Carrie Fisher's Death Closes Out a Grim 2016, Defending 'White Genocide' Professor: P.M. Links

• 

  Brian Jordan/ZUMA Press/Newscom

  Actress and author Carrie Fisher, who portrayed Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movies and 2015's The Force Awakens, has died. It strikes me that Leia was one of the first fictional characters from my childhood whose goal was to overthrow a tyrannical government and put an end to its destructive public works projects. She will be missed.

• It sure feels like 2016 has been a particularly grim year for celebrity deaths.
• Thomas Sowell has announced his retirement.
• The case against the Universal Basic Income.
• An unqualified defense of the "white genocide" Drexel University professor.
• The Israeli ambassador has threatened to give information to President-Elect Trump about President Obama's complicity in the UN vote.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

2016, I recognized your foul stench.

[Slammer]

Slave Bikini Fisher was an common fap back then

[Ted S.]

"an common"?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

It's on the Top 100 All-Time Fap list.

[TheZeitgeist]

C3PO not too far down same list.

[Slammer]

He had like six million forms of autism

[Sour Kraut]

An early entry on the all time list. Baby got back.

[R C Dean]

Needed moar screen time.

[Groovus Maximus]

The p@ssword, dear Counselor, is, "Pause Button."

[{|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>]

The years were not kind to her...

[Trigger Warning]

An common, an hero, whatever.

[SchillMcGuffin]

The earlier "Beach Blanket Bimbo from Outer Space" Bikini Fisher guest hosting SNL was even hotter, IMHO.

[Austrian Anarchy]

A finer salute to women's progress I have never seen.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

An hello to you too!

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

First comment thread winner, btw.

[Mr Drew]

So, really, no one is gonna comment on Robbie's headline? Fisher's death closes out grim 2016? There are like 4 days left! Goodbye Mel Gibson! GHW Bush. That Fonz guy...is he still alive?

The possibilities are vast.

[ant1sthenes]

If we're losing coke fiends, I think Tim Allen is done for. Though, not so much a "beloved" celeb, so maybe not. But it would be the last nail in the coffin for a Galaxy Quest sequel.

[Episteme]

The author of Watership Down too, for those who like rabbits...

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Nope, no-one's going to comment on it.

[Charles Easterly]

You may not believe this, H-V,H-V,

Yet (the generally unpopular-on-H&R) PB himself implied similar thoughts on an earlier thread.

I would have given him praise for the observation except I returned to the computer far too late.

Thus, Sir or Madam, you receive the first acknowledgement.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Here?

Palin's Buttplug doesn't have original thoughts... just marching orders.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Here?

Palin's Buttplug doesn't have original thoughts... just marching orders.

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

The Squirrels must have marching orders to duplicate my comments, too.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Don't worry, Fist; we will deal with your favorite celebrities soon enough.

[Fist of Etiquette]

BILL SHATNER WILL NEVER DIE HE'S IN THE NEXIS

[Crusty Juggler]

Tori Spelling and Billy Joel will die in 2017?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Actress and author Carrie Fisher, who portrayed Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movies and 2015's The Force Awakens, has died.

I don't know. May the hearse be with you? Does that work?

[Slammer]

Darth Fist, only you could be so bold

[bacon-magic]

I hate you.
.
.
.
No I don't, but I sure do hate your commenting skillz.

[Groovus Maximus]

Yep. Millions of emojis have cried out in terror...

**removes Boushh helmet**

....and were suddenly silenced.

[TheZeitgeist]

Actress and author Carrie Fisher, who portrayed Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movies and 2015's The Force Awakens, has died.

Punch it, Chewie.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Is that the world famous Pennsylvanian humor on display there?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Who's 'scruffy-looking'?

[Rufus The Monocled]

That is not a nice thing to say about Hillary's cunt.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You know, I can only hope that someone here riffs off my death when I finally kick it next year.

[Groovus Maximus]

Are you kidding? I'll make a special trip just to be Fist to piss on your grave...

(I am truly joking, Fist. I have little doubt you will stubbornly keep keepin' on....)

[Fist of Etiquette]

Well, now you just jinxed it. But anyway the joke's on you because my headstone will be a trough.

[Trigger Warning]

I thought Fist was already dead.

[Charles Easterly]

I thought Fist was already dead.

A Number One (A.K.A. "The Duke of New York") and a couple of others fell in to the same false sense of security, TW, and you remember how they ended up, do you not?

[R C Dean]

A particularly piquant send-off for Denial, the Angry Prostate.

[Lee Genes]

He was found in his undies, alone in a closet adjoining the Reason server room surrounded by empty Jolt Cola cans and clutching a copy of "How to be Witty"

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

So, he died as he lived?

[Tonio]

Body gnawed by squirrels?

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Likely have some more CGI in store for Episode IX.

[Groovus Maximus]

Good God.....I can hardly wait for Episode IX Star Wars: The XX Cloned Chromosomal Menace Awokens, Returns, and Strikes Back at XY

[Austrian Anarchy]

I love you.

[Hayeksplosives]

I know.

/Han

[bacon-magic]

It sure feels like 2016 has been a particularly grim year for celebrity deaths.

Fixed the way you really wanted to type it, Robbo.

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

I wonder if it is for celeb deaths or are these just all of the celebs we know and remember, so it seems like a lot?

[Charles Easterly]

I wonder if it is for celeb deaths or are these just all of the celebs we know and remember, so it seems like a lot?

The answer might be 42.

Seriously, Coop, your question(s) remind me of similar thoughts which I had when I was a different age and hearing of numerable famous and otherwise familiar deaths, in a time that seems, well, a long time ago....

[Rat]

They just couldn't follow through on their promises to move to Canada if Trump won. Dying is a face saving out.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

The case against the Universal Basic Income.

If everyone gets x dollars per month, x is the new zero.

[TheZeitgeist]

I hear in Venezuela, even the dogs are millionaires!

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

What happens when you double your money?

[Fist of Etiquette]

An unqualified defense of the "white genocide" Drexel University professor.

As always, switch the colors and see if it seems racist.

[bacon-magic]

I love that game!

[Groovus Maximus]

Silly bacon! Everyone knows 'White' isn't a recognised tint, shade, or hue, on the SJW Colour Wheel.

[SIV]

It is in the Crayola box. They used to call it "flesh".

[Groovus Maximus]

The SJW Colour Wheel and The Crayola Box colours are incongruent, SIV. Robby Horses told me so.

Just like how he claimed conservatives were shouting so-called "Trans-slurs" in colleges - without any links or quotes from actual stories in a totes Sabrina Erdley move, I might add - just like the SJWs (who, apparently, studied more actual biology than Robby did) who were demonstrably shouting down - complete with epithets - that director for not being an biologically authentic SJW, essentially.

[kbolino]

The problem is not the kinds of speech that get an "unqualified defense", but the kinds that don't.

[Clich? Bandit]

Read that article...i dare you...These people truly define projection. Imax should buy them all up to understand better projection.

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

(little girl whisper) "It's the mirrors."

[C. Anacreon]

I'm glad I never bought me one of them teevees. Never trusted that mirror concept. What if a soprano shattered them all?

[Cyto]

More than that, this was the exact opposite of an unqualified defense.

He literally says "I don't like this guy personally, but he's a fellow progressive and therefore I'm going to defend him..... because it is really important that this kind of unprecedented attack on free speech by professors by those nasty right wing folks be repelled".

It is the most heavily qualified defense you are likely to see, and one completely unfettered by a knowledge of the context of the PC police that explains the reaction from "the alt right".

Nobody gives a rat's butt what this guy has to say. They are just pointing out the hypocrisy of the left in not condemning him.

Which makes it all the more rich that this writer goes out of the way to point out how much of a fellow progressive the professor is. That was kinda the point of the gnashing of teeth.

[Karl Hungus]

As always, switch the colors and see if it seems racist.

True. But when the perpetrator looks like Giovanni Ribisi from Ted, it becomes a whole lot less outrageous and a lot more funny.

[Karl Hungus]

Dammit.

http://tinyurl.com/zx8l8gx

[Fist of Etiquette]

Whoa. Definitely does.

[Ted S.]

+1 Carl Paladino

[Austrian Anarchy]

What FOE said.

To all the people who think we have turned some metaphorical corner in the PC world, just realize that this crap was theorized and laughed at in the 1980s and earlier. Now it is every day bullshit. All of it was the notion that certain people got to use certain words, and others could not.

Before it was isolated to the Donahue show and Sunday night radio, now it has escaped to general population.

[Ted S.]

I'd like to be so creative when I'm 86.

[Slammer]

He took some great photos as well

[Austrian Anarchy]

At least we can still read Dr. Walter E. Williams.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It sure feels like 2016 has been a particularly grim year for celebrity deaths.

Celebrity or not, you're not getting out of this life alive.

[bacon-magic]

46 & 2 motherfucker.

[{|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>]

One small step towards Arizona Bay.

[Lachowsky]

Learn to swim

[Charles Easterly]

46 & 2

I posted this on aH&R thread several months ago, and I thank you for my excuse to post it again under "CE remains impressed".

[Hyperion]

Isn't there a law about kids playing with this sort of Satanic backwards lyrics type of devil music? There should be a law!

[Charles Easterly]

Isn't there a law about kids playing with this sort of Satanic backwards lyrics type of devil music? There should be a law!> Al and Tipper Gore (among a great many others) still approve of this sentiment.

[Episteme]

Eh, some of us have already died and come back in this life (long story)...

[__Warren__]

Can you imagine Star Wars if they were traveling on the Millennial Falcon?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Is this a bit? Are you about to jump into a standup routine?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I'd be like, "And what is with all the space food?!"

And they'd be all like, eye role, looks at phone.

[Ted S.]

Which role are you eying?

[Charles Easterly]

Gluten-Free Roles?

[Episteme]

"Shoot the TIE Fighters!"

*plays on phone as ship is destroyed by TIE Fighters*

[TheZeitgeist]

M. Night epic where at end of show audience realizes it was just in Pajama Boy's room the whole time.

[__Warren__]

Are you trying to enact my labor?

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Now, Han flies the Falcon like this, while Lando flies the Falcon like thiiiis.

[Fist of Etiquette]

This guy gets it.

[Slammer]

Literally made the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs

[Bee Tagger]

With the aid of how many hot dogs?

[Domestic Dissident]

The Millennial Falcon would never have even made it out of the garage, much less ever been able to make the jump into hyperspace!

[Crusty Juggler]

More like Perennial Fart Gun, am I right?

[Austrian Anarchy]

Is that what the kids call those stupid resonators these days?

[Pompey: Ho Class Mothersmucker]

Chortle. Well done.

[EDG reppin LBC]

^^^ Crusty makes me laugh.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I bet they'd loving killing Stormtroopers and overthrowing the Empire.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

It's called The Force Awakens.

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

The Force Awokens.

[David Emami]

Well, Luke did manage to whine like a millennial at times.

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

Well, Luke did manage to whine like a millennial at times.

"Why can't you outrun 'em? I thought you said this thing was fast!"

"What's that flashing?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Why are we still moving towards it??"

"WILL YOU FORGET ABOUT IT I TRIED IT ALREADY IT'S MAGNETICALLY SEALED!!"

[Groovus Maximus]

BUT I WAS GOING TO TOSHI STATION TO PICK UP SOME POWER CONVERTERS!!!!

[Libertarian]

What you stupid, stupid libertarians don't realize is that without Universal Basic Income, how are people going to repay their student loans? Didn't think of THAT, did you?

[John Titor]

how are people going to repay their student loans?

Stripping and/or Whoring?

[R C Dean]

Or, retailing mood-enhancement, umm, nutrients.

[Hyperion]

Mood enhancing nutrients... yes, I like what you did there.

[Juvenile Bluster]

I've said before that a UBI actually wouldn't be a bad thing if it was coupled with the elimination of all other welfare programs. It would certainly be far cheaper.

But we all know it would not replace other welfare programs, it would add to them.

[Libertarian]

Go home, Milton, you're drunk. 🙂

[R C Dean]

I have to disagree.

Beyond reinforcing the corrosive message that you don't have to be self-sufficient, that you are entitled to be supported by others if you so desire, there's the political reality that the UBI will be under relentless upward pressure from the entitlement class, and will be a handy hook for the authoritarian class to hang their social engineering schemes from (no smoking, drug testing, you name it).

[kbolino]

will be a handy hook for the authoritarian class to hang their social engineering schemes from

The whole purpose of the U in UBI is that no one can be disqualified from it. It's a political pipe dream and economically foolish for the inflationary consequences, but part of the definition is no discrimination*. Although, that having been said, the definition is what lawmakers decide it is not what some theorist says it should be, and I'm sure they can invent all kinds of technicalities whereby the state can fuck with you without actually "depriving" you of that income.

* = Except, perhaps, in the matter of citizenship and age

[Hyperion]

One day we'll have no choice but to do something unappealing in some way or other. Most jobs are going away, they'll be automated. So you either create 'make work' bullshit jobs for the unskilled, or you give them UBI. Either way, it will be corrupted, bloated, and full of cronyism. I'd just as soon pay them to stay home and out of trouble. And fucking legalize all drugs now. Unambitious people will just get stoned and play video games, it's a WIN/WIN.

[PurityDiluting]

Universal Basic Income hand waves over the notion of marginal value added.
What Universal Economic Value did one produce in return for receiving the Universal Basic Income?

Crickets

[buybuydandavis]

Response to charge that Lockean Proviso no longer holds?

Crickets

[kbolino]

Response to charge that Lockean Proviso no longer holds?

1. How so?
2. What is the consequence if so?

[kbolino]

I find the "argument" that automation leaves no work left behind for the vast majority utterly absurd. People have to be able to afford the shit that automation produces. The utility of automation has an upper bound (albeit, the exact line is transient).

[Akira]

"I find the "argument" that automation leaves no work left behind for the vast majority utterly absurd. People have to be able to afford the shit that automation produces."

Agreed. The doomsayers must also contend with the fact that as production becomes more automated, things become cheaper and cheaper, and this in turn causes an increase in prosperity. As prosperity increases, the impetus to have more and more children decreases since it's no longer tied to your economic well-being.

Once this occurs, we would probably see a return to the days of one breadwinner per household. And each household would most likely include two spouses, aged parents, several kids, and perhaps a few other straggler relatives.

And the fact remains that there will always be things that cannot be automated... Arts, literature, competitive sports, recreation, personal therapy, education (mostly) and many others. These are the enjoyable pursuits that "make us human", as the economist Tom Woods described it. So go ahead - let the robots take our burger-flipping and car-welding jobs. They can have them. We'll stick with the jobs that can only be done well with the human touch.

I think the only thing to worry about is some faux-populist demagogue whipping up fear about mass unemployment, then pushing some moronic "full employment forever" plan that will freeze human progress in place (if not roll it back a few centuries).

[Episteme]

Of course, said jobs will still be stanfleholded by SJWs, leading to an angry Skynet...

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Most jobs are going away, they'll be automated.

Big giant MEH on that one. Jobs aren't going away any time soon.

[Lurk Diggler]

I don't see why people believe this. Electricity killed more jobs than automation ever will and yet employment remains the same as always. We stopped paying people to pick cucumbers and started paying people to make cars or whatever else we wanted.

People's desire for stuff is limitless.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

Most jobs are going away, they'll be automated.

Bullshit, pure unmitigated bullshit. That's been a meme since the sabot throwers, and yet somehow we have made more and more better paying jobs ever since.

[Robert]

But the process of replacement of labor by machinery has been going on for centuries, and it's never led to a situation where there's no work to be done. If it hasn't happened before, why would you expect it any time soon?

[DenverJ]

Because of the coming technological changes. I won't use the word singularity, but the theory has points. One of those points is that, with self replicating nanobots, the price of goods drops steeply, to the point where the phrase "post-scarcity" begins to describe reality. Of course, demand will always outpace supply, since demand will always be infinite and we live in a finite universe. But, at some point it becomes a distinction without a difference.
I suppose augmented humanity might invent new careers, and probably will, but Homo Sapiens 1.0 is running out of things that only they can do. Sure, not tomorrow, but maybe sooner than you think.

[kbolino]

One of those points is that, with self replicating nanobots, the price of goods drops steeply, to the point where the phrase "post-scarcity" begins to describe reality.

There's just that little problem of the laws of thermodynamics getting in the way.

[DenverJ]

The laws of thermodynamics don't proscribe self replicating nano manufacturing. At nano scale, efficiency increases by orders of magnitude. A cell can replicate using extremely small and efficient processes.

[Threedoor]

Don't tell Bailey this.

[R C Dean]

part of the definition is no discrimination

That's nice. You will note that I referred to "political reality".

[kbolino]

I got that part. But a true believer would stress the universality of it. To which you should ask, how much less than the ideal will you accept just to get closer to what you want?

See: ACA vs. single-payer

[Sevo]

With the added feature of contributing to inflation, since we're now increasing the money supply absent any increase in production.

[Hyperion]

This is why you repeal the income tax and do a flat consumption tax. I plan to open a 24/7 cannabis, booze, and munchies shop in every UBI hood that I can.

[Libertarian]

+1 Baptists and bootleggers

[Robert]

Who said there wouldn't be an increase in prod'n? Wasn't that the assumption: that machines were doing the jobs?

[Hyperion]

Thank you sir, and exactly this.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

I think JB's point was more to the fact it would be better than the current method of Welfare, which also has all the downsides you list (and more!!)

[OneOut]

Too many recipients would be broke a week after their check comes in so we have to make accommodations for them ?

UBI plus Extracare $$$$ for the win.

[C. Anacreon]

Too many recipients would be broke a week after their check comes in

This is exactly the case and why this would never work.

In every ER I've worked in (and confirmed by colleagues in every other site) the first few days of the month are pretty slow. Then, around the 6th or 7th of the month, people start coming in with alcohol withdrawal, or wanting residential treatment for heroin, or are suicidal, or a bunch of other things. Common factor among them is they've all burned up their disability checks for the month (on drugs, booze, hookers, etc) and they are now turning to the hospital to take care of them for the rest of the month.

If you have patients in the hospital on 'check day' -- typically the first of the month -- the majority of patients are begging for discharge so the can go get their money, and start the cycle all over again.

If you had a UBI, we'd still have all these people with no money after a few days, and then sob stories in the media about "why can't we do something to help these people" -- so all the social services, food stamps, free housing, and other freebies would still be in demand by the ever-so-helpful politicians. UBI would just be another new benefit on top of everything else we already have -- they wouldn't allow it to replace one damn thing.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

There are any number of clever, reasonable arguments to be made for the UBI. As there was for social 'insurance,' a national health service, mandatory service, etc.

"Judging things on their merits with an open mind fatefully attracts open minds."

[Crusty Juggler]

Wonderful quote.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

My main boy talkin' about utilitarianism. Though he has better lines when attacking Karl Popper in particular:

What is ultimately unfalsifiable, immune to rational criticism and useless except as a piece of gratuitous self-expression, is the stand-alone, ad hoc value judgment. The latter tends to be pragmatic, eclectic, and is not inserted into a coherent hierarchy. ...they cannot be tested for formal consistency either, because they are not part of any system and need in no way fit in with the logical structure of one. They escape the requirements of coherence, of mutual consistency.

The upshot of this for political philosophy is that we should treat protestations of pragmatism, disavowals of doctrine, negations of ideological bias as the shrillest of alarm signals. They should warn us that we are being stalked by the unfalsifiable. They foreshadow the stealthy creep of a programme of piecemeal action radiating irrefutable good sense and good will; a programme that is easy to accept and churlish to disparage; a set of least-cost, least-pain solutions to our ills that risks to be debilitating in its cumulative effects. I am, of course, referring to social democracy.

[Crusty Juggler]

Thank you.

[R C Dean]

Reminds me of a fishing guide I had once who said, in a perfect deadpan "Fish are attracted to water."

[Hyperion]

Yeah, I've said the same thing, just do away with the entire bureaucracy and cut everyone a check. The same check, no progressive shit. You want more, work for it.

But as others have said, we aren't getting rid of the current bureaucracy, so it's a no go.

[OneOut]

Many of the recipients would be broke in a week after blowing their checks.

Woke proggies wouldn't stand for the pooooor to starve in the streets now would they ?

People who could, but decide not to, provide for themselves aren't the same kind of people who can budget out their money to last a whole week, much less a month.

Maybe we could send them a daily direct deposit ?

Landlords could charge by the day ?

[DenverJ]

Why not? This is almost 2017. It would take a competent programmer a week to do it, so the feds could get it done in 10 years or so.

[Lurk Diggler]

Maybe a program where bags of rice and water are stored at a warehouse for those that want them. Since nobody who's poor has any interest in those things it might occur to people that the starving Americans are a myth.

[JayU]

Would it, though?

If you give all 320 million people 10,000 a year, that's $3.2T. The entire federal budget is about $4T and $10,000 isn't a worthwhile amount of money.

I don't see how the math works out to it being "far cheaper."

[Lurk Diggler]

First print more money, then pass a law to make more stuff free. Problem solved. Also don't make so many types of deodorant.

[Hyperion]

You don't give children money. You give it only to adults, and also don't pay adults for having more children, which is something we do now. No doubt government cannot pull off anything like UBI, they can't pull off anything without fucking it up, no matter how simple it could be.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

There are something like 120-150M households. $10K each would only be $1.2-1.T. And that doesn't compare to $4T federal budget but to the $8T combined federal, state, and local budgets.

The first UBI I saw was as "prebate" checks under the fair tax, calculated to match the fair tax on basic necessities (food, clothes). In that sense, I don't think it would be inflationary. The reduced government bureaucracy (ha ha) would make up for the extra UBI sent out.

Still think it sucks. All government "charity" sucks. It assumes people don't care about each other enough to provide human-to-human charity, and does everything in its power to enforce that attitude. See, e.g., cities forbidding people feeding the poor with the excuse that no one is regulating its salt content.

[Akira]

"All government "charity" sucks."

It also forces people to support methods of "charity" that they may not believe to be moral or effective. For instance, many government welfare programs are not bundled with a requirement to find gainful employment. Why do I have to support these programs if I can think of a dozen charities that would get better results by tying the benefits to an incentive for work?

Herbert Spencer - in his book Social Statics if I remember right - pointed out that the government has no place in dictating how people must worship, and asked why it is then appropriate to dictate to them how they must undertake their charitable efforts.

Government "charity" is a one-size-fits-all approach with little possibility or incentive for improvement.

[Threedoor]

Have I told any of you libertarians that this is exactly why I love you?

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

My Pa and I debate about UBI all the time, and we're both solid libertarians.*

*he argues in favor

[buybuydandavis]

Listen to your elders!

[Akira]

Nothing wrong with that.

I can certainly understand the passion and enthusiasm of libertarian "purists". But the fact is, no positive and lasting change happens overnight. It's a slow process moving from our current bureaucracy to a minimalist state and then to a totally stateless society. Making the transition is going to mean taking baby steps. That might entail replacing the entire welfare system with the UBI... And even THAT might be too big of a step.

In short: yes, the UBI is redistributionist bullshit, but it's less bullshit than what we have now. It's one tiny step towards getting the government out of everyone's lives.

[buybuydandavis]

On the moral case for UBI from a libertarian perspective, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geolibertarianism

For the calcs on a plan for UBI, from the libertarian Charles Murray, see
In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State

Paine's argument, from Agrarian Justice

It is a position not to be controverted that the earth, in its natural, cultivated state was, and ever would have continued to be, the common property of the human race. In that state every man would have been born to property. He would have been a joint life proprietor with rest in the property of the soil, and in all its natural productions, vegetable and animal.
But the earth in its natural state, as before said, is capable of supporting but a small number of inhabitants compared with what it is capable of doing in a cultivated state. And as it is impossible to separate the improvement made by cultivation from the earth itself, upon which that improvement is made, the idea of landed property arose from that parable connection; but it is nevertheless true, that it is the value of the improvement, only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property.
Every proprietor, therefore, of cultivated lands, owes to the community a ground-rent (for I know of no better term to express the idea) for the land which he holds; and it is from this ground-rent that the fund proposed in this plan is to issue.

[buybuydandavis]

Lockean Proviso

Nor was this appropriation of any parcel of land, by improving it, any prejudice to any other man, *since there was still enough and as good left*, and more than the yet unprovided could use. So that, in effect, there was never the less left for others because of his enclosure for himself. For he that leaves as much as another can make use of, does as good as take nothing at all. Nobody could think himself injured by the drinking of another man, though he took a good draught, who had a whole river of the same water left him to quench his thirst. And the case of land and water, where there is enough of both, is perfectly the same.
??Second Treatise of Government, Chapter V, paragraph 33

[John Titor]

Thomas Sowell has announced his retirement.

Godspeed, noble sir. I may have disagreed with some of your political opinions outside of economics, but your contribution was substantial and impressive. Hopefully you have many more years of complaining about how you didn't have air conditioning back in your day.

[Rufus The Monocled]

A progressive once told me, 'Sowell is an idiot.'

Which means he's awesome.

[Rhywun]

86?! How long has he been grasping to that stock photo of his?

[TheZeitgeist]

Black don't crack.

[John Titor]

Last Hoover Institute interview I saw with him he looked about the same, just more wrinkly.

He should have just kept the old photo.

[Juvenile Bluster]

On Carrie Fisher, a reminder of why she was so awesome: Her response to Disney getting rid of Slave Leia (bikini) toys:

WSJ: There's been some debate recently about whether there should be no more merchandise with you in the "Return of the Jedi" bikini.

Fisher: I think that's stupid.

WSJ: To stop making the merchandise?

Fisher: The father who flipped out about it, "What am I going to tell my kid about why she's in that outfit?" Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and then I killed him because I didn't like it. And then I took it off. Backstage.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I truly loathe parents who say 'what am I supposed to tell my kids?' It masks their inability to parent. Idiots.

That crap reached dizzying heights after Trump was elected. It said a lot about parents who uttered it. Idiots.

Idiots.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

IDIOTS!

[Hyperion]

It's their fucking problem what they're going to tell their kids. If they can't handle that, they should learn to keep their pants on or get an abortion.

[Ted S.]

How dare people like beautiful things.

[{|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>]

How dare people like beautiful things.

"Ted S. treats objects like women, man."

[R C Dean]

The few times I saw her interviewed/not acting, she seemed like a pretty sharp cookie with her head on more or less straight.

[SIV]

Carrie Fisher had to keep getting her head soldered back on.

[Fist of Etiquette]

His kid probably didn't turn out to be gay because of that outfit! (That's how it works, right?)

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

Fisher: The father who flipped out about it, "What am I going to tell my kid about why she's in that outfit?" Tell them that a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit, and then I killed him because I didn't like it.

The father: Jabba forced you to wear it? Ah-HA! The patriarchy at work! Still, if we show that scene, we will be promoting the further successes of the patriarchy!

Fisher: (rolls eyes at the father, who weeps uncontrollably in response)

[dschwar]

Oh, for a behind the scenes featurette on the Blu-Ray with that moment.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

Fisher murdered Lucas? Then who made the prequels?

[Lee Genes]

a giant slug captured me and forced me to wear that stupid outfit

That's no way to talk about George.

[commodious lies and cheats]

Heh.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Pretty noble of Ms. Lee to defend that idiot. She's right but a) he wasn't joking if his pattern of making such comments are to be trusted and b) see if he ever returns the favor because it seems to me the left and their M.O. is to shut down people they disagree with.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Be better than them. I know they wouldn't protect my right to free speech and I'm still willing to protect theirs.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Yes. Principles. It's all we've got.

[The Fusionist]

RIP, Carrie Fisher, but there's always Diego Luna.

[GILMORE?]

An unqualified defense of the "white genocide" Drexel University professor.

I do not like George Ciccariello-Maher.

As with most of my comrades, I first "met" him online, probably through some ridiculous ultra-leftist Facebook group that I can't remember but likely left due to irreconcilable infighting over, I don't know? speculation over how Bordiga would have felt about pornography. I found George very rude and condescending. He felt the need to "warn" me about my more "problematic" friends, which I consider a sort of sexist paternalism. I didn't like his politics, which I found shallow and histrionic, or his passive aggression, which I found cowardly. Also, as a highly judgmental person who refuses to consort with anyone who is less than very cool or charming, I decided that the white guy academic who wrote "Brechtian Hip-Hop Didactics and Self-Production in Post-Gangsta Political Mixtapes" was a tryhard nerd. Perhaps most unforgivably, his jokes were unfunny. Not offensive in any way?just unfunny.

But none of this matters, because George is under attack.

That's "unqualified"?

She also qualifies her defense by admitting she's also a screaming radical-leftist herself, and that the main reason he deserves a defense is because BAD PEOPLE ARE SAYING BAD THINGS ABOUT HIM - not because 'free speech' blah blah blah

[GILMORE?]

The rule is: nobody should be punished by their employer for the dumb jokes they make online.

I'm guessing this wasn't the line she broke out on behalf of Justine Sacco

[Juvenile Bluster]

Bingo.

It's fucking words. If you're triggered by words, go fuck yourself.

(is that unqualified enough?)

[Lurk Diggler]

So saying words back is also bad?

[Mr. Paulbotto]

Eerhmahgerrhd yerr serrhch an atherriterrian therrhg!!

/Hihn

[John Titor]

It's Robby. Words mean than mean something to normal people mean something else to him. Must be that lack of a journalism degree.

[colorblindkid]

The whole outrage over the "White Genocide" thing, as with almost all fake outrage from the right, is not about the language itself, only the double standards. Most people know that he's being sarcastic, but they are absolutely right that had it been a similar situation from another political point of view there would be lynch mobs and instant firing. That's what many don't get about the difference between left and right false outrage. The people actually offended on the right are a tiny part of the overall outrage, whereas on the left everybody is actually offended.

[R C Dean]

Most people know that he's being sarcastic

Pretty sure he's not, actually.

You're bang on, as far as the double standard goes.

[CatoTheChipper]

This is the same guy who:

1) Praises the massacre of all white men, women, and children during the Haitian Revolution. Of course, the women were raped before they murdered.

2) Says "I'm not alt-left; I'm an actual communist."

3) Tweets "Makes communism brutal again." He's a history professor, so he knows what that means.

Of course he was joking. And the joke is on Drexel donors and alumni.

[Hyperion]

No, that's not sarcasm. You need to get your sarcasm meter calibrated.

[Free Society]

Maybe it was sarcasm, maybe it wasn't. What is certain is that anti-white racism is common and so widely accepted and so widely repeated, it makes it hard to tell if that person is being sarcastic or not. Calling for the deaths of my blonde haired blue eyed children is, in fact, quite fashionable of late. And yes it is a double standard and one that sets a very dangerous precedent in our culture.

For all the talk of how crazy white supremacists nationalists are for caring about the issue of "white genocide", there sure is a shit ton of people that openly support it without apology.

[OneOut]

"anti-white racism is common and so widely accepted and so widely repeated,"

It is not.

It is cheered and applauded and oh so coooool !

[Bill Dalasio]

I might believe it was satire if he'd left it at the one comment. He followed up, citing the Haitian Slave Revolt as a good thing. Would you say a guy calling to "kill all the n**gers" was just joking? Maybe. What if he cited Leopold in the Congo as a fine role model? He said vile shit because he believes vile shit.

He still has a right to say his vile shit. But, people shouldn't pretend that somehow what he was saying had any merit.

[dajjal]

If you can't laugh at the people who tell you to take it down then it wasn't satire. The Drexel prof was inciting violence and providing cover for inciting violence and should be fired.

[DenverJ]

Holy shit, that's twice today the broken clock was right!

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Carrie Fisher's Death Closes Out a Grim 2016

We have 4 days left! Don't jinx us!

[The Fusionist]

Nothing bad could possibly happen for the remainder of this year.

[John Titor]

BREAKING: KEITH DAVID AND MICHAEL IRONSIDE HIT BY BUS, KURT RUSSELL ATTEMPTS TO SAVE THEM BUT DIES OF INJURIES.

[{|}===[|}:;:;:;:;:;:;:>]

I'd fund a spec script on the basis of that, smells like a summer film.

[Rat]

Chuck Norris died, but Death hasn't built up the courage to tell him.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

That Super Volcano is blowing New Years Eve, callin' it!

[R C Dean]

Actually, the volcano near Naples is getting kinda frisky . . . .

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

I know....

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

I just need the members of Duran Duran to survive until Jan 2. Hope they're living inside a sterile bubble for the next few days.

[Groovus Maximus]

Worry not, Kristen - I have LeBon, The Taylors, and even Nick Rhodes, all hooked up to formaldehyde drips to make sure they make to 2017.

Now, Phil Collins, OTOH.... well, that one is less predictable....

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Phil Collins, being the antichrist, is going to live forever.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Whew!!!

[PapayaSF]

Here's a nice nut punch for everyone: An Oregon couple has been told they must destroy a 40-year-old, 2-acre pond on their land ? the property's most attractive feature ? because the government said so.

[Fist of Etiquette]

We must preserve our precious wetlands, as long as they're not actually enjoyable.

[R C Dean]

See how much more tolerant we are of things other people do that don't affect anyone else? SEE?

[Christmas Cuck, Jr.]

That shit right there is worse than all the celebrity deaths.

*fires up woodchipper*

[Hyperion]

Isn't that the reason you live in Oregon, so that the government can abuse you?

[Yusef Adama]

no that's California

[Threedoor]

Multonoma county anyway.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

And yet those progtards cannot see teh common thread that ties all government abuse together: government. Top.Men!

Fucking idiots.

[OneOut]

Joe Biden: One word man.........Snail Darters.

[Jimothy]

If they wanted to keep the pond, they should have said they wanted to drain it. Then 1,000 bureaucrats would step in and order them to keep it.

[GILMORE?]

somehow the top US news @ Reuters escaped the links here so far?

Appeals court revives Clinton email suit

While the State Department and National Archives took steps to recover the emails from Clinton's tenure, they did not ask the U.S. attorney general to take enforcement action. Two conservative groups filed lawsuits to force their hand.

A district judge in January ruled the suits brought by Judicial Watch and Cause of Action moot, saying State and the National Archives made a "sustained effort" to recover and preserve Clinton's records.

But Williams said the two agencies should have done more, according to the ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Since the agencies neither asked the attorney general for help nor showed such enforcement action could not uncover new emails, the case was not moot.

"The Department has not explained why shaking the tree harder - e.g., by following the statutory mandate to seek action by the Attorney General - might not bear more still," Williams wrote. "Absent a showing that the requested enforcement action could not shake loose a few more emails, the case is not moot."

[R C Dean]

The notion that filing a lawsuit to force an agency to file a "statutory mandate" isn't a laydown win, and actually goes to appeals, should be disturbing, no?

[Ted S.]

It didn't happen at a college, so Robby didn't hear about it.

[Groovus Maximus]

It also didn't affect an SJW, so's totes not his his bae AF radar.

[The Fusionist]

"shaking the tree harder"

Oh, yeah, shake it.

I will add, as HM wouldn't, that this is probably NSFW.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Oh, honey, no.

[The Fusionist]

Jabba the Hutt, wearing Slave Leia costume and twerking to Sir Mixalot

[commodious lies and cheats]

There's maybe enough ass between the three of them to fashion a reasonable booty, but that's being very kind.

[C. Anacreon]

I still don't understand the 'allure' of doing these shakes. Is there supposed to be some sort of better sex that happens while women flail as if having a seizure?

Rather than flapping thighs, ladies, try learning vaginal wall muscle control, so you can actually grip. That will be a million times more rewarding in every way, I guarantee it.

[Crusty Juggler]

Let's list libertarian-ish movies:Sometimes A Great Notion

[Crusty Juggler]

Michael Mann's Thief.

[Lord Humungus]

Love that movie.

[Greg Loves His Woodchipper]

I didn't even know it existed until Romulox told me, but boy was I missing out.

[Crusty Juggler]

"I am the boss of my own body, so what do l have to work for you for?"

"I can see my money is still in your pocket, which is from the yield of my labor."You're making big profits from my work, my risk, my sweat. But that is OK, because l elected it to make that deal. But now the deal is over. I want my end, and l am out."
"Why don't you join a labor union?"
"I am wearing it.

[GILMORE?]

I decided to re-watch "Thief" after hearing this.

Willy nelson is actually a very good natural actor. his scene is one of the most instantly-compelling.

[The Fusionist]

I thought you'd say Sometimes a Great Lotion.

[Crusty Juggler]

I'm pro chafe, Eddo - you should know that.

[John Titor]

The obvious.

[bacon-magic]

Darn it, didn't click til after.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Money quote: "People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."

[Hyperion]

Oh shut up, River, and eat your vegetables.

[SimonD]

I still don't understand how such a screeching leftist made THAT movie (and that television show too).

[Threedoor]

They are free market in their own lives, you don't deserve to be as you're not smart enough to take care of yourself.

[R C Dean]

Brazil.

Duh.

[Pro Libertate]

Repo Man.

[R C Dean]

True dat. Haven't seen it in ages. Does it hold up?

[Pro Libertate]

Plate o' shrimp.

[R C Dean]

OK, Pro, its on my list.

My recollection is that the movie pretty well lays out textbook "indoctrination into a cult".

[Pro Libertate]

It's all about Miller.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

I think it was the first movie I saw which had natural realistic cussing. I remember Tin Man (I think) as the complete opposite, as if someone simply added 3 cusswords per line.

[GILMORE?]

Any jailbreak film

Papillon
Runaway Train
The Great Escape
Shawshank Redemption
etc.

[Ted S.]

The Mating Game.

Somebody doesn't like having a bohemian family next door, so he deals with it by siccing the IRS on them, and this is treated as an unambiguously bad thing. It turns out that the government has been dicking the family for 100 years, having taken property without just compensation.

[Slammer]

The Outlaw Josey Wales

[Pro Libertate]

Awesome.

[Jerry on the sea]

Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia.

[SIV]

^seconded^

[Crusty Juggler]

SIV likes Warren Oates? Who would have guessed that?

[Crusty Juggler]

TW: Massive SIV porn, lady boobs.

[Heroic Mulatto]

You call that SIV porn?

This is SIV porn.

[Crusty Juggler]

You are such a one-upper. That is the last time I share an awesome movie trailer from the 70s.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It's all about making SIV happy.

That's what counts.

[Slammer]

Warren Oates is a god. Two-lane Blacktop.

[SIV]

Rollerball (1975)

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Conan the Barbarian ("gods are pleased" "will they help?" "no" "then tell them to keep out of the way")
The Terminator (future is what we make of it, cops can't protect you, learn to home-make weapons).
Trading Places (yes, even with gorilla rape - it was a STEVE SMITH nod)

[GILMORE?]

Easy Rider

[Hyperion]

Them damn hippies had it a comin! We don't take kindly to those types!

[OneOut]

From the time the killer put the shotgun on the windowsill and when he pulled the trigger I think I would have hit the front wheel handbrake.

Maybe that would have ruined the movie though.

Damn hippies.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Dazed and Confused

The high school experience you all take for granted!

[bacon-magic]

Serenity

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Pleasantville

[dschwar]

Smokey and the Bandit

Cledus Snow: How come we doin' this?

Bandit: Well why not?

Cledus Snow: Well they said it couldn't be done.

Bandit: Well thats the reason, son!

Cledus Snow: [shrugs] That's good with Fred. We're clear.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Haven't seen it, but my Pa sez Rabbit-Proof Fence

Mine entry, since Serenity has already been nominated, is Changeling.

[Vhyrus]

Does 'V for Vendetta' count? Totally hoping it does.

/pushes the guy fawkes mask he bought on amazon out of sight with his foot.

[68W58]

I think Stalag 17 has libertarian themes. The hero just wants to be left alone and he is making the most of a bad situation. He earns money via booze, gambling and porn (ish) and he is envied for it. In the end he becomes the hero only when the price is right. Tell me how JJ Sefton doesn't qualify as a libertarian?

[PapayaSF]

Attention SF area Reasonoids! We are having a meetup this Friday evening in SF. Email me at my handle @ gmail.com for details.

[Hyperion]

You're not going to try to get us to believe that there's more than one libertarian in SF, are you?

[PapayaSF]

Amazing, but true. There's Suell and me. Sevo, though he hasn't shown up at a meetup yet. I once met the former Libertarian candidate for SF mayor. C. Anacreon is in the East bay but will be at this one. And hopefully Derpetologist again. A few others.

[Hyperion]

What, you haven't thrown out Suell yet for being a Raiders fan?

There are 3 or 4 of us in Balmer, I guess. Or so the rumor has it.

[OneOut]

Why only SF residents ?

Are you geographically othering me ?

[PapayaSF]

Anyone who can make it to town by Friday is invited!

[dajjal]

Israel Skipped UN Vote on Syria War Crimes on Netanyahu's Order

Defying Foreign Ministry view, likely due to pressure from Moscow, PM tells representatives to avoid vote on decision, which passed; the next day Russia voted in favor of anti-settlement resolution.

Israelis are hypocrites and cucks.

[Juvenile Bluster]

dajjal derp de derp. Derp de derpity derpy derp. Until one day, the derpa derpa derpaderp da teedily dumb. From the creators of Der, and Tum Ta Tittaly Tum Ta Too, dajjal is Da Derp Dee Derp Da Teetley Derpee Derpee Dumb. Rated PG-13.

[dajjal]

Show some RESPECT for your APOTHEOSIS, JB.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

We hear you

[Lord Humungus]

You know who else died an early death... too soon?

[Lord Humungus]

died an early death? *throws English out of the window*

[R C Dean]

Ahem. *defenestrates English*

[commodious lies and cheats]

*defenestrates English out the window*

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

The population of Alderaan?

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Jesus Christ?

[Ted S.]

Jean Harlow?

[Lee Genes]

Jon Benet?

[The Fusionist]

Hermann Goering?

[Crusty Juggler]

John Matuszak?

[SIV]

Heather O'Rourke?

[Mr. Paulbotto]

Tupac Shakur?

[Pay up, Palin's Buttplug!]

Someone shoot smack Robby around for not mentioning that she drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra.

[GILMORE?]

Bad News for Civil Asset Forfeiture =

Don't Drive Drunk in a Ferrari

Bonus weirdness = the guy's *NAME* is "Jimmy Ferrari". Driving a ferrari. With crack.

File under = I want to party with this guy.

[R C Dean]

Real-life Ferris Bueller, only with an Aston Martin.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news.....-rock-lake

[Ted S.]

Cool link, bro.

[GILMORE?]

sigh

*Trivia = I did a few DJ gigs under the name "Gucci Ferrari". It was my "superguido" alter-ego.

[Crusty Juggler]

Oh my.

[Ted S.]

Admit it: that wasn't an alter-ego.

[GILMORE?]

I don't have the tanning-salon skin or the pectorals to actually seal-the deal. Or the Blowout. Actually i didn't have anything except a Fila tracksuit, gold chains, and some ambervisions.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Hey Faggots,
My name is GILMORE?, and I hate every single one of you. All of you are fat, retarded, no-lifes who spend every second of their day looking at stupid ass pictures. You are everything bad in the world. Honestly, have any of you ever gotten any pussy? I mean, I guess it's fun making fun of people because of your own insecurities, but you all take to a whole new level. This is even worse than jerking off to pictures on facebook.
Don't be a stranger. Just hit me with your best shot. I'm pretty much perfect. I was captain of the football team, and starter on my basketball team. What sports do you play, other than "jack off to naked drawn Japanese people"? I also get straight A's, and have a banging hot girlfriend (She just blew me; Shit was SO cash). You are all faggots who should just kill yourselves. Thanks for listening.
Pic Related: It's me and my bitch

[GILMORE?]

re: the pic

He's almost there... and i admit - the plastic-woman & the grey-goose almost makes up for his lack of muscle....

...but THIS guy? he could slap that bitch and *she'd* apologize.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I think that's the same guy, tbh.

[GILMORE?]

In the sense that guido are a species, and not actual people, yes.

But a 100% purebred guido is always shorter than the female.

[Threedoor]

Who may be his mom.

[OneOut]

Party with this one.

http://jalopnik.com/5863531/ma.....-into-lake

[dajjal]

The Israeli ambassador issued his threat shortly after a Netanyahu spokesman said the government has "rather iron-clad information from sources in both the Arab world and internationally"

Arabs are not credible partners for peace - except when claiming that the US is not a credible partner for peace. Then you must believe every word.

[WC Varones]

The other case against Universal Basic Income is the math doesn't even come close to working.

The people proposing this have severe arithmetic deficiencies.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

Ah, but you see, the math doesn't have to work. It just needs to last long enough that the collective public consciousness has purged critiques of the program before the negative consequences set in.

Notice, for example, social security. It wasn't until the late 60s/early 70s (40 years after the program started) that the consequences became so dire that they could no longer be ignored. The New Dealers got to live on the largess of the taxpayers for 30+ years and die well before they could be held accountable.

[CatoTheChipper]

Silly WC Varones: politicians are exempt from the law, even the laws of mathematics and physics.

[kbolino]

Most of the schemes I have seen are closer to a negative income tax than a true "give everybody a check every month, no matter what their income is otherwise". So, about half the country doesn't get a dime unless they quit their jobs or get fired (hello, incentives) right off the bat. Also, children don't get full incomes.

[JayU]

Still doesn't really make sense. The poverty line is what, $26,000 or so? Ignoring the obvious rise in the poverty line if this was implemented, giving even 100 million people $26,000 a year would cost $2.6T. And that's just in the actual money being handed out.

That money simply doesn't exist. And eliminating all other welfare wouldn't work, because people making $26,000 a year would still need Medicare and SS to survive.

[Hyperion]

Those people don't need cars because they got no job. So there's a big savings. Also, once we implement a 15% flat consumption tax and I open my nationwide chain of 24/7 weed, booze, and munchies shops, we're getting a lot of that back.

[DOOMco]

sign me up for the monthly plan.

[kbolino]

I believe this is where the trillion-dollar coin comes into play.

[Lurk Diggler]

But with supercomputers you can make the math work /sarc

I've actually heard this for how to make socialism work. For most people it doesn't matter though. It feels like it will work.

[Hyperion]

UBI is not socialism. It's how to keep people from starving to death en masse. In another 20 years, most people will not have jobs, it's all going to be automated. So you give everyone UBI, let's say 20K per adult, eliminate the income tax, and create a flat 15% consumption tax (no tax on food). You eliminate all the other entitlement programs, including medicaid, medicare, and SOS, which are no longer needed since everyone already has a UBI. If you want more, you work for it.

2nd option is that we create bullshit make work jobs for the 60% who will now be unemployed, and we pay the massive bureaucracy fees for that, plus keep all the existing entitlements.

3rd option, billions starve to death.

The math may not work, but it's one of those 3 options.

[kbolino]

Is there a missing /sarc tag on your "everybody is going to starve" comments?

[Hyperion]

There's nothing sarcastic about what I just wrote. What do you think is going to happen when most jobs have been automated away? It has to be one of the options I listed above. Or, you can explain to me how it won't be? Don't get me wrong, I'm more of an optimist about this, I don't actually believe billions are going to starve, but things are going to change very rapidly and we have to deal with it. And in my opinion, the best way is to take as much power away from governments and bureaucracies, as possible. Extending the current scheme of things either through more entitlement bureaucracies or make work jobs bureaucracies is the worst option.

[Lurk Diggler]

People will just do other jobs. The same way they did when combines eliminated a lot of farm work. Electricity and factories eliminated lots things people did by hand. Virtually every job today didn't exist 100 years ago. 100 years from now most jobs people are doing will have been created from now to then.

There's nothing remarkable about this moment in history of people finding ways to be more productive. The same has always happened. Yet employment isn't on a 10,000 year decline.

[Hyperion]

You cannot really compare the rate of technological advancement that is happening today with the industrial revolution. Yes, that was a rapid change, but it actually produced more new jobs than it eliminated. Those machines needed humans to run and maintain them. In the future, robots and AI, 3D printing, nanotech and other new advancements will eliminate most humans from the process.

[Lurk Diggler]

You're too smart for this Hyp.

[Hyperion]

"You're too smart for this Hyp"

Apparently, so smart that you can't grasp my point. I'm not projecting doom and gloom, but there will have to be some way for future humans to get involved in production and the economy. But it will not be standing on a production line making widgets or iThingies or getting people's orders wrong at McFastfoods.

[Lurk Diggler]

So what will people do with all that spare cash they used to hire employees?

[kbolino]

I don't think "most jobs" will ever be "automated away" in the sense you imply. Yes, jobs that are commonplace nowadays might be unheard of in the future, being done instead by machines. But there will be new jobs. And if, for whatever reason, there aren't new jobs, then the old ones won't go away either. Automation is worthless if nobody can afford to benefit from it.

All of the labor-saving and yield-improving innovations of the past are now feeding more mouths than most people thought possible 50 years ago. The only way there is a mass starve-off is through government or nature.

[Trshmnstr, Grump Apprentice]

What do you think is going to happen when most jobs have been automated away?

The sun will have gone dark?

[Hyperion]

The sun's not going dark, it's going red giant. We best be gone from the neighborhood before then.

[Lurk Diggler]

Is this a joke? Do you really think automation will eliminate most jobs?

[Hyperion]

Yes, I absolutely think that in the near future, let's say in the next 20 years, most jobs current jobs will be gone. I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing, though.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

I'm an unemployed buggy whip maker.

FUCKING CARS!

[Hyperion]

Maybe we'll all sit around wired up to our VR stuff and do profit shared crowd funding. It will be something like that maybe, 3D flying cars don't need no stinkin humans getting their paw prints on them. The degree of technological change today is much greater than buggy whip to cars.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

The thing about predicting the future is you have no idea what will exist or what people will want to do with their time. Remember predictions like the population bomb? It made sense to someone living in 1968 who couldn't envision the advancement in farming practices.

There will always be the next thing and it will be nearly impossible for us to predict. When machines can do everything we do now, we will desire that which machines can't do. The market will provide both supply and demand.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

Spot on! Markets always work one way or another, and people don't like sitting around doing nothing. They WILL think of new things to do, and they WILL think of new ways to do old things.

[Robert]

Exactly. If machines take care of all the necessities, people will go for more entertainment. More entertainment = more entertainers.

[ant1sthenes]

Here's a thought, invest so that you own that automation, and put what you can spare in a trust for the foolish.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

In another 20 years, most people will not have jobs, it's all going to be automated.

Pure unadulterated bullshit, just as it has been since the sabot throwers.

[Hyperion]

Your timeline of history and progression of technology is not up to par.

[Rational Exuberance]

No, you're just a bloody fool.

[The Fusionist]

Are you in a bad mood? Would beating up on some SJWs cheer you up? Let the hate flow through you.

"Super Mario Run's Not-So-Super Gender Politics

"...Unfortunately, despite Nintendo's history and reputation, Super Mario Run is not a family-friendly game ? or at least not one my wife and I will be letting our 6-year-old daughter play. The game is rife with stale, retrograde gender stereotypes ? elements that were perhaps expected in 1985, when the first Super Mario Bros. was released in the United States, but that today are just embarrassing....

"By failing to update Super Mario for a contemporary audience, Nintendo is lagging far behind the Walt Disney Co., one of its closest American analogues. Disney's film "Frozen" subverted and reinvigorated the fairy-tale princess movie; "The Force Awakens" gave us a female Jedi. Super Mario Run doesn't even try....

"This sense of identification gives video games an enormous capacity to create empathy for other people. There are video games in which you play as the parent of a dying child, as a transgender woman beginning hormone replacement therapy, as the son of an alcoholic. But it also presents more conventional game designers with an opportunity to create games in which young girls, and not just young boys, actually become heroes themselves."

[R C Dean]

"The Force Awakens" gave us a female Jedi.

Proving that being a Jedi is so easy that an illiterate homeless chick can be a top-flight Jedi without a moment's training.

[Pro Libertate]

That really screwed up the movie for me. There was a least some argument that Luke was trained longer than was shown. Bah.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

It works if you realize that Kalo Ren is little bitch cuck who can only throw force tantrums.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

That was my interpretation but then I was reminded
a) he catches blaster bolt in mid-air and leaves it suspended while still being able to talk/threaten/kill
b) she does mind trick with zero training

[R C Dean]

Too bad he is one of the more capable Force-wielders of the time - stopping blaster shots in midair, immobilizing people, reading their minds against their will, etc.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Yes, being flexible with time in Empire helps hang your suspension of disbelief.

Also, Rei by about half hour before the end is already beyond Luke's power level by the end of Return of the Jedi, so I guess the opening of the next one is her going "Here's your sword. Need some pointers? I can help."

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Obviously she is the chosen one, sent to bring chaos back to the force. God fuck episode 7-9. I never wanted them. The story has always been, ever since the non-canon books:

Welp, here come the grand-kids to piss on the family legacy and crash their undeserved sports cars.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

A bolder writer would have used Knights of the Old Republic as a template and set it in the future by a few centuries. Maybe make it a more enlightened, rational galaxy that is peaceful and has no time for your stupid tales of war, knights and "The Force". Until they are needed.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

Truthfully a Knights of the Old Republic movie is the only thing that can save Star Wars from destroying itself, while at the same time casting the Star Wars universe into a realm of infinite possibility.

Stop pissing on the Skywalker grave, you've already established 20,000 years of Jedi in this fiction. Go tell one of the Jedi v. Sith wars that had hundreds of force-wielders on massive battlefields.

[TheZeitgeist]

I believe the expanded-universe kitsch has 'officially' died per Disney flacks after the purchase.

And Abrams did same thing artistically with 2nd Star Trek; the whole timeline from original series has been killed off, along with any need for consistency with, you know, all the stories and characters that made the series interesting before cool kids like Abrams came along.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Timeline thing? I had no problem with.

It was "oh, new timeline - SHITTY VERSIONS OF OLD STORIES!" that bothered me. Fuck that 2nd movie - don't remind people of a better film inside your crap, idiot!

[TheZeitgeist]

JJ Abrams learned internal consistency from Lost and has just kind of run with that since.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Fringe held together, even if it was mostly duct tape and acting doing the job.

[R C Dean]

There are video games in which you play as the parent of a dying child, as a transgender woman beginning hormone replacement therapy, as the son of an alcoholic.

Boy, that sounds like fun, doesn't it?

[Lee Genes]

They sure are some weird, fucked up people.

[Rhywun]

The NYT is just trolling us now. OK, they have been for awhile but nobody without their head up their ass can deny it now.

[Ted S.]

Depression Quest redux.

[John Titor]

So I have no idea about the first two, but I know the third one is called Among the Sleep. So let's just look at sales there for a second:

Among the Sleep, released in May 2014, kickstarted, sells for fifteen bucks, sold 100,000 copies by March 2015.

Latest Mario Game: Super Mario Maker, released November 2013, sells for forty bucks, sold 3.5 million copies by May 2016.

Why wouldn't a company want to cater to this writer's sensibilities?

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

First one sounds like That Dragon Cancer

The second is Overwatch, specifically Zarya.

(no, I have no idea what the second one is)

[Heroic Mulatto]

First one sounds like That Dragon Cancer

Which is hilarious considering that TDC is one giant commercial for
*wipes brow like black preacher*
JEZ-UZ! Hah!

[John Titor]

GET IN THE FUCKING CHURCH SHINJI.

[ant1sthenes]

The first one is about having a kid with cancer (by people who had, note the tense, a kid with cancer, so not just cynical heart-stomping wankery). I forget the name, something something dragon.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Note that This War of Mine is nowhere on that list, because the lives of civilians during the Yugoslav Wars were too trapped in traditional gender roles I guess.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

This War of Mine has actual game mechanics and is...well, not fun but interesting, compelling and mechanically challenging experience, in addition to managing to be non-preachy when showing the horrors of war. Best way to ask "how far would you go" is to present a situation, ask nothing and not judge or pontificate afterwards.
So it's totally useless to the cause.

[Heroic Mulatto]

So it's totally useless to the cause.

Indeed. Social justice only comes in ham-sized fists.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

If there's any ambiguity, then how do you know that the Right Message has been sent and received? What if there are sick KKK fucks out there who think that war scenario is cool, huh? That makes the game complicit in genocide and extremely problematic.

[ant1sthenes]

I'm fine with no game mechanics, as long as the experience is still entertaining. I picked up Firewatch after Christmas and played it through in one sitting. At the end of it, I felt like I just read a decent, immersive little paperback novel. Of course, even discounted, it's a little pricey for a paperback, but no regrets.

[Hyperion]

I sure hope these snowflakes never encounter Rimworld, they'll shit their pants to death.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

I think the first game referenced there is some heavy-handed Christian parable or something.

Then again, "the parent of a dying child" could also apply to The Last of Us, and "the son of an alcoholic" to Final Fantasy X.

[Rhywun]

Son of an alcoholic could also be Papo & Yo, which is kind of cool if you like throwing favelas around.

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

[Groovus Maximus]

Boy, that sounds like fun, doesn't it?

[John Titor]

Lecturing the Japanese on Western social justice concepts.

Hm. Let me know how that works out for you.

Nintendo is lagging far behind the Walt Disney Co., one of its closest American analogues.

Nintendo's been having a few rough quarters lately, but they'll still end up making more money than God and can technically run at a deficit for decades. I don't think they care.

[R C Dean]

Disney's film "Frozen" subverted and reinvigorated the fairy-tale princess movie

Well, only if you've never seen Shrek.

[Pro Libertate]

Yeah, that's why all the girls want to dress as troublemaker in the movie, not Anna, the hero.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Really? That makes me sad.

*disclaimer: Kristen Bell Fanboy*

[John Titor]

You'd pay Mary Poppins a living wage?

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Work, not personal views - supposedly one of the Veronica Mars episodes was influenced by her pro-PETA attitude, but I still love the show to pieces (yes, even the wobbly season 3). I just think she's
-a really good actress
-easy on the eyes, easier as she gets older

[R C Dean]

an opportunity to create games in which young girls, and not just young boys, actually become heroes themselves

Never mind that some of the biggest franchises on the planet let you design and/or play female characters.

[Lee Genes]

Those female characters have big boobs, so totes unacceptable.

[Lurk Diggler]

I'm not sure that women dream about kicking ass to become attractive. Probably since that's not what makes women attractive. SJW types appear to be just really stupid people who are incapable of understanding the most basic human behaviors.

Why aren't there more games where men dress up to look pretty (my daughter has these on her tablet)? Probably because men figured out such an endeavor will ensure they don't get laid.

[Rhywun]

I've never been able to figure out why the pinnacle of a woman's experience is supposed to be acting just like a man.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"The game is rife with stale, retrograde gender stereotypes"

In other words, just one stereotype that you can't get over.

[Hyperion]

"Unfortunately, despite Nintendo's history and reputation, Super Mario Run is not a family-friendly game ? or at least not one my wife and I will be letting our 6-year-old daughter play. The game is rife with stale, retrograde gender stereotypes"

Who gives a fuck about what losers who play games on a iPhone, think?

[TheZeitgeist]

Stale gender stereotypes? Mario is most inclusive character ever....

1. An Italian, who looks like a Mexican gardner.
2. Yet speaks English, and is actually Japanese.
3. And he jumps like a black guy.
4. And scores coins like a Jew.

Little dude is one-man UN.

[Crusty Juggler]

This is why threadwinners aren't bestowed on first comment.

[Groovus Maximus]

It's turtles all the way down...

[Half-Virtue, Half-Vice]

+1 Green Mushroom

[Rhywun]

+1UP

[Mazakon]

Kerry to Give Speech on Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process

Can't help but feel this will only worsen things.

[GILMORE?]

Secretary of State John Kerry will give a speech Wednesday at the State Department to explain the Obama administration's vision for the Israeli?Palestinian peace process, according to CNN.

As though this "vision" is supposed to matter after their precedent-breaking UN vote, and given that his administration has less than a month in office?

Its beyond 'hubris' at this point. Its more delusional.

[ant1sthenes]

Jesus, you couldn't even spring for a "I have a bad feeling about this"?

Show some respect.

[dajjal]

I LOVE how the Trumpkins are now obliged to defend the honor of Israel. How long can they last before devolving into drunken rants against "The J00S"?

[Vhyrus]

Yes, I'm sure the man who let his beloved daughter marry the biggest jew in New York and incorporated him entirely into his business and family is really a raging anti semite.

If Trump had even an ounce of jew hatred in him, Jared Kushner would be at the bottom of the Hudson.

[Rational Exuberance]

No wonder this baffles you; try reading less fake news.

[GILMORE?]

Thought the Syrian War was a done deal with the fall of Aleppo, & the pwnage of Obama's policy there?

Not So Fast

Moscow Calls Expanded Efforts to Arm Rebels by US a 'Hostile Act'

Not only are we still openly arming the losing-side, we're now giving them the heavy weapons they could have used far-earlier in the conflict. Why? Because doing so now has no political cost, and can be dumped in the lap of the incoming president.

Russia said on Tuesday that a U.S. decision to ease restrictions on arming Syrian rebels had opened the way for deliveries of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, a move it said would directly threaten Russian forces in Syria.

Moscow last year launched a campaign of air strikes in Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad and his forces retake territory lost to rebels, some of whom are supported by the United States.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the policy change easing restrictions on weapons supplies had been set out in a new U.S. defense spending bill and that Moscow regarded the step as a hostile act.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has been sharply critical of Russia's intervention in Syria, signed the annual defense policy bill into law last week.

[GILMORE?]

Related =

Erdogan has decided that US interests now aren't quite 100% aligned with his own; decides to pile on, calling US policy in Syria, "Aid To Terrorists"

[TheZeitgeist]

Erdogan, Putin, et al are going to miss Clown more than any Democrat.

[Pro Libertate]

You know, the U.S. is by far the greatest military force in the world, even now. What happens if the next administration realizes that?

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Nothing. Because the US has no idea how to use its power. You can give a savage tribesman a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, but that doesn't mean shit if he doesn't know how to operate it.

The US doesn't have a clue how to actually use its military. Maybe you're saying "what happens" if the next administration gets a clue, but I think the problem is the whole of the US government's understanding of how military conflict works. They can't use the thing without creating bigger problems then they tried to fix in the first place.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Well... he's not wrong.

[ant1sthenes]

If he actually proved that the Obama administration was arming ISIS directly, he would become as beloved as Putin among a certain American crowd.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

Trouble is you can't "prove" it in a meaningful way. So what if ISIS terrorists are clearly getting a hold of American weaponry?? American citizens don't want to believe they help ISIS so won't accept any proof of the matter.

[R C Dean]

We have evidence that ATF was arming Mexican drug cartels, and . . . crickets.

[Hyperion]

Look, dude, if the AG and Justice Dept were involved in some type of gun running crime, they would have already arrested themselves, duh!

[OneOut]

Executive privilege for the win.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Not only are we still openly arming the losing-side, we're now giving them the heavy weapons they could have used far-earlier in the conflict. Why?

Because for a small investment, you can extend the quagmire in which Russia, Iran, Syria, Syrian rebels and ISIS (including western jihadis) will spend lives and treasure for five more years? Minus blood, you also get the Saudis to spend as well.
Not saying that creating a quagmire of their own is a US policy, just saying you could do it.

[ant1sthenes]

Pretty much. Unfortunately, they're doing a poor job of containing the Blood War. If they shut down immigration, it might have worked.

[dajjal]

Dear White Supremacists: Why don't you love and adore me??

Example of good satire.

[GILMORE?]

Shocker =

Christina Fernandez Kirchner is even more corrupt than previously acknowledged.

Bonus for "Nuns + Guns" element.

Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was indicted on Tuesday on charges she ran a corruption scheme with a public works secretary who was arrested in June while trying to stash millions of dollars in a convent.

A federal judge accused them and other officials of the Fernandez administration of crimes "including the deliberate seizure of funds principally meant for public road works."

Corruption charges have long swirled around Fernandez...She denies wrongdoing and accuses Argentina's current leader, Mauricio Macri, of using the courts to persecute her.

The country was riveted in June when Fernandez's former public works secretary, Jose Lopez, was arrested while tossing bags stuffed with millions of dollars over the walls of a Catholic convent on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

A gun-toting Lopez started hurling the money into the Our Lady of Fatima convent when the elderly nuns inside were slow to answer the door in the early morning hours of June 14, according to a neighbor who witnessed what happened and called 911.

A surveillance video shows the nuns finally welcoming Lopez and accepting the cash while paying little attention to the automatic rifle he had placed by the convent door.

[Ted S.]

Are they nude nuns? Do they have big guns?

[Lee Genes]

Yet the Argentinians will elect another socialist/communist in the next election, guaranteed.

[R C Dean]

That's awesome.

Can't the nuns just keep the loot as a donation to the church?

[The Fusionist]

They *ought* to say that they won't take his filthy, stolen money.

[PapayaSF]

That's a scene right out of a Hollywood comedy, involving crooks hiding out as nuns or something.

[R C Dean]

I recall a movie, can't dredge up the name, where some yuuuge criminal payoff was diverted to a charity.

[Groovus Maximus]

Crimes and Misdemeanors ring a bell, by chance?

[PapayaSF]

Sister Act?

[PapayaSF]

Nuns on the Run?

[Groovus Maximus]

Ghost

Tony Goldwyn's ill-gotten gains cashier's cheque was placed into the nun's collection station by Oda Mae under Sam's direction.

I am embarrassed I know this info....

[PapayaSF]

Correct! I recently saw it again, and for all the crap that movie takes, it's actually really well done.

[Crusty Juggler]

In Sneakers(libertarian-ish-ish) money was taken from the RNC and given to organizations like Amnesty International.

[Slumbrew]

Midnight Run? The Duke gave (most of) the money he embezzled from the Mob to charity.

[kbolino]

Sadly, no points for originality, as anime has already covered this.

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

Why not another nutpunch from 2016?

Watership Down author Richard Adams dies aged 96

[Lee Genes]

-1 Bloodthirsty rabbit

[Pan Zagloba "The Stickler"]

There's a second nutpunch hidden within, if you follow the link to this story

John Boyega, James McAvoy and Sir Ben Kingsley are among an all-star cast set to provide voices in a new adaptation of Watership Down.
....
The book was first adapted for screen in 1978, and was notoriously frightening for young children, with its adored rabbit characters killed in graphic scenes.
This version, the show's executive producer told the Telegraph, "will not just tone down the levels of on-screen violence to make it more appropriate for children, but give a boost to its female characters."

[Lee Genes]

So they're taking the point of the story and murdering it. Gotcha.

[ant1sthenes]

Wait until you see their reboot of Schindler's List.

[ScareCroWoodChippeRepair]

Let me guess -- SJW Professor Schindler has made a little list.....

[John Titor]

That was one of the hilarious ironies of the Hunger Games movies as well (I only saw the first). The books are apparently a partial commentary on how violent media is shown to the masses to keep them content and blah blah blah. So the Hunger Games movie comes out, and the level of violence is so toned down that it's absolutely ridiculous. One guy dies because he's pushed into a wall. At one point they show the winner of the past game, who clubbed his last opponent to death with a brick. But the guy he clubbed just has a little pool of blood near his head when in reality it should be horrific and extremely graphic.

So in attempting to make a movie all about hyper-violent media is tolerated, you tone it down to maximize your audience. Brilliant.

[The Fusionist]

When sorrows come, they come not single spies
But in battalions.

[ant1sthenes]

Man was fucking 96. I don't know if that quite counts.

[Troy muy grande boner]

Damn. One of my favorite books

[Hyperion]

I'm gonna play some more Tyranny and try once again to join the rebels.

[Troy muy grande boner]

I hope they 3d scanned Carrie Fisher for the Peter Cushing treatment

[R C Dean]

One of the more abstract euphemisms lately. Well done, Mr., err, boner.

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

I just saw it yesterday, and maybe it's because I saw it in 3D (and so the whole picture was slightly blurred), but I thought fake Cushing looked excellent. I only spotted one moment of dead eyed CGI, and occasionally the jaw was a little wonky, but other than that it blended right in.

Amazing stuff.

[Col. Chestbridge]

I think the 3D would definitely help. I saw it in 2D and found the CGI distractingly noticeable, especially when he talked.

Though it is still very impressive how far visual effects like that have progressed. Most impressive, one might say.

[TheZeitgeist]

Just you wait. They'll be using tech like this for absurdities like Gone with the Wind SJW Sequel shit etc. using the 'original' actors. Then you'll be amazed in whole new ways.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Or the horror that Roger Ebert suggested for decades: A Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, James Dean, (probably others) and Bogart movie.

[Glide]

To me in 2D, it was simultaneously terribly distracting and extremely impressive.

Like, if you had explained it to me going in I would have had a range of expectations ranging from "worst thing ever in a Star Wars film" to "just a hair away from believable" and it definitely hit the good end of that spectrum.

[Stormy Dragon]

Carrie Fisher, "Goodnight, but not Goodbye"

[jdgalt]

The Israeli ambassador should make that info public, not just offer it to Trump. It is not yet clear that Trump is on their side. If he is not, then Ted Cruz needs it as ammo to cut off US funding of the UN.

[TheZeitgeist]

Notion of Trump and Steve Bannon colluding with Zionists to punch down Joe Sixcamel in his ghetto while scheming the next Jewy holocaust at same time must keep prog-mind so busy.

[dajjal]

One at a time, please.

[DOOMco]

just think about it. it totally makes sense.

[R C Dean]

Perhaps this is how the Israelis test Trump's professed pro-Israeli views?

[Libertarian]

"The Israeli ambassador should make that info public, not just offer it to Trump. It is not yet clear that Trump is on their side. If he is not, then Ted Cruz needs it as ammo to cut off US funding of the UN."

Question: would Israel be better off without a UN?

[DOOMco]

id say everyone is better.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Ditto.

[Karl Hungus]

NYPD serves warrant on wrong house, handcuffs family for three hours, then Snapchats their picture with caption reading: "Merry Christmas Its NYPD"

http://abc7ny.com/news/family-.....s/1670637/

(Apologies if this has been discussed already)

[ant1sthenes]

Got a proper article n' everything.

[ant1sthenes]

Well, maybe just a blog post.

[Karl Hungus]

Actually this one gained a little traction. Also, it seems the guy posting the pics has been suspended without pay.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Wasn't that on Reason over the weekend already? Robby horse mentioned it IIRC.

[Kurmudgeonly Kristen]

Best Carrie Fisher pic I've seen all day (yeah, yeah, gold bikinis don't do it for me.)

[Karl Hungus]

Best Carrie Fisher pic I've seen all day

Incorrect.

[DOOMco]

ok. you win.

[Rhywun]

I would love to know the story behind that.

[DOOMco]

the middle finger means-
oh. yeah, what happened here?

[Hitler]

When I read anything from Robby, I have to admit I begin to ponder if white genocide would really be all that bad. Some days, I wonder if it wouldn't be best if everyone was genocided. Perhaps I'm just not the same youthful optimistic Hitler I once was. Have I just become old and bitter?

*sigh*

[JeremyR]

Well, if it ever were to start, people like him would be the first victims

[Zero Sum Game]

Every seventh time a Californian says "Fuck you, 2016!" the FSM rolls a D20. If he rolls a critical, a random celebrity is slain. Don't worry, though. At least some of them get to see the stripper factory and drink from the beer volcano while hanging out with His first creation, a midgit (sic). It is known.

[PapayaSF]

I just tell them (anonymously) to cheer up: 2017 will be better, because America is Going to be Great Again. But for some reason, that doesn't seem to comfort them....

[Ornithorhynchus]

I hope this is a good place to ask this....

Has anybody read Popehat lately? For the past week, it's been showing a virus warning whenever I've tried to click on the site. I haven't received that warning with any other website I've tried.

The only anti-virus protection I have is the stuff the computer came with, so I haven't had the guts to ignore the warning and actually continue on to the Popehat page.

Does anyone know how safe it is? I'm pretty ignorant about computer security, and I don't really know how to get rid of viruses myself. And I can't afford to have a professional fix things very often, so I try to avoid dodgy websites whenever possible.

But I hate missing out on Popehat.

[Zero Sum Game]

The only thing I'm seeing is that the site's TLS certificate has expired. Isn't that all it's telling you?

[Rhywun]

Chrome makes it look super-dangerous but yeah it looks like a certificate expired and why is he enforcing HTTPS anyway?

[The Hyperbole]

Tweeted six hours ago

Festive Holiday Hat ?@Popehat 6h6 hours ago
So, Popehat may be down for a while as we change hosts this week.

[CatoTheChipper]

Same here with Firefox and Explorer.

[Ornithorhynchus]

Yeah, it might just be the certificate expiring, but it's full of warnings in red letters.

But if they're just changing servers, I can go ahead and wait until next week, just to be safe.

[AlmightyJB]

Everytime I come here while using chrome, I keep getting this Facebook scam pop-up. I actually downloaded an ad blocker browser just to come here.. It only happens while on Reason.

[DOOMco]

i had that happen on mobile the other day. i thought i clicked on something while scrolling, but it did it again at the /blog page.

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah, it would keep happening as I would try to comment. Very frustrating.

[DOOMco]

i expected this from you, pornhub, but Reason?!

[DOOMco]

this is also a great movie, and i recommend it highly.

[Austrian Anarchy]

I'm still getting the pretty models from Stylewe and others. Not complaining.

[Vernon Depner]

You're an ass, Barro. Having a job sucks. Hardly anyone really wants one. The declining need for human toil is something we should embrace and celebrate. Trying to find ways to keep people tied to jobs after the need for that has passed is stupid and cruel. Instead, we should be looking forward for ways to facilitate a largely jobless future. The guaranteed minimum income might not be the best way, but trying to keep working for a living on life support because of its imagined benefits would be retarded.

[AlmightyJB]

Well I think one of the main arguments for UBI is that it encourages work, as opposed to welfare which discourages work unless it is illegal or similarly under the table.

[PapayaSF]

How does it "encourage work"? I keep seeing arguments that it lets people follow their creative muse, etc. Maybe it doesn't discourage work to the extent welfare does, by not going away when people do work, but that's not the same thing.

[Vernon Depner]

It encourages work by making work that doesn't pay enough to live on worth doing. It enables people to live decent lives by supplementing what they can earn from work. For those who otherwise would be able to survive on public assistance as currently configured (and no, there is no such thing as "welfare" for most people in the US), it provides a way to improve their standard of living through work that is not available now, and for them, yes, it is the same thing. For those who want to work to improve their situation, it allows them to take risks on creative projects without fear of being left destitute. This could lead to increased real wealth.

[AlmightyJB]

"How does it "encourage work"?"

I'm not convinced about UBI but I "get" the concept. How do you design a social safety net (which regardless how we feel about that isn't going away) that doesn't discourage people from getting jobs for fear of losing benefits? The UBI answer is to remove that link. A lot of people on welfare currently do work under the table to get money without losing benefits but the is a limit to what you can do doing that especially considering a lot of that work is illegal do to either prohibition or licensing and registration schemes. I'm not convinced but I'm open minded to the concept.

[DenverJ]

The Israeli ambassador has threatened to give information to President-Elect Trump about President Obama's complicity in the UN vote.

POTUS fight!!!

[DOOMco]

thanks obama!

[Heroic Mulatto]

Vocaloid was a mistake.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Vocaloid was a mistake.

[DOOMco]

how can there be 114 people who dont like that?!

[Rhywun]

115

[DOOMco]

my Christmas story.

I had work on saturday, and that was normal. All my friends were out of town with family, so my roommate and I planned to cook some steak and potatoes for Christmas dinner. Sunday morning came, i opened a few gifts from my girlfriend (shes out in GA) and hung up to make breakfast. as soon as my biscuits and gravy were done, i heard a loud BANG- powers out.
the transformer behind our building got hit by a tree.
We have electric everything, no fireplace. no one else in the building(4 units) was home because they are all college kids. the estimated time to be back changed from 4 to 3pm. then 11pm. then monday. we ordered food at 4, and got a call at 7 that it would be delivered by 11pm. I ate honey bunches of oats for Christmas dinner. We had power today when I came home from work.
the apartment was 45 inside tops. it also turns out I have no battery powered clocks. getting to work yesterday and today was a fun adventure. hard to tell if you're going to be early or late when you wake up to the sun.

[The Fusionist]

That sounds depressing...but not to worry, you have nine days of Christmas left.

[DOOMco]

i never knew that was real...

[DOOMco]

i never knew that was real...

[Free Society]

i never knew that was real...

He repeated over and over rocking back and forth in utter shock.

[DOOMco]

its not your fault.

[Rhywun]

I vaguely recall during my exchange student year in Germany doing the Advent stuff and the tree went up on Xmas eve, but I don't remember when we took it down. It was also the only day we went to church (other than the daughter's confirmation) so I doubt they were following anything liturgically accurate... The son did wind up a priest, interestingly.

[JayU]

Could be worse.

Your parents could've accidentally left you alone in the house to fend for yourself while a bunch of criminals tried to break in and kill you, forcing you to create elaborate traps to maim said criminals and protect your virgin asshole.

But seriously, do you not have a car charger for your phone?

[DOOMco]

i do, but my samsung phone is a pos, and can die from a full charge in a hour if it wants to.

[DOOMco]

i cant fight the peoples republic of boulder! they have very stringent idle laws! i was also quite intoxicated when i lost power. at least too much to drive.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Might I suggest...

[You ARE a Prog (MJG)]

At least you got a story out of it! That's what Christmas is all about, really.

[__Warren__]

Knock, tap, or rub on the shell...

[Quincy.]

Attention woodchipper enthusiasts! There is a new machine in town.

[The Fusionist]

The Joker is probably thinking, "I could tie Batman and Robin to one of those conveyor belt things."

[Quincy.]

Obviously, you didn't get to the part with the chainsaws and the splitting blades.

[The Fusionist]

I wasn't giving the Joker as an example of someone who was intelligent in the matter of death traps.

[Quincy.]

Ah.

[__Warren__]

It's very preety.

[__Warren__]

Er, I mean pretty.

[DOOMco]

what? it was a typo!!

[Rhywun]

Great. Now my youtube is full of machinery porn recommendations.

[DOOMco]

you can see that car get eaten!!

[Heroic Mulatto]

A young, attractive, buxom Thai woman bathing a cock.

[AlmightyJB]

Lucky little fucker

[JayU]

Fake.

There's no such thing as a buxom Thai woman. Hence the name Thai Stick.

[Heroic Mulatto]

That's news to Kulap Vilaysack.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Like seriously.

[Heroic Mulatto]

No, seriously this time.

[The Fusionist]

Jabba the Hutt, wearing Slave Leia costume, twerks while singing along to the Black Eyed Peas' 'Boom Boom Pow.'

[westernsloper]

And, Bro, on your way, could you stop and grab me a box of Hostess O's and some Ben and Jerry's?

[AlmightyJB]

Sweet

[The Fusionist]

If the order takes so long you forgot you made it, the dope is free.

[DOOMco]

alright alright alright

[GILMORE?]

Residents of NYC have enjoyed Delivery Service weed since.... jeez, i first became aware of it in the early/mid 1990s. I'm pretty sure it was a thing in the 1980s.

[Hyperion]

Yeah, despite the occasional surprise of a controlled delivery. But no biggie, most people survive the rage cage, right?

[Hyperion]

rage = rape

[The Fusionist]

Despite all my rape, I'm still just a rat in a cage

[GILMORE?]

My point was that these "legalized" innovations have been happening for decades on the DL with little muss or fuss.

And the police have mostly ignored it fwiw. I've known guys who did it for a living. Even when the occasional delivery guy got hit by a cab and the EMT finds 1lb+ of weed on him, he's cleared of charges by the time his network puts up bail. No one cares, unless its coke. when its coke? the first time i've ever seen any of these networks get busted was just this summer.

[Eman]

Carrie fisher doesn't really belong on a list of saddest celebrity deaths the year Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, and fucking Prince all died. Thats actually pretty fucked up, come to think of it. Those are all such larger than life talents.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

Who is this Prince fellow everyone keeps babbling about?

[The Fusionist]

So were these

[Juice]

What about Alan Rickman.

[JeremyR]

And 2/3 of Emerson Lake and Palmer

[The Fusionist]

Slave Leia cosplay

[DOOMco]

best one yet.

[__Warren__]

Looking at list of celeb deaths for 2016 I saw that I'd forgotten that R2D2 had also passed away.

Also with the passing of Abe Vigoda and Ron Glass, most of the 12 Precinct's detectives have gone to the great bullpen in the sky.

[Suell]

In honor of Princess Leia here is a pretty cool Star Wars title crawl generator.

https://brorlandi.github.io/StarWarsIntroCreator/

[Heroic Mulatto]

You have just given me so much joy.

[straffinrun]

Plenty of joy.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Bookmarked.

[Suell]

I did as well. One incredibly fun little toy.

[The Fusionist]

This shit is awesome

[The Fusionist]

Thank you so much

[Suell]

I thought that would be enjoyed. It doesn't look like you can link the ones that you make though.

[Suell]

Duh, you just have to click on the droid on my browser. Ha!

[straffinrun]

You just managed to waste my entire vacation.

[PapayaSF]

That's really funny.

[Rufus The Monocled]

http://bit.ly/2ifyShI

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hm. That one cut off.

http://bit.ly/2iC8SNV

[The Fusionist]

Okay, one more...

[The Fusionist]

Remember when I said I only had one more?

I lied.

[The Fusionist]

I forgot that I can't begin at the beginning of the series.

Let's try this.

[Hyperion]

Tyranny has gotten so much better since learning how to join the rebels and the battle to take the tower and end the edict. Shaping up to be awesome game.

[straffinrun]

I overslept so much I missed another death. *Grabs some coffee.*

[The Fusionist]

I'm sure there's a novel somewhere which begins "Bob Brown overslept and missed his own death."

[straffinrun]

He snoozed through the worst of times.

[straffinrun]

When you've lost a Rockette.

[Quincy.]

Is Elon Musk still tweeting about it?

[Sevo]

Abe isn't about to let "We owe you an apology" cross his lips, and by now that's Japan's loss. Shame on him for the sake of Japan.
The story states that Obo also didn't apologize for the nukes when he was in Japan earlier. Properly so, he should have asked for a "Domo" for all the Japanese lives saved as a result or their use.

"At Pearl Harbor, US and Japan seek absolution from the war"
http://www.sfgate.com/news/pol.....820109.php

[The Fusionist]

You know who else named Abe refused to apologize for a war?

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

He's not going to say it because the Japanese people don't want him to say it, and at this stage, who the fuck cares? Apologies count for nothing. What's more embarrassing is that we have a President who apologizes for our actions in a war that no one questions. He's apologizing for an action that the American people don't feel sorry for, by and large, to appease a class of far left members of the intelligentsia. Apologizing for dropping the bombs doesn't help America in the least. It sure as hell isn't going to matter to the Japanese when there's conflict with China.

[Sevo]

You need to read my post.
I didn't say "re-read" since it's obvious you haven't yet read it.

[Brochettaward = (((pants)))]

Obama looking to use executive order to put more sanctions on Russia, redefining "critical infrastructure" to include the DNC, apparently. The Washington Post accuses Russia of hacking state 'infrastructure,' now, though, as well. Of course, they want this to be Trump proof:

Part of the goal here is to make sure that we have as much of the record public or communicated to Congress in a form that would be difficult to simply walk back," said one senior administration official.

So, the Obama administration is looking to extend executive power even further just to poke Russia one last time. In doing so, they want to tie the hands of a future administration that is taking over in just one month, making it more difficult for them to carry out their foreign policy goals. One might say this is a bit...unprecedented, but that word is of course reserved for Donald Trump's actions, and never The Light Bringer's.

[Contrarian P]

Good lord, I just looked back over the "white genocide" thread from yesterday. The Hihn sock threw up like forty posts, one of which was from earlier this afternoon.

I really hope that in my sunset years I have something, anything, better to do that sit around posting quixotically to mostly corpsed threads mocking people who are never going to agree with anything I say.

Oh, and a merry belated Christmas to all reasonoids, and a slightly less merry one to the trolls.

[straffinrun]

Just to drop this here, again.

[Contrarian P]

We're already VII episodes into the story? I was hoping the Force would just nuke the galaxy from orbit early on in episode I.

[GILMORE?]

I really hope that in my sunset years I have something, anything, better to do that sit around posting quixotically to mostly corpsed threads mocking people who are never going to agree with anything I say.

For the record, my exchanges with the guy were simply for the purpose of distracting him from bothering other people.

[straffinrun]

I'm not joking when I say, I have no idea what he is even arguing. How you can even interact with him is beyond me.

[GILMORE?]

I'm not joking when I say, I have no idea what he is even arguing.

Neither do i.

i have a lot of experience with crazy people. one way to neutralize them is to get them to repeat themselves. they get tired of saying the same stuff. its just a method for redirecting their mania.

[Sevo]

"Good lord, I just looked back over the "white genocide" thread from yesterday. The Hihn sock threw up like forty posts, one of which was from earlier this afternoon."

Have to admit, it took hints like yours before I looked back and found the (laughing) tells and tied it to the handle. Did Mike think he was gonna slide that past the readership?

[Sevo]

Just looked again and I'm pretty certain that isn't Mike.
Outside of the (laughing), every other tell is from our most recent whiney POS who first used "You're and Idiot" as a handle and shows up about once a week with a new handle and a day or so of unsupported claims and worthless posts.
The (laughing) is an obvious pickup for anyone choosing to present under a false flag.

[Heroic Mulatto]

There is precedent for a troll who picks up the personae of former trolls.

[Sevo]

Tulpa has read this post and supports it!
(didja see my note on the cost of the hard-back 'English-Culture'?)

[Contrarian P]

You might be right. We'll obviously never know for sure, but then again, why in the world would anyone want to false flag Hihn?

[Sevo]

"...why in the world would anyone want to false flag Hihn?"

Whoever is posting under the constantly-changing handle is obviously trying to avoid identification. S/he knows the regulars (I've been called on posting local SF stuff; others have also gotten 'recognition'), so adding any sort of camo is obviously desired.
Go back and compare that with Hihn's rants; not even close. This troll picks specifics with which to object; Hihn simply spends time telling us how great is (was) and objecting to being mocked.

[Francisco d'Anconia]

It's Hihn.

[Contrarian P]

I'm pretty sure he really believes he's much smarter than everybody here and is somehow winning all these debates on the internet. He just can't help himself. I've been reading his posts on H&R for years. It's the same stuff, over and over.

Occasionally I and other posters will argue with him. The more you do, the more unhinged he gets.

[Rational Exuberance]

"The rule is: nobody should be punished by their employer for the dumb jokes they make online"

Employers aren't punishing people, they are deciding whether they want to have their brand tainted by people who make such statements online. If this guy was cleaning toilets for a living, perhaps it wouldn't matter much, but for an academic it does.

[Sevo]

"Online" = "publicly broadcast"
Talk-show call-in:
'Hi, I'm Director of Marketing for XXX Corporation! I'm calling to voice my support for the KKK!'
Do you think they'd get it that way?

[Sevo]

And just 'cause private property/luddite self-righteousness:

"Farmer sprays poop all over protestors trespassing on his land"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIjO0Kp_lXU

[Sevo]

OK, WAKE UP! For pete's sake, they haven't rolled up the sidewalks yet!

"Venezuela military trafficking food as country goes hungry"
[...]
" When hunger drew tens of thousands of Venezuelans to the streets in protest last summer, President Nicolas Maduro turned to the military to manage the country's diminished food supply, putting generals in charge of everything from butter to rice.
But instead of fighting hunger, the military is making money from it, an Associated Press investigation shows."
http://www.sfgate.com/news/cri.....821861.php

Ya think?

[Bra Ket]

That article should be called "an unqualified defense of partisanship". I like how the guy thinks he's a fucking martyr for putting the team first.