A.M. Links: Clinton and Trump Tied in New Poll, RNC Speakers List Released, Zika Virus 'Threatens Much of the Western Hemisphere'

• 

  State Department

  New poll: Hillary Clinton 40 percent, Donald Trump 40 percent. In a three-way race, it's Hillary Clinton 36 percent, Donald Trump 36 percent, Gary Johnson 12 percent.

• Here's the list of speakers for the upcoming Republican National Convention.
• "With the Republican National Convention coming next week, attention has focused on the Convention Committee on Rules, which began meeting last night. This committee sets the rules that govern how the convention will proceed, and its decision will affect the crucial question heading into Cleveland: Could the convention rules be altered in a way that could threaten the nomination of Donald Trump?"
• Donald Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential pick on Friday.
• Boris Johnson will be Britain's new foreign secretary.
• "Top health officials warned Wednesday that the Zika virus threatens much of the Western Hemisphere, with Florida, Puerto Rico and Brazil in the crosshairs."

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hillary Clinton 40 percent, Donald Trump 40 percent. In a three-way race, it's Hillary Clinton 36 percent, Donald Trump 36 percent, Gary Johnson 12 percent.

So close.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

I swear his running mate better be a sock puppet.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Good morning, and Happy Bastille Day.

[Cdr Lytton]

Libertines, fraternities and guillotines.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

Triumph the Insult Comic Vice President.

[Agent Cooper]

You can't spell Triumph without Trump.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Not enough Johnson in this three-way.

[Citizen X]

Going for the ol' Wobbly H, eh?

[PBR Streetgang]

Hillary...wobbly "H"...
Well done.

[Citizen X]

I didn't even notice that until i hit 'Submit.' Then i felt really unclean, but that's normal for a Thursday.

[Joe M]

When you consider a full 28% didn't pick Trump or Clinton in the three-way poll, yeah it's actually getting interesting.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

?continued from yesterday?
Sugarfretes: How then does a protector begin to change into a tyrant?
Groovus: I would like to hear what you think on it.
Sugarfretes: In the early days of his power, he is full of smiles, and he salutes every one whom he meets; making promises in public and also in private! He is liberating debtors, and distributing land to the people and his followers, and wanting to be so kind and good to every one!
Groovus: To be sure.
Sugarfretes: And when he has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.
Groovus: He must.
Sugarfretes: Has he not also another object, which is that they may be impoverished by payment of taxes, and thus compelled to devote themselves to their daily wants and therefore less likely to conspire against him?
Groovus: Clearly.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Sugarfretes: And if any of them are suspected by him of having notions of freedom, and of resistance to his authority, he will have a good pretext for destroying them by placing them at the mercy of the enemy; and for all these reasons the tyrant must be always getting up a war.
Groovus: And now he begins to grow unpopular.
Sugarfretes: A necessary result. And is it not he who begins to make a party against the rich?
Groovus: Of course, for he needs their money to supply his own schemes.
Sugarfretes: And the persons whose property is taken from them are compelled to defend themselves before the people as they best can?
Groovus: What else can they do?
Sugarfretes: And then, although they may have no desire of change, the others charge them with plotting against the people and being friends of oligarchy?
Groovus: True.
Sugarfretes: And if the wealthy are unable to expel him, or to get him condemned to death by a public accusation, they conspire to assassinate him.
Groovus: That is the usual way.

[Rich]

For a site called "Reason", ....

Seriously, well done.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Sugarfretes: Then comes the famous request for a bodyguard, which is the device of all those who have got thus far in their tyrannical career. "Let not the people's friend be lost to them."
Groovus: And the people readily assent; all their fears are for him. They have none for themselves.
Sugarfretes: And when a man who is wealthy and is also accused of being an enemy of the people sees this, then, my friend, he flees and rests not and is not ashamed to be a coward.
Groovus: By Zeus, it is so, for if he is caught, he dies.
Sugarfretes: And some of those who joined in setting him up, and who are in power, speak their minds to him and to one another, and the more courageous of them cast in his teeth what is being done.
Groovus: Yes, that may be expected.
Sugarfretes: And the tyrant, if he means to rule, must get rid of them; he cannot stop while he has a friend or an enemy who is good for anything.
Groovus: He cannot.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Sugarfretes: And therefore he must look about him and see who is valiant, who is high-minded, who is wise, who is wealthy; happy man, he is the enemy of them all, and must seek occasion against them whether he will or no, until he has made a purgation of the State.
Groovus: Yes, and not the sort of purgation which we physicians make of the body; for we take away the worse and leave the better part, but he does the reverse.
Sugarfretes: Then come impeachments and judgments and trials of one another?
Groovus: Yes, that is what happens in such a situation.
Sugarfretes: And the more detestable his actions are to the citizens the greater devotion in them will he require?
Groovus: Certainly.
Sugarfretes: This then is real tyranny, about which there can be no longer a mistake: as the saying is, the people who would escape the smoke which is the slavery of freemen, has fallen into the fire which is the tyranny of slaves. Thus liberty, getting out of all order and reason, passes into the harshest and bitterest form of slavery.
Grrovus: That is so.
Sugarfretes: And he, who started as a protector, is himself become the overthrower of many, standing up in the chariot of State with the reins in his hand, no longer protector, but tyrant absolute.
Groovus: That is exactly the truth.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Sugarfretes: Very well; and may we not rightly say that we have sufficiently discussed the nature of tyranny, and the manner of the transition from democracy to tyranny?
Groovus: Yes, quite enough.
Tonius: Your explanation is well-spoken, indeed, Sugarfretes.
Sugarfretes: Thank you, friend Tonius. I have often thought of collecting and numbering some of my cleverer thoughts.
Tonius: Warn me if you ever do such a thing, so I can just shoot myself.

[Rich]

"Ima let you finish, but ...."

[Citizen X]

Well i for one feel like the intellectual level of this place has been elevated. Either that or my breakfast yogurt had started to turn.

[Swiss Servator]

Why not both?

[Rufus The Monocled]

I like tits.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Next time I'll do the Kama Sutra, just for you.

[Citizen X]

No, no, no. He's talking about birds.

[Rufus The Monocled]

With many bouncy tits and flappy vaginas?

[SugarFree]

Flappy Vagina is an app we can sell.

[Citizen X]

Now available on Taylor Swift's website, or wherever ham sandwiches are sold.

[Free Society]

You mean wherever Hamburgers are sold.

[Swiss Servator]

Tonius: Warn me if you ever do such a thing, so I can just shoot myself.

HA!

[Spoonman.]

Fantastic ending.

[Tonio]

^This. Totally fucking brilliant. You will always be #1 with me, JATNAS.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

This SugarFritos guy does not use enough 'tentacle' in his prose.

And zero mention of mutton flaps.

9 out of 10.

[SugarFree]

And zero mention of mutton flaps.

I got sick of writing about Winston's mom.

[bacon-magic]

Thus enlightenment was established and the participants did celebrate with gyros and greek sex.

[Enough About Palin]

Next time, maybe do this on your Facebook page instead.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Top health officials warned Wednesday that the Zika virus threatens much of the Western Hemisphere, with Florida, Puerto Rico and Brazil in the crosshairs."

This just in: Top health officials under fire for causing recent mass shooting.

[greasonable]

A little too subtle, Gabby.

[Bee Tagger]

Here's the list of speakers for the upcoming Republican National Convention.

I prefer KRK Rokit, personally.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[Bee Tagger]

Gives a whole new meaning to election tweeters, doncha think?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Puns are bass humor.

[db]

I'll give them a low pass.

[Agent Cooper]

They are a lot of treble.

[The Fusionist]

Here's the lineup:

The widow of a black policeman who rescued a small black child from a kidnapper at the cost of his own life.

The grieving mother of a young man killed by an illegal immigrant.

Some guy who went to prison for violating security protocols, calling from his cell phone (get it?).

Widow of some guy who was killed by terrorists.

That should do it.

[Chip Woodier]

Add the ghost of Christopher Stevens, as represented by an empty chair.

[Agent Cooper]

You forgot Empty Chair, Jr.!

[BigT]

No Paula Jones??

[Lord Humungus]

Pokemon Go Leads Players Into Intimacy Boutique

Ever since Pokemon Go was unleashed in America last week, Fairvilla's Sexy Things has been getting increased foot traffic from customers.

But customers aren't looking for lingerie or sex toys, they're looking for Pokemon, according to store manager Nikki Mier.

"We were confused at first," Mier told HuffPost. "We heard people talking about 'poking your man.'"

Helpful employees assumed the customers were talking about pegging, a reverse form of anal sex where a woman penetrates a man with a strap-on dildo or vibrator.

[WTF]

Sounds like the beginning of a SugarFree story.

[Swiss Servator]

NONONONO!

Don't give him any ideas!

[Eternal Blue Sky]

As if Sugarfretes NEEDS more ideas!!

[Rich]

As does the election three-way.

[Certified Public Asshat]

As his bulbasaur swelled in his trousers...

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I was reading that Pokemon Go already has more users than Tinder, when it occurred to me: Tinder needs to combine the two ideas.

[Lee Genes]

Find a potential date and flick your ball at her?

[Atanarjuat]

So make an app where you go out into the real world and look for dates?

[SugarFree]

Get to work on that app, man. The pokestops dispense condoms and lube and the gyms are by-the-hour hotels.

[SugarFree]

And you level up by sleeping with people hotter than yourself.

[(((Renegade)))]

In my case, that's unfortunately a default.

[straffinrun]

Nobody rapes down.

[Swiss Servator]

STEVE SMITH RAPE DOWN ALL THE TIME! ALSO RAPE UP AND SIDEWAYS. WORKING ON RAPING DIAGONALLY.

[Lord Humungus]

Coming soon to a fevered Sugarfree Brain; STEVE SMITH IN OUTERSPACE: ZERO-G RAPE

[SugarFree]

STEVE SMITH STILL FIND LEVERAGE SOMEHOW!

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

STEVE SMITH DIAGONALLY FUCKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE

[WTF]

The Doomcock is everywhen.

[Citizen X]

They're mutually exclusive markets, though. Use of the Pokemon Go app by those over the age of 15 leads to immediate and irreversible genital atrophy.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

The Winston app: PokeYerMom. All the spots are at his (I mean her) house.

(I did this one yesterday, but some may have missed it)

[Citizen X]

I didn't see it, but i didn't miss it. AWW SNAP

his (I mean her) house

Same diff, since he still lives with her.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Could the convention rules be altered in a way that could threaten the nomination of Donald Trump?

They're locked in at this point. Trump is the nominee unless he quits. There's no stopping it.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Not necessarily so. Some state (Virginia?) Supreme Court just ruled that state law cannot bind delegates since political parties are private entities. Or something like that.

[kinnath]

The court also stated the ruling did not change the national party rules, only the state level rules.

[thom]

There are so many funny and amusing scenarios in which this could be wrong. Unfortunately, politics is never funny and amusing anymore.

[Bee Tagger]

In a three-way race, it's Hillary Clinton 36 percent, Donald Trump 36 percent, Gary Johnson 12 percent.

If only GarJo could claim that remaining 16%, he'd still lose.

[Swiss Servator]

But he sure would scare the Hell out of the other two...

[robc]

Not necessarily. In a 36-36-28 race nationally, its quite possible no one gets 270 EC votes, depending on regional variation.

And in a race thrown to the House, I give GayJay a fightin chance.

[colorblindkid]

I do think there is a good chance the House would go for GayJay over Clinton or Trump. He's got to nab a few states. I thought he'd be doing better in Vermont and New Hampshire. I could see him taking Utah, but he needs to grab a blue state or two. The man's gotta get some money and get out there. Where the hell are the Koch brothers?

[robc]

Waiting to see if he can get to 15% and get included in the debates?

[Lord Humungus]

US government plans to use drones to fire vaccine-laced M near endangered ferrets

According to the USFWS, the black-footed ferret has been endangered since 1967, and remains very rare (only around 300 live across the US). One of the threats to the ferret population is the Sylvatic plague, a bacterial disease transmitted by fleas. The plague is lethal to both ferrets and prairie dogs, who provide ferrets with a source of food and tunnels for shelter. An oral Sylvatic plague vaccine has already been developed and approved for prairie dogs and ferrets, and the USFWS suggests that drones will be able to deliver the vaccine at a significant scale.

"We dropped the vaccine out of a bag while walking around, but that's very hard to do over thousands of acres," Randy Machett, a USFWS biologist told The Guardian. "We are working with private contractors to develop equipment to drop the vaccine uniformly across an area, rather than one hog getting to eat a big pile of them.

[Chip Woodier]

"We dropped the vaccine out of a bag while walking around, but that's very hard to do over thousands of acres," Randy Machett, a USFWS biologist told The Guardian.

The US Government just doesn't have enough people.

[Swiss Servator]

Can be "Hero" project for 1st Infantry Division, da?

[Brett L]

Its a great practice exercise for the minefields, tovarich.

[Rich]

According to the USFWS, the black-footed ferret has been endangered since 1967, and remains very rare (only around 300 live across the US).

According to the FBI, rarity is a reason to not prosecute a course of action.

Fuck those doomed ferrets.

[Tonio]

Thatrange is three isolated pockets that appear to be in Colorado, Nebraska and Minnesota.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

ferrets eat prairie dogs? what about server squirrels?

[Brett L]

Well, this is also an excellent way to perfect an algorithm to drop a bullet/shell on every inch of a grid using a drone. I do hope its open source. It would be nice to have a great "exclusion zone' algorithm for my home defense, er, "paintball" turret.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Note: Having once played paintball on a day that started in the 70s and then dropped into the 20s, I can attest that a marble fired from a paintball gun hitting a person in the temple will draw blood, but is not fatal.

My ears rang for about 90 minutes. And that frozen paintball was as hard as a rock.

[Agent Cooper]

Climate Change is dangerous!

[Cdr Lytton]

The black footed ferret recovery program is quite interesting (in a government failure sense). Scratch a bit deeper below the smiling PR and there is/was a huge interagency fight on how the recovery program is handled and run.

[Lee Genes]

Zima threatened the Western Hemisphere once before, but we survived it then. We'll survive it now.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

The first time I ever got drunk was with Zima. Of course, that was in high school, before I knew better.

[Haybob]

We still have the Zima babies to remind us of the tragic consequences.

[straffinrun]

+1 Shrunken head.

[Lord Humungus]

I consumed my fair share of Zima in the mid-90s. *bows head in shame*

[Citizen X]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your current battle with ovarian cancer.

[Brett L]

Bud Ice was the beer of my high school drinking and I miss it.

[Haybob]

Beware the penguinsame! Dooby dooby doo

[Haybob]

Damn phone! ^*beware the penguins!

[R C Dean]

Mid-80s. I drained a few Zimas, but if memory serves, it was because it was a chick drink and I was at a party that had actual, you know, chicks.

[John]

So it was before you became a Libertarian

[Bee Tagger]

Donald Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential pick on Friday.

On a Friday? Who is it, disgraced physician, Dr. Ument Dump?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential pick on Friday.

Hopefully for his favored announcement platform that pick's name will be under 140 characters.

[(((Renegade)))]

Donald Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential pick on Friday.

Please please please let it be Vermin Supreme, then pray for Trump's death.

[Lord Humungus]

Be Aware, But Not There! National 'Day of Rage' Scheduled For July 15th, 2016

Use this as a list of places NOT to be on Friday the 15th. While the video by Anonymous does specify non-violence and denounces the actions taken against police officers that were not involved in these deaths, with the tagline "Day of Rage" I think it's safe to expect emotions to be running very high on both sides of the line. No matter how great your empathy might be for those who have unjustly lost their lives, these protests are not safe places to be.

These are the locations and times for the protests:

Phoenix: 5:00PM (EASTLAKE PARK, 1549 E Jefferson St , Phoenix, AZ 85034)
Tuscon: 5:00PM (CATALINA PARK, 900 N 4th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85705)
Little Rock: 6:00PM (OUTSIDE STATE CAPITOL BUILDING, Dr Martin Luther King Jr Dr., Little Rock, AR 72201)
San Francisco: 4:00PM (CIVIC CENTER PLAZA, 355 Mcallister St, San Francisco, California 94102)
Oakland: 4:00PM (FRANK OGAWA PLAZA, 1 Frank H Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612)

etc etc

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hopefully those places don't coincide with any major Pok?mon GO hubs of activity.

[Swiss Servator]

"Days of Poke-rage"?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Rag?mon, please.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

A long lost Kurosawa movie?

[Swiss Servator]

*bows deeply*

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Made almost as good and much more famous when it's remade with Clint Eastwood; and then completely ruined when remade with Bruce Willis?

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Populated by ragamuffins.

[Lord Humungus]

That would be a hate fuck.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

One of my friends was playing Pok?mon GO, then suddenly discovered he was marching in a Black Lives Matter rally.

[R C Dean]

I would love to see the video of a BLM rally that just happened to take place at a PokemonGo gym. Talk about crossing the streams.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

I'm always torn on what to think about Anonymous. I appreciate when the do things like reveal the State Department's lying, post gay porn on ISIS's Twitter, and track down child molesters, but then they go and promote stupid shit like this.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Occasionally they do good, but they're still just a bunch of edgy teens who think they're some sort of elite hacker group because they can run DOS attacks.

[Brett L]

Shooter Jennings "Black Ribbons" album, which is way outside his country-rock persona and excellent*. Has a song entitled Summer of Rage.

*Stephen King features as a radio DJ who is broadcasting while agents of a police state come to shut him down as part of a broader story arc within the album. The irony of that statist toady pretending he's some brave hero detracts slightly from the album, but its a good fucking album. Although it says the mp3 version elides these tracks.

[Brett L]

Also, his Countach album, which is a tribute to the guy who wrote a bunch of 80s soundtracks, including The Neverending Story, is fun, too. I guess I've now outed myself as fan. Although, his country/rock main persona schtick is nothing special. I hope it makes him piles of money so he can afford to do concept albums every couple of years.

[Troy Woodchipper]

Boise never get any love..... er.... crazy shit.

[Apple]

Thanks for the heads up. I close to the one of those places. Last week I drove by a BLM rally there and a fat, white girl was shaking a sign at me that said, "Stop killing us!" My 8 yo in the back seat asked, "Who's trying to kill her?" I really had to restrain myself from answering "Carbs."

[LynchPin1477]

with Florida, Puerto Rico and Brazil in the crosshairs

We need common sense crosshair control

[Rocinante]

There is no such thing as Brazilian crosshairs.

[Juvenile Bluster]

New poll: Hillary Clinton 40 percent, Donald Trump 40 percent. In a three-way race, it's Hillary Clinton 36 percent, Donald Trump 36 percent, Gary Johnson 12 percent.

If Team Red could've nominated somebody not horrible, they'd be running away with this election. It would be Reagan-Mondale Part II.

[Lee Genes]

And the end of Clinton, permanently.

[Drake]

Trump's going to run away with as is. He's already tied or leading in every swing state.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Yeah, if he's tied now, he's only going to improve so long as he picks a non-muppet as VP. Clinton, on the other hand, is already running as the seasoned DC vet, so she's got to pick some fresh, inspiring Dem to run with. Who's she got? Fauxcohontas? Martin "The Pride of Baltimore" O'Malley? Sanders won't run with her, and if he did the Berniebros would all commit group suicide.

[Agent Cooper]

Like Shit Flopney?

He'd be Hitler this year, too and be tied with Old Ironthighs.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Boris Johnson will be Britain's new foreign secretary.

It's nice they made a deal.

[Rocinante]

I think it's more of a "Hey, you wanted this shit now go make the most of it."

[Brett L]

I figured it was more: "Boris likes adultery, continentals like adultery. Lets put his flaws to good use."

[Lord Humungus]

Poor illegal immigrants get food stamps denied to poor U.S. citizens, $2 billion worth

Illegal immigrant households tapping into the federal food stamp program are receiving $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion a year despite their ineligibility, according to a new analysis of the Agriculture Department program.

And rules guiding who can get food stamps favor households with illegal immigrants over all-U.S. citizen homes, according to the detailed report from the Center for Immigration Studies released Monday morning.

CIS expert David North has determined that 460,000 to 700,000 households with mix of legal and illegal immigrants are participating in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP.

He said that food stamp benefits average about $255 a month per household, suggesting that the the yearly payout to households with illegals ranges from $1.4 billion to $2.14 billion.

[Lee Genes]

The USDA is a notorious empire builder when it comes to food stamps. They cold call people trying to get them to sign up.

[Rufus The Monocled]

What's $2 billion in $17 trillion? Peanuts! And that $17 trillion is all in the hands of the white privileged anyway and goes to corporations and like that such.

[WTF]

Hey, a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money!

[Free Society]

The population isn't just going to replace itself.

[(((Renegade)))]

Could the convention rules be altered in a way that could threaten the nomination of Donald Trump?"

Short answer: no. Longer answer: they've already decided to lay back and try to enjoy the inevitable.

[Bee Tagger]

attention has focused on the Convention Committee on Rules,

Remember when everyone said the best part of the new Star Wars movies was the in-depth galactic senate policy talk?

[Lord Humungus]

small hands aside...

These Two Hormones Divide Winners from Losers

That's what winning a million dollars in an hour does to you: it makes you cocky, confident and ready to go balls out. Winning is biological, even hormonal. Dozens of researchers have studied the biological effects of what actually happens to people when they win?tennis players who beat their opponents, chess masters who checkmate their rivals and traders who outwit the markets. Spoiler alert: It's testosterone?the hormone with a reputation for turning sweet young boys into hairy-chested, pugilistic, sex-crazed macho men. But there's much more to testosterone than that.

Biologists have a name for the testosterone-infused mentality that perpetuates a cycle of victory upon victory: the "winner effect." And it works like this. Two animals square off for a fight. Whether they are cichlid fish, rhesus monkeys or humans, their T levels rise, re-orienting their biological systems for the battle by increasing their strength, quickening their reaction times and reducing their fear. Then they go at it. And here's where it gets interesting: The T levels of the winners spike, sometimes by as much as 1,000 percent. And the losers? Their T levels plummet by just as much. The next time the two face off, the winner, primed with testosterone, is much more likely to win. And the loser to lose.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

We need a govt program to redistribute testosterone.

[Overt]

This has been known for awhile. It also explains why motivation in a game is so important. Look at hockey or Foosball. Two teams go into the locker room during intermission/halftime. One thinks they have won, while the other thinks they were defeated.

Sometimes it just takes a play or two and all of a sudden the difference in testosterone levels is enough to show real physical differences in the two teams.

[WTF]

This why losing teams seem to always find ways to lose, even if on paper they should be good.

[mad.casual]

This has been known for awhile.
...
Sometimes it just takes a play or two and all of a sudden the difference in testosterone levels is enough to show real physical differences in the two teams.

It's also been known for just as long if not longer that testosterone levels and effects are highly variable among individuals and that various tolerances can be and are developed against many of its effects. Moreover, testosterone is not some all-powerful fitness, agility, and cognitive enhancing drug. Not only are its effects not compatible with many types of sports, many cardiovascular-oriented sports are notorious for suppressing testosterone production/release/uptake.

Kinda disgusting the animism, post hoc-ing, and Gell-Mann effect going on in this writeup and the underlying "theory" (does science not do dogmas anymore?).

[Agent Cooper]

My level is at T1000.

*morphs into liquid metal*

[Arizona_Guy]

Mine is........

Over 9000!

[Bee Tagger]

Could the convention rules be altered in a way that could threaten the nomination of Donald Trump?"

No charges against HIllary and Trump is the nominee, get used to it.

[Lord Humungus]

Cop accused of trading favors for sex invokes 'Hillary defense'

According to Knoxville firefighters, a woman melted her tub after she tried to barbecue a brisket in it. Investigators said water from the tub poured on the neighbors below.

Firefighters said this isn't the first time something like this has happened. Before this, someone on the fourth floor tried to use a charcoal grill in the living room to cook.

Needless to say, fire officials want to warn everyone to never try to grill indoors - ever.

[Lord Humungus]

derp - need some more coffee

quote should be:

A lawyer for one of the NYPD cops accused of doing favors for bribes ? including mile-high sex with this hooker on a free trip to Las Vegas ? said his client's behavior was no worse than Hillary Clinton's.

"It's similar to what the FBI said about Hillary Clinton, and why she wasn't charged," said John Meringolo, a lawyer for James Grant, who pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court Wednesday.

"She was unaware she was committing a crime. Here, there is no crime whatsoever."

Meringolo described his client's alleged actions ? swapping police favors for expensive gifts like the wild trip with prostitute Gabi Grecko ? as mere violations of police conduct.

[WTF]

That only works if you are a powerful Democrat on the national political scene.

[Hamster of Doom]

I saw the picture. Those shoes with that jacket? Although her hair is divine and more than makes up for it.

[(((Renegade)))]

Look at the face and hands. Ex-dude.

[greasonable]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-k9VE-eEY4

[straffinrun]

She recounted their exploits to The Post last month, saying she had sex with two cops and three other men.

Can someone strikeout the "other" in that sentence for me?

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

She recounted their exploits to The Post last month, saying she had sex with two cops and three other men.

[straffinrun]

Thank you.

[Hamster of Doom]

While George Foreman undoubtedly has a sad, I must agree that grilling indoors is a very bad choice without the proper ventilation.

That said, it's funny trying to connect the lead-in with the quote.

[Drake]

George Foreman doesn't have sads. He's a Monster.

[Gene]

Great video.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing is frowned upon... you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time.

[Drake]

George inventing the Hillary defense for her.

[Hamster of Doom]

Donald Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential pick on Friday.

One does not simply announce Newt's return to power before the market closes.

[widget]

What's the date on that photo of Hillary? My consolation is that she will weather like Lincoln.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

It's hard to believe she'd survive 4 years as POTUS. Eight is out of the question.

[wef]

Call the Federal Election Commission. By putting that rodham photo up there, Reason is providing barely legal, free advertising for the Trump campaign.

[Lee Genes]

Florida Australian man admits to amateur testicle surgery

An amateur surgeon in Australia has pleaded guilty to removing the left testicle of a man who could not afford professional medical treatment.

Allan George Matthews, 56, admitted to "removing tissue" from the man "without consent or authority" at a motel in Port Macquarie, north of Sydney.

[Citizen X]

Australia is the Florida of the world, it is known.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

A) Does Australia not have free health care, or what?
B) The picture of the knife at the head of the article is terrifying in context.
C) He had the "consent and authority" of the man he was performing the surgery on, so not sure what the (legal) problem is here.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"consent and authority" of the STATE is all that matters, pleb.

[Hamster of Doom]

+1 He failed to get the consent and authority of the real owner of those testicles.

[Free Society]

There's no ethical problem here, but since legality is not a measure of morality, the legal problem is a bullshit series of statutory laws he ran afoul of.

[Agent Cooper]

kind of barfing now.

[Lord Humungus]

College Men for Trump

I asked pollsters and political scientists why Trump appeals to educated white men.

Howard Rosenthal, a political scientist at N.Y.U., sent a thoughtful reply to my inquiry:

The past 50 years have witnessed a very substantial redistribution from white males to minorities and women. I supported and now believe in the public policies that accomplished this redistribution. But redistribution it is.

The adoption of redistributive policies favoring women and minorities has, in Rosenthal's unvarnished view, fundamentally changed the character of the political parties.

"The Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton are engaged in identity politics. And the redistribution is not win-win," Rosenthal wrote, adding that

identity politics is a matter of social justice that has had limited economic benefits for white males throughout the income distribution.

So even if college-educated whites are doing relatively well economically, the redistributive policies espoused by Clinton and the Democratic Party ? Obamacare, affirmative action, more progressive taxation and expanded social insurance policies ? have led Rosenthal to conclude that "in terms of pocketbook voting, I am not surprised that Trump draws support from many college educated white males."

[John]

The Democrats built the welfare state and the entire blue model to appeal to single women and minorities. At some point white men had to get wise to what was going on.

[WTF]

But, if they object to having their earnings forcibly transferred to others, or to having others receive special treatment at their expense, they are just racist misogynists and should shut up. Because privilege.

[John]

The term "cuckservative" only got such a reaction because there was some truth in it. The other half of the Democratic model depends on white men being so emasculated that they are okay with being made a scapegoat for everything that is wrong with the country.

[Free Society]

The fact that Warty is so unnerved by the term speaks to the poignancy of it.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Who would have thought that a political party's marginalizing a substantial segment of the voting population would lead to blowback?

I, for one, am shocked. Utterly shocked.

[John]

White men are the one group in society that is not supposed to vote based on their interests. They are supposed to the the right thing and vote to suffer for justice.

[Mainer2]

Not too long ago I heard two of the workers in our factory talking about how they are suckers. Working for a living while their taxes pay for somebody else's EBT card. They might vote for Trump is what I'm thinkin' .

[LynchPin1477]

And the redistribution is not win-win

I think that is the crux of it. I'm not convinced it is 100% accurate, but it certainly is the perception. There is very much an "us vs them" mentality, and when a white male objects, they usual response is "you got yours, now let someone else have a chance". But for a white male that was raised in the era of progressive politics and who may very well have not gotten theirs, and hasn't seen any individual advantage to being a white male, that response is going to be pretty infuriating. When people are convinced that someone else's gain is their loss, they aren't going to just roll with it for the huzzahs and kudos.

[Citizen X]

Sorry, it's collectivism all the way down. Who you really are and what you've experienced as an individual person doesn't matter; the only thing that counts is which ethnoeconomicosexual group(s) you can get slotted into.

[thom]

But for a white male that was raised in the era of progressive politics and who may very well have not gotten theirs, and hasn't seen any individual advantage to being a white male, that response is going to be pretty infuriating.

Progressives realized this (sometime in the 90s?). This is why they developed the concept of privilege.

[Agent Cooper]

For me, it's that fact that I have really worked for everything I have. Now, I didn't grow up poor, but middle class. So, yes, I have a certain built-in privilege, if you want to call it that. But I went to school, worked my ass off at school, and have really pushed myself in every job I've had. Thankfully, I was also blessed with incredible talent (I work in a creative field.)

One lesson I would love to impart to my kids is that no one really truthfully gives a shit about you. Yeah your family loves you but unless they own a business, they can't give you a career. Wonderful mentors and teachers will come and go, but they can't do the work for you.

If you want something you have to rely on yourself to work hard to get it. No one will give it to you. Self-reliance, to me, is one of the most important traits one can have.

[Free Society]

This whole privilege thing isn't just fixed to matters of race. My family has some money, not fabulously rich mind you, but we had a pond and a tennis court cause my parents were avid tennis players. Growing up most of my friends were poor, as were most of the kids in my school. I didn't experience much privilege in regards to my interactions with others. I was routinely talked down to for being a "rich kid" and always being reminded that I just couldn't possibly understand concepts X, Y and Z. I learned to hide any hint of affluence so I could avoid the falling into the crosshairs of that species of snobbery. And that sort of envious snobbery is exactly what it is.

[Arizona_Guy]

My thoughts on 'privilege' and why we should argue against it.

It's pseudo scientific non-sense, and here's my reasoning.

1. Takes things like the drug war that cause 'disparate impact' and then jump from correlation to causation. "disparate impact" == "racism"

2. It makes the un-falsifiable assumption that everyone is kinda racist.

3. they claim it's so pervasive you can't always see it. (false consciousnesses)

4. anyone who denies it, must benefit from it. (automatic shifting the burden of proof)

an analogy:
"All women are witches. If they deny it, it's because they benefit from their witchcraft."

[Arizona_Guy]

I'm not sure I'm articulating that as well as I'd like, but there it is.

[prolefeed]

And the redistribution is not win-win

I think that is the crux of it. I'm not convinced it is 100% accurate, but it certainly is the perception

Taking money from some people without their consent and giving it to others is 100% a win-lose scenario. By definition.

[Arizona_Guy]

Politics is zero-sum because it uses force.

If you can get what you want with persuasion or voluntary exchange, you don't need politics.

[toolkien]

In my mind, it has effected the Republicans as well as they have migrated to the left of JFK. The Republicans have to maintain whatever base they have with women. Women, for the most part, are statist. I see the average soccer mom being pretty much dyed in the wool the same, except one issue - abortion. Take two average soccer moms and they'll both be much in favor of statist programs of pretty much all kinds, safety nets, the whole nine yards. The pro-choice vote Democrat, the pro-life vote Republican. And so to keep the "conservative" females in the fold, the Republicans have shifted statist. Nothing is absolute, but I think concessions to women, and the effect it has had on the growth of the state, isn't just within the Democratic Party.

As for men, speaking for myself, I've not had a problem with "under privileged" fighting for INDIVIDUAL rights. I've not had a problem with non-FORCEFUL methods to change the culture. But about a decade and a half ago, I pondered what will happen when equality is largely reached. Will they stop? And the obvious answer is no. They've pushed the envelop way too far, and they've given the impression that THAT is a "good start". We're now seeing the push back. Unfortunately, there are few or no statesmen ready to lead the push back via civic organs. They've "John Galted" out of the process, and now we have the "cruder" element galvanizing their resistance.

Saw it all coming in 2003.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

"Equality" is a nonsense, unachievable goal that is used as a pretense to seize more power. Power aren't equal, nor should they be. We are all different. Equality is only a virtue in the sense that we are all (or should be) equal under the law and, if you lean that way, in the eyes of God. Justice, property rights, and non-aggression should be the same regardless of class, skin color, etc.

Any other calls for "equality" mean something else, usually preferential treatment or special privileges for one group or another, plus elevated privileges for the party enforcing "equality."

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Huh? I thought "educated white men" always leaned Republican. This is not some new phenomenon, and I recall seeing polls that he's not doing as well with this demographic as past GOP candidates.

Another example of the NYT crawling up its own asshole.

[Glide]

Right, I think it's more of a "how could ANYONE vote for this guy" than "how could Trump be popular with this demographic" story, because Trump's far less successful with educated whites than Romney or Bush or whoever.

[John]

Rasmussan has Trump up by 7 this morning. I understand why people don't support Trump. For me the tell is how some people have an absolute religious conviction that he can't win and is sure to lose by a landslide. I honestly can't see a single reasonable basis for believing that. People seem to believe that out of some emotional need for it to be true. And I think that is entirely class based. Ask yourself this; have you ever met a single never Trump Republican who wasn't an upper middle class college educated self styled intellectual? I haven't. Why is that? Where is the truck driver or welder Never Trump guy? Are our self styled intellectuals just wiser than the rest? Hardly. I think the Trump phenomena has become more class war than anything else. And those who consider themselves the upper class have some keep emotional need to believe that the lesser classes couldn't possibly ever choose a President unacceptable to their betters. That is just too much for some people to contemplate.

[Rich]

For me the tell is how some people have an absolute religious conviction that he can't win and is sure to lose by a landslide.

When Trump wins by a landslide the spins will be 'UUUGE.

[John]

I don't know that Trump is going to win. Thinking that he will for sure win seems to me as irrational as thinking he for sure will lose. The people who are sure of that have their own emotional need to believe that just like the never Trump people have an emotional need to believe he will lose in a landslide. It is all just a class war. Trump is incidental.

[Rich]

Saw some talking head discussion last night to the effect that Trump is a one-off phenomenon.

It seems to me, though, that if he loses we will see "Trump on steroids" in 2020.

[John]

I agree. The Republicans are kidding themselves if they think this was some magic trick by Trump. It wasn't. Trump just took advantage of forces that were already there. And they are not going away. If Trump doesn't win in November, someone else will pick up the flag and do the same thing in 2020. And the same pathetic Republicans will be bitching and moaning about how some outsider stole their party and nomination. They seem incapable of learning.

[(((Renegade)))]

Expect it on Team Blue as well. The transition has been to Politics As Entertainment.

[John]

As bad as the GOP is to its voters, the Dems are even worse. To nominate Hillary, someone who is such a blatant crook who has made millions for doing the bidding of Wall Street, who in front of the entire world benefited from the separate justice available in this country to the rich and powerful and expect Democrats to go out and support her and defend her is just spitting in their supporters' face and telling them "get out there and do as your told slave". Talk about abused spouse syndrome.

[WTF]

expect Democrats to go out and support her and defend her is just spitting in their supporters' face and telling them "get out there and do as your told slave".

There is no reason to believe these expectations will not be met.

[VG Zaytsev]

If Trump loses, the iteration will most likely be better at politicking than he has been, which should scare the hell out of the establishment.

[Lord Humungus]

Much like the shock when the Brexit Leave campaign won - the Remains were convinced that they had the upper hand. Also polling lost on that one.

But we shall see ... I'm not betting either way.

[John]

I think what panicked them about Brexit and what is panicking people about Trump is that it shows their control of the culture doesn't mean as much as it used to. They gave Brexit everything they had. Every part of the media, government and mass culture said anyone who supported it was a racist buffoon. And they still lost. They are doing the same thing to Trump here. And if they lose, it will have the same sorts of implications. If they can't stop Brexit and Trump, what can they stop?

[Tejicano]

Add to this the fact that only 36% of the loud and PC 18 to 24 year olds could be arsed to actually show up and vote on the Brexit question.

[Suthenboy]

Their control of culture is mostly in their heads. They have always been more a part of the herd than they wanted to believe.

[thom]

Shocking that people who have focused for decades on centralizing everything would come out at the losing end of massive technologically driven decentralization.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Or is it the Paula Kael effect? "How could he win? Nobody I know voted for him"

[John]

I am sure there is some of that going on as well. Maybe I am engaging in the same thing in my assessment of the Never Trump Republicans. All of the ones I have seen or know fit the same profile. They are always upper middle class professional intellectual type. I have yet to meet a Never Trump Republican who isn't like that. Maybe there are millions of Never Trump Republicans who are mopping floors and turning wrenches but I have never seen them.

[Robert]

I don't know about Never Trump Republicans, but Bill Newmark, chair of the Conservative Party in the Bronx, says he's talked to many Hispanic Conservatives in the South and West Bronx who say Never Trump.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

My boss made a comment like that earlier this week. It took everything I could to not reply, "You haven't been outside of the District in a while, have you?"

[Agent Cooper]

We're slowly morphing into the Hunger Games.

[LynchPin1477]

I've long said Trump could win, but I don't think he is making the necessary moves to do so. I suspect that as the election draws near, the image of him as a racist/sexist/xenophobic nutjob (or pick your favorite negative description) is going to stick with too many voters. I could be wrong.

[John]

You may be right. Your position is perfectly rational. Time will tell if it turns out to be right. I am talking about the people who claim he has no chance and nominating him will cause the GOP to lose the Congress and give Hillary a landslide. There is no rational case for that that I can see. Yet, a good number of people seem to believe it in the face of all evidence.

[Lord Humungus]

That's my feeling too - at first I thought Trump's primary win was an act, and he would switch to being "more presidential" afterward. Now my perception - perhaps abetted by the media - is that he is flailing about with no focus.

Tinfoil hat time: The MSM helped Trump in the primaries since they thought he would be the easiest for Hillary to beat.

Another thought - considering how low the media polls for trust, they still somehow manage to run the narratives. I mean look at the hitjob they did on Romney, and the turnabout on McCain, all so they could drag Obama across the finish line. The same play is going to be running against Trump and Johnson.

[John]

I doubt it will work. It might but I doubt it. The reason why those memes worked on McCain and Romney is because they responded defensively. Think about Romney and his binders of women. What Romney should have said was "you can't run a hedge fund and be against women and my record in politics and business speaks for itself" and then let his media minions go out and make the specific case. Instead, Romney got out his binders and tried to make the case himself and ended up looking defensive and leaving the impression that it was true.

Trump seems to have figured that game out. Notice, he isn't up there claiming "I am not a racist". And doesn't back down from his alleged "racist statements" because doing so would admit the media was right about him. At the same time, he has sent his kids and his former business partners and such out into the media to explain the specifics about how ridiculous the charge is. He also has the advantage of having been a celebrity for the last 30 years. Four years ago no one thought Trump was a racist even though everyone knew who he was. Most people who didn't follow politics or were from Massachusetts really had any idea who Romney was other than he was some Republican politician. That fact made it much easier to stick the charge on Romney that it is Trump.

[Agent Cooper]

Trump's business pedigree (no matter what you think of it) defeats the racism argument on its face.

You would think there would be hordes of associated, former employees, etc. coming out of the woodwork to talk about how crazy/racist/nutty he was. I think of seen one story (the WaPo bikini woman) and she refuted that as soon as the ink was dry. They had to distort her story to make it sound like Trump was incredibly sexist.

[Agent Cooper]

*associates*

[Chip Woodier]

I mean look at the hitjob they did on Romney

What Romney hitjob? It seemed to me he was hitting himself. Is that the earmark of a good hitjob? Did he make the "47 percent" comment or not? (even though I am sure it was a surprise to him to see it made public)

[Lord Humungus]

He was not a good candidate - but they made him out to be a woman-hating ultraconvervative when, realistically, he could have easily ran as a moderate democrat.

[Brett L]

Lots of people will vote for Trump.The politicos won't support him because he doesn't owe them anything and that fucks up their system. Same with the political journalists.

[VG Zaytsev]

I know plenty of downscale college grads that absolutely hate Trump. Think twenty somethings with worthless degrees working in bars and restaurants. Hell my daughter is one of them. And yeah it is class based, but one of the evil genius bits of progressivism has been to make 'class' as much or more an aspirational category than an economic one. So that the poor, educated, barista or waitress looks down their nose at the much more successful electrician, plumber or small businessman. There were always a few people like that but their numbers have vastly expanded with the higher Ed bubble.

[John]

I am talking about Republicans. Those people sound like they are Progs. If they are, then of course they hate him. They hate anyone outside of the Prog hive.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"have you ever met a single never Trump Republican who wasn't an upper middle class college educated self styled intellectual?"

Yeah. Lower-middle class college educated Mormon-Republican.

[John]

Who is that?

[Chip Woodier]

That's him, over there in the corner.

[Agent Cooper]

That's him in the spotlight
Losing his religion

[prolefeed]

Yeah. Lower-middle class college educated Mormon-Republican.
report spam

John|7.14.16 @ 9:53AM|#

Who is that?

Polling in Utah indicates that a whole bunch of Mormons despise Trump, to the point that Johnson is thinking he could actually win that state.

[robc]

With enough Mormons that would give him a chance at Idaho, Nevada and Arizona too. And, I guess, New Mexico at that point.

[robc]

That would be 32 EC votes.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

A lot of the reason the Mormons hate him is because of how he pissed on their fellow Mormon Romney. It's mainly religious tribalism, coupled with the fact that the culturally anodyne Mormons get really uncomfortable around loud, brassy people like Trump.

[toolkien]

Personally I think that things will be close enough that we'll have a repeat of Kennedy/Nixon. Questionable polling processes in the Blue city-states will make the difference.

[John]

If that happens, and it might, we will end up with real political violence, especially if it involves Ginsberg being a part of a SCOTUS decision.

[WTF]

The National Guard will be called out, order will be restored, and Hillary will be the President.

[Rich]

Here's the list of speakers for the upcoming Republican National Convention.

No *Palin*?!

That settles it -- I'm not going!

[Citizen X]

Important crosslink to earlier Hit'n'Run post: nobody is better than ENB when it comes to intra-contributor shade-throwing.

[WTF]

ENB is just jealous of the hair.

[Citizen X]

We all are that, though.

[WTF]

Dammit, yes.

[straffinrun]

We'll see about that when's he a 69 year old real estate mogul. I see Robbie's future and I dread.

[Hamster of Doom]

Look what happened to Prince William, and despair.

[Citizen X]

+500 years of cousins fuckin'

[Lee Genes]

WE'RE WINNING THE WAR

Obama administration: ISIS is losing ground on Twitter

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's Twitter traffic has plunged 45 percent in the past two years, the Obama administration says, as the U.S. and its allies have countered messages of jihadi glorification with a flood of online images and statements about suffering and enslavement at the hands of the extremist organization.

[Rich]

#OhFFS!

[Lee Genes]

My favorite part:

"We're denying ISIL the ability to operate uncontested online, and we're seeing their social media presence decline," said Michael Lumpkin, head of the Global Engagement Center, which coordinates the U.S. government's approach to fighting extremist messaging.

Patton would swoon.

[Rich]

"You win a war by making the other poor dumb bastard stop tweeting for his."

[WTF]

"Muhammad, you magnificent son of a bitch! I read your Tweet!"

[Rich]

Not if you didn't read it in the original Arabic.

[Arizona_Guy]

I almost choked on my coffee there.

[Rufus The Monocled]

#Wordsmatterbrah

[VG Zaytsev]

That's worthy of a Hitler in the bunker parody.

[John]

These are the same people who thought a Twitter campaign would get those girls back in Nigeria. I have no doubt that they honestly think that this is meaningful.

[Agent Cooper]

Not to mention, isn't overall Twitter traffic down?

Correlation is NOT causation!

[toolkien]

Well, I'm sure we'll soon be whipping out the Big Guns and letting them know their Mothers are hamsters, and their Fathers smell of elderberries...

[This Machine]

"I tweet in your general direction!"

[Lord Humungus]

He Calls Himself 'Free Man'

Jung Gwang-il does something unusual for a living: He sends information via helicopter drones into North Korea. The drones bear USB sticks and SD cards, which contain South Korean television shows, American movies, and more. This "more" includes videos of North Korean defectors, telling people back home what the outside world is like.

Jung himself is a defector. He survived the gulag and escaped North Korea in 2003. In May, he was a speaker at the Oslo Freedom Forum, where I sat down with him. I will relate his story in brief ? a story full of horror, but leavened with majesty.

He was born in China in 1963. His grandparents had immigrated there from Korea in the 1930s. During Mao's Cultural Revolution, Jung's father, a professor, was hauled away. The entire family suffered. Jung's mother took them to North Korea in 1969. "This might seem crazy," says Jung, "but when I arrived in 1969, North Korea seemed like a heaven, compared with China. In China, you could not eat three meals a day. In North Korea, you could."

The Jung family believed in Communism. That included Gwang-il. And he tells me, "My younger brother is still in North Korea, and he still believes in Communism."

[Lee Genes]

Now that's a cool dude

[John]

It is a joke meme; but that guy really is doing God's work in some very tough neighborhoods.

[Lee Genes]

In the winter, the prisoners were made to get wood from the mountain. Many were injured or killed, as the trees fell or the logs rolled down the mountain. Other prisoners would not pause to bury the dead. It would have taken too much energy in the frozen ground. They carried the bodies back to a shed next to a latrine. At night, when you went to the latrine, you could hear moaning from the shed ? some weren't dead yet. By the spring, they were all dead, of course. The bodies had formed a great gelatinous mass. And Jung and the others would have to break it apart, with shovels, and bury it.

[Lord Humungus]

definitely worth the entire read.

[Aloysious]

Jung is a better man than our useless progressive politicians fuckheads will ever be.

[WTF]

Does Jung have a Nobel Prize? Didn't think so.

[Robert]

His younger bro is (((Juche)))?

[Rufus The Monocled]

So Tesla operates like a bureaucracy. There's a surprise.

http://seekingalpha.com/articl.....ence?ifp=0

[Juvenile Bluster]

Saw yesterday that Wawa is opening 10 stores in Broward and Palm Beach Counties by Spring 2017. I've been missing Wawa ever since I left Philly 11 years ago. This makes me so so happy.

[CampingInYourPark]

You miss a gas station?

[Juvenile Bluster]

Have you never discovered the magic that is a Wawa hoagie?

[CampingInYourPark]

We have something similar here called Sheetz

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Sheetz, with its shmagels with shmausage, is no WaWa.

[Certified Public Asshat]

But I loved the nachos grande as a kid.

[OneOut]

The Bucee's in Texas blow them away.

My Pennsylvanian N laws took me to a Wawas like it was a treat. I went along with the farce and received Wawas coffee through the mail a couple times a year.

So a few years later the mother n law was in Texas. On the way to Galveston I nonchalantly pulled into the newest nd grandest Bucee's. We had to drag her out about an hour later. She wanted to keep shopping.

[Brett L]

Eh. I'm a Bucees fan, but unless I'm taking a dump, the Wawa is better.

[Suthenboy]

A friend of mine is a health inspector for restaurants and such.

His advice: Don't eat in Mexican places staffed with Mexicans. They just crawled out from under a rock in Chihuahua last week and have no idea about sanitation, not even what bacteria are.

Whatever you do, never, ever, ever eat anything prepared in a gas station.

[Krabappel]

In central Virginia we have some pretty good gas station food. Fried chicken, breakfast sandwiches, there is even one that grills sausages from a local butcher. There is also a taco gas station but I found their food to be pretty mediocre.

[greasonable]

How else are you supposed to get superpowers?

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/.....-discovery

Sorry for the link, but it was the best one available.

[Krabappel]

I've heard that nothing beats a Publix Pub Sub.

[PBR Streetgang]

Strangely, very few of the Wawa's in the Philly metro area are gas stations. Just convenience stores, no gas.

[Stormy Dragon]

Most gas stations don't actually make any money selling gas, they're using it as a loss leader to get you to buy stuff at the store.

That's why gas stations without either a service center or a convenience store are pretty much non-existent these days.

[John]

Wawa is the greatest convenience store in the known universe. I would be very happy if I were you as well.

[WTF]

This.

[Brett L]

This is true. I didn't know until I moved to Central FL.

[OneOut]

You have obviously never been to Texas and been to a Bucee's.

Google it.

[WTF]

Only steers and queers in Texas, son.

[greasonable]

I say you end up finding what you look for...

[Brett L]

Just left Houston. The Bucees on 288 was 3 miles from my house. I like Bucees. Wawa's sandwiches are better. Plus, you don't have to talk to anyone to order.

[John]

I lived in Texas and have been to many a Bucee's. They are not even close. Wawa is just a different league of convenience store.

[OneOut]

Maybe the Wawas I went to in Allentown PA was a poor example then because it wasnt anything more than a run of the mill gas/convenience store.

Every Bucee's I been had hundreds and hundreds of specialty items, automated food ordering, 100 different kinds of jerky, etc. Etc.

[Atlas Slugged]

Until you have been to a Family Mart (or Lawson's) in japan, you have no idea what you are talking about.

[The Fusionist]

The convenience store I go to has a name which means in Hindi, "the dogs won't eat this, so we're selling it to you."

[Swiss Servator]

Sweet Jesus on a bed of nails....I read that as "Warty is opening..." I just finished shivering.

[Citizen X]

"Warty is opening the seventh gate to J?tunheimr and loosing the Frost Giants on this doomed universe."

[Swiss Servator]

Huh....at least it will be a swift death.

[That's A Bingo!]

Donald Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential pick on Friday.

In a two-hour live event that is mostly filler, hosted by Tom Bergeron.

[Glide]

All proceeds to be donated to the veterans

or at least a reminder to donate to veterans will be sent out in a month or two after everyone starts wondering where the donations are

[Rich]

As Bill's legacy includes "oral sex is not sex", Hillary's includes this.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Went to see the Ford Mustang the other week. I discovered the V6 model comes with no integrated Sirius satellite system. Bizarre given A) it's pretty much standard on all cars these days and B) I believe all other Ford cars have it.

The price is excellent but I balked at that slight irritation.

[Lee Genes]

Dude, first world problems

[Drake]

Does Ford have legacy XM or Sirius units? You don't want a Sirius radio, they suck. My Mazda has one and fades out every time I drive past a tree (not an exaggeration). My brother just bought a Toyota and has the same problem. My father's Acura is XM and almost never loses the signal.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I don't know.

I have it integrated in my Volks and it works just fine.

[Juvenile Bluster]

My Camry has a legacy XM and it works just fine.

[Free Society]

I've got Sirius and I never lose the signal except in tunnels and under bridges.

[Chip Woodier]

Relocate your antenna.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Ford/Chrysler is Sirius. GM is XM.

[Lord Humungus]

The V6 Mustang has been relegated to the rental car / el-cheapo bottom slot. You have to step up to the turbo 4-banger or the V8 to get the goodies.

There was a time that I wanted to get a V6 Mustang with some of the GT handling/etc goodies, but - at least as I last heard it - you can't.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Yeh and $7000 more.

Ridiculous if you ask me.

[Lord Humungus]

Car and Driver had a good write-up on the current V6 Mustang. It's still a great car - just not as customizable as before.
http://www.caranddriver.com/re.....est-review

[Rufus The Monocled]

I really enjoyed the test drive. I don't know. May still buy it and just add a Sirius XM console. Not optimum but a compromise I reckon.

[Lord Humungus]

forgot to add that I have a friend who works in the car repair biz - and he told me to stay away from the Ford 3.7L engine. I haven't found many complaints online, but he said there is a shortage of crate engines to replace the ones that have blown up. It's been awhile so perhaps my memory of this is a bit sketchy.... so do some research before pulling the trigger.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Rear-wheel drive Mustang? I guess the True North doesn't get snow anymore.

[WTF]

My wife lived in Buffalo for 8 years and drove a Mustang. I don't know how she did it, quite frankly.

[Rufus The Monocled]

It would be my eight months a year car.

I have an old beat up Volks as a third car.

So was the plan. But no more.

Maybe a Skoda or Lada?

[Swiss Servator]

Trabant?

[Homple]

Wartburg.

[Agent Cooper]

Challenger?

[Lord Humungus]

I drove a rwd BMW in Michigan - snow tires are your friend... and all the electronic doo-dads kept the car stable enough to drive. But without the snow tires I would get stuck - a lot.

[Haybob]

On my way to work this morning 4 people in my neighborhood already have Gary Johnson signs up. Starting to think the polls are way off. I'm in Kansas not exactly a Libertarian hot spot.

[That's A Bingo!]

How many Ron Paul signs did you see many years ago?

[Haybob]

My neighborhood was all Romney signs last election.

[Free Society]

One time the Romney tour bus was parked at store near my town. I slapped a Ron Paul bumper sticker on it and took a photo. The Romney fans on facebook were severely butthurt.

[straffinrun]

They are just wayward sons. Carry on.

[Haybob]

So you're saying hopes are just dust in the wind?

[Haybob]

^* my hopes

[The Fusionist]

There will be peace when you're done with those jokes.

[Hamster of Doom]

I've always liked you.

[straffinrun]

Let's make it 3 times I get disappeared?

[lap83]

Makes sense, Kansas didn't pick Trump or Clinton

[The Fusionist]

"On my way to work this morning 4 people in my neighborhood already have Gary Johnson signs up."

I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac, and a little voice inside my head said don't look back, you can never look back.

[John]

Depends on where you are in Kansas. Some parts of Kansas, parts of the KC burbs or Lawrence, are as liberal as any NE city. Go out west and you can find some pretty radical free state Libertarian types. Those signs don't surprise me at all. And depending on where you were, could be Democratic voters just as easily as they are Republicans.

[Haybob]

Agreed, I was just shocked to see them all in a row. Usually you just see signs scattered.

[Spoonman.]

My wife told a pollster yesterday that she's voting for Johnson, even though she thinks she'll vote for Clinton, because she was embarrassed to say over the phone that she'd vote for Clinton.

So, I guess I'm almost there.

[lap83]

"she was embarrassed to say over the phone that she'd vote for Clinton."

It's a start.

[Lord Humungus]

She must be really hot - like super-model hot.

[greasonable]

Whenever Johnson does something to angry up the population here, show that to her.

[Agent Cooper]

What's The Matter with Kansas?

[Agent Cooper]

I don't even know how to get a GayJay yard sign.

[robc]

Make your own?

[Arizona_Guy]

https://garysgear.com/

[Free Society]

I just want to point on this gem from the Chapman article in case anyone didn't read it for some crazy reason.

The critics fault Black Lives Matter for its disruptive marches, angry rhetoric, denunciations of police conduct and supposed incitement of violence. But the same critics have no use for Obama, who has pursued change through peaceful legal channels, from community organizing to law to elected office. Despite his restrained rhetoric and cautious policies, many conservatives insist on seeing the president as an angry militant.[...] In the minds of many whites, Obama is dangerous, hostile and anti-white?Karl Rove once called him a "political thug"?not because he behaves that way but because that is a common racist stereotype of blacks. No amount of effort to show his understanding of the concerns of whites or police can make up for the color of his skin.

So if you oppose BLM's methods, then you must approve of Brack O'Bama's cautious rhetoric. If you don't approve of either, it must be that you just can't overcome the color of his skin you bigot.

This article would be more appropriate at Salon.com

[WTF]

It was a typical Chapman shit-show.

[Free Society]

This article was bad even by his incredibly low standards. It's probably in his top 5 most idiotically disingenuous articles by Chapman.

[WTF]

You know, you're right. It was particularly vile even by Chapman standards.

[John]

Chapman is just a moron. By making it just another racial fight, BLM has done more damage to police reform efforts than if they had been a false flag operation set up by the police union. Everyone who cares about the issue ought to have nothing but disdain towards BLM. Thanks a lot you retarded assholes. Now everyone can just yell at each other about race and it will be God knows how long before any progress is made if any is ever made.

[VG Zaytsev]

They are a false flag operation set up by Soros or help Hillary get elected.

Reframing the police? They don't give a shit.

[John]

If it was that, Soros is dumber than I thought. If anything is going to get Trump elected it is going to be race riots.

[Whahappan?]

Soros has funded BLM to the tune of $33 million.

[Lord at War]

BLM in action.

This is a reporter asking what they want and helping to their message out- and their message is "Fuck Whitey".

[straffinrun]

from community organizing to law to elected office

1 out of 3 are peaceful channels, so Chapman can stay in the bigs.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Barry is the head of the executive branch of the government. If he gave a shit about criminal justice reform, he could order the Justice Department to make substantial reforms, rather than the tinkering at the margins he's done so far. It's all empty gestures and rhetoric.

BLM, meanwhile, has turned this into a race issue and openly disdains any support from white people (even though police abuse affects everyone).

[Free Society]

(even though police abuse affects everyone).

Racist much? Jeeeeeese

[Rufus The Monocled]

Ah, the either or logical fallacy.

Everyone has lost their fricken minds.

Even sports are getting harder and harder to watch without some wannabe social change dope pushing a fucking political agenda.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

ESPN has gotten unbearable.

[commoditous]

Did Chapman listen to the president's eulogies during the service for the five dead in Dallas? (And why do we have a sitting president giving these things, anyway?) The speech devolved on a) morally relativizing the slayings with the treatment of blacks by cops, and b) calling for more public spending on education and poverty programs. How is that helpful, measured, or restrained? In effect he argued to legitimize at least the grievance if not the explicit acts of violence against police, when it's months going on years of grievance-peddling that prompted the violence in the first place. That isn't restraint, that's cowardice. I'll grant Chapman, Obama is nothing but cautious: his notion of reconciling two extremes is to take the explicit middle ground by saying absolutely nothing of any substance, granting every preconception, and gently pardoning every indiscretion. His arguments are fjordian they're so chiseled into place. If Solomon had proceeded to say, No, really, we're cutting this tot in half, someone get a band saw, that's the essence of Obama's pompous sense of equanimity. He doesn't need to hew to reality in rendering judgment, reality needs to shift to meet him. It's maddening.

[This Machine]

. If Solomon had proceeded to say, No, really, we're cutting this tot in half, someone get a band saw, that's the essence of Obama's pompous sense of equanimity.

Brilliant. I say quite so, sirrah.

[Aloysious]

Chapman's articles are a gift. They're so consistently, dependably awful. Reading one makes me feel like a Flagellant.

[Suthenboy]

Fuckin' Chapman fellates Obama worse than our trolls here. He is to Reason writers what shreek/tony is to the commentariat.

I can barely wait to see what he has to say about President Trump.

[Free Society]

He is by far the worst writer on staff, and I hold a few others in rather low regard. The real travesty here isn't that Steve Chapman exists, or even that he gets published, but that he gets published by Reason Magazine. For that crime against rationality, I blame Nick "I support welfare state" Gillespie whose editorial and hiring practices have been skewing ever leftward.

[The Fusionist]

I've said this before, but thanks to Pokemon Go, moms will soon be yelling at their kids, "stop playing that video game and come inside!"

[straffinrun]

Your mom used to yell, "Come inside"? Gross.

[The Fusionist]

I need to think of a witty comeback quick. Let's see...

No, that was *your* mom.

[The Fusionist]

"Yo momma went looking for her lost youth...when she found him she locked him in her sex dungeon so he couldn't get away again." - Winston Churchill

"Sir, yo momma is like Quasimodo - in fact, she's such a hunchback she has to ask Alexander Pope to reach the top shelf for her." - Samuel Johnson

"Yo mommo so fat, Captain Ahan has been hunting her for years." - Oscar Wilde

[The Fusionist]

Ahab, not Ahan

[straffinrun]

Geez, Eddie. You eat your mom out with that mouth?

*Joke* **Fuckin' disclaimers**

[Krabappel]

You guys are lighting the Hihn signal.

[Citizen X]

Well they ARE Catholic.

[straffinrun]

What's it take to get defrocked around here?

[Citizen X]

Insufficiently abstract euphemisms?

[commoditous]

Go defrock yourself.

[SugarFree]

Your mom used to yell, "Come inside"? Gross.

She said it felt like a hail of birdshit drenching the neck of her womb.

[straffinrun]

Taking a wholesome joke and turning it filthy. SMDH.

[WTF]

It is SugarFree's special talent.

[Citizen X]

Smelled like it, too.

[Robert]

Actually coming outside is more gross for laundry purposes.

[widget]

You need an email account and verification to start playing Pokemon Go. The installation on Android asks for some wild permissions before it installs. Mom has an iPhone and has been playing the game with the boy for a few days. I don't think she got the full brunt of information she handing over though. It's a cool idea though. Wish I thought of it.

[paranoid android]

They released a patch just yesterday or the day before that scales back the permissions it uses, among other things, FWIW.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

It wanted my age. I uninstalled it.

[BigT]

It doesn't allow for three figures??

[greasonable]

That stuff is like the complications list on drug advertisements. Chances are it is doing exactly what it should be doing. It is going to need to control the camera, display, a local database, maybe contacts (alternately, they would require you to give them your contact's info anyway), plus network connections to Nintendo's servers. In Android terms, that is probably going to look pretty bad.

Now, I am not saying to not care about that stuff. The program with the least number of privileges is preferable, mostly for cases of vulnerabilities.

[John]

http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....probe.html

FBI confirms special secrecy agreements for agents in Clinton email probe

I would image Congress and going to drag Comey back up to explain this. That ought to be entertaining. What do you think his explanation is going to be? Even as a trained attorney, I can't think of how to explain this without just saying in so many words FYTIW.

[Lee Genes]

So why the secrecy if there was nothing to worry about?

We've really ventured into the era of the failing republic.

[John]

They are just so blatant. They really don't care anymore.

[WTF]

We actually have become the equivalent of a third world banana republic.

[Mainer2]

For example, the portrayal on the evening news of the battle between Trump and Ginsburg. As I understand there is no question, no question at all, that she violated the standards of judicial temperment. Supreme Court justices are supposed to stay out of the political, even if they are liberal and female and old. But no one cares. Hey Ruthy, if you want me to respect your office, you have to respect it first.

[John]

Of course it is always one way. Remember all of the pants shiting over Alito mouthing "No" during the state of the union? That was a really big deal that reflected on Alito's fitness to sit on the bench. This is just a gaffe. Pathetic.

[Mainer2]

Yes I do remember that as confirmation of why Scalia and Thomas chose not to attend state of union speeches. And as I recall Alito skipped it the following year.

[Arizona_Guy]

Clinton pissed on everyone and claims it's raining.

[Brett L]

I would get the FBI agents who signed the agreements to testify under oath and see whether these agreements apply to testifying before Congress. Make it clear ahead of time that you aren't beating up the agents, just precipitating a judicial test on whether such agreements can supersede Congressional investigation.

[Lee Genes]

OOoooooo.... I like that

[WTF]

The Republicans don't have the smarts. Or the balls.

[commoditous]

Or the desire. How many in Congress Republicans do you think simply want this thing to blow over? I'm betting at least a slim majority. Hell, how many on that panel considers the whole affair pro forma, and just want to shelve it and shut up?

[Mainer2]

Or integrity. Or principles.

[WTF]

"Nothing to see here. fake scandal, move along!"
Besides, Trump once said mean things about Rosie O'Donnell.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

I'd prefer to see actual, competent attorneys question Comey and Clinton, rather than the inept grandstanding of Congressional investigations.

[Mainer2]

So.........John and R.C. ?

[Aloysious]

I would pay real munny to see that. The politically incorrect, blunt questioning would cause the political class to have a pants shitting episode of hurricane proportions.

[John]

They were so disrespectful. Director Comey is a veteran of decades of public service and does not deserve to be treated in such a disgraceful fashion.

That would be the talking point I imagine.

[WTF]

That way the questions and answers could be ignored.

[Mainer2]

but there would be lots of Harumphing

[R C Dean]

Hell, I'd pay money for the opportunity to do that.

Comey told so many lies in his public statement, that just knocking those down in a cross-examination would be child's play.

[Lee Genes]

The brainwashing continues apace

A young boy takes the stage. In a shaky voice, he says, "My name is Royce. My poem is titled, 'White Boy Privilege.'"

The video of the 14-year-old student's slam poem at his school has gone viral in the midst of heated national discussions regarding race and privilege.
Performed at a slam poetry competition in May at The Paideia School in Atlanta, Royce Mann's winning poem offers a reflection on the privilege he feels he has been automatically awarded as a result of his being white and male.

Warning: Autoplay video

[John]

That is disgusting. It really is. I thought Progs were all about "self esteem"? Not so much I guess.

[Drake]

Not for white men. Their only appropriate feeling is that of shame.

[Lee Genes]

Proggies want you to take responsibility for the actions of people long dead yet decry taking responsibility for your own actions.

It's vile.

[End Child Unemployment]

It's just another version of the original sin doctrine. Many people seem to religion to confirm their belief that they are filthy and worthless and must atone for their base nature.

Given this, I am surprised BDSM sexual practices are not more prevalent than they are.

[VG Zaytsev]

The mom is a progressive activist and the kid is a professional actor - he's been in a couple of Hollywod movies.

[VG Zaytsev]

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm354....._ov_bio_sm

[Drake]

What a wuss.

[straffinrun]

Unironically, it went viral cuz a white boy did it.

[SugarFree]

But the white kid still won, right?

White Male Privilege Privilege.

[straffinrun]

Refreshing. See, I'm as fresh as a summer breeze. Try it.

[WTF]

The fuck is wrong with this kid's parents that they let him do that?

[Lee Genes]

Hell if I know. The Banks Street School in NYC specializes in this kind of crap and people pay huge amounts to send their kids there. I really don't understand it.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

If that were my child, I'd beat him.

[Mainer2]

Ordinary people don't understand their enemy. Progs are evil.

[toolkien]

Don't they know boys this age should be packed off as alter boys for the glory of God?

The catechisms may have changed, the process is still the same.

BTW, I think Hillary's free college tuition is a great idea. If any light of reason tries to find a crack to get into their heads, the "free" education will be there to caulk it right back up again.

[commoditous]

"Top health officials warned Wednesday that the Zika virus threatens much of the Western Hemisphere, with Florida, Puerto Rico and Brazil in the crosshairs."

IOW none of the parts that matter.

[straffinrun]

You could make either the world's best country or the world's worst with parts from those places.

[WTF]

Hey, Florida matters! It's America's dong!

[toolkien]

What does that make the Baja peninsula? What it lacks in girth it makes up in length...

[Lee Genes]

America's Hemorrhoid

[WTF]

I was gonna go with atavistic tail, but I like yours better.

[commoditous]

Vestigial?

[toolkien]

Uh, perhaps you need more roughage.

And a surgeon.

{assuming you're reference point is personal}

[Robert]

So that's why it's a swing state!

[SugarFree]

Venezuela, Fucked... but don't you dare blame socialism...

via Gawker, which is somehow still in business.

[commoditous]

In Caracas, the entire nightlife industry has shut down due to fear of violent crime. Pet owners are abandoning their dogs on the side of the road.

They can't be *that* hungry.

[Krabappel]

As a bankrupt media organization that created their own destruction, they probably feel a lot of empathy for Venezuela.

[Ken Shultz]

"New poll: Hillary Clinton 40 percent, Donald Trump 40 percent. In a three-way race, it's Hillary Clinton 36 percent, Donald Trump 36 percent, Gary Johnson 12 percent."

1) Did the Libertarians nominate the right guy or what!

Twelve percent! If Johnson scores twelve percent in the real election, Libertarians become a legitimate option in a lot of voter's minds--especially if Trump is running for reelection in four years--and, even otherwise, Republican candidates start making a legitimate attempt to assuage us. We'll be twelve times the margin of victory.

2) I don't understand why Trump is doing so well when the American people have clearly been told to reject him.

Maybe the organized left and their cronies in the mainstream media should demonize whites for being racist, men for being misogynists, Christians for being homophobes, blue collar workers for being stupid, and the middle class for being selfish and destroying the earth--even harder than before?

If the progressives beat such people up for being typical Americans over and over and over again--and America still won't listen--then I guess typical Americans need to be beaten up even harder. Until Americans everywhere hate themselves for being white, male, Christian, blue collar, OR middle class, the beatings will continue!

Maybe taking their guns away is the answer?

[John]

That is the NYT poll and the good news. The bad news is the Rasmussen poll that has Trump up by seven. And Trump seems to do better in the three and four way polls than in the head to head polls. That means Johnson is drawing more support from Hillary than Trump. If that continues to be the case and Hillary loses, the liberaltarian moment will most certainly be over. You thought Progs hated Libertarians before, imagine if Progs convince themselves that Gary Johnson caused Hillary to lose.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Perhaps. I think the sharp Progressive turn by the Dems in the 4-8 years, though, is more attributable to the fact that their guy is in the White House, and he is openly supportive of their views. TEAM BLUE was pandering pretty hard to libertarians during the Bush years (when not insulting us or accusing us of getting Bush elected by not voting for Kerry). Similar appeals are likely once TEAM RED is back in charge.

[Ken Shultz]

The death of the Republican Party meme always seemed strange to me.

If the Republican Party has become so overrun with disaffected, blue collar ex-Democrats that the Republican Party effectively has to split into two wings to accommodate them--a populist wing and a more principled wing--then it isn't the Republican Party that's dying.

Meanwhile, if Hillary Clinton loses despite Johnson, I don't know how reasonable people can interpret that as anything but progressives having alienated everyone who isn't gay, black, environmentalist, or a government worker. It's the Democrats who should be worried. They officially hate the people they need to win.

[John]

The Republicans are fighting because they have over the last 40 years taken wave after wave of people kicked out of the Democratic party. It started with the Neocons who got kicked out after Vietnam. Then in the 80s, the social conservatives came over. In the 1990s, it was the suburban south. Now, it is the rest of the white middle and lower middle class.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

That alienation has been going on for a long time, but Bush was so horrible that they were able to brush it aside for a while. But look at how the party has fared under Obama. They are at all time lows in the House and governorships (even lost Maryland and Illinois), and went from a super-majority in the Senate to a 54-46 minority. Hell, even Massachusetts went red briefly (albeit, they followed up with Chief Warren, but still).

[Ken Shultz]

When you look at state legislatures, it's even worse.

http://tinyurl.com/j9s6wps

Look at the row entitled "Governor and both houses controlled by one party", and the Republicans are at an historical high, winning 24 states to the Democrats 13, with 13 state divided.

If this trend continues, the Republicans may have the ability to call a convention from the state level to propose amendments to the Constitution.

I can think of a few changes that might make things better. A balanced budget amendment might be better than what we've got. Maybe we could clarify the commerce clause.

The Republicans won't have as dominant if Trump wins since the era of Reconstruction.

[Ken Shultz]

"The Republicans won't have as dominant if Trump wins since the era of Reconstruction.

Wow, butchered that!

The Republicans won't have been in as dominant a position if Trump wins since the era of Reconstruction.

If Hillary loses, the Democrats better hope they take the Senate--or they're gonna be nobodies.

[John]

Even if they somehow take back the Senate, look at the numbers for who is up for re-election in 18. It is brutal for the Democrats. They are defending something like twice the number of seats the Republicans are and in an off year where the Democrats have done poorly the last two times out. I doubt they keep the Senate very long even if they get it back.

[John]

That is why the Democrats are stuck running Hillary. They have no one else. Obama destroyed an entire generation of Democratic politicians. Hillary was the only figure with any national following that was available. And even she could barely beat a 70 something nutbag socialist. Hillary just barely escaped from being indicted. And she is still the nominee. That is not an indication of their strength.

[R C Dean]

the Republican Party effectively has to split into two wings to accommodate them--a populist wing and a more principled wing

Seriously? I would have gone with "cronyist" or perhaps, more politely, "country club/chamber of commerce".

[Free Society]

That means Johnson is drawing more support from Hillary than Trump.

They all want cake and they can feel the Johnson and know that he's the one to bake it.

[lap83]

I didn't know he was Jewish

[Ken Shultz]

Also, good news on the Syrian refugee front; for those of you worried that the United States wasn't taking in enough refugees:

After a slow start, the influx of Syrians to the U.S. has accelerated in recent months, and annual arrivals are likely to reach 10,000 by the end of September, the amount that was promised by the Obama administration.

Last year, the U.S. pledged to resettle 85,000 refugees from all over the world in the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1, including at least 10,000 Syrian refugees.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/se.....1468402205

For those of you who are worried that there aren't enough refugees, Syrian or otherwise, being resettled near you, that WSJ article contains a map showing where they're all being resettled.

Arizona and North Carolina are among the big winners.

And that 85,000 is just for 2016. The Obama Administration promised to resettle 100,000 refugees in 2017.

[VG Zaytsev]

Libertarian moment.

[commoditous]

AZ and NC? That can't be random. Obama tips his hand: refugee relocation is political punishment. Lovely.

[John]

Yes it is. They are putting them into small town in hopes of ruining out the bitter clingers and replacing them with a more docile population. It is disgusting.

[Mainer2]

Well AZ is #1 on Guns and Ammo's list of the best states for gun owners. Let's stir in some potentially rapey refugees and see if we get another crisis to exploit.

[Arizona_Guy]

Brady Campaign ranked AZ 51 out of 51. I'm proud of that.

[John]

Too bad none of them are being resettled to DuPont Circle, preferably right outside reason headquarters.

[Free Society]

It's no guarantee that would change their mindset at all. Recall the male rape victims who are so pro-"refugee" that a migrant could literally fuck him in the ass against his will and he would be consumed with worry that this rapist might get punished or deported.

[Tonio]

There was that prog politician woman in germany who deliberately misreported the ethnicity of her assailant so as not to fan the fires of racism or xenophobia. I have no doubt that there were many other women assaulted on NYE who didn't report those assaults for the same misguided reasons.

[Drake]

They are writing Trump's ads for him.

[WTF]

Especially when even Merkel had to admit the "refugees" were being used to smuggle in terrorists.

[Drake]

But if a German post that opinion on the internet the Stasi comes calling.

http://gatesofvienna.net/2016/.....more-40291

[R C Dean]

Elsewhere, I have seen that even though the most persecuted group of actual Syrian refugees (as opposed to economic migrants appropriating the brand) are Christians, virtually none of Obama's refugees are Christian.

[Free Society]

But Christians are homophobic and would probably oppose being forced to bake gay wedding cakes and free birth control. Not like those angelic Muslims.

[Arizona_Guy]

WSJ requires registration. From other articles it looks like they are moving them to Phoenix, not small towns.

[R C Dean]

Hillary Clinton 40 percent, Donald Trump 40 percent.

I just can't see the Republicans blowing up their convention to #NeverTrump when he's tied and trending up.

But, I shouldn't underestimate the ability of the GOPe to ignore reality and shoot themselves in the foot in a self-defeating attempt to keep their place at the trough.

[John]

http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....-5491.html

Look at the RCP average. Right now it is Clinton +3.2, but that includes polls going back to June 24th. We have now had four polls post the FBI thing. Take those and the average is Trump +2, with Hillary ahead in two, Trump in one and it tied in the fourth. The claim that Trump is doomed seems pretty stupid at this point.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

The "Trump is doomed" claim has been going on for a while. Unthinkability bias and whatnot.

[Brett L]

Only the Republicans can defeat the Republicans, and they're damn good at it.

[This Machine]

They just can't help themselves, can they?

"This is something as a non-lawyer that I have had trouble with from the very beginning. When the framers of our Constitution considered the Second Amendment, they were talking about muskets," Coleman said during a news conference outside of the Capitol Building on Tuesday.

"There are so many gun laws we need to impose that would protect our communities more and more and more and eliminating assault weapons is definitely at the very top, as well as limiting who can get ammunition and whether or not you can buy it online. It's something I have supported and I sponsored," Coleman added.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who attended the press conference with Coleman, told PJM the Democrats "absolutely" missed an opportunity to bring back the assault weapons ban when the party controlled Congress from 2009-11 with President Obama in the White House.

RRRRRRETARD.

[robc]

limiting who can get ammunition

I guess he is unfamiliar with the Gunpowder Incident.

[Brett L]

Let us also go back to 18th century lawyering, where there was no ABA to block people from practicing law.

[simplybe]

They can replace all gun laws with only one. If you use a gun in the commission of a rape, robbery or murder for hire you get a mandatory death sentence

[Chip Woodier]

murder for hire

That is an interestingly strange qualification, there.

[Free Society]

"This is something as a non-lawyer that I have had trouble with from the very beginning. When the framers of our Constitution considered the Second Amendment, they were talking about muskets,"

That's why the Constitution reads:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear grossly obsolete and ineffective Arms, shall not be infringed."

[R C Dean]

I don't think there was anybody saying at the time that it was limited to infantry weapons. Cannon, even fully armed warships, were in private hands, and it never even occurred to anyone that they weren't covered.

[Free Society]

Absolutely correct. Because "Arms" is a rather broad category.

[Arizona_Guy]

Next time someone says "but, muskets!" just reply :

"So you have no problems with me putting a cannon on my boat, right?"

[commoditous]

I'll fire a shot across your bow, if you know what I mean.

[BigT]

"Next time someone says "but, muskets!" just reply :"

So no free speech using electronic amplification, no TV, radio, Internet, right?

[R C Dean]

Lead type and hand presses are the only form of "press" protected by the 1A!

[Arizona_Guy]

Also:

Prog: "but, but, muskets!"

"So you're cool if we all walk around with swords too, right?"

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, except that, even in 1789, weapons were constantly improving and evolving. They used the general term "arms," and not a specific type of weapon.

Under this type of reasoning, the First Amendment doesn't protect Mormons or any other religion founded in the 19th century.

[Arizona_Guy]

and the fourth doesn't apply to electronics.

[Free Society]

They actually do argue that one.

[R C Dean]

There were high-capacity repeating rifles when the 2A was adopted. Wicked cool air guns. Lewis and Clark took one(?) on their expedition, so its not like they were a big secret.

[The Late P Brooks]

I'm gonna just come right out and say it: the New York Times is an insane asylum with typewriters.

How else can you explain Tom Friedman's column?

This column has argued for a while now that there is only one thing worse than one-party autocracy, and that is one-party democracy. At least a one-party autocracy can order things to get done.

A one-party democracy ? that is, a two-party system where only one party is interested in governing and the other is in constant blocking mode, which has characterized America in recent years ? is much worse. It can't do anything big, hard or important.

We can survive a few years of such deadlock in Washington, but we sure can't take another four or eight years without real decay setting in, and that explains what I'm rooting for in this fall's elections: I hope Hillary Clinton wins all 50 states and the Democrats take the presidency, the House, the Senate and, effectively, the Supreme Court.

I don't think I much care for the boncentration camps.

[This Machine]

I hope Hillary Clinton wins all 50 states and the Democrats take the presidency, the House, the Senate and, effectively, the Supreme Court.

Well, you can hope all you want, buddy, but lemme tell ya, you might be in for a surprise.

[Citizen X]

What a silly bunt.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

I want Friedman to write a history of the US, as I'm interested in his list of all the "big, hard or important" things the feds did before, say, FDR.

[commoditous]

Ushering in before recklessly prolonging the Depression?

[The Fusionist]

"A one party autocracy superficially represents a two-party democracy, only with one of the parties disagreeing with Thomas Friedman."

[commoditous]

We can survive a few years of such deadlock in Washington, but we sure can't take another four or eight years without real decay setting in,

Real decay in Washington, perhaps. Growth in the rest of the country that gets on with, you know, productive undertakings while the sewage in Washington stews. Oh, horrors upon horrors, wealth creation continues on unimpeded by a gridlocked Congress!

[Lee Genes]

The accompanying image is nauseating

[Lee Genes]

And completely unsubtle

[lap83]

That is frightening, the black and white is a nice effect

[The Late P Brooks]

tl;dr Friedman:

Hillary can make the trains run on time, if only we'll let her.

[simplybe]

Does anyone find it strange that a number of speakers at the Republican Convention are registered Democrats.

[Drake]

What's the saying about a liberal Democrat can wait 20 years and be a conservative Republican if his views don't change?

[lap83]

That's pretty good

[lap83]

I'm reminded of Thomas Sowell's quote :
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today."

[simplybe]

I hope an astroid falls on both the Democrat and Republican Conventions

[Agent Cooper]

That would be one magic asteroid.

[Agent Cooper]

To add: Back, and to the left.

[Robert]

Surely you've heard of a convention bounce.

[Drake]

An asteroid that big could spell trouble for other people too.

[commoditous]

SMOD 2016: a meteor in every pot, simultaneously.

[R C Dean]

Test run?

http://tucson.com/news/local/t.....ada12.html

[commoditous]

We really do need more dashboard cameras. Russia is a goldmine for insane driving videos, but there's no reason we can't close that gap.

[NancyWhitehead]

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[Krabappel]

French Socialist President spends $132,000 a year on haircuts:

http://www.npr.org/sections/th.....r-haircuts

[Lord at War]

Nothing left to cut (except his hair).

Austeriteeeee!!!!!!!

[Hayeksplosives]

Mike Pence is the veep pic.

I wonder how sound old Trump's ticker is?

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Pence was an unworthy successor to Mitch Daniels, one of the few governors in recent years that I respected. This does nothing to raise my opinion of him.

[BigT]

Woman decapitated by train during sex.

It's good to be on the bottom!

http://metro.co.uk/2016/07/14/.....dToAFriend

[OneOut]

She gives good head.

[BigT]

Vagina massage.

Maybe now there will be more female libertarians.

http://tinyurl.com/h5apo9p

[lukashik]

Showbox Download, Showbox Apk Download, Showbox App Download: Nowadays technology has brought a lot of changes in our lives, especially in education and communication.