A.M. Links: Trump Meets Mexican President Peña Nieto, Brazilian Senate Holds Impeachment Vote for Suspended President, Rubio, McCain, and Wasserman Schultz Win Primaries

• 

  Gage Skidmore / Flickr.com

  Donald Trump is meeting today with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

• Incumbents Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) all won their primary races last night.
• Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a chief strategist for ISIS, has been killed in Syria.
• Singer Chris Brown was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon yesterday after a 14-hour standoff with Los Angeles police. Brown is now out on bail.
• The Brazilian Senate is expected to hold a final vote this morning on the impeachment of suspended President Dilma Rousseff.
• "Florida health officials on Tuesday said they were investigating three new Zika virus cases likely stemming from local mosquito bites in Miami-Dade County, including two cases outside of the known areas of active transmission."

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump is meeting today with Mexican President Enrique Pe?a Nieto.

And Nieto is picking up the check.

[Krabappel]

Good morning! This is the closest I've ever been to being first.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Congratulations.

[Krabappel]

I was extra eager to avoid doing actual work today.

[BigT]

Bask in the reflected glow of Fits of Epilepsy!

[Elspeth Flashman]

Don't get used to it.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Injun, as in from India]

It's just coincidence that just the day after Hillary's deleted Benghazi emails are discovered, this moron announces he is going to Mexico.

Disrupting the news cycle on HRC's behalf. He's done it before. He's a plant.

[Krabappel]

It's not just Trump -- I think the whole Seti/Extraterrestrial signal news was also a news cycle distraction. Didn't Bill Clinton do that before with some fucking rock from Mars?

[Libertarian]

Wasn't it Russia that claimed it found a signal? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but.....

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Didn't Bill Clinton do that before with some fucking rock from Mars?

Bill Clinton did that by invading Serbia! I laugh at your little 'rock from Mars'.

[Tom Bombadil]

"And Nieto is picking up the check."

I hear Trump's planning to order the Walldorf salad.

Har Har.
Here all week, eat veal, tip waitress, etc.

[Bee Tagger]

Donald Trump is meeting today with Mexican President Enrique Pe?a Nieto.

He's going to pay for stonewalling him.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Trump is gay?

[Injun, as in from India]

He's definitely a cuck.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Brown is now out on bail.

After a standoff, eh?

[Rich]

Via a variant of the Clinton Defense, no doubt.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

What difference, at this point, does it make?

[Princess Trigger]

'Brown' privilege?

[Curt]

Illustrating (once again) the difference between factors that influence your treatment at the hands of the justice system in this country. Poor, black people are treated like shit mainly because they are poor. Rich, black people are treated well because they are rich. Various protest groups and has-been QBs should change their tone and arguments accordingly.

[(((Renegade)))]

Incumbents Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) all won their primary races last night

Right there is your sure sign of the stupidity of American voters.

[SugarFree]

Stay the course. Horses. Midstream. mumble mumble

[Swiss Servator]

Those districts should all hold their heads high - crowned with the Tiara of Derp.

[(((Renegade)))]

Tiara of Derp

I've seen some of her pornos.

[Trigger Warning]

She does lez stuff with that chick from Tarth.

[Libertarian]

They'll have to get in line behind the folks who keep electing Reid and Pelosi.

[Rhywun]

And Moobs.

[Suthenboy]

Seems I remember some reporter going to Reids district and couldn't find a single person that voted for the guy.

I have to wonder how much is voter stupidity and how much of it is just the fix being in.

[UnCivilServant]

Reid is/was a senator. His "District" is a whole state.

[Florida Hipster]

Don't blame me, I voted for Stanton!

[Aloysious]

"Who will rid me us of this these troublesome priest Senators?"

[Bee Tagger]

Incumbents Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) all won their primary races last night.

Sure, why not.

[DJF]

Russia hacked the voting machines and imposed these idiots on us. Or at least that is my hope since I hate the idea that so many Americans actually voted for them.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

These were primaries... Did any actual serious candidate actually run a serious campaign against them?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The Brazilian Senate is expected to hold a final vote this morning on the impeachment of suspended President Dilma Rousseff.

So presidents can actually be suspended, eh?

[Swiss Servator]

"...and you have to stay late after school for the first two weeks back!"

[Domestic Dissident]

Sad that the U.S.A. is more of a Banana Republic than Brazil, isn't it?

[commodious, an attendant lord]

And America doesn't even grow its own bananas. Sad!

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

See Mussolini for how to do it properly.

[(((Renegade)))]

Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a chief strategist for ISIS, has been killed in Syria.

World's Most Dangerous Job is "the number two man in ISIS (or Al Qaeda)."

[Bee Tagger]

Just imagine if the World's Oldest Man was the #2 man in ISIS.

[Curt]

... and wore a Star Trek redshirt.

[straffinrun]

I don't mind being the #2 man. #3? Ewww.

[(((Renegade)))]

You are Number Six.

[SugarFree]

I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered!

[Swiss Servator]

HAHAHAHAHA!

/New #2

[(((Renegade)))]

My life is my own!

[Agent Cooper]

+everything. (My favorite show of all time.)

[(((Renegade)))]

"Gave up sugar four years and three months ago on medical advice." That shows you're afraid.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Six was the hottest.

[Lord Humungus]

Woman met eight-foot werewolf 'with human face' ? and extremely bad breath

An animal rescue worker claims she has come face-to-face with a legendary werewolf known as 'Old Stinker' ? because of its horrible breath.

Jemma Waller was driving two pals in Halsham in East Yorkshire when she saw the 8ft creature.

'It looked like a big dog, probably bigger than my car, but it had a human face,' she said.

Also dubbed the Beast of Barmston Drain, it is said to stalk the Yorkshire Wolds with sightings since the 18th century.

[Elspeth Flashman]

STEVE SMITH on vacay?

[SugarFree]

STEVE SMITH BREATH FRESH AS SUMMER HAM!

[Swiss Servator]

THAT IS STEVE SMITH'S COUSIN. WE NOT TALK ABOUT ENGLISH SIDE OF FAMILY MUCH.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

BREATH NOT HIM FAULT. HIM GOT BRITISH DENTISTRY!

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

STEVE SMITH TAKE HIKER RAPE COAST-TO-COAST AND AROUND THE WORLD!

[Rich]

The recent sightings have revived interest in Old Stinker and questions have even been asked by rock star Alice Cooper.

"What do you want from me?"

[UnCivilServant]

"Why do you keep calling?"

"How did you get this number?"

[Fist of Etiquette]

And it complained of the Guinness on her breath.

[Libertarian]

Your breath wouldn't smell so hot either if you survived on spotted dick and baked beans for breakfast.

[Princess Trigger]

The Clowns will save us!

[Idle Hands]

Just say it, you fucked a sheep.

[Brett L]

Brits have the worst nicknames.

[Suthenboy]

Sure she did.

[Bee Tagger]

The Brazilian Senate is expected to hold a final vote this morning on the impeachment of suspended President Dilma Rousseff.

Stemming entirely from her mishandling of the Lochte situation.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

or did I?

[Juvenile Bluster]

Incumbents Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) all won their primary races last night.

DWS was always going to win. Her district loves her, and her opponent was a guy backed by Bernie who may actually be worse than she is.

[(((Renegade)))]

who may actually be worse than she is.

Un-possible. At best, he'll be nuttier and less effective, the latter of which is a positive from a libertarian perspective.

[Krabappel]

What percentage of her district are neocon Jews?

[Rich]

neocon Jews

Nice band name.

[(((Renegade)))]

It's more than a band name, it's a lifestyle.

[EDG reppin LBC]

A timely article on band naming.

http://daily.jstor.org/the-lin.....band-name/

[Juvenile Bluster]

Her district covers two of the wealthier and whiter cities in South Florida. So I'm guessing a few.

[Krabappel]

They are probably just verklempt at the possibility of Clinton being President knowing how many countries in the middle east she will bomb.

[Libertarian]

My favorite DWS links show the epic Vogue photoshop:

http://www.strangepolitics.com.....85317.html

[Lee Genes]

Wow. That's some impressive work.

[Krabappel]

She looks like a young Captain Janeway.

[Entropy Drehmaschine Void]

her opponent was a guy backed by Bernie who may actually be worse than she is.

Unpossible.

[Lord Humungus]

Police: Man attempts to ignite gas station over Flamin' Hot Cheetos

Around 5 p.m. Sunday, Crook allegedly tried to take a bag of Cheetos from a display when the manager told him to either put it down or pay for it. Crook then punched the manager in the face, according to the police report.

The manager says Crook then went outside and slammed a gas pump on the ground, causing gasoline to pool, then threw a lit cigarette onto the gas.

Crook has been charged with first-degree arson, third-degree assault, theft of less than $500 and first-degree trespassing.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Oh shit, the guy's name is actually Joshua Crook. What else did they expect?

[SugarFree]

"I ain't no senator's son"

[BigT]

Ex Sec of States son.

[Libertarian]

Cook. Flaming cheetos. Attempted arson. If this guy isn't given a spot in a Cheetos commercial within 6 months my faith in America will be dead.

[Citizen X]

Dude did NOT want to get his mugshot taken, either.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Hah! Worth the click.

[Agent Cooper]

Maybe he should've thrown a flaming hot Cheeto onto the gas.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

?Incumbents Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) all won their primary races last night.

Of course they did.

[Lord Humungus]

Florida Police Arrest Vladimir Putin For Trespassing At Publix Supermarket

Putin, 48, was collared last week after cops responded to a 911 call about a man causing a disturbance at a Publix supermarket in West Palm Beach.

According to witnesses, Putin was yelling at Publix employees and ignored demands to leave the business.

Seen at right, Putin was subsequently arrested by police and charged with trespassing and obstructing officers without violence.

[(((Renegade)))]

Sic transit gloria...

[Swiss Servator]

Yeah, quick slide from fearsome dictator to petty criminal in FL.

[Libertarian]

So now he joins Noriega and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

[Rocinante]

So they finally identified Florida Man, our local superhero. New state motto, "Florida, you can't make this shit up".

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

So Putin is still shirtless, but now rides an alligator instead of a bear?

A neck tattoo and some dentistry by methamphetamine and the transformation will be complete.

"I AM MADE DEATH! DESTROYER OF TRAILER PARKS!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

"Florida health officials on Tuesday said they were investigating three new Zika virus cases likely stemming from local mosquito bites in Miami-Dade County, including two cases outside of the known areas of active transmission."

Time to wall off the Sunshine State. Circumcise America's wang.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

I thought Huma already did that for us.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Also in Florida yesterday, Paul Stanton won the Libertarian Senate primary (we actually had one!) over Sol Invictus, so that's nice.

[Florida Hipster]

Yay! Someone I voted for won something.

[Florida Hipster]

Amendment 4 passed with 72 percent. There's the crushing defeat in use to.

[Juvenile Bluster]

No, Amendment 4 was the good one. It's Amendment 1 (in November) that's bad. I'll admit, I listened to Adrian Wylie on that one.

[Florida Hipster]

Then yay again.

[Mickey Rat]

Does that mean Sol Invictus has to change his name now?

[Derpetologist]

For those who missed it yesterday:

CNN scrubs "crooked" from Trump tweet

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

I saw something from Stossel a while back where the TV station edited out the boos from a Hillary speech and changed it into applause.

https://youtu.be/2y_CAVvpdjI?t=56s

[Lord Humungus]

Cops Trash Home in 10-Hour Standoff With Dog

According to several sources, an Idaho woman is suing police for trashing her home in 2014 during what they thought was a standoff with a suspect holed up inside. Police allegedly spent about 10 hours shooting tear gas into the home, smashing windows, and doing other stuff they've probably seen TV cops do. Turns out the only one inside was a dog.

While the problem is sometimes that police barge in without a warrant, here it was kind of the opposite: the tenant had not only given them permission to go in to look for her ex-boyfriend, she had actually given them the keys. But instead of just using them, they called out the SWAT team and softened the place up for half a day before smashing in about midnight.

[UnCivilServant]

But what happened to the Dog?!

[Citizen X]

I tried to come up with a snarky answer for you, UCS, but i ended up just really bumming myself out. Sorry.

[Crusty Juggler]

A police sergeant coaxed the dog outside before SWAT shot teargas into the house. That dog was then given to an adorable young child who had just lost his own dog to old age.

Be positive.

[BigT]

"A police sergeant coaxed shot the dog outside before SWAT shot teargas into the house. That dog was then given to an adorable young child who had just lost his own dog to old age."

Be real.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Dragged into the street, shot through the hip, and lit on fire. They were rolling.

[Agent Cooper]

To ask the question is to answer it.

[Agent Cooper]

To ask the question is to answer it.

[Agent Cooper]

The squirrels however, are doing just fine.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Incumbents Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) all won their primary races last night.

The year America is fed up with Washington.

[Rich]

"*My* guy's alright!"

[Brett L]

I'm not sure if Patrick Murphy is Rubio's competition, but if so, Rubio is far and away the better choice. Patrick Murphy is like the white politician from The Wire, only without any redeeming qualities.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

So Martin O'Malley?

[Libertarian]

Could you imagine the re-election rate if Congress's approval rating was over 20%? It'd be through the roof. A hundred and sixty percent, minimum.

[Lord Humungus]

A record number of Americans now dislike Hillary Clinton

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows 41 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of Clinton, while 56 percent have an unfavorable one.

That's the worst image Clinton has had in her quarter-century in national public life. Her previous low favorable rating this year was in July, when it was 42 percent, lower than any mark in historical Post-ABC polls except a few points in the 1990s when a large share of the public had no opinion of her. Her previous high for unfavorable views was in June, when 55 percent disliked Clinton.

Trump, of course, has long been the more unpopular of the two presidential nominees, and he remains so; 35 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of him, compared to 63 percent unfavorable.

But if you look just at registered voters, the new poll actually shows Clinton's image is about as bad as Trump's, with 38 percent having a favorable impression and 59 percent unfavorable, compared to a 37/60 split for Trump.

winning!

[John]

She is going to find her voice Hummungus. There is going to be a new likable comeback Hillary. You watch.

[Rich]

I can't imagine what that would be, John.

It's beyond SugarFree territory.

[Elspeth Flashman]

The idea that something is beyond his territory boggles the mind.

[Lord Humungus]

A cesspit of filth beyond what is imagined by SugarFree?

So Beautiful

[SugarFree]

The only thing that will make Hillary likable at this point is if she killed Trump and then herself.

[Guy Behind the Guy, Jr.]

If she promised to do just that, I'd vote for her.

[BigT]

Reverse the order for me.

[Apple]

Killed herself then killed Trump? Sounds good on paper but how do we know we can stop zombie Hillary?

[UnCivilServant]

You've got the methodology wrong. She suicide bombs the debates. Being at the epicenter, she kills herself first, and people further out die later.

[Citizen X]

As if Hillary has ever kept a promise.

[Lee Genes]

She probably made a few to herself along the way.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

"After the 2nd term starts, that motherfuckin Bill is gonna be fed feet-first into a woodchipper."

[John]

I forget where I saw it but the other day someone had a round up of the "Hillary Finds Her Voice" media puff pieces going back to 1993. The media has been saying since 1993 that Hillary is "finding her voice..." for over 23 years. You would think they could have come up with some new spin in all that time.

[BigT]

Ariel?

Ursula!!

[commodious, an attendant lord]

She should return it for a refund if that's the voice she found.

[SimonD]

She's found her voice. Unfortunately, it's the voice of the emperor in The Return of the Jedi.

(in style AND substance)

[Stoic]

So the poll only included two questions, one each about Clinton and Trump? WTF -- Gary's never going to get into the debates at this rate.

[Lee Genes]

Right wing conspiracy

[Libertarian]

No wonder she doesn't do press conferences. The more people know about her, the less they like her.

[SimonD]

That's been the case ever since 1984 (I grew up in Arkansas during the Clintons' reign of ....well, whatever it was). The only time Granmaw Felony has ever been popular is during the time she was able to play the scorned wife during the Monica thing. She was portrayed as standing by her man even through the bad times, and enough of the voters bought it (because they REALLY wanted to believe it).

[Lord Humungus]

Clownalypse Now

More reports of clowns in woods in South Carolina

Deputies in South Carolina have increased patrols after getting new reports of people dressed as clowns trying to lure children into the woods.

News outlets report that Greenville County sheriff's deputies were called to an apartment complex about 8:20 p.m. Monday that is about 20 minutes from a complex where people reporting seeing clowns last week.

Deputies responding to the report last week said they found no evidence of anyone in the woods behind Fleetwood Manor Apartments.

A family who called Monday night from Emerald Commons apartments said a child saw a man wearing a clown mask in woods near the complex.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Killer Klowns from Outer Space was a warning from the future

[RBS]

Dressing like a clown and trying to lure kids into the woods is kind of asking to die a violent death in that part of the state.

[UnCivilServant]

Well, the children are heavily armed.

[Libertarian]

"Deputies responding to the report last week said they found no evidence of anyone in the woods behind Fleetwood Manor Apartments."

These cops are obviously blind. There's not an apartment complex in the country that borders woods that doesn't show evidence of people being there.

[Glide]

Excuse me, sir. Do you have Prince Albert in a Can?

You do!? Well, you better let the poor guy out!

WA HA! WA HA! WA HA!

[Citizen X]

Incumbents Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) all won their primary races last night.

You know, i wouldn't have a problem with voters getting what they want good and hard if i didn't have to get it too.

[Crusty Juggler]

We are just getting it hard because there's nothing good about it.

[Lord Humungus]

IS buried thousands in 72 mass graves, AP finds

In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group's territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth.

Still, even the known numbers of victims buried are staggering ? from 5,200 to more than 15,000.

Sinjar mountain is dotted with mass graves, some in territory clawed back from IS after the group's onslaught against the Yazidi minority in August 2014; others in the deadly no man's land that has yet to be secured.

[SugarFree]

Everyone talks about religion, but no one ever does anything about it.

[Libertarian]

My favorite 9/11 quote is from Ben Stein:

"What do you do with such atheistic evil?"

[SugarFree]

Incumbents Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) all won their primary races last night.

America: Hitting Itself In The Face, Since 1913

[Lord Humungus]

IRS doesn't tell 1M taxpayers that illegals stole their Social Security numbers

The IRS has discovered more than 1 million Americans whose Social Security numbers were stolen by illegal immigrants, but officials never bothered to tell the taxpayers themselves, the agency's inspector general said in a withering new report released Tuesday.

Investigators first alerted the IRS to the problem five years ago, but it's still not fixed, the inspector general said, and a pilot program meant to test a solution was canceled ? and fell woefully short anyway.

As a result, most taxpayers don't learn that their identities have been stolen and their Social Security files may be screwed up.

"Taxpayers identified as victims of employment-related identity theft are not notified," the inspector general said.

[Swiss Servator]

*fumes*

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

PHAIK SKANDULL!!!111!!!~~!!!11!

[Guy Behind the Guy, Jr.]

Cytotoxic: "One million? Big deal. Think of the benefits!"

[lap83]

They're just trying to get a job. Why do you hate the free market?

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

"If you're so uncompetitive that you can't hold on to your social security number from being used by a Mexican immigrant, you never deserved it to begin with!"

[Brett L]

Just so I get this straight, if a private company leaks your data and you have your identity stolen, there are heavy penalties for covering it up. If the Feds do it, fuck you, that's why?

[invisible furry hand]

It's so cute that you're almost surprised

[Brett L]

I still get a little indignant.

[Lee Genes]

They would have notified everyone but the server crashed and they accidentally destroyed all of the backups.

[Overt]

I was talking to a lady who had this happen to her. She works at my local grocery store, and she was telling me how the IRS was completely indifferent to her plight. The IRS actually detected it due to two tax returns being filed in a year. She spent another couple years trying to get them to accept documentation for her real identity, which required all the DMV-esque nonsense you would imagine ("File form ID-10-T please...oh no, you were supposed to send it here....Sorry we never received it....Please start over with this year's paperwork.")

The kicker is that even though the IRS has acknowledged the identity theft, they continue to hold her refunds for the past 6 or 7 years and have no administrative remedy for her to get them back. She asks them and they are like "I don't know who you'd even call".

[Lee Genes]

Call Harry Tuttle.

No wait... that's if the AC is on the fritz.....

[John]

The IRS has said they want illegal immigrants to use other people's SS numbers. I am not kidding.

[Lee Genes]

Asked to explain those practices, Koskinen replied, "What happens in these situations is someone is using a Social Security number to get a job, but they're filing their tax return with their [taxpayer identification number]." What that means, he said, is that "they are undocumented aliens ? . They're paying taxes. It's in everybody's interest to have them pay the taxes they owe."

As long as the information is being used only to fraudulently obtain jobs, Koskinen said, rather than to claim false tax returns, the agency has an interest in helping them. "The question is whether the Social Security number they're using to get the job has been stolen. It's not the normal identity theft situation," he said.

I'm sure the businesses involved will receive the same amount of consideration.

[RAHeinlein]

Two words: Payroll Taxes.

[Zeb]

Well, the IRS wants the money, that's their only concern. And the immigrants need to use a number so that the IRS can get it.

This would happen a lot less if they would go back to giving anyone who works a taxpayer ID number they can use.

Conscripting employers into helping enforce immigration laws is a terrible thing.

[Lord Humungus]

Norway Builds a Border Wall
Scandinavians desperate to control open flow of refugees across the Arctic

The steel fence will be about 660 feet long and 11 feet high, stretching from the Storskog border crossing on the Norway-Russia border, where 5,500 migrants, primarily from Syria, came into Norway last year.

Nordic countries, which have liberally distributed welfare benefits for migrants, have been viewed as a safe haven for refugees ? encouraging thousands to trek there.

In the final four months of last year, a record-breaking number of asylum seekers, nearly 23,000, applied for refugee status in Norway, according to a report by the nation's Directorate of Immigration (UDI). That number has dropped by 95 percent since the beginning of this year after officials began enforcing strict border checks and offering financial incentives for migrants to leave voluntarily, according to The Independent.

[Swiss Servator]

"here is 1000 roubles, now go back into Russia"

[UnCivilServant]

"But Russians don't give us free stuff and they beat the crap out of rapists"

[Citizen X]

1000 rubles? Isn't that like $4?

[UnCivilServant]

It's what was left over after building the wall.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Shoulda made Turkey pay for it. Sad!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

"Here are some Scandinavian Snipers. If you continue in this direction, you'd better serpentine a lot.

[Rich]

Boy meets girl: The rise of unisex fragrances

The truth is there is no defining characteristic that makes a scent masculine or feminine

Oh, I suspect that notion could be laid to rest fairly quickly.

[invisible furry hand]

It's actually a revival - all perfumes used to be unisex. The oldest perfume in my collection, Jicky, was a unisex perfume from 1889 (mostly lavender and and a slightly filthy vanilla)

[Citizen X]

slightly filthy vanilla

Excellent band name, that.

[UnCivilServant]

Sounds like a dull band.

[Elspeth Flashman]

I'm a big fan of Paloma Picasso's scent.

[Lord Humungus]

Pacciso never smelled like asshole...

[notJoe]

+1 Repo Man soundtrack 🙂

[Krabappel]

Americans seem to be much more obsessed with Fragrance gender than the French, which is funny since their language assigns gender to inanimate objects.

I use to buy a lot of fragrances but now I really just stick to one.

[Rhywun]

I find most men's fragrances disgustingly cloying. I go andro or even ladies' if it's not too flowery.

[Krabappel]

Same. My standard go-to is Hanae Mori.

I hate anything that has "aqua" notes in it (serious headache)

[lap83]

The truth is there is no defining characteristic that makes a scent masculine

wood?

[Florida Hipster]

Rich mahogany and leather.

[Libertarian]

I use my own potpourri scent. I call it "cigar smoke."

[invisible furry hand]

Not necessarily - I wear woody, leathery, even rubbery and tobaccy frags, and they're mostly branded as female smells

[lap83]

I like woodsy smells too, but they are much more common in men's fragrances

But never mind that, are we not doing euphemisms anymore?

[invisible furry hand]

I'm Australian, my brain just blocks them out

[Citizen X]

Anyone would, if they knew what "throw a shrimp on the barbie" actually meant.

[BigT]

Dwarf tossing with Baba Wawa?

[Libertarian]

Crustaceans and dolls, I think.

[Krabappel]

Tobacco definitely can go either way.

[Crusty Juggler]

Scotch and sawdust.*

*Also the name of my failed restaurant.

[invisible furry hand]

There's some type of hormone replacement therapy that gives women a slight smell of Scotch I believe someone said that was what Margaret Thatcher smelt of and that she was probably on Premarin (which is made from the urine of pregnant mares)

[Suthenboy]

Either that or she was on...scotch.

[Lord Humungus]

Kilgore: Smell that? You smell that?

Lance: What?

Kilgore: Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like

[sniffing, pondering]

Kilgore: victory. Someday this war's gonna end...

[BigT]

Gunpowder and bacon

[Mr Drew]

Hoppes No 9

[Suthenboy]

I have to laugh. That is what I smell like right now.

[Crusty Juggler]

Safety Tip for Visitors From India's Culture Minister: 'Don't Wear Skirts'

Mahesh Sharma, India's culture minister, said this week that foreign women should not wear skirts while visiting the country, drawing broad criticism in a nation trying to assure female tourists they do not need to fear sexual assault.

"The tourists, when they arrive at the airport, they are being given a welcome kit," Mr. Sharma told reporters on Sunday in televised remarks. "There is a card with it. Dos and don'ts. What to do and what not to do. Like small things. We tell them that: Do not venture out alone in small towns during the night, don't wear skirts."

"For their own safety, women foreign tourists should not wear short dresses and skirts," he added, according to The Guardian.

Mr. Sharma's comments do not veer too far from advice from the United States State Department, which cautions that women should not travel alone in India and says that visitors, especially women, are "advised to respect local dress and customs." With the exception of some resorts and neighborhoods in New Delhi and Mumbai, women in India tend to dress with "clothing that covers their legs and shoulders," the guidelines say.

Problematic!

[Swiss Servator]

Dalmia burst into flames.

[This Machine]

Begging your pardon...

[Rich]

"It's a kilt."

[Juvenile Bluster]

Once went to Israel with a youth group in 11th grade. Was in a group of about 5 of us and one of them wanted to go to a part of town called Mea Shearim. Had no clue what it was, but the taxi driver told the two girls in the group that they really should get out of the car. Girls were wearing skirts that came down to a couple of inches above the knee, nothing salacious. When we got there we saw this sign, which showed why the taxi driver told the girls to get out.

(btw, Israeli taxi drivers are the scariest in the world, bar none)

[Rufus The Monocled]

We live in a fucked up world.

[Lee Genes]

Is it forbidden for Orthodox Jews to write God?

[Florida Hipster]

They just can't say Jehovah.
*gets hit with rock*

[Juvenile Bluster]

Forbidden for all Jews, actually. It's one of the few things about this religion nearly all Jewish people follow.

You're not supposed to say it except when reading the Torah. Even in prayers it's "Hashem" ("The Name")

[Lee Genes]

Well then. I learned sumthin' today.

[(((Renegade)))]

More often "Adonai" is subbed for "Yahweh."

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Men can still wear kilts, though, right??

[BigT]

Only if they are longer than their dicks.

[Libertarian]

Zapp Brannigan hardest hit.

[Lee Genes]

The Jerusalem Post accuses Soros of wanting to dismantle Western civilization

In Israel as well, Soros opposes government efforts to end the flow of illegal immigration from Africa through the border with Egypt.

The notion at the heart of the push for the legalization of unfettered immigration is that states should not be able to protect their national identities.

If it is racist for Greeks to protect their national identity by seeking to block the entrance of millions of Syrians to their territory, then it is racist for Greece ? or France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden the US or Poland ? to exist.

Parallel to these efforts are others geared toward rejecting the right of Western democracies to uphold long-held social norms. Soros-supported groups, for instance, stand behind the push not only for gay marriage but for unisex public bathrooms.

They support not only the right of women to serve in combat units, but efforts to force soldiers to live in unisex barracks. In other words, they support efforts aimed at denying citizens of Western democracies the right to maintain any distance between themselves and Soros's rejection of their most intimate values ? their sexual privacy and identity.

[Swiss Servator]

So Shriek should be coming out as an androgynous Syrian, any day now.

[Lee Genes]

I thought shriek was a eunuch from North Korea.

[Domestic Dissident]

Dave Weigel definitely isn't Syrian, he just pretends he is these days sometimes (he got bored of pretending he lives in Georgia).

[Citizen X]

Still beating the "all trolls are Dave Weigel" drum, eh? Well, if it keeps you off the streets...

[Domestic Dissident]

Not all trolls. Only shrike (defunct) / Palin's Buttplug (more or less defunct) / AddictionMyth / dajjal.

[Citizen X]

Why?

[tarran]

It's basically a complete failure to recognize what shriek is.

Shriek has, on occasion quoted Wiegel. DD infers that shriek is therefore wiegel.

The reality is that shriek, being nonsentient, doesn't comprehend any concepts. Its comments are meaningless character strings that it sows to the website in hope of harvesting a bumper crop of responses.

Through trial and error, its nerual net has come to recognize that wiegel quotes will, when sown here, grow angry responses thick and fast. It therefore weights wiegel tweets and essays much higher than other sources when it is generating comments.

If wiegel were to give up writing and public life in favor of pursuing his passion for art, shriek would still be posting infurating shit, only this time it would appear that it was a sock puppet for some random graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism covering politics.

[Crusty Juggler]

Commenter Ken is not going to like this one bit.

[ant1sthenes]

They're not wrong.

[ant1sthenes]

The only question is whether he's Lex Luthor or Adrian Veidt.

[Rhywun]

Gay marriage is part of an effort to "dismantle Western civilization"? Any other things you don't like that you want to shoehorn into this argument, Jersalem Post?

[spqr2008]

I could agree with that on the condition of how it was achieved, through an expansion of state power, rather than a reduction of state power. Plus it caused many religious people not to trust the Supreme Court any longer.

[Zeb]

I don't know what that has to do with dismantling western civilization, though. Expanding state power is a large part of western civilization.

[Suthenboy]

How old is that lunatic now? We won't have to put up with his shit much longer.

[Lord Humungus]

Mitsubishi Heavy discusses U.S. armored vehicle tie up after losing sub deal

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) (7011.T) is in talks with an unidentified U.S. company over a possible partnership to develop an armored vehicle that for the first time could see a Japanese firm build arms for a foreign customer, a senior executive said.

MHI is moving forward in the talks in the wake of its failure, as part of a Japanese government bid, to win a $40 billion contract to sell submarines to Australia.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration had hoped that the contract would be Japan's first major export deal after ending a decades-old ban on foreign arms sales in April 2014.

A partnership with a U.S. firm may prove an easier route into overseas markets for the globally inexperienced company.

"The U.S. is the easiest overseas market for us to do business in," Hisakazu Mizutani, the head of MHI's Defense and Space Systems business told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

[Swiss Servator]

You know who else failed in a bid with submarines?

[Crusty Juggler]

Victor Tupolev?

[Rich]

Jared Fogle?

[Lee Genes]

*golf clap*

[Citizen X]

The Quiznos franchise that used to be a couple blocks from my office?

[Lee Genes]

-2 Rats with a guitar

[Trshmnstr, green and mangy]

The crew of the Kursk?

[UnCivilServant]

"The U.S. is the easiest overseas market for us to do business in,"

And if TPP passes, we'll own half of it anyway.

[Lee Genes]

I'm a neurotic and I am not responsible for my neuroses, accommodate me

Is it any wonder so many women are balls of anxiety when it comes to sex? Is it any wonder our mothers and grandmothers and conservative columnists are so adamant that we should have only monogamous sex, that we should only seek committed, long-term partners with whom to have sex? How can we be expected to walk around feeling cool and sexually liberated when there is risk at every turn?

I have been conditioned to feel anxious and troubled after sexual experiences because so often these experiences include or lead to some level of violence, stigma, or dismissal.

So I am not chill. I am not chill because I cannot afford to be chill. I am not chill because "going with the flow" of patriarchal sexual culture means risk. That I may be assaulted. That I may be treated as disposable. That I may be slut-shamed. Of course, even if we're not chill, we may still be fucked over; but at least we should have the option to express our discontent.

[Lee Genes]

Link

So I am going to commit that ultimate of non-chill acts: I'm going to be a woman making an emotional demand. If you ? any you; me too? are going to have sex with a woman, with a queer person, with any other socially vulnerable human being, it is your job to not only not-rape them (for the umpteenth time to quote the celestial Maya, "Seriously, God help us if the best we can say about the sex we have is that it was consensual.") ? it's your job to consciously and actively accommodate them. To recognize that they will have needs and hangups that are socially produced, and to do the emotional and intellectual labor necessary to accommodate these needs and hangups.

[Swiss Servator]

So...she is celibate, eh?

[Lee Genes]

Unfortunately no. I feel sorry for any poor soul who unwittingly sleeps with her, because they have just inherited her steamer trunk of emotional baggage until she sleeps with someone else. It's all about her.

[Crusty Juggler]

Uh, she went to Harvard, and I am pretty sure you did not go to Harvard, therefore according to society she is better than you.

[UnCivilServant]

Having gone to Harvard is the sure sign of someone who is utterly useless to society and can be safely ignored.

[R C Dean]

Hey!

[Lee Genes]

I spent enough time at Harvard to know that it's full of morons. Being accosted by the local communists on the way to the Union was an education in of itself.

[robby's #1 fan]

Make no demands if you have no leverage. You'll end up the loser.

[kbolino]

it's your job

"I quit"

[SugarFree]

Or not and find someone normal to be with.

[Rufus The Monocled]

The Internet does a great service for level-headed males with a sense of dignity and integrity looking for women. The more women like her write this shit, the easier it is for men to find a good woman.

[invisible furry hand]

This seems to be a convoluted way of saying "If you shag someone, don't be a selfish jerk". But I did fall asleep before I got to the end of it.

[UnCivilServant]

You overlooked the part where the author said "It's okay for me to be a selfish jerk, you'd better cater to my insecurities"

[Lee Genes]

It's all on her terms, all of it. For someone who spends so much time worrying about she is treated, she doesn't give much thought or consideration to the other human being involved.

[ant1sthenes]

Did you know that women are the primary victims of war?

[Aloysious]

This inspired me to listen to "Harvester of Sorrow"

[Citizen X]

So I am going to commit that ultimate of non-chill acts: I'm going to be a woman making an emotional demand.

Isn't that just called "a woman"? Ba dum CHHH

[Lord Humungus]

Yeah I'm not sticking it in that kind of crazy.

[(((Renegade)))]

I dunno, is she hot?

[Lord Humungus]

Judge thyself

[Citizen X]

Not cute enough to make up for her demonstrably bad personality.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Yeah, she'd have to be really down to earth, enjoy beer, and not be an overemotional trainwreck. And I'm thinking she's already blown it on #1 and #3.

[This Machine]

Minnesota Gun Buyback Program Misfires

A Minnesota program to buy up guns in exchange for Visa gift cards has been less successful than anticipated. The guns collected were mostly homemade, unused or antiquated firearms rather than the street guns authorities had hoped to remove from the street.

There were two locations "buying back" the guns but both had to close down early when officials ran out of $25,000 in gift cards.

Apparently people participating in the buyback program were smarter than the officials running it.

One anonymous gun owner told WCCO he received $200 in gift cards that he planned to use to buy a new firearm. That man said he didn't think the program was serving its intended purpose.

"I just don't feel that a criminal is going to come up to a fire department with a bunch of police around it and turn in a gun," he said.

The buyback event also served as a de facto firearms marketplace. Gun collector Paul Joat bought two guns by making a better offer than the city made with their gift cards.

[UnCivilServant]

Swap meet - any junk has a buyer of last resort, you won't go home empty handed.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

One anonymous gun owner told WCCO he received $200 in gift cards that he planned to use to buy a new firearm. That man said he didn't think the program was serving its intended purpose.

Well played, sir.

[straffinrun]

Cash for clunkers II

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Not nearly astronomically expensive or market-dislocating enough.

[Libertarian]

Saw a pic online yesterday where someone turned in a pipe duct taped to a piece of wood. That's gotta be a hoax, right?

[ant1sthenes]

Apparently people participating in the buyback program were smarter than the officials running it.

That can be assumed just on the basis that the officials were running a gun buyback program despite that every gun buyback program has been an abject failure, even the mandatory ones (which are more "partially compensated confiscation", not a buyback, at any rate).

[Suthenboy]

That is every gun buy-back program ever. They are all just like that.

[Rich]

The same Obama administration that said it would take decades to fulfill FOIA requests for emails from Hillary's aides can somehow vet 10,000 people lightning fast.

Props to Doug Powers.

Two words: "Special Prosecutor".

[John]

10,000 people from Syria. I mean it is just so easy to figure out someone from a failed state torn apart by a three year civil war's background. Syrian convictions come up on NCIC right?

[tarran]

When your database table of people to keep out has 0 records in it, vetting people against it goes very, very quickly.

[Mazakon]

Mizzou Researchers Sued for Blinding and Killing Beagles After Failed Experiment

The researchers poured an experimental acid into the dogs' corneas to test a treatment for corneal ulcers. However, they only had the capacity to use six out of 24 beagles.

"And so if the acid they dripped into the cornea of these dogs had proven successful ? it still would have been considered, by their standards, ineffective research or invalid research because the population study was too small to be studied," Chase says.

Chase calls it the most troubling experiment he's come across in the four years he's been with the organization.

"This research was flawed before even one dog was procured, blinded or killed," he says.

[robby's #1 fan]

Sounds like a hate crime.

[Juvenile Bluster]

The last part of this paragraph from the school's statement is only written because they know there's something wrong here and are trying to distract from it. There's no other reason to write it.

Since dogs share similar eye characteristics with people, they are ideal candidates for corneal studies, and veterinarians have provided vital information to physicians and veterinarians treating corneal injuries ? which ultimately benefit other dogs, animals and humans, including many of our U.S. veterans who have sustained corneal injuries while defending our country.

Why do you hate our veterans, Mr. Chase?

[SFC B]

They're finding that one of the long-term after effects of blast injuries is the tissue which binds the retina to the eye weakens much earlier than you'd expect and you don't need to be very near the blast to have it cause the damage. The eye is just so sensitive to the sudden violent pressure changes involved. So we have 40 and 50 year olds suddenly going blind. I know two officers on the right side of 50 who had to have emergency eye surgery to save their vision and they get hit back in the mid 30s. In 20 some odd years the VA is going to get flooded when all the 20-25 year olds who got blown up suddenly start losing their eyesight.

[Brett L]

Given the VA's history, they'd better just go ahead and get on the list.

[invisible furry hand]

Woman offers media more flattering photo to replace mugshots after Sydney jailbreak

[Crusty Juggler]

I preferred the original.

[Citizen X]

Her public cover picture on Facebook describes herself as "just a lil princess with anger issues".

So that's a red flag draped around her shoulders in the original picture, isn't it.

[lap83]

"just a lil princess with anger issues"

The funny part is she doesn't realize it's redundant.
If you are not actually a princess, calling yourself one is not a good thing.

[Citizen X]

"She knows exactly where to go, exactly what to do... and all of her friends are dudes."

[Lord Humungus]

A little makeup and paint will make a girl what she jolly well ain't.

[Free Society]

would

[invisible furry hand]

Well here's a headline you don't see every day:

Duke of Manchester to remain in Las Vegas jail

Australian-born Alexander Montagu-Manchester accused of burglary and making a false police report

[Derpetologist]

Spot the Not: Things eaten by French entertainer Monsieur Mangetout- Mr. EatAll

1. 18 bicycles

2. 15 shopping carts

3. 7 televisions

4. 6 chandeliers

5. A Cessna 150 airplane

6. 3 refrigerators

[UnCivilServant]

I'm going with 5, no self-respecting entertainer would eat anything less than a Lear.

[robc]

I know 1 and 5 are real.gonna go with #2.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Read about this guy before. Pretty sure it's #6.

He also ate a coffin once, IIRC.

[Derpetologist]

6 is indeed the Not.

[BigT]

No tapeworms for him!!

[Rhywun]

I remember reading about him in the Guiness Book with a note saying they were no longer accepting new records for "eating bicycles".

[Lee Genes]

Gawker's farewell address

In cultural and business terms, this is an act of destruction, because Gawker.com was a popular and profitable digital media property?before the legal bills mounted. Gawker will be missed. But in dramatic terms, it is a fitting conclusion to this experiment in what happens when you let journalists say what they really think.

[robby's #1 fan]

I can't wait for the laudatory biopic!

[Lord Humungus]

*plays one-string violin with a broken bow*

[Citizen X]

"Gawker will be missed," Gawker implores.

[Guy Behind the Guy, Jr.]

what happens when you let journalists say what they really think.

I thought journalists were supposed to report rather than opine.

[Injun, as in from India]

So sad.

Speaking of legal bills to shut down businesses, this is what Gawker had to say about the PLCAA:

The Second Amendment Is Not What Protects Gun Dealers After Massacres

No Other Industry Gets This Legal Protection

The effects that PLCAA and similar state laws have on gun dealers and manufacturers are obvious. "No other industry is given this sort of complete immunity from negligence lawsuits," McLively told me. "Every other industry has to come up with ways to make sure their product is safe and not let it fall into the wrong hands. ...It incentivizes irresponsible conduct."

[John]

Like all things Gawker, that is of course profoundly stupid. Manufacturers of products that have legal uses are not responsible for the illegal uses of their products. If they were, car companies could be sued for drunk driving fatalities and paint companies could be sued for vandalism.

[Injun, as in from India]

If Gawker was Lucky Gunner, this blurb would be:

[Note that Gawker actually broke the law, whereas Lucky Gunner didn't and thus won its lawsuit.]

In cultural and business terms, this is an act of destruction, because Gawker.com Lucky Gunner was a popular and profitable digital media property firearms dealer?before the legal bills mounted. Gawker Lucky Gunner will be missed. But in dramatic terms, it is a fitting conclusion to this experiment in what happens when you let journalists say what they really think people practice lawful commerce and exercise their natural rights protected by the Second Amendment.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

It's more like "No other industry NEEDED this sort of complete immunity from negligence lawsuits EXPLICITLY SPELLED OUT BY LAW"

[John]

Exactly that. The levels of mendacity of this crap seem to be endless.

[Suthenboy]

Gun grabbers lie. If they open their mouth, its a lie.

Count on it like the sun rising.

[Crusty Juggler]

This is what I heard...

[Free Society]

The sacrifice: Gawker has been left behind. The battered flagship?the tattered black pirate flag of H.L. Mencken still flapping?lingers on the web like a ghost ship, the crew evacuated.

So Nick Denton wants to claim that Gawker is some kind of heir to HL Mencken. Not sure he's read very much HL Mencken....

[Lee Genes]

That was my favorite little bit of hubris.

[John]

Haven't you ever read the Mencken compilation of stolen sex tapes?

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Does Nick actually know who H.L Mencken was?

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Holy shit, that's gold.

[Injun, as in from India]

Singer Chris Brown was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon yesterday after a 14-hour standoff with Los Angeles police. Brown is now out on bail.

From the article:

Brown has been in repeated legal trouble since his felony conviction in the 2009 assault of his then-girlfriend, Rihanna.

So he's had a felony conviction, which means he can't have a gun. He lives in California, which has lots of "common sense gun regulations".

Yet, he had a gun. Yet, he had drugs.

Still, Gavin Nuisance wants to go after the people's Second Amendment right because... FYTW.

[robby's #1 fan]

They just need to regulate harder.

[John]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....olumn.html

At what point can we start calling Chicago a failed Narco State?

[UnCivilServant]

Start?

We've classified it as such a long time ago.

[Citizen X]

Pretty sure that ship sailed during Prohibition.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

O'Connor, a detective for 30 years who also worked with federal agencies, was assigned to write a white paper analyzing the murders for the mayor.

Well, there's your problem: white privilege.

[Rhywun]

The writer is claiming there aren't "enough" cops. Uh huh.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

You know who else likely wants more cops?

[Derpetologist]

Top story on CNN is about declining African elephant population. The solution, of course, is to ban ivory more harderer.
"The patient ails, more leaches!"

They note that Botswana, ZImbabwe, and South Africa have stable or increasing elephant populations but fail to note that hunting elephants is legal in those countries.

Cause and effect? What's that?

Herpy derpy derpity doo!

Stossel's solution to endangered species: eat the tigers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSPkVoGx5c4

[UnCivilServant]

Those same countries also have complaints about the fact that they have stockpiles of ivory from their overpopulation of elephants that they can't do anything with because of the trade bans.

[Injun, as in from India]

Countries with ivory stockpiles like the above, and countries like Ireland which don't want to mug Apple should say f*** off and do their own thing.

[John]

Maybe if you flooded the market with ivory, the price would go down and the incentive to poach go down with it. It is just so crazy it might work.

[Glide]

Solution: give the ivory from the stockpiles to homeless people.

Ivory stockpiles disposed of. Ivory no longer desirable as status symbol. Poor receive something for free. BOOM. Three birds with one stone.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

"Savor the Tigers"?

[Agile Cyborg]

A single Saudi nickle tossed into the Clinton foundation should have instantly melted the resolve of social justice battalions to congregate behind the dark grandmother.

Every fucking ideology seems to be built with strange creatures scrabbling in its closets but modern American progressives have become the epitome of a putrified mentality bent on scourging with a shockingly proud idiocy any shred of intelligence and ethics from its collective cognition.

A centered individual avoiding the constraints common to all ideologies can witness cankers rotting the core far more readily than those immersed in conceptual structures- but the American progressive has without question fallen the deepest into blight. Peering arrogantly through the translucent remnants of their decline they jeer and whine at vaporous distractions as they pompously elevate the meaningless, promote the despot, and shred the critical thinking skills once touted and lofted against ideological adversaries.

Mealy-mouthed sterility devoid of conscience forms the contemporary parasite liquefying the brains of Americans addicted to the emotional high of cause-thumping.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, but it's HER TURN!

[Eternal Blue Sky]

It's the Age of Labels, man.

It don't matter what you ARE as long as you call yourself the right things. Heaven forbid you call yourself the wrong things. And God help you if you refuse to call yourself by the labels of the two top labelmakers.

[A Cynic's Guide to Zen]

Don't lose hope, homo roboticus, there's always the possibility of the Norks or Ottomans starting WW3. Maybe we can all come together in the nuclear afterglow and talk about our feelings, our thoughts, and our hairy tumors.

[Domestic Dissident]

The dirty little not so secret about the so-called "progressives" is that most of them despise Hillary as much or more than the establishment republicans loathe Trump. Of course, their lust for power will reluctantly drive most of them to vote for her anyway.

You can tell how hated she is because in the big progressive shitholes like New York, DC, and San Francisco you're still more likely to see a Block Yomomma bumper sticker on the back of a car than a Hillary sticker. And we're at the point in the cycle now where you shouldn't be able to go ten or fifteen minutes without seeing one in those places.

[Injun, as in from India]

Scalia's death and Trump winning the GOP nomination and losing the general is going to have serious impact for the next 20-30 years.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

They hate her, but the media will ignore or downplay that, so it seems like only Trump is the one causing discord among the respective bases. Which matters because many people are apparently hesitant to vote for someone who seems like he'll lose (which is retarded, of course). Additionally, as you point out, the proggies lust for power will win out over any moral or philosophical qualms they have against supporting someone evil like Hilldog.

[bacon-magic]

Agile,
You are the truth naked.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Bizarro Animal Farm

In a totalitarian state, there's a chasm between daily life and the media. Daily life is awful, but the media trumpets the glory of the status quo.

The West now has a comparable chasm between daily life and the media, but it goes in the opposite direction. Daily life is wonderful: Unless you actively hunt for outliers, you're surrounded by well-fed, healthy, safe, comfortable people enjoying a cornucopia of amusement. The media, however, uses the vastness of the world to show us non-stop terror, hate, fear, brutality, and poverty?not just in the Third World, but right here at home.

Why would the media strive to make audiences doubt their own two eyes? In the Soviet Union, the explanation is obvious: The Party used its media monopoly to brainwash its citizens into accepting, if not relishing, their wretched existence.

It's tempting to tell a mirror image story for the West: Hostile journalists seek to undermine a glorious world they hate. But even if these cartoonish motives were operative, Western media is manifestly competitive, so you have to ask, "Why hasn't competition stopped the brainwashing?" The only credible response is that media consumers like hearing about a world of terror, hate, fear, brutality, and poverty.

Quoted mostly in full. What's the deal? It's clear why the right wants to buck status quo this year. Why the left, too?

[John]

Mostly because the left that built the Soviet Union was evil and utterly fanatical about a totally hopeless ideology but they were at least rational insofar as they had a plan and an ideology that was internally consistent, although based on completely false assumptions.

The left today doesn't even have that. It is to put it bluntly insane. It doesn't even bother with internal rationality. It is a romantic anti rational movement more similar to fascism than old school Marxism. And the most cherished romantic notion among leftists is the idea that they are a small force of outsiders fighting for justice against the evil establishment. That is sort of the Jungian archetype for every leftist. And since they are an anti-rational and romantic movement, the whole point is to live and comport oneself a certain way. Live to a particular archetype. So it doesn't matter that they control the culture and are the establishment. Taking over and creating something in the real world stopped being the point after communism failed so miserably. Now it is about each leftist living their own personal archetype and struggle for the good. That is the entire purpose of the movement. And that purpose doesn't change just because they control everything.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

I think you (and Caplan too) are diving too deep: any or all of that may be true in abstraction, but in practical political terms, change candidates are what the public wants to see after a two-term president. The right wants a total repudiation of Obama's legacy, and Clinton (now that she can no longer pivot away from Obama) is offering to double down on his socialist promises. If she wins, the lefty media will return to penning glowing affirmations of her performance and, by reflection, Obama's. In fact, the mainstream media may asphyxiate #BLM and similar racial grievance movements simply because they're useful agents of change during election season and a pet cause for Obama, not so much for a white woman who's trying to power through her crony agenda.

[VG Zaytsev]

BLM is an AstroTurf organization whose only intent is to agitate black people to the point that they vote en mass for Hillary, which the otherwise would not have done. As such, they'll complete disappear after the election, whether Hill wins or loses.

[Domestic Dissident]

The West now has a comparable chasm between daily life and the media, but it goes in the opposite direction. Daily life is wonderful: Unless you actively hunt for outliers, you're surrounded by well-fed, healthy, safe, comfortable people enjoying a cornucopia of amusement.

This was never totally 100% true, and it's becoming less true now by the day. It absolutely seems that way if you cocoon yourself in the DC Beltway, or Wall Street, or Silicon Valley. But did this guy see the recent riots in the ghettos of Baltimore and Milwaukee? Nothing at all amusing about them, unless you're a sick motherfucker.

Also, more or more of hillbilly rural America is slowly degenerating into a miserable existence where people are eking out survival on welfare, deep fried oreos, and heroin. You don't even have to hunt that hard and far to see it.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

It absolutely seems that way if you cocoon yourself in the DC Beltway

Only if you're a certain type of DC-er. Outside of the Northwest quadrant, DC has some of the worst poverty and violence in the country, as does neighboring Prince George County. It's segregated off, so that most of the residents are able to ignore it.

[Mr. Flanders]

Yep, this.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

I know I'm going to regret this, but I have to ask: do you really think the ghettos of Baltimore or Milwaukee, or hillbilly America, reflect the national attitude, let alone its condition?

I live in a very poor state by national standards, but (likely) the second richest city by state standards and a middling neighborhood within that city. I can walk about ten minutes south or east, across just one busy avenue, and find slums. We're no strangers to poverty here. But even given that fact, I enjoy the sort of life my grandparents would have found indulgent and even my parents would have thought excessive. I want for nothing, I work as little as I like, I eat as much as I like, my hobbies are various and leisurely, and I enjoy some top-notch entertainment. My most pressing concerns have very little to do with me, e.g. abstract reforms in criminal justice. All this while earning less than twenty grand a year.

It was reactionary thinking about poverty in the 60s that spurred the war on same, and look what it's gotten us: more and worse poverty. That's not to say it's not important, but national policy isn't a solution, it's the start of a new host of problems. Much better to focus on local policy, like challenging welfare culture (or getting the fuck out, if you can't), and challenging calcified political monopolies.

[Domestic Dissident]

I completely understand that inner city Baltimore is no more entirely representative of America than Malibu is. I also understand that in some ways, I have a better life than an 18th century French king did. And I also understand that even poor Americans are better off in most ways than the average person in most of the world. I'm not dumb; there's no other place or time that I'd rather exist in than modern America.

All I'm saying is that it drives me nuts when the super comfortable rich and upper middle class among us just sort of blithely assume that everyone in the country is as happy, comfortable, and amused as they are, like that guy in the linked piece seems to. Because it's definitely not true.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Fair enough. Like I said, it's not that it's not a problem, it's that it's a problem that can't be solved nationally. There are certainly national reforms that would help: lowering the corporate tax rate (all tax rates, for that matter), ending the war on everything, limiting the scope and scale of federal bureaucracies that interfere with states and businesses, all that good libertarian red meat. But I have serious doubts that gang activity ruining parts of Chicago would cease, or welfare dependency in Baltimore would decline, or that Detroit would revive like Jon Snow full of vim and vigor. There are too many intransigent local fiefdoms run by cynical race hucksters, cronies, and unionists.

We can't bring democracy to Syria, we can't even bring it to Baltimore.

[Krabappel]

I had Caplan @ GMU for Public Finance and his perspective is coming from the "big picture, history of the world, things have never been better" aspect which I agree with you does not necessarily reflect average American attitudes. Most people lack historical perspective. He's a very happy-go-lucky anarchist.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Yeah, I like Caplan quite a bit. Although sometimes I want to slow his lectures down by a quarter.

[BigT]

Self-loathing is the core of Judeo-Xtian morals.

[VG Zaytsev]

Yep. Progressivism is best understood as a heretical strand of Christianity.

[Idle Hands]

Social Justice Warriors Push Teen to Suicide:

An official inquest has heard that a teenage girl named Phoebe Connop in the United Kingdom posted a photoshopped image of herself with darkened skin and wearing a headscarf on Instagram. She shared the image with friends, and jokingly suggested that she'd only get the approval of the parents of the boy she was interested in, who is of South Asian descent, if she resembled the edited photograph.

Unfortunately for her, the image was shared outside her private circle of friends, and Connop feared a backlash that would lead to her being branded a racist and subsequently ostracized. So Phoebe Connop, age 16, took her own life.

Social Media can be awful.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

I'm trying to think of the last time one of those white supremacist Christian conservative bigots who wants to put women back in chains (in other words, a man who believes in limiting late-term abortions) managed to shame someone into committing suicide.

Seems like it's every other week the social justice jihadis manage to off someone or one of their own.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Also, I'll be damned if my child, if Tumblr or its ilk is still around by then, will have access to it. Teens are dumb even without forming masturbatory self-flagellating cults to their own victimhood.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

It sounds like she "feared" a backlash, not that she actually experienced one.

[ant1sthenes]

SJWs basically operate by cyberbullying, and on the principle that literally the only virtue is tolerance (as defined by them, thus excluding intolerance of the many people they hate).

[Sevo]

Under "You can't make this stuff up" heading:

"Public health problems in Oakland linked to housing crisis"
[...]
"Hypertension and asthma rates are increasing as residents grapple with increased rents and lack of stability. The associated stress can cause depression, anxiety and even schizophrenia, according to a new study"
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bay.....193855.php

And which organization with impeccable cred found this relationship?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Health Department and the Oakland research firm PolicyLink Center for Infrastructure Equity."
Yep, a blood-sucking government organization and a division of "The Committee to Justify Stealing Your Money"

[Injun, as in from India]

If they use this study to abolish zoning bullshit and ease the building permit process, that would be good.

But what will happen is the opposite: rent control to screw landlords and rent subsidies to screw taxpayers.

[Idle Hands]

Nearly 400 Teens Busted at Booze-Soaked Long Island House Party:

An end-of-summer party turned into booze-soaked rager on Long Island, as cops caught nearly 400 teens at a house in Great Neck.
Nassau County Police said they responded Tuesday night to a house on Old Mill Rd., where they found "a large house party consisting of approximately 400 people, most of whom were underage."

How big do the houses get in Long Island?

[paranoid android]

How big do the houses get in Long Island?

Well, a thinly fictionalized version of Great Neck was the setting for The Great Gatsby, so pretty damn big.

[The Fusionist]

"Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a chief strategist for ISIS, has been killed in Syria."

There's more turnover in terrorist groups' Number Two spot than in The Prisoner.

[Rock Action]

Fantasy football arises and goes into all those places you were afraid to talk about:

We need some people for our fantasy league. It's the H&R version. Yeah, these are California P.M. links. Maybe I should change my screen name to Rock ActioniinCA.

Anyway, you can contact me at [e-mail] to get an invite to the most prestigious, stat-driven, rational place in town. You want VBD? We got it. You want zero-RB upside drafting? Someone will do it. Hell, we even had some guy blow his free agent budget on James Starks last year and it worked swimmingly.

Let us know. It's all about the national weekly holiday that the Protestant Work Ethic hates, but we love.

Peace,

RA

[robc]

Plus it leads to marriages and kids.

[Rock Action]

And tears. Lots and lots of tears.

[SFC B]

Losing to Tulpa by like .02 points is the lowlight of my life. My father died when I was 12. I've been divorced. Lost a house. Had a sub-500 credit score and almost needed bankruptcy. Losing to Tupla by like 1 yard is what haunts me though.

[BigT]

Trump 45 Hildog 41

I think Trump will win handily.

http://graphics.latimes.com/us.....dashboard/

Cytotoxic weeps salty tears.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Well, there's some good news for a change.

[ant1sthenes]

I wouldn't exactly say "good" news. It's more like the doctor telling you "Hey, it looks like that abnormal mass we found in your pancreas wasn't metastatic cancer; it was just a nest of flesh-eating spider hatchlings. We should be able to operate and get them all out."

[tarran]

It's not the popular vote that matters.

Right now RCP predicts the electoral college vote will break down as follows:

Clinton/Kaine: 272 votes;
Toss Ups: 112
Trump/Pence: 154

Basically, things have to dramatically change before Trump has any chance of winning. Meaning my wife is going to win our bet! God damn it!

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Hey, maybe if she wins electorally but loses the popular vote, she'll concede that she has no mandate and will govern humbly.

[tarran]

Sarcasm?

[Citizen X]

My brain refuses to entertain any other possibility.

[commodious, an attendant lord]

Have you ever known a Clinton to flout the law or public opinion?

[tarran]

Ah. Sarcasm.

[Free Society]

Big Bang Theory- A show about smart people, made for dumb people.

[John]

A show about dorky socially inept men who get unbelievably hot women despite not having a lot of money.

[ant1sthenes]

Mainly different from other sitcoms because they are less fat and more dorky?

[Free Society]

It's quite like most things produced by the broadcast networks in the last 15ish years, it's terrible. It's a show that panders to the crowd that considers themselves nerds and science buffs because they've watched Star Wars and Neil deGrasse Tyson on the history channel. It's made for an audience that like to feel smart when they understand the joke contained within some 9th grade science jargon recited by Sheldon. Not to say that's all of the fanbase, but those are the viewers that keep the lights on.

[Mainer2]

Melissa Rauch

http://iceage.wikia.com/wiki/Melissa_Rauch

[John]

That is based upon state polls that are of dubious and uneven reliability. I understand that it is about the electoral college. But the fact remains, the winner of the popular vote has won every election in my lifetime except one. And that was a very close vote. When it comes to a conflict between the national polls and the state polls, I am going with the national polls. Whoever wins, it will likely be the winner of the popular vote.

[Citizen X]

Is it true that, if Trump wins, Cytotoxic has sworn to stay in Canada?

[Lord at War]

He has to let Lena Dunham and Barbra Streisand move into the basement with him.

[morganpage]

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