Trump Summons Military Contractors to Florida, 22 Percent of Dems Would Be Excited by Hillary Clinton 2020 Run, Rand Paul Celebrates Festivus: A.M. Links

• President-Elect Donald Trump called military contractors to his Mar-a-Lago estate to talk about spending—the CEO of Boeing says it will cut costs on Air Force One while Trump says he'll get costs down "beautifully" on the F-35 program.

• Nearly 70 percent of Democrats polled said they didn't want to see Hillary Clinton run for president again in 2020, while 22 percent said they would be excited by it.
• Rand Paul celebrates Festivus.
• Uber pulled its self-driving cars off the road in California after the DMV revoked their registrations.
• Japan is spending a record-breaking amount on the military this year.
• China says it launched a carbon-tracking satellite into space.
• Nokia is suing Apple in the latest patent licensing battle.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Rand Paul celebrates Festivus.

The best thing he does.

[Lee Genes]

meh, we do the airing of the grievances every day here at HNR

[RBS]

I got a lot of problems with you people!

[WTF]

"Over the past year, you fuckers have disappointed me in the following ways...."

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

When do we get to see Feats of Strength? I want to see Soave try to pin Linnekin.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Linnekin would wrap Soave up in a tight package and stuff him through the mail slot at the Dominican Sisters of Mary convent.

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

In a fair fight, I'll take Soave over Shikha, maaaybe KM-W. That's about it.

[commodious lies and cheats]

ENB would give Soave an atomic wedgie.

[Citizen X]

+1 waistband of the underpants OVER the top of the head

[Rhywun]

KMW: Soave fights dirty.
BAILEY: Really? What would you do?
SOAVE: Pull hair, poke eyes, groin stuff. Whatever I gotta do.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

(I googled and found the burliest-looking Reason writer. Because Festivus isn't over til Soave pins Linnekin, and Festivus is awesome)

[Citizen X]

Linnekin will be done up on foie gras and scotch, though, and might get tired pretty quickly.

[Groovus Maximus]

Please, Robby Horses is built like an Auschwitz survivor and hung like a Ken Doll. That toothpick wrapped in a doily bevnap couldn't whip butter, though his arms would make magnificent pipe cleaners.

[Swiss Servator]

Isn't that Warty's job?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Not just a job; an adventure!

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Where the fuck is that Warty dude? Has he been domestimicated?

[Citizen X]

If you can see Warty, he can see you. If you can't see Warty, you may be only seconds away from a Doomcockin'.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Feature, not bug

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[bacon-magic]

I am a big fan of Rand Paul. He's part of the Reason I found this website. Take that Hihny.

[Trigger Hippie]

GOOOBBBEEERRRR!!!!

[Citizen X]

BULLY!

[Tyler.C]

Hehehe

[Just a thought not a sermon]

270) Terrorist bombers and Merkel's snoring

Fl?chtlingspolitik and what it's brought

this winter I hear the drumming

twelve dead in Breitscheidplatz

[Tonio]

[golf clap]

[CatoTheChipper]

Pretty good.

The tune for this song for those who don't get the reference.

Fl?chtlingspolitik = refugee policy

[Fist of Etiquette]

President-Elect Donald Trump called military contractors to his Mar-a-Lago estate to talk about spending...

Is this a good sign or a bad sign?

[Swiss Servator]

Good, if he browbeats those asshats a bit.

Bring down the F-35's costs....by cancelling the #$% thing.

[Monty Crisco]

Why didn't we just scrap that program and use the funds for more F-22s? Is it an Air Force territory thing? Against the other branches?

[Lee Genes]

Because it's designed as a pork project from the ground up. I think pieces are manufactured in all 57 states.

[MikeT1986]

Also the F22 is really purpose built super-fighter that will always be stupidly expensive, where as the theory is the F35 will be a do-all and because of economies of scale only be very expensive once they've learned things out.

[I can't even]

1. It's dirt cheap compared to the F-35.

2. Once the line was up and running, the per-unit costs for additional planes was entirely reasonable.

So, the Obama Administration and Congress shut-down the line and now there is literally no alternative to the shitty F-35s.

[Suthenboy]

This always makes me think of the Spanish Navy ship that had so much crap put on it by cronies that when it was launched it sank. Or was it a submarine?

[commodious lies and cheats]

It was an American ship, and it was a commercial coal hauler, not navy, and it sunk in a storm, not when it launched.

On second thought I may be thinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

[EDG reppin LBC]

+1 Gitche Gumee

[Swiss Servator]

Swedish...the Vasa?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

^This... so top heavy it didn't make it out of port before capsizing.

[Endless Mike]

That's the one.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Doh!

[Libertarian]

It was advertised as a money-saver because it would be common to all the services. But all the services ended up demanding that their unique requirements be addressed. Who could have ever seen THAT coming?

[John DeWitt]

Why are we even making mix role aircraft with humans inside?

[Swiss Servator]

Probably should skip that now.

[Episteme]

That's what our contracts with the Decepticons are for!

[Timon 19]

F-22's are air-superiority only. They would be horrible in any role outside of that, as they can't actually carry much other than air-to-air, and even then in only limited internal storage.

[Fist of Etiquette]

BRING BACK THE TOMCAT AND EAGLE.

[thrakkorzog]

And more Warthogs.

[Monty Crisco]

Air Force hates the Warthogs but the Army loves them. But the AF will NEVER transfer ownership to the Army because it would set the precedent for the Army to fly jet aircraft and currently they are only allowed to fly rotor-wing aircraft.

[Zeb]

the Army to fly jet aircraft and currently they are only allowed to fly rotor-wing aircraft.

Huh. I did not know that. Marines and Navy have jets, though, don't they? Is it because the Ariforce used to be the Army air corps (or whatever it was called)?

[Monty Crisco]

I think it's something like that. AF already thinks the Navy treads on their territory. Swiss probably knows more - HE WAS AN OFFICER!! THEY KNOW EVERYTHING!!

*smirk*

[Swiss Servator]

Yeah, there is something in all that rubbish from back in 1947 WHEN THE GRIEVOUS ERROR OF LETTING THE USAAF GET AWAY happened.

I never felt safer than seeing a couple of Hogs doing a nice, lazy orbit around the area I was in.

[Monty Crisco]

I hear that from every infantry guy I've ever met....Apparently the combo of F-35's at altitude and A-10's down low is - according to training scenarios - a recipe for success in the future...

[Crusty Juggler]

The F-35 is supposed to replace the A-10.

[Monty Crisco]

They will have to pry the A-10 from the Army's COLD DEAD HAND....

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

The AF has enjoyed threatening the A-10 every year in budget talks, all the way back to the 80's, because the Army will support them getting their UFR filled.

[Monty Crisco]

IS THERE NO DEPTH TO WHICH THEY WILL NOT STOOP?!?!?!

[Mickey Rat]

Government bureaucracy, creating perverse incentives since the dawn of civilization.

[american socialist]

Boy, there sure are a lot of military personnel here at a libertarian website. I'm thinking of a song... ahh, what is it? You know, the one by that Morrissette girl.

[Monty Crisco]

D-

[Tonio]

The Navy can have fighter aircraft, but they must be capable of being carrier-based. That was another limitation on the design of the F35 - it had to be capable of carrier operations. The carrier limitation also applies to Marine aviation.

Also, lose the "jet" part. The US hasn't used piston powered helicopters since the Korean war.

[Monty Crisco]

Okay, fixed wing vs rotor wing.

Pedantic fuck....

[Timon 19]

Only the Navy and Marine variants of the F-35 have carrier requirements. And those two services have different carrier requirements, as they sail different types of carriers.

The Marine variant has the lift fan. The Navy variant does not. The Air Force variant has no carrier requirements.

[Mickey Rat]

It is because the Navy and Marines had their air arms before the Air Force was split off from the Army, and maybe because the Air Force do want to do carrier landings.

[RBS]

BRING BACK THE TOMCAT

+1...Danger Zone

[Holger da Dane]

Bring down the F-35's costs....by cancelling the #$% thing.

Wouldn't it be fun if TDS was getting so bad, that within a day or two, his political opponents start claiming the F-35 is the most important technological project in US history? I bet someone like SudermanChapmanKrugman could make a case for why it would be as important to finish this thing, as ending world hunger or stopping global warming.

[Timon 19]

I'm relatively sure it would cost more to just shut down the program at this point than to continue it on.

And General Bogdan was pretty close to correct in his response, from what I understand: the program has pretty much stopped spiraling out of control. What we're all seeing now is the cumulative effect of all the spiraling that went on previously.

[Citizen X]

It's a classy sign. Big league.

[Princess Trigger]

They'll make it up in volume.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Nearly 70 percent of Democrats polled said they didn't want to see Hillary Clinton run for president again in 2020...

Apparently a healthy percentage didn't want her running in 2016.

[Swiss Servator]

Oh, Snap!

[Just a thought not a sermon]

But Good Lord, more than 30% *do* want her to run in 2020? The delusion runs deep....

[Rich]

The worst part is, more than 25% want her to run even if she's *dead*.

[UnCivilServant]

Dead Democrats have won elections before.

[Zeb]

There are a good number of people who actually seem to like her. Which is a complete puzzle to me.

And even if they do like her, having her run again seems pretty stupid from a strategic point of view.

[Suthenboy]

"There are a good number of people who actually seem to like her."

She's light itself.

[Zeb]

Barf.

I have a hard time imagining even someone who likes her saying that with a straight face.

[BigT]

There are a good number of people who actually seem to like her. Which is a complete puzzle to me.

They'd all go for Lieawatha. Any c**t in a storm.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

They like the idea of a woman president, and have you seen some of the other Democrat women in power?

[Holger da Dane]

have you seen some of the other Democrat women in power?

Like John McCain?

[Auric Demonocles]

Also, wouldn't she be like 121 by the next election?

[Pro Libertate]

You're counting time dilation as most potential voters accelerate away from her at close to the speed of light.

[invisible furry hand]

The Vessel surely will be ready by then

[Bee Tagger]

Nokia is suing Apple in the latest patent licensing battle.

I hope that during the discovery phase Apple finds out what their problem is with Kia cars.

[Swiss Servator]

*narrows gaze*

[American Memer]

*operatic applause*

[Palin's Buttplug]

Trump floats 5% tariff

Curbing free trade was a central element of Trump's campaign.

Two sources who represent business interests in Washington tell CNN that the man in line to be White House chief of staff, Reince Preibus, has told key Washington players that one idea being debated internally is a 5% tariff on imports.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/21/.....p-tariffs/

[Just a thought not a sermon]

From Wikipedia: "The "free and dutiable rate" in 1929 was 13.5% and peaked under Smoot-Hawley in 1933 at 19.8%"

[Citizen X]

Look, shreek is not known for having historical literacy. Or regular literacy.

[Palin's Buttplug]

LEAVE TRUMP ALONE!

[paranoid android]

Yeah, "Not quite as much of a statist as Hoover and Roosevelt" is not a ringing endorsement of the man. Let's call his shitty proposals what they are.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Smoot Hawley was signed by Hoover in 1930. FDR reversed most of it later.

Of course look at the idiots you are citing. 'Citizen X' is not known for his brain power.

[WTF]

Pay your bet shitstain.

[Citizen X]

Sad parrot is sad.

[straffinrun]

Only 5%? Not 8?

[Monty Crisco]

5% increase in the cost of your iPhone....YAY!!!

[Swiss Servator]

*studio audience applause*

[colorblindkid]

And to think, Herman Cain could have been elected if he added another 5 to his 5-5-5 plan.

[WTF]

Pay your bet fuckstain.

[Suthenboy]

"Curbing free trade was a central element of Trump's campaign."

No, it wasn't.

[Palin's Buttplug]

TRUMP IS A LIBERTARIAN BECAUSE I SAID SO!

[WTF]

Pay your bet douchewad.

[BigT]

"Curbing free trade was a central element of Trump's campaign."

No, it wasn't.

Like most things Trump says, this was/is a negotiating position. He is trying to get the Chinese et al to have low expectations so that they will accept a deal that is better for us and worse for them. Negotiation 101.

[Citizen X]

Nearly 70 percent of Democrats polled said they didn't want to see Hillary Clinton run for president again in 2020, while 22 percent said they would be excited by it.

Those 70% will be towing the lion when she is hauled out of her sarcophagus to run again, though.

[jack sprat]

Never tug a lion by its tail.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Trump says he'll get costs down "beautifully" on the F-35 program"

We've ordered 10,000 of them! The cost savings per plane will be yuge!

[Monty Crisco]

"while Trump says he'll get costs down "beautifully" on the F-35 program."

Well...... that would be a fucking miracle, as costs are already multiple orders of magnitude more egregious than they should be....

[Swiss Servator]

CANCELLED!

That is the only way to save anything at this point.

[Lee Genes]

Fucking sunk costs, how do they work?

[UnCivilServant]

They fool people into wasting money they would otherwise not have burned.

Cut our losses.

[MikeT1986]

Hey, poppa need a new something or nother.

Point is, back off from my pay check buddy.

[UnCivilServant]

We're holding a mandatory meeting at the test range for anyone who wishes to keep their job.

*whispers off-screen*You're sure the yield is high enough to vaporize them all, right?

[MikeT1986]

Eh, I actually mostly work commercial, I just track costs related to part of that fucker.

Good times.

[Mickey Rat]

The problem is, when do we need new planes to replace the models thst are getting long in the tooth? If it needs to be done, then you need to order new model(s) and have to sink new costs into designing those. Unless the F-35 is a failed design on the specs, cancelling the program may end up costing more money when you need new planes (remember, costs per unit skyrocket when you reduce the number of units produced, because that number includes R&D for the whole program, which is already spent).

[Fist of Etiquette]

Japan is spending a record-breaking amount on the military this year.

Time to put our carriers at Pearl Harbor out to sea.

[Monty Crisco]

And hope they ignore the fuel depots and ship-repair facilities AGAIN....

[straffinrun]

That sleeping racist giant isn't woke.

[DJF]

The Navy has it covered, they don't homeport carriers in Pearl Harbor anymore

Of course the 1940 Navy did not do it either, but Roosevelt ordered them too. This gave the Japanese the time to plan and train for the attack in 1941.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Admiral Yamamoto had developed an attack plan on Pearl Harbor well before 1941. Its been 30 years since I read his biography, but if I remember correctly, he planned various scenarios for an attack when he was a student and as a visiting student in the US at Annapolis.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Yamamoto also knew it was a stupid idea, but was pressured by Tojo, and the Emperor and politicians to implement the attack.

[DJF]

But there would have been little in Pearl Harbor if Roosevelt had not ordered the Fleet to be there Roosevelt fired Admiral Richardson who complained about the Fleet being in Pearl, that is how we got Admiral Kimmel in charge

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

Roosevelt liked his monologues.

[Monty Crisco]

"This gave the Japanese the time to plan and train for the attack..."

Fat lot of good it did 'em!
Maybe next time take out a few flattops .... and fuel depots. And repair facilities...

[Number 2]

Speaking of Pearl Harbor ... why is it that we never read breathless articles about alleged "spikes" in violence against Japanese-Americans in and around December 7 every year? Why is it that no one is ever criticized for referrring to the "Japanese" attack on Pearl Harbor when we know full well that millions of Japanese people had nothing at all to do with the attack? In fact, why do we call it an "attack" at all, much less an inflammatory term like "sneak attack," instead of as a "man-made disaster?" Why do we hear no one worry that mentioning that the Japanese attackers were, in fact, Japanese, merely enables the Alt-Right at home and provides Japanese extremists with a pretext for arguing that the West is "at war" with Japanese culture?

[Bee Tagger]

Japan is spending a record-breaking amount on the military this year.

Yeah, the White Sox already did that record-breaking idea. It didn't go well.

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

The White Sox broke records some 40 years ago.

[BigT]

Harry Cary and Jimmy Piersall were a great broadcasting team. (A philandering drunk and a psycho.)

"OK, Nancy. Everybody.....Take me out to the ballgame....."

[Swiss Servator]

Hey, Jimmy wasn't crazy - and he had the papers to prove it!

[BigT]

Fear Strikes Out.

[Swiss Servator]

*shakes fist*

[Crusty Juggler]

Poor Fist.

[Fist of Etiquette]

ikr

[straffinrun]

You could've gone with almost any school district in the U.S.

[jack sprat]

+1 Steve Dahl

[invisible furry hand]

Your morning derp courtesy of a faction of Australian Greens:

"Capitalism depends upon violent and authoritarian divisions within the working class, such as elitism, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, religious sectarianism, and ableism (among others). It is only with the abolition of these authoritarian relations that we will be able to create a thriving movement capable of transforming society and so must challenge these wherever we encounter it."

[Rich]

such as elitism, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, religious sectarianism, and ableism (among others).

Oh, *please* give us the exhaustive list!

[straffinrun]

Ok. Just not you.

[Citizen X]

I can make assertions, too! "Australian Greenism depends upon violent and authoritarian stupidity within the political class, such as herpa derp derpa de doo, and also see above."

Unlike their assertion, mine is rooted in fact.

[Holger da Dane]

"Social justice" issues are a perfect cudgel to guilt people into supporting the destruction of capitalism, and thus free agency.

This seems to be the only goal the left has that isn't in some kind of constant flux depending on what's expedient.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Authoritarian? I musta missed the part where capitalism coerces people to do things.

[Citizen X]

It's because in a capitalist system you HAVE to work in order to get money for things you should have a RIGHT to, like food, housing, health care, and high-speed Internet access!

(^Actual argument i have heard)

[WTF]

They actually believe that they have a right to force others to labor on their behalf.
Fuck off, slavers!

[Tonio]

+infinity JsubD

[Free Society]

^Status quo in Finrand, at least for the internets part

[Holger da Dane]

Authoritarian? I musta missed the part where capitalism coerces people to do things.

They are not arguing in good faith. Destroying capitalism is what they care about, and tying all these other issues to that one goal is just a way to get people on board with it.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"elitism, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, religious sectarianism, and ableism"

The violence is unbelievable! I'm sure they have some non-violent ideas for opposing these things too.

[WTF]

So, demonstrating that they have no idea what capitalism actually is.

[UnCivilServant]

They wouldn't be in the green party if they understood capitalism.

[Citizen X]

+1 watermelon

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

As I was spacing out in the shower this a.m., I was thinking how racist and elitist lefties are (my particular train of thought was about Cuba and how the lefties don't think the people there are grown-ass adults with the same intelligence and agency as lefties from developed countries. And how the lefties want to make Cuba into some sort of living history museum, never to progress or change).

[Chinny Chin Chin]

I've been watching Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown, and just watched one shot in Havana. In the intro, over images of the crumbling third-world city filled with antique cars, Bourdain said it is "exactly how you want it to be".

[GSL in E]

Sigh. I like Bourdain's stuff; Kitchen Confidential is a fantastic book, and his Travel Channel show was awesome. But in Parts Unknown, it often seems like he's obligated to insert CNN's politics into the work.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I agree - I find Parts Unknown to be tedious and preachy.

[Timon 19]

That's too bad. I don't remember if it was the referenced Parts Unknown episode about Cuba (I don't watch PU much at all) or a No Reservations episode about Cuba, but in it he seemed to acknowledge the absurdity and cruelty of that attitude of "it being the way you want it to be".

Bourdain, at least as No Reservations wore through the seasons, seemed to lurch in the direction of libertarian leanings, and often would lampoon his lefty pals for being hypocritical assholes and insufferable pricks. He even had a show where he had a legitimately good time with The Nuge.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

I've been watching Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown, and just watched one shot in Havana. In the intro, over images of the crumbling third-world city filled with antique cars, Bourdain said it is "exactly how you want it to be".

[Chinny Chin Chin]

and the sqwerls are exactly how I want them to be

[Darth Squirrel]

Damn straight.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

spacing out == nice euphemism.

Also, Cuba has been a living history museum for 65 years.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

And when Obama opened relations with them, the lefties were in a panic because they feared the quaint little backward island full of primitive savages would disappear in a sea of new cars, smartphones, and McD's.

[GSL in E]

Because "quaint" Havana is such a nice place. As I understand it (haven't been there myself), Havana is basically a tourist quarter surrounded by a city that looks like it was hit by a hurricane and an earthquake simultaneously.

[Lord_at_War]

Havana is basically a tourist quarter surrounded by a city that looks like it was hit by a hurricane and an earthquake simultaneously.

+1 ...and nobody did anything about it for thirty years.

[Libertarian]

Indeed. Capitalism would have never succeeded if not for transphobia.

[jack sprat]

I'm sorry, but what language is this?

[jack sprat]

^response to morning derp from furry

[Suthenboy]

That is boilerplate bullshit for every lefty activist group on the map. They are all a bunch of goddamned pinkos. Feminists, BLM, Transactivists, watermelons etc etc etc.

[Rhywun]

New Australian Man is right around the corner!

[Fist of Etiquette]

China says it launched a carbon-tracking satellite into space.

The needle pegged at launch.

[UnCivilServant]

You don't know, they could have used a hydrogen peroxide rocket...

[Private Chipperbot]

The tracking system is a Go Pro that's strapped on and filming the exhaust of the launch.

[Zeb]

I think that most rocket propellants used today are not hydrocarbon based.

[Tonio]

Hydrogen/Oxygen is the preferred fuel for anything that needs to reach orbit or beyond.

[Rich]

22 percent said they would be excited by it.

At least, that's what we *think* they said. Tough to tell, what with all the drooling and calling "Nurse! Nurse!"

[straffinrun]

Does that make Hillary Nurse Wretched?

[Crusty Juggler]

Naughty Nurse Wretched?

[straffinrun]

One Flew Over the Cuck's Nest.

[Rich]

Blasphemous, but nice.

[Crusty Juggler]

Big Chief Handles Randle.

[SimonD]

Just...Ewww.

[Libertarian]

80/20 rule confirmed.

[Bee Tagger]

Uber pulled its self-driving cars off the road in California after the DMV revoked their registrations.

Must they pull them manually? Was it too disheartening to program a Leomonize() method into the cars' code?

[Libertarian]

Well, if they managed to pull them off the road then they really weren't self-driving cars, WERE THEY?

[Bee Tagger]

I'm more interested in self-backseat-driving cars anyway. They let you take control of the car but then criticize you to death.

[American Memer]

Not sure if "lemon" or "Leomon"-ooze meant.

Either works.

[American Memer]

Ize. Phone browsers lags hard on those site.

Not even fixing that pne. One. Agh.

[Rich]

China says it launched a carbon-tracking satellite into space.

Can't prove it by *that* link, Ed.

[invisible furry hand]

Poverty shaming is now a thing:

Couple claim they were poverty shamed by a McDonald's cashier who laughed and branded them poor when they complained about being overcharged ?2.08 for their chicken selects

[Rich]

Sheesh, talk about a non-story.

Except the part where Michael Jackson is still alive.

[Monty Crisco]

Hasn't it ALWAYS been a little shameful to be poor? Shit, I know growing up with a dad driving a FUCKING PINTO that I wasn't exactly strutting around like the cock of the walk....

[UnCivilServant]

In recent decades fewer people seem to have any sense of shame.

[jack sprat]

Shame is a very underrated emotion.

[Monty Crisco]

+1 Clinton Administration

[straffinrun]

A Pinto? Ooh, Ritchie Rich.

[Libertarian]

A Pinto? Well la di dah. We kids had to ride behind father on the draft horse. A Pinto -- luxury!

[invisible furry hand]

Luxury. We had to pull the cart while father whipped us

[Citizen X]

We didn't have a cart OR a father, and had to whip ourselves through the streets!

[Swiss Servator]

Oh look at Scrooge McDuck here - you had whips?! We had to pummel ourselves as we crawled!

[Libertarian]

Crawled? We couldn't do that because our knees were bloody from begging all day.

[straffinrun]

Begging for what?

[jarflax]

So you had blood to spare?

[Animal]

"We know it's no great shame to be poor. But it's no great honor, either."

- Tevye, Fiddler On The Roof.

[straffinrun]

From The Aviator IIRC. Something along the lines of, "You don't talk about money because you have it."

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

That's the best scene in the entire film.

[Suthenboy]

I always wondered why anyone would name a car after a bean.

[Suthenboy]

Least sexy car name ever.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Reliant K?

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

Inspired a band name, natch.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Escort, on the other hand...

[Brett L]

Try marketing the Chevy No Va in Latin America.

[Darth Squirrel]

We had a Pinto briefly as a loaner when I was a kid. We were a family of Vikings and the damn thing was like a skateboard with doors.

[Lord_at_War]

I'm now 52 and my brother hits 51 next month- and we still laugh about the $0.99 tennis shoes dad bought us when we were 5 and 6. I always remember the "4th pass at the ham"- 1) Sunday ham dinner. 2)Ham sammiches packed for school lunch for the next week. 3)Navy bean soup w/ ham- The bone adds the flavor. 4)Boil what's left of the hambone into a broth, add some taters and carrots- then add some dough dumplings- it you got a little chunk of ham, it was a good day!

Also- Mom had the Pinto, Dad had a frikking Vega... :o) I still remember the 68 Belair convertible he had, though- it's a shame it died after 65,000 miles.

[Bee Tagger]

China says it launched a carbon-tracking satellite into space.

Been watching too many Honeymooners reruns.

[Swiss Servator]

+1 Alice

[Rich]

Sheesh, Bee! How old *are* you?

[straffinrun]

Metal Head: "How old are you? I'm thirty."
Veteran Metal Head: "45."
Metal Head: "Excellent."
Veteran Metal Head: "Why?"
Metal Head: "More time to listen to Iron Maiden."

*H/T to someone. I forget who.

[Libertarian]

He SAID *reruns*!

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Rand Paul celebrates Festivus.

It's the most wonderful time of the yeeaaaaaarrrrr!

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

There'll be much grievance-airing
with appropriate swearing
by Senator Paaaaaaul

It's the festivus
for the rest of us
of aaaaaaalllll!

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

+ Andy Williams

[Palin's Buttplug]

Merry Christmas, you goddamn peanuts!

As a rationalist the word "Christmas" does not bother me one bit although I think it is just a Pagan holiday usurped by the Catholics and not really significant otherwise.

[Monty Crisco]

NO ONE CARES, DIPSHIT

[Citizen X]

Cool story, bro. Pay your bet.

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"I think it is just a Pagan holiday usurped by the Catholics and not really significant otherwise."

Congratulations--you have the exact same view as the Puritans! You're not a buttplug, you're a roundhead!

[Swiss Servator]

I should think more of a Pointyhead.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Pinhead. Gabba gabba hey!

[CatoTheChipper]

Hey, Jatnas, it's Christmas. 'Tis the season to try to be nice to everyone ... including the retarded.

So, in the spirit of the season, I'd like not that PB isn't a roundhead because he says that he's not bothered by Christmas.

Of course, MC is right: nobody cares.

[CatoTheChipper]

not = to note

[WTF]

Pay your bet assnugget.

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

As a rationalist

Uh...

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

He meant to type rationalizer.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

As a rationalist the word "Christmas" does not bother me one bit although I think it is just a Pagan holiday usurped by the Catholics and not really significant otherwise.

Your "rationalist" mind is about 40 years out of date. Newer academic thinking links Christmas to Easter.

Here's a popular article on the subject: "How December 25 Became Christmas"

[(((Renegade)))]

Nearly 70 percent of Democrats polled said they didn't want to see Hillary Clinton run for president again in 2020

There's hope for Team Blue.

while 22 percent said they would be excited by it.

No, there isn't. Never mind.

[Lee Genes]

Maybe you heard Rogue One was painfully anti-white dude and totes intersectional, a movie for the social justice movement.

Well you would be wrong.

As in The Force Awakens, a White woman takes the wheel as protagonist, backed by a sizable supporting cast of men of Color. So let's celebrate, right?

I'm weary of men dominating Star Wars (I'm hardly the only one; The Daily Dot counted just seven women with speaking roles). At least for The Force Awakens, filmmakers include a few women to play meaningful roles. For Rogue One, "one" is really all you get.

I'm also weary of White protagonists (even when they are women). And I'm weary of people of Color cast as heroic helpers to their White leader.

This formula ? used for Captain America: Civil War (both sides), Star Trek, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter (barely), and so on and so on and so on and so on ? is so tired. It is a reminder that systemic racism doesn't disappear; it simply evolves, allowing more people onto the set, but rarely changing the hue of the hero.

The thing is, this is Star fucking Wars! People will see it no matter who is cast. So why can't the filmmakers just flip the formula already?

[UnCivilServant]

It is literally impossible to make SucJus happy. Practicioners live to be offended. So there is not point in even trying to appease them. Ignore the noise and focus instead on good stories.

[Monty Crisco]

This^.. You can never please these people so why even try?

[colorblindkid]

Blizzard went ahead made a game character a Lesbian just for them. They then claimed that she was too attractive and was made for the deadly phenomenon that is the "male gaze".

[SFC B]

It's funny they went with Tracer as the token lesbian and have the SJWs lose their mind over the male gaze. They had a similar reaction when it was implied (by SJWs) that Zarya was lesbian because she is a muscular woman.

It almost makes me think that no matter what is done with a fictional character SJWs will not be pleased.

[SimonD]

Of course. When you've built an entire industry based on airing grievances, you are going to find grievances in everything.

[jack sprat]

^this to the nth power.

[Rich]

I'm weary of men dominating Star Wars (I'm hardly the only one; The Daily Dot counted just seven women with speaking roles).

Serious question: When did outrage over fucking *movies* get to be a thing?

[UnCivilServant]

It doesn't involve physical activity, so it's perfect for these practioners of outrage.

[Crusty Juggler]

Ever since people had space to fill on the Internet.

#Oscarssowhite

[Krabappel]

Don't you get it, literally everything is problematic!

[BigT]

When did outrage over fucking *movies* get to be a thing?

+ 1 Birth of a Nation

[Gadfly]

It's always been a thing (see the Hays code and "Banned in Boston"), but it does seem that it is more prevalent/frequent and more tedious than it used to be.

[WTF]

The thing is, this is Star fucking Wars Ghost fucking Busters! People will see it no matter who is cast. So why can't the filmmakers just flip the formula already?

Because that is always guaranteed to work out well. Because people don't want to be entertained, they want to be preached to.

[tarran]

People will see it no matter who is cast.

Some people will. After Phantom Menace, I lost any interest in Star Wars. The trailers literally do nothing for me.

[Brett L]

Was Phantom Menace the last Obiwan prequel? Whatever that one was, it broke whatever childish love I had for Star Wars. Even Thrawn would not draw me back in.

[tarran]

It was the 'first' prequel: Episode I of IX.

I honestly think it worse than Plan 9 from Outer Space. In Plan 9, the dialogue was punchier and the plot had fewer glaring internal contradictions.

[MikeT1986]

Phantom was the least bad Prequel largely because it's errors weren't so borne of laziness and apathy.

[tarran]

Man, the next two movies must really have sucked then.

[MikeT1986]

They sucked in less forgivable ways. I get the feeling with phantom you had some idiots swinging and missing grandly.

With the other two you had a lot of soap opera style scenes, dialog that exists to move the plot, and just horrible irreversible character moments. Phantom was a bad movie but didn't do permenant harm to the canon the way Clone Wars or Revenge of the Sith did.

Vader as a guy who betrayed and killed Jedi? Potentially redeemable. Betrayal is a serious crime but at least he's fighting warriors who can fight back.
Vader as a guy who killed defenseless children? get out of here with that "let me see you with my own eyes, and then come back as a Jedi Ghost" shit you fucking disgusting piece of ass shit.

Phantom also felt like it was a long time before Ep 4. Revenge tries to tie LITERALLY everything into a neat package like nothing changes for 20+ years of story time.

[Gadfly]

Phantom also felt like it was a long time before Ep 4. Revenge tries to tie LITERALLY everything into a neat package like nothing changes for 20+ years of story time.

While I do think Revenge is better than Phantom, this here is a really valid point. The Death Star scene was especially egregious: it took over twenty years to build Death Star I but only four to get Death Star II operational?

[Episteme]

To be fair, Trump was able to negotiate a better deal with the contractors for the second Death Star.

[Briggie]

The fact that there was no real protagonist or antagonist who had any coherent goals most likely didn't help either.

Also when you are making a character who everyone knows is going to be a villain, it helps to go the tragic character route and try to make him likable before his fall from grace. Instead they made him a whinny twat, so his character was a waste of screentime cause no one cared about him.

[SFC B]

Honestly, I think the prequels are a spectacular example of really bad directing. Ewan MacGregor, Natalie Portman, Samuel Jackson, and Liam Nisseon are really good actors. Hayden Christiansen showed himself to be serviceable. Yet the only one who isn't terrible in the prequels is MacGregor, and he's merely average. The dialogue, plot, everything involving Lucas in the prequels really brings everything else down.

And for a real horror thought, what we see on the screen are the best takes. How awful must the "I hate sand" takes that didn't get used be?

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

The best takes according to Lucas, the bad director. It wouldn't surprise me if there are more naturalistic or subtle takes of many lines, which George scrapped because the emotions weren't clear enough. This is a guy who thinks a character must say "NO!" any time something bad happens to them.

[Swiss Servator]

I remember watching that one at the theater and leaving thinking "did anything just happen in that movie?"

[tarran]

I walked out thinking that I could have purchased a big mac with my ticket. And I don't eat big macs anymore because of the.. ahem.. digestive issues they trigger.

[Brett L]

Right. Well, I liked the opening sequence. My mind just blocked out everything involving little Anniken and JarJar, so that's probably how I made it to the next movie.

[commodious lies and cheats]

There's a fan-edit that removes as much of Anniken and JarJar as possible while still keeping the basic story intact. The movie is still irretrievably stupid.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

The Phantom Edit IIRC

[Rhywun]

This argument was a lot funnier when Hooper X made it 19 years ago.

[invisible furry hand]

"GENTRIFICATION!!!!"

[Holger da Dane]

This formula - derp derp - Guardians of the Galaxy - herp derp

I'm hugely triggered by this. Would it be too fucking much to not actually lump in "fur" or "bark" as just another form of skin color? This is incredibly othering to those with fur, scales, bark, and exoskeletons, among others. Fucking humanoid-centric shitlords shouldn't be allowed to write anything on the Internet.

[Azathoth!!]

The thing is, this is Star fucking Wars! People will see it no matter who is cast. So why can't the filmmakers just flip the formula already?

Because you don't just want the formula flipped.

You want a lecture on how racist/sexist/homophobic/etc. the previous formula was inserted in as well.

And you want a story that will only appeal to the flipped formulaics.

And you want it to appeal to EVERYONE that is an SJW

And then--you're not going to go see it anyway.

Because it sucks.

But....you will get online and explain WHY it sucks and part of that explanation will include 'because they tried to appease YOU'.

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

WHAT MORE DOES MON MOTHMA HAVE TO DO?

Oh damn, she's white, too.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Record number of Obamacare sign-ups on HealthCare.gov for 2017 health insurance coverage

Federal health officials Wednesday touted a record 6.4 million customer sign-ups on the federal Obamacare marketplace HealthCare.gov so far this open enrollment season ? topping last year's pace during the same time period by 400,000 customers.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/21.....erage.html

DEATH SPIRAL!! BLOOP! DERP! PLOP!

[Jimmy Free Trade Pirate]

/WHACK !!!!

[Monty Crisco]

THE RETHUGLIKKANS ARE GONNA NOMINATE JEB AND LOSE TO HIL-DOG!!! PARTY OF STOOOPID!!!

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA....

[Swiss Servator]

As the exchanges melt away....

So what happened to the 40 millyunz unishurred?

[UnCivilServant]

They're still uninsured. All the signups are people who keep losing their plans.

[CatoTheChipper]

Signups don't mean that ObamaCare is working. The only metric that is worth considering is how many are signing up to pay out of their own pocket for insurance purchased on the ObamaCare "Marketplace". The fact is that ObamaCare is a rotten deal if you don't get a subsidy. For wife and me, the unsubsidized premium is $12,000/year for a $14,300 deductible policy that has the same provider network as the state's Medicaid provider. Or, you can get the BC/BS network with the same deductible for $20,000/year.

Of course, lots of people are signing up for nearly free, subsidized insurance. I'm self-employed and can finagle my AGI, so absent a windfall, I'll get the $9000 subsidy. So, for $3000/year of my own money, I signed up for 2017. I used to regard my good, pre-ObamaCare, high-deductible insurance as carwreck and cancer insurance. But the ObamaCare offering is so crappy that it's only going to be carwreck insurance in 2017.

In my case, US taxpayers are on the hook for the $9000/year subsidy and the government has created two new millionaire welfare recipients for life. Brilliant policy!

[Groovus Maximus]

PenalTax, Medicaid, and 26 year old adolescents, which apparently don't exist in Shriek's universe. He really does deserve a one-way ticket to Colorado.... Since even a stillborn baby deserves a funeral, I guess one can be scraped together for Shriek.

[tarran]

, which apparently don't exist in Shriek's universe

It's not sentient. It's no more capable of holding abstract concepts in the shambolic mess of neurons that make up its brain than an ant can.

I really don't understand why you guys persist with interacting with it. It's the equivalent of smearing fertilizer on the mold growing in the shower grout.

[Monty Crisco]

"It's the equivalent of smearing fertilizer on the mold growing in the shower grout."

Stealing that one, tarran!

[Palin's Buttplug]

"I don't know what we'll do if it does go away," Mills said. "I guess I thought that, you know, [Trump] would not do this. That they would not do this, would not take the insurance away. Knowing that it's affecting so many people's lives. I mean, what are you to do then if you cannot .?.?. purchase, cannot pay for the insurance?"

Mills, who supported Trump for other reasons, figured Obamacare repeal was just talk. "I guess we really didn't think about that, that he was going to cancel that or change that or take it away," she said. "I guess I always just thought that it would be there. I was thinking that once it was made into a law that it could not be changed."

Others who didn't take Trump literally may soon face the same dilemma. The Urban Institute estimated this month that under the partial repeal plan previously passed by Republicans in Congress, 30?million people would lose insurance, 82 percent of them would be in working families and 56 percent would be white. Among adults who would lose insurance, 80 percent don't have college degrees.

https://www.washingtonpost.com

[Groovus Maximus]

Insurance =/= Medical Care. You forget what I do for a living, you stupid fuck. You really do need to die and save other policy holders from subsidising your pathetic, cancerous, STD ridden existence.

Seriously, just throw yourself down a flight of stairs, or go the way of Hutchence or Carradine, since it is readily apparent you believe that one can, and should, get a homeowners policy after their house burned to the ground.

[straffinrun]

What happens when you drink bleach?

[Groovus Maximus]

Depends; can you afford to drink bleach? That will determine what ultimately happens to you afterwards.

Whatever you do, do *NOT* induce vomiting.

[straffinrun]

*Sends PB a Festive Bottle of (Definitely not Chlorox) Vodka and Pic of Hillary Pinching a loaf for Christmas*

[Tonio]

[winks knowingly, hides medical grade charcoal]

[Palin's Buttplug]

I know what you do. You leech off the Medicare/caid taxes I pay.

[Rasilio]

I was unaware that Medicare taxes paid for Health care in Ukraine

[Suthenboy]

All the way from The Ukraine? Wow. He should change his handle to Groovus Magicus.

You lost idiot motherfucker. You were wrong about everything, still are, and need to have your nose rubbed in shit.

[tarran]

Once again, it has no comprehension of winning or losing arguments.

All it knows is that you responded to a sequence of letters, and it will repeat that sequence of letters in a future comment hoping to garner another, similarly wordy, reply.

You are wasting your time, trying to convince that which lacks the ability to think at all.

[Groovus Maximus]

You have me confused with someone else, tampon. My patients pay cash in almost every circumstance (though UKR is looking to implement ShriekCare and put the kibosh on insurance competition by having the government underwrite all policies issued by one insurer).

[WTF]

He practices in Ukraine, moron. And the medicaid patients would be the leeches, not the doctor performing services for them. But you don't understand simple logic anyway.

[CatoTheChipper]

Most of the ObamaCare participants are leeches, too. Something like 90% of them are getting subsidies.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Forget it guys, he's high as a kite after snorting a few lines of coke. Give it a few minutes and he'll come down off his manic phase.

[BigT]

Forget it guys, he's high as a kite after snorting a few lines of coke.

But that makes it seem like he should fit in nicely here.

[Red Rocks Dickin Bimbos]

"I don't know what we'll do if it does go away," Mills said. "I guess I thought that, you know, [Trump] would not do this. That they would not do this, would not take the insurance away.

Since most of the "newly insured" are Medicaid recipients, it's not insurance, it's welfare.

[WTF]

Pay your bet shitstain.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Looks like someone's beat me to it.

[Juice]

It really doesn't matter if everyone signs up for it. Costs and premiums keep spiraling out of control. Companies keep dropping out. It's happening right before your eyes.

[Lee Genes]

I'm loving my 20% year on year premium increases with ever higher deductibles. You cunt.

[straffinrun]

At least you can get reassignment surgery now. NTTAWWT.

[Brett L]

Premiums "only" went up to employees by $40/month at my company for 2017. Of course, I haven't seen my new compensation package yet, so I don't know what the tradeoff is.

[Citizen X]

My premiums have held steady, but both the network and the list of covered services have gotten much, much smaller, and Anthem pushes back on EVERYTHING. Thanks, Obama!

[Brett L]

We have a concierge-style service that will both find docs and procedures within our coverage on the front end, and then read my bills from both the docs and insurers on the back-end against my statement of coverage. Its fucking gold.

[Suthenboy]

I cant wait until Odumbles and his apparatchiks are no longer cooking these numbers. We will probably discover that the truth is the inverse of what these fucking liars have been cranking out.

[Rasilio]

Lets see, sign up, pay 3 months premium, get 6 months health care (at least) before they kick you off and get the certificate saying you have coverage for your taxes.

Of course everyone is signing up

[Free Society]

I've changed my insurance 5 times in the last year of my life. This is because insurers keep pulling out of the relatively rural area in which I live. There is now one health insurer doing business in my Ohio county and none of the medical facilities within 50 miles are "in network" with that carrier. Needless to say, there are no Obamacare defenders living within fifty miles of me.

[John DeWitt]

According to a local news report, the black church that was burned and spray painted with "Vote Trump" in Mississippi was started by a member of the congregation. And he was black. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he wasn't a Trump supporter...

...yet CNN ran this story:

Mayor Errick Simmons said he spoke to some of the church's 200 congregants who were fearful and felt intimidated. They felt the vandalism was not just an attack on the church, but on the black community, he said.

And the Washington Post ran this:

But Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons called the fire a "hateful and cowardly act," sparked by the incendiary rhetoric of GOP nominee Donald Trump during his presidential campaign.
...
One flash point for Trump: His campaign has been praised by hate groups that have persecuted blacks for decades.

[colorblindkid]

Not a good week for fake hate crime folks. A guy who literally makes a living off of faking hate crimes on Youtube and got reprimanded by an airline just last week said he was thrown off a plane for speaking Arabic. #BoycottDelta was the number one trend on Twitter. The media jumped on it. All they had to do was Google his name to see they should be hesitant. Alas, they couldn't even do that much.

[John DeWitt]

Yeah, it was a fantastic week for Fake News from the left.

[Libertarian]

In all fairness to the left, that's the only kind of news they have.

[colorblindkid]

This one takes the cake though. The guy makes a living faking hate crimes! he's been caught multiple times. He was in the news JUST LAST WEEK for faking a hoax on another airline. He has a whole series of videos where he does shit like wear a turban and loudly talk about "blowing up" Youtube, counting down loudly from 10 on a plane, and shouting Allahu Akbar. Even the most basic of research should have given people reason to be hesitant.

This guy is the biggest fucking asshole in the world. He complains about being Muslim in America, but I'd love him to name one other place in the world where is he free and safe enough to make a living on fucking Youtube faking hate crimes!

[Tonio]

How did this guy not end up on the TSA no-fly list, or an airline industry watchlist?

[Free Society]

Protected class?

[CatoTheChipper]

Every week is a fantastic week for progressive Fake News.

[Swiss Servator]

99% + of church burnings are a parishioner. Its not as if mobs of Satanists or RAYCYSTS or whatnot are roaming the land with torches and gas cans.

[Monty Crisco]

Yeah, I kinda feel like that would be.... um... noticeable?

[Crusty Juggler]

Its not as if mobs of Satanists or RAYCYSTS or whatnot are roaming the land with torches and gas cans.

You're so naive. The same people who are roaming the land burning churches are the same people who go around diddling every strange child they come across. These people are also Trump voters.

[Swiss Servator]

Arsonist racist pedo clowns?

[BigT]

the same people who go around diddling every strange child they come across.

Catholic priests?

[Citizen X]

Lena Dunham?

[Libertarian]

Bill Clinton remembers all those black churches being burned down.. . . . .

[Rasilio]

I loved this story so friggin much because I spent a good 2 hours arguing with a Facebook acquaintance that it was almost certainly a hoax when it happened and he marched up and down saying there was no possible way a memeber of that church could have done that.

Even better he is mostly a libertarian so he might actually learn something

[John DeWitt]

Yeah, poor Facebookers. I think it's a pretty safe assumption that this story, along with its insinuations, were shared significantly more frequently than the pizzagate conspiracy was. It was also likely seen by more moderate voters, since the pizzagate bullshit was basically contained to people who were already voting Trump anyway.

[Tonio]

So, did he retract? Did you rub his nose in this?

[Auric Demonocles]

But fake news!

[Lee Genes]

Not done with your Christmas shopping? Feministing has a gift guide for you so you don't offend your SJW niece.

Samples...

Alipato Project, Radical Feminist Coloring Book, $25

Know Your IX Know Your Rights Tee, free with $50 donation!

BruxeriaDesigns, Hex The Patriarchy Canvas Tote, $15

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"Know Your IX Know Your Rights"

A nice gift for the latest Duncan Idaho clone?

[robc]

clap clap clap

[WTF]

Many new machines on IX.....

[Pro Libertate]

Ooh, I love Kanlymas. I asked the Duke for an iHunter-Seeker 6 this year.

[Swiss Servator]

*cries out a cheer in Chakobsa and fires maula pistol in the air*

[Terr]

Brilliant!

[Groovus Maximus]

But what of the Fish Speakers?

[Swiss Servator]

Go on...

[Crusty Juggler]

I just give out "Female is the future" T-shirts, and yes even to babies.

[invisible furry hand]

An SJW niece could be offended that you bought stuff for her, thus inflicting violence through capitalism, Just give her a lump of coal and tell her that if she has it, it can't be burnt and release greenhouse gases.

[WTF]

Awesome - "I give you this gift of sequestered carbon to protect Gaia".

[Swiss Servator]

Damn, that is eerily realistic sounding.

[Rufus The Monocled]

How about a slap to the side of the head?

It's the greatest gift she'll ever receive.

[Swiss Servator]

"free with $50 donation"

Um....

[BigT]

Know Your IX Know Your Rights Tee

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

I'm down with that one.

[CatoTheChipper]

Know your IX Know Your Rights

The A1911 .45 has better stopping power than the IX mm Parabellum, but I agree with the position on 2A rights. Anyway, I can understand why the Pink Pistols would prefer the IX.

That's what this means, right?

[Azathoth!!]

Yeah, but the shirt's referring to Title IX

[Ken Shultz]

Mar-a-Lago was built with the intention of being a Camp David, but Camp David's got nothing on Mar-a-Lago. Much like living at the the White House is a step down for Melania, Camp David is a step down for Trump.

Here's a story about Trump getting screwed by local government, and Trump fighting back and winning big:

"On October 3, 2006, Trump raised a 20-by-30-foot (6.1 by 9.1 m) American flag on an 80-foot (24 m) flagpole at Mar-a-Lago. Town zoning officials asked Trump to adhere to town zoning codes that limit flagpoles to a height of 42 feet (13 m).[18] This dispute led the town council of Palm Beach to charge Trump $1,250 for every day that the flag stayed up. Trump filed a lawsuit against the Town of Palm Beach.

Trump eventually dropped his lawsuit over the flag, and in exchange the town waived its fines.[19] As part of a court-ordered mediation, Trump was allowed to file for a permit and keep a pole that was both 10 feet (3.0 m) shorter than the original pole and located on a different spot on his lawn. The agreement also required him to donate $100,000 to veterans' charities, as well as resulted in a change to town ordinances allowing out-of-town enrollees in club membership.[20]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar-a-Lago

To bad everybody doesn't have Trump's resources to fight back.

[Ken Shultz]

Some people only need a gardener, a nanny, and a maid.

Other people not so much.

http://media.vanityfair.com/ph.....-hotel.jpg

[Crusty Juggler]

The town council of Palm Beach should try to use eminent domain to steal Trump's home.

[Juice]

That only works on the poor.

[Lee Genes]

If I understand correctly, Trump bought the house and immediately filed a lawsuit to get existing flight paths changed from the local airport so they didn't come near his new abode. So while he may be in the right on the flag, he's a bit of a presumptuous ass as well.

[Ken Shultz]

Oh, thank you for pointing out that Trump isn't a libertarian saint.

Otherwise, I might be in danger of forgetting all about libertarianism and just becoming a Trumpista,

In related news, Orwell was a socialist, Hitchens was a communist, and Ron Paul published some ugly newsletters.

And it's important to remember that because . . . I don't know, but I think it has something to do with tall poppies.

Meanwhile, yeah, Trump isn't a libertarian saint, but he has been screwed by zoning ordinances, fought back, and won.

[Lee Genes]

I'm pointing out that where Trump's interests overlap with a libertarian view of property rights, it's just coincidence. He still approves of Kelo as far as I know.

Unbunch your panties.

[Ken Shultz]

That people's understanding of freedom comes into focus when their rights are being violated isn't coincidence.

That some of our leaders have no conception of economic freedom because they've never been an entrepreneur and, hence, have never had their rights violated in that way is notable.

Just as it's notable that other leaders have had their rights violated that way.

[Swiss Servator]

Lighten up, Francis.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Meanwhile, yeah, Trump isn't a libertarian saint, but he has been screwed by zoning ordinances, fought back, and won.

And?

The National Socialist Party of America was screwed over by a local government, fought back, and won.

[Rich]

ISIS Puts Out Holiday Attack List Of U.S. Churches

*** checks list ***

Whew!

[Princess Trigger]

Worst Christmas carolers ever.

[(((Renegade)))]

Any shuls?

[Citizen X]

I would think every shul is implicitly on the list.

[Swiss Servator]

DID YOU SEE MINE ON THERE???!!!

[robc]

I didnt see the list in the link, can you provide a link to it?

[Rich]

Perhaps DHS has it ....

[Libertarian]

Rand Paul is a politician with a sense of humor. He doesn't stand a chance.

[Jerryskids]

In news from my (red) neck of the woods, the parents of the guy killed by the cops are suing because the pigs they summoned acted like pigs.

The ever-green, always guffaw-inducing money quote:

The two deputies had responded to a desperate 911 call from Chase Sherman's mother, Mary Ann Sherman.
"He's hallucinating; we need help," Mary Ann Sherman pleaded with the operator. "He's going to kill us all if we don't get help."
The Shermans now say they regret calling 911.
"We think about it, and we called them for help," said Kevin Sherman, Chase's father. "And they killed my boy."

[WTF]

Seriously, what the hell were they expecting?

[Monty Crisco]

Telling a cop that someone you are calling them to deal with will "kill us all" is more or less tantamount to saying to the cop "You have permission to kill this person on sight...".
Seriously, people are so fucking naive about the police. The way they are completely ignorant of asset forfeiture laws!

[Rhywun]

Officer Friendly? We sometimes forget that the rest of America has a pretty benevolent view of the police.

[Lee Genes]

He's going to kill us all

That's waving the red flag at the bull.

[Lachowsky]

Rule of thumb.

Never call the police on someone that you would be unhappy to see shot dead.

[Libertarian]

See this? See this people? THIS is common sense gun control.

[Rich]

OK, smart guys -- What is the cause of the glory?

[UnCivilServant]

Well clearly that could never have happened if we didn't invent the airplane, so I blame the Wright Brothers.

[(((Renegade)))]

Hah, I did a junior project on that when I was in college taking Optics. I've smoked so much dope since then that I can't remember.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Whatever it is, I think we can safely blame the Germans.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Remember the Alamo?

[Swiss Servator]

Crushing your enemies, seeing them driven before you and hearing the lamentations of their women?

[BigT]

What is the cause of the glory?

Is that where a guy is on the other side of a wall with a hole in it?

I can't imagine.

[Swiss Servator]

*slow clap*

[bacon-magic]

The Creator showing off.

[0x90]

I would say that it works on the same principle as the rainbow; cloud vapor droplets being effectively spherical, a sort of compound circular prism is produced, centered on your view vector. This is always the case, but it only becomes apparent when your view vector suitably coincides with the direction of the sun's effectively parallel rays.

Standing with the sun at your back, imagine a right triangle with hypotenuse running from your eye to any given droplet, adjacent leg running from your eye along sun's direction, and opposite leg running from the droplet, perpendicular to the adjacent leg.

A ray from the sun enters a given droplet and is partially reflected from the back face of the droplet. For a ray that enters dead-on, no refraction occurs, reflection angle is 180?, and no refraction occurs on exit. However, as we move from the point of perpendicularity across the face of the sphere, rays entering are increasingly refracted, and then increasingly reflected (i.e. they do not enter the sphere at all), as we reach the sphere's periphery, from the point of view of the sun.

When the angle theta is sufficiently small, we observe reflected light, brightening the center of the image. And as the angle increases (i.e. for droplets further and further off-axis), the reflected light is increasingly refracted, with colored bands appearing according to the refraction angle for each wavelength.

There is more to it (e.g. internal reflection), but you get the idea.

[commodious lies and cheats]

I too would be excited to see Hillary run again in 2020.

[UnCivilServant]

She is physically incapable of running. But the Aides carrying her might try...

[straffinrun]

...to roll out a suspicious looking Black woman named ShaMillary Clintson. *Where's Mike? I need a hand here.

[Citizen X]

Don't let Mike's hands touch anything you care about. They're sticky.

[Princess Trigger]

Think if you tied your career to the Clinton family. You're the second assistant minion to a failed political dynasty. All you see is wasteland in your future. Can you reinvent yourself as human? As a productive member of society?

"Fuckit, Chelsea going to run for the next open in seat in the northeast. I ain't got nothing to lose."

[Citizen X]

I have a hard time feeling sorry for apparatchiks like that. You sold your soul a long time ago, you don't get to complain when the devil comes to collect.

[Episteme]

First candidate with giant robot spider legs?

[Crusty Juggler]

The Phenomenon of 'Bud Sex' Between Straight Rural Men

A lot of men have sex with other men but don't identify as gay or bisexual. A subset of these men who have sex with men, or MSM, live lives that are, in all respects other than their occasional homosexual encounters, quite straight and traditionally masculine ? they have wives and families, they embrace various masculine norms, and so on. They are able to, in effect, compartmentalize an aspect of their sex lives in a way that prevents it from blurring into or complicating their more public identities. Sociologists are quite interested in this phenomenon because it can tell us a lot about how humans interpret thorny questions of identity and sexual desire and cultural expectations.

Any of you straight farm boys want to bang?

[commodious lies and cheats]

Not after I've seen your type.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Also, I call BS.

[Gene]

Yep.

[jesse.in.mb]

Dudes hooking up with dudes but hedging on the gay stuff by saying it's just buddies taking care of business or equivalent is not uncommon. The only point where this fails to make a reasonable case is that "bud sex" is somehow distinct from any of the other myriad of terms people have coined for "downlow" sexual behavior of "straight" guys with other dudes.

[straffinrun]

Aren't you usually a PM lynx dude?

[Citizen X]

He hasn't gone to bed yet.

[Swiss Servator]

Jesse contains multitudes.

[jesse.in.mb]

I have a 10am (Pacific) flight. I'm up early, but don't really have a reason to be up *this* early, so here I am.

[straffinrun]

Well, hello to ya.

[jesse.in.mb]

Hi! I used to comment more all over the place, but my schedule changed slightly and PM Links falls right on the edge of my lunch hour so I can fit it in more consistently.

[Crusty Juggler]

I agree. It is probably happens slightly more frequently than it did in the past as well.

[Tonio]

Maybe. I think people are simply more willing to talk about it now. Also, sociologists are probably just now getting around to this fringe of the Gayosphere now that they've researched the center to death.

[Swiss Servator]

*mulls "Gayosphere" over...*

*begins to applaud*

[Heroic Mulatto]

Also, sociologists are probably just now getting around to this fringe of the Gayosphere now that they've researched the center to death.

Actually, they started at the fringe. Tearoom Trade was a seminal study in the field.

[BigT]

Tearoom Trade was a seminal study in the field

phrasing!

[Suthenboy]

I once asked a gay guy what he thought the percentage of guys in the closet is -

"Let me put it this way; You are the only 100% straight guy I know. All of the others, as soon as we are alone, want a blow job. "

I was shocked.

[commodious lies and cheats]

I'm so straight I think it's a little gay when women do it.

[Rhywun]

I think he was pulling your leg.

[Tonio]

And it is arguable whether those guys are indeed gay, or just wanted a really good time. If you are the one catching, then gay. If you are pitching, and close your eyes and think about a woman, then you are just opportunistic.

[Monty Crisco]

It's called repression. Pretty sure its been around a while. If you're a dude and you're blowing dudes, 9 out of 10 times you're gay. I'll make exceptions for prison.

[(((Renegade)))]

What if you're a dude getting blown by dudes? I'm looking at YOU, Los Doyers.

[Los Doyers]

It's not gay if you, uh, don't make eye contact..

[(((Renegade)))]

DAMMIT.

[Crusty Juggler]

Fact: Sustained eye contact establishes uber-masculine dominance, which will force the other guy(s) into a state of homo subservience.

[jesse.in.mb]

That explains more of my average Tuesday night than I care to admit.

[Citizen X]

Isn't A State of Homo Subservience the title of the Hidden Cameras' forthcoming new album?

[Monty Crisco]

I mean, if I could suck my own dick I don't think that would make me gay, because masturbation doesn't make you gay....
But I'm definitely not that limber.
Kinda feel like if you're GETTING blown by dudes that might make you gay, too...
NTTAWWT....

[jesse.in.mb]

Kinda feel like if you're GETTING blown by dudes that might make you gay, too...
NTTAWWT....

That being the norm is surprisingly recent attitude. Prior to an intentional push in the '60s and '70s by gay rights groups, "trade" wouldn't have necessarily been gay identified (by themselves or other gays) just because they were getting blown by a dude in the park. I don't know how their wives identified them if they ever found out though.

[Citizen X]

"Alimony source."

[jesse.in.mb]

I'm picturing every wife of a Republican politician ever caught in a gay sex scandal standing next to her husband at the press conference the next day looking sad, but resolved to support her husband while he gets better.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You have a strange fetish, jesse.

[jesse.in.mb]

Psh. Tell me this doesn't get you rock hard.

From an article titled "Strong and Silent, Craig's wife stood by him"

[Heroic Mulatto]

That's where you're wrong, jesse.

I sexually identify as a meme.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Context matters, damnit.

[Swiss Servator]

*prolonged applause*

[Groovus Maximus]

I don't know how their wives identified them if they ever found out though.

In most cases, "Ex-husband," for starters....

[Tonio]

^This. So much this.

Also, "trade" referred to (self-identified) straight guys who would gladly take sex from a gay man but would not reciprocate. The name comes from the british term for working-class men, "tradesmen," who developed rather a reputation for that.

[commodious lies and cheats]

I mean, if I could suck my own dick I don't think that would make me gay, because masturbation doesn't make you gay....

I am once again going to have to contest this. Sucking one's own dick would indicate one eschewed conventional masturbation in favor of putting a penis in his mouth. I don't think autostimulation by hand is especially gay, but autofellatio certainly is a little fruity.

[Tonio]

Why? If you fantasize about a woman doing it then it's not gay. If you wish it were someone else in your mouth, or a guy doing it to you, then gay.

[Idle Hands]

what if the dude is like really pretty? I'm asking for a friend.

[Tonio]

Gay. I suspect that part of the attraction of bro-sex is that the guys are, well, guys. If they were having sex with self-identified gay men, particularly of the pretty sort, then that would destroy the thin veneer of denial.

[Rasilio]

A lot = "We found a handful of confirmed cases of this and they all assured us it was a pretty common thing and it confirms our bias so we believed them"

[Krabappel]

Eh, I read the article and they actually didn't politicize it and presented it as "this is a thing and it's kind of interesting" but they didn't label the guys as repressed gays or anything like that.

[Tonio]

Rasilio: I'm made uncomfortable by this information, yet I have nothing to offer in the way of refutation.

What numbers would be convincing to you, Rasilio? How big a sample size? What controls?

[commodious lies and cheats]

How big a sample size?

I was assured size doesn't matter.

[Tonio]

[Stands and applauds heartily.]

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

I can't quit you.

[John DeWitt]

What if...sex is just sex?

[Monty Crisco]

DUDE!!! Sex is NEVER just sex.....

[Tonio]

What if...sex is just sex?

WTF is that supposed to mean? Explain to me why this is anything other than a facade of denial. Why does this make you (DeWitt, Rasilio) so uncomfortable?

[John DeWitt]

I'm think I'm the opposite of uncomfortable. The sex of whoever your partner at the time happens to be is irrelevant to how you live the rest of your life. What jibblies you like to rub up against shouldn't define you any more than being a fan of chicken.

[Gadfly]

Yeah, those dudes ain't straight. But it's not surprising that more people would be bisexual, or at least capable of becoming bisexual, than is currently recognized. Reading classical history you find a ton of individuals with both wives and male lovers, so given an accepting culture I would not be surprised to find this become common again.

[Lachowsky]

Hello commentariat.

I just bought a 12 pound rib roast to cook for tomorrow. I'm having a lot of family over. I have never cooked one before. Any suggestions? I figured to just rub salt and pepper on it, cook it in the oven at 450 until it's 125 internal temp and pull it. Was thinking to mix some beef broth and worchestishire with the drippings for au jus. Any pointers would be appreciated. I spent 125 buck on this piece of meat and really don't want to fuck it up.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Salt it, wrap it, and fridge it overnight.

[Crusty Juggler]

That is how you euphemism, people.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Damn skippy.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

(before cooking, that is)

[Just a thought not a sermon]

"cook it in the oven at 450 until it's 125 internal temp"

I'm not the one in charge of cooking at my house but this seems like a high temperature? It seems like for really big hunks of meat my wife usually puts it in at a low temperature (like 250, maybe?) for a longer period of time.

[EDG reppin LBC]

Low and slow. The way to go.

[Princess Trigger]

My method is 225 to 250 for about 2 and half to 3 hours. Then turn it up to 450 for about a half hour or a little more to hit the perfect temp and a nice burn.

Using a night before rub of salt, pepper and experiment with coffee.
Before it goes in I'll slather it with a garlic and brown sugar mix.

[Suthenboy]

"China says it launched a carbon-tracking satellite into space."

Bull. Shit.

[UnCivilServant]

Did they claim to have designed and built it?

[Swiss Servator]

It is tracking the carbon in US spy satellites....

[Certified Public Asshat]

Everyone's Freaking Out Over the Photo This Instagram Fitness Star Posted in Response to an Insecure Fan

When a 16-year-old emailed Instagram fitness star Anna Victoria to tell her that the perfect bodies she sees online have begun to chip away at her self-esteem, the message seriously struck a chord: It prompted Anna to post a makeup-free selfie with her hair undone, and a caption that led her otherwise ordinary picture to rack up more than 20,000 likes and over 500 comments overnight

Pretty girl posts picture of herself without makeup sitting on the floor, still looking pretty. People applaud.

[Zeb]

I like her better without the makeup.

[John]

Me too

[commodious lies and cheats]

Or the clothes.

[straffinrun]

Or consciousness. But I'm a swimmer, so there's that. *JOKE*

[EDG reppin LBC]

You really Dunhamed that one.

[Juice]

No makeup = eyeliner and foundation apparently.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I don't see any belly rolls either, like she mentioned. I see her skin folding when it's compressed, like, you know, skin tends to do because it's flexible. But no "rolls".

[Lee Genes]

Hey, I just got notified that I'm getting my first anti-dumping review from Customs and Border Protection! Merry Fucking Christmas!

[Crusty Juggler]

The law is the law!

[Brett L]

"I'm not dumping, I'm just selling below cost, but I'll make it up on volume."

[invisible furry hand]

Grad Student Association Closes Cafe over Joke Job Posting That Said 'Need a New Slave'

[straffinrun]

Reason had this on Wednesday. You can blame the time lag though. Aren't you guys like 6 days behind the U.S.?

[$park? is totally a Swifty]

Behind? She's posting from the future.

[Groovus Maximus]

The clocks there, like the dunnies, operate in reverse.

[Citizen X]

The toilets flush up?

[Groovus Maximus]

Amoungst other things, yes. And you thought "B'Day" was some genteel, folksy, Aussie greeting.-)

[Tonio]

[squints]

[Haha, charade you are]

"Nearly 70 percent of Democrats polled said they didn't want to see Hillary Clinton run for president again in 2020, while 22 percent said they would be excited by it".

C'mon you wet blankets, it's Her turn!

/s

[commodious lies and cheats]

Shitfaced police lieutenant pulled over for driving drunk. You'll never guess what happened next.

(The stopping officer arrests him.)

[Citizen X]

The drunk officer was reprimanded and given two days of paid leave. The arresting officer was immediately fired.

[Idle Hands]

McNulty?

[Crusty Juggler]

"The fuck did I do?"

[Sevo]

Is there nothing he won't stoop to?

"Speed critics fear Trump brake on safety rule"
[...]
"Highway safety advocates are worried that a government rule that would electronically limit speeds of tractor-trailers could be scuttled or ignored by the administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
The rule proposed by two federal agencies would cap the speed of newly manufactured trucks at 60, 65 or 68 mph. A public comment period ended this month. Safety advocates had petitioned for it in 2006, saying it would make highways safer, and they were hoping it would be in place before the Obama administration leaves office in January."
http://www.sfgate.com/business.....811830.php

Won't someone think of the poor pickups that might nit ever grow to maturity????

[John]

If Trump would do away with the federal highway and car safety regulations he would be the greatest President since Coolidge and any Libertarian who thought otherwise could go to hell.

[CatoTheChipper]

I don't care about federal regulations on cars so much. For him to rank among presidential greats in my book, he'd have to repeal ObamaCare and reverse nonsensical regulations promulgated by EPA on CO2 emissions. Of course, if he could do that, nonsensical federal highway and car safety regulations would be on the same list as abolishing the DOEs, curtailing the CIA and NSA, ending wasteful spending on PBS/NPR, NEA, NEH, and foreign aid of all sorts including military aid, and rationalizing the tax code.

[BYODB]

Of course, these same pricks will bitch endlessly about slow trucks being dangerous and how they need to be outlawed completely after the fact. Because 55mph speed limits were so fucking popular before, right? Now we can force them to obey with computers! For the environment, you red neck fucks!

[Mickey Rat]

And those where the highway speed limit is 70? Would limiting trucks to 60 not be dangerous?

[Private Chipperbot]

SJWs eating their own.

Tilda treated me like her house Asian...

[straffinrun]

She began acting while studying at Cambridge University, where she is also said to have joined the Communist Party, before later switching her allegiances to the Scottish Socialist Party.

No wonder she plays the witch.

[Suthenboy]

Asians are white. Apparently Cho didn't get the memo.

[commodious lies and cheats]

But when *I* say certain races should stick to their own, *I'm* the racist.

[The Grinch]

Yes Dems, run Hillary again. Fuckin' hilarious.

[CatoTheChipper]

I hope the Democratic Party will nominate Hillary in 2020. But, for now, I hope that they will name Keith Ellison as DNC Chairperson. No other candidate comes to mind who would so perfectly represent the values of the 21st century Democratic Party. (However, I confess that can't think of any transgender, differently-abled Muslim Democrats.)

I sincerely wish them both the best of success in achieving their ambitions for leadership of the Democrat Party.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Just looked at Rand's list of examples waste. Too bad he didn't include the most hilarious one.

[american socialist]

You know how many dollars I've received from the U.S. government to directly or indirectly kill Muslims in the ME? Zero.

[Sevo]

You know how many fucks are given about you? Zero.

[american socialist]

I'm just saying there's a whole bunch of "libertarians" here who have absolutely no problem with tax dollars that go for killing another person, but will bitch and bitch and bitch about those same tax dollars going to put food on some poor person's table. Something's wrong here.

[Sevo]

You know how many fucks are given about you? Zero

[Mickey Rat]

National defense is the federal government's job. Feeding people is not,

[Sevo]

You bother to read the tripe asswipe posts? Takin' one for the TEAM!

[commodious lies and cheats]

Useful gift for a couple with a one-year-old? Otherwise I'll just put together a mimosa basket.

[Private Chipperbot]

Booze and diapers.

[bacon-magic]

If I don't get to post later:
Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays
Happy Festivus
Merry Fuckmas
To all of you!

[Free Society]

Yuletide greetings to you, sir.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Warty has totally been domesticated. Somewhere out there is video of the big browbeat pussy buying diapers clutching that hernia operation he whined aboout months and months at o dark 30. Of which I would pay to see for any entrepreneurn out there. /Neslon Ha Ha. " He buys the cheap ones. loser"

[Heroic Mulatto]

I'm curious. What has Warty ever done to you, specifically, to warrant such invidiousness?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

Two words:

Rape. Dungeon.

[Troy muy grande boner]

His mere oresence is an ambonation to anything that would call itself good moral character. If we blood tested his..... ahem.....significant other (not Sugarfree, his female one),. Would we find enough roofies down the running of the Kentucky Derby? But to answer your question.

Three words:. Warty without lube.

[Citizen X]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your newfound ability to sit on a fire hydrant.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Nearly 70 percent of Democrats polled said they didn't want to see Hillary Clinton run for president again in 2020

Sounds like Democrats have learned a valuable lesson here.

[Monty Crisco]

Now that one is pretty sweet....

[straffinrun]

Piece of art. Needs a "Baby on Board" sticker in the rear window.

[WTF]

I saw a Pinto back in the day that someone had dropped a 429 Cobra Jet engine into.

[Citizen X]

IF THIS CAR'S A-ROCKIN'
I'M DOING COKE TO DOKKEN

[Rhywun]

Needs a "Baby on Board" sticker in the rear window.

That didn't become a thing until the 80's.

[WTF]

^This. You can't fail with the reverse sear method.

[invisible furry hand]

Thanks for pointing us to that resource Tundra

[Brett L]

I second that food lab recommendation.

[Lachowsky]

I read that last night. looks interesting. I may try that.

[Krabappel]

We use that recipe for rib roast and it turns out awesome every time.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Good advice, other than the rotisserie.

[Rufus The Monocled]

YOU PEOPLE ARE IMPOSSIBLE!

[Citizen X]

She's okay. I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers.

[Certified Public Asshat]

He's right though

I used to think squats were the only way to grow your glutes and it wasn't until I started designing FBG and experimenting with a wide variety of glute targeted exercises and rep/sets that I finally started seeing progress.

She has forsaken the squat. Although her butt still looks pretty good in that picture.

[Lee Genes]

Dokken, there's a band I haven't heard of in a while.

*muses about leather overcoats and hair mousse*