Teachers Union President Thinks Trump Is a Bully (LOL), Kaine and Pence Debate, Clown College Enters the Fray: P.M. Links

• 

  Brett Marty/Polaris/Newscom

  The president of the National Education Association says Donald Trump has emboldened schoolyard bullies, which is a pretty ironic thing for a union boss to say.

• One organization is deeply troubled by the weird reports of scary clowns everywhere: Clown College. (Note: the college does not confer degrees.)
• James Madison University's speech guide recommends against accusing people of being too politically correct.
• Remember how I said trigger warnings are bad, and then a bunch of people jumped down my throat hissing They're not mandatory, stop freaking out, moral panic alert! Well.
• VP candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will debate tonight.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

TRIGGER WARNING: Comments below.

[__Warren__]

No there aren't.

[Homple]

Does this meet the criteria for a First?

[Mad Scientist]

Fist said it. I believe it. That settles it.

[__Warren__]

I see you're a believer in the FistEULA.

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ip96WSwyM

[Zunalter]

The science is settled.

[Ted S.]

TRIGGER WARNING: No alt-text.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

Linking to your own articles is triggering me!

DOESN'T COUNT.

[NuckenFutz]

I get this mental image of Fist lurched over the keyboard vigorously smashing the refresh key and mumbling to himself "I will be first!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

WHY WOULD THIS EVEN BE NECESSARY THE LINKS ARE POSTED AT THE SAME TIME EVERY DAY

[Clich? Bandit]

Ahhh...and in a Rico thread no less. My commenting day is now complete.

[Agent Cooper]

He works at Reason.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Right on time. I'm proud of you, Robby.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Wait, is that the correct word? What's the opposite of shame?

I think I'm feeling less shame right now.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

I'm very proud of him.

Minus.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Pride?

No...not that far from shame...

[DEG]

I wonder if he tinkered with the clock.

[Fist of Etiquette]

James Madison University's speech guide recommends against accusing people of being too politically correct.

Preemptive strike against guide criticism. I like it.

[HazelMeade]

The last item on the list warns against labeling something as political correct, calling it "an attempt to shut the other person up."

Irony. It burns.

[Suthenboy]

If you don't want to be called an asshole then stop being an asshole.

[Citizen X]

Remember how I said trigger warnings are bad, and then a bunch of people jumped down my throat hissing They're not mandatory, stop freaking out, moral panic alert! Well.

Oh shit, y'all just got Soave'd.

[Hamster of Doom]

I can hear Suave' "Hmmph" from here.

[SugarFree]

No, it's funny because it is a pun on the beloved 2004 hit movie, You Got Served.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Is that the movie in which lovable Seth Organ delivers subpoenas?

[SugarFree]

I think that was the sequel.

[Ted S.]

I'm trying to figure out whether "Seth Organ" is an auto-correct, or a subtle joke.

[Enough About Palin]

It's a euphemism.

[Citizen X]

At least SOMEBODY here has some culture.

[Hayeksplosives]

I have some yogurt in the fridge. Does that count?

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

I don't remember that at all!

[bacon-magic]

"Smug alert for the entire Reason area. In other news, Vidal Sassoon(sic?) has picked up a new spokesperson..." -Brian Williams

[Citizen X]

Fun fact: in his youth Vidal Sassoon was in a Jewish street gang that went around beating up skinheads.

[bacon-magic]

That is a funny fact.

[The Fusionist]

Of course they beat up skinheads, what were they going to do, use hair products on them?

[Zunalter]

Yea, it had nothing to do with their political beliefs, merely their coiffing beliefs.

[The Fusionist]

They should hire that guy who sells refrigerators to eskimos.

"It's a shampoo *and* conditioner!"

[GILMORE?]

y'all just got Soave'd.

I imagine that's like getting a palm-full of fragrant Pomade/Gelee thrown in one's face.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't want Fop, goddammit!

[Slumbrew]

I'm a Dapper Dan man!

[__Warren__]

VP candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will debate---

Why?

[SugarFree]

Malicious joy.

[Hamster of Doom]

They mourn the days when a politician speaking took over the broadcast on every channel.

[SugarFree]

I mourn it as well.

It should be on all channels, TV, radio, live autorun video on every website... shut down the movie theaters, call off all sports, and disable all video game systems... run that shit on emergency broadcast speakers everywhere... make this so inescapable, make it so hard to soma away that people finally rise up and say "Hold! Enough!" and we abolish Indiana once and for all.

[darius404]

Abolish Indiana?

[Enough About Palin]

The name is offensive to Native Americans.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Because they are masterdebaters?

[Jerryskids]

VP candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will debate tonight.

"Debate". Sure, let's go with that. Like primates engaging in the study of the aerodynamics of manually-propelled fecal matter.

[Atanarjuat]

Comment of winningness, right there.

[Pope Jimbo]

With Hillary's health and Donny's lack of interest in actually being president, it is a preview of who will really be filling the Oval office next year.

[__Warren__]

It'll be Huma filling the Oval...whatever.

[Monroe Feather, Jr.]

One organization is deeply troubled by the weird reports of scary clowns everywhere: Clown College.

AGAIN WITH THE COLLEGE STUFF GODDAMMIT ROBBY

[Anomalous]

Scary clowns are not everywhere. They mostly are confined to legislatures.

[PurityDiluting]

And apparently the Ryder Cup. Local schools went on recess last week while PGA players were in town

[Crusty Juggler]

And yet Reason refuses to cover the Ryder Cup. Sad.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

(Note: the college does not confer degrees.)

The important question is does the College have safe spaces?

Because I'd expect a Clown College safe space to have a ball pit or a bouncy house!

[Fist of Etiquette]

One organization is deeply troubled by the weird reports of scary clowns everywhere: Clown College.

That's it, I'm going to barber college!

[thrakkorzog]

You people have been holding me back for too long! I'm going to clown college!

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I don't think any of us expected him to say that.

[Monroe Feather, Jr.]

"I'll thank you not to refer to Princeton that way."

[Pope Jimbo]

I'd recommend going to Village Idiot college instead. They give you a diploma

[Playa Manhattan.]

Those Billboards had no effect on me whatsoever.

[rts]

First Nations look to break 'pipeline gridlock'

"What people have to understand is First Nations people are getting poorer and they have been getting poorer for the last 20 years," said Blaine Favel, chancellor of the University of Saskatchewan and chair of the conference.

"The energy industry has allowed our people a ladder to employment, to partnerships," he said. "We have to balance our concern for the protection of Mother Earth and our opportunity to protect our children and relatives that need to work today."

"As Indigenous peoples we've always been consumers of goods and services, not producers of goods and services. We need to fit into that chain somewhere. That's wealth creation, that's job creation."

[John]

Environmentalist are luddites but at least they make up for it by being racists.

[John Titor]

The problem with the whole 'First Nations' concept up here is that we pretend that every single one of them is an 'Indian' with the same cultural mindset, desires and similar goals. When in reality most of them hate each other and have completely different positions depending on everything from their historical culture to their location. Osoyoos is a hell of a lot different culturally than any the Nickel Belt reserves I've been to.

[Zeb]

Not too different in the US. There are hundreds of different languages and cultures, but we talk about Indians as if they are one group. Though it seems more organized in Canada. And because they are Indians, people love to pretend that they are somehow inherently more in tune with nature than any other back-to-the-land hippy type. Which sounds pretty racist to me.

"First Nations" is a stupid term too. They aren't first anything. They were the last nations before Europeans took over.

[Rufus The Monocled]

The whole 'we were here first therefore you owe us' game has run its course. Now it's just a way to shakedown. Not to mention the 'peaceful Indian' stereotype as mentioned.

Europeans came. Accept it. Move on. If you don't, you end up sniffing glue on Davis Inlet or secluding yourself from progress.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Not following. Do they want it or not? The Chiefs may want it because talk about an embezzlement bonanza!

[Steve G]

Poorer??? A) Have they not heard of (or taken advantage of) the casino phenomenon the last couple decades? and B) What are they doing to actually enter the marketplace and produce goods and services?

[Juice]

Some are becoming cannabis entrepreneurs.

[Pro Libertate]

Penn went to Clown College.

[__Warren__]

And Clown went to Penn.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

And Clown went to Penn.

Where he got the Sandusky treatment and was driven to lure kids into the woods?

/Not all college educations are a waste.

[__Warren__]

Let me know if this feels funny.

[Pope Jimbo]

Why do you think Teller never talks? The horrors he saw in that locker room silenced him forever.

[Stormy Dragon]

Penn (The University of Pennsylvania) and Penn State (The Pennsylvania State University) aren't the same school.

[John]

It is actually kind of sad. There was a PBS show about the Big Apple Circus on a few years ago. One of the clowns in it was the "official Clown" of a children's hospital in New York. The guy spent his life entertaining sick kids and looked to be pretty good at it. Now thanks to this, he and others like him probably can't do that anymore. I never understood how society developed this weird obsession and phobia over clowns.

[Pro Libertate]

It'll pass. After all, a clown without makeup is still a clown.

[Bill Dalasio]

I never understood how society developed this weird obsession and phobia over clowns.

Because most of society has lost the ability to tell people they're full of shit. And when some people get a free pass to be full of shit, everyone jumps on the bandwagon.

[RBS]

Stephen King?

I went through a brief phase when I was about 12 where I was terrified of clowns.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

John, you just don't get IT.

[__Warren__]

Stephen King's The IT Crowd have been quite a different show.

[Pope Jimbo]

+1 Penny-moss

[Yusef Adama]

PennyWise, You Dolt

[kbolino]

Woosh...

[Ted S.]

Clara Bow does, however.

[Free Society]

It was the Juggalos that did it for me. Fuck those people.

[Free Society]

It was the Juggalos that did it for me. Fuck those people.

[Agent Cooper]

The squirrels hate them too, FS.

[ant1sthenes]

Because with all the random shit that happens all the time, all the media has do is report every single case of such a thing happening to make it look like it's an epidemic or something.

[Playa Manhattan.]

So did Steve-O. Magna Cum Laude.

[Fist of Etiquette]

VP candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will debate tonight.

About whose running mate is the worst.

[Juice]

Who will be the better apologist?

[John Titor]

Guys, I think I've figured Reason's game out now.

When you google Reason Magazine the third hit is no longer "Reason magazine holocaust denial". It's now "Reason Magazine Trump"

Nick, you magnificent bastard.

[bacon-magic]

(((makes sense)))

[Pan Zagloba]

Worth!

Jacket knows 4D chess. And I guess Nick helps by wearing the Jacket so it can move around.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

?James Madison University's speech guide recommends against accusing people of being too politically correct.

I'll go back to just calling them retarded, then.

[Ship of Theseus]

A political correctness guide saying you shouldn't point out political correctness. The irony is lost on them.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

It's a cookbook!

And all the recipes are for cake. Because they all want it.

[The Fusionist]

"Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought-crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every concept that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning rigidly defined and all its subsidiary meanings rubbed out and forgotten. . . . The process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there's no reason or excuse for committing thought-crime. It's merely a question of self-discipline, reality-control. But in the end there won't be any need even for that. . . . Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand such a conversation as we are having now?"

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

Orwell was wrong. That's why the PC terms have to keep changing. Humans can infuse meaning into any words. You wouldn't have thousands of languages otherwise.

[Pan Zagloba]

Orwell wasn't predicting, merely commenting on developments in Soviet Union of his time.

[Krabappel]

I would imagine the average JMU student is too drunk or high to care.

[Playa Manhattan.]

"Clown College. (Note: the college does not confer degrees.)"

I've had enough of your Vassar bashing today!

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

"Clown College. (Note: the college does not confer degrees.)"

I'll thank you not to refer to Princeton that way!

[Monroe Feather, Jr.]

DAMN YOU.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The president of the National Education Association says Donald Trump has emboldened schoolyard bullies...

Do they generally require emboldening?

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Trump is an inspiration

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Unions are experts on bullying, so they should know.

[Atanarjuat]

No.

Yet another lefty tries to get me to like Trump. Hell, if he came out against teacher's unions, I might actually vote for him.

[rts]

Apropos of nothing, this has been a very interesting and well done series of videos (so far) about New Testament history from Yale.

Anyone else care to share some good online lectures, any subject?

[Pan Zagloba]

I love the Introduction to Ancient Greek History, presented by Donald Kagan. It's a lovely overview of history from Dark Ages to Philip of Macedon, with (that being his area of expertise) good summary of Peloponnesian War, and, as an aside, a defense of Athenian democracy as a political system.

[Rufus The Monocled]

His 'On the origins of war' is a great read.

[R C Dean]

*Jots note to check Amazon*

I found John Keegan's A History of Warfare, The Face of Battle, and The Mask of Command to be excellent books that have really informed my thinking about war.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Keegan is very good too.

[Pan Zagloba]

I should check it out. His history of Pelloponesian War was amazing, and eye-opening. I'm quite persuaded by his argument about Thucydides as "revisionist historian".

[Hamster of Doom]

Math. Redbird and Khan Academy. Seriously, I don't know why we're not using these more. And by we I mean Earth. Good stuff.

[Pan Zagloba]

I'm sad to confess our deep, dark, secret but Canada Has A Problem

A new study the Angus Reid Institute conducted in partnership with CBC reveals a slightly different portrait of Canadians than that of our national myth.
On immigration, the vast majority of Canadians prefer a policy that will enhance our economic prosperity over one that emphasizes the needs of people in crisis around the world.

On multiculturalism, by a factor of almost two-to-one, Canadians say they would prefer that minorities "do more to fit in" with mainstream Canada, rather than encourage cultural diversity in which groups keep their own customs and language. (I asked an almost identical question 25 years ago, and fewer Canadians actually support multiculturalism as a concept today.)

Conclusion? This is CBC, we don't need our articles to have things like "conclusion," "purpose" or "point".

[John Titor]

Also apparently we can be a right pack of cunts in foreign countries.

[jesse.in.mb]

When I worked in Korea (8-9 years ago) I was drinking with a bunch of Canadian expats and they were complaining, at length, about how Americans were putting maple leaf patches on their bags and shit. "How many of you have been assholes in a foreign country and pretended you were American because you know people would just accept it and move on?"

All the hands went up.

"So Americans that are aware that America has a reputation problem and just want to travel without being hassled pretend to be Canadian and Canadians who want to be assholes pretend to be Americans and we're the ones who should be embarrassed?"

The subject changed with a quickness.

[John Titor]

They sound like a right pack of cunts.

[Pan Zagloba]

He said "Canadian expats"...

[jesse.in.mb]

Right? I thought I'd been very clear.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

So... not Jesse's kind of crowd?

[Clich? Bandit]

why? There are bears in Canada...some have cunts.

[Rhywun]

I would think the assholes would wear Union Jack patches.

[John Titor]

Accent's too obvious, Canadians can at least theoretically be from Wisconsin if we try hard enough.

[jesse.in.mb]

I thought the St. George Flag was the more aggressively assholish choice

[Rhywun]

True, if you want to get more specific.

[jesse.in.mb]

It's HyR, of course I do.

[Pope Jimbo]

My guess is that they didn't pick a fight with you because a brawl in a soju tent just doesn't have the same panache as one in an old western saloon. Both of you knew it would just be sad to bust up a soju tent and have to pay maybe $20 to replace the entire thing.

[jesse.in.mb]

You've never seen a brawl in a Korean bar then?

Soju-drunk middle aged Korean businessmen can scrap.

[Pope Jimbo]

That is what I love about Korea. The Irish of the East. They get drunk and fight all the time.

My favorite drunk Korean story was when I was there for Team Spirit 88 and we were taking the bus from the airport to the bar district in Pohang. A drunk Korean gets on the bus (he was really, really drunk) and tries to pay. Unfortunately he was so drunk that he couldn't figure out how to get the right amount of money out. The bus driver started trying to help him. Of course, that made the drunk guy right so he starts yelling at the bus driver. Next thing, the bus driver gets up, grabs the guy and physically tosses him off the bus. The drunk guy was so drunk that he never even got his hands up and just sort of splatted on the sidewalk.

Then the bus driver sat down and drove off like nothing happened. None of the other passengers (except us) seemed to care either. I'm still not sure that guy didn't die.

[jesse.in.mb]

Oh Pohang. I take it you went to see the Homigot?

[Pope Jimbo]

Nope, we would have had to take a bus there and after our experience we tried to avoid those.

[Isaac Bartram]

How boorish, 'utterly wasted' tourists are rewriting the treasured myth of the Nice Canuck

My experience is that people who fall for the "myth of the Nice Canuck" are people who've never gone north of Steeles Ave or haven't seen what the average prison population of the country is like. They've also never associated with anyone from the rank and file of the Toronto building trades.

[Isaac Bartram]

One interesting thing is that from the stories I have have heard, it is the American expats who work in energy, construction and finance who get the friendliest reception from co-workers while it is the liberals who left "because of Nixon/Reagan/Bush" who have to endure endless tirades of anti-Americanism (often in the form of personal attacks) in the academia/non-profit/NGO/activist/organizer jobs that they gravitate to.

[John Titor]

I would think that for CBC it's self-evident: LOOK AT THE WRONGTHINK! WRONGTHINK BAD!

[John]

On immigration, the vast majority of Canadians prefer a policy that will enhance our economic prosperity over one that emphasizes the needs of people in crisis around the world.

Canadians just are not willing to suffer for their betters' principles. The bastards.

[Pan Zagloba]

This is why it's very important never ever to ask Canadian people anything. We keep answering wrong.

[Ted S.]

And that problem is the CBC.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Oh God, the Justin Trudeau coloring book on 'Canadian Values' may take a beating on sales!

I'm not surprised by any of this.

As for the traveling Canuck, nothing more nauseating.

[Pan Zagloba]

Nah, schools would buy it by the truckload.

Hey, you know who else got rich by forcing institutions (public and private) to buy large amounts of their book?

[Citizen X]

God?

[Free Society]

Unscrupulous college professors everywhere?

[thrakkorzog]

HarperCollins?

[dschwar]

Mao?

[John Titor]

I've read it.

Of course I got it from the library because there's no way in hell I'm paying for it.

A brief summary:

"Here's a bunch of stories about me growing up around my father and how my beliefs formed (also a bunch of pictures of me for some reason). Not surprisingly, it's extremely shallow, riddled with logical fallacies and immediate emotional impulse. Now I'm going to pretend that my values are our values because I'm literally too big a narcissist to understand the difference, and too stupid to actually know any Canadian history that shows that our values might be a wee bit different."

2/10, less enjoyable than a Naomi Klein book.

[John Titor]

"Also, if you're anti-abortion you're not really Canadian or something, yes, that's an actual thing."

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Is that some 'stereotype' about Canada? They're nice and boring, sure, but I've never heard that as associated with being super-liberal and praising multiculturalism. The myth is also that it's exceedingly white, which plays right against such an idea.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Toronto is multi-everything.

[John Titor]

The myth is also that it's exceedingly white, which plays right against such an idea.

Which was mostly true up until the mid-90s when we started to have more immigration from developing countries, and way more in the early 2000s.

The 'stereotype' is more a belief that the more 'liberal' of Canadians believe, that Canada, due to its mixed French/Catholic and English/Protestant background, has always been about allowing immigrants to keep their original culture while the evil Americans enforce assimilation. Because people are too stupid to realize consociationalism isn't multiculturalism.

[Pan Zagloba]

It's a Canadian myth.
We invented multicultiralism, because we are not assimilating scum like barbarians from the south.
We love to have people come for humanitarian reasons, because we are not greedy scum like barbarians from the south.
We particularly love dark-skinned people, because we are not racist scum like barbarians from the south.

"We" in this case being kind of people who work for CBC.

[John Titor]

We particularly love dark-skinned people, because we are not racist scum like barbarians from the south.

Well, until that theory started floating around that the Tories were winning elections because the new Canadians were socially and economically conservative. Never saw liberals I knew flip to "THEY TOOK OUR JERBS" so quickly, except when it involves the Chinese.

[Ted S.]

except when it involves the Chinese.

THEY TOOK OUR HOMES!

[Rufus The Monocled]

It's my 'at least we're not American' theory that lurks deep in our subconscious in everything we do.

[Isaac Bartram]

Next Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is the day when Americans thank God they're Americans and Canadians thank God they're not.

[Pope Jimbo]

My stereotype of Canucks (based on growing up in a tourist trap near the border that was inundated with them during the summer) is that they are fantastic, happy drunks.

The ones that came to my hometown were pretty much all from Friendly Manitoba and they really lived up to it. Never picked fights or acted like assholes. When they did break something, they would apologize profusely when they sobered up and pay for the damages.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Sarcastic Soave is much better than trolling Soave.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Sarcastic Soave is just 'Getting Better at Trolling' Soave.

[Fist of Etiquette]

(Note: the college does not confer degrees.)

(It's all black or white to them.)

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Another soul-crushing story from Venezuela: A child's scraped knee a life or death matter in Venezuela

In Ashley's hospital, the janitorial staff had run out of bleach to clean the floors. Stray dogs wandered the building, and cockroaches scuttled by on the walls. The water in the bathroom sometimes came out black.

And in her emergency care room, the sink was broken, the soap dispenser was empty and there was nothing in the container marked "sterile gloves." Yet with the hospital so crowded that women in labor were sharing beds, her parents felt lucky she had been admitted at all.

[...]

Coming onto his shift Sunday, pediatric resident Richard Rangel approached his new patient with dread.

He was thinking of quitting medicine. In the spring, a father had drawn a gun on him, frustrated that the hospital didn't have even acetaminophen or ibuprofen for his 8-year-old son. A thug had robbed him at knife-point in the hospital stairwell. And he had watched five children die of sepsis within a week because there was no way to treat them.

[Citizen X]

Trust democracy, or something.

[__Warren__]

FUCKING CAPITALISM!

[Invisible Finger]

Why doesn't the Venezuelan government DO something???

[R C Dean]

Why doesn't the Venezuelan government DO something???

They are.

This is the result.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I blame capitalism. And the US.

[Free Society]

It says right there in the story that the kid got free access. I don't see the big deal.

[perlchpr]

The government has refused to let in humanitarian aid. So donations of medical supplies sit in warehouses and shipping containers in countries including the U.S., Spain and Panama.

Just in case it wasn't patently clear that the fuckers are evil.

[Mad Scientist]

It would all be fine if they just had different top fuckers.

[Free Society]

I think Venezuela could get a lot better if that country were properly top fucked.

[The Late P Brooks]

NYT war on third party voters (and Trump) continues unabated:

Casting a protest vote is a tantalizing option for many: It gives you the veneer of moral purity while sacrificing nothing. In a normal election year, voters are often given the option to choose between two less-than-desirable options ? would you like chicken or fish as your in-flight meal? In 2008, David Sedaris famously described an undecided voter contemplating the choice between the chicken and something I can't mention here, mixed with ground glass. Voting for a third party this year is like being given the option between chicken and the plane crashing into the side of a mountain, but calmly asking for a banana split instead.

Gosh- which candidate might it be who represents crashing into the side of a mountain? Any guesses, class?

Also, HOW CAN YOU ASK FOR A BANANA SPLIT WHEN THE PLANE IS CRASHING, YOU NIHILISTS?

[__Warren__]

Well, I like bananas, cherries, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream.

[Ted S.]

On whom?

[__Warren__]

PRETTY LADIES!

[jesse.in.mb]

Just like Ali Larter in Varsity Blues?

[Playa Manhattan.]

Dick.

[jesse.in.mb]

Fine, fine. Actual pic of Ali Larter in a whipped cream bikini.

*holds palms open to show no tricksies this time*

[__Warren__]

THAT'S A MAN, BABY!

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

That's CAPTAIN AMERICA!

[Crusty Juggler]

Or Chris Evans in Not Another Teen Movie?

[Crusty Juggler]

A dollar short, as the kids say.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Let me guess, your college didn't confer degrees?

[Crusty Juggler]

Bob, they eventually gave me a degree just that I would go away.

Jesse, I am so used to being one of the few good commenters here that I naturally assumed my link was superior to yours. I forgot that not only are you one of the good commenters, you're one of the best commenters. It is a mistake I shall not make twice.

[jesse.in.mb]

I forgot that not only are you one of the good commenters, you're one of the best commenters.

*wipes away a single manly tear*

That is just the nicest...wait, is this some kind of manipulation tactic? I'm not giving you a kidney, Juggler... Go ask Swiss, he's a known sucker for donating organs.

[Crusty Juggler]

I would never manipulate you! And yes, I know if I needed an organ I would go to Swiss - that loser would give me a lung and not ask for anything in return. Looooooooosssseeeerrrr..

[Swiss Servator]

You need a lung?

*checks medical records*

Hey, wait a minute....

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm a little hurt that you don't trustingly click on my links, Mr. Juggler.

[bacon-magic]

Crusty wants it to hurt, he needs no 55 gallon drum of lube.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

My voting third-party isn't a "protest" vote. I'm voting for the candidate of the four that I would most prefer to be president. These entitled fucks need to stop thinking I owe them anything or that my vote belongs to them.

[DOOMco]

They definitely think they own you. There's some supporting evidence.

[Ted S.]

It's a choice between Alzheimer's and Ebola.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

It's nut-punches all the way down...

[Bill Dalasio]

Note to the New York Times: If you keep the bullshit up, I might actually start to believe that I shouldn't vote third party. I'm sure Donald Trump will appreciate the support.

[John]

You have to read the Times like you are reading Pravda. It is what they don't say that is important. They are only begging people not to vote third party because Hillary is in a lot of trouble.

[Bill Dalasio]

Oh, I know. And I have no intention of voting for Trump. I just think that, as this bullshit continues, they might be surprised to find that even marginally intelligent people start to get so repulsed by the hatchet job, that they actually start discounting all of the criticisms of Trump. I mean, just this week, we're seeing the press hyperventilating about a pretty mundane tax loss carry forward and openly twist a good and decent thing the guy was saying into an attack on veterans. At a certain point, people can't help but ask "Well, what's the actual, you know, proof that Donald Trump is a racist misogynist? ".

[John]

There is no proof. It is Sarah Palin all over again. Trump is a left of center Republican/Democrat along the lines of Dick Gebhart with worse hair and more money. There is nothing that remarkable about him other than his ability to drive the media and political elite insane.

The other thing to remember is that everything these ass clowns say is the opposite of the truth. So, if they tell you Trump is unfit for office, it is because the truth is Hillary is unfit and Trump is just fine. All these people do is lie. They know nothing else.

[Pro Libertate]

Again this reference to clowns.

[Bill Dalasio]

There is no proof.

I'd say there's a couple of things that are mildly suggestive that he's willing to indulge racists (not rejecting the Duke endorsement, retweeting things from white nationalist sites, the prevalence of "cuck" amongst his supporters), but very little that he himself is personally racist. But, that's beside the point.

The "Trump is racist" meme is one of those that only really flies if it broadly accepted with little questioning. The evidence to support the accusation against him (per se) is, I'd agree, quite scant. That's why the overdose on the hatchet job is a risky move. There's only so many times they can say "Trump is awful becuase of X" and have the public find, oh, wait, it's bullshit before people start doubting the veracity of the initial accusations.

[John]

He didn't reject the Duke endorsement because it was a media trap. Once he said Duke needed to be kicked out, the media would have asked him who else should go and that would have been the entire conversation. Instead, he just ignored Duke and moved on.

He retrweeted something that happened to be on a white nationalist site. I have not seen any evidence he did that purposely. As far as the "cuck" use, I have no idea what to say to that other than WTF and the "alt right" consists of like 200 trolls on 4 chan. It is only significant because the media sees it as a way to slander Trump.

There is no evidence that he is. But that doesn't matter. The entire progressive culture is built around the idea that everyone but them is racist.

[R C Dean]

Let's look for the dog that didn't bark on Trump's bigotry:

The man has run a lot of big businesses with a lot of employees. If he was a bigot, there would have been EEOC complaints. I haven't heard of a one. That tells me he's not a bigot.

[Bill Dalasio]

Again, R C, I have little reason to think he is.

But, that is the dominant meme about the guy. And, like I say below, throw that away and he wins in a landslide. Hands down.

[Free Society]

Or that he's able enough to compartmentalize his bigotry (like most people). Which is the functional equivalent of not being a bigot. Either way, there hasn't been a GOP candidate in my lifetime that wasn't accused of racism or sexism so I don't put much stock in those accusations almost regardless of who it's directed at. Also I don't care if they are a bigot, in the same way that I don't care that Ron Paul is a Young Earth Creationist, because I wasn't voting for him to be King Scientist.

[Bill Dalasio]

We can debate the evidence or not. I interpret the evidence more harshly than you, but honest people can differ. Like I said, I've seen very little evidence that Trump is personally racist or sexist.

Again, though, the real problem is the repeated overreaches. Right now the "Trump is racist" meme still probably holds majority sway. And, realistically, losing that meme (all other things being equal) would mean Clinton loses in a landslide. I can't help but wonder, how many times can they get caught making these outlandish attacks that wind up so easily disproven without putting the meme at risk.

[Free Society]

I can't help but wonder, how many times can they get caught making these outlandish attacks that wind up so easily disproven without putting the meme at risk.

They do it every. single. election. With impunity. I'd say they're getting good mileage on that meme.

[John]

It gets less effective every time Bill. Look at it this way, it is at best 50 50 that it is going to work on Trump well enough to beat him. They have overplayed the race card to such a degree, I doubt we will see another black President in my lifetime. No one wants to put up with 8 years of being called a racist for disagreeing with the President and having a President who can't be treated like a regular President again. Democrats would never admit it but they don't want that again either.

The country is just becoming exhausted with this shit and it is getting less and less effective every election.

[Bill Dalasio]

I agree with you to some extent. It might be an interesting conundrum. Relatively weak numbers means they're panicking and branching out into even more marginal accusations (tax loss carry forwards, "attacking" vets). But, that risks blowing up the central narrative. Again, how many times can you get proven to be full of shit on side issues before people start question the central claim.

[PurityDiluting]

"without putting the meme at risk"
which is why they have now played the 'he picks on fat chicks' card

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Yeah, I really wish they'd just shut the fuck up about this tax thing and stop calling it a "loophole." Trump claimed a pretty standard (though yuge) NOL and (presumably, as we haven't actually seen any other returns) carried it forward to future years as pretty much every business does.

If the consequence is that he didn't pay income taxes during carryforward years, it's because, on net, he didn't have income. I think we'd all agree that people/businesses who don't have income shouldn't pay income taxes, right?

Unless the endgame here is to abolish the NOL carrforward deduction. If so, congrats on destroying pretty much every business ever.

[Rufus The Monocled]

If they could, they would abolish it all. Burn the bitch down.

They're ignorant nihilists who have no fucking clue of what they're talking about.

The media is especially evil because I highly doubt they actually believe something as harmless as a carry loss forward to be a nefarious capitalist plot. They just need to go talk to their fucken colleagues in the financial bull pen to know this.

Nah, they're doing it for political reasons. Problem is, you know some idiot left-wing politician out of Seattle, California, NY, Mass. or D.C. will demand this 'loophole' be closed.

Bunch of illiterates.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"In a normal election year"

The people who bitch about people who vote party _NEVER_ concede that any year is a "normal election year". Every year the fate of the universe is at stake, so fall in line and wait until the "normal election year" that will never come to cast your silly protest votes!!

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

It's always the most important election of our lifetime.

[PurityDiluting]

Indeed. Every single time. Otherwise, the reporters would be squandering their existence.

[OneOut]

This one may fit the description better than most.

The next President could get to appoint about half of the supreme court.

That is a tremendous influence over the country for decades to come. Much more than your average Prez.

[R C Dean]

HOW CAN YOU ASK FOR A BANANA SPLIT WHEN THE PLANE IS CRASHING, YOU NIHILISTS?

Like this:

"Since I'm going to die anyway, could you bring me a banana split so my last moments can be enjoyable? Extra whipped cream, please."

[PurityDiluting]

Reminds me of advice about what to do if confronted by a bear, courtesy of Bill Bryson:
Run. You can't outrun the bear, but it will give you something to do in the final minutes of your life.

[gaoxiaen]

Well, at least I won't get in trouble for smoking my last cigarette.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

As I've mentioned in the previous story. How could a species who members have survived and even thrived in truly traumatic times given rise to these snowflakes? Life has gotten very good for most people in this country. It's also made people dumb.

[kinnath]

No, parents have raised ignorant, intolerant, entitled shits.

[bacon-magic]

That's why the government should raise kids. - Tony

[OneOut]

Aren't the millennials the first generation who grew up getting participation trophies and not having their school work evaluated by grades ?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Remember how I said trigger warnings are bad, and then a bunch of people jumped down my throat hissing They're not mandatory, stop freaking out, moral panic alert! Well.

Never forget.

[The Late P Brooks]

And-

While young voters like Mr. Johnson's liberal stances on the war on drugs and criminal justice reform, his economic policies are straight from the trickle-down playbook. Mr. Johnson opposes Wall Street regulation and a minimum-wage increase, has promised to eliminate corporate and income taxes, opposes paid family leave, and supports the Keystone XL pipeline, the trans-Pacific Partnership, corporate political donations and a "free market approach to health care." He believes in human-made climate change, but he doesn't see it as a pressing threat because, as he said in 2011, "in billions of years, the sun is going to actually grow and encompass the earth."

Can't you see what a dangerous lunatic that Johnson guy is, you dumb kids?

[John]

The NYT is reduced to begging people not to vote for the Libertarian candidate. Hillary is not in trouble my ass. I don't care what the polls say. These people are panicking.

[Pro Libertate]

What is weird, truly weird, is that the LP appears to threaten the Dems much more than the GOP. How does that work?

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

"Appears to" because they're panicking that they're not 50 points ahead. And they know Clinton is that awful.

[John]

No. They are panicking because they are afraid they are going to lose. And they don't give a fuck that Hillary is awful. They just want to win. They want power. They don't really care who gives it to them.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

I take it you are not disagreeing with me and are merely expanding on my point.

[John]

No. You disagree and say they are panicked because they are not far enough ahead. I am saying, no they are panicking because they might lose. We are making different points.

And I am pretty sure Scott already has a boyfriend.

[Clich? Bandit]

John, gunna bust your nads for a bit here:
I know you weren't the worst but you were pretty October confident on Romney.(some people were unbearable, with the rest of us looking on thinking "how can they not see the sky is blue?")

I don't see Trump winning. I do see Hilldawg winning/coughing her way to Jan 20th. I also see Johnson getting over 5% nationally...which will be TEHAWESOMES!

NOW, I am not saying my confidence in this hasnt been shaken recently. She really is trying he best to lose and if it weren't for Trump trying to lose harder she would be. But I still think, as of right now, that she is the next pres.

Please understand though that eight years ago I said "there is no way an upstart nobody senator can take down the Clinton Machine." so there is that.

[John]

I thought Romney was going to win. I was wrong. But it wasn't an unreasonable thought.

If you want to bust on me for that Clich?, fine. Now lets talk about the people on here who said that Trump wouldn't' win a state and in fact would cause the Republicans to lose the Congress?

How is that working out for you? I remember being called a complete loon for saying that he had a real chance to win and the claims that win or loose that he would cause the Republicans to lose the Congress were absurd.

You want to admit how utterly and completely wrong you were about that? Would you like to tell me how right I was? Nothing over the top, just get on your knees and explain what a genius I am and wrong you were to ever doubt me. I am not too sore of a winner.

[VG Zaytsev]

All of the energy in this campaign is on Trumps side. It reminds me of the Obama phenomenon in 2008.

As an example someone has been putting up these posters in west LA

There are dozens of other examples of the energy on Trumps side and none on Hillary's.

The polls aren't good at capturing that (even assuming that they are trying to be neutral) effect.

[Free Society]

Because they're going after those voters specifically. I can't think of anything better for the future of the LP than to fill it's ranks with disaffected liberals, progressives and socialists.

[John]

Hillary is horrible and the LP nominated a kindly doofus who likes pot and appeals to the yutes.

[waffles]

The pot vote in California will be interesting and may help GJ get over the 1-2% mark for the L party as CA isn't in play for Trump.

[jesse.in.mb]

I know so many Californians (D) freaking out about third party voters. I cannot fathom how they can be that dumb.

[DOOMco]

They are California democrats.

[spqr2008]

A friend of mine grew up and went to college in Ohio with me, and he's now in the movie business in CA. He doesn't get how he can just vote for whoever he really wants to. He insists that he wants to vote for Jill Stein, but can't risk Trump winning California. I had to post a bunch of polls to show him that a vote for Stein won't make a difference in California, and if he has principled reasons not to vote for Clinton, he shouldn't.

[Pro Libertate]

We should've nominated Rand Paul.

[bacon-magic]

Truth, I am still a Rand Paul fan. Take that Hihny!

[DOOMco]

He is so angry.

[ant1sthenes]

Because right-leaning people who hate the Republican establishment enough to vote third party have the Trump Party, formerly known as the GOP, whereas left-leaning people who hate the Democratic establishment enough to vote third party have fuck-all except Stein or Johnson, and not every left-leaner who hates the Dem establishment is coming from commietown.

[Akira]

"Mr. Johnson... opposes paid family leave"

Yes, because opposing mandatory paid family leave for any and all employers is the same thing as saying that nobody at all should ever have paid family leave.

[Akira]

"Mr. Johnson... opposes paid family leave"

Yes, because opposing mandatory paid family leave for any and all employers is the same thing as saying that nobody at all should ever have paid family leave.

[JaimeRoberto]

Did Johnson really promise to eliminate corporate income taxes? If I recall correctly, said he would like to, but it wouldn't get through Congress, who actually makes the laws.

[waffles]

American University Student Government President Devontae Torriente is a better troll than any of us will ever be.

[Bill Dalasio]

James Madison University's speech guide recommends against accusing people of being too politically correct.

Anyone want to bet there's not a word against calling somebody a racist shitlord?

Give it time. They aren't thinking about it, but this shit is going to turn back on them. With interest. And every bullshit rule they impose to impose their will on others will be an arrow in the quiver of the people bringing down the hammer on them (pardon the overuse of metaphors).

[Ted S.]

That's cis-shitlord.

[ant1sthenes]

35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say: Surprising Things We Say that Widen the Diversity Gap

So they're quoting a work that, starting from its very title, embraces ableist slurs against the verbally challenged? Well, this is problematic.

8. "I don't see color" or "I'm color blind."

And here is the result. So you're just going to callously invalidate the lived experience of people with achromatopsia and further marginalize them, you ableist shitlords? This is not ok. The fascist that wrote this list should be expelled and never allowed to work or love or feel the warm embrace of the sun ever again.

[Free Society]

Remember how I said trigger warnings are bad, and then a bunch of people jumped down my throat hissing They're not mandatory, stop freaking out, moral panic alert! Well.

Is this some sort of euphemistic allusion?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"VP candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will debate tonight."

It's nice that despite a contentious election, the Republicans and Democrats can still come together in a show of bipartisanship and invent the cure for insomnia. Inspiring, really.

[lap83]

In fairness, two guys no one knows or cares about debating is almost every H&R comment thread.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Oh, you know immediately that they're retards.

Same thing could be said of the VP candidates.

[Pan Zagloba]

But imagine if the moderator breaks in to read a SugarFree story out loud....

[bacon-magic]

This question is to the Hat: "What policy would you implement on immigration?" - some biased moderator

[Free Society]

I really don't see the appeal of using journalists as moderators. The whole idea originally was to use journalists because of their professional capacity for objectivity. Which makes the practice of journalists as moderators a complete fucking joke.

[Pro Libertate]

I bet both outperform the tops of their tickets.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

O/T

U-Michigan Ann Arbor creates campus roster where students can enter preferred pronoun, to be officially recognized by the university. Student chooses "His Majesty" as his preferred pronoun.

http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/29230/

[__Warren__]

I'm going with Sir Bronzecock.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Reason reported on that a few days ago. His Majesty deserves all the accolades His Majesty deserves.

[Playa Manhattan.]

My nigga.

[John]

I am debating between "His Royal Highness" or "Grand Vizier"

[Pan Zagloba]

Go full Diocletian. "Dominus et Deus".

[John Titor]

"Heavenly Sovereign."

[John]

I like that one a lot.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

"Lord Protector of the Realm"

"Sir Loin of Beef"

[Gilbert Martin]

How about God King?

[Lee Genes]

Your Eminence

[R C Dean]

I'd go with the simple, classy "Himself". Plus, its actually a pronoun, and the prof can't object that its really a "title".

[The Late P Brooks]

VP candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence will debate tonight.

This actually matters, because there is definitely a non-zero chance of an impeachment in the next Presidential term, no matter which of those buffoons wins.

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

There's also rumors that Trump promised would-be running mates to basically let them run things.

Plus, there's a decent chance Hillary won't make it to inauguration day, much less four years.

[__Warren__]

I'm voting for Sarah Jackson!

[Mad Scientist]

I'm voting for Sara Lee!

[__Warren__]

Do people like her?

[Mad Scientist]

Are you kidding? Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!

[Derp-o-Matic 5000]

Sara Lee? Totally would.

[Sonoran Desert Rat]

Sara Lee is a Bimbo!!!

[PBR Streetgang]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ScTb6_KHg

[Sevo]

"One organization is deeply troubled by the weird reports of scary clowns everywhere: Clown College. (Note: the college does not confer degrees.)"

But many others do...

[yozusaku]

Start working at home with Google! It's by-far the best job I've had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this - 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go to tech tab for work detail,,,,,,,
------------------>>> http://www.4cyberworks.com

[John]

http://www.fox25boston.com/news/massa...../453358250

Mass Supreme Court grants full parental rights to unmarried gay woman. I don't think the gays are going to like how that works out. Some of them may not be interested in parental rights but thanks to constructive parenthood, parental rights may be very interested in them.

[__Warren__]

This should be interesting.

"Um. I didn't contribute any genetic material to this kid!"

"Tough titties, you're a parent!"

[John]

That happens to men all of the time. Men raise a kid thinking it was theirs only to find out their wife cheated and it isn't. The courts routinely tell them, tough shit you are now the parent because it is in the best interests of the child.

I swear to God the people who sold gays on adoption and marriage must really hate their guts. Only someone with a very dark heart and a deep hatred of gays would want them subjected to family law and family courts.

[Dr. Fronkensteen]

The only good thing that MAY come out of it is that the laws could be changed to be truly gender neutral. Family courts will still be a shit storm as people truly hate people they once trusted on an intimate level.

[John]

I hope some good comes of it but I doubt it. More likely they just will make special exceptions for the sacred gays and continue screwing everyone else.

[Rhywun]

sold gays on adoption and marriage

And here I thought they demanded it themselves. I guess they just got tricked into it.

Well, I hate children so I won't fall into that trap but I think it's right that I have that choice.

[John]

I don't think it is going to work out so well for them. And like I say above, you may not be interested in family law, but that won't keep family law from being interested in you. If only it were so simple that you could choose to be involved in all this.

[thrakkorzog]

Hell, there was a case a year or so back where a guy was being sued for back child support for a kid he had nothing to do with, he just dated the mom a few times 15 years earlier. But since she named him as the dad on the birth certificate he ended up having to pay almost two decades worth of back child support.

[tarran]

They aren't there yet. That will be the next case.

[lap83]

Mary Bonauto, the group's civil rights project director, called the ruling "a major victory for contemporary families."

Sounds nice.

Gallagher said then that she was challenging Partanen's bid to be declared a full legal parent, which would allow her to share in virtually every decision made about the children.

Tsk tsk, can we find another more contemporary parent for these children?

[Brett L]

Did I just read, "whoa, whoa, she wants to be a MOM now that she's responsible? We thought she'd be happy with dad rights."

[GILMORE?]

Guiliani = American Doesn't Need Some Dumb Bitch As President

Journalist notes: Guiliani has divorced 3 dumb bitches, so fuck that guy.

[VG Zaytsev]

When he's right, he's right.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

Remember how I said trigger warnings are bad, and then a bunch of people jumped down my throat hissing They're not mandatory, stop freaking out, moral panic alert!

Robby, if you send a plate of fruit sushi to Jeet Heer as a consolation for being such a reactionary moron, maybe that will motivate the fat fuck to lose some weight.

[Monroe Feather, Jr.]

Yeah, like R.Soave is going to let loose of any fruit sushi within arm's reach.

[GILMORE?]

Domestic Terrorism = Amish Beard-Attacks

[GILMORE?]

Stocks Go Down = "FINALLY: BREXIT CRASH!!!" Cheers The Left

[Monroe Feather, Jr.]

Did you say BREXIT?? Nooooooooooo! *faints*

[Playa Manhattan.]

Huh. And what Obama is try to do to Deutsch before the election has nothing to do with it, right?

I'll be over here with my UVXY.

[GILMORE?]

what Obama is try to do to Deutsch before the election has nothing to do with it, right?

mm?

i think my previous comment on that was that the DAX seemed relatively unaffected by anything re: Deutsche ... compared to other issues re: Euro vs. Dollar moves, EU fiscal concerns, which dragged down EU indexes in 2015

i don't think that implies, "its a good thing that will have no effect on anything". Just that the US/Deutsche issues don't strike me as a major catalyst for anything. If the germans don't help out, ECB will, tho i'm not sure by what mechanism.

[Playa Manhattan.]

It's no secret that Obama is trying to fuck Deutsch before the election so he can look "tough on wall street".

They're trying to get all 3 banks to agree to a single settlement, and the offer was fucking ridiculous. The proposed bribe, errr, fine, was something close to the market cap.

That and the Wells Fargo grandstanding is a big problem. It would be a shame if it weren't so predicable.

[GILMORE?]

It's no secret that Obama is trying to fuck Deutsch before the election so he can look "tough on wall street".

Someone else said that the other day.

I don't really think its going to play that way - or if it does, its not much of a "political win", really. Why? Who is he trying to impress? Hillary Voters? No one is paying the slightest attention to financial news. People are more interested in the Fat Latina Ms Universe story.

From the street perspective, it doesn't seem to me to have any larger significance compared to other regulatory moves by the admin. Meaning, its not sparking any major worries about wider Financial market stability. Its not an EU-wide problem (*tho yeah, technically if DB failed it would be a derivative-mkt nightmare), its a German political problem more than anything.

I think the markets should probably drift lower leading into the election, then pop afterward back to this years upper range... because that's how markets tend to treat elections. People pull money out before the event, pile back in afterward.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Berniebots. If they stay home on election day, Hillary is fucked.

[Brett L]

I mean, who should I root for? Because fuck DeutschBank.

[Juice]

WTF? Indexes are still well above where they were pre-Brexit.

[Juice]

Woops. Just checked. No they aren't. But they were at all time highs pre-Brexit, so they're still a couple percent away from all time highs.

[John]

According to CIS authors Steven A. Camarota, director of research, and Karen Zeigler, a demographer: "The sending countries with the largest percentage increases in immigrants living in the United States from 2010 to 2014 were Saudi Arabia (up 93 percent), Bangladesh (up 37 percent), Iraq (up 36 percent), Egypt (up 25 percent), and Pakistan, India, and Ethiopia (each up 24 percent)."

http://www.washingtonexaminer......le/2603543

Not to be all judgy, but letting in millions of people who believe in an ideology dedicated to killing or enslaving you is the kind of thing lunatics do.

This country has lost its collective mind.

[VG Zaytsev]

The leaders have gone insane, not the whole county.

[GILMORE?]

ProTip = Don't Tell People, 'I'm Calling the Police On You Now'; they might just steal your phone and go, "Later, dummy"

[butt-head]

Remember how I said trigger warnings are bad, and then a bunch of people jumped down my throat hissing They're not mandatory, stop freaking out, moral panic alert! Well.

Babe, I wonder about the company you keep.

[R C Dean]

I don't.

He hangs out here, doesn't he?

[GILMORE?]

Criticism of Obama's Foreign Policy = Journalists Permitted To Ding B.O. As Long as it Has No Political Cost

Sadly = the "top man" consensus is that Obama's real fault in Syria was not "getting involved in the first place"... but rather, Not Using More Force =

the United States has, by a mile, a president who is cautious to the point of timidity and prudent to the point of appearing heartless....Late last month, a U.N.-organized humanitarian convoy was bombed by Syrians and Russians or Syrians with the aid of Russia. The United States retaliated against this hideous outrage by protesting and, on Monday, suspending talks with Moscow.

....Obama's refusal to back up demands for a cease-fire with a threat of force has driven Secretary of State John F. Kerry to distraction. He confessed his frustration to some fellow diplomats and his words were promptly leaked... But what it has done to Kerry is minor compared to what it has done to Obama himself. It has led him into hallucinatory explanations of his decisions. He mangles the facts, jumbles chronology and, in effect, holds himself guiltless for Syria's approximately 500,000 deaths, 8 million internally displaced persons and a tidal wave of immigrants that has destabilized Europe.

[John]

They are going to spend about a month saying a few bad things about Obama so they can point to them after Trump takes office to show that they were just as hard on Obama. They are so pathetic.

[The Fusionist]

It may be a signal for what me may expect from Hillary - No More Mr. (or Mrs.) Nice Guy!

[Lee Genes]

This

[R C Dean]

That's No More Mx. Nice Guy, shitlord.

[John Titor]

It's always a good when your foreign policy argument is basically the "WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?" women from The Simpsons.

[creech]

How about when you are warned to "think of the children" when being asked to oppose a Revolutionary War memorial within 60 ft. of a school bus stop because "distracted drivers may plow into my kid?"

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

So, I notice that there is another refusal story in the news.

Not wanting to make this about whether the clerk was right/proper/within their rights. Something seems weird, though: in the majority of these stories, management is mentioned in an after-the-fact way for almost every one of these stories that comes down the pipe.

Where are the managers when these things go down? From what I can tell, the customer gets upset and walks out. I would think there would be a whole lot more stories where the customer demands a supervisor or manager, and gets it dealt with then and there, but these stories are reported in a way that suggests, for almost every business, that management doesn't know about the incident until after the fact.

[The Fusionist]

It seems the employee acted on his/her own, violated company policy (or what will soon be written down as company policy) and may be looking for a new job.

Maybe the NFL is hiring?

[DOOMco]

Ive seen a bunch of police being turned away.

[R C Dean]

I suspect its because the customer here is really an activist, maybe trolling for a plaintiff's firm. The last thing they want is service. Once they are turned down, they head straight out the door to file their complaint.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

As crafty as a gay.

[GILMORE?]

Haiti Looks to Be Flattened By Hurricane
- Damages expected to amount to tens of dollars

Racist hurricane expected to abuse Cuba next

[tarran]

See!

If the Clinton Foundation hadn't diverted all that money that was supposed to rebuild Haiti into their and their cronies' pockets, it would have been wasted!

[Playa Manhattan.]

It wasn't a complete waste. They managed to spread a lot of disease.

[bacon-magic]

Bill does that everywhere.

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

- Damages expected to amount to tens of dollars

=D

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

Pappa Doc hardest hit.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I laughed.

And Hillary will still rape them for that. Hand it over. ALL OF IT.

[__Warren__]

THIS THREAD IS PROBLEMATIC!

[The Late P Brooks]

FYI- David Brooks is still crazy

A healthy nation isn't just an atomized mass of individual economic and legal units. A nation is a web of giving and getting. You give to your job, and your employer gives to you. You give to your neighborhood, and your neighborhood gives to you. You give to your government, and your government gives to you.

If you orient everything around individual self-interest, you end up ripping the web of giving and receiving. Neighbors can't trust neighbors. Individuals can't trust their institutions, and they certainly can't trust their government. Everything that is not explicitly prohibited is permissible. Everybody winds up suspicious and defensive and competitive. You wind up alone at 3 a.m. miserably tweeting out at your enemies.

Everything that is not explicitly prohibited is permissible.

The horror. The HORROR.

David Brooks, spokesman of the FREEDOM IS SLAVERY wing of the establishmentarian party.

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

Wow. Brooks coming out hard against the presumption of liberty.

[Lee Genes]

This just in, David Brooks is still an evil little man who needs the threat of punishment to behave.

[__Warren__]

My God, he's cracked it! Living your life as you please, even if you don't hurt anybody, will hurt everybody!

[Crusty Juggler]

David Brooks creases my slacks, if you know what I mean.

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

if you know what I mean.

I don't but I laughed, anyway, DAMMIT!!

[Free Society]

A nation is a web of giving and getting.

False.

You give to your job, and your employer gives to you.

Okay sure.

You give to your neighborhood, and your neighborhood gives to you.

Riiiiiiiight. That's the definition of a meaningless platitude, but okay, sure.

You give to your government, and your government gives to you.

One of these relationships, is not like the others. I don't give anything to my government, ever. It takes, why is that so fucking hard to understand?

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

A government, when established over a few generations only needs to threat of violence to enforce it's edicts. Actual punishment by death is low on the chain of escalation.
I know you know this FS, but people new to the philosophy of Voluntaryism have a hard time grasping it in their minds.
I know I did.

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

* the threat of

[Free Society]

I'm not sure Brooks is new to Voluntaryism. I doubt he can even fathom the concept.

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

True.

[R C Dean]

You wind up alone at 3 a.m. miserably tweeting out at your enemies.

He tweeted, miserably, at 3 a.m.

[John]

It is a good thing President Pants Crease that Brooks loves so much isn't a thin skinned miserable bastard who seems to revel in petty grudges or anything.

I am baffled by how someone can lack self awareness to the degree that Brooks does. How does that happen?

[John]

His problem is that he assumes self interest precludes having any interest in the institutions he so treasures. In reality, self interest and the people's understanding of the value of those institutions is what built them and preserved them.

You now what kills them and causes neighbors to not trust neighbors? The selfless commitment to ideology. If you believe in ideology over self, you don't value anything, including other people, more than you do your ideology and inevitably end up trying to co-opt everything and everyone around you into a tool to support you ideology or if they can't be co=opt destroyed directly.

Brooks is a sad foolish little man.

[Lee Genes]

Brooks is an enabler, an apologist for "great" nations, big thinkers, big doers. It doesn't really matter what the top men do as long as it's impressive, because a "great" nation does impressive things.

In short, he's an amoral flunkie who just wants to be associated with the people in charge.

[Raven Nation]

His problem is that he assumes self interest precludes having any interest in the institutions he so treasures

Q: So, Mr. Brooks, just to be clear, the only reason you do something for someone else is because the state compels you to do so? Have you told your wife that? You know, "Honey, I just want you to know if it wasn't for the state, I'd let you starve in the gutter." Or, Mr. Brooks, do you mean people not as elitist as you wouldn't help others without the power of the state.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Holy.

SHITH!

[Lee Genes]

Brooks would have been a great goose-stepper

[__Warren__]

He is a great goose-stepper.

[R C Dean]

If you orient everything around individual self-interest, you end up ripping the web of giving and receiving.

I don't see why. THis "giving and receiving" stuff is all about either short-term or long-term self-interest, one way or the other. I go to my job, and my employer pays me, because its in our mutual self-interest. Same with the neighbors, really. Even this whole "give" to government thing is pure self-interest - you know what it will do to you if you don't.

Individuals can't trust their institutions, and they certainly can't trust their government.

Note how this has actually happened, even though libertarians and radical individualists hold not a single office at the federal or, as far as I know, state levels.

David Brooks is a crook, running a criminal enterprise designed to harvest charitable donations, launder them through a web of 501(c)(3)s, and skim commissions on every turn.

[John]

Note how this has actually happened, even though libertarians and radical individualists hold not a single office at the federal or, as far as I know, state levels.

Like I say above, I don't see a bunch radical individualists destroying our institutions. What I see are a bunch of committed ideologues who use their ideology as a rationalization for all sorts of evil destroying our institutions.

[The Fusionist]

I see, a rich person who takes all his tax deductions - to such an extent as not to Pay His Fair Share - is an enemy of community, an enemy of the Lovely Society.

A clever bait and switch, associating government with togetherness and community. Government is the opposite of atomistic invididualism!

No, arbitrary government encourages atomistic individualism - that's why it wants to bust up Burke's Little Platoons, demand an allegiance superior to our allegiance to neighbors and employers or whatever.

Arbitrary governments *love* dealing with atomized individuals - they're easier to isolate and bully.

[PurityDiluting]

David needs to read some Adam Smith

[Rufus The Monocled]

What makes you think he didn't? Though I doubt it.

But if he did, you have to imagine how a progressive may interpret Smith or any works from The Enlightenment. For example:

'See, what's this invisible hand shit? There's the problem. WE NEED TO CUT IT AND MAKE GOVERNMENT TAKE OVER. This is where Smith is dead wrong!'

[Pan Zagloba]

Those of us who are connoisseurs of stupid truly live in glorious times.

"If Trump doesn't pay his income tax*, the country will collapse" - amazing!

*yes, he acknowledges Trump paid the tax required. THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BE A CITIZEN!

[Juice]

A healthy nation isn't just an atomized mass of individual economic and legal units. A nation is a web of giving and getting.

Even if it were an atomized mass of individual economic and legal units, why couldn't they form a web of giving and getting?

[Bill Dalasio]

Has Brooks ever read de Tocqueville? Or even perused 19th century American history?

The institutions of civil society saw their most remarkable growth when there was little, if any, state power mandating their enforcement. It's only been since the rise of the massive welfare and regulatory state that those institutions have declined. Free people prove incredibly more able to arrange a "web of giving and getting" by mutual agreement than the cogs Mr. Brooks would reduce them to. And there's nothing more damaging to mutual trust and engagement than the power to rob your neighbors and demand they comply with your dictates being a matter open to consideration.

[ant1sthenes]

Everything that is not explicitly prohibited is permissible.

In fairness, I think he was saying that things would devolve to the point where things would either be banned, or everyone would do them without heed for the consequences, a stark mix of authoritarianism and libertinism with no middle ground.

[Juice]

How the hell do you PM link to a post right below the PM links?

[Crusty Juggler]

That's how a preppie gangster rolls, son.

[Ted S.]

Because FYTW.

[PurityDiluting]

When I google Gary Johnson now, all I see is a full-on media shit storm
Oh how I hope this bumps him up a notch in the polls.

[R C Dean]

For Hillary's campaign, every news cycle that isn't about her is a win.

Think about that.

[PurityDiluting]

And Trump thinks that every news cycle that is about him is a win. She has the perfect opponent.
Curse you puppetmasters!

[DOOMco]

Any press os good

[R C Dean]

Not when you're Hillary, its not. Her visibility and her approval ratings are inversely correlated.

[DOOMco]

Good point

[Steve G]

A better politician would be able to capitalize, unfortunately Gary Johnson is not such a politician.

[Crusty Juggler]

I order all of you to eventually watch The Nice Guys, if for no other reason than to laugh at the Hitler jokes.

[GILMORE?]

I Dl'd it Is good? i think R.Crowe could do more 'comedy' maybe.

[Crusty Juggler]

I enjoyed it immensely. Crowe plays more of a straight-man to Gosling, though, but I agree, he should do comedy more often. Gosling really should, too.

[lap83]

I was pleasantly surprised

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

I liked the Nixon jokes.

[Crusty Juggler]

But not the Hitler jokes? What's wrong with you?

[You Sound Like a Prog (MJG)]

I have a hazy recollection of Hitler jokes. The Nixon joke stayed with me.

[DOOMco]

Yeah, tell a bunch of libertarians what to do

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

That looks really funny Crusty. =D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQR5zsLHbYw

[GILMORE?]

Swedish Guy: HOW TRUMP COULD DESTROY THE WORLD

Trump risks creating a new instability in Europe. And with the United Kingdom going into a frenzy on what to do after the Brexit vote, we are already in a somewhat fragile situation. Without a common framework, the risk is that different countries will go in different directions, leaving an opportunity for the Kremlin to seize, make its moves and destabilize Europe even more....Trump will provide a powerful boost to a Daesh ISIS that at the moment is starting to come under pressure ....But moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would move sentiments among disenchanted Arab youth in the direction of militancy in a way hardly any other step could.... a gradual but determined effort to overcome divisions, heal wounds, reform economies and build functioning and legitimate states throughout the region is the only possible way forward to avoid a combined Daesh/al-Qaeda 2.0 challenging us a decade from now. A Trump presidency risks smashing any such strategy into smithereens.

I esp enjoyed the last paragraph,

No responsible European politician is coming out in public taking sides in the United States' political affairs

Oh, of course you aren't.

[Lee Genes]

Aren't we on Al Qaeda 4.76 now?

[Raven Nation]

I've been surprised by the media in New Zealand. Every day there's a home-grown hit piece on Trump. I mean, how does telling New Zealanders that Trump is a POS achieve anything?

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

We're living in their heads, rent-free, I guess. Probably the closest I'll get to ever going there...

[PurityDiluting]

Now that their flag controversy has been resolved, what else is news worthy in New Zealand?

[Raven Nation]

The All Blacks are always newsworthy.

[PurityDiluting]

true that. I ride that bandwagon. badass haka and all

[R C Dean]

a gradual but determined effort to overcome divisions, heal wounds, reform economies and build functioning and legitimate states throughout the region is the only possible way forward

Because its worked so well, so far.

Swedish Guy, I got news for you. The ME isn't populated by Swedes. Its populated by people with a very different mindset. What you see as reasonable, they see as weakness. Your "healing divisions and reforming economies" is "we take what we want from whoever is weak enough to take it from or stupid enough to give it to us". Your "functioning and legitimate states" are "brutal dictatorships".

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

The Hitlery commercial only before the video only adds to the irony.
=D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ctgn7kKYHo

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

TRUMP IS THE STAY PUFT MARSHMELLOW MAN !!!!!

[The Late P Brooks]

We're living in their heads, rent-free, I guess.

Nice.

[AlmightyJB]

How about a trigger warning on that dudes shirt

[AlmightyJB]

Pink clown. Would.

[AlmightyJB]

NEA boss likes to make fun of tards too.

http://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp.....uuid=55669

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

The Progressives have always hated the "Tards"
This is nothing new.

[__Warren__]

Especially ones named Eugene for some reason.

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-J9vc_i9EQ

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-J9vc_i9EQ

[__Warren__]

I think Obama should pivot to this Trump thing, solve it and carry that off into retirement and let it be the burnish on his legacy.

[Steve G]

Although it was predicted that Tony would corpse-fuck that Clinton Obamacare post, it's actually Hihn wiping the floor will all of us. We're so pwned.

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

Is it blue Hihn, or orange Hihn ?

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

It's blue Hihn. That means it's one of you deplorable fucks. =D

[DOOMco]

Oh, wow. Damm.

[kbolino]

It could be Hihn's backup account for the days he doesn't remember his own password.

[DOOMco]

Wouldnt he link to some other shitty blog of his?

[AlmightyJB]

Why are the PM links so early again? Is this an assisted living facility. At least wait until after shuffleboard.

[Agammamon]

Heh, this is pretty funny

https://imgur.com/DGrhIF9

#NotAllMuslims

From
https://www.techdirt.com/

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

GOTTA DO THE DISHES BRUV !!! =D

[Rockabilly]

NO president of the National Education Association, I will NOT hold my nose and waste my vote on Hillary Clinton, who is a bigger war monger than Dick Cheney, and supports the racist and un Constitutional war on drugs.

NO president of the National Education Association, I will NOT hold my nose and waste my vote on the racist war monger Hillary Clinton.

[GILMORE?]

Teachers Union President Thinks Trump Is a Bully (LOL)

OMG LOOK AT ROBBY DEFENDING TRUMP UGH

[DOOMco]

Whycome reason want hillary to lose?

[sasob]

The president of the National Education Association says Donald Trump has emboldened schoolyard bullies, which is a pretty ironic thing for a union boss to say.

Pretty ironic thing for a teacher to say as well. Worst bullies I've ever met in my life were some of my public school teachers and principals -even in elementary school.

[The Fusionist]

Exactly 420 posts! Now, if only someone doesn't come along and ruin it...oops, too late.

[The rapist knew Dunphy]

Screw you.

[Playa Manhattan.]

BTW, my internet is down right now. Can you check the score of Saturday's game for me?

[Sir Digby Chicken Caesar]

I can't agree with RC just yet. How would someone planning for a police funeral have any idea that they wouldn't be able to get balloons at a Party City, of all places?

Or, maybe I'm misunderstanding the idea. As far as not demanding to speak with a manager and getting it resolved right there? Yeah, I guess I can see an agenda being hatched. Since I don't think in terms of social media, I don't usually "go there" in cases of bad customer service. But, I can imagine situations like this being used for an agenda, because turn about is fair play, right?

[R C Dean]

I don't know if this particular instance was an activist. It fits the pattern, though.

[OneOut]

too soon

[Ted S.]

You got a rise out of that, didn't you?