D.C. Still Mostly Closed After Weekend Blizzard, NYC Back to Business, John Kerry Headed to China, Iran President Headed to Europe: A.M. Links

• 

  "Star Wars"

  New York City is back to work after a weekend blizzard but Washington, D.C., is still mostly closed.

• John Kerry is headed to Beijing this week.
• As sanctions are lifted, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani heads to Europe to drum up business.
• Charles Ramsey, the former police chief of Philadelphia, will advise Chicago on potential police reforms.
• The Islamic State (ISIS) released a video purporting to show the November Paris attackers perpetrating atrocities in ISIS-held territory.
• Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos will face Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

New at Reason.com:

• Brickbat: Just the Facts By Charles Oliver
• The General and the Drug Lord Drug warriors never win, even when they capture the enemy. By Jacob Sullum
• Why Would Cruz Insult New Yorkers? Thank the Electoral College. This outdated system gives him no reason to care about offending states he can't possibly win. By Steve Chapman
• Revisiting the U.S. Constitution Why should libertarians celebrate the blueprint that made powerful government possible? By Sheldon Richman
• USDA School Lunch Problems Continue New research paints a rosy picture of the program. But is the picture telling the whole story? By Baylen Linnekin

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

New York City is back to work after a weekend blizzard but Washington, D.C., is still mostly closed.

Snowball fight... TO THE DEATH.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Hello.

About the snow, for once we're spared.

[Jerryskids]

Bets on a stock market rise due to NY being open and DC closed?

[R C Dean]

Showing weakness so far. Probably an indicator of the high degreee of cronosity in the market these days.

[Adans smith]

Could it remain closed for a few years?

[Fist of Etiquette]

John Kerry is headed to Beijing this week.

New economic plan: Bore the China-men to death.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Dude, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian American, please.

[WTF]

Not Orientals?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

[raughs]

[SugarFree]

Derp, this is not a guy who built the railroads...

[Fist of Etiquette]

What the fuck are you talking about?

[Jerryskids]

What I want to know about that link is this:

Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS (the Centre for International Affairs, Diplomacy and Strategy) at the London School of Economics

In what language is IDEAS an acronym for "the Centre for International Affairs, Diplomacy and Strategy"? If you speak English - as the London School of Economics might be presumed to do - shouldn't the acronym be CIADS? Should you even bother listening to some group who can't even figure out how an acronym works?

[greasonable]

I think I will go with them being such out of the box thinkers that they don't let actual letters get in the way of a good acronym.

[Zeb]

Yeah, they should at least do like the US congress and come up with an awkward and convoluted name that goes with the acronym they want to use.

[straffinrun]

Yeah, he needs to Ketchup.

[Bee Tagger]

Only Kerry could go to zzzzz.....

[Slammer]

He should take a Swift boat up river to Beijing

[Adans smith]

And will ruin it by coming back.

[Mainer2]

You men the red chinese.

[Lord Humungus]

We Haven't Found Aliens Because They're All Already Dead, Scientists Say

The reason we haven't heard from aliens is because they're all already dead, a new study has suggested.

Researchers from Australian National University suggest that the environments on early planets tend to be so hostile that even when life arises, it is quickly exterminated.

'The Universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens,' said Aditya Chopra from the Australian National University.

'Early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive.'

[Mongo]

i kilt a alen

/Daniel Boone

[Illocust]

This reminds me of a current story arc in Schlock Mercenary. It's a sci-fi mercenary webcomic dealing with a lot of issues (immortality, power disparity between a fleet intelligence and a government, and the bumbling of politicians and bureaucracy while convinced they are working towards the greater good). I'd really recommend you guys read it.

[Free Society]

The reason we haven't heard from aliens is because they're all already dead, a new study has suggested.

Unless they're sampling dead aliens somehow, this wasn't a study, but instead just a reworking of the Drake Equation with some guy';s preferred hypothesis reflected in one particular variable.

[BearOdinson]

I always got a kick out of the Drake equation. It is completely useless as a mathematical tool. It has precisely zero predictive power. The only thing that it is good for is to get someone thinking about the probabilities of each of the terms. I mean, only the first two terms (avg rate of star formation and the fraction of stars that have planets) have fairly well known inputs. The number of planets per star that can support life can be guessed at within an order of magnitude, but this is still pretty dicey (are we talking planets in the Goldilocks zone only?). And the last few terms are essentially unknowable.

There was a book I read a couple years ago that had about 50 possible answers to the Fermi Paradox (Where are they?). I will have to see if I can dig it out.

[Lord Humungus]

I recently re-watched the Cosmos episode about this. I think that life is actually fairly common, but the chances for evolution to create a life form like us - mentally speaking - is actually very, very low.

[OneOut]

I always find a problem when talking o n this subject people refer to searching for evidence of carbon or oxygen to then find intelligent alien life.

What if intleeiget alien life isn't carbon based ? Couldn't intelligent life breath carbon monoxide or any other gas if that is how it evolved. Maybe it doest have to breath at all.

[Free Society]

I think it's possible that there's comparatively exotic life, or that we are ourselves exotic life by comparison. But only within certain parameters, I don't know the specifics of carbon monoxide, but not all of the elements are good for metabolizing food or facilitating life in general. We may well find large, slow organisms on places like Titan that metabolize methane and live out their existence floating in liquid nitrogen or whatever but that does imply certain physiological and chemical problems that astrobiological theory has yet to fully explain.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

It could be that alien life is so alien that we would fail to recognize it, let alone be able to communicate with it. Stephen Baxter came up with some interesting aliens, such as ones based on liquid convection cells and ones based on dark matter that cannot even interact with baryonic life.

Also, for an interesting take on the Fermi paradox, I recommend Liu Cixin's trilogy.

[Free Society]

As you said, the Drake equation is about probability. I think it's most thought provoking aspect is that even if you are superconservative with your estimates, the sheer size of the galaxy and the universe is so immense that even very tiny numbers in those assumptive variables means the universe is probably teaming with simple life, even if those islands of biology are separated by immense stretches of time and space.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Unless they're sampling dead aliens somehow, this wasn't a study, but instead just a reworking of the Drake Equation with some guy';s preferred hypothesis reflected in one particular variable.

Let's be fair to the scientist. If we sent a drooling idiot (i.e. journalist) to your workplace to describe what you do, you'd sound pretty stupid in his report as well due to the mishandling of the basic terminology of your field. The paper in question is actually 4 years old and can be read here. It is clearly a theoretical paper, and that's no great sin.

[Free Society]

Don't get me started on the stupidity of journalists tasked with reporting on science. For example, the most Earth-like planet is found every other week and in almost every case it's nothing like Earth, or less like Earth than the previous 'most Earth-like yet' planet. Or as is most often the case, it's a complete and total mystery and they make the claim anyways.

That and I can't hardly stand to read any science articles from the Daily Mirror, for no other reason than their writers constantly refer to scientists as "boffins".

[SFC B]

Wasn't there some "EArth-like" planet found that was triple the mass of Earth and was close enough to its star as to likely be a few hundred degrees K on its surface? I think the journalists tend to confuse "Earth like" as a descriptor for rocky planets generally close in composition and size to Earth as "Earth like in possibly containing life".

[Free Society]

I heard "Earth-like" used to describe planets in the habitable zone that are a couple times the mass of Jupiter, and planets that are a couple times the size of Earth that are so close to it's parent star that it rains vaporized rocks. "Earth-like" has become such a wide and varied adjective that it's almost pointless to use the term.

[Copernicus would chip]

"Researchers from Australian National University suggest"

Hey, thanks for the suggestion. We'll keep it in mind next time we have a meeting of the Who Gives a Flying Fuck Committee.

[Overt]

I've seen two compelling reasons why alien life hasn't been discovered:

1) Earth is in an anomalous void in the galaxy that has gone several billion years without a nearby supernova. According to the studies I've seen, most star systems have had supernovas within 100 light years, which is close enough to scour any life clean from planets.

2) The amount of time it takes for life to advance from massive broadcasts of decipherable signals to digital, compressed data (which is much harder to distinguish from random noise) is a heartbeat in cosmic terms. Earth has largely made this transformation in less than 100 years.

[BearOdinson]

"If the Universe is Teeming with Aliens, Where is Everybody?" by Stephen Webb. Essentially 50 possibilities to the solution of Fermi's paradox. Great read, though obviously there is alot of overlap with possibilities.

[Copernicus would chip]

Far away

[BearOdinson]

The one solution that I find interesting (not necessarily more likely) is that as a society gets more sophisticated (at least judging from the one data point we have: us), the amount of signal leakage going into space goes down. In the 50s to the 70s or 80s we were just pouring RF signals of lots of different wavelengths out into space. But now, we have fiberoptic cable, microwave beam transmissions, etc. Finding ways to increase efficiencies which means less signal leakage, even as the total amount of energy being transmitted goes up. Perhaps societies significantly more advanced than ours, leak so little emissions, that we wouldn't even know they were there, unless they happened to be in a star system literally next door.

[Copernicus would chip]

Don't "we" have several organizations hell-bent on talking to ET and blasting all manner of transmissions into the cosmos?

[Tonio]

No. "We" have deliberately sent a handful of messages. But the output of high-powered radio and TV stations could theoretically be detected from far away. That's basically what we're looking for with SETI, other peoples' equivalent of "I Love Lucy."

[Jerryskids]

The aliens are out there and they are on their way to visit us but given the vast reach of space and the time it takes for electromagnetic signals to travel any appreciable amount of that vastness, it takes a while for the wolves to respond to the dinner bell. (Any aliens coming to visit us are obviously more advanced than we are given that they've figured out interstellar travel - you'd better keep your fingers crossed on why exactly they're coming to visit.)

[BearOdinson]

I was always sympathetic to James Woods character in Contact. Where did the eggheads get the idea that technological advancement comes with "enlightenment" or whatever they are calling it. It certainly isn't the case on Earth (not that I buy for a second the "noble savages" pap either. It is just that people are people, it doesn't matter if they are using stone knives and bear skins, or F-35s and Tomahawk cruise missiles).

[Zeb]

I don't know about enlieghtenment, but people have certainly become much less violent and more willing to cooperate with people outside of their own tribe as technology has advanced.

Of course there is still plenty of horrible shit going on, but relative peacefulness and cooperation does seem to correlate pretty well with technological advancement and the prosperity that comes with it, despite other problems.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Nope. I didn't buy it when Pinker peddled the notion, and I'm not buying it now. Avoiding the recent clusterfuck that is Talib's criticism of Pinker's argument, I'll point to Cowen's cogent (and somewhat liberty-based; i.e., it's still violence when a nation-state does it) criticisms instead.

[Zeb]

I'll give that a read. It's always possible that I'm just overly optimistic.

I did think of putting something in my comment about the violence of nation states. That certainly if a big problem with the thesis, particularly looking at the 20th century. But I was mostly thinking of the interactions of people who don't hold positions of power.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm just overly optimistic

I feel you. I hope Talib, Cowen, et al. are wrong, myself. My motto has always just been "prepare for the worst while hoping for the best."

[The Last American Hero]

I read the article last week, and it's really just an AGW scare-piece. See, the reasons there are no aliens is - you guessed it - climate change. It's killing off entire alien planets now. There is literally nothing climate change can't do.

[Zeb]

How does that make it an AGW scare piece? I'm pretty sure there aren't any people on the planets where life never evolves past an early, simple stage.

Climate change is a real thing, and it did almost wipe out life on Earth several times, according to many theories about the distant past.

[DJF]

""""DC still mostly closed"""

So we are safe for a few more hours!

[Derpmaster General]

That was funny

[BearOdinson]

What if DC was closed, and nobody noticed?

[Lord Humungus]

STEVE SMITH USES UBER

Yeti Spotted De-Icing Green Cab in Prospect Heights

Captured in a video posted to Twitter, the yeti appeared to be brushing snow off of a parked green Boro Taxi.

[SugarFree]

STEVE SMITH WANT TO KNOW IF YETI HAS SIDEWAYS GROWLGINA!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Charles Ramsey, the former police chief of Philadelphia, will advise Chicago on potential police reforms.

Philly po-po being the nation's ideal.

[WTF]

At least it's not New Orleans.

[Jerryskids]

I once had an alcoholic advise me on various methods to hide a whisky bottle on my person while I attended court-mandated AA meetings. Ramsey isn't advising them on how to reform themselves, he's advising them on how to avoid the reform. "Giving the Civilian Review Board real teeth this time" is a tried-and-true dodge, the public never fails to fall for that one.

[R C Dean]

Giving the Civilian Review Board real teeth this time

If it can't fire a cop and take his pension, no appeal, eff the union, it doesn't have real teeth.

Ping me when that happens. In the meantime, I'll feel free to ignore any and all reforms, much like "tax reform" that doesn't start with repealing the Internal Revenue Code and all associated regulations.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

+1 MOVE firebombing

[Slammer]

Circumcision 'intactivist' (Warning: Andrea Peyser)

Losquadro founded the organization Intaction and drives around the metropolitan area in a 30-foot van, handing out literature aimed at persuading parents to retain boys' "genital integrity."

I asked if this obsession with foreskin is healthy, much less worthy of a movement modeled on the struggle for human rights.

"Do you think Martin Luther King was obsessed about civil rights?" Losquadro shot back. "Betty Friedan with women's rights?"

Losquadro founded the organization Intaction and drives around the metropolitan area in a 30-foot van, handing out literature aimed at persuading parents to retain boys' "genital integrity."

He told me that in 2010, he confronted the then-88-year-old retired obstetrician who altered his manhood back in 1965.

"I asked him, 'Did that make you feel like more of a man to do that to me when I was eight pounds?'?" Losquadro said. "He had nothing to say."

He sounds like a dick.

[Citizen X]

You know who else had a problem with circumcisers?

[WTF]

Saint Paul?

[invisible furry hand]

Fred the foreskin?

[Citizen X]

Let me guess, that's the star of a popular Saturday morning cartoon in Australia?

[WTF]

About some lunatic who lives in the Outback and cuts off the dicks of his enemies with a machete.

[invisible furry hand]

No, but it should be. Let's pitch it

[SRVolunteer]

Hasn't that already been pitched?

Mr Banana Grabber, right?

[Crusty Juggler]

Nikki?

[Libertarian]

Kramer?

[Derpmaster General]

Pontius Pilate?

[Just say Nikki]

Me?

[R C Dean]

Pharoah?

[Mickey Rat]

Goliath?

[Illocust]

Most activists are. Good for him though. I see no reason why circumcision shouldn't be questioned. I'm not one of those people convinced it should be banned, but it certainly shouldn't just be an assumed thing.

[BearOdinson]

As a "victim" of infant male genital mutilation, I can assure everyone here that
IT DIDN'T AFFECT MY ABILITY TO ENGAGE IN, OR ENJOY SEX!

It is completely unrelated to female genital mutilation (FGM). Jews have practiced circumcision for the last 3200 years (assuming the Torah is accurate.) It has nothing to do with reducing sexual pleasure. FGM is very specifically aimed at taking away the ability of women to enjoy sex.

Should every boy get circumcised? I don't give a shit. Most women seem to prefer cut men, but then that could be a societal thing. I suppose women who grow up in a society that doesn't do it, probably thing uncut is better. The point is, that for the most part, it is quite benign, and there is some research to indicate that circumcision helps against spreading some STDs (HIV in particular). Either way, I think the boys will be fine.

[Just say Nikki]

I can assure everyone here that
IT DIDN'T AFFECT MY ABILITY TO ENGAGE IN, OR ENJOY SEX!

How can you assure us of that? Did you try it both ways?

[WTF]

My thought exactly. There are a lot of nerve-endings in the foreskin, which would imply additionbal sensitivity.

[BearOdinson]

Yes, I know from a strictly scientific standpoint, I don't have the data. I don't know if we can ever have the data. Sensations of pleasure, similar to pain, are so subjective as to make comparisons almost nonsensical.

But, lets me put it this way, if it was more intense with a foreskin, that I couldn't handle it! 😉

[Heroic Mulatto]

Great! Just what women want...a dude who's more sensitive down there.

[Citizen X]

+1 Lonely Island

[Juice]

IT DIDN'T AFFECT MY ABILITY TO ENGAGE IN, OR ENJOY SEX!

Yes it did. It most definitely altered it. There's no way around that.

[Hamster of Doom]

I'm guessing that the way this works is, only his personal experiences and unfounded assumptions are valid.

[Suell]

I did not cut my three boys. If they want to do it they can choose. Strangely enough all of my friends had their boys circumcised. When I ask them why they did so the answer is invariably, "so he can look like dad." My response of, "what, for the family photos?" Usually it doesn't go over so well.

[Hamster of Doom]

*fistbump*

None of my sons were cut either. I figured, it's their bits and they probably will have decidedly strong opinions about them, it ought to be their call.

[Suell]

"Measure twice, cut once."

[Rod Flash]

9 inches. I mean 5.5. Damn!

[Zeb]

So presumably there are some people who get circumcised in adulthood. Those are the only people who can really make the comparison. We should ask them.

Now, to get all philosophical and pedantic, can you really say that you alter an infant's ability to engage in and enjoy sex? Infants don't really have that ability, so is it sensible to talk about altering something that doesn't yet exist?

[Suell]

A buddy of mine got circumcised as an adult because of an infection. He claims that he likes it better after, but that is because he can last longer due to less sensation.

[Zeb]

And there is a lot to be said for that.

Now we just need some minor surgery that women can have that increases their sensitivity and makes them come faster.

[The Last American Hero]

There was a crazed anti-circ chick on NPR a few years back arguing that not only could women not achieve real satisfaction with a circ'd unit, but that the man who was circ'd was simultaneously experiencing less intense pleasure AND wouldn't be able to last as long. In her view, circumcision was like global warming - there was nothing it couldn't do.

Circ, don't circ, it's up to you. But it is silly to conflate male and female circumcision.

[BearOdinson]

That is all I am trying to say!

[Suell]

FGM varies considerably, from a ceremonial knick on the clitoris, to partial removal of the clitoral hood or part of the clitoris to full removal accompanied by suture of the vagina. The milder forms certainly are close to male circumcision.

[Juice]

If female circumcision is anything but removing some skin from around the clitoris, then it shouldn't be called circumcision. If it involves removal of the clitoris, that's called an excision and it should be called clitoral excision. That would ensure that this type of genital mutilation is not confused with the less severe form of male genital mutilation.

[Azathoth!!]

Most of the time female circumcision is removal of the hood--the part analogous to the foreskin. This deadens sensation in both male and female.

Which is it's purpose.

The more extreme versions tend to be tribal and/or punitive.

[Krokko]

If that were true, it seems to me that there would be a huge market for dildos with foreskins...

[Bee Tagger]

Charles Ramsey, the former police chief of Philadelphia, will advise Chicago on potential police reforms.

First things first, you all answer to the parking authority now.

[Lord Humungus]

Wisconsin thieves steal semi-trailer holding $70,000 of cheese

The theft occurred early Friday morning near Germantown when police received reports of a 2012 Great Dane semi-trailer stolen from local warehouse D&G Transportation. The trailer reportedly held approximately $70,000 worth of cheese products.

Germantown police were able to locate the semi-tractor used to steal the trailer and shared a photo of the logo that was displayed on the 54-foot-long trailer.

Around 10 a.m. a citizen told police that the trailer had been found in Milwaukee after recognizing the logo from the Facebook post.

Police reported the trailer was completely empty.

So... who is bringing the wine 'n' crackers?

[Citizen X]

You know who else could be said to have "committed crimes in Germantown"?

[Crusty Juggler]

Markus Wolf?

[Rich]

Jesse Jackson?

Oh, wait?. Never mind -- that was in "Hymietown".

[Akira]

Syrian migrants?

[straffinrun]

The trailer was empty, but that's not where you transport fumunda cheese.

[Anomalous]

Vulveeta?

[straffinrun]

You're doing something right if you got Vulveeta fumunda yer balls.

[gaoxiaen]

NEEDZ MOAR EX-LAX!

[Marshall Gill]

70,000 pounds of stolen cheese? Have they questioned Dr. Two Brains, yet?

[Jerryskids]

I can't believe Swiss blue his chance to make a cheese joke by passing up as gouda opportunity as this for some cheese puns.

[Bee Tagger]

Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos will face Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

/closes twitter for 2 weeks

[Derpmaster General]

Rams fan. Respectfully, fuck off.

[Bee Tagger]

Gasp!

[Derpmaster General]

I don't pretend it's rational. That doesn't mean your petty grievances are greater than mine.

[Crusty Juggler]

$cam Newton vs a cheater?!?!

[Clich? Bandit]

wait Manning is a cheater now? Brady is the one with deflated balls.

[KDN]

He was alleged to have used HGH while recovering from neck surgery in a largely discredited documentary from al-Jazeera America. But that's more than enough for the PED scolds to advocate for his exile to Siberia.

[Zeb]

I'm just glad the Patriots lost so I don't have to hear people arguing about deflated balls and stupid crap.

[Jerryskids]

I'm not sure the Pats lost - I heard Tom Brady filed a lawsuit over a rules interpretation regarding that on-side kick and is demanding the results of the game be overturned pending his appeal.

[Zeb]

Really? Or are you just trying to annoy me?

[Derpmaster General]

Which way do you mean? I'm a lawyer with a day off....

[Lord Humungus]

The Nominee We Deserve?

Who is to blame? Virtually everyone.

First, the establishment. That descriptor has been so widely used this cycle as to render it virtually meaningless. Tea Party darling Marco Rubio is widely seen as competing in the "establishment lane" of the GOP primary. Trump supporters have labeled as "establishment" groups that were founded to challenge the Republican establishment ? Club for Growth and Heritage Action, to name just two. And now Ted Cruz is accusing Trump himself of representing the Republican establishment.

But there is an actual establishment ? risk-averse Republican donors and consultants, mercenary GOP-leaning lobbyists, and feckless congressional leadership. And this establishment deserves considerable blame for the current state of affairs. There are dozens of examples. But the origins of the fight over government funding and Obama?care from 2013 are instructive.

[BearOdinson]

I am really fucking sick and tired of running "against" the establishment. How about you just say what your positions are. Some of those positions will be in line with the "establishment", some positions will be against the establishment. So what?

Maybe this strategy works to the unwashed. I don't know. In the short term, I have some optimism that if someone like Cruz wins, we might be able to peel back Obamacare. And maybe, if the stars align just right (and the Aesir bestow their blessings on us), we might even be able to slow the growth of government for a couple years. Until, that is the old folks, and the welfare queens, and the race hustlers, and the unions see that they aren't going to get quite the bennies that they are used to. In which case, the Dems will take back the House. And it will be gridlock again. And then another Messiah will come and we will get Single Payer and even more govt.

So basically short term: we can slow the train a little
Long term; Off the cliff we go!

[Rasilio]

The problem is that the Republican base no longer trusts the establishment politicians to actually follow through on what they say.

So just coming out and saying what you believe is no longer good enough for Republican candidates, they also have to convince the primary voters that they aren't like those guys who ran the party since Reagan left office

[BearOdinson]

I know. I am just sick of this game. The fact is that there are a lot of Rs in office (and who are behind the scenes) that do want big govt and all the money, power, and perks that go with it. But there are also folks who either plan just don't agree with every particular issue, or get stuck because leviathan is just too big to be tamed. Vote against the "Omnibus" spending bill? Well you also voted against veterans benefits and helping the VA. Vote for a bill to legalize pot? You also voted for a bill to put more taxes on all commerce.
So I get the frustration. But just campaigning as the "anti-establishment" guy doesn't mean anything.

Oh well. One day closer to going Galt.

[R C Dean]

First, the establishment. That descriptor has been so widely used this cycle as to render it virtually meaningless.

It certainly has fuzzy edges, but its accurate enough for political purposes.

Tea Party darling Marco Rubio is widely seen as competing in the "establishment lane" of the GOP primary.

The Tea Party helped elect him, but I think they are no longer in his corner, on account of he keeps bending over for the Dem leadership on immigration, now on campus due process, and, of course, on spending.

[Lord Humungus]

China's 'Pentagon' building lies empty

Chinese ghost towns are a well documented phenomenon - completely built up cities with very few people living in them.

But the Pentagonal Mart has now gained the dubious title of Shanghai's largest empty building.

This shopping mall in Shanghai was built in 2009 - inspired by the Pentagon in the United States.

But despite its massive size - 500,000 sq m - there are very few shoppers in sight. The BBC takes a look inside.

[Libertarian]

Has China been reading Krugman? It's as if they saw the huge malls in the USA and got a little mixed up, thinking that big malls make for lots of shopping rather than the other way around.

[Doctor Whom]

Supply induces demand. Robert Reich said so.

[Libertarian]

The same people who ridicule "supply side economics" tout "stimulus" spending. How does that happen?

[PBR Streetgang]

Seriously? What is the explanation for this? It makes no sense and Reich in particular does not get this. We should call it Reich's Third Paradox.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

The Third Reich Paradox?

You know who else..?

[The Last American Hero]

I thought they were following the Field of Dreams School of Economics.

[SugarFree]

Charles Ramsey, the former police chief of Philadelphia, will advise Chicago on potential police reforms.

From a Pennsylvania State Police helicopter, Philadelphia Police Department Lt. Frank Powell proceeded to drop two one-pound bombs (which the police referred to as "entry devices"[15]) made of FBI-supplied water gel explosive, a dynamite substitute, targeting a fortified, bunker-like cubicle on the roof of the house.[1]

The resulting explosions ignited a fire that eventually destroyed approximately 65 nearby houses. The firefighters, who had earlier deluge-hosed the MOVE members in a failed attempt to evict them from the building, stood by as the fire caused by the bomb engulfed the first house and spread to others, having been given orders to let the fire burn. Despite the earlier drenching of the building by firefighters, officials said that they feared that MOVE would shoot at the firefighters.[6][17][1][18] Eleven people (John Africa, five other adults and five children aged 7 to 13) died in the resulting fire and more than 250 people were left homeless.[19] Ramona Africa, one of the two survivors, stated that police fired at those trying to escape.[20]

MOVE

[Citizen X]

You know who else used state violence to get rid of minority groups they found troublesome?

[SugarFree]

Janet Reno?

[Brett L]

Can I get a ruling on whether this is a Godwin violation?

[SugarFree]

Actually, it is just garden variety transphobia.

[Brett L]

I'm certainly afraid of trans-persons who can call out tanks to shoot fire into my house or send men with paramilitary kit to kidnap my children.

[Marshall Gill]

It can't be a Godwin, she also has the postage stamp mustache.

[Doctor Whom]

Andrew Jackson?

[Free Society]

Lon Horiuchi?

[BearOdinson]

-1 Randy Weaver's wife

[Free Society]

"Come get some pancakes"

[Lee G]

Oh just move on already. Old news.

[Hamster of Doom]

A man who should have earned a cigarette against a sunny patch of wall is handed the keys to another city.

They hate us for our freedoms.

[Crusty Juggler]

The documentary about that is very good.

[Lee G]

A more recent example of Philly's police reforms.

TWO CRIMINAL investigators, part of an FBI-led task force, came to Juan Collado's bodega in 2009 to hear his story.

Collado struggled to explain in English how a narcotics squad had barreled into his Tioga store, cut wires to his video-surveillance system and - once the cameras went dark - stole almost $10,000 and cartons of Marlboro Lights.

He asked them for a Spanish interpreter and they promised to return with one. They never did.

Now it's too late.

Last week, news broke that federal prosecutors had decided not to file criminal charges against the officers. And the five-year statute of limitations has run out, not just in Collado's case but for nearly two dozen other merchants with similar allegations.

[Free Society]

The best mobsters have badges.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Remember when France feared the Cathars?

Remember The Cathars!

/spikes football.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

http://www.cathar.info/

[Derpmaster General]

I posted this over the weekend, someone else (Papaya?) did too. Trying to light the John beacon.

Emma Watson something something

[Citizen X]

Oh, you tease.

[Derpmaster General]

I'm not as coy as Crusty

[Citizen X]

You're just as good at linking as SugarFree is, though.

[Derpmaster General]

Not nearly as graphic though.

[WTF]

SF'd the damn link.

[Derpmaster General]

Ahh, fuck, that's what I get for writing HTML on my phone. Or just generally being retarded.

http://tinyurl.com/z5m62n9

[Drake]

Here's some footage of Emma's week in a safe refugee camp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avUViko6TNA

[Citizen X]

You know who else wanted to make certain people go to special camps?

[Derpmaster General]

Autism volunteers?

[Rich]

Hillary Clinton?

[Drake]

The Boy Scouts?

[The Last American Hero]

Kind of funny that a woman who's name we would not know, and who has millions she wouldn't have, if she didn't look the way she looks is all upset about living in such a horrible, sexist world. Good thing she only does Jane Austen period pieces.

It's about as self aware as Jennifer Lawrence complaining about younger women taking away roles from older women in Hollywood.

[Zeb]

Don't expect actors to have a realistic view of the world.

[Lord Humungus]

Norway's Biggest Bank Calls For Country To Stop Using Cash

DNB, the bank with the proposal, has said eliminating the use of cash would cut down on black market sales and crimes such as money laundering.

"Today, there is approximately 50 billion kroner in circulation and [the country's central bank] Norges Bank can only account for 40 percent of its use. That means that 60 percent of money usage is outside of any control. We believe that is due to under-the-table money and laundering," Trond Bentestuen, a DNB executive, told Norwegian website VG, the Local reported.

"There are so many dangers and disadvantages associated with cash, we have concluded that it should be phased out," he added.

[Lee G]

It wouldn't have anything to do with the onerous taxes, now would it?

[DJF]

"""That means that 60 percent of money usage is outside of any control. ""

I am betting that the 60% is under control, just not the control of the bankers

[Citizen X]

The little bit that each normal citizen has under his or her control doesn't count as being "under control." As we all know, only Top. Men. are capable of making wise decisions regarding resource expenditures.

[Mickey Rat]

Two questions:

Not under control of what?

and

Why, exactly, is that a bad thing?

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

"There are so many dangers and disadvantages associated with cash, we have concluded that it should be phased out," he added."

We can't trace it making our jobs to control (for the children) that much more difficult.

[Illocust]

God, I really hope this isn't going to happen. I run a candy bar at work for donations, and lets be realistic no one is going to go through the trouble of donating using paypal.

[BearOdinson]

Maybe they can just trade directly in other commodities?

1 pack of sticky notes = A Three Musketeers bar
2 boxes of staples = 10 red vines
1 blow job = 2 Snickers bars

[Elspeth Flashman]

so then it would be like prison?

[R C Dean]

What do you mean, so then it would be like prison?

[Elspeth Flashman]

Good point.

[bacon-magic]

I've got 2 snickers bars and an almond joy for a swallower...

[Bubba Jones]

That plus the fees.

How much does paypal spend on lobbying?

[Zeb]

If cash did get eliminated (which I also hope never happens), I don't think paypal would be the alternative. Probably would get tied into phones somehow, which they already have in Japan and other places.

[Zeb]

Funny, I'd call that an argument against eliminating cash.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

This sounds like a good argument for eliminating central banks.

[Zeb]

That too.

[Lord Humungus]

Michael Bay Is the Auteur America Deserves

VICE: In 13 Hours and in Armageddon, street-smart guys outsmart Ivy-League, government types. What draws you to this theme?

Michael Bay: People sitting at desks are not always the smartest ones?it's people in the trenches that figure stuff out. We've learned that through history. I was in a geology class taught by a world tectonic expert at Wesleyan, and he said a very poignant thing one day. He [said], "Listen: If we have a nuclear catastrophe, it's going to be the carpenters and plumbers that fix this world." [The theme is] a wish-fulfillment thing, but it's also reality and a lot of facts and a lot of stories that I've heard.

[Brett L]

And hot chicks always stand in front of American flags at dawn just before things blow up! He's just telling it like it is!

[Illocust]

Hmmm, between a government bureaucrat and a plumber it's no question who I'd rather weather out the apocalypse with, but honestly I'd prefer a private industry engineer with access to a library. The engineer will make a lot of boneheaded mistakes to start with, but they'll eventually figure it out. Their understanding of the technical side would be a huge tragedy if lost, though.

[commodious spittoon]

Their understanding of the technical side would be a huge tragedy if lost, though.

You just condemned a man to die.

[Hamster of Doom]

Controversial statement - they should have named it something else. The only common ground between the book and the movie was the titular antagonist.

[commodious spittoon]

Is it worth a read? It's been on the list but steadily falling lower.

[Hamster of Doom]

The book is definitely worth the read. I thought it excellent; an interesting take on BTDT subjects, well-written, with a fresh technique.

The movie made me think less of everyone involved.

[Anomalous]

Michael Bay is da bomb. Or, his movies use lots of bombs.

[Agammamon]

But not the one it *needs* right now.

[Lord Humungus]

Justin Trudeau Tells Leo DiCaprio To Tone It Down On Climate Change

The movie star had told the World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain town of Davos on Wednesday that corporate greed was causing climate change and "enough is enough."

At a dinner later in the day, Trudeau, elected in October as the head of a Liberal government, took the 41-year-old actor to task.

"I pointed out that both Alberta and Canada have new governments over the past year that are committed to action on climate change...and that there are families suffering, out of work, who need to be supported, and inflammatory rhetoric doesn't necessarily help those families or help Canada," Trudeau said as he recounted his remarks to reporters on Friday.

"He actually said if we took concrete action on climate change he would be the first to come up and celebrate with us."

[Lee G]

Poor Justin, now he's on the receiving end of all that criticism.

[WTF]

"He actually said if we took concrete action on climate change he would be the first to come up and celebrate with us."

Leo lectured after he got off his giant private jet.

[Doctor Whom]

When celebrities or those politicians who play for the right team do it, Mother Gaia forgives them. I thought everyone knew that.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I weep that these are the people making decisions. Trudeau at least mildly grasps, I think, Canada is essentially a resourced-based economy (yeh services and all that) but we don't have a developed finished goods economy so resources bring in cash into the country to pay for all the free shit.

One has to hope there some sort of inner cabal within our governments that blocks out all the stupid shit. Canada pretty much functions as such but still...

I'm gonna work on my Urban Assault Vehicle. Just in case.

[Illocust]

From everything I'm hearing Trudeau is basically running everything the same. It seems like an article comes out nearly every week saying he tried to change something but then found out it was impractical and backed off.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

He's just changing the language. Insipid phrases like 'Canada is back' and the use of warmly buzz words like 'diversity'.

It's the politics of imagery. You guys should know it by now.

[Citizen X]

"Canada is back, uh, if that's ok with you."

[But Enough About Me]

Give him time. He hasn't had a full session of Parliament yet to wildly fuck with Confederation. Too busy taking selfies with the vacuous airheads who worship his hair and youth.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I forgot the uber-pseudo-smart sounding 'Canada is open for business.'

I want to know who took the 'Closed' sign off Parliament.

[SugarFree]

"This is going to be horrible," Donald's hair whispered.

"Stop whining, bitch. At least you aren't jammed in his back pocket," Donald's hat groused.

Sarah stumbled out on the stage, waving to the crowd of braying retards the campaign had recruited from the line of people waiting for blind dates at Frisch's Big Boy.

"What in the holy fuck is she wearing?" the hair rhetoricalled.

"Dammit. What does it look like? Tell me!" the hat demanded.

"It's? I don't really fucking know. It's like a half cape covered in, I dunno, stainless steel ziti, maybe?"

"Say what? Oh, Christ, Donald! I think he had nothing to eat yesterday except hard-boiled eggs."

"It jangles," the hair said, with growing horror. "I think she made it herself, some sort of deranged Bedazzler seizure."

"I told you we should have got appearance approval," the hat said.

"Her handlers said no. They said they'd rather shock her back into her crate and take her back to Mooserape, Alaska."

[SugarFree]

"Son of a fuck. It's like Fart City, USA down here," the hat groaned. "Wait? what did she just say?"

"No clue, dude," the hair said. "It's like a homeless street preacher. You just sort of tune her out after a while. I think she rhymed 'holy rollers' with 'rock 'n' rollers.'"

"I can barely hear down here in assland," the hat said. "And the crowd noise."

"They are pretty much cheering and clapping at random," the hair sneered.

"Sarah is a genius. Sarah is a wonderful. I love Sarah. Sarah is so smart. And the crowd is all geniuses. Geniuses. You two should shut up. You two shut up about Sarah. I don't care about much weight she's put on. I love her," Donald muttered.

"Calm down, Donald," the hair whispered. It massaged his head to soothe him.

"Yes, calm down," the hat said. "And please stop farting."

"I'm not farting," Donald said, his words almost lost in the torrent of madness from Sarah and the sounds of the crowd touching themselves. "I'm making my butt cheeks clap for Sarah. My dear Sarah."

[Citizen X]

Beautiful.

[R C Dean]

Very nice work, SF.

[WTF]

Surprisingly tame for a SF story. I'm guessing there will be more.

[SugarFree]

"And then WTF passed out face down in Lord Humungus' swampy ass."

[WTF]

You bastard. I really wish I hadn't laughed at that.

[Lord Humungus]

Swampy? I have buns of steel thanks to my Warty workout 😉

[Citizen X]

WARTYCISE does give you buns of steel. Unfortunately, those buns are located on your neck.

[SugarFree]

Swamp ass is sweaty ass, not mushy ass.

[Lord Humungus]

ah I was thinking of something gaseous with weak, soft footing

[Hamster of Doom]

Swamp crack, ball soup, backdoor air conditioning....

[Crusty Juggler]

Pics?

[WTF]

*Hurls into waste basket on side of desk*

[Hamster of Doom]

Kitchens get hot. I've heard many euphemisms.

[Slammer]

Fart City, US

Nice.

[R C Dean]

I liked "Mooserape, Alaska".

[invisible furry hand]

my butt cheeks are clapping

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Crusty told me he'd do Sarah in nothing but a stainless steal ziti blouse.

Anyone catch Fey resurrect Palin on SNL? I only watched maybe a minute before changing because that shit is dated, man.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

changing channel that is.

[Citizen X]

Thanks for clearing that up. I would have assumed you'd gone out to the woodshed to change flannels 'cause you'd gotten maple syrup and poutine gravy all over the ones you had on.

[The Tone Police]

That's a given.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I read the sentence and said, 'I'm leaving myself open to the retarded wolves...'

[Slammer]

retarded wolves

Good band name?

[Citizen X]

Like a moose trapped in a snowbank.

[Libertarian]

"Crusty told me he'd do Sarah in nothing but a stainless steal ziti blouse."

And what would she be wearing?

[SugarFree]

A full body suit made from his back hair.

[Lord Humungus]

Brazil prison breakout: Inmates blow up wall to escape

Forty inmates escaped from jail in the eastern Brazilian city of Recife after a bomb was used to blow a hole in an external wall, authorities there say.

Most of the prisoners were captured after a manhunt through local streets lasting several hours, but two were killed and one remains at large.

It is the second mass breakout in the area in a week.

On Wednesday, 53 men escaped from another jail on the city outskirts and only 13 of them have since been found.

[Slammer]

When they're found make them pay for the new wall.

[straffinrun]

It'll be UUUUGE.

[Illocust]

Unless you're a lifer, why would you want to escape? You'll live constantly trying to avoid all government, and if caught you'll have even more time in jail with pissed off jailers. Maybe it's easier to get a new identity down there.

[The Tone Police]

Because prison is awful and freedom, even if you're on the lam, is way better.

[straffinrun]

Also, I'm sure the ass sex doesn't follow campus consent rules.

[Bubba Jones]

I think prison is full of people who fail to consider long term consequences.

And they probably figure they're going to be criminals once they get out, anyway. Why wait?

[Hamster of Doom]

I think prison is full of people who fail to consider long term consequences.

So are the voting booths.

[SugarFree]

Donald Trump Heckles Protester Wearing Turban: 'He Wasn't Wearing One of Those Hats, Was He?'

"For I am a jealous ball cap."

[Slammer]

What I would have said to you last night had you not cum and then fallen asleep

Alas, friend of mine, you have had an orgasm and are falling asleep. I have not had an orgasm and am not falling asleep, which means I am awake, which means I am now going to lecture you about feminism.
Who are you? (Big questions.) You are anyman, everyman, you are one of any number of lucky bastards with whom I have happened to roll into bed because baby, it's been a few months and none of the cute activists are texting me back. Or maybe you are a cute activist who texted me back ? in which case listen up, buddy, because this one's for you, too.
Who are you? You're a decent guy. You're solid. I do not feel like you are going to rape me. (Yay! Let's throw a party!)
No, you're not a bad guy. The sex wasn't particularly bad, either. And I know bad sex. I know sex that tastes like coercion and I know sex that tastes like endings and I know sex that tastes like hand sanitizer, which is a bad thing to put on your hands before you finger someone.
No, friend, it was not bad sex. It was normal sex. Normal, boring, vaguely dehumanizing hetero sex.
Which is precisely the point: The normalcy.

[Lee G]

Passive aggressive narcissism is always an attractive feature in a potential partner.

[Crusty Juggler]

I guess no one is going to comment on how good my butt looks this morning.

[Lee G]

You should blame the patriarchy

[Citizen X]

Your butt looks like two hams in a garbage bag, which is also, oddly, what Lee brought for lunch.

[Crusty Juggler]

Two delicious hams.

[Drake]

I'm falling asleep just reading her nonsense. If I just had an organism, I would be in a coma while she prattled gibberish.

[Slammer]

Dear friend lying next to me, drifting your pleasured way into dreamland, tomorrow I will leave your house.

Tomorrow morning I will take the metro home, and I will be very caught up in self-righteous orgasm anger and meanwhile there will be people all around me, laboring people, impoverished people. And it will feel ridiculous, then, to be a wealthy lady with freedom of mobility and an income and no pressure to marry whose biggest complaint is that dudes don't give her enough sexual pleasure.

But here's the thing: Gender ideologies, like other oppressive ideologies, work at every level. Because they structure or constitute our experiences of the world, we can see them in issues from basic right to food and shelter to these issues of sexual pleasure. We can understand them as affecting not only our right to life, but our right to beautiful life. Our right to pursue lives of richness, our right to embodiment, our right to lives wherein pleasure is possible.

[Citizen X]

I dunno, wealthy lady, maybe try having a better personality? It's just a thought.

Failing that, you could try asking for what you want, instead of expecting dude to read your mind and just know.

[Hamster of Doom]

I know sex that tastes like hand sanitizer, which is a bad thing to put on your hands before you finger someone.

My favorite part.

[Citizen X]

If her fuckbuddy is applying Purell to her region, that's a pretty wise move on his part.

[SugarFree]

I would imagine that he should have used it after. And by used it, I mean "dip his genitals in it."

[Citizen X]

Dip 'em till his eyes water and he gets hammer-toe.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

you could try asking for what you want, instead of expecting dude to read your mind and just know.

reply to this

Stop your patriarchal microagressing mansplaining!

[Rasilio]

Well according to the article she kinda did.

She asked him to go down on her and he refused using some BS line about only going down on people he's in love with.

I mean I am not totally against her position here, most guys are bad in bed specifically because they don't care about getting her off and really won't even try (and usually haven't the slightest clue how if they did try) so she probably does have some legit complaints, however....

Where she goes off the rails is where she tries to make that into some form of horrible gender oppression and a symbol of the hated patriarchy, and where she refuses to take any ownership for the role she played in it.

I mean the guy said no to going down on you and apparently didn't do anything else to help get you off and you didn't put a stop to the whole affair right there? It's not like this was someone you were in a relationship with where yeah, sometimes you have to take one for the team (and sometimes he should as well) , no this was a one night stand, the minute he gave her the bs line about going down being saved for love she should have said stop right there and gone into her little tirade about the orgasm gap informing him that if she doesn't get off he won't be either.

And one final note...

If regular old fucking is really forcing that much air into your HooHa I got one word for you, Keigel, you should look it up

[Hamster of Doom]

We're having fun calling women sluts, here, Rasilio. Way to miss the fucking point.

/my ironies, let me show you them

[Rasilio]

But I like sluts and consider being called one to be a compliment.

I'd much rather hang out with a bunch of sluts who openly like sex even if I'm not likely to actually bone any of them than hang out with a bunch of prudes who may or may not like sex but think there is something wrong with admitting it even if I am likely to be boning them

[Hamster of Doom]

Looking around, I appear to hang with men who can be both, and hold ironically conflicting views on when sex positivity or prudism is appropriate.

[Rasilio]

Yes I will agree that most men do suck in this area

[Just say Nikki]

Failing that, you could try asking for what you want, instead of expecting dude to read your mind and just know.

Guys don't normally have to tell me they expect to come when we have sex.

[Citizen X]

If she's complaining about the "normalcy," though, it seems to me that she's looking for a more adventuresome partner, and should probably make that clear.

[Just say Nikki]

No, she's complaining that it's part of the normal hetero sex experience for the woman not to come. Her complaint is that this is a typical experience, which she attributes to structural inequality.

[WTF]

Her complaint is that this is a typical experience

Because she is so self-absorbed she can't imagine that her experience isn't everyone's experience.

[Just say Nikki]

Because she is so self-absorbed she can't imagine that her experience isn't everyone's experience.

More likely because she knows other hetero female humans and knows it isn't considered a requirement of hetero sex for the woman to come before it's over.

Or has experienced popular culture and knows it isn't considered a requirement of hetero sex for the woman to come before it's over.

Or has talked to a guy and knows it isn't considered a requirement of hetero sex for the woman to come before it's over.

[Juice]

The thing is, it's relatively much easier for a guy to come than for a girl to come. So sometimes the whole thing turns into both partners trying to make her come, and if they're both so self-conscious of this, then it can detract from the experience and actually make it harder for her to come. I've noticed that the best female orgasms happen with coming isn't such a conscious priority. There will have been flirting beforehand, then making out, then foreplay and petting, and then sex where the main thought wasn't about trying to make her come. In those occasions, it often happens in that situation that the boy and girl will come together because her orgasm will cause his.

[Just say Nikki]

The thing is, it's relatively much easier for a guy to come than for a girl to come.

And this is totally not socially conditioned.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Honestly, 8th Grade Sex Ed should just be a semester of listening to this song for an hour, over and over.

[Juice]

And this is totally not socially conditioned.

I think it's just physiology.

[Citizen X]

Well, beats me why some dudes suck. It sure ain't my scene.

[Azathoth!!]

No, she's complaining that it's part of the normal hetero sex experience for the woman not to come. Her complaint is that this is a typical experience, which she attributes to structural inequality.

Typical for her.

[Bubba Jones]

Maybe she should try having sex with the same guy more than once. Sounds like it takes some practice for her.

[Just say Nikki]

Weird that men expect to have an orgasm during sex no matter how many times they've been with a given partner.

[Rasilio]

Some of us don't

It is a pretty regular occurrence when tired or pressed for time for me to just get my wife off with some combination of my hands, mouth, and toys and then get up and be done with it

[Juice]

Weird that men expect to have an orgasm during sex no matter how many times they've been with a given partner.

Most guys have anxiety about coming too soon during the first time with a woman, actually.

[Zeb]

Yeah, it's not so much that they expect it as that it's pretty inevitably what happens. Of course that leads to the expectation. And I would say that that makes it pretty not weird that the expectation exists.

[SFC B]

I'll bet her massive hang-ups about sex have nothing to do with the difficulty she apparently has in achieveing orgasm. Nope. Totally the guy's fault.

[Bubba Jones]

As if men object to women having orgasms.

[Florida Man]

It turns me right off if the chick enjoys it. How can we both have fun?!? The nerve.

[robc]

Sex is a zero dum game...duh!

[Lord Humungus]

She would be fun to take camping.

[Citizen X]

She'd probably be on her monthly and not tell you, and then complain about all the bear attacks.

[Free Society]

the nerve of that woman

[Florida Man]

I saw a Florida panther this weekend, but I have yet to see a bear in the wild. Maybe I should take this lady with me next time.

[SugarFree]

Here's the same author talking about pulling a train in high school. I guess there's always a guy that will fuck anything.

[Brett L]

Maybe that's why a single friend can't get her off.

[Lord Humungus]

+1 It Takes a Village

[invisible furry hand]

From the comments:

This is the a perfect example of I made a choice, I woke up regretting the choice and now my internal conflict about why I made that choice is a social injustice.

[Citizen X]

What is a person with that much sense doing hanging out on Feministing?

[Anomalous]

Perfect.

[straffinrun]

"Am I pretty?". I do the tuck in front of the mirror and repeat, "I'd fuck me".

[commodious spittoon]

God DAMNIT.

[Citizen X]

I do not miss my college housemates.

[The Tone Police]

Behold, the quintessential self-absorption of a Harvard Women's Studies major:

http://harvard2015.com/classday.html

[Crusty Juggler]

The important section is Harvard. Lucky for us she will always work.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Meh. Celebrity was given the green light to enter matters policy that affect people a while ago. So it's not surprising once serious publications and institutions opening their doors to them however vacuous and silly they may be.

E.G:

Clooney pretending to be a politician.

Spaceyat the World Economic Summit.

Bono shows up to all of them and then goes and sings. The last two sharing, naturally, a selfie with Justin.

I remember Jolie getting a prominent page in The Economist years ago - which is when I stopped reading it.

[Bubba Jones]

I am confused. She fails to mention whether she got to scissor her girl friend. This article is worthless without knowing whether she got baited and switched.

[JW]

Here's the same author talking about pulling a train in high school. I guess there's always a guy that will fuck anything.

I offer as evidence: http://thumbnails.thecrimson.c.....pscale.jpg

[Slammer]

Sandra Bernhard, is that you?

[Illocust]

If you didn't get what you wanted out of the sex, then why are you having it? Why are you silently steaming as he falls asleep rather than giving directions during sex for what will get you off too? Maybe this is why feminism is so caught up in female empowerment. It seems like every activist is incapable of speaking to the opposite sex.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Or just rub one out and call it a night, as men everywhere do on the many many occasions on which their partner goes to sleep without sex.

[Florida Man]

Or try having sex with a regular partner instead of hooking up at random.

[Hamster of Doom]

I never noticed much difference in success rate.

[Florida Man]

Sure, but what she is trying isn't working. Some women need the trust/intimacy part for organism.

[commodious spittoon]

I don't see what microbiota has to do with this.

[Just say Nikki]

Come on, HoD, stop denying it. Women have to practice with the same guy over and over before it's fair to expect him to get it right.

[SugarFree]

I'd suggest being suspicious of the guy who gets it right the first time. All the mystery is gone and you probably have a bunch of different kinds of HPV afterward.

[Hamster of Doom]

In fairness, I suspect the common denominator in this equation was me, y'all. I thought that was more clear in my first statement.

I'm not the type to settle for inadequate sex. It's too bloody easy to wrestle for top.

[SugarFree]

I'm not the type to settle for inadequate sex.

We should also entertain the possibility she was looking for bad sex so she could write about it. Or the scenario was invented from whole cloth.

[Citizen X]

Hey man, some of us are just really talented.

[SugarFree]

Hey man, some of us are just really talented.

There is also the issue of all the women who faked an orgasm or just did speak up during and after bad sex. All you are really doing is passing the problem on to someone else.

[Florida Man]

Come on, HoD, stop denying it. Women have to practice with the same guy over and over before it's fair to expect him to get it right.

Reading fail. Some women need, does not mean all women need. I thought you would understand women are individuals.

[Illocust]

Why did you go back if it wasn't enjoyable? I seriously don't get the logic here. If it's outside of a relationship there is no point in having sex you don't enjoy. If it is inside a relationship there is no reason not to work towards something you both enjoy, and if the other party won't try why are you in a relationship with them?

You all have relatively healthy bodies capable on enjoying sex. Why don't you take advantage of it?

[Just say Nikki]

The logic here has nothing to do with individual instances of sex or individual partners. It has to do with the fact that most people do not have the expectation that a successful bout of hetero sex must involve orgasms on the part of both participants, so the things you are saying a woman is supposed to have to talk about and explain to her partner are not things he would be expected to have to talk about and explain to her.

[Zeb]

It has to do with the fact that most people do not have the expectation that a successful bout of hetero sex must involve orgasms on the part of both participants

I think that expectation (or lack of expectation) mostly comes from experience and observation. Whether there is some inherent physiological difference that means it is necessarily the case that women need more time and effort to come, I don't know. But it certainly does seem to be the real situation for a lot of people. And it sort of makes sense biologically. The male orgasm is pretty essential to reproduction and female orgasms are not.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The male orgasm is pretty essential to reproduction and female orgasms are not.

Except that during the female orgasm, the cervix thrusts forward into the vagina to lap up pooled semen into its external orifice with muscular contractions providing vacuum.

[Zeb]

I'm not saying it is useless, but it's definitely quite possible to become pregnant without it.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm not saying it is useless, but it's definitely quite possible to become pregnant without it.

It is possible. But the probability increases dramatically with a female orgasm. Again, though, I'd be careful either way ascribing unfalsifiable evolutionary "just-so" stories to explain biological functions. The fact is we don't know why men or women experience orgasm or how orgasm evolved.

[Illocust]

It's a little bit more than possible. Most of our pro-abortion laws were pushed through based upon rape babies.

Also, where are you getting your facts? My quick Google puts the female orgasm helps pregnancy in the same vein as lying down after sex or wearing the right types of crystals. Very little research and lots of mystical natural mumbo jumbo.

[Illocust]

It's easier for a guy to orgasm during sex than a woman, that's biology (makes sense when you consider that only sex that results in male orgasms results in genes being passed on to the next generation. That's really strong selective pressure). As someone pointed out up thread, guys generally have to worry about trying not to orgasm too early. Unlike guys, it apparently varies widely what it takes to get a woman off. It says nothing about culture that something that varies by the individual has to be explained on an individual basis while something that is near universal can just be assumed.

Which roles back to the main point. If you aren't enjoying it, why are you doing it? One night stands take work. It's easier to go back to your own bedroom and pass out alone.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's easier for a guy to orgasm during sex than a woman

Only if you define "sex" as penis/vagina intercourse and ignore the other 30 flavors of Baskin-Robbins.

[Illocust]

Yeah, I'm describing sex as the default. Cest the argument seems to be revolving around socialized vs. biology, it seems reasonable to consider the biological necessity instead of the developed. Other types of sex could be argued that they were socialized for one gender to gain pleasure, but penis in vagina is about as straight up evolved necessity as you can get. You aren't socialized to want it (though you can be socialized not to want it).

[Heroic Mulatto]

Other types of sex could be argued that they were socialized for one gender to gain pleasure, but penis in vagina is about as straight up evolved necessity as you can get.

And yet, various other animals, including insects, have been observed performing non-genetic material swapping sex. Again, you can't separate sex acts into "socialized" and "biologically necessary" without some sort of unfalsifiable evo-psych "just-so" story.

[Azathoth!!]

And yet...insects, have been observed performing non-genetic material swapping sex.

Cite?

[Zeb]

Only if you define "sex" as penis/vagina intercourse and ignore the other 30 flavors of Baskin-Robbins.

Well, a lot of people do. And in pretty much any sexual activity involving the penis, it's generally easier for the man to come (though perhaps I lack imagination). I'm having a hard time figuring out what people are actually arguing about here.

[Jerryskids]

To be fair it's not just "most people" - I'm pretty sure that female squirrel out in the yard getting chased by that male squirrel has no expectation that a successful bout of hetero sex must involve orgasms on the part of both participants, nor is she thinking the male squirrel is engaged in attempted rape nor that her receptivity to sex being predicated on the male offering her some nuts and a warm comfy hole in a tree makes her a prostitute. Biologically speaking, there's no need for sex to be pleasurable at all so I suspect the pleasurable part of sex is a simple inducement on the part of Mother Nature to get creatures that procreate via sexual reproduction to engage in sexual reproduction as much as possible. The idea that a female should expect to receive as much pleasure from sex as a man may be literally unnatural - the act of engaging in sex being pleasurable may be just an accident. Human sexuality may be one of those cases where humans have brains too big for their own good and we attach more baggage to the thing than it can carry.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

She's out to prove that the problem is with all men and not her.

[Zeb]

I'd say the problem is with both. Most people probably need to communicate better about sex. And many men do not put a priority on their partner's pleasure.

The silly part is trying to make it about some kind of gender oppression rather than about people's awkwardness when it comes to sex.

[Hamster of Doom]

Well put, Zeb.

[Mickey Rat]

It is oppressing her if her partner cannot read her mind.

[Just say Nikki]

Does a woman have to read your mind to know you want to come during sex?

[Florida Man]

Yes

[Hamster of Doom]

I'm going to comment because otherwise this will be ignored in deafening silence.

Nice.

[Jerryskids]

Reading a man's mind is hardly a feat to brag about - it's the large print edition and there's no multi-syllable words. Men are such simple creatures that they have a hard time even comprehending that women are not simple creatures much less how to comprehend them. Women get exasperated that men have to be told every simple little thing that women just naturally comprehend and don't seem to grasp that men aren't refusing to comprehend subtle messages as some way of being obstinate or mean or willfully stupid - you're asking a blind man to tell the difference between a green crayon and a red crayon.

For example, men don't deal with their feelings by discussing them, they deal with their feelings by hitting stuff. Women wish men would be more open to discussing their feelings because women don't grasp the fact that men only have two feelings - I feel like hitting stuff and I don't feel like hitting stuff. We don't "deal with our feelings" by hitting stuff - "hitting stuff" is the extent of our feelings and how the hell do you expect to have a conversation about that?

[Jerryskids]

Just as an aside: Long ago I was dating this girl for a while, she wanted to go out for dinner, so, sure fine, I'll pick you up we'll go out to dinner. I pick her up, I ask her where she wants to go, she says it doesn't matter, she doesn't care. Not being retarded, I pressure her a little to express an opinion - Chinese? Italian? Steak? It doesn't matter, she doesn't care. So we go to my favorite BBQ place, on the way home she's acting miffed. "What's wrong?" "Nothing." Except it's the "nothing" that means there's now two things wrong and one of them is that you don't know what's wrong. Screw it, I'm tired, I don't want to play this game. You tell me nothing's wrong, I ain't gonna try to guess.

So the next day she explains to me - what's wrong is you didn't notice I was dressed up nicely and wanted to go to a nice place, not a BBQ joint so obviously you don't care. Yeah, baby, I did care - that's why I asked you three goddamn times where you wanted to go. And you know the worse part? I did notice you were dressed up nice - and I thought you were dressed up nice for me and it made me feel good to know you thought enough of me to make an effort to try to impress me. And now I find out you weren't dressing up nice for me, you were dressing up nice because you thought you would get a better meal out of the deal? Here, have my ego, I don't need it any more.

[Juice]

A lot of them seem like the gender opposite of the Fedora'd "nice guy."

[Crusty Juggler]

I wonder if she's currently seeing anyone.

[Hamster of Doom]

I'm willing to hazard that she's available.

[SugarFree]

Keep in mind, this bright light went to Harvard.

[The Tone Police]

I'm legitimately baffled that immaturity can now be peddled in the guise of deep think-pieces and people buy in to it. You had bad sex; most people move the hell on and apply what they've learned from it to the next encounter. But noooo, you have to turn it into an essay about....something.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Being perpetually aggrieved is more important that actually doing something about your problems.

[Mickey Rat]

If you find normal sex dehumanizing, perhaps your understanding of being human is flawed.

[Lord Humungus]

Michael Barone: Americans tired of elites who consider them stupid and vicious

It's a story, as even some Americans notice, that shows the underside of a European multiculturalism that insists that all cultures are morally equal, except ours, which is worse. The result is that authorities don't demand that Muslims respect the rights of women and gays, as in Rotherham, England, where they allowed immigrants to degrade 1,400 women for a decade, lest they be called racist.

Ordinary people can see, when elites allow them to see, that this gets things upside down. Human rights, toleration of those who are different, safety for those who exercise freedom of expression ? these are products of the West, not the rest.

The hard question is how far tolerant societies should tolerate the intolerant. Societies value freedom of expression, but not when those include freedom to assault and kill. Societies are ready to welcome others, but not those whose values are discordant with the freedoms they strive to uphold.

Ordinary Americans, I think, have a better sense of how to get these questions right, without dissolving into irrational hatred, than the elites who look down on them as stupid and vicious.

[Hamster of Doom]

Human rights, toleration of those who are different, safety for those who exercise freedom of expression ? these are products of the West, not the rest.

Stated versus revealed preferences.

[Lord Humungus]

Donald Rumsfeld: Donald Trump has 'touched a nerve in our country'

Rumsfeld, who served under President George W. Bush for most of both terms, has stayed quiet about the current slate of Republican presidential candidates but said Trump has "caused people to respond in a way that most politicians have not been able to do."

The former congressman also directly addressed criticism by the senior Bush in his authorized biography last fall. President George H.W. Bush called Rumsfeld an "arrogant fellow" who served "the president badly."

At the time, Rumsfeld fired back, attributing the harsh words on the age of the elder Bush, who is 91.

On TODAY, Rumsfeld said he and the elder Bush never had a close relationship.

"We were never close. He was kind of 'to the manor born' and I wasn't," he said, adding that he also questioned the motivation and timing of the criticism.

[Slammer]

Anti-drone shotgun rounds

[WTF]

Birdshot?

[straffinrun]

Bolo

[Florida Man]

Seems unnecessary. Welp, off to buy more zombie rounds.

[Ken Shultz]

I've seen others that are working on shot that disrupts the electronics.

Incidentally, I don't know if anyone else has been watching The Expanse, but it's the only show I've seen with drones buzzing around everywhere.

From now on, we should expect all sci-fi to account for drones and driverless cars in all film/tv productions. Otherwise, sci-fi will be overtaken by reality in the very near future.

You might be able to get away with human drivers in post apocalyptic sci-fi, but that'll be it. Or maybe someone will write a true to life story in the future about a man named Shultz who goes completely berzerk when the government finally comes to take his non-self driving motorcycle away.

[sarcasmic]

it's the only show I've seen with drones buzzing around everywhere.

I noticed that as well.

[Ken Shultz]

Incidentally, anybody else see this video of a guy rigging a Glock on his drone and firing it remotely?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI--wFfipvA

[Citizen X]

The same kid apparently built another drone with a flamethrower on it.

[Lord Humungus]

A long, hard look into Anthony Weiner's downfall

Throughout the film, Weiner displays an arrogance as swollen as his briefs, responding to a random detractor in a bakery who calls him a "scumbag" that "it takes one to know one," then getting in a shouting match with the citizen. When his own polling expert tells him he has zero chance of victory and is bailing, Weiner refuses to listen to reason and muses about saving himself via a "Bulworth" moment of unhinged hard-left appeals. He is seen chuckling at video of his disastrous, out-of-control interview with MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell, while a disbelieving Abedin asks, "Why are you laughing?" After his concession speech, Weiner is photographed giving the finger to photographers.

Later, he has his only moment of true clarity in the film, when he says, "I can't believe I gave the press the finger. I have this virtually unlimited ability to f-?-k things up." One of the filmmakers replies (in a line that drew huge laughs), "Why are you letting us film this?"

There's even a brilliant cameo by Donald Trump, who is seen in a news clip saying, "We don't want perverts elected in New York City. No perverts!"

[Crusty Juggler]

It wasn't really long...

[Anomalous]

I applaud the headline writer.

[Irish ?s ESB]

"Later, he has his only moment of true clarity in the film, when he says, "I can't believe I gave the press the finger. I have this virtually unlimited ability to f-?-k things up." One of the filmmakers replies (in a line that drew huge laughs), "Why are you letting us film this?""

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[Rich]

Seconded. It's probably worth seeing the film just for that!

[Juvenile Bluster]

Melissa Click, aka the crazy Missouri professor from last year's protests, has been charged with 3rd Degree assault for her, well, assault of a student journalist.

Still employed though.

[BearOdinson]

So a female professor is accused of assault (against a journalism student no less), but she is innocent until proven guilty. Even though she is on video doing exactly what she is accused of.

A male student is accused of sexual assualt, and he is guilty because she said so. Therefore must be expelled and given a "scarlet letter" so he can't even go to a different school. All without a trial to prove his guilt.

Well, I guess that's fair.

[Anomalous]

Because patriarchy! Or something.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Remember when Tulpa shat all over the site with his inane argument that her actions in no way constituted assault?

[Mainer2]

First thing I thought of, actually. I seem to recall lawyer Dean pointing out that assault does not require physical harm, and Tulpa arguing it does, or should

[tarran]

I think everyone should give Tulpa a break.

The poor guy clearly never recovered from the horrible trauma caused when he almost drank kosher coke because that store negligently intermingled it with non-kosher coke on their shelves?

[commodious spittoon]

I had to google that one.

Wow. That is some asinine shit.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The elephant in the room is that Passover Coke is closer to the original formula than HFCS Coke.

[R C Dean]

We can get actual Mexican Coke pretty easy around here.

I use it strictly as a mixer. Jack and Coke is a nostalgia trip for both Mrs. Dean and me, on account of our mis-spent youth.

[Irish ?s ESB]

I forgot how hilarious that was. The best part is that Kosher coke has a yellow cap with Hebrew writing on it and Tulpa seriously thought a supermarket selling this to him constituted fraud, despite it being clearly marked as different from non-Kosher coke.

[Heroic Mulatto]

And that incident had nothing to do with Tulpa's anti-semitism. Nope, it was entirely the argument of a connoisseur of soft drinks who developed such a refined palate that he can distinguish between monosaccharides and disaccharides.

[SugarFree]

Well, now that a figure of authority has said it is assault, Tulpa will fall in line. Or fall to his knees.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm not sure. I still think it's a coin toss as to whether he'll do what you say, or just maintain his reflexive contrarianism by adopting an argument from an imagined technicality or loophole. Again, it has stated that it argues from no one set of consistent principals, but rather adopts whatever viewpoint it believes to be contrary to what it perceives to be the popular one held here. There is a name for that.

[Mainer2]

Jackass ?

[SugarFree]

True. Changing a position is admitting fault to his kind.

[commodious spittoon]

So putting hands on the kid is one thing, what about calling for muscle to force him off the green? Is that actionable, too?

[Anomalous]

If she's tenured, she'll probably be drawing her salary right up until she's convicted.

[Mainer2]

I think you mean until all appeals are exhausted and she is actually incarcerated...and even then.....

[Free Society]

Egypt says King Tut mask was scratched, sends 8 to trial

A year ago, a museum conservator who was present at the time of the repair told the Associated Press that epoxy had dried on the face of the boy king's mask and that a colleague used a spatula to remove it, leaving scratches. Another conservator who inspects the artifact regularly also saw the scratches and said it was clear that they had been made by a tool used to scrape off the epoxy. They both spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.

Egypt apparently, can't seem to find any qualified personnel to maintain it's ancient artifacts. One of the items used to scrape off hastily applied epoxy was apparently a spatula .

[Heroic Mulatto]

Unfortunately, all archaeological digs and antiquities in Egypt fall under the control of Zahi Hawass, who is that special combination of corrupt and batshit insane.

[Lee G]

The History Channel frowns on your judgmental attitude towards Minister Hawass.

[Heroic Mulatto]

The History Channel can kiss my ancient astronaut-denying ass!

[Free Society]

A friend of mine is just super duper into ancient astronaut theory. The concept of Occam's Razor is lost on him, meanwhile he genuinely asserts that some type III civilization traveled possibly thousands of lightyears to come to earth just to move some rocks around.

[R C Dean]

The great thing about gold is, its soft, and you can burnish out just about any scratch.

[Mainer2]

So you're saying the Egyptian antiquities people will find a way to fuck that up, too ?

[Juice]

But they won't be able to polish it to the smoothness that only comes from sitting still for 4000 years.

[Illocust]

New low in leftist anti-Semitism reported over at Slate. Wonder how long until it's back in vogue to openly hate the Jews. Also, does anyone know why people still hate Jews? This isn't the middle ages, bankers come in all different religions now. It makes no sense to single these guys out as opposed to say, Asians.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/out.....mitic.html

[R C Dean]

Wonder how long until it's back in vogue to openly hate the Jews.

In many circles, its still a badge of honor.

[Lee G]

Then, shortly before the conference began, the Task Force abruptly canceled the reception. It had bowed to pressure from groups like the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, which demanded that the conference's organizers "reject Zionism" and "the forces of oppression and occupation" by kicking out A Wider Bridge.

I think that's a new pinnacle in cognitive dissonance.

[commodious spittoon]

Israel. All Jews must pay for the sins of Israel, whatever those happen to be, and they cannot under any circumstances be mitigated by the acts of Palestinian terrorist groups.

I don't think these people give it much thought. Much like GMOs and climate change, or abortion, or equating opposition to SSM with wanting to stamp out homosexuality, their stance on Israel is an article of faith without much by way of informed opinion.

[Tonio]

The other side of that is, of course, people dishonestly conflating criticism of the nation-state of Israel with anti-semitism. You even see that here with disappointing regularity.

[ant1sthenes]

Wonder how long until it's back in vogue to openly hate the Jews.

Being "pro-Palestinian" isn't quite enough of a dog whistle?

Also, does anyone know why people still hate Jews?

Uh, duh. Jews are the people of God, so if your sympathies lie more with the other guy...

[Elspeth Flashman]

OT: I had the chance to watch a friend's appearance in court today as she did a Preliminary Exam on a murder case. It was a gang-related shooting, and I was watching in the public area. The witnesses were all there to "preserve testimony" or in other words to try to intimidate the defendant into entering a plea . . . because otherwise the plea offer wouldn't be part of what was on the record. Anyhoo, witness #2 gets on the stand, who is a co-defendant who's been given use immunity for his testimony (he'll get a better plea if he cops with testimony). And the dude a few rows in front of me gets up as Witness #2 is testifying, slowly stops before he walks out, and gives this . . . look . . . to the Witness.
That is when I am glad there are metal detectors in court.

[tarran]

The witnesses were all there to "preserve testimony" or in other words to try to intimidate the defendant into entering a plea

WTF?!?

How does that not corrupt their testimony?

[Elspeth Flashman]

The witnesses might disappear before trial, is the way that theory goes - because they're involved in gangs, could be murdered, end up leaving town, etc.
The thing that made me sadly laugh is that the shots were fired through a window that had blanket covering on it, and the alleged shooter didn't hit the intended victim. Sad. But stupid. Know where you are shooting at, and who you might hit. This dude who died could have easily been a friend of the shooter. This was also related to an earlier shooting that killed the alleged shooter's mom. These dudes were all 19 or so.

[R C Dean]

This is interesting, if very preliminary and incomplete:

The murder capital of Britain is actually a sleepy Lincolnshire town - which has also seen the highest increase in migrants in the country.

Boston came top of a list of the local authorities with the most cases of murder, attempted murder or conspiracy to commit murder per 100,000 people, recently released by the Home Office.

Research by the Migration Observatory, based at Oxford University, showed that there was a 467 per cent increase in the number of people born abroad between censuses in 2001 and 2011.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....paign=1490

What's missing is the migrant status of the people arrested/convicted of these murders. I have to think that, if they were all native born, the police would be eager to tell us, so I'm suspicious. Still, without that data, hard to draw any conclusions.

[tarran]

Two murders and eight attempted murders is the numerator.

One of the murders seems to have been a conspiracy between guys with Russian names. My sense is that they've got a Eastern European organized crime problem among other things.

Just two violent gangs could produce such a crime wave.

[R C Dean]

Good point.

Stupid commies. Why would anybody want to import more of them?

/yokel OFF

[Jerryskids]

I saw that - a little town near me has that beat. A few years back a guy killed his wife and the guy she was having an affair with. 2 murders in a town of about 600 = murder city, USA. If you're using per 100,000 pop as your measuring stick, cities under 100,000 kinda skew the numbers.

[R C Dean]

A few years back a guy killed his wife and the guy she was having an affair with.

That's against the law?

Good to know.

[Ammy50]

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[Ammy50]

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Clik This Link inYour Browser....

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[Ammy350]

My last pay check was $9500 working 12 hours a week online. My sisters friend has been averaging 15k for months now and she works about 20 hours a week. I can't believe how easy it was once I tried it out. This is what I do..

Clik This Link inYour Browser....

? ? ? ? http://www.Workpost30.Com