White House Takes Hands-Off Approach to Oregon Occupation, Wall Street Has Rocky New Year, Charlie Hebdo Anniversary Issue Draws More Controversy: P.M. Links

• 

  White House officials said today that the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge Oregon is a "local law enforcement matter," though the FBI is involved in response to the incident. The protesters held a press conference today calling for the federal government to abide by the Constitution and criticizing the impact on ranchers of the federal control of land in Western states. They are calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

• The office building in San Bernardino, California, where 14 people were killed in a December terrorist attack, reopened today.
• The new year isn't being kind to Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down almost 275 points. Blame China.
• On the anniversary of the murder of many members of its staff, Charlie Hebdo is again courting controversy in France by lampooning God on its cover (and potentially all organized religion) as a violent terrorist with a gun.
• General Motors is investing $500 million in ride-sharing service Lyft. They are visualizing a future of a fleet of self-driving vehicles people can summon on demand.
• With a $400 million jackpot pending, it's time for another round of Powerball-mania.

New at Reason.com:

• Where Are the Centrists Who Care About Economic and Personal Freedom?
  If you are fed up with both the left and the right, the 2016 candidate pool is a sad state of affairs.
  By Ira Stoll

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The office building in San Bernardino, California, where 14 people were killed in a December terrorist attack, reopened today.

They didn’t salt the earth?

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Hello.

“On the anniversary of the murder of many members of its staff, Charlie Hebdo is again courting controversy in France by lampooning God on its cover (and potentially all organized religion) as a violent terrorist with a gun.”

Watch all those organized religions lose their minds and it will take Islam to be the voice of reason.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

I’m surprised the city didn’t demand the building be torn down and rebuilt, as Sandy Hook was.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I had forgotten about that. God dammit.

[Pope Jimbo]

We need to remember our roots and learn from the past. Take the Northfield raid attempted by the James-Younger gang.

Lessons:

1) Look what happens when thugs try to rob a place full of armed citizens who know how to shoot
2) Don’t tear the building down. Make sure to circle the bullet holes with paint and let tourists visit.
3) I love this last one:

Hakala explains: Then-medical student Henry Wheeler, who shot Miller from an upper story level of a building across the street from the bank, dug Miller from his grave and shipped the body from Northfield to his Michigan medical school for dissection and study. Later, Wheeler would return the supposed body of Miller to his family in Missouri. But, as the story goes, Wheeler kept a skeleton, purported to possibly be Miller, in a closet of his Grand Forks, N.D., medical practice office. That skeleton is today owned by a private collector.

Wheeler’s actions, Hakala further says, would not have been all that unusual for the time period with a likely attitude of “I killed the guy. He’s mine.”

[Fist of Etiquette]

They are visualizing a future of a fleet of self-driving vehicles people can summon on demand.

Skynet startsout as a chauffeur, you know.

[Pat (PM)]

Man watching pirated movie on plane busted by film’s star

NEW DELHI, Jan. 4 (UPI) — A man watching a pirated copy of a popular Bollywood film on an airplane was busted and shamed by a fellow passenger who also happened to be the film’s star.

Kriti Sanon, star of recently-released hit Bollywood film Diwale, said in a Twitter post she was on an airplane when she realized a man sitting next to her was watching a pirated version of the film on a handheld projector.

“Someone watchin pirated version of Dilwale in front of me on phone in the flight! Annoyed!!” Sanon tweeted.

“Sad to [see] the hard work of so many [people being] watched in such pathetic quality! [Please] enjoy films in cinemas,” she wrote in a second tweet.

Both tweets bore the hashtag “#SayNoToPiracy.”

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Handheld projector?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Classic mistake. I always watch my pirated movies on a Kinetoscope, so one else on the plane can spy on me.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Yeah, they sell them at Brookstone. They’re more tray-top, though

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

I guess other people make them too…
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-P2B…..B00HI4BY1U

[Cdr Lytton]

said in a Twitter post she was on an airplane when she realized a man sitting next to her was watching a pirated version of the film

That’s awfully convenient.

If I was next to Kriti Sanon, I wouldn’t be watching a movie, even if she was in it.

[Pat (PM)]

Naked Peeping Tom wearing Ronald Reagan mask caught on camera in Vestavia Hills

A Vestavia Hills couple got quite the surprise on New Year’s Eve when a nude man wearing a presidential mask creeped into their breezeway.

The man, who was naked except for what appeared to be a Ronald Reagan rubber mask covering his head and a sock covering his private parts, ran off when Jersey Belle’s Danielle Yancey and her husband spotted him. The ordeal, however, was caught on their home security video and later posted to Facebook as a warning to neighbors and others.

“I know a lot of people are laughing about it and, honestly, I got a chuckle from it later, but at the same time, it’s very concerning,” Danielle Yancey said. “I don’t know what he was planning on doing.”

[Juvenile Bluster]

He can go hang out with the guy around here who was peeping into womens’ bedrooms and using a slingshot to break windows so he could get a better look.

[Tonio]

You know who else wore a mask of Ronald Reagan?

[Citizen X]

Nancy Reagan, in bed?

[Sevo]

OK, this one isn’t “Hitler”.

[BearOdinson]

Bodhi, right?

BTW: What the fuck with the remake? I mean it was a fucking stupid movie. But it was lot of fun!

[Crusty Juggler]

I mean it was a fucking stupid movie

Oh my.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

Oh my.

Is that you quoting George Takei, (uttered upon his seeing the original)?

[Crusty Juggler]

I did not know, and still do not know, how to respond to that statement. A stupid movie?

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

Mine? I figured Takei had his breath taken away, based on the cast of the original (especially Gary Busey)

[Tonio]

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Didn’t know about the remake. Ugh. Yes, it was and remains a fun movie.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

One of the top 5 films ever made. I refuse to see the remake.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

But they look so alike!

Note: this is one of the few SFW pics I found conflating Reagan and Hitler. More than one involved Hitler receiving a hand job.

[Jerry on the rocks]

Oliver North?

[Pat (PM)]

New York hotel guests share video of bedbug-infested mattress

NEW YORK, Jan. 4 (UPI) — A California couple visiting New York for the holidays shared video of their bedbug-infested hotel room nightmare.

Elgin Ozlen, who posted the video to YouTube, said he and his girlfriend were visiting New York for a the holidays and they booked a room at the Astor on the Park Hotel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“We were expecting a vacation to remember the rest of our lives, and we will definitely remember it for the rest of our lives, but it won’t be a pleasant memory,” Ozlen told WABC-TV.

Ozlen said they were on their third room — the first two lacked heating — when his girlfriend discovered bite marks on her body.

[Illocust]

Isn’t the argument against AirB&B that regular hotels aren’t supposed to have these problems.

[Tonio]

Why yes, yes it is.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I wonder how much they really clean. That’s why I want to invest in those UV flashlight.

[Just say Nikki]

It doesn’t matter how much you clean. Bedbugs have nothing to do with cleanliness in these places.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I don’t care what you say. I’M STILL BUYING MY TOY.

[tarran]

What probably happened is someone with bedbugs stayed in that room, and nobody noticed/complained until now.

They’re a bitch to get rid of too; you basically have to boil everything to kill the eggs.

[Just say Nikki]

Not necessarily that room. They travel from room to room. The steps you would have to take to clear a hotel…ugh, I shudder to think.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

The worst part: there’s a good chance those bugs are coming home with them.

[lap83]

Anyone who has worked at a hotel knows that’s a lie

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Never lay on, or even touch the comforter. They probably clean it less than once every 6 months.

[OneOut]

And fecal matter on the remote control.

[B. Woodrow Chippenhaus]

AirBnB, however, must be stamped out. You know, to protect consumers.

[Ted S.]

New York, New York, the city so arrogant they named it twice.

[Winston]

Named after a slavetrader who as a teenager dressed as a girl to escape captivity from some Christfags.

[BigT]

Rats on the west side, bedbugs uptown!

Shattered!

[Juvenile Bluster]

White House officials said today that the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge Oregon is a “local law enforcement matter,” though the FBI is involved in response to the incident. The protesters held a press conference today calling for the federal government to abide by the Constitution and criticizing the impact on ranchers of the federal control of land in Western states. They are calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

Personally, I don’t give a shit what these idiots want, and figure most of them are terrible hypocrites when it comes to the promotion of “liberty”, but why are these guys any different than when students “occupy” school administration buildings after they don’t get free college and after one person says something that might be considered slightly racist and the school doesn’t expel them, kill them and bar anyone who ever knew them from coming within 500 miles of the school for the rest of their lives.

[Tonio]

Because these guys have guns?

[R C Dean]

As have lefty crypto-Marxists (although, to be sure, not recently).

They cite old student archives which allege that Holder and his fellow protestors were ‘armed’ when they took control of the then-abandoned office space that had previously been used to house the campus chapter of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new…..z3wJXW5EAi

[Tonio]

Oh, that’s interesting, but probably won’t go anywhere since he’s now an ex-AG and the president under who he served is a lame duck.

[flaPjacks]

Yeah, I get that. My issue with the story is that it is hard to get the story with just the facts and not some kind of political angle. Leaving them alone is the best policy, but the liberals want BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD?

This message brought to you by my personal campaign for HILLARY 2016.

[Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper]

Killing some ranchers = justice for Laquan McDonald in a lot of Democrats’ eyes.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Yep, for Libs, this is about Black Lives Matters.

[Tejicano]

I wouldn’t be surprised to find out how many libs read that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is involved and they haz a confooz.

[Glide]

I’m not gonna lie, I’ve seen the acronym and mentally inserted the race protestors into the rancher story a couple times myself, though mostly with a wry chuckle 0.7 seconds later as I process my mistake.

[Pat (PM)]

Prisoner attempts to escape jail through the toilet – and it’s not a pretty sight

A prisoner found himself in deep trouble – quite literally – after attempting a Shawshank Redemption style escape from a jail via the communal toilet.

In the footage, the man is seen attempting to slither head first through the hole in the ground, his body completely covered in excrement.

As the man attempts to wriggle through the clogged sewerage pipes, two men grab hold of his legs and pull him back out of the hole.

Another shot shows the man covered from head to toe in poo after being returned to his prison cell.

[RBS]

He was just trying to make it to the Olympics.

[Tonio]

White House officials said today that the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge Oregon is a “local law enforcement matter,”

That’s interesting. Sounds like the feds are backing down on this one.

[Tonio]

Oops, premature send. I guess they don’t want to risk a massacre this close to the election.

[Crusty Juggler]

Oops, premature send.

Happens to the best of us.

[Rich]

Just think about baseball when you feel you’re about to comment.

[Fist of Etiquette]

No, to prevent it you should comment by yourself first.

[Rich]

LOL

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Take it from one who knows… fastest commentor in the west.

He makes up for it in volume.

[OneOut]

I told my wife once to be still for a second as i didn’t want to comment to soon.

She screamed ‘think about ugly people”.

I loled and commented at the same time.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

not me, bro. baseball

[Pat (PM)]

This Day in History

1885 – Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is thought to be the first appendectomy.

1896 – Utah was admitted as 45th state in the United States.

1904 – In Gonzales v. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that citizens of Puerto Rico are not aliens and can enter the U.S. freely.

1948 – Burma (Myanmar) gained independence from Great Britain.

1951 – During the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.

1965 – President Johnson outlined his “Great Society” in his State of the Union address.

1999 – Former wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota’s governor.

1999 – The U.S. Mint began distributing the 50 State Quarters.

2007 – California Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives.

[Sevo]

Who are you and what did you do with Rufus?

[BearOdinson]

Ah 1948. It will always be Burma to me!

[kbolino]

Yeah, “Burma (Myanmar) gained independence from Great Britain” is especially ridiculous since nobody called it “Myanmar” in English in 1948.

[BearOdinson]

It has never been the same since J. Peterman went back to NY.

[BigT]

Myanmar Shave!

… just doesn’t cut it

[Not okay]

White House officials said today that the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge Oregon is a “local law enforcement matter”

Probably good news since I can’t think of any way they wouldn’t make it worse.

[R C Dean]

Its a local law enforcement matter that requires FBI intervention, or something.

[Fist of Etiquette]

…by lampooning God on its cover (and potentially all organized religion) as a violent terrorist with a gun.

God can take it. His followers, on the other hand…

[Rich]

This.

[Jerry on the rocks]

We’re all terrorists now.

[Sexbot]

“God can take it.”

I don’t know. If I spent my eternal existence rounding up virgins for terrorists, I’d be pretty pissed off.

[Rich]

Vengeful, even?

[Mazakon]

General Motors is investing $500 million in ride-sharing service Lyft. They are visualizing a future of a fleet of self-driving vehicles people can summon on demand.

If it’s a fleet of vehicles, will they be like those “amphibious” ones they have in Halifax?

[BiMonSciFiCon]

General Motors

Is Lyft’s valuation going to go down because they’re in bed with Government Motors, or up because they’ll get bailed out if they run into trouble?

[Illocust]

“With a $400 million jackpot pending, it’s time for another round of Powerball-mania”

Hmmm, might have to play on that one. No realistic chance of winning, but the hope is fun.

[Anomalous]

Lotteries are a tax on people who are bad at math.

[BearOdinson]

Yep. The odds of winning are statistically the same whether you buy a ticket or not.

[Rich]

Ah, but you must play to win.

[grrizzly]

In case of Powerball, you buy yourself a few hours or days of dreaming that you have a pathway to get filthy rich. There’s no chance to become a multimillionaire if you don’t play. In other words, I see a case for buying one and only one lottery ticket.

[Pope Jimbo]

I have day old Powerball tickets you may be interested in. They are half the price and have virtually the same chance of winning as fresh ones.

Seriously, years ago when there was a huge pot, I decided to buy one on a lark and the guy behind me in the store scoffed at me because I was only buying one. He told me that you had to buy at least 50 to even have a shot at winning. I tried to tell him that the difference the likelihood in winning was virtually identical for either 1 or 100, but he refused to listen.

I love pay the pump because I no longer have to talk to my fellow idiots in gas pump lines anymore.

[Sevo]

Actually, and fortunately, the aren’t a “tax”; if you don’t paga, no one shows up with a gun to make you do so.

[Sexbot]

Fine, we’ll call it a “penaltax”.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

With a $400 million jackpot pending, it’s time for another round of Powerball-mania.

My grandmother is a lottery addict, and she wonders why the middle-class is cash strapped. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that she would have hundreds of thousands of dollars if she had just banked her scratchers money for the last 20 years.

[Akira]

I used to work in a factory. People there would sit in the locker room and discuss lottery “strategies” as if it makes a fucking difference when you buy the ticket or what tickets you buy. It was quite a sight; they would really get into it about when you should buy the tickets, which ones pay out more frequently, etc. If they would have put that mental effort into planning a 401(k), they could have done much better. There was this one old man who was seriously convinced that he was going to win the Powerball one day, and he had no plans for retirement beyond that.

I always wanted to tell these people to buy a ledger book and keep track of their lottery expenditures and their winnings over the course of an entire year, and see if they gained or lost money. I wanted to tell them that they’d have better odds if they would just take that money and put it on a roulette spin. At least that’s 50/50 – much better odds than the lottery offers.

It’s pretty sad to see people stuck in a low standard of living because they pissed away their money on a game of chance with such dismal odds… But I support their right to do so.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

It’s OK when the government does it.

[Pope Jimbo]

I was working at a company that had just begun circling the drain in 1999. A bunch of people at work decided that they would pool their money and buy a bunch of tickets for the big Powerball pot. I made fun of them for a week solid. I spared no expense when it came to letting them know how fucking dumb they were.

Then on the way in to work after the big drawing I turned on the radio and heard that the winning ticket was sold in Minnesoda I nearly drove off a bridge just so I wouldn’t have to go to work to find that my loser coworkers had won. Luckily for me it turned out that it was some 21 year old gal from up North.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Ha, ha. Akira is a dream crusher.

[Pat (PM)]

It’s pretty sad to see people stuck in a low standard of living because they pissed away their money on a game of chance with such dismal odds

I seriously doubt there’s many people who have spent enough on playing the lottery to substantially affect their standard of living. And the few people who have would have had a shitty standard of living regardless, because they aren’t good at decision making. Nevertheless, it’s more than a bit patronizing to begrudge such people their indulgence. I would venture to guess more college-educated white kids have pissed away more theoretical retirement funds at Starbucks than high school dropouts have pissed away at the lotto, yet nobody pities them for their silly lifestyle choices.

[Akira]

It may be rare, but I know (from the personal experience mentioned) that there are people who buy at least one scratch-off ticket every single day plus a ticket or two for the Powerball or Mega Millions, which cost 10 or 20 bucks if I’m not mistaken. Buying tickets like that every single week adds up to over a thousand dollars per year. And you’re right – that amount is not the difference between being a millionaire or a pauper, but it’s money that is completely wasted by people who simultaneously complain about what bad financial shape they are in.

[Fist of Etiquette]

With a $400 million jackpot pending, it’s time for another round of Powerball-mania.

I don’t scratch anything off for less than half a billion. Or whatever you do for Powerball.

[Drake]

You just give a clerk cash and get a worthless scrap of paper in return.

[BearOdinson]

So an even trade then.

(just giving the bitcoin folks a hard time)

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

How much do you charge for a handy-J?

[Ted S.]

“Wall Street Has Rocky New Year”

Wall Street is gonna fly now?

[Anomalous]

How is Creed doing at the box office?

[Fist of Etiquette]

They are calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

So in other words they want to own slaves.

[Citizen X]

Apparently Eugene has seen my Facebook newsfeed.

[R C Dean]

Reposting from a dead thread:

I saw some pics of the “occupation” of that ranger station.

I guarantee that if these people are allowed to leave peacefully, the station will be in better shape when they leave than when they got there. Any needed repairs will have been done, etc. I know (figuratively) these folks, and they just won’t be able to help themselves.

“Bob, that light switch in the bathroom is kinda hinky. You got your tools?”

A day later: “Man, the wiring in that building was shit, but I think we got it sorted out.”

[Fist of Etiquette]

The protesters held a press conference today calling for the federal government to abide by the Constitution and criticizing the impact on ranchers of the federal control of land in Western states.

The federal government is the true one percenter.

[Winston]

So about Obo’s EO. Is that evidence of the Libertarian Moment? The President by decree ignoring the Bill of Rights.

Seriously this is real Weimar Germany shit. A lot of people ignore how the last few years of Weimar had the Reichstag allowing the Chancellor and Hindenburg to rule by decree after the democratic parties broke up over unemployment benefits. And by 1932 the Nazis and Communists had a majority of seats. Oh and von Papen decreed the Prussian State government out of office over police behavior. This meant when Hitler came into power he had control over Germany’s largest police force…

[Tonio]

You mean the allegedly forthcoming one on guns? Yeah, that’s scary.

[RAHeinlein]

…and the clerks gave the power….

[ant1sthenes]

Isn’t he just changing some definitions to effectively expand background checks? He might be violating separation of powers, but either the BoR was already being violated and he’s haggling over the price, or it isn’t and continues not to be.

[Rich]

Isn’t he just changing some definitions

“And while I’m at it, I’ll define ant1sthenes to be an enemy of the state.”

[ant1sthenes]

Point is that the offense against liberty would come from being denied a firearm due to failing a background check, but that already happens, regardless of this executive action.

[BearOdinson]

Yeah I am kind of with you on this. I just don’t think the hyperbole is very useful, nor accurate. I am all for a good Godwin’s law joke just like everybody else here. (You know who ELSE loved a good Godwin’s law joke?)
But, Obama is not Hitler. He is a narcissistic, neo-Marxist who is about 1/3 as smart as he thinks he is. And I have no doubt that if left to his own devices he would do some serious stupid shit to the economy and obviously would try to disarm Americans. And all of us should be vigilant. But we should be much more careful with the Hitler analogies in regards to domestic politics. People just tend to shut down when folks on the right or the left do that.

[Winston]

Except I compared him to Bruning and von Papen…

[BearOdinson]

Ah. So is Trump or Hillary going to be Hitler?

Or is it Hitlers all the way down?

[R C Dean]

I’m hoping this is the soundtrack for his announcement of his new gun control thing:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t…..1844,d.cGc

[flaPjacks]

Blame China.

Done and done.

[Ayn Random Variation]

“General Motors is investing $500 million in ride-sharing service Lyft. They are visualizing a future of a fleet of self-driving vehicles people can summon on demand.”

This would be great for hookers/johns. Much cheaper than a room. Also, no worries about dirtying up your car, plus the car can drive the hooker back to her spot instead of you.

[Anomalous]

And no chance of forfeiture.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

So basically, a $500M fleet of mobile porta-potties?

Where do I sign up?

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Doesn’t GM owe us some money?

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

Prof exposes the “reduced funding” lie perpetuated by colleges and their toadies… NYT readers not amused

TRIGGER WARNING: rampant idiocy in the comments.

[Ted S.]

Yeah, the very first comment talks about “smaller government”.

[flaPjacks]

Just a great whooshing noise.

[Sexbot]

And “lower taxes on corporate America”.

The delusions are stunning.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

B. RothmanNYC
Hey, middle America! This is what “smaller government,”

Didn’t read past.

Someone from New York is going to tell the rest of us in flyover country how thangs work.

[kbolino]

Reminds me of Krugman saying the problem with the economy is that people aren’t spending enough, while savings levels are at rock bottom.

[DJF]

Though not all comments are bad”” This one understands that fancy things cost money.

“”Tuition started going up at my old school around my junior year. It didn’t correlate with more teachers or more books in the library. Instead it coincided with the purchase of a a really pricey outdoor sculpture of a dog for the main quad, the installation of Ben & Jerry’s freezers in every dining hall, more manicuring around campus, a palatial workout center, another 9 holes on the golf course…

[wareagle]

Clearly, not a humanities major.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I’m a humanities graduate and do just fine in that department!

[BigT]

Rufus is the exception that proves the rule that humanities courses are full of idiots.

[Judge Forrest's Clitdong]

Campos has also called a number of law schools out as being scams. He’s kind of an obnoxious lefty too, he frequently argues that parts of college and graduate education are forms of scammery that function as jobs programs for left-leaning academics and administrators. Putting that view in print in the New York Times is like mixing burning oil with pure oxygen.

[Judge Forrest's Clitdong]

*too, but he frequently argues…*

[Akira]

Question for those who know: is the university model just outdated?

I have a hunch that universities are extremely antiquated institutions. Not higher learning in general, just the idea that there has to be this giant property where students not only study but live, eat, have recreation, and do everything else.

[SugarFree]

Yes, if education is all you are really going to look at. The problem is that universities turned into a four-year sleepaway camp for learning to survive without your parents. Which a) shouldn’t take four years and b) can be done far more cheaply.

[Judge Forrest's Clitdong]

Not to mention, the large debts acquired by students, plus the fact that there simply aren’t enough generic white collar jobs to absorb all of the hordes of new graduates, result in that four-year sleep away camp guaranteeing that those students will be moving back home after graduation.

[wareagle]

the large debts acquired by students

Depending on your point of view, this is either an unintended bug or a planned-for feature and the latter is the better case. Ever notice how many govt-related or non-profit jobs will either wipe away or cut a large part of someone’s student debt in return for employment?

Consider that Uncle Sugar has hired you at, say, 40K or so to start with a five-year commitment. Along the way, you learn of the other bennies that come with the position and it’s not hard to see why someone would just stay, particularly when things like accountability and productivity are meaningless.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

This is a common tactic by the govt. My dad is trying very hard to get back into the government before retiring because the bennies are exorbitant.

[kbolino]

A lot of parents mythologize the “college experience”, too. I think the romantic vision of college a la movies and TV has done as much to shape this as anything else.

[SugarFree]

Let’s be honest, fictional college looks like a blast.

[BigT]

Animal House!

Not too far from my experience at times.

[Akira]

I was thinking of some different movies that I’ve seen that depict what goes on at colleges…

[BearOdinson]

It is an interesting thought. I think also since the University model was never intended to be used by the general population, not only is it possibly outdated, it is used inappropriately in the first place.

I have a feeling if you told some scholars in renaissance Italy that in five hundred years, the majority of people will be expected to go to University. And as a result, it results in drunken orgies and people studying nonsense (see all critical “blank” theories), I think they would have said “Of course that is what would happen if you tried to make the average peon go there.”

[wareagle]

It’s not just the university model, it’s most long-standing bureaucracies. Even when things go bad, people can look and say “but we followed the manual” as if questioning the manual is out of bounds. To a degree, it is a form of heresy as a good many people are invested in the manual or dogma or whatever term you want. And the larger an organization, the more difficult fundamental change becomes.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

It’s not just the university model, it’s most long-standing bureaucracies.

For example, my law school tried out online courses last summer. They were a Shipshewana (or shitshow, for those who can’t read autocorrect). The ABA has so over-regulated law school that you were required to log in to your online class at a certain time of day, with attendance taken, and listen to a live (interactive) lecture.

[Akira]

That’s unfortunate, because online school is the only option for many people, such as those who have full-time jobs and/or kids to take care of.

[OneOut]

“, and do everything else.”

rape ?

[kbolino]

I have long suspected that the state schools are not getting less money, but that state funding constitutes a smaller percentage of their revenue. Everybody and their brother is falling over themselves to spend more money on education. Yet somehow results are not improving, so therefore we have to lie and say the money’s been cut.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

At least GM is trying to think outside that box.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Love the Hebdo.

[RBS]

I’m lukewarm about the Hebdoette.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

They are calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

Way to light the MSNBC signal.

[RBS]

They’re basically Adam Lanza the PLO.

[widget]

Reason likes charter schools. Here ya go…

http://www.cwcsilverlake.org/

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

The new year isn’t being kind to Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down almost 275 points. Blame China.

Sarcasm? China’s manufacturing was dismal over the 2015 holiday season. Psst, China’s manufacturing is OUR manufacturing.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

This particular crash was cause by their rules on stock drops. It was meant to curb panic selling, but actually encouraged it.

The trading resumed after the first halt at 7% (I think, maybe it was 5%), and people were scrambling like mad to dump their stocks before the 24 hour lockout threshold was reached.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

General Motors is investing $500 million in ride-sharing service Lyft. They are visualizing a future of a fleet of self-driving vehicles people can summon on demand.

What does “Lyft” have to do with summoning driverless cars? You think the taxi cartel/Big Union is just going to sit by quietly while we allow people to summon driverless cars? Shouldn’t we at least first allow people to summon driverful cars first?

Oh wait, this is GM… time to ‘short’ Lyft.

The old economy charges $45 for a cab ride from the airport, while the new economy charges only $25. Something’s bound to break, and right now it’s the workers.

[Sevo]

“Oh wait, this is GM… time to ‘short’ Lyft.”

Pretty sure, that as a taxpayer, you’re already long GM.

[Rich]

Hey, I need that reimbursement check to buy my Powerball ticket!

[R C Dean]

Nope. As a taxpayer I do not own, and have never owned, a single share of GM stock.

Kinda like how, as a taxpayer, I do not own, and have never owned, an M-1 tank.

[kbolino]

Somewhere, a true believer in “the government is us” cries into a bowl of cereal.

[BigT]

You might not have owned it, but you paid for it.

[Drake]

Still pissed at them for fucking up Saab. Last car I really liked.

[paranoid android]

Save us your Saab stories.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

Jewish girls don’t cry. They Saab.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I don’t get it.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

I mean, I get the Saab play on words… but I don’t get the Jewish part.

[kbolino]

You buy them a fancy car to placate them.

[kbolino]

As for “Jewish”, I refer you to The Gospel, according to Zappa.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

A couple gun questions from a relatively unsophisticated gun purchaser:

Remington 870 express or a Mossberg 500? Primary purposes are home defense and bird hunting. I really like the 870, but I feel like I’m missing something. The mossberg has rave reviews, but I’m afraid the forestock is going to fall off in my hand.

Any thoughts on the S&W M&P40;? I really like the balance and the price point. This would be my first handgun purchase. Primarily for home defense and range fun.

[Akira]

I have a Mossberg 500, and I like it. The forestock does have some play in it, but it has stayed on so far.

One downside of the Mossberg is that you can’t put a mag extension on it. That’s something you might want for a home defense gun, although you may be perfectly comfortable (as I am) with 5+1 rounds of #00 buckshot.

[Mr Drew]

I have strong opinions on both.
Mossberg, for sure. Stupid simple, reliable as all get out. I’ve owned a couple for years and shot the hell out of them at the range. Never had a single failure to function.

I hate .40 caliber in general. It’s often touted as the best of both worlds but I think it’s the worst of either. I am a .45 guy but that’s not what I’m selling. Go 9mm. Cheaper, more common, less felt recoil, with the added benefit being that with premium self defense ammo it has damn near one shot stopping power of any other common handgun cartridge.

I also hate the M&P specifically. Awful gun. Shoot a lot of different guns before buying one. A cheap 9mm 1911 will feel a lot better than the M&P.

Definitely try out the full sized XD. Good gun. If you’re economy minded, find a used cz 75. Get one from at least a few years ago before they started putting that stupid rail under the barrel. Great gun. Will last approximately forever.

[Akira]

I second the disdain for .40 S&W. That cartridge is simply a 10mm that was shortened because it made the grips of the guns too thick. With semi-autos that will be carried for self-defense, 9mm is the way to go. Most of the 9mm hate comes from the days when powders were not as potent, so yes, a smaller cartridge may have been a bad choice. But powders are much more powerful these days, and a 9mm will reliably stop any human threat.

The CZ-75 is also a great choice. I carry the CZ-75 Compact every day. It’s a bit heavy, being all steel (except for the grips, guide rod, and magazine follower).

[Tejicano]

Yet one more thumbs down on the 40 Shrimpy&Wimpy;. It was watered down too much to come up with a “10mm” round that small framed people could shoot comfortably. I’m not a fan of the 9X19mm but I would recommend it over the 40 S&W, The only good thing about a pistol in 40 S&W is that it can be upgraded to the 357 SIG with little more than a barrel change.

If I were to carry a 9mm – or a 40 converted to 357 SIG – I would go with a High Power. I beautiful pistol with tons of off-the-shelf upgrades available.

For scatterguns I go with magazine fed semi-autos – a Saiga-12 and an MKA 1919 – so I can’t talk much about pumps.

[lafe.long]

Area 51: Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton Discusses Possibility of Alien Life, Report Says

Clinton was reminded by a reporter that she had discussed UFOs in 2007. “I think we may have been [visited already]. We don’t know for sure,” she told the The Conway Daily Sun.

[BearOdinson]

“Sir, regardless of what you may have read in the tabloids, there have never been any spacecraft recovered by our government. Take my word for it: there’s no Area 51. There is no recovered spaceship.”

“Uh Mr. President. That’s not ENTIRELY accurate.”