A.M. Links: Trump Wants to Meet With Putin, Latest on Clinton Email Scandal, Battle for Mosul

• 

  YouTube / ABC

  Donald Trump thinks Hillary Clinton "shouldn't be talking so tough" about Russia. "If I win on Nov. 8," Trump says, "I could see myself meeting with Putin and meeting with Russia prior to the start of the administration."

• Melania Trump says the charges of sexual assault made by multiple women against her husband Donald Trump are all "lies." "I believe my husband," she says, "it was all organized by the opposition."
• "A top official at the State Department repeatedly sought to have the FBI back down on classifying the contents of an email from Hillary Clinton's private email server, documents released Monday revealed."
• Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."
• A coalition of Iraqi security forces, Iraqi irregulars, and Kurdish troops are fighting to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS.
• The European Space Agency is going to attempt a moon Mars landing this week.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump thinks Hillary Clinton "shouldn't be talking so tough" about Russia.

Comrade Trumpov strikes again.

[Atanarjuat]

Trump has always been partial to the Slavic peoples.

[Anomalous]

Just their women.

[Free Society]

Who could blame him?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

"Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."

This is what happens when you don't have enough people going into vocational programs.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[BigT]

Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."

Haha! No, it isn't. They kept YOU out of the debates, didn't they?

[Suthenboy]

He should thank them.

[Bee Tagger]

Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."

Not for the two parties.

[straffinrun]

It has to end. I can't stand the way Weld says "duopoly".

[Johnny Hit n Run Paulene]

Is that like, when two people play Monopoly?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Hilly and Donny are playing Monopoly with our money, fighting over which one gets to be the top hat.

Neither realize that they're both the dog.

[Rasilio]

Npo I'm pretty sure Trump thinks of himself as the Battleship, a great big powerful battleship with yugggeeee guns

[Johnny Hit n Run Paulene]

the euphemisms never end here, do they?

[Yusef Adama]

Hello

[Shit Gary Johnson Says, Jr.]

A coalition of Iraqi security forces, Iraqi irregulars, and Kurdish troops are fighting to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS.

"I thought Mosul was the Jewish foreskin guy." - Gary Johnson

[Anomalous]

*golf clap*

[GILMORE?]

""there is no Dana. Only Mosul.""

[Private Chipperbot]

And she sleeps above the covers.

[TheZeitgeist]

Four feet above the covers.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I believe my husband," she says, "it was all organized by the opposition."

Those conspiracies, they're vast.

[Zeb]

And then added "I've loved him since the first time he grabbed my pussy".

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Not for nothing, but even if everything they say about Trump is true, he's only accused of boorish behavior.

Bill Clinton being accused of actual criminal behavior is not even news, let alone something to investigate.

[Zeb]

I'm only interested in the humor potential of the election at this point.

Well, that and pointless arguments on very narrow points.

[Careless]

As Dave Barry wrote (IIRC), "Hey, the government is beyond human control, so let's at least have some fun with it"

[Zeb]

And some of the things he's accused of could be criminal if it actually happened and the person it supposedly happened to had chosen to press charges at the appropriate time. But I continue to have no opinion on whether or not that is the case.

[mad.casual]

The Kennedys are still largely considered American royalty despite mediocre at best military and public service, a literal near-catastrophic presidency, omnipresent philandering, and more than a few coincidental unintentional deaths.

[Pat (PM)]

"I believe my husband," she says, "it was all organized by the opposition."

Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy?

[UnCivilServant]

It's even the same quip...

[Fist of Etiquette]

WAY TO GO WITH THE OBVIOUS JOKE.

[Pat (PM)]

Time, tide and fist wait for no man...

[spqr2008]

Here's the thing, Meliana comes from a country where that kind of conspiracy by the ruling class and their apparatchiks is much more likely to occur, than any kind of vast right wing conspiracy of the kind Hillary disingenuously used to help her husband get out of his multiple sexual assault accusations. And the media did conspire to keep Trump on air long enough to become the GOP nominee, and is likely now conspiring with the Clinton campaign to destroy him, just as they conspired to softball Hillary questions, and take out Bernie Sanders. Some WaPo writer came out with an article describing how afraid he is at Trump rallies now, since people are angrier at the media. DUH! When you are the opposition media to all but one party, and only want to be the opposition when you can make fun of and denigrate the other parties' supporters, what do you think the consequences of your actions will be? Flowers, hugs, cupcakes, and chocolates given to you? Or a vast undercurrent of hatred and contempt for your "profession" and it's complete lack of moral code, standards, or any kind of adherence to principle?

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

Some WaPo writer came out with an article describing how afraid he is at Trump rallies now, since people are angrier at the media. DUH!

When you're portraying a candidate's supporters as Nazis, to the point that the oppositions candidate's supporters are attacking you at rallies, destroying your property, and firebombing campaign headquarters, it's rather obtuse to wonder why these people hate your guts and want to see you suffer.

[Colonel Slanders]

^^^This

[DenverJ]

"Throw 'em in the woodchipper!"
Is what some people might say.

[Citizen X]

Who on earth would say such a thing?

[Zero Sum Game]

This comment exhibits wonderful punctuation, spelling, prose and grammar. It even has a few uncommon words and they're all used correctly. Then you've used the wrong "its" in the last sentence. Don't toy with my heart like this.

[spqr2008]

Im sorry....

[Gadfly]

A Grammarian's heart is ever broken. Its the natural order of things.

[Master Chief]

... and you need a comma after prose.

[Suthenboy]

I think evidence came to light yesterday that there is in fact a vast left-wing conspiracy.

[UnCivilServant]

The European Space Agency is going to attempt a moon landing this week.

So why does the article say it's a Mars Landing?

[DJF]

Moon? Mars? Don't be picky, just hope it does not land in your backyard.

[Hyperion]

I hope it does. *Hyperion on phone with Eurotards* "You want to see your lander in one piece again? Send the one billion I've requested by noon tomorrow!".

[Get To Da Chippah]

Meanwhile, the headlines read: "Space Probe Lands on Mars, Encounters Hostile Martian!"

[Mike Laursen]

Ooooh, he's so angry!

[MikeT1986]

+1 Shrike

[Rasilio]

Careful, you didn't specify a billion of what, they'll probably send you a billion syrian refugees

[Chip Woodier]

If you had a billion of anything, you'd be rich.*

(* microscopic items do not count)

[Suthenboy]

Hyperion is the opposite of Dr. Evil.

Eurotard reply - *hearty laughter* "Vahht? Vair de hells do tink Ve Voood get zhat?" *more laughter* "Vood you take un hunredt?"

[Rasilio]

It could have been worse, they could be trying to land on Uranus

[bacon-magic]

*narrows sphincter*

[straffinrun]

They'll hang their asses out the window as the land?

[Drave Robber]

moon landing

In languages other than English you still can call it 'mooning'.

[Hyperion]

Because it is?

[Brett L]

I'm hoping Mars Express is landing on Mars.

[Princess Trigger]

They should have gone for a Columbus day landing for genocide feelz.

[BigT]

So why does the article say it's a Mars Landing?

They might miss the moon?

The EU has prevented them from using the name "Mars"?

[Agammamon]

Moon, Mars, one of those 'M' class planets.

[Agent Cooper]

"attempt"

[Cdr Lytton]

English is no longer a supported language after Brexit?

[Shit Gary Johnson Says, Jr.]

The European Space Agency is going to attempt a moon landing this week.

One giant leap for the new Caliphate.

[RBS]

Moon Nazis vs. Moon Jihadis? Someone get Michael Bay on the phone.

[Pat (PM)]

Ohio dad of girl who was starved, beaten gets death sentence

CINCINNATI (AP) ? The father of a 2-year-old girl who was starved and badly beaten before she died was sentenced to death Monday for aggravated murder.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Shanahan followed the jury's recommendation that 34-year-old Glen Bates should be executed for the death of his daughter Glenara.

Bates' attorney said he wants to appeal the sentence. Bates didn't speak at the sentencing hearing.

The jury in Cincinnati convicted Bates on multiple charges in Glenara's death. His attorneys had argued that he should get life in prison and that such a sentence would force him to think about what happened every day.

Glenara was pronounced dead in March 2015 after her mother took her to a hospital. Prosecutors said Glenara had belt and bite marks, bruises, missing teeth, broken ribs, head trauma and other injuries.

Glenara weighed 13 pounds when she died. The average 2-year-old weighs more than 20 pounds.

"This man is a murderer who needs to pay for what he did to this innocent baby," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said in a statement. "My heart breaks for this little girl. She died in one of the most horrific ways imaginable."

[UnCivilServant]

They already didn't like her if they named her 'Glenara'.

[Zeb]

Thanks for brightening up our morning.

[robc]

My 9 month old is over 17 lbs and is light for her age.

[AceDroman]

4 month at 15lbs. She's a little fatty and I love it.

[SFC B]

My 15 month old is a little over 23lbs and is on the left side of the bell curve for his height. I'm literally choking up reading this story and thinking about what happened to that child.

[Brett L]

I assume her mother is separately being charged as accessory, right?

[Pat (PM)]

Glenara's mother, Andrea Bradley, has pleaded not guilty in the case. She has a plea hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Authorities said her other six children are in the custody of relatives or family services.

[Juvenile Bluster]

She's also charged with murder and is also facing the death penalty.

[robc]

I am okay with the death penalty in theory, but in practice I dont trust the state to use it properly.

But sometimes they get things right. Probably still not worth it overall.

[Chipwooder]

Cases such as these are the reason why I ultimately can't agree to completely abolish capital punishment. Some people simply don't deserve to continue to breathe the same air as the rest of us. Its use should be severely restricted to very few cases, but sometimes you have people like this scumbag who should simply be taken out back and shot in the head as soon as the trial ends.

[Cyto]

Just because they deserve worse, it doesn't make the death penalty right.

to steal a line from Clint Eastwood: "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it."

[Agammamon]

Does this couple deserve to die enough that you're willing to allow other innocent people to be killed to ensure that?

*Technically* the death penalty is and has always been 'restricted to a very few case'. Cases where the state obligates itself to do the utmost to prove the guilt of the defendant and afford that defendant every opportunity to trash the state's case.

And we still get innocent people on death row. We still get prosecution teams that will break the law to get a conviction. We still get innocent people murdered to maintain someone's 'win-loss' ration and bolster their political ambitions.

[Zeb]

Glad someone said this. The death penalty isn't worth it, even if there is the occasional case we can feel OK about.

And why the hell does anyone not directly involved give a shit? These people being dead won't make anything better or undo any harms they have done.

[mad.casual]

Your statements project a bit of a false dichotomy. It's not like we abolish the death penalty and get just the innocent people off death row. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that the judiciary routinely doubles down on the derp in lieu of lighter sentences. 100 non-violent offenders serving life sentences, 20 of whom were mistakenly convicted, without the potential for the death penalty isn't more just than having 10 violent offenders on death row, 1-2 of whom were mistakenly convicted and the rest serving terms less than life.

Moreover, my copy of the NAP contains no riders or clauses regarding immediacy or persistence of the threat and if your political philosophy allows for someone to murder my kid or my neighbors kid without even the fear or specter of death being visited over them in kind, you can fuck off. I wouldn't take that right away from anyone else any more than I would take away their right to own the gun to kill the perpetrator in the act. The notion that it's vengeance is a charade that someone uses to re-categorize killing someone in the heat of the moment and without thinking as a rational act but that doing so some arbitrary time later, in cold blood, despite producing the same outcome and being decidedly more rational is somehow magically less moral or rational.

[mad.casual]

There were a handful of criminals that got communicated by Gov. Ryan (himself a criminal) and, I thought to myself, if the government had the power to make these people normal, that would be terrifying. Even if they can't completely reform them, the malaise of a state that will/would use a prison system as a form of social engineering, giving people decades long sentences for violating free speech rights or consuming harmless substances while giving convicted murderers equal sentences is just as deplorable as the one where innocent people are executed by mistake.

Subsequently, I realized, that I and even the survivors and victims and, thanks in part to IL's fiscal leveraging would be paying for these prisoners well after our lives and theirs had passed. If the system were, somehow, self-limiting or self-funding, I might be inclined to think it made some manner of moral sense but, generally, it's nowhere near solvent.

I think key to the situation is that, technically, when capital punishment originated and was conducted by the state in this country other solutions such as voluntary and justifiable homicide as well as non-violent 'tax-free' solutions such as banishment were much more tolerated.

[Agent Cooper]

I think sending a toddler-killer to prison for life would ultimately pay off.

I trust the inmates to do the right thing more than the state.

[Zeb]

Killing someone who poses no threat is murder by any reasonable definition. Even if they do deserve to die, which they probably do, you are asking someone to commit a cold blooded killing to satisfy a need for revenge.

I really don't think that is something that needs to go on.

[Pat (PM)]

Killing someone who poses no threat is murder by any reasonable definition.

This sentence is question begging by any reasonable definition.

[Zeb]

OK, what's your definition, then? I say murder is deliberately killing another person who isn't an immediate threat to anyone. I can't think of a definition that is morally consistent that creates a special case for cold blooded killings sponsored by the state.

[Pat (PM)]

My own definition is immaterial. There's enough people dating back through thousands of years of human history who disagree with your definition that taking it for granted is question begging. You'd also need to define what constitutes a threat. If a person truly poses no threat to anyone then locking them in a cage and torturing them for their entire life is an injustice separate from killing them only by degree.

[mad.casual]

Not only this, but you're arguably denying someone their right to exercise self-defense as they see fit in lieu of the state-imposed solution and enforcing a general moral equivalency among the populace that may not exist.

Having killed a sufficient number of people becomes effectively equivalent to never having killed anyone at all. So, taking several hours or days to track down and kill a drifter is the same as being the drifter who killed your family member. Even if a slew of murders can be tied to the drifter and he was walking in the direction of your nearest relative with a photo of them in his pocket, because you didn't apprehend or murder the drifter in just the right way, you're as bad as he is.

[Zeb]

Even if a slew of murders can be tied to the drifter and he was walking in the direction of your nearest relative with a photo of them in his pocket, because you didn't apprehend or murder the drifter in just the right way, you're as bad as he is.

I don't know about that. That sounds like a threat to me. At the very least, there is a big difference between that situation and the state killing someone who is neutralized as a threat to anyone. There is a big difference between a killer on the loose and one in custody. Maybe it is best that the murdering drifter gets killed by someone. I don't necessarily think that the only defense to a homicide should be immediate self defense. But if he's locked up, the "he needed killing" justification is gone.

[Zeb]

Well, I disagree that the difference is only in degree. There is a pretty clear, discrete line between imprisonment and death.

I will grant that I am perhaps oversimplifying the moral calculation. I'm not likely to change my mind about the death penalty. And I do believe that revenge is pretty much always a negative thing that helps no one. But when it is moral and justifiable to kill someone is a bit more complicated than a simple look at whether there is an immediate threat.

[thom]

I'm completely opposed to the death penalty, but in this case I'm opposed to the death penalty the way I'm opposed to smoking bans. Sometimes I'm allowed to appreciate the results.

[Spartacus]

This is why we need to bring back outlawry.

[straffinrun]

I don't want to read that. Just tell me the mother is not just walking free.

[Juvenile Bluster]

She isn't.

[straffinrun]

Stellar parents.

[Get To Da Chippah]

This is why children who are left alone with their parents are likely to be neglected. Better have a state-appointed child welfare monitor living in every parent's home.

[commodious plays tuna piano]

This guy gets it.

[Agammamon]

Something like a 'named person'. Not *named to the parents* of course - can't let them know who's surveilling them.

[Rhywun]

Love that Orwellian title they came up with. It makes no sense, is therefore perfect.

[Zeb]

67 IQ for the mother. Hard to imagine what that household must have been like.

[Jordan]

I've never understood why people fight for life in prison. I'd rather have the death penalty.

[Capt. Rimmer]

You could always commit suicide if you decided prison life wasn't worth living. Which brings up an interesting question. Do you think the right to die/assisted suicide will ever be afforded to those serving prison sentences?

[Zeb]

And I've never understood people who say they would rather die than spend life in prison. It's easy to say when you aren't facing that. But the will to live is strong. I don't really know what I'd do in that circumstance, but I think I'd always rather live. As long as you are alive, there is hope.

[Pat (PM)]

As long as you are alive, there is hope.

If you're guilty and you have no prospect of release I can't imagine what you'd be hoping for, although I understand the impulse to stay alive. I can't say what I'd do in that situation either, but that's largely because I'm never going to starve and kill my child. If I did I'd probably off myself independently of the state.

[Zeb]

It may not be rational, but people usually retain some hope. And as long as you are alive, there is some possibility, however slight, that you might be released.

But like you, I'm pretty sure I'm never going to commit a crime that would land me with a life sentence. So in my imagined scenarios I don't deserve to be there. I can't imagine how I would feel if I were guilty and in that situation because I can't imagine being guilty of such a crime.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

That's a worse nutpunch than anything Balko ever reported.

[OneOut]

I could save the state of Ohio a lot of money on this one , regardless of their final decision.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The European Space Agency is going to attempt a moon landing this week.

Wouldn't those resources have gone to better use? I guess Greece is all set now.

[UnCivilServant]

No, no, you see the Space Budget is from this pile of money over here. Space Bucks can't be used to prop up Greece, that's the burn pile over there.

[Bee Tagger]

You know you can "shoot the moon" in Hearts? Well this is like that, a foolish attempt at salvaging everything by putting all of your eggs in one rickety basket.

[Agent Cooper]

Some of the astronauts are deplorable.

[Lachowsky]

+1 hearts in Atlantis

[Zeb]

Using the money to try to prop up Greece would be similarly efficient, I think.

[Swiss Servator]

Is there roditis on the Moon? I think not!

[mad.casual]

Using the money to try to prop up Greece would be similarly efficient, I think.

Agreed. In all fairness though, I don't think the funds would've found much better use in Europe outside of Greece either. Maybe if they paid off more nations to stay in the EU.

[BigT]

Wouldn't those resources have gone to better use? I guess Greece is all set now.

Worry not. Palms will be greased.

[Yusef Adama]

They both start with the letter M?

[Bee Tagger]

"If I win on Nov. 8," Trump says, "I could see myself meeting with Putin and meeting with Russia prior to the start of the administration."

Now I kinda want him to win to see how Twitter handles this.

[Swiss Servator]

100 megaton explosion.

[UnCivilServant]

You mean 100 megatwit explosion.

[BigT]

100 megatweet

[R C Dean]

Almost.

100 megatwat explosion.

[Zeb]

Bingo.

[Agammamon]

Sally Kohn will have a fit.

[bacon-magic]

Sally Kohn is a fit.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

Considering Hillary and her government/media sycophants seem dead-set on restarting the Cold War to the point that they're more belligerent than Reagan ever was to the Soviets (can you imagine him accusing them of trying to rig the 1980 election in favor of Carter?), any candidate stating that they'll work to foster better relations with Russia instead of constantly pulling their tail is a refreshing difference.

[mad.casual]

This is the part that gets me and, while Reason has touched on it, it seems weird given theirs and others predilections that they haven't shouted from the rooftops that Clinton is no longer the anti-war candidate.

It's like the Remy video of CNN, where they'd rather talk about what Trump might or might not have done to a handful of women a decade ago and whether an unwanted kiss on the lips constitutes a sexual assault rather than talk about the fact that the current administration and at least one to follow it are cementing the two nations' positions in the next Cold War.

[Pat (PM)]

Threatening calls follow Utah GOP leader's Clinton love-child claim

Utah Republican Party Chairman James Evans has become the target of racist and threatening calls in the aftermath of a national television interview in which he raised questions as to whether former President Bill Clinton had an illegitimate child with a prostitute.

Evans said in the wake of the threats ? and in light of a suspected arson attack on a county Republican Party headquarters in North Carolina ? he is notifying law enforcement, implementing new security procedures and having staff members at the Utah party headquarters in Salt Lake City work from other locations to ensure their safety.

On Friday, the day after Evans suggested the media were in cahoots with Democrat Hillary Clinton because they weren't investigating rumors of Bill Clinton's love child the way it sought out women who were allegedly assaulted by Republican nominee Donald Trump, the party headquarters received a call from a Texas area code.

In the message, which Evans played for The Salt Lake Tribune, the caller said: "You might want to tell that lying n----- James Evans that he's lucky he's not being lynched right now."

[Chipwooder]

Leftists only do what they do out of love for their fellow man.

[Get To Da Chippah]

Probably some teabagging racist Republican, derp

[Fist of Etiquette]

Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."

But not broke.

[Shit Gary Johnson Says, Jr.]

Donald Trump thinks Hillary Clinton "shouldn't be talking so tough" about Russia. "If I win on Nov. 8," Trump says, "I could see myself meeting with Putin and meeting with Russia prior to the start of the administration."

LOOK FUCKER WE'VE ALREADY DECIDED THIS IS GOING TO BE WORLD WAR 3, STOP SCREWING UP THE NARRATIVE

[Lee Genes]

Word of the Day: Misogynoir

Mix those kinds of cultural influences with the way blackness is dehumanized and femininity is constantly devalued and it concocts contempt reserved for Black women known as misogynoir. Misogynoir ? a term coined by Black queer feminist scholar Moya Bailey ? describes anti-black misogyny that uniquely targets Black women at the intersection of white supremacy, sexism, and racism.

Black men preserve misogynoir against Black women through misogyny and internalized racism that associates blackness with inferiority.

[Rufus The Monocled]

What happens if you're a woman, black AND of Asian heritage? What then brown cow?

[Rich]

It's already in there, Rufus: *miso*gynoir.

[PBR Streetgang]

So very genius.

[Atanarjuat]

Phew, I'm off the hook for this one. As a white guy, I only participate in misogyblanc.

[Lee Genes]

Ha! It's still whitey's fault. You must have missed that class.

[Swiss Servator]

*polite applause*

[SugarFree]

Black men preserve misogynoir against Black women through misogyny and internalized racism that associates blackness with inferiority.

Unwokest nonbae?

[Chipwooder]

Is that Korean?

[Crusty Juggler]

Chip, you're a baddy daddy lamatai tebby chai.

[Citizen X]

Sine yo pitty on the runny kine.

[Swiss Servator]

That is plus good, SF. It shall be included in the 11th edition of Newspeak.

[bacon-magic]

Yakub approves.

[straffinrun]

Can't you post shit about babies getting brutalized like everyone else?

[Lee Genes]

I try to keep it a little lighter.

[Citizen X]

Brutalizing babies? Dammit, man, there's no time!

[Private Chipperbot]

A euphemism? No, no. Not this time.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

When even the definition doesn't make sense to normal people...

[Jerryskids]

"Black queer feminist scholar". ? One of these words is not like the others. One of these words just doesn't belong. ?

[Rich]

Miso Guy Noir

[Rasilio]

You know, the victimization would flow so much better if they turned that 3 way intersection into a roundabout/rotary

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"Misogynoir"

I imagine this to mean someone who spouts sexism in 1920's slang.

[Trshmnstr makes people gag]

Say... get on your bees knees and show me your cool cat, baby doll!

[Princess Trigger]

At the end of the day, all this shit just comes down to securing mates to create and raise you spawn.
So much education and it's all just Evolution in Action.

[Agammamon]

describes anti-black misogyny that uniquely targets Black women

Well, it would be really strange to call it 'anti-black misogyny' if it *didn't* 'uniquely target Black women'.

Words, how the fuck do they work?

[Agammamon]

Or maybe its really about people who don't like the 'femme-fatale' character in old detective movies?

[Rhywun]

You toss them into a hat and pull them out at random like any good everydayfeminist writer duh.

[Agent Cooper]

No more links, please.

[Agent Cooper]

Culturally appropriating the French isn't helping.

[Suthenboy]

Am I correct in thinking that there are SJWs making careers out of inventing bullshit words? This is to intellectualism what Krugdunces $1trillion dollar coin is to economics.

[Trshmnstr makes people gag]

Am I correct in thinking that there are SJWs making careers out of inventing bullshit words?

No, they're making careers out of taking federal grants. The word-making is what they do since they literally have nothing productive to do since they have no exploitable skills.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"A top official at the State Department repeatedly sought to have the FBI back down on classifying the contents of an email from Hillary Clinton's private email server, documents released Monday revealed."

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH TRUMP TALKING VULGAR?

[Brett L]

I just can't believe that people are going to blow off a literal quid pro quo between the FBI and State Department. This sort of thing worries me more than Clinton or Trump being president. When the non-political (heh!) start playing politics and trying to work deals instead of do their jobs, that's the sort of stuff that replaces functioning institutions with bribe centers.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Well, if Ray Donovan is even half right, the system is pretty much thoroughly corrupted.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

Well, if Ray Donovan is even half right, the system is pretty much thoroughly corrupted

Considering how much in bed Hollywood is with the DNC, they're in a better position to know than anyone.

I doubt it's any accident that shows like House of Cards, Scandal, and Ray Donovan are making sympathetic(anti-)heroes out of thoroughly corrupt politicians and their advisors/agents. When they were underdogs during the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush administrations, government corruption was a thing to be protested against. Now that they're the ones in charge, it's a subconscious way of justifying their own odious behavior.

[Hyperion]

It's exactly what the left wants.

[Brett L]

They think they do. Imagine how surprised many of these people are going to be in the Clinton presidency. Its going to be just like the Gulag Archipelago. "If only President Clinton knew what these bureaucrats are doing to me!" Sorry, idiot, your usefulness is over.

[Hyperion]

Well, it is what they want. I didn't say they're going to like it once they get it.

[Princess Trigger]

US Kennedy was offering the FBI overseas slots for their agents. State hates playing concierge to the other agencies and other agencies love to hand out the perk of overseas postings to up and coming functionaries. A weird little bureaucratic payoff.

[T.F.G.]

Well, they already surmised that's exactly what happened a long time ago.

[Pat (PM)]

MARSOC Chooses Glock 19s over .45s for Raiders

Marine Corps Special Operations Command has decided to shelve its custom .45 pistols and outfit its elite Raiders with Glock 19s.

MARSOC has not yet responded to Military.com's questions for the story, but a source familiar the effort said the command made the decision within the last month.

The move follows a Marine Corps decision in February that a MARSOC operators to carry Glock pistols, since many of the elite outfit's members prefer the popular Glock 19 9mm handgun over the custom .45 pistols the service bought them in 2012.

The reliable, easy-to-maintain 9mm pistol features a polymer frame and a 15-round magazine.

The Marine Corps just completed an exhaustive search for a new MARSOC pistol in 2012. The service awarded a $22.5 million contract to Colt Defense LLC., for up to 10,000 Close Quarter Battle Pistols.

The custom, 1911 design replaced the fleet of worn-out MARSOC M45 pistols. It features a rail for mounting lights, a custom trigger, a manual safety, improved ergonomics and glowing Tritium sights for low-light conditions.

The new .45s are nice, but many MARSOC troops prefer to carry Glock 19s instead.

[DJF]

""""shelve its custom .45 pistols """

How many of those shelves will be in the homes of MARSOC members?

[UnCivilServant]

So... are they going to sell the surplus .45s?

[Rich]

Why not use .22 pistols?

[Crusty Juggler]

easy-to-maintain

I assume this is the biggest reason.

[Agammamon]

Easy to maintain, easy to shoot, easy to hit your target. Oh, and they're not like carrying a couple of bricks in your pocket.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

^This, also 15 rnds 9mm ? 7 rds .45

[Brett L]

If we're going back to the Philippines as less than friends, we might want those 1911s.

[Suthenboy]

I am probably the only one that got that Brett. Good one.

[bacon-magic]

Gran Torino can be watched on Netflix.

[gimmeasammich]

+1 "running amok" Moro

[Juvenile Bluster]

Is Las Vegas really that much more dangerous than Oakland?

[Hyperion]

Of course it is, they let prostitutes and drug users run around unmolested.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Oakland cops molest all their prostitutes before they let them run around.

[GILMORE?]

Everyone in socom has gone to Glock by now. It started last year. I think the idea is = cheaper guns, more ammo... Esp as budgets come down after WoT spending binge

[Chipwooder]

Not into HK45s anymore, huh?

[Don Escaped Texas]

I understand high capacity is at a premium in combat, but.......

My Glock 30 (.45ACP) has ten in the mag.....very tidy marriage of the old and the new.
I would think Glock21 with 13@.45ACP would be a better idea than Glock19.

[MikeT1986]

The part that surprises me is going with the compact 19 as compared to the full size 17 as a service pistol. Otherwise I've got no problem with the move. 9mm is a proven and reliable cartridge, shoots very flat at longer range, packs a hell of a punch with the +P ammo and as noted: capacity. Glock double stack 9mms can equip a 33rd mag.

[Cdr Lytton]

Fits better for smaller, female hands.

[Chip Woodier]

Marines also replacing KA-BARs with those faggoty butterfly knives.

[Cdr Lytton]

MARSOC operators

The rebranding is nearing completion.

[Rich]

"A top official at the State Department repeatedly sought to have the FBI back down on classifying the contents of an email from Hillary Clinton's private email server, documents released Monday revealed."

The MSM is claiming this is a non-story because there was no *realized* tit-for-tat. What disingenuous bullshit!

[DJF]

I am going to do it, I am voting for Trump.

That way Reason Magazine will never run out of links or stories for the next four years.

[Citizen X]

You're so selfless.

[Crusty Juggler]

"There goes my hero, watch him as he votes for Trump..."

[Citizen X]

"There goes my hero, he's deplorable"

[Swiss Servator]

*studio audience applause*

[Swiss Servator]

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[Jordan]

I seem to have misplaced my shocked face.

[John DeWitt]

Flagged. You violated the first rule of Trump Club. Nobody admits to voting for Trump.

[Citizen X]

Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."

I don't think you can call a system broken when it's working exactly how it was designed to.

[John DeWitt]

Features vs bugs, et al

[Pat (PM)]

UFO expert found dead after 'vomiting black liquid'

A conspiracy theorist has been found dead in Poland ? just days after he texted his mom instructing her to "investigate" should anything happen to him.

Max Spiers, a 39-year-old father of two, was found dead on a sofa in Poland, where he had gone to give a talk about conspiracy theories and UFOs.

He was ruled to have died from natural causes despite no post-mortem examination being carried out on his body.

But his dark investigations into UFOs and government coverups may have made him enemies who wanted him dead, says mother Vanessa Bates, 63.

In a chilling text message to his mom just days before his death, Spiers wrote: "Your boy's in trouble. If anything happens to me, investigate."[...]

Max made a career out of investigating UFO sightings and alleged coverups.

More recently, he was said to be probing into the lives of well-known figures in politics, business and entertainment.

His unexplained death, and its subsequent treatment by the authorities, has left many online followers convinced he was killed by government agents.

[Citizen X]

The truth is out there, but it's probably gonna disappoint a lot of people.

[Swiss Servator]

DAMMIT!

[Swiss Servator]

Wasn't that an X-Files episode?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

It was probably 5 episodes per season.

[Fist of Etiquette]

In a chilling text message to his mom just days before his death, Spiers wrote: "Your boy's in trouble. If anything happens to me, investigate."

He was ruled to have died from natural causes despite no post-mortem examination being carried out on his body.

Way to drop the ball, mom.

[Cdr Lytton]

Maybe she got the message and didn't want to end up that way herself.

[Lee Genes]

I saw someone vomit black liquid once. It was during freshman year after he drank a fifth of scotch in about 15 minutes.

[UnCivilServant]

What had he eaten beforehand?

[Citizen X]

A bunch of dirt and tar.

[straffinrun]

That'd be Huma's lunch.

[Citizen X]

No mutton flaps?

[Lee Genes]

Indian food

[Rich]

Probably bile.

[straffinrun]

"Goddammit, Scully. Ever hear of douching."

[BigT]

SugarFree ain't gonna like you horning in on his gig.

[straffinrun]

Always room at the Y.

[SugarFree]

Yeah. Everybody get in the hot tub. It's warm.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

It's warm.

And smelly. You'll wanna wash afterwards...if you make it back out.

[Trshmnstr makes people gag]

I'm not sure I'd call the withered husk of flesh that makes it back out "you"

[Rasilio]

Important question, how many times has he sent effectively that exact same message in the past and had nothing happen?

[Jerryskids]

Your boy's in trouble. If anything happens to me, investigate.

I think I'll start posting that every day. One of these days I'll be a 15-minute internet sensation.

[Pat (PM)]

Mosul battle: EU 'should expect influx of jihadis'

The European Union should be prepared for an influx of jihadists if the so-called Islamic State (IS) is driven out of its Iraqi stronghold, Mosul, the EU's security commissioner warns.

Julian King told Germany's Die Welt newspaper that even a small number of militants would pose "a serious threat that we must prepare ourselves for".

Iraqi forces launched what is expected to be a lengthy offensive on Monday.

As many as 5,000 IS fighters are believed to remain in Mosul.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday that it feared the fighters might use civilians as human shields as the offensive advanced - either by hiding amongst them as they fled the city or by preventing them from leaving.

The UN has warned that the offensive could cause one of the largest man-made displacement crises of recent times, fearing that as many as one million people may be forced from their homes.

There is currently only space for 130,000 people in UN shelters outside of Mosul, but aid workers are scrambling frantically to prepare for as many as 800,000 arrivals, the UNHCR's Caroline Gluck told the BBC.

Iraqi forces are said to have a plan in place to vet fleeing civilians to ensure militants are not hiding among them.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Merkel to EU: You MUST do your duty and take in these jihadis! They need food and drink just like you and me!

[Swiss Servator]

A coalition of Iraqi security forces, Iraqi irregulars, and Kurdish troops are fighting to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS.

Coalition? I though a coalition was more the states/actors that raise the forces. This would be more a "joint force" or "combined force".

[westernsloper]

Unless we are now referring to US forces as Iraqi security forces now, which after more thought, may very well be appropriate.

[Swiss Servator]

"Combined Joint Task Force Clusterfuck"

[GILMORE?]

What irks me is us media reporting on this as though it's part of US command-control decisions

It's the have cake/eat cake thing, where we get credit if it goes well, but if it fails, it's on the Iraqis

[Lee Genes]

That sounds like Congress in a nutshell.

[Cdr Lytton]

Now with interlocking death blossoms!

[Pat (PM)]

Positive thinking can make you too lazy to meet your goals

The power of positive thinking has been a guiding principle for business leaders at least since 1936 when Napoleon Hill published Think and Grow Rich. Two decades later Norman Vincent Peale wrote The Power of Positive Thinking, which has sold more than 21 million copies worldwide, and more recently Rhonda Byrne's The Secret has gripped business leaders and others with its promises of success based on positive thinking.

According to these positive-thinking tomes, negative thoughts or doubts stand in the way of success. But, in fact, a new crop of research finds that positive thinking has its limits ? and even brings its own pitfalls. Positivity could be limiting your success.

[BigT]

The inevitable result of the self-esteem movement.

I feel so good about fucking up another job.

[Lord Rollingpin]

Put this guy in charge of the CJTFC!

[Pat (PM)]

Police chief group issues apology to minorities

(CNN)The head a major international law enforcement organization on Monday apologized for "the actions of the past and the role that our profession has played in society's historical mistreatment of communities of color."

International Association of Chiefs of Police President, Terrence M. Cunningham, struck a conciliatory tone, acknowledging the deep-seated, generational mistrust between minorities and the police.

Cunningham, speaking at a meeting of the group in San Diego, said law enforcement's history is "replete with examples of bravery, self-sacrifice and service to the community."

But Cunningham said at the same, "the history of policing has had darker periods."

"There have been times when law enforcement officers because of the laws enacted by federal, state and local governments have been the face of oppression to far too many of our fellow citizens.

In the past, the laws adopted by our society have required police officers to perform many unpalatable tasks, such as ensuring legalized discrimination or even denying the basic rights of citizenship to many of our fellow Americans," Cunningham said.

[Jordan]

There have been times when law enforcement officers because of the laws enacted by federal, state and local governments have been the face of oppression to far too many of our fellow citizens.

Why the non-present tense? Did the War on Drugs end while I wasn't looking?

[BigT]

"the history of policing has had darker periods."

'In them olden days, we really used to whip-ass on those darkies."

[Agammamon]

Funnily enough, if you read into the 'apology' its actually no such thing.

Its all about how 'in the distant past' cops did mean shit and its really the fault of the *legislators* that cops turned the hoses and dogs on protestors. But all that's in the past now and there's really a lot of good cops and . . .

[Zeb]

New Professionalism.

[Lee Genes]

This dude is an expert on Hitler. Don't just believe me, see what he's got to say.

It's time to suspend Godwin's law.

I'm 61 years old. I get to talk about Hitler. I was born in 1955, 10 years after Hitler died. 5 years later, when I was capable of understanding such things, memories were still fresh.

My father did not talk his way past a medical deferment (asthma) until it was too late to see action, but he did mention missing work the day the munitions factory blew up, killing several of his friends.

Our maid was Austrian and still emotionally shattered over losing friends and family in the war and being shunned for being on "the wrong side".

I visited Europe in the 70s and got to see the destruction first hand even years later. Statues in downtown London still had bullet holes. Cologne Cathedral was still in ruins. I saw The Wall.

It's happening again.

Having seen what I've seen, do you have any idea how terrified I am?

An authoritarian leader who keeps a copy of Hitler's speeches in his bedside table, quoting from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, is encouraging his authoritarian, "facts don't matter" followers to challenge people at voting stations. Some have already said they're coming armed.

[Lee Genes]

At his Nuremberg-style rallies, where he screams incoherent nonsense (remind you of anybody?), his followers beat people they feel (sorry, no thinking allowed) don't belong, like a scene right out of Pink Floyd's The Wall.

He has already declared the election fraudulent and told his followers to not accept the results and take matters into their own hands. That, my friends, is called a Putsch. Is there a beer hall handy?

Trump has no boundaries. When, not "if", when he gets in to power, four years is not going to be enough. The Presidency will be too restraining, the Constitution too constraining so he will simply declare himself Leader and Chancellor, or in German F?hrer und Reichskanzle. Then, with the economy crashing around him, he will look for resources and land. Hitler looked to the Caspian Sea. Trump will have his Wall to the South, but for resources will look North.

[Free Society]

At his Nuremberg-style rallies, where he screams incoherent nonsense (remind you of anybody?)

Uhhhhh, the fact that you don't speak German doesn't make it nonsense. The guy was famed as an orator, for speaking so coherently in fact, that he captivated even those who fervently disagreed. I call bullshit on this guy's Hitler expert status, he's a social signaler who's too retarded to signal anything other than Godwinisms.

[Agammamon]

I like his 'I was born 10 years after WW2 but I remember some shit from when I was 5 so that means I practically lived through it'.

Sorry dude - generally speaking I don't trust anyone's memories about 'how things were' that come from before they were 15. And even that's sketchy. 25 years after WW2 ended and you have no fucking idea what Hitler was like - you have the same damn sources as everyone else today, your school textbook and the History channel.

[Free Society]

If the guy were in the Hitlerjugend shooting at incoming Red Army tanks with his panzerfaust, then I'll acknowledge he has some experiential knowledge. This guy as you mentioned, was born after the war, in a country where there was no fighting, his father didn't apparently serve except as an occupation soldier, and he demonstrated less knowledge of the event than even someone who knew nothing other than what they were told by the history channel. My oh my democrats have low standards for what constitutes "expertise".

[westernsloper]

"Trump will have his Wall to the South, but for resources will look North."

Where the fuck you think we look now knuckles? Seems to be working ok for everyone.

[Agent Cooper]

Canadian slave labor? Interesting.

[Agammamon]

For the Maple Syrup mines? For really good hockey players? For warmooses?

[Zeb]

Softwood lumber, oil, moose cock.

[Don Escaped Texas]

I must have kriegelch

[bacon-magic]

Poutine. Freeze dried to last 25 years.

[Suthenboy]

I wonder what this idiot liar's take on the firebombing of R campaign stations and 'birddogging' by Dems is? I bet I can guess.

In a few years this fuckstick will be giving the bellamy salute to Hillary's Civilian Defense Force as they parade by.

[Lee Genes]

Canada joined the Allied effort to fight Hitler early. You Yanks were late to the parade. Canada made some very, very good friends back then who still remember. I used to work in a Government office surrounded by enormous beds of beautiful tulips. Always tulips. You see, the Dutch would send a shipment every year in gratitude for Canada's role in the liberation of Holland. The Brits were rather pleased with us, as were the French (may I remind you they have nukes even if we don't?) and a whole lot of other countries with standing armies who are watching in horror as America falls victim to an authoritarian, sociopathic narcissist.

We remember Hitler. We were there. We will be ready.

[Citizen X]

You know who else was a nationalist who was in favor of war against a people whom they considered to be an existential threat?

[UnCivilServant]

Churchill

[Lee Genes]

Charles Martel?

[Get To Da Chippah]

The preserved head of Richard Nixon?

[BigT]

Marcus Aurelius?

[straffinrun]

John Rocker?

[Chipwooder]

Kim Il Sung?

[bacon-magic]

Tipper Gore?

[Griffin3]

Khalifa Hifter?

[Honk]

Duh.. Red Foxx, of course.

[Rufus The Monocled]

"Canada joined the Allied effort to fight Hitler early. You Yanks were late to the parade. Canada made some very, very good friends back then who still remember."

Jesus, more of this empty Canadian nationalism insufferably pointing to the U.S.'s late entrance. Canada joined because it was part of the Commonwealth. It didn't really have a choice. Quebec fought hard to try and convince Canada not to join.

While Canada fought well and hard, the bottom line is the war isn't won without the United States. My brother-in-law's father was a Lt. col. in the war for Italy. His takes on Americans and Canadians were interesting. Let's just say he was in full respect and admiration for the Americans.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Ah. DU. No wonder he sounded like an idiot.

[Free Society]

My wife's family is from a suburb of Nijmegen, NL. The locals there, to this day, praise Canada for liberating their city and actively disparage the efforts of the Americans in that operation, they go so far as to claim that the Americans had nothing to do with it. Now I think most of this narrative is motivated by the very fashionable jingoist theory in Europe whereby America=bad, Canada=good. But it is amazing that the narrative so clouds their understanding. I'm not sure the Canadians could have even crossed the Atlantic let alone the Channel, without the Americans. And certainly not without their air power.

It just so happened to be that the Canadian units were assigned to move in on those particular cities, but to hear the Dutch in Nijmegen tell it, the Mounties emerged from the sea on mooseback killed all the Wehrmacht units and personally drowned Hitler in maple syrup.

[Chipwooder]

Huh....on the other hand, there are many Dutch who adopt and care for the graves of Americans buried at the Netherlands American Cemetary. WaPo in 2015:

"For the American relatives of the fallen, it was an outpouring of gratitude almost as stunning as the rows of white marble crosses and Jewish Stars of David at the Netherlands American Cemetery. Each grave has been adopted by a Dutch or, in some cases, Belgian or German family, as well as local schools, companies and military organizations. More than 100 people are on a waiting list to become caretakers."

http://tinyurl.com/j8mb2ys

[Free Society]

It takes all sorts.

[Atanarjuat]

lol.

[Chipwooder]

Not to mention the fact that, outside of a small number of pilots during the Battle of Britain, Canada's contributions prior to the US entering the war was entirely supplies and materiel. The first Canadian ground forces to see combat were at Hong Kong, the day after Pearl Harbor.

[Free Society]

Not to mention the fact that, outside of a small number of pilots during the Battle of Britain, Canada's contributions prior to the US entering the war was entirely supplies and materiel.

Which I suspect that even with the US "not in the war", the Americans had outdone them on provision of supplies as well.

[Agent Cooper]

Like the Lend/Lease Act was a nothingburger.

[Agammamon]

Did he stop to think that Canada is a *Commonwealth* nation and so might have a somewhat stronger reason for jumping in to aid the UK than the US does?

[Rufus The Monocled]

I pointed that out above. It definitely was the case in WWI while WWII was a little less obvious. We only repatriated our Constitution in 1982. We had a colonial mindset for a long time.

[Citizen X]

For real, though, homeboy thinks Trump is gonna invade fucking Canada? He's shitting his pants so hard that he's become airborne.

[Lee Genes]

DU has been Trump-obsessed for months. It took some waiting to find a post that truly jumped the shark.

[Hyperion]

Someone needs to take their meds.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

He's Canadian, he probably needs to wait three years for them to fill his prescription.

[westernsloper]

"other countries with standing armies who are watching in horror as America falls victim to an authoritarian, sociopathic narcissist."

But enough about Hillary, what does he think about Trump?

[Jerryskids]

"I saw the Wall". The one the Soviets built dividing Berlin? Or the Pink Floyd movie? Because, you know, both of those came after Hitler was dead.

[UnCivilServant]

I think he meant the berlin wall, given the context. though the atlantic wall might have had relevence, but it was never "the wall".

[Pat (PM)]

Lol.

I watched History channel during the 1990s, so I guess we're about even.

[Atanarjuat]

He's the second coming of Hitler, *and* he grabbed pussies? I'll be in my fainting couch.

[Free Society]

And why were there bullet holes in London? Le Resistance? Was there a secret Battle of London no one knows about? Or is he talking about the damage from German bombing and V2 rockets? He's the expert though.

[Lee Genes]

The repairs to the Cologne Cathedral were completed in 1956. But I guess he could have seen the damage when he was 6 months old.

[Free Society]

I missed that part. The Cologne Cathedral was never ruined. Damaged, but it's one of the very few buildings in that city that avoided ruin. Fucking hell Democrats are stupid.

[Chipwooder]

Andy Capp was in the Home Guard then, and he'd get drunk off his ass and start popping off some rounds.

[Chip Woodier]

Anti-aircraft. What goes up, must come down.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Born after the war in question. Father never saw the war. His maid suffered anti-German discrimination. Saw some ruins on vacation.

Fucking hell, /I/ have more "Hitler expert" cred then this man if that's the only sorry shit he can come up with to justify his knowledge. I too was born after the war in question and saw the effects of the war while on a vacation, but /my/ family members actually were in Europe during the war, take /that/ author.

[Chip Woodier]

I got to play in blown up tanks and pillboxes in the Pacific, and had to take classes on how to handle unexploded ordinance...answer = don't (yes, I found some). It's exactly as if I was sitting in Hirohito's war cabinet, it was.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

My family members actually were in Europe during the war, take /that/ author.

My father died in a Nazi concentration camp!

It was a long fall out of that guard tower.

[Citizen X]

"My mother's father was in World War II. He killed over 80 enemy soldiers, single-handedly. Then he spent the rest of the war in an Allied POW camp... My father fought a different war. Diabetes."

[Princess Trigger]

"Arm yourself when the Frog God smiles" - Gowachin admonition
[Frank Herbert]

[Zeb]

I kind of wish he'd given up on the last few Dune books and written more in that universe.

[Zeb]

It's time to learn what Godwin's law actually is.

You can talk about Hitler all you want. Doesn't make it less crazy.

Trump is no Hitler. More like our very own Silvio Berlusconi.

[Rich]

Bill Clinton's Secret Service Agent Did IT Work for Hillary's Server and Clinton Foundation

During his interview with the FBI, the Secret Service agent also related that he was contacted by Justin Cooper, a long-time senior advisor of Bill Clinton who helped set up the server at the Clintons' home in Chappaqua, to assist with email security. The agent said he simply researched information on the topic which he then, per Cooper's instructions, passed along to Bryan Magliano

It's just one big happy family!

[westernsloper]

So the dude Googled email security? What does that pay?

[westernsloper]

"A coalition of Iraqi security forces, Iraqi irregulars, and Kurdish troops are fighting to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS."

Kind of forgot about the US troops and aircraft huh?

[Rich]

Hey! Those are the "Iraqi irregulars"!

[Swiss Servator]

Nah, that is just the Iraqi Army after eating in the IA 10th DIV mess hall....

[Agent Cooper]

I'll allow it.

[John DeWitt]

Shhhhhhhh....

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

Oh noes! People are going to lose faith in politics!

And they should. And not because of Donald Trump.

[BigT]

Why Trump's talk of a rigged vote is so dangerous

It's dangerous for Donkeys. There might be proper scrutiny to voters, and all those dead people won't get to vote....even once.

[commodious plays tuna piano]

Next people might start questioning the objectivity of news media outlets. Where will we be then?

[Je suis Woodchipper]

judge dismisses riot charges against Democracy Now! reporter b/c state could not show probable cause.

mojo and other leftists really really think this is a 1A issue.

i am far from convinced the 1A was anywhere in the vicinity.

http://www.motherjones.com/env.....ss-freedom

[Juvenile Bluster]

The prosecutor said he was bringing charges because her coverage was pro-protesters. It's pretty blatantly a 1A issue.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

the DA suffered from classic diarrhea of the mouth when he discussed the bias in her reporting.

[Capt. Rimmer]

A judge doing his job and now hopefully the voters do theirs and throw the prosecutor out of office.

[kbolino]

A judge doing his job and now hopefully the voters do theirs and throw the prosecutor out of office repeal the laws that enabled this in the first place

A man can hope, right?

[Suthenboy]

I think it is a 1A issue, but my ears are deaf to their whining. They are complaining because it is happening to one of theirs. That wasn't supposed to happen. It is fine as long as it only happens to the wrong people, like science deniers.

[Crusty Juggler]

Tupac Shakur, Pearl Jam, Kraftwerk among nominees for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Among first-time candidates that appear on the ballot are British rock group Depeche Mode, American punk band Bad Brains, English pop-rock band Electric Light Orchestra, folk-music maven Joan Baez, slick rock band Journey and '60s heavy rock group Steppenwolf.

Previous nominees under consideration include the Cars, Chaka Khan, Jackson, the J. Geils Band, Joe Tex, Detroit proto-punk group MC5, English rock group the Zombies and English prog-rock band Yes.

My memory has just been sold, Pearl Jam is the centerfold.

[robc]

As my Steve Howe duel should suggest, I think its a travesty that Yes isnt already in.

That said, its the R&R HOF so who cares?

In no particular order, the ones that seem obvious to me:
Yes, The Cars, J Geils, MC5, ELO, Steppenwolf, Baez.

The Zombies and Depeche Mode wouldnt be horrible choices either.

[Crusty Juggler]

Joan Baez? Stop that.

[Pat (PM)]

At what point do they opt for accuracy and start calling it the "popular music hall of fame"?

[robc]

20 years ago?

[Pat (PM)]

I know that's when they started dropping the genre qualification, I'm saying, I wonder when the name of the organization will actually follow suit to reflect the nominations and inductees.

[Auric Demonocles]

Admittedly I don't care about music at all, I'll even just turn the radio off entirely if I'm driving through an area without any talk radio I'm interested in, but I was pretty puzzled about this when I went to the R&R HoF last week. (My friend and I were in Cleveland for the Pats game and he wanted to check it out, so I went along with it) I was very confused at all the people they were talking about since (as far as I know) so many of them aren't rock and roll artists.

[Certified Public Asshat]

Freezin' eherieoijhadjfioadjfoajdfoia
Oh Feelin' euhdfadifiodafuiouaidfu
Oh hand out dfhifdhaoijfioasdjfodiajfioas

The greatest mumble mouth lead singer?

[Yusef Adama]

You do karaoke I see

[Agent Cooper]

pillow made of concrete is in there somewhere..

[Chipwooder]

BAD FUCKIN' BRAINS!!!!!

[Random Axe Of Kindness]

http://nbcchi.com/QEeZndn

"When a dispute over a bean-bag toss game ended in a woman shouting racial slurs at high school teacher Ernest Crim III this summer, it was an ugly encounter that he turned into a teachable moment.
But now, the woman who hurled the n-word at Crim and spit at his wife, has been charged with a hate crime. On Monday, she said the charge stunned her, insisting she is not a racist."

So, apparently words are hate crimes now. Who could've predicted this.

[Agent Cooper]

Bean-bag toss?

You mean Cornhole?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Obviously Cornhole, because what other game better suits itself to shouting racial slurs and spitting?

[Honk]

Croquet?

[thom]

You can't yell fire in a crowded movie theater, therefore the government should be able to criminalize any speech it wants to.

[Je suis Woodchipper]

http://www.hannity.com/article.....-15209763/

FOVAL: That was all us. The guy that got roughed up is my counterpart, who works for Bob [Creamer].

PV: And that was like, storyboarded? Him getting roughed up like that?

FOVAL: We scenarioed it.

PV: And so you, like leant yourselves to that situation and it happened. A self-fulfilling prophecy.

FOVAL: We not only leant ourselves, we planted multiple people in that front area around him and in the back to make sure there wasn't just a action that happened up front, there was also a reaction that happened out back. So the cameras, when they saw it, saw double angles of stuff like, they saw what happened up front, and they saw the reaction of people out back.

PV: That's f****g brilliant. That's brilliant.

FOVAL: And then the reporters had people to talk to.

In addition, Foval admits to paying mentally ill and homeless people to do "some crazy stuff" at rallies.

[westernsloper]

People need to go to jail over this one. I doubt it will happen though.

[BigT]

But the Donkeys won't try to steal the election. No sirreeee. They's honest now.

[Rich]

Millennials desperately need to bone up on the history of communism

[Four] out of 10 call for a "complete change" to ensure that the highest earners pay their fair share.

Like ensuring the highest earners make $50K a year?

[Brett L]

Isn't this evergreen? Before you get your first real paycheck, you think everyone should pay their share, after you subtract 25% (minimum) from your gross income on that first paycheck, look around at all the other people working everyday and go, "hey, fuck these guys!"

[robc]

Who is FICA and why is he stealing all my money?

[Auric Demonocles]

I still think everyone should pay their share.

I just probably have a very different definition of what someone's "fair share" is than those people.

[Zeb]

The top 1% pay almost half of federal income tax. The bottom 80% pays about 15%.

I don't know how anyone can look at that and say the rich don't pay for a fair share of government expenditures. At least at the federal level.

[Pat (PM)]

We have a more progressive tax structure than most of pinko Europe, a fact that seems to be lost on conservatives and liberals alike in American discourse.

[Suthenboy]

"I don't know how anyone can look at that and say the rich don't pay for a fair share of government expenditures. At least at the federal level."

If they still have money left then they aren't paying their fair share. Envy, how does it work?

[John DeWitt]

Millenials desperately need to bone

They're trying. They're trying REAL hard.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Know what irritates me about them? It may come off as tripe and it probably is but I've notice they like to travel but have little interest in knowing about the places they visit beforehand. When I was growing up all I did was consume the history and attractions of other countries in hopes of one day visiting. Whenever I talk to a millennial and point out some stuff they not only seem unaware but even indifferent.They definitely have a micro-view of history. But off they go and then they suddenly become 'worldly'. I admit I could be generalizing or looking at it wrong but it's what I've observed anecdotally. I'm somewhat serious whenever I claim I'd know more about the places our politicians visit than they do. I listen to them speak or make gaffes and often wonder to myself, 'how could you or your bloody staff not have known this or that'? Meh.

[Don Escaped Texas]

I understand that you're generalizing, but I know a ton of millennials who are a more than a match for their average elders. Aristotle decried the sad state of the youth, and this hobby endures. I've worked in scouting and debate and know a few hundred kids who are more than ready to take their turn in society.

It is reasonable to assume that there is good and bad, mediocre and excellent, in every demographic.

[Trshmnstr makes people gag]

As a millennial, I know many of my cohort who are well positioned to succeed in life. However, at 28, I know many people my age and even older who haven't held down a real job yet, who will still be paying on their student loans in 20 years, who live with their parents with no plan to leave, and who think that vacations are right after food and water on the priority list.

Just because Aristotle cried wolf doesn't mean that this generation isn't really awful. Of course, it depends on how you define "awful", but I think this generation is the least prepared for even a moderate economic downturn than we have seen in the history of this country. That, in combination with my belief that our government's spending and economic policies are going to catch up with us sometime soon, means that I think there will be massive suffering sometime in the near future.

[Zeb]

I think people will probably get their shit together when they have to. It could be that the current generation of young adults are particularly poorly prepared for whatever life has to offer. But it's not as if you can't learn or change after the age of 20. People will do what they have to do.

[Zeb]

The main difference is probably that more have the opportunity to travel than in the past. I think most people have always been fairly incurious. And all people have always complained about the damn kids these days.

[Crusty Juggler]

How Do You Hail a Tractor in India? All It Takes Is a Few Taps on Your Phone

Right now, a farmer can use the app to specify what is needed and when, and the company will send the requested tractor and a driver from one of about 20 hubs across Karnataka. The machine might belong to Trringo or to a private owner using the service to book rentals.

There is one snag: By recent estimates, only about 9 percent of rural India has mobile internet access. So the company has also set up call centers for farmers to arrange rentals by telephone.

Ugh. Can you say problematic?

[Auric Demonocles]

And what about the poor guys whose jobs are being stolen after they scraped together for years to afford a tractor medallion?

[Anomalous]

"Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."

I say it's fixed.

[straffinrun]

The third party system is broke, too. Eh, Gary?

[Rich]

I like the cut of your rig.

[chemjeff]

""If I win on Nov. 8," Trump says, "I could see myself meeting with Putin and meeting with Russia prior to the start of the administration.""

Well you can't have a proper bro-mance without some quality face-to-face time.

[John DeWitt]

And it's really hard to coordinate the invasion of Canada via Skype.

[Crusty Juggler]

Reposting, 'cause: Politico Reporter Sends Story To Hillary Aide For Approval, Admits He's A 'Hack'

Politico's response to the douchey Daily Caller reporter's request for a comment:

Hi Alex,

Glenn has a self-deprecating sense of humor, one of the many blessings of being born and raised in Brooklyn. You know Alex, Oscar Wilde once pointed out that people are never so trivial as when they take themselves seriously. That wisdom seems to apply here.

The bottom line is that Glenn got the chairman of the notoriously secretive Clinton campaign ? who is not typically a font of detail ? to confirm a bunch of inside information that he culled from other sources. I can speak with firsthand knowledge and experience that Glenn does this with everybody, on both sides of the aisle. Glenn is one of the top political reporters in the country, in no small part because he understands that it is his job is to get inside information, not appear perfect when someone illegally hacks emails.

Curiously, since you've referred to Glenn as a "fucking joke" on social media, one has to wonder whether you might be approaching this line of questioning with your own biases. Is it standard practice at the Daily Caller to assign reporters to cover subjects whom they've described in such a manner?

[Crusty Juggler]

You see, the emails were illegally obtained, so that makes them wrong. Additionally, political reporters are also victims.

[R C Dean]

IowaHawk characterized modern journalism as:

Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.

[LynchPin1477]

I got into a FB conversation (not a debate or argument...it was very civil) over an article talking about automation and concerns over technological unemployment. My basic point was that there are challenges ahead but there is also reason to be optimistic because 1) every other time we've had technological revolutions, we've invented new and previously unimagined things for people to do and 2) automation and weak AI may make things so cheap that people will be able to enjoy a high standard of living with very little work.

I was struck by how limited people's visions of the future are, even after I tried to lay out some possible scenarios. I light-heartedly referred to the "Etsy economy" to emphasize that there will still be work to do in creative and interpersonal fields, not just STEM and technical fields. I used Uber and Airbnb simply as examples of the power of technology to lower transaction costs and to create new income streams. I talked about the ways that the internet has diminished the power of traditional gatekeepers and is leading to a more decentralized economy.

[LynchPin1477]

The response was that no one can afford a living wage through Etsy (ignoring that "living wage" isn't a fixed number), that Uber wants to eliminate drivers for cars (ignoring the cost savings that would entail), and that Airbnb depends on insurance fraud (without explaining how Airbnb actually hurts anyone). But what struck me was the inability to see beyond these specific, narrow examples to a future in which innovation redefines how we live and work.

Instead people envisioned a future of menial, mindless work, foisted on us by elites who only want to keep us busy so we can be manipulated (the financial sector was used as an example of work that doesn't create anything of intrinsic value....I corrected the fallacies in that, but still...).

These are not unintelligent people. In fact, they are way smarter than I am. But they seem to really have a hard time wrapping their head around creative destruction and the potential of emergent systems to adapt and innovate.

[Lee Genes]

Just give them a copy of Economics in One Lesson. Hazlitt tears that argument into little pieces.

[Rich]

This.

[Crusty Juggler]

Yes. As one of you nerds pointed out recently, Mises.org provides a free pdf.

[westernsloper]

Thanks. I missed the nerds pointing that out in the past.

[straffinrun]

Doesn't fit in a tweet.

[Yusef Adama]

^this right here

[Lee Genes]

Well, the link does.

[straffinrun]

I admit it. I'm tweeterilliterate.

[Honk]

-- I admit it. I'm tweeterilliterate.

At least you're not misogynoiristic.

[LynchPin1477]

I consider it my life mission to dispel the myth of intrinsic value.

[Brett L]

You should remind them that factory workers in the 19th century could barely make a living wage working 12 hour days, six days a week. And they didn't have air conditioners or cell phones or TVs or ten sets of clothes or... to pay for. All they had to pay for was a roof over their heads and food, and maybe two sets of clothes a year. And usually, contra the magical thinking, women and children went to work, too. Child labor laws came AFTER technology progressed beyond needing child labor.

[straffinrun]

So if aliens came and dropped a bottomless keg of beer on Earth and said, "Help yourselves." we'd all be worse off? Luddites and slavers.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm going to need more info on that beer...

[Swiss Servator]

Firestone Walker "Nineteen - Anniversary Ale"

I just vowed to serve the aliens.

[bacon-magic]

Alien Servitor?

[westernsloper]

It says "bottomless". Even bad beer is good if you can get past the first five.

[sarcasmic]

A few questions to ask your friend.

Who will buy their stuff? Evul core-pour-ray-shuns can only make immoral profits if people but their stuff. So who will buy their stuff? Keeping everyone a slave who can't afford to buy anything doesn't help the bottom line.

Who will maintain the machines? They don't fix themselves. Automation eliminates low-skilled jobs (thank you minimum wage) but it requires people to fix and program the machines. These are good paying jobs.

The problem here is that you are trying to have a rational conversation with someone who is full of emotion. Losing one's job sucks. It's easy to take a 30000 ft view and say the buggy whip makers will find other work, but it's easier said than done if you are one of the makers, or have one as friend or family. So you want to protect them. You want laws that will keep them employed. Whatever. I need to stop drinking at 8am.

[LynchPin1477]

I tried to point out that specific intrinsic value doesn't exist, that the financial sector, for all its many faults, does provide liquidity and access to capital, and that only government can create and "sustain" jobs that produce nothing of value.

I don't think they are irrational, I just think they are locked into a worldview where STEM is one of the only roads to success and in which its hard to trust an emergent, decentralized system to solve problems.

[Chipwooder]

On a football board I post on, there's often a wide range of conversations. There's one older Wall Street type fellow who is plenty smart but has become obsessed with the notion of technology displacing virtually all jobs and how it's going to lead to chaos. My question to him has always been the first one you suggest - how does this tiny group of people and corporations make these staggering profits if no one has a job and, thus, money to pay to these people and corporations?

[Chip Woodier]

Who will maintain the machines? They don't fix themselves.

You sound awful sure that it will always be that way. I am not.

I can't think of one job that can't potentially one day be done better, cheaper, and faster by automation, robotics, and advanced AI.

[Auric Demonocles]

I enjoy a lot of the "Adam Ruins Everything" videos, but the one on AirBnB basically had one point: "they aren't even regulated!", without explaining why I should think that's bad.

[LynchPin1477]

The common view seems to be that "unregulated" means free to shit all over anyone and everyone without consequence.

[commodious plays tuna piano]

"they aren't even regulated!"

So, guests run roughshod over their hosts, trashing apartments and refusing to pay?

And hosts can tyrannize their guests, since no feedback mechanism exists to rate them?

At least I'm assuming that's what he means by "not even regulated," because it seems like a system of mutual civility coupled with the platform's feedback and payment system should be construed as "regulated."

[Gadfly]

You are absolutely correct. While an unregulated system will tend towards chaos, people often confuse "self-regulated" with "unregulated", hence the panicking over a system that works just fine. This confusion stems from the same simplification that underlies the socialist criticism of the free market, that if the government doesn't do something it won't get done at all. People often forget (willingly or no) that there are usually more than two either/or options.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Even when I manage to get smart people to see this it usually ends with a shrug. It's perplexing indeed.

[Agent Cooper]

Robot maintenance jobs will increase!

[Eternal Blue Sky]

To the people who fear robots stealing over half of all human jobs: Robots already did that. It was called the Agricultural Revolution. It ended up a very good thing for humanity.

[Free Society]

Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."

OMG! He's saying he won't abide by the results of the election! He probably rapes every night too.

[westernsloper]

He said broken not rigged. You are only a rapist if you say rigged.

[Free Society]

I've learned from Reason and others, that the most important thing is to take the most hyperbolic reading of everything the candidate says when it might be badthink, and to call him a liar whenever he says something that might be goodthink and of course, jump to the most ridiculous conclusion possible.

[Auric Demonocles]

The zero-alt-text system is broken.

[Crusty Juggler]

We can't let Trump become president because he would debase the office: Obama jokes that he 'still doesn't know why' he won the Nobel Peace Prize and complains that he hasn't had a promotion for eight years' in hilarious job interview with Stephen Colbert

Obama was given a mock job interview by Late Show's Stephen Colbert ahead of him leaving White House
Colbert - 'Randy' the office manager - asked Obama some tricky questions - and offered him useless advice
He played along, mocking his way of talking, the Nobel Peace Prize and fooling around with Snapchat filters

[Crusty Juggler]

He agreed to let them this stuff to him! What is happening?

[Pat (PM)]

I've been looking for an excuse to post a Pixies song all morning

[Lee Genes]

Anybody else see the Antares launch last night?

[Krabappel]

I saw it!

[Suthenboy]

"Trump says, "I could see myself meeting with Putin and meeting with Russia prior to the start of the administration."

Getting along with Russia would not be difficult. Stop fucking around in Syria would be a good start.

Melania Trump says the charges of sexual assault made by multiple women against her husband Donald Trump are all "lies." "I believe my husband," she says, "it was all organized by the opposition."

No shit. Who is dumb enough to believe anything whatsoever that comes from the Dems?

"A top official at the State Department repeatedly sought to have the FBI back down on classifying the contents of an email from Hillary Clinton's private email server, documents released Monday revealed."

Still not a word from Reason on the O'keefe video revealing Democratic money funding political violence and other nefarious leftist tactics. For months now we had an avalanche of scathing articles calling DT a fascist because reasons. The Dems get caught engaging in no-shit actual fascist tactics and we get...crickets. Fan-fuckin'-tastic. Nothing to see here.

"Gary Johnson: "The two-party system is broken."

No, it isnt. It is functioning just as intended.

"A coalition of Iraqi security forces, Iraqi irregulars, and Kurdish troops are fighting to retake the city of Mosul from ISIS.
The European Space Agency is going to attempt a moon landing this week."

Nothing to see here either. President Peaceprize ended this war.

[This Machine]

Still not a word from Reason on the O'keefe video revealing Democratic money funding political violence and other nefarious leftist tactics. For months now we had an avalanche of scathing articles calling DT a fascist because reasons. The Dems get caught engaging in no-shit actual fascist tactics and we get...crickets. Fan-fuckin'-tastic. Nothing to see here.

I'm sure they're working on it as we speak.

[Robert]

Why is Trump's wanting to get along w the Russians not reported more than "Trump wants to be like Putin" or "Trump wants the USA to be more like Russia"?

[Stormy Dragon]

In perhaps the most shocking thing to happen this election, there's actually an insightful article about politics on Cracked.com of all places (caveat that the writers on Cracked.com don't get to choose their own headlines):

How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind

[Rasilio]

No the most shocking thing about the world today is that there is more good honest journalism going on at a humor website than in pretty much all of the mainstream media.

Cracked is slipping a bit on these types of articles as creeping sjw disease sets in but they are still able to produce them and when they do it is a better and more honest analysis of the world than anything you'd see in the actual political media.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Political article on Cracked that somehow isn't terrible but is actually good... dude, you found a fucking unicorn here.

[R C Dean]

I saw that headline on one of my very infrequent (these days) forays to Cracked, and didn't click through because I assumed the half he was talking about were the Trumpalos.

[Stormy Dragon]

Well he is, it's just that the Title attached to the article doesn't really fit the actual contents. The "6 Reasons for Trump's Rise that No One Talks About" title in the url was probably the author's original title and is much more accurate reflection of the contents.

[This Machine]

What the actual living fuck. I haven't seen quality writing from Cracked in so long, it's almost bizarre how much I enjoyed reading it. Good find, Stormay.

[This Machine]

Err, Stormy.

[John]

That is a great piece. Thanks for linking.

[bacon-magic]

Great link Stormy. Wong is right.

[DenverJ]

It's 3 minutes after, and there are already 280 comments? Is Fist giving lessons?

[DenverJ]

Oh, two he time difference, not one. *Smacks forehead

[BigT]

ExxonMobil Notches An Important Legal Victory Against The 'AGs United For Clean Power' Link

The company convinced the court to permit jurisdictional discovery into its claim that Ms. Healey's investigation into its past climate change research is part of a larger political agenda.

In addition to supporting ExxonMobil's own claim against Ms. Healey, it is probable that discovery will uncover information that embarrasses the Democratic attorneys general coalition against ExxonMobil.

[This Machine]

Infant Mortality Soars in Venezuela:

[Trigger Warning: Paywalled]

Infant mortality is rising fast here, at a time when it is falling in almost every other part of the world, in one of the most alarming signals that Venezuela's social and state structures are unraveling.

"I think it represents a very serious social problem, where the basic functions of governance are breaking down," said Janet Currie, an economist and expert on infant mortality at Princeton University.

Venezuela's overall infant mortality rate?defined as deaths within the first year of life?is currently 18.6 per 1,000 live births, according to the most recent government statistics. That is well beyond the upper range of 15.4 Unicef estimates for war-torn Syria.

You get that? Fucking Syria has a better chance of keeping babies alive than Venezuela. Can one of our resident retards come over here and explain how this is all the pig-dog capitalists' fault? I need a good laugh this morning

[robc]

Its democracy's fault -- joe

[Sevo]

"Fucking Syria has a better chance of keeping babies alive than Venezuela"

Get Russia to bomb Venezuela, and they might miss there, too.

[The Fusionist]

Reposted from yesterday -

Gary Johnson spoke at Liberty University during their mandatory Convocation.

"President Jerry Falwell [Jr.] welcomed Johnson to Liberty for the first time, recognizing his supporters who were seated near the front and noting that Libertarian candidates tend to do well in Liberty's own campus voting precinct.

"Josh Rutledge, vice president of Spiritual Programs, introduced Johnson...

"After his message, Johnson sat down with Liberty's Senior Vice President for Spiritual Development David Nasser to answer questions that the Student Government Association compiled from the student body....

"As an institution, Liberty does not endorse anyone for political office and invites all presidential candidates to speak in Convocation. The platform has become a popular stop for those seeking political office ? among them, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence, and presidential candidates Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, and Bernie Sanders."

Those closed-minded religious nuts, am I right, guys?

(PS - also, Ken Bone)

[The Fusionist]

(I would imagine that they could invite only those candidates approved by the "nonpartisan" CPD, and the IRS would have to go along with it - what would they say, their standards for exclusion violate the requirements of a nonprofit orgnization? You could say the same of the CPD itself.

[John]

Subject: Re: King v Burwell
From: Neera Tanden
To: Jake Sullivan
CC: Jennifer Palmieri ,
John Podesta

...it was pretty critical that the President threw the gauntlet down last time on the Court, warning them in the first case that it would politicize the role of the Court for them to rule against the ACA. As a close reader of the case, I honestly believe that was vital to scaring Roberts off.

In this case, I'm not arguing that Hillary spend a lot of time attacking the Court. I do think it would be very helpful to all of our interest in a decision affirming the law, for Roberts and perhaps Kennedy to see negative political consequences to ruling against the government.

From the Podesta hack. It is available on the wikileaks site. Hey remember how Suderman and a few others spent weeks shitting their pants over Trump saying something bad about that Mexican judge? I guess threatening judges to rule in your favor just isn't that big of a deal anymore, because hasn't said a peep about this. Funny that.

[kbolino]

Not to downplay your point, but what exactly is being threatened here? That Obama would badmouth Roberts and Kennedy nonstop? Ok, even for Teflon Obama that would look petty after a while. There's no way they could impeach him without controlling Congress; and if they controlled Congress, they could just amend the law anyway.

It makes me wonder if they are really just deluded fools who think every bit of excrement from their mouths is worth its weight in gold; or if they are engaged in shady (read: impeachable) shit behind the scenes (which may implicate Roberts and Kennedy, too).

WTF?

[John]

It makes me wonder if they are really just deluded fools who think every bit of excrement from their mouths is worth its weight in gold;

I think you are absolutely right about that. That is what they think. In fairness to them, however, Chief Justice Roberts apparently thinks the same way, because he rolled over to the pressure. These people live in a world of words, bullshit, fantasy ideas and magical thinking. That would be okay except that people like Putin, Kim, and many of our adversaries don't and neither does the economy. The real world has a bad habit of intervening into these people's bubble, and the rest of us are the ones who end up paying for it.

[kbolino]

Well, the Kims definitely live in a world of fantasy and bullshit. They're just willing to enforce appearances at the end of many guns. But that is beside your point.

Yeah, the follow on to my first position is how fucking craven must Roberts be in order to bend to these fools? Or is he also so deluded that he thinks the elites speak for "the people"? That a law that barely and questionably passed Congress in a very contentious vote and was almost certainly repudiated by "the people" who changed the membership and party control of Congress in the very next election was somehow "the consequence[] of their political choices"?

[R C Dean]

Threatening isn't really the right term. Neither Trump nor the Obama machine threatened anyone. But, they put pressure on/criticized the judges in public. Somehow, when a candidate does that, its awful, but when the actual President does, its a big meh.

[kbolino]

Somehow, when a candidate does that, its awful, but when the actual President does, its a big meh.

No, when the right candidate/President does it, it's to be applauded, when the wrong candidate/President does it, it's proof of every bad thing you've ever thought he is going to do.

[Juice]

Since when did SC justices need to worry about politics? Isn't that the whole point of the lifetime appointment. If they have a lifetime appointment and they still worry about politics, then maybe they shouldn't have a lifetime appointment.

[Sevo]

"A top official at the State Department repeatedly sought to have the FBI back down on classifying the contents of an email from Hillary Clinton's private email server, documents released Monday revealed."

She did nothing wrong and she won't do that wrong stuff again and what diff.....

[John]

Glen Thrush assures me that this is no big deal. But don't tell anyone.

http://twitchy.com/loriz-3139/.....me-denial/

[Crusty Juggler]

A story full of Twitters, the first one from Eric Dondero.

[John]

What does that have to do with anything?

[Citizen X]

DONDERRRROOOOOOOOOOO

[GILMORE?]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[kbolino]

Of course, the information was already classified. The most the FBI could do is recognize it as such. There is, practically speaking, no such thing as "retroactive classification" (it has happened on very rare occasions but is not what's going on here).

[Cyto]

I'm going back to my one consistent observation over the last year. The lockstep adherence to the DNC talking points by the media is stunning.

I know they've been doing it to some degree for decades, but the last two weeks have been amazing. I had the opportunity to channel surf a bit late last night and this morning. Every single channel had anchors and in-house political experts offering the exact same points as if they were all having the same original thought.

The Melania interview was "ineffective because it was too late." Trump is "doubling down" on the rigged election claims - which makes him sound like a "loser making excuses for his loss".

It was really stunning. The identical words coming out of dozens of mouths on 8 or 10 different channels. Every one of them representing their poll-tested phrases as if it were their own original and authoritative opinion. Never a mention of the fact that the Wikileaks emails lay out in detail exactly how the media is deeply colluding with the Clinton campaign to push her message and support her candidacy. If that doesn't count as evidence of a rigged system, what would?

The irony of someone like Anderson Cooper standing there questioning a Trump supporter about claims of the system being rigged - when he's right in the middle of the Clinton machine - is really thick.

[John]

See the Glen Thrush, the chief political reporter for Politco, I linked to above. The guy sent his finished article to John Podesta for approval. They don't know write a word that isn't coordinated and approved by the DNC.

[Stormy Dragon]

Conan O'Brien has a recurring segment based on this called "Newscasters Agree":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM8L7bdwVaA

[Cyto]

And the "vast left-wing conspiracy" joke was done on every show as well - usually right over the top of the token Trump supporter who was just asked to back up these claims. It is a pretty effective way to shut things down.

Here's the formula:

1. Report that "Trump is doubling down on claims that the election is rigged", showing a couple of clips of Trump saying that. No further context, just those words.

2. The host/reporter talks incredulously about these "wild claims" or "desperate claims" and then says authoritatively "but they don't offer any proof" and "if you are going to make these kinds of serious accusations, you have to have really solid evidence".

3. Throw it to a political analyst who tells us that this is a serious mistake by the Trump campaign.... they should be pivoting away from this topic. Then he trots out the analysis: "it looks like he's making excuses for the loss that he knows is coming."

4. After a few rounds on that with the host, throw it to the Trump surrogate with a loaded intro like "why has he kept doubling down on this excuse?" It takes the pundit a few sentences to move from the set-up premise toward talking about the reasons for skepticism - and just at that moment...

5. The host jumps in with "so, a vast left wing conspiracy?" (laugh laugh) and we move on.....

[Cyto]

I probably saw that formula play almost exactly according to script 4 times last night. And every single on of them acting as if they were having original thoughts for the first time.

I just don't understand why the Trump surrogates didn't turn it right back on the host/reporter - "You are doing a great job of hitting all of her talking points" or "This would all be interesting if we didn't have Podesta's emails that detail exactly how you are coordinating with the Clinton campaign to control the election coverage and ensure that the american people only hear what she wants them to hear."

[thom]

They would just take a very serious tone, assure the viewers and the Trump surrogate that they were doing no such thing, and then proceed to portray them as paranoid and delusional.

[Free Society]

There actually is a vast left wing conspiracy in media, academia and government. It's well-documented, it's existence is factual. It's as true as the claim that massive objects fall towards the Earth. So of course they're going to ridicule anyone who mentions it.

[kbolino]

The word "conspiracy", in the popular understanding, no longer carries its plain meaning of "two or more people colluding in secret to achieve a particular goal" (even though people get arrested and go to jail all the time for "conspiracy"). Now it's basically "oh, you mean shit like the Illuminati or the Lizard People?" As though all allegations of covert collusion must be equivalent to the most absurd theories dreamed up by fevered minds.

Unless, of course, the conspiracy theory has been "approved" by the cultural authorities. Then it's perfectly acceptable to talk about it, to assume its truth, and to browbeat anyone who tries to argue against it.

[Robert]

As Jesse Walker has pointed out, the popular usage now only overlaps with actual conspiracy, in that not only do not all conspiracies count, but not every "conspiracy" even involves 2 or more people colluding?at least when coupled w the word "theory". It's a case of true Scotsman.

[Jerryskids]

The third debate is coming up and the media is still flogging the shit out of the Trump pussy tape - shouldn't we be getting something new today they can attack Trump over? Waiting until tomorrow will be cutting it a little close, not allowing enough "spontaneous" news coverage of this new outrage to develop to swamp the actual debate coverage.

[John]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wor.....66571.html

How about we just walk the fuck away from Syria? Anyone want to join the lost generation because of a World War club over Syria? I don't. Anyone who does, should just go join the Peshmerga, they are great guys and fighting for a good cause, and leave the rest of us out of it.

[Juvenile Bluster]

But if we walk away from Syria, who will bomb Syrian children, John?

Of course we should walk away. But both major party candidates are not only not going to walk away, they're going to increase our involvement, because reasons.

[Free Society]

At least one of them is not keen on starting a shooting war with Russia and doesn't have an intervention boner for killing Assad. Assad is the best thing that corner of the Earth has going for it right now and Obama and Hilary fabricated the reason for intervening and deposing him. Anyone who thinks the Democrats have any foreign policy credibility are fools.

[Robert]

Why are they so anti-Assad? I don't know, so here are some possibilities:

1. He done wrong to Israel some time back, getting blame for not suppressing bombardment he couldn't've stopped if he'd wanted to, in addition to what he ordered or fomented.

2. Barack & Hillary are committed, as was infamously said re Vietnam. Can't take back what you started, for that would show weakness.

3. Lack of sufficient payoff to the Clinton Foundation, or to someone.

4. It's the British Foreign Office again. The British still fantasize that they can reassert influence in the area on someone else's dime, & would like to have a friend in one or more anti-Assad factions (as usual, the British backing factions opposed to each other). US State officials always, unaccountably, think the British are their betters.

5. They just like to fuck w foreigners that few Americans have ties to, and they picked out Assad as their whipping boy, to make it look like they're doing a job.

[John]

It is not both. It is one. Hillary is bragging about conducting a cyber war against Russia. And she pledged to enforce a no fly zone over Syria, which would necessarily mean shooting down Russian plans.

Trump meanwhile is being called by reason and other places an authoritarian for even daring to suggest that we should at least try and make nice with Putin.

Has Trump said he wants to go after ISIS? Sure and necessarily means being around Syria. He is, however, orders of magnitude less belligerent and frankly insane than Hillary has been on this subject. And no one seems to have noticed or cared.

[commodious plays tuna piano]

would necessarily mean shooting down Russian plans

You know who else was instrumental in foiling a Russian's plans?

[Rasilio]

Jack Ryan?

[tarran]

Moose und squirrel?

[Shit Gary Johnson Says, Jr.]

Viswanathan Anand?

[Citizen X]

Rocky Balboa?

[GILMORE?]

Dudley Do-Right?

[Trshmnstr makes people gag]

James Bond?

[Robert]

Arthur Lenox? (See My Official Wife by Richard Savage, a mostly great read.)

[Free Society]

The Democrats are living example of why "humanitarianism" is a slippery slope of a reason to invade someone. It sounds perfectly moral on the surface, but 9.9999 times out of 10, it's just a thinly veiled excuse to wage a war for some other purpose.

[Cyto]

A good chunk of that could be because she says things in a strong an measured tone, with well-planned statements.

While Trump sounds like some guy spouting off at the water cooler. So even if you can parse out a policy that is more measured than Hillary's, nobody is going to notice that. He'd be perfectly at home here at HnR. And no, that's not really a complement.

[John]

Her measured tone, to me at least, makes her sound even more insane. Trump is all over the map because he hasn't given the issue much thought. That is not good for sure. Hillary in contrast has, or at least her handlers have, given the issue a lot of thought. And her conclusions are insane. That is worse, much worse.

You are right about why it hasn't been noticed. The reason why it hasn't been noticed is that Hillary sounds measured and we have a media culture full of amazingly stupid and shallow people who confuse tone and style for substance. In fact, they are incapable of understanding substance. All they know is tone and style.

[kbolino]

we have a media culture full of amazingly stupid and shallow people who confuse tone and style for substance

See: Obama, Barack H.

[Zeb]

Hillary's (and Obama's) measured tone and style just comes off as condescending and annoying to me at this point. They are so fucking full of shit.

[kbolino]

Hillary's (and Obama's) measured tone and style just comes off as condescending and annoying to me at this point. They are so fucking full of shit.

So much this. STFU

[Brett L]

You're 100% correct. At least the Russians get a base from which to pressure Turkey over access to the Med. So I get why they are in Syria. What the fuck are we doing there besides making enemies and murdering people?

[Free Society]

What the fuck are we doing there besides making enemies and murdering people?

Saving the world from the scourge of a secular dictator that fights against the left's Islamist allies, of course.

[Brett L]

I've already seen this movie. I know how it ends. And, much as I DGAF if Assad ends up being sodomized to death with a bayonet, that isn't the end of the story, just the end of the first act.

[Free Society]

I do give a fuck if he's killed because he is a bulwark against the Islamists who are the enemy of all of civilization, which is why they make perfect allies for the left.

[tarran]

What the fuck are we doing there besides making enemies and murdering people?

Looking relevant.

Obama wants to look relevant and in control to a domestic audience. Every bizarre intervention is purposed to give him the appearance of someone playing 11 dimensional chess who is in command of the situation.

It's a major flaw of narcissists; they just can't stand not looking like they are in charge.

[Zeb]

And it really doesn't help that most voters seem to actively want a narcissist who always needs to appear in control to run the government.

I've said this a lot lately. We don't need a leader.

[commodious plays tuna piano]

Nobel Prize committee gives up trying to contact Dylan

The Swedish Academy, which awards the prizes every October and organises the presentation in December, says it has not heard back from the Minnesota-born singer.

"Right now we are doing nothing," said Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the academy. "I have called and sent emails to his closest collaborator and received very friendly replies. For now, that is certainly enough."

Eh. Doesn't really move the needle much.

[Cyto]

It is very Dylan though. Can't be counter-culture anti-authoritarian and put on a tux to pick up your nobel prize....

[Citizen X]

Soy Bomb hardest hit.

[Rhywun]

"The check is still in the mail, right?"

/BD

[Jerryskids]

Billionaire Peter Thiel's $1.25 million backing of Donald Trump's presidential campaign has caused rifts in Silicon Valley.

... his donation is an outlier in the tech world, which had donated around $8 million to the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, versus $300,000 to her rival...

Altman's comments about [not firing] Thiel drew the ire of Ellen Pao, co-founder of Project Include, a company working to help tech organizations become more diverse...."While all of us believe in the ideas of free speech and open platforms, we draw a line here. We agree that people shouldn't be fired for their political views, but ....."

Yep, there's your tolerance for diversity and blaming the victim of the lynch mob for not staying in the closet where he belongs.

[Free Society]

Chairman Pao at it again. It's comical that her new job is use identity politics to sidestep meritocracy.

[John]

co-founder of Project Include, a company working to help tech organizations become more diverse.

After running Reddit into the ground, she has now moved on to destroying all of silicon valley in order to save it.

[kbolino]

It boggles my mind how they can talk about the "benefits of diversity" which can only manifest if people have different thoughts and then do everything in their power to shut down dissent. There are no "benefits of diversity" if there is no actual diversity.

[Free Society]

It boggles my mind how they can talk about the "benefits of diversity" which can only manifest if people have different thoughts and then do everything in their power to shut down dissent. There are no "benefits of diversity" if there is no actual diversity.

SKIN COLOR DOESN'T MATTER. Except for the unqualified gains you receive from being physically in the presence of non-whites and having their faces on your university brochures.

[kbolino]

Unless those nonwhites and other minorities don't have the right thoughts, like Thomas Sowell, Janice Rogers Brown, Clarence Thomas, Dierdre McCloskey, ....

[kbolino]

SKIN COLOR DOESN'T MATTER

Also, I don't think this is goodthink any more. Skin color does matter, again, because otherwise problems might be solved and grievance mongering would become irrelevant.

[Rhywun]

It's not skin color, it's "white man's burden". You know, people that you and I have been punching down at. Those people have "perspectives" that need to be "heard".

[kbolino]

Those people have "perspectives" that need to be "heard".

But it's really only one perspective and you "hear" it by doing whatever it is they want.

[Zeb]

There is the problem. I think there is benefit to hearing lots of people's perspectives. But that also means hearing the perspectives of conservatives and libertarians and business -people and everyone else, not just the same shit from people with different skin tones and accents.

This is really the genius of the left. Describe things in terms that are hard to disagree with. Then do whatever evil shit you were going to do anyway.

[kbolino]

This is really the genius of the left. Describe things in terms that are hard to disagree with. Then do whatever evil shit you were going to do anyway.

Leftism and fascism (whether you consider that left or right, regardless). But yeah, step one is to define the terms and build the narrative.

[Free Society]

I'm not interested in a fascism debate either, but it's definitely a leftism.

[Zeb]

Leftism is easier to get a definition for (and I'd agree that Fascism fits there). I have no idea what "right wing" is supposed to mean at this point as it is used to describe everything from minarchist libertarians to racial nationalists.

[Gadfly]

Leftism is easier to get a definition for (and I'd agree that Fascism fits there). I have no idea what "right wing" is supposed to mean at this point as it is used to describe everything from minarchist libertarians to racial nationalists.

Fascism was conceived as a centrist ideology, and I find that a useful place to put it (or leave it),especially considering how many bad decisions have been bi-partisan. Left and right are tricky terms since they are only really useful in a specific context. The left are the radicals who desire change while the right are the conservatives trying to preserve tradition. What that change is and what the tradition is vary from place to place, time to time, culture to culture. The reason why leftism as a general term is easier to define at the present moment is because the radicals have coalesced around a general desire for internationalist socialism, but right wing is hard to define because the traditions being defended against this ideology are so varied (classical liberals, monarchists, blood & soil nationalists, and even nationalist socialists are all defending their own, very different traditions against a common foe).

[Free Society]

This is really the genius of the left. Describe things in terms that are hard to disagree with. Then do whatever evil shit you were going to do anyway.

Describe things in terms that are hard to disagree with, then redefine the aforementioned terms as you go.

[Free Society]

We all know they don't use the word "diversity" in any sense where it actually is an empirical benefit. They mean diversity in the sense of "less white people".

[Free Society]

From the scourge of whites and Asians with wherewithal.

[spqr2008]

I really love the lefty attitude that you can just go around destroying people's lives and fortunes because you don't like their views (and it's not as if Brandon Eich or Thiel have crazy extreme, out there views), and it will never ever come back to haunt you. That's why they can't stand a Republican president, since that individual could wield the apparatus of the state to harm them in the same manner they have caused harm to outspoken conservatives. They are terrified of Trump precisely because he's the kind of power mad creature that would seriously consider destroying their lives over political disagreements, and they have created a political and social culture in which that is a desired outcome for a political disagreement. They've made their bed, but unfortunately for all of us, made us sleep in it too.

[Rhywun]

They are terrified of Trump precisely because he's the kind of power mad creature that would seriously consider destroying their lives over political disagreements

If he promises to do this I will vote for him ten times.

[Azathoth!!]

twenty

[Stormy Dragon]

I'm not sure Ellen Pao promising that from now on she will have nothing to do with your startups is quite the punishment she seems to think it is.

[Shit Gary Johnson Says, Jr.]

Frankly, to defeat the left you have to adopt their tactics. If you don't want Donald Trump to happen to your party, cheat. Pick your guy beforehand, rig the primaries, rig the caucuses, do whatever it takes to get the outcome you want. The Democrats did.

Granted, if the GOP had done so Jeb Bush would be staring down the barrell of a 45-state landslide, but at least the GOP would have gotten their man.

[westernsloper]

It took Redstate until Oct 11th to figure that out? Some of us kind of new that without Email leaks.

[Hyperion]

Of course we should have, but... he's a libertarian, scary, scary libertarian! He'll let babies smoke pot and won't protect us by starting wars all over the planet!

[bacon-magic]

Paulista Bullies *giggles

[straffinrun]

Or this.

[westernsloper]

I think they had the primaries rigged in their minds with the giant field of candidates. Lindsey Graham? Seriously? But they underestimated how pissed off a big chunk of America is and viola, you get Trump. That and Jeb Bush is a tool.

[Citizen X]

Or this.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

That and Jeb Bush is a tool.

I'll continue to maintain that if Jeb had kept his fat head out of the primary, Trump's nomination is far less likely. His mere presence and unapologetic open-borderism made him an easy scapegoat for the Republican rank and file to target as everything wrong with the party's establishment. His donors pumped $100 million dollars into a losing primary campaign--who the fuck else in the Republican party but a Bush would be able to command that type of fundraising in such a short time?

Rubio's milquetoast immigration policies and Gang of 8 actions might have been forgiven if Jeb hadn't declared. Instead, Trump bullied the shit out of Jeb because he was the top dog early on, and made the rest of the field look weak by comparison, because no one other than Jeb's country-club cohorts wanted him in office.

And I'm not so sure Rand could have clinched the nomination in the end. His debate performances were lackluster and he never figured out a way to harness regular Rep voter frustration the way Trump did.