Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets
Reason logo Reason logo
  • Latest
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Subscribe
    • Crossword
  • Video
  • Podcasts
    • All Shows
    • The Reason Roundtable
    • The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie
    • The Soho Forum Debates
    • Just Asking Questions
    • The Best of Reason Magazine
    • Why We Can't Have Nice Things
  • Volokh
  • Newsletters
  • Donate
    • Donate Online
    • Donate Crypto
    • Ways To Give To Reason Foundation
    • Torchbearer Society
    • Planned Giving
  • Subscribe
    • Reason Plus Subscription
    • Print Subscription
    • Gift Subscriptions
    • Subscriber Support

Login Form

Create new account
Forgot password

Obama Wants End of Nukes, Iowa Bans Life Sentences for Teen Killers, About That Study on Cell Phones and Cancer: P.M. Links

Scott Shackford | 5.27.2016 4:30 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests
Large image on homepages | audrey_sel via Foter.com / CC BY-SA
(audrey_sel via Foter.com / CC BY-SA)
  • Rats
    Credit: audrey_sel via Foter.com / CC BY-SA

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.

  • That study about cell phones causing cancer in lab rats doesn't say what all the panicked headlines are saying. Somebody should do a study to determine whether cherry-picking data causes cancer.
  • Iowa's Supreme Court has banned sentences of life without parole for juveniles convicted of murder as cruel and unusual punishment under the state's constitution.
  • Everybody's going to be talking about the Libertarian Party this weekend as the delegates select their presidential nominee in Orlando.
  • Louisiana's governor has signed into law a bill that adds the targeting of police or emergency personnel to the state's hate crime laws.
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's aunt has been living a quiet life in the United States since fleeing here in 1998.
  • Your last-minute Trump: Donald Trump will not debate Bernie Sanders after all.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily updates for more content.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

NEXT: The Increased Interest in the Libertarian Party Is Real

Scott Shackford is a policy research editor at Reason Foundation.

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL
Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Hide Comments (313)

Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.

  1. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    Your last-minute Trump: Donald Trump will not debate Bernie Sanders after all.

    Trump is for closers.

    1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      Hello.

      1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

        You’re late – even I’m here and I never show up for the lesser lynx

        1. Mad Scientist   9 years ago

          Lesser lynx?! Everyone knows the PM links are far superior because by this time many of us are drunk.

          1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

            Ever been the only sober person in the room?

            1. Mad Scientist   9 years ago

              That sort of problem can be corrected with more drinking.

              1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

                I have to be sober – I have driving to do, and a lot of packing, and lifting, and I really shouldn’t be on the lynx, but it’s either that or start screaming at the walls

                1. AceDroman   9 years ago

                  I’m moving tomorrow and it sounds like you could help.

          2. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

            Or at least awake. BTW, awwwww at the picture of the cancer rat.

        2. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

          I have, er, work to do.

          Someone has to flirt with the ladies.

          1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

            Sounds like one of them there abstract euphemisms he’ve been hearin about.

            1. C. Anacreon   9 years ago

              he’ve?

  2. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s aunt has been living a quiet life in the United States since fleeing here in 1998.

    Obama deported his own aunt! You think Kim’s is gonna get to stay???

    1. Bra Ket   9 years ago

      Not only his aunt but his uncle too. And by deported of course we mean granted asylum and permanent residency.

  3. Libertarian   9 years ago

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.

    Otherwise known as “No punchbacks!”

    1. mashed potatoes   9 years ago

      What a piece of shit he is. He goes and wants people to think he is mister peace prize, and forgets to mention he proposed to spend 1 TRILLION on third generation nuclear weapons. Fuuuucckk him.

      1. Don'tTreadOnMeChipper   9 years ago

        Duplicitous cunt. Oh, sorry, I mean Mr. President.

  4. Bill Dalasio   9 years ago

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.

    Did he also call for free unicorns to grow on trees? Nuclear weapons exist. It’s retarded to think the technology is going to be ended.

    1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

      Especially when you go around enabling countries to develop them.

      1. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

        But they pinky swore that they wouldn’t!

    2. Zeb   9 years ago

      Can’t get the toothpaste back into the tube.

      And he’s full of shit. He could get rid of half of the world’s nukes and the US would still have plenty for whatever might come up.

      1. Agammamon   9 years ago

        Like everything else these guys do its all bullshit grandstanding.

        I Buffet wanted to pay more in taxes he could with a single flick of his pen.

        If Obama wanted to get rid of nukes he could with a single flick of his pen (might need the cellphone here) remove one of the largest concentrations of them.

        What both of them really want is for *you* to . . . not them.

    3. C. S. P. Schofield   9 years ago

      Will somebody, please, drop a nuke somewhere useful? On a terrorist held city? On North Korea’s idiot for life? On Castro? They’re weapons. They don’t cause damage worse than any other kind of bomb. They don’t kill more horrifically than mustard gas, or the kind of boobytrapped toys the Russians airdropped in their Afghanistan idiocy. This stupid idea that if we somehow rewind the clock so that nuke don’t exist all will be wine and roses has taken up entirely too much energy for entire too long. And I am really tempted to think that this is because they only got use TWICE.

      Neither Hiroshima nor Nagasaki is unlivable. Both were considered safe by the beginning of the 1950s. This totemic image of bomb craters giving rise to Godzilla is so much pigswill.

      If Obama really wants to cut down on the number of people horrifically killed, he should repudiate Statist buttinskiism. The two bombs dropped on Japan killed a couple of hundred thousand people. Communist States murdered (that is, killed by State actions other than war) a hundred MILLION people in the 20th century.

      Don’t ban nukes. Ban Communism.

      1. C. S. P. Schofield   9 years ago

        Oh, and for the record, the Nanking massacre is generally held to have killed three hundred thousand people. We should put a banner on the Enola Gay saying, in Japanese, “You rape Nanking again, we bomb you again.”

  5. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

    At times it seems the universe is out to make me miserable.

    1. Trigger Warning   9 years ago

      How so? Trump threads? James Patterson books? Turkey bacon?

  6. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    Everybody’s going to be talking about the Libertarian Party this weekend as the delegates select their presidential nominee in Orlando.

    I don’t want to be part of a libertarian group who can agree on a nominee.

    1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

      “Everybody” being a statistically small blip of people.

    2. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

      Technically, they only have to agree for a libertarian moment while a ballot is cast and then go back to squabbling.

      1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

        If they were true libertarians, they’d all vote “None of the Above”

        1. Jerryskids   9 years ago

          True libertarians would auction off the slot to the highest bidder and then refuse to vote for him on the grounds that anybody so hungry for power that he’d buy the slot can’t be trusted with the office.

          1. HeteroPatriarch   9 years ago

            So what if someone bid in it for someone else?

      2. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

        I don’t agree to that.

    3. Mickey Rat   9 years ago

      For certain values of “everybody”.

    4. thrakkorzog   9 years ago

      It’s OK, they’re not really libertarians.

    5. Ted S.   9 years ago

      Better than talking about Trump.

  7. Mazakon   9 years ago

    Everybody’s going to be talking about the Libertarian Party this weekend as the delegates select their presidential nominee in Orlando.

    Then off to DisneyWorld.

    1. Cyto   9 years ago

      The proper joke was “for very, very small values of everybody“

  8. Mad Scientist   9 years ago

    That study about cell phones causing cancer in lab rats…

    This is good news. I’m tired of all these pretentious lab rats waving iPhones in my face.

    1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

      Android Eclair 4 Lyfe!

    2. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

      That is how the ruling class views us.

    3. Chip Woodier   9 years ago

      iPhones for Algernon

  9. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.

    Too bad he’s not in a position to do anything about it.

    1. mashed potatoes   9 years ago

      Quite the opposite, he wants to spend a trillion more on nukes.

  10. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    Louisiana’s governor has signed into law a bill that adds the targeting of police or emergency personnel to the state’s hate crime laws.

    They didn’t choose to be like they are!

    1. Tonio   9 years ago

      [golf clap]

      And notice the sly extension of that from police to “emergency personnel”.

  11. Unicorn Abattoir   9 years ago

    Totally O/T:

    DePaul Sociology Prof resigns over Milo Visit.

    Not because of the protest, but because “free speech is a “delusional” idea rooted in “market ideology.”

    http://www.breitbart.com/milo/…..ilo-visit/

    1. Tonio   9 years ago

      Good riddance.

    2. Juvenile Bluster   9 years ago

      And nothing of value was lost.

      1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

        No shit. This sort of thing makes me want to bring back loyalty oaths for faculty hiring.

        To believe that universities are simply neutral platforms for “equal” exchanges of ideas, the so-called free speech rooted in the market ideology, is delusional and that positional objectivity ends up reinforcing the exact inequalities and dominant ideologies upon which this institution is built. It is a hypocrisy to believe that one can promote diversity without tackling the racism that underlines all educational institutions.

        What a deluded woman.

        1. Unicorn Abattoir   9 years ago

          I’m sure if Oberlin had a loyalty oath, it would sound something like that, rather than what you’re thinking.

          1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

            Yeah, they wouldn’t get to choose their own oath. To the Constitution, bitches.

        2. RBS   9 years ago

          That is certainly the dumbest thing I’ve read today.

          1. Mad Scientist   9 years ago

            Scroll down for the comedy stylings of american socialist.

    3. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

      At least he is consistent. If only the rest of the profs would make the connection between the marketplace of ideas and the marketplace of deals.

    4. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      Stupid ass loser DePaul professor is DeGone!

  12. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    That study about cell phones causing cancer in lab rats doesn’t say what all the panicked headlines are saying.

    I just wonder if the rats have a better data plan than I do.

    1. thrakkorzog   9 years ago

      Were the mice constantly talking on speakerphone in public? If so, they deserve their cancer.

  13. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    Say Hello To My Little Friend

  14. Libertarian   9 years ago

    Imagine that: Trump spouts off-the-cuff statement on national TV, and then reneges. Will this hurt him?

    1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

      no

    2. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

      He has already elevated Bernie Sanders as his potential equal, therefore hurting Hillary Clinton.

      1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

        If I find myself so low as to be equal to Bernie Sanders, I’d have to rethink my life.

  15. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

    Virtual assistants such as Amazon’s Echo break US child privacy law, experts say

    An investigation by the Guardian has found that despite Amazon marketing the Echo to families with young children, the device is likely to contravene the US Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), set up to regulate the collection and use of personal information from anyone younger than 13.

    Along with Google, Apple and others promoting voice-activated artificial intelligence systems to young children, the company could now face multimillion-dollar fines.

    “This is part of the initial wave of marketing to children using the internet of things,” says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a privacy advocacy group that helped write the law. “It is exactly why the law was enacted in the first place, to protect young people from pervasive data collection.”

    1. Tonio   9 years ago

      Yeah, because every kid wants to see ads for Depends, Pepto-Bismol, and denture cream.

      1. Tonio   9 years ago

        Oops, that was ageist. Sorry.

        1. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

          [Shakes cane in Tonio’s direction]

        2. Libertarian   9 years ago

          Being wheeled around while you drool and pee in your pants……….the circle of life.

        3. Unreconstructed (Sans Flag)   9 years ago

          Well, now we all have an unforgettable insight into *your* browser history. Mind bleach, please?

    2. Ted S.   9 years ago

      Wait until government information on such underage children is released.

    3. DesigNate   9 years ago

      I love that this asshole has no problem with the collection of data for people over the age of 13.

      Oh wait, I bet he only cares about corporations collecting the data, government doing it is fine.

    4. Rhywun   9 years ago

      One advert for the virtual assistant includes a young girl talking to Siri, while its latest commercial features Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.

      *faints*

      1. Paulpemb   9 years ago

        Joe Camel was unavailable for comment.

        1. Rhywun   9 years ago

          Executed for crimes against humanity.

    5. Don'tTreadOnMeChipper   9 years ago

      “…the internet of things…” WTF? Fuck off.

      1. Trigger Warning   9 years ago

        “Internet of things” should win dumbest phrase of the century.

  16. Fist of Etiquette   9 years ago

    Iowa’s Supreme Court has banned sentences of life without parole for juveniles convicted of murder as cruel and unusual punishment under the state’s constitution.

    So all you kids scheming to commit murder, add doing it in Iowa to your plans!

    1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

      I see the message as: “Kill your enemies before you reach the age of 18.”

      1. DENTAL PLAN (n?e commodious)   9 years ago

        Enjoying the lamentations of their women will have to wait until they’re of age to consent.

  17. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    Blonde Estonian Olympic Triplets

    There’s a million photos of them online. Some more appealing than others. I personally get a little Eastern-European-flavored “Dueling Banjos“-vibe from them. It reminds me of a time I pulled into a 24-hr McDonalds at like 3am in the middle of the smokey mountains, and it was staffed entirely by quintuplets. Did i eat the nuggets? Yes. but it was because if i figured i was in some sort of Jacob’s Ladder-nightmare, i might as well not go hungry.

    1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

      Yikes, talk about androgyny….

    2. TheZeitgeist   9 years ago

      They look like Kalahari Bushmen with Photoshop’s ‘MakeItAryan’ filter cranked to ~90.

      1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

        LOL

      2. GILMORE?   9 years ago

        That’s hilariously accurate. The slit-eyes and the squat heads is very bushman-like.

        1. Zeb   9 years ago

          A lot of Finns have that look to them too.

    3. Zeb   9 years ago

      They are obviously elves of some sort.

      1. DENTAL PLAN (n?e commodious)   9 years ago

        Kobolds.

    4. geo1113   9 years ago

      They look a little like Huey, Dewey, and Louis.

    5. Robert   9 years ago

      How’d you know they were quints?

      1. C. Anacreon   9 years ago

        As Johnnie Cochran used to say,
        “If they all squints, you know they’s quints.”

  18. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

    Rensselaer County prosecutor Joel Abelove gave Troy cop immunity in shooting death

    Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove declined to obtain a waiver of immunity from a Troy police sergeant when the officer testified before a grand jury that cleared him of wrongdoing in the shooting death of a Watervliet man, according to two people briefed on the matter.

    The district attorney’s unusual decision not to require the officer, Sgt. Randall French, to waive his immunity from prosecution means he cannot face criminal consequences for his conduct during the April 17 shooting incident. French told investigators that he fired eight rounds from his service weapon, killing Edson Thevenin, a 37-year-old DWI suspect who was unarmed. French opened fire when Thevenin’s car rolled into the officer’s legs, pinning him against a police cruiser following a brief pursuit, according to Troy police officials.

    1. Ted S.   9 years ago

      And they did it exceedingly quickly so that the state AG couldn’t appoint a special prosecutor.

      1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

        That is part of the story, and one I intended to share.

        Schneiderman, in the lawsuit he filed last month seeking control of the investigation, claimed that Abelove illegally took the case to a grand jury after Abelove’s office was notified that the attorney general was launching an investigation. Abelove personally presented the case to the panel five days after the fatal shooting.

  19. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    Insert Ad-Hoc Sexual-Fantasy Caption

    1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

      “Come play with us, Gilmore. Forever and ever and ever.”

    2. Libertarian   9 years ago

      “I hope real battles will be as kewl as these war games!”

    3. TheZeitgeist   9 years ago

      From Bundesarchiv:

      “French forces training, Maginot Line, March 1940”

      1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

        I like

    4. geo1113   9 years ago

      Hey…we going to get laid!

  20. GILMORE?   9 years ago


    Signature Move!

    1. Mad Scientist   9 years ago

      Obligatory.

      https://youtu.be/QlB_BPdZFOI

      1. DENTAL PLAN (n?e commodious)   9 years ago

        +2 jazz hands

      2. Don'tTreadOnMeChipper   9 years ago

        “it’s always sausage with you, isn’t it?” Whore.

    2. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

      Hahahaha, awesome.

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

      +1 “Hoocha-hoocha-hoocha…Lobster”

    4. DenverJ   9 years ago

      That. Is. Awesome.

    5. Rhombus Parallelogram, Jr.   9 years ago

      People probably choke on purpose when they’re around him.

    6. Robert   9 years ago

      Staff sprang into action, preventing the new resident from interfering with their operation as they phoned for EMS. The resident expired, but they prevented the new resident from injuring himself. Later they learned the new resident’s name, and were they ever sorry!

  21. You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)   9 years ago

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.

    The best headline.

    For the Twitter-averse, NBCNews headline: “Obama: Hiroshima Visit to Underscore the ‘Job’s Not Done'”

    1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

      That is totally hilarious.

  22. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

    “President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.”

    Was Enya playing in the background?

    1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

      Do you mean Nena?

      1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

        Whatever.

        Goes to Japan and that’s what he comes up with?

        Fack.

        1. MetalBard   9 years ago

          Honestly it would have been a better use of his time if he just sat around jerking it to sailor moon tentacle porn.

      2. Ted S.   9 years ago

        I was imagining “Only Time” as the background music.

  23. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

    NOAA 2016 summer outlook: Where are the highest chances for a hot summer in the U.S.?

    Stupid Kansas.

    1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

      versus “Normal” Kansas, being far from the mitigating effects of large bodies of water, heats up almost as badly as texas.

      1. lap83   9 years ago

        Yeah. Oh yay “only” normal upper 90s and sometimes low 100s instead of….110s?

        1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

          Congrats!

    2. Rhywun   9 years ago

      I wonder if work would let me stay in Kansas for the next three months. I don’t fare well in normal NYC summers.

  24. Hamster of Doom   9 years ago

    Louisiana’s governor has signed into law a bill that adds the targeting of police or emergency personnel to the state’s hate crime laws.

    That’ll fix everything, that will.

    1. Ted S.   9 years ago

      But cops deliberately targeting non-cops isn’t a hate crime, no sirree.

  25. You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)   9 years ago

    The most relevant PM link: The fall of Salon.com

    It became harder to find “high-quality” work amid all the clutter. Twelve current and former employees said they were discouraged from doing original journalism out of a concern that time spent reporting could be better spent writing commentary and aggregate stories. Even the site’s marquee names, like Walsh and Miller, were expected to produce quick hits and commentary on trending topics, staffers said.

    The strategy alienated some of Salon’s longtime journalists.

    “The low point arrived when my editor G-chatted me with the observation that our traffic figures were lagging that day and ordered me to ‘publish something within the hour,'” Andrew Leonard, who left Salon in 2014, recalled in a post. “Which, translated into my new reality, meant ‘Go troll Twitter for something to get mad about ? Uber, or Mark Zuckerberg, or Tea Party Republicans ? and then produce a rant about it.’ ? I performed my duty, but not without thinking, ‘Is this what 25 years as a dedicated reporter have led to?’ That’s when it dawned on me: I was no longer inventing the future. I was a victim of it. So I quit my job to keep my sanity.”

    Poor Andrew Leonard. I wonder if that’s his excuse for always going full derp on Ayn Rand and libertarianism.

    1. Tonio   9 years ago

      Yeah, we were their punching bag and bete noir.

    2. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      Like anyone needed more proof that Salon was nothing but a progressive-clickbait machine.

      If you read articles there from 2000 or so? Its like WTF HAPPENED? they were actually a ‘literary journal’, trying to be some kind of “Online New Yorker“, highbrow-media.

      Now its shit so stupid you’re embarrassed on *behalf* of the retards who churn their stuff out. They simply recycle Alternet stories, churn out “me-too” pieces that barely meet the standard of College-paper opinion-sections.

      1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

        Fun fact: I once had a date with Laura Miller.

        1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

          A quick image search yielded this

          …adding “salon” to that yielded… this

          When you say, “Date”, did you pay?

          1. PapayaSF   9 years ago

            Gads, what an unflattering picture. She’s put on weight in 20 years, but this is more what I remember. It was just a first date, so it was Dutch.

            1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

              Never ask a woman to “go Greek” on a first date.

              The more you know.

      2. Greater Questions of Carl   9 years ago

        I never really read pre-derp Salon.

        Hence when I came across an old debate between Charles Murray and (IIRC) Michael J. Sandel over libertarianism, I was astounded that they once put out such content.

        1. Greater Questions of Carl   9 years ago

          Oops, it was Slate. Similar principle applies.

          1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

            It does. Slate was more ‘newsy’ than Salon (like Atlantic to the NY’r), but both were aiming to be highbrow reading online.

            Both slid deeply into a derphole, and slate has only sort of half-crawled out.

      3. Tuan Jim   9 years ago

        I love pulling out this article – http://www.salon.com/2000/02/03/card/ – probably the worst, most openly, admittedly-biased interview I’ve ever seen…anywhere.

        1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

          most openly, admittedly-biased interview

          Yeah, but it says so in the headline.

          Hell, I read the guy’s wiki entry, and I hated him too afterward

          Card’s vocal opposition to same-sex marriage and other views on homosexuality led to a boycott of the film version of Ender’s Game[33] ? a development which itself received criticism.[34] ..

          Describing himself as a political liberal[36] and moral conservative,[37] Card’s ideals concerning society?as well as foundational themes within his fiction?are described communitarian.[36][38][39] In 2000, Card said, “Most of the program of both the left and the right is so unbelievably stupid it’s hard to wish to identify myself with either. But on economic matters, I’m a committed communitarian. I regard the Soviet Union as simply state monopoly capitalism. It was run the way the United States would be if Microsoft owned everything. Real communism has never been tried! I would like to see government controls expanded, laws that allow capitalism to not reward the most rapacious, exploitative behavior. I believe government has a strong role to protect us from capitalism.”[40]

          A vocal supporter of the U.S.’s War on Terror,[41][42] according to Salon, Card is close to neoconservative concerning foreign policy issues.[43]

          he’s basically a libertarian anti-christ

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

          Two awful people in a room. Piss on ’em both.

        3. GILMORE?   9 years ago

          Just quickly read the first 1/3 or so of the interview, and if there’s something especially yucky about the way its done is that – despite announcing her bias at the front – the way she documents the interview is by doing this =

          – Author’s Question
          – Card’s Answer
          – *Author than makes post-hoc asides about why she doesn’t like the answer, rather than RESPONDING TO HIM to give him a chance to make his case.

          she also repeatedly pretends to inject “what he must be thinking” without ever actually asking him.

          e.g. – She assumes he must hate her for “being a lesbo communist” when he’s [according to his bio] as commie as she is – he’s just not so pro-marxist so much. she somehow misses his points because she’s jumping to assumptions from the fact that he’s “religious” and “pro-war” … she just assumes that therefore he’s “economically conservative”.

          even if you dislike your interlocutor, its a terribly dishonest way to treat a subject.

          Its indeed pretty awful. Even if Card is a shitheel, she comes off worse.

  26. R C Dean   9 years ago

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.

    In the immortal words of the Boston Globe:

    More Mush From the Wimp

  27. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    Associated Press wins the “best coverage” award for the recent IG report re: Hillary’s Email thing.

    Instead of layering everything in Clinton campaign-spin a la the WaPo or NY Times, they just list =

    “Things Clinton Has Said Repeatedly Which IG Report Proves Weren’t True“

    1. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

      “Over the months, Hillary Clinton misstated key facts”

      Nope. That doesn’t cut it either.

      1. Libertarian   9 years ago

        “Johnny, did you draw on the wall with your crayons? And you better not misstate key facts to me!”

      2. lap83   9 years ago

        “Miss”stated? OMG so sexist

      3. GILMORE?   9 years ago

        I said “Best”

        Its only because everything else was such dogshit, really.

        1. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

          That’s how I clear the bar on Mother’s day.

  28. Notorious UGCC   9 years ago

    “President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons”

    He’ll change his tune when he learns of the latest racist Chinese aggression.

    1. DENTAL PLAN (n?e commodious)   9 years ago

      HAH!

    2. Robert   9 years ago

      It’s like the ad wherein the brown bear turns out to have been a polar bear wearing a dirty fur.

      1. Robert   9 years ago

        It also answers the age-old question, where does a bear do its laundry? Anywhere it wants to.

  29. tarran   9 years ago

    I came to the party too late to post this on the Global Warming thread, so I do it here:

    Steven McIntyre has a relevant post examining how models’ predictions compare to observations:

    In the present case, from the distribution in the right panel:
    *a model run will be warmer than an observed trend more than 99.5% of the time;
    *will be warmer than an observed trend by more than 0.1 deg C/decade approximately 88% of the time;
    *and will be warmer than an observed trend by more than 0.2 deg C/decade more than 41% of the time.

    These values demonstrate a very substantial warm bias in models,… which cannot be dismissed by mere arm-waving about “uncertainties” in Schmidt style. As an editorial comment about why the “uncertainties” have a relatively negligible impact on “bias”: it is important to recognize that the uncertainties work in both directions, a trivial point seemingly neglected in Schmidt’s “daft argument”. [It] relied almost entirely on the rhetorical impact of the upper tail of the observation distributions nicking the lower tail of the model distributions. But the wider upper tail is accompanied by a wider lower tail and, for these measurements, the discrepancy is even larger than the mean discrepancy.
    [Using] up-to-date data, the t-test used in Santer et al 2008 is …3.835, far outside usual confidence limits.

    1. Tonio   9 years ago

      That’s ok, t, the guys here are into hot models.

  30. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    Ludacris Defends Contract-Rider = “Its not *for me*! – its for the Sorority Girls”

    1. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

      Ludacris uses condoms?

      1. R C Dean   9 years ago

        The question is, for what?

      2. GILMORE?   9 years ago

        Use them? HE WINS AWARDS FROM THEM

    2. Zeb   9 years ago

      So, they’d rather he bang the sorority girls without condoms?

    3. Agammamon   9 years ago

      University of Georgia President Jere Morehead said the contract should have been more closely reviewed and items “that were objectionable” should have been removed.

      You paid the man 65k for 15 minutes of his time – I don’t think you understand who had the power in that relationship.

  31. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.

    Ok, President Carter, you go first.

  32. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

    Women say the darndest things:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbXfrZt-6pw

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      I was expecting a clip from The View.

    2. Libertarian   9 years ago

      My respect for SCTV went even higher when I learned recently that they’re the ones who first did the Jeopardy bit (as seen on SNL).

      1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

        Dude,

        SCTV is LEGEND.

        It’s arguably even better than SNL.

        1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

          It’s arguably even better than SNL.

          Not hard.

        2. Pan Zagloba   9 years ago

          One gave the world Blues Brothers.

          But the other gave Canada Bob & Doug.

          1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

            SCTV was better overall though I think.

            And one half of that is Canadian – Dan Ackroyd. In fact, Lorne Michaels is Canadian which makes SNL Canadianish.

            I’m not one too care about all this but it’s impressive that Canadians came up directly or indirectly with SCTV, Kids in the Hall and SNL.

            1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

              Also. Look at the cast and where they went afterwards. They left a pretty big mark on comedy on the continent.

              1. Libertarian   9 years ago

                And yet I doubt 1 in 20 people (in the USA) could tell you what SCTV is/was.

                1. HeteroPatriarch   9 years ago

                  That’s the channel with Property Brothers and House Hunters, right?

                2. HeteroPatriarch   9 years ago

                  That’s the channel with Property Brothers and House Hunters, right?

              2. Robert   9 years ago

                But Harold Ramis and Joe [O’]Flaherty did National Lampoon’s Radio Hour first. And SCTV was an outgrowth of the producers at Second City from Chicago.

                If you want an earlier screen product from the Second City empire, see “The Monitors”, an adaptation of the Keith Laumer novel.

              3. Don'tTreadOnMeChipper   9 years ago

                John Candy, Eugene Levy, Katherine Ohara, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty…..yeah, I think so….

            2. Ted S.   9 years ago

              Talented Canadians come to the US to make a success of their lives. The rest stay behind and bitch about what a terrible place the US is. :-p

              1. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

                Pretty much.

                Let them bitch.

            3. Robert   9 years ago

              SCTV was far better, but when you consider how highly produced it was, you’d figure it to be at least somewhat better.

              The CBC came up with the Royal Canadian Air Farce (radio, mostly) and Frantic Times.

  33. Jerry on the rocks   9 years ago

    The only news that matters today: Jose Mourinho says he is ‘ready’ to take over at ‘giant club’ as he gives first interview as Manchester United boss.

    1. Libertarian   9 years ago

      Manchester United? I had no idea that MLB had another expansion team.

    2. Ted S.   9 years ago

      As if we needed any more reason to hate Man Utd.

      I just hope City lose in CL qualifying.

      1. Rhywun   9 years ago

        Amen to that. They’re perfect for each other.

    3. geo1113   9 years ago

      I have nothing to say.

  34. american socialist   9 years ago

    “President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.”

    Do you ever wonder if libertarians started talking about nuclear weapons the way they did under Reagan if they might be getting more than 1% of the vote? These twin obsessions with Ending the Fed and Gold! Mania don’t seem to be attracting actual humans to our cause.

    1. Chipper Morning Wood   9 years ago

      Did you know that all US wars, except the Mexican War, were funded by inflation? Ending the Fed is about ending the wars.

    2. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

      “Our cause”?

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

        Don’t forget the “twin obsessions”

        1. Libertarian   9 years ago

          In Estonia, they have a triplet obsession.

    3. You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)   9 years ago

      Nuclear disarmament is so hot right now.

  35. tarran   9 years ago

    Neil Geiman has a lovely Lovecraftian Sherlock Holmes story.

    A Study in Emerald

    “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive,” that was what he said to me, and my mouth fell open and my eyes opened very wide.
    “Astonishing.” l said.
    “Not really,” said the stranger in the white lab-coat, who was to become my friend. “From the way you hold your arm, I see you have been wounded, and in a particular way. You have a deep tan. You also have a military bearing,
    and there are few enough places in the Empire that a military man can be both tanned and, given the nature of
    the injury to your shoulder and the traditions of the Afghan cave-folk, tortured.”

    …

    The gods and men of Afghanistan were savages, unwilling to be ruled from Whitehall or from Berlin or
    even from Moscow, and unprepared to see reason. I had been sent into those hills, attached to the the —–Regiment. As long as the fighting remained in the hills and mountains, we fought on au equal footing. When the skirmishes descended into the caves and the darkness then we found ourselves, as it were, out of our depth and in
    over our heads.

    I shall not forget the mirrored surface of the underground lake, nor the thing that emerged from the lake, its eyes opening and closing, and the singing whispers that accompanied it as it rose, wreathing their way about
    it like the buzzing of flies bigger than worlds.

    1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

      Which short story collection is that in? I feel like I’ve ready it, but can’t quite remember.

      1. tarran   9 years ago

        Not sure. A friend emailed it to me.

      2. lap83   9 years ago

        I think it’s in Fragile Things

      3. Tuan Jim   9 years ago

        Just read it in the “New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird” anthology – via kindle.

    2. JeremyR   9 years ago

      That story is a perfect example of how overrated he is

  36. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

    Bruised and ‘beaten’ Amber Heard breaks down after accusing Johnny Depp of attacking her: Actress tells judge her husband hit her with an iPhone as she is granted restraining order against him

    Heard alleges that Depp hit her in the face with his iPhone and then fled when police arrived on the scene according to TMZ.

    Heard was ultimately granted a temporary order by the judge, who ruled that Depp must remain at least 100 yards away from Heard until their next hearing, which is scheduled for late June.

    She was also granted the right to live in the family home, but failed in her bid for sole custody of one of the couple’s dogs.

    The judge ruled against Heard however in her attempt to collect spousal support from Depp and have him cover her attorney fees.

    Lots of close-ups of a woman with a bruised face (Longtorso porn).

    1. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

      Ha!

      Bitch doesn’t need to be told twice, amirite?

    2. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      A Depp’s Love is not like a Square’s Love.

    3. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      Boy, what a mess.

    4. Jerry on the rocks   9 years ago

      Heard was ultimately granted a temporary order by the judge, who ruled that Depp must remain at least 100 yards yarrs away from Heard until their next hearing…

      FTFY.

    5. The Last American Hero   9 years ago

      Looks like once again, Captain Jack escaped before the authorities could get there. Good old Sparrow, always one step ahead of the law.

      1. Agammamon   9 years ago

        They will always remember the day they *almost* caught . . . Mr. Accessories.

    6. Libertarian   9 years ago

      Again with the goddam dogs!!!!!!

    7. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      I always wondered how they measured 100 yards in actuality. I mean, if he’s 90 yards away, who will calculate that? And does he have to carry a football? I guess it would be hard, you know, given he has scissors for hands. He does have scissors for hands, right?

  37. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

    Life is good, people. A weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

    My wife and I are planning a booze-laden brunch tomorrow. Headed to Costco shortly. Other than bacon and king crab legs, any suggestions?

    1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

      The ham that tastes like despair.

      1. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

        No ham of despair. And this is Costco. I especially don’t want a 6 month supply of ham of despair.

        1. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

          But it’s all the rage in Orlais – and it matches my mood.

        2. PapayaSF   9 years ago

          You guys can crack me up.

        3. Renegade Jew   9 years ago

          Is it spiral cut?

          1. Renegade Jew   9 years ago

            Not that I would know anything about that. Yahweh WILL curse you and your generations.

    2. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

      Bagel Bites.

      1. lap83   9 years ago

        Crusty’s aphrodisiac of choice, or so I’ve heard

        1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

          Only when the Bagel Bites have a cooked exterior, but a frozen exterior. That, combined with some Cel-Ray, is sure to result in a long night for someone special.

    3. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      Street food.

    4. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

      Eggs Benedict, but use smoked salmon instead of Canadian bacon and toss in a few capers. Make sure you have St. Germain to punch up your mimosas, or dilled green beans if you’re doing bloody marys. Fruit with whipped cream with vanilla and Cointreau. No fucking Grand Marnier, it’s too sweet for the rest of the mix.

      1. lap83   9 years ago

        That eggs benedict idea sounds amazing

        1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

          It’s works really well because it’s unexpected, but you already know that lemon, butter, capers and salmon work beautifully together.

          1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

            Also, Julia Child’s blender hollandaise sauce is obscenely easy to make. She poo-poos it as being not as good as the hand-made one, but it’s the best I’ve had.

            1. lap83   9 years ago

              nice.

              I will try that out as soon as I’m allowed to eat runny eggs and smoked salmon again

              1. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

                I will try that out as soon as I’m allowed to eat runny eggs and smoked salmon again

                I’m guessing congratulations are in order? Did I miss an announcement (haven’t been around much lately)?

              2. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

                Pasteurized eggs. You can find them in specialty stores. Same with feta cheese.

                Jeez, it’s like this is your first time being pregnant.

      2. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

        Thank you for the first serious answer, Jesse.

        Speaking of whipped cream and cointreau…
        I’m thinking crepes. One of Costco’s newest impulse buys.

        1. Renegade Jew   9 years ago

          Best breakfast drink ever: Bugey de Cerdon. Renardat-Fache or Bottex will do.

      3. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

        Oh, and if I failed to mention it, the Mrs. eats pork now. So happy about that.

        1. HeteroPatriarch   9 years ago

          These euphemisms…

    5. The Last American Hero   9 years ago

      ept was negative?

      1. Libertarian   9 years ago

        ‘A weight has been lifted from my shoulders.’

        Sounds like a goiter-ectemy.

        1. Mad Scientist   9 years ago

          I can no longer read the word “goiter” without thinking of SugarFree’s Hillary-fic.

          It’s a blessing. And a curse.

        2. Robert   9 years ago

          Decapitation? Haircut? Shave? Contact lenses?

      2. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

        Better. I never have to see my mother-in-law again. Ever.

        1. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

          To clarify: she’s not dead. My wife just excommunicated her, which is something that has been an issue for several years.

          1. Zeb   9 years ago

            Is the pork eating related?

            1. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

              No. She ruined my SIL’s beautiful wedding in Connecticut last weekend because she’s crazy and can’t stand to not be the center of attention. And then she refused to go to the med school graduation the next day as part of her tantrum. Buh bye.

              My wife started eating pork because she wants to be awesome.

              1. Zeb   9 years ago

                That is the best reason.

    6. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

      Plantains.

    7. You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)   9 years ago

      Free samples.

      1. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

        I’ll do a full lap before I even start shopping. Fridays are gold. I hope the sausage dudes are there (no homo).

    8. You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)   9 years ago

      Also, pick me up some raw pecans and frozen salmon fillets, thanks.

    9. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

      Ritz Crackers and some Easy Cheese.

      1. Libertarian   9 years ago

        Well la di da, Mr. Trump! I’ll take my usual saltines and Velveeta. Oooooh, and some vienna sausages. Thanks.

        1. Robert   9 years ago

          Like the canapes on My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss?

      2. Playa Manhattan.   9 years ago

        Nah, just had it for lunch.

  38. colorblindkid   9 years ago

    Getting rid of nuclear weapons is impossible. It’s simply never going to happen. The cat’s out of the bag. Humans can’t unlearn the technology, and as long as somebody has access to them, other people are going to need them to deter attacks, except of course if there is a nuclear apocalypse that wipes out 90% of the planet, but then the point it moot.

    1. american socialist   9 years ago

      Getting rid of slavery is impossible. Hey humans are just wired that way and you might as well try to fuck a gnat before you try to get rid of the master-slave relationship on the Southern plantation.

      The only sensible thing for Liberty lovers to do is bitch and moan about some Democratic politician who wants crazy people to check-this-box before buying a gun all the while maintaining the ability to kill a couple of billion people in the course of an afternoon with nuclear weapons. Makes sense to me, libertarians!

      1. The Last American Hero   9 years ago

        They should just cut out the middle man and make murder illegal. It would be easier than your government gun registry.

      2. Rufus The Monocled Derp Slayer   9 years ago

        This comment reminds of…

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF2jdTQyyyE

      3. Cynical Asshole   9 years ago

        American Socialist Derp de Derp. Derp de Derpity Derpy Derp. Until one day, the Derpa Derpa DerpaDerp. Derp de Derp. Da teedily dumb. From the creators of Der, and Tum Ta Tittaly Tum Ta Too, American Socialist is Da Derp Dee Derp Da Teetley Derpee Derpee Dumb. Rated PG-13.

        1. Akira   9 years ago

          The original soundtrack

      4. Dan Bongard   9 years ago

        Getting rid of slavery is impossible

        Well, humanity hasn’t managed it yet…

      5. Rhywun   9 years ago

        Slavery still exists, dumbass.

      6. Akira   9 years ago

        Not a good analogy at all. Abolishing slavery does not expose a country to a huge threat from countries that still do.

    2. MetalBard   9 years ago

      No not even that would work. All over fallout I find plenty of mini-nukes still laying around.

    3. B. Woodrow Chippenhaus   9 years ago

      Technology is killed by obsolescence. Once we’ve figured out a way to throw chunks of antimatter at each other, nobody will care about nukes.

    4. Robert   9 years ago

      Moot? What about that other 10%? The apocalypse-hardened 10%! You’re not going to get them so easy.

  39. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    Sorta interesting =

    Vietnamese Man Convicted in Al Q. Terror Plot

    unlike most terror-prosecutions, this one appears to be no-shit real. The guy was making preparations to bomb Heathrow.

    it may be old news, as the ‘plot’ was in 2010. he’s been waiting to get sentenced all this time.

    1. Cynical Asshole   9 years ago

      Justice is swift in jolly old England.

      1. Zeb   9 years ago

        Seems to be a US prosecution.

  40. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    Reposted from yesterday =

    Trump Reveals Energy Plan = DESTROY THE PLANET ASAP

    No mention of whether Koch’s were behind it.

    1. american socialist   9 years ago

      Basically, What I do as a libertarian is a 4-step process

      1. Bitch about Republicans
      2. Wait for the Republicans to nominate their candidate
      3. Rationalize– a lot.
      4. Bitch about the NYTime bias against Republicans

      1. lap83   9 years ago

        Who needs that many steps when children are starving?

      2. Cynical Asshole   9 years ago

        American Socialist Derp de Derp. Derp de Derpity Derpy Derp. Until one day, the Derpa Derpa DerpaDerp. Derp de Derp. Da teedily dumb. From the creators of Der, and Tum Ta Tittaly Tum Ta Too, American Socialist is Da Derp Dee Derp Da Teetley Derpee Derpee Dumb. Rated PG-13.

      3. Agammamon   9 years ago

        You’re not a Libertarian, let alone a libertarian.

  41. Renegade Jew   9 years ago

    Somebody should do a study to determine whether cherry-picking data causes cancer.

    Someone should do a study on how cherry-picking data causes increased grant funding.

    Dirty secret of grants: you’ve already done most of the work, the grant is to get more stuff for the next grant proposal.

    1. wef   9 years ago

      Lubo? Motl’s take on the rats-with-cell-phones grant scam:

      http://motls.blogspot.com/2016…..s-get.html

      1. Renegade Jew   9 years ago

        That’s excellent. Todah rabah!

      2. DenverJ   9 years ago

        What are you,a statistician? Burn the witch!

      3. Robert   9 years ago

        Rats today can’t afford to wait until they get back to answer calls. You never know when you might need a rat on a moment’s notice.

  42. UnCivilServant   9 years ago

    Am I the only one who loses the stylesheet when I hit refresh instead of clicking through links to get back to the new comments?

  43. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

    HuffPo Business’ response to Peter Thiel’s Gawker destruction: There’s A Solution To People Abusing Their Wealth. Super-High Taxes.

    What does it mean that Thiel has amassed enough wealth ? and thus enough power ? to make a credible attempt to cripple a major media company by throwing money at the legal system?

    It doesn’t necessarily tell us that individuals shouldn’t be able to fund litigation. It tells us that some people in this country have too much money.

    1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

      But there’s another way to prevent this kind of abuse of power: taxes. What this country really needs isn’t a law to keep incredibly wealthy people from funding litigation in an attempt to destroy the First Amendment. We just need fewer incredibly wealthy people.

      Economists agree. Back in 2014, my colleague Ben Walsh wrote about a report by Fabian Kindermann from the University of Bonn and Dirk Krueger from the University of Pennsylvania that found the ideal top marginal tax rate on the highest 1 percent of earners ? the tax rate that makes everyone in society the most well-off overall ? is between 85 and 90 percent. That’s more than twice the current U.S. top rate of just under 40 percent, which is paid on income above $415,050 for individuals and above $466,950 for couples.

      1. Greater Questions of Carl   9 years ago

        Fabian Kindermann

        Oy

      2. Free Society   9 years ago

        Fabian Kindermann

        Soft Socialist Child-Man. I wonder what conclusions he came to.

    2. You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)   9 years ago

      So it does mean individuals shouldn’t be able to fund litigation?

    3. Jerry on the rocks   9 years ago

      The rape accusations against Silicon Valley venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale are horrifying.

      And some people keep getting hired to write the same shit. Must be a Columbia graduate.

      1. Greater Questions of Carl   9 years ago

        Mr. Lonsdale… began to penetrate her with his flaccid penis.

      2. DENTAL PLAN (n?e commodious)   9 years ago

        She’s asking for “at least $75,000” in damages.

        This sounds like the sort of dollar figure that might plausibly be low enough to make a problem go away quietly.

    4. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      Huffpo really gets it

      1. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

        She used graphs. Also, she is a business reporter. Are you a business reporter? Didn’t think so.

      2. Libertarian   9 years ago

        OBTW, are they still reporting Trump news under “Entertainment?”

    5. Greater Questions of Carl   9 years ago

      Bill Haff ? Works at Self Employed and Loving It!

      The point of high tax rates on extremely high income is NOT to collect more money for the government, it’s to prevent people from getting paid that extremely high income in the first place. When tax rates are high on income above a million dollars there’s no point in even paying those gigantic salaries, because the income will all just go to taxes. So the money stops going to one small group of people who just pile up the cash for no reason except vanity, it stays in the general shared economy, where it serves a useful purpose.

      I give up.

      1. Mad Scientist   9 years ago

        High taxes will also reduce medical costs since the rich folks will no longer be able to dive into pools of gold coins.

      2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        And We Vote!

    6. Crusty Juggler   9 years ago

      My favorite section:

      Of course, if we take away the plutocrats’ power by taxing them at higher rates, that money ? and the power that goes along with it ? will go to the government instead. And governments, to state the obvious, abuse their power all the time, including here in the U.S. But elected officials are still accountable to the public, and bound by the Constitution, in ways that individual billionaires are not. Do we want the power of regulating the press to be in the hands of the many or the hands of the few?

      1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        *sobs, head in hands*

      2. lap83   9 years ago

        Do we want the power of regulating the press to be in the hands of the many or the hands of the few?

        Silver lining: it’s almost like they’re admitting we have too many elected officials, right? Maybe?

      3. Rhywun   9 years ago

        Mob rule sounds cool – I wonder if anyone has tried it before?

        1. DenverJ   9 years ago

          You’ve never seen the documentary Escape From New York?

    7. Red Rocks Rockin   9 years ago

      The asspain coming from these people is the best way to celebrate Memorial Day.

  44. jesse.in.mb   9 years ago

    Kid pedanted so hard he deleted his twitter account.

    1. GILMORE?   9 years ago

      BOOM

  45. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

    Paging Lenore

    “You can’t just let your kid run anymore. You get arrested, basically,” she said. “I want him outside and to learn things on (his) own.”
    Not all the photos inspire warm nostalgia. Habing often captures Tharin with toy guns, and she’s noticed that the images raise eyebrows. To Tharin, anything can be a weapon, whether is a water gun, a stick or a piece of cardboard.

    They are not “gun people,” she said, but there are actual guns around the farm. More likely, he learned it from TV or video games, she said — he certainly plays more of those than she did.
    Or maybe it’s just Tharin. Or just age 8. Or just boyhood.

    1. Cynical Asshole   9 years ago

      Or just boyhood.

      Surely you’re not implying that boys might somehow be different from girls.

    2. Bill Dalasio   9 years ago

      Or maybe it’s just Tharin. Or just age 8. Or just boyhood.

      Try the latter. Little boys like to imagine themselves as heroes. And that often involves being the good guy with a gun “getting the bad guys”.

      1. DENTAL PLAN (n?e commodious)   9 years ago

        Like those goddamn russkis, or the krauts, or worst of all the injuns.

  46. Rebel Scum   9 years ago

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons at the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Hiroshima.

    Nukes, like firearms, are never going away. That is all.

  47. Rebel Scum   9 years ago

    Louisiana’s governor has signed into law a bill that adds the targeting of police or emergency personnel to the state’s hate crime laws.

    Does nobody understand that punishing the motivation amounts to punishing thought?

  48. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    IFLS

    Giant Brain Found on Ocean Floor

    The team of scientists on a deep-sea expedition in the waters off Hawaii discovered what they say is the world’s largest known sponge.

    The creature, roughly the size of a minivan, was discovered about 7,000 feet down in a marine conservation area off the shores of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The rare sponge, with a bluish-white color and brain-like appearance, stunned scientists when it appeared in the remote cameras attached to their underwater rover.

    Reuters probably called it “Lorry-sized”

    1. DENTAL PLAN (n?e commodious)   9 years ago

      But certainly not an articulated lorry.

  49. Cynical Asshole   9 years ago

    President Barack Obama called for an end to nuclear weapons

    I’m guessing he recently re-watched Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

    1. thrakkorzog   9 years ago

      I’m no fan of Obama, but even I doubt he would choose to watch that movie more than once.

  50. GILMORE?   9 years ago

    Canadian Mafia = Probably Last Decent Mafia Left in North America

    *I’m sure there’s a few elsewhere, but probably less purely-Italian.

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      Montreal. Different rules from the rest of Canada.

  51. lafe.long   9 years ago

    Council of Islamic Ideology: Pakistani Religious Body Says Men Should Be Allowed to ‘Lightly Beat’ Wives

    The council on Thursday released a draft of a women’s protection bill that included language saying “light beatings” were justified if wives didn’t wear specific clothing or refused sex, reports said.

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

      Progress!

    2. Chip Woodier   9 years ago

      Is this a surprise to anyone these days?

  52. lafe.long   9 years ago

    Aristotle: Archaeologist Says He Found Ancient Greek Philosopher’s Tomb

    Kostas Sismanidis said he believes the tomb resides in a horseshoe-shaped building in Stagira, Greece, because the location reportedly matches one mentioned in a biography about the philosopher.

  53. lafe.long   9 years ago

    Thailand: Python Emerges From Toilet and Bites Man’s Penis, Official Says

    The man is recovering in the hospital after the snake, who survived the encounter, bit him while he was using the bathroom in his Chachoengsao province home, a rescue official said.

    1. Renegade Jew   9 years ago

      My ex-wife used to do that. Of course, she was a shiksa…

      1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   9 years ago

        Shiksa Dalmia?

  54. Sevo   9 years ago

    OK, are the squirrels out of work? New study shows that layabouts don’t get the best jobs!

    “Accepting a Job Below One’s Skill Level Can Adversely Affect Future Employment Prospects”
    […]
    “Accepting a job below one’s skill level can be severely penalizing when applying for future employment because of the perception that someone who does this is less committed or less competent, according to new research from a sociologist at The University of Texas at Austin.”
    Search
    UTNews
    The University of Texas at Austin

    Yep, if you could be coding, but you’d rather schlep coffee the local cafe, since coding is hard, well, you might find people aren’t interested in hiring you later.

    1. Robert   9 years ago

      Better to remain unemployed & take a chance on getting a better job?

  55. NicoleHowe   9 years ago

    My Co-Worker’s step-sister made $13285 the previous week. She gets paid on the laptop and moved in a $557000 condo. All she did was get blessed and apply the guide leaked on this web site.
    Browse this site….
    This is what I do,—————– http://www.earnmore9.com

  56. NicoleHowe   9 years ago

    My Co-Worker’s step-sister made $13285 the previous week. She gets paid on the laptop and moved in a $557000 condo. All she did was get blessed and apply the guide leaked on this web site.
    Browse this site….
    This is what I do,—————– http://www.earnmore9.com

  57. mtrueman   9 years ago

    Somebody should do a study to determine whether cherry-picking data causes cancer.

    That’s hardly cherrypicking. The link between tumours in male rats and cell phones was unexpected and surprising according to the researchers. Evident in the data and statistically sound. It challenges current theorizing in this science.

  58. KayleighHicks   9 years ago

    Start working at home with GOOGLE!YAHOO. ABCNEWS AND MORE GLOBAL SITES.It’s by far the best job I’ve had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this 4 weeks past. I began this 7-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $97 per hour.

    I work through this link.——————— http://www.earnmore9.com

  59. saralee11589   9 years ago

    Do you have a pay~pal account.. because if you do you can add an extra 650 week after week in your check just working on the internet 2 hours every day. go here to this site….

    Clik This Link inYour Browser…….
    ????????. http://www.MaxPost30.com

  60. sofiyalee12568   9 years ago

    Do you have a pay~pal account.. because if you do you can add an extra 650 week after week in your check just working on the internet 2 hours every day. go here to this site….

    Clik This Link inYour Browser…….
    ????????. http://www.MaxPost30.com

  61. lukashik   8 years ago

    This application is really good and very easy to use because you can never get an app which streams way of the latest and even the oldest videos. showbox

Please log in to post comments

Mute this user?

  • Mute User
  • Cancel

Ban this user?

  • Ban User
  • Cancel

Un-ban this user?

  • Un-ban User
  • Cancel

Nuke this user?

  • Nuke User
  • Cancel

Un-nuke this user?

  • Un-nuke User
  • Cancel

Flag this comment?

  • Flag Comment
  • Cancel

Un-flag this comment?

  • Un-flag Comment
  • Cancel

Latest

How Tariffs Are Breaking the Manufacturing Industries Trump Says He Wants To Protect

Eric Boehm | From the July 2025 issue

The Latest Escalation Between Russia and Ukraine Isn't Changing the Course of the War

Matthew Petti | 6.6.2025 4:28 PM

Marsha Blackburn Wants Secret Police

C.J. Ciaramella | 6.6.2025 3:55 PM

This Small Business Is in Limbo As Owner Sues To Stop Trump's Tariffs

Eric Boehm | 6.6.2025 3:30 PM

A Runner Was Prosecuted for Unapproved Trail Use After the Referring Agency Called It 'Overcriminalization'

Jacob Sullum | 6.6.2025 2:50 PM

Recommended

  • About
  • Browse Topics
  • Events
  • Staff
  • Jobs
  • Donate
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Media
  • Shop
  • Amazon
Reason Facebook@reason on XReason InstagramReason TikTokReason YoutubeApple PodcastsReason on FlipboardReason RSS

© 2024 Reason Foundation | Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

r

Do you care about free minds and free markets? Sign up to get the biggest stories from Reason in your inbox every afternoon.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This modal will close in 10

Reason Plus

Special Offer!

  • Full digital edition access
  • No ads
  • Commenting privileges

Just $25 per year

Join Today!