Gary Johnson Explains Views on Religious Freedom, Trump Makes French President Feel Pukey, Anti-Prostitution Prosecutor Pleads Guilty to Soliciting Sex: A.M. Links

• 

  Jeremy Hogan/Polaris/Newscom

  Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson calls for a "balance between religious freedom and non-discrimination" in a Deseret News editorial today.

• A federal judge has ruled that a suit against Trump University can proceed to trial. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel agreed that former students raised genuine concerns over whether Donald Trump had "knowingly participated in a scheme to defraud" them.
• A lack of procedural guidance and accountability concerning police-worn body cameras could create a privacy and rights nightmare for Americans, civil-liberties groups warn.
• Donald Trump's "excesses make you want to retch," opined French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday.
• A coalition affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement has released its first policy platform, which details six demands—including reparations for U.S. slavery—and around 40 policy recommendations.
• A former Michigan prosecutor who led a loud crusade against prostitution in his county has plead guilty to soliciting prostitution and official misconduct.
• Flossing may be overrated.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson calls for a "balance between religious freedom and non-discrimination"...

Yeesh.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

The more I hear Johnson speak, the more I am disappointed that this is the Libertarian candidate.

[tarran]

We knew what was coming when they nominated a professional politician who couldn't hack it in the Republican party.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I wish the mother-fucker would put down the shovel, because this 'religion vs. the gays' hole he's digging is just gonna get deeper.

[tarran]

With very few exceptions, professional politicians are venal or incredibly stupid. Often both.

We really shouldn't expect anything but stupidity from them

[Hayeksplosives]

Why either "religion" or "gays" is a topic in politics is the problem.

I hate politics. I only watch them like a hawk because govt insists on getting more and more involved in my life.

It really shouldn't matter that much who is president, governor, rep, etc.

[Lesser Evil, Jr.]

I hate politics. I only watch them like a hawk because govt insists on getting more and more involved in my life.

This. People ask me why, since I'm not voting, I have such strong opinions on politics.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

He just doesn't get it, does he?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

I sense much derp in these links.

[WTF]

Totally different than "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton calls for a "balance between the second amendment and reasonable regulations and restrictions"

Totally different than "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump calls for a "balance between the right to own property and eminent domain"

[SIV]

Weld is as anti-2A as Hillary.

[WTF]

Well, there's a shocker.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I'm going to demand right now as the leader of the commenters that someone at Reason post an article explaining this libertarian publication's official position on public accommodation laws.

Until that happens I can make things very difficult on everyone, I assure you.

[Swiss Servator]

I AM WITH YOU!

*sets fire to pile of tires*

[Fist of Etiquette]

You better have bought stock in Michelin before you do that or you're off the team.

[Groovus Maximus]

Figures you would shill for the Frogs, Fist of Combustion.

[Clich? Bandit]

As the Chairman of the Quaternary Commenters Union we don't recognize the leadership coalition between the Tertiary Commenters League and the FISTY FIRST Party.

I call for a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in Fist's leadership!!

[WTF]

Ohh! OOH! I can explain!

"Public accommodation laws are good when we get our pony, otherwise they are an infringement on the right to free association."

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

That would be awfully nice. Enforced servitude and government violence, yadda yadda.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

But free ponies!

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

Everyone wants ponies. No one wants to think about how they ultimately end up turning into glue.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"as the leader of the commenters "

Hey, wait a minute, did I miss the vote on this?

[Libertarian]

I can only assume that he meant he was the chronological leader.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

Vote? There is no vote. In H&R, you seize power until someone else seizes it from you. As they say in Starship Troopers, if you don't do your job, I'll shoot you myself.

[BearOdinson]

Dude, when did Spock grow a beard? And what is that agonizer thingy?

[Flawgic]

...as the leader of the commenters..."

Next thing you know, we'll all be volunteered to work 60 days in the comment fields.

[Libertarian]

I'm already commenting for free, but it's of my own free will. If someone tells me that I HAVE to do it, there's gonna be problems.

[JWatts]

"If someone tells me that I HAVE to do it, there's gonna be problems."

I'm pretty sure that's the point. To separate the sheep from the wolves. And to shoot the wolves.

[JWatts]

Should probably be: To separate the sheep from the dogs. And to shoot the dogs.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

"post an article explaining this libertarian publication's official position on public accommodation laws."

If you would like an illustration of the official position, you should google an image of this.

/SFW?

[bacon-magic]

Not SFW.

[bacon-magic]

Sic Semper Tyrannis! *shoots Fist with a nerf gun

[Fist of Etiquette]

Thus ruining the play for everyone.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Oh, Scott?

[JWW]

I love how the phrases "shall make no law" or "shall not be infringed" are interpreted by progressives as "absolutely need to regulate...."

[SIV]

Opposing religious liberty is the central plank of Gary Johnson's campaign. Principle? Or just pandering to the bigoted Atheist vote?

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

Or just not wanting to associate with those icky religious types. They're uncool and listen to the wrong kind of music.

[BearOdinson]

They ARE uncool, and most definitely listen to the wrong kind of music.

But, they shouldn't have to bake a mother fucking cake if they don't want to.

[BearOdinson]

As an aside, I firmly believe they have the wrong idea about music. It shouldn't "uplift" you and inspire you to be good and happy and gentle.

It should drive you to destroy your enemies, and to get you to suck every last drop of nectar from life.

Oh, and bang hot women.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

If someone actually asked me the question, "what could we do to bring you back to the Church?" I might seriously consider answering with, "scourge the Christian rockers and mount them upon the Cross."

They still shouldn't have to bake a motherfucking cake though, agreed.

[robc]

To quote Hank Hill:

"You aren't make Christianity better, you are making rock worse."

[End Child Unemployment]

Truly you are a man after my own heart

[WTF]

Look, it's only right to oppose it, otherwise a gay couple might have to suffer the horror of going to a different baker to get a wedding cake, you MONSTER!

[Rasilio]

But wait, what if that is the only baker in eleventybillion miles?

[robc]

Truly a food desert.

Or, more literally, a dessert desert.

[prolefeed]

Dunno if you read the linked article -- in it, Johnson reached out to both LGBT and Mormon voters by lauding what's known as the Utah Compromise that supposedly prevents discrimination against LGBT voters while also protecting the right of people to exercise their religious freedoms.

If that isn't what the bill actually does, address that. But based on the article, it doesn't seem to be an unlibertarian message -- and it sure as hell seems like Johnson is trying to win Utah's Electoral College votes.

[Certified Public Asshat]

Dunno if you read the linked article

Yes you do.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

There's linked article?

Whachew talkin bout, Willis?

[prolefeed]

Not a fan of public accommodation laws - they're an infringement on the right to free association -- but it seems some commenters here were going off on a strawman of Johnson's argument, rather than what he actually proposed as policy.

That being said, if we're gonna have public accommodation laws foisted upon us, keeping LGBT citizens from being discriminated against in housing and employment would be pretty far down my list of things that government does that are morally objectionable. Mormons in Utah being less anti-gay seems like a step in the right direction, even though using the blunt force of law to get there is a misguided approach. Making people bake cakes against their will sticks in my craw a lot more.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Do you realize the contradiction in your statement? "Mormons in Utah being less anti-gay" means anti-discrimination laws are not needed. Do you get it now?

[prolefeed]

I already said that I don't agree with public accommodation laws, which would include anti-discrimination laws. I believe in punishing bigotry by boycotting, not by hauling people into government courts.

The Mormons I knew were mostly painfully anti-gay. That their leadership is sending them signals to be less so, which they are bound to follow, because they've pledged to be both law abiding and subservient to their leaders, doesn't mean that there still isn't a lot of attitudes to be changed.

I would much rather that their leadership had signaled they want to end discrimination by forcefully telling their membership to quit discriminating, rather than by passing laws which as an anarchist I oppose. But, let's at least recognize progress -- Mormons are likely to start becoming more tolerant of gays as they take the signaling from their leadership to heart.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"And it sure as hell seems like Johnson is trying to win Utah's Electoral College votes."

That's a pretty damn good strategy. Stats show support for Trump in the primary was inversely proportional to the area's Mormon population, generally because Mormons are usually conservative, but they are also usually pro-immigration.

Whether or not he's sticking to libertarian principles, in an election where Mormons are disgusted at Trump, targeting Utah and presenting yourself as a pro-immigration conservative who parrots Mormon-interest legislation seems like an actually decent move, strategy-wise.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Mormons are usually conservative, but they are also usually pro-immigration.

Mormons are not open borders/amnesty type conservatives; they don't like Trump due to his comments on Muslims--due to their own history of religious persecution--and his punking of fellow Mormon Romney.

[prolefeed]

Mormons purposely bring people from all over the world to their Missionary Training Center in Utah. It's a worldwide church. They don't hate immigrants, most of them being descended from fairly recent immigrants themselves.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Like I said, they aren't open borders/amnesty type conservatives, either. It's a worldwide church, but their membership is concentrated mostly in the old Mormon corridor from southern Idaho to central Arizona, and they're mostly white.

And saying they're descended from "fairly recent immigrants" is stretching it quite a bit unless you're talking about the Polynesians. For the rest, those ancestors are their great-grandparents at the very earliest; more often, they're pioneer stock that came over in the mid-1800s, stopped in Salt Lake, and then spread out to whichever colony they were assigned by the church elders.

[prolefeed]

As of the last General Conference, the LDS leadership is claiming 15.6 million Mormons worldwide, about 6.6 million in the U.S.

The leadership is overwhelmingly white -- the membership worldwide is likely mostly non-white.

We can quibble about what I meant by "fairly recent", but given how many returned missionaries I know who brought back a spouse from whatever country they did their mission in, or did a mission in the U.S. and then moved here afterwards, I would suspect that a pretty substantial minority of Mormons in the U.S. are immigrants or children of an immigrant.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Since most of them are descended from English New Englanders and Swedish Iowans, the population is pretty pale & pasty.

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Purposely - you sound like they kidnap 19 year olds

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"Mormons are not open borders/amnesty type conservatives;"

Statistics disagree with you.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Cite?

[SugarFree]

You expect a shill for Trump to tell the truth?

[ThomasD]

In Liberaltopia there is a fine line between freedom and government coercion.

[JWW]

Yep and they make sure never to stand on the freedom side of that line....

[Bodica Slayer of Woodchip]

Who the hell made Johnson the libertarian party candidate? I'd like to talk to those morons.

[Citizen X]

You misspelled "Mormons."

[Glide]

I do think there's a semblance of libertarian thought in what Johnson actually says in that article.
-Bar housing and employment discrimination against gays. Not exactly a controversial position even if it does involve government intervention.
-Require government clerks to marry gays. Duh.
-Freedom of speech and association made concrete for religious organizations. Perfectly fine.

It's what he doesn't say that bothers me.
-Freedom of association and freedom of religion are individual rights.
-Don't restrict people's constitutional rights just to avoid discrimination.

Honestly, I think it's better than his previous statements on it, although the topic is still his biggest weakness and dumbest inconsistency.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump Trump

[Fist of Etiquette]

A federal judge has ruled that a suit against Trump University can proceed to trial.

A Mexican judge?

[Rich]

Los Federales!

[Slammer]

"We could have had him any day"

[Swiss Servator]

Some of them, I assume, are really good judges.

[Rich]

Order! Order in the commentariat!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

But most of them are bringing drugs, they're bringing crime... they're rapists...

[Pope Jimbo]

Trump should have made sure to have the word "honorary" in his title. Then no one would have ever heard about this scandal

The respected Inside Higher Education reported that Laureate Education paid Bill Clinton an obscene $16.5 million between 2010 and 2014 to serve as an honorary chancellor for Laureate International Universities. While Bill Clinton worked as the group's pitchman, the State Department funneled $55 million to Laureate when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. That would seem a pretty major story but virtually no mainstream media outlet has reported it while running hundreds of stories on the Trump University scandal.

[Injun, as in from India]

Holy fook.

This is ridiculous corruption. But the media's main talent is licking clean the boots of Democrats.

[JWW]

Yes. The obviousness of the corruption is blinding.

For example, who in their right mind would pay someone $650,000 for a one hour speech?

But would you pay $650,000 to someone for political favors..... sure.

Its bribery in the open because its only a "speech".

[B.P.]

They took that "money is speech" thing a little too literally.

[Adans smith]

'These are not the scandals your looking for'.

[Libertarian]

What in the ever lovin' hell does the GOP do with it's millions of dollars of contributions if it can't even publicize a story like this at its own convention?

[BearOdinson]

They aren't called the "stupid" party for nothing.

But reminder to all those Hillbots and Berniebros who inhabit these spaces, the first part of that reference is that the Democrat party is the evil party.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Those donor bux were thrown down the Jeb! hole.

[Clich? Bandit]

^^^This, and the Rs are not interested in fighting publically with the Clintons. Not sure hwy. But Trump is a Clinton plant (perhaps a rutabaga) I am becoming more and more convinced. He hasn't really attacked hilldog on anything of substance. And it is SOOO EASY! My god there are decades worth of anti HIll commercials I MYSELF could write. I smell something fishy...

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

If it wasn't for the fact that he was running against That Felonious Hag, it would be borderline hilarious if he was running a professional wrestling-type storyline where he ran against "the champ" and did a swerve against his supporters at the last minute to back her for President.

[Clich? Bandit]

This, I fear, is actually reality.

[Clich? Bandit]

So, HERE is a lefty rag. I would assume that had trump made any truly hard core attacks against her it would be in this article.

I see some:
One email server one that is kind of a softball
a few Ambassador Stevens ones that aren't too tough but ok
And several Clinton Foundation donation ones.
And a bunch of distraction policy points

Am I being obtuse here? Would "you" be attacking hillary on other things? Are the policy points he brings up even worthy of using? I don't know, who can tell this election.

any thoughts on if my assessment of "Trump not attacking Clinton" is accurate.

[Cyto]

The campaign commercials write themselves. They really are incompetent if they can't do this.

Hillary is using footage of little kids watching TV together with off-putting Trump rants. Makes him distasteful in a very effective manner.

The Clinton commercials are even easier. Just juxtapose her words with news footage. "What difference" rant overlaying dead bodies being pulled from the wreckage, ISIS in Libya, etc. Her versions of the email story back to back to back to back, with the FBI director laying out the final version that negates all of her contradictory versions. There's plenty more of that available.

And since it is Trump you can end it all up with "Crooked Hillary" as the tag line.

You've got footage of the Clintons giving speeches that you can overlay with price tags, and follow up with specific favors granted. Clinton foundation donations tied to various favors... This stuff is easy.

Maybe they are holding their powder dry for the last couple of weeks. The DNC media machine is very good at having a phalanx of talking heads and anchor people telling us that the democrat is a victim of a republican smear campaign and it is all unfair and dishonest, so maybe letting them have time to counter a story is a mistake, and they don't intend to make it.

But I doubt it.

But it would be nice if both parties would exercise the nuclear option so that Johnson could walk through the resulting crater.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

I have heard any number of dems say they know the Clintons are corrupt and simply don't care. Trump will literally launch nukes at Russia on day 1. Hillary is just a thief.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Trump will literally launch nukes at Russia on day 1.

"but that's before he lets his buddy Putin know to leave the country as a thank-you for getting him elected! /progderp

[Just a thought not a sermon]

208) Really, prejudice and bigotry are part of human nature. You can't get rid of them?but I think you can channel them. That's why I've been toying with anti-Catholicism lately. It's probably harmless in the greater scheme of things, maybe even a little charming in how old school it is.

Besides, I have a personal grudge against those left-footers. There's a Catholic church near my house and on Sunday mornings I often get hung up in traffic outside their parking lot while on my way to my own church. Isn't it just like a Papist to keep a good Protestant family from getting to church on time?

One time I was running by there and somebody leaving their parking lot almost ran me over?and then yelled at me for not paying attention to where I was going! I turned right around and went up to the driver's window and asked if they had a problem. Shut that mackeral snapper right up.P>Some prejudices are coarse, but not anti-Catholicism. When I feel like being sophisticated, I call myself anti-clerical. You know, like Rousseau and Voltaire. Yep, as far as bigotry goes, I think I've made the right choice.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Rousseau?

Yuk.

[Feminist Killjoy]

I like to blanket dislike people based on their choices, rather than any innate trait or even tradition. Then my best friend bought a trilby and called it a fedora and wears it everywhere. I can't hate him, I don't even want to rib him because he's dealing with a lot of other stuff and I already have an established line of teasing him about his future as a dirty old man with a harem.

My dad told me polish jokes that he thought were hilariously outdated even when I was a kid. I think I'm gonna have to get back into being prejudiced against the poles. For the jokes.

[geo1113]

Hey Sadowski...my mother wears army boots!

[BearOdinson]

.....Forgot to close the screen door!

[Crusty Juggler]

Then my best friend bought a trilby and called it a fedora and wears it everywhere

I hate him, if that makes you feel better. I am sure I am not alone.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Polish jokes are a national treasure. They should be in the Library of Congress or something.

[TheZeitgeist]

You know who else loved outdated jokes at Polish expense?

[cavalier973]

Hi Mcdonnough's boss?

[Citizen X]

My Polish cousins, actually?

[BigT]

Klinger?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Then my best friend bought a trilby and called it a fedora and wears it everywhere.

If this bothers you, you might be a hipster.

/channeling the ghost of Foxworthy

[Citizen X]

You know nothing, JAT NAS.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Guilty as charged.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Okay, I just got up to go to the restroom and got this joke while I was standing at the urinal. I hope the guy standing next to me wasn't too offended when I suddenly started snickering. Sorry guy, it wasn't you--I'm just slow on the uptake.

[Citizen X]

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[Citizen X]

Although, i'm a little bit flattered that Internet strangers are thinking of me when they have their dicks out.

[BearOdinson]

Newsletter?

[Tasty But Whole]

Isn't it just like a Papist to keep a good Protestant family from getting to church on time?

Leave the house earlier.

[BigT]

"a good Protestant family "

Citation?

[Fist of Etiquette]

A coalition affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement has released its first policy platform, which details six demands?including reparations for U.S. slavery?and around 40 policy recommendations.

And the movement is officially off the rails.

[Noodlez]

Or is it?

[Bra Ket]

yeah that's right where those progressive tracks lead.

[Fruit Sushi 2 Go]

Interesting how there's a legacy of slavery yet Japanese-Americans have moved on rather quickly since the camps...

Apples to oranges, I know, but both are legitimate, racially based grievances. I just don't understand the disconnect.

[Drake]

My ancestors seemed to have moved on since being slaves for the Romans, then Medieval serfs.

Obviously Italy, France, and the UK still owe me reparations.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I wonder what the percentage Japanese-Americans is who've emigrated here since the end of WWII.

[lap83]

Sowell likes to point out in his books how the issues in the African-American community that are attributed to the "legacy of slavery" didn't appear until one hundred years after slavery was abolished

[Fruit Sushi 2 Go]

+1 interwebz

Bonus Round: What is the overlap on that one hundred year span and LBJ's "...for the next two hundred years"?

[TheZeitgeist]

I'll take category '100 years to the day,' Alex.

[commodious peals one off]

That house slave Uncle Tom? How could he know the struggle of being black on a racist campus like Yale or Harvard, where activism don't even count for class credit?

[Azathoth!!]

psssst--Sowell went to harvard

[Suthenboy]

It's pretty simple to understand motives when see someone with their hand out.

Does anyone really think that paying reparations would do anything? That whatever is payed would ever be enough? The whole idea is insanity.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Does anyone really think that paying reparations would do anything?

We already know how it would play out thanks to that Chappelle skit.

[spqr2008]

Even the ones who were actually in a camp. See Takei, George.

[commodious peals one off]

That gay-equivalent house slave Uncle Tom? He doesn't even appreciate how Simon Pegg went to lengths even against Takei's wishes to include one of him in the new film.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Again, if to make Sulu gay in the movie, they did not cast Kal Penn, then Simon Pegg is dead to me.

[commodious pares another off]

Oh my.

[straffinrun]

I'm all for reparations. Better build that fucking time machine BLM so you can get them from the people who owe your ancestors.

[lafe.long]

My ancestors freed their slaves in 1780 and bequeathed them 100 acres of land in New England plus livestock.

Wonder how much it's worth today.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Don't expect the ignorant SJW morons in the BLM movement to know or appreciate this little historical tidbit.

[Injun, as in from India]

Wow. How common was it for slave owners to bequeath land to their freed slaves?

[lafe.long]

I have no idea how common... but I suspect it was done a bit (at least in the north?). And note this was almost 60 years before the civil war.

[Bra Ket]

My ancestors came here in the late 19th and early 20th century, from oppressed European groups. The average black person probably carries more slaveowner genes than I do. Though I guess I did get to enjoy all that sweet cultural privilege, like having parents who stayed together and didn't have children till their late 20's.

[BearOdinson]

Mine as well, though mine weren't from oppressed groups. Scottish, English and German. And as far as I can tell, not a single one of them landed on US soil prior to the end of the Civil War. And they all seemed to go through Canada. So I vote for reparations for me since my Scottish ancestors were oppressed by England; My English ancestors were oppressed by Normans; and my Germanic ancestors were oppressed by Rome.

I am going to be a rich man!!

[Rufus The Monocled]

Except in the Roman example, they did eventually manage to become Emperors and even have regions named after them like Lombardia!

[BearOdinson]

That reminds me of someone's discussion of the Holy Roman Empire:
They weren't Roman (ruled by Frankish kings e.g. Charlemagne),
they weren't much of an empire,
and they sure as hell weren't holy (Charlemagne presided over the mass killing of hundreds of Saxons because they wouldn't convert to Christianity).

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

What is more holy than "the mass killing of hundreds of Saxons because they wouldn't convert to Christianity"?

You just haven't been paying attention. Something about making omelets goes here.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

They weren't Roman (ruled by Frankish kings e.g. Charlemagne),

Charlemagne died in 814. The first Holy Roman Emperor was Otto I, crowned in 962.

Charlemagne's empire was centered in France and extended into parts of Germany. The Holy Roman Empire was centered in Germany and extended outward from there but did not control France, only parts of France.

Otto I's father was the first Saxon king of East Francia.

It was more German that Frankish? that's why they renamed themselves the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

and they sure as hell weren't holy (Charlemagne presided over the mass killing of hundreds of Saxons because they wouldn't convert to Christianity).

The Saxon Wars occurred under Charlemagne, not the Holy Roman Empire.

[Chipwooder]

Three quarters of my ancestors were Italian, Irish, and German immigrants from the 1870s through 1913. The other quarter was English and southern, settling in VA, SC, and NC in the 1600s and 1700s. I've found a few instances of owning a slave in my ancestry. But since they lived 150-250 years before I was born, I don't owe anyone a goddamned thing because of it.

[Atanarjuat]

Unless they've done their genealogy, how do they know their ancestors weren't free blacks?

[Princess Trigger]

Yeah, if they don't know that reparations are a total non-starter, they haven't talked to any of their hispanic brothers and sisters and xis.

[straffinrun]

Concentrated benefits and diffused costs. BTW, call me crazy, but isn't affirmative action, the welfare state and vilifying whitey already a form of reparations?

[Rhywun]

Yes, but you're not allowed to say that.

[WTF]

Aaaand Fist is officially RACIST!

[Fist of Etiquette]

MAYBE I'M BLACK YOU DON'T KNOW ME

[Crusty Juggler]

You aren't black because you're too punctual. Duh.

[commodious peals one off]

Fist runs on CPT.

Chief Poster Time.

[TheZeitgeist]

Fist's speed-of-post does not suggest he runs on CPT.

[commodious peals one off]

Scroll, then post.

/things Fist has never said

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's not easy being the bellwether.

[lafe.long]

You misspelled bellend.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know, the literal definition of bellwether is just as much a zinger.

[Eloh-Nroc]

Sheep Fucker?

[Atlas Slugged]

Maybe Fist works for the H&R blog so he can always be the first to post? Maybe Fist is the Jacket? Robby's coif? ENB's shoes?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Dalmia's illegal man-servant.

[Citizen X]

Suderman's fainting couch.

[End Child Unemployment]

Thanks a lot dickhead, people are officially looking at me wondering what is so funny

[Fist of Etiquette]

None of these conspiracy theories of yours are new, you know. AND ALL HAVE BEEN DEBUNKED. BY ME.

[lap83]

including reparations for U.S. slavery

That would be nice, for actual former slaves.

[WTF]

To be paid by the small percentage of people who actually owned slaves.

[TheZeitgeist]

Obviously Michael Jordan got a raw deal. Someone send that sad-sack a check.

[Arizona_Guy]

People who did not commit the offense, paying money to people who were not the victims of the offense.

[ant1sthenes]

If you think the goal the entire time wasn't to rile shit up, and then demand $$$$ to try to tamp it back down, you haven't followed race relations in the US in the past few decades.

[Citizen X]

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson calls for a "balance between religious freedom and non-discrimination" in a Deseret News editorial today.

Shorter Johnson: "I dunno, YOU figure it out."

[Rufus The Monocled]

Exactly. Calling for a 'balance' on anything is a cop out.

E.G. We need 'balance' on free speech.

[Glide]

He also really likes doing the thing where he mentions something someone did somewhere that maybe kinda worked without actually proposing anything as his own stance.

[CharlesWT]

And no one wants a shorter johnson...

[Rich]

A federal judge has ruled that a suit against Trump University can proceed to trial.

Why? No reasonable prosecutor ....

[straffinrun]

Exists?

[Fist of Etiquette]

A former Michigan prosecutor who led a loud crusade against prostitution in his county has plead guilty to soliciting prostitution and official misconduct.

Research! Since when is former law enforcement not exempt when they're undercover???

[Libertarian]

Undercover, eh? I see what you did.

[Lord Humungus]

Tax meat until it's too expensive to eat, new UN report suggests

Meat should be taxed at the wholesale level to raise the price and deter consumption, says a new report from the UN's International Research Panel (IRP). This will (supposedly) save the environment and prevent global warming.

"I think it is extremely urgent," said Professor Maarten Hajer of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, lead author of the report. "All of the harmful effects on the environment and on health needs to be priced into food products."

Hajer and other members of the IRP assert that livestock creates 14.5 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

[Rich]

OK, but first tax Pokemon Go until it's too expensive to play.

[Injun, as in from India]

Naah. We should first tax Prof. Hajer for each word defecated out of his mouth, so that his nonsensical speech comes with a cost.

[Swiss Servator]

People like Maarten Hajer are why my family left the Netherlands for the US...

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"I think it is extremely urgent," said Professor Maarten Hajer

Yeah, I think imposing my personal preferences on others is extremely urgent too, Dr. Hajer. Oh wait, no I don't, I mostly mind my own business and let others do their thing.

[Injun, as in from India]

So what's your Swiss connection?

[Swiss Servator]

I am merely their servant.

[Lee Genes]

Hajer obtained his DPhil in politics from Oxford University. In the early 1990s, he was employed by the University of Leiden as researcher at the Centre for Law and Public Policy. Between 1993 and 1996, he was a member of the scientific staff at the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, working with sociologist Ulrich Beck. Following that, he became senior researcher at the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), where he was project coordinator of a report on spatial development politics.

A PhD in politics telling us what we can or should eat. Didn't they invent woodchippers for this reason?

[Injun, as in from India]

Credential inflation, my friend.

His Ph.D. diploma is pretty much close to toilet paper when it comes to value.

[Bra Ket]

I think of political science as the study of how fascism can be spun to be the exact opposite of whatever the researcher believes. It has application in a wide variety of online activities.

[Chip Woodier]

Do they make coal powered woodchippers?

[Injun, as in from India]

The Netherlands is big into bicycles.

You could make a case for forced labor and have a bunch of Dutch cyclists pedal the woodchipper.

[BearOdinson]

"Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy"

Odin's eye this almost can't be real. This is like a libertarian parody of Euro-socialist Top Men theory.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Once again: Why does the UN (or any progressive government) hate poor people so much?

[Citizen X]

Yo, fuck Professor Maarten Hajer of Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

[WTF]

Hajer and other members of the IRP assert that livestock creates 14.5 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

I await their actual proof of this assertion.

[R C Dean]

Even assuming that's true, what's the net increase in those emissions caused by livestock v the wildlife they displaced?

You think cows fart a lot, what about buffalo?

[Free Society]

Considering that most of the world large herds of largish animals have been driven to extinction in the last several thousand years, I have to wonder if the existence of cattle truly represents a net increase in emissions.

[Doctor Whom]

Tax busybodying until it's too expensive to do.

[Rufus The Monocled]

These people are despicable. I despise them.

Everything is fucking *urgent* with these assholes.

Know what? I think it's urgent jerk offs like you shut the fuck up.

[straffinrun]

Everything is Urgent with Foreigner.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Because they're Hot Blooded.

[Groovus Maximus]

They only Want to Know What Love Is.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

What are you? Some kinda Jukebox Hero?

[Arizona_Guy]

stop playing Head Games

[Chip Woodier]

Maarten Hajer of Utrecht

OMG! He's choking! Somebody help him! Does anyone know the Heimlich Maneuver?

[Certified Public Asshat]

Does this work the same way if you tax income too much?

[Libertarian]

It seems to be working so far.

[cavalier973]

What happened to the Dutch? The Netherlands was once one of the best nations for individual freedom (compared to all the other nations, at least)

[Juice]

Isn't it already subsidized to the hilt?

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

If we're not eating meat, what's going to happen to all those beef cattle contributing to greenhouse gases? Are we going to simply shoot them and bury them?

If humans aren't raising beef cattle, won't they drift towards extinction?

[Slammer]

Chicago police: Body camera didn't record cop's fatal shooting of teen in back

Footage from police dashboard cameras and body cameras helped lead to the swift sidelining of three officers involved in the latest fatal shooting by Chicago police, but officials acknowledged Monday that the shooting itself was not captured on video.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department is investigating why the body camera worn by the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Paul O'Neal failed to show those critical moments.

"People's hopes and expectations have gotten a little exaggerated," said Samuel Walker, a professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and an expert on police accountability. "There is a problem with officers not turning them on. ? They are refusing to (or) not thinking about it as part of their regular work habit. It is going to take a while for us to get full compliance."

[Slammer]

In a telephone interview Monday night, Dean Angelo Sr., head of the Fraternal Order of Police union that represents rank-and-file officers, said he has talked to two of the officers. They are "concerned about their livelihood" and know they'll undergo intense scrutiny for their split-second decisions, he said.

Angelo said there's "a learning curve" to properly using the body cameras and that it can be difficult for officers to remember to activate them "in a heavy-stress situation.

[Juvenile Bluster]

They're concerned about their livelihood. No, not the fact that they shot a teenager in the back, but they're concerned about their livelihood.

These people are sociopaths.

[Chip Woodier]

Cameras should also be built into the gun, turning on automatically whenever it's taken from the holster, and unable to be turned off by the cop. It would be harder for a cop to explain why he might have "accidentally" put a piece of tape over the lens.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

That... is a wonderful idea. You should patent it.

You may want to keep your eye out for a death squad that just might be following you around, though.

[Chip Woodier]

I need 3 or 5 more body cams for my casual wear.

[WTF]

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department is investigating why the body camera worn by the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Paul O'Neal failed to show those critical moments.

Yeah, that sure is a mystery.

[Injun, as in from India]

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the department is investigating why the body camera worn by the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Paul O'Neal failed to show those critical moments.

It's the same reason Hillary's server didn't backup any emails.

So the target of the investigation should be the camera, not the cop, like the federal investigation was into the server, not Hillary.

Also, no reasonable prosecutor...

[Juice]

Taking a long time to comply? Just beat them and taze them while yelling Stop Resisting!

[R C Dean]

There is a problem with officers not turning them on. ? They are refusing to (or) not thinking about it as part of their regular work habit. It is going to take a while for us to get full compliance.

I could get full compliance it a week.

Every body cam is reviewed at the end of the shift. If any of them have any gaps in coverage, the cop is suspended without pay. Unless the gap is due to a technical problem with the body cam that the cop had nothing to do with, the cop is fired when that is confirmed. If the gap is due to a technical problem etc., the cop is reinstated with back pay.

[Lord Humungus]

Study: 98% Of Head Lice In 42 States Now Resistant To Common Treatments

New evidence shows that head lice have developed resistance to two types of common over the counter insecticide treatments for lice infestation. JME studied 48 states and found that, on average, 98 percent of head lice in at least 42 states managed to grow gene mutations that enable them to become resistant to different insecticides other wise known as pyrethrins, pyrethroids, and permathrins.

something something STEVE SMITH

[Swiss Servator]

STEVE SMITH IMMUNE TO ALL CONVENTIONAL TREATMENTS!

[straffinrun]

Difficult problem. A real head scratcher.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[R C Dean]

Its a hairy one, alright.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

My daughter had head lice this spring. The treatment was a special shampoo to loosen the eggs and then lots of combing with a very fine comb. That was also the same treatment when my sister got head lice as a kid 30 years ago. I'd never even heard of any other treatments.

[Rufus The Monocled]

The Protestant strain of lice is worse than the Catholic one.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Only because the Vatican's secret genetics lab released specially engineered lice to attack delicate protestant scalps.

[Rufus The Monocled]

CITATION NEEDED!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

It's in the special catholic bible, dude!

[Groovus Maximus]

Ahem, it's Orange Catholic.

[Crusty Juggler]

Wash her hair with tomato juice.

[Idle Hands]

Head shave fresh start.

[Rich]

Don't "common treatments" include shampooing with kerosene?

[Citizen X]

Shampooing with mayonnaise works - it sticks in a louse's breathing holes and smothers it. Unfortunately, it also makes your head smell like garbage.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Add mustard to it?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Maybe artisanal mayonnaise would smell better....

[Citizen X]

You have to leave it on for at least an hour, at which point even the finest mayonnaise in the world will begin to turn.

[OneOut]

Baby oil works the same way.

It works on crabs also. ( my father told me he learned it when he was in Korea )

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump's "excesses make you want to retch," opined French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday.

I admit a morbid curiosity at how world leaders would deal with a President Trump.

[Rich]

Something like this?

[Drake]

Luckily everything is going really great in France right now and Hollande has spare time to critique American candidates.

[Number 2]

Of course, the one sure-fire way of making sure Trump does not win in November is for a French Socialist to tell us that Trump makes him retch. I am sure that Trump supporters all across America are reconsidering their position this morning after learning of this.

[WTF]

From the man who has ineffectively presided over massacres such as Charlie Hebdo, Paris and Nice, I don't think this will really damage Trump.

[Injun, as in from India]

Comments like this are meant for domestic consumption.

France has a large muslim population, and criticizing Trump will make Hollande look good to those voters.

[Atanarjuat]

Well, I doubt they'd throw him a preemptive Nobel Peace Prize.

[R C Dean]

Hollande, who was paying a barber $132K a year, is complaining about excesses?

http://www.vanityfair.com/news.....de-haircut

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson calls for a "balance between religious freedom and non-discrimination" in a Deseret News editorial today.

Whereas real libertarian politicians like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz boldly...punt on the issue by embracing religious freedom while ignoring the real issue of public accommodation laws in general.

[Feminist Killjoy]

Is anyone good on this? I'm not quite sure how this is such an untouchable idea. There have been 2 or 3 incidents of potential refusal of service on specialty goods in the past decade that have so put the fear of refusal of necessary service that I guess we must all band together against any sort of business discrimination.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

To be fair, Rand did start his senatorial campaign out by pretty clearly stating he thought public accommodation laws under the CRA were unconstitutional.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Yeah, and after he hung to that electrical wire for a couple days (that's why his hair is curled), he set it down and has been pretty quiet about it since.

[Barfmann]

"Donald Trump's "excesses make you want to retch," opined French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday."

BBBAAAARRRRRFFFFFF

[WTF]

He should read some SugarFree.

[Crusty Juggler]

Alive! 300 passengers - including 24 Brits - escape when their Emirates jet crash-lands at Dubai airport after catching fire in the air and EXPLODING on landing

As always the paper of record provides amazing photos and retarded quotes:

Dubai resident Girisankal Gangadhakan said his wife called him after the plane landed to tell him that she and their three children onboard had been involved in an accident but were safe.

'I was shocked when I heard about that,' he said.

[Lord Humungus]

Bloke puts testicles in plaster for 'experiment' ? does not go well

Blogger, Boroda Dead, decided to entertain his subscribers by coating his groin in plaster of Paris.

But he failed to fully anticipate the pain involved in the process which involves heating gypsum to 70C.

The Russian said: "Hi, I made an experiment with my balls. I immured my manhood, but I did not consider the fact the alabaster is getting warmer when it is getting solid."

...

"My balls are burning! My manhood is burning just as if it was put inside the stove," Boroda shouted.

His friend urged him to "go to the bathroom and pour cold water on them", but it was obvious that the blogger needed to take more drastic action.

He tried to break off the plaster with a hammer and chisel, attempted to cut through it with a saw, and even tried a power drill on the plaster.

[Rich]

"Bororda Dead", eh? More like "Vishyweer Dead", emirate?

[Citizen X]

Hi, I made an experiment with my balls. I immured my manhood

This is how i greet people from now on.

[Swiss Servator]

My thoughts and prayers are with your manhood.

[straffinrun]

They'll congratulate you on your marriage.

[SugarFree]

Dale Carnegie wishes he had thought of this.

[Injun, as in from India]

He tried to break off the plaster with a hammer and chisel, attempted to cut through it with a saw, and even tried a power drill on the plaster.

I can see a Darwin Award Honorable Mention in the works...

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Freak. Can't he just use papier-m?ch? like us normies?

[Groovus Maximus]

The Russian said:

Stop right there.

[Lord Humungus]

Florida woman shoots self while using Snapchat, deputies say

According to the Sheriff's Office, Powell said that she was "foolishly playing" with her uncle's .40-caliber pistol when she pulled the trigger and shot her cellphone, which she was holding in her right hand.

Powell suffered lacerations on her thumb and index fingers, likely caused by her phone shattering, deputies said.

The Sheriff's Office said Powell's aunt heard but did not see the shooting and took her niece to the hospital. The aunt said she threw the gun out of her car as she drove on Saxon Boulevard near I-4, according to deputies. The gun has not been found.

[Swiss Servator]

FREE GUN!

/FL Man

[WTF]

The aunt said she threw the gun out of her car as she drove on Saxon Boulevard near I-4, according to deputies.

So, extreme stupidity obviously runs in the family.

[BearOdinson]

I think we should lock every family in their house for 24 hours. Give everybody a gun. At the end of the 24 hours, all of the responsible gun owners (99.9999% of gun owners) will be fine. The idiots and nutjobs would off themselves, and no more issues! Unfortunately some family members would die as well, but considering the gene pool, I think it would be acceptable collateral damage for the good of the species.

[Animal]

Added benefit: Housing prices would drop dramatically due to sudden increase in supply. Affordable housing!

[Slammer]

Parks Service Accidentally Destroys Historic Pearl Harbor Home

The National Park Service is blaming the improper demolition of a historic building at Pearl Harbor on a lack of understanding and training, the AP reports. The Park Service launched an investigation after discovering the mistake earlier this year. The federal agency found officials did not consult historic preservation authorities as required in part because they lacked an understanding of cultural-resource laws and responsibilities. The agency's investigation also concluded a cultural resource compliance coordinator responsible for the project was inadequately trained. A report released last week identified turnover of key park staff as another contributing factor to the problem.

a cultural resource compliance coordinator...LOL

[Swiss Servator]

I would laugh, but my income taxes pay for that kind of crap.

[R C Dean]

You not only paid for the coordinator, you paid for what the coordinator was supposed to stop.

[Rich]

"Oh, how *fascinating*! What exactly do you *do*?"

[Doctor Whom]

Oh, darling, she gets a 50% discount at Harvey Nicks.

[Drake]

lack of understanding and training...

What us civilians call "Stupidity."

[Colonel Slanders]

"a cultural resource compliance coordinator" - NOTHING left to cut!

[Doctor Whom]

+1 mindless austerity

[Atanarjuat]

I keep seeing these things on Facebook about how if we taxed churches it would pay for some nice-sounding thing. No, it would pay for more of the same crap the feds are already spending trillions on.

[Catatafish & Woodchips]

"A report released last week identified turnover of key park staff as another contributing factor to the problem."

You see, the problem was, we shipped too many of the old idiots out too soon...

[Free Society]

Maybe that house would still be preserved if it were some kind of property that was possessed and managed by a private citizen that had some sort of right to exclude others from said property and make all relevant decisions regarding it. What's the word for that? Never mind.

[R C Dean]

What's the word for that?

I believe the term you are looking for is "theft".

[Lord Humungus]

Man Has No Idea Why Former Coworker Blew Up His Home
'Do you know why crazy people do crazy things?'

A Nevada man whose family was nearly killed weeks ago by bombs set off by a former colleague has no idea why he was a target, the AP reports. "I don't have a clue what Glenn Jones was up to," Joshua Cluff says. "Do you know why crazy people do crazy things before they do them?" In a phone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cluff, 36, said that Jones never threatened him when they worked together as nurses at a hospital in Caliente. He could not recall Jones ever saying a harsh word. Authorities say Jones drove to Cluff's home on July 13. He then detonated bombs inside Cluff's home and in a rental car in front of the house. Cluff's wife and two daughters had fled their home moments earlier. A third daughter and Cluff weren't there.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I bet he's one of those guys who does really annoying things in his cubicle, totally oblivious to the fact that his toenail trimming, or whatever, is driving his co-workers loony.

[Injun, as in from India]

This is why we need common sense gun control.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

A coalition affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement has released its first policy platform, which details six demands?including reparations for U.S. slavery?and around 40 policy recommendations.

I'd love to hear BLM explain what the Russian immigrant who came here 30 years ago owes the Nigerian immigrant who came here 30 years ago.

Or would this actually involve sorting out black people based on if their ancestors were actually slaves at one time and fining the white people whose ancestors owned them?

[Drake]

Peter the Great abolished slavery in Russia (of other Russians) in 1723 - turning them into Serfs. That Russian has a lot to answer for.

[Rufus The Monocled]

You're asking too much of people who have pieces of corn lodged in their brains.

Hidee-ho!

[Eternal Blue Sky]

If anyone was actually ~consistent~ when talking about reparations, the Russian would owe ME reparations for forcing my Latvian ancestors out of their home. Then I'd have to immediately give those reparations to the Irish, because my Ua Imair ancestors built a kingdom on selling Irishmen into slavery. But I'm also Irish, so I'd get a cut of my own reparation payment.

At the end of the day we'd have this long confusing list of payments owed and received and, ultimately, the amount of time spent doing research and paperwork would probably consume any profit anyone made.

[OneOut]

+1 multiplier effect

[R C Dean]

the amount of time spent doing research and paperwork

Its like you don't a jobs program when you see one.

[robc]

I could see 23 and Me rent-seeking on this one.

Everyone must have genetic tests to determine their ancestry for reparations calculations!

[R C Dean]

Or would this actually involve sorting out black people based on if their ancestors were actually slaves at one time and fining the white people whose ancestors owned them?

Can I get an exemption if I have an ancestor who fought against the Confederacy?

[Crusty Juggler]

'Appalling sexism and hideously timed gun worship': Suicide Squad branded 'disastrous' and 'stupid' as movie is savaged by critics

One of the harshest reviews seemed to stem from Richard Lawson at Vanity Fair, who along with the aforementioned quote, called it: 'A shapeless, poorly edited trudge that adds some mildly appalling sexism and even a soup?on of racism to its abundant, hideously timed gun worship.'

*buys tickets*

[Idle Hands]

yeah I'm pretty sure that is a planted review.

[Chip Woodier]

My harsh review would probably include the loss of an over-the-top and exceedingly charming gun moll accent of one of the characters (even though the visualization was pretty good).

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Rotten Tomato critics loved the new Ghostbusters. Their meter is completely useless.

[kbolino]

Their meter is completely useless.

This has been the case for about 5 years now and it didn't start with SJW crap, just "OMG this movie is AWESOME" when, in fact, it sucks. It reminds me of gaming journalism. Get everybody to sell their soul, then guilt them into supporting bugfuck insanity.

[Injun, as in from India]

Gun worship?

Critics are getting a little too lefty aren't they?

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Maybe the producers should have made the chief villains a bunch of bible-thumping socons in a small town trying to mind their own business. Lawson probably would have given it five stars.

[Rhywun]

Sounds like every action movie, like, ever.

[Arizona_Guy]

It's like he wants me to see it.

[Glide]

I am going back and forth on whether I actually want to see this movie.

On the one hand I'm furiously sick of comic book movies and it sounds like it's written in a very meandering and unfocused way.

On the other hand, I actually kinda like big dumb star vehicles full of nothing but one-liners and implausible action scenes, and if they're ensemble casts all the better.

[Idle Hands]

Trump's campaign may be falling to pieces:

Donald Trump's team may be falling apart, according to reports flying around Twitter Tuesday night.

A friend of campaign chairman Paul Manafort said the team leader is no longer fighting the Republican nominee on how to run the race and has given up.

lol. Trump's a winner he doesn't need anything like coherent strategy or advice.

[Suthenboy]

I have to laugh at all of the people Trump trounced screaming at him to change his strategy.

[R C Dean]

Yet its the DNC that is firing people due to the email scandal there.

[Lord Humungus]

FBI: Detroiter built up arsenal, talked of an attack

A Detroit man who allegedly bought high-grade explosives from an undercover agent after amassing an arsenal of weapons and talking about carrying out an attack was charged Monday following an FBI counterterrorism investigation.

It is unclear from court filings whether Sebastian Gregerson, aka Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl, was planning an attack and why he allegedly was purchasing explosives from an undercover FBI agent.

Court records chronicle a 16-month undercover investigation that started after a tipster told the FBI that Gregerson, 29, had grenades and bazookas.

[Juvenile Bluster]

We caught another terrorist that we created! High fives and promotions all around!

[Injun, as in from India]

Abdurrahman Bin Mikaayl?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"Servant of the Most Merciful, Son of Michael"

[Eternal Blue Sky]

I too, am baffled as to why Gregerson, "Son of Greger" is also "Bin Mikaayl", "Son of Michael". Maybe he has two gay adoptive fathers??

[Azathoth!!]

the archangel.

[Slammer]

Florida woman shoots self while using Snapchat, deputies say

22-year-old suffers lacerations to hand

According to the Sheriff's Office, Powell said that she was "foolishly playing" with her uncle's .40-caliber pistol when she pulled the trigger and shot her cellphone, which she was holding in her right hand.

Powell suffered lacerations on her thumb and index fingers, likely caused by her phone shattering, deputies said.

The Sheriff's Office said Powell's aunt heard but did not see the shooting and took her niece to the hospital. The aunt said she threw the gun out of her car as she drove on Saxon Boulevard near I-4, according to deputies. The gun has not been found.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Geez, this happened again?

[tarran]

Last night it kind of happened to me.

My son and I were playing a game of payday 2. I was crouched on a rooftop using a rifle's sniperscope to monitor the movement of guards as my son slowly worked his way through a storage yard. He had already tossed the loot we were stealing over the wall and I'd put it in the getaway van. All that was left was his exfiltration.

And my left finger sympathetically tapped the left mouse button (the right mouse button puts the scope to your eye). The guard I was watching dropped from a bullet to the head. The sound of the gunshot alerted all the other guards. The alarms started going off.

What had been a picture perfect heist turned into a shit-show... real fast.

We did escape with the loot, but did not get the bonus for completing the job without alerting anyone.

[Feminist Killjoy]

An alligator has that gun now.

[straffinrun]

A selfie?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Sounds like she was trying to get a selfie of her pointing the gun at the camera...

[Lord Humungus]

US sent $400 million in cash to Iran as prisoners were freed, WSJ reports

The U.S. airlifted $400 million of cash to Iran, with the payment coinciding with the January release of four Americans held in Tehran, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing officials briefed on the covert operation.

Euros, Swiss francs and other currencies were packed into wooden pallets and flown to Iran on an unmarked cargo plane, the paper added. The money was procured from the Dutch and Swiss central banks.

The payment was made in foreign currency as it is illegal under U.S. laws to deal with Iran in dollars. Iran also still faces sanctions limiting its access to global markets.

[Swiss Servator]

THAT IS SOOOO NOT A RANSOM!

/Slate

[Rich]

Exactly. President Clint, uh, I mean Obama had no reason to believe that was a ransom.

[Free Society]

Are four (presumably leftist) hikers worth $400 million? Methinks not.

[straffinrun]

I've got a Casio.

[Free Society]

Now that would be a fair trade.

[Groovus Maximus]

He said, "Casio," not, "Casino,"....

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

What is your point? A functioning casino is worth 50-60 hikers at least.

[Crusty Juggler]

FBI took months to warn Democrats of suspected Russian role in hack: sources

e FBI did not warn party officials that the attack was being investigated as Russian espionage, the sources said.

The lack of full disclosure by the FBI prevented DNC staffers from taking steps that could have reduced the number of confidential emails and documents stolen, one of the sources said. Instead, Russian hackers whom security experts believe are affiliated with the Russian government continued to have access to Democratic Party computers for months during a crucial phase in the U.S. presidential campaign, the source said.

Blame and piss off the FBI? Is that the best strategy? Hoover is rolling over in his fabulous grave.

[WTF]

RUSSIA! RUSSIA! RUSSIA!

Don't anyone actually pay any attention to the bigoted, racist, and corrupt contents of those emails.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

So they assume that it was TEH RUSKIES!! with NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER, then they blame the FBI for not telling them that the Ruskie hacker-sorcerers were casting spells to steal their files, despite the FBI having no evidence of this being a thing that was happening.

Standard Operating Procedure: BURY THE STORY UNDER EVEN MORE BULLSHIT!!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Blame and piss off the FBI? Is that the best strategy?

Comey clearly demonstrated that the FBI knows its place and will not get out of line.

[Idle Hands]

Anybody else watch the latest season of Bojack Horseman? not as good as season two but few things are.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Bojack Horseman is one of the best things on TV (well, streaming). You're right, it wasn't Season 2 but it was still one of the best things out there.

Can't wait for Season 4.

[Lord Humungus]

Can Candid Conversations Happen Online Without The Trolls?

A few years ago, Silicon Valley engineer Bindu Reddy was raising money for a new startup. An investor offered to contribute ? not because of what she was trying to do, but because she was a woman.

Turns Out, Fighting Fat Shaming And Racist Trolls Is Also A Ghostbuster's Job

That rubbed Reddy the wrong way, and she wrote about it ? then the backlash began.

...

On how automated moderation works

The way other artificial intelligence works, is it basically parses your sentence. We use a deep learning NLP algorithm, which basically looks at what you're saying and decides ... whether it's positive or negative. So it kind of classifies things as having a negative sentiment or a positive sentiment.

It then gives it a score of how kind of strong your statement is ? let's say you said something about someone or you threatened someone, it classifies that as saying, "Hey this is a very strong statement," because these kinds of categories are not good in terms of social discourse. And when we do that, we basically say if this thing has a score which is more than a particular level, a cut-off, then we basically take out the whole post. So whether it's self harm or like bullying or harassment, we look for certain phrases and the context of those phrases.

[Injun, as in from India]

Stuff like this will end up becoming enclaves for precious snowflakes who can't deal with arguments. I'll guarantee that.

This is a step up from the current behavior of leftists who will unfriend you on Facebook.

The upside is that the algorithm can't figure out sh1t like Ai Wei Wei's "Grass Mud Horse". Expect an uptick in human creativity in the art of insulting.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

This is a step up from the current behavior of leftists who will unfriend you on Facebook.

Because artificial intelligence is a step up from what passes for intelligence on FB.

[Lord Humungus]

well that's cozy:

Nicaraguan president's wife tapped to be his running mate

Rosario Murillo was named Tuesday to be the running mate of her husband, Daniel Ortega, in his bid to win election to a third consecutive presidential term in Nov. 6 elections.

The governing Sandinista National Liberation Front party formally registered Murillo as its vice presidential candidate.

Murillo already holds considerable power as chief government spokeswoman. Even the red-and-black flags of the Sandinista revolution have been supplanted by the pink and baby blue colors she favors.

While Ortega occasionally appears in public, Murillo holds forth regularly on national television with a stream of rhetoric that blends socialism, New Age spirituality and Roman Catholicism.

[Injun, as in from India]

He tapped his wife?

What's new?

[R C Dean]

Well, they are married . . .

[Rich]

Georgia Man Busted After Raging At Wife Over Too Cheesy Grilled Cheese Sandwich

From the comments: i'm just going to jump in here. umm, the more cheese you use, the hotter the sandwich will be when you get it and it can burn your mouth.

[Free Society]

He needs to beat his wife more often and harder. That's the secret to a good sandwich.

[Juvenile Bluster]

The best grilled cheese I've ever had comes from a restaurant in Wilton Manors, the gayest place outside of Fire Island. Dem homer-sexuals sure can make grilled cheese.

[BearOdinson]

My grandmother once made me a grilled cheese sandwich.......

with CHEDDAR CHEESE!

Fuck me, if there had been a bell tower anywhere within walking distance (and if I had access to a sniper rifle as a 12 yo), there could have been a lot of death that day.

[Animal]

Grilled cheese sandwiches are only properly made with Velveeta and bacon grease.

I don't make these rules. I'm just telling you what they are.

[R C Dean]

American, on sourdough, with ham.

It is known.

[Animal]

You have besmirched the grilled-cheese making authority of my late grandmother, sir. I demand satisfaction!

[R C Dean]

Try a grilled American cheese on sourdough with ham. You'll find it quite satisfying.

[Animal]

In all seriousness, I think at some time or another I've tried every variation on the grilled cheese sandwich known to man, and you're right, American/sourdough/ham is nice.

But my childhood memories of Grandma's grilled cheese with homemade bread, Velveeta, fried with bacon grease, that tops all.

[Groovus Maximus]

Oh... Sweet, sweet Velveeta....

[Crusty Juggler]

Portland ends pilot 'safe sleeping' policy immediately

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales on Tuesday announced the end of pilot program that allowed homeless people to sleep on the streets undisturbed by law enforcement, saying it created confusion because some believed it legalized public camping, but defended his overall approach.

Portland's safe sleeping policy allowed homeless people to unroll a sleeping bag or unfurl a tarp between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. on city sidewalks and allowed camping in some specific areas of the city -- but never in more than groups of six.

Neighborhood and business groups, including the Portland Business Alliance, sued. The Willamette Week, the city's alternative weekly, sent a team of reporters to test the policy by pitching tents on the sidewalk in front of Hales' home and the homes of other elected officials.

I doubt they were using chamber pots, people.

[AlmightyJB]

"sent a team of reporters to test the policy by pitching tents on the sidewalk in front of Hales' home and the homes of other elected officials."

Funny how that works. We're very liberal unless it effects us.

[Lord Humungus]

When I went to DC for a software conference, I was surprised to see a tent structure setup between two public benches. A home for someone.

Here is the hinterland, the police would have cracked down on that sort of thing.

[Lord Humungus]

Furries don't have sex in fursuits

Grey White takes the guest-spot in Oh Joy Sex Toy this morning in order to defend and debunk the fursuit, long the butt of sniggering sex-jokes.

White explains that furries spend thousands of dollars on their fursuits, and that these costumes are way too hot and bulky for any kind of vigorous sexual activity (though it's not entirely mythological, rather, it's "like bigfoot -- you've heard the legend, maybe there's a blurry photo somewhere, but ultimately, there's so much more to the Pacific northwest!").

The point of fursuits is to give the wearer a chance to try on new identities, to express their real gender, and to perform -- which are all pretty fantastic things.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Relevant XKCD

[Swiss Servator]

STEVE SMITH NOT IN SUIT....UNLESS COUNT BIRTHDAY SUIT.

[Rich]

to express their real gender

Oh, come ON!

[R C Dean]

So gender includes species now?

[WTF]

When will the government enforce equality for furries? WHEN?!

[Juvenile Bluster]

Every building should be required to have litterboxes for those who self-identify as cats.

[Rich]

So much this!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Are they unisex, or how many varieties of box is needed?

[BearOdinson]

"...and to perform -- which are all pretty fantastic things."

So I guess my dream of becoming a real life berzerker (from Old Norse meaning bear skin) can come true!!

[SugarFree]

Reasonably priced axes for the modern Viking.

[End Child Unemployment]

Cold Steel is for mall ninjas, SugarFretes. It is known!

[Eternal Blue Sky]

*Burns down monastery*

*Gets arrested*

"But this is my CULTURE!! You... RACISTS!! BIGOTS!! Help, help, I'm being repressed!!"

[Free Society]

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson calls for a "balance between religious freedom and non-discrimination" in a Deseret News editorial today.

The libertarian candidate lady and gentlemen. They're not even a major party yet, but if they did become one of the two major parties, it's a safe bet that they'd pander and dilute their brand until they're nothing but Democrats.

[AlmightyJB]

When a politician says balance, it's never good.

[Suthenboy]

"Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson calls for a "balance between religious freedom and non-discrimination"

You keep using that word, 'libertarian'. I don't think it means what you think it means.

[Free Society]

A vote for not-Johnson is a vote for Trump!!!!!!!#$$%!#$^~

[Lee Genes]

Open Letter to Leo DiCaprio and Other Beneficiaries of Stolen Funds

Over the past year and more Sarawak Report has notified a number of lofty organisations and individuals, who have been happy to bask in handouts, donations and business opportunities from Najib and Jho Low, over the grave concerns relating to 1MDB and other kleptocratic activities.

Generally, we have received what is known in local lingo as the 'bum's rush' by these superior persons, who have either ignored us or sent us pompous and dismissive replies. In the light of the DOJ's confirmation of all our concerns at last, we are writing them open letters again.

Dear Leo, Alicia and all the Fun Party Team,
We have been warning you for months and months that your favourite party host, charity auction donator, gambling chip provider, Vegas bubbly buyer, yacht and jet supplier was a fake.

Audiences will be fascinated to see Leo acting as the great founder of the American nation, George Washington in Red Granite's up-coming block-buster. And they will be wondering where the money came from?

Meanwhile, will Leo be returning his fee for Wolf of Wall Street, which we and many others had warned was paid from stolen money from Malaysia's development fund?

[Lord Humungus]

For the gin drinkers out there, I tried a brand called Liberator distilled over in Detroit. Surprisingly good - and $10 cheaper than Hendrick's. It has some real flavor too, unlike New Holland's Knickerbocker, which has been purified to the point where I can barely tell the difference between it and vodka.

[Drake]

Thank you. I've seen it in the store and wasn't sure what to think. This is gin and tonic season and I may need a resupply before Labor Day.

[Free Society]

If you can't tell the difference between gin and vodka, throw away the vodka.

[Ska]

+20 proof or so

[Private Chipperbot]

Valentine has some good stuff.

[R C Dean]

I've been working Botanist gin, made on Islay.

Really nice stuff - not over-herbed.

http://www.thebotanist.com/the.....ay-dry-gin

[Crusty Juggler]

Flossing may be overrated.

Damn right. I brush toward the gums, too. Fuck you dentists, you sadistic freaks.

[Rich]

Flossing may be overrated.

But ... Is it safe?

[Slammer]

Dental Floss Bikinis...yummy

[Greg Loves His Woodchipper]

Goliath isn't the only man who can be dropped to his knees by a "slingshot"...

[Groovus Maximus]

Picking pubic and taint hair out of your teeth isn't technically flossing, Crusty.

[Arizona_Guy]

Water pick FTW

[Drake]

New documents show that Mao's Great Leap Forward was even worse than previously assumed.
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog.....r-mao.html

[Lee Genes]

As the minutes of leadership meetings show, Mao was aware of the extent of the famine. At a secret gathering that took place in Shanghai on March 25th, 1959, Mao specifically ordered the party to procure up to one third of all grain. He announced that: 'When there is not enough to eat people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill.'

Sacrifices for the greater good.

[Citizen X]

Welp, y'all just lit the mtrueman signal.

[Injun, as in from India]

"If we be could be China for only one day..."

- Tom Friedman

[Rufus The Monocled]

Tom is fried, man.

[The Grinch]

Plus there were more 13 yos in the state orphanages for him to, ahem, honor with his presence.

[Atanarjuat]

Bernie Sanders is feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

[Citizen X]

That usually just means he needs someone to change his Depends.

[Free Society]

An American election is a world election," he said Tuesday. "It could lead to a very strong turn to the right in the world."

That sounds pretty good. Europe which has practically criminalized all right wing parties and political positions could use some right wing input to counter the leftist poison they've been ingesting since WW2.

[R C Dean]

I think you mean, since the First World War.

[Free Society]

Come to think of it, yes you're right. Though I don't think right wing parties and positions were virtually banned after the first World War, they were just down and out, never really recovered. Then the left attempted to exonerate itself of the follies of fascism and quite successfully convinced everyone that fascism=right-wing, so let's all be leftists. The real victors of WW2 were the communists, the socialists and the progressives.

[Thymirus]

http://townhall.com/columnists.....t-n2201256

Democrats Erase the Second Amendment

"I'm not here to repeal the Second Amendment," Hillary Clinton promised at the Democratic National Convention last week. "I'm not here to take away your guns."

Those disavowals were necessary because Clinton has made gun control a centerpiece of her presidential campaign, contrary to the conventional wisdom about the political risks that entails. But Clinton's assurances ring hollow, since it's pretty clear she not only does not value the individual right to keep and bear arms but does not believe it is guaranteed by the Constitution.

This year Democrats erased the Second Amendment from their platform, reverting to the approach they took in 2000 and earlier. The 2016 platform mentions "the rights of responsible gun owners" but says nothing about the extent of those rights or the legal basis for them.

[Slammer]

July Gun Sales Crush Previous Record

[Drake]

I bet she's telling the truth this time.

[AlmightyJB]

I trust her 100? with my constitutional rights. Only paranoid anti-gov militia wackos don't trust politicians.

[Thymirus]

President Clinton promises rehabilitation camps for citizens with constitutionalist sympathies. O, Great Leader, guide us to enlightenment!

/HRC2016 Facebooker

[ant1sthenes]

Yep. Why repeal amendments when you can use SCOTUS to nullify them, or just ignore them and face no accountability?

[Rich]

"I'm not here to repeal the Second Amendment," Hillary Clinton promised at the Democratic National Convention last week. "I'm not here to take away your guns."

No shit! "Here" is at the fucking *DNC*!

/Clinton-speak

[Thymirus]

"However, once I head out to the parking lot, I'll start planning the repeal of the Second Amendment, and trying to work out how we're going to confiscate millions of firearms from the citizenry. It's hard work trying to save America from the rubes!"

[Free Society]

responsible gun owners=cops

[Thymirus]

And her Secret Service detail.

[Thymirus]

http://tinyurl.com/h533drf

Apple Is Replacing the Gun Emoji With a Water Pistol ? And People Are Pissed

Apple unveiled a bunch of new emojis this week, including emojis representing single parents, female athletes, a pride flag and a green water pistol. The new emojis will come with the company's new operating system, iOS 10, in the fall.

The company hasn't officially announced that the water gun will replace the regular gun emoji, but all signs point to that being the case, especially since Apple blocked a rifle emoji from its platform earlier this year.

Some people aren't taking the change well, calling it an act of political correctness gone wrong. A few people even go as far as to call this a first and second amendment violation, while others complain about the lack of the gun emoji and the appearance of the pride flag at the same time.

[Lee Genes]

Apple is headed the way of Sony. No new ideas, just marketing bullshit and signaling.

[AlmightyJB]

That's not exactly new for them

[Slammer]

Yep. I think Samsung is starting to really kick their ass. I'm a huge fan of Samsung products.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I dropped my iPhone for a Samsung Galaxy a few years back. Love the Galaxy line.

I do, however, still have a Macbook (haven't used anything else since college, don't want to start) and an iPad (which work buys for me).

[AlmightyJB]

I have in the past but my Note 4 was horrible. Had problems early on, got a replacement and had problems with that. Finally able to upgrade to Motorola droid turbo 2 which seems to be adequate so far. No issues.

[Glide]

I've never really bought into Apple's hype, but I will say they've successfully cornered the market on music players (at least for those with too much music to store on a phone) and then made it impossible to cleanly migrate music to a competitor's platform even if one shows up that doesn't suck. So I'm still stuck with patronizing them a little even if I'm turned off by their brand.

[John]

Gary Johnson's position boils down to that people can think or say what they like but that can't act on it in any public way. All he does is restate the progressive position that religion is okay as long as you keep it to yourself.

Can people now just admit that Libertarians do not support religious freedom in any meaningful way? Sure they will pay lip service to it but there is not a single interest of value that libertarians will not place ahead of religious freedom. They just don't believe in it or support it in any meaningful way.

[WTF]

I know this is going to sound like "no true Scotsman" but I don't think Johnson is especially representative of libertarians.

[Citizen X]

Fool! You don't tell John what you think. John tells YOU what you think.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Sure they will pay lip service to it but there is not a single interest of value that Libertarians will not place ahead of religious freedom.

I'm pretty sure you're talking about the Libertarian party and not libertarian's in general.

[John]

That is a fair point. But many seem to support Johnson. Sure they might do so in spite of his awful position on this issue, but that just shows they don't consider the issue to be very important; that whole stated preference versus revealed preference thing.

[Thymirus]

Of the libertarians I've encountered, most I've queried on the subject actively despise the Libertarian Part for its ineptitude and pragmatism.

[BearOdinson]

Nothing describes the Libertarian Party better than "pragmatic".

That is what has allowed them to win election after election.......

[Citizen X]

They are BULLIES. /Hihn

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"Sure they will pay lip service to it"

Eh. They're still better on religious freedoms than the Democrats (Fuck religious freedoms!!) and the Republicans (Religious freedoms must be preserved!! For the Christians. The rest of you heathens don't matter)

[Thymirus]

http://www.cbs8.com/story/3259.....them-young

Son of a Gun: Bristol Palin Took Her 7-Year-Old Boy Shooting to 'Teach Them Young'

Bristol Palin practiced her right to bear arms over the weekend by allowing her 7-year-old son Tripp to pull a trigger.

The 25-year-old mother of 2, a staunch advocate for the Second Amendment, marked the mommy and me marksmanship lesson with an Instagram post.

In the photo, Palin and her son are wearing protective gear for their ears and eyes as he points a small gun in a wooded area.

Reaction was strong and swift, with many disagreeing with the Alaska mother's decision.

"So dumb," wrote one person.

"These people make babies," said another outraged follower.

Others defended Palin.

"All Grown Up," wrote follower wrote.

[John]

Good for her

[AlmightyJB]

Agreed. Teach them to respect weapons early on.

[commodious peals one off]

How else are they going to learn to gun down their classmates in middle school?

/totally not a racist BLM activist

[spqr2008]

Kids should learn about weapons and safe handling. Why, you ask? My best friend was at YMCA summer camp for a year before I started it, and the counselor supervising the BB gun range managed to screw up and shoot him in the stomach. I learned a strong lesson about obeying the rules of gun safety from that, plus it makes one of the best "Never have I Ever" lines. Everyone except him drinks.

[Slammer]

"These people make babies," said another outraged follower.

So did your parents.

[Fruit Sushi 2 Go]

Obligatory

[Thymirus]

The best way to introduce and acclimatize people to firearms is to provide genuine, thorough exposure to them at an early age. Furnish your children with the knowledge they need to operate a given weapon, impart the significance of the consequences that would follow from any misuse of that weapon, and allow them to practice with it.

Imbecilic attempts to shield your precious snowflakes from the real world -- in any subject -- is usually a reliable path to raising defective individuals.

[John]

You are correct. It amazes me how people go insane over things which should be common sense.

[Suthenboy]

Good sense is not common.

[Thymirus]

As an example, my first experience using a firearm was in Russia. One my wealthy classmates had bodyguards, and they allowed us to fire their rifles into bales of hay. It hurt my entire body, and my shoulder especially, such was the force of the recoil, but I was young, and I learned to respect weaponry very early in life.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Children's brains are sponges. The best way to ingrain something into their head is to start young. I cannot stand people who think children should be sheltered from every fucking thing until some magical age.

Teaching your kid about how a gun works, how it feels to fire it, and the basic rules to follow for safe operation is the best way to ensure that as they grow up they don't accidentally blow their own or someone else's head off.

[commodious pares another off]

The best way to ingrain something into their head

My child is gluten-free, asshole.

[Thymirus]

#VeganLivesMatter

[Lord Humungus]

I didn't start shooting until my mid-30s. But I was raised by two anti-gun anti-hunting Sierra Club members.

Oddly enough, a few years ago when a few local porcupines started chewing on the wooden steps leading up to their front door, my old man had no problem borrowing a gun from a neighbor and using it.

[R C Dean]

He had to borrow a gun? Sad!

[Suthenboy]

When my father was 12 my grandfather let him go out and shoot a 22 pistol alone. I shot my first gun at 4 or 5 years old. I taught my son when he was 4 and my grandson when he was 4.

None of the people mentioned here have ever harmed anyone or damaged any property with a gun, by accident or deliberately.

[Juvenile Bluster]

The first time I shot anything, I was 7, and I was taken out skeet shooting. Rifle kickback is fun when you're that small.

My daughter is currently 7. I've been thinking of how and when to acclimatize her to guns. I've been thinking of spending a day on a range just to get away, maybe I'll take her with.

[Injun, as in from India]

Teach 'em young. That's how freedom lives.

[Suthenboy]

There are several 22 rifles made for children that age. That is the best way to introduce them.

http://gothunts.com/your-kids-first-22-rifle/

[Citizen X]

What is a "Goth unt"?

[Animal]

A kid in black clothing who attends the University of North Texas?

[Chip Woodier]

There seems to be a letter missing.

[lafe.long]

skeet shooting. Rifle kickback

ummm...

[Juvenile Bluster]

Shotgun. I was 7, for some reason I remembered it as a rifle.

[Thymirus]

I was 10. You've got me beat by several years. 😛

[The Grinch]

I was six when I went out with my dad and granddad and shot my granddad's little .25 pistol. They weren't wild-eyed lunatics by any stretch of the imagination.

[Dakotian]

Well since Palin's husband is a Marine Medal of Honor recipient I am not too worried that their is any danger to the children.

[Thymirus]

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2.....olicy.html

Terror-weary Germans turn on Merkel over refugee policy

Five violent terror-related attacks in a two-week span are prompting Germans to turn on longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has continued to embrace a liberal refugee policy some say has compromised safety.

Although Germany has so far been spared the kind of atrocities that shook Brussels, Paris and Nice in the last year, there have been 15 deaths and dozens injured in attacks in Germany since July 18. Two of the attacks have been linked to ISIS, and many suspect the others bore hallmarks of terrorism. Politicians from both the left and the right have assailed the once-enormously popular chancellor's plan to integrate more than a million refugees from war zones in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

The sharpest criticism comes from Bavaria, which has been the entry point for most of the refugees. Leaders of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavaria-based sister party of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are demanding tighter border controls and an annual upper limit on the number of migrants.

[John]

But reason assured me that the refugees were going to make Europe more free. Anyone who thought it was a bad idea was just a pants shitting racist. Quick, get Nick Gillespie over there to tell the Germans to stop being such cowards and learn to embrace weekly mass murders as a cost we happily pay so Muslims may be free.

[Thymirus]

Multiculturalists are fucking retarded. It's incredible how much damage their infinite, blissful stupidity has caused.

[Free Society]

How much irreversible damage, that better men and women than them having been dying to protect us from for thousands of years. And with the stroke of a pen, some dumbfuck politicians undo all the blood sacrifice that built western civilization for their children and descendants. But Germans are somewhat unique in their zeal to repudiate all Germans that came before them.

[R C Dean]

Those were all Syrian refugee women and small children, John. C'mon, you saw the pictures of the winsome lasses and their brave-but-weary mothers.

[Free Society]

If not being a nationalist requires you to accept without question the mass migration of the Islamic world into your society, then sign me up for nationalism. Liberty isn't a suicide pact.

[cavalier973]

Better off red than dead, amirite?

[Free Society]

Better off dead than gang raped.

[ant1sthenes]

Better to be judged by progs than carried by six.

[Thymirus]

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure.....like-guns/

Maine restaurant won't serve customers who like guns

After the deadly terror attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, a restaurant owner in Portland (Maine not Oregon) wanted to do something "outside the box" in order to solve the problem of "gun violence" in America.

So she wrote a post on Facebook.

Anne Verrill, owner of two Portland-area restaurants, wrote on Facebook that anyone who owns?or even supports an individual's right to own?an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, may "no longer enter either of my restaurants, because the only thing I want to teach my children is love."

The post was deleted after a bunch of people on the internet who like guns found out about it and wrote mean things and threatened to boycott.

[Rich]

"no longer enter either of my restaurants, because the only thing I want to teach my children is love being cold and hungry."

FTFY

[lap83]

So to stop gun violence all you need is love? We need to get the word out, maybe someone should write a song or something to promote awareness.

[Thymirus]

You see, when you encounter evil, you must feign ignorance of its presence, and flee in the last resort. Defending your person, your property, or the people around you with force is Klan territory.

/Fucktarded progressive.

[WTF]

If she was inspired by the terror attack on the Orlando nightclub, shouldn't she have banned Muslims?

[Free Society]

No, she should have banned closeted gay depression sufferers with marital problems. Don't be a bigot!

[WTF]

No, that would be homophobic, you bigot!

[Free Society]

Oh damn. I guess no one should discriminate against anyone for any reason. That's the foundation of a successful society alright.

[ant1sthenes]

If you openly announce an intent not to serve some people, how is a boycott by those same people supposed to influence you? And if it does, what does that say about your previous signaling?

[paranoid android]

The post was deleted after a bunch of people on the internet who like guns found out about it and wrote mean things and threatened to boycott.

A boycott by the people she just announced she had no intention of serving? What the derp?

[The Grinch]

Maybe she can teach her precious children about bankruptcy as well.

[R C Dean]

Umm, how is "threatening to boycott" her restaurant a bad thing, when she banned them from her restaurant in the first place?

[Glide]

I read a bit of her writing...she's definitely taken the DNC party propaganda hook, line, and sinker.

Highlights:
When my children grow up and they ask me what I did to help change the course of gun violence...
Please kill me if I raise kids that ask things like that.

I don't want to take away guns of responsible gun owners.
(in the same paragraph) I want people to not have the power to own weapons of war.
Keep your trebuchets and slingshots out of here too!

If you do not understand why I do not want a weapon designed to kill at that kind of rate of speed in my restaurants then there is nothing I can do about that.
I assume that being a restaurateur, she prefers much slower weapons like bacon and onion rings.

[Ken Shultz]

"Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson calls for a "balance between religious freedom and non-discrimination" in a Deseret News editorial today."

Rights are choices. A right is the right to make a choice for yourself.

So long ad we don't violate other people's right to make choices for themselves, we get to choose what we say, what we believe, etc., without government interference.

To impose balance on other people's choices is to violate their right to make choices free from government interference.

Gary Johnson is wrong o this issue from a philosophical perspective.

I suspect one or more of two things is happening. Either he is genuinely not solid on his libertarianism, or he's really playing to win. I suspect the latter, mostly. If he was a Republican in the tradition of Goldwater, doesn't practically everyone agree that even if Goldwater was right on principle, opposing the CRA was a strategic blunder.

Johnson staked out this territory in a world where a lot of people still thought Libertarian is some kind of extreme Tea Party social conservative. Meanwhile, Johnson is polling higher than any libertarian not named Ron Paul ever could--hell, isn't Johnson polling higher than Rand Paul did?

[John]

I wonder what other rights Johnson wants to "balance". Johnson is just awful. Don't tell me Libertarians are not just as big of mindless partisans as anyone else. Of course, in fairness, it is not like many of them give a shit about this issue. But they all claim to care about philosophical purity. And they do object to public accommodation laws, or at least claim to.

[Free Society]

Well then you have the Hazel types who says that she opposes public accommodation laws, but if we didn't have them everyone would be super racist and bigoted and society would revert to tribalism... and probably cannibalism too! She basically concedes the argument to the left, that icky opinions can only be thwarted by state power.

[Ken Shultz]

Hazel may have a point of logical vulnerability on that issue--and a lot of other voters may have that vulnerability, too.

So what?

You have to go to war with the army you have. Chances are we're not going to change people's opinion on that issue between now and November. So, maybe you have to give on that issue--this time.

If we lived in a society where we were as free as Johnson wants us to be--except on that one issue--we'd be a hell of a lot freer than we are today.

Voting for politicians isn't like winning a philosophical argument. Some really are better and some worse--even if they're all wrong. And winning votes isn't about just persuading people through reason either.

Half your voter pool is made up of people of below average intelligence, and their votes count, too. Trying to win them over with reason is irrational.

[Ken Shultz]

He isn't awful.

He may be strategically triangulating for a voting bloc that's rejected libertarianism out of hand for being what they consider socially conservative.

That's typical of politicians. They do that. That's how you maximize your election results. You don't dictate terms to the voter market--the market dictates terms to you.

He's wrong on this issue. He isn't awful.

[John]

You don't think he is awful because you don't think this issue matters very much. Few libertarians care about religious freedom. Positions like this just don't offend them.

[Glide]

Not to speak for everyone here, but I'm offended by every presidential candidate. At a certain point, you either have to give up on voting for anyone, or pick the best you can get.

[Ken Shultz]

If you're going to make a philosophical blunder for pragmatic reasons, there better be some good results. I don't know that we can say that Johnson is polling so well because he's philosophically wrong on association rights, but we probably can't say he doing badly because of his pragmatism either.

So far, Johnson is performing better than expected--especially among disaffected Democrats, isn't he?

[John]

And in one sense that is fine. If you want to get anywhere, you have to compromise. I don't like what he is compromising about, but it is not my campaign it is his. The problem, however, is that Libertarians have spent the entire lifetime of the movement calling the major parties sell outs for doing what Johnson is doing now.

[sarcasmic]

As usual you conflate libertarians with Libertarians. Though I know it will make no difference at all, I will try to explain for the millionth time. When you talk of Libertarians you are talking about members of a political party. On the other hand libertarians are not necessarily Libertarians. They subscribe to a philosophy called libertarianism. Some are Libertarians, but most are not. For example I am a libertarian, but I am not a Libertarian. Get it? Didn't think so.

Anyway, on the subject of compromise, as Ayn Rand put it "In any compromise with evil, evil always profits."

We need to elect people who will stand by their principles instead of compromising with evil.

That said, while Johnson isn't perfect, he's better than the other two. He'll be getting my vote.

[commodious pares another off]

Libertarians have spent the entire lifetime of the movement calling the major parties sell outs

That's the luxury of forever being an electoral loser. You get to cleave to principles and ferociously debate tiny nuances with other losers.

[jjjjj]

We need common sense religious freedom

[Swiss Servator]

*Ahem*

/Martin Luther

[Flemur]

"A former Michigan prosecutor who led a loud crusade against prostitution in his county has plead guilty to soliciting prostitution and official misconduct."

You forgot to mention that he's black.

Or only worth mentioning when someone gets shot?

[WTF]

Black Johns Matter!

[Free Society]

Race is only to be mentioned when the purported victim of a purported crime is black. End of story.

[lap83]

The Library of America recently posted the Mark Twain's essay "A Presidential Candidate"
as their story of the week and I've been meaning to share it here because it's fun and timely.

[sarcasmic]

He's got my vote.

[lafe.long]

This Company Just Got Permission to Land a Robot on the Moon

Less than a month after the 47th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon, a private spacefaring firm has overcome a major hurdle on its mission to make a different kind of lunar history. California-based Moon Express is set to announce Wednesday that it has become the first private space company to get U.S. government approval to fly a mission to the moon.

[WTF]

The US government has to approve who gets to land on the moon? By what fucking principle other than FYTW?

[Free Society]

If I have the wherewithal to go to the moon, plant my own flag and build a house, and somehow I don't die, well then that's my fucking territory. Original appropriation, how the fuck does it work?

[cavalier973]

The moon belongs to America

[WTF]

Well, the fedgov does seem to think they have jurisdiction over all of creation.

[Agammamon]

Donald Trump's "excesses make you want to retch," opined French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday.

That's pretty hypocritical coming from a French politician.

[John]

And French President who currently has a 90% disapproval rating among his own population. Also I wonder, what does Hollande think Trump might do? Declare a national emergency? Shut down radical Mosques? Conduct mass arrests within the Muslim community?

Oh the horror.

[Lord Humungus]

spend a small fortune on haircuts?

[Rufus The Monocled]

A former leader - I forget who - came to Quebec years ago and hung around a bunch of nationalist boneheads in the PQ. When asked about language in Canada he said something to the affect of 'you're not cultured if you don't speak French.'

That's how they role.

Asshole.

[John]

I went to Paris for the first time back in the 1990s. At my hotel I met up with a French Canadian couple. I hung out with them for the day figuring that it would be good to be with someone who spoke fluent French. It was quite an education. The Parisians were nicer to me trying to use my pigeon French than they were to the Canadian couple speaking fluent Quebecois French. Several times during the day, they would say something to a Parisian in French only to have the Parisian answer them in English. The Parisians made it very clear that they did not consider whatever it is they spoke to be French.

It was funny as hell.

[SugarFree]

"Them gottdamn spics are after us!" the hat screamed.

"Why are you talking like that?" the hair asked.

"Talkin' like what, faggot?"

"Talking like a crazed Texan in an episode of Cagney and Lacey."

"Ah'm not talk'in funny; yore the one talkin' funny, Capitan Homo. We are under a full on assault by a Mexispic judge and you are just rolling over and showing him your belly."

"The accent slipped toward the end."

"I'm still WORKING ON IT!"

Donald farted and rolled over in his sleep. The sheets made a tearing noise as they ripping away from his body, glued there by her dried blood.

[SugarFree]

"Would you pipe down? You know how he is if he doesn't get enough sleep," the hat whispered.

"Erratic? Thin-skinned? Twittery? I can manage all of that. You were supposed to be handling the sand niggers from the DNC."

"I'm working on it. I mean, they do have a dead kid that I had work around."

"Fuck their dead kid, and fuck you. This whale corpse is going to wake up in a few hours and beating another whore cut to look like Ivanka is not going to be possible until they ship a fresh set in. So get your shit together."

"Do you think Vlad is holding up the shipments on purpose?" the hair asked.

"I don't know. He gave us the emails right when we told him to, but your fuck up with the IslamoKhans pissed that away."

"Fuck off. I can't watch him 24 hours a day. He leaves me in a suitcase sometimes."

"And what about the package? Have you taken care of that yet?"

"No one's opened it yet. It's from Her. Who knows what's in the fucking thing?"

"Go and get it now."

"No. It's dangerous to drive him around in his sleep. He could do anything."

"You want me to wake him up?" the hat asked menacingly.

"You do it."

"I'm all the way over here on the coffee table," the hat said.

[SugarFree]

The hair sighed in defeat. Donald rolled over again and his feet hit the hotel floor like dropped hams. He groaned and stood up, wobbled in place for a moment, and then lurched forward. Fumbling hands took up the small package from the table by the door and then he sat back down heavily on the bed.

"Open it," the hat urged.

"Hold on. You know I have no fine motor control!"

Donald's clumsy sleeping fingers tugged open the tiny box and the hair lower his head to look inside.

"What is it?" the hat demanded.

"It's an egg. Some sort of black egg."

[Rich]

Argh, man! The suspense is killing me!

[Feminist Killjoy]

I'm very worried about a Trump-Berserk crossover. Enough to refresh the page a couple times now.

[SugarFree]

Nothing more right now. I must contemplate.

[Groovus Maximus]

This is easy. FABERG? eggs, Octopussy, and Alan Ginsberg, are all you need at this point, Saccharin Man.

You really are slipping in your old age. *grins*

[commodious pares another off]

Erratic? Thin-skinned? Twittery?

Not that you of all people need encouragement, but this line alone is worth a Pulitzer or whatever you book-writing faggots award yourselves.

[R C Dean]

The "dropped hams" was excellent, too.

[commodious peals one off]

I want to be attracted to Ms. Gay-Jay-Button-Festooned Trilby Girl, but I'm pretty sure that's Robby Soave in braids.

[Crusty Juggler]

Froosh would never damage his beautiful hair with a braid. How dare you.

[lap83]

"Froosh"

That sounds eerily similar to Roosh, is one the evil alter ego of the other?

[commodious pares another off]

Froosh is the Roosh of forcefully insisting on getting consent and therefore never getting laid.

[Crusty Juggler]

Froosh's hair is consent. Stand within five paces of his majestic coif and manage to turn down his advances. It's inconceivable!

[Crusty Juggler]

Good God what have I done.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Texas cop gets drunk, shoots at church, blames black people

I'm not quoting anything because all of you know he isn't getting charged for this.

[commodious pares another off]

The picture says more than enough. Sixty pounds more than enough.

[sarcasmic]

I read that. The pastor didn't want to press charges. He wanted to be a good Christian or something, or maybe he was afraid of retaliation. Regardless, we all know had it been anyone other than a cop the DA would have made sure he got charged with something.

On the bright side he got fired. But you can bet some other department quietly hired him before he had a chance to sober up.

[sarcasmic]

I stand corrected. It's the cops, not the DA, who decides if the guy will be prosecuted. Must be nice.

[kbolino]

Just to be clear, since you didn't quote it:

The deputy doesn't face any charges because the pastor of the church that was damaged didn't want to go through with charges.

However, the Ellis County District Attorney, where it all played out, is furious and feels the 27-year-old deputy was shown favoritism in how he was treated after his arrest.

He was arrested and it looks like the DA wanted to prosecute but the victim didn't.

[sarcasmic]

Discretion leaves the final decision to the arresting agency.

Regardless of if the victim does or doesn't want to prosecute, the final decision is up to the cops.

So if the perp is a cop, there will be no prosecution.

[kbolino]

WTF? Since when does the "arresting agency" get to decide if charges are or are not pressed? At least the DA's office has some semblance of independence. Now they're just letting cops pick and choose which crimes to prosecute?

[sarcasmic]

Not only what crimes, but what people.

[KerryW]

Well, let's see, the FBI decided if charges should be pressed against Hillary, not the DoJ, so there's a precedent...

[commodious pares another off]

Cox confessed to officers he was upset over the police ambush, got very drunk and had to let off stress.

Four weeks later is not "letting off some stress," it's getting trashed and talking yourself into doing something you wanted to do.

[The Late P Brooks]

Tom Friedman rites something not complete gibberish

Maybe I just missed it. But in all the testimonials at the Democratic convention about what Hillary Clinton has done for other people, I don't recall anyone saying, "I started a business because of Hillary Clinton." Or, "I hired someone because of Hillary Clinton."

We heard from first responders, veterans, grieving parents and victims of terrorism, rape and various forms of discrimination. There was just one group that was conspicuously absent: the people who drive our economy by inventing things or by borrowing money to start companies that actually employ people.

Watching the convention, you would never know that what also makes America great is that generation after generation, people full of ideas risk their savings to start companies that provide work and paychecks. And only by generating more of these risk-takers will more people get hired for the good jobs Clinton promised.

Responses from NYT commentariat hive mind are not laudatory.

"Reduce financial regulation? Let's get rid of seat belts, too, while we're at it."

[Injun, as in from India]

New Hampshire doesn't have seat belt laws, does it?

[Lee Genes]

*checks to see if world is ending*

I think we're safe for now.

This comment:

Adam Smith defined a free market as one free from manipulation by its participants. That's not what we have had since the 1800s. We got monopolies, cartels, and corporatocracy. The Progressive agenda and New Deal brought needed regulation. Corporations have fought that for 150 years. The current trade deals allow them to evade the regs they spent 150 years opposing. Surprise.

The government is not a participant in the market so it can do anything it wants and it's still a free market.

[Free Society]

There was just one group that was conspicuously absent: the people who drive our economy by inventing things or by borrowing money to start companies that actually employ people.

The people who drive our economy are gays, trannies, ethnic minorities, victimologists and differently abled one-legged pirate hookers.

[The Late P Brooks]

tuping is hsrd.

[Lord Humungus]

So is Tulpa-ing, Tulpa.

[Hayeksplosives]

lolz

[The Late P Brooks]

And that leads to my second reason for pushing Clinton to inject some capitalism into her economic plan: The coalition she could lead. If there is one thing that is not going to revive growth right now, it is an anti-trade, regulatory heavy, socialist-lite agenda the Democratic Party has drifted to under the sway of Bernie Sanders. Socialism is the greatest system ever invented for making people equally poor. Capitalism makes people unequally rich, but I would much rather grow our pie bigger and faster and better adjust the slices than redivide a shrinking one.

There are a lot of center-right, business Republicans today feeling orphaned by Trump. They can't vote for him ? but a lot of them still claim they can't bring themselves to vote for Hillary, either. Clinton should be reaching out to them with a real pro-growth, start-up, deregulation, entrepreneurship agenda and give them a positive reason to vote for her.

Dog-eat-dog robber baron capitalism, it is.

[commodious pares another off]

$15 minimum wage across the country, from Manhattan to Bumfuckaroo North Dakota is not too much to ask from our capitalist class.

[ant1sthenes]

This Trump shit is sort of our Rotherham moment in politics. If he was a nice person and never said mean things, but had the exact same policies, Republicans would line up behind him just fine.

The sort of people who theoretically find Trump's platform tolerable but will let a treasonous, corrupt, tyrannical POS like Hillary Clinton come to power because they don't want to be seen as mean people are the sort that would happily let thousands of children get raped in their communities because they don't want to be seen as mean people.

Now, libertarians are somewhat in the clear since they have a different choice and ample reason to hate Trump for reasons of policy. But even there, TDS is a function of Rotherham thinking, not a love of liberty.

[commodious pares another off]

If he was a nice person and never said mean things, but had the exact same policies, Republicans would line up behind him just fine.

Disagree. Whatever your opinion on Trump, this cycle has shown there's a major rift in the party on immigration policy. He's not Romney sans filter, and his backers (all of one quarter to one third of the party) are not core Romney voters. And it's not merely because the chump says mean things but because the best you can say about his campaign is that he may not be actively trying to throw the election. Republicans are used to being called heartless. They're not used to a candidate who does his level best to dissuade prospective allies.

[ant1sthenes]

"Whatever your opinion on Trump, this cycle has shown there's a major rift in the party on immigration policy."

Maybe so, but I don't think a politician who wanted to cut back on it, but phrased it diplomatically, would face full-scale revolt by the less populist branch of the party.

[commodious gone pear-shaped]

But that's not what Trump said (though, admittedly, in Trumpian fashion he has walked back a great many of his recommendations in the months since). He suggested not merely limiting immigration but removing illegals already here and targeting Muslims for immigration bans. Those may or may not be immoral or illegal policies, but they're definitely unfeasible and politically untenable. I agree that Republicans are generally probably weary of compassionate conservatism, but I don't think a polished politician would rise in the ranks merely by giving Trump's words verbal gloss. There's a reason it took an outsider like Trump to give voice to these ideas.

[The Fusionist]

Orin Kerr criticizes "well intentioned" police who pull drivers over without probable cause, supposedly in order to give the drivers gifts

[lafe.long]

Related:
The Boston Police Now Have an Ice Cream Truck

The truck will give out free ice cream

The Boston Police Department has added an ice cream truck to its patrol fleet, to hand out free ice cream as part of a community policing initiative.

[The Fusionist]

But how can children get to the ice-cream truck to get the ice cream? They might have to leave the house, in which case the parent or guardian is guilty of child neglect.

[R C Dean]

I wonder who they seized it from, and why?

[Injun, as in from India]

Get ready for President Hillary!

538 polls-plus forecast has her chances at 66.5%

[The Grinch]

That number's far from 100 percent.

[Hayeksplosives]

In unrelated news, I stockpiled some ammo and put together a go-kit complete with bucket potty and first aid just in case we either have a civil war or a blizzard wherein the increasingly dysfunctional govt services can't bail us out in time to survive.

Three days worth of food and water. Is that too optimistic?

[BearOdinson]

I am by no means a prepper. I live in Kansas, so we have some water, and a few things (emergency radio, spare batteries and flashlights, etc.) in the basement. But I am thinking about putting together a "go bag" just in case.

So I think if you are packing a true "go kit" carrying more than 3 or 4 days of water might be a but much. But if you are prepping your home, you might stock more water than that, and probably more food.

[Ken Shultz]

"I am by no means a prepper."

Are you now or have you ever worn a paracord bracelet?

[BearOdinson]

Senator, I would like to assert my 5th Amendment privilege.

[bacon-magic]

Lifestraw or something like it will be beneficial in your pack.

[R C Dean]

Three days is pretty much the minimum for a functional government to start delivering essential services after a disaster.

So, no, its probably not enough.

[End Child Unemployment]

Holy crap they're predicting GarJo getting 5% of the popular vote. Regardless of his "problematic" religious liberty position, I'd call the L candidate breaking 5% a nice consolation prize.

[Hayeksplosives]

Totally OT:

I received my Kindle 10 HD yesterday. I am now in love with an electronic device. I had the old Kindle 7 from years ago until it received a fatal screen impact and could no longer detect touch.

The newbie is quite a bit larger but so much more advanced that I can't use it without a stupid grin on my face. I am an Amazon Prime customer (you'd pretty much have to be in order to appreciate fully its capabilities) so I get all my movies, music, books, etc. Plus I can edit MS Office docs right on there. I bought the accompanying hard case/keyboard so it substitutes as a small laptop for travel. Big enough to satisfy, but small enough for the airplane seat tray.

SQUEEE!!

(not a paid ad)

[commodious pares another off]

Big enough to satisfy, but small enough for the airplane seat tray.

Oddly enough, that's a main selling point for... well, you know.

[Thymirus]

To be fair, plenty of women enjoy implements they buy specifically because they're too large for their orifices initially, and hurt/bleed/yelp their way up to them over time...

... assuming you're talking about phalluses and tools designed to emulate them.

[Hayeksplosives]

Urg, um no.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. But my hubby keeps me very happy in that department, so no tools needed (yet).

[commodious pares another off]

If the internet has taught us anything, it's that women prefer reciprocating saws equipped with record-setting oblong produce.

[Thymirus]

Is this you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzXze5Yza8

[Hayeksplosives]

Lolz, no. But that is a pretty funny commercial. My shoulders are broader and more square. And I am a chick.

But in my travels i am an unpaid spokesman for 3M, Amazon Kindle, and Bose headphones because those items offer advantages underreported and therefore unappreciated by the masses. I just love QUALITY.

[lafe.long]

My shoulders are broader and more square. And I am a chick.

Go on...

[Hayeksplosives]

If you like chicks with broad shoulders, start attending swimming competitions.

[Groovus Maximus]

And gymnastic events.

[lafe.long]

Well those are two of only a handful of events that I bother to watch the summer olympics for.

[Thymirus]

Hey, as long you don't start selling us Beats by Dr. Dre!

[commodious pares another off]

And I am a chick.

No, you are a balding, bespeckled, sweater-vest wearing nerdy rapper, and nothing will convince us otherwise.

[Hayeksplosives]

+1 Adam Lustick

[lap83]

My shoulders are broader and more square. And I am a chick.

I'm a chick with broad-ish shoulders too, high five!

[commodious gone pear-shaped]

Well, there's a reason you're called broads.

/has no idea what that reason is

[Lord Humungus]

I went to the library yesterday - outside there was a tent with a banner for "Citizens for Common Sense Gun Control".

And an armed police officer to protect them? He was just standing by the tent, pacing around and looking bored.

[Thymirus]

They needed protection from the hoplophobic phantoms in their heads.

[commodious pares another off]

Would have been a golden opportunity to conspicuously strike up a conversation about his thoughts on gun control.

[Free Society]

And then the officer feared for his life...

[commodious pares another off]

It's a worthy sacrifice if it convinces a bunch of gungrabbers that maybe officers aren't uniquely qualified to carry guns.

[Lord Humungus]

I steer clear of police officers as much as possible.

[The Fusionist]

Behold, here is the Utah Compromise law praised by Gary Johnson.

It adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes in the state "anti-discrimination" laws. These laws ban certain kinds of discrimination by, IIRC, employers and landlords.

Employers must "afford reasonable accommodations based on gender identity" re their dress and grooming standards and their bathroom policies.

Religious organizations and the Boy Scouts are exempt. Sorry, Christian bakers are *not* exempt.

ALSO - In addition to protecting, to some degree, the expression of "religious or moral beliefs or commitments" while on the job, the law also says that an employee can't be fired for expressing "religious, political, or personal convictions" while off-duty "unless the expression or expressive activity is in direct conflict with the essential business-related interests of the employer."

Notice the words "direct" and "essential." That means that it's up to the government to decide if your business interests are important enough to restrict what your employee says off the clock.

So, if you're a gay person and you own a bakery, and one of your employees goes to a political rally and expresses the "political or personal conviction" that Hitler was really a nice guy, then unless this "directly[ly] conflict[s]" with your "essential business-related interests," you can't fire the nazi.

[Thymirus]

What you're saying, basically, is that Gary Johnson's an amoral fuckhead. What else is new?

[The Fusionist]

Now that's unfair. He simply believes in "antidiscrimination" laws.

I'm sure he's sincere.

But he's mistaken.

And he disregards religious freedom among other freedoms.

With all this Johnson hate, I feel like I'm just piling on.

All I wanted to do was gloat and say "I told you so, do you still think his critics are unrealistic purists?"

But it's not fun if everyone else is saying it, too.

[Ken Shultz]

I'm sure they'll be some fascinating stories later today about how hookers are actually sex workers, but I was wondering if there might be something about this breaking news as well:

"U.S. Sent Cash to Iran as American Captives Were Freed"

The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran.

----Wall Street Journal

http://tinyurl.com/j2od4to

[The Fusionist]

Let's tweak that headline a little bit:

DONALD TRUMP CLAIMS OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PAID "RANSOM" FOR HOSTAGES; HILLARY'S INDIGNANT DENIAL

Thus the story is put in the context of the political horserace, with the clear implication that partisan Republicans are cooking up another fake scandal, and what about Iran-Contra?

[simplybe]

BLM wants reparations for slavery. Doesn't welfare and Medicaid count. I realize blacks overall have got a pretty raw deal over the generations but my ancestors were too poor to own slaves and personally other than mutual respect I don't owe the black people anything.

[The Fusionist]

Please, it's a simple matter of calculating your proportion of ancestral guilt or victimhood.

So if you're one-fourth white, one-fourth black, one-fourth Asian, and one-fourth Native American, but one of your white ancestors served in the Union Army in the Civil War, your Japanese ancestors were interned in WWII, and your Native Ancestors sided with the Confederacy but later had their land stolen, and your black grandfather voted Republican after 1964, then, let's see...OK, because of your white privilege you have to pay $1,000 in reparations, but they deduct White Privilege points because your white ancestor helped end slavery...normally because of your Oppressed Group ancestry you would normally be entitled to a total compensation package of $2,000, but that voting-Republican thing is going to hurt you...OK, that reduced the compensation to $1,500...so you still come out $500 ahead...but let me see, it seems that one of your Japanese ancestors made a joke about gay people, so that will cost you $500, the good news is you don't have to pay anything this year, but next year the Grievance Calculator will be adjusted and you might end up having to pay something...

[commodious gone pear-shaped]

You don't understand. If you're white, you benefit from slavery, which, despite having been abolished a century and a half ago, and despite all the knock-on effects both legal and extralegal having been struck down and heavily censured in the decades since, and despite the well-meaning efforts to address the whole sad affair having largely neutered blacks, continues to pervade the country like the Force in the Star Wars universe.

[Free Society]

It's a better deal than they've gotten anywhere else that they live in significant numbers. I have nothing to atone for. The West which has the distinction of being the most tolerant, inclusive and prosperous civilization in the history of the world need not atone for anything to anyone, except for maybe the various leftisms that have grown out of the enlightenment like a cancer.

[commodious gone pear-shaped]

Our (admittedly often obnoxiously sacrosanct) remorse for the treatment of blacks and natives and women (but not the Irish) is a virtue of American culture. Unlike the Germans, we haven't (yet) overcorrected and prostrated/castrated ourselves over it. Victims groups are doing their level best to invalidate our laudable attitude, though.

[Free Society]

Our (admittedly often obnoxiously sacrosanct) remorse for the treatment of blacks and natives and women (but not the Irish) is a virtue of American culture.

Exactly right. I don't recall the Arab world, Sub-Saharan Africa or China having much in the way of an abolitionist movement, a truly grassroots movement to end the practice. I don't recall anywhere outside of the west that was pushing for legal equality for gays et cetera. Yet these are all considered the west's gravest of sins.

[commodious gone pear-shaped]

As well they should be, because enlightenment is the reason the West is culturally superior and America is exceptional.

[R C Dean]

At some point, remorse for things that were remedied between 50 and 100 years ago is pathological, not a virtue.

[AnnAdams]

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