Trump Meets With Silicon Valley Leaders, Fed Raises Interest Rates, U.N. Ends Wonder Woman Ambassadorship: P.M. Links

• 

  warriorpoet/flickr

  Donald Trump met with Silicon Valley leaders today, telling them he wants to help them "do well." Elon Musk and the CEO of Uber will be among those advising Trump as part of his Strategic and Policy Forum. Twitter is unlikely to get a Trump bump, despite the president-elect's prolific use of the service.

• The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates for just the second time in a decade, and expects to raise them three times next year.
• Labor Secretary Tom Perez will run for Democratic National Committee chair.
• Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says he's personally killed suspected criminals.
• The United Nations drops Wonder Woman as an ambassador.
• Actor Alan Thicke dies, aged 69.

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Comments

[Playa Manhattan.]

Hi, Fist.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

He wasn't talking to you.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I KEEP TO THE SCRIP REGARDLESS OF WHO IS FIRST.

/vigorously waves piece of blank paper in your face.

[Darth Squirrel]

Those are some serious meds.

[Mad Scientist]

Boom, baby, boom!

[Los Doyers]

Weak

[Playa Manhattan.]

I'm just letting him know that I know his secret now.

[bacon-magic]

Let's do the time warp again ???

[Fist of Etiquette]

If you knew anything of worth you would have been able to read the links and comment on one of them.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Don't think I won't do this to you tomorrow too.

P.M. links, A.M. sucks.

[bacon-magic]

Get him, Playa! *rebel yells out my office window

[Citizen X]

The fuck kind of euphemism is that?!?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Why I didn't even realize people were keeping score.

[Lee Genes]

Hmmmmm.....

Playa has crossed the rice paper without tearing it.

[bacon-magic]

I love you Playa. Too bad it doesn't have a quote.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Do you guys think that if Robby was posting PM links today, he would have posted a link to let us know Warty Hugeman is close to escaping?

[bacon-magic]

Donation drive is over, so no. Let's just be thankful we've been getting timely links.

[Tonio]

He reads the comments and he cares.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

And he assumes The Most Crepuscular Pose.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Actor Alan Thicke dies, aged 69.

A great American.

[Juvenile Bluster]

But Lou Reed's still with us, right?

[Enough About Palin]

He better be. I just paid $200 for the Minneapolis leg of his Dirt Nap tour. Should be great.

[bacon-magic]

Looks like you'll be taking a walk on the other side.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Fist is trolling us Canadians!

/waves beaver flag furiously.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Today everyone is American. Well, those from the two continents of the Western Hemisphere, anyway.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Two?!? What are Hawaii, Cuba, the Bahamas, Greenland, and all those other size-challenged continents?

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

For that matter, if the Western Hemisphere starts at the Greenwich Meridian, that makes Europe part of us too. We are all Europeans now!

[waffles]

Take that back.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

I'll double down instead. I forgot about Africa. We are all Euro-Africans now!

[Rat]

Asia gets a reach around. Thanks Russia!

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

Poor Australia. Left at the altar again.

[jack sprat]

Wasn't he Canadian? I'm sad I think I know this and I think you are kidding.

[yet another dave]

Well he did die in one of the two most Canadian ways to die....
1) In battle under some other countries command.
2)playing some hockey

[yet another dave]

I googled "man killed by a) drowning in maple syrup, and b) man killed by beaver...
Sadly only Americans and Belerussians come up...dafuq?

[Gadfly]

But did it say whether these Americans and Belarusians were actually Canadian expats? That would be my guess, and I would also submit that the reason you could not find any Canadian news on this is that these are "dog bites man" stories up there.

[Agammamon]

I googled "man killed by a) drowning in maple syrup, and b) man killed by beaver...
Sadly only Americans and Belerussians come up...dafuq?

In Canada that's called 'Tuesday'. So they don't bother to keep stats.

[C. Anacreon]

I'm surprised he survived seeing his son having pretend anal sex with Miley Cyrus on TV a few years ago. Not the mimic sex that was so embarrassing, it was the striped pants.

Wasn't his Canadian show Thicke of the Night supposed to be more popular than Johnny
Carson at one point? Oops.

Sorry to dis you Alan. You were OK on that family sitcom. RIP.

[Playa Manhattan.]

His pants weren't the worst outfit.

That must be the thigh gap that everyone keeps talking about. HAWT.

[Rhywun]

I think I'm going to be sick.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

You sure are blurring some lines, Playa.

[Rufus The Monocled]

/narrows gaze.

[Rich]

Do not click that. You have been warned.

[Playa Manhattan.]

You're not a foodie?

[Darth Squirrel]

Too late.

[Jimbo]

That was gross

[Citizen X]

Huh. Now i'm hungry for empanadas.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Not sliced ham?

[Rich]

LOL

[Rhywun]

The man started dating his second wife when she was a teenager and he was in his forties. Yeah, the fake sex was not bothering him at all.

[Mickey Rat]

He died of a heart attack playing ice hockey with his 19 year old son.

[PBR Streetgang]

Now THAT'S how you do a euphemism!

[Crusty Juggler]

You were OK on that family sitcom.

Like you don't know the name of the sitcom that not only launched Leo's career, it also gave us Tracey Gold in a pink bikini.

[Dick N. Bimbose (n?e Cooper)]

Pre-bulimia Tracey Gold.

[Rhywun]

*kiff sigh*

[Crusty Juggler]

Second place? The king is dead.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The United Nations drops Wonder Woman as an ambassador.

Do you know how much CO2 that jet puts out? No, you don't, because it's invisible.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

This, and the Barbie movie, is slave mentality, as explained by Nietzsche, in action. Or should be call it the Christianity of feminism?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Slave morality, goddamnit. An edit button is a virtue! I will not succumb to slave morality and start expounding on why lack of an edit button is a virtue, no matter how long we suffer!!!

[John Titor]

Progressivism is called the religion of pity. Pity stands opposed to the tonic emotions which heighten our vitality! It has a depressing effect. We are deprived of strength when we feel pity. That loss of strength which suffering as such inflict on life is still further increased and multiplied by pity. Pity makes suffering contagious. Under certain circumstances, it may engender a total loss of life and vitality out of all proportion to the magnitude of the cause?"

/Slightly modified Nietzsche quote.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Would toy differentiate between pity and empathy? It would seem to me that empathy is value-free, while pity includes a value judgment. Would you agree?

BTW, my reference to slave morality refers to a value reversal, as in Christianity saying wealth is bad or modern feminism saying female beauty is bad.

[John Titor]

Nietzsche thought 'altruism' (his definition is a bit different than the Libertarian/Objectivist/Whatever definition) in general was contextually negative, i.e. pity or empathy was framed in Christianity as always good, while he argued that it was more complex than that. Same thing with self-interest, a step along the path but ultimately:

The individual himself is a fallacy. Everything which happens in us is in itself something else which we do not know. 'The individual' is merely a sum of conscious feelings and judgments and misconceptions, a belief, a piece of the true life system or many pieces thought together and spun together, a 'unity', that doesn't hold together. We are buds on a single tree?what do we know about what can become of us from the interests of the tree! But we have a consciousness as though we would and should be everything, a phantasy of 'I' and all 'not I.' Stop feeling oneself as this phantastic ego! Learn gradually to discard the supposed individual! Discover the fallacies of the ego! Recognize egoism as fallacy! The opposite is not to be understood as altruism! This would be love of other supposed individuals! No! Get beyond 'myself' and 'yourself'! Experience cosmically!

[Episteme]

Is it wrong that I'm actually interested in seeing someone do a Nietzschean analysis of Trumpism, if only as an intellectual exercise? It sounds like it might end up in interesting places (and I don't mean that as a Nazism euphemism).

[Zunalter]

We shall overcome.

[mad.casual]

If somebody breaks a window on the invisible jet then Bastiat won't be able buy Schr?dinger's cat a new pair of shoes, right?

[Citizen X]

The United Nations drops Wonder Woman as an ambassador.

Did they find out she's a fictional character?

[Fist of Etiquette]

They found out her tits were too real.

[creech]

and they're spectacular.

[Episteme]

They, like her, are made of clay! They're literally silicate!

[Rufus The Monocled]

Naturally. The UN hate real women who kick ass.

[John Titor]

The greatest trick Themyscira ever pulled was to convince Man's World that it didn't exist.

[The Last American Hero]

It didn't stop them from throwing the real life Lara Croft a title.

[???? ??????, Jr.]

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says he's personally killed suspected criminals.

"The buck pulse stops here!"

[Chipper Morning Wood]

The bagoong stops here!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says he's personally killed suspected criminals.

I suspect he's lying.

[jack sprat]

+1 Hillary probably has more notches on her belt.

[Los Doyers]

Mr. Fist you can go to hell.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You'll backpedal eventually.

[Rich]

*** Maxwell Smart voice ***

Would you believe ... he's personally suspected killed criminals?

[Mainer2]

Would you believe...he once tore up a parking ticket ?

BTW, I always picture Rich as an Argentine.

[Playa Manhattan.]

The United Nations drops Wonder Woman as an ambassador.

I saw that yesterday, and I honestly thought it was a parody. Nope, it's fucking real.

[Citizen X]

The real news is that Themiscyra is a member of the U.N.

[Juvenile Bluster]

It was in Justice League Unlimited.

[C. Anacreon]

This Themiscyra?

[Brett L]

Unless those women don't have femoral arteries, they should really get some sort of armor for their inner thighs.

[John Titor]

Amazonian armour should be easy. Feminize this and you're done.

[bacon-magic]

They also need to find actresses with one boob.

[The Last American Hero]

Again, a job for Angelina.

[C. Anacreon]

Jeez, that warrior has a huge metal dick hanging out below his skirt.

[gaoxiaen]

That's high class. In Papua New Guinea they use a gourd.

[???? ??????, Jr.]

What's stupider - making her an ambassador in the first place, or dropping her as a gesture to SJWs?

[Citizen X]

Both. Both are stupider.

[DOOMco]

this

[Animal]

It's a constantly constricting spiral of stupid.

[C. Anacreon]

Dammit. I was told there would be no math on today's questions.

[Volren]

This isn't a university.

[That's A Bingo!]

*scratches head* Wasn't appointing her a SJW gesture?

[Volren]

The entire ambassadorship is an SJW gesture. I swear a black gay Muslim transwoman (that's a the term for male to female right?) could make a comfortable living as a living diversity token "spokeswoman" for organizations everywhere that are desperate for prog cred.

[Tonio]

transwoman (that's a the term for male to female right?)

Yes. It's the sex TO which they are transitioning.

[Volren]

Sweet. Now if I could only be sure if a gay transwoman was into dudes or chicks.

[Zunalter]

My presumption is that the doublethink insanity transfers your sexual preference to your "current" gender, so a gay transwoman would be into other women.

[OneOut]

In other words.

Cis in a dress ?

[Episteme]

Is that like an elf on a shelf?

[Tonio]

Your sexual preference is your sexual preference. If you liked women with big boobs before then you'll continue to do so. What the issue is is how you see yourself want to interact with those women.

[Rich]

black gay Muslim transwoman

Nice band name.

[Enough About Palin]

I'm partial to The Circadian Rhythm Section.

[Wasteland Wanderer]

The Circadian Rhythm Section

They always put me to sleep.

[Holger da Dane]

*scratches head* Wasn't appointing her a SJW gesture?

Well apparently being "a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots"portrayed by a gorgeous Israeli actress makes her an inappropriate spokeswoman for gender equity at the United Nations

[CatoTheChipper]

I'm old enough to remember when Dan Quayle was ridiculed for making a cultural reference regarding a TV character (Murphy Brown) as if she were real. Of course he knew it was a cultural reference rather than a factual reference.

How is it even possible for a cartoon character to serve as an ambassador?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Labor Secretary Tom Perez will run for Democratic National Committee chair.

So he'll give up that super-bitchy celebrity gossip blog then?

[Citizen X]

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says he's personally killed suspected criminals.

If Trump is a living YouTube comments section, does that make Duterte an Internet Tuff Gai?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Duterte is 4chan's anon board?

[???? ??????, Jr.]

Labor Secretary Tom Perez will run for Democratic National Committee chair.

"The DNC isn't sending their best though some, I assume, are good people."

[Los Doyers]

Kanye don't give a fuck

[Rich]

I was really hoping for something more like this.

[Los Doyers]

Which animal is Kim?

[Rich]

I don't give a fuck.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Some kind of lemur?

[bacon-magic]

Fuck bunny.

[Rufus The Monocled]

According to Alex Jones, he's trying to break himself free from the satanists and Iluminati.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

"Buy my Yeezus water filters!!"

[OneOut]

What ?

Is this bizarro world ?

I can't even

[Chipper Morning Wood]

No. Bizarro world is the world where everything is normal.

[Playa Manhattan.]

The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates for just the second time in a decade, and expects to rasie them three times next year.

This Trump presidency is going really well so far.

[Brett L]

Hopefully this will drive house prices down a notch without totally fucking my rate as I look to buy starting February.

[ant1sthenes]

I thought all of us cynics were expecting the banksters to start the painful belt tightening just as soon as there was an enemy around to take the fall? I imagine we'll also start to see some improved calculation of unemployment numbers that really gets to the meat of the problem.

[Tonio]

Federal appeals court upholds Virginia Voter-ID law.

[???? ??????, Jr.]

Goddamn Russians strike again!

[Citizen X]

In Putinist Russia, voter-ID law upholds YOU!

[PBR Streetgang]

Yes!!

[Zero Sum Game]

Racist. Russophobia is racism. You should be ashamed. Russia is a country of peace.

[Los Doyers]

It's telling that the main prog opposition to this is based on IDs being too difficult and confusing for a poor stupid minority to aquire.

[Tonio]

Instead, the legislature "went out of its way" to make the law "as burden free as possible," Niemeyer wrote. It allowed a broad scope of IDs, provided free IDs to those without them and had numerous locations around the state where free IDs could be obtained, he wrote. It also allowed people without IDs on election day to cast provisional ballots to be counted later, after they produced ID.

The usual prog objection is that those poor people simply cannot get to the voter registration office because all poor people work like three jobs and that the office is never open during that one hour a day when they are not working. Also, no buses run to the registrar office. There is something to all of that, but it's not like you have to re-register every year. Also, they have all those voter registrations done by none-registrars who will come to you, etc, etc.

I always turn this around and ask the prog how many rides he gave people to the voter registrar office.

[SimonD]

It's telling that the main prog opposition to this is based on IDs being too difficult and confusing for a poor stupid minority Democrat voter to aquire.''

Fixed it.

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

They wouldn't want anyone who could think, so they pretend everyone who they want support from is too stupid to think. It's projection all the way down.

[spqr2008]

The point I always bring up to my prog minded friends and relatives that freak out about this is how useful an ID is in A) Getting a Job, B) using a bank or other money services, C) Almost any other activity heavily regulated in modern America, including getting a drink at a bar. They come to see my point. I am totally willing to use my tax dollars to get poor people IDs. In fact, I'd much rather they have ID than welfare, because again, with ID, there's a much better opportunity for obtaining a steady job (again, because of Federal e-verify regulations).

[Fist of Etiquette]

Donald Trump met with Silicon Valley leaders today, telling them he wants to help them "do well."

Singlehandedly keeping Twitter afloat.

[Zunalter]

This.

[Rich]

The Federal Reserve .... signaled that rates could continue to rise next year more quickly than officials had expected.

So-called experts fuck up yet again.

[The Last American Hero]

I am so sick of this Oracle of Delphi bullshit from our nation's bankers. Fucking produce a goddamn set of rules explaining what will cause rates to rise or fall and by how much.

[Gadfly]

+1
This is badly needed for stability and the rule of law.

[Rich]

+2
And implement "stability" as something other than 2% inflation.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

the CEO of Uber

I've recently learned that Uber is the Worst Company Corporation Ever. Some progs out there absolutely foam at the mouth over the service all their friends love to use.

[SugarFree]

Gawker may be gone, but Denton's legacy of hate lives on.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Until the last Kotaku writer is triggered by the resignation letter of the last Jezzebel contributor, mankind shall never be free of Gawker legacy.

[Zeb]

I never thought taxi drivers would be all that sympathetic. SHows what I know, I guess.

[C. Anacreon]

The problem is that someone, somewhere, is making a profit.

[Rhywun]

No, the problem is that taxi drivers are jus' folks and Uber drivers are not.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Taxi drivers are not creepy, they're the good kind of hardworking immigrants (if Uber drivers aren't white dudebros, they're the bad kind of immigrants), they are not being exploited by the taxi cartel, and their behavior is closely regulated and monitored by their employer and the city.

This is what many progressives actually believe.

[Zunalter]

Profit is just another word for "charging your customers more money without providing additional value".

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Where would the hack newspaper columnists be without the "While on my way from the [city name] airport to my hotel, I spoke to the cabby..." opening?

[The Last American Hero]

My cab conversations usually go like this:

Cabby: So, vhut you in town for, convention?

Me: Some of my employer's clients are behind on their payments. I am here to ensure they honor their obligations.

That's usually the end of the banter.

[Playa Manhattan.]

An acquaintance of mine tried to organize an Uber strike in LA last week. No rides from 5-8pm.

So all of the non-assholes went out and made even more money during that time.

[PapayaSF]

Ha!

[Crusty Juggler]

I also don't want colored people off public transportation.

[Jimbo]

We're all in this together!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Elon Musk and the CEO of Uber will be among those advising Trump as part of his Strategic and Policy Forum.

Uber CEO doesn't have a cool name so fuck him.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Elon Musk, human paladin, just wants to get close enough to Trump to be able to use his Detect Evil ability.

[Zunalter]

Considering all of his business ventures are completely bankrupt without govt. largesse, he has to come kiss the ring.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

All that really matters is if he has any uses of Smite Evil left for today.

[Brett L]

In Florida, everyone used to be skinny before the Mouse set up shop. Proof.

[Playa Manhattan.]

The cabbage and cigarettes helped too.

[Rhywun]

*takes notes*

[Citizen X]

That girl with the cigarette has some beefy, hairy arms. Was she a member of the Junior Ladies' Teamsters Auxiliary?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

A good recipe is to cook the cabbage in meth.

[Zeb]

And worse surprisingly heavy clothes.

I thought only freakish swamp people lived there before air conditioning was widely available.

[Zunalter]

Before?

[Zeb]

Sure. Now they also have old people and pornographers.

[Mickey Rat]

Orlando before the Mouse was mostly a place for shipping citrus and cattle. Also how many fat people would want live there before air conditioning became standard equipment?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

What came first, the Mouse or the Village?

[AceDroman]

Palm frond sled so dope

[Holger da Dane]

Ermahgerd! Flererder herd snerw! Glerbel wermeng!!!1!

[DOOMco]

getting out of work in a bit, heading to the flyers avalanche game. should be interesting, with the flyers on a nice win streak.

[Pro Libertate]

What, I can invest in bonds again? Woo-hoo!

[Playa Manhattan.]

Some time in the next decade, yes.

[SugarFree]

Warty Hugeman and The Girl With the Nazi-Ray Eyes: A Warty Hugeman Time Travel Adventure

Chapter Three: My Favorite Weapon Is The Look In Your Eyes

[Fist of Etiquette]

My review.

[bacon-magic]

My review of your review.

[tarran]

What a BS review!

Do you know how hard it is to extrude a second set of testicles?!? Could *you* do it if your primary set were ripped off?!?!?

No? Then I suggest you STFU with your deus ex machina BS!

[Pro Libertate]

Nazi-Laser Eyes, dammit.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, that reminds me. That kind of cultural appropriation is not cool. I was probably triggered and I didn't even realize it. Who knows how that's going to manifest itself in my behavior later on.

[Pro Libertate]

And she'll taze you
She'll unfaze you
All the better just to raze you
She's precocious and she knows just
What it takes to make a pro blush
She got Hermann G?ring stand-off thighs
She's got Nazi-laser eyes

[bacon-magic]

Spoof off of a Cake song?

[SugarFree]

Kim Carnes hates you so much right now.

[Pro Libertate]

That's the problem with modern culture--nothing has any foundation or history anymore.

[John Titor]

Obviously you haven't read the graphic novel Warty Hugeman #69, where Warty has to escape a sentient fart gas trapped in a gas giant by constantly cutting off his testicles and regrowing them to fashion a crude balloon.

[SugarFree]

He probably thinks that was retconned in The Crisis of Infinite Wartys. What a n00b.

[Mad Scientist]

Fartquakes!.

[Mad Scientist]

Rosawaffe! Oh, it's twoo! It's twoo!

[SugarFree]

"Why are you sucking on my elbow?"

[waffles]

Has anyone ever told you that you are their favorite author? Me neither.

[Domestic Dissident]

Fuck Vox. Also, have a nice evening everybody.

[Ted S.]

What particular reason do you have for that comment today?

[Hamster of Doom]

He seems cheerful today.

[????? ????]

He's probably still triggered by McSuderman's Vox piece featured in the morning lynx.

[Citizen X]

Sometimes he just types stuff.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Vox hate needs a reason now?

Fine: Yglesias.

[C. Anacreon]

Julio "Matt" Yglesias?

[Ted S.]

The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates for just the second time in a decade, and expects to rasie them three times next year.

Janet Yellen wants the crash to occur on Trump's watch.

[DOOMco]

overall, i guess I'm ok with it. it has to happen at some point.

[Domestic Dissident]

See? The Fed's programs succeeded wildly: it only took eight entire years after the crash for the economy to start rebounding.

[Crusty Juggler]

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says he's personally killed suspected criminals.

I've personally killed suspected libidos.

[Citizen X]

We all know that.

[Rich]

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp on Wednesday asked President-elect Donald Trump to investigate the Department of Homeland Security's apparent attempt to hack his office's computer system.

The Russians made them do it!

[????? ????]

Lol

From a linked piece:

In all the Secretary of State's Office discovered 10 separate "scans" of its systems between Feb. 2 and Nov. 15, Kemp said.

So IOW some DHS employee got trigger-happy with Qualys and they don't want to admit it. Yawn.

[Volren]

Isn't that basically giving Obama the middle finger?

[GILMORE?]

Yoga Mogul Found Dead = Police Unsure if its Suicide, Murder, or Downward Dog Gone Wrong

[C. Anacreon]

Shouldn't that person be called a Yogul?

[jack sprat]

Only "$3 million dollar home" - clearly he had given up on material possessions.

[Brett L]

You have obviously not kept up with yoga. Starting your own style is all about making piles of money you can swim in and getting laid by superhot yogi(na)s whenever you want. If I could go back and kick 18 year old me in the nuts and tell him one thing it would be, "Go be a yoga instructor in college you dumbfuck.*"

*Instructors don't make shit. You have to invent your own style to pile it in, but you can do well owning a studio. Still 19 year old me would have been doing better at 20 bucks a class and all the tail I could want plus doing yoga every day.

[Mad Scientist]

Let us help you come up with some new poses. I suggest the STEVE SMITH and the Crusty Trombone.

[Playa Manhattan.]

If he's so smart, how come he's dead?

[The Fusionist]

If you are so smart, grasshopper, why do you entertain this illusion known as life, it is merely maya.

[The Fusionist]

I saw this in a Christian Science Monitor story about Wonder Woman:

"Wonder Woman is not the first fictional character to be tapped for an "honorary ambassador" role by the UN. Winnie the Pooh served as Honorary Ambassador of Friendship in 1999, and Tinker Bell (of "Peter Pan" fame) became Honorary Ambassador of the Green in 2009 to help promote awareness of the environment among children. Red, the leader of the Angry Birds, was also appointed Honorary Ambassador for Green during an International Day of Happiness campaign that focused on the link between happiness and addressing climate change."

The UN could talk to Disney about getting Mickey Mouse as a mascot.

[The Fusionist]

Oops, try this link

[Pro Libertate]

The UN can't afford the Mouse.

[Rich]

Broken link. I don't believe it. NOOO! Not Red of Angry Birds!

[Rich]

Good Lord. Yet another reason to kick out the UN!

[Hamster of Doom]

Those corporations send him out to smile for the camera, and at night he just cries and cries.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

My religion prophecized that one day there would be a worldwide council of different nations that would help bring about peace.

Our holy figures also explicitly stated that the UN was not that worldwide council.

I can totally see why that is.

[John Titor]

Winnie the Pooh is a goddamn Canadian national treasure.

[gaoxiaen]

His ghost killed Brian Jones.

[Episteme]

Tinker Bell (of "Peter Pan" fame) became Honorary Ambassador of the Green in 2009 to help promote awareness of the environment among children.

If we clap our hands hard enough, will something-something-environmental!?

And fuck this shit ? Swamp Thing is the only Ambassador of the Green!

[spqr2008]

I think that's why they dropped Tinkerbell. The obvious implication is that all of the so called "environmental sciences" are bunk, and actions to mitigate environmental pollution are as useful as clapping your hands.

[GILMORE?]

"Its Ok When We Do It"

New Rules For Wind-Farms Allows for Thousands of Eagles Killed

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration on Wednesday finalized a rule that lets wind-energy companies operate high-speed turbines for up to 30 years ? even if means killing or injuring thousands of federally protected bald and golden eagles.

Under the new rule, wind companies and other power providers will not face a penalty if they kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles, nearly four times the current limit. Deaths of the more rare golden eagles would be allowed without penalty so long as companies minimize losses by taking steps such as retrofitting power poles to reduce the risk of electrocution

[Tonio]

Hmmm, looks like the wildlife people are being "thrown under the bus" by the greater green movement.

[Playa Manhattan.]

It's an electric bus, so it's ok.

[Tonio]

I feel so dirty awarding this to a comment on my comment, but... [golf clap]

[TheZenomeProject]

But, those type of kills are OK! Principals, not principles.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

It's not just eagles. They kill a lot of bats, too.

[CatoTheChipper]

Can you imagine the green outrage if fracking killed hundreds of thousands of eagles. Because that's the sort of number that would happen if eagles were killed at an equivalent dead eagle/billion Btu rate.

[Christophe]

What's the eagles/laundry load ratio? Might make a hilarious infographic.

[jack sprat]

Didn't everyone but Joe Walsh already die?

[GILMORE?]

+1 GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY CAB

[OneOut]

But don't you dare pick up one of the feathers off the ground.

That's a felony.

[Crusty Juggler]

Alan Thicke singing "Sweaty and Hot" at the Crystal Light National Aerobic Championship.

[Crusty Juggler]

Ready or not,
I'm coming, baby I've got
Some muscle for you
Sweaty and hot, I'm pumpin'

[C. Anacreon]

I can't click the youtube link because I'm at work, but I'm assuming you made those lyrics up?
If so, thanks -- I'm trying not to laugh in front of my coworkers, but I've got tears running.
I just love the idea of someone singing that at the Crystal Light event, with all those decent young sugar-substitute-drinking exercisers listening, and taking it seriously as part of a workout.

[Crusty Juggler]

The link is exactly what I said it was. Alan Thicke wrote the lyrics and sung it surrounded by people (not just ladies) dancing in aerobics unitards.

[Hamster of Doom]

Hey, man, it was the 80's.

[Crusty Juggler]

It's a catchy tune.

[GILMORE?]

Alan Thicke wrote the lyrics

They should be on his tombstone

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

You can't talk about the NAC without linking to this.

[Ted S.]

Musk obviously wants to keep the subsidies coming.

[Episteme]

His service today is a small price to pay to be GodEmperor of Mars in a decade...

[GILMORE?]

Japan Welcomes First Comic-Con

Hopefully this will address their shortage of CosPlayers and 30yr old virgins

*Warning = 360-degree image loader is annoying; also, danger of potential overdose of Pseudo Anime Tiddies

[???? ??????, Jr.]

Hopefully this will address their shortage of CosPlayers and 30yr old virgins

That's going up on the wall. Bravo.

[Zeb]

Yeah, that is pointlessly slow.

I just don't get Japan.

[Animal]

I'm actually in Japan at the moment. I've done a fair amount of business here.

I don't get it either.

[John Titor]

Imagine Britain if it wasn't constantly invaded by random tribes, had an entire economy and social structure based on rice, had weekly earthquakes, drew a great deal of pornography in the 19th century, and got nuked twice.

This helps.

[bacon-magic]

^Good stuff JT.

[Zeb]

That was something. Amusing and informative.

[Rhywun]

That is creepy.

[waffles]

Such a nasty woman.

[SugarFree]

Robert Reich, 9/13/16

Will Trump refuse to concede if he loses the election? Republican Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky told religious conservatives that if Hillary Clinton is elected president, blood might have to be shed. "I want us to be able to fight ideologically, mentally, spiritually, economically, so that we don't have to do it physically," Bevin said Saturday. "But that may, in fact, be the case." Recently, Trump's close adviser Roger Stone warned that if Clinton were to "steal" the election, her inauguration would "mean civil disobedience, not violence, but it will be a bloodbath. The government will be shut down if they attempt to steal this and swear Hillary in. No, we will not stand for it. We will not stand for it."

Regardless of what Trump and his troops are planning, this kind of rhetoric is irresponsible and dangerous. A democracy depends on a peaceful transition of government. To suggest otherwise is to fan the flames of paranoia and violence.

Robert Reich, 12/13/16

Dark cloud of illegitimacy hangs over Donald Trump's pending presidency

[DOOMco]

of course.

[Rich]

Reich is just Putin us on.

[PBR Streetgang]

In Russia Putin puts the Reich on you!

[Animal]

He's just Stalin the inevitable.

[Darth Squirrel]

Just gotta make his Marx.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

You know who el... no... never mind.

[Tonio]

The hypocrisy is delicious.

[Pro Libertate]

You know, it's weird how I totally don't care about this leftwing nonsense. It's all so. . .irrelevant. The media, the left, whatever, they've gone so far over the top that I don't care at all about what they say.

[SugarFree]

It's outrage burnout. If every little thing is the end of the world and the world never ends, Chicken Little is eventually eaten just to shut her up.

[Pro Libertate]

I thought I'd achieved this years ago, but I was wrong.

[That's A Bingo!]

Why did American's elect Trump? Racism.

NELL PAINTER: I don't think it has anything to do with him personally, except that he's a black man. The election of Trump was a gut-level response to what many Americans interpreted as an insult eight years ago, and have been seething against ever since. The only way you can see Trump as somehow Obama's fault is Obama's very being. It's ontological.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Just once I want to see these "journalists" address the significant number of people who voted Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Trump in 2016.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

They voted for Obama's white half. No one told them he was also half-black.

[The Fusionist]

They stopped taking their anti-racism medication.

[waffles]

On first read I thought he was calling Trump a black man and I thought to myself, yes, that makes sense now. People don't like Trump because he is black.

[Rich]

There's nothing [Obama] could've done in this climate other than be somebody else. We know the record of obstruction by Republicans, the lack of cooperation. Some Democrats suggested that Obama was giving things away before they were even asked for, to try and be accommodating.

Right.

[Christophe]

Obama was giving things away before they were even asked for

That's one hell of a euphemism for presidential drone strikes.

[Tonio]

That is some world-class stupid right there. Obama was not running for president in 2016; that party's nominee was a white woman who was widely disliked by independents, swing voters and even many members of her own party.

[Rhywun]

So every president from now on has to black. Sounds legit.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Huh. And they had a chance to stop the scary black man a few years ago, and yet...

[GILMORE?]

Now That Its Mostly Over, We'll Actually Tell You What It Was About

Syrian War Actually Part of Regional Sunni-Shia Power Struggle

It may also point to why, even if the rebel groups fighting Assad (and even ISIS) mostly vanish, that conflict in the region isn't going to end overnight.

[Tonio]

Yet another reason to stay the fuck out of that.

[Rich]

*** scratches chin ***

Hmm. How about, say, ... if the United Nations ... were to establish separate Sunni and Shia homelands ... in the region?

[GILMORE?]

That always works

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

"A large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots" is not an appropriate spokeswoman for gender equity at the United Nations, the petition said.

Impossible proportions?

[The Fusionist]

It says that "the campaign...was meant to promote gender equity worldwide as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals."

OK, then start developing!

[Hamster of Doom]

"A large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots"

"Some people wear their pajamas to the grocery store, I like to mix it up a bit, what's the big deal?"

[Rich]

It's obviously the camera angle.

[Crusty Juggler]

I see a slight hint of a nipple outline.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Wait'll you see the picture I linked!

[Scarecrow & WoodChipper Repair]

I don't see any boots, knee-high or otherwise, or American flag motif, or (thank god!) body suit.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Annnd I'll be in my bunk.

[GILMORE?]

Select, Upscale NYC Restaurants End Tipping = Everything Goes to Shit

Story points to experienced staff leaving en masse, cost structure requiring radical changes, resulting in customer sticker-shock over $20+ appetizers, and more...

From 2015 to 2016, the payroll for the Modern's two dozen front-of-house employees' hourly wages rose to as much as $30 an hour from $5, through a combination of the rising tipped minimum wage, paid overtime and revenue sharing.

Also, restaurants pay taxes on their revenue, but not on income from tips. When service is folded into the price of the meal, the restaurant is taxed on that "additional" revenue.

The author seems to think the profit motive is demeaning to waitstaff =

Tipping can also prompt servers to nudge customers into ordering more expensive food and wine. And, at its most malign, it encourages servers to accept harassment, whether verbal, sexual or professional..

[Tonio]

Pshaw. Next you'll be telling me that it's a thing for people to hit on waitresses.

[Zeb]

You know, if I could make good money from graciously accepting comments about my butt, or whatever, I think I'd be quite happy to do so.

[Mad Scientist]

Professional harassment? I feel like a chump doing it for free all this time.

[The Fusionist]

I bet they won't harass Wonder Woman when she takes a waitressing job to replace her UN gig.

[Zeb]

I kind of like places where tipping isn't obligatory. But I have to say that the tipping system in the US works quite well.
Probably the best thing (from customer point of view) is that it pretty effectively weeds out the lousy servers. A good serve-person will make good money on tips. A lousy one usually won't.

I know enough people in the restaurant business to confidently say that if you aren't making enough working as a waiter or bar tender, you either work at a place that's going out of business, or you suck at it.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Tipping can also prompt servers to nudge customers into ordering more expensive food and wine.

That sounds like a win-win for the server and the restaurant. Oh, I guess you could say the consumer suffe--

And, at its most malign, it encourages servers to accept harassment, whether verbal, sexual or professional.

...So, are we looking out for the interests of the server or of the consumer? Because this is sounding like all parties benefit in some way.

[Zeb]

If that's the "most malign", I'd say they've got it pretty good.

[Crusty Juggler]

One Small Step for NASA, One Giant Leap for GIFs

Last week, NASA announced that it would open an official account at Giphy, a GIF database and social media platform, bringing the space agency up to speed with the way young people communicate in the internet age.

Well, kind of. The agency announced its new account (and one on Pinterest) in somewhat bureaucratic, defiantly non-millennial terms.

"NASA engages and inspires the public by sharing unique content through social media," it said in a news release. "Don't forget to check out NASA's accounts regularly, as there are more Pins and GIFs to come."

(Animated GIFs ? or graphics interchange format ? are short, looped video clips often shared around the internet. You may not know the term, but you've seen them.)

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

256 color FTW!

[Zeb]

Why does anyone need more than 256 colors? That's just late-capitalist decadence.

[Ted S.]

Fuck GIFs substituting for video.

[Crusty Juggler]

Tim Pyle, a graphic artist who has worked with NASA for over a decade, said that he created his first GIF for the agency about a year and a half ago. It was an artistic imagination of Kepler-452b, an exoplanet that NASA described as Earth's "bigger, older cousin."

"I love what an animated GIF like this gives you," Mr. Pyle said. "There's no real beginning or end to it, which I think creates a very 'you are there' vibe. You can imagine sitting in your spaceship parked next to this thing, just watching it spinning on its axis forever."

Loren Grush, who reports on space for The Verge, described GIFs as essential to online expression.

"As someone who writes about space and who communicates primarily with moving images that last just a few seconds in length, a NASA Giphy account is basically an entire dictionary for me," she wrote. (Ms. Grush is the daughter of two former NASA engineers.)

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Maybe they'll open up their Vine account too.

[Crusty Juggler]

He said that NASA was a particularly good fit for the medium, both because space "captures the imagination" as the best GIFs do, and because celestial bodies tend to do the same thing over and over again.

"Anything that's been around for billions of years is probably doing something repeatable," he said. "The motion of the stars, planets and moons, all orbiting other bodies: There's a sort of cosmic symmetry there that intuitively seems to make sense for GIFs."

[AlmightyJB]

"The United Nations drops Wonder Woman as an ambassador"

Yeah, like she ever gave a shit about you fags.

[JayU]

Careful. Wonder Woman herself is a fag.

[bacon-magic]

Pics?

[AlmightyJB]

She may be gay but she's no fag.

[Cynical Asshole]

Would, wouldn't.

[Cynical Asshole]

Corrections: Maybe would after a few drinks, wouldn't no matter how many drinks.

[Mad Scientist]

You have that completely backwards, Crusty.

[Mad Scientist]

Ugh. Autopilot malfunction. I just assumed it was Crusty without checking. My comment still stands!

[Crusty Juggler]

You just aren't man enough to handle the one with the chest piece.

[The Fusionist]

If you're talking about the Wonder Women in the photo, I think one of them is a mannequin.

[The Fusionist]

If not, I apologize to him or her.

[Cynical Asshole]

Or maybe they're just doing that stupid "mannequin challenge" thing. Although now that I look a little closer, they do both have a vaguely plastic like appearance to them.

[GILMORE?]

You'll Never Get His Lucky Charms!

[The Fusionist]

"Thompson's attorney said last month that his client couldn't remember who he gave the gold to, even after poring over thousands of pages of documents related to the treasure, according to the Dispatch.

"A federal judge ruled that Thompson was faking memory problems, the newspaper reported, and has held him in an Ohio jail cell for a year.

"Thompson could remain behind bars until he talks, the Associated Press reported, and is being fined $1,000 a day in the meantime."

Maybe someone can walk me through this - if he gives an answer the judge deems false, then I would think the way to go would be a perjury prosecution.

What am I missing?

[GILMORE?]

What am I missing?

A giant pile of gold?

[The Fusionist]

Seriously, if you can replace perjury charges with contempt charges, then what's the point of trial by jury?

[GILMORE?]

You got me. I was only in it for the Treasure of the Sierra Madre & Cereal-Box Character-comparisons

[JayU]

Trump has certainly surrounded himself with successful people.

We'll see if that translates to them doing wonderful things for everyone or hoarding the excellent shit to themselves.

[grrizzly]

Where did I read that Trump doesn't take advice from people who are not rich?

[JayU]

It's probably a quote.

[Crusty Juggler]

Lights the Eddie signal (which is of course a silhouette of Jesus and Kim Davis stomping on an abortion clinic).

Abortion Is Found to Have Little Effect on Women's Mental Health

Now a new study, considered to be the most rigorous to look at the question in the United States, undermines that claim. Researchers followed nearly 1,000 women who sought abortions nationwide for five years and found that those who had the procedure did not experience more depression, anxiety, low self-esteem or dissatisfaction with life than those who were denied it.

The study, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, found psychological symptoms increased only in women who sought abortions but were not allowed to have the procedure because their pregnancies were further along than the cutoff time at the clinic they visited. But their distress was short-lived, whether they went elsewhere for an abortion or delivered the baby. About six months after being turned away from the first abortion clinic, their mental health resembled that of women who were not turned away and had abortions.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

What about their moral and spiritual health?

[The Fusionist]

Oh, don't go all religious on us!

/sarc

[The Fusionist]

I wonder if the researchers contacted the girl I met in college who thought she was being haunted by the ghost of her aborted child.

Or whether they contacted Norma McCorvey (the "Roe" of Roe v. Wade), who went to work in an abortion clinic but claimed to hear the ghosts of the aborted babies.

Since we know that the supernatural doesn't exist (/sarc), then I would imagine that mental-health problems are the sole remaining explanation, right?

(of course, McCorvey didn't abort the Roe baby, who by now is probably the age of many of the commenters here)

[Mad Scientist]

Good point, Eddie. Abortion should be illegal because certain crazy people hear voices.

[The Fusionist]

You seem to be missing the article's point, which is what I am questioning.

[Mad Scientist]

You're questioning the study because it's conclusions aren't in line with your two charming anecdotes?

[The Fusionist]

Just because people laughed at you doesn't make you a mad scientist. You need a lab and a hunchbacked assistant.

[The Fusionist]

Now, here is a *real* mad scientist.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Eddie, personal anecdotes don't out weight statistical data.

[John Titor]

Nor do they factor out pre-existing mental disorder.

I once knew a schizophrenic who thought magazine pictures talked to him. I don't think it was due to an overexposure to magazines.

[The Fusionist]

And if you build a runway and wave these flares, the cargo will come back.

Let's look at the outfit which did this study, an outfit called ANSIRH (Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health).

Dr. Felicia Stewart was a coufounder in 2002:

"Having come of age as a young physician in the era before Roe v Wade, she was a lifelong advocate of safe and legal abortion. Shortly after her graduation from Harvard Medical School, she worked as the first medical director of the Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health, one of the earliest freestanding abortion clinics established in New York City, after the state legalized abortion in 1970. Dr. Stewart was equally passionate about promoting options for preventing unwanted pregnancies; one of her signal achievements as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Population Affairs during the administration of President Bill Clinton was furthering the approval of emergency contraception as a medication that would eventually become widely available to American women."

I think you get the idea.

[The Fusionist]

At least they don't have conflicts of interest (/sarc)

[The Fusionist]

TL;DR - they took part in a "pilot program" in California training people how to do abortions, leading to a state law making more health-care professionals eligible to do abortions.

[The Fusionist]

They're an advocacy group.

It's like a report from the Drug Enforcement Administration about why legalizing marijuana is a bad idea.

[John Titor]

And if you build a runway and wave these flares, the cargo will come back

I could say the same to you with your anecdotal ghost abortion stories.

I think you get the idea.

Yes, that ad hominem fallacies don't actually discredit actual data. Make an argument with actual proof that they're manipulating their data.

[John Titor]

And since you like arbitrary anecdotal arguments Eddie:

I know people who have shot other people in the face, or have seen pieces of people thrown about after an explosion. Somehow they live without the ghosts of Afghanis haunting them.

[The Fusionist]

"Yes, that ad hominem fallacies don't actually discredit actual data. Make an argument with actual proof that they're manipulating their data."

An advocacy group writes a report backing up its activist goals - and this report is getting passed off as an impartial study because it got in JAMA.

Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.

Meanwhile, actual women testify to the after-effects of their abortions.

[John Titor]

And an anti-abortion activist immediately rejects statistical data and refuses to actually argue its merits while offering up anecdotes because...surprise, you're an anti-abortion activist. Your attempt to delegitimize their position by accusing them of bias delegitimizes your own if you're even slightly consistent. So provide actual argument in regards to the data, not "their data is biased but mine is pure and noble because it supports my bias."

I'm not the one pissing on people's legs and telling them it's raining.

[The Fusionist]

Perhaps some organization which *isn't* biased could replicate this study?

If this can't be done, then see my post below on "trans-science."

[John Titor]

Somehow Eddie, I think regardless of which organization created the study you'd reject it because it doesn't conform to your opinion. Just a guess.

[The Fusionist]

And it's just a coincidence that this particular organization was founded by a passionate choicer and works to liberalize the abortion laws.

If a hypothetical impartial organization did a similar study I'd say the same thing, meaning that you get to ignore the biases of the organization doing the study. QED.

[The Fusionist]

At least you *feel* that this would be my reaction to a study by an impartial organization.

And your feelings are proof. It's science!

[Stormy Dragon]

Most mad scientists are really mad engineers. I mean have you ever seen one collecting data? What hypothesis is a death ray testing? And where's the control group?

[bacon-magic]

Conscience?

[The Fusionist]

Sure, if you're one of those troglodytes who talk in terms of sins and not in terms of syndromes.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

What about SinDrome? That sounds like a place where I'd like to party.

[Threedoor]

Some people just like killing

[John Titor]

I wonder if the researchers contacted the girl I met in college who thought she was being haunted by the ghost of her aborted child.

You went to college with Casca?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

What about the fetus's mental health, smart guy?

[The Fusionist]

Who do you trust, a bunch of silly women or a bunch of reputable dudes with degrees and white coats?

[Crusty Juggler]

JAMA is a pretty reputable, peer-reviewed publication, which is why I posted the link.

[Pro Libertate]

We be JAMA. . . .

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I've been haunted by some ghostly finless browns that I aborted prematurely.

[TheZeitgeist]

Women given to belief in aborted ghost-babies could well be prone to fantasy ideation no matter what.

Just say'in.

[Col. Chestbridge]

*horribly mangles Eddie signal with crowbar*

[Chipper Morning Wood]

You are way too late, Colonel.

[Col. Chestbridge]

This time, yes. But maybe I've saved us all a headache in some links thread of the far-flung future.

[The Fusionist]

I gave you some helpful links from the Web site of the organization which did the "research." An impeccably pro-choice source! You should thank me.

[Crusty Juggler]

It was a peer-reviewed study, Eddie. Again, JAMA is a pretty reputable publication, so dismissing the study out-of-hand is disingenuous.

[The Fusionist]

It's the psychiatric JAMA.

Have you been following Reason's coverage of "peer-reviewed studies?"

[The Fusionist]

Most Scientific Findings Are Wrong or Useless
"Science isn't self-correcting, it's self-destructing."

"In his 1972 essay "Science and Trans-Science," the physicist Alvin Weinberg noted that science is increasingly being asked to address such issues as the deleterious side effects of new technologies, or how to deal with social problems such as crime and poverty. These are questions that "though they are, epistemologically speaking, questions of fact and can be stated in the language of science, they are unanswerable by science; they transcend science." Such trans-scientific questions inevitably involve values, assumptions, and ideology. Consequently, attempting to answer trans-scientific questions, Weinberg wrote, "inevitably weaves back and forth across the boundary between what is known and what is not known and knowable."...

"Vast numbers of papers have been published attempting to address these trans-scientific questions, Sarewitz observes. They provide anyone engaged in these debates with overabundant supplies of "peer-reviewed and thus culturally validated truths that can be selected and assembled in whatever ways are necessary to support the position and policy solution of your choice." It's confirmation bias all the way down."

(yeah, I know, trans science, huh huh)

[The Fusionist]

As a believer in PEER-REVIEWED STUDIES, I'm sure you're eager to open the spigot of federal funding for a bunch of "gun violence" studies by reputable scientists.

[TheZeitgeist]

Labor Secretary Tom Perez will run for Democratic National Committee chair.

Fool beats the tool. Real progs vote Ellison.

[Col. Chestbridge]

I'm half-hoping Ellison gets it so we no longer have to deal with him in Minneapolis.

[Stormy Dragon]

?Actor Alan Thicke dies, aged 69.

Robin Thicke was immediately sued by Marvin Gaye's family for copying Marvin Gaye's idea of having a dead father.

[Stormy Dragon]

Donald Trump met with Silicon Valley leaders today, telling them he wants to help them "do well."

Translation: toe the line or I'll make your business suffer

[Christophe]

Maybe. On the other hand tech giants might be a good demographic for Trump to court, given that he's less of a SoCon than his predecessors, and they've been pretty disappointed with Obama.

If he's serious about it it means Sessions's hate of H1Bs isn't going to lead to action. One can only hope.

[Stormy Dragon]

He'll make them easier to get for companies that help him politically and harder for those that don't. Then he can claim the total number is being reduced to please the nativists while also letting more immigrants in to please favored business executives.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Translation: toe the line or I'll make your business suffer

you know who else told tech companies to toe the line or they'd make their business suffer?

[Stormy Dragon]

Raith Sienar?

[dschwar]

President Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission?

[True Scottsman]

Julius Caesar?

[Stormy Dragon]

California banning gaming PCs:

Energy Commission Proposes Energy Savings for Computers and Monitors

[Stormy Dragon]

Oh, and as a double whammy also going to ban open source operating systems.

The regulation requires a certification that includes testing of the OS's power management capabilities, which means only OS's with a big enough corporate backer to get them through the certification process are going to be legal.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

So California continues to lead the tech revolution.

[kbolino]

Unless they are putting an enforcement mechanism in the firmware, you'll still be able to install whatever O/S you want. But it will be hard for small-time distributors to enter the market.

[Stormy Dragon]

The enforcement mechanism is already there: SecureBoot

The just have to ban the PCs from accepting unapproved bootloader keys.

[TheZeitgeist]

This won't mean end of OS'es, it will just mean end of Wintel duopoly in PC's. MSFT and Intel playing with their last golden goose locking down PC's into Winmacs. Something's got to give there or market exists for alternative quickly.

[kbolino]

In order for Secure Boot to be effective, it would have to be both mandatory and beyond compromise. It is neither, fortunately.

[Zeb]

Well, good luck with that, California.

[Zeb]

Well, if they do that and cut off water to farmers, they may have finally succeeded in killing everything that has allowed them to be an economically successful state despite their idiocy.

[Zeb]

In my world, every statement starts with "well,".

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I don't care if the ocean swallows it or they simple cede from the union, the time is nigh!

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Fucking console lobby! Stop making retarded PCs and start making game consoles again.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

SACRAMENTO - The California Energy Commission today released an updated staff report on standards for computers and monitors that could save consumers an estimated $373 million annually.

Funny how the consumers can't find these savings on their own.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

"Computers are an everyday appliance for many Californians and waste energy when they often sit idle," said Commissioner Andrew McAllister, who is the Energy Commission's lead on energy efficiency. "Cutting energy while no one is using a computer can save consumers millions on their utility bills, which reduces the need to generate more electricity.

What the fuck are these drooling retards talking about?

[kbolino]

The Energy Commission estimates the standards for desktop computers will add about $14 to the cost of a computer but save consumers more than $40 in electricity bills over five years.

"We totally didn't pull these numbers from our ass" ? CA Energy Commission

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Right, because so many people still have a full-sized desktop computer in their house.

[kbolino]

I wouldn't be surprised if most people do have a desktop in the home (especially older people/families), but it's probably one of the least-used Internet-connected devices in their homes and thus accounts for a small share of relevant energy usage and also is not likely to be replaced with a newer, more efficient one.

This is really about businesses more than home consumers, I think.

[ant1sthenes]

Technically, it will just make them expensive as shit, given that smaller architectures tend to be more energy efficient. Cheaper PCs for the rest of us.

[AlmightyJB]

No they'll need union computer monitors to go around and make sure any unused Computerss are turned off.

[The Fusionist]

These silly, deluded women are under the impression that they felt distress, grief and guilt on account of their abortions. Fortunately, there are PEER-REVIEWED STUDIES by TOTALLY NON-AGENDA-HAVING ORGANIZATIONS to prove that all these women are irrational and stupid.

[The Fusionist]

(And there are some men who are delusional enough to believe that they were distressed and upset at the death of their children.)

[ant1sthenes]

It's a stupid discussion to be having. If we learned that most murderers don't feel any remorse, should that make us more favorable toward murder? No, we oppose murder because of the impact on the victim, not because of the impact on the murderer.

Honestly, the argument that abortion should be banned to save women from themselves makes it that much easier to characterize pro-lifers as seeking to control women in a patriarchal fashion.

[The Fusionist]

What freaks out the choicers is informed-consent laws by which, before getting an abortion, a mother signs a form acknowledging that there may be emotional consequences for her decision.

That's enough to make the choicers flip their lids, it doesn't have to go to the length of an outright ban.

[The Fusionist]

This is in a legal context where, before having just about any kind of surgery, the patient is warned against possible side-effects, even fairly rare ones.

So once again, the choicers want abortionists to have privileges above and beyond legitimate medical practitioners - limiting what would otherwise be their duty to warn patients of the effects.

[Zeb]

Anything can have emotional effects. Should they put that on all consent forms now?

I think there is a reasonable line to be drawn between physical injuries that may occur as a result of a procedure and emotional ones. Now if abortionists don't have to use a standard medical consent/release sort of thing, you would have a point.

[The Fusionist]

The prolife movement has a duty to go through any and every door the federal courts have left open - if they fail to do so, if they fail to pass any and all laws the federal courts permit them to pass - they will have been negligent in their duties.

There are plenty of laws trying to warn people about the consequences of contracts they sign - the famous disclaimers in drug ads, certain state laws that certain long-term contracts be in writing, and certain long-term contracts needing to be reaffirmed on successive days.

Due to liability laws, there's a *de facto* requirement that people signing some contracts specifically awknowledge certain risks, etc.

For disposing of property, there are often formalities with wills involving witnesses and challenges based on the testator's state of mind, etc.

So with a "procedure" which ends a distinct living being, of course there's nothing wrong with having extra warnings and disclaimer forms.

[Zeb]

I understand that.

But I'm not part of the prolife movement so I'm more concerned with not having more unnecessary legally mandated paperwork.

[Agammamon]

The United Nations drops Wonder Woman as an ambassador.

You know what? Good. Time these people grew the feth up.

[Akira]

OT: If we suppose for the sake of argument that some minimal amount of government is necessary, what is the most judicious type of tax structure? A single land tax? Consumption tax?

[Episteme]

Thunderdome by voluntary lot. Loser pays a fee (50/50 to winner and to the state).

[True Scottsman]

Sales tax is the most fair, but it still affects the poor disproportionately. Perhaps food, clothing and housing could be exempted up to a limit or taxed at a discount rate.

[OneOut]

Breath tax

[Rothbard'sbitch]

A modest tariff any part of the federal government that can't be funded by that should be eliminated. Income tax and property taxes to me at least are the most immoral. Income taxes make you a slave, property taxes mean you don't own your land.