

Is there anything that CAN'T be done with an executive order?

Divorce obviously.

[Sevo]

How you get rid of a teacher:

"Alabama calls Teacher of the Year unqualified; she resigns"
[?]
"In 2013, Ann Marie Corgill was Alabama's Teacher of the Year. In January, she was named one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. On Friday, she quit teaching.
Why? Because Alabama now says she is unqualified.
Local and state administrators flagged Corgill, a 21-year veteran of grade 1-6 classrooms, because she was teaching fifth-grade when, according to them, she only had the credentials to teach up to third-grade and needed to acquire additional certification."
http://www.sfgate.com/educatio.....605674.php

Note the comments are all directed at the 'dum Alabamans', not the government school bureaucracy.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You can't make this shit up. And my kids are smack dab in the middle of it.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Dude, home education. Just do it.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Kids would be as qualified as that teacher!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I live in the best district in the state, and I pay 5 figures a year in property tax. My only solace is that once all 3 of my boys are in school, I'll finally be a drain on the system.

I never come out ahead. This is my one chance.

[Ted S.]

And my kids are smack dab in the middle of it.

The big one finally hit and put Manhattan Beach on Alabama?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

You know what I mean. The public school idiocy.

I initially intended to get involved when my oldest started kindergarten. I volunteered for exactly one day before I couldn't take it anymore.

[Ted S.]

Oh, I knew what you meant, but was joking as much as everybody else here does.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Whoa, hang on:

there are jokes here?

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Funny? Funny how? Like a clown funny?

You think we're here to amuse you?

bang, bang

[Brett L]

If only she'd gone to a Normal college.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

The producer of The Godfather has landed the rights for Atlas Shrugged and is planning a miniseries version of the novel.

I am sure it will be very well done and critically acclaimed.

[VG Zaytsev]

It will be reimagined with Dagny, D'Anconia and Rearden as a wrecker super-villains thwarting the inevitable Utopia of the Socialist States of America

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Environmental Protection Agency claims Volkswagen cheated deisel emissions regulations not just on its cars but with some SUVs as well.

And what's worse, the new Beetle's engine was never rear mount.

[Suthenboy]

And apparently doesn't work very well. Of all the vehicles I see sitting on the side of the road broken down half of them are beetles.

The modern version is everything the original wasn't.

[Zeb]

You mean it's attractive, powerful and handles well? I don't know if I'd go that far.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Ringo was gay?

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

HURRAH!

A preview for the new season of Girls

TRIGGER WARNING

[Crusty Juggler]

A preview for the new season of Girls

Blocked.

[Idle Hands]

kind of figured that show would be right up your alley.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

But, would you?

Dunham that is.

[Crusty Juggler]

I do like my potatoes lumpy and tattooed.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

She doesn't have enough DUIs for you. But she probably has just the right amount of restraining orders.

[Crusty Juggler]

It's not her embarrassing lack of DUI's that turn me off, it is her outspoken kiddie diddling ways I find unappealing.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Well, she can instruct you on the proper way to insert pebbles into a vagina, so there's that.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

By pebbles, you mean softballs?

[Sapient Mulch]

Wait. There's a "proper" way?

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

is her outspoken kiddie diddling ways I find unappealing

Outstanding! We now have something of a baseline a vague reference point for gauging CJ's...predilections.

/Serious...not with a 10-meter cattleprod

[Sapient Mulch]

I do like my potatoes lumpy and tattooed.

Yeah, yeah, but the critical point... sweet, red or Idaho??

[juris imprudent]

I do like my potatoes lumpy and tattooed.

Imagining CJ as Jim's dad in American Pie.

[Anomalous]

Not with Tony's dick.

[Pope Jimbo]

I agree that Dunham is so large that she blocks out all the other girls dancing in the background.

[Suthenboy]

That is still a thing?

[Fist of Etiquette]

I saw something on HBO yesterday with what's her face dancing around in too few clothes. I assume it was said ad.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Either that or Warty was gyrating outside your window and you mistook to for a mirror.

FOREWARNED IS FOREARMED!

[Juvenile Bluster]

You couldn't pay me enough to watch that show.

[Zeb]

Is someone offering? I'll watch it for only $57 per episode.

[Sevo]

Working from home? Can you buy a new BMW?

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Is there more analingus?

[Professor Woland]

There was analingus? Who was rimming whom?

[Sapient Mulch]

C'mon! Howzabout a damn trigger warning here?!!!, Jeez!

[Sapient Mulch]

Some of us are old enough to need time to get ready....

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Don't worry: it was the hot one getting rimmed.

Granted, she's a hot Brian Williams, which is all kinds of confusing.

[Sapient Mulch]

she's a hot Brian Williams

So, DID THE SNIPER FIRE!!!????

[paranoid android]

Speaking of shows about young women with loose-bordering-on-non-existent morals, my girlfriend showed me Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 this weekend. Highly recommend it. Come for the nude scenes with Kristyn Ritter, stay for the laughs. And I'm pretty hyped for Jessica Jones now (because I like Ritter as an actress, not because of the possibility of more nude scenes...but also maybe for the possibility of more nude scenes).

[Citizen X]

The B----- is pretty funny. James Van Der Beek as a sociopathic version of himself is an excellent touch.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

And the possibility of actual nude scenes.

Not that I expect Marvel to do it, but it's at least possible on Netflix.

I always heard good things about Don't Trust the B, but never checked it out. And right now, You're The Worst is the more pressing, underseen sitcom I need to watch.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Casual on Hulu is sweet and funny.

[Anomalous]

Nikki has her own show?

[Sapient Mulch]

We should be so lucky.

[Just say Nikki]

Trump will negotiate such great debate rules, you'll get sick of them! Wait...

Donald Trump and his advisers have decided to work directly with television executives and take a lead role in negotiating the format and content of primary debates, which have become highly watched and crucial events in the 2016 race, according to Republicans familiar with their plans.

Trump will reject a joint letter to television network hosts regarding upcoming primary debates drafted Sunday at a private gathering of operatives from at least 11 presidential campaigns, the Republicans said.

[Jerry on the rocks]

A crossover between Miss USA and Celebrity Apprentice? Will Jeb Bush finally get his silver tiara? Will Chris Christie sell the most cupcakes or eat them all? Will Marco Rubio win the car wash challenge using cheap Cuban labor? Will Lindsey Graham have the best turn on the catwalk?

[Sapient Mulch]

Trump will reject a joint letter to television network hosts regarding upcoming primary debates drafted Sunday at a private gathering of operatives from at least 11 presidential campaigns, the Republicans said.

Yeah! Transparency baby!!

[Rich]

Obama is ordering federal agencies to wait until further in the hiring process to make potential federal employees reveal any criminal background to give those who have records a potentially better chance of getting hired hire criminals.

[Brett L]

Laying the groundwork for the Rodham boys to join Hilary's government.

[Suthenboy]

Soooooo...he will get rid of background checks on gun purchases also?

[Aloysious]

Those people are the wrong kind of criminals.

James Clapper. Lois Lerner. The right kind of perp.

[Sevo]

You left out Hillary.

[NYC2AZ]

Former inmates have paid their debt to society and should have their rights restored!*

*Except for those rights that I feel you should be imprisoned for exercising because they are icky.

/Prog

[B. Woodrow Chippenhaus]

Well duh! People have a greater right to a government job than they do to armed self defense. Herpedy derp general welfare!

\progderp

[Zeb]

Correction: criminals who have been caught.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You don't have Larry Lessig around to completely ignore anymore. Well, I suppose technically you still do.

IF YOU PEOPLE WOULD LET US.

[Bee Tagger]

The producer of The Godfather has landed the rights for Atlas Shrugged and is planning a miniseries version of the novel.

Any man, Sicilian or otherwise, can refuse any request on his daughter's wedding day or any other day..

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

"And may your first child be a masculine child."

[Citizen X]

"...who is into violent borderline rape."

[Professor Woland]

that was Fountainhead

[Fist of Etiquette]

...Anonymous is unveiling names of people it says are actual members of the KKK.

They wear sheets for a reason, Anonymous.

[Brett L]

The surprise reveal is going to be former Senator and now plabt fertilizer Robert Byrd.

[RBS]

Stop living in the past Brett, this only about which Republikkkans can be outed now, to further The Cause.

[Brett L]

Strom Thurmond?

[Illocust]

So far they've named an openly gay man and a woman who's a full on affirmative action prog. Me thinks Anonymous is trolling us, or someone is trolling Anonymous.

[RBS]

I'm assuming they haven't actually produced any sources for this info?

[Winston]

Quite a few Hoosiers too. I know the Klan was big in Indiana in the 1920s but did they get an a revival in the 1960s?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Also Illinois. Has anyone seen Swiss today?

[PBR Streetgang]

Who's the openly gay person? I know the other you mention is the mayor of Knoxville.

[Illocust]

That would require going back to Dem Underground to find out. One trip a day is enough for me.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Jim Gray of Lexington, KY.

[PBR Streetgang]

Thx. Sounds like anonymous effed this up

[Zunalter]

Considering their target audience, doubtful. Not exactly the fact-checking type. As long as there are plenty of (R) names on the list, no further introspection shall take place.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

One thing I noticed in the pastebins was the large number of .ru email addresses.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

here

[Sapient Mulch]

large number of .ru email addresses.

Da. Der izproeblem? Jouvwould peraps kere to diskuss vit myfrend deReason?

[Professor Woland]

Apparently it's a bunch of eeeevvvilllllll Reptilthuglicans, including four US Senators and a couple of super proggie mayors. It's obvious bullshit but my Facebook feed is full of prog derp about this. I feel like trotting out the whole extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence thing, but that might lead to an internet argument, and I'm recovering from a vasectomy earlier this afternoon and my balls really hurt.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Senator Tom Tillis from North Carolina
Senator John Cornyn, Texas
Senator, John Horne Iverson, Georgia
Senator, Dan Coats, Indiana
Mayor, Madeline Rogero, Knoxville TN
Mayor Jim Mayer, Lexington KY
Mayor Kent Guinn, Ocala, Florida
Mayor Tom Henry, Fort Wayne Indiana

From snopes.

[Professor Woland]

Gracias!

[Cyto]

I didn't need to see the actual list to know it was bullshit. They claimed they were going to out 1,000 KKK members.

Let's ruminate on that a moment. One Thousand members of the KKK.

Yeah, not a chance in hell. Having lived in Stone Mountain, Georgia, home of the ginormous monument to the Confederacy and long ago shrine to all things KKK with my then wife and life-long African American I can tell you unequivocally that the Klan is long since and well and truly defunct. They have trouble getting together 12 people for a rally, let alone having some database of a thousand members that you could crack.

Back in the early 90's when we moved out there we used to go to a huge country bar up in Kennesaw, now a suburb but back then the sticks where people openly flew the confederate flag in their front yard. We never once had anyone look at us even sideways. And that was before GA 400 brought the suburbs to the area, along with prosperity and a million immigrants from Latin America.

No, Anonymous doesn't have a list of a thousand Klan members. Not a chance.

The best they might do is hack the Southern Poverty Law Center's database and come up with a list of a thousand white supremacists from various little groups around the country that they are tracking. That's the only way you are going to find anywhere close to a thousand names that you could use for such a list. And you certainly aren't going to find any real politicians joining such groups. Not today.

[Mazakon]

The Environmental Protection Agency claims Volkswagen cheated deisel emissions regulations not just on its cars but with some SUVs as well.

To the confessional with you!

[Sapient Mulch]

To the confessional with you!

Oh, fuck that. You're going to the UN Climate Rape Tribunal!

[Bee Tagger]

Obama has signed the two-year budget and debt deal.

That's BADD, right?

[Ted S.]

And the whole world has to answer right now.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

So GOOD = Get Obama Outof DC?

[Zunalter]

Outta

[Just say Nikki]

Oops, we probably shouldn't have kicked that guy off the grand jury. Oh well, close enough for government work!

[JW]

Again, we're reminded that the law is polite fiction.

[Lee G]

President Barack Obama is ordering federal agencies to wait until further in the hiring process to make potential federal employees reveal any criminal background to give those who have records a potentially better chance of getting hired.

*dusts off Treasury application*

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

What difference does it make if it's at Step One or Step Fifty One? How does this give someone a "better chance"?

[Notorious UGCC]

I think the idea is that to automatically exclude everyone with criminal records, at the initial screening stage, denies them a chance to explain themselves and show the holistic picture of how the positive parts of their background outweighed the negative.

[Zeb]

Which honestly doesn't sound like a bad thing. Especially given the stupid bullshit you can get a criminal record for.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'd prefer that they repeal some laws instead.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Correction: Most laws.

[Zeb]

Of course I agree with that. But I don't think that is on offer at the moment.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Except, Obama isn't doing this because he wants to give qualified people a "chance". He's doing this for publicity - he's the original SJW. The King of SJWs.

He forgets - as you forget - those federal employees work for US - the American taxpayers. In the private sector, if you hire a thief out of the goodness of your heart, and he steals again, you pay the consequences.

There are no consequences to Obama for this decision. If he makes the wrong hiring decision - oh, well . . .too bad. He just skips out to his new home in Hawaii or Chicago. He is long gone.

[Rich]

The delay gives more opportunity to have your record expunged.

Must I explain *everything*?

[Lee G]

curses

[Lee G]

More time to get those records sealed

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

What are we talking here? Old Man With Candy territory? Maybe you should apply at a Federal day care...

[Lee G]

Sweet Jesus no. It's just run of the mill offenses like you would find on any typical politician's rap sheet.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

DS9 the best? I hated it so much - it scarred me. I'll never Trek again.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You're worse than pedophile Hitler.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Thanks for the lovely compliment. I love you too, HM

[Fist of Etiquette]

You needed to get past the first season or two.

[Brett L]

Sure. Its just like The Whel of Time series.

/sarc.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Season three was just as asinine as seasons one & two. It was awful. When it was cancelled (finally), I did a happy dance. ( okay lie - I had quit watching long before it finally got what it deserved).

[Mickey Rat]

It was not cancelled. It ended after seven seasons like the other TNG era Trek series.

[LoneWaco]

the thing is DS9 starts weak and gets better. I gave up on it too. when i finally saw the full run...yes, the best.

[Heroic Mulatto]

*Glances at alt-text*

I always liked you Scott "Love-Shack" Shackford. You're good people.

[Lee G]

-1 Space Jew

[tarran]

A French governmental television network fires its most popular weatherman for asserting that global warming might have benefits to offset its costs..

There's general agreement in the comments under the [video where he announces that he has been fired] that France T?l?visions have shot themselves in the foot with this. He's the most well-known face among TV weathermen, and he isn't even a climate sceptic. All he's done is write a book critical of the political and commercial use to which warmism is being put, pointing out e.g. how IPCC vice-president Jean Jouzel commands monster fees for giving greenwash talks to major companies.

[Suthenboy]

France? Is this a prelude to his prosecution?

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

They'll exile him to the Devil's Island and let rising seas drown him.

[Professor Woland]

An underrated Megadeth ditty.

[Illocust]

Good to see that this is developing in a direction that makes the guys who fired him look like fools. Seems people are also taking this as proving his point instead of just screaming 'burn the witch' at the top of their lungs. There may be hope yet.

[Ted S.]

Br?lez l'h?r?tique! Maintenant!

[Bee Tagger]

"I just don't condone it regardless of who it is whether it's my husband or Joe Smith around the corner,"

When reached for comment, Joe Smith asked for the mayor to please keep him the heck outta this.

[Citizen X]

STEVE SMITH, ON OTHER HAND, WANT TO GET ALL UP IN THIS.

[Notorious UGCC]

Apropos of the Klan, I think I'll post the Daisy Douglass Barr link again.

"Watch what I can ignite with my inner light!"

[Rich]

Emails show Clinton had 2 Benghazi stories: 1 for Libyans, 1 for Americans

WARNING: Autostart

"Libyans don't speak American, DUH!"

[Ted S.]

They speak Libyan, of course.

[Heroic Mulatto]

So what? The Arabs do this to us all the time.

Arab/Muslim Head of State speaking to Americans: "We look forward to working with our American allies in bringing peace and stability to the region."

Arab/Muslim Head of State speaking to his constituency: "Itbach kilab Amriki! Itbach al-Yahud! Allahu akbar! *fires AK-47 into the air*"

[Notorious UGCC]

"Itbach kilab Amriki! Itbach al-Yahud! Allahu akbar!"

I suppose that's an Arabic translation of "kumbaya"?

[Illocust]

Multiple narrative for multiple markets make sense, but this does seem to point further into Hillary basically only being concerned with State PR not you know negotiations with other countries.

[Citizen X]

Close. Hillary is only concerned with Hillary PR.

[Suthenboy]

Without reading the story I would say that I find it unobjectionable for american officials to lie to furriners. Considering who and what we are talking about here, I better read the story.
.
.
.
I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is the calculated, baldfaced lying they engaged in with the American People.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Another bold proposal from Bernie Sanders 2016 Tonight:

We are going to fight voter suppression in all forms. If you are 18 years of age, you will be automatically registered to vote.

If you can't be bothered to register to vote, Bernie will register for you. And if you can't be bothered to vote, I'm sure Bernie and friends will vote for you as well.

[Idle Hands]

well that's kind of the point.

[Rich]

I suppose you'll also be automatically registered to participate in the Bernie youth corps.

[NYC2AZ]

I hear Bernie was complaining about all the colour choices for his youth clothing line. He finally settled on brown shirts that come with a stylish red solidarity armband.

[RBS]

So, voter registration is now voter suppression?

[Mickey Rat]

If you do not register to vote you are supressing your vote.

[Zeb]

Maybe some of us don't want to be registered to vote.

[OneOut]

But Zeb then you wouldn't get called for jury duty and everybody wants to sit for jury selection.

[Just say Nikki]

Sorry, Bernie, but you're going to need my enthusiastic consent for that.

[Jimbo]

Yes, Yes, Yes!!!! (As Nikki bangs the table, a la Sleepless in Seattle.

[Professor Woland]

That was When Harry Met Sally.

[Sapient Mulch]

C'mon, you really think Bernie knows the difference?

[Professor Woland]

Do we need that many Meg Ryan movies? This is why we have poverty! That, and Chinese Bobbleheads.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

There's nothing like honesty - the Federal government is FINALLY admitting it's a den of thieves and experience in thievery is a desired skill set. And we, the taxpayer, just have to suck it up.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Plan B to undermine impeachment.

[juris imprudent]

+One $43M gas station that not one govt employee could possibly be held accountable for.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Was DS9 actually worth watching? I got halfway through the pilot and turned it off.

[Just say Nikki]

DS9 is easily the best of all the series. By a long shot.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

No. It's sucks. It REALLY SUCKS!!! Ignore the cheerleaders in the room. They've been bought off, just like a favorable Yelp review.

Except - I swear, John Kerry is every bit an actor as Fred Thompson. If you like John Kerry's mournful mug, you'd be pleased as punch with Odo.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Are you trying to wrest the crown of The Worst from Nikki?!

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

I didn't know you were such a big fan of Rene Azerbaijan, you fat Ferengi.

[SIV]

"The Constitution of the United States guarantees certain rights including the right of speech," he continued. "It doesn't say the speech has to be in good taste, of common sense or that we have a consensus of agreement."

This is why he's an Okie county sheriff and not a university dean.

[tarran]

In Southern Australia, a huge blackout, for reasons that aren't clear to me, the automated systems or dispatchers controlling the power grid in Victoria ordered "load shedding" that dumped their power supply to the neighboring grid. As the only power plants the South Australian grid could turn to to make up the shortfall were windmills and solar power plants, and it in the very early AM and there was no wind, the grid collapsed.

No word if anyone on life support systems were killed by this totally unforseen and abrupt power outage.

[John]

You are just a shill for big electron.

[tarran]

I am. I selfishly want my daughter to live in a civilized world rather than the one the green cultists will produce; where she is at serious risk of death in childbirth.

[John]

Oh, so you want to pass your sinful consumerism onto the next generation.

[juris imprudent]

Consumer concupiscence.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I'm sympathetic to this today. My power is out until 7pm, and they didn't fucking notify me. The lazy Edison fucks are taking a 2 hour lunch on my lawn. I'd turn on the sprinklers if I had power.

[Brett L]

"Hey, you guys want a cold beer? Me too. Get back to fucking work. "

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

"Good news, dear! We're off the grid now!"

[waffles]

I thought hospitals typically had backup diesel generators?

[tarran]

They do, but there are a significant number of people who live at home who need 24/7 electricity for their survival. For example, Christopher Reeve, needed a machine to breathe for him but lived at home.

I think every electrical utility has a program where people who are in that sort of situation register and get a higher degree of service.

[tarran]

One aspect is that those people are supposed to get notice of outages so that they can switch to backup power.

[Sapient Mulch]

One aspect is that those people are supposed to get notice of outages so that they can switch to backup power.

"We apologize for the lapse in service you may have recently experienced. We take our responsibility to providing you with clean, uninterrupted power very seriously. If you have experienced a recent interruption in your electrical service, please complete our online survey."

[Lee G]

I blame Playa

Chipotle Mexican Grill is temporarily closing more than 40 restaurants in and around Seattle and Portland, Ore., as health officials investigate an E. coli outbreak that has gotten at least 22 people sick.

[Idle Hands]

yeah turns out he may have been right.

[Brett L]

Chipotle is Millenial Taco Bell.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

But the E.coli adds the extra flavor!

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It truly does cause bloody underwear. Is south park ever wrong?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I didn't do it, but I did benefit.

I made sure to show my face all over town this weekend. I have plenty of alibis, some conflicting.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Barack Obama is ordering federal agencies to wait until further in the hiring process to make potential federal employees reveal any criminal background to give those who have records a potentially better chance of getting hired.

And that's just his cabinet.

[Idle Hands]

The Environmental Protection Agency claims Volkswagen cheated deisel emissions regulations not just on its cars but with some SUVs as well.

Oh noes.

[John]

And the difference between the actual emissions and the standard are probably less that 1% of the emissions of a pre 1973 car. The problem is the standards not that VW came up with a way to cheat them.

[Brett L]

The important thing, John, is that they've discovered a new revenue locus as Big Tobacco dies off.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Oh yeah. They're looking at fines that are higher than the retail value of the cars...

[John]

Clearly, looting the company and putting hundreds of thousands of people out of work and depriving millions of consumers of the products they prefer is the proper response to this.

[Lee G]

The mafia has to make an example out of one business in every neighborhood.

[Brett L]

I'm sure if they want to sell the brand to GM at fire sale prices, something can be worked out.

[John]

Or just cut out the middle man and agree to let the UAW unionize all of their plants.

[Just say Nikki]

To be fair, it's not clear consumers prefer these cars, since consumers were absolutely defrauded here. I know some who are pissed. They wanted clean cars and thought they had them.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Yeah, I think they have a right to be. I leased a diesel VW and feel somewhat annoyed but diesel cars are still better than gas from an emissions perspective. I just don't want VW tinkering with my car.

[John]

No they aren't Rufus. They put out particulates which are worse than what gasoline engines put out, unless you belief that CO2 is sinful.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

More lies I've been told!

[John]

If they "wanted clean cars", your friends are morons who don't understand the science of air pollution. If they are stuck fixing the problem, leaving them with dog slow diesels, in order to pass the state emissions inspections, then I feel for them.

I haven't heard what the states are going to do. If you don't live in a state that has emissions testing, just throw away the recall and enjoy your car. If you do and they don't demand proof of the fix, throw away the recall and enjoy your car. If they demand proof, you have been defrauded.

If you don't need proof but want the fix anyway because you want a "clean car", you are fucking moron who deserved to have your money stolen.

[Just say Nikki]

I don't think there is a "just deserts" clause in the NAP.

[John]

No Nikki, but there is an "aggression" part. And unless the state demands they get the fix, these people are not hurt. They only think they have been hurt because they are morons.

[Sapient Mulch]

If you don't need proof but want the fix anyway because you want a "clean car", you are fucking moron who deserved to have your money stolen.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!

Fuck you John. Proof makes the difference? Jeezus what a rube.

[John]

Mulch

Read my comm not again. If you don't need proof, you are stupid to get the fix. I am not a rube. You are illiterate.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

My neighbor, who is older than me, suggested the reason the Americans are 'shaking down' foreign automakers is because they did the same to U.S. makers in the past. A tit-for-tat of sorts.

But this strikes me as silly because doing this to companies like VW and Toyota impact AMERICAN jobs.

Thoughts?

[RBS]

But this strikes me as silly because doing this to companies like VW and Toyota impact AMERICAN jobs.

Yeah, but those aren't Union jobs (mostly).

[John]

Bingo, RBS. GM has had defects that killed people and the government helped them stiff the victims.

[Sapient Mulch]

Citation?

[SFC B]

The liability for GM's ignition problems that directly led to quite a few deaths were passed in their bankruptacy to the legacy GM. You know, the GM that has no money, no assets, no nothing and basically existed to screw over creditors. The now-existing GM shed those liabilities and is able to get out from under a couple hundred million dollars in wrongful death lawsuits.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Bingo. Toyota has what - 11 plants in the US and a new one on the way for building the Lexus. And, while Toyota's North American headquarters are in Kentucky, Kentucky isn't a right-to-work state. It's just that Toyota employees despise the UAW with a hot, hillbilly passion. (Yes, I speak from experience).

[Atanarjuat]

Toyota employees despise the UAW

This makes me want to get a Toyota for my next vehicle.

hot, hillbilly passion

Sexy.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Just make sure the VIN doesn't start with "J". Those "J" Toyotas are built in Japan.

Japan has no hillbillies and hence, lacks hot hillbilly passion.

See all the shit I know? Impressive, ain't it?

[Sapient Mulch]

putting hundreds of thousands of people out of work

"But.., they're... Germans.!"

[GILMORE?]

China using secret, hi-tech, NSA-defying means to spread propaganda throughout the imperialist west = Radio.

...and has been doing it for years without anyone knowing fuck-all about it. YAY, Incompetent Totalitarian Security State! They pee in your coke!

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Those Asians are an inscrutable bunch.

[GILMORE?]

(cut to Chinese translator attempting to explain "inscrutable" to Intelligence Officer.... who keeps angrily asking, "YOU SURE NO MEAN SMALL PENIS?? YOU SURE???")

[Ted S.]

I listen to CRI, going back to the days when everybody was still on short-wave. They're nowhere near as bad as what the Voice of Russia became in the last few years.

[Old.Mexican]

The producer of The Godfather has landed the rights for Atlas Shrugged and is planning a miniseries version of the novel.

According to Rudd (the producer), he is looking for screenwriters, he wants to redraw the capitalists in the story to make them more contemporary, but the story will be centered on heroine Dagny Taggart, Hank Rearden and hired muscle Luca Brasi.

THERE'S A NEW STAR TREK SERIES COMING!

AND YOU CAN BET IT WILL ALSO FEATURE A COMPLETE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF BASIC ECONOMICS!

(Why change a "good" thing, right?)

[John]

There is no fun in fantasizing about United Federation of Planet budget cuts to Star Fleet Command and various contracting and fiscal law rules. If money is an issue, it is a pretty lame fantasy.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Nah, a starship being held together by chewing gum and baling wire might make an interesting adventure.

[Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)]

Wasn't that already done?

[Knarf Yenrab!]

One of the junior Mises people should write a Star Wars vs. Star Trek econ book explaining why SW is so much better using a standard Principles of Economics textbook.

[Lee G]

Star Wars seemed pretty anti-capitalist to me.

[paranoid android]

Star Wars seemed pretty anti-capitalist to me.

What makes you say that? Is it the "Ewoks as the fuzzy-wuzzy Viet Cong" thing? This is a series where one of the principle protagonists is a smuggler, mind you.

[Lee G]

Maybe it had to do with The Phantom Menace and the evil Trade Federation.

But yes, you're right, Star Trek was Arthur C Clarke's wet dream of a technological communist society.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

The problem with that is that nothing the Trade Federation does makes any sense. So it's hard to know if they're an evil corporatist cabal, or a "free market" business that built an army and goes around occupying planets.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Star Wars acknowledges scarcity, greed, and incentives.

ST has Picard giving stupid commie speeches about how the New Federation Man has abandoned money and possessions as icky bourgeois relics.

[paranoid android]

I have no illusions about Roddenberry's politics, but I'm mostly willing to let Trek slide on that stuff for two reasons:

1. Capitalism is in essence a prescription for dealing with the reality of scarcity--but the Federation is clearly a post-scarcity society. I don't think it's a situation where that kind of analysis can really apply.

2. Later editions of the show (and most prominently DS9) allowed room for differing takes on the subject, including the revelation that the Federation has a paramilitary unit that basically amounts to its own version of the KGB. It didn't really grapple with the notion as thoroughly as it should, but showing that there was a darker side to all the moralistic puffery was a good addition.

[Zeb]

I always figure that Star Fleet just isn't representative of society in general. Why would you assume that it was?

[VG Zaytsev]

Me too, I took it as a military adventure series.

[Zeb]

Maybe neither is supposed to be a statement about the relative merits of various economic systems. Not everything has to be deep social commentary on every subject.

[Knarf Yenrab!]

Supposed to is irrelevant. Entertainment and art that strikes at an emotional level has a far greater impact on culture than policy wonks, which was the point of Rand's whole schtick as a novelist. When you normalize something through art, you lead the hoi polloi by the nose toward it.

[OneOut]

the hoi polloi ?

really Barney ?

[John]

"Junior Misses"? That would be a pretty deep book for a teenage girl.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Except for the part about how individual planets each produce one good and if one planet is captured by Separatists, the Republic has lost all of its supplies of that good.

[Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)]

Yeah, the economic silliness of Star Wars barely exceeds the military silliness.

[Raven Nation]

I'm pretty sure it does not have many fans here as a series, but I thought Babylon 5 did a pretty good job representing space-faring humanity in terms of economics, human nature, etc.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

Well, count me in. I bought the series earlier this year, and I agree with your analysis.

[LynchPin1477]

I love Babylon 5. Unfortunately it never had the budget or cachet to attract the best acting talent, and it's ambitions in the SFX department exceeded contemporary technology by a few years (it got better in the second half of the series). But as a story it's top notch.

I'm not usually into reboots, but for B5 I'd make an exception. It would be great to see it done with production quality to match the quality of the overall story. The hard part would be finding someone who could capture both the realism and the sense of optimism of the original rather than simply taking it down the "dark and 'edgy'" route.

[Cyto]

Best use of an Amiga and a Video Toaster ever!

[LynchPin1477]

And to your original point, completely agree. It's one of the most realistic depictions of what a space-faring future might look like in many ways and was ahead of its time in that regard.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

JMS has continued to have a lot of love for the series, and has tried to keep it alive through the tele-movies.

That said, it definitely would take an outside financier/backer to re-boot it, but I think Straczynski(whatever) would jump back in were that to happen, and he created and maintained that whole arc and most of the side stories.

[GILMORE?]

"No = It Wasn't that Clock-Making Dipshit"

Arab Child-Prodigy, Bombed by US-Fueled Saudi Aircraft, Loses Limbs

No invite expected from the White House

[John]

http://www.nationalreview.com/.....s-john-yoo

The Obama Administration is now relying on John Yoo for legal theories regarding the use of force. Just let that sink in for a while.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Funny how these things come full circle.

[John]

Don't worry Playa, all it will take is Hillary losing in 2016 and the Democrats will suddenly care about executive power and intervention again. All of your Democratic and Prog friends will suddenly remember they are "anti-war" and are really concerned about civil rights. It will be like old time. You can put the band back together.

[Lee G]

Hope and Change

[Citizen X]

"We Hope you don't notice that we didn't Change a damn thing."

[RBS]

I make the case for this in my new book, Point of Attack: Preventive War, International Law, and Global Welfare

[Lee G]

I thought you were joking, but no, that is the title of his new world dominion masturbatory fantasy.

[Suthenboy]

Didn't the left go completely ape-shit over that guy when he worked for Bush advising torture?

Where are the justifications from the left now? I can't wait to hear them.

[GILMORE?]

They learned to like John Yoo when he said Obama's Executive Authority was A-OK

Principals, not Principles. etc.

Yoo was also way cool with Obama doing unilateral deal w/ Iran sans Congressional Blessing.

Those who fellate power don't care much about the color of the tie.

[Whahappan?]

Well of course. Yoo is willing to provide "legal" justifications for whatever the president wants to do. Why wouldn't Obama use him?

[bacon-magic]

They need a new Firefly series...although that libtard hates his libertarian leaning plots.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Just cut Joss Whedon out and give the entire thing over to Tim Minear; he was the one responsible for all the libertarian-ish stuff.

[perlchpr]

I'm very confused.

"We must have a violation of the law to make arrests as the fire was legal, the consumption of alcohol was on private property, and no one had stated anyone made threats of violence acts to the deputy at that time," Garfield County Sheriff Jerry Niles wrote in a statement on Facebook.

"The Constitution of the United States guarantees certain rights including the right of speech," he continued. "It doesn't say the speech has to be in good taste, of common sense or that we have a consensus of agreement."

Meister, the woman who reported the incident, was particularly upset that authorities could not stop the offensive behavior.

"We are a small community, and in no way do I feel this represents our views as a whole," she told Enid News. "It is upsetting due to the fact that we live in a community with families of different ethnic backgrounds, and this is a symbol of hate and intolerance."

OK, I'm not surprised that some officious twit wanted the cops to bust some heads for speech she disagreed with. I'm just shocked the cops didn't take the opportunity.

[esteve7]

Star Trek economics actually steathily libertarian:

Oh, you mean we got rid of scarcity, great now we live on these rich planets with everything, and you can do what you want because we can just replicate everything and have unlimited energy

So Socialism will only work in Star Trek, or once Technology has eliminated scarcity, so until that happens, STFU

[The Last American Hero]

And yet the prime directive forbids providing such technologies to most of the planets they visit.

[GILMORE?]

US Navy = Initiating Phase 2 of Operation: Drive By

"we figure we'll cruise real slow by them, pump some 36 Mafia out the speakers.... look menacing and shit.... we're importing some specialists from L.A. to help us with the proper atmospherics, perhaps reduce our waterline profile.... although we're dubious about the efficacy of neon-underlighting..."

[bacon-magic]

Training Day for the US Navy? Brilliant! /Valerie

[GILMORE?]

John Kerry horribly embarrassed by Reporter who asks actual question

[Juice]

Don't taze me bro!

[Cyto]

More interesting is the fact that the State Department is "looking into" a reporter shouting a question at a foreign dignitary and is "taking it very seriously".

I hope they mean that they are looking into the fact that the reporter was ushered out, and not the fact that a member of the press shouted out a question.

[Mazakon]

Bill Gates: We need centralization and innovation to stop climate change

[John]

It is too bad that some woman who wasn't an ignorant socialist would have decided it was worth it to put out for Bill. Gates isn't this stupid. His wife apparently is that stupid. And he seems to be letting his dick to his thinking these days.

[Zeb]

Being smart is no guarantee of being right. Plenty of very smart people are also ignorant socialists.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Gates is, in fact, this stupid. In 2004 he argued that science education needed "a Sputnik moment" (aka: centralization and massive govt. spending).

Now he's just arguing the same thing for Gaia.

[GILMORE?]

MOON SHOTS!!! CHINA IS DOING MOON SHOTS OFF PLANET'S TITS, GAME CHANGING SHIT, HIGH SPEED MOTHERFUCKING RAIL, MAN, FREE SOLAR PANELS AND ELECTRIC CARS, WE'RE GOING TO BE OVER RUN BY THEIR TIDAL WAVE OF INNOVATION I REALIZED WHILE EATING A HOT DOG AT A BASEBALL GAME

[Zeb]

Often people are very smart at one or two things only. Gates was good at technical stuff from what I have heard. And knew how to build a software company, apparently. But that is no guarantee of any kind of good sense in any other area.
If you are they guy who made the biggest software company in the world, it's not too surprising that you think that more big, flashy things made by top men might be what the world needs next.

[GILMORE?]

"""If you're not bringing math skills to the problem," he said with a sort of amused asperity, "then representative democracy is a problem." ""

What follows are a series of statements that make me believe that this guy has done nothing but leak brain cells out of his ass for the last 2 decades.

[mfckr]

"""If you're not bringing math skills to the problem," he said with a sort of amused asperity, "then representative democracy is a problem." ""

I initially read that as 'aspergerity', lul.

[In League with the Dark Ones]

If Microsoft didn't have to compete with Apple, IBM, Quarterdeck, Commodore, or any more OS vendors, just think how innovative Windows would have been!

[Suthenboy]

Those things are mutually exclusive.

So, as I suspected, Bill is an idiot.

[Stormy Dragon]

The producer of The Godfather has landed the rights for Atlas Shrugged and is planning a miniseries version of the novel.

The hook is that the mini-series will have a completely different cast every episode.

[SusanM]

I was reading this article and this tidbit caught my eye:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters......html?_r=1

Putin's scepticism dates from the early 2000s, when his staff "did very, very extensive work trying to understand all sides of the climate debate", said Andrey Illarionov, Putin's senior economic adviser at the time and now a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington.

Seriously, guys, what is it with libertarians and dictators? 😉

[GILMORE?]

"while climate change does exist, it is cyclical, and the anthropogenic role is very limited," he said. "It became clear that the climate is a complicated system and that, so far, the evidence presented for the need to 'fight' global warming was rather unfounded.""

CRAZY TALK

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Last night I attended a girls night out event (i.e. the equivalent of water-boarding involving vegan and gluten free finger foods and a reading of Wild by Cheryl Strayed).

I was informed by my kind hostess that skepticism of CC was the equivalent of denial.

Skepticism=Denial

see?

[GILMORE?]

'skepticism of CC was the equivalent of denial'

....

... yet the core issue is not that people are "skeptical" of any specific facts = its that a large number of people - including climate scientists - don't think the policies claiming to "fight" Climate Change have any actual value and do more harm than good.

Both sides have all the same basic facts = the difference is that a lot of people don't believe there's any use trying to change them.

People seem insistent on characterizing anything other than "Do Somethingism" as "Denial"

[VG Zaytsev]

I was informed by my kind hostess that skepticism of CC was the equivalent of denial.

It's good to see that concealed carry is gaining such support.

[SusanM]

In other news, Radley Balko gets a TP shoutout:

http://thinkprogress.org/justi.....r-release/

The Politico article states that two out of three prisoners are arrested within three years of release. But, as Radley Balko notes, recidivism statistics are likely to be grossly inflated.

While Politico quoted Sen. Ted Cruz and a prosecutor as opposing the early release, neither are quoted on the record as mentioning Willie Horton. The introduction of Horton into the modern debate about criminal justice reform appears to be Politico's own contribution.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Combined the two: Atlas Shrugged...IN SPAAACCCEEEEEE!

[GILMORE?]

File Under = Completely Unsurprising Headlines

Prosecutor: Police shooting OK, but body cameras turned off

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Does it matter at this point? We've got video of half a dozen officers beating a prone, unarmed man unrecognizable in the street, and nothing else happened.

[GILMORE?]

I was more focused on the laughable way prosecutors will say, "The Shooting Was OK", while confessing "We have no actual evidence that it was OK"

[juris imprudent]

In the absence of evidence that it wasn't OK it obviously must have been OK. See, it's not that hard.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

President Barack Obama is ordering federal agencies to wait until further in the hiring process to make potential federal employees reveal any criminal background to give those who have records a potentially better chance of getting hired.

Wow, they don't even pretend any more do they?

[In League with the Dark Ones]

Rachel Doleful admits to being born white, receives standing ovation

[juris imprudent]

She was born a poor, white child.

[James Anderson Merritt]

I already pay for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and On Demand (via Comcast digital cable), and I am looking to cut back on that. If the only way to see the new Star Trek will be via CBS's subscription service, then I won't be seeing it. I hope they are not that stupid and greedy, but their previous treatment of the Star Trek "Franchise" does not fill me with optimism. I hope they won't pressure the excellent fan-produced series (notably Star Trek: Phase II and Star Trek Continues) out of business.

[mccarti]

There is a new easy way to make cool cash.Email: atmmachinehackes It all about the BLANK ATM CARD. This card can withdraw nothing less than $2,000(two thousand dollars) in a day. This card works in any country and with any currency. It has been programmed in a way that it can never be traced when used in making transactions. Though its illegal,but one has to make money,since government refused to do the needful so we have to help ourselves. Though is illegal,there is no risk of being caught ,because it has been programmed in such a way that it is not traceable,it also has a technique that makes it impossible for the CCTVs to detect you..For details on how to get yours today, email the hackers on : atmmachinehackes gmail.com Tell your loved once too, and start to live large. That's the simple testimony of how my life changed for good...Love you all ...the email address again is Any one interested in the card should contact the programmer via his email address: [e-mail]

[JoWaDat889]

lol, who cares. Seriously.

http://www.CompletePrivacy.tk

[Perry de Havilland]

Oh cool, another Star Trek series I am very unlikely to ever watch. I am so over Socialists-In-Space.

[SusanM]

I'm not staking out a position on AGW, just observing that Heroic Defenders of Liberty are surprisingly comfortable rubbing elbows with people who use state violence to silence opposition.

[GILMORE?]

"Heroic Defenders of Liberty are surprisingly comfortable rubbing elbows with people who use state violence to silence opposition.'"

where are the so-called "Heroic Defenders" again? I don't see anything about libertarians cheerleading Putin here.

[Suthenboy]

Putin is bald.

Putin wears suits.

Putin spends his days awake and nights asleep.

Putin likes shrimp salad.

My God, I never realized before how many westerners were rubbing elbows with dictators.

[SusanM]

I'm seeing a senior fellow of the Cato Institute ("a public policy research organization ? a think tank ? dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace") holding court with ex-KGB operative, censor of the press and speech Putin as a "senior economic adviser".

[grrizzly]

Susan, you may try to stop being so provincial and learn a thing or two about foreign countries. Sometimes the stuff is more complicated than the most up-to-date DNC talking points.

[GILMORE?]

Not everyone at the Cato institute is a self-described soup-to-nuts libertarian

Many are just "issue" scholars. That's how think-tanks work.

[SusanM]

I dunno. I kinda thought that principle-driven libertarians would be above the "yeah, he's a bastard, but he's our bastard" mentality.

[LynchPin1477]

On 12 April 2000, Illarionov assumed the office of Vladimir Putin's senior economic adviser within the Russian presidential administration and in May 2000 he became the personal representative of the Russian president (sherpa) in the G8. He played an important role in introducing the low 13% flat income tax in Russia[1] in repaying the Russian foreign debt, in creation the petroleum revenues-based Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation and in bringing Russia's full-fledged membership in the political G8.

[LynchPin1477]

On 3 January 2005 Illarionov resigned from his position as presidential representative to the G8.[2] On 21 December 2005, Illarionov declared "This year Russia has become a different country. It is no longer a democratic country. It is no longer a free country". The Washington Post reported that he had cited a recent report by the U.S.-based and government sponsored Freedom House.[3] On 27 December 2005, Illarionov offered his resignation in protest against the government course, saying that Russia was no longer politically free, but ran by an authoritarian elite. "It is one thing to work in a country that is partly free. It is another thing when the political system has changed, and the country has stopped being free and democratic," he said.[4] He also claimed that he had no more ability to influence the government's course and that Kremlin put limits on him expressing his point of view. Illarionov was openly critical to such elements of the Russian economic policy as the Yukos affair, increasing influence of government officials on large companies such as Gazprom and Rosneft, and at last the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute and the energy policy of Russia in general.[1] Illarionov has also been a proponent of secession of Chechnya.[5]

[LynchPin1477]

So Susan, are you trolling or just uninformed?

[SusanM]

Thank you LynchPin. I had what might have been an epic troll going and you had to ruin it with your cited facts. Yeesh, a gal just can't have any fun around here.

[LynchPin1477]

In October 2006, Illarionov was appointed senior researcher of the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity of the US libertarian think tank Cato Institute in Washington, DC.[6] In this position, he has lamented "[Russia's] new corporate state in which state-owned enterprises are governed by personal interests and private corporations have become subject to arbitrary intervention to serve state interests"[7] as well as "new ways in which political, economic and civil liberties are being eliminated."[8]
On 14 April 2007, and 9 June 2007, Illarionov took part in opposition Dissenters' Marches in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, respectively.
Illarionov is one of the 34 first signatories of the online anti-Putin manifesto "Putin must go", published on 10 March 2010.

That sounds like some REALLY comfortable elbow-rubbing. I got to get me some of that. Yeeaaah.

[SusanM]

You know who else liked suits...

[GILMORE?]

I DO!