Another Day of Explaining What Trump Said, More Polling Shows Youth Voters Turning to Third Parties, Bad Sex Reporting at the Olympics: P.M. Links

• 

  AL DIAZ/TNS/Newscom

  Today in deciphering Donald Trump: Does he literally mean that President Barack Obama founded the Islamic State or does he mean the way the president has handled Iraq and the Middle East helped lead to the rise of ISIS? (It seems completely obvious that he means the second, but he told Hugh Hewitt that he meant literally, and so this is where we are as a country.)

• Here's some more evidence that dissatisfaction with Hillary Clinton as a candidate pulls younger voters toward third party candidates like Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. Trump also loses some young voters, but mostly to Johnson, not Stein.
• A $12 minimum wage initiative has made the ballot in Colorado.
• The always terrible "Isn't it remarkable how much sex Olympic athletes have?" journalism beat hit a new low today when a heterosexual reporter over at The Daily Beast used a gay hook-up app to connect with several athletes and apparently provided enough information about them to make it possible to identify who they were. The resulting outrage caused some edits to the story. Keep in mind some of these athletes are from countries where gay sex is still illegal.
• Seattle has implemented a pioneering (note that "pioneering" doesn't mean "good") new rental law that requires landlords to accept the first applicant that meets their basic requirements for renting and is not allowed to choose between several interested parties. Just wait until they adapt that law for hiring new employees!
• The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a South Carolina law that makes "disturbing a school" a criminal offense as unconstitutionally vague.
• The former Gawker editor who reported about the Hulk Hogan sex tape is facing having his own assets frozen as a result of the privacy lawsuit against the now bankrupt media empire. Note that it's extremely unusual for an employee of a media outlet to be held personally financially responsible in a case of libel or defamation. Gawker's lawyers are not representing him.

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

Comments

[Clich? Bandit]

Today in deciphering Donald Trump:

Trump get to talk about ISIS but Johnson is forced to talk about Nazi gay wedding cakes.

[Clich? Bandit]

I DID IT!

AGAIN!

1. Link relevant, yes.
2. Formatting applied, yes.
3. First in time stamp, YES.

THE TERTIARY BEAT FIST!

[kbolino]

Johnson for whatever stupid reason picked that hill to die on. It's not even a libertarian hill so he's just coming off as a recalcitrant idiot.

[R C Dean]

Johnson is following the path made by Reason - seeking nouveau libertarians amongst the young by signalling like crazy on social issues, without regard to the way most people conflate "progress" on the social injustice du jour with the application of force by the state.

[Tonio]

Wow, that's Eddie-level whining.

[kbolino]

... my reply was meant to be a level higher

[jesse.in.mb]

TERTIARY BEAT FIST

Nice band name, ya got there

[TheZeitgeist]

THE TERTIARY BEAT FIST!

Now you've just provided an opportunity for Fist not to lament, but just wait several more minutes and be fashionably late instead.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Pfft, like, he's not even trying today. Whatever.

[jesse.in.mb]

Have I mentioned recently that I find the extra-surly version of you absolutely delightful?

[Crusty Juggler]

DANGER DANGER DANGER

[jesse.in.mb]

Oh shush, I can pay someone a compliment without it implying I'm trying to get in his pants.

[Crusty Juggler]

Of course. Forgive me.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

You could stand to mention it more.

[Crusty Juggler]

Keep your head on a swivel, that's all I'm saying.

[Agammamon]

Back against the wall man, back against the wall.

[bacon-magic]

Congratula...wait a minute, you did not screw up the blockquote. I'm sorry, but you lose. Good day sir.

[bacon-magic]

What the heck did I just do? Of course you beat Fist. Hail to the Cliche King(for a day)!

[Tonio]

Congrats, CB. Yes, an offical first by the traditional rules which are, of course, not binding.

[R C Dean]

Indeed. I have to take a deduction on style points for the typo, though.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

How about a minimum stupidity wage?

[Clich? Bandit]

I got a "Hello" from Rufus...I..I..I want to thank all the little people, like joe.

[Free Society]

Rufus will say hello to literally anyone, except Quebecois and those who badmouth the awful state of pizza in Italy.

[Smilin' Joe Fission]

Thanks bandit.

[Clich? Bandit]

Hey generic I put a net neutrality primer in that other thread by the way.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Congratulations.

[commodious warned u bucko]

Have we even satisfactorily deciphered whether Donald Trump is campaigning for president?

[Injun, as in from India]

He is campaigning for [HILLARY] for President.

[Charles Easterly]

He is campaigning for [HILLARY] for President.

Charles Easterly on 6.14.16:

"From many angles Hillary Clinton appeared as 'damaged goods' in that her mishandling of classified information created a security risk, her shortcomings and outright failures to perform her job(s) adequately helped create and spread instability in the Middle East and helped lead to the deaths of U.S. personnel under her charge, et cetera.

It was remarked upon quite often in the 2008 presidential election that a great many voters didn't want another establishment candidate/president, and is still widely reported during this campaign cycle that the number of such voters has only increased.

A strong and popular Republican candidate might have very well won against Clinton.

Enter Trump. Several times in the past Trump was a donor and supporter of the Clintons. Perhaps one of his purposes was to present a 'beyond the pale' alternative to Hillary Clinton. A far greater of the two evils in the minds of the non-Republican voter (and, as it seems to be panning out, in the minds of some Republican voters too).

You read it here first on H&R.

[Clich? Bandit]

You read it here first on H&R.

yes you did, but by ME!

/slaps with white glove

This means WAR Easterly.

[Charles Easterly]

You neglected to provide a link with which you could back your claim.

[Clich? Bandit]

forthcoming, as soon as my google fu is fine tuned.

[Charles Easterly]

If I do not check here again after you post the link, CB, you can post in another thread for me.

[Tonio]

Don't be a pompous ass, Chuckles; we already have RC for that.

[Charles Easterly]

Don't be a pompous ass, Chuckles; we already have RC for that.

Tonio,

Why not criticize my comments and stated opinions for the fault you find in them, rather than using something I've written as an opportunity to criticize another person?

The most disparaging comment you've made to me (that I'm aware of) was in regards to a comment I made quite some time ago, and after you read my response to that comment of yours, you wrote something in the nature that you thought I was attacking "your people", when upon reflection you seemed to realize that I certainly was not.

I do not consider myself at odds with you regarding many of the topics which are raised and discussed here on H&R. If we are at odds then let us discuss them.

[Tonio]

OK, I'm interested. More later.

[Clich? Bandit]

in this process i see two things...lots of funny (now) H&R predictions and this forgotten AC gem:

Son, this right calls for a bacon fat tug-a-rub on the wrinkly soup pipe and a steamy blort for federal love.

[Trigger Warning]

Odds favor AC in a lab with well-worn copies of PiKHAL and TiKHAL, and a voice-to-text program running 24/7.

[Injun, as in from India]

Seattle has implemented a pioneering (note that "pioneering" doesn't mean "good") new rental law that requires landlords to accept the first applicant that meets their basic requirements for renting and is not allowed to choose between several interested parties. Just wait until they adapt that law for hiring new employees!

How will landlords get around it? Let me guess. Middlemen!

Middlemen take care of applications, vet them, and then pass the best one as the first one to the landlord.

[Florida Hipster]

I like the way you think, like a level 12 bureaucrat.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

My property manager already does this for me.

[Pan Zagloba]

Me, I'd say "well you are a Prospective applicant, but not an applicant just yet. But as soon as you move to Applicant category, your early start will definitely be an advantage!"

[Illocust]

Someone in the comments suggested setting up a P.O. box and only emptying it once a week or less. That way all applications are received at the same time, so you are free to choose whichever you want. I think a drop box would work better. I'm certain one of the first things they'll do is pass a clarification that you have to accept the time on the postage stamp.

The law also added in a thing that if you have a 'disability' you get extra time to apply, so you get to skip ahead in line even if you turned in your application late. They are literally turning their city into a college campus.

[Pan Zagloba]

They are. It'd be hilarious if I didn't live in the city that adopts near every dumb idea that they come up with, and doesn't even have the decency to admit that's what they are doing.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

So...Vancouver?

(I'd have said Portland, but they use the fact that Seattle is already doing it as a selling point...)

[Pan Zagloba]

Yup, Vancouver. Where we despise Americans, and yet keep taking their stupid ideas.

[But Enough About Me]

Indeed. Vancouver, where peak derp can never be achieved.

[Bra Ket]

I would expect middlemen to be more concerned with covering their asses by passing the first qualified tenant along, because the landlord is the one who suffers financially is its a crappy tenant.

A more likely gimmick would be to constantly push the "basic requirements" (like credit rating and income level) higher and higher like a ratchet, like they do in manhattan. That should nicely accelerate the gentrification process and keep poorer minorities out even when they could have afforded it.

[Illocust]

This. If you've got to accept the first person, then you need to make sure the first person doesn't has the smallest chance possible of being a renter that's going to cost you. I'm guessing bare minimum requirements of no criminal record and a credit score to make angels weep.

[BigT]

And a 1,500 word essay on why they want to live there from the perspective of a wild boar.

[Juice]

Make the minimum requirements very strict and then when no one meets them just take who you think is best.

[Free Society]

How will landlords get around it?

Impossibly high minimum standards, but the landlord is willing to make exceptions on a case by case basis. That's what I'd do.

[R C Dean]

How will landlords get around it?

Well, my first go would be to draft my basic requirements so nobody meets them.

Another route would be to say that no applications are being accepted, but that expressions of interest will be accepted pending the opening of the application process.

[R C Dean]

One more:

You can always say you only accept applications by mail, and just throw away either the envelope showing when it was sent, or the weak applications themselves. If anyone sends one registered mail, I guess your stuck with the paper trail on those, though.

[Tonio]

just throw away either the envelope showing when it was sent, or the weak applications themselves

Nope, you shred both with a shredder that produces confetti-level waste (actual industry term; not strip cut, not crosscut). Srsly, people still dumpster-dive because there are still idiots out there.

[Injun, as in from India]

A $12 minimum wage initiative has made the ballot in Colorado.

F***ing progressives. They're ruining Colorado.

[bassjoe]

Well, at least pot is legal.

[Injun, as in from India]

Gun control, hiatus on TABOR, and now f***ing around with minimum wage, greenie subsidies, and fracking.

A good place with a good economy has attracted busybodies.

[bassjoe]

Maybe the pot will make them less busy?

[John Titor]

Isn't Colorado like the only state in Atlas Shrugged that managed to keep its shit together? Looks like Rand was too optimistic.

[The Last American Hero]

Rand wrote that in the 1950's. Also, she was a coastal creature. As we all know, areas not on the coast are either Crazy gun-toting Bible Banger States, Unsettled Wilderness States, John Cougar Mellencamp run down country states, and Bruce Springsteen run down mill town states.

Colorado falls into the Unsettled Wilderness State category.

[Clich? Bandit]

yeah...it is rapidly going south.

[TheZeitgeist]

Locust hordes never stop of their own accord.

[DOOMco]

I'm hoping we can turn it around.

[Clich? Bandit]

Well, my last H&R meetup was attended by me and JP. And I drank cigars and smoked scotch while he had a pink squirrel i think (just jokes JP).

p.s. It was at Delany's. I am always up for another.

[DOOMco]

We should. I knew there were a few people here in colorado.

[B.P.]

We had a Colorado HnR meetup about ten or so years ago, too. Veronique De Rugy showed up, as she was in town to give a speech or something.

[Clich? Bandit]

I am always down...except when I am not.

I like delany's cause I can smoke a cigar, drink a scotch, and bet the ponies all whule playing minature bowling and eating british food.

[DOOMco]

That does sound like a libertarian establishment.

[But Enough About Me]

'Cept for the British food part. That stuff can be abysmal.

[DOOMco]

True. Maybe that makes you more libertarian.
I always get closer to being an anarchist after the DMV.

[Libertarian]

"A good place with a good economy has attracted busybodies."

And unfortunately, as recent studies suggest, busybodies aren't as smart as lazy people. Perhaps the legal pot will slow them down and the system will become self-sustaining, just like those sea monkeys I used to buy.

[Bra Ket]

"A good place with a good economy has attracted busybodies."

Success attracts parasites.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Don't forget the universal healthcare initiative that's being pushed.

[DOOMco]

Oh god no.

Of course everyone at my work is for it.

They also complain about medicare.

?????

[Arizona_Guy]

So what happened to CO? Californicators?

[a better chipper]

Trump also loses some young voters, but mostly to Johnson, not Stein.

That's backwards - I thought millennials weren't having sex and drinking more.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Maybe that's after they subtract the Title IX - related incidents.

[Bra Ket]

I think he just means they're turning gay.

[bassjoe]

It seems completely obvious that he means the second, but he told Hugh Hewitt that he meant literally, and so this is where we are as a country.

I WAS willing to say as of two days ago this guy is actually smart and playing his supporters and the country for fools. But an ally of his gave him a 100% reasonable way out of this "what the fuck are you talking about?" kerkuffle... and he quite deliberately chose the absolutely crazy option.

[anticollective]

I don't see what is so unbelievable. Back in the 80's the U.S. literally created al-Queda.

Much of the arms and funding supplied to fight ISIS probably just ended up in their hands, strengthening them. The entire region is filled with constantly shifting allegiances.

Anyway that is the charitable interpretation - one of non-intervention.

[Injun, as in from India]

Today in deciphering Donald Trump: Does he literally mean that President Barack Obama founded the Islamic State or does he mean the way the president has handled Iraq and the Middle East helped lead to the rise of ISIS?

Does anyone remember that school girl who told Jeb Bush that her brother created ISIS?

Well, where the f*** was the leftist media then?

[bassjoe]

You're comparing the comments of a random school girl... to Trump?

[Private Chipperbot]

It's hard to find an even playing field for his Dopeyness.

[Shirley Knott]

The miracle of rent-seeking. It's an employment program!

[Crusty Juggler]

House probe: Central Command reports skewed intel on ISIS fight

Intelligence reports produced by U.S. Central Command that tracked the Islamic State's 2014-15 rise in Iraq and Syria were skewed to present a rosier picture of the situation on the ground, according to a bombshell report released Thursday by a House Republican task force.

The task force investigated a Defense Department whistleblower's allegations that higher-ups manipulated analysts' findings to make the campaign against ISIS appear more successful to the American public.

When the allegations initially surfaced last year, the White House insisted no one in the administration pressured anyone, and suggested blame may rest with the military.

Further reading on the subject from late last year.

[Pan Zagloba]

Today's "no shit, Sherlock" headline courtesy of BBC: Corleone government sacked over mafia links

Italy has dissolved the municipal administration of Corleone, believing the Sicilian town's authorities have been infiltrated by the mafia.

The town, known for real and fictional links with Cosa Nostra, will now be run directly by the interior ministry.

Corleone was the hometown of the fictional "Godfather" in Francis Ford Coppola's films.

OK, I know criminals aren't the brightest and most classy and so forth, but really, wouldn't you be embarrassed to be a Mafioso in a town called Corleone?

[Ted S.]

Is Mario Puzo chopped liver?

[Agent Cooper]

He makes a spicy liver meatballa!

[Clich? Bandit]

Only if your name is Vito.

[0x90]

I heard most of the men in that town were dead from "vendettas".

[Rufus The Monocled]

Fuck the Sicilians.

/spits.

The Calabrese are God's chosen Mafiosis.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

+1/2 Breed.

[Agent Cooper]

+1 Cher on a horse

[Free Society]

This everyone, is how you earn a monocle. Not as good as Rufus' mind you, but with enough gumption and orphan tear polish, it'll be close enough.

[The Last American Hero]

Calabrese is pretty good with the buffalo mozzarella. If you get the regular stuff, it's kind of tasteless.

[jesse.in.mb]

The former Gawker editor who reported about the Hulk Hogan sex tape is facing having his own assets frozen as a result of the privacy lawsuit against the now bankrupt media empire. Note that it's extremely unusual for an employee of a media outlet to be held personally financially responsible in a case of libel or defamation. Gawker's lawyers are not representing him.

So their subdomains such as Lifehacker and Gizmodo are just running all of the dumb stuff that had been previously shelved. Something about this being their last week of publishing before the Gawker Media empire is under somebody else's thumb. They refer to it as "Gawker Media Senior Week".

[Glide]

Salon: Forcing people to vote might be against our values ? but it could be only defense against demagogues like Trump

There's nothing we can do to stop demagogues from preying on illiterate voters, but it turns out there are ways to reduce voter ignorance.
...
Whatever the solution, something has to be done. Our process has produced a government with interests separate and apart from those it serves. Money in politics has a lot to do with that, but so does low turnout. The super PACs and the corporate-funded propaganda only work to the extent that people stay home or vote against their interests. A more active and informed citizenry would be utterly transformative. President Obama has praised Australia's compulsory voting scheme, claiming we could reach 70-80 percent voting rates if we adopted similar measures. Perhaps that's too optimistic.

I legitimately enjoyed the myopia of this article.

Trump is a mean dictator! Let's force everyone to come to a predetermined place on a predetermined day under penalty of large fines so no mean dictators will tell us what to do!

People who care about politics picked the loudest, most attention grabbing guy in the room even though he has no coherent policy! Let's give more political power to people who totally ignore politics, they won't do that!

[MetalBard]

How does forcing people to vote make them automatically more informed?

[bassjoe]

Exactly. Less informed people are more likely to vote for a demagogue that give them the good feelz...

[robc]

agreed.

Trump was given to us by primary voters, who tend to be much more informed than even general election voters, much less non-voters.

[Pan Zagloba]

Same way that the argument for government-run education is "I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY WITH STUPID PEOPLE" (all caps).

step 1: some problem is identified
step 2: government forces everyone to do something tangentially related to problem
step 3: problem is now solved forever, as long as you government hard enough

[Tonio]

The delusion of statists that everyone wants to be a good citizen. The delusion of progs that intent carries the day every time.

[Ted S.]

They think the people less likely to vote are more likely to be in the TEAM BLUE camp.

I've heard the same argument made regarding Belgium's mandatory voting.

[SugarFree]

The scary part is that they probably aren't wrong. The people too lazy to do the simple things required to vote are probably already getting free shit and hankering for more.

[C. Anacreon]

They're very good at figuring out how to get free shit, know whenever some new free shit's available, and follow every detail to the letter to get said free shit.

Yet somehow these same folks, according to appeals court justices everywhere, are too stupid to get a free photo ID.

[SugarFree]

And how would fining them for not voting work out? Oh, yeah. More of them in jail for not paying fines.

Democrats would be dangerous if they weren't such fucking idiots.

[Pan Zagloba]

I'm trying not to stereotype, but, sniping it off of their tax return/welfare/unemployment/disability would work without jail (for that particular fine).

[SugarFree]

But would it actually make them vote? And what to do with all the fine money?

[Pan Zagloba]

Fine money obviously will be needed to cover the costs of mandatory voting.

Will it force "teh p00rz" to vote? Who the fuck knows? It won't solve the problem of voter registration, but it'll be funny when dead people who didn't vote get fined.

It will probably do the job of having more people vote, scepticism about govt programs aside:

Australia turnout, where it's mandatory since 20s
US turnout for comparison

Disclaimer: above data could be total bollocks for all I know.

[R C Dean]

They're very good at figuring out how to get free shit,

A lot of them aren't. Every welfare agency has a big staff devoted to getting people signed up and walking them through what's available and the necessary paperwork.

Hell, we have staff here in the hospital full time signing people up for Medicaid.

[R C Dean]

The people too lazy to do the simple things required to vote are probably already getting free shit and hankering for more.

Yet another reason to be opposed to early voting and EZ absentee voting. Get rid of all that shit, which blows big holes in ballot security anyway, and make election day a national holiday already.

[Haha, charade you are]

I'm guessing that in their idea of compulsory voting, Citizens United would be overturned and similar anti-1st Amendment measures implemented, in which us serfs will be given the "right" information for the "right" candidate.

[John Titor]

Also, they use Australia as an example of how compulsory voting makes people magically more informed and politically aware, but I doubt that Salon writers have very good things to say about, say, Tony Abbott.

[bassjoe]

In fairness, nobody has many good things to say about him, including his own party.

[Tonio]

But Australia has the dole - as in welfare on demand, so progs love that.

[John Titor]

Australia, like Canada, also has the advantage of having a fairly white welfare recipient population, so we get to make fun of them for being poor. You try to run something like Trailer Park Boys or Housos in the United States about, say, blacks in Baltimore and progressives would flip their shit.

[Pan Zagloba]

Oh come on. My favorite thing about TPBs is that, for all their criminal ways, they don't take government handouts*. Shit, they wanted to pay for health care with cash rather than having to present whatever NS version of care card is called.

*unless obligatory end-of-season/beginning-of-new-season break spent in prison counts?

[John Titor]

Let's be real Pan, I grew up near a poor Canadian trailer park, they aren't exactly filled with libertarian-I'll-never-accept-welfare types. Trailer Park Boys tends to avoid the welfare question but the groups they overall represent in Canada aren't exactly the same as their tv counterparts. The Rickys I knew growing up were always willing to take state cash. Sold good weed though.

[Pan Zagloba]

Oh I am sure that's pure fiction. I was just very impressed that they deliberately chose to present the boys as 'screw it, we take no handout' types when there was no need for it. It's not like you couldn't spin it as a part of their lovable roguish charm, like a stock Newfie character.

[0x90]

Whatever the solution, something has to be done.

No comment.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

And, wait, propaganda works because fewer people vote? Shouldn't they fear that all the new voters, many of whom didn't care or were too lazy to vote, will simply go for the name they find more recognizable? I thought these guys believed advertising was super-effective.

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

Folks, it's a fool who looks for logic in the chambers of Salon.

[Bra Ket]

Evil actions might be evil, BUT...

[a better chipper]

Dallas Cowboys request to wear PD supporting helmet decal denied by NFL

The NFL doesn't want the military to get jealous?

[Juvenile Bluster]

The PD isn't paying them like the US military does.

[Ted S.]

They shouldn't deflate the military, either.

[Ted S.]

Er, that was supposed to be fellate. Stupid fucking autocorrect.

[jesse.in.mb]

I thought you were taking a jab at the Patriots.

[Clich? Bandit]

JINX...jesse owes me a coke.

[jesse.in.mb]

Wait, I thought I just couldn't talk until my name was said three times. Should there not be pinching and poking to properly invoke a transferal of cola ownership?

[Pope Jimbo]

Probably should be, but you do you promise to use your finger for said poking?

[jesse.in.mb]

do you promise to use your finger for said poking?

*shakes eight ball*

"Reply hazy try again"

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Should there not be pinching and poking to properly invoke a transferal of cola ownership?

That, right there, ladies and gentlemen, is how one should do a euphemism!

[Clich? Bandit]

A Tom Brady comment FOR THE WIN!

[Crusty Juggler]

Would you get free tuition under Hillary Clinton?

Any student whose family earns $85,000 or less would be eligible at first. The income level would go up by $10,000 each year until 2021, when anyone whose family makes $125,000 a year or less would go tuition-free.

That would cover more than 80% of all families, the Clinton campaign said.

The rich would still have to pay, unlike a plan proposed by Sanders, which would cover everyone. As Clinton has previously said, she doesn't want to pay for Donald Trump's children to go to college.

Clinton's original affordability plan was estimated to cost $350 billion over 10 years, but the expanded proposal would likely cost more. To foot the bill for the expanded plan, Clinton proposes "closing additional high-income tax loopholes -- focusing on loopholes available especially to Wall Street money managers, like hedge funds and private equity firms," an aide said.

I had no idea Chelsea toiled away at SUNY Purchase.

[Ted S.]

If you think college is expensive now, just wait until it's free.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Besides that, I've got too many questions about this.

Is the $85k above the line or below the line, tax-wise?

What if I make less than that the entirety of my kid growing up, but get a raise when she turns 18?

Are my taxes going to go up enough that I'd be better off just saving anyways? (yes)

Is it worth sending the kids to college for free so they can pay incredible amounts in taxes to bail out a bankrupt country as adults?

[Haha, charade you are]

"As Clinton has previously said, she doesn't want to pay for Donald Trump's children to go to college".

Let me guess, somehow we should foot the bill for her little shit grandkids to go to college.

[Libertarian]

Let's start a pool. How many years will we have free tuition before the Democrats realize that it's unfair that previous students did not have it, and they push for student loan amnesty?

[Crusty Juggler]

You're so naive it's adorable. From that ghastly woman's website:

Borrowers will be able to refinance loans at current rates, providing debt relief to an estimated 25 million people. They'll never have to pay back more than 10 percent of their income, and all remaining college debt will be forgiven after 20 years.

[Libertarian]

Sadly, I am. But look at this from her webpage. She sounds just like a libertarian!

" ... let's LIBERATE the millions of Americans who already have student debt"

[robc]

Just wait until they adapt that law for hiring new employees!

Its been done.

[Ted S.]

+1 Manpower

[Tonio]

Yep. Nobody will be an employee, everyone will be a contractor. Well-done, progs.

BTW, Ted, I didn't react to something you shared the other day - that sucks.

[robc]

COASE COASE COASE COASE COASE COASE

I havent gotten the chance to do that in a while. Not directed at Tonio, just seemed appropriate here.

First time Ive done it as a The Nature of the Firm reference.

[Ted S.]

Some day I should open up more about my mother.

[MetalBard]

"Today in deciphering Donald Trump"

Seriously you guys haven't figured out his game yet? His said this to bait the media into inadvertently reminding voters that the rise of ISIS took place under Barack Obama's watch. In the media's attempt to play Gotcha with Trump they will also have to talk about the rise of ISIS. Hell he did the same trick a few days ago to trick the media into reminding the voters about Hillary's anti-2nd amendment stance. He is fighting a guerilla campaign.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0MkW2F0QEA

[Brett L]

Large segments of the media were going to call whomever got the Republican nomination a liar, a nutcase, evil and/or stupid. Catnipping them into taking your bait and getting ever more breathless is brilliant. Just wait. Phase II should be running advertisements where the same people said the same things about Mitt Romney. With the tag line: They are working for Hillary, I need you to work with me.

[MetalBard]

They sure would, but most Republicans would have back tracked, went on the defensive, and started apologizing. Trump is using the media's hate for Republicans against them, it's like he's playing Judo with them, using their momentum, and just giving it a little nudge to throw them off balance.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

It's brilliant of him to tank his numbers in key states like Pennsylvania (down 9 points), Wisconsin (down 9 points), Michigan (down 6 points), Colorado (down 9 points). Hell, he's even down in Georgia! Fucking Georgia! And as everybody knows, the farther behind he gets in the polls, the more likely he is to win.

Absolute Judo master, is what this guy is.

[ant1sthenes]

He's certainly taking the more challenging approach, but what else can he do? He's Trump, he has Trump strengths and Trump constraints, and an apparent desire to tell the people that normally fund candidates to fuck off. He can't out-Jeb Jeb! or out-Cruz Cruz.

Whatever else happens, he's forcing a realignment of politics between populism and elitism, rather than between right-establishment and left-establishment. The ramifications are absolutely going to be felt beyond this year -- the harder the establishment cracks down, the more likely they are to go too far and blow the whole system up. The people aren't going to be any less shafted after four years if a greedy, leftist policy promoting dirtbag like Clinton wins, so the bottom-up pressure is only going to grow.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Who's gonna make those ads? Certainly not Trump.

[Brett L]

I mean, I get that I'm smarter than most politcal campaign workers, but it is an easy base rallying and the people in the ad will get all indignant and prove the advertisers right. Surely, someone can come up with this. What is CNN and the WaPo and NYT gonna do? Stop reporting on Trump until he apologizes?

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Yeah, but Trump hasn't shown any initiative to run a relatively robust ad campaign, even on social media where it would ostensibly be free or at least low-cost. I get avoiding a TV ad blitz that would likely result in diminishing returns, but the only thing I'm seeing by Trump's actions is he believes the same outrage porn playbook he ran in the primary is going to work in the general. Evidence so far shows that it's not, otherwise his poll numbers would be rising at the same rates that they did during the primaries.

Hillary should be an easy mark but he's committing nothing except butt fumbles now that the nomination's locked up. Sad!

[BigT]

CBS focused on how Bush planned the withdrawal from Itaq that led to ISIS. So Trump may have wanted to discuss ISIS birth, but he f'd it up.

[LynchPin1477]

but he told Hugh Hewitt that he meant literally

He figuratively doesn't know what literally means.

[robc]

Maybe Trump meant literally (2), in which it means figuratively.

[MetalBard]

Jesus, have we completely broken the English language?

[bassjoe]

Have you tried to listen to one of his "speeches"?

[Libertarian]

I listened on the radio to quite a bit of his speech in Jacksonville a week or so ago, since I live nearby. He sounded like a drunk guy, as far as cadence and style. As far as anything substantial, most drunks I know would easily outperform him.

[Pan Zagloba]

Despite Sterling Archer's bold and principled stand, yes, yes we have.

[Brett L]

Read a book!

[C. Anacreon]

Read a book!

"Give a hoot, read a book!"

FIFY in the Woodsy Owl way

[John]

Here is what he said

No, it's no mistake. Everyone's liking it. I think they're liking it. I give him the most valuable player award. And I give it to him, and I give it to, I gave the co-founder to Hillary. I don't know if you heard that..

HH: I did. I did. I played it.

DT: I gave her the co-founder.

HH: I know what you're arguing?

DT: You're not, and let me ask you, do you not like that?

HH: I don't. I think I would say they created, they lost the peace. They created the Libyan vacuum, they created the vacuum into which ISIS came, but they didn't create ISIS. That's what I would say.

DT: Well, I disagree.

HH: All right, that's okay.

DT: I mean, with his bad policies, that's why ISIS came about.

HH: That's?

DT: If he would have done things properly, you wouldn't have had ISIS.

HH: That's true.

DT: Therefore, he was the founder of ISIS.

[LynchPin1477]

It's obviously hyperbole, and it's not accurate to lay the blame solely at the feet of Obama and Hillary, but this is still closer to being accurate than most of what Trump says.

[robc]

The funny thing is, when Ron Paul said the exact same thing, John would get upset.

Maybe because he blamed the US instead of Eisenhower.

[SugarFree]

It is very upsetting when you remember things.

[John]

SugarFree,

I actually feel kind of bad I have apparently driven you into become a tiresome, bitter douche. You used to be really funny and entertaining. Now all you seem to do is write mildly entertaining porn in between bitching and moaning and acting butt hurt about me. I didn't mean to make you that way. But it has happened.

[SugarFree]

Even more projection.

You only annoy me to the extent that I find you so utterly boring and predictable. And your shilling for Trump is just the current thing you are boring and predictable about.

[Agent Cooper]

Bitter douche is redundant, John. Try harder.

[John]

No. I got upset when Ron Paul said that our intervention over there is what is causing Muslims to attack us. That is bullshit.

Ron Paul never said anything about ISIS. ISIS didn't exist in 2012. And for the record, I disagree with Trump here. Obama didn't create ISIS, the Iraqis and Syrians did. Iraq had 8 years to get its shit together. Obama was right to leave. And it is not Obama's fault they couldn't do it.

[Stormy Dragon]

The word "really" originally meant the same thing "literally" means now. Over time its meaning shifted to just indicate emphasis. The word "literally" has started going through a similar process.

Languages change over time. Deal with it.

[R C Dean]

Good changes, I can deal with.

The enstupiding of the language, not so much.

[Mickey Rat]

Yes, "literally" literally doesn't mean "literally" anymore.

[R C Dean]

Really?

[lafe.long]

Kim Rhode: American Olympic Shooter Comments on Gun Control in the US

"We should have the right to keep and bear arms, to protect ourselves and our family," the three-time Olympic gold medal winner told TIME. Rhode is set to compete in skeet shooting Friday in Rio.

Who the fuck thinks this is news?

[Juvenile Bluster]

Given how many idiots were making jokes about the first US medal of these olympics being in shooting, I've got no problem with her firing back. Especially since, of course, she's right.

[Pan Zagloba]

Given how many idiots were making jokes about the first US medal of these olympics being in shooting, I've got no problem with her firing back.

You people do this with no fear of consequence because you know Swissy isn't around for PM links. Someday, gods of Business Travel will bring just retributions upon you!

[Tonio]

[narrows gaze in the Swiss fashion at JB]

Switzy has never objected to my filling in for him, but I'll ask for a formal delegation when he returns.

[robc]

She was a student at WVU, which caused absolutely no surprise to me.

[MetalBard]

Well I imagine to a Progtard this must be pretty shocking, I mean she's a WOMAN!! Aren't guns only for redneck white males yearning for the good ol' days of Jim Crow, or something?

[Tonio]

A gender-traitor, obviously.

[Illocust]

People who live in bubbles that never introduce them to anyone who has ever shot a gun before?

[SugarFree]

Good for her.

II would imagine the ridiculous shit that British competitive shooters have to go through is very eye-opening to any American.

[Stormy Dragon]

I was, over the weekend, watching the trap shooting competition on NBC for a while, and there was this one Spanish shooter who was, between shots, holding the shotgun by balancing the muzzle on the top of her sneaker toe and holding the butt with hand.

Even if the gun wasn't loaded, talk about your gun safety fails.

[BigT]

Maybe she wanted to avoid the Spanish draft? Old school.

[Libertarian]

"Rhode is set to compete in skeet shooting Friday in Rio."

Wow, anyone who can shoot a zika-carrying skeet with a rifle deserves a gold medal.

[John]

First, Trump was speaking metaphorically. Part of this is the usual media created gaffe of the week but part of it is that I really think journalists are not very bright. They really are not bright enough to see how someone could say "Obama founded ISIS" and not mean it literally but mean it sarcastically and as a way of saying "his actions created it so he might as well have founded it". Sometimes I think Trump is a typical smart ass New Yorker and journalists are just not bright enough to understand what he is saying.

That being said, sure the media gets its gaffe and can have its "oh my God he said that" frenzy. In the end, however, the discussion is still going to be explaining how Obama really didn't found ISIS. I am not sure that is going to have the effect on the public the media thinks it will.

[bassjoe]

God, you're a fucking RNC or Trump-paid tool? The effect is that people will think Trump is a fucking idiot.

[John]

God you are a fucking moron. You are just dumb as a fucking post. You really are. Go read the transcript. He says "he gave her (Hillary) cofounder"

Do you really think that Trump actually believes that Obama and Hillary flew over to Syria and founded ISIS?

I don't know how to discuss things with people like you. You are so fucking stupid where does one begin? I don't have any common assumptions or anything to talk to people that are at such a low level of intelligence. It is just fucking appalling. It would be one thing if you were just stupid. But you don't even realize it. You think you are smart. What a fucking a train wreck.

[Ted S.]

Lovely how John calls everybody who disagrees with him "stupid".

[C. Anacreon]

It's OK to do such things when you're an attorney.

[John]

No I don't Ted. I call people who are stupid and say stupid things stupid. I don't call everyone who disagrees with me stupid. There are plenty of people with whom I disagree on this board that I don't call or think are stupid. Crusty is not stupid. I disagree with him about a lot of thiings. Robc is not stupid and I disagree with him. There are plenty of others.

The problem is bassjoe is an idiot who tries to pass the same tired "you are just a GOP shill" bullshit as argument. I h ave no patience for that shit. I have one real vice in the world, I can't fucking tolerate dumb people.

[Crusty Juggler]

Let's make a list of what John can tolerate:

- embarrassing grammar.

[John]

No. I can tolerate typographical errors and bad spelling. There is a difference.

And yes, I am a tolerant and loving guy like that. We can't be hard asses about everything.

[Aloysious]

Solecisms is fun.

[OneOut]

John can't hold a candle to Warty on that issue.

Not sure if you've ever pointed that out or not.

[Warty]

Maybe I've been too mean. Would you like a hug? I give great hugs. Just ask Jesse.

[MetalBard]

John I really think at this point it's a calculated move by Trump, he has done this so many times on other issues. He makes a point, but says it in a way designed to make the MSM freak out, and then like idiots they go out and report on it for next 3 days. He is able to completely control the media cycle this way, and can effectively make the news media report on whatever he wants them too. A few days ago he tricked them into reminding voters about gun control, and now he's making the MSM talk about ISIS, which went from nothing, to a serious threat to region, largely on Obama's watch.

I know I'm repeating myself, but I really compare it to waging some sort of guerrilla war, he has effectively taken one of the Democrats best weapons, the media, and turned it against them.

[John]

That is his move. And the media keeps falling for it.

[WhatAboutBob]

Evidently a lot of Reason writers and commentators here fall for it too. It's quite amusing.

[commodious warned u bucko]

If he stayed focused and on point and seemed to have a strategy, I'd agree with you. He flatters and cajoles and incites these idiots without any effort. More importantly, he gets them to reveal their political biases. But his statements are either completely ad hoc, or tactical in the short term and divorced from any longer-term goals.

[MetalBard]

Yeah if he could follow upon the MSM freakouts with an effective ad campaign it would be far more effective. He can't just bait and dodge, he needs to surprise them with an effective counter punch.

[grrizzly]

If Trump is so good, how come he's so much behind in the polls?

[SugarFree]

Probably has something to do with gay marriage.

[John]

Maybe Sugar Free. Since you think gay marriage is the most important issue since slavery, I can see where you would think that. I am just not sure. But it is so important and does effect so much, you might be right.

[SugarFree]

Yes, I'm the one that spent two years foaming at the mouth and posting thousands of repetitive comments against gay marriage. That was me all right.

[MetalBard]

No but you do seem to spend a lot of time stalking John.

[Crusty Juggler]

Reason's most fearsome sect, Team Johnmenter, has arrived.

It's going to get weird.

[Crusty Juggler]

Oh, I like "Johnatarian" better.

*shudders*

[John]

Yeah, you kind of did. You like it a lot. I do to really. I just think other people should be allowed to agree. Regardless, you are still angry over it. So, it must be pretty important to you.

[SugarFree]

You project more than a movie theater.

[John]

Who brought it up SF? You are the one bringing up the subject on completely unrelated topics not me. How exactly am I the one projecting?

Like I say below, I don't understand how you can still be pissed off when you got what you wanted.

[John]

And I don't understand why you are so angry. Your side won. You should be happy. All those fuckers who don't like gay marriage and don't want to be a part of it are finally getting theirs. I have never understood why that didn't make you happy after you had wanted it for so long. People being sued and told they better tow the line should have made you happy. But you are still mad and won't let it go. I don't get that.

[SugarFree]

You are a psych 101 goldmine.

[John]

Maybe so. But I still would like to know why you are still pissed off about it. Scott did a post a couple of days ago about some fundie colleges being sued and told to recognize gay marriages. They are sitting ducks in court. Doesn't that make you happy? You hate those people and they are finally getting theirs. They are going to have to change. It will be a better world.

[MetalBard]

You're wasting your time, Sugarfree has basically devolved into a troll at this point, who seems to have some sad fascination with stalking you.

[SugarFree]

At least your little parrot here still loves you.

[John]

He is not so much behind. Last poll I saw had it at four points.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

That's not his goal. His goal is to get people talking about him.

[MetalBard]

Guerilla war is a funny thing, you tend to lose all the battles but win the war. I don't know whats going to happen in November, but I wouldn't be too concerned about polling this early.

[BigT]

"He makes a point, but says it in a way designed to make the MSM freak out, and then like idiots they go out and report on it for next 3 days. He is able to completely control the media cycle this way, and can effectively make the news media report on whatever he wants them to."

Except he could have done this so much better:

ISIS is like a terrible disease. And it was kind of limited, and then Hillary opened the door for it to spread to Libya. Thousands are dying and atrocities are increasing. And it's all Hillary's fault. Even Obama wasn't going to make this mistake. But Hillary talked him into it. It's all her responsibility."

[commodious warned u bucko]

Journalists are bright enough to spin an ambiguous statement into a news cycle. Most of that is Trump making it easy for them.

[GILMORE?]

there is now a political marketplace for deliberately misunderstanding Trump no matter what he says

Wow. And this is exactly the observation that turned half the commenters into "Deranged Trump Supporters" the other day.

Well done, scott.

[Pan Zagloba]

If there was Western Southern Californian Magazine With Under 10,000 Subscribers Journalistic Award* in field of alt-text, Scott would have a mantle full.

*or whatever that thing is that Reason sweeps 4-5 categories of every year

[Ted S.]

The Juno Awards.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hey!

April Wine forever brah!

[Agent Cooper]

Sure thing homeskillet.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Yes, that's what happened.

[GILMORE?]

""Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. Who can say? Its all in the eye of the beholder, really.

All I know that i will take the worst possible interpretation, and expand on the idea of that, because that's how journalism works these days.""

[Crusty Juggler]

There are many challengers to Scott's throne, as even Bailey and Fisher have been nailing the alt text as well. But with his excellent and seemingly effortless alt text, Scott has been been proving the adage, "uneasy lies the head that wear a crown" to be completely inaccurate.

[Pan Zagloba]

Well to be fair, he could be slaving away till 3AM, finding likely pics for tomorrow's blog posts, then crafting the on-point alt-texts for them. Knowing that he has to be good every time, and his enemies lucky only once.

[lafe.long]

The Daily Beast: Media Outlet Criticized After Straight Editor Writes About Using Grindr at Olympic Village

The Daily Beast published an article Thursday titled "The Other Olympic Sport in Rio: Swiping," wherein Nico Hines contacted Olympians via dating apps. Critics say LGBT athletes could have been outed.

[Clich? Bandit]

These people are real scum. And they say libertarians are bigots...wtf was this guy thinking?

[Crusty Juggler]

What was the editor who published the article thinking?

[C. Anacreon]

He should have said "Swiper, no swiping!"

[Crusty Juggler]

Oh no. Delete your account!

[Pan Zagloba]

Editor? Thinking?

You have some strange ideas about journalism...

[The Fusionist]

He was "experimenting."

(or maybe he wasn't, who knows?)

[The Fusionist]

"Oh, that stuff in my Internet history? Don't worry, honey, that's, uh, research.

"I was going to do an article about this, yeah, that's it!"

(Note to the guy's lawyers: That is strictly a joke, for humorous purposes, not meant to be taken literally)

[commodious warned u bucko]

I'm going to make an app called Mindr, as in Mindr own fucking business.

[lap83]

do you have an online newsletter I can subscribe to?

[lap83]

unless that goes against the spirit of anti-social media

[GILMORE?]

a heterosexual reporter over at The Daily Beast used a gay hook-up app to connect with several athletes and apparently provided enough information about them to make it possible to identify who they were

Is this a gap left in the journalistic marketplace by Gawker?

[thom]

It amazes me how the media, which tends towards progressivism and leftism, continues to be obsessed with outing gays, even as most of the rest of us have accepted gays and moved on.

[Crusty Juggler]

Sanders joins Democrats criticizing DEA for marijuana decision

"People can argue about the pluses and minuses of marijuana, but everyone knows it's not a killer drug like heroin," Sanders wrote in a tweet, after the DEA announced that marijuana would remain a Schedule I drug with "no currently accepted medical use in the United States."

Many other Dems did as well, and right after the convention was over! Brave!

TW: It is a Dave Weigel article.

[Jerry on the rocks]

And when conservatives attack agency rulemaking they're a bunch of hicks.

[Haha, charade you are]

Maybe if he suddenly changes his stance he'll be able to buy a vacation home in the Hamptons.

[Aloysious]

The Rules of Successful Sideboob

Slide show. Fascinating subject.

[Juice]

I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[lafe.long]

Venus: NASA Says Planet May Have Been Habitable for Up to 2 Billion Years in Its Early History

The planet could have once had a shallow ocean and livable temperatures but its proximity to the sun caused the water to evaporate, NASA scientists wrote in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

[bacon-magic]

Could Venus have been Eden? *adjusts tin foil cross

[robc]

Ive read that novel. But Venus was the new Eden.

Perelandra, btw.

[bacon-magic]

Which novel is that again?

[robc]

Perelandra.

After Out of the Silent Planet, before That Hideous Strength.

The first is the weakest of the 3, the latter the best. I liked both Perelandra and That Hideous Strength.

THS is the only novel to ever give me nightmares.

[bacon-magic]

C.S. Lewis huh? I haven't read anything from him since high school.

[lafe.long]

I'll second the recommendations.

Lewis' sci-fi is much better reading than his apologetics.

[Tonio]

Srsly? Lewis' Space Trilogy, although sometimes labelled scifi is still an apologetic. And a tedious apologetic at that.

[Brett L]

THS also appears to be the world we're living in, only NICE won.

[MetalBard]

Honestly I thought this was old news. Scientists have suspected for a long time that Venus had liquid water early in it's history.

[Free Society]

The remnants of which can be seen in it's thick carbon dioxide atmosphere. My favorite theory argues that the comparatively weak magnetic field of Venus couldn't protect the water from cosmic rays and high energy particles. These particles would collide with a water molecule and break the bonds, sending the hydrogen component off into space and leaving carbon dioxide behind. Slowly bleeding off the planet's hydrogen until there was nothing left of the water but Co2. At some critical point, the remaining water was insufficient to lubricate the mantle from subduction, causing plate tectonics to eventually stop and the whole planet was resurfaced some millions of years later by the pent up pressure not being released by the motion of tectonic plates. That resurfacing basically hid any hope we'd ever have getting more detail about any hypothetical biological activity.

[BigT]

Exactly. The loss of H2 left behind a highly oxidizing atmosphere. Hence the CO2, SOx, silicates and other oxides.

[Tonio]

Hell, it even harbored life, once. But the residents commited the sin of technology and were punished with runaway global warming. /green

[robc]

Its like when you want to hire someone but are required to do a public posting of the job: you write the requirements so literally only one person in the world fits the requirements.

[Juice]

At least they make them fairly obvious so you don't bother applying.

[GILMORE?]

The former Gawker editor who reported about the Hulk Hogan sex tape is facing having his own assets frozen as a result of the privacy lawsuit against the now bankrupt media empire. Note that it's extremely unusual for an employee of a media outlet to be held personally financially responsible in a case of libel or defamation.

Does that mean my giggles of schadenfreude are *wrong*?

[Ted S.]

You're *always* wrong.

[Pan Zagloba]

Nonsense. Compare Welch's outfit before and after relentless GILMORE critiques.

I've linked it before, but he's totally the North American version of this guy.

[Clich? Bandit]

i think i peed a little.

[GILMORE?]

You're *always* wrong.

If in the Carly Rae Jepsen sense, sure.

[Slammer]

I feel a great distrubance in the farce

[lafe.long]

Florida Man Banned From Ordering Pizza Delivery After Harassing Phone Calls

For three weeks in June, Randy Riddle used five different phone numbers to call multiple pizza delivery restaurants in Sebastian and nearby cities, TC Palm reported. He ordered food, refused to pay for his orders, sent deliveries to fake or abandoned addresses and called to tell businesses their food was gross.

[Ted S.]

But was he ordering pizza, or deep-dish?

[Clich? Bandit]

Ted S. ... Still Hitler.

[GILMORE?]

I think this man, along with people who key-cars?

should be in a category which is exempt from the 8th amendment, and should be subject to extremely cruel and unusual punishment, preferably involving things like "bags of starving weasels" or "dipped in boiling jello"

[GILMORE?]

I frequently note "Headlines that seem to make no sense on first (or second) read"?

This one is a case-study

Husband of Ohio woman hurt by rock dropped on car kills self

its all sort of non-sequitur-ish. I guess you're supposed to have known about the rock-dropping story already. but it just raises lots of questions about "why" that the headline leaves hanging. Also = weird photo which suggests weird people.

[Slammer]

I'm surprised he didn't kill her first, then himself

[GILMORE?]

That story is super-depressing now that i've actually read it.

And the retard wanted to child-proof highways because of it.

Some things just simply can't be "fixed"

[Slammer]

All these 'Journolists' should have their sex lives exposed using the Cuck Hookup App

[Tonio]

[applause]

[Juice]

WOW. I thought being a landlord in Maryland sucked. (I'm not a landlord.)

[GILMORE?]

I'm sure there's some subtle details in their definition of "Rape" here...

Gay high school students raped, attacked far more often

nearly 20% (COINCIDENCE?!? 1-in-5!?!) say they were. in high-school. rly?

[Illocust]

That's a statistic I could actually believe for a certain age range of gay individuals. Tendcy towards being a member of a subculture that encourages risky behaviors that can leave one vulnerable, combined with something that used to make you a target. Higher chances of rape make sense. This will go away fairly soon though. Being gay just isn't that big of a deal anymore.

[Tonio]

Being gay just isn't that big of a deal anymore.

Depends on the place. Things have gotten better overall, but I wouldn't want to be gay in a small town in the bible belt.

[Ted S.]

Nice link.

[GILMORE?]

SORRRRRRRRRR-RRRRRRYYYYYYYY

[GILMORE?]

I don't get paid the big bucks like Soave et al. You're supposed to expect 30% Sugarfree'd links from the commentariat.

[Pan Zagloba]

Obligatory The Onion link? Or inappropriate?

[lap83]

"gay high school students raped, attacked more often"

They seem to want to leave the impression that gay students are disproportionately bullied, and maybe they are, but how does the rape thing show that? Are rapists going to rape someone they're not sexually attracted to just because the victim is gay? That just sounds stupid.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Are rapists going to rape someone they're not sexually attracted to just because the victim is gay?

I think it's more about "corrective" rape of lesbians and bisexual women.

[GILMORE?]

note that their definition of rape is basically, "sex you feel pressured into"

i don't think the "20% of all gay kids are being raped" is necessarily 100% 'corrective rape'. It sounds like "rape as a conceptual basket into which you can throw anything awful".

most high-school sex is pretty awful, to be honest. or, a high-proportion of it is so inexperienced that its bound to be later seen as something other than a perfect union of 2 individuals expressing equal affection.

[lafe.long]

More than 1 in 10 said they'd missed school the past month because of safety concerns. Less than 1 in 20 heterosexual kids reported that.

Pussies.

[OneOut]

DENNIS WAS MUCH BETTER AT POSTING LINYX,

[GILMORE?]

H&R Trolls Relieved =

Court Finds: Inmate punishment for throwing feces, urine too harsh

[Tak Kak]

"(It seems completely obvious that he means the second, but he told Hugh Hewitt that he meant literally, and so this is where we are as a country.)"

I thought literally didn't mean literally any more though. I think Biden championed this effectively.

[John]

That is not what he told Hewitt. He told Hewitt they "literally" founded ISIS because without their policies ISIS would have never existed. You can debate whether that is true or not. I guess you could say that Trump misused the term "literally". That is a language foul but not a very big one.

[Tak Kak]

I was just making a joke about the term, it's impossible to misuse the term "literally" at this point.

http://theweek.com/articles/46.....dictionary

[The Fusionist]

It's literally impossible. Like, I could use it as a noun and I wouldn't be misusing it.

I bought a new literally at the store.

[John]

Yeah. That word as pretty much been raped beyond all recognition.

[C. Anacreon]

Just like the word "as".

[John]

No. It just occasionally gets confused with the word "is".

[GILMORE?]

George Zimmerman 2.0

is... isn't that technically libel? or something *like* libel? especially since Zimms was acquitted, but the lawyer seems to be saying its an argument to convict?

I get that the root of it is all "bullshit pr rhetoric". still. cut the dude some slack already

Chad Copley, who is white, is accused of firing a shotgun from inside his garage into a crowd of people in front of a nearby home on Sunday and killing 20-year-old Kouren Thomas, who was black. Raleigh police arrested Copley, 39, on a murder charge.

An unidentified man called 911 early on Sunday, saying he was on the "neighborhood watch" and heading outside to deal with "hoodlums" who had guns and were racing on his street.

"I am locked and loaded," the caller said, according to a recording provided by the Raleigh Police Department. "I'm going outside to secure my neighborhood."

Justin Bamberg, a lawyer hired by the Thomas family, identified the caller as Copley and said his claims were reminiscent of George Zimmerman, who fatally shot black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012.

[John]

There is nothing reminiscent of Zimmerman. Zimmerman was getting the shit beat out of him and shot his assailant. This ass clown was safe in his house and shot into a bunch of people. No one is going to take this guy's side.

[Heroic Mulatto]

or something *like* libel? especially since Zimms was acquitted, but the lawyer seems to be saying its an argument to convict?

I wouldn't hire a lawyer with such sloppy reasoning.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Well Brett L left and now I'm pretty well fucked. So I'm making a call out to any Houston-area reasonoids for a meetup sometime in the next couple of weeks. I don't know how many there are around here, but I wouldn't mind getting together.

I will continue to not comment although I miss it quite a bit. It's a matter of principle. Hopefully we (me and Kara) can meet up with a few like-minded people IRL though. So if there are any of you out there in the Houston area, email me and we will be happy to put something together.

[Illocust]

Sorry sloopy, I'm DFW area. Good luck though!

[Crusty Juggler]

Now I know that I did something wrong, because I missed you. Yeah, I missed you.

[Krabappel]

*puts on cat eye framed glasses*

[Heroic Mulatto]

Go on...

[Krabappel]

So I, I turned the radio on, I turned the radio up, and this woman was singing my song

[Heroic Mulatto]

*places thread in same encrypted folder in hard drive as this*

[Crusty Juggler]

Lisa Loeb in a thong, from the greatest moment in E! Entertainment Television history.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

1) Care to explain the not commenting on principle thing? I've been gone for a few months and haven't kept up with things.

2) I'm not in Houston, but I think a Texas regional H&R meetup in Austin is in order sometime before I move out of TX (next February)

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I just decided to stop commenting because of the over-the-top focus on one candidate that's a clown and the largely ignoring of the other candidate that has actively participated in assassinations of a head of state we were not at war against as well as American citizens that hadn't been charged with a crime.

Trump is a clown that might protect my 1A and 2A rights by judicial appointment at the same time he is saying embarrassing things. Clinton is a megalomaniac that will assuredly diminish the 1A and 2A while looting the treasury and embarrassing our nation's around the world by her criminality. One of those gets reported ad nauseum on here and the other gets mostly glossed over. And I can't stomach it. I just fucking can't.

I'd be down for Austin for sure. I was there Monday night. We could find a place downtown like the meetup they arranged last year. That was pretty nice. That might draw in a few people from the metroplex and San Antonio, of which there were as uprising amount at the last Austin thing. Email me where you are and I'll be sure to let you know next time I'm in town.

The email thing goes for anybody in Texas. I travel a good amount still, so I'm sure to be in your city once in a while.

[Trshmnstr, terror of the trash]

I had a nice response written and then everything went tits up.

I completely agree with you, and it's part of the reason I didn't make any attempt to hang around here while I was travelling this summer. There's only so much faux outrage I can muster due to Trump being a bombastic buffoon. All the while, a dude may have been offed last month for trying to whistleblow on Clinton and the DNC, and (according to my search) there's nary a mention of it. There are only 2 or 3 writers here that I enjoy reading, so I've found myself coming here solely for the commentariat.

Anyway, I'm up in the DFW area if you're ever in town.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

We could do something in DFW if you guys want to put it together. Gojira is there as well and I know I can get him to go. I'll be there next week but I think it'll just be for the day on Tuesday. Although I might be convinced to come around next Friday night as well.

[OneOut]

I have only come here for the commentariat from the get go.

I'm pretty busy these days but announce it here and I will try and make it.

If you say a lot of San Antonians showed up maybe it could be in San Antonio.

[bacon-magic]

Stay around for the comment section Sloopy...you are still a reasonoid, even if the writers aren't.

[SugarFree]

He's not absent, he's growing stronger.

[Brett L]

I'd be sorry if I didn't dip out a lunch and swim at the "crappy" beach which has nice white sand but a lot of shells, too. And go fishing in the ocean after a 20 minute drive tuesday night. I'm sure Central FL will take a shit economically eventually and you can come out here.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Yeah, but by then I'll have to get a passport to travel from Texas to Florida...

...hopefully.

[DOOMco]

We would welcome you back.

[OneOut]

Dude I just moved from Clear Lake to San Antonio last month.

Do you move around a lot ? I vaguely remember you being somewhere else in Texas last time we posted about this.

When did you get to Houston ?

[sloopyinTEXAS]

April. I haven't moved so much as I've had my work area moved. Although this last one we bought a house so id expect us here for a while.

But I'll continue traveling for work quite a bit so I'll be in your neck of the woods sooner or later.

[Cynical Asshole]

An $12 minimum wage initiative to incentivize companies to increase automation has made the ballot in Colorado.

FTFY.

[Libertarian]

Colorado is a great state to impose a high minimum wage -- they can blame the resulting unemployment on weed.

[Cynical Asshole]

Seattle has implemented a pioneering (note that "pioneering" doesn't mean "good") new rental law that requires landlords to accept the first applicant that meets their basic requirements for renting and is not allowed to choose between several interested parties. Just wait until they adapt that law for hiring new employees!

Stop. Giving them. Ideas!

[The Fusionist]

"[In] Minnesota's 2nd District...Republicans are scrambling to retain the seat held by retiring Rep. John Kline. Their new nominee: Jason Lewis, a talk radio host who founded an Ayn Rand social network and has a history of making inflammatory comments about slavery and women.

"Lewis' past comments have been a gold mine for critics. In his 2011 book, Power Divided Is Power Checked: The Argument for States' Rights, he questioned the wisdom of the Civil War, arguing that it had been fought over states rights, not slavery, and changed the nation's constitutional framework for the worse. In his book, he proposed a constitutional amendment that would help restore what he believed had been lost, by allowing any state to peaceably leave the Union. And in a 2011 interview, Lewis declined to say whether the Civil War should have been fought, suggesting, as he had in the book, that there were better alternatives to ending slavery that President Abraham Lincoln could have considered."

[The Fusionist]

There should be ellipses between those two paragraphs.

[The Fusionist]

So, I guess this topic doesn't "do it" for you any more...

[Free Society]

The always terrible "Isn't it remarkable how much sex Olympic athletes have?" journalism beat hit a new low today when a heterosexual reporter over at The Daily Beast used a gay hook-up app to connect with several athletes and apparently provided enough information about them to make it possible to identify who they were. The resulting outrage caused some edits to the story. Keep in mind some of these athletes are from countries where gay sex is still illegal.

GOTCHA

[bacon-magic]

Fellow diabeetuns, my A1C came back = 5.7. Happy camper am I. Now I need to start exercising more. I hate taking pills.

[The Fusionist]

Excellent - less magic bacon, more exercise!

[C. Anacreon]

Bacon is good for diabetics!

Congrats on the nice level.

[bacon-magic]

I have not given up the bacon, I have given up lots of carbs. Potatoes, I miss you.

[The Fusionist]

This is good to know, thank you.

[Krabappel]

Keep it up, you don't want to get the sugar foot!

[SugarFree]

Yeah. The carb cravings never really go away. Even if you can add them back in a reasonable portions, you still crave them in huge servings.

[lafe.long]

Nice job. Keep the carbs kicked to the curb and you'll keep a good A1C.

[Bubba Jones]

Remarkable that Seattle doesn't seem more interested in increasing the supply of rental housing.

[Krapulent Kristen]

Bill Gates won't be able to afford it in 5 years.

[jdgalt]

It's been obvious for years that Obama allowed those people in Benghazi to die in order to conceal the fact that they had brokered a deal for us to provide weapons to a group that turned out to be ISIS. Why are you still in denial?

[ant1sthenes]

I'm inclined to think that Obama didn't have the faintest idea about it, and it was a Clinton Op from the getgo.

[GILMORE?]

they had brokered a deal for us to provide weapons to a group that turned out to be ISIS

Everyone (*the saudis and egyptians and qataris) was giving guns to every Mo' willing to Jihad some shit up in Syria.

(*footnote - that cited article there? was edited at some point in the last year or so. they changed some stuff to downplay direct US involvement)

it wasn't "a group". It was "groups".

contra the claims of the Times, we were directly involved with (some) of the weapons shipments. The Qataris had their own pipeline, as did the Saudis. Our own channel was the Libya-to-turkey bit.

re: Obama "letting people die"....

people always need to escalate something that it obviously 'fucked up' to make it worse than it is. The admin didn't need to "let anyone die". They just tried covering up a horribly blown CIA op. It doesn't need to be all X-files for it to be criminal.

[VG Zaytsev]

I'm coming around to the conspiracy theory that Stevens was suppose to be taken hostage by a militia on the US payroll, so that Obama could look like hero by later securing his release. Which is why all the stand down orders were issued and no rescue mission sent. And it would,have worked to, if it weren't for those meddling agents that disobeyed orders to go 'defend' the compound - which led the above mentioned militia to think they had been double crossed and then killed Stevens.

[ant1sthenes]

(It seems completely obvious that he means the second, but he told Hugh Hewitt that he meant literally, and so this is where we are as a country.)

My head just literally exploded.

[Hayeksplosives]

I miss Rand Paul as a presidential candidate. Maybe he can sort some things out and try again in 4 years.

[DOOMco]

20/20 is too good to pass up.

[The Fusionist]

Don't put on beer goggles with Stein, get a new vision for America with Rand Paul!

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I'd rather see him channel McElroy:
"You gonna stop us, Stein? Ha. You're gonna look pretty funny tryin' to eat corn on the cob with no fuckin' teeth!"

Matter of fact, I think a Paul/McElroy ticket is what America needs.

[R C Dean]

The first outrageous statement could be part of a smart media play, but its all in the followup. And Trump isn't doing that well, at all.

Example: The Khan kerfuffle. Step 1 - well played, draw attention to the creepy sharia optics of his wife standing silently and submissively.

When attacked for insulting the parent of a dead soldier, you don't get into a twitter fight, you ask about the parents of the Benghazi soldiers who died under Hillary's watch, perhaps tweeting a few pics of the wrecked and blood-streaked embassy building.

Example: The call for judicial assassinations. Step 1 - well played, you got the media to actually say "Second Amendment".

When attacked for calling for judicial assassinations, you don't flop around like I seem to recall him doing, you point out that Democrat operatives are actually engaged in calling for violence against his supporters, and his supporters are repeatedly targeted for violence. Tweet a few pics of bloodied Trumpalos. Say you are of course opposed to violence, and am sorry that the media misconstrued your call for civil disobedience and political opposition.

[Glide]

Totally agreed. In the primaries it was sufficient to get the media talking about him 24/7 because with all the competitors there was no single alternative for those outraged.

When there's one opponent (sorry Gary) and you're running from behind, you have to capture the media attention and then use it to damage the opponent, not just bathe in the negative attention for attention's sake.

I heard it this way the other day:
Trump wins if the election is all about Hillary
Hillary wins if the election is all about Trump

Both candidates are trying to make it all about Trump.

[Arizona_Guy]

Enjoy:

Satan Endorses Hillary Clinton

[jesse.in.mb]

See. Compliments aren't even part of the hunt!

Thanks for backing me on this, Tundra.

[Aloysious]

That is a beautiful young lady who knows how to do side bewb.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

According to the rewls of the previous article, she is dewing it wrong.

Which just proves that the article is SHIT.

[Rhywun]

Ew!

[SugarFree]

Conspiracy: Chelsea's father is actually Debbie Wassermann Schultz.

[VG Zaytsev]

Janet Reno's gonna be passed when she finds out.