A.M. Links: Obama vs. Trump, Ryan Lochte Suspended for 10 Months, More Arrests in Notre Dame Terror Plot

• 

  White House / Flickr.com

  Barack Obama: Donald Trump's "wacky ideas" disqualify him from the presidency.

• Ryan Lochte has been suspended from swimming for 10 months by the U.S. Olympic Committee.
• Hillary Clinton's emails with Colin Powell have been released.
• Additional arrests have been made in France in connection with a car that was packed with gas cylinders and parked near Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.
• "Britain should start talks to leave the European Union as soon as possible, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Thursday, adding weight to calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to start the formal divorce procedure."
• Radley Balko: Why "bite-mark matching is junk science."

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

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Ryan Lochte has been suspended from swimming for 10 months by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

After eating.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Brochettaward]

I'm sick and god damn tired of all this bureaucracy in sports suspending players for things that have nothing to do with the actual god damn sport.

This country is getting conservative on all the most stupid things, and getting liberal on most of the other stupid things.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

In fairness, they do represent the organizations that send them off to do their thing. Lochte brought himself and the organization into disrepute. Well, further disrepute in the latter case. Is USOC as openly corrupt as the IOC?

[Cyto]

This much is true, but beyond that is the truth that he's been overly maligned for the incident.

The video and post-mortm on the damage seems to show little of significance occurred.

And the video backs up the basics of his version, which he then embellished upon to make himself look better.

Plus, you have to factor in that he is barely smart enough to be functional.

I think they've lost their minds on this one. He embarrassed them and himself, but in the end it was actually no big deal and no honest prosecutor could reasonably claim that he filed a false report based on what has been revealed. He may have been wrong on some of the details, but his version of the overall picture is certainly defensible from his point of view at the time.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

There are two kinds of people in the world, Lochte: those who think, and those who swim. You swim.

[Steve G]

Oh noes, he'll miss the next olympi...oh, wait

[Eternal Blue Sky]

What IS the point on a ten month ban from an, at most, biannual event??

[Zeb]

There are other major competitive swimming events besides the Olympics.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

But he was banned "by the Olympic Committee", or has the Olympics grown so big now that they call the shots in other competitions as well??

[Zeb]

Oh, right. I was thinking it was the Swimming Association (or whatever it's called).

[Chip Woodier]

All swimmers returning from Brazil can't swim until the diarrhea subsides.

[Brett L]

Boo! Come in second next time and give us the quality we're used to.

[Bee Tagger]

Hillary Clinton's emails with Colin Powell have been released.

Dropped on an unprepared public like a Beyonce album.

[TheZeitgeist]

They are only ready on Fridays, preferably after everyone has gone home - including any annoying pollsters.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

No, this was a nice fat turd in the pool in the middle of the week, so there must be something that the lefty media can construe as exculpatory.

Unlike the FBI dump of Clinton's interview notes deposited quietly on a Friday before a three day weekend.

I'll say it again, Comey and Clinton should be sharing a cell.

[kinnath]

I didn't bother to read past the headline.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the.....eased.html

Unclassified Colin Powell Email to Hillary Clinton Shows He Used a Personal Account Too

[WTF]

Because having a personal account in addition to the State Dept. account is exactly the same as putting everything on a private unsecured server. Does anyone actually buy this shit?

[kinnath]

Does anyone actually buy this shit?

About half the voting population.

[Johnny Hit n Run Paulene]

Yup. The same half that is on the receiving end of entitlement spending.

[WTF]

I want to believe they don't actually buy it, but are just using it as an excuse to keep supporting their team. But who knows, maybe they really are that stupid.

[R C Dean]

If you need an excuse to keep supporting your team, then you really are that stupid.

[Rothbard'sbitch]

Not necessarily. I use the excuse that Gary Johnson will cut spending so I can support him. Despite the fact he either doesn't know or believe in fundamental libertarian principles like freedom of association.

[Tejicano]

Umm.. he was replying with a personal account because she sent it from a personal account?

[Zeb]

Even if Colin Powell and Dick Cheney and everyone else in the Bush administration was doing the same thing, it doesn't matter. You don't get a "get out of jail free" card because someone else got away with the same crime you committed (well, I guess you do if you are Hillary, but you know what I mean).

[SFC B]

I love the lefty response that is treating this like it's some sort of huge vindication.

"HAHA! Colin Powell did it too and you're not wanting him investigated!"

No, go ahead and haul him before Senate committees. Have him explain how classified info wound up on his AOL account. They're both wrong. He can share a cell with Hillary for all I care.

[R C Dean]

Have him explain how classified info wound up on his AOL account.

Did it?

[SFC B]

I have no clue. That was something I'd seen in glancing in the latest story about Powell advising Clinton how to evade shit. Whether it's accurate or not doesn't concern me so much as the Hillary-enablers somehow thinking "If you hold Hillary responsible for this it means you must do that to Powell and Rice!" implies they should be left off the hook.

If some previous high official mishandled classified info, and that is discovered investigating Hillary, awesome. Go get them too!

[Bee Tagger]

Ryan Lochte has been suspended from swimming for 10 months by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

That includes baths, Lochte. Better get used to showering like an adult.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It doesn't seem the phrase "like an adult" is in Lochte's vocabulary.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

226) I'm so happy, Slate has finally landed on someone to replace the old Marcotte beat!

Donald Trump is splitting a ton of spouses against each other

By the end, I couldn't even get outraged over Amanda, her shtick was too funny. Anyway, this Cauterucci lady is off to a nice start, what with the bizarre post last week on how sexist people are when assigning imaginary couples with chores, and now today's.

Here's a good quote: "Guys just assume who their wives are voting for," Lake told the Guardian. "And I think some women go, 'Sure, honey,'" but then go vote for someone else."

Yeah, because guys never, ever do the "Sure, honey," thing. Only women. Men are too busy mansplaining politics to their wives to have time for that.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Trump is gonna start Civil War II.

[geo1113]

ivil War II - now it's personal.

[geo1113]

Civil!

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Doesn't sound too civil to me!

[R C Dean]

Yup, we'll have to declare marital law if Trump gets elected.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

The headlines of other hard-hitting recent Cauterucci posts:

Lavishly Decorated Ole Miss Dorm Rooms Offend Me

Here's a New Sex Thing to Try: A Manatee Mating Ball

[Princess Trigger]

The Mind boogles.

[MetalBard]

Oh come on! That last one has to be made up.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Here you go:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_....._ball.html

Unfortunately, the content in no way lives up to the headline.

[Rich]

Manatee Mating Ball

Nice album name.

[SugarFree]

Eh. She just doesn't give good crazy like Marcotte. Mandy always seemed like she had sane "what am I doing with my life" moments but pushed on through them to new sort of nuts; Cauterucci is just sort of dim and thinks she is so witty in that way boring ideologies always think they are so witty.

I want my feminist attack dog snarling, you know?

[Rasilio]

You have a dog just to attack Feminists? Where can I get one of them?

[thrakkorzog]

I'm gonna go with #3 as the not.

Hey wait a second, you're not Derpetologist.

[C. Anacreon]

I think her name, Cauterucci, means 'cauterized' in Italian.

If you cauterize too many arterioles flowing to the brain, you'd get these kind of articles every time.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Only progressives can make sex boring.

[Tejicano]

Otherwise known as fucking up a wet dream

[Brett L]

"Maybe I, too, can have a smoking hot model wife"

[Lord Humungus]

Bank Robbery Suspect: Incarceration Beats Living With Wife

Court documents say Lawrence John Ripple gave a note to a bank teller in Kansas City on Friday, demanding cash and warning he had a gun. Ripple took the money and went to sit in the lobby where he told a guard he was the "guy he was looking for."

Officers arrived quickly. An FBI agent wrote in the affidavit that Ripple had earlier been arguing with his wife. He told investigators he wrote the note in front of his wife, telling her he would "rather be in jail than at home."

Ripple was charged with bank robbery Tuesday.

[tarran]

If I were the judge, I'd sentence him to house arrest. 😉

[WTF]

That would be cruel but hilarious.

[Bee Tagger]

Barack Obama: Donald Trump's "wacky ideas" disqualify him from the presidency.

What about his tobacky ideas?

[Slammer]

"this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal ..."

[Princess Trigger]

"this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal ..."

spoiler: it wasn't

[Injun, as in from India]

"If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan. Period.

[Groovus Maximus]

He meant to imply that womyn's female hygiene products would be, "free." Just poor wording.

[Raven Nation]

In a right-thinking world, creating government-run health care and massive regulatory overreach would be considered wacky ideas.

[Homple]

Sending $1,700,000,000 in hard currency notes of small denominations to the world's biggest terrorism financier seems wackier than anything I've heard Donald Trump suggest.

[R C Dean]

I'm still agog at what it must have taken to assemble that much currency in one place. Of the currencies used, it may have been half of all the currency in existence. The US only has about $1BB or so in circulation at any given time, after all.

[Injun, as in from India]

Obama's idea to accept the Nobel Peace Participation Trophy was one of the wackiest of his presidency.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

He's also got some wicky-wacky Woo.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hillary Clinton's emails with Colin Powell have been released.

And they are steamy.

[Brochettaward]

You would never know that there was an entire State Department IG report issued by an Obama appointee who flat-out said the comparisons between Hillary and Powell don't make sense.

[ant1sthenes]

So the story always goes. White woman gets in trouble, tries to deflect by putting all the blame on a black man.

[R C Dean]

I would probably die of laughter if Trump were to put that out as an ad.

[Rich]

Paging SugarFree ....

[SugarFree]

I don't do epistolary fiction. Too mannered. Too constrained.

[Rich]

Well, some episiotomy fiction, then?

[Groovus Maximus]

As if the years of abuse hurled at Epi'sPenis on these here threads hasn't snaked your undulating pixel lust yet, Rich? I'll bet you EpiLady your palms too...

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Oscar Wilde: "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train."

[TheZeitgeist]

Pr0n over modemz back in Colin's day was kinda slow anyways; can't even tell WTF is going on in the low-res GIF, all just undulating pixels.

[SugarFree]

undulating pixels

This is how we got Agile Cyborg.

[Groovus Maximus]

This is how we got Agile Cyborg.

I figured it was an Axotl tank customised with Basic Cable TV, and the channel got left on a scrambled nudie channel by mistake.

[Tejicano]

Well, yeah. But that was before Zeus himself jerked off into it and it became a lifeforce in and of itself.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

I don't do epistolary fiction. Too mannered. Too constrained.

Too cringy in Weiner's case.

[R C Dean]

When I start writing fiction, after I retire, I plan to give a 100% epistolary novel a go. What with text, email, etc., I think you could actually do suspense in that format these days.

[Lord Humungus]

Insane Clown Posse fan severs friend's pinky in ritual to commemorate Juggalo

A criminal complaint says Schrap and his friends were staging a "ritualistic memorial" to commemorate a deceased member of the Juggalos, the name given fans of the Detroit rap duo Insane Clown Posse.

WBAY-TV reports court documents say a 27-year-old woman allowed Schrap to cut her arm with a machete. Prosecutors say she also let Schrap cut off one of her pinky fingers.

The mother of the woman's boyfriend convinced her to go to the hospital where staff called police. Court records do not list a defense attorney.

[Lee Genes]

So why is he being prosecuted if she was willing?

[Cyto]

practicing medicine without a license?

[Slammer]

Faygo is a helluva anesthetic

[MetalBard]

How are these people still a thing? I've never seen a group more universally despised then Juggalos.

[SugarFree]

They bond over that outcast status, despite Faygo and ripping off KISS fans is the most quotidian of actions in America's trailer parks.

[(((Renegade)))]

KISS ripped off Alice Cooper. It's ripoffs all the way down.

[SugarFree]

And Alice Cooper was just reverse-Al Jolson.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

Especially since Alice Cooper ripped off Screamin' Jay Hawkins. But Hawkins actually may have made it up first, he was pretty much insane.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

From Wikipedia: Hawkins had six marriages; his last wife was 31 at his death...He had three children with his first wife and claimed variously to have 57 or 75 in total.

[Homple]

Here's more from Wikipedia. Can some Hawkins scholar separate the jokes from the factual for me?

Hawkins had six marriages; his last wife was 31 at his death. Singing partner Shoutin' Pat Newborn stabbed him in jealousy when he married Wailin' Virginia Sabellona. He had three children with his first wife and claimed variously to have 57 or 75 in total. After his death, his friend and biographer Writin' Maral Nigolian set up a website to trace these children,[20] identifying 33, at least 12 of whom met at a 2001 reunion.

[Slammer]

Arthur Brown, too

[(((Renegade)))]

Yes, of course, how could I forget? That band that gave us Carl Palmer and the desire for click-tracks.

[The Last American Hero]

+1 Fire Helmet

[Rasilio]

Furries

[R C Dean]

I've never seen a group more universally despised then Juggalos.

Well, other than libertarians.

[Chip Woodier]

Wait. What was the crime again?

[SugarFree]

Not saying that she wanted to transition to being a four-fingered person. Ever since she was a child she has felt that deep down she was always meant to be a Simpsons character.

[Chip Woodier]

Orange chicks give me a boehner.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Barack Obama: Donald Trump's "wacky ideas" disqualify him from the presidency.

Get a load of Joe the Plumber over here.

[Steve G]

Trump's not the only one capable of "linguistic kill shots"!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Additional arrests have been made in France in connection with a car that was packed with gas cylinders and parked near Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

Can't people let their Citroens burn naturally, like during work riots?

[Bee Tagger]

Britain should start talks to leave the European Union as soon as possible

Truly, a time of Breavement.

[Lord Humungus]

Bigfoot, minus a foot, has new home in Middlesboro museum

Bigfoot exists, and the critter stands, more than seven feet tall, in Middleboro's city museum.

By stands we mean a little bit precariously, because he is jerry-rigged with stuffing that includes wads of newspaper coupon inserts. He also lacks one foot, which may be fortunate, because the foot he has is adorned with toenails so long they look like they could slice through a man with a single badly placed step.

Once this mighty Bigfoot was stuffed with animal organs and frozen as part of an elaborate scam, with only a bit of intestine hanging out that could be touched to prove that he was once shuffling among the living.

...

The 2008 scam perpetrated by two Georgia men who claimed they had the frozen "corpse" of a Bigfoot. They contacted Bigfoot enthusiast Tom Biscardi. He and his supporters paid $50,000 for the creature. Biscardi paid the money because he has been searching for the creature for decades, and if this was really Bigfoot, $50,000 was an investment, he said.

Or so he thought.

But, as it turns out, the animal was just a 7'7" costume. It was stuffed with animal organs, sure, but none of them original to an actual Bigfoot (if there is, in fact, an actual Bigfoot, ahem). The eyes were pigs' eyes.

[thrakkorzog]

Of course it's a scam. Everyone know that Bigfoots are naturally blurry.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Once this mighty Bigfoot was stuffed with animal organs and frozen as part of an elaborate scam"

Sounds like a pretty good Thanksgiving to me.

[geo1113]

Sasquaturducken

[Swiss Servator]

*applause*

[Swiss Servator]

STEVE SMITH NOT 7'7" - HIM ONLY 7'6". EASY WAY TO TELL FAKE!

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

STEVE SMITH SAY IMITATION SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY!

[Citizen X]

FLATTERY NOT PROTECTION AGAINST RAPE, HOWEVER.

[Fist of Etiquette]

...adding weight to calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to start the formal divorce procedure.

"I think we should see other continents."

[Lee Genes]

Powell also told Clinton in 2009 "the real issue had to do with PDAs, as we called them a few years ago before Blackberry became a noun."
He said officials at the State Department refused to allow them in secure spaces and when he resisted "they gave me all kinds of nonsense about how they gave out signals and could be read by spies, etc."

Utter nonsense I'm sure.

[Princess Trigger]

I guess he missed that class in Command college about how radios work.

[Lee Genes]

If anything, this whole episode just lowers my respect for Powell as opposed to vindicating the Hillbot

[tarran]

Col. Hackworth had a scathing analysis of Colin Powell's army career in his sequel to About Face.

Basically, he accused Powell of being one of the "perfumed princes", incompetents who fail ever upwards, that polluted the Army's ranks. His evidence was the early rotation Powell had from command appointments and the fact that he spent most of his time in staff jobs with dubious accomplishments.

[Lee Genes]

If you were to present me with two options a retired colonel and a retired 4-star general and say "pick the more competent one", I would always pick the colonel.

Colonel seems to be the highest rank that anyone with a functioning brainstem and moral compass seems to achieve.

[Cyto]

Or put differently, Colonel is a high as ability as a commander will take you. Climbing any higher requires political acumen.

[R C Dean]

Powell always struck me as an establishment tool, whose purpose in life was to give olive green cover to whatever idiocy came down from DC.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

If anything, this whole episode just lowers my respect for Powell as opposed to vindicating the Hillbot

Pretty much. It shows just how entitled these assholes are and how they feel that the rules don't apply to them. I have no problem with the idea of throwing him in jail, too.

[Rich]

Obama Says Trump's 'Wacky Ideas' Show He's Not Qualified for Job

One supposes they're not sufficiently wacky for Obama. "Cash for Clunkers" -- now, *that* was a wacky idea!

[Doctor Whom]

Not even the biggest Obots of my acquaintance tried to defend that.

[spqr2008]

Possibly because they've tried to buy a used car in the last, oh, 7 years?

[Rasilio]

Lol I've had more than a couple of OBots bitching on Facebook about how hard it is to find a cheap functional used car and their minds were blown when I explained to them why it was so.

[perlchpr]

"Yes, that's because the asshole president spent your tax dollars destroying them for you, to make sure that the price of used cars for poor people was higher."

[Lord Humungus]

a followup to an earlier story:

Slovenia toasts 'Europe's first beer fountain'

Several hundred beer-lovers and curious spectators gathered in a small town in Slovenia on Tuesday for the inauguration of what is billed as Europe's first "beer fountain".

Zalec's new attraction, dreamed up by local entrepreneurs a few years ago, will not be gushing out gallons of amber nectar for thirsty visitors to scoop up and guzzle as they please, however.

Six euros ($6.75) gets you a special glass with a microchip that allows customers to pour a very modest decilitre of beer five times from any of the five different taps.

"The point is not letting people get drunk here, we want to promote the culture of drinking beer," said mayor Janko Kos, insisting the beer was still competitively priced compared to other countries.

[Private Chipperbot]

Can someone translate into American how much beer I'm getting for $6.75?

[Lord Humungus]

A decilitre is twenty-five congius, unless they are using the metric system, then it's 1.2 quartarius.

[WTF]

About 17 ounces, or a little over a pint glass full.

[C. Anacreon]

Three furlongs.

[Groovus Maximus]

One is bad enough, but three?

[Citizen X]

12 parsecs.

[R C Dean]

You people are embarrassing. A decilitre is 1/4 of a hectare. Geez.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Obama saying Trump isn't qualified to be President is rich.

[MetalBard]

Better get used to it. Obama isn't going to simply retire with dignity like past presidents, he'll be on the news running his mouth for the next 40 years.

[Guy Behind the Guy, Jr.]

This is the part where what I want to say would likely draw the attention of Preet Bhahara, so I'll just say that I hope Obama retires quietly.

[Doctor Whom]

Since when do messiahs retire with dignity?

[Rasilio]

If Hillary wins (which is probably will) what is the over/under on him getting a Supreme Court nomination?

That might have even been the quid pro quo that kept her out of jail

[tarran]

She ain't nominating him.

Seriously. I doubt he will make it through the Senate. No, she may have promised, but she won't be getting the super-majority she needs to ram the moron through. No she'll knife him in the back, and he'll take it, like the bitch he is.

[R C Dean]

I doubt he wants a SCOTUS nom. Too much work. Not enough glamour. He likes being a celebrity. Whatever he does after this election will be something allows him to continue to hobnob with rappers and basketball players. Preferably on someone else's dime.

[R C Dean]

I don't recall sitting Presidents who aren't running for re-election attacking the other party's candidate. Am I just not remembering, or is Obama setting a new low here?

[Slammer]

Man found naked, beaten, robbed, then arrested for public intoxication on his birthday

A man who was found beaten bloody, nearly naked, and apparently robbed of several hundred dollars was then arrested by police for public intoxication. According to the report, it was also his birthday.

Florida Man on vacation!

[(((Renegade)))]

Hah, now we know why Epi hasn't been posting!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why "bite-mark matching is junk science."

Ice teeth are the perfect weapon.

[R C Dean]

*jots note for epistolary novel*

[Lord Humungus]

Car loans now top $1 trillion as delinquency rates rise

The total balance of all outstanding auto loans reached $1.027 trillion between April 1 and June 30, the second consecutive quarter that it surpassed the $1-trillion mark, reports Experian Automotive.

More consumers also are turning to leases, which accounted for 31.44% of all new car and truck transactions in the second quarter, up from 26.9% a year earlier.

Both 30- and 60-day loan delinquencies rose, but the combined subprime and deep-subprime share of new and used auto loans and leases dropped from 23.3% in the second quarter of 2015 to 22.8% in second quarter of 2016.

[Lee Genes]

Economy's great, nothing to worry about at all

[Just a thought not a sermon]

A simple misunderstanding.

Obama official: So how's the auto business these days?

Auto executive: Well, our loan portfolio is mostly outstanding.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Looks like it's time for the government to take in and destroy any trades again. Because dramatically reducing the used, cheap inventory available has done wonders for people being able to afford transportation.

[Chipwooder]

Thank you. People act as if cash for clunkers never happened. 665,000 used cars taken out of the market drove prices up?? How could that be?

[Lord Humungus]

I needed to buy a used car - right after Cash for Clunkers. There wasn't anything reasonably priced out there. I ended up getting an '01 Accord that I paid way to much for - and boy did I hate that car.

[Chipwooder]

The prices still suck. Good luck finding a decent used car under $15K. I ended up buying a piece of crap Versa that I hate because I simply don't want to spend more than that, nor do I want anything with 75K+ miles.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Kara had a Versa when we met. And we bought one before but got rid of it when we started our population explosion. Dude, it's a Nissan. It'll last you 300k miles and isn't nearly as tech-heavy as most new cars which makes it quite reliable.

My guess is that you'll love that piece of crap.

[Chipwooder]

It's not horrible - I did buy it, after all - but it is so very, very slow. I have to floor it just to get on the highway safely. Noisy as hell too.

[Lord Humungus]

CVT transmission? I have a friend who has a Versa - even as a passenger the transmission felt like a rubberband. Very thrummy sounding.

[Juice]

I just bought a 3 year old Focus with 23k miles for $11k. Sporty liitle fucker. Could have gotten one with more miles for cheaper than that. Plenty of affordable used cars out there.

[Rasilio]

Um, $11k for a 3 year old compact car isn't my definition of affordable. 8 Years ago before Cash for Clunkers that same car would have been closer to $7k and since there has been little (official) inflation and no wage growth in that time it's mostly an apples to apples comparison

[Guy Behind the Guy, Jr.]

Car loans now top $1 trillion as delinquency rates rise

Yeah, but you're gettin' one helll of a car, mister. /salesman

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

I frankly don't know what else to say without doing it an injustice.

TRIGGER WARNING: more smug self-unawareness than is healthy.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Hey man, you wouldn't go to a cancer rally shouting 'All diseases matter,' would ya?"

Considering how certain "trendy" diseases attract disproportionate amounts of research dollars, this might not be a bad idea.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

You heard it here, folks: #BLM is cancer.

No more arguing with disingenuous folks who have nothing to lose.

Unlike dozens of blacks every week in Chicago who have everything to lose from police withdrawing unilaterally from their communities.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

I've grown too disillusioned to be relieved and too numb to be frustrated. I'm just tired.

This is typically a sign that your arguments are unpersuasive and your demands are untenable.

[Slammer]

Is it a requirement to only march or rally looking like a complete slob?

[robc]

A bar owner I know had a picture of an anti-prohibition march in his bar. He pointed out how nicely dressed everyone was in the photo. Men wearing suits, women dressed up nicely, etc.

We had this discussion as a bunch of hippies were protesting something on the street outside the bar. And how they werent going to succeed.

[Zeb]

Casual dress is normal now. I don't think it means much.

[robc]

Khakis and shirts with colors would have been a massive improvement.

[Zeb]

I'm sure it would.

And actually, you probably have more of a point than my initial reaction acknowledges. Had they dressed nicely, people might be more likely to take them seriously rather than just seeing some more annoying hippy-ish activists protesting something incomprehensible.

[robc]

That was exactly the point.

And I meant collars, not colors.

[Citizen X]

Michael: "And we'll have some colored greens..."

Stanley: "'COLLARD greens.'"

Michael: "That doesn't make sense. They're not called 'collard people.'"

[Slammer]

There's a difference between casual and hobo chic

[Zeb]

Goddamn kids these days.

[R C Dean]

Look at pics of the civil rights marches. Everybody was dressed like an adult. So you don't have to go back 100 years.

Only 50.

[Princess Trigger]

March? That sounds like work.
From the article:
Why are we losing solid hours out of our day, wearing our fingertips numb on keyboards and touch screens in an attempt to explain to some dense dude-bro why "All lives matter" is a messed up and functionally redundant response to "Black lives matter"?

Oh bless your heart darling. Doing God's work from you couch like that.

[Rhywun]

This makes more sense after you've realized that BLM is now just a generic hard-core leftist outfit.

[CatoTheChipper]

Has been from the beginning. Why else would the MSM give it so much attention?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Real people with real lives and real jobs and real families and real brains don't protest or march in the streets. The worst kind are the ones who bang on pots and pans.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Hey, don't knock banging pots and pans. Sometimes it's the only thing that keeps my nephew preoccupied.

[Lee Genes]

Zack Linly is a poet, performer, freelance writer, community organizer and activist living in Atlanta.

Nuff said.

[Rich]

"I give you the next President of the United States -- Zack Linly!"

[Princess Trigger]

White people be the worst.
Boycott white people.
Isolate yourself from all white institutions.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

But demand they give, give, give to the social programs that hav pe failed the black community for a half century.

[Suthenboy]

http://reason.com/blog/2016/09.....tate-wante

You joke.

[foetus]

I think he's right about the part about white people just not caring anymore. Which is way worse for him than white people being horrible racists.

[PurityDiluting]

"much of white America is more bothered by our methods of protest than they ever will be about the injustices we're protesting"
If you want someone to give a shit about your cause, shitting on them as a way to get attention isn't the way to go about it.

[Zeb]

All white people love the police, apparently.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Most white people and many blacks understand the necessity of policing even while condemning the abuses of police.

[Zeb]

The article seemed to suggest that only blacks have problems with the police and all white people just assume that the police are all great guys because no white person ever has to deal with an unreasonable cop.

[Azathoth!!]

That's because the black view of race is a frighteningly unreal thing.

White people don't think of themselves as slaveowners or descendants of slave owners--but most black people think of them that way. It's taught in black churches, it's part of holiday conversation. Black people think of white people and racism far more than white people do.

They have severely distorted views of how white people live--and, when faced with the reality of same, often think that the white people are hiding stuff from them.

That Eddie Murphy skit was hilarious to white people--and a slight exaggeration to black people--many black people laughed because Eddie was 'exposing' how white people are--with comedy.

[Get To Da Chippah]

If they really considered the affirmation of one life mattering to be a denial of the same for all others, then they would consider "Blue Lives Matter" to be just as offensive as "Black Lives Matter." But they don't.

sin,
Someone Who Smugly Misrepresents Libertarians

[Zeb]

Well, I do.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Why is anyone complaining about this? I'm fine with These People deciding I'm not worth the effort of hectoring.

I do like she he talks about Beyonce's Superbowl performance as a "win." Blacks won a battle against Whites in that halftime show, for sure!

[perlchpr]

All white people are the same, and saying so isn't at all like when white people treat all black people the same.

[If-by-whiskey]

"We need to let them [white people] cry. And we need to learn how to just sit our intellectual selves back and enjoy it."

LOL ain't dat the truth tho? All dem damn whites out there cryin & actin fools while we sittin here all chill & intellectual, & shit. Crazy ass crackas.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Britain should start talks to leave the European Union as soon as possible, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Thursday, adding weight to calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to start the formal divorce procedure."

The EU is like the wife whose husband tells her out of the blue he wants a divorce and finds a new boyfriend two weeks later.

[Rufus The Monocled]

So...rebound?

[Lord Humungus]

Kevin Williamson: Of Course Hillary's Health Is Relevant

Gary Johnson, like the man Hillary Clinton was not named for, has climbed Mount Everest (there's getting high, and then there's getting high) and is in remarkable condition for a 63-year-old man.

On the other hand, Winston Churchill drank Pol Roger like it was his job, lit up a hell of a lot more blunts on the average day than Gary Johnson does, and maintained a diet that would have horrified Michelle Obama, but he was one of the greatest leaders in modern history ? and lived to be 90 years old.

If the president of the United States of America were limited to his proper role ? chief executive of the federal bureaucracies and commander in chief in times of war ? then we might not worry too much about his health. Indeed, if ever we are able to reinvigorate this republic and return its public and private spheres to their proper roles and proportions, that will be one of the ways we know we've succeeded: "Don't worry if President Smith dies in office; we'll just get another one."

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Churchill smoked pot? I didn't know that.

[Zeb]

I figured Churchill smoked Churchills, not blunts.

[Citizen X]

If Kevin Williamson believes Hillary's health matters, John is gonna have to rethink some things.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

I've noticed Williamson has been soft-peddling his anti-Trump tendencies lately. Not so much falling in line as resigning himself to the inevitable.

[John]

NRO in general has. Ultimately, the rifts over Trump are going to have to heal. And NRO is going to have to make up with the large number of its readers Williamson and French offended. Yeah, they are backpedaling a lot.

I stand by my prediction that Williamson will not be with NRO at the end of 2017. Someone is going to have to be offered up to appease the masses and it will be Williamson. He will "move onto other opportunities" and will never be heard from again.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

I think Williamson would be content with that. I listen to his podcast with Cooke, and he sounds bored and depressed by the whole thing. Who can blame him? Years writing for a conservative publication with decades of history attempting to assert the conservative line into national dialogue, and it's boiled down to watching Trump's brand of warmed-over nationalism take over the only (worthwhile) party opposed to the progressive disease. No wonder conservative intellectuals are bailing on the GOP en masse.

I'm starting to feel the same way about libertarianism. It used to be a pleasant surprise reading about minor inroads against the national leviathan. Now it's nothing but bad news with worse on the horizon.

[Raven Nation]

During the single month of May 1949 (when Churchill was 74), his household consumed 36 bottles of whisky (Black Label), 38 bottles of port, and no less than 95 bottles of Pol Roger champagne. It is no wonder that upon his death in 1965, Madame Odette Pol-Roger "instructed that a black band of mourning" be placed around the family label.

From this book review: http://www.claremont.org/crb/a.....ice-glory/

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Mrs. Clinton's media allies (which is to say, the media, more or less) are circling the wagons on this issue, and it is curious predictable.

ftfh

[commodious dares eat a peach]

is it really so implausible that she'd lie about her health? No. She'd lie about her health even if there were nothing to lie about, just to keep in practice.

So much this. Her lying isn't just a matter of convenience, it's habitual.

[Lord Humungus]

If Hillary Wins In November, Blame Sean Hannity

This is, in fact, Hannity's favorite insult to hurl at conservatives (actual conservatives, not the ersatz Trump-worshiping kind): that any principled stand against the colossal monstrosity of Trump's candidacy will be an albatross around the neck of every dissident conservative pundit moving forward. "If [Clinton] does win," Hannity scolded Goldberg, "I will hold you responsible. Own it!!!!"

Here is a modest counterpoint: if Hillary Clinton does win the presidency, it will be, in no small part, Sean Hannity's fault.

There are, of course, a multitude of reasons Trump is the Republican presidential nominee: voters' dissatisfaction with the GOP, their profoundly misguided assumption that Trump is trustworthy in any sense of the word, the billions of free media Trump received during the primaries, the overlarge and divided Republican primary field.

But the one consistent political factor that has worked in Trump's favor since he announced his candidacy more than a year ago has been Hannity's unflagging support. Trump has appeared on "Hannity" nearly once a week since last June, so much so that one writer characterized Hannity's Trump coverage as "a serialized infomercial spanning nearly an entire year."

[Suthenboy]

The only people more deranged than Hillary supporters are the NeverTrump crowd. It pisses me off that I have to agree with Sean Hannity.

[John]

That is the dumbest thing I have read today. Most people don't even know who Sean Hanity is. Trump didn't win anything because of Sean Hannity. Here is this douchebag's bio.

Daniel Payne is a senior contributor at The Federalist. He studied Italian and English literature at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dipshit 20 something liberal arts major who has spent his entire adult life in the beltway bubble thinks absurdly stupid things. Never could have seen that coming.

[Chipwooder]

So this is another guy from VCU, like Matthew Sheffield. VCU's econ and business departments are decent, and its art school is supposedly top notch, but for everything else it's a glorified community college.

[Idle Hands]

the Postgraduate medical degrees are also good. And they have a good basketball team which is why I attended the school.

[Tak Kak]

I majored in Econ there, so I unbiasedly agree! Our engineering school is also decent.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

What sort of outsized influence do you think NRO and the #NeverTrump movement have? Hannity's preaching the gospel to a few million voters every week while #NeverTrump has a collective audience of maybe a few hundred thousand. Yet it's Hannity accusing #NeverTrump if Hillary wins. It's absolutely appropriate to slam that histrionic douche if Trump loses.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Most people don't even know who Sean Hanity is.

...Well this is a new one.

How many GOP primary voters know who Hannity is, do you think?

[PurityDiluting]

purty close to 100%

[Free Society]

There are, of course, a multitude of reasons Trump is the Republican presidential nominee: voters' dissatisfaction with the GOP,

A retarded monkey in a coma knows that.

their profoundly misguided assumption that Trump is trustworthy in any sense of the word,

He is running against a Clinton....

the billions of free media Trump received during the primaries

Millions, tens of millions maybe, but billions? No.

the overlarge and divided Republican primary field.

As opposed to the perfectly sized 1.2 viable candidates that Democratic machine put forward, out of all the possible Democrat contenders in the land.

But the one consistent political factor that has worked in Trump's favor since he announced his candidacy more than a year ago has been Hannity's unflagging support

Look at Hannity's ratings and tell me that it contains a wide swathe of the American electorate and I'll say you have a point. And even if you do have a point, it's utterly undone by the multitude of of pro-Hilary personalities in the media. Just browsing MSNBC.com you'll see literally hundreds of negative stories about Trump, and I didn't find a single neutral or positive one in the bunch, and you'll see one or two headlines about the accusations against Hilary with some scare quotes, which upon reading the article you'll see that it's just one big hand wave.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

You're welcome to click through to the NYT article, but they're estimating two billion dollars.

[Free Society]

That just sounds insane. Even if they're tallying up every bit of air time that anyone says anything that is at all remotely related to Trump, the number seems far fetched. What's Hilary's figure for "free media" exposure? She campaigns from underneath a rock, intentionally staying out of media limelight for obvious reasons and one might argue that it's some kind of injustice that she and her associated crimes don't get more air time.

Assuming that Trump gets 2 billion dollars worth of positive media exposure, (positive is what one would otherwise pay for), what is the value of the amount non-coverage that Hilary receives? What's the value of stories about Hilary that aren't prominently reported? I'd say she gets far more financial value from almost the entirety of broadcast, print and mainstream online media than Trump could ever hope to get from free media coverage.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

They're likely using the same worn out math police departments use when they make a big drug bust: the heroin seized had a street value of $100m.*

*sure, if you calculate it at the gram price rather than in bulk and if you assume the highest price imaginable.

They're probably calculating every second of coverage Trump gets at what prime time commercials cost on the network at the 30 second block price and extrapolate it out to local pricing for their dedicated advertising blocks as well.

IOW, they're full of shit.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

If it's two billion or two hundred million, it's still tons more than anyone else in a fractured field received. The media absolutely glad-handed Trump until his candidacy was inevitable. They were complicit in his rise.

[Free Society]

In that they were feverishly falling over each other to take him down for anything and everything and the whole thing apparently backfired into the most spectacular Streisand Effect presidential politics has ever seen. I wouldn't exactly call that a concerted effort to elect the guy, it appears like more of a peasant revolt against news network talking heads. To their credit, they usually destroy candidates with much greater ease so they had very little way of knowing that this would happen.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

"Hannity's audience doesn't contain a wide swathe of the [GOP primary electorate]! But MSNBC does!"

[Free Society]

I dare say that Hannity's audience overlaps with Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and a score of other conservative tv and radio personalities, and basically all of them except Hannity had been rather consistently anti-Trump during the primary campaign, most of them still are. So your argument is that Hannity is a black belt master of persuasion and all of the other hosts with better ratings and more devotees are lone voices in the wilderness..... Yeah... doesn't really justify all that smug you've got there.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Where did I make that argument? Where did Daniel Payne make that argument?

I was only responding to YOUR argument, and I was being smug because it was stupid and desperate, as you seem to concede.

[Lord Humungus]

Mother and daughter arrested over incestuous marriage

Patricia Spann, the mother, had lost custody of her three children some years ago. The daughter, Misty, and her two brother were raised by a grandparent.

Ms Spann was reunited with daughter Misty two years ago, and records show that the two women got married in March this year.

The relationship was discovered last month during an investigation by the state's Department of Human Services into the welfare of children living at the older woman's house.

See what gay marriage has wrought?

[sloopyinTEXAS]

I always assumed we'd start seeing a lot of this with the rise in costs of health insurance and government mandates on companies having to provide spousal coverage. Especially widowed or spinster siblings and such.

[(((Renegade)))]

It would be better if they were hot. Spanking it to that image is difficult.

[geo1113]

Perhaps in Oklahoma, that is hot.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Crusty begs to differ.

[LoneWaco]

Warren Buffett's heirs like this.

[EDG reppin LBC]

I am displeased with the HnR commenting process.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Oh sure. That posted. Exactly why I am displeased.

[LoneWaco]

Warren Buffett's heirs like this.

[LoneWaco]

Warren Buffett's heirs like this.

[LoneWaco]

Warren Buffett's heirs like this.

[Aloysious]

Patricia had previously married her son Jody in 2008, with the marriage annulled two years later.

Ok, now that is odd.

[Private Chipperbot]

What? Dammit. Now I have to read the article.

[Zeb]

Why should anyone care if related people have a same-sex marriage? Seems to me that the only public interest served by anti-incest laws is preventing inbreeding.

[Citizen X]

+1 Hapsburg jaw

[commodious dares eat a peach]

I had this argument with an ex. She was... perturbed.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Britain. Incest. No surprise there.

[Free Society]

Not Britain.

[If-by-whiskey]

Meh. Oklahoma, Britian. So similar, does it really matter?

[Lord Humungus]

Taliban Close to Overtaking Afghan Provincial Capital, Officials Say

Taliban insurgents on Thursday were on the verge of overrunning the southern city of Tirin Kot, the capital of Oruzgan Province, Afghan officials and local elders said.

Dost Mohammad Nayab, a spokesman for the governor of Oruzgan, said that all security posts around the city had been overrun by the Taliban and that the insurgents had started firing on the police headquarters and the governor's compound.

"The security forces are engaged with the Taliban inside the city, and fighting is ongoing," Mr. Nayab said.

[Brochettaward]

The way the media has ignored Afghanistan over the last 8 years is the most shameful and underrated aspect of the Obama presidency.

This is a war he himself didn't and doesn't believe it which he escalated of his own accord for political reasons and which we are still embroiled in with nothing to show for it. And most Americans don't even know about his surge.

[TheZeitgeist]

Obama ended two wars - this is I believe still operative claim by his supporters.

[Citizen X]

The fact that he immediately replaced them with two identical wars and a sprinkling of "kinetic actions" somehow doesn't come up.

[R C Dean]

The problem is that we have a complete incompetent who is trying to execute the most difficult military maneuver, a fighting retreat.

I don't necessarily disagree that we need to get out of the ME, but we don't need to do it in a haphazard, ad hoc manner that is designed to elevate our worst opponent in the ME, Iran.

[Brochettaward]

Am i to understand correctly that Apple's latest boondoggle - wireless headphones as the default for their devices - means they expect people to shill out $150-160 for their shitty, uncomfortable little white ear buds?

Apple's marketing and designs make me want to hate capitalism.

[Certified Public Asshat]

Why? Plenty of phones in android land to choose from.

[Brochettaward]

Because their success is baffling to me. They market cheap, overpriced crap across the board by appealing to the collective zeitgeist of retarded hipster doofuses.

Asking me to buy a device and then spend an extra $160 to use it - and the product I'm paying $160 for sucks in its own right - should be end of it.

[TheZeitgeist]

Just for the record, Apple is going to bundle phono adapter with the new phones.

Now, when you lose that and have to shell out $60 or whatever...hate away.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Their interface is also considerably simpler to use than android. And a large percentage of handheld apple product users initially chose the products for this reason.

I don't want my phone to be full of capabilities as much as I want it to be simple to use, simple to close background apps and relatively immune to obsolescence. Apple accomplishes these things much better than the fractured android market and also has a better market for apps and much better security features.

[KDN]

My wife's first comment on moving from a Galaxy to a iPhone 6S: "I have to hit home to get to a new app, and there's no way to close the old one it like on my Galaxy? This is dumb."

And immune from obsolescence? Apple has planned obsolescence in their lifecycle like any other tech manufacturer. And they seem to be overconfident in the devices' hardware: the supported 2-3 year old 5s's I'm getting back right now from our corporate users are worse dogs than my six year old HTC incredible.

[Lord Humungus]

To close an old app, double-click on home button. Screen changes to show all active apps. Swipe up to remove the ones you want.

[KDN]

That she couldn't figure that out kind of shoots down Sloopy's insinuation that it's "simple[r] to close background apps" on the iPhone. It's actually less intuitive, IMO. But that could just be me since Apple has yet to create a product that I find to be easier to use than its less expensive competitors.

I'd quibble with some of the rest of what he said, but so much Android v. iOS is a pissing match over hair-splitting differences that I'd rather not bother.

[Homple]

My wife has an iPhone, I have an Android. To me, they seem equally easy to use. Not sure what I'm missing.

[sloopyinTEXAS]

Are you a tech savvy person? I'm not, which is why I see the apple products as being easier to use. Sure, they have fewer capabilities for expansion relative to android products, but to me that's not nearly as important.

[CatoTheChipper]

My wife agrees with you. She could never figure out how to use a computer.

Then I bought her an IPad for Christmas a few years back, and she loves it.

[R C Dean]

sloops, I don't find much in the of usability differences in the two platforms.

I have migrated from one ecosystem to the other, and it really kinda sucks, though. The ecosystems are very sticky.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm a long-term Apple user. I like my 6S - stable, takes a beating (inside of an Otter case), and has great speed. My wife uses my old 5S as her business phone. And a 6 Plus for her personal use (the big screen helps with her bad eyesight). We also have an iPad 2 which has seen better days.

I would try an Android device - I have nothing against them - but I don't want to learn my way around a new OS. Yeah I know it isn't that complicated but I don't want to bother with it, especially since all of our other small devices are Apple.

[VG Zaytsev]

You can find tons of options for Bluetooth headphones on Amazon starting at less than ten bucks.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

I use a bluetooth headset exclusively, but I'm annoyed by how poorly they controls interact with the phone. I can pause my podcast app every time, but getting it to start again requires several clicks and often I have to go through my phone.

#firstworldproblems

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"They market cheap, overpriced crap across the board by appealing to the collective zeitgeist of retarded hipster doofuses."

So: Company has plenty of competition from normal people who want non-shitty hardware and software, but makes its money punishing and exploiting "hipster doofuses".

I don't see the problem here. This is a reason to love capitalism, if anything.

[Private Chipperbot]

Hopefully you'll be able to pair mixed sets because those are going to be lost constantly.

[Private Chipperbot]

And I'll be enjoying my rooted android that has been doing for the past few years what Apple considers cutting edge new tech.

[Suthenboy]

I called it when I found out that Jobs had Pancreatic cancer. With him gone Apple will turn into a bunch of suits just like Microsoft. The minute the guy got sick was the beginning of the end for Apple.

[EDG reppin LBC]

You can purchase other bluetooth earphones to use with an iphone. I have the THZY jogger earphones. I've been using them 3 years. $19.99 on Amazon. They last for 5 hours on a full charge. I run every morning in salt air/sand, and wear them hiking/bouldering monthly.

Cheap, rugged and great sound. I highly recommend.

[Brett L]

I've been using motorola's over the ear and around the back of the head bluetooth headphones for 5 years. I'm on my 2nd pair, but only because there was some kind of compatibility issue between my old headphones and the iPhone 4. The SD10s, I've had for years. No clue how long they last. Longer than I run in 3 days. Oh, and they have a mic. Not a great mike, but I've taken calls with it. Fuck apples shitty earbuds with or without a string.

[Rich]

The initiative is intended to communicate the message that "pads and tampons are a necessity, not a luxury," and that not all people who menstruate are women.

Yuzuka Alaska, a junior at Brown, opined that menstruation is currently a "taboo," but speculated that "if we can implement this project, that will add to this conversation and make it more of an accessible topic."

"We'll see blood coming out of xir ... whatever!"

[Princess Trigger]

They're good for plugging gunshot wounds.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

There's a funny passage in Anathem involving a clueless monk, a nosebleed, and a couple very amused women.

[SugarFree]

Things that are actually taboo aren't yammered about on thousands of websites.

[Lee Genes]

It's so taboo that "Mom, can I ask you a personal question?" is ingrained into my memory.

[Zeb]

"Do you ever get that not-so-fresh feeling?"

[Atanarjuat]

"No, Meg, and neither has any other woman I know."

[R C Dean]

Not to mention advertised heavily across just about every media platform.

[Steve G]

Who exactly is arguing that they're a luxury?

[WTF]

The voices in xir's head.

[Chip Woodier]

They are a luxury compared to menstrual cups, I would think. Perhaps the government should ban all tampons and pads as detrimental to the environment and require menstrual cup use. Save the trees!

[Juvenile Bluster]

"Not all who menstruate are women".

I mean, maybe they don't identify as women, but by definition, if a man's bleeding from down there, it's less likely to be mensturation and more "get yourself to the hospital right fucking now".

[Homple]

"Sometimes I get the menstrual cramps real hard"

https://youtu.be/6k2FkUF41AA

[WTF]

that not all people who menstruate are women.

Actually yes, they are. Fucking biology, how does it work?

[Just a thought not a sermon]

I knew an art major in college who used to paint with her menstrual blood. She was one weird chick.

[Suthenboy]

I read that as 'one weird trick'.

It works.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Use this One Weird Trick to live out the rest of your life as a lonely cat woman.

[Tejicano]

One more reason I don't mind not having lived in the US since 1993...

[Free Society]

not all people who menstruate are women.

I realize that it's whacky 2016 and that maybe I didn't pay close enough attention in every biology class I've ever taken or every snippet about anatomy that I've ever looked at, but this seems categorically false.

[Chip Woodier]

Does this college have any biology courses?

[R C Dean]

I'm not aware that even a fully transitioned M-F transsexual can menstruate.

[CatoTheChipper]

It's the F->M who might want a tampon machine in the men's room. But it might find that the ladies' would be a safer space to buy a tampon.

[Riven]

And not all people who are women menstruate. Get the fuck off my lawn.

[Domestic Dissident]

Hildog's hitmen attempt to intimidate the media after the Sick Snuke's latest spasmodic coughing fit.

[Rich]

Clinton aides and supporters see the healthcare stories as a bunch of baloney, and they want the media to cover it as such.

"Very well. Tonight's headline: 'Clinton aides and supporters see the healthcare stories as a bunch of baloney, and they want the media to cover it as such'."

[CatoTheChipper]

Hillary is a specimen of health.

Who are you going to believe: her flaks or your lyin' eyes?

[sloopyinTEXAS]

FTA: The former aide also agreed that the Clinton campaign wants to put pressure on the press.

"I think that the fact that any mainstream publications would do anything but make this is a story about Donald Trump is completely out of the mainstream and why these claims have gotten worse," the former aide said. "Some reporters have taken these claims at face value, and it's the reason this story is still out there."

Let me see if I have this. Her aide said he doesn't understand how a media outlet would do anything about her coughing fits but write a story about Trump. And that he's surprised some reporters have taken her coughing fits, and reported them in a strictly factual manner, at face value. And that's the only reason the story is still out there.

If there's ever been a more stark example of the left expecting the media to lick their asshole and being shocked when they don't, I'd be hard pressed to find it.

[Suthenboy]

He vow to shut down Brietbard because 'it has no right to exist' isnt aimed exclusively at Brietbart.

Anyone that doesnt think Hillary intends to wield an iron fist is making a mistake.

[VG Zaytsev]

Hillary's a no shit fascist.

[Brochettaward]

It's Infowars, but they seem to be on point here. This looks like an earpiece to me:
http://www.infowars.com/was-hi.....ial-forum/

I'm just waiting for the same pearl clutching hysteria that followed Bush supposedly cheating in 2004.

[Lee Genes]

I think it was her new iPhone earbuds.

[Domestic Dissident]

James Woods is a true genius. He was one of the first people in the world to figure out that the 9/11 terrorist scumbags were no good when some of them were on his plane for a dry run, and now he notices this.

[WTF]

Of course she was fucking cheating, it's Hillary fucking Clinton. The only question is how hard the media will try to cover up/excuse/ignore it. And whether there will be any monitoring for this crap at the actual debates.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

Of course she was fucking cheating, it's Hillary fucking Clinton

Look how agitated she got when that Navy vet called her out on her email shenanigans right off the bat. It's obvious she wasn't prepared for it, especially so early in the event. Bitch, you and your handlers honestly didn't think that was going to be a question from someone who worked with classified information every day?

[perlchpr]

Jamming would be hilarious. Hacking the signal would be even more hilarious.

[R C Dean]

Some her answers stumbled in a way that suggests she was being fed the answer, too.

Please, God, let Trump make an issue of this during the debates.

"Before I answer that question, I have one of my own. Ms. Clinton, are you wearing an earpiece for this debate? Why?"

[robc]

According to previous story link, Clinton is polling worse in KY than Obama did in 2012. I didnt think that was possible.

Ky still has a democratic controlled state house and only the 3rd GOP governor of my lifetime.

And a very strong D lead in registered voters.

That is how amazingly out of touch the national D party is with this state.

[SugarFree]

It just proves them Kentucky crackers hate women more than they hate black people.

[robc]

I must have missed all the Parkways named for black people.

Speaking of which, the Natcher now has "Future I-65 Spur" signs up now.

[Free Society]

Maybe I'm ignorant about Kentucky, but don't you guys have a considerable amount of coal and resource extraction industries? That might explain the disconnect. Sort of like how West Virginians trust their own Democrats not to destroy their livelihoods, but they expect the opposite from basically all other Democrats.

[robc]

It is a big part of it.

From 1960 thru 2004, KY voted for the winner in every presidential race.

Starting in 2008, that hasnt been the case, and the Ds are getting less votes every single cycle.

It is things like a shift on coal starting with Gore. Bill Clinton would have never been so stupid as to throw away WV and KY. The coal areas are the big D areas outside of the cities. So its a double whammy.

[SugarFree]

Ugh.

The best thing about Natcher? He did everything he could to keep DC from getting a subway. He said it was a waste of money, it would be run terribly, would cost far more than the supporters said it would and wouldn't work very well... It's like he had a crystal ball.

[robc]

As part of becoming a portion of the interstate system, the Natcher has to be widened. The lanes dont meet the standards.

So, yea, construction.

There is a new exit supposed to be built which will be super convenient for me. Take 5 minutes off my commute time easily.

[SugarFree]

At least there's that. But the construction is going to suck.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Can't imagine living with no-shit urban traffic. I rage when a traffic jam slows me down by a few minutes.

[robc]

I live in Bowling Green. We dont have urban traffic.

[perlchpr]

It's one of the nice things about Albuquerque. Rush hour is like 15 minutes long.

[robc]

And slightly less than they hate people from Jefferson County.

Jefferson County now leads women in all time governors 2 to 1.

[SugarFree]

Having lived both in and out of Jefferson Co, the hatred is real and on both sides.

Kentuckiana? Why would anyone, for any reason, want to ally themselves, even rhetorically, with Indiana?

[robc]

I never understood that either. That was entirely made up by television stations because a large chunk of their viewer base was in Indiana.

[SugarFree]

The entire US should have a BDS strategy for Indiana.

[Lord Humungus]

Nick Cave is coming out with a new album - called Skeleton Tree - tomorrow. Video

At the end of the month, Alcest is releasing an album titled Kodama. It sounds closer to their metal sound than the shoegazey Shelter. Video

[Private Chipperbot]

Excellent! Just the right time of year for him too.

[straffinrun]

Meeting the school counselor tomorrow. Apparently my daughter drifts off in class, looking out the window. Oh, are they worried about her. 7 year old girl that won't sit and stare at the rote memory drills they pass off as education. I've told my wife what I'm going to tell the counselor. I'm so enraged at these idiots I'm tempted to pull the race card since she's only half-Japanese. Wife is freaking out that I'm going to go full Rothbard on these statist losers. I've got to pull her out of there. Advise welcome.

[Lee Genes]

Do both you and your wife work during the day?

[straffinrun]

I can do some of my work at home but not all. She works at an investment bank so she can't do it. Japan has excellent PISA scores, so I thought maybe I could just make up for the bs by spending extra time with her. I'm guessing I was wrong.

[Lee Genes]

As I understand it, Japanese education is high on repetition and memorization, no surprises there.

Generally speaking, three hours a day is all any homeschooler needs to succeed. You can do more far productive work in three hours that a public school can do in a full day.

[straffinrun]

Just wondering if anyone else has been through this. I'll gladly take the consequences of uprooting myself and the problems that arise from living in a new culture. Making my daughter go through what I think is simply small minded Japanese thinking is another story. Trade offs. Opportunity costs. Whatever. Raising a kid in this environment must be tough on every rational thinking parent.

[Lee Genes]

I don't have any overseas experience with education, but I've got three with varying educational needs. The oldest is homeschooled, the two younger ones are in public elementary but will probably be taken out before middle school, aka the insane asylum.

[straffinrun]

It's the money vs family thing. Not even close to poor and live well beneath our means, but... Never mind. There is no "but". I'm taking her out.

[Lee Genes]

If you do homeschool, there are hordes of resources. It can be a bit daunting trying to find those that aren't overtly lifted from conservapedia or the communist manifesto, but they are out there.

[straffinrun]

Been looking at Kaplan's material. Looks ok, but even that seems prog infested.

[Lee Genes]

If she's only 7, it's not too bad.

Honestly, most of the math at that age can be done thru Khan Academy. For English, just have her read a lot. Science at that age is mostly exploratory and can be structured around conversations and experiments. My wife has a science program she uses that the kids like. I'll find out what it is.

History, just get books.

Outside of that, I find the kids that develop a skill, like music, do better in general because they get the practice habit drilled in. At 7, 20 minutes every day and then increasing with age.

And lots of free play with something that requires creativity; art, legos, etc...

[straffinrun]

Thanks, Lee. She practices piano everyday for 30 minutes and I take her to an English school 4 hours a week. SugarFree may be joking, but I actually see a lot her me in her. She'll disappear into tasks for hours at a time. One size fits all education is infuriating. Love Japan, but this episode is really souring me on this country.

[Hamster of Doom]

You're a smart guy, Straffin, and you've been your daughter's teacher already for seven years. All you're doing now is adding a few more subjects to the parent-core subjects of Life, Potty-Training and Don't Touch That. The most difficult part of homeschooling is wading through the curriculum on offer. (So. Many.)

You can spend little to no money and use online resources, the library and manipulatives. Your kid can take a class entirely online - with tutor support and grading and no participation from you required except as financial and moral support. Or you can land somewhere between, there's all sorts of options.

We start the day with a musical selection; this week is Greensleeves. We use Redbird Math (online through Stanford), Easy Grammar, R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, and this is our history book and it is freaking awesome. We have a Minecraft world for school where the kids are rebuilding the life of people in the Fertile Crescent four thousand years ago. Yesterday we built a ziggurat. The Getting Started With books for both Latin and Spanish seem good - it's my first year using them, and I can offer nothing except they seem to do the trick.

Really, homeschooling is the best excuse for buying interesting books and toys. Give it a couple months, you'll be buying a Mexican army cipher and a rock-polisher and swearing to your wife that they're highly educational.

[Lee Genes]

HOD,

Have you used the Pandia science stuff? If so, how do you like it?

[Hamster of Doom]

If I've figured this out properly (I might not have - this happens) then Pandia puts out both those history books and R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, and we use both.

They are easily the most expensive thing we're doing this year. Only the math, which all four kids are taking online via subscription, even comes close. And at first blush, they are absolutely worth it.

It isn't just the books themselves, though they're not cheap. The lessons require that you also buy several other reference books, a few educational tools, provide a (very) modest budget for lab and project supplies, and then there's also a recommended reading list. Aside from all those other books you just bought.

Absolutely worth it. The lesson plans are detailed, simple to follow and simple to mold to your wishes, although the history lesson plans are laid out better, in this gal's opinion. The science lesson plans take a couple-few weeks to find the rhythm, but once you've got the pattern of it, it's a strong lesson plan. Unless the series somehow goes completely crazy down the line, I'm sold.

[Lee Genes]

Thanks

[Clich? Bandit]

I love Snap Circuits, Disgusting Science, Magic School Bus Science Kits, Khan Academy, Ready to Read (classics), (I can't wait until I can justify a drone and 3d printer) and our Charter School. When she was younger it was ABCMouse and Starfall.

When I got married we agreed on a compromise, if not private school then at LEAST charter.

Let grandparents and friends know that if they want to buy a gift they can get stuff like that. You will find that people love buying that stuff. We also do piano, swimming, skiing, and Ballet. (there are other activities [gymnastics, ice skating, soccer, acting, zoo camp] but it is time to start narrowing down). This is all while she goes to her Charter school too.

[Clich? Bandit]

by the way all those activities are her idea...she doesnt want to quit anything but we are going to cut it in half next year...gotta make choices.

[robc]

Do you have a latin school nearby?

If I still lived in Louisville, a would send my daughter here

[robc]

I like the schedule. Tuesday-Friday but Friday is a short day.

Monday they have classes for local home schoolers.

[straffinrun]

There are Jesuit and other Christian schools here. I'm not Christian, but, man, I'm beginning to think even the Jehovah Witness's would be better than these crap public schools.

[robc]

I know lots of non-christians who send their kids to Catholic Schools.

Some of them are even nominally Catholic.

[MikeT1986]

My catholic HS had a rather diverse set of religions in it. Happened to be better than the local schools

[SugarFree]

Same thing they complained about me at that age and look how I turned out.

[Juvenile Bluster]

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD AND HOLY STAFFINRUN GET YOUR CHILD INTO INTENSIVE THERAPY NOW.

[robc]

Have her pancreas checked out, STAT!

[straffinrun]

I shudder to think of SugarFree as a 7 year old girl.

[SugarFree]

It really sucked. My 2nd grade teacher made me sit at the front of the room and face everyone else, and a couple of her little asskissers would tell her when they thought I wasn't paying attention.

I was delighted with the big fat bitch had a toilet baby and then abandon it and her husband and disappeared.

[tarran]

You impregnated her while she napped in the teacher lounge using a turkey baster and sperm harvested from a wino on skid row, didn't you?

[SugarFree]

It happened after I moved to a different school district, but I wasn't that devious yet. I was a really sweet little kid. It was years of being blamed for them being so boring that really turned me off of school and teachers in general.

[tarran]

That's a really wordy way to say "yes". 😉

[straffinrun]

But I agree with the choice to abandon the toilet baby. I need to self reflect.

[Citizen X]

Can you imagine all the conferences his parents had to go to? "Class, your homework is to write an organized, thoughtful five-paragraph essay on the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. SugarFree, you are excused from the assignment."

[robc]

"She put the word 'relationship' in the assignment. What else could she be expecting?"

[tarran]

+1 Ragefucking

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Okay, I busted out laughing. That goes in the word bank.

[SugarFree]

My fifth grade teacher gave math tests every Friday and called my mother to tell her my score. So basically this shithead ruined every weekend of my entire school year.

[Citizen X]

I smell what you're stepping in, Sweet'n'Low. K-12 public education is a major reason i'm an ancap now.

[SugarFree]

I was just a generalized anti-authoritarian until Heinlein. First given to me by my grade school librarian, the only adult I liked and the only one that liked me.

[ant1sthenes]

And thus you were inspired to become a librarian?

[SugarFree]

Not really. I fell back-asswards into it because my wife is one.

But librarianship is sort of like a virus; hang out in one long enough and you will catch it.

[Suthenboy]

Not necessary to hang out with one.

I have a book fetish.

[robc]

It was 5th grade math. I mock you if the call was for anything other that "100"

[SugarFree]

I have always had a problem with math. It would probably be called a learning disability in our "enlightened" age.

[Private Chipperbot]

No no no. No story ideas.

[tarran]

Do they have decent private schools for expats in Japan?

[sloopyinTEXAS]

You need to go out of town and have your fat, cigar-smoking brother go to the meeting. He can giver her a good what-for then toss a quarter on her desk.

[straffinrun]

That is what I needed.

[Suthenboy]

When my son was in the 4th grade we enrolled him in a private Catholic school. One day he confessed to me that he had stolen a Pokemon card from one of the other boys and he felt guilty about it, he wanted to know what to do. I told him to be a stand-up guy, return the card and apologize. He did.

The nun that ran the place punished him by making him wear a dunce hat. No shit, an actual dunce hat.

My ex, not wanting me to know about it tried to deal with it herself. She had no luck, so she called me and explained the situation. I left work and drove straight to the school. I went to the principles office, explained t her that I understood that the CC was a medieval institution but that it was no longer the middle ages. She got a little snippy with me until I threatened to make her wear the goddamned dunce hat. I was so angry that I left her office, slammed the door hard enough to break the glass and went straight to my son's classroom.

I opened the door, looked straight at my son and motioned with my finger for him to come with me. He gathered his stuff, didn't say a word to anyone, including the teacher, and we left.

"Dad, am I in trouble?"

"No son, you aren't the bad guy in this. You did the right thing."

[straffinrun]

That is spot on. The counselor suggested to my wife that maybe my daughter should take a test for a "special school". I told my wife that if she says that to me that I'm going to say, "You first." Fuck. I've been a volunteer at special needs schools for 15 years and know exactly what kinds of kids need that type of school. My daughter is already having philosophical discussions that I didn't have until I was 30.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

she sounds bored as shit.

1. get her a raspberry pi starter kit
2. get out of her way
3. profit

[Clich? Bandit]

Ohh god Rapsberry Pi how could I forget that. YES. Also, I have Minecraft but she thinks it is a Boys game at this stage (a firend of hers plays it a lot and it annoys her). And KSP, which she actually likes but, shit, KSP is challenging MY abilities I am not sure how much she would enjoy hours of rapid unplanned vehicle disassembly and "Valentina has been killed."

[Suthenboy]

My apologies. This was in response to straffin and his school problems.

I homeschooled my son and had so much success that several of our friends sent me their kids. I ended up homeschooling 6 kids. All but one did extremely well and went on to college. They are all happy, productive adults now.

Whatever it takes straffin, whatever sacrifices, homeschooling is well worth the tradeoff. I would do it again in a minute.

[Rasilio]

A lot of it depends on the state you live in, how friendly it is to Home Schooling, and how cozy the schools are with DFCS or childrens services or whatever they are called there.

In the wrong state going in and telling the school off is a good way to find yourself with a social worker at your door demanding a home inspection and just looking for any reason to take your kids.

As far as homeschooling, honestly there are very good online curriculum's that she can follow in just a few hours a day. the real issue is can you afford daycare for when you are at work since a 7 year old being left alone at home all day with no adult supervision is a good way to land yourself in jail for neglect

[perlchpr]

I guess the big thing I'd worry about is socialization to the culture. I've got a generic American's understanding of Japanese culture, but I'm under the impression it's a lot less individualistic than America, so while your daughter might get a better book-learning education from Home schooling, you should just make sure she still has lots of opportunities to socialise with other people, or she might have a hard time living in the society when she's older.

And that's as far into it as I'm going to stick my nose. Sorry if the explanation was redundant.

[CatoTheChipper]

My wife home schooled for about six years. Kids went public school through 2nd grade, home schooled through 8th, and then went two years in a conventional high school and two years in community college (a charter school with dual accreditation such that they got an AA degree along with their HS diploma.) Then two years at university to get a BS.

Home school takes way less time than school for genuine learning. There are lots of curricula out there. For the liberal arts from a libertarian perspective, you might check out the Ron Paul curriculum. Our kids were grown by the time that came out, so I don't have first hand experience with it. We used Saxon math with good results. Teaching reading and writing was actually pretty easy.

[Suthenboy]

"Barack Obama: Donald Trump's "wacky ideas" disqualify him from the presidency."

I just...uh...I have no words. That is right up there with the wacko bullshit uttered by third world dictators.

[John]

We need a guy with sane ideas to be President. You know someone who won't do stupid shit like give Iran 150 billion dollars, call ISIS the JV team, or spend 8 years insulting our closest allies.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"or spend 8 years insulting our closest allies."

But our allies really fucking suuuuuuuuuuck.

[CatoTheChipper]

Or read utterly insane shit from his teleprompter like:

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set.
We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

"You didn't build that"

"If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, period. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan, period."

"... this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation ..."

[Free Society]

But Brack knows good ideas when he sees them. All the easier to strangle them in the crib before someone might make use of such an idea.

[Lord Humungus]

A mouse causes woman's SUV to roll into Corpus Christi Bay

The woman told police she's had a problem with mice in her SUV. Just after 10:30 a.m. Monday, the woman was in her SUV getting ready to leave Swantner park when she felt something brush her leg. She panicked, jumped out of her car and in the process accidentally threw the car into gear. She got out of the car just before it rolled into Corpus Christi Bay.

Senior Officer Carl Knapick worked the scene. He says accidents like this can happen to anyone. Knapick says, "Cars end up in bay for different reasons, this is just another one. Why they happen? You know usually someone is distracted or something happens in their car. Next thing you know, the car rolls off into the water since we're so close to the water at the edge of the park.

Knapick says the woman didn't suffer any injuries but she was highly embarrassed by the entire incident.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

The mouse wasn't driving the car.

"The woman told police she's had a problem with mice in her SUV. "

Maybe time to clean out the junk food containers on the floor?

[John]

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/243369/

Okay team whatever the fuck you are, explain this.

oh my gosh Gary Johnson

Johnson: And what is Aleppo?

Mike Barnicle: You're kidding me.

Johnson: No.

Gary Johnson on MSNBC yesterday. If Trump had done that it would be the subject of at least four reason rants and any amount of "OMG He is the STUPID" comments on here. Johnson does it and it is crickets chirping. But hey, everyone else is just a team partisan. Right

Make no mistake, that is shockingly stupid on Johnson's part. Just how much pot has he smoked?

[Injun, as in from India]

First news item I was sent this morning by someone who knows I'm voting for Johnson.

There is no explaining away this.

[Citizen X]

He's still better than Hillary or the Donald. Low bar, i know.

?\_(?)_/?

[John]

Now he is really not. He is better than Hillary but that is just because he is not a felon. He is just a dud.

[Injun, as in from India]

Nothing about Trump, John?

Gary is way better than the Donald on several fronts.

I'll take the self-made handyman-turned-multimillionaire over the narcissistic thug who got a big handout from Daddy.

[John]

So you are telling me you are voting for the "lesser of two evils"? I thought no one did that around here. I thought you guys were all about principles and only stupid partisan rubes voted for anything other than their CONSCIENCE!!

Well knock me over with a feather.

And gee, when your candidate does something utterly indefensible, all you want to talk about is how bad the other guy is. OMG. I thought Libertarians were above that kind of thing.

SUCK IT Shall we call you Orange Tony now?

[robc]

Put someone on the ballot who meets all my principles and I would vote for him over Johnson.

Johnson is still the closest.

[John]

So you are voting for the lesser of the evils Rob? I thought you guys didn't do that?

[robc]

I have always said I vote for the best candidate on the ballot.

I dont vote for the lesser of two evils because those are the only ones with a "chance".

I assume anyone who runs for political office is evil.

[Lord Humungus]

Lesser of two weevils?

[VG Zaytsev]

So you principles require enslaving business people to the collective zeitgeist?

[commodious dares eat a peach]

But forcing companies to enforce immigration policy via E-Verify is kosher?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

So you are telling me you are voting for the "lesser of two evils"?

Nah. I live in a Blue State so there's no point in voting here and trying to win. I'm voting Johnson because it increases his overall percentage slightly. Which won't make him win the election, but if the LP can get enough of a popular vote then it can have fairer standing with things in the next election. Now, my one vote only pushes the popular vote SLIGHTLY in the direction I want, but statistically it's the best thing I can do.

A vote for Clinton or Trump is literally a thrown away vote for me. ALL my state's electoral votes will go to Clinton, regardless if I vote Clinton or Trump or anyone else. Such votes do literally nothing.

But I can push one third party's percentage by a slight bit. Green Party is socialist nonsense. Socialist Parties are as well. I don't like the Constitution Party. Prohibition Party is a joke. American Freedom Party is insane. LP isn't perfect, but the only ones I'd like to see on a bigger stage. Thus the only worthwhile vote for me is Johnson. It won't make him win, which is good because he would not be a great president, but my vote has other uses other than making someone win (and in a firmly Blue State, it has no use in deciding winners, so there's no reason to focus on the other uses).

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Only people who live in swing states have any reason to even consider voting Republican or Democrat in the presidential election. A vote in a non-swing state for EITHER literally changes nothing whatsoever. Thus, any voter who is realistic and lives in a state other than a swing state should either vote third party to push their chosen third party's agenda, or they should just not vote. No one outside of swing states has any power whatsoever in picking winners in an election. If they vote to try to pick a winner, they literally throw their vote away.

[CatoTheChipper]

A single vote changes nothing. The only thing it does is give a scintilla of support to a candidate.

Neither The Donald nor Hillary are worthy of a scintilla of my support.

I'd vote for Johnson regardless of how tight the race is.

[Citizen X]

Still better than Trump too, John.

[Rasilio]

Yep.

Lets see, what is better, someone unafraid to admit he does not know about a subject and therefore does not take political stands on them or someone who won't admit it but then still pushes policy ideas on that subject?

A Presidential candidate does not need to be an expert on Syria right now unless he is specifically advocating a specific policy with regards to Syria

[Injun, as in from India]

I agree. I still trust him to make the right calls.

[straffinrun]

He won't make the right calls. He'll make peculiar calls. That in itself would be an improvement.

[John]

It doesn't matter what he does, you like him because the other guys are worse. That is not unreasonable, It is, however a bit fucking rich after months of you people claiming that anyone who didn't vote their principles was just a stupid partisan.

You are a partisan and take whatever gruel the LP feeds you. There is nothing wrong with that, but you might want to stop pretending you are any different than any other partisan.

[robc]

It is still true. He is closer to my principles than Trump/Clinton/Stein/de la Fuente.

While not all my principles, I get more of them with Johnson that with those other four.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Some of us critical of Trump have been very clear that if he about-faced and discussed trade and immigration and the economy in a sane manner, we'd come around. He's done some of that (backpeddling on mass deportations, for example), and I'll be content if he's president. Not happy, but resigned.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"You are a partisan and take whatever gruel the LP feeds you."

Nah, if Castle hadn't been the shitty choice of the CP then I'd be tempted to go CP. The CP is just to hyped on being infidels, though. Too much of their politics is based on being infidels.

[Billy Boogers]

Aleppo??

? Is'nt that some guy that carves marionettes?

#Iwannabearealboy

Stupid fucking issue.

Now, if he blanked on Moscow or Beijing, that would be a problem.

[tarran]

Speaking as an anarchist viewing the great arc of history, more evidence for my thesis that the federal government has become so dysfunctional that only the crazy, the stupid, or the evil want to run it.

Speaking as a libertarian voter living in the present, yet another reason why I shan't be inking the oval next to Johnson's name. It really doesn't matter who is in the oval office: the civil service will really be calling the shots. The only reason to vote for someone is if they have a credible chance of reining them in.

Johnson can't do it.

Trump doesn't want to do it.

Clinton wants to unleash them in ways that make her rich and destroy her enemies.

No point in voting for any of them.

[straffinrun]

Always had you pegged as having your inner anarchist in check. Has he escaped to ruin your life?

[Citizen X]

Hey, it sucks when your inner anarchist gets out, 'cause it looks around at how the world is and goes "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" and then starts trying to get you to wreck shit.

(?????? ???

[straffinrun]

Don't know if you can see it, but you've used the kanji for "profit". I'm impressed.

[Citizen X]

My business is giving statists the business, straff. And business is booming.

[Citizen X]

the federal government has become so dysfunctional that only the crazy, the stupid, or the evil want to run it

I'd argue that this has been true of all governments in all times by their very nature, and that for whatever reason it's just not plausibly deniable anymore.

[robc]

I had to google it.

If you dont plan on bombing it, do you need to know every minor city in the middle east?

[lap83]

1. It's not minor
2. I think it could be forgivable if he could have at least figured out it was a middle eastern city. "What" indicates that, to him, it could be anything from a household cleaning product to a type of plant

[robc]

Is it a capital city?

No. Then it is minor.

What was the context? I seriously had no idea if it was a city or a FDA drug controversy.

But then again, if I was running for President, I would probably follow foreign bombing news.

[lap83]

It is the capital city of the most populous part of Syria and was the largest in the country and one of the largest in the region until the civil war, it also has a lot of historical significance.

Even if you haven't taken a middle eastern history class, it's been in the news a lot for the past few years. He doesn't appear to pay much attention to current events.

[robc]

I can barely remember Damascus.

And it is of way more historical significance.

[Chip Woodier]

I wouldn't have known what Raqqa is without ISIS. I thought it was some new pasta sauce.

[CatoTheChipper]

Depending on how you count cities there are 40 to 50 cities in China with population greater than Aleppo. Can you name them? Half of them? A dozen?

It's bad, but it's not a deal breaker.

Maybe Johnson needs to wear an ear peice like Hillary's.

[CatoTheChipper]

piece

[ant1sthenes]

Really? It's on the news a lot in Syria stories, someone looking to be president should at least pick it up by osmosis.

[Suthenboy]

Aleppo? I have always known where that is. And I know what a fucking [C] means. And public use doesnt mean stealing property and giving it to someone who pays more taxes.

I think it was Mark Levin who said "No matter how bad you think the people in DC are, they are worse."

[lap83]

Yikes, couldn't he at least tell from the context that it was a place in the Middle East and then think on his feet and explain what his general foreign policy approach would be?

[Groovus Maximus]

then think on his feet

Are you sure you want him to do that? Seems to me, whenever he meanders (even more) off script, those feet end up as a toe jam sandwich.

[The Fusionist]

Hart for me to work up a lot of indignation against Johnson - I kind of heard about it in the news and I knew of it from the history of the Crusades (but of course I *would* know that), but if Johnson hadn't heard about then as President he'd have people to tell him more than any of us knows about the subject.

It's like making fun of Bush (?) for not knowing the name of the President of Scumbucketistan. When he became President he had people for that.

The way the media is beginning to treat Johnson makes me more supportive of him, since he's cheesing them off for the right reasons.

And apparently he doesn't look like the kind of actor who plays Presidents in movies - grow up, America, or elect Mitt Romney, or a Lincoln impersonator, if that's your criterion.

[The Fusionist]

"then think on his feet"

"You're obsessing about all these foreign countries - let me ask *you* a question - what's the average payroll tax burden for the struggling family making such-and-such a year?

"That's the problem with you media people, you get all excited about shit which has little to do with the concerns of everyday Americans, no wonder you promote those vapid candidates Trump and Clinton at my expense."

[CatoTheChipper]

The LP nominated the wrong guy for that. McAfee would have been great in that situation.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

When he became President he had people for that.

But did he have great people, the best people? Did they make your head spin, did you not believe it?

That's where Bush went wrong.

[Swiss Servator]

You, Ghitan of Aleppo.

- Sherif?

Where do we ride?

- Damascus, sherif.

Aye, but for what?

- Sherif, for polling numbers!

[Crusty Juggler]

Why does Mike Barnicle still matter?

[tarran]

He doesn't, but it shouldn't really matter who is asking the fucking question. It matters that Johnson drew a complete blank.

[Crusty Juggler]

I guess. Gotcha questions are pretty lame in general, but Gasy Jasy should have done some prep work on the Syria situation.

That being said, Mike Barnicle is an unbelievable scumbag and the fact that he is still relevant is beyond my comprehension.

[Crusty Juggler]

"Hey Mike, who's Whitey Bulger, you scummy hack?"

[Fist of Etiquette]

He's been getting asked domestic and horse race questions. He was unprepared for an MSNBC show that wanted to make sure he wasn't a challenge.

[Raven Nation]

Gotcha questions are pretty lame in general

True, but if you're not the favored Dem, you've got to prepare for some of them (you probably can't prep for them all) - at least see what all the Top Men are talking about. It doesn't make you better prepared for the presidency but people have been conditioned to think that way.

[Crusty Juggler]

He was obviously not as prepared as he could've been, but gotcha questions are still lame.

[Chipwooder]

Isn't that guy a plagiarist?

[The Fusionist]

So what, so's Biden, that ship has sailed.

[Suthenboy]

It isnt shocking at all John.

Johnson, though a decent fellow, is a true dimwit. It couldn't be more obvious is it was painted on his forehead.

[Glide]

+1 Uzbeki-beki-beki-stanstan moment

[PurityDiluting]

"This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I'm human. Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict ? I talk about them every day. But hit with 'What about Aleppo?', I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of the campaign." - GJ

[Rhywun]

Cool song!

/GJ

[CatoTheChipper]

It is bad. It is inexcusable. It certainly demonstrates that Johnson did nothing at all in the past four years to prepare for 2016.

In fact, it's enough for me to think that we'd have been much better off to have nominated Austin Peterson. Even though McAfee would have been just as embarrassing as Johnson, at least he would have been entertaining.

[Lord at War]

John- As a "l"ibertarian, remind me why I should give two shits about Aleppo...

If one group of Islamists want to kill another group of Islamists, I'm buying popcorn.

I think I'm fairly well informed about world affairs and politics, and I even saw the picture of the little burned up kid- and I do not fucking care at all- it's not America's problem. So, even I didn't get the "Aleppo" reference immediately.

"I've got 99 problems, and Aleppo ain't 1..."

[Citizen X]

Barack Obama: Donald Trump's "wacky ideas" disqualify him from the presidency.

And as a terrible president, he would know.

[Slammer]

Porn star Asa Akira's haikus.

I'd read her haikus. Knowwhatimean?

[Lee Genes]

She's definitely close to the hot/crazy threshold.

[Lord Humungus]

Random question:

Would you date and/or marry an ex-porn star?

or - lesser scale - someone who is known to have slept around a lot?

A few years ago I got into a conversation with a gal pal of mine. After a few drinks she was complaining how no one wanted to marry her because she was such a *slut. And everyone knew about her past history so she could only date guys outside our social circle.

* she never had sex with me but I'm married and nasty to look at.

[End Child Unemployment]

Depends. I would consider dating a former porn star if I thought they were healthy and stable. I have a perception that some women who commercialize access to their sexuality (strippers, porn stars), or who are just very promiscuous, have mental health issues. I also know many very promiscuous women who I think have very healthy worldviews. On net I'd consider the promiscuity a plus as in my experience people with greater experience levels have desirable skills.

More and more, I think marriage is 98% off the table for me. I'm working on building net worth, just getting started now, but even so the legal risks to my existing capital stock do not seem worth the alleged benefits of marriage.

[Rasilio]

Um, there are few things more conducive to building net worth that a healthy well functioning marriage.

Sure, if you get divorced it might not work out but you can build that capital stock a hell of a lot quicker with 2 incomes and no kids

[True Scottsman]

Consider gaming the system. Marry a dude. Make a prenup as an exit plan.

[End Child Unemployment]

Depends. I would consider dating a former porn star if I thought they were healthy and stable. I have a perception that some women who commercialize access to their sexuality (strippers, porn stars), or who are just very promiscuous, have mental health issues. I also know many very promiscuous women who I think have very healthy worldviews. On net I'd consider the promiscuity a plus as in my experience people with greater experience levels have desirable skills.

More and more, I think marriage is 98% off the table for me. I'm working on building net worth, just getting started now, but even so the legal risks to my existing capital stock do not seem worth the alleged benefits of marriage.

[Atanarjuat]

It's safe to assume that any woman you're with will have a more extensive sexual past than she lets on, due to the stigma you mentioned, unless she's one of those rare chicks who just wears it on her sleeve. Worrying about it is pointless.

As for having a serious relationship with a former porn actress, well, I try to avoid chicks with massive psychological problems. If there is one who is fairly well-adjusted, maybe.

[Rasilio]

I've been married twice, both of them had slept with north of 50 guys before I married them, my first wife was over 100 and threw in half a dozen women for good measure.

I prefer women who are slutty but not crazy because it means they actually like and enjoy sex as opposed to being with some prude who treats sex like it is some special sacred thing and isn't going to give you a blow job just because it's a Tuesday and she's bored.

[perlchpr]

This.

[SFC B]

Ex-porn star, probably not. Someone who got around a lot; no issues. I think there's a difference between someone's who's been around, and someone who I will be receiving "Hey, have you seen this?!?" emails from pervs who figure out who she is.

[Free Society]

"Britain should start talks to leave the European Union as soon as possible, European Council President Donald Tusk said on Thursday, adding weight to calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to start the formal divorce procedure."

"Talks to leave" sounds suspiciously like putting the outcome in the hands of the EU. France sells something like twenty percent of their wine to Britain and 1 in 3 cars in Britain are manufactured in Germany, they're not going to stop trading with the Brits because of Brexit. Repeal a couple treaties in parliament and initiate Article 50, it should occupy a couple hours of procedure, then you're free to negotiate with the continent til your balls turn blue.

[straffinrun]

Of course the Brits have the upper hand. Seems like folding pocket aces is the new British pastime.

[Lord Rollingpin]

No. It's more complicated than that. Britain has been in the Common Market/EU for over 40 years and a lot of commercial legislation is routed through the EU. The problem is if Britain leaves the EU without tidying up all these loose ends then exporting becomes very difficult. The delay is to scope out what needs to be done, it's no surprise that EU officials want Britain to start soon. As no preparation had been done it's in Britain's interest to take their time and see what problems there might be.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Here you go. The left are gonna take to task the ignorance of others:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/c.....ce=copyurl

I seem to recall Obama making all sorts of 'geographic' goofs. The Daily Beast covered this, right? RIGHT?!

[Citizen X]

+57 states

[Chipwooder]

Which of the 57 states has the most Austrian-speaking corpsemen?

[Citizen X]

Delaware. Why do you think he put Biden on the ticket?

[Agent Cooper]

Libertarian Moment Over.

[Agent Cooper]

Was Johnson stoned? Maybe he could say he ate the wrong brownies this morning.

[Free Society]

At least someone's writing an article about Gary Johnson finally. Maybe this is all some elaborate ploy by the Johnson campaign.

[Johnny Hit n Run Paulene]

Yep. He doesn't know everything, maybe even things he 'should'. And he doesn't pretend to either, unlike some other candidates.

[Ken Shultz]

Trump's observations that the Chinese go out of their way to embarrass Obama and that Obama seems oblivious to it ring true.

The tarmac incident isn't the only example. The Chinese seem to go out of their way to embarrass Obama at every opportunity. Probably one of the best examples was when the Chinese warships entered U.S. territorial waters in Alaska. I believe that was the first time they'd ever done that, and the fact that Obama was in Alaska at the time clearly wasn't a coincidence. The incursion was calculated to make Obama look impotent--in response to Obama's statements about Chinese activities in the South China Sea and the incursion of our warships there.

. . . that the Chinese recently made a fool of Obama by agreeing to a climate change agreement that doesn't require the Chinese to do anything for decades is probably also lost on Obama, who considers his climate change agreement treaty to be one of his signature accomplishments.

[Ken Shultz]

The Chinese aren't the only ones who treat Obama like a buffoon. If Putin didn't treat Obama with contempt--like an easily fooled idiot--after Putin bailed Obama out of Obama's stupid red line statement in Syria with a promise to take care of Assad's chemical stockpile (fingers crossed), I'd think there was something wrong with Putin.

Meanwhile, Obama sold the farm on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for magic beans that don't work--and Obama goes around bragging about it like some kind of legacy worthy accomplishment. . . . never mind the Iranians insisting that the cash payment was for the release of hostages.

Listening to Obama excoriate Trump for not commanding the respect of foreign leaders, thus, isn't just the pot calling the kettle black; it suggests Obama is delusional. Obama's counterparts in China, Russia, Iran, Israel, and elsewhere treat him with contempt because Obama has acted like a buffoon on the wold stage--and white guilt over slavery and Jim Crow doesn't stop them from seeing Obama's goofy stupidity clearly. Duarte recently calling out Obama as "the son of a whore" is yet another example.

Trump is right to call Obama out for taking it all lying down. As pathetic as Obama's behavior has been on the world stage, Trump probably will command more respect. Meanwhile, if world leaders treat Hillary better than they've treated Obama, it may only be because she's on their payroll.

[Suthenboy]

You are spot on with all of that. It really is stunning how Obumbles has disappointed even my low expectations of him.

I also have the distinct impression that Trump is no chump and not someone to trifle with. I could be wrong. We will see.

[Sevo]

"Hillary Clinton has a new defense to tackle questions on her handling of classified information"
[...]
"On Wednesday evening, Clinton appeared to offer a slightly revamped defense, telling NBC anchor Matt Lauer that "there were no headers" on any of her emails indicating the information was classified."
http://www.businessinsider.com.....ion-2016-9

The 'I'm just a woman; how could I know?' defense.

[Chipwooder]

Hey, she's only the Secretary of State - how is she supposed to know if something should be classified?

[Suthenboy]

Didn't Comey very explicitly say that there were, in fact, a number of headers indicating classified information?

I challenge anyone to give an example of the truth ever passing that bitch's lips.

[End Child Unemployment]

Forbes story on how millenials pay "their parent's" student loans.

Cliff's - PLUS loans are legally the parent's responsibility. Therefore the student is only paying on the loans for their education out of the kindness of their heart. Am I really supposed to believe a family decided to take out $90K in loans to fund an education and did not agree 100% beforehand on who exactly would be paying them back?

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

I've already told my wife that there's no way in hell we're taking out loans for the kids' college. We're putting money every month in a savings account and they can use that--and if that will only buy them a couple years at a community college, tough shit.

[kbolino]

Wow, the of that article lowers my respect for Forbes considerably.

[kbolino]

the tone of that article...

[Ken Shultz]

The FBI's own file on Clinton's email server appears to show Clinton advisers perjuring themselves:

The FBI notes also blow past evidence that Clinton advisers may have engaged in a cover-up. Consider page 10 of the FBI report: "Clinton's immediate aides, to include [Huma] Abedin, [Cheryl] Mills, Jacob Sullivan, and [redacted] told the FBI they were unaware of the existence of the private server until after Clinton's tenure at State or when it became public knowledge."

That's amazing given that Ms. Abedin had her own email account on the private server. It is also contradicted by page 3: "At the recommendation of Huma Abedin, Clinton's long-time aide and later Deputy Chief of Staff at State, in or around fall 2008, [ Bill Clinton aide Justin] Cooper contacted Bryan Pagliano . . . to build the new server system and to assist Cooper with the administration of the new server system."

The FBI must also have ignored two emails referred to by the State Inspector General showing Ms. Mills and Ms. Abedin discussing the server while they worked at State: "hrc email coming back?is server okay?" Ms. Mills asked Ms. Abedin and Mr. Cooper in a Feb. 27, 2010 email.

[Ken Shultz]

. . . continued:

"I had to shut down the server," wrote Mr. Cooper to Ms. Abedin on Jan. 9, 2011, noting that "someone was trying to hack us." In an Aug. 30, 2011 email released through a lawsuit, State Department Executive Secretary Stephen Mull informs Ms. Mills, Ms. Abedin and others that he believed Mrs. Clinton's current Blackberry was malfunctioning "possibly because of [sic] her personal email server is down."

----Wall Street Journal

http://tinyurl.com/httbrj7

It looks to me like they're lying through their teeth and the FBI knows it.

[Lee Genes]

No reasonable prosecutor...

Unless of course you're Martha Stewart.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

the FBI is a neutered lapdog.

[Suthenboy]

It 'appears to show' that in the same way that the photos of her 'appear to show' her with an earbud at the presidential forum.

[WTF]

You expect them to get prosecuted for lying to the FBI? Who do you think they are, Scooter Libby? Martha Stewart?

[Sevo]

Obo beats on strawman; news organizations declare him the winner:

"Showcasing Lao culture, Obama pushes back on U.S. isolationism "
[...]
""If you are the United States, sometimes you can feel lazy and think, you know, 'we're so big, we don't really have to know anything about other people,'" Obama said.
"That's part of what I'm trying to change."
http://www.toledoblade.com/Wor.....onism.html

Gov't-subsidized trips to Laos in the next budget!

[commodious dares eat a peach]

Mildly amusing that a country that every year spends seven hundred billion dollars on state-run education has a problem with ignorance, according to the head of said state.

[Free Society]

It's more amusing that the state takes our children and educates them in an extremely well-funded system for over a decade and when they come out, they're mostly worthless to the workforce and must seek further educayshun from an increasingly worthless university system to get on a first world career track.

Obviously there are outliers, but the the k-12 system is an absolute abomination considering the cost, the time, and the outcomes.

[Chipwooder]

Again - this is a man who thought Austrians speak Austrian. Him accusing anyone of cultural ignorance is pretty rich.

[commodious dares eat a peach]

I bet many Germans think Austrians speak Austrian.

[Rhywun]

The only difference between a "dialect" and a "language" is politics.

[Haha, charade you are]

"Radley Balko: Why "bite-mark matching is junk science".

Damn. Now how am I suppose to find out if my '89 Le Baron was owned by Jon Voight?

[Zeb]

I suspect it's one of those things that could be legit in some circumstances, but the way "expert" testimony on the subject is used is BS.
Sort of like drug dogs. I'm sure dogs are capable of sniffing out small amounts of drugs. But they also are easily trained to do whatever their handlers want.

[Rhywun]

"No, John Voight the periodontist!"

[Lee Genes]

I'm driving a rental Malibu right now with the golf-cart engine cut-off feature. I hate it.

[R C Dean]

I frickin' hate all the electronic garbage they load on cars these days. I hate having to pay for it, and I hate having it in my car.

And get off my lawn.

[Lord Humungus]

That idea scares me a bit - especially if I'm making a left turn across oncoming traffic. Yeah I know it's going to start but it will take some getting used to.

I believe BMW lets you override this feature - not sure about other car manufacturers.

[C. Anacreon]

I've gotten that in rental cars too and it drives me crazy.
Also, I've wondered, isn't it hard on the starter to keep rekindling like that? Way back antediluvian when I took drivers' ed, they told us a starter had only so many ignites in it until it was toast.

[Lee Genes]

I could see cutting it down to one cylinder, but fully off? It's hard on the battery and starter, and you can forget about getting a jumpstart and being able to go anywhere. Nevermind the discomfort of being in traffic with an engine that just quit.

[Private Chipperbot]

They can be permanently overridden with some tech help. They are also supposed to be able to be turned off manually each time you start the vehicle.

[A Frayed Knot]

Range Rover allows an override as well. I keep it on, and when I'm in a situation when I think I'll need (near) instantaneous acceleration, I just pump the break pedal to turn the engine back on.

[Lord Humungus]

Apparently these stop-start cars have heavier duty starters. And they're supposed to start "seamlessly" - but it appears to be variable in quality based on the reviews I've seen.

[Red Rocks Okey-Dokein]

The Priuses have had this feature for years and it doesn't seem to be a major issue. There's actually people driving the first-gen models that still have their original batteries, too.

That said, a Prius vs a mild-hybrid car that does engine stop-start and isn't a true hybrid may not be a valid comparison.

[R C Dean]

Nothing like hitting brakes when you to accelerate.

[perlchpr]

Yeah, they're definitely a better option than the public schools, that's for sure. And they're less heavy on the brainwashing for the God stuff than the public schools are for the State is God stuff.