Americans Like Religious Freedom (for Christians), Israel Surveillance Snares U.S. Legislators, ACLU Sues Catholic Hospital: A.M. Links

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 12.30.2015 9:00 AM

(Lawrence OP/Flickr)

Americans do value religious freedom—for Christians. In a recent poll, 82 percent said Christians' religious rights matter, but only 70 percent said the same for Jews, 67 percent for Mormons, and 61 percent for Muslims.
The American Civil Liberties Union is suing a California hospital over its refusal to allow the doctor-recommended sterilization of a patient because Catholic bishops consider it "evil."
U.S. spying on Israel has turned up some unexpected results…
"It's a lot harder to assume that sex workers are mindless, manipulated fuckbots when they're tweeting thoughts on feminism, racial justice, or the newest Star Wars film," notes Motherboard.
California's law mandating a bazillion lawsuits equal pay for "substantially similar" work goes into effect this week.
While Twitter's terms previously prohibited promoting "violence against others," they now only prohibit this behavior when it's directed against people "on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease."
Pot branding has come a long way.

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What Went Right in 2015: There may have been terrorism, crimes, storms, and Hillary Clinton, but 2015 was also full of good news. —By John Stossel

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Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago

U.S. spying on Israel has turned up some unexpected results...

Just like in Porky's.
1. WTF 9 years ago
  
  That's not Kosher.
2. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer 9 years ago
  
  Hello.
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Cow dung patties selling like hot cakes online in India9

Like consumers around the globe, Indians are flocking to the online marketplace in droves these days. But there's one unusual item flying off the virtual shelves: Online retailers say cow dung patties are selling like hot cakes.

The patties ? cow poop mixed with hay and dried in the sun, made mainly by women in rural areas and used to fuel fires ? have long been available in India's villages. But online retailers including Amazon and eBay are now reaching out to the country's ever-increasing urban population, feeding into the desire of older city folks to harken back to their childhood in the village.

Some retailers say they're offering discounts for large orders. Some customers are asking for gift wrapping.
1. Illocust 9 years ago
  
  Someone posted this in morning links yesterday.
  
  Also to answer a previous question. Yes burning dung is different than burning logs. It has health risks that a burning log doesn't.
  1. Not okay 9 years ago
    
    But it's sustainable!
  2. 11H1P, Professional Beach Bum 9 years ago
    
    I prefer dung to be in log form when I burn it. Mmmmm, diesel fuel and shit in a metal drum, on fire... where have I experienced that before???
    1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
      
      Yo, was right there with you. Iraq or Afghanistan - take your pick.
      
      Ahhhh, memories!!
      
      *wipes tear from eye.... then slaps self*
      1. 11H1P, Professional Beach Bum 9 years ago
        
        Iraq 2003... a few miles SW of Najef. I amused myself by making a sling from 550 cord and nylon for all of the river stones laying about, then waited for the firefights light up around dark. Oh, and giant dust tornadoes marching across the desert.
Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago

US Attorney declines prosecution of former VA execs
WASHINGTON ? Federal prosecutors have decided not to press criminal charges against two former executives at the Department of Veterans Affairs who were accused of manipulating the agency's hiring system for their own gain...

...Rubens and Graves were demoted in November, but their demotions were rescinded this month after a paperwork mix-up. The VA has said it will reissue the demotions after the problem is resolved.
1. WTF 9 years ago
  
  This is why we need single payer.
  1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
    
    Seriously. I remember when the Progtards were telling us how good the VA was. And if it is good enough for our troops, it is good enough for the rest of us.
    
    Of course, since most of them never served in any capacity, they wouldn't understand that military medicine is great for battlefield trauma. But when you have normal medical issues they generally suck (the Navy was a bit better from what friends from the Army and Air Force have told me). And of course, the fucking VA. All that needs to be said.
    1. Mickey Rat 9 years ago
      
      When my grandfather was alive (40 years ago now), my mother hated when he had to go to the local VA for his emphysema. In her opinion the staff just did not care to make sure of even basic comfort for the patients, like making sure oxygen mask straps were not chafing a bedridden person raw.
      1. Citizen X 9 years ago
        
        A college buddy of mine was working as a surgeon at a VA hospital in Alabama, and he complained that he was bored - he never had any patients because most of them never made it far enough into the system to actually get operated on.
2. Galactic Chipper Cdr Lytton 9 years ago
  
  The VA has said it will reissue the demotions after the problem is resolved.
  
  A) problem will be resolved after they reach retirement age
  
  or
  
  B) promotions will be reissued after the new demotions.
Just a thought not a sermon 9 years ago

130) When I was nine or ten I took an IQ test. My parents never told me the results but I found them in the filing cabinet one time. The score was?very high. For a long time I was proud of that fact. Truthfully, I still am, to an extent.

But as I've gotten older what I've figured out is how little high intelligence is worth. A lot of the things I'm good at are essentially parlor tricks, and things I've tried hard to do well (playing guitar, speaking German without a strong accent, making small talk at parties) I'm terrible at, while other, much dumber, people pick them up pretty easily.

I've come to the conclusion that IQ is really on a scale of like 10,000. Seen in that way, your 120 IQ is not any more impressive than someone else's 100 IQ. To me this is why seemingly smart people often do such stupid shit, and why humanity in general seems so dumb. Sure that genius over there may have a score 50% higher than the average human, but on the cosmic IQ scale, he's still only at 1.5%.
1. Lee G 9 years ago
  
  Intelligence can be very narrow. My son can improvise on Bach instantaneously, but he cannot remember to take his daily pills ever.
2. Illocust 9 years ago
  
  Eh, I always figured the thing about a high IQ is that you have trouble relating to people. Jokes and logic that are obvious to you don't make sense without a lot of explanation to others (it puts conversations on different paces). If you are around other highly intelligent people it's not an issue and you have no more trouble socializing than the average person. The easiest way to be a social butterfly is to be surrounded by people that think like you.
  1. robc 9 years ago
    
    Then why can I relate to the retards around here?
    
    Oh crap.
  2. Citizen X 9 years ago
    
    STEVE SMITH RELATE TO EVERYONE... IN BIBLICAL SENSE.
3. Free Market Socialist $park? 9 years ago
  
  I somewhat share your pain. As a fellow high IQ person, I find it matters so little in daily life. Part of the problem, as I see it, is that many of life's "little rules" are designed by and for people with marginal intelligence. Sometimes it's really hard to be the smart one when everyone else starts giving you The Look.
  1. Free Market Socialist $park? 9 years ago
    
    Maybe 'average' is a better word than 'marginal'.
    1. Suthenboy 9 years ago
      
      One of those things is exactly like the other.
      
      *snicker*
      1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
        
        AS A SELF-PROCLAIMED GENIUS, I FIND IT DIFFICULT NOT TO GET MY HAND STUCK IN THE DISPOSAL. CAN ANYONE CONFIRM?!?!?!
        
        Private Chipperbot 9 years ago
        
        Let me flip this switch and see if it helps! I'm here for you!
4. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
  
  I can't remember if I posted this here or not, but related.
  1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
    
    Looks like I did
5. Suthenboy 9 years ago
  
  Truer words never spoken.
  
  There is a wide, wide ocean that lies between 'smart' and 'wise'. Acquiring wisdom does not require a high IQ and having one does not guarantee that one will become wise. In fact, I don't think it even increases one's chances.
  1. Lee G 9 years ago
    
    Far too many people with high IQs discount the effect of randomness. Intelligence can give the illusion of control. As an engineering manager, I always had to emphasize this point with new hires. Now I'm teaching it to my kids.
    1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
      
      Between teaching AP Physics for 8 years and engineering work for another 15, I have seen this. You are so right on. There are so many "bright" kids in the upper classes in high school and then college who think they are hot shit. And then hit the "real world" and need some SERIOUS recalibration. Hell, I NEEDED IT!
  2. Suthenboy 9 years ago
    
    *In my early twenties I took the damned IQ test. I was stunned that I scored so high.
    
    Looking back I can see that I did a lot of breathtakingly stupid shit. I know I would test substantially lower now, yet as mentioned already, it really makes no difference in my life. I am successful and much happier.
    
    You don't have to be genius to be successful. All you have to do is be wise enough not to sabotage your life with bad decisions.
    1. Whatever Farm Animal Of War 9 years ago
      
      Being more intelligent doesn't make people more successful. It does tend to make them more interesting, though.
      
      If being a boring financial success is your ideal life, then intelligence certainly isn't essential to it.
      
      But if you want the time spent in your own head to be amusing rather than empty, intelligence helps a great deal.
6. Derp-o-Matic 5000 9 years ago
  
  High intelligence can only get you so far. It's a beneficial personal attribute, just as being tall or good-looking or athletic all are, but it's no substitute for hard work, honesty, or good character. In my own personal experience, I think it worked to my detriment because I never had to try in school. It wasn't until I was older and marginally wiser that I came to realize how little difference it actually made.
7. BearOdinson 9 years ago
  
  I have also come to this conclusion. I remember after being a young engineer, i went to teach AP Physics, and I thought how stupid alot of these other teachers were (mostly humanities, but yes there were a lot of dumb bio and a few dumb chem teachers.) As I have gotten older I realize that they probably didn't have that much less raw intelligence. They just didn't care or cared about the wrong things.
  
  The vast, vast majority of people have plenty of intelligence to do most things. (Yes, i admit that to be a good engineer or scientist there has to be some raw potential there. Just like to a pro athlete, there has to be some genetics. But hard work and focus can do amazing things.)
8. BearOdinson 9 years ago
  
  "We won't rest until every American scores higher than the median!!"
  -- National Education Association local rep
  1. robc 9 years ago
    
    If measured world wide, that is at least possible.
    1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
      
      You are thinking about that way too hard! 😉
      1. robc 9 years ago
        
        No, I got it, I was just being pedantic.
  2. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer 9 years ago
    
    "But won't the median just shift up and lead to demand for still more higher grades? WHEN WILL IT END?"
    
    /National Education Association local rep's mini-me.
9. Yusef Adama 9 years ago
  
  170 IQ, and dumb as a rock, but boy I sure thought I was smart as a kid,
  B
  1. Florida Man 9 years ago
    
    James Woods IQ is 184. Think about that for a minute.
    1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
      
      Actually, I find that rather believable. For an actor I always thought he seemed quite bright.
      1. Florida Man 9 years ago
        
        "Oh piece of candy" was the correct response.
    2. toolkien 9 years ago
      
      I don't believe those online celebrity IQ's.
      
      A lot of those IQ's are given as kids, and the IQ is a "projection" based on a formula, that's why as you get older your IQ is harder to maintain. You may be able to process and understand a concept at 11 that is well ahead for the age, but by the time you hit 30, with a modest increase to that comprehension of the concept, your IQ could actually be rated lower. In short, the whole IQ thing is a little bit nonsense, particularly when administrated to children. I'll buy Woods' IQ if he took one now and see what the score is.
      
      Another example is Warren Zevon, who apparently scored very high (perhaps the highest in Orange County, CA for his class) in IQ. He remained an articulate and urbane person his whole life despite a half gallon Vodka habit for a period of time (that damned right handed for a southpaw syndrome). But I would assert that he was more intelligent and experienced, and probably retained the same level of innate intelligence, but if he had taken another IQ test at 45-50, he'd have rated lower.
      
      Whatever the measurement might be, there are some very intelligent people, which in the end is a micro aggression against the stupid.
10. Bill Dalasio 9 years ago
  
  Intelligence is a good quality. But, it's ultimately only one of a plethora of good qualities. And too often people with high IQs are expected to or voluntarily define themselves by that one good quality (I know. It was me before I grew up) without cultivating any of the other good qualities. Sure it's great to be smart. But, if you just rest on that without worrying about being honest, or loyal, or brave, or industrious, or to persevere, or, well, so on, you're not going to find the key to a happy life.
11. Crusty Juggler 9 years ago
  
  My IQ is almost in triple digits, which means I am better than you.
12. toolkien 9 years ago
  
  Those people who are at the very high end of the third standard deviation or the fourth standard deviation (to the right) are like left handed people in a right handed world. The world is pretty much calibrated for the 67% who exist within one standard deviation of the mean. It's hard to live in a world that doesn't go beyond the surface of a particular conception. You end up a pace behind as you are trying to divine something three layers deep in a world that has entrenched indifference to anything more than one layer deep. Our society, with its ribbons for everyone, has convinced the "one standard deviants" that they are smarter than they are, and their one layer deep, 144 character, thoughts are admirable. As one who plots to the "wrong" end of the third standard deviation, I see those who are above me and can be a bit envious at the speed at which they process, and look back at the majority of people who think they comprehend when they most certainly do not.
  
  In the end, the most dangerous of people are those who don't know what they don't know. No matter where you plot, if you think you are smarter than you are, you will be destructive - to yourself and/or to others. Smart is relative to everyone else, wise is when you realize there is vastly more to be known than any one person can process. Living a life where one can process some factor faster than average isn't going to prevent you from suffering pain and dying, which are the great equalizers.
  1. Free Market Socialist $park? 9 years ago
    
    the most dangerous of people are those who don't know what they don't know
    
    See: Dunning-Kruger effect
    1. Crusty Juggler 9 years ago
      
      Agreed.
13. thrakkorzog 9 years ago
  
  Count me amongst the people ith a high IQ that think it's a BS metric. It predicted I would do well in the third grade, and it was right, I aced the third grade. I don't see why IQs are considered some predictor of brilliance any more than SAT or ACT scores. Hell, I'm more proud of scoring a couple of 5s on my AP tests than I am of having a high IQ.
  1. Citizen X 9 years ago
    
    Y'all need to quit bagging on high IQs, it's all some of us have got 🙁
14. Akira 9 years ago
  
  I think that human intelligence is too complex to be quantified by one number. Haven't we all met someone who seems good at a few things, but dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to anything else?
15. Lord at War 9 years ago
  
  IQ tests don't measure "intelligence", they measure "clock speed".
Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago

Teenage wife of Bataclan killer brags about her 'great life' in Iraq and how 'proud and happy' she is he helped murder 90 people
Wife of Samy Amimour wrote an email to a friend in days after Paris attacks
She boasted of how proud and happy that her husband killed 90 people
Bragged about how life in the ISIS stronghold of Mosul, Iraq was great
Amimour was one of 3 killers who gunned down music fans at the Bataclan music hall
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Man Bun something something Warty

How to make the perfect man bun in just 3 steps

So we're not saying you should do a man bun, but if you really want to, we'd like you to at least know how to do it properly.

Most guys don't have a clue when it comes to long hair care ? especially if they've never worn their hair long before.

The first thing to know about man buns is what kind of hair is able to be styled in that way. Your hair must be pretty long. An authentic man bun is usually around six or seven months of growth for a six to eight inch mane of hair. If you're not there yet, the best you're usually going to be able to do is a top knot, which isn't an authentic man bun.
1. Just a thought not a sermon 9 years ago
  
  And if it doesn't work out for you, you can always mix it with hay, dry it in the sun, and sell it to Indians.
2. BearOdinson 9 years ago
  
  Fucking tell that to the samurai!
  
  (I am just jealous. I lost this battle years ago, and now I just shave my head twice a week.)
  1. Lord Humungus 9 years ago
    
    I don't have any male pattern baldness, but my hair doesn't grow long in the Wild Bill Hickok way, instead it just gets more 'n' more white man fro. I could only do a minor revolutionary war pigtail that would never stay in place since my follicles have a mind of their own.
    1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
      
      When I was 21, I already had a five-head. But if I wanted to, I could probably go all Gallagher. But my wife would NEVER sleep with me again.
    2. Rhywun 9 years ago
      
      I have a full head of hair but it's extremely thick so I just shave it because growing it out makes me feel like I'm wearing an oven on my head. Plus it's all gray now so there's that.
3. Crusty Juggler 9 years ago
  
  I almost got into a fight with a Man Bun recently. My first thought was "he has a man bun, how can I lose?" Then I thought "he has a man bun, what if he wins?"
4. Rhywun 9 years ago
  
  It's cute that they think the man bun is "on its way out". I haven't seen any evidence of that.
  1. Crusty Juggler 9 years ago
    
    It's just starting.
    1. Rhywun 9 years ago
      
      I hope it takes tatts with it on its way out.
Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago

Girl, 16, commits suicide after she is kidnapped from her home and gang-raped as 'punishment' for her mother standing for election in India
Teenager claimed she was snatched while asleep and attacked in a field
Went to police with her mother, but officers refused to file official report
Found hanging next day, apparently humiliated at not being taken seriously
Politician claimed girl was attacked by relatives of her mother's rival
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  Now we're getting into *real* rape culture.
  1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
    
    It's not that I'd like to see convicted rapists hanged by the neck, but I wouldn't rule out hanging them by other body parts.
    1. Bill Dalasio 9 years ago
      
      Personally, I say just turn the bastards over the woman's female supporters.
  2. Derp-o-Matic 5000 9 years ago
    
    What are you talking about?!? 1 in 4 college girls in the US experience that. exact. thing.
    
    See, i added periods after each of those words to demonstrate just how super cereal this issue is
2. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  Disgusting. FWIW, this is in an area with an 85% Hindu population; I was unable to find out any info on the religious affiliation of anyone involved. Shit is fucked up.
  1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
    
    Watch the documentary "India's Daughter" on youtube. It was banned in India. Very enlightening when you get to hear various Indians' perspectives on women. And I am talking ATTORNEYS here, not Rajdeep at the local garage...
    1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
      
      They did used to have Sati. Say what you want about the British colonial empire. They did get rid of that, and "progressive" historical revisionists aside, they did NOT create the caste system.
  2. BearOdinson 9 years ago
    
    I used to think very highly of Hindu culture. And without getting all collectivist, there is still alot of great stuff associated with it. But I have seen some currents of f-ed up fundamentalism in it, that rank up there with the Muzzies. Still don't see many Taoists or Unitarians shooting up concert halls or blowing themselves up. Hell, or Methodists for that matter.
    1. Tonio 9 years ago
      
      Yeah, and so many of the new age flakes love hinduism; these people are by and large proggies in their political beliefs. Yet, somehow, they can ignore all of that because those people are spiritually enlightened.
  3. Rhywun 9 years ago
    
    India always seems to be taking one step forward and two steps back.
    1. Tonio 9 years ago
      
      Meh. More like two forward, one back. They have made tremendous progress, but still have a way to go. Of course, eliminating poverty will help that. We all know who is against eliminating poverty.
      1. CZmacure 9 years ago
        
        NEEDS MOAR COMMUNISM
3. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
  
  I'm confused, Johnny. Are you sharing this because you're pleased with the outcome? Isn't this the sort of thing you're into? The little slut was probably just ashamed when someone found out how much she liked to ride the cock carousel.
  1. Warty 9 years ago
    
    At least now she won't be bitching for reparations in 70 years. Dumb slut.
  2. Florida Man 9 years ago
    
    *places index finger on chin*
    Where does one find this "cock carousel"? Asking for a friend.
    1. Private Chipperbot 9 years ago
      
      Depends. You wanna be on it or in it?
      1. Florida Man 9 years ago
        
        Yes
  3. Bill Dalasio 9 years ago
    
    Where the fuck did that come from? Has JLT said he supports rape?
    1. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
      
      I don't have any idea what in his worldview would suggest that he is against it. If you don't care about anything else women want, why would you care if they wanted to have sex or not? Men know what's good for a woman. Duh.
      1. Crusty Juggler 9 years ago
        
        Men know what's good for a woman. Duh.
        
        Duh is right.
      2. Bill Dalasio 9 years ago
        
        No offense, but what brought the conclusion that he doesn't care about anything else women want?
        
        KB Check Release 9 years ago
        
        Nikki is just being inflammatory over a misunderstanding yesterday.
        
        I think she should just shut up
Illocust 9 years ago

"While Twitter's terms previously prohibited promoting "violence against others," they now only prohibit this behavior when it's directed against people "on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease." "

How the hell do they justify this to themselves. How do you actually have a meeting to blatantly say it's alright to promote violence against people I like but wrong to do so against people I like.
1. Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago
  
  So Twitter will police "hate speech" directed at conservative evangelicals?
  1. Princess Trigger 9 years ago
    
    Christfags are whole different can of worms.
  2. Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair 9 years ago
    
    Somehow I doubt it will include SWATting threats and longing for gun violence against gun owners.
2. Ayn Random Variation 9 years ago
  
  This all started In the 80's, when it became racist to be against racial preferences.
  1. Seamus 9 years ago
    
    I hate to tell you, but already in the 70s it was racist to be against racial preferences.
Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago

"It's a lot harder to assume that sex workers are mindless, manipulated fuckbots when they're tweeting thoughts on feminism, racial justice, or the newest Star Wars film," notes Motherboard.

Teh new star wars movie makes alot of sense dude LOL
1. invisible furry hand 9 years ago
  
  Jesus, if tweeting is sufficient proof of intelligence then we are screwed
  1. Mint Berry Crunch 9 years ago
    
    Yeah, check out those profound feminist insights like "Is it feminist to have a father"!
    
    (Seriously, the article highlighted two tweets and that was one of them.)
Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago

Mother was mutilated and murdered by ISIS for breastfeeding her baby in public after another woman spotted the child under her burkha in Syria
Mother caught breastfeeding in Raqqa by ISIS's all-female police
Despite holding son under her burqa, al-Khansaa Brigade objected
Woman was mutilated before she was killed by al-Khansaa 'officers'
ISIS-linked social media sites said she had 'violated public decency'
1. Illocust 9 years ago
  
  I've wanted a movie about the female concentration camp guards in Nazi Germany. Especially if done right where the women where shown to be average women in their daily life, (Concerned about beauty, having fun with friends, and flirting with the cute male guards) and turning on a dime to be brutal monsters to those they considered less than human. Juxtaposing their human elements liking caring about their family and friends with their horrific actions would be a movie that really made people think.
  1. Tonio 9 years ago
    
    Were there any female guards? Seriously, I don't know.
    1. Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago
      
      Irma Grese & The SS Girls From Hell: The Secret Stories of Their Holocaust & Auschwitz Atrocities Revealed (World War 2, World War II, WW2, WWII, Holocaust, Auschwitz, Irma Grese)
      1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        Not to mention Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS
      2. Tonio 9 years ago
        
        Thanks, JL. PM, I was looking for a way to mention Ilsa - well done.
    2. Illocust 9 years ago
      
      Yes, the female half of the camps were often run by female guards (I'm not going to say always because I can't guarantee that, but it is very likely always).
      1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
        
        +1 Joy Division!!!
    3. invisible furry hand 9 years ago
      
      Yep, there were, because it freed up men for combat
    4. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
      
      The book The Reader by Bernhard Schlink was pretty popular a few years back, and is a novel about the later life of a female guard.
    5. Tonio 9 years ago
      
      Thanks, everyone.
2. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
  
  This is absolutely no different from US laws against going topless
  
  /jezebel
  1. WTF 9 years ago
    
    One in five women on college campus experience this very thing!!
    1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
      
      Dude, it is now 1 in 4 your misogynistic cishetero shitlord.
  2. Akira 9 years ago
    
    On a serious note, I find it hilarious that IF women going topless were legal and somewhat customary in the US, those same Jezebel writers would be on a moral crusade about the horrid injustice of men staring at their breasts. "OMG! I expose a sexual part of my body and men have the audacity to look at it!! OMG!"
    1. Lord at War 9 years ago
      
      Going "topless" has been legal here in Columbus for 20 something years- unlike some of those "enlightened" places proggies love.
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Probe into Brussels lockdown orgy
Police and soldiers said to have engaged in group sex while Belgian capital was in lockdown.

Soldiers and police in Brussels held an orgy while their colleagues hunted for terror suspects, according to reports.

Eight soldiers and two female police officers allegedly engaged in lewd acts at a police station in the neighborhood of Ganshoren, just north of Molenbeek, where officers were hunting for suspects in connection with the November 13 Paris attacks, Belgian media outlets La Derni?re Heure and De Standaard reported Tuesday. Brussels was on lockdown at the time of the alleged incident.

For two weeks in November, the Ganshoren station was transformed into a makeshift barracks for soldiers who were patroling the streets of the Belgian capital after the government raised the threat level to four ? the highest level ? on November 21. The threat level was lowered to three on November 26. During that time bars were told to close early, and restaurants, museums, shops, schools and the entire metro system were shut.
1. Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago
  
  As long as they got home safely to their families.
2. Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago
  
  If we stop our orgies the terrorists win.
3. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  With a name like Gans-horen...
invisible furry hand 9 years ago

Female Teachers got jobs back after in-school make-out session, but still sue

Go on, click on the link, you know you want to
1. Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago
  
  As long as they got home safely to their families.
2. Certified Public Asshat 9 years ago
  
  From a link in that link:
  
  In November 2009, custodians discovered French and Spanish instructors Cindy Mauro and Alini Brito canoodling nearly naked in a darkened classroom at 8:50 p.m. One vixen was lying on the floor while the other woman was on her knees between her legs, an investigative report says. An assistant principal summoned to the scene found Brito buttoning her shirt and zipping up her boots.
  
  Oh yeah, I am going to need a few minutes...
  1. Kristen Bids No Trump 9 years ago
    
    WTF was wrong with the custodian??
    1. Tonio 9 years ago
      
      Possibly a religious nut. Possibly had a grudge against one or both of the teachers. Possibly just a shit.
      1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
        
        Maybe they just wanted to clean the room and go home for the night?
      2. gaoxiaen 9 years ago
        
        Spoilsport couldn't get it up.
  2. Lee G 9 years ago
    
    An assistant principal summoned to the scene found Brito buttoning her shirt and zipping up her boots.
    
    At the same time? Wow, she's coordinated.
    1. Certified Public Asshat 9 years ago
      
      I like to think she is very flexible.
    2. BearOdinson 9 years ago
      
      OMG I love women in boots. Not even dominatrix type stuff (although......)
      I just love winter dress for women. Jeans and boots.
  3. Suthenboy 9 years ago
    
    These 'custodians', what the hell is wrong with them?
    
    I would have grabbed my iPhone and some popcorn.
    
    "Go ahead girls, don't mind me."
    1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
      
      The custodians in my building tend to be middle aged and older Mexican women - they work long hours and late shifts. It is possible the staff were not thrilled by this, and just wanted to do their job and go home - crazy ladies aside.
      1. Crusty Juggler 9 years ago
        
        The custodians in my building tend to be middle aged and older Mexican women - they work long hours and late shifts.
        
        This is New York City. Quick research brought me to this link from a year ago:
        
        Average salaries for custodians overseeing entire school buildings will rise from $106,329 to $126,973 by 2016. Firemen and engineers, who make an average of $43,660, will earn $52,138 by 2016
        
        Swiss Servator 9 years ago
        
        Don't tell the contractor for my building! They will all try to get into the NYC school custodians union!!!!
3. BearOdinson 9 years ago
  
  I am at work, so I am not even going to click on the newsstory. Besides, I don't reality to ruin the fantasy!
  1. Certified Public Asshat 9 years ago
    
    They're not bad at all...
4. Kristen Bids No Trump 9 years ago
  
  (for those that refuse to click - they're pretty reasonably attractive. So maybe wait to click til you're alone....)
  1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
    
    Kristen knows us all too well....
5. ? Aggressor 9 years ago
  
  Would
Jordan 9 years ago

California's law mandating a bazillion lawsuits equal pay for "substantially similar" work goes into effect this week.

Someday soon, California will only be populated by government employees and lawyers.
1. Rhywun 9 years ago
  
  I assume this means that men will now get an extra 1-2 months off per year?
2. Princess Trigger 9 years ago
  
  They'll be a few Tech Oligarchs with their sexbots and roombas.
3. Juvenile Bluster 9 years ago
  
  It's like California and New York are competing to see who can run off the most citizens.
  1. Tonio 9 years ago
    
    Yeah, then they move to other places and fuck those up. OK, I'll give you people your damn border fences if you give states the ability to keep non-residents out.
    1. robc 9 years ago
      
      There should be a residency waiting period before getting to vote in a new state...like 20 years or something.
      
      Probably a bad idea.
      1. Bill Dalasio 9 years ago
        
        They can't by law. But, yeah, I do agree with you (although I think five years would suffice for acclimation).
  2. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
    
    I have long advised my bosses to not have anything other than the bare minimum staffing in CA.
4. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
  
  "Someday soon, California will only be populated by government employees and lawyers."
  
  It'll be like that documentary "Crocs of the Grametti River" where the water level gets lower and lower until the crocs start turning on each other...
Pat (PM) 9 years ago

Guns N' Roses to Reunite for Coachella, Possible Stadium Tour: Sources

Guns N' Roses, with founding members Axl Rose and Slash, will headline the Coachella Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., set for April 15-17 and April 22-24, according to multiple sources. The reunited band is also negotiating with promoters to play as many as 25 football stadiums in North America in the summer of 2016, and is scheduled to be one of the first acts to play the new Las Vegas Arena, set to open April 6. Guns N' Roses is said to be asking as much as $3 million per show, with tickets topping out in the $250-$275 range.
1. Just a thought not a sermon 9 years ago
  
  No. Just no.
2. invisible furry hand 9 years ago
  
  Lemmy dies, and GnR reforms. Coincidence? I think not...
  1. Just a thought not a sermon 9 years ago
    
    So Slash and Axl always wanted to get back together, but they didn't want to embarrass themselves in front of Lemmy? Or Lemmy had told them if they ever got back together he would kick their asses?
    1. invisible furry hand 9 years ago
      
      Take your pick. His Godlike powers and general benevolence stopped the world from being a lot worse in many ways.
    2. Mongo 9 years ago
      
      Axl sounds like Ethel Merman on his power ballads.
      1. invisible furry hand 9 years ago
        
        He's beginning to look like her too
        
        Bobarian (Would Chip Her) 9 years ago
        
        Theme for this year:
        
        Coachella - It's not over til the fat lady sings!
3. Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago
  
  I'm not a huge fan of hazelnut.
  1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
    
    More for me!
4. Judge Forrest's Clitdong 9 years ago
  
  Just Slash and Axl? I want Izzy and Duff back too!
  1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her) 9 years ago
    
    GnR was a lot better when Jim Carrey was in it.
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

2015: The year the Democrats fully embraced corporatism

Pelosi's party carried the ball for Boeing and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and led the fight to save and later revive the Export-Import Bank, a corporate welfare agency conservatives this summer sent into liquidation. Democrats fought, but failed, to save an insurance bailout that was part of Obamacare. Hillary led the Democratic presidential field in defense of the indefensible ethanol mandate.

The House floor on Oct. 26 perfectly captured the year. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenant Steny Hoyer whipped their members hard to sign a "discharge petition," a parliamentary tool to force a House vote on reviving Ex-Im. K Street Republican Stephen Fincher had filed the motion, but most Republicans (including the party leadership) opposed his effort. Pelosi and Hoyer, however, made it clear: Every Democrat was to sign the petition by noon that day.

So Democrat after Democrat would give a floor speech against special interests (the bill under consideration was one that would allow the export of oil) and then walk down and sign the petition.
1. Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago
  
  Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939
  Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal is regarded today as the democratic ideal, a triumphant American response to a crisis that forced Germany and Italy toward National Socialism and Fascism. Yet in the 1930s, before World War II, the regimes of Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler bore fundamental similarities. In this groundbreaking work, Wolfgang Schivelbusch investigates the shared elements of these three "new deals"--focusing on their architecture and public works projects--to offer a new explanation for the popularity of Europe's totalitarian systems. Writing with flair and concision, Schivelbusch casts a different light on the New Deal and puts forth a provocative explanation for the still-mysterious popularity of Europe's most tyrannical regimes....
  1. WTF 9 years ago
    
    You know who else enjoyed a mysterious popularity for his tyrannical regime?
    1. Tonio 9 years ago
      
      Kim Jong Il?
    2. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
      
      Ming the Merciless?
    3. Citizen X 9 years ago
      
      Barack Obama?
      1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
        
        God Emperor Leto II?
        
        Citizen X 9 years ago
        
        Like i said.
        
        BearOdinson 9 years ago
        
        +3500 years of the Worm!
        
        Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago
        
        I think he's going to be good in Suicide Squad, though.
  2. Tonio 9 years ago
    
    Yet in the 1930s, before World War II, the regimes of Roosevelt, Mussolini, and Hitler bore fundamental similarities.
    
    This has actually been known for a long time, but I suspect it's been suppressed because it's embarrassing for proggies.
    1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
      
      OF COURSE it has been suppressed. Vilify Reagan and embellish Roosevelt. That has been their MO for YEARS...
      1. Chinny Chin Chin 9 years ago
        
        Teams gonna team.
        
        Shake it off.
    2. Restoras 9 years ago
      
      Jonah Goldberg wrote a nice book about it
      http://www.amazon.com/Liberal-.....0767917189
2. Lee G 9 years ago
  
  Democrats, fighting the 1% with every fiber of their being.
Just a thought not a sermon 9 years ago

"Americans do value religious freedom?for Christians. In a recent poll, 82 percent said Christians' religious rights matter, but only 70 percent said the same for Jews, 67 percent for Mormons, and 61 percent for Muslims."

So what I get out of this is that large majorities respect religious freedom for every religion?
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  No, no, you're missing the point - Americans want to round up the non-Christians, and then overseers with whips will make them sing "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" over and over.
2. Florida Man 9 years ago
  
  61 percent for Muslims. Yeah, 61 percent is a mandate for any other topic, but not good enough on this one point. Funny.
  1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
    
    Not bad in the wake of several really nasty terrorist incidents, a would-be "caliphate" which commits major human rights abuses, and years of American troops fighting in Muslim regions.
    
    The headline could be, "Most Americans remain supportive of Muslim religious liberty despite temptations to oppose it."
    1. Florida Man 9 years ago
      
      Agreed. I'm amazed at the relatively few attacks on Muslims after terror attacks in this country. America isn't perfect but I still believe we are a pretty exceptional country.
      1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
        
        HOW DARE YOU, YOU INTOLERANT MONSTER!!!
      2. Granny Weatherwax 9 years ago
        
        It's because American Muslim men don't look like the preconceptions of the idjits likely to attack Muslims. Those types end beating up Sikhs because turban=Muslim.
        
        Bill Dalasio 9 years ago
        
        Except there aren't really that many attacks on Sikhs after terror attacks.
        
        Look, I lived in Bay Ridge after 9/11. It's a community with a fairly substantial Muslim population. And yeah, the kind of Muslims who "dress the part". Did you get some assholes who would makes stupid comments? Sure. You always get stupid assholes. But, the reality is that wasn't the norm. It wasn't something that people generally considered okay.
        
        Granny Weatherwax 9 years ago
        
        Sikhs are an incredibly tiny minority in the US, the number of mistaken identity attacks on them is insanely out of proportion especially since they have absolutely nothing to do with Islam.
        
        Bill Dalasio 9 years ago
        
        From the article, there are, on the low end, half a million Sikhs in this country. Also from the article, in the month after 9/11, there were 300 incidents. That's 0.06%. Sure, I think we can agree that's still 300 incidents too many, but no, it's not an indicator of a major phenomenon.
  2. BearOdinson 9 years ago
    
    And 70% for Jews I guarantee is higher than it would be in any other country in the world (except Israel, and since 20% of its population is Arab, and there is a substantial minority of folks who aligh with the rabidly secular party Meretz I bet religious freedom for Jews would barely top 80-85% depending on the wording of the question).
    1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her) 9 years ago
      
      One might wonder what the support of Muslim Americans are for other religions?
      
      What do these stats look like inside each particular religion?
3. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  OK, not every religion is enumerated there. Sixty one percent is arguably not a "large" majority. Certainly a substantial one.
4. WTF 9 years ago
  
  Let's see, what religion has had its adherents in the news recently being forced to pay for contraception and bake cakes, or get fined over $100K? Might that have anything to do with the results?
  1. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
    
    All of them. People with any or no religion are all forced to pay for contraception and, if it's their profession, bake cakes or get fined. Everyone has to abide by those exact same rules. But you knew that.
    1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
      
      Hmm, everyone you say?
5. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
  
  61% doesn't seem very high to me. Two in five people in this country don't believe Muslims' religious rights matter. That's a lot.
  1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
    
    I wonder what, if any, overlap there is with the tiny, fringe minority 1 in 5 people who don't believe Christians' religious rights matter.
    1. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
      
      I don't know why you're implying I think 1 in 5 is a small number here. I don't.
      1. Warty 9 years ago
        
        Simpering yokel
        Trying to score a cheap point
        Flatworm, light, reflex
        
        Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        Excellent rejoinder. Now go through the rest of your bumper sticker collection and find me another one, you pathetic cunt.
        
        Free Society 9 years ago
        
        Warty accusing someone of trying to score a cheap point. That is rich.
        
        Lord at War 9 years ago
        
        Dumb fucking meathead
        The true libertarian
        Dies in the snow
      2. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        Alright then. In a country where, according to polls, 36% of people think it's "likely" or "very likely" that 9/11 was an inside job, I don't think either number is that distressing.
6. buybuydandavis 9 years ago
  
  What do the numbers look like in Saudi Arabia?
7. Bill Dalasio 9 years ago
  
  Shhh...you're not supposed to say anything about that. How're people supposed to feel smugly superior to the yokels if the yokels aren't all ignorant bigots?
8. GILMORE? 9 years ago
  
  "So what I get out of this is that large majorities respect religious freedom for every religion?"
  
  NO NO NO!! You simpleminded fool?! You were instructed to take-away the conclusion that *any disparity whatsoever* between religious sympathies is a sign of sectarian animosity and closed-mindedness.
  
  That 60 percent of the US population thinks Muslims should have their religious rights protected is an obvious sign of Western Bigotry. Never mind what Muslims think about Westerners. Or that the US has some of the more-generous views of Muslim-Western relations despite being ostensibly "at war with Islam"
  1. GILMORE? 9 years ago
    
    Why bother scratching the surface of religious views if you're just going to pretend there's a monolithic population
    with 'bad feelings' towards The Other, and pretend that The Other is just Oh So Generous by contrast.
    
    No one ever gets tired of back-patting themselves about how much 'better' they are than those .... what's the word? Yokels? It really just shows how classy and thoughtful people are.
Pat (PM) 9 years ago

Priest suspended for riding a hoverboard during Christmas mass

MANILA, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- A priest in the Philippines was suspended Tuesday for using a hoverboard during Christmas Eve mass.

Despite the apparent delight of his congregation of San Pablo in Laguna, his superiors felt differently.

The priest, whose identity is not known, rode up and down the aisles of his church singing "May the Good Lord Bess and Keep You." Cell phone video of the priest went viral and the diocese suspended the priest. On Tuesday, it issued a statement defining the Christmas Eve mass as the church's "highest form of worship" and declaring his actions "wrong."

...Whereupon Jesus Christ himself descended from the heavens and astonished the crowd by performing the miracle of extricating the stick from the ass of the diocese's bishop.
1. Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago
  
  There are just some things to which the Catholic Church refuses to turn a blind eye.
  1. Tonio 9 years ago
    
    [golf clap]
2. Florida Man 9 years ago
  
  Hover boards are 500 bucks. Where the hell did a Philippine priest get such a luxury item? Shouldn't he sell it and feed the needy?
  1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
    
    The poor are with us always, but one may hover during Christmas Eve Mass but few times.
    1. Florida Man 9 years ago
      
      Evidently only once.
Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair 9 years ago

I wonder what the religious rights poll results would have been if they had included Catholics and Protestants separately, as with Mormons, and had included Scientologists and Pastafarians.
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  I wonder what the percentage support would be among ACLU attorneys.
2. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  I suspect that most people wouldn't know who Pastafarians are and would think they were being asked about Rastafarians.
Pat (PM) 9 years ago

Girl has huge hairball weighing over a kilogram removed from stomach

The family of an 11-year-old girl were baffled when she started refusing all food and drink and complained of a crippling stomach ache.

But doctors soon worked out the cause of her complaint - a massive hairball weighing more than a kilo in her stomach.

The "discovery" was made in one of the hospitals of the city of Taraz in southern Kazakhstan's Jambyl region.

The hairball filled some 17 centimetres of the stomach and also continued around 35 centimetres into the girl's bowel.
1. Free Market Socialist $park? 9 years ago
  
  So they used a drain snake? Which end did they go in?
2. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
  
  I have decided that any "news" article that involves a hairball will inevitably be revealed as fairly disgusting...
  1. thrakkorzog 9 years ago
    
    On the other hand, that hairball can cure all poisons everywhere.
invisible furry hand 9 years ago

'Don't be silly it's just a garden hose': Australian man on 'beer run' narrowly escapes bite from deadly brown snake when he tries to stomp on it wearing FLIP FLOPS

BTW, I would call them thongs. What are they called in the US?
1. Jordan 9 years ago
  
  Flip flops. Same as the Limeys. Thongs are something else, but preferably not worn by men.
2. Just a thought not a sermon 9 years ago
  
  Where I grew up in the South, they were flip-flops, but all my mid-western relatives call them thongs.
  1. Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago
    
    I always wear my thongs to the beach.
3. Kristen Bids No Trump 9 years ago
  
  Thongs (in addition to being underwear) have a strap that goes between your big toe and first toe. Flips flops can be thongs, or they can be regular sandals with a strap across the top of the toes.
  1. Lee G 9 years ago
    
    Thongs
    1. Kristen Bids No Trump 9 years ago
      
      Putting out a "theme" song like that is a death knell for a singer (or "singer" in Sisqo's case).
      
      Like this one about an esteemed reason staffer
4. Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago
  
  Flip flops, as far as kicks go, are the absolute worst. That goddamn sound they make. IF SANDALS WERE GOOD ENOUGH FOR JESUS...
  1. Colonel Slanders 9 years ago
    
    Sandals AKA: Jerusalem cruisers
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Cry me a river...

Providence one of many U.S. police forces feeling Ferguson aftershocks

At daily roll calls, where local cops have always assembled for amiable operational briefings, there are now uncomfortable questions.

The inquiries come, Providence police chief Hugh Clements said, from officers increasingly worried that doing their jobs may turn them into the next YouTube sensation, depicting yet another highly charged encounter between citizen and cop.

On the streets, where Maj. Tom Verdi spent the early days of his nearly three decades on the force, the respectful nods of acknowledgement have been replaced with some "hostile'' stares. And within the ethnically mixed South Side, Lt. Henry Remolina said the black and white uniform often renders him a stranger in the very neighborhood where he grew up.
1. Private Chipperbot 9 years ago
  
  Let's see if they can put 2+2 together...
2. Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair 9 years ago
  
  Predictable, predicted, and about time.
3. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  Good. Let's hope they learn from this instead of doubling down.
4. Free Society 9 years ago
  
  Glen Beck had some guest host on a few weeks ago that is some kind of slow talking sheriff and cop fellator who talks slower than a stroke patient. The guy went into great detail about the war on cops and the skyrocketing crime rate which is apparently at an all time high. At a certain point I almost broke the power button off my car stereo.
Pat (PM) 9 years ago

The countries that don't exist

The globe, it turns out, is full of small (and not so small) regions that have all the trappings of a real country ? a fixed population, a government, a flag, and a currency. Some can even issue you a biometric passport. Yet for various reasons they are not allowed representatives in the United Nations, and are ignored on most world maps.

Middleton, a geographer at the University of Oxford, has now charted these hidden lands in his new book, An Atlas of Countries that Don't Exist (Macmillan, 2015). Flicking through its pages, it feels like you have entered a parallel world with a vibrant, forgotten history and a rich culture. This parallel world even has its own international football league.
1. Citizen X 9 years ago
  
  Neat. Hang on, i gotta go apply for citizenship in Atlantium.
2. invisible furry hand 9 years ago
  
  On a related note, Lonely Planet did a nifty guide to micronations a few years ago:
  
  Bored of visiting the same UN-recognized countries? Ready to explore somewhere unique and perhaps a little wacky? Want to add some really rare stamps to your passport? Then let Lonely Planet's guide to home made nations take you to a bunch of places you've never heard of. Here are countries where the national anthem is the sound of a rock being dropped into water, where the currency is pegged to the value of Pillsbury's cookie dough; where the citizens vote in a poodle as president and where if you're lucky, the king will put on a pot of tea when you stop by.
  1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
    
    Goddamn, 60 bucks? I could buy a micronation for that...
    1. invisible furry hand 9 years ago
      
      I love Amazon pricing. I bought my copy a few months ago for 5 bucks off a remainder table.
      1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        It sounds like an interesting read at that price. Micronations and seasteading still hold a certain fascination for me, even though I know they're not the Utopian solutions they are sometimes idealized to be.
        
        Free Society 9 years ago
        
        Hans Hoppe makes a great argument for micronations not as a utopian form of statism, but as a better alternative to the all-powerful megastates we take for granted.
      2. greasonable 9 years ago
        
        Market pricing
Pat (PM) 9 years ago

Should we solar panel the Sahara desert?

Could one solution to climate change be to harvest the power of sunlight where it shines brightest on the planet? Should we solar panel the Sahara desert?

Four experts discuss the radical proposal with the BBC World Service Inquiry programme.

Gerhard Knies: Scientifically sound and economically viable

Tony Patt: Beware political complications

Daniel Egbe: Africa must share the benefits

Helen Anne Curry: Technology alone is rarely the answer
1. Lord Humungus 9 years ago
  
  Technology alone is rarely the answer
  
  Mass starvation, on the other hand, works wonders for cutting down on energy use.
2. Suthenboy 9 years ago
  
  Sure, as long as you don't flush my money down that toilet.
  
  I wonder what the lifespan of a solar panel is in the sahara? One dust storm and they are sandblasted into uselessness.
  What is the efficiency of SPs now? Is it up to ten percent yet? How much energy actually falls on a square foot on any given day? How are they going to transmit that energy out of a desert larger than the continental US and how much will be lost along the way?
  
  These idiots should just tie a cinder block around their neck and jump off a bridge.
  1. Not okay 9 years ago
    
    Solar seems like it would be much more viable on an individual basis than as massive energy plant... but then no central planning.
    
    I could see new homes being built with some solar to reduce energy costs, and provide backup energy when the price and durability get a bit more competitive.
3. Lee G 9 years ago
  
  Gerhard Knies just got marked as an idiot in my official registry of idiots.
  
  The distribution problems alone are insurmountable.
  1. BearOdinson 9 years ago
    
    As Suthenboy alluded to, what will they clean these fucking square miles of solar panels with? So in addition to making ridiculous numbers of wildly inefficient panels, all created with tons of hazardous chemicals and lots of waste, we will have to pump in millions of gallons of FRESH water (or some other even more hazardous solvent) to keep these things clean.
    There are some interesting ideas out there for solar, but panels are NOT the fucking solution.
    1. Free Society 9 years ago
      
      Solar panels are a solution for a rich guy with a remote cabin, far removed from more civilized power grids. They obviously are not a system wide solution for everyone and there is no reason to think so unless you suffer from a toxic mix of wishful thinking and pathological altruism.
4. Irish ?s ESB 9 years ago
  
  How would you get the energy from the Sahara to the countries that use the most energy, like Europe, China, India, and the United States?
  1. Suthenboy 9 years ago
    
    Fly it in on the backs of unicorns. Sheesh Irish, don't you know anything?
  2. Citizen X 9 years ago
    
    Carrier pigeons with tiny batteries strapped to them?
  3. invisible furry hand 9 years ago
    
    Via Facebook
    1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
      
      *applause*
    2. Citizen X 9 years ago
      
      +1 Like
Jordan 9 years ago

I think somebody mentioned the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer here the other day. I started watching it last night. Holy shit, it's so good, but so incredibly enraging. Surprised Reason has not covered it yet.
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  Did it have Donald Trump in it? No? Well, there's your answer.
  1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
    
    LMFAO...
2. colorblindkid 9 years ago
  
  The guy was clearly wrongly accused of the rape the first time, but he has a very real and very scary history of domestic abuse, lies, violent threats, burglary, and that time he poured gasoline on his cat and threw it in a fire. As to the murder, even after watching it, I'm still inclined to think he did it, although not without "reasonable doubt". The producers had their minds made up before going in, and do a poor job of appearing unbiased. The prosecutor and several of the other people involved were unethical and should still be fired, but this sick guy is a pretty terrible case to use as an example.
Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago

...they now only prohibit this behavior when it's directed against people "on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease."

So then we can twit about bitch slapping members of the other political party now?
1. Free Market Socialist $park? 9 years ago
  
  Everything is fine until it earns a total of three finger wag emojis and four 'Not OK'.
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Mexico's first 'union' for guest workers fights abuses at home and in US

Roughly 50 workers who had for years traveled to the US on low-skill work visas teamed up to gain legal recognition from the Mexican government. Now they can air complaints and demand solutions to issues like recruitment fraud, labor abuse, trafficking, and other violations. One of the group's first "wins" was the successful push for a government investigation into a recruitment firm last year, which resulted in company fines and a strong message to other recruiters.

Workers that have to borrow money before they even arrive on the job in the US are often more susceptible to workplace abuses and human trafficking, according to the US Government Accountability Office. Nearly six in 10 Mexicans reported paying upfront fees in order to get a job as a temporary guest worker in the US, according to a 2013 survey by the labor rights organization Centro de los Derechos del Migrante.
1. Suthenboy 9 years ago
  
  Huh....why are the Mexicans the only ones who have a workable solution t the immigration problem?
2. Free Society 9 years ago
  
  And yet the Mexican policy towards South American guest workers in their own country involves anally ingested burritos in a Mexican jail.
Pat (PM) 9 years ago

Turris Omnia: hi-performance & open-source router

With powerful hardware, Turris Omnia can handle gigabit traffic and still be able to do much more. You can use it as a home server, NAS, printserver and it even has a virtual server built-in.

Apart from that, Turris Omnia also has SIM card slot, RTC with battery backup, crypto chip for secure random number generation, dimmable RGB LEDs, pin headers with GPIO, I?C, SPI and more.

tl;dr, OSH/FOSS Gigabit LAN + b/g/n/ac router with automatic updates, programmable GPIO header, and some other awesome, privacy-centric features for $189
1. Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago
  
  As long as they got home safe to their families.
  1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
    
    My thoughts and prayers are with the router and its family.
    1. Citizen X 9 years ago
      
      What difference, at this point, does it make?
      1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        I bring you all technological innovations from the far reaches of Europe and this is the thanks I get...
2. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  I'll be in my bunk...
3. Free Society 9 years ago
  
  Now I'm going to have another erection that lasts more than fours.
  1. Free Society 9 years ago
    
    hours*
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Hillary Clinton Says Christians Facing 'Genocide' in Middle East at the Hands of ISIS

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday called the killing of Christians and other religious groups in the Middle East a "genocide" -? a term she had previously been reluctant to use.

"Yes, I will now. I will because we now have enough evidence," Clinton told a man during a town hall at Berlin High School, who asked whether she would join the Pope and other religious and political leaders in using the term.

"What is happening is genocide. Deliberately aimed at destroying not only the lives but wiping out the existence of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East in territories controlled by ISIS, and so I agree with you," she explained.
1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer 9 years ago
  
  Well, at least it's finally being acknowledged. She won't give a fuck in power though.
  1. Tonio 9 years ago
    
    Now, now, Rufus, she needs a cassus belli, and is not above cynically using the plight of ME xtians for that end. But it will be fun calling out the anti-war left on this.
Pat (PM) 9 years ago

This Day in History

1853 - The United States bought some 45,000 sq mi of land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase.

1911 - Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.

1922 - The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics was established through the confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine, and Transcaucasian Federation.

1940 - California's first freeway opened.

1972 - President Nixon halted the heavy bombing on North Vietnam.

1993 - Israel and the Vatican signed an agreement of mutual recognition to put an end to Jewish-Christian hostilities.
1. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  Israel and the Vatican signed an agreement of mutual recognition to put an end to Jewish-Christian hostilities.
  
  Yes, because all those flare-ups on the border between Israel and Vatican City were costing so many lives. And those poor monks interned in Bethlehem...
  1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
    
    Well, as I learned in the Japanese 'comfort women' thread yesterday, meaningless gestures long after the fact are an issue of total moral importance. And if you don't think so, you're a white supremacist.
    1. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
      
      Who called you a white supremacist?
      1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        JW, but it was in the context of a temper tantrum, so...
2. Free Society 9 years ago
  
  1853 - The United States bought some 45,000 sq mi of land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase.
  
  "bought"
  
  1911 - Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.
  
  "elected"
  
  1922 - The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics was established through the confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine, and Transcaucasian Federation.
  
  "confederation"
  
  1940 - California's first freeway opened.
  
  "freeway"
  
  I got nothing on the others...
  1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
    
    The Swiss Guard is good - but the IDF could take them?
    1. Free Society 9 years ago
      
      Is that just misdirection on your part? I always had you pegged as a Swiss Guard operative planted in the commentariat to spy for your papal overlords.
      1. Citizen X 9 years ago
        
        Have you seen what he looks like in one of those Michelangelo uniforms? It's nightmarish.
        
        Free Society 9 years ago
        
        I definitely wouldn't want to be on the business end of his narrowed gaze while he's holding one of those halberds.
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Rubio Refuses to Pick One Early State

"With a nationally focused campaign that leans on strong debate performances and television advertising, Marco Rubio isn't going all out in any one of the early voting states. That's raised eyebrows among Republicans in states such as Iowa, where people are used to attention in a presidential campaign," the AP reports.

"That's unlike Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has set his sights on Iowa, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is pushing hard in New Hampshire. While supporters say Rubio just needs to stay in the top cluster in the first few states, some see his approach as risky."
Fist of Etiquette 9 years ago

In a recent poll, 82 percent said Christians' religious rights matter, but only 70 percent said the same for Jews...

You know who else had a thing about poles?
1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
  
  Stella-Jones?
  1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
    
    Sounds like a stripper's name.
    
    I've heard.
2. Suthenboy 9 years ago
  
  This girl?
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNThDZwxd4U
  1. Aloysious 9 years ago
    
    Now I long for the relief that death will bring. Dammit....
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

DHS's Deportation Announcement Is 'Fundamentally a Political Exercise'

In itself, the White House may not consider that a problem, given the administration's implicit belief that these people have a right to come here. But there's an election in about 10 months, and not many voters share the Obama crowd's anti-borders views. That's why my colleague Dan Cadman notes that "the plan is fundamentally a political exercise."

The Democrats will gather in Philadelphia in late July for Herself's coronation, and it could prove awkward for her if a renewed surge of illegals across the border is still in the news. Herself's silence in response to the news of the planned raids, contrasted with Sanders's and O'Malley's fulminations against them, suggests she's in on the whole thing.

Making the border-surge story go away will be one of DHS's main election-year priorities.

So why the leak? It might seem odd to announce the onset of "raids" that haven't even been given final approval yet. It could be a trial balloon, a planned leak to gauge public reaction. But more plausible is the theory that I've heard from moles inside DHS: A senior official leaked the news specifically to outrage Obama's leftist base in an effort to prevent the deportations from ever happening.
1. Private Chipperbot 9 years ago
  
  not many voters share...anti-borders views.
  
  Wut? I know it's not popular around here, but that statement seems odd.
  1. Rhywun 9 years ago
    
    I had trouble parsing that too. I think "anti-borders" means "open borders".
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Truth is stranger than fiction:

Why the Rahm Story Matters

Rahm Emanuel, Chicago's tough-talking mayor who was elected to a second term just last spring, is facing a snowballing political crisis that now threatens to derail his mayoralty. The Wall Street Journal reports on the way a series of high-profile police shootings have rattled Chicago politics and undercut the Democrat's standing with Chicago's leftwing activists, and, increasingly, with the city as a whole:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel cut short a holiday break in Cuba amid a wave of criticism at home that isn't letting up more than a month after the release of a video showing a Chicago police officer shooting and killing a black teenager.
1. Lord Humungus 9 years ago
  
  and the summation:
  
  It's getting harder and harder, then, for American cities, even successful ones like Chicago and New York, to manage their affairs well. These are the fault lines beneath the surface of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Chicago, and they aren't going away. To the contrary, they are likely to produce more frequent and more destructive quakes over time.
  
  The increasing fragility of blue cities and states is the biggest problem the Democratic coalition faces. Those who hope that demographic change will create a "permanent Democratic majority" need to think about arithmetic as well as demography. The numbers don't add up for blue cities. The governing model doesn't produce the revenue that can sustain it long-term. Making cities work?enabling them to provide necessary services at sustainable cost levels while achieving economic development that rebuilds the urban middle class?is the biggest challenge the Democratic Party faces. As Mayor Emmanuel is learning, that is a daunting task.
  1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer 9 years ago
    
    Parents just need to teach their kids to obey the barbaric heeds of a yelling officer and no one will be shot.
    
    /David Fucken French.
  2. Illocust 9 years ago
    
    It's interesting. Cities aren't any more corrupt than they used to be, but you didn't hear about all these cities going bankrupt back when every building required a mob guy on the payroll.
    1. Longtorso, Johnny 9 years ago
      
      Cumulative debt, "white" (i.e. taxpayer) flight, aging populations, etc.
      1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
        
        As long as they get home safe to their families!!!
  3. sarcasmic 9 years ago
    
    Democrats go out of their way to prevent economic activity, and are completely flummoxed when the economy swirls down the shitter under their watch.
    1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
      
      Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded ? here and there, now and then ? are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
      
      This is known as "bad luck."
    2. Free Society 9 years ago
      
      I wouldn't say they're flummoxed exactly. They're very certain that half a dozen institutions or some abstract concepts are to blame. Like "fat cats" or "laissez faire capitalism" or "greed", but never the all encompassing system of arbitrary law and extortion that they've created.
      1. sarcasmic 9 years ago
        
        The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
  4. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
    
    "American cities, even successful ones like Chicago and New York"
    
    I suppose they're defining success down.
    1. Rhywun 9 years ago
      
      I would say NYC is somewhat successful, with a rising population and declining welfare rolls (pre-Deblasio, at least).
  5. Suthenboy 9 years ago
    
    So, Mr. 'Neverletacrisisgotowaste' is about to learn what it means to live by the sword.
    
    Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Mazakon 9 years ago

Maajid Nawaz: The Great Hypocritical Muslim Cover-Up

Many of my fellow Muslims have been encouraging non-Muslim women to wear a headscarf in solidarity with Muslims. They call it "World Hijab Day." Constrained by the limited horizons of their Western context, and rightfully concerned with rising anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States and Europe, a few non-Muslim women have obliged by donning a headscarf. I believe that these women were wrong to do so, and here's why.

Simply wearing a headscarf on World Hijab Day falls terribly short of our moral responsibility. It is, after all, being called World Hijab Day. So, it is not only Western Muslim women who must be considered here, but the millions of Muslim women who live under theocracies around the world, for whom World Hijab Day is enforced every single day, and for the rest of their lives.
1. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  Constrained by the limited horizons of their Western context...
  
  Can anyone translate that from derp into regular English?
  1. Citizen X 9 years ago
    
    "Constrained by the naivete of the Western progressive cultural relativity milieu" - does that help? Nawaz seems to be using progressives' lingo against them.
  2. Free Society 9 years ago
    
    Something to do with privilege, probably white male patriarchy privilege.
    
    To be fair though, the author does make a few good faith attempts at intellectual consistency, a boat that most of the proggies have long since not only missed, but scuttled altogether.
    
    If liberals are comfortable challenging Christian fundamentalist attitudes toward marriage and birth control, then we should be equally as comfortable challenging the Muslim religious-right's "modesty" theology.
    
    Why is a woman in a headscarf deemed more modest than one without, and what implication does that have in attitudes toward the "honor" of women who do not cover? Only a racism of low expectations would prevent liberals from asking these questions of my religious-conservative fellow Muslims. No idea is above scrutiny, just as no person should be beneath dignity.
    1. Suthenboy 9 years ago
      
      "Why is a woman in a headscarf deemed more modest than one without, and what implication does that have in attitudes toward the "honor" of women who do not cover?"
      
      The hijab is a symbolic representation of the burkha, indicating that the woman intends to be modest and honorable. I see it much like ceremonial hickies and blood tasting are symbolic of cannibalism. It is barbarism slowly inching its way towards civilized behavior.
  3. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
    
    What makes that derp? Are most US feminists not so constrained?
2. Suthenboy 9 years ago
  
  Did Mr. Maajid Nawaz wear a hijab on hijab day?
Mazakon 9 years ago

Glenn Reynolds: Where Do Heroes Come From?

In my hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., a 15-year-old became a hero the week before Christmas.

Zaevion Dobson, a football player at Fulton High School, threw himself on top of three girls as gang members released a hail of bullets in an apparently random retaliation for a shooting the day before. Zaevion traded his life for the girls' safety; he died after being struck by a bullet.

We'd like to live in a world where such heroic tendencies are common, but if they were common, then they wouldn't be heroic, would they? But surely, we'd like to live in a world where selfless heroism is more common.
1. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  Mr. Dobson got his own article here several days ago, but we should talk more about people like him.
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Donald J. Trump ?@realDonaldTrump 24h24 hours ago
My campaign for president is $35,000,000 under budget, I have spent very little (and am in 1st place).Now I will spend big in Iowa/N.H./S.C.

This is going to be uuuuugge /Almanian
Notorious UGCC 9 years ago

I see that the link for the ACLU lawsuit against the Catholic hospital goes to...an ACLU press release.

That press release omits some information which can be found in a Sacramento Bee article about the case:

According to a hospital statement, "Sterilizations...are permitted when "their direct effect is the cure or alleviation of a present and serious pathology and a simpler treatment is not available.""

That doesn't apply to the plaintiff in this case: "Chamorro and her husband, who have two other children, want the procedure as a permanent form of contraception."

When did fertility become a disease in need of treatment?

It sounds like it's the ACLU which is trying to impose non-medical criteria on hospital procedures.
1. Illocust 9 years ago
  
  Why doesn't she just go to another damn hospital, or get her doctor to write a recommendation for another. It's not like there aren't others in the area.
  1. Florida Man 9 years ago
    
    How does that result in a massive payout?
  2. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
    
    The plainiff wants it done when she gives birth. "Chamorro wants her tubal ligation done in the hospital during her scheduled C-section to save the time, cost and potential trauma of a second surgery."
    1. Florida Man 9 years ago
      
      Get your c/s elsewhere.
      1. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        Chamorro, 33, did not respond to a request for an interview. She is one of three Redding women who contacted the ACLU after their doctor denied a request for a post-partum tubal ligation at Mercy Medical Center. In all three cases, the nearest hospital providing maternity services and covered by their insurance is out of town, from 70 to 160 miles away.
        
        Now, remember that you might want to make sure you can get maternity services at a nearby hospital, considering you might be surprised by how fast you need them.
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        Can you call a tubal ligation a "maternity service"?
        
        Second, what the ACLU is asserting is a positive right to another's services in a non-emergency situation.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        She's pregnant, Mickey, so she needs to give birth. Usually people do call that a maternity service.
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        They are offering services around giving birth. It is the tubal ligation they are objecting to. She is asserting a positive right to that elective service that would enable her to force the doctor and hospital to perform it.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        No, she is suing with her doctor because her doctor, along with the medical group he belong to, believes the hospital has put dozens of women in danger over the years by refusing to allow them to perform normal medical services.
        
        Of course, I think they should all just sever ties with the hospitals in question. But I also know that the government restricts the supply of healthcare based on the faulty assumption that these are real hospitals offering full medical services to people, and that insurance plans also typically do not take into account that these are not real hospitals. As far as I am concerned Catholic hospitals are perpetrated a large-scale fraud on the public, abetted by the state.
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        However your bigotry makes you feel about Catholic hospitals does not matter. You are supporting an assertion to a positive right to an elective procedure. The fact that the government may (wrongly) interfere with health care competition does not justify supporting positive rights to other people's services and resources.
        
        If the doctor is supporting this lawsuit then he has associated his practice with the wrong hospital, but the doctor does not get to use their infrastructure without their say so.
        
        Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
        
        Again, not only is she demanding a procedure which isn't aimed at healing any disease, she's demanding that the procedure be done in connection with "maternity services," which isn't the only context in which a tubal ligation can be performed.
        
        And as mentioned above, if she had a serious disease where a tubal ligation was urgently needed, the hospital in question would perform it.
        
        This is about making it more convenient to "cure" the "disease" of fertility.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        It's a health issue because opening her up for a second surgery exposes her to unnecessary medical risks. You know that.
        
        Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
        
        She doesn't have a disease, she wants to "cure" her fertility.
        
        It's an abuse of language to call this sort of thing a "medical procedure."
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        And a sceduled c-section is also an elective surgery (barring any other issues).
        
        Florida Man 9 years ago
        
        It's an elective procedure. She can have the catholic hospital for emergencies and use another hospital for her elective c/s tubal. Convenience isn't a good excuse to violate someone else's agency.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        It's an elective procedure. She can have the catholic hospital for emergencies and use another hospital for her elective c/s tubal. Convenience isn't a good excuse to violate someone else's agency.
        
        This isn't about convenience, it's about cultists running a medical facility and getting the government to play along, restricting the supply of real healthcare.
        
        Swiss Servator 9 years ago
        
        "it's about cultists running a medical facility"
        
        I am guessing you weren't any part of the 61%-82% mentioned above?
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        Enjoying your rights has nothing to do with taking advantage of state-run cartelization of the medical system to have patients literally brought to your door and never disclose to them the fact that you only offer substandard care.
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        Crapping all over private property rights to protest government control over the healthcare industry only gives the government more control over the healthcare industry.
        
        Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        Crapping all over private property rights to protest government control over the healthcare industry only gives the government more control over the healthcare industry.
        
        I prefer it simply because it avoids the charade. I would actually prefer a no-shit single-payer system, or better still, a fully socialized medical system that is transparent about what it is than a faux-market based system where the results are the same but we still maintain the fiction of private ownership and scapegoat it for all the ills inherent in the socialized-in-all-but-name system under which we actually operate.
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        So, if you cannot live in Libertopia you would prefer a full on authoritarian regime because that is honest somehow?
        
        Sorry if I cannot agree to that premise.
        
        Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        So, if you cannot live in Libertopia you would prefer a full on authoritarian regime because that is honest somehow?
        
        Not exactly, but I prefer socialist to fascism from an economic standpoint because they are actually the same thing, with the latter only maintaining a cheap facade of private ownership in order to provide an easy scapegoat for the state when things fuck up.
        
        Not okay 9 years ago
        
        Your begging the question. You haven't shown this is "real healthcare" let alone that it's restricted by cultists.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        You haven't shown this is "real healthcare" let alone that it's restricted by cultists.
        
        Um, the entire story is about how it's being restricted by cultists. And "real healthcare" would include medical facilities where doctors and patients make decisions.
        
        Not okay 9 years ago
        
        Its restricted by cultists in the same way murder is restricted by cultists. Because religion says murder is wrong it must be legal or we're legislating morality.
        
        "Real healthcare" is pretty fucking subjective. I don't consider an elective procedure any more real than Botox injections. Is every elective procedure a medical priority that must be done at gunpoint or just the ones you like?
        
        Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        This isn't about convenience, it's about cultists running a medical facility and getting the government to play along, restricting the supply of real healthcare.
        
        Again, there is a secular hospital 1.4 miles away from the Catholic hospital. This particular case is entirely about convenience. She doesn't want to pay for an out-of-network procedure at the other hospital, so she wants to conscript the Catholic hospital into performing it for her during the course of an entirely different procedure which they have already agreed to perform.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        Note that this is not just about "she"; her doctor and his medical group are also involved because they believe the hospital is improperly restricting the care they can offer all their women patients.
        
        I do think they should sever their relationship with the hospital, of course. And I also happen to think that no maternity procedure should be insurable. But they are, and I doubt anyone ever disclosed to her that her insurance only covered procedures at a fake hospital.
        
        robc 9 years ago
        
        And I also happen to think that no maternity procedure should be insurable
        
        Shouldnt that be up to the insurance company?
        
        Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        I doubt anyone ever disclosed to her that her insurance only covered procedures at a fake hospital.
        
        I'm nearly certain that every insurer gives you a list of approved providers in their network when you sign up for a policy. It does pay to read the fine print.
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        You are asserting that the doctor who is chafing under the ethical restrictions at the hospital failed to tell her about the ethical restrictions at the hospital?
  3. Florida Man 9 years ago
    
    Also the husband can get a vasectomy cheaper, safer and at dozens of office based practices. Fuck those clowns.
  4. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
    
    Why doesn't she just go to another damn hospital, or get her doctor to write a recommendation for another. It's not like there aren't others in the area.
    
    Do you have any idea how many hospitals are Catholic? And of course the state limits their competitors.
    
    Maybe you'll find out someday, bleeding out from a miscarriage. Hopefully not. Learn which hospitals in your area are Catholic and do what you can to avoid them.
    1. Tonio 9 years ago
      
      ^This.
    2. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
      
      Maybe you'll find out someday, bleeding out from a miscarriage.
      
      Just like this poor young lady...
      1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        Btw, there is another hospital in Redding 5 minutes away from Mercy that is not Catholic. So, there's that.
      2. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        No, like this woman. Or like this woman. Or maybe like some of these other women.
        
        Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        2/3 of your links are broken. Wait until you're done hyperventilating next time.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        Wow, that really hurt, PM. You of course are capable of googling yourself:
        
        http://www.nbcnews.com/health/.....2D11674429
        
        http://blog.ansirh.org/2013/02.....hospitals/
        
        Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
        
        Treating all living human beings under your care as patients can lead to difficult situations if two patients are physically attached to each other.
        
        Treating two patients simultaneously, while the patients are physically attached, is not an easy task. But it's a morally essential one.
        
        The alternative offered by the ACLU and its allies is to arbitrarily deny patient status to one of these two living human beings, specifically the child.
        
        Of course, once you can accept the idea of treating one patient at the expense of another human being who is arbitrarily defined as nonhuman, then why not go in the other direction and consider the *woman* a nonperson instead of the child?
        
        I could think of countries where a woman is pregnant with a male child, and they ignore the interests of the mother entirely in favor of the male child.
        
        In contrast to both extremes, Catholic hospitals in the case of problem pregnancies must deal with the reality that they're working with two human beings, not one.
        
        In other words, these ACLU suits are a backdoor way to force on the entire medical community the idea that the unborn child is an unperson.
        
        Pat (PM) 9 years ago
        
        Not one of those links, it might be noted, actually involves anyone bleeding out from a miscarriage.
        
        But you might be surprised to learn I'm actually on your side. Hospitals are already effectively conscripted by law into providing treatment, and since they were comfortable making that pact with the devil (in a manner of speaking...), I say pile on as many mandates as you want. You're not a "private" or "religious" hospital in any meaningful sense if you are bound by secular law and accept a substantial portion of your compensation from the government. As I said before, both the Catholics and the government would be better off dispensing with that fiction.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        Yes, they would.
        
        If these people want to run hospitals this way, fine, but do it without state protections. No artificial downward pressure on the supply of medical facilities based on joke hospitals offering substandard treatments.
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        I don't think that path leads where you want it to. I think the ethic that if the government supports it then private individuals and organizations have no rights leads directly to a fascist state. We should oppose the government trying to subsidize everything, certainly, but ceding that subsidy overrides rights gives away too much, especially with a government that is determined to subsidize everything whether one wants it or not.
        
        Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        I think the ethic that if the government supports it then private individuals and organizations have no rights leads directly to a fascist state.
        
        No. Either your rights are violated when you accept government support, which is a voluntary action, or your rights are violated by having money stolen from you to pay for things you don't want, which is involuntary.
        
        The people running these hospitals are accepting massive government subsidy, in cash and kind. They crowd out others who would accept those subsidies and voluntarily relinquish their rights.
        
        Mickey Rat 9 years ago
        
        Yes. You are not ending the subsidies and you are not ending government interference in the marketplace. You are just ending private property rights and supporting a regime of positive rights
        
        Crusty Juggler 9 years ago
        
        You went one for three with those links, Your Worstness.
        
        Citizen X 9 years ago
        
        SugarFree hasn't been around in a minute, SOMEBODY has to pick up the slack.
    3. Florida Man 9 years ago
      
      Is this like the hypothetical "what if a libertarian had the cure for cancer and refused to sell it" argument about why free markets are bad and people should be forced to render services?
      1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
        
        HOW DARE YOU, YOU INTOLERANT MONSTER!!!!
      2. Just say Nikki 9 years ago
        
        Free markets aren't bad, but a lack of education is. Do you think her doctors warned her that this hospital did not offer full services? Is there a sign at the door? Does anyone tell you when you walk in that it is only a partial-service hospital? Does your insurance inform you that your coverage does not include full hospital services when you buy it?
        
        Do the state agencies involved with restricting the supply of healthcare take into account the fact that this is not a full-service hospital?
        
        Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
        
        "OMG you mean this Catholic hospital doesn't perform sterilizations?!?!? Wow, this comes totally out of left field!"
        
        Florida Man 9 years ago
        
        If it is a scheduled section they have a duty to inform her. If it's a place they have privileges they have a duty to know what services they can perform.
        
        Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
        
        You know what *isn't* a full-service hospital? A hospital which totally ignores the needs of a patient for the alleged purpose of helping another patient.
        
        Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
        
        Again, Catholic hospitals recognize their obligation to treat *both* patients - mother *and* child.
        
        Other hospitals should have warning signs in the waiting room that "we reserve the right to deny patient status to certain living human beings in certain circumstances."
        
        Not okay 9 years ago
        
        Yeah, all the ACLU is saying in those links is that the pregnancy termination should be prioritized when there's danger and in their opinion because the baby isn't really a priority for care. They're asserting that they won't do this because they're Catholic.
        
        Well, I'm not catholic and I think the baby is a priority, and so do my wife and millions of other people including women and doctors and atheists. It's obviously bullshit, they think their moral judgement should be forced instead of allowing people to seek the facilities that agree with them. Statists
        
        Lord at War 9 years ago
        
        Right! I mean, who knew that the Ford dealership wouldn't sell me a new Mercedes?
  5. Seamus 9 years ago
    
    Are you kidding? And let those papists think their "freedom of religion" extends father than the walls of their homes and church buildings?
2. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
  
  Both the Catholic Church and the government desperately need to dispense with the pretense that there is any such thing as a private religious hospital.
3. Mickey Rat 9 years ago
  
  The ACLU thinks positive rights are a thing, surprise. Of course, that has been where the courts have been going with regards to abortion clinics so why should they not include sterilisation.?
4. Suthenboy 9 years ago
  
  Didn't California get caught sterilizing women prisoners against their will, without proper consent, or through various means of coercion or deceit?
  
  I am gonna have to root for the Catholics on this one.
DEG 9 years ago

1911s forged from meteorite metal

High-end handgun maker Cabot Guns is making a pair of pistols from a meteorite.

Cabot Guns announced that its "extra-terrestrial pistols" will be forged from a meteorite as old as the Earth itself, and could sell for as much as $1 million at auction next year.
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

You know who else anguished over the printing of certain books...

Anguish as reprints of 'Mein Kampf' planned for new year

Some scholars argue in favour of the reprints, saying they will serve to demystify the notorious 800-page document, particularly given that the tract is freely available in many parts of the world, and just a few clicks away on the Internet.

In India and Brazil, the book is easily found, while in Japan even a manga version of the tract is available. In Turkey, more than 30,000 copies have been sold since 2004 and the book is not prohibited in the United States.

Nevertheless, opinion is split, particularly among Jewish groups, some of which want a ban maintained while others see reason in a scholarly version being made available for educational purposes.
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  The article mentions "annotated reprints," which presumably means that they'll have footnotes or endnotes discussing the background of various passages and explaining why these passages are, shall we say, misleading.
  
  I don't know if Manga Kampf has such explanatory material.
  1. Free Society 9 years ago
    
    The annotations in the copy I read had very very little in the way of rebuttals and counterarguments. Nor is Hitler presenting any statistics or hard facts that annotations could possibly refute, aside from some autobiographical stuff, but his autobiographical accounts contain more omissions than outright lies to be refuted.
    
    The annotations are there to help the reader understand cultural and contemporary political references that anyone outside of the 1920's or 30's wouldn't immediately understand.
    1. Suthenboy 9 years ago
      
      "...very little in the way of rebuttals and counterarguments. Nor is Hitler presenting any statistics or hard facts that annotations could possibly refute..."
      
      An acquaintance that recently died was a former member of the Hitler Youth and then impressed into the Wehrmacht, or so he said. Once he went to see a free concert held at Houston's Lakewood Church. Little did he know that he would have to sit through an hour long Olsteen sermon before the concert. Being that he is German I asked him what he thought of Olsteen's blather. In a flat voice with his jaw slightly clenched he said
      "I haff heard that kind uff speakeeng before."
  2. WTF 9 years ago
    
    I don't know if Manga Kampf has such explanatory material.
    
    But it does have octo-Hitler tentacle-raping Japanese school girls. So there is that.
    1. Ska 9 years ago
      
      That sounds pretty dope. Something like Waifu in the High Castle?
2. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
  
  Nevertheless, opinion is split, particularly among Jewish groups, some of which want a ban maintained while others see reason in a scholarly version being made available for educational purposes.
  
  Yes, illuminated works are for the priestly class only. The commoners can't be trusted to read the material themselves.
  1. Tonio 9 years ago
    
    Illuminated, in the context of books, is where they make the first letter of the first paragraph of each page or chapter super big and draw other stuff around the letter. As in one of those beautiful medieval illuminated manuscripts.
    1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
      
      Yeah, they were manuscripts considered important enough by the priestly class to preserve... for themselves, not for the jittery, illiterate populace. Academics believe themselves to serve a very similar function in modern society.
      1. Tonio 9 years ago
        
        IIRC, the monasteries also made money selling those to nobles, who were the only other literate people in society.
3. Free Society 9 years ago
  
  The book is worth a read. It's part narcissistic self-help book, part historical perspective and part batshit insane ideology 101. It's like peering into the mind of a self-obsessed madman with lots of interesting nuggets of facts and fiction that one doesn't hear in other contemporary works. Interesting if nothing else.
  
  And it's illegal in some countries, so I decided it must somewhat worthwhile to know what's inside.
  1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
    
    "It's like peering into the mind of a self-obsessed madman with lots of interesting nuggets of facts and fiction..."\
    
    Sooooo, pretty much like hanging out with the reason commentariat?
    1. Free Society 9 years ago
      
      You know who else commented on matters of importance and unimportance with equal zeal?
      1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
        
        ALL OF US HERE?!
4. BearOdinson 9 years ago
  
  The only country that I could even see why there would be some justification for banning the printing of Mein Kampf would be Germany (also maybe Austria). And then only for perhaps 1-2 generations after the end of WWII. I am not saying that the ban should necessarily have existed. But at least I can understand why the German people following the war would want not want to see it published there. But now, I it doesn't really serve any purpose. And really, while books like this might help to inspire a few already unhinged assholes, these stuff needs to be brought out into the light.
  
  And the Jewish groups who want to see this book continue to be banned seem like they have a ghetto mentality. Guess what, he tried to extinguish the Jewish people. He caused the death of nearly 6 million. But at the end of the day, Hitler's "thousand year reich" last 12 years. And Israel has been a state since 1948. So the best thing to do is to let the world see his madness.
Jordan 9 years ago

New York Cigarette Tax Collections Go Up In Smoke

The latest data from the New York State Comptroller reveals plunging numbers for tax collections from cigarette sales. According to the office of Thomas DiNapoli, the state has seen the numbers plummet by approximately 400 million dollars in the last five years alone.

Besides this, the state has bigger trouble brewing with an estimated uncollected 1.3 billion dollars in state cigarette taxes. Off-the-tax grid sales become more the norm, contributing to the growth of this number reported by a study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Efforts to stem the flow to alternate channels, like a 2011 legislation that sought to tax Native American nations by way of taxing their wholesalers, have actually backfired with these sellers choosing to stock cheaper cigarettes from Indian owned cigarette manufacturers to bypass the wholesalers. Tax evasion too is on the rise, with 15 percent of cigarette sales going the illegal trade route.

Ha ha!

/Nelson Muntz
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  "Thomas DiNapoli" - doesn't that mean "from Naples?"
  
  (note to his lawyers: I'm totally not insinuating anything whatsoever, just making a little joke)
2. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
  
  INCONCEIVABLE!
  
  /Prog
  1. Mindyourbusiness 9 years ago
    
    I do not think that word means what you think it means...
3. Tonio 9 years ago
  
  So I guess choking Eric Garner did nothing to stop illegal cigarette sales.
  1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
    
    It DID, actually. In that one case.
Mickey Rat 9 years ago

The A FLU apparently does not like religious freedom for Catholics.
1. Mickey Rat 9 years ago
  
  The ACLU...
DEG 9 years ago

NH Supreme Court upholds "Car Dealer Bill of Rights"

The law, passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Maggie Hassan in 2013, affords Granite State dealerships some of the strongest protections in the country in their dealings with manufacturers.

It includes a "buy local" provision, which dealers say will end mandates by auto makers to use out-of-state contractors and suppliers for work.

It calls for transparency in inventory and sales decisions made by auto makers; market-based reimbursement for warranty work done by local dealers; and more control for local dealers over decisions regarding major capital expenses, such as showroom renovations and new construction.

New Hampshire is now the only state in which manufacturers can order new construction or remodeling of a dealership every 15 years.

The window is 10 years in other states with similar laws.

The law also restricts the ability of manufacturers to contract with new franchises or dealerships in an area where their brand is already represented, to "protect the equity" of existing dealers.

Auto manufacturers fought the bill aggressively in the Legislature. General Motors announced that it would end dealer incentives in the state because of the legislation.
1. DEG 9 years ago
  
  I skimmed the opinion. I found this lovely bit of FYTW:
  
  We review the constitutionality of a statute de novo. Am. Fed'n of
  Teachers ? N.H. v. State of N.H., 167 N.H. 294, 300 (2015). "The party
  challenging a statute's constitutionality bears the burden of proof." Id.
  (quotation omitted). "In reviewing a legislative act, we presume it to be
  constitutional and will not declare it invalid except upon inescapable grounds."
  Id. (quotation omitted). "In other words, we will not hold a statute to be
  unconstitutional unless a clear and substantial conflict exists between it and
  the constitution." Id. (quotation omitted). Thus, a statute will not be
  construed to be unconstitutional when it is susceptible of a construction
  rendering it constitutional. Id. "When doubts exist as to the constitutionality
  of a statute, those doubts must be resolved in favor of its constitutionality." Id.
  (quotation omitted).
  1. sarcasmic 9 years ago
    
    In other words the burden of proof rests on liberty, not the exercise of power. That's a pretty big FYTW.
    1. Tonio 9 years ago
      
      That is one of the fundamental things that must change. Citizens and taxpayers will always have standing to challenge anything government does. Government must prove on demand the legality of anything it does.
Lord Humungus 9 years ago

Switzerland grants its final special 'stripper visas'

More than 700 foreign strippers received a special Swiss work permit in 2015, the last issued in a controversial programme that expires on January 1, the immigration office said Tuesday.

Switzerland began awarding eight-month permits in 1995 to women from outside the European Union who wanted to come to the country to work as strippers and cabaret dancers.

The programme was meant to protect people who may have otherwise been vulnerable to sex traffickers, and dancers from Russia, the Dominican Republic and Thailand were among the top recipients.

But following a prolonged investigation, Swiss authorities in 2014 announced that the programme was no longer serving a protective role, with some permit holders subjected to forced prostitution after arrival in the country.
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  Not to mention the competition with Swiss strippers.
  
  Do you think the Swiss Miss just relies on chocolate royalties?
2. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
  
  Humph! I wasn't asked to be part of any research on this issue.... bah.
  1. DEG 9 years ago
    
    Neither was I. I would have gladly taken a trip to Switzerland, despite the fact that it is winter, to help research the issue.
    1. Lord Humungus 9 years ago
      
      Is there still room on this fact finding mission to Switzerland? *jostles into a seat*
      1. thrakkorzog 9 years ago
        
        I too would be morethan happy to offer my opinion on Swiss stripers vs foreign born strippers.
Free Society 9 years ago

California's law mandating a bazillion lawsuits equal pay for "substantially similar" work goes into effect this week.

A new reason not to hire any women in the first place. All else being equal (no pun intended), I need a member of a protected group on my payroll like I need another hole in my head. But good for the women who actually get jobs, they get to piggyback off the productivity of the men in their firm with their shiny new government granted victim card, then they can tell themselves that they "earned" it.
1. Illocust 9 years ago
  
  I figured it was a reason to move your company out of California. No reason to limit your hiring base because the local government is an idiot when you can get a better government (cheaper taxes too).
  1. Free Society 9 years ago
    
    No reason to limit your hiring base because the local government is an idiot
    
    I gave the "all else being equal" qualifier for this reason. Assuming two identical candidates for one particular job whose only discernible difference is genitalia, I'd go with the man every time. Preferably the straight white, able-bodied, non-transgendered man.
    1. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
      
      " Preferably the straight white, able-bodied, non-transgendered man."
      
      THEY STILL EXIST?!?!?
      1. Free Society 9 years ago
        
        Some say on a dark night, when the wind is silent and the skies are clear you can faintly hear the hum of machinery in the distance, of straight white able-bodied non-transgendered men generating wealth so that the indolent may feed.
        
        Monty Crisco 9 years ago
        
        LMFAO
2. chipper me timbers 9 years ago
  
  I expect an increase in contingent labor utilization and outsourced projects to consulting firms.
Irish ?s ESB 9 years ago

"Americans do value religious freedom?for Christians. In a recent poll, 82 percent said Christians' religious rights matter, but only 70 percent said the same for Jews, 67 percent for Mormons, and 61 percent for Muslims. "

So Americans overwhelmingly value religious freedom for everyone and Reason strangely prefaced this point by claiming they only value religious freedom for Christians.

If any president had a 61 percent approval rating, he'd be dancing for joy.
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  "Muslims more popular than the President, polls show."
2. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
  
  Its ENB, not Reason, that gave us this preface.
  1. Certified Public Asshat 9 years ago
    
    Gillespie posted this awhile ago:
    
    For all the talk about political correctness and continuing racism on campus, 51 percent agreed with the statement "I feel comfortable sharing my political opinions at my college without fear of censorship or negative repercussions." Just 14 percent disagreed, suggesting that campuses are neither the hotbeds of repression or racism that various people seem to believe.
    1. Swiss Servator 9 years ago
      
      REASON FIGHT!!!
      
      Heh.
Citizen X 9 years ago

Congratulations to David Brooks, Popehat's 2015 Person of the Year.
1. Lee G 9 years ago
  
  In 2015 Brooks self-published a meticulously researched and engaging web-log, The Life And Times of Joe Sixpack, which poses a provocative thesis: we as a postmodern collective are cultivating outwardly impressive but spiritually deficient "resume virtues" ? rather than character, which Brooks defines as "that inner sense of the outward which brings us into commonality with what the Greek statesman Thales of Minos referred to as the state of belonging to the polity." And it's costing us dearly, the author says, both personally and communally.
  
  LOL
  1. Citizen X 9 years ago
    
    "With Brooks' support, students seized the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, and brought low the formerly proud American colossus."
Sevo 9 years ago

"England outlaws coercive, controlling domestic behavior"
[...]
"People who use repeated threats, humiliation and intimidation to control their intimate partners or family members could face prosecution in England.
http://www.turkiyehabermerkezi.....-h874.html

Does my ex-wife's cooking count?
1. DEG 9 years ago
  
  I think we covered this another day and the consensus is, no, it doesn't.
2. straffinrun 9 years ago
  
  If it was English food, yes.
3. Seamus 9 years ago
  
  Authorities say stopping someone from socializing, controlling their social media access or using apps or spyware to put them under surveillance will be covered by the new legislation.
  
  So British parents are no longer allowed to punish their children by grounding them and denying them use of computers or cell phones?
Crusty Juggler 9 years ago

Knicks forward Cleanthony Early robbed, shot outside club

He was leaving CityScapes gentlemen's club on 58th Street in Maspeth, Queens, when he was surrounded by up to six men, shot in the knee and robbed of a gold necklace and the gold caps from his teeth, New York Police told WABC-TV.
1. Notorious UGCC 9 years ago
  
  Imagine what would happen in a *non*-successful city!
  1. Rhywun 9 years ago
    
    Nothing says success like a fancy grill.
2. straffinrun 9 years ago
  
  Shreek demands Peter Schiff be brought in for questioning.
  1. Pat (PM) 9 years ago
    
    This elicited a hearty guffaw, thank you.
3. Monty Crisco 9 years ago
  
  Breaking: Gun control laws working as intended!!
4. Ska 9 years ago
  
  Jesus, Cityscapes? Strip clubs in Queens are just.... so shabby.
  
  Which just got me thinking about what a Bronx or SI strip club would be like. The horror....
  1. Rhywun 9 years ago
    
    Since almost all of them got pushed out of Manhattan I expect there are shabby clubs in all the outskirts.
4thaugust1932 9 years ago

Expel Brahmin aka Beggars From Your Country; http://wh.gov/ivsip

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