A.M. Links: GOP Debate Tonight, Hillary vs. Bernie, Snowden vs. FBI

• 

  Credit: CNN

  Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich will face off tonight at a Republican presidential debate in Miami, Florida.

• Marco Rubio now says he regrets making personal attacks on Donald Trump. "My kids were embarrassed by it, and if I had to do it again, I wouldn't," Rubio said.

• Will "Democrats for Trump" help the real estate mogul win next week's Ohio Republican primary?

• Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over immigration, trade, health care, and more at last night's Democratic presidential debate.

• Edward Snowden: "The FBI says Apple has the 'exclusive technical means' to unlock the phone. Respectfully, that's bullshit."

• "The German authorities have obtained a list of the names of about 22,000 foreigners who have traveled to Syria to fight for the Islamic State, a trove of documents that officials say will help them prosecute fighters who return home and improve their efforts to prevent other Germans from joining the organization."

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich will face off tonight at a Republican presidential debate in Miami, Florida.

They're putting an awful lot of effort into pretending it's not already decided.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Hello.

[UnCivilServant]

Hello Rufus, how are things in Soviet feminist Trudeau's Canukistan?

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I don't know because I ignore.

[expat]

Speaking from Alberta - not good, thank you.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Albertans are especially retarded for having voting in the NDP. They richly deserve what they get because they should have known better. It's not like it's a secret what the NDP do.

[Adans smith]

Canadian slap fight!

[expat]

Crappy thing is.. 60% of us voted against the NDP. But the fact that the conservatives screwed up so badly picking the last two leaders, the "conservative" vote was split between the traditional conservatives and the wingnut conservatives.

[Sepper]

Very true. On the other hand, I'm curious as to how many of those who voted for the NDP are originally from back East.
Fucking Easterners /somewhatserious

[gaoxiaen]

He's working on legal pot. Or not.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Tickle me skeptical on that.

[Crusty Juggler]

I will tickle you anytime you want, stud.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Er...someone help.

Anyone?

[0x90]

Around here, you really don't want to cast as wide a net as "anyone."

[Citizen X]

Yeah. "Anyone" includes STEVE SMITH, and almost includes Warty.

[bacon-magic]

STEVE SMITH TAKE CARE OF TICKLE BY RAPING

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I'm a millenial so I'm just going to film this on my phone and upload it to youtube. Sorry, not sorry.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Good morning

I missed last night's debate. Did Bernie and Hillary argue over whose dong was bigger than Trump's? And did either whip it out to prove it?

[Citizen X]

Yes, Hillary's. There were no survivors.

[SugarFree]

Not after she sprayed the crowd to secure a loyalty oath.

[Citizen X]

Poor ventilation. Under normal circumstances, the substances produced by her loyalty gland merely melt the parts of the brain responsible for self will and critical thinking, but when concentrated they can dissolve the entire central nervous system.

Bernie doesn't have a brain, so he was unharmed.

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

"They're putting an awful lot of effort into pretending it's not already decided."

Cruz could still win. It might actually help him if Trump wins Florida and causes Rubio to drop out.

Or Rubio could do the best thing for the party and drop out before throwing his support behind Cruz. He's probably not going to though because both he and Kasich seem to be raving narcissists who are willing to let Trump keep winning rather than getting out of the way and letting Cruz beat Trump in a 1 on 1 matchup. Which Cruz would definitely win.

[Swiss Servator]

Rubio should have realized by now he has had his "please clap" moment.... should they call it the "small hands" moment?

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

I'm curious what is going on behind the scenes. Kasich has no chance. Rubio has very little to no chance. They have to know this, so why are they staying in? Is it to use Trump as a media shield for Cruz? Do they really want a brokered convention? Or is it simple, they can't face reality.

[KDN]

Simplest explanation: they just plain don't like Cruz. Most people who have worked with him don't, why should those campaigning against him be any different?

Regardless, I don't think Cruz has a shot. Trump already blew up Cruz's early race strategy, and I think the later states are more in Trump's wheelhouse.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

^This. Most of the establishment hates Cruz. Cruz would be the Trump of this race if Trump weren't running.

Rubio still thinks he has a chance, at least to push this into a brokered convention, where the establishment would almost certainly support him over Trump or Cruz. That might change if he doesn't win Florida, though.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

I didn't realize Teddy is so hated.

[Mr. Flanders]

Kind of makes me like him more.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

I didn't realize Teddy is so hated.

From a FB friend's feed:

Robert Reich: 4 Reasons Ted Cruz is Even More Dangerous than Donald Trump... in 2 minutes.

[CampingInYourPark]

Rubio still thinks he has a chance, at least to push this into a brokered convention, where the establishment would almost certainly support him over Trump or Cruz

Not sure why people think a brokered convention means some wizard behind the curtain chooses who wins. In a brokered convention, you have to convince delegates to change their vote. If Cruz has 5 or 600 delegates and Rubio has 250, why in the world would Cruz instruct his delegates to vote for Rubio.

[OneOut]

" they just plain don't like Cruz. Most people who have worked with him don't,"

That's not true. People who have worked with him all seem to have a very high opinion of him. Google Cruz at the FTC and read numerous articles about his history there and see for yourself.

It's the people who have worked against Ted Cruz that don't like him like McConnell and McCain and Boehner. Those are the ones who hate and fear him.

[CampingInYourPark]

It's the people who have worked against Ted Cruz that don't like him like McConnell and McCain and Boehner. Those are the ones who hate and fear him.

Calling McConnell a liar for allowing a vote on the Ex-IM bank is a plus in my book

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

"Regardless, I don't think Cruz has a shot."

There was a poll by ABC the other day that had Cruz beating Trump by 15 points head to head. Something like 74% of Rubio and Kasich voters said they'd vote for Cruz in a head to head matchup.

Cruz would crush Trump head to head. Trump is a 35-40% candidate who would stay right where he is if Rubio and Kasich dropped out.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

I get why Kasich is still in the race. His goal, especially if he picks up Ohio, is to be in the position to demand whatever the hell he wants at the convention. Most people think he's angling for the VP slot, but my money is on "new bike."

[Swiss Servator]

...and a new lunchbox! And a BB gun!

[jester]

The kind of BB gun that gets young black children shot in Ohio?

[EMD]

Hey, we don't shoot any more young black children in Ohio than they do in any other state.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

He'll shoot his eye out.

[robc]

Brokeredconvention gives them a chance, however slim.

I would think the first to drop out and support Cruz gets the veep slot.

[Just say Nikki]

Do they really want a brokered convention?

Everyone except Trump and his Trumpkins wants a contested convention.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

Seems like it would be bad for whoever wins. People would say he stole the nomination and not show up to vote.

[CampingInYourPark]

Trump voters aren't showing up for anyone else regardless of how he loses, except maybe for Hillary

[Just say Nikki]

I mean, I have no understanding of or sympathy for people who will say it was "stolen" because they followed the rules and Trump simply didn't win according to the rules. People who think that are either liars or retards and should be ignored.

I'd say the real anti-Trumpers in the GOP who care about the party as such are fine with losing in November if the Trumpets do want to stay home. And that they would do so is just more evidence the party never really wanted their votes to begin with; they're not Republicans, they're Trump supporters.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

Good points.

[R C Dean]

people who will say it was "stolen" because they followed the rules

Well, sure. If they follow the rules, and if the rules aren't rigged.

[OneOut]

Yes. There is a difference between a contested convention and simply a brokered one.

[BearOdinson]

Seriously. At this point, the only one who is even a remote chance of defeating Trump is Cruz. And regardless of the infighting and penis measuring contests, people like Rubio and Kasich should be much more in favor of Cruz' positions than Trump's.

I am still hoping for Cruz, but I understand why many of the libertarians here (and elsewhere) don't like him anymore than the others.

[CampingInYourPark]

There's some not to like. He's not a true believer on drug legalization and gay marriage. His bible thumping probably scares some people./

I still think the country could do a lot worse than hvaing Cruz as POTUS

[kbolino]

Cruz seemed to be a "moderate" on issues like war, cops, and immigration. At least, for a Republican, and to libertarian eyes. But then he said things on those issues that basically put him firmly in the non-libertarian camp. He is still better than Trump, Hillary, and Sanders combined*, but I could certainly see why a more doctrinaire libertarian would not find him palatable and would go for Johnson or someone else instead.

* = the three combined may actually be worse than any of them individually, in the sense that the sum of three negative numbers is a negative number of larger magnitude

[coloraDOOM]

Pretty much this. It's a step past rand, and not all libertarian were going for him.

[CampingInYourPark]

Campaign spending on TV ads in Michigan:

Bernie Sanders, $3.5 million
Hillary Clinton, $2.6 million
Marco Rubio (Conservative Solutions Super PAC), $1.2 million
John Kasich (Kasich campaign, New Day For America Super PAC), $770,353
Donald Trump, $184,636
Ted Cruz, $1,112

http://www.mcfn.org/press.php?prId=258

[RBS]

That first one. Hilarious.

[BearOdinson]

We have to get all of this money out of politics!!

[gaoxiaen]

Endorse Rand Paul or GTFO.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over immigration, trade, health care, and more at last night's Democratic presidential debate.

They're putting an awful lot of effort into pretending it's not already decided.

[Lord Humungus]

Fetishist has penis freed from THIRTEEN metal sex rings by firefighters after 4 agonising days

A man had to have his penis freed from 13 metal sex rings by firefighters.

The "elaborate and extremely careful" rescue mission took place when the 52-year-old's fetish went wrong.

After the bedroom aids were trapped on his manhood for four days he rushed to the hospital in Munich, Germany, in panic.

But medics were unable to help and called in the Fire Brigade, reports the Local .

The emergency team spent an hour removing the rings one by one using an angle grinder.

[UnCivilServant]

Why is this always the job of the fire department?

These articles crop up too often (though usually with fewer objects involved) and it's always the fire department stuck with the task.

I somehow doubt this is a course at the fire academy.

"All right, today we're going to learn the process for removing metal object from around genetalia without excessive bleeding."

[Zeb]

Yeah, that seems really odd. I think I'd rather have a surgeon with a Dremel doing that than some firemen with an angle grinder.

[Crusty Juggler]

The fireman with an angle grinder was part of the fetish.

[kbolino]

A poll on the page (no joke):

Is removing sex rings a good use of the fire brigade's time?

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

If they are anything like american firemen, all they were doing was making chili and polishing their truck, so not the biggest waste of time to help a man out with his cock dilemma.

[Citizen X]

Four days is a bit long to wait before going into a panic. He must have been hopped up on amyl for the first three.

[Elspeth Flashman]

"Munich, Germany"

This is my shocked face.

[Medical Physics Guy]

Know else liked to pierce his penis with metal objects?

[Crusty Juggler]

Prince Albert?

[0x90]

In the can?

[Swiss Servator]

No, in the schlong..

[RBS]

Better let him go.

[KDN]

Well, he was German.

[Medical Physics Guy]

All those British royals were Germans. IIRC they all spoke German to each other until quite recently.

[BearOdinson]

+III King George (well, not just III, but he was the one we defeated so what the hell).

[Citizen X]

They changed their family name from Hanover to the more Britishy Windsor at the outbreak of World War I, i believe.

"Look, i'm as British as Queen Victoria!"
"So your father's German, you're half German, and you married a German?"

[KDN]

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, actually. The Hanovers died with Victoria.

Fucking patriarchy, yo.

[Elspeth Flashman]

+1 I did not shoot this delectable pigeon.

[KDN]

I think something like 80% of the royals in Europe were German by the end of the 19th century. Maybe that's what Hitler meant by the master race.

[gaoxiaen]

Me?

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

The emergency team spent an hour removing the rings one by one using an angle grinder.

I don't normally take pleasure in others' pain but thinking about the look of abject horror on this guys face while they individually cut each ring with an industrial saw does kind of make me giggle.

[Roger the Shrubber]

Don't they know about shrinkage?

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

You can place an IV catheter into the veins to shrink the penis if you don't want to go the grinder route. Blood loss will be significant.

[Rich]

Would someone so wise in the ways of science *kindly* explain how "the bedroom aids were trapped on his manhood for four days"? I mean, were they twisted on an welded, or what?

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

If just tight enough, it restricts venous flow out of the penis, but not arterial flow into the penis, making the penis engorge. Then you have a penis trapped in metal rings my friend.

[Lord Humungus]

go on...

[Just say Nikki]

It's like Rich doesn't even know what a cockring is for.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

*covers Rich's ears*

Don't embarrass the boy, Nicole.

[Rich]

I do *too* know, Nicole.

It's an arena for cockfighting.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

Now I have a mental image of two dudes having a sumo match with their penises.

[Rich]

Don't wait four days for it to go away.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

*Drinks mix of anti-freeze and everclear*
What were we talking about?

[KerryW]

Um, yes, for Viagra you only wait four hours before seeking medical attention.

[Swiss Servator]

+1 peck(er)ed to death

[Doctor Whom]

Only in America, folks. Europeans are too sophisticated.

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

Why would you wait four days? If the cock rings haven't slid off after a day or two, I don't think they're coming off.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

Embarrassment and denial.

[Rich]

"Just *relax*, DAMN IT!!"

[An Innocent Man]

Germany is the Florida of Europe.

[Swiss Servator]

I wonder if Europeans smile when they see a story starting out, " A German man..."

[Free Society]

Only because it's becoming a euphemism for "undocumented Muslim".

[kbolino]

undocumented Muslim

I thought all you had to do to become a Muslim was recite the shahada?

[Free Society]

According to many Muslims, everyone is born Muslim, it's just that their nasty infidel parents teach them to ignore the calls of Allah, which sounds like a cat in heat, as I recall.

[Timon 19]

Which Muslims are those?

[Free Society]

A wide swathe of them apparently.

http://islam.about.com/od/converts/g/revert_gt.htm

http://www.islamtomorrow.com/c.....nverts.htm

I have more links, but Reason makes it a pain in the ass to post them. So you get these.

[Timon 19]

Your about.com link does not say what you're saying. It says they believe that everyone is born with a faith in God, not an adherence to a particular creed.

[Free Society]

You must have stopped reading at the first sentence of the second paragraph.

According to Islam, children are born with an innate sense of God, which is called the fitrah. Therefore, some people see conversion to Islam as a "return" back to this original, pure faith. For this reason, many Muslims prefer to say that they have "reverted," rather than converted to Islam.

Emphasis mine.

[Adans smith]

Grinder and penis are two words that should never be in the same story.

[Rasilio]

Unless you drop the e from Grinder that is

[Juice]

What about grind'er?

[BearOdinson]

I understand using cock rings. But WHY METAL??? For FFS, its your fucking penis dude! You only get one. Sorry, it is my mission in life to avoid doing anything that can lead to the words "penis" and "transplant" being used in the same sentence.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

I use tungsten cock rings, because it is the most baller metal. The downside is tungsten can't be cut, it has to be crushed off. Try not to get a mental picture of a swollen cock in a vise.

[Citizen X]

Florida is the Germany of the United States, i guess.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

It's the nega-Germany, instead of hot tall blondes we have hot short Latinas.

[BearOdinson]

Thank you for that! Now I will be incapable of relations with my wife for at least a week.

[mad.casual]

I understand using cock rings. But WHY METAL???

It's a specific derivative of the kink. Not just altering blood-flow but also inducing stricture.

I don't get the grinder. Seems like a pair of diagonal-cutting pliers or even a small bolt-cutter would do the trick with much less risk.

The overarching question about putting your dick in a situation you couldn't get it out of and why it took four days to figure that out is beyond me.

[Welching Weigel's Cock Ring]

A man has got to know his limitations.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"The FBI says Apple has the 'exclusive technical means' to unlock the phone. Respectfully, that's bullshit."

That ain't worth a velvet painting of a whale and a dolphin gettin' it on.

[straffinrun]

Ok, I've waited an hour. What is this a reference to?

[Crusty Juggler]

Anti-semitism.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Good things come to those who wait.

[Lord Humungus]

Cops find gunfire suspect, 75, asleep after 4-hour standoff

Gunfire at a central Ohio home in the middle of the night spurred a four-hour standoff until officers heard snoring, realized the 75-year-old suspect had fallen asleep in bed and moved in to arrest him, police said Monday. No one was hurt.

Gunshots were reported early Monday by a female resident who fled the home in Newark, about 30 miles northeast of Columbus.

It's not clear why the man fired shots at a bed and wall or why he didn't respond to attempts to contact him when he appeared to be awake and alone, Newark Sgt. Clint Eskins said.

[Restoras]

It's not clear why the man fired shots at a bed and wall

As a resident of NY, I have thought what fun it would be to walk behind my place a couple hundred yards, empty a magazine of .45 ACP into the air, and watch the subsequent trouser soiling with secret glee...

[Adans smith]

I fox hunted at night with a friend several times.Killed a few.You ought to see the flames that shoot out of a 12 gauge in the dark It's a beautiful sight.

[Restoras]

This makes we want to use my .357 Sig instead of a .45. The fireball from that thing in broad daylight is crazy.

Plus, if I do go out back of my place a couple hundred yards - that is locally favored coyote territory.

[Swiss Servator]

Try a battery of four 105mm howitzers opening up at midnight...

[Rasilio]

Err, what goes up must come down and sometimes that can kill someone, emptying it into a patch of soft dirt is safer but otherwise I agree it could be good fun

[Fist of Etiquette]

"My kids were embarrassed by it, and if I had to do it again, I wouldn't," Rubio said.

Just imagine how embarrassed Putin's kids will be when Trump drags him down to that level.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Trump should add getting Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring back from Putin as one of his policy goals.

Come to think of it, that may be the basis of Tom Brady's endorsement....

[Crusty Juggler]

I hope that as president Marco will run all ideas past his kids.

[Doctor Whom]

+1 Amy Carter

[Jerryskids]

if I had to do it again, I wouldn't," Rubio said

Am I to assume Rubio made The Call just like Chris Christie? And which one do you suppose Trump bought off for less, Christie or Rubio? Christie knows, and he knows Donald knows, he has no future without Donald so you'd think he'd sell out for nothing, he has no leverage to demand any price. Rubio might have a future if he bows out now and lives to fight another day, but he's too craven and too greedy and too ambitious I think not to piss away any capital he may hold for a seat on the Trump bandwagon so I'd guess he actually paid Donald for a chance to endorse him. Gonna be fun at the debates tonight when Cruz realizes his tag-team buddy Marco just switched sides in the middle of the match.

[EMD]

Translated: "It didn't work."

[Lord Humungus]

I was wrong about Donald Trump: Camille Paglia on the GOP front-runner's refreshing candor

This fiery endorsement blew me away because it demonstrated how Trump was directly engaging with a diverse coalition in ways that the mainstream media had completely missed. I felt, and still do, that Trump is far too impetuous and thin-skinned in his amusingly rambling, improvisational style. The American president, who can spook markets or spark a war with a rash phrase, must be more coolly circumspect. And aspirants to the presidency shouldn't care what small fry like bobble-head TV hosts say or do. A leader must have the long view and show an instinctive capacity to focus and prioritize.

Nevertheless, Trump's fearless candor and brash energy feel like a great gust of fresh air, sweeping the tedious clich?s and constant guilt-tripping of political correctness out to sea. Unlike Hillary Clinton, whose every word and policy statement on the campaign trail are spoon-fed to her by a giant paid staff and army of shadowy advisors, Trump is his own man, with a steely "damn the torpedoes" attitude. He has a swaggering retro machismo that will give hives to the Steinem cabal. He lives large, with the urban flash and bling of a Frank Sinatra.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

"damn the torpedoes" attitude. He has a swaggering retro machismo that will give hives to the Steinem cabal. He lives large, with the urban flash and bling of a Frank Sinatra.

Don't do me like that. 'Damn the torpedoes' was by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers!

[Swiss Servator]

-1 David Glasgow Farragut

[Pope Jimbo]

Doh! Congrats Swiss.

[Pope Jimbo]

-1 David Farragut

Maybe you'd know better Rufus if Canuckistan had a real navy (not counting ice breakers)

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Oh, I knew it was him who said it but it took Petty to put music to the words!

[Swiss Servator]

And at the end of 1945, Canada had the 4th largest navy in the world... sigh.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

I think this may interest you Swiss:

http://www.navalreview.ca/wp-c.....m3art2.pdf

Title: 'Was the RCN ever the Third Largest Navy?'

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

By the way, it confirms your '4th largest' comment. The common theme or perception is 'did Canada have the third largest navy' and sometimes even a variation of that that stipulated, 'did Canada have the 3rd largest army?'

Either way, it's a shame how we let our military slide. And this is not the fault of 'Harper' as short-sighted, ignorant, myopic liberals claim. It's been going on for decades by both parties.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Not that you'd find anything in there you probably didn't already know.

[Swiss Servator]

I loved visiting the HMCS Haida. That is a great little gem, tucked back into Hamilton.

[Jerryskids]

I think the German and Japanese navies were much larger than the RCN if you count all the submarines. Of course, those were converted submarines and surface ships being catastrophically converted into submarines maybe shouldn't count so much, but still, it was a hell of a lot of submarines.

[Rhywun]

The hell? If she has a column there again, I may have wade into the Salon muck regularly.

[Roger the Shrubber]

Scroll to the bottom where she gives her opinion of Lena Dunham. Ouch.

[Roger the Shrubber]

Lena Dunham belongs to the exhibitionistic Andrea Dworkin school of banner-waving neurotic masochism. The body is the enemy, a tainted lump whose limitations and afflictions the public must be forced to contemplate in grisly detail. We must also witness, like hapless medieval bystanders at a procession of flagellants, just how unappetizingly pallid Caucasian flesh can be made to be without cracking the camera lens. The torpid banality of Dunham's utterances (reverently accorded scriptural status by the New York Times) is yet another matter. I am woman?hear me kvetch!

[SusanM]

Wow, she said something edgy and controversial. What a daring [yawn] rebel!

[Fist of Etiquette]

The German authorities have obtained a list of the names of about 22,000 foreigners who have traveled to Syria to fight for the Islamic State...

If only ISIS cracked the Krauts' enigma device. Also, what the fuck is the draw of ISIS?

[Citizen X]

Also, what the fuck is the draw of ISIS?

A feeling of certainty in an uncertain world.

[Zeb]

Certainty of being bombed and/or shot.

[Lee G]

As strange as it sounds, people want something to die for.

[BearOdinson]

"I think the hats. The hat convey that solemn religious look you want in a faith. Very pious."

[Rich]

Apparently it gives disgruntled youth a purpose in life death.

[Citizen X]

+72 virginsraisins

[Restoras]

Kinda like all those third and fourth sons going on crusade. They've got nothing to lose.

[UnCivilServant]

What? You haven't wanted to travel to a brutal theocracy to rape and pillage in the name of allah?

[Suthenboy]

Rape, murder and plunder has a certain appeal to psychopaths.

[Zeb]

The real puzzler is why any woman would go voluntarily.

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

Men who are willing to rape, murder, and plunder hold a certain appeal to sociopathic women.

[Rich]

To avoid human traffickers?

[straffinrun]

Especially when she can go to Columbia instead.

[Lee G]

Purpose

[Crusty Juggler]

Blame Twitter.

[Doctor Whom]

Have you ever read The True Believer? I believe that it belongs on every libertarian's bookshelf.

[GILMORE?]

http://erichoffer.org/Frustration.html

A substitute embraced in moderation cannot supplant and efface the self that we want to forget. We cannot be sure that we have something worth living for unless we are ready to die for it. This readiness to die is evidence to ourselves and others that what we had to take as a substitute for an irrevocably missed or spoiled first choice is indeed the best there ever was.

The True Believer, Pg 16 (1951)

. The individual on his own is stable only so long as he is possessed of self-esteem. The maintenance of self-esteem is a continuous task which taxes all of the individual's powers and inner resources. We have to prove our worth and justify our existence anew each day. When, for whatever reason, self-esteem is unattainable, the autonomous individual becomes a highly explosive entity. HE turns away from an unpromising self and plunges into the pursuit of pride ? the explosive substitute for self-esteem. All social disturbances and upheavals have their roots in crises of individual self esteem, and the great endeavor in which the masses most readily unite is basically a search for pride.

The Passionate State of Mind, Pg 18 (1955)

[Swiss Servator]

You know who else traveled from Germany to fight in the Middle East?

[Citizen X]

Indiana Jones?

[UnCivilServant]

Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa?

[straffinrun]

Merkel?

[Charles Easterly]

Are you looking for Conrad III?

[An Innocent Man]

The 1st Armored Division in 1990?

[Free Society]

The Juice?

[This Machine]

The Teutonic Knights?

[BearOdinson]

Damn you!!

[BearOdinson]

The Teutonic Knights?

[Crusty Juggler]

The Teutonic Knights?

[Free Society]

The Teutonic Knights?

[Rasilio]

Erwin Rommel

[bacon-magic]

The Desert Fox(is this too close too the real answer?).

[Mazakon]

Will "Democrats for Trump" help the real estate mogul win next week's Ohio Republican primary?

They'll change their vote as soon as they find out Kasich's father was a mailman.

[Lord Humungus]

The latest policing tool to monitor rowdy spring breakers: Drones

In South Padre Island, Tex., law enforcement officials faced an additional question before the department bought two drones ahead of this year's influx of spring break revelers:

"How high can someone realistically chuck a can of beer?"

The answer, according to South Padre Island town spokesman Gary Ainsworth: probably a lot less than 250 feet, the height at which the department's drones will hover above local beaches when as many as 75,000 college kids on spring break swarm the barrier-island town, which has fewer than 3,000 permanent residents.

"That's just something you have to expect when you have that many people letting loose on a beach and they notice a robot hovering over them," Ainsworth told The Washington Post. "I probably would have tried to knock one out of the sky with a beer can when I was in college."

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

"Monitor." Got it. They are just trying to make sure the wet t-shirt contest doesn't get too rowdy.

[Zeb]

Girls Gone Wild: Drone Edition.

[Swiss Servator]

^This^

[SugarFree]

We've got tops of boobs and, uh, more tops of boobs!

[Rich]

"How high can someone realistically chuck a can of beer?"

Oh, I don't know. How high can someone realistically shine a green laser?

[Tonio]

No, you should not "shine" lasers against police drones, ever. Particularly not green ones which draw a bright green line in the air and allow anyone to see where that is coming from. But even if you were using a red laser (no troublesome line) in an attempt to fry the CCD device in the drone's camera, I'm sure it's illegal to interfere with police operations.

[straffinrun]

We've got bush! We've got bush!

[Adans smith]

Shaved beaver!!

[bacon-magic]

These dummies have never seen the 2 man sling shots that are used to chuck water balloons have they?

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

The German authorities have obtained a list of the names of about 22,000 foreigners who have traveled to Syria to fight for the Islamic State, a trove of documents that officials say will help them prosecute fighters who return home and improve their efforts to prevent other Germans from joining the organization."

Just don't say any of them were already terrorists BEFORE you let them into the country. Das ist verboten.

[Suthenboy]

It is not an invasion. It's totally not.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Sometimes I wonder. The population of the EU is, what, 500 million of which 80 are in Germany?

FWIW allow me to play a poor devil's advocate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq4BFIoPCLI

[Zeb]

Well, it's an invasion of Syria. I'm not sure that people leaving Europe to fight in Syria bolsters the case for the invasion theory. I still don't think "invasion" is the right word for what's happening in Europe. Invasions are planned and directed and violent. This is a migration toward free shit. Perhaps one that will end up having some of the effects of an invasion. But Muslims in Europe are still a fairly small minority and given the will to do so, the native Europeans could certainly stop it.

"22,000 foreigners", were they foreigners that were in Germany, or what?

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Historians still debate whether the barbarian crossing the limes into Rome was a sudden invasion (like a tidal wave) or a long, slow process.

[Zeb]

It was also a whole lot easier to take over a place through a slow migration/invasion back when there were a lot fewer people there.

[Free Society]

It was also a whole lot easier to take over a place through a slow migration/invasion back when there were a lot fewer people there.

In many cases the Germanic tribes were invited by the Emperor or the local governor or proconsul to provide security in the region or serve up soldiers for the imperial army. In most cases, the migrants were given dominion over the areas they were settled in and over time the barbarians pushed their dominions farther afield and even later in time this government directed migration (ring any bells?) did in fact exhibit the features of an invasion.

I think the difference between an invasion and a government directed importation of culturally distinct migrants, is like between a burning tree log and a rotting one. One happens so quickly that it's engulfed before you know it's happening, the other happens so slowly you don't know it's happening until it's well underway and irreversible damage has been done.

[Swiss Servator]

I rather thought it was when they crossed the lemons...

[Restoras]

Invasions are planned and directed and violent.

Well, certainly the Roman Empire would agree they are violent, but planned and directed? Not always. Sometimes its just a shitload of people getting the hell out of the way of some other invasion or calamity.

[Zeb]

I'd call that a migration or displacement.

It is what it is, so we are mostly arguing about terminology. But I think calling the present situation "invasion" assumes some things that are not clear.

[Restoras]

You're ascribing the modern military definition to the term. I wonder if American Indians described the movement and settlement of white Europeans across all of North America as a migration, or an invasion? I'd guess the latter.

[Zeb]

I'd say that was a bit of both. There was a lot of peaceful migration and also a lot of violent conquest. But really nothing like what is happening in Europe now.

Anyway, what difference does it make how Indians would have described it? We're talking about what words are appropriate to use today to describe a very different situation.

[Jerryskids]

Let's ask a Cherokee what they thought of all those European immigrants coming to North America.

[Swiss Servator]

+1 Huns fleeing the Mongols

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

Well, it was 'planned' to the extent Germanic tribes wanted badly to be part of Roman civilization and aimed to get a piece of its ass.

[Free Society]

Well, it was 'planned' to the extent Germanic tribes wanted badly to be own part of Roman civilization and aimed to get a piece of its ass.

[Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer]

King Alaric I indeed.

[Seguin, the Mighty Monoclops]

aimed to get a piece of its ass.

King Alaric I Analric I indeed.

[Restoras]

I'm sure that's how the Franks felt about hordes of Northmen migrating and settling in the northern part of their territory.

[Swiss Servator]

"At least they aren't Wiltzes! Man, I hate them buggers!"

[Rich]

Can't German authorities just refuse to let people "returning from Syria" into the country? "War is hell."

[Free Society]

You heartless monster

[Lord Humungus]

ECB pulls out all the stops, cuts rates and expands QE

YOUR BROWSER IS NOT SUPPORTED.

Please upgrade to watch video.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has delivered a surprise package of measures designed to kickstart Europe's moribund economy by cutting all of its main interest rates and expanding its massive bond-buying program.

The bank announced Thursday that it had cut its main refinancing rate to 0.0 percent and its deposit rate to minus-0.4 percent.

It also extended its monthly asset purchases to 80 billion euros ($87 billion), to take effect in April. Investment grade euro-denominated bonds issued by non-bank corporations will now be eligible for purchase. On top of that, the ECB will now include corporate bonds to the assets it can buy.

[Citizen X]

YOUR BROWSER IS NOT SUPPORTED.

[Lord Humungus]

MY BROWSER HATES YOU

[Citizen X]

IT'S GONNA HAVE TO GET IN LINE.

[Crusty Juggler]

I can attest to the fact that it is a very, very, very long line.

[Citizen X]

It'd be quicker to list the people who DON'T hate me.

1. Your mom

[Charles Easterly]

Sure, but who does Number Two work for?

[straffinrun]

Someone mention a long line? I'm game.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

Choo Choo!

[0x90]

The European Central Bank (ECB) has delivered a surprise package...

Implied consent is sufficient, when it comes to the governed.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

So apparently if you have no prior record and show some remorse, you get off super light for stealing three sawed-offs.

Can't possibly have anything to do with being a cop.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

I like to use these as teaching tools to my libtard friends:

"What do you think would happen to you if you had broken the law like this and weren't a police officer employed by the government?"

"I'd get five years."

"Thank you. Now, what do you think would happen to you if you'd broken the law and you weren't a former United States Senator and Secretary of State?"

"I'd get --- that's different."

[Rich]

"She said what she did was not against the law. As a former United States Senator and Secretary of State, she should know."

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

That's basically it. And then when you ask them why those lofty roles haven't imbued her with the ability to recognize state secrets without 48-point bold red font emblazoned on each e-mail they say..."that's different."

[Clich? Bandit]

"your sad devotion to that liberal mantle of political office hasn't conjured up the stolen battle plans. Nor has it helped find the hidden rebel base."

[sloopyinTEXAS]

As a follow up, ask her if she thinks Bush is a war criminal of if torture is legal.

After all, he was the fucking president, therefore he knew the law, right?

[gaoxiaen]

No one cared when Reagan sold weapons to Iran. What difference...

[Swiss Servator]

HIGHER STANDARDS!

[BearOdinson]

Of course he has no prior record. His buddies help him to keep everything off the books.

Another thing, he got charged with 2 counts of theft, and 4 counts of possessing and offensive weapon? For stealing one shotgun and possessing two more that are, presumably, sawed off below the legal limit? The math doesn't add up.

And shouldn't a police officer found guilty of stealing a weapon from an evidence locker be more significant than a normal theft?

[Lord Humungus]

Inside Rubio's collapse: A fateful decision that helped unravel his campaign

For the next three days, Rubio's crude schoolyard taunts continued: over Trump's made-in-China suits, his "horrible spray tan" and his small hands ? a quip that, as Trump would later explain on the debate stage in Detroit, implied something else was small, too.

Rubio's benefactors were aghast to see their candidate practicing Trump's gutter politics. "Everyone went, 'What?.?.?. Why are you going down to that level?'?" recalled one fundraiser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly. "You might as well support Trump."

Looking back, Rubio's supporters see these fateful days as central to his unraveling. A strategy designed to get under Trump's skin and force him on the defensive instead backfired on Rubio, diminishing the 44-year-old senator who had spent years trying to demonstrate presidential gravitas. At rally after rally, Rubio was unintentionally personifying the caricature that Trump was perpetually drawing of him: "Little Marco."

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

I disagree. Rubio's collapse began at that debate when Governor Chubsy accused him of memorizing and repeating canned lines, to which Rubio replied by repeating some memorized lines that he had immediately said previously.

Really, the fat fascist's only substantial contribution to the campaign was taking down Rubio.

[Medical Physics Guy]

I disagree too. In the earliest debates, he seemed impressive an charismatic in his short moments. As time has gone on and he's gotten more exposure, I have changed my mind and I think he's very weak.

Not only the canned sound bites. His whole manner screams "that annoying kid in the 7th grade who never shut up."

[VG Zaytsev]

I prefer Micro Rubio.

[Swiss Servator]

*opera applause*

[straffinrun]

Nice.

[Jerryskids]

That whole thing sounds like it was written by a Trump campaign spokesmodel. Concern-trolling and pearl-clutching dismay that anybody would stoop so low as to act like Donald Trump.

[Lord Humungus]

Nova Scotia firefighters battling Aylesford blaze find hydrant clogged with fish

When fire crews tried to fill a pumper truck from a pond near the blaze on Aylesford Road, nothing came through the dry hydrant installed near the water's edge.

"We had a hard time getting any suction from the dry hydrant," said Shawn Carey, chief of the Aylesford and District Volunteer Fire Department. "We took it apart because we thought we might have had a gasket gone in one of our lines."

What they discovered next was totally unexpected.

"When we took it apart we found a bunch of fish that came up through the strainer and how they got in there is beyond me," said Carey. "It actually clogged off our pipe so we couldn't get any water."

[Rich]

Is there *nothing* climate change cannot bring about?

[UnCivilServant]

Untampered evidence of human causality?

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Accurate climate models?

[Swiss Servator]

...and then we had a fish boil!

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Fish get fried. Crabs, lobster and shrimp get boiled.

Unless they do it different in Canadia, those weird fucks.

[Swiss Servator]

Somebody has never been to a supper club in Wisconsin on a Friday.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

The whole concept of boiled fish sounds disgusting.

[Clich? Bandit]

Dashi is basically boiled fish. And it is WONDERFUL!

[Adans smith]

I take snow crab legs,soak them in ice water ,then put them on a hot grill on foil,they steam in the shell.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Almost everything is better en papillote .

[OneOut]

Live Blue Crab are best steamed with 2/3 water and 1/3 apple cider vinegar while liberally dusted with Old Bay.

Crab is very delicate and boiling in water leeches out the flavor of the meat.

[Juice]

Crab is very delicate and boiling in water leeches out the flavor of the meat.

Not in my experience. Not when you use Zatarain's Crab Boil.

[Rhywun]

Fish get fried.

Or baked. But yeah boiling is not right for fish.

[R C Dean]

Poaching is kinda like boiling, and it seems OK.

[Clich? Bandit]

Good fish should be eaten raw. That is all.

[Stormy Dragon]

Crazy way to cook salmon perfectly:

1. Get a big piece of salmon, butterfly it and stuff lemon slices and dills into the slice and then fold the salmon back into it's original form.
2. Wrap the entire package TIGHTLY in heavy aluminum foil.
3. Put it the top tray of your dishwasher and run it through the high cycle (no soap)
4. Unwrap and cut into individual portions for serving.

[Rich]

Technology companies could face civil penalties for refusing to comply with court orders to help investigators access encrypted data

The long-awaited legislation from Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, may be introduced as soon as next week

"Long-awaited"?

[Suthenboy]

This will turn out well, I am sure.

Technology is empowering people and that diminishes government power. Of course government attempts to neuter those technologies isnt surprising in principle but I never dreamed they would go this far.

[Rhywun]

Crisitunity is government SOP, no matter which Amendment they're trying to overturn.

[VG Zaytsev]

Nothing about Trumps observation that Islam hates America?

You're disappointing me Reason.com. A month ago that would have ignited a day of Trumpmdenouncing rage.

[Citizen X]

A religiopolitical philosophy hates a geographical construct. Fucking anthropomorphism, how does it work?

[VG Zaytsev]

Pretty well.

[Clich? Bandit]

Mickey Mouse agrees.

[Zeb]

Yeah, it's a pretty meaningless statement. I'm pretty sure America isn't mentioned in the Koran, so it would seem to be up to the individual Muslim.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

It would be more appropriate to say that Islam is antithetical to classical liberal political philosophy and society. But that doesn't have enough cayenne to it.

[straffinrun]

And it wouldn't apply to Amerika! today.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

All too true, Straff. All too true.

[Suthenboy]

America can be a geographical construct or it can be a set of principles that are the foundation of the nation's institutions. If it is the latter than I don't see that assertion as incorrect. The philosophical foundation of Sharia law is diametrically opposed to those principles.

[Zeb]

True, but saying "Islam hates" is still not really sensible. Yes, it is in many ways opposed to the principles of liberal society. But religions can and do change. And we'd better hope that Islam does because it's not going away.

[Restoras]

And what if it doesn't change? Maybe be ready for that, too?

[Zeb]

Yeah, sure. Be ready to meet violence with violence. Stop encouraging people to migrate with generous welfare. Stop bending over backwards to accommodate people so they don't have to assimilate into the broader culture.

I think it is very unhelpful for people who aren't part of the religion to go around declaring what the true beliefs of Islam are. Telling peaceful, decent Muslims that they are doing it wrong doesn't seem smart. On the other hand, pretending that Islam is all smiles and peace is bullshit too.

[Free Society]

I think it is very unhelpful for people who aren't part of the religion to go around declaring what the true beliefs of Islam are. Telling peaceful, decent Muslims that they are doing it wrong doesn't seem smart. On the other hand, pretending that Islam is all smiles and peace is bullshit too.

I don't judge an irrationally barbaric belief system based on it's own standards, that's true. I judge it based on the actions and beliefs it instills in it's practitioners. But peaceful, decent Muslims are indeed doing it wrong and that's great. Study after study has shown a correlation between levels Islamic zealotry/piety/devotion and inclinations towards support for terrorism and other practices that are as objectively unethical as can be.

[Zeb]

When it comes to made up stories like most religions, I just don't think it makes sense to talk about the right and wrong interpretation, practices, etc. Especially where there is no generally accepted central authority on all that, as is the case with Islam.

[Free Society]

When it comes to made up stories like most religions, I just don't think it makes sense to talk about the right and wrong interpretation, practices, etc. Especially where there is no generally accepted central authority on all that, as is the case with Islam.

Like I said, I'm not judging Islam by it's own standards, I do not accept the premises assumed in that ideology/religion. But their practices I absolutely judge them by. And correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to be some connection between Islam and the large proportion of Muslims who think that apostates should be murdered, that homosexuals should be murdered or that the murder of entire families and innocent women and children can be justified. Perhaps, just maybe, there is a connection between Islam and acts of terrorism. Or in many places, some connection between Islam rates of rape (and other crime) by Muslims that are grossly disproportionate to their numbers. I don't think Muslims earned this reputation for no particular reason.

[Just say Nikki]

Fucking retardedly.

[CampingInYourPark]

Pics or it isn't happening

[Medical Physics Guy]

Maybe they served TRUMP wine at yesterday's cocktail parties.

[GILMORE?]

Marco Rubio now says he regrets making personal attacks on Donald Trump. "My kids were embarrassed by it"

NOOB GOT NO SKILLZ W/ TEH SICK BURNS

[Medical Physics Guy]

"I say whatever my highly paid consultants tell me to say, but at least I feel bad sometimes"

[Lord Humungus]

eww...

I Used to Be In Love With Hillary Clinton

[Citizen X]

There is not enough Viagra in all the world.

[Crusty Juggler]

It is a good example as to why I am on board with Nikki's plan to round up all mothers and put them in camps.

[Charles Easterly]

This reminded me of a scene from the movie Good Luck Chuck

[Crusty Juggler]

That was something.

[Rich]

Happy ending:

I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton.

I cannot live with blood on my hands.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

I love how this creature says it was "always politically active" but, in 2008, when it voted for Obama, all it knew about Hillary was that she was "a woman and a Democrat."

I wonder what this political savant "knew" about Obama in 2008?

[mad.casual]

I wonder what this political savant "knew" about Obama in 2008?

Obama Zombie!

A rare sight among the more prolific Trump zombies and the more... Danny Boyle-esque Anti-Trump Zombies.

[Suthenboy]

That article appears on a site called The Independent Thinker.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Exhibit A for why all police discipline records should be public. Because if they were, maybe these two fucking goons wouldn't have even been wearing badges the day they decided to rough up a kid.

But, you know, unions and the "The Democracy" (which is apparently an accepted name for the Democratic Party) machine that run almost every large city in America, simply won't allow the hoi polloi to know what their paid public servants are doing.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

FTA: Spence was one of two Baltimore sheriff's deputies who were fired in 2003 after a wrongful Taser attack that sparked outrage in the Hispanic community, The Baltimore Sun reported at the time.

The deputies mistook a Salvadoran construction worker for a bank robber and arrested him at lunchtime in Lexington Market. A third officer used the Taser on him twice, injuring him.

Spence said at the time that he was fired unfairly.

In 2011, Spence's girlfriend, who also was a school police officer, got a protective order against him.

According to her account in court records, Spence struck her in the face outside a Charles Street hair salon. The girlfriend said that he tried to prevent her from driving away and that she grabbed her police radio and called for assistance from school police officers.

Court records show Bias was charged with second-degree assault and carrying a dangerous weapon with intent to injure in April 2011. Police said then that Bias threw a bottle of alcohol at a man. The bottle missed, the man refused to press charges, and the case was shelved.

[The Last American Hero]

OT:Oh, no, they got Chumlee.

I hope Rick can negotiate the charges down.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Rick: I see, Chumlee. I've got an expert in that.

Rick talks to a lawyer

Lawyer: Yeah, these are pretty bad charges. Chumlee should expect 20, maybe 25 years.

Rick talks to the DA

Look, the best I can do is 30 days. Otherwise he's going to be sitting on the shelf for a while and you'll never get rid of him.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Pro tip: if you're under investigation for sexual assault, move your drug stash out of your house.

Jesus, why are people so fucking stupid. This is taught in "B List Celebrity 101".

[Juvenile Bluster]

Chumlee is like F or G-list celebrity. Maybe they don't get that info.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

That's why we need free college for all. So minoritieslower-level celebrities can get access to the same education as wealthier white people high-level celebrities can.

-Bernie fucking Sanders

[Crusty Juggler]

Agreed.

The fact that he is essentially a household name is how end up with the Donald Trump as president.

[Elspeth Flashman]

Ok, so I have a client who was arrested and called from the jail to tell his girlfriend to "move the guns." ZOMGOSH! there is a reason the phones in jail tell you "You may be recorded." It's because they are recording!!

-- note: I did not represent him for that charge, thank my lucky stars.

[KDN]

IT BEGINS!

To save the Supreme Court, vote Trump over Clinton

Under our system, we coalesce around a nominee once our party has selected one. Anything else spells disaster for the party: If too many Republicans don't support the GOP candidate ? now likely to be Trump ? the GOP's odds of claiming the White House grow slim. In effect, these Republicans will wind up helping Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, become president.

I respect principled positions, and wish more members in Congress stood by theirs ? and communicated them well. That's how you win minds and hearts ? and how the system was designed to work. But for Republicans to hand the election to the other party is not principled opposition; it's self-destruction. And it will have serious consequences for decades, given the impact the next president will have on the Supreme Court.

Expect to see roughly 300 of these from Tuesday (when Trump's lead becomes nigh-insurmountable) and the end of the month as the rest of the GOP comes to terms with their new reality.

Bonus: Suffering From Trumphobia? Get Over It

[Medical Physics Guy]

But for Republicans to hand the election to the other party is not principled opposition; it's self-destruction..

This was used to justify every crapweasel candidate the Republicans ever floated. That it's now used to support Trump is hilarious.

[KDN]

Donald Trump is just another crapweasel candidate, but he's one with charisma and bombast. The Republican race is progressing the way it always does, it just doesn't sound the same.

[Jerryskids]

I respect principled positions, but....

A principled position is one you make no 'buts' about. If you're trying to talk somebody out of a principled position and you're successful at it, then it wasn't a principled position. What you're trying to do is talk unprincipled people out of pretending they have principles. Some of us already know they ain't got no principles.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

It gets stupid after that.
-NYPD spokesman

FTA: The accident was not reported until Saturday morning, hours after the 9 p.m. crash. There were no injuries, and sources indicated that criminal charges were unlikely.

Of course not. Same as if it were you or me, right?

[Crusty Juggler]

He may lose his pay raise! What more do you want?

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I,just wonder how the taxpayers are gonna somehow end up on the hook for the damage done. Because that's coming.

[CatoTheChipper]

According to Bloomberg, the NYPD is the world's 7th largest army. And it is actively engaged in a number of wars.

With such a large army, war crimes and other atrocities are inevitable.

[Tornado16nb]

From the other thread about Bern and 15 trillion...the whole "i am compassionate cause i solicit 3rd parties to rob peter to pay paul which somehow equals community"

fryerc|3.9.16 @ 8:36PM|#

What Sanders inspires in me, as one who has to reassess my view of America now that I've returned to start a family, is a sense that our culture can actually change. Money is great, and being rich must be wonderful, but at what cost? A vote for Sanders is a push toward the "Do Unto Others" perspective that has long been lacking from the overarching culture of this country. Yes, his plans ask for higher taxes, and yes, his plans call for us to all "chip in" to the greater good. But isn't that what community is all about?

I know it sounds fanciful. I know it sounds illogical when beliefs are matched against numbers. But I don't like that the numbers are keeping us contained. We're afraid to pay more taxes at the benefit of helping our neighbors. There's a greed in that. There's a lack of community in this country that I found upsetting and that I hope will come to fruition when Sanders takes office.

It's not "free" stuff. It's paid for, but us, by everyone. It's yours and it's mine, when you need it.

Or we can stay with the Darwinian model of capitalism that keeps the poor people poor, the middle class struggling, and the rich people rich. Survival of the wealthiest. It's been that way since 1776, so why change anything now?

[KDN]

Fucking incentives, how do they work?

[Tornado16nb]

Yea so america is terrible but he or she came back to start a family here?????????????

[KDN]

I was more concerned with this heaping bowl of naivety:

It's yours and it's mine, when you need it.

Yeah, when you need it. Please.

That whole post is a case study in disregarding actual demonstrated human behavior.

[Tornado16nb]

Yep....so we tax you more, but it is really yours?

[Just say Nikki]

Except he never said America was terrible, did he?

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

"Or we can stay with the Darwinian model of capitalism that keeps the poor people poor, the middle class struggling, and the rich people rich. Survival of the wealthiest. It's been that way since 1776, so why change anything now?"

Everything has sucked in this Darwinian killing field since 1776, but yeah, he's not saying America is terrible.

[Just say Nikki]

Maybe he's really into other things about America. Seriously, he doesn't criticize "America" in some kind of "I can't believe he came back here" way. That's retarded.

[Tornado16nb]

You are being dishonest

[Tornado16nb]

You probably shouldn't use the word retarded. Why would someone who thinks the rich will always be rich, middle class is struggling, poor will always be poor come back to start a family here that has no sense of community.... unless they were rich to begin with?

If only we had sanders plans, it would be utopia

[Tornado16nb]

Especially the survival of the wealthiest part...sounds ominous for a family to start up doesn't it?

Clearly the poor are just dying in the streets at 23...they don't have TV, running water, heat/AC, phones, cars, housing, food stamps, or public school

[Tornado16nb]

Yep totally not saying that at all:

There's a greed in that. There's a lack of community in this country that I found upsetting and that I hope will come to fruition when Sanders takes office.

Or we can stay with the Darwinian model of capitalism that keeps the poor people poor, the middle class struggling, and the rich people rich. Survival of the wealthiest. It's been that way since 1776, so why change anything now?

[Tornado16nb]

Nikki do you agree with this statement? Do you think Sanders plans would abate this?

[Citizen X]

I hate fryerc now, and i sort of hate you for dragging this idiocy into the light of my morning.

[Tornado16nb]

Haha sorry.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

How about helping others with your own damn money? There's nothing virtuous about wanting other people to help the poor or forcing them to do so at gunpoint. And if you won't help your neighbor unless you and the rest of the country are required by law to do so, that makes you an asshole.

[0x90]

But what if you don't have any money? How you gonna feel like you helped anyone, then? And even if you do, it's still a drop in the bucket! Why, even if the top ten billionaires gave all their money away, it would barely make a dent, when you compare it to collective action! Wait a minute...

[Suthenboy]

"I know it sounds fanciful. I know it sounds illogical when beliefs are matched against numbers. But I don't like that the numbers are keeping us contained."

Wow. Reality shouldn't matter. Only what makes you feel good should matter.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

"But I don't like that the numbers are keeping us contained."

The stupid...it...BURNS!

[Citizen X]

Get out of here with your cishet white patriarchal 2+2=4 bullshit! If i feel like 2+2 should equal zebra, who are you to say it can't?!?

[UnCivilServant]

I am just me, I am free to say whatever I want. You can feel whatever you want. Neither will not change what is, as we lack power over fact.

[Charles Easterly]

I've met many individuals who seem to believe that if they as individuals keep repeating the same statements over and again those statements are the truth. This belief seems to have more power when others who share their opinion(s) add their own voices.

I have "lost" many arguments/debates with such individuals (at least in their minds they were proven correct).

[Suthenboy]

See: Global Warmists.

[Zeb]

Yeah, the economic structure of the US hasn't changed at all since 1776.

At least she admits it's not free.

[mad.casual]

Yeah, the economic structure of the US hasn't changed at all since 1776.

Not to mention the notion that income/wealth distribution was absolutely idyllic right up until 1776 and went downhill from there.

[Tornado16nb]

I'd argue that folks are far more equal today even with wealth inequality or income inequality (depends on the day) then anytime in history.

[Zeb]

It's pretty hard to deny.

[mad.casual]

I'd argue that folks are far more equal today even with wealth inequality or income inequality (depends on the day) then anytime in history.

That's what I meant. She (unwittingly?) alters her statement from 'Waa, income inequality sucks, we should do something about it.' to 'Fuck you liberty and fuck the income inequality you rode in on.'

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

"I know it sounds fanciful. I know it sounds illogical when beliefs are matched against numbers. But I don't like that the numbers are keeping us contained."

There is no way this is a real person. It has to be a troll mocking Sanders supporters. I just can't believe anyone would say 'what's more important? My beliefs or actual numbers and facts?'

[Tornado16nb]

And see Sanders is saying that his healthcare plan will save a trillion a year.

I notice the prog argument is this:

Prog: we need single payer to save all this money and have better health outcomes!

Me: single payer would be really expensive and i am not sure single payer is what drives health outcomes particularly life expectancy

Prog: we can't put a price on healthcare!

Me: wait i thought you were trying to sell me on all these wonderful savings?

[Lee G]

We're afraid to pay more taxes at the benefit of helping our neighbors.

There's a 50 foot tall strawman

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

When a middle class family doesn't want to pay an extra $9000 in taxes (which is a substantial percentage of their total income), it's because they're 'fearful,' not because that would actually put a massive strain on their bank account.

[Lee G]

All good progressives know that by paying that extra $9000, you will receive it back tenfold.

[Tornado16nb]

My takeaway from that post based on the last paragraph was america sucks and thus bern is needed to make a community or something. Yet nikki doesn't takes an issue with that takeaway...is nikki a bern fan?

[Lee G]

From my observations, Nikki has a pet peeve about inferring intent when it is not explicitly stated.

[Tornado16nb]

Yea that is odd. So if i say someone's house will be ashes in the morning thanks to me....according to Nikki one can't say i am going to burn the house down

[KDN]

She only really does it when lefties are being singled out, IME. John pulls the same shit when the conservative know-nothings get bashed.

[GILMORE?]

North Korea = "We Shall Liquidate Your Assets in a Sea of Nuclear Destruction, Impudent Imperialist Lackey!"

(Picture of Kim Jong Un gesturing vaguely at some machinery surrounded by concerned men)

[straffinrun]

And a picture of Trump pointing vaguely at Kim Jong Un.

[Sevo]

The local rag had a shot of Young'n standing behind the sphere with the caption: 'Looking at what is purportedly a part of a nuclear weapon'.
Well, they could have had him staring at a bolt and a nut and said the same.

[Lord Humungus]

Macau Casinos Bounce Back as Gamblers Ditch China Stocks

The wheel of fortune is favoring Macau casino operators over brokerages as gambling revenue stabilizes and turbulence in the equity market weighs on turnover. Shares of Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. and Sands China Ltd. are among the biggest gainers in Hong Kong in 2016, after being the two worst performers over the previous two years, while Citic Securities Co. and Haitong Securities Co. are down more than 10 percent. The two-year slump in gambling revenue that was sparked by an anti-corruption campaign coincided with China's biggest-ever bull market in equities.

[GILMORE?]

"The Fight For Menstrual Equality"

The term "shock value" was employed in the piece with absolutely zero self-awareness of the potential humor inherent in the phrase.

[GILMORE?]

my link to 'toxic shock syndrome' appears to have gone awry, amiss, or askew... and potentially all three.

[Charles Easterly]

Not doubt it has something to do with the War on Women?.

[BearOdinson]

Public funding for tampons?
Fine, who is paying for the toilet paper? Venezuela did such a bang up job, maybe we should look at their model.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

+1 banana leaves

[0x90]

Attorney Jennifer Weiss-Wolf (Brennan Center for Justice) advocates for free access for the underprivileged. "For people who are low-income, for people who are experiencing homelessness, for people who are incarcerated, umm, access to these products is really a matter of their health, their dignity, and their ability to be productive."

This ticks just about all the boxes, doesn't it. You use justice to stifle debate. You characterize expropriation of property as providing free access. You always use the passive voice; people are low-income, they are experiencing homelessness, or just simply are incarcerated. And you preemptively vilify potential opponents by framing their argument as being against human health, dignity, & productivity.

[Tonio]

Your response is really well-written. Hope you don't mind my paraphrasing that as needed.

[0x90]

Not at all.

[Zeb]

You always use the passive voice; people are low-income, they are experiencing homelessness, or just simply are incarcerated.

Yeah, that's not passive voice ("are incarcerated" could be, but isn't in this case). Passive voice is saying "he was shot" rather than "the police shot him". Those are just descriptions.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I've finally completely deactivated my Facederp account, at least until after the election.

The good: Less idiocy
The bad: Less idiocy to come here and rant about

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

You'll live a happier life that way. I still have mine, but only log on to respond to direct messages.

[Citizen X]

Same. Seeing friends who i thought were intelligent, discerning individuals go full-on, rabid Bern victim was depressing.

[This Machine]

Oh man, I deleted mine entirely a couple years ago, and it's great. You won't miss it, unless there are people that you want to stay in touch with that you only ever talk to on Facederp.

[robc]

I did that in Jan 2008. Didnt actually deactivate, just stopped looking at it. Ive looked at it maybe 10 times in last 8 years.

[Tonio]

You just learn to ignore the idiocy and to not engage. My FB is a politics-free zone.

[GILMORE?]

Awesome Montage of Kim Jong Un Looking at Stuff

I feel like his backup-band/Entourage needs their own name, like, "the Jongerettes" or something. They're an essential part of his whole stage show. Especially the way they echo and amplify Kim's desired emotional-affect with that look of mortal terror in their eyes.

[BearOdinson]

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/c.....z-n2130391

Forgive me if this has already been covered. I have been slammed at work this week.

[Zeb]

Oh, good. I've been beside myself waiting to see who Chuck Norris will come out for.

[Ken Shultz]

Are you in the porn industry?

[Ken Shultz]

"The list was said to contain the given names, noms de guerre and past addresses of thousands of fighters who filled out questionnaires and were registered by the Islamic State when they crossed into Syria from Turkey."

Making such a list was stupid.

Can you imagine the mafia doing something that stupid?

"Godfather, here's the list of names, aliases, and past addresses of all our associates you requested".

I guess maintaining a list like that is how Al Qaeda got started, but they did that before the internet. There are lots of other ways to contact people now.

And how stupid are the recruits who provide that information? I bet a lot of them used phony addresses. Told them their name was Barack, and they live on Pennsylvania Avenue.

[Zeb]

Seems like ISIS is really determined to act like a real state, including all the bureucracy and paperwork.

[sarcasmic]

Yes. Their intention is to create a government.

[GILMORE?]

File Under = Federalization of Everything

Residents of Staten Island Cry Fowl = Too Many Turkeys

"CBS2's Jessica Schneider reported the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been called into the Dongan Hills section where wild turkeys clog up the roads and dart into the streets.

"The novelty's worn off and they've become a nuisance," City Councilman Steve Matteo told CBS2. "The USDA can now start baiting and getting the turkeys and relocating them to a sanctuary in Greene County.""

Somewhere the ghost of an American frontiersman weeps

[Crusty Juggler]

What did Greene County do to receive a large transplant of those mean fuckers?

[GILMORE?]

""...And soon thereafter, the Turkeys had set up their crack-dealing operation on the streets of Greene County...."

[Adans smith]

Turkey like to come into my squirrel feeder and eat the dropped corn.They taste wonderful.

[Suthenboy]

Wild turkeys. The more you boil them, the tougher they get. Hell, you can make shoe soles out of their tender parts.

[Adans smith]

Put them in a smoker,I do this with geese and ducks also. BTW,since I can shoot a deer or turkey in my back yard I don't hunt them.Kinda like farming.

[Suthenboy]

I am getting soft in my old age. I can hardly bring myself to let the hammer down on anything anymore. Hogs and one deer / yr.

All the small game is out for me anymore.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

I work with a guy that has a horror story of hunting. He had a friend that brain shot all his deer, so he tried it, and took the deer's jaw off, then when the deer ran he hit it in the back, so it was crawling away with just its front legs, then he shot it in the neck and put it down. He has never hunted after that and he was a life long hunter.

[R C Dean]

He had a friend that brain shot all his deer, so he tried it,

A pair of idiots. Wonderful. Why shoot at a target half the size of your palm, which moves erratically, when you have a perfectly good target that is the size of a paper plate, not moving much at all?

[R C Dean]

In my experience, the dark meat on wild turkeys is pretty much inedible no matter what you do to it. We've taken to just breasting the turkeys.

A good brining, and it is excellent just about any way you cook it. A little denser and chewier, maybe than store-bought, but more flavor.

[sarcasmic]

Round here they had a problem with too many deer on an island where it was illegal to hunt them. So the government hired a professional hunter to thin the herd. Because the animals were harvested out of season and not under normal circumstances, all the meat had to be destroyed. There is literally nothing that government can't fuck up.

[JPyrate]

Sarc that would not happen to Plum Island would it ?

[sarcasmic]

No. It was some island off the Maine coast near Portland.

[JPyrate]

Right on they had the same problem.

[JPyrate]

Deer will swim pretty far to reach places where they are not being shot at. =)

[sarcasmic]

Did they solve the problem in an equally stupid manner?

[JPyrate]

Yes they did. In the same fashion.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Orange County, California DA investigator/former cop beats up defense attorney in courthouse hallway

No charges filed yet, but I'm sure the defense attorney will soon be arrested for assault for bleeding on the other guy.

[Crusty Juggler]

Whoa. At least the investigator would not have done that unless he was provoked, which is comforting.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Plus a bill for cleaning up the mess. Personally, I think he had it coming for disagreeing with a cop. Doesn't matter if it was during a trial.

"Shut up and do as you're told" and FYTW.

[Free Society]

Courthouse officers refused to make an arrest, though if it had been the defense lawyer who'd attacked the cop, he'd be sitting in custody now and facing a felony charge.

Of course they didn't arrest him, we can't take any chances, there's a war on cops! We can't just go around arresting cops.

But law enforcement sources tell the Weekly the DA investigator is considered a well-respected professional among his colleagues and, while admitting they didn't witness events, doubt he would have responded with violence unless sufficiently provoked.

See? Other cops got this cop's back, how could he possibly be in the wrong here? The defense lawyer got what he deserved or something.

[R C Dean]

Courthouse officers refused to make an arrest,

Its bad cops all the way down.

I'm sure these guys helped an old lady find the bathroom that day, or something. Still bad cops, though.

[Free Society]

No charges filed yet,

And apparently "civil rights" charges are on the table, not plain ole assault charges that we non-cops would be charged with. That way tax payers can absorb most of the punishment.

[DEG]

CNN concern trolling about Cruz's gun control stance

Warning: Auto-play video

A CNN review of speeches, interviews and court filings shows that Cruz has spent years forging ties with defenders of the Second Amendment ? including a group to the right of the NRA. Some of those he's allied himself with disdain all gun control, including gun-free zones at schools and other government buildings. Cruz has embraced those relationships as an aspect of his candidacy that sets himself apart from his rivals.

[Zeb]

That's supposed to sound bad? Do people actually believe that the "gun free" zones are worth anything at all?

I wonder what "right of the NRA" group they are talking about?

[Free Society]

Maybe the Gun Owner's of America? It's like the NRA, but consistent and steadfast.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Consistency is the antithesis of legislating with your FEELZ

[sarcasmic]

You don't seem to understand. Someone intent on committing murder is going to see a gun free zone sign and think to themselves "Golly, I don't want to go to jail for having a gun in a gun free zone. I better turn around right now."

As far as "right of the NRA" goes, anyone who supports the Constitution as written is a crazy person. It doesn't mean what it actually says. It means what the Court says it means. Those Ivy League educations and black robes impart supernatural powers onto Justices.

All reality-based people know this.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

It's like hate crime laws. Someone intent on, say, shooting up a black church and not deterred by the illegality of mass murder is not going to have second thoughts over the fact that it's a "hate crime."

[sarcasmic]

Hate crime laws are not meant to be a deterrent. Their purpose is to punish the thought behind the crime.

Gun control however is meant to be a deterrent. Intentions are magic, you know?

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

I'd guess NAGR. They're aggressive and uncomprimising.

[DEG]

Read the story. Free Society is correct. The article refers to the GOA.

[Zeb]

The threat of autoplay video scared me off.

[Suthenboy]

Sounds like an endorsement to me.

[Jerryskids]

"defenders of the Second Amendment ? including a group to the right of the NRA"

Is there any 2A group that's not to the right of the NRA? ("To the right" I'm assuming means "thinks the 2A actually means what it says".) But it is nice of CNN to admit these people are "defenders of the 2A" and not "anti-gun safety activists" or "pro-gun violence extremists", even though I'm sure that was just a slip of the tongue.

[Tornado16nb]

Is just say nikki a troll?

[GILMORE?]

we're all trolls, except for Tulpa and Mary

[Crusty Juggler]

Gilmore is a troll, though.

[Crusty Juggler]

No, but you should fear her.

Also, stop asking if people are trolls.

[Tornado16nb]

I am trying to learn who i should respond to...if they are being serious or just ignore.

[Crusty Juggler]

I am by far the most intelligent and respected commentor on this board, so you should always listen to me.

[sarcasmic]

Alright. Who declared it Opposites Day and didn't tell me?

[Crusty Juggler]

More like For Realsies Day.

[Suthenboy]

We all take turns being stupid but if you stick around a while it will be obvious who hogs the most turns: Jacknace, American Socialist, Michael Hinn, Cytotoxic and the ever popular Palin's Buttplug.

Other than those listed I think everyone else argues in good faith even on a bad day.

[Tornado16nb]

cyotoxic seems alright.

i know of jack and amsocialist and agree. mtrueman seems like a quality candidate.

[Suthenboy]

I forgot mtrueman. Yep. He is on the list.

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

mtrueman is the dumbest person I've ever spoken to

[Suthenboy]

Michael Hihn and mtrueman are mentally disturbed individuals.

[Suthenboy]

It takes a while for Cytotoxic's crazy to show itself but trust me when I tell you, it will.

[sarcasmic]

It takes a while for Cytotoxic's crazy to show itself but trust me when I tell you, it will.

Yep. Best him in an argument and he descends into personal attacks.

[R C Dean]

Cyto's delusional and extreme beliefs about immigration can make him trollish. But I don't think its an act, so not a troll?

[Suthenboy]

Correct. He is unhinged.

Troll or not debating with him is an exercise in futility. You will learn nothing and he will not alter his position one whit. He is a hell of a goal post pusher though, it is a sight to see.

[Swiss Servator]

YEP, ANOTHER CYTOTOXIC COMPLETE DOMINATION OF THE BOARD!

/Armchair field marshal

[Free Society]

You forgot Tony. A monumental oversight.

[Suthenboy]

Tony is a sock. But yeah, he is on my 'don't respond' list.

And Tulpa.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Hinh is my favorite. The only true libertarian among us.

[bacon-magic]

*GIGGLES

[Jerryskids]

People who innocently ask who they should respond to and who they should ignore are generally Tulpa.

[Swiss Servator]

But...but, I thought we were all Tulpa?

[Tonio]

That, Tourney, is the essential question of H&R.

And do consider learning HTML tags because it makes it far easier to distinguish the text you are quoting from the text you wrote.

[EMD]

Reasonable takes care of that with clickability!

[Free Society]

She's a nihilist in denial about her nihilism. It's the functional equivalent of a troll, but without the mens rea.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you will about the tenets of national socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos.

[Suthenboy]

Not long ago Charles Easterly paid me that very comment. He said I was a principled guy who would not sell out but he didn't agree with my principles.

I decided that since no two here agree on everything that was just fine and took it as a genuine compliment.

[Suthenboy]

Comment = Compliment

[robc]

Close but you misquoted my 2nd rule of libertarianism.

So to repeat:

1. Everyone agrees with libertarians on something.

2. No two libertarians agree on anything.

[Suthenboy]

Wait...if I say those rules are accurate aren't we breaking rule no. 2 and thus both wrong by agreeing? The only way I can be right is to disagree with you in which case the rule, you, would be right.

*I assume 'anything' is a typo

[Suthenboy]

If you have to ask....

*winks knowingly and twirls hipster mustache*

[Crusty Juggler]

Suthen is a hipster troll.

[LoneWaco]

you're just baiting Hugh now

[Tornado16nb]

who is Hugh?

[Crusty Juggler]

Your nemesis.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

+1 Brick Top

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

Is just say nikki a troll

ProTip: If you don't like interacting with someone, don't. Also there is a plug-in called Reasonable that allows you to block unwanted commenters. Some people swear by it.

[Tornado16nb]

True..but dishonest people grind my gears.

[robc]

Nikki isnt dishonest. Just the worst.

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

grind my gears.

Oh! He said it!
-Lois

It's your time, spend it how you like. I try not to get into it with people I know will irritate me. There are plenty of people here that will give you an honest debate if you want one.

[robc]

Or even if you dont.

[Tornado16nb]

Which is why i like these comments for the most part. I won't read anything from the nytimes, foxnews, washpost, huffpost etc comments because they drive me crazy with all the derp

[Millennial Hipster Vanguard]

Derpatologist won't be gone forever. Then you'll get your fill of DERP11!!11!!

[Swiss Servator]

*Pours out libation for Derpetologist*

Maybe he will rejoin us once he is done with AIT!

[Suthenboy]

It took me a while to find a place where I could read and comment. After I tested the waters here I had a bit of trouble settling in because I was expecting it to be awash in stupidity and mendacity like nearly everywhere else so I came in with the hair on my back up. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was not. There are a lot of smart, insightful people here. Forgive me Reason, but a number of commenters here exceed the staff in those qualities. Don't take that badly; a bar that is chock full of PhDs, engineers and lawyers smart enough to be fans of liberty is a pretty high one.

I found: Popehat, spiked-online, and Reason to be about the sum of it.

[EMD]

I just come here for the retard jokes.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Quote from a David Trone commercial: "When you build one of the biggest retail businesses in America, you spend a lot of time working closely with elected officials"

I give up. Give. Up.

[Suthenboy]

He founded a chain of liquor stores. I bet he did spend a lot of time working with elected officials.

I don't know what Maryland is like but here in Louisiana every liquor store in the state is part owned by the mafia (at least were until very recently ) and some portion of their share goes into politician's pockets.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Ah, Louisiana. God, I miss being able to pick up a fifth of Wild Turkey at Rite Aid. Liquor laws in Maryland are a pain in the ass.

[Suthenboy]

We still have drive through liquor stores and daiquiri huts. I just bought a fifth of vodka at a drive through window yesterday. Speaking of which, is it noon yet?

[Juice]

Believe it or not, there are liquor stores with drive through windows in Maryland.

[Kristen Bids No Trump]

Liquor laws in Maryland are a pain in the ass.

Try living in Virginny.

[robc]

Pennsylvania may be the worst.

[EMD]

LCB = KGB

[Juice]

here in Louisiana every liquor store in the state is part owned by the mafia

Not they are not. That's ridiculous. Besides damned near every store is a liquor store. You can sell it pretty much anywhere you can sell other things (with the exception of the retard redneck Baptist parts of the state).

[Jerryskids]

In Soviet Russia, elected officials work closely wit....

Shit, somewhere Yakov Smirnoff is having a sad.

[Old Man With Candy]

The single most retarded pro-Trump column ever written.

[Irish Breaks Up W/ ESB]

There's talk that the article may have been written by Reason's own Red Tony.

[JPyrate]

I must admit that does sound a lot like John. There are a lot of his Tell's in that article, no funny spelling errors though. I will have to re read it later on.

[Tonio]

That commenter can spell properly when he so chooses. And presumably he would have chosen to do so before submitting something for pubication since editors tend to reject submissions with poor spelling or writing pretty much at first glance. And any that slipped through would have been caught by the editor.

[Suthenboy]

I didn't think John was a Trump supporter. Has he come out for Trump? Doesn't seem like him. I would have guessed Cruz.

[Old Man With Candy]

The retardation level was comparable. But my focus here is how unbelievably stupid this column is, how scrambled the minds of Trumpies are, not who John Kluge is.

[Suthenboy]

I just read about half of it.

It is indeed chock full o' dumb but I am not sure why you say it is the worst. It is pretty run-of-the-mill Trumpenvolk sprache. It is really just a list of their canned talking points I hear every day.

[Jerryskids]

John is certainly a Trump defender. (Keep in mind I'm a pants-shitter who thinks Trump is Hitler, so my idea of defending Trump is anything less than suggesting Trump should be locked in a cage with a pack of Viagra-dosed chimpanzees.)

[Tornado16nb]

Progs live the good life....

1. Want you to do something (volunteer someone else's stuff)
2. You object
3. Prog calls you greedy and selfish

[Suthenboy]

...or you hate the children (religious right), or you are a racist (open borders supporters and race baiters), or you are a misogynist ( pro choicers), or you are a science hating denier ( warmistas)...

Refusing to acknowledge that people who disagree with you may have reasons for their positions instead of just being evil. It is a common tactic. I translate it to mean that they don't have a defensible position themselves. The progs do stand out though. It's all they have got, if you see what I mean.

[Tornado16nb]

For sure. The children one is really annoying as well.

[Tonio]

It's so much easier to demonize your opponents and the "you hate the children" is particularly effective. Remember that most people here tend to make decisions based on, well, reason; most people in our society allow themselves to be ruled by their emotions to at least some degree.

[EMD]

I think prog "think of the children." is worse than Socon "think of the children."

[Tornado16nb]

I like the prospect of trump for two reasons though his stated policies on trade and immigration makes me go bleh:

1. I don't think he would actually do anything or be able to accomplish anything. I feel the fed gov is best (not saying much) when they don't try to do anything. It would be a reality tv show.

2. People like to apply correlation as causation (see economy getting better albeit slowly and attributing to obama even though the pubs are obstructionists which is contradictory).

If under president trump the economy is good (not due to him of course), this will diminish the importance of the TOP MEN being needed to run things. At least i hope people make this connection to wonder why we need politicians to fix things.

[EMD]

The one thing I will give Trump is his ability to circumnavigate the media status-quo. He's run a perhaps accidentally brilliant campaign by sucking up 'earned' media. He won Michigan and spent under $200k on TV ads there.

[JPyrate]

"I like the prospect of trump"

Possible Tulpa.

This is called a tell.

[JPyrate]

"I like the prospect of trump"

Possible Tulpa.

This is called a tell.

[JPyrate]

The Bo Cara approach. Again.