Patent Office Can't PC Police, Kim Dotcom Can Be Extradited, Seattle Can Charge 'Gun Violence Tax': A.M. Links

- A federal appeals court says offensive trademarks are OK, invalidating a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision not to register the name of Asian-American rock band The Slants.
- Kim Dotcom will be extradited from New Zealand to the U.S., where he faces money laundering and copyright infringement charges stemming from his now-defunct file-sharing site Megaupload.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says U.S. restrictions on Iranian visas are a violation of the nuclear deal hashed out earlier this year.
- The Washington Post has pulled a Ted Cruz cartoon which depicted the Texas Senator's daughters as monkeys after Cruz complained about it on Twitter.
- The Department of Homeland Security has denied Minnesota's request for an extension to comply with REAL ID standards.
- Black Lives Matter advocates plan to protest at the Mall of America today, despite a temporary restraining order sought by the mall against several individual protesters.
- Exchanging driving lessons for sex gets the OK in Holland.
- A King County judge says Seattle's $25-per-firearm "gun violence tax," set to take effect next month, may stand.
New at Reason:
The full contents of Reason's January 2016 issue is now available here.
For access to our brand new February 2016 issue – as well as full access to all 47 years of Reason archives – subscribe to Reason Digital here.
Don't Let Principals Censor the Internet: Public schools should not have the power to punish off-campus speech. —By Jacob Sullum
Politicians Without Borders: Today's politicians seem to have few limits. —By John Stossel
Yelp, But for People: Reputation ratings will make the world more efficient and transparent. —By Greg Beato
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
A King County judge says Seattle's $25-per-firearm "gun violence tax," set to take effect next month, may stand.
That will stop the gun violence!
Shall not be infringed; how the fuck does it work?!
Well regulated militia, well regulated militia!
Stop being so literal.
Be nuanced like a prog.
What percent of guns are used violently? Say 1 in 1000? How about charging those owners $25000 and leaving the rest alone?
Let's tax TV ads until the broadcast networks become economically nonviable. That's not shutting them down, so there is no 1A issue involved.
Actually, they should consider taxing violent content.
$10000 every time a gun is discharged or the violent effects of a gun discharge is depicted.
You know, this would be a pretty good troll for those in Hollyweird who push gun control legislation.
Why not a tax on voting? What is different about owning a gun? Both are basic rights. Both can lead to bad consequences.
How about a jury trial tax? Or maybe a tax if a warrant is executed on you? Endless fun.
I keep track of county court convictions for a newspaper. Often the most expensive item on the tab is "court costs."
$200 to $500 a pop.
Or how about a tax on abortion.
Keeping and bearing arms is a much more fundamental right than voting.
What percentage of the violent ones are bought on the black market and wouldn't be subject to this tax anyway?
All of them?
Hey guys, its my birthday and so I have the day off. I just wanted to stop in and say Merry Christmas to all of you and your orphan miner's. May your monocles shine true and your coal mines run record profits over the holiday season.
Coal? Psh. We've moved on to Unobtainium, Joe.
Thanks, Joe. Always good to catch you on H&R.
I am allowing a crust of leftover fruitcake to each orphan, and a 5 minute break! I am weak like that around Christmas.
You fool! Such generosity will only make them want more!
My larger orphan overseers have been instructed to not skimp on the cat o' 9 tails...
I have always found that the orphans in my monocle lens factory work hardest if you keep that slight sliver of hope alive:
"Maybe if I work just a bit harder he may actually give us an hour off this year. He did give us those fruitcake crusts last year..."
Plus, you get to crush their hopes over and over again...
Merry Christmas to you too. And all the rest of you marvelous weirdos.
I perfectly fit that description...thank you!
Merry Christmas, commentariat! Thanks for pointing out my typos and keeping me entertained and not ripping on me too hard most of the time. Oh, and good work with the making fun of Robby's hair. Please keep that up.
Merry Christmas to you, too.
That's not okay.
Merry Christmas, Elizabeth!
Thanks for working this week and keeping us entertained Elizabeth. Mery Christmas!
Who is making fun of Robby's beautiful, beautiful hair? I will fight them.
Not meh...and I would never troll him on the twitters about it nor make a comment like "you'll get more donations from us if you hold a scalp Rob contest".
Thank you, its nice when the commentariat are acknowledged! I'm not saying they are the best part of Reason but they are more fun than most of the articles, your own masterpieces excepted of course.
HBD! Mine is the 20th, and I know how you must suffer.
So how do they know what guns you have? I'm a rules follower by nature, but telling any government what and how many weapons you own seems stupid.
THEN I GUESS IN ADDITION TO BEING A RULES BREAKER YOU'RE A LIAR.
It's a sales tax.
Yes, yes, a "sales" tax.
At least we can agree it is a tax....
A penaltax?
It's a tax on purchases, not a registration of existing guns.
It seems like a terrible idea to me, but I can't think of anything legal that would prevent a city or state from doing this. Cities put taxes on things all the time.
Well, the 2nd amendment prohibits infringement of the right to keep and bear arms, so a sales tax applied only to arms but nothing else would qualify as an infringement. Not that the constitution means anything anymore.
^ What he said, Zeb
It's pretty easy to argue that $25 is not prohibitive and doesn't qualify as an infringement. I'm guessing court would have some limit on what the tax could be, but of course they would never be able to say what it is, just that "they'll know it when they see it."
Doesn't matter, the 2nd amendment doesn't say "shall not be infringed, except for really small infringements; those are okay"
If you want to get all precise, the 2nd doesn't say anything about buying guns. Just keeping and bearing.
Right, but the courts don't agree, that's all I'm saying.
The very use of the word "infringe", as opposed to "prohibit", should suggest that even minor restrictions are verboten.
It's already legal to require registration of firearms and not other products, regardless of 2A. I don't agree with registration (or the tax), but I don't see how this is different.
They should have called it a processing fee, but then it wouldn't be a political statement.
You're right, it's not different, it's just further shitting on the 2nd amendment.
It's pretty easy to argue that $25 is not prohibitive and doesn't qualify as an infringement.
Tell that to those who say requiring ID to vote is a burden.
It's pretty easy to argue that $25 is not prohibitive and doesn't qualify as an infringement.
How about the $.05/centerfire cartridge and $.02/rimfire?
$2.50 per box of 50 9mms and $10 per brick of .22s.
Plus the standard 9.6% Seattle sales tax.
How is a general sales tax not also an infringement by the same standard? There is absolutely no difference in effect between a $25 gun tax and $25 of general sales tax applied to a gun. Seems to me you can either tax guns or you can't.
I would personally be OK with such an absolute reading of the 2nd that allows no regulation or restrictions on gun sales by any means. But that's not going to happen ever. And I'm not entirely sure that's really what it was intended to mean. Is making it slightly more expensive to buy a gun really an infringement on the right to keep and bear?
" Is making it slightly more expensive to buy a gun really an infringement on the right to keep and bear?"
Yes.
See, "incrementalism".
So then no taxes of any kind should ever apply to gun purchases. Which I'm OK with, but I don't think that that is something that the 2nd amendment was intended to do. I think people are a bit too quick to project what they think should be onto the constitution. And I am not convinced that it was intended to prohibit any and all taxation of guns, particularly by state or local governments.
But as WTF said, why is this ONLY levied on guns? To infringe on that right.
Remember that Obama himself said that his goals regarding gun control was to make it "not impossible" for you to get a gun. So, that is the standard : "Not impossible".
10 years down the line, in addition to the now-250$ gun tax, there will be mandatory fingerprinting, background check, credit check, and an oral and written test that must BOTH be passed with a score of not less than 95%.
So, is that REALLY an infringement on the RTKB, Zeb?
Yes, it's clearly intended to make guns more expensive as a primary goal.
I disapprove strongly. I'm just still not completely convinced that the constitution forbids it. If it doesn't, the constitution can suck it. The right to armed self defense ought to be absolute.
There was a famous court case about restrictions or taxes on newspaper racks, back when it was common to see clusters of them at street corners. It was only against newspapers and ruled illegal because of that exclusivity. I believe there were similar judgements against newspaper-only taxes as being an infringement on the press.
Extending that to another enumerated right ought to be a slam dunk. Obviously this court has an agenda.
Yes government man, the check is in the mail.
Officials expect it to raise up to $500,000 a year to help offset the costs of gun violence. The measure is set to take effect next month.
hahahahahahah
Don't spend it before you see it government man.
I'm thinking that Seattle gun stores are going to see a bit of a decline in sales.
The real purpose.
Seattle gun stores will move and become suburb stores.
If by "offset the costs of gun violence" they mean "stuffed into the pockets of various administration cronies" then sounds legit to me.
Ding Ding Ding.
Note the story cites "direct medical costs of gun violence" and how much the taxpayers pick up, but "The revenue would be used for gun safety research and gun violence prevention programs."
If the law stands, local NRA instructors should apply for grants to conduct classes, just to hear the squealing.
They gotta do something to pay for all those violence by cop settlements.
Lighting the Dunphy signal?
Hello.
/hops around putting underwear on.
...On *what*?? The suspense is killing!!
His head, of course.
"Boy, you got a panty on yo' head."
+1 in Dutch with the wife
ON YOUR FACE.
Dude, the underwear goes *inside* your pants.
Oh?
*quietly slips out of room to change*
There is also a 'by the round' tax on ammo.
$.02 on .22 and $.05 on everything else?
Because we all know gun violence is perpetrated by the kinds of people who will be buying their guns legally and paying that tax.
If you count on gunowners offing themselves from time to time, sure. Just think of the taxes they're depriving the city. $25 is small potatoes for the privilege.
It costs only $25 per firearm to shoot someone in Seattle?!
Looks like I moved out of King county at the right time
The funny thing is, when criminals in Seattle import guns from the black market or states without these taxes, the politicians there will either blame "lax" gun laws elsewhere or pretend that their laws worked.
when will they start to argue that you can not tax a right. rights that are taxed are no longer a right. that creates a poll tax which is illegal. All these legal people know this I don't know why it is not argued that way maybe someone could enlighten me.
Exchanging driving lessons for sex gets the OK in Holland.
Road head for extra credit.
i assume the giver is the one driving?
If you read the article, they're actually pile driving lessons.
that sounds tricky to perform in the front of a car; or am i completely lost?
You just need a moon roof and cruise control. That's lesson one.
does one get extra
that didn't work as planned...
does one get extra, extra credit for steering with one's feet or is that just part of the deal?
Turn in your jimmy hat for a dunce cap.
Kinky...
It can't maker her driving any worse...
EPA Now Says It's Not to Blame for Gold King Mine Spill
Not surprise in the slightest. It's slipped off the front page, now it's time to make sure it doesn't make it to the public record. They can't have a study done on their environmental harm years later if they never take official credit in the paperwork.
Being a bureaucrat means never having to say you're sorry (or take responsibility)
Bastards
Responsibility is for uppity commoners, not the aristocrats of pull.
"a backhoe activated and a spring was hit"
Manitoba Zamboni operator facing impaired driving charges
The most Canadian crime ever committed.
It would have been perfect if they had been able to work in something involving poutine and Lablatt's.
I would have thought drunkeness would have been a minimum requirement for a zamboni driver.
There's a fine line between drunk enough to operate a zamboni and too drunk to operate a zamboni.
/tear rolls down eye.
God I love this country.
The True North strong and free!
Take off! To the Great White North!
Take off! It's a beauty way to go.
Take off! To the Great White North!
Ooo coo coo coo coo coo coooo!
THE FANS CALLED THE MOUNTIES? My respect for Canuckistanis has plummeted quicker than a bag of milk at a Tim Horton's during a Tire Money giveaway.
He was fucking with their game. They came to watch hockey, and while his antic where probably funny for a bit, eventually you want to watch what you paid for.
Hey, he wasn't clearing the ice correctly! Have you no respect for hockey?!?!?!
Pond hockey or nothing. If you're skating in a barn you might as well be ice dancing to showtunes.
Er, your knowledge of our cultural habits is disturbing.
That's only like the 43rd most disturbing thing about Eugene.
Yeah, it is supposed to be "Friendly Manitoba"! It is right there on their license plates.
Calling the cops on this guy is definitely not cool.
129) Aren't the Grateful Dead basically the Eagles on LSD?
Would we really have gotten any good music from Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain, and Winehouse had they lived past 27? Didn't they probably already give us the best music we were likely to get from them? How many people have more than one or two great albums their whole careers, anyway?
Am I the only one who thinks Ice Cube is not actually a very good rapper?
Isn't Beyonce a lot more interesting than Jay-Z, musically? I mean, he's fairly one-dimensional, while her albums explore all sorts of textures and moods.
Has any old rock musician stayed more musically relevant than Paul Simon?
In retrospect, Duke Ellington dominated the 20th century musically. He had hit records from the 1920s to the 1970s, was hugely influential both in his music and in discovering musicians who themselves went on to have big careers, toured worldwide probably more than anybody else ever, and never stopped evolving musically right up to this death, while still sounding recognizably "Ellingtonian."
Dying in your prime will always make you seem greater than you were. Imagine if George Lucas died right before he could make sequels to Star Wars. We'd still see him as a genius and have never discovered the flaws in his movie making style. It happens to artists and politician alike.
For Lucas, I think you want before he made "Howard the Duck".
Has any old rock musician stayed more musically relevant than Paul Simon?
Tom Waits, maybe.
+1 piano has been drinking, not me
Tom Petty and Sting both managed to stay relevant. Probably not moreso than Paul Simon. But both managed some great albums in the 90s- two decades after they started.
And Sting was in Dune!!!
Ice Cube is a better lyricist than rapper, but that was the thing with NWA - they just press-ganged themselves into those roles. Dr Dre included. He was never really a rapper, but that didn't stop him from being one of the most successful ones of all time.
As for old, relevant musicians, I think Sting has done a pretty good job of staying relevant and sales-worthy. As has Clapton and Springsteen. And U2 never seems to die and actually still sells. And Tom Jones has a fantastic new album out and when you consider he was a contemporary of Elvis, I would say that is impressive to still be innovative.
Ice Cube is more of an icon than a pure rapper, but It Was A Good Day is legendary hip-hop song.
"It's ironic, I had the brew she had the chronic/The Lakers beat the Supersonics
I felt on the big fat fanny/Pulled out the jammy, and killed the punanny"
Paul Simon is rock star?
Right. Let's listen to a bunch of white privileged donkeys culturally appropriate Ice bucket or whatever his name is.
Rufus, we are talking about American music. When we have a discussion about Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Young we will let you know.
SOMEBODY FORGOT ABOUT ANNE MURRAY, I SEE!
Ironically, you both forgot Alanis Morissette.
That was on purpose.
You're here to remind me.
You oughtta know.
*narrows gaze at the lot o' ye*
This is the worst thread i have ever seen on Hit'n'Run.
This is the worst thread i have ever seen on Hit'n'Run.
It's like rain on your wedding day.
Paul Simon is rock star?
he does folk and pop and tin pan alley stuff. rock? I don't think so.
I'm going to say no one the Grateful Dead/Eagles thing. Whole different approach, history and style.
I'm with you on Ice Cube.
I'd suggest Jeff Beck as an older rock musician who keeps doing great stuff.
Would we really have gotten any good music from Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain, and Winehouse had they lived past 27?
We didn't get any good music from Winehouse after she turned 24. That's when she completed her transformation into a hybrid of Keith Richards, Bettie Boop, and a zombie.
There seemed to be some sense there until you called Paul Simon a rock musician
"Would we really have gotten any good music from Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain, and Winehouse"
Maybe it's bad form to answer my own question, but I will say of the people on this list, I think Hendrix is the likeliest to have done something interesting had he not died. Miles Davis wanted to do an album with him, and he was getting into jazz fusion. He might very well have ended up in the fusion scene in the 70s doing innovative work.
But I think he just as likely would have ended up as a burnout, either losing himself completely in drugs and/or just putting out mediocre albums.
But I think he just as likely would have ended up as a burnout, either losing himself completely in drugs and/or just putting out mediocre albums.
His death did save us from ever having to endure A Very Hendrix Christmas.
Hendrix was a great studio musician. I'm sure he would have at least kept producing pretty good albums and working with other people a lot.
Talking about the Grateful Dead, their two most commercially successful albums came out in the late 80's.
They were very much a niche band, but their music kept getting better right up until Garcia died.
The Eagles haven't made any good music since...
Wait, they never made any good music.
I hate the fuckin Eagles, man.
I've always thought the Eagles are the only band that could make Joe Walsh suck.
Zappa continually pushed boundaries till the end.
Ellington IMO is better than all of the dead rockstars combined.
Zappa did keep being interesting and innovative until the end. But I have so say, the peak of his music that I actually want to listen to very often was in the 70s some time.
Johnny Cash's contributions were ongoing and relevant until his death.
That's another good one. I thought the albums he made toward the end of his life were some of his best.
Johnny Cash is a great example. Ain't No Grave is a good, haunting song.
How has Paul Simon stayed musically relevant?
Hell, AC/DC is still making music, and they actually are rock.
And I also really don't see the Eagles/Grateful Dead comparison.
And you forgot that Rush is the best rock band ever!
Didn't they probably already give us the best music we were likely to get from them?
Not Hendrix. He was just getting started.
Eagles and GD are very different groups in style, tone, and origins.
Probably not from most of them because you get more popular as a "what might have been" artist, but I think Hendrix would have the best chance because guitar players from that era have typically had longer careers than vocalists.
Ice Cube is a great storyteller and a good lyricist just not a great one. The Predator was his apex and a great album but the rest of his work outside NWA was more a "good not great" level.
Beyonce is more interesting because she's a talented singer and performer. Jay-Z is one of the best rappers ever, but more focused on the entrepreneur stuff.
Duke Ellington is a very good one, but I would also mention Frank Sinatra.
No one brought him up yet (good answers by many) but I'll bring up Sammy Hagar. People forgot he's almost 70 and was in bands as far back as 1967. Obviously he was in Van Halen, but has done great work with Chickenfoot, solo work, had a party band called the Wabos, and was in one of the best bands of the 70's that most people forget in Montrose. I don't think there's ever been a period since the early 70s where we hasn't been working.
"Kim Dotcom will be extradited from New Zealand to the U.S., where he faces money laundering and copyright infringement charges stemming from his now-defunct file-sharing site Megaupload."
It's a real shame. MegaUpload was godsend while I was studying abroad. I couldn't get ahold of Netflix or Hulu without proxies I didn't understand how to use, but MegaUpload always had my shows at decent download speeds (especially the first download of the day). I'd have never started Supernatural without it.
THIEF!!!!
If it had been an option I would have watched commercials during my show. Technically yes, I stole the intellectual property, but I feel better about it knowing that I didn't take anything from them and I would have compensated them if they'd given me a method to do so as a poor college student.
You must now go to the penalty box and sit for 2 minutes. And feel shame.
You could torrent new episodes and buy the DVD set. That's what I do. Kripke et al still get their lucre, and I find out what Rowena is up to, minx that she is.
I've never liked owning DVDs. I move to often. I prefer everything downloaded on my computer.
I finally broke down and bought a DVD player - it's great, most DVD's are dirt cheap now.
After Al Gore went to all the trouble to invent the Xbox, at least I can watch DVDs on it.
lrn2vpn+torrent nubcake
Doesn't matter anymore. I'm no longer abroad, and I make enough now that I could afford to buy all my shows on Amazon if push came to shove (thankfully Hulu and Netflix have everything I want).
When I watch TV it's mostly old sitcoms, and it was easier to torrent them than to rip my DVDs myself. Back when Morpheus, Kazaa, Limewire, eMule and Gnucleus were a thing and broadband was shiny and new I was Captain Jack Sparrow himself. But of course, today I totally never download anything except through 100% legal and legit channels. Ever.
I figure if you own the physical media for a show or movie or music, you are perfectly entitled to stream or download it from whatever source. I doubt the law really agrees, but that seems about right.
I feel the same way. They got their revenue when I watched the show on TV with the ads (or they would have if not for my DVR, anyway), then they got their revenue again when I bought the discs (or VHS - I actually had some shows that old, mostly inherited from my dad). I don't feel bad about saving myself 3 days of swapping discs and waiting for files to re-encode by taking the 12 hour download option.
Pat (PM) likes shows about single roommates who worked as bottlecappers in a fictitious Milwaukee brewery?
I don't have Laverne & Shirley in my collection, but I know all the lyrics to the theme song and I probably saw every episode at one point or another on Nick at Nite when I was a kid. It was kind of a "holy shit!" moment years later when I saw Spinal Tap and Lenny was on rhythm guitar.
The start of America's love affair with lesbians?
Wait?! Carmine Ragusa was a beard?
*shakes and trembles*
C'mon...Carmine sang show tunes.
Shirley was a beard, too.
The real question, what sex did Lenny and Squggy identify as?
I thought that was Cagney and Lacey
I trust Kim Dotcom will be appealing - surely by now some international tribunal has ruled turning anybody over to the tender mercies of Uncle Sam is a prima facie violation of every international treaty on human rights ever signed, including the Geneva Convention.
The Feds have been acting in bad faith from day one - how can any non-US judge think he's going to get a fair trial before they seize all his assets and lock him away for a very long time?
...invalidating a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision not to register the name of Asian-American rock band The Slants.
John McCain has an alternate name if that one's taken.
So do the Redskins get their name back too?
A federal appeals court says offensive trademarks are OK, invalidating a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision not to register the name of Asian-American rock band The Slants.
And Dan Snyder smiles...
We decree your band's choice of name is offensive to yourselves.
Whoops, forgot the link
Cards Against Humanity customers to vote on destroying a Picasso
If I could vote, I'd vote "laser".
"No, Mr. Faun. I expect you to die."
*applauds 007 times*
Would.
This sounds awful, but there's hardly any major artist who we could lose a few of his artworks and not really miss them too much as Pablo Picasso. The man painted thousands of paintings.
Laser cut. I don't really see much value in the original vs a good reproduction, but I could sell my laser square to someone who did for a couple bucks.
Police: Woman Chants "ISIS is good, ISIS is great" During Sex
"Police advised the woman to call back if she heard the chanting again."
Why, so they can listen in too?
Maybe she's into the goddess. Maybe one of the people getting it on is named Isis. I knew a girl named Isis once.
Maybe she overheard Vanilla Ice having sex? "Ice is good, Ice is great"?
Well, WHICH IS IT?!?! Good OR Great?!?!? Make up your fucking mind!
The Washington Post has pulled a Ted Cruz cartoon which depicted the Texas Senator's daughters as monkeys...
At least they didn't claim they were descended from them.
[golf clap]
Shouldn't joe from Lowell be having a conniption fit about ethnic minorities being depicted as monkeys?
Joe can't play today, he's busy at the mall, escorting kids up to sit in Santa's lap.
+1 jingle bell hat
I thought he got fired from that job because moms found him "creepy and off-putting."
Since they are Republicans, they are not authentic ethnic minorities.
Port St. Lucie woman arrested after fight over flatulence
Ban sharp fingernails.
Has anyone heard from Florida Man lately?
some of his more recent exploits:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....-1.2471318
I hope he will make it back to commenting here.
probably had bad reception out on his boat.
A methed-up python ate the antenna.
I think he got ate by an alligator.
'Star Wars' fan arrested over threat to student who revealed plot: prosecutor
NO SPOILERS
Snape kills Dumbledore!
Lassie comes home
HAN SHOOTS FIRST
Sam and Frodo are gay! NTTAWWT...
Bruce Willis was dead the WHOLE TIME.
Well, that certainly changes my interpretation of Die Hard.
Not to mention Pulp Fiction.
I AM YOUR FATHER, FIST!
Justifiable, IMO.
ITS A COOKBOOK!
I wanted to make some Solyent Green for Christmas dinner. Can anybody post the recipe?
So I guess this might also effect the decision on the name "Washington Redskins".
And the Reason hive mind thinks in unison "What about the Redskins?"
"A federal appeals court says offensive trademarks are OK, invalidating a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision not to register the name of Asian-American rock band The Slants. "
Ramifications for the Redskins?!?!?
GODDAMIT WTF!!!!
ONE MINUTE!!! ONE FUCKING MINUTE!!!! ARRRRRGH!!!
*sobs quietly*
Switzy actually beat both of us to it.
MUHUHUHUWHA!
This Day in History
Only part of the square was in Maryland, the rest was in Virginia, so dont give MD 100 sq mi of credit. Something about like 75.
68.3
And Virginia eventually took back its part because the federal government just wasn't building anything on it. The borders of current day Arlington County complete the square of what was the original DC.
Almost. Alexandria takes a bite.
A number of astronauts beat Rutan and Yeager.
I wonder if I could nitpick every single item?
Technically correct is the best kind.
You know which other craft had its achievement contested...?
The Santa Maria?
Leroy Jenkins?
Kon-Tiki?
That's falling, not flying.
As any reader of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy nows, that *is* flying!
Flying ? throwing one's self to the ground and missing.
That did not occur to me. I suppose that describes being in orbit pretty well.
I just wanted to out-technically-correct robc.
Tarran out-technically corrected you, making me even more technicslly correct.
I guess invoking Douglas Adams is a sort of a trump card. I was foolishly restricting myself to the notion of flight as heavier than air crafts or animals moving through the atmosphere.
Wonder what she traded for the lesson
"1913 - President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the Federal Reserve System."
Forget going back in time to assassinate Hitler. If you want to make the world a better place, Wilson is the one to go back and take out.
How about Karl Marx? Imagine if communism hadn't come into the public policy sphere at that exact time. How many millions might have been saved.
I doubt Marx and Engles were the only ones thinking along those lines at the time. They didn't single-handedly invent socialism. You just can't kill ideas.
Killing Wilson, on the other hand, may have kept us out of WWI, possibly changing WWII or even keeping it from happening. And might also have allowed more progress on race relations sooner.
I wouldn't be too sure about the Federal Reserve not happening without him, though.
You're all getting a visit from the U.S. Secret Service.
But Marx did popularize it at the right time for it to cause a lot of damage. The idea was going to come about, but it might have done less harm if it came about a little later.
They never could get the right top men in place at the right time.
Glitch in the system.
Communism isn't a new idea. Societies have been destroying themselves with forced collectivism since history began.
-1 Tiwantinsuyu
That's a good question.
I wonder whether some other person or group would have developed something similar if Engels and Marx had not got together. Socialism/Communism/Progressivism seems like a meme that would shake to the top of human philosophical consciousness somehow, someway no matter what happened differently in history. Envy, Jealousy, tribalism and class hatred seem to be major philosophical catalysts that would eventually coalesce into something like socialism even without Rousseau, Marx, Engels, etc..
The Pilgrims tried it at Plymouth Rock a couple of years before Mar was born.
They literally nearly starved.
Plato
Oh, now. You aren't meant to take Plato seriously.
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!
That was amazing.
Existential Comics is high-quality shit.
By God, that was good. And somewhere Joe from Lowell and Tony are both reading that and rubbing one out.
Awesome
Mohammed.
It's hard to kill someone that never existed.
Poor Shakespeare...
Learn how do do an appendectomy and go back and save Alexander of Macedon.
And while I enjoy the what-if game, remember that we don't know what other horrors might occur. Also, my physicist friends tell me you can't actually go back in time, at least not to your own universe.
How about you kill Tem?jin before he started calling himself Ghenghis Khan? He killed, oh, something like 30, 50, 80 million people, something like that.
And that is nothing compared to communism/ socialism in the 20th century...
-3% of the world's current population
All because someone kidnapped his wife. Its like Liam Nieson's "Taken" character going on to become King of the World to secure his daughter's safety after retrieving her.
December 23, 1947 - The transistor was unveiled by American physicists John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley.
July 8, 1947 Headline in Roswell Daily Record - "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region"
Hmmmm.... coincidence?
A federal appeals court says offensive trademarks are OK...
BUT WHAT ABOUT THE REDSKINS?
That joke is now deader than Abe Vigoda.
At least we still have Lou Reed...
I think these are rubber bullets .... CAN ANYONE CONFIRM?!?!?!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....round.html
Charged doesn't mean convicted.
Wonder what the police union's stance on this case is....?
Ima guess paid vacation and more training.
The only thing he did wrong was not destroy the video footage that falsely contradicted his truthful report.
By "innocent man could be jailed" he means the hero is blue.
It appears the DA wants to make an example out of the cop. In other words, he's trying to get himself forced out of his job.
A federal appeals court says offensive trademarks are OK...
But Rico Soave says they're not okay.
Paragraph 7 of the decision will shock you!
Vote for Popehat's Censorius Asshat of 2015.
But vote anonymously, you don't want to be subpoenaed.
But we must find these threats to the US government!
There's a place in hell reserved for people who use the word 'asshat' indiscriminately.
You just loooove playing with fire, don't you.
Looks like Our Future Ruler is going to win. It is like Reason commenters are not well-liked by the internets. You people...
What do you mean 'you people'?
I'm gonna go out on a limb and predict Preet by a landslide.
Or perhaps an avalanche of woodchips?
I voted for you know who.
Chipper, Wood.
But that Judge Lisa sounds like one heckuva cunt.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ungus.html
That shit is messed up.
STEVE SMITH HAVE IDEA HOW TO USE...
WHEN ONLY TOOL YOU HAVE IS PENIS, EVERY PROBLEM LOOK LIKE BEING NAILED.
I've seen this movie.
Happy triffids day.
Time lapse is fascinating.
also known as octopus stinkhorn
Remind me why we even bother with Latin names?
So dorks can have conversations.
Nah, just Australian.
Distinction without a difference.
Not nearly deadly enough looking.
Wait until it morphs into its motile stage.
Hmm, this shit must be all over the Reason UK office.
"The Washington Post has pulled a Ted Cruz cartoon which depicted the Texas Senator's daughters as monkeys after Cruz complained about it on Twitter."
I wonder if the WP would print such a cartoon depicting Obumbles daughters as monkeys? With Progs principle only applies when dealing with the right kinds of people.
I am starting to think it would be worth electing Cruz just for 4-8 years of fever pitch collective pantssh_tting by DC and the MSM. That's an issue a libertarian could get on board with.
I wonder if the Democrats will feign libertarian sympathies during the next Republican administration like they did during the last one.
Yes, H&R will shift from yokel to cosmo when the next R is elected president.
I can't wait for this place to become nothing but joes. A thousand joes. Everywhere, joes.
/shakes beer can and opens in Warty's face.
Woooo! Country come back!!
And LoneWackos! Shut the fuck up, LoneWackos.
*sigh*
I kind of miss LoneWacko.
It's too bad Epi cut so close to the bone with those allegations of pedophilia. I miss him and his ToughQuestions.
THAT WAS ME YOU DOPE
Doesn't matter. Everyone knows that Epi is actually just a conjoined twin that budded from your left pec that time you overdosed on Creatine and testosterone supplements.
YOU CAN'T OVERDOSE ON CREATINE IT'S A NUTRIENT FUCK YOU I'LL KILL YOU I'LL KILL YOU
Stifle your roid rage, meathead. We all remember when you fugued, impregnated 80% of the population of Ohio, and punched that aircraft carrier in half.
Just wait for the ALL CAPS shouting matches when it's Clinton vs Trump and some article suggests voting for Clinton as the lesser of two evils.
Clinton could never be the lesser of two evils. Unless Cthulhu was a nominee.
As long as the LP has ballot access, I have an option. Even if its Barr.
Or Rubio's kids as lil' tacos.
Rubio is Cuban; tacos are a Mexican thing.
So I've heard. PB hasn't.
DAMMIT!
Not according to Shriek.
Cultural appropriation!
I heard somewhere that they should have Taco Bells there by now.
Who even knows that he has two daughters? I'm not sure what the point was of including them in a cartoon whether as money grinders or not.
He used them in an ad that premiered over the weekend. Not only was that the justification for using them in a political cartoon (it's okay to depict them because he brought them into the campaign), it was also the reason (he's an organ grinder making his children dance by putting them in his ads).
Of course, like, all politicians use their kids in ads...so...
Yes. It is terribly wrong, though, to have the opinion that a teenage Obama daughter wearing short shorts is improper.
Using your family as political props is a vulgar trend that goes back decades. I still don't approve of the WP cartoon because the kids aren't responsible for how their parents are using them. it would have been better to depict them as actual kids and Cruz as a swarthy organ grinder.
+1 Rick Santorum's daughter crying while holding her dolly.
Ah ok, I get it then.
I do agree that politicians using their kids - 4 and 7 years old - like this is scummy. Shame on Cruz. The cartoon sounds tasteless too. So... no good guy here.
If they were saying, "Can we really take out loans on them (points to 4 and 7 year olds) and claim to be a moral society?". I'd be okay with that.
^This. Minor children of politicians should be off limits as long as they stay out of politics. The question about a similar cartoon of the current president's children is totally fair and very on point; this really exposes their hypocrisy.
Biden wouldn't have had to worry too much about it.
...too soon?
Nah. Grown children are OK. Besides Biden is wearing that particular sob story out.
Hunter Biden joined the Navy Reserve for like five weeks before he was booted for testing positive for cocaine.
Grown children who choose to be public figures are fair game.
Okay, but Chelsea is off limits, hear?
Crusty has a sad.
Yes, yes she is. But, Hill can use her grandchildren as props.
And still is. Thinking back on it I think making her look like an ugly duckling back in '92 was actually an attempt to bait conservatives into making fun of her. She was just so ridiculous looking when you look back on the campaign. Nobody would go out in public intentionally looking like that, especially if you're in a high profile arena like the fucking election. Okay, Tanya Harding would go out looking like that, but that's a different story.
Hey man, the early 90s were a weird time for everybody.
That was back when M.C. Hammer ran the world...
Parachute pants are coming back, brah. That's why i still wear mine.
Yeah, Deblasio's kid with the giant afro which won him the race seemed perfectly willing to bask in the limelight.
...stemming from his now-defunct file-sharing site Megaupload.
It's defunct? Where have I been putting my files for the last year, I wonder.
Mega != Megaupload
With regard to Seattle's $25 gun and $0.02/.05 ammo tax.. is it applied to online purchases?
If you are using a local broker from Seattle as a receiver, yes.
Ares Kingdom
Try again, Warty.
I figured it was a holiday homage to SugarFree.
Maybe it was this one then.
Did you mean this, Warty?
Dammit. Fucking browser with no reasonable installed. Fucking doing HTML manually the old-fashioned way like some mid-90s idiot jerk moron.
Let's try again. Ares Kingdom
I tried to help and get called a mid-90s idiot jerk moron. Worst chat room ever.
WHY DON'T YOU GO WATCH FRIENDS YOU JERK
Keep up the all caps, people will think your keyboard is gooped up. That nickname SQWERTY could finally stick.
SQWERTY? My feeble brain translated that as SQUIRTY.
Now I can't even finish my cup of coffee.
Um, "gooped up", "stick"? Next time I put a link to it if you want.
Since you brought up Genghis Khan earlier: how about some Mongolian folk metal?
Throat-singing is my kryptonite.
Good to know. [adds "throat singing" to plan]
Energy and Commerce
?
@HouseCommerce
Chmn @RepFredUpton announces comprehensive review of causes, effects, and treatments for #Concussions - http://1.usa.gov/1U2zIr4
11:49 AM - 22 Dec 2015
The idea of government getting involved in this gives me a concussion AND the urge to consume large amounts of Kosher salt.
There must be a movie coming out about it or something...
I heard last week that the real life doctor the movie is about wrote an op-ed last week calling for a ban on people under 18 from participating in organized contact sports (football, hockey, martial arts, etc.) out of fear of concussions.
BANNED IN CANADA
But the NFL is clearly engaged in interstate commerce.
Not according to OWH.
I bet you there are more bicycle injuries than concussions.
The NFL is so thoroughly crooked and so thoroughly in bed with so many levels of crooked governments that it's hard to give a shit about this horseshit nonsense bullshit investigation. But seriously, fuck these idiots. Why don't they have another bullshit steroid witchhunt while they're at it?
I won't be satisfied until there is a Congressional investigation into the amount of curve on a hockey stick blade that is safe.
Some alt text might explain the illustration.
Rejected Kool-Aid Man stand-in?
As good a guess as any.
I was thinking it might be the whacko from the Chipotle thread, but they have another photo for him.
What a terrifyingly powerful we live under. There's not a single federal agency, bureau, department or institution that shouldn't be fed through a woodchipper.
powerful government*
Merry Christmas to all.
May you not fear engaging progressive acquaintances, family members, in-laws and friends this yuletide.
Spread the gospel of anarcho-free enterprise-individualism!
DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO.
Okay, wise guy, Santa just crossed you off the list. You will not be getting that red ryder BB gun.
As a free-market individualist, i'll go buy my own damn gun.
You'll shoot your eye out, kid.
Ah, just like Sheriff J.P. Harrah (Robert Mitchum) said it to Bull (Arthur Hunnicut) about Cole Thornton (John Wayne) chasing after Maudie (Charlene Holt) in the penultimate scene of El Dorado!
So what you're saying is... that I need to shit in a box and give it to my most socialist family member? Alright, then it comes down to the hipster millenial SJW art student or the 70 year old retired bureaucrat and current Bernie Sanders supporter. Decisions decisions.
In so many words.
"hipster millennial SJW art student" - good luck.
"The Department of Homeland Security has denied Minnesota's request for an extension to comply with REAL ID standards"
Next you're going to tell me that a Polaroid taped to a hockey puck isn't valid ID. What's the world coming to?
Polaroid taped to a hockey puck
Only in Canada, friendo.