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Pharmabro Smirks at Congress, 16 Indicted Over Oregon Occupation, More Aid Pledged for Syrians: P.M. Links

Scott Shackford | 2.4.2016 4:30 PM

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  • Famously loathed pharmabro Martin Shkreli today was confronted by the only people in America liked less than him: members of Congress. He refused to testify at a hearing about jacking up drug prices, invoked the Fifth Amendment, smirked through the congressional ranting, and then apparently called them "imbeciles" on Twitter.

  • A grand jury has indicted 16 people for roles in the takeover and occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. They are accused of preventing "federal officials from performing their official duties by force, threats, and intimidation."
  • The attorney for one of the activists charged in connection to the making of undercover videos about Planned Parenthood's fetal tissue practices says his client will not accept a plea deal offer that would punish him with probation.
  • Guess what happened to hiring in cities where minimum wages were jacked up in 2015?
  • The bankrupt city of San Bernardino, Calif., has apparently reached an agreement with a creditor over its $50 million in pension obligation bonds, but the details have not been released.
  • Diplomats from 20 different countries around the world today pledged $10 billion to assist Syrians.

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NEXT: Gay Men in the U.K. Have to Lie to Get Access to Gov't-Controlled HIV Meds

Scott Shackford is a policy research editor at Reason Foundation.

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  1. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

    .

    1. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

      Suck it, FoE. 😉

      1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

        I’m not sure you want him to do that.

        1. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

          Hey, beating him to the morning links is damn near impossible. I’ll take a PM slurp whenever I can, teeth and all.

          1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her)   9 years ago

            But he has no teeth; he vomits a caustic digestive agent on his prey and consumes them live.

            Also, first comments have to address a topic to count.

            1. robc   9 years ago

              Most of us ignore tonio’s arbitrary rule.

              1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her)   9 years ago

                Most of us never get an opportunity to challenge it.

              2. Tonio   9 years ago

                For the record, I should not have referred to it as my rule. This was the traditional rule for a very long time. I don’t know who originated it (some help here, Sug?)

                I’m perpetuating it because it’s as good as any, and it also makes the contest bot-proof at least for current known technology.

                I am about nothing if not tradition.

                1. SugarFree   9 years ago

                  I’m not sure either, Tonio. The first game has been going on even before me.

                2. robc   9 years ago

                  Give bots a chance!

                  First post is first post.

            2. Krokko   9 years ago

              Trigger Hippie did make a point…

          2. Los Doyers   9 years ago

            Teeth aren’t always all bad. What’s important is the relaxation of the jaw.

            1. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

              So what did I miss?

              1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

                Blowjobs in your name

              2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

                A toothless happy (sad) ending.

                1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

                  What could you possibly have against gummers?

                  1. Trigger Warning   9 years ago

                    Adhesive residue.

      2. Tonio   9 years ago

        Cute, but not an official first, at least not by the Tonio rules. You need to quote from and comment on an article in the actual links.

        1. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

          You and Bob just had to pee in my Wheaties…

          *shuffles off to find a bottle of wine*

          1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her)   9 years ago

            We can celebrate your first period, though.

            “Today, you are a woman!”

            1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

              Did someone say quincea?era?!

            2. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

              Looks like I may finally be ready to try on training bras soon! I’m so excited!

            3. Tonio   9 years ago

              Menarche. I learned that from Heinlein.

          2. Mickey Rat   9 years ago

            If you eaten your Wheaties before posting you might have the energy and mental sharpness to do something that was not lame.

            1. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

              Fuck that. Eating wine soaked Wheaties AFTER clicking on the PM links is my routine.

      3. Libertymike   9 years ago

        He’s okay with you being first on THIS thread.

        1. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

          I’m okay with everything. I have everyone’s comments blocked but mine anyway.

    2. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      Hello.

      1. Tonio   9 years ago

        Really, Rufus? Flirting with bounders?

        1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

          I flirt with everyone.

          1. Free Society   9 years ago

            *tears up Rufus’ Valentine’s Day card*

            1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

              What can I say? I’m easy.

      2. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

        I’ve looked for love in all the same old places
        Found the bottom of a bottle always dry
        But when you poured out your heart I didn’t waste it
        Cause there’s nothing like your love to get me high

  2. Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper   9 years ago

    Smirking is underrated.

    1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her)   9 years ago

      apparently called them “imbeciles” on Twitter.

      I seem to warming up to this guy’s odd charm, because, YES.

      1. Unicorn Abattoir   9 years ago

        And nobody with a haircut like his can be evil, amirite?

      2. Zeb   9 years ago

        That did give me a little smile.

        On the one hand, he is a smug douchebag and an asshole taking advantage of stupid IP law to enrich himself at others’ expense. On the other hand, he called congress “imbeciles” in a highly visible way.

        1. Libertymike   9 years ago

          Focus on the other hand. At least today.

      3. Kandralla   9 years ago

        He’s awesome because he didn’t answer, didn’t care, and because of that he made politicians whine like little children because they couldn’t force him to comply… he didn’t respect their authoritah.

  3. DEG   9 years ago

    Guess what happened to hiring in cities where minimum wages were jacked up in 2015?

    Less hiring?

    1. LynchPin1477   9 years ago

      Because people were freed from the need to work by Obamacare. Duh.

    2. Tonio   9 years ago

      That can’t be. Why, I am assured by progs… [collapses in fit of laughter]

    3. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

      This article has to be a lie. I’ve been informed that a higher minimum wage leads to more people having more money, which leads to more purchasing, which leads to more hiring, which leads to more purchasing, until eventually everyone is employed! If it’s not working, it’s the fault of greedy KKKORPORATIONS.

    4. creech   9 years ago

      It worked out so well that activists are demanding it be raised to $25/hr?

      1. CatoTheChipper   9 years ago

        Evidently, you didn’t RTFA. I has not worked out so well. That’s why they need to raise it to $25/hour.

        1. CatoTheChipper   9 years ago

          It

        2. JWatts   9 years ago

          Well we haven’t determined if it worked out well or didn’t work out well. But we’re sure we need to raise to $25/hour! /prog

    5. cavalier973   9 years ago

      If a job can’t pay a living wage, it shouldn’t even exist at all, bae.

    6. Always a Carl, Never a Clyde   9 years ago

      This just shows that we need to enact a federal $15 minimum wage.

      1. CatoTheChipper   9 years ago

        An austerity wage like $15/hour probably isn’t enough. It’s a starting point, though. If job creation falters at $15/hour, they can always raise it to $25/hour, and keep raising it until the economy achieves its full potential and full employment.

        Minimum wage edicts are like stimulus programs … and we all know that the answer to any economic problem is moar stimulus.

  4. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

    Prank call leads to fast-food employees smashing windows

    TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) ? Police in Tucson, Arizona, said pranksters convinced employees at a fast food restaurant to smash windows by pretending to be a fire-suppression company.

    The employees received a call around 1 a.m. on Tuesday saying that the gas levels were high and that the building needed to be evacuated. The prankster also convinced employees to smash every window of the building to prevent it from exploding.

    Police say the call was illegal because it resulted in criminal damage.

    Tucson police are investigating the prank.

    1. Ted S.   9 years ago

      Please tell me it was at a Chipotle.

      1. Free Society   9 years ago

        It’s fast casual damn it!

    2. Free Society   9 years ago

      It seems that you can convince fast food employees to do all kinds of crazy shit. They’re not used to having to answer the phone.

    3. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

      Nice.

    4. IceTrey   9 years ago

      And these employees want $15 an hour.

  5. paranoid android   9 years ago

    Maybe he has “resting smirk face”? Has anybody considered that before judging him? Huh?

    Yeah, what’s the per-pill cost for *that* treatment?

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      It’s often fatal if you do it to the wrong person.

    2. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

      That’s some good alt-text, Scott.

    3. Rhywun   9 years ago

      More like resting punch-face.

  6. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

    Diplomats from 20 different countries around the world today pledged $10 billion to assist Syrians.

    Can you pledge money that’s not yours?

    1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

      Put Paul on the “No fucks given for the Children” list!

    2. Jerry on the rocks   9 years ago

      The NGO fatcats will have a field day.

    3. Zeb   9 years ago

      You can pledge all you want.

  7. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

    Missing cat found twice its original size after living for 14 months in a pet food factory

    A family cat which disappeared 14 months ago has piled on the pounds – after he was found living in a nearby PET FOOD factory.

    Two-year-old Norwegian Forest cat Clive disappeared from his home in December 2014 leaving owners Tanya and Jonathan Irons devastated.

    The couple, who have two-year-old daughter Elizabeth, put up posters around the neighbourhood and launched an appeal on Facebook but to no avail.

    Clive was finally found on Wednesday by staff at a pet food factory two miles away, who had noticed treats had been going missing.

    Now the family have been reunited with Clive – who has ballooned to almost twice his original size.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      I think the same thing happened to Rob Kardashian.

    2. Lady Bertrum   9 years ago

      Clive will be starring in the upcoming episode of my 600 pound life.

      Not cool, Clive.

    3. Horatio   9 years ago

      …and upon returning home, promptly kicked Odie.

  8. Matrix   9 years ago

    Afghani kid at 10 years of age heroically leads a group of men in his village to break a siege by the Taliban. He kills many of the Taliban soldiers himself.

    18 year olds in America need their safe space to be protected from hurtful words.

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      So he had to fight the Taliban uphill, both ways? Man, he’s gonna be an awesome grandpa.

      1. Matrix   9 years ago

        He’s dead, unfortunately.

      2. LynchPin1477   9 years ago

        Unfortunately, he was killed.

    2. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

      Holy shit. I wish I were a quarter of the man as that 10-year old. I hope he becomes the protagonist in the next Call of Duty entree.

      1. Matrix   9 years ago

        Indeed. He was a brave boy… braver than most men anywhere. I couldn’t hold a candle to him.

        but fuck, are young adults such wimps.

        And I would agree, so long as Activision donates money to his family or village to help out other young kids in Afghanistan.

        1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

          You just helped me get the best idea ever: Activision sponsors child youth anti-Taliban fighters! They get money and guns and just have to wear a GoPro to in battle! Your sacrifice will be not only remembered by re-lived in the first-person by millions of neckbeards around the world. Hopefully it will actually be good, unlike every FPS army shooter since BC2.

          1. WoodchipperPatriarch   9 years ago

            You misspelled BF1942.

    3. Tonio   9 years ago

      18 year olds in America need their safe space to be protected from hurtful words.

      ^This.

      1. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

        It said in the article, he was planning to major in Puppetry at U. Kabul and live in a communal Pashtun-only dorm.

        1. Swiss Servator   9 years ago

          *narrows gaze through tears*

    4. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      Word.

    5. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      He’s brave for fighting. But I find it a little odd that he was the commander.

      50/50 odds this story gets corrected or retracted

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

        Huh. Now the article says that he was 11 years old.

        1. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

          He was 10 during the siege last year.

        2. grrizzly   9 years ago

          He probably looked much older. Those colored boys.

      2. spqr2008   9 years ago

        In the tribal system, the head man’s family leads the entire tribe. If all the men are fighting, and the head man gets injured and out of the fight, another male from the same family can take over and lead because that man’s family is the one that has been in control of the tribe for years or decades.

    6. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

      And Afghan police forces need a 10 year old to command them.

      Do the Taliban ever find it humiliating that they keep having to assassinate prepubescent school children?

      1. Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper   9 years ago

        The Chicago PD doesn’t, why would the Taliban?

        1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

          Jesus…

      2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

        As Grizzly noted above, the dude probably already had pubes.

    7. Zeb   9 years ago

      As admirable as that kid was, I’m pretty happy to live in a place where people have the luxury to whine about stupid shit and don’t have to fight battles to save their villages from a siege. I’ll take the first world problems any day.

      1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

        No kidding. I mean mayo in club sandwich. /nods head.

    8. Lady Bertrum   9 years ago

      Ivy league students (Yale) become upset over Halloween costumes.

  9. Los Doyers   9 years ago

    Oil is gettin too damn cheap again, time to tax a bitch.

    1. Domestic Dissident   9 years ago

      Don’t get too used to it. After Hillary gets elected the price will rapidly skyrocket again, exactly like it did after Obama got elected.

      1. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

        in b4 buttplug

    2. Restoras   9 years ago

      It won’t pass but if it did it would add about $0.24 to a gallon of gas.

      1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

        Considering the amount of taxes the government takes from every dollar of gas, they can fuck right off regardless.

      2. SIV   9 years ago

        No, this is a tax on BIG OIL. The final bill will ban them from passing on even 1 cent of the cost to working families.

      3. Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!   9 years ago

        Hmmm? going to have to recalculate the government’s profit margin of gas.

      4. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

        It’ll add quite a bit more to a plane ticket if you assume 100 seat miles per gallon on a full flight.

        1. Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!   9 years ago

          A barrel of oil (42G raw) expands to 48.43G of products when processed..

          Spreading the cost over the entire barrel yield 10 $ / 48.43 G = 20.6 ?/G in taxes.

          A flight from LAX to NYC is 2,469 miles and going with Pl?ya’s 100 seat miles per gallon, we get 5.10$ per seat.

          If anyone wants to check my math, here’s the final formula I used:

          2469 mi / 100 seat * mi/G / 48.43 G * 10 $ = 5.0980797027 $ / seat

          1. Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!   9 years ago

            Not that the airlines will limit the amount of tax to pass on to 5.10$?

    3. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

      I love the insistence that oil companies will pay the tax.

      1. Zeb   9 years ago

        And the oil companies just get their money out of the ground or something. I don’t know why it’s so difficult to put together than taxes on corporations are always taxes on their customers.

        1. Restoras   9 years ago

          You have to have a functioning brain to understand that.

  10. LynchPin1477   9 years ago

    Famously loathed pharmabro Martin Shkreli today was confronted by the only people in America liked less than him: members of Congress

    He has an eminently punchable face, but he also basically told Congress to fuck off, so it may be a wash.

    1. Libertymike   9 years ago

      That’s hardly a wash – telling Congress to fuck off is a mighty fine feat. Even coming from one who might otherwise have a face that should be punched.

      1. BigT   9 years ago

        Telling Congtess to fuck off…

        …Obama’s been doing it for years. More passive aggressive, though.

    2. Curt   9 years ago

      The enemy of my enemy… well sometimes he’s still a douchebag.

    3. Frankjasper1   9 years ago

      What is great is he donated to Bernie Sanders. I imagine some progs heads exploded.

    4. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      His shtick is refreshing.

      Every once in a while the masters need to be reminded they’re idiots.

    5. waffles   9 years ago

      Shkreli also made a video calling out Ghostface Killah of the Wutang Clan. Apparently he’s a fan of pro-wrestling and is on an epic quest to become the “heel” of the world. He wants us to hate him and I hate to say it, but I find it kind of endearing. I love to hate this guy.

      1. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

        I’ve got an old friend on my facebook feed who is actually calling for bipartisan legislation just to target this guy and put him away for being an A hole. Maybe Shkreli can be used as a honey pot to draw out the authoritarians in our midst so we can watch out for them.

      2. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

        Re-posting this: Wu Tang’s $2m Album Comes With A Bizarre Clause: The Rap Group ? Or Bill Murray ? Are Entitled To Steal It Back In A Heist

        The statement reads: “The buying party also agrees that at any time during the stipulated 88 year period, the seller may legally plan and attempt to execute one (1) heist or caper to steal back Once Upon A Time In Shaolin, which, if successful, would return all ownership rights to the seller. Said heist or caper can only be undertaken by currently active members of the Wu-Tang Clan and/or actor Bill Murray, with no legal repercussions.”

        1. Zeb   9 years ago

          That is the best thing I have ever read.

        2. Free Society   9 years ago

          I hope Bill is up for it. He’d be famous!

  11. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

    Worst decision ever? Man sells stake in company for a bike – only for it to become worth ?170 Million

    A civil servant sold his stake in a tech firm for a bicycle – only to watch the company soar into a giant worth a whopping ?170 million.

    Chris Hill-Scott is believed to have taken the bike as payment for his share of Swiftkey – a mobile phone app – after becoming annoyed with the long work hours and financial insecurity brought by being a director of the company.

    According to The Times , he set up the firm in 2008 with university friends Jon Reynolds, 30 and Ben Medlock, 36, but left after a matter of weeks to embark on a career in photography, and eventually settled in a career building websites for the government.

    On Wednesday it emerged the Cambridge graduates had agreed a deal with Microsoft to sell the London-based firm for ?174 million, one of the most lucrative acquisitions of a British technology company in recent years.

    1. Ted S.   9 years ago

      I had the chance to buy Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” for a song, but I didn’t. Luckily for me that song was “White Christmas”, and by holding on to it I made billions.

    2. IceTrey   9 years ago

      Isn’t this the plot from “Breaking Bad”?

    3. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      Bets he sues?

  12. Ken Shultz   9 years ago

    “He refused to testify at a hearing about jacking up drug prices, invoked the Fifth Amendment, smirked through the congressional ranting, and then apparently called them “imbeciles” on Twitter.”

    I don’t know anything else about him, but that sounds great!

    1. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

      Since they’re obviously looking for perjury indictments for any testimony which varies from their narrative, I’d say taking the Fifth is the only sensible course.

      I don’t know the guy or what he did, but I *do* know that Robert Reich criticized him for raising drug prices because of a desire to make a profit.

      Unless there’s more evidence against Mr. Smirk than Reich discloses, I don’t see the problem.

      Perhaps the patent term on the drug design is too long, allowing prices to be artificially inflated? I’m trying to see the problem.

      1. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

        If he has some sort of quasi-monopoly allowing him to raise the price artificially, then yes, the fact that his competitors can’t undercut him is a problem.

        1. CatoTheChipper   9 years ago

          Martin Shkreli isn’t the problem. If IP law or FDA regulations allow these price hikes to stand, IP law and FDA regulations are the problem.

          1. BigT   9 years ago

            Who decides the price You charge for Your property?

            Thought so.

            1. gaoxiaen   9 years ago

              Commerce clause? Eminent domain? Our government just isn’t creative enough.

      2. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

        Just to be clear – by “don’t see the problem,” I meant (and should have said) that I don’t see a role for public policy.

        They could have chosen to keep the lower price simply to earn public goodwill.

        1. cavalier973   9 years ago

          Are you…um…arguing with someone?

          1. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

            I realized that my initial post came across as too, er, cavalier, so I made a couple more posts so as to tone it down a tad.

  13. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

    TrumpDonald.org lets visitors blow trumpet at Donald Trump

    STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 4 (UPI) — A Swedish website is allowing users to “trump” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump by blasting him with a virtual trumpet.

    The site known as TrumpDonald.org lets visitors click around a photo of Trump using a burst from a trumpet to send his hair flying in various directions. The image of Trump follows the trumpet with its eyes and even braces for the burst of air and occasional red, white and blue confetti that shoots out of the instrument.

    Jacob Sempler, a creative designer at Swedish advertising agency Animal, worked on the site after Animal employees discovered the domain name was available and sought to make use of it.

  14. Los Doyers   9 years ago

    Guess what happened to hiring in cities where minimum wages were jacked up in 2015?

    Hold on, I left my shocked face out by the woodshed.

    1. Frankjasper1   9 years ago

      If only it was MOAR

  15. Matrix   9 years ago

    I thought the guy was a colossal douche for jacking up prices on that drug and being very smug about it.

    But basically telling Congress to go fuck themselves…. I love that guy. He’s definitely several steps above the scum in the Capitol.

  16. DEG   9 years ago

    Toyota kills Scion

    Toyota’s youth-oriented Scion brand has apparently reached retirement age.

    Toyota has decided to kill off the brand and will rebadge its products as Toyota.

    Scion was started in 2003 as a separate car brand targeted at younger buyers. While its products were very closely related to Toyota vehicles they had a unique, slightly chunky, style, designed to be easily customizable. They were sold with few options and fairly basic stereo systems under the assumption that most buyers would upgrade them.

    1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

      Civics make better rice rockets. Racist?

      1. Cdr Lytton   9 years ago

        Only if you said lice lockets.

        1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

          And if he’d used the term for a car instead of a motorcycle.

          Cars are rice cookers.

          1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

            Urban Dictionary has your back, but I only ever grew up hearing rice rocket to refer to all types of customized Asian cars. Asian drivers optional

            1. bacon-magic   9 years ago

              rice burner is another term

              1. But Enough About Me   9 years ago

                Indeed. Here on the Wet Coast (as well as the Canadian Prairies), “rice burner” is the preferred nomenclature.

            2. Entropy Drehmaschine Void   9 years ago

              Asian drivers optional

              You can brind dem wis dentar fross!

    2. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      Do you short or go long on Tesla?

      I ask you – ahem – fine folks.

    3. WoodchipperPatriarch   9 years ago

      Scions are also massive plastic pieces of shit, which is why they decided not to put the Toyota badge on them in the first place. I’m actually surprised they’re doing this, unless they are re-engineering the cars first.

  17. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

    Shkreli should be the hero in the next film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged. He should play himself too.

    1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

      Because Rand didn’t provide enough two-dimensional characters?

      1. Ted S.   9 years ago

        She didn’t provide *any* two-dimensional characters.

      2. robc   9 years ago

        Rand villians have more dimensions than modern government villians.

        1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

          Well if we’re setting the bar *that* low, sure…

        2. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

          Her villains are damn good. Her heroes could be a bit of a pill.

          1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

            I could see him as Fd’A’s public persona, but I doubt he has the depth of that character behind the scenes. Although I suppose that was the whole point of the character’s public persona, so who knows.

        3. Ted S.   9 years ago

          Marilyn McCoo had *five* dimensions.

    2. Libertymike   9 years ago

      Perhaps you should pen the screenplay?

      1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

        I’ll leave that to qualified geniuses like JJ Abrams.

  18. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

    Joe Alaskey, Voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Dies at 63

    Joe Alaskey, who voiced Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety?and Sylvester the Cat, among other legendary cartoon characters, died on Wednesday of cancer, according to multiple reports. He was 63.

    Alaskey’s spokesperson, K.P. Lynne, shared the news on the actor’s Facebook page, writing, “Never doubt that Joe loved each and every one of you. Your comments and posts always made his day and brought joy to his heart and life.”

    Alaskey replaced Mel Blanc as the voice of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck after his death in 1989, assuming the Warner Bros. characters during the 2000s, including in the film “Looney Tunes: Back in Action.” He has also given voice to other Looney Tunes animated heroes, including Tweety and Sylvester. He served as the primary voice for Plucky Duck on “Tiny Toon Adventures” and Yosemite Sam on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

    1. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

      Mel Blanc was a genius. Don’t know much about his successor, but respect.

    2. Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper   9 years ago

      Fill-in for Blanc.

      1. Mickey Rat   9 years ago

        Are you expecting Blanc to return to the role?

    3. cavalier973   9 years ago

      A-bibbd-a-bibbd-a-bibbd-a that’s all, folks!

  19. Ken Shultz   9 years ago

    “A grand jury has indicted 16 people for roles in the takeover and occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. They are accused of preventing “federal officials from performing their official duties by force, threats, and intimidation.”

    I guess it’s okay to protest the government–just not on public property?

    I wonder, is it okay to use public roads to get to a protest on private property?

    1. Ted S.   9 years ago

      Not in Somalia.

    2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      Well, not with guns in your hand.

    3. Jerryskids   9 years ago

      preventing “federal officials from performing their official duties by force, threats, and intimidation.”

      I’m pretty sure federal officials are still performing their official duties by force, threats, and intimidation.

      1. Libertymike   9 years ago

        Ever more so today than yesterday.

    4. Aloysious   9 years ago

      A grand jury has indicted 16 people…

      I keep wondering why nobody in the media refers to them as ‘political dissidents’. Ranchers can be ‘political dissidents’, can’t they?

      1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her)   9 years ago

        Wrong end of the political spectrum.

  20. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

    Are F-35s fit for combat? Pentagon doesn’t know

    Washington (CNN)The military risks committing itself to buying billions of dollars of F-35 fighter jets before they have demonstrated they are fit for combat, a new Pentagon report warns.

    The development of the Joint Strike Fighter F-35, a fifth-generation stealth jet, has been beset by spiraling costs and schedule delays. The program’s price tag is nearly $400 billion for 2,457 planes — almost twice the initial estimate.

    To drive down costs and benefit from larger economies of scale, the Pentagon has sought to pool planned purchases through a “block buy” of hundreds of aircraft from the F-35’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, according to the report by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, J. Michael Gilmore.

    The report cautions that these efforts to curb costs have created a situation in which the U.S. could be committed “to procuring as many as 270 U.S. aircraft” before “operational testing is complete.”

    The report, which examines programs that were tested in 2015, argues that such a strategy raises numerous concerns, pointing out that defense officials connected to the program have said that “essentially every aircraft bought to date requires modifications prior to use in combat.”

    1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

      We need to increase military spending to make sure this plane is a success. A jack-of-all-trades, it is.

    2. Not an Economist   9 years ago

      This isn’t unusual. Operational testing can take a long time. I would bet most of the important parts are done.

  21. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

    11 yr old girl interviews Shkreli… I mean “hangs out” with him.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      I’m not normally a fan of plastic surgery, but he’s worth $45 million, that would be a good use of his money.

    2. Free Society   9 years ago

      All else being equal, I think the interviewers face is five times more punchable.

      1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        She seems like a nice girl… although comes off sounding a little cooler and ‘wiser’ than she actually is.

      2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        I dunno, maybe Vice thought it would be weird if they had an adult interview him.

  22. Irish ?s ESB   9 years ago

    “He refused to testify at a hearing about jacking up drug prices, invoked the Fifth Amendment, smirked through the congressional ranting, and then apparently called them “imbeciles” on Twitter.”

    He invoked his rights, laughed at Congress, then insulted them.

    He’s a total cunt, but this is admirable behavior.

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      MY congresscritter is just fine. It’s all the other that are a problem.

      /typical American voter.

    2. Cdr Lytton   9 years ago

      In a right world, other than government employees and strictly related to their government duties, Congress would have no power over individual private citizens. Certainly not subpoena power for fishing expeditions and public grandstanding.

    3. Libertymike   9 years ago

      Which, by definition, makes him somewhat less than a total cunt.

  23. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

    Famously loathed pharmabro Martin Shkreli today was confronted by the only people in America liked less than him: members of Congress. He refused to testify at a hearing about jacking up drug prices, invoked the Fifth Amendment, smirked through the congressional ranting, and then apparently called them “imbeciles” on Twitter.

    What *can’t* be bro’d out these days?

    1. Irish ?s ESB   9 years ago

      Has anyone ever referred to you as a hom-bro? Because I’m going to.

      1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

        I mean, I’ve been called “bro” before, because I’ve walked through Hermosa Beach and it’s almost impossible not to have someone shout “hey bro” at you in Bromosa…But I don’t think I’ve ever been referred to as “a bro.”

        1. JW   9 years ago

          “Bromo?”

          1. cavalier973   9 years ago

            Bromophobia is a thing, bae.

    2. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

      I’m one of those oppressive waveletbros.

    3. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

      Baes. Baes can’t be bro’d, guy.

      1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

        Read it and weeo. Bitterly.

        1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

          God dammit. Weep*

          1. gaoxiaen   9 years ago

            Sorry, I already finished weeoing.

    4. Krabappel   9 years ago

      I find it disturbing that all of the media finds it entirely OK to call him “Pharma Bro” without acknowledging that they are clearly injecting their own bias into the story.

  24. Mazakon   9 years ago

    A grand jury has indicted 16 people for roles in the takeover and occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. They are accused of preventing “federal officials from performing their official duties by force, threats, and intimidation.”

    What duties exactly? The place isn’t exactly a tourist destination.

  25. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

    Obama will propose a $10 per barrel oil tax, which will totally be paid by oil companies and will not be passed down to consumers, hurting the poor the most. Nope. Certainly not.

    1. Sevo   9 years ago

      The oil companies will take it out of their massive profits!

      “Exxon Mobil Corp.’s earnings plunged 58 percent in the fourth quarter as low oil prices hurt results.”
      The Inside Korea – One voice, distributed to everywhere http://theinsidekorea.com/2016…..-of-2-78b/

      1. WoodchipperPatriarch   9 years ago

        Think they regret the $3 billion they dropped on this yet?

        http://urbanland.uli.org/devel…..-corridor/

    2. Free Society   9 years ago

      I recall reading several years ago that in the year where ExxonMobile turned an eleven billion dollar profit, the US federal government in taxing that one single company made thirty-three billion. This disparity was utterly lost on the reporter writing this article about the obscene profits of oil companies.

      1. CatoTheChipper   9 years ago

        From the 2014 XOM income statement:

        Sales based taxes $29.3 billion
        Other taxes and duties $32.3 billion
        Income taxes $18.0 billion

        Total taxes = $79.6 billion

        After tax income = $32.5 billion

        Of course, the company has to re-invest much of that after-tax income to remain in business. Consequently, shareholders actually get much less.

        Dividends = $11.6 billion

    3. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      I know I’m late…but SFd?

  26. Frankjasper1   9 years ago

    Got to love progs…saw a tweet along the lines of a favorite prog talking point that Jesus would have been a progressive and or a socialist who wants to tax the rich to help the poor. Based on what i dont know

    Joseph Fugelsang tweeted “My favorite bible story is when Jesus feeds the multitudes after administering a drug test to make sure they deserve food”. He has other tweets along these lines

    Not sure that Jesus would solicit a third party (govt) to rob peter to pay paul while patting himself on the back for being noble or caring. Also socialists cant seem to understand why one may be against massive welfare benefits or that because you object to govt doing it that means you object to it being done at all.

    1. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

      It’s a good example though, since their entire ideology is more or less dependent on a messianic figure with supernatural powers to conjure resources from nothing to make it economically viable.

    2. Irish ?s ESB   9 years ago

      “Joseph Fugelsang tweeted “My favorite bible story is when Jesus feeds the multitudes after administering a drug test to make sure they deserve food”. He has other tweets along these lines”

      Jesus could make food appear out of thin air with no cost, which is clearly analogous to a welfare system paid out of taxes.

      1. Libertymike   9 years ago

        The progressive mindset knows not of costs, be they fixed, marginal, opportunity, or otherwise.

      2. Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)   9 years ago

        deserve

        This word…he lacks understanding of it.

        1. Entropy Drehmaschine Void   9 years ago

          That word … got nothing to do with it.

    3. Jerryskids   9 years ago

      My favorite Bible story is the book of Job – where Job’s buddies suggested they knew exactly how God thinks and God told them to shut the fuck up because they were retards if they thought they were smart enough to comprehend the mind of the omniscient and omnipotent omnipresence that is the Creator of the Universe. (Technically, I believe presuming to be as smart as God used to mean you were damned into eternal perdition, now it just means you’re a progressive. Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe.)

    4. Brendan   9 years ago

      I really love it when progs who have shown nothing but disdain for Christians and ridiculed their belief in God as believing fantasy, claim that Jesus was just a man, etc. then turn around and use ‘What Jesus would do’ as a talking point.

      Same with people who dismiss the bible and/or its stories and then turn around and suggest that others should follow a biazrrely interpreted version of them.

      FWIW, I am pretty much aetheist but have the decency not to suggest that Christians should follow my version of the bible or Jesus stories.

  27. The Late P Brooks   9 years ago

    Genius!

    President Barack Obama will propose a $10 per barrel tax on oil in his fiscal 2017 budget plan, an idea likely to receive a chilly reception in the Republican-controlled Congress that oversees spending.
    With the proceeds targeted to transportation and climate initiatives, the proposal seems designed to deepen Obama’s environmental credentials and signify his ambitions to aggressively push action on climate change during his final year in office.
    “By placing a fee on oil, the president’s plan creates a clear incentive for private sector innovation to reduce our reliance on oil and at the same time invests in clean energy technologies that will power our future,” the White House said Thursday in a statement

    Steal from Peter, to give to Paul. And people wonder why the economy is mired in the mud.

    1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

      Ahem.

  28. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

    In all seriousness, Shkreli sucks. He tried to get involved with my company awhile back. If he’s in, I’m out. No exceptions.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      Exhibit A.

      *whispers* I think 2 of those guys are just pretending to be black

    2. John   9 years ago

      Wasn’t the entire thing with the drug prices some kind of stunt? I can’t remember but I want to say that there were alternatives to the drug and him jacking up the price did nothing but cause people to buy the alternatives.

      1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        Watch the interview I linked with the girl. He gets into the specifics and ‘relativity’ aspects of the price hike.

      2. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

        It was something he thought he could get away with. A lot of internal emails have been released, and there are a lot of idiots in charge of that company.

        For a company in the business of screwing over AIDS patients, they weren’t worried in the slightest about their image until it was way too late.

        1. John   9 years ago

          Screwing over AIDS patients is probably good work if you can get it. But it would require a bit of discretion, which no one under the age of 40 seems to have these days.

          1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

            And cancer patients…

            Basically the drug was used for people who were immunocompromised for any of a number of reasons. It was a little confusing in the initial reporting because reporters would just mention whatever condition they thought their reader would be most offended by so it just looked like the stories were all over the place.

            1. John   9 years ago

              That is priceless. It was one of the few drugs that price gouging was guaranteed to infuriate every man woman and child in the country. And not only did they gouge they bragged about it and made sure the world knew the did.

              1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

                The entire thing is just …odd.

                1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

                  Seriously, watch the interview I linked above. At least Shkreli provides some context. I’m not defending him, but he talks about where the price hike took place etc.

    3. paranoid android   9 years ago

      This guy should be a complete non-story, but the combination of his obvious narcissism and the fact that certain favored media narratives are bolstered by pushing this guy as the archetypal “capitalist” will keep him in the news basically in perpetuity.

      By 2024 he’ll be the GOP nominee for President or something, I’m sure.

      1. cavalier973   9 years ago

        He’s so Alpha!

      2. Entropy Drehmaschine Void   9 years ago

        CEO of Solyndra?

  29. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

    For Tonio: I made a late reply to your post vis-a-vis Barry Goldwater and the CRA of ’64 in yesterday’s PM links. Petty though it may be to belabor the point a day later, I am relinking it here in case you didn’t see it, because it is neither ” intellectual shallowness” nor “whiny emotionalism” to point out for your edification that Goldwater did not deserve to have his reputation besmirched by your inaccurate and self-admittedly ignorant historical comparisons, and his speech I quoted would be well worth your time to read (excuse the typos, they were in the original text I copied) just on the off chance that the intersection of federal legislation and individual rights ever becomes politically relevant again.

    1. Libertymike   9 years ago

      The intersection of federal legislation and individual rights is relevant every single second of our lives.

    2. Calidissident   9 years ago

      The problem with your line of argument is that it isn’t accurate to say that the CRA laid waste to freedom of association. It removed many restrictions on freedom of association and replaced them with new, less odious restrictions. The notion that freedom of association was alive and well in this country until the CRA ruined it is laughable for obvious reasons. The CRA isn’t perfect from a libertarian purist POV but it was clearly a drastic improvement compared to the status quo at the time.

      1. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

        The CRA isn’t perfect from a libertarian purist POV but it was clearly a drastic improvement compared to the status quo at the time.

        That’s your value judgment, which is wholly unsurprising considering your ideology. But it’s a mischaracterization of my point anyway (which is also wholly unsurprising). I did not claim that there was a well-working freedom of association in the country prior to the CRA of ’64 (although thanks to the CRAs of ’57 and ’60 the situation was much better than it had been in previous decades). It’s not relevant, because addressing that problem did not require curtailing freedom of association in private enterprise – it only required repealing the existing constraints on freedom of association. Goldwater, who supported the CRAs of ’57 and ’60 and co-founded the Arizona NAACP, opposed the ’64 CRA on the basis of the public accommodations provisions. You can disagree with his reasoning, notwithstanding that every concern articulated in his speech explaining his ‘no’ vote has been vindicated in the subsequent decades, but you can’t characterize his opposition as an unfortunate exemplar of the racism of his age.

        1. Calidissident   9 years ago

          “That’s your value judgment, which is wholly unsurprising considering your ideology.”

          Do you not agree with that? Do you think the laws today are overall worse than those on the books in 1964? The previous bills bills were positive steps but still came nowhere close to solving the problem. Even after the 1964 CRA, it took a Supreme Court decision a few years later just to strike down interracial marriage bans.

          I do not think Goldwater was racist, that isn’t my point or argument. And I’m not saying he makes no valid points in his speech – I’m saying that the negative effects of the laws and policies repealed by that law were far worse than the negative effects of the sections he cites, so that the overall effect of the law was most certainly positive. You can point out that it wasn’t necessary to include these provisions in the law, but that isn’t the point I’m making. It’s disingenuous to say “The CRA destroyed freedom of association!” while completely failing to take into account the ways in which it expanded it. You’re certainly free to hold the position that only 100% positive legislation should have been (or should be) supported, or that it was overall negative (although I don’t find that to be a very defensible position), but to declare yourself grand arbiter and exclude anyone who supported the law on the grounds that it had a significant net positive effect from the supporters of individual liberty camp is BS.

          1. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

            I do not think Goldwater was racist, that isn’t my point or argument.

            Well, that was the actual subject of the post to which I linked, so I’m not sure what you’re actually on about then.

            but to declare yourself grand arbiter and exclude anyone who supported the law on the grounds that it had a significant net positive effect from the supporters of individual liberty camp is BS.

            Ahhh, now I see. You’re building strawmen with which to argue. Carry on then.

            FWIW, no, I don’t think infringing on the rights of one group of people is justified by previous infringements on the rights of a different group of people, nor do I think it’s any better for the government to infringe on the rights of one group of people than another. Was the state of law better before or after the CRA of ’64? Depends on who you ask. The law had winners and losers, and it didn’t need to. Choosing who should have lost their rights in the course of remedying a state-created problem is a false dichotomy.

            1. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

              I understand that you value social justice, however you define it, over anything else, particularly economic liberty, on which you place no value whatsoever. Which is fine enough. Setting a hierarchy of rights, to the extent it’s a useful exercise, is a different argument. My only objection is when you start smearing as a bigot anyone who, out of principle, questions the wisdom of bringing to bear the full power of the federal apparatus on those issues. It was in that spirit that I offered a defense of Goldwater’s position. His opposition to the CRA of ’64 was not historically comparable to the unfortunate hypocrisy of the founding fathers owning slaves.

              1. Calidissident   9 years ago

                “I understand that you value social justice, however you define it, over anything else, particularly economic liberty, on which you place no value whatsoever. ”

                Who is building strawmen now? Also, you do realize that there were many ways in which Jim Crow laws restricted economic liberty, right?

                “My only objection is when you start smearing as a bigot anyone who,”

                I did not call you, Goldwater, or anyone else a bigot.

                1. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

                  Also, you do realize that there were many ways in which Jim Crow laws restricted economic liberty, right?

                  Of course. I’m not sure how you would infer otherwise.

                  I did not call you, Goldwater, or anyone else a bigot.

                  Yeah, you weren’t a party to the conversation, and I wasn’t addressing you.

                  1. Calidissident   9 years ago

                    “Of course. I’m not sure how you would infer otherwise.”

                    Oh, I don’t know, maybe when you say things like this: “I understand that you value social justice, however you define it, over anything else, particularly economic liberty, on which you place no value whatsoever.”

                    “Yeah, you weren’t a party to the conversation, and I wasn’t addressing you.”

                    Then why even bring that up in this thread?

            2. Calidissident   9 years ago

              Tonio never actually called Goldwater racist (Winston just said he was called one because of his vote on the CRA) and your argument went well beyond that specific question.

              “Ahhh, now I see. You’re building strawmen with which to argue. Carry on then.”

              Really? Is this not a direct quote?

              “Goldwater’s opposition to the CRA of ’64, which is an abjectly deplorable piece of legislation from a libertarian perspective and should rightly be opposed by anyone with even a passing interest in individual liberty and freedom of association”

              Regarding your last paragraph – none of that means all violations are equally bad. I’m sorry but if unhesitatingly declaring that Jim Crow laws were worse than laws outlawing racial discrimination by private parties makes me a cosmotarian SJW in your mind then I don’t care. I think it’s laughable to suggest the pernicious effects of the latter even come close to equating those of the former.

              1. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

                Tonio never actually called Goldwater racist (Winston just said he was called one because of his vote on the CRA) and your argument went well beyond that specific question.

                Tonio agreed with Winston’s assessment and elaborated that in his view, Goldwater’s opposition to the CRA of ’64 was the same as the founding fathers’ slave ownership: a regrettable byproduct of the era in which they lived. The founding fathers’ slave ownership is, indeed, a regrettable hypocrisy and byproduct of their age. Goldwater’s opposition to the CRA of ’64 was not (morally) regrettable, nor was it the byproduct of his age.

                Really? Is this not a direct quote?

                Those are the words I wrote. They’re just not related to much of anything you’ve posted since you read them.

                1. Calidissident   9 years ago

                  But Winston didn’t actually call Goldwater racist, he just pointed out that he got called that over his CRA vote. There are numerous reasons one could disagree with Goldwater’s vote on the matter even if you’re aware he didn’t vote that way due to racism.

                  You declared that anyone not opposed to the CRA had no interest in individual liberty, and yet you accuse me of building a strawman when I state that you’re excluding people supportive of it from the camp of individual liberty supporters. How in the world is that a strawman? You literally stated exactly what I accused you of, minus the grand arbiter part which was sarcastic fluff on my part that obviously wasn’t relevant to the point I was making.

              2. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

                Regarding your last paragraph – none of that means all violations are equally bad. I’m sorry but if unhesitatingly declaring that Jim Crow laws were worse than laws outlawing racial discrimination by private parties makes me a cosmotarian SJW in your mind then I don’t care.

                Again, that’s a false dichotomy, of course. But I already know where you stand on the matter – that’s exactly what I articulated above. You have a hierarchy of rights you care about, and association and commerce, if they are among them at all, certainly bring up the rear. Based on your previous statements on this and other related matters, I would actually suggest that curtailing the rights of some on a retaliatory basis is actually a feature and not a bug in your mind. But that’s even more tangential to the topic than the rest of this conversation has been.

  30. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

    This Day in History

    1783 – England proclaimed the formal end to the hostilities with the United States.

    1787 – Shays’s Rebellion, an uprising of Massachusetts farmers, was defeated.

    1789 – George Washington and John Adams are elected the president and vice president of the United States.

    1861 – Delegates from six southern states met at Montgomery, Ala., to form the Confederate States of America.

    1945 – Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at the Yalta Conference.

    1948 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) gained independence from the United Kingdom.

    1969 – The Palestine National Congress appointed Yasir Arafat head of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

    1974 – Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

    1976 – Benjamin Britten, British composer, died.

    2003 – The country of Yugoslavia disappeared, to be replaced by the loose federation of Serbia and Montenegro.

    2004 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court declared that gays had the right to marry.

    1. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

      #9 is the not. Benjamin Button was just a movie.

    2. Libertymike   9 years ago

      Mistake of fact:

      The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts decided the Goodrich case on November 18, 2003.

      I do not apologize for correcting the record. If others regard this as pedantic, they can cream their cum at Circus Maximus.

      1. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

        I copy these from the linked site without verification, and since I’ve started posting them there’s been several that have been pointed out as inaccurate to one degree or another. For most the inaccuracy is of little consequence in the grand scheme, but it does make you wonder about what’s in the history books.

        1. Libertymike   9 years ago

          Don’t worry. I have read and cited the Goodrich case so many times I couldn’t help but play the pedantic.

    3. grrizzly   9 years ago

      I have an atlas of world history that I bought in Germany. It claims that the US became independent in 1783.

      1. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

        To a legal positivist, that would be correct.

        Nothing wrong with Germans showing a little legal positivism, is there?

        1. Pat (PM)   9 years ago

          You know who else was a legal positivist?

          1. Libertymike   9 years ago

            R.C. Dean.

    4. paranoid android   9 years ago

      I’m pretty sure #6 is the not; the Ceylons were actually seeking independence from the Twelve Colonies of Kobol.

  31. Sevo   9 years ago

    “…and then apparently called them “imbeciles” on Twitter.”

    Honesty will not help
    (and I’ll bet I’m late again…)

  32. The Late P Brooks   9 years ago

    and then apparently called them “imbeciles” on Twitter.

    “Did you tell President Lincoln I’m an idiot?”

    “No. I thought he knew.”

  33. Domestic Dissident   9 years ago

    Member of Obama’s beloved “religion of peace” sucked out of airplane after his failed attempt to blow it up.

    And there’s even video footage from inside the plane. I’m just amazed at how calm everyone on there seems to be.

    1. rts   9 years ago

      Oxygen gets you high

      1. Ted S.   9 years ago

        Not enough and you’re gonna die

    2. Drake   9 years ago

      Exactly what I would except if I was flying out of Mogadishu.

    3. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      Lucky it happen at 11,000 feet.

  34. Cdr Lytton   9 years ago

    This morning on National Patriotic Radio, they had a story on Obama poo-pooing Islamic terrorism and immigration safeguards. The very next story (although the religious identifier was buried for several sentences) was Germany arresting Islamic terrorists.

    Incredibly funny cognitive dissonance.

  35. tarran   9 years ago

    Koala’s are being wiped out by…. the CLAP!!!!

    1. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

      Clap on!
      Clap off!
      Clap on!
      Clap off!
      The Clapper!

    2. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

      False. Gonorrhea is “the clap,” not chlamydia.

      1. tarran   9 years ago

        So what is the slang term for chlamydia – oh expert on STDs?

        1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

          Who knows, chlamydia has sat in gonorrhea’s shadow for too long, even if it did cause a generation of women to need IVF…

        2. Trigger Hippie   9 years ago

          Clam chowder.

        3. alldayray   9 years ago

          crabs, no?

  36. John   9 years ago

    Feminist comedienne Whitney Cummings jokes on her new HBO Special I’m Your Girlfriend, “This is the 21st century. I don’t need an alpha male to protect me. I don’t need a big strong man to fight off a tiger. I need a geek who can get my naked photos off the cloud.”

    Good luck with that honey.

    1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

      Two Broke Girls is one hell of a funny program.

      1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        Is that the one where two broke girls live in a pretty fabulous Brooklyn apartment?

        1. John   9 years ago

          And both have big wracks, will fuck anything, yet somehow never manage to get a date. I mean young women with big boobs and lose morals are just so not in demand on the dating market.

          1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

            I know the dark haired one is built quite nicely below the waist.

            1. John   9 years ago

              The brunette has your classic JAP well endowed peasant girl figure. I have always liked those.

            2. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

              I was being facetious, perverts.

              1. Bobarian (Would Chip Her)   9 years ago

                You just watch it with the sound (and pants) turned down?

            3. Libertymike   9 years ago

              Go on…..

          2. Just say Nikki   9 years ago

            will fuck anything, yet somehow never manage to get a date

            …then what are they fucking?

            1. John   9 years ago

              Just because you will do something, doesn’t mean you get the opportunity.

            2. Lady Bertrum   9 years ago

              One of the girls does own a horse.

              1. Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)   9 years ago

                So….They’re history buffs, then?

                1. Entropy Drehmaschine Void   9 years ago

                  Catherine the Great to the white courtesy phone, please …

    2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      Feminist comedienne Whitney Cummings jokes on her new HBO Special I’m Your Girlfriend

      I saw a few minutes of her show. I guess I didn’t know she was billed as a ‘feminist commedienne’. She wasn’t super funny.

      1. John   9 years ago

        I think the “Feminist” part is just truth in advertising. It warns the audience that nothing in the show will be funny.

        1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

          Even her audience wasn’t laughing that hard. They were doing sort of Lenny Bruce-level twittering.

    3. Drake   9 years ago

      Feminist comedienne

      Contradiction in terms = meaningless phrase

      1. CatoTheChipper   9 years ago

        She’s an oxy-moron?

    4. Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper   9 years ago

      When it’s a guy, it’s “funnyman John Doe”.

      For a woman, what? “Funnylady” still has the vomit-inducing Streisand connotation to me.

    5. Lady Bertrum   9 years ago

      HBO featured another female comedienne who happened to be both a lesbian and a breast cancer survivor. During her gig, she rips off her top and exposes her double mastectomy. HILARIOUS stuff. I couldn’t stop laughing.

      1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

        Uh…. Crusty? You here?

        1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

          I’m not attracted to bravery.

          1. Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)   9 years ago

            -2 A cup fantasy

            1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

              ?

              I would prefer if there was at least one cup.

              1. Lady Bertrum   9 years ago

                Why do you hate lesbian breast cancer survivors? If you don’t find her unreconstructed chest attractive you are a fucking monster.

              2. Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)   9 years ago

                her double mastectomy

                Well, it sounds like you’re shit outta luck with her.

                I picked “A cup fantasy” to add to the Blech! factor.

              3. Entropy Drehmaschine Void   9 years ago

                One girl, two cups?

      2. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

        I assume it was Tig Notaro. Her 30-minute set, performed hours after getting the cancer diagnosis, is very good. And she is a great straight-woman.

    6. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

      Thanks for calling our attention to an unremarkable, inoffensive joke.

      1. John   9 years ago

        Someone has to give you something to bitch and moan about.

        1. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

          You brought it up outta nowhere, friend.

  37. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

    Politifact gets called out on Forbes for being kinda fulla crap.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/mi…..bc3e75295b

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      In their rush to label Ted Cruz a liar, PolitiFact ignored economic theory, ignored economic consensus

      You know who else ignores consensus?

      1. Ted S.   9 years ago

        Libertarians?

      2. Entropy Drehmaschine Void   9 years ago

        Donk Iowan Caucus Counters?

    2. Irish ?s ESB   9 years ago

      Want to know how you can tell Politifact is full of shit? I once looked at the ‘pundit’ section of Politifact and they review three times as many right-wing pundits as left-wing pundits. Since you can basically cherry pick what claims you review and which you don’t, they clearly cherry-picked uncontroversial claims from leftists along with the craziest shit conservatives say in order to have tons of conservative liars with a more fair distribution of left-wing claims.

      It’s completely laughable and is incredibly transparent if you actually look at their site.

      1. waffles   9 years ago

        You can’t argue facts. And I have it on good authority that you are a racist. So how can I believe anything you type?

      2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        Want to know how you can tell Politifact is full of shit? I once looked at the ‘pundit’ section of Politifact and they review three times as many right-wing pundits as left-wing pundits.

        Reality has a liberal bias, Irish. It’s like you’re new to this.

  38. Drake   9 years ago

    Swedes getting unhappy these days.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/…..mmigration

    1. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

      If the Swedes go off the reservation, the progressives will start describing Sweden as backward and xenophobic within seconds. Never mind they took on more per capita refugees than anyone.

      1. Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper   9 years ago

        You can’t have socialism without xenophobia. America will just have a special kind of xenophobia.

        For example, Hitler killed thrifty Germans, they just happened to be mostly Jews. America will kill its thrifty, they all just happen to be mostly Christian, Caucasian males.

        1. Brendan   9 years ago

          Another good reason for that demographic to be well armed.

      2. Emmerson Biggins   9 years ago

        You wish. They’ll just ignore it. And still bitch about taxes being too low and the government not having complete control of everything in your life.

    2. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

      ZeroHedge grumbles about nothing; news at 6.

      1. John   9 years ago

        It is everyone’s duty to get raped by a Muslim. Those Swedish women should feel honored.

      2. John   9 years ago

        When Alexandra Mezher was murdered, she was alone in the residence with ten asylum seekers. She was stabbed by one of the “children” she cared for.

        That is nothing? God you really do utterly lack morals. You have ideology and everything else must conform.

        1. Restoras   9 years ago

          He might be up for a job with Reason Staff. Open Borders or nothing.

          1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

            Damn right.

          2. John   9 years ago

            They could put the staff meetings with him and Richman on pay per view.

            1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

              Oh wow you actually came up with a good idea.

              I’d nail that weaselly piece of shit to the wall.

              1. ant1sthenes   9 years ago

                They could put the staff meetings with him and Richman on pay per view.

                I’d nail that weaselly piece of shit to the wall.

                Pictured

        2. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

          It’s a whole bunch of sensationalistic nothing ie typical ZeroHedge.

          1. John   9 years ago

            The woman was murdered and your attitude is tough shit it means nothing because to admit anything else would require you to question your ideology. It is really that simple.

            1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

              A woman was murdered BFD. One murder is not very interesting.

              “nothing because to admit anything else would require you to question your ideology.”

              That is some fine projection right there.

              1. John   9 years ago

                Of course. So how many murders and rapes are interesting? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? A million?

                Thousands of women have been raped and groped all over Europe and you think that is nothing too. It is not that you think that is good. It is that you just don’t care and never will. It will always and forever be other people’s job to suffer for your ideology and no amount of suffering and harm that results from your ideology will ever be significant in your eyes.

                Again, you start with your ideology and then conform your morals accordingly.

              2. tarran   9 years ago

                JESUS CHRIST ON A CRUTCH CYTO. YOU HAVE TO BE THE STUPIDEST MOTHER FUCKER ON THIS BOARD!!!!!

                A woman was murdered. She was murdered because she was put in charge of a bunch of minors from a very violent culture with inadequate tools and resources to protect herself and to carry out her duties.

                She lacked those resources and was given that job because a nation state decided
                1) To import people in accordance with the doctrines of their welfare state
                2) To provide them with a residence
                3) To pretend that they posed no special risk to anyone.

                It’s not nothing. It’s the precise mode that the EU’s fucked up attitude towards immigration and social welfare and economics is making people less secure and increasing crime rates.

                We open borders guys have to face this problem. We have to answer why we conclude out ideals are better than the alternative in the face of this negative evidence.

                PRETENDING THAT BAD SHIT AIN’T HAPPENING, PRETENDING THAT A HUMAN BEING IS A NOBODY BECAUSE HER DEATH IS INCONVENIENT TO YOUR RELIGIONS COMMANDMNETS IS FUCKING JUVENILE, IMMORAL AND BARBARIC.

                Many years ago I made the observation is that you are precisely the sort of person who would throw acids into school girls’ faces should your imam command you to. I stand by that observation; you are a savage with no respect for human life.

                1. ant1sthenes   9 years ago

                  minors

                  Actually, that’s questionable. I remember reading that they have a statistically improbable number of 17 year old refugees, because it’s basically impossible to prove otherwise and being a minor gets you special treatment.

              3. cavalier973   9 years ago

                “One murder is not very interesting…to me.”

                FTFY

            2. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

              I live on a continent full of such people.

              1. John   9 years ago

                He is sadly not unique.

  39. John   9 years ago

    http://www.politico.com/story/…..lts-218731

    In a strongly worded editorial on Thursday, The Des Moines Register called on the Iowa Democratic Party to move quickly to prove that Monday’s results are correct.
    The piece titled “Editorial: Something smells in the Democratic Party,” starts out: “Once again the world is laughing at Iowa.”

    Please God let there be more close primaries that Hillary wins through obvious fraud. This is so much fun.

    1. Matrix   9 years ago

      I hope both Bernie and Hillary have huge scandals that discredit them, and watch the proggies fall all over themselves to still line up and defend those two.

      1. John   9 years ago

        I just want to see the supporters of the losing candidate, as angry and bitter and feeling as betrayed as possible. I don’t care who wins just as long as they win in an ugly and underhanded fashion that leaves hurt feelings and cynicism that will last for a generation. I want Progs spending years lamenting how great things would be if only the 16 nomination hadn’t been stolen.

      2. grrizzly   9 years ago

        I heard somewhere that Hillary already had such a scandal…

      3. Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper   9 years ago

        You have to dance with the abusive grandparents that brung you.

    2. paranoid android   9 years ago

      Loath so I am to even halfheartedly defend Hillary, I think it’s a little out there to claim she used her vast powers of corruption to win six tie-breaking coin flips in different places rather than just, you know, fix the results to avoid the coin flip in the first place. Unless there’s something about this whole saga I’m missing.

      1. John   9 years ago

        Since the Caucuses involved all of the voters being there at the same time, it would have been a bit difficult to fix the vote. Everyone saw who voted for whom. It would however have not been difficult to ensure that she won any coin tosses that happened to occur.

        1. CatoTheChipper   9 years ago

          Yeah, but who supplied the coins?

          Seriously … Clinton knew there would be close precincts, and I wouldn’t put it past her to supply her acolytes with unfair coins.

          OTOH, a 1 in 64 result does happen in the real world. It’s not much more unlikely than a one-outer on the river, and my opponents seem to get them all the time in Texas holdem.

          1. cavalier973   9 years ago

            “…my opponents seem to get them all the time in Texas Hold’em.”

            Really? Hmmm.

            Wanna play some poker?

  40. robc   9 years ago

    I was reading The Cat in The Hat to my 4 week old last night ( I realize at that age, content doesnt matter, it could be anything, like The Bible or Atlas Shrugged (both of which I probably will read to her at some point), but I went with a classic) and realized it couldnt be published today.

    The mother would be arrested for leaving two young kids home alone. Not only that, if the weather had been nice, theyvwould have been playing outside, unsupervised!

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      Same with most nursery rhymes.

    2. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

      Most great children’s books are like this. Before long you will get to Magic Tree House, where the kids travel unaccompanied through time and on adventures. Then you get to Wrinkle in Time and Golden Compass where kids travel alone through multiple universes saving the world. Good children’s lit is a bulwark against the oppressive state.

    3. Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper   9 years ago

      Little Red Riding Hood had it coming.

    4. CatoTheChipper   9 years ago

      Alice and the Looking Glass … a great story that delves into the absurdity of the state and other large institutions.

  41. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

    Linkdin shares getting hammered.

    http://www.reuters.com/article…..SKCN0VD2SL

    I hope this marks the beginning of the implosion of the ‘social media/networking’ bubble.

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      After hours trading, but yeah, that’s a beating.
      We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

    2. Restoras   9 years ago

      Not sure I’d bet on that. Shares are down on light guidance, not a bad quarter.

      1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

        Bubble correction. 26% decline

        1. Restoras   9 years ago

          That’s one theory. You might be right. But, given the company had not given guidance for the current quarter all this really shows is that Wall Street analysts are bad at making guesses. But you probably knew that already.

    3. MJGreen - Docile Citizen   9 years ago

      And I just started building my profile!

      And, actually, my brother was up for a job there. He should’ve gotten the official offer in the last few days. I have to find out what he decided…

      1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

        Linkdin is not without value to either users or shareholders. It’s great you should definitely have a profile there. It just seems wildly overvalued.

  42. BiMonSciFiCon   9 years ago

    This strikes me as rather morbid.

    To be generous, if you follow the link through, they’re claiming to talk about access to birth control. But the tweet sure doesn’t make that clear. Why not say fewer women are applying for birth control?

    1. Irish ?s ESB   9 years ago

      “Two years before Planned Parenthood funding was cut from the program on Jan. 1. 2013, 1,042 women filed claims for LARCs under the state’s Medicaid Women’s Health Program. By the end of 2014, that number dropped by 35.5 percent, to a mere 672 women. Those figures are just as bad for women who use injectable contraception ? within the same timeframe, those claims dropped from 6,832 to 4,709 (or by 31.1 percent). ”

      But…there are like 13 million women in Texas. So that decline is virtually nothing. And it doesn’t even say fewer women are using contraception, it says there’s been a decline in the number of women filing for two kinds of contraception under one program.

      “Unsurprisingly, the study shows a 1.9 percent increase in the birthing rate in counties that once had state-funded Planned Parenthood clinics during that same time period of 2011 to 2014. ”

      Funding was cut in 2013. Saying there was an increase in the birth rate between 2011 and 2014 therefore tells me nothing because if there was an increase prior to 2013, then the increase cannot have had anything to do with PP defunding.

      Also, the economic collapse caused birth rates to fall. American birth rates only started recovering this year. However, Texas recovered economically far earlier than the US at large. So how do we know the increase in Texas’ birthrate didn’t have to do with the economy recovering between 2011 and 2014 and women deciding to get pregnant because they were in better financial shape?

      1. Irish ?s ESB   9 years ago

        Also, do progressives see low birth rates as a positive good? It seems to me the issue is unwanted pregnancies. Looking at the overall number of pregnancies doesn’t tell me how many of them are unwanted.

        The fact that they use total births as a proxy for unwanted births tells me conservatives might be on to something when they say certain city slicker progressives just hate the existence of babies.

        1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

          “do progressives see low birth rates as a positive good?”

          Duh. Planet Earth. European ZPG is example of progress.

      2. BiMonSciFiCon   9 years ago

        Oh, I agree, the article itself doesn’t show what it claims to show. I was somewhat, naively I guess, surprised they’d publish a tweet that sounds like they’re upset that fewer babies (sorry, fetuses) are getting aborted.

        1. Irish ?s ESB   9 years ago

          The US birthrate hit an all time low in the last few years because of the recession. According to progressives, we should hope the birthrate never recovers and any recovery in the birthrate is terrible and worthy of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

          Shouldn’t it be expected the birthrate will go up since there is allegedly some kind of economic recovery going on?

        2. R C Dean   9 years ago

          Why wouldn’t they be sorry that fewer fetuses are aborted? That’s a profit center for them.

      3. R C Dean   9 years ago

        the study shows a 1.9 percent increase in the birthing rate

        Unless that rate is “number of births per 1,000 women of child-bearing age”, this also tells us nothing. It could be the raw number of births, it could be births per 1,000 people, etc.

  43. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

    Libertarian Moment, Argentina edition: Argentina government lays of 6200 employees, does not rule out more.

    http://news.yahoo.com/argentin…..09399.html

    They are also cutting electricity subsidies.

    1. Libertymike   9 years ago

      Good news, right?

    2. Lady Bertrum   9 years ago

      The government employees now have enough time to stand in line for toilet paper. So, win/win.

      1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

        They don’t have that problem. Argentina never got as far down the hole as Venezuela.

  44. The Late P Brooks   9 years ago

    Too lazy to find a link, but more people are moaning and groaning about the federales’ lack of truly effective means of lowering the boom on domestic terrorists. I mean, what has this country come to when a man can badmouth the government and live to tell the tale?

    1. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

      What do you mean? The FBI does a great job of radicalizing retards, arresting them, and holding press conferences.

    2. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      ” more people are moaning and groaning about the federales’ lack of truly effective means of lowering the boom on domestic terrorists. I mean, what has this country come to when a man can badmouth the government and live to tell the tale?’

      Playa – i think he might be referencing things like this =

      “U.S. Looking to Expand Legal Means to Go After Domestic Extremists”

      “federal prosecutors tackling domestic extremists still lack an important legal tool they have used extensively in dozens of prosecutions against Islamic State-inspired suspects: a law that prohibits supporting designated terrorist groups.

      Carlin and other Justice Department officials declined to say if they would ask Congress for a comparable domestic extremist statute, or comment on what other changes they might pursue to toughen the fight against anti-government extremists.’

      …government agents are quick to investigate people who appear sympathetic toward Islamic State, current and former officials say. But some say the government has been overzealous in its pursuit of Islamic State suspects.
      ….
      ”

      Basically, we’re a pussy-hair from having H&R declared “material support” for anti-government extremists

      1. Irish ?s ESB   9 years ago

        “government agents are quick to investigate people who appear sympathetic toward Islamic State, current and former officials say.”

        ‘Appear sympathetic?!?’ WTF. Who gives a shit if there’s any evidence they’re actually giving money to IS, if they appear sympathetic we must arrest them.

        1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

          Their point was that = “instead the US govt should be investigating these Domestic Anti-Government Yokels” in order to not appear excessively Islamophobic and stuff.

      2. Suthenboy   9 years ago

        I figure the first ‘terror organization’ to go o n the list will be the NRA.

        1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

          6 million+ supporters! all indictable

          1. ant1sthenes   9 years ago

            Should be fun, rounding them all up.

  45. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

    I just watched The Nostalgia Critic’s takedown of Lady in the Water. Holy shit this movie makes The Happening look completely sane and unremarkable. That movie is seriously suggestive of a psychotic break and delusional egoism on the part of Shamyalan.

    1. paranoid android   9 years ago

      I watched The Visit just a couple weeks ago. It’s a found footage movie directed by M. Night Shamylan starring a couple annoying kids, it’s the perfect god damn storm of awful movie-making. Don’t get me started on The Last Airbender.

      The guy made Unbreakable, for fuck’s sake, what the hell happened?

      1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

        NC said The Visit was actually alright in many aspects. Maybe he just had really low expectations.

        I don’t understand why Unbreakable gets so much hate. I think it’s his best film. I don’t know why anyone likes Signs that was just terrible. The Village could have been good but was ruined by it horrible setting-wrecking ‘twist’.

      2. robc   9 years ago

        Unwatchable, you mean?

    2. Ted S.   9 years ago

      I thought Anthony Quinn was quite enjoyable in The Happening.

  46. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    I praise Scott S. for his no-nonsense, news-dense PM linkages. Not even *one* buzzfeed, hollywood-reporter, Cosmo, or Vox link!? Its like the kids left the adults in charge for one day.

    that said…

    Saudi Arabia = We’re Right Behind You, Obama
    “Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it was ready to participate in any ground operations in Syria [against ISIS] if the U.S.-led alliance decides to start such operations”

    1. Los Doyers   9 years ago

      Considering that Saudi Arabia and ISIS share many of the same harsh punishments for homosexuality, adultery, etc, we might need to mark their soldiers with something to ensure they don’t get killed by friendly fire!

    2. Lady Bertrum   9 years ago

      Shackford isn’t linking to Buzzfeed any more and that’s not ok.

    3. Suthenboy   9 years ago

      As per my ‘Obama does the opposite of everything he says’ rule, I knew when he swore up and down he would put no troops on the ground in Syria that he would put troops on the ground in Syria. It’s coming. It is going to make Iraq look like a Sunday picnic on a tight budget.

  47. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

    Prolife student group at Purdue puts up messages on campus about the damage abortion is doing to black people.

    “Kevin Lasher, a civil engineering junior and president of Purdue Students for Life, said the “goal of doing this is really to bring to light … how specifically the African-American community, minorities in general, are being targeted by Planned Parenthood and being exploited in the name of empowering women.”…

    “Afton Goins, an African-American senior, labeled the messaging “racist misogyny” because it targets black women who often are in need of abortion services.

    “”It’s very likely for a black woman who happens to get pregnant to be in a situation where she would want to have an abortion, being that she is in a bad financial situation or a victim of sexual assault or does not have the current resources to provide for a child,” she said.”

    1. John   9 years ago

      It’s very likely for a black woman who happens to get pregnant to be in a situation where she would want to have an abortion, being that she is in a bad financial situation or a victim of sexual assault or does not have the current resources to provide for a child,

      I thought making sweeping negative generalizations about people based on their race was a bad thing?

    2. Rt. Hon. Judge Woodrow Chipper   9 years ago

      Figures. The idiot engineer is the one who’s future income will be 100% dependent on tax dollars.

      1. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

        I’m not sure I quite get your point. What in this article shows him to be an idiot?

        1. ant1sthenes   9 years ago

          Familiarity with the history of eugenics in America, apparently.

  48. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

    Latin American populism is on retreat throughout the region.

    link text

    Libertarian Moment.

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      When people overcome poverty, they start demanding more than mere subsidies.

      This is an interesting statement which deserves an article unto itself.

      1. John   9 years ago

        There is never enough free shit. The more free shit you give people, the more they think they are entitled to get.

      2. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

        I know. It’s more profound than much of what is written here.

    2. Lady Bertrum   9 years ago

      Don’t worry, the Zika virus will burn that away soon enough.

    3. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      Invoking the name of the “people,” Latin American populists have labelled dissenters as rich, right-wing oligarchs.

      With LOTS of help from Western Media, I might add.

  49. The Late P Brooks   9 years ago

    From the Kids These Days desk:

    Young voters’ support for Mr. Sanders has created a quandary in Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, where millennial staff members have tried to persuade their peers to back the former first lady, using social media platforms like Snapchat and Instagram. On Monday in Iowa, Mr. Sanders defeated Mrs. Clinton among voters ages 17 to 29 by 70 percentage points, greater than the 43-percentage-point margin Barack Obama won in the same age group in Iowa in 2008.

    That is true among both men and women, and even Mrs. Clinton called the gap “amazing” during an appearance on CNN on Wednesday.

    The headline reads, “Young Democrats Flock to Bernie Sanders, Spurning Hillary Clinton’s Polish and Poise”

    How can they resist her carefully crafted plasticine facade? It’s a mystery.

    1. Krabappel   9 years ago

      “Spurning Hillary Clinton’s Polish and Poise”

      The NYT can’t even.

      1. Medical Physics Guy   9 years ago

        That is one of the most in the tank headlines of all time.

        I watched part of one debate. Hillary sounded like a tense robot, constantly stringing together little phrases without any sense of line. No polish and not much poise.

    2. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      “Some have taken to wearing shaggy white “Bernie” wigs to show their support”

      OMG
      LOL
      WTF

  50. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

    I see Richman’s article this morning was 1) as full of bullshit as usual and 2) brings out all the tards in the yard.

    No, terrorism is not an ‘existential threat’. It doesn’t have to be for the USG to be obligated to destroy terrorists and the states sponsoring them.

    1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

      No, Iran does not have rights to a nuclear weapon. Dictatorships have no rights.

      1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

        States don’t have rights; people do. you keep saying this and it makes no sense.

        1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

          States don’t have rights like individuals do, but legitimate ones gain their legitimacy from somewhere.

      2. ant1sthenes   9 years ago

        I’m curious how you define things such that Iran is a dictatorship and the US or Canada are free.

        They have elections, and while the system is corrupt and the political establishment has a lot of control over which candidates run, they aren’t sham elections in the Saddam Hussein sense. Moreover, you could make the exact same charges here. Of course the Ayatollahs can overrule the elected officials, but so can the Supreme Court here, and you aren’t a huge fan of democracy anyway.

        What metric are you using to set them apart, that isn’t a difference in degree instead of kind?

        1. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

          Well first, their elections are rigged and candidates cannot run freely. The guy who is really running things is not elected. Further, more importantly, Iran does not protect or respect individual rights, and therefore that state has no legitimacy.

    2. Cytotoxic   9 years ago

      No, nukes will not bring peace to ME. Anyone who thinks MAD = peace is retarded and wholly ignorant of the Cold War and the nuclear apocalypse that nearly happened in 1962 and 1983.

  51. Entropy Drehmaschine Void   9 years ago

    Rand Paul To Spend His “Every Waking Hour” Trying To Stop Trump

    Asked if he has more in common with Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson than Donald Trump, the Kentucky senator said yes and no.
    “In some ways yes and in some ways no,” he said. “I don’t really know his platform, but I do know that the Republican Party has allowed a libertarian-leaning person like myself to actually become a U.S. Senator, and that I’ve worked very hard to make the party more libertarian and more constitutionally conservative. And I think it’s been for a good thing.”
    Paul said the pundits who question if he is “libertarian enough” are speaking nonsense.
    “You know, I think I always just tried to be who I am,” said Paul. “Everybody, every pundit out there tries to say ‘oh you’re not libertarian enough,” but if the problem were if I’m not libertarian enough, and that’s why the poll numbers are not higher, that would be an argument that oh, ‘libertarians are voting for Donald Trump,’ so it doesn’t really make any sense. But I have to be who I am. I’m a limited government constitutional conservative. I have some libertarian feelings ,and it’s harder if there’s a purity test for everything to determine what is purely right or wrong.”

    1. Jerry on the rocks   9 years ago

      For now he’s just sitting in the corner in the libertarian spotlight.

  52. Emmerson Biggins   9 years ago

    3 Felonies a day. If Shkreli had been doing business on some DoD contract and did what Hillary did with that much classified information, he already be getting tortured at some CIA black sight.

    1. Emmerson Biggins   9 years ago

      /he already/he’d already/s

  53. ireneanderson0014   9 years ago

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  54. Rockabilly   9 years ago

    Diplomats Pledge Nearly $11 Billion In Aid For Syria At Donor Conference

    Who knew diplomats were so wealthy?

  55. Ammy5432   9 years ago

    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

  56. Ammy5432   9 years ago

    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

  57. Andy542   9 years ago

    ??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 ?

  58. ammy4536   9 years ago

    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

  59. ammy4536   9 years ago

    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

  60. DEG   9 years ago

    I skimmed over that 911 article you posted the other day. I haven’t had time to read it. Did my eyes deceive me as I skimmed that article? $670K for a car?

  61. Pl?ya Manhattan.   9 years ago

    It is (or was) very east to swap out a Civic engine for an Acura engine.

    It’s the main reason that the Acura was on the top of the list of most frequently stolen cars.

  62. Tejicano   9 years ago

    The straight 6 design is inherently better balanced than a V with any number of cylinders. Only the pancake design balances better. And since the fuel system spans a shorter length it really has a number of advantages over most other design.

  63. DEG   9 years ago

    OK, hopefully I’ll get some time soon to read it.

  64. db   9 years ago

    I had an old Integra GS-R with the variable valve engine. By the time i totaled the car, the engine was worth more than the whole car, and it had 140,000 miles on it. I had an offer of $9,000 on the car just for the engine.

  65. Entropy Drehmaschine Void   9 years ago

    Well worth the read.

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